Danger on the Horizon

Athena stood by the large window of the craft, staring out at the clouds, at the sun that had risen on a new day, deep in thought. She couldn't say just what she was thinking of specifically, so many thoughts drifted through her mind that it was hard to pinpoint just one that was consuming her. There was so much going on, so much wrong, and so much that made sense now…none of it was good.

She let out a breath and rubbed her head, the pounding in it was starting to lessen and her body felt less tense, but she knew that the battle for New York, the battle her brother had foreseen…that was something that would likely not be altered. Something on that scale, that affected so many people? It would happen no matter what. She should have realized that she wasn't truly going to die, as her brother claimed. The dream he'd told her about was vague now, slipping from her memory as dreams did but she felt like he had mentioned she was IN the battle or that the fact that he'd even seen the battle could mean that she had been in it. If his visions revolved around his concern for her and what she would experience in her future, she should have made the connection that she would survive her encounter with Loki in the glass chamber's room. She had thought it herself, when she heard, that her brother's visions were often disjointed and out of order. He seemed to think that she'd experience the battle and THAT would be the reason why Loki was locked in the glass cage, that he'd been taken as a prisoner from that moment, but it was the reverse, the glass cage had been before the battle.

She should have realized that, perhaps then Coulson would not have been harmed and Thor would not have been trapped. She had…hesitated, for a brief moment when she and Thor entered the glass cage's room. She had taken one look at it and her mind had gone to the thought that 'this is where I die' before she'd even noticed Loki standing at the controls. It had been enough though enough of a hesitation for Thor to get trapped in that cage without her, to be cast from the craft alone and left falling to earth while she suffered at Loki's hands.

She closed her eyes a moment, that was another revelation that had been forced upon her. That scepter Loki had, the way he spoke of it and what it could do…she felt a sorrow rise in her, but not for Loki, no. She couldn't muster a single shred of empathy for Loki after enduring what she had, she felt the sorrow for Thor. Loki had been going on and on to Fury about how the Tesseract would reveal the lies and shine truth everywhere, and she knew that the small orb set into Loki's scepter was like a subset of the Tesseract. While it hadn't infected her like it had Barton, she could see the irony in the truth she had been forced to realize from experiencing that sort of pain.

So no, she felt nothing for Loki but everything for Thor, for when he realized that truth as well…his heart would be broken.

She looked to the side, a faint beam of sunlight catching the glass, creating a small array of rainbow colors in the glass from the angle she was standing at. It brought her mind back to the most central of concerns in her mind. Odin's order had been to grab the Tesseract and Loki and return to Asgard. He'd implied, even if there was a battle, their sole focus should be on the Tesseract and Loki, that they should abandon the people and return at once. She couldn't do that. She knew she'd be disobeying an order from the king, but…these people were going to suffer, had already suffered, at Loki's hands and she could not allow it to continue, for them to clean up Loki's mess while they dealt with the cause of it. It was not fair to anyone and…if she were being honest, she had noticed a change in Odin since his last Odinsleep.

The betrayal of Loki, everything he'd done, had changed the man. It was like he was harsher to all, even Frigga at times though that was few and far between. He was especially hard on Thor, treating him more like the next king to be taught than his son seeking lessons on how to rule wisely from his father. He acted distant from Thor and she could guess why. Thor had disappointed him, he'd been forced to banish him, and Loki had betrayed them and fallen to the abyss, only to return with the intent to destroy and rule the humans. Both sons, at one point, had let him down, but Loki's especially had hit him hard. If one of his sons (though he had ceased to call or speak of Loki with that term again) could betray him so deeply…would the other son? Would someone else? One of his guards? His people? His wife? It was making the man paranoid and harsh, making his rule more like that of an iron fist and starting to worry many people. It was as if Odin expected betrayal now, and that it would hurt less if Thor betrayed him in the future if he stopped looking at the man as his son.

She let out a longer breath at that, Thor would never say it out loud but she knew it upset him, the distance that had formed between his father and him. She had always had a close relationship with her father, being the first born child, the only child from his first union, she had a special place in his heart and she knew some of her siblings didn't have that, didn't share that closeness with him and would sooner chain him up and let their mother take charge than him at times. They were all trying to heal, trying to obtain that closeness that Odin and Thor shared, but it was a long time to come yet. She could tell that if she ever lost that closeness, it would devastate her, she could only imagine how bad it was for Thor.

