2012

Classified Location

S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

Next Day

 

(Omniscient POV)

Coulson and Steve are standing on the bridge of the Helicarrier, just waiting as they watch the technicians work.

"I mean if it's not too much trouble," Coulson says as he hands over an old set of Captain America cards that seemed to be kept in mint condition.

"No-no, it's fine."

Steve takes the cards from Coulson's hand, a little impressed by the man's collection.

" It's a vintage set. Took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges but-"

"We got a hit on the face trace! Sixty-seven percent match. Wait- cross-match, eighty-nine percent!" One of the Techs interrupts.

Coulson, forgetting the previous conversation, moves over to the tech's station.

"Location?" He asks.

"Stuttgart, Germany. He's not exactly hiding, sir."

Coulson nods and pats the tech on the shoulder.

"Good work." He says before turning around towards Steve.

"Captain, you're up."

A determined look takes over Steve's face as he gives Coulson a wholehearted nod and walks out of the brig to prepare.

He makes his way towards the armory and the door slides open to reveal a new and improved Captain America suit displayed on the wall. Steve walks over to it and stares at his new uniform, feeling a small sense of nervousness as well as longing.

"Hope it fits." He mutters to himself

*************

Stuttgart, Germany

Two Hours Later

 

A large quinjet speeds across the cloudy night skies as it makes its way towards the drop point.

Inside, Natasha and a freshly geared-up Steve prepare their weapons as Brock double-checks his small unit of men to make sure they are ready.

"Sir, we're getting reports from local PD about a...Horned individual waving around a glowing staff and causing a large commotion at the target location." One of the S.T.R.I.K.E team agents reports.

Brock nods and looks over towards Steve.

"Sounds like our guy." He states calmly.

Steve nods his head in agreement.

"We should go over our plan of attack." Natasha chimes in.

Steve grabs the shield sitting at his side and straps it to the holster on his back.

"Simple, I'll go in and neutralize this guy. You guys stay here and provide cover fire from the air." Steve says simply.

"With all due respect...Captain, That doesn't sound like a suitable plan." Brock speaks up.

Steve glances over at the young man, surprised he disagreed with him.

"You have something better?" He asks genuinely.

Brock takes a moment to think before he answers.

"You can still go in to distract the target, while Natasha and the pilot provide cover with the quinjet. Meanwhile, the rest of my men and I will covertly secure the surroundings to make sure the target doesn't have any exits and keep civilian casualties to a minimum."

Steve nods and eyes the young man, seeing him in a new light.

"Good idea, soldier." He says and gives Brock an approving smile.

"Arriving over dropzone in T-minus two minutes." The pilot announces and everyone grabs their gear and queues up at the bay doors.

The quinjet silently pulls up to the location, only to see a mob of nicely dressed people huddled together in front of the plaza of the gala building. Each were kneeling in front of a lanky man wearing a gold-horned helmet and pointing a spear-like scepter at the crowd.

An old German man looks to be trying to stand up to the horned man just as the bay doors open and Captain America, not waiting for the plane to get to a safe level, jumps from the quinjet.

As he descends through the air, he pulls his shield from his back and holds it in front of him before landing in front of the old man just as Loki fires a blue energy beam from his scepter.

The beam hits the shield and is reflected back to Loki, smacking into him and planting him face down on the ground.

Captain America begins monologuing while moving slowly closer toward Loki.

Loki dusts himself off, gets to his feet, and starts trading quips with the Captain as the quinjet stealthy hovers a few feet away and Brock and his small unit disembark. Throngs of people scatter past them as they move to create a perimeter around the plaza.

The unit gets into position just as the quinjet comes back around and hovers behind Captain America.

"I'm not the one who's out of time." He says to Loki as a hi-tech minigun unfolds from the underside of the plane.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Black Widow announces over the quinjet's speaker.

A smug smile comes to Loki's face as he ignores the woman and fires his scepter at the jet, which banks hard to the right in order to avoid it. The beam skims the wing and starts to shake uncontrollably but the pilot quickly regains control.

Captain America charges to attack Loki and the two begin their fight. In the distance, a figure wearing a metal suit can be seen soaring through the air above, headed towards their location

************

Stuttgart, Germany

A Few Minutes Later

 

(Brock POV)

"This is fucking stupid."

I mutter to myself as I watch Ironman and Captain America quickly dispatch Loki, who suddenly raises his hands in surrender.

One of my soldiers brings the two a pair of handcuffs and I observe them patiently take Loki, the same guy who threatened to use what could be equivalent to a nuclear bomb on National soil, into custody.

They could kill this guy right now and try to secure the cube after, but no. Let's take the guy, who is literally the God of lying, for interrogation.

I get why this had to happen in the movie, but seeing such a dumb self-righteous decision being made in person was something else.

The quinjet hovers over the plaza before landing in front of the two heroes.

"Captain Rumlow, secure this man onto the plane." Captain America orders as Loki is cuffed with his hands behind his back. The smug smirk never leaving his face.

My men and I move to escort Loki, who eyes me for a second before completely dismissing me, onto the quinjet as the two heroes exchange greetings.

"Mister Stark," Cap says and nods at the armored billionaire.

"Captain." Tony returns the nod.

An awkward silence hangs throughout the plaza as neither of them knows what to say next.

Tony clears his throat and points over to the quinjet.

"Can I get a ride?"

*************

Quinjet

A Few Minutes Later

 

(Omniscient POV)

The quinjet speeds over some mountains and continues to soar through the darkened cloudy night skies.

Natasha sits in the cockpit with the pilot while Brock and the S.T.R.I.K.E team guard their new prisoner.

Loki is strapped down to a chair in the back of the plane, his eyes moving about the jet and observing everything around him. Cap, in his suit but no cowl, and Tony, in the armor but without his helmet, are standing behind the cockpit as they talk.

"I don't like it," Steve says as a serious contemplative look overtakes his face.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony jokes.

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop, I could tell when fighting him, so he should have put up more of a fight."

"Still, you were pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?" Tony quips.

Steve, interrupted from his train of thought, gives Tony a confused look.

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things. Y'know, doing time as a Cap-sicle." Tony smirks as an annoyed look comes to the Captain's face.

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

Tony lets out a chuckle at his words. "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury probably doesn't tell you."

A flash of lightning and the loud roaring of thunder outside interrupts their conversation.

"Skies were supposed to be clear, where's this come from?" Natasha asks the pilot who just shrugs his shoulders in confusion.

As more lightning and thunder cloud the sky, Loki leans forward from his strapped-down position and looks around nervously.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve asks, noticing the man's change in demeanor.

"I'm just not overly fond of what follows," Loki says as a wave of lightning shoot through the sky and crashes on top of the quinjet.

****************

A/n: Hey everyone, as always hope you're enjoying the story, and thanks for reading!