Alright, here's chapter two for you guys!
Again, I do not own the Avengers.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think! Feedback would be appreciated! :)
Chapter Two
The further inside the city she ran, the more destruction she saw. It was terrifying. She wasn't quite sure if it was real or if she was in some messed up dream.
All thoughts of the beloved motorcycle that had meant so much to her vanished as she ducked behind overturned taxis and attempted to avoid running into people. All was chaos.
She desperately hoped she didn't stumbled upon any dead bodies, and got sick to her stomach at the very thought.
The streak of red and gold light flickered across the sky again. Her mind scrambled to think of what it could be. Bombs the aliens were sending down on them?
Jamie caught a glimpse of her reflection as she ran down the sidewalk in an attempt to find someplace safe to hide. Her dark hair that had been pulled back in a pony tail had come loose and strands of it hung limply around her face, which was smeared with dirt and scrapes. She looked mad with fright, and her clothes had torn in some places.
"Hey lady!" a voice hissed at her.
Jamie turned, trying to find the source of the voice. She spotted a young man in an apron who looked like he was from Jamaica gesturing at her to come his way.
"Over here!"
Jamie quickly jogged to him, and he grabbed her arm, pulling her into the door at the side of the building. "What's going on?" she whispered hoarsely.
"I don't know. But we've been gathering in the basement. Come."
He led her to another door, which revealed stairs leading to what looked like a storage area.
"Down there. I'll stay up here and watch for more people."
"Thank you," she breathed as she made her way down the dimly lit stairs. Below, there was hardly any room to breathe. People were packed together like a can of sardines, murmuring quietly to each other.
Jamie quietly found a little corner by a shelf of flour to curl up in. She tried to get her breathing under control. New York City was actually being attacked. By aliens. People were dying out there.
She remembered the frustrated mood she had been in when she left her grandfather, and felt ashamed. What if that was the last time she ever got to speak to him again? Hot tears burned her eyes at the thought, but she fought down the growing panic. No, she was not going to die. She was safe down here, with all these people.
Suddenly there was a chorus of screams from up above. Everyone in the cellar grew deathly quiet as they listened in terror. Then, the door upstairs was thrown open and the Jamaican nearly tripped down the stairs.
"What's going on?"
"Are they here?
"Will they find us?"
Question after terrified question was shot at the Jamaican. He shook his head, and was about to speak when there was a crash from upstairs and the sound of glass shattering.
"They're in the store," the Jamaican choked. He said it so quietly that only a few people heard, but his words spread like wildfire.
"They're in the store, they're in the store!"
There were several hisses for everyone to be quiet.
In silence, they all listened. Jamie strained her ears for any sound of an alien breaking through the floorboards or blasting the door open.
There was an explosion, and several pieces of the ceiling crumbled down into the crowd. People ducked their heads to avoid the rubble that was suddenly raining down on them.
Without warning, the entire building began to shake.
"We need to get out or we'll be crushed!" the Jamaican shouted. There was a crushing mass of people suddenly clambering over each other to get to the stairs. Jamie tried desperately to push past the crowd herself, but when she saw a woman holding a whimpering baby in her arms, she decided it wasn't worth it. She would let the people go before her.
And if the ceiling fell on top of her….
Well, at least she gave some other people a chance.
Bigger pieces of the ceiling fell, and Jamie ducked her head and shielded it with her arms in an effort to protect herself. Something heavy hit her elbow, and she collapsed to the ground, crouching forward as more and more of the ceiling gave way on top of her.
Someone grasped her wrist and pulled her up. "You can't stay down there!" she yelled. "Let's go!"
Jamie was finally able to make it to the stairs, but the people were moving so slow! She would never make it to the top in time.
When she finally did, she had to climb over more fallen boards and rubble that had fallen in the destruction of the building. But before long she was stumbling out into the sunlight with the rest of the people, blinking rapidly against the bright light.
Her eyes adjusted, and her heart leapt into her throat.
They were surrounded.
The aliens had smoked them out, then waited outside the building to shoot them all. These things were smarter that Jamie would have given them credit for. People were screaming, huddling together in a desperate attempt to avoid being pointed at with those strange glowing weapons.
They were dead. They were all so dead. That's all Jamie could think as she stared, frozen in shock, at the aliens both hovering on their strange vehicles and stalking them all on the ground.
Before a single shot was fired, however, something golden and red flashed in front of them. The light reflected off the metal and blinded Jamie.
Suddenly connections were made. The streak of light she kept seeing.
…Was this Iron Man?
The aliens exploded into bits as the metal man shot at them, zooming back and forth above them all. Then a great shadow was cast on all of them as one of those monstrous flying things floated above them like a giant fish in the air. And something was clinging to it.
Something green.
