Umbra

Chapter Six

"Okay, so we lost the prisoner. What do we do now?"

Grey started flickering again, a sure sign she was panicking. Tony pointed out the open back of the Quinjet accusingly. "Now there's that guy."

"Another Asguardian?" Natasha called out as she tried to stabilise the jet, tugging on the controls and quickly calling for backup.

"Thor, God of Thunder." Grey called out, clinging onto the side of the plane. She saw Tony open his mouth to make a snarky comment, and she glared at him. "Shut up, I read a lot."

Steve winced as the jet lurched again, frowning, "that guy's a friendly?"

"It doesn't matter." Tony switched on his mask, sounding firm. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." With that, Tony readied himself to fly out of the back of the aircraft.

"Stark, what are you doing?" Grey called out, concern written on her face. "We need a god damn plan of attack, not to just go in there with guns blazing!" Tony looked back at her, and despite the fact his mask was covering his face, Grey knew he was smirking at her.

"I have a plan. Attack."

And with that, Tony shot out of the back of the jet, a blast of light following him. Grey sighed, groaning and pinching the bridge of her nose. "I really hate that man."

"I'd sit this one out, guys." Natasha yelled out. "These guys come from legends, they're basically Gods."

"Someone's gotta keep a gun on Loki if Stark's going into a fistfight with Literal Jesus." Grey shouted back, already strapping herself into a parachute. Steve had done the same, and laughed at Grey's comment.

"There's only one God ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." With a nod, Steve gestured to Grey and they both simultaneously jumped in the direction Tony had flown.

"You find Loki. Keep him where we need him and I'll stop Tony and Thor from incinerating each other." Steve ordered, his days as an army captain showing through.

Grey gave a salute and nodded as she quickly reloaded her gun. "Yes, sir."

She vanished, making her way to where she'd seen Thor and Loki land in a crumpled heap. She tried to be as quiet as she could, keeping her gun positioned accurately. Finally, she saw him sitting quietly by a boulder, calmly twiddling his fingers. She frowned – why would he still be here if Thor had gone? Why wouldn't he run?

Grey silently tiptoed so she was in front of him, her gun trained on his chest. This time, if he tried anything, she wouldn't miss. She opened her mouth to say something, before-

"I know you're there."

Grey stopped, her eyes wide as she stood there in surprise. How could he see her? She watched as Loki smiled, looking up in her direction, but he didn't meet her eyes. He couldn't see her- he could only sense her.

"I can see the power inside you, Grey." He continued, chucking quietly.

Grey let her invisibility melt away, revealing herself to him. "Shut up."

Loki raised an eyebrow, obviously expecting her to be intrigued at his mystical words. "Shut up?"

"Yes. Shut up."

He chuckled - a low, menacing sound from the back of his throat. "You're by far the most interesting of the Avengers." Grey stayed silent, instead focusing on keeping her gun pointed straight. "Especially with those feelings for the Metal Man brewing inside you."

"What?" Grey felt her heart speed up, and she scoffed. "Yeah, feelings of dislike. He's just a thorn in my side whilst I get this job done."

"You forget, I am the God of lies. I know when I am being told one." Loki smirked up at her, and Grey scowled at him. "Especially, weak Midguardian tales."

"Shut. Up." Grey repeated, moving the gun up to his head. They stayed like that for a moment, before they heard the familiar noise of Tony flying towards them.

"Reindeer Games try anything?" he asked as he landed, his voice robotic from his helmet

Grey shook her head, avoiding looking at him. Loki watched them carefully. "No, just take him back. Make sure he's secure."

"Thor's working on that." He stepped closer to her, before his helmet slid back. "You okay?" Grey looked up at him, almost seeing real concern in his eyes. "You look a little... shaken/"

Grey gulped, lowering her gun. "I'm fine. Let's just get him on the ship."

Steve and Thor soon joined them by Loki, Steve mentioning that Natasha had landed the Quinjet not too far from where they were standing. Grey nodded, before rubbing her forehead and wincing as a headache overtook her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a couple of sparks shoot out of the side of Tony's suit.

"What did that fucking hammer do to me, Shakespeare?"

"If it had done damage, Metal Man, you would not be functioning." He shrugged, before nodding towards Grey. "Thank you for keeping my brother here, fair maiden. I deeply regret any pain he has caused you."

"Uh- anytime. You can call me Grey." She held her hand out for him to shake, smiling a little when he bent to kiss it instead.

"A pleasure to be in your presence. I understand you are also a great warrior, like these two gentleman."

Grey laughed, biting her lip. "You could say that."

Tony had been watching the encounter with a raised eyebrow, and before long he felt an annoying tug within him – almost as if he'd wished Thor would stop making Grey smile like she was. He pushed it down, just as he repressed all of his emotions.

"This is all very nice, but now we need to get back to the plane. You know, maybe get him into a pair of handcuffs." He gestured for Grey to do that, and she quickly bound his wrists, avoiding the God's eyes as tugged him up and handing him over to Thor. They all began to walk back to where Natasha had landed, Grey feeling two pairs of eyes on her the entire way.

On the plane back, Grey refused to show herself. She made herself known to be in one corner seats by placing her file on her curled up knees, but was otherwise completely invisible. Thor, standing by Steve, watched as the files pages slowly turned.

"She has a great power inside her that she can't control." He murmured to Steve. "I can sense it, and therefore my brother can as well. We must make sure he is kept away from her."

Steve's eyes widened as he felt more concerned for his new friend – their bond already seemed to reflect one of a brother and sister. "When you say 'great power'..."

"One bigger than her vanishing act." Thor said gravely, before staying quietly again. In the corner of the jet, one of the wires sparked and short cited.