Elsa felt her hand poked with wooden sticks, and looked down to see Olaf, staring at her with wide eyes. For a change, he said nothing, apparently seeing how deep the pain went. "I've failed again, Olaf," she whispered. "I failed my sister, I've failed Phil… I've…"
"You need to forgive yourself," Olaf told her quietly. "Doctor Samson told me what happened. Loki is to blame. Not you."
"I could have stopped him, Olaf. I could have saved Phil, if I'd…"
"Trusted yourself," said Olaf in the same quiet voice.
It might have been the wrong thing to say. Elsa put her head and her hands and wept again. "Anna trusted me, Phil trusted me. They were wrong, Olaf. I wish I'd never had this magic."
Olaf was quiet for a second. "I still trust you. Loki's still out there, and Anna would not have wanted you to give up your magic. It was a gift, and aren't gifts made to be used?"
It took time for the thoughts to penetrate Elsa's brain. Loki had promised war. War was still coming. Olaf was right. There were going to be people who needed… what? She thought for a moment, then looked up from Olaf to Captain Rodgers.
"What do we do?" she asked, addressing Rodgers for the first time.
"We?" asked Captain Rodgers. "Elsa… you're not a soldier. You're not a…" Rodgers looked her in the eyes.
"No, I don't know what I can do to help. But I need to. I need to prove to myself, to Phil. To Anna, that I can use this magic responsibly. I'm prepared to do what is necessary."
Rodgers nodded. "Let's go find Stark."
Stark was standing in the empty gap where Loki's prison used to stand, staring at the large empty hole. "Was he married?" asked Rodgers.
Elsa hung back, letting Steve take the lead in the conversation, up until Tony called Phil an idiot.
"He was not an idiot," exploded Elsa. Steve and Tony both stepped back. "He believed in me to be with him."
"He should have waited…" began Stark.
"For what? For Loki to escape? For his men to carve an even bigger hole in your ship? I was there. He trusted me, and when the time came, I froze. But there wasn't a way out."
"Right. I've heard that before."
"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?" asked Rodgers.
"We are not…" began Tony.
"Is it the first time you lost a friend?" interjected Elsa. Stark and Rodgers both stared at her. "I remember when Anna's body froze in front of me. When the treacherous Hans shattered her. The rage… I froze myself, my subjects. I know what you feel Tony… and there's nothing like it. But Phil… he wasn't born into it, he signed up for it. Because he thought it was right."
Tony nodded, and after a moment he added, "But I didn't sign up. I'm not marching to Fury's fife."
"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we need to focus on Loki and get this done. He needs a…" began Rodgers.
"He made this personal," said Stark.
"When he killed Phil?" asked Elsa.
"He attacked the Helicarrier, killed Phil, insulted us all. That's Loki's point. He wants to beat us… he wants to be seen doing it."
"We caught his act in Germany," Rodgers said, following.
"That was just the previews, and this is opening night. He wants an audience, he wants applause, he wants a tower built in his image with his name…. sonofabitch."
Tony went to get his armor, while Captain Rodgers and Elsa hurried to find the one other person Rodgers needed. "Time to go," Rodgers said.
"Go where?" Natasha asked.
"Tell you on the way, can you fly one of those?"
Elsa started. "You know she can, Captain. She flew us to Germany."
"I can," said a male voice. Elsa glanced in, and saw a man she did not recognize.
Elsa's eyes went back to Natasha, who nodded silently at Rodgers.
"Do you have a suit? Then suit up."
In the plane, Elsa made one other addition to her modified shield uniform, a helmet, made of clear ice. It seemed the proper way to acknowledge Phil's last piece of advice. She'd been given a new earpiece. One with something called a "Microphone" attached so she could talk to the others, activated by a button that hooked on to her belt.
Tony had gone on ahead. Elsa had put on a brave face, but she was probably more scared than she was when she had gone to Germany. Samson had said that's what bravery was. The courage to do the right thing even when scared.
It had sounded good, at least.
As they lowered themselves down from the clouds to approach New York proper, Elsa caught herself staring again. She'd never seen buildings of this size. There might have been some in Germany, but it had been night. This… this was something she couldn't focus on right now.
"What? Did you stop for Drive-Thru?" came Tony's voice. "Swing up Park, I'll lay them out for you." He zoomed past a few seconds later, and the weapons of the Quinnjet roared to life. Several pursuing… somethings, fell from the sky. Chitauri is what Thor had called them.
