In a way they were more prepared to lose Vanaheim than they had been for the other realms. The seedbank had been mostly completed for one. They could never conclusively say that Loki had managed to get a sample from every single plant Vanaheim had to its name, but he'd had managed everything their botanists had told him about.

The seedbank was huge, both physically and digitally. With Earth now next in the firing line the physical bank had become Fury's priority, and he now had the planets governments on side. Digitally, Tony had put together a genetic database for all of the plant and animal life on Earth, using the multiple and varied databases scattered across laboratories worldwide. With the threat now very real, he didn't even need to hack anymore; a quick introduction and explanation and people were falling over themselves to help preserve Earth's natural bounty.

Bruce had put his old skills to good use in leading a team to genetically map all of the samples Loki had retrieved from Vanaheim. With two realms-worth of genetic data and physical plant matter, alongside the remnants from the other destroyed worlds they had succeeded in building a biological library larger than humanity could ever imagine.

It was interesting, too, to see the effect that extra-terrestrial destruction could have on a fractious planet. Whilst at an individual level looting and rioting were happening, on a global scale countries were trying to work together. Territories that had been at war for decades had called cease-fires, and some places had put peace treaties in place specifically to work together to counteract the threat.

Terrorist groups had gone to ground for the most part although a few, very few, had done a similar thing to Hydra and offered up their services to their governments. Anything to live.

None of it stopped the hurt though. The losses, the grief, humanity on the brink of collapse.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Explaining the war to the twins was a tricky business. And painful. Mostly painful.

Hope had been surprisingly okay about the brief moment of conflict she had seen on Jötennheim – possibly because with the weapons used there had been no recognisable blood and she'd never seen that her sister had been injured. However, as young as they were there was no way either child could have failed to notice what was not only on the TV but right outside their windows.

"So like Stormtroopers in Starwars?" Brandir was going through a phase and everything had to be Starwars branded.

"I…suppose so?" Loki tried desperately to remember the last time he had seen the films. His son's bottom lip started quivering so it had to be the wrong answer.

"But but but they destroyed Alrededan and and and killed Olbi Won."

The three year old tripped over the complicated names but said it so earnestly. Next to him his sister crossed her arms with a scowl.

"I don't like Starwars!"

"It's not about Starwars-"

"I don't want Dalth Pader to win!"

"Darth Vadar, and that's not what's happening here, Brandir." Loki's attempt at diffusing the situation just resulted in the toddler beginning to howl.

"Need a hand?"

The trickster looked up to see his husband leaning against the doorjamb and grinning broadly at the scene.

"Please. My lack of Starwars knowledge is causing us problems."

"I can see that."

Tony's geek badge was much shinier than his husbands and he was able to pull on some more relevant Starwars trivia to help quietly and calmly explain what was happening to the world. Hope even came out of her sulk as she began to understand the seriousness of what was happening.

"So people are getting hurt and going away, like Aunty Pepper went away?"

"Yeah. The aliens, the Empire, are hurting a lot of people." Tony put a hand on each tiny shoulder. "But your Möðhy and I and all your uncles and aunts are fighting back. Like Luke, and Han and Leia. So it might get very scary for a while, but we wanted you to know that we are all going to do absolutely everything we can to protect you both. Okay?"

"And Evie?"

"Evie's protecting herself; she's a big girl." Loki said with a smile.

"And you'll save us?" Brandir asked, very seriously.

"We'll save you. And if we can't, you live in a building full of superheroes. You're going to be okay."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

It made headline news across the world when the Elizabeth Tower – better known as Big Ben after its famous bell – collapsed. The Houses of Parliament had been raided by Orks and they'd fired the place after failing to find a Stone.

Single monuments, or death tolls under one hundred usually didn't hit mainstream news any more. But world famous sites still did.

The Taj Mahal lost a minaret, the Sydney Opera House was blown completely open, Giza lost a minor pyramid, the Roman Forum in Rome, the Acropolis of Athens, Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, the places that humanity had deemed important, so to an alien invading force looked like the sensible places to start looking for something important.

The Avengers fought like demons to save the Empire State Building. It wasn't enough.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Steve and Bucky found themselves both out on the balcony, staring across the ruin that New York was slowly turning into. It was night time, but the characteristic lights of the city were sadly lacking these days and in some areas fires raged instead.

"Reminds me of Germany." Bucky sounded tired, but then none of them were sleeping properly. It would have been a strange statement if Steve hadn't been thinking the exact same thing. Not a Germany any of their friends knew, but an older and much more battle-torn country.

"I know what you mean." The Captain's shield was leaning against his legs, never far from hand these days and another reminder to their younger years. "You know I had actually grown used to not expecting to be woken by gunfire every time I fall asleep."

"Yeah, I'd agree if it wasn't for the fact that I've kinda been living that life the entire time you were snoozing in the ice, so you know…"

"Fair enough."

Bucky glanced over, then grinned. "Hey, remember that time the air-raid siren went off in the middle of the night and Jenkins –"

"Forgot to put his clothes on before running for the shelter. Yeah…"Steve laughed and shook his head. "Poor guy, we shoudn't laugh."

"Fuck it! The world's ending and he died about seventy years ago. And it was funny. The way all the bits sort of…bounced."

The sadly accurate description made Captain America snort. "I am trying to maintain the moral high ground here!"

"There is no moral high ground; and he'd have approved of the fact that this many decades on he's still making people laugh."

Steve didn't comment on it, but he was actually somewhat impressed that his friend had retained that memory. Given it was hit and miss on what Bucky could recall any little thing was a bonus; even if it was something that could embarrass the subject of the memory. On this occasion at least Steve could say that although they were laughing at an old colleagues expense Jenkins was the type of person who would have laughed along with them.

"Remember when we had to pull Curtis out of the rubble after that bombing raid?"

Bucky frowned, then shook his head. "No. Sorry." He saw Steve's face fall and leant forward encouragingly. "Tell me?"

"Well, that was it really…" Captain America looked at his friend's hopeful expression and smiled again. "Okay, so most of us had reached the underground train-station we used as a bomb shelter, but Curtis didn't get there in time. Later said he had a lady friend he was a bit busy with. We saw the proof of that when we dug him out of the rubble sans pants and underwear. Poor bugger actually tried to stop us from rescuing him, he was so embarrassed." He laughed. "Sounds daft, now I say it, but at the time we didn't let him live it down. For months he was known as-"

"Pantsless! He was known as Pantsless."

As soldier humour went it wasn't brilliant, and very juvenile, but the grin on Bucky's face as he recalled the end of the silly little story was more than worth it.

"Simpler times."

"What? Nazi's and air-raids?"

Steve laughed again. "Well, at least we had warning when the Luftwaffe paid a visit. More than these Orks ever give us."

"Gotta love the guys who pre-warn you before raining down fiery death."

