Katya made herself comfortable in one of the chairs at the big table. There was nothing for her to do but wait. She knew how the SHIELD technology worked, but there were much more experienced people already working the problem. It would only make their job harder if she tried to interfere with it.

She also didn't know anything about the cube or of any science that was of use, helping Banner wasn't an option either. That's why she sat slouched in the thick leather chair; legs propped up on the table. Rogers gave her a disapproving look, but he didn't say anything. This wasn't his territory, it was hers.

A couple empty cups of coffee and one half-empty stood on the table in front of her, including some empty snack packages. Natasha would scold her for eating something unhealthy while on duty, but it was just too good to resist. Besides, Katya needed sugar to stay awake. 

Natasha hadn't come back after showing Banner the lab, but Katya knew she had her own assignments and didn't go look for her. A distraction wasn't something she could use right now. 

So Katya waited and waited, listening in to Coulson and Rogers' awkward conversation. The SHIELD Agent had finally gotten the courage to ask the Captain to sign his trading cards. Natasha would have laughed at his predictability.

Katya was about to take another couple sips from her coffee when a loud bleeping noise made her stand up from the chair. She knew what it meant. 

''We got a hit,'' an Agent named Sitwell said loudly, probably to Fury who had taken his place in the center again. Katya had always had a weird feeling about the Agent, like he was hiding something. ''Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy-nine percent.''

Seventy-nine percent, that's a good match, too good to ignore. Katya effortlessly jumped over the railing, down to the lower floor below and stood next to Coulson watching the screen of the computer. 

''Location?'' she demanded, knowing she was one level higher than the bald man and he had to do what she said. Sitwell narrowed in on the location, Katya sighing when she saw where the god was held up. Germany.

''Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstraße. He's not exactly hiding.'' That wasn't a good sign. A god is smart, right? So to be out in the open in a large building with lots of camera's meant he didn't care who saw him. Like he wanted to be found. But it was the only lead they had, still not having heard from Banner.

''Captain.'' Katya looked back just in time to see Rogers turn to Fury, fearing his words. ''You're up.'' While the man speed-walked to the door, Fury looked to her next. ''Get Romanoff, you're flying.''

She nodded and followed Steve out, ready to suit up and get to the fight. They had to be quick. If Loki didn't care he was seen, then he wasn't planning on being in the same place for long. She pressed the comm in her ear, knowing that searching the ship for the redhead would take too long. ''Nat, Loki's in Germany, we take the Quinjet in ten.''

''I'm on my way.''  The answer came back immediately. Katya found the first dressing room she could, throwing on her suit and putting her weapons where they belonged. Two guns on her thighs, knives in her belt and boots, extra magazines in her belt along with some other fun things such as the throwing stars she had stolen from Natasha.

Her bag she stuffed in a locker and within ten minutes, she had reached at the jet, where Natasha already waited in the pilot seat, pushing buttons and flipping switches. The Captain came in last, just when Katya finished braiding her long blonde hair. She liked it out of her face, unlike Natasha, who always wore it down. She had no idea how she saw anything that way.

The tattoo in her neck had been covered up for a long time now, a nice rose in its place. The tattoo artist had done a beautiful job at hiding the logo, nobody could see that it ever was something that made her somebody's property. The leaves had some red ink in them too, a little reference to her red-haired girlfriend. 

Natasha wanted her to get the logo laser removed at first, because having an extinctive tattoo in your neck is not something that's convenient for a spy. But Katya knew that lasers wouldn't get rid of it enough and there would always be scarring in the form of the logo. So ultimately, Natasha had given in and actually loved the tattoo now, sometimes tracing it absentmindedly with her fingers.

The ride down to Stuttgart was quiet. Steve sat in the back, lost in his thoughts. Katya looked back a few times, checking to see if he was still alive because he was so quiet. The two women in front shared a look after another ten minutes had passed without the man saying anything.

''You good back there?'' Katya removed the headphones she had on that allowed her to talk to Natasha easier, so she could hear his answer. You could say about her what you wanted, but she cared about people, she just showed it more than Natasha did.

Steve looked up at her voice, her body twisted backwards so she could see him better. ''Yeah, I'm fine.'' But he was a terrible liar. Like, horrible, so she knew he was lying. He clearly didn't want to talk about it though, so she let it go, subtly shaking her head at the pilot of the jet.

It made her nervous, not knowing if she could count on the member of her team or not. With Natasha and Clint, she knew they were ready for whatever the day would throw at them. They always had her back, no matter how hard the mission. But not knowing if Steve could handle the situation made her anxious. Not only for him, but also for herself and the rest of the team. 

