Hello all! I apologize for the disgracefully long wait, but I couldn't really watch my DVD until this weekend. I wanted to do these upcoming scenes justice though, so I thought it best to wait to update :). This is an extremely long chapter (almost 7,000 words!) So hopefully it'll make up for my absence…
"And the fever began to spread
From my heart down to my legs
But the room is so quiet, oh oh oh oh
And although I wasn't losing my mind
It was a chorus so sublime
But the room is so quiet, oh oh oh"
~ 'Breath of Life' by Florence + The Machine
Loki's staff collided with Thor's hammer for mere seconds before he pulled back again, swinging his staff as he prepared to do battle with his older 'brother' once more. Thor dodged Loki's blows easily, obviously still the same skilled warrior that he had been on Asgard.
Loki's staff collided with one of the letters that annotated Stark Tower, sending the pathetic bit of architecture hurtling down hundreds of feet. Loki barely heard the thud and sound of sparks it made as he lunged at Thor once more.
This was what Loki knew now, all he knew as he took on his brother. Thor's hammer came at him in a swift, deadly blow and Loki leaned backwards, evading his brother counter attack by the skin of his teeth. As Thor recovered from the mighty blow he had sent Loki's way, Loki gained the upper hand. As quick as a snake, one of Loki's hands came up to the back of Thor's head, slamming the god of thunder into the glass balcony railing and spreading glass everywhere.
A SHIELD quinjet appeared quite suddenly out of nowhere, distracting both Thor and Loki for mere milliseconds before Loki had thrown Thor down to the ground. So the rest of the mortals were here, were they? He would show them. They would all fall, one way or another. He would win.
As Loki took advantage of Thor's momentary set back, he aimed his staff at the quinjet. Dark energy surrounded him, and he let fly a large blast of dark matter. The jet was thrown off course almost immediately, hurling towards the people far below. He hoped that blasted Captain Rogers was in it. He hoped the mortal would perish. '
Quickly, Thor rammed into Loki, delivering punch after punch after punch to him. By this point, Loki could make out the destruction that was unfolding around him.
"Look at this!" Thor hissed. "Look around you. You think this madness will end with your rule? You think you will raise your son here?"
Loki caught his breath, his staff interlocked with Thor's hammer as he glanced around at the chaos he had unleashed. "It's too late," he breathed. "It's too late to stop it." He knew that to be true. He wanted this. He wanted to rule.
"We can," Thor said, a brotherly tone slipping back into his voice. Loki could have laughed out loud. So Thor was playing this game now, was he? "Together."
Loki paused for the briefest moment, as if deliberating, before summoning a blade of dark magic out of thin air and ramming it straight into Thor's abdomen.
"Sentiment," he hissed.
The next thing he knew, Loki was high in the air, being lifted by Thor. When he hit the ground again, Loki took advantage of being away from Thor's grasp and slipped over the edge of the balcony, landing on a speeder as it sped past a few hundred feet beneath him. One of the great Leviathan Chitauri beasts had already come through the portal while he had been fighting Thor. Countless Chitauri warriors were on the streets now.
Wind tore at Loki's cape and whipped against his cheekbones as he zipped through the air. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hoped Anja had the good sense to stay out of this mess. He severely doubted it, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw a streak of brown, green, and gold shoot through the war torn sky. He soon lost sight of her as he turned to the role of commanding his army. Hers would be a loss that would wound him greatly if it came to that, but he was too far gone in his own hatred to see anything else.
With a battle cry, Loki launched a blue blast of energy straight into the midday traffic of New York City.
*o*O*o*
As the beast that had come through the portal glided in a sickeningly graceful manner through the air, Anja steeled herself for what was coming. The thing was coming right towards her, Tony Stark's suit circling it as she watched in horror.
"Hey, Stark? You seeing this?"
Steve's voice was coming through the communicator in her ear and it caught her off guard. She was still not used to the Midgardian technology.
"Seeing, still working on believing," Tony's voice came through loud and clear, shaking a bit as he dodged some of the enemy firepower.
"Anja? You okay?" Steve Rogers came through her ear piece again.
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts as she went to press the communicator. "Aye, Captain Rogers." She had watched as the quinjet Steve and the others were on had crashed into the middle of one of the busier streets down below, and had been relieved to find the three that had been in it with her earlier unharmed as they exited. Then that blasted Leviathan had come through the portal and Anja had lost sight of her mortal friends.
