Hey there! Here is Chapter Ten of A new Avenger!
A huge thanks to: Watson Smith, xXx DIGITAL xXx, SilverDragonflymoon and ianderson! You guys bring a huge smile on my face!
Also, this is one of the last chapters of this story. I'm still figuring out wether I'm going to give you the end in one long chapter or two smaller chapters. We'll see, I guess!
For now, enjoy!
Bruce, Steve and Thor come to a halt to catch their breath. The three of them have been running around the city and fighting off Chitauri along the way in order to find Elsa. Bruce groans in frustration. "Where can they be? We've been searching everywhere!"
Steve looks around when his eyes fall on Stark Tower. "Well, not everywhere."
Bruce and Thor follow Steve's gaze. "Do you really think Loki would've gone to Stark Tower?" Bruce asks.
"I don't know. But it's worth a shot to take a look, don't you think?" Steve asks. Bruce and Thor exchange uncertain looks, but then they nod. When the men enter the penthouse of Stark Tower, they feel cool air breezing around the room.
"Elsa?" Bruce says, but there is no reply. "Elsa?" He tries again, raising his voice this time but there is only an echo. Thor wanders around the room, the glass shards shatter even more under his heavy steps.
"Thor." Thor hears in a hushed whisper. The God looks over his shoulder to see Steve knelt down next to the couch. Steve nods his head to motion Thor to come over. "They were here." He says, still in a hushed whisper as he points at the semi-dried blood on the couch.
"That's a lot of blood." Thor remarks, with a hint of worry in his voice. Then he kneels down as well to take a closer look.
"Queen Elsa was seriously injured when they left." Steve replies.
Thor looks around quickly to make sure that Bruce is out of earshot before he looks back at Steve with his brow creased in worry. "How much blood can you midguardians lose before you... you know—" Thor gets cut off by a loud gasp. Steve and Thor quickly close the gap between them, trying to hide the blood from Bruce. And when they turn around like children who have been caught dipping their hands into a cookie jar, they find Bruce looking at the wall.
Bruce runs his fingers over the frostbite that's left from Elsa's attack against Loki. "Guys, look! I found something." Steve quickly hides the blood under some debris and joins Bruce. "This ice is definitely from Elsa." Bruce continues, with a glint of hope in his eyes. "So, she was here after all."
"They must have had a fight." Thor says as he's look at the ice.
"Maybe she managed to escape." Bruce says softly, as if he's talking to himself. He looks up at Steve and Thor, dreadful. "She's still out there, all alone... We have to find her." He continues and turns around to run out again.
Steve grabs Bruce's arm to stop him. Bruce turns around confused while Steve panics on the inside because grabbing Bruce's arm to stop him was only a reflex. "Eh..." Steve fumbles, looking for words. "If Elsa got away, maybe she's already on her way back to us. We don't have the time to run around in circles to look for each other."
Thor looks from Bruce to Steve knowing well enough that what Cap says might not be true but hoping that it is. "You don't know that." Bruce replies unsure.
"You're right." Steve says. "But there is one thing I am sure of, though."
"And what's that?" Bruce asks.
"From what I've seen Queen Elsa always knows to find her way back to you."
Bruce lowers his head to the ground, his cheeks growing red slowly. "Yeah, she does." He replies softly, more like he's talking to himself. Then he takes a deep breath and looks up again. "But now it's my turn to find my way to her. You guys can go back without me. I won't stop looking until I found her."
…
Anna, Natasha and Tony battle the Chitauri soldiers side by side. Natasha uses her respected weapon while Anna uses the Iron Man gloves she got from Tony. Using it in combat makes it easier to get the hang of it, and she's getting better and better at it. Natasha tackles a soldier, and as the Princess turns around to see, an energy blast strikes her down hard. "Princess!" Tony shouts, but he's too occupied to help her.
The Chitauri jumps down on Anna, she quickly grabs an energy rifle that lies nearby and uses it to keep the soldier at bay. The soldier roars in frustration, causing spit to fall on her face. "Ew, ew, ew, ew!" Anna says disgusted and tries to push him of off her but she fails.
