//------------------------------// // Tonight I Start The Fire // Story: We Remember Everything // by Thunderscourge //------------------------------// A/N: Longest chapter thus far. Woohoo! That being said, I don't exactly own the last scene...just a part of it. Very special thanks to D48, Killabyte, Evowizard25, Drgnwolf, Ketvirtas, leo0074, and Cadmium for your more in-depth comments last chapter, but thank you to everyone who let me know what you thought and everyone who has favorited and liked this story! Seeing as how the first 4 likes/dislikes of this story were all dislikes from the moment I published (people not liking the idea I suppose), I'd say we've come a long way from that! Thank you for your support, and I hope to hear from everyone about what they think at the end of the chapter! It really does mean a lot to me, and it is what fuels faster updates! Now, enjoy! It took almost no time at all for Luna to tend to the wounded agents of the organization that introduced itself as S.H.I.E.L.D. which stood for something Luna could not remember. It seemed that someone really wanted the initials to spell out shield and that’s all that Luna cared about. She was helping them because they opposed Loki and because she could. They, along with their world (which Luna had gleamed was the Earth Loki spoke of), was of no true concern to her. Loki was. Luna would grab him and leave. Possibly find a way to bring him to his own realm, but he was her first and only priority. These beings only would serve as tools to furthering that end. More wounded were being pulling out of the wreckage of the facility Luna had arrived at, which had crumbled into pieces after she left it. It had something to do with the object Loki stole, known as the Tesseract. Save the object, end his scheme, yada, yada yada. Luna had been through others trying to destroy the world or enact some crazy scheme, so none of that was new to her. Loki being the one messing things up, a world she had no idea about, and a race she did not know were. Her talk with a man who introduced himself as Director Fury went something like this. “Okay, I think it’s about time we talked,” the dark skinned man Luna had saved approached her after she finished her self appointed task of helping those whom Loki had brought harm to. Luna nodded to him but said nothing, instead standing up to her full humanoid height from where she had crouched on the ground to help a wounded man. The Director of Shield took the moment to continue, “You are connected to Loki, but given what he has said and what you have done I can assume you are not working with him on this.” As much as being on Loki’s team would be nice and easy, Luna shook her head no. She cared not to see Loki do as she had done in her own past, “Correct. He left for this world after instigating an invasion on my own. I do not know if he intends to repeat the process, but I will do anything in my power to stop him.” The one eyed man nodded, his tone still containing a piece of apprehension, “That is good to hear. Are you an Asgardian as well?” She was surely not about to explain the whole thing of how she was a horse who could shapeshift and was for some reason not a horse at the moment thing to him. “No, I am of another realm entirely. Loki ended up there by accident, where we bonded,” Luna banished the smile that popped up unknowingly, “Something has taken control of him, however, either through threat or sorcery. I care to find out who or what has done this.” Director Fury nodded, “While as interesting a pursuit that may be, we first have to deal with the threat presented to us. Loki has taken the Tesseract, a blue cube that contains nigh unlimited power,” the magical artifact that felt so generic to Luna, “So, for now I need you to stay here with my teams until I can find a way to work you into our operation.” Seeing as how Luna was unsure how anything around her worked and she was uncomfortable asking such a busy person she thought it best to not let things continue much after that, “Understood.” The Director turned to leave Luna in the ruined room they had been using as an infirmary, but before he left he turned. “Oh, and Princess?” a small smile graced his lips, “Thanks for helping me out back there. Not that I couldn’t have survived that trivial wound of course.” As soon as the leader left Luna found herself being approached by a second man in a suit, this one with a pink skin color and short cropped hair. He had a smile on him that put Luna at ease, it being a somewhat awkward and kind smile that wouldn’t be missing on Twilight. The man found a way to broach a conversation with her by referencing the one he had just listened in on, “So, Director Fury said you have a connection with Loki.” Luna really did not wish to have a repeat of her last conversation, but she kindly returned the smile, “He is my closest friend. I have come here to stop him and whomever is causing him to do these horrible acts,” she nodded to the man before her, who lay unconscious from the wound that had previously gutted him through the chest. The suited man looked down with sympathy for the wounded man before looking back to Luna with his ever-present smile, “My name is Agent Coulson. You probably want to be brought up to speed on the situation.” She let out an exasperated breath, “I have gleamed enough for my tastes. Catch Loki, get the object back, save the world,” she resumed her smile with a small laugh as she noticed just how nice this man appeared to be. Similar to a child’s stuffed animal, she reckoned. She noticed that his name was similar to Loki Odinson’s and addressed him as such.