I can't believe we're at chapter twenty already!
Chapter Twenty- Dropping In.
A wave of energy shot through the city as the sky ripped open above Stark Tower with thousands of new stars and constellations. It should have been beautiful, a completely uncharted part of space, a whole universe of possibilities. One of those possibilities was a the Chitauri and they poured out of the tear hell bent on nothing but destruction. They were monstrous to look at, sharp looking skulls with translucent skin stretched almost to breaking point.
"Right. Army," Tony said, more than a tinge of panic staining his voice as his HUD went from the usual blue to red.
He flew up to the top of the tower, firing miniaturised Jericho missiles as he in an attempt to at the very least, slow down the invasion while dodging the energy blasts from the first wave of soldiers. There were too many, more were slipping through than he could destroy on his own. All he could do was delay until back up arrived.
The streets filled with people who stood awestruck at what they were seeing, their survival instinct ignored in favour of curiosity, but not for long. Within seconds they were screaming as soldiers in macabre chariots flew down to street level. Soldiers fired at civilians and a mass panic surged as people ran for cover inside, all the while, desperate to be able to see what was going on. Flaming upturned cars littered the roads as people scrambled to get out of the way into shops and cafes that were barely safer than the streets.
He looked every part the majestic prince, surveying the chaos that he had created, joyful as the city below him began to burn. Admiring the ground that was soon to be his kingdom. Asgard was a lost cause but Earth was ripe for the taking.
Thor landed on the balcony with a heavy thud, Mjolnir in his hand. Preparing himself for the strike.
"Loki! Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"
"You can't," Loki laughed. Knowing that his brother didn't have the power. "There is no stopping it. There is only the war."
"So be it."
Loki launched himself onto the balcony below and immediately into battle with the man who was his brother only in name. They traded heavy blows, volleying back and forth as sceptre struck hammer. Thunder rattled the sky when weapons collided in a battle that was nothing short of deadly.
Thor held back, he easily could have subdued his brother using his strength but instead he held back, adamant that he wouldn't hurt his brother. Loki, on the other hand, wasn't being so merciful. His rage was fuelled by jealously, the centuries that he had been forced to live in the shadow of Thor, always the second son.
"Stark, we're on you're three, headed north east," Widow said, checking his position on one of the screens.
"What, did you stop for drive through? Swing up Park, Imma lay them out for you."
Tony shot through the skies with Chitauri soldiers chasing him firing, missing every one of their shots by inches, instead causing them to collide with the sky scrapers surrounding they dodged.
Widow and Lucifer took their places at the guns onboard the quinjet; Widow taking the front and Lucifer taking the back. The guns dropped down in seconds, already armed and ready to go. The controllers were more like the ones that came with Xboxes but the stakes were far higher than in Call of Duty, there would be no restarts if things went wrong. They picked of stragglers that had managed to break away from the first wave until Tony led them straight into the path of the quinjet. They flew straight towards a skyscraper positioned at the end of Park but instead of following the street and veering right towards the on going attack, Clint expertly aimed the quinjet towards the sky until they were clear of the surrounding buildings.
"Sir, we have more incoming," JARVIS informed, displaying each hospital around Stark Tower on 3D map just in Tony's peripheral vision.
"Fine, let's keep them occupied," Tony replied, once again racing ahead of the Chitauri to try and draw their fire away from the ground and make them easier targets for the quinjet.
Rosetta shot every Chitauri out of the sky that was in range, each chariot bursting into flames. The truth was that there were too many of them. All they were doing were slowing things down.
"We need to shut down that portal, more are coming through than we can take out," Lucie said. She stood in-between Clint and Natasha, eyes trained on the screen that showed the rear view and her targets. She pushed down the X to fire off at the Chitauri that had doubled back to follow them, sending out a continuous stream of bullets until there was nothing behind them.
"You got a plan?" Clint asked, flying down one of the streets that Tony had just disappeared down with a dozen or so chariots on this tail.
"Drop me at Stark Tower."
"You can't go in there without a plan!" Steve protested, moving to stand beside her, almost in the cockpit himself.
Lucie rolled her eyes and ground her teeth. Yet another man in her life telling her what she could and couldn't do based on zero information. It wasn't something that bothered her usually but this wasn't exactly a regular day at the office, there was none of the usual routine or preparation that went into their usual field work and it tended not to be so close to home.
"I have a goddamn plan, Rogers," she growled under her breath, it wasn't the complete truth but it was all he needed to know.
"Nat?" Clint said, gesturing for her to look out of his window to where Loki and Thor were battling on the balcony of Stark Tower.
"I see him."
"Get his attention," Lucie ordered.
"You sure you want to do this?" Natasha asked carefully. Her training had taught her how to deal with people like her teammate, a manipulation she didn't like but often found herself slipping into. She knew exactly how to control the inflection in her voice so that it came across as neither an accusation or concern, neither of which would provide an honest response from Lucie that wasn't fuelled by pride or bravado.
Lucie didn't answer her. Instead, she straightened her already straight fingerless gloves and spoke to the floor. "JARVIS, I need the Mark VI to catch me."
JARVIS spoke through the quinjet console and although he was an AI, they could have sworn that there was just a trace of fear.
"Miss Lucia, the Mark VI is significantly damaged."
"I don't need to wear it, I just need you to catch me. Ten second flight max," she reasoned, as if JARVIS could be gently persuaded into getting her what she wanted.
"Miss-"
"Just get me a suit!" she shouted as she strode towards the ramp at the rear of the quinjet, her patience wearing thin as she pulled her black bandana over her face, more to stop herself swallowing any flies and guard her hearing than anything else.
Arguing with a computer program would do nothing under the circumstances but yelling at JARVIS always tended to get the point across. She never knew how her father had managed to program emotions, or a sense of urgency when one of the Starks did something life threatening; like falling from a quinjet at 1100 feet.
