Chapter 22: Boom Boom
Chapter 22: Boom Boom
2011
Puente Antiguo, New Mexico
Main Street
(Omniscient POV)
The Bifrost landing site looks like the aftermath of a war zone. The smoldering wreckage of S.H.I.E.L.D vehicles lies strewn about.
The Destroyer strides down the street, fiery red energy glowing from within itself. It unleashes beams of energy as it goes, blowing up cars, and setting storefronts aflame.
As it lumbers its way into town, Sif and the Warriors Three head down the street towards the Destroyer.
Hogun and Fandral take off running towards the Destroyer, as Volstagg stands limbering up.
After stretching, Volstagg takes off sprinting and catches up to his comrades, Hogun and Fandral, who grab him on either side and with all their Asgardian might, hurl the rambunctious warrior into the air at the silver metal behemoth.
"For Asgaaaaard!!!" Volstagg yells.
The Destroyer is unable to react quickly enough, as Volstagg crashes into the creature. The attack seems like it might actually work for a moment, but the Destroyer stays on its feet and lifts Volstagg into the air by the scruff of his neck.
The Destroyer savagely hurls him at Hogun and Fandral, smashing into them, when Sif leaps off a nearby rooftop with her two-headed spear in hand and tries to plunge it deep into the back of the armor.
As the weapon slides through the gaps of the metal, The Destroyer stands there motionless, the fire dimming in its faceplate, and Sif standing atop its back.
The Asgardians have a brief moment of hope that the battle is over. But the creature stirs with life, its fire igniting once again as Sif looks on with growing trepidation.
Slowly, unnaturally, the Destroyer spins its torso around 180 degrees to face its attacker. It unleashes a blast at Sif as she barely dives off of the behemoth in time, dodging the blast. The Destroyer rises again to its full height, pulling free from Sif's spear, the weapon slipping through the slats of its armor.
Sif and the Warriors Three try to regroup, when the Destroyer unleashes another blast, sending Sif and her comrades flying in all directions.
***********
Puente Antiguo, New Mexico
Main Street
(Thor POV)
I see my friends lying injured on the ground, but I have no time to act, as the Destroyer fires in my direction.
A storefront near Smith Motor Labs explodes, knocking Jane, Erik, and Myself off our feet.
Scrambling on the ground I find my bearings and then help Jane to her feet when we both notice Erik lying on his back amidst the debris, impaled by a twisted piece of iron.
"Erik!" Jane cries as She and I hurry to his side. Erik was losing blood and was going into shock.
"Go! Leave me!" The dying man says as Jane shakes her head and takes his hand.
Looking around for anything to help, I spot Hogun's pouch of healing stones lying in the middle of the street.
"Wait here!" I order as I make a break for it, dodging through the flaming wreckage and debris. Scooping up the pouch in my hand, I turn tail and race back towards Jane and the bleeding Erik.
I open the pouch only to find the fragile stones crushed within, useless. I pour the contents out in my hand, trying desperately to find even a fragment of the healing stones.
"Come on... give me one!" I exclaim and amidst the useless powder, I finally find one stone still intact.
"Yes!" I shout and toss the pouch aside then hold the stone over the end of the iron rod impaling Erik.
"What are you doing? What is that?" Jane questions as the stone begin to glow. She looks on, amazed, as the glowing stone melts upon the piece of iron, dissolving it, heading downwards, until it reaches Erik's wound, healing it completely.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I look back towards where the Destroyer was wreaking havoc in the town, my wounded friends still lying there helpless.
A determined look came to my face as I moved towards the ones closest to me, Sif and Hogun.
Reaching the two, who lie dazed, battered, and bloodied on the ground. With great effort, I manage to pull them both behind the wreckage of a burning vehicle.
"Go, leave while you can!" I tell them, as Sif looks up toward me.
"But the others..."
"You can't help them now. Your job is to survive."
Sif struggles to sit up, her wounds begin dripping with blood, and grips her shield tightly
"No! I will die a warrior's death. Stories will be told of this day-" She stops as I gently take the shield from her hand.
"Live and tell those stories yourself," I say and, at last, she nods.
I watch as Sif takes Hogun in her arms and move away from the battle.
Looking around for the others I finally spot Volstagg lying unconscious, with Fandral lying nearby. I make my way toward them and notice Volstagg is barely breathing. I move and try to pull the heavily armored warrior to safety, but it's no use. He won't budge.
