Ch. 4 Kneel

                                    

                                          
We found out where Loki was. He's in Germany so we all get on the quinjet and head there. Steve and I are waiting in position. 
                          
As the crowd runs away, Loki slowly walks out and materializes in his gold armor and helmet. The police arrive and with no hesitation, he blasts the cars, flipping them over and over.
                          
"Kneel before me." Loki says. The crowd ignores him, another Loki appears, blocking the crowd. Before we know it, Loki after Loki encircles the crowd of terrified people. All of the Loki's grin and raise their scepters. "I said... kneel!"
                          
Everyone becomes quiet and kneels in front of him. He embraces his arms out, smiling. 
                          
"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 of power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
                          
As the words resonate throughout the crowd, I look to Steve and then back to Loki. I notice an elderly German man begin to stand up heroically, refusing to kneel before the false god. 
                          
"Not to men like you." He says. 
                          
"There are no men like me." Loki responds. 
                          
"There are always men like you."
                          
"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example." Loki is about to execute him with his scepter as the light glows blue. Just as the energy beam shoots out, Steve jumps out in front of it, just in time to block the blast with his shield, knocking down Loki on his ass. I jump down from my position and stand next to Steve. 
                          
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." He says as we walk up to Loki. 
                          
"The soldier. The man out of time." Loki says, standing up. Then looks to me. "And the spy, running from her past."
                          
"He's not the one who's out of time and I'm not the one running." I say, raising my rifle in front of me. Then Nat arrives on the quinjet, pointing the attached machine gun at him. 
                          
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." She says to him. 

Like greased lighting, Loki sends a blast at the quinjet. Nat maneuvers it just in time, giving Cap the time to throw his shield at Loki and I shoot him a few times. The three of us begin our fight. 
                          
Loki flings me to the ground, cap then throws his shield but Loki swats it away. I stand up and use my martial arts skills to knock him to his feet, but he quickly gets back up and tries to stab me with his scepter. I dodge it by doing a few back flips. Rogers then uses his boxing moves to try and take down Loki, but ultimately fails and gets knocked down himself. I then take out a couple of my throwing knives and start to throw. 
                          
I run at him and leap of the ground but he just grabs me by the neck and throws me down. I look to my left and see Cap laying next to me. Loki then stands over us. 
                          
"Kneel." He says. 
                          
"Not today." Cap says and we both knock him down with our legs, only for him to get up and flip both of us over. 
                          
"This guys all over the place." I hear Nat say in the comms. Then AC/DC starts to play over the speakers of the quinjet.
                          
"Agent Romanoff. You miss me." I hear. I know exactly who it is. 
                          
"Shit, this is going to end well." I mutter to myself as we all look up in the sky and see my brother flying down in his ironman suit. He blasts Loki right back to the ground. As he lands, he pulls out every piece of weaponry the suit has. 
                          
"Make your move, Reindeer games." Tony says. And Loki puts his arms up in defeat as his armor materializes away. "Good move."
                          
"Mr. Stark." Steve greets him. I immediately look down, making my hair cover my face. 
                          
"Captain." He says, then turns to me. "Who are you?"
                          
"Hey, bro." I say, turning to him and lifting up my head. 
                          
"Charlie?" He questions. 
                          
"It's been awhile." I say. 
                          
"Yeah. What like 10 years?" He asks. 
                          
"Going on 14, now." I say and he brings me in for a hug. 
                          
"You've grown." He says to me. 
                          
"Are those grey hairs I see?" I ask, running my fingers on the side of his head. We then take Loki and get him on the quinjet, beginning our journey back to base.