The Theory of Satisfaction
Chapter 01: New York
Chitauri soldiers continued to spill out of the sky like a toxic waterfall, its contents pooling down on Earth and quickly turning into a river of chaos. As they hit street-level, their grotesque faces warped into menacing expressions, all of them sneering at the humans as they whipped past on their flying vehicles.
The goal was clear-kill the Avengers.
With a yell that echoed across the city, Captain Steve Rogers catapulted himself at one of the vehicles and knocked its pilot to the ground. For a brief instant, he saw Natasha in the distance, effectively clearing a path to Selvig and his contraption up on Stark Tower.
He hoped that whatever she had planned would end the war, but he knew better than to be so optimistic after what happened to agent Coulson. It felt like his mind was floating for a second, and then gravity proceeded to yank him back to the earth. Rogers hit the asphalt and tumbled; the alien flying machine collided with a nearby building and smoke billowed into the air.
Debris spilled around him like rain as the soldiers resumed their assault. With the sheer number of them, he could barely keep the grounded enemies at bay. Left, right, above and behind-he deflected the endless army with his shield, but there wasn't any sign that his efforts were putting so much as a dent in their forces.
Suddenly, he was jarred by a blow to the head and he found himself restrained by two Chitauri he'd knocked down earlier. He quickly noted the third one on its way. His limbs held captive in their grip, Rogers struggled and pulled, almost breaking free on his own when a blast from above knocked the hissing enemies away.
"Sorry Cap, did I ruin your first threesome?" Tony laughed, but his voice was shaking and his breath came up short. He needed to let out a snarky comment, if only to remind himself to continue breathing. "Next time, I'll hook you up with some real babes, Rogers... not that the ones you just had weren't totally hot or anything."
Rogers didn't have time for a retort. Instead, he bit his tongue and knocked an enemy soldier into a bus with enough force for the frame to fold in on itself and trap the creature in its metal clutches. It let out a strained cry akin to a screech and the metal groaned in response.
Sending an enemy crashing through a nearby window, Tony paused mid-air to whistle low at Steve's handiwork before resuming his fight. He began zipping around in the air at a dizzying rate, launching himself from one building to the next, weaving in and out of streets, and provoking Chitauri with insults he wasn't even sure they could understand. All the while he continued dodging deadly blows in his attempts to lead enemies on a collision course. Any hostiles that remained, he blasted with the repulsor rays embedded in his mechanical palms and any snarky insult he could muster.
Deeper within the city, thunder rumbled and the metal clang of Thor's hammer resounded as he smashed his foes two or three at a time. He mowed them down like pins in a bowling alley with each strike and almost had the heart to laugh in breathless merriment the way he had done a countless number of times when he fought beside his friends. Still, he knew that it was all far from over and instead cried out to the heavens to bring lightning down on the foreign creatures. Like dominoes, they fell.
Readjusting his grip on mjolnir, Thor glanced at the battlefield and spun around to confirm his small victory. Their bodies littered the ground, and a fleeting smile passed over his lips until a gigantic smear of green caught his attention.
Roaring, clawing, and half galloping up the side of Stark Tower was Bruce Banner in all his rage. The uncontrollable and powerful beast shattered windows as he raced upwards to where Loki remained at the top floor, grunting and growling low in his throat with every movement. As he approached the top floor, all eyes fell on Stark Tower.
Glass exploded across the floor like shrapnel from a grenade, and Banner ripped his way into the building. Spotting Loki, the Hulk let out a roar and charged forward without hesitation, the muscles in his arms bulging and his teeth bared like a wild animal. "Smash!" The Hulk yelled out for destruction, grabbing Loki by the ankle and slamming him against the nearest wall. When there was no sound of impact, the Hulk opened his hands and looked down at his palms in utter confusion.
He spun around and was suddenly surrounded by at least a hundred copies of the mischievous god. With his huge arms, the Hulk flailed and struck at the images, each one disappearing with a shimmering light as he cut through them with his fists. He roared yet again as he destroyed more and more of Loki's illusions.
All of them had the same mocking expression, and their condescending laugh surrounded the green beast in literal surround sound.
The Hulk stopped.
All of the copies shook their heads at the poor, foolish, monster. "All that strength, and not a single wit about you," they cackled.
The Hulk growled louder and louder with every second of laughter, until he was poised to unleash every ounce of his anger. His gigantic hands were thrown up, and then brought straight down to send the entire floor crashing down, down, down...
It was like an earthquake, all of the Hulk's strength shaking the building in that instant. All of Loki's illusions vanished, and the real man was sent tumbling with the rest of the rubble as the glittering remnants of his magic dissipated. "Argh!" He let out an undignified cry of surprise as he plummeted, the scepter flying out from his pale hands as he fell flat on his back and found himself struggling beneath a thick slab of what used to be the upper floor.
The Hulk smiled in satisfaction. "Puny god," it mocked from up above.
