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CHAPTER THREE TWO NEW ARRIVALS
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Riley was sitting in one of the two pilot chairs in the Quinjet, preparing for takeoff as Natasha gathered the rest of the team. While he had piloted the Quinjet out onto the landing strip for takeoff, they had gotten a hit on Loki. He was spotted in Stuttgard, Germany of all places, and Riley was typing the coordinates into the system when the back of the jet started opening. He didn't look behind him as the various heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents filed in. He started readying for take-off as everyone got settled, checking the fuel and cooling system. Those things were usually kept up by agents on hand, but Riley had learned from experience to always check. He could still remember learning how to pilot a regular small two-seater when he was just starting out. The plane ended up diving back to the ground fifty feet up. He'd nearly broken his wrist in the crash. He certainly wasn't about to let that happen in a Quinjet.
Beside him, Natasha slid into the other pilot seat. Without looking up from the controls, Riley reached up, plucked up a headset, and handed it to her without a word. She was quick to strap into the seat and put the headset on. She flipped on the controls on her side of things. Riley, done with his own preparations, twisted in his seat to see who had come with them. Steve Rogers was in his Captain America costume—though not the one from his old life, since it was currently being gawked at in a museum—and he was already strapped into one of the seats lining the wall. The other agents, all of whom Riley didn't know personally, were still getting settled.
"Hurry," Riley all but snapped, frowning at them. They were supposed to be strapped in and ready before Loki had been spotted. There was no telling if they would be able to find Loki again if he disappeared this time. He had both the Tesseract and a scepter that could control minds, from what they had gathered. There was no telling where he would go next or what he would do, and knowing all of that made Riley a little on edge. It was Clint on the line, after all. The agents listened to him and hurried to get settled, so Riley twisted back to sit properly in his seat. Nat was smirking over at him, her eyebrows raised. He just shrugged back at her.
"You're in a mood," she said, sounding delighted at the thought. Riley gave her a flat look and fiddled with his headset, making sure it was on and working properly.
"I'm not in a mood," Riley denied, reaching for the handles. Beside him, Nat did the same. They were silent as they drove the Quinjet out of the garage, and stayed that way as they got the jet in the air. Riley moved to flick the switch that would make the jet invisible while it was in the air—the last thing they needed was to get shot down after crossing borders without explicit permission—and then glanced up at the monitor by his controls. It let him see what was going on behind him. The agents were strapped in and calm. Some of them were checking their guns, while others were murmuring to each other. Riley's eyes then went to Steve, only to frown when he saw that the super-soldier was sitting alone, head bowed and shoulders tense. Riley pulled his gaze away from the monitor to shoot Nat a questioning look.
