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It was insane, and Valkyrie knew it. But that wasn't gonna stop her. Well, how bad could crashing through a wall be? She had her protective jacket so that would stop most of the damage, wouldn't it?
Valkyrie could feel her heart pounding in her chest, it was plummeting against her rib cage. She could feel Stines' wicked grin piercing into her. His malicious eyes glinting. At the last second Valkyrie splayed her hands and she was boosted into the air, Stines' eyes widened, he hadn't been expecting that. Valkyrie suddenly summoned sharp shadows and shot them towards the force field covering Stines. A loud bang boomed through the room, Valkyrie tumbled backwards through the air like a rag doll. She hit the floor with a thud and skidded across the marble.
Valkyrie unfurled herself from the protective ball she'd curled into, She stumbled to he feet, her world spinning, again. In the distance she could see Stines, crumpled in the floor surrounded by the ruins of his desk. Even from here, she could hear his groans. A red and gold clad figure flew to her, as they neared, Valkyrie could obviously see that it was Stark. He steadied her and Valkyrie cast her eyes to look up at him.
"Did it work?" She asked, words slurring slightly. Blood clotting her vision from her cut brow. She slowly began to wipe at it with her sleeve.
"Yeah, kinda, next time work on not destroying the top floor of a 55 story building." Stark said the last few words more firmly than normally.
"Not my fault..." Valkyrie replied, her brain still shaken up. She glanced behind Stark, Natasha was interrogating Stines, she could see Natasha's foot resting on Stines' throat.
"C'mon, let's find the sceptre and finally stop these bad guys." Stark groaned. Valkyrie felt a smile split her lips. She hobbled over with Stark helping her, only now could she feel the horrific pain in her ankle. She must've sprained it. Valkyrie fished in her pocket for a numbing leaf and found one crinkled upset the bottom, she began to chew on it. Ignoring the strange look she got from Stark.
"Where is it?" Growled Natasha, her foot applying more pressure to Stines' throat. Stines' let out a raspy chuckle.
"It's too late, the truck is long gone." Stines' spat. Wriggling under Natasha's foot, but his efforts where is vain.
"You said it's going to an airport, Where are you flying it to?" Natasha snarled, crouching down to rest her knee on his chest. Slowly she wrapped her hands around his neck, then moving her legs into a straddled position. She was now sitting on his chest, with her hands squeezing his throat. Stines' face began to change to a light shade of red.
"I am no traitor to the-" Natasha squeezed harder. Stines' began to choke before he gasped out. "The Church! It going to The Church!"
Natasha released her grip. "The Church?" She questioned.
"He means the Church of The Faceless Ones," Valkyrie explained. By this time Natasha had stepped off of Stines, much to his relief.
"But why go there? Scorn doesn't need the Sceptres," Tony muttered, his brain whirring as he tried to come up with a logical answer.
"She doesn't, but he does." Natasha said.
"The Man With The Golden Eyes? That means he's orchestrating it all." Tony said, "Maybe Scorn knows more than she's letting on. What if there was some kind of deal going on."
"No, The Man With The Golden Eyes doesn't want the Sceptres, remember?" Natasha said.
"Maybe he does." Valkyrie said.
"What?" Asked Natasha.
"He could've lied for all we know, or Scorn could've lied." Valkyrie explained.
"That might not be the case." Natasha said.
"What else could it be?" Asked Stark, annoyance flashing in his eyes.
"I don't know, What does The Church want?" Asked Natasha.
"They want The Faceless Ones to return, they worship them." Valkyrie added.
"Hey didn't you Skelton friend say that the Sceptres could summon the Faceless People?" Stark inquired.
Valkyrie paused, in all honestly she hadn't really been listening to Skulduggery. So she guessed. "Yeah, probably..." Valkyrie shrugged.
"Probably?" Natasha asked.
Valkyrie's cheeks flushed red as she noticed all eyes on her, even Stines'. She raised a brow at him and he looked away. "Uh, I wasn't exactly listening to Skul, he normally just talks about himself so..." Valkyrie found herself looking at Stines' for help.
Natasha and Stark seemed to have followed her eyes to him. "Well?" Natasha asked. Stines' sneered.
"I'm not a traitor-"
"enough of that bullshit," Stark suddenly swore, "Tell us, does it open a portal for the faceless ones, or we'll tell everyone who is the real traitor." Valkyrie's eyes widened, that was a weird turn. One minute he's just talking, the next he's threatening this guy.
"You wouldn't." Stines eyes widened.
"Try me." Snarled Stark. For a second Valkyrie though she saw his eyes flash white, the whole eye, just white. A dazzling white. Valkyrie glanced at Natasha, she must've noticed too, right? Natasha shared a look with her, a small glance. One that Tony didn't notice. He was too blinded by his rage.