"Where are you all located?" she said into the communicator. She still had her eyes on the great beast gliding through the sky like a perverse, colossal sea creature of some sort.
There was not a response on the other end of the line as Anja dodged a blast from one of the Chitauri that was driving the jet-ski-like device. She whipped an arrow out quickly, sending it straight into the alien's heart before abandoning her post atop the building. She took in a deep breath, transporting into her mist state as she followed the Leviathan through the streets.
Smoke clouded her vision when she got lower and further in between the buildings. Every now and then she was able to shoot a blast of magic at a passing Chitauri, but her mist state was tiring her quickly. She needed to get back to solid ground and rebalance her abilities… and she needed to find Steve and the others.
Everywhere Anja looked, she could make out the site of overturned cars and piles of rubble from the already desecrated streets of this part of the city. Thick clouds of smoke were beginning to cloud her vision despite her mist form, and she knew she needed to get down to the ground. At least there she would be out of the path of the smoke. Then she would be able to find Captain Rogers.
The moment Anja's feet touched the ground, her body regained its solid state and she was summoning her magic and forming ice daggers around her fingertips to use when she needed them. A group of speeders was heading her way, large blasts of dark energy coming from the leading one. She did not have to look twice to see who was the leader. Even without the golden horned helmet glinting in the midday sun, she would of known it was him. The dark energy she felt washing over her in a wave was enough.
She could make out what looked like a mother and daughter running away from Loki's speeder. Fire was not far behind them as a car exploded. Loki did not show any signs of stopping either and no matter how fast the mother was running with her young daughter, Anja knew they would not escape Loki's onslaught. Did Loki not care that these were innocents?!
In a burst of decision, Anja leapt forward, forming a force field of sorts as she manipulated the air around her to form a shield. She was over the two civilians in seconds, shielding them from a teeth-jarring blast that went off ten feet away from them. When Anja looked up again, Loki was gone from her line of sight. The mother and daughter she had saved were on their feet again, and she prompted them forward before she started running herself.
A Chitauri warrior saw her as she ran through the panicking crowd of people and before she could react it had charged her. She stopped suddenly, pulling forth the spikes of ice on her fingers and slinging them straight into the monster's faceplate. The thing didn't stop, and she sent an icy blast its way in an effort to stop it. She dodged the wounded beast easily, the bladed weapon it had missing her as it came down towards her.
Anja backed up, coming down hard with a blast of her magic. The beast fell then, and it hit the ground seconds after Anja had started running towards what looked like a police barricade. Well, at least the mortals had some form of resistance, however puny it was compared to what Loki had.
Another blast was aimed at her from one of the beasts, and she realized that she was becoming surrounded too quickly for her liking. She pulled water from the air, forming small daggers all around her. She edged closer to a nearby building, trying to gain some sort of upper hand.
Suddenly, the ice around her turned to nothing as an explosion sounded behind her. She felt heat hit her in a wave as a car that had been overturned burst into flames. She was unharmed and she turned back to the oncoming Chitauri. But when she tried to summon water from the air, she couldn't.
Her irritation was evident as she realized that the air was too dry to pull water from… and water was her best form of magical combat. She cursed the full-blown fire that had taken away her one source of protection. She whipped out her bow, knowing it would do little to no good against the warriors that were twice her size. Two arrows zipped through the air towards the advancing beasts, taking out two of them. She dodged a blow quickly before taking a blast to her left arm.
Anja let out a cry of pain as she looked down at the singed wound on her elbow… and memories of Loki in the gardens healing her after an attempt at manipulating fire came back to her… that had been the first time he had kissed her. The next cry that came from her chest was a battle cry as she tried to rid herself of the physical and emotional pain. She struck down the beast that had shot her, dipping low and knocking another Chitauri's legs out from under it. Her arrow lodged deep in its eye socket, and she ripped the ivory weapon from its victim before manipulating the molecules to go straight back towards another one of her attackers.
She still needed water.
You know what you need to do, My Skylark…
Loki's words from earlier came back to her and she knew what she had to do. As she took a step back from another Chitauri warrior, she closed her eyes only briefly to take in as much dark energy as she could.
