Chapter 6: Chapter 6

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(General P.O.V)

Okay clearly that didn't work. He woke up gasping for breath. the previous loop been a failure. A massive one at that. In fact the pain he'd felt as his eye had been penetrated by the cold blade was more immense than the torture session in a previous loop by the same alien. There was no comparison. 

But Ash was determined to escape the loop more than ever and even without them knowing, the Chitauri aliens had given him the tools necessary to complete that particular task. Just gotta learn their pattern.

He brought up the Ouroboros interface. 

Loops remaining 14/20

Going by the fact that he had already managed to kill the four Chitauri aliens the 6th time, he only needed two or more loops to complete this particular huddle. More loops meant less chances of truly dying. The only problem with the whole set up was the pain part. But the human body was probably capable of adapting to stimulus after enough exposure, he hoped. 

"Ok you stupid thing, I'll play your game."

Ash said, all the while ignoring Anthony and the other office workers. He got to his feet, grabbed the coat on the seat next to him and strapped it across his shoulders. Ash sighed, walking over towards the fire alarm. He pulled on it then turned to the crowd of people taking videos of the crazy boy who had fallen from the sky.

Touting the same 'top secret government experiment gone wrong' spiel, the whole crowd ran out of the office. He looked at the time, 10:42 a.m

They had enough time to make it to the ground at least. He on the other hand had some hunting to do. A cold light flashed in his eyes. He pulled back his fist and threw it onto the glass casing. The glass splintered into shards and Ash paused in place in bewilderment. He had tried to do that same action before but it had failed so what was different? 

Resolving to deal with that later, he grabbed the Axe, and started swinging it to get a feel for the weight. He had some more time to himself so he walked around, even going to the window to stare at the Stark Tower a hundred feet away. He tried his best to memorize everything in its place. 

The desk placement, good hiding spots, the distance between each cubicle and the relative position each Chitauri alien would be standing at. Looking up at the time again, he saw it was 10:45 and positioned himself in the same place as before, behind a desk with the view of the windows.

The ticking hand of the clock was particularly loud in the empty room. Ash breathed in, slowly and deeply. Then he held the breath for a few seconds before letting it out smoothly. 

His senses started buzzing with how much activity they were picking up on. It was like one second he was at 40% and then his sensory perception went up to 100%. He could even see the dust particles hanging in the air through the rays of the sun coming from the clear windows. 

The attack came in almost too sudden. One second everything was calm and then the next, hundreds of gliders passed the building, aliens invading the other structures in the tightly packed metropolitan area. 

The same 4 Chitauri broke through the glass to land on the floor. Pieces of glass crunched under their feet. They looked around similar to previous loops and Ash had to bite on the inside of his lip not to jump out and hack the axe in his hands on the face of one particular Chitauri. The pain and taste of his blood grounded him.

Ash waited until they turned to leave, before springing out of his hiding spot, hands cocked back readiness. This time he yelled, putting his entire strength into the swing. The head of the Chitauri went flying with a spray of blood launching off the neck. Just like before, Ash made sure to repeat every single action taken, recollecting placement and body posture with an intensity only a cornered animal would have. 

The room exploded just as the other three aliens turned to look at the commotion. The dust produced by the ceiling caving in, provided the perfect cover. By then another Chitauri soldier was flying out through the window, missing a huge portion of its chest. 

This time Ash did not panic when the desk he had been hiding behind was pelted with plasma fire. He kept calm, knowing that this was truly life and death. And just like before the third Chitauri jumped over the cubicle with a wrist blade aimed at whoever was behind it. 

Ash braced his shoulders and pulled the trigger, making sure his trajectory was aimed further to the right than before. A huge piece of the shoulder and head went missing from the Chitauri alien. 

Ash rolled away from the body and then laid flat, counting.

"1, 2, 3."

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The Chitauri glider passed over his head and Ash started shooting towards the ceiling without delay. 

