Chapter 10: Demons Run

~Clary~

Though the sun had since set when we returned to Alexandria, but I could still tell who opened the gate. "Rosita," I said, stepping past Clint to greet her. "You're here. You came back."

"Sasha went in," she told me, not saying much of anything else.

A woman was with Clint and Rosita, an unfamiliar face. She kept one hand over her side, protectively covering a wound. Her eyes went to one of my angels as they walked in, saying, "Loki."

"Valkyrie," Loki replied, sounding as relieved as she appeared to be.

"You're a Valkyrie?" Jesus questioned, excitement in his eyes. "One of Asgard's legendary warriors?!"

The warrior in question nodded. "My real name is Brunnhilde, but my friends call me Val."

"You never told anyone your name," Thor noted.

"Times change. We change, too."

"Speaking of changes," Rosita said, "there's something you need to see. Follow us."

Rosita turned on her heel, Val slowly but surely following behind. Rick, Daryl, Tara, Jesus, Michonne, Stark, Loki, and I fell in line behind them, accompanying them as they headed towards the brownstone with the cell in the basement. Steve stepped out from the shadows as we neared the cell, looking from Loki to Stark. Stark explained, "Clary found him and adopted him. They're inseparable now."

Steve turned his gaze to me. "I know Thor said he changed, but Clary, are you—"

"Steve, he's my emotional support bastard," I interrupted.

"Packaged deal," Loki added helpfully.

Rick sighed, shaking his head before telling Steve, "He's with us."

"Good," Steve said, shaking Loki's hand. "It's good you're here." Steve looked around at all of us. "It's good you're all here. We're gonna need all the help we can get. No matter where it comes from. Come on."

Steve unlocked the cell door, pushing it open and standing aside for us to enter. From within the shadows, a figure stood, taking a step forward until the moonlight streaming in from the window illuminated his features.

Dwight.

Daryl shoved Michonne and Tara aside as he did everything he could to reach Dwight to beat the shit out of him. Steve was faster, pushing Daryl back and subduing him for the moment.

"You son of a bitch," I growled.

"I could say the same to you," Dwight retorted. "Negan blamed me for you and your brother escaping."

"So why the hell are you here?" Stark demanded, angling his body just enough so that he was standing between me and Dwight. As he spoke, I glanced over to watch as he tapped a code into his watch, changing it into a repulsor glove. "Revenge, is it? Or are you spying for Negan?"

"He says he wants to help us," Rosita explained.

"Is that true?" Rick inquired. "You want to help?

"I do," Dwight confirmed.

Rick slowly nodded, stepping forward. "Okay," he said, then drew his Colt. "Get on your knees."

Dwight did just as Rick said. He got on his knees, but his eyes flicked from face to face, coming back to Daryl's the most.

"Look at me," Rick ordered, and Dwight lifted his eyes to Rick. "Why?"

"'Cause I want it stopped," Dwight answered. "I want Negan dead."

"So why don't you kill him?" Loki questioned.

"Can't just be me. They're all Negan."

"That girl you murdered," Tara started, and Rick stepped aside so she could lean down to look at Dwight, "she had a name. Her name was Denise Cloyd, and she was a doctor. And she helped people."

"I wasn't aiming for her," Dwight said, just like he did that day.

Daryl pushed around Steve before he can stop him, knife drawn as he shoved Dwight against the wall. "Do it," Tara said. "Do it."

"You wanna end it this way?" Dwight inquired. "You go ahead. I'm sorry. I am. I know you want to."

"He could just be here to see if you or Clary were here," Stark pointed out.

"We can't trust him," Michonne agreed.

"He owned me," Dwight said. "But not anymore. What I did, I was doing for someone else. You get that, don't you, Daryl? She just got away. So now I'm here. So are you because of her."

"Do it," Tara insisted.

"There's another choice," Dwight said, trying to talk his way out of Daryl killing him.

"Daryl, you knew her."

"Negan trusts me. We can work together. We can stop him. You knew me then, and you know me now. You know I'm not lying. I'm not."

"Daryl, do it," Tara repeated. "Do it!"

"Daryl, don't kill him," Loki said.

Daryl glanced over his shoulder at Loki, and even Steve and I gave Loki a look like he'd lost his mind. Daryl questioned, "What the fuck did you just say?"

"Don't kill him," Loki repeated. "We can use him. He can be our way in." Loki slipped around Steve and Stark, stepping closer to Daryl and speaking like a devil on his shoulder. "I don't blame you for wanting him dead. Hell, I don't even know him and I want him dead. But get as much as you can use out of him before you let your rage take revenge."

