(A/n) But-but-but... I just posted yesterday... over 15,000 hits... -=takes off her hat and bows=- I worship you my readers. Thank you all for your support. Especially to each of my reviewers, you all have my sincerest giddiness and thanks. This chapter is going to be shorter than usual just because I don't have much time to write tonight but I promised a chapter today. I'll make it up tomorrow, I'm off. :)

BTW- I love Agent Coulson, he is such a sweetie. I hated that he died. So, after this chapter let me know, should he do so here? Or I throw in a dues ex machina and save him? It's a fan fic after all, we have that power here. Lol.

I will drown you in your legacy

I'll be the torch to burn it all

Right down into the ground...

~ Vengeance – Trivium

-o-

Chapter 21: There Was No Stopping

There was no stopping her the moment she turned away from the window.

The demon ran off like a bat out of hell as she smashed her way through the door to the research lab they were in. She left a gaping hole, the edges burning red hot as drops of melted, glowing metal fell to the floor to harden. The sound of screeching metal could be heard down the corridor, followed by a series of screams of fright.

Thor, who had been dumbfounded by all that he had witnessed, quickly picked up his hammer from the floor and raced after the Red Lady. He had to stop her before she killed his brother. It wasn't hard to follow her, she left a trail of claw marks in the walls where her claws had cut or melted through. Her clawed feet had melted into the metal floor. Along the way, Thor could see various staff members of SHIELD were standing in shock at the sight of the creature that had passed them and left them unharmed. Many of them had not been aware of the just how terrible a beast Ana carried within her. The fact that she did not kill them meant she still had some semblance of her human morality.

That thought was quickly cut off when he passed the charred corpse of one of Loki's men in the next corridor. It was still smoking and the scream of torture was frozen on the blackened face. Thor felt sick to his stomach...

He could hear her furious banshee-like cries and roars of rage further ahead of him with every running step he took. She was fast so it came as a surprise that when he rounded the corner of the corridor that led to where his brother's cell was located, he slammed right into her tall, lithe form. He had received a loud growl in response and she turned around to swipe at him with those deadly claws. He dodged it just in time and held out his hammer in defense, her claws sparking off the metal harmlessly.

She growled again but did not attack him once she saw his face. She turned away from him and ran down the hall to the open doorway of the room where the cell was. He followed after her, being careful to keep his distance, just as they ran through the doorway. The door to Loki's cell was sliding open just as Loki himself was making a move to walk out.

"No!" Thor cried out as he ran past the Red Lady, who had screeched in protest and reached out to grab him. Thor swung his hammer back, knocking her deadly claws aside with a jarring that she must have felt in her bones. He did not stop as he took a running leap to charge at his brother, only for him to go right through the Loki's form, the image wavering before completely fading. Thor crashed down to the floor of the cell and he got to his feet just in time to see the cell door close and lock behind him.

"Will you ever not fall for that trick?" The god of thunder rushed to the glass wall of the cell, finding his brother outside by the panel that controlled the cell from dropping. Thor slammed his hammer against the glass in an attempt to smash through but all it had done was create a spider web crack and shook the cell before dropping slightly, metal hooks that kept the cell secure unhooking a tad.

Loki walked casually toward the panel, a cold smile playing on his pale face. "The humans believe we are immortal. Shall we put that to the test?"

Thor felt the panic rise in him and he glanced at the Red Lady, who was still standing in the doorway. She had not moved into the room, she was standing there flexing her claws while her glowing eyes searched the room, completely ignoring Loki. Why was she not stopping him? She was all ablaze a moment before. Now would be a good time for her to step in and do something. However, she didn't. She was simply standing there, looking as if she were waiting for something.

"Step away please," a polite voice had asked from the other side of the room and all eyes turned to find Agent Coulson standing there, dressed impeccably in his dark gray suit and holding a particularly large gun. It was distraction enough and the demon's glowing eyes had finally focused on something, her growing now clear.

Agent Coulson was talking to the Loki by the control panel, explaining about the gun and it's unknown use. He did not notice the real Loki that had appeared behind him with the scepter in hand. The sharp tip of scepter had found its way through the upper chest of Phil Coulson. Thor cried out in protest as he slammed his fist against the glass, helpless to do anything. Anger welling in him that Red Lady had not stopped his brother when she had the chance. The demon herself had roared her hatred, the red veins in her skin glowing with such burning heat that it burned more holes into her tattered clothing.

The explosion of flame that erupted from Loki was unexpected as was his harsh cry of pain. The kind of being that he truly was did not abide well with extreme heat and the flash flame had actually done some damage before it faded from his form. He was not one to easily catch flame like a human but it was enough. He stumbled away from the collapsed form of the agent, who was staring at the demon in surprise, his labored breaths coming in gurgles as blood trickled from his mouth.

