3 Recruitment

It has been roughly one month since Brandon met with Shield. When he said that he would "think about it", he was actually saying "We'll see". Brandon understood the threats that were rising up.

A man who turned into a green ape that had strength either comparable to his own or beyond it. A man who builds a suit of armor that flies around almost as fast as him. Finally, a supposed god whose power was as great as his. To say that he was intimidated by such people was an understatement. He had never encountered people like him before. Then again that was mostly because he kept to himself. Beside him sitting patiently was a docile Cade, the german shepard remaining vigilant. The two were riding down the road in a semi truck, a trailer filled with nicely cut logs followed behind them. Brandon drove down the road silently, his eyes remaining on the road as they cruised down the interstate, heading towards Tennessee.

After thirty minutes of driving, Cade let out a whine, telling Brandon that they needed to pull over. His eyes landed on a trucker station, knowing that would be a good place to stop. With a swerve, the truck pulled off the road and slowly into the gas station until eventually halting at one of the gas pumps.

"Alright, let's go." Brandon said after exiting out of the truck. Cade jumped into Brandon's arms and was set down as if he weighed nothing. Then with a turn, he began walking over to the gas pump after the truck was turned off.

"Don't be gone for more than five minutes!" He called to Cade, finding the dogs barking as a response. Brandon took out a debit card, then inserted it to pay for gas. Just like that, he unhooked the gas gun and started to fuel his truck up with Disel gas.

He faced forward for a moment, staring at nothing in particular. Then his eyes started to wonder about, looking at a few things. His eyes landed on a family exiting out of a minivan. One of them was a boy who could have been around his age, the child looked at him and just stared. For a moment, Brandon and the boy stared at each other. His eyes not moving away until the boy slowly waved at him. Brandon waved back, then watched as the kid ran after his parents. The moment wasn't something that he was expecting, sometimes he wondered if he could have resisted the ship's hypnotic effects. Sometimes he wished to see what would it have been like to see his parents still alive.

As he thought this, he felt a brush at his leg. He looked down to find Cade had come back. "You used the bathroom?" He questioned, and found the dog wag his tail happily.

"Well good for you, now I have to use the bathroom. So get ready to get back inside."

He finished up on fuelling his truck up. Once he was done, he helped Cade back into the truck after opening the door. That was when he heard footsteps heading his way. These footsteps were casual, though the heartbeat that he was hearing was thumping rapidly as they neared. His super-hearing picking up this specific hearthate drawing closer to him.

With a glance, Brandon turned to find a familiar scarlet haired woman heading his way. "Mr. Breyer", she greeted with a casual smile, "It's good to see you again, I hope that you've been thinking about our proposal."

Brandon stared at her, remembering her a bit vaguely but couldn't quite name her right. All he remembered was that she was that scarlet haired woman who had a nice smile. That said, he knew who she worked for and that's all that mattered. With a reluctant sigh, he knew that pushing her off wasn't going to keep her away. Especially when they knew where he lived and where he goes now.

"If I say that I'm still thinking, would you leave me alone?" Brandon asked, turning to her fully now and raising a brow at her.

"A couple of days ago maybe, but today we really could use an answer." She replied coolly, her facial expression turning neutral now. Brandon shook his head, not sure why they wanted to press his patience now. That said he was a bit curious that they would send her to speak to him. He had no feelings for this woman, actually he hasn't had any sort of feelings for any woman. He hadn't been exposed to any of them enough to care.

"Wanna tell me what's got you and your group coming to me?", Brandon questioned with a dark tone now, "I can tell that you're not alone...and everyone who you've got around this gas station isn't as good at hiding from me as you think."

The woman frowned, then gained a concerned look. Knowing full well that he could snap at her at any moment. So, with a cautious step forward, she braved her fears. She gave Brandon a serious look before speaking once more. "We're under attack-" Brandon replied before she finished.

"Not my problem if America is under attack." He stated, but found her next words being far more concerning.

"From someone outside of Earth." She finished, gaining a curious look from Brandon. He thought about her words for a moment, before gesturing for her to get into the truck.

"Get in", He demanded causing her to raise a brow at him so he explained, "I'm still on the clock and have at least two hours before I'm off the clock, now get in." The woman smirked, finding it odd that someone like him would be worried about being late or not.

So slowly, she stepped into the truck, with Brandon getting inside behind her. Cade was seated between them, his head perched up and glaring at her.

"What's your name again?" Brandon asked, after about ten minutes of driving. The woman looked at him for a moment before facing forward.

"Natasha Romanoff, kind of surprised that you forgot about me." She said with a hint of sarcasm, Brandon shrugged as he continued to drive.

"I'm a trucker, you see alot of faces and meet alot of people. Not my fault that people are easy to forget."

