Chapter 12: The Alignment
Greenwich was a battlefield, and most of the civilians had either been evacuated, or were hiding as best they could. Some watched from their hiding places as Thor battled Malekith, appearing and disappearing through cracks in space as they continued to bombard each other with attacks. Occasionally they would see Mjolnir flying through the air, attempting to return to Thor, only to be redirected when he would slip through another portal.
One woman's scream echoed through the chaos of the fight, as her poor hiding place was discovered by the Dark Elves that mobbed the streets, looking for anyone who would interfere with Malekith's plans to flood the Nine Realms with the Aether.
"I got you," she gasped at the American voice, looking up as Ciara grabbed her. The woman's stomach then lurched as they were suddenly in another place, far from the chaos and the danger of the creatures that had been swarming her. She immediately whirled around, her eyes growing larger as Ciara looked around to make sure they were safe.
"You're a-" she stopped as Ciara winked, and vanished.
A loud roar echoed through the area, beastly and deep, sounding nothing like any creature that Ciara had ever heard before. However, before she could decide if she wanted to investigate, more Dark Elves appeared in a pulse of energy, and she grinned.
"Just how many of you did Malekith even bring with him?" she asked, and was suddenly flying through the air. Her knee smashed into the face of one of the Elves, and it went down with a sickly crunch before Ciara darted towards another and shoved it forwards. It jerked as the shots from the other Dark Elves hit it instead of Ciara, who smirked and grabbed its gun. "Now how does this thing work?" she wondered, before her finger accidentally slipped. A blast of red energy shot from the gun, hitting the Dark Elf rushing her, while also knocking Ciara back from the recoil. She dropped the gun as it smacked her in the face, and she stumbled backwards into the side of a car.
"Pathetic human," her eyes shot to the remaining Elf, who spat out words that Ciara could actually understand.
"You can speak English?" she asked, startled. It still amazed her that the Asgardians used the same language as humans. Thor insisted that humans learned the language from them. The Elf spat.
"You speak the common tongue of the universe. It is not limited to your tragic planet," he retorted, his voice deep and filled with disgust as he aimed his gun at Ciara, ready to shoot if she moved. "Such a self-centered race to think only you speak the same words," he told her, and Ciara rolled her eyes.
"Buddy, you've no idea," she told him. "Half the people on this planet think they're better than each other, and the other half know that the first half think they're better, and try to prove that they're not," Ciara said, and shook her head. "And most of the time I can't tell which of those people I am," she vanished so suddenly that the Dark Elf jumped, shooting the car where she'd been standing. The red-hot blast ripped through the car door. "Wow, imagine I didn't move," Ciara's cheerful laugh made him whirl around. He shot at Ciara again, but she dodged it easily and perched on top of a car.
"Stop fooling around!" the Dark Elf snapped, only for Ciara to suddenly be in front of him. She punched his arm so hard that he felt the bone snap, and he screamed as he was forced to drop his gun.
"I'm not fooling around. You've pissed me off," she told him coldly, before looking up as the ground shook suddenly. Her eyes went wide as she looked up over his shoulder, and the Dark Elf tried to take advantage of her distraction, swinging a knife at her neck. Ciara dodged it, moving back several feet, but before he could follow, a massive pair of jaws clamped down over his head and around his stomach. They tensed, and blood sprayed as fangs ripped through the Dark Elf's body without hassle.
The knife clattered to the ground, and Ciara rushed in, grabbing it, and teleported away.
As soon as she was clear, Ciara took a minute to give a shaky breath, leaning against a wall and ignoring the painful pang in her chest. Her entire body was shaking but not from exertion. The monster she had seen rumble up towards her had been massive; far bigger than any creature she'd seen before. Blue with leathery skin, it had massive tusks and fangs that were sharper than Ciara cared to tell. "What the hell was that?" she hissed, terrified by the monster that was now wandering amidst the chaos. "Shit!" Ciara cursed as she narrowly avoided the blasts from another Dark Elf, running around a corner.
