Music is "Soldier" by Fleurie.

Picture is Tatiana Maslany as Emma Barnes.

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CHAPTER EIGHT: Two Demigods And A Billionaire

Minutes later, through hallways of steel and other metals, Natasha shows us to the bridge of the ship. It's much bigger than anything I've ever been on, but I have seen the schematics before. I remember when Rose was designing it. It was in the 70s, after the Apollo programs had come to an end. Rose and Howard did more work for S.H.I.E.L.D. That included building the Quinjets and Helicarriers. Although I'd never been inside either until today, I remember the designs quite well.

I stare in awe at the large open area filled with computers and personnel. The Helicarrier bridge is a masterpiece. In my opinion, it's the most impressive thing Rose ever built. The large windows in front of us allow sunlight in as we rise above the clouds. "What a view," I whisper to myself.

"Rose built all this?" Steve asks.

I nod, taking his hand. "She is so gifted, Steve."

"I'll say."

Director Fury turns in our direction, hands folded behind his back. He stands between two rows of monitors. Dozens of agents busy themselves on computers and other stations surrounding him. "Gentlemen, Lady," he greets.

Steve releases my hand and walks over to Fury, eyes sill taking in his surroundings. He pulls out his wallet, handing Fury a ten dollar bill, an inside joke. Fury takes it with a pleased smirk, tucking the bill into his trench coat. He strides over to Bruce, Grant, and I. He turns to lay his eye on Grant. "You brought a fifteen year old onto my damn Helicarrier, Barnes." He turns back to me with a harsh expression. "Why did you do that."

I cross my arms. "He's my son, Fury. Anything I do for you, he has a right to see."

The Director sighs, ignoring my comment. He extends a hand in Bruce's direction. The doctor shakes it with hesitation. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

Bruce retracts his hand, replying, "Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh...how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Where are you with that?" Bruce asks as we walk further onto the bridge.

Director Fury glances over the railing to Phil Coulson, waiting for him to explain. Natasha bends down to look at a fellow agent's screen, spotting a picture of a man with short hair. Steve stands next to us, listening to the updates. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops." Coulson shrugs. "If it's connected to a satallite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Natasha replies from her perch, "That's still not going to find them in time."

Banner sheds his blazer. "You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury replies.

"Call every lab you know," Bruce orders. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Fury turns to Natasha. "Agent Romanoff, will you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?"

Natasha nods, standing to her feet. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

The Russian woman and the doctor walk off towards another part of the Helicarrier. I walk side-by-side with Grant up to Steve. He sheds his brown leather jacket and places it onto the table next to him. He crosses his arms and leans back against the railing. "Like what you see?" I ask, leaning against the railing beside him. Grant hurries ahead of us to peer outside the large window that has a view of the ocean and clouds below us.

"It's amazing," he replies.

"You know, Peggy was here to christen the first one of these."

That catches Steve's attention. "Really?"

I nod with a smile. "It was July 4th, 1981. Director Carter herself came out to the New York Harbor to see off the first Helicarrier. I wasn't there, sadly. I was in Rio getting Rose, Dum Dum, and I a large suite beside the sea for a well-deserved vacation. I couldn't get back in time." I chuckle at the memory. "Rose told me that when Peggy broke the champagne bottle across the bow, it blasted all over Howard."

Steve chuckles at the mental image I give him. "Sounds like it was a fun sight."

I bump shoulders with him. "It wasn't the first time she had spilled a drink on Howard Stark."

"And I'm sure it wasn't the last." Agent Coulson walks up to Steve with a polite smile. "Agent Coulson."

"Captain Rogers."

Steve smiles at Coulson. "Just Steve."

"All right, Steve then. Nice to see you, too, Sergeant Barnes."

"Oh, please," I chuckle. "Just Emma. Sergeant Barnes was my husband. I'm hardly American military anymore." I peak over at one of the monitors of an agent, seeing facial recognition software sifting through millions of faces. "Are they looking for Loki?"

"Yes. No luck so far, but we'll get him eventually. He can't hide forever." Coulson pauses. "Say, would you two be up for doing something personal for me?"

"Sure," Steve replies. "What do you need?"

"I have these trading cards from when I was younger. They're of you both." He shuffles where he stands. "I collected them. They're very special to me, and, well, I never thought I'd actually be able to get them signed by the Lady Liberty and Captain America."

I give Coulson a friendly grin. "We'd be delighted."

Agent Coulson's smile grows wider. "I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

Steve shakes his head. "No, no. It's fine."

Coulson leans against the railing beside us. "It's a vintage set. It took me a couple years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but--"

Another agent interrupts Phil Coulson, "We got a hit." Steve and I hurry over to the screen, seeing a picture of a dark-haired man in a suit. "A 67% match. Wait," the computer picks up another image, this one more clear, "Cross match, 79%."

