#image from marvels assembled loki

[in-my-loki-feels]

Tom, in the BBC Radio interview: "I would say the most tears were shed, funny enough, on that-on that big chair at the end. It was really interesting: there was a take where I couldn't help it, it all just sort of came tumbling out. And the next take was actually much more interesting because I sort of had the experience of having felt it. And then it was just all there. I don't know, it's a hard thing to describe. As the performer I didn't have to reach for anything, cause my--I felt more open somehow. It was there."

[jennyboom21]

This past September, a group of Marvel creatives, including studio chief Kevin Feige, assembled in Palm Springs for the studio’s annual retreat. Most years, the vibe would have been confident — even cocky — given how the premier superhero brand, owned by Disney since 2009, has remade the entertainment business in its image.  

But this occasion was angst-ridden — everyone at Marvel was reeling from a series of disappointments on-screen, a legal scandal involving one of its biggest stars and questions about the viability of the studio’s ambitious strategy to extend the brand beyond movies into streaming. The most pressing issue to be discussed at the retreat was what to do about Jonathan Majors, the actor who had been poised to carry the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but instead is headed to a high-profile trial in New York later this month on domestic violence charges. The actor insists he is the victim, but the damage to his reputation and the chance he could lose the case has forced Marvel to reconsider its plans to center the next phase of its interlocking slate of sequels, spinoffs and series around Majors’ villainous character, Kang the Conqueror. 

At the gathering in Palm Springs, executives discussed backup plans, including pivoting to another comic book adversary, like Dr. Doom. But making any shift would carry its own headaches: Majors was already a big presence in the MCU, including as the scene-stealing antagonist in February’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” And he has been positioned as the franchise’s next big thing in this season of “Loki” — particularly in the finale, which airs on Nov. 9 and sets up Kang as the titular star of a fifth “Avengers” film in 2026.  

“Marvel is truly fucked with the whole Kang angle,” says one top dealmaker who has seen the final “Loki” episode. “And they haven’t had an opportunity to rewrite until very recently [because of the WGA strike]. But I don’t see a path to how they move forward with him.” 

Beyond the bad press for Majors, the brain trust at Marvel is also grappling with the November release of “The Marvels,” a sequel to 2019’s blockbuster “Captain Marvel” that has been plagued with lengthy reshoots and now appears likely to underwhelm at the box office.  

This is all an unprecedented turn of fortune for a company that has enjoyed a nearly uninterrupted string of hits ever since it started independently producing its movies with 2008’s “Iron Man.” That wildly profitable run culminated in the $2.8 billion success of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” a high-water mark for the studio that has earned nearly $30 billion over 32 films. 

Replicating that kind of phenomenon is never easy. However, the source of Marvel’s current troubles can be traced back to 2020. That’s when the COVID pandemic ushered in a mandate to help boost Disney’s stock price with an endless torrent of interconnected Marvel content for the studio’s fledgling streaming platform, Disney+. According to the plan, there would never be a lapse in superhero fare, with either a film in theaters or a new television series streaming at any given moment.  

But the ensuing tsunami of spandex proved to be too much of a good thing, and the demands of churning out so much programming taxed the Marvel apparatus. Moreover, the need to tease out an interwoven storyline over so many disparate shows, movies and platforms created a muddled narrative that baffled viewers.  

“The Marvel machine was pumping out a lot of content. Did it get to the point where there was just too much, and they were burning people out on superheroes? It’s possible,” says Wall Street analyst Eric Handler, who covers Disney. “The more you do, the tougher it is to maintain quality. They tried experimenting with breaking in some new characters, like Shang-Chi and Eternals, with mixed results. With budgets as big as these, you need home runs.”  

“The Marvels,” which opens in theaters on Nov. 10, will struggle to get the ball past the infield, at least by Marvel’s outsized standards. The movie, which cost $250 million and sees Brie Larson reprising her role as Captain Marvel, is tracking to open to $75 million-$80 million — far below the $185 million “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” took in domestically in its debut weekend last year.   

Directed by Nia DaCosta, “The Marvels” unites Larson’s heroine with two superpowered allies, Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau (introduced in the 2021 Disney+ series “WandaVision”) and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan (first seen in the 2022 series “Ms. Marvel”). But instead of seamlessly building on the success of “Captain Marvel,” this move resulted in four weeks of reshoots to bring coherence to a tangled storyline.   

Then eyebrows were raised again when DaCosta began working on another film while “The Marvels” was still in postproduction — the filmmaker moved to London earlier this year to begin prepping for her Tessa Thompson drama “Hedda.”  (A representative for DaCosta declined to comment.) 

“If you’re directing a $250 million movie, it’s kind of weird for the director to leave with a few months to go,” says a source familiar with the production. 

“The Marvels” has seen its release date moved back twice, too, once to swap places with “Quantumania,” which was deemed further along, and again when its debut shifted from July to November to give the filmmakers more time to tinker. But that extra time didn’t necessarily help. In June, Marvel, which traditionally only solicits feedback from Disney employees and their friends and families, took the uncharacteristic step of holding a public test screening in Texas. The audience gave the film middling reviews.   

But Marvel has never been in the business of being average. “Kevin’s real superpower, his genius, has always been in postproduction and getting his hands on movies and making sure that they finished strongly,” the source adds. “These days, he’s spread thin.” (Feige declined to comment for this story.) 

Feige isn’t the only person showing signs of strain. Marvel’s entire VFX battalion, including staffers and vendors, is struggling to keep pace with a never-ending stream of productions. This past February, when the credits rolled at the world premiere of “Quantumania,” shock rippled through the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood over some shoddy CGI. “There were at least 10 scenes where the visual effects had been added at the last minute and were out of focus,” says one veteran power broker who was there. “It was insane. I’ve never seen something like that in my entire career. Everyone was talking about it. Even the kids of executives were talking about it.” 

The schedule swap with “The Marvels” had left the “Ant-Man” sequel in a squeeze, pushing up its postproduction schedule by four-and-a-half months. Marvel films are known for coming down to the wire, given Feige’s ability “to foam the runway and land a plane that way,” says one executive familiar with how the company operates. But this level of unfinished was unprecedented and would be noted in scathing reviews when the tentpole with the $200 million budget opened 11 days after the premiere. Critics weren’t the only ones dismayed. Fed up with 14-hour days and no overtime, Marvel VFX workers voted unanimously to unionize in September, sparking an industrywide trend. 

“The year 2023 was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” says former Marvel Studios VFX assistant coordinator Anna George, who appeared before the Congressional Labor Caucus on Oct. 19 to testify about the studio’s untenable deadlines and working conditions. “The pay and long hours at Marvel were the reason we had to start our unionization process there. The conditions were completely unsustainable.”  

Disney’s top brass, including newly returned CEO Bob Iger, was said to be apoplectic about Marvel’s VFX troubles. One month after the “Quantumania” premiere debacle, the guillotine fell on Victoria Alonso, who oversaw the studio’s physical production, postproduction, VFX and animation. While the reason cited for her abrupt firing was her unauthorized role as an executive producer on the Oscar- nominated film “Argentina, 1985,” insiders say Disney was incensed that quality control on its Marvel productions was plummeting, particularly on the ever-expanding TV front. The VFX logjam had been evident for some time, with some final effects for such Disney+ series as “WandaVision” and “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” inserted after their streaming debuts. That Alonso was busy promoting her art-house project while Rome burned certainly didn’t sit well with Disney’s leadership. (Alonso’s attorney says her client is unable to comment.)

But some internal sources suggest Alonso was a scapegoat and point to the “She-Hulk” VFX issues as a symptom of a deeper rot — namely a lack of oversight on script development. In the original arc of “She-Hulk,” a flashback of star Tatiana Maslany’s transformation into her Hulk character didn’t take place until Episode 8, the penultimate episode. But after Marvel’s brain trust watched footage, it realized the scene needed to happen in the pilot episode so that audiences could see more of the character’s backstory early. That meant that the VFX team was tasked with fixing the mess in postproduction.

“The so-called bad VFX we see was because of half-baked scripts,” says one person involved with “She-Hulk.” “That is not Victoria. That is Kevin. And even above Kevin. Those issues should be addressed in preproduction. The timeline is not allowing the Marvel executives to sit with the material.”

All the while, Marvel was bleeding money, with a single episode of “She-Hulk” costing some $25 million, dwarfing the budget of a final-season episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones, ” but without a similar Zeitgeist bang. The August 2022 series premiere at the El Capitan Theatre foreshadowed what was to come six months later at the “Quantumania” bow: the “She-Hulk” special effects were out of focus in multiple scenes.

There are signs that the flood of product is leading people to tune out. “I’m not prepared to call it a permanent fall. But based on the numbers that go with Marvel podcasts, Marvel-based articles, friends who do Marvel-based video coverage, all of these numbers are significantly down,” says Joanna Robinson, co-author of the New York Times bestseller “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios,” who is a writer and podcaster at The Ringer. “The quality is suffering. In 2019, at the peak, if you put ‘Marvel Studios’ in front of something, people were like, ‘Oh, that brand means quality.’ That association is no longer the case because there have been so many projects that felt half-baked and undercooked.” 

As public criticism mounts, Feige is pulling the plug on scripts and projects that aren’t working. Case in point: the “Blade” reboot. With Mahershala Ali signed on for the eponymous role of a vampire, things looked promising for a 2023 release date. But the project has gone through at least five writers, two directors and one shutdown six weeks before production. One person familiar with the script permutations says the story at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons. Blade was relegated to the fourth lead, a bizarre idea considering that the studio had two-time Oscar winner Ali on board.  

Amid reports that Ali was ready to exit over script issues, Feige went back to the drawing board and hired Michael Green, the Oscar-nominated writer of “Logan,” to start anew. Speculation around town is that the studio is looking to make the film, now slated for 2025, on a budget of less than $100 million — a deviation from Marvel’s big-spending strategy. 

With Iger publicly acknowledging the downside of a Marvel TV glut that “diluted focus and attention,” the keepers of the comic book empire are considering some dramatic moves. Sources say there have been talks to bring back the original gang for an “Avengers” movie. This would include reviving Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, both of whom were killed off in “Endgame.” (That shouldn’t be a stumbling block — in comic books, beloved characters are often killed off, only to be resurrected thanks to the power of things like the multiverse.) But the studio hasn’t yet committed to the idea — if it were able to bring those actors back, it wouldn’t come cheap. Sources say Downey Jr.’s upfront salary for “Iron Man 3” was around $25 million.  

Will that solve Marvel’s Majors problem? When the “Quantumania” actor was arrested in March, Disney executives insisted that they could afford to play a wait-and-see game, given that “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” wasn’t expected to begin shooting until early 2024. But then Majors was dropped in quick succession by his publicists and managers. (He remains a client at WME — the agency where he landed after CAA parted ways with him, pre-arrest, for his “brutal conduct” toward staff, says one source. CAA declined to comment.) In April, other alleged domestic violence victims of Majors began cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Then, ahead of a key hearing in October, media outlets including Variety obtained a court filing that referenced a police incident in London involving Majors that led his ex-girlfriend to seek medical attention. Making matters even stickier, the ex-girlfriend also worked on “Quantumania” as a movement coach, and the London incident took place while Majors was shooting Season 2 of “Loki.” On Oct. 25, a New York judge denied Majors’ motion to dismiss the case, which ensures that the actor will stand trial in late November. His legal team is attempting to keep some material in the case sealed. 

A studio source notes that regardless of the actor’s legal issues, Marvel already had considered moving away from a Majors-led phase because of the box office performance of “Quantumania,” which will struggle to make a profit. “It gave people pause given that ‘Quantumania’ didn’t exactly land,” the source says.  (On Oct. 27, Disney removed another Majors film, Searchlight’s “Magazine Dreams,” from the release calendar.)

Recasting Majors is also an option, as Feige did when he replaced Terrence Howard in “Iron Man 2” with Don Cheadle.  In fact, Marvel isn’t afraid to change direction, even after making splashy announcements. “Armor Wars” was first unveiled as a series and is now being developed as a feature, while the studio’s push to adapt the comic book “Inhumans” into a feature film generated headlines but is now dormant. (The now-defunct Marvel Television mounted an “Inhumans” TV series in 2017 that ran for one season on ABC.)

Still, there was one bright spot in 2023: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which became Marvel’s biggest draw of the year with $845 million worldwide. The fact that it was directed by James Gunn, the guy now running rival DC Studios, was lost on no one.

“With Marvel, it used to be as close to a guarantee as you could get,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a box office analyst at Comscore. “So, going all in on the budgets made sense. ‘Guardians 3’ was a bit overlooked in how successful it was. But that had James Gunn and Chris Pratt, and I think star power is becoming more important. Then there was ‘Quantummania’ with $476 million. Anything under a half billion dollars is viewed as a disappointment. And these overreaching expectations are a result of so much success over the years.”

The key to reinvigorating Marvel may lie with the superhero arsenal that Disney acquired during its 2019 purchase of 21st Century Fox. That deal brought several blue-chip heroes, such as the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, back under the studio’s control. Already fans are geeking out about next year’s “Deadpool 3,” which unites Ryan Reynolds’ merc with a mouth with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and a reboot of “Fantastic Four” slated for 2025. As a bonus, the Fox additions give Feige an opportunity to reimagine the “X-Men” franchise, the very property he cut his teeth on as a young executive at Lauren Shuler Donner’s production company. Now that the WGA strike is in the rearview mirror, Marvel has started talking to writers about bringing the X-Men into the MCU fold.

While Feige recalibrates, the rest of the industry is anxiously hoping that Marvel’s best days are not behind it.  

“Writing the Marvel obituary would be ill-advised,” says Jason Squire, professor emeritus at USC School of Cinematic Arts and host of “The Movie Business Podcast.” “Kevin Feige is the Babe Ruth of movie executives, and Marvel has the most profitable track record in movie history. No question.”

[justwriteryan]

THE CONQUEROR COMETH.

Exterior shot. An unfamiliar location; a grey featureless landscape, shrouded in an ethereal fog. No distinguishing landmarks or buildings. A silhouette takes shape through the haze, approaching slowly. A tall and thin figure, almost human if not for their oversized bald head and glowing eyes. It is UATU THE WATCHER.

UATU: Time grows short. Assemble.

Around the Watcher, the mist begins to shift and blur, twisting and twirling until six pillars of cloud materialize before him. The mist recedes, the clouds dissipate. Six people appear in the space before the Watcher, looking around the scene wildly.

SCOTT LANG, the ANT-MAN.

WONG, Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme.

CAROL DANVERS, known throughout the universe as CAPTAIN MARVEL.

GAMORA, former Daughter of Thanos, current member of the Ravagers.

SLYVIE, a variant of LOKI from an alternate timeline.

And SAM WILSON, the new CAPTAIN AMERICA.

SCOTT: Oh man, where the hell is this? Sam! Is that you?

SAM: Tic Tac? Is this one of your Quantum things?

SCOTT: I don’t think so. Congrats on the promotion, by the way.

SAM: Thanks.

CAROL: Guys. I think this might be because of him.

The gathered heroes notice the Watcher hovering before them.

UATU: Greetings. I am the Watcher.

GAMORA: The what?

WONG: An inter-dimensional archivist of major events across the multiverse.

UATU: That is correct, Master Wong.

Uatu bows to the Sorcerer Supreme. Wong nods back, awkwardly.

WONG: His presence here does not bode well.

SYLVIE: HIS PRESENCE? Where is this place?

SCOTT: Wait a sec. Who are you?

The Asgardian straightens up and glares back at him.

SYLVIE: Sylvie.

SCOTT: Anyone else get the feeling that was a lie?

UATU: You are all standing in a nexus point between dimensions. I have called you here because your universe is in tremendous jeopardy. Each of you have touched the multiverse in some way, so you understand how fragile the fabric of reality can be. And it’s only getting worse.

CAROL: How?

UATU: A myriad of disasters, each one chipping away at the walls between worlds. The emergence of the Scarlet Witch and her dream-walking crusade. A magic spell gone wrong at the behest of one Peter Parker. The Ultron Intelligence mastering the Infinity Stones and declaring war on reality itself. The activation of the Ten Rings against the Dweller in Darkness. Gorr the God Butcher acts of deicide, murdering the ancient gods of the cosmos. The Kree’s abuse of the Quantum bands, creating volatile jump points across time and space. And of course, the recent uprising in the Quantum Realm. All of which has enabled a terrible threat to reignite its voracious attack on creation.

SCOTT: Oh no…

UATU: An army, comprised of many armies spanning all of space and time. Led by many versions of the same man. An uncompromising tyrant from the far future with only one mission in the life: to conquer.

Uatu raises an arm. A holographic image appears above their heads. Hundreds of people. Thousands of people. Person. Thousands upon thousands of variants of the same man. Different builds, body types, races. All clad in the same purple and green armour.

UATU: Behold, the Council of-

SCOTT: Kang…

SYLVIE: This is impossible.

UATU: For a time it was. There was an…element in place to keep them separate. Keep them apart and out of your universe. But it was removed.

SAM: Why?

The Watcher looked at Sylvie. She looks away.

UATU: It doesn’t matter. Something else was put in place to keep the timelines in order. However, the damage to the fabric of reality is already too great. I fear he won’t prove a match for the Kang’s onslaught.

GAMORA: “He?” There’s a person in charge of all time and space?

SYLVIE: Not a person. A god.

UATU: Yes. But even a god can fall. So go. Prepare. The war for the multiverse is nigh.

The heroes fade away into the gloom. All but one. Sam Wilson takes a step forward.

SAM: I haven’t “touched the multiverse”. Matter of fact, I barely understood anything you said. Why am I here?

The Watcher looks down at him.

UATU: Sam, if there is one constant truth across the multiverse. Every fighting force needs the right Captain.

Sam smiles.

SAM: Copy that.

Captain America disappears. The Watcher turns back to the holograms of the Kang variants arrayed around him and scowls. He waves a hand dismissively and they fade away. The Watcher bows his head and stalks off into the mist.

Interior shot. A compact kitchen area where a large man and a small girl are drawing pictures on scrolls at the kitchen table. The man is THOR. The girl is the daughter he adopted at the end of THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER. Gorr’s daughter, who became known as LOVE.

THOR: Who’s that red guy?

LOVE: It’s a Frost Giant.

THOR: Are you sure? Every Frost Giant I’ve ever met was blue.

LOVE: This is a red one.

THOR: Very well. Red Frost Giant. Looking good.

A noise causes the pair to look up from their drawing. Thor holds out an arm and Mjolnir flies from the corner of the room and into his grasp. Love’s eyes glow menacingly. A portal opens and closes in the small kitchen. Out of the portal steps Sylvie.

