I do not own the Marvel franchise. I just write fanfiction.

As always, I love you fellow readers :) I love writing this fic because of all the reviews and the comments and just all this love makes me super happy :D

This chapter includes some awesome action and more examples of just how scary gravitokinesis can be.


Salvation or Extinction

Like it were on the set of a James Bond film, the man behind the iron mask was pouring himself a drink as the God of Mischief just revealed to Tony Stark that the Chitauri invasion was moments away from becoming real. It was surreal; it boiled down to just two men having a conversation as the world was on the brink of either salvation or extinction.

"What have I to fear?" Loki asked the man, similar to how he asked that dying agent how he could possibly fail.

"The Avengers," Tony paused but Loki did not understand the collective term. He rolled his eyes and began to explain to the Asguardian what they were. "That's what we call ourselves. We're sort of like a team. A big, loving, dysfunctional as hell family. 'Earth's mightiest heroes'-type thing."

"Yes, I may have met them," Loki answered sarcastically. Even though he was supposed to lead this invasion upon humanity, he was a trickster by nature and riddles and twisted banter were sort of his thing. Like a moth to the flame, he allowed the Iron Man to speak.

"Granted, it takes us a while to get any traction. But let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demigod," as he set down the drink, changing his mind about drinking it. "A super soldier, literally a living legend. A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins..." he hesitated as the thought of Rilla Cain entered his mind and he felt a ephemeral pang of guilt for treating her like shit when he first met her. "And last but not least, the human embodiment of Armageddon."

Damn, son.

"And you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them. Not a great plan. When they come, and I guarantee they will, they'll come for you," he grasped his drink in his hand, taking a sip.

"I have an army," Loki stated with utmost confidence.

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the monster fell to his death," Loki thought out loud. He had not planned on keeping the giant around after it served his purpose.

Tony shook his head and didn't even bother telling the god that the Hulk was alive and quite well, actually. He continued to walk towards Loki. "You're missing the point. There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come on top. Now, maybe your army comes and maybe we get our asses kicked, but it's all on you, Loki. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

.

.

As the passengers of the Quinjet prepared to land, Rilla looked outside the window to see mass hysteria in the streets and a thick grey cloud beginning to form above the throngs of people fleeing for their lives. She saw a straight beam of energy pointed to a massive black wormhole in the sky and her heart began to beat rapidly. This was nothing she was ever prepared for. Steve was silent, probably formulating a strategy for them as Bruce stayed calmly seated in his seat.

"It's horrible," she observed, not realizing she was talking out loud. "I've never seen people run like that."

"I have," Bruce commented on her observation. After all, he was used to people running around screaming because of something terrifying happening.

"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast," Natasha radioed Tony Stark, urging Hawkeye to lead-pedal as fast as he could.

"What? Did you stop for a Happy Meal?" everyone in the Quinjet heard Stark's exclamation. "Swing up near Park, I'm going to lay them out for you."

Rilla sighed. Even in times like this Tony Stark still had a retort for everything. The jet suddenly swerved as Rilla, not properly buckled in, jerked to the other side of the jet, narrowly missing Bruce by about a foot. Natasha engaged the jet's firing weapon as Rilla quickly put on her seat belt looking at Bruce as if to apologize for almost slamming him. So much for all those driver's ed courses.

The jet continued to fire at the Chitauri, Rilla hardly believing her eyes at the view of all these ugly aliens on weird hovercrafts that were littered all over the place, shooting at them. As Hawkeye made a sudden turn, Rilla looked out to see none other than Thor fighting his brother on the rooftop. Half the burden weighing on her shoulders were immediately lifted, a stretched smile on her face.

"Thor!" she nearly leapt out of her seat as Bruce told her to "sit down, he's a God, he's fine."

Rilla folded her arms across her chest, not sorry for getting excited. Agent Barton began to land the jet as she was itching to get out and see Thor again and apologize for not rescuing him in time. However, in the midst of her sudden good mood, Loki aimed a shot at the jet's wing as everyone shook, Rilla clinging onto the straps of her seat for dear life.

"Mayday! Mayday!" Natasha yelled.