Looking at Fandral I see the man's arm bending in a different direction but other than that he seemed to be fine.
"Get him out of here!" I yell towards him only to be met with more reluctance.
"No. We can still fight!" Fandral tried to argue.
"But not win. Move Volstagg, or he'll die!"
A look of utter failure passes through the man's face and he glances at me in worry but I just look at him and grin.
"Don't worry, my friend. I have a plan."
The Warrior reluctantly grabs his fallen friend and drags him away from the battlefield toward the outer border of the town.
After they go, I turn back to where the Destroyer is, tossing Sif's shield aside. I stride down the street towards the behemoth, completely defenseless.
Looking up at the towering suit of armor I call out to the person I know to be controlling it.
"Brother... for whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am sorry. But these people have done nothing to you. They are innocents. Take my life, and know I will never return to Asgard."
I extend my arms in surrender as The Destroyer hesitates. Sizing my defenseless self up it then swats me with its enormous arm.
I hear the sickening crack of my breaking bones as I go flying. Landing in a crumpled, broken heap in front of Smith Motors labs.
As my eyes close and my last breath leaves my lips. I could feel as The Destroyer stands over my body.
It opens its faceplate, and locks it in place, readying to unleash its fiery blast.
The Destroyer unleashes its blast at Thor's body, when -
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!!*
At the same time, a blinding bolt of lightning strikes down from above, colliding with the Destroyer's blast. Hundreds of small explosives set around the town go off.
Buildings erupt in debris as burnt bodies are thrown about the area. Fire and ash rain down as Thor, clad in full battle armor and holding Mjolnir in his hand, watches the destruction around him in horror.
"W-what just happened?"
***********
Puente Antiguo, New Mexico
Border of Town
(Fandral POV)
Hearing the loud explosions I drop Volstagg and turn around, only to see the countless ruined buildings and burnt corpses littering the streets.
In the distance, I catch glimpses of a newly empowered Thor battling with the Destroyer.
"You know, I originally was tempted to kill him when I first saw him." A cold voice sounds from behind me and I quickly turn around and take a fighting stance.
My face pales and my body froze, as I try to comprehend the scene in front of me.
Standing over a headless corpse was a masked man. Crimson red energy emitted from intricate tattoos on his arms as he held Volstagg's head in his hands playfully.
"I mean, the guy was pretty much at my mercy. But I decided against it." The man's cold emotionless voice rang out as he threw Volstagg's head carelessly away, like it was trash, and started to slowly march his way towards me.
"Killing him would probably change a lot of things, and why would I throw away my biggest advantage." The man stated as he continued to get closer.
Letting the rage at the wrongful death of my comrade fill me, I didn't wait for him to get closed and recklessly lunged at him with my saber.
The masked man expertly dodged my attack like I was a child and took hold of my one good attacking arm.
A force, unlike anything I felt before crushed my wrist, making me drop my weapon to the ground.
"That's when I remembered your group of randoms." The masked man continued his speech, not caring that he just crushed my wrist in his hand.
Ignoring the pain, I deftly flip over and kick out towards the man's face. This time he doesn't even dodge and lets the attack hit him.
Pain soared up my leg as the force of the kick causes it to snap in the other direction.
"Aaarrrggghhh!!!" I scream in pain and fall to the ground.
The masked man crouches in front of me and I could see emotionless Hazel eyes staring back at me through the mask.
"W-who are you?! Why are you doing this!?" I cried as blood poured out from my crushed hand and bent leg.
The masked man tilted his head to the side as if contemplating something, before answering.
"You know, I haven't really decided what I should call myself yet." He said as he grabbed my head in both his hands and I felt unbelievable pressure squeezing my skull.
"P-please!!Please spare me!!!" I call out desperately as blood leaks from my nose, ears, and eyes.
"Now why the fuck would I do that, when you're more valuable to me dead than you are alive." The man states simply as I could feel my head get squashed in his hands.
****************
A/N: Hey Guys, I want to do a small poll for the "Hero" name of the MC. I will have the final say, no matter the result, but I want to see what you guys think as well.
Again I have the final say, so don't be butthurt if I don't go with what you chose.
Hope you're enjoying the story and thanks for reading!!