I don't own anything except any original/own characters and any original plot.

✨

Chapter 2- Small Steps

✨

A/n: When I say discs, I'm referring to the ones Doctor Strange uses

~*~

I stared out the window of the Quinjet, stuck in my own thoughts. The first was that my uniform felt nice and familiar. It had been given to me after a year with shield. The material was organic so it was supposed to shift with my body if the need arose. On top of that, it covered the majority of my skin as well.

Even though I always stayed in my human form, there was an underlying fear that I would randomly switch back into myself. Fury had seemed to have picked up on that and made my suit less risque than Nat's- who was much more comfortable with herself.

I looked over to the live stream of what was happening in Germany. That wasn't my Loki. The Loki who wrapped my battle wounds, who sent me a com crying after he found out he was a Jotun, and that he had been given the title of king- which he never wanted.

I had to find out what had happened to him between the destruction of the Bifrost and what was going on now.

The Quinjet flew over the gala Loki had crashed. The bottom doors opened and Steve and I jumped down. Steve held his shield up just in time to protect an elderly man from being shot.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing," Steve stated.

"The soldier. A man out of time," Loki's eyes travelled to me, "And the alien who wants to be human."

I scowled, throwing my hands out so my discs could revolve around them.

"I'm not the one who's out of time," Steve sent me a confused glance.

Nat swung down in the quinjet, guns trained on Loki, "Loki drop the weapon and stand  down."

I tugged on Steve's arm, making him bend down so I could whisper in his ear.

"Get the scepter, it's what is giving him so much power."

Loki raised said weapon and shot a bolt of power at the two of us. We dove away from each other to avoid it.

Steve ran towards Loki, throwing his shield in the process. I followed behind closely. The two of us stumbled a few times at first, almost hitting each other instead of Loki. But we eventually fell into a rhythm of offense and defense.

Steve was blown back from a shot, leaving me against Loki. I swung my discs rapidly, landing a few solid hits in the process.

"How ashamed your people would be to see you now. Their precious princess fighting. Not only in the physical sense, but fighting all of their ideals as well."

"I fight to protect my planet from people like you," I snapped.

Both of us paused when classic rock rang through the air. It was AC/DC. I had only ever heard that band from one person-

"Nersh," I whispered. It was a common swear word on my planet.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Tony's  entire arsenal was pointed at the god.

Loki slowly put his hands up in surrender. His armor materialized away.
at landed the quinjet and got out to cuff Loki. He was then led onto the ship with the rest of us following.

"Good job out there," Steve complimented.

"Oh barf," Tony rolled her eyes, "Already got a crush on (Y/n), Capsicle?"

"Watch your mouth Stark," I warned.

"You got it," Stark nodded, but the trace of a smirk on his mouth told me he had no intentions of doing so.

"(Y/n) flirting with someone who isn't of a high blood status? What a scandal," Loki chuckled.

I smacked the back of his head. It was a very sibling-like thing to do, but I didn't actually want to harm him. There had to be some trace of my Loki in there somewhere.

Lightning flashed through the sky. Loki looked up worriedly when thunder rnag soon after. Steve and Tony took notice.

"Scared of a little lightning?" Tony questioned mockingly.

"I'm not fond of what follows."

I laughed, drawing the attention to me, "Loki you know exactly what you're in for."

A loud thud originated from the roof. Tony opened the landing door, ready to face what was outside. I knew exactly what, or rather, who was out there. Thor landed, grabbing Loki and taking off before anyone could do anything.

"Not the strangest thing I've seen today."

I looked to the other three before I jumped out of the ship as well. It was a bit of a rough landing on the ground, but I managed. Levitation had never been a strong concept for me. Even if it wasn't necessarily levitation in the first place. When I was younger, I theorized that if you put a shield under your feet then you would be able to lift yourself with it. No matter how much I practised it, it was always a struggle.

When I arrived on the ground Thor was hanging Loki off the edge of the cliff. I knew Loki would most likely survive the fall, and Thor didn't have the heart to drop him, but watching the once inseparable brothers fight was unbearable.

"I leave for what, a year, two? Can you two really not handle yourselves while I'm gone?" I yelled angrily.

"Greetings, Lady (Y/n)," Thor greeted casually, still holding Loki by the throat, "I see you have donned a Midgardian appearance."

