MANHATTAN PART ONE
Before I could realized it I had closed my eyes,deep in some sort of stupor.
The gunshots,the continuous turbulence and the the jet's going up and down were only a few of the things that made me open my eyes.
This ain't no time to be sleeping.
My right arm was bleeding like a motherfucker and my left knee was in a really bad condition. It is times like this one when I truly appreciate the hard lessons of the war.
“Sorry Fury,ima need to trash up your jet just a little more” ,i murmured as I tried to stand up,leaning on a big metal box,one of the many in that room.
They wouldn't miss half one,right?
I put my arms in front of me,sharp pain piercing my entire body as I did; my right fist was further than the left,facing upwards. I steadily pulled it towards my chest and one big metal stripe left the box; I brought closer with the same movement and then with a twist it attached my left leg,thigh to knee,forcing it to stay straight. I did the same with a second one,attaching in on my right arm,all the way up to down.
The one on my arm I had to keep my mind on,to constantly and quickly bend it; it had to be curved and straightened all the time,allowing me to move. I should thank my Pyreph nature for that,mostly. It was thanks to being able to willingly alter my body's temperature and thus heat up the bars that I would be able to curve them more easily.
I began walking,moving my fingers as well,forcing my left leg which was the one slowing me down to move faster,being dragged by the metal. It's fine. The fight's not over yet,and a soldier never flees. Not before victory,or death. And I had neither of them,so I had to move my ass.
I gave one look at Tasha; she was lied were I left her,trying to find the strength to stand up.
“It's Barton” ,we heard Fury's muffled voice through the intercom. “ He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy? “
“I co-”
“Romanoff here, I copy ”, Tasha's voice beat mine. I gave her a look,trying to understand whether she could actually go or not.
“Go” ,she mouthed and I nodded. She was strong,i shouldn't worry.
Suddenly the jet moved again,as if we were losing altitude; I had to hurry.
I knew were I needed to go. To the heart of this damned fiasco.
I saw Loki,his cell missing,a giant whole underneath it allowing air to some inside the jet. Agent Coulson was down,a weapon in his arms and a blood mud on his torso.
“The fuck you've done? Where's your cell?”
“If it isn't the Pelimorrean Pyreph” ,he said,pacing yet making sure he was far enough. Eyeing me ,as if he studied me.
“You seem to be more interesting than the others. Although, unfortunately,you too share their mortal emotional imbalances”
“Did you just call me imbalanced?” ,i asked with a tilted head,as if I dared him to say yes.
“You are to toy with. Just like them,one right word, and you'll explode. I must admit, it's no longer that amusing. Not as it used to be”
“You speak of them” ,i said with a hoarse voice,and Loki's gaze was fixed on me. “... the mortals,as if that godly nature of yours automatically puts them beneath you..but..in the end,your motives are no better than the ones of a child,wishing to be the favored one. You are no God,Loki of Asgard” ,i twisted the hilts of my blades,trying to see just were I was standing in that condition.
“As if you would know of my motives!”,he snapped. “ You called me the lost Asgardian Prince when we first met” ,his voice was steady,hoarded by his need to taunt me.
“But you too are lost, princess Persephone,King Orion's firstborn daughter; the first ever Pyreph in two centuries” ,he had a smirk following his every word.
“You and I are two sides of the same coin,cursed princess”
“I am not a murderer” ,i spelled with a voice coming straight from my throat,not one filter alternation; it was raw.
“And yet they call you the Queenslayer “
My breathing was growing heavy; he was affecting me,and I couldn't have that.
“Let's get this over with,shall we?” ,i said and he slowly shook his head in amusement; this was my cue. I fixed my stance,bringing my scimitars out.
“And here I thought we could have a normal chat; all they say about you Pelimorreans are true indeed. You only speak with your fists”
“Yeah well,what can I say. Old habits die hard”
“So they say” ,he smirked and lifted his Scepter.
Break time's over.
I couldn't do many things at this point; so I run at him. My blades against this bloody,motherfucking scepter,once again. I thrust each blade,one hit after the other; that's why I loved scimitars. Due to their curved blades they were amazingly easy to use,too quick,too efficient.
