The Ant and the Boot

“Tony!” I screamed, pounding on his bedroom door. “Tony!”

The door swung open in an instant, a disheveled and only partially dressed Tony Stark standing in the doorway. He stared at me, his eyes wide. I was sure I looked worse.

“What happened?” he asked, reaching out to touch my arm.

“Suit up,” I ordered, “We’re –“

An explosion ripped through the air, sounding muted and somewhat distant but still loud enough to make us jolt.

“Loki has the Tesseract,” I finished, “And I think he has help.”

Tony didn’t need any further explanation. He rifled through his travel bag, throwing something at me that I caught one handed. I quickly recognized the S.H.I.E.L.D uniform, emblem emblazoned over the heart.

“Put that on, it’ll make flying easier,” he instructed. I grabbed the Mark 13 and stripped while Tony pulled a shirt over his head, quickly yanking the pants and jacket over my skin. Tony saw me change, but at the moment I didn’t care. We didn’t have time for modesty.

I was slipping on a pair of leather boots when the second explosion rocked Asgard. Tony had an earpiece out and was yelling over the noise that had erupted in the hallway, trying to maintain some calm.

“Agent Romanov? Natasha? Good, I need you to get up to Stark Tower with the Avengers. Loki’s back and armed and has some bad guy buddies with him… Yeah, she’s fine, suiting up right now. Look, I need you and the other Avengers to get ready to come through the Bifrost. I’ll get Thor to open it for you. Look, we need you in ten minutes, sooner if you can. Wake everyone up and rush ‘em. Banner’s already in the tower – oh, and try not to scare Pepper.”

By the time he finished the Mark 13 was gliding over my skin, clicking into place in white and silver panels. The arc reactor in my chest glowed to life. Luckily my hair was already pinned back so the helmet glided easily over my head.

“Lancaster, I need you to go find Thor. He needs to open the Bifrost,” Tony explained as we walked up onto the balcony. Battle and firefights already marred the nighttime sky. “I’m going after whoever’s running this thing, try to track down Loki if I can.”

I nodded before throwing myself into the air, taking off alongside Tony. A new screen flashed in front of my eyes, this one differentiating between enemies and allies and updating me on what weapons I had on my person.

I found Thor already engaged with an alien creature that was easily twice his side, pounding its head into a pulp with a single swing of his hammer. I came in next to him, blasting an incoming creature out of his way before it landed on his back.

“Stark!” he called, hailing me gravely.

“Not Stark,” I replied. He looked surprised but recovered quickly as I landed, his eyes scanning over the battlefield.

“Thor, we’ve got the Avengers Assembled. We need you to open the Bifrost,” I explained, catching his arm. He glanced at me and nodded, his knuckles going white on his hammer.

“What happened?” Thor asked, looking down at me.

“I don’t know. All I know is that somehow Loki got to the Tesseract and now his power is restored.”

“We must move swiftly then, before Loki can do any more harm with it.”

Thor spun his hammer before streaking up into the air, me flying hot on his heels. As we flew a large – airship materialized on the horizon, blue lights illuminating up and down its length.

“That’s the light of the Tesseract,” Thor told me, pointing. “Loki gave it to them.”

I ground my teeth, thinking.

“Thor, you go ahead. I’ll catch up to you.”

I bolted away before I could hear his reply, eyes focused on the looming aircraft.



“Holy hell,” I muttered, spiraling through the bullets of nearby flying aliens, their blasts bouncing off my armor for the most part but still jolting me off course. I growled, circling above the battle and blasting nearby creatures out of the sky. They fell with violent shrieks, hitting the ground somewhere far, far below.

“Natasha, are you in yet?” I asked, beginning to grow a bit nervous. There were just so many. If those sea monster things showed up and we didn’t have Banner handy we were screwed.

“We’re all here, Stark, but Thor hasn’t opened the gate yet.”

“Dammit, Point Break,” I cursed, “Can’t you count on a god to do anything right?”

A creature aimed a blast at my head, which narrowly missed as I spun out of its path. The side of my helmet turned warm against my head.

“Can’t talk now. Tell me when you get here,” I ordered before clicking off my headset. I streaked through the sky, trying to find something, anything, that would give me a sign.

My sign came in a flutter of green and the distinct shape of golden tusks. I snorted, bracing myself for descent.

“You’d think after all this time he’d stop wearing the goofy hat,” I scoffed, then went into a sharp dive towards the golden light. As I came closer, only a second passing and moments before impact, he turned. Even in that brief moment I saw him smile.

That goddamn bastard.

