Ella frowned as she sat down on the sofa in Stark Towers, folding one leg over the other. She let her eyes move out and over the skyline before her as Loki stood at the window, his eyes peering over the same skyline too. Ella sighed once before moving to her feet and stepping by Loki, pushing the door open and stepping onto the balcony. The fresh air washed over her and the wind blew her blonde curls back. Moving forwards towards the glass railing, she took hold of it and heard Loki come up behind her.

"Thor's friend is up there, isn't he?" Ella enquired from him, pointing her chin upwards.

"Doctor Selvig, yes," Loki said. "He will open the portal when I tell him it is time to open it."

"And when is it that time?"

"Why?" Loki wondered of her. "Nothing shall happen to you, Ella."

Ella chuckled and shook her head back and forth, her eyes turning to look to her brother. "I am not bothered about myself, Loki," Ella told him, her eyes sad and full of worry as she watched her brother. "I am bothered about everyone down there…people who are going about their every day lives and are about to be…what…enslaved?"

"No harm shall-"

"-You have killed people," Ella interrupted him. "You have murdered people and you say that there is no reason for them to fear harm? Who are you? You're not my brother…not the brother I grew up with."

Loki nodded in agreement. "He died when I fell from that Bridge," Loki spoke. "He died on the day he realised what he was…a monster."

Ella shook her head. "You're not a monster," Ella responded. "I never saw you as a monster. None of us ever saw you as a monster."

"Apart from Odin," Loki responded. "He knew what I was and he knew that I was never the same as you and Thor. He was still willing to sell you off to me though, Ella, remember that? He was still willing to see his daughter…his little Princess of Asgard…married to a Frost Giant."

"No!" Ella finally snapped at him, moving to grab hold of his arm, her grip hard and tight as she held onto him. "Odin would have married me to Loki…the boy I grew up with…not a Frost Giant. But he never did it."

"You still defend him?"

"Defend him?" Ella echoed with a hollow laugh, letting go of him. "I have barely spoken him to since that incident. Do you think that I am not angry with him after everything he has done? I blamed him for your death. I blamed him for not saying the words he should have said to save you. What? Do you think we have all been sat around and playing happy families?"

Ella rolled her eyes before turning on her heel and preparing to move back inside as she heard a roar above her head, the sight of a man in an iron suit moving towards them. She looked to him as he landed on a podium above them and began to walk inside, his suit being removed by mechanics as he made the movements. But Loki stopped her from moving, his hand on her arm.

"Stay with me," Loki urged from her. "Don't go with them."

Ella shrugged. "I'll do as I please," she informed him.

Moving inside, Loki followed Ella as she stepped through the door in time to see Tony wandering down the stairs and into the room, heading straight towards his bar. Standing behind it, Ella watched him with caution as he looked to her for a second, winking briefly as she arched a brow, wondering what he was doing.

"Anyone for a drink?" Tony asked.

"Trying to stall me will not work," Loki said, holding his sceptre tightly.

"No, this isn't stalling. I am threatening you. So do you want a drink?"

"Yes," Ella responded as Loki watched her move towards the bar as Tony handed her a drink. She looked down in time to see him pick up something and place it on his wrist.

"You cannot stop this," Loki responded. "The Chitauri are coming."

"Yes, but so are the Avengers," Tony responded.

"Who?" Loki asked.

"Yeah, it's not the best name, I know," Tony said. "We're Earth's mightiest heroes…you know…me, your brother, an assassin, a big green monster and a killer archer…oh, and we're inviting your sister too."

Ella slurped her drink hastily then, downing the liquid and placing the glass back on the bar. Loki chuckled before shaking his head.

"My brother is gone and I believe the beast has wandered off."

"Maybe, but that's not the point," Tony said.

"And what is the point?"

"The point is that this is all on you," Tony responded, pointing to Loki. "Everything that happens on Earth will be down to you. You might win today. You might win this battle, but you can be sure that in the end you will not come out on top. We will make sure of that."

"He's right," Ella agreed as she turned to look to her brother. "You're not going to win, Loki."

