May 4th, 2012
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean—SHIELD helicarrier No. 64, bridge

Quinn had believed in aliens since she was a child. She loved science-fiction novels, movies, and TV shows, and had spent many hours outside at night, staring up at the few stars she could see, dreaming about maybe one day going to space and meeting an alien race. Her siblings had had no interest in such things, but after she'd been adopted by Jared and Margret, they'd encouraged her interest, buying her new books and movies to watch whenever she ran out. So she had developed many ideas about how the first indispensable proof of alien life would be discovered—she hoped it would be peaceful like in Star Trek—but she had never thought it would be through full-scale invasion; she hadn't thought Earth had anything a race of aliens advanced enough to travel through space would want enough to attack.

But a full-scale invasion was exactly what happened.

Sure, it was at the behest of an Asgardian—who was technically an alien, Quinn realized—but when Loki's army of Chitauri began to pour from the portal the Tesseract tore in the sky…

She knew there was no going back. Not for her or for anyone.

The quinjet hadn't arrived in the city quite yet, it's camera showing the water and the bits of New York as yet untouched by the chaos, but Tony had been kind enough to bounce his HUD to Quinn's computer after he was in his new Iron Man suit, the old one having taken too much damage during the helicarrier attack and his unorthodox repair of the engine. Quinn's heart had leapt into her throat when the feed popped up on her screen to show Tony rocketing towards the portal after nearly falling to his death outside Stark Tower.

No harm, no foul, Scottie, he'd assured her.

Keep yourself alive, Stark.

Since Stark was now attempting to stall the flood of Chitauri and taking a bit of beating, there was very much harm and foul she decided. It made her angry to think about all the people running scared, fleeing for their lives as they tried to evacuate to safety, to think about those who were already lying dead in the streets as the aliens Loki had brought through continued to kill and destroy all in their path. SHIELD had sent a warning ahead, but there wasn't time enough to get everyone out before the aliens started coming, and those who were in the process of evacuating were still in danger. She was scared too, watching the chaos and not being able to do anything.

Quinn didn't hate easily, but she hated Loki for taking Coulson from her, and for spreading so much terror and taking so many other lives.

She felt hot as she thought about the Asgardian, her blood rushing in her ears. Her heart was pounding. She was so mad

Quinn squeezed her eyes shut, her emotions threatening to get the better of her, but she was shaken out of the trance by a burst of static over her headset.

"Thor's back on the scene," Stark said, sounding a little out of breath. His HUD feed showed a few stray forks of lightning touching down near at the top of Stark Tower, probably where Loki was. "Any word on Banner?"

Quinn switched her feeds back to two-way and then did a quick scan of the other feeds and news outlets, looking for any mention of a large green humanoid or a naked man falling out of the sky or otherwise showing up out of the blue. She had to clear her throat before she could speak. "Nothing. Are you expecting him to come back?"

It was a second before Tony could respond as he shot a few Chitauri out of the sky. "Hoping more than expecting. Keep tabs on it, Scottie. Status on emergency personnel?"

"Everyone's on their way. NYPD, NYFD, and EMTs are on-site now, working in from the outside perimeter; armed forces of almost every flavour are only a minute or two out. Quinjet's almost on you."

"Good. Took them long enough. Did you guys stop for drive-thru?" he asked as Nat's voice crackled over the comms, saying they were heading northeast. "Swing up Park. I'll lay 'em out for you."

Quinn fell silent again as she watched bullets spray across a flock of Chitauri from the quinjet's mounted gun, the aliens dropping like flies, their airborne vehicles crashing into the ground and buildings; she couldn't see any civilians here, which she was grateful for. She kept the feeds set to two-way, just in case, and did another quick scan of the news and satellite feeds. She was aware of the jet heading towards Stark Tower and aware of Thor and Loki fighting within range of the jet's camera, but with her attention only half on the main feed, she missed the shot that sent the quinjet careening down to the ground.

The crash was loud over Quinn's headset, so she could only imagine what it sounded like inside the quinjet, but that thought was secondary to the bolt of fear that shot through her, straightening her spine and closing her throat. "Guys?" she croaked.

A presence appeared over Quinn's shoulder and, without looking, she knew it was Director Fury.

The looming shadow snapped her back into professional mode. "Agent Romanoff? Barton? Captain Rogers? Report."

"Jet's down," Natasha said. She coughed, and Quinn could hear the other two coughing as the dust settled. "Loki blew out the engines with his sceptre. We're all fine."