THOR: Who the Hel are you?

SYLVIE: I am Syl-

She sighs.

SYLVIE: I am Loki. And I am burdened with glorious purpose. Brother.

THE END.

Posting this while Kang is still a character the MCU is considering and before any announcements comes out. My idea for a prologue for Kang Dynasty. I tried to tie in as many multiversal story points that were scattered across the past two phases.

[whatyoufish4]

Al Ewing Returns To Loki With Defenders Beyond

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/al-ewing-returns-to-loki-with-defenders-beyond/

Writer Al Ewing and artist Javier Rodríguez will follow up their acclaimed work on last year's DEFENDERS: THERE ARE NO RULES with a new volume starting in June. Titled DEFENDERS: BEYOND, the mind-bending saga will feature a brand-new lineup who unite to tackle an adversary with the power to end reality as we know it. As the previous DEFENDERS series proved, nothing is ever as it seems when Ewing and Rodríguez dive deep into the Marvel cosmos…

Blue Marvel, America Chavez, Taaia (the mother of Galactus), Tigra, and Loki (a variant of the God of Mischief who should be familiar to readers of Ewing's LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD series) will have assembled to defend reality itself! Their mission will take them to the very limits of space and time (and beyond it) as they confront questions few heroes have dared to ask and receive answers no one in the Marvel Universe is prepared for…

"It's great to be co-storytelling with Javier again on another DEFENDERS book – he's more than an artist, he's the other half of the equation," Ewing said. "There's no DEFENDERS without him. And of course, we had to go even bigger – so in this book, we're going on a magical journey into the Mystery itself, mapping the Marvel Godhead and bringing back knowledge that ties into what has gone before, some seismic things to come… and if we're lucky, maybe a little off-the-page magic to feed your hungry head. We've got an eclectic new crew of Defenders chosen for the task by the final spell of Stephen Strange – I'm saying what's probably a final goodbye to a lot of stuff from the past ten years with this one, and for at least one character, this will be the last adventure. Hope you survive the psychedelic experience, pilgrim!"

"Al Ewing is like a wizard that opens doors to the greatest 'larger than life' stories you could imagine," Rodríguez said. "He could take you through the most cosmic and spectacular passages of the Marvel Universe. And at the same time, he cares about each of the characters on the team, their lives, their particular problems so that you worry about them. And I have a lot of fun translating that to images. Those are the reasons that I'm so happy to get back to THE DEFENDERS."

[marvel-ous-me]

Another Marvel Song

(Disclaimer: My rhymes, but I don’t own anything related to Marvel or MCU. Not my pictures, credit where credit is due.)

Warning: Possible flashing images/ lights. And spoilers for latest films.

“Avengers Assemble!”, comes the beckoning call,

And every hero comes, prepared for the long haul.

From the original Avengers to the newest of the crew,

They were all a team and they were about to fight for what’s good and true.

                                                                                  The Characters

Iron Man

At the start, we have Tony Stark, our man of metal.

After his bumpy journey, his ignorance starts to settle.

First “a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist”, he’s now the ‘Dad’,

With his shooting rays, and snarky comments, he makes enemies mad.

  Captain America

Then the next leader of sorts is Captain America, the star-spangled man with a plan,

He was always brave and virtuous before his super solider adventure began.

From a scrawny kid in World War Two Brooklyn to the man that he is today,

Steve Grant Rogers is an ever-lasting hero as he “could do this all day!”.

  Thor

The last man of the main core trio is our Asgardian god called Thor,

His powers of thunder and lightning are striking as he booms into war.

Though he is now a lesbian loving himbo, he was first known as “Shakespeare in the park”,

No matter what version he is, like the Nordic sign, he has definitely left his mark.

  Black Widow

Natasha Romanoff is the only woman in the original six,

But wow, does she pack a punch with her amazing gadgets and kicks.

Her skills of martial arts, espionage, manipulation and hacking are used in a duel,

She is our favourite spy, so it’s devastating when she meets an ending too cruel.

  Hulk

Bruce Banner, he is Marvel’s own scientist guy,

Scuttling around his lab, he is timid and shy,

But if you anger him, then you’re in trouble,

The Hulk comes out and smashes things into rubble.

  Hawkeye

Though he has no super powers like the others, to hand,

Clint Barton with his bow and arrow, is not just any man.

With a slick shot and a keen eye, he never misses the bulls-eye,

With trick arrows (exploding, gas, plunger), he is own magic guy.

Scarlet Witch (and Quicksilver and Vision)

Born and raised in Sokovia, where the war and bombings increased,

they were exposed to the sceptre, where their powers were unleashed,

Pietro had super speed, and Wanda had psionic powers; powerful twins they were becoming,

They finally joined the Avengers in the fight, but Pietro died with “What? You didn’t see that coming?”

 The losses pressing down on Wanda, she is saved by AI Vision,

She wants to give up violence, and make a family her mission.

But because he is a robot who died too, she uses magic to make it so,

Grief makes Wanda suffer; innocents are caught and the Scarlet Witch begins to show.

Spider-Man

Psst, psst! There goes the web, sticking to the walls,

Red and blue swing by as trouble calls.

Landing crouched on the top of a building, is the Spider-Man,

He is also known as Peter Parker, a geek with a cam.

  Black Panther

Prince T’Challa, taking over the in the footsteps of his father,

But then he died tragically, now he’s the King of Wakanda.

With the help of his genius sister, he has amazing gear,

He uses to fight his enemies. His heroism is clear.

  Falcon

When we first meet him, we think he has nothing up his sleeve.

Yes, Sam is a normal guy but he can fly with the wings of the Falcon,

With his loyalty and his rightfulness, it’s no shock he’s the new Captain.

  Winter Soldier

Bucky, Captain America’s best friend since before World War Two,

But on a war mission, the train broke and down the mountain he flew.

We thought him dead but he was captured where Hydra tortured his mind,

But Steve helped him as they’re with each other, “till the end of the line.”

  Loki

He was taken from Jotunheim as a baby, to be a Prince and a god of Asgard.

Finding out he is a Frost Giant and being lied to, he is emotionally scarred.

Being the God of Mischief and Lies, that’s what Loki does,

But he can’t help it, he’s “burdened with glorious purpose.”

  Star Lord

Star Lord is his alias (though no one ever calls him it),

He’s not as respectable either; he’s kind of an idiot.

With the 70s, 80s and 90s music blasting from his tape,

This is a hero who often likes to jape.

  Gamora and Nebula

The daughters of Thanos, the big purple Titan,

They are trained warriors when they are fighting,

One is green whilst the other is blue and kind of robotic,

Gamora and Nebula’s sistership is chaotic.

  Groot and Rocket

Groot and Rocket, a talking tree and an enhanced raccoon,

They have a father-son relationship, they’re so in tune.

One grows his limbs into shields and weapons, the other shoots,

One is quite sarcastic, the other only says “I am Groot.”

  Drax and Mantis

Finishing of the Guardians of the Galaxy team,

Is Drax who is strong and Mantis who can make you dream.

Drax is known as the Destroyer, not for his invisibility,

Mantis, though, is sweet and has emotional manipulation ability.

  Doctor Strange

Like most Marvel Characters, Strange wasn’t born with a magical power,

Other than his neurosurgeon skills but his personality is sour.

After a car crash, he went to Kamar-Taj to go back to his prime,

Where he learnt magic and became the Keeper of the stone of time.

  Ant-Man

Scott is a reformed thief. But to pay for child support, ends up stealing a suit.

It has many powers like shrinking, so a person can move around via mute,

Being the size of an ant and a wasp, Scott and Hope's relationship is amusing,

They do missions like fighting bad guys and going into Quantum Realm, which is confusing.

  Shang-Chi

After his mother died, his father had him trained in the martial arts,

But he (with his friend) is also a lover of Karaoke in their hearts.

His name is Shang-Chi, but Shaun is another name,

At the end of the journey, the Ten Rings are in his claim.

  The Eternals

The Eternals, quite not like any other, from out of space,

They are like the Avengers but a different kind of race.

With all their alien powers, they make quite the team,

But not all of the members are what they seem.

  Nick Fury

And behind the scenes or picking up special humans for missions,

Is Nick Fury, a tough nut to crack under any harsh conditions.

With his quick thinking and aim, Nick is a world-renowned spy,

He wears his famous leather trench coat and patch over his eye.

*********************************************************************

                                                    MCU Films

Iron Man     

Starting off 'Phase One' in the MCU is no other than the Iron Man, 

  His journey starts after he was captured and nearly killed in Afghanistan.

He gives up making nuclear weapons and stops his old boss, Stane,

The next day, he tells press who he is and this adds to his fame.

  The Incredible Hulk

Next is The Incredible Hulk, where there is an attempt at Super Soldier replication,

Unfortunately, this goes wrong and Bruce Banner is caught in the excess radiation.

He tries to find a cure whilst escaping his father in law’s attempts to arrest him.

The Hulk fights the Abomination and flees New York, finding his situation grim.

  Iron Man 2

The first sequel in the series, is Iron Man 2, Tony finds out a bad report,

The arc reactor that powers his suit is soon going to cut his life short.

He discovers S.H.I.E.L.D’s origins, a lifesaving element and his best friend gets his armour too,

After beating a guy with clones, there is a ceremony where medals are given to the two.

  Thor

After his crowning is halted by his brother’s schemes, Thor goes to confront the Frost King,

but he then gets stripped of his power and sent to Earth, with Mjölnir nowhere to be seen.

He falls for a scientist and is content where he is but his friends in Asgard aren’t happy with his brother's selfish reign,

Thor sacrifices himself and his powers return but when he confronts his brother, Loki falls to his death in his pain.

  Captain America: The First Avenger

A guy who is always turned down when he tries to join the war efforts due to his illnesses and little strength,

Hearing his troubles, a doctor signs him up for an experience where Steve grows in muscles and length.

He tours, and gets studied, but then his best friend is captured so he goes to save him, just to lose him off the train.

He defeats Red Skull, and stops missiles, only to be awakened from ice decades later again.

 The Avengers 

Loki, not dead as it seemed, brainwashes agents to do his bidding to gain the Tesseract for the Other,

Fury calls for the Avengers to stop Loki’s plan, and he is soon arrested with the help of his brother.

However, Loki has a plan and causes havoc on the hellicarrier, escapes and starts his invasion on New York,

Fighting all the alien forces, they blow up the mothership and Loki is sent to Asgard court.

  Iron Man 3

After the New York battle, Tony has PTSD and trouble sleeping, thus he makes more Iron Man suits.

Happy injured, he threatens Mandarin and his house is broken and off to Tennessee he shoots.

Pepper is trapped and inserted with Extremis. When he goes to save her and the President with Rhodey,

He uses the extra suits to help. Pepper saves him and he takes the arc reactor from his body.

Thor: The Dark World

As the Convergence approaches, portals appear all over, one in which Jane goes in,

She absorbs a power not for her, releasing powerful forces where her decline begins.

The power beckons enemies who kill Frigga in the process whilst trying to get it out of Jane,

The God brothers get it out and the others win the battle and send away the stone that was a pain.

  Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Flying down to save hostages, while Nat downloads data and Fury gets suspicious, and on his drive,

He’s ambushed by the Winter Soldier. He warns Steve about being compromised, dies but Hydra is alive.

They get help from Sam, find out Hydra’s plan and the soldier's Bucky (he’s not mentally fine),

They stop Hydra. Steve doesn’t fight his friend because “He’s with him until the end of the line.”

  The Guardians of the Galaxy

Quill steals an orb; people chase him for it; a fight ensues and they end up in prison.

The four of them meet Drax, who wasn’t friendly at first, but selling the orb is their mission.

The enemy arrives to steal it, so everyone tries to stop the galaxy from being destroyed.

They distract Ronan with a dance, and then they grab the stone and vaporize him into the void.

  Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers raid a base and find magical twins then Stark builds an AI to defend the world,

But Ultron attacks and upgrades himself, helped by the twins; everyone is tricked by the girl.

Whilst Avengers are in hiding, Ultron begins to make a new body but the twins don’t like his plan,

Stark and Banner upload Jarvis, then they fight in Sokovia to stop Ultron trying to kill every human.

  Ant-Man

Not being able to see his daughter due to a lack of money, he unknowingly steals a suit that shrinks,

But the owner wants him to wear it, to stop his enemy so they train Scott and ants to be in sync.

After sabotaging Yellowjacket, they get caught and try to stop the enemy from selling the suits to Hydra’s hands,

Scott saves his daughter by fighting Yellowjacket and he returns from an accidental trip to the Quantum Realm.

  Captain America: Civil War

The Avengers fight an old enemy who blows up a building to kill them but only kills passers-by,

This causes the ‘Sokovia Accords’ aiming to control them. The team is split and tensions are high.

On the way to stop an enemy, Cap’s team is stopped by Iron Man’s and casualties occur,

Realising some harsh truths, the leaders fight elsewhere and things aren’t as nice as they were.

  Doctor Strange

Arrogant Doctor Strange injures his hands in a crash and is determined to return himself to what he was,

He ends up studying mystic arts where he excels so he is warned that he can’t go breaking nature’s laws.

Other sorcerers come to attack the Sanctum but Strange protects it with the help of the Cloak of Levitation,

To stop the Dark Dimension, he uses a time loop to make it leave earth alone. Now the Sanctum is his station.

  The Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2

The Guardians fight drones, but are saved by Quill’s father who has a planet. His name is Ego.

When sent to turn in Peter, Yondu doesn’t want to so he’s in prison but escapes with his arrow.

Ego explains that he fell in love with Peter’s mother and looked for Quill to teach him the Celestial power,

Learning that Ego has killed his siblings, they fight but Groot plants a bomb that explodes the planet into a dust shower.

  Spider-Man: Homecoming

When Peter is told he’s not an Avenger, he concentrates on his crime fighting,

He tries to stop Toomes from stealing weapons, Spider-Man is justice righting,

Accidentally cutting ferries in half, his suit is taking away,

He fights his date’s dad but Pete wins and leaves him for the police that day.

  Thor: Ragnorak

Whilst captured, Thor is told Ragnarök is coming. He returns home to weird occurrences,

After his father’s death, powerful Hela escapes and plans for her plan’s re-emergence.

On another planet, Thor, salved, reunites with Hulk who Thor tries to convince to help his home from his sister,

The group manages to escape and help the citizens but Thor realises only Ragnarök can stop her.

  Black Panther

After the passing of the King, T’Challa is ready to take the Black Panther mantle and the throne,

We learn his uncle tried to sell Wakanda's secret tech to others of African heritage known.

His cousin, Killmonger, challenges him for the crown where he throws him over a cliff, defeated,

But T’Challa heals and fights his cousin who dies then to honour him, the truth of Wakanda is heeded.

  Avengers: Infinity War

Thanos is looking for the Infinity Stones and killing any in his way, Bruce said,

Even though unlikely alliances were made, Thanos was always one step ahead.

Strange wants to keep the time stone and Vision wants to be killed to destroy the Mind one, so everyone is ready to withstand,

 But the battles were in vain as Thanos completed the gauntlet and half of life was snapped away by a click of his hand.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Whilst on house arrest, Scott receives Quantum messages from Janet and they decide to save the mum

Needing a piece for the journey to do so, but they are attacked because they also want some.

The attacker is ill and needs the piece to recover, but Pym worries it could affect his wife,

So, things are messy, they fight but Scott manages to leave house arrest and enjoy his life.

Captain Marvel

Suffering from amnesia and uncontrollable emotions, Vers is captured but escapes to Earth,

With Nick Fury, she learns about her past but their allies are impersonated by Skrulls, they unearth.

Meeting old friends, Vers realises all is not what it seems: Kree are bad and Skrulls are misunderstood,

Releasing her full power, she saves the Skrulls. She goes to find a home for them, for good.

 Avengers: Endgame

After five years, they realise time travel is possible, Avengers plan to retrieve the stones to reverse the past,

The survivors work together and the plan works well except some hiccups which outcomes shall forever last.

Thanos from another time is looking foe the stones whilst the Avengers build another Gauntlet which the Hulk snaps,

When the trio seem defeated, the lost come back to battle and they win but not without the loss of Nat, Tony and Cap.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Going on a school trip, he ends up fighting a water monster, with the help of Beck,

Peter trusts Mysterio but he doesn’t hear Beck's conniving plan once he’s given Stark’s specs.

Peter and MJ find drones that Beck is using to seem like a hero so Peter fights him and the illusions,

Just when Peter seems happy, a broadcast reveals his secret identity at the film’s conclusion.

Black Widow

When they were kids, Natasha and Yelena were raised in a fake family setting then sent to the Red Room to train,

Natasha is a fugitive, before the events of Endgame, and she is reunited with her sister to stop Red Room’s pain.

With the fake family, they manage to free black widows from mind control and plan to free more,

Years later, at Nat’s grave, Yelena plans on killing Clint, who she thinks killed her sister, to even the score.

,

TV Series

In the series, Wanda is grieving, creates a family and mind controls a town,

And Bucky and Sam, the new Captain, track the radical Flag Smashers to take them down.

Then we are reunited with 2012 Loki where we both discover everything is destined to be by the TVA,

And the last series of the year, Clint and new apprentice Kate try to take down a mob before Christmas Day.

Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings

Shaun’s mother is murdered so his father teaches him to kill in revenge but he runs away after,

Now in the modern life, but the past shows up and he has to go tell his sister of the matter.

Their father thinks the mum is beckoning him but it’s really the Darkness pretending so they try to stop him opening the gate,

The dad manages to open it and a fight ensues where Shaun with the Ten Rings and the dragon defeat the Darkness before it’s too late.

The Eternals

Milenia ago, Eternals arrived to fight the Deviants but not get involved in human’s lives, they end up disagreeing and parting ways,

But the Deviants return so they must reunite but Sersi, the new leader, learns about the Emergence happening in a few days.

They reassemble to save humanity but find out one of their own killed the last leader so humanity’s doom could come.

They freeze the Emergence to the chagrin of the boss Celestial and now humanity’s time on Earth could be done.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

After the reveal that he is Spider-Man, he asks Strange to make people forget the truth,

However, the spell was disrupted and villains from other universes come through.

Learning they die when they go back, Peter tries to cure them but they all escape and he loses Aunt May,

Three Spider-Men work together but Peter has to be forgotten for the universes to stay away.

Future Films

Now, in 2022, we wait for more films and series and they will be here soon,

First, we have the second Doctor Strange and the fourth Thor (just after June).

The new series include Ms Marvel and She-Hulk, new characters to explore,

Whatever the company bring, MCU fans will be ready for more.