"Hey, I happen to miss the rains of fiery death." The Captain looked up at the sky – despite the clouds obscuring the stars. "Beats plasma guns."

"I dunno. Plasma guns are pretty good fun when we're using them." Bucky had taken to the new technology quicker than everyone bar Tony. It had become his favourite weapon by far. "Luftwaffe sounded better though."

"Nah! RAF sounded the best. Give me a Spitfire engine any day!"

"Oof, you traitor! Mustang!"

Steve smirked side-on at his friend. "Do you actually remember what either of them sounded like?"

Bucky looked affronted. "They shoved a Merlin engine in the Mustang's in '42, they basically sounded the same. I have randomised amnesia, not dementia!"

"Spitfire sounded better. And you're nearly 100 years old, dementia is only to be expected."

"Fuck off."

Steve laughed.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Natasha very rarely made an appearance in the labs, so the fact that she'd made the effort this time actually pulled Stark's attention away from the improved plasma gun he was tinkering with.

"Tony, are you aware of what Evie's been up to?"

"Apparently not? What's she done now?"

The assassin pulled up a seat next to him and flicked the data from her phone screen up onto the interactive screen that hung over the desk. Given that said screen was a laser projection, it was slightly see through.

"Huh." Tony put down the pieces of the weapon to focus on the images in front of him. "How did you find out about this?"

"Jarvis. Evie begged him not to tell you guys, but he asked me to keep an eye from a human point of view. I think Pepper knew too."

Jarvis was very aware that as a computer programme he couldn't always understand why a person would do something, so often asked for an eternal human consideration. In this case Tony could see why he had asked for Natasha to watch over this new project of Evie's.

The image now on the screen was a Youtube page, and more specifically his daughter's Youtube page. The account was under a fake name, but it was clear in the actual videos she was using her real one. There were well over a hundred videos all with Evie talking straight into the camera and an Instagram handle as well, although with a pseudonym which would explain why he had never picked up on it.

"I thought she was on board with staying off of social media!"

"Yeah, well, she changed her mind. And she's been smart with it too. Or at least had been up until now."

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Now? What's happened?"

"Buzzfeed News picked up on the fact that the elusive Evie Stark has a Youtube channel and Insta and ran a piece on it. She was keeping a reasonably low profile, but now it's blown up in her face a little." Natasha looked amused by the whole situation. Given how serious the rest of existence was at the moment, Evie suddenly going viral was a welcome break. "Jarvis suggested I let you know in case Stark Industries needed to do damage control. However, I've seen most of her stuff and I don't think there's anything to worry about."

"Yeah, not like Hydra are going to chase her down any time soon…" Stark hovered over one of the videos simply titled 'Shit Day'. "She's getting millions of views on these things?!"

"That's mostly since the media outed her."

"What are they even about?!"

Natasha scrolled the page down. "A bit of everything. Some of it is how to deal with what's happening at the moment, some of it is answering viewer's questions about life with the Avengers. She's been careful not to talk about Loki."

Tony pulled the page back up to the 'Shit Day' video. "And that one?"

"When we were trying to save Mount Rushmore. It's mostly her discussing how it feels to have all of the important people in her life out fighting a very powerful enemy whilst she's stuck at home. That one's gained the most views." Natasha shrugged. "It resonates. Everyone knows what it feels like to not know where a loved one is and be concerned about them. Evie has more experience than most and wants to share that."

Evie had obviously gone into the venture aware that she was going to draw criticism. Rich, white and ridiculously privileged; she had led a sheltered life and at points people had pointed that out to her. Some in nicer ways than others. But she'd listened, and learnt and tried to do better. Early films had been a little bit boastful in terms of living with celebrity superheroes, but over a few months the tone had improved and she'd moved to discussing what she had learnt from said heroes and how others could utilise it.

There was a full playlist on the Orks, what was known about them, possible weaknesses, and most importantly how to hide and escape during an attack. Evie had created a simple algorithm (Tony suspected Jarvis had played a significant part – coding wasn't his daughter's strong point) that people could use to search news sites and hospitals for missing loved ones after an attack.

"The one for Pepper has been popular too."

"How the hell has she kept this secret for so long? How has the media only just picked up on it?" There was an electronic cough from above them and Tony laughed. "Really?"

"It's not been easy, sir, but I managed to keep her under the radar for as long as possible."

"Does she know she's gone viral?"

"She's currently filming a video to address it, sir."

"Huh." For all that Tony Stark was a technological genius, he hadn't really bothered much with social media. Even so the fact that his daughter had managed to fly this under his radar for so long – even with Jarvis' help – was impressive. "How'd she have this much to talk about?"

"Kid knows trauma." Natasha said it a little too flippantly and frowned when Tony glared at her. "What? It's true enough! Losing her mum, Hydra busting in her to kidnap her, getting a hole punched through her stomach by a plasma bolt, losing Pepper – she's lived some stuff. I know she plays up the tough exterior but you guys can't expect her not to need to deal with it somehow."

Telling internet strangers wasn't how Tony had expected her to deal with her emotions. However, given no one had come to him earlier about this suggested that Evie was at least keeping the important things confidential. At least it was a constructive creative outlet?

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

The Sphynx, Canary Warf, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tiananmen Square, world heritage sites and political powerhouses alike were toppling like dominos.

In a way it seemed that Thanos was being more careful. He had two stones and only one realm on which they could be. Whilst the Avengers had initially been concerned that Earth was going to be pounded into the dust immediately it seemed like their attackers were trying to be more systematic. Most of the other realms had put their stones on display, or else hidden them somewhere heavily fortified and in an area of great significance. It was reasonable to assume Earth had done the same and now that the obvious spots – to aliens at least – had been searched and turned up nothing they were being careful not to destroy the planet and bury the Stones out of reach forever.

It gave Earth a little more time and some breathing space. It was also slightly easier to predict where an attack could next occur.

Humanity seemed to be little more than an annoyance to the attackers. There was no useful defence yet, and even the advances Stark had made with the liberated plasma weapons couldn't give the Avengers an upper hand.

The mini memorial board that had been set up in the main living room had had to be upgraded to a larger one. Pepper and Frigga were still in the centre but the number of portraits around them was exponentially growing.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWWMWMWMWMWMWMW

"What's happened?"

Stark jumped as his husband's arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"Who said anything's happened?"

"You're sat in the dark, in your labs, at three thirty in the morning, and not working on anything. Something has happened."

That was a good point. Tony had been tapping his pen against the blank notepad, but pushed it away with a sigh. "Yeah. Okay yeah."

"Well?"

"The Swiss stock exchange has gone down."

"Oh." Loki's tone made it quite clear that he didn't see what the problem was. "Is that bad?"

"Well, yes. Because it went down, and the German exchange tumbled less than half an hour after that, which in turn sent Europe falling like dominos. I'm now watching the Chinese go down in real time."

