10
And the man at the back said "Everyone attack"
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said, "Boy I wanna warn you"
And it turned into a ballroom blitz...
~Ballroom Blitz; by Sweet
Needless to say, the little plan with Steve's shield worked wonders. The Chitauri who'd been hit were taken down effectively and it cut in half the amount we had before us. That didn't stop a whole crapload of others from dropping from the skies or from neighboring buildings, or even the ones on their mini ships shooting at us, but we managed.
I took a split second to just rest, to catch my breath and hope that I could gather enough energy to let it out against the Chitauri. Steve was still fighting relentlessly and the Chitauri were attacking at full force.
Grimacing for a moment, I felt a pain rip through my head for a minute too long before I felt a burning-stinging sensation hit my side. I nearly fell on my back from the force of the shot, Steve being kind enough to kill the Chitauri that hit me. I silently cursed under my breath. I was sporting one hit from their little blasters, but being hit again, and more than likely near the same spot I'd been hit the first time, I was trying to fight against the overwhelming pain that was surging through my side and the commotion that was going on around me.
At that point, I rushed toward the Chitauri that had been taken out and took the blaster, quickly finding out how to fire it. It had more of a jolt to it than a gun did, and it almost jerked you backwards whenever it fired.
Nothing you're doing seems to be getting rid of bastards. I felt myself jerk back when the blaster shot out again. Ya know, you didn't spend all that time training with Damien for nothing. He was impressed with the amount of power you have; he encouraged you to keep practicing for your full potential. I felt my side intensifying in pain the more I attacked. I let out another shot and pursed my lips.
After my parents had kicked me out of the house, Damien had been the only one in my family who kept in contact with me. No one in the Benningfield family had ever been a Mutant, and to suddenly have one without any kind of explanation. . . .it didn't really work well with my parents. So, in the end, they kicked me out. Damien helped me out financially, helped me find jobs and a place to live. He also helped me with my powers. We'd train early in the morning and late in the evening, then it changed when he went off into the Military and it only got worse after he died. But if there was one thing I knew, it was that Damien tried making me proud of my Mutation and he wanted me to embrace my differences.
And, while I stood in the middle of an alien invasion, watching terrified people trying to escape and hoping for the best outcome, I remembered everything I learned from when Damien was alive. And I knew that I'd have to do everything in my power to stop the Chitauri from causing anymore damage on Loki's behalf. So when the next round of Chitauri started dropping and running, I threw down the blaster and motioned Steve to get down. When he did, I lowered the mental barriers until I barely felt them there; all the debris around me started trembling and lunging into the air, I felt a significant change in the air.
I faintly heard the ground cracking and groaning. In that moment, I ignored all the pain that I felt over the use of my powers and from the times I'd been hit.
Without even thinking twice, I let it all out.
The fighting still went on. That damned portal was just pouring with Leviathans and Chitauri, and no matter how many we killed, even more took their place. And despite all the energy we put into taking out countless numbers of them, it didn't mean a thing unless the portal closed. I had managed to weaken myself after the amount of energy I had released, and I knew that I'd have to keep letting out more bursts of energy if we were going to make some kind of dent in anything.
"Zelda!" Steve cried; I had just let out another burst, and I was breathing heavily, my legs trembling. I could feel sweat trickling down my neck and my heart was beating painfully against my ribs. "You need to stop!"
"What're y-you talkin' about?" I rasped. "T-This is what you guys wanted."
"Look around you!" Steve motioned around us and I had to blink a couple times to see it clearly. All the debris around us had been thrown violently in all directions; Chitauri bodies littered the ground in giant heaps; the ground was so cracked and dented that it looked like it was about to give in at any moment. "One more burst and this whole spot will fall. You need to stop."
I swallowed thickly. Part of me was so happy that I was given the opportunity to stop, but another part of me was feeling a little anxious in doing so. But instead of arguing, I nodded weakly.
'Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison,' Clint exclaimed. 'They caught a lot of civilians there.'
