Chapter 3: Chapter 2
{On Aproach to Helicarrier}
"Red Winter?" A Steve said, speaking to a balding man within a Quinnjet. "World renowned assassin, known as the best and more mysterious than you think." The man replied before handing Steve a folded on what all they knew about Red Winter. Steve's brows furrowed, finding that there was hardly a thing there for him to know besides knowing that the man was highly dangerous. "Shield's got nothing on this guy, Agent Coulson?" Steve asked before looking up from the folder, Coulson shrugged his shoulders. He had a solemn look about him, before answering Steve's question. "He's been on our Blacklist for 30 years, and for the CIA he's been on their Blacklist for only half as long as that", Coulson began to explain, "We don't know anything because he hardly leaves any breadcrumbs leading to him. If you even think that you have a lead to him, you find yourself with a tripwire going into a door. He's virtually a ghost, and we're having to pay him just to play nice."
Steve frowned then looked at the cockpit to see them arriving at the Helicarrier. He already didn't like this Red Winter character, the man was essentially an mercenary but in most cases an assassin. He worked alone, killed whomever he was paid to or just indiscriminately, and rarely showed himself in public. "Well, when this is all over I'll take him down myself." Steve said with confidence, not totally aware what to expect besides disappointment about Red Winter. All others were golden apples compared to the assassin. As they passed over the Helicarrier, a figure wearing some form a red armor could be seen watching them land. "That's him, Cap." Coulson pointed out, letting Steve know that this was Red Winter. The man was nicely built, his body shape no longer being the same as when he had encountered Natasha.
As the Quinnjet landed, Steve and Coulson came out of the back. The assassin stood a good ways away from everyone else. His arms folded over his chest, and hood over his head like normal. He kept himself distant from others, watching the sea sail past them. Steve kept his eyes on Red Winter, wary about him after what Coulson said. He turned his gaze and saw another face he read in the folder that Fury gave him. "Dr. Banner." He greeted the supposed "monster" that everyone was scared about. With Red Winter, he had already formulated a plan of escape. He was just waiting to have a reason to initiate it. So far Shield has done it's side of the deal, well half of what was promised anyway. Director Fury instead of paying the full amount up front paid half now, then the rest after he gets the job done. The assassin felt a pair of eyes glaring at him, as if a metaphorical death threat was being sent to him without words being needed. He glanced behind him to find Natalia heading his way having a stern look about her. Behind her was Steve Rogers, Captain America, the second most important man in the world. Beside him was a nervous looking Bruce Banner.
Red Winter was quite sure that the Captain actually had a bounty on his head. He would have to check out later on how much they were willing to pay for that. "We're about to head inside, air's gonna get a little thin in a minute." She stated, getting a slight nod from the assassin. He slowly turned, finding Steve sizing him up as Natasha walked past him. Red could already tell that he and the good Captain was going to get along just swell...
As the group walked inside, Steve had an astonished look about him. Behind Natasha, Steve, and Bruce followed Red who kept at least 6 feet apart from them. Anyone he passed had given him the side eye, as if they were expecting shit to hit the fan. They were right to be afraid, they had been hunting him for 30 years and now while he is in the Lion's den...they couldn't even touch him. As the group reached the bridge, Red saw the Director of Shield himself narrow his eyes on him for a moment. Then looked to Steve handing him money, he smirked for but a moment before going to brief the group. Red took up a corner, and kept his arms at his side. He wanted to be able to reach his weapons if anything were to happen. Red barely paid attention to the briefing, he was waiting for himself to be addressed.
"Winter", Fury called gaining Red's attention, "You'll be working coincide with Rogers, once we find out where the threat is, both of you will be going to either neutralize or apprehend him. Other than that be on standby, Agent Romanoff will be your ride and operator for the duration of this time." After Fury was finished he then looked between the two. He saw how Steve was glaring holes into the assassin, and already knew that these two were fire and ice. "Is there a problem gentlemen?" Fury questioned, finding only one reply out of Steve. "No sir." He simply said, folding his arms over his chest as he watched Red. Red however said nothing, opting to remain silent since he had nothing to say. As well as because remaining silent to someone like Rogers was a good way to get on his nerves. While the two were like this, Natasha had already escorted Banner to his lab so that he could find the Tesseract.
In other words, the world's greatest Soldier, Spy, and Assassin were all in the same room together. If the atmosphere wasn't so tense someone would be fangirling over it. Red gave Fury a nod, then began to walk out of the room. Steve called out to him, speaking with a tone of authority. "You weren't dismissed yet." He called after Red, instead he continued to walk without even a glance back at them. Steve glared after Red, then looked at Fury who gave him an apathetic look. "You sure we can trust him?" Steve asked, sounding unsure of employing someone so untrustworthy. "As long as we pay him, yes." Fury answered with confidence, but frowned when Steve asked his next question. "And when he's not being paid anymore?" Steve asked, causing Fury to ponder more on an answer since that was a thought that crossed his mind once.
