Chapter Eleven:

Wind bit at her eyes as she free-fell thousands of feet from the air. Under her, she saw the container where Blondie was still kept, but she couldn't do anything about it at the moment.

Emblym reached blindly her knife summoning in her hand. "Get me out of here!" She demanded, and for once, they listened.

She felt something with a trigger on her hand and she shot it towards the cell. Immediately, she was dragged towards the descending huge cell with a heavy thud.

Emblym could hear banging inside and remebered that the Blondie was still in there. "Help me!" She screamed, the ground was getting closer faster, and she couldn't find a way out.

The blood red axe appeared in her hands. Quickly, she swung it at the glass where it was splintered from the inside. The glass was thick, and her axe didn't help but crack it even more. She tried again just as she heard another bang, this time at the glass. He was trying to get out too!

They were getting too close. With one final swing, she hit the glass just as the man escaped, tumbling through the air like a rag doll.

Then the cage hit the ground and Emblym was tossed off. She flew through the air for several seconds before landing on the ground. Her head hitting the earth with sharp crack.

• ️ ️ ️ ️•

When Emblym woke up to the sun in her eyes. She squinted, groaning and tried to turn away. "Oh, you have awoken," a familair voice spoke. Emblym didn't try to place it. Her entire body was sore and her head was pounding. She felt blood running down her face and groaned, touching it lightly. "Are you okay? You suffered quite a terrible fall."

Emblym groaned, turning over slowly so the sun would leave her eyes. "Can you hear me?" Emblym nodded, "Where are you hurt?" She didn't reply to that.

Emblym held out her hand, bringing Hatter's hat to her. She stuck her hand in, "Give me something for the pain," she mumbled. Then, she pulled out a small bottle labeled, 'Heal'.

"What is that?" He asked. He reached for Hatter's hat, but Emblym quickly had a knife at his throat.

"Don't... You dare," she hissed, trying to sound intimidating even though she was seeing double. He put his hand back and Emblym let hers fall.

Emblym breathed for a few seconds before opening the bottle and drinking a bit of its contents. She felt her mind unfog quickly and she sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"Are you alright now?" He asked again.

"I should be soon," Emblym muttered and tried to take stock of their surroudings. "Where are we?"

"I do not know," He admitted. "This isn't my planet, after all."

Emblym sighed, and tried to sit up. Her body, although healing, was still sore and hurt. The man placed a hand at her back when her shoulders tensed and she hunched over. "You should not move yet," he warned her. "You could be seriously hurt."

"I'm fine," she grumbled, ignoring his warnings and stood. Then, she saw double and fell back down again. Emblym groaned, feeling queasy and exhausted. Her voices began to laugh at her, but Emblym wasn't in the mood for their mockery. "Shut up!" She snapped and they quickly went silent.

"I... I was not speaking," the m,an said, eyebrows furrowed.

"No, not you," Emblym sighed. "Sorry. I... I just need a second."

"Of course," he said, and Emblym focused on calming down. She wouldn't be able to get anywhere riled up and without a common enemy. "Where are you from?"

Emblym blinked, looking at the man, "What?"

"You seem to want to calm down, maybe by asking questions you can," He replied shrugging. "Where are you from?"

At first, Emblym was going to give a snarky comment, but she stopped herself and instead said, "... California." Then, she replied. "You?"

"Asgard. How are you from this California if you wield the Blade of Wonder?"

Emblym blinked, "What?"

He motioned to her hand, where her knife still was. She was clenching and unclenching it to calm herself down. Even the voices weren't screaming as loud. "That. It is the Blade of Wonders."

"What does that even mean?" Emblym asked skeptically.

"It is told that after the Blood Queen made the deal with the Lord of Time, she created that blade to take shape of whatever the owner desires. It is also supposedly cursed."

"'Cursed'?" Emblym repeated.

"Anyone who dies after wielding the blade will have their souls trapped inside it," he explained. "Even if you use it for a moment, your soul would already be doomed."

"Oh," Emblym breathed. "Lovely."

"It is actually quite painful," Blondie corrected her.

Emblym nodded gently and wiped at the blood on her face. "Look, I'd love to talk about old stories about Wonderland with you, but I think I have to go." Emblym attempted to stand again, this time being able to on shaky legs.

"Go where?" He asked, confused.

"Away. I'm not staying here like a sitting duck so Fury can come take me away again. You're welcome to leave, Blondie."

"What do you mean? We have to get back to the Helicarrier, if Loki escaped-"

"Loki is not my problem," Emblym snapped. "I don't have time to be arguing this with you, Blondie. Go save the world, or something."

"You are not going anywhere," his eyes narrowed and Emblym laughed. She turning around to see the blond man with lightning crackling around his hammer. Emblym noticed how dark the any got suddenly and frowned.

"I am not trying to start a fight right now," Emblym growled, even though her voices were rejoicing with the idea of blood grin shed. Her fingers twitched as she summoned her knife and her heart raced. Emblym was in no shape for a fight and he knew it. She couldn't stay here, but she had no way to escape either.

