Chapter 14:
You'll Get A Bullet In The Back Of The Neck
The auction went on and the competition for the crystal was fierce. As the price was hiked up there were less and less people participating but to Kingpin's gleeful surprise there were two participants who eagerly tried to win. It was no surprise to him that Toomes fought so eagerly to lay claim to the crystal, the man was a notorious collector and whatever he fancied he got. The other man was just known as The Profile, odd and quiet man.
Both men continued to battle for the crystal and Tony was getting agitated. He looked up at Loki and as soon as their eyes locked Tony then slightly nodded in the other man's direction giving Loki an understanding of what Tony was thinking.
Loki turned his gaze to the front and remained still as to not arouse suspicion. He kept staring but behind those still green eyes he effortlessly worked a silent spell. Tony's competition raised his hand once more and Tony groaned inwardly, had this not been necessary he would have walked away. There was a reason he hated auctions and the thought of someone else walking away with something he wanted was unacceptable.
The old man shouted the new price and as soon as Tony raised his arm again the other man did as well. Tony then growled as he raised his hand up and the old man announced a new price but this time the competitor's arm froze. The man himself froze completely and the old man shouted his final warnings and soon declared Tony, or better said, Toomes the winner. As soon as the room erupted in excited murmurs The Profile began to move again, blinking in disbelief that he would have reacted so slowly. In his anger he crumbled the numbered paper in his hands and tossed it to the floor as he walked to the exit.
Kingpin ordered his men to escort the Vulture to his office in the back as the rest of the men cleared the warehouse. Kingpin wore a huge smile on his face as he walked into his office, the price of the sold crystal wildly dancing in his head in utter joy. Loki and Hank silently followed but as they walked into the office they were furiously studied by Kingpin's own men.
The office was small and uncharacteristically simple as opposed to Kingpin's office in New York but then again he was not living in high luxury as he once was and this was only a warehouse. Kingpin sat behind a huge desk while three men, one of them being the disfigured man, stood idly behind him and a fourth one brought a laptop to him and showed him some contents. Kingpin's face gave away no indication but Loki noticed the difference in the man's rise and fall of his chest. He immediately scanned the room with his eyes and sized up Kingpin's men and their obviously present and accounted for guns. Loki remained calm and collected as he recalled where every single one of his blades were hidden and was already playing out at least four scenarios in his head.
"This was a very stupid idea." Loki thought.
"So, Mr. Toomes," Kingpin started as he signaled for Tony to have a seat in the chair in front of Kingpin's desk. "I don't think I've ever heard of you walking around with rent-a-goon types before." Kingpin said as he pointed to Loki and Hank.
"Been having troubles lately." Tony answered.
"Troubles? What kind of troubles?"
"The kind that makes you hire goons to watch your back. Punisher troubles."
"Ah, him. Well," Kingpin continued as he sighed while placing one of his massive hands on the laptop and slowly turned so Tony could see the screen while he spoke. "It now seems you have Kingpin troubles."
The screen displayed the Vulture's SHIELD profile but what got Tony, Loki and Hank's attention was the area on the screen Kingpin was pointing to. Tony's eyes went wide as he read the bold red letters that so casually spelled "incarcerated".
For a split second everyone in the room went still as every person within took in this new information and as the gears in their brains turned with a reaction Loki, Tony, Kingpin and Jigsaw were the first ones to react.
Kingpin backed himself away from the desk with his arms and quickly turned to run away, two of his men followed him. Jigsaw withdrew a Beretta M9 and pointed it at Tony's head. Tony quickly stood up as he watched Jigsaw pointing a gun to his head. Loki had grabbed one of his smaller blades and tossed it towards Jigsaw. When the blade struck Jigsaw in the hand he dropped the gun and groaned loudly as he backed away.
Hank grabbed Tony and both ran towards the closest window as the rest of Kingpin's men opened fire on them. Hank and Tony jumped out of the window and landed roughly on the pavement and as they turned around a feverishly bright green light erupted from within the office.
As the energy surged the force of it broke the remaining windows and as the shattered glass flew out Tony and Hank covered themselves with their arms but a few seconds later ran towards the window they had just jumped out of.
"Loki!" Hank shouted.