When she opened her eyes again, the irises shone reflectively silver… and a wave of dark energy came off of her, killing the three Chitauri that had been coming at her. As the wave ended, Anja stumbled backwards. Her head was hurting beyond belief, a dull throbbing in her right temple catching her attention. Her injured arm was still hurting… And she was weaker than she had ever been after a bout of dark energy.
She looked up at the sound of an engine. She was barely able to make out the sight of a stray Chitauri speeder coming towards her through the hazy skies… and her world turning upside down as a blast from the guns sent her back hundreds of feet.
*o*O*o*
Steve had left Romanoff and Barton a while back, taking off as fast as his feet would carry him through the streets of New York. He could see where the cops had set up in an effort to stop the invasion, but it was no use. The Chitauri were still coming.
He could make out the sound of two policemen arguing about what course of action to take.
"Does the army know what's happening here!?" the older man asked.
"Do we?" his companion replied.
With a final leap, dodging a Chitauri as he did so, Steve landed hard on one of the police cars.
Both of the policemen looked up at him, dumbfounded. "You need men in these buildings," Steve said quickly, slipping into the military mode that always left him feeling confident. "There are people inside and they're gonna be running right into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."
"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" the older man asked indignantly.
As the man spoke, several Chitauri had come at Steve. A speeder was coming right for him, and a blast had sent several cars flying through the air. Steve stood with his shield held out in front of him, ready blocking a good portion of the shrapnel from the explosion as it came towards the police barricade. Then actual aliens started to come at him. In a burst of speed, Steve had disarmed one Chitauri and knocked down another one that had come to his other side.
When he looked back down at the men he had been speaking with, the older man was already walking away from him and relaying the orders he had given. Steve knew now that the civilians at least had a decent evacuation route, so he decided to head back to Romanoff and Barton. He had left them in quite a pickle… A Chitauri speeder further down the road was coming his way again, and he readied himself to disarm it if he had to. But before he could do anything else he swore he could see a head of dark curls coming straight for him as the blast caused an automobile to explode.
Anja's semi-solid form collided with Steve, knocking him off-balance as he caught her. She was breathing heavily, and her eyes… something was wrong with her eyes. They were glowing a reflective silver. She solidified in his arms, looking up at him before blinking hard.
"Forgive me," she said as she attempted to right herself. She still staggered and Steve was had to steady her as she furrowed her brow. The speeder that had sent her this way was long gone by now.
"You alright?" Steve said wearily as he looked down at her. "Did you see Loki?"
She placed a long fingered hand to her brow, regaining her balance. "Yes. And I am sure Stark has already relayed the message that the Tesseract is impenetrable."
Steve studied her for a moment before he nodded. She clearly didn't want to say anything more about the bastard. "You're hurt," he said after a minute. He looked down at an extremely deep gash on her arm. Blood was seeping through the green of her tunic… had she always been dressed like that?
"Aye," she said as she looked down at the wound. "One of the Chitauri was able to get in a blast to my good arm." Steve pressed his lips together, his mask hiding the furrow of his own brow in confusion. Thankfully, there had been no Chitauri through this way since he had caught her. Civilians were being evacuated from the buildings behind him as they spoke. "Where are the others? Romanoff and Barton?" she managed. His eyes were really blue framed by his helmet and they reminded her how different he was from Loki.
"They were holding off the Chitauri while I rallied up the Police. We need to get back to them, actually. That's where I was headed when you collided with me."
"Well then," she said as she placed an arrow in the string of her bow, readying it in the case of a fight. "Let's be off then."
*o*O*o*
Loki's green-cloaked form sped through the streets of New York, his emerald gaze devouring the chaos he had created. He had come up alongside the great beast that had come through the portal, giving orders to one of the Chitauri commanders as he did so on the speeder opposite him. This battle was going so smoothly it was hardly worthy of being called a battle. Earth would be overrun in no time as long as his army kept this up…
He wondered where his future queen was.
*o*O*o*
Anja raced through the streets, right next to Steve as she steeled herself for the battle she was getting ready to dive into. From her place in the streets, she could make out Natasha's flaming red hair as the assassin spun and kicked. Barton was somewhere in the mix as well, and she could see him helping some humans from a crashed bus.
"You ready?" Steve almost had to yell to her over the noise, but she nodded, slipping into her mist state as she readied herself.