Blue energy ripped through me as I hit a wall. There wasn’t actually a wall, just a shimmering sheet of blue light, but according to my rips there was a sheet of iron that I just smashed my nose into. I careened back, landing hard on my side and skidding with a terrible screech across the stones of Asgard. The demigod laughed, the wall disappearing between us as he stepped closer.

“You always fall for that, don’t you?” he said calmly, mockingly, pacing around me. He poked me with his pointy glowstick, its burning blue light making my already sore head pound.

“You got your voice back? Aw, hell, I liked you better when you were quiet,” I grunted. I tried to push myself off my back but he slammed me back down, planting his foot firmly on my chest and pointing the blade at the end of the scepter between my eyes. The smile had been wiped off his face, leaving only a dispassionate loathing in his eyes.

“I have waited so long to kill you, Stark,” he hissed, his voice so low I could barely hear him.

“Then I am sure, Loki, god of Mischief, that you can wait another moment.”

The voice was low, very low, like the grating of stones against the ground. I looked toward the direction that the voice came from and saw nothing but a gilded boulder pressed against the walls of the Asgardian palace, a good ten feet tall and mostly hidden by shadow.

Then the boulder moved.

It could have been the brother of the Rage Monster, except this thing was purple and looked a little more put together. Its skin resembled rock as to flesh, its armor strange upon its body. Its eyes were the worst thing about it, though: they glowed like heated coals, red and steaming like the pits of hell. It smiled with brickish teeth, layers of stone peeling back where its mouth should be.

“The hell is that thing?” I spat, trying to edge away. I forgot there was a foot on my chest. The scepter pressed down against my helmet threateningly. Joke was on Loki, this glass was scratch resistant.

“I am your god, human,” the thing rumbled, eying me with that same look on his blocky face.

“I hear that a lot. And you know what? It never seems to work out that way,” I retorted. Smartest move? Probably not, but I don’t like bullies.

Pain shot up and down my body like lightning, blinding and paralyzing me with blue light. When I came to again Loki’s stick glowed, the power receding back into the tip. My limbs twitched involuntarily and I gasped, trying to bring air back into my lungs.

“Do not question me, human,” the thing rumbled, “For I am death, and you cannot escape death.”

“What do you want with him, Lord?” Loki asked, turning back toward the thing.

“I want to make him an example. With the mighty Iron Man destroyed, the Asgardians and mortals alike might take me more… seriously.”

The thing’s chuckle sounded like rolling thunder, distant but still menacing. Loki stepped off me and two little Chitauri kicked me until I rolled onto my knees. I tried to bring life back into my suit, but whatever Loki’s stick had done had fried my software. I pressed the manual release button for my helmet, which tumbled out onto the ground in front of me as I coughed and tried to breathe.

“We shall make the first display of him here, but his execution will be performed on earth,” the thing said, turning to Loki. Loki smiled, resting his scepter on the ground.

“Excellent. And what of Dove?”

“The maiden of which you inquire will be collected by the Chitauri and brought to you. They will leave her unharmed or face punishment of death.”

Loki nodded. I ground my teeth, watching them. They didn’t realize Dove was fighting, so might kill her on accident anyway. I hoped for her sake she was lying low, though I doubted she would; that girl was a fighter, even if her captor/lover was the enemy.

“What makes you think she’ll come with you, big guy?” I said, turning my head up. I spat off to the side, blood mingling with my spittle. “You can’t win her, Loki, just like you couldn’t win the earth. She was going to leave with me tonight.”

I buckled in pain as the blunt end of Loki’s scepter jabbed into my stomach. I coughed, the air pushed out of me as if sucked out by a vacuum.

“I’m sick of your lies, Stark,” Loki hissed. After that the Chitauri grabbed me by my hair and dragged me forward, dropping me face down in a clearing filled with rubble and shattered glass. I looked up, my vision still swimming as I looked into the faces of Chitauri and Asgardians alike, the battle subduing as they watched me.

“Brother, you are making a grave error, stop this madness.”

Point Break landed on the ground off to the side of us, hammer clenched in his fist.

“Make it to the Bifrost?” I called to him before being struck over the head with the blunt end of Loki’s scepter. From the look I saw on Thor’s face when my vision cleared I knew he had.

“Loki, do not dare harm him again,” Thor growled. Idiot. If I had learned anything thing throughout my lifetime it was that you didn’t say things like that to people who didn’t like you. It was a reverse psychology thing. For example, if I was home and I father said “don’t you dare eat those cookies”, those damn cookies were in my stomach; same with “don’t you dare modify and destroy my favorite car”. Let’s just say that was an interesting Christmas.

