A/N: (Not as delayed as I thought it would be ehehe.) So this is it! The battle between Loki and his army and The Avengers. The battle will cover a few chapters, probably in Ava and Steve's view, perhaps a little Tony or Loki too. In the forthcoming battle chapters, the great truth will be told, so watch out! This is dedictaed to theavengersgirl, for her lovely comment on the previous chapter, thank you! @CelticLands, I was going to update it later on, when we have our weird and wonderful conversations but sadly, I won't be able to, so here it is now.
Enjoy and have a wonderful day/night! Love, abbiemca x
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Chapter Thirteen - Into the Fray
Steve was sitting beside me in the high tech plane, he seemed calm and collected but I was rigid with fear and anxiety. He turned to face me every so often, just to make sure I was alright.
I didn't like this. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified. I didn't want to do this, it was alright for Steve, he had training and stuff, Fury had only given me twenty minutes target practice with my new powers. How is that going to work?
Soon enough, too soon if you ask me, the plane landed a came to a standstill. Steve and I clambered out of the aircraft and stepped into the slight breeze of New York city. It looked pretty normal to me. Yellow cabs were driving past us, people were bustling about and the flashing lights of the billboards were as bright as ever.
I contemplated getting back into the plane, and telling Fury he had got his facts wrong.
But he hadn't.
All of a sudden, up on Stark tower, a beam of bright blue light shot up into the sky like a laser. It hit the sky, and it began to part. Were the laser had hit, was no longer pale blue sky, with fluffy white clouds, it was an expanded space of well...space. You could just about see the twinkling stars in what I was assuming was a portal.
Of course, I assumed correctly.
Once the portal had opened to its full size, beings began to shoot through. They were skeletal beings, with armoured bodies, plates of metal that seemed to just grow naturally on them. The aliens screeched a battle cry, opening their mouths wide to reveal a mouth not unlike a black hole framed with jagged, decaying teeth.
They were riding some sort of aircraft, which looked very similar to their body armour. They were all open roofed , and the aliens were sat on them like a large motorbike. There were two or three to each regular sized aircraft, four or five to the larger ones.
As their crafts landed, I could get a better look at them. They were more than just skeletal. They were basically bones, apart from the peeling, rotten skin covering them. They were tall, and moved with their knees bent, crouched over in a constant battle stance. They all held weapons in their arms, which were nothing like I had ever seen.
Some of them held long sceptres, with blue beams streaming up the side, powering them, I assumed they would work just like Loki's sceptre. Others held futuristic guns, with the same blue of the sceptres running up their side. They looked almost like Coulson's gun, but smaller and silver.
Steve had told me they were called 'The Chitauri'. How he knew that, I had no idea and I wasn't in the mindset to bother asking stupid questions. As the Chitauri quickly adapted to their surroundings, the ones that dismounted the air crafts charged through the streets of New York, attacking innocent people and not seeming satisfied until they screeched in terror. Some didn't dismount their air crafts and carried zooming through the sky to the other end of the city.
I guess this is where Steve and I come in. We glanced at each other and nodded, both of our suits gleaming brightly in the sunlight. We advanced forward, as the Chitauri began to recklessly destroy New York. Four skeletal beings ran at us, two with sceptres, two with guns, I took the ones with the sceptres, Steve took the guns.
I flicked my wrist at the first, and its whole body bent backwards with a satisfying crack. I then held out my hand, and focused my energy to trigger my laser/beam hand thingy. It worked, and I shot the Chitauri whose backbone I had just snapped. I then advanced on my other victim, and grabbed it's sceptre, using it to pole vault myself over the alien's head. Once I was behind it, I delved into its head and ripped it's mind to shreds, ignoring all of it's memories and destroying it's brain as if I was ripping paper. It howled in pain and collapsed onto the floor, it's eyes dying and it's bones becoming limp.
Steve had finished fighting his two aliens and we both looked at each other with a grin.
"Enjoying yourself, solider?" Steve said.
"Of course," I chuckled back as we battled and won more advancing aliens. We were victorious every time, and each time we had finished off one small horde, Steve and I grinned at each other in praise. After we had destroyed about twenty of the opposition, we received a voice over from Natasha.
