A/N: I know It's been awhile since Black Friday but I haven't had time lately to work on this until now.
A/N: Part of the Holiday Series happens after Thanksgiving Gathering. I don't think you have to read all the Holiday Series to get this one though. Also this one is a little more Avengery than some of the other ones.
Thor looked down at the little blobs on the ground in the growing light. There were more little blobs than usual at a time like this and he knew the reason. Black Friday, Black Friday, the hellish holiday some sadist must have made up and unlike many other occasions it was not something that he wished that Asgard had. There were too many people, too close together, all striving for objects to a degree that he didn't understand. He knew it had something to do with saving money, but still he didn't understand it. He had only been in it once because he wanted to immerse himself in every human occasion, but it was an experience he would never attend again.
"The joys of Black Friday." he looked behind him to see that Clint was also looking down at the little blobs running around. He didn't understand it and he wanted to stop thinking about it, so he turned away from the window and started making his way towards the kitchen to cook himself some breakfast when an all too familiar sound blared through the tower. Someone was attacking the city. Thor called Mjolnir to him, and since it had only been a foot away he received a eye roll from Clint before he left the room running.
Thor quickly followed Clint to the was a tense silence in which neither of them talked to the other. Thankfully unlike most elevators in the city, this one was actually fast and would take less time than Thor flying himself up the staircase, he had tried it once. So it was only moments later that the door opened again this time on Thor's floor.
Thor got out and quickly shed his Midgardian clothing for his Asgardian ones, which would do much better in battle than jeans. Thor then made his way back to the elevator which opened a moment later. Thor got in and was ascending in the elevator for a few seconds before the door opened again and Steve in his Captain America gear joined him He was joined by The Hulk before they made their up to the top of the roof. The doors opened to reveal that Natasha was already there, as was Clint they were in the Quinjet getting it ready for take off. Thor thankfully did not have to wait for such things, however he did need to know where they were going. To that end Thor put his comm in his ear. He was not fond of the thing, but it did make communicating much since the All-father would not allow them to use any means other than humans means. Steve made his way to the Quinjet as Thor's ear was filled by Tony's voice.
"Are you guys there yet.?" Thor remembered that Tony wasn't currently in New York, he had been at a meeting elsewhere in the world where he couldn't remember nor was it terribly important at the moment.
"Where?" he asked hearing his question echoed by Steve, the others must already know. Thor raised Mjolnir into the sky to go in the direction Tony told him. It did not take long to get there, with Mjolnir it hardly ever did. What he saw caused his eyes to widen. It was something the likes of which he had never seen before. It seemed like it was the constancy of the Midgardian food called Jello, only it was in the shape of a small mountain and it was moving along the ground.
"What in the world is that?" Steve asked in his ear echoing his own question aloud. It wasn't moving very quickly, but it left deep ruts in the asphalt behind it. So far it only seemed to be spanning most of the street but due to fact that there were several running, screaming humans he could see why the Avengers had been called.
No matter, even a gelatinous blob would be cowed by his strength just like everything else was. Or at least weaken it, so that the Avengers as one could take it down. Thor took Mjolnir and threw at the gelatinous blob, only for Mjolnir to go about halfway through the blob and then stop in its tracks. Thor frowned, the gelatinous substance must be more hardy than he had originally thought. Thor held his hand out for Mjolnir to come back to him, only for it not to move. Thor frowned and tried another time, only for it not to work again. Somehow the blob was stopping Mjolnir from coming back to him and Mjolnir appeared not to be harming the blob in any way. He found himself scooting back as the blob advanced, not sure exactly what to do if he touched it. Would he be stuck inside the blob too and as immovable as Mjolnir?
He was so distracted by the problem that he didn't hear the Quinjet set down. Thor saw something silver whiz past him and shouted,
"No Steve!" as his brain figured out what he was seeing. He looked as Steve's shield like his hammer got about halfway into the blob and then just stopped.
