Despite being bone tired, my feet flew across the roof and I was back down on the ground before I knew it. Clint was only a second after me. We both bolted for the car, going straight for the trunk. As always we kept a small arsenal packed in there. Clint always preferred to be over prepared than run out of ammo halfway through a fire fight. Right now I was very glad for trunk full of enough weapons to take down a small country.
"Go to where we just were," Clint instructed as we both strapped our chosen weapons on. I had my AWSM, as always, and Clint was going straight for his bow and trick arrow quiver. "Stay out of sight if you can, try and get a hold of Coulson. If not, punch some holes through the bastard."
It wasn't much of a plan, but it'd do for now. Shooting something full of bullets until it couldn't stand anymore was about as good as this was going to get. There was no grand battle scheme for us today.
"Stay safe," I said, reaching over to give Clint's arm a quick squeeze. I reached in and grabbed out a P30 for good measure and a few spare magazines. Who knew how much ammo I'd need. I may as well over compensate rather than run out halfway through a fight. I cast a longing look at the block of Semtex Clint had thrown in for good measure earlier. It was a lot more fun than regular explosives. I wished we had an excuse to use it today.
"You too." Clint finished jamming his quiver full of as many arrows as he could manage. "I'm heading to the rooftops over there."
Clint pointed to the rooftop that was diagonally across from me.
"We should be able to lay down some good crossfire to let people escape."
I nodded my consent. In the short time we'd be on the ground, people were already starting to flee as the robot came closer. Or whatever that thing was. As it came closer it looked far more advanced than anything I had ever seen. I didn't have time to stand there and gawk. I needed to get back up on the roof.
It felt like a long run and my legs were burning by the time I got back on the roof. The robot was walking down the street as I found my spot to set up my AWSM. It was huge, easily 10 foot tall and made entirely of metal that really didn't look like it was of this world. It was too fluid, too person like in its appearance. This one definitely going to be of the crazier stories of my life. The 4 people in the armour from earlier were walking straight towards it.
"You're braver than I am," I muttered, adjusting my scope. As I spoke the robot shot what looked like an energy beam straight from its face.
"Oh fuck no," I scoffed, yanking back the bolt on the AWSM feeding a chamber into the round. "Not a great idea."
Shooting at it probably wasn't a great idea either. But as I squeezed the trigger, an arrow flew from the opposite direction. Clint and I had perfect timing. His arrow and my bullet collided with the robot's head at exactly the same time. It stopped in it's tracks, the black fletched arrow sticking out from the side of its head. My bullet hadn't made a dent in it. My stomach dropped as its head slowly turned in my direction.
I was fucked. I was so fucked.
I grabbed my AWSM and bolted for the edge of the building. It wasn't that tall. The landing was going to hurt but it wouldn't kill me. I closed my eyes as I hit the edge, leaping before I could second guess my choice. As my flung myself off the edge, a blast of hot air felt like it singed some stray hairs off my head. Flying through the air, the roof exploded behind me. No matter how much the sudden stop at the end was going to hurt, I was grateful not to be a pile of ash.
My body collided with something that wasn't the sidewalk. The grunt coming from underneath me made me open my eyes. Instead of hitting the ground, our big blonde mystery visitor had broken my fall. He groaned underneath me as I scrambled to get off him and back to my feet. My AWSM was lying next to us so I quickly picked it up, ready to shoot again if I needed. We were protected a little bit here. But not by much. I could hear the sounds of a battle in the background, but I was too winded to look for it.
"Thanks," I panted, offering him my hand. "That would have hurt otherwise."
I didn't want to think of how sore I was going to be tomorrow. This was the most action I'd had in a long time.
"You are very brave Agent Lyngley." He took my offered hand and clambered to his feet. "But you cannot defeat that. No mortal weapon will touch it."
"What the fuck is that?" I waved my hand to behind the building. Another crash came and I ducked my head as debris rained down over us.
"Its called the Destroyer."
