Russia, Solenski Plaza.

In the cold night of Russia, nearby a railroad, a large general by the name of Georgi Luchkov, stood beside his thugs, watching them torture none other than Natasha Romanoff herself. Natasha was undercover in a black dress, being beaten from blount punches to the cheeks.

"Не так я хотел провести вечер.*" Luchkov growled in Russian to her, as she spit out blood nearby. "Я знаю, как ты хотел, чтобы этот вечер прошел." Natasha retorted. "Поверьте, это лучше."

(This is not how I wanted the night to go. —- I know how you wanted the night to go. Believe me, this is better.)

One of the thugs opened Natasha's mouth wide, checking for possible cyanide as Luchkov continued. "Я хотел бы знать, почему вас послали нести переноску, витраж и другие случайные предметы.*" Luchkov questioned as the thug now tilted her chair back, into a gaping hole. "Я-я думал, что генерал Сохолоб отвечает за экспорт?" Natasha asked confusingly, looking scared for her life.

"Сохолоб? Ваша репутация — это прогресс. Знаменитая Черная вдова..." Luchkov laughed. "ничего, кроме красивого лица."

(I'd like to know why they sent you to carry out a carrier, a stained glass and other items. – I thought General Soholob was in charge of the export business. – Soholob? Your reputation is quite a progression. The Famous Black Widow. Nothing but a pretty face.)

"Ты думаешь, я красивая?" Natasha bluntly asked, to which the general willfully ignored. "Нам не нужны Лермонтовы для переброски танков." He instructed her. "Скажи ему, ну... you may have to write it down."

Suddenly, one of the thug's phone rings loudly, and to his own confusion, he meekly answers, passing the phone to the general. "Who the hell is..." Luchkov asked threateningly before hearing the demands of the other side.

"You're at 114 Solenski Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F22 exactly eight miles out and a secret weapon near the ceiling. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby, assuring he doesn't catch you first."

Luchlov quivers in his boot, near about the point to shit himself. He slides the phone against Natasha's cheekbone, as she was tied back to the chair with her arms held behind her. "We need you to come in." Coulson spoke up to Natasha.

"Are you kidding?" Natasha talked back in English. "I'm working."

"This takes precedence."

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation and this moron is giving me everything." "I don't give everything..." Luchkov answered back, just as Natasha gave him a look. 

"Dude, by you just talking about anything, you're giving her everything." A mysterious voice spoke through the room, just as Natasha leaned back into the phone.  "You brought him here?" She fumed. "He wanted to spend time with his sister and his nephew!"

"He understood what Director Fury wanted to do."

"Look, you can't pull me out of this right now." Natasha calmed down as the thugs and the general were searching for the voice.

"Natasha. Barton's been compromised."

Something in Natasha's head flipped as those words circulated in her head. Clint Barton was the one who gave her a second chance at life in S.H.I.E.L.D, and she had greatly respected him. And to know something terrible had to have happened... she'd want to avenge him.

"Let me put you on hold," Natasha whispered. She motions to Luchkov, who proceeds to take back the phone, only for her to kick him in the knees. She hops up with the chair still bound to her, as the two thugs run up to her, but only one makes it. The other however is being held up in the air by some force, before being slammed into the wall.

"Idiot." Zach's voice boomed as Natasha continuously fought off her suppressors, de-cloaking himself to reveal a new tactical suit underneath, bearing his own insignia and technology. Natasha dropped the leg of the chair directly on a thug's foot, and the two agents continued to fight off the thugs, while Coulson sat idly by, waiting patiently.

Eventually, Natasha broke herself out of the chair, using her scissor move to take down the last one before the two moved to Luchkov. Zach knocked him into a metal pole, while Natasha slipped a chain to his leg, and dropped him down the hole, hanging him upside down long enough for the blood to go to his head.

Natasha picked up the phone, while Zach tossed her heels, and she spoke again to Coulson. "Where's Barton now?" She asked him as the two began to leave.

"We don't know."

"But he's alive?"

"We think so," Coulson answered. "I'll brief you two on everything when you get back. But first, we need you two to talk to the big guy."