Stines gulped, and began.
...
Thor waited on the rooftop, a million thoughts racing through his head. They thought that he didn't have questions about all of this, just because he was not of this world. But he'd have to let that slip, even though he had more knowledge on this than any of them.
He remembered something his father has told his once when he was a young boy:
The Seven Sceptres are the most powerful source of power of many worlds, for them to be on earth would be unstable. So it was best for the inhabitants of Earth not to know. But the most infamous was The Lost Sceptre, known for corrupting every mans soul from the core. At first it would be unnoticeable. But then they would have sudden outbursts that weren't in their character. His father had known many a man who had tried to real the power of it. All who failed, and were exiled.
The Asgardian brushed the thought away, none of them had come in much contact with the sceptre. Natasha had only used it once. But the others had barely touched it, hadn't they?
Little did Thor know, that someone else was slowly being rotted from their core.
...
"The Sceptres can be used to summon anything you fear of think or once they're activated, so for the Church, it is The Faceless Ones. And trust me, we will succeed. For as we talk the truck gets further and further away." Stines gloated, but stopped when he saw Tony's ice cold glare. "But to activate them you need all of them, so The church has a long way to go. But we will bring back the Faceless Ones, and mark my words, 'God Killer'-" Valkyrie knew this jibe was meant for her "- We will succeed. Because even though we have a long way to go, uh, we will still succeed."
"You've already said that." Valkyrie said.
"Yes, um, I-"
"Are you done?" Stark growled.
Stines sighed, "Yeah."
Suddenly there was a bleep and a red light from behind a painting, Stines swore under his breath. Natasha strode over to the painting, slowly pushing it aside to reveal a screen. Natasha let a smile crawl onto her lips.
"What is it?" Asked Valkyrie.
"It's tracking the truck, but... It's password protected-" Natasha typed in a few codes. She sighed. "- I've tried all the obvious and not so obvious ones, still nothing."
"Let me do it." Stark muttered, and once again, there was a flash of white in his eyes. He roughly pushed Natasha aside. And her eyes narrowed. He paused, looked down at himself for a second. Grinned after a few seconds of typing. "Yup, I'm in... Ah, the Vans in a traffic jam but- Dammit, it's on the move. Get Thor on this, quick. Wait, I've hacked into the traffic lights, I'm turning the red. C'mon guys, I can't do this for to long before someone notices." He looked up at them expectedly. But they were too stunned by his behaviour. Natasha was the first to snap out of it.
"Thor we need you, we've found the position of the truck, it's close, here are the co-ordinates..."
...
Thor didn't need the co-ordinates. The Mjinor (I probably spelt that wrong) had shown him.
The Asgardian swung the hammer around and then took off into the sky, he whizzed down towards a grey truck stuck in a traffic jam. Thor plummeted towards the truck roof, the metal bent inwards and he broke through. The five armed men inside glanced up at him. And all eyes turned towards the Sceptre placed in the glass case.
"Shit-" One of them muttered, before reaching for his gun. Thor swung the hammer at them and they were sent smashing through the truck wall. The others seemed more hesitant. A guard launched himself at Thor, Thor swung his hammer, they were sent barreling Into the second Guard. Bullets ricocheted off his armour, Thor threw the Mjinor into the shooting Guard. the last Guard jumped out of the vehicle.
Thor strode over to the Sceptre, he smashed the glass casing. But the second he took hold of it he knew that something wasn't right. "Have you got the Sceptre?" Asked Natasha. Thor didn't respond, he just examined the intricate carvings wrapping around the handle. "Thor? I repeat have you got the Sceptre." Thor's eyes widened. It was the Lost Sceptre.
"I found the Lost Sceptre." Thor replied.
...
The Man With Golden Eyes chuckled silently to himself, everything was going to plan. Scorn had done an good job of lying at the scene and Stines was still believing that a Scorn wanted the Sceptre, and Scorn was still believing that he'd actually bring back the Faceless ones. He wasn't a worshipper of them, he still didn't understand why Scorn was. He shook his head. That didn't matter, as long as he had Scorn on his side all was well. He just had to keep her believing until the portals opened. And when they opened Skulduggery and Valkyrie would be destroyed, and the rest of Manhattan. And probably the Avengers too, but they shouldn't of stepped Into the line of fire. They'd had a choice, but mortals were always weaker when it came to it.
He'd thought that all was lost when the Avengers were involved, he'd actually believed that they're presence would make a difference, that it would make everything harder. But all I took was for Valkyrie to heal Stark with the Lost Sceptre and there he was, rotting from the inside. He only had a few months to live, not that he knew it of course. Sure, his 'friends' would notice his violent mood swings, and they would question him about it regularly. But soon Stark would completely turn on them all, it almost made him trying to kill Skulduggery and Valkyrie a pointless effort. Stark might do it for him.
