Only a couple more chapters to go! Apologies for how long it took me to write this...but it's here! And yes, this one is kinda sad...bad things happen. Anyway! Enjoy x x (and please review, it'll make me happy xD)

Disclaimer: I own nothing sadly! Some of the dialogue belongs to The Avengers movie and Marvel...etc :D

"Look at this! Look around you!" Thor shouted, as he slammed his younger brother into the wall, "Do you think this will end with your rule?"

Loki looked at the destruction unfolding around them, his eyes widening as he realised what he had got himself into.

And Sigyn, he thought sadly, as his gaze followed a group of Chitauri warriors, If anything happens to her...

He couldn't bring himself to think of his wife, wherever she was. She could look after herself, he knew that, but it didn't stop him worrying. He was pulled out of his thoughts by an explosion that hit the Stark sign below them.

"It's too late. It's too late to stop it!" he replied eventually, his worry over Sigyn colouring his words slightly.

"No. We can stop it, together," Thor said, his expression softening as he loosened his grip on Loki.

How, after all that's happened, can he still believe I am on his side? It's not only mortals that are stupid! he thought, his lips curling into his usual smirk as he reached for the blade inside his coat.

"Sentiment!" he shouted, plunging the blade into Thor's stomach.

He watched, laughing as the thunder god staggered backwards.

"You are a fool brother!" Thor retaliated, charging towards him and lifting Loki above his head. "You will never be a king!"

Loki's reply was cut off as he was slammed to the ground, his sceptre falling from his grip. With a final glance up at his brother, he rolled off the balcony and landed on the back of a Chitauri board that was flying beneath them.

We'll soon see who the fool is, brother... he thought, smugly.

"Loki definitely wasn't lying about his army," Sigyn whispered to herself as the board carried her over the city.

Below her, thousands of Chitauri warriors swarmed through the streets, leaving a wave of devastation behind them. Sigyn smiled as she watched the alien soldiers invading the offices below them. And her smile turned to laughter as a Chitauri worm appeared, its fin cutting through the side of building.

Who would have thought I would enjoy destruction so much... she sighed, gesturing for the soldiers in front to turn them back towards the centre of the fight.

As they turned from the building, she was blinded by a crash of lightning.

There's only one person who makes that kind of entrance...she thought as she shielded her eyes.

But it didn't take her long to realise that the lightning had not only struck the Chitauri below them, but the soldiers in front of her too. Within seconds, the board began to hurtle towards the skyscraper and Sigyn had no means of stopping it.

Thor landed in front of Rogers, clutching the wound on his stomach and leaning against the bonnet of a wrecked car.

Those two will be the death of me... he thought, as he pushed himself into a standing position. He walked towards Rogers, stepping over the body of an alien soldier.

"Glad you could join us." Rogers called, turning to face him.

He looked down at the wound on Thor's stomach, but his question was stopped by Thor quickly shaking his head at him.

"So, what's the deal up top?" Rogers asked, as Barton and Romanoff joined them.

"The cube's barrier is pure power... It's impenetrable." Thor replied, looking back up towards Stark Tower, "We have no choice but to fight his army."

"So... how do we do this?" Romanoff asked, turning to Rogers.

Rogers paused, his eyes scanning the scene around them. Hmm... he thought, it seems that the entire battle has been centred on us. That's it...

"Loki's planning to keep the fight focused on us. We stick together," he began, looking at each of them in turn.

"We've got Stark up-"

He was interrupted by Banner, who pulled up on a rundown-looking motorcycle.

"Well isn't this just horrible." Banner called, as he climbed off his bike.

"I've seen worse..." Romanoff smiled as he walked towards her.

His eyes darted to hers, an apologetic look on his face. Romanoff continued to smile, and patted his shoulder gently.

"We could certainly do with a little worse." she said quietly, gesturing at the aliens regrouping around them.

