Subterfuge
Subterfuge: deceit used in order to achieve one's goal.
The flight across the blackened planet was long and treacherous, it had since been accompanied by an anxious silence, that awaited the fury of the dark elf, Malekith. He wanted the virus that spread within Jane's body. Her human form was unable to bear such power, it weakened her. If their plan didn't work, it would kill her.
Fury ran her hand through her hair, tying back her blonde locks into a high position that resembled the spraying of a water fountain in the fashion her mid-length hair fell in layers. It was neater than it had been before, less dishevelled from her fight. Her eyes met Jane, who at that moment, awakened from her slumber with widened eyes. Everyone was still, all certain after seeing her black eyes that it was not Jane that rose, glancing ahead.
"Malekith", Her words were unmistakable, forcing Thor to lower the ship to the ground, watching an alien ship land in the distance. It was him. The Dark Elf.
The ship shook slightly with their soft landing that drove the pointed front end into the dirt. Jane blinked, summoning her brown eyes back into her eye socket. She was awake.
"It's time", Thor's voice spoke in a hushed tone, leaping out of the ship onto the hard soil. Fury followed his lead, dropping off the opposite side of the ship, offering aid to the human, who took it. Jane hadn't seen Fury up close, she hadn't looked into the electricity that swirled like a moving picture in her eyes nor earned a smile to see her pointed fangs. She stared, her eyes widening at the white points that extended Fury's smirk. Jane released Fury's gloved hand like it were fire.
"...What are you?"
"I'm a vampire", Fury smiled wickedly, encouraging the scurrying steps that hurried toward Thor.
"She thought you a monster, how tragic", Loki's voice taunted with a feeling of hilarity, stepping from the ship.
"What is the point of being a monster if you can't bask in the fear that grows in someone's eyes when you show them your true form?", Fury mocked with her plastered smile that tore him down a peg. He glared, unable to reply with an insult.
"It is quite a euphoric feeling", He spoke, knowing the feeling well. Her brow raised with surprise.
She had promised to release his shackled hands, it was a promise he hadn't forgotten, raising his hands with a smile.
"If I told you the condition of your freedom would you listen?", She hesitated in releasing him, uncertain of Thor's trust for the man. Loki's face morphed into an impatient smirk that tested their lack of time. Was she serious?
"Probably not. But do go on. I'll ask Malekith to bring us some tea while you lay down your rules.", Loki hissed with impatience, meeting her warning glare."Perhaps he'll stop his attack for the mighty Fur-", "Shut the fuck up and listen, you insufferable pain in the ass", Fury cut his sarcasm short. She silenced him with the harshest words any Asgardian had ever spoken in his direction. She dared to speak to him with such disrespect. He opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off.
"Thor expects you to surprise us all one day by perhaps saving someone without an ulterior motive, or doing something selfless to prove that his love for you wasn't wasted time. I expect you to do the opposite because you are predictable in that you'll never change. Always a villain but a hero in your own mind. Always defiant in that your actions were the result of someone else's cruelty.",
"You may remember that I saved you from a long fall", Loki intervened with narrowed eyes.
"And may I ask how the bullet from a gun that was facing a vastly different direction at the time managed to strike me out of the sky? You did it for you", A growl escaped her throat, she was angry now. He smirked, impressed by her ability to leave him speechless.
"Frigga thought you better...Be better", Fury's voice was low as she unlocked his handcuffs with an audible click, stowing them at her side.
"And I suppose she had a grand time, teaching you to destroy her misfortune, the abomination she had called son", Loki taunted her with hurt in his eyes.
"You weren't her son!", Fury could almost see his heart break at her statement, an action he hid under his scowl. "But I'll be damned if she wasn't your mother". She calmed his anger, motioning him to walk after his brother with the flick of her wrist. She watched his leather-bound figure stride in front of her with no reply. A victory in itself. He walked with no complaint until Malekith's ship came into view. His gaze turned to her with hesitance.
"Your fire will aid you more efficiently without your swords as a conduit. Fool them with the motion of your hands. Use your mind to set them on fire", His words were short and unwillingly spoken to his captor. Strengthening her was an idiotic action...or was it?
"Alright, are you ready?", Thor turned to Jane and the rest with trepidation in his voice. His eyes lingered on Loki, who whispered to Fury.
"I am", Loki piped up with energy. "You know this plan of yours is going to get us killed.",
Fury gripped onto Loki's right arm with Thor on the other as a guard.
"Yeah, possibly", Thor breathed out, gripping tighter on Loki's arm, making him squirm.
"What you still don't trust me, brother?", The God Of Mischief acted insulted by the guards at his side.
"Fury", Thor motioned for her to release his brother. She did so with caution.
"Would you?", He released him.
"No, I wouldn't", Without thought or reason, Loki summoned a dagger into his palm, driving it into his Brother's chest. Fury leapt at him, falling through his illusion.
"If only I weren't so predictable!", He swung his hand from behind her, motioning a wave of green mist to launch her down the hill they stood on.
"Thor! No!", Fury could hear Jane's screams of horror as her body slammed into the hard dirt, taking her breath from her lungs. She struggled to move against the pain that rattled her body. The earth shook with vigour at Thor's hulking body that landed only a few feet away from her. Fury clenched her jaw with rage as the beast's boot pushed her buckling body back to the dirt with a small puff of dust, pinning her shoulder against the ground. Without her hands, he knew her to be useless.