Those words got a frown from Natasha, one that didn't like what his words implicated. She halted herself from getting sentimental and let out a breathe. She remembered her task at hand, despite her heart thumping at a rapid pace. "We were attacked by a foreign entity who goes by Loki", she started to explain, "From what we've seen so far he's virtually bulletproof, looks like a human, and carries around some kind of scepter that destroys anything he fires at with it. As well as is capable of hypnotizing anyone he touches with the scepter."

That brief description was enough to get Brandon's blood boiling. Not about the whole thing with his powers or whatnot, but the fact that he could control people against their will. He's had that done to him before, and ever since he's hated having to feel how helpless he was with it. As he drove, he pondered on this information before voicing the question in his mind. "And you want me to kill this guy, is that it?" Brandon questioned, causing Natasha to glance at him.

"Detain, not kill, we're looking to detain him", she corrected, "As well as retrieve an item of high importance, I won't speak more unless you agree to help us."

Brandon nodded his head understanding a bit, though it most definitely didn't stop him from pondering on the consequences of stepping out into the light. Unlike how the others were, Brandon was not some kind of hero. He's killed more than thirty people and only a handful of them he's done without being brainwashed. He doesn't really know how not to kill someone when he feels threatened, unless he actually holds back which was hard. Cade calmed him down, kept his strength in check by being such a good stress reliever. Outside of that, he could crush someone's hands just by holding them without squeezing.

"You want me to do this, with my identity revealed to the wider world?" Brandon asked, getting Natasha to turn to him now.

"If you're worried about your identity then we will keep it confidential, all we need is just your cooperation until Loki is apprehended." She reassured as Brandon finally arrived at where he had to drop off the logs. To try to get him to help, Natasha bit her lip before speaking.

"Do you have conditions?" She asked, and watched as Brandon slowly turned his gaze towards Natasha. "I have a few...", He said eerily so, "One of them is calling before coming to me....the next time you just show up wanting to talk. You know what, I'll just let you see what happens."

"Any...others?"

"Yeah, Cade comes with me."

"Cade? You're dog?"

"Yes, my friend."

"Well, that won't be a problem."

"Good, otherwise I wouldn't be helping you if Cade wasn't coming with me."

{One Day Later}

Brandon sat within a flying vessel, no one within Shield knew what he was nor what he could do. He'll let them remain in the dark for as long as he could. At the moment, he was thinking back on his mother, Tori's, words. Words that he's tried to think were true about him, words that he believed were lies. 'You are a gift...' Those words rung in Brandon's mind each time he thinks about Tori. The fact that she had so much faith in him, so much love for him. With a close of his eyes, he tried not to think about her anymore. Because every time he does, he sees her mangled and unrecognizable face. The same could be said about his father, whom he didn't have the best relationship with. Kyle Breyer was a skeptical but good man, someone who tried to be a good father. Brandon looking back at it never did blame Kyle for what he did. The man was afraid, and took matters into his own hands to defend himself and his mother. That said, he most definitely wished that things could have been different some times.

"We're landing, sir." The pilot said, causing Brandon's eyes to open then land on Cade who was laying on his lap napping.

"Time to wake up boy." Brandon chided, shaking his dog gently to wake him up. Cade's eyes fluttered open, then lifted his hand to look at Brandon.

"Don't give me that look, you're a german shepard and you shouldn't be napping while on the job."

Brandon ruffled Cade's fur as he felt the ship land on something. He gestured for Cade to get off of him and when the dog did, he rose to his feet and turned to find the back canopy opening.

"Alright Cade, time to be heroes, make sure to smile." Brandon reminded, causing the dog to give him a tilt of the head for confusion. Shaking his head, Brandon walked out of the jet and onto the platform for some kind of aircraft carrier. He saw Agent Romanoff speaking to two men, one of them he knew was Steve Rogers. The man was almost like an idol for Brandon, until he stopped caring about him. The reason for why he saw Steve as an idol was mainly because he was in some ways like himself. Someone with power over others.

The man next to Steve was someone that Brandon remembered from reading in the folder that Fury gave him. All the science behind the man didn't really matter to Brandon, what did matter was that he could transform into someone either stronger or as strong as himself. That was more important to Brandon rather than what he had a PhD in. As he and Cade approached the trio, Natasha turned and gave Brandon a greeting smile.

"Good of you to join us Mr. Breyer", she greeted, "This is Captain Steve Rogers and Dr. Bruce Banner, they'll be helping you."

Steve held a hand out for Brandon to shake, though the young man just looked at it. Then he looked at Steve with a blank look before looking at Natasha. "So, when are we going after Loki?" Brandon questioned, addressing Natasha as he turned to her.

"When we have an idea of where he is, until then let's get inside." Natasha said, gesturing for the men to follow her.

Brandon walked forward, Cade following beside him with a wagging tail.

