182 Days of Blues ch. 27

ch. 27 : It's showtime, so let's strike a pose, everyone!


A soft ding sounded when the elevator doors opened, revealing a spacious hallway for the two of you. You were the first one to step out of the cart, and when you turned to look back, you saw how your green friend was taking a sweeping glance over your smaller form with attentive eyes.

”So... yeah, here we are buddy; think you could, y'know, step outside so that we could go and say hello to Loki together?” you talked whilst taking a small, shuffling step towards the other end of the hallway where the penthouse lounge was located, assuming that the demigod would most likely be found from there. Without further prompting, the green giant grunted and stepped out of the lift before the doors swished closed with a quiet hiss. A decorative panel emerged slowly from behind a wall to shield the gleaming metal doors of the cargo lift, and once it was in place, the entrance to the (nowadays rarely used) elevator was undetectable.

”Alrighty then.” you said quietly before you started to lead the way, staying a couple of steps ahead of the giant so to give him some (presumably much needed) space. You two had managed to take only a couple of steps towards the lounge, when (to your horror) you suddenly heard the weird, slightly screeching, sound echo in the otherwise empty hallway.

”What on earth...?” you thought to yourself nervously whilst taking another couple of steps forwards, and every time your left foot connected with the floor, the eerie sound resounded, and it was then when you realized something quite worrying:

All this time, when you had thought that the sound was coming from the wreckage scattered all around the city, the damned sound was coming from you instead.

And, by the looks (and sounds) of it (and probably because the universe seemed to love you so much), your left leg seemed to be the actual source of the sound, and wasn't that just so nice?


”Excuse me, Ms. Sully?” Jarvis inquired your attention after a few silent moments had passed by.

”Yeah?” you responded without slowing down, your voice shaking slightly with barely contained nervousness and worry.

”I would like to suggest you to seek out medical attention as soon as it is most convenient for you, miss; I have taken the liberty to run a health scan on you, and the results are indicating that your health levels have decreased partially during the time you have been away.” Jarvis informed you, a hint of concern within his voice, and you let out a sigh that made your shoulders drop a fraction under your suit.

”Yeah, I'll do so as soon as this whole thing is over, Jarvis.” you promised to the ever-caring A.I..

”Thank you, Ms. Sully. I may also suggest you to ask sir's assistance regarding the current status of your prostheses as well as the removal of your suit.” Jarvis added just as you two passed by the open doorway of the large, contemporary kitchen.

”Right, I'm so not looking forward of it at all... ” you muttered quietly to yourself before you fell silent again as you and your green friend continued your journey, the screeching sound mixing with the metallic clanking of your boots when they connected with the hardwood floor, the steady stomping resounding from your left hand side adding its own tune into the cacophony.


* * *

When you and the green giant reached the large, open doorway leading to the spacious living room of sorts, you quickly discovered that the two of you were the first ones to enter the scene. You  halted still on the doorway when the aspect of actually confronting the trickster god reached your conscious mind. Your heart quickened its pace subconsciously as your wide-eyed gaze swept around the room, and just when you begin to feel how your adrenaline levels were spiking heavenwards, your eyes roamed over the embedded, semicircular sitting area on your left before they landed onto... uh... what?

You blinked and slowly lifted your gaze from the marbled floor couple of feet ahead of you, where the raven-haired demigod resided laying on his back in a crater shaped just like he himself was in order to stare at the green man standing next to you with a blank face. Hulk's attention was directed towards the roughed-up god, and when you turned your own eyes to look back at Loki, you had to take a few deep breaths in order to calm yourself down; your sides were already throbbing in pain, no need to make them hurt more by breaking into a laughing fit.

”Jarvis, please tell me there's footage regarding of what happened between our jolly green friend and the trickster god?” you asked from the A.I. when a silent moment had passed and when your eyes were averted towards the unconscious god again, some traces of your bottled up laughter still managing to make their way into your voice.

”There, indeed, is footage regarding the said event, miss; you can choose between three different camera angles if you may.” Jarvis answered smoothly, sounding like he had partly waited for you to ask about such a thing.

”Excellent work, Jarvis.” you said with a smile and finally stepped further inside the spacious room.

”Thank you, miss.” Jarvis responded, sounding somewhat pleased before he continued:
”Agent Romanoff has just informed both sir and I about the subject relating to the device resting on the rooftop; Agent Romanoff and Dr. Selvig have managed to disarm the said device, and are currently heading downwards and towards your location, Ms. Sully.”

You stopped to stand at the end of the bar counter before you turned to look at the direction of the hallway, and you subconsciously pulled your (slightly dry) lower lip between your front teeth.

”Okay...” you murmured as you watched how Hulk stepped further inside the room too, and it seemed like he was keeping an eye on the still very much unconscious figure who was, uh, 'resting' in the crater.