"Coulson, you and Zach both know that his dad trusts me," Natasha began. "As far as he can throw me." "No, we don't have my dad," Zach answered with a sigh. "Coulson's got him. We have... THE big guy." Natasha's smirk dropped as she swore. "Bozhe moi."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. found him though, Coulson gave me the coordinates," Zach pulled up a screen on his gauntlet, pinging the location. He zoomed in on Kolkata, India, near the slums of the area. "That's where he's hiding. Bruce Banner himself."

Kolkata, India.

A little girl runs through the slummish streets of Kolkata, passing through crowds of people in a rush, trying to get where she needs to be. Visibly upset, she is urgently running to the nearest doctor in the area. Eventually, she reaches her destination, a small hut with others inside, on cots.

"Undar nei ah sucta!*" A man calls out to the girl, whom she ignored. However, a nearby woman had spotted her. "Tum khon who?" She asks. "Ya se ja! Yampe booth bimari hai!"

(You can't come in here! — Who are you? Get out! There are many sick people here!)

"You're a doctor!" the girl cries. "Meri papa ne i utare hai!" She then went on to say he has a fever, he's been moaning in pain, and his eyes won't open. "Derie bowl." The doctor says calmly, showing himself to her.

"Meri papa..." The girl spoke slowly, as the doctor showed her the other patients. "Please," the girl begged in English, holding out a few rupees.

The girl took the doctor to another hut, nearby a few towers and decaying fields of grass. A car had rolled by them, for which the doctor stopped her, and turned away from the view of the driver. Once they were gone, they proceeded into the hut.

However, as they walked in, the girl ran faster, and escaped out a window.

And Bruce Banner stood there, like a deer in headlights, standing there like a dumbass. "Should've got paid up front, Banner," He muttered to himself, as footsteps came around behind him, a man in his early twenties showed himself.

"Wow... Dr. Bruce Banner himself!" The man exclaimed in glee, as he walked forward to him. "I still can't believe I'm meeting you, in the very flesh! I'm a big fan of your work – well, I don't think you'd like to talk about that incident nearby Harlem..."

Banner flinched, untrusting of the person in front of him. "Oh, I'm friendly, don't worry," The man comfortingly said. "I don't wanna do anything to spook you – I'll even introduce myself. My name is Zach Danvers-Stark."

"Stark?" Banner repeated. "Right, you're his kid. Did Ross send you?"

"As if I want anything to do with that grumbly asshole," Zach answered. "Pompous jerk."

"You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress," a new voice spoke to Banner. "You picked a hell of a place to settle." Natasha walked by out of the curtains, looking around the place. "Avoiding stress isn't the secret," Banner answered back. "Then what is it?" Natasha retorted. "Yoga?"

"You both brought me to the edge of the city... smart," Banner flipped. "I –uh– assume the whole place is surrounded." He looked through the windows, scouting left & right to see anyone ready to shoot and kill him on sight.

"Just you and the two of us," Zach listed. "And your actress buddy," Banner said. "Is she a spy too? Do they start that young?"

"I did." Natasha's voice faltered, just as Zach looked to her, noticing the break. In the time they spent together, Natasha regaled him with her origin; an orphan girl born in Russia abandoned by her parents taken into the Red Room, a sinister and cruel program designed to turn orphan girls into heartless killing machines.

She was placed in it when she was little, and put back into it with her adoptive sister, Yelena Belova by their quote-on-quote, "dickhead father," Alexei Shostakov. They were no longer even people after the Red Room had finished training them. They were murderers – a red ledger Natasha wanted gone.

Zach quickly brushed her hand with his, without Banner noticing. "Who are you?" Banner asked her.

"Natasha Romanoff." She answered quickly.

"Are you both here to kill me, Miss Romanoff?" Bruce asked with a coy smile. "Because that's not gonna work out for everyone."

"No, no, of course not." Natasha assured him. "I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D. Plus, my partner here has said he's a big fan of your work."

"S.H.I.E.L.D, how did they find me?" "Because S.H.I.E.L.D. never lost you, Dr. Banner," Zach answered. "They've been watching you, and have gotten some people, like Ross, off your back. I'm saying this because they did the same for me."

"Why?"

