The heat of battle
A/N: I would recommend having 'I Have To Let You Go' by Nightwish playing while you read this chapter. It's part of a film score: epic and a little bit spooky, intense and atmospheric, and what I was listening to while I wrote. Just look it up on You Tube :).
The thunder continued to roll far overhead, but silence fell among those gathered outside the weapons vault as they considered the implications of what had just happened. All the planning, all the preparation, and Thanos had thwarted them without effort. If he could take the Tesseract so easily, what could he reduce Asgard to? Alex knew it was too much to hope he would take his army and leave now he had what he wanted; but Loki had failed him, betrayed him and escaped him. Loki would pay for that, and so would his home.
"How long do we have?" Frigga asked quietly, breaking the tense shroud of stillness.
"I cannot tell," Loki answered, his voice and expression grim. "Hours—minutes, perhaps. He will have to construct a device to channel the Tesseract's energy before he can pierce the shield. I must go."
"Yes. Warn your father."
"Wait in the vault," he instructed. Alex opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her with a glance, an unvoiced plea on his face. "The fallen guards have been removed and the cube itself is gone. It's the safest place in the realm—the protections I built with the Allfather remain. If Thanos or any of his army try to enter, they will be annihilated. Please."
"Just remember what you promised."
"I will." He caught her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. "Even with the Tesseract, Thanos will lose. I will not allow it any other way."
"Be careful, my son," Frigga murmured. She stepped forward to gather Loki in a quick embrace, and Loki's eyes fluttered closed. Alex thought she saw the glitter of unshed tears as he pulled away.
"Inside," he commanded, and they crossed to the iron doors, through the threshold into the central chamber of the vault. Alex felt nothing, no hint of the power protecting them, but then she didn't have any magical abilities herself. As he'd said, the bodies were gone, and the remaining guards looked as thankful for it as she was. Loki waited beyond the doors, blocking the exit.
I love you. His mouth didn't move—she heard the words only as an echo inside her head. With a final, lingering stare, he vanished.
Alex found waiting unbearable. Everything was so still and quiet down here, though occasionally a muffled blast of noise would filter down through all the rock above them, making her wince. They had no idea what was happening. Were the noises proof the battle had kicked off in earnest, or just more preparation?
She paced, until even Frigga's tolerance grew thin—not that any of them had much patience tonight. The guards stiffly held their stations but they were all restless, some downcast. They'd lost comrades tonight. To keep from shredding anyone's nerves, she explored the vault, desperately searching for something that would change their fortunes. It was a hopeless task, for two reasons. First, she doubted she'd recognise it even if she saw it. Nothing was labelled, and the oddly glittering blade on that pedestal looked deadly but might have been useless compared to the uninspiring, misshapen lump of rock one alcove over. Second, if there was anything of any use, Loki would have taken it with him.
In the end, she found herself in front of the Tesseract's empty cradle. She thought, at first, that the prickle on her skin was a faint remainder of its power, a reminder it had been here not long before. But then she saw the sceptre below, the cyan glow at its core refusing to go out.
She ran back to the queen.
"We still have the sceptre," she said, breathless. Frigga titled her head in curiosity, waiting for Alex to continue. "It's linked to, and made from the Tesseract. Whoever has the sceptre can use it to get to the Tesseract, maybe even manipulate it from a distance. Just like Thanos did."
"You believe Loki can do that?" the queen asked, rising from her seat.
"He's used the sceptre before."
"Then we must find him."
One of the guards—the one Frigga had addressed as Ovarr—cleared his throat. "Your Majesty, my orders are to keep you safe."
"Lurking down in these shadows will only keep us safe for so long. If Asgard loses, we will all perish, no matter how well we hide. It follows we must do everything we can to prevent that loss. Alexandra, please fetch the sceptre."
They were still disagreeing when she returned. The metal of the staff was cold to the touch, and though there wasn't the immediate nauseating buzz the Tesseract brought with it, it still thrummed in her hand. It amplified the rattle of panic inside her and the worried voices in her head, whispering about how badly this was going to end, but she could ignore that if she focused on her purpose. Time would tell if it got any worse than that.
"One of us could take the sceptre to the Allfather," Ovarr offered.
"Which would leave you tainted by the cube's touch. It's something we cannot risk, not in a battle of this magnitude. Besides, this must be delivered to Loki's hands, and I know many of you still distrust the prince. Any delay could cost us everything."
"I understand, Your Majesty, but—"
"You will, of course, accompany us." She held her hand out to Alex, lifting her skirts with the other. "We must take the quickest route to the Bifrost, and I expect there to be great danger along the way."