"Alright," Steve said breathlessly. They were still running, Anja launching herself into the air and flying the rest of the way as Steve jumped.
Before Anja was able to take out more than three enemy fighters, a bolt of lightning struck the ground exceedingly close to where she had been fighting them off. Thor landed with a thud next to her, his powers providing a window of time for the group to catch their breath.
"What's the story upstairs?" Steve said quickly to Thor.
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor said quickly. Anja noticed the way he staggered. Surely Loki had not wounded him…
"Thor's right. We gotta stay focused on these guys," Iron Man's voice came through Anja's communicator.
Anja met Thor's gaze, the god of thunder's eyes clouded with sadness… but there was also resolve in them as well. "Lady Anja," he said quickly as Romanoff began to speak to Steve about a possible strategy. Anja had not realized that her eyes were still glowing like mirrors. "Are you well?"
Anja shrugged, looking down at the injury on her arm. "I will be fine, My Prince. Are you?"
Thor was still looking at her, no doubt able to sense the dark magic that was in her system. That blast she had used had been far more concentrated than ever before. It had almost been as potent as what had led her to Midgard in the first place.
"Aye," Thor said after a moment's deliberation.
"How do we do this?" Natasha's deep voice resonated through Anja's conversation with Thor.
"As a team," Steve said quickly.
Thor looked from Anja to Captain Rogers then. "Lady Anja and I have unfinished business with Loki."
"Yeah?" That was Barton as the archer prepped one his arrows. "Well get in line."
"Save it," Steve snapped. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us. That's what we need without that these things could run wild. Okay. We got Stark up top. He's gonna need-"
The sound of a motor caught Anja's attention, and from the looks of everyone else, it caught their's too.
Anja fought back a smile when she realized that Dr. Banner was back.
*o*O*o*
From his place on his speeder, Loki could make out the basic layout of the battle. Towards the eastern part of the island, small groups of Chitauri were going through, raiding and destroying all in their path.
From the western part of the island, however, Loki could feel an intense amount of dark energy being put to work. He knew exactly what that meant… and he knew exactly where Anja was now. Something rather strange caught his eye in his peripheral vision. The great Leviathan had turned from its track going after… the infernal man of iron.
Loki watched, his lips pressed together in a fine line as the beast followed Iron Man back towards the opposite end of the island and suppressed a groan of irritation when a huge mass of green muscle appeared from seemingly out of nowhere to meet the beast head on. The Incredible Hulk's fist came down on the beast's head, stopping the mass of throbbing tissues in its tracks and revealing a segment of its body unprotected. A single shot from Iron Man's suit led to the Leviathan's downfall.
No matter, Loki still had an unlimited resource in his army.
"Send the rest," he said darkly, his voice almost a growl as he sped back down to Earth. The Avengers and his brother would not be able to take him on forever.
*o*O*o*
Anja had taken cover next to Hawkeye behind a taxi-cab as the giant beast that the Hulk had just disarmed with a single blow came hurtling to the ground. As the wreckage settled, she could hear the sound of the Chitauri's battle cry at the sight of one of their most powerful weapons dying. It was chilling to the core, but she stood once it was safe to do so.
"Call it Captain," Stark said from beside her.
"Ok, listen up." Anja had to admire the way Steve took charge. He was a natural leader, something she wished she could be. But, right now, she was a ball of nerves and dark energy. She was ready for this day to be finished one way or another. "Until we can close that portal up there, what we need is containment. Barton, Anja, I want you two on that roof. Eyes on everything. Pick up patterns and strays." Anja nodded quickly as she made eye contact with Barton. This would be interesting. She would finally be able to see this mortal in action when he was not under Loki's control. "Stark: You got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
Barton looked to Stark. "You wanna give me a lift?" he said quickly.
"Right," Stark said. "Better clench up, Legolas. Anja, you can fly right?" Anja shot him a wry smirk and a nod as she slipped into her mist form. She nodded to Thor quickly out of respect, all of her transparent as she focused on stretching the molecules of her body as far apart as possible to send her through the air like a gas.
Then, she took off through the air, looking back only once to see Steve's bright blue eyes watching her go.
*o*O*o*
From her place on the rooftops, Anja found that she could see everything. Her bow was at the ready, shooting when she could as she fought next to Barton.
