Discimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don’t worry, I am pletely sober).

  Stuttgart, Germany May 4, 2012

  –Steve Rogers–

  When he had first awoken in this strange new world, he was surprised, wary, a bit gd, and a little sad. Mostly because he had a date he o get to which he missed. At the same time, he was also a little gd because he got to live again when he had crashed the ship into the ice, fully prepared to die.

  Because that’s who he was, the perfect soldier, the person who would not hesitate to sacrifice everything he had to make sure that good prevailed over evil.

  Except…he did not feel like that guy these days. The war was over, the good guys won and everybody got to go bae. Except…him.

  He had visited his old house, to see if he could feel some sort of familiarity with it but that turned out to be a lost cause. Sure, the buildings looked the same from the outside but the people, the feel, the he kids, the cars, everything. Nothing was the same.

  So, he did what was expected of him. He tried to move on, to get a handle on this new lease of life that was given to him by God’s grace.

  Except….he did not know how.

  All his life, he had been the sy ohe little one. And evehe war had been a major part of his sy life where he had wanted nothing more than to join the war efforts ahe good guys win. Then, he had met Doctor Erskeine and war only became a more important thing in his life.

  So much so that at this point in his life, he had…fotten. Fotten how to live without having the stant shadow of war over his head.

  He tried. He really did. To live in a world that didn’t need him anymore. That didn’t need a super soldier to win wars because the wars he was used to, didn’t really happen anymore.

  Sure, he was still strohan ahe Army could throw at him, but he had seen the news orahing called the I. Stark, for one, had suits that could fold him in half from far away and do the same to dozens of others, all without needing to undergo any life-threatening procedure.

  Whereas he was the same, capable of taking down ptoons by himself but that's not how the current wars were fought. There was ne-scale war where he could be deployed. No, as far as his SHIELD handler could expin to him, there were only small battles, not eveween tries but between anisations that could be decred as rogue at a moment’s notice if their dastardly deeds ever came to public attention.

  Then, he entered the Green Guardian. He had seen him fly around the city, patrolling the city and stopping many crimes on his way. Almost like clockwork, the Green Giant would e floating in the air during the day and would desd with the sun, making the city a supremely safe pce during the day.

  He had eve him briefly but he did not get much out of him and holy, he was also not in the right spaind to perform a subtle interrogation. He was just happy that even after having such tremendous powers, the person chose to use his powers food.

  The SHIELD i in him was warranted but he never gave them anything beyond him spotting him and ing to meet him in his gym, the same gym that Bucky used to go to, when he was enlisted in the army and he was but a sy man.

  He was already feeling out of p this modern world, wasting away slowly but surely with o apply his skills when the call for this mission came. He had been a little happy about it at first then he realised who the other members were. He had already been feeling a little useless iire sario but seeing the sario py out in front of him just drove in the fabsp;

  Seeing Stark and Thor’s fight had already proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that even with his shield, he could probably only barely survive even one of their onsughts.

  Then he was surprised to see Stark’s shield breaking and Thor just sending a vast amount of lightning at Stark’s suit. He was about to say something but stopped when he saw the Green Guardian move. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the green barrier which protected Tony from the attack.

  He secured Loki and stood on the edge of the cliff as he saw the Green Guardian float down to the ground, requesting Thor to cooperate with them. His words were true but Thor took one look at the restrained Loki and not liking what he saw, jumped up with his hammer glowing white from all the lightning falling down on it from the sky.

  He tensed, even though he knew within that even if there were a hundred of him, there was no way to truly stop that attack. Even then, he released Loki and reached for his shield to try and throw it iweeack to give some breathing room but before he could eve a hold of his shield, he saw the Green Guardian with his arm outstretched towards Thor as a huge green wall appeared in front of him, tanking all the lightning attacks and in the moment, Thor’s hammer struck the barrier, lighting up his vision with white.

  He shielded his eyes and dropped his shield, to hold onto Loki as well. The task was made harder by the shockwave that appeared after the loud noise which destabilised the entire hill, making them fall down on their butts.

  He hurriedly blihe spot out of his vision and sat upright, looking at Loki who was looking at the se with wide eyes.

  Seeing that Loki had not fled the se, he looked in front of him and his jaw hung agape as he looked at the absolute devastation that spread for miles. Where before there was a huge vibrant green forest, was now a ravihat seemed to stretiles.

  He looked at the green glopeared out of all the dust that had been raised and was relieved to see that everyone was still upright, standing in the crater that had formed.

  Thor was shaking his hand as he looked at the still-standing shield with wide disbelieving eyes. Tony was standing behind a smaller green barrier that seemed to have protected him from the worst of the shockwave.