Come home, Nat.

"Yeah. Mostly one piece," Clint chimed in.

Clint, you can't die.

"Rough landing." At Steve's voice, something inside Quinn's chest loosened a fraction.

Stay alive, please. Come back…

Over the headset, Quinn heard the ramp lower and the steady rhythm of the trio descending to ground level; the camera on the quinjet's dash showed scattered movement on the opposite side of the jet, lots of dust and smoke, and large pieces of rubble. She cleared her throat, blinked rapidly a few times. "Wh-what's the status on the ground?"

"Multiple targets moving in, no visible civilians in the immediate area, emergency personnel headed this way—"

Natasha's voice cut off as a loud noise somewhere between a roar and a scream sounded. The feed from the jet rattled as the sound vibrated through the air; the other feeds shuddered as well. For an eerie second, everything was silent. Through the quinjet's camera, Quinn could see nothing except Chitauri who had paused where they were or started scaling the skyscrapers. Through Tony's HUD feed though, Quinn saw what had made the noise.

It was a behemoth, a leviathan, slug-shaped and finned, with armour plating and nasty-looking teeth. It let loose another cry and the Chitauri on the ground answered, pulling off the face plates of their helmets to answer the call. More Chitauri leapt from the mammoth creature, attaching themselves to the buildings lining the street and removing their masks to howl as well. The air was full of the alien sounds for a second or two; a shiver slid down Quinn's spine.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked.

"Seeing. Still working on believing." Tony spun around, the HUD feed going blurry with the speed of his movements, and then started flying parallel to the creature. "Any word on Banner yet?"

"Banner?"

"I've got my eyes out for any sign of him, Stark," Quinn said, chiming in. "Nothing yet."

"Just keep me posted. Jarvis, find me a soft spot."

The comms went silent as the various Avengers engaged with the Chitauri in the air and on the ground. There was an incredible amount of them. So many so that Quinn was starting to wonder how they were going to stop the tide; Banner and the Hulk would certainly be helpful. She scanned the feeds—still nothing to point to Banner's presence anywhere. Quinn wished she had a feed from Nat's or Steve's point of view as well from Tony's.

As the thought crossed her mind, a series of explosions sounded over the various feeds, and the quinjet flipped, the new angle showing a stretch of elevated road that Natasha, Clint, and Steve were currently moving down, and a small group of flying Chitauri flying overhead—with Loki on one of the flying chariots. Explosions were going off in Loki's wake, and Chitauri swarmed after him. Quinn spotted a bus full of people her friends were headed for. The trio on the bridge dispatched of the immediate threat quickly before Captain America's attention was drawn to something over the side of the bridge; more Chitauri were closing in.

"Those people down there need help," Steve was saying.

"We've got this! Go!" Black Widow replied.

"Can you two hold the incoming off?"

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure," was Hawkeye's response as he primed another arrows and notched it. Quinn couldn't actually see in detail what he was doing—he was too far away—but she was familiar with Clint's motions. When the arrow flew into a Chitauri's head and set off a small explosion, she could imagine Clint's grin. Clint and Natasha headed for the bus, continuing to fend off the aliens.

Steve leapt over the side of the bridge and was gone from Quinn's sight. An explosion followed a second later and her heart leapt into her throat.

She needed to get eyes on Steve.

She had eyes on Tony, sort of, through his HUD, and thanks to the flipped quinjet, she could see Nat and Clint. Those two feeds took up half of one screen, and the entirety of her other screen was devoted to the news and satellite feeds. Hacking feeds was not something she was great at—it never had been—but it still didn't take her too long to find a security camera in the lower street that was still functional. That feed popped to life on her screen in time to show Steve fighting off a couple Chitauri from atop a police car while a few wide-eyed cops watched, stunned.

"Nice work, Agent Scott," Fury said quietly from behind her.

Quinn started—she'd forgotten Director Fury and Agent Hill were standing close behind her; she'd forgotten everything except the feeds in front of her. She looked up at the director and pressed her lips together in a bad approximation of a smile before turning back to her computer.

The cops walked away, issuing orders, and Steve rejoined Natasha and Clint on the bridge. Iron Man was dealing with the leviathan, or trying to, and Quinn was having trouble keeping up with all the feeds, and there was no sign of Banner yet—she had no eyes on Thor, but as he was a lot hardier than her mortal friends, she wasn't quite as worried, though she did still keep watch for any flashes of lightning.

