Avengers: Assemble

Natasha sighed to herself, tied to a chair as an old man slapped her across the face. The slap was so pathetic that she had to try her best to make her scream sound authentic as the man stepped back with a smug smile on his face.

'Weak men are the easiest to manipulate.' She cynically thought to herself as she once again found her thoughts drifting towards a certain teenager that had become the object of her affection as of late.

She internally sighed to herself as she looked at her restraints. Just how much she wished that she could just grab a can of gasoline, lit this man, Fury, the spineless council, Dreykov, and set them on fire and be done with it. Just how much she wished she could get away from this shit so that she could enjoy the rest of her life in peace and quiet, raising children as she leaned onto someone she loved.

"This isn't how I wanted this evening to go." The washed-up general spoke in Russian which snapped Natasha out of her daydream.

'But alas, even dreams have to end.' She thought to herse as she looked ahead. "I know how you wanted this evening. Believe me, this is better."

Yeah, as if she was going to let any man touch, let alone taint her body.

"Who are you working for? Lermontov, yes?"

The general asked as a tall thug walks over to Natasha and leaned the chair she was tied onto over a pit as Natasha faked a scared expression.

"Does he think we have to go through him to move our cargo?"

"I thought General Solohob is in charge of the export business." She exclaimed, faking a surprised expression as the man chuckled.

"Solohob. A bagman, a front. Your outdated information betrays you. The famous Black Widow is just another pretty face." The man scoffed to himself and Natasha has to physically stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"You really think I'm pretty?" She asked wiggling her eyebrows as the men shared a look before General Luchkov gestured to the tall thug who grabbed her jaw and forced it open as Luchkov walked to the table behind him.

"Tell Lermontov we don't need him to move the tanks. Tell him he is out. Well..." Luzhkov began picking up a cutter from the table and played with it, intending to use it to cut Natasha's tongue off "...You may have to write it."

Suddenly a phone rang as the weaselly-looking thug answered it. He looked a bit confused as he beaconed the general. "It's for her."

"You listen carefully-"

"You're at 1- 14 Silensky Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F-22 exactly eight miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby." Luzhkov felt goosebumps on his skin as he looked around, unable to spot anyone.

Gritting his teeth he reluctantly handed the phone to Natasha, who balanced it on her shoulder.

"We need you to come in." She heard Phil and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Are you kidding? I'm working."

"This takes precedence." Phil insisted.

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation, and this moron is giving me everything." Natasha said emphasizing the word moron to prove her point. The general realized that he had been conned as he turned to his thugs to defend himself.

"I not- give everything." He stuttered as Natasha gave Luchkov a look.

"Look, you can't pull me out of this right now. I'm getting a vacation after this one-"

"Natasha...Barton's been compromised." Phil decided to be blunt and it worked like a charm as Natasha's gears came to a halt before they began spinning again.

"Let me put you on hold." She replied as she gestured for Luchkov to take the phone. The moron moved in for the cell phone and Natasha kicked him between the legs before headbutting him. The weaselly thug swung his fists at her but she kicked him back easily. The tall thug ran up as she spun around -- and the chair legs hit him making him fall to the floor.

The other guy jumped to his feet as Natasha rolled with the chair and dropped the legs on his feet as the man screamed. She whipped her head at him and hit him in the nose before tripping him.

Natasha springboarded off the tall thug's back, somersaulted, and broke the the chair on weaselly thug's back, breaking it. The tall guy moved in to grab her but Natasha bends his hand using his fingers and then hit him in the face and the throat with the chair leg.

She executed a front dropkick against the tall guy before pushing herself off the ground with both hands.

She ran toward the tall thug, who was out of breath, and flipped him over with her thighs as Luchkov finally stood up. Pushing herself off the wall once again, she swiftly walked over to the chain hanging from the ceiling and then approaches the general. She hits him with it in the face with the chain before she wrapped it around his one leg in it and then proceeded to throw him into the pit.

