Chapter One
Arianna Grace stood on the top floor of the Stark Tower looking out on Manhattan. She hated that she was stuck inside while all of her friends and coworkers were out there risking their lives. Arianna, however, wasn't a field agent even if she did work for SHIELD. She definitely didn't consider herself a hero.
She didn't own a mythical hammer as Thor did, and she didn't have super strength or a prolonged life span. She wasn't from another realm and she didn't have tales told about her as if she were a god. She wasn't a genius as Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were, and she didn't have a man-made suit of metal to help her fly around and save people. She definitely wasn't a science experiment gone wrong. She didn't turn into a huge green rage machine when she got angry, for which she was grateful. She wasn't an experiment gone right, either, as was the case for Steve Rogers – or Captain America as she had previously known him. She couldn't handle a weapon like Clint Barton – Hawkeye – and she couldn't fight to save her life . . . or anyone else's. Natasha Romanoff had tried teaching her and the only thing that came of that was Arianna not being able to move properly for a few days.
So no, Arianna wasn't out in the thick of things. She was safely tucked away in Stark Tower because what she could do wouldn't be needed until after everything was over. She could do something that the others couldn't do. She could heal the wounded. And she was sure a lot of people would be wounded in the aftermath of the battle that was now taking place.
She hadn't been kept completely up to date on the latest disaster, but she knew the gist. Thor's brother, Loki, was trying to take over Earth. Loki wanted to be Earth's king and maybe even Earth's god – she wasn't sure on that part. She'd seen a news clip of Loki trying to get people to kneel to him in Germany and most had.
The band of heroes that were called The Avengers had arrived to bring Loki in, to lock him up and had succeeded for a little while. He had, however, escaped and now Loki was in Manhattan. Hence the chaos outside.
From what Arianna had been told this whole situation was happening because of some stupid power source called a Tessaract and an idiot with a god complex. She knew the Tessaract was supposed to be a huge source of sustainable energy and that Loki had taken it, which was why the Avengers had been called together. She didn't know what Loki wanted it for. According to Thor, Loki was plenty powerful on his own.
Thor had also said something about Loki leading a war against Earth. Supposedly there was an army coming. The Chitauri, Thor had said. Loki would be able to rule with their help as long as he gave them the Tesseract. Would Loki really let go of all that power?
This Loki frightened her and she'd never even met him. He was an unknown threat. Natasha had warned her about him. He was a master manipulator and he had a way of controlling people. That was what Arianna feared most about him.
Arianna had only just been called in, so she hadn't been with the others when they'd captured Loki, but from what Natasha had said . . . he was something else. He'd even shaken her a bit by threatening Clint. Hawkeye had been put under Loki's control for a while. He'd since come back to himself.
Natasha had also told her about her confrontation with the Hulk, Bruce's alter ego. Natasha had almost been squashed, had almost been killed. Her physical training had saved her life.
Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD, had placed Arianna in the Tower because she needed to be close at hand once everything over.
Arianna had been up in the Tower for almost three hours and had been kept relatively far away from danger . . . until now.
Now Loki was standing on the balcony of Stark Tower. Some science type person was there with him and they had what had to be the Tessaract with them. She could feel how powerful it was and to her it was a good kind of power. In the hands of Loki and people like Loki . . . that power wasn't good at all.
Arianna was hiding inside. She was in the living room of the penthouse. She'd flung herself behind the bar that Tony had deemed a necessary accessory to the room as soon as JARVIS had let her know someone had broken in. A security image had appeared and she'd seen the tall, black-haired image of Loki.
She didn't know how long she'd been hiding, but she hadn't been able to move for fear of being spotted. The whole room was faced with windows. The want-to-be-king couldn't see her or he would kill her or, far worse for her, place her under his control. She'd rather die than be forced into anything.
She heard doors open and then a smooth voice said, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."
What? Had she been found out? How had he seen her? She was in the only spot in the room that would've been considered a good hiding spot.
"Um . . . actually, I'm planning to threaten you."
Tony! Loki had been talking to Tony. The doors she'd heard opening must've been Tony coming in.
"You should've left your armor on for that."
"Yeah, it's seen a lot of mileage."
The suit had been damaged? Tony was going to face Loki while unprotected by his suit? Had he lost his mind?