"Drop in, 3, 2, 1," Clint said, releasing the ramp as Natasha rained down bullets on Loki below them.
Steve watched in shock at how casually she found her position on the edge of the ramp, as if it was something she had done a hundred times before. He flinched as Lucie dropped into free fall, even offering a mock salute his way in the second before the floor fell from under her. Without thinking, he stepped forward to catch her, recalling a moment not that long ago when he wasn't able to catch someone else as they plummeted to their death.
Loki shot a blast of energy their way, immediately knocking them off balance as one of the turbines burned away, taking a wing with it. The best they could hope for was a controlled crash landing, to make it to the ground without blowing up the quinjet and themselves along with it. They grazed against buildings, slowing the descent just enough that they would survive the landing. Once they hit the ground, Clint and Natasha ripped away their harnesses and followed Captain America onto the New York streets, finding rubble and smoke and chaos waiting for them.
"We gotta get back up there," Steve said, running towards the easily recognisable Stark Tower, even if it was missing a couple of letters.
For a few moments they stared at the portal, watching with horror as the foot soldiers were joined by a fully armed and manned warship. Slinking through the air like an eel in water only far more deadly. More Chitauri filed out, jumping into the offices and apartments that they levelled with intent on nothing but destruction.
"Stark, are you seeing this?"
"Seeing. Still working on believing. Where's Banner, has he shown up yet?" Tony wondered.
"Banner?" Steve replied in confusion.
"Just keep my posted. JARVIS, find me a soft spot."
Falling through the air would always make Lucie feel like she was drowning in her own adrenalin, time seemed to slow, as if the wind was trying desperately to catch her to slow her descent. Being grabbed in mid air by a metal suit was an entirely new experience. The scarlet arm that wound around her waist told her instantly that it was the Mark VI, the shell battered and some wiring torn away from the connectors. It was in bad shape, unlikely to ever be used again, but still, it carried her through the skies with whatever power it had left and deposited her haphazardly on the landing pad of the balcony before giving up completely and landing in a metal heap at her feet.
Lucie pulled her bandana down so that she there was no mistaking who she was. Obscuring her identity
"Loki!" Lucie screamed just as the god aimed his septre at the quinjet. It was the oldest trick in the book but the split second distraction might give Thor enough of an opening to stop him in his tracks and hopefully for Clint to get everyone out of the line of fire. If it didn't then then she would have to go with plan B.
The distraction worked just long enough for Thor to tackle his brother to the ground with enough strength to easily shatter the spine of a regular human. They traded punches, both holding back just enough that it would subdue but not seriously injure the other.
Lucie watched carefully as Thor held back his strength, flinching before every punch he let fly with a sad look in his eyes. He could easily have killed Loki, overpowering him with strength, but he didn't. Green and red blended together as the two dodged each other with the kind of ease that only came from training together.
Thor pushed the handle of Mjolnir against his brother's chest in an attempt to slow him, their faces inches apart as he tried one final time to reason with the brother who had fallen completely into madness.
"Look around you, you think this madness will end with your rule?!" Thor demanded.
Loki tried to tear himself away and for the first time since it had all begun, he didn't wear a smile, instead he spoke through gritted teeth.
"It's too late. It's too late to stop it."
Taking her opportunity, Lucie sprung from the landing pad to wear the pair were locked together. The wind caught her slightly, knocking her just a few degrees off as she landed, the impact shooting up her calves with a sharp sting, she hissed at the sensation. In one swift movement, she pulled a garote from her belt and wound it around her hands like a boxer did bandages. In the morning her hands would be aching from the wire being wound so tight, she knew all of this and she didn't care, if would be worth it.
When the wire kissed Loki's throat, he didn't panic, he didn't show even an ounce of concern, instead he just smiled and gave a deep laugh that dared not even escape his mouth. Lucie pulled hard, even anchoring her knee in the small of his back in an attempt to knock him off balance. She wasn't trying to kill him, she had already accepted that that was above her abilities, but if she could recapture him then maybe he could stop the portal before things got worse.
"I expected so much more from you."
At first, Lucie thought it was her to whom Loki was speaking, his voice barely distorted but when she felt the strength of Thor's grip faulter, she knew that he wasn't. A tiny blade, smaller than a butter knife stuck had pierced the skin, earning a furious growl from Thor.
A cold hand rested on hers, holding it tightly against his shoulder as he pulled the wire free and threw it over the side of the building like it was nothing, as if it hadn't been used as a weapon against him only moments ago. Free of Thor's grasp, Loki turned to face her, slightly disappointed.
"You really though that would subdue me?" he asked.
Lucie smirked, taking back her hand and selecting a knife from by her waist.
"No, but I thought it might slow you down."
Unable to keep a lid on his tempter, and wanting to do Loki some serious damage in return, Thor raised his foot and snapped it forward so that Loki went hurtling from the building, the drop to the concrete below would have killed any human, no questions asked, at the very least it would be able to do some damage to an Asgardian.
Unfortunately, said Asgardian wasn't going down alone and Loki was all too willing to drag Lucie down with him, gripping her arm tightly as he held her with him against the side of the building.
"JARVIS!" Lucie screamed, praying that a suit would be there to catch her if Loki decided it would be easier just to let her fall to her death.
The thing about the controllers on the quinjet is actually true. I forget which military it is, I think the British, who on their subs use xbox controllers instead of the ones that the manufacturer supplied because they were hella expensive and kept breaking. For this otherwise useless information thank QI! If you've never seen it, go enjoy half an hour of nonsense.
There's a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in this chapter, mainly because weve got things happening to different characters all at the same time. Makes it a little difficult to write.
Seriously, go watch QI.