"Figured you'd be with your boyfriend," Barton said absently as he let lose an arrow that took a passing Chitauri on a speeder in the back of the head. It was clear that the battle was his focus.
Anja pursed her lips, letting an arrow of her own fly as she took a speeder of her own down. "Well, I am not," she replied tersely.
Barton let out a laugh at that, slipping down and dodging a blast from a speeder. Quickly, Anja manipulated the plasma like state of the blast and sent it directly back at the speeder that had shot it.
"Stark, you got a bunch of strays sniffing your tail," Barton said into his communicator. Then, to Anja, "Behind you."
Quickly, Anja spun, sending a blast of ice and freezing a Chitauri speeder solid in midair. She found her water manipulation was working quite well up at this altitude. To her left, she could make out a red cape flying through the air and lighting on a skyscraper slightly taller than the one she and Barton were on. Lightning shot through the air and to Thor's hammer as the god of thunder sent a blast of electrical energy into the portal in an effort to slow down the invasion. In her gut, Anja knew it would do little good.
She dodged another blast, ducking as Barton sent an arrow over her head to the speeder that had shot at her. "Thanks," she said quickly as she let another arrow fly.
"Don't mention it," Barton replied. "Stark, Thor's taken on a squadron on Meeting Street," he said into his communicator.
Anja let out a small smile as she heard Stark's response. "And he didn't invite me."
"Look out!" Anja said quickly to the archer. Two Chitauri had leapt from a passing speeder, almost taking the archer down before he snapped his head around, producing a blade out of nowhere and slitting one's throat. Three more were scaling the building by now… Anja was able to get a decent shot into one of the oncoming aliens' head, and Barton was keeping his ground as he spun and kicked his way through the fight.
"Shit. Anja!" Barton's voice came a little too late as Anja heard the rush of a speeder just above her and a strong hand as cold as ice came down and around her left arm that had been poised to shoot an ice dagger at a Chitauri warrior.
Loki.
She could just make out the faint whiz of an arrow as Barton shot blindly at Loki's head, but then she was completely out of site of the archer. Loki pulled her up completely, positioning her between the steering device of the speeder and his chest.
"Such a strong one, My Love," he murmured in her ear. "But I grow tired of your child's play now. You are far safer up here with me." Anja shivered as air ripped at the half undone braid of her hair. The braid had come undone during the fight at some point, although she could not remember when…
"Let me go, Loki," she yelled over the rush of the air. From up here she could see everything… and she began to panic when she saw Steve heading straight into a building alone.
"Why would I do that when I am so close to killing one of your friends?" he hissed in her ear. At that, the bright red head of Natasha Romanoff on a hijacked Chitauri speeder came into view. Anja began to struggle, her heart skipping a beat when Loki let lose a blast of magic from his speeder at the red-head. Natasha seemed to be able to dodge it though. Romanoff cut the block once, coming back to where Anja had seen Steve enter a building alone.
A purple blast of pure energy erupted from a top story window of the building, and Steve came flying out of the window, shield in hand and smoke enveloping him. "STEVE!" Anja yelled as she looked down at the crushed metal of the roof of the car that he had landed on. She did not miss the tightening of Loki's arms behind her when she had called out Rogers's name, but at that moment all she knew was that she needed to protect Steve. She would not let another good man die because of Loki. But she couldn't do that if Loki had her on this god-forsaken speeder.
With a burst of energy, Anja threw Loki's grip off of her and dove from the speeder. She was barely able to transform back to her mist form before she hit the ground, solidifying on concrete and running back towards the commotion and the explosion site.
*o*O*o*
When Loki heard Anja say that mortal's name, hate seeped through him straight from his heart to his toes. How dare that mortal influence Anja in such a way as to make her jump from a speeder to save him. Rogers was hardly worth the dust on Loki's boots. Why on earth would a sorceress as talented as Anja wish to save him?
He could make out the image of Black Widow jumping from her speeder and landing near the portal device on Stark Tower. Loki was soon distracted from his thoughts by the sound of an arrow zipping through the air and straight for him. That blasted Barton was becoming more trouble than he was worth. With a quick movement, Loki's hand went up to catch the single arrow that had been fired at him before he shot a smug smirk back towards Barton. Was this really all the archer could-
BOOM!