"So you're on the team?" Tony asked and she held a hand up, spinning her head over her shoulder to look to him.

"I never said that," she responded with a shake of her head. "But I know that this cannot go on."

"It has already started," Loki warned both of them and Ella felt something inside of her churn, a sickness pooling in her stomach as Tony moved from behind the bar and passed her, coming face to face with Loki.

"You don't get it, do you?" he asked from him. "There is no throne. There is nothing to rule. We are going to stop you."

"We?" Loki echoed. "Do you think your friends will be able to concentrate on everything when they are fighting you?"

Raising his sceptre to Tony, he pressed it against his chest as it made a soft humming noise that stopped almost instantly. Ella watched on as nothing seemed to happen and Loki appeared confused.

"Sometimes it is difficult to perform…" Stark began but Loki took hold him by the chin and launched him into the air, his body hurtling through the glass as Ella shrieked at the sight. He tumbled from the balcony as she moved towards it through the broken glass pane.

Before she could reach the edge, the sight of Stark in his iron suit moving upwards was enough to make her sigh in relief as Loki stepped outside. Tony hovered in the air above them, looking down.

"And there's one more person you pissed off," Tony spoke. "His name was Phil."

Before Loki could raise his sceptre into the air, Stark had his hand in front of him and had blasted Loki backwards, watching him fly back. Ella looked over her shoulder to Loki before her eyes moved to Stark.

"I'll work on him," Ella called up to Stark. "The Doctor up there must be nearly ready to open the portal."

"I can't penetrate the tesseract. There is some kind of force field around it," Stark said before they saw a flash of light catch their eye.

Looking to the sky, Ella's mouth gaped as she saw a black hole part the blue skies, the blue light penetrating it. Ella did her best not to let panic take hold of her as Stark shook his head in disbelief.

"It's started," he said.

It was then when small figures emerged from the sky and Ella watched them grow bigger as they moved towards Earth. The sight of them was enough to make her throat clench as they came down on some kind of hover board aircraft. Looking to them, Ella began to walk backwards and towards the shattered glass.

"I'll keep an eye on Loki," she said. "You…deal with that."

"Always getting the hard jobs," Stark muttered before flying off.

Ella turned on her heel and rushed inside in time to see Loki moving to his feet. He was still weak and disorientated, his eyes glazed over as he placed a hand to his head. Ella moved quickly, grabbing hold of the sceptre in his fingertips and wrestling it from him. Loki was quick on his feet then, grabbing his sister by the arm and taking the sceptre back, pushing her from him and watching her fall to the floor.

She landed in the heap of glass, wincing in pain as she felt some of it cut the skin on her hands after she had tried to stop her fall.

"Loki!"

The booming voice was enough to make Ella want to weep with joy as she heard her brother's voice. Looking up as she remained on the floor, she saw Thor land on the balcony as Loki remained stood behind her. Thor moved towards them, his hammer in his fingertips and his eyes on his sister before he moved his hand towards her, helping her from the floor. She hauled herself up and Thor looked down at her, seeing blood trickling down her hands.

"Is this not enough?" Thor demanded from him as he kept hold of Ella's hand, not bothered about the blood. "Have you seen what you have unleashed from the sky? The destruction you are about to cause will kill hundreds if not thousands."

"It is too late," Loki said to them. "It is all too late."

"Not, it isn't," Thor said, his voice less harsh as he stepped forwards and Ella gripped onto his hand tightly, wondering exactly if both of them could keep Loki under their eye and safe. "Loki, it is not too late. You just need to stop the tesseract."

"There is no stopping it," Loki replied to him.

"And you won't even try?" Ella questioned of him. "Loki, please…for us…"

Ella swore she saw something in his eye. He almost looked apologetic. She let go of Thor's hand and stepped forwards towards Loki as he looked over her shoulder in time to see the Chitauri begin their attack. Thor held his hammer tightly, wondering if he would have to use it at some stage to stop Loki.

"I can't," Loki said. "Sentiment is what makes us weak."