He pushed me away and I punched though the air with my left arm,causing a chunk of metal to fly his way,trying to glue him to the wall. But he was cunning.
His scepter gleamed towards me,and trying to avoid getting hit I put my arm down,the metal falling on the ground.
“You play dirty” ,he said with a smile. “I like that about you”
“Yes,i'm sure you do” ,i shook my hand.
I put my scimitars away; although I was good with them,this was no time to fuck around.
“Oh?” ,he asked.
One fist to the left,on the right; one slide of my right foot,and then one strong tap down. Yes,it must have been easy,keeping me off in that state. But in anything else,i'm stubborn as fuck. Trying to throw these gleaming shots towards metal chunks,dozen of them coming his way one after the other was rather challenging though.
My arms were getting extremely tired,and Loki was a swift man. I moved my right foot,dragging it on the floor as flames were now on his way,narrow and curved orange stripes heading towards his footing,a ripple effect creating by the movements of my leg; as I was always taught,a warrior's footing is the most precious weapon. One wrong step and you're down.
He was having a hard time following everything;
Suddenly though,he was behind me; trying to keep my act together I quickly turned around,my chunks now on him behind me. But,they all just passed though him; an ethereal body,i see.
“So,despite being a huge pain in the ass,you're also a sorcerer”
“And many more things,i'm afraid”
As I turned around to face Loki I saw his scepter lifted and before I could act upon it,a chunk of metal hit me in the head.
Just before I completely closed my eyes,i saw a glimmering light and Loki being thrown over.
“So that's what it does..” ,i heard agent Coulson's faint,muffled voice as everything was growing darker and darker.
In the end,i could not see nor hear anything. I was cold out.
“Agent Pearse? Are you with us?”
First thing I saw was Maria Hill standing above me; I tried to move but there were all sorts of tubes coming in and out of my body.
So I was an agent now?
Hill herself wasn't much better than me though. Blood on her forehead and cuts all over her body.
“Easy now. We should really thank doctor Grayson here. He really worked some magic with you. Had you not been aboard this jet,with all these doctors and SHIELD's equipment,you'd be out for days “ ,she explained. Who was that doct- oh.
“Maximilian ...” ,i called his name with a smile and he turned to me,away from his desk. “Thanks. But now is not the time to be playing dead” , I told him yanking the tubes away from my body,now standing up.
“Hey,wait!”
“I'm only guessing I am needed?”
“Yes,you are” ,agent Hill told me with a strict nod.
“Look,i'm no god here. If you get too messed up and once your adrenaline fully wears off,you be out,for days,a week maybe. Do your thing,but keep that in mind. You can't afford anything too big hitting you again”
“What,like a Hulk?” ,i joked and he pulled an awkward smile. I thought it was funny.
“Fine,just give me my clothes”
“They're pretty messed up though..”
“I don't care”
He gave me my clothes and left the room so I could dress up; I had I big nasty scar just above my left eyebrow,stitches all over it. That little weasel. He did me a good one. Not gonna happen twice though.
I put on my clothes,the right sleeve of my blouse almost entirely ripped. It was fine. I would still wear these clothes. They were the only reminder I had left from home.
My people never truly believed in armors; there was a saying going around us soldiers: if you are slow enough to get hit,then you're already dead.
“He wants an audience” ,i could hear Tony speaking and as I walked in him and Steve both turned to look at me.
“Right,if Germany taught us anything- uh,hey..i heard you were out. Are you alright?” ,he seemed disorientated,yet his concern was genuine.
“Yes. A few stitches here,a few stitches there. Nothing too serious. You would expect a direct hit from the Hulk would have done more than just that” ,i joked but Steve's eyes grew smaller.
“You got hit by-”
Tony's mumbling to himself cut Steve off mid sentence.
He was going on and on about Loki's next move,until he took a pause,some sort of realization taking place inside his mind.
“Son of a bitch..”
“What?” ,i asked him.
“I know where he's headed”
“Where?”
“Know anyone else in this room with their name written across the tallest building in Manhattan?” ,Steve asked,though it was mostly rhetorical,a sarcastic tone on his lips.
