The wind blows softly outside, not making a noise as the curtains are swept into the penthouse. The crater in the floor is ignored and the black soot on the walls are a reminder of the violence from just hours before. The city seems eerily quiet from the top of the tower. Any noise from below is drowned out by the distance. There is no noise of traffic or sounds of fighting or bartering coming from the streets below. Cars sit on the streets torched like a log in a burnt out fire. Blood and rubble cover the concrete and create a gruesome labyrinth that rescue workers shift through with taxing determination.

Tony Stark stares down at this through the broken window of his building. The members of the anomalous team had spread out to their own spots around the ruins to think about the battle that had just been waged. Debriefing at the helicarrier was already done but Tony just sat as his thoughts went back and forth in an endless loop. While most on the team could let go of the extraordinary events that had taken place in the previous hours, as they are used to the normal being exceeded, Tony couldn't get it through his head.

The Chitauri where aliens with thick necks and grey skin. Their mouths seemed to unhinge like a snake, revealing pointed teeth that looked as if they were rotting away. Where a nose would be there was, instead, curved holes that looked as if they were flattened by a steamroller. All of this was unnerving, but the thing that shook Tony's foundation was the glowing of their rotten green eyes. If their bodies themselves didn't scream inhuman than their eyes could identify them as such. How could something be so monstrous? Their energy seemed to never run dry and the line of self-sacrificing soldiers never ceased. It seemed as if the fight would close in on them and devour them.

It had all seemed hopeless in that one moment. They were all tired. They were out of that ferocious drive that sent them after Loki in the first place. They were being overwhelmed. Then Tony heard about the missile heading straight for the tower. For a moment Tony didn't know what to do. He didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore. About the Chitauri, about how the hell the military could justify killing the thousands of lives they were trying to save with a nuclear deterrent.

Maybe the Chitauri were just some kind of experiment. To test the human ability of being able to survive in space. Maybe that's how they evolved. Maybe they were human. No. Impossible. Tony was getting sick of his far-fetched theories. Scientists had no clue. Bruce didn't have any theories. Not even Thor had any answers. No one did. Tony chuckled lamely at that thought. He was looking to Thor for an explanation. Hoping he would tell him the truth about the unimaginable No one had any answers for his questions.. How could there be so many? Who was trying to fight with them? Who was Loki playing for?

But he had to do something. He couldn't let the missile reach its target. Without realising it, he had taken the missile in his hands already. His retorts were on autopilot as the Captain spoke to him. He thought his heart might just burst as his chest scraped the building. A funny though seeing as he needed a pacemaker just to keep it running. The ringing was lost on him for a second before he saw Pepper. He was calling her. Her smile brought some kind of unexplained pain to his chest. No, it was the portal, he had passed through. His breath was scraped from his body as he passed through the barrier. It felt like a rush of frigid water over his body. He gaped like a fish as he tried to frantically suck in a breath. The missile ripped from his slack grip and he could only stare as it propelled towards the sight before him. His chest constricted tightly, tiny needles stabbed the soft flesh of his lungs. At that moment he couldn't help but think of what Cap' had said before.

"I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Steve said stepping closer to Tony, challenging him. Without a flicker of emotion Tony had returned the fire.

"I think that I would just cut the wire."

Tony shook his head, he couldn't think anymore. He thoughts were becoming muddled. He spun the glass of scotch resting on the arm of the couch, the same deep red as the blood smeared on the ground. Tony felt that it was time to redecorate, maybe an amber. The glass contained the liquor that had been poured at the beginning of this whole mess, the taste had somehow degraded, however, over the fight, now being replaced by a duller flavor. Tony watched as the brown contents swished around. Tony heard his phone start to ring, once again, from where it sat on the table.

"It's Miss. Potts again sir. I would advise you to answer the call. She hasn't heard from you yet." Jarvis's voice rang out in the demolished penthouse. "This isn't her first time calling."

The eighth time actually. Tony stares at the phone blankly, the annoying ringing continued. It chimed and chimed until finally the room fell back into silence as the call was sent to voicemail. Tony leant forward slowly and placed his elbows on his knees resting them there as his thoughts tore away from the battle that had ended.

What could he say to Pepper? He doubted that she would let him off without explaining what had happened. He couldn't do that again. Though Tony hides his emotions very well, you wouldn't be able to miss the slight twitch in his face as he tries to explain something he doesn't understand. It's almost too easy to tell when he has an unsolved problem.

No.

She couldn't know how much this bothered him. Couldn't know that he wasn't able to let it go. It wouldn't be right. Tony Stark, couldn't solve a problem? Obsured. Imaginary. Impossible.

Well that's what this all is, isn't it? Impossible.

Tony was broken from his thoughts as he turned to the TV that was quietly playing multiple reports on the attack. 'Despite the devastation, what has been confirmed as an extraterrestrial attack. The extraordinary group known as the Avengers has been many a cause...' 'Nah it's just good to know they're out there you know? Someone watching over us.' 'And then this guys goes Pew Pew and then this car goes Boosh, and then this green guy goes AHHHH!' 'I don't exactly feel safe with those things out there. It just seems like there's a lot they're not telling us.' 'Superheros in New York, give me a break.' 'These so called heros have to be held responsible to the destruction done to the city.' Tony clutches the glass in his hand and closes his eyes in anger. 'This was their fight where are they now?'

