Chapter 25: There's a time to fight, but a time to give up, right?
She stood there; staring out the window and thinking until she felt a pair of arms slink round her waist and someone nuzzle her neck. She leant back. No matter who loved her, her feelings hadn't changed.
"Why are you hiding up here babes?" Loki murmured into her ear.
"Headache." She hated lying to him, but she had to.
"You want me to help? I've got a spell that might help." His voice was littered with concern. Lex smiled. It was so sweet.
"No, it's alright. Shall we go back down? I haven't danced with you yet." She wanted to get out of the room.
"It would be my pleasure. In Asgard…" Loki took her arm and they walked back to the ballroom.
They danced all night. In the end, through donations (mainly Tony's) they made over a million dollars.
1 week later
Lex woke up in the middle of night, grasping the sheets. She'd had another nightmare; she'd been having them every night, each one worse than the last. Loki had been banned by Tony from sleeping in the same room as her, so he had no idea. When she realised it wasn't real, she began to untangle herself from her sheets and went to find food. She went downstairs and found some popcorn, and turned on the telly. On the screen was a picture of Central Park. It was a mess. She'd seen pictures from after Loki's attempted takeover, and this was 10 times worse. She jumped up, and while materialising her suit shouted out," Jarvis, Code Delate Red. I'm heading out, get the others to follow." She teleported into the park. What she saw would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Jessi was standing in the middle of the street, holding Luke at knife point. Surrounding her were men, mutants and things. They looked as if they were failed super soldiers.
"You may be a member of the avengers, but look whose come out of this better. You always acted as if you were better than me, but you weren't. To prove it I'm going to destroy one of the most precious things to you." She definitely hadn't changed. She used the same mocking tone that she had 4 years ago.
"Tell me how you plan on doing that. If your idea is to do something to Luke, than it's really not going to work. Sorry to foil your plan to destroy me, but it's really not going to work."
Jessi laughed and threw Lex a mocking, pitying look. "You stupid bitch, you don't get it do you? If I get to you, then I will tear your petty little team apart at the seams. Then it will be a piece of cake to take over New York and from there the world."
"Well done in telling us your plan, now we can stop you." Tony landed in front of Alexis. In her peripheral vision, she could see the rest of avengers lining up in a V-shape. Grateful as she was for back up; there was one person she wanted to check on. Casting her thoughts out, she searched for Jake. His walls were down.
Hun I know this hard but we need to stop her, even if it means losing Luke in the process.
Shut up. You're the reason we're in this situation.
Alexis recoiled as if she'd been slapped. That was it.
"Jessi bring it on. Do what you want; we will kick your ass. Even if we can't save the earth, we'll damn well avenge it." She held her head high. They would win this, and hopefully Luke would come out of this alive.
"Alright you stupid bitch. Alpha force, attack" Jessi shouted, then raised a syringe to the air and stabbed into Luke's neck. Jake screamed. The things in front of them began to run forward and attack.
"Spread out, attack from all directions." Steve shouted while throwing his shield out at one of the things. The thing fell over, and began to shrink. The team spread out, and began to fight. Iron man flew above, and tried to distract the mutants surrounding Jessi while Clint shot at them with his arrows. Steve and Nat were fighting trying to take out the things, while Lex, Loki and Jake blasted everything in sight with their magic, trying to get to Luke and Jessi. Jake was fighting the hardest. He'd just seen the one he loved harmed, and was out for pay back. A flash of lightening, and Thor appeared, and began to aid Steve and Nat by hitting things with his hammer. Peter and Hulk were moving from bit to bit, helping out whoever needed it. Bucky was shooting at the men around Jessi, who looked rather scared. They should have been.
A maniacal laugh boomed out. Luke was standing next to Jessi.
"You have failed already Avengers. How will you fair fighting against one of your own?" Jessi pointed at Alexis, and Luke began to walk towards her. Steve realised who he looked like: the brainwashed Bucky.
"Alexis she's done something to his mind" he shouted out. Alexis nodded at him.
"How do I stop him?"
"Hit him really hard in the head." Nat shouted out. Why did everyone think that brainwashing was the solution to everything? She thought.
Alexis turned around and ran. She had a plan, but whether it work or not depended on promise, and an icy one at that. The team turned to look at her, confused.
Lex what the hell are you doing? Loki shouted at her
Please trust me on this. If it fails, well then, follow up on my promise please. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that hey?
Lex the spell you're immo…..
No I'm not. I'm only immortal if I want to live, and if I'm worthy. That's what the spell means, and believe me, I'm not worthy. Jake knows I'm not.
She blocked off the link. If she died she didn't want to have to put Loki through that. She stopped running and turned around. Like she'd hoped Luke had followed.
"Luke you don't have to do this."
"Who's Luke? I am not Luke." He spoke in an emotionless monotone.
"You are." She took a step forward. "Smiles are like band aids, they cover the cuts but the pain doesn't go away, whereas friends are like stiches, they may hurt but they're better in the long run. Do you remember that?"
Luke stood there. "I must kill you." He spoke like a robot. That did for Alexis. He was truly dead.
"Well I'm not planning on dying so you better hope that you have butt insurance."
They began to fight. It was an even match. Neither of them used magic, but it seemed that Luke had retained his memories of Lex's fighting style. They kicked and punched for what seemed like hours but must have only been minutes. In the end Luke managed to pin Alexis to the ground, and put a knife to her throat. The avengers didn't notice, because Jessi had called in Beta force to distract them. She didn't scream. She didn't want to die but she deserved it.
"You're a stupid little butch, you know that? You will never be better than The Mistress." Alexis spat in his face. Luke pressed the knife in harder. Before her throat was slit, Alexis whispered, "I lost my sunshine. I'm so cold."
Darkness covered her like a warm blanket, and she smiled. If this was death, then it was warm.