Something in Loki's words resonated with Daryl as they got him to lower his knife.

"They have Sasha, if she's even alive," Rosita told us.

"Why didn't you say something?" Jesus inquired. "He could be our only chance to get her back."

"Because I don't trust him." Rosita looked to my brother. "But I trust Daryl."

"I came to warn you, too," Dwight said. "Negan's coming soon. Tomorrow. Three trucks, probably."

"And how many is that?" Steve questioned. "What's the number?"

"Twenty Saviors, plus him," Dwight answered. "I can slow them down, bring some trees down in the road, buy a little time for you guys to get ready. If you can take them out, that's where we start. You kill them, I'll radio back to the Sanctuary."

"The Sanctuary?" Rick inquired.

"Where Negan lives," Dwight explained. "That's what they call it. I can radio back to them and say everything's okay. You drive the trucks back, and I can lead you right inside, and with the right plan, we can wipe out the rest. Check to see if your friend's still alive."

"We'll still have all the outposts to contend with," Steve said. "You know which communities the Saviors take from. You must know someone else that we can get on our side so we have enough to make it to the end."

"The workers," Dwight offered. "We get them on our side, build our numbers up. We go—"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Stark said. "You are not one of us."

"But I'm here to fight on your side. That means I fight where you fight. And I'm trying to tell you how to end Negan's reign! Go from outpost to outpost, one after the other, and end this. And it all starts tomorrow."

"Look, I don't trust him," I declared, looking around the table my angels had gathered at. "I think you're a damn fool if you do. But that doesn't mean that I don't believe him. I don't trust Dwight, but I believe he does want to help us."

"I hope you're right, Clary," Pietro said. "'Cause if you're not, we're all dead or worse."

"I know that putting even the tiniest bit of faith in Dwight is putting all of us at risk. Negan could show up tomorrow with three times the people, take us or kill us, and destroy this place. But I have to believe that won't happen, and even if it does, we'll be ready. We'll win."

Loki questioned, "How do we know he's on our side? How do we know he's not here just to see if you or Daryl are here?"

"We don't."

Bucky placed a hand on my arm, softly questioning, "Can we talk?"

I nodded, and Bucky and I stepped away to speak in private. "What's up?"

"This battle tomorrow," Bucky started. He paused, took a deep breath, then looked down at me. "I don't want you to be here for it."

"Excuse me?!" I exclaimed.

"If we lose, Negan won't kill you. He'll take you again. I don't want you to go through that again, not after Hydra and not after the first time. I can't stand the thought of you being in danger like this."

"James, I'm a super soldier surrounded by Avengers. I know how to fight, how to kill. You don't need to worry."

"I can't not worry. You and Steve are my best friends. You and I, we've been fighting side by side since Woodbury. But this is something different. It's bigger than the Governor."

"So you know I have to be there! This is my war as much as anyone else's. I want revenge on the motherfucker that made me kill our friend. I will be there, James Buchanan Barnes, for everything. Every battle, every kill, until I beat Negan's head in with Lucille myself."

~Loki~

The turkey call sounded; it was the noise we were both waiting and dreading. It signaled the coming of the Saviors, the preface of the battle. Another Scavenger returned it, signaling that Alexandria and its allies got the warning. We grabbed our guns, those on the watchposts kneeling behind the wall. They ducked their heads, hiding so they wouldn't be seen.

Val wanted terribly to be here to fight, but we forced her to stay behind at the infirmary, her injury still not fully healed. Clint and Wanda were hidden with Aaron and Eric, Bucky kneeling beside Carl.

Only Rick remained standing on the watchpost. Steve stood at the gate, shield on his arm. On the ground, a few feet back, I stood with the Dixons, a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. Clary was fully armed and prepared for war, wearing her Executioner uniform. Her gun was strapped to her thigh and knives were around her waist, complete with a red-handled machete hanging from her belt.

"Rosita," Rick said, turning his head to look down at her. "Get in position. I'll signal you."

"The wall will hold?" Steve questioned.

"It'll hold," Rosita assured him.

A voice boomed over a megaphone, but the look on Clary's face told me that it wasn't a voice she was expecting.

"All points are covered," a man said. "Every contingency is met. I come armed with two barrels of the truth. A test is upon you, and I'm giving out the cheat sheet."

"What the hell?" Clary asked. "Rose, tell me that ain't Eugene."

"It's Eugene," Rosita replied.

"Who's Eugene?" I asked.

