Rated T
(I don't own anything here, from Harry Potter or the Avengers)
Good spotting to one reviewer who noticed how Fury's words ended up spurring Snape to action too! Although Fury doesn't know what Snape can do, he pretty much worked his magic on the wizard without either of them totally realizing it. Snape is used to Dumbledore's manipulative tactics, and he was so lost in his own head he didn't even notice how neatly Fury controlled him. But don't worry, he'll get plenty annoyed when he realizes what happened, though it'll be a few chapters before that happens. I'm still writing the aftermath and it's like three chapters long already!
A~HP~V~HP~E~HP~N~HP~G~HP~E~HP~R~HP~S
Chapter Eight: The Avengers Unite
Severus stopped at his quarters and bound up his injured knee. He cleaned his other scrapes and injuries, changed his clothes, and wished for his long coat. He had to make do with a dull gray sweater, and not for the last time, curled up his lip at muggle fashions. He slung his bag over his shoulder, (after stuffing Bruce's bag in as well, since he hoped they could quietly escape after all of this and never come back) and Severus left. He wondered if he would have to find the rest of the 'avengers' and spell it all out for them. He disliked leading things, but if he had no choice …
He still limped, but not as painfully. After ducking unseen past a security guard who was cleaning the shattered hallway, Severus found that the lab was still a shattered wreck. It was a pleasant surprise to find his dark coat under a pile of broken computer parts, but it was covered in dust and debris and Severus rolled it up before stuffing it in his bag. He couldn't wear it until he cleaned it off.
Climbing carefully down through the gaping hole in the laboratory floor, he picked his way through the rubble from the explosion, until he found the spot where he had thrown the calming draught at the Hulk. He sincerely doubted that he would find Banner rather than the Hulk, so he was pleasantly surprised to see the man normal-sized, curled on his side in the rubble, naked as the day he was born, and sleeping soundly.
"Bruce," Severus hissed, shaking the man by the shoulder.
"Hmm?" Bruce mumbled, stirring and sitting up. He blinked dazedly and took a few seconds to focus on Severus. "Wha' … happened?" he slurred, still not properly awake.
"Loki escaped while we were preoccupied," Severus replied tersely as he rummaged in his bag and found a sober-up potion. He knew that the effects of an overdose of calming draughts were about the same as being drunk, and had brewed a few doses of the simple, if disgusting, medicine several months ago. He held it out to the blinking man, along with the simple order, "Take this, and then get dressed. We're leaving."
"L-leaving? But Sev, I can't yet," Bruce protested groggily. But despite his arguing, he took the bottle from Severus and gulped down the disgusting liquid. "Ugh!" he gagged. "Are there chunks in this one? It tastes like vomit!"
"What if I told you that's what it was?" Severus asked mildly, passing Bruce a fresh change of clothes. The physicist stumbled to his feet and tried in vain to brush the dust off his skin. He finally gave up and tugged on the jeans and T-shirt.
"You're teasing," Bruce finally grunted, looking quite a bit more lucid. "Right?" he added hopefully.
"I'm not being truthful," Severus agreed with a slight smirk. "The Avengers are heading to New York to stop Loki from taking over the world, and you and I are going along."
"What?!" Bruce gasped in the midst of putting on a pair of socks. "I mean, me, yeah I get that. I'm a walking natural disaster … But … if you …! I mean, they … they'll see you. You know."
"I do know," Severus murmured. He looked up at Bruce, his dark eyes almost gleaming in the gloom. "But there comes a time when one must make a choice between what is safest, and what is right. I cannot sit idly by as a Dark Lord rises, Bruce. Not again. Not when it is possible for me to fight it this time."
Bruce stared at him in shock for several seconds before he shook his head fondly and put on his spare shoes. "Well, stick by me, anyway," he grumbled. "Don't think the Hulk will let you get hurt."
"Oh?" Severus asked with some amusement. "After I threw a glass bottle in his face and called him a stupid beast?"
Bruce winced, but then his face lit up. "It worked?" he gasped. "Th-the new calming thingie?"
"Beautifully," Severus smirked triumphantly. "I have another bottle in my pocket, just in case. Are you ready to go?"
"More than ready," Bruce agreed, grinning from ear to ear. "Let's go save the world."
Severus led Bruce out of the engine room, and the physicist consulted one of the computers on the wall for the medical center, since Severus insisted on making certain Romanoff and her friend were well enough to come.
They found the medical bay on another floor. Bruce opted to wait out in the hall, since he hardly knew Romanoff and had no idea who 'Barton' was. Severus entered the bustling, sterile bay, and winced at the sheer number of injured. One of the medics on duty directed him to the bed where Natasha and Barton were. The man was pulling his boots on, and the two of them were speaking to each other in soft voices. Severus immediately recognized the language they were conversing in as Russian.
"Ready?" he asked casually as he reached their bed. The two SHIELD agents glanced over their shoulders at him, and as one, they both smiled deviously at him.
"Just about," Natasha shrugged, her eyes glistening with curiosity.
"You're coming?" Barton demanded, sounding surprised. The man hopped off the bed and grabbed his weapons from the side table and chair. "Captain America just stopped by to tell us we're going somewhere, but he wouldn't say where."
Severus found it greatly satisfying to smirk at the Agents. "As I told Ms. Romanoff not five hours ago, someone needs to patch you up when you inevitably bite off more than you can chew." He meaningfully patted his shoulder bag and arched an eyebrow at the two of them.
