So here we go with chapter twenty one!
There are a few things in this chapter that will be picked up on in later chapters. There just wasn't time to dwell on them in the scene and with everything going on, it will take a minute for Lucie to piece things together.
Chapter Twenty One- Hold On.
JARVIS didn't answer her cries for help.
The air around her felt strong enough to hold her but instead it let her harmlessly slip through. The fall wouldn't kill her, no it would be the landing that would finish her off. For a moment she couldn't figure out what it was that she had caught herself on, the only reasonable explanation was Stark Tower since it was the closest thing to her but the glass and steel would have made it impossible. Factoring in the fact that she was moving horizontally through the air rather than falling, she dismissed it, squinting to see what her hand had so luckily grabbed.
Her eyes followed the length of her arm, trying to figure out the position she had found herself in. The Chitauri chariot came into view before she realised where she was anchored and she scrambled to formulate some kind of plan that went beyond don't die. By the time she realised where hanging, it was too late. She hadn't been lucky, she hadn't managed to grab onto a chariot that just happened to be flying by, no, she wasn't hanging on at all. She was being held tightly by the wrist and hers was wrapped around Loki's in return for extra stability. There were no voices in her head that belonged to her makeshift team, only her own slightly panicked monologue that repeated itself over and over. Don't let go. The only thing helping her fight against gravity was Loki's unfaltering grip around her dominant wrist. His hand completely wrapping around her Kevlar covered wrist to the point that her arm guard was threatening to meld with the skin on her wrist. The imprint of the guard would certainly be there for a several days, leaving thick purple and yellow bruises behind. Just another battle wound to add to the day's running total.
Holding her own body weight wasn't a problem, her training had served her well in that regard. The hours in the gym had paid off, the only thing she was worried about was Loki's grip, there was no logical reason for him to still keep hold of her, as his enemy he would be in a far better position to let her fall to her death.
Of all the terrorists and gangsters and scumbags that she had come up against in her time at SHIELD, not a single one matched the confidence that Loki oozed. Somehow his confidence didn't seem arrogant, even with his sizable ego. Somehow next to Loki, her father looked down right humble.
The chariot wasn't too far out of her reach, if she swung herself then she could probably get enough momentum to get herself safely to the ground or at the very least take Loki down with her if she failed to make the leap. She put it on the back burner, not so much a plan B as a plan Z. Getting to the ground in one piece was the goal, preferably without breaking both of her legs in the fall. She would have to choose her moment perfectly, tagging out wasn't an option.
Her grip was slowly beginning to betray her, palms becoming sweaty beneath the leather of her gloves as Loki dared to lead a squad ever closer to the ground, each breath becoming more and more forced as she concentrated on maintaining her grip.
"Lucie?" came a voice over her comms and she couldn't help but wince at the terrible timing.
"Little busy, Dad!" she winced, forcing the air out of her lungs as she spoke, each word burning her throat.
"Where are you?"
"Busy!"
Gently, Lucie slipped a blade from her thigh belt, careful not to drop it onto the tarmac below. It became easier to make out the people below her; the courier who had fled from his bike while still wearing his helmet with parcels still in his backpack, the woman who sprinted from her car with only one shoe, dripping over debris that littered the road. Ordinary people who had been living ordinary lives.
In the split second that she had rushed him, she had tried to get a device to stick to his neck, a tiny piece of metal that she had programmed to incapacitate when instructed, sending electrical shocks through the nervous system; it could knock out a human on the spot easily, a god would likely have better immunity. She didn't care so long as it hurt. The only problem was that she was in no position to see if she had actually hit her target or if the device was somewhere on the launchpad of Stark Tower, completely useless to her and her whole point for getting to the Tower in the first place.
Just as Lucie was preparing herself to slice Loki's wrist, his grip slackened, dropping her onto the bridge with as much grace as a pillowcase full of bricks. Landing in a heap, with her knees only just bend to take the majority of the impact. She slumped to the side, her shoulder crashing into the tarmac with an unhealthy crunch. Pain shot up her legs and into her hips from not sticking the landing and she chalked it up as another injury for the day. Pain she could ignore, pain was temporary. That was what Natasha had taught her and it was something she was desperately trying to remind herself of, repeating the mantra over and over in her head.
She didn't get a chance to look back at Loki, no way to question why he had intentionally let her go. He was long gone by the time she figured out the direction of the sky. Any questions she had about it were put to one side, there would be time for questions later. She hoped.
"Copy?" she asked, prodding her earpiece in the hope that it would bring them back to life.