"I still don't see the problem here; it's just stocks and shares, yes?"

"The Wall Street Crash just passed you by, huh?" Stark rubbed his eyes with a groan. "Look, the stock exchanges are like…like a market place. But all that's bought and sold are stocks and shares. If the exchange crashes, the money going through it is only so much paper. Or strings of numbers these days. Market crashes, the money becomes worthless. There's a run on the banks as people panic and try to take out money that is now worthless anyway. Did you ever hear of the Great Depression?"

"Things could be that bad?"

"Worse. This is worldwide and immediate. And the population is so much larger now." He shook his head. "Worldwide shortage, poverty, hunger, homelessness. This is going to cause as much damage as any physical attack."

Loki slipped down onto the stool next to his husband. He reached out to take the man's hands. "Okay. So what can be done? You wouldn't be sat down here if you weren't trying to respond to the problem."

"I don't know." Tony stared down at their joined hands. "I don't know what to do. Pepper might. She was always the business brains, I just built stuff. But I don't know what to do. I'm a billionaire – but that's not enough to bail anyone out on this scale."

"Immediate problems. Look at the immediate problems."

"Food. I guess. The movement of food across country borders and down the production lines to people. Can't even guarantee it will reach the stores, and if it does very few can afford it."

"What if there was a recovery? What if the American exchange didn't fall?"

"Already fallen. But…"

Loki smiled slightly as his husband's brow furrowed in thought. There was nothing quite like watching Tony Stark beginning to formulate a plan.

"But…I might have enough capital to…" The man pushed his husband's hands away and grabbed his tablet. "Jarvis, how's Hong-Kong doing?"

"Holding, sir. But teetering."

"Can I afford the majority share in the Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank Corp?"

"…..Are you asking to buy a bank, sir?"

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Tony was no economist. But with Jarvis' help he could get by. It was impossible to stop the worldwide economic collapse, but it was possible to try to reduce the impact. By investing in one of the world's largest banks and with some strong words with an extremely stressed CEO they could create a single remaining rock. A pause on all debt, all lending solely to utilities necessary for living (Tony watched some of his rival tech companies crash and burn with little remorse) and strict regulations on all transactions.

It wasn't a cure. Nothing could pull the world back from what had happened, but it was a start. With some persuasion the British government cancelled taxation for the foreseeable future and with their largest bank managing to hold on they started to claw back a little. The positive effect trickled across Europe, salvaging Germany and France's respective largest corporations, and giving Belgium a fighting chance.

Seeing what was happening and how they were doing it, Russia and China began to surge ahead again, their trade catapulting the United States back out in front again.

It was certainly not an overnight fix. Or even over the matter of months.

It took two years for the world to pull itself together again after the economic disaster. Nothing looked the way it had before; it couldn't with the ongoing invasion and knock-on effects of that, but it was something. Countries who had relied on tourism were still going under, and nothing was going to help that, but on a whole people were pulling though.

The global trade was slowing to a crawl as well, but regions were rallying and making the most of what their respective lands could grow. It meant a marked difference in normal diets in the Western world, where people were having to lose their multicultural dishes full of imported ingredients and revert to something that wouldn't be out of place in World War 2. But it was working.

Both Loki and Thor had been aware of the resilience of humanity – the most fragile of the Nine Realms inhabitants – but they were still astonished at what they saw. As more and more of the planet fell, the people rallied.

The passing of the years were also marked by the children in the tower growing. Evie hit 21, with little to no fan-fare and a refusal to do any large celebrations. In fact the press made a bigger deal of her ascent to adulthood than she did herself. It just didn't seem right to celebrate when the world was falling to pieces.

The twins had no such qualms for their fifth birthday, and demanded a pirate-themed party. It was a brief but welcome bright spot in the chaos of what was now normal life.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Multiple attacks were becoming a thing. It meant having to split up, sometimes across both hemispheres of the planet, different groupings depending on the need.

"Power plant in Chashma, Pakistan. Red Square, Russia. Volkswagen manufacturing plant, Germany."

Tony found himself in Moscow this time, fighting alongside his husband, Natasha and Bucky. And a couple of thousand Russian troops, who were always welcome.

Given the size of the place and amount of combustibles involved they had also sent a group of four to Germany to help defend the car factory. As choice of target it was an odd one, but they couldn't predict how Thanos viewed Earth, and such a large and busy plant could seem important to him. Steve led his group, bringing Sam, Rhodes and Scott along with him.

It left Bruce, Clint and Thor to sort out the Pakistani power plant.

Despite not being able to bring the firepower against the attacking Orks, humanity were getting slightly better at dealing with an attack. With the Avengers able to deal damage it allowed the local military or whomever to evacuate civilians and seal off the gas mains to the affected area. That had been a lesson hard learnt after a gas leak and the subsequent explosion took out three whole blocks in San Diego.

In a way, with civilians removed from the area it was often worth just containing the damage and allowing the Orks to realise for themselves that there wasn't an Infinity Stone in the area they were searching. As a plan of action it meant that they were losing a large portion of the Red Square, but Stark was quite content that with the tourists evacuated they were losing important architecture but not lives.

However, that feeling of relief was quickly squashed as his comm crackled into life.

"Loki! We need Loki here!"

Clint. And with a terror to his voice that they had never heard before. The plea echoed across all of the channels, the Hulk roaring in the background of it.

"Barton, what's-" Natasha tried to determine what was happening, but Clint shouted over her.

"The power plant is nuclear! It's fucking nuclear!"

There was a moment of stillness, the Avengers digesting the news and what it could mean for them and for the world as a whole.

What it could mean for Clint.

"Understood." And then Loki was gone, spinning through the ether to where the distress call had come from. He knew roughly what to expect; he'd spent enough time around humanity to have seen the varying effects of this power source. The trickster was mostly immune to the adverse consequences of being hit with radiation, but even so the sheer amount of it as he arrived made him stumble on landing.

"Reactor three has been split open, contain it!" Clint spat the words out through gritted teeth. His face was already beginning to blister, but he waved away Loki's immediate concern. "Go! There's no time!"

The building in question was a few hundred yards away, belching black smoke out of a crumbled wall. It must have taken a direct shot and the plasma had taken down both the exterior structure and eaten into the internal protective cladding. Loki didn't really know how the generators worked, but the energy radiating out of the rubble he was stepping over told him how bad the damage was.

The door on a surviving wall burst open and Thor emerged, dragging an unconscious plant worker. He saw Loki but there was no relief in response. As an Asgardian he was also fairly resistant to the radiation, but not enough to avoid the growing redness across his face.

"Hulk's trying to smother the reactor!" It must have been a learnt phrase, since he didn't appear to understand what he was saying. Loki only barely understood it better.

