ARCHANGEL (Marvel Fanfiction)

Chapter 21. The Battle

Elizabeth slashed her sword in a cross motion, striking the Leviathan with crescent energy blades in its face.

That thing kept moving forward, as if Elizabeth only hitting its face with a strand of string, and it lowered itself above the town. Dozens of Chitauri jumped out from its body, running around looking for prey.

Elizabeth landed on the ground, shooting energy blasts to the Chitauri, slashing, firing.

Loki drew out his daggers, throwing and stabbing it to nearby aliens.

Elizabeth was busy blocking the Chitauri's attacks on her, and without her realizing, from behind, another one shot her with its spear. She let out a yelp, but quickly shot them all with beams before she fell to the ground in pain and out of breath.

Loki rushed to her side to look if she was alright.

"Don't you dare touch me," she snapped his arms.

"Elizabeth, trust me, it's not me. I opened the portal to a planet called Maveth for that Hydra woman. I did not call them." He tried to assure her.

She chuckled cynically. "How many times do you think you can fool me, Loki? You betrayed us. You betrayed me," she growled.

"Loki!" Someone shouted his name. He turned his head and see The Other (*The Other was Thanos' servant, who gave Loki the Scepter before invasion of NYC), standing on the Leviathan's head. Loki stood up.

"What do you want?" He shouted.

"I come here to finish the task you so miserably failed. My lord is extremely disappointed in you, Loki, but in his mercy, he would like to grant you another chance," he spoke with inhumanely deep voice.

"How did you know I opened the portal?" He asked.

He snorted with pride, "My lord is an all-knowing mastermind. He knew what you were up to, and my arrival here is under his order. I've come to retrieve you and bring you to him. Decline this offer, and you will die."

"What happened to the human waiting in front of the portal?"

"Dead," he sounded bored.

"If you want to conquer this world, what are you doing here with this little army? You should've gone for New York city to begin your invasion." Loki glanced at Elizabeth, who was still panting on the ground as he kept The Other talking, hoping to get as much time to let Elizabeth rest.

The Other chuckled. "Oh, do you think I am a moron? At this very moment, New York city is burning with the full power of Chitauri army."

"This world is dying, Loki. On which side do you want to stand? The glorious one," The Other waved his hand at Elizabeth, "or the one in agony?"

Loki stayed quiet. He looked back and forth between Elizabeth and The Other for a long time. Elizabeth stared at him, quietly begging for him to stay by her side. But in the end, he stepped towards The Other.

Elizabeth scoffed, yet inside her heart sank and broken. "Why am I not surprised," she whispered.

Loki stood beside him, gazing at Elizabeth with pained, guilty expression.

"You are smarter than I thought you would be. Now we can watch this world burn," he sneered. "And while the army is here, let them feed."

"Not so fast, aliens," Elizabeth said. She struggled to stand on her foot and fired a powerful blast at the Leviathan. It roared and the Chitauri besieged her.

Elizabeth panted. She got cuts and bruises and all bones in her body hurt from several shots she received. Her energy started to run out.

The Chitauri was all over the place, and they started to go near the canyon gap as if they could smell the humans.

She felt like crap, fighting these beings alone while Loki was up there, watching her getting hurt and doing completely nothing.

Stop thinking about him. He's never on your side anyway.

Her brain worked hard to find a way to end them quickly. She needed to gather them to one place, but how?

She looked at the canyon gap.

Risky move. But it will help her to concentrate the fight to just one place.

She jumped and flew to the front of the canyon gap. The scattered Chitauri all came towards her malignantly.

"Come on," she whispered.

She slashed her sword to the first Chitauri, also blocking the blast from the guns and spears. More and more Chitauri crowded around her, she started getting overwhelmed.

One shot hit her wings and the other hit her stomach. While she was bent over from the pain, a Chitauri hit her with its arm, sent her falling a few meters back to the gap. They went after her, roaring triumphantly with deafening sound.

In her exhaustion, she jabbed her sword to the ground and created a shimmering yellow barrier in front of her, blocking the Chitauri from getting closer. 

Elizabeth fell on one knee, grabbing the sword's handle for support. She panted, out of breath, and she saw stars in the middle of the noon. At least 40 Chitauri clawed and shot their guns at the barrier. Elizabeth barely have enough strength to hold it off, she wasn't sure exactly how to kill them.

Damn it. Her thought was too distraught earlier. She couldn't focus on the fight, resulting in so many injuries she received.

The Other seemed to have lost his patience. "Let's step up the game, shall we?" He controlled the Leviathan to push through the barrier.

Elizabeth grunted as she fought back the push from the giant worm. It needed a lot more power to hold them than when she fought Hulk. A whole lot more.

Her energy drained from her body. She breathed like an asthmatic person and she felt like she's going to pass out. Everything around her was blurry and her ear rang. She closed her eyes as she drooped her head down from weariness. She was so weak that she wished to end this all.

In the darkness, a scene played in her head.

Her 8 years old self was sitting on the stairs alone in the monastery, crying.

A hand touched her shoulder. She looked up and see Father, standing above her.

"What's the matter, love?"

Elizabeth wiped her tears, "Am I a monster, Father?"

"Of course not. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met." He stroke her head tenderly.

"Then why am I not allowed to go outside?"

"Humans are not ready for you. You see, we tend to be afraid of something... different. And fear can result in a terribly hostile behavior." He took her hand and grasped it tightly.

"But you will go out there someday. You will help humans fight the evil and restore peace. You will save lives." His smile was the warmest Elizabeth had ever seen. "You will be their Archangel."

Elizabeth snapped out from her vision. That memory brought back the determination to her heart. She lifted up her head and see that her barrier was almost torn apart.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the energy out of her body as hard as she could. The barrier thickened and it pushed back the Chitauri and Leviathan as she fought back with all her might.

She felt a liquid flowing down from her nose inside her mouth. Blood.

She ignored it and kept focusing to hold them off as long as she could, and desperately hoping that help would arrive. These people needed protection, and right now, she was the only one there to save them.

"She's a fighter," The Other spoke, a slight hint of admiration in his voice. "But not for any longer."

He lifted his hand forward and the Chitauri and Leviathan got even more aggressive. Elizabeth grunted heavily as she resisted the force, her knuckles were white as she gripped the sword supporting her body real tight.