She leaves the man upside down, screaming scared out of his mind as she proceeds to pick up the cellphone and her high heels.

"Where's Barton now?" She asked and she heard Phil sigh in reply.

"We don't know."

"But he's alive?"

"We think so."

"We'll brief you on everything when you get back." Coulson said retrieving a set of files and walking towards the car that was waiting for him. "But first, we need you to talk to the big guy."

"Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me." Natasha jokes as Phil just smiles to himself.

"Oh, I've got Stark! You get the big guy."

Natasha stopped in her tracks, a bit taken back at what Coulson had just said.

"My God."

------

"My God." Natasha groaned to herself sitting in an abandoned shack as she waited for the street drama girl she hired to arrive with Banner. The situation was a mess indeed.

Natasha didn't have enough clearance to know what they were doing with the Tessaract and like everyone else, she was told that it was for a project that would solve the energy crisis of the world. Which was a load of bull and Natasha knew it.

If she knew anything about Nick Fury and especially about American politicians and people in power, then comfort or accommodating civilians with the best facilities was the last thing on their minds.

SHEILD was making weapons for mass destruction and she didn't need to be a genius to know that.

Natasha sighed drawing the curtains to hide herself as she saw Banner and the girl rush across the dirt road from the window.

The young girl sprinted into the shack and Banner followed her slowly. Banner entered in time to see her escape through the window and chuckled to himself as he realized that we was ditched and had been set up.

"Should have got paid upfront Banner." He muttered to himself scoffing.

"You know, for a man who's supposed to be..." Natasha began, revealing herself to Banner as she greeted him with an easy smile. "...avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle."

"Avoiding stress isn't the secret." Banner smiled back.

"Then what is it? Yoga?" She joked as Bruce smiled looking around the shack.

"And you brought me to the end of the city. Smart." He complimented as he peered out of the window. "I- uh- I assume the whole place is surrounded."

Natasha didn't bother replying as she simply removed her scarf and walked around the table.

"Well, and your actress buddy? She a spy too, they start that wrong?" Bruce pursued as Natasha hummed.

"Some do." She smiled. "Some do it voluntarily, others... They don't have much of a choice."

"Who are you?" Bruce asked unsure how to respond to her statement.

"Natasha Romanoff."

"Are you here to kill me, Ms. Romanoff? 'Cause that's not going to work out for everyone." Bruce replied confidently as he looked around. Still on the edge

"No, no. Of course not. I'm here on behalf of SHIELD." That was true.

"SHIELD. How'd they find me?" He asked, a little mad.

"We never lost you, Doctor. We've kept our distance, even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent." Natasha said as she put her hands on a chair.

"Why?"

"Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now we need you to come in."

"What if I say no?" Banner warned.

"We'll convince you."

"And what if the-Other Guy says no?" He asked, reluctant.

"You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you want to break that streak." Natasha said as she looked into her purse.

"Well, I don't every time get what I want." Banner replied pushing an old wooden cradle, which creaked as he did so.

"Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe." Natasha said as she retrieved her cell phone.

"Oh, those I actively try to avoid." Banner chuckled as he refused to take the phone. "Is it about the Spider-Man? I... I have seen what he did to Uncle-I... What he did to General Ross. I'd rather not take my chances."

"This isn't about him." Natasha replied with a neutral face but on the inside, she was a bit amused. Despite her amusement, she sat on the chair putting the phone on the table as Banner finally put on his glasses to look at it. "This is the Tesseract."

Banner picked up the phone, looking at the image of the Cube as Natasha continued.

"It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."

"What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" Banner almost scoffed as Natasha frowned a bit.

'And here I thought that Peter had a bad attitude.' Natasha thought to herself as she faked a smile. "He wants you to find it. It's been taken. It emits a Gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. No one knows Gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be."

"So Fury isn't after the monster?" Bruce asked as Natasha shook her head.