Let me know what you think, constructive criticism is welcome as this was university/ college.

[geekcavepodcast]

Al Ewing and Javier Rodríguez Reunited for New “Defenders” Comic Book Series

Marvel Comics has announced that Al Ewing and Javier Rodríguez, the team behind 2021′s Defenders: There are No Rules, are returning for more Defenders action. Defenders: Beyond will feature a new team going against an adversary with the power to end reality.

Defenders: Beyond begins “when Doctor Strange sends a dire warning from beyond the grave! Blue Marvel, America Chavez, Taaia (the mother of Galactus), Tigra, and Loki (a variant of the God of Mischief who should be familiar to readers of Ewing’s Loki: Agent of Asgard series) will have assemble to defend reality itself! Their mission will take them to the very limits of space and time (and beyond it) as they confront questions few heroes have dared to ask and receive answers no one in the Marvel Universe is prepared for…” (Marvel Comics)

Defenders: Beyond #1 (of 5), featuring a wraparound cover by Javier Rodríguez, Stormbreakers variant cover by Natacha Bustos, a variant cover by Phil Noto, and a teaser variant cover by Ron Lim, goes on sale on June 15, 2022.

(Image via Marvel Comics - Javier Rodríguez’s Cover of Defenders: Beyond #1)

[lelliefant]

You guys! It’s time again for Lellie’s Wild Speculations Based on Minimal Footage!*

Let’s see what we have here.

Tom/Loki in midair, in a behind-the-scenes practice session stunt-leap for the Loki series production.^

What might this image tell us about the Loki series?

1. First, it appears that Tom’s particular physical strengths will be effectively showcased in the stunt choreography on this production. This is a good sign.

Tom is surprisingly adept at gymnastic stunts for such a tall man. Please note the perfect arch in Tom’s form here. This leap is so well executed. Look at the elegance of Tom’s form, his left arm so gracefully extended. Look at that amazing wingspan!

If this clip is typical of the type of stuntwork Tom will be doing, this production will effectively exercise his physical strengths: flexibility, fluidity, agility, precision, and speed. (These are also Loki’s strengths.) If someone is putting this kind of thought into the fight choreography, can we extrapolate that they might be putting as much thought into the production overall?

Tom is just a little slow on his timing to stick the landing on this particular jump—but what an awesome landing it will be when he nails it! By his posture on impact, it appears to be intended to be the classic superhero landing (on one knee).

But we’re not just talking about a landing in this case: Tom is doing the full leap, start to finish. This is a lot harder than being CGI’ed for 20 feet and dropped two feet for the last bit. If they manage to capture Tom visibly doing this entire leap himself—with the superhero landing—on camera, in one shot, it will be an awesome look.

2. Nobody does the big, superhuman stunt leaps like Tom Hiddleston. There’s a reason we’ve seen Loki perform some of the largest, longest, and highest complete jumps in the MCU: Tom is very good at aerial work.

On a spectrum:

CH has great physical strength, but he’s not so agile when he’s at Thor weight.

CEvans is both incredibly agile and strong—he’s an amazing all-around athlete.

Tom has balletic agility and grace. He’s not weak—he’s wiry. He’s flexible and he’s got stamina. He’s built to fly.

3. More importantly, have a look at Tom’s right hand in the new behind-the-scenes clip from the Loki series.

The stuntwork in this new clip is clearly a practice run, but look what he’s practicing: his right hand in a grip held up, extended far away from his body—he will be holding something in his right hand in the final version of this stunt.

This positioning is undoubtedly deliberate. As any gymnast could tell you, an uneven positioning of the hands will throw off your balance. Tom is going to have to keep a perfect balance despite this additional element, and land this stunt—without the use of his right hand!

What could this object in his right hand possibly be? Hmmm... I think his arm is out so far because the object he will be holding is something that could otherwise get entangled in his legs and/or upper body. Something that extends both upward and downward from his grip: a staff or scepter. Does this mean that in the Loki series Loki will have his scepter from Avengers1 (Assemble)?!

Loki’s scepter holds the Mind Stone. So, will Loki have both the Tesseract (Space Stone) and the Mind Stone in the series?

We know Loki will be traveling through time in the series: will he also have the Time Stone?

With possibly three of the Infinity Stones in hand will the series be about Loki questing for all of the Infinity Stones? Six episodes—six stones?

Why would Loki go on a quest to collect all of the Infinity Stones knowing Thanos is also searching for them? (Thanos would still be alive in Loki’s alternate reality.) Does Loki want to collect the stones to use them as a bargaining chip with Thanos? Or does Loki plan to use the Infinity Stones himself? Perhaps to defeat Thanos—who tortured Loki and used mind control on him? Or to overpower Odin and take the throne of Asgard—this time in his own form? Would he then also claim Jotunheim?

4. If Loki will be holding his Avengers scepter in the final version of this stunt, this will be a very risky stunt for a lead actor to perform, himself.

Let me explain why I think this is a particularly risky stunt. As previously discussed, this type of aerial stunt is harder than it looks, particularly because Tom will be holding something in his right hand, which will require him to do some tricky balancing.

Obviously, in this stunt, Tom is also moving at a high speed, and at a substantial height in the air, and for a significant distance. But on top of all that, if he is carrying Loki’s scepter, he will be making this leap while holding a heavy, big, pointy thing. Not a hammer, not a shield, not even a knife—a pointy thing that has multiple blades coming out at different angles.

Of course, they would use a blunted version of the scepter for this stunt. But even a blunted prop weapon would be extremely dangerous at such a speed, with a landing of this force.

Tom once told a story about the Jotunheim fight scene on the Thor set, when he used Loki’s throwing knives. (I can’t find the clip where he talks about this, but it would have been from an interview he did sometime between 2010 and 2013.) Tom said that after they finished filming the scene, he couldn’t find one of the blunted prop knives he’d thrown. It turned out that he had thrown it so hard the knife was imbedded in the wall of the set.

5. Tom Hiddleston has no fear, and he is all-in on the Loki show.

Based on Tom’s own words and the comments of others, we know:

Tom always wants to perform as many of his own stunts as they will let him.

Tom is a perfectionist.

Tom is emotionally invested in this production, not only because he loves Loki, but also because this is his first chance, after 11 years, to perform as the lead in a Marvel production.

Thus, I surmise that Tom is prepared to put everything he’s got into this production. Like, even more than usual—and he usually puts his whole body, heart, and soul into his work. This series could contain Tom’s finest work yet.

6. The fact that Marvel is allowing Tom to do a stunt as dangerous as this one could reflect that he has significantly more decision-making power on this series than in the previous films.

Tom has done big stunts like this before, but never when he was playing the lead character, with the entire production depending on his safety. He’s more valuable to Marvel now, and also more expensive as a commodity, since he’s more famous and successful now.

So, why is Marvel allowing Tom to do this difficult and risky stunt, himself? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it’s because Tom insists—and on this production, unlike others in the past, he actually has the clout to make executive decisions. If so, this would be a very good sign for the Loki series.

*Note: Lelliefant’s speculations are sometimes uncannily correct but occasionally way, way off base. Lelliefant claims no responsibility for any lost bets or damages otherwise incurred by Tumblr readers resulting from adherence to the aforementioned speculations.

^Credit to @sabine-leo for original screenshots

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS | CHAPTER 2

Rating: Explicit. 18+

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it’s own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV.

Summary: You’re Peter’s classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don’t know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you’re lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: Bad girls are sad girls! Always wondered what goes through the mind of a spoiled, rich but intelligent and perceptive teenager? Have you found yourself craving that adrenaline rush, the danger of a forbidden fruit? Okay. That was cheesy as hell. Gross.

Let’s try again. Sarcasm? Check. Vine references? Hell yes! Crude humour? Check. Blunt honesty? Double check. We’re living in a Lana del Rey song, ladies.

The author doesn’t actually condone codependent relationships in real life. This is a filthy little fantasy. Enjoy, deviants.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @vozit​ @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings​

Beta read by the lovely and patient @miscmarvelwritings  ! She deserves all the love 💙

Peter woke me up at eight AM the next morning like the little shit that he was, demanding I make him pancakes. It wasn’t the first time I’ve had the joy to experience him in the morning and he knew exactly how to antagonise me enough to make him the special pancakes he liked so much. They had become kind of a ritual whenever he stayed over at my house, which was quite often - teachers liked me enough to pair me up with one of the most sensible kids for any projects that couldn’t be done alone by yours truly on her own.

I put on my yesterday’s dress, applied moisturizer and obediently trotted behind an excitedly mumbling Peter. The kitchen was large, beautiful and delightfully empty of any resident superheroes. I’ve indirectly crossed paths with all of the tower’s residents hanging around Tony, but I’ve yet had to speak more than polite niceties to any of them. 

Spying a bowl of boiled eggs and some sort of weird salad alongside half burned toast on the counter, I suddenly understood why Peter demanded his pancakes. I strictly instructed the disaster child to stay away from my cooking process and set to work with one ear listening to his ramblings and a headphone in the other. 

A set of thumping footsteps appeared behind me as I was pouring the batter for the first pancake. Their owner loudly sat down next to Peter, sighing, groaning, generally making “I’m not a morning person” sounds.

“Good morning, Mr. Barnes,” Peter’s tone was way, way too chipper.

“‘mrng,” The Sergeant grumbled. “Who’s this and why is she making pancakes?”

I turned around, spatula at the ready. “It’s me,” We’ve actually met before, but Barnes had left before I could even come over from my side of the work bench to say hello.

He nodded in acknowledgement after giving me a suspicious once-over. “One of Stark’s science children. I’m James but you can call me Bucky,” His voice sounded rough and gravely, and he clutched a coffee cup half the size of my head.

I snorted. “Science child, sure,” It wasn’t half-bad actually. I wisely choose to ignore the part of being Tony’s. No matter how hot the man was, I wasn’t anybody’s but my own, thank you very much. “Go get the bananas, Nutella and maple syrup, fellow science child.”

Peter scrambled to follow instructions as I plated the pancakes and cut the bananas into neat little rings to fill the sweet circles with. A tablespoon of Nutella, half a sliced banana, wrap, garnish with powdered sugar and pour maple syrup generously on top. I really didn’t see how this could be difficult but any and all attempts to teach Peter how to recreate my masterpiece always ended up in an absolute mess. I turned around to ask Bucky if he wanted any. The look of a man starved answered all my questions.

“You’re a goddess,” Peter moaned around his mouthful, nose smudged white with the powdered sugar.

“Gross, chew first then talk, you neanderthal,” I scoffed, prepping more batter for the second batch of pancakes. I wasn’t sure if everybody would show up but figured it would be rude to exclude them from the sheer magnificence that were my pancakes. I was just that good.

The music in my ear drowned most of Peter’s disgusting chewing noises, thankfully. My second batch vanished into thin air, inhaled by the two males like the garbage disposals that they were. Peter, in particular, ate an alarming quantity of food and I was surprised how he managed to stay so skinny. His daily eating schedule resembled the Hobbits.

More people appeared, this time acting less surprised regarding me standing at the stove. Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and her brother, all of them wandered in wearing sleep attire with various amusing prints. Thankfully, they mostly kept quiet or chatted with Peter - I would have definitely grumbled if someone tried to talk to me. As far as my body was concerned it was still the middle of the night.

“PANCAKES,” A booming voice announced and I shuddered at the sheer intensity and devotion contained in that one word. Thor.

“Please use your indoor voice,” I snapped reflectively. My brain caught up with what I just did so I hastily backtracked. “Sorry, I’m a bitch in the mornings.”

The blonde man chuckled, coming over to poke his nose into my flurry of pour-flip-fill sequence. Then, with all the grace and manners of a prince, he dipped one (1) large finger into the jar of Nutella and wandered off with it stuck in his mouth. With this turn of events the Nutella was bound to run out sooner than expected.

I turned around, annoyed confusion in plain sight. “The fuck?.. That’s gross, don’t do that,” Finding his brother (adopted!) sitting next to Thor, wearing a haughty smirk, finger still in his mouth. So Loki turned into his brother to steal Nutella from a jar. I sighed. Nobody even batted an eye. “Your alien germs are in there now, double ew.”

“Alien germs? Where?” Bruce entered the kitchen with a tablet under his arm, wearing Hulk themed pajamas, Captain America in tow. I was honestly on the verge of breaking down into hysterical laughter. Domestic Avengers wasn’t something I’d expected to see or experience, ever, much less be a part of. It took a moment for me to remind myself that they were people, too, and each of them was entitled to their own quirks. 

“America, egg-splain,” Peter muttered under his breath, giggling. “Loki stuck his hand in the Nutella jar,” He pointed at said jar. “She got grumpy,” Peter pointed at me. “Don’t make her grumpy, please, I want more pancakes,” And turned his pleading puppy eyes in my direction again.

“This is indentured servitude,” I pointed my spatula at the little shit. “You just had, like, ten.” But I made more batter nonetheless. I must admit it was kind of cool, seeing the earth’s mightiest defenders so relaxed. And Pete being happy, that was just… The best. I don’t know how to explain it. His eternal cheerfulness was highly contagious.

Chuckles filled up the room, the adults chatting and bickering amongst themselves while they patiently waited for their own breakfast. 

“Do you need some help?” Bruce approached me after stopping to fetch himself a cup of tea. It smelled strongly of tangy herbs and honey.

“I need more Nutella and bananas,” I admitted, surveying the sheer amount of people I had to feed. I didn’t doubt the Captain and two Asgardians had an appetite to match Peter’s which meant a literal extra set of condiments was required. Thankfully, Bruce fetched them for me, coming to a stop next to me. “Anything else?”

“You know, I tried making these with Peter and he just ended up with powdered sugar and chocolate all over himself,” I mused, noting the way Banner was carefully observing the assembly of a pancake. “You think Doctor seven-phds can manage to add a few toppings to a pancake without causing a disaster?“ 

Bruce rolled his eyes fondly, bumping me with his hip. "I’m no Clint Barton when it comes to cooking but at least I don’t burn my toast like Steve,” True to his word, his hands made swift motions of filling, wrapping and plating each individual pancake. They were almost as good as mine albeit more messy. I had lots of practice though. We finished off a batch in companionable silence, sounds of the team and my music playing in the background. 

I didn’t notice when I started swaying to the rhythm, catching a confused look from Bruce. I brushed back my hair, revealing a wireless headphone in my ear and he chuckled in understanding. “What are you listening to?”

“Right now? Kings of Leon,” I said, leaning towards him so he could hear the chorus “Use Somebody” currently occupying my right ear. 

“I like them, too,” He said, his cheek gently touching mine. His hands slowed on the pancake, a soft hum vaguely reminding me of the song’s melody emanating from his throat. “What else do you usually listen to?”

“Mostly heavier stuff, but I have a whole separate playlist dedicated to mid-2000s bops,” I answered. “I’ve heard I’m quite old school when it comes to music.”

“Well, I am an old man, so…” Bruce grinned mischievously. “But my guilty pleasure is Lady Gaga,” He admitted with a laugh.

I laughed, too. The image of his dancing in his lab to Born This Way was too much for my brain and I hung my head, fighting giggles. Bruce bumped me with his hip again, faking a pout. “Okay, okay, that was a fucking hilarious image, you go dude,” I finally powered through my struggle to contain laughter. “My own guilty pleasure would be… Umm… Lana Del Rey, I guess.”

Bruce made a vague noise of confusion. I took a brief break from mixing the batter to dig out my second headphone, presenting it to him and switching to a song. “This is what makes us girls”. Despite the fact I have never stolen a car or had a close female friend, the nostalgia was real. “Carmen” followed after the first song and I silently thanked whatever deity that “You can be the boss” was taken out of Spotify - I don’t think I was prepared to share that kind of information with a lab partner. An older, handsome lab partner. Wait… Where did that come from?

“I like it,” He said after the song ended and my more usual stuff began playing. “It suits you, I think.”

I groaned. “Really? I think it’s edgy,” Hiding away the embarrassment, I passed him a tray of freshly baked pancakes, occupying his immediate attention.

“You’re an old soul,” He gave me a lopsided smile. I saw a very faint blush tinting his cheeks, the kind of blush that had me wondering about the meaning behind his words. 

I gave an attempt at a smile in response, the left corner of my mouth barely tilting up. We talked some more about the rock music we shared in our earphones. I had a lot of 80s hair metal and 90s grunge in my playlist. Bruce was not a Curt Cobain man but enjoyed the works of his legacy, Marcy Playground. 

A tan hand wormed its way between me and Bruce, snatching a handful of banana slices and disappeared just as swiftly. “Tonyyy,” Bruce groaned, picking up another banana to replace the stolen pieces.

The spatula in my hand became a weapon as I blindly aimed at the target behind my back. A loud “ow” indicated I hit it. When I turned around, Tony was clutching the side of his face, a hurt look in his eyes and cheeks stuffed full of stolen goods. I stared him square in the face, absolutely refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was shirtless - the arc reactor glowed brightly in the middle of his toned chest. Fuck.

His chest was honestly what I was aiming for. I constantly kept forgetting how short he actually was. There was this one time when Tony had to put his arms around me to steady a piece of tech - he felt huge, hard and enormous around me. 

“What’s that for, Princess?” He finally chewed through his food and found his voice.

“For being a Tony,” I retorted. “Stay away from my workspace and wait for your breakfast like everybody else.”

“Hey! This is my kitchen,” He whined immediately, like the adult man that he was. I nearly cried from how adorable his face became, eyebrows scrunched up. “I don’t want to wait! And why does he,” Tony’s finger accusingly pointed at Bruce, “Get the bananas?!”

“Because he’s Brucie-bear,” I stuck my nose up in the air when Bruce’s arm wrapped around my waist. “He’s my science father,” I stuck my tongue out at Tony, seeing Bruce’s triumphant smile. Banner used every opportunity to get back at Tony’s incessant sass. 

The gleaming in Tony’s eyes should have alarmed me. “But he’s not your science daddy,” Tony’s flirting was accompanied by a salacious eyebrow wiggle and Peter’s screech of “OH MY GOD!" 

It took me every ounce of willpower to not flush. It was one of those rare times that I was at a complete loss of words. Thinking on the spot, I gave a very meaningful look to Bruce - thankfully, he got the gist and returned an equally filthy smirk back. Tony gaped.

"Is this how they are in the lab?” The Captain’s quiet voice leaked horrified amusement.

“All.The.Time.” Peter’s resonating groan was followed by Romanoff’s laughter.

