A/N: Yes, I am alive. Real life just sucks and my muse escaped from me a fair amount of times. Anyways, I hope all you who are still reading this continue to stick through the slow updates. I promise to try and update quicker. AND THANK YOU FOR READING THIS STILL. I LOVE YOU ALL.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or anything affiliated with it. I also don't own Skyrim and anything affiliated with it. Basically, I own jack squat.
And BTW, I still don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine. So if you wanna be a beta or know anybody who does, PM me. Please. And sorry about the shortness. The next one should be longer. I hope...
Fire engulfed everything. Anywhere someone looked, flames were jumping about. Bruce heard a scream and pinpointed the origin to the bed. Once some smoke had cleared, Bruce was able to get a look at who had screamed. Tony was clutching his chest, screams of agony escaping his body. Bruce rushed over to his husband and moved his hands away. A metal vase or something in the room had exploded, projecting shrapnel into his lover's chest. Metal pieces were embedded everywhere in his abdomen, most near his heart, and he had no doubt that there were little pieces of the metal already on their way inside Tony's body to his heart. He knew he had to finish this quickly and get his lover to the nearest wizard to fix this. Before he left the bedroom, Bruce quickly used the most powerful healing spell and ward he had in his repertoire on Tony. He hoped that the years spent at the College of Winterhold paid off and that these spells protected Tony until at least he had dealt with Loki.
Bruce left the room, kicking down the door to the bigger chamber and charging up to meet Loki with the others trailing behind. Loki heard his approach and turned to greet his opponent. "Good evening Bruce." Loki greeted; evil and deceit dripping from every word that rolled off his tongue. "Why did you take Tony? There has to be more to this than petty revenge on the Companions. Normally in these situations, the hostage is as good as gone." Bruce questioned. Towards the beginning of the mission, after his head had somewhat cleared up from rage and worry, Bruce had wondered why Tony had not just been killed. Most Silver Hand would kill a werewolf, and then torture their loved ones with the dead body and knowledge of their death. Most Silver Hand didn't take someone's loved one and taunt their target with the live person. This whole situation reeked of a trap, and he had no time to deal with Loki and his pleasantries. He needed to figure out what Loki was up to quickly so he could save Tony. "Very clever of you, Harbinger Banner, to figure out this was more than it seems. Of course, that is expected of you and your genius. But yes, it is more than simple vengeance. It is all part of a grander scheme. One in where I am in power, not these imbeciles who are trying to rule in place of their fallen king. I plan to rule all of Skyrim! The simpletons need someone who is their superior to rule them, and I am just that! All will kneel to me! 'Tis an intrinsic part of the nature of man to naturally kneel and have someone to rule them. And then once I have done just that, I will move on to all of Tamriel. Then Hammerfell. Then Morrowind. Eventually, I will rule the world! And no one, not even you fools, can stop me. You will stand there powerless as I conquer the entire world." Bruce could feel anger and dread fill him as he listened to Loki's plan. He had a nagging feeling that he knew what their part was in his scheme. "Though," Loki continued as if he had read Bruce's mind, "you might be wondering how the Companions fit into all of this. Well, to achieve my goal, I plan to be the head of every influential group in Skyrim. I will basically be in control of over half of Skyrim, and will be able to use my influence to work my way up to King. And since the Companions are one of the smallest and least spread out group, you lot have the pleasure of being the second to come under my reign, seeing as I'm already the leader of the Silver Hand."
At the last comment, Bruce lost it. His patience had been worn thin with worry for Tony and it finally snapped under the pressure of the implications of Loki's plans. He could feel the transformation starting. The Beast emerged, and then all hell broke loose. The others were busy fighting off Silver Hand, though none of them transformed since it was a very taxing on the body afterwards and they all needed to be at their best if they wanted to save Tony. Bruce was the only one in his lupine form, and that was only because of his tendency to transform when enraged. When his transformation was finally complete, he charged after Loki. He swiped one giant paw across Loki's chest, leaving huge gashes on his abdomen. Loki tried to block with a staff that Bruce must have overlooked earlier, but it was all in vain. The Beast was too strong. Loki then went flying across the room from a well placed swipe of The Beast's paw to his side. The Beast advanced towards him, quickening his pace when he saw the fear gleaming in Loki's eyes. Loki sent a fire bolt his way, knocking him down, but The Beast just brushed it off and continued towards Loki. Loki was becoming very desperate, and teleported away from The Beast. Though what he didn't anticipate was how fast the thing actually was. Not long after his teleportation, the damned beast was almost upon him. Before he could make any move, The Beast had gotten to him and started slashing and biting. Loki shot some fire bolts and blasts of ice at the thing, but it would only temporarily knock him back and just as quickly The Beast was back again. Loki was just about to give in to his wounds and accept his fate when he heard one of the other Companions shouting. All of a sudden, the biting and slicing ceased.
