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Chapter 8: Do Not Engage

My body was forced backwards. The sound of glass shattering and metal cracking filled my ears as I crashed through a hanging computer screen and hit a wall. I groaned in pain and annoyance as I lifted my body up slowly, ears still ringing. The lab was filling with smoke. Many of the computers were sparking and on fire. The big window overlooking the bridge had complete busted out and I could see more smoke and fire billowing around outside. Debris was falling as well. As I gained my hearing back, I finally noticed the disorderly shouts and commands coming from the bridge. An agent was giving orders over the PA system while a loud siren was blaring from within the Helicarrier. I looked around the destroyed lab for the others. Steve and Tony were gone. Natasha and Bruce were gone too. Across from me, I saw a mass of black leather moving. Fury was sitting up, shaking his head woozily as he spoke into his ear piece. I strained my damaged ears to hear Agent Hill through my own ear piece. An engine exploded. We'd been hit. Fury called for Tony to help with the fix. Next, he called for Romanoff. There was no answer. I finally made my way over to SHIELD's director. Before I could assess any damage, he called for Phil. Fury wanted him to lockdown the detention section and told me to go with him.

Phil had been on the bridge when we were hit. When the lab window was blown out, a support beam was sent through the gaping hole, creating a sort of slide down to the bridge. I jumped up on the counter that previously held Loki's scepter. Avoiding exposed wires, I sat on the fallen beam and slid right down into the bridge. The speed at which I was going almost threw me into Phil. I caught myself before I knocked him over. My friend shook his head, smirking. He called me a showoff as we hightailed it down a flight of stairs out of the frenzied bridge.

The halls of the Helicarrier were rampant with activity. The blaring alarm only seemed to get louder and louder as I followed Phil down more stairwells and passed agents rushing out of their quarters with various weapons and gear. The detention section was at the very hull of the flying ship; four more floors below us. In my ear, I could hear Fury checking on the status of the others who were no doubt running around as well. A monstrous roar rang thought the vents nearby. Phil and I stared at each other in worry as we both thought the same thing. Hulk had been released. Shit.

"We need to hurry," Phil rushed out as we kept going. "One more turbine goes out and we'll be freefalling. And not like in the song."

I couldn't help but laugh as heavy footsteps thudded throughout the ship, following us like a ghost. When Phil and I came to a fork in the hall, he started to turn right. "Hey," I called out to him over another echoing roar. Phil stopped suddenly with wide eyes, thinking something had happened. "The detention section is this way."

There was a map of our current floor on the wall. I was pointing to the right where Fury wanted us to go. If we went straight, we'd end up at a staircase that would lead us to an observation deck. To go left would lead to the armory. Phil's expression became exasperated as he turned to continue on.

"You go," he shouted as he got farther away, "I need to get something first!"

"Phil," I shouted again in annoyance. We were under attack. Now was not the time to just run off and grab something.

I was about to start down the hall when the ship jolted. In the few seconds it took me to figure out what was happening, it was almost too late. My body lurched forward as the floor started to slope in midair. As the ship started to drop, I started sliding backwards on my stomach. My scream ricocheted off of the metal walls as I clamored for something to hold on to. I managed to flip myself over to my back, still sliding down the hall away from the detention section. Metal groaning forced me to look back to the door. A support beam was hanging by a thread as another explosion rocketed the ship. I shrieked as the beam snapped and came sliding down the hall after me. I reached out, managing to hold on to a door handle as the beam slid right by me and crashed against the wall. I felt one of my thigh holsters get caught on the twisted metal and rip off my leg. I watched as it fell under the beam and one of my beloved knives was warped and crushed on the way down.

The ship leveled soon after, but was still going down. I sat up against the door with my head between my knees, trying to catch my breath. Then, Fury's voice sounded in my ear, "It's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"

Fury repeated his question when there was no response. I was about to reach out when a shaken voice answered, "This is Agent Romanoff. I copy."

With a stronger voice than Black Widow's, I copied.

"Poison," I heard Fury in my ear. "What's your location? We don't have a status on Thor."

I pressed on my ear piece as I stood up and started to run back to the door leading to the detention level, "I'm almost to the detention section."