"Guys, Barton and I are coming to you right now, Stark will be here soon too. Keep on going, okay?" Her voice rang through our ears. We replied with a quick 'okay' and carried on battling with the Chitauri. The ones on the ground that we weren't attacking, were attacking citizens, and Steve and I could do nothing to stop them, we were hopelessly outgunned. I shot about six of them at the same time, in one clean sweep of my hands with my lasers. I then gestured to Steve to say I'd be right back, and hurried over to a crashed coach, that had now begun to go up in flames.
I flicked my wrist, and the door flung off its hinges. A few of the adults who were on their own, just ran out of the coach, each one of them absolutely petrified. I helped the older adults, and families clamber out of the windows and the door. The majority of them muttered a thanks, and in between helping people, I had to shoot some Chitauri's from a distance with my new laser hands so that Steve wouldn't become overwhelmed with them. Just as I got everybody off the coach and was about to jump down and run back to help Steve, a little boy tugged at my leather sleeve. I looked down to him, he had fiery red hair, which framed his face in wild curls. He had bright green eyes which were shrouded with fear.
"Excuse me, miss. Can you help me?" He asked, his voice a shrill whisper. His freckled face was cut and bruised, and the tips of his hair was slightly singed from the burning coach.
"Of course I can, what's up?" I asked, as sincerely as I could manage. He gripped my leather cuff tighter.
"I...I don't know where I am. I came on holiday with my uncle...and I don't know where he's gone," The red-haired boy said, now burying his face in my hip. I put my arm around him for a moment, shielding him from the Chitauri's attack. I didn't know what else to do, he wasn't from around here, I couldn't ask were he lived, I'd have no way of getting him back. He needed someplace safe, I couldn't go to my apartment, that wasn't safe. I couldn't go to Stark Tower, seems as the portal was opening there...the only other safe haven I could think of is SHIELD's hovercraft base...
"What's your name?" I asked him, he looked up at me, his green eyes filling with even more fear.
"Toby," He said quietly. I nodded and gripped his hand.
"Alright, Toby, hold on tight, okay?" I said, making an image of SHIELDs hovercraft and teleporting us both there in the blink of an eye.
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Steve's View
Where the hell has she just gone?!
"AVA!" I yelled, drastically needing her backup. The Chitauri just kept on coming through their portal like running water. I can't keep up with them on my own! I slammed them down with my shield, I kicked them in the gut, I killed them with their own weapons but there was still only one of me and thousands of them. For God's sake Ava.
I fought of some more of those skeleton things, and to my relief Romanoff and Barton arrived just in the nick of time. Barton fired his arrows straight in the side of their heads and Romanoff just...did her thing. Once we had defeated the Chitauri (for now) Romanoff turned to me, her eyebrows knitting together. She was wearing a black catsuit, not unlike Ava's. But Natasha's had a SHIELD logo sewn to her upper arm and it had no jewels, embellishments or colour blocks like Ava's did.
"Where's Richards?" She asked, as Barton began to shoot the Chitauri that were flying through the sky, perfectly killing each one he shot at.
"I have no idea." I sated simply, as I whacked a skeletal monster over the head with the edge of my shield, sending it tumbling to the ground. Suddenly, a voice sounded over the headsets.
"Guys. I need to clean up my suit, I'll check out the Tower and the portal, then I'll come down to ground level." Tony's voice said, crackling as it sounded. The three of us just started fighting the aliens like our lives depended on it...well, they kind of did.
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Ava's view
I took Toby's hand, and led him down the steel corridors of base, I reached my room, thankfully without being spotted by any agents. I locked the door behind me, and sat Toby down on my bed.
"You have to stay here, okay? I'll get you something to eat and drink, and something to entertain you, if I can find anything. But then I have to go back, alright? You'll be safe here." I said, placing a reassuring hand on Toby's shoulder. I stood from my seat next to him and turned my back, heading towards the door to get some supplies for Toby. Just as I went to turn the handle, there was a sudden heat coming from behind me, I spun around, and the space were Toby was sat, was now engulfed ina bright white light. I gasped and when the light faded, I shut my eyes tight and then flung my hands up, shooting light beams at whatever stood in front of me now.