The Destroyer. As if that didn't sound ominous enough about a giant robot who could shoot beams out of its face.
"How do we kill it then?" I asked, peering around the corner. Whoever the newcomers in armour were, they were giving the robot a few problems. The Destroyer had a few more of Clint's arrows sticking out of it. One of them exploded just as I looked. It didn't make a difference to it though. It still continued on its path like nothing was going to stop it.
"You can't." He shook his head again. "You need to get out of here."
"Not an option," I said stubbornly, feeding another round into the chamber of the AWSM. "Everything can be stopped. We just need to find a weak point."
I should be scared out of my mind. But right now I was calm and collected. I was ready to throw whatever this thing had at us. The explosions coming from it had to have alerted the SHIELD base. Coulson should be here soon with backup. Clint and I just needed to keep it busy so the civilians could be safe.
The Destroyer came around the corner and stopped, as if it was staring at us. I didn't hesitate. I raised the AWSM and fired directly at its face. The bullet made a satisfying crack, but it didn't make a dint. I'm not even sure why I bothered. It didn't work before, why would it work now? The Destroyer acted like it hadn't even noticed the hit. Time slowed down as its face opened and began to glow.
I didn't have to think about what I was about to do. My power was on my fingertips and for once there was no second guessing what I was going to do. I threw my hands up and let my power take over. The wall of ice instantly spread from my fingers, creating a layer a few feet thick. I didn't have time to stand there and be smug about it. As quickly as it'd formed, the Destroyer managed to shatter through it. I only had enough time to fling myself out of the way and wedge myself between the building and the dumpster. My new friend was right on my heels. It'd been a lot closer than I would have liked. I was sure I could smell burning hair again. Another explosion came from where the Destroyer was, sounding like one of Clint's arrows.
"What…" He started before I cut him off by clamping my hand over his mouth. He grabbed my wrist and applied pressure to get my hand off his mouth. He looked amazed by what I'd just done, maybe even a little thoughtful as he stared at me. I quickly grabbed his wrist and his free arm so he couldn't pry me off. I ignored the searing pain in my wrist from his iron grip. If he said something he'd give away our hiding spot I was about to made even sneaker.
"Don't freak out," I pleaded, digging my fingers into his toned arms. If the situation wasn't so dire I might have enjoyed having a good feel of those biceps. The muscles felt like steel under my fingers. "Please."
I didn't let him reply. I squeezed my eyes shut briefly and concentrated on going invisible. The now familiar feel of it sliding over my body came a lot easier than I thought it would. My heart was still hammering from the near miss of getting my ass burnt to a crisp for a second time today. A moment later, the Destroyer came around the corner, glancing towards our direction. The seconds felt like years as they ticked by. But the Destroyer finally moved, kicking a car as it went. The move was oddly human, it could have been Jared kicking something when he lost. I didn't have time to crouch here dwelling on it though. I let go of the invisibility and sucked in a big lungful of air. I must have been holding my breath because my lungs were screaming at me for some oxygen. I barely managed to get a breath in before I found myself upright and pinned up against the wall. His grip was firm, but not crushing. The look on his face curious more than anything else.
"What are you?"
That was an odd question. Everyone on the planet knew about mutants, as much as I hated to say that word. The few incidents in the 70's and 80's had definitely opened everyones eyes up to that. Magneto trying to assassinate a president brought a little too much attention to our world.
"I could ask you the same thing," I deflected, keeping still. There was no way I was getting out of that grip. "And your friends. SHIELD call what I am, Enhanced, which is a much nicer word for mutant."
That answer seemed to satisfy him. He gave me a curt nod before his grip loosened.
"You would probably not believe me if I told you my story, but you may call me Thor." The look of utter determination came over his face. "I have to finish this and only I can do this. Get Jane and the rest of the people to safety. Please."