Coulson comes to stand beside us. "Location?"

"Stuttgart, Germany, 28 Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

Fury announces, "Captain, Sergeant, you're up."

Steve and I nod, and we're escorted to our locker room. The agents leave us be at the door. We walk inside, seeing a large glass case containing our updated uniforms. The case is labeled "Captain America and Lady Liberty." Beside Steve's Captain America uniform is his shield. "Why is your title always first?" I asks, filling the silence.

"Maybe because I was the first?" Steve suggests, his eyes glued to the uniform.

"But which of us has actually been around for the previous sixty-seven years?"

"Next time they redesign our locker room, I'll be sure to tell Fury to change it."

·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·•·

The moment we get to Germany, at the location where Loki was seen, we see hundreds of people flocking out of the large presentation hall. The Quinjet veers closer, and Steve and I prepare to jump out the back. Our new uniforms fit nicely, our signature weapons are in hand. "Just like old times?" Steve chuckles as the back of the Quinjet opens.

"Just like old times," I agree. From up above, I spot an elderly man standing up from a crowd of kneeling people. The villain known as Loki aimed his weapon, a scepter, towards the elderly man. "We have to move now!"

Steve spots the same thing I do, and we jump as soon as the Quinjet hovers above. Steve puts his shield out to protect himself. The weapon fire of Loki's staff reflects off the metal. It reflects back to Loki, knocking the dark-haired Asgardian off his feet.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany," Steve says, walking towards Loki, "and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

I take a place beside Steve, my bowstaff gripped tightly. Loki rises, a mischievous smile on his pale features. "The soldiers. The man out of time, and the woman with nothing but."

"I'm not the one who's out of time," Steve comments as the Quinjet flies back around to hover in the distance.

Romanoff puts on the PA system, commanding, "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

Loki, without replying, fires his magical staff towards the Quinjet. The bolt of blue energy barely misses the aircraft. Steve tosses his shield towards Loki. We both hurry towards the Asgardian, using right hooks to leave a mark on his face.

Loki recovers, using his staff to blow Steve back. I dodge the weapon, using my bowstaff to fight him off. Steve tosses his shield towards Loki again, running up to help me. We dodge several more blows before Loki throws Steve forward again. He uses his magic to toss me in the opposite direction.

As I pull myself up and grab my bowstaff, I see Loki press the hilt of his scepter onto Steve's head. "Kneel."

"Not today!" Steve pushes the weapon off his head. He gets up and throws his foot out to knock Loki back. I launch myself at him, knocking him in the back several times with the electrical part of my weapon. Loki cries softly, turning around with angry eyes to blow a blast of blue energy at me. I take it head-on as Steve joins the fight once again.

Loki swings his staff, knocking Steve in the head. Steve falls over, barely catching himself before he hits the ground. Loki goes in for the kill. I run at my top speed to throw myself in front of the blast, taking it for my friend. "Emma!" he shouts, and I land beside him. "What the hell?"

I cough heavily, trying to catch my breath. Loki aims again. Before he can fire, ACDC starts playing over the PA system in the Quinjet. A stream of fire seems to come through the dark sky. It catches all our attention.

When it gets close, the Iron Man fires an orange energy blast towards Loki. It knocks him back further than anything we ever did. Iron Man lands beside us, his gloves fixed on the unmoving Asgardian. The music comes to its end as he stops at a heroic pose.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Steve and I help each other up, standing beside the crimson and gold Iron Man suit. Loki slowly raises his hands, his daft attire fading away. Iron Man lowers his weapons, replying, "Good move."

Steve and I attempt to catch our breaths. "Hello, Tony," I say, wincing in pain.

"Mister Stark," Steve addresses the son of the man he once knew.

"Captain, Lady," Tony Stark replies.

I tap the wrist communicator that's built into my suit. "Stand down, Natasha. We got him."

Natasha lands the Quinjet, and we take Loki into custody. He's cuffed and placed in one of the seats in the back. Tony remains in his suit until all is well and we're in the air.

I take a seat in the back, far enough away from Loki that he can't touch me. I pull down the chest part of my new uniform, revealing the white T-shirt underneath. I feel something hurting on my side and wince as I try to find where it is.

Once Steve turns to see what I'm doing, he rushes over to tend to my wounds. "Are you hurt?"

I cry softly as his hands find the bruise under my T-shirt. He lifts up the fabric to see a large, purple bruise spreading across my left side. "Jeez, Em. You need to be more careful."

I nod, trying to breathe properly. "I'll be fine in an hour or so. My healing abilities have gotten quite a bit stronger since you last saw them. Now I heal in hours, if I'm not already dead."

Steve chuckles despite the mood. "Why did you jump in front of me? I could've taken the blow."