It would have been possible to start tackling the leaking energy in the air and material around them, however Loki deemed that that would be pointless given how quickly it was being pumped out of the broken plant. Instead he followed the smoke.

"Here!" It was the Hulk's roar, but there was a tinge of Bruce there: the nuclear physicist had the necessary expertise, but only the Hulk could withstand what was happening in the reactor room.

There was water flooding the lower levels. Loki would have teleported in under normal circumstances, but the energy surge around him was making it difficult to focus his magic correctly. He was waist deep and at one point waded past the large body of an Ork. Evidently they hadn't been able to survive what they had unleashed – it would have been a useful thing to know if it weren't for the fact that it could also kill every other living creature within a few hundred thousand miles too.

For someone able to visualise energy the water was almost incandescent to the trickster. He would have to remove it all – couldn't risk it seeping into the ground and contaminating the ground-water or local rivers. The thick smoke was equally toxic – practically humming around him.

He could taste metal.

The basement levels where the reactor was protected should have been in complete darkness, the radiation had shorted out all of the electrics in the vicinity. However, the metal pipes running along the ceiling were glowing red hot and gave an indication of direction. The water was boiling around his legs – he could only hope there were no other people down here. He could withstand it, the Hulk could withstand it but a human certainly couldn't.

A dull roar echoed in the air, an angry low vibration like some dark creature moaning in pain.

The foot thick steel door that should have been locking the reactor away from the world had been blown from its industrial hinges. Loki almost tripped over it where it lay in a shapeless mess under the dark water. Light was streaming into this small area from where the roof had been blown clean off. Ahead he finally caught sight of the Hulk, desperately shovelling armfuls of rubble onto an incandescent blaze that could only be the broken core.

"Hulk, get out of here!"

There was something of Bruce in Hulk's eyes when he caught Loki's gaze and threw one last armful of molten slag onto the shimmering pile. The two personalities must have been more co-operative than usual for Bruce to convey the need to bury the reactor. However, with the Trickster's arrival he followed the advice and with a huge leap grabbed hold of the top of the broken wall and clambered up and out.

Loki couldn't say he'd ever had to deal with something so dangerous to the surrounding realm before. The sheer energy the thing was giving off interfered with his own powers, causing difficulties in doing anything with finesse. However, he didn't need finesse for this solution. Very conscious of how much time was passing, and therefore how much radiation was still being pumped out the prince had to forgo his usual carefully crafted spellwork.

The magic equivalent of a bodge-job was inelegant but opened up a serviceable wormhole. Loki couldn't aim it properly, but given that the other end opened up to the event horizon of a black hole it didn't need to be very accurate. It took a larger gesture than his usual fluid hand movements to drag the spewing reactor up from its foundations and slug it into the wormhole but it worked. He was splattered with enough molten rock to kill a human in the process.

After fighting alongside the Avengers for some time now it was second nature to use the comms to speak with them, but when Loki went to use his there was no response. As with everything else in the vicinity it had been completely fried. The reactor might have been gone, but the building rubble strewn around was still radioactive enough to continue disrupting his usual finesse meaning the tech was unsalvageable in the moment.

"Loki, have you cleared it?" Thor appeared up on the edge of the broken wall the Hulk had left by. Looking down into the new crater he determined the answer for himself. "You need to come quick. It's Clint."

"Clint?"

But of course it was Clint. Thor's exposed skin was blistered and red, the Hulk had been in a similar state. Loki was only protected by his magic.

Clint was human.

They ran. Without accurate magic they didn't have a choice. They were both dripping wet – toxic water scattering its poison in their footsteps as Loki followed his brother towards the distance figure of the Hulk. His mind was already racing with what he would need to do – and after Clint how many other people he was going to need to save. No one had told him anything, he had absolutely no clue how many of the plant workers were alive, how many people lived in the nearby towns. Absolutely no clue. There were at least three towns in eye line alone, even as a God Loki didn't know how many were in the immediate vicinity.

"Here!" Hulk was down on his knees, curled over Clint who was lying prone on the ground. Hulk's eyes were red and he had a nosebleed but seemed reasonably unaffected. Their comrade, however, was less lucky.

Clint was moving sluggishly, letting out a low continuous moan of pain. His exposed face and arms were raw - the top layers of skin sloughed away. He was bleeding from every orifice; eyes streaming with blood as he tried to blink up at his friends.

"Loki, do something!" Thor must have seen this developing, been powerless as Barton had deteriorated into this state. Loki had only seen him ten minutes ago, on his feet and speaking.

"It's too late." The Hulk's rumble was tinged with Bruce again.

"Let me decide that." Loki was hovering his hands over Clint's body, trying to get a reading through all of the interference.

"Too late." This time it was a roar.

Clint's moan of pain sharpened, a thin keening cry that then broke into a bubbling cough.

"Loki! Do something!"

Nothing was responding the way he expected it to; the damage was spreading faster than he could heal it.

"Loki!"

"I can't." He could do something though. A white glow around his hands resulted in Clint quieting, his breathing less frantic.

"What did you do? Is he going to be okay now?" Thor knelt down on the other side to the Hulk, gripping Clint's ruined bleeding hand.

"I blocked his pain receptors." Loki's own hands were shaking as he pulled them away from Barton. "I've made him comfortable."

"But is he going to be okay?"

The trickster looked up. There was such desperation in his brother's gaze that he didn't quite know how to say anything in response.

"Too late." The Hulk's voice box wasn't given for quietness, or any emotion beyond anger. But now he managed to sound resigned, broken.

"Loki! Is he going to be okay?"

It was a two letter word and the trickster couldn't bring himself to say it. However, his silence was already doing the job for him and Thor gaped at him.

"Please. Brother…Please."

"Thor, I…"

"Too late."

Far far too late. It had been too late the moment the reactor had been breached and too late the moment Clint had stood anywhere near it.

"No. Loki, no." Thor's face was crumpling with the plea. "You must be able to do something. You must."

The trickster looked back down at Clint again. Barton was unconscious, each breath popping a bubble of blood at the corner of his mouth and Loki gently laid his hands on the man's chest. "I have; he's comfortable. That's all I can do."

Thor's jaw tightened and he abruptly rose to his feet. Loki didn't watch him storm off, but could clearly hear the scream of anger and denial, accompanied by a gigantic crash of thunder. The weather God knew not to let it rain with the heavy radiation surrounding them, but lightening rolled across the sky in a pattern of burnt nerves.

"He's gone." Hulk's quiet rumble sounded like the world ending. Under Loki's hands Clint's chest had stopped moving.

"Oh." A small, gulped sound. "Oh Barton, no." He searched for any small tendril of life, but nothing remained. Calmly and quietly Clint had slipped away from them like the true assassin he was.

The world was eerily calm around them. No birdsong, no insects, no other people. Even Thor's next growl of thunder was distant and muted. The Hulk's huge hand fell on Loki's shoulder, but there was no anger in the grasp – just solidarity. The trickster brushed away unexpected tears.

