Something sharp jolted in my brain and I flinched at the intrusion.
"You think you know how to stop it?"
My vision blurred.
"You can't. You won't be able to. You'll die."
In angry haste I shot my hand forward towards the chariot that floated above us, hoping it'd hit Loki.
That damned god had invaded my mind.
How dare he.
Loki spurned away at my attack and left with a smirk. We barely even had time to figure out what to do next when two more spiky whales enter the vortex.
"I'm definitely going to kill you, Crazy!" I shouted angrily, glaring as he flew ahead of us.
"Guys..." Natasha called out a warning.
The rest of the team turn at her request and we all readied ourselves.
"Call it, Captain." Tony looks at Steve expectantly.
Steve doesn't look at Tony but a brief peek into his thoughts tells me he was ready for a fight.
"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal our priority's containment."
He looks up at the buildings and pointed at them. "Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays."
"Stark you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
"Riley if you're up there, you think you can knock a few before they hit the ground?"
I nodded in reply and both Barton and I gave each other knowing looks.
"Wanna give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony first.
Tony nodded. "Right. Better clench up Legolas."
"Come back for me once you're done," I added before he grabbed hold of Barton and together they rocketed upwards towards the buildings.
Steve then turns to the Asgardian.
"Thor, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow em down. You got the lightning, light the bastards up."
Thor briefly nodded and he swings his hammer gaining him enough wind to fly upwards.
Steve looks at Natasha.
"You and me, we stay on the ground. Keep the fighting here."
Steve turns around to face Hulk who was impatiently looking around. "And Hulk?"
There was a pause.
"Smash."
The hulk grins widely and he jumps forward towards the buildings smashing his way against the Chitauri with apparent glee.
"God, I love it when you give orders." I sighed dreamily, as I crossed my arms over my chest.
Steve raises an eyebrow at my words not at all embarrassed in fact, he looks devilish.
Ooh, playful Captain.
"Um, I know we just met today, but Riley, you're banned from flirting," Came Tony's voice as he landed beside me, the tone implying he was dead serious.
"Hands off, Riley's mine," Natasha grumbled out, giving Steve a glare. She sounded like a mother hen.
I laughed and hopped onto Tony, holding onto dear life as he lands me on top of the high rise buildings.
"You got this?" He questions, hovering above the edge.
"What? You don't believe in me?" I pouted, putting my hood and mask back in their place.
He shook his head and chuckles. "I'll see you around kid." His repulsors shot him out and away from me, leaving me alone.
From one of the buildings ahead of me, a loud crackling boom erupted out from the skies.
I whip my head in that direction to see Thor on the empire states building, electrifying the portal with his hammer.
The Chitauris coming out of the portal are instantly burned with the charge of Thor's power. I grinned, weaving my hands and alleviating his lightning, mixing it with my own to assist him.
Together we push the Chitauri back against the portal.
It's not perfect and some still manage to get through, but we're slowing them down with each strike and each sweep.
Just when I think this is getting too easy, I am noticed by half a dozen chariots.
"Shit."
I leap off the edge and landed backwards onto the building as the beams shot out at me, destroying what was once an edge.
Curling my hand, the row of chariots exploded, but the Chitauris are quicker, jumping out of the flying mechanism to avoid getting crushed.
The backlash knocks me to my back, and I rolled to the side, barely avoiding its weapon as it tries to stab me with the glowing purple gun.
"Uh, not today." Whipping out my blade, I sliced its chest and bent forward, taking the head with me.
The head lolled uselessly to the side and I quickly ran to the left side of the building to try and get the remaining Chariots from escaping.
From a distance, Tony is shooting a bunch of strays but a swarm of them still follows.
"Stark, you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail," Barton commented and I squinted to see Clint firing arrow after arrow.
I flung my fingers and the remaining chariots behind Barton crashed onto a neighbouring building.
"Thank you," He muttered into the comm.
"I'm just trying to keep them off the streets," Tony replied.
"Yeah, you're failing." I quipped, branching out streaks of energy fields that whip back at Chitauris who dare cross it.
"Well, they can't bank worth a damn. Find a tight corner."
"I will, roger that."
Tony begins to fly towards the subway, nearing closer to where I am.
"Tony, swing them by me!"
He looks up from his mask and swerves right. A lot of them follow and I whip out the energy branches, causing the chariots to explode into a pile of ash as they touch it.
"Nice, Blues."
I grinned, but it drops when I feel an energy source approaching me.
"Great. What the hell do you want?"
Loki is hovering meters above the building a couple of meters off. He exits the floating chariot with a thud and lands on the roof I claimed.
He's holding the sceptre in one hand, the helmet he wore had horns.
He looked like a fancy Christmas Tree.
"You fight for those who chained you?" Loki, takes more steps towards me.
