Chapter 8
As the four women as walked back to the Quinjet, with Enchantress still as their prisoner; Sif couldn't help but to eye Anna she had to admit she actually made her sweat, she processed to speak.
"You fight well, mortal."
"Coming for a goddess, I take it that you don't get to say that often." Anna joked.
"Quite true." Sif smiled. "It is rare to find an opponent that can match in skill in Asgard, even rarer to find them here."
"Keep looking and you just may find what you're looking for in the most unlikely of places." Anna said.
"You are very wise." Sif complimented.
"Thank you." Anna thanked. "Now I hope you can forgive my bluntness, but how actually did you get here?"
Sif thought about telling the captain how she and Thor managed to come to Midgard, while she never would've told mortals; she felt that she could trust Anna.
"The Bi-Frost, Asgard's way of entering worlds, was destroyed when Loki tried to destroy Jotunheim with it. The All-Father, Odin, scrapped whatever dark matter he could retrieve to send me and Thor to Midgard after he'd learned of Loki being alive and here." Sif explained.
"Okay..." Anna said trying to process everything that was said. "So what about Enchantress and why are they here?"
"That is something I do not know, which is why Thor and me are here to make sure that whatever it is cannot see the light of day." Sif answered.
The two looked ahead to see Amora being escorted by Agent May and looked back to each other.
"We're never gonna know what it is unless we work together." Anna said.
Sif nodded in agreement. As the women entered the Quinjet, May forced Amora to sit in the seat she was in previously with Sif sitting directly across from her eying her, making sure that she didn't try anything. Sif kept thinking in her mind of why Enchantress stayed during the fight she and Anna had and that scared her.
Anna walked over the May as she was in the pilot seat.
"May, radio ahead tell them to triple the security on whatever they have to keep Enchantress in and make sure that the Hub is male-free, we don't want to have any surprises coming our way." Anna ordered.
"You think she may escape?" May questioned.
"I think we're playing right into her hands." Anna corrected.
May did what she was told and called ahead.
Meanwhile, over that the Hub, Spider-Man and War Machine approached after flying for a few hours, Spider-Man was hanging on a web-line tethered to the bulky iron suit. When they landed, Peter started to feel woozy after dealing with Rhodey's flying.
"Whoa, somebody take away his flying license!" he joked.
"Oh, you're so dramatic." Rhodey said with a smile as his face plate went up.
The two looked ahead and saw people being evacuated, specifically the males.
The two looked at each other and knew the Anna and the others were coming with Enchantress. The P.A. system sounded and ordered that all male agent must the premise as-soon-as-possible. They knew that that meant them too. Agent Sitwell approached them.
"I see you know that all males on the premise are leaving."
"Yeah, where are we going?" War Machine said.
"We, us three specifically, are staying." Sitwell answered.
"Wait, we're staying?" Spider-Man said confused. "You sure that a good idea?"
"We'll be out of sight." Sitwell answered. "There's surveillance room the basement where we'll be safe and the women will be safe from us as well as see everything that happens in the Hub."
Peter and Rhodey exchanged worried glances before they processed to follow Sitwell.
An hour passed as the Quinjet containing the women landed on the landing strip. An all-female assault group was waiting for them outside the jet. The jet's ramp opened with May escorting the witch out and handing her to the group. As the group walked her inside and few stayed behind in light of there being an extra passenger on board.
"Stand down, she's with us." Anna acknowledged making them lower their weapons and them continuing in the S.H.I.E.L.D base.
In the halls of the Hub, Enchantress was being walked to her containment unit but she manage to get a good look of her surroundings before she put in her unit. Soon after that May entered the area surrounding the Amora.
"I've notice the lack of men in this fortress, care to tell me why?" the witch played.
Motionless and expressionless, May was not falling for her game.
"I must say, very clever of placing me where I shall receive no help." Enchantress continued. "But I must say, you must be desperate to stop me and Loki, so desperate that you would call on such lost, pitiful creatures to defend you."
"You and Loki come to our world, say you bring peace but give us war, causing trouble of enslaving and killing innocent people." May retorted back. "You two have made us very desperate, the only question I have is why?"
In the observation room, Anna and Sif watched the screen that showed May and Amora. In the basement of the Hub the men did just the same. May and the female agents put Amora in her containment unit. The witch looked around and said.