There was so much emotion behind that one word. I needed to stand here and argue with him. But no words were coming out. This was ridiculous. I shouldn't trust this guy. He was crazy, I couldn't even bring myself to call him by his requested name. Thor was a Norse god and not exactly a common name. Not that I was one to talk about being crazy, I could make ice and go invisible. That was crazier than most people would ever see. I couldn't bring myself to argue, I gave him a tight nod and a thin smile. I was not happy about it, but I had no grounds to order him around.
"Be safe," I said, reaching down to pull the P30 out of my thigh holster. I offered it to Thor and he quickly declined with a shake of his head.
"I will not need it."
Before I could protest, he walked off down the street. A hand landed on my shoulder, making me whirl around in surprise with my P30 raised. It was only Clint. He was dusty and had a scrape up his arm, but was otherwise unharmed. I couldn't stop the rush of relief come over me and seeing him in one piece.
"You okay?" Clint grabbed me by the shoulders and ran his eyes over me. I was sure I looked like shit. I could taste dust in my mouth and my body felt like it'd been run through a meat grinder. But I was unharmed. I would have given Clint a heart attack the way I jumped off the building.
"Nothing a hot bath won't fix." I wiped my sweaty hands over my face, probably making more of a mess than I cleaned off. "You?"
I motioned to the scrape on Clint's arm, it was bleeding very sluggishly but didn't look deep or serious.
"Still alive." Clint gave me a wry grin. "Nice shooting by the way and your ice shield."
"You too," I grinned, feeling a little smugly proud of myself. If it wasn't for Clint pushing me to always use my powers while we trained, there'd be nothing but ashes left of me.
"Come on, we need to provide cover for these civilians." Clint gave me arm a small tug away from the building, tilting his head in the direction behind us. I looked around the corner of the building and saw the large group of civilians hurrying away from town. While a lot were in cars, here were still plenty on foot. They were out in the open and completely defenceless. We still had no backup and I barely had time to breath, let alone try and call Coulson.
Without looking back, we sprinted down the street keeping to the edges of the buildings. Luck must have been on our side because we managed to get clear to the edge of town and right to the civilians. I glanced at the sky at the sudden dark clouds appearing over a very specific spot. I sighed irritably. Our day was about to get even more interesting. Probably not in a good way. I was so busy staring at the clouds and the lightning storm going on in them, I ran straight into something and fell flat on my ass.
It was a SHIELD car.
There was no saving me from Clint's near hysterical laughter. The world was ending behind us and Clint was laughing so hard at me he could barely breath. Whoever was in the car was laughing at me as well. I could hear them through the closed windows. I was suddenly wanting to be back on the rooftop burnt to ashes instead of sitting in the dust on my ass after running into a very big black car.
"You are a disgrace to STRIKE Team Delta," Clint teased through his snorting laughter. I picked up a handful of sand and threw it at his face. In my embarrassment and anger, it missed him by a mile. It only made him laugh even harder at me.
"Fuck you," I said through gritted teeth. I wasn't angry with Clint. Quite the contrary, I was trying really hard not to laugh at what I'd just done. It was a whole new level of stupid, even for me. I'd been so caught up in trying to see what was happening behind us, I didn't pay attention to anything else.
"Not if you and I were the last people on Earth," Clint kept laughing at me. "I keep telling you, that skinny ass of yours does nothing for me."
That was it for me. I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer. Sitting in the dirt without what looked like a tornado going on behind us, I burst out laughing. It was so hard I could barely breath.
"Get in the car." It was Coulson's voice coming from inside of the car. He must have composed himself long enough to stop laughing at my clumsiness. It was so typical of me to do something stupid in a serious situation. I could be such a klutz at times. Still, I did as we were told. I got up, dusting off my ass and climbed into the car. I'd barely gotten the door closed before Coulson was speeding away. I slid across the backseat, grabbing onto the door handle for support. Coulson was driving back towards town like a crazy person. He said my driving was bad, his wasn't much better right now. Maybe this is what it felt like when I decided to play a little rough if my passengers were giving me grief in the Quinjet.
