The Evil Within

Chapter 7

Loki confidently strides through the centre of the city, empowered by the fear he is setting upon the people around him.  

From the Quinjet, circling the scene, Layla and Natasha watch on.

"Good lord....just look at him Nat."  Layla whispers via the communication system the whole team are using.  "I'm not sure if I'm scared of him or in love with him at this point!"  

Loki continues walking silently through the crowd, clearly looking for something.

"Steve, you on your way?"  Layla asks into the comms.

No reply comes, and Layla looks to her friend with a frown upon her face.  Before she has chance to try and contact him once more, they both look down to see Loki use his scepter to blast a police car off of the road.  It flips from it's front, landing on its roof, and sliding to a stop.

"Scared....I'm definitely more scared."  Layla says from the jet.  "STEVE?!  REPORT!"

After even more silence, Layla starts to unbuckle her harness from the cockpit of the jet, as Natasha looks on with worry.

"I swear to god Rogers...."  Layla seethes into comms.  "I told you I'd step back and let you take the lead on this one, but honestly....if you don't report your ETA....."

She trails off, as she and Natasha hear Loki begin to speak from down on the ground.  The people surrounding him are now kneeling, and he stands, his arms outstretched, a wry smile, on his face.

"Ah yes..."  He says in a booming voice.  "This is how you should be....kneeling before your master."

As he finishes speaking, an elderly man stands among the kneeling crowd.

"Get back down old man."  Loki hisses as the man shakily stands up straight.

"No I won't."  The old man replies with as much courage as he can muster.

Before the girls can think about their next move, Loki lifts his scepter and points it at the defiant man.

"Oh god!"  Layla screams, jumping from her seat and rushing towards the exit..  "That's it-I'm going out there!"

Before she can exit, the bright light from the end of Loki's scepter makes her turn and run back to the front of the jet.  As the dust settles, she sees a figure slowly stand.

Steve stands before Loki, his shield taking the brunt of the shot fired at the old man.  

"HA!"  Loki sarcastically laughs.  "Now it's a battle!"

Steve doesn't react, still standing stoically in front of the enemy in front of him.  The Quinjet circles to the side of him, hovering above the scene.

"Great timing Rogers."   Layla quips into Steve's earpiece.

Natasha readies the guns from the bottom of the jet, and Layla takes charge of the controls. 

As a fight breaks out between the two men, Layla struggles to find a gap in which Natasha can get a clean shot.  As they look down, they see Loki throw Steve across the floor.  When he stands back up, the women can see the disdain in his eyes.  The fight continues, ending once again in Steve being thrown across the concrete.   This time, Loki is quickly on his tail, and pins his head, looking down at the floor, under his scepter.  

"Steve!"  Layla shouts, as she witnesses her best friend unable to move under the weight of the staff.

As Steve attempts to move, Layla has has enough.

"That really is it this time!  I'm going to help!"  She says to Natasha.

"Layla, NO!"  Steve replies quickly, making her once again spin on her heel.

As she looks down at the scene once more, a noise from the sky takes her focus.

As a small ball of light ebbs closer to the duelling men, they both look to the sky too.   Before they have chance to acknowledge what it is, a shot is fired from it, and Loki is thrown across the cobbled street.

Standing slowly in his red armour stands Tony in his Iron Man suit.  As Loki sits on the ground bewildered by the unfolding events, Tony holds his hands up and gets his weapons ready to fire once more.

"Stand. The Hell. Down. Bambi."  Tony says through his armoured mask.

"Oh for god sake."  Layla huffs into her comms.  "I actually had this under control thanks Tony!"

He doesn't answer her, instead keeping his focus firmly on Loki, who is still sat on the floor.  As Steve joins him, Loki realises that without his staff, which has been thrown aside, and with both of them, and the Quinjet, he is now outnumbered.  He puts his hand up in surrender and his armour magically ebbs away, leaving him in his civilian Asgardian clothes.

As the men stand in front of him, Tony glances over at Steve. 

"We kinda had it under control...."  He whispers to Tony, hoping Layla doesn't hear him.

Tony nods his understanding and together, they remove Loki from the scene and take him to the Quinjet, to the waiting Layla and Natasha.