Slowly, I opened one of my eyes, my arms still held out in front of me. I almost fainted when my brain registered what was in front of me.
"That hurt," The familiar British voice said softly. He held his long golden sceptre in his hands, and his outfit was no longer just his black and emerald leathers, his shoulders were covered with golden, intricately detailed shoulder plates, which had a long, emerald green cape flowing from them. He still wore his leathers, underneath his new armour, Asgardian, clearly. The leathers were now covered with the same golden armour, and his arms were shielded with it too. I looked at his face, and instead of his long, black hair just being free, he had a shining golden horned helmet sat on top of his ebony locks. It glinted in the dimly lit room. The ends of his nightshade hair managed to protrude from the edges of his helmet. A grin soon spread across his sharp, pale features. He suddenly flicked his arm with his sceptre and a beam of blue light shot me square in the chest.
I didn't have time to respond to the blast and I was thrown violently against the metal walls, hitting my head and the impact making me dizzy. I groaned and tried to muster the strength to shout some abuse at Loki.
"You...you...sod!" I croaked, holding my head in my hand and groaning even more at my absolutely awful insult. Loki chuckled.
"You're incredibly naive sometimes Ava. You shot me, so I shoot you back. Is that not how it works around here?" Loki said, I tried to stand but I simply fell back down the wall again.
"But at least i never hurt you!" I yelled, still cradling my sore head as lights danced in front of my eyes. Loki's menacing grin soon faded and he actually looked worried. He strode over to me and leaned down over me, taking my hand away from my head and replacing it with his. His eyes narrowed as he began to sooth my injury, which was really no more than a bruise. I was just being dramatic. Loki started to mutter something under his breath, and the white lights behind my eyes began to fade and my head slowly stopped throbbing. However, in his concentration, Loki ended up leaning on me a bit too much. His armour was extremely heavy against my body and he was virtually crushing me.
"Ah..Loki..You're kind of crushing me..." I muttered. He let go of my head and jumped from my body. He stood up straight and offered me a hand to help me to my feet. I took it and we were now standing face to face, Loki taller than me, especially with that helmet on.
I didn't know what to say to him. Should I mention his note? The bracelet? The mess we were both in?
"I cannot fight you Ava," Loki said softly, his voice still like velvet as it reached my ears.
"I don't want to fight you either, but I'm afraid I don't have a choice."
"Everybody has a choice."
"I'm not everybody."
"Ava..." Loki whispered, as he moved closer to me. I didn't move or falter, I just stayed as I was. I didn't have time for this, I needed to get back to the team. Loki looked saddened at the fact that I was not engaging with him.
"Loki, we both know this can't work," I sighed. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"What do you mean?" He asked gently. I looked into his green eyes and suddenly didn't want to explain anything to him.
"What I mean is that we can't be together, Loki. Just say...that we become an item now, right? I'd be a traitor to the only people that I can call family. If you win, and manage to rule the Earth, I'd still be a traitor. If The Avengers win, you will be taken back to Asgard with Thor, and I'll...never see you again," I explained to him, my voice faltering on the last few words.
"Noting is impossible. Nothing can stand in front of love." Loki's smooth voice said. His British accent made it sound like he was reading poetry. His words struck me like bullets to the chest. Nothing can stand in front of love. Why must he be so...romantic? Tears were prickling my eyes and I tried so hard to fight them off, I looked at my feet and the cool metal flooring beneath them. Loki noticed my discomfort and he placed his cold index finger underneath my chin and tilted my head upwards very gently. As my eyes met his I couldn't hold back my tears anymore, and I let the salty droplets drip down my face and fall to the silver tiles.
"Please do not cry, my love." Loki whispered, his green eyes sincere for once. I sniffled and rubbed my eyes to stop the tears.
"Sorry," I whispered.
"Do not apologise, sweetheart."
"Sorry," I said, without realising what I'd done. Loki just chuckled slightly. There was a silence between us, it was neither awkward nor pleasant. It was just noiseless.