"Neither am I," Blondie said, but he did not put down the hammer. Emblym stood tall and squared her shoulders.

She threw her knife at him, which he dodged. He winded his hammer around his hand and flew towards her. Emblym rolled out of the way, summoning her knife again. He came back around, swinging his hammer with grace and pure agility. Emblym ducked and weaved out of his attacks, managing to slice his arm, cheek, and part of his torso.

Blondie threw his hammer at her, and it collided with her chest, knocking the air out of her. Emblym landed on the ground, unable to get up. Blondie stalked over to her, smirking.

Emblym summoned Hatter's hat and stuck her hand in. "Get me away," she demanded, and then her hand filled with blue dust. She sprinkled it on herself and a second later, she was a few paces behind Blondie.

Blondie noticed too late. Emblym came behind him and held her knife to his throat. "Sorry," she wheezed, but was grinning all the same. "Fight's over." Blondie stopped moving, but he still talked.

"If you help us defeat my brother, I will take you to Wonderland."

Emblym froze, then, she glared at him, digging her knife deeper. "Liar! Fury would never allow it. As soon as I finish here, he's sending me back to the Institute. I don't have an option here."

"Fury doesn't have to know," he promised. "I can get you away from here to find Wonderland, and then back safely. I will keep you out of the Institute. You will not have to worry about Fury."

Emblym stared at the back of the man's head for several seconds. Then, she stepped away, her hand falling to her side. Her voices screamed at her, and Emblym didn't blame them. All that build up and no blood was disappointing.

He turned around and smiled a bit at Emblym. She glared at him instead. "If I find that you're lying-"

"I'm not," he promised. "Finding Wonderland had some benefits for us too."

"If we find Wonderland, I don't want you to touch it," Emblym glared. "If you weaponize his home for your own greed, I'll kill you myself."

"I would not have it any other way," He grinned. Emblym's eyes narrowed, but she nodded anyway. "Then, let us go. Time is of the essence here, and we must move fast."

"Do you even know where he is?" Emblym asked.

"I have a... How would your people say it? A hunch?"

Emblym huffed and crossed her arms. "Lead the way, then, Blondie."

"My name is not Blondie," he frowned, "It is Thor."

"Yeah, but Blondie suits you better." He held out his hand to her, and Emblym reluctantly took it. Then, he winded up his hammer faster than Emblym could see. A second later, they were shooting towards the sky.

• ️ ️ ️ ️•

Emblym - admittedly - screamed and clawing herself to Thor as they zoomed through the air. This was not what she thought when he said he'd get them there. There was no security, no safety - nothing! If she fell now, she'd be dead. Period.

She was lightheaded with that thought, and became even more so when he began to zig-zag through skyscrapers. Emblym inhaled as Thor began to slow, and when she finally looked up, she saw that he was laughing.

Emblym's ears felt hot and if she had the chance - and if she wasn't thousands of feet in the air - she would've hit him.

Thor landed on a balcony and Emblym gratefully let go of him, steadying herself. She looked up to see a huge, gaping hole in the skyline of New York City. Swarms of... Creatures Emblym had never seen before flew out and terrorized the city. Some looked like man-sized bugs with greenish scaly skin. Others, looked like demonic dragon caterpillars that were the size of a train. Emblym was so shocked that she didn't even see the man in front of her, at least until he turned and gave Thor a nasty smile.

"Loki!" Thor boomed, hand gripping his hammer. "Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"

"You can't," Loki laughed. "There is no stopping it. There is only the war!"

Emblym glanced down at the city, "I'm going to go help them," she told Thor, who simply nodded. She glanced over the side, watching the flying aliens.

"You again?" Loki laughed, his scepter forming in his hands. "You humans must be tougher than you look."

Emblym look up at the man and smiled, "I guess you could say that, Seaweed." Then, she reached for Hatter's hat and tipped it on her head. "I'll see you soon. In hell, maybe?" Then, she dropped from the balcony.

For a few seconds, Embylm fell through the air before her knife caught one of the flying alien bugs. She grunted as they zipped through the air. There were three on the platform and each of them had a gun pointed at her face. Emblym acted quickly, using her knife to block a shot at her face, then swung her legs from under it.

It fell on its side, but there was a cable connecting it to the platform. It crawled back to it's feet hissing at her. The other tried to shoot her. Emblym used her knide, cutting its cable and pushed it off the edge. She stood and the other wrestled with her, grabbing her arms and trying to swing her towards the ledge.

Emblym grunted, trying to keep her footing as the ship swung through the air. Emblym heatbutted it, making it stumble back. Then, she used her knife, stabbing it in its chest. Then, she cut it's back, unintentionally slicing an entire slab of its scaly skin away.

It wailed, reaching for it's back while stumbling away. It accidentally slipped, falling off the edge and to its death.

Emblym breathed, then turned to the pilot, who was completely unaware of what was going on. "Okay..." She muttered, "I need my axe." For once, the voices acted immediately. They wanted blood and these aliens would fill in for that.

She swung her axe high at the alien, and decaptitaed it. It squealed in pain, stumbling for a few seconds and Emblym pushed it off the platform. The platform began to quickly to out it control. Emblym grabbed the head and tried to hopelessly steer it.