As they peered into the office they saw Loki standing in the middle of the office surveying the area, searching for the disfigured man but he had been pushed out of one of the windows but as soon as he gained his composure back he ran into a white car where the Kingpin was to make his getaway. The rest of his men lay at Loki's feet unconscious.
"Are you guys all right?" Tony asked both Hank and Loki. Hank nodded breathlessly but Loki continued to scowl as he looked out of the window. He then raised his right arm and with an open palm muttered something under his breath and Tony's glamour vanished to reveal Tony in his iron suit. Hank and Loki's glamour vanished as well.
The sound of running feet and heavy breathing made itself present as the rest of the team joined them on the ground. Thor quickly stood beside his brother and surveyed him, making sure he had not been injured, when he saw his brother whole and hale he breathed easily and looked back to Tony.
"They got away with the goddamn crystal!" Tony shouted. It was safe to assume they had left with the crystal because no one was going to just leave it behind even if Tony had not seen them take it.
He powered his suit and flew up a few feet above the team but looked down when Natasha announced, "They got into a white Mercedes, headed east and fast!"
Before Tony had time to acknowledge the information a group of seven men, obviously working for Kingpin, made their presence known. They were huge, muscular as Thor, one of them even towering over the god of thunder. Some carried weapons, thick chains, long and slim steel pipes, and one of them wielded two fourteen inch blades and one held two Skorpion VZ 61s.
"Fantastic, now look at these clowns!" Clint shouted in annoyance.
Steve weighed his options carefully. The main priority was to retrieve the crystal and as he stood there the further away Kingpin got. In a sudden call lead by the fact that they had a limited time to retrieve all the crystals Steve gave his orders, "Iron Man, you, Hulk, Thor, Wasp and Ant-Man go after the Kingpin! The rest of us will deal with these scumbags!" After he gave the order he was more certain than ever that it was the right call. If Kingpin succeeded in going into hiding they would have to hunt him down and it would surely take time and time was something they could not afford to lose.
Iron Man flew into the sky, Banner swiftly or at least as much as he could, transformed into the Hulk, Wasp shrunk in size and took to the sky as well, Thor followed close behind, Ant-Man activated the mechanism and grew to a towering size and followed the rest of the group.
Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Black Panther and Loki, who remained behind the group carefully assessing the targets and the environment, stared down at the assailants. The assailants scowled back and measured them all while confidence surged through them as they outnumbered the remaining Avengers and guest.
The men gave out loud grunts and roars and raced towards their targets. They were well aware of how resourceful the Avengers were so all seven went head on as to leave no room for mistakes.
Captain America drew his shield and ran towards the oncoming goons firmly holding his shield to tackle the first man he could rush into. Hawkeye had spotted a fire escape ladder behind him. He quickly ran to the stairs and reached for his arrows while locking onto the targets. Black Widow had removed two of her handguns and as she ran towards her aggressor she aimed and fired ahead. She had not been accurate, this was not her plan, her plan was to distract the man with the two sub-machine guns long enough to subdue him. Black Panther ran at the man with the chain and with a precision most men lacked he had reached for his vibranium knives, one in each hand, and aimed for the chain. Loki remained still, he was never one to run towards his targets, he made his targets run to him, had them give up any comforts to seek him out.
The towering man with the fourteen inch knives ran towards Loki at full speed. Loki remained silent, still and vigilant. The man's thundering footsteps gave Loki a sense of the man's weight. As the assailant approached he let out a roar as he lifted both knife wielding hands, the blades outward towards his target. As he approached Loki never even blinked.
About a few inches away from his target the attacker threw most of his power into his upper body to stab the Asgardian. As his upper body lunged forward and his blades sliced through the air he found he had cut through smoke. The foe's body had not been erected to its normal standing pose when a considerable amount of weight had pushed his upper body a few inches down. The man's target now stood on his shoulder blades, blades of his own in his hands. Blades that slashed the assailant's back and quickly followed by a swift kick to the back of his head which sent him sliding across the pavement and his target, now assailant, stood tall as he blocked the man holding the long pipe that had run towards Loki.
