(AN: I'm back! My appointment was finished, for now. This is the 5th version of this Chappie I have cooked.
Version 1 had Elias act as Arthas and confronted Loki. It had 3 more chapters afterward.
Version 2 had Elias act as a dark Jedi and joined the avengers. It had 2 chapters after.
Version 3 had Elias desire to make Loki his right-hand. This one had 5 chapters
Version 4 had Elias face Loki and his goons but ran away. Just one chapter after
All of it felt something was missing or just isn't right for me. I even had to ask a lot of AI for a suggestion including google. But this 5th version just felt right. Although I only have half a chapter, at least I can rest for a while and get back on it tomorrow.
Hope you enjoy this version.)
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The room was silent.
Too silent for a prison break.
Loki stood at the center of the containment level, posture relaxed, green eyes flicking between the two men blocking his path.
With a lazy flick of his wrist, twin blades of gleaming Asgardian steel slid into existence, humming faintly with magic.
Across from him, Agent Phil Coulson didn't flinch.
The rifle in his hands—sleek, angular, unmistakably alien in origin—was already charged.
Pieces of the Destroyer armor had been repurposed into the most advanced weapon Earth had ever produced, and it was aimed squarely at Loki's chest.
Between them stood Steve Rogers.
Captain America didn't raise his shield.
Instead, he shifted his stance just enough to place himself slightly in front of Coulson—subtle, protective, deliberate.
Loki noticed.
A corner of his mouth twitched upward, not in mockery, but in quiet assessment.
"You are persistent," Loki said calmly. "I had hoped we were past the need for theatrics."
Steve didn't respond.
His eyes were fixed on Loki's hands—on the blades—but his instincts were screaming about something else.
Loki wasn't pressing. He wasn't posturing.
He was… waiting.
"Don't," Steve said suddenly, low and sharp.
Coulson's finger tightened on the trigger.
That was when the alarms screamed.
The blast doors behind them detonated inward, metal buckling as a wave of armed SHIELD agents poured into the corridor—eyes glassy, movements precise, weapons already firing.
"They're controlled!" Steve shouted.
The room erupted.
Steve surged forward, shield snapping up as bullets ricocheted wildly.
Coulson rolled to cover, rifle barking once—twice—dropping two agents instantly.
Loki moved.
Not toward them.
Away.
One moment he was there, blades flashing as Steve intercepted him, the next—
Gone.
An illusion shattered where he'd stood, fragments of green light dissolving into nothing.
Coulson spun—
A blade whistled going for his throat.
"Down!" Steve roared.
Coulson dropped as steel skimmed the air where his neck had been.
Loki's real form flickered into existence behind him, the knife already plunged to Coulson's side.
And Loki vanished again.
No explosion.
No final strike.
Just. . . absence.
Loki escaped not through strength, but timing. And Steve felt it.
"I knew it, he was stalling for timing," he muttered, eyes scanning the chaos.
"He's already gone."
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The Helicarrier stabilized an hour later thanms to Tony's help.
Clint Barton was secured, unconscious but alive.
Bruce Banner sat quietly, hands still shaking after reverting back to normal Bruce.
Thor paced like a caged storm, jaw tight, eyes constantly lifting toward the sky. Obviously worried about his brother.
Coulson lay in the medbay, pale but breathing.
Steve stood near the observation deck, saying nothing.
Tony leaned against a console, helmet off, fingers drumming restlessly.
He was the one responsible for making the engine, blown up by Clint, working again as soon as possible.
His gaze kept drifting—not to the monitors—but somewhere else.
Stark Tower.
To be precise, Elias.
Hill's voice broke the tension as she spoke to Fury.
"Sir… you need to see this."
The main screen shifted.
Aerial feeds.
Satellite images.
Manhattan.
Empty.
Streets devoid of traffic.
Avenues stripped bare.
Bridges clogged outward—cars abandoned, people moving on foot, all in the same directions. Away from Manhattan.
No panic.
No chaos.
Just… absence.
Tony frowned. "That's not normal."
Natasha pulled up data, fingers flying.
"There was a forced evacuation hours ago. Before Loki escaped."
Steve turned. "Who ordered it?"
No one answered.
None of them knew.
Yet Fury's face was grim.
"Emergency broadcasts were hijacked," Hill said.
"Every screen. Every device. Everything that can broadcast. And we, the ones with supposed to be the most advanced technology, were blocked completely for hours."
Hill added, "Facial recognition came in. The speaker used an unknown identity and an unknown name, Arthas Menethil. Who doesn't exist at all in our records dead or alive."
"You said 'our'?" Tony asked.
Hill nodded.
"The nearest record that describe him doesn't exist. It's the same way the Xenomorph and Predators shouldn't have existed."
"But they do." Fury sealed it.
Tony exhaled slowly.
Unknown to SHIELD, yes.
But not to them.
Natasha swallowed.
Bruce stiffened.
Steve closed his eyes.
"Arthas," Tony said quietly.
Hill continued, unaware.
"Witness reports confirm sightings of… said creatures. 2 Predators and a Xenomorph, as we have designated them by Coulson's very persuasive suggestion."
She looked toward the medbay direction where Coulson was.