The only good thing that had come from it…was that Thor was less concerned when he did something he knew would disappoint Odin, especially if it was something he knew in his heart was the right thing to do. They were both going to take part in this battle, they were both going to fight to protect the people from Loki, that much was certain. And if Odin was irritated or irate about their choice, they would bear the consequences together. This, helping these people, was the right thing to do and they would see it through in its entirety before returning to Asgard. One did not abandon their allies.

"So what are you going to do?" a voice spoke beside her.

She looked over to see Fury step next to her, his hands behind his back as he looked out the window with her, "Stay. Fight."

He glanced at her, "So I suppose I don't have to use any unsavory tactics to get you to help us then?" his lip quirked in a smile.

"If you mean to use Coulson's plight as inspiration," she remarked, thinking of how he'd spoken to Tony and Steve, "You will find it unaffecting. Even if Coulson had not been harmed in protecting me, I would still fight by the side of the mortals you have gathered. We are allies, as Thor said last time we were here, we do not turn our backs on our allies."

"Good to know," Fury nodded, turning to look back out the window.

"However…" she continued, looking out the window as well, "As Coulson was harmed in trying to protect me…that makes it infinitely more personal. If there is anything I can do to help more, you need merely ask. I shall not resort to a spar with you to prove your ability to protect any Asgardian secrets."

"Then we need your intel," Fury agreed, "Where is Loki going to open the portal."

"New York," she answered, "We had our own resources specify that."

"But where in New York?"

"That…I cannot be certain of," she admitted, "I am not of this world, nor were the ones who gave us our…intel?" she asked and he nodded, "What we see as buildings are generic, but to you they might be defining and I know not any specifying details about them."

Fury let out a frustrated breath at that, "Think you can help Stark and the Captain work out where Loki might open her up?" he inquired, "You know what Loki is like better than us, maybe something you know can help them pinpoint where he'll go."

Athena nodded and turned, leaving the room. She could guess where the two men had gone. After Fury had guilted them as he had, there was really only one place for someone suffering that emotion to head…the room that had held the glass cage, the room Coulson had been wounded in. She honestly wasn't sure what she was expecting to find when she entered, but she wasn't exactly surprised to near the door and hear Tony and Steve shouting at each other and arguing. She could understand why both men clashed so much, Tony was more of an individual fighter, a lone wolf, while Steve was a leader and one who liked to take command of his troops. Tony wouldn't follow anyone and Steve saw Tony's personality as insubordination. She was rather proud of Thor (though not surprised) that he hadn't tried to exert his authority as much as Steve and Tony had. Thor had been raised to understand that the input of others, especially other leaders and rulers, was necessary and should be listened to and considered. It didn't always work around his peers, such as the Jotunheim debacle where they all told him not to do it but he'd gone anyway, but in situations like this where there were clear leaders and threats to deal with, he was very sensible in listening to their concerns. And as this was Midgard and not Asgard, it was not his jurisdiction to be the leader here. He may claim that authority when it came to dealing with Loki afterwards, but the lead up and the plan to obtain him, that would be up to the others.

"…not soldiers!" Tony was shouting, the two men standing before the dent in the wall that Coulson had made when he'd fallen against it and used the gun on Loki, "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I," Steve countered, "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does!"

Athena looked at Steve for that, impressed that he had seen it. Perhaps he wasn't as mindless and loyal as she thought he was at first. He had struck her as almost thinking himself above others for his morality and strength and how he lived his life, like he was the perfect man and was the epitome of 'good.' But she could see it that he did question authority, he didn't just take orders, but he realized that Fury and some of his actions had caused some of the events, that how he had reacted to Loki and how he organized all of this could be seen as giving him equal responsibility as Loki had for the fallout.

"But right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done," Steve continued, "Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list of where he could set it off…"

"New York," Athena called, making the men turn around, "Our sources on Asgard said it would be New York, but I know not exactly where."

Steve nodded, "That narrows it down, right?" he glanced at Tony.

"Yeah," he agreed, "There's only a handful of places he could set the Tesseract off from."

"Perhaps there is only one," Athena suggested, "Loki knows us," she began, thinking out loud, "He never does anything without thinking it out first, he enjoys using his mind over his strength. He used his knowledge of the Hulk against Dr. Banner, against all of you by taking his cage from him. He will choose a location that would impact one of you as well…"

"He'll make it personal," Tony murmured, his mind racing as he narrowed down the list.