We went up to the lab after breakfast. Thankfully Tony stopped his dramatic bitching when I served him my pancakes, scarfing them down much like everybody else. So me and Pete were accompanied by one (1) happy engineer, all three of us tinkering away on a robot that we were supposed to present in our science class in a month. The focus that was required to solder was immense and our usual banter was missing, replaced by an occasional request for a specific tool or a water bottle.

It took a few hours to get the dirty job done even with Tony’s help (technically he wasn’t supposed to but neither me nor Pete had the heart to forbid him from it when the man looked so content and happy soldering away). By the time I uncurled from my spot on the bench, my back was in knots and my dress had oil stains and holes all over it. I immediately went to the nearest water bottle, finishing half of it in seconds, picking up my phone to see if I had any important messages from my mother.

None.

Just a message from Bruce.

I tapped on my phone, idly scrolling through the Instagram app, liking some pictures of people I barely knew and keeping up a general appearance of being very busy. When the ringtone started playing, it took me a whole five seconds to understand it was, in fact, coming from my phone - I certainly wouldn’t put something so… Outrageous as my main tone.

Banner had discovered the power of the internet. You Can Be The Boss played loudly, and it played from my phone and Bruce was calling me. I picked it up, turning around, fighting the incoming laughter. “Yes, Brucie?" 

To say that Tony’s and Peter’s faces were scandalised was nothing. The boy’s face was such a deep shade of red, I started worrying about his blood pressure and Tony’s mouth hung open limply, like he was witnessing the second coming of Christ. 

"Is Tony sufficiently traumatized?” Judging by the breathless tone of his voice, Banner was resisting a mighty laughing fit of his own.

“Oh, absolutely,” I happily chirped.

“Good, keep it up. Come to my lab before you leave,” Banner snorted and then, realising what he’d done, promptly hung up, the tell-tale beginning of a giggle fit abruptly interrupted by a dial tone.

I put the phone in my bag, gathering the rest of my things with a look somewhere between innocence and indifference. At least, I hoped it was - my mind kept jumping between the engineer’s ridiculously scandalised face and the way his mouth went slack, lips moist and soft and plush. That’s a very dangerous trail.

A very dangerous trail I couldn’t resist exploring in the solitude and privacy of my own bedroom, at home.

[ot5ismyhome]

22. I’ll make this feel like home

To read from beginning click here.

*****

Wanda was astonished by the memory of Steve that she had seen. It was something he had never talked about. He had shared with her many memories of him during the war but not this one. Sometimes she noticed that he would look sad while remembering the past but she had brushed it off as missing his old life.

“I’m sorry, Steve,” Wanda said softly, gently gripping his shoulder.

“It’s okay. It’s nothing” he said trying to brush off. Wanda noticed the small tear drop at the corner of his eyes. Steve blinked back to avoid crying. Bucky had also noticed the change in Steve’s mood but he was lost on what had happened. When he moved closer to console him, Steve excused himself and left.

“I’m going after him,” Wanda said looking at Bucky.

Bucky nodded.

Wanda went out of the lab to check up on Steve. She found him in a small room. He had his head buried in his hands. Wanda sat close to him and enveloped her hands around his shoulders. He rested his head on her shoulder. After some time passed, he started talking.

“What you saw back there…”

“Hmm”

“That’s before the Council was formed. After the war, a group of mercenaries were the sole power across America. Every one of us regretted fighting the war but some were enraged that they were made to fight. Due to the war many new vampires were created. The older ones despised the newcomers. They decided to kill off the newcomers and establish their own set of rules. Foreigners were allowed to escape.”

“Well, Peggy asked me to save Sousa. She was free to return to Britain while Sousa was taken to be executed. That memory… uh… the one you saw was…”

“When you saved him.”

Steve nodded.

“You did the right thing”.

Steve sighed and looked away. “If it were only that simple” he said more to himself than to Wanda.

After moments of silence, he started talking again. “During the war, I lost Bucky in a mission. Or I thought I lost him. The loneliness was maddening. When the mercenaries came afterwards, I stood against them. I went for days without sleeping or feeding properly. I roamed the streets like a mad man.” New tears streamed down his face. His voice was barely a whisper, “I hoped that one of the fights would be my last.”

Wanda held on to him tightly and let him cry into her shoulders. It hurt her to see him in this state. She consoled him and tried her best to encourage him.

“Jiaying found me one day. Knowing about the state in America she had come here. She saved me. She gave me a purpose. I’m glad I met her.”

“I'm glad that you met her too. Or else I wouldn’t have gotten you as my family.” Wanda kissed his forehead wiping his tears away.

“I’m also glad to have you, kid. And I don’t want to lose you” The words ‘too’ hanged on the air without being uttered.

“You won’t.”

…..

Wanda roamed around the Zephyr in search of Bucky. She wanted to talk to him. She found him assembling the necessary equipment.

“Hey”

“Could I just stay with you?”

“Sure. I didn’t know you liked my company” he teased her.

“Well. Daisy is getting advised by Coulson and Steve and Natasha are busy.”

“I’m the last option? That hurts” he chuckled. Bucky closed the bag containing the field kit. He kept it aside and hopped on the table.

“Spit it out.”

“What?” Wanda looked surprised.

“You want to speak something.” It was more of a sentence than a question.

Wanda had wanted to talk with him. She decided to get it out. “It’s just whenever I look into someone’s mind, I end up bringing bad memories.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s not something you are able to control”

“I can’t keep provoking everyone around me.”

“Then learn to control it. Whenever you had used your powers, the other person was emotionally vulnerable.”

“I think I’m done with this. The training was a bad idea”

“Two important things. First, I’m not going to allow you to give up on yourself. And second, the training was my idea. So, don’t blame it” Bucky said the second line with a mock insult making Wanda smile a bit.

“Give it another try, now” he continued.

“You mean?”

“Yeah”

“You are fine with it?”

Bucky nodded with a gentle smile. Wanda hesitantly took his hand in hers. She controlled her mind and tried to enter Bucky’s mind. This time it was easier for her. Wanda’s mind was filled with a similar sensation of cloudiness as she entered his mind. She found herself in an old apartment. She saw Bucky getting ready to go out somewhere. He was checking his appearance in the mirror.

“Come on, Buck. We are getting late” a voice called out to him. Wanda recognised that it was Steve. By Bucky’s clothes and hairstyle, she knew they were in the 40s.

Bucky and Steve shared a hasty kiss before they exited the apartment.

“Where are we going?”

“The future.”

They got into Bucky’s car and Wanda followed them. She had been to 40s memories before but only she was able to observe the things around her. She noticed that the street was filled with war propaganda pamphlets. The posters were stuck in every building. The street was filled with pedestrians rushing through their lives.

Wanda was intrigued by the board reading, ‘World Exhibition of Tomorrow.’ She was delighted when Bucky parked the car and the duo walked out to the expo. She excitedly followed to find that it was Stark Expo. She kept close to the couple not wanting to lose Bucky. They stopped in front of a large stage hosting a shining red car.

From the buzz, Wanda understood that they were waiting for Howard Stark. The crowd burst into cheers when the man of the hour walked onto the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what if I told you that in just a few short years, your automobile won’t even have to touch the ground at all?” Howard continued, “With Stark Gravitic Reversion Technology, you’ll be able to do just that.” He smiled at the crowd as he pressed the button and pulled up a small level.

The car buzzed and lifted above ground. It hovered in the air making everyone gasp at the marvel in front of them. There was a fizzle followed by a small explosion and the car crashed down.

“I did say a few years, didn’t I?” Howard gave a charismatic smile.

The crowd erupted applauding the genius in front of them. Wanda hollered to show her friend.

“Imagine really living in the future where there are flying cars,” Bucky said looking at Steve.

“Wishful thinking, Buck”

“It’s time. I got to leave.”

“Yeah, I know”

“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back” Bucky said his face serious. He walked away slowly.

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.”

Bucky shook his head looking at his lover. He walked back and hugged Steve.

“You’re a punk”

“Jerk” Steve called out hugging him back.

The scene dissolved. Wanda felt herself being pulled out of the memory. She looked up at Bucky and gave a smile.

“That is a beautiful memory.”

“Yeah, it is” Bucky grinned like a fool reminiscing the past.

They noticed Steve leaning against the door, his arm folded in the front.

“Hey”

“Hey”

“Still standing here”

Both the men chuckled. Steve ruffled Wanda’s hair and slung his hand around her shoulders.

“Got stuck with her, uh?”

“Hey!” Wanda cried pushing him away. “It was him who convinced me.”

Steve laughed. He asked, “I was thinking of something. Instead of just looking into our memories, you can try showing one’s memory to the other.”

“Is that possible?” Wanda wondered.

“I get where he is going. Like Loki did.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, he saw other’s memories with your aid. Then we could also do that”

“Okay” Wanda smiled with excitation. “So, who’s the scapegoat?” she asked, looking between the two men.

Steve and Wanda exchanged a knowing glance and turned their attention to Bucky.

“You have gotta be kidding me.”

“You agreed to help me.”

Wanda interlinked her hands with the two vampires. She first singled her thoughts and stopped her mind from wandering randomly. She slowly prodded it to enter Bucky’s memories. The Zephyr dissociated and the surrounding started getting clouded. She felt the familiar sensation. Wanda found herself in the back of a small van.

The place was crumpled and barely a place to stand. Various electronic gadgets were scattered around. Bucky and Sam were looking intently at a screen. Wanda noticed it was security footage of Scott going through a building. In the nearby screen, a static image was displayed. The realisation suddenly hit her. She looked back at the screen Scott was seeing. She recognised the place. She tugged on Steve’s sleeve and was surprised when she was able to make contact.

“Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“You can hear me?”

“I did reply. So yeah.”

Wanda playfully nudged him with her elbow. She motioned to the screen and both of them turned their attention to the video of Scott. Steve’s eyes widened as he looked at the all too familiar corridor.

“What is he doing in my company?” Steve cried.

The duo followed Scott’s movements. He expertly disabled the alarms and set out to his destination. He came to halt at the back of the building. He accessed the secret panel in the wall which revealed a hidden door. Scott disabled the lock of the door and went in. He started working on the vault having the Draught.

“Draught of Frost Blood, here I come” Scott commented as he opened the vault.

“Wait! Isn’t it Draught of First Blood” Bucky intervened.

“What? No man.”

“I read it somewhere” Bucky shrugged.

“It doesn’t make sense”

“How does frost make sense?”

“Loki. Winter. Frost.”

“I agree with Bucky in this one” Scott spoke over the comms.

“Enough of chit-chat folks. Scott, take the vial and get your ass back here.”

“Got it.”

Bucky playfully rolled his eyes and looked at the screen monitoring Scott’s moves.

“I knew Pym got lucky was just a bunch of bullshit” Steve swore.

Wanda chuckled. After we get out, it's going to be one hell of shit show she thought to herself. She watched Scott open the locker and take out two vials of Draught and pocket it. 

“You never noticed the missing vials?” Wanda smirked.

“Shut up.”

Wanda laughed.

Scott proceeded to close the lock and reset the alarm. He made his way out without any disturbances. Bucky and Sam high fived each other as Scott walked out of the building.

“Now everything is set,” Sam said, pressing some buttons. The original security video started playing and the loop was cut off.

Bucky climbed to the front of the van. Scott took the wheel.

“Where to?” Sam asked from the back.

“Let’s deliver it to Pym, then hit the bar,” Bucky said.

“I’m going to kill him once we get back,” Steve muttered, making Wanda laugh.

“What about our deal?” Scott asked eagerly.

“I will change you once Pym duplicates it” Bucky promised.

“Cool.”

Wanda exited Bucky’s memory taking Steve along with her. They were back in the Zephyr sitting with Bucky.

“Steve, I can explain”

“You jerk,” Steve shouted, chasing Bucky around the lab. Wanda laughed at the playful fight between the two.

*****

 Chapter 23

[valeriethepussycats]

Assemble

Chapter 4

Pairing- Loki x Reader x Steve (one side)

Warning- cursing

Your thoughts and other characters are in italics.

Flashback in Bold.

Back on the Helicarrier in Bruce’s lad. Y/n knocks on the door. “Y/n come in.”

Y/n walks into the room and looks around at all the equipment.

“Your call on the spectrometers... how did you know that would work?” Bruce wondered.

“Well we’re trying to find the Tesseract and it  gives off a certain type of energy which can be read as a frequency hence why I said spectrometers.” Y/n  explained. “I just wanted to let you know that if you need any help I’m here.”

“Well two heads are better then one.”

Y/n walks over to the chair across from Bruce.

As soon as Y/n sits down she gets pulled into Bruce’s mind.

“HULK… SMASH!!” The Incredible Hulk roused as he smashes the ground making it crack open.

“I’m so sorry I knew about your friend but I didn’t know it was that bad.” Y/n announced.

“So you’ve done research on me?” Bruce queried

“Not for the reasons you’re thinking your memories just told me.” Y/n told Bruce.

“My memories?”

“I can read minds and when I sat down I saw an  Image of you know who.”

“Voldemort.”

“What no The Hulk.” Y/n stated.

“Oh that guy.” Bruce dryly.

“I know what it’s like to have apart of you that you can’t control.” Y/n disclosed.

“You do?” Bruce curious tone.

“Ya afraid if you let your emotions get the best of you it’s game over but I have faith you Bruce.” Y/n said Optimistically.

“Really?”

“I just through away the only source that can help me control my powers. In three hours my full powers are coming back if I believe I can control them. Then I believe you can control him.” Bruce smiles as Y/n opens one of The files on the desk. “I’m not saying it’s gonna happen right off bat  it’s gonna take some time.” Y/n finished.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“Natasha watches the skies. Thunder. Coming out of nowhere. Fury speaks over her headset.

“Said anything?”

“Not a word.” Natasha replied.

“Just get him here. We're low on time.” Nick ordered.

With Loki tied up and cuffed to his seat, Tony and Steve watch from a distance, whispering. “I don't like it.”

“What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?” Tony supposed.

“I don't remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop.” Steve remarked.

“Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?” Tony wondered.

“What?”

“It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know,doing time as a Capsicle.”

Steve looks at Tony, finally meeting his ego match. “Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in.”

“Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you.”

Thunder and Lightning nearly hit the jet, making it shake violently.

“Where's this coming from?” Natasha mumbled to herself.

Thunder rumbles overhead. Loki stares out the window intently.

“What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?” Steve teased.

“I'm not overly fond of what follows.” Loki answered.

Outside the jet a blinding light hits the jet. Not a light. The Mighty Thor. Thor  open the ramp and grabs Loki by the throat and flies out. Steve and Tony are left dumbstruck. Tony puts the Iron Man helmet on.

“Now there's that guy.” Tony said with a sigh of irritation

“Another Asgardian?” Natasha wondered.

“Think the guy's a friendly?” Steve asked.

“Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost.” Tony turns and gets ready to jump off the jet to chase after Thor.

“Stark, we need a plan of attack!” Steve protested.

“l have a plan. Attack.” Tony jumps out of the jet and chases after Thor. Cap grabs a parachute to follow.

“I'd sit this one out, Cap.” Natasha insisted.

“I don't see how I can.” Steve replied.

“These guys come from legends, they're basically gods.”

“There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that.” Cap jumps out of the jet.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Somewhere out in the European mountains, Thor throws Loki into the side of the mountain. He raises the mighty hammer, Mjölnir. He looks down at his brother, who he thought to be dead and is angry to see him alive in this fashion.

“Where is the Tesseract?” Thor demanded.

“I missed you too.” Loki laughed.

“Do I look to be in a gaming mood?!” Thor snapped.

“Oh, you should thank me. With the Bifrost gone how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here? Your precious Earth.” Loki scoffed.

Thor drops Mjölnir, causing the mountain to quake. He picks up Loki. His brother. Although Thor is pissed for what he has done, a family is everything to a man or god. “I thought you dead.”

“Did you mourn?”

“We all did. Our father...”

“Your father. He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?”

Thor lets go Loki, who walks away from Thor, causing an even bigger wedge between them.

“We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?”

Loki  turns around. “I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I was and should be king!”

“So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights. No, the Earth is under my protection, Loki.” Thor declared.

Loki laughs “And you’re doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves, while you idly threat. I mean to rule them. And why should I not?”

“You think yourself above them?” Thor asked.

“Well, yes.” Loki said in a casual tone.

“Even if your love was here. You think yourself above her.”

Loki stops walking away from Thor. “I do not know what you speak of.”

“Mother told me what she did for you. She gave you a love someone who will be there for you and love you forever come home brother we can find her together.” Thor said Sincerely.

“I already found her. She’s here you know of her....she helped fight The Destroyer.”  Loki stated.

”Y/n.”  

“Do you think I came here because of your love of Earth....we well rule over all humanity and there will be nothing you can do about it.” Loki said with fire and determination.

“Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. Throne would suit you ill.” Thor disclosed.

Angrily, Loki shoves his brother to the side. He walks back up to the ledge. Turns around. “I've seen worlds you've never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile! I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it...”

“Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be-king?” Thor queried.

“I am a king!” Loki swore loudly.

“Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream! You come home.” Thor said trying to reason with Loki.

“I don’t have it. You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off I know not where.” Loki grinned.

Mjölnir flies back to his grasp. “You listen well, brother. I...”

Thor is Knocked off the Mountain by Iron Man who tackles him in mid-flight.

“I'm listening.” Loki mocked.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Thor and Iron Man crash into the forest. Thor rolls himself up. Iron Man is still standing, but keeps his distance. The helmet opens up.

“Do not touch me again!” Thor growled.

“Then don't take my stuff.” Tony stated.

“You have no idea what you're dealing with.” Thor began.

“Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?” Tony mocked.

“This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice!” Thor explained.

“He gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of my way... tourist.” The Iron Man helmet clamps and he walks away. In one quick move, Thor pulls Mjölnir, throws it, and Knocks  Iron Man clear across into a tree.

“Okay.” Tony scoffed.

From the mountain side, Loki watches in amusement. Thor raises his hand. Mjölnir flies back to his hand. Thor swings the hammer, summoning a ray of energy. Iron Man stands up and from his hand boosters, a blast of energy Knocks The mighty Avenger on his ass. Iron Man flies back up and knocks Thor into a tree. Thor, kneeling on the ground, pulls Mjölnir to his hand, raises it to the skies and pulls in Lightning and Thunder. Thor points the hammer at Iron Man and the outpouring of bolts lighting increases in intensity.  Iron Man falls back.

“Power at 400% capacity.” Jarvis  informed Tony.

“How about that?” Tony grinned.

Iron Man flies away from his hand boosters, pushing Thor to his knees. Like two gunslingers ready to draw, both Thor and Iron Man fly towards each other and meet in the middle and ascend up.

