Chapter 26
Jane, Erik, Loki, Hikesh, Sif, and Soladat's team all stared at the spectacle in front of them. The hologram, as they guessed it to be, pulsated, sending currents through the computer monitors throughout the library. Cables and wires connecting them all sparked and sizzled with that strange red electricity.
"And what is that?" Loki asked in confusion, breaking the silence.
"SUCH A FOOLISH QUESTION, FROM SUCH A FOOLISH LESSER BEING." The dark voice said. It was terrifyingly inhuman, sounding like combination of various different monotone voices mashed together and then spoken through a garbled loudspeaker. "YOU GRASP BLINDLY AT WHAT YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND, SQUINTING AS IT BLINDS YOU. I AM THAT WHICH PAVES THE WAY FOR YOUR RECKONING. I AM NAZARA."
Everyone was silent again, the shock depriving them of any appropriate response.
It was Skye who delivered a rather inappropriate response. "This shit just got real."
"The Reaper?" Sif said, stepping forward. "It speaks?"
"I told you it was sentient." Hikesh said, smugly, but his attention was mainly aimed towards the holographic entity that was conversing with them. Contempt filled his features.
"Yes, but I never imagined to this degree." Sif said, wide-eyed.
"YOUR IMAGINATION IS EXPECTED FROM AN ENGINEERED CASTE SUCH AS YOURS. COMPARED TO US, YOU 'ASGARDIANS', AS YOU HAVE NAIVELY DUBBED YOURSELVES, ARE LITTLE MORE THAN TOYS. WE ARE A RACE THAT HAS EXISTED LONG BEFORE ANY OF YOUR SPECIES HARNESSED THE POWER OF FIRE."
Soladat stepped forward, face blank, but masking immense intimidation. "So you're the one who caused all this mess? From what I've heard, you're kind were capable of annihilating stars. Seems a little mediocre to be trashing a simple college campus."
"THE MINOR DEVASTATION SEEN AROUND YOU IS BUT PREPARATION FOR THE HARVEST, HUMAN."
"What the hell did you do to the beacons?" Jane interrogated, glaring at the hologram before gesturing wildly to the hacked hardware throughout the room. "And how the hell are you doing all of this?"
"YOUR PRIMITIVE TOYS ARE SIMPLE ENOUGH FOR THE SUPERIOR FORCE TO TINKER WITH. YOUR BEACONS MAY HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF TOSSING ASIDE THE PAWNS, BUT I AM BEYOND SUCH TRICKS."
"We know what you are planning, Reaper." Hikesh growled. "You won't be able to accomplish anything without your puppet, and our comrade is currently keeping him occupied."
"MY TOOL, THE ONE YOU CALL MALEKITH, WILL BE FINISHED WITH YOUR COMRADE, YOUR THORDIS, IN MERE MOMENTS. ONCE THIS NUISANCE HAS BEEN DEALT WITH, IT WILL DIRECT THE POWER TO THE SCHISM, AND FROM THE RUINS OF THIS PITIFUL LITTLE VILLA, OUR KIND WILL DARKEN THE SKIES OF THIS WORLD AND REDUCE IT TO MERE PARTICLES. YOUR PLANET WILL BE FORGOTTEN IN MERE SECONDS, AND OUR ATTENTION WILL BE DIRECTED TO THE LARGER ENTITIES. THE PATH WILL CONTINUE AS IT WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO."
Everyone stared at the hologram, hopelessly confused. Nazara seemed to scoff in response. "YOUR EXPRESSIONS FORESHADOW JUST HOW FEEBLE MINDED YOU TRULY ARE. YOU YOURSELVES SPOKE TO THE PROTHEAN INTELLIGENCE. AS FEEBLE AS ITS DESIGN MAY HAVE BEEN, IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN CLEARER. BEYOND THE STANDARD HUNDRED LIFETIMES, THE CYCLE WAS DISTURBED BECAUSE OF THE PROTHEANS, WHOSE EXTINCTION WAS NEVER COMPLETED. BUT TODAY, THE KNOTS SHALL BE UNDONE. THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR IMPRISONMENT, SHALL BE PUNISHED, AND WILL SUFFER WORSE FATES THAN THE OTHERS DESTINED TO FALL TO US."
"Soulless machine." Sif said, glaring. "If you believe we will allow you and your 'kind' to commit such genocide, you are mistaken."
"YOU WILL FIND THAT WE CARE LITTLE FOR WHAT A CREATURE SUCH AS YOU HAS TO SAY." Nazara said almost mockingly. As he was talking, Agent Ward inched over to the window, frowning when he saw Nazara just standing motionlessly. He glanced between it and the hologram, in deep thought. "ORGANIC LIFE HAS PROVEN ITSELF IN PAST CYCLES TO BE NOTHING MORE AN AN INADEQUATE VIRUS. AN ACCIDENT. THE ONE YOU CALL MALEKITH WAS SO NARROW MINDED, HE WAS WILLING TO ABANDON HIS OWN IDEALS TO SERVE ME. HE SERVES MY GOAL, CONTINUING THE CYCLE."
"And once he's served his usefulness?" Loki said. "What then?"
"THEN," Nazara said, "HE WILL BE TOSSED ASIDE, AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF HIS PEOPLE WILL BE ABSORBED INTO OUR COLLECTIVE. TECHNOLOGY, HISTORY, EVEN THE POWER. THAT WHICH YOU CALL THE AETHER."
