Chapter ten

"Leave us." Odin commanded.

"But, Sire – " One of his guards objected, and Odin turned on him, fury in his one eye.

"I said, leave us!" He repeated. The guards quickly scrambled from the room, leaving me kneeling on the ground, hands bound behind my back. As soon as it was just us left in the room Loki dropped the disguise, stepping over and hauling me roughly to my feet then removing my restraints. I looked at him strangely, unsure about his motives. He just smirked as he walked away.

"There is nothing you can do to me." He explained. I shrugged, rubbing my wrists as I looked around the throne room again. It almost felt like I was getting rather familiar with this place, though I still didn't understand how Thor could have put up with growing up in this place. Slowly I turned my attention back to Loki, who had sat down on the throne, his fingers tapping on the arms. Then he stopped, watching me closely, a small smile playing across his lips.

"I thought you had at least a little intelligence," He said, "Didn't realise you had suicidal tendencies." I half smiled back, then looked around again.

"So, where's our brother?" I asked, "You send him on a wild goose chase?"

"Last I knew he was filling your friends in about your situation."

"How long does it take to tell them I'm fine and currently on a space adventure?" I grumbled, rolling my eyes.

"Our brother isn't exactly the brightest being in the universe."

"That's true," I paused, then sighed, "I hate myself for saying this, but..." I cut myself off, frowning, wondering how best to phrase this.

"But?" Loki prompted.

"You remember that army you brought to Earth not that long ago?"

"Of course."

"Well... My friends and I kinda need help fighting them." Loki laughed.

"And what makes you think that I'll help you?"

"Because I'll hand myself over for whatever punishment you see fit."

"But I already have you here," Loki held his hands out, then grabbed the arms of the throne, pushing himself out of it and crossing over to me once more, "How would you handing yourself over whet my appetite?"

"Because I don't think you actually want to kill me," I explained, "And from what I've heard, stuff like hypnosis requires someone to be willing." He frowned.

"Hypnosis?" He scoffed, "What has hypnosis got to do with anything?"

"You can block my memories, all memories of you hiding yourself as Odin. Means that you don't have to kill me." Loki went back to smirking.

"And why wouldn't I want to kill you?" He asked, "It would remove the thorn from my side." Now it was my turn to smirk.

"You know, a lot of supposedly bad guys I have met recently aren't actually as bad as they pretend."

"Are you forgetting what I did to your precious Earth?"

"No. I could never forget something like that," I told him, the smirk falling from my face, "But... I don't know. There's something about you, Loki," I sighed, shaking my head and looking away slightly, "We might not be related in any way, shape or form, but you're Thor's brother. And there's a part of my that thinks that you're not entirely bad," I chuckled, "That thinks you're just being a rebellious teenager that wants his family's approval," I looked back around at him, a small smile on my face, "That you just want to be noticed. I've been there. Maybe not on quite such a large scale, but my first foster parents treated me differently to my foster brother. Loved me just the same, but there were things he could get away with that I couldn't. And my second foster parents wouldn't let me have anything to do with my old family, were just too worried about my health. So in some ways... Yeah. I know what you're going through. I'm not going to tell anyone that you're not who you pretend to be, not going to tell anyone that the current Odin isn't who he looks like, but... I think you're willing to help me if it means we come to an agreement that means I walk out of here alive," I shrugged when Loki still didn't seem convinced, "Plus, helping me means that you don't have more people doubting you are who you say you are. After all, I'm sure the real Odin would help his daughter." Loki sighed, putting his illusion back in place and heading to the door.

"Guards!"

"Yes, Sire?"

"Get the men ready," He ordered, "It would seem we are going to war."

"Sire?" Odin/Loki looked back around at me.

"It's on a scale that could effect all the nine realms in the future." He said. I nodded. It was true. There was a chance it could. There was still a part of me that thought this was way too easy though. Besides, Loki was a trickster god. He could have anything up his sleeve, and I knew it. He probably knew I knew it too, but he also knew how desperate I was. On the bright side, at least I wasn't dead.

Yet.

Heimdall dropped the army right in the middle of battle, so I had to run back to the ship, barging in on Rocket, who turned and snarled at me, clearly expecting one of the butt ugly alien whatever to come barging in. When he saw it was me he relaxed a little, then just frowned slightly.

"Where the hell did you go off to?"

"I'm sure I remember telling you that I was going to get help."

"You never said from where!"

"Odin." I picked up the tech that was originally meant to translate Groot from the ground, messing around with it, knowing exactly what I had to do, and knowing that I had to do it before the end of this fight.