"However, there weren't any bodies of any victims. According to the latest record we have of them, they show no mercy and immediately executes their targets, and they always leave behind bodies."
Steve spoke softly.
"Which means that whoever they were, they simply cleared the city."
Tony stared at the empty map of Manhattan.
"Whoever did this…" he said, voice tight, "…hurting or killing someone wasn'ttheir priority."
"It more or less look like they want everyone to run away from something."
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Stark Tower — Rooftop
Loki arrived with company.
Five soldiers under his control followed him onto the rooftop of Stark Tower, their movements stiff, eyes glassy.
Dr. Erik Selvig stepped out last, expression vacant but hands already busy as he unpacked components from reinforced cases.
"Begin," Loki ordered, lowering the scepter slightly.
They obeyed at once.
Metal frames locked into place.
Energy conduits aligned.
The machine took shape beneath Selvig's practiced hands—an engine not meant to belong to this world.
As they worked, Loki surveyed the city.
Manhattan lay open before him.
Empty.
No crowds. No sirens. No resistance.
Selvig had warned him of this.
The humans had fled.
Scattered like insects.
Loki laughed softly.
"Run if you wish," he murmured.
"It changes nothing."
And yet—
Something tugged at his awareness.
Below.
Inside the tower.
A presence.
Loki stilled.
Someone had not run.
Someone had stayed.
His smile sharpened.
"There is always a greater fool," he said quietly then at Selvig.
"Proceed without me." The doctor nodded.
The machine continued humming behind him as Loki turned toward the rooftop access—and vanished.
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Helicarrier — Briefing Deck
Silence hung heavy over the room as the feeds played.
Streets cleared in hours.
Bridges clogged outward.
Subways abandoned.
Civilians fleeing in every direction.
Then came the footage that made even hardened agents tense.
A towering black creature sprinting through smoke-filled streets.
A shrieking crowd.
Someone tripping.
Someone unable to stand back up due to the crowd.
Natasha looked away first.
"Some people got hurt," she said quietly.
"Panic does that."
Steve's jaw tightened, but he nodded.
"It wasn't indiscriminate," Bruce added after a moment.
"If it was… there'd be bodies everywhere."
Tony hadn't said a word.
He stared at the city map, fingers steepled, eyes locked onto one point.
"My tower," he said suddenly.
Everyone turned.
"Loki doesn't hide," Tony continued. "He performs. He announces. If he wants an audience, Stark Tower is the biggest stage on Earth."
Realization hit the room almost at once.
Thor exhaled sharply.
"Then the evacuation—"
"Wasn't conquest," Steve finished. "It was clearance in a 'very' persuasive way."
Natasha's eyes narrowed.
"He didn't chase them away to rule the city as he had portrayed in his broadcast."
Tony swallowed.
"He cleared the board so no one would die when the real fight started."
A beat.
"That's not how villains think," Hill said.
"No," Fury agreed, eyes dark. "That's how someone trying to limit damage thinks."
"However, we remain vigilant from this individual. The fact still stands, he commanded those creatures that brought horror to real life massacre."
The name went unspoken.
They all knew it.
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Stark Tower — Guest Suite (Earlier)
Kristen adjusted the final clasp and stepped back.
The robe was finished.
Black—darker than any Jedi Order design.
No armor plating.
No tactical weave.
Just layered fabric, a hooded cloak falling naturally over Elias's shoulders.
Aesthetic.
Intentional.
Elias tested the weight, the way it moved when he turned.
"Looks good," he said.
Kristen inclined her head.
"Civilians have fully evacuated Manhattan. Your servants confirmed no remaining population clusters."
"Good."
Elias nodded once.
"Unsummon all Servants."
The room shimmered. His system simply prompted the return of his servants.
The Yautja hunters vanished.
The evolved Xenomorph dissolved into light.
"That includes you, for now."
Kristen's physical body followed faithfully, leaving only the invisible thread of FRIDAY embedded in the tower's systems.
"Continue your standard operations," Elias instructed.
"I want you to act as if nothing happened."
"Acknowledged, Elias." FRIDAY replied.
Elias hesitated.
For a moment, he considered giving another order—something about HYDRA, something about buried rot—but shook his head.
Not my war.
His mini-map chimed.
New contacts.
Rooftop.
His system responded immediately.
[Special Objective:
→ Prevent Loki Laufeyson from taking control of Earth.
A mountain cannot contain two tigers.
Mission Parameters:
• Eradicate the Chitauri Army
• Close the wormhole above New York
• Defeat Loki Laufeyson ]
Elias glanced at the objective.
Then at the map.
A target labeled LOKI was already moving downward—straight toward him.
He sighed.
"Well," he muttered, "saves me the trouble of looking for him later."
His stomach growled.
He paused.
"…Huh."
Elias turned toward the kitchen.
"All that planning and evacuating," he said to no one in particular.
"I'm starving. Milk and Bread should do it."
A Norse god of mischief was descending through Stark Tower, armed with an infinity-powered scepter and an army pouring through the sky.
And Elias Mercer was making himself breakfast.
Above him, Loki drew closer.
Across the city, the Avengers were already inbound.
And the world stood on the edge of a war that—unknown to most—had already been carefully prepared for.
End of Chapter 31
Up Next Loki VS Elias: Child's Play