Just like before, the Chitauri had used the glider as a distraction and had been dropping from the ceiling towards Ash. By the time it landed on the ground, over 3 holes could be found where the blaster had done it's job. Ash sprang up to his feet as he eyed the dying Chitauri, choking on its own blood. 

He ignored it in favor of going after the first Chitauri he had beheaded. Ash didn't care that he was covered in blue blood or even that his shoulder cried out in protest when he tried to move his hand. Maybe it was the rush of adrenaline but he could feel it mending slightly. 

Ash crouched and lifted the Axe's handle, then he slowly walked forward, the axe head dragging on the floor and producing sparks. The pandemonium going on on the outside was someone else's problem, Ash...Ash simply wanted revenge. Revenge for the pain he had felt when being tortured. 

He had called out to the gods, demons, heroes or anyone who could hear him to come and save him. But now Ash understood one fundamental truth, he could only count on himself. He couldn't and wouldn't depend on someone else to be his savior. Ash had to see this through...even if that meant doing so alone. 

He arrived next to the dying Chitauri. The creature only seemed to have a few minutes left to live. 

Ash looked into it's hateful glowing blue eyes and grabbed it's face mask, ripping it off. He wanted to see the pain on it's face. He wanted to see the disgruntled hurt and despair over the unfairness of it all. He wanted to hear it scream. Then he raised up his axe. Those few minutes the alien had, were going to be the worst of it's life. The first swing was aimed for it's kneecap. The axe cut through gray skin, flesh and bones, dismembering the limb. 

The Chitauri opened it's mouth and let out a grunt/wheeze combination of pain, eyes looking wildly around in desperation and agony. The moans of pain coming from the alien were forcefully silenced when Ash twirled the Axe and slammed the axe head onto the mouth of the Chitauri. The alien swallowed it's own teeth and blood.

Ash was not done. Not even close. Next up he dismembered each of the limbs at the elbow into two parts. Then he went for the other leg and did the exact same thing. He split the alien open from the neck to the groin. Then he stabbed it's eyes with a ball point pen he found lying on the ground. When he was done, Ash sat with his back propped up against a cubicle.

His coat was soiled with splatters of blue blood that faded into it's midnight black color. However his green towel and most of his body was soaked in blue. It looked like he had showered under paint. 

His head was bowed down, his black hair covering his eyes and dripping with thick blue drops of drying blood. Ash looked at his hands. He traced every curve and line with great focus. 

The blue blood sticking to his palms and fingers was like glue. He squinted his vision and tried...tried to imagine that the blue tint was like the colorful ocean seen from above. A drop of clear liquid dropped on that ocean, upsetting the gradient and ruining the picture. Then another drop fell, and another.

Shivers rocked Ash's body as he curled in on himself and wept. He bawled his eyes out at everything. His sucky life, the loop, the experiences inside the loops, what he had been forced to do...he cried about everything. 

The weirdest part however was the wide smile on his face. Even as the tear drops fell, a final display at the loss of his quiet and lonely life, his heart hammered in excitement. There was a rush of dopamine as he gazed to his front at the corpse of his foe.

They had fought and Ash had come out on top. He was the better predator. He stayed like that for a few more minutes and then...the horizon was lit up by a sudden flash of light. The shockwaves reached the nearest buildings first. Something had happened and the World Council's plan to bomb Manhattan had succeeded.

Ash looked on, his senses making him think that time was slowing down as destruction and death came for him. He got up to his feet and spread out his hands. 

He finally knew why he had been picked. Despite not being as talented as others or skillful or exceptional in any way, Ash had one thing going for him. He hadn't buckled under the pressure. Others would have been driven to the point of insanity with everything that had happened. Ash on the other hand, had thrived. 

And maybe that, maybe the speed in which he had adapted to his current situation was what would make the difference between dying permanently and surviving. All he knew was that no matter how tough it became, Ash would not give in. His dad hadn't, up until he had died. He was his father's son, so why would he stain his legacy by surrendering? 

Ash had a mission.

"Let's save Captain America from Nazis."

The light swallowed him.

Loops remaining 13/20

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