As she kept moving, Ciara couldn't help but laugh. Maybe having SHIELD show up wouldn't have been a bad idea, in hindsight. They definitely could have taken down the massive creature that was now roaming the streets, eating any of the Dark Elves that tried to fight it off. "What the hell is it?" Ciara asked as she found herself looping back to take another peek at the massive quadruped as it munched on another Dark Elf. "At least it's sort of on our side," Ciara chuckled, watching as it then turned and roared as it saw another group.
The Dark Elves shouted to one another in their own language, seeming to be barking orders as they tried to fight the monster that was now ambling towards them. It picked up speed, unhindered by the shots they fired at it. They bounced off its thick skin harmlessly, seeming only to anger the beast. "It could give the Hulk a run for his money," Ciara considered, before the monster crashed into the Dark Elves like a bowling ball. They were tossed like ragdolls, before the monster slipped and fell through another portal in the ground, vanishing.
Deciding not to think about whether the beast's sudden disappearance, which was as sudden as its appearance, was a pro or a con, Ciara decided to turn back towards the main area, where Malekith was aiming to return to.
"Hey!" Erik gasped, jerking backwards as Ciara stopped before she could collide with him and Jane.
"Wrong way!" Jane warned, looking around at the Dark Elves who had been chasing them. "Wait!" she called, using the device. The Dark Elves vanished, and were replaced by a much more confusing sight. Ciara couldn't help but giggle, putting a hand to her mouth. "Darcy?" Jane called, unsure if she was actually seeing what was in front of her.
Hearing the familiar voice broke Darcy's stupor, and she pulled away from kissing Ian to look up. Her eyes went wide when she saw Jane, Ciara and Erik watching the pair, and she went red. Immediately she let go of Ian, who toppled to the ground with a cry.
"Jane!" she exclaimed, standing up straight as if hoping they hadn't seen her kissing the man who had saved her life by crushing Elves under a floating car.
"Ian?" Erik blinked down at the young man, just as startled.
"Selvig!" Ian gulped as he pushed himself into a sitting position. They all looked up as they heard something rumbling through the air.
"Mew-mew!" Darcy exclaimed, seeing Mjolnir as it shot over their heads.
"Uh, hate to break up this comedic moment, but we have a problem," Ciara pointed over to where Malekith was getting to his feet. "Where's the big guy?" she asked, looking around and seeing no sign of Thor.
"He'd be where Mew-Mew went, right?" Darcy asked as Malekith walked towards his ship. The Aether swirled around him, changing the shape of the ground around him as he raised his hands.
"There's portals scattered all around the place that lead to pretty much every realm. He could be anywhere," Ciara gulped, looking up at the portals that were starting to line up in the sky above. Malekith gave a yell, and the Aether grew, shimmering red in the poor light as darkness blanketed it like a thick dust.
"We're outta time," Jane ran down the steps.
"Jane!" Erik called after her, worried as the darkness of the Aether continued to grow, eroding the buildings around it as it spread up towards the first portal.
"Watch out!" Jane gasped as Ciara grabbed her and shoved her out of the way of the debris that was carried by the wind. "Maybe I can…" Ciara darted forwards towards the Aether, and cursed as it ripped at her skin like glass when she tried to get close, before pulsing out. Ciara cried out, crashing into the side of a car, before sinking to the ground.
"Ciara!" Jane gasped, hurrying to her side. Her face, and any other exposed skin was covered in tiny scratches that were welling up with trickles of blood.
"I think the Aether and Tesseract have some bad blood between them," Ciara considered with a groan, and Jane helped her back to her feet. "I can't get close," she shook her head.
"We need to do something," Jane insisted, and Ciara nodded. They hurried with Erik closer towards the swirling Aether, which grew bigger and taller by the minute as it passed through the portals like tendrils, winding into the other realms. "Thor!" to Jane's relief, they spotted Thor running out of a nearby building, bruised and battered from his fist-fight with Malekith. "We're too late," she told him as they looked up.
