Natasha found Barton near Loki’s cell. She almost got the drop on him but something—she would never know what—clued him in to her presence and he spun at the last moment, letting fly an arrow that came so close she felt the whisper of its passage. Then she closed in on him and they fought hand to hand. Barton was very good, but Natasha was among the best who had ever lived. Barton had the upper hand at first because he was skilled at using his bow as a weapon. Natasha caught hold of it and got it away from him, thinking now she had the advantage, but he pulled a knife and once again she was fighting for her life. She couldn’t believe it. She was closer to him than anyone, but he was coming after her like she was just another target.

She concentrated on keeping the knife away from her, but they were fighting on a narrow catwalk. Once Barton got close, his superior strength came into play. She locked both her hands around his right wrist, holding the knife away from her, but it got closer and closer. . . .

Desperate, Natasha bit him on the arm. Barton shouted out in surprise, and she used the momentary distraction to swing him around and smash his head into one of the steel posts supporting the catwalk.

He went down and stayed down for a few moments. Then he looked up at her and said, “Natasha?”

But she wasn’t ready to believe he had freed himself of Loki’s spell. Not just yet. Natasha stepped in and knocked Barton unconscious with one final punch.

Loki watched on a monitor screen as the prison cell fell . . . and fell . . . and smashed into the earth near the ocean far below, shattering into thousands of pieces. It was too far away to see details but surely not even an Asgardian could survive that.

He turned away from the control panel. It was time to see how Dr. Selvig was doing with the portal stability device.

He got a little surprise then, in the form of quiet words from Agent Coulson. “You’re going to lose.”

“Am I?” Loki was intrigued. He paused to see what this dying mortal would have to say.

“It’s in your nature.”

Loki tried to understand what Coulson could possibly mean. “Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky . . . where is my disadvantage?” he asked.

“You lack conviction,” Coulson said. He did not move from where he sat against the wall. Blood trickled at the corner of his mouth, and the enormous gun lay uselessly across his lap.

Of all the things Coulson might have said, this was perhaps the one Loki expected least. I have moved worlds out of conviction, he thought. Made bargains with beings who snuff out planets as an afterthought. “I don’t think I . . .”

The enormous gun discharged a bolt of dazzling blue energy, striking Loki squarely in the chest and blasting him through the nearest wall. For a moment, there was silence. Coulson watched, but Loki did not reappear.

Then he looked down at the gun. “So that’s what it does,” he said.

The Helicarrier wasn’t quite in free fall, but it was close. It was losing altitude at a rate of hundreds of feet per minute, and unless Tony got the turbine going again, Steve knew they were all done for. The turbine was spinning faster, which was good, but the bad guys had just thrown a grenade at Steve and knocked him off the broken edge of the platform. He was hanging by a cable over a whole lot of air.

“Cap, hit the lever,” Tony said.

“I need a minute here!” Steve shouted.

The turbine roared, reaching its full power. “Lever. Now!” Tony said, sounding more anxious. Then a sound came out of the turbine like the sound a garbage disposal made when you dropped a spoon into it.

Steve hauled his way back up the cable and dodged fire from Loki’s men. He scrambled across the platform and pulled the lever.

Below the spinning turbine blades, vents opened. They were designed to keep the blades from overheating, but they also let Iron Man fall out. He tumbled a hundred feet or so before he got his boot thrusters under him. Then he arced back toward the Helicarrier. Steve watched him approach, accelerating. What was he doing?

He blazed straight at the last of Loki’s men and put him out of commission with a bone-crunching collision.

They were safe for the moment. The Helicarrier started to gain altitude again, and it leveled out. But a Quinjet was taking off, and Steve had a feeling Loki was on it. So they hadn’t crashed, but they hadn’t really won, either.

The final battle was yet to come. gbyVMdjzXOaj93knD1AjGXOqhpGDGvEs7Xfqrq3VYfEWQBIc/Gl11P2UYj5uana5