Chapter Nine

Winter only made it halfway down the hall before someone grabbed her arm, bringing her to a halt. She whipped her head around, coming face to face with Steve. He looked at her warily, "How do you know he's opening the portal now? Do you know where he is?" Winter nodded, her patience running out, "Yeah! He's opening the portal overtop of Stark Tower! Look, I don't have time to explain this right now, I forgot to tell you, my bad." Tony was behind Steve, looking at her incredulously, "Your bad? That's a big slip up, how did you happen to 'forget' where Loki was heading?" Winter's face grew red, and she sighed, her patience completely gone, "We don't have time for this, you can be mad at me later." She ripped her arm from Steve's grasp, "If you guys are going to keep accusing me right now, I'm going to leave, because Loki invading New York with his alien army is kind of on the top of my list." Before any of the others could respond, Winter pulled up the location of Stark Tower in her mind, closing her eyes and letting her form slip away. She waited a moment for her disorientation to fade, before opening her eyes. She had ported onto the middle of the landing pad, perfect. She jogged towards the glass doors, swinging them open and walking inside. The floor was empty, and Winter wondered for a moment if she had been wrong. A second later there was a ding, and the doors to the elevator opened, revealing Loki himself. He was alone, and smiled upon seeing her. Well, smile wasn't the right word. It was more of an angry smirk. She didn't know what she had expected. A hug? An apology? Really anything to confirm that last night had really happened. He showed no sign that they had shared a dream, just kept that angry cool confidence wrapped around him like a blanket. He spoke first, "I'm disappointed. I was sure that you would have called your Avengers here the moment you got away." Winter shrugged as he stepped out of the elevator, its doors closing behind him, "Yeah, that was my bad. With so much going on I guess I forgot. You didn't wait up though, right? Or were you sitting in that elevator for days, just waiting for the moment you could make your dramatic entrance?" He practically snarled at her words, all humor gone. He lifted his chin, staring at her with a sense of superiority, and she snorted, probably trying to assert dominance. He ignored her,"And where are your friends?" His tone was ice. Another shrug, "No clue. I don't even know if they're coming." He cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing, "You came alone. Why." It was more a statement than a question, and as Winter contemplated her answer he took a slow step forward. She arched an eyebrow, "I came because I wanted to talk." "This isn't exactly a good time. We talked last night, and you made your choice. I have no other interest in what you have to say." His tone was so indifferent, and for a moment, Winter was stunned. It must have shown on her face, because his smirk retuned, and he took another step closer, "No…" he stretched the word out, amusement and disbelief in his tone, "You thought last night changed something, didn't you?" He was practically laughing, but his overall expression remained angry. Winter's eyes were wide, had she thought last night had changed something? She didn't really know what she thought. She set her face into an angry determination, trying to hide her embarrassment. There was no stopping him though, "I humored your ideas last night, your pathetic faith in me, your childish hope. I had no idea you were serious. You really thought you could change my mind?" He laughed, "So naïve." Winter's face burned, but she was more angry than embarrassed now, "I don't know who you're trying to convince. You keep forgetting that I've been in your head. I've seen every thought, and every emotion." It was her turn to step forward, they were an arm's length apart. They held each other's eyes, a silent challenge. Her voice came out barely a whisper, "You can't hide from me." He just stared. Is this how it's going to be every time we come face to face? Challenging each other until one of us cracks? She broke eye contact with him. He really was beautiful. He had fixed his hair, slicked it back to the same style it had been in when she first saw him. He looked a lot better now, a lot healthier. Looking back she found his eyes still on her. His face was hard, but his eyes were unguarded. Hope and discouragement battled inside him. He ignored both, settling on anger. Breaking his gaze from her, he stalked past her and out onto the lower balcony. Winter was about to go after him when she saw Tony drop onto the landing space. As he walked towards the door, machines came out of the walkway and removed his armor. Loki began approaching the other set of doors, acting as if he hadn't just walked out a moment earlier. Winter let her form slip away, becoming invisible and hiding in the corner. The last thing she needed was Tony seeing her. As both men entered, Loki smiled, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Nope, that's my job apparently. Tony walked towards his bar, his arms behind his back, "Actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Loki began walking towards him, "You should have left your armor on for that." Tony just shrugged, "Yeah. It's seen a bit of mileage, and you've got the glow stick of destiny." He gestured to the scepter. Loki looked down at it with amusement. Tony grabbed one of the various bottles of alcohol, "Would you like a drink?" Loki smiled, "Stalling me won't change anything." Tony looked up, his face a mask of innocence, "No, no, threatening." He paused, "No drink? Are you sure? I'm having one." Loki turned away, his patience was fading quickly. He walked over to the window, overlooking the city, "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?" He turned back to Tony, expecting an answer. "The Avengers." Tony said, like he was hoping to catch Loki off guard. Whoops, I already ruined that surprise. Loki didn't react, and Tony continued, "That's what we call ourselves. We're sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type thing." He began pouring himself a drink. Loki smiled, "Yes, I've met them." There was a laughter in his voice that Tony somehow missed. Tony