"The Convergence is at its peak," Erik sighed.
"We only need to distract Malekith for another little while. If we can stop him from spreading it any further, then we can still win," Ciara insisted, rubbing the bruise on the side of her head. Thor frowned, quiet for a moment as he tried to come up with a plan, before his bright blue eyes landed on the spikes that Erik held.
"Can those things stop him?" Thor asked as the devices beeped.
"Not from here," Erik denied.
"We can't get close enough," Jane said, wary of what the Aether would do if they tried to get closer.
"You can't," Ciara considered, looking up at Thor.
"I can," he took the three spikes and ran off, passing through the deep red cloud that had surrounded Malekith.
"Come on…" Jane whispered to the device in her hands, waiting for Thor's signal. All three held their breaths, knowing that it was now all up to Thor. If he couldn't stop Malekith now, the universe was done for. When one of the spikes flashed on the screen of Jane's remote, she activated it.
"Where'd you send it?" Ciara asked, trying to distract herself from her uselessness.
"Back to the Dark World," Jane admitted with a faint smile. She activated the next spike, letting it vanish as well. Ciara looked over at the Aether. It didn't look any different. Instead, it was continuing to grow.
"Look!" Erik was the one to spot Mjolnir overhead as the hammer flew towards the Aether, creating a metallic ringing sound that echoed over the noise of the swirling darkness. It vanished inside, smashing through the cloud without trouble. A moment later, the final spike beeped through Jane's device, right as the cloud of Aether dissipated and they saw Malekith crash into his ship. He screamed, and vanished, causing a low rumble before everything suddenly went quiet again.
"Where's the big guy?" Ciara wondered. Jane shoved her remote into Ciara's hands suddenly and ran off towards the massive ship that remained behind, before there was another rumble. "The ship," Ciara realised as she looked up. Malekith's ship was starting to fall apart after part had been ripped away to another world, and it collapsed with the screeching sound of metal.
"Jane!" Erik shouted as he and Ciara ran into view to see Jane desperately trying to pull the unconscious Thor out of the way. It seemed that his final blow against Malekith had been all he could give. Ian and Darcy spotted them as they hurried in, but Ian pulled the young woman back as the ship started to tip. Ciara tensed her muscles, calling on the power to teleport, only to stagger as her vision went white for a moment instead.
"Oh no," she groaned, falling down on one knee. "Guess I'm out of juice," Ciara was breathless as her body punished her for trying to use too much power where there was none. She'd been too terrified by the monster from before to notice the warning signs that she'd depleted the energy taken from the Tesseract. "Selvig," she pushed herself back up and shoved the device she carried into his hands. He tore his frightened gaze away from Jane, ready to snap at the woman who he believed shouldn't have even been there. "Please," Ciara pushed, and he gave her a wary look, as if he expected some sort of trick, before he activated it. A moment later, the ship vanished, and Jane, who'd thrown herself over Thor's motionless body, peeked up to see it was gone.
"Everybody okay?" Erik called over. Jane looked around, a little confused, before turning back to Thor as she heard him groan. Thor's eyes then opened, and he looked dazed but okay, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Ciara looked up at the portals, which were already starting to close up as the Convergence passed, and saw the two jets from before fly back out. They were smoking, but were able to keep in the air as they returned to base. She chuckled, shaking her head.
"Are you sure about this?" Darcy asked as she stood with Ian and Ciara outside of Jane's mother's house. They'd all been part of the lecture from the woman - to Jane's humiliation - of losing the car, making a mess of her living room, and for throwing themselves headfirst into danger, because yes she had seen the news and seen her daughter in the middle of the chaos. Even Thor hadn't been able to entirely win over the woman, which seemed to make him like her more.
"Sure about what? Fleeing the planet before SHIELD gets here to try and arrest me?" Ciara asked with a grin. She wore more of Jane's clothes, consisting of a black dress covered in daisies. It wasn't something she'd normally have worn, but Jane's mum had insisted she wear it, complaining that her 'medieval' outfit was beyond repair with the amount of black stains on it. Ciara decided not to tell her that it was blood.