"She's hiding what she really is,"Loki hissed.

"So are you," I snapped back. Thor hesitantly let Loki go and he walked away from the edge of the cliff.

"I am not yearning for the acceptance of the humans. I know I am above them. As are you."

"You cannot come here and do this Loki.  Earth is under my protection," Thor cut it."

Loki let out a laugh, "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 shook his head, "You miss the truth of ruling, brother. Throne would suit you ill."

Loki scowled, "I've seen worlds you could only dream of Odinson. I've grown, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the TEsseract and when I wield it-"

"Who showed you this power?" I asked desperately, "Who controls this would be king?"

"I am a king!" Loki screamed.

"Not here," I shouted, grabbing Loki's shoulders. I turned back into my trueform as I lost focus on it, "Give up the Tesseract, give up this deadly dream. Go home Loki."

"I don't have," Loki said slowly.

Thor summoned his hammer to his hand, "You listen well, brother-"

Before Thor could finish, he was tackled off of the mountain. The flash of red and gold told me who did it.

"I'm listening," Loki said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Loki," I rolled my eyes. I made sure I was in my human form before I tried to figure out a way down.

From what I could see, Thor and Tony were quite evenly matched, despite Tony's disadvantage as a Midgardian. He was quite impressive, even if I didn't want to tell that to his face. He would never let me live that down.

"All of that concentrating on different things will drain you," Loki said boredly, crossing his arms, "Let yourself be who you really are. You can't fight as well when you're trying to look human because your focus is on staying that way."

"I fight well enough," I defended, "I'm just fine staying in my human form thank you."

"But not enough to win this battle," Loki sneered, "They will never accept you for who you truly are. They will deny you, experiment on you. But not me. I will accept you, as you have accepted me."

"Take them back to the ship, I'll calm Thor down," I ordered through the com, "Humans accept heroes, and that's what I am Loki."

"But will it be enough, dear (Y/n)?"

I let out a weary sigh, not knowing how to respond. It's not like aliens in the past had been heroes, but maybe they had come to Earth for the same reasons I had.

When we were back on the Quinjet, Thor was brooding and looking out the window, not wanting to admit that it would have been a struggle to beat Steve and Tony. Tony was up front with Nat, making playful banter, Loki was back in his seat, and Steve and I were simply standing in silence.

I knew he wanted to ask what Loki meant when he said I was an alien, and when he said I was flirting with a commoner, but I also knew he was too respectful to do something so blunt. It made me smile. Men on Earth were often too forward, it was nice knowing a gentleman.

When we arrived back on the helicarrier Loki was taken to a holding cell. It was specially built for the Hulk, and I assured Fury that Loki wouldn't be able to fight his way out of it.

"In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass. Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant. Boot."

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

I sent an instinctive glance at Bruce. He seemed entirely calm, even though all of us knew who Loki was talking about.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh I've heard," Loki smirked at the camera, "How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my planet with war. You talk about peace and kill cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate."

"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."

"Well let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something," Fury said sarcastically.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce questioned.

"(Y/n)," Steve turned to me, "Forgive me, if this is rude, but in Germany Loki said you were an alien who wanted to be human. Are you Asgardian?"

"Lady (Y/n) is not Asgardian," Thor said in his booming voice, drawing the attention of everyone around us, "She is-"

"Thor," I said in a warning tone.

"Agent Altovar's place of birth is her business and her business alone. If she wishes to share that information, then she will in due time," Fury approached us. I sighed in relief, "Agent, you're the most likely to get information out of Loki."

"But Nat's the interrogator," I stated in confusion.

"But he has a soft side for you," Fury smirked.

"He's like a brother," I rolled my eyes. I expected someone to reprimand me for doing so, but when no one did I remembered how different it was to not be royalty. Old habits die hard, "I'll get on it."

I left the bridge and began to make my way towards Loki's cell. On the way, I peeked in the lab, noticing the scepter. Loki could wait for a few minutes while I figured out why exactly this scepter was changing Loki.

"It's powered by a- Oh my Atreyu," I whispered, "This is an Infinity Stone."

I had heard stories. Loki and Thor told me that they were scattered throughout the galaxy, but I didn't realize that Loki was wielding one. Was the Tesseract an Infinity stone as well?

"This metal is from my planet," I realized, "How did they get that?"