It was then when Thor knew there would be no persuading Loki to stop this madness. He moved forwards and took hold of his brother by the chin, hauling him from the floor and throwing him back onto the balcony. Ella rolled her eyes and stepped forwards, holding her skirts in her fingertips and running outside, holding onto the side of the windowpane as she watched both of them begin to fight each other.

"Stop it!" Ella yelled at them. "Both of you stop it!"

"He will not be reasoned with, Ella," Thor called back to his sister as Loki flung himself forwards and punched Thor in the jaw, but the God of Thunder managed to grab hold of Loki's wrist and land a kick against his stomach that threw him backwards.

"Both of you are acting like petulant children," Ella snapped, moving forwards and trying to get in between both of them.

It was then when both of them grabbed hold of each other by the shoulders, each one fighting for control. Ella tried to prise them apart as Loki kept the sceptre in his grip. Looking over both of them for a second, Ella noticed a small hellicarrier hovering near the balcony.

It was another moment before she felt Thor nudge her in the stomach, pushing her back and away from him as Loki went to attack him again while he was momentarily distracted. Ella was about to moan at both of them again, but she had no chance. Loki lifted his sceptre up and let it blast the ship, one of its engines catching fire as it began to plummet. While he was distracted, Thor let his hammer swing towards his brother. Loki was on the floor after Thor had knocked him over with his hammer. Once on the floor, Loki rolled over, his body falling over the side of the balcony as Ella yelled after him;

"No!"

Moving to the edge of the balcony, Ella looked down in time to see Loki land on one of the Chitauri's flying boards. Thor peered down and looked at it to as Ella saw his sceptre on the ground. He had left it behind. As she looked to it, she noticed Thor pull something from his side. It was a small blade and he winced as it peeled away from his skin.

"What did he do to you?" Ella asked of him.

"You know Loki," Thor said through gritted teeth. "He was never averse to using his daggers."

"I thought that he had killed you, Thor. I thought that he had…I…" Ella blubbered and Thor let his lips quirk for a second before he moved a hand to hold her cheek tenderly.

"No," Thor said. "I escaped before anything could happen."

"But what do we do now?" Ella wondered from him. "How do we stop this?"

"I need to try to help people," Thor said. "I need you to stay here, Ella. I need you to stay where it is safe."

"I can't," Ella said with a shake of her head. "I need to try to stop the-"

Before she could finish, she felt something strike her arm. Yelling in pain, she stumbled in pain as Thor caught hold of her before she could fall. Slumping into his arms, Thor looked down to her shoulder, the sight of her armour burned and her pale skin uncovered and marred. She continued to yell, the feeling of burning wracking through her body as Thor lowered her to the ground, holding her against his side.

"It's alright," Thor said to her. "Ella, it's going to be fine."

"It burns like Surtur's demons," Ella complained through gritted teeth. "I need you to go, Thor…just go and help…I can manage here."

"Ella…" Thor remained hesitant.

"Go!" Ella yelled at him, knowing it would be the only way to get him to move. She watched him as he slowly released, kissing her tenderly on the forehead before he stood up and she did the same, trying not to let the pain bother her.

Moving towards the sceptre, Ella took hold of it and wondered how she could get to the roof of the building with it in her fingertips. She suspected it must be able to stop the tesseract if Loki had held it so fondly. She moved forwards, her body feeling drained and bruised and burned, but she knew she had to stop this before any more lives were taken. But before she could get from the balcony, she saw one of those creatures hurtling towards her. Holding the sceptre up, she aimed it at him, but nothing seemed to happen. Dropping it, she fell to the floor before it could fire at her and she heard the blast go over her head.

The creature landed on the balcony and Ella wondered how she could fight it. She kept hold of the sceptre before moving towards the creature that also held some form of spear. She saw him jab it towards her and Ella gasped for breath before moving with haste, knowing that she had the ability to beat it due to her agility.

Ducking down as it swung at her with the spear, she stabbed it with the end of the sceptre as it seemed to roar in pain. Ella moved around it and took hold of its chariot like vehicle and jumped onto it, wondering how it worked before she began flying off without any knowledge of how it flew. She kept the sceptre in her fingertips tightly as she tried to make her way back towards the top of the building.