"Did you know that there would be a guy with a dog coming aboard?" Steve questioned Bruce who shook his head before following after them.

"Not that I know of, but hey that's not the weirdest thing that I've seen yet." Bruce replied as the group walked inside.

Once inside, Brandon looked around, taking in the new scenery. One could say that he was watching everything and everyone. He noticed subtle glances from people watching his back. These Shield agents were exactly as Brandon had thought, shrewd and fake. All Brandon needed was just one reason to send this ship to the bottom of the ocean. After several moments of walking, the group entered into a some kind of briefing room where Fury stood watching the clouds pass them by. Brandon stood off to the side, and heard Cade whine at him.

"Yeah yeah, here you greedy mutt." Brandon said, then pulled out a bag of treats from his pocket. Then fed Cade while Fury was given some money from Steve. After that, the briefing began, though Brandon barely paid attention to it. His eyes were locked onto the circuitry inside of this ship. For a moment, a dark thought entered his mind to use his more EMP based powers to disrupt the functionality of this ship. For a moment, his darker self made an appearance to assert dominance over everyone here.

"Mr. Breyer?" Fury called, getting the man's attention. When Brandon looked over at everyone, he noticed that they were giving him odd looks.

"What?" He asked, raising a brow at them unaware that they could see his eyes glowing red. Fury narrowed his eyes on him before asking with a cautious tone.

"You good?"

Brandon frowned, not sure why he asked that question before looking to Cade. The dog looked back at him, before giving him a whining noise. Brandon blinked twice, then looked at Fury before nodding.

"Yeah, I'm good." He responded, his eyes having returned back to their natural color. Fury mentally sighed in relief before looking to Natasha.

"Agent Romanoff will be taking you to your quarters, as well as what you'll be doing for the time being." Fury stated, causing Brandon to look to her then eventually follow after her once she and Bruce walked out of the briefing room.

Steve watched them leave before quickly looking at Fury.

"What the hell was that, sir?" Steve asked critically, his tone serious.

"That...was our big gun." Fury responded, before turning and walking away towards the bridge.

With Natasha and Brandon, after they had dropped Bruce off at the lab, were heading towards a section on the far side of the ship. Neither one saying a word as they walked, Brandon would from time to time look around. His eyes seeing more than walls around him, seeing hidden cameras nearby.

"This is where you'll be suiting up." Natasha said, coming to a large sealed container within the hanger bay. Brandon stared at it, looked to Natasha then back to it before walking up to it. Natasha walked alongside him, as Cade walked on the other side of him. Natasha entered some kind of pin number at a small console, then watched as the container opened. It revealed to have some kind of suit inside, it was something similar to what Brandon had worn when he was twelve. The only difference being that it didn't have his cowl and only a mask that would hide his lower jaw up to his nose. He stared at it for a moment then looked to Natasha with a raised brow.

"Don't look at me, I didn't come up with this." She ousted before backing away for him so that he could try it on. Brandon looked to Cade, then back to the suit before tilting his head to the side. With an outstretched hand, he grabbed a hold of the mask and held it.

"That's interesting.." He said mostly to himself, it was quite hard as if made out of some some elements of kevlar, titanium, and carbon fiber.

Brandon slowly looked at the rest of the suit then started to undress himself. His shirt came off first, revealing his toned body. He looked back to see Natasha still there and watching him. They were in a secluded area of the hanger, so her just watching him was weird.

"Do you mind, I'm about to get naked." Brandon said, causing a small smile to form on Natasha's lips.

"Just come find me when you're done changing." She stated before turning and walking off.

Brandon watched her leave, his eyes narrowing before looking back to the suit. There was no symbol at the front of it, only a black space. The cape that went with it seemed a bit much, though he could hardly say that he didn't like it. After finishing undressing himself, Brandon put on the suit rather slowly. Finding that it had a tight fit to it, it hardly hid his muscles as well as seemed to protect him. After getting the suit on, Brandon gave himself a once over, moving around before looking to Cade.

"Well, how do I look?" He asked, and found his friend put his paw on his face. Brandon scoffed then flipped Cade off with a smirk.

"Well up yours too, but you could be right, the damn thing feels like it's trying to squeeze me in. Especially around my di-"

He stopped himself when he heard two pairs of footsteps headed his way. He turned to find a suited up Steve Rogers and Natasha heading his way. Brandon stared at Steve for a moment then gave him a mocking smirk. He found Steve's costume to be comical and far worse than his own.

"They did you even worse...", He muttered before turning to them, "Found him?"

Natasha nodded then gave Brandon a once over, before looking to Cade. "I hope you know that your dog can't come with you." She stated, causing a growl to leave Cade.

Brandon looked to Cade then let out a sigh, not long after he knelt down and waved for his friend to come over.

