Thanks to the jet's speed they were there in no time. Lex was to be dropped off at the private facility where the iridium was located and was to meet back up with Rodgers at his location after she was done. She had her bow ready and loaded as she stalked around the perimeter. Nothing. Then again if her brother was the lead he wouldn't dare make anything obvious. Maybe she had gotten there before he did? She didn't know, but she didn't want to risk getting any closer and being spotted. So, she perched on the roof top of one of the building and waited.
No more the 30 seconds later she saw a guard drop off the corner, an arrow planted in his neck. He was here alright. Lex stayed in the shadows so she wouldn't be seen. She inched over to the edge as she saw Clint approach the security pad. She watched as he placed a device up to it and something started to materialize. It was spherical and it looked like an…eyeball? Well, that's one way to bypass a retina scan. The doors opened and he entered the building. Yes, the iridium was something she wanting to keep out of Loki's hand, but as of this moment, Lex was focused on getting her brother back so she waited for him to come back out. Once he did he handed the iridium to one of the men with him and that same man ran in the other direction with it. He probably wanted to get it to Loki as fast as possible. This was her chance.
Lex leaped off the building and onto Clint, rolling aside once she hit the ground. The ambush took Clint by surprise, but he recover quickly and braced himself for a fight. Both of their bows had been tossed to the side by her landing, but that was what she wanted. She didn't want to hurt him, just get him back.
Lex was met by his Tesseract colored eyes, but as she stood there, no less then 10 feet away, she watched the color flicker. They flickered back to their natural bright greyish-blue as he looked at his sister. "Lexi?" But with that they were gone, back to their glowing form. It had been the first time she had seen her brother in 6 months and this was certainly not how she hoped the reunion would go.
Clint came at her, almost knocking her off balance. He went in for a jab, but she blocked it. After that came a kick and another punch and another after that. She was on the defense. She couldn't hurt Clint, she just couldn't. Sure her and her brother had fought while training, but this was completely different. Finally a blow landed and caught her square in the jaw, the momentum spinning her so she land on her hands and knee. She got up as quick as possible, but Clint wasn't there. He had picked up his bow and was scaling up the side of the building with the help of a fire escape. She bolted after him to the roof. Once she reached the top she ran and tackled her brother, dangerously close to the edge. They rolled around, one trying to get control of the other. In the end, Clint bested her, hanging her head over the edge of the the concrete building, his bow crushing her throat.
"Clint…please," She gasped. "Fight it… I know you can."
His eyes started to flicker again. "Lexi…" His eyes stayed glowing, but she could see he was trying. His pained expression made her heart ache. "I'm sorry."
His expression turned cold again and he reached for his belt, grabbing a knife. He was going to take the finale blow and there was nothing she could do about it. He had her pinned, all his body weight keeping her pressed to the rooftop edge. When it came to the siblings they shared many of the same skills, but when it came to close combat Clint always had a slight edge on her.
She closed her eyes ready for the blow…but then she could breath and all of her brother's body weight was gone. She snapped her eyes open just long enough to see Iron Man throw her brother off the roof. "Tony!" She screamed in horror. He could've killed Clint. He threw him off a goddamn building. She rushed over to the edge wanting to see if her older sibling was ok. She saw Clint stumble out of the bush and make a brake for it. He looked fine. She then turned to face Iron Man, who was still hovering in the air.
"Don't worry, sweetheart, I aimed for the bushes. But then again my aim isn't as good as yours, is it, Agent Barton?" His voice dripping with hurt and betrayal. Tony landed in front of the now recovering woman. He could see a bruise starting to form on her jaw. If he hadn't already thrown Clint off the side of building he would have beat the shit out of him. No matter how pissed he was at Lex, nobody laid a finger on her.
"Tony…" She said his name once again, but this time it was lined with guilt. She didn't have to see his face behind the mask to know what it looked like. She could tell by the jab that he was none to happy with her.
"Don't even start, Alexis. I don't want to hear it," He said, cutting her off. "Rodgers needs our help," He blasted off and landed where she had her fight with Clint on the ground. He picked up her bow and shot back up to her. He returned the bow and she slung it across her back with her arrows. "Lets go," he wrapped a metal arm around her waist and shot through the sky. Any other time he would have enjoyed this, have her so close, but now he wanted to get as far away from her as possible.
The time it took them to get from the lab to Rodgers was brief, but awkward. You could cut the tension with a knife. A situation that would usually be full of sarcastic banter and conversation was now empty and uneasy. Once they nearly there, Tony started to blast 'Shoot to Thrill' by AC/DC.
Tony shot at Loki with his free hand, blasting him backwards. As soon as they landed Tony released Lex and pulled out all the weapons he had available to him in his Iron Man suit. Lex, seeing it was the only thing she could do, set her bow up and aimed right at Loki's chest, an explosive arrow tip ready to go. "Make your move reindeer games."