"Well, hopefully we won't need your attention," Natasha threw back. "Let's go. Rogers said he'd be waiting in the hangar."
"Just like last time," Severus commented with a small smile.
"That's right," Natasha smiled.
She led them out of the med-bay, and Severus found himself walking shoulder to shoulder with the archer.
"How good are you?" the wizard asked casually, nodding at the bow in the man's hands.
Barton smirked dangerously at him. "I can hit anything," he said confidently.
"Good to know," Severus murmured with a small smile.
They met Bruce out in the hall, and if Natasha was shocked to see him so cheerful and normal-looking, she didn't show it.
The hangar was damaged by the attack, but not too badly. Severus supposed they ought to be grateful that the SHIELD vessel was still up and flying. Barton's expression closed off when they stepped into the damaged area, but nobody said anything. The quinjet was not running, but Rogers was there with his round shield, along with Stark in his red armor. Severus was amazed to see him after all of his blather about resenting teams, but he gave the man a courteous nod. Every extra hand in this venture would be greatly appreciated. The surprised look on their faceswhen they saw him, apparently coming along, was almost funny, but Severus controlled the urge to smirk at Stark and Rogers.
"Is that all of us?" Rogers asked anxiously. He peered at Banner with something like relief. "You feeling alright, Banner?"
"I feel ready to save the world," Bruce grinned, a definite bounce in his step and a giddiness in his voice that made Severus wonder if he was simply happy because there was now a way to protect the world from the Hulk, or if it was a combination of the calming and sober-up potions in his system.
"Well … good," the Captain said with an amused smile. "Because it looks like we're gonna be doing just that. Well, all aboard."
The quinjet closed behind them, and Stark gave Severus a sardonic eyebrow lift. "I assume your non-existent role's the same as last time?" the billionaire asked sarcastically.
"Not quite," Severus replied mildly. "I will explain when we are underway."
"Natasha, can you fly this thing?" Captain Rogers asked.
"I can," Barton replied at once, his voice firm and business-like.
"Clint Barton," Natasha explained. "Code-name, Hawkeye. He can fly literally anything."
"You got a suit?" Rogers asked, a note of surprise in his voice.
"Yes," Barton replied tersely.
"Then suit up," the Captain ordered grimly. "Strap in, everybody!"
"Strap in?" Stark grumbled. "What, like we're a bunch of kids on a field trip?"
Severus and Bruce took their seats, Natasha plopped down in the co-pilot's chair beside Barton in the front, and Stark and Rogers seemed content to remain standing. The jet rumbled as it started up, and Severus didn't feel quite as nauseous this time as they took off. But he still kept his eyes focused on one point and ran through a series of occlumency exercises to keep from losing his composure.
"We are underway," Barton announced triumphantly. "No twenty gun salute from the big ship; that's good."
"We should be in New York in just under an hour," Natasha added. "Should we use the time to talk strategy?"
"Sounds good to me," Captain Rogers replied.
"Does anybody else get the feeling that we've stolen government property?" Bruce suddenly spoke up, sounding nervous.
"Fury practically gave us permission," Rogers waved a hand dismissively. "We're good here."
"So it's gonnabe, what? The six of us against an alien army and a Norse god?" Stark demanded. "Cause I'm not sure how that's going to work."
"The six of us aren't just anyone," Rogers objected.
"That's right," Bruce interjected with a fierce look on his face. "Loki's got an alien army, but we've got a super soldier, two SHIELD assassins, a billionaire with a weaponized flying suit, a Hulk … and a wizard."
Severus wanted to smirk at Bruce's awfully dramatic opening. He relished the looks of confusion on everyone's faces before their eyes fell on him. Well, Barton and Natasha were looking at him first. It just took a second for Stark and Rogers to realize that the 'wizard' was him.
"Dr. Slytherin?" Rogers said slowly. "You're a …"
"Wait, wait, wait," Stark interrupted loudly. "How could he possibly be a … wizard? You mean an actual like, magic staff and 'You shall not pass' kind of wizard? Those are real?"
"I am a wizard," Severus raised his voice. "And my true name is Severus Snape. While I do not currently have a magic staff or a wand, I can use my magic without either of those things. I have accompanied you officially as a healer … or a medic. But I am able to fight, and I will do so if I can."
"What can you do?" Rogers demanded, obviously attempting to see how to fit a wizard's skills in with those of a super-soldier, two assassins, Iron Man, and the Hulk.
"I …" Severus stopped himself as he realized that he had no idea what battle spells he could safely do wandlessly. "I can make and maintain magical shields," he said slowly. "If I touch someone, I can use a sleeping spell, and I can create blinding light and fire. With a wand it would be so much easier to fight, but I will attempt to see how many dueling spells I can manage before I drain my magical core." Ignoring the looks of shock and unease on the faces of the people around him, he added off-handedly, "And I can fly."
"Fly?!" Stark spluttered.
"I saw you!" Natasha suddenly blurted out. "You jumped out of the jet after Loki!"
"That was not exactly flying," Severus corrected her. "I was … gliding, much like a flying squirrel or a flying snake. I am able to truly fly, under my own power, in a straight line, up or down, in any direction. But it is incredibly draining. I would not use my flight unless urgently required to. Ah, that reminds me. I am also able to … teleport, for lack of a word that you would understand. I can magically jump from place to place without climbing or flying, as long as I can picture it accurately."
