I had so much fun writing this chapter, I love how it worked out so well and am really happy with it. I hope you all love it as much as I do!
Dedicated to Kyla, who goes to Starbucks with me to trade story ideas and we come up with our best material from those meetings.
CHAPTER TWENTYONE
Angel was concerned, she hadn't heard anything from Sharon in over half an hour, "Has anyone heard anything from Sharon?"
Clint and Angel looked around but no one seemed to know anything about Sharon, "Last I heard she was heading to Stark Tower," Steve said after taking out several soldiers with his shield.
"Steve We're going to need a couple boosts from you," Angel said, preparing to make a run and leap into one of the flying pods so she and Hawkeye could get to the tower and check the situation.
Steve looked at Angel and nodded, "Fine but first things first," He strode over to Angel and picked her up.
"DON'T THROW ME AT THEM!" Angel screamed, Steve only chuckled and lowered his mouth to hers so they could share a quick kiss.
"Just so you don't get the idea that I'm not totally in love with you," Steve said with a grin and setting her down. Angel stared at him a moment with her mouth hanging open.
"You love me?" She said.
"Sorry if it seems to fast for you, I just wanted you to know before you left. I hate knowing that you think I hate you when really I'm completely crazy for you." Steve said with a blush.
"As adorable as this all is guys, can we get a move on? My own girl might be in trouble," Clint said impatiently. Steve and Angel shared one more quick kiss before he boosted both of them in the air.
Angel and Clint grabbed on to the same pod and quickly took care of the soldiers on it. They rode up to Stark tower together and formulated a quick plan.
"I'm going to drop down onto the penthouse level to see if there is suspicious activity while you go to the roof and look at the Tesseract. If you're lucky that is where Sharon is and you two can work on the portal." Clint said as they approached the tower. Angel nodded and watched as Clint gracefully leapt down to the penthouse level while she continued to the roof.
Clint entered the penthouse slowly from the deck, his bow at the ready with an arrow pulled back for a quick shot at whoever may jump out. Having never been in Stark's place before he was unfamiliar with the territory. It all looked to be intact and nothing out of place. However there was a large dome in the middle of the room that had a slight glow around it.
Clint approached the dome slowly; the cover was white with a small window on the side closest to him. His breath was caught in his chest as he saw what was inside the dome.
Sharon was lying on her side in the center; she was frighteningly pale and limp. Anyone would have mistaken her for dead if Clint hadn't noticed the shallow breathes making her chest barely rise and fall.
"Brilliant isn't it?" Clint whirled around and saw Loki standing a few feet from him, a proud smile was on his face.
"What he hell have you done to her now?" Clint growled, gripping his bow tight as his muscles were ready for him to make a shot at any moment. He then pressed a button on his bow that turned on his radio piece so that it transmitted everything to Angel on the roof.
"Nothing I haven't done before. I stopped her from closing the portal with a human sedative. Then when she came to I had about twenty of my men touch her so she would absorb them. Then I placed her in the dome, I had it constructed so that it keeps the power in her, and she can't let it out. You and I both know that the buildup in her is making her weak. So by keeping her in the dome, it paralyzes her and keeps her from getting in the way."
Clint lifted his bow and aimed it at Loki, "Let her out now," He said in a menacing voice, "Or I'll skewer your head to the wall."
"Now why would I do that? She's the only threat I can really see. Even if I did let her out, all that power build up will have to go somewhere and I promise you I will be a safe distance away to watch what happens to you when that occurs." Loki said.
"So you're killing her?" Clint asked.
"No not at all, only keeping her under control until she is reasonable and joins my side as rulers of this planet."
"We'll take you down. You've managed to piss off every single one of us, there is no end where you end up on top. You've made it our mission to take you down, and we won't stop until it happens." Out of the corner of his eye, Clint saw a flash of movement.
Having heard the entire conversation, Angel made her way down from the roof to the penthouse level. She had a plan to free Sharon but not before getting Loki's scepter, which was the key to closing the portal and turning off the Tesseract.
