Hello!

Author's note has to be quick today.

I SAW CRIMSON PEAK YESTERDAY!!! I absolutely adored it. Tom Hiddleston was ridiculously amazing, and honestly, I thought he did a better job at Thomas Sharpe than Loki, but that's just me. Has anyone seen it? What did you think? NO SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T SEEN IT, if you want to vent and fangirl with me about it, then private message me :0

But yeah, easily one of my favorite movies ever.

Hope you like this chapter. It took me about 2 hours to write. And if you like action, then you'll like this one. It made me so happy to write.

Here's a gif of Thea being bad-ass.

Please VOTE and COMMENT!

Chapter 53- Life is a Highway That Almost Got Me Killed

"Well we have good news," says Bruce, hanging up his cell phone as he walks into the kitchen the next morning. Videl and I are in the kitchen, trying to make breakfast. We've mixed the batter, which naturally had led to some throwing of the mixture so that we have a combination of egg yolk and flour all over our clothes. Victoire is sitting nearby, playing with some cookie cutters while Videl and I argue how big the pancakes need to be and whether or not we need chocolate chips.

"Good news?" I ask, looking up from where I'm trying to slather pancake batter from my hands to Videl's face. I'm walking around, slightly limping, but not extremely in pain. "I need to hear it before Videl ruins my breakfast."

"Well unfortunately, they didn't get the actual rondayven, just its next location," says Bruce. "But we got Agent Hill back."

"Really? How?"

"Loki and Thor caught up to her in the Badlands. Loki managed to get into her head and remove Neidra's influence on her. It wasn't pretty, from what I hear, but she's recovering now."

"Is she okay?"

"She's frazzled, that's for sure. Loki had to be hard with her to get Neidra out, so I think she's in a bit of pain. She'll be fine in a few days."

"Does she have any info on Neidra?" asks Videl.

"Other than the fact that Neidra is getting desperate for more rondayven than the one in Switzerland, no. Loki had a difficult enough time, and if he had pried any more, he would have killed her."

While I'm thinking that it's nice that Loki hadn't killed Agent Hill like he'd killed those men in England, Bruce continues, "The next rondayven location is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to Tony, it's in Independence Hall, where the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were adopted."

"Ah, the Constitution," I say, slathering an unsuspecting Videl with pancake batter. While he shouts and I dodge an attempt at revenge, I continue, "We've been down this path before."

"So the question is," says Bruce, ignoring the fight and smiling at Victoire when she coos at him. "Thea, are you up to heading to Penn?"

"Uh, yeah I am," I say, "I don't want to miss more of this than I have to."

"You could stay here one more go-round," points out Bruce. "You're not completely better yet. You definitely can't be doing any running, so if it comes up to that, you'll be in trouble."

"I'll be fine," I promise. "I'm not Asgardian for nothing."

*

Videl jaunts us to Philadelphia, since he's had a day to rest. Waiting for us are Natasha and Clint, right across the street from Independence Hall. I vaguely remember the building from watching National Treasure with Jack a year and a half ago. Natasha reminds me that this is the original home of the Liberty Bell.

The problems don't start until after we have the rondayven journal. I've been sticking with Natasha and Clint the entire time, scouting the exterior of the building, while Videl had gone inside. Tony has just radioed Nat that Jack, Kyle, and Peter have found the next rondayven location (which is sort of disappointing considering it'd be great to just find the darn American rondayven and get it over with) when I spot someone entering Independence Hall. I normally would've ignored the man, who is wearing normal clothes, his long hair tied behind him in one of those "man buns".

Except he's carrying a sword, and when he turns to the left to talk to a guard, I see that it's Fjodr.

"We have a slight problem," I say into the radio, "I found Fjodr at the south side of the building."

"That's not it," says Natasha. She's across the street from me, looking to be casually leaning against a light pole, but I know she's fully at attention. "I'm thinking we've got about ten of Neidra's spies, just at this side."

"Ten?" asks Tony, his voice concerned. "That sure as hell ain't good."

"And I'm thinking six or seven on this side," says Angelique, who's supposed to be on the northern side with Emmaline and Jijah.

"Everyone, stay calm and stay put for a couple minutes," says Tony. "They don't know we have the rondayven, or who even has the location."