  _________xx_______

  –Jack Sullivan–

  “ we talk now?” He asked as the barrier that had just tanked Mjolnir’s attack dissipated. Well, that was ly true. Thor had uedly broken through six of the seven yers of barriers that he had cast, in the expectation that Mjolnir would break through some of them. The st barrier had then flung him and Mjolnir back.

  Good to know that he could stop even Mjolnir if he wao. Well, a Mjolnir that was being wielded by the current Thor. When he grows into his power, he is sure that no amount of stacked barriers will be able to stop his full strength. After all, Old King Thor could wield iergy with Strombreaker.

  “Aye,” Thor nodded as he tio shake his numb hands. Huh, this must be a first for him. Someoopping Mjolnir aside from the All-Father must be a huge shobsp;

  ‘Just wait till you meet He thehought to himself but did not say out loud. o reveal that tidbit of information and send Odin to Valhal prematurely.

  He waved his hands and the barrier proteg Stark broke apart in little shards that then dissipated into thin air. He theured to the Quihat arrived behind them a moment ter, “Shall we?”

  He said as he floated up and created two barriers that Loki and Captain stood on, bringing them up to the ramp that he had to force open because the meism was all busted. Eventually, he just removed the ramp and tossed it aside, seeing that its structural iy was busted beyond repair.

  He then looked down to see Tony and Thor standing side by side, looking up at them.

  Ah, Tony did not have his repulsors and Thor ot truly fly. Ohe Captain and Loki ehe Qui, he waved his hand, sending the barriers flying down to stop in front of Thor and Tony. Both of them stood on it as the barrier began, slowly, taking them up to the Qui.

  Ohey were all in, he dispelled the smaller barriers and summoned one big oo cover the ey of the behind of the Qui, airlog it.

  “Good to go now, Romanoff,” He said as he floated cross-legged and “closed” his fming eyes to show he was meditating. In truth, he was looking at the situation unfolding as Tony tried to remove his bunged-up suit but all its release meisms were partially promised, it would seem. He could e out of it but doing so was unnecessarily risky sidering he would get access to proper tools on the Helicarrier. He was also keeping a close eye on his mental shields as he had the Sceptre in a green barrier, encased under multiple yers of barriers. Hopefully, it did not affect his mind and it should not, sidering his training but one could never be sure with Infinity Stones in the mix.

  “Roger that,” Romanoff muttered as the Qui rocketed off, straight to the Helicarrier.

  …..

  …

  “Hello, I am Steve Rogers,” The Captain said as he looked at Thor, trying to start a versation.

  “Well met, Steve Rogers. I am Thor Odinson,” Threeted back as he fiddled with the straps.

  The versatiohere with the occasional sounds of something sparking in Tony’s suit or the back pte he was carrying disrupting the awkward sile that was more or less how their entire ride went to the Helicarrier.

  Soom, they found themselves nding on the Helicarrier. It was a surreal sight, to see a floating ship in the sky as the ramp was pletely transparent, only tinged with green as they slowly positioned for the nding.

  “Uh, Romanoff? Are YOu sure this bunged-up thing d properly?” Stark asked Romanoff as he looked at a dispy that his suit rojeg, showing the Qui and the data from various sensors.

  “Says the man wearial armour,” Romanoff quipped as she focused on the nding.

  He sighed and waved his arm, c the ey of the Qui in his barriers, “Just cut the engine, Romanoff,”

  “Well well well, look who talk now,” Stark snarked but he stayed quiet and waited for Romanoff to shut down the engine.

  As soon as she did that, red arms began bring in the Qui but he slowly lowered the jet to safely nd on the nding strip. They were surrounded by ptoons of heavily armed SHIELD agents as he created a makeshift ramp using his powers and alighted from the jet.

  The agents took Loki to take him to his special prison, most probably. All the others waited at the Qui for Romanoff to e out and then followed her in the opposite dire.

  “Gentlemen, Stark, this lease,” She said and took them to the bridge where Fury was, once again, waiting for him. He had a sense of Deja vu as Fury gred at him and Thor for some reason. Stark had already slinked off to get out of his suit and would probably join them or Banner after that, he did not know.

  “Do you have any idea how much mohe Germans are asking for? You guys damn near destroyed one of their protected forests during your slug match,” Fury did not shout but it was a close thing.

  “What?” Was the only thing Thor could say to that because to him, destroying a couple of trees must just be auesday. For a civilization that had no appreciation for nature’s gifts, it was an e. They probably could have destroyed a small town and would have gotten less fk because of the insurance payments they would have gotten. The buildings could be built in years but the trees, especially those old-growth forests could take turies.