She failed miserably as one of them shot her down from the sky, the ship she was flying on setting on fire. It hurtled towards the ground and Ella jumped from it before it hit the concrete, landing gracefully on her feet and holding the sceptre. Looking around, she saw the creatures were everywhere before looking for the building and knowing that she had to make her way back towards it.

Running along the streets, she ducked and dived out of everybody's way before she saw a familiar sight. A man in a red, white and blue outfit was stood by a building, fighting three of the Chitauri. He seemed not to be struggling, but Ella didn't want to take that risk. Moving slowly, she snuck up on one of them and hit it around the head with the sceptre as Steve hit the other one with his shield.

Looking over his shoulder to Ella, he let his lips quirk for a second. "What are you doing down here?"

"Just saving your life again," she retorted.

"Not that you're keeping count," he responded dryly.

"Obviously not," she said to him as more of them seemed to come from nowhere.

Steve used his shield to fly from his hands and hit two of them at once while Ella ducked from one of them using their sceptre and then tripped it up with the sceptre while kicking the other one in the stomach, watching it hurtle backwards before stabbing the other one with the sceptre.

"They're as weak as humans," Ella commented. "But I don't know what their weakness is."

"They'll have a weakness," Steve said before he spotted her shoulder. "What happened?"

"My brother and this madness," Ella responded before she saw a familiar face making its way towards them.

Natasha looked weary and there was another man with a bow and arrow, his eyes set on Steve. It was then when bolts of lightning hit the ground and Ella looked up to see Thor land on a car before bouncing off, the lightning having stopped any of the impending creatures from attacking.

"I thought I told you to stay up there," Thor said to Ella, pointing to Stark Towers.

"Yes, but the Chitauri had other ideas," Ella said. "We need to get back up there to stop this."

"You have the sceptre?" Natasha asked.

"I took it," Ella said. "I think it might be the key to stopping this. Why else would he be carrying it around everywhere?"

"Then we need to get you back to the tesseract," Steve responded to Ella.

"Agreed," the man with the bow and arrow spoke. "So what do we do?"

"Thor, you need to take her back there before using as much of that thunder as you can to destroy these things," Steve said. "Ella, do you think you can stop it?"

Ella shrugged. "I can only try."

"Good."

Ella took hold of Thor by the fingertips with one hand while the hand holding the sceptre took his shoulder as she kept the sceptre in her palm. Nodding to her brother, she felt her feet leave the ground and then they were in the air, Thor holding his hammer out in front of you.

"I'm going to drop you down there," Thor said to Ella. "I will keep the building clear from these creatures so you can do what you have to do."

"I don't exactly know what I am doing," Ella responded to him as he lowered them onto the rooftop and he looked to his sister. "I know-"

Ella trailed off as she saw a blast moving towards them, pushing Thor aside, she jumped to the other side as the blast moved between them and she saw Thor clench his teeth together, the anger clear in his face.

"Go," Ella urged from him, jumping down from the ledge onto the roof and then glancing to Thor. "I can do this."

Moving around the rooftop, Ella noticed a man on the floor, a cut on his forehead. Stepping towards him hesitantly, she bent down onto her knees and put a hand onto his shoulder, shaking him slowly. He blinked profusely as Ella watched him come around.

"What the hell is going on?" he wondered, his voice full of wonder as he looked to the ceiling. "What is this?"

"I need your help," Ella said to him. "I assume you are Doctor Selvig from what my brother has told me?"

"You assume correctly," he said and she helped him to his feet as he looked at her for a moment, his brows knitting together. "It's Ella? Thor's sister?"

"So he does talk about me," Ella mused before seeing an explosion beneath them.

Both of them looked over the ledge to see Loki flying towards the balcony after an explosion. Ella knew that they would run out of time if Loki came up to find them. She barely saw the green beast launch himself onto the balcony before she was focused on the tesseract again.

"The tesseract…" Selvig spoke in a soft voice, looking to where the blue light radiated from. "The power source of the tesseract can be closed and I think I remember the way it can be done."

"How?" Ella enquired.

"I'm looking at it," he said to her and she looked to the sceptre.

