A/N: Special thanks to Evowizard25, D48, Cadmium, Drgnwolf, JaceArveduin, Ketvirtas, and Farista Sairuv for our 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!
I hope you enjoy and that I can hear from you after about what you think! Think of it as a holiday gift to me! Happy almost New Year everyone.
As soon as they returned to the flying ship that Shield called its home Loki was torn away from her by armed guards and the scepter was torn from her hands. Luna moved to protest their forcefulness when Coulson stepped in her way, having waited at the landing pad to greet them.
“Where are they taking him?” Luna asked him as the other people she had been riding with dispersed into the hangar.
Coulson nodded over to the soldiers and Loki, “To the cell we have for him. I am supposed to bring you there too.”
Luna gave him a sad smile as she turned to follow them, “To chat with him and see what he knows.”
“Precisely. I convinced Director Fury to let you get first dibs on him. You’ll miss the meeting we have about Loki though,” Coulson responded with his ever apparent smile.
With a glance over at Stark, Luna laughed, “Thank you. I only wish Stark could be so accommodating.”
Phil Coulson knew the feeling quite well from his own experience with the man, but also knew that there was a heart of gold beneath the first few layers of jerk, “He is not so bad when you get used to him,” Coulson chuckled, “Takes awhile though.”
Luna did not doubt him, noticing that Stark was currently arguing with Captain America across the hangar, “You can say that again.”
The rest of their walk was silent until they reached the detention center where Loki would be kept, at which point they stood outside the room to let the soldiers do their thing. After minutes of silence the soldiers left, along with Director Fury who must have been inside waiting, which meant that Loki was secure.
Coulson turned to Luna to part ways, “So, here you are. If you could find out anything useful, or somehow convince him to stop this, it would be most appreciated.”
Luna nodded to him before entering, her mind thinking about what to say. Of what she wanted to say.
The room was quite open except for a circular and completely sealed cell in the middle. A catwalk around the edge of the room extended to the middle where the cell lay, and from a look at the floor it appeared as if the cell was made to be dropped.
Loki scoffed as Luna approached him, but she cut him off as she walked across the room, “The others are having a meeting to discuss you. It seems though that director Fury thought it might be a good idea if I could sweet talk you in the meantime.”
Loki gave her a smug, condescending look, “How nice of him. And so long after he threatened to have me killed if I so much as try to escape my containment cell.”
Luna looked to the floor that was quite similar in design to some of the trap floors she had designed in her ancient castle so many years ago, “Why does this ship have this particular creation anyways?”
That gave him a laugh, “For the one known as Doctor Banner. The Hulk, as he is called by the other Midgardians. If he were to unleash his power he could level this entire ship with almost nothing those inside could do to stop him.”
She took the opportunity to turn the table on him, “So they trust him being outside his cell so that you can be in it instead. Good to know they trust you so much.”
Loki fell quiet and so she narrowed her eyes while continuing, “Now, they expect me to extract whatever I can from you, but we both know that won’t be happening. Instead I will just warn you that you had best tread lightly, for my patience is running thin Loki. They can find your Tesseract with or without you I am sure, and your plan will be foiled at which point you are going home. To Asgard, where I will make sure you will be tried for your crimes.”
She turned to leave before ending with a smarmy tone.
“I will visit you later. Have fun in your cell, dear.”
Loki felt his shoulders sag as the door closed and he was left alone.
Luna had hoped that everyone would be on the bridge of the ship where Director Fury worked, but found that when she arrived there was no sight of Thor, Captain America, Stark, or Doctor Banner.
“You just missed everyone.”
Luna turned to see the red haired woman that flew the plane she had been on earlier, Agent Romanoff.
Not as tense as the many soldiers and agents on the ship, Luna just shrugged. They were worried about their world ending, and while she did not particularly want that to happen Luna was not exactly fearful for them. They had Loki after all, “It is no matter. I suppose I will just wander.”
Luna turned to leave the boring bridge, but the red maned agent caught her arm gently, “Hey, mind if I talk to you before you do that?”
The princess turned back to face her, “Of course not. Has your Director asked you to find out everything I know? Learn more about me?”
