And when Ethan took the small notebook, the title on the front read: "36 Tips for Beating the Hulk to a Pulp." His expression turned even stranger. Only Bruce Banner could write a guidebook on how to beat himself up—and do it with this much enthusiasm.
"Make sure you go through it carefully," Banner said, sounding almost proud. "Oh, and I heard Tony Stark's coming too. I want to pitch him the idea of designing a custom Iron Man suit... specifically for subduing me. Just to be safe."
"Dr. Banner!" Steve called out, noticing him for the first time.
He approached with a warm smile, extending his hand.
Despite knowing what Banner carried inside him, Steve's respect didn't waver.
The two shook hands like old friends.
Just then, Natasha cut in, sharp and to the point. "Alright, time to head inside. The air's going to get a little thin out here."
Steve blinked. "Wait—are you saying this whole thing is going underwater?"
Natasha smirked but didn't answer. That was all Steve needed to know.
He turned to look around at the massive vessel. The thought crossed his mind: 'Okay... this is impressive. But if they really want to wow me, this thing better fly.'
And right on cue, the sound of turbines roaring to life echoed through the hull.
The entire ship trembled as four massive rotors emerged and began spinning rapidly.
Within seconds, the carrier lifted from the ocean's surface and began rising into the sky.
Steve stared, stunned. "You've gotta be kidding me."
As the group walked into the control room, Ethan leaned toward him. "You look like a kid in a candy store, Cap."
"It's nothing," Steve replied awkwardly. He tried to convince himself that flying battleships were just modern-day aircrafts with a makeover.
No big deal.
'Now, if it turns invisible... then I'll be impressed,' he thought.
"Sir, the Helicarrier has reached target altitude," Maria Hill reported to Nick Fury.
"Good," Fury replied coolly. "Engage stealth mode."
In a heartbeat, the massive Helicarrier shimmered, its surface flickering like glass in water.
Then it faded from view entirely—completely blending in with the sky.
Coulson strolled up behind Steve, a playful glint in his eye. "You okay, Cap? You look a little pale."
Steve sighed, already reaching into his pocket.
He glanced at Ethan and Fury, both of whom were trying way too hard not to smirk. "Yeah, yeah. Here you go."
He handed over several tightly folded dollar bills, each one more painful to part with than the last.
'God help me,' Steve thought.
'I just got back from being frozen, and now I'm losing bets. On a flying ship. With cloaking tech.'
He didn't even want to think about how little pension he had left.
Ethan, noticing Steve's defeated look, chuckled and handed a few of the bills back. "Tell you what. Lunch is on me. Order anything you want—under a hundred bucks."
Steve stared at him blankly. "Thanks... I guess."
Fortunately, before the awkward silence could drag out, Hill spoke up.
"Sir, we've located Loki. We tapped into every camera on the grid with wireless transmission. He's in Stuttgart, Germany. Looks like he's not even trying to hide."
Fury's expression darkened. "Perfect. Ethan, Cap—bring that motherfucker down."
...
Later that night in Stuttgart, Germany, Loki finally secured the element he needed—iridium.
He handed it off to Hawkeye with a nod. "Take it to Dr. Selvig. He'll know what to do."
As for Loki himself, he had more theatrical plans.
Dressed in his regal Asgardian attire and iconic horned helmet, he strutted out into the city like he was stepping onto a stage.
Tonight, it was time to put on a show for his enemies.
A crowd of upper-class citizens was quickly herded into the square, their confusion turning to fear as Loki summoned illusions of light and shadow to corral them.
"Kneel before me!" he commanded, slamming his staff on the ground, his voice echoing with power.
The crowd hesitated.
"Are you deaf? I said, kneel!"
One by one, they dropped to their knees, cowed by the threat in his tone.
Satisfied, Loki cleared his throat, prepared to deliver the speech he'd been robbed of the last time he tried.
"Isn't it beautiful? Back to your natural state. You wear your suits and dresses like freedom means something. But you are—every one of you—meant to be ruled. You crave subjugation."
He was in his element—until an elderly man stood slowly, defiance in his eyes.
"Not to a man like you," the man said firmly.
"There are no man like me," Loki said with amusement on his face.
"There are always man like you."
Loki's smile vanished. Rage flickered in his eyes. The staff rose, glowing with dangerous energy.
Just as he was about to strike the old man down, a Quinjet roared overhead.
A figure dropped from it, landing hard with a metallic thud.
Captain America.
"You know, the last time I was in a Germany, I saw a man standing above everybody else," Steve said coolly, pulling up his shield, "we unded up disagreeing."