"Why are you doing this?" Jane said, practically pleading. "Why do you keep repeating this pattern of genocide over and over? I mean, doesn't it bother you? All of the races and innocent people you've destroyed? What is that even supposed to accomplish?"
"OUR MINDS ARE FAR BEYOND YOURS. YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY HOPE TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE PERFORM OUR ACTIONS. IT IS OUR DUTY, OUR PURPOSE, OUR MISSION. AND IT MUST BE CONTINUED."
"Where did you come from?" Soladat interrogated. "Who built you?"
"WE HAVE NO BEGINNING. WE HAVE NO END. WE HAVE EXISTED, SINCE THE FIRST STAR WAS BIRTHED IN THIS GALAXY. MILLIONS OF YEARS AFTER YOUR WORLD HAS BEEN ERADICATED AND FORGOTTEN, WE WILL ENDURE."
"Do you truly expect us to believe that?" Sif said, glaring. "You are but a machine, a man-made character. Nothing of the sort could be a natural formation."
"YOUR DENIAL IS LAUGHABLE. WE EXIST IN A REALM FAR BEYOND YOUR OWN THAT YOU CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE IT." Nazara gloated. The arrogance radiating from its statements was absolutely sickening. "WE ARE EACH A NATION. INDEPENDENT. FREE OF ALL WEAKNESS. YOU CANNOT EVEN GRASP THE NATURE OF OUR EXISTENCE."
"That's quite the superiority complex you've got there." Soladat said, smirking. "But, if at all possible, just try to look past it for a moment and think. The Protheans broke this cycle of yours, and you were trapped in a state of limbo for nearly a hundred-thousand years, and all of your technology was destroyed. Without it, its probable that all of the other alien races out there have evolved to a point where their technology far outclasses anything you've ever conceived. You can try to fight, but you'll lose."
"YOU DARE!" Nazara growled, the machine's deep voice givign away a flicker of anger. "YOU, A CREATURE OF SUCH LESSER IMPORTANCE, DARES TO MOCK THAT WHICH IS THE VANGUARD OF YOUR DESTRUCTION?"
"You would be wise to listen to the human, machine." Loki said, stepping forward. "Your actions reak of desperation. You enthrall a dying race to achieve your own ends. But she is right. There are other races of stronger will than these Dark Elves, and of greater power than you. Sure, you may have superior numbers, but in the end, you will fail."
Everyone looked surprised by Loki's words, the fact that he was actually defending Soladat's statement. For a moment, Nazara was silent, before it spoke once again.
"IT SEEMS THAT YOUR IGNORANCE IS MATCHED ONLY BY YOUR PRIDE. YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE MIGHTIER THAN THE COUNTLESS RACES THAT CAME BEFORE YOU? FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS MY KIND HAS EXISTED AND NEVER HAVE WE SUFFERED A DEFEAT."
"Funny." Loki said with a chuckle. "About a year ago, I came across a race with a mindset none to different from yours, and I allied with them because I believed them. I was proven wrong. They failed. Miserably. And you will, too."
"YOU THINK YOU CAN CHANGE WHAT IS TO COME, THAT YOUR EFFORTS THIS DAY WILL PREVENT WHAT I HAVE WORKED MANY YEARS TO ACCOMPLISH. YOU WILL NOT. WE ARE ETERNAL. YOU ARE BUT BACTERIA. AND YOUR DISTRACTIONS END NOW."
ooooo
In the spot where Malekith's dead body lay, a small group of civilians crowded around his mangled form, looking at it in a mixture of fear and curiosity. One of them, a young man, had the guts to step forward, and inched his foot out, giving Malekith's corpse a light kick. When he got not response, he kicked it again. Still nothing. Taking a deep breath, the man flipped Malekith's body over so he was on his back, and he was facing upwards.
The people all stared at him for a few moments, when suddenly, his body convulsed. It was a minor movement at first, one that suddenly escalated into various spasms. Everyone backed away when his body started pulsing with a mixture of red Aether energy and red electricity.
Then, Malekith sprang upright, screaming. Everyone immediately cleared out, fleeing from the park. Malekith's body levitated off the ground, twisting and shrieking. Slowly, his flesh and armor started to melt from an intense heat that came from within him, revealing a pure robotic skeleton beneath.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."
Taking control of Malekith's ravaged body, Nazara willed the metal creature to its knees. Flexing its sharp, skeletal claws, the creature let out a high, metallic hiss. Its now eyeless sockets glowed a bright red, as did its chest, little more than a ribcage over a bundle of wires. The abomination looked up, peering at a small dot flying away in the distance.
Thordis.
Letting out a snarl, the creature crouched, an aura of pulsating Aether energy flaring up around it. Then, it leaped, and it seemed to move at warp speed in a split second, colliding with Thordis even though she was almost half a mile away.
Darcy had been flying right towards the Old Naval College, eyes narrowed when she saw that damned Reaper looming over the main library. If that walking pile of scrap did anything to her friends...
Suddenly, a red glow caught Darcy's attention, and she barely even turned her head when something powerful smashed into her side and sent her careening out of the sky. The attack was so sudden that Darcy lost Mjolnir, the hammer falling out of her grip as she found herself falling into the River Thames. She hit the water with a loud splash and found herself sinking. Flailing wildly, she looked around in search of Mjolnir, and spotted it sinking rapidly to the bottom of the lake. Reaching out, she willed it to return to her, which it did. But before it reached her, Darcy saw another red glow from above the surface.