"Nick Fury seems to trust you," Natasha answered. "But we need you to come in.

"What if I said no?"

"We'll persuade you."

"What if..." Banner asked again. "The other guy says no?"

"You've practically had one of those charts that say "blank-amount-of-days-without-an-accident," in your head," Zach reasonably answered. "I don't think you wanna make that number go all the way down to zero."

"I don't always get what I want..."

"Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe," Natasha dictated as she took her phone and pulled up an image before walking to Zach. 

"Hold onto my arm, this could be a trip for you," She whispers to him. Zach nodded and held on, knowing that this could potentially fuck him in the head. Natasha placed down the phone in front of Banner, with an image of the Tesseract.

"This... is the Tesseract." Natasha spoke as Banner whipped out a pair of glasses. Zach's head started to urge and distort, hearing the same message he'd hear every night. Natasha had known about some of them because she had been startled awake some nights to find Zach frantically sweating in his sleep, and jolting up in panic.

"World will be his–"

"Universe, yours."

"And the humans, what can they do... but burn."

"But burn? – But burn? – BUT BURN?"

"What does Fury want me to do, swallow it?"

"Well, he wants you to find it. It's been taken," Natasha said. "It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be."

"So Fury isn't after the monster?"

"Not that he's told me."

"And he tells you everything?"

"Talk to Fury, he needs you on this."

"He needs me in a cage?"

"No-one's going to put you in a –"

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Banner roared furiously, snapping Zach out of his trance and powering up, his eyes turning cosmic blue just as his fists lit up with the same electric color. Natasha, in fear, took the gun under the table and pointed it at him. Banner quickly took a response and stood straight up, smiling just a little.

"I'm sorry, that was mean," Bruce apologized. "I just wanted to see what you'd do." He turned to Zach, whose eyes were still cold blue. "I didn't expect this however – why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and he doesn't use those," He asked calmly, pointing to the gun and the powered arms. "And the other guy doesn't make a mess–"

"Natasha..." Zach whispers gently as he took Banner's word into account, but Natasha, being a seasoned spy, is still wary, and didn't lower her gun until a few seconds later, and spoke into her earpiece.

"Stand down," She commanded. "We're all good here."

Just outside, a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D agents stood by, awaiting word to see if Banner needed to be put down, lowered their weapons in response to the Black Widow.

"Just the three of us?" Banner sarcastically answered.

Brooklyn, New York.

Steve Rogers focuses his fists on a punching bag in front of him, punching it as hard as he could. For the WWII veteran, he had been asleep for seventy years in ice, and had missed out on most of his natural life. The man was chronologically WAY past his prime, ranking in his 90s.

And the memories past this present time, he tried to repress.

As Steve continued punching, all the memories came flashing back to him, just as painful cause to him, it was a day ago. For everyone else, it was a lifetime ago. The landing of the Valkyrie was one of the first to occupy his mind.

"There's not enough time!" Steve remembered he had told Peggy. "I gotta put her in the water!" Just as he heard his thoughts, he punched harder. He remembered holding his compass, encasing a picture of the woman he loved, Peggy Carter, just at the moment he crashed.

He remembered what happened to the Red Skull when he picked up the Tesseract, instantly disintegrating upon his touch. 

 WHACK!

Waking up in the present day, to find the entire world changed overnight, and he lost seventy years of his life. 

Another WHACK!

And with all the punches, he throws one final one, flinging the bag across the room, and sand burst from the seams, as the Captain breathes hard, regretting everything. He picks up another punching bag over his shoulder, hooks it up, and starts punching again.

"Trouble sleeping?" Nick Fury spoke up to him as he walked in, as Steve saw him as the first person to give him closure when he woke up. "I've slept for seventy years, sir," Steve answered just as a soldier would. "I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world," Fury said as Steve continued to punch the new bag, just as hard. Steve continued for a few seconds, then stepped away to unwrap his hands of the wraps he was using. "When I went under, the world was at war," Steve explained. "I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."

Steve was right. As he had experienced first-hand in World War II, they had lost so many people, people he once saved as Captain America. But to Steve, he lost friends, allies, and most importantly, his best friend, James Buchanan Barnes, also known by his famous nickname, Bucky Barnes.

