Chapter Twenty-Four: More Magic!
Spider-man had just gotten the last workers that had gotten in the way of the Hulk and Thor's little wrestling match to the medical wing, or if they were uninjured, to an all-around safer part of the Helicarrier when he heard the roar. Heck, he was sure everyone heard it, the glass beakers in a separate laboratory rattling in their holders as he ran past, trying to find a window. No luck, but that couldn't have been anyone or anything other than his jade-toned buddy. Which posed the question… where was Thor? That inquiry was promptly answered as the blonde-haired god jogged past him, hammer in hand, towards what – if he could remember the layout of this maze correctly – Spidey thought was the glass-cage room.
"Hey, Thor!" he called, but the other didn't stop or even slow his pace, forcing the spider to follow at the rapid speed. "God of thunder! Blondie! Thor!"
"Man of Spiders," the god half-grunted as he ran with the hero easily keeping up behind him. "What does thou need?"
"Nothing, but where are you going?"
"To put an end to this madness by confronting my brother myself."
"Cool, cool… want some backup?"
They were almost there, even if Thor said no, he would tag along anyhow. "It is never a bad thing to have a shield-brother to aid you in battle."
"Ah, okay?" They rounded the last corner, Spider-man nervously fingering the pressure plates of his web-shooters, only to see the door to the cell sliding open and the trickster stepping cautiously out. The thunderer skidded to a halt at the doorway and the only way his red-and-black companion didn't run into him was through the joys of sticky feet. But something was off. The brunet could feel it, his sixth sense at the base of his skull, humming in warning. Not direct danger, but not everything was as it seemed. "Thor… something's not right…"
"No!" the hotheaded god roared, heedless of the teen's warning discomfort.
"Thor – no—" But he couldn't reach him in time and the fool charged forwards like a bull with his hammer, Loki widening his stance as if prepared to wrestle, but no. That was not what they had seen of Loki before. The god of mischief preferred his sneaky fights, not a head-on confrontation. So, Spider-man really wasn't surprised when Thor went right through the scrawnier man with a flash of green light and landed on the inside of the cell with a thud. The transparent door closed with a finalizing suction noise, leaving an exasperated superhero standing outside to glare at the real Loki, who dismissed a goon with a tilt of his head and gave the storm-bringer a look.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" he mocked with a sigh.
"He might, but I won't!" And suddenly the green-cloaked god had a gag of webbing around his mouth and a bruise on his cheek as Spidey's first attack came flying at him, the boy sliding easily into a crouch after the kick. "I don't think green is your color, let's try black and blue!" He came in for another blow, but his fist was caught in a strong grasp, Loki taking the chance to rip the substance off and land a hit to his stomach that had him doubling over before simply stepping up the nearest wall and dragging the unsuspecting person up with him. A quick blow to the wrist was followed up by a clap on the pale snake's ear that had him swiveling his jaw after he landed harshly on the metal floor.
Spider-man's form came down another time, meeting nothing when Loki teleported in a flash to the other side of the room, replying, "Ah ha, no."
"Ah ha, yes, Rudolph." The teenager had swung his way over and across to hit the god right on the nose, which leaked red blood in stark contrast to his murderous green eyes. "Hey, now you've got the nose to match!" Their fight escalated, moving around the room at a rapid pace as the teleporter and web-slinger went at it, a punch, a kick, a jab, and then Loki had another gag on, now it was gone as a dagger materialized in his hand. Both swipes were dodged, the spider barely avoided getting impaled against a wall, planting his hands above him and kicking the other male under the chin as he flipped up. "Betcha can't get me!"
"Do you ever stop talking?"
"Do you?" A trio of blades almost introduced themselves to his ribs. "Ah, ah, that's rude! I was just trying to make conversation!"
"This fight is over!"
"Does it have to be?" Spidey whined from a different corner of the ceiling right before some twisting green light wrapped around his arms and legs, pulling them back until he was a starfish on the roof. "Okay, uh… it's a tie?" Loki sniffed once and stepped over the unconscious guard he had previously dismissed before said man was knocked out and wrapped in spiderwebs. Slowly, because Peter wouldn't be caught dead calling this guy "regal," he made his way over to the control panel as Thor chose that exact moment to slam his hammer into the glass. Instead of breaking, the result was a small, sprawled crack and an awful shrieking groan as the bolts of the cage shifted, almost giving way. The raven-haired god on the outside tauntingly pretended to brace himself with a sickly grin and a low laugh.
"The humans think us immortal," Loki informed him, strolling over to the button to drop the cage from the carrier. "Shall we test that?"
"No, I don't think you should." Spider-man was silenced with a flick of the god's hand. His fingers hovered over the trigger, ready, waiting… until a muffled clang drew his attention to the unattended doorway. Agent Coulson stood on the platform, armed with a threatening gun half as big as he was, and adjusted it from when he had whacked the trapped foot soldier, who had been waking up.
"Move away please," he suggested in a calm tone. Loki's hands carefully retracted from controls, both him and the captive blonde following the agent warily. From the ceiling, Spidey smirked behind his mask as he tried to work one of his hands free to no avail against the mystical restraints. Agent Coulson had his own controlled smile on as he moved closer, one step at a time. "Do you like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." A press of a button, and the muzzle of the gun lit up with a humming orange glow. "Do you wanna find out?" And then Spider-man wanted to scream, to shout, because the Loki in front of him was an illusion and the real one had the scepter stabbed through the man's chest from behind, the red spreading… the blood leaking… the color staining his crisp white shirt as the spear was removed indifferently by the god of lies as the faux-Loki faded away.
