Falling Through Portals

Avengers Vs. Militum

Chapter 71

Lorem was walking quickly down the marble floored hallway. She could feel the electronic devices that hummed inside the walls and ceiling. They opened easily to her mind. If her calculations were correct, she would be able to make it to the streets below in less than five minutes.

She had to find Percy. Everything else was second priority. Her whole body was in survival mode. She didn't care what her new "friends" thought about her walking out like she had. She certainly didn't care to make more conversation than she needed to.

Percy. What is he doing to you?

Fear. Real, proper fear. Grabbed her. She didn't know if the whole note was a trap and he had already killed Percy. For all she knew, Militum was just waiting for her to walk into his chains. But at the moment, and unlike every other moment of her entire existence, she was more worried about someone other than herself. And if something happened to him. . .

Lorem didn't think that she would have the strength to fight Militum for her freedom. The word freedom hung in the air about her mind. In the next day, she was going to trade her life, her eternal freedom, for a mortal boy who, one month ago, meant about as much to her as any other creature on the planet.

Her mind told her that she should move on. The mind that had saved her, so many times, that mind that knew all of the risks and all of the ways she could triumph on her own. She was well aware of another boy or girl on another planet that may be able to do what Percy was meant to do. But saving him wasn't about that anymore. It wasn't about finding herself in the little stones that were scattered everywhere. It wasn't about becoming more powerful. It wasn't about saving herself from the Master. It wasn't even about saving the Universe.

She had to save Percy because she loved him.

She knew that it wasn't the kind of love she felt for Damon or even Raphael. It was something fierce, protective, and unending. He was . . .

She couldn't think of a word in her own mental language that would have properly wrapped around the feeling. For humanity . . . the closest word was probably brotherhood. Percy was her brother.

It was such a foreign feeling. Her entire life was changed because of him. She wasn't sure that she could live without him. The memories of all the lonely years she had been looking over her shoulder, trying to be the best, and now she realized that this . . . this . . . Love? It was what really mattered. And Lorem would sooner pull on the manacles with her own hands before she would let her brother die.

She flung open the glass doors of the building.

The New York City street was alive with people and all manner of cars that passed by.

Lorem was going to find him. If she had to hunt Militum to hell and back, she would.

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Thor found her down stairs in the lobby of the metal man's- what had he called it? Sky screen? Sky scraper? - She was framed by the slowly closing glass double doors. Her white hair glowed in the sunlight. Her black dress and heels were out of place in the day light, but they sure did something for her figure.

The moment he had first caught sight of her he could have sworn that she was an angel. With the light coming through her hair at that moment, he was certain that he wasn't so far off in his assumption.

It took effort to move his feet towards her. He opened the glass door and cleared his throat. She turned to see him.

"May I speak to you inside?" Thor asked politely.