Loki raised his hands in defeat, his armor completely gone. "Good move."
Steve came up between the two as Loki's armor started to dissolve. Steve felt uncomfortable between Lex and Tony. The atmosphere was one of unspoken issues. "Mr. Stark." Steve then nodded at Lex.
"Captain."
XXX
Tony stood a few feet from Loki, his eyes focused on his 3 teammates. Lex and Natasha were flying the jet while Steve stood by the entrance chatting with the two. He heard the two women abruptly laugh at something the super solider had said. Was he flirting? With Lex? With his girl? No… Lex wasn't his. He was still trying to get past the fact that she never told him about her history with S.H.I.E.L.D.. If he was so mad at her then why was his chest tightening at the sight of Captain America and Lex together? This girl had his emotions going in too many different directions.
Steve moved away from the cockpit and towards Tony. Tony now had a good view of Lex. Damn that uniform tight… He was forced to look away from his so called best friend and at Steve as he came up next to him. "I don't like it."
"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asked, uninterested in the Captain's company.
"I don't remember it being that easy," Steve looked over his shoulder at the god of mischief. "This guy packs a wallop."
"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Steve glared at him, but he continued. "What's your thing, Polities?
"What?"
"It's like calisthenics," Tony briefly paused, taking a glance at Lex. "You might have missed a couple of things while doing time as a Capsicle." Tony could tell the soldier wasn't appreciating his comments, but he could care less.
"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."
"Yeah, there's a lot of things that Furry doesn't tell you."
Thunder erupted over head of jet, shaking it from the multitude of sound waves. "Where's this coming from?" Natasha questioned.
"Shit, I hate flying in storms." Lex commented. Most pilots did, but each of them managed to muster through them. It really wasn't a big deal, but with all the most recant events, Lex knew something was bound to go wrong.
Loki flinched at the sounds and warily looked out of the glass. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little thunder?" Steve said, patronizing the god.
"I'm not overly found of what follows." Steve and Tony passed a cautious looked between them. Not 10 sends later there was a pound thud on the roof of the jet. The whole het shook, causingSteve to lose his balance. Tony grabbed his Iron Man helmet and placed it on. Lex and Natasha focused on keeping the jet steady. Lex heard the jet hatch opened and looked over her shoulder. "What are you doing?" She heard Rodgers yell. Once the hatch had full opened the cause of all this entered the jet uninvited. He was a freakish big man with long blond hair, huge muscles and a…hammer? His armor made it clear that he was not from anywhere local. Tony tried to send him back to where he came from with a blast from his suit, by the charge took to long and the man slammed his hammer into Tony's chest. Tony went flying into Steve near the cockpit. The man grabbed Loki by the throat and pulled him up, them took a lead out of the jet.
"Now there's that guy." Tony walked to the open hatch while Captain America recovered.
"Tony, don't." Lex's voice was filled with worry, hoping that Tony would be sensible for once, which was unlikely. She had finally realized who this man was and knew the damage he could do. Clint had be stationed in New Mexico when he first appeared and from what he had told her, even without his godly powers this his man was a force to be reckoned with.
"Another Asgardian?" Natasha questioned. Lex nodded her head in confirmation.
"That guys a friendly?" Steve found that hard to believe at the moment.
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him the Tesseract is lost." Tony continued on his way to the edge of the jet's opening.
"Tony, you don't know what you're up against!" Lex continued to pled with the billionaire.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"
"I have a plan. Attack." Then he shot off into the dark cloud covered sky.
"Goddamn it, Tony!" Lex huffed in frustration. She hated that he was a 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of guy. It was going to get him killed.
Steve grabbed a parachute. "I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha suggested.
"I don't see how I can." Steve clipped the parachute's buckle around his waist.
"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods." Lex chimed in, her mind still a on certain pain in the ass billionaire.
"There's only one god ma'am." Steve had finished hooking himself to the parachute and grabbed his shield. "And i'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve took off running and jumped after Tony.
"Great. Just fucking great." Lex muttered.
"What's got you so wound up?" Natasha flipped a few switches as they prepared to go back for the men they had just lost.
Lex sighed. "Tony… he didn't know. About all this, about S.H.I.E.L.D., about my past," She should have told him when she had the chance. Maybe he would have taken it better had it been her who told him. "He hasn't called me Lex since, its been either Alexis or Agent Barton. That bridge that took so long to build is gone. He won't ever trust me again. I'm not sure he'll even talk to me."
"You just have to give him some time-" Natasha tried to comfort her friend, but she was cut off.
"No. You don't know him like I do." Lex leaned back against her seat, closeting her eyes and taking a deep breath. "First I lost Clint, now Tony. The only two people that matter to me are gone…"