Luna found it hard to read the face of Romanoff as the woman spoke, realizing that she was dealing with a professional actress of emotions, “We are all just a bit apprehensive about your relationship with the prisoner. You have proven helpful so far, but given the nature of your-”
Luna lifted a finger to silence her, her own face turning to a grin, “No need to worry about me doing anything crazy. I only wish to see justice brought to Loki and whomever is pulling his strings.”
The agent nodded, “That’s good to hear,” lowering her voice and glancing around the room, she added, “I have to say I did enjoy seeing you take Stark down a notch in Germany.”
“I am not the most fond of attention seekers. I grew up with one. I have had my share,” Luna joked, only to realize that she could understand one emotion on the face of her current ally.
The woman was distraught over something. Something Luna could sympathize with quite well.
Luna shifted her lifted hand so that it was resting on the significantly shorter woman’s shoulder, trying to comfort her physically, “You seem to be distressed. Is something the matter?”
Romanoff’s gaze fell to the side, “One of the agents Loki has taken control over...he happened to be someone I have worked with in the past,” her eyes returned to Luna, her face impassive while she spoke, “Agent Barton. I owe him quite a bit for what he has done for me.”
That would do it. Luna once again could sympathize with the younger being, “And now he is fighting against you and harming your allies.”
The agent pursed her lips, “Do you happen to know anything about the way the scepter works?”
Luna drew her hand back and swung it through the air while a chipper smile found its way on her face, “Knock him out and you’ll get him back. The control is lost when they fall unconscious, so a punch to the face ought to do the trick.”
That rose her partner’s brow, “Really? That simple?”
“From what I have observed and what Loki has said, yes,” Luna lowered her hand so that it once again rested on the other woman’s shoulder, “Now, as I know the pain of having a loved one being forced to oppose you, I will make you a promise. Anything I can do within my power to bring back Agent Barton I will.”
Romanoff smiled back at Luna, “Thank you, that is really kind of you,” reaching into a pocket, the agent retrieved a small photo, “Here’s a picture, in case you run into him.”
Luna received the picture and looked it over. A pale skinned man with short cropped hair was not uncommon amongst the ship’s crew, but this one in particular was familiar to Luna. He was one of the first she had seen after all.
Luna sighed as she handed it back, “I have encountered him before. He was the one who shot your director when I first arrived with one of those gun things you all carry around.”
Romanoff fell silent at that, giving time for an idea to come to Luna’s mind, “Thinking about it more, would it be too much to ask for us to render Loki unconscious? I would care to test my theory.”
The Agent gave a small shrug, “I suppose, but Director Fury would rather not open his cell. Keep him contained for the time being given his potential.”
Luna cursed her own lack of planning on the matter, “I should have thought of this on the way here. Oh well, I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what happens while Doctor Banner searches for the Tesseract.”
Romanoff nodded and tilted her head towards the door, “Agreed. It has been good talking with you, and I wouldn’t want to keep you from your roaming.”
Luna nodded back as the Agent began to depart, “Likewise.”
Seeing as how she still had no idea how almost anything worked on the ship and that she was quite curious about it all, Luna decided to first look about on the bridge. Surely something would catch her eye.
All of the monitors on what she had learned were called computers showed random symbols and things Luna had no comprehension of to her dismay, especially since she did not wish to interrupt their work to ask them.
One screen of one worker, however, differed from all the others. A man who was actually smiling at his seat rather than keeping an uptight and serious face, his screen showed a figure moving back and forth on the bottom of the screen. At the top there were more figures, which were firing beams of some kind down at the bottom figure which was returning fire.
A game.
Luna tapped him on the shoulder, intent on learning more of this. She had become quite interested in games since the end of her banishment, “What is this thing you are doing?”
He hit a key on the board before him and the screen shifted to look like everyone else’s, “Uh, nothing. Just working.”
Luna narrowed her eyes at him, desiring to play this game of his whether he liked it or not, “I don’t care for liars.”
He hit the same key again and the screen shifted back. Looking around suspiciously, he whispered to her, “Well, this is a video game named Galaga. Just don’t tell anyone.”
“Show me more.”
