WARNING: Possible triggering events.
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Astrilde, despite her situation, was full out grinning. She had managed to evade her brother and hitch a ride with Natasha and Clint, two badass assassins who Astrilde had come to admire in the short time she'd known them. It had been a day, and then the Avengers, plus Astrilde, ventured out to Sokovia in search of the scepter.
Explosions sounded from all around her in the vehicle, but she focused on the path they were on. She stood beside Clint, aka. Hawkeye, throwing daggers with extreme accuracy. They reminded her of her older brother Loki, who despite his trickery, had been fiercely protective of her and taught her to wield the daggers.
Clint, however, was shooting arrows with even better precision than the Asgardian. Each one hit their target, and she swore some of them exploded on impact. She was too distracted by the HYDRA goons they were attacking to truly focus on anything else, even as Natasha maneuvered the jeep around trees and rocks. Not to mention, the oncoming attacks from guns and weird blue projectiles.
Not many think that fighting was even remotely interesting. For Astrilde though, it was her home turf next to her powers of love. Unfortunately, she had abandoned her powers, so fighting was really all she had left. On a more positive note, combat on Midgard had a certain flair to it, unlike Asgard or the other realms. She attributed that feeling to her elation of being on the realm itself, not because the fighting was particularly noteworthy.
Astrilde was awoken from her thoughts when she saw Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit fighting enemies alongside Thor. She admired how they used their flight and strength to their advantage, they used interesting strategies with the powers they possessed.
Unfortunately, she had to focus more on her situation when the jeep approached a roadblock. Natasha, with incredibly quick thinking, made the jeep drift sideway, so the trio could exit the vehicle quickly.
Astrilde smiled as she landed hard on the ground. There was something about being on the earth that made the battle even more real for her. She pulled her sword from the sheath on her side, not waiting a moment to strike any foes near her. She refrained from killing them, she wasn't an inherently murderous person, but still hurt them enough for it to burn in the morning. If they managed to reach the morning once the Sokovian government got to them.
Eventually, Astrilde tired of swinging the sword and went back to her unlimited amount of daggers. The magic Loki had taught her truly helped her, and she was thankful in that moment as she hit further targets.
"Shit!" Tony suddenly yelled through the comms. She jumped, missing a HYDRA agent's shin, instead hitting their thigh. She winced at their yell of pain. That would leave a mark.
"Language!" Steve yelled with equal ferocity. Astrilde couldn't help but laugh at the captain's response. Looking in the sky, she could see Tony flying around the central building. For what? She couldn't decipher at that moment.
"Stark? I'm heading for the central base. You look like you could use some help," She spoke. He answered with an affirming grunt. That was enough for her to start running in the direction of the HYDRA base, moving much quicker than any 'normal' standard Midgard dweller possessed.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., what's the view from upstairs?" Steve asked the AI. Astrilde had to admit that at first she was a bit apprehensive at the disembodied voice. She hadn't experienced something quite like it on Asgard, though their technology was more advanced than Midgard's.
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any HYDRA base we've taken," J.A.R.V.I.S. responded immediately, his English accent contrasting against the American ones.
"I guess we'll just have to break through it," Astrilde said, excited by the challenge. However, she had more pressing matters when a man landed on her back, causing her to yelp out like a hurt animal. She quickly grabbed his leg and swung him over her shoulder, throwing him so hard into the ground that he left a dent in the snowy earth. "That'll teach you not to attack me," Astrilde mumbled to the unconscious body in front of her.
"Loki's scepter must be here. Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it," Thor's voice filled Astrilde's ears, along with the noises of oncoming enemies on his end. "At long last," Thor spoke lowly, but she didn't pay his words any mind, already focused on the three guys coming her way.
Astrilde grabbed her sword yet again, before launching an attack. She leapt at the nearest man first, grabbing the scarf wrapped around his neck quite fiercely and stabbing him in the lower abdomen. Deep enough for scarlet blood to color the white snow red, but not enough to kill him immediately. The man in question fell to the ground, and she moved on to the next two. With chilling precision, she sliced her sword across their chests, it's metal sliding through their armor like it was made of paper. They both fell with wounds that would scar even if treated well.
