Disclaimer: This chapter is rated T for action/violence and mild language.
Eir ran through the doors to the room where Loki was being held. She looked around cautiously, checking around for any sign of movement. She walked up to the glass cage, which was completely empty and quickly peered inside. Loki had escaped.
Or is this one of his tricks? she thought, as she continued to peer through the glass, thinking if he used a simple invisibility spell to conceal himself.
As Eir peered through the glass a hand was placed on the glass, just inches away from her. She whirled around to come face to face with Loki. However this time she was less surprised to see him.
"So, you escaped. I guess the explosion was also your doing?" she asked him.
"Always so clever. But no, the explosion was the handwork of agent Barton and his cohorts." Loki said complacently.
"So why not run now? You have your scepter." she asked skeptically.
"Ah yes, but I still need to take one more thing of mine." he replied smugly.
"And that would be?" Eir asked.
"Take a guess." Loki replied, a devious smirk creeping across his face.
"What? No. No, I am not going to be dragged into this Loki. I thought I made it clear to you." she said, backing away quickly from him.
"So did I. Now, if I were you I'd come quietly. You know there's no point in running from me." he said devilishly, stepping closer to her.
"Don't make me hurt you Loki." she said, the wall behind her getting closer and closer.
"Oh, I know you won't." Loki hissed, closing in on Eir.
Eir wasn't sure what to do. She should blast Loki away with her magic, but would it be enough? What if she wasn't strong enough? Could she really hurt Loki? she thought.
Eir tried to take another step back, but she bumped into a wall. Her hands nervously searched the wall, unsuccessfully attempting to find a way out. Loki closed in on her and gently, but firmly grabbed her neck. Eir tried to free herself but to no avail. She felt like a bird who stares into a snake's eyes and becomes paralyzed. Loki leaned in closer to her and placed his other hand inches from her face.
"What are you -"
"You'll be much more cooperative if you're drained of some of your magic. I usually would prefer to ask, but I wouldn't want you teleporting off somewhere." Loki said evilly, as his hand began to glow blue.
Eir's eyes filled with horror and disbelief as she felt her energy being drained. Her body becoming weaker and weaker. Her strength fading every second.
"Loki…" she said weakly, before she lost the strength to speak and blacked out.
…
"Loki!" Thor shouted as he stormed into the detention lab.
He strode through the entrance and towards Loki's cell.
Eir awoke to find her hands bound by handcuffs and a piece of cloth tied around her mouth, muffling her. She was in the corner of the detention lab, being restrained by one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies that agent Barton had brought. She struggled against her bonds but she was too weak. She saw one of Loki's body double illusions in the glass cell, pretending to escape. Thor charged Loki's double, thinking it was the real thing, and tried to tackle it. Eir tried to warn Thor, but could not because of the gag in her mouth. Instead of tackling Loki, the double dissipated and Thor fell into the glass cage, becoming entrapped in it as the door shut itself. The real Loki appeared from behind some equipment, then stood in front of the cage with his hands behind his back.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" he said smugly.
Eir watched as Thor tried to break the glass cell, but caused the machine on the side of it to activate.
"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" Loki said, then moved to flip the switch on the control panel that would drop the cage.
"Move away please." a voice said.
Eir looked, and saw agent Coulson holding a large weapon threateningly at Loki. Loki slowly moved away from the switch and put his hands up.
"You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" Coulson said confidently.
Eir knew what Loki was doing, and her muffled warnings were unheard. Every attempt to scream out a warning was a failed attempt against the damned cloth that gagged her.
As Coulson was about to fire the weapon at Loki, Loki's scepter was thrust through his back. The Loki that had stepped away from the control panel was just one of his doubles, and the real Loki had just stabbed Coulson.
"Nooo!" Thor shouted through the glass cell, his fist slamming against its walls.
Eir screamed out in anguish through her gag, as she watched Coulson's dying body fall to the floor against the wall.
Loki stepped away from Coulson and walked back over to the switch on the control panel. Thor and his eyes' met briefly. Thor's in disbelief and horror, and Loki's in an impassive and cold glance. Loki carelessly flipped the switch, sending the glass cell and Thor down on a descent of thirty-thousand feet.