Then, to Darcy's shock and horror, this... thing broke through the river and, somehow defying the impeding waters, dove straight at her. It collided with her, wrapping its elongated claws around her throat. Then, as quickly as it appeared, it rocketed back up to the surface, leaving behind a trail of red crackling energy that caused the water to boil. Darcy gripped the creature's arm as she tried to pry it loose, and let out a gasp of breath as they breached the surface of the lake. She found herself thrown with great force onto the ground, sliding across the concrete until she skidded to a stop. Sitting up, Darcy was now in a small clearing only a few meters from the college. The creature emerged only seconds later, and landed with a loud thud a few meters from her. The grass around its feet was scorched by loose bolts of red lightning from its body.
Darcy stared at the thing with wide eyes. For what seemed like the first time in ages, Darcy didn't have any smartass remark. I mean, what could she say? This... thing in front of her was like something that plopped out of a nightmare. It didn't even reach the level of inhumaness that the Chitauri or Dark Elves had.
"What the hell are you?!" she yelled. Despite the blatant hypocrisy of the question, Darcy wasn't in the mood for humor, nor was she really expecting an answer.
Imagine how freaked out she was when the creature's head jerked towards her, and the red, eyeless sockets were staring the Asgardian-empowered mortal down. Then, it spoke. It was Malekith's voice, but distorted and wrong. So very wrong.
"I AM NAZARA! AND YOU'RE MEDDLING ENDS NOW!"
Darcy's eyes widened as the creature leapt at her, and she quickly scrambled to her feet and moved to the side. The Malekith husk rushed past her, the intense heat from its crackling red aura ghosting by her and singing the edges of her hair. It quickly corrected itself, and turned back to her, ready to pounce. Quickly, Darcy reached out towards the water. Moments later, Mjolnir shot out and flew safely back into her hands, and instantly started crackling with electricity. and she quickly shot it forward.
"Eat this!"
A bolt of lightning shot out and struck the husk, which hissed and stumbled as the bolt struck it in the chest. It fell to its knees as the electricity surged through it, and once Darcy thought it had enough, she ceased her attack.
To her surprise, the husk just stood up slowly like it was nothing, the blue electricity crackling over its body morphing into the familiar red and getting absorbed into the creature's body. Darcy could only cock her head, stupefied, and almost as if it were mocking her, the husk cocked its head as well.
In a split second, it closed the distance between them, leaping and tackling her. The two rolled through the dirt, Darcy barely dodging slashing claws that impaled the ground beneath them. She put her hand against the husk's head and tried shoving him away, bashing the side of its head with her hammer. The attack succeeded in knocking the thing away for a moment, but as she tried to crawl away, it pounced back on her, grabbed the back of her head and started bashing it into the ground with great force.
"Get. Off. Me!" Darcy grunted as she gripped Mjolnir fiercely and bashed it into the ground.
A wave of electricity spread out from the attack, and the Malekith husk shrieked as it was forced away from Darcy. Righting herself, Darcy glared at the creature, and charged forward, body slamming the thing. She bashed it repeatedly with her hammer, but after at least four hits, it reached out and grabbed her wrist, halting the attack.
Its body pulsed with the familiar energy from the Aether, and a bubble of Aether energy exploded from the husk's form. Darcy, recognizing the attack, quickly shielded herself, and was able to remain on her feet as she was forced away. The creature stood, or rather, levitated, back to its feet, and hissed at her. Darcy glared back.
Then, the creature lifted its hand up, and Darcy blinked when crackling red lighting, mixing together with the pulsing Aether force, channeled its way into its clawed hand. Before Darcy could react, a sphere of searing hot energy was blasted out of the creature's palm and exploded against Darcy's armored chest. Darcy yelped as she stumbled back, and was actually thrown back when a second energy blast struck.
She landed on her back, and grunted as an intense pain shot through her body. She glanced over, spotting Mjolnir laying a few meters. She slowly reached for it, but grunted as she was violently pulled to her feet for another beating.
ooooo
"YOU'RE CHAMPION IS FAILING. AS EXPECTED." Nazara said smugly to the group, who were all glaring at the holographic image hatefully.
"She'll beat you." Jane said bitingly. "She's fought worse."
"YOUR WORDS ARE AS EMPTY AS YOUR FUTURE, LITTLE HUMAN." Nazara drawled boredly. "YOUR END HAS BEEN DELAYED LONG ENOUGH. THIS EXCHANGE IS OVER."
The computer monitors and machinery that Nazara was using to converse with the group suddenly exploded, and Nazara's hologram vanished into thin air.
Then, there was a slight quake, followed by a large robotic leg smashing through the side of the library. Skye, Simmons, and Jane all screamed as Nazara tore through the building, and Hikesh quickly ushered them towards the opposite wall, where the exit was located.
"Go!" he said over the noise.
Nazara let out a deafening electronic wail as it crushed the very foundation in an attempt to squash the group. While everyone else ran to the door, Hikesh stayed behind and attempted to impede the Reaper's approach with Aether blasts. The blasts stalled Nazara somewhat, but it just let out an annoyed shriek and its occulus started charging. Hikesh's eyes widened and he quickly brought up a field, gritting his teeth as the Reaper's beam collided violently with it. The intense heat from the beam scorched the books and rubbed littered around the floor, but Hikesh himself was able to withstand it until it ceased. Quickly dropping the field, he glanced over at the exit, seeing that everyone had already fled and Sif was now waiting, ushering him frantically.
"Hurry, Hikesh!"