He thought Bucky was killed, but he found out he was alive and rescued him and his 107th Infantry Regiment in 1943. However, on a mission in the Austrian Alps, Bucky had fallen to his death off of a moving train from several feet.

 His body was ever found, one of Steve's biggest regrets.

"We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury reasoned with the Captain. "Some very recently."

"Are you here with a mission, sir?"

"I am."

"Trying to get me back in the world?"

"Trying to save it," Fury handed him a open file, with an object Steve would recognize immediately. The Tesseract. Last he'd see it, the Red Skull had dropped it after being killed, and it melted a hole in the ship that it would have fallen to the bottom of the ocean. "Hydra's secret weapon." Steve muttered.

"Howard Stark fished it out of the ocean when he was looking for you," Fury listed. "He thought that the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

Rogers closed the file and handed it back to Fury, with a look in his eyes that he'd never see the damn thing again. "Who took it from you?" He asked seriously. "He's called Loki." Fury explained. "He's not from around here." He fiddled with the file, looking back at the veteran. "There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything could surprise me," Steve doubted as he stood up, ready to leave the gym for the night. 

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." Fury watched Rogers pick up another punching bag, and take his gym bag with him. "There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment."

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract we ought to know now?" Fury called to Rogers, who began to walk out.

"You should have left it in the ocean." Steve coldly responded.

Atlantic Ocean, New York.

In the deep of the sea, Tony Stark – rather known as the Iron Man – was suited up cutting through a pipeline transport with his laser cutter. The outer shell of the pipeline fell off as it was cut through, and Tony took an energy reactor to place it inside the pipe. The device spun around, turned and expanded over the cut piece, lighting up as it was fully secured.

As he achieved his results, Tony flew out of the water, and blasted off to Stark Tower in New York. "You're good on this end," Tony spoke to his assistant and girlfriend, Pepper Potts. "The rest is up to you."

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?"

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy," Tony answered back, watching the projection of the tower light up in his H.U.D.

"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works."

"I assume," Tony spoke in a matter-of-fact voice, almost to the tower. "Light her up." As he gave his command, Stark Tower lit up floor-by-floor, as it now stood as one of the tallest buildings in New York. At the top was the penthouse arena, and just outside of it, the word "STARK" flashed with two lines intersecting through them.

"How's it look?" Pepper asked him for his thoughts. "Like Christmas..." Tony replied. "But with more... me."

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign," Pepper still continued her job as Stark Industries C.E.O. "You need to do some press. Amara and I are in D.C. tomorrow, we're working on the zoning for the next three buildings.

"Pepper, you're killing me. The moment, remember?" Tony blasted upwards towards the penthouse. "Enjoy the moment."

"Get in here, and I will," Pepper whispered as he landed on a platform. As his feet hit the ground, Tony took his steps forward, as a giant mechanical ring followed him to disassemble his suit. "Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D, is on the line." Jarvis announced to him as a rig reached for the helmet, breaking it apart to reveal Tony's face, unchanged from the past four years.

"I'm not in," Tony answered him. "I'm actually out."

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Grow a spine, Jarvis. I got a date."

Tony finally got out of the suit, and had a lengthy conversation with Pepper about the reactor and still continued to bicker like an old married couple. "Sir, the telephone." Jarvis had to interrupt, which he thankfully did. "I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."

"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." Coulson's voice forcefully fed into Tony's phone, but Tony had thought of a brilliant, yet snarky voicemail-esque message for the man. "You have reached the life-model-decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message."

"This is urgent."

"Then leave it urgently." Tony snarked once more, but the elevator doors opened to reveal Coulson standing there on the phone with a file of paperwork, but this time, without his usual smile. "Security breach," Tony pointed at him, with a blank expression on his face, but Pepper had welcomed the agent in. "Phil! Come in!"

"Phil?" Tony said in a sarcastic tone. "Uh, his first name is Agent."

"Come on in, we're celebrating." "Which is why he can't stay."

"We need you to look this over," Coulson took the file and prepared it for Tony. "As soon as possible." Tony simply looked down, and looked back to the agent. "I don't like being handed things."