"Not that he's told me." She replied

"And he tells you everything?" Bruce continued as she just gave him an impassive look.

"Talk to Fury, he needs you on this-"

"He needs me in a cage?" He asked further immediately as Natasha had enough, reaching out for the phone.

"I wouldn't know-"

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Banner yells out slamming his hands down on the table but Natasha had become so jaded by the whole interaction that she didn't even flinch.

"Are you done?" She asked with a blank face as Bruce pulled back, surprised.

"I... I'm sorry. That was mean." Bruce said with an awkward smile. "I just wanted to see what you'd do."

Natasha stares at him before sighing as she reached for her earpiece. "Stand down. We're good here."

She commanded as the horde of armed guards surrounding the shack lowered their weapons.

"You came prepared, huh?"

"Of course." Natasha smiled. "I wouldn't have come here if I didn't know whether I could handle the worst-case scenario or not."

"And you are confident you can?" Bruce asked with a scoff as Natasha's smile widened as she reached for a special tranquilizer gun attached to the underside of the table, her favorite student had made for her among several other things.

"Wanna find out?" She grinned viciously as Bruce decided to back down feeling a slight chill run down his spine.

She knew Peter was bad company but God did she loved him for this.

------

Fury sighed to himself resisting the urge to rub his temples as he stood before the Council, as four shadowy figures were displayed on the screens.

"This is out of line, Director. You're dealing with forces you can't control." A man said.

"You ever been in a war, Councilman? In a firefight? Did you feel an overabundance of control?" Fury retorted.

"You're saying that this Asgard is declaring war on our planet?" Asked another man.

"Not Asgard, Loki." Fury corrected. If Asgard were to declare war on them, he doubted they could even put up a decent fight.

"He can't be working alone. What about the other one, his brother?" The sole woman on the council asked.

"Our intelligence says Thor is not a hostile. But he's worlds away and we can't depend on him to help either. It's up to us." Fury responded.

"Which is why you should be focusing on Phase Two, it was designed for exactly this purpose. This and that goddamned Spider-Man." The first councilman almost snarled as he uttered Spider-Man's name.

"Spider-Man isn't the issue right now, Loki is. Spider-Man has disappeared once again."

"Well, that's-"

"With all due respect, councilman, Phase Two isn't ready; our enemy is. We need a response team." Fury interjected.

"The Avengers Initiative was shut down." The councilman said in a final tone as Fury shook his head.

"This isn't about the Avengers-"

"We have seen the list." The Councilman interjected as Fury almost scowled.

"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks." Another man asked cynically as Fury responded.

"I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team. These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe, with the right push, they can be exactly what we need." Fury cleared out.

"You believe?!" The woman scoffed as the man shook his head.

"War isn't won by sentiment, Director." The man said stating realistically.

"No." Fury agreed. "It's won by soldiers."

"And in times like this, we will need these extraordinary soldiers."

------

Steve growled to himself, his flashbacks irritating him to no end as they clouded his judgment. Grunting to himself threw his hardest punch and dished it upon the punching bag, knocking it across the room.

Breathing hard, Steve picked up another bag from a line on the floor and hung it up. He began to hit it, stopping momentarily as he heard footsteps approach him before continuing boxing.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury asked across the room as Steve just kept hitting the bag.

"Slept for seventy years, Sir. I think I've had my fill." Steve replied earnestly as Fury slowly approached him.

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world." Fury smiled as Steve showed the barest tone of emotions.

"When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up- they say we won." Steve replied, his tone a bit somber. "They didn't say what we lost."

"We've made some mistakes along the way, some very recently." Fury said holding up a folder.

"You here with a mission, Sir?" Steve asked removing his hand wrap.

"I am." Fury nodded

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve asked removing the other wrap. "Is it about the Spider-Man?"

"Trying to save it." Fury corrected as he handed Steve a folder with information about the Tesseract in it. "Also, it's not about the Spider-Man. This might be something even worse."

