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When Black Widow’s Widow’s Bite disappeared into the monster’s mouth, the Avengers thought at least this would have an effect; but the monster didn’t even show the effect of the high-voltage electricity which must have discharged in its stomach. “What is up with that thing?” Tony shouted, grabbing Natasha and flying off to avoid the charging monster. “It has hard shells so our attacks don’t work - I’m fine with that! But it swallowed the Bite! Shouldn’t that work?” “You aren’t the only one mystified here!” snapped Clint as he shot arrows at the area which could be monster’s eyes. The arrows hit the target and stayed; again the monster didn’t even find it ticklish, let alone get hurt. At least he stopped it from looking up and having a go at swallowing Iron Man and Black Widow, so Clint called that a success. “Coulson, how is the evacuation going?” Steve asked at the Avengers comms. “We are trying our best but it is ongoing still. Especially with that half-eaten building...” Steve also looked at the building not far from the monster. The building, not a skyscraper by NYC standard, had a hole as if something had bit a chunk off it. It wasn’t as if; something really did bite a chunk off it. By that monster which looked like a blown up pine caterpillar. There were still people inside it, who couldn’t evacuate yet. “Captain! Don’t zone out!” “...What zone?” The slang went right over his head, but his battle-honed reflexes managed to avoid all the caterpillar hair. They wanted to get the monster away from the building to let people evacuate, but even all the Avengers couldn’t drive it away, let alone get rid of it. “Be careful, friend. You should never touch it.” When the caterpillar headed for Steve, Thor held him by his side and flew up to get away from it. He held up the Mjolnir in his left hand, and a lightning fell, hitting the monster. “Thor, do that again. I think that slowed it down a bit!” shouted Tony. As soon as he said that, the monster hit Iron Man by swinging its lower body. “Tony!” “It’s okay, still breathing,” Tony waved, despite going through a building and getting stuck in a wall with his limbs in the air. “And I’m wearing an armour so there’s no direct contact.” At that, Steve looked at Thor with concern in his eyes. Thor’s right hand was swollen purple up to his elbow. It was from the beginning of the battle when he tried to ride the monster on its back by grabbing its needle-like hair. There was no time to hang about, so Steve pulled back, using his shield to deflect another set of the flying needles. The monster opened its mouth. Tony, who managed to free himself from the wall, shot his repulsor beam at it; but the monster swallowed the beam also. “I can be broad-minded and understand it eating a bomb and the Bite; but how can it eat up the repulsor beam?” “Maybe its insides are just really resilient,” said Steve, worried that Tony was losing it, but realised his words won’t help Tony to get himself together. “Coulson!” “Yes, Mr Stark?” “Get me insecticides, those extra strong ones!” “Tony!” Steve shouted, upbraiding him. “.....I will pretend I didn’t hear that.” “No, it’s worth a try,” cut in Clint. “It really does look like and act like a pine caterpillar and has poisonous hair and everything too, right? We’ve nothing to lose, so how about tying one to the arrow and shooting it? That’s safe.” “I’ll look for a drugstore or a convenience store nearby.” “......Coulson? Did you just ignore my suggestion and took it up when Hawkeye repeated it? Is that how things work around here?” Natasha chimed in. “Ever heard of the phrase ‘evaluate your daily behaviour’?” “Spread out!” The gigantic caterpillar had already closed up on them, and was raising its relatively small - well, considering its length, nearly nonexistent - foot to stamp on them. Tony flew up, taking Steve with him, and Thor ran towards the opposite direction, striking the monster with another lightning. This time, the monster took a mouthful of the road as if in retaliation. It was fortunate that it didn’t eat the building, but this made it harder for the people trapped in the building to evacuate. The monster opened its mouth again, and Clint shot another arrow; this time with a spray insecticide tied to the shaft. It was a clean shot and the arrow got swallowed up neatly, but though they waited, the monster was unaffected once again. “Umm, maybe we need to feed it some more?” Tony suggested tentatively. “Feed it yourself!” Clint replied. “Aren’t you having fun.” A voice which shouldn’t be heard on the Avengers comms was heard on that very channel. Everyone stared at the green shadow that appeared at Thor’s side, eyes wide with surprise. “Seems like you’re enjoying yourselves. Shall I leave you to it?” “Loki!!” “So