Tony didn't know what the source of the cracking noise was, but there was a very big part of him that hoped it was something in his armor breaking. Unfortunately, the sharp pain that suddenly cut into his right side made him inclined to think it was a rib that had broken, not a rod or bracket. Still, there was a chance—
No, there really wasn't.
"Tony, are you alright?"
"Peachy." Tony pushed against the ground and forced himself back onto his feet, swaying slightly before getting his bearings and taking off toward the portal. "How are things looking on the ground?"
"Better," came the breathy reply. "Most of the Chitauri structures have been destroyed, and there aren't as many flying overhead now." There was a break in conversation, the distinct sounds of a fistfight coming from the other end. "Thank God the Asgardians showed up."
"Wouldn't that be thank gods?"
"No, but you get points for trying."
Tony snorted, flying in a tight circle and grunting at the subsequent pressure on his ribs. He shook it off, extending his hands out in front of him and firing his repulsors into the throngs of warriors coming down through the portal.
"Tony, are you sure you're alright?"
"Fine, Steve." Tony grit his teeth, dropping down a few feet to avoid being decapitated by a hovercraft and firing his beams again. "Do we know anything about New York City?"
"Everything is still black, so other than reports from outside observers, we don't know much of anything." Pause. "That didn't happen anywhere else. You realize—"
"Yeah. Loki." Tony flew to the right, moving in a broader circle and firing inwards in an attempt to bottleneck the opening. "You think it was a mistake to let him have his magic?"
"No, but I'm worried about what he's up against. I thought because it was the most recent portal, it was the one we could afford to have just one person fighting." Steve paused again, this time to fight. Or at least, Tony assumed shattering glass and alien screeches weren't a regular part of Steve's phone calls. "Now, I'm not sure."
"You can't put that on yourself, Cap. You trusted your gut and did the best you could with what you had. If he had to set off an EMP or do some weird voodoo thing to stay on top of things, then that's what he had to do." Tony stopped to catch his breath, unnerved by the steady throb in his torso. "Besides, according to Sif, Thor is there now. Loki is in good hands, and so is New York. Trust them, trust yourself, and focus on Tokyo."
Steve gave a breathy laugh, panting heavily in between phrases. "Thanks. Just keep that in mind—when you try to blame yourself—for not figuring out H.Y.D.R.A.'s plan sooner." There was another laugh followed by a moan. "Tony, how do we close these things?"
"I don't know. I can only run so many calculations in my head. Bruce said we all have to send attacks into the portal. I think with Asgard on our side, we actually have a chance of getting close enough to do that."
"But how do we close them?"
"I just said I don't—"
Pain blossomed through his side anew as the Iron Man suit was clipped by something—a Chitauri hovercraft, maybe? Tony spiraled down, head over heels over head again, everything beyond his faceplate distorting into abstract splotches of color.
"Tony!"
There was a crash, there was pain, and then everything went black.
Bruce glanced up from his work just long enough to ensure Loki was still breathing and then returned his attention to the screen on the countertop, trying to figure out what he was looking at. It was mostly void, partially stars, and swarming with hundreds of thousands of Chitauri that had yet to pass through the portal.
There has to be some sort of device holding the portals open from their side. There has to be something we can attack. There has to be. But the longer he flew the small, robotic camera around in open space, the more he felt inclined to believe he had miscalculated. But that would mean it only took them two years to develop a self-sustaining portal, and if they have that kind of advanced technology, what would they need H.Y.D.R.A. for? Why wouldn't they just attack on their own without going through all this trouble of researching the staff and Selvig and…
"Mmm… Thor…?"
Bruce looked up again, pushing his glasses up the length of his nose and flashing a weak, fleeting smile. "You're awake." He immediately dropped his gaze back down to his work, fingers sliding around on one of the panels as he controlled the camera. "Thor is in New York City. You are under strict orders not to fight."
Loki sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and looking around the empty room with a dazed expression on his face. "I…" He blinked a few times and looked around again. "How is there power here?"
Bruce laughed softly. "You really think Tony Stark would live in a tower that couldn't withstand an EMP blast?"
Loki opened his mouth to reply, but then he stopped and shifted gears with a shake of his head. "Tell me how I can help from here."
Bruce performed some sort of cross between shrugging, throwing his hands up, and gesturing to the camera feed. "I don't know. I don't know how to close the portals, and I don't know what either of us can do to help."
"Dr. Banner," Loki began carefully. "Take a deep breath. Getting agitated won't help."
Bruce laughed bitterly, running his hands through his hair. "You sure about that? Because I was just thinking I need to—to initiate a Code Green." He sucked air down into his lungs and blew it back out. "What else can I do, Loki? This isn't—Tony should be doing this, not me."
"No." Loki shook his head, getting to his feet and walking stiffly over to the table. "Anthony is where he needs to be, and so are you. The Hulk is an Avenger, Dr. Banner, but you are an Avenger, too. Take a deep breath, collect yourself, and take another look."
Bruce buried his face in his hands and inhaled between the gaps in his skin, a burning sensation spreading throughout his core. "I've been looking," he cut back, struggling to keep the beast inside from getting any closer to the surface. "There's nothing there."
"Dr. Banner." Loki reached out and took Bruce's face in his hands. "You are not going to unleash the Hulk. Not today, do you hear me? Now think. Use that beautiful brain of yours and think." He moved his hands to Bruce's shoulders and shook lightly, staring with eyes that pierced Bruce right down to his soul. "You have me. My perspective will be different than yours because of my familiarity with magic, so start from the beginning and walk me through it."