Hikesh complied, and ran over to her and the two hastily fled from the doomed building. They reunited with the rest of the group outside, and they looked back to see that there was barely anything left of the building they were in. Nazara stomped over the exit, and the group all looked back to see that what was once the library was now a gigantic pile of rubble. Jane, Erik, Simmons, Fitz, and Skye all got behind everyone else, who readied their weapons for a futile fight.
Nazara leared at them in amusement. It charged its occulus and prepared to vaporize the group, when a roar caught its attention.
Ceasing its attack, Nazara looked over in confusion, as did everyone else. Jaws dropped almost instantly.
"Well, shit." Soladat said dumbly.
Agent May, part of her suit ripped and her body sporting a few bruises, was riding on the back of the Jotunheim beast as though it were some steed. She was glaring daggers at the Reaper, and with a loud 'hyah!' and a slap to the back of the beast's neck, the frost monster let out a roar and charged.
When the beast passed the rest of the group, May expertly jumped off of her mount to rejoin them.
"Hey." May said tiredly.
"Hey, yourself." Soladat said. A roar alerted them back to the battle, and everyone looked to see Nazara frantically backing away as the creature approached. It fired its occulus beam wildly to stop the beast's advance, but the beast just dodged the attacks and slammed violently into the Reaper's side. While much smaller than Nazara, the beast was able to knock the Reaper down. Everyone watched the spectacle in amazement. It was like watching two titans duke it out.
"Holy shit." Skye said, wide-eyed. "Are you seeing this? You're all seeing this right?"
"Seeing." Soladat said.
"Still working on believing." Sif finished. Soladat sent her a grin, which Sif returned.
"Let's hope the beast can hold itself." Hikesh said, and started looking around. "Where's Darcy?"
Everyone looked around frantically, before Agent Simmons spoke, pointing in the distance. "There!"
Everyone looked in the direction where she was pointing. Off in the distance, two figures were fighting. One they recognized as Thordis. The other was some unnatural skeletal creature surrounded in a reddish aura. And it was winning.
ooooo
Darcy hurled another blast of lightning at the creature, and it merely sidestepped the attack and retaliated with a blast of red energy. The blast struck Darcy square in the guy and knocked her back several feet. Gunshots suddenly rang through the air, and the Malekith husk shrieked in outrage when it felt bullets pelting against it's frame. It hissed in the direction of the attack, spotting Agents May and Ward approaching with pistols in hand. Extending its arm, the creature unleashed a long strand of Aether energy, which was crackling with red lightning. Flinging it around in the style of a whip, it slapped Agent May hard in the side. She yelled out in pain as she felt the seering red force pierce her skin and rip her around like a flail. She crashed into Agent Ward, and the two collided hard into a nearby lamppost, temporarily taking them out of the fight.
This whole time, Soladat had been hovering above the husk, firing nonstop from her rifle, but cursed when the creature brought up a pulsating red field that deflected the bullets with ease. Hikesh intervened with an attack of his own, unleashing a rippling shockwave of Aether force that cut a swatch along the ground towards the creature. But with lightning fast reflexes, the husk simply lept over the shockwave and tackled Hikesh. It hissed at him, seeming especially aggressive towards the Prothean. The Prothean just snarled back, not intimidated by the abomination before him.
His fist shrouded in pulsing red, he slugged the husk in the side of its skull, and the creature shrieked in both shock and rage as it's metallic skull actually cracked from the impression. Red electricity crackled around the wound, and while it was distracted, Hikesh kicked his legs out and pushed the husk away from him. The creature squirmed around, hissing madly before righting itself. Hikesh fired another barrage of Aether blasts that the creature sidestepped with terrific speed. Its manuevers prevented Soladat from lining up a decent shot. Sif, who had been waiting for the right moment to intervene, rushed forward, closing the gap between her and the husk. She drew her sword and aimed right for the head, intending to worsen the wound inflicted by Hikesh's punch. But the husk merely swiveled its head in a full one-eight degrees and struck Sif with a blast of red power, downing Sif for the moment. The husk clenched its fists, Aether force charging in its claws as it prepared to unleash a blast that would undoubtably atomize Sif, when a powerful concussive sniper shot struck its head, hitting the cracked area that Hikesh created. The creature shrieked as bits of metal and bone fell from the wound, a gaping hole now made from the gunshot. Oily black fluid spilled from the wound.
"Bullseye!" Soladat shouted in delight at the hit. Sif grinned up at Archangel, and quickly got to her feet and rushed at the creature shield first. The impact knocked the thing that was once Malekith to its feet, and Sif prepared to bring her sword down and slay the dreaded thing, but its speed resumed and it rolled away. It shot its claw out, gashing Sif's face.
Sif screamed as an intense burning sensation filled the claw marks on her cheek, and she fell back, dropping her weapons as she clutched the wound in agony.
The husk immediately got into a crawling position, and lept so fast that no one but Hikesh was able to catch it. His reaction time far outclassed the others, even if Sif had better speed. The nanosecond that the husk made its jump, Hikesh channeled the Aether's energy into his feet and rocketed up towards his opponent. He tackled the Malekith creature in midair, gripping it in his arms as he prepared to collide violently into the ground. The skeletal creature was stronger, but smaller and lighter than the Prothean. The sheer size, weight, and forward momentum behind Hikesh's empowerment had been enough to render that strength completely irrelevant.
The two collided hard into the concrete, a large impression left in the ground from the strike. Hikesh assailed the creature's skull with punches, crackles of red power erupting from each strike. Whether he was actually harming his enemy or annoying it, Hikesh had no clue. But he was giving it everything he had. Hissing, the husk worked one of its legs between it and Hikesh and kicked away his fist, throwing off one of his punches. THen with a shriek, red force exploded from the creature, and Hikesh was flung high up into the air.