"What the hell is that?" he heard Clint's voice ask bemused in his ear. Thor wondered how they were going to stop it. It had already devoured his and Steve's weapons, which were far superior to Clint's and Natasha's at least technologically. Thor heard loud noise behind him and saw the Hulk.
"Caution friend, that gelatinous blob is very absorbent." The Hulk didn't seem to listen and bounded towards it anyways. Thor was slightly worried, but not too much. Nothing so far, not even his brother seemed capable of taking on the Hulk. The Hulk punched the gelatinous blob hard, only that only seemed to get his arm stuck in the substance and if Thor didn't know better he would be sure that the blob was causing the Hulk pain. Thor ran to the Hulk who seemed to be being pulled even further into the blob. Thor wrapped his arms firmly around the Hulk and pulled him back as hard as he could. The substance didn't seem to want to let him go but he was able to pull the Hulk's arm after a couple of seconds of hard pulling. The two of them ran several feet back.
"Wow, that is one ugly blob." Tony said as he made his way onto the scene hovering several feet away from the blob which was continuing forward.
"Tony it is made of the most strong substance!" Thor warned just as he heard the sound of Tony's beams charge up. The beams hit the blob and creating a small hole in the blob. Thor could see the light of the beam travel through the blob, only it like the weapons starting slowing down immediately and stopped about in the middle of the blob. Only this time the blob rippled.
Perhaps that meant something good, Thor thought hopefully. Maybe Tony's technology was the only thing that could stop it. The rippling seemed to increase for a few more moments before the light from the beam disappeared and then the blob's height and diameter increased.
It was big enough now that it touched the edges of the cars parked on both sides of the streets. Thor began to fear for Mjolnir when saw that even small contact with the car left them with deep grooves from the substance touching it.
"Okay, anybody got any ideas?" Tony asked. Thor did not, he didn't have Mjolnir and if The Hulk's strength didn't work his would most likely not either. At least the deep grooves in the Hulk seemed to be healing themselves quite quickly.
"Bueller?! Beuller?!
"I just got news from SHIElD and it's not good", Natasha's voice came in through his ear, "apparently this substance was made in a lab. It was made to be absorbent enough to absorb the radiation, heat and destructive force of a bomb, so that if a bomb couldn't be disabled it could at least be rendered inert." That sounded like a worthy effort however the result was probably not what they intended.
"How do we stop it?" Tony asked.
"Well obviously something went wrong. It was never supposed to move like this, it was never supposed to be conscious and while it has no brain it apparently has just enough conscious to move itself forward."
"I didn't hear any way to stop it!" Tony shouted angrily as he flew backwards yet again. Rather than fighting like they were supposed to, they all kept moving backwards as the thing steadily got a little bit bigger as it absorbed asphalt from underneath it and metal from the cars. The purple was starting to have a bit of a gray hue to it.
"They're working on it."
"That does not make me feel any better." Thor agreed with Tony, that did not make him any better either. After the blob absorbed Tony's blast it also started moving faster and tearing more into the cars and anything on the street. They were leaving the more residential areas and going into a areas which would be full of shoppers, which would be even more dangerous.
Thor looked at the blob as it continued down the street. He didn't like this feeling, this feeling of helplessness. He wasn't used to it since nearly everything he tried to do he generally succeeded in. However Mjolnir his trusty aid was currently embedded in the blob.
"Okay new plan." Steve said "Move shoppers to safe areas." Thor nodded, this he could do even without Mjolnir. However he didn't like it when he turned his back to the blob and started running, it almost seemed like he was running away, even though he knew that that wasn't what was happening.
Thor made his way down ten blocks, to where the first store started, fairly quickly and opened the door. There seemed to be several people shopping, none of which seemed to have noticed the large blob that was going to be there soon. He also vaguely noticed that the store was decorated for Christmas already and was playing one of those Christmas theme tunes. He was pretty sure this one was called 'Sleigh Ride.' No one seemed to have notice him yet, and he had to rectify that.