Still, when he touched down beside Captain America and the others a few seconds later, Quinn felt relief.

Everyone has to come home.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked.

"The barrier around the cube is impenetrable."

Tony chimed in, "Thor's right. We need to deal with these guys." There was an edge of panic to his voice and, since Quinn could see the massive alien creature nearby, she wasn't that surprised.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team."

As Captain America opened his mouth to start issuing orders, there was a blip on the feeds, and a rough sound, the coughing of a small engine. It was odd that it stuck out so much in the cacophony of the alien attack, but it drew the attention of everyone on the ground. Out of the smoke and dust came Bruce Banner, riding a small motorbike and looking a little worse for wear; his clothes were ragged, his hair was a mess, and his skin was covered in dirt and fading bruises. He hopped off the bike and gave everyone a sheepish look as his eyes scanned the scene around them.

"So this all seems… horrible," he said.

"I've seen worse." It was Natasha. She must have seen the Hulk in action. Quinn wasn't sure she would agree that the Hulk was worse than aliens and slaughter, but she could agree Banner's other side was frightening, and she hadn't even seen it that close up.

"Sorry."

"No, it's… We could use a little worse."

"Stark?" Captain America's voice was a little more confident than it had been a moment before. "We've got him."

"Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you guys."

Quinn couldn't see what was happening through the quinjet's camera, but the assembled Avengers all looked up as another roar from the leviathan rattled the air. She flicked through the other feeds until she caught sight of the big alien flying toward the Avengers, chasing a red-gold streak that could only be Iron Man; on the feed from Tony's HUD, Quinn could see the ground getting closer.

"I don't see how that's a party," Natasha quipped.

"Guys," Quinn interjected, catching a lot of movement in a bird's eye view of the ground. "You've got a shitton of Chitauri heading for you."

The leviathan was now street-level and barrelling along the overpass like an out-of-control train. Cars and rubble flew to either side. Bruce Banner started to walk towards the giant. Quinn wanted to leap through her feeds. Her stomach was twisted in knots and she could feel the tears building behind her eyes; she could also feel eyes on her, probably those waiting for the distraught agent to break down.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said, "now might be a good time for you to get angry."

"That's the secret, Captain. I'm always angry."

It was a little blurry and distorted on the quinjet camera and Iron Man had flown past—he was currently in the process of turning around—but watching the Hulk take over Dr. Banner's body was not something Quinn had ever wanted to see. She'd seen videos of the Hulk in action, but there was something about seeing the average sized human man turn into the green behemoth… No, Quinn never really wanted to see that again, she was sure.

Then the Hulk brought his fist down on the nose of the Chituari leviathan and the beast stopped dead, it's body continuing its momentum up instead of forward, the armoured plates along its back snapping together loud enough to make Quinn's ears hurt, and she decided that maybe watching that transformation wasn't the worst thing. Iron Man reached the group then and let fly a barrage of missiles, the exposed meat of the leviathan igniting. Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, and Black Widow huddled together as flames washed over them.

There wasn't a sound over the comms.

No, no, no—please be okay. Please be okay. Please be—

Quinn's entire body felt as if it was being clenched in a giant fist; breathing was difficult, her stomach was in her throat, her heartbeat was loud in her ears, and tears stung her eyes. Hold it together, Quinn. You want to be up here.

"Cutting it a little close, Stark," Natasha said, her voice a little rougher than before.

Some of the tension dropped from Quinn's shoulders. She wanted to put her heads between her knees and breathe, but she couldn't. If she showed any sign of weakness, she might be sent back to the infirmary. Coulson had… Coulson's death had spurred this action on, had gotten the Avengers to actually unite, and since he wasn't here to see it, Quinn had to be. For him, and for herself.

No weakness.

But they have to come home...

Tony might have replied to Natasha, but the air was filled with the roars of angered Chitauri on the ground, a noise that was bolstered by hundreds more as they poured through the portal in the sky, blacking out the sun for a few seconds. A few more of the massive alien leviathans also followed.

Quinn felt a shiver run up her spine. "Guys…"

Everyone was already looking up, the group of six standing close together and prepping their weapons and themselves for the battle ahead. Quinn wished she could see them closer up, that she could see Steve's face; this couldn't be easy for him, so soon after waking up again. Although, it could also have been very easy. War was what he was used to, after all. She needed to know what everyone was—

"Call it, Cap."

