Wounds, 2/2. PG-13
Title: Wounds
Series: #24 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight, #15 - Not The First Time, #16 - Friendly Fire, #17 - Relieved, #18 - Release, #19 - Never Noticed, #20 - How You Live And Breathe, #21 - Love, #22 - Do You Wanna Die?, #23 - Many Ways)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13 due to violence and language
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Bucky, Clint/Darcy
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU. References events in prior stories, PTSD, violence.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups.
Summary: Planning and executing an attack against a magical vampire interested in devastating worlds... Yep. Another day in the world of our heroes.
Previous chapter:
One - Preparation
Two - The Devil's Bridge
The Sedona landscape contained beautiful hills, rocky ledges and enough geomantic elements to resemble a temple for those who were spiritually inclined. Many New Age adherents had flocked to the city over the years, adding to the artsy element in the city. Dr. Strange had provided a map of the city and the surrounding area, circles, lines and odd symbols dotting it. The ley lines between major geologic formations formed a five pointed star and a six pointed star; if both were enclosed in circles, the two circles met at a specific point not too far from Airport Mesa. Devil's Bridge was in the center of the six pointed star.
The Bridge itself was the tallest natural sandstone arch, and one of the more popular hikes in the area. It was usually dotted with people, which would make a supernatural battle particularly difficult to do in broad daylight. The trail to the Bridge split into two, one going to the base of the bridge, and one going to the top; the upper trail also had a natural stone staircase that was fairly steep, but allowed people to walk atop the arch. Midday was usually the busiest, so Dr. Strange suggested early morning or late in the evening; the sunlight wouldn't matter, but there wouldn't be as many hikers around to take in the view.
Bursting with energy, Loki had transported the entire assemblage to the plateau beside Devil's Bridge about three hours after sunset. The trails were deserted, as the temperatures had started to precipitously drop and the lack of light would have made navigating rock formations or dry creek beds dangerous. Everyone had dressed for the cold, and were startled by Loki sending up shimmering globes of light that hung suspended in a rough circle around where they would have to be. "You all need to see with your eyes," he declared loftily, that odd resonance still in his voice. His gaze fell to Natasha, standing beside the others with her nanomesh armor and weapons. "It will all be over soon, I promise."
"I trust you," she said.
The startled look on his face made him seem almost human for a moment, a pleased smile growing on his face. When the human mages began the chant to create the summoning seal, the smile gradually faded and his eyes grew distant again.
Wanda looked at Carol at her side. "Get ready."
There was a faint hum and a glowing light on the ground in the shape of the seal set into the attic window of Dr. Strange's home. The very air around all of them seemed to be charged with static electricity; Tony, Pepper, Rhodey and James looked around uneasily as static and miniature lightning bolts formed around the seal, but none of it arced out to strike any of the armor or the metal arm. The dust on the ground began to kick up and swirl as if a tornado was caught inside the glowing boundary. The five human mages seemed to have frozen still, not even chanting, their eyes glowing bright white.
"This doesn't look good," Carol murmured, frowning at the sight. "We would've been warned about that, wouldn't we?"
Reaching one hand out toward them, Wanda looked up toward Loki's figure floating above them all. "Start the lockdown, Loki! Now!"
His entire body seemed to carry the same white glow, and then it radiated outward from him as if the magic exploded. As soon as the light cleared, Loki was nowhere to be seen.
Wanda focused on the five mages arranged around the seal where the points of a pentagram would be. Her hands glowed red, and she wiggled her fingers to tease apart the threads of their magic. Bound at the very center of it was Selene, who was deftly weaving the magic around the mages, trapping them within their own binding, allowing her to ignore them. Likely it was so that she could devour them later.
"I've got you," Wanda muttered, lips curling into a smile. She gathered the edges of the spells that had been cast, which had woven around the five casters, and then shoved it down deeply into the center of the seal. It flared bright red for everyone to see, outlining the lithe shape inside the tornado, long black hair whipping about in the wind. "Selene Gallio, you are tethered to this plane."
The wind abruptly died, and Selene stood there, feet hovering an inch above the ground. Her hair was straight and fell nearly to her waist. She was still in a black corset, knee high black boots, and black leggings, but this time she had no cape. Her skin was milk white, her eyes empty white orbs as she took in the assemblage around her.
"Pathetic," she declared, lips curling into a sneer. She didn't seem to see Wanda or Carol, only the Avengers and all of the Asgardian warriors gathered around her. "You cannot destroy me. You are incapable of such things."
"Big talk from someone that hides in the shadows," Clint said, releasing an arrow. Its head was cold iron; while it was only a fairy tale that said it would harm fairies or magic users, he had gotten a handful of arrow heads forged from the material just in case.
The arrow slid through her skin, causing her to snarl in pain. "I will kill you all like the ridiculous peasants you are and take the magic of this world. No more teasing your pathetic world, I'll take it for my own!"
"Oh, please," Tony scoffed, kicking off the ground. Beside him, Pepper and Rhodey did the same in their armor. All three were poised to start attacking with repulsor blasts, and Rhodey also had rockets installed and armed. "Like sucking down magic from millions of miles away will really get you all of the magic of the Runestaff."
"You ignorant fool-"
Tony let loose with a massive repulsor blast. That was the signal for the others to join in, and the circle of Asgardians closed in. They had to duck and weave between the still forms of the mages, but their swords and lances easily nicked Selene's skin. While she was distracted by the physical attacks and had to defend herself from them, Wanda dug through the layers of spells to find Selene's spá in order to unravel it. Even finding it in this mess of spellcraft and energy was difficult, and she sagged with the effort several times. Carol caught her, hands aglow with her own cosmic energy, and the contact was enough to keep Wanda upright and able to focus on the complicated spells woven into Selene's body. The constant attacks, parries and strikes from the melee and ranged fighters meant that Selene had to expend energy to heal the damage or retaliate, keeping her from noticing Wanda rooting around in the background.
Selene let loose a roar of fury and then dove straight at a knot of three warriors. Her hands were clenched into fists, each surrounded by a glow of bright white magic fire. One of the warriors managed to get his shield up before her fist could hit his face; the shield instantly turned to ash and dissipated in his hands. He stumbled and fell forward. The trajectory of her fist meant that it went right into his chest, burning a hole through him. The fire spread outward from the hole her fist made, until his entire body turned to a pile of ash, the magic fire around her fist sparking blue as she absorbed his life energy.
As she did so, his two shieldmates stabbed her with spear and sword, skewering her in the process. Another group of three came in behind her with their swords, one of them neatly severing her spinal cord. Selene roared in pain, making everyone flinch. It felt as though the earth shook, rocks falling down the staircase on the other side of Devil's Bridge.
