Hey guys! Sorry for taking so long. College is really picking up so it makes it a bit hard to find time. However, none of that! Here is the next chapter. Sadly, this time the title isn't from any great quote, but it's there none the less.

Disclaimer: Sadly, Marvel and Rick Riordan still hold ownership over Percy Jackson and the Avengers.

|| Seph

Next time there was an intergalactic crisis, Seph was gonna sit on the sidelines and watch the world burn if this was where it got her.

Granted, this was her first one, but she can't help but feel that everytime she got involved in something like this - whether against her will or not! - she always landed in a tight spot, where she was the bad guy.

First it was the lightning bolt.

Then it was being a daughter of Neptune in a Roman camp (even with a goddess's introduction).

Tartarus. 'Nuff said.

Now she was sitting pretty in a barred cell next to an actual intergalactic crisis and wondering just where she went wrong with her life.

(Probably somewhere around birth. Really, her life was a just a series of unfortunate events.)

Groaning, she pushed off the wall of her cell and turned to the guard, standing at attention near the door of the room. "Hey" she tried from the back of the cells, waving at him. He didn't so much as glance at her.

Frustrated, she sat on the metal bed attached to the wall, as if from a cliched prison movie with the chain extensions and all. She sighed and gripped her hair before leaning back shivering, wishing she had worn her jacket newly acquired SHIELD jacket with her. (Even if it was Andy's. What was Andy's was hers even if vice versa didn't exactly pan out).

More importantly she wished she had riptide with her. They had changed her out of her previous outfit and into a plain t-shirt with sweats with no pockets, along with confiscating all of her weapons. Even going as far as to search her hair, which was a bit extra in her opinion...even if they had found a lockpick set in there, but still! (Live with the Stolls and Leo long enough and you learn to be on guard, plus it's a handy skill.)

Granted, she was sure they were more worried about the knives that Thalia and Reyna had taught her to hide on her person but it was effective nonetheless. No Riptide.

All of a sudden, the ship jerked to the side, toppling her into one of the side chains. Fuck, she thought pushing herself to sit upright. She looked to where the guard, only to find him leaning against the door post, blood trailing from his forehead, barely conscious, with blood on the wall where he must have hit his head.

She cursed and pushed herself up but paused. The man's water had fallen over with him and was seeping through the grated floor. She smiled as a plan formed in her head and thrust her hand ou.

However, before she could feel that familiar pull in her gut, a laugh sounded through the holding place and a loud smack. Loki stood tall, a maniac grin spread across his face as another man in a guard uniform stepped over the prone form of the previous guard, a daze look on his face as he moved to let the mischief maker out of his cage.

'Well, fuck,' Seph thought again as she quickly reached out for the man's water, feeling a considerable less amount than before.

Just as the Loki stepped out, a loud "No!" was heard as Thor came hurtling through the door. Loki crouched down just in the sliding door only for Thor to phase right through him and into the newly shut cage, appearing in front of the consol.

'Wait, if he could have done that…' Seph almost facepalmed, realizing, still straining as she waited for the right time. 'I knew he was playing us.'

She froze when Loki caught her gaze before he returned it to his baffled brother, head tilted condescendingly. "Are you ever not going to fall for that?" he asked as if honestly curious.

In response, Thor smashed his hammer against the bartier, only causing one of the supports to detach. Loki jumped back with gleeful surprise on his face. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he laughed, gliding to the control board that Fury had been by earlier.

"The humans think us immortal," he quipped. "Should we test that?"

'So not gods, just long-lived aliens,' Seph thought before jumping as guard that had helped Loki actually choked and dropped dead, a bland man in a bland suit standing over him with a weapon that looked like it had been stolen off a Star Wars set.

"Move away, please," he said, politely, like he wasn't standing over another man's body. From what she could see through the sweat beading down her forehead, he had one of those long corded comms that you associated with the president's secret security, the type of people trained to be so purposely boring even so conspicuously dressed.

Loki took cautious steps toward away from the panel as the man moved forward, hand out in what was apparently an intergalactic sign of peace. From this angle, Seph could see a strange look flickering across Loki's face, not just caution but...hesitance? No, that wasn't it, but before she could decipher any further, it was gone

The man kept talking, moving confidently."We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does," he remarked, shrugging as he powered up the gun, orange rings circling the barrel of it. "Do you wanna find out?" he asked before gasping as Loki's illusion disappeared the alien already appearing behind him,scepter already being driven through his stomach, Thor's scream's of protest ringing through the room.

And colliding with a thin wall of ice.

But it wasn't enough.

The man with the gun stumbled back against the wall, blood still staining his shirt as the ice recede down the grated floor.

Seph lowered her head as she listened to the deep breathing of both Thor and the man echo in the holding chamber, still gripping her power. This wasn't over yet, she assured herself, as the clink clink clink of Loki's footsteps resounded through the room, making her wonder out of all of them which was louder because all she could hear was the waves crashing in her head, but she breathed. Things may have been dire, but they didn't need another Mount St. Helen. This wasn't over yet.