Not too far away, Clint, Natasha and Steve assessed the ground, looking for civilians that had become trapped in the initial wave. It was something that none of the three had ever seen, not during the second world war or in the days of the KGB, they were completely out of their depth, but that wasn't going to stop them.
They crouched low behind an abandoned cab, keeping themselves out of the firing line as much as possible until they came up with a plan. Clint and Natasha kept their backs to each other, between them covering as much of the battle zone as possible.
"Luce?" Clint asked.
He hadn't agreed with Lucie's plan one bit, he didn't want her in the firing line of Loki, especially given the way it had screwed him up. If Natasha hadn't been sat beside him then he never would have let her go, but as always, the Russian was the voice of reason. "Yeah. What's your location?" Lucie replied, still trying to catch her breath after the fall.
"Grand central."
"I'm not too far away. I'm coming to you."
"You good?"
"Yeah, I'll see you in a few. Dad? You there?"
The first few steps were painful, threatening to stop her from walking completely but instead she convinced herself that if she ran that it would be over soon, the equivalent of ripping off the band aid. She pushed herself through the crowds that had gathered for shelter in the tunnel beside the Helmsley Building, weaving through the injured and those who had escaped in time.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine. What's the situation up there?" she asked.
"What are you even doing in New York!"
"Can you just answer the question?" Lucie was beginning to lose her patience. The field was familiar to her, she knew how to behave and how to react. All she needed was information.
The fear around her was thick, so much so that she could almost taste it. Hundreds of people all cowering from the alien invasion, clinging to strangers for comfort and calling loved ones to let them know they were okay. At the far end of the tunnel was a news crew, the camera man, idiotically stood outside of the tunnel in an attempt to get a better shot while a roaming reported attempted to detail the events that were unfolding with an uncertain stutter as she spoke. Lucie pulled the pair back into the tunnel, revving herself up to remind them exactly how stupid they were. The camera clattered the ground, bouncing slightly but was otherwise undamaged. The nerves in her shoulder groaned under the strain but if there was any pain she didn't feel it, either too distracted by the pain in her legs or her brain had filed her shoulder away as a problem to be dealt with later.
"Stay out of the way," she warned, no room for argument or defiance in her tone.
The pair didn't reply, instead they stared as her and nodded insistently. The camera man stared at the ground next to his camera where a scorch mark blackened the ground, the spot that he had occupied.
"There's more coming in, we need to stop that portal."
"You know the city?" Lucie asked, clear and certain.
They nodded again.
"I need you to get all of these people underground and out of the open. Can you do that?" It wasn't so much a question as an instruction. They were safer than the civilians still trapped on the street, the ones who still needed help.
They looked at each other as if debating the question before the woman stood up tall and straightened her faux vintage jacket. She nodded and Lucie offered a hopeful smile.
"Go."
Steve studied the area around them, making quick decisions about who did and didn't need their help, or rather who needed it more. The majority of the civilians had managed to get away to safety but there were still a few trapped in busses and cabs. Some of the cabs that were jammed shut by other cars during the collision. Chitauri shot at civilians, leaving nothing but fiery destruction in their wake.
"We've got civilians trapped," Clint said, his bow already in his hand.
"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve agreed, watching as cars were blown away in the Chitauri fire as civilians ran for cover. "Those people need assistance down there."
Immediately Natasha sprang to her feet, taking both of her guns and aiming them at the second wave that was heading towards them, taking out a couple but nowhere near enough.
"We got this, it's good. Go!" For once, Natasha's confidence was beginning to fail her.
"Think you can hold them off?" Steve checked.
"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure," Clint replied, already having set switched the dial on his quiver to something far more deadly than his standard arrows.
An arrow flew effortlessly from his bow and ledged itself into the head of one of the foot soldiers, exploding on impact and buying the Captain a few precious seconds to get out of the way and run towards the civilians that were trapped on the plaza, dodging in and out of cars as if they were nothing.
Hawkeye raced over to a bus and immediately started to help people file out and helping children through the window while Widow tried to cover him, quickly emptying both clips into the ranks that were quickly descending on them.
"Just like Budapest all over again," she joked, shooting into the foot soldiers who had joined the party.
"You and I remember Budapest very differently."
She smirked a little at that one, even daring a tiny sigh of relief when a familiar face came to stand with them, shooting her own weapons and flooring every Chitauri she aimed at.
"Sorry, I'm late. Traffic was hell."
This is a shorter chapter so I'm sorry! I just needed to get something out and everything has been so hectic recently!
For everyone that is protesting, stay safe. You're changing the world.