"That long last is lasting a little long, boys," Natasha stated, her voice not even winded from fighting.
"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise," Clint added. Astrilde could hear the sounds of explosions in her ears as the two of them spoke, most likely coming from their own battles. She wasn't shocked that they were holding up against their opponents, as they weren't assassins for nothing.
"Wait a second, no one is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?" Tony asked, and Astrilde was sure he was frowning while he spoke.
"It is not the most opportune time," Astrilde responded at the same time that Steve sighed, saying, "I know....... It just slipped out."
---
Not long after their conversation, Astrilde arrived at the base of the mountain the HYDRA facility sat on. "Tony, could you give me a lift?" Astrilde asked when Tony flew above her location.
"Yup," Tony responded, flying down and picking up Astrilde. She yelled in pure joy as they flew through the air, her golden cape flying in the wind. Tony soon dropped her right at the top of the building, below a large window, and swooped back out to get a better look at what they were dealing with. She leaned against the side of the building for a second, letting her heightened blood pressure calm before she did anything rash. She had to say that she was surprised there was no reinforcements trying to attack her. Surely there would be guards somewhere, even in a seemingly impossible place to break in, such as where I stand.
"Sir? The city is taking fire," J.A.R.V.I.S. informed Tony, interrupting Astrilde's thoughts. Tony spoke lowly through Astrilde's earpiece, but she couldn't understand a word he said.
"Clint!" Natasha's worried voice rang through the comms after a bit of radio silence.
"They have an enhanced in the field," Steve informed everyone.
"Clint's hit! Somebody want to deal with that bunker?" Natasha asked. A yell echoed through the forest, so loud that Astrilde could hear it. After the yell, Natasha uttered a small "Thank you".
"Stark, we really need to get inside," Steve grumbled, his voice strained from his own fighting.
"Do not worry, we have it covered. Tony is closing in right now on the north tower," Astrilde muttered, slightly distracted. Finally, some guards had noticed her, and were attacking her as she spoke. To say she was unimpressed by their timing would be an understatement.
"Drawbridge is down people," Tony informed.
"Yes! Time to do this, Tony!" Astrilde celebrated.
"Clint's hit pretty bad guys, we're gonna need evac," Natasha said, her voice muffled by the sounds of fighting from Astrilde's end.
---
"Find the scepter," Thor instructed Steve.
"And for gosh sake watch your language!" Tony added on. Astrilde rolled her eyes. Apparently Steve had cursed while she wasn't paying attention to the comms. It was amusing what you could miss when somebody was preoccupied by something more pressing.
"That's not going away anytime soon," Steve sounded defeated. She finally took down her enemies before Tony addressed her.
"It's time to go in," Tony told Astrilde. She spotted his Iron Man suit headed straight for the window above her. Any "normal person" wouldn't be able to reach the nearly second story window with a single jump, but Astrilde was Asgardian. So, when Tony crashed through the window, Astrilde closely followed. She landed conveniently right before a staircase, coming face-to-face with several men holding guns to Tony and herself. She ducked into a nearby hallway as to not be shot, hoping Tony could deal with it.
Just as Astrilde thought, the sounds of bullets hitting metal met her ears. At the same time, Tony just sighed. "Guys, stop. We gotta talk this through." Shortly after that, the sound of men yelling out and bullets shooting followed. The room quickly quieted, save for a few pain filled groans. "Good talk," Tony said casually.
"No it wasn't," A Sokovian accent mumbled meekly somewhere in the room. Astrilde walked out from the corridor she was in, looking at the injured people on the ground. From what she saw, their bullets had ricocheted off Tony's suit and had consequently hit themselves.
