TITANIA: Goddess of War

Chapter 13

Neilrosa woke up from a dreamless sleep. She remembered how her mom caressed her hair and she cried herself to sleep in her embrace. Then someone carried her and placed her on the bed, but she didn't know who.

"Hey, Agnes." She called on the head maid.

"Do you know who carried me here?" She raised her eyebrows.

"If I'm not mistaken, General Nall did, my lady." She smiled and went back to her duties. Neilrosa thanked her and was about to get up when a familiar beeping sound rang near her bed. The pager.

31.990686, -50.403391, middle od North Atlantic Ocean, S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, main deck. NOW 

Only one person could be this demanding, Fury. She was a bit confused why did he send her the coordinates, but what followed them was enough for her. She left a note to her parents to where she went, changed into skinny black jeans, high heel boots and a simple grey shirt with a denim jacket, and opened a portal to the main deck of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. As she went through, agent Coulson was already there waiting for her.

"It's good to see you again after such a short while, princess." He smiled at her as he was approaching and bowed his head slightly. 

"Hope you aren't angry at me for what happened in New Mexico." She chuckled and closed the portal behind her.

"You were just helping your friend, it's understandable." He waved his hand and Neilrosa followed him inside, feeling eyes on her. She still was kind of a secret of S.H.I.E.L.D., unknown warrior, but actually a co-founder of this organization.

"So Coulson, spill the beans. What's wrong?" She could feel the tense atmosphere as some of the agents tried to avoid her eyes. One, walking pasted them, handed agent Coulson some file. Without further ado, he passed it to the goddess. When she opened it, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's the meaning of this?" She didn't tear her eyes from the title: TESSERACT: Hydra's secret weapon. Coulson stopped too and turned to her as she was reading the file.

"It was stolen, a few days back." As he said that, her head snapped up and her eyes enlarged with shock.

"Who stole it?" It was a mere whisper but loud enough to be heard on the busy corridor. Coulson clenched his jaw and looked elsewhere. He didn't know if to tell her or not.

"Who stole it, agent?" Neilrosa demanded with a more authoritative voice. She was now completely looking at him, the file closed in her hands and a jaw clenched too.

"Loki." Neilrosa sucked in some air but laughed. Coulson was surprised by that reaction.

"I always knew he won't die so easily. He is a really good actor." She started walking again and Coulson too. 

"I'm sorry for my reaction, but I always had a feeling that Loki couldn't be dead. We saw him disappear in the space, but not his corpse."

"I'm sorry for what happened, but we are in a stage of emergency. We hoped that as it was Loki who stole it, you might be able to help us find it." Neilrosa nodded as they stopped at the bridge.

"Your highness, this is agent Maria Hill." Coulson's hand pointed to an agent standing on the platform with crossed hands.

"Agent." Neilrosa shook her hand.

"Princess. It's good to finally meet you." Hill gave her a small smile.

"So what's new?" Princess asked as Nick Fury came in.

"We don't know where he or the cube is nor nothing. We are practically blind. That god is really good." His voice filled the room as he approached you.

"In lying, particularly," Neilrosa said and nodded her head a bit. 

"Welcome back, your highness." Director bowed his head. 

"What do you need from me, Director?" She turned to him.

"One thing. Come with me for one soldier."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America was in a gym, punching a boxing bag. Memories flew thought his mind, filling him with anger and sadness as he started to punch more and more aggressively. Those flashbacks, of him in the Valkyrie, preparing to crash it in the ice, Peggy talking to him, her picture in his compass case, scientists checking him when he was still in the ice. Enough flashback, harder punch till the bag ripped, spilling the content on the wooden floor of the gym.

He sighed, rubbed his sweaty forehead and went to pick up another one. He hooked it and started to punch again when a voice interrupted him.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fury said, leaning against a doorframe, file in his hands.

"Slept for seventy years, Sir. I think I've had my fill." He started to punch again.