"This is no place for a lady, much less a Queen"
"It's made to contain something a lot stronger than you." May interjected.
"Ah, yes." Amora realized. "I've heard about him, the mindless beast. Said to have the strength that would rival any Asgardian, even the All-Father himself. Where is he, by the way. I would love to have a chat with him."
"What makes you think I'm gonna do just that?" the agent questioned with little amusement.
"Well, so that I can tell him about you and you're little insects and I believe one of them is an insect, correct?"
"Arachnid, and what to you know about us." May corrected and wondered.
"Huh, glad someone gets it." Peter said with a small laugh in the basement.
"I also know what happened in Bahrain." Amora replied. "That poor girl."
Amora scanned her face for a reaction, even a slight reaction, nothing. But if she had looked closer she would see that one of May's eyes slightly twitched for a millisecond.
"Well, I said I can say that I'm not going to get anything from you, but maybe that cute little soldier and no I do not mean the cheerleader with the stick." the Asgardian witch said to the camera, as knew she would be listening.
Anna clenched her teeth and fist as folded her arms, Sif notice this and reached out to her.
"Do not let her get to you, Captain." Sif said. "It satisfies her to place herself into another woman's skin.
Anna nodded to her in thanks for the info.
"Oh, I can imagine it. Him all over me, kneeling calling me his queen, his love and giving him a kiss as he cries out my name just before I snap his neck in front of his little pet." Amora detailed with a venomously evil tone and laugh would get under anyone's skin.
In the observation room, every woman's eyes was on Anna, even Sif's. Anna wanted to go straight in that containment unit and make her wish she never said. But if she did, it would only tell the Enchantress that she won, so for the moment she had to curb her anger. Sif looked at her and couldn't help but respect her, if she'd talked about Thor she's most certainly would've lost it.
In the basement, the three men stared that the monitor with glued eyes; until Peter Parker spoke.
"Bitch."
The other two pair of eyes looked at him.
"What? She is." Peter said.
Back in the containment room, May continued on.
"How do you know this?"
"Before, me and Loki, separated. We had a good little chat with the archer, found some very surprising things about people." Amora replied with devilishly smile. "But it only a matter of time."
"For what?" May wondered.
"For you, and this insect of a world to bow before me a Loki. For you to bow at true power." the alluring witch answered.
May smiled.
"Well, let me know if true power wants some lipstick, yours seems to be smeared." May jabbed as she and the agents walked out.
The men turned off their monitor and proceed to the observation room where met with Anna and Lady Sif.
"So...that happened." Peter started.
"Do you think she's the brains of the group?" Anna questioned.
"I wouldn't think so, she's just flat-out crazy and not the good kind of crazy." Peter answered.
All eyes were suddenly drawn on him.
"You... probably, wasn't talking to me. I just thought I voice my opinion." Peter gathered.
"There a good kind of crazy?" May said coming from the hall. "I've yet to see it."
"She doesn't seem to be as smart as we think but, then again we don't know her so... Sif what do you think?" Anna asked.
"Amora, is not known for thinking of such a task, much less a takeover. I gather that Loki is the one pulling her strings." Sif voiced.
"Which he is not in our possession." Sitwell said. "The second team has him and are questioning him now I'll see if I can any information Fury after he's done."
After the group disbanded, May went with Sitwell, Peter went with Rhodey, and Sif gathered at the marvels that the mortals created since since her last arrival to Earth, sure they were really slow compare to Asgard, but impressive nonetheless. Anna, however, worried about Steve; so she went to a nearby terminal to if she could get a call out, only problem was that she didn't know how to really use it , this world was so different to her own world and the world she fought a war in; then she laughed at herself, she a just been pushed forward through time two times, she's at least more than a century old and she still looks she did when her sister became queen, minus the super soldier serum of course. May saw that Anna was having trouble with the terminal and walked over to help her.
"Just type in the Helicarrier." May said.
"I'm sorry?" Anna replied confused.
"You want to speak to him, type in the Helicarrier and ask for him." May finished.
"Oh, thank you." the strawberry-haired soldier thanked.
Anna did what May told instructed and found herself looking at Steve 5 minutes later.
"Steve!" Anna started. "It's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you too, Anna" Steve replied.
"How is everything there?" Anna wondered. "Did you have any trouble apprehending Loki?"
"We had a little trouble." He admitted. "His brother's here. He say's he's here to bring back to Asgard after we figure out what he's planning."