"Bruce! Stop! You can't kill him! This is not you Bruce! Do not let this thing control you!" Steve yelled, hoping to stop Bruce from killing Loki. He knew that they needed to take him in and figure out the scope of his operation. Fortunately, Steve had gotten through The Beast to Bruce before Loki was killed, and he turned to look at Steve. The others had finished off the remaining Sliver Hand not long before that, and had turned to see The Beast looming over Loki, poised to deal a death blow when they heard Steve shout. Bruce turned and faced all of them, trying to break past The Beast and see them clearly, instead of through the hazy consciousness he was currently experiencing. Finally, he broke through and willed himself to transform back into his normal form. Once he was human again, he took a moment to examine the others, thankful that they all seemed free of harm albeit a few scratches here and there, before he collapsed to his knees from exhaustion. Natasha quickly handcuffed Loki, his feeble attempt at crawling away easily stopped by Natasha grabbing him by his helmet. Steve went into one of the bedrooms looking for armor Bruce could wear since his was rendered unusable by his transformation. He came back quickly with some standard iron armor, and though not as good as Bruce's previous armor, it was better than nothing. After putting on the armor, Clint walked over to Bruce and put a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Glad to have you back boss. Now let's go save that damn husband of yours." Bruce looked at Clint, and saw the sadness from Phil's death still lingering in his eyes, but he also saw determination. He saw determination to save Tony so that Bruce would never have to go through the excruciating pain of losing the one you love. "Thanks" Bruce said, giving a quick, supportive squeeze to his shoulder.
Bruce and the rest of the warriors, plus a new prisoner, quickly made their way back to the room Tony was in. Bruce prayed to the Nine that Tony had held on during their encounter with Loki. If he hadn't, Bruce did not know what he would do. Tony was his world. They basically did everything together, form coming up with new alchemy recipes to adventuring together. It would be like his soul was gone, and he would an empty shell of a man. Once, in the room, Bruce rushed over the bed Tony was still lying on. Sighing in relief that his husband was still alive, he checked over the wound quickly, using another healing spell to try and improve Tony's chances of making it to Winterhold. Hopefully Tolfdir and Colette had something up their sleeve that could save Tony. Bruce gathered Tony up as gently as he could, cringing at the pained moan that came from his love's lips. The group descended the spiral stairs and exited out of a side door that opened up into a caged area at the entrance that was locked when they had arrived. Natasha quickly unlocked it with a key that, Bruce assumed, she had gotten from Loki's pocket.
They hastily proceeded towards their horses at the foot of the hill they had been on before the group had started their assault. Once they arrived, Bruce asked Natasha if he could use Shadowmere to go to Winterhold, since he knew the horse could handle its own. Natasha agreed since Tony would need all the protection on the journey that he could get. Natasha had gotten Shadowmere when she was in the Dark Brotherhood, and when their leader fell, she was able to keep it. That horse had saved their hides many a times. Bruce secured Tony to Shadowmere and gently as he could, then turned to address the group. "Natasha and Clint, I want you two to bring Loki back to Jorrvaskr and question him. Get as much information about his plan as you can. I want to know how much he already has accomplished, who is helping him, everything. And use any means possible to find out. Thor and Steve, you will come with me. Once we get to Winterhold, I want you two to go back to Whiterun and inform the Jarl of Loki's plan." The others nodded, and they all mounted their horses and went their separate ways. Bruce knew it would take a couple of days to make it to Winterhold, and he hoped Tony could make until then. "Please, stay with me. I can't lose you. Please. Hold on." Bruce whispered in Tony's ears hoping the man could hear him, a single tear escaping and dropping onto Tony's shoulder.
A/N: You know the drill. Press the pretty blue button that says review. It will actually make me write faster.
Side note: Guess what! I'm writing a new story! It will be Bagginshield and it will have an OFC, though I promise I will try my hardest not to let it be a Mary Sue story. So check it out when I actually have it started, which should be soon...