Loki was prepared to fire more insults, but the Hulk leaped down through the collapsed floor and landed in front of him. Loki could feel his bones grinding against each other with the heavy slab pressing down on his ribcage. The Hulk extended his foot forward and stomped down on Loki, a guttural cry of anger, shock, and pain, erupting from the little man underfoot.
He shoved the thought of pain from his system as he looked longingly at his scepter laying far out of reach at the other end of the tilting room. It was the only hope he had for survival.
The Hulk roared and stomped again, daring Loki to look away.
He did.
How could he not, when he'd seen the scepter slip closer with each of the Hulk's repeated stomps. Loki forced a laugh and despite his disposition he looked victorious from beneath the Hulk's gigantic foot.
Again he stomped, and the floor fell from beneath them once more. Loki let out a pleased yell as his scepter slid across the collapsing floor and hurtled straight into his hands.
A blue light filled the room and even gravity seemed to pause as Loki unleashed his magic.
When the light cleared, the Hulk planted his feet firmly on the ground and stilled. Loki tumbled, then scrambled to his feet and looked upon the suddenly docile monster standing before him with a distant look in its eyes. He smiled.
It worked.
It really worked.
The Hulk was his to control now.
Far away from New York, Jane sat at the edge of her seat as she watched the news broadcast. The massive green creature plowed into the building, but it was all anyone could really see. There were no news helicopters to capture whatever was going on inside, and there wasn't a single sound.
It was almost as if the world had gone silent, waiting anxiously to discover the result of the battle between the Hulk and the power-crazed asgardian. The fact that even the normally chatty Darcy had gone quiet was a testament to that.
"Come on," Jane whispered under her breath, wringing her hands together. She bit her lip and kept watching, unblinkingly, as if her actions would somehow affect the results. "Come on," she repeated intently.
The news feed kept the camera trained on the roof of Stark Tower from below, shuddering in the hands of the cameraman as time stretched on. Jane could feel her nerves practically throbbing from beneath her skin as she waited. "Come on...!"
A speck of red and silver flashed across the screen. It landed atop the tower and disappeared from view. Jane was motionless. Her body couldn't decide between fainting and shooting out of her chair to scream at the TV, but Darcy grabbed for her friend and kept her glued to the couch. "Jane?"
The young girl was almost literally holding Jane together.
Panic was building in her stomach; the huge green monster was inside the building with the alien psycho and now Thor...Thor! She hadn't seen him since New Mexico, and now this? She shook her head slightly, but kept her eyes on the screen. In what felt like slow motion, Thor reappeared on screen as quickly as he had disappeared. He stepped backwards and turned, making way for the Hulk as it stepped out of the building in apparent victory with Loki slung over its shoulder.
Jane nearly choked on tears of relief and joy. She wiped her eyes and rubbed her forehead, breathing deeply as her nerves relaxed.
Darcy smiled wide and snorted. She was ready to mock Jane for ever worrying, when a crash exploded from the speakers of the TV. Jane's head snapped back up towards the screen in horror.
Thor was gone.
Jane's heart clenched, "No. No, no, no...what happened?!" She knocked her chair over and approached the TV with wide eyes full of confusion.
Darcy's eyes darted between Jane and the TV. For once in her life, completely at a loss for words.
The camera flipped to a different shot, and the image of a collapsed building with a small hint of Thor's red cape peeking out from beneath the wreckage filled the screen. It began to zoom out and refocus before cutting back to Loki and the Hulk. People in New York were murmuring and gasping, then, the audio fizzled and crackled as the feed sputtered and flickered with white noise.
When the audio and video settled, clearer than anything else, Jane heard Loki's chilling laughter fill the room. The man shifted in the Hulk's grasp and raised his head to reveal a sickening smile of delight. The Hulk set him down, but the laughter-it went on and on as the city remained in silent horror. The camera focused in on his face, and everyone could see the clear madness shining in his emerald eyes.
A softer chuckle followed his terrifying cackle, and with a confident stride he stepped forward onto the ledge of Stark Tower.
He ran a hand through his hair and high above from his perch, Loki gazed down at the destruction he'd brought to Earth with a crazed grin. He glanced sideways at the Hulk and his eyes narrowed with glee.
Gracefully, he opened his arms as if to welcome the world to his stage and pointed his scepter down at the streets of New York to signify the first act of his magnificent play.
The green mass roared and leaped down at his command, a thunderous sound filling the air as it fell like a meteor against the asphalt in a cloud of impenetrable dust and smoke. In the following moments, the cameras flashed to each of the Avengers in their struggle against the Chitauri; Rogers pummeling through enemies, Tony firing repulsor rays in torrents, Thor climbing out of the rubble... then the painful sight of them all being tossed around like rag-dolls by the mighty green Hulk.
Loki had done it-he'd won.
Author's Note
Hi there, and thanks for reading! Its been a long while since I really sat down to write something, so I'm a bit rusty. I've been on a huge Loki/Jane kick lately and I love the pairing so much I just had to write something, so hopefully I'll be able to keep things rolling.
Again, thanks for reading!