[Chapter 1]
The archer drew 3 arrows at once from his quiver and shot several of the chitauri off the edge of the building, where they had been scrambling to reach his perch at the top. The beasts just kept coming, no matter how many he shot down, like a never ending wave.
Shooting one that had gotten particularly close to him with a special electric arrow — the last of his supply, he noticed — waves of shock connected, and about half the monsters close to him spasmed before falling.
Taking a quick breather to scan the city below him, Clint activated his comm link to inform his teammates of their situation.
"Tony, Nat's been pinned down two blocks east from you and needs backup. And Cap, if you can meet up with them and push on a few more blocks you'll be able to get to the tesseract" he reported.
Tony groaned loudly through the link. "No matter how many I kill, those freakish animals just keep coming".
"Stop complaining Stark, at least your suit keeps you from getting splattered by their blood" Natasha shot back, the sound of her guns firing and unearthly screams coming from the background. "Rogers there's a family stuck inside the building across the street from me. I can't get to them."
A navy blue covered figure swung through the air near the assassin, using his shield as cover against the firing of the chitauri.
"I got it, Romanoff. Stark, take her and get to the tower, Thor's keeping Loki busy but we don't have much time. We have to close down the portal."
"You know, this is really unfair. While Widow and I do the real work you get to play the hero. Now all the kids are gonna ask for Captain America instead of Iron Man at their birthday parties!"
"Not the time, Stark."
The billionaire huffed, jetting over to a black leather covered figure and scooping her up with one arm before shooting upwards.
"Guess it's just you and me against the big bad tesseract, Romanoff" he grumbled. Tony narrowly evaded two alien ships, flying upwards at the last moment and causing them to crash into each other. The heat from the explosion blew outwards, towards the two humans hurtling through the sky, and Natasha swore loudly, feeling shards of wreckage tearing through her bodysuit.
"Watch it," she hissed.
The man didn't have time to reply, using his propulsors to avoid the shots being fired at them from aliens below.
"Shit. They're everywhere."
"Get us up to the tower, Stark. Hurry!"
Wind whistled through Natasha's ears as they kept ascending, with the only thing between her and a fatal fall being Tony's arm. Turning her head to the side, her eyes widened.
"DUCK!" Natasha yelled, using Tony's suit as a springboard, flipping through the air to landing on the top of the Stark tower.
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted him dropping just in time to miss a missile, which slammed into the side of one of the huge skyscrapers, causing an ear deafening explosion.
Tony swore loudly into his comm. "Fuck. Romanoff, it's all up to you, I'll check for civilians in the building and try to keep the beasts off you."
Natasha laughed bitterly before turning off her mic and scrambling to the tesseract, spotting the scientist Loki had brainwashed.
"How do you turn this thing off?!" She yelled, hoping he would be able to hear her over the noise of the fighting.
The man — Erik Selvig, she remembered — shuffled over to her, leaning heavily on the ledge of the roof. His eyes, while bloodshot, didn't seem to be glazed with the same light she had seen in Clint's, so Natasha decided he'd probably broken free somehow.
"I-I don't know!" He shouted in terror, entire body trembling.
Natasha bit her lip with frustration, taking a step towards him.
The scientist tried to back away but he was already at the edge of the roof.
"The st-staff!" He said shakingly as if remembering, "Loki's staff, it-it's made from the same magic as the tesseract! I think-I think I somehow had some consciousness and used it as a failsafe!"
That was all Natasha needed to hear and she sprinted to the edge of the building, pushing past Erik and scanning the balconies below her. The damned chitauri were everywhere, and she could see most of them clustered and scrambling towards a small ledge near the top of the building, where Clint was trying his best to hold them off while providing support for Tony in the air as well.
Looking away, she continued sweeping her eyes along the tower, when she finally spotted two figure wrestling a few floors below her, dangerously close to falling off. And there! A intricate metal staff lay discarded on the balcony right above where the two gods were fighting.
Turning her comm link on again, the spy quickly and calmly spoke into it.
"Thor, I need you to keep Loki occupied and away from his staff" she ordered. An answering roar was the only reply, which she took as a yes.
Taking a deep breath, Natasha jumped off the building.
Spinning around from a dive to a backwards fall in midair, she tried to ignore the uncomfortable sensation of falling and calmly shot a grappling hook at the nearest balcony, pretending it was just a training situation — that there was no chance of getting shot out of the air by a stray bullet.
As the rope she was holding onto suddenly pulled taut with a force that jarred her body, she swung into the building, rolling the instant she touched down.
She felt a sharp pain near her shoulder as she used her arms to push herself up, but Natasha brushed it off and scrambled over to where Loki's staff still lay, snatching it up and securing it on her back.