"Used to be one of ours until Negan took him," Clary quietly informed me. "Guess he's a Savior now."

Brakes hissed as the Saviors' trucks came to a stop. Eugene said, "Hello. I come salved with the hope that it is my dropped knowledge that you heed. Options are zero to none. Compliance and fealty are your only escape. Bottom-lining it, you may thrive or you may die. I sincerely wish for the former, for everyone's sake. The jig is up and in full effect. Will you comply, Rick?"

Rick and Steve shared a look before Rick questioned, "Where's Negan?"

"I'm Negan."

"Shit," Clary muttered under her breath. "Rose, he's one of them. You gotta blow it."

"We don't trade lives," Steve argued, looking over his shoulder to face Clary.

"We don't trade the lives of our people! And he ain't one of us no more!"

Steve paused, knowing that she was right. Rosita looked to the captain, awaiting the signal. He sighed before saying, "Do it."

Steve used his shield to cover himself, and Rick ducked down from where he stood on the watchpost. Rosita pressed the detonator, but nothing happened. We glanced around at each other, slightly confused, before Rosita tried it again. For the second time, nothing happened.

Without being signaled, the Scavengers raised their guns all at once, turning on us. I sidestepped to put myself in front of Clary, shielding her from the Scavenger in front of us, like there weren't two more aiming at her from behind.

The lock on the gate clicked, a Scavenger opening it from outside and revealing us to the Saviors. The door of one of the trucks opened, Dwight climbing out alongside a man with a baseball bat.

Clary leaned out around me, looking out at the approaching Saviors. "That's him," she whispered to me. "That's Negan, and the bat's Lucille."

Negan joined Eugene on the back of the truck, the bat on his shoulder as he asked, "You ever hear the one about the stupid little prick named Rick who thought he knew shit but didn't know shit and got everyone he gave a shit about killed?" Negan pointed to Rick up on the wall. "It's about you."

Stark returned, "You ever hear the one about the guy who brought a baseball bat to a gunfight, asshole?"

"Well, that's not very nice, Mr. Stark," Negan sighed. "Y'all are gonna wanna put your guns down now."

"No one drops anything," Steve decided.

Rick looked to Jadis, the leader of the Scavengers, staring down the barrel of her gun. "We had a deal."

"Tamiel came for the boat things," Jadis replied. "Followed ones who took. Made a better deal."

"You push me and you push me," Negan sighed. "You tried to blow us up, right? I mean, I get me, my people. But Eugene? He's one of yours."

"He's not," Clary returned. "He's a traitor."

"Why, my dear Executioner! Your 'friends' could say the same about you. You willingly came to my side."

Eyes and guns went to Clary as she stepped around me, facing Negan. "You wanted Bucky. I did what I had to so he'd be free. Even if that meant following you. But I never wanted to kill the people I love."

"And yet you did. You people… are animals. Universe gives you a sign, and you just—" Negan stuck his middle finger up. "—shove your finger right up its ass! Dwight, Simon, chop-chop."

I watched Dwight as he and Simon joined the others on the truck bed, unhooking something in the back. They pulled the cloth off of it, revealing a coffin. They wheeled it to the middle, sitting it up so it stood on its end. Negan stepped forward to stand beside it.

"So, you don't like Eugene anymore," Negan said. "You guys gotta like Sasha. I do, too." Negan raised Lucille, knocking on the outside of the coffin; and I realized that Sasha's in there. "Got her right here, packaged for your convenience, alive and well. Now, I brought her so I wouldn't have to kill all of you, and not killing all of you could get complicated. See, I know there's a lot of firepower in there, Rick. So I'm gonna make this simple. I want all the guns you've managed to scrape up. Yup, I know about those, too. I want every last grain of lemonade you've got left. I want a person of your own choosing for Lucille. And Daryl… oh, I gotta get me my Daryl back. I see you. Oh, and my dear Executioner, you're coming with me. And I'm never letting you leave me again! And the pool table, and all the pool cues and chalk. And I want it now, or Sasha dies, and then all of you. Probably. C'mon, Rick. Just 'cause I brought her in a casket doesn't mean she has to leave in it."

Rick didn't move.

"You know what?" Negan questioned. "You suck ass, Rick. You really do. I don't want to have to kill her, but that's exactly what you're gonna make me do."

"Let me see her," Rick demanded.

"Alright. Just give me a second. I might have to get her up to speed. You can't hear shit inside this thing." He knocked on the casket with Lucille again. "Sash. You're not gonna believe this crap!"

