The Trickster: Ragnarok

by: Shadow Chaser

Disclaimer:

I do not own any characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All characters belong to Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Comics, and Disney. I am not writing this story for profit, only for my own (twisted) amusement. I will try to return the characters unharmed, but some they might have a few scuff marks.

Story:

Chapter 19

Skeiðarár Sandur.

The volcanic coal-black coarse sand was a thing of devastating beauty to behold, much like the rare beaches of acid lakes on Muspelheim whenever fire season had not destroyed them. But the stark difference between Muspelheim and this place, was the distant mountains of snow and blue-white glaciers. Still, it was an unusual place for Loki to find Baldr waiting for him. It looked almost alien, otherwordly, and most definitely not of Midgard. He would have expected a more populated place, perhaps using one of the pitiful mortals as a hostage of sorts. But then again, he would not have cared either way. The mortals were not for him to save – that was Thor's way. He would sooner burn any mortal that dared get in his way to stop Baldr than to save them. There was perhaps one sole exception and it was Dr. Foster, if only because he knew it would hurt Thor more than anything else if Dr. Foster was injured or deceased.

Loki kept his guard up as he sealed the pathway back into the shadows of Yggdrasil with a practiced hand. He watched as the ancient Asgardian swept his arm across the vista around them.

"I have been expecting you, Loki Odinson, regent-King of Asgard. I have spent the last few days scouring this Nornforsaken rock of a planet for a most appropriate place for your death," Baldr's tone was pleasant enough, unlike the thunderous one he had used when he had collected Thor from Union Square just a couple of days previous.

With the flick of his wrist, Loki saw the Chitauri sceptre materialize in Baldr's hand, his grip loose, as if enticing him to rashly come and take it in that very moment. He ignored the obvious ploy and instead smiled faintly at the old Asgardian. There was an estimated fifty or so meters between the two of them, but even with the distance, Loki could make out the familial resemblance to Odin Allfather. Baldr had been listed as adopted in the tome he had read in the library, but this confirmed that he was a bastard of the House of Bor.

"I must congratulate you, Loki, for your efforts in recent days," Baldr started, his voice grandfatherly and benign. It was easy for Loki to instantly understand how deceptive Baldr's voice was, coupled with the power of the Mind Gem sitting on top of the crown of the Chitauri sceptre. Baldr's voice had a soothing quality to it, and he suspected that he used it to great effect, perhaps eons ago when he, Odin, and the Crown Prince had been brothers in Asgard. Baldr's sobriquet was that of the people's prince, and with such a vocal quality, Loki understood why; it was exactly like his own. The only difference it seemed, was that he himself, was distrusted amongst the Court, amongst Asgard itself. And that...that was what made them different, he supposed as he blinked once at Baldr's words. Then again, he suspected that Baldr never had to deal with the prejudices and whispers of unnatural and magick in the Court of Asgard.

"Never in my wildest imagination, and these years of exile have made me creative, did I expect a son of Odin to fall into such a trap. Yet, I have now ensnared Odin's sons. You, like your fool of a brother have come to do my bidding and to return what is rightfully mine," Baldr gestured widely with his arms, swinging the sceptre's blade this way and that.

"You are mistaken, Baldr," Loki said evenly as he drew into the pockets of the shadows-in-between and partially pulled out Gungnir. He saw the older Asgardian smile, his teeth still perfectly white, but with what looked like the barest hint of mad light curling it before he concealed Gungnir back into its place. Almost immediately he could feel the faint tethering snap of Huugin and Muunin nearby, but more than likely circling up high in the air in the clouds unseen. "You," he nodded to the sceptre, "have what is mine. Given rightfully to me by Thanos."

Baldr chuckled, the sound echoing across the empty dead plains, "Ah, yes...Thanos..." He gestured carelessly with the sceptre, "To the victor go the spoils, I believe, was the mortal saying? Or rather, finders keepers, I think is more appropriate in this case." He flicked a finger on the crown, "It is a rather useless trinket, even with the Mind Gem on its crown. I needed it not when you were lured here. You, taken in by it all; after all, you were stuck here on the Nornforsaken realm when Asgard fell. All I need is to claim my rightful place-"

"But you do not have Asgard," Loki pointed out and saw the briefest expression of annoyance flit across the old man's wrinkled countenance before it smoothed out.