For a moment, Loki's true form could be seen, bluish-gray skin that looked shriveled from the attack and blood red eyes that were filled with hate as he caught sight of the female creature. Recognition flickered across his face as his features restored to their Asgardian state, his blue eyes were filling with hate. "You! You stupid female! I thought you had gone the way of that mindless beast!" He stumbled against the control panel as he looked at it and then his brother. He turned his gaze to the female, who had roared at the mention of her missing mate.

"You like to play the hero then?" asked Loki as he started to laugh. "Well then, here is your opportunity. See if you can save my dear brother." And with that, he punched his fist into the button that released the hatch below the glass cell. With deafening sounds of grinding metal, the hooks released and the cell had plummeted through the long hatchway and out into the open sky.

-o-

She hesitated for but a moment, a glare of pure hatred aimed at the frost giant that had caused so much trouble and took so many lives, before she ran and dove down the hatch after the cell. She would survive this, she had to. She needed to avenge her mate and this Asgardian would help her to do it. It was their fault for allowing such a mad being to go so far. He had found the dark void of the Chitauri, the one place that her people risked their lives to send those mindless, destructive things- and themselves- to in order to protect the other realms. Had their sacrifice been for nothing? She couldn't remember how her people had done it. She had been born in that dark place, she knew that as much. Survival was nigh impossible. That dark place sucked life out of everything... Now, it would all be for naught if the frost giant opened a portal to that cold hell.

The fact that her mate might be gone now because of this frost giant's misguided attempts at self glorification stabbed her with pain that she had never felt before.

She quickly blocked the human emotion of anguish that was constantly piercing her and focused on getting to the falling cell. She could see that the Asgardian was having trouble finding his footing and could not smash his way out. That hammer was a powerful thing, he shouldn't have such trouble. Then again, this had been meant for her mate...

Anguish...

Pain...

Bruce...

The wind was roaring around her ears as she kicked her feet once and a burst of flames erupted, helping to propel her faster toward the flipping, plummeting glass cell. Thanks her her lithe, tall form, she bore little wind resistance and had reached out just in time to catch her claws into one of the metal sides of the cell. She was flipped over and over with the cell as the sight of the rising coastline began to draw nearer at a faster pace. She took in breath and released all the energy she had within to focus in her claws. The red veins in her arms burned with the heat, her claws melting away the metal as she carved and melted and tore out a large gaping hole.

The shoreline was coming much faster now and she caught the wide eyed blue gaze of the god as he stared at her in shock before quickly taking action and swinging his hammer once. He tore through the opening and out into freedom, throwing her off by accident in the process. The cell had flipped around and caught her right on the edge. It sent her careening too far from the Asgardian to catch, she could hear his voice crying out to her in the rushing wind. She was plummeting off toward inland now instead of the water.

This was a familiar feel. Her first descent toward Earth all those years ago. She couldn't remember much but she remembered that day when a little human girl had stumbled across her and had become her savior. She closed her eyes and curled herself into a protective ball, as she had that very day when traveling through that wild portal that led from the dark void to Earth. The red veins in her skin burned brightly before her entire body erupted flame, burning at a high rate. The faster she fell, the hotter she burned until she was nothing but a ball of flame... A shooting star...

With a terrible impact, the ball of flames burned its way along the ground, through the trees and greenery of the forest she had landed in. The balled form crashed along the ground for several hundred feet before coming to a stop, crashing against the trunk of a tree and knocking it over. The flames died out and the balled form unfurled itself in the small crater it had formed. As it did, the demon began to shrink in size, filling out in shape, the red veins receding to the base of the naked woman's neck. She did not awake. She slept there well into night, left undisturbed by the local wildlife.

It wasn't until a tall, broad shouldered man came crashing through the darkness, his large frame brushing aside the local shrubs, that she began to stir. He had a large flashlight in one hand and a blanket in the other and when he found her, a sigh of relief escaped him. The man tucked the flashlight under an arm and was gentle as he wrapped the woman up in the blanket and lifted her from the ground...

Ana opened her eyes and looked up at the man. Tears well in those brown eyes of hers and her throat grew tight with emotion. "Yann... He's gone," she said, her voice hoarse. Then she cried...

The man named Yannick looked down at the woman in his arms and he sighed heavily as he walked back they way he had come. "I know little one," said Yann. "I know... Your aunt had shown us everything. Go back to sleep. Your Mama is waiting for you. We're just glad your safe."

Ana had cried herself to sleep.

That night was the first she dreamed of her mate...