"HYDRA's secret weapon." Steve commented.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought, what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy." Fury lied through his teeth. "That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?" Steve asked.

"He's called Loki. He's-not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know." Fury briefed him as Steve started packing up.

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Steve commented getting up, grabbing his duffel bag, and another punching bag.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asked as Steve began to walk away.

"You should have left it in the ocean." He replied, his face set in an impassive expression.

------

"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." Phil said into his phone as he climbed into the elevator after disabling which was a small hassle.

"You have reached the Life Model Decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message." Phil resisted the urge to smile as he hear Tony's punchable voice over the line. He was already used to the billionaire shenanigans so this did not bother him much.

"This is urgent." And he had more pressing matters at hand.

"Then leave it urgently." Tony retorted as the elevator opened and Coulson stepped out.

"Security breach." Tony raised his hands in exclamation as the turned towards Pepper. "That's on you!"

"Phil! Come in!" Pepper called out greeting Coulson as she and Tony walked over to Coulson, who entered their lounging room.

"Phil?" Tony asked making a face that Pepper ignored out of habit.

"I can't stay." Phil said grasping the folder in his hand firmly.

"Uh, his first name is Agent." Tony made a wisecrack as Pepper smiled at Phil.

"Come on in, we're celebrating!" Pepper cheered as Tony faked a jolly smile

"Which is why he can't stay."

"We need you to look this over, as soon as possible." Phil said handing Tony a laptop who just stared at it.

"I don't like being handed things." Tony retorted as Pepper moved in to counter him.

"That's fine because I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Pepper swapped with Coulson her glass for the laptop before she took Tony's glass and then passed the laptop on to him. "Thank you."

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday." Tony faked another smile as he looked at Coulson who just smiled.

"This isn't a consultation." He replied.

"Is this about the Avengers or the Spider-Man?" Pepper asked as Coulson threw a curious look at her. "Both of which I know nothing about."

"I rejected SHEILD's proposal to come up with a weapon to deal with Spider-Man because I know nothing about him besides the little footage that posts on his YouTube and what he ALLOWS us to know. He is too dangerous." Tony commented as he began walking toward his table. " While the Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought, and I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either." Pepper shook her head.

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others." Tony added as Pepper nodded.

"That I did know." And she wholeheartedly agreed.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Phil replied to Tony's accusations.

"Whatever! Ms. Potts, got a sec?" Tony brushed it off as he called for his assistant.

"Half a moment." Pepper said as she excused herself leaving Coulson at the door as she goes over to Tony.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment." Tony said in a hushed voice as Pepper gave him a look.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment." Pepper retorted as it was now Tony's turn to give Pepper a look.

"This seems serious. Phil looks pretty shaken." Pepper said looking back at Phil who was looking around the new Stark tower.

"How would you notice-and why is he, Phil?" Tony asked quickly shifting his gears.

"What is all this?" Pepper asked the laptop catching her attention.

"This is- ah..." Tony grabbed the holograms on the laptop and threw them up. Holograms filled the room, and each article is on one of the Avengers. "...this!"

They both looked upon the screens, observing them with varying emotions as Pepper put her hands around Tony's.

"I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight-" She said.

"Tomorrow." Tony interjected as Pepper gave him a stern look.

"You have homework. You have a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony asked, stepping in closer to him.

"If you didn't? You mean when you finished? Well, um, then-" She leaned in with a seductive voice and whispered into Tony's ear. "I'll give you the backstage pass."

Tony's jaw dropped at the implications as he stepped back with a slightly flustered smile. "Square deal. Fly safe."

Pepper smiled moving close as they kissed while Coulson looked away letting them enjoy the moment.

"Work hard." Pepper said stepping back as she picked up her jacket and began walking towards Phil.

"So, any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?" She asked as Phil nodded. "I can drop you off."

