Libertas
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Additional Notes(1): I have only seen the movies and read a few comics. I am receiving information of substance from my resident expert, though he is not Beta reading for me (nor does he actually know I am writing this!) Please bare with me if my story breaks one or all of the existing universes.
000
Whenever he hit earth's atmosphere, Loki's screaming ceased—mostly because he couldn't breathe, more than any other reason.
It was the middle of the night, in that part of the world/realm, and he couldn't see the ground that he was nearing. His Chitauri craft started on a rapid spinning course but Loki used the last of his strength to guide it off, far away from the rest of the platoon.
The lack of oxygen (which had never bothered him in the past, even when he was in space,) caused his vision to blur. The next thing that he was even semi-aware of was hitting the flat, sandy ground, his ride skidding and breaking apart until it finally stopped. Choking on what he believed could be his own blood, Loki dragged himself as far away from the craft as he could, just in case the Chitauri would attempt to track the vehical.
And then he prepared himself for death, for surely, he thought, I am dying.
000
"One day, my ass… freaking S.H.I.E.L.D. blocking me… really, what did they expect to find my in car? A convic— SHHITTT!" Darcy Lewis slammed on her breaks, swerving her Jeep to avoid the mess in the New Mexico road. "What the hell!"
The twenty-five year old threw open her door and immediately checked on the condition of her car (which she so lovingly called Cheryl.) "Oh, Cheryl baby, are you okay? I'm so sorry! That mess just came out of nowhere!" That was a complete lie, and her car knew it. Had she been paying attention to the road instead of finding a station that was a non-Hispanic radio station, she probably would've avoided the rubble just fine.
"What a mess," she muttered, her hands on her hips, "someone should definitely do something. This could cause an accident." Darcy shrugged and headed back to her car door. "Not my problem anymore!"
She started to turn her Jeep to maneuver past the metallic blue mess in the road, which her high beams fell upon an arm. "Son of a… No, Darcy, no! You've the horror movies! Beautiful, smart, funny girl goes to investigate a clearly bizarre… thing… and BAM! Someone's wearing her skin. Just call the cops and leave…"
Darcy pulled out her phone and dialed 911. Of course, being in the middle of the desert with strange things flying out of the sky and government agencies doing whatever cover-up scheme they could think of, she had no cell phone reception. "Should've stuck with Verizon… Damn you, T Mobile girl and your motorcycle!" Nonetheless, she kept trying, convinced if she pressed the call button enough, it would work.
It didn't.
Most people would go their lives never find some random person in need in the middle of the desert. Not her though. This would be Darcy's second random person/body. With her handy taster set on high, the woman parked her car again, illuminating as much area as possible, and got out.
"Hello?" She called, hoping for a response. "Are you, uh, alive?" Nothing. "I'm armed. If you try anything, I will shoot."
Still nothing.
Darcy reared and saw that it was a shirtless (well toned) man, easily over six feet tall, with dark hair. He was also badly injured. Hesitantly, she reached a hand out to check for pulse. He was alive, if barely, and absolutely freezing. He was unarmed, and his hands looked almost useless.
Putting her Taser back on its 'safe, she tried to pick up the man. After a few attempts, she kicked a dead bush out of frustration. "This was so much easier when we had three people!" Darcy paced for a few moments, trying her phone again and thinking of her options.
She did have a ridiculously ugly woven blanket in her back set from her friends' bon fire…
Deciding to go a different route, Darcy retrieved the cover from her trunk and took it back to the man. She rolled him onto the blanket roughly, earning her a groan. "Yeah, well, beggars can't be choosers. Want me to leave you here?" Grabbing on to the front end, she pulled in short bursts. Sometimes she had to actually stop to clear out rubble from beneath the blanket. She honestly had to wonder if she was doing more harm than good.
By the time she finally got him to her passenger side, it seemed as if he were coming in and out of consciousness. "C;mon, give me some help here," she heaved, trying to get him into the seat. He managed to aid in guiding his body, and get blood and dirt all over her car, but not much more. "Let's get you to the hospital."
"No," the man croaked, "no… I need… Thor…"
Darcy froze. Did he just say… Thor?
"Seriously dude, you need help—"
"No," he said again, but much louder than before, "get me to Thor, mortal!"
