Steve had given the order to the others to continue fighting Nakhti who had ambushed them in the tower after a short period of down time. For Alanna personally, she was beyond pissed on how everything just fell apart after such a good night with her boyfriend Noel.
She knew they might be in over their heads here and possibly things could end up for the worse and this time, no backup from S.H.I.E.L.D. Alanna sighed as her thoughts rushed through her mind.
"Guys, we need a real plan here, I mean continuing to attack is like useless."
Tony snorted as he blasted him with his repulsors. "Well, what do you suggest?"
Natasha glanced at Alanna. "Do you think you can access your bloodline?" Alanna forgot about it, she really hadn't been able to control it yet and it just came on to her when she fought Loki back at the museum.
"I don't know."
Steve sighed as he and Noel combined attack. "Well, what activated it last time?"
Alanna answered, "My anger and hatred for Loki most likely and my mom." She said the last part quietly and Natasha in shock.
"What do you mean your mom?"
Alanna turned to her. "Only Clint knew, my mom's voice entered my mind when I had needed the push to overcome Loki and I was able to access my hidden power."
Natasha nodded. "Well, do you need a moment?" Alanna shook her head.
"Honestly I think it won't help even if I could access it again. I think we need magic like Kole's abilities or an elemental attack. She turned to Michael, Thor and Noel. "Guys, team up and use your lightning ability."
Noel smiled and turned to his friend. "So, Michael should we light this bastard up?"
Michael nodded as he threw both his palms out and spread his fingers. "Sounds like a plan!" He told Noel and sparks of light began to crackle between his fingers. Thor also raised his hammer and when all three of them let their lightning fly through the air, Nakhti was enveloped by electricity.
Just as the three of them thought they had gotten a hit in on the demi god, Nakhti absorbed their powers and sent it hurdling right back at them. Michael threw up an arm in a futile attempt to block it, but thankfully Thor was able to create a whirlwind of lightning around them and stopped the attack from hitting them.
"That didn't go very well," Michael commented and Thor frowned.
"I think Alanna speaks the truth, the key to this battle lies with the young magician Kole," Thor said. Kole swallowed and turned to Alanna.
"I'm not sure I can read the language of that book…".Kole admitted with a frown.
Alanna turned to her friends. "We need a distraction guys, Kole trust me ok. This morning I had programmed Jarvis on translating the ancient Aztec inscription on the cover, have Jarvis read it and the book will open." She knew her friend was nervous so she gave her a hug. "We know you can do it, also maybe Dr. Strange can help you telepathically if you need it. We will keep him busy, get to the Tome Kole and whatever happens don't stop!" She gave her friend a boost of confidence the best way she knew how than turned her attention back to the bastard demi god. Alanna stepped closer. "Hey asshole, you are no god. Humanity has no need for fake idols anymore, in the end we were better off."
Nakhti laughed. "You little human have great heart but I am afraid you are wrong." He attacked her but she dodged it in which Tony picked up on what she was doing and smiled.
"Nakhti, what the hell kind of name is that? I mean hello didn't your mother not think of something better."
Nakhti snarled and threw Tony and Alanna back but Tony caught her from being hurt. Alanna smiled at him, "Thanks."
"Guys, stop pissing him off, are you trying to get yourselves killed?" Steve was not happy with them at the moment.
"Do you not see a distraction Cap, use your eyes!" Alanna told him, Steve than understood.
"Well, can't you do it another way besides insults?"
Tony and Alanna smirked at each other. "Nope." They answered at the same time.
Natasha turned to Clint. "Well, you have an attitude, care to piss off a demi god while I help distract it?" She smiled.
Clint drew one of his arrows and trained it on Nakhti's head, "No problem," he said with a smirk, "but considering all of you just said that out loud…I think he's on to us now!" Clint let his arrow fly, but Nakhti just disappeared and let it glide through him before reappearing again with a devious smirk.
"Correct, maggot," he said, "haven't humans heard of keeping their thoughts in their head?"