"That's not the point," Steve shook his head.

"It is," Athena disagreed, "He wants to strip you of your sense of security, do something to turn you on each other."

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great but he knows he has to take us out to win, right?" Tony realized, "That's what he wants. He wants to beat us."

"He wants others to see you being beaten," Athena nodded slowly, "He wants everyone to see."

"Right," Steve started to agree as well, "I caught his act in Stuttgart!"

"Yeah," Tony pointed at him, "That's just previews, this is…this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tail diva."

"Diva?" Athena blinked, not understanding that term.

But Tony waved her off, "He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..." he stopped suddenly, knowing exactly where Loki was going to unleash the Tesseract, the highest point in New York that had a scientific base…and a name on the side of it, "Son of-a-bitch."

He was heading for Stark Tower.

~8~

Thor made his way through the field he'd crashed into, searching for Mjolnir. He had fallen into an exhausted sleep for a short while, unable to muster the strength to get up and move but just…needing rest, just for a short while, just a bit to recuperate. Now though, now he felt recharged, he felt stronger and he needed to move. His sleep had not been pleasant, had not been easy or deep but fraught with nightmares, seeing Loki laughing as he stabbed Athena and he couldn't bear to be on Earth another moment without finding out if his nightmares were real, or merely just his fears come to life. He held onto that hope that she was alive, that she had survived, with everything he had as he pushed through the tall grasses of the field.

He paused when he stepped on something that he knew was not wood or stone and looked down to see Athena's sword lying on the ground. He stepped off it and crouched down, gently picking up the sword. All he could see as he looked at it was Loki slamming Athena back, bashing her wrist on hard metal till she dropped it, leaving her weaponless. He knew that the sword was important to her, it was one of her brother's. He wasn't sure which brother, she had many it appeared, but she had stolen that one. Her one brother, the one she sparred with often, it was his weapon of choice and when she'd left her home to come train with him and the other warriors, she had nicked it from him. She had been certain that her brother would be cross with her and she'd never hear the end of it the next time she went home, but it had been worth it. It reminded him of her playful side, that she was a sister to someone, that she had a family she grew with and teased and played with and sparred with.

He stood, sliding the sword into his belt, intent to return it to her, knowing how important that sword was to her. It was a finely crafted sword too, slightly different than the swords he saw in the training yards, but well made. And he knew she would want it back. He winced, forcing himself NOT to think of it in terms of another reason she'd need it. In Asgard, warriors were sent adrift on the waters with their weapons and set aflame in honor. If…if something had happened to Athena…she would need this sword with her to be honored and protected in Valhalla…not that, not that she was dead. No, she was alive, she was alive and she would want her sword back to fight with.

He looked over, seeing a small crater, and moved towards it, spotting Mjolnir resting within it. He took a breath and held his hand over it…hesitating just a moment, fearing he may not be worthy to wield it again. He had stood there, with the hammer, and been unable to protect the woman he loved from being tortured. He had been trapped in a glass cage and struggled to break out. He had failed to protect those he'd sworn to protect, he had seen dear friends and allies being attacked and been unable to defend them.

Was he worthy of Mjolnir if he failed all that?

He took a breath and swallowed hard, reminding himself that he WAS. He had tried, he hadn't given up, he'd fought hard and he'd protected others. He had TRIED. And that was what made him worthy, he had tried and he hadn't given up, he had continued to fight and he would fight on now. He would fight to the bitter end to protect the earth and the people on it. He looked down, feeling the strength rising in him, and held out his hand, Mjolnir flying up into it. He grinned at that, relief filling him, before he thrust it up at the sky, summoning a bolt of lightning, his armor slowly forming over him, readying him for battle before he leapt up and flew into the air.

~8~

Athena squinted as the wind whipped past her face, her one hand clasped in Tony's as he flew them through the air of New York City, now in his red and gold armor once more. There was a jet above them, containing Barton, Natasha, and Steve, all prepared for battle and ready to stop Loki. She had originally been expected to go in the plane with the others, however when she'd learned that Tony planned to confront Loki she had insisted that SHE go with him, reminding them not just that she had experience flying like that with Thor but that Loki was of Asgard and it was part of HER mission to see him stopped. So the others had commandeered a jet from SHIELD and taken off with her and Tony, now Iron Man, flying after them, heading for New York City.