Bruce raked his hands across his scalp, exhaling loudly as he considered the various digital monitors laid out before him. "Okay. Okay, here's what we know. There are four portals in four locations in Earth's atmosphere. They are all identical to the one from the Battle of New York in every way except for the fact that they have no clear structure or energy source holding them open. All four portals join into one large portal on the other side, meaning any attacks we send in from any of the portals will ultimately attack all of them. But even with access to the other side, I can't see any source—"
"Don't focus on that." Loki shook his head as he interrupted. "There are ways to contain smoke that don't require putting the fire out."
Bruce blinked. "Well, yes, but that's not exactly…"
"But it's all we have." Loki took a breath. "If there's no way to close them, then we've lost. So, we must fight as if there is a way." Loki let go of Bruce and rubbed his hands together. "So, Dr. Banner, what can we do to attack these portals? These physical holes, what can we do to patch them up?"
Rubbing the back of his head, Bruce slid the image on his right a little closer, enlarging the photo and trying to come up with some sort of answer to the question. "They're made of energy. They—uh, technically they're tears in the fabric of space. So, dimensions?"
Loki nodded vigorously. "Good, that's good. Uh, let's see—is there a substance in their chemical make-up we can remove? Or perhaps a part of that particular aspect we can manipulate? Something we could add or subtract that would make the portals unstable. Changing the charge from negative to positive or vice versa… something along those lines."
Bruce snapped his fingers. "Hey, there's an idea. We could work with that." He leaned down to stare at the screens again. "If we could somehow shift the way the two planes of existence are interacting, there's a chance the door will shut by default. Like… like how an elevator won't open its doors in between two different floors."
Loki drummed his fingers on the table, hands moving unceasingly as he considered the idea. "How do we shift them, though? How do we hurt the physical gateway?"
Bruce looked over at Loki. "You had to use the Tesseract to open the first portal. Why?"
"The Tesseract is a source of unlimited energy. Granted, I needed the portal to direct and control the energy, but—" Loki stopped suddenly, green eyes widening. "Ohh."
Bruce grabbed him by the arms. "Interference!" Turning back to the table, Bruce pulled up the four locations and pointed to various structures within the cities. "The most populated places in the world are also going to have the largest concentrations of electricity in the world. If we can utilize every one of these powerhouses and send as much energy through the portal as we can, all at the same time, it just might be enough to break the connection and close the portals."
Loki turned toward the window, staring at the raging storm clouds and billowing smoke with a confident smile. "Before when the connection to the mothership was lost, all of the Chitauri died on the spot. If we're right about how this works, they should all immediately shut down, and we'll win." He whirled around spreading his arms. "Dr. Banner, you're a genius!"
Bruce grabbed Loki in a bear hug before the trickster had the chance to protest. "We figured it out, Loki! We got it!"
Loki opened his mouth and then shut it again, unsure of how to react by the surprise embrace, and then he wiggled out of Bruce's grasp. "Now, we just have to relay this message to all of our teammates, and they have to get things done on their end."
Bruce ran a hand through his hair, a momentary pang in his chest smothering some of his joy. "And after we use all of that power… we'll have four major cities in complete blackout states…"
Loki put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "One battle at a time, Dr. Banner. Let's start making calls."
Bruce nodded, pulling his StarkPhone out of his pocket. "Right."
Please, oh please, let this work.
"You want us to do what?" Clint pushed back against the wall, sweat pouring down his face as he struggled to catch his breath. "Tell me I just misheard you."
"I know how it sounds," came Bruce's crackling reply, "but we don't have any other options. There's nothing we can attack besides the portals themselves, and all we know about them is that they're connected and sustained by energy."
"Aw, geeze…" Clint looked around the room he was in and identified it as a hardware store. "So, I need to get my hands on the controls for the power grid, and then what? Shoot it like some sort of laser?"
"I have a camera on the other side of the portal, and it's attached to one of Tony's robots. I'm placing a target, so to speak, on that machine. Once you and the others get control of the power grids, I'll use that target to send the accumulated energy through the portal. Thor is passing the message on to the Jotuns, and then he'll be down to help you, and he'll unleash as much lightning as he can on this side of the portal."
Clint got to his feet, still huffing and puffing, and pressed a hand to his side with a pained wince. He started looking around for anything he—or rather, Natasha—could use to manipulate the computers and security barriers between them and their much-needed weapon.
"What about the others?" Clint asked. "What's they're extra oomph gonna be?"
"Loki will hopefully recover enough magic while resting to attack here in New York, Tony is going to fire repulsor beams in Tokyo, and the Jotuns are going to use their magic in Jakarta. Between the electricity and magic… it's the best play we have right now." There was a brief spell where the only thing that came through the speaker was static, but then Bruce could be heard once more. "Do what you can and keep in touch. It's crucial that we all attack at the same time."
"Got it." Clint began stuffing wires and fuses into his pockets, eyes skimming the shelves for anything that might come in handy. "Man, are you sure this is gonna work?"
"Of course I'm not sure," Bruce snapped. "There are aliens and wormholes and giant sky snakes. I have no certainty of anything, but it's still our best shot."
Clint heaved a sigh and hung his head, giving himself the momentary luxury of basking in the sheer ridiculousness of the situation he was in. "Alright, Doc, whatever you say. I'll buzz you when I have news."
"Over and out."
Clint switched the frequency on his earpiece, darting to the end of the aisle and grabbing a plastic basket to collect the larger tools in. "Natasha, you there?"
There was momentary pause, and then her voice came through, sounding just as exhausted as his. "Yeah."
