10: My Promise

The problem with taking out one of those giant flying sea monsters seems to be this: it has friends. It wasn't a good moment when my sense of 'this is so damned amazing I love being me' got interrupted by Mina.

"Uh…Andy…there's more coming…"

"…you gotta be kidding me!" I moaned as I turned to look up at the portal, and, sure enough, at least three more leviathans were coming through.

"Guys…" Nat warned aloud to everyone else.

"…your call, Cap," Tony decided to note, but even though Steve moved up next to me he turned to look at me instead.

"…well, ladies first," he insisted. I gave him a look that I don't think he caught, but I was pretty sure he knew that I didn't entirely approve of him calling me a lady. I'm not, remember? But I swallowed and took a deep breath. Okay. Known number of platforms, known number of leviathans, the seven of us…

"First, Barton, you, on a building, watching and shooting these fliers. Any patterns or strays we can wipe out, you say so. Tony, we both got an early crack, you hold a perimeter; anything comes at you, bring it back to Midtown or blow it up."

"Aw, no fair," Tony grumbled.

"Gonna gimme a lift?" Barton asked, and I looked back to see he was looking at Tony instead of me. I could imagine Tony's conceding eye roll. Right now, after all, I was the boss-lady. He'd deferred to Steve, who had deferred to me. Speaking of whom, his hand had slipped subtly into mine.

"Better clench up, Legolas," Tony sighed, and I heard him take off before I turned to look at Thor.

"We need to keep any more of those things coming out," I said, "and you've got lightning. Use it and light 'em up."

The euphemism didn't seem lost on Thor, for once, and I was glad to see him soar into the air to get in position. This left me with Steve, Nat, and Hulk, who was definitely spoiling for a fight. His task was going to be easy.

"Steve, you, me, and Nat keep the fighting on the ground focused on us. I can move between everyone, but the pressure's going to be here," I ordered. Nat gave me one nod of understanding, and Steve squeezed my hand before slipping out of my grip. That was when I turned to Hulk and smirked to myself. Easiest order ever.

"Hey, Hulk!"

He turned with a gruff 'huh' of sorts, eyes fully fixed on me.

"Smash."

One of the scariest things in the world is seeing Hulk smile, and it was very disquieting to get one from him when I told him that. But he leaped up onto the nearest building with a roar and, sure enough, began smashing Chitauri into buildings, using his tough skin to his advantage. That did look like fun, in a way.

But there wasn't much time left to muse on fun things outside of the moment, which became rapidly true as the Chitauri closed in on us. A massive spike of lighting came down on the Chrysler Building, only to rebound into the portal (that would be Thor); attack platforms were led on merry chases around the buildings, forcing them to crash because they couldn't compensate (both me and Tony) or inexplicably fell apart or exploded or the pilots suddenly died (Barton's work). On the ground I slashed, kicked, blasted, and threw off as many Chitauri as came after me. When I found myself in front of Grand Central again, I was back to back with Steve, his shield pounding Chitauri aside while my swords cut them to ribbons.

"Steve, I got an idea, turn around and get your shield up!" I called out as we got surrounded. He did so immediately, and when I turned to face him I fired off my two hand repulsors into the shield. Steve caught my idea and angled the shield to reflect the energy on both sides, blasting off the Chitauri thanks to simple optical physics. It didn't slow them down that much, though, and when Steve hurled his shield over my shoulder I saw Chitauri coming at his back. So to both dodge the shield and keep Steve from getting attacked from behind, I lunged forward, my blades stabbing forward on either side of Steve, just under his arms. I successfully stabbed the two Chitauri, plus a very impromptu hug. So that was a plus.

"Look out, comin' through!" Tony insisted as I moved back from Steve so he could get his shield, and Tony fired past us, bowling through a crowd of Chitauri coming at us and Nat. Another plus: Tony actually using his head in a useful way.

"Good down here? There's more of those platforms flying around than I'd like," I told Steve once Tony had moved back into the air.

"Yeah, red-Stark, you got a lot of strays sniffin' your tail," Barton agreed, and I snorted at the modified so he could tell us apart. "They can't bank worth a damn, so find tight corners!"

Third plus: New York has tight corners. And lots of them.