Steve hesitated for a moment before answering. "I'm on it." He gave a worried glance my way. It was no secret that I looked and felt like absolute shit. I was barely standing on my own, and I knew that with Steve running off to help those people in the bank, that I'd be left the fight the Chitauri down here on my own.
Throwing a crooked, weak smile his way, I tried making myself sound reassuring. "Go, I'll be fine," I rasped. "I can handle it down here."
"You're sure?" he asked, worry lacing his voice.
"Captain, if I couldn't handle it, I'd let you know." Shuffling over, I picked up one of those Chitauri blasters and held it as firmly as I could in my hands. "Go. I'll still be here."
Nodding hesitantly, Steve fastened his shield and started running.
The moment he was gone, my smile faltered.
Adjusting the blaster in my arms, I started shooting away, trying to keep out of their line of fire. Unfortunately, because of how frequently I unleashed the energy, any kind of debris big enough for me to hide behind had been thrown in different directions, so I was left vulnerable in the open.
'How're you doing down there?' Steve asked after a moment.
Blasting down another Chitauri, I let out a strangled breath. "I've got it," I rasped. I jumped out of the way of narrowly getting blasted. "Trust me, I can handle it!"
I blasted a handful more before I started realizing that there were a lot more than I remembered.
OK, I thought, I might not got this.
I tried shooting out some more from the blaster, but it hardly took down enough to even make a slight dent. Taking a few hesitant steps back, I swallowed thickly. They started charging, their blasters ready to fire. In that moment, I decided that—in the overpass's already delicate stage—I'd put out enough energy that could hopefully cause the overpass to collapse. If I could do that, then it'd stop them.
Lowering the barriers, I unleashed the energy and felt the ground start crumbling.
I felt myself jump awake when I felt a hand on my shoulder; there was a pain going through my body unlike any other. It honestly felt as if I were dying. Thor was standing over me, dirtied and bloodied and looking extremely out of breath, but his eyes were showing concern.
"How long was I out?" I rasped, slowly standing up, stumbling over the rubble.
Thor kept an arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me close to him. "As far as I can tell, not for long," he rumbled. I felt the air around us rush before I realized he'd flown us to the area near where the overpass had been. "From what I've been told, an explosive is being sent into the city."
"A bomb?" I looked up at Thor, feeling my blood run cold. "No. That's impossible."
"It's possible." I turned and saw Steve walk up, a frown on his face. "S.H.I.E.L.D is sending a nuke, that's what Stark said."
"What is he. . . .?" I stammered.
"He's sending it through the portal," Steve said grimly. We all turned toward the portal, and it seemed to be right on que because Tony was just flying in. The very second he entered the portal, tensions rose. After a minute and he didn't come out, an unsettling panic rested on us; when the Leviathans and Chitauri dropped their weapons and fell where they stood—and flew—but Tony still didn't come out, the panic still rose.
C'mon, Stark, I thought.
The minutes drew by in an agonizingly slow pace, but there was no sign that anything was going in or coming out of the portal.
A bright light started to steadily illuminate out of the portal, and we knew what that meant.
Looking down for a moment, Steve looked at Thor and I before looking back at the portal. "Close it," he sighed.
Author's Note:
Sorry for the wait! I got sidetracked by other things, hopefully you guys still like this chapter though! So the New York fight is coming to a close and the next chapters leading up until the story's conclusion will be fillers with everyone dealing with the aftermath of what happened. I will promise there shall be Thor/Zelda moments in those fillers, since there weren't very many in the story to begin with.
Nothing in the 'Marvel' universe is mine. I just own my characters and the coffee I drink.
If you've got suggestions for upcoming chapters—honestly, if you've got ideas for anything, it doesn't matter what—leave a review or PM me. I'm always ready to read what you've guys come up with. Ideas and suggestions are super important for stories! So if it's about Thor/Zelda moments, how they're all going to deal with the aftermath of New York, what they'll all do until Thor and Loki take off with the Tesseract, blah blah blah, let me know.
Leave a kind and helpful review, please!
Thank you.
Susan Strong