Wanda used the distraction to dive deep through the layers of spells that made up Selene's physical being and shred them. It was a haphazard cutting, severing connections and weavings that had taken her millennia to forge. "Don't let me fall," she whispered to Carol. No matter what happened around her, she had to keep digging, keep unweaving as she went. There was so much power, so many lives entwined, it would be easy to get distracted and sidetracked. It was hard enough as it was to recognize what was Selene and what wasn't an absorbed piece of magic or lifetime. Wanda had to go in to the very center of her, hoping to sever the connections that allowed Selene to absorb lives to heal herself and prolong her life.
When she found it, it was too late for the five warriors that had surrounded her.
They all collapsed into ash, and Selene's magic field flared with blue. Their brethren shouted in rage and the drive to avenge their brothers, throwing spears into her chest and back. Carol shouted and shifted her grip on Wanda, sending blasts of energy at Selene's head, snapping it backward from the sheer concussive force. The iron suited trio shot repulsor blasts at her, knocking her off the edge of the plateau.
Undaunted, Selene rose back up to the plateau with her magic, an unearthly wind whipping around her and pushing her hair back behind her like pennants. "Fools. You cannot harm me," she intoned, teeth bared in anger.
Clint shot a cold iron arrow at the center of her forehead in response. Spears from the Asgardians followed, and once she was again over ground, Pietro ran fast enough to strike her in the solar plexus and dart out of her reach before she was even aware he had struck her. "You didn't see that coming?" he taunted, grinning jauntily at her. If Wanda had been paying attention to her, she would have snickered in delight.
"I absorbed all the energies of multiple realms. Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, Muspelheim-"
"Jotunheim still has magic. Loki is Jotun, and you know he has magic," Natasha piped up.
Eyes narrowed, Selene leaned forward. "Impossible. I depleted the realm. There is no longer any magic on Jotunheim. And I will take it from you and I will take it from this realm. I will feed until there is nothing left."
Natasha laughed, shaking her head. "Selene, if you think I'm magic, you're sorely mistaken."
"You've denied your skill and craft, yet here you are. You stink of magic." She reached out for Natasha; once her hand crossed the barrier of the seal, the five mages all collapsed to the ground as one, like marionettes with their strings cut. They were all still breathing, and Selene didn't even bother to look in their direction. She was too fixated on Natasha.
Dancing away from her reach, Natasha remained calm. "I was dead. You killed me, remember? But the Queen of the Dead decided I was of more use to her here. Can you imagine the power that must be, to bring back the dead? To make me more than human?"
Selene paused, pondering her words. "What's to stop me from devouring you and ten other helpless mortals before I devour Helheim?"
"I couldn't stop you," Natasha agreed. "But why bother with crumbs if you can have the feast?"
"You just want to save your pathetic second life."
"Maybe. But I'm sure Queen Hel would give me another lifetime. She can give me as many as she wants, with as much power as she wants."
Contemplating that, Selene looked over Natasha, then suddenly grasped her by the throat and lifted her off of her feet. Selene turned her this way and that, rather like a collector would critically appraise a potential addition to the collection, then let go of her. She didn't say a word as she did so, and Natasha didn't speak or squirm in her grip. The preternatural patience paid off, and Selene dropped her to the ground with an arrogant air. "Fine. Show me Helheim."
"Loki knows how to get there. I was just dead." She shrugged and gave Selene a level look. "I never had to take a portal to get there."
Selene narrowed her eyes at Natasha, lips compressed, and then flicked her hand impatiently. A wave of power knocked Natasha to her feet, so that she was sprawled across the ground in front of Selene. She ignored the way the others around them were poised and ready to strike. "I will make my own way there."
"You can travel without the Bifrost?" Natasha asked, eyebrow raised. She didn't even bother to get up, not when Selene kept throwing her around to prove she was so powerful.
Snarling, Selene snapped her fingers. It brought Loki to her, pulling him through time and space from the closest location that she could find. Natasha found it odd to see him be yanked into the current plane of existence, as if he had been pulled by his chest through a narrow tube, his body inflating behind it once he was through it.
"You will create a way to Helheim so I may feast upon it." She gave him a serene smile. "And if you don't, I will begin with you."
Loki still wore the ten rings of power on his fingers, and he didn't cower in front of her. If anything, he smiled at her, all teeth and eerie confidence. "But of course, Selene."
Selene narrowed her eyes at him. "You can't even hope to defeat me, little boy."
"You want to meet Lady Hel, don't you?" he asked, voice hard and taunting. "I'm sure she's dying to meet you."
She reached out with her hands on fire, but Loki batted them away and sneered at her. "Did you really think you could best me? Me? When even those trained by the greatest mages and witches throughout time failed? You are nothing."
With a negligent swipe of her hand, Selene batted Loki across the chest with a burst of the flaming white magic. It didn't burn him, likely because of the rings he wore, though one of the protection bracelets he had made and was wearing turned to ash on his wrist. A warrior tried to throw a spear at her to draw her attention away from Loki; though most of them still considered Loki a traitor to Asgard, they understood that he was a necessary part of their plan to save Midgard and prevent Selene from attacking Asgard next. Unfortunately, that act drew her attention to him, and she sent a bolt of white fire at him. Though he brought his shield up to block it, the bolt turned it to ash and went through it. There was barely an instant for that fact to register as horror on his face before his entire body turned to ash and collapsed into a pile beside his companions.
"No, child," Selene told Loki smugly. "You are the one that is nothing. I don't need you to enter Helheim. I can do it myself."
"The ways are barred to all that are not dead," Loki said, pushing himself up to his hands and knees where he was knocked to the ground. Natasha held out a hand to him, and he did take it to stand up. There was an agitated look on his face, but James and Steve behind him made him feel a bit calmer. "Of course, I learned the secret ways to walk Yggdrasil."
"You will tell me."
Loki gave her an arrogant glance. "When I risked much to learn them? I think not."
"Loki," Thor snapped, flicking an anxious glance from him to Selene. "Now is not the time for your pride."
"On the contrary," he countered. "Now is very much the time."
"Stop this!" Sif shouted. "This isn't helping!"
Selene laughed. "Listen to your friends, little boy," she sneered. She reached out to grab Loki again, but he danced out of the way and floated up high above her head. There was a surprised look on her face that he could manage it, and she gathered her power to float up to his level. It visibly took more effort than it should have, and she frowned at Loki as if it was his fault. She ignored the mortals on the ground, a few of which were looking at Wanda anxiously. Wanda was oblivious to their stares, eyes focused solely on Selene, her fingers twitching and mouth moving noiselessly. Whatever she was doing appeared to be working, and some of them seemed to realize that Loki was stalling for time.