Iron Man went ahead of the jet, flying with Athena towards his home, a large tower that said 'Stark' on the side of it, and they could see, before they even got close enough, that there was something set up on one side of it, a large metal device, and an older, familiar man working on it.

"Erik!" Athena called down, seeing Erik Selvig pottering around it, ready to activate it, a faint wall of energy building around it, "Stop this!"

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig!" Iron Man commanded.

Erik turned to look up at them and Athena could see that his eyes were unnaturally blue and held an eerie glow to them, similar to the glow the Tesseract was giving off. She shook her head slightly, realizing Erik was still under Loki's control. According to Natasha, it would take a severe blow to the head for him to be 'reconfigured' or whatever that meant, and to overcome Loki's control. It was, she supposed, similar to how those who were shocked about something could be snapped out of it with a slap or something similar, or how when one was having a dream they would pinch themselves. It took something more for them to be distracted enough to allow their own mind to come back to them.

"It's too late!" Erik shouted up to them, a smile on his face, sounding pleased and proud of what he was doing, "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe."

Athena let out a breath, "Do it," she told Iron Man quietly, knowing he'd hear her.

"Ok," he nodded, holding out a hand that wasn't grasping her and fired a blast at the wall of energy, trying to break through it, but it deflected, sending the blast racing outwards in all directions, knocking Erik back to the ground and Iron Man flying back, nearly dropping Athena but managing to hold on at the last moment, "Yeah, I got that," he muttered under his breath to a voice Athena had been warned was in his armor.

"There," Athena pointed, drawing his attention down to the tower, to a small platform like a helicopter landing zone, where Loki was standing.

"I'm beat," Iron Man remarked offhandedly, starting to lower himself and Athena towards the tower, "Then skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock," he spoke to the voice as they landed. Athena stumbled slightly from the motion as Tony just walked forward, his armor coming off piece by piece as he moved, Athena moving beside him once that was finished, entering the home portion of the tower.

Tony moved to a bar of the room, completely at east, not even looking at Loki, knowing Athena was taking care of that, keeping her eye on the threat and, to be honest, he was glad she was looking at Loki like that and not him. Her gray eyes were narrowed in what seemed like betrayal, anger, and disappointment, along with a hint of sorrow, but also disgust. He would NOT have wanted to be on the receiving end of that look.

"Ooh look who survived," Loki remarked as he slowly made his way into the room, smirking at Athena, "How's your head dear?"

Athena was silent, glowering at him, her hands clenching into fists at her side. She wanted so badly to retort, to punch him…but she couldn't. Right now they needed to distract him. The team had not listened to her remarks that they should go in and fight, fight instantly and hard. Natasha and Barton had been on her side, but Tony and Steve hadn't. Tony was of the belief that to fight Loki instantly would only lead to more destruction and, he claimed, he had just had the wallpaper done of his home and he didn't want Pepper to be annoyed when she came back to see holes in the wall…really though they knew it was his way of saying he didn't want New York to be destroyed by a preemptive strike against Loki. Steve was more of the believe that they should offer Loki the chance to surrender first, even if they knew that it wouldn't work, that Loki wouldn't ever surrender. But as she was not a member of SHIELD nor had she been intentionally asked to be a part of their small team, her and Thor literally falling out of the sky and into the middle of it all, her opinion as not taken and, as Steve was the self appointed leader, it was his decision that they were forced to go through.

And right now…she knew that it would only be a matter of time before Thor found them, and she rather believed he would like the first attack to be his.

Loki eyed her a moment before smirking, taking her silence to be fear of what he could do to her, lifting the scepter to wave it at her threateningly, but he turned his gaze to Tony instead, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

"Uh no," Tony shrugged, "Blondie over there," he pointed at Athena, holding a glass in his hand, "Told us you're not human, not even Asgardian. Some hypothermic goliath," he shrugged again, not caring, "I'm planning to threaten you."

"You should have left your armor on for that," Loki sounded amused.

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the uh blue stick of destiny," he eyed the scepter, his gaze flickering to Athena, not sure how she'd handle seeing the thing that had harmed her so terribly…but she was as stoic and focused as ever. He would have whistled at that, but it was true, she was a real warrior, trained in battle and pain, she wouldn't let something like a little stick get to her…and if she was anything like he'd heard Thor was, she'd be more inclined to punch Loki in the face and snap the stick over her knee than be frightened of it or him, angry yeah, but not scared, "Would you like a drink?"