Crouching, the creature moved at lightspeed towards Hikesh, its movement so fast that it looked as thought it teleported to the naked eye. It reappered above Hikesh, and lifted its glowing claws up. It shot them towards Hikesh, and a torrent of power fell over Hikesh. It burned, and struck Hikesh hard, cracking a few of his bones as he slammed hard into the ground, right in the same crater he created before, deepening it. The husk landed before him, and its eyeless sockets began to glow as it started charging another attack. Whatever it was about to do though, it never got a chance, as a knife was suddenly thrown, and impaled the side of its head.
Shrieking, the husk turned its head to face Loki, who had two knives gripped in his hands. While intimidated by this creature, Loki didn't show it, and merely gave a cocky smirk, beckoning the creature to attack.
Complying, the creature raced forward, claw outstretched as it prepared to impale the god of mischief. Loki sidestepped the attack and brought one of his knives down on the husk's spine, impaling it. The creature shrieked and fell down to the ground, writing in both pain and rage. Acting fast, Loki brought the second knife down on the creature's claw, staking it to the ground. It lashed out furiously with its other claw, but Loki retaliated by outstretching his own hand. The skin around it turned blue as a torrent of ice shot out and froze the creature's claw to the ground.
The husk wrenched furiously in an attempt to pull itself free, but paused when something heavy landed before it. Looking up, it saw Thordis looming over him, beaten, brusied, but sporting a smirk.
"Remember me?"
Darcy's hammer crackled with electricity as she lifted it over her head and brought it down on the creature. Loki quickly cleared out as the mallet struck the husk, and an explosion of lightning and dust spread out around it and Darcy. Once the dust cleared, only Darcy was shown, staring down at the husk. Only the husk was now still, its ribcage shattered from the attack and it's form lacking the red glow.
Slowly, Loki, Soladat, Hikesh, and Sif, the latter two sporting wounds but nonetheless alive, walked up by Darcy, staring at the husk wearily.
"Is it dead?" Soladat murmured.
Carefully, Sif toed the husk's head, sighing when she got no response. "It appears so."
Everyone sighed in relief, and Soladat looked over at Loki with a raised eyebrow. "Since when were you able to create ice?"
Loki just returned the gesture, and shut Soladat up. Hikesh glanced over in the direction of the bout between the Jotunheim beast and Nazara. "Now all that is left is-"
Suddenly, there was a pulse of red light, followed by a torrent of red Aether energy. It was a weaker pulse than normal, but it was enough to push back those gathered around the husk as it sprung to its feet. The torrent of energy around it was brighter and crackling with greater intensity. It's revival was so sudden that it caught everyone off guard. Taking advantage of this, the husk set its sights on Darcy, who had dropped Mjolnir in the confusion, and let forward, both claws outstretched as it prepared to impale her.
"Darcy!" Sif yelled out.
Darcy's eyes were wide as she looked at the incoming killer, and was so shocked she couldn't move. Then, just as the claws were about to make contact, Darcy felt something shove her out of the way, and she fell on the ground with a thud. Looking up, she gasped at what she saw.
Loki was standing where she was, his eyes wide and mouth agape with pain as the husk's claws impaled his upper left torso and his right leg. The husk seemed surprised by this turn of events as well. Gasping at the pain, Loki turned to look at Darcy, and cracked a pained smile that Darcy could only gape at. Then, he hissed as he felt himself lifted up by the husk.
"Loki!" Darcy yelled as the husk tossed Loki to the side, and he fell face first, appearing lifeless.
Darcy looked in shock and horror, and quickly turned her hateful gaze towards the husk, who looked back at her with malice.
"You son of a bitch!" she yelled as she called Mjolnir towards her, and rushed forward.
The satanic machine crouched low on the ground, and Darcy swore she heard chuckling.
ooooo
Nazara wailed furiously as it shoved the Jotunheim beast away from it. The beast crashed into the remains of of the dormitories, squriming around on its back. It's occulus glowing, Nazara unleashed an energy blast that struck the beast, who let out a pained cry as it was engulfed in and explosion. Unrelenting, the Reaper repeated the attack twice, and the entire building went up in flames. The beast's cries fell silent.
Groaning in satisfaction, Nazara looked back up to the sky, and cried in alarm. The portals were getting thinner. Time was running short.
It needed to finish this. Right now.
ooooo
Responding to the will of its master, the Malekith husk quickly blasted Darcy out of the air, and she fell hard against the ground. It quickly turned its head to the others standing nearby, and with lightning fast reflexes, it closed the distance between it and Sif, knocked her away. It avoided a swift punch from Hikesh and responded with an Aether empowered backhand that grounded the Prothean. All the while, Soaldat was firing a number of shots which bounced off the husk harmlessly, and it shot out a beam of energy that struck the Archengel in the shoulder, burning it and knocking her down.
Looking towards the college, the husk crouched, and quickly lept over to where its master needed it.
In almost an instant, it had arrived in the center of the destroyed campus. It bowed as Nazara approached it, and let out an electronic wail of commanding nature.
