My Avengers (1)

Chapter 6

(Quinjet, Y/n's POV)

We're on our way to Stuttgart, and we're all in our gear.

Well, close enough.

Steve has on his trademark Captain America kit, with his legendary vibranium shield, which I've recently learned is the strongest metal on the planet.

Romanoff and I are in similar attire; black all-in-ones with combat boots. I, of course, have on my protective gloves.

The jet circles around to the back of the new palace, the address we have been given, and we lower Steve out of the aircraft via a rope ladder that swings precariously beneath us.

"Y/n, you're staying with me," Romanoff says from the front seat, eyes focused out the window.

"Uh, yeah. Not happening, sorry," I quickly follow Steve and start to descend the ladder. It's far more unstable than I thought it was, but I manage to make it to the bottom and land on my feet next to him.

"You gonna give us trouble y/l/n?" he asks me with a grin.

"I don't know about trouble. More like a run for your money. If shit's gonna move this fast around here, you can bet I'm gonna be in the middle of it all," I mirror his expression as we head round the front.

We freeze at the sound of terrified screams, but quickly take that as our hint that we should shift our asses. Steve, having had slightly more experience than me, happily takes the lead.

There's a large crowd of people all clustered together, and they all look too scared to go any further than they already have.

"Kneel!" comes a booming voice from the entrance of the palace.

"Is that-"

"Loki. Yeah."

We can't see him yet, but his voice rings loud and clear through the air.

"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end.... You will always kneel."

The civilians kneel fearfully, apart from one singular old man, who stares at Loki with a defiant look on his face.

"I will not kneel to men like you," he says, his voice thick with the accent of Germany.

"There are no men like me," Loki sneers.

"Yes. There are always men like you."

He spreads his arms wide, which is when I notice the battle armour and the glowing sceptre he holds, and he addresses everyone, "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example to you all."

The weapon slowly turns to face the old German man, and he fires a bolt towards him.

There's a sonorous ring that sounds through the air as the bolt connects with the vibranium of Captain America's shield, and it then recoils and hits Loki, sending him sprawling to the floor.

My eyes widen and I look to the space beside me. Empty. When the fuck did he sneak away?

These guys are good.

"Do you know," Captain says casually as he walks towards his fallen figure, "the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing here and there."

Loki cackles and uses his sceptre to help him to his feet, "The soldier. The man out of time."

"Yeah.... I'm afraid I'm not the one out of time."

"Well don't taunt him," Natasha's bored voice comes through our earpieces, and then the jet appears from around the palace with a gun poised and ready to fire. Her words then come booming through a microphone, "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down. That's an order."

"That's an order? Well I guess I'd better just...... Ah!" He makes a show of lowering the sceptre to the ground, but it's clearly a feint and he tries to fire at the jet, which easily evades the attack.

"Y/n," comes her voice in my ear again. "Stay where you're safe, okay. You're not trained yet and we can't risk the safety of the civilians."

I'm listening whilst Captain America and Loki are fighting, and I know I'm not just gonna stay put.

Loki manages to knock the shield away from the Captain, and presses the sceptre to his neck.

"Kneel," he says through clenched teeth.

Time for an intervention? I think so.

I quickly release the catches on my gloves as I run towards the pair. I keep my eyes on Rogers in case he's able to break free, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

"Kneel!" He demands again.

"Not today Loki," I say as I tackle him away from Captain, and I concentrate my energy to my hands to send electricity coursing through him.

Sparks fly as he convulses under my hands, but I don't want to let go because I don't know how quickly he can recover.

I have to.

My power is too unstable. This should keep him down for a while.

I release my grip on him, and he gasps for air as he lies flat on his back on the ground.

It's the first time I can look at his face properly. Pale skin, blue eyes, his face framed by long, black silky hair.

We lock eyes, and I feel something click. Something undescribable.

I take a quick look into his head to see if I can find anything important. Some images and words stand out among the rest.

Loki. Thor. Odinson. Laufeyson. Chitauri. Tesseract. Power.

"Laufeyson," I mutter quietly as I stumble back a few steps.

He sits up slowly, eyes never leaving mine.

"Who are you?"

I open my mouth to respond, but he's suddenly shot back by a thick beam of energy.

"Watch out kid, you don't wanna touch this," a man's voice sounds from behind me.

A steel suit is descending in the air past me, a suit of red.

"Iron Man. I'd say it's nice to meet you but, given the circumstances, I'd be lying."

"This is Tony Stark," comes Natasha's voice through the earpiece. "He's on our side."

I watch, still a bit shaky, as Stark forces Loki to the ground once more with his power.

"Your turn," he says to him as he stands over him. Captain America joins him in facing Loki.

With a sigh, Loki changes his battle gear to a simple cloak, and he raises his hands in surrender.

"Good choice," Stark says as he hoists him up and places handcuffs around his wrists.

He's led away to the jet that has now landed, and he never once takes his eyes off of me.