Chapter Nine
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"San Francisco." Arella looked up as Bruce whispered the name. She knew what he meant. There was a grave stone in San Francisco that had the name Banner on it. Rebecca Banner.
"Your mother." They both knew that if Loki was aiming to hurt Bruce that was where he was going to strike. It came as no surprise when Natasha burst through the door.
"San Francisco, we're leaving now."
Seconds later they were in a jet, the other Avengers suiting up around them.
"Suit up, Angel," Tony said as he threw her a backpack. Arella turned it over curiously. "Slap it on your back." Tony gave her a look that told her it was apparently obvious. She did as he said and found that out of it grew the two metal wings that encased her own and the scales that ran down her back. She was fully suited in less than a minute.
"Please tell me that was the only modification you made." Tony laughed and handed her the halo-shaped helm.
"I didn't have time to add an oxygen mask," he said. "Or any way to hide it because having a mask attached to a halo isn't a cool look." She rolled her eyes at him as she put the helm on. She didn't quite trust Tony not to give her jet propulsion or something she didn't want.
Bruce sat tensely next to her, his shoulders hunched slightly. He looked so out of place amongst the armour, guns and grim faces. A slightly worn out, all too fragile looking man in slacks and a shirt, squinting slightly to see things without his glasses. Arella slipped her smaller hand into his and held it tightly. She didn't feel up to a big battle, her rib still hurt and she knew that she hadn't trained as much in the last few months as she should have done. Repairing roofs and mediating in Bruce's arguments with the goat seemed so far away now, a dream that had happened to someone else.
Natasha touched the plane down on the middle of the already evacuated Golden Gate Bridge.
"Suiting up too, Bruce?" Tony asked playfully as they stepped out onto the tarmac.
"Only if I have to." They all looked up as a cackle of laughter echoed around them.
"Echoes don't happen in open spaces," Steve said, more to himself than his team. They all stood in a circle, weapons primed. Only Bruce stood slightly behind the others, ready to be of help if needed. Only if needed.
"Look out!" Clint yelled just as Thor was knocked off his feet by what appeared to be a black rope. The blond god was swept halfway across the bridge before he managed to right himself.
"What is that?" asked Tony, his question knocked out of him by another rope. As soon as the black tendrils finished their work they retreated back into the sky, vanishing into nothingness.
"Looks like Loki learned some new tricks," Steve answered before he too was sent catapulting across the bridge. "How do we stop them?"
There was nothing for them to fire at, nothing to attack. Arella spread out her wings and took off over the water.
"You didn't answer my question," a chilling voice said in her ear. "How's side are you on?" She span around, firing at the top of the pillar holding the structure up. Loki laughed.
"He's up there!" she yelled to the others, prompting Clint to loosen an arrow wildly up into the mist hanging above them.
"Just imagine the possibilities, of true power," Loki whispered.
"Childish tricks won't get you anywhere," she spat, earning another cold laugh. She realised that the others were oblivious to her conversation, being too far down to hear.
"Oh but you won't do anything to stop me." She didn't react when the shadows came for her, swatting her against the tarmac is if she was a bug. Bruce was next to her in an instant, crouching over her protectively.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Thor had gotten back up but Tony and Steve were taking longer to bounce back. She realised that she hadn't been hit as hard as they had; Loki wasn't trying to kill her.
"Wings slowed the fall. We need to get out of here," she told him, standing up despite the pain that shot through her rib. Bruce's hand went to her side, his face full of guilt. "Don't worry about it."
Natasha screamed as she was flung unceremoniously straight into the metal side of the bridge. There was nothing they could do to counter the attack.
"Fall back!" Steve ordered from where he was struggling to stand. Clint hurled Natasha back towards the plane as Thor grabbed Tony. It took a good shove to get Bruce to realise that Steve needed a hand and Arella could get to the relative safety of the jet on her own.
"Running away? Not very heroic of you," Loki taunted as he appeared, surrounded by a black haze, not far away. Tony shot him but the bolt went straight through.
"Even you fall for that," the Asgardian said, sounding surprised at Tony Stark's lack of intelligence.
"What have you done, Loki?" yelled Thor. None of them were close enough to the plane to reach it before Loki could retaliate.
"I served my sentence, brother, and learnt many lessons from the lost souls in your father's dungeon. Oh but can you not fight back?" He threw a fistful of shadows straight at Thor's head, missing it by inches when he ducked. "Apparently not."
"It is black magic!" Thor told them, pulling Tony into the blind spot behind the plane.
"Great, now that we can name it, how do we stop it?" the darker man asked.
"Your metal suit can't stop me, Iron Man, only one of you wields that power." Tony looked up at Thor.
"Great, so go beat your little brother up! Any time now." Bruce and Steve had managed to reach them, Arella not far behind.
"I do not know how," the god of thunder said, glancing down in shame. It took the two geniuses present about half a second to turn around. Arella wasn't behind the plane with them. She was halfway across the bridge, walking towards Loki.
"Arella! What are you doing?" Bruce yelled, making to run after her. Natasha held up her hand as Clint leant her up against the plane, keeping him still. They all watched as she neared him, unsheathing her sword without stopping.
"Are you going to try and kill me, Arella? Because that will not work out, for either of us." Bruce and Natasha shared a glance as Loki very nearly quoted him.
Arella held out her sword, almost touching Loki's neck for a second before she lowered it. Natasha swore very loudly in Russian.
"Now! You idiot!" she screamed. Arella turned, her pale face twisted into a slight smile.
"Sorry, spider. It turns out I am a very good liar after all." Loki began to laugh at their faces, grinning with glee at their shock.
"Arella, whatever he has promised you, he is lying!" Thor shouted. Tony started to ramble on at her and Clint plucked an arrow from his quiver. In a flash the missile was cutting through the air towards her.
It stopped in mid-air.
"This isn't what was supposed to happen," Natasha hissed to herself.
Arella couldn't look any of them squarely in the eye, focussing on Clint's hovering arrow instead. She didn't want to see the outrage on Thor and Tony's faces, the disbelief on Steve's or the suspicion on Clint's. She didn't want to see the barely controlled anger on Natasha's. She hadn't even managed to look at Bruce.
"Why?" came the quiet, half-muted question. Loki had already turned around and was walking away. She knew that she had to follow him.
"You can't win, not against what's coming," she told them.
"You made the wrong choice," Tony yelled, raising his arm to fire at her.
"No, Tony. I just didn't choose to save you." Shadows wrapped themselves around the bolt, turning it into a wisp of smoke. Arella turned her back on them and followed Loki. She hadn't seen the look of despair on Bruce's face because she hadn't had the strength to look at him.
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