"No worries," Baldr smiled toothily, "I have allowed it to be so easy for you since your entrapment. The Mind Gem is subtle, and it was just the barest touches, the nudge here and there, through my faithful servant. I had foreseen you here, with Gungnir. After all, Odin would never have willingly given up his power even if there were no alternatives."

The Asgardian swung the curved blade towards the ground, sending bits of black volcanic sand flying through the air, "You are here because I have allowed it. Everything that has happened has been provided by the power of this sceptre and the Mind Gem." The sudden sharp smell of ozone filled the air and not even a second later, the ground shook with the impact of Thor landing beside Baldr, Mjolnir in his hand. Electricity crackled in small arcs across the hammer as Loki glanced around him to see the gathering of dark stormy clouds.

"Give me Gungnir, and you can free your dear brother, Loki," Baldr extended his free hand towards him, his voice effortlessly polite and congenial. "The power of Asgard, dear little Jotun, it must be such an immense burden...after all, would you rather start anew instead of seeing the wasteland Asgard has been reduced to? Give me Gungnir and the Mind Gem will show you how to break the geas you have with Thanos."

It was an effort on Loki's part to not react to what Baldr had said. It had all but confirmed what he had only hints and whispers about. Baldr had been in communication with Thanos and with Malekith through the use of the Mind Gem connected with the Tesseract and the Aether. He had given Malekith the way into Asgard through its defenses. Defenses that might have changed in the thousands of years he had been in exile due to the fact that Asgard had not been a race of conquerors since the Jotuns had been defeated by Odin Allfather. What ever defenses had been changed had been relayed to Malekith through Sleipnir's geas as he betrayed Asgard once again.

He flicked his eyes back and forth between Baldr and Thor. The red-caped idiot looked like he had not had any rest since he had seen him in Union Square. In fact, he looked more bedraggled and exhausted than Loki had ever seen him before, his wounds sustained from Union Square still visible and unhealed. But there was an unnatural light in Thor's eyes, an excitement and fervor that Loki could see. His appearance was just a ploy for him to lower his guard, and it was something he would never do around Thor. Not if his brother wanted a knife in his ribs – and in this case, Loki was more inclined to give him one if he attacked again.

"And what assurances do I have that you do not have a geas with Thor-" he started affecting a quizzical look at Baldr before placing a finger on his lips, "oh, but wait. You cannot create one...not with him under your control."

"You arrogant whelp-"

"You forget, dear Uncle," he sneered, "you are not the only one who knows the power of the sceptre and the Mind Gem. You cannot think of creating a geas with someone who has not readily consented to it, even if however thick of a skull Thor has, to agree to a geas because he cannot consent by his own free will."

Baldr frowned and glared at him, "And how do you know if I had not let him a moment's peace?"

Loki shrugged, seemingly bored, "I am pretty sure Thor would have used the opportunity to his usual advantage of hitting things whenever they disagreed with him." He smiled mirthlessly as he shook his head at Baldr, "But I know for a fact that you are wrestling with Sleipnir's geas within you. That the millenia and eons of sharing a geas and keeping a familiar, would have drained your core."

Baldr opened his mouth to counter his words, but Loki overrode whatever he was about to say, "You see, Sleipnir had his uses. You might have broken him, bent his will with your geas contract and your binding of him as a familiar to supplant both of your cores, but here is what I think. I think you over estimated what had happened with the Crown Prince on the Bifrost, and you pathetically latched onto to the nearest thing the fell into the abyss with you. In doing so, you've damned yourself and the only thing you can do now is goad me into giving you Gungnir so that you can use its additional power to travel and claim your so-called rightful Kingship of Asgard."

"Sleipnir broke," Baldr hissed, angry and Loki flicked a quick look to see Thor slowly spinning Mjolnir in his hand with Baldr's reaction.

"Yes, he did," Loki agreed before giving him a contemptuous look, "but you fixed him."

The stunned look would have once brought a smile to Loki's face at how neatly he had entrapped Baldr, but instead, it only made him shake his head in disdain. "You are the fool who thought that ordering Sleipnir to kill Frigga would have broken him. Instead, Sleipnir has proven his use by fighting your summons while Thor fights your command over his mind. It's pathetically childish how much you scheme and claim to have infinite wisdom and for all of your years of knowledge, the best you could have come up with was an exchange," he sneered. "You could have had it all, Baldr. You could have had it all and my mother did not have to die!"