If anything were to happen to Natasha because he didn't have his shit together, he was going to have some problems with Katya.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Stuttgart emerged from the clouds. The museum where Loki attended a gala was beautiful, but in front of the building, in the square, was where the commotion had moved to. 

A dozen copies of the weird emo god surrounded a huge group of people, probably the guests of the party and innocent passers-by. He had forced them to kneel, everyone doing what he said, heads bowed down in fear. If it was power he wanted, he was on the wrong planet.

Katya expected a lot upon arrival, maybe a creature a lot taller or weird looking. But Loki looked like any normal human, only in cosplay and with a glowing stick. He had the group hostage, but to be honest, he didn't look too dangerous. 

It didn't sit right with her. He was a god, why did he hold this group of people hostage when he could do so much more with that stick? It almost felt too easy.

From the kneeling crowd, an older man stood, thinking he was being brave when in reality, he was being stupid. Line between braveness and stupidity is very fine, and going against a god from outer space with a magic stick was just plain stupid. 

Katya held her breath and wished Steve would hurry up already. What she didn't see behind her back was how his eyes widened when Loki pointed the spear at the man. He rushed to open the ramp and jumped down in front of the old man right on time.

Katya watched with interest as his shield reflected the energy beam from the spear and returned to Loki, knocking him on his ass. 

''You know,'' Steve started, straightening up, ''the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.'' His new suit looked good, better than his old one. And it had been reinforced with SHIELD's newest technology.

Katya rolled her eyes at his dramatics, ready for him to just kick his ass and be done with this. Natasha sighed too, pushing some buttons to get the guns on the jet ready. 

Loki quickly scrambled to his feet, a disgustingly evil smirk crawling onto his lips. ''The soldier. A man out of time.'' Why the hell did the god have an English accent? And how did he know Captain America? Was Fury sure he was a god and came through the portal?

''I'm not the one who's out of time,'' the Captain said smugly, knowing Natasha would take this as a sign to show the jet.

She flew closer, pushed some more buttons before the biggest gun this jet had, pointed at the god. ''Loki, drop the weapon and stand down.'' Her demanding and strong voice traveled over the square.

Loki eyed the jet and didn't waste a second, pointing his own weapon and shooting a blue blast their way. Katya widened her eyes but knew Natasha was an experienced pilot. She maneuvered the jet just in time to mis the blast, which gave Rogers time to throw his shield at the god. A fight broke out between the two, something which Steve was clearly losing.

Even though he had super strength and whatnot, he couldn't take on a god.

The gun on the jet tried to lock on to Loki, but Steve was too much in the way. A shot could mean that he was hit too and that wasn't what they wanted, obviously. A deep frown appeared on Natasha's face as she struggled to work the technology. ''The guy's all over the place.''

Katya got a heart attack when a hard rock song blasted through the speakers inside and outside the jet. She looked at the woman next to her confused and saw she had the same expression on her face. The screens told them that the systems were being overridden, which was almost impossible since this was a SHIELD jet.

''Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?'' The frowns disappeared and understanding filled their faces when Stark spoke through the comms, having hacked his way into the system. A little smirk adorned Natasha's face. She could appreciate the humor the man had. Sometimes.

''Girlfriend,'' he greeted Katya, who threw a glare his way even though he couldn't see it. Literally the only way Stark saw her was as Natasha's girlfriend, so he called her that a lot of the time. It didn't come as a surprise, since he'd never met her personally. Katya didn't really mind, but would never admit that to him. 

Natasha chuckled, which earned her the same glare Katya had thrown the man in the sky.

Tony blasted Loki backwards with both hands and landed in a very exaggerated superhero pose, clearly meaning to show off. Katya saw Natasha rolling her eyes in her peripheral vision. 

Out of Tony's suit came every weapon it held, making for a very threatening display. ''Make your move, Reindeer Games.'' Although Katya knew these human-made weapons wouldn't defeat the god, he still surrendered, his armor disappearing and holding up his hands.

She shared a confused look with Natasha. Something else was going on. Rogers and Stark had no chance of taking out the god with just the two of them. Loki knew that too, but he still surrendered. This didn't feel right, but they decided not to question it. They had him, that's what mattered.

Tony, knowing he had won, retracted his weapons. ''Good move.''

The Captain joined him, panting lightly from the fight. ''Mr. Stark.''

''Captain.''

These people were not going to click. Katya knew that immediately. The Captain was way too uptight and serious. Stark was exactly the opposite, always joking around. A clash was inevitable, and it would come sooner rather than later.

The Quinjet lowered slowly, Natasha parking it professionally on the empty streets so they could take in Loki. Cap restrained him and pushed him roughly in their direction, forcing the god to sit down on the bench along one of the walls inside the jet.