Coulson slumped against the wall, gun still in his lap, struggling to breathe and somewhere Thor was yelling his displeasure the way he wanted to, but the sound was stuck in his chest… Agent Coulson was stabbed in the chest… another life he could've saved had he not been so weak! He watched Loki gesture to his weapon with a smile, saw him press the button that sent Thor down and out of the ship as they flew thousands of feet above the ground. The god turned to leave, the teenager still bound to the ceiling and staring down at the earth through the hole until it spun shut again. "You're going to lose." He turned back around to see Agent Coulson, still alive, his head turned to watch him.
"Am I?"
"It's in your nature." Above all of them, the mostly forgotten Spider-man flickered his eyes back and forth between them, still working on that one wrist.
"Your heroes are scattered," Loki objected. "Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"
"You lack conviction," he stated.
Taken aback, the god stepped forward to deliver a passionate rebound. "I don't think I—" He was suddenly cut off by a blazing shot of what Spidey wasn't sure was fire, a laser, or a weird combination of both, but the trickster was blown back through a wall by the thing as its barrel cooled down and quit glowing.
"So that's what it does," the aging man breathed. The pressure on the teen hero's joints released and he fell down with a slight "whoa!" before swinging over to Agent Coulson, still sitting against the wall.
"Hey, Agent!" This felt like Deja-vu. How many times had he called out someone's name like that today? "Coulson, c'mon, man, don't die on me!" How many times had he watched this scene, seen someone dead or dying, because of him? "Please."
"Loki," he coughed, a spot of red in the corner of his mouth, the blood still seeping into his shirt despite the web-bandages Spidey wrapped him in. "Is he…?"
"You got 'em, I don't think…" The bug-eye lenses flashed as he glanced over and found no sign of the slippery god. "… son of a…"
"It'll be okay, kid."
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Peter agreed quickly as he gently pressed webbing on the wound. "Web-bandages are the best, you'll be fine, I've used them myself on many occasions…" He knew he was rambling, but he just kept talking, kept trying to keep the lifeblood inside of the man. "You'll be fine. Sorry I wasn't down here, I was stuck to the ceiling – not voluntarily, mind you – maybe if I had gotten down here sooner…"
"No," Coulson reassured him, but not very reassuring when the person was bleeding out in your arms, "you're just a kid. It's not your fault."
"But it was!" he burst out with watery eyes. "My fault! I could've done something! It was my responsibility! I have power, it was my responsibility. 'With great power, comes great responsibility.'" With the hand not holding the wound, he shoved his goggles crookedly up into his hair, chocolate eyes gleaming, and wiped at them fiercely. There was a rattling in Coulson's chest that he refused to believe was death, instead changed the subject. "Wh-what's your name anyway, Agent?"
The brunet smiled at him shakily. "Phil. Phil Coulson, nice to meet you." His words were breathy.
"Peter Parker. Nice to meet you too." He could hear footsteps in the hallway, right outside. The jogging of a group and the telltale, sharper military ones of the director. "Fury!" The African-American soldier ran in with haste, kneeling in front of his right hand, as Peter scooted his crouch farther away and transferred the wrappings to him.
"I'm sorry boss," Ag – no, Phil – apologized. "The god rabbited."
"Just stay awake. Eyes on me," he ordered intensely with a hand on the other guy's cheek.
"Oh, I'm clockin' out here."
"Not an option."
"It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work… if they didn't have something – to…" Phil slumped further, labored breathing coming to a halt, causing Peter to shift forwards until he saw the light in the half-lidded eyes go out. With his own trembling breath, he yanked his gold-tinted lenses back over his eyes and Spider-man stood up, followed by Director Fury, who leaned against the yellow railing.
"Agent Coulson is down," he said after placing a hand to his earpiece.
The radio crackled, catching the attention of a certain spider-enhanced teen, before it spoke. "A medical team is on its way to your location."
"They're here," the director amended and watched the men crowded around the dead body. "They called it."
First of all, minor problem. In the poll, we have a tie between Ani "Solstice" Fount, Shy, Shade, Astrid "Sailor" Metz, and Aziza "Death Girl" Foret. They all have only one vote. So, the poll will be open for ONE MORE WEEK! PLEASE VOTE!
Secondly, I AM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I had to do school stuffs. Which takes slight precedence over fangirl stuffs. Unfortunately.
Okay, so, yeah… I just about died writing this chapter. Again. As I do with every character death in this story. Because I'm overly attached to these fictional characters (you should've seen me after Infinity War). Like the meanie I am, I added sad, sappy dialogue as a buffer between when Loki's shot and when Fury finally gets his podex down there to help his agent. Now I'm just mostly depressed because that's how I am after I write sad stuffs…
Lucky (is fine, just forgot how much this part of the movie likes to tear into the hearts of fans)
To Vladimir Mithrander: Thanks! I know that sometimes it's necessary, but I never like how they turn out when I write them.
To butterglypuss: Good interesting or bad interesting? ;D
To Enes: It was nothing, I love talking to all you awesome people who take the time to read this.
To Rainbowxxx (Guest): Thank you! It's been written in later chapters, just hang in there!
To winfield56: Thanks!
To xiu (Guest): Voila! Sorry it's late, I was catching up with school stuff after a choir field trip.
To Dylan-A-Friend: =D
To SilentProwler: Maybe, we'll just have to see…
To son of morgana: Update schedule is Tuesdays! Usually. Not this week, I was being stupid and forgot. Sorry, but thank you!
To Guest: I have so so so many ideas for crossovers! You have no idea. I have half-formed ideas for Harry Potter and ROTG, Percy Jackson and Spider-man, other Harry and Avengers things, other Percy and Avengers things, and a bunch of tiny, random DC ideas that aren't even solid yet. I swear, my full-time job is being a geek (second would be being a nerd). Hopefully some of these will come to fruition.