"Subdue Barton if you must. Find Thor and do not, under any circumstances, engage Loki."

"Got it!"

I prompted my legs to work faster as I started reaching the end of the hall. The door to Loki's prison had been forcefully opened. There were indents in the metal like someone had pried it open. I knew it had to have been Thor. I slipped passed the door. To my shock and horror, Thor, not Loki was inside the glass cage. He looked absolutely enraged as he banged on the thick glass with his fists. There was a large spider-web crack in the glass as well. Thor's breath was fogging up the glass, marring his face. Back to me, Loki was standing close to the console. He was staring at someone with his palms up waist high.

Phil was approaching Loki. In his hands was a large rifle gun. It was thick; Phil just barely got his hands around the thing as it rested just under his shoulder. Phil stepped over an unconscious SHIELD agent who had probably been working with Loki. His eyes shifted to the console which flickered ominously and then he blinked as he noticed me in my hiding spot. Phil's lips twitched, knowing that I was ready to attack if needed. In the cage, Thor was watching his brother and Phil with wide eyes as he clenched his hammer, ready to bust out.

"You like this," Phil continued to approach Loki slowly. I heard a small, evil chuckle escape the taller man's lips. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer." A chill went up my spine as Loki moved further away from the console. He kept his hands in the same position, however. "Even I don't know what it does. Wanna find out?"

The gun hummed to light, side flaps opening up to reveal a terrible orange glow. Just as Phil chuckled, he gasped in agonizing pain, the sound of metal piercing skin resonated though the detention level. My screams laced with Thor's thunderous cry as I watched Phil gargle on his own blood. The Loki that had been standing in front of him faded away in gold light as he appeared behind Phil. He had shoved the tip of his scepter through my friend's back and out his chest. Phil's body shuddered as Loki shoved him off of his scepter. Thor banged on the glass again.

An empty vortex swallowed me whole as I leaped out of my hiding place, slamming my fist into Loki's jaw. He dropped the scepter as his body crumpled to the ground. My whole body was heaving. "Get up," I growled lowly, "Get up!"

Loki turned back, touching his jaw lightly. There was already a slight discoloration on his pale skin. Then, he looked up at me and he laughed. It was a small thing; a slight release of air. But he was smiling like a lunatic. He was undeniably crazy. His eyes suddenly flicked to the side, staring wide, as if listening to voices in his head. Japeth usually did that. Loki stood and, like I wasn't there, as if I were nothing, he picked up his scepter and moved to the flickering console. My anger was still running rampant. But there was Phil. Phil was sitting up against the wall struggling to breathe. A large red streak of his blood was painted down the metal behind him.

Loki now stood at the control console, his fingers moving over the screen, probably trying to decipher which button to push. I muttered a dark expletive in Italian as I rushed to Phil's side, ignoring the awful chill that ran down my spine. My friend inhaled deeply as I knelt down, pulling away at his suit jacket. Not once did I look back as Loki goaded his brother in his cage. With the flip of a switch, the iris panel below Thor opened up, surrounding us with whooshing air. I used my knife to rip open Phil's shirt, but his shaky hands bat mine away.

"Phil," I tried to reason with him, "Phil, stop. Let me help you."

Phil struggled to take a breath as he shook his head, "No. You'll just end up hurting yourself. I'm – I'm a goner."

"It's not that bad," I whispered as I gently placed my fingers over his dripping wound. Phil winced. It was bad. With the way Phil was breathing, Loki's scepter must have punctured a lung, causing it to fill with blood. A wound like that was difficult to heal, even for me.

The sound of crunching metal finally made me look back. Loki had pressed the big red button, releasing the glass cage down into the sky. Phil placed a pale hand on my shoulder. "Get him," he wheezed.

