His hands were tied behind his back and there was something big and shining on his neck.
Scott was thrown around the truck, and then around the building, and then thrown on the floor of the square.
There were heavily armed men all around him, and surrounding the man and woman (aliens, technically, but who's counting) on either side of him. There was blood on the floor, his and theirs, and Scott Lang looked up, looked up to see the confused and scared faces of the passersby. Yeah, him too.
"Ladies and gentlemen" the man who called himself "Admiral", so former military dude with extra advanced weaponry, was the only one that spoke from their captors. "I here bring you another show of just how unsafe we are on our own streets."
Oh, now came the exposition. Maybe a good time to check on himself, and the others.
Scott was fairly certain the gunshot wound in his thigh hadn't stopped bleeding. He had a couple broken ribs, or three, or seven. Split lip, swollen eye, weird phantom coming and going pain in his chest. Well, he'd had worse days, as bad as it sounded.
To his right was Nebula, who'd been getting more "organic" body parts lately, and less mechanic, in an effort to feel less of a monster and try to undo what he father did to her, and was cursing the fact that she couldn't just take her arm out and beat up the guys in front of them. She had been tied everywhere (zip ties, feet tied, muzzled with a bandana, the works) and had one of those bright white metal things in her neck, like him. She was looking very very pissed.
And to his left... Loki wasn't pissed, because he was barely conscious. He was wobbling on his knees, falling forward, falling backwards when they moved him. HIs face was bloody and he there was a trail of blood falling from his mouth, his arm was bent in a weird way, and there were bloodstains all around his too cute Captain America pyjamas. So they'd come for him while he was sleeping.
Classy.
"Nebula?" Scott whispered.
"WHAT?"
"Just checking on you. Please tell me if you have any escape plans, all right?"
"I wil, Lang. I really will."
Why was everything Nebula said always sound threatening?
"Loki?"
No answer.
"LOKI!" he said, loud-whispering while the Admiral kept rambling about what a menace they were.
Loki made an odd sound, and a bloodshot green eye look his way, behind a curtain of long black hair.
"Wh't"
"You okay?"
"Hurt. Dizzy."
"Well, that's bad."
Because they were in a bit of a pickle. Mister Admiral and his followers thought them a danger to society, and since the military are there to keep the country safe... Well, they were going to execute them, or try to, at least. Those things on their neck would explode if they moved too fast, and there were also the gun pointed at their heads as they were on their knees. Not good.
Because apparently, aliens and criminals had infiltrated their beloved superheroes, and now these guys needed to be removed, and be made an example. So that others aliens and criminals knew what was coming, so that civilians too would have no qualms going against them, because they were a threat to their country, to their society and their ideals.
And the fact that they were cozy with superheroes only made them more dangerous. A threat to everyone's security, a liability, a danger that needed to be supressed.
Scott sighed.
Yes, none of the three of them had a spotless record, but... Couldn't they learn and try to make up? Just because you had a rough beginning you couldn't ever be a part of society, just because you started in the wrong side it meant you could never be respected? Never have a place? Just because they made mistakes, now they were "cancelled"? They were a problem to be erased?
He'd tried so hard. Scott had studied, worked shitty job on top of shitty job to get only bits while people who did way less got so much more. So yeah, he'd done some crime. And then some jail time. But hadn't he done enough to make up for it already? Hadn't they all?
Loki, Loki had been with the Avengers for nearly a year, putting his magic in the hands of the good guys, shape shifting so civilians didn't have to get into dangerous situations, going undercover into crime rings to get information. He was doing all of that, all of that after saving the Asgardians from Hela with Hulk and Thor, all of that after dying, once and again.
They were all making efforts and what was it good for? For nothing.
Loki was bleeding and falling forwards as he wavered on his kneees, on the floor, with a bomb collar on his neck. After all he'd done for them, after all the bad looks and shit he'd endured trying to find a place in this world... And they'd done good, too.
Scott remembered seeing the faces of the old ladies from the sinking ship he and Loki evacuated, how relieved they had been to have a gentleman like Loki get them out, save them with his magic. They had been happy. Loki had loved the attention. And yet...
Scott knew that the public opinion was very important, and that the public opiion loved mentioning that he was a criminal, that Nebula wasn't even human, that Loki was an alien criminal. No matter the time he'd spent in space jail, being tortured, being.... It would never be enough.
They would always be too dangerous. Flawed. Not pristine pure white. A danger to safety, to security, a stain to be washed. So it was okay that they were abused, that they were hurt, that they were punched.
It was okay. It was for safety, wasn't it? The bad thing would be to just let them roam free, when they were known to do bad things. How dare they.
But suddenly....
The light of the bomb collars turned off. The guards were taken out by shots in the distance, and then blows close by. Natasha Romanoff looked in disgust at them, and then at the Admiral. Wanda Maximoff disarmed him and whatever people they were left, providing a red shield for Scott, Loki, and Nebula, who she helped up.
The Admiral seemed about to spew some more venom when someone else jumped down a plane, and looked at him in the eye.
"As a member of the Unites States military" Steve started "you make me feel shame. You and your authoritarian ideas, you and your fanatic point of view is the problem and the danger, and not these brave warriors. You think you're better than them? Because you were born here? Because you've made it through the army and they haven't?"
The Admiral was frozen in place. Steve Rogers was a symbol of what he was trying to preserve... To have him go against him was not good. Not good at all.
"What have you done for this country? What have you done for people's safety? Loki has been injured trying to stop attackers. Scott Lang found a way to reverse a cataclysmic event that took away half the population of Earth. Yes, they are criminals.... But they are also so much more than you or any of your close minded associates will ever be. Because they are able to see beyond governments, old ideals and blind fanaticism. They are able to think criticically, admit when they're wrong, better themselves. You are what's wrong with our country, Admiral. And they.... They are hope, hope for everyone who wants to do better, hope for everyone that's lost their way, hope for a new, better day."
The public was taken, touched by the Captain's emotional tirade.
"I hope you learn to be better. I hope that you, like them, understand that change is a good thing. Wanda, Nat, take him away."
And then Steve knelt to Loki, took his hair away from his face, promised to make everything better.
Scott smiled.
Maybe there was hope for them too after all.