Chapter 5 - The Bat Signal

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Azara pov

"Well, I presume this is our portal," I raise my eyebrow in the direction of the god, "or just a fancy Bat Signal?"

"Bat Signal?" Loki questions.

"Like, from Batman and Robin from the DC Com- you know what, forget I said anything," I huff as I see Tony Stark land on Stark Tower.

"You should, uh, probably go down there and do your thing," I say to him. He sighs and gives me a smile which tells me not to worry.

"When this is over, we will know no opposition. Your father's abilities shall not hide behind the walls of a German terrorist organisation, you shall not be forced to cower in the shadows of the Avengers and we shall find your mother," He steps in the direction of the billionaire and gives me one final nod, "see you soon, Azara Alarie, daughter of the shadows. Fight well."

I see Tony looking towards the direction of Loki and enters the living room I'd not so recently trespassed in. He doesn't see me due to the angle and placement in which I'm stood.

Now, my job: kill the Avengers.

Tony's pov

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," The god enters and walks in my direction, glowing walking stick in hand.

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you," I state, walking along in the direction of the bar, debating whether to also say "I have the high ground" due to the slight elevation of my position in comparison to him but ultimately decide against it after assuming the fact that he hasn't had much time for pop culture and movies - even if it is Star Wars - while he was scheming.

"You should've left your armour on for that," He states cockily.

"Yeah well, it's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the glow stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" I ask, pouring myself a whiskey.

"Stalling us won't change anything."

"No, no: threatening. I'm threatening you and- you said 'us'. Can you clarify who 'us' is, by the way?"

"Oh, you know her. You met her! And you let her get away. So, who is going to stop the daughter of the shadows? Who is going to stop the Chitauri? You? No, no. Not you because you will be too busy fighting you friends. What's your barbershop quartet called again? The Revenger?" He stalks towards me as I subtly slip two wrist bands on.

"You sure you don't want that drink?" I ask before approaching him as well. "And it's the Avengers. We avenge the planet. 'Earth's mightiest hero's' kinda thing."

"Yes, I've met them," The god scoffs.

"It takes us a while to get any traction. I'll give you that one. But, uh, let's do a head count here: your brother, the demigod; a super soldier, a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend; a man with breathtaking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins and you, big fella, you've managed to piss of every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk," I counter with a smirk.

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

"You're missing the point. There is no throne. There is no version of this where you some out on top."

"Where we end up on top," He corrects me.

"Is that what you've promised the kid? Power?"

"Knowledge," He simply states, "among other thing, may I add."

"Knowledge of what?" I question.

"Well it wouldn't be any fun if I told you, now would it?" He smirks deviously, "but her family tree, especially on her mother's side - all of her mother's side actually - is incredibly powerful."

"What is she, a goddess?" I say with a sarcastic smile.

"Something like that," He trails off mysteriously.

This is obviously all new information and I attempt to absorb it. I attempt imaging and working out just who or what she may be. But to no avail. If Thor knew something of the Azgardian gods and their children, he would most likely know of Azara. For all I know, this could be a complete lie and she's actually just another loose HYDRA experiment.

He approaches me and taps the sceptre to my chest. A light 'dink' sound is all that's heard. He tries again but again, no outcome.

"This usually works," He comments, evidently confused.

"Well, performance issues you know. It's not uncommon. One out of five-" I grunt as he grabs my throat and throws me to the floor, "Jarvis, anytime now," I choke out as I hit the floor.

"You will a fall before me," He picks me up by my neck and speaks into my ear.

"Deploy!" I call desperately.

He launches me out of the window and I tumble through the air.

My suit connects to me as I free fall until I'm finally able to pull out of the dive.

"And there's one other person you pissed off," I say to him as I fly back up to the lounge area, "his name was Phil."

I shoot Loki down and he flies across the floor.

Above me, the Chitauri portal opens and I fly to meet the army.

Azara's pov

Just as he described, chaos reigns down on New York. I perch on a roof top, my wings of pure darkness tucked in behind me.