“Thank you for the offer, however. I am Princess Luna, son of Coul.” Having heard it before, it did nothing faze Coulson. His arms were crossed on his chest as he nervously asked, “I heard you are able to do magic. Mind if I…” he cleared his throat and tried again, “Mind if I see it? I’m a bit of a fan.” A fan of magic amongst these people unable to wield the arcane? Luna could see herself enjoying this. The eyes of the Agent glimmered as he watched a ball of electricity form in the palm of Luna’s hand, completely controlled and as circular as a tennis ball. He looked up to the much taller woman, who he noted was not wearing heels, and gave an approving nod. “Thor might be jealous that he is not the only one able to use lightning anymore.” The name snapped Luna’s attention to what he was saying, the electricity dissipating in her hand as she rose an eyebrow, “You know Thor?” Seeing that he had found some common ground, the agent’s smile grew a small bit as he replied, “Sort of. I once spoke with him before we knew who he was. Didn’t really say much, but I suppose being unable to lift your favorite hammer might do that.” Pictures of a blonde haired muscular man in a wedding gown came to mind, “Loki has spoken much about Thor. He sounds like quite the arrogant man.” Coulson shrugged, “He’s not all that bad. I think his time on Earth made him learn his lesson.” “I am pleased to hear that. If he is a better person now I can only hope Loki can make amends. Loki is who he is because of how his brother’s attitude and actions shaped him,” “A feeling I know quite well.” “Big sister you don’t like?” he asked in his soft voice, a high level of perception hidden beneath his modest way. Luna snickered at how that was a huge understatement, “That is one way of putting it. I tried offing the arrogant foal a thousand years back, but that did not really work out for me. It’s so good to be back from being banished all that time.” Coulson gave a small, understanding nod, “I can see why you hit it off with him,” he paused before his face shifted to one of confusion, “You are on our team, right?” It took Luna a moment to give a reassuring smile to him, her honest opinion being that she did not care at all about his team. Only their shared goal of stopping Loki, “Of course. He invaded my own world before yours, and I do want to find who is controlling Loki.” That drew the attention of the agent, “Controlling him?” Luna sighed and lowered her gaze, “I had diffused the timebomb that was Loki when he arrived on my world. Somep-someone else is forcing his hand," she had to correct herself before she used the word pony, "He still has his own personal feelings, but he would not be doing any of this if someone else was not threatening him into doing it.” He remained skeptical, “Are you sure? He seems to be in control from what I’ve heard.” Looking into the man’s kind eyes reminded Luna of how she used to spend entire days looking into Loki’s. How the green suited his fur coat so well… When they were green that was. They shifted multiple times in her time with him, going between green and blue, and in hindsight something stood out to Luna. When Loki could not sleep his eyes had been blue. When he lay with her and slept until dusk they were green. The princess looked away from the mortal’s innocent eyes, “One thing I have noticed is that my Loki’s eyes are green in his preferred state. Another thing I have noticed is that they are currently blue, not unlike those he controls with that scepter of his.” Coulson felt his opinion on the Asgardian who just murdered many people he knew, having seen how people could be controlled against their will in his many years with Shield. If what Luna said was true, then Loki was as much a victim as those he harmed, “He might be controlled just like the agents he brought with him?” Luna was quite glad to find someone who was willing to hear her plight, even though she was not sure how influential this agent was, “Precisely. In addition to the figure I once saw in a shared vision between him and I, I am almost certain that even if Loki thinks he is the one doing this of his own will that he is indeed not. It would correlate with how his control stops working on those who sleep, as he has been quite restless these past months.” Coulson gave the downtrodden Luna a comforting smile, knowing the sight of a lover in pain quite well, “You really care for him, don’t you?” Luna smirked and let out a small laugh, “He has issues I will admit, but we all do. He just has been pushed to his absolute limits.” A brief look of pain flashed across the face of Coulson, but he recovered quickly and kept his face stoic as he spoke, “I know just what you’re talking about. I’m sorry for what you must be going through, and I promise we will do everything in our power to stop him without killing him.” She felt her smile grow, not being able to help how genuinely kind this man appeared to be, “Thank you, Agent Coulson.” His original smile returned, “Call me Phil, Princess Luna.” “Then you may call me Luna. I will hold you to your