Chapter Forty-One: Risk It

Tony and Bruce examined the scene before them. Neither of them said a word. They just weren't sure where to start. Steve pulled up on his bike, cutting the silence up with the sound of his engine-and reintroducing it when he shut the thing off. Fury's SUV wasn't far behind. Steve hopped off his vehicle and raced forward to assist their fallen teammate. Tony caught him in the chest with a heavy metal hand, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"What happened to him?" Steve blurted. "We have to help!" He tried to get around Tony's iron fist. Bruce stepped forward and shot him a look that halted him successfully. He took a step away, troubled clearly by Thor's possibly lifeless body. He was distressed and ran his gloved fingers through his short hair. "Somebody talk to me!"

"We just got here, we don't know what happened," Bruce gave him all the information they had-which was essentially nothing.

Steve's mouth sprung open then shut again quickly. There were too many things he wanted to say. "What if he's dying? Right now, he's dying, and we're standing around!"

"What if you run over there and you start dying too?" Tony responded quickly. "We didn't see what happened to him. This could be an elaborate trap. We all rush in there, we all end up just like he is. I mean, hey," he looked at the soldier, "if you want to try it-be my guest."

Steve stared off toward the caped demigod and seriously considered doing just that. Instead, he tried a more practical approach first. "Thor!" He shouted. There was no response. "Thor!" Louder this time.

Fury joined them with that same irritated frown he always had scrawled across his lips. "Are we thinking he's dead?" His tone lacked much investment in the question-like it was fine either way. Steve glared at him to make it perfectly clear that his attitude was not okay. Fury scoffed. "Are you kidding me, Rogers? I'm not gonna get all emotional until we know what's going on. Do you want me to stand here and panic? Would you like to see me cry?"

"No, sir," Steve returned to observing the mystery before them. "Hey!" He shouted suddenly. "His hand moved! He stretched his arm out!" The group perked up excitedly. "I'm going in," he announced without even glancing at Tony to obtain his permission.

Instead, it was Bruce who objected. "What if it's something that nearly killed him? What if your body can't take it?"

"Hey, maybe he's just fatigued," Tony offered with a shrug, "maybe it was a tough landing."

Fury looked around. "Where's that agent we brought?"

All three Avengers snapped their attention to him. "No," Tony stated decisively.

"What?" Fury replied. "You didn't bring her? I specifically told her to-"

"Oh, we brought her," Tony answered, "but you're not sending her in there!"

"Who said that's what I was going to do?" Fury sounded offended.

"It was easy to assume. You did send an agent in to kiss a psychopath's girlfriend not too long ago. They're people. Real people-not pawns," Bruce spoke up.

Fury laughed away their shocked stances. "I wasn't going to send her in there! I just know she came with you and I don't see her now."

"She's in the car," Tony stated curtly, still not convinced Fury didn't have some ulterior motive for bringing her. That girl was a mouse. A human mouse. He had this sickening feeling in the bottom of his stomach that when the time came where Fury did ask her to do something outrageous-that she would do it. "She's a surveillance agent-why is she even here?"

Fury ignored this entirely. In front of the house, Thor had now planted both his palms firmly on the ground and was trying to get up. Steve took a deep breath and stepped forward. He inched himself toward the sidewalk with his arms outstretched as though expecting an invisible wall. Tony presented his palm to Bruce and asked for his cell phone, which the scientist was holding in his pants pocket. "No," Bruce whispered, "you are not going to film this."

"Come on," he answered in an equally hushed tone, "if he doesn't die, it'll be hilarious."

"Absolutely not." Bruce crossed his arms and took a defining step away from the billionaire.

Steve had crossed halfway through the sidewalk now and was approaching the front yard. He placed one foot onto the grass and winced, not sure what to expect. Nothing happened. Thor continued to struggle. "Thor?" Steve called out to him. He didn't seem to hear. "Thor!" Again, no response. He moved his other food onto the grass. The moment his head passed over the line, it hit him like a sudden heat wave. He had been planning to recoil at the first sign of trouble, but it was impossible to do so.