The storm clouds had grown in intensity. Bolts of lightning kept shooting out from them, along with what looked like the beams from the Destroyers face. The closer we got, the more the car started to sway in the strong wind. Coulson's knuckles were going white from gripping the steering wheel hard. Even Clint started to look a little white as we got closer. The wind picked up in intensity and the car got rockier with every passing inch. With a groan of metal, the car briefly skidded sideways as a very strong gust hit us. I gripped onto the door as hard as Coulson was gripping the wheel. A blinding light ahead of us made Coulson slam the brakes on. I cringed, shielding my eyes from what almost looked to be a mushroom cloud. A few seconds later, the car jerked forward again. I opened my eyes to see us rushing up towards the town at breakneck speed. Coulson's driving was starting to make me feel very queasy. Thankfully, it only lasted another 30 seconds as we came up the main street of town.
As we pulled in closer a large hunk of metal dropped from the sky. The mangled form of the Destroyer was easy to see. A few seconds later, a red caped figure dropped to the ground and walked away from the centre of the storm. Bits of debris and cars came crashing down behind him, yet he didn't falter. As he got closer, I had to stop my mouth dropping open in surprise. That was not who I was expecting. At all. Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder, they definitely did.
Gone was the blond man dressed in jeans and a jacket. Thor was now striding towards Jane and the rest of their group dressed in armour with his marvellous red cape billowing behind him. Beside him was the hammer we all tried so hard to lift, dangling in his hand like it weighed nothing. I was a little bit envious on how amazing he looked. We'd obviously missed something very vital while Clint and I were heading out of town to protect the civilians.
"Excuse me," Coulson called out, as he climbed out of the car. I nearly fell out of the door in my eagerness to find out what the fuck just happened. It wasn't my smoothest move. Thankfully no one noticed me and my 2 left feet today. Clint was only a step behind me, but we hung back away enough not to get in the way.
"Donald," Coulson strode up to Thor, looking completely unintimidated about what he was facing. He came to stand next to him, the barest amount of amusement playing across his face. "I don't think you've been completely honest with me."
"Know this, Son of Coul," Thor started. He even sounded different. Older, wiser and fuck me he looked amazing in his armour. I was trying my best not to ogle at him. His leather pants were really tight though. "You and I, we fight for the same cause. The protection of this world. From this day forward you can count me as your ally. If you return the items you have taken from Jane."
Thor moved back to stand beside Jane, putting a supporting arm around her waist. I covered my smile with my hand, not wanting to give away the tough agent look Clint and I were trying to do. It was obvious to me that the pair were fairly smitten. It wasn't hard to see why.
"Stolen," Jane shot at Coulson with a firm look.
"Borrowed." Coulson paused with a small smile. "Of course you can have your equipment back. You're going to need it to continue your research."
Jane nodded in approval, looking decisively smug at Coulson's quick acceptance. It only made me smile more. Coulson was a good person. The game had changed so abruptly, but Coulson never faltered. He went with the times. He had something a lot of SHIELD agents didn't have. Trust and compassion. He truely believed in the people around him and trusted them completely.
"Would you like to see the bridge we spoke of?" Thor turned to Jane with a smile on his face.
"Ah, sure." Jane looked a little giddy. Thor pulled her in close to his side, making her grin widely in response. I'd be grinning too if I got that close to those biceps and ass.
"Wait, I need to debrief you!"
Coulson barely got the sentence out before Thor lifted into the sky with Jane attached to his side. I could only gawk in response as he flew. Literally flew away from the town with Jane by his side. It was like something out of a fucking Disney movie. The rest of us were left standing on the ground, gawking up at the sky. It wasn't the strangest thing I'd ever seen but it was getting up there pretty close.
"May we trouble you for a lift?"
It was one of the three men in armour who spoke. He was the biggest one out of the three. Seeing our attention turn towards him, he bowed deeply.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves," he said, straightening up. "Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. I am Volstagg, this is Fandral and Hogun. The greatest warriors in all of Asgard."
