AN: There's new art on my tumblr, link is on my profile.

Chapter Nine

It was quite possibly their busiest evening since they had began working together, and they really couldn't classify it as 'patrol' as they weren't acting as an extra helping hand, they were so busy they might as well have headed to the police station and demanded their fair share of the coffee and doughnuts.

Normally city bars and pubs had their own bouncers to deal with brawling customers, but with the increased numbers on the streets, the increased amounts of alcohol that had been consumed, it seemed that the people were more out to have a good fight than to actually enjoy their evenings.

They'd heard several reports over the newly acquired police radio of full blown street fights and they'd rushed in, lending assistance, separating people, Parker subduing a couple with webbing where necessary until police could pick them up and put them in the drunk tank for the night.

They had to get out as fast as they got in, because the revellers noting their presence was drawing a lot of attention their way, so as soon as a fight had been stopped, they'd move on quickly, and go to the next place they were needed.

They'd been at it for a few hours, when strange things started happening. All around them peoples phones were going off constantly with text message tones and phone calls, and they'd just exchanged a look when the radio began to explode with chatter.

"ALL UNITS, ALL UNITS, SUSPECTED TERRORIST ATTACK IN PROGRESS, MADISON AVENUE -" the radio exploded with information, the national guard had been summoned, something was attacking people in the streets, they were trying to evacuate, rescue and defend all at the same time.

"Madison avenue is right around the block from the Avengers Tower," said Parker, looking at Loki, and though he couldn't see his face through the mask, he knew exactly what expression it bore.

"Then it's their turf," said Loki, "they can handle it. People are going to start panicking and trying to escape the city en masse, we'd be better off running crowd control."

"What if they need help?" said Parker. Damn him and his morals. "What if it's like last time? What if they are facing an army?"

"They have the Hulk," said Loki, knowing all too well how effective the giant green monster was in battle, "they have Iron Man, and the have SHIELD forces behind them, you're a boy with web shooters and I have a broom handle. I think they have the situation in hand."

"What's SHIELD?"

Shit.

"You know, Parker, the one with the shield, the one who was in the army, whatever his name is," he said.

"Well it might not be enough," said Parker.

Double shit.

Loki knew exactly where this was going. They were at the opposite end of the park, just about as close as Loki liked to get to the tower, and he was positive, that whatever it was, even without his brother to aid them, the Avengers could handle it.

"Parker, please," said Loki, "we have no idea what we could be walking into."

"If you don't want to come, it's fine," said Parker, "but I'm going to at least see if they need my help."

Parker broke into a sprint and leapt off the edge of the building, and fighting every self preservation instinct within him, Loki jumped after him, in one motion clipping the radio to his waistband and making sure he had a firm grip on the broom handle, whilst launching himself over the side of the roof.

To his relief, Parker caught him mid-swing, and Loki quickly transferred himself to a position where he could hold on without interfering with Parker's web slinging.

"I knew you wouldn't abandon me," said Parker.

"If this ends with us both being carted off to be interrogated at Avengers tower, I'm blaming you," said Loki.

Parker moved quickly, taking them on the most direct route, forgoing back streets that they might have taken since they'd been laying low. As they drew closer they could see more people running, trying to get away, sirens growing louder, more police cars came into view, then finally they reached Madison Avenue and the entire block was in chaos.

They landed on a roof top and saw that the police were providing cover fire for the Avengers, who were battling with a horde of black metal robots who were trying to tear up the city. It appeared to Loki that the police just managing to hold their line, but they were on the verge of being pushed further back, and robots were attempting to slip out into the bigger parts of the city.

"There's no way we can handle this," said Loki looking at the sight below them, "this is out of our capabilities. I don't have enough magic to be able to help. Let's just… let's just help people get out of the way, come on, Parker."

He looked at the boy and he was clenching his fists.

"No," he said, "no, not again, not now, not in my city, I'm not going to stand back and do nothing when I can help. It's my responsibility."

Loki grabbed Parker by the shoulders, "No, Parker, not this, this is too much, we can't help with this. You are my responsibility and I'm not going to let you put yourself in that much danger."