Then, the soldier gets knocked off her. Anna turns her head and sees Thor and Steve standing there. Thor hurries over to Anna to help her back to her feet. Anna puffs a strand of hair out of sight and dusts off her dress. "Are you ready for another bout?" Thor smiles.
"What? Are you getting sleepy?" Anna asks in return with a smug smile. Then she frowns a little. "Where is mister Banner?"
"And where is Queen Elsa?" Natasha asks as she and Tony join them as well.
"We couldn't find Her Majesty." Steve says and he explains to the redheads what they found in Stark Tower. He tells them everything, but not about the blood he found. Thor and Steve exchange looks for a brief moment, but then there is Anna's everlasting optimism.
"I'm one hundred percent sure mister Banner will be able to find Elsa and bring her back safely." The Princess says. The Avengers nod in agreement and continue fighting.
…
Elsa and Loki are walking down the street in complete silence. They've already been walking for a while, and all this time they haven't run into one Chitauri soldier and it appears like the Leviathans dropped out of the sky as well. There are only distant explosions , burning buildings and an awful lot of smoke. Elsa's holding a steady pace while Loki's left behind in her trail, sighing loudly once in a while. Elsa hears him, of course, but she doesn't really pay much attention to him. She has only one goal, and Loki's sighing won't change one thing about that.
After some time, Loki sighs again. "We've been walking past this burning car for the fourth time now, do you actually know where you're going?"
"No." Elsa replies as she keeps looking in front of her.
"What?" Loki says and stops walking. "So, basically we're lost."
Elsa turns around sharply and looks at Loki angrily. "Well, I'm sorry I'm the middle of a city I didn't even knew it existed until I had to participate in a war I don't even want to be a part of to keep innocent people from getting murdered by your Chitauri! And I don't see you come up with any ideas!"
Loki blinks a few times unimpressed and holds up his hands. "Geez, someone is being snappy."
"Of course, I'm snappy." Elsa replies, raising her voice a little. "I don't know where I am and I'm terrified!"
"You're terrified?" Loki asks, trying not to pull up his nose.
"Yes!" Elsa continues to shout. She turns around and runs a hand through her hair. "Every normal person would be terrified during a war where aliens are invading your home and are destroying everything, hurting everyone, killing without mercy. And here I am in the middle of it, lost, not knowing if my team is alright. And Anna's out there as well, because of you!" Elsa faces Loki again and points a finger at his nose while tears threaten to leave her eyes. "How dare you to even lay a finger on her? She was supposed to be save at home but you dragged her into this madness and you hurt her. How dare you hurt her?!" Then, suddenly, Elsa punches Loki in the face.
Loki staggers back and holds his jaw while Elsa stands there, hands balled into fists, heavily breathing. Then he straightens himself again and his lips curl up in a small smile. "Better?"
Elsa takes a few breathers and nods. "Yes, that was surprisingly satisfying. My knuckles hurt a bit, though." She says as she absentmindedly rubs over them and shrugs. "But that's alright."
Loki chuckles. "Yeah, that's a mean swing you got there."
A smug smile crosses Elsa's face for a short moment, but then she turns more seriously again. "How am I ever going to find them?"
"Don't you have a communication device or some sort?"
Elsa brings her hand to her ear, already forgotten she's wearing an earpiece. She presses it as she tries to make contact with the team but it doesn't work. The Queen shakes her head and takes the device out of her ear. "It's broken." Loki signs to give it to him. He turns it around in his hand and looks at it with a hint of curiosity and confusion. After that, he positions his other hand above the device and moves his fingers. Magic comes forth like green snake dust that moves slowly to the device and crawls into it. "Try again."
Elsa puts the earpiece back in place and presses it again. There is some high-pitched bleeping at first, some cracking sounds and then there it is. A soft voice somewhere between the cracking. Elsa could swear she heard Tony's voice. "I think it's working." She says to Loki and turns back to the earpiece. "Mister Stark?" Elsa says, but there is no reply so she tries again. "Mister Stark can you hear me?"