I heard the growling the second Negan opened the casket, and I instantly knew everything that he said was a lie. "Holy goddamn!" Negan shouted, backing up as the walker that was once Sasha attacked him.

Negan fell backwards off the truck, Sasha going with him. Carl spun, firing the first shot into a Scavenger's kneecap before shooting him in the head. Another Scavenger that had his gun on Carl went to fire, but Steve was faster. He threw his shield, striking the Scavenger before he could shoot Carl. Carl picked up the shield, using it to fight his way down from the watchpost as Steve made his way over to him.

I spun, throwing my knife and embedding it in the head of one of the Scavengers that had her gun on Clary and I. We took cover behind one of the cars as the Saviors rushed the gate, firing on anything that moved. We hid until they had passed before taking off in a safer direction. We passed by Steve and Carl as they fought side by side against the Saviors and Scavengers, tossing the shield back and forth between them. Clary fired on the last Scavenger, and she dropped, creating an opening for Steve and Carl to run.

"Go!" Steve barked at Carl. "I'll hold the gate! You go!"

"Take the shield!" Carl replied, tossing it back to him before taking off. Carl was ahead of us, disappearing around the corner of a house as we followed a ways behind. There were shouts from the other side of the house as we approached, and I pulled Clary back as a duo of Saviors dragged a fighting Carl between them towards the lake, where I could see Negan waiting.

"Shit, they have Carl," Clary hissed.

I flinched as I felt a gun being pressed into my shoulder, telling her, "They have us, too."

I raised my hands as Clary spun, and I didn't appreciate the second Savior sticking a gun directly in her face. They weren't going to kill us—if they were, they wouldn't have come right up to us. They would've just shot us from a safe distance. There was no choice but to do what they wanted.

Without a word, the Saviors pushed us together, walking us with their guns still aimed at us as they looked straight ahead. We took the same path, following behind the ones that had Carl as they took us towards Negan.

I took Clary's hand, not looking at her as I pulled her back from the Saviors. False copies of ourselves continued on with the Saviors. Clary looked at me in amazement, and I held a finger to my lips, signalling for her to keep quiet. I gestured for her to follow with a jerk of my head. We ran for the gate, hoping to meet up with Steve and get his help freeing Carl. Steve had disappeared from the gate, but by the trail of Saviors and Scavenges lying on the ground with blunt force trauma from a large, mostly flat object, I'd say that he had to leave his post and fought through them. We reached the gate, only to scramble back when an orange beast charged through.

"Odin's beard," I said, while Clary laughed, "Shiva! Yes!"

An army followed behind the Shiva beast, Clary shaking hands with a woman with grey hair. "Carol, it's good you're here."

"Looks like you're needing the help," she remarked.

"There might be a few more than expected," Clary said, then greeted a man with dreads. "It's good to see you, King Ezekiel."

A number of folks on horses rode by, one man sliding off his horse to fight on foot. I took the reins, climbing onto the horse. Clary turned as Ezekiel pushed on, stopping when she saw me. She stated, "You're on a horse."

"We used to fight with them on Asgard," I told her.

"Alright, we'll send in the cavalry. I'm gonna go make myself useful and kill some people. You do you, Loki. You do you."

Clary closed the gate, and Carol questioned, "What're you doing?! You just locked us in with them!"

"No," Clary said, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "I locked them in with us."

~Clary~

"Okay," Negan said, rising from his spot in front of Rick. He sauntered towards Carl, tossing his hat off over his shoulder. "You said I could do it."

He started to swing Lucille, but as the bat made her descent, Shiva let out a roar. She launched forward, attacking a Savior close to Negan. "Christ on a fucking cracker!" Negan shouted, spinning away from Carl at the sight of Shiva tearing into one of his men.

Dwight and Simon covered Negan as he scrambled back from the tiger, Ezekiel leading the Kingdom into the fray. I followed at his side, a gun in one hand and knife in the other. "End these Saviors and their accomplices!" Ezekiel ordered. "Alexandria will not fall, not on this day!"

Loki followed closely behind the Kingdom's fighters as they chased Saviors throughout Alexandria, announcing, "Your savior has arrived!"

I sighed, shaking my head as I turned and punched an approaching Scavenger. "What a drama queen," I said as I stabbed those dumb enough to oppose us. "Remind me why I saved his ass again?"

"Beats me," Nat said, tossing me another gun. We went back to back, wielding two guns each, firing on Saviors and Scavengers alike.

I shouted to her, "Hey, you know what I just realized?"

"What?" Nat questioned.

"That you used to be one of the bad guys, too. You should join my team!"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Unfortunately, I've never been thought dead. Sorry, don't meet the qualifications."