"You've got the blue stick of destiny." Tony was now behind the bar as well. He barely glanced at her, but Arianna could tell he had seen her. "Would you like a drink?"
"Stalling me won't change anything."
What scared Arianna the most right then was how calm Loki sounded; he was so sure of himself. She could tell that not only did he want to take over the Earth, but he believed that he should, that he deserved it somehow.
"No, no, no. Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."
"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type of thing."
"Yes. I've met them."
"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give ya that one. But let's do a head count here."
Arianna didn't know Tony Stark that well. She'd only met him on two other occasions, but she liked him enough to not want him to die. She hoped he wasn't doing something stupid. He was supposed to be a genius.
Tony stepped away from the bar and went around. Arianna was sure that was an attempt to keep Loki from her.
"We've got your brother, the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend that kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breathtaking anger-management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella . . . you've managed to piss off every one of them."
"That was the plan."
"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
"I have an army."
"We have a hulk," Tony said.
"I thought the beast had wandered off."
So they were missing the one person that could actually probably defeat Loki? This was going great.
"You're missing the point. There's no throne; there's no version where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."
There was a tense moment where Arianna wanted to know what was going on. She was tempted to peek and would have had she not realized how stupid that would've been.
"How will your friends have time for me when they're too busy fighting you?"
There was a ping and then another ping and Arianna felt tears fill her eyes. She'd understood that threat. Loki was going to take control of Tony and use him for destruction, use him as a distraction – and Tony knew where she was!
'You can stop this,' she thought. 'You know you can!'
"This usually works," Loki said, and for the first time Arianna heard something other than smugness come from him.
"Well, performance issues, you know . . ."
There was a thud and Arianna knew that was Tony falling to the floor. If she turned her head to the left, she could see Tony's body. He was able to move so he couldn't be but so hurt, but if she could see him then he could see her. If Tony could see her, then Loki would be able to see her if he went for Tony – and she knew he would.
A few seconds later, Tony was being thrown through a window and over the side of the building. She couldn't help it; she screamed, alerting Loki to her presence. Before the lunatic could get to her, however, a red pod looking thing shot out of the elevator in the front of the penthouse and sped out the window after Tony.
Mere seconds after that Tony, in his Iron Man suit, was back and firing shots at Loki, who actually fell over. At least they knew Tony's ammunition system could impact Loki, even if it was just for a little while.
Arianna knew she had to move now before Loki got his bearings. The trouble was . . . where could she go? If she went toward the front door, Loki could get her, but the same thing would happen if she went for the window.
Suddenly there was a terrible boom and Arianna had no clue what it was or where it had come from.
"Right, army!" she heard Tony say. "Arianna, run!"
That set her in motion and she scrambled to her feet. She motioned for Tony to go. The world mattered more than she did. As long as she could make it out of the penthouse –
A flash of blue light hit the wall right in front of her, effectively destroying her escape route.
"Stop!" Loki demanded.
Arianna had no choice but to listen as her exit was now blocked.
"Turn around."
She obeyed. She noticed the pleased expression on his face. His smile would've been beautiful if he hadn't looked criminally insane.
"Were you there the whole time?" he asked, moving toward her.
Arianna didn't know how Loki was still standing after being shot with what had been a missile, but there he was.
"I – I was." She hated the shake in her voice, so she took a deep breath to steady herself. "Why are you destroying my world?"
"I don't want to destroy it, Midgardian. I want to rule it."
Loki was so close now that he was towering over her. She had to bend her head back to meet his eyes. She noticed how blue they were. They were another thing that would have been beautiful had they not seemed maniacal.
Her breaths came out in pants and she began trembling. Men like Loki scared her. He could be charming, she was sure, but he could also be cruel. That was a deadly combination.
"Look at you. Lost, alone, frightened . . ."
The way he spoke, he sounded disgusted with her, and to be honest she was disgusted with herself. She was not this little shell of a person. She may have been once, but not anymore. She shouldn't let Loki get under her skin, but he did and she couldn't help it.
"Loki! Turn off the Tessaract or I'll destroy it!"
Thor! Arianna had only met him hours earlier, but she would recognize that deep, authoritative voice anywhere. More importantly, it drew Loki's attention away from her.
"You can't. There is no stopping it. There is only the war."