"Everyone!" he shouted and every head in the shop turned to him. Many of their faces started to fill with awe and appreciation and some who were wiser with trepidation. "There is a threat coming this way and you need to vacate the premises immediately." They all responded by going to the door and Thor nodded satisfied as he left the store and went to the one next door. The shop was decorated similarly to the last one and was playing another Christmas song 'Frosty the Snowman'.
"Doing it this way it going to take too damn long." he heard Tony say in his ear. Thor silently agreed, if they continued this way there was no way they would be able to save all the shoppers. However until Tony had a better plan they just had to do the best they could to save everyone that they could.
Thor had cleared another three stores when he heard.
"Damn it's getting faster." he did not like the sound of that. "Also I'm working on a way to speed up the process." he liked the sound of that much more. Thor though didn't know what Tony was planning until he was on the next store and the Christmas music stopped and was replaced with Tony's voice.
"Anyone who can hear this, you need to stop wrestling for that coffee table you always wanted and get the hell of wherever you are. There's something big and mean coming and you don't want to die just to get your favorite toy. Besides Cyber monday is better, just get your love ones a Starkp-." The message cut off there. Thor's lips curled up for a moment slightly amused at Tony's antics, before he realized that he was in the way of the doorway and between over a dozen people who after hearing Tony's announcement were eager to get out of there.
Thor dashed to the exit and held open the door as several shoppers dashed past him and onto the street. After they were all gone he opened the door and saw that someone had constructed something which led everyone in the opposite direction of the gelatin beast. Which was visible now, when it hadn't been the last time he had been between stores.
It was also like Tony said much quicker than it had been before, it seemed to be going twice as fast as it had been before. He wasn't sure exactly how it had gotten so much faster in such a small amount of time, but it could possibly be because the sun was no longer just peeking behind the building. From what he understood if it feed and absorbed things like light and energy and radiation, the sun itself was probably feeding it now. It was also much more gray than it had been, it had probably absorbed even more metal and other dark materials.
Thor heard the sound of a chopper and briefly shook his head in annoyance as he saw a news helicopter filming it. He wouldn't mind them so much except that they either got in the way, or they put themselves in danger almost all the time.
Thor ran along the stores quickly as he watched large streams of people leaving each store. The further he went the more people seemed to be leaving the stores. Thor stopped suddenly and looked behind him, the monster was much bigger now. It now took up more than just the street and it's also was going into the stores now, leaving large holes in the building that it touched. It was also getting faster and there were still several people around the area who hadn't yet gotten to safety.
"Run!" Thor shouted even though he was sure that they knew that the blob was bad and touching it was not advised. Thor's eyes found a child whose eyes were wide in fear as she was running away from the blob. The blob kept gaining ground on the small girl and from the looks of it she would be caught in seconds if no one interfered. Thor didn't think as he ran to the small child and grabbed her off the ground, he pulled the child into his arms and ran with all his might away from the blob. Thor swerved slightly in direction as he found an older man who also seemed to be struggling in his pursuit to get away. The older man had a cane and he seemed to have a bad right knee which was making moving quickly quite difficult. Thor was about to grab him when he saw Tony swoop out of the sky and take him away. Thor really missed Mjolnir in that moment, but did his best to keep running he got to the cross street where he put the girl down. Since the monster was only going in a straight line it was probably a safe enough place.
Thor dashed away again as he saw someone else in the pathway of the monster. An slightly older, more round woman who seemed to be having trouble running well. Thor inwardly winced as he realized even with his speed, with where the woman was and the increased speed of the monster it was going to be a bit close. He ran as hard as he could and grabbed the woman and took her in his arms. He took about five steps before he felt something hit his side.