Anyway, I was just waiting to feel that pole swing into my already throbbing head. It didn’t, surprisingly, but that might not have been a good thing: bad guys would always inflict pain unless there was something more painful they planned to do in the immediate future - so was bad guy law.

“Now why do you expect me to take orders from you, Odinson?” Loki said, his voice taking on a darker, more sinister quality than it had up till now. “I have stepped out of your shadow, ‘brother’. With an army, the god of Death, and the Tesseract on my side I will never be forced to stoop to you again.”

“Well doesn’t that sound strangely familiar?” I said, grunting. “Oh, I remember where I heard that plan: when you tried to enslave the earth. And you failed. I already told you this whole thing wasn’t going to work –“

The glow stick made sharp, stinging contact with my head again and I fell face first on the ground, brilliant white stars dancing around my head.



The first thing I noticed was the emanating cold, even from within the suit. I landed in almost complete darkness, my boots ringing hollowly within the hanger I had landed in.

At least, I think it was a hanger. It resembled a membrane more than a ship’s insides, fully metal but dark and seeming to breathe as I moved I felt as though I had flown into the mouth of some great beast.

“Jarvis, can you turn off the suit’s lights?” I asked.

“Yes, but my dear, I don’t know if this is the best idea-“

“Please Jarvis, just turn off the lights.”

Everything went dark as I silently threw myself into the air, turning strangely up and down the corridors. Nothing moved. Nothing stirred. I shivered, readying my blasters as I moved through the eerie canals.

“Jarvis, can you locate the Tesseract?”

“I have registered its power reading at eight hundred feet to the north. Scan of aircraft is inconclusive, but I deducted that you must turn left down the upcoming corridor.”

I turned as he instructed, holding my breath. Still nothing moved. Even as faint blue light began to waft down the corridor, growing brighter and brighter as I wound back northward, not a creature stirred anywhere. The ship, the halls, even the room housing the Tesseract itself – they were all barren.

I found the Tesseract in a small, circular room that was round on all sides, like a hanging sphere. The Tesseract was suspended in the center of this room, illuminating everything for at least a hundred feet. I stopped just short of the cube, regarding it warily.

“Jarvis, do you sense any traps?”

“None are detectable. Its power reading is benign.”

I looked around, peering in all directions for attackers. Still, even as I hovered inches from their beloved power source, no one attacked me. Swallowing and making up my mind, I took a deep breath, braced myself for the worst, and pulled the Tesseract free of its suspension.

They came out of the walls.

It was like something out of a nightmare, the Chitauri coming through the membranous surface of the ship as if insects pushing their way through layers of skin. They swarmed out, chittering with beady eyes and gnashing pincers. With the light of the Tesseract I could see them all coming, horror freezing my heart.

“Jarvis? Jarvis!”

Jarvis did not reply.

I held the Tesseract in front of me like a weapon – which seemed to work, making the Chitauri cower back and shriek, holding their eyes. I laughed, whirling around and pushing them back.

They were afraid of light. That’s why they couldn’t come retrieve the Tesseract for themselves.

Still, I couldn’t hold the Tesseract in front of me forever. The first Chitauri leapt on my back, beating my helmet with some weapon that split my skull with blinding pain and sent me to my knees. I gasped in pain, barely managing to keep hold of the Tesseract as I fell.

I’m going to die, I thought, blunt weapons hitting me hard against my back. I gripped the Tesseract to me, knowing that it was my only shot: they feared and loved it, which made it my only bargaining chip with Jarvis gone.

The Tesseract. That was it. Loki had managed to use its power, so couldn’t I? Did it discriminate between species? It couldn’t, or else no one would want it so much. I gripped the cube tightly in my hands, pressing it against the floor of the ship. It glowed brighter, pulsing in my fingers.

“Burst!”

The floor below me simply vanished, so utterly obliterated that it didn’t even seem to fall away – only disappear into nothingness. The Chitauri around me screamed as they plummeted to the ground. I gripped my arms around the Tesseract and threw out my legs as I fell, activating the thrusters of the Mark 13.

Nothing happened.

As I fell faster I began to panic, wildly throwing out my limbs and trying to catch myself.

“Reboot,” I shouted to the dark suit, “Reboot!”

For just a moment the suit flickered into life, maybe sixty feet above the ground, and stabilized me for a moment, but as quickly as they came the power of the thrusters vanished and I plummeted down, down, toward the unforgiving ground.

I didn’t feel anything when I hit, just vaguely noticed that I was bouncing over the surface of stone, chipping it away as I went and sending little sparks into the sky. Even as I skidded to a halt, my helmet snapping off of my head, I felt nothing. I tried to move but I couldn’t. Why? Why couldn’t I move?