"You went to your dad for help? The guy who's trying to kill you?"

"Currently we have a truce going on," I explained, picking up a couple of other things form the ground, "Don't you need to finish the... the thing?"

"Infinity stone copies? Yeah, they're almost done."

"Good. Finish up, then get out and give them to people and tell them to get Heimdall to send them somewhere else."

"Heimdall?"

"He'll get them somewhere far away from here. Then they hide the things and get transported back here."

"That will just be spreading them to other planets!"

"Rocket!" I snapped, then sighed, looking around, "Let me worry about the details, please," I looked right in his eyes, could clearly see the worry there, "Just trust me." Rocket nodded slowly after a second, then went back to work as I headed back out, quickly finishing the tech in my hands. I slipped down a side street that didn't currently have anyone else around and crouched down, pressing a button on the thing, then sighed.

"OK, so... not much time to explain this in full, but, long story short... I quite possibly have made the biggest mistake in my life, and for that... I'm so, so sorry."

I slipped the thing into a pocket and headed out, tucking my hair behind my ears and then heading back out into the swarm of monsters I had wished never to see again. I could see Gamora and Drax, but no sign of Peter or Groot. I had to shove the fear of what had might have happened to them to the back of my mind as an asgardian warrior shot an arrow past me into the chest of one of the invaders. I nodded my thanks to them, then ran forward, jumping onto a concrete fence, then jumping off that onto the back of a Behemoth, holding on as it flew through the sky, kicking out at a couple of the smaller aliens, sending them falling off the beast while I struggled to make my way to its head, still keeping an eye out for Peter and Groot, while also watching Gamora and Drax to make sure they weren't in too much trouble. But I didn't think they would be finding this too hard... or more correct I didn't think they would be too hard off, especially since Siff and the Warriors Three were nearby. Seeing them in action was actually quite impressive. I got too distracted and misplaced one of my feet, one of the invading aliens taking advantage of it and almost managing to impale me. Next thing I knew it was being shot away. I looked around at Peter, who apparently had a jet pack. That was cool. I needed to get one of those. Actually, no... I wanted an Ironman suit. I grinned at Peter, glad to see he was alright. He landed next to me, giving me a hand up while shooting another couple of aliens.

"Where's Groot?" I almost had to shout to be heard above the noise of what was sort of like gunfire from the things I presumed were being flown around by Nova Corps employees.

"I thought he was with Gamora?" Peter yelled back, his mask retreating so I could see his face properly.

"Well, to be fair my eyesight isn't that good..." I chuckled nervously, "Let's hope he's still with Gamora."

"Right," Peter and I ducked a blow from another invader, me summoning a burst of air and causing it to go flying off to the ground, "Any idea how to kill this thing we're standing on?" Peter asked me, shooting yet another alien.

"Ah..." I struggled past him, making my way to the head, scanning the armour for any weaknesses, "Still working on it," I admitted, "Right now I really, really wish we had Hulk... or maybe Thor. In a perfect world we'd have all the Avengers."

"Well, sorry. You're stuck with a bunch of misfits." I grinned at Peter, my short hair getting into my eyes... just...

"Wouldn't have it any other way," I looked up as a flash of golden light lit the sky, "Looks like Rocket's giving out our distractions." Peter followed my eyes, frowning slightly.

"I don't understand."

"Right now Heimdall is beaming people into ships in the middle of nowhere and sending them into places like asteroid belts to place the decoys," I explained, "Figure it might at least... ah... what the hell is the word..."

"Deter?"

"Yeah! Thanks," I grinned at him, "Might at least deter people from going after them." I continued making my way to the head, Peter still following me. We reached the head and my eyes started almost glowing red as I started manipulating fire from a nearby building to come to me, spiralling up around me in a towering inferno before I forced it to super heat the armour on the behemoth and melting it into the creature's skull, then through it, killing it, sending it on a collision path with another building. Peter tried to grab me but got thrown off by another of the smaller aliens. My eyes changed to green and the fire dispersed as I started solidifying the air and controlling the decent of the behemoth down a street, trying to minimise the damage. I got thrown off for my efforts, but at least less people were injured and I just managed to roll out of the path, setting my feet firmly on the ground and forcing it to open, engulfing another three or four of the invading aliens. My eyes connected with Peter's and I nodded to tell him I was fine. He nodded back, his mask covering his face again as he flew off. I turned to find another group of aliens to fight and found myself face to face with Odin/Loki. He looked at me and smirked, leaving me frowning.

