Living for Now

The events played over in his mind. What he had just done, what he had just accomplished. The power he was now able to wield because of the luminous blue cube was incomprehensible. It would be the key factor in his plan to overtake Midgard and all its inhabitants.

It was what would separate him from his brother. He would be the god of this realm, the ruler of all life on this puny planet, the image of power and much, much more.

Loki would be a king once more.

“Your soldiers are resilient.” He mused aloud before Barton, who looked to him to give his attention. “They do not succumb to death so easily.”

“Who are you talking about?” Clint questioned, steering the stolen car with diligence towards the airfield that would take them to their next destination.

“The driver of the vehicle who was in pursuit of us. I was sure a blow to the head such as that would be her end. I thought her dead.”

“Agent Spencer?”

He smirked. “Is this agent always such a pest?”

“She does what she's ordered to. Not much else to it.”

“Obedient. Perhaps I should have brought her into my ranks as well. Now she poses only as another threat to my reign of this insignificant planet. She won't be much to take care of, though. She's already beneath me and it will not take much to put her down along with the rest.”

Clint didn't say much else, and the car was silent for a moment, the only thing that could be heard was Doctor Selvig as he murmured incoherent nothings about the Tesseract. As they arrived, Barton put the vehicle in park, taking his things and the briefcase that held the cube within his grasp.

“This will transport us to where we need to be?” Loki looked at the private jet that sat prettily before them, scoffing at it lightly.

“It'll do the job.”

That woman – Spencer, popped into his mind again, and he became irked. How irritating it was for a mere mortal to be such an annoyance to him, to waste his precious time by consuming his thoughts. He needed to do something, to be able to put her in her place. He wanted to make it clear that he held something over her, that she was nothing in comparison to himself.

She would be the first to realize what he was capable of.

“Agent Barton.” The man turned to face his leader, waiting for him to continue so he could return to loading the plane. “Is there anything we can use against that woman?”

He thought for a moment, soon knowing what could be of use to Loki though he tried to fight the urge to tell him about her. Clint knew that she was the most important thing to Bridget, that she was what truly kept her going now day after day. He knew that if he spoke of her, Bridget might just come undone.

He found himself unable to stop himself, his mouth leaking out the information in seconds. “She has someone close to her. That person's probably the only thing we could use against her.”

The ebony haired man smirked, knowing that it must have killed Barton inside to spill knowledge about his former comrade so easily, so unwillingly. “Then let us go ahead and pay that person a visit, shall we?”



“Lillian Rogers!”

The brunette shot upright from her desk with a start, looking around the room to see where she had dozed off at. Her stomach churned when she realized it was her history class with Mrs. Harrison, her face scrunched up in irritation with her beady black eyes glaring at her from behind her half-moon spectacles.

“Sorry, Professor Harrison.” She apologized as a light blush came across her cheeks, scratching the back of her head nervously.

“You'd better be, Ms. Rogers. That's the third time this week you've fallen asleep during my lecture! I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I can't have you here so you can lollygag and disrupt the other students who actually want to be here to learn so they can make something out of themselves in the future.”

Her fists clenched tightly together, her knuckles turning white as she wanted nothing more to snap at her. Harrison was one of the worst professors around, not because she was a bad teacher, but because she was always about business. She gave everyone a hard time and she just loved to pick on Lily most of all.

Biting back the vulgar rant that was dying to come out, she silently gathered her belongings and exited the room, her anger growing as she could feel the eyes of all her classmates upon her. Once out of the hall, she flipped off the door and rolled her eyes. “She knows I'm not the only one who falls asleep during class.” She grumbled.

Lily walked down the hall at a fast pace, wanting to do nothing more but return to her small apartment on Magnolia Road and go down for the count on her bed or even her sofa. Anything sounded like heaven right about now. After all, it was that dreaded time of the school year – finals.

When she disembarked the usual bus she took and walked another block from there, she was soon climbing the stairs of the apartment building, her feet aching and head pounding with every step she took. I need sleep. She thought tiredly.

Slipping the piece of metal into the keyhole, she twisted it around and heard the familiar click that announced she was given access. Pushing the door open, she quickly entered and closed it behind herself, not bothering to flick on the lights as she knew it'd just irritate her dreary eyes.

Before she could even take a step into the living room, two muscular arms wrapped around her torso, constricting her movements while another pair of hands placed a few layers of duct tape across her lips to muffle her shouts of terror. She kicked wildly in the grasp of who was holding her, adrenaline starting to pump through her veins and causing her to lose that exhaustion that had once plagued her.

“Silence,” a voice hissed out, the tone so cold and sharp that it caused Lily to fill with fear, for her to stop her struggling and listen for anything else.

The light flicked on and the room was illuminated. Behind her stood Barton who was keeping her secure and another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who had covered her mouth. Before her stood a tall, lanky man with a fair complexion and dark eyes that looked at her as if she were the scum of the Earth. A spear that was in his right hand was lifted up, the tip of it being placed against her chin, bringing her face up so he could get a better look of her in the light.

“You most certainly do look like her.” He mused.

Her brow furrowed together and she was beyond confused at this point. Who on earth did she look like?

“So she is the thing most precious to Agent Spencer, yes?” Loki questioned.