"Radiation. Then cry."

"What?"

"Radiation."

It was true: the ground, the air and the water were being saturated in the fallout, ash falling in soft billowing clouds around them. Even with the broken core gone the amount of radiation already given out would render thousands of miles uninhabitable. Countless more would die.

Loki gently released Barton's hands and rose to his feet. His own hands were blistering as he raised them and crafted a second portal. It still wasn't as easy as it should have been.

As he had once found himself explaining to Natasha so many years ago in a Hydra base in Iceland, he could make sense of differing energies in the environment around him. To begin with it was like staring into a welding arc. He couldn't hope to do anything with finesse, instead just setting up a spell that would draw every atomic bullet to the portal as if drawn by a magnet.

It took a good hour for him to safely clear everything. It had meant magically scrubbing out the ground under them, the ground water, the air, the clouds above them, any and every piece of solid, liquid and gas that had been irradiated by the fallout. It was a huge piece of work.

By the time he was done the military had turned up and their dosimeters were reading a normal level of radiation dosage. Nuclear disaster averted. Millions saved.

They had lost Clint.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

There was no huge funeral this time, as much as they had wanted to give him one. After Pepper they had all made certain they had up-to-date wills, and Clint had stipulated that he didn't want any sort of grand send off. Instead it was a very simple affair out in undisturbed woodlands. No religion involved, just the small group of those that he had considered family and the memories they wished to share.

Loki hadn't wanted to attend. Stark thought he'd known how badly guilt could eat someone up, but the trickster had taken Barton's death very hard. Whilst no one else blamed him at all, he blamed himself and no amount of reminding him how many lives he'd saved would deter him from that thought. He did attend, but only because his daughter forced him to.

They held a wake though – like they had for Pepper. It was a more subdued affair, and Tony made an impromptu moment out of adding Clint's photo onto The Board. It rather drove it home just how vulnerable they were; losing Pepper had been a terrible tragedy. Losing Barton made it clear that this really was a war, and people really were going to continue to die.

Loki vanished part way through the evening and didn't return until the small hours of the morning.

"Where have you been?"

He'd assumed the kitchen would be empty given the time, and that all the lights were off.

"Out."

"Obviously." Natasha's voice sounded thick – either with crying or drinking. Probably both.

The trickster sat down with her at the dark table, conjuring up two mugs of tea.

"Unless it has alcohol in it, I'm not drinking it."

"It'll stay warm until you want it."

Natasha sniffed disdainfully. "You were missed earlier."

"I doubt that."

"You underestimate what you mean to this group." She must have been really drunk. As steady as her voice was, she was never that demonstrative.

It was too early in the morning, and she was too inebriated, and Loki was still too emotional to find a way to put into words why he had needed to leave. The complex and complicated relationship he'd had with Clint was hard to articulate at the best of times. Their shared history was so unique – even amongst such an unusual group of people – that it would have been difficult to explain to anyone how and why they'd ended up as friends.

And Loki hadn't been able to save him.

"I was at the hospital." He finally offered.

"Why?"

A shrug. "I cleared out the oncology ward."

That took Natasha a few moments to work out, then she leant forwards, elbows on the table, to see him better in the dark. "You healed an entire oncology ward?"

"I needed to do something right. For once."

"You know no one, no one here blames you for what happened, right? Hell, if anyone was going to it would be me and…well." She shrugged with one shoulder. "Shit happens. Nuclear shit particularly."

"I needed to know I could still save people."

"So you're, what? Going to start playing God in hospitals?" Her question caught up with her and the woman snorted with quiet laughter. "Except that you are a God, of course."

"I'm not fussed what deity gets the credit, but I think I will keep going."

Natasha picked up her near-empty bottle of vodka and drained it. "Why? At this rate we're all going to die anyway."

"I don't know. At least people can die healthy? They'd die eventually even without an alien invasion. This gives them a chance."

"A chance. Yeah. Maybe that's the best we can hope for." She rose to her feet, hands firmly on the table for stability. "You know…I'm glad you were with him?" There was a suspicion in the dark that there were tears there. "Despite everything, I'm glad it was you with him. I'm sure he appreciated that you tried." She wobbled her way around the table grabbing up her mug in the process. Stopping next to him, Natasha grasped his shoulder. "You're a good person, you know." She said quietly. "A very good person." And much to his surprise, and possibly hers were she sober, she kissed the top of his head. "Thanks for the tea."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

There was a spate of unresolved 'miracles' in hospitals – first across the city and then spreading out wider. Whole wards would wake up to find everyone had mysteriously been cured, or healed, or were free from pain. It set off quite an argument in the religious communities, all trying to attribute it to their particular faith. But regardless of how or why, it continued.

In a world growing increasingly dark and desperate it was a tiny ray of hope.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Evie had begun meeting up with local people she had met through her social media. For a young woman who hadn't grown up with any friends of her own age it was her first real chance to get to know her peers. She had had to be very careful in terms of who she decided to meet but Jarvis had helped with that. Despite everything going on in the world, there was always going to be the type of paparazzi to chase down a media-shy celebrity kid. Private bookings and strict guest lists helped with that.

What had started as just little meet-and-greets naturally evolved into a semi-regular thing. A group of like-minded and lonely young adults struggling to come to terms with the harsh new world they were suddenly in. On particularly bad days alcohol was involved.

On the worst days the sirens would sound and they'd have to leg it to the nearest shelter.

It was a worst day, and the nearest shelter – the basement of the café – was flooded.

Gun laws weren't really a thing anymore. Despite the evidence that traditional guns did very little damage against Orks, pretty much everybody carried some sort of weapon in the hope that if it came to it, it would at least give them a fighting chance to escape. This meant that during any sort of attack there was the added risk of friendly fire from panicked citizens.

Shots were being fired in all directions. It really didn't matter if they were plasma or good old fashioned human bullets, a stray one of either was bad news. There is an unusual convention in certain brands of disaster movie where groups of plucky young heroes manage to stick together in the face of a city falling to pieces around them. In reality as the small group tried to leave the café to make a break for the next nearest shelter (subway station, half a block away) they were immediately swept up in the midst of screaming panicking people and separated.

Evie was shoved violently along by the heavy press of stampeding humanity, feeling a friend's hand on her sleeve being ripped away.

There was a crackle in her ear-piece, and she opened the call.

"Evie, where are you?"

"Dad! Somewhere - ow - somewhere along West Street. Everyone's - oof - pushing, I can't - Ow!" A hard but accidental elbow to the ribs took her breath and it was only the crush of bodies in front of her that stopped a quick tumble to the ground.

"Someone will come and get you, hang tight kiddo!"