"Bruce thinks he might have a solution, and we're gonna need the entire power grid to make it work. I'm in a hardware store somewhere between the waterfront and that big tower that kinda looks like it might actually be two towers. Closer to the water than the other thing, I think. I'm trying to collect stuff we'll need. Meet me here as soon as you can, and bring a few backpacks."
"Backpacks?"
"We're gonna need a lot of stuff, Natasha. When I say we need the power grid, I mean we need the entire grid. It ain't gonna be pretty." Clint put a bottle of adhesive into the basket and kept moving. "C'mon, I can't do this without you. Just get over here, and I can explain it all in person."
"Fine, give me ten minutes. No, fifteen." There was a pause, an explosion, and the next time she spoke, it sounded like she was running. "Is everyone doing this?"
"Yup," Clint replied, grabbing a couple soldering tools.
Natasha panted on the other side. "What about New York?"
"What about it?"
There was another pause, but it sounded more annoyed than practical. "New York City went black, Clint."
"Oh." Stopping halfway down the aisle, Clint stood with his mouth opening and closing in silent search of words, and then he spat out the only thing he could think of. "Well, that sucks."
Natasha only sighed. "Be there soon."
Clint shook his head and massaged the bridge of his nose. He was certain Bruce and Loki couldn't have forgotten that the city was down, but without a power source to manipulate, he had no idea what they were going to do. Especially if Loki's magic was going to be used up in a separate attack.
They'll figure it out. Probably.
Clint ran to get another basket.
Thor tilted his hammer downward and began his rapid descent toward Earth, Loki's words still ringing in his head as he went over his mission for what had to be the hundredth time.
"Jakodi and Saari are completely unfamiliar with Midgardian technology, and they do not have earpieces to allow for communication. Dr. Banner and I can use the arc reactor below the Tower in place of a power grid, so you'll do the most help in Jakarta."
Boots struck the pavement, sending a spider web of cracks through the asphalt, and it took Thor less than a minute to assess the situation he had landed in.
"Jakodi!" Thor threw Mjolnir through the air, sending roughly half a dozen aircrafts spiraling across the midnight sky. "Jakodi, are you here?"
Thor had barely finished calling out when the world around him was shaken by the roar of a leviathan. Pivoting on the spot, Thor took a step back and stared up in a mix of awe and excitement as the creature's armor creaked and popped before ultimately falling away. From underneath, pinkish red spikes made of ice split the monster's skin, the frozen explosion ultimately dropping the beast to the ground with a magnificent thud.
Jakodi landed on the leviathan's head a moment later, rolling sideways and tumbling to the ground with a surprisingly graceful landing.
"Jakodi!" Thor ran toward Jakodi, dodging the falling pieces of shrapnel as he danced across the battlefield. "I have news from—"
"What are you doing here, Odinson?"
Thor slowed to a stop just a few feet away from his directive, taken aback by Jakodi's behavior. However, he quickly reminded himself of the tension between their realms and continued with his usual enthusiasm. "I have news from Loki. He says we must use the Jakartan power grid to attack the portal. I do not know exactly how it works, but I have these—" he pulled two ear pieces from the pocket Bruce had strapped onto his armor, "—and Dr. Bannaer says he will be able to walk us through the process."
Jakodi examined Thor's outstretched hand from a distance, casting suspicious eyes over Thor's entire body before he finally reached out to take one. "One for myself and one for you?"
Thor pointed to his right ear. "I already have one in. This is for Saari."
Both men startled, an explosion rocking the ground beneath their feet as the supports of a nearby building gave out entirely, dropping story after story of concrete and glass to the pavement just two blocks away.
"Where is Saari?" Thor continued, already swinging his hammer in preparation to fight in the skies. "Once we have her, we can approach the power grid and end this battle once and for all."
Jakodi nodded sporadically, looking around himself as he did. He chewed on his lip, his brow creasing as he fought to reorient himself. Then he pointed in the opposite direction of the collapsed building. "That way."
Thor didn't need to hear anymore. He took to the skies and flew in the direction Jakodi had indicated, keeping one eye on the frost giant below while the other scanned the landscape for any sign of the sister.
This would be so much easier if they didn't all look the same. Thor banked to the left and turned in a wide circle, striking Chitauri warriors down one by one until he was back on the path he left. She is a princess. She should at least have a crown or cape or crest—something to set her apart from the other soldiers. It's hard enough trying to see her in the dark without…
Screeching to a halt, Thor dropped onto the nearest rooftop and examined the surrounding structures and swarms of conflict with narrowed eyes. If she has magic like Loki and Queen Leiknyrr, she should be fairly easy to spot based on her attacks.
Explosions shook the ground for the second time since Thor arrived, the tremors forcing him down to one knee as the building buckled beneath him. They sounded out in quick succession, five booming roars, and when the echoes faded, the sounds of battle seemed nearly silent by comparison.
That must be something. If not Saari, then a threat. Either way, it had to be investigated, so Thor jumped from the roof and flew straight to the heart of it. Twisting and turning, he navigated the smoke and partial buildings, eventually finding his way down to the ground in one piece.
"Saari?" Thor looked left and right, cautiously approaching the epicenter of the wreckage. "Jakodi? Saari?" He rounded a large, flaming piece of debris that vaguely resembled a leviathan head with a Chitauri hovercraft wedged between its teeth, squinting into the darkness. "Jakodi, is that you?"
"Thor! Thor, help!"
There was no need for a repeat command. Thor was bolting across the molten plaza in a fraction of a heartbeat. He couldn't see a threat as he approached, but Jakodi was definitely not standing, and there was a certain element of desperation in the breaking voice that was almost primitive.