Loki smiled as he watched Stark leading one of his worms towards the newly regrouped heroes. The Avengers, he thought, laughing quietly to himself, we'll see if they're truly Earth's mightiest heroes...

His eyes were drawn back down to the ground and his smile widening as he noticed that Banner had finally joined them.

"About time, doctor," he muttered to himself, his gaze never shifting from the doctor.

Loki watched as Banner changed into his monstrous alter ego, and was unable to deny his surprise at just how monstrous the beast really was. But his emotions remained unaffected as the worm was destroyed; he had plenty more where they came from.

"Send the rest."

"What's the plan, Captain?" Stark called over the noise of the incoming horde of aliens.

Rogers glanced at him, finally taking note of the state that his suit was in.

"Never mind that, what the hell happened to you?" he asked, gesturing towards his helmet.

"Sigyn happened," he said, waving the question away. "But seriously, what's the plan?"

"Alright!" he called out, turning towards them all, "Until we can close the portal, we're going to have to contain them."

Sigyn couldn't help but scream as the board hurtled towards the ground below. Her hands grabbed wildly for the controls in front of her, regardless of whether she knew how to control the board or not.

Thank the Norns we were so high up to begin with! she thought, a small ounce of relief washing through her body as she realised it would be a while before she actually hit ground, though she didn't dare to look down below her. She glanced at her hands, only to realise that she was actually shaking in fear.

Sigyn looked up, just in time to see the grey concrete of a building which was far too close to be considered comfortable.

"Where's Loki when I need hi-"

Before she could finish she felt herself being pulled away from the board, which exploded just below her feet. Sigyn turned round, only to see Loki stood in front of her, leaning far too casually on the side of his board.

Sigyn sighed and hugged him, much to Loki's surprise.

"How does it feel to be the one getting into trouble, hmm?" he asked, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

That's one to me... though she's still winning with two, he thought, wondering if she remembered the tally they kept for the trouble they got into.

"Oh shut up!" she laughed, as Loki pulled her to stand in front of him.

"But I'm still winning!" she continued, poking her tongue out at him as he laughed with her.

"Hold on tight, love," he whispered, as they sped away across the city.

"None of this is going to make a damn bit of difference if we don't close the portal!" Romanoff shouted, as Rogers appeared over the wall behind her.

"Well what do you suggest we do? Guns can't touch it..." he replied, frowning beneath his mask.

As he spoke, a stream of Chitauri warriors appeared above them. Romanoff glanced over at Rogers, her eyebrow raised.

"You got a plan, Agent?" Rogers smiled, as he saw Romanoff preparing for a run up, though he knew the answer already.

"Yeah... I could do with a boost though?" she laughed, gesturing towards the board heading towards them.

Rogers positioned his shield low enough for her to jump from, and watched as she disappeared in the direction of Stark Tower

Fury looked from one screen to the next, acknowledging each of the council members in turn. He had received a small briefing as to what the decision that the council had made was but he still couldn't believe what he was hearing, even when the council members themselves were explaining it to them.

"I understand that the council have come to a decision, but given that its damn stupid idea, I've chosen to ignore it." Fury sighed, doing his best to control his temper, knowing it wouldn't serve him well to lose it in front of the council.

"Director, you're the closest of our subs," one of the council members began, "You scramble tha-"

"You're talking about the island of Manhattan, councilman!" Fury interrupted, his voice echoing over the noise of the bridge, "Until I am completely certain that my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against civilians!

Sigyn's eyes scanned around for another hero that she could vent some of her anger on but she was yet to see anyone until Loki sharply turned their board, almost knocking her to her feet.

"What in Hel..." she began, trying to see what the cause of the sudden change of course was.

She turned to Loki, only to see his trademark smirk back in place. She raised her eyebrow at him and was answered with him pointing at the board that was now in front of them. Sigyn strained her eyes to see what exactly had gained her husband's interest.

