Loki: Winds of Winter

Chapter 22 - The Frostborns vs the Avengers

Rhaenar ran his hands along the trashed servers and computer desktops. Ragna was standing a few feet away from him, Frostskader stuck in the ground in front of her. Her hands gripped the hilt and she watched her brother. "Got anything yet?" she queried.

"Be patient! Midgardian technology is difficult to trace after it's been destroyed like this. Why don't you work your magic on it.  Oh, that's right, you don't have any," Rhaenar prodded as he continued to allow his magic to leech out of his fingers and into the wrecked servers. Ragna grinned and was just reaching into a concealed pocket when she tilted her head to the side.

"Hurry up. We've got company," Ragna informed her brother as she slid her mask up her face and she drew Frostskader from the ground. Rhaenar decided to keep doing what he was doing in favor of letting his sister deal with the first wave. Ragna stepped towards the entrance, waiting and listening. "Come out, come out wherever you are," she said in a sing-song tone of voice. A flash of light like a bullet came shooting towards her and Ragna sliced it in half with Frostskader. She rolled away and waited for another attack. This time, it was a small missile. Ragna dodged it and watched as it destroyed an entire wall.

"You can't keep them away?!" Rhaenar challenged.

"Just keep doing all your vodoo and leave me to my business," Ragna countered. That was when a figure came streaking into the room in shiny red and gold. Ragna saw him coming and she swung Frostskader.

"F*ck!" cursed a voice in the suit as it went down, a gaping slice in the armor.

"What the hell, Tony? What is that sword made out of that it can take you out of the air?" another voice asked as a second figure in a silver-grey suit flew into the room. Ragna glared at him and reached for a knife hidden in her armguards.

"The chick holding the sword should stop you! Why are you asking me what the damn thing's made out of?!" the first man exclaimed as he stood up. Ragna just grinned before she closed her eyes and frowned.

"An Infinity stone," she muttered, spinning around and staring into the bright eyes of a man with burgundy skin and a yellow cape, who was hovering behind her.

"Vision! You inside her head yet?" War Machine asked as he circled around them and turned his attention to Rhaenar.

"She is blocking me. I cannot get inside her head," Vision stated, just as confused as everyone else by this. Ragna pointed her sword at him.

"You carry the blight; the curse upon my father. I'll pay special attention to you," she said before a grin spread across her face.

"What is she talking about?" Iron Man asked as he stumbled against the wall.

"How am I supposed to know when I can't read her thoughts?" Vision posed back before he dodged one of Ragna's strikes. That was when she lashed out at Vision with her dagger and it went through his body. Meanwhile, War Machine tried to target Rhaenar as he continued to try to magically extract information from the trashed servers. Archmage sensed the approaching colonel and simply flicked his wrist.  A tendril of green magic departed from the destroyed servers and wrapped itself around War Machine's body.  

"What the-?!" he started to ask before he was thrown into the floor.  "He didn't even turn to look at me!"

"Magic?  I hate magic," Iron Man stated as his head turned from side to side.  He did not know who to focus on: the magical kid, or the warrior chick.  She seemed pretty content to stick to Vision and was attempting to take a piece out of him.  Vision had never seen hate in anybody's eyes directed at him, but he saw it in this girl's eyes.  She wanted to kill him and they had never met before.  Suddenly, she spun herself around and presented her back to him.  The maneuver confused him and he froze, in more ways than one.  That gave Ragna time to land a solid elbow to his chest, sending him flying backward.  Vision hit the wall and Ragna followed up with a knee to where his solar plexus would have been, causing him to curl in on himself.

"Vision!" Iron Man called and he flew in.  Ragna turned and released a knife.  The weapon struck Tony's shoulder and sent him careening off course.  Ragna turned back just as Vision was able to faze through the wall behind him and escape her clutches.  Ragna growled, her skin shifting blue and her fangs extending.  When she spun around, Vision was about to punch her in the face.  Instinctively, she brought Frostskader up, and the artificial intelligence struck the flat of the blade with his enhanced, vibranium fist.  The power forced the both of them to fall.  Ragna spun away and saw that Rhaenar still dealing with the servers and fending War Machine off.

"This kid is good, Tony!  I can't touch him," War Machine said as he tried to fire bullets at him but they bounced off an invisible magical barrier.  

"Don't aim for him.  Aim for the ground he's standing on," Tony suggested.  Rhodey took note of that and launched his next missile at the ground beneath Rhaenar's feet.  The young sorcerer felt the compromised floor under him and he pulled away, finally abandoning his task.  He released an array of ice darts.

"Shit!" War Machine cursed as he had to take shelter to avoid being skewered.  Ragna dodged them and was soon standing by her brother's side.

"Open a portal now!" she ordered.  Rhaenar swung his hands in a circular motion and a green portal surrounded them.  They both looked at the mortals who were standing before them.  "You need us!" she hissed before they vanished.

"Where did they go?  What did she mean by that?" Rhodey asked as his faceplate slid up.  Tony's did the same and Vision just stood there, staring at where the portal had been a second ago.  Tony glanced down and saw the dagger laying on the ground, the one which had taken him in mid-flight.  He examined it.

"Friday, scan and identify," he said.

"Scan completed, boss.  The dagger is made from a rare form of obsidian, and I am detecting traces of an unknown element," the mechanical voice responded.

"What unknown element?  It's obsidian," Tony stated.

"Mystical, boss.  There's a mystical element to this dagger.  Some might even call it magic," Friday retorted.  Tony snorted and flipped the dagger over, to see a design carved into the hilt on the opposite side.  "Scan of the sigil complete.  Not from any database of earth.  However, the carving near the handle is familiar," Friday pointed out.  That was when Tony's faceplate came back down and the picture appeared before his eyes.  It showed a copy of the hilt of the dagger in his hand, and an image of Loki from Stuttgart.  The two were exactly the same!  The sigil was Loki's horned helmet! 

"Shit!" Tony cursed.