"Fantastic. Ooh, I want to hear about the ah- cellist, is that still a thing?"

"She moved back to Portland."

"What?...Boo~"

As they were talking and walking away Tony saw the Tesseract, which piqued his interest as he grabbed its hologram.

"Interesting."

(A/N: Yeah, that thing and its brethren is the reason you died. Look closely.)

------

A jet flew to a giant carrier in the water, which turned out to be the new SHIELD helicarrier in all its glory. It was a new, improved one after Spider-Man temporarily shot the previous one out of the sky. Personnel were walking all over, some strapping down jets and other containers.

The jet landed as Coulson and Steve stepped out of it as Natasha walked toward them.

"Agent Romanoff- Captain Rogers." Phil began introducing both of the characters.

"Ma'am." Steve greeted the beautiful Russian Femme fatale politely.

"Hi." Natasha replied shortly as she turned to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge; they're starting the face trace."

"See you there." Coulson nodded, leaving as Natasha and Steve started talking to get to know each other while as they walked along.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha asked with a teasing smile as Steve gave a perplexed look.

"Trading cards?"

"They're vintage. He's very proud." Natasha smiled as walking as they

They spotted Banner who was bumping into people while he observed the carrier.

"Doctor Banner." Steve greeted offering his hand as Bruce approached him.

"Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming." Bruce greeted.

"Word is you can find the Cube." Steve said as Banner gave him a nervous look.

"Is that the only word on me?" He asked as Steve smiled.

"Only word I care about." Steve replied firmly as Bruce nodded.

"Must be strange for you, all of this."

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar." Steve replied shaking his head as he remembered the time before he went under.

"Gentlemen, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little had to breathe." Natasha interjected as the males shared a look.

There was a loud whirring and clunking sound as Banner and Rogers made their way to the edge of the helicarrier.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked curiously as Banner scoffed.

"Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Bruce asked rhetorically as the propellers began to spin and the carrier began to lift into the air. "Oh no, this is much worse."

The helicarrier begins ascending higher and higher as Rogers and Banner step inside and follow Natasha as she leads them to the bridge in the navigation room. Natasha peels away from them as they stared and observed in awe. The navigation room was very busy, with SHIELD personnel working at stations, and communicating over earpieces.

"Gentlemen." Fury greets them as he turned on the Helicarrier's retro reflection panels allowing the Helicarrier to assume its stealth flight mode.

Steve slips Fury the ten dollars that he bet earlier, in regards to nothing being able to surprise him which Fury receives with a smug smile.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury greets the man as Banner shakes his hand reluctantly.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, um, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind." Fury smiled.

"Well, where are you with that?" Banner asked as he removed his jacket.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones..." Coulson began to speak as Steve stood in the background confused about what was being said. Natasha moved over to a computer screen where Barton's face trace was in progress as she checked the stats. "...laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"It's still not gonna find them in time." Natasha said as Banner hummed to himself.

"You have to narrow your field. How many Spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the Spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for Gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, and basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Bruce proposed as Fury nodded turning towards Natasha.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?" Fury asked as Natasha rolled her eye internally resisting the urge to gouge out Nick's lone eye as she walked past him and over to Banner and they began to walk out of the bridge area.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

Watching them walk away Fury approached Hill.

"Hill, did you tell the council that Barton had been compromised?"

"Was that not procedure?" Hill asked as Fury walked off the bridge and onto the air deck, where he looked out.

"Did you tell them who exactly is on your response team?" Hill asked as Fury looked over his shoulder.

"Doesn't appear that I have to."

------

"Put it over there." Selvig was working on a machine in Loki's hidden base as he turned towards Barton. "Where did you find all these people?"

"SHIELD has no shortage of enemies, Doctor. This the stuff you need?"

"Yeah. Iridium. It's found in meteorites, it forms anti-protons. It's very hard to get hold of." Selvig explained.