"I'll find shelter, you guys deal with the -damnit - attack." She knew someone would still turn up. There was a GPS in her comm anyway - not that it was usually on but Tony had set up a system so that the moment they were alerted to an attack all comms immediately pinged everybody's whereabouts. Protective father and friend, but it was reassuring to know if you were stranded that help wasn't far away.

She was bumped hard again, wedged between a large man with a briefcase, a gangly teenager who was also struggling and a woman carrying three yapping chihuahuas. The general direction of the stampede seemed to be the entrance of a large office block, but she had no way of fighting out of the tightly packed flow of humanity. At one point there was something soft underfoot. She could only hope it was a lost bag because if anyone had fallen they certainly weren't ever getting up again under the press of bodies.

The surge pushed into the building, muffled screams as people who didn't manage to make the entrance were crushed against the walls on either side instead. The pressure tightened inside, as the flow was bottle-necked at a stairwell, everyone clamouring to get higher and away from the street level. The distinctive whine of a plasma gun was close-by but Evie couldn't see anything beyond the pinstriped business suit of the stranger she was jammed up against. The noise brought an added sense of urgency to the panic and the crush tightened as they swept up the tight stairwell. There were at least two people already hanging limply over the metal banisters in the centre of the concentric staircase, their bodies still being pulled along by the crowd.

There was a sudden ease of pressure as they reached the first floor and Evie tried to shove her way to the doorway. However, a second push from below tightened the mass again and she was crushed into the wall, the metal handrail digging in to her side until she felt a rib crack under the pressure. In desperation the girl caught hold of the t-shirt of a large man as he was pushed into her and held on for dear life as he was swept past and inadvertently took her with him.

Her side was burning where the bone had fractured, and combined with the tight press of humanity it was very hard to draw in a proper breath. The lady with the dogs, now only two of them and silent, was pushed into her again with such force that she had to let go of her unknowing saviour to save her wrists from being snapped. One of the Chihuahuas seemed to sense an opportunity and bit it's owner, forcing her to lose her grip. The small animal scrambled up and took a flying leap from her head back down into the seething mass of people at the base of the stairwell. The second followed a moment later and the woman just let them go; finally realising the desperation of the situation.

The dogs chances of survival had probably increased slightly.

Now back firmly in the centre of the heaving mass Evie had little to no chance of fighting her way out so instead tried to focus on staying upright and keeping breathing. Both were difficult and as they reached the second floor she only managed to keep on her feet by grabbing the shoulders of a woman in front. Chihuahua-lady went down and didn't resurface.

Things eased at the third floor as the stairwell opened up into a mezzanine area. The general flow was still heading upwards but it gave Evie a chance to fight her way over to a door and escape out of the mass. Others followed, desperation for a way out of the stampede overtaking the need to get higher.

No one spoke to each other. Evie staggered away from the door and into the wall, sliding down it to sit as she gulped in air. Her broken rib was shooting fire through her side and now she had a second to catch up she could feel pain beginning to radiate down her legs from various crush injuries. A near-black bruise was already blooming through a hole in her jeans, denoting a burst blood-vessel, and her left elbow must have been twisted at some point since now it didn't want to co-operate at all.

"Evie! Answer me damnit!"

Tony was yelling in her ear. In the panic and melee she hadn't even heard him, but he must have been able to hear everything that was going on. He sounded terrified.

"...Dad?" Her hand shook as she held it over her ear to listen properly.

"Evie! Thank God! What the hell happened, kiddo? We thought..." It was quite clear what they must have thought, given the desperation and absolute relief in his voice. "Where are you?"

"Don't...I don't..." She took another gulping breath. They had stumbled into a room of office cubicles, one wall of which was large windows and she stared at them trying to decipher anything useful. "I don't know. Some offices somewhere. I'm...I'm three floors up?" Her voice was shaking.

"Are you hurt?"

"Not badly."

"Okay." The relief in her father's voice was almost a physical presence. "Okay, if you're safe just stay put. No sense leaving a safe spot until this is over - we'll sweep you up as we come back."

"...Yeah. Sounds good." She tipped her head back against the wall with a groan. "Everything hurts..." The complaint had enough humour to it to let Tony know it wasn't serious.

"Sounded like quite a situation you got yourself into there."

"Could have been better. I'm taking the elevator next-" The sudden distinctive whoosh of plasma cutting through concrete was heralded by an increase in the screaming outside the room and cut Evie off.

"What was that?!"

"They're here! Oh shit, they're in the building!" A surge of adrenaline at the realisation allowed Evie to pull herself to her feet again. The few other people in the large room had come to the same conclusion and were beginning to stumble towards another exit at the far end.

"Can you get out?!"

"Yeah, yeah there's a fire escape!"

"Right, get out and get safe; Thor's coming to find you."

Evie didn't question it. Jarvis would be telling Thor her co-ordinates. She stumbled through the rows of empty office cubicles, past the mundane signs of normal life turned on its head.

A beam of plasma suddenly seared overhead, coming straight through the wall behind her. A second arc came in at an angle and cut through one of the other fleeing people, mowing them down on route to the window, which shattered.

Glancing between the fire exit on the far wall, and the hole in the window that was much closer, Evie made a split second decision. She carried her wing-pack – updated and far less faulty than that original test flight from so many years ago – at all times. It packed so slim that she could wear the cross-body bag it stored in almost unnoticed under a t-shirt, and it seemed to have survived the crush.

Choice made she stumbled towards the newly-smashed window. A loud explosion behind her was possibly the wall from the stairwell coming down but she didn't look back to check.

Three stories was high, but she'd thrown herself off of higher buildings before and this was life or death. The window pane had collapsed in around the blast hole, leaving molten glass all over the floor, but a hole large enough for her to throw herself through.

The rings clipped neatly to her ankles and wrists and she pulled the head-piece on as she started falling. Even as the HUD was still initialising the material flaps snapped into place and the fall became a controlled glide.

The street below was carnage. Bodies strewn everywhere and vehicles burning. Partly due to the Orks, partly due to the sheer panic that overtook everyone during an attack. The trail of devastation was clear, as was the direction, and Evie made sure that she took off in the opposite direction.

The air was thick with smoke and screaming.

Her elbow was causing problems; Evie's steering was off given that she couldn't properly straighten her arm and she quickly tried to gain altitude to avoid crashing into a building.

There was a moment, a moment, when she began to wonder if she'd done it and was out of the situation. If she'd escaped. And then with a shrill whistle a stray bullet, shot from who-knows-where went straight through her left wing.

Evie was going fast. The material around the bullet hole ripped back and then shredded entirely under the air pressure, leaving her wing suit with only the right hand side intact. She barely had time to process what had happened as any control was lost and she was sent tumbling down.

It was horribly reminiscent of that first disastrous test flight. However, whereas that had been a loose screw that was fixable, this time she had lost the entire integrity of the wing. She kept her shape in the air, trying to direct her fall as much as possible as her mind flashed through every possible answer to the problem at hand.