"Jakodi, what—?" Thor stopped when he saw Saari laying on the ground, her left arm missing and her wounds gushing blood faster than Jakodi's hands could stop it.
Springing into action, Thor dropped to his knees and tore his cape from his shoulders, folding it over twice and pressing it against her chest and empty shoulder socket. He looked down at her body, doing a quick assessment of her injuries and coming to an immediate conclusion.
"It's going to be alright." Thor forced a smile. "Asgard has the most advanced medical technology, and we—"
Saari only shook her head and gave them a weary, almost vacant smile. "Jakodi… take my hand."
Jakodi shook his head, both of his hands pressed against the gaping hole in her stomach the cape couldn't cover. "No, I have to stop the bleeding. We can be sentimental later."
Grunting, Saari struggled to lift her hand. "Don't be stupid… do as you're told… take it…"
Jakodi screwed his eyes shut and continued to shake his head, tears rolling down his cheeks, steam rising from his skin. "No. No, you can't, not you. Not like this."
Saari made a weak fist, frustration showing on what little of her face she could still move. "Odinson."
Thor jumped slightly, blinking twice before spitting out a stupefied, "Yes?"
"My ring… take it… make sure my mother gets that…" She hissed in pain, tilting her head back and gritting her teeth at the sky. "You listen to me, Odinson." She gasped, her bloody chest jumping with every attempt at an inhale. "You take… care of him… for me… you p-protect him… like you would… Loki…"
Thor opened his mouth, but he was at a complete loss for words.
"Stop it!" Jakodi shouted, his voice bouncing off of the destruction and echoing back to them. "Stop it, you're going to be fine, so just… just stop it… s-s…"
"Swear it, Odinson," she growled. "On… your father's… honor…"
"I swear," Thor blurted out, nodding vigorously. "I swear on my father's honor and crown and kingdom. I swear on all of Asgard, I will do what you've asked. I'll protect him."
Saari managed to smile again, blood splashing past her lips and dribbling down her chin and cheeks. "I'm so lucky…" she whispered, eyes sliding from one prince to the next. "I have… such a… caring… big brother…"
Jakodi finally abandoned the futile attempt at stopping the blood flow, choosing instead to grasp her hand and lie down next to her. "I would hold you, but I don't want to hurt you." He wrapped an arm around her waist even as he said it.
Saari dragged a rasping breath down into her lungs and forced out a sharp bark of laughter. "Sentiment…" Her hand twitched, and she jerked it around until Jakodi let go and started working the ring off her finger. "Tell mother… that I love her… and I am… very sorry… I did not say it more often… tell them all… and tell them… I'll take care… of our family until… until you all join us…"
"I will," Jakodi choked out. "I will, I'll tell them. I love you. I love you so much, and I know all of our siblings would say the same. Mother loves you, too, and she knows you love her. She knows, Saari, I promise…" He pressed his head against hers, his words dissolving into a broken string of sobs and disjointed syllables.
"Odinson…" Saari closed her eyes, a subtle glow starting from her forehead and slowly moving downwards. "I'm… taking one… more… shot…"
Thor's brow creased, confusion settling in his mind for a second before he understood.
"…run…"
Spurred into action by the simple, one-word command, Thor threw his arms around Jakodi and tore him from the ground, thrusting Mjolnir skyward and sending them both up into the atmosphere.
"Odinson! Odinson!" Jakodi thrashed in Thor's grip, making a futile attempt at escape. "Take me back! Take me back to her, Odinson, take me back! Take me back to my sister!"
Thor adjusted his grip and directed their course downward, landing at what he felt was a safe distance away from whatever it was Saari was going to do. "Jakodi—"
Jakodi cut him off with a swift kick to the knee, the pain startling Thor just enough to force a loosened grip. Jakodi wormed his way out and took off in a run, making it all of five steps before Thor grabbed his arm in an unrelenting grip.
"Jakodi—"
"Let me go!" Jakodi screamed, digging his feet into the ground and pulling with all of his might. "Let me go, let me go, she needs me!"
"Please—"
"I have to go to her!" Jakodi twisted his arm as hard as he could, never once ceasing in his struggles against the significantly stronger soldier. "Let me go! I can't leave her, she can't die alone, she can't, she just can't!" He struck Thor in the chest, fingers curling into his breastplate and pulling. "Take me back to her, take me back, t-take—take me—"
Thor no longer tried to interrupt. He simply held an icy wrist in each hand and waited for Jakodi to burn himself out.
"Please, take me back, please… please, I don't want her to die alone… I don't… sh-she's my baby sister. I'm supposed to take care of her, and I couldn't, and… please, she can't die alone, please, please…" Jakodi's words grew increasingly slurred, his phrases fractured by heart-wrenching sobs as he pleaded with Thor. "Please, let me go… she's all alone… and she's in pain, and I… I have to help her, please… I don't want her to die in that place… staring up at the smoke and fire… with no one there to hold her hand or… or brush her hair out of her face… or distract her with stories that make her smile… please, Thor… please, I'll do anything… I'll do anything… please, she's my sister, she's my little sister… I can't just let her die, Thor, please!"
Another explosion shook the block, and Jakodi convulsed in Thor's arms. Thor immediately pressed Jakodi to his chest, wrapping both arms around the smaller frame as he tried to think of something—anything—to say. But there was nothing, and all Thor could do was watch as Jakodi sobbed, screaming her name in between haggard breaths and loud wails.
