"Because of you, I am afraid." -Because of You, Kelly Clarkson
Alex stared blankly into space at the table. Chelsea sat beside her, sporting bruises from her encounter with the Hulk. She had been in the infirmary for the past few hours, having her ankle bandaged and cared for to the best of the medics abilities. She was seething with anger. Fury had not let her attempt to revive Coulson when she had the chance and she could have saved him. He could still be alive. Jamie was between Steve and Tony, her chin in her arms, tears in her eyes. There was no sign of Danielle.
"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury said, tossing trading cards to Steve. Alex's brows furrowed, she didn't remember those being in his jacket. "I guess he never did get you to sign them. We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor, Hestia...I have nothing for you."
Steve picked up a blood-stained card and his face softened. "I lost my one good eye, maybe I had it coming. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though. I was playing something even riskier."
The Avengers.
Not the Legends.
They had failed, but the Avengers? They still had a chance.
Tony stood silently, then walked away.
"Well," Fury muttered. "It was an old-fashioned notion."
Jamie found Steve and Tony in the cell room. Alex was hurting pretty bad and Chelsea was doing her best to comfort her. She was making sure they didn't do anything stupid...without her.
"Was he married?" Steve asked.
"No," Tony replied, refusing to look at him. "There was a cellist, I think." He shot a glance to Jamie who smiled faintly.
"I'm sorry," Steve said. "He seemed like a good man."
Tony nodded and scoffed, "He was an idiot."
"Tony!" Jamie growled from behind clenched teeth.
"Why? For believing?"
"For taking on Loki alone."
"He was doing his job-"
"He was out of his league, he should've waited. He should have..."
"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."
"Right, I've heard that before."
Steve's fist was clenched, but Jamie took his arm, looked into his eyes and told him without words not to get angry—not now. So he asked, "Is this the first time you lost a soldier?"
"We are not soldiers." He sneered. He calmed down. "I'm not marching on Fury's life."
Steve cast a look to Jamie and she nodded, "Neither are we," He said, gesturing to them both. "He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki, but right now, we gotta put this aside and get this done. Loki needs a power source-"
Tony looked at the blood stain on the wall and suddenly interrupted, "He made it personal."
Steve sighed, "That's not the point-"
Jamie's eyes widened, "That is the point, that's Loki's point."
Tony nodded, "He hit us all right where we live, why?"
"To tear us apart," Steve injected himself into their conversation.
"Yeah, divide and conquer is...great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right?"
"He wants to beat us," Jamie said. "He wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."
"Right, we caught his act in Stuttgart."
"Yeah, that was just the previews." Tony was pacing. "This is opening night, and Loki, he's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the sky with his name plastered..." They froze. Steve raised his eyebrows. "Son of a gun."
"We gotta go." Jamie murmured.
"Persephone, could you gather the Legends?" Tony asked. "We're going to need all the help we can get."
"Um..."
"What? What's wrong?"
"Athena has limited combat use, she's got a messed up ankle and she's helping with injuries and...Artemis is emotionally out of it, you saw that. Fury didn't say there, but based on videos and a report from Artemis, Hestia is dead or dying."
Tony's eyes widened and he swallowed. He had lost both of his babysitters in one day. Steve spoke up. "Get them anyway. We're going to need them and the least we can do is find Hestia's body, just to make sure."
"Are you-"
"Yes, I'm sure, go!"
"Suit up."
Upon reaching Stark Tower, Chelsea decided to accompany Stark into the fort of Loki's madness. Jamie had come to them telling them everything about what had happened and how they were planning on attacking Loki and that they wanted and needed the assistance of the remaining Legends to ensure it went well. Chelsea knew that everyone had seen her ankle as a disadvantage, but she refused to accept that and accompanied Tony to the tower to see what she could do with her words and to look for Danielle if she was given the chance. She had to make sure Danielle stayed dead. She couldn't let the others live with the fact that Danielle betrayed them to Loki.
She had to kill her best friend.
She could see the evil man staring at them with a smile as they entered. "Stay here," He told her. "I'm going to try and stop Dr. Selvig."
There was a loud explosion and Tony joined her, explaining that he could not break through the field of protection that was guarding the cube; together, they walked in. Chelsea searched for Danielle, but could not find her.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said, approaching them. Chelsea hoped he couldn't sense her fear.
"Actually, we're planning on threatening you."
"Speak for yourself." She snapped under her breath.
"You should have left your armor on for that."
"Yeah, it's a bit mileage ad you've got the glow stick of destiny." Loki glanced at the weapon. "Would you like a drink?"
"Stalling me won't change anything."
Chelsea took a seat as Tony began mixing drinks. "No, no, threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."
"The cihtauri are coming, nothing will change that." Loki gazed out of the window-wall thingy. "What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers, that's what we call ourselves. We're sort of like a team." Chelsea glared at him. "Oh, yeah, and The Legends, they're pretty pissed at you, too."
"Yes, I've met them."
Ton scoffed, "Yeah, it takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that. But let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod. A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend,"
Was he putting on bracelets behind the counter?
"A man with breathtaking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and a team of highly trained, deadly women, mind you, who have stopped world destruction before."
Darn it, how did he know about that?
"And you, big fella, have managed to tick off every single one of them."
He smiled darkly, "That was the plan."
"Not a great plan." He walked towards Loki. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
"I have an army."
"We have a Hulk."
"I thought the beast had wandered off-"
"You're missing the point," She interrupted.
Tony continued for her. "There's no throne. There's no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you; because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be darn well sure we'll avenge it."
"How will your friends have time for me when they're too busy fighting you?" Loki placed his scepter against Tony's chest...nothing happened. Chelsea gripped the arms of the chair as she watched in shock and gratefulness. Loki looked confused and tried again. "This usually works."
"Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon. One out of five-" Loki grabbed his throat, Chelsea stood up. He was thrown out the window. A machine followed him.
"Tony!" Loki's scepter shut her up. She couldn't afford to be concerned.
"You can not fight, why are you here?"
"For Hestia, I'm looking for my friend." She replied firmly; she very well couldn't tell him that she planned to kill her. Let him think that she's just searching for her friend.
Loki chuckled, smiling, "You think I'm holding her prisoner, how pathetic. She is here on her own accord and I intend to make her the queen she deserves to be and perhaps, you'll live long enough to see it."
Tony in his suit rose up. A feeling of hope returned and she grinned. "And there's one other person you've ticked off," He said, raising his hand. She shoved him away from her and ducked behind the bar. "His name was Phil."
There was a blast and suddenly, Loki was on the ground.
They looked to the sky where a massive black crater had formed, monsters slipping through.
"Athena, stay here, I'll have someone pick you up."
"Wait, WHAT?!" But he was gone.
People screamed in the streets below and as Loki groaned, forcing himself up, she ran in search of Danielle. Maybe, just maybe, her death will be enough to silence Loki.