He stumbled and landed on his knees. He felt sick-like he'd been riding a rollercoaster for days on end. He looked up at the house. The colors and lines were swirling and blurring together. He saw Thor, who was still struggling, and couldn't seem to focus on the details that made him up. The bright red of the cape consumed the rest of his shape and shot back randomly to reveal the grass below, like he wasn't even there. Steve blinked. Again. Again and again. The ground beneath him became unsteady. He threw his hands to the ground and curled his fingers jaggedly into the grass. It felt as though the earth would swallow him up any moment.

His ears were ringing. All he could hear was a hum or a buzz, something he couldn't identify. He lost sight of the task at hand and became rapidly very frightened. He wasn't thinking about Thor anymore. Or Loki, or the Avengers back behind whatever hell he'd stepped into. All he was thinking about was splashing water in his face and waking up from this nightmare. It was too cruel a feeling to be real. So he fell completely to the ground and closed his eyes. The sensation didn't go away-and what he saw behind his eyelids, the colors and moving shapes that went on forever-was worse than when his eyes had been opened. He dragged his lids up again and stared out into the blades of grass before him. They rose up, taller than him, he was no bigger than an ant! He was being swallowed up, he just knew it, he was going to disappear, he needed to wake up. He closed his eyes again. It wasn't better-neither way was better. All he wanted was to go back across the line, back to where his body felt right. Now he was too far gone to understand that. Now he couldn't move.

Elsewhere

Eve was enjoying herself-but not as much as she could have been. The rumble had taken her out of the moment. Her body begged her unceasingly to let go and fully experience the sweet penetration she'd wanted so badly just minutes before. She closed her eyes. When no one entered the house, she was able to breathe again, moan again.

"That's my girl," Loki encouraged as he felt her spine relax. She drove herself back into him with each thrust. He increased his speed.

Then the first car pulled up. Once he heard Tony and Banner's infuriating voices, he hastily grabbed a healthy chunk of Eve's hair and pulled it toward him to distract her. Her head moved back with it and she let out a thrilled ooh at the dull pain in her scalp. Then came the sounds of a motorcycle and another car. The group that formed outside the house started shouting. At each other, then at his brother-who was presumably collapsed on the lawn. Eve tried to pull her head away, listening, and winced when his hand stayed firmly where it was.

"They can't get to us," he reassured, "They won't be able to."

Eve remained unsure. She'd stopped touching herself now and couldn't quite focus. She decided to speed things along, the way she had in the past with other men. She faked it. She arched her back and made all the right sounds, chanted dirty praises of his prowess. Then she grinned pleasantly as he slowed his pace. He pulled out entirely and pressed a firm hand into her hip, motioning for her to flip over. She did so.

He crawled on top of her. He was smiling, but his eyes had an air of deviousness about them. "Did you really think," he began, his voice husky and dripping with cruel intentions, "in your wildest dreams," he continued, "that I'd fall for that?" Her eyebrows came down in an uneasy motion. She couldn't think of anything to say or do, so she stared at him inquisitively. "Obviously I don't want to be interrupted either," he went on, "so just know I wouldn't risk it. I wouldn't have started something I couldn't finish."

She nodded agreeably, mostly ecstatic that she hadn't made him angry. Deep below whatever lust or attraction she felt for him at any give moment, she was still afraid of him. His head dipped down so he could take one nipple into his mouth and he entered her abruptly, forcing her legs apart to allow him access. Eve gasped and grinned, her back curving into him delightedly.

He brought his mouth up to her ear and nibbled at it. Then he placed his lips right up against it so she could hear him perfectly. Then he said, "We're done when I say we're done." This sent a shiver up her spine so strong she had to breathe it out when it reached the base of her skull. He maintained a steady rhythm and kissed her neck, ran his tongue down her jawline, nipping her occasionally. Her hands clasped to him like magnets and urged him on. She was able to easily ignore the commotion outside and succumb to the growing heat that was building up pressure inside her. So when Darla screamed at the top of her lungs-Eve couldn't even hear it.