"I thought you were here during that alien attack," Parker spat at him.

"I… I was," said Loki.

"Then you should remember what it was like, you should remember the people screaming, six people against an entire army," said Parker, pointing down to the chaos, "we need to help. Every second we stand here, another innocent person might be getting caught in the firing line. You have some big secret you don't trust me with, some stupid thing you did in your past and you're trying to make up for, DO THIS. Help them. Help the city. Help me."

Parker broke away from Loki's hold and prepared to jump, Loki grabbed his wrist, "WAIT," he said. Parker stopped and looked at him. "Not right into the battle," Loki pointed to where the police were falling back and firing wildly and then to across the street where they could drop into the block and there was an empty space, "if we drop straight in we'll both just get shot, get us over to there and we can approach from behind that group and maybe take out a few of them."

"Alright," said Parker nodding his head.

Loki tightened his grip, "But if I tell you to get out of there, you go, with or without me, do you understand?"

"What?"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yes," said Parker, "you tell me to get out, I get out, I got it."

Loki loosened his grip and hopped onto Parker's back and he launched them over the side, swinging around the robots and shooting to the building which Loki had pointed out, dropping them down onto the ground.

Loki gripped the broom handle tightly, wishing that he had Gungnir instead. The Avengers were holding their own, but they were farther down and away from them, he and Parker had to deal with the robots which were attacking the police.

"You just had to open your big mouth, didn't you, Parker?" said Loki, "it'll be fine, you said, bar fights and muggings you said. You utter tool."

"Come on," said Parker, pulling Loki by the arm, towards a group of three robots which seemed to be attempting to make a charge at the police cars.

"This is such a stupid plan," said Loki, trying to work out in his head whether or not they'd allow his body to be returned to Asgard or if they'd remove his head and display it on the city walls for the pigeons to peck out his eyeballs and children to spit at him.

"HEY," Parker shouted at the robots, pointing his finger at them as they turned to see he and Loki stood behind them, "I think you guys are lost, the Wizard of Oz convention is this way."

The robots charged them. Loki took a couple of steps back to balance himself, "Parker, if we live through this, I'm going to kill you," he said.

Parker flipped himself over the heads of two of the robots, confusing them and before they could turn he shot webbing onto both their heads and clashed them together, though this only slowed them down for a moment.

Loki used his staff to vault himself, and kicked his feet into the face of the third robot, denting it but not stopping it.

Parker spun more webbing but the arms he had bound were quickly broken free and he flipped himself around again, trying to gain a little high ground by moving to an overturned car.

The robot which Loki was fighting swung for him, and he shot out his staff to block the blow, and it cracked instantly, breaking into two pieces. Loki quickly dropped the part he'd been holding, abandoning it and blocking the next blow with his arm, which was far more effective.

Loki shot out his hands, grabbing the robot either side of it's head, and he twisted and yanked, pulling it clean off, and the machine dropped to the ground.

Loki tossed the head, running to help Parker who was ducking and dodging blows from two robots who had pushed him off the upturned car and was now fighting in the centre of the road.

"Take off their heads!" said Loki, ducking gunfire as he ran.

"Like zombies, I got it!" shouted Parker, kicking one of the robots in the chest, knocking it to the ground.

Loki grabbed the standing robot, around the neck with one hand, and pushed down on it's shoulder with the other, pulling and pushing, the head wrenched off and as the body dropped, he saw Parker give him a thumbs up, but behind him the other robot was on his feet again and he raised a metal boot and brought it down on the back of Parker's calf, causing Parker to drop to his knees and scream in agony.

"PARKER!" yelled Loki, he grabbed the third robot by it's head and put his foot against its chest, pulling the head off in one swift movement and then tossing it aside. He moved quickly to Parker who was laying on the floor on his side, holding his leg.

Loki looked around, there were more robots fighting with the police and near the Avengers, more seemed to be heading their way. There was a side street between buildings, he had to get Parker out of there. He hooked one arm under his shoulders and the other under his legs, ignoring the screams of pain and carried him quickly into the side street, going as far down as he could, though it was a dead end, he carefully set Parker down in a doorway.