Thor and Sif were not among them, unfortunately.
"Do not antagonize this creature," Thor boomed at Loki. "Brother, this is not how we will stop her from destroying this realm!"
That drew Selene's attention. "Brother?" She laughed, an ugly and grating sound. "Well, then..."
Sif realized that Selene meant to grab Thor before he did, and she grasped a spear from the Asgardian near her. She threw it, catching Selene in the arm before she could duck out of the way or set it on fire. Pepper flew in and shot a blast at Selene's face as Tony came in from Selene's other side. "Sorry, psycho," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "That's our playmate. Go find your own."
That seemed to be a signal for the next volley of strikes, and Selene grasped the handle of the spear in her arm. Yanking it out, thick black blood oozed from the wound. None of her other wounds had bled in this manner, and Selene seemed to freeze at the sight of it. Then she turned and whipped the spear around, aiming for Sif, who was pushing Thor out of the way. Steve saw that, and hurled his shield at Selene as he made a dive for Sif.
Instead of hitting her, the spear impaled Steve's thigh and pinned him to the ground.
Natasha gave up shooting at Selene, who didn't seem to feel bullets. Clint shot regular arrows, and there were repulsor blasts and swords swung as Natasha ducked beneath them to get to Steve's side. James came from the opposite direction, and knelt nearby. Sif had a stricken expression, especially when Steve pulled at the fabric of his suit, growling in pain. The entry wound was ringed in a sickly black, a tarry substance coating the area where skin met spear shaft. There were also black veins radiating out from the wound, creeping beneath the untorn fabric. It almost looked like the veins faintly pulsed.
"I'm going to pull it out," Sif said, pain in her voice as she met Steve's gaze. She waited until he caught his breath and nodded.
Immediately, Natasha probed at the wound with her fingers, looking to see if there was some way she could try to cauterize it. The inky black mess had remained, even though it had pulled at the spear shaft as if trying to keep it from being removed. The tendrils waved around, and without any hesitation at all, she grabbed them with both hands and pulled.
Steve screamed with agony as Natasha struggled to remove the inky black substance trying to work its way into his body. James came behind her and grabbed her torso, pulling her and trying to give her more momentum.
It wasn't enough.
Loki appeared, crouching beside James. It kept him out of the line of sight of Selene, who was fending off the others' attacks. He appeared completely lucid, and grimaced at the sight of the black muck in Steve's wound. "You are right to fear this. Part of what makes her formidable is her very makeup. Darkness, like rot fallen off of the Tree, which does nothing but absorb life and light wherever it is found." Reaching out with one ringed hand, Loki grasped the sticky morass in his fist and yanked it out of Steve's wound.
Super soldier or not, it was more than Steve could take. He passed out as Natasha and James fell over backward. Sif looked about for anything to seal the wound, which now bled in awful spurts in time with Steve's heartbeat. Desperately, she tore at Steve's uniform to make a tourniquet, grasped the edges of her skirt to stem the bleeding as best as she could. Sif made terrified sobbing noises as she pressed down, eyes darting around to look for anything else she could use and keep Steve from dying.
The black muck in Loki's fist squirmed like a live thing, tendrils reaching out for the spreading pool of blood. "No," he said, voice still resonant with power. "You can't have him." He met Sif's terrified gaze, then turned to look at Natasha and James, both stricken and getting back into a seated position. "You can have me."
He swallowed the dark mass as Natasha shrieked for him not to. As soon as it went down his throat, Loki began to make choking noises. His eyes blacked over, and he bent over double, on hands and knees, coughing as if he had to get something lodged his throat out. Instead of trying to cough it out, he looked up, and tried twitching his fingers and whispering a few words in Allspeak. It must have worked, because Steve's blood stopped flowing out of the wound. As far as they could now tell, some of the spilled blood was trying to flow back into it.
Natasha came to Loki's side and put her arms around his shoulders. "You shouldn't have done that. You don't know what it will do!"
"It will let me get the heart," he rasped. "Without killing her before due time." The words were choked out, and to Natasha's, Sif's and James' horror, they could see a black tendril try to snake its way out of the corner of Loki's mouth. He slurped it back in and swallowed it down, even though it visibly made him ill.
"Right. No more talking, then," James declared, a hand over his stomach as if he was trying to keep his gorge down. For all the murder he had been forced to commit over the course of his lifetime, it was still difficult for him to stomach the worst that magic had to offer.
"I see you!" Selene boomed above them. Heedless of the oozing wounds she had been dealt, she swatted Tony right out of the sky as he blasted her with the unibeam.
"Tony!" Pepper shrieked inside the golden Rescue suit. She blasted Selene and dove in as she did so, clocking her right across the face with a perfect right hook before she dove down to catch Tony before he hit the plateau. Rhodey, in the meantime, shot a rocket at Selene's eyes so she wouldn't try to throw magic fireballs at them.
Despite parts of her ghostly white skin flaking off, Selene dropped down to the ground where Loki was and grabbed him by the back of his neck. "Open the bridge to Helheim, fool. Or these mortals will all be vaporized where they stand!"
Loki reflexively swallowed a few times, pale skin looking even paler for a moment. "As you demand," he choked out.
Selene let him go with a shake, a smug smile on her face. "There. That wasn't so difficult."
Flicking his eyes toward Wanda's hidden form, he began the complicated spell that would serve as the Bifrost. It would directly transfer Selene to Helheim, and if Wanda had severed enough threads within Selene's spá- which Loki was sure she did, given the state of Selene's physical form at this point-then only Selene's soul would be transferred. That would leave the body behind on Earth. It would rapidly die without the soul, but that allowed Loki to bring her body to Helheim and harvest her heart for Hel.
"Loki, what have you done?!" Thor shouted in distress. Hearing that made Selene's smug little smile grow, and she seemed inordinately pleased with herself and the rainbow hued column of light formed around her body and then lifted upward.
It left her battered body behind.
The body stood there as if suspended for a moment, expression on its face blank and lifeless, more like a ruined wax mask on a mannequin. Then it started to collapse, folding in on itself. At the same time, Wanda collapsed in Carol's arms, unconscious. Some of the wounds oozed terribly now, and the peeling around the face started to curl and pull back from the facial bones.
Sif gagged as a stench rose; the closest to Loki and Selene, she could smell the scent of decay and rot, as if from an open mass grave where thousands would be buried. She staggered back, tripping over Steve's outward flung arm, and stared at the body in horror.
