Chapter Ten

… …

"Bruce?" Tony asked his voice pitifully small compared to normal. Bruce's door was unlocked, something he was both thankful for and worried about. Carefully he pressed the panel to open it, unsure exactly what he would find.

Bruce was sitting against the wall, staring at the empty space below the bed opposite him. It was hard to miss the fact that he hadn't bothered to move from that spot for several hours. He looked more of a mess than usual.

"What happened?" Tony slid down next to him before answering.

"Fury and Natasha had a plan, to get Arella close to Loki, close enough to kill him after they found out that she was the only person who feasibly could. What they did on the bridge, the shadows, that apparently is only the beginning of the sort of stuff she can do. I don't know how she managed to keep it a secret from us for so long but she told Natasha pretty much straight away, before you guys left New York a year ago." He stopped, realising that detailing things Arella had kept from Bruce wasn't the best way to make the man feel better. "She was supposed to kill Loki on the bridge, when he didn't quite know whose side she was on."

The fact remained that Natasha had planned for Arella to stay on their side, not as a double agent at all. It should have been quick and simple; Loki's threat should have been dealt with. Instead, for some reason she had gone with him, betrayed them.

"But she didn't," Bruce said, his voice thick and heavy. "She left. Why?" Tony didn't have an answer; he simply stared ahead until something caught his eye.

"Bruce, why is there one of Arella's gun on your bed?" He didn't really want to know the answer. They all knew that Bruce had tried before and failed to end his own life, Tony hadn't expected him to try again.

"I haven't, Tony," Bruce told him, a faint hint of steel coming into his voice. "She just left it there. I haven't touched anything; it's all how she left it." He closed his eyes and leant his head against the wall.

"All I want to know is why she didn't do as Natasha planned." Tony wanted to know that too, even more than he wanted to punch Arella's face in for what she had done to Bruce. Her words on the bridge came back to him; she hadn't chosen to save him. What did that mean? She certainly hadn't chosen Bruce either.

"There's a lot we don't know about her, Bruce," he began.

"Don't even suggest that she came here because Loki told her to, or something along those lines," Bruce spat through clenched teeth.

"How else would Loki know so much about your past? How else would he have broken out? I've heard Thor's explanation and there's something not quite right. Loki had help to get back here, for all we know it was Arella." Bruce jumped up so that he towered over Tony, his face a few shades away from green.

"I don't believe that." Tony couldn't say the same.

… …

Arella stood in the middle of the darkened hall, her eyes closed. Taking a deep breath she pushed at the shadows around her. The box lying on the floor smashed into the far wall. The quiet, steady sound of approaching feet culminated in the squeaking of an opening door. She could hear Loki's breathing as he stood by the door.

She had hurt her friends. She had made it seem like Loki was forcing them into the ground when she had been providing the shadows. They had been his to command but the power had come from her.

The shattered box lifted itself up off the floor and the broken pieces shot around the room.

"My soldiers are here," Loki told her softly. "Their training will begin immediately."

Training his soldiers, the monsters he had brought from whatever hellhole he had ran to after escaping Asgard, was not a pleasant thought.

A splinter embedded itself in the floor next to her.

"Take them to a clearing, a large open space with no one around," she said, spinning the shards of wood in a cloud amongst the rafters.

"You're not the one giving orders." Loki sounded spoilt, used to being in charge.

Another splinter, somewhat larger than the first, shot into the wall less than an inch from his face.

"No, but I'm the one who wields the power." She smiled at the look of fear and doubt on Loki's face. "Don't forget, you are powerless until your mages get here, if they ever do."

Loki had an army of brutes, mindless animals that Tony could tear apart without even stopping his infuriating monologue. They weren't what had worried her, even normal Earth soldiers could deal with them. But Loki wasn't an idiot; he had another card to play.

Mages, outcasts from Asgard and other worlds, all bitter, all hungry for a fight. These were the people she was scared of, the ones she knew the Avengers stood no chance against.

"And when they do, you won't be the most powerful being on Earth, you will be nothing more than another foot soldier," Loki retorted. She laughed and let the rest of the wood drop to the floor.

"It's too late to start threatening me, Loki. You may not have need of me when your mages come but until then you are reliant on me."

"They will come, that is why you are here. You know that they are coming and the Avengers will be powerless to stop them. You will have your demon, Arella, your beast. All you have to do is teach us how to open the portal and let them through. You don't even have to fight your friends. Open the portal and you may fetch the monster at any time. Unless of course, you change your mind." He held her glare just long enough to make her look away in disgust before showing himself out.

A large piece of wood hit the door just as he slammed it shut behind him.

… …

*points at Skulduggery Pleasant book* Blame that for my inspiration as to what her 'magic' thing is. Using spells Eragon style wouldn't work and I always had a problem with wands/staff type things. So I don't really own the magic either. No characters, no magic, no plotbunnies.