I stared at the ground for a moment, noticing with alarm that something was pooling out around my chest in a red mass. That was blood, wasn’t it? It flowed out of me like a red ocean, slow and calm as it grew.

Something turned me so I was staring up at the sky, away from my blood. Before me I saw the stars – all the pretty stars, dancing around my eyes like fireflies that swam in a blurring mass. They were beautiful. I wondered if Loki found them pretty, or if Tony was seeing them now.

I tried to breathe but the air didn’t come. A tear rolled down my cheek as I stared up at the sky, darkness beginning to creep into my vision and steal the stars away from me. Don’t take away the stars. All those pretty stars.

The darkness grew, leaving only a little circle of light for me to stare at. Don’t leave me, I thought, don’t leave me in darkness.

The stars vanished. The last thing I remembered was a single moment of brilliant reality in which my heart struggled, hammering against my chest, and a woman’s voice, desperate and heartbreaking, screamed my name.

Natasha. Natasha’s with me. I smiled, happy to know I wasn’t alone.

Then my heart stopped fighting and everything went black.



Thor stood facing the thing, apparently named Thanos, while Loki pushed me down with his stick. Thor aimed his hammer at the thing’s head, but before he could connect Thanos batted him out of the air and sent him flying like an annoying insect.

“You Asgardians think you are gods, but you don’t even know what power truly is, do you?” the thing laughed like an earthquake, its body shaking with dry mirth. Thor’s body broke through a sheet of rock and he grunted as he pulled himself free of the rubble, dust and scratches lining his arms.

The ground shook again and something giant and green came plummeting off the side of a nearby building, shouting in rage. I barked out a laugh. There was the rage monster, here to fight his deluded cousin. He slammed a fist into Thanos’ chest, sending him stumbling back, and bellowed with rage again. Within moments they were shaking the ground, battling their way across the Asgardian meeting ground. Thor joined them, striking down little Chitauri like whack-a-moles before they could climb onto the Hulk’s back.

Behind him was Captain Crunch, leaping over a building in a single bound and landing on a pile of rubble near Thor. He already looked beaten down, his face haggard and his suit torn in some places. Still, they were here.

“About damn time you guys showed up,” I shouted, trying to push myself off the ground. I wobbled on my feet, the pain in my head making me feel nauseous. Loki was too busy pointing his glowstick at the Captain’s chest to get me back down, anger flashing across his face.

“You dare come into this world, human?” he hissed, the pointy end of the scepter glowing bright with blue flame. The Captain just looked at him his face drawn, lifting his shield to his chest. Something dangled from his other hand that resembled a black and white football.

“I don’t have time for you,” the Captain sighed, stepping closer. He looked at me, his expression grave.

“Stark…” the Captain said softly, swallowing. Then he threw the football at my feet, the object tumbling with a metallic clank.

“I’m sorry. We lost a soldier.”

It wasn’t black and white. It was pure white, stained with red liquid. I knew that because I made it myself. I gripped the helmet of the Mark 13, my fingers smearing the still wet blood. The pit of my stomach fell out and I felt cold course up my arms until my heart froze.

“What happened?” I asked hollowly, mouth dry.

“Suit malfunction. We don’t know why yet.”

So that was it. I had killed her. Somehow, some way, I had messed up building the suit and I’d killed Dove. Dove, that poor girl who was so filled with life and had so much left going for her.

And she was going to go home tonight, I thought, tightening my fingers around the helm. She never even had a chance.

The Captain vanished as Thor tumbled into him, sending them both toppling over the ground. The Hulk, too, crashed backward into a nearby building, sending it falling in upon his head. To their credit the death god looked angry for the first time, that smile finally wiped off his stony face and eyes smoldering.

“I have had enough of these nuisances,” the thing snapped. As if commanded the few remaining Chitauri leapt on my back, pulling me up onto my feet. I grunted in pain, but didn’t do any more fighting than that: hell, maybe I deserved whatever was coming to me. Maybe it just wasn’t worth fighting anymore.

“We shall go to earth, then, and leave these lost creatures to squabble amongst themselves,” Loki agreed. That idiot. He didn’t even know his lover, the only thing he gave a damn about, was dead. He’d already lost.

“You don’t know what you’ve done to yourself, Loki,” I growled, but after that said no more as I was pulled away toward the Bifrost as their sacrifice. As I said before, Loki was bound to lose. What I never mentioned before is that I might be, too.



I glowed with life as Stark was dragged along behind me. A smile played at my lips as I felt my power course up my arm again, my veins filled with the power I had missed so much. The Tesseract, the world, Dove – I would have all of it now, the Avengers broken as they were and the Asgardians too afraid to fight back.