Starting to cough up the roiling mass of darkness in his gullet, Loki leaned over Selene's dead body and let the tendrils wrench his mouth open. The oily slick leapt out and dove into the open wounds of the corpse, eagerly sinking into the rotting flesh. The body suddenly began to breathe again, hands twitching with life.
Ten rings alighting with golden power, Loki wrenched open reality next to him. The portal he created led directly to Hel's throne room. It was entirely done in silver, onyx, mother of pearl and ebony this time, Corinthian columns holding aloft white marble ceiling tiles shot with gray and black veining. Hel was seated upon her silver throne, facing the portal. She was dressed in black and silver, the fabric shifting between the two colors as she moved. Runes were woven into it, and the shifting colors revealed the edges of each shape. None were clear, and it was impossible to tell what spells the dress was meant to contain. Hel's feet were covered, but she wore silver cuffs, a heavy silver pendant on her chest shaped like a crescent moon that covered both breasts, silver chains at her ears that met her shoulders and an elaborate silver and gold circlet around her head that clearly was enchanted. Her eyes were completely black, mirroring Loki's for the moment, and her smile had a cruel edge to it.
"I greet you, Loki," she said, her whisper carrying across the distance between them. "Welcome to my realm."
Levitating Selene's animated body, Loki stepped across the threshold from Earth to Helheim. "I bring you what you asked for."
Looking amused despite no change in her expression, Hel nodded. "Proceed."
Loki brought a knife of dragon bone with a rowan hilt from a sheath at his waist. The body remained still, magic keeping it suspended in air as if on a table. He brought the blade down to Selene's chest, splitting her open from collarbone to waist. Putting the knife down on Selene's hip, Loki reached in and grasped hold of her ribcage and wrenched it open. The sickening cracks sent Pepper scurrying away, faceplate flying up so that she could be sick in the brush. Tony and Rhodey went with her, out of sight of Helheim.
"Such squeamish companions," Hel commented, laughter clear in her voice.
"Not all can do your grisly work," Loki replied as he picked up the knife again.
"Careful how you speak here, Loki," Hel warned, eyes glittering like stars in an endless night.
He moved with deft, sure strokes, expression stony as everyone watched on the Earth side of the portal. Once the heart was cut loose, Loki lifted it out and presented it to Hel, kneeling before her in supplication. "I present the heart of Selene Gallio the deathless, the Absorber, the Destroyer of Worlds," he intoned.
Hel bent at the waist, reaching down to grasp the heart from Loki. The blood that dripped onto her dress was quickly absorbed into its shadowy depths. She ate hungrily, quick bites that she barely chewed before swallowing ravenously. The oozing black blood dripped down her chin and fingers, and she finally licked her lips and fingers. Loki hadn't moved, was frozen in place despite clearly wanting to leave.
Natasha crossed over the portal's edge and entered the throne room. She grasped Loki's elbow just as Hel licked her lips clean. Blood still coating her chin, Hel smiled at Natasha, revealing razor sharp teeth. "My Queen," Natasha said, inclining her head. "I'll take him back now."
"Wait," Hel commanded. "He still has something of mine."
Grasping Loki's wrists, Hel started licking the black blood from his fingers and hands. Natasha remained tense throughout the entire process, eyes flicking from Hel to Loki to the portal. She didn't speak, and could feel the rigidity of Loki's body beneath her hand. Spell work, that much was obvious.
"My seers will take care of the refuse," Hel declared as she straightened in her seat. Her cheeks looked flushed and almost rosy now. "The two of you may go."
"What happens to Selene now?" Natasha asked.
Hel's laughter was an odd grating sound. "What happens to the dead? What happens to the dead that I despise? That I would rend particle from particle, that I would utterly destroy for the rest of eternity?" Her smile was cruel and forbidding. "I am Queen Hel of Helheim. I am the ultimate power in my realm, and you have delivered to me, body and soul, a thing I loathe." She laughed again, a spark in her eyes. "Natasha dear, what won't I do to Selene?"
Stopping to consider that, Natasha gave Hel a level look. "I think I pity her."
"I think that is misplaced. She would never pity you."
"No, she wouldn't," Natasha agreed, feeling the spell holding Loki in place releasing. He was worse for wear now, his breathing shallow and rapid, eyes impossibly wide and nostrils flared. When he realized he could move, he clutched her tight enough Natasha knew she would have bruises later.
"Your realm is safe. Tell your protégé she is interesting, Loki. Perhaps one day I will meet her, and I will see this skill of hers for myself. She did such an excellent job of shredding but not removing the connections and lives that Selene had stolen. Such a tasty little dish, that Selene." Hel laughed, waving them off toward the portal.
As they approached the portal, sidestepping the floating body, Natasha clearly saw the seers coming into the throne room. They moved silently, feet not even visible beneath the heavy robes and cloaks they wore. The hoods obscured their faces, and four of them approached the body as two watched her and Loki leave. She turned back to see what was happening as the portal slowly shrank and then disappeared. The skin on the floating body was flaking away to ash, and one of the seers used the knife Loki had set aside to cut in between the cracked ribs. Hel looked quite pleased, lips curling into a smile as she watched them. It almost reminded Natasha of how it looked when someone carved into a roast turkey at Thanksgiving. The thought turned her stomach, and she turned away as the last part of the portal shut.
"Dude," Sam said, approaching them and grasping Loki's other arm as his feet faltered and he nearly buckled. "Magic is fucked up. Now get us all back to New York and take off those damn rings."
Loki gave weak, forced laughter. "Gladly. It is my greatest wish for this damned night to end."
Only too eager to agree, the others gathered close, in a rough circle. Loki transported them all back to Avengers Tower, even the injured Asgardians and Steve, in the same configuration that they had been in at Devil's Bridge. He took two steps down the hall toward the elevator that would bring him to the residence floors when he collapsed, twitching and frothing at the mouth, eyes rolled up in the back of his head.
Natasha, Sam and James wrestled the ten rings off of his fingers, and James kept them all clenched inside his metal fist. "I'll help you guys move him," Sam said, jerking his head toward the elevator. "Then I'll check in on Steve." Sif and Thor were already moving Steve toward an elevator, most likely intending on getting Dr. Calderon. Pepper was insisting that Tony get checked out for a concussion, and most of the Asgardians were insisting that bleeding limbs were par for the course for their training.
Pietro broke away from his fellow warriors to come to Carol's side. "My sister?" he asked, voice hesitant and soft.
"Knocked out cold. I think she'll be okay," Carol told him.
From there, most of the people started to separate out into smaller groups, headed to the infirmary or to their quarters to rest. By unspoken agreement, no one mentioned the fallen warriors that had been vaporized. There were enough wounds to tend to, and they would be mourned soon enough.