Eir's eyes filled up with tears at the horrific scene that lay before her. Coulson dying in the corner and Thor falling to his demise. Loki was a monster.
Loki turned away from the control panel to walk back over to Eir, but was stopped by a weak voice.
"You're gonna lose." Coulson said weakly.
"Am I?" Loki replied conceitedly.
"It's in your nature." Coulson retorted.
"You're heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?" Loki asked smugly.
"You lack conviction." Coulson replied weakly.
Coulson's words stung Loki, and he stepped forward aggressively.
"I don't think I…" Loki began, but was suddenly shot through the wall behind him by Coulson's weapon, who had used the last of his strength to do so.
"So that's what it does." Coulson said faintly.
Loki recomposed himself and hastily walked over to Eir and lifted her up by grabbing her arm. He and his minion quickly walked through the halls, making their way to the rendezvous point with the jet that awaited them. Eir tried to fight against Loki, but she did not have the strength. She instead focused on trying to remove the gag from her mouth. She contorted and moved her mouth as much as she could, striving to detach it from her mouth.
She managed to loosen it and remove it from her mouth. The second it was off, she began to shout for help.
"Help! Help! Anyone help! I'm being taken by Loki!" she shouted, her piercing pleas echoing throughout the halls.
Surprised, Loki's eyes darted to Eir. He tried to make her shut her mouth, she had to be quiet!
Eir would not comply with Loki, she used all the strength she had to struggle against Loki and continue to shout for help. Someone had to hear her.
"Would you shut your mouth! We must leave before this fortress falls from the sky!" Loki hissed at Eir.
"Loki, you killed Thor and stabbed Coulson, and now you're kidnapping me! Do you think I'd want to go anywhere with you? I will continue to fight against you until my last breath!" Eir shouted, her eyes glaring balefully at Loki.
Realizing he couldn't shut her up, Loki continued to hurry down the halls, forcing Eir along with him. Just as they neared the exit, and the hovercraft that awaited outside as their getaway vehicle, the man who had restrained Eir in the detention lab was knocked onto the ground by a red, white and blue shield. Eir looked to see Steve, in full Captain America uniform, running down the hall towards her and Loki.
Loki tossed Eir to the side and aimed his scepter at Steve, sending a bolt of tesseract energy at him. Steve quickly held his shield up and deflected the bolt, continuing to run at Loki. Loki made the first move at Steve, thrusting his scepter at him. Steve dodged it, grabbed the scepter and kicked Loki away. Loki stood up quickly. Realizing he could not afford a fight with Captain America, the fortress losing power at the very moment, he looked at Eir briefly then ran out the exit door.
Steve immediately rushed over to Eir and removed the handcuffs that restrained her. He helped her onto her feet gently and looked her over for any other injuries.
"Hey cap, I'm gonna need your help fixing the engine." Tony, in his full Iron Man suit, said through Steve's earpiece.
"I - I'm fine Steve. Hurry, the hellicarrier.. It's going to fall. You need to worry about the lives of everyone on this ship, not me." Eir said solemnly.
"You're right. But Eir, be careful." he said with concern.
Eir nodded in understanding. Steve then rushed down the halls to find the damaged engine.
Eir tried to walk through the halls, to get to the detention lab, to heal Coulson, but her strength failed her. There was chaos all over the ship. Constant booming sounds were heard, followed by tremors that shook the ship. Eir struggled to stay on her feet, her energy almost gone. She could hear people shouting and the sound of gunshots. She was close to the command room. As she walked past, she tripped over a piece of fallen debris. Eir was about to hit the floor, when a hand grabbed her arm and stopped her.
She looked up to see Maria holding her arm, with a small bloody gash on her forehead. Eir smiled weakly, happy to see her face again.
"Come on Eir, I'm not letting you down. Now let's hurry and get you to cover." Maria said.
Eir saw one of Loki's henchman appear and aim a gun at Maria. Eir quickly raised her hand and shot a bolt of green energy at him, blasting him back. Maria turned to look, then quickly looked back at Eir.
"Thanks." she said.