(A/N: Concept art of how I picture Azara's outfit but not torn up and less Black Widowy and more Valkyrie/Wonder Woman kinda stuff and the wings less bronze and more black. I don't own this image but I have no clue who to give creds to so sorry. The face also kinda matches as well if you want a vague, ballpark area of what she looks like.)

Loki had suggested attempting to contort the shadows and using them to build or make things. And so, with a bit of blind luck and unexplained ability, my wings appear.

But the most unexplainable thing was my weapon. While the voodoo shadow-bending stuff is cool and definitely not useless, because I've only just begun, it's not incredibly powerful. But one night, as I emerge from my kitchen wall after taking a quick trip to 7Eleven (I paid, don't worry: I'm not that bad), a sort of blanket - made of pure darkness - appeared in my hand. Just as my wings, I contort and stitch the very fabric of the shadow into a dense, perfectly balanced, yet comfortable and powerful, sword.

(A/N: Again, another concept art that I thought was the most accurate to what I imagine for Azara. Again, I can't find the creds, sorry. Also, just a small detail, I kinda also imagined a sort of dark mist that clings to the blade like black smoke but that's minor.)

The runes etched neatly into the blade look Greek perhaps. My mind races as I stare at it. It was as if I was attempting to translate something I know I couldn't read. When forging the blade - the effort making me black out for some hours - I'd never put any symbols on the blade; they just appeared.

The Leviathan emerges from the portal, swooping over the city. Yet, as I expected they would, the Avengers defeat it. Or, the big green guy does (Hulk I think his name is).

I watch as Captain America, Clint Barton, the god of lightning himself, the Hulk, Iron Man and Agent Romanoff all look up into the sky just down the road from me. This was my queue. My grand entrance. My moment.

I drop to the pavement, my onyx wings slow my fall as they all turn to face me. I smirk at their shocked faces. The bittersweet taste of revenge. For... well, for nothing, if I'm being honest. They annoy me sure, but it's not like it matters if they dislike me; I'd actually be wholly surprised if they didn't not like me by now.

But our deal wasn't forced over my bitterness against the Avengers; it was formed over the promise of knowledge. They may fear me in the future; they may fear me if I join their ranks. What can I say: when I'm dressed like the warrior queen from the gates of hell with a sword of pure darkness and generally feeling like a badass bitch, they should fear me.

Natasha's pov

It was as if winter had come early. I turn on my heals and an faced with someone I'd never met, yet they seem familiar... oh, god no!

It couldn't be... Azara: sarcastic, funny; slightly lost and confused, Azara?

Her posture was different, now more that of a higher superiority - much like Loki. Her strut in our direction oozed power. Her sword hung lazily in her hand beside her. Her wings grandly extended fully as she brushed down her trousers from the kicked up dust after dropping from the rooftop; her black metal, Greek-like armour glinting in the mid-day sun.

"It's been a hot minute. I can't say I've missed you because I've never personally met most of you but, some of you are... familiar." Her voice is cool and calm; a satisfied smirk tugging at the corner of her lips as she sees our rather stunned reactions.

Tony, taking down his helmet, is the first to speak yet his tone is understandably wary, "Hey kid, uh, how are ya? I've missed you too."

Even from the distance I'm stood away from her, I can see her roll her eyes.

"The beloved Tony Stark. The billionaire genius who 'single-handedly' started the Superhero Movement of America. Basking in the glory of a collective effort and rolling in the riches your father handed to you. How many kids, smart or not, can really afford programs at MIT, can really afford 30 cars, can really afford ANYTHING! You sew fake dreams into kids heads yet don't give us water to grow them them, don't give us sunlight to feed them. Your nothing more than a lying, false-dream maker - given everything because his bank balance is only slightly bigger than his ego - who hides inside a metal shell."

"Kid..." he's lost for words, which is definitely new for Tony.

