To The Other Side
"What the hell was that?!" Kate finally reacts, marching furiously towards Loki. He knew. He have had to know. He made the comment about America being scared. He knew the normalizers meant bad news when he saw them approaching Billy and America and he did nothing.
"I don't know!" The god replies, raising his hands in the air. He looks terrified, as if Kate had America's talent to make him bleed. He also looks like he's going to be sick and Kate half hopes it's guilt what he's feeling.
"What happened?" Tommy arrives nearly at the same time than Billy, who is just as pale as Loki and, unfortunately, Kate does know his is guilt.
"Billy..." she murmurs.
"She- She was right there- and then-" he chokes out. Teddy's quickly wrapping an arm around him, discretely eyeing him to make sure he's alright. "I don't understand," Billy goes on.
"It makes no sense," David agrees. So far, he seems to be the one doing the better job keeping his head cool. "America said the Normalizers wouldn't attack us. That they'd only attack them."
"That is not entirely true," Noh-Varr intervenes. "She said they would only attack being who did not belong to the Multiverse."
"So..." Tommy arches an eyebrow. "You're saying she is...?"
"Not from here," David nods in agreement.
"You knew!" Kate's voice breaks the silence that had settled between them all, like a sharp cry of battle. The anger of the loss of yet another best friend, a sister, ripping through her chest with the sharpness of the arrow she has ready in her bow within half a second. She points her weapons at Loki. He might be Asgardian, but this has to at least hurt.
"Kate!" Teddy jumps.
"He knew!" She repeats fiercely. Her voice almost resembles America's tone. "He knew the moment the Normalizers approached them! He knew what would happen! And he made her go up there!"
It takes half a second between Kate's words and Noh-Varr pointing both his guns up towards Loki too. The rest of the team ready to fight too immediately.
"No!" Loki finally snaps out of silence, raising his hands in the air. "For the Norns! That's not- I did not know! I mean, I had my suspicions but- but it was just a theory! I would never-"
The sound of Teddy's knuckles cracking interrupts him. "Now, why don't I believe you?" He asks coldly.
"No," panic crosses Loki's face. "I swear! Norns! I would never! We are just loosing time instead of doing something!"
"There's nothing we can do-" Billy says heavily, though his palms keep shinning, ready to attack Loki.
"You are wrong! There is!"
"Give me one good reason to trust you," Kate demands, looking at him behind the bow. It might not be especially threatening to him, but her letting go of that arrow would be the signal for the rest of the team to attack.
Loki opens his mouth, then closes it. Confusion appears on his face as he clearly goes through a series of options. None seem to be good enough.
"Why would I enlist her help if I wanted her dead?" He finally says. He staggers a little at the last word. "She's not dead. Not yet. We can save her. We have to."
"She said it wasn't possible," Billy shakes his head. "I can't open a portal there. Not even- Not even America could!"
"It is not impossible," Loki insists. He takes a tentative step forward but the sound of Kate's rope tensing makes him stop again. His eyes turn pleadingly towards Billy. "When we were looking for your brother," Loki says quickly, "I told you an interdimensional jump would require a lot of power from you and a lot of planning for me. Well, this is the same but... harder. Much harder. I am stronger now, and you are the Demiurge. We can do it together."
The team still doesn't lower their weapons.
"But she said-" David starts.
"Norns!" Loki snaps impatiently. "She was trying to protect Kaplan, of course! Now, it's time to return the favor... unless, of course, you have a better solution." Smugness is back on his tone. He knows they don't.
It's two hours later until they have everything together. Two hours too long. Every minutes that passes, everyone gets more nervous. Loki has already gone through the runes at least ten times.
"I think we are ready," he finally says. The rest of the Young Avengers stand up from where they've been sitting and stand inside the star he's drawn on the floor. It's weird to see it drawn like that, not shining with America's characteristic glow. "Ready, Master Kaplan?"
Billy nods. Teddy has his hand firmly clasped on his shoulder for support. His eyes shine bright for a second. It's not enough yet. He pushes. He thinks it's like running. He hates running, but Teddy always says if you keep going, there's a point where you 'break the wall' and find much more energy than you knew you had. He focuses on that until- One last push makes his eyes look like the universe.
"Loki," when he speaks, his voice is an echo, like it's all around them and not coming from the scrawny teenage boy standing between them. The team looks uncomfortable and worried, except for Loki who immediately gets into action. His hands glow green and he speaks words no one could understand except, maybe, Billy.
And then... they disappear.
The trip is not nearly as pleasant as traveling through America's portals is. It's like they stop existing for much longer, like they are in between nothings. Then they drop on the heavy floor.
Around them, there's a metal floor and walls. They all need a moment to recover their breath. It feels odd. The gravity, the energy around them, the air they breath, it al is alien. It's clear they are in a completely different reality, like it's built on something completely different.
"Bee, you alright?" Teddy asks as soon as he's able to.
"Yeah..." The boy is standing straight, staring at his hand as he flexes his fingers. His voice is still a little distant. "I'm not tired... I just feel... disconnected. Is this how America felt...?"
"No time for that," Loki huffs, looking around before walking ahead. "We need to hurry."