"Especially if SHIELD knows you need it." Barton added.

"Well, I didn't know." Selvig replied as Loki walked up to them.

"Hey! This is wonderful. The Tesseract has shown me so much. It's- it's more than knowledge, it's truth." Selvig said, expressing his awe and fascination as Loki smiled.

"I know. It, ah- it touches everyone differently." He replied as he turned to Barton. 'What did it show you, Agent Barton?"

"My next target." Barton said as Loki hummed.

"Tell me what you need." As Barton walked over to a small case, opened it, and took out his bow flicking it open.

"I need a distraction. And an eyeball." Barton said as Loki grinned.

------

Coulson and Steve were standing on the bridge, just waiting as Agent Jasper Sitwell ran the face trace in the background.

"I mean if it's not too much trouble." Coulson began once again as he tried not to swoon over Steve.

"No-no, it's fine."

"It's a vintage set. Took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges but-"

(A/N: I have a feeling that if Phil was introduced to Pokemon cards he would totally be a fanatic who spends all of his salary over buying Pokemon packs on eBay or someshit like that lol.)

"We got a hit." Agent Jasper interjected Coulson and Steve as they turned to look at him. "Sixty-seven percent match. Wait- cross-match, seventy-nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson asked as Jasper turned back to the computer screen.

"Stuttgart, Germany. Twenty-eight, Königstraße. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, you're up." Fury said to Steve who nodded as he walked off to ready himself.

(A/N: What do you think Captain American's locker room song would be that he uses to hype himself up before every mission? I think it would be Fort Minor's Remember The Name.)

------

On a busy street, cars pull up and drop off fancy guests meanwhile on the less busy side of the building two guards outside are shot down with arrows, as Barton and his men secure the vault building rushing over to a door with a scanner on the side, preparing to break in.

Loki walks down some stairs from a balcony as the Gala Scientist, his target, is at a podium talking to his guests.

The guards spot Loki but before he could react, Loki hits the man with his scepter, knocking him to the floor as the guests stop and stare at him in awe.

Loki swiftly grabs the man and flips him onto a statue as he retrieves a device from his pocket which he uses to bore into his eye.

The guests began screaming, scattering in horror, and running away as Loki just smiled to himself menacingly.

The image of the eye is transported to a similar device in Barton's hand which he holds over a retina scanner and after an affirmative scan, the door slides open.

Barton rushes inside with his men and they steal a glass tube containing the Iridium.

People began to flee the gala, screaming, ad Loki follows them taking on his Asgardian attire. Seeing a Polizei car speeding toward him, he blasts it using the scepter, flipping it over. Creating duplicates of himself he surrounds the mob of people who attended the Gala.

"Kneel before me. I said-" Loki said as the people clamored and muttered which seemed to irritate Loki who raised his scepter and slammed it onto the ground "KNEEL!"

The people hurry, dropping to their knees as Loki flashes a smug grin as he walked through the mob.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made- to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." Loki saunters, speaking in arrogantly as tooted his own horns.

Hearing Loki's boastful speech a German old man stood up, getting back to his feet as he looked at Loki with a distasteful look.

"Not to men like you." The man said as Loki smiled in return.

"There are no men like me." Loki retorted.

"There are always men like you." The man said as Loki bit back a snarl opting to laugh at the man, to laugh at his foolishness.

"Look to your elder, people." Loki beaconed the mob as he raised his scepter. "Let him be an example."

Loki fired a beam from his scepter but Captain America jumped in front of the man at the last moment out of the blue, deflecting the beam off his shield which caused it to reflect and hit Loki back instead, who fell to the ground from the impact.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Captain America said as he got up and slowly walked towards Loki.

"The soldier-" Loki began as he rose to his feet. "-the man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Captian Retorted as the quinjet came in behind Cap with Black Widow inside. A gun unfolded from the underside of the plane as Natasha spoke over the speaker.