This time there was a visible reaction from Thor who seemingly stumbled a step, Mjolnir crackling as it unleashed a bolt of lightning harmlessly into the black sand. However, the moment passed and he straightened, his face blank and expressionless. Loki turned back to see Baldr gripping the Chitauri sceptre with a white-knuckled grip and a slow sardonic smile appeared on his lips.

"Having trouble?" he asked almost congenially, the wisp of a spell ready at his finger tips.

Baldr only glared at him just as the sharp smell of ozone filled the air. It was the only warning Loki got before he threw up his hand, shielding himself from a direct lightning strike from Thor. Electric arcs played over the small shield he had conjured around him. Even before it dissipated, Loki quickly danced out of the way of Thor's flying attack. He risked a quick look back to see if Baldr would attack, but somehow, the other man's teeth were bared in a rictus of anger as he seemingly curled his free hand against his chest. Not even a second later Loki's eyes widened in surprise at the crackling ugly ball of black-liquid energy. A geas; more than likely the geas Baldr had with Sleipnir.

However, he did not get a chance to see what Baldr was doing with the geas as Thor attacked again. He shifted his feet, turning to block an overhead strike from Mjolnir as he brought out the Casket of Ancient Winters-bound glaive. Helblindi's gift was certainly proving its worth as the hollow clang of metal-on-metal echoed across the unearthly vista. Bolts of lightning discharged to the side from the impact before Loki broke the stalemate and swept the blade up towards Thor's face. He whirled, shooting off several fireballs to which Thor blocked with Mjolnir before charging at him once more.

Loki danced back a few steps, blocking Mjolnir this way and that, his mouth in a grim line as he fought off Thor's attacks. He could feel bits of sharp rough black sand cut into him, drawing thin lines of blood and grime, but ignored it. He could feel the power behind Mjolnir and knew that his brother had been consumed by Baldr's will once more. Pleading for him to come back to his senses was useless and utter drivel. Thor would have to be incapacitated or Baldr would have to die. And in both cases, he knew that the odds were stacked against him. For one thing, in all of his years sparring with Thor, even fighting him during his brief attempt to conquer this sniveling realm that his brother held dear to his heart, he had rarely outright defeated Thor with physicality. No, he would have to ply his skills of deception and trickery on Thor.

But that was easier said than done, especially with Baldr nearby.

He broke another stalemate against Thor and fired off blasts of icy chunks against his brother with the glaive, targeting Mjolnir. There was little chance of incapacitating Mjolnir; the hammer being a weapon of magick, but he knew that if he disabled it, or at least encased it in so much ice or overwhelmed it, it would give him a moment to concentrate on Thor himself. Thor twisted Mjolnir with a grim look on his face and blasted the chunks of ice he had shot out of the air before firing a bolt of lightning at him. Loki blocked with a raised forearm, the lightning splaying out over his conjured shield once more and saw Thor ready to charge at him once more.

Just as his brother launched himself at him again, Loki ran towards him instead of waiting to block his attack. He saw Thor's eyes narrowing in surprise, but knew that it was too late for Thor to change his trajectory. He slid under his brother's low flying form just as he passed overhead, and slashed at his back with the glaive. The sharp blade cut through part of his cape and embedded into his armor. Thor grunted, but Loki was not finished as he used his advantage and blasted a jet of cold ice into the wound he had made, sending Thor stumbling head over heels before he fell to the ground.

Thor groaned, his breath coming in labored hissing gasps as the jagged shards of ice he had blasted behind him started to drip crimson. But Loki did not hesitate as he took advantage of his brother's disoriented state and marched forward, his glaive held at the ready as he fired several blasts of energy towards Thor, peppering the sharp glassy black sand around him. Smoke filled the air as Loki continued to stalk forward- Only to suddenly find himself flying through the air, sharp cracking pain spreading from his ribs, making him gasp before he landed hard on the ground. Mjolnir tumbled to the side before being summoned back into the smoke cloud surrounding Thor.

Loki winced as he felt his breath hitch and wheeze. Thor had thrown Mjolnir hard enough to fracture his ribs, maybe even break a few, he could feel it. He cast a quick numbing spell as he pushed himself up and coughed. A coppery wet taste filled his mouth as he spat out blood, the sudden rush of pain overriding whatever spell he had used to dull it. Through slightly hazy eyes, he saw Thor stalking out of the dissipating smoke cloud, blood caking one side of his face. He seemed unaffected by the jagged ice shards protruding from his back as he held Mjolnir in his hand, blood dripping down and coating his fingertips.