In the distance, she saw the faint outline of a woman. Red hair... she thought, it can't be?

As they got closer, she realised exactly who it was. She hissed as it dawned on her.

But before she could begin to consider all of the pain she could inflict on her second least favourite mortal, she felt a rush of air as an arrow headed straight for them. Sigyn sighed in relief as she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Loki catch the incoming arrow between his fingers. She felt Loki grab her as the arrow exploded and they fell on to the balcony of Stark Tower.

This had better work, Romanoff thought to herself as she landed on the roof of the tower. She pulled herself from the ground and brushed the dust from her suit, when she heard movement from behind her. Romanoff turned to see Selvig's head emerge from behind the Tesseract.

She made to move towards him, taking note of the fact that his eyes no longer seemed to hold the glazed look she had seen on Barton.

"Doctor Selvig," said Romanoff, holding out a hand to help him up.

Selvig reached out slowly towards her, allowing her to pull him from the ground. Noticing the cut on his head, Romanoff opened her mouth to make sure he was okay, but was cut off by the scientist waving his hand at her.

"Loki's sceptre... the shield..." Selvig began, his voice coming out in hoarse rasps as he tried to talk to Romanoff. "You can't... protect against... yourself."

Romanoff shook her head;

"Don't blame yourself, you didn't know what you were doing," she said, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

At her response, the physicist laughed which drew a surprised look from Romanoff.

"Actually, I did," Selvig said, his laughter slowly fading to a quiet chuckle. "I built a safety to cut the power source."

Romanoff raised her eyebrow at him, trying to put the pieces of what he had said together. It took her only seconds to realise exactly what he had told her.

"The sceptre?" she asked him, her eyes searching the roof but finding no evidence of the sceptre. Slowly, she followed the scientist's gaze over the edge of the roof.

"Exactly, and I'm looking right at it."

As Sigyn pushed herself from the ground, she glimpsed movement from the tower roof. Her question was answered as she saw a flash of red hair appear over the wall. Sigyn pulled away from Loki, leaving him leaning against the wall with his eyebrow raised.

Sigyn moved closer to the wall, straining to see what was going on above her. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she saw a man, who she could only assume was Selvig, pointing down towards the sceptre which was a few feet in front of her. She followed the agent as she moved to retrieve the sceptre.

"Oh no you don't..." Sigyn snarled, running forward and grabbing the sceptre.

She smiled as she saw Romanoff back away from the roof's edge. When she reached the entrance to the tower, Sigyn turned back towards Loki and winked at him. Before Loki could ask her what exactly she was planning on doing, Sigyn rushed through the entrance and made her way to the roof.

Being a goddess has finally come in handy, she thought, as she ascended the stairs at a pace no mortal would be able to keep up with.

Romanoff backed away from the edge of the roof, shooting a warning look at Selvig, Her hands reached for the guns at her hips, just as Sigyn appeared on the roof before her, the sceptre still in her hands.

"And what exactly were you two planning on doing with this, hmm?" Sigyn asked, her gaze moving from the scientist to the agent.

Romanoff and Selvig glanced at each other, clearly debating on whether to tell Sigyn the truth or not. For the first time, Romanoff understood exactly why Thor had told them not to trust her.

Not that I want to admit it, but Sigyn is a little scarier than I expected.

"I'd hurry up and answer me, I'm really not in a patient mood..." Sigyn warned, as she paced slowly towards them.

As she got closer, Sigyn noticed Romanoff glance briefly over at the Tesseract. Sigyn slowly began to realise that there was some connection between the cube and the sceptre she was holding. She knew that the sceptre contained the same material as the cube, but she couldn't see why that would be important.

The sceptre... Why would she need... No! She means to close the portal! Sigyn thought to herself, her fists clenching around the sceptre.

Sigyn charged towards Romanoff, a swift kick sending the agent to the ground. Romanoff looked up to see Sigyn standing over her, the sceptre now lying discarded at the door behind her.