As I walked toward the Bifrost I knew that there was nothing left that could stand in my path.

Yet strangely enough as we approached the Bifrost, our airship stooping to come through with us, I noticed a form standing on the bridge. What creature could be so daft as to face us now? Something bold, no doubt, but they had not yet realized their efforts were futile.

I did stop as she drew into sight – and I laughed, almost relieved with the ease in which she was allowing us to collect her. As she stood there, pistol raised and wearing that strange, tight S.H.I.E.L.D uniform, I couldn’t help but remember the first time she’d stood against me. Darling, foolish girl. Behind her was some sort of package, wrapped in cloth.

“My love,” I said with a sigh, walking toward her. Dove regarded me, her expression unchanging. She clicked back the safety on her gun in warning.

“Dove! You’re alive?!”

I turned around to see Stark gawking. I cocked my head to the side, confused. Why in the name of the gods would she be harmed?

“That’s debatable, but for the moment I’ll say yes,” she replied to Stark, a rueful smile flickering over her lips. She still didn’t look at me, instead turning to Thanos.

“I have a trade to offer you,” she said neutrally. The death god regarded her and laughed.

“What, you for Stark? Do not be foolish, child, for we can simply take you as well if we wish. There have been plans made for both of you.”

A humorless smile turned up the corners of her lips, her gun still level with Thanos’ head.

“As appealing as that sounds, I have another offer that might be more… compelling.”

She stepped back, lifting the cloth package into her arms. Then with a flourish she revealed the contents – the cube, shining brilliantly in blue, illuminating her face.

The Tesseract. But only half of it, the blue cube broken along one of its seams.

“Dove, return that to us,” I demanded, putting my arms out. Thanos was not so civil. He bellowed in rage, his footsteps shaking the bridge as he approached her.

“How did you get that, human?” he boomed, looming over her like a giant beast made of stone. “Do you dare play games with me? I will crush the life out of you, girl.”

Dove smiled. “I’ve already died once today. You’ll have to do better than that.”

Thanos swept an arm at her but she deftly leapt back out of his path, eyes still locked on his face.

“The cube for Stark. That’s my offer.”

“Do not test me, human.”

“Dove, give up this foolishness,” I ordered, striding to her. Still she did not look at me as I stood by her side. Anger flowed through me, both at her blatant rejection and her insolence.

“Dove, give me the Tesseract,” I hissed, reaching for the cube. Only then did she look at me, pulling away from my grasp and leaving only air in my arms.

“Natasha,” she said briskly, I need you to restrain Loki. And Stark.”

“Understood.”

“What the hell?” Stark shouted. The Chitauri around him fell with no more than a scream as arrows swiftly cut them down, Agent Barton jumping out of an air ship that materialized above the bridge and gripping Stark. The guns of the ship focused on me, locking me in place.

“Dove, what is this madness?” I asked her, trying to reach out to her arm. Her eyes were locked with Thanos again, lips pressed together in a thin line.

“Do you accept my offer, or do I need to fight you for it?” Dove asked, her voice grave. Thanos laughed at the ridiculousness of her statement.

“Child, who do you think you are?” he asked, his voice barely more than a tremor of stones. “You have no business challenging me. Give this up, human.”

“Then give me Stark and call away your Chitauri.”

“You are out of place, human.”

“Really? Then why don’t we fight for it. One god against another.”

“Mortal, what is this foolishness? When did you become a god?” he laughed. His amusement was more than I could claim: I stood bewildered and frightened, wondering what madness had gripped the heart of my queen.

“Dove, this is not a game you should play,” I warned. I tried to step closer to her but the guns above me clicked into place.

“Twenty minutes ago, when I ate part of your precious Tesseract.”

“Impossible. Consuming any portion of the Tesseract would kill you.”

“I was already dead, so that wasn’t too much of a concern.”

I watched her, trying to see through her bluff. Her look remained unwavering, her eyes hard and tone cold.

“Give me Tony back,” she hissed gravely.

Thanos’ patience ran out. He bellowed and raised one mighty fist, power in the form of fire burning at the end of his arm. Without thinking of myself I threw myself in front of Dove, trying desperately to protect her from Thanos’ wrath.

Then she began to glow in brilliant blue and white, her hair flaring out and whipping around her face in a heavenly shroud. She dropped the Tesseract and held her arms out to her sides, willing multiple sets of wings the color of the Tesseract out around her body in an angelic wind.

I stared up at her, my hand brushing lightly against her leg as she hovered above me. She was beautiful.

She was the Tesseract.