In The Shadows | Loki

READY TO SAVE NEW YORK?

Bruce~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          "You fell out of the sky." I groan, blinking a few times to help my eyes adjust to the light. It took a moment for me to realize that I was lying in a pile of rubble. And then I realized that I was completely naked. I sit up, bending over slightly to try and shield myself. I glance around the large, empty factory. Then to the old man in a janitors uniform.
        "Did I hurt anybody?" I ask. The place looked empty, but.... what if I had?
        "There's nobody around here to get hurt." The man replies. "You did scare the hell out of some pigeons though." I look back down.
        "Lucky." I say.
        "Or just good aim." I look at him. "You were awake when you fell." Aim? I highly doubted that the Hulk had aimed for someplace abandoned.
        "You saw?" I ask.
        "Whole thing. Right through the ceiling. Big and green and buck ass nude." He says bluntly. He reaches down before tossing some clothes down to me. "Didn't think those would fit you until you shrunk down to a regular sized fella." I look at him gratefully before grabbing the pants, quickly pulling them on.
        "Thank you." He just gives a slight nod of his head.
        "You an alien?" He asks after a moment.
        "What?" I ask, not sure if I had heard him correctly.
        "From outer space. An alien." He reiterates.
        "No." He just gives another slight nod as I get to my feet.
        "Well then, son, you've got a condition." He says. I almost laugh, but I can't find any humor in myself. I pull on the shirt, and begin to make my way out of the rubble. "Do you want me to take you over?"
        "What?" I ask, confused. He points to another corner of the building. I notice another pile of rubble. Granted, this one was smaller, but it was a pile of rubble all the same.
        "You may have been big and green, but they were silver from what I could tell." I frown. "They hit this place just before you did. I still can't see them though." I follow him over, and we both carefully climb over some of the larger pieces. In the middle of the rubble is a large hole. "They hit much faster than you. They have to be in there, but I haven't been able to look."
        "Silver?" I ask, still confused. He nods again. I make my way down to the hole, carefully stepping over some pieces of metal. I look down into it, but it's slanted at such an angle that I can't see much. "Hello?" I crouch down slightly. Then I hear a groan.
        A silver hand reaches out of the darkness. A metal hand, I realize after a moment. I blink in surprise and move back. The metal hand grasps the edge of the hole, and I watch as someone hauls themselves up. "Ophelia?" I ask in surprise, my voice barely above a whisper.
        "I didn't think I would survive that." Is all she replies as she lets her body sink to the ground on the rubble. She's breathing deeply. I'm surprised that every part of her is metal. It was difficult to tell she had scars on her face, but they were still there. "Just... give me a minute." She murmurs, letting her eyes close. I watch, fascinated as her skin slowly changes, moving from glossy metal to normal skin. It takes almost a full minute for her body to go back to its regular skin.
        Her chest heaves as she breathes heavily. "That hurt." She says, reopening her eyes. Her eyes flick to me. "Good to see you have clothes on now." I feel heat rise in my cheeks, and she chuckles. "I saw the pants fly off, and just looked the other direction. Don't worry." I nod silently.
        "You turn to metal?" Ophelia's gaze turns to the janitor. She nods, pulling herself up into a sitting position.
        "To be honest, I didn't know if that would work." She says, looking up at him. "But it did, so that's good."
        "Why were you falling?" I ask, and she frowns.
        "You don't remember?" She asks, and I shake my head. "You kind of.... threw me." I blink, and it takes a second for her words to hit me. Before I can say anything, she turns to the janitor. "Do you have any sort of transportation we could borrow? We have someplace we really need to be." After a second, he nods.
        "It'll be a tight fit for the two of you, but I've got something." He replies, and Ophelia nods.
        "We'll make do." She looks at me. "Help me up? My limbs all kind of feel like jelly." I nod, not even thinking as I help her to her feet. The janitor makes his way over the rubble. Ophelia looks at me, running a hand through her messy silver hair. "You know where we're going, right?" She asks. I nod.
        "Stark Tower."

Ophelia~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        "This isn't too bad." I say, cracking my neck. Bruce and I were stopped at a gas station, a mile outside of the city. "One person motorcycle, two people." He gives me a strange look, hanging the pump back up. "What?"
        "You're just.... different." He says, shaking his head. I shrug.
        "I don't care. As long as I am who I am, then I'm okay. It's when I start faking my personality that I need to change." He looks at me for a long moment.
        "Are you ready?" He asks, changing the subject. "For whatever is.... there." He nods towards the city, and I let out a sigh.
        "How much worse can today get? I already got thrown off the Helicarrier." He flinches at that.
        "How do you not hate me for that?" I raise an eyebrow.
        "For what? The whole, falling 30,000 feet thing?" I ask. "You were angry, and not... you. Besides, hating you for something that was out of your control isn't going to get me very far." He looks surprised. "Am I going to try and deck the Hulk next time he appears? Probably. But you're fine." It's silent for a few moments. "You done?" I ask, nodding towards the gas pump.
        "Yeah, sorry." He says quickly.
        We both get back on the bike, driving quickly towards the city. While the way is mostly clear, in the last fifteen minutes we started to hear the panic. The first clue was the giant black portal to space opening up in the sky.
        "That doesn't look good." I say as we drive. Aliens begin to pour out of the portal. "Oh, and that looks worse."
        "Really?" Bruce asks over the noise of explosions.
        "It is worse, can't you tell?" I ask. "You ready to save New York Bruce?"
        "I have to be, apparently."
        "That's the spirit."