"Shit, Kole!" Luke yelled just as a swift darkness came and swooped Kole up. Kole let out a frightened scream, she called out many cantations to free herself but none of them worked. Soon she found herself dangling in Nakhti's arms. He let out a raucous laugh.
"Seems your key to stopping me is gone now…" Nakhti smirked, showing pointed, black teeth that were as sharp as needles. He glanced at Kole, turning her face back and forth, "This one is not bad for a human. I will make you my slave, dark one." He said.
"Screw off!" Kole hissed and kicked at him. Nakhti simply frowned and snapped his fingers. A jolt of pain shot through Kole and she screamed going limp in his grip.
"Dammit!" Luke growled and made to shoot forward and attack him, but Steve's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Wait, he might hurt her more if we attack," Steve told him and Luke halted in his tracks grinding his teeth together.
"You maggots are smarter than I would give you credit for…drop your weapons and bring me the Tome of All…only then will I return this one," Nakhti told them running a clawed finger through Kole's hair, "Her darkness is so lovely though, I would sooner keep her if you decide to resist."
Tony clicked his teeth together and called Strange through a number he had gotten from the man the last time they had met. It was in his suit so no one but him could hear. As the line connected Tony tried to keep his composure, "Strange where are you, we could use some help here!"
"Iron Man, I'm trying to come to your location but Nakhti has created a barrier of the likes I have never encountered around your Tower…it will take much time to break. I'm sorry for now you must rely on your own merit." Strange told him. Tony cursed but kept his calm.
"Right, hurry up old man…we'll make due for now." He said ending the call. Looks like it would just be up to them.
"Well, I'm waiting," Nakhti said, he was beginning to get impatient, "The Tome of All if you would, maggots."
Alanna sighed as she stepped closer to Nakhti and mouthed sorry to Kole, her stupid plan got Kole compromised big time. "Nakhti let my friend go now or so help me that I will end you here and now!"
Nakhti smiled, "You who had been controlled so easily by Loki, think you can save all of your friends?"
Alanna smirked. "You and Loki both underestimate humanity and in the end Loki paid for it and now I will show you your error of your ways."
Nakhti suddenly felt an electric charge in the room and he turned to her. "Your darkness?"
Alanna winked at Noel who smiled and she felt her darkness build up and as she shut her eyes remembering all of her pain and suffering she had endured, she soon found the same spark that had kick started her bloodline the first time. She imagined her mom's voice in her head and soon Noel noticed she was glowing and he yelled.
"You only have one shot Alanna, don't waste it."
Alanna nodded, "Now, Noel replicate." She ran up aiming her new power straight at Nakhti right in the face and he screamed in such pain that he dropped Kole and Noel's clone saved her and carried her away from the bastard. Alanna felt herself loose the control and she slammed into the bar area screaming out in pain as she landed hard on her side. The real Noel came and picked her up in which she was unconscious.
"Alanna!" He screamed out her name and he leaned down and kissed her. She felt the kiss and she slowly regained consciousness.
"Hey, I did it."
Noel nodded. "Are you in pain?" He asked her in concern. She nodded.
"A bit but too bad Bruce is the Hulk at the moment."
Natasha helped her stand up. "You did a great job Alanna."
Alanna turned to Tony. "Any word from ?"
Tony nodded, "Yeah, but at the moment we are still on our own until he breaks the barrier that surrounds the tower."
Alanna groaned. "Guys, we need to get to the Tome."
Steve nodded. "We know, but are you sure, you can still fight?"
Alanna nodded than turned to Kole. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Kole smiled and hugged her back real quick before letting go.
"Kole, I need you to head for Stark's lab and get your hands on the Tome, Evelyn and Hawke will cover you, get going while we hold him off!" Clint told her.
"Leave it to us!" Evelyn said. Hawke was already in his monster form and just managed a growl.
"Be safe everyone!" Kole called as they took off in the direction of the lab.
At that same moment Nakhti was furious and he glowered directly at Alanna, "I will break you!" he hissed. "How dare a mere human lay a hand on a god such as myself! Face now, a pain magnified one thousand times the limit of your body!" Nakhti gathered up a ball of darkness and shot it straight at Alanna with all he had.