A jet of blue and green ignites around my fingers and I shot it towards him, not allowing him to come any closer.
He easily turns, allowing it to hit the building behind him.
"Why? Why choose them?"
Those malicious eyes followed my movement and I flared up my body so that if I were to hit him, it'd supercharge the shit out of him.
"You don't know me. You don't have to tell me who I fight for." I hissed, lunging forward with my blades. If he was going to attack, I'll react first.
We clashed together, with his sceptre blocking the way.
I cut out of the hold and swipe my arm so the blade could hit him. He deflects and grasps my arm, slamming me to the ground.
The gravel dug into the back of my neck and I rolled, barely missing the stab of his sceptre.
He waves the glowing gem located at the tip of the sceptre in my direction and I gasp, feeling my knees get weaker.
The headache pondering the back of my mind came to the forefront.
It was calling me.
Just like the Tesseract.
I fought the urge, backtracking my steps, dizzy.
"You can sense it can you? The power? The voice inside your head--"
Loki kicks me in the gut with so much force that I hit the metal pipe behind me with a clang.
A shocked pained gasp tore out of my lips and I saw stars.
My abilities were draining. I was moments away from losing them altogether. It hadn't been that long since I started to use them in the first place.
"Why do you refuse it? Why do you not embrace it?" He demanded, picking me up by the shoulder, pulling me off my feet.
I am helpless as he holds me up and I struggle, feeling the last of my powers keel off.
He doesn't know anything.
Gritting my teeth, I let my eyes wander behind him before looking back at his dark eyes.
"Because if I do, then I am nothing but a killer."
I slammed my hand to his chest and the blue green light caused him to fly back into his chariot, taking me with him.
We tumble into the floating machinery and went flying out towards the buildings.
Loki scrambles to get up and heads for the controls but I jumped on his back and tried to dismantle that bloody horn helmet.
We swung round the bend and I had to hold on or else I would've fallen out.
Loki hadn't liked that.
With a snarl, I felt his hand reach behind my back and tore me down from him so I landed on the floor of the Chariot.
"Guys, a little help!" I shout, dodging his sceptre from coming down.
"Where are you Riley?" Steve's voice came into the comm, breathless.
"You see the out-of-control-floating thingy?!"
Loki veered the chariot and I grasp onto the side, my legs dangling out.
"Yeah?"
"I'm on it!"
Loki manages to stable the Chariot momentarily but he doesn't wait. He's instantly locked onto me once more.
"Honestly, do you have an obsession with me?" I huffed, kicking at his leg, making him flinch as the charge hit him.
"You're one weird, bipolar, Christmas tree-"
He smacked his hand against my face and I'm sent reeling.
"Dick move." I spat blood.
Kicking at his ankles, I watched satisfyingly as he landed on his face with a crack.
The sceptre drops beside him and I get up, scrambling for the handles of the very out of control machinery.
"Blues, are you kidding me?" Tony spits, exasperatedly, like a dad would when they find out their child is dangling off a floating thingy.
Oh, wait, just me?
"I'm coming."
I don't hear him as I forced myself to peek over the Chariot, only to see a number of Chariots flying by me and heading out of the containment.
"No, don't! There are others heading your way, they're going to break out!"
Loki grabs the back of my hair and smacks my head onto the controls. "For fucks sakes!"
Weaving my abilities I threw it at his face but he intercept them by shoving the sceptre in front of him.
The lights died off as it is absorbed by the gem and I widened my eyes.
Loki sees my disbelief and grins. "You think you're the only one who knows real power beyond this world?"
His words bring chills to my spine but I don't have much time to react before making a decision. If I stay up here, he could use the Sceptre on me.
I wasn't going to let that happen.
"Yeah, real power can kiss my ass."
Leaping out of the Chariot, the sceptre narrowly brushes past my body as I threw myself towards the Stark Towers below.
I just barely managed to create a shield to slow my landing before I hit the balcony hard, and rolled to a stop. Every bone in my body was practically screaming.
"Riley?!" Natasha yells out through the comm followed by Tony. "Blues?!"
Shit... that's gonna leave a mark.
I placed a hand on my ear and moaned. "Still alive. Still alive..."
Laying on my back, I hear my ears ringing but I simply resisted, trying to push the dark energy away.
From above, I watch the blue beam creating the vortex grow bigger and bigger.
More and more Chitauris were crawling out and the very sight leaves me in distress.
"None of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close the portal," I said, sitting up and slowly stumbling to my feet.
The Tesseract was nearing a breaking point. I can feel it. How the energy source practically trembled with the built-up. My own energy seemed to be reacting to it.
The sense of being drained was overpowering and it took everything in me to keep my eyes open.
"Yeah, we figured. I'm heading your way, Riles." Natasha mumbled out.
I frowned. "What is it with everybody and nicknames today?"