With Red, he was walking across the Helicarrier. Mostly minding his own business....mostly. Red walked towards the hanger bay, moving about as he surveyed the location that he was in. He came to a stop near the edge of the hanger and simply gazed out of it. The assassin gazed out of it, watching the clouds pass by them. The silence was soothing for him, not being bothered by anything or anyone, no one could- "Winter." Called the voice of Natasha, ending his short moment to himself. Red glanced back to find her and a spandex wearing Steve Rogers standing behind her. The both of them were suited up and ready to go on a mission. "We've got a lead on Loki, he's in Berlin Germany." She said with a professional tone, giving him a neutral stare. The assassin simply nodded, then turned towards them.
{Outskirts of Berlin}
The ride on the Quinnjet was silent, Steve sat across from Red who remain motionless. The look on Steve's face was stern despite the cowl hiding mist of it. His shield remained in his grasp, feeling as if Red could spring at him at any point in time. Natasha was at the cockpit, piloting the Quinnjet for them. She felt tense, having been bested by him rather easy as if he knew how she fought. The woman was going through scenarios on how he beat her, and why he didn't even pause when she shot him. As dark as it was when she first met him, she was very sure that she shot him at center mass. Yet, he ignored the shot and his shirt didn't show any signs of even being wounded. While she pondered this, Steve finally broke the tense silence having had enough of it. "When we get there, I take point", Steve ordered, "You'll-" Steve didn't get to finish before hearing a distorted deep voice leave from Red's mask. "I don't take orders from you." He said with warning tone.
Steve gave Red a death glare, and before he could go to tell the assassin off, Natasha called back to them. "We're about to get to the drop point, get ready." She stated before facing the cockpit window. Red rose to his feet, and unholstered one of his Desert Eagles. He checked to make sure that bullet was in the chamber, and loaded. Then he did the same to his other pistol, not long after he could feel the Quinnjet slowing down. Not long after, the door opened for he and Steve to jump out. Both men jumped out of the Quinnjet at the same time, with only Red landing gracefully. After that they began hiking their way to where Loki was located. Red didn't give Steve even a glance, his mind was on the mission at hand.
{Berlin, Germany}
Loki, supposed God of Mischief, what a ridiculous lie that was. In Red's eyes the man was doing little to no mischief, there was none of that here. When they grew closer to Loki, Red decided to let Steve play offense. Steve may have thought that Red was going to surprise attack Loki, but Red was actually using the good Captain as a expeditionary punching bag. After all, if this man was indeed a god, then Red would have to have an idea of what he's getting himself into. So he remained perched on a nearby building, remaining where he was as Steve arrived on the scene doing one of his famous speeches. When the fight broke out, Red watched attentively, taking in what both combatants did. It was obvious that Steve was not a match for Loki, the God's strength was above him. That meant that Red couldn't attack with strength to strength. So he drew one of his Ninjatō swords once more then took out his grapple gun. He fired gun nearby and came into the fray, right as Loki sent Steve backwards with a swipe from his scepter.
The God of Mischief looked at Red and raised a brow, he had no knowledge of this man. Even so he aimed his scepter at Red and fired a bolt of energy at him. Red dropped to the cement ground, and rolled right into Loki's guard. With an upward slash, Red's blade bit into Loki's armor. It gave him quite the cut, causing Loki to let out a cry of pain. He gritted his teeth and reached forward to grab Red, the assassin instead ducked then twirled around and slashed into Lokis thigh. The blade biting into the God of Mischief's armor as if it did nothing to keep it from doing so. Loki fell to one knee and felt an arm wrap around his neck, then a sharp tip against his Adam's Apple. "Yield..." Red slowly whispered, his voice remaining distorted just as rock music could be heard playing overhead.
The Ninjatō blades that Red used were not normal obviously. They were forged out of pure Vibranium, made into cutting and stabbing. They could cut through almost anything, even steel. Red had tested this when he was on a manhunt for someone. The armor that Loki wore wouldn't stop the blades from piercing it, but it would stop them from cutting him to pieces. Reluctantly, Loki surrendered as he set his scepter down and held his hands up. His armor disappeared off of him, allowing himself to apprehended. "Good call, reindeer games." Said a voice that Red knew all too well. It was Tony Stark, Ironman, the most important man in the world as well as the one who he was sent to take to the Ten Rings. Red hadn't let Loki go, actually he forced the God of Mischief to stand and pushed him forward was he cut the bladed end of his sword at Loki's throat. "Winter, he's no longer a threat stand down." Steve ordered, but found silence as Red's reply. he continued to push Loki forward despite the Asgardian having two flesh wounds.