"We're good down here, go," Steve insisted, breathing heavily but not looking tired. I was hardly winded myself, so I gave him a bit of a nod before shooting into the air. I started finding my own packs of fliers to shoot down, avoiding the leviathans at all costs since, after all, they seemed to be more in the range of 'let Hulk take that one'. I caught up with Tony as we spiraled through Midtown, and decided to take a chance at poking at his pop culture peeking out.

"So you really have seen Lord of the Rings, huh?" I asked as I turned to shoot down some of our pack followers.

"Of course I have!" Tony retorted as we banked hard left and lost at least one or two to the turn. "I'm not boring…"

"I didn't say you were boring, I'm saying it's unexpected. And I thought boring for you was not riding in the Grand Prix while dying."

"But this's way awesomer than that! And I'm not dying now…"

"My God, Starks, do you two ever shut the hell up?!" Barton asked after I heard a platform splinter apart once we blasted past his sniping post. I took a chance to clear his zone by firing down Chitauri that were starting to climb up after him, though I knew from the still-incoming data that more were definitely going to be heading his direction. Remember what I said about Barton being a mission hardass? Yeah, this is what I mean.

"Sorry, Hawkeye, chat's how the other half gets through the day," I told him.

"Well, not when we're awake we don't," Tony clarified, and I smothered a laugh as Barton groaned. Right. Alien invasion time.

I split off from Tony to try and clear out the streets on the inside of our section of New York, but I was interrupted by a shot that came right at me. I managed to turn away from it, but a glance back over my shoulder showed me two golden horns and a fluttering green cape. There he was.

"You," I growled as Loki tried to fire at me again. I slid away from his shots easily – guy has no aim – before I started moving en route for Barton. He'd want a little something out of this guy. Of course, Loki didn't seem happy that I was either still alive or dodging him, because he kept after me almost single-mindedly. Well then.

"Fine, asshole, let's dance," I growled under my breath. "Mina, get in his guidance systems and shut down his gun."

"Yes ma'am!" Mina replied briskly before I pulled up the Avenger communication web again.

"Hey, Barton, you still wanna shoot Loki?" I asked, starting to come up on his block.

"Hell yes," he replied coldly, and I smirked a little as I sped up, Loki's platform losing ground on me.

"Then here's your opening, champ!"

I flew past Barton, barely inches from his post, and there was Loki, in clear shot. I peeled back towards Grand Central, scowling as I eyed the portal.

"Mina, how's cracking that master system going?"

"Nowhere; the source is complex and too far away to keep a good connection for long, even with the portal open," she reported, flashing an "image" at me of the network she was trying to bust into.

"So close the portal, stop the aliens."

"Pretty much!"

"Andy, I need to get to the Tesseract," Nat called in. Her voice was tired, but even with that her direction was clear. "Give me a lift, I might be able to shut it down if I can see it."

"Copy that, moving in; get ready for a ride!" I replied as I moved in low, below the line of fliers that could swoop down after me. I stole a glance back to see that Loki had gotten past Barton, but Loki himself was flying off his destroyed transport, heading for the balcony on Stark Tower, though all the letters except the A had been blasted off by the fighting. I reached down to grab Nat, hefting her onto my back and heading up after Loki. I saw Hulk flying towards him, too, which meant big trouble for Loki very soon. Even though I didn't land on the roof, Nat slid off my back cleanly, dropping down onto the gravel without incident. That was when I looped back and landed outside the balcony door.

The sight I beheld was so amazing I recorded it to keep forever. Hulk had Loki by the ankle and was smashing the man, as if he were nothing more than a rag doll, into the stone floor. By the time I'd actually stepped inside Hulk had done this maybe three times and was checking to see if Loki was still conscious. He was, and therefore got smashed at least twice more before being tossed back into the floor and released. I was doing my best not to laugh, but I cracked up as Hulk walked away from him and offered me a punch line.

"Puny god."

Worse, Loki squeaked in the most hilarious and simultaneously pitiful way imaginable. I had to stop recording so I could laugh and give Hulk a nod.

"Nicely put," I managed to say once my laughter had passed. I wandered inside and even offered Loki a strong kick in the ribs, despite the glare he tried to give me. "That was for Coulson."

