Chapter 8: A late rescue

I think it's been three days that I've been trapped down here, the only way I've been able to tell is because I'm so thirsty. My tongue feels like a dead weight and my head ache's so bad. My thoughts have been the same for the past three days, or for however long, since I woke up: why isn't anyone here? Where is everybody? Shouldn't CSI have been here at least or something?

Luckily Loki hasn't bothered me since he's been looking at his 'map' or whatever it is… It looks like a 3D model of some random planets hanging in mid air. The background looks like clouds of dust in space, with stars dotted around them in inky blackness.

I'm not allowed to speak, learning that the first time when I asked him what that map thingy was, only asking out of pure awe, not even realising I had even spoken until he came over and hit me in the eye.

I can't really see out of that eye now. That hit made me fall on my back and hit my head off of the cold concrete floor. Everything sort of has a slant to it now and I can't focus on anything. I really need my glasses, urgh I sound like Velma from Scooby doo. My eyesight hasn't been too bad only a little fuzziness, but I…

I think I'm going to die.

No.

I know it…

If I'm even saved, and they use a top notch doctor, there's still the infection, blood loss, dehydration and frostbite to deal with… it all hurts so much…and it's all his fault. He's just been staring at that stupid planet thing and when he hasn't been studying he goes… insane. He starts talking to himself about random things then he starts accusing me of hiding the tesseract and starts beating me or reopening my wounds.

My legs are already gone, not even a little wiggle of my toes is possible.

"Where is it?" the hiss of his voice is the same as a kettle whistling on the stove. Crap, I think he's going insane again, he's rocking on the balls of his feet whilst squatting, running his gritty hands, (well hand) through his black matted hair. Luckily he's looking at his stupid map still.

I think I'll have to crawl over to the drip of water coming through the roof of the bunker soon. Maybe I can lick the slow forming puddle for my thirst. But the pressure on my chest was worsening, it felt like after each breath something tightened around my heart and felt harder to even try to breath.

Seriously where are the guys from CSI?

Bruce's P.O.V

He was so happy he didn't have to let the Other Guy out. This time.

But at the same time he wanted to make sure everything was okay with the guys. Still he was in contact with the team and was considered the last line of defence and assistant to medic team.

The cold night air already left cold dew on the dark green grass; the field around them had nothing of interest. He never thought a field so ordinary could hide something so dark. An old German bunker lay underneath that had been used mainly in the 60s, which than after a decade, for some reason, had been abandoned. Until Loki had used it as his base when he was plotting to take over New York.

"Hey Brucey you there?" he smiled as he heard his friend over the intercom.

"Yeah, I'm here Tony, you guys all suited up" he answered back whilst setting up the feed to the laptop, which would connect to Tony's suit helmet, so he would see what was happening as well.

"Pretty much, except Caps still trying to fit into his tights…" static interrupted Tony's sentence, probably Cap yelling at him.

Hmm, only a few days ago they were all only at the tower, relaxing in the Rec room. Cap playing pool with Natasha. Tony reading the newspaper on the burgundy, soft leather sofa. That's when the bag of crazy entered their lives, again.

They were all called into the meeting by Fury, as soon as Thor had explained the situation in Asgard. On how the Tesseract had become unstable, then finding Loki's cell empty the next day. Intelligence had been gathered all over the world after the alert had been sent out, when the threat of Loki was present, it was better to seek help then trying to sort it out themselves, unlike last time.

MI6 had sent Shield something rather interesting, the following day. As Fury presented it to them.

"This was sent to us by MI6, just a few hours ago" Fury's voice was more dreading and dark than usual. Wearing his usual outfit that Bruce often thought was a mix between an emo and those old fashion detectives' outfits from the 70s. Fury typed a small sequence of buttons on the little silver laptop near a small table right next to the large screen. Soon a picture popped on the screen with a small ping sound. It was an enhanced picture of a bird's eye view of a large field, the earth was scorched black. There were traces of white lines that made him think of a football field maybe? But there was a large brown scar running across the field the whole length.

"At first we assumed that it was just a usual meteorite crash, but then they ran a few test, and found that it had the exact radiation signature as the tesseract" he then pressed another button on the laptop, which brought up two graphs of line frequencies. The top one was labelled as the one they found traces of at the crash site; the bottom was labelled as the original signal of the Tesseract. When synched up on the screen, they were both identical.

"They then did a hundred mile radius search of the houses, dorms and the school in that area and came up short"

"Where exactly was the crash site?" Cap asked while adjusting himself on the padded, dark grey, semi-circled couch, which ran the length of the room.

"The crash site is on the Football field of the Lancaster University, North-West of England…" he paused to evaluate the room for any more questions "…As I said we came up short, so the next day they investigated which students were missing from lessons. After following up on those students, they came up with one name" Another click and ping of the laptop in the silent room. This time a face appeared on the screen.

A, girl.

A young, girl.