"You really think I cared about Frigga, about any of you?", Loki growled, splitting into an illusion. He launched his boot into Thor's stomach with might, "All I ever wanted was you and Odin dead at my feet!"
Thor raised his hand summoning his hammer, Mjolnir, just as it was in reach Loki laid down his blade, detaching Thor's hand from his body. He screamed in pain, clutching at his limb. Fury tore her eyes away from the mess for only a second. Jane rushed over to Thor, stopped by Loki's weaselly hands that grabbed her before she could reach him. Loki viciously dragged the human to face Malekith and his dark elves.
"Malekith, I am Loki of Jotunheim and I bring you a gift!", Loki violently threw Jane at Malekith's feet. "I ask only one thing in return, a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."
Malekith turned to his advisor, the horned beast from the dungeon. Their eyes darted between herself and Loki, muttering words she couldn't understand. Malekith moved toward Thor who cradled his hand in agony, his beady blue eyes watched the God squirm. Fury hadn't noticed the half of the creature's face that had been burned like a marshmallow under fire, she had only wished it had been her that had done so.
"Look at me!", The white-skinned creature forced Thor's eyes to watch as he ripped the red energy source from Jane's veins, lifting her into the sky. The God of Mischief's footsteps inched toward Fury, who laid, pinned against the dirt by his illusion.
"Loki, now!", Thor yelled, queuing the God Of Mischief to dissipate the dying illusion of his brother. Fury shot up from her lifeless state, meeting the emerald eyes that hovered above her. His hand grasped hers with urgency. Fury's un-gloved fingers set in motion a stream of fire toward the Red Aether. A blast of blue and green energy emitted from the palms of the sorcerer's hands on command, reflecting off the Aether, that seemed to absorb their magic. It followed Malekith while he retreated back to his ship. They were close, so close to destroying it.
"Argh!", Fury's knees buckled at the pain that shot through her side, she gripped Loki's hand viciously, unwilling to cease their combined strength. She had only been stabbed two times before, each on separate occasions. It sucks.
She heard Thor strike the creature that had jammed it's spear into her waist, a dark elf. It grunted before meeting it's end.
Fury propped herself up with her hand as a stabilising beam against her savoured waist. A beam that kept her tall and unyielding. Whatever strength that lay within her was launched at the red entity that mocked them with its invincibility.
Loki flickered his eyes to the blood that trickled down her waist, clenching his jaw with thought. The Aether swirled in a fast-paced pattern of escape, buckling in a paralytic state. A loud explosion levelled the dark world in dust, their eyes couldn't see if the red source of power had been destroyed. They waited. Nothing moved. Nothing spoke. It was deadly silent.
The dust settled and among it, they saw red shards scattered over the grey dirt, they were still at first but soon jolted toward Malekith like he were a magnet. Fury summoned the fire in her veins, grimacing at the stinging against her waist. She shot her blue flame toward the blonde haired creature. It was absorbed. She tried again. It didn't dent him. Once more she jolted a powerful blast with little hope kindling in her. Malekith absorbed the Aether, stumbling slightly at the blue energy that had bumped him with the viciousness of a toddler.
Had they not enough power to destroy the Aether at full strength they couldn't destroy it with Fury weakening.
"Enough, Fury", Loki released her hand, urging her to cease her flame. She did so with question.
Malekith regained his stature, his sight rested on the man who had tricked him. Revenge would be his. A red burst of fire swirled in the elf's hand, directing it toward the God Of Mischief.
Loki's eyes didn't stray from Fury to see the crimson light. His jaw clenched in thought toward the blood that spilt down her side, he hadn't the time to see the red fire. She did see it, but what she thought to do was madness. It was something Loki most definitely did not deserve. Yet, had she couldn't allow him to die. Her downfall. It is why she viciously shoved him to the side. Her palm raised as the red fire struck her, vibrating in her veins. A feeling most powerful. Her hand quivered with a throbbing pain before it absorbed the magic, throwing it back to the ship that flew out of sight. The magic lingered against the cloudy, amber sky that seeped with a small amount of light. She followed it's trail, seeing it disappear behind the clouds. Loki watched with wide eyes, stumbling in the viciousness that she pushed him back with. Disbelief struck him, it was an unlikely action from his captor.
"...What?", Loki's lips pursed together in a questioning look of confusion, anger. He feared her more powerful than he thought. She caught her breath before answering him, clasping her hand at her side that was stained in red.
" 'Fire cannot undo fire' ", Fury quoted the book on Pyrokinesis, watching his eyes widen and eyebrows raise.
"That is so unbelievable misinterpreted", He smirked, resting his idea that she may have been somewhat learned in sorcery.
"Yet here you are", She groaned in pain, noting the dark elves that had appeared on the field in attack. "I won't hold out for a thank you".
Loki's eyes rolled in his skull, breathing out a defiant breath. Fury eyed the tall, black-haired man as he summoned swirling green energy within his palm, it engulfed her in a blanket of mist then dropped back to the earth without warning. When the veil fell, Loki was gone and so was her wound at her side. Surprised was a word that seemed to come to mind.