Maryn's spell transported her to Thor's side where he stood in the field he had landed in after falling from the flying machine. She saw him staring down at his hammer, his emotions swirling and warring behind his blue eyes.
"The Loki you love is still there. He just needs to be shown the right way." She spoke softly knowing he could hear her despite his refusal to make any indication that he did so. "I need your help to bring him back."
Thor still did not look at her, "My brother, if he ever could be called that, is gone, Maryn." He spoke brokenly. "There is nothing of his old self left to save."
Jaw clenched the princess stalked up to him and grabbed his arm, tugging him around to look at her. She saw the tears in his eyes at the admission but forged on anyway knowing he needed to hear her words, "The Tesseract controls him. He was been beaten into submission, Thor. I don't know what they did to him-."
He interrupted her, "It isn't all the Tesseract's control, sister. He has always craved a throne and the power that comes with it."
Maryn sighed, "Yes, he has always wanted those things. However, he has never wanted them with such cruelty as to spill blood in total abandon. He is changed, Thor. This is not something that is in his character."
With a short, derisive scoff, Thor called Mjölnir to his hand, "His character? He is called the God of Mischief and Lies, Maryn. If we have not seen this from him it is because he hid it from us."
Maryn's heart ached at the pain she saw in him – he blinked back tears and kept his gaze away from her. "Do you truly believe that, Thor?"
There was silence between them for so long she felt panic welling up at his continued refusal to answer her.
Then, he spoke quietly, "No, I do not."
She couldn't help but laugh happily then, with a wide smile she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Thor hugged her back, a smile splitting his face.
"We can save him, Thor. Before this becomes worse and there is more bloodshed."
He looked down at her, "You have changed as well, sister." He spoke gently, "You are stronger and I am glad of it."
Blushing at his praise, she smiled her thanks, weaving a spell around him and the other Avengers she sensed moving closer to where Loki was in the human city. "Thank you. Now, let's stop Loki before he can destroy anything else."
Thor grinned and took a step back, his arm rising. A bolt of lightning hit his hammer and his armour slid into place. When the bright light was gone, he wrapped an arm around her waist and they flew together back to the city Thor told her was called New York.
Once there, Maryn dropped from his grip while Thor went to Stark Tower, where Loki stood overlooking the city. She knew he needed to speak to his brother and she knew he needed to do so alone. Her magic reached out finding Steve, Natasha and another male, Clint Barton or Hawkeye, on a small aircraft headed for the city, Fenrir with them. She was about to transport herself to them when a blast of power echoed around her and she looked up at the tower to see a beam of pale blue light reach the sky and open a portal. She knew then that the invasion was out of Loki's hands and a fight for Earth was about to begin.
As alien life-forms flew from the mouth of the portal she gathered her power and shot up into the sky toward them, her relaxed clothing shimmering and morphing into fighting garb, her swords on her back and black-metal daggers hidden on her person. The first craft she met exploded with a deafening bang as her magic left her in a wave. Her eyes glowed crystal blue when the three others behind it met the same fate.
As more and more of the Chitauri poured from the portal, Maryn drew one of her swords and flew closer to the breach. The creatures' black blood sprayed as she cut them down as quickly as she could. Tony in his Ironman suit, Fenrir, Natasha, Steve and Clint were fighting in the air and on foot as the Chitauri spread throughout the city, death destruction and violence following in their wake.
Ducking, slicing and weaving, Maryn continued to kill as many Chitauri as she could, thankful that her magic meant she could meet them in the air before they reached the ground, and the people, far below. She used her magic as much as she could if she was unable to get close enough to the creatures to use her weapons.
Keeping an eye on Thor and Loki who were battling below her on the balcony of Stark Tower, Maryn dodged an aircraft that one of the Chitauri soldiers had aimed at her, only to hear a bone chilling, screeching roar echo from the portal. Her head snapped up as she followed the noise to see a gargantuan creature glide through the opening. It was covered in heavy spiked armour, and looked to almost slither through the air. She pulled back as it hurtled past her with another deafening roar and, in her shock, she watched as Chitauri soldiers detached from its belly when it got closer to the ground – it was a transport for the second wave of fighters.
A sudden sharp pain in her side made her drop to the tower to see Thor watch Loki roll from the balcony onto a Chitauri cruiser as it rushed past. She held her side and saw him pull a small, deadly sharp dagger from his side. He dropped the blood-stained blade at his feet, turning his head sensing her there.
"You're hurt," he growled out taking a step toward her.
She smiled grimly and took her hand from where she had pressed it to her side, showing him that there was no blood.
"I cast a spell that tied me to you, everyone Loki loves, and those that fight with us. I know the Cube has a hold on him. I will do everything I can to protect as many as I can," she explained.
His golden eyebrows drew together in anger and worry, "Undo it, Maryn."
