The Jotun's Daughter

Chapter 22

When the first Chitari broke through the trees, May flipped down onto its back and cut the main transit wires. The hunk of metal let out a large shudder as it fell to the ground at her feet. Beside me, Nico hefted his sword in his hand, and I could already see him working to summon some skeletons. Another beast broke through the tree line, and Jase electrified it with a flick of his wrist before glancing at me. I gave him a small nod, somewhat annoyed. I'm fine. Coulson let out a cry behind me, and I spun to see a Chitari crumbling to the ground. I nearly assessed the situation as fine until I noticed that he was bleeding again. 

        "Coulson! Sit!" I ordered. When he didn't object, I knew that it was bad. 

        "Stark said ten minutes," He gasp, holding his side.

        "We don't have ten minutes," Mack grit his teeth as he deflected a metal punch. He put the thing out of its misery and then turned to Coulson. 

"We need to move."

        "Mack!" Simmons said urgently, "Look at him!" She motioned to Coulson before shooting her gun at yet another Chitari figure. 

"We can't go anywhere, it's to dangerous." I created a wall of ice in front of me, and then walked forward, pressing my hands to it. The barrier was thick, and I willed it to spread it a curved fashion around the group, meeting at the top. It took about half a minute for both sides to meet, but when they did, the agents of S.H.E.I.L.D., plus three others were surrounded in a thick dome. I wasn't aware that I was falling until my knees hit the soft ground. 

        "Kayla!" Nico wrapped his arm around my stomach and stopped me before my head hit the ice. He was careful to not hit my ribs, and I grasp his arm to steady myself.        

"I'm fine, di Angelo, I just-"

        "Anything even close to what you just did and you're down completely. No more tricks, Kayla," Coulson shifted on the log, and I could see the red coloring between his fingers.

        "They're breaking in!" Simmons yelped. I looked up to see that the ice was indeed cracking, the tiny slits in the dome's form were growing bigger by the second. A sharp sound resonated from where Mack was standing, and he turned to see a Chitari hand, trying to widen the gap it had made in the ice. 

        "Circle formation." May ordered. I obliged, shifting the twin blades into my hands. I twirled them between my fingers, and realized that up until now I had relied solely on my powers. I vowed to never do it again, just as a fourth of the dome shattered to my left. I reached forward and around the neck of the Chitari, my knives slicing the wires in one smooth motion. I jumped back just as the metal beast's brother tried to take me down with a side punch. He tried to turn to attack me, and then suddenly jerked to a halt. I looked over to see skeletal hands, clinging to its feet, driving the automation into the ground. I slit the wires quickly, happy for once to see the son of Hades glowing a dark red color. 

        I heard the sizzling behind me as I took down yet another Chitari, and glanced over to see a row of them go down with a crackling pop! Jase had fried their wires. Perfect. I mentally reminded myself to stay away from him. A quick look at the rest of the crew mid-fight proved to show me what I already knew. We were weak, tired, worn, and bleeding, and who knew how many more Chitari were coming? We didn't have what was now seven minutes, we didn't even have four. If this kept up, we were likely to all be killed before the rest of the dome shattered.

        Another shard of ice broke free, and rained down on Coulson and Ward. Coulson deflected it, but Ward leaned towards it eagerly, and the sharp pieces slit open his bonds. He leaped to his feet, his eyes dead set on me. I dug both daggers into the open slots in the Chitari's back, and as he spun, I held on and let the momentum take me around and over, kicking others out of the way in the process. I yanked both blades out and slit the wires in one quick process, my feet hitting the hard ground easily. Then I doubled over, my broken chest screaming in pain. My vision blurred red as I looked up at the man walking towards me.

        "You are a monster," Ward said over the chaos. He spread his arms, at ease despite the fact that several Chitari had taken in the sight of him and made him their target. He took them out one by one, and from watching him between cutting wires and jumping over fallen metal bodies, I knew that in my condition, I couldn't take him on. Jase suddenly let out a cry, and I swung towards him to see lightning literally racing down his arms as he took out another beast. When  I first heard the sound, I couldn't be sure that it wasn't the result of the metal crashing together. Then I heard the sound of pulsing yet again and I knew that somehow, Stark had made it here faster than he had thought.

        "It's about time!" Mack yelled.

        "I had to crash a party!" Stark retorted, and I covered my eyes as Chitari were blown to bits and pieces around me. 

        "Here!" Simmons' screamed. My head snapped to look at her to see Coulson unconscious, the blood now flowing freely. I pushed past the tangled mess, a sharp pain resonating in my side. The pain doubled and I tripped, gritting my teeth. I had been extra careful whilst moving to ensure that I hadn't nearly done anything that could made them worse, but it hadn't matter. Nico turned to Ward, who was ten steps from me now, and charged.

"Nico-" I didn't know whether he heard me or not, but if I knew one thing, it was that I refused to be that girl. Defying Coulson's orders, I shot a shard of ice out of my palm and pierced Ward's heart.

        I could hear a strangling whimper coming from someone, their breath ragged and torturous. I almost looked around to find out who before I realized that it was coming from myself. No one heard, though. Stark was hefting Coulson into his arms, and in the faint distance I could hear a chopper. A lightning bolt struck the ground nearby, and in the corner of my vision I could make out Thor, demanding to know what happened and if his son was alright. Simmons, May, Mack, and Fitz were working together to assess the damage and make their way out of the wreckage, and to the helicopter. I caught a flash of red, white, and blue before they disappeared into the back. We were out-we were safe. Everyone was being taken care of, being watched over. Everyone had someone at their side, helping them along as once again the world turned to a blur around me.

        Perhaps that was why it was di Angelo who saw me, my knees hitting the ground as I crumbled, the pain and loss of blood too much for me to bear. It only makes sense, I thought, He doesn't have anyone looking after him. Then I remembered the wedding invitation as I smelled dirt and blood. Yes, he does. Even the son of Hades has someone who cares about him. 

        "It's ok," I heard myself murmur to him. His shouts were far away. 

"I'm used to it." I told him.

        Then the rest of the dome shattered to shards above us.