"We talked about this", Brandon stated before holding a gloved hand out to him, "Give me five, up high, down low, and fist pump." Cade did all of the actions that Brandon commanded, as if it was embedded into the dog's brain. With a sigh he gave his dog a hug and caressed his back fur.

"I'll be back before you know it, hang in there for me."

The caped Brandon slowly released his dog then turned to Natasha and Steve. "We'll-" Brandon held a hand up before she could finish.

"Just make sure that he has food and water, anything else and that's your ass." Brandon warned then walked off towards the other side of the hanger bay.

Natasha blinked twice then walked after him, Steve looked at Cade for a moment before turning to catch up to the two.

"You've got a good dog." Steve commented, trying to make small talk. He didn't really know Brandon, all he knew was that Brandon was special in some way. Brandon didn't really respond besides glancing back at Steve, his eyes giving off that red shine once again. One would think that he's threatening someone, but really, Brandon found that doing this would help keep his identity a secret. As well as because this was the first time that he had conversed with someone longer than fuve minutes. He was a little uncomfortable with this, he was coming out of his comfort zone.

When Brandon faced forward again, he looked to the jet that they would be boarding and let out a sigh. "Thanks, he's the only friend that I've got." Brandon stated, causing Natasha to give him a side eye. She wasn't sure how to feel about him, to her he was worse than Bruce because unlike Bruce, Brandon could just kill them and know that he's doing it. Bruce could lose control, Brandon was in control...so she thinks.

They still hadn't a clue as to what he could do, hopefully this mission would reveal some of that. For now, Brandon was an enigma that she wanted to solve. One that would hopefully not lead to her death.

{Berlin, Germany, Loki}

"You were made, to be ruled..." Loki said, smiling devilishly as he walked amongst the now kneeling people around him. Just as he was about to start speaking, he looked up to see a floating figure. For a moment he assumed it to be Thor, that thought ended when he saw the figure's eyes hueing with red light. The light intensified until it spewed something from them and hit Loki square in the chest. It sent him flying backwards across the street. His back collided with the wall of the building that he exited, indenting himself in it. A groan left him as the Illusions around the people dispersed.

"You know when I was last in Germany, there was a guy who acted kind of like you", A charismatic voice said, "Unfortunately for him, people disagreed with him.." Loki looked up to see the Star Spangled man himself, Captain America, Steve Rogers. All along with his trusty shield and speech. With another groan leaving him, he moved himself out of the wall, not before he saw a pair of red eyes appear before him as if they were a blur. The next thing he felt was a fist colliding with his left cheek. The force of the punch sent his body skidding across the right of the building and into a car. So much force was put behind the punch that Loki's body had bent the car inwards. When Loki looked up this time, he saw the adversary who had hit him. It was a man, whose eyes still gave off a red glow as he floated several inches off the ground. He had a mouthpiece that covered from his chin up to the bridge of his nose. It looked metallic, gleaming from the nearby lampposts light reflecting off of it. A cape hung from his back, swaying with a the soft wind blowing against him.

Slowly, the man held up a single index finger before beginning to speak menacingly. "Die, or surrender, you choose." He slowly said with a muffled voice, but the threat was received.

The man intrigued Loki, mainly because he had never seen anything like him before. The Soldier yes, the green dull creature absolutely, but this man was something new entirely. Something about him gave him a dreadful feeling, as if he had the full intent to kill. Something held him back, someone was keeping the beast within from lunging out at him. With slow movements, Loki dropped his scepter carefully and surrendered. Captain America came over with an unsure look, glanced at his ally, then looked at Loki.

"Good call." Steve said, then heard rock music roaring overhead. Down came the world's richest man alive, Tony Stark. He looked around, having expected there to be a fight. His helmet's visor locked onto the surrendering form of Loki.

"Oh, well, that's no fun." Tony commented as he walked over, his suit's heavy sabatons slamming into the pavement. The floating figure came down slowly, his boots touching the cement ground with hands twitching from time to time. This didn't go unnoticed for Loki, the man looked as if he had been hoping that the God of Mischief had kept putting up a struggle. From what he got from that punch, was that the man was strong, maybe even stronger than Thor. As well as far faster than anything that had ever seen in his life.

Loki was both feeling curiosity and fear when looking at this man. He knew that unlike the other two, this man would have actually killed him had he not surrender. Loki could only imagine what he would have done to him, his shining scarlet eyes barely blinked as they remained affixed to him. The God of Mischief imagined what would have happened if he tried to attack. The man most likely would have attacked him trying to kill him rather than get him to surrender. That punch that he gave him still stung, his neck down to his collarbone felt as if a large rock had smacked into him. It was as if he had just hit him.

Loki would have to be even more careful if he wanted his plan to go unnoticed. He had an unknown variable that could be enticed by his lies, or possibly turned into serving him. The implications of having such a strong champion caused the God of Mischief to chuckle internally.