”Sir has also instructed me to inform you that Mr. Rogers and Agent Barton are currently making their way to the penthouse; they are using the private lift for that purpose. Sir has also estimated that he will arrive onto the landing bridge within the next three minutes as he has encountered few unexpected difficulties regarding the navigation system of his latest suit; it appears that the front part of sir's helmet has gone missing, meaning that he has to fly the suit without the aid of the HUD.” Jarvis finished listing the current whereabouts of the team, and just when you were about to ask where the mighty thunder god was, a loud crack of lightning sounded from outside the glass walls, making you flinch at the sudden noise. Hulk grumbled loudly and seemed to slouch into a some sort of a battle stance as he stood near the embedded sitting area, his entire posture radiating with annoyance towards the sudden, loud noise.

”And it appears that Mr. Odinson has just arrived to the landing bridge, miss.”

You could have sworn that there was an audible sigh within Jarvis' voice when he informed you about Thor's grand arrival, but just when you were about to voice your response to the A.I., you suddenly heard two voices resound from the hallway, making you to forgot what you were about to say:
”Any chances there's a coffee machine located somewhere in this tower?”

”Well, I'm pretty sure Stark has installed one in every room possible, doctor.”

”Yeah?”

”Yeah, and I have a feeling you could find the nearest one from the room on your right, doc.”

”Oh, this is a kitchen, isn't it? I mean, this room has to be bigger than my entire apartment is...”

”Mm. Anyway, Dr. Selvig, I'm gonna leave you here for a bit; there's a couple of things our team has to do before we can call it a day.”

”Right, right... I'll wait here then, agent Romanoff.”


The two voices fell silent after that, and you let out a quiet sigh while looking towards the doorway. A sound of a door being opened and closed sounded from behind you, making you to avert your attention towards the source of the said sound. You felt a corner of your mouth quirk upwards a fraction when your eyes landed onto the blond demigod.

”Ah, Lady Sully!” Thor said, looking, and even sounding, slightly surprised as he stepped further inside the lounge.

”Yeah, hi Thor.” you greeted and watched how he used the short stairs in order to get onto the same level as you and Hulk currently were. Thor gave you a small nod before he stopped to stand a respectable distance away from you. Silence fell between you three (well, four if you count Loki in) as you all were keeping an eye on the person laying on the floor a couple of feet away, but the quietness was interrupted when an amused voice from the doorway said:
”Does anyone have a camera nearby? I would really like to have a picture of this hanging on a wall of my S.H.I.E.L.D. issued cubicle.”

You all turned to look at the redhead who stood on the doorway looking amused while holding Loki's scepter in her hands. She had managed to walk to the lounge all the way from the kitchen without making a sound, and the fact that she was capable of doing something like that, made you feel a little bit nervous. Sure it was cool as hell, but still...

Once again, when you were about to say something, you were interrupted, but this time you didn't mind it the slightest:
”Jarvis, make a photo collage for agent Romanoff as well as myself, Sully, Point Break, Capsicle, Legolas and, well, screw it; send prints to every single agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as the Director while you're at it, I'm sure they'll find the collage as hilarious as I do.”

Your head turned to look at the landing bridge so fast that the action caused your headache to worsen a fraction. Tony was in the process of lowering himself onto the landing bridge, but since he was already so close to the Tower, Jarvis had been able to pick up his voice and send it through the speakers of the lounge. And as the genius touched down onto the bridge (looking more than just a little wind-tousled), a slightly louder than usual ding sounded from the direction of the private elevator, and when Tony started to walk towards the glass door, sounds of footfalls started to resound from the hallway.

After Tony had clanked his way down to your level (he was still wearing his suit as in safety precaution), and after he came across the current condition of one demigod with his own two eyes, the expression dawning over Tony's face made you smile from ear to ear. Before the genius had a chance to say anything regarding the demigod's current state, you quickly filled him in with the information Jarvis had told you earlier:
”Tony, Jarvis managed to capture the whole shebang in film; there's at least three different camera angles to choose from.”

Tony's grin only widened after hearing that, and a quick look towards Natasha revealed you that she was feeling pleased as well. Thor had a thoughtful expression on his face, as if he wasn't completely sure he wanted to see what had happened to his (adopted) brother for him to end up in such a state, but the way he tried to fight against a smile told you that he was, indeed, feeling curious towards the aforementioned footage. And what comes to your green friend, well, his grin was definitely the largest one of among you all.

”Oh, look, I told you, Cap! We're the last ones to arrive here!”

A (whiny) voice commented from the doorway, making everyone's attention to turn towards the two arrivals. Steve was trying his best to support his fellow teammate while the other had his left arm wrapped around the taller man's shoulder.

”Yeah, well, if you would have just let me to carry you –” Steve said as they started to make their way towards you all, but was quickly interrupted by Clint:
”Oh, hell no! Do I look like a damsel in distress to you?!”

Before Steve managed to voice his thoughts regarding the subject, it was Thor who voiced his thoughts regarding a slightly more urgent matter:
”Fellow warriors! We may discuss about that subject during our grand feast later on, but at the present time, I think, we have more pressing matters to be taken care of.”

The god of thunder gestured towards his unconscious brother, efficiently silencing the whole room as everyone's attention was now directed towards the crater. The atmosphere inside the room was now more serious than it had been a moment ago.



It was the time to put an end to Loki's madness for once and for all.