The End
Series: #24 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight, #15 - Not The First Time, #16 - Friendly Fire, #17 - Relieved, #18 - Release, #19 - Never Noticed, #20 - How You Live And Breathe, #21 - Love, #22 - Do You Wanna Die?, #23 - Many Ways)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13 due to violence and language
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Bucky, Clint/Darcy
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU. References events in prior stories, PTSD, violence.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups.
Summary: Planning and executing an attack against a magical vampire interested in devastating worlds... Yep. Another day in the world of our heroes.
Previous chapter:
One - Preparation
Two - The Devil's Bridge
The Sedona landscape contained beautiful hills, rocky ledges and enough geomantic elements to resemble a temple for those who were spiritually inclined. Many New Age adherents had flocked to the city over the years, adding to the artsy element in the city. Dr. Strange had provided a map of the city and the surrounding area, circles, lines and odd symbols dotting it. The ley lines between major geologic formations formed a five pointed star and a six pointed star; if both were enclosed in circles, the two circles met at a specific point not too far from Airport Mesa. Devil's Bridge was in the center of the six pointed star.
The Bridge itself was the tallest natural sandstone arch, and one of the more popular hikes in the area. It was usually dotted with people, which would make a supernatural battle particularly difficult to do in broad daylight. The trail to the Bridge split into two, one going to the base of the bridge, and one going to the top; the upper trail also had a natural stone staircase that was fairly steep, but allowed people to walk atop the arch. Midday was usually the busiest, so Dr. Strange suggested early morning or late in the evening; the sunlight wouldn't matter, but there wouldn't be as many hikers around to take in the view.
Bursting with energy, Loki had transported the entire assemblage to the plateau beside Devil's Bridge about three hours after sunset. The trails were deserted, as the temperatures had started to precipitously drop and the lack of light would have made navigating rock formations or dry creek beds dangerous. Everyone had dressed for the cold, and were startled by Loki sending up shimmering globes of light that hung suspended in a rough circle around where they would have to be. "You all need to see with your eyes," he declared loftily, that odd resonance still in his voice. His gaze fell to Natasha, standing beside the others with her nanomesh armor and weapons. "It will all be over soon, I promise."
"I trust you," she said.
The startled look on his face made him seem almost human for a moment, a pleased smile growing on his face. When the human mages began the chant to create the summoning seal, the smile gradually faded and his eyes grew distant again.
Wanda looked at Carol at her side. "Get ready."
There was a faint hum and a glowing light on the ground in the shape of the seal set into the attic window of Dr. Strange's home. The very air around all of them seemed to be charged with static electricity; Tony, Pepper, Rhodey and James looked around uneasily as static and miniature lightning bolts formed around the seal, but none of it arced out to strike any of the armor or the metal arm. The dust on the ground began to kick up and swirl as if a tornado was caught inside the glowing boundary. The five human mages seemed to have frozen still, not even chanting, their eyes glowing bright white.
"This doesn't look good," Carol murmured, frowning at the sight. "We would've been warned about that, wouldn't we?"
Reaching one hand out toward them, Wanda looked up toward Loki's figure floating above them all. "Start the lockdown, Loki! Now!"
His entire body seemed to carry the same white glow, and then it radiated outward from him as if the magic exploded. As soon as the light cleared, Loki was nowhere to be seen.
Wanda focused on the five mages arranged around the seal where the points of a pentagram would be. Her hands glowed red, and she wiggled her fingers to tease apart the threads of their magic. Bound at the very center of it was Selene, who was deftly weaving the magic around the mages, trapping them within their own binding, allowing her to ignore them. Likely it was so that she could devour them later.
"I've got you," Wanda muttered, lips curling into a smile. She gathered the edges of the spells that had been cast, which had woven around the five casters, and then shoved it down deeply into the center of the seal. It flared bright red for everyone to see, outlining the lithe shape inside the tornado, long black hair whipping about in the wind. "Selene Gallio, you are tethered to this plane."
The wind abruptly died, and Selene stood there, feet hovering an inch above the ground. Her hair was straight and fell nearly to her waist. She was still in a black corset, knee high black boots, and black leggings, but this time she had no cape. Her skin was milk white, her eyes empty white orbs as she took in the assemblage around her.
"Pathetic," she declared, lips curling into a sneer. She didn't seem to see Wanda or Carol, only the Avengers and all of the Asgardian warriors gathered around her. "You cannot destroy me. You are incapable of such things."
"Big talk from someone that hides in the shadows," Clint said, releasing an arrow. Its head was cold iron; while it was only a fairy tale that said it would harm fairies or magic users, he had gotten a handful of arrow heads forged from the material just in case.
The arrow slid through her skin, causing her to snarl in pain. "I will kill you all like the ridiculous peasants you are and take the magic of this world. No more teasing your pathetic world, I'll take it for my own!"
"Oh, please," Tony scoffed, kicking off the ground. Beside him, Pepper and Rhodey did the same in their armor. All three were poised to start attacking with repulsor blasts, and Rhodey also had rockets installed and armed. "Like sucking down magic from millions of miles away will really get you all of the magic of the Runestaff."
"You ignorant fool-"
Tony let loose with a massive repulsor blast. That was the signal for the others to join in, and the circle of Asgardians closed in. They had to duck and weave between the still forms of the mages, but their swords and lances easily nicked Selene's skin. While she was distracted by the physical attacks and had to defend herself from them, Wanda dug through the layers of spells to find Selene's spá in order to unravel it. Even finding it in this mess of spellcraft and energy was difficult, and she sagged with the effort several times. Carol caught her, hands aglow with her own cosmic energy, and the contact was enough to keep Wanda upright and able to focus on the complicated spells woven into Selene's body. The constant attacks, parries and strikes from the melee and ranged fighters meant that Selene had to expend energy to heal the damage or retaliate, keeping her from noticing Wanda rooting around in the background.
Selene let loose a roar of fury and then dove straight at a knot of three warriors. Her hands were clenched into fists, each surrounded by a glow of bright white magic fire. One of the warriors managed to get his shield up before her fist could hit his face; the shield instantly turned to ash and dissipated in his hands. He stumbled and fell forward. The trajectory of her fist meant that it went right into his chest, burning a hole through him. The fire spread outward from the hole her fist made, until his entire body turned to a pile of ash, the magic fire around her fist sparking blue as she absorbed his life energy.
As she did so, his two shieldmates stabbed her with spear and sword, skewering her in the process. Another group of three came in behind her with their swords, one of them neatly severing her spinal cord. Selene roared in pain, making everyone flinch. It felt as though the earth shook, rocks falling down the staircase on the other side of Devil's Bridge.