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world." Fury said, approaching him slowly. Steve stopped and looked at him.

"When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up- they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." He started to unbandage his hands, throwing them in his bang and sat on the bench.

"We've made some mistakes along the way, some very recently."

"You here with a mission, Sir?"

"I'm."

"Trying to get me back in the world?"

"Trying to save it." A voice said from behind him. Purple eyes dazzling in the shadows as a young goddess moved forward to the light. She wore a small smile on her face as she looked at Steve.

"Hey." She whispered as she went around and stood beside Fury, right in from of Steve. He scanned her, she looked tired and smaller as he remembered her. Fury, without other words, gave him a file and he opened it.

"HYDRA's secret weapon." He read mostly for himself.

"Howard Stark and Neilrosa fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. Mainly he thought what we think. TheTesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?" Steve jaw clenched as he gave Fury back the file.

"He's called Loki. He's- not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know." Neilrosa said as she shuffled a bit and looking at him.

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve answered, his gaze never leaving her eyes. She knew what he means. He got up, grabbed his duffel bag and another punching bag.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury turned to him as he was leaving the gym. He stopped, turned and glanced at the princess, his eyes softened.

"You should have left it in the ocean." He said at last and left. 

Neilrosa sighed heavily and sat on the bench. That went better than she thought. 

"Let's go, Neilrosa. We need to be somewhere else now." Fury nudged her and she stood up. They both went outside to the prepared car, which drove them to a heliport and then to the helicarrier. 

"Now we just need to wait for others." Fury said as they went through the corridors on the helicarrier.

"Where is Coulson?" Just now, princess notice that he wasn't there. 

"He went to convince our star of the show." Fury didn't even chuckle when he said that and Neilrosa frowned, confused.

"Who?" Fury just turned to her.

"Stark."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fury was right. Agent Coulson went to re-recruit Stark to his new home, Stark Tower in New York. He was just testing it when Coulson came with the same thing as Fury. But this time it wasn't a file with just Tesseract, but a file with Avengers too. All of them, including Princess Neilrosa.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steve was sitting in a jet, flying with Agent Coulson to the helicarrier. With tablet in his hands, he was going through the same files as Tony did, stopping a bit too long on Neilrosa's were a video of her fighting in Puente Antiguo came up. He never saw her fight to the fullest, just a small sword dance, never in an armour. He then flipped to Dr Banner's file.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?" He asked as Coulson came closer.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought Gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine'soriginal formula."

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve sighed as he watched the video of Banner in Harlem.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guy's like a StephenHawking." Steve looked up, confused.

"He's like a- smart person. I gotta say- it's an honour to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, Imean, I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, I was, I was present, while you were unconscious from-the-ice. You know it's really- it's just a - just a huge honour to have you onboard - it's..." Phil stuttered as Rogers stood up and went to the door to the cockpit, leaning over the frame.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." Steve sighed as he looked outside.

"Oh you are, absolutely. Ah- we made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input." The last thing disappeared in the air.

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little...old-fashioned?" Rogers asked, trying to find the right words.

"Everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned." Coulson nodded as they stayed in silent for the rest of the flight to the helicarrier.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neilrosa was waiting on the main deck for Coulson and Steve to arrive when another jet landed. A redhead woman and man in a jacket, purple blouse and khakis stepped out. The redhead immediately spotted the princess and walked over.

"You must be Princess Neilrosa." She extended her arm towards her and the younger woman took it, giving it a small shake.

"And you must be Miss Romanoff." Neilrosa noticed the cold facade on Natasha's face.

"Of course. This is Doctor Banner." She pointed to the man behind her. Neilrosa shook his hand too and they exchange formalities as another jet landed. Both women went to greet the newcomers.

"Agent Romanoff- Captain Rogers," Coulson said simply, introducing them.

"Ma'am." Steve nodded as she said hi.

"And I don't need to introduce you to princess Neilrosa I suppose." Coulson chuckled.