promise though,” she jokingly warned as she returned the favor he extended. Coulson looked to the door and then back to Luna, “I have to go run an errand for Director Fury. How about I see if we can bring you to our base on the way? Better chance you can catch up with Loki from there.” Not having any reason to stay in the facility now that Loki was long gone, Luna shrugged. Anything to be ready for him. “That would be most appreciated.” It took until the next day for Luna to find herself at their base of operations, a large mechanical hulk that floated atop the water like a ship but unlike any she had seen before. More aerial machines, named planes and helicopters, landed on the gigantic thing, which she was told was named an Aircraft Carrier, which interested Luna quite greatly. Equestria had nowhere near the amount of technology to be found here, although seeing as how these were all instruments of war she was partially glad for that. She followed the two she knew, Director Fury and Agent Coulson, around aimlessly and without a word as they went about their duties on-board the ship. She was so enraptured by the technology surrounding her that she almost did not notice as the ship shook violently. A glance outside revealed that the water they had been resting on was quickly growing distant. They were going up despite the massive size of this thing. Luna turned to Director Fury and decided to ask him about the matter, “Did this ship just take flight?” His response held barely veiled agitation, still having not found Loki and not wanting to deal with inane questions, “How perceptive of you. Yes, we are taking flight now that we have the personnel we have been waiting for.” Realizing when she should not be interrupting him, Luna halted the flow of questions that she had meant to ask, “Understood.” “Now, as amusing as our bridge might be, I would prefer if you wait in your room on standby. We need you ready for when Loki acts,” Fury stated, both in truth and as a way to remove her from the soon to be crowded bridge. The new arrivals, a man named Banner and and another named Rogers, would have their own more serious questions to answer and he did not want to complicate matters by adding an unknown to the mix. Doctor Banner was not known for having a good temper, and to keep an unknown of any sorts around him would not be good for everyone’s livelihood on the ship. Luna left the bridge with the intent of doing as she was told, deferring to the judgment of the person in charge of everything around her. Besides, until they told her where Loki was she had nothing to do and nothing she particularly wanted to. On the way to the room she had been shown upon her arrival, Luna overheard some of the soldiers walking down the hallway. She have ignored them if their excited voices had not caught her attention. “They brought the big guy on the ship I heard,” one said to the other with a chuckle. The other rose an eyebrow and questioned his fellow soldier, “Captain America?” The first one shook his head, “No, the green one. You know, the doctor guy who gets angry and smashes things.” Green person? That did not seem normal to Luna, who had noticed that every human was somewhere between pale white and a very deep, almost black, brown. Green was very out of place on that scale. The second one seemed to recognize who they were talking about as he slapped his apparent friend on the back as they passed Luna, “Oh, doctor Banner. The Hulk! I saw the footage from New York where he beat down the Abomination. Imagine what he can do for Shield!” “But having that thing on a ship? What if he gets angry here?” the first one complained, his voice worried for some reason unknown to Luna. Why would he be scared of an ally? “Don’t worry, Director Fury knows what he is doing.” Luna could only hope that was the case. Not having anything to do and being free sounded a lot better to Luna than it actually was. The room she was lent was not her own or even familiar, precluding activities involving it, and for every moment she was left bored she was left to think about how Loki was loose. And likely harming someone. And that she wasn’t able to do anything about it. The solitude and boredom were driving Luna insane, as she had little tolerance for them after her long acquaintance with them both. She could be alone if it meant she was doing something, but merely sitting around on her flank was not something she cared much for. As such, she wandered through the halls until a unique room caught her attention. It was better than just sitting around after all, so she entered its open doorway without permission. The only inhabitant of the room, a middle-aged human fiddling with some mechanical objects in the room, looked up to see Luna. He did not expect a visitor, especially not a woman with deep blue hair wearing a black robe, so he was a bit cautious about her entry, “Hello there. May I help you with something?” Luna shrugged at him, looking at the various contraptions and gadgets to be found. Everything was so new to her that even the smallest computer drew her attention like a child in a candy store. Or Celestia in a candy store for that matter. “No, I am just wandering about. This looked like a more interesting room than the boring one Director Fury sent me to.” The doctor felt himself relax a portion when he realized that this