The man holding the chain grabbed each end of the chain and held it up over his body to stop Black Panther's attack. Black Panther's knives easily cut the chain and in that brisk moment of trying to compose himself from the shock of seeing the thick chain sliced so easily the assailant had received a kick to his solar plexus from the Black Panther. Black Panther's attack continued as he grabbed the man's shirt with both hands before he could fall back further. Using the momentum of the drive of pulling his target towards him Black Panther lowered his head to expose the top of his skull and drove it into the man's face breaking the his nose. The impact had caused a fuzzing pain in Black Panther's head but he quickly brushed it off as he ran towards another assailant.
As Black Widow approached her now distracted target the man lowered his left arm and with his right arm threw a haymaker. Black Widow stopped in her tracks and moved her upper body backwards in time to see the man's weapon wielding fist fly in front of her face and miss her. She took the opportunity to launch her right hand at the man and landed a solid hit to the right side of her attacker's face which caused him to hit the ground hard.
Hawkeye had taken a spot on the fire escape ladder of the warehouse and had stopped to aim an arrow at one of the goons. What he had failed to noticed when he was climbing the ladder was that one of the men had taken off behind him and while Hawkeye was aiming his arrow the assailant threw a swift punch to the back of Hawkeye's neck causing the archer to momentarily sway. The assailant then grabbed Hawkeye, lifted him and tossed him down to the ground where his body made a solid thud.
Black Widow had seen what had happened but she had been busy intercepting an adversary of her own. When she saw Hawkeye's body hit the floor her eyes went wide with worry as she called out to him, "Hawkeye!"
Her natural reaction was to aid her partner but when she removed her eyes from her attacker he took the opportunity to deliver a swift kick to her midsection. As the shin made contact with Black Widow's midsection she was blown back and hit the pavement hard.
Three of the assailants made their way towards Hawkeye as he feebly moved his head side to side. Captain America grabbed his shield and ran behind the man wielding a pipe that stood over Hawkeye and raised the pipe with both hands over his head. Captain America ran as fast as he could and tossed his shield at the enemy's back. When the shield hit the man he flew forward and hit the second man that was in front of him and both hit the ground hard.
The third assailant making his way towards Hawkeye picked up the pace but before he could land a blow Captain America's shield had diverted its course. As it was returning to the captain it had begun to glow green and spun faster as it turned towards the charging goon and hit him in his midsection. The blow sent the man flying across the area and hit a parked car in the distance rendering him unconscious.
Loki went towards Hawkeye as he waved a hand which caused the shield to magically reappear in Captain America's grip. Once he reached Hawkeye Loki grabbed the archer by the suit and as he stood up his bow and a handful of arrows appeared in a cloud of dark green smoke. As Hawkeye gripped his weapons firmly Loki shoved him in the direction of the fallen and assaulted Black Widow while yelling, "Help Natasha!"
Now committing Black Widow's mistake of turning his back on his assailant Loki felt the sting of the steel pipe strike him on his back and while it only served to distract him momentarily it was enough to have let his guard down. Loki fell forward but before hitting the ground the towering assailant grabbed Loki by the collar of his tunic and with all of his might tossed him back. Loki flew across the area and landed with a solid thud against the wall of one of the buildings. The stinging sensation invaded the back of his head, his back and shoulders. As he groaned loudly he fell back to the ground landing on his hands and knees.
Loki coughed but before he could react the man with the submachine gun grabbed Loki by the throat and lifted him as much as he could. The bandit aimed one of his remaining weapons at Loki's head but before he had time to pull the trigger Loki had snaked one of his hands and placed an open palm directly over the aggressor's chest. As green energy surged and wailed under Loki's very flesh a flash of bright green light erupted from Loki's palm and a beam of magical energy sent the man flying. The assailant yelled out as he hit the pavement hard but soon succumbed to the mercy of unconsciousness.
Black Widow, now assisted by Hawkeye, had overpowered her second attacker. She grabbed the man's wrist, twisted it so his arm was now behind him which in turn gave Black Widow enough time to slam an elbow to the back of his head rendering him unconscious.
Black Panther and Captain America were back to back as they fought off two assailants. Black Widow and Hawkeye fought the remaining two. Loki was growing weary of the distraction. The seven goons were nothing more than an attempt to kill them but from what they had displayed it was more of a minor distraction at best. There was also the worry of Kingpin getting away with the crystal even if the rest of the team had gone after Kingpin he was not sure whether they had found it or not.