"Why fly when you can teleport?" Stark grumbled, looking rather jealous.
"There is a great downside to my using magic," Severus warned him before the man started pouting and wishing for magic of his own. "It interferes with electricity and technology in the most dreadful way. I will not be able to use a communications device if I do battle with my magic. I will end up destroying it."
"Okay, we can work with all that," Rogers murmured. "Hey, do you think you'd be a match for Loki? Since you can both do magic, of course."
Severus shook his head at the hopeful expression on the Captain's face. "Even with a wand, I am not," he answered. "This is the god of magic we are speaking of. He wields a powerful and magical staff, besides whatever magic he has at his disposal normally. I think that all of us together might be able to defeat him … but I alone dare not face him unless I have no choice."
"Hang on," Stark butted in, his brown eyes keen with suspicion and excitement, no doubt hoping for a demonstration. "How do we know you can do magic at all, Slickerin' or Snipe or whatever your name is? We're just taking your word for it!"
"I cannot give you a demonstration, oh Doubting Thomas, because I do not wish this aircraft to fall into the Atlantic Ocean when my spell inevitably interferes with the technology around us," Severus retorted with a sneer.
"Besides, I saw him doing magic," Natasha spoke up. "He put the Hulk to sleep and saved Barton from Loki's mind control."
From the pilot's seat, Barton turned his head and nodded in agreement, his face grave and serious. "He was in my head," he said firmly, nodding at Severus. "He got me away from Loki, and I have no idea how he did it. He's got magic alright, and he's on our side."
"I vouch for him as well," Natasha said. "And I think we should go back to planning. We've gotten sidetracked."
"Hey, rabbit trails are interesting," Stark shrugged, and turned back to Severus with a keen smirk. "And we're gonnatalk later about all that'magic-and-tech-don't-mix'crap. Got it? Because if anybody can build technology to withstand magical energy fields, Tony Stark can."
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New York loomed on the horizon. Severus waited by the open quinjet door with Captain Rogers and Dr. Banner. Stark had flown out to run recon and check Stark Tower to see if they were right about Loki using his ARC reactor to power the Tesseract. Barton and Natasha were talking rapidly back and forth, to each other and to the military and ground control in an effort to avoid getting shot down by anti-aircraft.
This was it.
Severus did not exactly feel nervous. After all, he was an Occlumens. Bruce and Rogers did not seem overly nervous either, which was good. He was glad to be alongside such competent warriors in this battle. A battle which, if he was honest with himself, could very well end with his death. But he would rather die defying this army of vicious murderers than live under the rule of another tyrant. So he would gladly follow Captain Rogers and fight side by side with these warriors of the light.
These Avengers.
It was loads better than fighting Death Eaters in disguise, as he had done on a few occasions.
"ETA?" Captain Rogers barked out above the roar of the wind and rumble of the engines.
"Coming up on Stark Tower in five," Natasha called back.
"There's definitely something going on up there," Barton added in a grim tone.
"Did you guys stop for drive-thru or what? It's about time!" Stark's annoyed voice sounded through the quinjet's radio.
Severus closed his eyes and took a calming breath. He somehow wished he could have rounded up some of the old members of the Order for this battle. Fighting a god of magic with barely any magic seemed like a good way to die. But there was no one here to fight but himself. He opened his eyes, clenching his fists determinedly at his sides. It didn't matter if had to expel every last bit of his magic in the upcoming battle; he would fight to stop Loki from destroying the earth.
The wizard ran through several simple spells in his mind, ones that hopefully wouldn't be difficult to do. He really wished he'd practiced more. What if he attempted a simple blasting curse and nothing happened? Severus shook his head at himself and took a deep breath. Belief was central to magic. If he needed it badly enough, his magic would respond accordingly. That was the basis of inventing spells as well, and wasn't he a master at that?
"Be ready!" Rogers called out, and then grabbed a handle overhead to keep from losing his balance as the quinjet banked sharply. Severus braced himself, and wondered if he ought to simply jump out of the jet when he saw a huge skyscraper with the word STARK plastered on its side. Above the huge building, he could see a great beam of blue light rising to the sky. Directly above the tower was a round portal, through which he could see darkness and small shapes falling down onto the city. His gut clenched uneasily.
Loki had already summoned his army.
"Watch out!" Natasha suddenly cried out. The vessel lurched violently as it was hit by something.
"Try not to crash!" Captain Rogers shouted over his shoulder.
"I'll try to set her down in the street!" Barton grunted loudly. "Come on, come on!"
"Should I attempt to fly out before we are turned into scrap metal?" Severus asked drily.
"Not yet," Rogers shook his head. "We should be fine, and besides, you said it'll drain you."
Severus nodded sharply and braced himself again as the aircraft shuddered and began to dive, smoke pluming out behind them. "I have a larger than average magical core!" he shouted back. "Do not worry overmuch about me exhausting myself … not until we have been fighting for some time."
Captain Rogers gave him a searching look before he pulled on his helmet and adjusted his grip on his shield. "Hold on!" he shouted.
Severus glanced at Bruce, who was looking rather airsick where he sat stiffly in his seat. And then thequinjet hit the street of New York City with a sickening crash and a jarring crunch. The vessel skidded forward before lurching to a halt, listing on its side.
"Move!" Captain Rogers shouted, leaping out of the quinjet, followed by Severus, and Bruce, who managed to unbuckle himself rather quickly. The blue-clad Captain flung his shield at an alien swooping overhead on some sort of flying vehicle like a horseless chariot. When the creature fell, shrieking, Severus gestured sharply at it, feeling his magic boiling up inside, desperate to be used.