person was another person dragged in by the Director, “Understandable. Well, welcome to my lab. I am Doctor Banner.” Luna remembered the name from the soldiers she passed and looked over the man to make sure she was not missing something, “You look less green than I have heard.” Banner sighed and glanced to the side, feeling depressed that the first thing that came to mind about him was his other side, “I see. So the others know about my party trick. I don’t particularly care for turning into that other guy, what with his rage issues and whatnot.” Luna sensed his unease and held her hands up, “I apologize if I may have offended you. I am a bit new to all of this. From where I come from everything is quite different.” “And might that be?” Banner inquired, curious about who Luna was. Luna bowed to him as she realized she was invading his workplace, “I am from a land named Equestria, of which I am its princess. Princess Luna, steward of the night.” He nodded slowly, “Equestria.” She could see that the intelligent man knew what the scientific name for a horse was, “A land of horses, yes.” “But you are not a horse,” he noted, looking her over carefully. To him she just looked like any other extremely tall but lean woman, even if her hair was odd and an unnatural color. Luna chuckled as she channeled her magical ability, “Oh, I am,” in a quick flash she returned to her regular form, somewhat glad to be on four hooves again, “You are not the only one who can shapeshift, Doctor Banner.” The doctor’s eyes widened as he studied the creature before him. This was certainly something new, “I will admit I am impressed. I have never met a talking horse before.” Luna shifted back into her humanoid body and looked it over, “I find that this form is not quite so terrible. There are advantages to having thumbs and fingers.” Banner chuckled as he watched her wiggle her digits, “I can only imagine,” after she stopped doing it he decided to inquire about something that would hopefully put him more at ease, “So, what have they brought you on-board for, if you don’t mind me asking?” The princess looked to Banner and gave him a weak smile, “Loki is my lover. I have taken it upon myself to foil whatever he has planned, and after saving the Director’s life they brought me along.” “I see. I’m glad you at least know why you are on this ship,” he remarked, his voice dry. His tone made Luna wonder what was wrong with him, “Have they brought you in without reason?” Banner sighed as he looked over the readings on a computer to his side, “Well, bringing on-board a scientist to track something that any of their top analysts could do is a bit suspicious.” Luna filled the pieces together as to why he was feeling nervous, “Especially when that scientist can turn into a raging monster.” He frowned, prompting Luna to hold her hands up again, “I apologize again, but it is highly suspect as you noted,” after a moment of silence a thought crossed Luna’s mind, “Have you tried curing your affliction?” Resigned was the best word Luna could describe him as when he responded, “Yes. I strived to find a cure for years, but when nothing came of it I gave up,” he looked her in the eye, his own displaying sadness, “I would never become that thing again if I could.” “I know not what you have been through, but I do know what it is like to have your body transformed and your mind addled. Unable to control yourself fully,” Luna responded, thinking to how she had lost some of her own control when fusing with the shadow being. Especially in the past. Where it had gone when she traveled across realms, she did not know, but her humanoid form was different from how it had originally been she noticed. She had gained height and felt the power she had wielded as Nightmare Moon, which led her to believe that the being still was with her. Why she could not feel its presence was another matter entirely, one she was almost scared to find the answer to. Luna shook off her mental discussion to continue relating to Banner’s plight, “When I made a deal with a wicked being I gained unparalleled power, but did so at the cost of my moral constraints. I fused with a being who longed to do evil acts, acts that I was not even opposed to at the time but now regret in full.” Doctor Banner looked down to the floor as he rested his elbows on top of a work table, “It’s not the transformation that I regret most. It’s how it has changed other parts of my life that I…” He trailed off with a sad breath. Realizing he was done speaking for the moment, Luna walked over to him and placed a hand on the depressed man’s shoulder. Apparently whatever afflicted him was not under his control, and he was paying the consequences for it. Luna rubbed his shoulder to console him, “Does it keep you from family?” he nodded before sighing, “Friends? A lover?” That made him give a sarcastic laugh, “As if I could ever have one. Yet another thing the other guy took from me.” Luna raising an eyebrow made the doctor explain, “Too much excitement and the other guy shows up,” he looked past the table with a sad smile, “Even if I could have a family I wouldn’t. Too much risk involved.” Luna snorted as she thought of her own history, “Celibacy is something I know much of. My sister and I vowed to not lay with mortals ever since we were but foals, for any offspring would live shorter lives than us and