Chapter 138

Some Ups and Downs

It took a while for everyone to get ready. Tony made a few quick fixes to his suit, Steve put on his classic outfit while Natasha and Clint...Actually, I had no idea what they were doing in preparation. Hawkeye might be refilling his arrows.

I hoped for Thor or Bruce to make it back to the ship in time but so far neither of them appeared on Shield's radar.

I myself wisely spent my time relaxing. The last few hours had burned up my energy. For now I refilled my energy with Ambrosia and took a very quick rest in my seat.

Unlike the Avengers I could pull out any time I wanted. Of course I wouldn't just leave my new friends on their own but it made the whole situation a little bit nerve wracking.

I briefly considered going back to my own world to retrieve Nyx. Her presence would help me alot but Chaos said it was a bad idea. Not only because of the time difference between dimensions but also because Nyx is...well herself.

"You're ready kid?" Tony walked into the room. His metal suit was shining, almost like new.

Steve stood behind him, slightly less glamorous but still he managed to look imposing with his shield in hand.

"The spies are working on stealing a quinjet, you're coming?" Tony grinned.

"I prefer the term borrowing." Steve joked, though he did look uneasy about this.

"Yeah, let's go."

I followed the pair through the Helicarrier, going through narrow hallways and such.

"So," Captain America slowed his pace to match mine. "From another world you said?"

I nodded. "Yeah, still. We were raised in the same neighbourhood. Crazy right?"

Steve shook his head. "This world is getting stranger every day."

'Not yet, Strange is at the hospital right now.' Chaos mumbled out loud.

"Trust me," I smiled at Steve. "This is for me just another tuesday."

"Okay, we are here." Tony stopped in front of an exit door. "Clint and Natasha should have gotten hold of a jet by now. It's a short ride to New York."

"Wait!" I suddenly yelled. "I just realized, I can use Yggdrasil to travel to New York even faster."

"You mean that wasn't a joke?"

I shook my head. "Last time I did that I ended up in Manhattan. I promise, I can go right now and stop Loki."

"No!"

"Bad plan."

Both Tony and Steve said.

"Look, I don't say we think you can't do it but we can't send you ahead in good conscience." Steve argued sternly.

"The fate of the world is at stake!" I said.

'Not per se, there's a decent chance the Chitauri will only enslave New York before someone else stops to Avenge them.' Chaos had a know-it-all smile on her face.

'You're gonna say something helpful or constructive?'

'I am helpful and constructive.' Chaos smirked. 'You just don't get it.'

"You really think you can take on Loki." Tony asked, looking me straight into the eyes.

I don't really know a lot about this world's Asgardians but if they were anything like the gods from my world I knew what to do.

"I am sure I can at least stall him until you all catch up." I answered.

"If you mess up I'm going to say; told you so." Tony slapped me on the shoulder.

I looked at Steve. He gave me a nod. "You're waiting for my approval? Just go already. We'll inform the others."

He saluted me.

I grinned and closed my eyes while Cap and Tony left.

Okay, Yggdrasil. Here I come!

My inner powers reached through the fabric of reality and latched onto something bigger. Something infinitely older and bigger than I could ever hope to grasp.

But Chaos could.

With her I managed to slip between the folds of reality.

This time I knew what I was doing and managed to remain fully conscious.

That didn't make it any better though.

'Oh gods, I almost feel like dying.' I screamed as my atoms were stretched across multiple planets. Immediately after thinking that my body moved into a different dimension. Suddenly I was standing on a solid surface. Hesitantly I looked around.

It was dark and misty all around me. The air was ill and I immediately struggled to breathe.

My vision was starting to blur. Lack of oxygen in the atmosphere tends to do that but there was also something about this place, it made thinking straight impossible. Even trying to reach out to Yggdrasil seemed impossible to manage as that required thoughts.

"Oh my," A female voice said. It came from above me. "A living soul?"

Instinctively I looked up.

The voice belonged to a woman. That much I could see. The weird thing was that there were black horns sprouting from her head. Like she wore a crown of some sorts? She was tall, almost regal looking. Another thing I noticed was that she was reminding me of someone.

'Ah, we took a wrong turn.' Chaos said calmly. 'Let's not hang around here.'

And with that I was back, in the middle of Yggdrasil.