She said it so casually, as if she faced danger on every walk she took. She was unarmed, as far as Alex could tell, but she held her chin high, offering no more room for argument. Ovarr bit his tongue, bowed low, and opened the vault doors for them to exit through.
The return journey to the surface was as claustrophobic as the one down, even though they took a different route. It was made worse by the way the guards clustered around Alex and the queen, making it feel like there was even less space than before, and without Loki there was no one to grip, to keep her anchored. The eerie blue glow from the sceptre leeched all warmth from her surroundings. She wished she had a glove to wear, or someone to deliver it in her place. Frigga had been right, though—if even the tenuous link the sceptre could create had twisted Loki's mind so badly, what would that link do a terrified man in the middle of a battle? At least she had the mild immunity of her past connection to the—much stronger—original source.
The higher they climbed, the louder the cacophony grew. The rumbling around them wasn't thunder. It shook the stones of the passageway, and was occasionally punctuated by the screech of twisting metal or the roar of an explosion. A battle was definitely underway. Any bravery Alex might have felt down below, any eagerness to get above ground again, ebbed away. She wasn't a warrior; she was barely a competent adult. Hiding away below the palace until Loki could come rescue her seemed like a brilliant idea.
The queen had a brief, whispered conversation with Ovarr when they reached a fork in the passageway. Instead of climbing any more stairs, they turned left, staying on one level though the floor of the passage sloped up. She'd walked so much already she was succumbing to exhaustion, stumbling a few times to be righted by a guard. How long had passed since she'd sat with Loki in the gardens? Long enough that it was probably past the time she usually went to bed at. She couldn't rest, though, not until Loki had the sceptre.
Eventually they halted, the passage ended in a crude, rusting iron door. Alex didn't want to find out what lay on the other side of it. Screams and yelling filtered through, the clash of metal. Sword on sword, or sword on plate armour, like the soundtrack to every frenzied movie battle she'd ever witnessed. Frigga gathered Alex to her, the guards clustering around them again, only Ovarr left outside the group. He drew his sword with one hand, and lifted a key from his belt with the other.
"May the Norns guide you right," Frigga said to him, and Alex felt the air pressure change again, the shield rising around them.
Ovarr gave her a solemn bow, then unlocked the door, pulling back the bolts holding it in place. They weren't rusted at all, but recently oiled. Alex held her breath as he inched the door open, an explosion of noise invading from the world outside.
There was little to see, at first, in the gloom of the night. It was misty, too—but then she realised that it wasn't mist. Smoke. Fire raged somewhere, the flickering light indicating it could be several fires. The door opened not inside the palace, but at the very end of the boulevard leading to it, with the Bifrost unfurling before them. Usually on a night like this, its kaleidoscopic colours would shimmer, strobing brightly. Instead, it too was shrouded in smoke, and in that smoke danced countless figures: some in shining armour, others with grey, scaly skin. Some lay still on the surface of the bridge.
A shadow passed through the sky, turning her attention upwards. It was one of the worm-like leviathans she'd seen in New York. There were at least three visible from even this slim viewpoint. Beyond that, the sky glittered. It took a moment for her eyes to focus—a web of light criss-crossed the sky, tiny points of pulsing cyan like someone had taken a fisherman's net from the ocean and tossed it amongst the stars. It had to be the forcefield. Behind it, ships waited, dark hulking shapes blotting out the universe beyond.
The net wasn't intact; she could see small tears in it. These were the places the leviathans had made their way through. Even now, a beam of cerulean energy was fixed on one point of the web. Thanos was using the Tesseract to burn holes in the forcefield, which was why it was lit up as it was. Eventually he'd make enough damage to rip it apart completely.
Frigga grabbed her hand, squeezing tightly. Alex glanced at her. The queen stared upwards too, enraptured, raw dismay anointing her features. Then movement from the corner of her eye redirected Alex's attention. A winged shape crossed the sky—much smaller than the leviathans, and quicker too. Another joined it, darting through the air, restlessly scouring the battle below. When one flew into a smoke-free patch of air, she caught sight of a slim figure and long hair. A woman.
"What are they?" she asked.
Frigga followed her gaze. "They are the Valkyries. They do not usually fight directly—instead they seek out the wounded enemy and deliver them into death." To demonstrate Frigga's ambiguous words, one of the women swooped down on the twitching figure of one of the Chitauri, prone on the ground. Her blade scythed through the air and cut its head clean off. "Ovarr, now is the time."