we would greatly outlive our lovers.” A light-bulb lit in the doctor’s brain that made him grin, “Thus the immortal being from Asgard who, from what I’ve heard, can shapeshift.” Her smirk grew sad and sour, “I will admit I thought it to be a blessing, I suppose having a foal would be too much to ask for after the sins I’ve committed. And to think that I even jokingly thought of names the other night.” Doctor Banner gave her a smile as he tried to cheer her up, “You would not be alone. We all have our fantasies,” he glanced back to the area past the table, “Keen. Bella. Odette.” Luna returned the smile as she tried to stem her tears, “Given my own race’s naming conventions, I was thinking something like Sleep Near,” Cutie Marks were genetic after all to some degree, and her night related powers would undoubtedly influence any offspring’s own talents. “Only one?” he questioned, noting that she stopped at one name. Luna nodded sadly as she once again reflected on her own history, “Having grown up under my sister’s shadow, and having a lover who did the same under his brother’s, I would think it irresponsible to subject a child to that treatment with the shackles of royalty.” “Must be tough being rich and powerful,” Banner dryly retorted. While noting his point and promptly ignoring it, Luna rolled her eyes, “It is hard when your kingdom fears you simply for being different. Hard when they adore your sibling who works no harder or better for their sake. Hard when they dedicate an entire holiday to mocking your name and treating you as a threatening specter.” It did not take Banner long to realize he had gone a bit far with his humor, “I am the one who must apologize this time.” Luna had a tougher skin than to have been wounded by such a small matter, “No need,” she sighed as her mind tugged back to her missing lover, “Loki is no different from me in that regard. It is why he made such a good partner.” “So, when this is all over, what’s your plan? If we do catch him and foil whatever he has going on, where does that leave you two?” Luna sighed, not honestly having an answer to that, “I do not know. It will depend on the circumstances surrounding his defeat I suppose,” her theory from before surfaced in her mind, as it would influence how she handled Loki after his capture, “Someone is controlling him, so I want to find out who and why. Then I can work on forgiving Loki for what he was forced to do, and on punishing him for what he chose to.” “Quite fair,” he noted, not saying anything more. “And what of you? What happens when things end here?” Luna turned the question on him. The doctor shrugged as a knock on the room’s doorway took both of their attention, “I suppose I will go back to living my solitary life. Help those I can.” The figure in the doorway was none other than Director Fury, who had somehow located Luna with minimal effort. Luna was quite impressed, not knowing what a security camera was. He addressed the only woman in the room, “Hey, your highness, we’ve found Loki. I wanted to see if you would be up for helping catch him.” Before responding to her host, she first looked to the dry witted man beside her with a grin, “You are a good man, Doctor Banner.” He nodded and returned the grin, “You seem like quite the decent horse, Princess,” Luna took that as a farewell and she began to walk over to Loki, “Have fun.” As she reached Fury by the exit Luna questioned him, “Where is he?” The Director stepped out of her way to let her into the hallway, revealing another man not far down the hallway who was wearing a blue tight uniform with white and red on it as well as wielding a large target-esque shield. Fury’s voice remained neutral as he spoke to Luna, “Germany, a country a bit away from here. You’ll be joined by a few of our top agents, so I hope you can live up to your boast.” The powerful Alicorn snorted, remembering how she had Loki on his heels running from her before, “I could manage it alone, so having a team will make this too easy.” Knowing many with far worse egos, Fury let her arrogance slide as he nodded to the other man in the hallway, “Follow red, white and blue boy over there. He’s the field leader for the mission.” Luna approached the blue suited soldier and put herself in step with him, noting that he was walking fairly quickly. “Greetings. I hear you are to assist me in catching Loki. I am Princess Luna.” “Assist?” the soldier questioned. He had been told he would be receiving help by a new consultant, not that he would be helping them. Luna laughed as she looked over his muscular form, noting that while strong he did not appear anywhere close to where Loki was, “I do not mean to belittle your abilities, but I am afraid I have witnessed just how fragile you all are compared to Loki and I.” He kept any irritation out of his voice as he responded factually, “Another Asgardian.” “Not quite. I only am taking the form of one for convenience.” “So you’re a shapeshifter. Can you cast magic?” having a powerful mage to counterbalance a shapeshifting mage might just come in handy, the soldier believed. It would surely make her pride worth it. Luna nodded to him as the continued towards whatever destination they were going to, “It is my chosen specialty. I could even move your moon for you if you so please, but it appears to be doing just fine on its own.” The soldier found