Thor bit back the howl of pain that wanted to escape his lips. It was like his back was on fire. Thor's eyes opened when all they wanted to do was stay closed as he took in all the people running away, and how no one yet seemed to realize that he and woman in his arms were about to be devoured by the monster. Thor closed his eyes again as the pain hit hard again and then suddenly it lessened. Thor's eyes snapped opened again and found himself on the roof of one of the buildings looking down at the monster as it went by. Thor's mouth started to quirk in confusion until he saw Loki who wasn't looking at him so much as the monster on the street below them. Thor found the woman was still in his arms and appeared to have fainted some time in the last minute. Thor lowered her to the ground and hissed as he aggravated the wound in his back.
"Loki?" Thor asked even though he knew that it was Loki, and that Loki had just saved his and the woman's life. Loki didn't respond he just kept looking at the blob as it started to get smaller as it kept going.
"Loki T-" Loki disappeared mid-word and reappeared on the ground still looking at the blob that was getting even smaller. Loki disappeared again and small green and black blob showed up chasing the now dark gray nearly black blob.
"Loki No!" Thor shouted and was going to go follow when he realized that he didn't have Mjolnir and such a fall might not work out well for him especially with his back injury, even though he knew it would heal quickly. What was Loki planning? However at first he just seemed to be seizing it up as he ran quickly behind it.
Thor was started to lose sight of his brother and he was not going to let that happen, not even with his back problem or the height problem. Thor spared a quick look for the woman and found her to be in fairly good health. Then he dashed around the roof looking for a fire escape until he finally found it. He propelled himself quickly down the escape as fast he could go until his feet managed to hit the ground. Thor knew he was going to have to run fast to catch up with Loki and the blob.
It took him about a minute before he caught up to Loki who shot him an annoyed look in greeting. Loki looked at him and to the blob several times before mumbling something under his breath that Thor didn't quite catch, but he was sure he saw Loki's mouth make the word 'Idiot'. Loki stopped running and Thor found himself doing the same without really knowing exactly why, Loki closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating hard, and when Loki opened his eyes a moment later Thor did his best not to react.
Loki's eyes were red and his skin was blue, Thor had never seen him as his frost giant self and he was very surprised. Loki, however had picked up speed again and then a moment later seemed to be flying on some sort of metal thing. Loki put his hands out in front of him and ice started to come forth. Thor had always known that Loki was good as ice magic. When they were younger Loki had done quite a lot of it since he was so good at it. However he hadn't seen Loki use any ice magic since learning his heritage other than using The Casket on Asgard. Ice started coating the base on their side until the base was surrounded in a thick bluish blackish ice. Loki was gone a moment later and because the blob was now black Thor could not see through the blob.
Loki was back a moment later using his metal flying thing to get higher as he continued to freeze the blob. To Thor surprise and delight it seemed to be working, or at least it was stopping the blob from moving. Loki had teleported away again when Thor saw blue and red from the corner of his eye and saw Tony and Steve come up behind him. Their eyes were on the thick ice covering the lower third of the blob. Their eyes slowly traveled to him looking as surprised and amazed as he felt. Loki appeared on their side again and continued freezing the blob on their side in thick ice.
"Is that?" Steve started to ask before trailing off. Thor nodded but didn't take his eyes off his brother as he encased the rest of the blob in ice before teleporting away again. Thor kept his eyes on the blob which was mostly frozen, still a few cracks were starting to appear in a few places though, which did not bode well. Loki appeared on their side again, this time he just examined the blob and his eyes narrowed as they found the same cracks that Thor had. Without taking his gaze away from the now frozen blob he asked.
"Thor, where is your hammer?" Thor nearly jumped as Loki so far after having saved him had pretty much ignored him except for possibly calling him an idiot.
"It's inside." Thor said looking at the blob. It almost seemed to much to hope that his hammer would be unscathed after being put in such a thing. Loki blinked rapidly before looking at Thor incredulously .
"Inside, your hammer is inside?"