Tony threw the glass out the already broken window and watched as it shattered on the concrete side of the large balcony, the ruined pieces fell to the ground countless feet below. He was furious. Hadn't they already done enough. The Avengers saved their sorry asses after they threw a nuke at Manhattan and they turn right back around and blame it all on them. What total pricks 'Some questions are now being asked about the Avengers themselves. Their sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance...' How could the world put this on them? What did they do wrong? Should they not have rushed into battle to save the day? Should they just have left the cowards to send out their troops and put the boots of soldiers on the ground? 'What that this is all somehow their fault?' A girls timid voice filled the room causing Tony to turn to the screen. His raging thoughts came to a hault as he observed the girl. She looked flustered as she was looking around, as if the right words would just pop out right in front of her. Her hair was falling out of a bun that was probably neat before and she was covered in grime. Tony could tell that she had been in the warzone as the fight went on. She knew what really happened. 'Captain America saved my life. Wherever he is and wherever any of them are, I would just, I would wanna say thank you.'

Tony's mouth suddenly went dry, his throat tightened up as he tried to reel in his emotions. These were the only opinions that mattered. Only the words of the ones who experienced the same shit as he did would remain. No high powered politician or lack luster chess player in central park. Only the few who understood what it was like to look those atrocious beasts in the eyes and stare down the end of their alien weaponry.

"Mute." Tony said in a scratchy voice. He turned away from the screen and slowly walked out towards the balcony. Where the large letters that once spelled STARK were, now only the A remained, to Tony the irony could kill. He avoided the broken glass of the railing and sighed quietly as he looked out over the city. His mind once again drifting to the battle.

When the Chitauri first came out of the portal, there was no time for surprise or shock, it was just a fighting moment. But when the giant eel like Chitauri came out of the portal, Tony was so shaken that, hadn't he been paying attention, he would have run into a building. How had the other Avengers seemed so laid back about this? Had they seen other things this fearsome? Was Tony the only one rattled by this?

Somehow Tony couldn't doubt the fact that he probably was the only one overthinking this right now. But how couldn't he? He was Tony Stark, a genius. He invented a suit that no one has ever come close to, except for Ivan Vanko, but he's gone now. What else could top this? How in the world can he solve this?

If there was a God could he explain what was happening? Tony doubted he could. But with these thoughts running rampant in his mind he just couldn't get past the feeling of being swallowed by that monster. A flying worm-like creature the size of a building and Tony plunged down it's throat. His armor twisted at odd angles, moving around bones and muscle, pushing against the force of the jets. The missiles had begun to fire but Tony wasn't seeing any way out. His mind began to panic. Inside the belly of the beast he was close to clawing at the sides to get out. But finally the middle of the creature had split revealing the world outside and Tony went flying into a bus stop where he skidded, hitting a car.

Tony shook his head and looked down at the scenery but what he saw made his eyes widen. He was covered in the monsters slime and gore, blood soaked into his shirt and the stench penetrated his nose. He backed away from the glass edge and rubbed at the slime on him but it wouldn't come off. His breathing became frantic and pained as his arms and chest began to hurt from all the scratching. But then he blinked, it was gone. There was nothing there. His skin was red from the force used against it but it wasn't covered in any blood or slime or muck.

Tony looked across the skyline where he saw the sun setting in the distance. The panic arose again but this time for a different reason. Was he really this scarred by the experience? Had the Chitauri hurt in in more ways than just physical?

He shook his head and focused his attention on a point on the balcony, where Loki's scepter had once laid, the thing that finally ended it all. The staff that drove Barten to turn against himself, the weapon that took Coulson's life. It was gone now. S.H.I.E.L.D. took it but, then again, they would. For their power hungry greed to forge weapons of mass destruction.

WIll these battles become a normal occurrence one day? Thor had said that by building these weapons it proves that Earth is ready for a higher form of war. War, that is what he said. When will it be that you could expect an attack any day from distant neighbors? Not just worrying about terrorists or world peace, but aliens. Coulson didn't die for that. Not to give the world more misery. Tony just couldn't believe that.

He was a reliable person.

Trusted.

A friend.

Tony seemed a bit short on those lately. He needed to contact Rhodey. Maybe he can help him with this. Or maybe it will be like Afghanistan all over again with Rhodes checking up on him constantly. He didn't want that. He didn't want pity. Tony looked up to the sky. He could almost see where the portal had opened, could almost imagine plummeting to the ground, barely making it through before he was locked in that darkness forever. Almost. He turned and went back inside the house where he ordered Jarvis to schedule some builders to come and fix the building.

"But, Jarvis." Tony paused, looking back out at the balcony. "Leave the A." No one needed to know just how much all this bothered him, he was decided. It would just bring more commotion and all Tony needed now was calm. Keep it simple and the problem would be gone, just like that. It didn't need to be hanging over his head constantly. All he needed right now was a distraction. Yeah. A distraction sounded good. With that Tony picked up the phone and dialed Pepper's number.

"Tony?" He heard her answer right away, the first ring hadn't even finished. Tony closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, smiling at the sound of her voice.

"How do you feel about dinner tonight?" He asked.

A distraction sounded perfect.

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Okay, I'm going to face it now. I simply suck at updating. Yes, yes. This is completely true. Sorry.