Loki was stalking towards us now. I wouldn't let him touch Phil again. Not over my dead body. I grabbed his staff the moment he lunged. With our combined strength, I managed to whip it aside, throwing a punch to Loki's face just as he kicked me backwards. I stumbled, pain blossoming in my chest. The impact nearly snapped my sternum. As he reached out to grab me I lashed out with my leg, bashing my heel into his side. I smirked when I heard a nasty crack. Loki doubled over but swiped at me again with the sharp end of the scepter which was still glistening with Phil's blood. I jumped back, ducking when Loki threw a knife right where my head would have been. I gasped as I looked back. It was a small enough weapon to conceal up a sleeve. I growled. We traded blows and blocks when I fell to my knees, slicing as Loki's thighs with my Bowie knife. He jumped back, disappearing in golden light. Breathing hard, I watched Phil with wide eyes.

"You're gonna lose," he rasped out.

"What," I asked, completely concerned. Phil wasn't looking at me. His eyes were directed behind me but when I turned around, there was nothing there.

"It's in your nature."

"Phil…"

I gasped in alarm, something brushed passed my arm. But there was still nothing there. I grunted in pain as the feeling turned into long fingers digging into my skin painfully. Phil was still staring passed me as I tried to unlatch the phantom fingers.

"You lack conviction."

The sensation was gone suddenly as Phil pulled the trigger on the gun sitting in his lap. A blur of black and green flung away from my side as the fiery orange burst hit its target. The wall behind me exploded in a smoky haze of energy. Loki's cry echoed back to us.

"What the hell?"

"So that's what it does," Phil sighed. Blood dripped out of his mouth as he coughed.

"Hey. Hey, Phil," I tapped my friend's pale face, pulling his eyes back to me. "I'm gonna help you, okay? You won't feel a thing."

"No," Phil told me for a second time. "I don't want you too."

"I don't care what you want at this moment, Phil," I told him, my hands and eyes glowing.

"Don't be selfish."

"Selfish," I spit out, "Selfish would be me going after Loki and killing him now! I'm not letting you d – I'm not leaving you."

"You can't save everyone, Poison."

"Goddamn it," I sniffed, turning my head away for a moment. Tears prickled at the edges of my eyes, threatening to open a floodgate. "I don't want to lose another friend."

With his remaining strength, Phil reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out two pieces of paper the size of small index cards. They were slightly bent around the edges and there was now a bloody thumbprint at the bottom corner of the one on top, but the trading cards were in near mint condition. He held them out for me to take. When I didn't move, Phil pressed the cards to my chest, dropping his hand so I had to take them. I looked at the one on top first. It was me. I was on a trading card. Doctor Macie Mitchell; Howling Commandos; Medic. I chuckled in surprise.

"Took me a very long time to find you. Howard Stark and Peggy Carter did a good job of hiding you from the world. But I found you again."

My mouth opened, but I couldn't seem to find the right words. I was so touched. I moved my trading card under the second one. Sergeant James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes; Howling Commandos; Sniper. I lightly traced the serious expression on Bucky's handsome face. He was on his stomach, sniper rifle pointed off to the corner of the trading card, waiting for some unknown enemy. He was wearing the blue winter coat I loved so much. It matched his eyes. Eyes that seemed to light up on the picture.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"I found you together. The way you should be."

"Phil," I started before he cut me off.

"You'll see him again someday."

"All hands to crash stations immediately," a male voice commanded over the PA system.

"You need to go," Phil rasped.

I hung my head in shame, knowing that I had to leave him here, dying. "It's been an honor, working with you," I told Phil sincerely as I squeezed his hands.

"It's been an honor being your friend," Phil huffed out a laugh. "Now go. Help the team."

With one more small hand squeeze, I pocketed the trading cards and took off towards the large gaping hole in the wall where Loki was shot through. On the way, I scooped up my knife, flipping it in the air to catch it by the handle. As I stepped through the hole, I thought I heard Phil callout, "Showoff". I shook my head of the fuzziness and set my mind on my goal. Taking down Loki. Loki was the cause of all this. He was the reason I was on a flying ship falling out of the sky. He was the reason Phil was dying alone.

I pressed on the ear piece given to me by Phil, "Fury, it's Poison. Do you copy?"

There was no answer. I called for the SHIELD Director three times before he answered back, "I copy."

"Phil's down in the detention section. I'm going after Loki!"

"Stand down, Poison! I told you do not engage Loki. Do not engage!"

"I have a score to settle with him," I growled.

Just as those words left my mouth, something hit me in the back of the head and I lost consciousness.