Loki sneered. "The soldier, man out of time. Fitting. I'll help you return to the past."
He fired a beam of energy from his staff.
Steve raised his vibranium shield. The blast hit, bounced off, and ricocheted toward Loki, knocking him back a step.
"Nice shield," Loki muttered, regaining his footing.
"Don't underestimate Earth," Steve replied. "You won't break through this."
Loki grinned. "Let's test that."
He sent out a wide shockwave. This time, it didn't aim at the shield—it struck Steve in the leg.
"Hey!" Steve shouted, stumbling. "Seriously?"
Loki smirked. "Why would I aim at the shield? It's only two and a half feet wide. You're not exactly a moving fortress."
Steve struggled to recover, clearly caught off guard.
But just then, Ethan dropped from above like a missile.
With a swift swipe of his hand, he manipulated the vectors around Loki's next attack, redirecting the energy beam harmlessly to the side.
"You again," Loki snarled, his expression souring. "You're starting to become a real problem."
"Missing the Tesseract this time, aren't you?" Ethan replied as he closed the distance.
Loki panicked, throwing up an illusion just as Ethan's hand was about to grab him.
Ethan passed straight through it.
The real Loki had retreated a good thirty feet back, panting slightly.
"Seriously?" Ethan muttered.
He raised his hand and hurled a few compressed vectors like darts.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
They struck Loki's energy shield with a loud crack, splintering it visibly.
At that moment, Captain America seized the opportunity. He charged in and smashed through Loki's magical shield with his vibranium shield.
Without wasting a second, Steve followed up with a barrage of precision moves—shield bash, shield uppercut, and a brutal shoulder slam combo that sent Loki flying across the square.
But Steve wasn't done.
With practiced ease, he launched his shield in a perfect arc.
It ricocheted off Loki's staff at a sharp 60-degree angle, bounced off a nearby building, and zipped back into Steve's hand, forming a clean equilateral triangle path mid-air.
The move was flawless, the product of relentless training.
Steve didn't pause—he hurled the shield again.
It struck Loki directly before spinning back with unerring accuracy. It looked almost effortless, but behind the fluid motion was a genius understanding of angles, velocity, and trajectory.
Most people didn't realize it, but Steve had become a master of spatial geometry to make these impossible throws work.
And that hard work had always paid off—until now.
Steve reached out to catch his returning shield, only to freeze.
It wasn't coming back. It was just... hovering there in mid-air.
Loki, bruised but grinning smugly, stood tall. The shield floated right in front of him.
"Neat little toy," Loki sneered. "But you do remember I'm a mage, right? Did you really think I couldn't counter a spinning disc?"
He snapped his fingers, and with a burst of magical energy, the shield shot straight into the sky at supersonic speed.
But just then, a streak of fire lit up the clouds overhead, followed by the thunder of engine roar.
The music from the approaching Quinjet changed to something flashy—of course.
"Did you miss me?" came Tony Stark's voice over the comms—right before he caught sight of the spinning vibranium discus flying directly at his face.
"Aw, crap—what the—!"
WHAM.
The shield slammed into Iron Man's armor mid-air.
Inside the suit, Tony cursed. "Really? First time it's a dagger from Ethan, now a full-on shield to the faceWhat did I do—steal your lunch money?!"
But then he noticed something.
Down on the ground, Steve was sprinting toward where Tony would land.
Despite everything, the guy was trying to help.
Tony's irritation softened. "Okay... maybe I did misjudge you, Cap. You are kinda like my dad said—a good guy."
Loki, however, wasn't interested in sentimental moments.
As he prepared to raise his staff again, a spiraling mass of energy shot toward him like a meteor.
It was Ethan—landing hard and fast, slamming a crackling vector sphere that shattered Loki's weakened shield.
At the last second, Loki blocked with his scepter, barely avoiding a direct hit.
"You're the biggest threat here," Loki growled as he stumbled backward. "If you get close, it's over for me. You think I'd ignore you?"
Ethan hovered in the air, vectors swirling around him. "Actually, maybe you should be paying attention to something else," he said, looking upward with a smirk.
Across the square, Steve finally made it to the landing zone.
He extended his arm with pinpoint timing—and caught the shield clean out of the air.
Meanwhile, Iron Man—
Yeah. No one was trying to catch him.
Because who in their right mind would try to catch a hundred-kilo flying tin can falling from 300 feet in the air?
Apparently... Loki would.
When Steve snapped out of it, he saw Loki groaning and trying to push himself up from underneath Iron Man's armored frame.
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Word count: 1667
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