I was wrong, this was becoming the strangest thing I'd ever seen.
"I'm Agent Coulson," Coulson didn't miss a beat. "If you follow me, I'd be more than happy to speak to you and provide a lift."
I stepped forward, eager to get in on this action. The female warrior, Lady Sif kept eyeing me off with a curious look. She couldn't see to take her eyes off my AWSM. I had to admit, the spear of her's was very impressive. I was sure we could bond over being kick ass females together.
"You two stay here and supervise the civilians coming back into town," Coulson turned to Clint and I, crushing any hope I had of talking to our mysterious visitors. Seeing my disappointment, Coulson gave me a small smile. "I'll make up for it later."
"Sir." Clint and I both nodded at the same time. If the situation wasn't so serious, I'd give him shit for us speaking together. Obviously Coulson needed someone who he could trust. We'd probably had enough action for today. It still didn't stop me watching a little mournfully as they all piled in Jane Foster's van and screech off down the road. The dust kicked up after them and the sped off out of sight within the minute. It wasn't until they were out of sight Clint turned to me.
"I guess we had enough excitement for today." He pulled a face, looking as disappointed as I felt. "Lets get things sorted here."
A few seconds later, a large entourage of SHIELD vehicles pulled up with Agent Sitwell in the head car. He took one look at us and then the surrounding wreckage with a pained sigh.
"What the fuck have you two been doing now?"
It took nearly all day for Coulson to come back form whatever he'd been doing. In that time SHIELD got everyone back into the town. The team was all over the town doing everything from providing medical care to those who needed it, doing mass debriefings on the situation and starting clean up. Sometime during the day, all of Jane's lab equipment had appeared back in her lab. There was some newer looking equipment in there as well. No doubt the brand new Stark computers were SHIELD's way of an apology.
Clint and I did everything from handing out blankets to helping patch up some of the minor wounds. Clint was extremely handy when it came to bandaging people up. I stood there handing him supplies, feeling a bit useless It wasn't a surprise considering what Laura did for a living. But it kept us busy, so busy I didn't notice how damn exhausted I was until I sat down in the diner with Coulson and Clint as the sun was starting to set.
The diner owner was kind enough to keep us all fed and watered throughout the day. She was a lovely woman even though she was making a big fuss over Clint and I all the time. Apparently she'd seen us up on the room shooting at the Destroyer before she got out of town. It was very weird being treated like a hero. We hadn't done anything extraordinary, only our jobs. But she wouldn't be told otherwise and made sure we were never without food or drinks all day. Her coffee had been a godsend. Now wasn't any different, Izzy she introduced herself as, poured us coffee and put out half a lemon meringue pie on the table.
I could barely keep my eyes open as Coulson sat down with a heavy sigh. He looked as exhausted as I felt. Clint had his head in his hands, absently stirring his own cup of coffee. He'd come back alone much to my disappointment. Not that I had the energy to show it. I'd fall asleep on the table right now if I wasn't so curious about what happened while he was away.
"So," Coulson began, stirring sugar into his coffee. "Where do I start?"
"At the beginning," Clint said smartly. Despite his obvious exhaustion, he still had enough energy to throw out some sass.
"Well, we just got our answer to whether aliens are real or not."
There was no bullshit in Coulson's tone or face. Without giving us time to process what he just said, he launched into the story.
Asgard was real. All the old Norse legends were true. The only thing was, they weren't gods. Just an advanced race of beings. It was easy to see how the earlier humans would have seen and worshipped them as gods. They were advanced beyond anything we'd ever seen. What Jane Foster had found the other day is something called the Bifrost. It created a bridge between worlds, allowing people to travel across the universe in the blink of an eye. It made Jared's teleporting look like a child playing. It wasn't just Asgard, there were uncountable colonies across the universe. Earth was little more than a drop of water in an ocean.