"Move your hands, let me see," said Loki, grabbing Parkers wrists and trying to pry them away from his leg, Parker was too strong for his own good. "Peter, let me see."

"It hurts!" said Parker, balling his hands into fists, moving them to let Loki see the damage.

"Shit," said Loki, seeing how bad it was, Parker's shin bone was sticking through the material of his Spider-man outfit, he really needed to get Parker out of there, there was no way he was going to let him continue the fight after this. He grabbed Parkers mask and pulled it off his head, "Open your mouth," Parker complied and Loki shoved the mask inside as a gag. "Bite down on your mask, not on your tongue, sorry this is going to hurt."

Loki placed one hand on the back of Parkers leg and the other on the bone which was protruding through his skin, and pushed hard, pushing it back inside his leg. Parker screamed. Tears streamed down his face, and he tried to grab his leg again, sobbing. Loki batted his hands away and pulled the mask from his mouth.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm sorry, I know it hurts, I'm going to fix what I can, ok? Put your mask back on, just in case."

Parker complied, biting his lip as he pulled his mask back over his face. Loki was glad that he couldn't see the tears anymore. Parker was just a boy, it was so easy to forget that, just a boy. This was his fault, he should have dragged Parker back home by his ear, not allowed him to join in a fight he was not equipped for. They should have watched for a little longer, observed the strength, they ran in without thinking and Loki should have known better.

All his fault. Even when he was trying to do the right thing, he ended up making a mess of things.

He carefully placed his hands over the wound, as gingerly as he could, he closed his eyes, concentrating hard, the break was bad, and the flesh damage must have been causing Parker real agony, but if he just had enough magic to heal the bone, he could save the rest and they could get out of there and deal with the flesh later.

He held his breath, seeing the break in his minds eye, pulling as much magic out of his body as he could and knitting Parkers bone back together, trying not to break his concentration as Parker whimpered in pain.

Once the bone was repaired, Loki let go, taking several deep breaths, sitting back and trying to regain his composure.

"That's the best I can do," he said, "we need to get you out of here."

Loki stood to his feet, a little shakily, but he wasn't as bad as the last time he'd pushed himself, it hadn't been held for as long and he would probably be fine in five or ten minutes.

He held out his hand and Parker took it, Loki pulled him up and hooked his arm over his shoulders, so he could test his leg on the ground and put his weight on Loki.

"The bone's repaired," said Loki, "see how it feels now, we need to get you out of here."

Parker put his foot on the floor, "Hurt's like a bitch, but I'll cope."

"HEY!"

They both looked up simultaneously. The soldier. Captain America stood at the end of the street, pointing his finger at them, advancing.

Loki unhooked Parkers arm from his shoulder and pushed him behind him, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

"But-" Parker began.

"YOU AGREED! GET OUT OF HERE, GO! GET TO SAFETY!"

Loki heard a web shooter behind him, and felt Parker's presence disappear, Rogers looked up, his eyes following the movement into the air, but Loki moved towards him, capturing his attention.

"Leave him," said Loki, "he's hurt, leave him."

"What are you doing here?" said Rogers, making a move to grab Loki's hoodie, but he dodged the grasping fingers, backing himself further into the dead end.

"Helping," said Loki.

Rogers could drag him back to the tower if he wanted to try, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He didn't need magic or a weapon to cave the soldiers skull into powder, he could do that with his own two hands.

"Well either join the fight or go help your friend and get out of here," said Rogers, "you're helping no one stood there."

With that, Rogers turned his back on Loki and ran back into the main street to rejoin the fight. Rogers hadn't realised who he was. He hadn't recognised him.

He let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding and looked up, Parker wasn't in danger now, he would know if he was. If he knew what was good for him he'd be web slinging his way back home this second, back to his aunt, back to safety.

Loki had two options. Scale the wall of the building, find a way down the other side, fight his way through the robots and police and then run all the way back to Parker's house and make sure he was ok, or run into the street and help the Avengers take out the remaining robots and then get back to Parker as quickly as he could.

Parker's words echoed in his head, 'Help them, help the city, help me.'

Loki made his choice.