(1)The Avengers: The Lost Goddess

25

The plan was simple: there wasn't one. No one knew what to expect. We didn't know who he had standing with him; whether himself or a whole army, who knew.

"Everyone suit up. We've got a bad guy to catch," Clint ordered.

It was weird to see everyone in battle mode. No one was joking or messing around. Instead, they all obeyed Clint and quietly suited up. I sat patiently and waited. Tony was the first to finish and he quickly ran over to me.

"I didn't mean it, I didn't."

"I get it, Mr. Stark. It was an act."

"Yes but I still feel bad. I didn't know it was leaving my mouth until it did."

"I'm not worrying about that right now. Promise me something."

I turned towards him and grabbed his hand.

"If I am anywhere near the edge of a building, just please be ready."

"For what?"

"I don't know!" I took a breath and said quieter, "I don't know, but please just be ready."

"Of course."

A few more people came back to the living room and I dropped Tony's hand. We waited until everyone was ready, then waited for Fury to speak.

"Let's go bring Jacob in."

The city, though just as busy at night, seemed rather quiet. We walked the streets in small, separate groups, using what little shadows we could find as cover.

"Do you have any idea where he may be, Celestial?" Tony's voice came from beside me and also through my earpiece.

"Any time we ever talked about New York, he had a certain fascination with Times Square."

"Like father like son, huh?" Natasha's voice came through our earpieces.

"I guess we head that way. Group one, come in on the North side, group two, south. We'll come in on the west and everyone else fan out and take the East and cover us," Tony ordered.

Sure enough, the closer we came to Times Square, chaos erupted. I watched in horror as something struck one of the billboards. The image flickered before going black. Sparks showered the street below as the billboard started to fall from the building.

"The billboard!" I managed to yell.

Then I was running, leaving everyone behind me. There were people underneath the billboard. I sprinted harder than I ever had before as my heart threatened to burst out of my chest. Anxiety ripped through my chest and I had the wild urge to just cry my eyes out.

I reached the people before the billboard had fully pulled away from the building. Everyone was screaming, but fear kept them rooted to the spot.

"Let's go! Get out of the way."

I started pushing everyone to get them to move and finally I got some results. They all fled, hopefully leaving Times Square completely, right as the billboard let go of the building. I dove and rolled out of the way just in time. It crashed to the ground throwing debris everywhere.

Suddenly, there were arms under mine, pulling me back.

"Are you crazy?! Leave the people to us!" Tony yelled at me.

"Sorry but you didn't move fast enough."

He pulled me up and dropped me on my feet. I glared up at him, imagining that I was staring him down. But his helmet made it impossible; I looked away.

"Leave the people to us, go find Jacob!"

He blasted off, leaving me alone. I felt like I was a little kid that had just been scolded for breaking something. Nevertheless, I put that all aside and continued towards Jacob.

He was in the middle of Times Square, visible electricity swirling around him. Jacob seemed to be laughing, watching the few people he had managed to capture.

"Jacob!" I yelled, standing my ground.

He turned to look at me and something changed. His smile turned from normal to downright bone chilling.

"My favorite redhead."

"What are you doing here, Jacob? Why are you doing this?"

He mercilessly dropped his captives then took two steps towards me.

"I'm here to avenge my father. You killed him like he was no more than a small bug."

"Jacob, we've been over this. I didn't mean to. I had no control over my powers then. The Avengers needed help and my powers took over."

"Bullshit!"

I flinched. His electricity flickered and sizzled as he came closer to me. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I was sure Jacob could sense my fear.

"Where's your little friends?" he asked. "Too busy being heroes and saving the innocents, huh?"

He was right in front of me now. I closed my eyes as he lightly grabbed my chin, forcing my head up.

"Open your eyes, my love."

I slowly opened my eyes and looked right into his green ones. He made my blood turn cold and my breath catch in my throat.

"Do you remember our dance?"

How could I not? He grabbed me so hard and basically forced me to dance with him.

"Shall we finish it?"

"Jacob, stop."

I pulled away from him and that was the wrong thing to do. He grabbed at me, pulling me by the arm towards the middle of the square.

"Avengers!" his voice boomed across Times Square, "I have your precious girl here. If you want her, come get her."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and shot into the air. Since when could he fly? We were almost out of Times Square when I felt something wrap around my leg. I looked down to see a web trailing behind me. There was a split second where Jacob and I looked at each other with complete surprise, then I was being pulled out of his arms.

Free falling is not fun. My stomach went into my toes and my heart went into my throat. I couldn't even scream because gravity seemed to be pushing and pulling on my chest, causing the scream to catch in my throat.

Then I hit something hard and I was no longer falling. I opened my eyes to see Thor.

"Quite the fall, Celestial."

"Please put me down. Flying is not my favorite thing."

He gently brought me to the ground where I stumbled a bit until I had my footing again. I could see Jacob, circling above Times Square. We should've been afraid of losing him, but he had what he wanted now: us.

I was terrified. I had never had to prepare for a battle. Every single one I've been in (which was two before) have been spur of the moment things. Preparing sucked. Honestly, I'm starting to believe I do better unprepared.

"Fine. If that's how you want to play, meet me at your headquarters. The party has just started."

He blasted off in the direction of the Avengers building. Tony flew in beside me, looking into the sky.

"What do they want there?"

My blood froze and I suddenly felt like passing out.

"Me."

"But you're here—"

"Mr. Stark, now is when you should be prepared."