"Stark, I need some help getting back to the roof. Like, now."
"Sorry, no can do. I'm too busy keeping these mutts off you darling" came the instant reply from Tony.
The red haired woman groaned and looked up at the roof she had just come from.
"Alien flying horse thing coming from your right, Nat," Clint yelled through the link.
Diving away to avoid the splatter of bullets aimed at her, she sprinted to the edge of the balcony and leaped onto the back of beast shooting at her.
Adrenaline raced through her veins, and moments later the chitauri warrior was tumbling off the chariot resembling vehicle and Natasha had made it back to the roof.
Selvig stared at her shocked as she limped over to the contraption containing the tesseract and drew the staff from her back.
She would end this thing. Now.
Thor's frantic voice came through her ear. "Lady Romanoff, my brother just-"
And that was all the warning she got before suddenly she found it hard to move and a soft voice came from behind her.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
Natasha spun around to see Loki standing casually a few meters away, looking completely untouched from his scuffle with Thor.
The assassin tried to thrust the staff into the tesseract, but suddenly Loki's weapon wouldn't move despite all her strength.
Turning her head back towards him, words on the tip of her tongue, the god simply flicked his wrist and the staff went flying from her hands and into his.
"My apologies, but despite your hard work I can't just let you stop my army from entering the realm."
"Fight us yourself you coward. Are you just going to let your armies do all the work?"
Loki chuckled.
Natasha snarled and leaped at him, trying to get the staff back.
Her punch was blocked by a single palm, and so she used her momentum to jump upwards, catching his neck in between her legs and spinning around. He tumbled to the ground, but even as she tried to kick his head, he grabbed on to her ankle and yanked, pulling her off balance.
Instantly standing up, the god took her second of confusion to throw a punch back, which she whirled away from.
The red head grabbed her right shoulder, feeling a bit of the pain from before leak through.
Laughingly, Loki dropped his staff to the ground. Her eyes followed it against her will, and in that moment he used his godly speed and caught her around the neck.
Natasha tried to use her years of training in the red room to get away from him, but she couldn't do anything against his superior strength and he held her far from his body.
Calmly walking over to the edge of the building, Loki smirked at her, his hands slowly choking her even as she struggled.
"It's nothing personal," he assured, as he threw her off the tower.
She fell.
Natasha heard a high pitched scream near her, before suddenly she realized it was coming from her.
Turning her mic back on in a panic, as she had stupidly turned it off earlier, she yelled through it. At this moment, she had absolutely no consideration for her teammates' eardrums.
"TONY!"
A red and gold plated figure hurtled from the sky and rather painfully crashed into her moments before she would've splattered against the ground.
Carrying the woman against his metal suit, Tony fired his boosters and swerved them out of the free fall, only stopping when they had reached a safe distance from the tower.
Natasha sighed as the billionaire opened up his helmet, uncovering his face.
"Took you long enough, Stark."
Tony laughed, "do you scream like that in bed too?"
She took advantage of the fact that his face was exposed to painfully pinch his nose.
Together they flew through the air, Natasha's body flush against Tony's iron suit. She decided it wasn't that bad being held by him, and allowed herself to relax for a few moments. Then she looked at the man holding her.
"Stark," she said in realization, narrowing her eyes and instantly becoming alert again. "I didn't close the portal."
"I know" he responded.
"So why the fuck are we flying away from the tower, Stark?"
Tony sighed as he kept his course away from the city. "You turned your comm link off, but new orders came in. There's a nuclear missile heading towards us right now at about 5000 metres per second, so we've gotta get out fast."
Natasha narrowed her eyes. "What the fuck, Stark. Orders from who?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D."
"No way, Fury would never agree to this. Stark, get us back there right now! There are still civilians in the city!"
He was unnaturally silent, and his lips stayed tightly clenched as the two kept flying through the air.
"Stark! Get us back there right now!"
"I'm sorry Natasha, I really am. But there's no way to stop it. The only thing I can do is at least get you out. The rest are all waiting for us in a safehouse far enough away that we won't feel the effects of the missile."
Her mind was in shock, as she tried to run the numbers of how many people were still in the city.
"New York… Tony, there are 8-million fucking people in New York," she screamed at the man holding her, as she desperately tried to free herself from his grip around her.
Tony only held onto her tighter. "There's nothing you can do, Natasha. You're a spy, not a soldier, and certainly not a capable of stopping a nuclear missile."
She gritted her teeth. "I fucking hate you, Stark."
"I'm sorry, Natasha."
They continued fleeing, even as the world behind them exploded in light and energy.