"That's alright, cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade," Pepper took the file from his hands and exchanged it with her glass of champagne, then she gave the file over to Tony in exchange for his glass. "Thank you!" She replied, taking a quick sip from his glass.

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," Tony bluntly stated in a joking way, as he always did.

"This isn't a consultation." Phil replied to him, just as serious.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked in excitement. "Which I... I know nothing about. Except our son qualified as one?" "The Avengers initiative was scrapped, I thought," Tony answered her question. "And I didn't qualify. And instead of being that, Zach's been training with Mission Impossible for four years."

"This isn;t about personality profiles anymore," Coulson repeated his sentiment. "Whatever," Tony ignored him, trying to see what it was he was given. "Miss Potts, got a minute?" Pepper walked over to him, as he was placing files into the database. "You know, I thought we were having a moment." Tony whispered to her.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment. This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."

"How did you notice? Why is he Phil?"

"What is all of this?" Pepper asked as she watched Tony separate the files into information they could see. "This is, uh..." Tony waved his arms out, expanding each file in front of all of them. All of the files were all information on the candidates for the Avengers Initiative.

To Tony's left, files of Bruce Banner's exploits in Harlem and at a U.S. base. To their right, a video played of what looked like a giant suit of armor opening it's face, and spewing a powerful laser, but Thor had approached the Destroyer Armor, and faced it in battle. And in front of them were two files. One of Captain America, and one of their son, Zach.

Footage was shown of Captain America taking on Nazi's in WWII, and his thawing out when he was found in 2011, while on the other side, Zach was shown with his father facing The Iron Monger and Whiplash, along with some of his Shield missions with Natasha. Most of the footage of those were from body cams.

"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight..." Pepper decided. "Tomorrow," Tony declared.

"You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework."

En route to the Shield Aircraft

"We're about forty minutes from home base, sir," the pilot of the Shield quinjet declared to Coulson, who sat by a computer, taking off his headset and approached Steve, who had come along. "So this Doctor Banner," Steve asked him. "Was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?"

"A lot of people were," Coulson answered, being a total history nerd, and secretly was fangirling about the chance to meet his childhood hero. "You were the world's first superhero! Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

"Didn't go his way, did it?"

"Not so much," Coulson answered yet again. "When he's not that thing though, guy's like Stephan Hawking." Steve looked to the agent with confusion, as he did not know who that Hawking character was. "He's like a smart person," Coulson clarified. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially." Steve offered a soft smile at his fan.

"I've sort of met you – I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping," Coulson clarified once more, watching as Steve's head dipped down as that made a turn. Rogers closed the device, and stood up, as Coulson continued to ramble on. "I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice."

Steve approached the hood of the Quinjet, placing his right on the ceiling. "You know, it's really, a huge honor to have you on board." Coulson immediately stopped.

"I just hope I'm the man for the job," Steve commented.

"Oh, you are, absolutely!" Coulson exclaimed in glee. "Uh, we've made some modifications to the uniform." He added. "I had a little design input."

"The uniform?" Steve asked. "Aren't the stars & stripes a little... old fashioned?" Coulson deeply sighed, and looked back into his hero's eyes. "With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might need a little old fashioned."

Underground Lab, 2012.

As of the current hour, Loki amassed more followers under his bidding, and the Asgardian watched his minions and pawns work without the pressures of freedom. However, the God sat in one place with his scepter, unknowing that it contained the Mind Stone, one of the several Infinity Stones in existence, and began to mediaite as the scepter glowed blue.

To Loki, the walls of the lab crumbled into space, and it began to feel much colder than it already was. But as a Frost Giant of Jotunheim, Loki held no weakness or flaw to it, and brushed it off as nothing. But what really brought chills to the Frost Giant, was no man, but the one that went by the name, "The Other."

"The Chituari grow restless." The Other growls to Loki, as the being stood feet away from him, but this was a distant memory from when Loki first acquired the power of the scepter, as well as the Chituari.

"Let them gird themselves." Loki saw himself appear in front of the Other, now in armor over fine Asgardian leather, along with his notable horned-helmet. "I will lead them into glorious battle."

"Battle?!" The Other chrottled. "Against the meager might of Earth?"

