AN: Dedicated to @fashion4evachic for all of the votes! :D Thank you!
This was it. All the anger, sorrow, and pain bottled up inside of me, waiting to burst like a fire hydrant. I glared at Loki and growled under my breath as I forced myself to walk towards him.
Storm had gone to console Kitty. Peter was mourning the loss of his dear friend. Natasha had almost clocked out altogether from the real world. Jake's acidic melted body was almost buried in the white snow. Scott lay in pieces on the ground. Clint bled out, his eyes still staring at the sky. Bobby's lifeless body lay in Kitty's arms as she screamed out.
This was for them.
I opened a portal leading directly to Loki and marched through it. I ignored the blood that drenched my skin and clothes. My own blood boiled in my veins, but I didn't care anymore. Let me burn. I wanted Loki's head on a goddamn stick.
Loki Laufeyson stared me down, a wicked grin gracing his lips. He stood up straighter, removing his hand from his sore throat. Storm had done a number on him, but now his plan was back in motion: tear the heroes apart. He held onto the scepter and spoke up in an eloquent tone, "Why won't you just die forever, Lilly?"
Chills ran up my spine at his words. I almost stopped, but realized that was what he wanted. He wanted in my head. He wanted to get close. Would he kill me? Or would he turn me into one of his possessed lackeys?
I chose not to respond to him and gathered all of my strength and energy. A magnetic field danced across my fingertips on each hand. My fingers glowed blue and pink, the taste of sweet portal poyential adorning both hands. I was prepared for the worst. My powers would overload my system, but did it matter?
No.
This was for them.
Let me burn.
I pushed my hands out towards Loki, launching metal rods towards him. He dodged and retaliated with a constant ray of power from his scepter. I dodged out of the way and grabbed onto the scepter with my powers. My hands and arms shook from how much power I was emitting. I yelled out as my muscles strained to keep up, and I took slow steps closer.
Loki did the opposite, putting one foot behind the other on his way to get away from me. He grit his teeth together as he held on for dear life, and focused on creating magical duplicates of himself all around me. They tried to tear me down with words that attacked me and my family. None of it was going to get to me. I couldn't let it. He yelled out, almost in a growl, "Once I'm done killing you, I'll go after your beloved Spider-Man and Captain America. the front lawn will be decorated with their body parts."
I pushed myself farther. He could talk all he wanted. He didn't know I was going to win this. I had to. My body began to shake as if a small earthquake shook deep inside my bones. I held my breath; my heart pounded against my ribcage. I kept my focus on Loki. My hate and anger was the only thing that kept me going. The scepter's power reached out to me, talking to me. Whispering things in my ear, in my head... And the closer I got, the more difficult it became to keep up.
If the stone was able to get in my head, maybe it had some type of magnetic charge? Electricity was magnetic. I had to give it a try.
"You cannot win against the scepter. You have no idea what power it contains."
I was about to find out. The case holding the power potential had some metal forged in. I yanked on that with all of my strength.
Then, there was an explosion.
Loki and I launched each other a good distance across the battlefield.
The world was hazy. Warm smoke and cold snowflakes brushed up against Loki's skin, and burned his lungs. Loud noises, yelling, and crying melded together in one big chorus of chaos. He could finally take in all the action, hysterics, and deep emotions. Neurons in his brain sparked to life, as if they'd been numb the entire time. He blinked a few times, gaining clarity in his eyesight. Loki pushed himself up off of the ground, stumbling to his feet as he tried to balance the weight of the armor he wore. His emerald green eyes scanned the battlefield.
Death. Destruction. Tears. Pain. Blood. Everything he's craved to see while he climbed his way up to power. But...something didn't feel right, as if all of his senses and opinions washed back over him in one giant tidal wave. His brow furrowed together, and his eyes locked on something that almost made him cry out.
Deadpool launched Ira's own sword into her chest. Her gray eyes met Loki's as she fell to the ground with a shrill cry, and a gaping mouth. Loki bit the inside of his cheek hard and clenched his jaw. Moments seemed to pass and the bottle that once held all of his emotions shattered. He snapped, "This...this is madness. I was controlled by that madman and he pushed all of my emotions away. Now...now they're all flooding back to me. I never said I loved you..." Once in his childhood, he did. Once she left, she took his heart with her. Nothing had been the same after that, especially not after Frigga died. "I wanted to tell you he was using you, but I couldn't get the words out. He wouldn't let me."
I punched the ground and forced myself up. My limbs were numb from the cold, and my hair was frosted in snow. My heart forged its own accelerated beat as I pushed myself forward once more. I trudged through the snow and created a portal to the scepter. I snatched it up from the snowy ground; my fingers curled around the freezing metal staff. The casw protecting the power source had cracked, yet still held in place. My nostrils flared as I exhaled angrily. This is it. I'm going to fucking end it all.
This was for them. For all those lives that were lost in Chicago. For all the lives lost during the seize of DC. For the fallen heroes of today. I would avenge them all.
I walked up to Loki, my hands tightening around the staff. He looked at me with dark, baggy eyes, and didn't move. He stayed put, watching me intently. I grit my teeth and angrily spat, "You did this. You did this to them!" Loki didn't flinch, or smile deviously like he had previously. His expression was as flat as marble. I raised the staff and got ready to plunge it into his chest.
"Lilly!" Steve called over comms. He turned around from the sight of Ira's dead body, only to see me positioned to kill Loki. I stopped for a brief second, allowing Steve to speak, "You made a promise to not go out of control. Please put the staff down."
"And let him live?" I snapped at him. I wanted to drive the damn thing right through Loki's heart. Tears swelled up in my eyes at the thought of all the loss we've encountered. My fingers coiled tighter around the staff, keeping a steady grip on it.
Captain America jogged to us. The situation was dangerous. I had the staff. Loki was defenseless, but still had a few tricks up his sleeve. The solutions ran through Steve's mind on how to go about handling this. "You are out for blood. Do you think killing him will solve any of this?"
"Yes!" I yelled loudly. My body shook with each word I uttered, "Of course it will solve this! Have you not seen how many people he's killed? How many cities he's damaged? How this country is out of control because of him?"
Tony, Logan, and Storm rushed to catch up with us, but Steve held his hand out calmly, motioning for them to stop. Having more people would only make this worse. He set his shield down in the snow. "I have. That doesn't mean we have to murder him."
"He murdered our friends! My family! And you want to save him?" I didn't take my eyes off of the villain. I couldn't. Anger bubbled inside of me and I seethed with rage. I wanted his blood to paint the snow, just as every fallen heroes' blood had earlier. I felt the warmth from Scott's blood run cold on my skin. It had dried in some areas, but still soaked my outfit.
Steve's voice strengthened in confidence and he yelled back, "He needs to stand trial for what he's done! That starts with what he did to Asgard. He will pay, Lilly. Killing him is only making his punishment nonexistent."
My expression fell at his words.
Killing him was the easy way out. Would I feel powerful? Accomplished? How long would that feeling last? Minutes, hours, days? If he was put on trial and imprisoned, he would definitely suffer. I would make sure of it. He would wish he never messed with us. I let the tears fall down my face as I handed Steve the scepter. He took it gladly, and didn't have enough time to stop me when I punched Loki in the jaw as hard as I could.
Loki fell to the ground, clutching his jaw and moving it slowly. He cringed from the pain and looked up at me, without anger or hatred in his eyes. He smiled. Smiled. A small chuckle clawed its way passed his lips and he picked himself up. His eyes bounced from me to the other members slowly crowding around.
I wiped my tears away quickly; I clenched my jaw tightly to keep the pain and anger back. Letting him live is the right thing to do. He'll suffer more, and that's how he'll pay. I just wished there was a better way to punish him. If he could escape Asgard once, who the hell says he won't do it again? I paced around in the snow, back and forth as a group discussion started.
Tony only had his hand gear on. He pointed one of the repulsor rays at the fallen ruler with a straight face. Blood dripped down his temple, and his breath shook with each word he declared, "Do you wanna surrender, or do you wanna do this the hard way?"
"You don't understand, you mewling quim. There is no surrender. There is only the hard way." The smile seemed to disappear from his lips at the thought of who was really in charge. None of these heroes were prepared. This was all some twisted plan, and Loki was the main puppet.
Steve tilted his head and observed Loki in slight confusion. The man was back to his normal self. Green eyes. Color in his face. This was déjà vu all over again. When the Chitauri invasion happened, Loki's eyes were indeed blue. When Thor took him and the Tesseract home, his eyes were green. Peculiar little details like that meant something. Steve pointed out, "He's different now. What's gotten into you?"
Loki laughed lightly, "What's gotten out of me should be the question. With the power of the staff, I've been under this other being's influence. When Lilly and I launched each other, it knocked me out of it." He bit his tongue and grimaced at what he was going to say next. The regret finally bubbled up to the surface. "I was foolish to believe he'd let me make my own decisions. It was my choice to rule the world, but everything else? The hiding? The sloppy murders? I'm better than that."
Steve, Tony, Logan, and Storm edged a little closer to him. Loki stared out at where Ira's body lay. He clenched his hand into a fist and licked his teeth when he looked back at us. "I let him have the Tesseract before I left Asgard. I could have easily saved it for myself. Now, he's going to kill you all with that power."
I nearly yelled, "Who?" I was done playing his games. I needed to know. We all needed to know without him droning on and on.
Loki yearned to snap at me, but held himself back. He stayed composed. "Who else? The puppet master. He's used us this whole time. Used me...we are all pawns and we've fallen into his trap. He wanted this to happen. To pin us against each other to see what we were like. Our tactics. Everything. See who would come out standing. And that got Ira killed..."
Everyone glanced at each other warily. Logan kept his eyes on me, watchful and calm. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but maybe it was better that way. He replied to Loki, "You're not making any sense. Who are you talking about? Who's the puppet master?"
Loki was about ready to blow at the seams just thinking about the man. How easily he fell prey to his beliefs. They wanted the same thing, but Loki didn't know what he was fully getting into. He didn't know the true power of the scepter. "His name i-" A katana wedged itself right between Loki's lower ribcage. He gasped and fell to the ground once it was removed. Deadpool came into view, nodding and almost patting himself on the back for his deed.
All of us screamed out simultaneously in panic and anger, "Wade!"
Deadpool looked at us in surprise. He pointed at Loki, then back at himself, and then repeated the action once more. "Oh, was I not supposed to...? Well shit." He peered down at the villain for a moment, and shrugged a few seconds after. "Who's hungry?"
Storm knelt down and felt for a pulse. "He's alive, but barely..."
Steve stayed quiet for a second, lost in thought. Results and solutions ran through his mind. Keep him alive? Send him back to Thor? Put him on trial on Earth for his deeds? Most people would want his execution. There had to be something... "Keep him alive. We're sending him back to Thor."
I scoffed and walked away. I couldn't handle saving the man who had done so much damage. If he was going to die, then let him. Let him rot. I listened as Steve called for Heimdall, and glanced back to see him, Tony, and Storm get taken by the portal. Logan started to head in my direction, so I waited for him. If I went across the empty battlefield alone, I wouldn't be able to get to the end without breaking.