The two battle. Iron Man grasps Thor, elbowing him and smashing  him into the side of a mountain. Thor leaps  off the mountain and takes  Iron Man with him.

Thor and Iron Man crash right back down, smashing down every tree possible. Iron Man yanks Thor right up. Thor grabs both hands boosters and begins to crush them. Tony quickly  chargers as much energy as he can and shoots energy in Thor’s face. Thor falls back, losing his stance. Iron Man headbutts Thor, with his gold-titanium alloy helmet. Thor... headbutts him back in head and actually sends Iron Man across the forest. Iron Man boosters up and flies back at Thor, grabbing him by the arm and cape and swings him into another tree. Thor looks up, ready. Thor runs with all his patience out the window. Iron Man swings and misses, giving Thor the momentum to grab him, lift him and smash him down hard. Thor summons back Mjölnir to his hand. Just as he's about to put the hammer down, Iron Man uses his hand boosters to skid across the ground and trip Thor over. Standing up, Thor looks for him, but from behind him, Iron Man crashers into his back. Thor stands facing Iron Man. Ready to pounce... Captain America’s shield ricochets  off both Thor and Iron Man, stopping them.

They look up and see Captain America standing on top of a fallen tree with the shield back in hand. “That's enough!”Steve said coming down looks at Thor. “Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here.”

“I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!” Thor answered.

“Then prove it! Put the hammer down.” Steve voiced.

“Um, yeah, no! Bad call! He loves his hammer!” Tony provoked.

Thor backhands Iron Man with Mjölnir. Thor, losing all tolerance with this sentential of liberty, raises the hammer. “You want me to put the hammer down?”

Thor leaps high into the air raising  Mjölnir. Captain America crutches down holding up his shield.Sure bring the hammer down onto the shop with a massive. Implosion of light reacts to the Vibranium shield creates a massive shockwave that blows up anything within a mile.

IronMan stands up, looking around like `holy shit.' Lying right next to him is Cap.

“Are we done here?” Steve asked.

Captain America,Iron Man, and Thor just stand there.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

As Bruce and Y/n are working in his lab as Loki walks down being guarded by men and when he looks into the room he catches Y/n’s  face he was shocked but he covered it well. Banner stops working on the scepter and looks up. Loki eyes him as he walks, nodding and smiling. Bruce rubs his head.

“Hey Bruce you ok?” Y/n asked.

when Y/n  finally looks up at what Bruce was look at she see him. Everything slows down and she can only see him. She can hear her heartbeat as clear as day. She gets the sense of familiar like she’s known him her  entire life and  just haven’t seen him in a while. Even though she’s just seeing him for the first time. Every nerve in her body has a awaken and she feels a different form of electricity go through her. She feels like like the world hell the universe is pulling her towards him she doesn’t understand why.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Loki is now free from his cuffs and is contained in a large glass cella held by hydraulic rigs. Fury walks up the control panel of the cell. “In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass.” Fury presses a button which opens up a hatch underneath Loki’s cell.

Loki peers as much as he can from the glass. Without seeing, the sounds of gusting wind  would make man shit his pants. Not a god, though of course. “Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?!” Fury closes the hatch. Points at Loki. “Ant.” Then points at the button which would drop Loki into the steel trap. “Boot.” Nick finished

“It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me.”  Loki said smirking.

“Built for something a lot stronger than you.” Nick stated.

“Oh, I've heard.” Loki looks into the camera.

The others watch on the monitor Loki getting interrogated. Banner looks at the monitor, intently.

“The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?”

“How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control.” Nick Started. “You talk about peace and you kill `cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”

“Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is.”  Loki disclosed.

“Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something.” Nick said smiling about to walk out the room but Loki voice stopes him.”

“Humans often over look when real power is standing in front of them”  Loki said looking into the camera. “And what marvelous power she has such shame you keep a breathtaking creature like that locked up.”

Fury walks off leaving Loki in his glass cell. Loki looks back at the camera, smirking.

Y/n is watching the interrogation from Bruce’s lab.

Bold I’ll give him that.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Steve watches until the monitor goes black. Thor, who didn't even look, just listened, stands there, torn apart. They all just stand there in stunned silence. Finally --“He really grows on you, doesn't he?”

“Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?” Steve asked.

“He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.”  Thor explained.

“An army? From outer space?” Steve inquired.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n walks out of Bruce’s lab and head towards the bridge lost in her thoughts on how Loki knows so much about her and why is every fiber of her being telling  her to go to his cell. Just thinking about the way he look at her makes her smile makes her feel flushed. Not realizing that she made her way to the bridge when she looks up she instantly smiles even more.

“Thor?!!”

“Y/n?!!”

Without hesitating Y/n runs and hugs Thor. He then picks her up and twirls her around in excitement.

“Y/n! I did not know you would be here.” Thor proclaimed happily.

“I didn’t know you would be here I thought the bifost was destroy.” Y/n told Thor happy to to her friend.

“It was my father summoned all his power to get me here.” Thor shared.

Agent Hill and the other look at Y/n with confusion. “Am I missing something? How to you tow know each other?” Agent Hill questioned.

“I met Thor in New Mexico. I helped him fight the destroyer.” Y/n  grinned.

“Does Director Fury know about this?” Agent Hill asked.

“Of course I wouldn’t dare keep secrets from the Director. But what’s going on with Loki why is he here this time.”

He’s here because of you. Thor thought

Y/n looks at Thor shocked. “What?!”

“He’s building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.”

“Selvig?” Thor asked.

“Erik? ....why was Erik working with Shield?”Y/n asked Agent Hill.

“He's an astrophysicist.” Bruce answered.

“He's a friend.” Thor stated.

“Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours.” Natasha informed the others but mumbling the last bit.

“I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here.” Steve disclosed.

“Steve right there’s something here that Loki wants.” Y/n agreed.

“I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him.” Bruce voiced.

“Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.” Thor declared.

“He killed eighty people in two days.” Natasha commented.

“He's adopted.” Thor disclosed.

“Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?” Bruce asked.

“The It's a stabilizing agent.” Tony answered Bruce’s question as he is walking in with Coulson. “I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive. Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at Shield.” Tony walks over to Thor and hits his bicep. “No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing.”

“Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants. Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did.” Tony covering his eye, looks around. “How does Fury do this?” Tony asked.

“He turns.” Agent Hill answered.

Tony looks around the monitors and places a button size hacking implant under Fury's desk, without anyone noticing. “That sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”  Tony explained.

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Agent Hill  queried.

“Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?” Tony wondered.

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve questioned.

“Erik got to heat the cube to a hundredand twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.” Y/n answered out loud.

“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.”  Tony replied.

“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.” Bruce explained.

“Finally, someone who speaks English.” Tony grinned.

“Is that what just happened?” Steve questioned.

Tony and Banner shake hands. A glimmer in their eyes shines as the mutual respect for each other shows.

“It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.” Tony remarked.

Bruce looks down. “Thanks.”

Nick Fury walks on to the bridge. “Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.”

“Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”  Steve pointed out.

“I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.” Nick disclosed.

“Monkeys? I do not understand.” Thor said confused.

“Don’t worry I’ll explain it to you later.” Y/n whispered to Thor.

“I do! I understood that reference.” Steve exclaimed.

Tony rolls his eyes, while Cap looks proud of himself. “Shall we play, doctor?”

“Let's play some.” As Banner and Tony walk out, the Galaga player turns ever so discreetly, watches as everyone else disperses and goes back to playing.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Banner continuously scans with a gamma ray detection scanner on the scepter for radiation. Tony looks at his monitors, shifting and solving as many algorithms and equations.

“We didn’t get a chance to formally meet I’m Y/n Munroe.” Y/n said holding out her hand for Tony to shake.

“Tony Stark.”Tony shakes Y/n’s hand.

Tony have surgery and screaming. Tony wakes up suddenly with a tube up his nose, laying on a cot in a cave. He rips out the tube and tries to pick up a cup on the table beside him, but fails. He notices a man shaving and tries to reach further but is stopped by wires.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” Yinsen stated.

Tony realizes that he's connected to a battery. He rips off the bandages over his chest to see an electromagnet inside his chest.

“That’s how it happened.” Y/n mumbled.

But Tony heard clear as day. “What happened?”

“Um nothing.” Y/n said walking over to Bruce.

“You didn’t tell me you knew Erik Selvig.”

“Oh ya I met him years back when I was 17 I was his assistant after I got my PhD.” Y/n explained

“You have a PhD?” Bruce asked.

“Ya I don’t really talk about.”

“Don’t like being the smartest person in the room.” Bruce observed.

“Exactly.” Y/n said sitting down in a chair.

After a moment the computer that this is working on starts to beep.

“The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig’s reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process.”  Bruce told Y/n and Tony.

“If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops.” Tony explained

“All I packed was a tooth brush.” Bruce commented.

“You know, you two  should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land.” Tony said with a smile.

“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem.” Bruce shared.

“I live here and I broke Harlem...I caused a black out and a state wide earthquake.” Y/n confessed.

“That was you?!!” Bruce exclaimed.

“I heard about that what the hell happened?” Tony wondered.

“I had a nightmare.” Y/n replied.

“Your kidding me.” Tony claimed.

“I kid you not.” Y/n answered.

“Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises.” Tony grinned.

“Oh no Tony don’t....”

Tony pokes Banner with a miniature electrical prod. “OW!” Tony looks at Banner closely.

Steve walks in on them, pissed at Tony. “Hey!”

“Nothing?” Tony questioned.

“Are you nuts?” Steve asked angrily.

“You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?” Tony asked calmly.

Y/n laughs.

“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve wondered.

“Funny things are.” Tony remarked.

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor.” Steve made known.

“No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things.” Bruce implied.

“You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.” Tony chuckled.

“And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.” Steve stressed.

“You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables.” Tony explained.

“I agree with Tony I know Erik  and I know how he feels about Shield he would’ve wanted someone familiar to be here with him.....I should’ve been here with him.” Y/n disclosed.

“You think Fury’s hiding something?” Steve questioned.

“Of course he is I should’ve been here helping Erik but I wasn’t because he knows I can read minds. I would read his mind and find out what he’s really doing.” Y/n mumbled.

“He’s a spy. Captain, he’s the spy. His secrets have secrets.” Tony said then points over to Bruce. “It’s bugging him too, isn’t it?”

“Uh...I just wanna finish my work here and...” Bruce stuttered.

“Doctor?” Steve asked.

“'A warm light for all mankind,’ Loki's jab at Fury about the cube.” Bruce started.

“I heard it.”

Bruce points at Tony. “Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news.”

“The Stark Tower? That big ugly.” Tony gives him a look. “...building in New York?”

“Isn’t It's powered by Stark Reactors, self- sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?” Y/n asked.

“That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now.” Tony commented.

“So, why didn't Shield bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?” Bruce explained.

“I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of Shield's secure files.” Tony replied.

“I’m sorry, did you say...?” Steve trailed off

“Your looking through all the Shield files.” Y/n said astonished.

“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret Shield has ever tried to hide.”  Tony said holds out a bag of blueberries. “Blueberry?”

Y/n takes a blueberry. “I need to file or  two from him anyways.”

“Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around?” Steve remarked.

“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible.” Tony pointed out.

“I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.” Steve told Tony.

“Following is not really my style.” Tony grinned.

“And you're all about style, aren't you?” Steve said with a sarcastic smile.

“Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?” Tony mocked.

“Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?”  Bruce chimed in.

Steve takes in the possibility, but as an obedient soldier, shakes it off.

“Just find the cube.” Steve walks out of the lab. Still torn apart by the possibility, he walks away, towards the hull of the ship.

“I’ll talk to him.” Y/n announced.

“You can try he looks like the snitching type.” Tony disclosed.

Y/n rushes out of the lab to find Steve. “Steve.”

Steve stops in his track. “You agree with him you think what he’s doing is OK.”

“I need information on someone and I know Nick fury‘s not gonna give it to me. It’s the only way I can know for sure.”  Y/n stated.

“That question you asked Coulson.” Steve reported.

“Ya. I  know what you’re about to do.” Y/n announced. “I know you wanna get answers just as well as I do now go get them.” With one last look Steve walks away. While Y/n heads towards the cell where they’re keeping Loki.

Part 5

[blankdblank]

Safe Pt 2

Pt 1

@satanskatze​

@himoverflowers​, @theincaprincess​, @aspiringtranslator​, @sweeticedtea​, @thegreyberet​, @patanghill17​​, @jesgisborne​​, @curvestrology​​, @alishlieb​​, @jogregor​​, @armitageadoration​​, @fizzyxcustard​​, @here2have-fun​​, @lilith15000​​, @marvels-ghost​​, @catthefearless​​, @imjusthereforthereads​​, @c-s-stars​​, @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore​​, @mariannetora​​, @shes-a-killer-kween​, @ggbbhehe4455

@changlingkhat

…

Hopes of not being alone rose again in the morning to the automated replay of the second disk of shows beginning for the second time his ears strained finally to hear the subtle sigh in a shift to the sound of another triple beep from a scan. One sharp gasp and a relieved sigh had the Prince smirking to you saying, “Vision, morning.”

“Yes, yes it is. One hundred percent restoration of eye sight. Very well done.”

“Thank you,” you groaned back clearly rubbing your face through his floating to Loki’s bed, asking at his nearness, “How is Loki’s?”

The direction of the question towards the Prince alerting him to the three beeps above his face granting Vision to say, “Still recovering nicely. Improvement is constant so far.” Like one would pet a dog he patted Loki’s shoulder saying, “Very well done.” Loki simply laid still to the red man straightening up to the distant smoke alarm urging a clearly faked gasp from him, “My muffins!” Out the open door he flew to soar up through the hall to his own floor to save what could be saved of said muffins.

Softly Loki couldn’t help but chuckle imagining the look on Vision’s face in fleeing and wet his lips moving to sit up hearing you folding your blanket that was laid on the couch. “Would you like a shower?”

“Yes, I seem to have, perspired in my sleep. Quite the active dream.” Brushing the blankets back he slid to the edge of the bed wetting his lips waiting for your nearing him with a hand raised.

“Perhaps I should remove your bandages first, or I will have to climb a sink in there.”

“Ah, perhaps, yes.” A clip on the side of his head was undone and steadily the top bandage was unwound granting no less light in its removal at all worsening his hope he could have been somehow miraculously cured overnight. Second layer was removed along with two swatches over his eyes and he asked, “How are my eyes?”

Under his lids milky pink eyed looked back at you on the face cow patterned between Jotun and Asgardian toned skin at his body’s trouble in holding a steady shield while the white scars of the lingering burn marks were being healed by the shared healing abilities your dna continued trying to remove fully while also repairing his eyes. “A lovely shade of pink like strawberry starburst.” The comment had his mouth drop open and you said easing a strip of his hair back behind his ear, “I am a Doctor Loki, you are entitled doctor patient confidentiality.”

“You are a Doctor, or a scientist? Because the two are very different, there are many Doctors on this team.”

“Strange was a Neurosurgeon while I worked for over a decade as a Pediatric Surgeon, which between brains and babies I do have to be biased in saying my field is more complex than an eight pound grey blob.” The argument made him smirk knowing the pair of you had it out several times arguing over fake doctor shows on tv all the time on how that surgery would actually go often leading to you being at odds.

“Pray do say what you truly feel.”

“No teasing, same as you and Thor, he’s got a hammer and you have your magic and daggers with all the cunning you can muster against that giant puppy dog of a Prince.”

“I am not a puppy?” Rolling your eyes you shook your head while he wondered what you were feeling tapping fingertips across his forehead and upper cheeks, “I can be quite adorable myself.”

“True, I did not mean to offend.”

“None taken, though the comparison to the cuddle friendly creature has been made several times towards my brother.”

“In truth it is because he can be quite aloof and oblivious to things while ultimately friendly and eager to please.”

“Ah, there it is. You say that as if it is a fault, it has served him well.”

“Perhaps, and sent many down a downward spiral when their self image is based on approval of others.”

“You do not seek approval?”

“I am a Doctor, no one expected me to be their best friend, they paid me to save their children. To give them as much time and as full a life as possible once they left my table, or a kind send off when I wasn’t able to. No one certainly liked me then when a baby is lost.”

To the solemn tone of your voice his hand shifted from his knee to the side of your leg wishing he could find your arm, “Oh, forgive me. I had no intention-,”

“No, medicine has its limits, as do my abilities. Generals and Surgeons alike see the ins and out bloody battles skirting death.”

“I take it there was a patient here to drag you in to all this.”

“You could say that. One of those whales you brought here made me break my secrecy and rush out to help people on the streets.”

“Ah,”

“I got another three months in my hospital before the questions drove me out on how much I was relying on my surgical prowess or just hiding behind my ability. Either way the horse learned to tap dance it shouldn’t matter if he’s wearing a bonnet or not.” To himself he chuckled and you said, “The scabs from the burn are mostly gone, as is the swelling and bruising. What color did you want to wear today?”

“Uh, I haven’t worn my maroon shirt in a good while, and the black jeans.” He heard his closet door open, “Gold under trousers and socks should do nicely.”

“Under trousers,” you mouthed to yourself assembling his requested items that were folded in a pile on top of the towel you picked for him and settled into the bathroom that once you started the shower for him the tour of how his clothes were stacked and where his soaps were lined up along with his loofa and towel for when he was done.

Once the door was shut the Prince stripped nudging the discarded clothes aside as you had said to, stepping into his open shower sighing under the hot water beading over his skin both welcome and a near to too hot around his eyelids he kept shut. From soaping up his body a small dab of shampoo was used to ensure none would be left in his hair or risk any getting into his already wounded eyes. To himself he basked in the wafting scent of the soap washing away the faint musk he awoke with due to his sweat inducing dream for what seemed to be a suitable amount of time signaling his fumble to shut the water off and find his way back to his waiting towel.

Pats and slides of the towel across his skin found him dried and naked ruffling the towel through his hair tightening up to its natural curly poof drawing a huff from the blinded Prince in no way capable of straightening it out himself outing him of another secret of his daily routine. A leg at a time his briefs and socks were added with jeans next and shirt after, bending down he found his clothes he counted his way back to the door and located his closet and hamper inside from there then to bed again with comb in hand to try and manage something of his curls.

“Breakfast,” followed a knock on the door that slid back.

Following a huff he said, “Not a word on my hair.”

“Really? Add four feet to yours and you will face my daily dilemma Prince Charming.” Curiously his head tilted and a foot tapping his had his hand up for the walk to his table again. “I’ll wrangle your curls,” you said taking the comb to work with the straightener from the bath to his chair to work strip by strip all the strands to his preferred slicked back style. “There, now you won’t have to face the agonizing shame of displaying those curly locks.”