"Which would be me," says Jack.

"We're going to need to get out of here," says Tony. "There are too many of us in different locations to be Jaunted."

"They're closing in around us," says Natasha, and looking around, I see that she's right. The ten or so agents, all wearing sunglasses, are slowly moving towards Independence Hall. I've seen no signs of Neidra, Caomh, or Saissa, which is great, but the fact that Fjodr's around here can't be good. I've never seen him on Earth before. "And Thea can't run," she adds.

"I can," I say, "But not far."

"Yeah, let's not risk it," says Tony. "Jack, you hear me right now?"

"Yeah," says Jack. "We don't see anyone overly suspicious right now, but we're kind of hiding so-"

"Give the rondayven to Kyle. Ky, go out the south end to Thea and get her out of there. Nat, stay with her until then while Clint distracts some of the guards."

"How's Kyle going to help me?" I demand, but Tony's already busy giving out orders for the rest to get out of Independence Hall slowly, not wanting to attract attention.

I watch Clint walk inside Independence Hall and study my fingers, trying not to think too hard about the ten or so agents surrounding me that are probably programmed to kill me.

I feel my phone vibrate and, still glancing around, take it out. It's a text.

From: Kyle

walk to your left until you see me. trust me, I'll be hard to miss

It doesn't take long for me to realize that Kyle really won't be hard to miss and he's not just being cocky. As I walk to the left on the cobblestone path in front of the Hall, I hear a vibrating roar, and then a black-clothed figure appears from up the street riding a sleek motorcycle.

"You're kidding me," I say to nobody in particular, because I have to move considering a motorcycle isn't the most conspicuous vehicle in the universe.

"Let's go," says Kyle, throwing me a helmet, which I quickly strap on. There's a gunshot from somewhere, and people around us scream. Kyle curses, then hands me a crumbled up piece of paper. "Whatever you do, don't drop this."

Before I have time to think about what I'm about to do, I jump up behind him on the motorcycle, wrapping my arms around him.

Kyle revs the engine and we take off. The loud motor rings through my ears as the motorcycle zips through the street. Kyle ignores the traffic signs, running a red light, twisting the handlebars and making us go even faster.

"I didn't know you could drive a motorcycle!" I yell over the chilly wind, which is whipping around me as Kyle wheels around two eighteen wheelers.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, missy," he says.

I hear shouts behind me and look over my shoulder. "Uhh...Kyle...?"
"That's never a good tone to hear," says Kyle, twisting slightly to glance behind him for an instant. "Oh damn."

Apparently, Kyle's not the only one who knows how to ride motorcycles. There are two behind us, being madly driven by two of Neidra's spies, plus a pickup truck that I'm guessing has been recently stolen.

"Hold on," says Kyle, "We're going to get on the interstate."

It takes a second to comprehend what he just said.

"Did you just say interstate?"

Kyle revs the engine again, and then, the motorcycle tips down as we zoom towards the merging lane of an interstate. We're going even faster, and I grip Kyle tightly, trying not to imagine the amount of gore if I fly off. The dust kicks up around me, and I shield my face in Kyle's shoulder.

I hear the humming of an engine close to me, and I glance over my right shoulder. One of the spy's motorcycles is catching up with us. The woman is pulling out a gun from her belt. Before she can aim it at Kyle or me, I twist my hand, and the weapon goes flying from her hand and smashes into an SUV. Whoops.

"They've got guns, Kyle!" I exclaim, "And they're sort of catching up with us."

Kyle curses.

"Be respectful of my mother," I say.

"Shut up," he retorts.

Faster. We go even faster, and I almost gag on the wind. The vibration of the motorcycle underneath me is jarring my small build, and once or twice, I feel myself losing grip on Kyle's leather jacket.

Without warning, he tilts the motorcycle heavily to the left and swerves in front of an eighteen-wheeler, drawing out a screaming curse from me and the blaring horn from the angry truck driver.

"Be respectful of my mother," says Kyle.

"Shut up!" I shout back.

We approach a tunnel, and darkness swallows us up. I lean against Kyle, who jerks the motorcycle again, quickly changing lanes. I half-expect us to tip over, he's cutting it so closely.

I look behind us. Still more are coming, the truck honking its way across the road.

