Okay gonna cut straight to the chase this chapter. Songs: 'Prince of Darkness' by City of the Fallen (It's the trailer song), 'There is No Plan' by Steve Jablonsky (Transformers: Dark of the Moon (The Score) and FINALLY - 'Assemble' by Alan Silvestri (The Avengers soundtrack)
Chapter Sixteen
"What? Where?" I shouted, running after him.
"My tower. Suit up, Rogers went to get Barton and Romanoff. They're high jacking a plane."
"Impressive. I think I can make my own way there." I refused though.
"Look, I know you've got issues right now, but you can barely fly so I would't suggest that. Besides the Quinjet can fly almost as fast as my suit. I should know, I designed it." he raced off leaving me behind. Right now all I had to do was get the confiscated weapons from the storage cell.
I pulled out my earpiece and paged Natasha.
"Agent Romanoff, can you hear me? This is Panic." I said.
"I can hear you princess." responded Clint.
"I'm going to get a few supplies, meet you all on the flight deck in ten minutes." I told him.
"Make it five and you've got yourself a deal."
"Fine."
"Oh and by the way. We're on a mission now. Codename's apply."
"Over and out... Hawkeye." I laughed as I turned him off. That would have stroked his ego.
"One more thing. I can guess where you're going, there's a surprise waiting for you down in the storage cell."
I rushed down there and found another ten boxes filled with a pleasant assortment of guns and other gadgets, all infused with tesseract technology. I grabbed two arm attachments before noticing the 'surprise' Clint talked about. In a small brown box sat a belt and material. When I took them out it wasn't just material. It was a suit, my suit. A 'catsuit' of sorts with a zip down the middle, pockets on the legs and hip, and the S.H.I.E.L.D logo uniquely designed on the left breast. But once I saw the symbol I knew this wasn't any old suit. Underneath the logo sat six numbers. 56783. Phil's agent code. This wasn't a custom made outfit. It was his old suit, but cut up to fit me. I could smell it, his scent. I shook my head in disbelief but smiled. A final present.
I changed into it and dangled my locket outside of it. I fit guns into every pocket and holster available and finally put my leather jacket, he had given me, over the top.
"Thank you Clint." I whispered to myself.
"You're not cleared to be in here."
"Son, just don't." the Cap reprimanded. The young agent nodded reluctantly and got off the plane. I chuckled and slapped him on the back as he left.
"Buckle in everyone. It's gonna be a bumpy ride." Romanoff commanded, sitting in the cockpit with Barton.
"So what's the plan?" I asked once we had left the carrier.
"In non-Tony speak, Loki is using Stark's tower as the energy source, so we know where Loki's going to make his move. The plan is to find Loki and destroy the portal before he can open it." Steve explained.
"And what if he opens it before we reach him?" I asked. Natasha cocked her gun in the front seat.
"Then we get trigger happy."
"Hey guys, We've got a problem." Stark said over the radio, "The thing's already self sustaining, I tried blasting it but it's pure energy. I can't touch it."
"Time for Plan B." Barton said.
"Just what I was thinking." Stark laughed, "Look's like our favourite god is making himself right at home too." then he cut out.
"Stark needs to get at his other suit in the tower. By distracting Loki, he'll be in and out."
"Does he need back up?" I asked, eying the city scrapers in the distance.
"Nope. He's got style, that's all he needs." Romanoff joked.
"You'd better hope that style can cut it." I replied as up at the Stark Tower something... someone fell out the window and was toppling down. It was Stark.
"Open the back now!" I demanded as Clint did as I said. I was about to jump when Natasha stopped me.
"Emily wait! Look." Stark wasn't falling. In fact his suit was joining around him as we spoke and at the very last second he stopped from hitting the ground, flying back up to the window he came from.
"And you pissed off one more person. His name is Phil." I heard him say over the buzzing of the engines and wind, blasting Loki square in the chest.
Then, everything we'd been planning to stop, blew right up in our faces. From the tip of the tower shot a blinding blue beam of light.
"We've got company." Barton said up front as the first squad of aliens came through the ever growing portal. And they were huge, they whizzed through the air on flying hover jet ski like contraptions, wielding blue weapons and ridiculous armour that didn't hide their hideous faces. Snarling teeth with flesh hanging from them. These things meant serious business.
"You don't say?" I snapped.
"Swing up near the park, I'll lay em' out for you." Tony said as we flew close along through the buildings. Natasha let fire, a shower of bullets towards the oncoming Chitauri, blowing up everyone of them. Circling back around to Stark Tower, there was a red figure that had landed on the top story. Thor. Right in front of him, perhaps far more worth my while, was Loki. The two began in battle, clashing weapons and throwing one another around.