She slid into the room quietly, manipulating the floor to make her footsteps soundless. She eventually got on her belly and effortlessly slid close to the dome, manipulating the floor once again to make it slick as she got up close to the dome.
She put a hand on it and made the dome open.
Loki's head whipped over to the dome, his eyes widened as he watched it opening, "How is that happening!" He hissed before marching over to it.
Angel popped up from her position on the ground with a smile, "You know, for a demigod you sure are easy to fool."
"You insolent cretin!" Loki screamed as he aimed his scepter at her, but was suddenly knocked backwards into the concrete wall.
*.*.*.*.*.
Sharon's eyes slowly opened when she felt cool air surround her. Tremors rocked her body as the power pulsed through her entire system with no way of escaping, paralyzing her and making her immobile.
Sharon saw the dome open around her, the pressure she had been feeling that kept the power inside her was suddenly gone. Noise was muffled in her ears, but with blurry vision she saw Clint and Loki standing a few feet from her. She watched as Loki yelled something and then pointed his scepter at Angel who was standing beside the dome Sharon had been lying in.
Sharon's vision went red, dredging up all the power in her system she launched out of her position and slammed herself into Loki. The two flew back into a concrete wall that then shattered. They tumbled a bit before landing, Loki on his back and Sharon on her knees a few feet closer. She leapt up and grabbed one of his ankles, channeling all the energy into slamming him on the ground and whipping him back and forth like a drum stick.
"DON'T YOU EVER THREATEN THEM AGAIN!" She screamed as she continued to bash him a few more times on the ground before leaving him stunned on the floor with his breath coming out in gasps.
She walked through the whole she'd made in the wall and grabbed the scepter on the ground. She stood there a moment and looked at Angel and Clint, who were both staring at her with looks of pure shock on their faces.
"So are we gonna go close this thing or what?" Sharon said as she stood there with the scepter in hand. Clint made a move to go to her but Angel grabbed the back of his shirt and stopped him.
"Now is NOT the time to do the heroic kiss thing. Save it for when she isn't drunk on power," Angel said, "Let's get to the roof."
*.*.*.*.*.
The group waited on the roof of Stark Tower, Sharon was poised with the scepter just over the switch for the portal. Tony had just radioed them to tell them about a nuke the council had launched towards Manhattan without Fury's consent. He was directing it to go into the portal so that it would take out the Chitauri mother ship.
They all waited with bated breath as they watched Tony fly into the portal with the nuke. He hadn't come out yet and Angel was starting to panic. Sharon was waiting for a sign of him when they all saw the flash of the nuke hitting the mother ship.
All around the city the soldiers fell over dead, the space whale crashed into several buildings as their life support system back on the mother ship was destroyed. Sharon knew she needed to close the portal before the blast came through the opening and took out a section of the city.
"Close it Shar," Clint said, Angel started to sob and fell to her knees. Sharon felt a weight in her chest as she pressed the switch with the scepter and the portal closed. The entrance than started to disappear slowly from the sky.
Just as it was about to close entirely, an object came out and descended to earth, "ANGE LOOK!" Sharon shouted.
Angel looked up and saw that it was Tony, who was falling rapidly from the sky, "He's not slowing down! The suit isn't working!" She cried, running to the edge of the tower to watch where he was going to land.
Clint looked and saw a decisive expression on Sharon's face, "Shar don't you dare-" But it was too late.
Sharon used all the force and power possible to leap off Stark tower, flying through the air and catching Tony. Just as she braced herself to take the impact of their landing, Hulk came out of no where and caught the two of them. They slid down the building and he placed them on the ground gently.
Sharon breathed heavily as she ripped off Tony's mask and looked at his unconscious face. She could see that his arc reactor wasn't running, which was a bad sign. She was exhausted, but she put both her hands on the reactor and sent a wave of energy into his body.
She felt his chest move and a gasp escape his mouth before she fell over to her side and saw spots before succumbing to the familiar blackness.
Do you think Sharon is going to survive? What about Loki's fate? Feedback is always appreciated!
Alasiel