The impact of the blast knocked me off my feet, literally. I hit the wall and slammed face down on the floor. Broken shards of metal, glass, and loose wiring scattered all over the place.
"Casey! Where are you? Are you alright?" Craig yelled through my ear-com.
"I'm fine," I grumbled as I lifted myself back on my feet.
"Just tell me where you are! I'll come to you!"
"No! Wait for Fury to give you an order."
I ran through the damaged hallway, almost tripping over debris. Suddenly, there was a loud, deafening roar that sounded throughout the Helicarrier. And that could only mean, the Hulk was accidentally unleashed. Bruce!
"Oh no!" I gasped, realizing that was the reason why Natasha was upset earlier. She had figured out Loki's intentions to destroy all the Avengers.
I heard from my ear-com, reports of Loki's men sighted onboard, and Engine Three was out, and Steve and Tony were out there fixing it. I heard Nicole reply that she was heading out to help the two as Steve didn't know the mechanics of the carrier. Vince was hacking into the system to try and keep the ship steady. Sean and Peyton were attempting to take out the rogue agents before they got to the brig.
Plus, I jerked a bit. Clint was on board. There had to be some way to get him back to his normal self again. Plus, there was another order to try and lure the Hulk off the Helicarrier before he caused severe damage on the inside.
"Agent Armstrong!" Fury called into my earpiece, "Guard Loki! Make sure that his men don't get to him!"
"Right on it sir!" I replied.
I headed for the weaponry room and grabbed my archery set in case the guns and bracelets weren't enough. Craig entered the room and armed himself with a huge firearm.
"What are you doing here?" I asked slinging on the arrow pack and bow.
"Fury told me to help you make sure Loki doesn't escape," Craig replied.
"Are you sure he told you that? You'd better not be lying to me."
"For God's sake Casey, I'm not lying. I would never do that!"
I decided to drop it and not argue with him. Both of us headed for the detention level.
On the way to the cell room, we both ran into Thor, who was also on his way there.
Arriving in the cell room, to our shock, the glass cell was wide open and Loki was stepping out of it.
"No!" Thor roared as he ran towards him.
As that happened, Loki disappeared, and Thor was locked inside the cell. I realized that it was an illusion. Before Craig or I could get to the control panel to get him out of the cell, Thor gazed at us with an expression that revealed he was trying to warn us about something. Suddenly, Craig was tackled by one of Loki's men. Before I could help him, I felt a pair of icy cold hands touch my shoulders. I let out a small gasp and turned my head to one side and saw that it was Loki.
"Casey!" Craig wheezed in shock as the trickster started stroking me lovingly.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki asked looking at Thor as he held me in one place.
Peyton's P.O.V.
As the chaos occurred, Sean and I headed for one of the levels where Loki's men were seen. We had to keep them from getting all over the ship or we were toast. A little earlier, both of us had a close call when Thor and the Hulk tore through the floor just a couple of feet from where we stood.
Sean opened fire on the horde with his firearm. They, in turn, shot at us. Bullets ricocheted on the metal walls nearly hitting one of us.
"Cover me!" Sean called out to me.
I nodded and rubbed the palms of my hands together fast until they were glowing red and threw fireballs at the rogue agents like it was a wicked game of baseball and I was the pitcher. None of them were the batters as the fireballs knocked them down making it easy for Sean to take them out.
"Hey, sis!" Vince yelled through my ear-com, "We just nearly got taken out by a grenade up here! Looks like those non-friendlies split up in a few directions!"
"Dagnabbit!" I shouted back at him thinking Sean and I prevented Loki's men from getting to the brig.
Suddenly, I overheard Nicole struggling as she tried to help Steve take out a few other rogue agents in the process of assisting Tony in getting the engine up and running.
Just then, the carrier suddenly stopped operating. I felt my stomach drop as the entire ship began tilting to one side. Sean and I ended up having to slide ourselves to the wall and brace ourselves on the sturdy metal bars.
"C'mon Bro! Get it back online or we're gonna be offline, literally!" I muttered knowing Vince could get the ship back in operation with his mind.
That second, it seemed my brother heard me through the ear-com and used his techno kinesis to save all of us when the carrier itself steadied and began operating once again.
"Agent Harker!" Fury called into my earpiece, "Help Romanoff track Barton! Keep him from reaching the detention level!"
"Got it!" I replied, knowing that it would take a lot to get Clint back to his old self from being under Loki's control.
"I got it covered here," Sean stated on checking the bodies of the rogue agents, "Get Clint back."
I nodded and sprinted off.
Casey's P.O.V.
Thor let out a roar and hit the glass with Mjolnir resulting in a huge crack on it. Loki released his hold of me with a nervous expression but turned into a smile seeing that his adoptive brother couldn't get out.
I turned to the rogue agent who still held Craig in one place and the latter gave me a look that it all needed to be stopped at once. I nodded at him.
"The humans think us immortal. Shall we test that?" Loki asked as he went over to the control panel set to press the button that would drop the cell from the carrier.