Thor stood there, still and silent as a statue, holding the weeping man in his arms and watching the fresh layer of smoke curl into the sky with no small amount of respect. To her last breath, Saari fought, knowing anything she could do to help would increase Jakodi's chances of survival.
"Thor, have you arrived in Jakarta yet?"
Thor turned his head to the right before remembering the speaker in his ear and quietly hissing, "Now is not the time, Dr. Banner."
"I'm just trying to find out where everyone is and what stage of the plan they're on. You don't have to stop fighting to talk to me. That's why we have the earpieces."
Thor growled under his breath, tightening his hold on Jakodi as he ground out another reply. "Yes, I am in Jakarta."
"Have you found the power grid?"
Thor shook his head despite the fact that Bruce couldn't see him. "Not yet."
"Thor, is everything alright? You sound—"
"No." Thor glanced down at Jakodi and then over his shoulder at the havoc raining down on the remainder of the city. "It is not."
Jakodi lifted his head from Thor's shoulder, glassy eyes sliding up to Thor's ear. "We need… the power grid."
Thor nodded cautiously. "Yes… that is the next part of the plan."
Jakodi set his jaw and pulled himself out of Thor's arms, shoving Saari's ring onto his pinky finger. "We're wasting time. We need to find that grid and do whatever it takes to close this portal." He looked away, shoulders quaking for a moment before he swallowed the urge to mourn and turned to face the heart of the city. "Let's go."
Thor once again offered a careful nod, choosing to jog a little ways behind while Jakodi took off running.
"Thor, are you still there?"
"Aye."
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Sighing, Thor sped up, not wanting to lose the person he had sworn on all of Asgard to protect. "Saari is dead, and Jakodi is…" He shook his head, silently wondering whether the brother's determination would help or hurt their cause.
"Jakodi is…?"
"Jakodi is on the war path."
"…ny… ear me? To… Ton… Tony!"
Waking up was like being thrown in a pool of ice water, and Tony gasped and convulsed accordingly, immediately aware of acute pain in his chest and sides. "What the—?"
Steve was suddenly hovering over him, his blurry outline in front of a pitch black backdrop painted with stars and smog. "Tony?"
"What… what happened?"
Steve let out a sigh of relief, casting his eyes upward briefly. "Thank God. Tony, I thought I lost you there for a minute. You were shot down, and you hit that building and dropped a couple stories to this rooftop. How's your head? Your back? What hurts?"
Tony grunted, slowly turning his head in search of his faceplate. "Uh… ask again later when the answer isn't everything." Straining, he rolled onto his side and pushed against the ground, trying to get back onto his feet. "Ugh—do we have any more of a plan now than we did when I went under?"
Steve ducked beneath Tony's arm and looped the appendage around his neck, supporting the man from below as he replied. "Believe it or not, we do. Bruce said we've got to find some sort of power grid or other massive source of energy and fire it into the portal. Then we have to hit this side with another attack, and hopefully we'll be able to disrupt the passage between the two dimensions."
Tony tried to take a step and froze, sharp pain travelling up his leg and into his lower back. "Mmm, nope. I'm stuck."
Steve nodded and moved in front of Tony, crouching down and gesturing for Tony to get on his back.
Laughing, Tony did the exact opposite and plopped himself down on the rooftop. "Ha, no. You are not giving me a piggy back ride, first of all, and second of all, I'll only slow you down."
Steve turned around, frowning. "If you think I'm going to leave you—"
"It's not like I'm going to die if I stay here for now. You said we need to get an attack on both sides, right? If I'm right, and I always am, Bruce suggested I use my repulsors to shoot on this side, which means I need to repair at least one of these limbs, enhance the arc reactor in my suit, and connect the two before everybody gets their computers up and running." Pausing, Tony took a few deep breaths and shifted his weight, trying to soothe the pain in his lower half. "My point is, you'll be faster without me, and I'll be faster if I stay here."
"Tony, I don't know the first thing about computers," Steve objected. "How am I supposed to hack into a power grid and somehow turn the whole thing into a weapon?"
"I'll walk you through it on the coms." Giving a split-lipped smile, Tony weakly punched Steve on the shoulder. "You're smarter than you think you are, Steve. You can do this."
Steve looked down at the point of impact, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. "Alright. Do you have a map?"
"I will in about twelve seconds. Get back on the ground, and I'll send you directions." Grunting, Tony reached for his faceplate and shoved it back where it belonged, a smirk teasing at the corner of his mouth when the screens came back to life. "Go get'em, Captain Kangaroo."
Steve huffed out a quiet laugh and shook his head, getting to his feet and darting across the roof toward the door that lead to the stairwell. "Good luck, Tony!"
"Yuh-huh. You, too." Sighing, Tony looked at what his computer had to offer him. "Jarvis, I hope you've been paying attention."
"I've already calculated the fastest route for Captain Rogers to take, with debris and alien life forms taken into account."
"Oh, honey, you know what I like." Tony pulled his own hand into his line of vision and tried to recall exactly how to get his index finger to turn into a screwdriver. "Give those directions to Steve, and then help me out because I have… no idea what I'm doing."
"Of course. Would you like me to assist you with any problems that are new?"
"I don't need your sass right now, Jarvis."
"Ah, my apologies. I see I should take this seriously."
Tony grumbled to himself, flipping open a panel on his arm and cursing under his breath at the mangled wire mess that awaited him there. "Maybe not too seriously." He sucked in a breath and reached out to grab the damaged portion of the wire web.
Well, here goes nothing.
"If this works, I will literally throw myself off a cliff."
"Please, don't. Bruce and Loki came up with this plan, so of course it's going to work."
