To Tame A God (November 2001)

Natalya wanted to fight, but she knew she was done. She wouldn't be able to lift a gun with her injured shoulder and her ears and head were still ringing. She heard what Bruce said and instead of opening up her mouth to argue, she nodded. "Bruce, you need to go get Loki. Please, help us finish this. I know you can do it. I believe in you," she told him. 

Kate had managed to get Erik darted fairly quickly. She saw that T'Challa had knocked Maria unconscious and now Kate was on the lookout for Phil. She suddenly saw him and he charged towards her. She aimed and fired the dart gun and hit him in the arm. Within seconds his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped to the ground. 

Isabella was using her repulsor beams to keep as many SHIELD agents back away from the containment unit as possible. She glanced over and saw that Steve had set up the first resonator and now was working on the second. She felt good about this and she could see that Loki was beginning to realize that he had lost the upper hand.

Loki was done playing honorably. It was time to bring forth his power. "I know what you're trying to do. Tony Stark! Do you think we didn't know that you changed the satellite codes? Let me show you what we've built!" Loki said and he used Telekanisis to turn on the EMP generator. The Tesseract began to glow brightly as all the machinery nearby suddenly turned on. "The entire eastern seaboard will be bathed in darkness!" He said.

The SHIELD agents were surging toward them, many with full automatic armor piercing weapons. T'Challa was in full defense and Frank was holding his own but just barely with so many agents. His suit was taking a pounding. Steve had to stop what he was doing to fight and Kate joined him to try and give him enough time to lock down the second resonator. Loki was focused on Isabella. Some kind of chain appeared around her waist and it began to bind her arms and legs around her. It pressed in on her suit and the pressure began to cause pain to her body.

The Hulk grinned as he grunted and he flung himself away and down into the elevator shaft.

Loki held the other end of the glowing chain. "I've changed my mind Isabella, I think I'll just make you my personal slave after I conquer this world," he said smugly.

The entire room was in chaos. Kate wished that they had Natalya down there with them, but she knew she was hurt and so they were all doing the best they could. Kate was trying to protect Steve so he could get the second resonator locked down. He had given her his shield and she was using it to protect them them. Thankfully, she had had training with the shield so she knew how to use it very well. However, she looked over and she suddenly saw Isabella and Loki. A chain had appeared and was wrapped around her suit and was beginning to crush her. "Hurry up Steve," Kate said urgently.

Isabella struggled against Loki's bonds. She could feel her suit crushing beneath her. "You'll never win Loki..." She then saw the Hulk and she smiled. "You may have magic...but we have a Hulk."

"A Hulk?" Loki said questioningly. And then it was no longer a question when The Hulk powered through the SHIELD agents around him and charged into Loki. Isabella's chains disappeared as Loki was squeezed himself by a large, green hand and then tossed like a rag doll. The Hulk was so angry with Loki he became even stronger and angrier as he flung him one way and then the next, over and over. Loki's body made furrows in the concrete floor and, after The Hulk stopped, he lay in a furrow and did little but groan. Luckily it was within 20 feet from the first resonator. Steve saw T'Challa disengage and he leaped toward them. "T'Challa!" Steve yelled and tossed the last resonator. T'Challa caught it then slapped it down into the floor. Once he did, a yellow field of energy suddenly filled the space around Loki. The fight was over and Logan, who had been able to slice into the Tesseract containment removed it from its container in the machine. Once he brought it out, the EMP beam shut down and all the machines shut down. He coudldn't move it much, it was now powering the force field. Now that Loki was down, SHIELD agents began to retreat.

Isabella felt relief as the chains disappeared. She stood back and watched with a slight smile on her face as The Hulk swung Loki from side to side. She knew in that moment that they had won. She retracted her face mask and watched as T'Challa slapped the last resonator onto the ground and a yellow energy field filled the space around Loki. Kate smiled over at Steve. "We did it." She looked back as all of the SHIELD agents who had been under Loki's control were suddenly released. They all began to retreat. 

Tony came down and brought Natalya with him. She was still bleeding so Isabella used some of the medical technology in her suit to patch her up enough to stop the bleeding. She would still need to be treated by the biobed though. 

"So, now what do we do with him?" Isabella asked in reference to Loki.

Bruce shrank down to his normal size and it was comical how he had to cover himself until one of the SHIELD agents gave him overalls to wear. "We wait until Thor returns and then let them deal with him...again," Tony said. "We can move in the resonators to make the field as small as we need to to get him into the elevator. "We'll...need another jet though," He said with a wince. Phil finally woke up from the dart. He looked up at Kate as he held a hand to his head. "I...I, there was nothing I could do...I wanted to stop, but I couldn't do anything," Phil said.

Kate looked over at Phil as he began to stir. She quickly moved over to him. Steve followed close behind just in case it turned out that Phil wasn't himself still. Kate was relieved, however, to see that he was. She couldn't bare the thought of losing someone else she cared about. She leaned in and hugged him. "I know...I know." She pulled back and smiled a little at him. "There is a way you can make it up to me though. We need to borrow a jet."