"I will follow behind you, I can watch your back," Astrilde addressed Tony. The billionaire nodded, before disappearing into a back room. She prepared to follow him at a distance, until she heard footsteps behind her. She whirled around, nearly running into a girl not much younger than her, at least in appearance. The girl's hair was a beautiful brown that fell in waves, and her green eyes slowly were transforming into a dangerous red. "Who are you?" Astrilde demanded quietly. The brunette simply smiled, and the world around Astrilde started to fade into black.
---
"Where am I?" Astrilde wondered aloud, blinking in surprise. The stone grey walls of the HYDRA base no longer surrounded her, instead replaced by a color she could most accurately describe as a deep burgundy.
For an unknown reason, it felt foreboding and wrong to be there. She stood, her arms already wrapping over her stomach like they would protect her from a simple feeling. Her arms wouldn't protect her. They couldn't save her from the feeling of the walls crashing down on her. However, it was but a feeling, so the walls held steady. Her eyes frantically travelled the perimeter of the room, trying to find an escape.
What caught her attention was a screen, which showed both familiar and strange people on it. The colours were bleary, as if they had been filtered before projected. She focused on Steve, his familiar blond locks styled into something that could be from the forties. He danced with a woman with dark brown hair styled into a forties hairstyle as well. Love poured out of the two of them, even though they were merely being projected through a screen. Pain emanated through Astrilde's heart as she collapsed on the ground. The rejection of love that she had committed hurt her mentally, something that was unavoidable when you were supposed to accept said love.
She looked up from her position on the ground, recognizing three more people on the wall as she scanned it: Bruce, Clint, and Tony. Tony was laughing with a strawberry blonde, and the love was apparent in their eyes. Meanwhile, a younger version of Bruce sat with a dark brown haired girl, more love. Finally, Clint sat with a woman, clearly a recent relationship, with a committed type of love you mostly see in marriage.
Against her power, her breathing quickened, as it always did when she felt acts of love. It was pitiful, and quite weak, but she couldn't control it. Her chest started to hurt, like Thor's hammer was pressed up against her chest. She could feel the attack coming full force- she knew the symptoms like her own mother.
"Please, let me out!" Astrilde whimpered, hitting the floor weakly with her fist. Tears rolled down her face in waves as the pain got the better of her. She couldn't tell what was happening, everything was fuzzy in her vision. Her ears were suddenly filled with her own voice, "Brother, you cannot! Love is a curse, it will kill you in the end!"
Astrilde could faintly recall when she had said that to Thor. It was right after he had told her about Jane, after Loki had fallen off the Bifrost. She was in so much pain, and the relationship between Jane and Thor had hurt her even more in her grief.
More voices filled her ears. The pained screams of lovers broken apart, the sound of relationships crumbling, anything negatively related to love occurring all around her. Fallen civilizations echoed in her memory, broken thoughts of relationships she had experienced. Dead lovers burned permanently to her head was the worst. The pain in her chest became even more unbearable with that last memory.
"Hey! Kid, wake up!" A faraway voice yelled in Astrilde's ears.
"Make it stop..." Astrilde whispered, her head buried in her hands. Tears rolled down her eyes like rain in a thunderstorm. Her heart pounded in her head like a million beating drums. Love was her curse. It was a curse. A violent, violent, curse.
"Sister! Please wake up!" Thor's voice caused Astrilde's eyes to shoot open. But instead of in the room, she was huddled on a bed on the quinjet. Astrilde jumped, surprise clear on her face. She pushed herself into a corner, eyes darting left and right like there was an invisible enemy taunting her.
"W-what happened?" Astrilde asked, her whole body shaking almost noticeably. That room affected her more than she had previously thought. Not that she had had much time to think before everything came crashing down around her. Her breaths started to slow when she noticed several of the Avengers watching her with worried expressions.
"We were hoping to ask you that, sister," Thor responded as softly as he could, trying not to let his worry seep into his voice.
"There was that... girl. Then everything went black and-" Astrilde stopped suddenly. It was too soon to face what had happened without resulting in another panic attack.
"It's okay kid, don't worry about it," Stark said, patting the girl on the back. A quiet pause.
"Thank you."
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