They follow him through the rooms, glancing at the doors down the corridor. He wastes no time on them, only running his palm in front of them as he passes by.
"Where are we?" Kate questions, looking around. There's no windows, barely a few lights too many feet away from each other to really illuminate much.
"We aimed to wherever she was," Billy says, pressing his pace to keep on with Loki's long legs.
"This resembles a prison," Noh-Varr points out calmly. After that, no one feels like talking much.
It still takes some horribly long minutes before Loki stops dead on his tracks.
"Here," he murmurs before blasting the door open and rushing in.
"Wait, it could be a... trap." Too late, they hurry behind him and freeze.
America is on the other side of the room. Her wrists and ankles are chained tightly against the wall, forcing her to stand up when clearly she would've collapsed otherwise. Her head is hanging forward but she is half conscious, mumbling unintelligible words. It all just looks off. America is never hurt, never defeated, never like this. It takes them a long moment to react. Finally, it's Loki who hurries forward. He immediately presses two fingers to her neck to feel her pulse.
His touch makes her jump awake. She looks up. There is strands of hair sticking to her face with sweat. Her eyes are wild, like a scared animal, for a second. Then they focus on him.
"Ch-Chico?" She breaths out. There's tangible relief in her voice, like she could cry if she had the strength to. There's a moment of disbelief and wonder when it almost looks like she will smile. Then realization settles on her. "What are you doing here?!"
"Getting you out," he sounds honestly offended as he looks at the shackles.
As he does, the device they are held to starts beeping loudly. America's eyes dart open again.
"Stand back!" She demands. There's enough urgency in her voice to make Loki jump away right before the shock. The electricity going through her body makes her scream. Her muscles tense. The sparkles lit up the room and Loki can't help thinking they resemble Thor's lighting. Then, she screams again and he forgets about it. He still can't move.
It's Noh-Varr who finally reacts. Four shots, perfectly aimed. The bounds fall open and America is left standing against the wall. There's still sparkles going through her body and it's clear she's still in pain but trying to control it.
"Kaplan!" Loki urges. Billy jumps out of his shock and rushes by his side. There's no need for words. In sync, they repeat the spell from a few weeks ago, dissipating the energy overloading her body. As soon as the charge is gone, she falls like a stringless puppet. Loki barely manages to catch her before she hits the floor. "We need to get her out of here," he says. "Erm, before we get company," he adds.
Teddy rushes towards them and grabs America in his arms. They would've never guessed, but she looks almost small compared to him. Vulnerable. Again, it's just wrong.
"Let's go," Kate presses, after taking a closer look to her friend. "Now, where?" She asks once they're back on the hall.
"Out of here," Loki insists. "We need a calm place to prepare the next spell."
"Which way?" David says nervously.
"Lemme check," Tommy speeds off on one direction. They hold her breath for two beats before he comes rushing back. "Not that way! Not that way!" Close behind him, laser shots follow. No one argues back before running on the opposite direction.
"How'd- How'd you get here?" America mumbles, slowly coming to. "Teddy," she insists when she gets no answer. "How?!" She asks like it's life or death.
"Billy and Loki," he replies softly as he flies down the hallway. "Don't worry about it it's ok- oh." He stops right before crashing into Tommy, who is standing between the team and a group of about ten guards. Behind them, the others approach quickly.
"What now?!" Kate asks, preparing her bow.
"We fight," Noh-Varr says grimly, reading his guns.
"There's no way we can take them all in here," David says. "Loki, can you take us out of here?"
"I- I do not know this world! It's too risky! I could teleport us into a wall, or-"
"Yeah, let's not do that," Kate says, making a face.
"Put me down," America demands.
"No way."
"Altman, put me down right now!" She yells, though her volume is not quite as loud as she intended. "You need both arms to fight!"
The urgency in her tone finally makes him concede. He puts her down very carefully. As soon as her feet touch the floor, she's holding to Billy's shoulder for support. She clenches him tightly —which is remarkably weak considering America's usual strength.
"Billy," she says, keeping her eyes on her captors. "I need you to lend me power."
"What?! How?!"
"Just trust me. My body will absorb it."
"How is that-"
"No time to explain!"
He doubts for a second, but decides if they are going to fight, America deserves as much energy as she can gather. Especially if it is to fight back the people who tortured her like that. He focuses his magic and finds in America a surprisingly apt recipient.
"Keep going," she instructs firmly before raising her voice. "Everyone, stand close!"
They know what that means. Almost by instinct, they all do, facing their enemies in a circle with America at the middle.
"Wait-"
She ignores Kate as her eyes light up. A star appears underneath them. It has eight peaks instead of its usual five. Billy feels more magic being sucked out of him. The amount of energy it requires is unbelievable. He can't believe America's still on her feet. When she kicks down, though, the glass only cracks, doesn't break.
The creatures prepare their guns, pointing at them.
"STOP!" One of them demands with their static voices.
America kicks again, making the surface of reality crack more.
"Chavez!" Loki looks at her, almost panicky. "You can't-"
"Like hell I don't," she mutters before kicking down with a grunt.
The star shatters.
They fall.
America lets out a sight of relief.
The last thing she sees is blue skies as they fall through to 616. Then, the world goes dark.
One last thought crosses her mind.
It's possible.