“That is a stretch,”

“So you would parade your curls for all to see?”

“No, commoners see my hair and they want to touch it. I slick it back and they leave me be.”

“I think that might just be from the horns.” You teased.

“Ha, ha.” He flatly replied lifting another of the breakfast wraps you had made for him.

“Then again some women like the horns.”

“Doubtful,” Your throaty giggle had him lowering his wrap facing his head to you, “The giggle?”

“Not to be crude, but horns would give them something to hold onto.”

“In what sense? For battle that would be a poor place to grip an opponent with horns on their helmet.”

“Wow, now I feel bad bringing it up,”

“Tell me.”

“I have a feeling it would jar a certain view you might have on the world.”

“The suspense is not assisting you in any way. Tell me now, if this is any way to do with how my attire is being mocked by this culture tell me now.”

“Trust me it is not being mocked in that sense.” He gave a pointed huff and you said, “Fine, a partner would take hold of the horns in an amorous sense.”

“Amorous?” he said flatly with brows furrowing.

“Were you to be holding a lover off the ground while having your way with them the horns would give them something to hold onto if they weren’t against a wall.” His mouth fell open and you said, “You asked.”

“You think that?!”

“I don’t have to think it there are countless women writing quite detailed stories on what they would do with you if given the chance, in several different manners of attire from battle armor to, well, a towel or nothing at all.”

“You think that, that is what I am asking.”

“Which part are you asking, if I would assume the helmet could be used to anchor ones self or if I imagine amorous encounters with you?”

“I-, well one could bet a kingdom you wouldn’t think of me in that way.”

“They would definitely lose a kingdom with those odds.”

Even more his brows furrowed in a lean closer to you with his arm on the table between you once his wrap was back on the plate, “What?!” He sharply asked to the thundering race of his heart.

“I may be ace but I do tend to have guest stars in my dreams from time to time. Majority are quite domestic on your part if that helps calm you down.”

“And the rest?”

“I won’t bother you with.”

“They are concerning me, tell me. Every detail, now.”

“Loki you couldn’t possibly think a demand could have me spilling my every fantasy to you. Prince or not no kingdom would give you that power.”

“I am a fantasy for you?” he lowly whispered as it washed over him.

“Smile like yours could make a whole cosmos go dark with shame for a glimpse of it.”

Had he the ability to blush fully he would have been beet red in his turn of focus back to his plate and finding his wrap again while muttering, “A simple yes would have sufficed.”

“If it helps,” you said halting his motion for food and tilting his head to face you again, “You don’t smile very often, or around very many. For most it is just imagination. They don’t get to know you.”

“Ah, then they would change their minds.”

“No, they would realize you don’t live in rooms of satin sheets and tapestries of yourself in golden halls lit by twenty four seven roaring fires in fireplaces bigger than cars with servants to line your path with rose petals and incense burners for dramatic effect.”

“That is oddly specific.”

“That is one of the vaguer stories.”

“Are there any on Thor? These stories?”

“Thor’s usually involve harems, from my own single browse through summaries, while you are for the most part seen as monogamous.”

“I am expected to be King, why would I not be faithful to my partner?”

“Can’t read about any monarchy where there isn’t a Mistress or pretty young maid being toyed with while the Queen has taken a mood against her husband. Even in Norse mythology Odin had lovers.”

“I am not privy to much of those details pertaining Mother’s marriage-,”

“I know the myths aren’t real.”

“Mother would have slaughtered him, as was her right were she to feel the least bit disrespected.”

“Good to know. She sounds pretty spectacular, had to be to put up with your dad.” Again he paused and you said, “Thor said he pushed you off the rainbow bridge into space. Got to be awful, I can’t imagine you were a terrible child, out being cruel or hurting people or spitting out demons deserving of being pushed into the nothingness of space. Now that kid from the Omen, I would punt him into space, or the girl from Poltergeist, or that meowing boy from the Grudge, him no problem.”

“Meowing boy?”

“When your eyes heal we’ll watch it. Demon child.”

“He truly said pushed?”

“That was how he said it to me first time I carried his sappy drunk self to bed when he was mourning you.”

“Thank you, for telling me.”

“I do have to ask, he says you stabbed him often,”

“In jest, yes.”

“Jest, how deep, paper cut, or to the hilt? And did you study anatomy to know where to not kill him or just guess at it?”

“Most of the time no more than an inch or two, they were very small blades, close to scalpels I would guess. Our bodies are sturdier than mortals.”

“Yes, but most children aren’t built like Thor is now, and if he was I have all the more respect for your mother.”

To himself he chuckled and replied, “There is an extra layer of fat in our youths, fat and fluids which over time shift to musculature in our young adulthood.”

“Still not building confidence.”

“We survived, just fine.”

“Alright,” you giggled out, “Eat up so I can wrap your head again.”

“Do you have to?”

“At least another day until the bruises heal. It is very sensitive to light.”

“Ah, one more day.”

“By then by my guess you should have basic grey blobs coming into view, start taking in light sources faintly.”

.

That was the start of it, a second day of being essentially blindfolded through an audio book playing while he lounged to a call taking you away from the tower leaving Peter taking up Loki’s table to not be distracted while working on his latest paper. A break from which leading to the teen’s fumbled try to explain what was happening to the audio of the show he’d missed the day prior through the film with you.

“Whoa! Table, out of nowhere!”

“Table?” Loki asked curious for what was happening in the fight scene just beginning in the otherwise uneventful show.

“I don’t know who threw it, but Hilary is now on top of Nathaniel. It, it looks like she’s shoveling cake down his shirt. I think that’s cake, unless it’s the gravy, but he’s not screaming like he’s been burn-,” Peter cringed and groaned, “Ooh, nasty. Emma just got clothes-lined into the laundry room by Ben, ooh,” again he winced while Loki could hear Sam and Steve from the kitchen on the main tower socializing floor coming to clamber over the back of the couch to join in the show. Both groaning too as Peter cringed again, “Robert just got shoved out a window, that stained glass one Hilby worked so hard on.”

Sam, “Oh she’s going to be so pissed when she gets back from that project in Rio.”

Bucky’s bound over his usual chair was hinted by the sound of the springs rebounding under his weight on the couch Nat was clearly on by her near hiss from whatever she was holding nearly spilling over with hushed Russian curses to follow. Loki rarely spent time with all of the team so casually, yet this train wreck of a show even in his blindness he wouldn’t dare miss out on granted you a break from the full day of caring for him. The warmth alone of the open walls of windows lighting the room with sunlight proving your assumption he required the wrap another day. Clips of this show could be re-watched but for his usually isolated self he did enjoy his silent place in the group reacting to the hour long debacle each week to fill his social time quote a good chunk of the way matched by laundry day and retrieving his purchases.

In all this though he missed you. Among the others your absence was noted by the lack of giggles from the chair no one else claimed except for Bruce, with whom you shared a rivalry on who could reach it first with tongues displayed for the loser or far below mediocre faces cast to one another on the loser’s path to another spot. Your losses however would place you in the bare spot on his right, a tight squeeze but Peter would squish himself up against the arm so Loki could casually scoot over to Sam and Steve practically intertwining to make space with glares through arms being laid out behind or in front of the pair naturally prone to shifting in place.

Wafting of smoke however hours later you returned to the tower helping Bruce with his clothing dilemma, who when his stretchy pants had failed to shrink again had taken two of the new worn seams around the band to ease his arms through like a giant pair of overall shorts. Strange with a wet cat’s attitude hovering with a tarp under him to collect the water he was covered in exited next. Quicksilver raced to change his now halter top of a shirt with pants shorn to chaps as Wanda was in Vision’s arms still laughing about her brother, draped in Vision’s cape after her skirt had been caught and the giant swarm of giant moths had been led away by her sweater she tossed down a stairwell.

There was no logic in the mission at all and to Peter’s confusion you were inside the body of a giant octopus plushie you had cut a hole in the head of when a binding of Hawkeye’s leg had been followed by a flame thrower incident in the carnival you had been sent to inspect requiring an improvisation of clothing. “She’s wearing an octopus...” Peter murmured and Loki’s head turned.

“Who? How does an octopus-?”

Tony strolled in with a woven kilt of stuffed snakes and popped beach balls arguing over his ear piece to the man who had given them the tip off with arms full of his dismantled suit off to his office to repair that not caring about his state of undress. Hawkeye, though drenched seemed altogether unfazed and limped in to stretch out across the sliver of couch between Natasha and Bucky using both their laps as cushions. Stealing snacks to munch on only making Bucky ask, “How did it go?”

Hawkeye chuckled to himself, lifting a finger to each thing said, “Shark tank, giant moths, flamethrower clown heads, enough said.”

Natasha, “I don’t think it is.”

Loki cut Hawkeye off asking, “Was Miss Pear injured?”

Hawkeye, “Oh yeah. Damn near singed her to bits those clowns, but she managed to push Bruce out of the way into the shark tank as Quick slammed through the wall freeing the moths who went crazy and Vision traces the signal for the heads as Hulk just about tore apart the rest of the booby trapped carnival wing we were in.”

“She was burned?! Is she in the hospital?!”

Hawkeye said as Sam waved a hand in front of his eyes reminding him of Loki’s eyes and that he couldn’t see your irritated return. “Oh no, nothing like that! Burns healed right off, though she was sent scrambling for something to wear. Tore the head open on a giant octopus and hopped right in it. We have pictures for later. Don’t you mind her,” he said pausing at Loki’s head turning through the lower half of his face and neck visible turning blue in his body’s try to blush in thinking of your body being revealed bare in an eruption of flames making Sam bite his lip and bury his head into Steve’s shoulder to keep from laughing out loud. “Just needs a good scrub down and something fluffy to put on and she’ll bounce back with a good meal. Ordered food on the way, nice and fattening soul food to brighten her mood again.”

Post subtle clearing of his throat to his face rippling back in patches to his shielded shade he asked, “Was anyone else injured?”

Hawkeye replied, “Just Tony’s pride a bit when a shark tore off the leg of his suit and then his arm got stuck in one of those duck shooting games and he blacked out on the tunnel of love. Went round three times we figured before finding him. But Strange handled the moths and we managed to put out the fire before we left. They wanted to remodel the carnival anyways.”

Loki, “How did Banner manage to calm down again? His last change I recall took him a week.”

Hawkeye, “Ah no, just a few minutes, Pear taught him this meditation trick so he can talk to the big guy.”

Natasha, “Good it’s finally working. He was skeptical at first.”

Sam, “No doubt he tried hiding in India and Asia for years trying out all forms of meditation, not sure what she did different.”

Strange strolled in stating after having changed and left his suit hanging up on his bathroom, “Merely tapped into his frontal lobe telepathically and gave it a good hard kick.”

Sam chuckled as Bucky said, “That your medical opinion?”

Strange, “Ha ha, no, he agreed to be scanned while she worked. I’ve never seen brains light up like that before. Full rage and dark frontal cortex to a Christmas tree moment where he was able to steadily switch back again. Then it was like mood lighting and Bruce said it was like he could hear what Hulk was saying.”

Loki, “So they may converse now, interesting.”

Strange, “More feelings than words, at the moment at least. Though Hulk did take offense to something that Venom said.”

Loki, “Venom?” Wondering who that might be.

Hawkeye, “Oh, um Pear said he was her brother. Researching a big story said he just wanted a scoop and wouldn’t get in the way. Bounded off into the distance like a creepy giant bullfrog.”

Strange, “If they are related I certainly can’t see the resemblance. Unless she’s got a secret three foot tongue hidden from us.”

Peter, “Three foot tongue?”

Hawkeye, “Oh ya, he’s creepy.”

Strange, “Thought you might know him Peter, huge white spider on his chest and back,” Peter shook his head, “Oh well, you don’t need to be his friend, just out there running around naked like that.”

Loki, “Miss Pear’s brother investigated in the nude?”

Hawkeye, “Well, he doesn’t exactly have any junk to need hiding, all smooth down below in the nether regions.”

Steve, “Why were you scoping out his nether regions?”

Hawkeye, “Because his nether regions landed right in front of my scope when I was laid out keeping watch. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

The commercial was used to full advantage and even with the show back on the commentary picked up lasting through the rest of the show. Behind Peter in a weaving path from the kitchen Loki finally made it to his room again with special box of crackers and muffins from Vision added to his collection of food in his closet. Alone on his own floor with you again following the wall to his door he drew in a breath and to the best he could manage traced the path to your door from memory. Tracing the doorway with his hands he confirmed it was yours by the imprint of a squirrel from the frame of your wardrobe Steve had been less than attentive in guiding to its new home causing the side to split and it getting shipped back for a replacement out of his pocket by his own offer. Shakily he drew breath again and raised a hand to knock only to find air in the slide of the door to the side.

“Whoa,” you said shifting your weight to miss his curved knuckle from colliding with your cheek, in a reach up your hand planted on his forearm his hand found as he quickly flashed you a grin.

“Hello, I wished to check on you. I heard you had a rough trip.”

“Not as rough as it could have gone.”

That was when he paused. It dawned on him that he had never seen your suite in this tower. He had noticed the indent in the door on the way to the laundry room you shared and caught no more than a glimpse of the screen used to block off the milky door panel to your bath that Tony was still ‘debating’ which would fit the flow of the floor. One of his latest claming quirks. Starting from light switch covers to doorknobs and now the doors themselves inside the suites with front doors that slid into the walls. Even ignoring the personal taste of the person using them he had chosen and even without practically any guests in your apartment still you angled screens to not be caught through the obscuring glass even just crossing the room.

He wanted to see it all. You had slept in his apartment. Memorized it enough to share how many steps to and from everything had been laid out. Still a mystery he ached to know everything about you he didn’t yet know.

“Everything ok?”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat, “Stark has not bought you a new door yet, has he?”

“Well he bought it, but might as well asked it be hand carved from the horns of the goats Thor has in Norse myths that regenerate each morning after he ate them from supper for the three month wait on them.”

A ghost of a smirk eased across his lips and he said, “You missed quite the episode. Unless you watched it yesterday.”

“Watched it on the flight back, needed to calm down.”

“Yes,” he swallowed again, “I heard of the fire, and your burns.”

“Burns are easy. Though now Stark will be distracted from decorating to come up with a super suit for each of us B team members and replacing Bruce’s stretchy shrink pants.”

The conversation only lasted a few moments more before he turned saying, “I should leave you.” That was deliberate, as was his wide armed walk back to the opposite wall luring his guide from you to lead him back to his couch that to silence his reiterated notion he was a burden a film was agreed to.

.

Morning came and instead of on his bed across his couch he was draped. By the feel of his palm legs were crossed and laid out to his side, meaning you were seated upright. Breaths slow and deep hinting to a deep sleep showing he could sneak just a bit more. Anxiously he wet his lips and his heart began to race in the cupping of your hip to ease you down more to lay flat. With one hand he did this impossibly heart racing task, blindly moving you to lie under him, his first tiny victory a pausing moment with his hand settled on your bare belly below the shirt bunched up in the move and knotted under your back. Proof of your lingering slumber came in a grumbling shift ending with the legs beside his uncrossing to lay one over his granting him a chance to lift his hips and slide you just a bit closer so he might drape across your chest.

He knew right where he wanted his head right in the curve of your neck so he might ghost his lips across the flesh there for a brief try of a kiss. There where like the other curves and folds of your body the natural scent you gave off lingered the longest now revealed to be exactly why his mouth tended to water in your every entrance to a common space. It was a musk ever so gently turning his chin that now mingled in the sweat come from another humid day in this supposed paradise of a home wrapped in glass, a material Stark had yet to master the workings of insulation and placing all for full display to the neighboring sky scrapers left it either a bit too warm or chilly in the mornings, no in between.

Just one, he promised himself, only he could feel the ridges on his skin protruding to his Jotun side releasing its own cinnamon like musk of its own he knew you could sense as in his few times of crossing paths post training or missions among the women nearby all came closet to floating like cartoon characters to chase his wafting aroma passing by. A hum, one pleased glorious hum had urged him on and breaths began to lighten, the neck under his lips began to shift welcoming more and to the opening of your eyes your head turned to align with his in a blind hover above you. Low and velvety he spoke his request, “I would very much like to kiss you, on the lips.”

Back to him you teased, “Kissing me again won’t hurry things along.”

“This has absolutely nothing to do with that,” he said leaning in, more for your ear making you smirk and reach up to turn his head to guide him lips to yours. Just one. The promise came again, yet somewhere in the mingling of tongues and a grip of his hair bandages shifted and lost focusing on the kiss he ached to press his forehead to yours in pausing breaths leading to a breathy giggle from you at untangling the cloth there revealing his fully blue face and still milky pink eyes taking in just the slightest hint of a head beneath his. Faint shoulders and neck were traceable in this grey mysterious blob of a world he did not care to inspect when you were here and the deliberate act of kissing was at hand. Forehead to forehead a kiss broke granting another breath and a moment for you to adjust the legs subtly wrapping around his.

Down again and lips met freezing fully to the sound of his door sliding open and Wanda’s stunned crack of her voice came with Vision’s hushed arguments muffled behind the door closing again surely in her guiding the scan happy team member surely pouting on his way to make breakfast instead, a task granting you time before that next scan. “I should probably go,” somehow in his open mouthed stammering you had found your feet and him his knees luring him to the edge of the bed as you turned away.

“Please stay,” he pled finding hold of your wrist with the other hand outstretched to meet your waist he felt you step into so he might smooth his hand there sweetly, “Please. Don’t run away. I swear-,”

“Loki, I’m all sweaty. It’s just, my pheromones, all pheromones.”

That had him huff and ease you down to sit on his knee, where through the slits of sunlight he could clearly trace the elegant blob of you inches from his face, “Please stay,” he pled again leaned in to press a sweet kiss just ever so slightly off center to your cheek where he had meant it to go. Guiding your hand up to lay an arm around his shoulders aching to have you embrace him through another fiery kiss just like moments before.

“I have to shower.”

“Shower here,” he offered, “Then you will see it is not pheromones to me.”

A sigh and you rose taking hold of his wrist this time parting his lips, “Come on then. Leaving you sweaty would defeat the purpose.”

A gathering of clothes came with yours summoned from your room with the discarded layers left outside the door. Surely it was his blindness to have you so boldly offer to be bare before him, so that you might have the courage to admire him fully without fear of him possibly finding something disapproving on your bare figure. Only, he never could. Wrinkle, fold, scar or blemish he would never turn you away or make you feel anything less than a Goddess had he the chance to convince you it wasn’t a farce.