it was you!!" Thor and Tony shouted simultaneously. “Stop it if you’re just playing one of your games; some people are still in that building!” Steve shouted a moment later. “Hmph,” and Loki lightly clapped. “Well, there isn’t anymore.” “What?!!!” “JARVIS!!” - Life scan complete. The humanoid presence in the building is zero. Steve, Tony, and Thor all looked at Loki, with huge eyes nearly popping out in amazement. “Here!” shouted Natasha. “There’s a crowd of people around me, all of a sudden...” “Agent Romanov, evacuate those people right now!” instructed Coulson. “Loki, please explain.” “About the comms or the people?” “About the monster.” Loki grinned. “Straight to the point, I see. That’s fine. First, your jolly friends can’t get rid of that thing. At all. It’s impossible. Do you understand?” saying so, Loki spread a hand and stretched it out. A green shield appeared, blocking the monster from hitting him bodily. “So what should we do?” “Do you know about that thing?” “What do you want!” Loki motioned covering his ears, theatrically. “Please take turns when asking a question, children. Thor, you should firmly curb your pride and beg me to help you. Captain, I do. Tin soldier, I want 150 years subscription for Playboy magazine.” “WHAAAAAT?!!” “Why, is it too expensive to you? To continue with the nanny, you’re desperate to know how to get rid of it than its name and origin, are you not? It is simple. I will open a crack to return it to where it came from; until then, you superheroes should try their best to hold it in so it doesn’t run away.” Coulson didn’t argue with being called a ‘nanny’. “Can I ask you why you’re helping us?” “Of course not.” And when the monster headed this way, Loki teleported to avoid it. The green shield was also devoured when its mouth began tearing it apart. “Loki, what is that creature?” asked Thor, somewhat nervously. “It’s an Yggdrasil pine caterpillar.” “What?” “A bug that gnaws away at the world tree, the world itself. Thankfully it is a small one. And Yggdrasil is not a pine tree, so strictly speaking, it isn’t a pine caterpillar, but you do perceive how it is? It is fortunate you didn’t throw Mjolnir at it, Thor. If you did, it would’ve eaten it also.” Thor and Steve, the two with throwing weapons, visibly paled. “Um, Loki, what about Thor’s arm?” asked Steve. “It would itch terribly for about a week. Don’t scratch it or it will get infected.” “.....So it really is a pine caterpillar....” Tony shook his head as much as his Iron Man suit allowed. “For reference, it’ll be ‘Happy Deathday’ within a day if you get stung. There’s no antidote.” “Did I ask you?” Clint thought Tony might really get a stream of wreaths saying ‘Happy Deathday’ if he did really die. Pepper and Steve might not; them two will be the only really good people to not do that. ‘.....Thor would send one too, thinking it’s the done thing since all the others are doing it.’ While Clint was having silly thoughts, Loki took a position and began chanting a spell. A green light began to gather around the building which the caterpillar monster had took the first bite from. The caterpillar turned its head towards Loki. Thor roared and began calling down lightning, one after another, much stronger than the previous ones. “I will not allow a single strand of your hair to touch my brother, you worm!” “Only you’d still go on about your brother in a situation like this,” was what he said, but Tony also shot the unibeam at the caterpillar, pushing it away from Loki. “Would that spell take long?” Steve asked Thor. “I wouldn’t know, but even for Loki, sending an enormous creature such as that to a different dimension would not be an easy task.” “Shouldn’t we not interrupt him? He can hear what we are saying, no?” Natasha, who didn’t say anything but was listening, cut in. “No worries there, he pulled his comm out when he began,” said Tony. “It must be a demanding spell,” Thor spoke in a tense voice. The caterpillar shook itself and began heading towards Loki again. Tony increased the output of his beam. “Wait, something’s weird,” Hawkeye stated over the comms; he was overlooking the battlefield from a rooftop which gave him a wide view. “If it’s just a caterpillar, shouldn’t it just eat a building or a tree where it fell? Why is it heading for Loki again and again?” “Huh?” “As Loki is the biggest threat, surely it would...” said Thor. “Well, I don’t know if a caterpillar has the ability to make a tactical judgement like that; but up till now it just kept on eating even when we were poking at it, ignoring us and not fighting back or anything.” “Agent Barton.” “Yes, Phil?” A silence fell over the comms for a moment. “Yes, sir?” Hawkeye corrected himself. “Did the caterpillar specifically tried to eat anyone among us?” Clint racked his brain. “Errr... maybe