"Everyone, hold on!" Steve ordered. He didn't have to say that twice as Bruce's face began to contort into uneasiness and anxiety, which was a really, really bad sign. If him Hulking out on the helicarrier was bad, she didn't want to imagine seeing him in a tiny jet.

"No, no, it's okay Bruce, it's just a bit bumpy," Rilla strained, trying to calm down Dr. Banner as Barton finally managed to land the jet in a less than graceful fashion but at least they were alive, even without all the bells and whistles. They all paused for a moment as Rilla nearly sprung out of her seat, adrenaline pumping in her veins.

"Next time, I'm flying first class," Bruce cracked a joke and Rilla smiled at that one. He was okay for now.

"Let's go!" Steve, now in the persona of Captain America, was the first to leave, Rilla and Bruce quickly following behind Natasha and Barton, entering into the wreckage of New York City. "We got to get back up there!" he went head-first into the mania, the rest of them in a single file line of hiding behind cars and making a run for it.

"What's that?" Rilla looked up from running as the five of them immediately stopped in their tracks. As soon as Rilla said that, a loud mechanical roar vibrated in the air as something monstrous began to emerge from the swirling vortex.

"Damn," Barton uttered.

"What the hell is that?" Rilla's eyes were enormously wide, and even then she couldn't possibly view the entirely of what looked like an armored space whale. If creatures like this existed in space then she was never going up there.

Its screech rung through everyone's eardrums, Bruce clasping his hands over his ears as Natasha visibly cringed from the noise. This alien monster thing looked like something out of a H.R. Giger illustration which was nightmare-inducing on its own. The five Avengers could do nothing but just stare in horror at this giant reptoid whale thing slicing through buildings and just flying through the beloved streets of New York City.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. never prepared us for this," Natasha spoke slowly in horrific awe, terrified yet amazed at everything unfolding around them. More of the Chitauri were leaping off their armored space leviathan, clinging to buildings and scraping them like nails on a chalkboard.

"We need to run!" Captain America waved them over to an abandoned taxi car, all five of them crouching behind it like a barricade. Rilla sat between Barton and Bruce, merely acknowledging the marksman's presence with a nod. There was nothing to say that really needed to be said. He was on their side now.

All of a sudden, explosions. Everywhere. For a split second, Rilla saw a flash of gold and green riding above them, leading a barrage of light and energy upon them. Cars were flipping over, men and women screaming bloody murder as they became no more than targets for the picking.

"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve looked from his position from the bridge to look down at the fleeing masses. Natasha flipped out two guns and began firing and Barton scurried to another taxi cab to stake out the enemy.

A heavy handful of the Chitauri appeared before them and Steve was torn between staying to fight on the ground or helping innocent people to safety.

"Now's probably a good time to lose control, Bruce," Rilla gently nudged the doctor with her elbow, "We could really use your anger."

"That's my secret," he smirked at her as he stood up and began to walk quite some ways away from the rest of the Avengers, turning his back to her. "I stay in control because I'm always angry."

Perhaps she should take a page or two out of his book.

Natasha noticed what just happened between the two of them, feeling confident they all could work together. "It's good. You can go, captain. We're fine."

"Think you can hold them off?" he asked, concerned for his team mates and not wanting to leave them unless they were absolutely capable of fighting back against the alien invaders. All four of them nodded, Hawkeye's quiver whirring as he gripped his recurve bow, ready to make up for being on the bad side for so long.

Hawkeye drew the first shot, aiming an arrow right square in the head of the alien enemy. Rilla took this as the go-signal, clenching her fists as she began to concentrate within herself. She still wasn't feeling one hundred percent but she would have to change that rather quickly. Right now, New York City was depending on her efforts to save the city.

.

.

Black Widow fired bullet after bullet as Girl Doomsday helped her clear the area in order to create enough of a buffer between them and the citizens of a stranded tour bus that Hawkeye was positioned at. The Hulk was off doing his own thing, smashing and crushing the Chitauri to thin out the swarm headed towards them. Frightened men, women and children were clamoring at the exits in order to make a run for their lives, each of them trying to catch a glimpse of their saviors.

"Watch out!" Barton could see over her shoulder two Chitauri aiming their weapons at her head as Rilla perked up, seeing her next two opponents. She had been relying on her gravity balls to send them scattering but it wasn't killing them. Rilla knew of a solution to permanently rid the Chitauri but it wasn't safe and it wasn't exactly orthodox.

"Natasha! Barton! Stay out of my way!" she yelled at them, "I don't want you getting sucked in!"

"Sucked into what?" Natasha broke her serious frame of mind as she wasn't quite following what Rilla was saying.

"This!"

Rilla's hazel eyes began to darken as she held out her hands, stretching her arms as far as possible as she kept warning Barton and Natasha to steer clear. Rilla had only ever done this once, and that was four years ago in the field where the meteoroid hit. Like Tony Stark had insinuated, Rilla was in fact quite familiar with black holes. She was pulling gravity downward, slowly backing away from the Chitauri who were shooting at her left and right. The ground around them seemed to shake as a small vortex began to chaotically swirl in the space between her hands. Even Barton paused to look at the scene unfolding, amazed yet unsure of what the hell she was doing.

Rilla could create black holes through gravitokinesis. By funneling the channel of gravity directly ahead of her, she was sucking in everything through a portal she created. She was immune to being sucked in but the same could not be said for the unfortunate Chitauri being torn down to a molecular level as the black hole began to grow. And grow.

Oh shit.

"Rilla! Stop! It's growing too fast!" Natasha screamed at her, now worried about the black hole more than any alien threat. No wonder she was named Girl Doomsday: she now had two ways to destroy the planet. "Stop!"

But Rilla couldn't stop. How stupid of her to think she could actually control the ability. Gravity was enough of a bitch to handle but she had to extend it to black hole creation. She just had to attract that space rock from the sky. Granted, she was wiping out the Chitauri faster than all four of them together but Natasha and Barton were scared that she would accidentally suck in a person.

It was like a bad dream. She began to sweat, nearly trapped in this stance where the black hole kept enlarging and growing. It was almost three feet now in width and gaining power. Rilla could hear Natasha screaming at her to stop, to collapse the black hole. She gnashed her teeth so hard she felt herself chip a tooth as she tried to bring her hands together. It was like trying to make two north ends of a magnet attract.

Slowly though, Rilla was putting a lid on the black hole. Three feet became a foot and a half to six inches. Feeling the palms of her hands finally touch, she dropped to her knees and had the overwhelming sensation of wanting to pass out but she kicked it into overdrive and stood right back up. No more crumbling. Even if it killed her, Rilla was not going to curl up in a corner and allow herself to be a burden to the team.

"Just stick to whatever you were doing before!" Barton yelled at her before he got pummeled to the ground. Rilla bounded, shooting a swirling ball of gravitational energy to send them flying upwards as the aliens crashed onto the ground, immobilized. "Thanks."

Rilla tilted her head, giving the agent a quick flash of her teeth. "No problem."

Seconds later, their leader rejoined them and they all heard a crackling in the sky. Oh no not another space whale, Rilla winced but then lightning struck the ground and the Asguardian appeared before them. Rilla ran ahead of the captain, her lips widening into a relieved smile.

"Thor! I'm so sorry, I couldn't-," she was quieted by the god.

"I do not blame you in the slightest, Cain woman," he assured her as he began to tell Steve that the Cube's barrier was impenetrable. Which meant it was impossible to break and Rilla's heart dropped to her stomach again. She could hear the Hulk in the distance, probably attracted by the sound of thunder.

"Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys."

Lo and behold, Tony Stark finally spoke loudly through everyone's ear pieces (miraculously Rilla's was working again) as the Hulk finally arrived to their little group, eager to see that the man who made it thunder seemed familiar to him. Rilla could have sworn he also look at her but maybe it was just a trick of the eye.

"We fight together, as a team." Steve spoke proudly.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor stated, the fury in his eyes growing.

"Yeah, get in line," Hawkeye responded dully as he plucked through the arrows he held. Rilla huffed. Start taking numbers now because there was a waiting list for revenge against Loki. Especially for killing Coulson; that was her reason.

"Save it you two," Captain America ended it as he continued to talk. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and we're going to do that just that. Without him, these aliens have no command."

"I'm bringing the party to you guys," Stark said as Rilla looked up in the sky to see a small red dot zooming towards them. Judging by what the man meant by party, he had a vastly different definition than Rilla had. Oh, too different as the armored leviathian released a roar and began to slide towards them.

"I fail to see the celebrations," Thor muttered and if they weren't about to kick ass right now, Rilla would have laughed.

The Hulk's attention was now attracted to the giant space whale headed their way as Rilla got into a defensive stance. No more black holes; that was a horrible idea despite its efficiency to destroy the Chitauri. Perhaps it was an ability better left untouched as the Hulk delivered a strong punch right down on the head of the creature as the team began to huddle closer, guts flying everywhere thanks to Tony and his true aim.

Rilla could have jumped for joy, finally feeling like she was a part of something as her fellow Avengers geared up for a long, nasty battle.

.

.

"Listen up, everyone. Until that portal is closed, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Be our eyes. Call out strays and patterns," the captain began to hand out orders like he was back in World War II, which was not a bad thing in the slightest. "Stark, you got the perimeter. Anythings gets more than three blocks out, turn it back or turn it to ash-,"

"Roger that, Rogers," Tony answered, his voice still hinting a small playful tone as he grabbed Barton by the shirt as the two men were flying up in the air.

"Thor, you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning so light the bastards up!" he told the Asguardian as Thor spun his hammer and propelled himself into the air.

"You, me and Rilla stay on the ground," he turned to Natasha and Rilla. "We keep the fighting here. Rilla, act as our defense. You're the closest thing to extra-terrestrial we got against these aliens."

Rilla nodded. Good. It was smart of the captain to assign her as defense; after her black hole disaster, she could certainly take it down a notch or so.

"Hulk?" Steve called out to the green giant, the former scientist hearing his name being said. "Smash."

Nobody needed to tell him twice as he sprung off the ground and leapt towards an unlucky Chitauri, slamming them against walls. Rilla caught herself watching the magnificent display of the Hulk just taking out everything in his path and near-flying in the air.

Snapping out of it, Rilla once again concentrated on her abilities, promising herself to not endanger her team's lives as the captain and Black Widow began attacking the Chitauri around them. Several aliens were soaring above them as Rilla took it upon herself to hover above Steve and Natasha, manipulating gravity so she could get a better view.

"Good idea," Natasha commented on her recent move and Rilla internally beamed. Anything was better than Natasha screaming at her like before. As Chitauri flew above them, Rilla made a snapping motion with her fingers as she created an aura around herself. Suddenly, she became the point of gravity as four Chitauri crafts were inexplicably drawn towards her. Essentially, her body became a makeshift gravitational pole as the aliens suddenly were deflected upon impact, their airships crashing into the ground.

A smirk grew on Girl Doomsday's face. This was a much better utilization of her abilities than just outright offense. Steve was onto something. No wonder he took up the mantle as leader of the Avengers. No time to ponder as she made a grabbing motion with her hands, pulling another aircraft into her gravity aura as the Chitauri were deflected upon impact, making it easier for Natasha and Steve to catch them off guard.


Director Peter Laroche was informed of an attack on New York City, like all government officials were alerted as he turned on the flat screen in his office to start watching the damage unfold.

Damn aliens. Laroche was angrily sipping his hot beverage, immediately absorbed into the shaky news camera reel of the events unfolding before his very eyes. Aliens were flying in and out, firing off strange bombs of energy as the cameras focused on a strange group of three people on the ground. He had never seen the red head before or the weird man decked out in American colors. What a ragtag bunch of freaks, all defending them against these aliens. He was glad he was underground hundreds of miles away from New York.

But he did recognize the woman levitating above the man and the red head. He spat out his drink, all his important papers ruined with spit and coffee as he froze the image on the screen and pressed the zoom button on the remote. It was a blurry picture but he recognized that half-shaven haircut and the thin frame of the woman.

So that's why Director Fury just waltzed into NSURF and took his prisoner: to fashion her into some superhero. He swallowed the bile rising in his throat; he couldn't believe this shit. Marilla Cain wasn't meant for the public to praise her as some sort of hero. Girl Doomsday was labeled as a threat to mankind, just like those aliens attacking NYC. There was a reason why she was at NSURF and the gall of Director Fury to pluck her and dress her up like a Thanksgiving turkey made the NSURF director's blood boil.

Marilla Cain was going to come back here whether this Fury wanted her to or not. Soon enough, Fury would realize his mistake of releasing the young woman among the public once again. Laroche called his assistant for another cup of coffee as he replayed the scene of the young woman hovering above her little team, unaware of him menacingly looking on.


It felt like hours since Rilla Cain entered the fray and by the looks of it, it wasn't ending anytime soon.

"Captain, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if that portal isn't closed. Look at Rilla, I can see her getting tired," Natasha spoke the ugly truth to Steve as the captain raised his head to look at the young woman above them.

"Our biggest guns can't touch it," Steve frowned.

"Well, maybe it's not about guns," she kept her eye glued to Stark Tower, not having to say a word about her desire to get up on the top and see if she could close the portal herself.

Rilla lowered herself down, panting as she walked over to her team mates, almost not wanting Natasha to leave them. She knew better though as she merely stood by Steve, waiting for his reaction to her unspoken request.

"If you want to get up there, you're going to need a ride," Steve told her.

"I got a ride," she tossed the weapon onto the ground and back away from Rilla and Steve, "I could use a boost though."

The two of them nodded as Rilla lent her powers as Steve raised his shield as a sort of trampoline for the spy to jump off of.

"Be careful," Rilla didn't want Natasha to get hurt in the process. She still remembered leaving her by the column on the helicarrier and how injured she looked then.

"I'll be fine. It's gonna be fun," as the red haired woman took off running. Rilla waited for the right moment to lift her up as Steve angled his shield up towards the sky. In a flash, Natasha bounced off as Rilla gave her a small lift, the woman gripping onto a aircraft passing by.

"No way I could have done that," Rilla said after the fact and Steve agreed. Natasha Romanoff was on a whole other dimension of 'super spy'.

"Back to action. Cover me Rilla," Steve noticed a group of Chitauri forming around them, Rilla once again floating her body in mid air and creating a similar gravity aura like before.

"You got it," she affirmed as she became the pole of self-contained gravity. And then Tony Stark slammed into her. He must have been pulled into her field and bonked into her. Rilla tumbled to the ground.

"Sorry, Dooms," he now had a new nickname for her as Rilla was too preoccupied to make a comment about the name as she joined the two men blasting and deflecting the Chitauri that surrounded them. Easy come easy go as Stark blasted off again.

"He's warming up to you now," Steve offhandedly remarked, slicing an alien with his shield without breaking a sweat. How he was able to do that Rilla would never know.

"I couldn't tell," she flatly replied, preferring to stay on the ground now as she formed her signature gravity ball and projected the energy onto four Chitauri aliens approaching, repelling them as they crashed into a row of vehicles. Hopefully those people had car insurance against aliens. If not, they were screwed.

"Rilla, I have to go! Can you handle fending them off on your own?" he seriously asked her. "There are civilians and I-,"

"Yeah, just go!" she cut him off, knowing that Steve would never refuse helping cornered citizens. He ran off, leaving Girl Doomsday by herself with a handful of Chitauri aliens. "Why did I agree to do this?" she muttered under her breath as she formed a field of gravitokinetic energy and increased the amount of gravity upon the aliens, slamming onto the ground and unable to get up due to the heavy pressure. Unaffected, Rilla began to kick their heads in. Again, not orthodox but who was counting?

.

.

Rilla's body was aching from all the energy she had exerted not only from the helicarrier hijacking but also this ongoing battle. She hadn't heard word of Natasha, Barton, Thor or anybody and it had been a while since Steve left to save the civilians at the bank.

It seemed like the battle was going to shit. Rilla heard pained groans from the Hulk in the distance and she was worried he was being shot down. Rilla had to go find her team as she ran off into random streets, hoping to find someone.

She caught up with Thor and Steve, quickly coming to their aid as Thor began to get ready for another round of battle. Rilla wasn't so sure about Steve. He was a super soldier but he was still human and like her, humans tired themselves.

"Are you alright, Rilla?" Steve asked her, feeling bad he left her behind even though she was capable of fending for herself.