"Is his name Thor, by any chance?" Anna pieced together.
"Yes, how'd you know?" Steve wondered.
"We have someone that's from Asgard as well." she replied. "Her names Lady Sif."
"Huh, Excuse me for a second." Steve said as he went off screen.
The next few moments he came back with a man with the same color of hair as him and had big muscular arms but was wearing some kind of armor that even she never seen before.
"Anna, this is Thor." Steve introduced.
"Hello." Anna greeted.
"Greetings, miss." Thor greeted back. "I am told that you have Lady Sif there?"
"Oh, yes, one moment." Anna confirmed. "Sif?"
Sif was nearby when she heard her name and came walking toward Anna's direction.
"Yes, Lady Liberty?" Sif said.
"I have a friend here that wants to speak with you." Anna said as she pointed that the screen.
"Thor!" Sif shouted. "Tis good to see you."
"Aye, to you as well." Thor replied. "Tis is astonishing on how far Midgardians have come."
"Yes, truly astonishing." Sif agreed. "What progress do you have with Loki?"
"Not much, he hides what he is planning with games and threats. Amora?" Thor replied.
"Same. She tries to get under our skin by saying what do to people we care about." Sif answered.
Steve saw the look on Anna face and had to say something.
"Anna don't worry. We'll figure this out."
Anna smiled at him, he always made her smile.
"Worry not, friend Anna." Thor included. "We shall resolve this before their plan can bear it's fruits."
"Anna, Sif, we're gathering at the table." May said from the distance.
Anna and Sif nodded.
"Steve, Thor; we're gonna have to leave you." Anna said as Sif left.
"Okay, stay safe, Anna." Steve as Thor left the screen.
"You too, Steve." Anna replied and kissed the screen.
The last thing Anna saw was him blushing. Everyone gathered the table.
"Loki isn't giving them anything." May started.
"We know, we talked with Ste- Ahem, Captain America and Thor." Anna said.
"What, you talked to Captain America and Thor and didn't tell me?" Peter said. "Why do I feel betrayed?" he joked.
Anna and May slightly laughed, somehow he knew how to make May feel a little better, but she wasn't complaining.
"We need to find out where they've been to, who they were with, and how many people they have under them." Sitwell suggested.
"I don't think that's gonna be easy" Rhodey said.
"How so?" Sitwell wondered.
"Well, these two may not be from here but they manage to hide out for weeks long to gather their forces." Rhodey continued. "So it gonna hard to find out where they've been."
"It may be even worse if actually played into their hand." Anna said.
"You think they somehow planned this?" May wondered.
"Think about it." Anna started. "Rhodey said that we've hid out for weeks, why would they suddenly make themselves known now? Even then, why would Enchantress stay while me and Sif were fighting?"
"What's the best way to cripple an enemy force?" Rhodey questioned.
"Trojan Horse." Agent May said.
Just as she said that, an explosion made itself known to the base. The base itself shook and everybody looked to one another thought of Amora.
"Amora wanted to be captured so that they could find us and disable us!" May yelled.
"Ma'am," a female S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent said. "we have multiple intruders all over the base and some of them are heading towards the generators."
"If they destroy the generators, we'll be incapable to stop her if she does get out." May said.
"Okay, Me and May will go to the generators, Sif you go to Amora and make sure that she does not get loose, Peter and Rhodey, you two stay here and hold down the fort with Agent Sitwell." Anna ordered.
"I shall go at once!" Sif said running in the direction of the containment unit.
"Ready when you are, Tin Man." Peter said while putting on his mask.
"Just be sure I don't have to carry you, Bug Boy." Rhodey shot back.
"Ready to fight?" Anna asked May.
"Been waiting to kick some ass." she replied.
The two ran off, leaving Spider-Man and War Machine behind. Anna and May found the hallway filled with enemies. They readied themselves, May cocked her gun and Anna put on her helmet and put mace in her in her hand and nodded to each other and went to battle. Anna swung her mace into one of the men's head and rolled over to another one, while May started to fire her gun and walked forward and grabbed cover whenever they fired back. Anna grabbed cover as well, she grabbed one the unconscious men's belt and took a grenade, she pulled the pin and threw it at the wall, causing it to ricochet pass several men and exploded. They continued forward fighting the remaining forces in the generators, May's gun ran out of bullets but that didn't stop her from using her hands, she prefers that method anyway. Anna holstered her mace and smiled, it was bit more fun to use her hands. Once May saw that, she smiled back.
