Of Flying Alien Whales and Frying Pans
“What’s the plan, Cap?”
“Don’t die.”
Clint stopped in his tracks for a moment, staring at the man already striding off, guiding civilians to safety.
“That's- Roger’s, that's not a plan, that's - you know what. Fine. Don’t die. I’ll write it down in the official report.” He grumbled, spinning round to embed an arrow in the skull of one of the invaders.
“Nat, what’s our actual plan?”
“We need to shut down the machine. Stark, you distract Loki, draw some fire, get his attention off the main platform. Clint, hitch a ride on the way up, I want you covering Cap’s back. Thor, I want you on the ground. Dr Banner, I’m hoping this doesn’t need to get messy, but I want you on standby.”
As she spoke, a familiar suit came down from the sky, scooping the pair of them up and depositing them both on a ledge.
Nat turned to Clint, “I’m going to zipline, you got my six?”
“Always Tash.”
With that, she aimed and fired her grappling line, swinging down and out of sight along the buildings, landing on one of the lower levels of Stark Tower. Loki didn’t appear to notice, standing majestically at the edge of one of the platforms, watching a familiar red and gold suit fly down, hovering just out of reach.
Idly, Clint wondered if he could throw a hoopla ring onto the helmet.
Reaching a hand behind him, he quickly tallied up his remaining arrows - enough to last, he thought, if he used them wisely.
Down on the ground, the two remaining fighters were working steadily through the mass of the aliens currently taking over the city. Thor was wiping out vast numbers at a time with channelled lightning bolts, bodies falling like flies. Those who escaped the wrath of the lighting god were quickly knocked down by the giant frisbee, rebounding improbably each time back to the arm of its owner.
And then, behind the blondes, and presumably spanning the rest of the city blocks, were the Agents of SHIELD. Clint recognized almost every agent he could see, and he had the suspicions that for every one he spotted, at least three more went unseen. SHIELD had pulled out all the stops, sending every field agent they could in. Drones flitted among the wreckage, piloted from desks. High powered weapons covered every base the enhanced heroes couldn’t.
Which was admittedly most of them. Look, they might be some of the best fighters in the world, but it was asking a little much for 6 people to protect an entire city against an alien invasion - without backup they would’ve been run into the ground already.
Shooting down yet another hoverboard, Clint turned back round to the tower just in time to see Stark fly back, having been thrown across the platform by the person wearing his best friend’s skin. The suit reformed around him, breaking his fall as Loki stalked towards him, the inventor scrabbling backwards. Backwards away from the glowing cube, which a familiar figure was desperately poking.
Up in the sky, the portal was widening, and Clint could’ve sworn he saw something else - something huge - poke its head through before darting back, apparently unconvinced it could fit.
That might be a problem.
“Nat,” he tapped through on his comm, “How is it looking down there?”
“Not good,” she replied, “There appears to be some kind of force field surrounding the cube - I can’t break through.”
A new voice came through on the channel, “The sceptre - you need the sceptre. The energy readings on the field and the stone are practically indistinguishable; the sceptre should read as a secondary section of shield and move through with interference.”
“That would work great, Dr Banner, if it weren’t for the fact that Loki currently has the sceptre.”
“I can get it - hey! Watch the gauntlets! - if you give me a - ow - second,” puffed Stark from where he was doing acrobatics avoiding the wrathful god he was still taunting. “But you’ll need to act fast once you’ve got it.”
“I can do that,” Nat affirmed, “Dr, what am I doing with it?”
“Scientifically speaking? Jam the pointy bit in the centre until it breaks. I have a container for the cube back on the Helicarrier”
“What -”
Clint was sure that the rest of whatever Thor was going to say was terribly interesting - exhilarating even - but he was currently slightly more occupied with something else.
Mainly the thing that had decided the gap was finally big enough.
What the fuck.
“What the fuck!”
—----------------------
“What the fuck!”
Ava stopped dead in her tracks, at the base of Stark Tower.
Was that… was that a giant flying alien whale?
By the Gods.
… she really, really wanted one.
Ava, no she told herself, pushing her legs back into motion and up into the tower.
Her trip through the city had been fast, darting between the screaming civilians and hiding from the many agents dotted through the city, keeping a perimeter between the front line and the reserves. She had no clue who was on what side. Who had been infected with whatever had happened to her mother, and who was safe. All she knew was that she had to get to Loki.
