Hi, everyone! Here's Chapter 10, the beginning of the Battle. Since I wrote the whole Battle in one sitting, it was a little hard to split it into chapters, but here's the first part! Please favorite, follow, and review! :D
Ch. 10
—Fadrielindë—
"Are you sure you can do this?" Tony asks me for the fifth time today. That seems to be the question everyone has for me. From the moment we left this morning, all anyone can say to me is, Are you sure you will be okay? Are you sure you can do this? like I am a leaf of a Somnalius fern that could crumble at any moment. I nod, annoyed.
"Yes, I will be fine," I reply, trying to keep my face blank and devoid of emotion. Like pain, for example. My chest still throbs where my recovering ribs are trying to mend themselves back together, and my ankle aches a bit when I put too much weight on it. But there is no way in Oblivion that I am going to sit out of the very plan I helped devise, so I push the pain into the back of my mind and focus on the mission. I crane my neck to look out the window of the plane. The glistening silver towers of New York City reach up into the sky, seemingly high enough to graze the bottom of the flying plane. The city never fails to astonish me. The metal buildings are so different from the wooden and stone buildings in Tamriel.
It took two days to come up with a foolproof plan to stop Loki. We spent each day and night brainstorming and coming up with ideas. After much deliberation, we finally decided on, what we think is, an infallible plan.
"Does everyone know what they're supposed to do?" Natasha asks us for the hundredth time.
"Yes!" Thor, Steve, Tony, Barton, and I yell at the same time. She holds up her hands in defense.
"Just making sure!" she says.
Barton's voice rings out from the front of the helicopter.
"We are going to be landing soon," he says seriously. I bite my lip nervously. "It's showtime." Grabbing the Mace in my hand and summoning flames to my other hand, I stand up, ready to fight. Thor looks at me inquiringly. I open my mind to hear him.
Will you be alright? Thor asks in my mind.
Yes. I will be fine, I reply.
Are you sure? I understand if you do not want to fight against him. It is a lot to ask. Thor watches me intensely. I smile at him.
I will be fine, Thor, I assure him.
"Fadriel!" Tony snaps his fingers in front of my face. I jump and my instincts take over. One second later, I find myself holding Tony in a chokehold, flames inches from his face. "Whoa!"
"Sorry!" I shout, letting go of him. Thor guffaws.
"That is why you never sneak up on her!" he laughs. Tony playfully punches me in the arm. Steve, smiling, brings us back to business.
"Alright, guys," he says. "Last minute review session." He starts going over the plan quickly, even though we've all heard it about a thousand times. As he is talking, I reach into my pocket and draw out a black soul gem. The grand soul swirls around inside the gem. I crack it open and sigh in relief, absorbing the soul. Feeling replenished, but still very sore, I nod along as Steve briefs us. He nods briskly after going over the plan and moves over to talk to Thor. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I can do this. Why am I nervous? I have defeated hundreds of enemies, slain countless dragons, and even killed Dragon Priests. But facing Loki…it's a different kind of evil. All of the other enemies I have faced never had such a personal connection with me. The thing is, Loki still believes I am in love with him…which I suppose is a little true. But I can't be with someone who is doing exactly what I am going to risk my life to stop in my world. I shake my head, wishing he was different. Of course, the one man I fall in love with is a power hungry "god" obsessed with taking over the world.
"Okay, I'm going to fly over Stark Tower," Barton's voice interrupts my thoughts. "Be ready to jump." I nudge Tony, my finger clinking against his metal suit.
"Good luck," I tell him seriously. Tony smirks as the Iron Man helmet comes down over his face. The ramp lowers and Tony strides towards it, looking back at me.
"Thanks, Fadriel, but I don't need luck."
"Now!" Barton cries out. Tony leaps out of the plane and soars to Stark Tower, energy beams from the suit trailing behind him. Rolling my eyes, I turn to the others and find Thor's eyes upon me. He smiles reassuringly, gripping Mjolnir.
"Okay, I'm going to drop the rest of you out onto the street." Barton navigates the plane around Stark Tower. "Rogers, you'll be stationed toward the bottom of Stark Tower." Steve nods. Barton orders the rest of us. "Thor, stay close to one of the buildings around the Tower, just in case you need to—" Barton is interrupted by a crash accompanied by a blast of light beaming up into the sky. We all watch as the sky opens and hundreds of strange creatures flood out. They land on the ground and begin to destroy everything in their paths. Citizens scream and run from the creatures, which are blasting the streets to bits with their foreign energy weapons.
"There they are," Thor says calmly. "The Chitauri." One of the Chitauri raises his gun and aims it at the plane.