"I am sticking wires together with chewing gum, Natasha."
Grinning slightly, Natasha glanced down at her partner and replied, "Technically, it's bubblegum." She turned her eyes back to the computer screen and continued to type, fingers dancing across the keys as the city around them darkened block by block.
"Everyone is going to hate us for this." Clint coughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and he stuck the patchwork wiring back into its panel. "Four major blackouts in four of the world's most populated cities in one day."
"As opposed to an alien race conquering the entire planet in the name of H.Y.D.R.A. in less than a week." Natasha tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kept typing, silently mouthing his reply as he said it.
"They won't care about that, they'll only care about what they experience in their little bubbles of reality."
Rolling her eyes, Natasha spoke again, never once taking her eyes off of the screen. "I was trying to be funny."
Clint sighed, his voice underscored by the sound of him digging through their pile of tools and materials. "We've talked about this, Tasha. You do the spy stuff, and I do the funny stuff. I'm the funny guy."
"You are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the funny guy. You're not even a funny guy." But Natasha grinned to herself, shaking her head. "Between you and Loki and Stark, I swear…" She trailed off, her words fading beneath the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Clint."
"Yup, got it."
There were a few moments of near silence, the pattering in the hallway growing closer and closer until finally—
"Are you Earth's Mightiest Heroes?"
Clint stammered for a moment. "Uh—kinda? We're two of them. What's, uh, what's the problem?"
"I don't—I don't quite know." The voice was in no way South American. "We aren't familiar with your… weaponry. I think it was a weapon." It was a Jotun, then. "I—she's bleeding, and I do not know what to do to treat her."
Clint moved closer to the intruders, and Natasha heard the sounds of scuffing and dragging as they put the wounded individual down and then joined her on the floor
"It looks like she got shot. It's—well, it's not that it's not serious, but it's a common weapon here on Earth. Midgard. Whatever." There was a pause, a slight grunt, the tearing of fabric, and then some more silence. "I think we can treat this. She'll need a long recovery time, but it's mostly a pain and restriction thing. It didn't hit her artery." Clint sighed. "Still, let's keep her from bleeding to death. You press down right here, hard as you can without hurting her. I'll see what I have in my first aid kit…"
Confident that Clint had the situation under control, Natasha turned all of her attention back to the codes and calculations flashing across the screen.
Well, at least if the rest of the world decides to hate us, we have allies on Asgard and Jotunheim. She had to admit, that wasn't exactly the purpose they had in mind when the negotiations started, but the coming days were filled with uncertainty. At the very least, it's nice to know we've built a safety net.
She only hoped they wouldn't have to use it.
Loki drummed his fingers on the counter, bringing his glass to his lips and taking another sip as he watched the minute hand slide one notch closer to the twelve. Half-lidded eyes slid from the clock to the countertop and then out toward the window, a heavy sigh dragging down into his lungs before surging back out again.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Loki glanced at Bruce, taking several moments to find his tongue before he managed a reply. "You should be working on the grid."
Bruce shook his head. "I'm all set to go. I had the advantage of not fighting while working, and I didn't have to use translating programs like the others because everything was already in English."
Sitting down at the bar, Bruce gave his seat a little spin and leaned back against the counter, offering a tight-lipped smile. Loki stared back blankly, too exhausted to comprehend what he did and didn't think about the situation he was in.
"Saari is dead," Loki uttered dumbly. "If I had never told Leiknyrr about wanting to meet my siblings, Saari would never have… she would be home, where she belongs." He swallowed the lump in his throat and stared down at his drink. "What if they blame me for that? Everything we have done to create peace between not only me and my siblings but Midgard and Jotunheim could be undone."
Bruce chewed on his lips, nodding his head a bit absently. "Yes, that could definitely happen."
Loki snorted and attempted humor, but his laughter was too bitter and his words too dry. "I was hoping for something a little more…"
"You wanted a solution, I know." Bruce gave him a weak smile. "Unfortunately, I don't have all the answers. I don't know what's going to happen next. All I can do is tell you… the other Avengers and myself will be on your side. We'll stick together against whatever happens. I know that doesn't really help, but… right now, that's all I have."
Loki let his eyes drift shut and nodded his head slowly, not entirely sure what miracle he had been expecting Bruce to pull from his sleeve. "I know. I appreciate that. I just…" He lowered his forehead to the table. "I feel as though I should have kept my distance. I think it might have been better."
Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it's too late. You didn't keep your distance, and we have to act on the situation we're in now." He reached out and clasped the bloodstained shoulder, careful of any potential injuries that may have been there. "Try not to think about it. You can't do anything until you know what Jotunheim is going to do, and you might not know that for a while."
Loki did manage a laugh that time, but it was still wrought with fatigue and tainted with disbelief. "That is much easier said than done, Dr. Banner."
Bruce tried to force another smile, but it fell almost immediately. "Yeah, I know."
There was silence between them for a few moments, and after deciding the conversation was over, Loki grabbed a bottle of water from the nearby counter and slid it to his equally worn-out companion.
"Here. Drinking water is very important."
Bruce chuckled, twisting off the cap and taking a long drink.
Loki took a drink as well, hoping the water and rest would give him enough strength to destroy the portal hanging over the city. Because never mind Saari if his weakness caused the portals to stay open. Never mind everything and everyone, never mind what was said and done. He wouldn't forgive himself, and even if others tried to, he wouldn't let them.
Loki took another drink.
"I'm glad you understand this, Son of Laufey, because it is most confusing to me." Thor ran a hand through his hair and turned in a half circle, watching as the machines around him whistled and whirred and hummed.