Tony?” “Is that so.” Coulson was just about to say something when Tony shouted: “That thing’s a female?” “............” “............” “............” “Someone close to him punch him one for me,” requested Natasha. “I’ll punch him twice after this is over,” promised Clint. “What I’m saying is,” Coulson raised his voice. “That caterpillar might be attracted to discharged energy.” And the sky fell dark. “How dare doth that filthy worm attempt to devour my brother Loki, the prince of Asgard and a son of Odin!! I, Thor will never stand for it!!!” “Well played, Coulson,” said Tony as he landed down to avoid the indiscriminate lightning. “I think Thor can deal with it by himself now.” “That wasn’t my intention... but all’s well that ends well, let’s say.” “Well, at least there won’t be any further damage, with that caterpillar just trying to eat Loki and Thor holding it at bay,” Steve saw the hopeful side. Natasha decided she won’t mention the few casualties who were already eaten - not now anyway. Leaving the evacuees who got out thanks to Loki to be looked after by other agents, Natasha ran back to the scene of combat. If it was the kind of monster which could only be sent off with a huge mass of energy, most of her skills won’t work on it; still, it didn’t mean she’d give up and leave the frontline. One of her teammates might get hit, get stuck in a wall and might require assistance. If it’s Tony, maybe I’ll leave him there since he won’t die with that thick shell of his - with such leisurely thoughts, Natasha located the whereabouts of her teammates. Thor was in the air, shining in a sparkly fashion as if he were the lightning itself. Not directly below him was Loki, who was not her teammate but seemed like he was actually cooperating with them for some reason. He was standing in the centre of an enormous web which was glowing green, continuously chanting a stream of words the mortals couldn’t understand. There were some letter-like images floating around him in the air. Hawkeye was standing on the rooftop of a building opposite the building that got eaten. He wasn’t participating in the battle at the moment, but he was alert and constantly on the watch. When their eyes met, they waved to each other. On the ground in front of that building were Iron Man and Captain America. They also weren’t fighting at that moment, but they’d jump in the moment Thor seems to flag and help him push the caterpillar away. Coulson was standing on the ground opposite Thor, when seen from Loki’s position. He was keeping an eye on Loki and his magic from the area which may be called the rear. ‘Guess you can’t really trust Loki fully.’ If Loki tries to do something, Coulson’d throw himself to stop him. Natasha made her choice and headed for that direction. The letters floating around Loki disappeared. The web that was spread out began to flow towards a single point. The point, the eaten building, began to twist and turn towards the centre point like a CGI effect. While they watched, something like a slowly spinning huge black disc appeared where the building was. Loki breathed out and took a step backwards. “It’s done; now push it into the void!” “Huh? It’s not going to get sucked in?” shouted Tony. “Shall I add a vacuuming function? Although a lump of tin would be much lighter than that worm.” “Why does he always pick on me?” “Because you pick on him every time...” Clint mumbled to himself, too exhausted to retort properly. Ironically, as Thor had pushed the caterpillar away to distance it from Loki, they had to try hard to return it to the building. Loki stepped back some more and stood next to another building. Coulson quickly went up to him. “Can’t they make more haste?” Loki spoke first, even before Coulson could ask him if he’s okay. “They are doing their best even now.” “It doesn’t seem that way.” Coulson had to admit Loki was right, at least where Thor was concerned. It was clear that Thor was much less powerful than he was, since he was tired and his arm was itching like crazy and there was no brother of his to defend behind him. “Tell them to hurry. Even I can’t hold a portal to an outer space ad infinitum.” “You’re holding it open?” “Leaving that caterpillar to eat its way through this place would be the peaceful conclusion in comparison to creating a permanent black hole here.” Indeed. Coulson didn’t say anymore and shouted in the comms. “Everyone, please hurry. We haven’t much time.” Thor, who is more familiar with magic and Loki than other Avengers, understood the situation at once. “Hold on a bit more, Loki! I will take care of it swiftly!” Thor’s words rang out through the street, making the comms redundant. The caterpillar stretched towards him and opened its mouth, perhaps thinking a being so energetic must be tasty. Thor quickly gained altitude.