"Clint, move!" Natasha yells from the co-pilot's chair. I am thrown to the side as Barton jerks the plane away from the Chitauri's blast.
"Everyone, out now! We need to protect the citizens!" Steve orders us. We are tossed around the plane like rag dolls as Barton tries to avoid the blasts.
"You're gonna have to jump! I can't get close enough to the ground!" Barton yells, jerking the wheel around. Thor turns to me.
"Hold onto my arm!" he orders. I grab his arm without hesitation as he swings Mjolnir around in a circle. My fingers dig into his skin as we leap out of the plane and into the air. Thor raises Mjolnir up to the sky and suddenly we are flying. The wind whips my hair around my face, and I am reminded of my descent to Earth. We land softly in the middle of a street already destroyed by the Chitauri. Steve rolls onto the ground next to us. Wasting no time, Steve runs to a tipped over bus and starts ushering people out. Suddenly, the plane falls to the ground, screeching along the road as it comes to a rough stop. Barton and Natasha quickly flee the plane and join the fray. I hear a clattering behind me and turn just in time to dodge a Chitauri's swinging arm. I deftly blast flames into its face and strike it in the head with the Mace. It collapses to the ground. I quickly glance around and find twenty more Chitauri heading straight for me and Thor. I turn my head and make eye contact with him, smiling.
"Ready?" I ask, excited to start combat.
"Of course," he replies, raising Mjolnir.
We immediately jump into action, Thor, swinging Mjolnir, and me, blasting flames at the coming Chitauri. I flit around, making sure to stay low to avoid being struck by Mjolnir.
"Thor! On your right!" I warn him, leaping over to cover his side. A Chitauri aims a weapon at Thor and reaches to pull the trigger. Without hesitation, I Shout at it. "FUS!" It is pushed back with the force of the Thu'um and struck by lightning sent by Thor at the same time. Thor and I make eye contact, and I smirk.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I project into his mind. His mouth stretches into a wide smile, and I don't need to hear his thoughts to know that we are thinking the same thing. I walk up to his side, sheathing the Mace. Thor grips Mjolnir next to me, ready to attack. I draw in a low, deep breath and focus on the energy pulsating in my veins.
"FUS RO DAH!" The approaching Chitauri are thrown back just as Thor raises Mjolnir and sends a bolt of lightning down upon them. The electricity crackles as it connects with their bodies. Everything seems to go silent as the Chitauri collapse, dead.
"Ha!" Thor shouts victoriously. He holds up his hand, facing me. I look at it blankly, not knowing what to do. "Oh, I forgot." Thor takes my hand and touches my palm to his. "It's called a high-five." I say nothing. "It's an Earth gesture I learned." I smile, taking in the sight of the hundred or so dead Chitauri around us. Steve suddenly appears a few feet in front of us.
"Hey, guys, that was pretty cool, but we're not done yet," he says, panting. He gazes up at the portal in the sky. "There'll be more coming soon." Thor looks pointedly at Stark Tower.
"How are things going in there?" he asks. Steve shrugs.
"We haven't heard anything yet." Just as the words leave his mouth, a figure is thrown out of the tower. I gasp.
"Tony!" I start to run toward the tower, but Steve holds me back.
"No, he's fine. It's part of the plan, remember?" I watch as Tony gets nearer and nearer to the ground, my heart in my throat. At the last possible moment, one of his metal suits flies out from the top of the tower and attaches itself to him. Tony uses the jets on his hands to stop his descent and flies back up to the top of the tower. I sigh in relief. Barton and Natasha reappear in the distance and sprint to us.
"Here they come!" Thor points to the portal where, sure enough, more Chitauri are steadily streaming through. I grip the Mace and summon more flames to my hand.
"Okay, so now what?" I ask. "Just keep fighting them off?" I watch as more and more Chitauri flood through the portal—the stream seemingly unending. "How in Oblivion are we going to kill all of them?" Steve doesn't answer, his brow furrowed in thought. Just as he opens his mouth to speak, a monstrous roar rings through the air. We all turn our attention back to the portal where a colossal and deadly-looking creature is lazily floating down into the city. It reaches the middle of the city, destroying buildings and taking chunks out of skyscrapers as it maneuvers throughout the metal town.
"Now there's that thing," Steve mutters. "Okay, everyone here's what we're going to do," he begins. I see Tony in the distance flying off toward the massive creature still smashing buildings. Steve opens his mouth to start dishing out orders when he is interrupted by the sound of a small motor coming closer and closer to us. We all whip around, and I am quite surprised to see a small vehicle sputtering towards us. And upon the vehicle rides none other than the Hulk himself—Bruce Banner.