"Sectumsempra!" he bellowed, feeling somehow elated to be using that spell, his signature spell, once again. To his relief, it worked, though not as precisely as a wand-cast curse would have. The alien lost his arm and got his chest split open as if he had been bludgeoned with an axe, and landed in the street with a wet smack and a gurgling sigh.
Captain Rogers' shield bounced off a wall and came right back to the man's arm, and Severus wondered absently how it did that. Natasha and Barton joined them; the archer with an arrow on the string, and the red-haired agent carrying two sleek, black pistols.
"Those people need help!" Rogers shouted, pointing toward a bus filled with panicking people. They were trapped inside, and some were struggling to help their children climb out the windows.
"Go ahead, we've got this!" Natasha shouted, emptying her firearms into the aliens streaking by overhead on their strange chariot-vehicles.
As Captain Rogers dashed off, Severus experimented with a few more simple spells, nothing too complicated. He was able to use cutting curses, wind and light charms, and some blasting curses as well without much trouble. He decided to stick with those for now, leaving the more complex ones to try later if he needed them. For now, what he had was working.
"What should I do?" Bruce suddenly yelled, sounding overwhelmed.
"Get angry!" Severus shouted back.
"Good thing I'm always angry," Bruce replied before morphing, his clothing ripping apart as he did so. Severus sighed, wondering if he even had another spare change of clothes for Bruce once he de-Hulked. The green troll roared with fury and charged off into a large group of alien creatures. Severus turned his attention back to the fight. He used a powerful wind charm to blow three chariots into each other, and Natasha shot the three pilots in quick succession. None of the fighters had much time to say much, other than quick directions and warnings. Severus found to his delight that his magic wasn't suffering as much as he thought it would, from using so many of his spells without a wand. They were wider-ranged and more powerful than he would have liked, but he supposed having overpowered spells was a much better problem than underpowered, so he really couldn't complain.
"Nice job, wizard," Barton suddenly complimented him from where he was shooting aliens with his bow and arrows, hitting one every single time.
"You are not so bad yourself," Severus replied graciously, gesturing sharply and chanting 'Diffindo', slicing an alien's throat and stepping aside as the body flopped at his feet. "Your level of prowess with that weapon is frankly disturbing."
"Thanks," Barton chortled, twisting at firing two arrows at once into a larger-than-average creature flying past. "It's meant to be."
"Just like Budapest all over again!" Natasha shouted over at them, her weapons cracking sharply as they fired.
Barton's mouth twitched into a bemused smirk and he shot a chariot overhead, causing it to crash into a wall and smash its driver. "You and I remember Budapest very differently," the archer commented drily.
A sudden massive clap of thunder and a flash of lightning overhead made them all look up, warily waiting for a new enemy to appear. Severus couldn't see, but judging from the looks of relief on the faces of Romanoff and Barton, he realized that Stark had probably identified the source of the disturbance and relayed the information to the rest of the team. The wizard, of course, didn't have an earpiece.
"It's Thor," Natasha explained, throwing Severus a brief grin. "He's back."
"I'm back too," Captain Rogers announced as he ran up, flinging his shield so it bounced off two aliens before ricocheting back to him. "Anything exciting going on here?"
"Always," Barton quipped, loosing another flurry of arrows at their foes. His stock seemed to be dwindling, even though he'd come to the battlefield equipped with enough quivers for a small regiment.
"That shield acts like a magical artifact," Severus commented as the Captain's shield did another series of physics-defying stunts before returning to its owner's arm. "Are you certain you aren't a wizard, Captain?"
"Don't think I am," the man barked a laugh, turning and throwing his shield again while he punched another alien in the face. "It's just a special shield."
Severus arched his eyebrow at that, determined to get a good look at the so-called 'special shield' after the battle, if he could. But he didn't have breath for another question as he was forced to pivot, flicking his hand and chanting a narrow-field blasting curse right in front of two flying chariots before they reached Rogers with their energy blasting weapons.
"Little help, Cap!" Natasha suddenly shouted from where she was leaping and vaulting over cars and rubble to escape a large swarm of monstrous aliens. Rogers dashed over to help her and Severus found himself back to back with Agent Barton.
"There sure are a lot of 'em," Barton shouted, sounding strained as he loosed an explosive arrow into the air. "I'm running low on arrows."
"Do you have more?" Severus demanded, flipping his hands up and clapping them together, causing a shockwave curse to ripple along the street, knocking a large group of aliens off balance for Captain Rogers and Natasha to take care of. She had somehow gotten ahold of an alien weapon and was using it like a staff.
"In the quinjet," Barton panted. "Cover me while I get 'em?"
"No need when I am swifter," Severus grunted, straining as he used a powerful hovering charm on several huge chunks of asphalt, letting them drop on top of several charging enemies. The splatters and crunches heard when the asphalt crushed the Chitauri was most satisfying. "Are the arrows in quivers or loose?" Severus asked, pausing in his spell-casting to shake out his cramping arms.
"Quivers," Barton replied with a curious glance at him. "And loose," he added as he shot another alien in the brain. "They're in the compartment behind the pilot's seat. Get two quivers full, if you can."
"Accio would probably spill them," Severus mused aloud. "I will disappear for a few seconds and I will return to this exact spot. Keep it clear."