Don't press that effing button! I thought.
Just then, the rogue agent fell to the floor unconscious and Craig was free. I glanced over and saw Phil holding a huge prototype gun the hat was made from the Destroyer. I remembered Vince telling me that he got to be a part of the clean-up crew right after the Destroyer itself was defeated and somehow managed to take a metallic sample of it as a souvenir, which happened to be one of his knick-knacks back in the apartment.
"Move away please," Phil demanded as he aimed the prototype gun at Loki who slowly raised his hands up.
Craig got into position and he too pointed his firearm at the trickster. I got set into heading over to the control panel to free Thor.
"You like this?" Phil asked referring to the prototype gun, "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." He pressed something on it and an orange glow occurred along the barrel, "Wanna find out?"
Before any of us could act, I realized Loki wasn't at the control panel confirming to me that it was another one of his illusions. Thor, Craig, and I were too late to warn Phil when the real Loki came behind and stabbed him in the back with the scepter.
"NO!" Thor yelled pounding his fist against the glass wall.
"PHIL!" I screamed for the man who was close to my parents and took me in when I lost them as he slumped to the floor with his back on the wall.
Craig angrily fired his gun at Loki. However, the trickster pulled out a knife and threw it at his chest. I saw that the knife lodged into his stomach as he collapsed to the floor. The madness had to be stopped.
Just as I was about to reach for the control panel, I realized that I couldn't move my legs or a single muscle. I was literally frozen.
Dammit! I thought once realizing that I couldn't use my telekinesis.
I watched helplessly as Loki slowly walked over to the control panel. Neither Phil or Craig nor I could stop him. The trickster pressed something on the touch screen and the floor opened underneath the cell. Air and wind blew upward into the carrier. Next, Loki tapped another button and the cell along with Thor inside it dropped out of sight.
Peyton's P.O.V.
I met up with Natasha not too far from the detention level. Both of us kept quiet and then took notice of Clint walking on the catwalk. Natasha and I readied ourselves and hoisted each other onto it. In a blink of an eye, Clint pulled out an arrow and fastened it to the string, and shot right behind him. I dodged to the side while Natasha grabbed his bow and twisted it in his hands. At once, I lunged, hoping to knock him off his feet.
I slid under some pipes and then swung myself around and kicked Clint in the face, who then shot another arrow at Natasha and me. Fortunately, we dodged it. He grabbed Natasha and smacked her against the railing. Before I could assist her, she kicked him real hard and grabbed his bow.
Clint drew a knife and attacked both Natasha and me. I jumped backward nearly losing my balance as we were on a narrow catwalk. Natasha grabbed his wrist trying to keep the blade of the knife away from us, but it inched closer.
Out of desperation, she bit his arm, which distracted him long enough for me to swing him around and slam his head against one of the steel posts that supported the catwalk. That would leave one with a major headache!
Clint then looked up at us, "Tasha? Pey?" he asked.
However, I could tell he wasn't entirely free from Loki's hold over him as his eyes glowed an eerie blue like the Tesseract. Natasha sucker-punched Clint unconscious. She glanced at me as if she asked if I was alright. I nodded and gave her the same expression.
Casey's P.O.V.
As Loki turned away from the control panel, he sauntered over to me. Yet again, I couldn't move or telekinetically move an object or anyone for that matter.
"You're gonna lose," Phil said breathlessly.
Loki turned to him, "Am I?"
"It's in your nature."
"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky, where is my disadvantage?"
"You lack conviction!"
Loki gave him a harsh expression, "I don't think I'm -"
Suddenly, the prototype gun, which rested on Phil's lap fired a red beam at Loki. The impact sent him flying backward. At the same time, I was freed from being in a frozen state.
"Oh! So that's what it does!" Phil gasped weakly.
I looked at him and Craig. Both of them were starting to lose color from their faces. I rushed over to them and carefully pulled off Craig's jacket and ripped it in thirds. Next, I cautiously pulled out the knife from his stomach and had him press on it with a piece of fabric.
"Casey," Craig gasped weakly.
"Go!" Phil said as I moved to aid him.
I wasn't leaving both of them. No matter what!
All of a sudden, I felt a couple of pairs of hands pull me away from my wounded guardian and ex-boyfriend. I turned around and saw that they were a couple of Loki's men.
"We must leave now, my queen," said one of them.
I telekinetically slammed one of the rogue agents into the wall.
The other one charged at me. Like before, I telekinetically pinned the agent against the wall. Suddenly, I felt a pair of familiar icy cold hands grab and pull me. I realized that it was Loki, already recovered from the blast and giving me another one of his loving expressions. Just as I was about to pull away, he pressed a hand onto the back of my neck. All of a sudden, I felt my legs start to numb up and then collapsed into Loki's arms.
I was carried into a Quinjet and placed in a position where I was lying down and my head was resting on Loki's lap. Shock flowed through me when I realized that I couldn't move my entire body once again. As the jet took off, I felt him caressing both my hair and face affectionately.