Back in the observation room, Spider-Man and War Machine along with Sitwell and other female S.H.I.E.L.D. agents continued fighting. But something was bothering the web-head, he kept hearing voices of Sif, Anna, May, and Gwen and having glimpses of them beaten to near death and saying.
"Help me, Peter, please."
Peter tried to ignore cries and was successful until he kept thinking 'Were they really in trouble?'.
"Tin Man, I'm going to see if the others need help." he said.
"Spidey, No!" War Machine shouted.
Peter threw a web-line and started to swing throughout the corridor trying to find the others. He worried about his team, that was when he found Gwen. He stopped right in his track, he could believe his eyes the woman he loved was right in front of him, but the woman was dead. He shook his head trying to shake of the effects with little success. He knew it was Enchantress playing with his mind and didn't want to believe it, knows better.
"Peter, it's me." the Illusion said.
"No, it's not, I watched you die in my arms." Peter said trying to keep his composure.
"You didn't save me, but you can save her." the Illusion pointed to the where Enchantress had Sif by the throat.
Spider-Man sprung into action and drop-kicked Enchantress, or did he? In reality, Sif had Enchantress by the neck ready to put her back in his unit when all of a sudden she found herself getting drop-kicked by Spider-Man.
"Man of Spiders, what is the meaning of this?" Sif demanded.
"He can't hear you right he think you're me and I'm you." Enchantress answered.
"You witch, undo this now!" the warrior shouted.
"Man of Spiders, stop her before she gets away." Amora said.
In Peter's mind Enchantress was standing over Sif's near dead body and heard her say to stop Enchantress. He leaped over the would-be Enchantress and webbed her feet so that she wouldn't move. There he delivered punches to the head and kicks to the stomach, only to find that those barely affected her. Sif only had to make little to have unweb her feet.
"Alright, if you won't listen to me maybe you'll listen to this." Sif said as grabbed her sword.
Spider-Man jumped ready to give her a packed-punch until she grabbed him by the throat and slam him down. He used his legs to push her off of him and flipped himself onto his feet, he threw another web-line and started swinging around her and throwing webbing at her. Sif used her sharp sword and cut the webbing away, but the web-head was too high up for her to fight. He threw a webline to her sword and pulled away from her, but in that moment Sif rush to him for hand-to-hand combat and caught him surprise. The first few punches connected but after that, his spider sense started to blare in his head, warning him of the oncoming punches. But with his spider sense blaring, his mind started to clear and starting to see that he was fighting Sif and not Enchantress. In his discovery, he looked to see where Enchantress was, his search was an opening for Sif as she was about to sent a knock-out punch to him. But his spider sense blared and he manage to catch the punch but just barely.
"Stop!" he shouted. "I know what's what again. Sorry."
Sif sighed but was surprised that he shook off the witch's spell.
"How?" Sif asked.
"How, what?" Spider-Man said back confused.
"How did you manage to shake off her influence?" Sif questioned with intrigue in her voice.
"I don't know." he said trying to think. "It have been because of my spider sense."
"Your what?" she replied.
"My spider sense, it alerts me when danger is around." he explained. "When you started coming at me, it must have been trying to fix what she was doing to me. That's why I stopped.
The two heard footsteps around and readied themselves, it was Anna, May and Rhodey.
"What happened?" May asked.
"That would be me." Spidey answered. "Enchantress got to mean again and made me fight Sif."
"How'd you shake it off?" Rhodey wondered.
Sif and Peter looked at each other and looked back at the other saying.
"Long story."
"Let's get back to see how the others are doing." Anna suggested.
The 5 heroes ran back to Agent Sitwell, only to find that him and the other female agents held out with only a few injuries. They all went to see who needed help and helped out much as they could, then Sitwell spoke.
"The helicarrier was attacked at the time we were."
"Loki?" Anna asked.
"He's gone." Sitwell answered. "And he killed Coulson."
Anna could see the pain on May's face, all the time that she knew her; she all held her cool, not this time, tears were seen scrolling down face and she fought to hold them back, she failed. Her best friend and partner was dead and she didn't even get it say goodbye. However, her sadness was quickly replace was anger and rage as she stepped to Sitwell and said.
"Where is she?"