"They might be nice...you did help save the entire universe," Darcy pointed out. Even though their interactions in the past had been brief, Darcy liked Ciara, and was going to miss her. She'd been surprised when Ciara had said she was going to return with Thor, who had been just as surprised.
"Yeah, they might make my sentence one year shy of life on the Raft," Ciara snorted, and put her hands to her mouth at the slip.
"The Raft?" both Darcy and Ian chorused, curiously.
"A place I'm definitely not supposed to know about. Don't let on. You shouldn't know about it either," Ciara mimed for them to be quiet. "Besides. I've been fighting it out of spite for months, but as much as I hate to admit it...I'm the Guardian of the Tesseract. Once I can jump between worlds, you'll see me again," Ciara told her confidently, and both smiled.
"Jane…" they heard Erik's groan, and all three sobered. They knew what he was fighting with her about. Calling in SHIELD about the wanted criminal.
"He's right," everyone looked at Ciara as she spoke up. "You should call them. Make up some excuse about there not being any time to call any sooner, I mean the destruction of the known universe makes for a good excuse," Ciara said, and Jane looked unhappy.
"But you helped us, Ciara. And you helped me," Jane protested, feeling guilty.
"I'm not going to take it personally," Ciara chuckled. "Besides, I'm going with the big guy. We'll be gone before SHIELD arrive, you just say you couldn't stop me from leaving, and the big guy needed me to go back with him to Asgard for...Guardian shit," Ciara rolled her eyes at the words, and Thor smiled.
"I knew you'd accept it," he teased her, and Ciara stuck her tongue out at him.
"I still think we shouldn't let you leave," Erik told her honestly. Ciara sobered, and turned to him. Her expression was blank, and he couldn't tell what she was thinking.
"You're always going to hate me for the part I played with the Tesseract and the New York Invasion, Selvig. Nothing I do will ever change that, and it's not in my nature to try and win your forgiveness," Ciara's honesty took the man by surprise. He could remember every moment of when he was under Loki's control, including when Ciara was around annoying him and asking questions about what he was building. There was something different about her now. She was right, he wouldn't forgive her. And Erik also knew that Jane was too soft-hearted towards the other woman. So was Darcy, and from what he could tell, Ian liked her as well.
"Well...I know I can't stop you," he sighed, and saw the tiniest of smirks on her face. Jane then threw her arms around Ciara, who looked surprised by the action, but reciprocated.
"Next time, don't commit war-crimes and then vanish for a year without seeing me," Jane scolded, and Ciara couldn't help but laugh at her words.
"You really are like your mom, you know that?" she teased, and Jane slapped her shoulder. "I'll bring back the dress when I can," Ciara stepped back to go stand beside Thor, who had been saying his goodbyes to Darcy and Ian. He turned, smiling softly at Jane, who smiled back, but her worry was clear, and he didn't blame her.
After all, the last time he told her that he would only be gone a short time, he'd taken two years to return to her.
"Keep it," Jane told her, without looking away from Thor. "It suits you more anyway," she said, and Ciara blushed a little, surprised at the sudden compliment.
"Ready?" Thor asked Ciara, a hand on her shoulder.
"For my first Bifrost trip? Hell yeah. About time I travelled between worlds the usual way," she grinned. Thor nodded to the group, offering one more smile to Jane in a silent vow to return to her, before there was a flash of dancing lights that slammed down onto the pair. A powerful wind kicked up, and the four watching were forced to shield themselves. The pillar of light then faded, and they found Thor and Ciara had disappeared, leaving nothing but a pattern burned into the ground.
"Crap, look at this mess," Jane groaned, having forgotten all about the patterns that the Bifrost left behind. She tried to focus on that, and not see the worried looks that Erik and Darcy gave her. 'He'll be back. I know he will,' she thought, trying to sound confident as she hurried to try and find something to get rid of the marks.
Only three chapters left to lead into the next story!
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