"Kyle, this isn't going to work," I shout over the wind and the cars, "There's too many of them and they know we have the rondayven location."

"Or they could just think we're extremely attractive."

"Kyle! We need a plan!"

"Well if you've got one, then give it to me, we're running out of time."

I look behind me again, just in time to send another gun out of another spy's hand. This time, it crashes through the windshield of a sedan, getting some screams from the car's driver. Double whoops.

Looking around me, I spot an eighteen wheeler that we're coming up to on my right side. I can think of only one plan. A really, really stupid plan, but a plan anyway. But there are so many of Neidra's spies, I can't think of another option.

"Here," I say. As the motorcycle zooms out of the first tunnel, I stuff the piece of paper into a pocket of Kyle's, zipping it up to keep it secure.
"Do I want to ask what you're doing? asks Kyle.

"No, probably not," I say. "I'm personally just hoping Asgardian blood is everything it's cracked up to me." As Kyle begins to protest whatever I'm about to do, I talk over him and shout over the noise, "Do me a favor and just keep going. If you stop for me, you're going to ruin everything."

"Whoa, whoa, hold the hell on, what the f-"

Before he can finish his sentence, I take out my dagger, briefly rest my left foot on the seat of the motorcycle, and then launch upwards, towards the eighteen-wheeler. I hear Kyle shouting at me, but his voice is lost in the din as he zips past me.

I dig the dagger into the side of the truck, then swing my legs up, landing on top just as the truck approaches another tunnel. I yelp and, using the dagger as a brace, fling myself down as the truck passes under the archway. Darkness again, which gives me the opportunity to throw myself on the other side of the truck temporarily, to try and throw off the spies. I precariously hold onto the hilt of the emerald dagger, closing my eyes and bracing myself.

I'm being completely crazy right now. I'll probably be grounded for a month or for a year depending on ig it's Max or Loki who get ahold of me first.

I drag myself up onto the truck again, my eyes watering from the wind and the exhaust fumes from the cars around me.

Apparently, my ruse has worked though, because an agent leaps up on the truck from the other side, a gun in her hand.

I twist my wrist, and the weapon goes flying (you'd think they've learned by now). When she pulls out a second pistol, I'm not fast enough to use telekinesis again, but I am fast enough to throw up a wall of flames in front of me. The heat is so intense, I wince from the burning near my face, but at least the bullet melts through the inferno, and I lower the flames.

The spy tackles me, and that's when I realize she is tethered to the truck with a small iron anchor and a long metal chain. I send my dagger into her wrist, spurting blood over my hand and making her back away from me, nearly losing her balance and falling over the edge.

This makes me think about what the heck I can do with this woman. I guess I could push her off the truck, but she'd be instantly killed. And it's not like she knows what she's doing, this isn't Neidra I'm fighting...

She takes out a stiletto knife from her hand and throws it at me. Out of instinct, I throw myself onto the truck, banging onto the surface, thrusting the emerald dagger into it.

I feel hands around my ankles, and if I hadn't held onto the hilt, I would've been dragged away by a second spy, who has appeared from the other side of the truck. This time, it's a man, much bigger than the woman, with a bushy blond beard that looks weird with his silver eyes. Like the woman, he's tethered to the metal truck by a small black anchor.

Too bad I don't have one of those.

My situation gets worse when a third spy climbs up from the left side of the truck, this one a short but strong-looking Asian woman.

I hope to goodness she doesn't know karate.

I try to prohibit her from slamming her anchor into the truck, but the man is still pulling at my ankles, so I have to grip the hilt of the emerald dagger as much as I can and use my free hand to send a torrent of fire at the man. He lets me go and I stand up, careful to make sure I'm crouched below the tunnel ceiling.

The Asian woman shouts at me and lunges, kicking. Sadly, it seems like she knows a good deal of martial arts, but I'm not the daughter of the god of Mischief for nothing. I roundhouse kick her in the chest, and she goes rolling, nearly off the edge of the truck.

The man grabs me from behind around my chest, and I jump up, kicking my legs out, trying to ignore the pain in my thigh and curling under, slamming him in front of me. I hit my head on the truck, but it doesn't hurt too badly.