Loki shook his head, "Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no, threatening," Tony reminded him, "No drink? You sure? I'm having one."

Loki frowned at that, starting to think this was some sort of trick, "The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"Me," Athena nearly growled out.

"Hardly," Loki smirked at her, "You were at my mercy only hours ago Thena," he smiled as he saw her jaw clench at the small nickname that no one ever called her, she preferred her whole name, "I can have you on your knees begging for death this time."

"Hardly," she mimicked, "You have no idea what is coming for you Loki."

"The Avengers," Tony cut in, seeing Athena about to take a step towards the man, to attack, but they needed a little more time. If they couldn't convince Loki to stop his plans…then they did need to stall him, just long enough for Thor and Banner to get there to help, to complete the team. Even though the gods and the Hulk hadn't been invited to be 'the Avengers' originally, they were there and they were helping and that was good enough for him to include them in it all, "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them," Loki scoffed.

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the Demi-God," Tony began as Loki turned away with a roll of his eyes, "Blondie here, another demi-god. A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them. Especially your brother and his beau when you tortured her to the brink of death."

"Beau?" Athena frowned at him, not having heard that word but Tony waved her off, his expression assuring her it was not a bad thing to be called, not an insult.

"That was the plan," Loki smirked, turning around.

Tony stepped away from the bar, a glass of alcohol in his hand, "Not a great plan," he made his way towards Loki, holding up a hand to stop Athena from joining him, a part of him not wanting her anywhere near that scepter if he could help it, knowing Loki wouldn't hesitate to try and torture her again, worse than before, "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army," Loki replied.

"We have a Hulk."

"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off," Loki said offhandedly.

"Yeah, you're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Cause if we can't protect the earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki merely stepped closer to Tony, pointing the scepter at him, "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" he quickly paced the tip of the scepter on Tony's chest…but it just made a clinking noise and did nothing else, "This usually works…"

"Well, performance issues," Tony shrugged, "You know?"

Athena rushed forward when Loki grabbed Tony by the throat, "You will all fall before me!" he shouted, throwing Tony out of the window of the tower, sending him falling to the ground only a moment before a fist went flying across his face, sending him stumbling back.

Loki quickly lifted the scepter to block Athena's next attack, the two of them locked in a small duel when a noise sounded out the window, pulling their attention over to see Iron Man floating before them, "And there's one other person you pissed off!" Iron Man shouted, "His name is Phil!"

Athena jumped back as Iron Man sent a blast at Loki, knocking him back at the same time that a blast of blue energy shot into the sky. Athena and Iron Man looked at each other for only a moment, realizing what had happened.

The Tesseract had activated.

The Chitarui were coming.

The battle had begun.

A/N: I can't believe this'll be over in just 2 days! O.O

Some notes on reviews...

I can say there was a tiny, tiny hint about where I'm going with the torture in this chapter, but we'll really see a bigger hint tomorrow :) I like to think that, since no one, save perhaps Joss, knows what really went on between movies, that the possibilities are endless :) Torture is possible, as is Loki seeking the Chitauri out, or being led to them, or becoming a ruler to them, and so many others :) Firefly, though, my favorite of Joss's works, was largely inferring what happened to River off screen with only her reactions and a hint of medical knowledge here and there, until Serenity explained more of it, which was a very significant character moment for River that happened off screen and we didn't really know what it was or why it happened :'( I cried for River. I think Joss likes for us to interpret what we think something is, like what was in the needle that Inara had when the Reavers were first seen? Poison? A numbing solution? Something to knock her out? I don't think we know even now lol. In general though, for the movie/canon, I like to think in theories, we can't prove a theory happened as there's evidenge against it, but equally we can't prove solidly that it didn't as there might be evidence for it, until Joss or Tom confims or denies it :)

I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be any Natasha/OCs, yup, but I'm not sure if I'd do one, just because I do like the idea of her and Barton :) I really want to know what happened in Budapest lol :)

I'm not sure if I'd do a Mad Hatter/OC, just because he was there so briefly that I didn't really feel like I got a true sense of who he is and what would be a good match for him. But ther's always a chance for the future.