Devil of Menace

16 - Penthouse

Steve and I, dressed again in our suits, make our way to the Medical Bay. As we reach the door to Clint's room we're met by Natasha. "Time to go." I say. Natasha looks up at me, "Go where?" She asks, lack of preparation seeming to aggravate her. "I'll tell you on the way." Steve explains. "Can you fly one of those jets?" He asks. Clint walks out of the restroom, drying his hands on a towel, "I can." He says looking at Steve. Steve glances at Natasha, and she nods in confirmation of the fact that Barton's with us. "You got your suit?" I ask. "Yeah." Barton nods. "Then suit up." Steve orders before we leave the pair.

Steve, Nat, Clint, and I walk through the hanger towards the Quinjet. Steve with his helmet and shield equipped, Clint with his quiver of arrows, Natasha with her gloved gauntlet, and me with my numerous knives and guns. We stride up the open ramp of a Quinjet, a young agent sat in the pilot's seat. He stands up and tries to block our path, "You're not authorised to be here." The agent says but Steve cuts him off in his Captain America voice, "Son. Just don't." The agent rushes off the jet and Clint closes the ramp as we prepare to take off. "Son?" I ask, amusement evident in my voice. "It worked didn't it?" Steve asks with a smile and I laugh.

"I'm not staying on this jet." I tell the trio, "I've been working on a form of energy manipulation that allows me to teleport. I can only do it once and it takes a lot out of me. So get me as close as you can to Stark Tower then protect the civilians." I explain. "Yes ma'am." Clint salutes and starts the engines. Clint flies as fast as possible and we're soon around 20 miles out from the tower. "I can get there now." I say. I focus on the shifting energy particles around me, envisioning the tower, I pull myself through the particles. I stumble as I land on the hard floor of Stark's penthouse, "You need carpet in here Tony." I reprimand as Tony walks towards the bar. Loki walks in not seconds later, scepter in hand, "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." He mocks, locking eyes with me. His brows furrow, "When did you get here?" He asks. "When did you get here?" I throw back. "I've been here for a while, waiting for you." He answers, I nod. "I've been waiting for you." He shakes his head and brushes off my comment.

"Again, please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." He repeats. "Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Tony explains, reaching for his decanter of scotch. "You should've left your armour on for that." Loki threatens, taking a step closer. I push him back with a small blast, "Keep your distance Rudolph." I warn and he smirks. "Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage." Tony pauses, "You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" He asks calmly. "Stalling me won't change anything." Loki states. "No, no, no!" I repeat, "Threatening." I say, holding out my index finger to accentuate the word. Tony speaks whilst pouring himself a glass, "No drink? You sure? I'm having one." He continues. Loki blanks him, "The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?" I laugh, "Well there's Frost Giants, Heimdall, astraphobia." I list sarcastically. "Ooh ooh ooh, the Avengers." Tony says raising his hand like a student. I touch my finger to my nose, "Bingo." I shout. 

Loki looks at us, confused. Tony sighs, "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing." He explains casually. "Yes, I've met them." Loki sneers. Tony smiles, "Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God; a super soldier; his witchy best friend," He begins, causing me to glare at him, "A living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them." He jokes. Loki smiles, "That was the plan." He explains. "To be fair," I start, Loki looking at me in amusement, "That's a shit plan." I criticise. His smile falls. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you." Tony warns as he slips on two colantotte bracelets. Loki scoffs, "I have an army." He reminds us. "We have a hulk." Tony threatens.

"I thought the beast had wandered off." Loki bemuses. "You're missing the point." I divulge. "There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you." I reprimand the god. "Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it." Tony threatens. Loki slowly walks up to Tony, who's moved away from the bar, and raises the scepter. "How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" He asks darkly. He taps tony on the chest with the point of the scepter and a small clink echoes. Confused, Loki tries again and the same event transpires. "It should work." He mutters to himself. "Well, performance issues. You know?" Tony mocks. "Not uncommon, one out of five." I start to say but am interrupting by Loki reaching up and grabbing Tony by the throat. "Hey, you didn't do that to me when I absorbed your little magic trick." I say, Loki glares at me over Tony's shoulder. 

Loki flings Tony across the room and I charge at him, pulling him into a headlock. He swings violently and throws me through the wall. I groan and dust off the chunks of wall as I make my way back to the penthouse. "You will all fall before me." Loki warns before tossing Tony out of the window, smashing the glass in the process. "I hope you have the facilities to pay for that." I say, and Loki laughs. "One day we'll have a war where we don't tear up a whole-ass city." I grumble. "Destruction and war come hand in hand darling." Loki reminds me and I groan, "I know, I know." A red pod suddenly shoots past me and follows Tony's path. Tony soon reappears, and Loki looks at him angrily. "And there's one other person you pissed off! His name was Phil." Tony yells before blasting Loki onto his ass.

I run out onto the expanse of balcony as the Tesseract releases a beam into the sky, opening another dark portal. The swirling mass rips open and the Chitauri begin to pour out and into the sky. I spot the Quinjet and begin to make my descent towards the civilians, urging everyone into the nearest buildings. As I look up I see that the jet is now on fire and spiralling quickly. Clint slams the jet into the ground, pulling up the pavement in the process.

The ramp opens and the three run out, joining me in the midst of the destruction, weapons in hand.