Wanda used the distraction to dive deep through the layers of spells that made up Selene's physical being and shred them. It was a haphazard cutting, severing connections and weavings that had taken her millennia to forge. "Don't let me fall," she whispered to Carol. No matter what happened around her, she had to keep digging, keep unweaving as she went. There was so much power, so many lives entwined, it would be easy to get distracted and sidetracked. It was hard enough as it was to recognize what was Selene and what wasn't an absorbed piece of magic or lifetime. Wanda had to go in to the very center of her, hoping to sever the connections that allowed Selene to absorb lives to heal herself and prolong her life.
When she found it, it was too late for the five warriors that had surrounded her.
They all collapsed into ash, and Selene's magic field flared with blue. Their brethren shouted in rage and the drive to avenge their brothers, throwing spears into her chest and back. Carol shouted and shifted her grip on Wanda, sending blasts of energy at Selene's head, snapping it backward from the sheer concussive force. The iron suited trio shot repulsor blasts at her, knocking her off the edge of the plateau.
Undaunted, Selene rose back up to the plateau with her magic, an unearthly wind whipping around her and pushing her hair back behind her like pennants. "Fools. You cannot harm me," she intoned, teeth bared in anger.
Clint shot a cold iron arrow at the center of her forehead in response. Spears from the Asgardians followed, and once she was again over ground, Pietro ran fast enough to strike her in the solar plexus and dart out of her reach before she was even aware he had struck her. "You didn't see that coming?" he taunted, grinning jauntily at her. If Wanda had been paying attention to her, she would have snickered in delight.
"I absorbed all the energies of multiple realms. Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, Muspelheim-"
"Jotunheim still has magic. Loki is Jotun, and you know he has magic," Natasha piped up.
Eyes narrowed, Selene leaned forward. "Impossible. I depleted the realm. There is no longer any magic on Jotunheim. And I will take it from you and I will take it from this realm. I will feed until there is nothing left."
Natasha laughed, shaking her head. "Selene, if you think I'm magic, you're sorely mistaken."
"You've denied your skill and craft, yet here you are. You stink of magic." She reached out for Natasha; once her hand crossed the barrier of the seal, the five mages all collapsed to the ground as one, like marionettes with their strings cut. They were all still breathing, and Selene didn't even bother to look in their direction. She was too fixated on Natasha.
Dancing away from her reach, Natasha remained calm. "I was dead. You killed me, remember? But the Queen of the Dead decided I was of more use to her here. Can you imagine the power that must be, to bring back the dead? To make me more than human?"
Selene paused, pondering her words. "What's to stop me from devouring you and ten other helpless mortals before I devour Helheim?"
"I couldn't stop you," Natasha agreed. "But why bother with crumbs if you can have the feast?"
"You just want to save your pathetic second life."
"Maybe. But I'm sure Queen Hel would give me another lifetime. She can give me as many as she wants, with as much power as she wants."
Contemplating that, Selene looked over Natasha, then suddenly grasped her by the throat and lifted her off of her feet. Selene turned her this way and that, rather like a collector would critically appraise a potential addition to the collection, then let go of her. She didn't say a word as she did so, and Natasha didn't speak or squirm in her grip. The preternatural patience paid off, and Selene dropped her to the ground with an arrogant air. "Fine. Show me Helheim."
"Loki knows how to get there. I was just dead." She shrugged and gave Selene a level look. "I never had to take a portal to get there."
Selene narrowed her eyes at Natasha, lips compressed, and then flicked her hand impatiently. A wave of power knocked Natasha to her feet, so that she was sprawled across the ground in front of Selene. She ignored the way the others around them were poised and ready to strike. "I will make my own way there."
"You can travel without the Bifrost?" Natasha asked, eyebrow raised. She didn't even bother to get up, not when Selene kept throwing her around to prove she was so powerful.
Snarling, Selene snapped her fingers. It brought Loki to her, pulling him through time and space from the closest location that she could find. Natasha found it odd to see him be yanked into the current plane of existence, as if he had been pulled by his chest through a narrow tube, his body inflating behind it once he was through it.
"You will create a way to Helheim so I may feast upon it." She gave him a serene smile. "And if you don't, I will begin with you."
Loki still wore the ten rings of power on his fingers, and he didn't cower in front of her. If anything, he smiled at her, all teeth and eerie confidence. "But of course, Selene."
Selene narrowed her eyes at him. "You can't even hope to defeat me, little boy."
"You want to meet Lady Hel, don't you?" he asked, voice hard and taunting. "I'm sure she's dying to meet you."
She reached out with her hands on fire, but Loki batted them away and sneered at her. "Did you really think you could best me? Me? When even those trained by the greatest mages and witches throughout time failed? You are nothing."
With a negligent swipe of her hand, Selene batted Loki across the chest with a burst of the flaming white magic. It didn't burn him, likely because of the rings he wore, though one of the protection bracelets he had made and was wearing turned to ash on his wrist. A warrior tried to throw a spear at her to draw her attention away from Loki; though most of them still considered Loki a traitor to Asgard, they understood that he was a necessary part of their plan to save Midgard and prevent Selene from attacking Asgard next. Unfortunately, that act drew her attention to him, and she sent a bolt of white fire at him. Though he brought his shield up to block it, the bolt turned it to ash and went through it. There was barely an instant for that fact to register as horror on his face before his entire body turned to ash and collapsed into a pile beside his companions.
"No, child," Selene told Loki smugly. "You are the one that is nothing. I don't need you to enter Helheim. I can do it myself."
"The ways are barred to all that are not dead," Loki said, pushing himself up to his hands and knees where he was knocked to the ground. Natasha held out a hand to him, and he did take it to stand up. There was an agitated look on his face, but James and Steve behind him made him feel a bit calmer. "Of course, I learned the secret ways to walk Yggdrasil."
"You will tell me."
Loki gave her an arrogant glance. "When I risked much to learn them? I think not."
"Loki," Thor snapped, flicking an anxious glance from him to Selene. "Now is not the time for your pride."
"On the contrary," he countered. "Now is very much the time."
"Stop this!" Sif shouted. "This isn't helping!"
Selene laughed. "Listen to your friends, little boy," she sneered. She reached out to grab Loki again, but he danced out of the way and floated up high above her head. There was a surprised look on her face that he could manage it, and she gathered her power to float up to his level. It visibly took more effort than it should have, and she frowned at Loki as if it was his fault. She ignored the mortals on the ground, a few of which were looking at Wanda anxiously. Wanda was oblivious to their stares, eyes focused solely on Selene, her fingers twitching and mouth moving noiselessly. Whatever she was doing appeared to be working, and some of them seemed to realize that Loki was stalling for time.