The pain must have made him black out momentarily, because the next thing Loki was aware of was the sharp clack of his own teeth hitting each other and himself tumbling end over end. He reacted instinctively to Thor's kick and lashed out with several conjured daggers, the ping of them being blocked by Mjolnir telling him how close Thor was before he rolled to his feet, ignoring the searing pain of his ribs and roared as he plunged the dagger in his boot into Thor's ribs.

Thor staggered back, ripping the dagger out before tossing it to the side as Loki scrabbled for his glaive, having fallen from his grip when he had been kicked by Thor. He saw Thor reach into his belt and pull out a familiar healing stone before crumpling it against his own wound just as Loki knelt down and picked up his glaive, leaning himself against it. His jaw hurt, his ribs were definitely cracked if not broken, judging by how hard it was for him to breathe as he took that second of reprieve to stare at Thor.

He could almost hear the faint echoes, the entreaties that Thor used to say to him, plead with him to work together. That they were not enemies, that they were brothers who fought together, played together. And Loki remembered all of that... But he was not feeling merciful enough to even think of speaking such useless words of sentimental drivel to Thor. He had warned him, time and time again that sentiment was his undoing. Look where it ended up with him now. He bared his teeth, furious anger filling him at the sight of his brother and his blank visage. How dare- Baldr had no right-

The sudden animalistic scream filling the air startled the two of them before a blot of shadow blocked the sun. Not even a split second later, a gigantic snake dropped from the skies, hood flared, fangs extended as Jormungandr screamed at Thor landing with an earth-shaking thump. Loki staggered and backpedaled two steps to regain his footing as he saw Thor stumble too as Jormungandr did not hesitate and flung himself at Thor. He was the size of when he had been shielding Loki from the collapsing base as he flicked his powerful tail and sent Thor flying into the air. But instead of waiting for Thor to regain his senses, Loki watched as the man of iron and the winged-one flew past, chasing and firing repulsor bolts and bullets at him. Another earth-rattling thump followed by the familiar roar of the green giant named Hulk was followed his sudden charge past the two of them, intent on chasing after Thor.

"Loki!" the familiar voice of Captain Rogers made him look up to see the quinjet hovering in the air, Romanov and Barton manning the controls as Rogers, the metal-armed man, and to his mild surprise, Sif, jumping to the ground.

"You, are a dim-witted silver-tongued idiot, Loki," Sif stalked over, shield held at the ready, blades extended.

"Good to see you too, Sif," Loki replied dryly as he absently spat out some more blood. He noted and ignored everyone's worried looks at him. He heard the shift of black sand and glanced up to see Jormungandr peering down at him, his tongue flicking in and out, tasting the air. "Deal with Thor," he ordered him and saw the large serpent inclined its hooded head once before slithering away where the distant sounds of the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and the winged-one were fighting.

While a part of him was readily annoyed that the Avengers had come, Jormungandr no doubt giving them the location, at the same time, it left him the opportunity to deal with Baldr. He placed the glaive he had been using against Thor back into the spaces-in-between and drew out Gungnir instead. At the same time, he started to walk to where Baldr was. He immediately heard the flap of wings as the ravens soared down from where they had been flying in the sky, Muunin perched on his shoulder while Huugin glided overhead. Even in their animal form, he could feel the anger in the ravens judging by how harsh Muunin's talons were digging into his shoulder.

The whine of the quinjet flying overhead followed by the sudden angry buzz of its minigun firing behind him told him that Romanov and Barton had decided to go after Thor, leaving Baldr to him. It was an idiotic course of action, but Loki understood why Romanov had made the decision for Barton. Thor could easily blast them out of the sky, but it also told him that they were heeding his and the ravens warnings about Baldr's unpredictability.

"Baldr!" he shouted across the vast plain and saw the old man look up, his hand still curled around his chest where the black ichor of the geas crackled with barely controlled energy.

"Too late," the other man laughed and sent the geas towards the ground. A wave of dust and debris flew towards him and Loki hastily conjured up several shields. The sharp shards passed through the Avengers who stayed instead of going after Thor. He looked up again, the shields fading in time to see the geas orb rotating slowly in the open palm of a bloodied chained wrist. Sleipnir's icy blue eyes stared back at them, a grimacing smile on his face.

"I am truly sorry, my Prince," he apologized with tear-filled maddening smile before he threw the black crackling orb at them. The world around Loki exploded.