"Glorious, not lengthy," Loki appealed to the Other. "If your force is as formidable as you claim."

"YOU QUESTION US!?" The Other yelled in the face of Loki's doubts. "You question HIM!? He, who put the scepter in your hand? Who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out? Defeated?"

"I was a king!" Loki exclaimed. "The rightful king of Asgard, betrayed."

The Other roared. "Your ambition is little, born of childish need." The being growled at him. "We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil."

"You don't have the Tesseract yet," Loki scoffed like a child, which was evidently a mistake. The Other rushed to Loki, raising his six-fingered arm at him, but Loki pointed the scepter straight at him. "I don't threaten," Loki reassured the Other. "But until I open the doors – until your force is mine to command, you are but words."

"You will have your war, Asgardian. If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you."

"You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain." The Other reached the right side of Loki's face, pushing him back to reality, as Loki winced at the feeling of that creature grabbing him and threatening his life with the torment of their master.

The Middle of the Sea

The quinjet had approached an aircraft carrier and began it's descent upon a landing pad, while Natasha and Zach watched as it landed. "Show the captain his gear," Coulson commanded an agent just as he and Rogers met with Romanoff and Zach.

"Agent Romanoff, Agent Danvers-Stark," Coulson greeted them and showed them to Steve. "Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am," Steve spoke politely while Natasha responded with a "hi". However, Zach's eyes were wide in amazement as THE Captain America – the very man Edwin Jarvis told him about – stood right in front of him. He was staring at THE Star-Spangled Man with a Plan. Deep down, he was just as excited as Coulson was.

"They need you on the Bridge," Natasha told Coulson. "They're starting the face-trace." Coulson acknowledged and left the three there. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Natasha told Steve as they all walked together.

"I thought Coulson was gonna swoon, but I know my partner here is just bursting with excitement," She looked back at Zach, as she sent him her signature smirk, while Zach just snickered. "Is that right?" Steve asked as he turned to Zach, and put out his hand to shake. "Great to meet you, son. Coulson said part of your name is "Stark"?"

Zach eagerly shook his hand, and nodded, "Uh, yes – yes, sir!" Zach stuttered. "I'm actually – actually your old colleagues' – Howard Stark – I'm his g-grandson – sir."

"Howard had kids?" Steve asked in surprise. "Last I saw him, he was the world's most eligible bachelor. Glad to see he settled down though."

"Well, to be fair," Zach added as he rubbed his head. "His son, Tony, adopted me when I was young." Steve nodded just as Banner approached them, also just as confused around all the agents. "Doctor Banner!" Steve exclaimed as he then held out his hand for him. "Oh, yeah, hi." Banner nervously answered as he still shook his hand. "They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is, you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about."

"Must be strange for you, all of this," Banner remarked. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar." Steve responded.

"Gentleman, you may wanna step inside in a minute," Natasha advised them. "It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." Suddenly, the aircraft starts shaking and most of the crew head inside, ready for what was coming. "Is this a submarine?" Steve questioned as he narrowed his eyes, almost feeling his age..

"Really?" Banner added. "They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?"

"Nah, this isn't a sub," Zach said to them. "But the thing is... this aircraft carrier is an aircraft itself." To Banner and Rogers' surprise, four metal lift fans lifted the aircraft up in the air. The water filtered through the fans as turbines powered up. "Oh, this is much worse," Banner added in a sarcastic tone.

And soon enough, the Helicarrier took flight.

Aboard the Helicarrier

The Helicarrier bustled with multiple people at their stations, monitoring and surveying possible anomalies throughout the world. Many agents were walking to their assignments, most at their stations keeping the Helicarrier in flight, while others stood guard.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. Emergency protocol 193.6 in effect!" Hill announced to all the agents by their control panels, before turning to Fury, who stood firmly by the center. "We are at level, sir."

"Good," Fury said. "Let's vanish."

"Engage retro-reflection panels!" Hill announced as the crew quickly adjusted settings, the helicarrier on the outside, the panels flipped to cloak the giant machine, making it invisible to anyone.