There was a flash of shimmering grey between two buildings and she shot towards it. Her trajectory was shallow – rather than a straight downwards-plummet she was uncontrollably gliding – and with the river suddenly appearing before her she had a target. With her current speed hitting water was still going to be like hitting tarmac, but there was something she could do about that at least.

The cross-body bag that the wing suit was usually stored in was strapped across her chest, and contained the arc reactor that she used as a power source. She didn't generally use it directly, but had programmed the HUD to connect to it just in case. Now it was going to be a life-saver. On command the reactor let out a discharge of energy, burning through both the bag it was stored in and her t-shirt. The effect was a blast of propulsion in the opposite direction to her fall, effectively slowing her down. Not that it was enough to make the landing soft, but it made it non-fatal.

The young woman hit the water hard, and, winded and disorientated, quickly sank in a tangle of shredded material.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Sending Thor off after his daughter didn't sit well with Tony, but he was rather too involved in the battle to go himself. Geographically Thor was closer.

"I need someone down here! We're taking heavy fire!" Loki sounded stressed over the comms. Shooting overhead Stark caught a glimpse of his husband down on the ground, leaning over a badly injured woman. Just because Loki's healing skills were significantly improved over what they had once been, didn't mean that he didn't have to devote all of his attention to it. They had all seen (or at least heard about) how he caught Clint's arrow whilst on the back of a Chitauri speeder in the middle of a battle, but he had been undistracted at the time.

"Anyone able to help?" Tony took a shot at an Ork that was firing at a family inside a car. He took it down but not before the vehicle exploded, taking its passengers with it.

"Any time soon!"

"Fuck! Yeah, on it!" With no other responses forthcoming he flipped over and headed down. Loki was a couple of blocks back, but with the clouds of dust and building rubble it was near impossible to find an easy way through to him. A piece of crumbling edifice narrowly missed him as he landed roughly where he thought he had seen his husband.

"Capricorn, where the hell are you?!"

"How by the Norns do I know?! There's – shit!" Loki's voice was drowned out by crashing masonry.

"Loki?"

"We're good, just. There's a skyscraper with curved walls? North side. We're next to….there's an overturned red van, we're next to that."

That meant getting airborne again. From a higher vantage point it was easier for Jarvis to scan through the dust for him and try to pick out the aforementioned building. It also meant fighting his way up through the dust-fogged air again. He didn't want to contemplate how bad it was for those without the benefit of a helmet that filtered all of the crap out.

"I think I see it!"

He could see the building at any rate, and the heavy fire it and the surrounding area was taking as a wave of Orks moved through. From a higher vantage point he could get directly over it and look down to find the van his husband had mentioned.

From the height he couldn't see Loki, but managed to spot the vehicle and started a fast descent towards it. Jarvis zoomed in on three Orks stampeding down the street just in time to see one raise its weapon and fire at something next to the van.

It ran on, leaving a billowing explosion behind.

Tony didn't even need the smoke to clear to know. This had been his nightmare from the beginning, born of PTSD, loss, anxiety and the terrible gnawing fear that despite it all they were never really going to be allowed to be happy.

There was a certain stillness ahead, despite the curling smoke and fumes. The woman Loki had been trying to heal had been flung into the side of an overturned car by the blast. Her eyes were closed but Jarvis silently displayed her lack of life signs.

Landing on the burnt tarmac, Stark stumbled towards where he had last seen his husband.

He knew. But hope is a terrible terrible thing.

With the smoke rolling away he could see Loki lying where he'd been thrown by the explosion. The trickster still wore the relieved smile that had graced his face when he saw his husband approach, but now it was unfocussed, trained up at the sky.

"Capricorn?" Tony would have been surprised at how steady his voice was if he'd been able to give it a thought. His legs gave out under him and he crashed to his knees beside the trickster. "Loki, please…"

All that denoted the entry wound was the small cauterised hole at his temple. It was nearly hidden by Loki's dark hair and the angle of his head. Stark gingerly reached out to cup his cheek and the trickster's head rolled with the weight of the contact, displaying the much larger and more catastrophic exit left by the plasma beam.

With all of his attention given to healing Loki had been vulnerable to the single headshot and Tony hadn't made it in time.

"No." A demand, a plea, possibly a prayer. "No. Nonononono...Loki, no."

Tony gently pulled his husband into his arms, oblivious to the ongoing storm around them.

"Come on, come on you stubborn bastard. Wake up. Come on Loki, wake up. Wake up! You can't have...you aren't...don't be...wake up! For god's sake wake up."

"Sir…"

He grimaced at Jarvis's gentle interruption, shaking his head. "Nope. No. Nuh uh. Fuck right off with that sympathetic voice Jarvis! No."

"Sir."

"No." He jammed his fingers into the hinge of the helmet, releasing the faceplate so he could rip the piece clean off. The damage silenced Jarvis.

"Come on Loki, get your ass in gear. Wake up and lets go." He had his husbands head cradled against his chest, whispering the words over and over. "Wake up. Come on, wake up, we need to get out of here. Wake up."

His voice was shaking. Words were becoming indistinguishable with tears.

"Please wake up. I can't do this without you. Please."

The smoke rolled on around them, thick and dark from burning rubber and petrol. Occasional beams arced overhead, but the Orks had moved on and they were left behind, of no consequence.

"Come on Loki, I need you to wake up. You can't leave me here. You can't do this to me again." The words were a jumbled mess. "Please…"

An alarm started beeping quietly on the suit, jarring against the reality of what was happening. A temperature alarm, warning of an extreme drop.

Tony's eyes had been squeezed tightly shut against the horror unfolding but he opened them at the sound. His suit was slowly frosting over, and Loki was a deep jötunn blue. "Oh god no…" his breath hung in the frigid air, tears beginning to freeze to his cheeks.

There were becoming surrounded by freezing fog that chased away the smoke, ice running out tendrils across the ground and rubble. It rolled like a sea mist, deep waves of white billowing back then crashing down in noiseless, senseless clouds.

"You would do well to let go of him, Anthony Stark."

It made him jump and cling tighter rather than obey. The voice wasn't familiar, sneering and arrogant as it echoed from every direction.

A dark shape materialised in the fog, consolidating into an upright figure walking towards them. The mist parted like a ghostly Red Sea.

"What…?" Tony's voice was hoarse. He hadn't appreciated how long he had been sobbing and pleading for it to sound like that.

It was a woman. Very tall, walking barefoot across the battle-strewn tarmac. She wasn't wearing a dress so much as the dark rags of one, that billowed around her under the power of some otherwise unfelt hurricane.

