Chapter 12: Battle of Manhattan: Part Two
Carolina hid in the bathroom after she heard gunfire in the suite.
Barton was fighting a woman with a gun. She didn't want to be shot in the crossfire, so she closed the door she was spying through. Then the gun went off, and she ran into the bathroom.
Did the woman kill Barton? Or did Barton manage to get ahold of the gun and kill the woman? She stayed in the bathroom for several minutes before she cracked the bathroom door open, listening for any clues as to what might be going on. When she didn't hear anything, she snuck over to the bedroom door and listened again. Still nothing. She cracked the door a bit and barely managed to see Barton jump off the building and disappear from view.
Barton was gone. She opened the door a little wider and surveyed the suite. There was an agent face-down on the ground with an arrow in his back. Carolina swallowed hard, trying not to get sick. In front of the bar, on the ground, she saw the woman Barton was fighting. On shaky legs, she took a step out of the room. Barton's words echoed in her mind: Your orders are to stay in this room. Don't leave unless instructed to do so by the king or myself.
She felt her palms moisten with sweat as she defied her orders. She told herself it was okay. She wasn't stupid enough to try to escape again; she just wanted to see what was going on. To make sure it was safe. She took a few more steps into the suite and was shocked to see more unconscious agents in the balcony. Something big went on.
Carolina realized that Tony Stark might still be in the suite. She slowly walked over to the bar, careful not to trip over the unconscious woman in her path. As she made her way behind the bar, she saw broken glass, the content of broken liquor bottles mixed with the crimson hue of blood, and on top of it all: Tony Stark. He was lying on his back, barely breathing, and he still had the arrows in his body.
He was still alive. She sighed with relief.
The parts of the arrows closest to Stark's body were drenched in blood. She realized that lying on his back must have pushed the arrows up and away from his body. She could probably pull them all the way out, but she didn't know if that was a good idea.
"Mr. Stark?" she called weakly as she knelt down beside him trying to avoid the broken glass. She ignored the feeling of liquor and blood soaking her dress and onto her knees. When she heard no response from Stark, she tried again, but a little louder. "Mr. Stark?" She shook him.
"Ehhh!" Stark moaned weakly, his eyes still closed.
"Sorry," she realized moving him was probably not a good idea. "Mr. Stark, what can I do to help you?" She hadn't planned further than waking him up. What could she possibly do? She wasn't a doctor. She had no medical training.
"Deploy!" Stark's eyes snapped open as he feebly shouted.
Carolina wasn't sure what to make of what he said. She saw him struggle to get up, but as soon as he raised his back an inch off the ground, he collapsed again, moving the arrows within his body. He cried out again.
"Mr. Stark, don't move," she told him as she lay her hands on his good shoulder. She looked around desperately for some way to help him, but she didn't know what she was looking for. "Do you have a cell phone? I can call for help." She wasn't sure help would come in time or at all, but she had to do something.
Stark's face paled as he struggled to breathe. "Jarvis!" he cried out finally looking at her, acknowledging her. He was exerting most of his energy. "Open the door to the Control Room."
Carolina pitied the man. He thought she was someone else. She was about to tell him that there was no one else around when a sound behind her made her jump away. A small section of the wall behind her opened up to reveal a hidden room. She looked down at Stark who had his eyes shut.
"Mr. Stark?" she wanted to see if he was still conscious. She heard him mumbling. She leaned in closer to hear what he was saying.
"…appointment with Pepper…consulting hours….every other Thursday…"
That was clearly nonsense, so she ignored it. Carolina stood up and slowly approached the entrance to the hidden room. Bright lights lit up the small space mostly made up of a chair and table with a desktop computer. She noticed there was another door at the opposite side of the room. Inches from the ceiling, there was a large, transparent tube that went from one end of the room next to the door to the suite, to the other end of the room next to the other door. Inside and in the middle of the tube was a large red capsule. She couldn't begin to try to figure out what it was.
Carolina took a deep breath and stepped into the room. It was so small it couldn't be the Control Room Stark was talking about. She immediately stood frozen as thin green lines suddenly flashed in front of her face. Fearing they were deadly lasers she ducked out of their way and outside of the room. They couldn't have been burning lasers, she told herself. They had been all over her face, and her head was still intact.
"Welcome to Stark Tower, Carolina Leon."
She jumped back when she heard a disembodied male voice with an English accent echo from the hidden room. She crept to the doorway and looked inside the room. She searched for a camera she could look into. Obviously someone was watching her.
"How do you know my name?" she asked into the room. "Who are you?"
"I am JARVIS," the voice sounded from the room. "An artificial intelligent system created by Anthony Stark. While you were inside the Control Room, I scanned your facial features and found a match within my files."