"Loki! Drop the weapon and stand down!" Natasha warned but Loki disregarded it with a smirk as he fired at the jet. Natasha banked hard to avoid it as Cap attacked Loki and engaged him in a fight.

After a bit of push and pull, Loki knocked Cap's shield to the side and forced him down to his knees with his scepter.

"Kneel!"

"Not today!" Cap bit back, shoving the scepter off as he jumped and landed a spinning kick to Loki's face and engaged him in a fight once again.

Natasha, in her Black Widow suit but her lip, trying to figure out if she should take the shot or not.

"Guy's all over the place." She muttered to her co-pilot who just nodded without a word. She was just about to say 'fuck it' and take the shot but before she could, her earpiece buzzed as the quinjets system was overwritten by the newcomer.

"Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" Tony spoke over the line as 'Shoot to Thrill' began to play in the quinjet catching the attention of Loki and Cap. Natasha smiled heavily as she shook her head.

"I would say I did, but then that would be lying." Natasha replied honestly as Tony just made a sour face.

"Ouch." Tony muttered caressing his pride as Iron Man flew down and fired a repulsor blast. The repulsor blast hit Loki, square in the chest knocking Loki down as Iron Man landed.

"Make a move reindeer games." Tony said as he aimed all the weapon's in his Arsenal at Loki. Loki's Asgardian garb faded away and he simply raised his hands in surrender. "Good move."

Cap walked over to Iron Man, who put away his weapons as the quinjet landed in the back.

"Mister Stark." Steve greeted as Iron Man gave him a side glace of acknowledgment.

"Captain." Tony greeted Cap back but his eyes remained on Loki. JARVIS failed to assess Loki's emotions from his facial expressions as Tony furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion.

'Something doesn't feel right.'

He had no idea just how right his suspicion would turn out to be.

------

Peter smiled to himself as he stood on the balcony in his HQ overlooking two Cradles alongside Helen Cho as they both watched the scientists insert commands into the machine.

The two Cradles were then connected to an arc reactor-powered chamber as they lit up. A low humming sound could be heard as the Cradles began to construct a humanoid body from scratch.

"It's finally happening." Peter smiled happily his hands gripping the balcony railing tightly as he looked below.

"Yes, it is." Helen smiled as she turned toward Peter. "After obtaining the Vibranium and other metals from the Savage Lands I started the initial tests immediately as Susan had instructed. Yesterday, I made a breakthrough and it must be a sign of good omen that you decide to come out of your seclusion as well."

"Helen, thank you." Peter said earnestly as he rested his hands on Helen's shoulder who just smiled at Peter.

"Well, don't thank me just yet. The process has just begun and I suspect it will take almost 72 hours before to complete construct a body that will be capable of housing the consciousness of Eryl and Juno." Helen said as Peter smiled back.

"Still, thank you." Peter grinned.

"You are welcome." Helen giggled. "You should focus on your other project or just rest in the meanwhile. I mean, you have just returned after all."

"Haha, don't worry." Peter smiled. "I've rested enough."

"If you say so. Ah, you should go meet up with Susan and Gwen. They have finished their research on the symbiotes." Helen informed Peter who nodded. Leaning down he kissed Helen on the cheek, surprising her as he pulled back with a wink. "What..."

"I'll go meet up with them, thanks." Peter smiled. "I'll see you later. Thank you once again."

Helen watched Peter walk away, caressing her cheek as she smiled.

"What a tease..." She muttered to herself with a giggle as she descended down to the laboratory to help her subordinates.

Peter walked through the halls, politely greeting his personnel who greeted him back eagerly as they walked by.

Entering the research laboratory where all the symbiotes were kept for study, Peter's face lit up as he saw Susan and Gwen wearing the lab coats watching the symbiotes through the glass as they took notes and exchanged theories.

