Tom Hiddleston is a sweetheart. I got to give him a hug this weekend :D
Loki walked down the hall, his footsteps completely silent compared to everyone else. Even though he could find his way towards the scepter, he didn't have any experience navigating the walls of a SHIELD base. In which case, Hawkeye and Black Widow stayed near the front of the group.
Captain America kept a look out behind, but they hadn't come across any guards yet. As suspicious as this seemed, Hawkeye had said that it wasn't unusual to keep all of the defense outside and the rest of the crew inside. Generally, it was easy to spot an unfamiliar face, but then again, magic had never been factored into the equation. And, thanks to Jarvis, they were virtually walking around the place unseen.
"Are we close?" Thor said under his breath to Loki once they stopped for a minute.
The God of Mischief glanced at him quickly, seeming a bit peeved by the question.
"Closer." he replied "I suspect it will be well hidden. Below ground, I believe."
"They have a lot of rooms on the lower floors that would be good for keeping it contained." Hawkeye replied intently, as if a thought had just come to him. He stood up straight and walked quickly across the hall. He waved a hand for them to follow. When they were closer to him, he spoke.
"There's a stairwell a few doors down." he said, halfway in a whisper "Let's get down there-"
"Clint, someone's coming, back up." Black Widow said.
Hawkeye backed into the previous hallway, peeking out a little bit at the two men walking down the hallway. They were talking to each other, oblivious to the fact that there were intruders right around the corner.
As soon as they got close enough Black Widow stepped out, sending a flat palm into one of their chin's while Hawkeye simultaneously twisted around, striking the other one across the head with his bow. Neither of the blows would inflict lasting damage, but the two guards would be out for several hours at the least.
"Alright, go, go, go." Hawkeye said, urgently, gesturing at the others to move towards the staircase.
Out of any of them, Volstagg was the most likely to blow their cover. As the typical Asgardian, he wasn't used to sneaking around. But, nevertheless, they made it down the steps into another hallway. This one came to a dead end if you went down too far, but about halfway there was an opening. This led to a big room that sat underneath the fenced off area out of the building. The walls were thick, a very effective way to dissuade intruders trying to come in from below. There were only a few doors opposite from them in the room.
Hawkeye looked at Loki, obviously unsure where to go next. But the God of Mischief didn't notice right off because his eyes were closed. Then, after a moment, he opened them back up, eyes focused on a specific door across the room. He began walking towards it without saying anything to the others. But they followed him silently.
Once they reached the door, Captain America walked up to it. He pulled on the handle, but the door didn't budge.
"Well, we could wait here for a while and try to pick the lock, but I think we might have a better method." Tony said, stepping back "Thor, care to take a stab at it? Or rather, a whack at it."
"That might be slightly obvious." Captain America said, voice dry. But he didn't protest. Thor stepped up to the door and brought his hammer down onto the steel door. The metal bent inward significantly, breaking part of the frame. Volstagg and Captain America walked forward and grabbed the two sides of the damaged door. They pulled and it came unhinged quickly. The two of them set it down as quietly as possible before joining the others in gazing in at the dimly lit room. The scepter wasn't in there, but there were several computers and different machines all over the room. On one of the monitors there was a live feed of the scepter resting on a stand.
"I don't see a scepter in there." Captain America said, looking at Loki. The tone in his voice was a bit belligerent, but it also implied an honest question.
"Then perhaps we'd best take a closer look." Loki responded, voice flat.
Tony was the first to take a few steps into the dim room, eyes on the monitor. There was nothing on the video that would implicate where the scepter was at the moment. The background was dark and the only thing visible was the lines of light coming from the weapon.
"Well, if it was me, I wouldn't just have a random room set off to the side to watch the scepter sit there." Tony said, examining the consoles.
"You might if you were SHIELD." Hawkeye replied.
Even though they followed that line of thought, the others obviously weren't sure what to do at that point. They began doing the same thing as Tony until Thor pulled open a small pad on the wall farthest from the door. Tony watched him and then flicked a finger at it.
"Nice find." he stepped next to the God of Thunder and opened it the rest of the way.
Inside was a keypad with nine lit up numbers and below it was a finger scanner.
"Jarvis, would you mind cracking this for me?" Tony said, tapping the screen of the keypad.
"He's already doing most of the work." Black Widow said, her voice a little bit sarcastic.
"I'll put it on your Christmas list." Tony replied.
"Why is it that you never start off with wearing the suit?" Captain America asked, glancing behind them and then back at him.
"I get on without it." Tony replied watching the screen as numbers flashed across it "I rely on skill. And wits."
Captain America rolled his eyes slightly. A few seconds later, the door to a room slid open. It seemed just to be a portion of the wall that moved out of place.
Perhaps that was why there wasn't a light to the room they were in. Less chance that someone would notice the tiny crevices in the wall. Tony peered in, all amusement fading as he saw stared at the eery glow. The scepter rested on a stand, the blue light flowing within its orb.
Loki held out a hand towards the door, looking at Tony.
"After your wits." he said.