Jormungandr had only left the vaguest instruction on when to use the modified healing stone he had passed out in the quinjet, but Steve reacted on the instinct that screamed now was the moment. In the brief moment before the black orb of nightmares hit them, he crushed the healing stone in his free hand and slammed it against his shield as he ducked behind it. He grimaced and closed his eyes against the wave of inferno heat and crackling power as he pushed his shield against the seen and unseen wave of destruction and death. He could feel his feet slipping on the coarse volcanic sand, but held firm, trying not to breathe in the hot putrid air that told him was poisonous. Just as suddenly it was as if a vacuum had sucked everything out and Steve could breathe again. He looked up to see that the area around them was no more volcanic sand, but rather black volcanic glass. Jagged, sharp shards crested and towered around them in frozen shiny reflective obsidian waves.

Small movements out of the corner of his eyes told him that Bucky and Sif had come out of the destructive energy relative unscathed. On the other side of him, he saw Loki seemingly lift his hand from his chest, the remnants of something crackling fading into the air. The distant sounds of thumping made him glance over to see billows of debris and smoke rising in the distance. Even though the rest of his team was fighting Thor, it was the fact that Jormungandr was in that fray that sent a quiet shiver down his back.

Ragnarok. Almost exactly like Ragnarok except Baldr was very much alive, but now Loki was set to face off against him. Part of the Norse myths said that during Ragnarok, Jormungandr the Midgard Serpent was to fight Thor and both would die at the end, though Thor would be victorious, take nine steps and die.

Shaking his head a little to get himself back in focus, he saw Sleipnir staring at them, his face torn between apologetic and furious anger. Clearly, he had lost the will to fight whatever geas or summon Baldr had been using on him and more than likely walked the shadows of Yggdrasil to get here. He heard what sounded like a high pitched crackling whine and looked to see Loki suddenly disappear from view before suddenly appearing in front of Baldr, slamming the end of Gungnir towards the older man in an attempt to skewer him. Steve did not see the result as Sleipnir launched his attack at them, firing off several concussive bolts that made Steve instinctively raise his shield once more, hearing the hollow thonk of the bolts reflecting off.

"Steve!" he heard Bucky shout just as his instincts screamed for him to roll and he did, lashing out with his shield to block the metal chain coming towards his face. He planted his free hand on the ground and kicked towards Sleipnir, grimacing as his legs met Sleipnir's battered but very solid body and sent him stumbling.

At the same time he saw Bucky throw several punches towards Sleipnir, his metal arm a loud grinding whine at this close of a distance. Sleipnir retaliated, lashing out with his chains before entangling one of them in Sif's sword. She rammed him with her small shield. Sleipnir flew back, pulling Sif's sword along with him with a insane smile on his face before he landed nimbly on his feet, grabbing Sif's sword out of the air. He seemingly fiddled with something on its hilt and the sword became double-bladed as Sif glared at him.

"You have what is mine, traitor," she growled out, holding her shield close to her body.

Sleipnir only laughed, an ugly insane sound as the light in his eyes became fever bright. "I've got nothing to lose, Lady Sif. Come now, let us see who is master of the sword," he taunted as they circled him.

Steve took the moment to assess where the rest of his team was and if they need his help. He had no intention of abandoning Sif and Bucky to fight Sleipnir alone, but he also knew that all of them were being pushed to their limits – barely enough time to have fully healed from their initial mission to the Alps to now. He could see in the far distance, clouds of rubble and dust flying in the air followed by what looked like a maelstrom forming on land judging by the swirl of lightning and animalistic screams of hissing anger that was Jormungandr, the Hulk, and the rest of his team against Thor. To his left he could barely make out the quick moving forms of Baldr and Loki fighting, Gungnir against the Chitauri sceptre, but only knew that they were still there because of the circling specks that had to be Odin's ravens overhead.

Finished with his assessment, he caught Bucky's eye and saw his friend nod once, a plan of attack instantly formed. However, that plan went sideways when just as Steve got ready to throw his shield to knock Sleipnir off balance again, there was the sudden popping sound and a flurry of black-feather like blades dove towards Sleipnir.

"Muunin!" Sif shouted and Steve caught the human-formed raven's quick look towards him before he reacted on the unspoken signal and threw his shield. Muunin suddenly turned back into a raven and flew high into the air just as Steve's shield slammed into the red-haired man's face, spraying the air with the fine mist of blood. Steve was already running to catch his shield on the rebound as Bucky vaulted into the air with Sif's boost of her shield and slammed his metal arm into the other side of Sleipnir's face, knocking him to the ground. He saw his friend twist and kick Sleipnir slamming a knife into his shoulder, making him screaming pain before Steve caught his shield and charged towards the other man.