As for Tanith, Dusk and Billy-Ray Sanguine, they were just henchmen. Only doing what they were doing because they shared a love for killing and a hatred for Valkyrie and Skulduggery.
He jumped when his phone rang. "Hello?" He sighed into the receiver.
"It's Thor he's found the Lost Sceptre, Stark is after the Sceptre Of Life. Stines spilled." It was Tanith, the bearer of bad news. The Man With The Golden Eyes slammed his fist down onto the table with suck force that a crack Zig-Zagged across the surface.
"Dammit." He hissed. Stines had always been the weakest link, to cocky and arrogant. Simply a pawn believing he was a King, he'd only known about the operation because he was rich, a worshipper of the Faceless Ones and could transport the two Sceptres to the airport, where they could be shipped back to their base in America.
"Should we open fire on Stark?" Asked Tanith, urgency nagging in her voice. The Man With The Golden Eyes paused, open firing could risk exposure, and Stark could be taken out, How was he meant to 'Keep them occupied' then? Combed his hand through his hair.
Sighing he replied. "Open fire on Stark, but not a killing shot." He was about to end the call when an idea popped into his head. "Oh, and Low? Blow the building I want Stines out of the picture," He sighed, he didn't like killing off allies, but he'd have too do it. He could afford anymore mistakes like that again.
"Got it." Tanith replied, he could hear the smile in her voice.
...
"Thor's got the Lost Sceptre," Natasha announced. Valkyrie and Tony's attention immediately snapped towards her.
"What? How?" Asked Valkyrie, that made no sense, Stines only had the Sceptre of Life.
"Well, there must be something Stines isn't telling us." Natasha said, glaring at Stines, who gulped and muttered.
"You never asked."
"So I'm guessing that there's another truck as well." Natasha guessed. "Stark can you-"
"Already on it, already got it actually-" Stark replied, deleting all of the software in the mainframe "-Shit, that looked important." He sighed, and Stines pales, he then stepped over to the broken window.
"Have you got the co-ordinates?" Asked Natasha.
"Yup," Stark responded, splaying his palms.
"What are you doing?" Asked Valkyrie unsurely.
"If the Sceptre gets away then it's over, someone has to go out there." Tony answered.m
"Thor is." Valkyrie answered.
"He won't get there in time." Tony replied and he flipped down his face mask. "Beisdes, Do you know how fast this thing can go? Faster than the mighty thunder god I expect." He then took off and was gone in an instant.
...
Tony whizzed through the city, "So, Jar, what are the Co-ordinates?" He asked as he soared towards the streets.
"I'm not sure you'll need them, Sir, your heading straight for it." Jarvis answered, a smile in his voice. How can a computer have a smile in its voice? Tony asked himself.
"Wha-?" Tony began but then spotted it, "Oh, thanks Jarvis." He plummeted onwards towards the truck that had just begun moving again. Suddenly the back doors swung open, and Tony could see three armed men poke their heads out, one of them glanced up and looked straight at Tony. He shouted and began open firing. "What the-" Tony began but had to swerve down towards the cars to avoid bullets.
"They appear to be firing at you." Jarvis said.
"You don't say, J?" Tony grunted as he shifted his body to avoid more bullets. "Thrusters as 100%, Jar."
"They already are." Jarvis replied.
"Great." Sighed Stark, as he weaved above the cars below him. Tony suddenly flew up and fired repulsers at the shooters, one of them was hit and toppled out of the vehicle. "Ouch." Grimaced the billionaire. He sped on into the truck, the remaining shooter began to closer the doors. "Rude." Muttered Tony and ripped off the doors, they skidded across the road and a car swerved to avoid them. Tony sent a kick towards the first man as he landed, the man rapped his head painfully against the wall. The other, began to shoot. The first few bullets pinged off, leaving debts in the armour. "Aw man! I just got a new paint job." Sighed Tony, pushed the man and he toppled out, Tony grinned, and his eyes went towards the glass case. "That wasn't too-" he never finished because Tanith Low dropped from the ceiling and tackled him out if the vehicle. He grabbed her arm and they both fell, Tony fired the thrusters and they rose up above the traffic.
"You spoke too soon." Tanith grinned she eyed his arc reactor and Tony swored as she lunged for it. "I like your shoes." Tanith grinned.