“Yes, sir. Once Spencer finds out she's been taken, she won't know what to do.”

Agent Spencer. Who was that person? And why did she think Lily so precious when she couldn't even remember meeting someone with that name? Questions only continued to swirl and grow in number inside her head.

“Very good. Let us make haste to our next destination.” He smirked.

Before Lily could register what happened next, a sweet smelling handkerchief was brought to her face, and within seconds of inhaling it, she could see her vision begin to blur and her body begin to go numb. In a moment's notice, she went limp in Barton's arms, the man staring down at her with an emotionless face. Inside, he was apologizing to both women who would now be affected by his actions.

Sorry, Bridge.



Bridget was exhausted and sore from what had happened no more than a day ago. Her and Maria had just arrived back in the late afternoon. They had stayed the entire night helping search for the few survivors they had come across and once more qualified crews arrived, they were allowed to recuperate and be treated for any injuries they had earned. Once they had landed in New York, they were immediately taken in for a bit of debriefing to see if they could find out anymore information about the psycho from last night – Loki.

She leaned up against the side of the wall, watching Steve punch away at the bag of sand, grunting with every fist that collided with it. He looked concentrated on hitting it, though she could tell by his body language and his blue eyes that seemed to have darkened that something was bothering him. The fact that it was nearing midnight, a time where Steve was usually always in bed by, made her worry grow. Had something happened while she was away?

The bag couldn't take any more of the onslaught, and with one final punch, Steven sent it flying across the gym floor, the bag spilling its contents out everywhere. He stared at it for a second, sighing and catching his breath as he turned to put another bag onto the hook, taking one from a long line that were waiting to be beaten and getting into his stance once it was ready.

She shook her head, not wanting to speak up and be the one to tell him that S.H.I.E.L.D. needed him, that his presence and assistance as Captain America was required. Damnit, Fury.

“You should take a break, Rogers. You need your sleep.”

Hearing Bridget's voice brought him to his senses, his head lifting up to see her start walking towards him. Steve turned away to face the bag that hung before him, continuing to punch away at it diligently. “I've been asleep for seventy years, Bridge. I think I've had my fill of it.”

“Then why not explore and see how much the world has changed? There's still a lot of it left.” When she was no more than a few feet from him, she placed her hand upon his own and stopped it from launching. “There's still a lot you have to experience.”

His eyes darted from her face to the hand that was placed upon his own, not sure of her actions. He looked down at the floor and began to unbind the wrappings that protected his hands. “There's only one way I'd like to go out and explore, but I'm sure that you would be opposed to the idea of going with me. I know I'm not your favorite person.” He sighed out.

“Well, maybe just this once we can get out together.” She began.

Those words caused for Steven to look at her in shock, his eyes looking her over to see if she was just playing a joke on him. There had to have been some type of a catch to her proposition. Just a few days ago she was telling him she loathed him and here she was saying that she would leave with him?

“We have a mission for you. One that requires you to move about.”

There it was.

She pulled out a manilla folder from behind her back and stuck it out for him to take. He did so a second later, opening it up and viewing the papers inside with curiosity, his eyes widening when he saw the cube that had been the cause of all this. “Hydra's secret weapon,” he breathed out.

“Howard Stark was able to retrieve it from the ocean while he was looking for you. Fury believes that the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited, sustainable energy, which is something that the world desperately needs at the moment.”

His eyes scrutinized the few papers for a moment before he handed back the folder to Bridget. “So it was stolen,” he mused. “Was this why you were gone?” Bridget answered with a nod of the head and Steve continued. “So who took it then?”

“His name is Loki and he's not from around here. If you're in, we're really going to have to speed up your transition into society. If you think the world can't get any stranger, you're sadly mistaken.”

“I don't think that's possible, Bridget.”

She smiled and looked to the floor. “Fury told me you'd probably say that. He's willing to bet ten dollars that you're wrong.”

Steve couldn't help but smile and looked to her directly, his eyes squinting as he noticed something upon her chin. He approached her slowly, his hand reaching up and taking it into his grasp, confusing Bridget as his thumb gently wiped across it. When it didn't smudge, he realized that it wasn't dirt upon her face, but a bruise.

“Bridget, you're hurt. Are you alright?” He questioned. “How did you get this?”

Her own hand felt her chin and she could feel the small bit of discomfort from pressing upon it. She cursed herself for forgetting to put on make-up to cover it up. She knew how much of a worry wart Steve could be at times.

“It's just a bruise, Steve. It's nothing to worry about. I just hit it on the steering wheel.”

“You got into a car accident?” The concern in his voice was more than evident now.

“No. Listen, it's really nothing. It'll go away in a few days.” She told him. “I'm going home now. I've left the debriefing packet upon your bed for you to read.”

As she started to walk towards the exit, he caught her wrist gently. “Hold on, I'll go with you. I'm done here anyways.”

He packed away his things quickly and then threw his bag over his shoulder, heading towards the doors with her by his side. Taking a quick glance at her from the corner of his eye, he found that she was doing the exact same thing, which caused her to look forward immediately once she was caught.

Perhaps things were starting to look up?

Little did he know that that wasn't the case.