Quinn was aware of Steve answering Tony's call to action, aware that he was issuing orders, and that the others were following those orders, but all Quinn could hear was a rushing sound and the rasp of her own breathing. Things felt more and more surreal by the second.

Coulson wanted this. This is what you and he were working for.

They'll all come home.

They will.

A hand appeared on her shoulder and Quinn jumped.

"Breathe," Agent Hill said, giving her friend's shoulder a squeeze.

Quinn did just that, realizing she had been holding her breath, inhaling and then exhaling long and slow. Sound came back and she gave her head a shake, refocused. She sniffed a bit and blinked rapidly to get the tears out of her eyes.

Don't cry, Quinn. You can stick this out until the end. They'll come back and they will all be fine.

"Are you sure—" Maria started to ask.

Quinn covered the mic on the headset. "I'm fine," she said, though the shaking in her voice said otherwise. "I need to be here. I have to see this through."

Quinn thought her friend might argue, but after a moment, Maria nodded and took up her stance to the side again, where she could see the array of feeds on Quinn's screen, but also keep an eye on everyone else. Director Fury had returned to the helm and was watching his screens closely. The air on the bridge was still tense and no one was talking above the quietest whisper. Quinn focused on her feeds again, taking in the chaos on the ground. The news channels were all showing distance helicopter footage of Manhattan, the security cam she'd hacked into had been knocked out at some point, and the quinjet cam was basically useless with the Avengers spread out as they were. Even the satellite feeds could only show so much with the air choked by dust. Only Tony's HUD showed anything in the thick of things, and it was hard to get any details since he was flying fast and definitely not in a straight line.

But still, Quinn managed to catch a few things: Thor flinging lightning towards the portal, trying to bottleneck the Chitauri in it; the Hulk rampaging across several buildings; Iron Man flying through the streets, taking out as many as he could. Hawkeye said something about them not being able to bank around corners, but the connections were getting a little fuzzy with all the interference in the air. Steve was a flicker of blue every now and again, bright among the dust and rubble.

Chaos reigned for some of the longest minutes of Quinn's life as she willed the comm channel to clear enough for her to hear something concrete. Having eyes and ears out was not going to work.

"Captain, they've got a bunch of civilians pinned—bank—42nd—"

Clint's voice. Not the whole story, but enough. Quinn zeroed in on a feed that was in the approximate area and caught sight of Steve running at full speed in the direction of what had to be the bank. Employing the same skills as earlier, Quinn hacked into the bank's internal security cameras; only two were still operational, but it was enough to give her a view of what was happening. A large group of civilians was trapped on the lower floor, visible through an opening, and there were a handful of Chitauri corralling them in.

Captain America came in through the window and made quick work of dispatching the aliens, one of which was holding what looked like a bomb. One did pull his helmet off, exposing his face—not that his identity was a secret or anything—and his shield got taken away, but he kept the aliens from harming the trapped civilians.

But then the bomb went off, sending Steve flying out the window into the street.

Quinn's hand on her mouse tightened until the plastic creaked. Come on, Steve. The bomb had knocked out both her cameras, so she went back to the satellite feeds, trying to find another flash of blue. Where are you…? A tide of people, flooding into the street, flanked by pulsating red and blue police lights. To one side, a long figure—Steve.

He was okay.

Oh thank god. Quinn sighed, louder than she meant to.

Maria looked at her and opened her mouth to speak, but an alert beeped, coming from the helm, cutting her off. Hill picked it up on her tablet. "Sir," she said to Fury, "it's the Council."

Quinn could hear Fury's sigh over everything else going on. She also thought she heard him mutter "Shit" under his breath before answering the call, which wouldn't have surprised her. From everything she'd heard, the World Security Council usually made things difficult and wasn't composed of the most charming people.

"Council," Fury said in greeting.

Quinn couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, since she wasn't in front of the control panels, but from the set of Fury's brow, it was not good. He dropped his voice when he responded, but Quinn found herself watching him instead of the feeds, waiting for some sign of what was about to happen—if the Council was getting involved, something was going to happen, and it was liable to be drastic. She looked back at her computer monitors for a few seconds to make sure everyone was still up and moving, and kept her ears tuned for… anything abnormal in a battle.

Fury jabbed a finger at the panel after a moment, and then turned to face Hill and Quinn. It was another second before he spoke, his voice low. "Scott, alert whoever you can on the ground. Hill, keep everyone on task and lock down the flightdeck." He paused, chewing over his next words. "The Council wants to nuke the island."