Loki was thrown through the air, landing in a pile back at Stark Tower. His helmet was lost along the way… and he did a double take as the Hulk came bounding at him out of nowhere and sent him through the glass windows once more.
"Enough!" Loki cried out, his anger at Anja and the fact that he had just been bested by a mortal driving his rage. "I am a god you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by you!"
The Hulk looked at Loki for a full half a second before he picked the god of mischief up by his ankles and slammed Loki's body into the hard marble floor five times. Loki barely heard the Hulk's rhetoric of "Puny god" as he lay in the stone, unmoving as he looked up at the ceiling and attempted to regain his bearings.
*o*O*o*
"Steve!" Anja cried through the dust as she kept moving. There were no Chitauri on this segment of the street, but smoke still filled the air, a remnant from the blast no doubt.
When she came up to the crushed car that she had seen, however, Steve was in one piece, standing slumped against the car. "By the Norns!" she cried out as she ran up to him. "Are you alright?" She cupped his cheek in her hand, concentrating on healing whatever he needed healing. Her powers were working perfectly now. No one else was going to die on her watch.
"I'm fine, Anja," Steve said as he blinked. "How'd you get down here?"
Anja gave him a look. "It's… rather complicated. Barton is fine though, but I fear for Agent Romanoff."
Steve nodded, taking in a deep breath and wincing as he felt a few of his ribs protest.
"You are injured, Captain Rogers," Anja said after a moment. "Let me help you."
Steve shook his head. "Save your energy. We'll need it with all of this. I heal pretty quick."
As Steve had spoken, he had indicated to the countless civilians that were being ushered from the building he had just come from. "You saved them?" she whispered. He barely heard her, but he nodded soberly. His blue eyes were dull as they met hers, and he seemed so much older as he took her in.
Anja felt the weight of the battle fall on her too, and she slumped beside Steve on the crushed car as she regained her focus. A small sob escaped from her chest, and one of Steve's big arms came around her shoulders, comforting her even in a situation such as this.
*o*O*o*
Natasha had taken in a deep breath when she landed on the top of Stark Tower. She had just jumped nearly twenty feet from a moving speeder onto the top of this thing and the Tesseract was still going strong and steady. With a huff of irritation, she got up, slinging red hair from her eyes.
"The staff!" Selvig's voice rang in Natasha's ears. "The staff will close the portal!" Above her, Loki's army continued to swarm from the portal that had been opened like bees in a hive and it took her a minute to realize that Selvig was speaking to her. His voice was small, fragile. "This is all my fault…"
"It's not your fault," she said. She had never been the best at comforting someone, but she felt the need to in this situation. She knew what it felt like to have red on your ledger. "You didn't know what you were doing."
"Actually, I think I did. I built in a safety. You need to get the staff," he said quietly. "It can shut her down… and I'm looking right at it." Natasha felt her stomach twist as she realized that Selvig was looking down… far down…
Natasha nodded. "I can swing that," she muttered. Then, as she looked down, "I hope I can swing that…" It was a long way down...
Grabbing onto the railing, she propelled herself over the edge, latching onto a ledge that was slightly lower down. Quick as a whip, she thrust herself towards the platform that Loki's staff rested on. She landed on her feet as she tucked into a roll of perfect form to prevent injuring her knees from the drop. She hadn't counted on hitting her head.
She shook her red hair from her eyes, trying to blink back the pinpricks of light that danced across her vision. With another toss of her head, she began to crawl towards the staff… before a booted foot came down on it. Damnit. She thought to herself as she looked up slowly. Loki had placed a foot on the staff, holding it in place and keeping her from lifting it up.
Loki had recuperated, if only slightly, with a quick healing spell. It had been one of dark magic, designed for quick affects and bursts of energy. Every bit of him was hurting- both emotionally and physically- but hen he had seen this mortal trying to steal his weapon to close down all he had worked for, he had found it in him to stop her. He also just needed to watch the light leave someone's eyes by his own hand.
Natasha glared back up at him. He looked really beat up, no doubt courtesy of the Hulk, but she knew that appearances were misleading. Years of experience in the spy business told her that she needed to be prepared, even if he was walking with a limp. An injured beast was even more dangerous than a whole one at the worst of times.
With blinding speed, she brought her legs around to knock Loki's legs out from under him. He jumped out of the way, and she snatched the staff up from the ground, a look of determination knitting her brows together. She held the staff ready to fend him off.