"Ready to hit that?" Clint pointed to Loki.
"Ready." Natasha aimed the guns again. I couldn't let them get him in one blast, he wouldn't get away that easy. Shutting my eyes and placing my hand on the wall I surged into the computer system and blocked the guns from the controls.
"The guns suddenly went offline! Look OUT!" she called as from below, Loki fired a shot at us, hitting one of our engines. The plane jolted to the side in the blow and I went flying across the jet into Steve.
"Hold on back there!" Clint laughed as I grabbed Steve by the arm and held us against the wall.
"I'm not exactly going to let go!" I yelled back. We began to spin and I could have been sick, "I swear it's not me this time!" I said as we hit the side of a building.
"Brace yourselves!" then BAM! We hit the ground and I released Steve and myself from the wall.
"Thanks." he said racing quickly to grab his shield. The back hatch opened again and the four of us ran out, trying to determine our co-ordinates. Straight ahead, though probably a few blocks out, stood Stark Tower.
"We need to get back up there." Steve said, surveying for any stray Chitauri. There was a loud roar, as if God's stomach had rumbled in the sky and a giant flying whale like creature emerged from the portal. It was humungous and covered head to tail in alien armour. This was the perfect time to make off, before any of them tried to stop me. If I could get to the top of building aside us, I'd have a perfect running jump inline with the tower. The only problem was, I wasn't 100% sure how to control my flying ability. I understood how it worked so my best guess was to focus on that and hope everything fell into place, otherwise I was going to end up squished on the concrete, but it was the best hope I had.
"Stark you seeing this?" Steve said into his headset, staring up into the sky. None of them had the slightest clue that I had turned and made my way for the buildings entrance.
I bolted, as fast as I could. If they noticed for one second they would catch up to me straight away. I knew they were all faster than me. Once I was inside the building I found it was practically deserted. The lifts were out of order, so up the stairs I went. I ran up them too, barely breaking a sweat. I kept my ears tuned the whole time and after a minute, while Steve and Tony planned, Clint caught onto my disappearing act.
"Where'd she go?" she suddenly shouted. I could hear him swish, obviously turning and looking. Then the other two began to turn as well.
"Where'd who go?" Stark said over the mic.
"Em... I mean Panic. She was here one second and now she's gone." Steve said angrily.
"I told you to keep an eye on her! She's going after Loki, I know it." Stark stated, "We don't have time to stop her. We've just gotta hope that she doesn't get herself killed in the process."
"I'm going after her. I won't let her die out here." Steve said.
"No, you can't. You have no idea where she could be. And there are hundreds of other helpless people in this god forsaken city that need your help. Panic's on her own now." Natasha stopped him.
"Fine, but everyone keep an eye out for her." he agreed.
I reached the rooftop and made sure that Loki was still on top of the Tower, which he was.
"I'm coming for you sweetheart." I whispered. Standing as far back as possible I made my run up. Foot after foot, stride after stride, second after second and then the ledge was at my feet. Leaping, I went spread eagle and focused on pushing myself away from the ground. The air rushed past as I fell rather than flew. It wasn't working and I panicked. My eyes opened wide as I began to let out a scream. At the last second I was caught by a speeding Chitauri flier. Hitting the back heavily I laid perfectly still so not to arouse suspicion. Unfortunately my 'landing' wasn't as graceful as I thought and in seconds a nosy Chitauri poked it's head over the back to see me casually hanging there. He shot at me and I threw his energy blast back at him, knocking him backwards, taking his pilot over the edge with him. With no one to control this baby, I jumped straight up and tried to fly this thing. It was pretty easy, like a motorbike. A handle that when swiveled, controlled the direction and a few alien indicators on the side. It was wickedly fast as well, I was lucky I had sharp reflexes otherwise this baby would have clipped a wall by now. Loki was seconds away, and the sight of him made my blood boil. But he did something as I neared him. Something he would wish he never did. Something that made me know his one true weakness.
All that talk about doing what I never could was hypocrisy. Loki pulled a small dagger behind his back as Thor coaxed him into giving up. He had the perfect chance to wedge the blade straight through Thor's heart and kill him where he stood, but instead he pierced through his brothers side and jumped from the building onto his own Chitauri flier. The entire time I had been so focused on Loki's strengths that I had to overcome I missed his biggest flaw. He was a chronic liar. How could he hate his brother so much, constantly ramble on about it, start a war over his 'hatred' but when it comes down to it, not do the very deed he speaks so frequently about. It was so clear now, I could understand his logic perfectly.
