Hey, y'all! So sorry for not updating yesterday! We had a ton of thunder storms where I lived, so my power briefly cut out, and my computer spent all day updating. So sorry! I hope this slightly longer, action-packed chapter containing actual deleted scenes from The Avengers makes up for it!

To recap: The Battle of New York has begun. The Chitauri are invading, and Loki stands above it all, watching the Avengers from Tony Stark's own landing platform.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter Eleven

The Scepter's power swelled, confirming everything. This war, these screaming people. This was right. I would get what I wanted. Thor and Odin would both finally respect me.

The image of the Other flashed through my mind, and I let my eyes close for a moment as he stared at me from under his black hood. "My time has come," I told him.

He was silent for a moment before growling, "Resistance?"

I opened my eyes again and watched Stark fly through the swarm of Chitauri, blasting every one of them he could. His efforts hardly made a dent in the army pouring through the portal. "From a few," I answered. "We'll pick them apart."

"And the rest?"

The remaining members of the Avengers would make their appearance sooner or later. "Mow them down." The Other smirked at my statement, baring his sharpened teeth.

"Loki!" someone called pushing the image of the Other away. I turned towards the sound and discovered Thor standing on the terrace in his full armour-bright red cape and all. "Turn off the Tesseract or I will destroy it!" he threatened, gesturing up towards where the Tesseract rested, generating the portal.

"You can't," I said, taking aim on him with the Scepter. "There is no stopping it. There is only the war."

"So be it," Thor muttered.

I jumped down from the landing platform, bringing the Scepter's blade down towards his neck. Thor stepped back and swung at me with his Hammer. I blocked with the Scepter and pushed him back. Thor stumbled, and I took the opportunity to swing at him with the blade again. Thor leaned back and dodged, but I spun around and delivering a blast of energy towards him. He brought Miljoner up and blocked the energy, rushing towards me.

We both brought our weapons towards each other and somehow met in the middle, Thor's strength winning over mine. He forced the Scepter down as I tried to deliver another energy blast towards him, but instead, I violently removed the "K" from Stark's name hanging off of the side of the Tower.

Thor and I swung back and forth, both of us blocking and delivering more hits on each other, but none landed. It seemed that Thor and I were evenly matched when I had the Scepter. All the more reason to win the Earth, the Gems and the Scepter.

Thor suddenly brought up his hammer and brought it careening towards my head. I leaned back, the air from his swing washing over my skin. I righted myself and quickly grabbed the back of his neck before he could swing at me again. I rammed his head through the glass barrier of the terrace, shattering it.

Thor got back up and struggled against me, but I had the better angle. One of SHIELD's jets glided into view and hovered above us, the large gun on its belly aimed towards me. I used the angle I had on Thor to my advantage and threw him several feet away. I took aim on the jet with the Scepter, recognising Barton and Romanoff in the cockpit. The bright, blue blast tore itself from the Scepter and connected with one of the engines, making it catch fire instantly. The jet spiraled away, but a roar behind me quickly took my attention. Before I could move, Thor was on top of me, shoving me away from the precipice. He got in front of me and bombarded me with punch after punch. I blocked with my gauntlets, but I didn't know how long I could keep it up. I was already weakening even with the Scepter.

A loud, guttural growl resonated through the air, and Thor and I both froze as one of the Chitauri's armoured war animals glided through the portal. More and more Chitauri jumped from the animal as it flew passed, invading the buildings while the animal leveled them.

Thor grasped my shoulder and placed his hammer on my chest. "Look at this!" he shouted. "Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?"

Black spots appeared in my vision, and I blinked rapidly to get them to disappear. The moment they did, everything looked different. Clearer somehow. I saw the destruction as it was, and for the first time since I had acquired the scepter, something about this felt wrong.

This wasn't right.

I looked back at Thor and found fear and worry in his eyes. He wanted to help me, but it didn't matter what he did. "It's too late," I said. The pained screams of the people below drew my gaze again. The Chitauri continued to pour from the portal in the sky. "It's too late to stop it."

"No. We can," Thor denied, shaking me slightly in his panic. "Together."

He wanted to help me. I needed his help. There was something wrong.

But the Other. He can hear me as long as my mind is connected to the scepter.

The black spots reappeared in my vision, and when they cleared, the screams of the humans went almost entirely silent. Thor was just trying to stop me from ruling these primitive people.

I concentrated on my magic and summoned one of my push daggers. Once it was in my hand, I thrust the blade through a weak part in Thor's armour. He groaned and dropped Miljoner, grabbing for the dagger that remained in his side. I shoved him away, and he stumbled.

"Sentiment," I muttered, though whether it was towards him or myself, I couldn't tell.

Thor suddenly rushed at me and impacted me so hard that the Scepter slipped from my grasp. He grabbed my arms and lifted me over his head, slamming me down onto the floor. The air instantly left my lungs, and I cried out as my entire body ached.

I spotted the Scepter resting on the terrace, surrounded by broken glass. Thor was standing over me, so if I went for it, he would do much worse to me.

The hum of a Chitauri engine quickly drew close, becoming louder and louder. I rolled through the glass and dropped off the edge of the terrace. The small ship swept up and caught me. I reached for the controls in front of me to regain my balance as I flew, leaving Thor far behind. Several other Chitauri gathered behind me and protected my back as we glided over the humans.