"Come with me." Loki stated, breaking our silence. My eyes snapped to his in surprise. I blinked for a second, and he didn't speak again, he simply awaited my response. I took a deep breath before I answered him.
"No."
"Please."
"No, Loki."
"It wasn't asking you."
"I don't care." I said, Loki then frowned at me, an expression that didn't suit his face at all. He gripped my wrist tightly, and I knew what he was trying to do; teleport the both of us. So I did the same. We fought each other mentally, each trying so hard to teleport to our desired place. The only worrying thing about it that if we battled, and nobody won, we would indefinitely end up in a void somewhere. Then I remembered Fury's sparkly headband. It enhanced all of my powers; including teleportation. I focused on my desired place, Stark Tower, until my head hurt and I was beginning to feel light-headed.
I felt the wind pinch my cheeks, and throw my hair wildly across my face. My purple cape billowed out behind me, waving in the breeze and shining like a pool of jewels. I opened my eyes slowly, wishing I wasn't at Loki's destination. I then grinned to myself, we were both stood, digging our nails into the other's forearm on top of Stark Tower. Loki scowled at me, and then pointed his sceptre at my chest. I jumped back from him, pushing the sceptre away from me as I did so. But Loki grinned ad then shot a blast of blue energy at me, but I flung up my arms and conjured a pink force field to deflect the blast. As soon as the force field faded, I threw my arms up and focused, making those white beams of light hit Loki straight in the chest. He stumbled backwards but soon stood tall again. He blasted me with his sceptre again, just as I blasted him with my hand beam things.
"Richards, where are you?!" Steve's voice shouted through my earpiece. I growled to myself.
"For God's sake Steve, I'm busy!" I yelled, as my white rays hit his blue ones and neither was stronger than the other. Both of us used all of our remaining energy to try and beat the other. The two beams crashed together, and started overtaking each other, like a more violent and powerful game of Tug-o-War. The two coloured beams eventually resided to the middle, pushing the other back with enormous force. The collision in the middle formed more and more free energy spiralling form the centre of the two beams each time we exerted more pressure to our rays.
My white beam was slowly overpowering Loki's blue, as we watched the white slide into the majority. Loki grimaced and pushed my white rays back, his blue rays swallowing up the white, and crawling closer and closer towards me, eating up my line of white. The both of us pushed and pushed, until our rays could no longer exert such pressure, their mid point now exploding and pushing us backwards, into dust and wisps of white and blue energy swirling around us.
The blow had knocked the air from me, and as I regained my breath, Loki was already towering over me, his long golden sceptre pointing to my chest and his free hand pinning me to the ground. I tried to force him off me, but if I pushed to hard the point of the sceptre would pierce my skin. This is what he had done to Clint, pointed the sceptre at his heart, and the tesseract overtook him, robbing him of all his feelings, memories and thought, and plaguing his mind into assisting the evil. I didn't want to do that. I couldn't do that. I loved Loki, and I knew deep down he was regretting pointing that sceptre at my chest. The dim glow of the tesseract's power on the golden stick was illuminating the small amethyst coloured jewels embroidered to my collar. They twinkled and caught my eye, and suddenly reminded me of Will. Will then led to remind me of Tom. Tom then led to remind me of the army. I shook my head to dismiss the memories and my mind focused on what was going to happen now.
Loki's sceptre was getting warmer, and the blue glow was slowly reaching the point of the spear. I held my breath and bit my lip. I couldn't prevent this.
With a huge crash, a red and gold blur knocked Loki from his feet, sending him and his spear flying in opposite directions. I blinked my eyes to focus and I found Tony Stark, suited up in his new suit, shining and perfect. Tony took one look at Loki and blasted him over the side of Stark Tower.
"Nice to see you Richards," He said, his voice slightly mechanic, but warm and friendly all the same. He held out a scarlet metal hand and I lifted myself up with his help.
"You too, Stark." I said with a smile, "thanks for that, by the way."
"My pleasure. Did I tell you how good your ass looks in that suit?" Tony said, I just shook my head at him and his antics as we left Stark Tower and met Steve, Natasha and Clint.
Ready for one hell of a battle.