When I found out about Project Mastermind, I was distraught. Words were my bullets and my shield. I could say I hated Phil and million times and it would never be true. But more than that I hated myself. I never hated my family but I disowned myself. I felt like I wasn't part of their family, not they apart from mine. Loki, was more similar to myself than I cared to admit.
Despite all the talk, the bragging, the planning. Loki couldn't kill his brother more than I could. I understood why he killed Phil. He genuinely thought he'd do me a favour. He did what I could never do; I never could kill my brother. I never could break those ties between Phil and myself. But this revelation only made my revenge that much sweeter. An eye for an eye. A brother for a brother. My plan was infallible. Besides, Thor never apologized anyway.
I landed the flier on the small landing pad and jumped out quickly, rushing to Thor's aid.
"Urghh." he groaned pulling the dagger out from his side and stumbling to his feet, "I was naive to think I could reason with him. Our best chance is to capture him and for me to take him back to Asgard."
"Why didn't he take the kill?" I asked innocently.
"I do not know. Loki is conniving and articulate. He must have something up his sleeve." he responded. How did he not even see it right in front of him, how could he be so blind and not realize that Loki obviously still cared, that he'd always cared. If he couldn't even see how much he really meant to his brother then why did he deserve to have him. Why did he deserve to live with his brother when he was so blind to the fact that he meant something. He under-estimated his importance and by doing that he under estimated anyone that wanted to hurt Loki— to hurt him. There was no way I was letting Loki get captured and taken back home. Nuh-uh. He would face his punishment here on earth by, my hand.
But I shouldn't get ahead of myself, first I had to lure the mouse to the cheese. I just had to make sure he wasn't watching when I laid the bait.
"Yeah, must." I agreed, "Come I'll take you to the others."
"Who's here?"
"Stark, Agent Romanoff, Barton, the Cap'. And see that giant whale thing?" I pointed to the armored flying thing off destroying things.
"Yes. The beasts are called Leviathans, I've heard of them before in Asgardian Folk tales. They are mindless creatures and simply vessels that the Chitauri are controlling. We must rid it from the city quickly before it's able to release any more Chitauri." he explained.
"Jump on!" I urged Thor. Chucking his hammer he knocked out an oncoming flock of aliens.
"I will find the rest of you once I dispose of some of these wretched pests." he caught his hammer in his hand.
"Your move." I shrugged and began to wade through the storage compartment in the back of it. Inside sat strange Chitauri weaponry, a glowing blue knife picked my eye. I put that in my pocket for later and slung one of their disintegration guns over my shoulder. That should do. With some minor tweaking I flew off, Thor and I going in separate directions
I couldn't kill him in front of everyone, despite how much I had convinced myself this revenge must take place, I didn't want to ruin the trust my team mates had in me, at least not straight in front of them. I don't understand why I cared about their opinion. Maybe I clinging onto a little memory of Phil. I had devised my plan.
It was simple but effective. I had to pretend to be the good guy, hang with the Avengers to get close to Loki. I would still confront Loki if I found him, but it would seem as though it were under other motives. I would assure him that if anything happened to me, something would happen to him. If I went, he went. Anything try to kill me and I would feel for Loki's heart no matter where he was in the city, like what I did with Steve's shield, and rip it from the very cavity in his chest. He was going to have to face this like a man. Eventually I would make my move on Thor. Unexpected and shocking.
From what I could tell, the Chitauri machine was running low on ammo. I had to ditch this thing and find a new play toy, directly after I found the rest of the motley crew. I had turned off my earpiece and now it was about time to turn it back on. With a click I beeped Stark.
"Miss me?" I asked comically.
"Ah, nice of you to come back to the party." he replied.
"Where are you? I've got a present. I hijacked one of the Chitauri fliers." I told him.
"Trying to lead my new puppy to a bone." he said as there was a loud boom in the background.
"You're taking on the Leviathan? It could swallow you in one gulp!"
"Yeah, one of those. I'll send up a flare."
Instantly I spotted a red firework in the sky and Stark weaving in and around buildings trying to attract the Leviathan. I put the gear into top speed and zoomed forward spotting Steve, Clint and Natasha backed up near where we started. I could even see where the plane had crashed.
Suddenly, over head of them, a group of Chitauri flew past and sent explosions their direction. Only one of them wasn't Chitauri, it was Loki and he was cruising for a bruising. I flew down towards them when I saw an arrow shooting towards my eye. As an instant reflex I pushed it away, only to be met by multiple shots in the bottom of my machine, sending it down straight away. I jumped from it and fell five meters in the air, preparing for a nasty landing. Instead, I felt two strong arms catch me like a baby and Steve's grimy and singed face bearing down on me. With an awkward cough, he put me down and the other two ran over.
