Umbra

Chapter Five

The crowd immediately scattered as Steve's shield reflected Loki's blast back at him, knocking him flat on his back. Grey heard him groan as she skirted around the crowd to position herself behind him, her pistol trained on his back as she kept herself invisible as she waited for Natasha to signal.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing."

Grey smirked; remembering watching Steve punch Hitler in the face multiple times on the old Captain America tapes her Grandmother had gifted her. She watched carefully as Loki stood up and dusted himself off, a sinful smile on his lips. "The soldier. A man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Steve positioned his shield back in front of him as Grey say the quinjet hover above them, and Natasha's voice sound out.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

For a moment, Grey thought he really would surrender, and she lowered her gun slightly. All of a sudden, Loki shot a blast at the quinjet- one which Natasha only just missed as she managed to swerve in time. In a panic, Grey quickly shot a bullet in Loki's direction, which skimmed the side of his extended hand. He let out a shout, whirling around with his sceptre pointed to shoot at the culprit. Grey held in a breath, focusing every cell in her body to remain invisible. She swore Loki locked eyes with her, but she couldn't be sure, as Steve barrelled into him, continuing with the fight.

"Umbra- you okay?" Natasha's voice appeared in her ear, sounding concerned. Grey breathed heavily, a number of questions running through her head. Could he see her? She gulped before answering shakily. "I'm good. I tried to shoot but I missed... by a hair."

"Don't shoot now, you may hit Steve-"

Grey frowned when she heard the opening of AC/DC's 'Shoot to Thrill' play over the rest of Natasha's words, and a horribly familiar male voice overtook her earpiece. "Miss me, Agent Romanoff?"

Grey let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose and mumbling to herself. "Fucking Stark."

A scarlet and gold streak flew through the sky before landing next to where Steve had finally forced Loki down, the Iron Man suit opening up to reveal a number of rockets aimed right at the God's head. A steely, animatronic voice emerged from it.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games."

As Loki raised his hands in surrender, he felt the end of a gun press into the back of his head. As Grey reappeared in front of the three men, she raised an eyebrow down at the God kneeling in front of her.

"I'd stay still if I were you, Dasher."

Tony smirked and let out a laugh. "Good move."

Grey's eyes flicked up to Tony when he said that, as her and Steve said simultaneously. "Mr. Stark."

"Captain." Tony nodded to Steve, but he was still facing Grey. His hand lifted up and his mask flicked open, revealing the famous face that Grey had seen so many times on the television. "Umbra."

All Grey could do was roll her eyes.

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The ride back to the Helicarrier was tense. Well, as tense as it could be with a captured God, a super soldier, and an egotistic billionaire on board. Grey sat across from Loki, her eyes narrowed as she kept watch on him. He didn't look up at her, staying quiet and stationary.

"I don't like it." Steve said with a frown on his face. Tony raised his eyebrow and nodded towards Loki, who hadn't moved.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Grey couldn't help but smirk at the nickname Stark had come up with, but quickly vanished to conceal her smile. She didn't want Tony to get the impression that she liked him. Grey returned when she composed herself, her face a neutral expression once again.

"I don't remember it ever being that easy." Steve continued, "This guy packs a wallop."

"Steve's right." Grey chimed in quietly. "He's meant to be a God, but he's done little but shoot at us."

Tony gestured up and down at Steve, whilst flashing a smirk to Grey. "Well, he is pretty spry, for an older fellow." He turned to him, mock interest on his face. "What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?"

"Leave him alone, Stark." (He obviously didn't.)

"It's like callisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a 'Capsicle'."

Grey felt the tension in the air thicken, and she felt the burn of a stare in the back of her head. She glanced back to look at Loki, who's electric blue eyes were trained on her. Grey chose to ignore him, instead focusing on not being crushed on the two superhero egos having a size contest.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve said coldly.

Grey sucked in a breath, before sheepishly mumbling, "It was in the reading." Tony pointed a finger at her, smiling.

"Shadow did her homework." He glanced over at where Natasha was sat, talking to Fury on her earpiece. "Besides, there are a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

Grey suddenly jumped as a loud crack of thunder was released above them, unintentionally turning invisible as she felt every nerve ending in her body spark.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha called out, and Grey saw Loki's eyes flick to the window, an emotion in them she hadn't seen before - fear.

"Scared of a little lightening?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Loki shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows."

In an instant, Grey was blinded by a bright light which hit the jet, which sent electrifying shocks through Grey's fingers, making her flicker like a glitch in a video game.

"Fuck-" Tony shouted from next to her. Grey looked up in a panic, and saw Tony wincing as a few sparks flew from his reactor on his hand. She tried to not freak out even more, looking back at Loki, whose eyes were focused on the ceiling.

"Guys, I don't think-!"

With a loud screech, the ramp of the Quinjet was ripped off by an unstoppable force, and a mountain of a man stormed in, saying nothing but grabbing Loki by the throat and flying back out of the jet, leaving Grey, Steve, and Tony dumbstruck on the broken jet. Grey let out a sigh of disbelief.

"Well, shit."