"Gentleman," Fury greeted once he got the go-ahead from Bridge Tech. Steve turned his head, made a couple strides forward, digging into his pocket and fishing out 10 dollars, showing he had been surprised. Fury took the bill, and walked over to Banner to shake his hand.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," He spoke calmly and sincerely, not to agitate him. Banner reluctantly accepted it, and shook his hand.

"Thanks for asking nicely," Banner answered. "So, uh... how-how long am I staying?"

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

"Where are you with that?" Banner asked as he walked to check anything, just as Fury pointed to Coulson for briefing. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet." Coulson explained. "Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time." Natasha said as she was looking through Barton's profile on a nearby computer screen.

"And a while longer if I can figure out what the hell happened to this Quinjet," Zach said as he walked to Fury. "Director, the navigation are completely fried and all out of sorts. What the hell happened to it?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I ever told you," Fury cryptically responded.

"Y'know, that's the same excuse you said about me asking about your eye," Zach said. "But I have my theories about that."

"And you'll never know the truth." Fury said. "Keep trying your best, if not, we'll install a new system and you code it so it's not as vulnerable." "Yes, sir," Zach said as he went back off to get back to work.

"You have to narrow the field," Banner suggested. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know," Banner told Coulson, "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?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please," Fury politely asked Natasha. "And actually, get the crew to work on that quinjet, relieve Zach from that so he can help him."

Natasha walked forward ahead of Banner as he followed after the agent. "You're gonna love it, Doc, we got all the toys."

– An hour later –

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble?"

"No, no, it's fine."

"It's a vintage set," Coulson talked about his Captain America trading cards. "It took me a couple years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges..."

"We got a hit!" Agent Jasper Sitwell exclaimed, grabbing Coulson, Steve and Fury's attention. "Sixty-seven percent match – wait, cross-match, Seventy-nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson asked.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstraße." Sitwell read as an image of Loki appeared, well dressed in a suit. "He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain." Fury announced, as Steve turned around. "You're up. Agent Danvers-Stark will be joining you on the ground."

Stuttgart, Germany, 2012.

In a lavish gala, stood a well-dressed Loki in earthy – or as he called it – Midgardian attire, with his scepter disguised as a cane. He watched over the humans on the second floor, scanning for the person Barton needed, or more rather, the eye of the person.

He walked down the stairs, clutching his cane by the top, and made his way down. His hand inched up to the head of the cane, and he flipped it in his hand, catching the end of it, and whipping it towards the head of a nearby guard.

THWACK!

The guard quickly fell from the blunt force, shocking everyone as the curator turned to face Loki, as the god grabbed him by the shoulder, and flipped him down on a platform near them, facing up.

Loki, not keeping his eyes off the man, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a strange device, a three pronged object, as it activated with a small "shhhh" and violently pressed it into the man's left eye. At the same time, a mind-controlled Barton had the same device near a retinal scanner.

The man twisted in pain, shaking in discomfort as he was being relieved of his eye, and small drops of blood splashed onto Loki's shirt, frightening everyone as they tried to leave. However, Loki simply kept where he was, as a small devilish smile was born, not caring about how much fear and strife he was creating.

Barton's device created a holographic image of the eye, fooling the scanner and opening the door, allowing him to recover a canister of iridium. Loki left the scene, with the curator now with one less eye, shrieking in panic.

His clothes glowed gold as they were merely a disguise for the now armored Loki, now with his scepter in its true form. He followed suit after the crowd and watched the fear and panic. A German police car had arrived, but Loki fired a blast from the scepter, flipping it over and over.

He projected himself before the crowd, stopping them in their tracks, as he projected more illusions of himself around them, keeping them in his circle. "Kneel before me," He commanded the German mass.

"I said..." Loki spoke up again, raising his scepter and pressing it on the ground, making the illusions of him with the specter glow blue. "KNEEL!!!" He screamed at them. They had no other choice but to do so.

Loki smiled, and beamed at their subjugation. "Is not this simpler?" He asked them, raising his arms. "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation."

"The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power... for identity. You were made... to be ruled." He explained. "In the end... you will always kneel."

However, an elderly man stood up, refusing to kneel, and faced him steadfastly. "Not to men like you." The man said, unafraid.