"Yes." Thor answered feeling a little bit foolish.
"Your hammer's inside the beast." Loki's said his eyes narrowed at him and he could practically feel his brother annoyance at him.
"Well I wish it wasn't." Thor said not sure what else to say or what Loki wanted it for. Loki face got contemplative and then he closed his red eyes before shaking his head and then opening them again.
"I'll have to get it." he said to himself. Thor opened his mouth to argue, he wanted his hammer, but he didn't want his brother to get injured. However, before he could argue Loki vanished. Thor's heart dropped down into his stomach as he thought of his brother in the middle of that thing. He had only been in contact with it for seconds before Loki had teleported him away and it had been hell. Every second that went by felt like hours to Thor and all Thor could think about was how his brother could be hurting. What felt like hours or maybe days later Thor felt something in his hand. The weight and feel of the item made it clear what it was without even looking at it.
"Hit it now Thor." Loki yelled. Thor obeyed and brought his hammer down on the blob and watched as the blob shattered into pieces, some of them not frozen! Had his action merely started many of them at the beginning? Would they get ten small beasts instead of one big one who would each in a matter of hours become as large as the blob had been. Thor's thoughts that were starting to spiral into panic stopped in their tracks as Loki started freezing the smaller blobs where they stood, until none of the pieces were moving around anymore. None of the pieces were moving anymore they seemed quite stationary. Loki had done it, he had defeated the trouble by himself in a way that none of the others had been able to do yet.
"You saved us." Thor blurted with awe and realized it was the wrong thing to say as Loki's face lost any trace of emotion ,as well as any trace of frost giant self. His eyes seemed to be looking at everything as if he were seeing it for the first time. They also kept flitting from person to person before finally settling on Thor.
"This is your Christmas gift, I expect something of equal magnitude in return." Loki said emotionless before teleporting away. Thor stared at the spot where his brother had disappeared from sadly. Loki had done a great thing, he had saved the city, but hadn't stayed around to enjoy it. Thor looked at the frozen blobs on the ground and back to the Avengers.
"Since Loki is gone we have to find a way to keep these cold." he said Tony and Steve nodded in agreement. Thor could hear the start of a conversation between Tony and SHIELD before he ripped out his comm not wanting to hear it and instead focused on the ice. The ice that his brother had put there, even though he knew that his brother hated his frost giant self. How hard it must have been to be a frost giant in front of him, how hard must it have been to use his frost giant abilities that it seemed like most of the time he pretended that he didn't possess. Yet he had used them to save people, people who likely would have died if it hadn't been for him.
"Loki saved the day." Thor muttered to himself. He wasn't sure how to process that. He had long ago readjusted his thinking towards his brother and his actions and he had been willing to forget about the travesties that had happened in the past if Loki would stop fighting against them. He had never expected Loki to join them, even if a small part of him had always hoped, though Loki hadn't exactly joined them.
"We doubt he saved it for us." Steve said breaking into his thoughts. Thor head shot up and towards Steve who was looking at him kindly. What did he mean by that?
"According to the camera's Loki didn't show up until you got stuck in the blob ." Tony added. "Since he can teleport, he could have shown up any time before that or after that, but he chose to show up then. As far as we can tell he took out this blob for one reason, to make sure it didn't kill you, to protect you." Thor couldn't help the grin that split his face. If his friends were right then Loki had come, had shown his frost giant face even though he had to hate it, all just to save him. Maybe he cared far more than Thor thought.
"Wow my shield's okay." Thor heard and saw in obscure corner of his mind Steve say holding up his shield the paint had been stripped away but the actual shield seemed fine. He didn't pay any real attention to it though as he mind was still stuck on Loki's actions. Loki saved him, Loki braved a what was then unstoppable blob for him. Which wasn't even to mention that Loki had implied there would be Christmas this year and this was the first time in years they would have some sort of Christmas celebration together. He couldn't wait.
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