smiled, his sarcasm finally taking on a hint of annoyance, "It takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demigod." At that Loki looked away, glaring, as Tony continued, "A super soldier, a living legend, who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them." Loki smiled, his previous anger seemingly forgotten, "That was the plan." Tony picked up his glass, taking a drink before replying, "Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you." Loki growled, "I have an army." And Tony didn't miss a beat, "We have a Hulk." Loki raised an eyebrow, "I thought the beast had wandered off." Tony shook his head, "You're missing the point. There's no throne. There is 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 damn well sure we'll avenge it." Loki's amused expression was gone, a much more menacing one took over. He began stalking towards Tony, and Winter knew he was done talking. She softly slipped into his mind. Loki calm down, don't do this. He completely ignored her, not giving any hint he had heard her. Reaching Tony he said, "How will your friends have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?" He raised the scepter, tapping it to Tony's chest. It clanged off the arc reactor, and Loki blinked, before bringing it up to try again. When it failed, Loki's forehead wrinkled in confusion, "This usually works." Tony shrugged, "Well, performance issues. It's not uncommon, one out of five…" He was cut off as Loki reached up, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him to the floor. He grunted, "Jarvis, anytime now." As he was getting up, Loki grabbed him again, holding him off the ground by the neck. He was having one of his crazy fits, growling, "You will all fall before me." Tony yelled, "Deploy!" as Loki lifted him higher. The panel of wall behind Winter hissed, and she scrambled to move out of the way. Tony said "Deploy" once more, before Loki threw him through the window, over the side of the building. Not a second later, one of his suits flew out of the wall after him, hitting Loki on the way out. Winter grabbed his arm to prevent him from falling. He whipped around, ripping his arm from her grasp and glaring at her. She took a step back, letting her form re-appear. Before either of them could say anything, Tony rose up, his blasters aimed at Loki. He hesitated, "Winter? What are you doing here?" She stuttered, "I uhm…." "She's working with me now." Loki finished for her, a smug look on his face. Winter's eyes widened, "No! No I'm not!" but she could tell Tony didn't believe her. She had too many strikes against her at this point. Without wasting anymore time, he shot twice, knocking both Loki and Winter off their feet.

There was a moment of silence, before the whole building shook, a loud rumble filling Winter's entire being. She sat up, Tony was gone. Dragging herself to her feet, she ran over to the balcony, looking up to see a hole in the sky, and creatures coming out of it. She dropped to her knees, tears beginning to pour down her face. She was supposed to be strong, supposed to be the best. Why did she feel so weak? Footsteps approached, but Winter's eyes remaind glued to the sky. Strong hands pulled her up harshly, and Loki hissed in her ear, "Stay inside" before guiding her through the doors. After setting her on the ground, she watched him walk back outside, surveying the chaos and trading his regular armor for his famous horns and cape. She couldn't stand this, watching him ruin every chance he had at redemption. She knew he could be good, even if he didn't. Why wouldn't he listen to her? Why couldn't he see himself the way she saw him? When did I start seeing him as anything but a monster? She didn't know the answer, just knew that she should probably leave him alone. He's a grown man and he's made his choice. She couldn't drop it though, she was the only one left who believed in him, except Thor maybe. But Thor was the last person Loki would listen to. He hasn't been listening to you either. Winter was so confused, this man killed her best friend, killed the man she thought of as a father. Even after everything he had done to make her hate him, she couldn't shake her need to help him. One last try, if he doesn't listen there's nothing more you can do. Wiping away her tears, she struggled to stand up. Pushing the glass door open, she was assaulted by the sounds of war. Sirens, screams, explosions. There was so much noise. Winter stepped forward, towards the man who was the source of all her problems. "LOKI!" She screamed. It cut through the sounds around them like a knife. It must have been the way she screamed, because he stiffened, turning slowly to face her. The wind was intensely strong up here, so high in the air. It made his messy hair whip around his face, the face looking at her with so much anger and desperation. Neither of them said anything. Never breaking eye contact, he started walking, taking his time approaching her. Each step looked like it cost him a bit of his soul. Finally, he was in front of her, an arm's length away. "Winter." He whispered. She pleaded one more time, eyes never breaking from his, "Loki you can stop this! It's not too late... I know it isn't what you want. You hate that this is what you've come to... But this doesn't have to be you, you don't have to hit rock bottom before you ask for help, you can turn around now, find your way back to the light." There was so much hope in his eyes, but also pain. She could tell he thought that what she was proposing was impossible. He was torn between his call to madness and his longing to be whole. She waited anxiously, at least he was considering her words this time. Before he could respond his eyes shifted to the side, looking behind her. They widened, and he jumped to the side. He reached for her hand, but before he could grab it something slammed into Winter's chest. She flew back, feeling her ribs shatter in unison with the glass pane behind her as she flew through it. She didn't stop though, and kept flying back until she slammed into a stone wall. She slumped to the ground, Mjolnir resting in her lap, impossibly heavy. She tried to breathe in, but nothing happened. Looking up she saw both Loki and Thor running towards her. Before they could reach her, the world faded to black.