Still no own.

"Your magic is gone?" Clint asked. "Like, gone, gone?"

"Yes, you idiot," Merlin snapped, temper higher than usual. "It's gone. I have nothing! Nothing. Not to mention that I feel like my insides want to be my outsides."

The group was sprawled in various positions on the Quin-Jet, heading back to Avengers Tower in New York. Wanda was huddled close to Merlin, fingertips pulsing with red energy as she trailed them along Merlin's cold fingers.

Wanda sat back and frowned, powers flickering away.

"I cannot find anything," she said sadly. "There is nothing there to find, or if there is, it is buried too deep for me to discover."

Merlin gulped, trying to keep from puking. This was pretty much the worst possible news he could get. He turned to Tony. "Did anything come up on those scans?"

Tony was frowning, staring intently at a tablet. "There seems to be a heavy substance in your bloodstream…. It's… oh crap. It's vibranium. That's why your magic is one the fritz. The vibranium is basically being absorbed by your body. If we don't get it out soon, it might kill you. The energy readings FRIDAY can usually get off you are gone. And she says your vital signs are a little wack, too."

"Is there a way to get it out?" Merlin asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Tony frowned, still tapping at his tablet. "I honestly don't know. I doubt this kind of poison has ever been used before. We could try treatments for heavy metal poisoning. I'm not sure. Vibranium isn't exactly a common household item. We'll do a few tests and figure something out. I am a genius after all."

Merlin shook his head and stood, and swayed slightly as a wave of dizziness washed over him. Merlin put his arms out to steady himself. "Well, no helping it now. It happened, and there isn't anything I can do to fix it right now. What we can work on doing is finding Loki, Morgana and Nimueh, preferably before they try to kill all of us."

The next day

The Assemble call blared through the tower.

"We've got alerts coming from all over the globe!" Natasha cried, hunching over her tablet, pressing a finger against her com. "SHIELD's agents say that they're like zombies, but stronger, faster, and bigger. They want us to come in!"

The team gathered in the equipment locker, throwing gear into packs and strapping on weapons. "Where?" Steve asked, strapping his helmet tightly.

"We've got an alert in Berlin, another in Asia, one in Brazil, one in Iceland, Britain, Arizona. They're everywhere, and we don't even know what they are."

Merlin, who had just entered the room, hurried to Natasha. "Do we have a picture?"

Natasha flipped the screen around to show him.

Merlin's face, already pale and sweaty from the high fever he was nursing, turned even whiter. It had only been yesterday when the team had returned to the tower from rescuing Merlin.

The creature on the screen was horrifying. Pale, ragged skin stretched over a cracked skull. Hollow eye sockets and smoke rising from its skin. The thing was humanoid, but nearly eight feet tall. The creature's body was composed of rotting, smoky, black flesh, but rippling with muscles. The creature wielded a sword that must've been six feet long. The sword appeared to be crafted from ice.

"Any idea what they are?" Natasha asked, staring at Merlin hard.

"They're creatures of Norse Mythology. But, you know, they're not really myths. They're basically zombies. They're called draugr, the dishonorable dead."

"What?" Clint hurried into the equipment locker, looking annoyed. "Are you freakin' kidding me? A zombie apocalypse? I thought my life couldn't get any weirder."

"You jinxed it Bird Boy," Tony's voice came over the comm. "You jinxed yourself, bigtime. Never say things like that. Or even think them, really. Okay, business. I'm ready to fly. Do we have a plan? We can't just focus on one area. We're gonna have to split up."

Cap, who had just rushed into the room, pointed to Clint. "Get your incendiary arrows, fire, explosives, that kind of thing. I doubt much else will work on these. Tony, take all the firepower you got. We'll do this in pairs. Wanda and Vision, Natasha and Tony, Sam with me, and Thor with Clint. Pick a spot on the map and move out. The army is on their way to keep things contained."

Merlin stared, detached, as his friends prepared for battle. He was useless without his magic, and the vibranium in his bloodstream was killing him. He could feel it.

Tony and Wanda knelt in front of Merlin, both prepped for battle. "You'll have to stay here," Tony told Merlin. "You'll die if you try to help. My R&D department are working on a cure for that vibranium."

Merlin nodded. "Good luck," he mumbled tiredly. Wanda squeezed his hand, smiled tightly, then the duo disappeared, leaving Merlin alone.

Clint and Thor struggled against hordes of zombies in Quebec.

Wanda and Vision blasted monsters to pieces in Germany.

Natasha and Tony fought undead monsters in Brazil.

Thor and Cap battled demons in Oregon.

The army, policemen, firemen, armed civilians, and SHIELD agents, fought to protect their homes and lives.

They were all failing.

There were simply too many of the undead to defeat.

And all the while, Merlin watched, feeling as if he were being torn in two while the world burned.

The three powers behind the destruction watched, laughing as fire and death was reaped upon the earth.

Merlin felt sick as he watched the video feeds. People were dying. Fires were burning. His friends were quickly becoming exhausted, injuries slowing them down.

Merlin also felt sick because of the vibranium poison in his veins. For two days, the world had been fighting the draugr. Two days.

Tony's R&D department hadn't made any headway on removing the vibranium from Merlin's body, even with Merlin's help.

It was just before midnight during the night of the second day, when Merlin decided he couldn't stand it any longer.

He staggered around the tower, gathering supplies. He stuffed a supply of Wanda's energy gel into his pockets. He looked up the start codes for the last Quin-jet in the basement. He yanked on a suit of body armor, trying not to puke when the movements made his head spin.

Merlin sat in the pilot seat of the Quin-jet. "FRIDAY?" he called, wincing at his rough voice.

"Yes, Mr. Merlin?"

"Can you fly this thing to Europe? Fast as possible?"

"Of course, Mr. Merlin. Do you have coordinates for the location you want to visit?"

Merlin nodded and spouted them off for FRIDAY. The Quin-jet's engines hummed as Merlin took off.

Okay, yeah, short. But that's where it felt natural to end.

Review, maybe. Thanks!

-Indigene Syke