Carolina stepped into the small room and saw the desktop was turned on, but what was on the screen was projected above the computer. It was like one would do with a laptop and a television screen with the appropriate cable connections, but this projection was in the air. On the screen was a picture of her driver's license in front of a digital file marked "Carolina Leon." She was speechless. Why did Tony Stark have a file on her? Maybe he didn't. Maybe he just had access to DMV records…
"Wait, did you say 'artificial intelligence?'" she looked around the room, amazed and a little uneasy.
"Yes, Miss Leon."
"Oh." She didn't know how to talk to whatever Jarvis was. She couldn't even believe she was talking to a non-human entity. To some smart machine or program. What could this non-corporeal thing do to help Tony Stark? "Can you help Mr. Stark?"
"You will have to do most of the work, Miss Leon," responded Jarvis. "I have already called for an ambulance, but it will take some time before they reach the lower level parking lot. There are quite a few obstacles in their way."
It…he…was referring to the war outside. Maybe Stark's name would get him preferential treatment, as unfair as that sounded. "You want me to take him downstairs?" She was afraid of leaving the suite. Loki or one of his agents might see her and think she was trying to escape. She had been threatened with death so many times, she didn't want to test her boundaries where the issue of escape was concerned.
"No, Miss Leon. I would ask that you bring Mr. Stark into the Control Room. The room itself is an elevator."
Oh, thank goodness. Carolina went over to Stark and tried to assess how best to move him. She didn't want to drag him by his hands since there was an arrow in his shoulder. Instead, she linked her arms under his and dragged him backwards into the room. He cried in agony and she apologized the entire way, "Sorry, sorry, sorry…" When his legs cleared the doorway, she lowered him down as gently as she could.
"Well done, Miss Leon."
Carolina laughed nervously into the ceiling as she realized a computer program was praising her. Her mind immediately went to the woman Barton was fighting. She ran over to her and saw she was still unconscious. She didn't appear to have any gunshot or arrow wounds, but the side of her head looked like it had been bleeding. She took a chance and shook her.
"Hey!" she called. "Hey, miss!" The woman didn't respond. Carolina placed two fingers on the side of the woman's neck, trying to find a pulse. She laughed relieved when she found one. Things were looking good.
"Jarvis," she called to the Control Room. "Do you know if she's with Stark or if she's with Loki?" She didn't know why Barton would fight one of Loki's agents, but she needed to know before she did anything.
Jarvis didn't scan her face as he did Carolina's. "Agent Natasha Romanoff of SHIELD. Yes, she is one of Mr. Stark's allies."
"Okay, great," she dragged the woman in the same manner she did Stark. She was glad to be useful instead of helplessly fretting in the bedroom. As soon as both women were inside, the door to the Control Room closed. She felt a jolt as the room was being lowered.
Carolina became anxious. The penthouse was on the top floor of Stark Tower, and they were being taken to the parking lot. That was quite a distance from the bedroom she was told not to leave.
"Miss Leon?" spoke Jarvis.
"Yeah?" Carolina responded nervously.
"Would you be so kind as to place these" a small drawer popped out of a wall "on Mr. Stark's person?"
Carolina looked inside the drawer and found a cell phone and a pair of gold bracelets inside. She grabbed them and carefully put them in one of Stark's jeans pocket.
"Thank you." The drawer closed back into the wall.
The room was silent except for the noise of the elevator making its descent. Carolina fidgeted with her fingers nervously. "So, Jarvis," she said, "Do you just hang around in this room?"
"For now, Miss Leon," responded Jarvis. "I normally control all the systems in the building, but the criminal, Loki, has computer technicians impeding my access. Fortunately, they are unaware of this room's existence, as well as other hidden features of the building."
"Oh," was all Carolina could say.
The room reached its destination and a door opened into what looked like a parking garage. Carolina ducked as she heard screams and gunfire coming from the city streets. There were people running into buildings, but they all avoided the one with the bright bream that allowed the fierce alien army to enter and attack the city.
"The ambulance will arrive in approximately two-and-a-half minutes, Miss Leon. No one may be allowed to enter the Control Room or know of its existence."
"Is this your way of telling me to move my ass?" Carolina yelled from her cowering position.
"Respectfully, Miss, yes."
Now she was taking orders from a computer…definitely not what she thought she would be doing with her day. Realizing the parking garage itself wasn't being fired upon, she took her time dragging Stark and the agent out of the Control Room so as not to aggravate their injuries. When she was done she rushed back into the room.
"Okay, Jarvis. Let's go."
The doors did not close. "It would be best if you were to remain here until the ambulance arrives. SHIELD agents are on their way to the hospital to meet you and to check on Mr. Stark and Agent Romanoff."
"No, no, no, no, no…" Carolina backed further into the room and away from the garage. "I have to go back, Jarvis. He'll kill me."