'Manhattan.' I cried out before I could run into another tourist hot spot. 'Now!'

Car honks, loud noises and pedestrians welcomed me back into the heart of New York. I gasped and started to empty my stomach onto the lovely, not interdimensional, asphalt.

'How's that for an unhelpful goddess?' Chaos smirked.

'Ugh, thanks'

I must've spent a minute puking my guts out which caused all of the foot traffic to move around me; not even batting an eyelash at the caped demigod. Man, it's good to be home.

I managed to empty my stomach again and stood straight, trying to shake off that weird feeling Yggdrasil travel gave me.

My eyes fell upon a large curved building not that far away from me.

The name Stark was written on the front, in case someone hadn't heard of him yet.

There was something happening on top of the building. I had to get closer

I started running in the right direction but realized quickly that I would be too slow to stop Loki.

I considered popping the water lines underneath the city but immediately decided against it.

With a sigh I mourned the fact Black Jack wasn't present. Or Nyx to shadow travel.

'You could use Arachne's power to reach your destination, fly around like a certain other web crawler.' Chaos suggested.

I didn't really like that idea. Sons of Poseidon are not built for long range webtravel. Besides, if I hit the ground or building I would go splash.

On the other hand, my options and time were limited and maybe Hel's blessing could prevent me from dying completely...hopefully.

I steeled my nerves and shot a webline towards a nearby building.

If someone tells you later that I screamed, they are definitely lying.

(lineblake)

I was starting to get a hang on it, pun not intended.

After a few near death experiences I managed to fall into a pattern of swinging across Manhattan. The mortals were starting to notice me as well and I was sure videos of me almost swinging into buildings were already trending on the web, pun still not intended. But navigating the more spacious streets was getting easier and I also managed to pick up height. So far it has been an amazing experience. In some way it felt like surfing, it was dangerous but if you could get into the flow it would feel completely natural.

I would have to ask Arachne about it later.

The Stark building was closer now and I could see the Tesseract, trapped in some sort of mechanical device.

The Stark Tower stood higher than its neighbours and apart from other buildings. This was a problem as it was too high for me at the moment, and it was out of web range.

"Oh gods, I hate this..." I mumbled as I let go of the line and dropped down.

Wind blasted my face as I did a literal nose dive for the pavement.

Just a small fraction of a second before I crashed I shot two lines in opposite directions.

My fall came to a creeping halt and for an agonizing second I could almost kiss the ground.

Then, the tension of the lines pulled me back and I was launched up. If you ever played with rubber you can imagine how it went.

I flew up parallel to Stark Tower and at this point I could only hope that I built enough momentum to reach the top. Otherwise I would fall without anything to latch my webs to.

I soared up and at the height of my launch I shot a line to the helicopter platform.

It was just in reach.

Got it! I pulled myself in and I managed to rise above it.

I landed on the platform and drew Riptide from my back.

From here I had a beautiful overview of my city. I wouldn't let someone else ruin it, not in my universe and neither in another one. Not wasting any time I walked to the device holding the Tesseract.

It was some kind of sphere-like framework that suspended a glowing blue cube in the middle. Monitors, wires and possibly other measuring equipment was stacked around it.

I tried to poke the object with my sword but the blade bounced off an invisible forcefield. I threw a fireball but the flames dissipated when they made contact.

I grinded my teeth. This might be worse than I thought.

'Chaos, any ideas on destroying this thing?'

'Loki.' Chaos replied swiftly.

As expected the Asgardian was watching me from the tower entrance with an amused smile.

I glanced at the Tesseract and then back at Loki. The god of mischief could maybe stop the Tesseract, or maybe Tony would know how to. Beating the device didn't seem to work.

Loki turned around to walk inside.

I put Riptide awat and followed him.

The top floor of Stark Tower looked exactly as I would expect. Modern and minimized design, very expensive and a killer view of New York.

Loki stood in the living room, playing with his scepter while eyeing me. "So, I assume this is the part where you try to reason with me? Change my mind to spare those humans?"

I was here just to stall. I didn't even think of trying to appeal to Loki.

"No, I am here to stop you. Beat your ass." I smiled back, nonchalantly.

"You?" Loki raised an eyebrow. "You mean you are still convinced you can turn this around? Even when your ship can't sail and two of your best warriors have fallen?"