"You certainly don't." A small smile appeared on your face as you said that. 

"Hi," Steve said and, to your surprise, scooped you to a hug. You hugged him back when a cough sounded. You let go and smiled at him again.

"They need you on the bridge; they're starting the face trace." Natasha turned to Coulson and he excused himself.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Even Neilrosa here almost fainted as I heard. ThoughtCoulson was gonna swoon too. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Neilrosa chuckled as she remembered them, Steve looked confused at Natasha.

"Trading cards?"

"They're vintage. He's very proud." They noticed Banner bumping to people as he was observing the deck.

"Doctor Banner." Steve firmly shook his hand.

"Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can find the Cube."

"Is that the only word on me?" Banner was curious if Rogers knew about Hulk.

"Only word I care about." The women stopped a few feet behind them as they took their conversation nearly to the edge of the ship.

"Must be strange for you, all of this." The doctor looked around and waved his hands.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"Gentlemen, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little had to breathe." Neilrosa pointed about as she smirked a bit and heard Natasha's soft chuckle.

A voice sounded through the speakers and everyone began to move, securing the airplanes and equipment, putting on masks and closing the cabins of the jets. A loud whirring and clunking sounds were heard from the side of the ship and Rogers with Banner came closer to the edge.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve said surprised.

"Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" As they came to the edge, they saw a giants turbine starting to move and whirl the water around, taking the ship to the air.

"Oh no, this is much worse." Banner chuckled ironically.

Neilrosa and Natasha took them inside to the bridge were agents of all kind were running around and checking the stats of the ship. In the middle of the room, surrounded by screens stood Fury and waiting for the results.

"All engines operating. SHIELDemergency protocol one nine three point six in effect. We're at a level, sir." Maria Hill said from her stand.

"Good! Let's vanish."

"Engage retro reflection panels."

"Gentlemen." Fury turned to Rogers and Banner when Steve took out his wallet and handed 10 dollars to Fury. He just chuckled and looked at him.

"Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, um, how long am I staying?" The doctor was clearly uncomfortable around all those agents. Knowing what has happened, Neilrosa just gave him encouraging smile as she was passing him to check for Loki.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Well, where are you with that?"

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"It's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha said when she was checking the stats on Barton.

"You have to narrow your field. How many Spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the Spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for Gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Fury was nodding as the doctor was filling in him on what he needs, then he turned to agent Romanoff.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?" She stood up from the screen and nodded.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys." She said as she took him off to the lab.

Steve approached Neilrosa as she was behind agent Sitwell, looking for Loki.

"I saw you in New Mexico." He said and she jumped, she didn't expect for him to sneak up on her like that.

"Steve!" She exclaimed and punched him in the arm. At once all of this felt like nothing happened, they were laughing together like before. Then the hard reality came back.

"It's good to see you again, Steve. I hope you already settled in this century." She smiled as they walked away for some privacy.

"I'm somehow, still need to get hang of some things though." He said with a small smile. For him, she looked the same, beautiful and young girl full of life, like during the war.

"How have you been?" He asked, scanning her face as it dropped a bit.

"Training, court business and fighting as you saw already. A lot of things happened Steve, I need to tell them to you some time." She smiled softly. She wanted to continue when a voice interrupted them.

"We got a hit. Sixty seven percent match. Wait- cross-match, seventy nine percent." Agent Sitwell said as she and agent Coulson came closer to look at the screen.

"Location?" She asked, scanning the camera footage.

"Stuttgart, Germany. Twenty eight, Königstraße. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, you're up," Fury ordered.

"What about me, director?" Neilrosa came to stand by Steve and look at Fury.

"He knows you, there might be a chance he will try to escape when he will see you. Captain, you are going with agent Romanoff, princess Neilrosa, you are a backup." Goddess crossed her arms on her chest and looked at Steve.

"Slap him for me, will ya?" She joked as he laughed and she wished him a good mission, going to prepare for her own if needed.