The wizard threw himself to the side to dodge a crackling alien energy weapon, and turned on his heel to disapparate back to the quinjet. To his relief, he materialized inside the vehicle and found the compartment without any trouble. He'd seen Barton stow his extra gear in it when they took off, after all. He fetched two full quivers of sleek, fiberglass arrows and twisted in place, hoping that Barton had kept that spot clear. To his relief, he arrived in one piece and Barton's back was to him, grappling with a large creature. Severus yanked one of the arrows out of the quiver and stabbed the alien creature in the throat with it. It howled and staggered back, and the wizard shoved the quivers at Barton before hitting the beast with a nasty Sectumsempra that knocked the head from its body.
"Wow," Barton breathed, (whether at the bloody spell or the swiftness of his return, Severus didn't know) and grinned at him as he strapped his extra quivers onto the belt at his shoulder. "Thanks."
Severus nodded in a quick jerk before returning to the fight at hand. But it seemed for every alien they took down, a dozen more appeared.
"Incoming!" Rogers shouted, his voice sounding tight and preoccupied.
Severus spun and realized that his shoulders ached horribly. The Hulk was roaring somewhere and the aliens kept coming. Where were the New York Aurors? Surely this counted as a breach of the Statute of Secrecy anyway. Anybody who saw wizards fighting aliens in the streets would just attribute it to the entire crazy battle going on here. Honestly, if the magical world had decided to simply bury their heads in the sand while their world was being invaded by aliens, that was just sad.
Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder exploded directly overhead and in a brilliant flash, like a lighting strike, Thor himself fell out of the sky, sending a whole crowd of Chitauri flying and twitching with residual electricity. Captain Rogers jogged over to him and demanded to know what was going on with Loki and the Tesseract up at the tower.
"The powers surrounding the cube are impenetrable," the god of thunder rumbled regretfully. "My brother is with the Chitauri now. He escaped me."
"We need a plan!" Natasha barked as she hurried up, emptying the last of her ammunition into the twitching aliens as she came. "How are we going to do this?"
"As a team," the Captain told her grimly.
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor protested.
"Get in line," Barton muttered beside Severus, clenching his hand on his bow. "If I can put an arrow through that arrogant bastard's eye it'll go a long way to helping me sleep at night."
"Well, he is adopted," Thor said uncomfortably. "But I'm not certain if he was actually a bastard son, though it is highly probable given that my father found him abandoned to die in the snow."
Severus blinked at the Thunder god and was aware that the other Avengers seemed to have stopped to stare as well.
"There are so many things wrong with that statement, I don't even know where to start," Captain Rogers finally said, a puzzled look on his face. "Now I almost feel sorry for the guy."
"Do not obsess over Loki," Severus interrupted before this could become a ridiculous argument. "We will face him when we face him. We must stay focused on the present."
Banner's green muscular form suddenly leapt down among them, giving Severus a feral grin that made him smirk back. "Hulk smash!" the Hulk bellowed with satisfaction.
"Yes, you do," Severus replied mildly. "You smash very well."
The green troll beamed at the praise and Barton chuckled as he nudged Severus with his hip. "Looks like you've got a friend for life."
"I'm simply grateful he doesn't hold grudges," Severus snorted. "I threw a bottle in his face the last time we met."
"Stark's coming," Natasha suddenly announced with a glance in Severus' direction. "Says he's bringing the party to us."
The red and gold suit flew into sight between two skyscrapers … followed by a whale-like creature covered in glowing bubbles and somehow 'swimming' through the air. Severus tightened his jaw at the sight, because it very much wanted to drop onto his chest. He had never even imagined such a creature existed. How would one go about fighting a monster like that?
"I … don't see how that's a party," Natasha muttered incredulously.
Roaring out in fury, the Hulk suddenly leapt up impossibly high as the whale-creature seemed to dip closer to them. Narrowly missing the red and gold suit flying past, the Hulk landed right in the monstrous flying thing's face with a loud 's red flying suit suddenly twisted in midair and launched what looked like a missile from his back. It hit the leviathan in a soft spot and exploded, raining guts and flesh down on the city. The Avengers held their collective breath, until the beast suddenly began to fall from the sky, a loud whale-like groan echoing in the air around them. The Hulk appeared to give the beast another few solid punches before he jumped off, smashing into the asphalt of the street. Severus found himself smirking. It wasn't his imagination. The green troll was most certainly waiting for congratulations.
"Don't get cocky," Barton suddenly said. "There's more flying whales incoming."
"Form up!" Captain Rogers ordered, stepping back and gripping his shield before him. The Hulk lurched a bit closer to the group, eyeing the aliens zipping past. Barton shot a few with his bow, somehow making one explode before it crashed into three others, and Natasha fired her guns, clocking an alien with every shot. Severus concentrated as he created a magical fireball of blue flames before he threw it into the air, catching an alien in the face. It didn't burn the monstrous-looking creature, but it shrieked loudly as it was knocked off balance in surprise, and as the alien fell, the Hulk batted it out of the air and it went through the wall of a building.
"Orders Cap?" Natasha demanded tightly, pausing to reload her semi-automatic weapons.
"Okay, listen up," Captain Rogers announced. "Stark, you've got perimeter. Try to keep them bottled up around here so we can take them out. Any get past your net, turn them to ash. Barton, I want you up high, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Romanoff, Snape, stay in the street with me and take out the aliens as they come. If you see civilians, try to get them to evacuate. Thor, keep the portal bottled up as much as possible. Light 'em up with everything you've got. Hulk," he paused while the green beast focused on him. "Smash," the Captain ordered.