She veered right, the side of the platform scraping past the glass windows of skyscrapers. "Down! Down!" Emblym hissed, pushing the disembodied forearms forwards. It was too far, and Emblym let out a cry as it turned vertical.

Emblym was close enough to the ground to see a blue blur that almost resembeled Captain America. She steered back around, holding on for dear life, and crashlanded it several yards from the man.

Emblym groaned, rubbing her skull. She was on the ground and the platform was behind her, in flames. Her voices seemed high from the adrenaline and begged for more.

"... Emblym?" Captain America's voice said from above her. Emblym glanced up and gave a lopsided smile.

"Hey, Captain Crunch," she grinned, standing up shakily.

"You're here," he rose an eyebrow. "Fury said you'd probably try to run."

"Unfortunately," Emblym said, brushing off her clothes. "I've been persuaded otherwise,"

"What does that mean?" Captain asked, eyes narrowed.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Emblym smirked and summoned her knife to her hand. When she felt something heavier she looked down. It was her axe and it felt as if it were pulsing in her hand. Emblym grinned. "They're feeling generous today."

She heard crawling behind her and turned, swinging in the same motion. An alien was bisected horizontally immediately. The voices roared in appraisal, filling her with strength and energy.

Captain was watching her, a look of approval on his face. "Good job, here." He handed her an extra black earpiece, and Emblym stuck it in her ear. "This way," He instructed, pointing down the street where two others were fighting. Emblym followed, the two of them slicing through several aliens as they went and pointing people to safety.

They finally got to Natasha was standing alongside a man she hadn't met yet. Captain America saw her struggling with an alien and jumped over a car, bringing his shield down through its skull. Emblym just walked around it like a - ironically - normal person.

Natasha turned to her, an eyebrow raised, "You're back."

"It's a surprise to me too," Emblym admitted. The aliens began to swarm in thick numbers around the four of them. Emblym shifted the grip of her axe, gearing up for a fight as they surged forward.

Then, lightning crackled overhead and a shockwave was sent through the aliens around them. Emblym felt her hair raise as the aliens convulsed before hitting the ground.

Thor landed on the ground, glancing around at them, looking a little disgruntled. "What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked immediately.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor announced.

"Thor is right. We gotta deal with these guys," Emblym heard Tony say as he flew by over head, several aliens chasing him.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team," Captain America replied and Emblym made a face.

"That's a bit cheesy," Emblym commented.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said, but the man Emblym didn't recognize scoffed.

"Get in line."

"Save it," Captain America ordered and began to harm orders again. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us..."

Emblym heard a strange rumbling and turned, tensing, but frowned when she saw Doctor Banner on a motorbike approaching them. He was wearing bigger, baggier clothes and he jumped off his bike and approached them.

"Hey," Emblym grinned. "What's up, Doc?"

Doctor Banner almost smirked. "An alien invasion," he replied. "It all seems pretty horrible."

"I've seen worse," Natasha said and he suddenly looked guilty, looking at the ground and rubble.

"Sorry."

"No," Natasha amended, and he looked back at her. "We could use a little... Worse."

"Stark, we got him," Captain America said into his earpiece.

"Banner?" He replied back.

"Yeah. Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up," Tony announced as he rounded the corner down the block. "I'm bringing the party to you."

Emblym gaped as one of the dragon callipillars was coming right for them. "I... I don't see how that's a party..." Redhead gaped, shocked.

"I agree..." Emblym whispered as Doctor Banner began walking away from the group.

"Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry," Captain America said and Doctor Banner looked back at him, almost amused.

"That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry." Then, his body began to swell and his skin turned green. In seconds, he was huge green monstorous hulk.

With a single punch, the caterpillar began to turn, flipping on it's head and fell towards them. "Got it!" Tony called, shooting at it's back. Emblym ducked, holding her axe over her head as debris fell on them. The alien caterpillar was dead.

The army around them on the walls of the building, in the air, and even on the ground began to roar at them, as if in horror of their dead comrade. Hulk replied with his own roar, which was much louder than the creatures surrounding them.

For a second, they seemed invincible. For a second, it seemed as if they would win.

Then, more creatures began to pass through the sky portal, including more Dragon caterpillars. "Guys," Natasha said, looking at the portal as well.

"Call it, Cap," Tony said and Captain America began to shout orders.

"Alright, listen up," Captain said as they watched him, awaiting orders. "Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or your turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" The man, Barton, asked, and Emblym noticed his sleek black bow and matching arrows.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas," Tony said, grabbing them and a second later, they were in the air.

"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal," Captain America continued. "Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Thor nodded firmly and swung his hammer before going into the air.

"Emblym, assist the police and help escort the people out of the buildings. We need to keep casualites as low as possible. Do whatever you can do to get them to safety. They've already been told to use the tunnels, but the train probably won't be in use right now. We need everyone out of the streets and out of the buildings if we want to bring this thing down."

"Aye, aye," Emblym grinned and turned to start running down the street, right into the fray of the aliens.