On the Run (An Avengers Fanfiction) ✔️Completed (under editing)

The Road to Nowhere

Astrid's p.o.v

After my little break down I awoke to find myself slung over Loki's shoulder and swaying from side to side as he continued walking. Apparently I had blasted us out of the tree injuring all three of us and quite possibly drawn SHIELD's attention to us all the more...

Norman and Loki had walked for hours, stumbling through the forest unsure of what direction they were headed, even if they were going in circles or not. Norman was dragging Loki's overcoat thing and limping badly. His face and body had scratches all over and I immediately felt guilty for causing his injuries... but I hadn't meant to do anything. I couldn't see Loki so I wasn't sure if I'd hurt him at all. I was so thirsty my throat felt like someone was holding a burning match to it.

"I need to stop for a minute. Is there a way we can get water?" I croaked.

"I could create some ice?" Loki suggested.

"Well anything is better than drinking dirt I suppose" Norman muttered.

Some time later, as the air again started to cool with the sun still early in its slow decent, we came to a path and followed it in the hope it would lead us somewhere useful, not to a grizzly bear or something equally dangerous. I was now walking after asking to be put back on the ground. As it turned out the worn path started to widen until it joined up with a road. A real road not a dirt track. We all sat at the base of the nearest tree to the road. I considered giving up. Norman sighed and inspected his latest injuries. I seemed only to be bruised this time but Loki had a couple of scratches, presumably from the branches of another tree. I was still feeling guilty as I continued to inspect my palms amazed that evidence of the large gashes in them had almost entirely disappeared .

We watched wistfully as another sunset drew near; it had been two days since any of us had eaten anything at all and the effects were showing. I tried my best to make a joke by asking Norman if he'd give us his damaged leg to eat since it wasn't functioning properly. Norman smiled because none of us had the energy to laugh. Even Loki looked quite weak and for once had fallen silent.

After our rest we got up and carried on following this road, hoping it would take us closer to civilisation and not further away. We stumbled on as it got darker by the minute until we couldn't see anything. I managed to glow faintly and we proceeded sliently trudging along, refusing to give in and realise the hopelessness of the situation. We were walking on the road to nowhere.

There was, in the distance, the noise of an engine approaching. We needed a plan, should we follow the road? If so would we walk or try to hitch a ride? I didn't think my legs could take much more at a slow pace... It looked as though we'd have to try to hitch a ride in the rusty old pickup truck which was getting nearer fast. I doubted that we would get another chance out in a place as remote as this.

Norman signalled to the driver who looked surprised to see people out in the middle of such a vast expanse of sparsely populated forest. The driver slowed down and pulled over before coming to a total stop.

"What the hell are you three doin' out here?" The old man asked eyeing us suspiciously.

"We're lost." Norman hesitated before asking, "Could you take us to the nearest town, we'd be really grateful"

He glanced at the three of us, especially Loki. I prayed that he didn't recognise him from the news or something, I also wondered if Norman and I were wanted criminals now too.

"Please" I added.

"Well, we aren't far from my hometown but you'll have to ride in the back"

"Thanks, we owe you one" Norman answered.

"You sure do kid" he laughed shaking his head in disbelief.

Loki was about to lift me in to the pickup truck when I stopped him.

"I'm okay... I can do it myself thank you" I muttered curtly.

It took a lot more effort than I expected to hoist myself up in to the back but I pretended it didn't hurt because I didn't want Loki's help. I could handle myself just fine. We barely all sat down before the truck lurched forward and pulled away from the side of the road. After a short while I let myself fall back and looked up at the sky. If we weren't on the run and being hunted down by S.H.I.E.L.D. it would feel quite peaceful out here away from civilisation. I could see so many stars in the sky because there was no light pollution except the from headlights of the pickup, the night sky was beautiful. I felt myself drifting, slowly leaving reality. For once I welcomed sleep...

__________________________________________________________________________________

Coulson's p.o.v. (back on the helicarrier)

Fury was just as pissed as I had expected if not more; in the end I just told him straight off what happened then waited for the ranting to stop patiently. He really didn't like it when the doctor told him not to shout or get worked up as he was still unstable and for a man who had been in a coma a few hours earlier he seemed very awake now...

He was so angry he didn't even shout.

"Coulson, you have just given me enough reason to demote your ass twice over, even fire you, so listen to me very carefully... if you don't get the sceptre back before the media or anyone else discovers that it's no longer safely guarded by us, S.H.I.E.L.D. WILL NOT BE TRUSTED! We can't afford another incident like in Manhattan, people are already doubting our ability to protect them...'

"With all due respect sir, maybe they have a point." I said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it is true that S.H.I.E.L.D. is finding it increasingly more difficult to cope with the growing number of things we are faced with."

"Be that as it may, I didn't invest so much into not losing you, as one of our best agents, so that you, Hill and the others could let something like this happen. We can't afford slip ups like this!"

"Yes sir" I replied as I turned to leave.

"And Coulson, I'm not convinced those rogue agents really are dead either and we both know Loki definitely isn't. His escape would would cause worse panic if anyone found out. You've got a lot on your hands now I know, but I wouldn't trust you with this unless I thought you could manage."

"I just hope we can fix this before anything worse happens." I said before leaving to assemble a team. I felt like I had way too much on my hands right now...

Bruce helped me to find a way to track the sceptre using similar methods to when we were tracking the tesseract. Our tracking device which had been installed on the sceptre was practically indestructible yet our thief had obviously found some way to stop it working. Stark had been let out of the detention centre but wasn't allowed to do field work for some time so I looked to Rogers, Romanoff and Barton for assistance. They all agreed to be part of the team I would be sending to retrieve the sceptre. Hill rounded up some of her best field agents and sent them to me as well so that all we needed now was the equipment and two pilots for the jets we would be taking.

I hoped what Fury had said about our rogue agents was true, I still believed in giving people second chances, and besides, they had been victims of circumstance. Loki however, I couldn't wait to get him put back in his cell where he belonged. At least he would be going home very soon. They had just finalised the plans to use the tesseract to return Thor and his trickster brother to Asgard where Loki would probably spend the rest of his days in a different cell, for how ever long he lived.

I remembered that tomorrow was December 25th. We would all be spending yet another Christmas working. I sighed, that was just how everything seemed to play out when you worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. The job wasn't for those who couldn't do long hours or face dedicating everything to their work... So much for a relaxing Christmas!