Tony glanced at him briefly and then he stepped slowly into the room. Captain America followed him. Thor stared at Loki intently, almost as if he wanted to say something. Loki looked back for a moment before averting his eyes towards the scepter.
Hawkeye went in and the others followed. Tony stopped in front of it, eyes reflecting the blue light. Slowly, he reached forward and lifted it up off the stand. The way he picked it up suggested that it was heavier than he expected. He seemed almost captivated by it. A heartbeat later, a loud alarm started blaring and red lights in the room started flashing. Captain America looked back at the door, as if suddenly afraid it was going to shut on them.
"Uhh...Jarvis what's going on? I thought we shut off all the alarms around here." Tony said.
"The alarm wasn't triggered here, sir." Jarvis' robotic voice replied "There appears to be a breach somewhere else in the building."
"Another breach?" Tony echoed "Who?"
"I do not have information on them in my database." Jarvis replied.
Captain America glanced swiftly at the others before blinking it away. Then, the alarm cut out. Everyone stared up at the ceiling again, confused.
"Alright, let's go. Stark, you got the scepter?" Captain America asked, staring at him intently, a question in his eyes.
"Yep." Tony replied. A moment after he said that, the ceiling above them shuddered and some dust shook off the computers in the other room. Everyone stood still as the rubble passed. The scepter seemed to glow brighter for a moment. Loki watched it, but as Captain America walked past him, he broke off his gaze, moving it to Thor instead.
Even more disturbing than the alarm was the fact that they didn't come across anyone on their way out. That would be standard protocol for a break in. The group was being a lot less careful this time around as well. The group walked up the stairs into the narrow hallway where the men they had knocked out should have been.
However, instead of the men, there was just a spray of dark red blood on the floor.
Hawkeye maneuvered around the others and hurried over to it. Captain America was right behind him. The SHIELD operative crouched down, staring at the blood in shock. Volstagg and Sif shared a glance, faces sober.
"We need to get outside." Captain America said "I have a feeling there's a reason we haven't seen any guards."
As they neared the doors, gun shots could be heard being fired. The sun was just starting to come over the horizon when they pushed open the doors into the fenced off area.
They couldn't see any fighting happening right then, but the shots could still be heard.
"It must be on the other side of the building." Captain America said, starting to jog over.
Loki's head suddenly snapped towards the dimly lit fence, eyes wide. Thor noticed this immediately.
"Wait-" he was cut off as a creature much bigger than him suddenly ran from the darkness and collided into him.
Black Widow pulled out her guns, firing at least five shots into it. It let out a strange growl before falling limp. Thor shoved it off him and got to his feet. He stared around them as a small circle of those weird beings began to surround their little group. They were very muscular and they had narrow faces, much like the Chitari. Their skin was a black and yellow, clad in thick armor. They ran on four feet although they could have easy run on two.
Loki stared at them warily, dagger already gleaming from his hand.
One of them charged at the group and Thor smacked it away quickly with his hammer.
"What are these?" he snapped. He asked the question generally, but he really only could have been talking to Loki.
The only communication back was a high pitched screech. Several of them began running towards Tony, targeting him specifically. They had no eyes to be seen and their teeth resembled that of a shark. Tony tapped something on his arm and his dark red suit crept quickly over his body.
"They're coming for this." he said, holding up the scepter before taking off into the air.
"Stark, get that thing away from here." Captain America said, hitting one of the creatures with his shield.
"Planned on it." Tony replied, hovering in the air above them "But I probably shouldn't leave you guys to die."
"We're fine, just take it." Captain America responded.
"You should know by now that I don't follow orders all that easily." Tony said. He pointed his arm at one of the aliens, firing several little bullets at them.
"Have you seen these things before?" Thor asked, looking at Loki as he stood impatiently waiting for another attack. The God of Mischief didn't acknowledge his question, although he most definitely heard it.
Hawkeye shot an arrow at a group of oncoming creatures and it exploded once it hit the ground, sending a lot of them flying. Whatever they were, they certainly didn't have the same strength as Asgardians when it came to being hit by explosives.
A long beam of light took out another group of them a ways away. Ironman lowered his arm slowly, peering at the damage for a moment.
The strangest thing of all was that Loki almost had to seek them out to fight. They were avoiding him whenever possible. He wasn't showing them the same courtesy.
For the time being, the Avengers was making progress, wiping them out faster than they could appear. Then, they changed tactics. The aliens were suddenly jumping into the air, several of them to Ironman's height. Because of this, they avoided being hit by anything else since Hawkeye, Thor, and Captain America couldn't send anything at their friend in the air.
"Tony, what are you doing?" Hawkeye demanded "Get out of here."
One of the Chitari-like beings reached and clung to Ironman's back, sending him dangerously off balance. Tony grunted as he struggled to regain power over himself.
"Stark!" Captain America called, watching with wide eyes. Hawkeye had an arrow aimed up at them, but he couldn't shoot without hitting Tony.
"Clint, watch out!" Black Widow said and he whirled around to stab the alien with the arrow he meant to shoot. She fired a few extra shots into it, making sure it crumpled to the ground.
The creature was still wrestling with Ironman, obviously trying to crawl out to the scepter. Tony had no idea how to use it so one of his arms was completely useless at this point.
