Kindred Spirits

Backup

    Hearing thundering footsteps behind me, I turned to find Thor hot on my trail.

  "Brothers, huh?" I called back teasingly as we finally reached the door room that contained Loki's cell. We walked in to find one of his soldiers at the control panel, letting Loki out of his cell.

  "No!" Thor rushed forward while I stayed back, recognizing the faintest of shimmers around the edge of him as one of his glamours. Thor went right through it, landing on the floor of the cell as the door closed.

  "Will you ever not fall for that?" Loki and I spoke at the same time, turning to look at one another, him with fondness and me with annoyance.

  "The humans think us immortal, brother," he taunted as he moved to the control panel. "Shall we test that theory?"

  "How about no?" I chimed in, stalking forward with two blades drawn.

  He let out a derisive snort, not even bothering to turn until I stuck a blade in his side. A grunt escaped his lips as he sank to his knees when I withdrew the knife. "Haven't you learned by now, Loki?" I cooed as I knelt to his level, holding the blood stained steel up to his neck. "You should never underestimate me.

  A sudden cold attempted to take over as something touched the center of my back, right over where my heart would be. My mind revolted at the sudden intrusion of someone else's mind. Dropping the knives, I clutched my head between both hands as I hurried to remove the intruder. Firmly in control, I rose to my feet, grabbing my knives in both hands once more.

  "Now,-" He was cut off as I whirled around, blades sinking into his lower abdomen. Feeling wind in the chamber, I turned to find that he had dropped Thor through the opening. Groaning in annoyance, I found that Loki was gone, nothing but a puddle of blood in his place.

  I cursed the old gods and the new as I made my way to my room, pissed that I could one again not trust mortals to do the one thing they set out to do. I got out my armor and weapons as quickly as possible, before taking out the one thing I swore I would never use in this situation.

  I let out a sigh as I dialed the only number saved on the phone.

  "Hey, Andy."

.........................................................

  I made my way to the bridge, though seeing Steve marching down the hallway had me changing course.

  "Finally figured it out, huh?" I gave him a slight smirk as I followed him to the hangar.

  "Why am I not surprised that you knew where it was the whole time?" I laughed at the sarcasm in his voice, not bothering to respond as he ducked into a room. My eyes locked with those of Agent Romanoff, her expression worn down.

  "We know where Loki is, can you fly one of those things?"

  A man stepped out of the bathroom, saving her from responding. "I can." He was calm as he wiped water from his face.

  "Are you forgetting about me, Steve?" He let out a sigh while the other two looked at me in confusion. "Was I not the one that helped fly you over enemy lines in Italy? Do you really think I didn't have the basic function of their quinjets figured out ever since I'd gotten into their files?"

  "Wait a second," I looked over to Clint as he pointed at me with narrowed eyes, "You're that unknown in the area that they've been telling me to be on the lookout for."

  "What do you want, a cookie?" I turned to walk out the door, going to the nearest available jet in the hangar while Steve told them to suit up.

  I stayed hidden until the technician working on the jet cleared out. I had started up the ship and was waiting for either Clint or Natasha to input their clearance codes so that we could get to the deck when I heard a commotion behind me.

  "Hey, you guys can't-"

  "They're with me," I called back nonchalantly as I spun to face the opening, not hiding my amusement at the dumbfounded face of the agent that had attempted to stop them. "What, you think this started on it's own?"

  Steve came in, the other two following behind as I flipped the switch to close the door. "Care to do the honors?" I gestured up to the screen asking for clearance to rise to the flight deck, before looking back over my shoulder.

  "We gotta make a stop, I called in some reinforcements," I smirked as we took off, guiding us to the GPS coordinates Andy provided me with.

  I ignored their questions as we closed in on four people standing at the top of a hill.

  "Take over, would ya Clint?" I didn't bother waiting for a response as I stepped out onto the opening ramp. They came closer and I gave them a big smile as they approached. "One of you call a cab?"

  Andy gave me a shove before quickly embracing me, Joe, Nicky, and Booker following suit with varying degrees of laughter. I motioned Clint to take off as they got settled in, moving over to the redhead that was examining them with cold eyes.

  "This is off the record, Romanoff," she didn't look at me, quirking an eyebrow as she continued to look them over. "You breathe a word of this to anyone and you're dead, same for you, Barton," I looked over as he turned to look at me, "Camera on the ship has been disabled since before we took off, believe me when I say that you two will die before any of us do if I find anything about us in SHIELD files."

  They exchanged a look, silently conversing before nodding. I turned to find Steve eagerly chatting with the four of them, his eyes alight at their familiar faces.

  "Damn, where was that when I showed up, Steve?"