Witchcraft (An Avengers/Witchblade Fanfic) DISCONTINUED

Dread

"There's too many civilians."

Thor stood there, concentrating. Summoning Mjolnir.

"Well, we can't just stand here." Barton said as he threw a carving knife at the creature. The demoness caught the blade and hurled it back, twice as hard. He had to dodge fast, as the knife embedded itself up to its handle into the wall where his head had been. It shrieked, furious someone had distracted it from its victim.

"Damn it..." He hissed.

Rogers picked up a silver tray, hurling it as a makeshift shield. It was stopped short of its target, sliced in half by the beast's blade. It turned and its golden eyes glared maniacally towards the men. It cried out, all humanity lost in that blood-curdling scream, leaving the god with a feeling of dread.

"Shitshitshitshit..."

The rest of the Avengers were helpless. Nothing they could do would be able to keep the creature occupied long enough to get to Fox, who was obviously injured. Loki smiled, realising he was actually worried. This woman was doing strange things to his mind. Strange enough that he had decided to attack this possessed human to save her.

His spear appeared out of nowhere, the one Odin had given to him after agreeing to Thor's plan to send him to Midgard to redeem himself. He ran at the creature.

"BROTHER, NO!" He heard Thor shout.

The demoness screeched and moved to attack, but Loki was too quick for it. He thrust the spear right through her lower back, exiting through her navel. It went down straight away, moaning, blood pooling around its fallen frame. He pulled the spear out and stood to survey the body. The Avengers were stunned. Why would Loki help anyone when it would be of no benefit to himself?

'Maybe this realm IS doing good things for him.' Thor thought. (OOC: Try saying that ten times fast with a mouthful of marshmallows.) Rogers and Banner decided to start the clean up effort.

Loki turned to see Fox pulling herself up, still looking slightly dazed. He walked over to her and offered his hand. She looked at him, as confused about his actions as everybody else, and shook her head. Her blond hair was covered in dust, a cut on her face making it look like she was weeping blood. She brushed her hair out of her face and went to walk away from the rubble. As soon as she had taken a step, she let out a squeak and stumbled. Loki caught her, surprising even himself this time. What was he doing? If this had been Widow he wouldn't have even noticed or cared.

He looked down at her ankle, noticing the shard of dinner plate sticking out of the back of it.

"Put me down." She demanded.

"Now why would I do that?" He replied. "You are injured, quite seriously I must say, and the building is unstable." He scooped her up and started carrying her towards the exit.

"You would do that because I asked so politely and so I could pull out the sharp thing that's severed my Achilles Tendon so I can walk out on my own." She stated simply, watching him suspiciously.

He laughed at the glare she gave him. "You mortals can't heal fast enough for you to walk out on that."

"How would you know?" She said accusingly, "I heal quite fast, thank you very much."

"I highly doubt that."

"Says the god with the magic spear who managed to down a Neogene with one blow." She grumbled. "Healing is one of my superpowers, you all-powerful asshat."

"Well prove it then." He dropped her and she landed with a dull thump.

She glared at him again, then turned her attention to her ankle. Grabbing her foot, she bit her lip as she wrenched the piece of porcelain from her flesh. She ripped off the remaining sleeve of her dress and bandaged the wound tight to stop the bleeding. By the time she was done, Thor and Barton had wandered over. Thor watched Loki curiously, Barton scanning the blood on his clothes.

"Brother, that was a foolish move. It could have killed you." Thor scolded.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Thor, I am not your brother."

Fox watched this exchange with some amusement. Barton lent down to help her up, and this time she accepted the help. He pulled her up and she placed her arm around his neck using him for support. Loki scoffed.

"Where is this so-called superpower you were so confident in before?"

She gave him a cold stare, then grinned childishly. "It's not instantly gone, Cats. It'll take about 5 minutes to fully heal."

"What's this about a cat?" Stark interrupted, off the phone to the authorities after discussing clean-up. He loosened his tie and approached the small crew.

"Cats?" Loki asked with a skeptical look on his face.

"Have you never heard TV psychologists talk about your attack? They describe your brain as a box of cats." Fox smiled innocently, her amethyst eyes not shifting from the eye contact they had made. They were hard and unyielding, refusing to be the first to break the connection.

Barton sniggered. "It suits you, Lokitty."

Loki was about to whack him across the face with his spear, when there was a shift in the rubble behind them. They all heard a soft, primal growl. Fox's face went serious.

"Ok, you guys better move." She let go of Barton and limped past Thor and Loki towards the stirring woman.

"What the hell are you doing?" Stark yelled. "That thing nearly killed you!"

She turned back. "She surprised me." She smiled coyly. "This time she doesn't have that advantage."

She moved towards it. Loki noticed the jewel on her bracelet start glowing, the Witchblade armour coming to life. It slid across her body, obliterating what was left of her dress. It fit like a second skin, shining cold obsidian, her eyes glowing a deep red. Her newly-formed heels kicked up sparks off the road as she approached the body of the demoness.

"... Anyone else noticed how these women Fury finds either wear next to nothing or skin-tight catsuits?" Stark mumbled as everyone watched the transformation.

"Shut up, Stark." Barton elbowed him in the ribs.

The downed female could sense Fox's presence close. It pulled itself into a standing position, more frenzied than before. It launched in a last-ditch attempt to complete its mission. But it found itself with an armoured hand around its throat. Fox rammed it into the ground, crouching over its flailing form. The men watched as she whispered something into its ear, the beast reacting by spitting blood into her face. Fox tightened her hold on the creatures throat and finally got a result. The beast spoke a single word and the armoured amazon released her throat, thinking carefully. She stood up and began to walk away. As soon as her back was turned, the creature was in the air, blade active. She sensed it, and faster than the human eye could see, had triggered her own blade. She flipped over the incoming creature and sliced down as she landed, stooped low to ground. The blow had hit the creature's shoulder, slitting her torso in half vertically. The creature cried out, then turned to crystal. Fox stood, deactivating the armour. Back wearing the tattered remains of her dress, she stood and looked sadly at the dead woman, until her crystallised form turned to dust and blew away in the breeze. She strolled past the rest of her fellow Avengers and out the door without saying a word, a determined look on her face. She walked past Rogers and Banner, both of them noting her disheveled look. Banner grabbed her wrist.

"Um, excuse me Bruce.."

"What just happened in there? What did that thing do?"

"Well she's dead now!" She spoke obnoxiously, tired and looking like she had better things to do.

Barton, Stark, Thor and Loki were slowly picking their way through the rubble to the door. Fox shook her wrist out of Banner's grip.

"Now, if I could be excused, I have a phone call to make..." She stormed off in a hurry.

The men stood there in silence.

"What the fuck was that thing?" Barton whispered.

Nobody said anything. Loki was watching the woman's form as she made her way down the street. At least he now knew she wasn't lying about the healing factor.