I reached out to touch it, but my hand instinctively jerked back. The energy rolling off of it screamed "Danger and Control' and not in a good way. For obvious reasons.

"What happened to interrogating Reindeer Games?" Tony questioned as he entered. Steve and Bruce in tow.

"I got distracted," I explained, "You can run experiments on this but don't touch it."

"Ow!"

I snapped up, sending a warning glance to Tony.

"What are you doing Stark?" I questioned.

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked angrily.

"Funny things are," Tony shrugged.

"He's like this all the time," I told Steve, not even trying to hide it. Royals were supposed to be dignified. That meant being honest.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor."

"No it's alright. I wouldn't have come if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing big man. You need to strut," Tony smirked.

"And you need to focus on the problem Tony," I crossed my arms.

"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."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy. Captain, his secrets have secrets. Including her," Tony pointed at me, "I've known her almost as long as I've known Agent Romanoff and all I know is that she's an alien. But in what sense? I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

"What?" I nearly yelled, my tone full of nerves.

"Yep. Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a little while, we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Including where they found you, and how you know Thor and Loki. Blueberry?"

As Steve and Tony continued to bicker I reached for the computer, keeping my hand on it for a second before taking it off. There, that just stopped Tony's algorithm from hacking my file. The one beautiful thing about magic, it could overrule technology.

"What did you just do?" Bruce asked me.

"I stopped Tony from hacking my file," I whispered back.

"Trying to hide where you're from won't help whatever this is work. We have a god, an assassin, Tony Stark, a green beast, and a man from the forties. You'll fit in just fine."

"It's not entirely where I'm from," I sighed, "The Earth has placed a significance on how one looks. Because of my abilities, I can conform to that. But if I revealed what I really was...You know, I believe that now is a good time to interrogate Loki. Thank you for your time."

I didn't want to interrogate Loki, my best friend, but I didn't want to stay at the lab. On the way there I shifted myself into Nat, being her always filled me with a sense of confidence, even if I couldn't do it very often.

"Loki," I spoke, hearing Nat's voice instead of my own.

"I'd assume you'd come to be. To appear as a friend, a balm, and I would-" Loki suddenly stopped, his grin widening, "You always were such a clever one, tricking me into thinking you were someone else. But I see who you are (Y/n)."

I shifted into my human form. Loki frowned, slamming his fist against the glass. Not expecting it, I jumped.

"You hide yourself behind a mask. But I know who you are. Show me."

I glanced up at the camera nervously. Raising my hand, I shut it off temporarily, looping the footage so the ship wouldn't be sent into a panic. After I was sure I'd be okay, I transformed into my true form.

"They will never accept you for who you truly are," Loki smirked, stepping up to the glass, "Those you've revealed yourself to already are always on edge, ready to jump and send you to experimentation if you step over the line. On Earth, if you aren't what society wants you to be, you don't matter.

"But you matter to me dear (Y/n). You are a goddess that shouldn't have to hide who she really is. They should be bowing, kneeling to you."

"They'll think I'm a monster," I whispered, looking down at my hands, "They'll call me a freak."

"You aren't the monster here, they brought it."

I wiped under my eyes, pressing the com in my ear, "Loki wants to unleash the Hulk." Before I could walk out entirely I paused, turning to face Loki. I gave him a mock bow, full of royal formality, "Thank you your majesty."

I left the room, taking my time walking back to the lab. It was a short walk, and I had to stretch it out to think.

The last thing I wanted to do was show who I truly was, the fear of what could happen was drilled into me, but fear kept me from my full potential. In some weird way, Loki was right. If I continued to focus on keeping myself human, I would lose us the battle.

Loki wanted my fear to be our downfall, so I had to turn him on his head. I had powerful friends. Fury and several others said themselves that they would protect me. I had to have faith, and believe in my ability to protect myself. I left my planet to create peace. The first step, the baby step if you would, was creating peace within myself.

"Okay, okay," I leaned against the wall out, "I can do this. I can do this...I can't do this. Oh my Atreyu I can't do this. What a pathetic princess."

I pushed myself off of the wall, entering the lab in my human form. I wasn't ready to reveal myself. Mental pep talk or not, I needed time to process, to reveal myself in a time where we weren't working at one hundred percent.

"I swear on my crown that I will reveal myself before this is over," I whispered. I nodded once, "No way I can back out now."