She straightened and lifted her chin defiantly. "No," she spoke firmly before running and jumping from the ledge. No one was going to coddle her again, she was strong enough to do this, strong enough to keep those around her safe.
Falling, the wind tugging at her hair, cloak, and clothes, Maryn focused on what she needed to do. The spell allowed her more than just to feel what Thor and the others felt, it allowed her to take some of the pain from them, give them some of her strength, and focus her magic so that their bodies healed faster. The exhaustion that came with the spell was a small price to pay if it meant that they won this battle.
As she flew above the city and saw the devastation the Chitauri wreaked everywhere they could she knew what she had to do. Drawing on her magic, she watched Thor find the others, Fenrir moving to his side, and then Banner arrived and took on the form of a giant green monster, destroying a Chitauri serpent in the process.
She dropped into a crouch near the group assembled in the middle of the damaged city. Pulling up her hood, she let them see her eyes and feel the magic she was calling on.
"Maryn," Thor took a step toward her.
Wordlessly she pulled her veil across her nose and mouth, the black material of it and her hood meaning her eyes stood out even more. Her hands lowered to her sides, her palms turned toward the sky. She could sense every Chitauri warrior close by and called her magic to her. The ground shook when she drew on the power that laced through everything on Earth. Slowly she rose above the ground, the magic shimmering into tongues of cerulean flame surrounding her, the force of it visible to everyone. She looked at the group standing before her in awed silence, "Save them," she spoke softly but they heard her clearly, and then a shockwave of power rushed out from her and slammed into the Chitauri, their bodies crumpling to the ground or blown into the sides of buildings and vehicles around them. The wave of magic passed harmlessly through the Avengers as Maryn dropped to her feet once more and in the silence that followed, she turned, taking off at a run toward the Chitauri that had been too far away for her magic to reach.
It took a few moments but the others seemed to shake themselves and were about to get back to the fight when more roaring drew their eyes to the portal – where Chitauri serpents and aircraft were flying through by the hundreds.
Maryn kept watch on the Avengers and Fenrir through her magic as she fought with Chitauri soldiers. Men, women and children ran and hid all around her and she did everything she could to keep them away from the cruel beings before leading them to safety once she had cut down their attackers. It was while she was doing this that her hair was roughly grabbed, her hood having fallen back as she fought, and another Chitauri swung the pointed end of his broken gun at her chest trying to impale her.
The sound of an angry roar a moment before it was body-slammed out of the way was the only warning the creatures got before Banner's Hulk slammed into them. The one with a clawed hand in her hair was also ripped off her and she fell to her knees. Looking up she smiled gratefully at the panting giant, his gaze angry but a little uncertain. The sound of something heavy landing nearby caused them both to turn to see Thor striding toward them.
Maryn recognised the look on his face but didn't dare argue when he wrapped a muscled arm around her waist and flew her up onto the large balcony of Stark's tower, leaving her there with a warning to stay put, before leaving.
With a roll of her eyes Maryn walked into the open living room inside only to see Loki lying motionless on the floor, his body looked to have been thrown down with such force that it had made a shallow crater in the concrete under him. Reading his mind, she saw what had happened and couldn't help but sigh regretfully. He had been thrown around like a rag doll by Banner's Hulk. Sauntering to his side, she hunkered down beside him reading shock and pain in his eyes, small cuts and bruises littering his face and neck.
"You chose wrong in this fight, Loki. The humans will win and hate you for what you've done." She reached out and pushed a stray lock of his dark hair from his face, her fingers coming away covered in concrete dust. "The Tesseract has controlled you for too long, my love. Let me help you break away from it."
With a soft groan, Loki rolled to the side a little and pushed to a sitting position, "It's not the Tesseract that controls me, Maryn," he murmured his gaze turned away from hers.
Cupping his cheek she raised his gaze to hers, "I know that fear has you in its grasp as well. Let me help you."
He was silent but she saw his desperate answer in his eyes.
Leaning forward she called on her magic, letting it wrap around him and soak into his skin, into his mind. She found the link the Tesseract had to his mind. It was like a giant snarl wrapping around his mind like a web, its dark tendrils reaching throughout his body. His eyes glowed the same colour as her crystal magic, and then it ebbed away and he took a deep, slow breath. As her power drew back, she searched his intense green gaze, satisfied that the colour was once again what she remembered. Pulling away slowly she dropped her gaze from his to where he had gently reached out and cradled her hand in his. She drew her hand from his strong grip and put a little distance between them, the shock of his touch still too much for her after being without it for so long. The control that the Tesseract had over him was gone but she was not quite ready to give in to her need for him.
He seemed to understand and moved painfully to sit at the foot of the three steps that led to the raised area a few feet away from where he had been thrown. "What now, girl?" he asked watching her warily.
Taking a breath, she lifted her gaze to his, "That, Loki, is entirely up to you."