"Did you really think you could end things so easily?" Sigyn snarled, as Romanoff clutched her stomach.

Selvig moved his gaze from the two women to the sceptre that Sigyn had left at the door. As he reached it, he moved his hand to grasp it, only to be stopped by Sigyn's hand around his wrist.

"And I thought you were on our side," Sigyn pouted, her eyes giving away the anger that Selvig knew was about to be directed at him.

Sigyn pulled the doctor from the floor, and pushed him through the door that was now directly behind. She turned back towards Romanoff, not even caring to look at what had happened to the doctor.

Their attention was momentarily drawn by the roar which echoed from the balcony below them, followed by an all too familiar crash.

That roar can only mean one thing...Sigyn thought, fighting the urge to look at what was going on.

Romanoff pulled herself from the floor, wincing at the pain in her stomach. Sigyn laughed at how what she considered a minor injury, could cause the agent so much pain.

Humans are so fragile.

"Stark! Can you hear me!" Fury shouted through his earpiece as he watched the second jet take off, unable to stop it.

Not waiting for a reply, he continued to relay his message;

"There's a missile heading straight for the city..." Fury continued, his worry creeping into his voice.

"How long?" Stark replied, his voice crackling as it entered Fury's earpiece.

"Three minutes, tops."

"I get it! Okay!" Romanoff shouted as her fist lashed out, making contact with Sigyn's jaw. "He's your husband... It's understandable that you'd help him..."

Sigyn wiped the blood from her lip and laughed.

"You think that's the only reason I'm doing this?" she replied, as she slammed the agent into the wall behind them.

Romanoff threw her hands out to stop herself from careering over the roof from the force of Sigyn's body. Before she even hit the ground she pushed herself away from the wall, her feet crashing into Sigyn's stomach.

It's so much more fun to fight without my power... she thought to herself as staggered back slightly.

"What other reason could there be?" Romanoff retaliated, taking Sigyn's small moment of weakness to continue her onslaught.

At least I know I've got some sort of chance against her... Romanoff thought, as she realised Sigyn wasn't quite as strong as she expected her to be, But she's freaking strong enough!

Romanoff took her chance, and plunged the knife from her boot into Sigyn's side, hard enough to pierce her corset.

Bitch... Sigyn thought as she glanced down at the wound, which must have been deeper than it looked judging by the amount of blood which now dripped down her waist.

Sigyn finally regained her composure, just in time to catch the fist that swung in her direction. She twisted Romanoff's hand behind her back, hearing the woman wince as her arm was pulled a little too far behind her.

"Thor," Sigyn snarled as she tightened her grip on Romanoff's wrist.

"I've lost my home, my family... and almost my husband because of that fool!" she continued, crushing the bones in the agent's wrist with a thought.

"When Odin crowned him king... I will never forget the look on Loki's face," Sigyn said sadly, as her mind trailed back to that night.

"And it makes sense for me to blame Thor... He's the one who got me banished in the first place!"

Romanoff hissed at the feeling of every bone in her wrist breaking, only to have the pain worsened as Sigyn pulled her arm even tighter to her back, almost tearing it from the socket.

"And you plan on destroying Earth to get back at him?" Romanoff shouted, failing to hide the pain that seeped into her voice.

At her words, Sigyn slammed her foot into Romanoff's right knee, sending her crashing to the ground with a loud crack. She grabbed the agent's hair and wrenched her neck backwards, forcing her to look at her.

"If it was up to me... I'd destroy this damned planet and all of the mortals he loves so much..." Sigyn whispered, her voice taking a sinister tone that made Romanoff's skin crawl.

They were interrupted by Stark, who flew above them holding the missile sent by the council. Sigyn released Romanoff, who crouched on the ground holding her wounded wrist and knee. Sigyn followed Stark, realising that he was taking the missile directly through the portal and to the rest of the Chitauri army.