"There are no men like me," Loki said, as he was a god. In his mind, there were no men like him, because he is no man, but the God of Mischief.

"There are always men like you."

"Look to your elder, people," Loki called upon the crowd, grabbing their attention. "Let him be an example." Loki prepared to execute him, with his scepter pointed at the elderly man, ready to fire, but just as he did, something fell out of the air, blocking the hit, and knocking Loki down.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everyone else," A voice called out to Loki, as he got up on his knees, fuming mad as he saw a man in a red, white and blue suit, with his iconic Vibranium shield by his side.

Captain America had arrived.

"We ended up disagreeing." Loki stood up to his feet. "The soldier," He scoffed. "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Captain America stated. Above him,a Quinjet and another figure flew over them. The figure had slowly touched down, and retracted his mask, revealing Zach in his upgraded supersuit and his crest on his chest, intriguing Loki as his eyes laid on it.

"I've seen that symbol before..." He thought to himself. "Is he not Kree? Or perhaps, related to the tales of the woman they call Captain Marvel?"

"Loki, drop the weapon & stand down," A voice interrupted his thoughts, as Natasha's voice boomed over from the Quinjet. He ignored the threat and aimed quickly for the jet, but the jet moved as the blast missed, leaving himself open to Cap's shield, which bumped off Loki as he ran to duke it out.

Loki and Cap engaged in a shield vs scepter fight while Zach powered up, blasting Loki whenever he saw an opening. Loki had gained an upper hand, and swatted the Captain far away to the corner of the square.

The Soldier flung his shield towards the God, who simply batted it away as Zach quickly slid over to grab it, while Steve resorted to his fists to fight Loki. He used his fighting moves, but was knocked down once again. Loki marched over to Steve, and pressed the end of the scepter to the back of his head.

"Captain!" Zach yelled, grabbing Steve's attention as Zach used the shield to knock Loki off his course. "Wow, this thing is surprisingly easy to use." He exclaimed to himself just as he flung it towards Loki again, making another hit as the shield returned to Steve.

"It's not exactly a frisbee either, son." Steve joked as they continued to fight Loki.

"This guy's all over the place," Natasha said to herself in the Quinjet, as she was surveying the fight from above. Suddenly, a soft hum of music came through their headsets, particularly...

AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill?

"Agent Romanoff," A recognizable voice to Natasha came through to her. "Did you miss me?"

The systems in the jet had been overridden, as the music grew louder. "Stark..." Natasha whispered to herself. All three fighters on the grounds were shocked to hear music coming out of the Quinjet, but only Zach knew what this meant.

"Dad?" He squinted his eyes, knowing Tony had a flair for AC/DC and Black Sabbath.

A trail of smoke blew overhead as Tony, armed in the Mark VI suit, firing his repulsors at Loki, knocking him to the ground as Iron Man touched down, deploying every weapon it had on him.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Tony spoke sternly as Cap fixed his shield, and Zach emblazoned his fists with cosmic energy.

Loki rose his hands up up frially, and made his armor materialize away, leaving him in his simple gray-and-green robes, showing his slick back hair, and absolutely no weapons or armor of any kind.

"Good move." The weapons from the suit all disappeared as Loki accepted his surrender, and the energy from Zach's arms dissipated. "Mr. Stark," Steve nodded to Tony, seeing Howard's son for the first time.

"Captain," Tony respectfully answered, even though he hated the stories his father told him about Captain America.

"This is so awkward..." Zach whispered in his comms.

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a/n: finally, I get the time to fucking update! so I got some things to say...

first on the agenda, updates will be coming a bit faster as the end of the school year is coming, and graduation is soon, so updates until late august, before college starts.

second: seen Multiverse of Madness, and OH MY GOD, wow. I honestly liked it, and it will be happening in this book. But I ain't giving away any spoilers on what goes down.

and third! y'all, if you haven't, go check out WilsonsWits if you haven't already, they've got some great MCU books and I'm loving their stories, they're so good. please do check them out!

and that's all for me now, I hope y'all are doing good, and having a great day! I'll see ya soon!

Also, on an unrelated note: Phase 4 of the MCU has been pure...

Is Thor 4 gonna make us cry too? we ain't ready, y'all.