“Playboy?”,i shrugged.
“Yeah,yeah. So,you got hit by Hulk?”,i rolled my eyes at him,though he was actually interested to learn about this experience.
Steve had gotten all prepped up,Natasha and Clint following behind him. My eyes lingered on Clint,yet Natasha mouthed out an “it's okay” ,accompanied by a nod. I noticed a bow hanging from his hands,his grip on it tight. So he was an archer. Good,now this made sense. A bow,i get. A shield,i never will.
“So,you gonna suit up?” ,Steve asked me as we walked side by side,our steps swift.
“I got all I need Cap. Don' worry”
“I never would” ,he looked at me with the corner of his eyes,a small half smile on his face,which I returned.
We all entered a Quinjet,a young man approaching us from inside.
“You are not authorized to be here-”
“Son” ,Steve took a brief pause,his head slightly tilted. “Just don't”
“Did you really just call him..son?” ,i asked as soon as the man left the Quinjet,Clint and Natash already in their seat,ready to lift us up.
“I am older than him”
“Right...”
As soon as we entered the city,all we saw was pure chaos. There were mechanic creatures flying all around,Tony himself having a head start already.
We were getting closer,the attacks now aiming at our jet,and I could make some sense of these machines; they acted as transportation means,with some form of out-of-this-planet entities on top,handling them and shooting from atop. The Chitauri,i presume.
Clint mumbled something,Natasha turning her gaze to him
“See them”
I could see Thor in that tower with Playboy's name on it. It was much..more than I expected. Tasha aimed our guns at Loki,but he fired a blast at us,leading to necessary landing,and many wrong footings due to the shaking. It was now caught on fire; the door opened Steve getting out as we all soon followed.
There was nothing but mayhem. People running,screaming,searching each other. There were fires,cars flipped over,and the machines were still roaming the skies.
On top of the Stark Tower a vortex had created a deep blue portal,one similar to those the Etherians created,looking like a hole in the sky. From that portal many more machines were coming out,and then one much,much bigger resembling a giant worm,flying around shooting fire.
“Fuck me...” ,i exclaimed,trying to believe what my eyes were watching.“We need to act. Stark are you-”
“Yes. Cap, we really need to find a way to close up that shithole. Any idea where Banner is?” ,i heard Tony's muffled voice coming straight from the intercom.
“Banner?”
“Have we lost the doctor?” ,i asked. Steve just looked at me,unable to answer that.
“Nevermind. Just do your thing. And kid?”
“Yes?” ,i was kinda expecting some ironic slur to come out of Tony's mouth. But,there wasn't any.
“You do your thing. Go all out avatar state,make some noise”
“Copy that” ,i smirked.
I was the one to head out,the others following behind. We first needed to evaluate the situation,but everything was too chaotic for that. First things first,c'me on,focus.
The people,we needed to make sure the civilians were safe,too many of them were not only in danger,but also making it hard to go out all the way.
“We need to divide this group”,i told Steve while continuously lifting up walls for us to cover from the shooting coming from those damned machines.
“Yes. There are people down there who need help” ,he pointed and Natasha nodded.
“We got this,you two go ahead”
“You” ,i talked to Barton, “ you any good with that bow of yours?”
Barton looked at me with a faint smirk; he picked an arrow,a mechanical,strange one and pulled the trigger on his bow,the arrow itself landing on a Chitauri coming at us from twenty feet away.
“I'd say so,yes”
“Showoff” ,i snorted. “I trust you'll got our backs” ,he nodded and I turned to Steve.
“Aight,c'me on Cap. We got work to do”
Barton threw a few more of these arrows,each one creating a chain of it's own explosion,and with enough controlled now chaos,we managed to roll down unbothered.
A dozen of those creatures got out,coming at us all at the same time; it was showtime.
Steve and I were back to back; he threw his shield,hitting five of them,his shield piercing one neck after the other until it landed again on his hand.
“That's more like a frisbee than a shield” ,i joked and kicked with a flaming leg at two of them as I smashed four others in between walls.
“Yeah well” ,he punched one of them,kicking another, “ it has it's good points”