"Thanks for the welcoming presents." I sneered at them.
"We thought you were a Chitauri." Clint apologized.
"Now my ride's destroyed. Anyway, we've got company" I cocked my gun as a couple dozen Chitauri fell from the sky and landed in front of us, "Do me a favour, can you hide for a minute so I can get their attention?" I asked, planning.
"Why? I'm not leaving you out there unprotected." Steve said.
"If I can get them to all shoot at me at once, I can gather their energy from their weapons and fire it back at them. All their weapons are capable of disintegration, if I strike them with one giant shock of energy they'll drop out like flies." I explained.
"No, it's too risky. We take them as a team." he demanded as the Chitauri began their first round of firing. The alien in front of me fired three times, the first shot barely missing my ear and the other two headed straight towards my gut. Steve jumped in front with his shield and they hardly shook him. I ripped the gun from it's hand with my powers and fired it at it's head, sending it down for the count. One down, a million to go! Clint was firing like crazy and Natasha was at his back shooting as well. We were hopelessly outnumbered and we all knew it. Steve was on top of a flipped taxi smashing any Chitauri that dared come near him and I was mindlessly shooting at any alien thing that moved. In a moment of weakness I let one of them run past me and it jumped me from behind. Smashing me into the ground it almost ran me through with a spear-like weapon when I turned on my back and grabbed for it's heart. Unlike a human, it's heart wasn't in it's chest, it sat near the back of it's throat. I felt it beating, pumping and shot it out the back of it's neck. It shrieked and fell on top of me. It's blood was black and smelt rotten. I pushed it off me and began to join my group again. I pulled out my stolen Chitauri gun and began to fire like crazy, but not at the aliens, into the sky rather. Harvesting the energy balls it shot, I bundled them up above my head. It was an amazing sight if I do say so myself. As I was about to drop the bomb on the back row of advancing Chitauri, when there was a loud thunderous boom and lighting struck from the sky taking all of them down in one shot. I dispersed my ball as Thor landed on the ground with a thump.
"Thank's for stealing my thunder." I said ironically.
"Glad to see you're entertaining yourself." Clint brushed off the dust from his clothes, waltzing over.
"What's the news upstairs?" Steve walked over.
"The cube is surrounded by an impenetrable force field." Thor replied.
"Thor's right, you've gotta take care of these guys." Stark said flying around.
"So how do we do this?" Natasha asked.
"As a team." Cap instructed.
"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor protested.
"Get in line!" Clint scoffed cleaning his arrows.
"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without us these things would run wild. We've got Stark up top—," he said as there was a pathetic whirring of an engine behind us. There rolled up, Banner, on a rundown motorcycle. He leant it up against a smoking car and padded along towards us.
"So... this all seems horrible." he sniggered stupidly.
"I've seen worse." Natasha greeted, eying him up and down.
"Sorry."
"No, we could use a little worse." she smiled weakly.
"Stark, we got him." Steve said.
"Banner?"
"Just like you said."
"Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." he said and then there was a loud roar. It was close and I realized I couldn't see the Leviathan flying about the city anywhere. Stark... was bringing the 'party'. From around the corner came a speeding Stark, tiny in comparison to the monstrous Leviathan floating behind him. It howled and chased him and we all suddenly got a sinking feeling in our gut.
"I don't see how that's a party..." Natasha said flatly. It smashed cars along the ground as it neared street level and Banner turned and began to walk towards it.
"Dr. Banner," Steve stopped him, "Now might be a really good time to get angry."
"That's my secret Cap." the Leviathan was about a hundred meters away now, "I'm always angry." he growled turning back to face the Leviathan turning green and large as he went. He singularly punched it in the forehead and it began to scrape and halt, flipping over itself.
"Hold on!" Tony yelled and shot two small missiles at it. It slowed further and exploded over the top of our heads, Steve covering bother Natasha and I with his shield. The Chitauri were in uproar, from the buildings that lined us in, they shouted. Stark came to land and Banner (Now the Hulk) joined us. We all stood up and formed a circle. Back to back facing the aliens ready to take on anything. Natasha reloaded her gun, Clint loaded his bow, Stark aimed his repulsers, the Hulk flexed his muscles, Thor swung his hammer in his hand and Steve held his shield at the ready. I stood in the circle next to Steve and Natasha and pulled out my stolen Chitauri knife. It glowed immensely and stared out into the distance, the Avengers and their trainee. We had taken out their biggest asset and I couldn't help but feel pride and even success. We might actually win this war.
Then from the sky a wave of shouting came and another Leviathan came through. Then another and another. Soon there was at least six roaming about and I had to think twice. Maybe it wasn't over. Just... maybe.