She had Loki's green eyes. Or one of them, at least. The other was a pearlescent white, set amongst silvery scars that crowded out half of her face. Her hair had likewise been affected; long raven black giving way to a scarred scalp and the impression of an undercut. Loki's strong chin and sharp cheekbones, that arrogant sneer. She was strikingly beautiful.

"Hel...you're Hel."

"So he did mention me." There was such anger there. Tony drew back, his arms right around his husbands body.

"You can't take him! I won't allow it."

"Allow it? You are precious." Hel's laughter was as cold as the fog around them. "I am death, you don't allow me anything."

Stark had often used the phrase 'faced death' or something similar. He had come close to dying enough times to feel he could do so, but this was a level he had never expected to take it to.

Despair was giving way to desperation. If she was here, in person, then maybe there was a chance, a mere chance to stop this terrible future from becoming reality.

"No. Nonononono, look. Look, can we talk? We can talk right?" He knelt up, one hand outstretched to indicate for her to stay back. The repulsor didn't fire up; that would have been pointless. "I want to talk about this!"

Hel spread her hands magnanimously. "We are talking." She took a step forward.

"No! Wait!" He scrambled. For every scrap of memory, every single thing Loki had ever told him about this estranged woman, every myth and legend he had ever read. "Wait."

"Death waits for no man, Anthony Stark. He is mine."

"No! You can...death can bargain, right?! If I make a deal you have to uphold it? Let me bargain for him! That's what all the stories say; you can make a deal with death!"

Hel stopped, and then laughed. Clear and cold. "Make a deal? What do you possibly think this planet could have that is worth the life of a God?" She raised her arms to indicate up at the ruined skyscrapers around them. "This realm is dying. There is nothing of value you could possibly trade and there is nothing I could ever want more than to finally have my father answer for his crimes. He is mine Anthony Stark."

"No!" Tony surged to his feet, all repulsors activated and trained on her. Standing over his husbands prone body he powered up both hands. "You'll have to get through me first!"

The small head-tilt Hel made as she smirked was painfully reminiscent of Evie. "No, I don't think I will. That isn't how this works. He is dead, Anthony Stark, his soul is mine now." She twisted her scarred hand and a creeping green tendril of light began to wrap around it, like reeling in a line.

"What…?" Tony stared at it for a moment, complete uncomprehending what he was seeing. "What are you doing?!" When her only response was to grin wider he looked down, then around.

The thin glowing thread was snaking out of Loki's outstretched hand, being physically torn away from his body.

"No!" Stark aimed a blast right at the woman and it sailed through like she were made of mist. "No!"

"I am death. His soul is mine and I have waited for, oh such a long time for this moment." The last of the light wrapped around Hel's hand and with a wave it vanished.

"Please!" The ground came up to meet him as he crashed to his knees beside the body. "Please, I'm begging you! Anything! I'll do anything, give you anything! Please!"

Hel's fingers curled around his chin, forcing him to look up at her. "Anything?" She patted his cheek. "A bold claim Anthony Stark. But he is mine, and this is his end."

"Please…" A sobbed, broken plea.

She smirked again, that self-same expression Loki had worn so many times.

"No."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

The seal the head-piece made over her face was beginning to fail and Evie could feel water seeping in. She was trying very hard not to panic, as that would use up the air quicker. Her comm was useless underwater, but the GPS tracker in it was hopefully still active. She didn't want to think of the possibility that it was fried and they couldn't find her.

It was freezing. The water was so cold she was amazed her latent alien genes hadn't been triggered, but her goose pimpled arms remained frustratingly pale. Her careful attempts to untangle herself from the torn fabric of her wings weren't getting anywhere, and she daren't struggle too hard and use up more air. The ripped nylon was wrapping tighter with each slight movement.

And it was so dark.

It meant that when something suddenly tightened around her arm and she couldn't see it she screamed. She had no idea what sort of marine life lived in the river and the imagination immediately went to shark. Or kraken.

But the although the grip was tight, it wasn't painful, and then the darkness began to recede as she was hauled upwards towards the surface again. Her kraken materialised into her uncle, holding her tight as he pulled her up and out of the murky water.

Evie had splashed down far out in the water, so Thor had to fly the two of them to the nearest bank. She couldn't say she really noticed the brief flight, too focussed on the fact that she hadn't drowned. Or been shot. Or been crushed to death. Or fallen and hit a street.

"Are you okay?" Thor was a very comforting person to hug, so she ignored the question and did just that. "Evelyn, are you injured?"

"R-r-rib. And el-elbow." It was so cold. Her uncle quickly wrapped his cloak around her shoulders – it was soaking wet and extremely heavy because of that, but was warmer than nothing. "Th-that was c-c-close."

"You've had closer." Thor's ever cheerful demeanour was also always comforting. "And a bit of water never hurt anyone."

Evie tried to laugh and then had to stop. The one fractured rib appeared to have acquired some friends, presumably on impact with the river surface. Thor wrapped an arm around her shoulders and touched the comm in his ear.

"I've got Evie. She's a bit soggy and sore but a trooper as always." He waited patiently for a response. "Hello? Stark? Rogers?"

"N-not answering?"

"No. Natasha? Loki?" He pulled the tiny piece of technology out of his ear and frowned at it. "It must not have survived the water." He looked between his niece and then the distant battle. "I'll take you back to the tower – if I can't speak to anyone I'm not going to be very useful back out there and you need medical attention."

Evie wasn't going to argue. It had been a hell of a day and home sounded like the best idea.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

The ground under him was gritty and coarse.

That didn't sit quite well – the last thing Loki could remember was tarmac and concrete. Building dust fogging the air, people crying and screaming and the blood on his hands as he had desperately tried to heal the woman on the ground. There was nothing else.

Had he been hit? He didn't recall any pain, and nothing was hurting now as far as he could tell. He seemed to be in one piece when he raised a hand up to his ear to search for his communicator.

It wasn't there. Must have been knocked free.

Where was the lady?

Opening his eyes didn't help the confusion. Instead of battle-streaked sky there was a dark vaulted ceiling high hanging over him, like the nave of a cathedral. Dark stone twisted up in elegant columns yet was so poorly lit he could barely see where they joined the intricate roof.

Where was this? As far as he was aware New York didn't have any architecture that even remotely resembled this, and certainly none that he could have accidently ended up in.

Any further thoughts and confusion were cut off by a sudden growl, right by his ear. It was low, rumbling and the creature it was emanating had to be huge to produce that amount of reverberation. Loki tried to move, to get away, to visualise the threat, to work out what the hell was going on. It didn't matter, he had hardly lifted his head from the floor when a paw larger than his torso landed on his chest.

Now things hurt! Ribs cracked under the suffocating weight, claws opening up deep wounds. This wasn't an Ork. He pushed ineffectually at a leg that was as tall as he was, thick black fur obscuring everything.

And then over the pain, and the tectonic growl came a voice he hadn't heard in very long time.

"Father. It has been a while."