Warnings: References to violence.
Chapter 3:
Eli entered the grand room and made her way to the microphone at the base of the staircase. The room was now crowded. Eli scanned the crowd for anyone suspicious. She may have been angry with Tony, but she wasn't stupid enough to completely ignore his warnings.
No one seemed to be up to anything. There was a sense of calm in the room, like before a storm. Schafer took to the microphone. Eli would have paid attention, but someone on the balcony looking over the hall distracted her. Well his cane was what distracted her.
It was the man that she had pulled away from traffic not five minutes earlier. Eli couldn't quite make out his features, but she could see that he had a cane that glowed blue at the top. The light fascinated Eli, but more importantly it reminded her of the readings she had come across about weapons used in World War II.
Eli watched the man gracefully saunter down the staircase. She could now see that he was wearing a black suit and a green patterned scarf. Eli determined that his hair color was black and that he was tall, and that he was even more attractive in the light.
The man flipped his cane so he was holding the small end. Eli had to hold back the urge to laugh when the man hit Schafer's body guard with the bulk end of the cane. Eli was impressed that the man was able to knock the guard off of his feet.
The dark haired man pulled Schafer to the center of the hall. All of the people there parted for him like the Red Sea did for Moses. Again Eli was impressed by this mystery man's strength when he flipped Schafer onto the bull marble bed with one hand. The mystery man then pulled out what looked like a knife. Eli moved through the crowd to get a better look at what was in his hand.
Eli had reached the front of the crowd when the man stabbed Schafer in the eye. Schafer let out a loud yell and began twitching on the bed of marble. People scrambled away in shrieks of terror. Eli was almost knocked over by the people around her.
Eli looked back at the mystery man to see that he was smiling. Eli gave out an amused huff. He got what he wanted, terror and chaos. He began to walk away from Schafer, and Eli took it as her chance to see if he was alright and to inspect the knife.
"Schafer, can you hear me?" Eli said while examining the device. The inner parts were glowing blue. Schafer gave out a groan. "Schafer, können Sie mich hören?"
Eli tried to find a way to turn off the devices power. When she did the device freed itself from Schafer's face. His left eye looked like it was burned out of h is face. Schafer groaned again. Eli turned to the man who was almost out of the building. Eli was briefly reminded of the times when she was completely mutant and the many that tried to cause chaos. In moment of nostalgia, Eli took off her shoe and threw it at the mystery man. The shoe hit him in the back of the helmet that he now wore on his head.
"I hate to say this," Eli said as she slipped of her other shoe, "but I can't let you walk away from this."
The man turned around and pointed the cane turned scepter at Eli. The small girl watched as light built up in the end of the scepter. It discharged at Eli. Eli was just barely able to dodge the beam of light with a roll. Eli fluidly came out of the roll and started to run at the man. The scepter charged back up, but before it could fire a clean shot Eli threw her other shoe at the scepter. Her shoe disintegrated, but it gave Eli the time she needed to reach the man.
He swung the scepter around and Eli ducked to avoid it. Using her agility she did a spinning back jump kick to the man's jaw. The kick connected, but the man took it without even batting an eye. Eli spun again, this time concentrating her breathing to allow maximum oxygen flow to her muscles. She brought her elbow across his face and then back fisted him.
Again the mystery man seemed completely unfazed by her strikes. Before Eli could even try to hit the man again, he punched her in the stomach sending her back several feet. Eli choked for a second from the air being knocked out of her. In that time the man aimed the scepter at her and fired. The beam of light connected with Eli's stomach.
Eli was thrown even farther back. Eli could feel all of the air leave her body. She couldn't even move. She just couldn't take a breath. Eli started to panic and struggled to take a breath. She briefly wondered if that was what asthmatics felt when they couldn't breath. Suddenly, her watch sent an electric shock up her arm.