As one assailant lifted a wooden bat he felt the material soften and as he brought both hands down he looked on curiously to see that instead of a bat he now held a python. The creature hissed and in a swift motion clamped its jaws around the his throat bringing the massive man down to his knees. Hawkeye aimed his weapon at one of the assailants and fired three arrows. While in midair the arrows began to glow in a faint green light and multiplied into twenty-four arrows that exploded when they came into contact with the target. The target fell to the ground and did not move from that point on. The remaining attacker had seen the rest of his partners rendered helpless and unconscious and rather than put up a fight he looked on to the group and with a loud gasp he ran away.
Before any of them could celebrate or boast about their win a screeching voice from all of the communicators yelled out, "Guys, we need help! They've got us cornered! They have rocket laun—" Knowing full well they would not reach them in time to prevent a disaster Loki waved his hand and the group disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.
When Hawkeye opened his eyes again they appeared in the middle of a street still within the vicinity of the industrial park. The street had dozens of skid marks, dozens of empty bullet casings and debris everywhere. As he looked on he saw Iron Man fighting off several men who had taken rocket launchers and had aimed most of them at the Hulk who tried his best to swat them away but the fire and smoke was preventing the Hulk from accurately disabling his assailants.
As he set his eyes on the Hulk Loki took a step back. While he would never openly admit it to anyone of them he was still apprehensive of the massive brute and it would certainly take a while for him to come to terms with the Hulk. Loki looked on and searched for his brother and quickly found the elder god effectively fighting off a herd of men as if he were merely shooing away ants. Loki found himself smirking at the sight before him. As he looked on he frowned when he saw Ant-Man shrunk back down to his normal size and being attacked by several armed men. As he set a foot forward to assist Captain America, Black Panther and Black Widow ran to his rescue.
Loki was going to rush over to Ant-Man but something did not seem right. He looked around and counted the group once more. Hulk, Hawkeye and Iron Man were found. He had just seen Thor. Captain America, Black Panther, Black Widow and Ant-Man were accounted for. Someone was missing and as soon as he realized who was missing Loki's eyes widened as he stood still while a cold shiver crept down his spine.
In the excitement of trying to overpower their attackers none of them had noticed when the white car that Kingpin had hidden away in and another car right behind it sped away. Loki followed the cars with his eyes and as soon as they picked up the pace they both ran right past a lone and still figure in the middle of the road. Loki laid his eyes on the figure and raced towards it as soon as he saw who it was.
Loki knelt beside Jan and the first thing he noticed was that she was still alive, although unconscious. He looked over her once and found a rather pronounced bump on the side of her head. His first instinct was to conjure up healing magic to deal with the bump on her head but as he placed both hands over her head a loud screeching sound interrupted him.
A third car sped towards both of them and while Loki could jump out of the way in time Jan could not. Loki narrowed his eyes, slightly lifted the corner of his mouth and slowly stood up. His feral eyes set off a subtle but noticeable glow, energy surged through and over his arms as electric green lightning was emitting from his body. The energy angrily danced over his arms as he slowly walked down the road and towards the rampaging car.
As the car sped forward the driver hit the pedal and picked up speed as the passenger stuck half of his body out and aimed an AK-47 right at Loki. Captain America had noticed the speeding car and where it was running to. At the sudden realization that Loki idly stood before the car and Jan he called out to the Asgardian, "No! Loki, get out of the way!"
Everything and everyone seemed to have gone quiet for that moment when Loki began to slowly walk towards the approaching car. As he slowly walked he kept his eyes on the approaching menace and drew up to his shoulders both arms, crossing them with his palms outward and his fingers bent as if resembling claws. As the car approached and was but a few meters from hitting Loki he lowered his arms and the vehicle ripped in half by an explosive surge of magical energy.
As the energy made its way towards the back of the car the car split in half and as Loki's arms were now spread apart from him both halves of the car slammed violently into the adjacent buildings. The driver had tumbled about but was otherwise unharmed, however, the passenger who had stuck most of his body out of the window had been pinned between the car and the building causing his body to literally split in half on the inside killing the assailant.