Red then heard some form of weapon being powered up then aimed at him. He glanced over and saw Stark aiming his hand blaster or whatever at him. "So I'm gonna be that guy and ask what red ninja's doing here, he's the reason I got a hole in my chest." Tony said with a hint of venom underneath his helmet. Red simply raised a brow from underneath his mask, doing nothing for a time before Steve placed a hand on Tont's arm. "He's with us Stark, play nice." Steve said with the best reassuring tone that he could make. Red however faced forward and escorted Loki towards the Quinnjet, though he noticed Loki glancing back at him from time to time. The man had a mischievous smirk, as if he wanted this to happen. Red already knew what that meant, though he didn't truly care quite yet. See he was paid to apprehend Loki and recover the Tesseract, not go play hero and not get paid for it. This was a job for the likes of Stark and Rogers, not Red's problem.
{On Approach to Helicarrier}
"I don't like it", Steve said keeping his eyes on Loki, "It was too easy, and it's never easy." Sitting across from Loki motionless but leaning forward and poised to strike. Steve knew that at least Red seemed to be aware of the issue. Red was watching Loki intensely, hardly moving from his seated position, even when Stark and Steve were secretly conversing about him. He could tell that they were thinking of what to do when this situation blew over. Ordinarily he would call this job accomplished, but he only caught Loki with no Tesseract. He'd interrogate the God of Mischief but the end product would lead to his death. "Hey, Red Ranger!", Stark called, "Cap just asked what you thought about this?" He was referring to the Loki surrendering rather easily. In Stark's point of view, Loki gave up because he didn't want to die. For Red, that was only partly true, from what eyewitnesses reports said. Loki could duplicate himself or make illusions, the God of Mischief could have gotten away from him if he wanted to.
Red didn't respond, he simply watched Loki, then notice him become tense when thunder roared overhead. Red's senses were going haywire of incoming danger, immediately he rose to his feet and drew two knives. This gained Steve and Stark going the defense, expecting Red to do something. That was when the door to the Quinnjet was forced open, revealing a tall muscular blonde headed man. Red saw this man, and threw both knives at him. The man with quick reactions blocked with a hammer then gave Red a stern glare. The assassin rushed at him, drawing one of his Ninjatōs again. He spun, aiming to cut at the intruder at his ribs. However the man showed that he could react fast, blocking with his hammer then catching Red by his throat and hurled him at Stark and Rogers. Not long after, he grabbed Loki and got ready to jump out of the Quinnjet. Before he could, he felt something jump onto him and cause the threw of them to tumble out of the Quinnjet. Red had caused he, Loki, and possibly an ally of his to fall and go tumbling down to the forest below.
"Thor!', Loki called out of sheer terror since he was possibly falling to his death, "Fly you idiot!" Thor winded up his hammer Mjölnir, then felt an arm wrap around his neck. Red got Thor in a chokehold and was trying to choke the God of Thunder out. He only realized a little later that this wasn't working when Thor was able to stabilize their fall. So the assassin changed strategy, he still had his Ninjatō in hand, and stabbed the blade into Thor's arm. The blade bit into Thor's exposed skin, causing him the cry out in pain and fall once more. He had dropped Loki as well, and with that, Red and the God of Thunder smacked into a couple of trees before hitting the forest floor. Thor gritted his teeth, then rose up to his full height. He pulled Red's blade out of his arm and stared at his own wound surprised. Red however was a but dazed from fall from such a height. His vision was a little hazy, but slowly it became coherent enough for him to tell that Thor was approaching him now. The God of Thunder looked like he was mad, thunder roared overhead as lightning came down. Red immediately flipped backwards while on the ground, and narrowly dodged a bolt of lightning that would have scorched him. He drew his other Ninjatōs and drew his Desert Eagle.
The two men glared at each other, waiting to see what the other may do. Red had his pistol aimed at Thor, precision aiming for the God of Thunder's eyes. Thor had become wary of Red, understanding that this Midgardian was actually able to cut him. He was originally going to explain himself, but he could already tell how Red was poised to strike that the man wouldn't care. He was right, Red was on the job and he saw Thor simply as an obstacle. One who was going to make sure that he wouldn't get paid, so to make sure that wouldn't happen, Red would have to kill him. Here they stood, a God vs a Man. Loki was nothing compared to Thor, and Red knew this. Even so, he would still fight with the intention to kill him. Red silently inhaled and exhaled, centering himself before going into battle. Then he initiated his fight with Thor with but a single shot, causing the both of them to charge at one another.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone