STEVE THREW HIS SHIELD at three Chitauri who were charging toward him. The circular weapon came spinning back into his hand like a boomerang.
A few meters away, Thor was knocking out Chitauris one after the other with a swing of his hammer. He made it look effortless.
The alien beasts kept pouring out of the portal and, frankly, Steve didn't know how long they could keep this up.
Suddenly, it felt like the whole of New York lurched to a stop. A deep, primal roar bellowed out, making his blood run cold. Before he knew it, a shadow was cast across the city... and Steve almost wished he'd never looked up.
A colossal beast was slithering out of the portal in the sky. It was as massive as two buildings placed end to end and looked far more monstrous than any of the Chitauri; like some sort of metallic Leviathan.
Even Thor couldn't tear his eyes away from the giant monster passing over their heads. For the first time since the beginning of the battle, the God of Thunder and the super-soldier felt truly out of their element.
Neither allowed the moment of weakness to last for long though and Steve quickly raised a hand to his earpiece.
"Stark," he called out "Are you seeing this?"
Tony didn't take long to answer "Oh I'm seeing alright... still working on believing."
"This thing will do more damage than the entire Chitauri army if we don't deal with it now!"
Tony was flying quietly in parallel with the Chitauri Leviathan but it didn't seem to notice him. He observed the colossus intently until an idea popped in his head.
"Listen," he told the Captain "Do you know where Banner is?"
"Banner?"
"Yeah. I need him to pop the nose off that thing. It'll help me get through the armour and I'll fry up the rest with my blasters."
"You think it'll work?"
"Let's hope so."
"Well Banner's near the 27th avenue, last I saw him."
Tony winced "That's not wide enough. I need him to be on the 16th at least."
"You're going to lead him there?"
"Not me. I'm focusing on getting that big lizard's attention. I need the Hulk to be in position as soon as I arrive."
"Well, the closest person to Banner is Angie."
Tony bit his lip uneasily at the mention of Angie's name. He really, really did not want to call her in but what other choice did they have?
"Are you sure she's the closest?"
"Positive."
"Alright. We're doing this," he finally gave in.
"Got it," the Captain acquiesced before cutting the communication line.
⁂
Angrboda could barely move. Loki's words had knocked the air out of her lungs. There was no way it could be true. She couldn't allow herself to entertain the idea that her brother could truly be alive. The fall back would be unbearable.
Loki was still lying on the ground, motionless, his face covered in blood from the Harpy's assault. She felt her own strength faltering and sat back on the hard concrete, catching her breath.
"Fenrir is... alive," she heard Loki whisper a second time.
Angrboda closed her eyes tightly, holding in her tears "Shut... up!"
He was doing this to manipulate her. She knew him well enough not to fall for his schemes again.
Loki's breath came back slowly, in short huffs at first. He gathered the strength to open his swollen eyes and glanced at her. There was no hint of mischief in his gaze though, he looked sincere, for once.
"I'm not lying," he muttered quietly, resting his head back on the concrete "I've seen him."
Her blood began boiling in anger. She grabbed him by the collar and leaned over his slumped body so he'd have no other option but to face her infuriated, heartbroken eyes.
"I don't believe you," she spat, separating each word "I saw him die."
"No," he whispered mutely and Angrboda could almost hear the hint of mockery in his tone "There was never a body."
It wasn't even a question. Loki didn't need to ask. He had been there when she lost her brother. He knew how much ambiguity surrounded Fenrir's death.
Loki groaned and hoisted himself up. He was recovering quickly from her assault "That's why I did the carving," he winced, leaning against his elbow "I was trying to send you a message... but of course it went over your head."
Angrboda had no idea what to say. She hated herself for harboring the hope that maybe, just maybe, Loki could be telling the truth.
"I... I don't—"
A small beep through her earpiece interrupted her like a harsh call back to reality. It ushered her to the absurdity of her situation: they were still in the middle of a battle against an alien race who was destroying everything in its path... and she was there, sitting on the concrete, in a road with flipped over cars and smashed buildings, in the middle of a destroyed New York City.
With trembling hands, she took the call, glad to hear the familiar voice of Steve:
"Angie, can you locate the Hulk?"
"Y-yes, I think he's nearby."
"Good. I need you to get him to the 16th avenue. Drag him there if you need to."
"Why?"
"Tony's baiting that giant thing in the sky, he's taking it to the 16th so the Hulk can deal with it."
That giant thing in the sky...? Angrboda looked up slightly confused as to what he was talking about... and then she saw it. The colossal Leviathan, gliding through the New York skyline. How the hell had she missed something like that?
Then again, the news Loki had just delivered — assuming it were true — had devastated her at the worst time possible. Her mind was still a mess, but she needed to pull it together for the sake of the team, if nothing else.
"Consider it done."
The communication line was cut off and she pulled her spear back to her side, determined to clear her mind at least for the next few hours. She then turned back to Loki... only to find him gone.
She groaned in frustration. How could he have just slipped out while she was talking to Steve? The Scepter was gone too; she hadn't noticed a thing...
Angrboda breathed in deeply, gathering her strength. She definitely wasn't done with Loki but, right now, there was a task at hand and a planet to save. The rest could be dealt with later.
⁂
Back in the Helicarrier, Nick Fury stood in the middle of the conference room, surrounded by view screens of the members of the World Security Council.
The Director could barely fathom the news they had just dropped on him. They wanted to send a nuclear strike on New York City... it had to be a fucking joke.
This emergency meeting hadn't smell right from the start and his gut feelings were never wrong... this time around they had been spot on.
"Director Fury," one of the councilmen called out "The council has made a decision."
Fury was seething "I recognise the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."
The chair members glared at him, unimpressed "It's done Director, we've given orders to send out the missile."
"Then take back those orders!" he roared "This is the island of Manhattan, Councilman. Until I'm certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population!"
The councilmen were eerily impassible, as if this decision didn't involve the death of millions of people and the destruction of an entire city — the city of New York, no less.
"If we don't hold them in the air, we lose everything."
Fury shot them a dark look "If you send that missile out, we already have!"
And with that he shut off his viewscreen, not wanting to listen to whatever bullshit justification the Council had cooked up.
He was boiling internally, barely able to wrap his head around what was about to happen. They were going to drop a nuclear bomb on New York. A fucking nuclear bomb... and he couldn't do anything to stop it.
One thing was for sure though, he had to alert the Avengers. Things had long slipped out of his element. It was all in their hands now.
⁂
Baiting the Hulk turned out to be much easier than Angrboda expected. There was just something in the green beast's eyes; something much more mindful and responsive than the first time she'd encountered him on the Helicarrier. She hadn't wanted to use force this time around and thankfully it didn't look like it was necessary.
"Hey Bruce," she called out, standing in front of the Hulk.
The green colossus perked up at the sound of her voice but didn't do any harsh movements in her direction. He stayed surprisingly calm.
"They want you to take care of that thing up here," she pointed at the Chitauri Leviathan in the sky and the Hulk began to contemplate it too "You think you're up for it?"
He looked back to Angrboda with an animated look and grunted positively.
⁂
Instead of having her lead the way to the 16th avenue, the Hulk ended up hoisting her onto his shoulder, like some sort of pet parrot. She came close to having a heart attack but it had been one hell of a ride.
She hoped back on the ground and brought her hand to her earpiece.
"Tony? I got him."
He answered instantly "Banner?"
"Just like you asked," she acquiesced.
"Great. I'm bringing the party to you."
And with that, she looked up to the sky and her stomach dropped. The Iron Man came from behind a building, the Chitauri Leviathan following closely behind.
Seeing the beast from up close made her knees weak.
"I don't see how that's a party," she muttered sarcastically.
Tony swooped down and the Leviathan chased after him, barreling down the streets. It was hitting the sides of every building in its wake and causing a spectacular wreckage, but she trusted Tony knew what he was doing.
They quickly got to the Hulk's level. As soon as the green colossus came face to face with the metal monster, he swung his fist and smashed it in the middle of the Leviathan's face.
Angrboda watched, mouth hung open as the impact of the blow caused the creature to flip over a 360. It made its metal armour crack open like the tab of a soda can. Tony took advantage to fire a rocket right into the Leviathan's soft spot, exposed by the popping of the metal.
The creature let out a loud roar of agony as the rocket left a lethal wound. The smell of burnt flesh and red hot metal was nauseating.
The Harpy froze, dumbfounded, barely noticing as the Leviathan collapsed forward and its tail ended up plummeting exactly where she stood.
She felt herself being propelled to the side, closely avoiding getting crushed under the carcass of the beast. She landed painfully on the ground and sat herself back up with a wince, coughing out from all the dust and fumes.
"Are you okay?!"
She looked up to find none other than Tony, his armored hand extended toward her. She took it and was quickly pulled her back on her feet. Her heart pounded in her chest as his helmet opened up, revealing a concerned expression.
"I... I didn't see it coming. Thanks for being there."
He cracked a small smile, still eyeing her pensively. Angie was catching her breath, looking exhausted. There was a nasty wound on her arm and blood trickled down the side of her face and yet, Tony didn't think she ever looked more beautiful to him.
But the battle was far from over.
____________________
Ngl I absolutely loved writing this chapter! I've said before that The Saga of the Harpy is a trilogy and this particular chapter sets up the entire sequel... won't say more but I'm pretty excited for you guys to read what I've cooked up. There's only 4 chapters left in this book but the story is FAR from over ^^
Don't forget to like and leave your comments!
-L