Nodding in response, the husk looked up to the portals above. Channeling all the power running through its artificial veins, the husk was surrounded in a twirling tornado of Aether energy, loose sparks of red lightning leaking from the torrent. Nazara backed away to avoid the force, and watched in delight as the Aether slowly spread up into the air, making contact with the portals. Snaking around the edges of the anomalies, the Aether started to twist and twirl the portals, shifting their positions in the sky.
ooooo
On Vanaheim, Hogun quickly exited his home, joining his astonished kin in gazing up at the Convergence. Something strange was happening. Red force was leaking out of the portals, and seemed to be drawing the portals together. Slowly, they collideded, and the Vanir could feel a strong gravitational shift pushing against them as the portals all merged to become one enormous doorway.
At the same time, the other realms were seeing the same thing. The Frost Giants all emerged from their homes to look up in confusion at the spectacle.
ooooo
On Asgard, the Asgardians were looking in horror as the new portal grew larger and larger. On the other side, they saw nothing but the emptyness of space, which was quickly lit up by blue lights. On the other side, the Reapers all awakened as the light filled their dark domain. They looked upon the various doorways to the Nine Realms that opened in dark space, and all let out electronic shrieks that reverberated through the darkness and entered Asgard and all the other realms that were connected. Slowly, the Reapers approached, and their titanic, metallic forms and glowing blue lights could bee seen by those on the other side.
From the balcony of her palace, Frigga, with Volstagg and Fandral at her side, looked up in horror.
"Why hasn't it stopped?" Fandral said, almost frantically.
Frigga looked down in despair. "They were too late."
ooooo
Darcy grunted in pain as she pulled herself up, and was quickly joined by her comrades, save Loki. They all looked at the large pillar of swirling Aether energy, and watched in rapt despair as they drew the portals together to form a single portal. The portal continued to expand until it covered half the sky.
"No..." Hikesh muttered, clenching his fists.
"Darcy! Hikesh!"
Everyone turned back to see Jane, Erik, Fitzsimmons, and May and Ward, who both looked pretty thrashed, walking up to join them. They all looked at what has happening.
"We're too late." Jane said hopelessly.
"No." Sif said in refusal. "It can't be too late. We came all this way. It can't end like this!"
"We've tried everything." Soladat argued. "That thing is bulletproof."
"Not everything." Selvig suddenly said, and everyone turned to him. He lifted his arm up to reveal a single tripod gripped in his hand. "I snatched it while we were fleeing from the campus. It may be our only chance left."
"We'd half to get up close to that thing for it to work." Agent Ward said. "We can't even get close without getting vaporized."
"You guys can't." Darcy suddenly spoke up.
"No." Sif said suddenly. "You'll die."
"I'm willing to face the consequences, Sif." Darcy shot back. "I have had one ludicrous day, and I'm not gonna go down without a fight. I'm doing this."
"I will not lose another friend." Sif snarled back.
Darcy grinned. "You won't." She turned to Erik, and held her hand out demandingly. "Give it, Erik."
Erik seemed hesitant, but complied, and handed it to her. Twirling Mjolnir, she prepared to fly off to face the danger, when Hikesh suddenly spoke up.
"I'm going with you. I can distract Nazara while you engage its puppet."
Darcy nodded, and just as the two were about to go in, Jane spoke up. "You two be careful."
"We'll be fine, Jane." Darcy promised, smiling. "It's me."
This earned a smile from everyone, and they watched as Darcy and Hikesh flew off towards the danger.
ooooo
Nazara watched as its kin slowly descended from the darkness, getting closer to the portals. From within the fleet, a much larger Reaper, titanic in size and nearly dwarfing the others, emerged and took the lead. However, Nazara's senses alerted it to an incoming danger, and it looked in the distance to see Thordis flying in towards the swirling Aether field.
Shrieking, Nazara stepped forward to stop the annoying pest, when a concussive blast of red force struck its side and caused it to stumble. Looking over, it spotted Hikesh, body shrouded in the Aether. With a yell, Hikesh shot his hands out, and a large field, nearly covering the full front half of the Reaper, shot out and pushed hard against Nazara. Nazara shrieked as it was forced back away from its puppet, leaving it defenseless.
Darcy landed in front of the swirling field, and squinted her eyes as she trudged through it. Mjolnir was gripped in one hand while the tripod was clenched tightly in the other. She stumbled and grunted as she felt the force of the Aether chaffing her skin and trying to knock her off of her feet, but she endured and continued through. Soon, she spotted the sillhouette of the creature that had once been Malekith, and gnashed her teeth as she picked up the pace.
Turning around, the husk hissed at Darcy, both alarmed and annoyed at her resiliency. It was alarmed because, in its position, it was unable to fight back.
"YOU'RE CONFIDENCE IS SINGULAR, HUMAN." The creature spoke in that horrid voice. "BUT IT IS ALL FOR NOUGHT. THE POWER CANNOT BE QUENCHED, AND THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN."
"Maybe not." Darcy yelled out over the noise. "But you can!"
With a grunt, she tossed the tripod forward like a spear, and the husk easily caught it in his claws. It seemed to laugh at her seemingly futile strike, but cocked its head in confusion when the tripod started to beep. With a surprised shriek, the tripod vanished in a ripple of air, taking its entire arm and shoulder with it. It stumbled, and the Aether torrent seemed to dim in response. Red sparks crackled from its empty socket, and the husk shrieked in horror as it saw the field start to dim. Above, the diminishing of the Aether caused the portal to dark space to shrink. On the other side, the Reapers wailed in fury and quickly picked up the pace as they made a desperate dash towards the portals.
ooooo
On Asgard, Frigga, Fandral, and Volstagg bit their lips in hope as they noticed the portal's falter.