He nodded and stepped out, no hint of fear to be found in him. The door swung shut behind him, cutting off her view, and the other guards hurried to re-bolt it.
"Where has he gone?"
"He's enlisting the assistance of the Valkyries to find Loki. It would be preferable for Loki to come to us, rather than for us to try and seek him in the chaos out there."
"I suppose it's easier to search from the air," Alex replied.
"Indeed."
Minutes ticked by, and Alex couldn't decide if she wanted to be able to see what was happening or not. What was outside was terrible to witness, but the next time the door opened, Thanos could have tipped the battle entirely in his favour. Was not knowing worse? Finding out this was a Fear-induced hallucination would be preferable to all this being real. Frigga hadn't let go of her hand, and she was thankful for it.
The air pressure changed and the guards tensed, drawing swords. The shadows around them shifted, and Alex caught a glimpse of feathers.
"My queen," came a woman's voice.
"At ease," Frigga commanded, and the guards stepped away, allowing Frigga to the front. Kneeling before the door were three of the winged women, heads bowed to the queen.
All three had dark hair, caught back in braids that were twined with thorns. Their skin was deathly pale and they wore no armour over their tattered clothing, their wings pools of blackness in the already dark passageway. When one of the Valkyries glanced up, Alex saw a sweet, young face, though her fierce eyes made it clear she was not as she appeared.
"Where is Ovarr?" Frigga asked. "Where is the prince?"
"Ovarr has fallen," said the central Valkyrie. Frigga let out a soft gasp, taking Alex's hand again. "And we cannot find the prince, or the Allfather. We fear they are on the other side of the forcefield."
Frigga was silent for a moment, and Alex thought she was crying, but when she spoke again, her voice was empty of even the slightest quaver. "It would make sense they'd move to secure the Tesseract again. How many of you have come to our aid?"
"All of us." The woman who'd spoken looked as young as her companion. They were similar enough that they could have been sisters; all that time in the library, and Alex had completely skimmed over the information about the Valkyries.
"All of you? I am touched, and thankful, as all of Asgard will be."
"It is our honour."
"Then I have three tasks for you. First, retrieve Ovarr's body and take him somewhere he cannot be dishonoured."
"We have arranged for it to be so, Your Majesty."
"Second, someone must go bring the prince and the Allfather back to this side of the forcefield. We may have a way of reinforcing it, and it would be no good for them to be trapped on the other side. We have great need of Loki. Finally, you must take Alex to the end of the Bifrost to wait for the prince to return, and protect her until he does."
It was only through tremendous force of will that Alex didn't allow her knees to give way beneath her. These fierce girls might be happy out there in the chaos—and they really did have a joyful glow about them—but she wouldn't thrive on it.
"It shall be done," the Valkyrie replied, and they all rose, the tops of their wings brushing the ceiling.
"I warn you, Brunhilda," said Frigga, "she is Loki's intended. Any harm that comes to her will be returned upon your flesh—and mine."
Brunhilda unleashed an unsettling smile that rivalled any of Loki's. It seemed to say challenge accepted, but in reality her words were far more deferent. "We would protect her from the Allfather himself."
Another of the Valkyries opened the door, letting a little of that chaos spill back inside. Alex felt herself being guided out of the sanctuary into the veil of smoke outside, only the cold weight of the sceptre in her hand keeping her tethered to reality. Frigga gave her one last solemn nod before the door closed between them, and strong arms wrapped around Alex's waist.
"It'd be best if you closed your eyes," said Brunhilda in her ear. "It'll be easier on your belly that way."
Alex wanted to ask what she meant, but the Valkyrie pushed away from the ground. Before Alex's brain had caught up with her vision, they were six feet in the air and climbing. She did as she was told and shut her eyes.
She'd been right when she decided that riding a horse should be as close as she got to flying. Even when she couldn't see what was happening, the knowledge that Brunhilda's grip was all that kept her from becoming a broken smudge upon the ground made the contents of her stomach desperate to escape. It didn't matter how strong Brunhilda felt, there were leviathans in the sky and Chitauri on those glider things, so even the air wasn't safe, not really. She could hear the beating of wings out of rhythm with Brunhilda's, happy whooping, and knew more Valkyries were nearby. But what good would a handful of these women be against the plate-metal skin and enormous jaws of a leviathan?
The whole thing was over blissfully soon, though she didn't want to open her eyes when she was set down on her feet. Things seemed quieter here, and when she did look, she could see the fighting was taking place much further down the bridge. Winged figures corralled the battle, keeping it from spreading any closer. Here, at the end, there was only her, the three Valkyries she'd already met, and an imposing man in head-to-toe gold. Even the sword he gripped in front of him was pure gold.