Alanna pushed Noel out of the way and barely dodged it in time. She felt her body on fire for she really had gone overboard this time. "You will never understand me, I was able to hit to you because I had come a long way being here. I learned what real family is, friendship, love, humans had survived in some way or form. We are connected through the bonds we create and we will do everything in our power to protect those we care about."
Nakhti laughed. "Look at you, you are bleeding from when you hit the glass. You can barely stand little girl, you are no threat to me!" Alanna turned to her friends than back to him. "I am a fighter, I never did know how to stop and it almost costs me in the end, but if this is it than I will go down fighting. You are going back to the afterlife where you belong!"
She used her kinetic ability on him sending him through the wall. Natasha knew how far Alanna had gone on some of their missions together and seeing her act this way now is scaring her again. "Alanna, stop. You need to rest!"
Noel walked over to Alanna helping her keep her balance. "You are going to fall unconscious soon, we must stop the bleeding." Noel sighed and took off his shirt and made bandages out of it and then wrapped her side in hopes to trying to cut the blood off.
She smiled, "Thanks."
Natasha turned to Clint. "Alanna needs a way out of here and to the medical ward, can you do me a favor and make sure she gets there. Noel and I will cover you!" She hoped Clint would do this for her.
Tony nodded as he was attacking with Luke and Michael, "Go, Clint get her down to the medical ward than return as fast as you can!"
Noel begged his friend to help her and he knew that Clint won't be able to resist a friend in need. Than Noel turned back to Nakhti. "You will pay for hurting her!" He used his elemental ability in combination with the others and hoped Dr. Strange and Kole would both hurry up.
"Sure, leave it to me!" Clint told Natasha and Noel. He didn't have to think twice when Natasha asked him for something anyway. He walked over to Alanna and saw she was a bit unsteady, "Alanna sorry about this but just bare with it until I get you to the ward," Clint told her and without another word he picked her up into his arms bridal style and took off in the direction of the medical ward.
Meanwhile, Kole, Evelyn and Hawke were making their way slowly to Tony's lab. Normally it would have taken them only a few minutes, but Nakhti had creatures of the underworld out to stop them at every turn.
"Watch out!" Evelyn exclaimed just as a goblin jumped at Kole. Kole easily summoned a dark arrow and killed it.
"These monsters are easy to kill, but there is just so many of them," Kole frowned, "I have the odd feeling Nakhti is trying to wear us down…for some reason."
"I dunno, but the lab is up ahead, let's hurry!" Evelyn told her. They all ran towards it, Hawke stopped to gnash a few dozen more demons between his teeth before they finally reached the door.
"Jarvis open up!" Evelyn exclaimed and the AI did so obediently.
"No funny business this time I hope, Miss O'Conner," Jarvis replied dryly. Evelyn stuck her tongue out at the ceiling as the door in front of them opened and they walked through it.
"Oh, I hate being right…" Kole said as they stepped through. Hawke growled and Evelyn's eyes went wide.
"Crap," she said.
Before them in the room stood the three headed dog Cerberus.
At that same moment Clint had finally reached the Medical Ward with Alanna in his arms. It had been hard to get her there and use his arrows at the same time, but he just had her hold on to his neck when he had to shoot. The halls were crawling with little goblin creatures that were more annoying than powerful. Once Clint entered the room and laid Alanna down on one of the beds he paused to catch his breath.
"You still okay?" He asked her. Truthfully Alanna had been quiet the whole way here and he figured she was probably angry that he had carried her, but she didn't need to push herself any more than she already had.
Alanna felt her body hit the bed and she felt like Nakhti was tormenting her. "Clint, thank you for doing this. I feel like my body is on fire, I might have an infection but you have to get back to the battle. They need you up there and do me a favor, Protect Noel, please promise me!" She grabbed his hand and gave him a look. "He must not end up down here too, do you promise?"
"Yes, I'll look out for him, rest now." Clint told her and then he took off to help the others.