"The SHIELD agents will be able to protect you…"
"No, Jarvis!" she yelled towards the ceiling. She heard emergency sirens approach the building. "Take me back to the penthouse now!"
"Miss Leon, it would be best…"
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT'S BEST FOR ME!" she cried angrily. "I'm sick of being told what to do! For now I have to deal with it from a psychopathic god and his minions, but I won't take it from some faceless computer program. I decide what's best for me, and that's going back to the penthouse, so take me there right now!"
There was silence in the room as she waited for Jarvis to respond. He didn't speak. The door closed, and she felt the room being lifted. She let out the breath she was holding as she leaned against a wall. She had to get back to the bedroom before anybody realized she was gone. She managed to calm herself down by the time they reached the penthouse.
"Jarvis?" she called softly.
"Yes, Miss Leon?"
"Sorry about freaking out."
"Apology accepted. Thank you for your assistance."
Carolina smiled, glad to be on good terms with the program. "You're welcome."
The door to the penthouse opened. Carolina stuck her head out and saw that everything was as she left it. The agent with an arrow in his back hadn't moved; he could very well be dead, she grimly realized. She tried not to think about it. The agents surrounding the tesseract were still unconscious. As soon as she stepped out of the Control Room, the door shut behind her. She turned around and looked at the door that blended in flawlessly with the wall beside it. She was alone.
Carolina started to move toward the bedroom when movement by the balcony caught her eye. There was a man standing along the edge of the building which served as a walkway to the balcony to anyone crazy enough to be out there. The man was tall, blonde, and muscular. His clothing was as strange as Loki's. He had armor across his chest and he had a long, red cape. He was yelling something to someone on the upper balcony, and he motioned with a large, rectangular-shaped hammer in his hand. He looked angry and frightening. Was he part of Loki's army?
Suddenly a flash of green, black, and gold descended onto the man. It was Loki. The two began fighting: Loki with his scepter and the other man with his hammer. Carolina remained crouched behind the furthest end of the bar to keep from being seen. She didn't know who the blonde was, but if he could stop Loki from destroying New York City, then she was rooting for him.
She heard a loud crashing sound as one of the glass walls shattered. She heard grunts and strikes as the battle continued just outside the suite. Thankfully, they didn't bring the fight inside.
"Look at this!" an unfamiliar voice shouted. It must have been the blonde. "Look around you! Do you think this madness will end with your rule?"
Carolina knew she should stay down where she was hidden and safe, but she had to see what was going on. She peeked her head up and saw both Loki and the blonde man holding the scepter between them. They seemed to be giving their fight a brief respite.
From her position she could see Loki's eyes. She'd never seen them look that way before. So conflicted, so desperate, so unsure. He did what the man said and looked at the city below them. No doubt he saw the destruction and chaos his army had caused and were continuing to bring. For a split second she thought his gaze turned to the bedroom door inside the suite.
"It's too late," Loki breathed. "It's too late to stop it."
Carolina couldn't believe what she heard. Did Loki want to stop the attack?
"No," the man said with the same hope she was feeling. "We can stop it. Together." He smiled at Loki. Whoever he was, he wasn't just some warrior. He cared about Loki.
Loki smiled back at him, his eyes wild with realization. It looked odd. A second later, he thrust something small and sharp into the man's side. The man staggered back and stumbled onto the ground.
"Sentiment," breathed Loki through his maniacal grin.
The blonde man charged at Loki, but the green-clad god was ready for him. Loki held out his scepter and plunged the curved blade up and into the other man's abdomen. The man stilled as he grabbed Loki's shoulder. Loki twisted the blade and his victim cried in agony. The scepter began to glow and the entire blade elicited orange and yellow flames that originated from inside the blonde's wound. The man continued screaming as his insides began to boil. Moments later his clothes were lit with the magical flame.
Loki pushed him away and the man fell on his knees. "Brother!" cried out the man with a burning, outstretched arm toward his tormentor.
"Not anymore." Loki pushed the man's chest with his foot and the blazing man fell off the building. Loki watched the man plummet down to the city streets below. With an insane laugh he jumped down after him.
Carolina quickly ran across the suite and into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She huddled in a corner and cried. That man was Loki's brother. It never occurred to her that Loki would have a family, but apparently he did. His brother came to stop him, and he killed him. He killed his own brother. What hope did she and the rest of humanity have?
A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading the last two chapters as much as I enjoyed writing them. Let me know if there were any parts that were unclear and I will fix them. I noticed a continuity issue with Chapter 10, so I fixed that. (No major changes, so there's no need to reread it). Thanks to all the lovely readers who are still hanging in there with me. Thanks for favoriting/following and, most of all, reviewing. I'm psyched about reaching 100 followers. You all rock!