"If you want the honest truth, I am cheating a bit." Jakodi glanced at Thor for a ghost of a second. "I am using magic to assist me. It is not doing everything—that would be impossible—but I am using a spell to increase the rate at which I am comprehending the orders on the screen. Whatever the Man of Iron or the Gentle Green Giant send to me in written word, I am absorbing and understanding very quickly."
Thor took a few steps closer and leaned over the console, watching Jakodi's fingers move from key to key at a speed he knew was frustrating to the both of them. "So… when this is over, you will know much about the power systems of this planet. Will you be able to recreate such process on Jotunheim?"
Jakodi shook his head, eyes shifting between his hands and the screen. "No. I will retain the information for a day or two, and then it will begin to fade. I suppose, technically speaking, it will always be in my mind somewhere, but I would have to use another spell to access and practice it." He stopped, wetting his lips and taking a deep breath before his fingers started to move again. "Saari always says—always said it's cheating to learn things this way."
Thor put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a warm smile. "I think it is alright to cheat when the fate of an entire realm is at stake, Jakodi." He paused to see if there would be a reply, and when there wasn't, he tried again. "If you like, I can do the typing. Then you can keep your eyes on the screen, and perhaps we can get this done faster."
Jakodi nodded slightly, sliding the keyboard toward Thor. "Don't you have to go help in Sao Paulo?"
"I can only help them once all of the computers are running. I will help you until I have to leave." Thor nodded his head in the direction of the computers, already examining the keyboard and trying to memorize the placement of the characters. "What should I command the machines to do?"
Jakodi started vacantly at the space in front of him for a moment or two and then shook himself. "If I am reading these correctly, and I certainly hope I am, then I think the next thing we need to do…"
"Tony, this isn't working!" Steve ran both hands through his hair, pulling on the short strands and letting out a frustrated groan. "This is why I wanted to bring you along. I don't understand what I'm doing. I don't know how to—"
"Take a deep breath, Spangles, this isn't as hard as you're making it." Tony's voice came through as half static, all repairs having been focused on the necessary repulsors. "Stop trying to think of this as a computer, and think of it as… troops."
Steve sighed, exasperated. "Tony—"
"No, this is actually going to be helpful, just bear with me. Okay. So, you need an army to fight whatever it is you're fighting. Injustice. Anti-Freedom. I dunno, something like that."
Steve sighed, clenching his teeth and using every ounce of his genetically enhanced strength to keep his mouth shut. This isn't the time, Tony. It really, really isn't the time.
"You have a machine that keeps pumping out brand new soldiers, but the soldiers are automatically going to other locations. You don't need to get soldiers back, you need to put a barbed wire fence around the machine so the new troops stay in one place and you can give them all the same orders." There was a grunt of pain, a few moments of silence, and then Tony was talking again. "You're trying to read all of the information about the places you're disconnecting from, but that doesn't matter. You don't need to get the power back or do anything to the places receiving it. You just need to tell me what those places are so I can tell you how to put a fence between you and them. Does that make sense?"
Steve squinted at the screen and tried to apply what Tony had said to what he was seeing. "I think so. So, what you need to know is… the next server we need to disconnect from is PF253436R."
"Jarvis just texted you a code. All you have to do is type in exactly what you see on the screen."
Steve wet his lips, looking at the phone on the table and then back at the screen. "Okay, where do I put it? Do I need to send out the code so it's at the other location, too? It says—"
"Put up your barbed wire, Steve. You see the server, you wanna disconnect the server. Type in the code, hit enter, find the next server. Don't read, don't think, just do what I tell you."
Steve ran his tongue over his teeth and bit the inside of his cheek, shaking his head as he typed in the code. "I'm used to giving orders, not receiving them without explanation…"
"It's called trust, Steve. It's no different than if you sent me to do this. I'm just using you as a medium to follow your orders."
"Gee, thanks." Steve sighed. "Okay, alright. Next is PF692143S."
"See? You're getting this. Use the one we already gave you."
Steve shook his head but did as he was told. "I still think this was a horrible idea."
"I'm sitting on a roof during an alien invasion trying to piece together a weapon of mass destruction from scrap metal and debris, and you want to talk to me about horrible ideas?"
"Yes, because it was your idea, Tony."
"It was our idea."
"It absolutely was not."
"Steve, we're a team. When one of us messes up—"
"PF695966P."
"Harsh."
Jakodi shoved Thor again, keeping one hand on the keyboard while the other repeatedly pushed the thunder god's arm. "I said go. They need you in Sao Paulo, and I'm almost done here."
"I do not want to leave you," Thor objected. "At least tell me you can find someone among the troops from Jotunheim who will accompany you to the portal."
I was supposed to accompany Saari. Why would there be someone to accompany me? Jakodi could grab anybody, of course. They would all follow his orders without question, but he didn't want to do that to his subjects. But Odinson doesn't need to know that.
"I will take someone with me. I will be fine, so hurry up and get to Sau Paulo. I will not forgive you for being the reason these attacks are prolonged."
"Tokyo is not finished yet." Thor's objection was weak, and Jakodi knew he was hiding the real reason he wanted to stay. "I have a little time."
"Ha!" Snorting, Jakodi turned his head from the computer just long enough to give Thor a look that summarized the sheer ludicrousness of such a statement. "You are well out of time, Odinson. I told you I will be fine, so you need to leave."