Back upstairs everyone was getting tired from the long battle and Steve shouted, "Guys, hang in there. Kole and the others will return at any time."
Tony sighed. "This bastard destroyed my tower, I hate egotistic bastards."
Natasha laughed as she shot at Nakhti, "Speak for yourself Stark and if all of us survive the night, I bet that I can out drink you."
Tony smirked a little. "You are on!"
Steve shook his head and turned to Noel. "She will be fine!"
Noel nodded. "I know, she proved herself to hold her own. I will go see her once we defeat this asshole." Then he turned to Stark. "Ask Kole what is taking so long."
Tony opened up his comm. "Kole, what is your status? Did you find the book?"
"Yeah, we found it but there's a bit of a problem!" She radioed back as she dodged snapping teeth. "We'll be there in five minutes, promise." She ended the communication then and set to work defeating Cerberus.
"Kole, Hawke! Aim for the heads all at the same time, we each take one!" Evelyn yelled and Hawke leapt towards the 3rd head with a murderous snarl, Kole shot a dark arrow at the 2nd and Evelyn picked up a giant steel table and threw it at the 1st. The creature dropped dead right there and Evelyn and Kole both let out a sigh of relief. Kole ran up and got the Tome of All.
"Let's hurry back," she said and they took off towards where the others were still fighting. They met up with Clint along the way. Once they entered the room they saw that everyone was beginning to lose their stamina to fight. Kole knew there was no time to waste, she had to prove Alanna's trust in her.
"Jarvis, translate this passage for me!" Kole shouted and the AI did. Kole spoke the foreign words and as she did she felt a great and powerful energy well up inside of her, "Be gone!" She finally shouted as the spell came to an end. With an ear splitting scream Nakhti exploded into a million tiny fragments that faded into the air leaving not a trace of him behind. She had done it. Everyone was saved.
"About time!" Tony said clapped her on the shoulder, "Good work." He told her. Kole smiled.
"Thank you."
Noel smiled. "Thanks Kole, Alanna had just been taken to the medical ward for her injury. Dr. Banner we need you to see to Alanna." Bruce who was now back to normal rushed to the medical ward and then Noel turned to Clint. "Thanks man." He patted his friend on the back.
After a few minutes everyone was powered down and Tony and Natasha had begun their drinking competition while Steve and Thor sat in front of the TV. Back in the medical ward Bruce arrived.
"Alanna."
She awoke. "Hey nice to have you back, thank you too."
Bruce shook his head. "You are the real hero today, but I need to clean your injury and see how far the damage is." She gave her approval and he unwrapped Noel's ripped shirt than started cleaning it. Bruce smiled. "The glass didn't go that deep, so I am going to rewrap it than give you pain pills and you have to stay overnight."
Alanna nodded and soon Noel walked in with the rest of their friends. Noel sat down next to her bed. "You going to be ok?"
She smiled and took his hand. "Yes, I am. So did we win?" Noel turned to Kole with a huge grin.
"Yep, Kole kicked ass, all thanks to your effort in translating the ancient Aztec." Alanna turned to Kole.
"So you did it, I am proud of you!"
"Yes, thanks to you for believing in me," Kole told her hugging Alanna. Evelyn came over and joined the hug too.
"So, are you going to be okay?" Evelyn asked her.
Alanna smiled, "I am going to be ok guys, I got pain pills to take and Bruce wants me to stay in here overnight. So how are you guys feeling?" She asked her friends.
"We're fine. You were the only one that got seriously injured," Hawke told her. Then Michael looked at Noel getting a cue from him that he wanted some alone time with Alanna.
"Hey guys, let's get something to eat in the mess hall and let these two have some privacy," Michael said and they all left. Luke gave Noel a wink on the way out.
Noel shook his head as his friends left than turned to Alanna. "You are a self-righteous person Alanna, you scared me today."
Alanna sighed. "I had to save Kole, that bastard was going to hurt her like Loki did to me and I wanted to do everything I could to not allow that to happen." Noel nodded in understanding.
"Your bloodline power is out of control though Alanna, it could of killed you!" She was silent knowing full well on how close she came when she lost control.