Loki kicked away one them, one eye on the fight above now that a second one was beginning to drag Ironman down. Once Thor had cleared the area around him, he looked up as well and then quickly began to spin his hammer.
"Thor, be careful up there!" Captain America warned in between hitting. Either the God of Thunder didn't hear him, or he did and he ignored him. He shot up to Ironman, taking out on of the creatures instantly. However, with the force of the impact, Tony was knocked sideways, his helmet beeping insistently to tell him something was wrong. He let out a yell through his teeth, still trying to straighten himself out. The scepter fell to the ground with a small release of energy.
Every single on of the alien's heads turned to the object intently and then they all began running. From the way they converged together, it was obvious they were not thinking independently.
There was no way Captain America could get over to in time before the others did, but Loki was much closer. Without hesitating, the God of Mischief sprinted over to it. Captain America watched with wide, intense eyes, trying to hold back some of the creatures.
Loki rolled out of the way of monster, snatched it up, and fired a massive blue blast at the oncoming wave of them. The energy vibrated the air, making everyone stagger backwards. The shot obliterated the group of aliens immediately.
Ironman, having been released from his attacker when the scepter took its attention, landed with a run onto the ground.
Loki stared down at the weapon, eyes glowing blue from the light emanating from it. They were wider than they had been a moment ago. Then, almost instinctively, he released it and it to fell to the ground. Thor was at his side in a second, looking down at the dropped scepter. He stared at a few of the creatures who were indeed glaring back. As if by an unseen order, they all began running in one direction. Thor smacked them away once they got to close, but they weren't trying for the scepter like they had a moment ago.
"It looks like they're retreating." Volstagg called "Get the scepter and let's go!"
Thor grabbed it quickly and he and Loki began their way back towards the others. Then there was a sudden horrible scream of a woman that made the two of them stop cold. They looked at each other for a split second, eyes wide. Then, they both turned their gaze toward the retreating aliens. That was the voice of Frigga.
Her sons stared at the fleeing monsters intensely. They were all disappearing into an invisible portal, vanishing by the second.
"Thor!" Captain America yelled, but the God of Thunder was too captivated by the sound of the desperate scream. He started walking towards the portal, scepter in hand, eyes blank.
"Thor." Loki said, also having a hard time taking his eyes away. He stepped after his brother, pulling on his shoulder "Thor, don't listen to it."
But as he kept walking, Loki grabbed his face, yanking it towards him.
"Thor, it's not her!" he snarled "Do you hear me? She's dead, remember? It's-"
Thor shoved him away with his hammer, eyes glaring, a blow that could have killed a mortal.
"What's he doing?" Hawkeye exclaimed incredulously. Volstagg and Sif began running towards their friend, who was spinning his hammer to fly straight into the portal.
"Thor, no, wait!" Sif shouted at him as he took off.
The rest of them stared in horror as The God of Thunder shot after the fake screaming of Frigga. Any second, he would vanish as well, scepter and all. Tony took off after him with a sudden burst of power, arms and legs flexed hard, but he simply wasn't close enough.
Then, Loki, who should have been much farther behind and still recovering from the hit he'd taken, came in from the side and planted two feet into Thor. The force was enough to send him off course and the two of them tumbled roughly into the ground as the last of the creatures disappeared into thin air.
The team of Avengers hurried over to them, Volstagg and Sif in the lead. Loki was breathing hard, sweat glistening on his face as he regained strength. Obviously he had conjured up something to allow him to move quick enough to stop his older brother. It took its toll.
Thor looked at him, also taking in shallow breaths. The scepter lay in between them, its blue glow as potent as ever. Both of them were covered in dirt from the violent crash. Volstagg pulled Thor to his feet and then did the same to Loki without asking either of them permission.
"What the hell were those?" Tony asked, his suit retracted from his face.
"Why the hell didn't you leave?" Captain America bit back immediately, shooting him a look.
"Seemed a pity to leave the party." Tony snapped back.
Captain America shook his head in annoyance before glancing over at Thor. He was planning on saying something until he saw the distracted look in the God's eyes. Instead, he bent over and picked up the scepter.
"You guys take that and get it away from here." Hawkeye said, nodding at it "Natasha and I are going to go check the other side of the base."
"You don't know if there are more over there." Captain America said.
"Yeah, but we can deal with it better than any other SHIELD agents over there." Hawkeye replied, pulling an arrow back into his bow. Him and Natasha started walking away without any further argument.
"Your father will know about this shortly." Volstagg spoke to Thor. The God of Thunder looked up at him.
"Heimdall can't keep this a secret, surely you know that?" Volstagg said "Odin should know."
"This was a more deliberate attack." Thor replied slowly "But they didn't stay. We have no way of knowing if Thanos sent them here."
"I agree. But that doesn't mean he didn't." Volstagg replied.
Thor looked at Loki again. The God of Mischief had mostly recovered at this point, but he had his gaze on the ground, eyes narrowed.
Please review! Like pretty please! Also, don't worry, you will soon know what Loki bargained for. I won't kill you too much longer. :)