Jamie's eyes widened as she watched a green monster rippling with muscles clamber all over that thing, ripping at its armor and flinging it to and fro. More aliens spilled out of its sides and landed on the ground. Iron Man shot at them desperately, but there were so many of them.
They were still all going to die.
Why hadn't she just forgotten about the motorcycle and asked her grandpa if he wanted to go fishing? They hadn't done that in years.
Jamie ducked back into the ruined building and laid flat on the floor under the window, laying on broken bits of glass.. If she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her, right?
There was a huge crashing sound that seemed to shake the entire earth. It was like a skyscraper had fallen on top of another. At this rate she wouldn't be surprised.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the sounds of screaming, wailing sirens, and guns shooting.
This couldn't be happening to her.
Not Jamie Franklin, whose boring, ordinary life of twenty-two years now seemed so far away.
She didn't know how long she lay there, curled in the fatal position, but when the terrible noises died down, she peeked her head up. Slowly, she uncurled herself, her tight muscles aching as she stretched them out.
The glass had cut her in multiple places, but not too deeply. She lightly touched the sticky, drying blood, and told herself she'd worry about it later. Standing, she was almost shocked at how silent things had become.
Carefully, she stepped out of the ruined building. The street was empty. Where had everyone gone? Where were the aliens?
She wandered down the street in a haze, then turned a corner.
The city was a mess. Destruction was everywhere. She didn't even want to think about how long it would take to clean all of it up.
Casting her eyes to the sky, she froze in her spot and stared in amazement.
There was a hole in it.
The entire universe was sitting up there, too large for her comprehension.
Something was shooting towards the open space at a high speed. It gleamed. Was that Iron Man again?
Jamie watched, transfixed, as the gleaming object disappeared into the gap in the sky.
There was a loud humming sound behind her. She turned.
And screamed.
An alien hovered only a few yards away from her. With her scream, it lifted its weapon and pointed it right at her.
Not knowing what else to do, Jamie ducked, her arms wrapped tightly around her head.
Something clattered violently on the ground, and she flinched, thinking she had just been shot. In the distance, she hear a loud roar. Not a scary one. It was the roar of people cheering.
Her eyes had been squeezed shut. Now, they opened. The alien and its hovering craft both lay motionless on the ground. Glancing up, she found that the gap in the sky had disappeared.
Was that it? Was it over?
Jamie straightened. A rush of overwhelming relief cleared the nightmarish fog in her mind.
"Yes!" she yelled, and fist pumped the air.
Before long she found crowds of people. They were hugging and kissing, and shedding tears of joy. Or maybe there were some sorrowful tears in there as well. Jamie didn't want to think about all the casualties this could have caused.
Seeing all the people made Jamie realize that her family might be worried sick about her. She pulled out her phone and dialed her grandfather's number, but the service lines were down. She hoped they wouldn't worry too much.
The next step was finding her car and getting home, then.
It was easier said than done.
She was lucky she knew the city well- she had to take so many detours that she began losing hope of ever being able to get out of there before the day was over.
There were news reporters everywhere- she had to duck away from them several times to avoid being sucked into their nosey questions. She didn't feel like being on camera in the shape she was in anyway.
She turned a corner to take yet another detour and saw someone sitting dejectedly on the curb of the street, right in front of Shawarma's, head down. To her surprise, she (or was it a he?) was chained to a light post that miraculously hadn't fallen. As she carefully approached, he (it was a he!) lifted his head, and his long dark hair moved to reveal his face.
He looked pretty beat up, which wasn't too surprising. He was wearing some sort of costume- was he in the middle of a play or something when they were attacked? And why was he chained up?
What disturbed her the most was that he had a metal clamp around his mouth.
His eyes flickered up at her, and were filled with a sadness she felt she could never comprehend.
She couldn't help it.
Jamie approached the man cautiously. He watched her like a wounded dog.
"Why… Why are you chained up?" she whispered.
His eyes didn't leave hers. His thin dark eyebrows pulled up and came together, increasing the empathy Jamie held for him.
She drew closer to him, and to her surprise, he held out his hand, palm upwards.
Frowning in concern, Jamie took it. He clasped her hand tightly, then set his other hand on top, trapping her hand in his grip. He closed his eyes.
Jamie yelped as something- a presence, a force, something- pried around in her mind, making her vision flicker in and out until she felt the something settle itself somewhere in her mind.
Jamie Franklin.
The voice was crystal clear, male, and beautiful.
And it was coming from inside her head, like she had earplugs in- but deeper inside her ears. Right up to her brain, in fact.
Jamie tore away from the man's grip with a gasp.
His green eyes glimmered in a smirk that hadn't been there before.
She turned on her heel and ran.
But she couldn't ignore the something in her mind rustling in amusement.
I think Loki plays tricks on all our minds... I mean seriously, he's got quite a fangirl army! Can't wait for you guys to see what's in store for Jamie! Mwahaha x)