She heard the doors underneath Loki's now Thor's cage opened but didn't look up, not even when hearing the pained "Goodbye, brother," almost lost to the wind.

She did turn her head when the man in black spoke. "You're gonna lose."

Loki snorted, "Am I?" he asked turning back to him, turning away from her. The man on the floor didn't pant or even breathe heavily. "It's in your nature," he stated.

"Your heroes are scattered and caged."

Drip.

"Your floating fortress falls from the sky."

Drip.

"Where is my disadvantage?"

Drip.

"You lack conviction," he spat out, blood lining his teeth.

Loki's lip curled as he opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off by a blast from the forgotten gun in his lap, throwing him across the room over the where the cage previously was through the walls of the hellicarrier. "So that's what it does," he grunted, hand on his gut.

There was a shlink in air as the thin slices of ice cut through the bars enough for Seph to get out. She huffed out a laugh as she fell beside him, making the water form into a thin blade in her hand. "I guess it does," she said softly, checking over him. Looking at him, the daughter of Poseidon let out a sigh of relief.

While the scepter had still injured him pretty badly, the ice had prevented it from going to deep, barely even entering but bleeding badly nonetheless and probably hurt worse. "I have no idea who you are," she said, as she helped him stand, "but that was pretty badass."

Mr. Agent Man choked out a laugh, coughing a little at the end. "Thanks," he rasped out, pressing his back against the wall. She nodded before pulling away moving towards the shifting pile of debris when a coughed 'Wait' reached her ears.

The propped man was pushing off against the wall as if to stand, already whipping the blood away from his mouth, though his hand was still on his side. "H-h-how did you do that?"

Seph regarded him with one eye before turning to the new door Loki had made on his way out. "Look," she said, not unkindly, "not that I wouldn't love to sit down and gossip over blue tea and cookies with you spy types, but there's kind of a power hungry alien obsessed with world domination on our tail with glowing scepter of doom and mean mind to match so if we could table this," she ended, nodding her head towards the breach, "that would be great."

"Right," Mr. Man in Black muttered as stood up a bit more (but still a bit balanced more on the wall).

As if that had been the magic word, the debris pinning the raven exploded, revealing a not so happy power hungry alien obsessed with world domination, scepter of doom in hand, looking read to put that mean mind to use.

She sighed as Boring By Design gave her space, putting the arm that was around her around his stomach as she faced the other.

"You're going to regret that," he growled at Every Agent, twirling his staff as he advanced, completely ignoring her despite being in between them.

Okay, it was a little insulting being considered less of a threat than the guy currently hobbling against the wall but better to be underestimated.

She gave her sword an experimental whirl before shifting into an offensive stance. It had the desired effect.

Loki's eyes immediately tracked her movement, eyes glinting darkly. He smirked at her glare, both of them taking a step closer.

"Ah, the mysterious female warrior. Why, I don't think we've been properly introduced. Loki of Asgard," he leered, stepping closer.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said faux sweetly, putting a hand over her heart and fluttering her eyes, "I was told not to make friends with crazy fruit loops out to destroy my planet. You know how it is. Stranger danger~"

"Oh yes," he laughed brutishly, throwing his head back before rearing forward with a sneer, crouching into a stance, "you'll do nicely under my reign. I can't wait to temper you." Seph only shrugged, following his movements.

"You're more than welcome to try."

With that, it was as if a switch had gone off in both of them.

In an instant both had shot off towards each other, Loki firing energy blast with his scepter at her as she ducked an weaved around the edge, each shot coming closer and closer. Loki huffed out a laugh as another shot she baseball-slid to avoid a shot, the heat just barely passing her nose. "Oh, come on, lady warrior, where is that righteous fight that was present in Germany!" he called, firing another shot before letting out another more startled shout.

Spinning off one of the walls, she threw her blade towards him, reforming several smaller shards, forcing him backwards.

Smirking, she vaulted onto the railing along the rift, running as far inward as she could before diving down into the hole. "Oops!" she called back as she flung herself forward.

She quickly caught herself on to one of the rings farther down and scrambled inside the mechanism. Suspending herself by one of the upper bars she curled in on herself, releasing her inner emo and letting the shadows hide her as she listened above.

Loki was raging, whether he was swinging down each ring or actually landing on them with his feet, it sounded like the Hulk himself was coming after her. Taking a deep, she pressed herself against the wall as a different type of Mean Green came closer, getting angrier the lower he had to descend.

"Oh, a game of cat and mouse? I do love a good chase." BOOM!

"I am tiring of these games, little bug." CRASH!

"I am running out of time and I am running out of patience!" BANG!

"Where are you, you insignificant ant?!" SMASH!

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" Loki screeched as he landed on the next ring.

Seph didn't give pause. Kicking out, she caught him in the chest, sending him flying into the other wall, just barely catching himself on the bar to keep from falling again into the space where he'd launched his brother.

Shifting to better position herself on the bar, Seph faced her now devolving opponent. This was getting bad. Loki was obviously losing it - or already lost it, but he'd never shown such blatant signs of insanity. Before he'd been amused by their little games. Now he was pissed.