Thor was the Thor. Like the one from all the mythology. He'd done something terrible and was stripped of his powers and sent back to Earth. His hammer, Mjolnir, was only able to be handled by someone who was worthy of it. Which is why Thor couldn't lift it while he was powerless. Or any of us. Apparently we weren't worthy, that made me scrunch up my nose in disgust. It was a little unfair.
What Clint and I hadn't seen was Thor sacrificing himself so his friends and Jane could get to safety. The selfless act of bravery gave him his powers back. Hence why he was able to defeat the Destroyer. A lot of what he said made complete sense now. His brother Loki, the actual Norse trickster had taken over the throne and sent the Destroyer to kill Thor. His friends, The Warriors Three and Lady Sif had caught wind of the plot of assassinate Thor. They came to Earth to help Thor and had gone back with him. Something wasn't right and there'd been a delay with them actually going back home but they'd eventually all gone in a flash of rainbow light. A few hours ago, the sky had exploded in a rainbow of colours. Then there was nothing else. Despite Thor's reassurance to Jane that he would come back for her.
I sat there speechless, pie and coffee forgotten as Coulson went through his story. It was really unbelievable. To think there was now very solid proof that we weren't alone in the universe. I'd been gripping onto an alien's biceps this morning. A real life alien. It was hard to wrap my tired brain around. If I didn't trust Coulson impeccably, I'd say he'd made the whole thing up as an elaborate prank.
Now it was going to be up to Jane Foster and Dr Selvig to come up with a way to re-create the bridge between our worlds. All her data from the other night that SHIELD took was exactly that. It'd been the Bifrost sending Thor to Earth as his banishment.
"That's going to be one hell of a story to tell the grandkids one day Coulson," Clint chuckled wearily once Coulson finished speaking. "What happens now?"
"For us? We go home," Coulson looked as relieved as I felt upon hearing those words. "This now becomes a problem for those who specialise in the weird and wonderful in this world. Apparently now in other worlds as well."
Home. I'd never been so relieved to hear that one word.
"When?" Clint suddenly perked up at the mention of home. I was right with him. I'd give anything to sleep in my own bed tonight. After some serious cuddles with Clint's kids and Alexi.
"Right now."
There was the odd buzz in the air that came with Jared teleporting. Half a second later my twin was beside me, balancing on a moon boot but grinning like crazy. I'd never been so happy to see him in my life.
"Someone need a lift?"
"Jared, I could kiss you right now." Clint's beaming grin was contagious. He reached over and pulled Jared into a tight hug. Despite Jared's squawk of protest, he was smiling and hugged Clint back. I didn't bother waiting for them to finish, I pounced on Jared wrapping him in a tight hug. He looked better than he had in months. It was so good to see him off crutches and on his leg. He wobbled under my firm grip but he stayed upright.
"Lets go home."
I had no idea who Jared was talking to. But a second later the world dropped out from underneath us and we landed in Clint's kitchen.
"Daddy!"
Lila and Cooper's shrieks of surprise were so high pitched, I nearly had to cover my ears. They threw themselves at Clint, hanging off him. Clint hugged his kids hard, the grin on his face only grew wider at having his kids in his arms. He almost looked a little misty eyed as he looked up as mouthed a thank you to Jared. With a knowing grin, Jared teleported away again
"Where's my hug assholes?"
Natasha's voice rang out across the room. A second later her body collided into mine as she hugged me fiercely. I wasn't going to ask how and why she was home already. I was just happy to see her. Laura came into the kitchen and launched herself at Clint, laughing in utter glee at his sudden appearance.
It was so good to be home.
Authors Note
This is the shortest chapter I've done in a while. But with whats happening next there really wasn't anywhere else to cut it off.
I have to thank everyone for sticking with me. I'm so sorry for the delays everyone. I'm still having days where I physically cant sit up for any long periods of time. So your support means the world to me while I slowly get everything done right now.
Until next time.