Thor grabbed Jakodi's shoulder in an attempt to keep him from turning away. "Your sister asked me to protect you, and I will not disrespect—"
Jakodi slapped his hand away. "If you do not leave and this planet suffers as consequence, you will be spitting on her corpse, Odinson, and there are few forms of disrespect worse than that." Taking a deep breath, Jakodi calmed himself enough to finish his statement in a less engaging tone. "I will not let my sister die in vain, and neither will you."
Thor seemed to struggle for a moment, but then he heaved a defeated sigh that signaled sure surrender. "Very well. I will go to Sao Paulo now, but listen—" Thor pointed a finger right between Jakodi's blood red eyes, "—you shall not die today. Understand?"
Jakodi stared at the fingertip for a moment, surprised by Thor's words. "You are Loki's brother, not mine."
But Thor only laughed, moving toward the exit with a final retort. "The brother of my brother is also my brother. That is how family trees work, and to suggest otherwise would be rather foolish, don't you think?"
Jakodi turned back to the computer without a word, blinking rapidly and taking a moment—just a moment, just a fraction of a second, because he really did know how to put logic above emotions in battle—to stare at the band on his littlest finger.
I could hardly get it on. She's such a tiny little thing… she was such a tiny little thing… but so, so big in spirit.
Shaking his head, Jakodi returned to the task at hand, keys clacking as he began severing the connection to one of the five servers that were left.
It won't be long now. It's almost over. Jakodi brought his hand to his mouth and kissed the ring. We'll win, Sister. I promise. We will win today.
He wouldn't accept anything less.
"Tell me where you are with this." Bruce pulled up the video feed from the camera on the other side of the portals, watching on the other screen as the communication lines lit up one by one.
"I have just cut the last connection," Jakodi reported.
"I've got one more, and Tony says his armor is as ready as it's going to be," was Steve's reply. "Tony, did you connect?"
"Yup, I'm here." Tony sounded like he was in pain.
"We're ready in Sao Paulo, Thor is on his way, and Clint is administering first aid to some frost giants, which is pretty hysterical because he can't touch them." That was Natasha, a faint smirk in her voice. "He's connected, too, because he just flipped me off."
"I am directly beneath the portal here in New York, Dr. Banner." Loki was winded but sounded otherwise in control of his faculties.
Bruce took a deep breath and flashed a smile at no one. "Alright, guys. As soon as Thor lands and Steve finishes, we're doing this."
"Keep in mind we still don't know if this will work."
"Way to be a killjoy, Natasha."
"She has a point, Tony." Bruce couldn't help the rush of doubt. "Have we thought about what we'll do if this doesn't work?"
Steve cut in without missing a beat. "We fight. Down to the last man."
"Thor just landed on the roof," Natasha said.
"I just typed the last code and… we're in." Steve again.
Bruce flipped a virtual switch and watched the Tokyo panel light up. "Alright, people. I'm going to use the systems here to send the… EMP, for lack of a better word, to your grids. Then it will go straight up to the bot on the other side of the portal, which will fire it. I'll see the connection break on this end, count to five to give the shock wave a chance to expand, and then I'll give the order to attack the portals from our side. That's Tony, Loki, Jakodi, and Thor. When the dust settles, the sky should be blue and solid again."
"Should," Loki and Clint chimed in unison.
Bruce gave a nervous chuckle. "Right. Should."
Lights flickered across the map, the four locations turning from green to white until, one by one, the commands arrived at every port and began their journey up into the sky. Bruce turned his attention to the video feed, waiting for the screen to go black, holding his breath as the seconds ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace. He crossed his fingers and bit his lip, listening as Jakodi murmured fervently in his native tongue, no doubt praying to whatever deity the Jotuns worshipped.
"Oh, God, please… please, please, please…" That was Steve, lost for words.
"Hey, Steve. Pray on an atheist's behalf, would you?" Natasha, who swallowed hard after she spoke. "Come on…"
"C'mon… C'mon…" Tony, so tense Bruce could practically hear his teeth grinding together, joined Natasha in her chant.
The screen went black.
"Yes!" Bruce threw his hands in the air with a victorious shout. "Five, four, three, two, one—" one, final, silent, desperate prayer, "—do it now!"
Jakarta turned blue, everything shrouded in an icy haze as blinding, white spires of light shot up from the ground and into its portal. Tokyo's blackout became painfully apparent as the sky beneath its portal was cut in two by a bluish white beam of energy from one of the most powerful devices on the planet. Sao Paulo fell under a wall of clouds as the sky darkened right before lighting back up with a single streak of lightning that dove into its portal with reckless abandon. New York City fell under a haze of emerald and jade, a swirling dome of green light pooling for just a moment before the sparks and shadows surged upwards into its portal.
Skies around the world turned black regardless of their proximity to the wormholes, and cities without power were plunged into total darkness. Tremors shook the ground, concentrating heavily around the four sites before branching out like a jagged spider web into the world around them. There was no moon, no sun, no stars. High-flying planes disappeared from radars and were unable to contact towers anywhere on the planet. Satellites lost all contact with the planet, tides ebbed and flowed with a distorted and foreign gravity, sandstorms struck the dessert while bayous and rainforests began to flood.
It felt like an eternity. It was only ten minutes.
Then, as violently as it had come, it receded. Some skies turned blue, some turned purple and red, some turned navy with speckled stars throughout. In Sao Paulo and New York, people found themselves standing beneath a late afternoon sun and a nearly cloudless sky. In Jakarta, the sky was black, but it was alive with stars and constellations that would normally be drowned out in the pollution of a well-lit city. In Tokyo, the sun was still hidden by the horizon, but it had already begun to kiss the edge of the sky with a blend of pink and purple.
It was still. It was silent.
It was over.