Something rocked the Hellicarrier, and despite Clint and Natasha's flailing, the jet spun down, crashing to the ground. Elsa had followed Captain Rodgers lead, and had grabbed onto something he had called a "Panic Bar". As a result, she was merely dazed when they emerged onto the streets of New York.
"We've got to get back…" began Rodgers.
"Watch out!" shouted Elsa, and, testing the range of her magic, blasted a sheet of ice all the way across a smaller building to the tower the giant letter was tumbling from. The giant K bounced down the ice, settling onto a nearby roof. The sounds of screaming from all around her began to overwhelm her senses.
"Glad you came already," remarked Barton dryly.
That's when the…. space serpent emerged from the hole above STAR tower. Elsa simply stared, as did the others. More of the creatures jumped off of (or out of) the hideous things. Energy filled the air, causing things to explode. People ran from them as best they could, but Elsa could tell, the screams were changing tone from fear to pain.
"Think you can hold them off?" Rodgers asked.
"Captain," said Barton, fitting an arrow to his bow. "It would be my genuine pleasure."
"Stay with them, Elsa. Give them some cover. I'll be back shortly," ordered the Captain… and he was gone.
"There's kids in that bus," Barton said after surveying his surroundings for a second or two. "We need to get them out.". All three of them ducked as an explosion blew… something up in the portal's direction. "Elsa? Can you give us a roof?"
That was easy. Elsa focused momentarily and, arching her arms, created a similar arc of ice between the the two buildings to their left and right, screening them from fire above, giving just enough headroom for civilians to come to their now defendable positions.
And, as it turned out, for the Chitauri to get in. But Natasha seemed to have that handled. Barton and Elsa helped get people trapped in the bus out. "Subway! That direction," Barton told them. "Get underground!"
Elsa looked up, and saw that two of the Chitauri had doubled back, as the shield only covered half the approach. She instinctively fired her magic at the lead one, causing the vehicle to frost over. It must have malfunctioned, for it careened into the building on the left, and threw the rider to the ground. A moment later, the second one sprouted an arrow, and exploded.
Barton's bow was back in his hand. "Nice shot," he told her. "Keep covering our six."
"What?" asked Elsa.
"Like on a clock!" shouted Natasha. "Watch our backs!"
Oh. "I understand!"
Over the next few minutes, Elsa gained an appreciation as to why Captain Rodgers had been hesitant to bring her along. Elsa had backed up against her own wall, creating a sheet of ice over the rubble in the street. Chitauri apparently had the same problem walking on ice that humans did, and slipped in the same way. Elsa blasted two more with hard bolts of ice, keeping them down.
Had she killed them? Maybe. She flashed back to her ice palace. The two Wësseltown guards would have killed her. But… Prince Hans, for all his monstrosity, had given her a way out. There was no way out here. Back at the present, Natasha was fighting hand to hand with a stolen glaive, and Barton had just stabbed another one with an arrow. They were having no qualms. It's what what they had to do.
She saw another Chitauri leveling its energy weapon, and Elsa didn't hesitate. Thin, sharp, ice spikes flew, penetrating the alien's armor. If it was to be them or us, Elsa was going to side with the ones who stopped to help other people, not the ones who targeted them.
Another group was massing just beyond the ice, preparing to attempt to overwhelm their position. It was beginning to look poor until lightning came from somewhere out of their sight, shocking the small group for several seconds until they collapsed. A moment later, Thor landed heavily on the already cracked and ruined road. A few seconds later, Captain Rodgers came back up from behind them, and waved for Elsa to join him. It was… momentarily, quiet.
"How do we do this?" asked Barton.
"As a team," Captain Rodgers began.
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor interrupted.
"Yeah? Get in line," growled Barton.
"Save it," ordered Rodgers. "We've got Stark up…" A puttering interrupted Rodgers again. Dr. Banner arrived, driving a… small motorized bicycle.
"Well, this looks horrible," deadpanned Banner.
"I've seen worse," returned Natasha.
Banner looked abashed.
"You were right, Tony," said Elsa, utilizing her communicator for the first time, "Dr. Banner's here."
"Tell him to suit up," Tony replied. "I'm bringing the party to you."
Elsa blinked, then looked out into the distance at the giant space snake heading their way. Her attention returned to Banner for just long enough to watch him change, a second time, into the large green monstrosity of a human. The first time had been clearly painful to him, laborious. This second one was smooth, and it seemed almost natural. Then he turned, and socked the snake with one blow, upending it, causing it to crash on Elsa's hastily reinforced ice dome.
It rocked with the weight, but held.