Rise (Loki Fanfiction)

Chapter 14

Loki left Terra with what was left of his men. He watched Tony Stark approach Doctor Selvig and attempt to turn off the Tesseract. He hovered above the building, looking down to meet Loki's triumphant gaze.

Stark's armor dismantled itself, piquing Loki's interest. The man would be useful if only he could be persuaded to stand on Loki's side.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity."

Stark walked behind his bar. "Uhh, actually I'm planning to threaten you."

Loki smiled. "You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah... It's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the uh, glow stick of destiny. You wanna drink?"

The man was amusing in his dissembling. But he was wasting time. "Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm havin' one."

Loki paced to the window. "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

Stark opened a bottle. "The Avengers." He replied flippantly.

Loki smiled slowly. "Yes, I've met them." They were barely able to pull themselves together and if this was all SHIELD could muster up for a counterattack, they obviously didn't have much to work with in the first place. Stark was confident in their success, in the righteousness of their motives. He saw no possibility in which Loki could succeed. But they were in for a bit of a surprise. With the man of iron falling from his building and his machine scrambling to catch him, Loki returned his gaze to the skies.

His army was most certainly coming and they would most certainly defeat these... Heroes. It was only a matter of when and how many of them would be left.

The Tesseract fired, opening a portal to the deeper portion of space, a secluded corner in which his army waited. He smiled. It appeared he wouldn't have to wait long to find out.

He walked to the edge of Stark's landing platform, his armor materializing over him as he listened to the rumble of thunder announce his brother's arrival.

"Loki!" Thor shouted. "Turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it."

"You can't. There is no stopping it. There is only the war."

"So be it."

**

Terra huddled under an overhang, keeping her arms around the shoulders of a child that had followed her when the army descended. The little boy buried his face in her side, screaming as an explosion rocked them.

Terra held him tighter. "It's okay!" She shouted. "It's okay, we'll find your mom."

Loki hadn't told her about a damned alien army but she supposed it shouldn't have surprised her. A low groan made her look up at the sky. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph..." She whispered.

A metal whale came hurtling through the wormhole, crashing into buildings and deploying armored aliens.

Terra gripped the little boy. "This way!" She took his hand and sprinted into the street. Aliens streamed by overhead, firing at the screaming civilians below. Terra lifted the boy onto her back and slid into a toppling doorway. "What's your mom wearing?"

"Pink!" He shouted. "Pink a-and black pants. And she's blonde and-"

"Good enough." She ran into the nearest building. "Her name?"

"Vanessa." He whimpered.

"Vanessa!" Terra shouted. "Is there a Vanessa here? What's your name, kid?"