Some time later, Luna had managed to get the bridge worker to set up a computer in her personal quarters with a copy of this ‘Galaga’ so that she could kill time. All it took was blackmail concerning his work activities or rather their lack thereof.
Working tirelessly at getting past the first few levels without losing at the old arcade game, Luna almost did not hear the knock at her door. She shut down her guilty pleasure that was helping her hand-eye coordination and went to the door.
Upon opening it, she was not at all surprised to see who it was. Thor stood there in his armor, a semi-nervous expression on his face.
Luna spoke first, waving him into the room, “I was expecting a visit from you.”
Thor bowed to her as she sat down on the cot the room provided, “I apologize if I am intruding. I only wish to get to know my brother’s lover more.”
Luna gestured to the chair in front of her computer, “Make yourself comfortable.”
He graciously took the seat and turned it to face her bad, giving Luna the chance to speak again, “Loki has spoken much of you. You seem much more mild mannered than he mentioned.”
Thor gave a sad smile at that, wanting to laugh at her words but his feelings of regret outweighing that, “I have tempered myself much in this past year. I am not the same person my brother remembers, just as I am not sure if he is the same brother I remember.”
Seeing his face made Luna attempt to comfort him as she had Romanoff earlier, “The Loki we both care for is in there, do not worry. We just need to bring him back to the surface from whomever is controlling him.”
Her words captured his attention, “So you too can see the influence of someone greater? I was thinking myself alone in that.”
Luna scowled as she thought back to a precursor to this whole mess that she had ignored, “I once heard Loki being threatened by a dark figure while he stayed in my realm. If his mind is even still in control of itself, there is something still pulling his strings.”
Tho clenched his fists angrily, doing his best not to slam them down on the table beside him so as to not break it, “After this conflict has ended and I have restored balance to the Nine Realms I will find this figure you speak of and punish them for what they have caused. Until they are found, my brother remains the face of this coming war.”
Luna found that she still was not exactly in the loop, so she pressed Thor on the matter, “So what exactly is Loki doing?”
“He intends to use the power of the Tesseract to summon an army named the Chitauri that will conquer Earth, at which point he will lord over it.”
His words only confirmed Luna’s goals, “I would most appreciate joining you on that quest you spoke of. I am very intolerant of those who would harm my loved ones, not to mention cause needless strife.”
“Then you and I have common ground,” Thor grinned before letting out a hearty laugh, “I have a feeling Mother would approve of you, and father would have to be mad to not. A powerful sorceress princess who can keep Loki in check is almost too good to be true.”
Luna gave an impolite yawn to demonstrate how much she cared, “Whether they approve or not will not change my relationship with Loki one way or the other.”
Thor agreed with her fully as he closed his eyes sadly, “I am very much the same in my feelings towards how they view my human love, Jane. Father disapproves on the grounds that she is but a moment in our lifetimes, but that does not stop my heart.”
Luna could hear the hurt in his voice, and she realized that he must be suffering from an alternate path than what she and Celestia had taken. Vowing to not be with mortals was actually easy for Luna, but for a less antisocial being she could see how such a thing might not be that easy.
“I am sorry to hear that. The heart, for all the joy it can bring, seems almost more fit to cause pain and sorrow,” another thought crossed her mind, given that they were talking about parental approval, “I suppose I will never know what mother would think of Loki. Something tells me she wouldn’t be too happy with how he wrecked everything back home.”
Thor grimly frowned, “Loki has brought your realm to its knees as well. How many has he slain there?”
To his surprise, Luna formed a zero with her fingers that she was beginning to grow attached to, and not in the physical sense, “Not a soul. I actually was the one to spill blood by harming and killing his troops. Changelings.”
That word was a familiar one to the well traveled Thor, not that he had ever encountered the same variety, “A shapeshifter leading shapeshifters. Fitting.”
Luna was glad that he at least knew what she was talking about, but a strange feeling came over her as she thought about the issue though. Things back home could have been so much easier if Loki had done things differently, and given that he was quite the planner Luna could only speculate as to why he didn’t do things right.
“Something felt wrong about it to be honest. Their true leader was supposedly his partner, also knowing something about who manipulates Loki, but your brother turned on her and attempted to kill her the first chance he got. His also keeping every single prisoner he had alive was a surprise.”