Thor and Sif were not among them, unfortunately.
"Do not antagonize this creature," Thor boomed at Loki. "Brother, this is not how we will stop her from destroying this realm!"
That drew Selene's attention. "Brother?" She laughed, an ugly and grating sound. "Well, then..."
Sif realized that Selene meant to grab Thor before he did, and she grasped a spear from the Asgardian near her. She threw it, catching Selene in the arm before she could duck out of the way or set it on fire. Pepper flew in and shot a blast at Selene's face as Tony came in from Selene's other side. "Sorry, psycho," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "That's our playmate. Go find your own."
That seemed to be a signal for the next volley of strikes, and Selene grasped the handle of the spear in her arm. Yanking it out, thick black blood oozed from the wound. None of her other wounds had bled in this manner, and Selene seemed to freeze at the sight of it. Then she turned and whipped the spear around, aiming for Sif, who was pushing Thor out of the way. Steve saw that, and hurled his shield at Selene as he made a dive for Sif.
Instead of hitting her, the spear impaled Steve's thigh and pinned him to the ground.
Natasha gave up shooting at Selene, who didn't seem to feel bullets. Clint shot regular arrows, and there were repulsor blasts and swords swung as Natasha ducked beneath them to get to Steve's side. James came from the opposite direction, and knelt nearby. Sif had a stricken expression, especially when Steve pulled at the fabric of his suit, growling in pain. The entry wound was ringed in a sickly black, a tarry substance coating the area where skin met spear shaft. There were also black veins radiating out from the wound, creeping beneath the untorn fabric. It almost looked like the veins faintly pulsed.
"I'm going to pull it out," Sif said, pain in her voice as she met Steve's gaze. She waited until he caught his breath and nodded.
Immediately, Natasha probed at the wound with her fingers, looking to see if there was some way she could try to cauterize it. The inky black mess had remained, even though it had pulled at the spear shaft as if trying to keep it from being removed. The tendrils waved around, and without any hesitation at all, she grabbed them with both hands and pulled.
Steve screamed with agony as Natasha struggled to remove the inky black substance trying to work its way into his body. James came behind her and grabbed her torso, pulling her and trying to give her more momentum.
It wasn't enough.
Loki appeared, crouching beside James. It kept him out of the line of sight of Selene, who was fending off the others' attacks. He appeared completely lucid, and grimaced at the sight of the black muck in Steve's wound. "You are right to fear this. Part of what makes her formidable is her very makeup. Darkness, like rot fallen off of the Tree, which does nothing but absorb life and light wherever it is found." Reaching out with one ringed hand, Loki grasped the sticky morass in his fist and yanked it out of Steve's wound.
Super soldier or not, it was more than Steve could take. He passed out as Natasha and James fell over backward. Sif looked about for anything to seal the wound, which now bled in awful spurts in time with Steve's heartbeat. Desperately, she tore at Steve's uniform to make a tourniquet, grasped the edges of her skirt to stem the bleeding as best as she could. Sif made terrified sobbing noises as she pressed down, eyes darting around to look for anything else she could use and keep Steve from dying.
The black muck in Loki's fist squirmed like a live thing, tendrils reaching out for the spreading pool of blood. "No," he said, voice still resonant with power. "You can't have him." He met Sif's terrified gaze, then turned to look at Natasha and James, both stricken and getting back into a seated position. "You can have me."
He swallowed the dark mass as Natasha shrieked for him not to. As soon as it went down his throat, Loki began to make choking noises. His eyes blacked over, and he bent over double, on hands and knees, coughing as if he had to get something lodged his throat out. Instead of trying to cough it out, he looked up, and tried twitching his fingers and whispering a few words in Allspeak. It must have worked, because Steve's blood stopped flowing out of the wound. As far as they could now tell, some of the spilled blood was trying to flow back into it.
Natasha came to Loki's side and put her arms around his shoulders. "You shouldn't have done that. You don't know what it will do!"
"It will let me get the heart," he rasped. "Without killing her before due time." The words were choked out, and to Natasha's, Sif's and James' horror, they could see a black tendril try to snake its way out of the corner of Loki's mouth. He slurped it back in and swallowed it down, even though it visibly made him ill.
"Right. No more talking, then," James declared, a hand over his stomach as if he was trying to keep his gorge down. For all the murder he had been forced to commit over the course of his lifetime, it was still difficult for him to stomach the worst that magic had to offer.
"I see you!" Selene boomed above them. Heedless of the oozing wounds she had been dealt, she swatted Tony right out of the sky as he blasted her with the unibeam.
"Tony!" Pepper shrieked inside the golden Rescue suit. She blasted Selene and dove in as she did so, clocking her right across the face with a perfect right hook before she dove down to catch Tony before he hit the plateau. Rhodey, in the meantime, shot a rocket at Selene's eyes so she wouldn't try to throw magic fireballs at them.
Despite parts of her ghostly white skin flaking off, Selene dropped down to the ground where Loki was and grabbed him by the back of his neck. "Open the bridge to Helheim, fool. Or these mortals will all be vaporized where they stand!"
Loki reflexively swallowed a few times, pale skin looking even paler for a moment. "As you demand," he choked out.
Selene let him go with a shake, a smug smile on her face. "There. That wasn't so difficult."
Flicking his eyes toward Wanda's hidden form, he began the complicated spell that would serve as the Bifrost. It would directly transfer Selene to Helheim, and if Wanda had severed enough threads within Selene's spá- which Loki was sure she did, given the state of Selene's physical form at this point-then only Selene's soul would be transferred. That would leave the body behind on Earth. It would rapidly die without the soul, but that allowed Loki to bring her body to Helheim and harvest her heart for Hel.
"Loki, what have you done?!" Thor shouted in distress. Hearing that made Selene's smug little smile grow, and she seemed inordinately pleased with herself and the rainbow hued column of light formed around her body and then lifted upward.
It left her battered body behind.
The body stood there as if suspended for a moment, expression on its face blank and lifeless, more like a ruined wax mask on a mannequin. Then it started to collapse, folding in on itself. At the same time, Wanda collapsed in Carol's arms, unconscious. Some of the wounds oozed terribly now, and the peeling around the face started to curl and pull back from the facial bones.
Sif gagged as a stench rose; the closest to Loki and Selene, she could smell the scent of decay and rot, as if from an open mass grave where thousands would be buried. She staggered back, tripping over Steve's outward flung arm, and stared at the body in horror.