"We have an invading army to fight, what are you – " I got cut off as his hands shot out, one each side of my head.

"This isn't going to be pleasant." He warned, just as I shut my eyes while fragments of memories flashed before them. The look in the child's eyes just after I had killed her parents, Dale's mom just before I killed her, stabbing the Entity in the wrist through my own, trying to strangle Steve... I gasped, trying to struggle through the memories, trying to get air into my lungs, fighting to stop the feeling that I was drowning... but all I got was more memories, memories of pushing an old man off a bridge, of using the wind to rip S.H.I.E.L.D agent throats out, of a boy with red hair and orange eyes, freckles dusting his nose...

And then of Loki.

Odin/Loki dropped his hands, leaving me to stumble back, placing a hand against a nearby wall so I wouldn't fall over, coughing, then just panting, glaring at him.

"The hell did you just do?" I choked out.

"Making sure you keep up your end of the bargain," He explained, "Making sure you cannot tell anyone about who I am." Then he turned and started walking off, leaving me on my own. He had just rounded the corner when another pack of the invaders came visiting me. I held my hands out in front of me, falling backwards against the wall due to the sudden movement, calling up a shield of wind to protect me, then forcing it back, forcing the struggling invaders into the far wall, slowly crushing them. Once that was done I took half a second to catch my breath, then scowled, pushing myself away from the wall and running out and making the ground rise a little each step I took until I was satisfactorily high, pushing myself off and sending me flying into another of the invaders, quickly dispatching them, now finding myself in the thick of battle, Gamora and Drax not that far from my position anymore, Peter now helping them out, Lady Siff and the Warriors Three also still reasonably nearby, protecting a small group of civilians. Fighting in the thick of battle was taking a lot more of my concentration than it had when I was just shooting from a distance. I missed those days. Another golden beam shot down, this time next to me, and I looked away, covering my eyes for a second. I grinned when I looked back before returning to fighting.

"You took your time." I yelled above all the noise.

"I thought I told you to be safe!" Thor yelled back, backhanding one of the invading aliens with his hammer.

"I really can't remember. Bad memory and all that."

"Do I seem to be in a gaming mood, Tyra?"

"Ah... yyyyyyeahhh?" Thor threw a dirty look at me, then went back to fighting.

"Any ideas as to how to close the portal this time?" He asked.

"I think, not sure, but I think I put Rocket on finding a way to disrupt, block, remove, control... whatever, just generally mess around with gamma radiation or something like that," Thor looked back at me, still not impressed, and I rolled my eyes at him, "I only pretend to know everything, Thor. I also have a messed up head, remember?"

"How sure are you that you asked this Rocket to work with gamma radiation?" Thor demanded, "And how sure are you that this will work?"

"Um..." I dodged another attack and Thor electrocuted the thing, "88% sure that I asked, 12% sure that it will work."

"Do you have a backup plan?" Thor looked at me incredulously as Siff and the Warriors Three stepped forward and started making sure that we weren't attacked.

"Can I get back to you on that one?"

"I do not believe this is the best time for this argument," Siff interrupted, "Perhaps you could resume it once we have this situation under control?"

"We cannot get it under control until we close that portal!" Thor pointed up at the portal in the sky and an idea clicked in my head. I clapped my hands together, then looked back at Thor.

"I have an idea."

"Is it an idea that will work?" He asked me. I pulled a face.

"Well... 50/50 we'll live or get killed and possibly destroy the entire planet." Thor paused a moment.

"It is better than the 12% her other plan will work." Fandral called out.

"He has a point." I said, Thor sighing, then nodded.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked.

"Still need that gamma radiation thing I asked Rocket to make."

"If you even asked."

"I'm pretty sure I asked."

"Just get moving!" Volstagg yelled at us and I grinned, running off, Thor not that far behind me, though I knew that he could have gotten in front of me quite easily, he was just following to make sure he knew where he was going. From what I could see, this portal was different. There was nothing on this end seeming to hold it open. Which made things a little more complicated. But if they could just... I tore my eyes from the portal and reached out with my mind, trying to use the wind to find Rocket. I knew it could be a bad idea, but there wasn't exactly much choice. It would be faster than searching every street in person. I just hoped that this would work.

I haven't proof read... again... And I get the impression that this is nearing the end... not too sure, but I suppose we shall find out. I hope that despite all the mistakes that are bound to riddle this chapter, you still managed to enjoy it.