The problem was, without any real equipment, Seph could barely handle him in a good nood, let alone with a temper rivalling Zeus on a stormy day.

Especially when he still had that damned scepter.

Loki straightened up, pushing unkempt stray hair out of his face as he faced her with a maniac look in his eyes and an unpleasant grin stretching across his face.

"Oh, I've got you know," he chuckled as he swung his staff, letting an arc of power toward her knees. She jumped high, grabbing the scaffolding she had held previously, but he just sent another charge towards her hand.

Yelping, she dropped to another level but didn't get any reprieve. Covering her head, she rolled quickly as he sent more blast her way running along the edge.

Then the world went blue and she was thrown off her feet and into free fall before she landed again a few rungs lower.

The ocean was roaring in her ears.

Groaning, she braced herself but she could barely hear the sudden boom! that crashed not too far behind her, air dispersing under them as the same clink clink clink resounded through her head instead of the room with every step closer.

There was a hand at her throat, lifting her in the air and then raging blue eyes, reminding her of short-cropped sandy hair, a mischievous smile with a thick pale scar across his face as lips twisted up before blue eyes turning gold wanting glory that was promised, only what was his.

Where's the glory in repeating what others have already done?

There was a pinch at her chest, and suddenly, it was quiet.

And then…

Nothing.

oOoOoOo

|| Andrew

"What do you mean she's been detained!" Andrew yelled over his new comm unit.

Both Rogers and Stark were walking slightly behind him, Stark still in the suit, but he paid them no attention.

"Listen," Widow began, "there was an issue, and she was causing problems. We had to-"

"Had to, my ass," he hissed as he entered the main area again. There were scorch marks and bodies still lining the walls, but they didn't catch his attention. Instead, he turned his eyes to Fury, standing behind his post in the center of the room. "I don't want excuses I want answers. Where. Is. My. Girlfriend?" he demanded, looking Fury straight in the eye as the man balanced on his railing.

"Look here-" the man began, only to be interrupted by a new voice.

"She's gone," someone gasped at the door. Andrew turned to see a man in a plain suit and tie, minus the jacket. The remnants of the missing jacket seemed to be tied around his stomach over a still bleeding wound. He looked tired, like he had just escaped the fire to be thrown into a meat grinder that was also on fire. Rogers ran over to help the man sit at the conference table

Andrew couldn't care less.

"What do you mean," he gritted out, fist clenched at his side, "that she's gone."

The man just sighed as he sat. "Just that. I went to Loki's cell to try and stop him from escaping but it didn't work. He ended up trapping Thor in the cage instead and hurtling him towards earth. When he turned to me, the girl - I don't know, she got out of the cage somehow and held him off."

The man caught Fury's eyes as he continued. "She had ice powers of some sort. Used it to make a sword and then fought Loki up and down the detainment room. I didn't see anything but I heard explosions, yelling, and then nothing. When i went to look again, neither of them were there."

Silence filled the room before Andrew let out a yell of frustration, clutching his hair, before slamming his fist against the table.

"No," he said, his voice brokering no room for discussion. "Not again." He turned to the director, spine straight as he spoke. "Now that you and yours have made such of mess of this, I'm taking over. I will not let your incompetence and self-serving ideals mess with me and my family."

Fury bristled and braced himself even more on the rail, narrowing his eye at Andrew, disdain clear in his eyes. "And what, precisely, does that mean."

"It means that I've got some calls to make. You've shown that you don't have the power to get this under control so I'm gonna get some," the demigod said before turning and sweeping out of the room completely.

"And how do you plan on doing that," Fury demanded. Andrew stopped at the door and snorted.

"I guess, you'll have to live in suspense," he said before leaving the room completely, phone already in hand.

"Well that went well," Stark said, watching the scene with mirth in his eyes. Several people rolled their eyes while Fury finally leaning back. "Shut up," he growled before moving towards Hill, who was sat at a desk not too far behind him.

Stark snorted himself before moving to help Rogers, who was lifting Coulson up from his chair.

"What do you think he meant by all that?" Rogers asked as they both grabbed an arm.

"I'm not sure," Stark shrugged, "but whatever it is, things are about to get intersting."

"More than aliens invading and gods falling to our earth? I'll pass, thanks."

"Yeah, well we might not have a choice," Coulson grunted as they made their way down the hall. "The thing to wonder is that in all of this, those two barely seemed fazed, and after seeing that girl in action, I doubt this is their first time in a situation like this. So he real questions is just what have they been through, what are they are they hiding, and-"

"What the hell are they," Stark finished with a pensive look on his face.

And that's all for now! Thanks again for all the support. I know I didn't do any shout-outs - mostly because it would take me another day to finish then and I've kinda got a midterm coming up - but I read your reviews! I'll keep finding time for all of these stories as long as you guys keep liking it. I would like to say I'll get this chapter up soon...but that's kind of relative. Either way, next chapter is probably when we get introduced to a few more helping hands and where the plot really deviates so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading and please review!

~SM