On any other occasion, Darcy would have said that the injured man was a bag full of crazy. But this was just way too similar to be a coincidence.
He was a man calling her mortal and asking for one of the Avengers. Had they ever even disclosed their names? Besides Stark and maybe Rogers? He was also near the site of Thor's initial touchdown, where the other alien invaders had appeared. No, Darcy knew that this guy was for real. She glanced over sympathetically at the bleeding man, resting his weight against the car door and window.
"All right, she responded uncomfortably, "I'll take you to Thor…"
Her Seattle trip could wait.
She didn't really want to go meet with her admissions for her Master's degree anyhow.
000
"I'm not sure Stark," Bruce Banner said over the Bluetooth, "this definitely belongs to the Chitauri. It looks like it hit the ground with pretty extreme speed, but there's no body." He and Rogers were still in the desert, cleaning up the mess the invaders made.
However, after a night time attack that ended in the portal being closed from the other end, S.H.I.E.L.D. decided that further investigation was needed.
So there they were, standing in the blazing heat, staring at the wreckage of a Chitauri vehicle. "Is it just me, or do those look like drag marks?" Steve stared down at the odd patterns in the dirt and sand. He couldn't do much with the technology, so he was forced to stand idly by while Banner handled it all.
Bruce and one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stared down, "huh, yeah, like, uh, a tarp or something."
"And these," Steve quickly said, pointing down to some shoe prints near a dead bush, "it looks like a boot. Relatively small. Maybe… a lady's shoes?"
"Well… yeah, you're right. Hear that, Stark? It's possible that a woman could have been here and took something from the crash site. This can't be a good thing," Bruce said over the line again.
"It's not like people haven't seen them all over the news," Tony said, though only Banner and a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents could hear, "we aren't exactly looking at a Roswell scandal. All you've—I JUST HAD THAT WINDOW REPLACED, COME ON! ATTACK ANOTHER BUILDING! Green, I've gotta go. You know, city to save, living aliens to fight. Put out a missing person's report on a blue, metallic person or something, I don't know. Call later."
The line disconnected, and one of the agents snickered.
"We aren't going to get any help from New York," Bruce muttered. "What are you doing, Cap'n?"
"You know, you guys put an awful lot of weight on technology, and you don't bother looking around," Steve responded. He pointed to the ground, on a slight hill, near where the drag marks started. "Now, I know for a fact that the Chitauri don't bleed red."
One of the agents clicked off his phone and walked up to the Banner. "We tried to get Satellite feed, but just like man of the other occasions, the radiation was too strong. We can't see who came through this area. Shall we… put out an APB on… blue, metal men?" Bruce glared at the agent, who quickly backed up. "My apologies. Now isn't the time for jokes."
"Well, as Captain Rogers just pointed out, Chitauri don't have red blood. We might be looking at a victim of falling debris, rather than one of the invaders."
"Start calling around to hospitals or other medical clinics," Steve directed, proud that he had discovered that the tech eager agents might have (but probably not) missed. "The cellular reception is poor out here at this distance. Maybe a passerby saw an injured person and decided to try to take them for help, instead of trying to wait to call an ambulance."
A few of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents nodded and stepped away, immediately sending out word to all of the local possibilities.
"Do you really think many people would find a crash site, after seeing all of the footage on TV and online, and decide to drive whoever they found to the hospital?" Bruce asked in a tone of a distinct disbelief.
"Why not?" Steve responded, "I would."
000
Additional Notes(two): sorry for it being relatively short! I didn't think that I would get around to updating until Sunday, so I wrote that super long chapter, which led to less content for this one! Whoops! I will be aiming for a longer chapter for chapter ten, promise! There is a chance that my updates could start becoming fewer, so…. If you are interested in me continuing, please review!
For those of you who reviewed after I asked in the last chapter, thank you! It was nice to know that you are out there!
JUST FYI: Cheryl is the name of my roommate's computer. I do not claim right in coming up with "Cheryl" as an inanimate object's name. THERE. I CITED YOU. JUST IN CASE YOU READ THIS AND GET ANGRY THAT I STOLE IT WITHOUT ASKING.
Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments, they truly make my day!
A_F
