The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 69

The three of us jumped to action, Loki and Thor ran to get someone to send a distress signal and I ran to get the Asgardians to the escape pods. I grab Valkyrie and Evan along the way and pull them around the corner.

"What is going on?" They both ask after seeing the look on my face. I form words in my mind and can feel them coming out of my mouth but I stop when I notice the look on their faces. "Repeat that one more time, but after you take a breath."

I listen to Valkyrie and take in a deep breath before restarting. "Thanos is here." It's not quite everything I wanted to say but it was enough for them to know what is happening.

The two of them look at each other before bursting into action. She bolts down the hallway and pulls the alarm system before running back to us. Lights flick on and guide us to go in the direction of the pods. Asgardians bolt past us and head down the foyer.

"Evan, Grace you should go with them," Valkyrie says and I just shake my head.

"I've dealt with Thanos before, I'm staying," I say and Evan agrees with me after puffing out his chest. We nod at each other and stare at Valkyrie, who only looks between the two of us with a risen eyebrow. "I'm not going to leave the fight."

"You should go." Evan says, "They need a leader and someone to guide them."

"I can't just run either," she exclaims, her eyes filled with anger and I look her straight in the eyes. Her gaze flicks between the two of ours and she looks defeated.

"You are not running, you are taking the hardest task at hand," I say and gesture to the running Asgardians. She watches as a girl with her mother runs past us and her eyes soften. "We can't take on that task because they won't listen. They all look up to you and that's why you need to go, now go!"

She nods her head and begins to run down the hallway before stopping and turning around. "Don't die," she says and rounds the corner, following the Asgardians. I look back at Evan and we both take off towards the front of the ship. We guide a few of the Asgardians along the way before coming back to the front where Thor, Loki and I had dispersed.

"-a distress signal was sent out," I hear Thor finish as I walk up to him. He looks up at the ship with hate in his eyes. He must have figured out that this was the man who had done those things to Loki. His gaze returns to me filled with worry and I turn my head.

"What's wrong?" I ask and he just takes a deep breath and licks his lips before beginning.

"This is going to be a hard battle," I give him another look and he nods, "I can feel it."

Truth is, I can feel it too. I've felt it since I was brought to his throne back in 2012, since he wanted me to become one of his children. I can't imagine the person I would be if I agreed to join him. I can't imagine what I would've been put through for him to break me. I turn to Evan and Heimdall.

"We need to get as many Asgardians off this ship as we can," I say and they both nod, the key to the Bifrost still rests against Heimdalls shoulder and I look up at it. "You might need to use that."

He nods at me before bursting to action, gesturing for men, women, and children to leave. Many refuse to go anywhere but he keeps trying. Yellow flames wrap around my wrists and before I could reach out to their minds Evan puts his hand on my shoulder.

"If they want to fight let them fight," I open my mouth to argue but Evan places his hand over it. "For once in your life listen, we are going to need all the help we could get. These people are choosing to stay so let them stay."

"I can't just let the kids stay," I look around at the girls and boys staring at the large spacecraft with intense eyes. Tears stream down their faces, but the look cloaking them cannot be mistaken. They lost someone in the battle and they want to avenge them by fighting alongside us. I know that look, I had it when my sister died and I went to S.H.I.E.L.D., I remember begging Fury for an assignment that he never gave. I can't let them do this because now I understand why Fury never did. He didn't want me to get myself killed through the rage and hate that filled my soul and now I have to do it to them.

"They can make their own decisions," Evan says back to me after returning his gaze. I know what it's like to be in their situation and I can't force them to do anything. I can't call them naive, I can't call them ignorant because they are not either of those things.

"Evan, if anything happens to them I don't know what I'd do," I say and he just embraces me after understanding what I'm trying to say. He knows that I'm only trying to protect them and do nothing else, that I'm not trying to control them or anything of the sorts. I feel his head nod and he steps back.

"I know, but we can't control them, Grace," he softly says, "they can make their own decisions, all we can do now is protect them from the threat as much as we can."

I nod my head and look back at the ship. Fear trickles its way through me when I begin to hear gears shift from outside our craft. A beam shoots out and fires at us, the ship jolts and groans from the impact and the people begin to panic. many of them run towards the pods but the ship jolts again causing them to fall to the floor.

More beams hit the ship causing it to moan and grown but it won't stop. I twist and turn around before hearing metal tear apart. Airlocks appear out of the ceilings and close us into the large room, we are now mice trapped in a corner. I send prayers up to my brothers and sisters that the rest of the Asgardians made it out alive since there is no backing out now. The firing stops and a ray of light appears out of the ship and into the front where the throne is.

Five large figures smirk down at us, Thor and I make brief eye contact as the feeling in the room changes from fear to petrifying. We are about to commence a long and hard battle against the Mad Titan. The ship begins to cool and my gaze looks over at Evan who has orange waves of color under his skin, his gaze not leaving Thanos. I finally understand everything now.

The Asgardians aren't staying for themselves. They are staying for Loki, they are showing that they are here for the prince of Asgard and will always be there for him. Each and every one of us has a reason for staying here to fight Thanos. Heimdall, the Asgardians, and Thor are here for Loki, Evan and Loki are here for themselves, and I'm here for all of the reasons. Purple light orbs its way around me, the snap of my neck echoing into my mind as the stories of what the two of them whirl around my thoughts, causing the orb to become brighter and brighter.

A grin spreads across Thanos' face before him and his children attack.