  “Just pass on the bill to Stark. We all know he was the one who started the fight,”

  “Aye, Metal Man ambushed me,” Thor said and he could see Fury process the gal on that man as Thor had been the one who had just ambushed a Qui and ripped out Loki, his seat included with him and just flown out of the jet. Tony was just going after the person who just broke a prisoner out of their custody.

  “Whoa, whoa. Why me? Most of the damage occurred because of Point Break’s hammer fight with Greenie here. Why do I have to foot the entire bill,” Stark said as he ehe bridge, a pack of strawberries in his hand as he snacked while walking along the and bridge.

  “Well, I suppose you take out my share of the fine from all the royalty you owe me,” He rumbled as he stood there, ramrod straight. The Captain just looked fused at the by-py, as did everyone else.

  Fury turo Stark, only for him to narrow his eyes at Jack, “What Royalty?”

  “Oh, don’t py coy with me, Stark. I saw the barriers you used. It is so obvious you got the inspiration from me,” He said.

  “I am not even going to dignify that with a response,” Stark said as he strutted to the and sole where Hill was standing. Then, he did the iic se where he subtly pced a bug on the sole stand as he distracted everyone by the iive act of pg one hand on his eye and then asking how Fury saw the other dispy.

  “Stark, now that you are here, I want you to help Dr.Barack dowesseract,”

  “OK, I don’t take orders from you…but it does seem infinitely more iing than seeing your face,” Saying that absolute banger of an insult, Stark turned around a on his resumably to the Lab.

  “Stark, this will help,” He said and floated over the Sceptre to Stark who leaned away from the pointy staff. He rolled his eyes and then walked towards him.

  “Let’s go,” He said and started walking ahead, leaving Fury and Thor to discuss. He was not ined to listen to the interrogation. Prioritising Banner was the smart thing to do. He was the most destructive person on the ship, after him of course.

  Romanoff would warn them about Loki’s pn to release the Hulk on the ship soon anyway. He was more curious about any termeasures that Loki might have devised for him specifically sidering he was now intimately aware of his strength. For all of Loki’s life, Thor was sidered the gold standard for strength. That standard was raised even more when Thot Mjolnir. Mjolnir, in Loki’s mind, must be the symbol of invincibility, and seeing that get stopped right in its tracks must leave some sort of mark on Loki’s mind.

  He was curious as to how Loki might respond, sidering the big variable in pns that was his existence.

  “You seriously think I copied your powers?” Stark said as they ehe Lab. Dr.Banner looked up from his dispy and was very startled when he saw the Sceptre following them into the b, probably already knowing its mind-trol properties.

  “Didn’t you?” He said and then floated over the Tesserad deposited it on the empty table nearby.

  “Dr.Banner, match the readings from this sceptre and then search for them. The Tesserad this worked very simir so I believe they have some sort of e that allowed Loki to arrive at the same spot as the Tesseract,”

  Dr.Banner nodded and got to work oing up the sers.

  “...Okay, you could make the case that I got some inspiration from your barriers but you have no patent to speak of. How would you even patent your biological powers anyway? Anyway, if you really he money, just tell me and I set you up. You know, I have hit a roadblo strengthening the shield and ot think of any other option other than throwing more juice at it. Any ce you -”

  “Do you ever shut up?” Tony leaned back, very surprised by the insulting question.

  He sighed, “Look, we talk ter, ohe Tesseract is secured. I am sure you know how much damage it do in the wrong hands. Especially with the data you will get from Jarvis once he is done running through SHIELD’s database,”

  “What? You are doing what?!” The Captain said as he ehe b.

  “Oh yeah, in about a couple of minutes, I will have cracked the mother vault and know every deep dark secret of SHIELD. Blueberry?” He offered it to Steve who just looked ed and fused at the same time. It was kind of amusing to watch the perfect soldier’s brain stop for a split sed because the person in front of him was just so good at doing that to people.

  “And you support this?” He turo Dr.Banner and Jack.

  He didn’t have anything to say but Dr.Banner did, “Just look, this seems suspicious. What was SHIELD doing in the energy sector anyway? And if they were, why n in the world's foremost expert on energy right now?”

  “Exactly! I am so gd someone speaks my nguage here. Blueberries?” Stark excimed as he thrust the pack of blueberries at Banner who just waved it off.

  “Just, Steve, doesn’t it look at least a little shady to you?”

  Steve’s face looked flicted as he said, “Just…find the Tesseract,” He then stormed off, presumably to look for evidence, as he did in the movies.

  Now, all that was left was Romanoff and Fury io isote Bao ighe spark that would end in Loki esg his prison.

  Word t - 3103

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