Thor heard what sounded like a horn echo across the street. Puzzled, Thor looked to where the sound had come from. There was a squadron of Chitauri aliens at the end of the street. The front line had weapons that looked like whips. They were advancing in step with each other, as if they were marching. That unnerved Thor. The other aliens were fighting individually, but these seemed more intelligent and better trained. From the aliens midst, a large cannon was fired. It collided mid air with something flying at an incredible speed. The flying object was thrown into a building from the impact. The Iron Lady slid down the building and landed on the ground. Thor guessed she was winded and probably dazed as she didn't take off immediately. Suddenly, she was surrounded by Chitauri aliens. Some of the aliens moved apart and formed a path between them. Thor saw Loki stride through the Chitauri. Leanna Stark had obviously been marked as the largest threat to the invading aliens if Loki was approaching her.
Just before Loki reached The Iron Lady, Loki shot a blast of energy at Leanna. A large blue dome encased Leanna and the Chitauri in formation. Leanna was at the edge of the dome, closed to where Thor was standing shocked. She tried blasting the dome, but the shot rebounded and hit her. It knocked her over onto her knees but she quickly recovered. She turned to face the Chitauri aliens she was trapped with.
Thor started running towards Leanna Stark but he was blown backwards by the force of a small bomb on the ground.
Thor got to his feet just as the aliens fired on Leanna. The aliens fired as one.
Those that weren't in the dome, aliens, people and Avengers alike, all froze, staring at Leanna. Everyone could see her. She was sealed in the dome. There were so many lasers guns being fired on Leanna that she looked like she standing in a spotlight made of hundreds of flashes.
Thor and Captain America threw their weapons and charged, but they bounced off the blue dome. They couldn't help Leanna.
As the Chitauri continued firing, the Avengers could hear Leanna screaming. It was a long, high pitched sound. Everyone could hear the fear, and the pain in her voice. The sound was breaking the Avengers' hearts. Even though they all made fun of each other, all of the Avengers cared deeply about each other. The Avengers all had a special connection with Leanna Stark. She was the one that had kept them together through tough times, she accepted each and every one of them, and she gave them a home... In short, she was their friend, and they all loved her.
The Avengers felt helpless watching Leanna. Suddenly, Leanna stopped screaming. She managed to drag herself to her hands and knees. Leanna somehow found the strength to stand. She turned towards her friends. Over the noise coming through Leanna's coms unit, the Avengers heard, "I'm sorry. I love you all" before Leanna collapsed back onto her hands and knees. The Chitauri stopped firing. Everyone seemed to unfreeze as Leanna pitched sideways and lay on the tarmac. Small flashed blinked from the suit and Leanna shuddered with each one.
Around the Iron Lady, a crater was smoking from the blasts. The aliens started cheering as Leanna tried to raise her head from the ground. Her suit was steaming and some blood was dripping from a slash above her hip.
Somehow, she was still alive. Her coms link was still open. All the Avengers could hear her ragged breaths and groans of torment. Loki was grinning. He strode over towards the barely moving form of Leanna Stark.
Loki knelt next to her and gently caressed Leanna's face.
"Don't touch her!" Thor yelled.
Loki smirked but otherwise ignored Thor. "How far the mighty Iron Lady has fallen" he crowed "Nothing more than a girl, in a costume"
Leanna moved slightly so that she was facing the Avengers. She opened her face guard. She was deathly pale except for some scarlet blood and bruises. She looked at her team through half closed eyes. She had tear tracks running down her face, but strangely she had a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. The Avengers knew by her smile that she was planning something.
Leanna opened her mouth to talk.
"There is so much I could have done..." she whispered. Her voice was so faint her team could hardly hear it. "A few things I regret..." She sighed softly "Thor..."
Thor ran to the edge of the dome. The other Avengers followed and stood just behind him as he knelt against the dome edge. "I am here, Lady of Iron" he said softly.
Her eyes had closed but with an obvious effort she opened them once more. Slowly, her eyes climbed to his face. "Thor... I love you"
Thor felt hot tears escape his eyes. "And I love you"
Leanna's eyes stared into his. "Forgive me... I have to do this"
Thor had no idea what she was apologising for.
Loki was still knelt next to Leanna Stark. He grinned triumphantly at the Avengers. Leanna gave Loki her signature troublemaker smile. She reached up to her ark reactor, twisted it once, and pushed a button next to it.
A blinding light exploded from the ark reactor. The dome cracked and broke. The Avengers were thrown back and blinded for a minute. When The Avengers could see again, all the aliens that had been nearby were dead. The people were still sitting on the road. Most were staring at where The Iron Lady had been with expressions of horror, but some were still weeping at the torture Leanna had been through.
Where the dome had been, there were; large piles of ash, weapons, and two bodies. Loki and Leanna.
Thor let out a bellow and ran towards The Iron Lady's still form. He raised his hammer and called upon the lightning. With another bellow he threw his hammer at the nearest living Chitauri. Lightning danced from alien to alien, killing them. Thor reopened Leanna's face guard with shaking hands. Leanna still had the ghost of her simple on her face.
"No..." Thor whispered. "Leanna? Leanna?" He hadn't realised he was crying again until he saw some of his tears splash on her face.
Thor anxiously felt for a pulse. He saw his comrades running towards him and Leanna. While Clint started cuffing Loki, Banner-in human form- dropped to his knees on Leanna's other side. He pressed his fingers against her neck. The other Avengers now stood in a loose circle around them. After an extremely long minute, Banner sighed with relief.
"She's alive. But only just..."
Everyone crowed round until Thor ordered them all back. He placed his hammer next to Leanna's still form. He now knew what she was apologising for. Her attempted sacrifice to stop his brother. She knew she was dying and that she couldn't kill Loki, but she could still give them an extra chance to win. Thor placed one hand on her forehead and the other above her dimly lit arc reactor.