"Hurry, Darcy..."
ooooo
Nazara howled as it's plan fell into danger, and desperately fought against the restraints that Hikesh had weaved around it. It fired its laser furiously at the barrier, crackling it, but wailing in rage as another field reappeared in its place.
Hikesh clenched his teeth as he put everything he had into the barrier, and faltered when he felt a sharp pain in his gut from the overuse. But his resolve was strong, and he kept up as best as he could.
Within the torrent, the Malekith husk was desperately trying to keep the gateway stable, but was slowly losing its power as a result of its injury. The Aether force around it started to dissipate, and Darcy smirked as she stomped forward, Mjolnir gripped tightly in her fist, lightning crackling furiously.
She stood over the husk, which was now on its knees as the strain of keeping the portal open was getting to strong. Even still, it retained its defiance.
"YOU ONLY HARM THE VESSEL. IN THE END, YOU WILL HAVE ACHIEVED NOTHING!" It shrieked.
Darcy smirked. "I'd be taking you down. That's good enough for me."
She pulled her hammer back, and with a yell, "This is for Loki, you bastard!" she swung it hard against the creature's skull. The impact was so powerful, that the entire half of its skull was crushed into bits. The husk was knocked a full fifteen meters away, and the torrent of Aether was immediatelly diminished as a result. It skidded hard along the concrete before colliding hard into a pile of rubble, and lay there, twitching and sparking with red electricity.
It looked up in despair as the portal's slowly started to shrink, and the Reapers starting howling in rage. It weakly started to drag itself along the ground with its one arm in a futile attempt to continue what it was assigned to do.
But fate conspired against it.
Hearing footsteps behind it, the Malekith husk weakly turned its head and looked up. To its surprise, it saw Jane Foster standing above it. She was glaring at it in a mixture of both revulsion and triumph. And she had Sif's sword in her hands. Slowly, with a resolve that surprised even her, she lifted the sword above her head, her hands shaking.
"Welcome to Earth, you bastard!"
She brought the blade down, and severed the machine's head from its torso. Jane yelped and jumped back as it flailed around, its claw nearly scratching at her. Darcy landed beside her and shared her look on shock as the creature slowly slumped over, it's body pulsing with crackling energy. The now defunct abomination then disintegrated rapidly.
"VREEEEEEEE!"
The two women jumped and spun around to face Nazara, who let out a mechanical roar. Red forks of energy coursed throughout its body as the neural shockwave that resulted from the loss of its puppet tore through the Reapers. Experiencing the human equivalent of pain, Nazara felt a majority of its systems shut down, and Hikesh, who was staring up in wonder, quickly dropped the field. He fell to his knees, gripping his stomach in pain. Darcy and Jane quickly ran forward and helped their Prothean friend to his feet, and pulled him back to safety.
The three were quickly joined by the others, who watched as Nazara swayed back and forth, energy crackling along its form as it let out a pained howl. Then, it fell over, crashing hard against the ruins of the college library. There was a loud noise from above, and everyone looked up to see the portal to dark space fading and splitting back into the original nine portals, the nine realms returning to view.
ooooo
On Asgard, the Asgardians all cheered. Frigga let out a sight of relief that she had been holding in, looking down with a smile.
"They did it!" Volstagg said joyfully.
ooooo
In dark space, the Reapers halted in their approach as the gateway to their release vanished into thin air. Their blue lights lit up the darkness, and one by one, the sentient starships let out loud wails of rage and fury that could be heard by the worlds bording along the lines of dark space. They were trapped once again. The cycle had been forestalled once more.
ooooo
From Earth, Nazara could here the rage from its kin, and moaned in pain as it felt all of that fury directed towards it for its failure. So much rage and hatred directed upon it by its ilk created an unwanted feeling within Nazara. A feeling of uselessness that was only enforced by a single thought in its artificial mind.
"YOU HAVE FAILED."
With that one statement, the Reapers slowly severed their connections to their earthbound vanguard. The feeling of being severed from its brethren was traumatizing, and Nazara shrieked in agony as it felt as though a part of its mind had been torn away. It could no longer feel the others. They were gone. He had been abandoned. Various feelings consumed the Reaper. Rejection. Pain. Fear. Despair...
And Anger. So much anger. Anger towards a particular group.
Its occulus lit up and fell upon the wayward group of organics responsible for its ruin. Nazara let out a loud, deafening roar. The group quickly turned back to him, and everyone jumped back as a red laser shot out and struck Darcy. Hard. So hard, she was thrown back nearly a hundred meters, landing in the River Thames.
"Darcy!" Sif shouted, and everyone looked to see Nazara rise up again, and started moving towards them slowly, the intent to kill the only thing in its mind now.
"It's coming back!" Skye said.
Jane looked frantically around, and her eyes fell on the remaining beacons scattered around the campus. Her eyes widened. "The beacons. Erik! The beacons! Where's the controls?!"
Erik stuttered, looking around and feeling around his person for the device, and nearly panicked when he couldn't find it, until Fitz suddenly spoke up, holding the device in his hand. "I got it!"
"Activate them!" Jane yelled. "Now!"
Fitz quickly fiddled clumsily with the devices, and pulled the switch hard. One of the devices beeped as Nazara passed it, and disappeared in a bubble of distortion. Two of Nazara's legs vanished with it, replaced with sparking stumps.
Nazara shrieked as it lost its balance and fell back over on its side.
"That wasn't right..." Fitz said as he started to mess with the device again, but Simmons pulled it away from him.
"Give me that!" She said, and started messing with the controls, too.
Another beacon nearby flashed, but it was too far away from Nazara to actually do anything to it, and instead teleported a pile of rubble away.