"Bummer!"

Nat cried out a moment after a bullet ricocheted off my shoulder. I spun around, finding Nat clutching her arm, blood flowing between her fingers. I fired at the Savior that shot her, killing him.

"Shit," Nat panted. "I've been shot before, but this is…"

"A lot of blood," I finished. "You trust me, Nat?" She nodded. "Good. Just hold on."

I hoisted Nat over my shoulder, keeping one hand free to take out any threats. I holstered my gun when I ran out of bullets, using the red handled machete instead. A Scavenger rushed us, I swung it, and his head dropped a foot away from his body. I reached the infirmary, but there was another Scavenger waiting for us on the porch. With a grunt, I decapitated and killed the Scavenger.

"Nat!" I heard Aaron shout behind me.

"Aaron!" I called. "Thor, Jerry!"

The trio ran over, covering me as I carried Nat into the infirmary. I put her down on the bed, blood from her wound dripping across the floor and smearing on the both of us. "Aaron, she needs help," I told him. "I don't know what to do."

"Go, then," Aaron told me. "I've got Nat. You chase those bastards out. This is our town."

"Ain't nobody takin' it," I replied, sharing a grin with Aaron when he realized that I still remembered that night we fought to take Alexandria back from the dead. I stepped back, allowing Aaron to take over. "Thor, Jerry, watch their backs. Defend this place until it's over."

The two nodded, Thor looking like he wasn't planning on leaving Nat's side anyway. When I exited the infirmary, my attention was drawn to a flare fired from within the walls. A second later, a grenade landed on the porch in front of me. I didn't have time to get away, only time to turn away. Arms were wrapped around me, a shield covering our backs. Steve and I looked at each other when it didn't blow, instead smoke clouding around us.

"They're covering themselves," Steve said.

"But they're running," I replied.

"C'mon," Steve said, pulling me along beside me. He kept his shield up between us, raising it when someone fired on us from within the smoke. I fired blindly into the smoke around it before I saw the person that shot at us climbing the wall. I shifted my aim, watching them fall. "We gotta find the others!"

Steve and I regrouped with Rick and Ezekiel, alongside a handful of others from all the communities, at the RV. "Keep your eyes on the walls," I said. "They're getting out any way they can."

"Now we finish this!" Ezekiel declared. He led the way to the gate, the rest of us following beside him as we chased the Saviors and Scavengers out. We scattered at Scavengers opened fire on us from where they stood atop the garbage truck parked adjacent to the wall. Bucky and I kept pushing, though, turning our guns on them. In the time that it took for one of them to close the gate, we managed to take down a little over half of the ones on the wall. The remaining Scavengers scrambled over, escaping us.

"Now!" Daryl shouted.

Pietro, Ezekiel, Morgan, Bucky, and Stark ran to the gate, trying to open it. I ran for the garbage truck, climbing it. Daryl followed me, and I reached down, offering him my metal hand. He took it, and I pulled him the rest of the way up with me. "Jesus, that thing's strong," he said.

"Silver lining, I guess," I replied with a shrug, turning to the land beyond the wall. "Huh. Would ya look at that?"

"They're gone," Daryl observed. "You know what this means, right?"

"Yeah." I leaned forward, looking down. "Oh, no wonder they can't get the gate opened. They got a lock on it from the outside. Hey, cover me, Darry."

I jumped down from the wall, studying the lock on the gate. After a moment, I decided on just ripping it off rather than trying to unlock it. I rolled the gate open from the outside, those inside starting to raise their guns on me.

"Whoa, hey, friendly," I quickly said, raising a hand in surrender. "They ran. We won."

~Bucky~

Rick, Ezekiel, and Maggie, the main leaders of each of the communities in our alliance, gathered us in Alexandria following the battle. They made the alliance known to all, made the fact that we were going to war completely official, and making it known that this battle wasn't just a one-time thing. There was more to come.

Rick was getting ready to dismiss us when a voice from the crowd spoke up. Clary asked, "Rick, can I say something?"

He nodded, and Clary joined them on the platform, standing before us all.

"You've already won one battle," she said. "One battle doesn't always determine a war, but sometimes it does. What happened today is a precursor to the rest of this war. Negan and his Saviors will run from us with their tails between their legs! We will win this war, if today was any indication of what's to come!"

Someone in the crowd asked, "How can you be so sure?"

Clary looked down into the crowd, grey eyes meeting blue. She never looked away from Steve Rogers as she answered, "Because demons run when a good man goes to war."