"4% power" Jarvis stated.
After what seemed like an age, Leanna opened her eyes. She was alive.
Thor gathered Leanna in his arms, and kissed her.
When the other Avengers stopped hugging her, they helped her sit up.
Loki was lying cuffed but was still lying unconscious on the Tarmac.
The people, who had been watching, burst into cheers. "Iron Lady, Iron Lady, Iron Lady" they chanted. Captain America quickly gave policemen orders to finish evacuating the people before anything else could happen.
Suddenly, more Chitauri pored through the portal.
Agent Romanoff grabbed Loki's staph. "We can use this to shut down the portal"
Everyone nodded. They were splitting up to defend the city once more when Nick Fury was suddenly back on the coms unit. Nick was yelling about a nuke being fired. He paused "Leanna" He said "Everyone saw what just happened. A news reporter shot the whole thing live internationally" Leanna ground her teeth together and all the Avengers stood around her protectively. Nick continued, but he sounded genuinely sorrowful. "We need you to stop the nuke. You are the only one that can do this" Thor knew asking Leanna to do that could kill her, even if she was successful.
Thor saw Leanna gulp, before taking a deep breath. She stepped away from her team members. "I have to do this" Her face was set with determination. "Jarvis! Divert 80% of all power remaining to thrusters" Jarvis replied and Leanna toke off.
With a loud cry of "For Leanna!" The Avengers charged the remaining Chitauri.
Only minuets later, The Iron Lady had reached the nuke. She grabbed it and took off even faster than before. She soared back towards her tower, past the Avengers on the ground. Everyone-even the invading army-once again turned to watch.
The Iron Lady pulled up and flew strait towards the portal. Romanoff was stationed by the portal machine, ready to deactivate it. The nuke had a countdown and the Avengers could hear it through the comms. "9...8...7...6..." Leanna was nearly there "4...3...2..." The Iron Lady disappeared through the portal. Leanna's comms unit was suddenly nothing but static. Thor could hear the cheers from the base through Nicks comms unit. Flames from the explosion blasted through the portal. "No... NO!" Thor shouted.
Steve was desperately trying to contact Leanna through the comms "Come in Leanna... Leanna do you copy? Leanna are you there?" Everyone was silent, even the people at the base.
Thor slumped onto the Tarmac. "No..." He moaned. The Avengers couldnt lose Leanna Stark again. The other Avengers were either silently crying or quietly moaning like Thor. As the flames continued to be blasted through the portal, pieces of metal started to rain through.
"Close the portal" Steve sorrowfully instructed. Agent Romanoff destroyed the portal machine.
Before the portal closed, a golden flash came out through the portal. "Leanna!" Screamed Romanoff "She made it back through!" The others stated cheering while The Iron Lady came towards them. Something about the re-entry was wrong.
Steve gasped "She's not in control" he didn't want to say she want she wasn't alive. He thought he'd already lost her today and didn't want to go through that again. "She's not slowing!" Bellowed Thor. He started swinging his hammer.
Before he could take off, the Hulk grabbed Leanna. They crashed onto the ground. The Iron Lady suit was smoking and now had large gashes in it. The Hulk carefully put Leanna on the ground.
Thor ripped the face guard off and supported Leanna's shoulders. Her head lolled to one side and was resting against Thor's arm. Her peaceful excpression made it look like she was simply sleeping.
"No..." Thor said, "No. NO!" The other Avengers knelt beside them and bowed their heads in respect for Leanna Stark.
Thor cradled Leanna in his arms and uttered an ancient payer the Allfather had taught him:
Ahreddan se eorl
Clæne be heorte
Ascierpan be mod
Giefan hælþ
Giefan ealdor
Ahreddan se ęorl
The prayer was for a prince or King of Asgard to heal a great hero. It could only be used on the best of hero's, but Thor wasn't sure if it would work on a mortal. Even though Thor could only use it once a century, he was desperate to save Leanna. He sat back, staring at The Iron Lady's still form.
A pale green mist surrounded Leanna. After a few moments, it faded. All of Leanna's wounds had disappeared and she wasn't so pale. The Avengers searched her face for any signs of life.
Thor stroked her cheek. Leanna's eye lids fluttered before she slowly slid her eyes ope.. "Stop scaring me like this" Thor all but screamed at her.
She chuckled weakly. "We did it?" She asked quietly.
"You did it" Thor corrected her. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Thor hushed her "Sleep now" he instructed her "Rest, Lady of Iron, Hero of Midgard"
She giggled sleepily at him, and drifted off to sleep.
Clint raised an eyebrow. "Hero of Midgard?" He asked in a (fake) mocking tone.
Hulk punched him "No make fun of Hero!" He shouted.
The Avengers looked towards where a S.H.I.E.L.D quinjet was landing. People lined the streets, staring at the Avengers. They started cheering and applauding them. Thor woke her up Leanna. "You need to walk from here" he instructed her, "the people want to see their Hero"
Leanna stood and Thor bellowed "The Hero of Midgard, The Iron Lady!" The people cheered even louder as Leanna Stark grinned and led the Avengers toward the jet.
The people cheered for Leanna Stark. The billionaire, the genius, an Avenger, and the Hero of Midgard.
Leanna Stark, The Iron Lady.
Author note:
Thor's prayer
Modern English:
Save the hero
Pure of heart
Sharp of mind
Give healing
Give life
Save the hero
Thor's Prayer Old English:
Ahreddan se eorl
Clæne be heorte
Ascierpan be mod
Giefan hælþ
Giefan ealdor
Ahreddan se eorl