Thor frowned, “Yet Loki fights for real here. I think I can tell why.”
Luna rose her eyebrow and let him continue, “He had no quarrel with your world, but the figure forcing his hand in this conflict made him lead a similar invasion to this in your world where he resided. Loki, ever the trickster, likely set it up to fail from the start after first making it seem like it would work.”
That put things in perspective for Luna, who began to make sense of what had happened, “So that is why he did not begin the invasion while my sister and I were gone...he knew he needed one of us to first win the fight, and then have the other defeat them. He really does like to gamble with his plans.”
Thor agreed with her, “All the more reason I find it unsettling he was captured so easily. The soldier in blue tights, Stevens, was no threat to him it sounds and the one they are calling Iron Man, Stark, could not likely capture Loki even with Steven’s assistance.”
Luna frowned as she remembered the fight with Loki, “I was there, but Loki did not know that until after he surrendered.”
“Precisely. Did Loki wish to be captured?”
That made Luna’s stomach churn. What could Loki possibly be plotting if he was captured? He could not teleport through physical objects like she could, so he could not escape his cell provided it was tough enough, but what then?
Whatever it could be, it was not anything good which made Luna all the more nervous, but she tried to remain optimistic, “If he is deliberately sabotaging his own invasion, then it would not be farfetched.”
Thor sighed as he glanced at the door, “I think he means to succeed in this one. Loki has not forgiven me for what has happened between us, so he would take the world I protect to spite me.”
“I will pay him another visit later. These past days have been quite enervating and I think it is time to rest.”
Thor stood up and headed to the door, “Have a good rest, Princess.”
After Thor left and she locked the door, Luna wanted to go about her nightly rituals, but found that she could not in the unfamiliar room.
The computer in the corner of the room was tempting though. Luna glanced to the bed, then back to the computer, and found herself torn.
One more game before resting could not hurt, right?
Upon waking the next day, Luna found her need to wander again stifled by her desire to eat. She had not inquired about the matter of food since she arrived, and now found her stomach rumbling.
It was for this reason that she went wandering for food, hoping to run into someone she knew so that she could inquire about the matter. Not long after resolving herself to this did she remember that Doctor Banner would likely be in his lab room, so Luna headed that way.
As she drew closer, Luna’s stomach continued to pang until her nose caught a whiff of something delicious just as she reached the outside of the room. Aggravated voices inside ignored, Luna entered the room and instantly found her eyes drawn to two things: the Scepter across the room and the bag of blueberries held by Stark, who was arguing with the Director Fury, Doctor Banner, Thor, Agent Romanoff, and Captain America about something.
The others glanced briefly to her as she levitated the bag from Stark to herself in a flash, stuffing a hand inside the floating bag so she could retrieve the delicious food inside.
“Why is everyone arguing?” Luna chimed in through a half-full mouth.
Stark, miffed by having his food stolen, frowned at her as he spoke, “Director Fury here was using the Tesseract to make weapons of mass destruction,” he turned to the others and continued the conversation while putting an arm around Banner, “And, back to this guy, why shouldn't he let off a little steam?”
Captain America approached Stark and shoved him away from banner, “You know damn well why! Back off!”
Luna watched with interest as Stark took a step forward to confront the Captain face-to-face, “Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me.”
Luna was hoping the Captain might squash him, viewing the display as an interesting movie of sorts, as the man responded with a cutting question, “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”
Stark responded in a matter-of-fact tone, “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”
The Captain was having none of that, “I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”
Again, Stark gave a snarky comeback, “I think I would just cut the wire.”
“Always a way out…” Captain America gave him a disapproving smile, “You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”
That did it for Stark, who responded angrily to Luna’s delight.
“A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!”
Steve puffed up his chest at Tony who just stood there unmoving. Luna looked around the room to see that, like herself, none of the others seemed to want to intervene. Let the two men let out their steam.
After a moment of silence the Captain spoke threateningly, “Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds.”
The situation amused Thor, who laughed at the two, “You people are so petty... and tiny.”