"I knew this would come in use," Ella muttered and looked to the tesseract as Selvig nodded at her to continue. She took a deep breath before she began to move it closer towards the blue cube before she heard someone yell loudly;

"Wait!"

Ella stopped her motions to see Natash moving towards her, hand held in front of her as she shook her head and stepped closer towards Ella.

"There is a missile heading towards the city," she declared and Ella arched her brow. "Stark wants to fly the missle into that black hole to stop it from blowing us up."

"How long will that take?" Ella asked from Natasha.

"It will be here in about two minutes," Natasha said. "We just need to hold off for two minutes and give Stark time to fly it up there."

Nodding Ella agreed, moving the sceptre away from the tesseract. She stood back with Natasha before she bit down on her lip and her mind went to Loki once again. She had seen him down in the apartment. He was down there. What if he tried to stop them? What if something had happened to him and she was just stood there? Looking to Natasha, she held the sceptre out as the woman cocked a brow.

"Do it when it is time," she urged from her.

"Where are you going?" Selvig dared to ask.

"Loki is downstairs…I need to make sure…just…" Ella garbled, not entirely sure what she was trying to say as she shook her head and Natasha took the sceptre. "Just stop this when it is time."

Moving away from them, Ella moved through the door on the roof, suspecting it was safer than jumping down. She moved down the stairs and through corridors until she finally came to the apartment in time to see the green creature leaving the room. Arching her brow, she kept quiet, not wanting to attract its attention as it leapt from the balcony. Shaking her head in disbelief, she moved down the steps into the room, the sight of Loki on the floor causing her stomach to churn. He was pummelled into the ground, the floor cracked around him as his hands rested on his stomach.

Kneeling by his side, Ella looked down to his body. "Are you hurt?" she demanded and Loki managed to move his eyes over her face, his mind whirling as he watched his sister take hold of his hand.

"Only my dignity."

She scoffed. "I think you lost that a long time ago," she informed him as she saw him struggle to sit up. "It's over, Loki. We have the sceptre to shut the portal. We told you…we told you that you would not win."

Loki was about to snipe back at her, but he was lost for words as she took hold of him, her arm around his waist as she helped him to sit up, supporting his weight as she remained on her knees besides him. Looking to her, Loki frowned before speaking in a soft voice:

"Why are you here?" he asked of her.

Ella shrugged. "Don't ask me questions I don't have the answer to," she said to him. "You're going to come back to Asgard and everything…well…that is a lie. I was about to say that everything will be fine, but I don't know if it will be, Loki. I don't know if anything will be fine."

"Stop it," Loki demanded from her as she shrugged her shoulders.

"You always told me the harsh truths, Loki," Ella reminded him. "You always told me the reality and I am just telling you it back."

Ella moved a hand to his cheek, her fingers running along it as she forced him to look her in the eye as she kept her hand there, stroking his skin softly. It was then when Loki took hold of her wrist, pulling her hand from him as he looked to the cuts on her skin.

"They do not hurt," Ella informed him. "You know how we heal quicker than most."

"I…I never thought this would happen," Loki spoke through a lump in his throat as he kept hold of his sister's hand and looked down to his lap. "I never knew this would…I…"

Ella bowed her head too, feeling her eyes beginning to water before she heard a loud noise from outside. Looking out, everything seemed to go quiet and Ella did her best to comprehend what was happening. Was it over? Was everything finished? Taking a moment before she picked her chin up, Ella sniffed loudly and Loki looked back to her.

"I begged you to stop earlier," Ella whispered to him. "We could have avoided all of this. You could have come home…with us…with me…"

Loki offered her a small smile, the motion sad as he moved to take hold of her cheek and then kissed the top of her head, letting his lips linger there for a moment before he heard a commotion from outside. Pulling back from his sister, he turned around in time to see all of the Avengers stood before him. Ella shifted away from him, her hand moving from his as she noticed the looks that they were all giving her, except for Thor.

Thor had a similar look in his eye as they all held their weapons out towards Loki as he held his hands in front of him.

"If it's all the same with you, I might take that drink now."

…

A/N: Do let me know what you think!