The Avengers and their attackers had stopped to gaze at the sight before them. Shock and terror washed over their faces as Loki slowly turned his seething gaze upon the remaining them. One of the men gasped loudly and broke from Iron Man's grasp and ran as fast as he could. As the energy kept crackling and dancing over, inside and under Loki's arms he narrowed his eyes further as both ends of his mouth lifted baring his teeth like a rabid animal.
Thor was the only Avenger who just stood still and smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest. He inhaled deeply and also narrowed his eyes as he looked at his younger brother. Wildness crept in Thor's eyes, a wildness that once Iron Man saw he felt a cold chill wrap itself around his spine. The smile on Thor's face was practically identical to Loki's. Still, it was unsettling to see that look on Thor's face and while Iron Man chucked it up to Thor's barbarian warrior side he still could not help but feel uneasy.
What Iron Man did not comprehend was that Thor was looking at his brother with pride. It was a rare sight to see Loki actually invest himself into a fight as he had just done. It was an even rarer sight to see Loki place himself in harm's way to protect someone that was not Thor as he did well over a month ago and so many centuries before that.
Loki locked on to the assailants and looked over the Avengers and saw some of them bruised and hurt and it fueled his rage further. He turned his body towards the assailants and closed his eyes. The remaining attackers in the area began to glow green and were now hovering about a yard over the ground. As they screamed and pleaded for mercy their screams slowly faded as their bodies turned to stone.
As the stone bodies hovered and Loki kept his eyes shut Ant-Man rushed over to Jan to see if she was all right. Loki then opened his eyes and the stone bodies fell and shattered as they hit the ground turning the once living bodies into fine dust. As Loki looked around him he then turned his attention to the man who had been driving the car.
In a moment of panic the assailant reached to his side and pulled out a Magnum and aimed it at Loki. While the Avengers called out to Loki to be careful the Asgardian sorcerer kept walking towards the assailant who aimed his shaking weapon at Loki. Before he could pull the trigger the gun had turned into water and splashed over the wreck that was once a car.
As the man began to panic Loki grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him out of the wreck and held him up high above his head. As Loki glared at the man he let go of him but instead of hitting the ground the asphalt below the man had been altered and thin and crooked hands emerged from it and grasped themselves tightly around the man's throat.
"Where is he?" The voice emitting from Loki was almost that of a snarl, which suited his current appearance of a wild and rabid animal. The man hesitated and said he did not know where the Kingpin was. This made Loki tighten the asphalt hands around his neck harder until the assailant's face went red and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"Sport!" Iron Man called out and as if by some unknown force Loki's feral and hostile features slowly vanished. Loki blinked his eyes a few times and turned to look at Iron Man. Loki furrowed his brow and let out a sigh as the green energy faded away. As the magic disappeared the asphalt hands did as well and when the man dropped to the ground he quickly got back up and ran away.
Loki looked on as the assailant ran away and as he vanished into the night he quickly turned back to Jan to see to her injuries. Ant-Man had been examining her but as soon as Loki knelt beside her he retracted a little to let Loki do his work. Loki placed both hands over her head and a soft pastel green glow covered Jan's entire body. After a couple of seconds Jan's eyes opened wide. She fluttered her eyelids as she looked at her teammates who had surrounded her.
"Did anyone get the number of that truck?" Jan asked in a joking manner as she slowly sat up. As soon as she was sitting up Loki grasped her in a hug which surprised her and the rest of the group.
Jan returned the hug and Ant-Man placed a hand on Loki's shoulder and said, "Thanks, Loki." Loki in turn grabbed Ant-Man's arm and the same healing glow enveloped itself around Ant-Man and his injuries vanished.
A subtle sigh escaped from Loki and Jan tightened her hug reassuring him that she was all right. As he kept hugging her he muttered under his breath, "I promise…no harm will come to you." That caused Jan's eyes to go wide in surprise and a warm smile formed on her face. The same pastel green glow enveloped itself over the rest of the Avengers and they all sighed with relief as the injuries vanished and a calm and cool sensation washed over their bodies.
"Well, no sense in standing around. Fury's in the area. We should get him to help us track Kingpin down." Black Widow suggested as she looked at the group and the group nodded in agreement. The Kingpin could consider himself the victor for the time being but it was not to last.