"Better me than you," I reply, lowering my T-shirt. "I can heal. You can't. Better I take a hit than you."

Steve's brows pull together. "You shouldn't risk your life, though, Emma. You have a son."

"It's my life to risk," I retort. "I will spend it how I wish."

We soon hear Fury on the radio. "Is he saying anything?"

"Not a word," Natasha replies, eyes glued to the sky ahead of her.

"Just get him here. We're low on time."

Iron Man retracts his helmet as Natasha flips the radio to silence. Steve pats my knee and walks over to Tony, turning his back to Loki so he can't hear. I'm near enough to make out what he whispers. "I don't like it."

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

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

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Steve turns to glare at Tony. "What's your thing, pilates?"

"What?" Steve asks, annoyed.

"It's like calisthenics," Tony replies. "You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle."

Steve ignores the comment. "Fury didn't tell us he was calling you in."

Tony scoffs, "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." The other Stark turns towards me. "Such as how on earth you're back in the States. I thought you went all murder-y in the late 20th century, got put on the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted. Y'know, the whole shebang."

"Fury enlisted me to ease Steve back into normalcy," I reply. "Well, normalcy for the 21st century. Then when he asked for Steve's help with this case," I nod towards Loki, "I came as well."

"You two really are as inseparable as Dad used to say," Tony says, almost in a tone of admiration. "Hm. Weird. I used to love you guys. All Dad's stories, all Aunt Peggy's, too."

"What happened?" Steve asks.

Tony turns towards Steve with a frustrated look in his eyes. "I realized he loved you two more than he ever loved me."

I shake my head. "Tony, that's not true."

Tony's sharp gaze turns my way. "He wasn't your father."

Thunder starts to blast outside the aircraft. Natasha turns on the weather radar. "Where's this coming from?" she asks no one in particular.

A bolt of lighting strikes around the Quinjet, and Loki starts to become uneasy. "What's the matter?" Steve asks him. "Are you scared of a little lightning."

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

As he finishes his statement, a loud thud comes from on top of the aircraft. Tony and Steve put their helmets back on, and I pull on the upper portion of my suit. Tony pulls the lever for the rear hatch to open. "What in the name of the King are you doing?" I shout over the wind and weather swarming into the Quinjet.

Before Iron Man can reply, a large man lands on the hatch. He's tall and muscular, blond hair resting on his shoulders. He wears attire like Loki with a long red cape flowing behind him. In his hand is a large hammer.

Iron Man attempts to fight this stranger off. The blond man pushes Tony out of the way, grabs Loki by the collar, and flies off the ship. Tony pulls himself up, sighing, "And now there's that guy."

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha shouts over the back of her seat.

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve shouts.

"Doesn't matter," Stark replies. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Iron Man turns towards the rear hatch.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve insists as I stand beside him.

"I have a plan: attack." With that last comment, Tony flies out the back and after Loki.

Steve shakes his head, and we head straight for the parachutes. "I'd sit this one out, guys" Natasha advises.

"I don't see how we can," Steve answers the red-head.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."

Steve tightens his parachute as I head for the back. "There's only one God, Ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Steve joins me at the back, looking to me before we jump. "You ready?"

"Let's get this wanker!"

Steve and I pull our parachutes as we jump from the Quinjet. Using the thrusters on the back, we direct ourselves towards the area where Iron Man is fighting the Asgardian. "He just can't stay away from a fight, can he?" I shout over the thunder.

We land a few meters away. After shedding our parachutes, we hurry towards the dual. Trees are down, a small fire is spreading, and the two fighters are locked in a power match. "Hey!" I shout, getting their attention from the high ground.

Steve tosses his shield between them, keeping them from going at each other again. The shield returns to Steve, and he shouts, "That's enough!" We hop down from our place above the dual. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here."

The blond man replies with anger, "I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes."

"Then prove it," Steve orders. "Put that hammer down."

"Uh, yeah...no," Tony warns. "Bad call. He loves his hammer."

Before Tony can say anything else, the blond Asgardian heaves a heavy swing of the hammer. He knocks the Iron Man far away from us. Steve and I take our fighting stances. The Asgardian shouts, "You want me to put the hammer down?"

He raises his hammer, flies into the air, and strikes a loud blow to Steve's shield. A wave of energy comes off the collision, knocking both Thor and I completely off our feet. I groan as I pull myself up, ringing in my ears the only thing I can hear. Tony pulls himself up as well, the Asgardian following suit. I brush myself off, pulling twigs from my hair.

Steve turns to me. "Are you okay?"

I tuck my blonde hair under my helmet again, nodding. "Never better."

Steve turns to Iron Man and the Asgardian. "Are we done here?"

END CHAPTER EIGHT: Two Demigods and A Billionaire.