Part 10

Over the course of the next three seconds, Anna found herself grabbed, twisted, flipped and pinned. She slammed into the concrete hard, feeling the gritty surface scratch her other cheek as Agent Romanoff's knee dug into her back. The air left her lungs in a rush, and she gasped, trying to catch her breath despite the weight of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on top of her.

How exactly did you think that was going to play out, Anna? She thought bitterly. At least Loki had gotten the scepter. Ever since the Avengers had shown up, she'd been somewhat worried that she wouldn't be able to pull off her part of the plan. She wasn't terribly thrilled that he'd cut her in order to do it, though. Her cheek still stung from the slice. He'd failed to mention that part of the plan when she'd offered to play the hostage again. Well, you didn't expect to escape working with the God of Lies and Mischief completely unscathed, did you? It could have been worse than a little cut. She ought to be relieved.

"What's this?" Natasha's voice said above her. "Another brainwashed minion?"

"Not exactly brainwashed." Anna grunted. Natasha turned to glare down at her. Anna stared at the ground, refusing to meet her eyes.

"She's not under the spell. Her eyes aren't right." Clint said. He'd moved over to stand beside Natasha. "They're brown. They'd be glowing blue if he was controlling her."

"And Loki didn't have the scepter." Steve said, frowning at the Asgardian on stage.

"Not until recently." Loki said with a smile. His hand moved down the staff, like he enjoyed the feeling of it in his hands again.

"So, can we skip the part where you hit me really hard in the head to fix it, please? I'd appreciate it." Anna said. She tried to squirm out from under Natasha, but the agent's grip held her fast. "I think I've been knocked around enough for today."

"And I'd appreciate if you would kindly let her go." Loki said.

"Hmm, that's funny." Stark said. "Now we've got the captive and you want her released. It's like a weird Freaky-Friday, tables-are-turned kind of thing. What in that long-locked head of yours makes you think we're going to do that when you ask, after you so kindly completely ignored us five minutes ago?"

"I wasn't asking." Loki said with a smile. Then he leveled the spear and sent a bolt of blue energy streaking towards Natasha.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent saw the attack coming and dove out of the way, dextrously rolling and coming to a stop a few feet away in a catlike crouch.

Anna flinched as she saw the bright flash of blue go right over her head. He'd missed her, thankfully. More importantly, however, now she was no longer pinned.

"Natasha!" Clint said, running over to help her.

"I'm fine!" Natasha yelled from the ground, pushing herself up and waving him away. "Don't let the girl get away!"

But Anna was already on her feet, sprinting back towards the stage. She scrambled up and ran to stand behind Loki. She was going to be terribly bruised and sore tomorrow after all this. Not to mention that gash Loki'd given her, which stung like lemon juice on a paper cut. She touched the cut gingerly. The bleeding seemed to be slowing, but it pulled and stung whenever she moved her face too much. Nothing she could do about that now though.

"Let us be civil about this, shall we?" Loki said with a disarming smile. Anna felt a bit safer standing behind him. He'd use the scepter to protect her if they tried anything, right? "Such aggression is unnecessary. I need only to borrow the tesseract briefly."

"Oh, really?" Tony said, nodding understandingly. "You just need to borrow it? Well, in that case… No."

"I will return it once my purposes are finished." Loki continued. "This I swear."

Steve narrowed his eyes. "You know, for some reason, I find that hard to believe."

"What use have you of the tesseract, Brother?" Thor asked. "You have no army waiting for you on the other side."

"He's running, Thor." Natasha said. "Like cowards always do."

"I don't care if he plans to string it with a hook and turn it into a Christmas ornament," Clint said. "The answer is no."

Loki shook his head slowly, disappointed. "That is unfortunate. I do so dislike using force, but if we cannot come to terms diplomatically, I have no choice but to demand your surrender." He lowered the scepter again. "Relinquish the tesseract or you will be made to relinquish it."

Steve stepped forward, meeting Loki's challenge. "And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

"Oh, come on!" A new voice called from the other side of the courtyard, sounding annoyed. "That would have been the perfect time for: 'You and what army?' That would have been so perfect!"

Anna couldn't help but grin as, directly opposite the stage, Xandra stood up from where she'd been crouching behind the small wall on the roof of the walkway. The Avengers turned quickly, rearranging themselves to look up at this newcomer without completely turning their backs on Loki and Anna.

Xandra put her hands on her hips and – though Xandra was too far away for Anna to actually see – Anna would bet money that she was rolling her eyes. "I mean, seriously. 'How exactly do you plan to do that'? You completely missed your cue there, Cap. Perfect opportunity, wasted." She clapped her hands a few times slowly. "Well done."

"Another deluded follower?" Natasha asked skeptically, looking back at Loki.

"Excuse me?" Xandra called, causing Natasha to turn back. "Did I look like I was done? Rude." She shook her head. "Anyway, like I was saying, you all seriously dropped the ball there. Loki set that up perfectly and you let the opportunity slip by like a term paper deadline. I mean, really. If I can't count on Stark to ironically spout clichés in an attempt at humor, I feel like I can't really count on anything anymore."

While the Avengers were focused on Xandra's tirade, Anna stepped backwards towards the floating weapons and the girls beneath them. She grabbed a fencing-foil-turned-sword, feeling the weight settle into her hand as her touch caused it to stop floating. Loki'd done an amazing job at turning innocuous objects from all over the school into weapons. The once light-and-harmless foil this had once been was a far cry from the solid and wickedly sharp blade she now held.

As Anna stepped up next to Loki again, Xandra leaned down and picked up a bow and quiver from where they'd been obscured by the wall in front of her. She drew an arrow, pointing down at the Avengers. "Seriously, though. We're going to need that tesseract. And I'm not even going to give you the opportunity to mess this up again. I don't trust you to do it right. So, to answer the question you missed your chance on last time: This army."

Back on stage, Anna raised her sword high. "To arms!"

All around the courtyard, Loki's army answered the call.