himself impressed by her boast, albeit unsure how much he could believe it, “Well, I am Steve Rogers. Others around here call me Captain America, and if you can actually move the moon I have to say that this Loki character stands no chance.” They reached a large open space with many planes stored within it, making Luna think that she would be riding on one again. Her stomach had retched on the last one she had been on, the one transporting her to this ship, and so the prospect was not one she was very keen of. In fact, she would just call it a day if not for how it would lead her to Loki. It could fly faster than her, to Luna’s chagrin, so it was a necessary evil she supposed. As the Captain America approached one plane in particular he glanced over to Luna, who followed behind, “And, so you know, I am not the most fragile guy around here. I think I’ll hold my own.” The two stepped up the plane’s loading ramp, it being a transport vessel rather than a dedicated fighter jet, when Luna laughed at her comrade, “This will be interesting. Would you mind distracting him for me then? If he assumes he is not under threat of facing me he likely will let his guard down to some degree. He is quite arrogant.” Captain America sat down in the seat closest to the ship’s exit and began to strap himself in, “You would know,” Luna completely missed his meaning of that due to her own mind equating it to how she knew Loki inside and out. Another agent of Shield walked into the loading area and the Captain gestured towards the new arrival, “Agent Romanoff, this is Luna. She is going to help us catch Loki.” Luna observed the woman. Quite beautiful from what Luna could tell, with a figure that made many of the other females Luna had run into look plain. Luna, however, believed herself to still be a step above the red haired, petite being who was nothing more than a regular mortal. “A pleasure,” Romanoff said to Luna, giving her a fake smile. She had not been informed of a third wheel accompanying them, not that she could not adjust. Having the unknown woman join them made her feel uneasy for a reason she could not fathom. Luna just nodded back to her with a big grin, all the while her mind still trying to determine what the two large swells of flesh on their bodies were meant for. The skintight outfit Romanoff wore really seemed to accentuate that part of her for whatever reason. Luna shrugged as Romanoff left the back of the plane to the front so she could pilot it, deciding that she would either ask Loki about the mystery or inspect the matter further when she next got the chance to shower. A crowd of civilians were fleeing in the night from the high society party they had been attending, terror at the forefront of their mind after they witnessed a man having his eye impaled while he was still alive in a gruesome display by a sharply dressed man with pale skin, slicked back raven hair and an oddly shaped cane. The chaos grew worse when the murderer stepped outside now wearing a golden helmet with two large horns off of its top, his next action being to destroy a coming police car with the scepter he wielded. Standing before the crowd of people, Loki called out to them all softly. “Kneel before me.” When none did, Loki cast out illusions of himself to herd the crowd together as he went to repeat himself. “I said,” he slammed his scepter down and yelled, “Kneel!” The crowd quieted as Loki looked them over, glad that things were going according to plan. He felt himself grin as he watched them obey, holding his arms out to them all as if they were welcoming, “Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?” He approached them slowly, holding out his scepter towards them as he walked amongst their number, “It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you 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. In the end, you will always kneel.” A law of nature being that Loki’s bubble must always be popped, one sole man amongst the crowd stood up. An elderly man spoke out to Loki, “Not to men like you.” That felt like an insult to Loki, who considered himself quite unique and above all others, “There are no men like me.” “There are always men like you,” the old man retorted indignantly. Amongst the crowd, Loki pointed his scepter right to the rebelling man, “Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example.” Loki shot a blast from his scepter, only for it to ricochet right back into him and knock him off his feet. The prince of Asgard scrambled up to see that his shot had been blocked by Captain America, whom he had been told much of by his mind controlled Shield allies. People cleared a path between the two and Captain America approached his foe, “You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.” Loki stood back up fully on his feet with the help of his scepter, his face smug as he spoke to the new arrival, “The soldier. A man out of time.” “I’m not the one out of time” the Captain replied, bringing to Loki’s attention a large gunship nearby that had its weapons pointed at him. “Loki, drop the weapon and stand down,” a woman’s voice demanded over the flying ship’s speakers To this respond to this, Loki fired a blast from his scepter that nearly clipped the vehicle as it strafed to the side. Captain America took this time to throw his shield at Loki like a boomerang, catching