Her long blond hair was a shade or two lighter than Thor's, it looked untamed and un-styled in the photo. Her skin pale, but on the verge of becoming cream coloured. Freckle's dotted her high cheekbones and ridge of her nose. Her eyes were a dark striking green that jumped out more than anything else. Bruce wasn't sure if it was a smudge on the photo or something else but he noted a sliver of silver in her left eye. Her glasses were black and in a modern ray ban young kids style shape. Her lips a pale pink colour, small in size and perky.

Her profile screamed shy.

The picture, obviously, was taken from a passport or driver's license, because of the scene-less background.

She doesn't look dangerous…

"Officially declared missing yesterday" immediately everyone assumed the worst, it was in their faces, that this innocent looking girl had taken the Tesseract and had tried to keep or sell it. And because she had it, somebody had come after her. Maybe because everyone has seen the worst in people, because of what they do, they all deal in seeing evil face to face…and they know that sometimes it comes in unlikely packages.

But he didn't think that was happening this time. She just didn't have that evil vibe.

But of course, he couldn't say that to Fury.

"Katie Worthington, originally from Worcester raised in the Royal Albert Orphanage. Parents deceased by car accident. No criminal record." He slapped down the cream coloured folder that contained aspects of the girl's life. Everyone became still in contemplation as they all stared at the folder.

Except Clint.

"Shouldn't we be focusing on Loki rather than some girl?" His eyes were hardened and edge-like. Focused on one task. Probably killing Loki for hypnotising him.

"We are, but we're more concerned that he may have a hostage…" His eyes bore into Clint's, and even the assassin had to look away "…I have decided all your assignment's in the quickest way to find and capture Loki with the minimal amount of loss of life. Agent Romanov and Agent Barton, you will be working together to form a strategy for the capture of Loki, for all possible probabilities."

"Yes sir" they both replied in perfect union.

"Thor you can help them by identifying where Loki might go, in these circumstances." Bruce hadn't really looked at Thor since the start of the meeting. He gave a small smile and a nod to Fury, even though he looked grief-stricken and worried more than anything else. Maybe the reason Bruce hadn't looked at Thor was because he didn't want to be reminded that one of his friend's, brother was the one who had killed thousands of people and caused so much misery.

Thor was reminded of that every single day.

"Bruce" snapping away from that thought, he looked at Fury "you worked last time on finding the Tesseract's signal, we want you to do that again" moving on before Bruce could even answer.

"Stark will be providing technology in detection and team equipment." Before Tony could protest, Fury had turned to Cap.

"Cap, you will be overseeing the whole operation, and reporting everything to me." Upon the end of that sentence he stormed out of that room, leaving the storm that was in that meeting room to stir.

The look Clint had, after Fury left, would give Bruce nightmares.

"You still there, Brucey?" He was jolted back to the present by his friend's voice. Just remembering why his friend had been taken off air.

"Yeah, hehe, I guess Cap whipped you good, what's going on at your end?"

"No, his tights were chaffing him too much, not that he couldn't do much damage… they're just setting up the explosives" Bruce smiled when he noticed the way that Stark's voice went quiet when he was talking about Cap.

Natasha and Clint had found it would be best to get the tesseract first, before anything else, so Loki couldn't use it as a weapon or quick getaway. So getting it the quickest way possible was key.

That's why they needed the explosives.

They would blow a section of at least 25 feet away, so they wouldn't cause rubble to collapse onto the Tesseract. Also they would do a life sign check over the area they're going to blow. If they killed Loki, he'd hate to think what Thor would do…

"Ok guys, we all ready?" Cap's voice sounded calm and focused, almost hard-edged. He heard his team over the radio reply with yeses and check's. Then he replied.

"Of course" the smile upon Bruce's face held no positive feeling, only grim anticipation.

"Okay guy's we count down from 20" the fear from his assigned medical team was palpable in the cold night air. Probably their first mission. When he had found the signal, Fury wanted him as the reinforcement, if necessary, and help out with the medical team.

"10…9 …"

Cap was trying to hold off from going in as much as possible. To revisit the nightmare.

"7…6…."

Tony's ragged breath was too loud over the radio. He wished he could be near his friend and offer some comfort.

"4…3…2" it was almost like every breath ever breathed in the world was being replayed over the radio.

"1"

OC P.O.V

I'm dead.

No I'm not.

Another large puddle was forming underneath my torso. Over the old puddle of dried and congealed blood, that was already there.

It had to be his un-natural magic keeping me alive. No way should I still be alive after losing so much blood.

The latest wound had been inflicted by him after he had stared at his map for long enough, he had dug his nails, his fricken nails! Into me. Just underneath my belly button, he tore open a scratch around the size of 25 centimetres.

But I guess it doesn't matter anymore. I'm losing too much blood; my vision is getting blurry and darkening and now a real bad pounding in my head and ears.

Wait…

That's not my head…

The ground began shaking. After literally tearing me a new one, Loki had gone into the corner and started staring at the wall. However, now he had been flung onto his back by the shaking, covering his ear with his right hand. His left stump not really doing anything except being flung about across his body.

…

It had stopped now. I could tell because Loki was sitting up.

"Hahahahahaha" laughter erupted out of him, his head tilting back. It was full and dark, such an evil sound. It was the very dictionary definition of a maniacal laugh. His gangrenous back was in full view. Oh god I think there is some maggots in there.