I slowly made my way to Loki as I talked. "There were some ups and downs," I admitted. "But in the end all you did was make us more determined to take you down. Besides, I am sure the Hulk and Thor will be here soon. We're heroes after all. The Avengers, and I can tell you, we won't go down without a fight."

"This is a fight you can't win," Loki mocked. "Especially when your friends are busy fighting you!"

Suddenly Loki was standing in front of me, his scepter touching my chest.

I recalled the fact that he used his scepter to brainwash people. That didn't work on me.

"Is something supposed to happen?" I smiled at the god of mischief.

Before Loki could react I drew Riptide and in one fluid motion I slashed at him.

I thought I had him but to my surprise his image shattered into thin air.

An illusion!

A strong hand grabbed me from behind and lifted me up. Riptide fell to the floor.

"You are nothing!" Loki said. His hands were around my windpipe. I tried to pull myself free but Loki's grip felt like cement.

I tried to say something back but I found that to be impossible.

After two punches to the face did nothing, I went back to untangeling myself from Loki's grip.

I used Hestia's power to set my hands on fire.

Loki gasped and dropped me. I greedily sucked in air as I tried to put some distance between us.

I aimed my hand towards Loki and sent a beam of fire his way but like before his image faded.

Instead I scorched a part of the wall black - sorry Stark.

'Behind you again.' Chaos said.

I spun around and opened the Shield of Winter.

Just in time. A blue bolt was fired from the scepter but was blocked by my shield. While I hid behind the shield two more shots were fired. Both shots impacted the shield but were absorbed instead of sending me flying. I lowered my shield to go on the offensive but Loki had pulled his vanishing act again.

Before I could relocate him I was grabbed from behind.

Loki pulled me to his face. This time there was no arrogance. Only rage.

"You are nothing." He hissed.

I opened my mouth to speak but Loki didn't wait. He spun around, still holding me, and threw me against the window.

Again, Asgardian strength is not to be underestimated. The window shattered on impact and I was sent flying along with a thousand tiny pieces of glass.

I was falling, again! Dam, why is it always like this?

While spinning around like crazy I tried to find a place to shoot my web at but there was nothing suitable. Using the Stark Tower would only ensure I went splash against the window instead of the ground.

The people on the ground started to notice the falling demigod but didn't move out of the way.

Above me four or five lights were speeding towards me. Hoping for the best I tried to reach out for them.

When the first one reached me it wrapped itself around my wrist and hand. I suddenly recognized them as parts of the Iron Man suit.

Within seconds the other parts had reached me and wrapped themselves against my hands and legs.

The people below me were now screaming in fear but just before I crashed into them the repulsors of the suits aimed themselves down and thrusted me up.

I was surprised but tried to focus on staying afloat first. I tried to imitate what I had seen from Tony and aimed the repulsors down.

It worked and I flew up again, though I kept my speed low to avoid losing balance.

"Thanks for catching me." I said, still confused.

"No thanks needed," a robotic voice came from the arm. "Stark gave me orders to protect you. He also told me to pass on the following message; Told you so."

I groaned but couldn't help to hide a smile.

In the distance I could see the quinjet approaching the Tower, along with a robot suit flying ahead of it.

Finally, backup has arrived.

'Too late.' Chaos said.

'What?'

A shockwave came from the top of Stark Tower. It caused me to lose balance for a second.

I looked up and saw a light blue beam pierce the heavens like a mighty blade.

There, at the top, it transformed into a huge deep black hole.

A portal.

Hundreds of small space crafts flew out of it into our own atmosphere. Aliens.

On the other side of the hole more were already waiting.

I gritted my teeth.

Seems like the final battle just started.

A/N One of these days this arc will be finished. I'll only have to stretch it 'till the Disney plus show and the new books are done. Then we can pick up the usual plot.

Just keep reviewing this story. I read every single review, twice! That's a promise.

Reviews

LumierePeverell:

A:

Thanks for the review, glad you enjoyed it!

SoulAngel2SunnyDarkness:

Look whose alive, tis been a minute since I read this story. How's your health, you doing well? Thanks for the update, continue on, and stay safe!

A: I am still alive, and my health is a lot better. Thanks for asking.

-Moonhorse96-