Jennifer sat in the corner looking bored before she spotted Peter. Her face lit up like charismas immediately and was about to beacon him but Peter shushed her, putting a finger over his lips as he winked at her, gesturing towards Susan and Gwen.

Jennifer looked at them and grinned at him giving him a thumbs up. Peter sneaked up behind the ladies before suddenly grabbing them by the waist causing the girls to jolt in surprise.

"Kyaaa!" Gwen squeaked out while Susan just smiled to herself, immediately recognizing Peter's rough hands. "Who the-Oh! Peter-Oh my fucking God!"

Gwen went through a myriad of emotions in a couple of seconds as she turned to look around who grabbed her. She perked up realizing it was Peter but then opted to gawk in amazement as she noticed just how much Peter had changed in three weeks.

Peter was strikingly handsome the last time she saw him before he left to train his magic with a strange bald woman. Peter had said he would explain once he returned and with just how much he has changed, magic wasn't the only thing he needed to explain.

Susan smirked, her thoughts mirroring Gwen's as her hands groped his torso, tracing his new abdominal muscles. Susan felt her loins heat up as Peter leaned in for a passionate kiss.

Susan moaned into the kiss and almost snarled at Gwen as she grabbed checks to steal a kiss as well. Gwen squealed into the kiss as Peter lifted her with one hand, as he casually groped her butt.

"I... I missed you." Gwen huffed out as Peter smiled kissing her nose.

"I missed you too." He said before planting a kiss on Susan's cheek. "And you as well?"

"And what about me?" Jennifer asked with a grin as she walked towards Peter with her arms spread wide.

Peter matched her grin as he wrapped his hands around her waist as she promptly smothered Peter with her breasts.

"I have missed you as well." Peter said as he kissed the jade skin of her cleavage before Jen leaned down and engaged Peter with a passionate kiss.

"I know you did." Jen replied pulling back with a smile as she groped Peter's butt.

"So, what's up ladies?" Peter asked his right hand still around Jen's waist as he looked walked towards the glass. "Anything new?"

"Well, besides Felicia's constant barrage of questions and her growing impatience the only thing new would be the new research data I have compiled for you." Gwen replied as she handed him a tablet.

"Thanks, babe. With this and the Vibranium we have, I'll be able to upgrade my suit now." Peter grinned as Susan smiled at his enthusiasm.

"When are you going to start then?"

"In a couple of hours, right after we all have lunch together. Which reminds me, call Wade and Frank over as well, but before that... Let me greet and thank the Klyntar for his contribution to our Creed." Peter smiled as he moved towards very close to the glass as a blob of black amorphous goo shifted, standing and stretching until it formed an animalistic maw.

"Parker..." The symbiote hissed as Peter smirked.

"Hello... Venom."

------

Alternative Titles:

- Natasha's Needs

- Spider-Man: The Root Of All Evil

- Agent Venom?

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So, double chapter? Well, aren't ya happy?

Well, I wrote and edited 10k+ words in this and the prev chapter combined in two days so my brain is a bit of a mush.

Will be good after a good sleep though. So, two/three more chapters and we will be done with the Avengers. I put a lot of work into this one. Tired to make it look like a transcript of a movie haha, I hope it is any good. Also, this Loki will be stronger than the MCU one and will be more comic book inspired.

So, anyways. GTA6 got leaked and frankly, man I don't care anymore. It's been almost a decade since a new GTA game so I have already gotten used to the void in my heart.

Also, I take this time to officially announce that I've fallen out of love with the MCU. We just can't be together anymore. This relationship is toxic. I mean, I'll still fuck with her if she dresses up nicely every once in a while but otherwise, I think Imma pass.

Yikes I mean imagine attacking fans because your show is tanking while the fans are just protecting their sanity and just ignoring the show.

Well, whatever. I'll just hibernate until a good movie or show comes out. Entertainment media is garbage rn.

The end of times is near indeed.

#RIP

Anyways, I'll see you in the next one.

Also, female Loki or Nah?