Me and Stark have know each other for only a few years now but I saw the way he looked at Azara on the helicarrier. He could relate to her: she was smart and had her own mind, her father died in a car accident and she seemed to look up her dad. But her words wounded him. Her even being here, wounded him. I'd heard his sympathies towards the woman, his plans to help her and support her with everything like a... like a daughter even, but now... she's this.

Steve steps forward next. He's never met Azara before but he's heard of her and what went down at Stark Tower and on the helicarrier.

"Hey, Azara, isn't it? What are you doing here?" His tone was laced with genuine concern and worry, "What are you trying to achieve by fighting for Loki. Not with; for."

He approaches her, standing near the now motionless Tony.

"Captain America, the human embodiment of god's righteous man. If I'd eaten anything in the past week, I would be physically sick in my mouth. I've heard all the stories. My dad even took me to the Smithsonian when I was younger. I mean, I think it was before he was really involved in HYDRA because, let's say, he wasn't a great fan," she mutters the last bit but it wasn't lost on us, "what will you do? Preach peace when you are at war? Preach peace when your shield has killed so many? Preach piece when you aid Stark?"

Her accusing gaze burns into his and Steve's eyes harden but stay sympathetic.

"What has he promised you? Why are you here?" He asks again.

"Answers," Is all she replies with.

"Answers of what? We can help you find them without... this," He gestures at the destruction around us.

All she does is laugh lightly to herself in amusement.

"They're answers about your mother, aren't they? Loki told me," Tony chimes in, his expression still pained and worried about the woman whose sword still looked ready to pounce and wings looked ready to take flight.

"We can help you, Azara, we can help you without bloodshed. I'm not asking you to join us in this battle but please, don't hurt innocent civilians; don't aid this terrorist. Loki mentioned a sort of divine connection to your mother. We have Thor who can help you, who can talk to his mother and help you work it out if needs be," Tony glances over his shoulder towards the god and Thor nods in agreement to Stark's proposal, "but please, don't fight for him."

Tony is practically begging by this point. While I'm sympathetic towards her and wish she'd stayed that highly amusing woman who I first met, my main concern and motive to trying to talk her into a personal surrender is the power she evidently holds; the sheer amount that she'd tip the scales in this battle (even if I do have to admit that she looked good in that outfit, like really good).

"Why do you care? Why do you want to help me? To use me as one of your puppet soldiers? Fight another man's fight?"

"Because..." I can visibly see Tony fighting with himself over whether to open up to her, "because you remind me of... well, me."

He waits for her to respond with another venomous comment about how unalike they are, but she didn't.

"You're curious about what you're fully capable of and will go to the ends of the world to get it. You're hurt by the loss of family who you didn't always love, who didn't always love you, like you should. You're burdened by a guilt of why you didn't - or couldn't - save them. I don't claim to know you kid, not by a mile, but I... I feel you, as you youths say."

A weak smile tugs at his lips as he looks at Azara like she's the only one in the city, like she's the only one we're here to save. I don't know whether this is all a show but Tony genuinely appears to want to help her as he couldn't do as a kid. Like a parent would want for their child.

She meets his eyes and... she smiles!

Of every reaction I thought she'd have, a smile wasn't one of them.

Her sword dissolves from her hand and her wing fold neatly behind her.

And with a final, simple nod, she turns and walks through an arch to our right, completely disappearing as she reaches the edge of the shadow cast onto the rubble strewn pavement.

Tony's silence speaks volumes as Steve organises the plan of attack.

I don't know why, but I feel drawn to her. I want to know her; I want to help her; I want aid her in any way in finding out what she is so desperately wants to know.

But we all, after the cool breeze that had settled around us - and the whole city - lifted as she left, knew we wouldn't be seeing her for some time. Or at least, she wouldn't be popping around to Stark Tower afterwards.


Hiyaaaaa guyyyyyyssss! You may have some ideas about who, or what, Azara is from a few comments in this chapter ;)

Thanks again,

Much love, Shrimpward xx

(I also had a change of username so I'm now @yourmothersdrapes if you didn't want to know :)

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