"Don't mention it." Eir replied, a small smile on her face.
Suddenly, everything around them began sliding to one side. Eir and Maria were thrown and pinned against the side of the wall, the force of gravity sticking them to the wall.
"What the hell is happening?" Eir shouted.
"The hellicarrier is falling, agent Barton took out another engine!" Maria replied.
Steve, Tony, you better hurry. Eir thought.
…
"Cap, need a lever." Tony said through the com-link as he spun the engine rotors faster and faster in his metal suit.
Steve was holding onto a cable, barely managing to keep himself from falling off the hellicarrier.
"I need a minute here!" Steve shouted.
"Lever! Now!" Tony shouted over the com-link, then stopped pushing the rotors.
The momentum and strength of the rotors pulled Tony underneath, pounding him around. Steve finally managed to drag himself back onto the ship and pull the red lever. The red lever reversing the rotors just enough to free Tony from engine. One of Loki's soldiers began shooting at Steve, who was cornered between debris. Tony flew in and tackled the soldier, knocking the wind out of him.
…
Loki ran onto his getaway jet and looked back at the hellicarrier pensively, as the jet carried him away. He was pleased that most of his plan had succeeded, but a very important part of it had failed…
With the hellicarrier leveled out, Eir and Maria stood up.
"Maria, I need to get to the detention lab. Coulson's seriously injured. I need to heal him, quickly." Eir said gravely.
Maria nodded in compliance, then put her hand up to her ear and spoke into her earpiece.
"I need a medical team down in the detention lab. We have an agent seriously injured. I repeat. We have an agent seriously injured." Maria said seriously, as she helped Eir stand.
"Maria. I can make it there myself. I can take care of it, you need to stay here and help the others." Eir said, pushing herself away from Maria and standing on her own.
"But you're injured." Maria asked with concern.
"Asgardians heal quickly, now please let me go." Eir replied.
Maria nodded. Eir then hurried down the halls as fast as she could. Yes, Asgardians healed fast, but not in the course of fifteen minutes. Eir strained to keep up a fast pace as she ran down the halls. She had to help Coulson. When she arrived, she found Coulson in the same spot as before. Eir rushed over to him. She bent over to him and began to attempt to heal him.
"It's too late for me Eir." he said weakly.
Eir could tell that his strength was leaving him.
"Come on, you can make it. Be strong." Eir said as she frantically tried to heal his wounds.
"Not even Asgardian magic can save me now. I know it, I've accepted it." he replied.
"No! You can't die on me!" Eir exclaimed.
"Keep the fight going, and don't let him win." Coulson said.
Nick fury rushed in with his gun drawn. He quickly scouted the area for enemy activity then rushed over to Eir and Coulson, placing his weapon back in its holster.
"I'm sorry, boss. They got rabbited." Coulson said dimly.
"Just stay awake. Eyes on me." Fury replied, trying to will him to live.
"How is he?" Fury asked, turning to Eir.
"Not good…" Eir replied, anxiety and sorrow in her voice and filling her eyes.
"No, I'm clockin' out here." Coulson said.
"Not an option." Fury said with authority.
"It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to…" Coulson's sentence trailed off as he froze still, his eyes still and lifeless.
"Is he?" Fury asked Eir solemnly.
"… yes." Eir sobbed, tears spilling from her eyes, as she looked at the lifeless body of Coulson.
The medical team arrived and began to tend to Coulson's already dead body. Nick Fury sorrowfully placed his hand to his earpiece and turned on the com-link.
"Agent Coulson is down." Fury said through the com-link on everyone's channel.
"Sir, the medical team -" Maria said, but was cut off by Fury.
"I know. They called it." Fury replied solemnly.
All of the Avengers were silent with shock. No one more than Eir, as she stood behind the medical staff, who were now taking Coulson's body away. She stood there, her eyes locked onto his dead body. The memory of Loki stabbing Coulson replaying in her mind over and over. She had never lost anybody before. A patient that is. In her entire occupation as a healer, she had never lost someone. No one had ever died on her. But this time, she had failed.
She had failed Thor. She had failed Coulson. She was a failure…