Starting to cough up the roiling mass of darkness in his gullet, Loki leaned over Selene's dead body and let the tendrils wrench his mouth open. The oily slick leapt out and dove into the open wounds of the corpse, eagerly sinking into the rotting flesh. The body suddenly began to breathe again, hands twitching with life.
Ten rings alighting with golden power, Loki wrenched open reality next to him. The portal he created led directly to Hel's throne room. It was entirely done in silver, onyx, mother of pearl and ebony this time, Corinthian columns holding aloft white marble ceiling tiles shot with gray and black veining. Hel was seated upon her silver throne, facing the portal. She was dressed in black and silver, the fabric shifting between the two colors as she moved. Runes were woven into it, and the shifting colors revealed the edges of each shape. None were clear, and it was impossible to tell what spells the dress was meant to contain. Hel's feet were covered, but she wore silver cuffs, a heavy silver pendant on her chest shaped like a crescent moon that covered both breasts, silver chains at her ears that met her shoulders and an elaborate silver and gold circlet around her head that clearly was enchanted. Her eyes were completely black, mirroring Loki's for the moment, and her smile had a cruel edge to it.
"I greet you, Loki," she said, her whisper carrying across the distance between them. "Welcome to my realm."
Levitating Selene's animated body, Loki stepped across the threshold from Earth to Helheim. "I bring you what you asked for."
Looking amused despite no change in her expression, Hel nodded. "Proceed."
Loki brought a knife of dragon bone with a rowan hilt from a sheath at his waist. The body remained still, magic keeping it suspended in air as if on a table. He brought the blade down to Selene's chest, splitting her open from collarbone to waist. Putting the knife down on Selene's hip, Loki reached in and grasped hold of her ribcage and wrenched it open. The sickening cracks sent Pepper scurrying away, faceplate flying up so that she could be sick in the brush. Tony and Rhodey went with her, out of sight of Helheim.
"Such squeamish companions," Hel commented, laughter clear in her voice.
"Not all can do your grisly work," Loki replied as he picked up the knife again.
"Careful how you speak here, Loki," Hel warned, eyes glittering like stars in an endless night.
He moved with deft, sure strokes, expression stony as everyone watched on the Earth side of the portal. Once the heart was cut loose, Loki lifted it out and presented it to Hel, kneeling before her in supplication. "I present the heart of Selene Gallio the deathless, the Absorber, the Destroyer of Worlds," he intoned.
Hel bent at the waist, reaching down to grasp the heart from Loki. The blood that dripped onto her dress was quickly absorbed into its shadowy depths. She ate hungrily, quick bites that she barely chewed before swallowing ravenously. The oozing black blood dripped down her chin and fingers, and she finally licked her lips and fingers. Loki hadn't moved, was frozen in place despite clearly wanting to leave.
Natasha crossed over the portal's edge and entered the throne room. She grasped Loki's elbow just as Hel licked her lips clean. Blood still coating her chin, Hel smiled at Natasha, revealing razor sharp teeth. "My Queen," Natasha said, inclining her head. "I'll take him back now."
"Wait," Hel commanded. "He still has something of mine."
Grasping Loki's wrists, Hel started licking the black blood from his fingers and hands. Natasha remained tense throughout the entire process, eyes flicking from Hel to Loki to the portal. She didn't speak, and could feel the rigidity of Loki's body beneath her hand. Spell work, that much was obvious.
"My seers will take care of the refuse," Hel declared as she straightened in her seat. Her cheeks looked flushed and almost rosy now. "The two of you may go."
"What happens to Selene now?" Natasha asked.
Hel's laughter was an odd grating sound. "What happens to the dead? What happens to the dead that I despise? That I would rend particle from particle, that I would utterly destroy for the rest of eternity?" Her smile was cruel and forbidding. "I am Queen Hel of Helheim. I am the ultimate power in my realm, and you have delivered to me, body and soul, a thing I loathe." She laughed again, a spark in her eyes. "Natasha dear, what won't I do to Selene?"
Stopping to consider that, Natasha gave Hel a level look. "I think I pity her."
"I think that is misplaced. She would never pity you."
"No, she wouldn't," Natasha agreed, feeling the spell holding Loki in place releasing. He was worse for wear now, his breathing shallow and rapid, eyes impossibly wide and nostrils flared. When he realized he could move, he clutched her tight enough Natasha knew she would have bruises later.
"Your realm is safe. Tell your protégé she is interesting, Loki. Perhaps one day I will meet her, and I will see this skill of hers for myself. She did such an excellent job of shredding but not removing the connections and lives that Selene had stolen. Such a tasty little dish, that Selene." Hel laughed, waving them off toward the portal.
As they approached the portal, sidestepping the floating body, Natasha clearly saw the seers coming into the throne room. They moved silently, feet not even visible beneath the heavy robes and cloaks they wore. The hoods obscured their faces, and four of them approached the body as two watched her and Loki leave. She turned back to see what was happening as the portal slowly shrank and then disappeared. The skin on the floating body was flaking away to ash, and one of the seers used the knife Loki had set aside to cut in between the cracked ribs. Hel looked quite pleased, lips curling into a smile as she watched them. It almost reminded Natasha of how it looked when someone carved into a roast turkey at Thanksgiving. The thought turned her stomach, and she turned away as the last part of the portal shut.
"Dude," Sam said, approaching them and grasping Loki's other arm as his feet faltered and he nearly buckled. "Magic is fucked up. Now get us all back to New York and take off those damn rings."
Loki gave weak, forced laughter. "Gladly. It is my greatest wish for this damned night to end."
Only too eager to agree, the others gathered close, in a rough circle. Loki transported them all back to Avengers Tower, even the injured Asgardians and Steve, in the same configuration that they had been in at Devil's Bridge. He took two steps down the hall toward the elevator that would bring him to the residence floors when he collapsed, twitching and frothing at the mouth, eyes rolled up in the back of his head.
Natasha, Sam and James wrestled the ten rings off of his fingers, and James kept them all clenched inside his metal fist. "I'll help you guys move him," Sam said, jerking his head toward the elevator. "Then I'll check in on Steve." Sif and Thor were already moving Steve toward an elevator, most likely intending on getting Dr. Calderon. Pepper was insisting that Tony get checked out for a concussion, and most of the Asgardians were insisting that bleeding limbs were par for the course for their training.
Pietro broke away from his fellow warriors to come to Carol's side. "My sister?" he asked, voice hesitant and soft.
"Knocked out cold. I think she'll be okay," Carol told him.
From there, most of the people started to separate out into smaller groups, headed to the infirmary or to their quarters to rest. By unspoken agreement, no one mentioned the fallen warriors that had been vaporized. There were enough wounds to tend to, and they would be mourned soon enough.
The End