"Mister Stark, it's me, Elsa." Once again, there is no reply. She tries again, it has to work. Faintly she hears Tony talking about a nuke that is coming in and which is about to blow in less than a minute. Elsa starts to panic but she quickly composes herself, she has to stay focused.
The Queen closes her eyes as she tries to concentrate. She holds her fingers steady on the device and without realizing it, her fingers glow a faint blue. That did the trick. "Tony!" Elsa shouts with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
…
Iron Man is flying over the city with the nuke on his back. "Tony!" Iron Man jumps from the sudden shout in his ear, he sways to the left.
"Tony? Tony, are you there?"
"Your Majesty?" He replies in disbelief. "Elsa, where—where are you?"
"I don't know... I'm lost out here. But that doesn't matter now. About the nuke, you have to get it over water. Get it away from the city."
Iron man follows Elsa's orders and does what she says. Quickly he changes course and heads for the water. "Stay where you are, Your Majesty. I'll let Jarvis track your signal and send the coordinates to Banner, he's on his way to find you."
"Good."
"Hey, Your Majesty?
"Yes?"
"Welcome back."
"Thanks, Tony." He hears her smile.
…
"What is it?" Loki asks as he sees Elsa's smiling.
"Bruce is coming to find us." The Queen beams.
"I told you that that beast would come for you." Elsa gives him a look but Loki ignores it, he wants to say something else as well but then something rolls in sight. A grenade. "Watch out!" He exclaims before the grenade goes off.
…
Bruce is two blocks away from Elsa and Loki as he hears an explosion. He looks around quickly to see where it comes from until he notices the cloud of smoke. Bruce doesn't hesitate to run towards it, and when he reaches the site, he sees Elsa lying down on the floor unconsciously while Loki gets dragged away by two soldiers. Loki and Bruce lock eyes. Loki's already glad it's Bruce and not the Hulk. But knowing him, the Hulk might not be that far away, and especially not in this kind of situation. Bruce's expression turns from bewildered to angered and in a blink, he runs for Loki. And while he does that, he changes in the Hulk. The Hulk charges at a soldier and lashes out, he punches the soldier into a building and turns for the other one, who's looking up at him with trembling knees. The Hulk roars loudly and the soldier let's go off Loki to run away.
Loki chuckles nervously when the Hulk lays his eyes on him. "I, eh... he he. I know we had a bad start, and eh..." Loki backs away a little as the Hulk approaches him. The Hulk growls in response, showing his teeth in the progress. He towers over Loki and for a moment they just look at each other before the Hulk closes his eyes and shrinks back to Bruce.
"Bruce?" The men hear suddenly, and when they turn, they see Elsa trying to sit up straight. Bruce rushes towards her and while Elsa does the same. They collide in a hug, sink down to the ground and hold each other in silence while Loki looks away awkwardly.
Bruce is the first one to break up the hug, and then he notices the changes. "Elsa, how—how... how?
Elsa smiles, and oh how he missed it. "Loki healed me."
"He did what?" Bruce asks as his head snaps into Loki's direction. "Why?"
While Elsa and Bruce get back on their feet, Loki replies. "I did not do it for you, mind you."
"Then why did you do it?" Bruce asks next.
"I did it because there is a bigger fight coming for you, and Elsa might be the only one strong enough to stop him."
"Stop who?"
Loki opens his mouth to reply, but they get distracted by the sun which disappears behind dark clouds. The clouds start whirling in a spiraling fashion in the sky as thunder rumbles and lightning flashes. When a strong wind sets up, Loki's eyes widen. "Oh no..."
"What is it?" Elsa asks as she subconsciously grabs Bruce's hand.
"He's here." Loki says.
"Who is?" Bruce asks.
"The Other."
DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUUUUM!
Thank you for reading this and I hope you liked it!
I'm eagerly waiting for your opinion! :D