The feral grin that appeared on the troll's face at the order inspired Severus to give a sly smirk in return. The Hulk darted away and leapt up a wall, crawling up like a gigantic ape, tossing aliens left and right. Severus shook his head in admiration, suddenly extremely glad they had Banner on their side in this battle. Small wonder Fury and the rest of the SHIELD people were nervous around him. He was a marvel on the battlefield.
"Wanna give me a lift?" Barton shouted to Stark as he swooped low.
"Sure," the billionaire replied, his voice sounding strange from behind his helmet. "Hang on, Legolas."
Barton rolled his eyes and took the ride, seemingly unbothered by the maniacal speed with which Stark whisked him away. Thor spun his hammer in his fist and launched into the air, lightning crackling around him as he flew. Severus positioned himself in between Natasha and Rogers, and then the battle began anew.
Severus' two companions quickly split up, Rogers running to take down some aliens on foot and Natasha continuing to pour gunfire into the flying chariots. Severus managed a strong Protego to prevent the fiery debris from one of the chariots from landing too close to Rogers, and used a blasting curse on three aliens who got past the Captain.
Natasha cried out as a foot-soldier attacked her with its weapon. It looked similar to a muggle rifle with a bayonet at the end, shaped like a wide-bladed sword. Severus glanced over at her and made a quick calculation before he twisted in place and disapparated behind the creature. He used a hovering charm on it to throw it off balance, Natasha hit it with a stun baton, and Severus hovered a piece of rubble over its head as it fell. He then simply dropped the chunk of concrete without a second glance, knowing from the wet crunch that his impromptu weapon had done its work and crushed the monster's head.
"They just keep coming!" Natasha gasped, pausing to reload and throwing Severus a grateful smile when he stepped close to guard her, erecting a revolving shield around the two of them and throwing simple cutting curses at the aliens who got in his range.
"Diffindo, diffindo, sectumsempra," he chanted, slashing and jerking his hands to accentuate his spells, throwing every bit of himself into his fight.
"Is that Latin?" Natasha asked conversationally as she turned and started emptying her guns into the enemy once again.
"Yes," Severus answered tightly. "Ventus maxima!" he bellowed, conjuring a small tornado to throw a fresh wave of chariots into the wall of a skyscraper. One of the chunks landed on a car and the engine exploded in a ball of fire. Wincing at his mistake, Severus twisted his hands and threw both palms forward at the blaze before it could catch the building on fire. "Aguamenti!" he shouted, and was grateful that the jet of water that he conjured from nowhere was strong enough to reach and douse the flames.
"Cool," Natasha cheered enthusiastically, spinning in place to clock an alien with her baton. Severus canceled his revolving shield to help her, grabbing up a rock the size of his fist and transfiguring it to a metal rod, pointed at one end, before he threw it like a crude spear. One of the aliens fell with a gurgling scream, leaving an opening for Severus to hit the three aliens behind it with a blasting curse. So far, he had used simple spells that would have been negligible if he'd been using his wand and they were actually easier than he'd thought they would be. Fighting without a wand required greater concentration and a stranglehold on his magic, which seemed to want to roar uncontrollably out of his hands, instead of shaping itself to the specific spells he wanted. But he was managing it. Likely the hyper-focus of battle was helping him. He had a feeling that trying to do wandless magic without the pressure of a fight to the death would be a bit more chaotic and difficult.
He spotted Captain Rogers having his own difficulties, surrounded by aliens not far up the street. "I'll be back," he informed Natasha, before turning on his heel and leaping through the tight bottle of apparition. He appeared beside the Captain a second later and threw up a Protego around the both of them before stomping his foot and throwing up his hands, causing the asphalt to crack around them, right under the aliens' feet, throwing them to the ground. He gestured sharply and bellowed a curse that turned the street to quicksand under the aliens, before trapping them in the substance when it reverted to its hard state. Some were dead, but the others were screaming and howling as they struggled to free themselves. One more set of spells later, and several cars and chunks of rubble crushed the survivors. Severus canceled his shield and stepped back, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the look of awe Captain Rogers was giving him.
"I thought you said you couldn't do much," the man commented in an impressed tone.
"I am finding that many of these simple spells are not as much of a drain on my magic as I had originally thought," Severus explained, reaching up to push his sweaty hair out of his face. His face was grimy and damp with perspiration. "How goes the battle with the rest of the Avengers?" he demanded, turning to catch an approaching group of aliens with a blinding spell and then hitting them all with a lighting strike that left them twitching and moaning. That last curse left him a bit lightheaded and he resolved to stick with the simple spells. Nothing above fifth year level, he decided.
"Thor's doing alright with the portal, but we still don't know how to shut down the Tesseract," Rogers answered, bouncing his shield off an alien chariot and breaking the neck of another ugly creature with just one punch. "The Hulk's making his way toward Stark Tower. If anybody can break that portal machine, it'll be him. Barton's jumping around on the rooftops, and Stark's taking out another flying whale."
"Whom would you have me assist?" Severus asked, deferring to the man's impressive leadership skills. He caught two charging aliens with a Bombardo and another one with a burst of controlled fire. The alien screamed as it magically burned to death, but by then, Severus had turned his attention to something else.
"Maybe you should get back to Romanoff," Rogers suggested. "I'll let her know if I need you somewhere else."