He saw Bucky duck under a vicious swipe of the double-edged sword before rolling with a retaliatory kick to his sternum, dragging his fingers onto the reflective-black glassy ground to stop his momentum just as Steve slammed into Sleipnir. He threw all of his weight against his shield and sent Sleipnir flying into the air before he landed and used his sword to stop his own momentum, very like how Bucky had just did. At the same time, Sleipnir lashed out with one of the chains on his free hand, breaking shards of glass and sending them flying towards them with an unspoken wave of his fingers.

Steve ducked behind his shield again as the shards pinged off of his shield, wincing at the cuts he received from his unprotected sides. He thought it would stop, but the wind seemingly kicked up and Steve had to squeeze his eyes shut against the blinding dust and glass being thrown up as he tried to hear what was happening, where the attack was coming from-

He suddenly choked as a cool biting metal wrapped around his throat and realized that it was one of Sleipnir's chains as the whirlwind died a little. Steve instinctively grabbed a hand against the chain around his throat as he felt more than saw the very sharp blade of Sif's sword pointed against one of the joints of his kevlar-armored plates of his uniform.

"Oh Captain, my Captain," Sleipnir's voice hissed in his ear before Steve's breath hitched as the blade plunged in between the plates.

Pain exploded across his body as the coppery tang of blood filled his mouth and he suddenly found his strength lacking. His vision whited out for a brief moment and he thought he heard someone screaming his name from seemingly down a long tunnel before he came to his senses once more. He only barely propped himself up with his shield before he fell completely to the ground and saw bright red dots dripping into the glassy ground. That was blood...from his own mouth, he realized as he heard the distant sounds of fighting.

He absently pawed at his neck, forgetting for a moment why he was doing that when he should have been feeling something metal around his neck. It was also then that he was distantly aware of his breath hitching and wheezing, agony inflaming his side and gingerly turned his head downward to blearily to see half of the blood-covered double-bladed sword embedded deep into the ground. Steve found himself shaking as he stared upside down at his own body impaled on Sif's blade, blood slowly dripping down the shaft.

He absently coughed and immediately groaned as his body shook from the cough, making waves of agony ripple through him as his arm shook from the effort to keep himself from falling towards the ground and making the wound even worse. He needed to keep himself propped up, otherwise, Steve knew that he would never have the strength to push himself back up if he was lying on the ground. Granted, he was already bleeding out, but he needed to be able to somehow get the blade out of the ground, or at least push himself off of the blade.

He turned his gaze from the sickening sight of his own body pinned to the ground and saw that Sif and Bucky were struggling against Sleipnir who seemingly went after them with unholy glee. Bucky was clearly distracted as he saw his best friend shoot looks at him, barely ducking out of the way of Sleipnir's chains that were being used as makeshift flails against him, or absorbing the attacks with the clumsiness that Steve usually never associated with his friend. He could see Sif also fighting, but without her sword, she could only block any attack Sleipnir unleashed on her, unable to take an offensive stance due to his reach and range.

He realized that Bucky needed at least some reassurance, something to tell him that he was fine after what had just happened. He lifted up his free hand and thumbed the mic on with his teeth. "Bucky...I'm fine..." he managed to say before he had to lower his arm, the pain of just that simple of movement overwhelming him.

"Steve?! Steve, Sif says you need to press the blade- need to press-" Bucky's words became garbled over the might as a fierce wind started to pick up again.

Steve squinted, wondering if it was the prelude to another attack by Sleipnir before he saw in the far distance the quinjet wobbling in the sky, lightning dancing around it in broad arcs and jumps. He could imagine Barton at the controls, fighting the stick and turbulence as the gale force winds turned almost tornadic, the maelstrom that the rest of his team had been fighting in growing larger and larger. And just as suddenly Steve saw one of the bolts of lighting strike and skitter across the quinjet. There was half a second of the quinjet seemingly going dead before it exploded into a huge fireball across the sky.

Adrenaline and shock flooded into Steve as he immediately lifted his wrist up, heedless of the pain ripping through him. "Romanov! Barton! Clint! Natasha! Someone report!" he shouted into the comms.

Static answered him.