Just as she suspected, he lunged at the staff and she used it to knock him in the gut with the butt end of it. Then he started laughing… before he backhanded her and she went flying into the outer wall of Stark Tower.
She was on her feet in an instant, hand springing towards him and latching onto his back. She clawed at his eyes as he spun around in an effort to release her death grip on his neck. The tazers on her wrist did little to no good against him, unfortunately. He backed into a wall, smashing her between it and the stiff armor he wore. She felt heat surge in her chest as her solar plexus contracted at the trauma.
She let go briefly, unable to breathe. Loki took a step back, admiring his handy work as his hands clutched the staff. "I had hoped the famous Black Widow would put up more of a fight than this." He taunted her. "Fragile mortal. You will all fail. Where is your beloved Clint? Hmm? Surely you will want to ensure his safety. I may save him for last when the Avengers fall. Hopefully that will comfort you as you take your dying breath." That crazy look was in his eyes as they bulged from his face, glaring down at her. He staggered a bit, though. His encounter with the Hulk had definitely taken a toll on his body.
Very few people had ever bested Natasha Romanoff in a fight, but now she was the one sprawled on the ground, her hair all in her face and blood trailing from a wound on her forehead. "Look who's talking," she rasped out as the tightness in her chest dulled. "Where's Anja? Has she abandoned you?"
That seemed to anger Loki and he brought a hand to her throat. He squeezed hard and Natasha fought the urge to cry out as tears stung in her eyes. "Barton told me things, as you know, when he was my slave. You are nothing to him and now I find myself wondering if you are anything to anyone, Agent Romanoff." His grip on her throat tightened. "Your teammates are nowhere to be found. What will you do now?" As if in response to the trickster's last question, Natasha snapped out of her mini lapse in coordination, her brows furrowing together as she glared back at him. She brought her hands up again, knocking his own from her throat. She spun kicked him, latching onto the staff.
He returned her blow, kicking her in the middle again.
And then he raised the bladed end of his staff on a direct collision course for her head. In a flash and a burst of adrenaline, she blocked his blow, bringing her hands up, allowing them to meet at the wrist in an 'x', and keeping his blow from moving any further towards her. In a twisting motion, she brought the blade so that the pointed end was aiming at the ground. The staff stayed in a locked position between them.
It didn't work, and after a moment of struggling, she swept between his legs, never releasing her grip on the staff. With a tug of her arms, and the momentum she had built up by swinging downwards, she felt the staff follow her. When he didn't release his grip, her momentum pulled him down, through his own legs and flipped him square on his back.
Natasha got up quickly, grabbing the staff and turning back to him… and walloping him across the face once to keep him down. Those alien things kept coming through the portal. She needed to get back up to Selvig. "Don't bother getting up on my account," she said as she smacked him again when he tried to get up. "Oh, and don't worry, I'm sure the rest of my team will take good care of you. Maybe Anja will... although I'd wager you're nothing to her too." His taunting words came quickly off her tongue. Natasha knew that was a low blow, but she was angry beyond belief.
After that, she raced with blinding speed back up to where the doctor waited, leaving Loki in the dust. He was so tired… And the blows he had sustained from that wench had lessened the effects of his healing spell. Now, he felt even worse than he had after the Hulk had gotten to him. The god would not be getting up for a good while, and with that last thought going through his head, Loki let unconsciousness take him.
LONGEST CHAPER I HAVE EVER WRITTEN! Haha I am so excited right now I can't even think straight. I hope this was action-packed enough. I really do love action scenes. As for the Natasha/Loki fight at the end, if it looks familiar, that's because it is. It was a one-shot I wrote the day I saw the Avengers the first time. The whole time I was watching the movie, I was really really really hoping Nat would get to kick Loki's butt. So, I took the liberty of adding it into my fic (keeping in mind it is AU) ;) It's basically a one-shot I wrote a while back called 'Don't Mess with Me,' and I added in certain things to make it blend with the story :D
Can i just say that even though I'm a Loki fan, I was the one leading the applause everytime he was hulk-smashed? I know, I'm confused, but hey, He had it coming. XD
I will be updating as soon as possible. (hopefully tomorrow, actually. I have maybe two chapters and an epilogue left and then this little story will be at an end.)
Review?
~Sirius