"Affirmative," Severus replied abruptly. He twisted in place and disapparated to Natasha's back, helping her to take down a much larger alien wielding a mace of some sort. Sectumsmpra to its ugly face did the job, and the red-haired young woman smirked sideways at him.
"Perfect timing," she complimented him.
"Did you expect anything less?" Severus smirked, flicking his hands sharply and sending a chariot into a wild tailspin. It crashed into another chariot and exploded. He grinned, wondering why it was simply so fun to do that.
"We need to close that damn portal," Natasha shouted, back to business. She cried out as she fired her alien energy weapon, frying several Chitauri creatures with the blast.
"Our biggest guns can't touch it," Captain Rogers shouted as he ran up, panting and filthy. He had blood on his uniform and Severus wondered if he had enough energy for a wandless healing charm.
"Hold still, you're injured," the wizard barked, grabbing the man's arm and gesturing down at his bleeding leg.
The Captain shook his head with a tired grin. "Naw, I'm good," he panted. "I can do this all day."
"Hold still, you insufferable Gryffindor," Severus snapped. "It is a simple spell to stop the bleeding and you bouncing about isn't helping matters. Stop moving for two seconds, I pray you. Then you can go back to fighting."
Rogers stopped moving and held still while Natasha covered them. "Evanesco," the wizard muttered, waving his hand in the gesture for a cleaning charm. He winced as it seemed a little stronger than he meant, but Rogers didn't flinch. "Aguamenti," Severus directed a gentle spray of water on the wound so he could see the damage, and was surprised that it actually seemed to be healing already. He arched an eyebrow in surprise before reaching out and tracing his finger along the wound, sealing it with a whispered chant he had invented for healing wounds. Thankfully, he had invented it to be used with or without a wand, so it was no problem at all. With a brisk nod, Severus straightened up and backed off.
"Nice," the Captain nodded appreciatively.
"I've an idea," Natasha interrupted, having cleared the area around them for now. "If I can get up to that cube … maybe it's not about guns."
"If you're going up there, you'll need a ride," Captain Rogers replied, shifting his shield and turning to face her.
"I have a ride," the Black Widow smirked and nodded up at the aliens zooming past in their chariots. "Could use a lift, though."
"Excuse me?" Severus interrupted incredulously. "Are you seriously planning to hijack one of those flying contraptions?"
"Got a better idea?" the red-haired Agent demanded, arching an eyebrow at him.
Severus sighed. Honestly.
He stepped forward and grabbed the woman's arm before he apparated to the top of Stark's tower.
Natasha gasped and her knees almost buckled as they landed, higher up than any building in the city. She looked around wildly before she realized what had happened. Her eyes narrowed and she gave Severus a hard shove that made him bark out a laugh as he released her.
"You couldn't warn me?" she demanded.
"The look on your face was worth it," Severus smirked.
She huffed and marched toward a portly man on the floor next to the humming contraption holding the glowing cube. "Dr. Selvig! Shut this thing off!"
"It is impossible!' the man crowed, his blue eyes pulsing with maniacal excitement. "He wants to show us something! A new universe!"
"I'll show him a new universe," Severus growled viciously. He shoved Natasha aside and flexed his hands as he approached the Doctor. He wasted no time in grabbing the man by the face. "Legilimens," he muttered, and dove into the eerie blue eyes of the old man.
Again, he fell in a disorienting spiral through what appeared to be a galaxy of spiraling memories. This was a smart and learned man. He had built a complicated contraption to harness the powers of the cube, and the stolen Iridium stabilized the Tesseract so it didn't collapse the portal it had created. He had no time to be impressed, however, and he pressed onward to the core of this intelligent man, to free him from Loki.
Just thinking that guided him to where the portly man was standing, bewildered and lost-looking, surrounded by complicated algorithms and blueprints. "What's going on?" the fellow demanded in a wobbly voice. "Where am I?"
"You are in your own mind, Doctor," Severus replied crisply. He thought he might be able to detect Loki's influence and simply snip the threads connecting the two, rather than trying to guide the man out the way he had Barton. This Selvig was certainly not as strong-minded as the SHIELD archer. There was too much possibility that he would simply get lost on the way out.
He examined the blue tendrils anchoring the Doctor in place and gathered his magic carefully into his hands. Mind surgery was extremely dangerous if done carelessly. He wielded his magic like a surgeon's knife and carefully snipped the first thread.
Loki was suddenly there, looking livid. "You can't leave well enough alone, can you?" he hissed, his eyes pulsing blue like the rhythm of the glowing Tesseract.
"I have a bad habit of meddling," Severus hissed back, and dove toward Loki. But instead of meeting the god in pitched battle, he sidestepped Loki's staff and viciously cut the rest of the blue threads with one swipe, hoping that he hadn't damaged the man's mind. Loki shrieked as his image vanished, clutching his head in pain. Severus did not pause, and threw up some temporary Occlumency shields around the Doctor's fragile mind before he pulled out.
There was a tremendous crash from somewhere close by and Severus winced as his head throbbed with a fresh headache. He reeled back and took a deep breath. His magic was beginning to show signs of exhaustion, but he could still fight. He could 'do this all day', to quote that Gryffindorish Captain. All that mattered was if this Dr. Selvig could shut off his contraption and stop the rest of the alien army from coming and leveling New York.
"Wha' …?" Selvig groaned, coming back to himself.