A sharp pain in my head surprised me. I cried out and shut my eyes against the pain, the Other's image forming in front of me. I snapped my eyes open, and tried to concentrate on where I was flying, but it was exceptionally difficult with the Other in my mind. "This is a little resistance?" he seethed.

"Your force lacks…" I scrambled to come up with something to make up for the fact that the humans weren't destroyed yet, "finesse."

"Our warriors are fearless. They welcome a glorious death," the Other refuted.

I shook my head, watching a Chitauri warrior dive towards the ground where groups of humans waited with guns. "That may actually be the problem," I said.

"Then lead them, king!" the Other shouted. "You wield the Scepter, do you not?"

I gasped as the Other abruptly left me. "The Scepter," I breathed.

I glanced around the ground for it, my heart hammering in my chest. How could I leave it? It was back at Stark Tower. I dropped it there, but I couldn't go back to get it. Thor could still be there with the Avengers to guard it.

I guided the small Chitauri speeder through the collapsing buildings, the warriors behind me sending down a spray of laser fire. A bright, red and blue suit streaked by underneath me. Stephen Rogers. Things were too complicated now.

The sky darkened for briefly before being lit again by a bright burst of lightning. I glanced back towards its source and found multiple bolts of lightning connecting with the top of Stark Tower. Thor was trying to break through to the Tesseract, but eventually, a silhouette with a red cape extracted itself from the light and sent electricity streaming towards somewhere else.

At least the Tesseract was unguarded now. I could go back and retrieve the Scepter.

I turned the speeder around and flew as fast as it could take me back towards Stark Tower. I slowed to a hover as a howl sounded throughout the entire city. I glanced down and found the Chitauri's animal lying on its back next to the Avengers, its armour cracked and scattered with bone and blood spread over the road.

I growled in frustration. Why couldn't I just have the Scepter and these Avengers leave me be?

I glanced up towards the portal and closed my eyes, using the limited power of the Scepter that was still surging within me to contact the Chitauri military leaders waiting beyond the portal. "Send the rest," I ordered.

Hundreds more of the armoured, Chitauri war animals gliding through the portal and descending upon the already broken city. I watched as the green and ape-like Hulk pounced onto buildings, smashing Chitauri and their speeders. The sky darkened as Thor drew lightning from the clouds, throwing it towards the armoured animals.

"And change in plan. Focus on those protecting the city," I instructed before releasing the Scepter's power, suddenly exhausted.

A bright flash drew my attention, and I found a bolt of lighting streaming towards Thor and the raised Miljoner. Thor looked towards me and took aim on me with the Hammer. I pushed the speeder forward, flying as far away from Thor as I could. The lightning chased me, but I dove downwards, making it miss me by inches and strike a building.

My objective now was to protect the Tesseract, and prevent the Avengers from finding away passed its kinetic shield. The Avengers would tire eventually, and their exhaustion would kill them.

I circled Stark Tower and the buildings around it, waiting for one of them to come for it. One of the Chitauri speeders jerked from left to right in a wild flight pattern. In a sudden turn, I recognised Agent Romanoff as she jumped onto the pilot, controlling his flight.

I pushed the speeder faster, catching up to her. I quickly found the firing mechanism on the speeder's controls and sent a spray of lasers towards her, but her flight pattern was so random that she easily dodged. Romanoff glanced back towards me before looking forward again. "Hawkeye!" I heard her shout, though the rest of her words were lost in the sound of destruction.

The most logical place for Barton would be up top providing cover fire and containment with his bow. She was leading me towards his position, though that didn't matter as long as I kept her away from the Tesseract.

I caught Barton's brief reflection in the window of a passing building. He would fire any second. I listened for the whistling of his arrow and put my hand out, catching its shaft before the tip could pierce my skull. I looked down at the silver arrowhead and glanced back towards Barton as he shrunk in the distance. He knew what I could do better than the rest of the Avengers. Was this the best he could come up with?

The arrowhead beeped, and a fiery explosion threw me from the speeder. I landed hard on the stone of Stark's terrace, my horned helmet clattering to the ground.

My vision warped again, and that terrible feeling that this was wrong crept up on me again. I forced myself up and watched as Romanoff landed on near the Tesseract.

A loud roar made me jump, and the Hulk appeared moments later. His large hand came towards me and pushed me through the remaining glass windows and into the wall of the parlour. I slid to the ground but didn't allow myself a moment to breath. The Hulk slammed his fists on the ground and charged towards me like a bull. I shoved myself up from the floor and shouted, "Enough!" The Hulk froze and stared at me. "You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a king, you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by-"

The Hulk snatched me up by the ankle and flung me to the floor again and again, throwing me into the stone floor so hard that it cracked and made a crater that formed around me. I could only lay there and groan, processing the pain that racked my body.

The Hulk snorted, his heavy footfalls retreating. "Puny king."

The world spun around me, and the uneasy feeling that this was wrong overtook me.

The Scepter. I needed the Scepter, but I hurt too badly to retrieve it.

I hope you guys enjoyed! See you soon for chapter 12!