The Asian woman is on me again, screaming in some language, and we both go tumbling. When she takes a gun from her belt, I hurl it away without touching it, then send my dagger into her palm, pinning her to the truck with a bloody thrust. She screams, and I yank the dagger out from her, knowing I'll need it.

The end of the tunnel is approaching. The first woman leaps at me, but I dodge her, and she falls, the metal chain catching her with a jerk before she can fall over edge. I can only imagine what the truck driver is thinking right now.

The three of them are surrounding me, but nobody can make a move, because as the light hits us, all four of us dive onto the truck, me just barely dodging a knife throw.

A banging noise sounds in my ears, and as I jump to my feet, I see Loki slowly standing up, still crouched over the truck's surface.

He must have been on the bridge, and somehow jumped onto the truck as it had passed under the tunnel. His black hair is blowing wildly in the wind, no ponytail holding it in place like mine.

"Behind you!" I yell as a fourth spy appears from near the truck head, throwing himself on Loki. Loki throws him off easily, slamming him onto the truck. I'm distracted from trying to stop Loki from throwing the man off the truck because the first woman is coming at me with a long knife, and I use my dagger to parry the blow.

Unlike her, I have to keep my balance, because one wrong move, and I'm off the truck.

I hear a shout behind me, and looking over my shoulder, I see the bearded man sinking a pin-like blade into Loki's shoulder. It's a small wound, but nonetheless, I feel my blood boil. These are murderers on this truck, no matter how they got here, and I won't let them kill my father or myself.

I slide over the truck and with a slash of my dagger, cut off the chain from the first woman. With a scream, she falls over the edge. I hear the sound of crashing glass below me, and I want to wince, but I won't.

When I look up, words almost fail me.

"DUCK!" I shriek.

Loki follows my word instinctively, following my lead and throwing himself onto the truck. Unfortunately, the spies also seem to take the advice, because when we crouch-stand, there's five of us again.

The Asian woman is on me as the two men take on Loki. She kicks me in the face, and I go rolling, running into the legs of the blond bearded man.

I'm just in time to dodge his punch, and kick him in the back of the leg. He screams when my dagger goes into his knee, shattering the bone. Loki finishes him off by slicing the metal chain and pushing the man off the side. I hear a crunch, then another scream, and this time, I do wince.

The second man tackles Loki, and I dodge out of the way, but then my foot slips. I shriek as I fall halfway off the truck, just barely managing to dig my bloodied blade into the truck and hold on with one hand. To my right, Loki is grappling with the man, and to my right, the Asian woman is walking towards me, taking out a gun. How many of those does she have!?

I send the weapon away with a swipe of my hand, but that puts me more off balance, and I frantically try to grasp the edge of the truck.

"Thea!" shouts Loki. He slams the man off of him, then dives towards me, grabbing my left hand and pulling me on the truck.

I scream and throw us both down on the truck as the edge of the tunnel comes into a sudden view. I hear another scream, the scream of the unsuspecting second man, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I've landed awkwardly on Loki, but keep my arms around him, afraid we'll both be killed like that man if we move an inch.

"Are you all right?!" he demands as I stand shakily.

"Don't ask me yet!" I exclaim as the Asian woman, the last spy on this stupid truck, throws a pen knife at me. I dodge it, then tumble towards her. I try catching her in the ankle, but she nimbly leaps over me, landing hard beside me.

I'm not quick enough to dodge her punch to my face. I groan and swipe at her, but she punches me again, this time drawing blood from my mouth.

"Did you run out of weapons?" I manage say as I spit blood out, partially on her face.

She curls her lip and takes out a knife.

"Oookay, maybe not," I say frantically, jumping up and sending the knife away with a twist of my hand.

The woman turns around, suspecting Loki's movement, and when he lunges at her with his silver dagger, she ducks. Loki, as the truck turns sharply, loses his balance, and slides to the edge of the truck. Now, like I was, he's hanging from the edge, but he's holding on with his hands instead of his silver dagger, which is rattling on the truck.

Before it can slide off, the woman lunges and grabs it. Standing, she looks between Loki and me, as if deciding who to go after. Loki is barely holding on, his knuckles white. If he weren't Asgardian, he'd have been off the edge long before.

