Intertwine

103 - Trouble

ROARA

I felt the change in the way he fought beside me. It was tiny. But I felt it. I didn't see it. Felt it.

"What happened?" I asked him, using the hilt of my sword to knock someone out. His face seemed almost grey.

"Remember when we were cornered by giant boars and you almost died?" He asked.

It was hard to recall the memory, as though I was trying to look through a box of pictures only to find that I had to remove layers upon layers of dust and cobwebs to even see the one I was looking for.

"You got impaled?" He tilted his head as I threw a sharp blast of water past him. "I'm sure it'll come back to you."

"No, no." I held up a finger. "I can do this one second. Uh... Oh you had to strip my top half because I had a wound in my middle!"

He rolled his eyes. "Technically yes but that isn't how I would-"

"And then you watched me bathe afterwards even when I told you not to."

"How did you-"

I let a long breathe out. "You told me I wasn't going to die. Not on my watch. That's what you said." I shrugged and stabbed a man behind me. "I guess you were right."

He smiled and shook his head. "When I refused to tell you how badly you were wounded, do you remember what you said? It might be appropriate for what I'm about to tell you."

"Okay then. Lay it on me asshole." The word felt so comfortable in my mouth I nearly said it again. That's what I always used to call him. Asshole. Ass. You absolute arse Laufeyson.

"Well we've got a small Midgardian who can transport people from one planet to another, and my guess is he's using portals to do it."

"Portals?"

Loki nodded. "Yup. They're nasty shits to get right but if you master them, they can stretch from one side of the galaxy to the other."

I shrugged. "Okay? And?"

"And that's dangerous." He explained, pulling a knife from my back pocket and throwing it.

"Sure but with the right control it isn't." I replied, catching the knife as it flew back towards us.

"The child is not controlling it. Bridges is."

"Oh shit."

"Exactly. It's more that Bridges is controlling the child, but really it's the same thing."

I bit my lip. "Let's get outside. Into the open...Or well, not open, just away from here." I didn't want to lose him again, let alone have him transported to a different planet. "That way we have a bigger space at our disposal. If we go through the hole Thor made in the wall we should end up in an underground alleyway. I think I can remember the way out from there, it's not far at all. There's some brick steps and then we're on the street."

He nodded. "Alright. But stay close to me."

"I will."

We fought our way through the crowd of soldiers and to my surprise, we were the only Avengers left. It looked as though everyone else had gone. I'd never had to fight so hard in my entire life, using every power I had at my disposal, and mostly resorting to kneeing everyone in the groin because it seemed to be the most effective and efficient method of getting people down. My muscles were weak, my bones felt brittle. I felt lightheaded and dizzy. I hadn't slept in days.

"You're doing brilliantly." Loki encouraged when he saw me falter. "Just brilliantly."

I wiped the blood from my forehead and carried on, the both of us moving slowly towards the exit. The weaker I was becoming, the harder it was to use my powers. They were sapping at what little while energy I had left. It felt strange to use them without Simon magnifying them. Like trying to walk with one leg, or pick up an object with one finger missing, it felt as though something was lacking and it was getting in the way of my usual rhythm.