"Well, that helped nothing." Soladat said sarcastically.
"Where is Thordis?!" Skye voiced loudly over the noise.
ooooo
In the River Thames, Darcy, unconscious, slowly sunk. Mjolnir, which had fallen to the bottom of the river long ago, started pulsing with gold energy, and Darcy's eyes immediately shot open.
Fight! Finish this!
Clenching her fists, Darcy reached out, and Mjolnir instantly sprang up form the ocean floor and towards Darcy. It reached her grasp, and Darcy instantly raced up out of the water. Hovering in midair, she looked in the direction of Nazara, and eyes narrowed. Twirling her hammer, she immediately raced off at near-supersonic speed.
ooooo
"Here, give it to me." Jane demanded, and Simmons readily handed the device to her. She worked with it for a moment, before cursing. "There's only two left, and it's not close enough to do anything!"
"I'll draw it in!" Hikesh said, and quickly ran in to distract the Reaper. "Power them up in the meantime!"
Jane complied as Hikesh ran up to face Nazara again. He used his powers to attract the Reaper's attention. Nazara howled in anger and charged its occulus, firing its beam at the Prothean, who blocked it with his force field. He backed away so that Nazara would follow, drawing it closer to the beacons. Once it was close enough, Jane quickly twisted the nob on the device, and Nazara shrieked as both beacons went off, and teleported a large chunk out of its upper body. It shook as an intense pain coursed through it, but instead of going down like everyone hoped, it just started firing its laser around wildly. The blast triggered an explosion near Hikesh that knocked him back, and on his back. He was knocked out instantly.
"Xegh!" Soladat yelled and quickly charged forward, narrowly dodging the blasts as she reached her Prothean lover and pulled him to safety.
Sif looked at Jane was the enraged Reaper continued. "Are there any more?"
"That was it!" Jane said hopelessly.
Soladat instantly turned to her teammates. "You need to get out of here!"
"We're not going anywhere." May said with finality.
"We've tried everything already!" Soladat said. "The only thing that could possibly stop it is-"
"HERE I COME!"
Everyone looked up in surprise at the cry, and felt an intense rush of wind pass by them as they saw Darcy speed by with great speed. Nazara paused as it spotted Thordis approaching, electricity channeling its way to her hammer and covering her whole form. As she slowly closed the distance with her, Nazara attempted to bring its shields back up, but the damage done to it had deprived it of that ability. It let out a frightened shriek as it desperately tried to back away, but it was to late.
Darcy collided with Nazara, breaking right through it, and exploding violently out the other side. Electricity surged through Nazara, frying it from the inside out, and Darcy slowly descended to the ground, spinning around to look up at the Reaper. A large, gaping whole was left where she impacted. Nazara just stood motionless for a few moments, before falling over onto the ground.
Suddenly, Darcy yelped when she felt a burning spark from her pocket, and quickly reached in and pulled out her iPod. It was crackling with sparks, and the screen had cracked. Seconds later, massive fissures cracked and widened along the Reaper's carcass before the entire construct went up in flames. The booming explosion lit up the whole campus, and the team all covered their eyes to shield themselves from the blast.
For a moment, nobody knew what to do. Darcy slowly rejoined her friends, her eyes never leaving what was left of Nazara. The battle had been so grueling, they didn't seem to realize it had ended.
Suddenly, Darcy's eyes widened, and she grew alarmed. "Loki. Where's Loki?!"
Instantly, everyone looked around, and Sif was the one who answered. She was pointing off into the distance. "Over there!"
Darcy quickly flew towards where the Asgardian maiden directed her too, and landed next to Loki's prone form. She instantly turned up over so he was facing upwards, but his face was lifeless and he didn't seem to be breathing.
Tears filled Darcy's eyes, and she held Loki gently as she ran her fingers through his hair. "No. No, please. Loki you son of a bitch, don't you die on me!"
Everyone quickly gathered around, and felt strangely morose at the sight of the god of lies' condition. Darcy continued cradling him. "After all that, please don't go. You fucking idiot!"
Darcy felt her heart breaking, but gasped when Loki suddenly took an intake of breath, and a smirk slowly came to his face. "Nag, nag, nag."
Darcy blinked as Loki's green eyes opened to face her, and she looked down to his wounds to see that they had almost completely healed. She looked back at Loki, who just smirked. "We heal fast. Remember?"
Darcy just gaped. "You... You bastard!"
Loki cringed as he felt pain surged through him as Darcy squeezed him in a tight hug. "You freaking a-hole! Don't you ever do something like that again, you hear me!?"
"Yes... I hear you. And you're not exactly helping my condition!" Loki wheezed. Darcy immediately released him, blushing.
"Sorry..."
"Hn." Loki grunted, and looked around at everyone. "So, what did I miss."
Slowly, everyone looked towards the remains of Nazara, and that enough was an answer to Loki's question. Everyone blinked in confusion when Darcy let out a chuckle.
"Alas. Poor Yorick."
That shattered the tension, and all the humans started laughing. Their laughter seemed contagious, as Hikesh and Sif joined in. Loki merely smiled.
Above them, the portals slowly faded away as the Convergence came to an end.
And that's the end of chapter seven and the Battle of Greenwich. Damn, that took ages to write. I apologize for the long wait. I've been busy, and I won't bore you with the details. Anyways, I hope you all have enjoyed how this fic has gone. Even with the various quirky things present and the absurdity of it all, I had a fun time writing this.
Read, review, and enjoy the holidays!