The woman smirks at me, her silver eyes glinting, then walks towards him, the chain rattling behind her like a tail.

"No!" I exclaim, scrambling to my feet, fumbling with the dagger in my hand. "Loki!"

He shouts in pain as his silver dagger goes into his left hand, drawing a fountain of blood.

"Loki!" I shriek, then lunge for the woman. While Loki, bleeding profusely, struggles to get back on the truck, I seize the woman and slam her to the metal of the truck, over and over. She's hardly phased, twisting one of her legs around me and jumping up like a cat.

Neidra's influence or not, there is murder in her eyes.

I look up. We're approaching another tunnel quickly, this one accompanied by a tall at the top signaling an upcoming exit. Wildly, I look around, at the struggling and bleeding Loki, at the fierce and bleeding woman.

My eyes fall on the woman's chain, and I get an extremely macabre idea that just might work.

"Hey!" I yell at the woman as I slice off the edge of the chain, holding onto it like a leash. She turns, and I tackle her. Amidst her shouts, I grab the end of the chain attached to her ankle and yank it up, wrapping it around her neck.

Trying not to think about what I'm about to do, I drive my dagger into her hand like I'd done the other woman, pinning her to the truck. When she's distracted by that, I grab Loki's silver dagger from her and use it to pin her other hand.

Then, standing, keeping my toe on part of the chain to keep it around her neck, I part of the chain in a large circle. I look back to see Loki wincing, blood still flowing from his hand, still trying to pull himself up from the force of the truck's speeding, barely holding on.

Treating the end of the chain as a lasso, I telekinetically send the long string of metal towards the sign above the tunnel. It latches onto one of the hooks.

Just as the truck zooms underneath the tunnel, I slide back, yanking the daggers from the woman's hands and jerking my foot away from the chain around her neck.

I don't look back, just hear the woman being yanked from the truck and hear one short scream that's quickly cut off.

I lunge for Loki, grabbing his bleeding hand and pulling him onto the truck. He rolls heavily onto me as the darkness of the tunnel overtakes us. I'm shaking, still holding onto the two daggers.

Five minutes later of me just holding onto Loki and slowing down my breathing, the truck pulls off the interstate. As it slows down, Loki and I jump off, and I land clumsily in the grass, on my back. My injured thigh trembles in protest.

For a few moments, I just sit there on my back, gazing up at the sky and gasping like a flopping fish. I hear movement beside me, and then Loki is leaning over me. As he puts his hand on my shoulder, some of the blood leaks onto my skin.

"I'm so proud of you, kitten," he murmurs.

"Yay," I mutter, not able to figure out what else to say.

He chuckles. "I'm taking you back to the others, then am going to Asgard."

"Whoa, what?" I ask, sitting up quickly, ignoring the pain in my upper body. I've definitely gotten enough of a work-out today. "Why the heck are you going to Asgard?"

He sheathes his silver dagger and stands, then reaches down to help me to my feet. "Fjodr found Thor and stole the compass off him. Thor, hot-headed as he is, decided to follow Fjodr to Asgard to try and re-take the compass. I'd have immediately followed had he not protested and Kyle radioed that you decided to jump off a speeding motorcycle."

"I can go with you," I say quickly "Let me go with you. Kyle has the rondayven location safely with him, if everything went well, and you shouldn't be going to Asgard alone."

"No, Thea," he says sharply.

"I think I just proved myself quite well," i retort. "Let me go, it'll save you time, precious time that could be spent backing up Thor. You know I'm right, you're just being stubborn, and you know it."

He looks down at me and narrows his eyes. I narrow my eyes right back and don't back down.

Then, he sighs. "Sometimes, I forget that you're not thirteen years old anymore and cannot be frightened so easily."

"You never frightened me," I say.

"Mhm."

"Okay, fine, you scared me, but that was the past. Let's go, we've got to find Thor."

He shakes his head and sighs again. "To Asgard then?"

I grin. I love winning. "To Asgard."

Please VOTE and COMMENT! ;)

PS: As a fun writer's note, that woman may or may not have been Agent Melinda May, or someone very much based on her. :P (don't worry, she's not dead in the TV show, which btw, the third season of AoS is AMAZING).

Chapter 54 is also up. Very big deal, that one is.

LOVE YOU ALL.