To Love A God

Panic

Rika's breath caught and her heart stopped when she felt Loki stop breathing.

"Loki?" she said the desperation clear in her voice, "Loki! No. No, no, no, no, no! You can't be dead. You're not dead! Wake up!"

When he did nothing she laid him flat on his back and felt for his pulse. 

Rika felt nothing.

No, she thought as her heart raced banging against her rib cage, no this can't be happening.

She tilted his head back and began to give him CPR. She put her mouth to his and breathed in, leaning back to press over his heart.

"You can't do this to me, damn you!" she screamed as she leaned in again.

"I can close it," Rika heard through static and chopped transmission from the ear bud she had forgotten about in her ear, it was Romanoff, "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" she heard Rogers' order.

"No, wait," Stark interrupted.

"Stark, these things are still coming," Rogers added.

"I got a nuke coming in," Stark told them, "It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

Rika's heart leapt, the battle was almost over.

"Loki, did you hear that!" Rika said as more tears streamed down her face, "We've almost won!"

He still did not move.

Chitauri were surrounding them again, but Rika didn't have the energy to stop them. When she and Beskyttelse had Joined and used all the elements at once, it had drained her of every ounce of strength she had left. The only thing keeping her going now was the panic she was filled with. She leaned over Loki's unmoving body, shielding him with her own as at least fifty of the Chitauri gathered around them, weapons up and trained on them.

All of sudden she saw the Iron Man fly overhead and small seed of joy blossomed in her chest. The fight was almost over. Then she heard the explosion above her from the direction of Stark Tower and all of the Chitauri around them dropped.

Rika held her breath, unsure of what to do, and looked up toward the portal and saw it beginning to close. 

Tony, she thought, he gave his life for us.......

Then she saw a tiny speck falling from the sky.

"Tony!" she screamed when she realized he was free falling.

She looked down at Loki, her mind racing. She had to get to the others, they could help her and Loki, but how was she to get to them?

'I will help,' she heard Beskyttelse gently and she felt the strength leech into her body, 'Now, pick him up. We will go to the others. They will help us.'

"But I'm not strong enough," Rika countered.

'You have strength enough for this,' Beskyttelse soothed Rika.

 Rika grabbed Loki by his armor and lift him over her shoulder. It wasn't as hard as she had thought it would be, but it wasn't easy either. She could feel the strength leaving her the longer she took.

She started running. She didn't know how many blocks she was from the others, but she had to get to them fast.

"Hang on, baby," Rika panted as she bounded over the bodies of the fallen Chitauri, "I'll get you to help."

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When she came around the corner she saw the hulk standing over Tony, with Thor and Roger's standing around him.