"Heimdall," Brunhilda greeted. "How fare you?"
"Well," he replied, without emotion. Alex couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or genuine.
Behind them, the jagged edges of the bridge gave way to a dizzying void, covered in the same net Alex had seen in the sky. She glanced up to where Thanos' ships still lurked, and saw even more rips had been created. The beam of cerulean light burned even brighter, and the net had faded, weakening at the central point Thanos was attacking.
"It's not going to hold long," she said. "Can you see Loki?"
"He is this side of the forcefield," Heimdall replied. "As is the Allfather. Beyond that, I cannot see." If the Valkyries had only just brought them across, they would be too far away for anyone to see in all this darkness and smoke.
The net flickered, the lights going out completely for a second. All the Valkyries cursed, even as it stuttered back to life, and Alex heart stuttered along with it.
"We cannot wait for the prince," said Heimdall.
"What would you have us do, guardian?" Brunhilda yelled. "We have no magic."
But Alex didn't need telling twice. If Loki wasn't here to use the sceptre to manipulate the Tesseract, then the only other person who had that connection needed to. Never mind that she'd never used magic before. If it had never really broken the link with her mind, she just needed to find the pathway it travelled on, and the sceptre would help her do that.
Hot pain lanced across her hand as she drew the blade over her palm, the Valkyries crying out as they saw the blood welling from the cut. "It's okay," she told them. "It needs blood to work." She thought so, anyway; it had last time.
She slid her wounded palm down to the central section of the staff, where the ball of energy pulsed, and wrapped her fingers around it. The sudden coil of pain through her mind and down her spine took her to her knees, but she refused to let go. Needles of the cube's power sunk into her, stitching itself into her skin, and she expected blood to well from the punctures, but her free hand was unmarred. The connection was there again, the cube an oily presence inside her, and it was as eager as she was for this to work.
She focused on the beam of light that pointed at the forcefield, tracking it backwards until she could feel the cube, wrapped in a device that directed its power. She let the power flare, melting the cradle. The beam cut out.
The Valkyries cheered around her, but it wasn't enough. The forcefield was so weak Thanos could march his army through anyway, yet she'd used all her effort in that one act. She needed a better connection.
In her hand she crushed the glass casing, shards slicing into her fingers as the Tesseract's essence burned its way inside. And heavens, how it burned. Her skin was one raw wound, and the longer she held on the further the cube wormed inside her, blistering everything within. She must look like a candle, alight on the edge of the Bifrost. Not that she could see anymore. Behind her eyes, only blue. Sounds came as if from deep underwater, even her own screams.
She would not succumb. Not until she'd done what she needed to.
She gripped the link, digging into the heart of the Tesseract and pulling all that energy out towards the net. She let the cube guide her work, fixing rips and tears, strengthening the rest of it. The Tesseract kept coming, all the power trapped inside it pouring out along the link, and when the forcefield was as good as it was going to get, she pulled the power back into a tight knot, focused on Thanos' mothership.
With a gust of breath, she pushed it outwards.
She knew the armada exploded because she felt the Tesseract caught in the centre of it. Everything on this side of the forcefield was shielded, everything on the other side had been blasted apart and reduced to ashes. Even the cube itself succumbed to her will, melting into nothing, but the link would not sever. Still the energy kept cascading down, just as it had when she held it in her hands the first time. It refused to perish, seeking her like she was the Tesseract itself and it was returning home.
There was so much more of it than she'd needed to cause that explosion. Desperately, she reached out to use it up, blind eyes not seeing but the cube's own unearthly senses doing the work. She incinerated what the explosion hadn't already destroyed, then pulled back behind the forcefield to focus on Asgard itself.
She quenched the fires burning in the city and ripped apart the leviathans until they were little more than atoms. Then there was nowhere else for the energy to go but here, on the torn edge of the Bifrost, following the path the bridge had formed for millenia, repairing its fractured form.
Just as she'd known when she held the cube in her hand on the top of Stark Tower, all this power would kill her. But this time, there was nothing to let go of, no cube to return the power to. She'd flung what she could at where it was needed, but the energy needed a vessel, and by dint of the connection, she was going to be it. Her heart thundered in her ears, masking the panicked screams of the Valkyries, and her body blazed. All she could do was wait to burn.
A/N: *runs and hides*
*Whispers*: reviewers don't get teasers for this one, sorry. It'll ruin the suspense. Three days, though. Three days, I promise.