Eli took in a much needed gulp of air. She then felt around her stomach and was surprised that she could feel skin. Her dress was made of a near indestructible material, and some random guy with a glow stick of death puts a hole in it without a fight. Eli angrily got to her feet.
"Thanks, Jarvette. I need you to find a weakness in his defenses. His abilities can only go so far, and find out who made his weapon. I'll be suing them for all they are worth in the morning." Eli ground out. The weapon was even able to burn some of her skin. Eli ran out of the museum.
Across the street in the plaza, the man had everyone on their knees. Eli couldn't hear what the mystery man was saying, but she did notice that there were several copies of him. Eli wondered what kind of mutant he was. Then a lone man stood up in the crowd. Eli was almost there and could barely make out words.
"…There are no men like me," the mystery man said. Eli couldn't help but notice how rich his voice sounded.
"There are always men like you," the old German said.
"Look to elder people," the mystery man said. He pointed the scepter at the man, "Let him be an example."
Eli tried to run faster. Tried to reach the mystery man before he could fire the weapon, but the mystery man fired the weapon when Eli was five feet away. Eli stopped running and watched in horror at what was to come next.
But the beam of light didn't hit the old man, because another man, who apparently fell from the sky used a shield to deflect the beam of light back at Loki. Eli was both amazed and pissed that the man was able to do that. Amazed that he had deflected the beam, that would have killed her if she hadn't been wearing the dress, with a shield, and pissed because his shield did what her dress couldn't.
"Ya know, the last time I was in Germany," the man spoke. Eli noticed that he was wearing a ridiculous spanglely outfit, "and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."
"The soldier, a man out of time," the mystery man said as he got back up. It hit Eli then. She knew who the man with the shield was.
"I'm not the one who's out of time," Captain Steve Rogers said. A jet flied up to the plaza with guns armed and aimed at the mystery man.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," Eli recognized the voice as Natasha's. Loki fired the weapon at the jet. This spurred Eli into action. The captain threw the shield as Eli ran up behind Loki.
The shield hit him and bounced off of him like a bouncy ball. Eli took this time to drop down and kick out Loki's right knee from behind. This surprised him and allowed the captain to strike Loki.
Loki punched the captain, sending him back several feet. Then the dark haired man turned and kicked Eli away from him. Eli just barely moved her arm out of the way of Loki's boot, if she hadn't her arm would be broken. Instead the kick connected with her ribcage. Eli felt her side. Nothing was broken, but she could already feel a bruise forming. With a groan Eli pulled herself up.
Eli heard a clunk at her side. A shield had slammed right next to her. Loki had managed to throw Captain America to the ground and had the blunt end of his scepter at the captain's head.
"Kneel," was the command Loki breathed out.
"Not today!" Captain America pushed the scepter down and kneed Loki in the head. Eli grabbed the shield and Frisbee tossed the shield to the captain. The metal was heavier than it looked. It briefly reminded Eli of Logan.
Captain America caught the shield with ease, but Loki was able to disarm him again, and tossed him to the side. Loki redirected his attention to Eli. The small girl ran towards him. Loki charged the scepter again, and Eli ducked down and slid on her hip the rest of the way to him.
Breathing in, Eli pulled her body up and upper cut Loki as hard as her body would allow. It didn't do much. Eli then used her speed and small stature to evade his strikes and to keep close into him. It was effectively distracting him. But just as Captain America was going to attack him, Loki swung the scepter so that it trapped Eli between him and the scepter.
Eli could feel the heat on her back from the scepter as it charged and fired. Eli stepped forward into Loki's chest to avoid being burned by the discharge, then looked to see Captain America be blown off his feet. Eli saw Loki's hand move in her peripheral vision. He gripped her hair in his hand and pulled hard so that she was looking up at him.
Eli saw that he recognized her, and she briefly wondered if thought this was amusing. Then music filled her ears. The kind that she had grew up with. The kind that she knew was a calling card for one of the most annoying people on the planet. Eli could say she never felt happier to have him around.