Loki off guard and allowing the Captain to also punch the Asgardian while he caught his own shield. Loki’s response to this was to strike with his scepter physically, his first strike being blocked by the Captain’s shield as well as the second, but Loki had directed his strikes so that his third would connect directly with his opponent’s body after the previous blow was blocked. The hit sent the soldier sprawling back, but he managed to catch himself in a roll as the crowd around them all dispersed. Hurt by the strike, Captain America attempted to strike Loki at range with his shield again only for it to be batted away to the side by Loki. Captain America followed this up with a lunge forward, throwing a jab at Loki that was deftly dodged and retaliated with a swing of the scepter by Loki. The Captain ducked under this and another swing to position himself to strike Loki, only for Loki to completely ignore the hit and swing his scepter one last time to knock Captain America sprawling again. Loki took the moment to posture, walking over to his downed foe and placing his scepter to their head, his breath heavy because of the combat. “Kneel.” In one movement Captain America twisted his body around to kick Loki high on his body while also moving the scepter, “Not today.” Loki stumbled back only a bit before regaining his footing and just grabbing his foe, whom he had much greater strength than. With his hold Loki tossed the Captain to the side like a rag-doll as the plane nearby could only watch the two combatants knock each other around. The same plane soon found itself blasting music from its speakers, loudly announcing the arrival of a figure in red and gold armor that flew in from the sky and blasted Loki back off his feet with two bursts of energy from its palms. The figure landed by Loki and held one palm out to the Asgardian, who looked at it warily, as the man within the red suit spoke to its opponent, “Make a move reindeer games.” Loki tried his best not to smile as he removed his golden armor through magic and held up his hands, attempting to signal that he was surrendering. “Good move,” the man in the red suit responded. Captain America got up and approached his reinforcement. He spoke professionally to the man, although he did not sound overly fond of him, “Mr. Stark.” The man in the suit, Stark, responded tersely, “Capt-” Just as he had blasted Loki back with energy, Stark found himself being knocked back by a dark purple, green and blue energy wave by a figure who seemed to suddenly apparate in front of Loki. Captain America looked at a ticked off Luna, who was eying Stark as he got up from the ground, “Okay, what was that?” Loki felt the repressed smirk find its way out, genuinely glad to see her, “Hello again Luna. Miss me already?” Luna repaid the sentiment with a spinning kick to the face that knocked him on his back. Stark stumbled over to the group in his suit of armor and pointed past Luna to the stunned Loki and then to Luna, “Maybe I’m a little bit confused, but you sure as hell aren’t on his team, so why did you hit me?” Luna smiled to the red armored man while responding in as cheerful a voice as she could muster, “Touch him again and I will end your life.” “I was hitting him too,” Captain America noted, not sure why he was not being threatened. Luna patted him on the arm and laughed, “But you were not harming him in the slightest,” her eyes narrowed on Stark once more as her voice shifted to be more serious and vengeful, “You were and can.” Stark knocked himself on the head with one hand and laughed, “Now I think I’m getting it. Boyfriend go evil and you want to stop him?” From the ground Loki objected, “Evil is a bit of an exaggeration-” Luna levitated his scepter to her hand, which she then brought down on her lover’s gut forcefully, “Your speaking privileges are revoked until you help us fix this all, Loki.” She had been quite fine watching her ally try to catch Loki, planning on swooping in and catching Loki off guard when the man wearing some kind of iron suit arrived and actually upped the ante. Luna had thought it would be quick and simple to beat Loki when he was not expecting a true challenge, and she was right. She was just brought to anger by how someone other than her had hurt her beloved. Stark gave a whistle, impressed by the woman who was able to do magic it seemed and could also bring Loki physical pain when even Captain America could not, “Don’t think I’ve ever seen a whipped god before. Now, I’m afraid we haven’t met. Mind explaining things a bit so I can wrap my head around how this prick picked up a girl like you?” Luna was growing tired of the introduction game, but decided to relent once more, “I am Luna, a princess from yet another land you know nothing of. I mean you and your people no harm, but Loki is mine to deal with and I will not tolerate your interference.” “Well excuse me too, because he is invading our world. I think we have some say on how to deal with him,” Stark retorted indignantly. “I will return him to his home, where he will stand trial for first invading my own world and then your own.” The red and golden man nodded to her, before conceding her point, “Fair I guess. Well, we best be going. Don’t want Director Fury to live up to his name.” Everyone present was sure that it would be one hell of a long ride home that dark night.