Who was apparently standing on top of the tower, looking very majestic. And like an absolute prick.
Rough pavement scraped her knees as she stumbled, knocked over by the throb in her heart. She’d known Loki was alive - her necklace had been flickering as she’d ran, and occasional flickers of his conscience pushed through. But to see him? Was a whole different story.
She’d been gone an entire year. An entire year of unconsciousness, punctured only by fragments of memory, both his and hers. She’d seen only the barest glimpses of what had happened to him, and they still wracked her mind at night. And then she’d woken up. And her mind had been quiet. Oh so quiet. And she’d known he was gone. But apparently, not dead.
Knees now bleeding, she boycotted the elevator, starting up the stairs. Part way up, she paused, concentrating, before starting again, this time propelling herself upwards with a combination of lowered gravity and increased bounciness.
If the situation hadn’t been so desperate, it would’ve been extremely fun. Well, maybe it was still a little fun. Quite a lot of fun actually.
By the time she’d reached the top (and faster than the elevator would’ve been, might she add) she was breathless from laughing, even in the midst of an alien invasion.
Her giddy mood sobered quickly, however, at the scene she saw at the top of the tower.
In the few minutes it took her to ascend the 99 floors, the situation had gone from bad to worse.
More of the giant whale thing had come through, the suited figure of Iron Man beating them back, and the portal was gaping now, pulsing from a machine placed on the edge of the roof.
But what was worse, what was far, far worse, was the sight before her.
Loki, standing over Nat.
Loki, wrenching some sort of sceptre out of her hand.
Loki, flipping it around, pointing it down.
And then Loki, embedding the tip of it deep down into… nothing?
Ava blinked, the scream that had risen in her throat sinking again, a smile spreading across her face as the man stared blankly at the place the red-head had collapsed a moment ago. And his hands, which were far emptier than they’d been a moment ago.
Thank Thor they’d been working on teleportation before Loki had disappeared.
On feather-light feet, she crept along behind the imposter, with less of a plan than a goal - mostly consisting of knocking the man out until she could figure out exactly how to get her Loki back.
Boom
She muffled her scream, biting down on her wrist as the sound ricocheted across the buildings.
The fake-Loki spun as well, crying a curse in a strange tongue as the glowing machine funnelling the portal upwards spluttered then failed.
The light dimmed, and she was able to make out the form of her beloved aunt, standing defiantly beside the machine, sceptre in hand, as the final remnants of power faded.
Up in the sky, the portal began to shrink, before shutting completely. Just before it did so, however, she noticed a tiny suit fly out, free falling for a moment and then catching itself. What had that been about? She’d have to find out later.
For now, she had a brother to retrieve.
“It’s over.” called Nat, figures landing on the platform behind her.
Ava ducked behind a pillar, watching as first Uncle Clint, then Iron Man, then Captain America, Thor and finally the Hulk, in full green mode. She hadn’t seen him during the battle, so presumably he’d been either backstage or had only just gone green.
Loki straightened, facing the approaching group. The Avengers? She thought it had been mentioned.
“So you think.” he laughed darkly, “But you see, I am always one step ahead of you, I-”
“Shut up man! Why do villains always monologue? It's such a bitch move. It's not even cool at this point bro - you might as well dance the macarena for us. At least that would be interesting. Oh, hi Aunt Nat!”
“Ava..” said Natasha slowly, “Did you just hit Loki on the head with a frying pan?”
She squinted, “Uh, if I say yes am I grounded?”
“No.”
“Then yes, I did. Though its technically a wok, soooo”
“I’m sorry, who's the kid?”
Ava waved, smiling, “Hi! I’m Ava! Ava Kingsley. Loki’s kinda my uh, godparent?”
“And you hit him on the head with a frying pan.”
“A wok.” she corrected, looking down as Loki began to stir by her feet.
Clang
“Now I’ve hit my godparent on the head with a frying pan!”
She smiled cheerily.
Captain America blinked, before whispering to Clint. “Is she always like this?”
“No. Usually she’s worse. She throws knives quite often.”
Twang
Steve flinched as one embedded itself in the wall next to Clint. Right. Knife-throwing child. Good to know.