"I guess the army is at the gate" his head twisting back, staring, eyes wide at me. We both scrambled, me, away from him, him, up and toward me.

Guess who won.

"GET UP!" yellow fangs protruded from the cave of his mouth.

"I can't" my voice hoarse from the lack of water, barely audible.

Unhearing, he lifted me onto my feet, against my screams. Holding me to him, can't stand on feet, legs are gone. Head throbbing, cloudy vision, all I can do is hear.

THUMP

My chest is beating so hard it's moving.

There is a scraping noise…it's my pumps moving against the floor, because Loki is carrying me.

THUMP

The pressure on my chest was worsening with the added force of Loki's arms. Murky blackness clouded my eyesight only allowing me to see straight ahead.

THUMP

"LOKI!" The voice was thick and had a strange accent to it. I felt my stomach tightened, somebody was here, and I'm not going to be on my own. Wait, that voice, it was… Thor's. He never usually gave interviews, camera shy apparently, but they recorded his voice when the attack on New York was happening. It was as clear as day.

THUMP-THUMP

"Ahh Thor, I see the dog Odin sent you to bring me home" And there he is, or there they are. I can only make out their blurry colours and outlines, but I know it's them.

And I'm in the cross fire.

Tony's P.O.V

He was soooo going to have a drink after this.

The thought of facing Loki again had sent him into a spiral of secretive binge drinking and sleepless nights, he almost asked Fury if he could be part of the back-up, that was until he found out about the girl. Knowing his team, they would do something wrong if he wasn't there. So it was only logical he, the smartest person in the team, would be in the assault.

Now that he was here, he only thought they should've got here quicker.

"Bruce were going to need you to ready with the medical team now" he didn't even realise he had been speaking until he saw the inter-com light go off in his helmet.

The girl looked like road kill.

Long jagged cuts wrapped along her frail body. Black dried flesh was on her arms and legs, dangling off, white pus leaked out of every crevasse.

"Loki… what have you done?" Thor's eyes were wide and fully staring at the limp girl in Loki's arms. Head rolled back. How long did she have to scream, Tony wondered.

"I will not go back" his reply was quiet and haunting. He seemed to lift the girl higher; causing her eyes to pop open wide. She had been crying. But this proved that she was still alive and… that Loki was using her for his own shield.

"J.A.R.V.I.S how effective is the new separator projector" he whispered it to the intercom, Loki looked like a frightened animal with wide startled eyes, he didn't dare spook him any further.

"It's only effective in sending the enemy and hostage a few feet apart, and might have the effect of throwing one of them more than a few feet apart if it's not timed correctly, sir" JARVIS's voice held a tone of stressed worry, but thankfully was quiet.

"We'll have to try" statistics and percentages showed up on his screen, whilst Tony was wearingly watching Loki.

"Loki I'm giving you one chance, give the girl to us and give yourself up, and we'll send you back to Asgard, safe and sound" Cap's voice was loud and hard edged. What an idiot, Tony thought, he should at least have a gun when threatening a crazy alien guy.

Loki's hand reached up to the girl's throat, which started to make her croak out words, almost inaudible… but not quite.

"Help…pl…please…"

A rage took hold inside of him, now there was no way Loki was going to hurt that girl in front of him like this. All those people in New York, Katie was not going to be another statistic caused by Loki.

"Everyone get back"

OC p.o.v

Oh my god, they came, the Avengers.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

And I'm still wearing a Captain America T-shirt.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

Oww, my chest aches so bad. It seems to be tightening every time I take a breath. Their blurry shapes lacked any definitive edges, but I can still see things like Iron man's chest plate and the thing rising out of his right shoulder.

BANG

Something pushed me forward, slowly turning my head (because of the rigid pain in my neck, probably caused by sleeping on a concrete floor for three days) Loki was crumpled on the floor, leaning against the wall, looking barely conscious.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP

Ugh, I feel woozy. Wait if Loki is over there and he isn't holding me up, that means I'm…

Standing

Oh thank god, I haven't lost my legs.

The tightness in my chest ugh can't breathe.

CAN'T BREATH

Keeling over, oh god, my hands are clawing at my chest.

"Hey, you okay?" I never heard a voice so full of concern, looking up into the most clearest blue eyes of Captain America, his blue mask covering the top half of his face, I felt hopeful, his hand on my shoulder was painful.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THU…

The tightness in my chest, feels like a dagger in my chest and somebody just twisted it.

But now my vision cleared, allowing to me to see them, the Avengers, in all their glory. Oh god, what a time to be star-struck.

The pressure in my chest expanded, causing spasms to pass through my body, like an uncontrollable, painful wave.

CRUNCH

My back hit the wall, like some incredible force had thrown me against the wall. And it didn't seem like I was the only one, all the Avengers had been thrown aside by some invisible force. My vision was darkening, god I hope they're alright. Don't let Loki get me…

"HAAHAAAAHAAAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH…"

Darkness…

Hey guys, sorry so late, kind of lost my memory stick. But chapters should come quicker now. Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Reviews welcome.