"You are really pushing it now, Iron Man!" Sigyn growled, as she stretched her hand up towards Stark, ignoring the pain that burned in her side at the movement

Romanoff screamed as she saw the missile explode above them at Sigyn's behest, her eyes following Stark as he fell to the ground. Sigyn turned away from the portal, happy in the knowledge that there was nothing that could stop her and Loki from winning and that she had finally gotten her revenge against the planet that had destroyed her life. She made to leave, but was stopped as Romanoff grabbed her ankle and pulled her to the ground.

Sigyn whipped her head around to see the woman attempting to pull herself up from the ground. She pushed herself up to stand and turned to stand over her.

"Just give up!" Sigyn laughed, as her boot made contact with Romanoff's ribs.

She smiled as she heard another satisfying crack as several of Romanoff's ribs broke. In a final attempt to silence her, Sigyn grabbed the agent by the throat, slamming her back into the concrete behind them.

"Nothing is going to stop me from finally having my revenge on this planet!"

"She hasn't closed it..." Rogers muttered, glancing up at the portal that was still producing Chitauri soldiers. "And the missile is...gone?"

"What are you talking about, Captain?" Thor asked, as he followed the Captain's gaze up to Stark Tower.

Rogers paused as he tried to piece together what had just happened. Only moments ago, Stark had warned them that the council were sending a nuclear missile to destroy the aliens, though it seemed that he had found a means of stopping that from happening.

"Romanoff went up there to shut down the portal but..."

He was interrupted as Stark came hurtling towards them. Their relief suddenly turned to fear, as they realised that Stark was not moving. At all.

Sigyn rushed through the doors to the tower's lounge, her breath hitched as her body finally registered the amount of blood she had lost during her fight with Romanoff. She pressed a hand to her wound, as gasped as she felt how deep it actually was.

I know humans think we're immortal... but Valhalla that hurts! she cursed mentally, as she allowed herself to drop to the ground, the sceptre in her hand falling to the floor. She slowly checked her body for other injuries, wincing as she felt the bruise that was now forming on her jaw.

As she leaned her head against the door frame, her eyes searched the room, coming to fall on the giant hole in the window. Her eyes strained as she noticed a faint outline of something very large, and green, in the distance.

Banner... she thought, wondering why he was at the tower in the first place.

Her question was answered as she saw Loki staggering towards her, his face covered in cuts and bruises. As he reached her, she attempted to stand, only to fall forward into his arms.

"Sigyn... what happened?" he asked her, his gaze moving from the bruises on her face, to the wound on her stomach.

"It doesn't matter..." she began, ignoring the pleading look on his face.

"All that matters is that the portal is not going to close anytime soon."

Rogers pulled Stark's helmet away from his face, and reached for his neck to check for a pulse.

"What happened?" Barton called, as he joined them.

"He's gone," Rogers whispered, his gaze moving from each of his heroes to the other, "The blast must have killed him."

"Barton... did you see what happened from your position up top?" Rogers asked, turning towards the agent.

"The last thing I saw was Sigyn and Loki falling towards the tower, I never saw Loki move from the balcony so I can only guess Sigyn had something to do with it." He replied, with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"We're gonna have to call it in." Rogers said, reaching for his earpiece.

"Dead," Fury repeated, unable to believe what he was being told for the second time that day.

His words received questioning looks from the other S.H.I.E.L.D operatives on the ship, but he chose not to answer their questions just yet.

"And everyone else?" he asked, hoping the reply was better than his latest news.

"We're all here," came the reply, "Except Natasha, we haven't seen her since she left to close the portal."

"I'm here."

Both men went silent as Romanoff's voice crackled through their earpieces.

"Agent, are you okay?" Fury asked, noting the pained tone of her voice.

"I've been better... could do with a medic though."

"Where are you? I'll send a helicopter out to you."

"Stark...Tower," she replied, her voice coming out short rasps, "Up on the roof."