"I know but I had to do it."
Back upstairs Tony was passed out and Natasha laughed in victory than got up and walked over to Clint. "Come on, let's go to my dorm." She led him to the elevator and once they got to her floor she led him inside. She sat down on the couch exhausted. "So, how are you Clint?" She motioned him to sit down next to her.
"Wow, you sure can hold your alcohol," Clint said with a smirk, he came over and instead of sitting next to her, he leaned down with both hands behind Natasha's head resting on the back of the couch and looked her in the eyes, "Sure you're not drunk?" He asked giving her a quick peck before laughing and standing back up. He licked his lips. He could taste the alcohol.
Natasha smirked and stood up pulling Clint close to her. "Nope, I am Russian I can hold my alcohol better than Stark." She kissed him deeply and embraced him. "You did great today, how was Alanna's condition when you put her in the medical ward?" She was concerned for her well-being.
Clint sighed as he let Natasha go so he could look at her face. "She was definitely exhausted. I think you should have a talk with her about pushing herself too hard." Clint would try to talk to Alanna himself, but he was the last person who should be telling her not to push herself. Especially after his little stunt of nearly collapsing after ignoring Bruce's order to rest with his concussion before.
Natasha sighed, "I doubt that she would listen to me Clint. Did you see her lose control after she used her bloodline power on Nakhti? She could have seriously killed herself, how am I to tell her that she has to stop putting herself out there?" She than remembered some of the S.H.I.E.L.D missions. "Clint, this is not the first time she came close to the edge, she scared me before when we were on some S.H.I.E.L.D missions. I don't know how to do this." She turned to him a little upset.
"Hey, hey," Clint moved his hand to Natasha's cheek and brushed some of her hair behind her ear, "Don't worry, we'll think of something together…I guess it's in S.H.I.E.L.D agents' blood to be reckless," he joked giving Natasha a smile he hoped would comfort her. "Say, what about you, remember to take care of yourself too."
Natasha smiled a little. "I'm fine Clint, you are the one who needs to take better care of yourself. But I am glad you are here to help me with her and yes, you know well enough on how both of us had given Fury a run for his money too. I just don't want her to take after us, she has a whole life to live yet and Noel as well." She embraced him, she felt safe in his arms especially since a long battle. "Do you think Alanna and Noel will make a good field team for S.H.I.E.L.D?" She knew that he too found out about Alanna and Noel's field training. "You know it won't be long until they make senior S.H.I.E.L.D agent status!"
Clint laughed glad to see her feeling better, "Right, those two are already good enough. I bet Director Fury will promote them in no time," Clint said and just at that moment there was a knock and the door to the room flew open and none other than Tony Stark walked in. Clint frowned and moved away from Natasha.
"I knocked," Tony said in defense at the murderous look Clint was giving him.
"Even if you knock you should at least give the person a chance to respond," Clint growled, "What do you want, Shell head?"
"Just thought I would let you two know some of the kids will be graduating tomorrow and there will be two new students…here's their files," Tony held the files out and Clint snatched them before flipping through.
"Keira…and Alex, huh?" Clint said absentmindly, "Who are we losing?"
"Michael, Luke and Kole. I'm holding an after party too, I'll want a rematch," Tony said nodding to Natasha.
Natasha was in shock. "It will be hard to see those three go, but at least we will have two new students." Then she turned back to Stark laughing, "You're on Stark, but I think I will still win."
Tony shook his head. "We will see Romanoff. Also I will let you two love birds get back to whatever it was you were doing." He smirked at them and Natasha threw a pillow at him.
"Get lost Stark, go play with your robots or something."
Tony dodged it. "So that is how Alanna got her attitude?" Natasha glared at him and Tony waved at them shutting the door. Once he was gone Natasha turned to Clint.
"Come on, we need to rest up because we will be chaperoning Stark tomorrow along with the kids." She pulled him to her room and on to the bed she moved closer to him. "We will be fine Clint. I'm sure the new kids will fit right in." She felt sleep overcome her and she felt happy that he was right here with her.