"Doctor, is there a way to shut this off?" Natasha barked at the old man.
"What? N-no, there's isn't …" the doctor moaned, clutching at his head. "Ah, my head!"
"I apologize for your discomfort, but I was in a hurry," Severus said crisply, he got up and dusted off his black trousers. Was that blood on the knee? He couldn't even remember scraping himself.
"You!" Selvig spluttered. His eyes were now a pale, mild blue, filled with confusion and worry. "Who … what are you?"
"He's like Thor," Natasha butted in, her hasty explanation causing the old man to give Severus an incredulous look. "Now is there any way to shut this contraption off?" the Black Widow went on. "The Chitauri will keep coming if we don't!"
"There normally isn't, but I built a failsafe in!" the Doctor replied, staggering to his feet and looking around desperately. "And I'd need Loki's staff for it …" he paused, looking over the edge of the tower. "Oh. There it is."
"Hold on," Severus snapped. He turned on his heel and disapparated to the spot, surprised to see the broken glass of the Stark penthouse in front of him, and Loki clumsily rising from where he had fallen, grimacing pathetically. Was that the crash they had heard? Severus yanked off his sweater and threw it over the glowing staff before he snatched it up. He apparated back to the top of the tower, just barely escaping Loki's enraged yell as he lunged forward to stop him.
"Here!" he shouted, thrusting the thing at Natasha. Then he cried out as he felt foreign magic wash over him. His knees buckled, but he cried out and produced a wandless shield, shattering most of the pain. Loki was trying to drag him back. Fine, he thought through clenched teeth. Loki wanted a fight … then a fight he would get.
"Severus?" Natasha cried out, grabbing his shoulder and peering into his eyes. "What is it?"
"It's Loki," the wizard rasped in pain. He reached up and briefly squeezed her hand. "Shut this contraption down. I will distract him."
"Snape, no!" the woman gasped, grabbing him by the arm and dropping the staff. "You can't face him by yourself, you said so! He … he'll kill you!"
"Then I shall die well," Severus replied with a bit of his old arrogance. "You have your own job to do and I am the only one who stands a chance against him for more than a minute." He glared earnestly into her gray-green eyes. "This is what I was born for. Do not mourn. I forbid it."
He jerked away from her before she could start being noble and compassionate again, and twisted in place, apparating back to the spot where the staff had fallen, just above where the letters of Stark's name stood out on the building.
"Here I am, Loki," he shouted to the Asgardian, his body crackling with energy as he finally loosed his stranglehold on his magic, allowing it to fill him and rush through him. It boiled into his hands, eager for battle, vicious and hungry. Sparks of magic jumped between his fingertips and stared to race up his arms. A storm seemed to gather above the tower and Severus' dark eyes flashed dangerously. He would die today, but Natasha and Selvig would close the portal, Barton and Rogers and Stark and Banner would destroy the Chitauri, and hopefully he would buy the Avengers enough time to unite and destroy Loki … before the god of chaos escaped to fight another day. He would sell his life dearly, in direct opposition to his entire life's story. Never again would he hide and strike from the shadows with cunning words and subtle lies. Here, he would stand before evil and make himself known. He would fight with cutting words and the most powerful magic he could manage, and he would not hold back. He would not back down, he would not surrender. He would not serve this monster.
"Show me you aren't just a pretty face," Severus Snape snarled mockingly, flexing his hands and causing a lightning strike beside him.
Loki smirked and raised his own hands. They were slender and delicate, much like the Potions-Master's. Green magic swirled around his hands like puffs of smoke. "At last," the Asgardian smirked. "A true match for my power."
A~HP~V~HP~E~HP~N~HP~G~HP~E~HP~R~HP~S
Okay, so we finally got to see Snape use some of his awesome battle magic without a wand, but he's still kind of struggling with it. Next chapter Loki and Snape will face off and we get into the god-of-mischief's head. So it should be fun!
One of you lovely reviewers mentioned Snape's wand, so I figured I should clear that up here rather than in a private message:
I imagine that accio is a complicated (if not almost impossible) spell to do without a wand, because otherwise every wizard in the HP books would just do it (or attempt to do it) when their wand got knocked out of their hands. So Snape couldn't accio his wand, (or any other wand) for that reason. Also, Severus' own particular wand is buried under two tons of black marble in Scotland and he can't get it obviously. Watching Thor: The Dark World and how the climax happens in Greenwich, England gave me a few ideas about how Snape can get his old wand back though, so maybe he will get it back if I make him involved in THAT story, which I probably will.
Thor: Dark World is one of my very favorite movies, especially all of Loki's lines. "You lied to me? I'm impressed." Cracks me up every time.
I have this little scene of dialogue stuck in my head that I would love to put in: You know the scene after Thor gets Loki out of the dungeons and he's all excited?
"This plan is just so unlike you, brother!" Loki says. "So clandestine!"
Thor doesn't answer in the movie, clearly annoyed that Loki doesn't think he can be sneaky. But what if Snape popped out from behind a pillar and smirks as he says: "That's because it isn't his plan. It's mine."
You think Dark World would be a good place to branch off a sequel? I mean. I love Captain America: Winter Soldier too, but I think Snape would fit better in the world of Asgard and Dark Elves, not that I don't think Snape and Bucky duking it out wouldn't be epic. It would be. :)
I'm sorry for this super long author's note, but I got so excited thinking about a sequel! Thank you all for your reviews and I love reading them all!