ACATALEPSY ➺ loki

3 , the captain

"You're from another universe... and you're dead in this one?"

"Yes"

"I'm a movie character."

"A good one at that."

"Played by someone called Scarlett Johnson?"

"Johansson."

"No."

"What?"

"I don't believe you."

I sighed, not knowing what to reply with. Even after explaining that Nick Fury was alive, but I couldn't say anything else, we had been at this for at least ten minutes, in which I had tried my best to sum up the entire rest of the MCU's plot for Natasha while not giving away any real outcomes, too scared to mess up the future by doing so. The only thing I had achieved in that much time was the gun being removed from my stomach, which I was grateful for, sure, but I wasn't sure what else I could try to convince her.

"Alright. I know exactly what all Steve has just been through—you can ask him for a confirmation once he gets here, okay? I'm in front of you, aren't I... so there is no way I could know what he's doing right now, unless I've already watched it. Would that work?" I asked the red head tiredly. You'd never think speaking with a bloody avenger could ever get tiring, but being held at gun point for a good few minutes wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

Natasha frowned, obviously taken aback by my willingness to risk giving my 'cover' away on such information. "Alright, fine. Tell me what he's doing... and I may not kill you. May."

And so I did, "He went to speak to Alexander Pierce first, who, I'll add, is the highest ranking HYRDA member currently infiltrating SHIELD—but we can get to that later. Steve is declared a fugitive by him, and has to jump out a glass lift, then take down some flying plane of sorts, and then he makes his way back here... which should be anytime now."

Natasha took a few steps back. "You're lying. Pierce wouldn't... that doesn't... HYRDA died. It doesn't make any sense."

I slowly moved away from the wall, finally having been let go of by her in her shock. "I'm sorry, but it is. You can ask Steve once he gets here—ask him about the lift. You... I know about Peggy, I know about Bucky, I know about... a lot of things I shouldn't. The red room? Your time there? I've seen it. Trust me when I say this is not my ideal situation in which I've dreamed about meeting you guys. I don't want to be the one with all the information, alright? But here we are—so it would be a great help if you could just see that I am trying to help you guys!"

I couldn't believe I had just shouted at Natasha Romanoff herself, but what could I say? Stress does strange things to a person. Thankfully, my little rant had only seemed to calm Natasha, as she sighed and closed her eyes briefly. "Fury's really alive?" I was taken aback by the quiver in the woman's voice, but nodded quickly. I was ready to go on when brisk footsteps outside the room caught both of our attention. It didn't take a genius to spot Steve walk up to the vending machine, trying to look into it for the drive discreetly.

I smiled slightly, gesturing towards him. "Go do your thing—I'll wait here for him to- well, you'll see." She gave me a confused look, before shaking her head and walking out of the room to go sneak up behind the man. I couldn't help a small smile from making its way onto my lips, being there to witness the scene I knew was about to play out in person.

Sure enough, not two seconds later, Steve had grabbed hold of Natasha's arm, pushing her back into the room I stood in. I had to move out of the way as fast as I could, the man almost throwing her into me in his hurry to get the drive. I smiled sheepishly, backing away even more when Steve lay eyes on me. "Told you you'd be back in here soon enough." I said softly to Natasha, who had been forgotten by Cap in his confusion at seeing me.