Ripples, to the first drop of water there were flashes of light in a pale blue reminding him of the neon caves back on Asgard. Pure darkness with ripples of glittering blue waves of water lapping against the sea cave’s floor and walls reflected upon the smooth black walls and ceiling above. And he could see you, no not in color but he could trace every bead and stream of water cascading and outlining your magnificent shape before him. Separate shower heads were claimed and used with soaps shared and passed between you to fully scrub leaving him blinded to streaks of you in the bubbles hindering full paths of water down your skin that lit up once more when clear.

He didn’t know how long he waited, merely that he wanted one more. “See, no pheromones.” Up behind you he could sense the ache to arch the elegantly curved back into his chest to the press of his lips to your shoulder.

“Loki,” The only word it seemed you could say or needed to urge him on as a kiss to your neck followed with a shift around you to find your lips together again. Against the wall he planted you in the loop of your arms around his neck to balance on your toes. With hands tracing down to your hips and once there to your neck his lips went again, trailing down and down until he hit his knees and the most perfect gasp came to his somehow stunning lift of your thigh to rest on his shoulder.

Chuckles came to the unsteady drop of your body he cushioned with a drape of his arms behind your backside to his apology, “I apologize, my Starlight.” He hummed guiding you onto his lap where in the moment of your steadying he relinquished control allowing you full advantage on top of his lap guiding the pace through a clinging amorous unending kiss muffling the moans, hums and eventual cries of ecstasy.

From the water to bed dried and tucked into his arms. Warmly he held you against his chest knowing you hadn’t gotten much sleep seated up like that. So to a soft film playing he cuddled close ignoring the food left to wait on the table until you stirred to eventual hunger taking him and you to the kitchen to make something more forgiving to ignorance if you were to get distracted again.

[clara-licht]

Caught in a Lie | Prologue

Word Count: 1,820

Summary: When Wanda told the team there was a young girl with her during her days with HYDRA, they knew they had to save her. Only she was no longer the little girl Wanda was familiar with; everything about her was now a mystery.  Unbeknownst to them, her past may just hit a little closer to home than expected.

Pairing: (Platonic) Avengers x Reader

Warning: may contain description of blood, violence, human experimentation, and anything you might associate with HYDRA.

Teaser | Series Masterlist | Marvel Masterlist | Main Masterlist

"Should I go with you?"

"You can."

"Will I be happy?"

"Happy is indefinite. You will have people around you who will care about you. You will be happy, but you will also feel sad, at times. It's inevitable."

"…and if I stay?"

"You will continue what you're doing right now."

"…I see."

"But in the future, you will gain what you longed for."

"What I longed for?"

"A father."

------------------------------

"How are you doing?"

Wanda didn't look up from her steaming cup of tea.

"You were off at practice today."

No answer.

"Come on, speak to me, Wand."

Realizing she wouldn't answer, Steve sat next to her. Both of them said nothing for a while, letting silence draped over them. The common room in the compound was eerily silent save for the pitter-patter of the rain outside.

"I dreamt of him last night," Wanda murmured, her accent thick.

Steve hummed, but offered nothing else.

"It was getting better, it's just…"

"Getting worse at times, I know."

She pulled the blanket around her tighter before sipping the steadily cooling tea in her grip.

"I lost someone too, you know," Steve started, "to HYDRA, of all people."

"I heard. Those people never shut up about how they managed to take down Captain America's best friend in the past." Wanda bluntly said.

Steve shrugged. "HYDRA can be a bitch."

He laughed when Wanda slapped his shoulder. "I thought they said Captain America disapprove vulgar language!"

"I lied on my enlistment form multiple times since I was a teenager, picked up fights I knew I wouldn't win, and volunteered myself to be experimented on. That pure image is just a front, you know, something I keep up with just because."

Wanda flinched when he casually mentioned volunteering for experiment, but commented nothing.

"Anyway, do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Him."

A hum left her lips, "I don't know."

Steve raised an eyebrow, "How come?"

"When I think of him, sometimes I feel heavy, yet sometimes I feel light. I remember the good times and I remember the bad times. Mostly I just remember him and nothing else, and that can still make my heart hurts," she spoke lowly, her hands waving in front her, creating red wisps from the tip of her fingers. "Does talking about him makes me feel better? Or would it make me feel worse? I don't know. I don't really want to find out, to be honest."

Once again, silence ensued.

"I like to think it makes you feel better."

Wanda glanced at the super soldier beside her.

"It may be hard at the beginning, but those who left us wouldn't want to be forgotten or just remembered for the bad parts of their life, would they?" He smiled. "Talking about them brings back the good memories, along with the bad ones, sure, but doesn't it feel nice to just remember?"

"…I suppose."

Steve chuckled.

After a while, Wanda spoke up again, "I dreamt about our time in that base."

"Hm?"

"We were just children, we just lost our parents, and we thought we were going to die by a bomb Stark made. We were desperate. When we signed up, we thought of nothing but revenge. It was the only thing that kept us going," she mumbled. "…at least for me."

"What do you mean?"

"He made friends easily, you know?" She chuckled. "It doesn't matter who they are, he just had this way into people's hearts."

"He was a bright young man, from what I saw."

Wanda smiled sadly. "I dreamt of him and the little girl he liked so much."

"Little girl?"

"HYDRA's other experiment. She was so young and so terrified and was already there even before us. Pietro," she stopped short. God, just saying his name brought back so many feelings… "Pietro… He tried to comfort her. Befriended her. After a while, she became one of the reasons he kept going."

"What did you think of her?"

"Well… I didn't like her at first," Wanda shrugged, "I thought she had distracted my brother from our purpose. Stryker even made her 'a prize' for him. Of course, it was actually a threat, a blackmail, but Pietro was too focused to make sure she was fine."

Steve frowned. "Did he… did he have a, a relationship… with her?"

Wanda snorted, "Of course not. We were all just children. Pietro thought of her as another sister to protect."

"Then what do you mean, prize?"

"We didn't get our powers easily, you know. It was a struggle. The pain itself was unimaginable. We were so close to giving up, but Stryker threatened to hurt her if we don't push through. He called her a prize for us. I kept going because of Pietro, and he kept going because of her. Pietro, my dumb beloved brother, believed Stryker. I knew better. There was no way they were going to do anything to that girl. She was their number one project, after all."

"Number one project?"

She huffed, "Pietro and I are enhanced by the Mind Stone. But her? She was a mutant from birth. Add that to Mind Stone enhancement? You got the perfect weapon."

"Wait, mutant from birth?" Steve asked incredulously.

Wanda looked at him weirdly, "You've seen gods, aliens, powerful stones from the space, an android with said stone on his forehead, and you still think it's impossible for people to have power since they were born?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Unbelievable," Wanda shook her head, "but I suppose that's why he was so adamant to keep her safe. She did go through a lot, having been there not by her own volition. What they did to her… I heard it was way worse than what we experienced. With time my dislike just went away, because I pity her more than anything else."

When Steve didn't reply, Wanda turned to look at him.

Steve had a deep frown creasing his forehead. His eyes were serious and his lips were in a tight line.

"Steve? What is it?"

"How old did you say she was?"

"I didn't…" She answered, confused, "but when we first signed up, she was 7 years old."

"And where is she now?"

Wanda stared at the still frowning Captain, "She was moved from the base we were experimented on 3 years ago. We never knew where."

"But there's a chance that she's alive," he stated rather than questioned.

"…Yes, there may be."

"Why didn't you tell us earlier, Wanda?"

Closing her eyes, she let out a tired sigh, "I tried not to remember Pietro so much I actually forgot about her. It's also been 3 years since I last saw her, I don't even know if she's alive."

Steve stood up. "We're going to find out," he said, "All those HYDRA bases we took down didn't have any children or traces of human experiment, so there must be more bases out there. We'll take them down, and we'll find out about her and other human experiments if there are any. They don't deserve that life," he stated firmly. "A child. God, she would only be 14 years old now…"

Wanda finished her cup of tea before asking, "How are we going to do this, then? Thor is not here and Stark and Clint retired, remember? We're down 3 people already."

Steve pursed his lips.

"We'll go with everyone we have right now, but if push comes to shove, we'll have to ask for backup."

Wanda hummed. "So you're going to assemble the team tomorrow?"

"Maybe not tomorrow. I'm going to do some research beforehand."

"Okay," she stood up and picked her cup and blanket up, "I'll go to bed now." She started walking away.

"Wanda, wait."

"Hmm?" She looked back.

The frown still hadn't left Steve as he asked his final question of the night, "What's her name?"

"(y/n)."

------------------------------

It was supposed to be a normal training day, but they were all told to gather in the meeting room. Steve, Natasha, and Wanda were still absent, leaving only Sam, Rhodey, and Vision.

"Do you think it's a mission?"

"I don't know why else would we be gathered here, so yeah, a mission."

"Where's Maximoff though?"

"I believe Miss Maximoff is currently with the Captain, as I have heard that this mission comes from Miss Maximoff's information."

"Man, I can never get used to hearing JARVIS' voice from you, Vis," Rhodey chuckled, "It's just so weird, you know? Tony started coding when we were still in MIT, so I got used to hearing his voice wherever Tony was."

"Well-"

Steve stepped into the room followed by Natasha and Wanda, effectively cutting Vision. The three man (two man and an android?) stood straighter.

"Have a seat, fellas."

As they sat, Steve pulled up a hologram displaying map of the world with a few red dots littering. "A few months ago, before Sokovia, we thought we took down the last HYDRA facility. We were wrong. Nat found these locations after some digging."

And by digging, he meant threatening and going through with said threat.

"From what we know, there are only less than 5 locations left. We're going to take them all down."

Steve looked around, seeing his teammates all nodded in agreement. "But there's a catch. Last time, we were looking for Loki's scepter. This time, we're going to look for HYDRA's human experiments and save them."

"Wait, human experiment? Like Maximoff?" Sam asked.

"Exactly like me," Wanda answered before Steve could, "I told Steve about a girl my brother and I used to be with before she was moved. There's a chance she's alive, so Steve decided to try and save her."

Rhodey frowned, "I get that wanting to save her is good and all, but aren't you being too positive right now? There ain't any assurances that she's alive, especially after that whole Triskelion fiasco and information leaking. She could already be killed to save information or whatever."

"Rhodes," Steve started, "She's just a child."

"A child?"

Steve rubbed his forehead tiredly and sighed, "She was only 7 when Wanda met her. If there's even a slight chance she's alive, we got to take it. No child deserves that kind of life."

Rhodey swallowed hard. A child? They experimented on a little girl?

"I know what it's like, being used as child," Natasha said, "and I don't wish it upon anyone. We have to find her."

"Say that we found her," Rhodey spoke again, "what are we going to do with her?"

"We keep her safe," Wanda said.

"Here?"

"If that's what it takes," Steve insisted, "she deserves it."

"But who's going to take care of her? Us? We're not babysitters, Cap," Sam interjected.

"Look, we'll talk about that later, alright? We must find her first before all of that."

"Well then," Vision spoke, "when do we begin?"

------------------------------

Author’s Note

Welcome to the prologue! I was going to end it after Wanda said (y/n), but the next part doesn’t fit in chapter 1 at all, so here it is. I don’t show it in the moodboard, but Steve and Tony will play a big role in (y/n)’s life as Pietro did!

I’m actually excited about this story, but I don’t know when I will post chapter 1. It depends on reader’s interest rating; whether there are people who actually want this or not. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time by writing something that no one reads anyway. So if you’re interested and want this story to actually continue, let me know!

[lokiondisneyplus]

Today I left the house wearing a face mask for the first time.

I had woken up to the sound of heavy rain, which is always surreal in Los Angeles, and when I look out of the window to the hauntingly dehumanising sight of bandana-clad dog walkers, an eerie weight settles as I remember: this is our reality now.

I’m standing in the supermarket queue, a line dotted by crosses taped on the floor of the underground car park to signify our designated 6ft distance. Easily 50 people long and snaking around the perimeter of the building, I make my way to the last available X-marks-the-spot and join the other masked Bandits. I haven’t food shopped for over a week and am in need of supplies.

There is an obnoxiously loud man two crosses ahead of me ranting into his phone with such a high energy, the surrounding Bandits have allowed an extended social distance of a cross on either side of him. I sigh, remembering I’ve left my headphones at home, so am unable to tune him out, I wait and exhale, wondering how I am going to get used to the claustrophobic sensation of hot air and fabric condensing on my face.

Loud Phone Man is not wearing a mask and it's clear we’ve passed the tipping point of mild judgement, at least here in LA, where Bandits exchange a raised eyebrow, (about the only non-verbal Bandit communication available) which somehow magnifies the annoyance of this shopper - not only loud, but breathing indiscriminately all over us in this confined space… what does he think this is? Last week??

It’s Monday on #Week4 of Covid-19 lockdown in La La Land and as I shuffle to the next X I reflect on the journey so far.

After a whirlwind press tour to promote the release of Misbehaviour in UK cinemas (sadly cinemas were shuttered just days after the film's theatrical release – but it's available to watch online at home from April 15th!) I returned to work in Atlanta for Loki, the Marvel limited series for Disney Plus I’ve been working on, so am on set when I get the news that we are going on hiatus as a precaution due to the accelerating coronavirus, initially for one week. Thinking it would be longer, but still unsure at that point, I book a flight to LA to sit things out there for the time being. The next day Trump imposes a travel ban on travelling in or out of the US for 30 days, and with my visa situation and the pace at which everything is moving, it feels risky to fly to the UK in case I cannot get back into the country when filming recommences, whenever that will be.

So, with my housemate and her dog for company, we embark on social distancing, self-isolation and Lady Macbeth-level hand-washing.

Managing a constant low-level anxiety about my parents and loved ones, and friends in New York, London, Johannesburg and all over the world, I become consumed by the news, glued to the BBC website and KCRW talk radio for the latest figures. Like families gathered around “the wireless” in wartime, everything is unfolding so rapidly and the news, never this dramatic in my lifetime, takes on disaster-movie proportions.

FaceTime and WhatsApp become my lifelines as the reality of the pandemic is tinged with a weird detachment… a numbness I later realise was a form of shock that lasts for nearly two weeks and puts me into a hyper-focused state as I race to keep up, stay informed and learn how to adapt to this new rhythm.

I am of course aware that I am so privileged to be safe and personally unaffected thus far, but grasping the truth from what is overblown, and fact from politics and propaganda, give everything an out-of-body zero gravity quality; a new normal we are all united in.

Things are kicking off in the food line as my attention is caught by an exasperated Valley Girl three Xs ahead who finally explodes at Loud Phone Man, “ OH MY GAAAAD, USE YOUR INSIDE VOICE, CANT YOU SEEEEE EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT YOU CAUSE YOU’RE TALKING SO LOUD… WE ALL HAVE TO STAND HERE, OHMYGAAAD!” As she stomps her Ugged feet to the next X the security guard and smiling store employee (no mask) approach and I can feel a repressed inside-voice-cheer emanate from the rest of the line in applause.

The Bandit Couple ahead of me raise another eyebrow in solidarity and Female Bandit begins to capture a video of Loud Phone Man on her iPhone. The air gets thin, the energy tightens, “Hey Man,” Smiling Store Employee intercepts, Security guard flanking, “You wanna keep it down a bit, people are stressed, y’know? Thanks Man.” Valley Girl scowls, Bandit couple exchange glances, while still filming, Loud Phone Man defends, “I WASN’T EVEN TALKING THAT LOUUUUUD!!!” (Collective Bandit eyeroll) “YESSSSS YOU WERE!!!” Hisses Valley Girl, “Yeah Man, sorry you were,” Store Employee placates. taking the referee stance. I notice Loud Phone Man is wearing flip-flops, on a rainy day. He continues his conversation into his device, phone held to his lips, like a dictaphone, barely any quieter. “We have to be prepared…”

I sigh and feel warm breath on my cheeks. Mouth drying I look at my phone for escape and see that Boris Johnson has been admitted into intensive care for persistent and worsening Covid-19 symptoms. I suddenly feel very far from home and very sad.

I remember the things I’ve been doing to keep grounded and my spirits up. One of the benefits of turning out old cupboards was rediscovering my long dormant art materials. Painting, such an absorbing and transporting activity for me in childhood, was once something I considered doing instead of acting, but found it a little socially isolating - so acting won because it felt more collaborative. Now, of course, painting in isolation is perfect and becomes the most comforting of pastimes and a creative channel as I make images of my family and feel like I am spending time with them.

Understanding how superfluous actors are in a crisis such as this, I come to terms with the fact that staying at home, as passive as it may seem, is my contribution for now. Having the luxury of not having to home-school any children and knowing my work is pretty much on pause until social distancing recedes, I try to reframe this time as a chance to rest and refill the creative well. I read novels for pleasure, something I rarely find time for beyond work-related reads. I take my first Zoom yoga class (alexdawsonyoga.com), I join a 21-day online meditation experience (chopracentermediation.com), I take local hikes for fresh air and make first ever batches of banana bread and chicken soup. I even buy a mini trampoline online which, after a mildly challenging self-assembly, I’ve been sweating it out on to streamed classes online (lekfit.com) with a friend in Toronto, followed by accountability FaceTime coffee dates to virtually high five!

By the end of week two, the adrenalin crash truly hits and I’m exhausted from the constant rhythm shifting, news consumption and uncertainty. I’m an eternal optimist and good at self-motivating, but even when you’re Keeping Calm and Carrying on, you need to crash at some point. I nearly cry when I get my mum an Ocado food delivery slot - nothing has been available for weeks - and the “what ifs” that I have been keeping at bay with all my other activities release with relief and gratitude.

That’s when I discover Brené Brown’s new podcast Unlocking Us and find such solace in her calm and thoroughly researched words and conversations. Since her TED talk fame as a charismatic shame and vulnerability researcher, I’ve read all of her books and there is always something practical and nourishing in her work, told with humour and in a deeply relatable way - which I’ve found comfort in while in the midst of folding laundry, cleaning the bath or chopping vegetables.

Back in the food line and things are moving; the tension of the Loud Phone Man Vs Valley Girl dispute still simmers but everyone relaxes as they get closer to the front-door finish line. Smiling Store Employee does his speech on the new system: no reusable bags allowed, sanitised trollies and a one-way system in the aisles inside marked by arrows on the floor, to minimise contact with other customers. It all feels so surreal and regimented, but the Bandits, already drained from the 30-minute wait, constant Loud Phone Man soundtrack, near car park fight and everything else they’re all adjusting to, nod wearily behind their moist makeshift masks. It’s a bizarre sight.