“Yeah, this is a team…” Doctor Banner muttered, not really pleased with how things were going. Luna finished off the bag of delicious food and tossed it back at Stark, who grunted as it collided with his head but doing nothing else because of his standoff with Captain America.
Director Fury decided that a high stress environment might not be the best place for someone with dangerous anger management, so he decided to remove Banner from the situation, “Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr.Banner back to his-”
Banner cut him off, his tone agitated to the point that Luna actually became worried, “Where? You rented my room.”
The Director tried to diffuse the escalating situation, “The cell was just in case-”
Luna glared at the cyclops as she thought about the room they were speaking of, “You needed to kill him. A room that would let you drop and kill him in case he got big and green. But my lover is in there instead, as he should be, so I suppose that leaves Banner to be amongst the general population.”
The room’s attention turned back to Banner, who was growing increasingly mad as the conversation continued. He looked around at them all and frowned, “You all wanna know my secret? You wanna know how I stay calm?”
Romanoff and Fury lowered their hands to their guns, knowing that anything more might send the Doctor over the edge. Furthermore, what Doctor Banner held in his hands worried them almost as much as his other form.
Captain America was the one to speak, ending his standoff with Stark to confront Banner, “Doctor Banner...put down the scepter.”
Banner looked down to see that he was holding Loki’s scepter, which he had not grabbed knowingly. He was confused about this and about to apologize when a computer in the room beeped and grabbed everyone’s attention.
Stark observed the computer, “Got it.”
Banner put down the scepter and walked over to the computer, “Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all.”
Thor, having even less knowledge of computers than Luna now, questioned what was happening, “Have you located the Tesseract?”
Stark nodded, “Yeah, just like our lady in the blue dress there found my blueberries. Thanks for eating my breakfast by the way, when I drop dead from hunger later we can all blame you.”
Luna rolled her eyes, “Oh please, as if a man as rich as you claim to be cannot afford more,” she smirked, “Although I would be most interested in that last part.”
Stark pointed a finger at her but Captain America cut him off in an attempt to stop the tide of rising emotions, “Look, all of us-”
Stark turned to leave, but Steve stopped him in his tracks, “You're not going alone!”
“You gonna stop me?” Stark questioned in an obvious attempt to provoke his supposed ally.
Rogers was fed up enough to willingly take the bait, “Put on the suit, let's find out.”
“I'm not afraid to hit an old man.”
Luna did not understand the comment, likening it to the one earlier about the Captain being frozen for a hundred years, and decided to question the idea later. However, she did wish to put the mortals in their place for acting like they were so tough.
“May I face whomever wins? I would most enjoy crushing that tin armor Stark wears.”
Captain America didn’t even turn to her, more intent on glaring at the shorter man in front of him, “This is between us,” he scowled at Stark, “Put on the suit.”
At that moment Banner who was looking at the computer monitor noticed something that shocked him, “Oh, my God!”
The ship shakes violently and the room does as well. Everyone was thrown in every direction, with Luna tumbling back out into the hallway while Steve, Fury, Thor and Stark are thrown across the room while Natasha and Banner are tossed down into the lower equipment room from the lab.
Steve looks to Stark from where he was tossed.
“Put on the suit!”
Now having another reason to get suited up, he responds worriedly, “Yep!”
Steve helped Tony up and out of the lab as Luna managed to pull herself to her feet and stumble back in. She helped Fury sit up, the man clutching his ribs as he put on his earpiece.
He began to bark orders out to someone, who Luna did not know, but she looked around the room to try and find Banner and Romanoff. A glance to a hole in the room revealed where they had gone, but she had no time to check on them.
Something was happening, and Luna would be damned if Loki was not the cause of it.
The Director continued to yell orders, “Coulson! Initiate official lockdown in the detention section then get to the armory! Move out!”
He turned to Luna, “I need you to go secure your boyfriend. Get going, and take out any soldiers who don’t look like ours on the way! Coulson will be there to support you later. We’re being boarded by an unknown force and they are working on destroying the things keeping us up here in the sky.”
Luna nodded to him before twisting around and dashing out the door, her thoughts all focused on Loki.
She was not about to let someone just take him away now. Not when they had found the Tesseract and were about to finish this whole mess.