He chucked her onto the building below, but she just snarled and ran along rooftop. She sprung up and grabbed hold of his leg. This took him by surprise so he suddenly dropped. They both tumbled onto the roof top below, Tanith was on her feet in an instant and was charging at him with her eyes gleaming and her sword swinging in an arc. He took advantage of his strength and smashed into her, tackling her onto the gravel. Tanith's sword clattered to the ground. She snarled and kicked at him with alarming strength, Tony was flung back wards. He landed in a crouch and raised a hand to fire a repulser. But Tanith was on him in a second, after picking up her sword and knocking his arm so his aim went askew. She pounced he lost his balance, Tony noticed how dangerously near the edge of the building he was. He fell backwards, but was only falling for a second because he fired up the thrusters. Tony hovered to between the gaps between the two building s and fired a repulser, Tanith lost her grip of her sword but it didn't stop her from lunging at Tony. He was forced into the wall, and the sound of metal being grinded against brick, Tony cringed at the sound.
Suddenly there was a deafening boom, and Tony turned his head around to see Stines' building exploding into a firey enferno.
...
Valkyrie didn't have any handcuffs on her so she just glared at Stines for the whole 10 minutes he was gone. Although Valkyrie had begun to get bored. She was just about to stand up ,she was perched on the office chair, to speak to Natasha when a low rumbling erupted from the rooms below.
"What's that?" Asked Valkyrie, eyes widening as the sound got louder. They I'd owns smashed as Valkyrie felt herself getting hotter and hotter. Natasha waited a few moment before answering,
"I don't-" Natasha begun when suddenly they were both flung in different directions by an explosion from under their feet.
The back of Natasha's head smacked against the meeting table and she was out cold, her body slumped against the chair.
Valkyrie was not lucky enough to land inside though she found herself skidding towards the broken windows, she grasped the ledge and hung there. Her body dangling thousands of feet above the ground, above death. Valkyrie felt her palms sweating from the heat, a crack formed and zig-zagged towards her at an alarming speed. It reached the sill, Valkyrie silently begged it not to crack the ledge to pieces. But it continued onwards. Valkyrie felt the sill splinter and then it was cracking Into pieces. Valkyrie was suddenly dropping, and the ground was becoming closer, she shut her eyes and prepared fro impact. She could slow the decent but not without breaking a few bones.
Suddenly she was being swooped upwards, she was suddenly back in the burning building. Or rather exploding building. Valkyrie looked to see Thor. "Thanks." She said breathlessly. Valkyrie frowned. "Where's Natasha?" She asked.
Thor furrowed his brow, "I do not know where Lady Natasha is." He replied, "wasn't she with you?"
"Yeah, but then..." Valkyrie caught sight of Natasha's fiery red hair. "There." She strode forwards.
Suddenly she heard a cracking sound beneath her feet. She looked down. There was a zig-zag line weaving across the floor below Thor. Valkyrie opened her mouth to shout out a warning, but it was too late. "Thor-" She began, Suddenly a gaping hole appeared below the Asgardian and swallowed him up, Valkyrie gasped. She raced over to the hole. She couldn't see Thor's bellowing cape. Just a gaping hole that went down a few floors, and the smoke. Valkyrie choked as she inhaled it.
BOOOOOOOM!
Another beam fell, a metre away from Natasha. Valkyrie narrowed her eyes, she slunk past the hole and over to Natasha, she felt the heat rise as she did. Valkyrie bent down in front in the spy. "Nat? Nat? Natasha!" Valkyrie called, wishing she'd done more work with water, and the realising that it would be useless because she could only suck the moisture from the air. Valkyrie noticed the burn marks through Natasha's ripped uniform. She slipped off her jacket and laid it around Natasha's almost arms and torso. Valkyrie pulled the spy to her feet. She laid Natasha's arm around her and began to drag the injured assassin away from the fire, she edged away from the gaping hole.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Valkyrie whirled her head around, the ground behind her was splitting open. And beneath she could see flames creeping up to her, Valkyrie felt the leaf that she had chewed wear off, and her ankle began to ache again. With Natasha slumped on her and a sprained ankle she limped on, Valkyrie coughed violently. She stumbled forwards onto her knees as she wheezed from the smoke. Valkyrie began to crawl along the floor, Pulling Natasha behind her. Valkyrie looked around, the split in the ground was gaping bigger. Urgently she staggered to her feet, heaving The Spy behind her. She felt her world spin, the smoke was everywhere, and then the world actually spun. Because half of the top floor began to tumble to the ground. Valkyrie began to slide forwards, towards the edge. She forced herself to her feet, her legs trembled as she dragged Natasha. She headed for the windows. She had to get to the other building. She had to. Valkyrie felt the ground split and Natasha and her were both separated and flung forwards.
The last thing Valkyrie saw was a glint of red and gold, and then everything went black.
...
Sorry I took so long. I was watching Avengers: Age Of Ultron