Still chatting, Loud Phone Man makes it in and there’s a collective “phew” eye-contact exchanged between Smiling Store Employee and the remaining Bandits. Then his smile drops and crinkles for a second. “Yeah, he’s been in every day this week. It’s kinda sad. There’s no one on the phone.” The Bandits' brows knot quizzically. “Yeah, I think he has mental health issues, he just talks but the phone’s not on and he has no ear pieces, he just talks into it… 'They’re coming, we have to be prepared.'… I don’t know what to do.”

The reality breaks my heart. It seems to highlight the collective insanity we’ve all been processing and in that moment I just feel so frustrated at the state of the world and how this pandemic has exposed so many cracks in our society - from mental health to healthcare to privilege and poverty, everything just feels so raw.

I try to look for the silver linings and, among all the fear and anxiety and loss, I’ve been so inspired by human resilience, adaptability and creativity. I’m hopeful this great pandemic leveller will bring a new era of authenticity. An opportunity to shift mentality from Me to We.

Week three in self-isolation felt almost normal, which feels weird to admit. I’m getting lots of sleep and take regular meditative baths, which I’ve renamed Home Spa. I’ve found ways to safely contribute in my local community. When the shelves were bare from panic buying, I chatted with the manager of our local grocery store, who seemed so overwhelmed, so my housemate and I volunteered to stack shelves after hours. Although not exactly the front lines, we have fun and it feels good to give something back in our small way.

We of course negotiated to be paid in baked beans and toilet paper.

[strangehoot]

New Post has been published on Strange Hoot - How To’s, Reviews, Comparisons, Top 10s, & Tech Guide

New Post has been published on https://strangehoot.com/how-to-watch-marvels-movies-in-order/

How to Watch Marvel's Movies in Order

Marvel Studio is a famous American film producing company specialized in directing and producing movies of superheros. It’s parent company, Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produces web and TV series, comic books and short films. All over the world, people are Marvel fans and crazy to watch each production of Marvel.

Marvel has copyrights of the main superhero characters and every movie the character remains with unique characteristics in terms of their power and weapons. Marvel’s Universe is out of imagination.

Marvel studio movies receive an average of 64 nominations and awards per movie.

Most of the climatic battles that are seen in the Marvel studio movies among superheroes and villains rely heavily on computer generated effects. As we all know, each movie that Marvel studio makes has a signature shot of a cameo appearance of the late Stan Lee (the writer of many original comics). The first movie released by them was in 2008 but it all began in 1941. Most of the Marvel studio movies can be found online on streaming services like Amazon, iTunes and Disney+.

Characters of Marvel Movies

The following table gives you an overview of some characters of Marvel, their powers and weapons. 

CharacterHow they got powersWeaponsCaptain AmericaThe Super Soldier Serum was injectedVibranium shieldMoon KnightThe ancient Egyptian Moon God, Khonshu and got the Werewolf scratchCrescent darts, truncheon, ankhLoki He got the power from his mother’s teachings and learnt wizardry.His magic sword, LaevateinHulk Gamma radiationHis Huge Body is enoughSpider Man Radioactive spider bite himWeb-shootersDaredevil Radioactive isotopeManrikigusariBlack PantherHad the juices of the heart-shaped herb and Wakandan God blessed him with strengthEnergy dagger, anti-metal clawsCaptain Marvel Accidental Photon Energy bestowed upon herNega BandsUltron Dr. Henry Pym created himRepulsor, plasma weaponsGhost RiderZarathos His Hellfire ChainJessica JonesRadioactive chemicals after she caught with car accident and went in comaHer talentWolverineMutant-bornAdamantium claws, daggers, katana, gunsBlack BoltInhuman-bornHis speech and strengthSpider WomanMother hit by a radiation beam during pregnancyHer powersSilver SurferCosmic Power by Galactus.His boardDoctor StrangeStudied and trained with the Ancient One.Cloak of Levitation, Eye of Agamotto, Orb of Agamotto etc.Beast Mutant-bornRazor-sharp clawsNick Fury ArmyUSP pistol, SHIELD weaponsVenom Sensory perception and talent to reproduce itselfWeb ShootersDeadpoolMysterious serum to cure his cancerGuns, grenades, knives, katanasStorm Earth’s electromagnetic fieldHandguns, firearms, knivesIron Man Armour suite and technologyRepulsor rays, uni-beam projector, lasersThanosDeath, an abstract entityStasis Rifle, Infinity GauntletThor Technological PowerWarhammer MjolnirAnt ManThe Pym Particles created by himself and experimentation on himselfStinger firearmMagnetoMutant-bornHelmet, powersDoctor DoomMagical power blessed by his mother, Roma His powersThe MandarinReceived 10 Rings from alien technology10 Rings of PowerThe Winter SoldierSuper soldier serum as a sourceSnipers, riflesStar-Lord Planet Ego’s EnergyElement Gun

Marvel Movies Release Order

The table below lists the movies already released. Phase 3 is completed. A list of movies for Phase 4 is ready. Please visit https://www.cinemablend.com/new/upcoming-marvel-movies-release-dates-for-phase-4-and-5-67944.html

Phase IIron Man (2008)The Incredible Hulk (2008)Iron Man 2 (2010)Thor (2011)Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)The Avengers (2012)Thor 2 (2013)Phase IIIron Man 3 (2013)Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)Ant-Man (2015)Phase IIICaptain America: Civil War (2016)Doctor Strange (2016)Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II (2017)Spiderman: Homecoming (2017)Thor: Ragnarok (2017)Black Panther (2018)Avengers: Infinity War (2018)Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)Captain Marvel (2019)Avengers: Endgame (2019)Spiderman: Far From Home (2019)

Watch Marvel Movies in Sequence to Get All of it 

Below is the sequence in which you need to watch the moveis if you are new to the Marvel world and get the understanding of the superheroes and their role in each movie.

1. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

In the first avenger which is most logical to watch first, Captain America is introduced through flashback as well as connecting the film to the major antagonist threat. 

2. Captain Marvel (2019)

Captain Marvel can be viewed in various aspects but if we are striving to timeline continuity it makes sense to watch next where we are introduced to the most powerful superhero in the MCU and this film could exist entirely on its own outside the marvel timeline also a way to introduce important characters for later. It has been taken from endgame so it expects you to know who all the characters are. 

3. Iron Man (2008)

Iron man introduces us to Tony Stark, his origin and idea of avengers initiative. This film has as well begun post credit scenes tradition. 

4. Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron man 2 introduction to another important character. This movie lays the groundwork for events and also introduces us to Black Widow. 

5. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Incredible Hulk can be skipped. 

6. Thor (2011)

Thor, first foray into cosmic elements of marvel introduces us to one of the original six The Norse God of Thunder, Thor and Norse God of Mischief, Loki. 

7. The Avengers (2012)

Assembling this movie brought all the MCU heroes together and united them against a common threat. Now, the  movie takes elements from the Ultimates comic and introduced both mid credit and end credit scenes and was the first step towards infinity war. 

8. Iron Man 3 (2013)

We see Toney dealing with the personal aftermath of events in Avengers and introduces us to his greatest enemy. 

9. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

This movie also is dealing with the aftermath.This film is important because it has a direct connection with Thor: Ragnarok. 

10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

In this movie, we see Captain America and Black Widow team up for a mission. 

11. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

This movie has a first hand introduction of the cosmic side of marvel introducing Star Lord, Gamora, Nebula, Groot, Drax and Rocket and finally introducing to an alien, Thanos. 

12. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Not much has changed in this movie. The details about all the characters are extended.

13. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

In this movie, Avengers is an already established team where they team up again to take down a big threat and also sets up a lot of things heading into Phase III. 

14. Ant-Man (2015)

Ant Man is the conclusion of phase 2 and also setting up the groundwork for the endgame. 

15. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

This movie brings together the whole team, deals with the fall out events in Age of Ultron and also deals with the introduction of winter soldiers from the previous film.  

16. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

In this movie,  the spiderman is adjusting to life and it gives us a spider man origin story.  

17. Doctor Strange (2016)

This is the first film to introduce Mystic Arts into the MCU as well as alternative dimensions. 

18. Black Panther (2018)

Black panther doesn’t tie much into the rest of the MCU but shows the story of an original hero. 

19. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

It is an adorable comics adventure. The post credits scene leads directly into the events of Avengers: Infinity war. 

20. Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

Ant man and The Wasp introduces Quantum Realm and also the post credit scene shows a lot of characters get dusted. 

21. Black Widow (2020)

One of the strongest female superheroes playing an important role in the following movies. Must watch to understand her skills.

22. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

It is largely a showdown between Avengers and Thanos. Avengers: Endgame final chapter of phase 3.

23. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Going back to the time machine and getting all the power stones back and getting to the end of Thanos.

24. Spiderman: Far From Home (2019)

Spiderman facing monsters behind his life and fellow superhero Mysterio helps in saving him from these monsters.

Marvel has set a standard and gained popularity over the years

Marvel movie’s success is has four core principles: 

(1) Select for experienced inexperience.

(2) Grasp a stable core.

(3) Need for challenging the formula.

(4) Foster customers’ curiosity. 

Marvel Studios believes in granting directors majority of control in areas where they have the most experience. In order to balance the ideas, new talents and voices which are brought into each movie, the Marvel studio holds on to a tiny percentage of people from one to the next. The support and footing provided by them allows Marvel to maintain continuity among products and to give birth to an attractive community for fresh talent.

It has been noticed that Marvel movies portray differing emotional tones, that is the steadiness between positive and negative emotions conveyed verbally by its characters. Analysing the experience of Marvel shows us that franchises gain from continual experimentation.

Creativity, Animation, Character Building, and the Story Line are the main attributes of each Marvel movie and the fan followers just love to watch each of them over and over again!

Read: How to Backup WhatsApp Data [Images, Chats & documents] to PC

[maryxglz]

In a new behind the scenes photo, the directors of Avengers: Endgame, provided a nostalgic look at the core team of heroes that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Joe and Anthony Russo appear one on each end of the posed group shot, with the actors who played the six original Avengers between them in the costumes they wore in 2012's The Avengers. Also given a place of honor is Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, the occasionally heroic figure who was the team's first major villain.

The picture was apparently taken while shooting a scene from Endgame which recreates the climax of 2012's Avengers as  some characters travel back in time.

All of the actors are in costumes identical to the ones they wore in the earlier film, with the exception of Mark Ruffalo, who's dressed in a suit designed for the motion capture required for him to play the computer-generated Hulk.

The only comment accompanying the image is "The OG's...", meaning "Original Gangsters" or the "Original Gang."  Since the arcs of several of the characters was finished in Endgame, it's likely that this photo will be one of the last taken on set of all of them together for the foreseeable future.

[hope-and-soap]

(hypothetical) Young Avengers film trailer

I’ve spent Several Showers obsessively putting together a mental trailer for a Young Avengers film adaptation (please marvel please) so figured I’d write it down to clear space for other Shower Thoughts. Enjoy?

*******

INT: APARTMENT, DAY

We open in the kitchen of a small, cluttered apartment - the kind of crappy-but-cheerful, barely-adulting place known to students and other young urban people everywhere. It’s early morning. 

Four young people are gathered around the kitchen table: CASSIE LANG, legs tucked up under her, a newspaper spread out in front of her as she works on the crossword; TEDDY ALTMAN, digging in to a large pile of toast and looking sappily down at BILLY KAPLAN, who’s nursing a mug of coffee and half-napping on TEDDY’s shoulder; and KATE BISHOP, face pressed into the table in front of an empty coffee mug.

Kate: Ugh, morning, why.

BILLY hums in sympathy, flicking his fingers; a pot of coffee floats over the table, tipping its contents into KATE’s mug. CASSIE glances over at this, and five sugar cubes are dropped into the mug by a line of ants. KATE groans, but with gratitude.

Silence for a moment as we dwell on this scene of loving domesticity, and then the doorbell rings.  

CUT TO:

INT: HALLWAY, DAY

BILLY stands in the apartment’s open front door, looking up at an imposing stranger in hot pants and combat boots: AMERICA CHAVEZ, extremely cool and mildly unimpressed.

America: Billy Kaplan?

Billy: Um. Yeah?

America: The world’s ending. I need you to come with me.

Beat as BILLY takes this in. Then a smile of (mistaken) realisation:

Billy: Oh! No, you’re looking for the Avengers - that’s three blocks down, make a right, it’s a big tower, you can’t miss it -

AMERICA shoots him a disdainful look halfway through this speech and turns, walking away down the hall.

America: Come on.

Billy: Wait, where are you -

America: (calling over her shoulder) Bring your friends.

Billy: I - (beat) Sorry, wait, hang on - the world’s what now?

CUT TO:

A montage of images, with AMERICA providing voiceover.

America, v/o: There’s something coming.

A suburban living room: television, sofa, armchairs. A family sitting together, two parents and two kids, watching TV. In a corner by the sofa we see: a patch of whiteness, flat blank-paper white, like a total absence of colour and texture. As we watch, it spreads, eating its way over carpeted floor. Erasing it.

America, v/o: Something bigger than an invasion. Bigger than a war. 

The whiteness begins to climb the arm of the sofa, creeping towards a young girl’s arm.

America, v/o: It doesn’t just take lives - it eats futures. Steals potential.

The whiteness touches the girl, and she stares at it in horror as it climbs her arm, whiting it out. She opens her mouth as if to scream -

America, v/o: And they called it here, the ones in charge, but they can’t see it. It doesn’t touch them.

The living room again, engulfed in white: the two kids like flat white silhouettes, paper cut-outs with no faces, featureless. The walls and floor and furniture all the same white, looking like line drawings on paper. But the TV is still on - and the parents are all in colour, as per normal, still watching. Oblivious.

America, v/o: So we’ve got no backup.

The whiteness flowing over a college campus, whiting out the students and leaving lecturers speaking to an empty room.

America, v/o: No world leaders, no Avengers, no Sorcerer Supreme. 

Hard cuts now: the whiteness creeping through the halls of a government building, whiting out the walls and floor but leaving important-looking people still walking up and down, files clutched to their chests. Whiting out a police station, but leaving the officers untouched and oblivious. Spreading through the Avengers compound as even the Avengers fail to notice.

America, v/o: We’re on our own. We’re all we’ve got.

Cut to a warehouse, where AMERICA stands, addressing the others, who stand around her in a loose semi-circle. They are quiet for a moment, processing her speech; all stunned, except CASSIE, who tilts her head slightly, considering.

Cassie: So what do we do?

Beat. AMERICA raises an eyebrow: isn’t it obvious?

America: We punch it in the face.

CUT TO:

Another montage, but brighter this time: shots filled with dazzling, pop-y colour, set to Kesha’s We R Who We R (hot! and dangerous!) or similar dance anthem. The gang being shot at by some unseen assailant, dodging neon-coloured beams of light. Having coffee in a diner, laughing silently at a shared joke. Flashing lights like they’re in a club or at a rave, as KATE backflips over someone on what looks like a dance floor, kicking them in the face. The gang in a convertible with the top down, speeding urgently down a highway, TEDDY in the backseat throwing his arms in the air.

Kate, v/o: You know how when you’re really little,

CASSIE alone, in what looks like her bedroom, staring hard at her father’s suit, hung on the back of her door.

Kate, v/o: and they tell you you can be whatever you want to be?

CASSIE in the same place, suited up now, glancing left at a full-length mirror. Looking at herself. She presses a button near her temple and her helmet forms around her face.

Kate, v/o: But then you grow up a bit - 

KATE outdoors, at night, on the side of a hill somewhere - she’s looking into the distance, at far-away city lights. AMERICA walks up to her, settles herself beside her.

Kate, v/o: - and then they’re like, nah.

Same scene: AMERICA tilts her head back, looks up at the stars, pensive and uncharacteristically vulnerable.

Kate, v/o: You’ve got no power.

BILLY, in battle: close-up on his hand as he flexes his fingers and the air around them lights up blue.

Kate, v/o: You’ve got no training.

BILLY and TEDDY fighting back to back, in mid-air, TEDDY flying on newly-sprouted wings and BILLY’s whole body haloed in blue light.

Kate, v/o: You know - basically nothing.

Team shot: the gang in a circle, surrounded by enemies, in battle stances - the tension of the last seconds before a fight.

Kate, v/o: And maybe they’re right.

Cut to black.

Kate, v/o: But you know what?

Slow fade in on a close-up on AMERICA, her arms outstretched, stars glowing on both of her wrists. A glowing star on the ground beneath her feet. Her eyes glow, too, and she’s grinning. 

She lifts a foot and stomps down with a sound like glass shattering, as KATE says -

Kate, v/o: Fuck that.

Cut to black again. The music cuts out. Silence for a second.

Then another slow fade-in, as we hear the first few strains of orchestral music, something familiar -

Kate, v/o: Being a superhero is awesome.

And we’re in the middle of a wide street now - a street packed with young people, teens and twenty-somethings: some armed, some not; some obviously powered, others looking like civilians in ragged jeans and charcoal-smudged faces. All standing tall, facing front, ready to fight. 

Pan over the assembled army to the front of the column, where the YOUNG AVENGERS stand, suited up and battle-ready: BILLY and TEDDY shoulder-to-shoulder on the left, CASSIE on the right, helmet snapping shut as she grows another foot. And in the centre: AMERICA, expression fierce, raising her fists; and KATE, bow in hand, arrow on her string. 

Close-up on KATE as the music swells, and resolves into - what else? - the Avengers theme, in bright new remixed arrangement. KATE takes aim. She’s smiling.

Kate, v/o: Everyone should try it.

KATE lets the arrow fly.

Cut to black.

TITLE CARD, then:

Tag: INT: APARTMENT, DAY

The gang’s gathered around the kitchen table again, leaning over it towards each other like they’re making a plan, when there’s a sound from a nearby cupboard: a shuffle, a thump, a muffled yelp of pain.

AMERICA strides over and yanks the cupboard door open to reveal -

KID LOKI, looking shocked then sheepish then scared as AMERICA hauls him out by the front of his shirt, holding him half a foot off the floor.

The others stare. A beat.

Kate: Loki?

America: You know this guy?

Kate: Yeah, he’s a total prick, Clint says he -

Teddy: (over her) He tried to invade the planet once, you know, aliens, magic portal, it was a whole thing -

Cassie: (after a moment) How did you end up -

Billy: - in the body of a twelve-year-old?

Cassie: (shooting BILLY a look) - in our pantry?

Pause. Everyone looks at each other, taking this all in.

Loki: It’s a long story, but I’d be happy to explain. If, um.

He looks up at AMERICA, who’s still glowering at him. LOKI visibly gulps.

Loki: If you could maybe - could you maybe put me down?