Both the Captain and Stark stood awkwardly in the back, not comfortable with the god around and on edge in case he tried something. You could cut the tension with a knife and Katya wanted to get back to base as soon as possible. The silence made her skin crawl.

The black night sky was calm. A couple clouds but nothing Natasha couldn't handle. 

''Said anything?'' Fury's words suddenly cut through the silence, causing Katya to jump a little. 

She answered uncomfortably. The god cooperated way too easily. ''Not a word.''

''Just get him here. We're low on time.'' He didn't have to remind them of that. They knew Barton was more at risk with every second they wasted.

Katya looked back another time, seeing Cap and Stark whispering, stealing glances at the god who clearly knew they were talking about him. Rogers looked pissed at one point, while Tony had a smug smile on his face. He was on one of his joking sprees, seeing a perfect victim in the serious man beside him. 

Natasha's voice made her turn around again, confusion in her voice. ''Where's this coming from?'' Thunder and lightning shook the jet. The storm had come out of nowhere, something that made everyone uneasy. Katya loved rain and thunder, but was deadly afraid of lightning. She once had a not-so-nice experience with almost being hit, but Natasha thought it was funny, the corner of her mouth slightly tilting up when Katya gripped her seat tightly.

''What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?'' It didn't come from the woman next to her, but from the uniformed soldier in the back, speaking to Loki.

''I'm not overly fond of what follows,'' he answered in his weird accent. Uhm, what? What follows lightning?

A big thud came from the roof of the plane not two seconds after he muttered those words. Everyone looked up in shock, the whole jet shaking because of the weight of whatever landed on top of it. Natasha and Katya shared a look. This would turn into a fight like they had thought.

Natasha struggled to keep the jet straight, while a sudden burst of wind and noise let them know somebody had opened the ramp. Katya looked back just in time to see a blond man with long hair and... a hammer? Oh man, this looked like another god. Why couldn't this mission go like they planned?

He punched Stark back with a simple hit of his hammer and ripped Loki free from the wall, grabbing him by his throat and flying back out the door. 

Even Natasha dared look back when Stark spoke, his voice very metallic sounding because of the suit. ''Now there's that guy.''

''Another Asgardian?'' She yelled back over the noise of the wind.

Steve, completely forgetting the little argument he just had with Tony, stood up from where he had fallen and yelled a question at him too. ''Think the guy's a friendly?''

''Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost.'' Well he wasn't wrong. But did they have enough strength to take on two gods? Stark made his way to the back, ready to jump out and follow them.

''Stark, we need a plan of attack!'' the Captain yelled. Really? Katya thought. This was not the moment to lay out a whole plan. They had to get to the men fast, before they were too far away.

Apparently, Tony thought the same. ''I have a plan. Attack.'' And with that, he jumped out.

Rogers plucked a parachute of the wall, which he had apparently seen on his way in, and began strapping it on. ''I'd sit this one out, Cap,'' Natasha said to him, flipping some switches on the ceiling. She knew she'd sit it out, as would Katya. 

''I don't see how I can.'' The answer fit his personality. Always ready for a fight even though he didn't want to.

Katya joined in, trying to convince him to stay, even though Stark could use the help. ''These guys come from legends, they're basically gods.'' The wind disformed her voice, but his superhearing picked up on it. 

''There's only one God, Katya,'' he argued. ''And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that.'' Grabbing his shield, Steve ran out the back, following the others to the fight. 

Katya sighed, shook her head and pushed the button that closed the door. The silence returned and it was possible to talk at normal volume again. They went from five passengers to two very quickly. 

''First name basis with the Captain, huh?'' 

Katya looked at Natasha. She had a smirk on her face, keeping the Quinjet in the same place in the sky. Katya had trouble suppressing a smile. ''Do I sense some jealousy?'' she teased back.

''No. No jealousy,'' she replied quickly, a bit too quickly. ''Just didn't know you two would get along.''

Katya chuckled, shaking her head. ''You're a terrible liar.'' Natasha was the best liar she knew, but to her, she was unable to lie, Katya always seeing right through her. Natasha laughed along with her. They could use some lighthearted conversation right now. ''Don't worry, Miss Romanoff. If you try a little harder, I'm sure you'll be 'Natasha' to him in no-time,'' Katya kept teasing her.

But Natasha shook her head, the smile still on her face. ''No need. I'm not here to make friends, unlike you.''

Katya shrugged, not apologizing for her friendly behavior. ''Well, you never know when you're gonna need some friends.''

Natasha apparently didn't agree, her green eyes studying Katya's face. ''I already got you.''

''Smooth.''

''I know.''