"Fine," she answered even though it was further from the truth. She couldn't afford to feel any less than fine at the moment.

"Can anyone copy?" Natasha's voice rung in Rilla's ears. "I can shut the portal down!"

Maybe there is a God, Rilla's mind felt relieved but the feeling didn't last very long as Stark intervened and said to wait.

"I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know exactly where to put it."

Steve, Thor and Rilla fell silent. Tony Stark was going to fly a nuke into the portal. Tony Stark was going to risk his life for everyone. The same guy that labelled her as Coulson's daughter and a threat was actually not so bad a person. Steve tried to tell him that it was a one-way trip but the Iron Man wouldn't budge. He was being so selfish he was sacrificing himself.

Maybe she should have given him more room to give him another chance. He was rude and narcissistic and difficult, yes, but he still had pretty good morals at the core of it.

Everyone was watching as Tony Stark flew into the portal, nuke in hand. Seconds later, Chitauri began to drop like flies. The leviathans were also affected, crashing into buildings and skyscrapers. Rilla guessed they were all connected like some hive mind and that taking out the mother brain really destroyed them. She stood close to Steve, suddenly feeling a bit lost among the destruction.

"Close the portal," Captain America gave the command as Rilla slumped over, her eyes cast towards the ground.

At first, nothing. Then she heard Thor recognize a shape falling from the exact position where the wormhole was once formed. Rilla looked up as she could not believe that Tony Stark survived and was falling. Falling really fast, actually.

"He's not slowing down," it was like Thor read her mind.

The god prepared to catch him but the world's leading expect on gamma radiation leapt out of nowhere and grabbed the puny man from air as the two of them slid across cars and the street. The three of them ran towards where the Hulk and Tony had landed, wanting a closer look at the man who saved NYC. Even in his Hulk form, Bruce's awareness of health must have seeped through as the green man bent over his friend. Rilla removed his mask.

"He's not dead, is he?" she nearly stuttered, seeing the man's closed eyes as Steve inspected him. "He can't go yet, he's beginning to grow on me."

No one answered her as the four of them stood above Tony's body, not sure whether to grieve or ask for help. Then the Hulk roared in his ear and all the melodrama faded away. Stark blinked awake, gasping for breath like he had woken up from a bad dream. He looked around and saw the four of them above him, almost as if watching them peacefully.

"What the hell?" he spoke. "What just happened? Unless it was her, nobody should have kissed me," Tony raised a brow at Rilla, who stuck out her tongue at him in a friendly but annoyed manner.

"We won, Stark. All of us," Steve seemed lost in thought, hardly believing that it was over.

"Yay!" Tony tried to cheer but he was exhausted. "Mazel tov. Good job, everyone," at this point, he wasn't even excited. "Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day off and do nothing. Have you ever tried shawarma?" he randomly asked everyone.

Poor guy lost his mind in space, Rilla was half-serious. She never even heard of sharma or whatever Tony just said. Maybe his words were jumbled up.

"There's a shawarma joint two blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I want to try it," Tony rambled, earning a small laugh from Rilla.

"We are not finished yet," Thor ruined the fun as he stared off into the direction where Stark Tower was.

"Oh right, Loki," sighing loudly, Rilla crossed her arms across her chest as the five of them made their way to Tony's former building, ready to face the crowning loser of the battle.

The five Avengers, plus Natasha and Barton who joined up with them, faced a battered and bruised Loki (no doubt the handiwork of the Hulk) as the Asguardian pulled himself up and faced all seven Avengers cornering him. Everyone was pissed off, including Rilla as she stood behind a threatening Hawkeye with his bow aimed right at the trickster.

"If it's all the same to you," he breathed heavily, "I'll have that drink now."

Rilla frowned, keeping her arms tightly folded against her chest as she narrowed her hazel eyes into more of a glare at the god. The nerve of this guy. Seriously.


What a whirlwind of chapter. Canon movie events are coming to a close as we move to the second act of this fic: evident by the lovely cameo of Director Laroche. He's such a pleasant person to be around :P

Next chapter will open with news coverage of the attack, Loki and Thor's departure and Rilla adjusting to life afterwards. And perhaps a growing affection for a certain someone? Ooooh.