I looked up to find Nat out on the balcony now, holding Loki's scepter and waving it at me. I took it as a sign that she had a plan and offered her a thumbs up before taking off. Time to find Tony and make sure that perimeter was holding –

"Andy!" Mind yelped in my ear, making me wince. "Fury's jerkish superiors are moving without him!"

"…speak English, Mina!"

"They've sent a nuclear missile your way!" she clarified, and a cold pit fell into my stomach. So the council was willing to kill us all, including the civilians, to try and destroy the Cube? But my cold feeling got worse as Mina added, "Tony's moving to intercept, but whatever he has in his head –"

I didn't let Mina finish. I fired out of Stark Tower, dead south, towards the river, past Liberty Island and towards the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. I was able to spot Tony, and the missile, and when he grabbed on I moved in on the other side and grabbed on with him, linking my arm with his.

Nearly two years ago, after we had killed Stane and stopped him from giving the Ten Rings a prototype of our suits, Tony had nearly died himself, spending several days in the hospital. I stayed at his side, and with him unconscious I made a promise. I promised I would never, ever leave him again, not even if he tried to make me go. And if he was going to do what I thought he was doing, then I was coming, too.

"What're you doing?!" I asked, just for appearances' sake.

"Gettin' rid of this thing!" Tony replied, and I tightened my grip. There was only one place it could go.

"Well don't go killing yourself, not when I'm not around to tell you you're crazy!" I retorted, tightening my grip on the missile.

"…I'm not trying to kill myself," Tony said.

"It's both of us or neither," I declared firmly, trying not to let my voice shake. "I am not losing you."

"Dammit, Andy, I'm not letting you die just because you're so damned stubborn!" Tony shot off, but he wasn't trying to push me off. He knew I had obligated myself to never leaving his, and that meant in death, too. Mina had closed off the full communications web when I had gone to meet up with Tony, and I had a painful lump in my throat.

We're changing the world, Mom. Saving it. Like you would've wanted us to.

"…should I get Steve?" Mina asked softly, forcing me to swallow down the lump that was nearly in my mouth.

"…might as well," I managed to choke out. I tried to close the line to Tony, but he had finally realized what I was up to. So he hadn't remembered…

"Andy, this isn't cool!"

"It's not cool for you, either!"

"I have to do it anyway!"

"Then so do I!"

"No, you don't. Go hang out with your boyfriend or something!"

Tony, did you really forget, or thought I was delirious, a year ago?

"…I made a promise," I retorted, trying not to cry. "I promised I wasn't going to leave. Not even if you tried to make me. I'm not going anywhere, or doing anything, without you ever again."

That shut up Tony for long enough to close the line, so he wasn't listening in as Mina connected me and Steve.

"Hey…um…there's this…thing, and Tony and I have to handle it –"

"No, you don't," Steve replied immediately. He sounded…scared. Nervous. I swallowed hard, trying not to cry or seem like I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't. I didn't even know if I was going to survive going through that portal. But I wasn't going to lose Tony at the same time.

"…I can't let Tony go alone," I tried to quip weakly. "He gets into trouble when I'm not around, remember? I – I have to."

That lump in my throat was back, and my eyes were blurry even though I knew we were headed straight for Stark Tower.

"…I love you, Steve," I managed to whisper, so he couldn't hear my voice shaking. "I – I love you, I'm so, so sorry…"

"…Andy…we…we can work this out," he tried to assure me, but it felt rehearsed, like someone else had said it to him so long ago. Had it been Mom? The thought of her nearly made me sob. I hope you and Dad are proud of us.

"…if we don't make it – if I don't make it, I – I'll tell Mom you said hi," I replied lamely, to try and break his script. "Okay?"

"…I love you."

A single sob eked out of me, but my eyes cleared for long enough to see Stark Tower looming ahead of us. I tightened my grip and started breathing in. Space was a vacuum. If I was going to come back, I needed air. I sealed the suit as best I could before I started pushing the missile up. Tony's chest thrusters fired to help, and soon we were skimming the side of Stark Tower, and instead of the sky, diamond-like stars winked at us on black velvet. They spread around us, growing sharper, until they were all around us. My chest hurt. My screen fizzled out as I lost Mina.

And I saw.

The Chitauri base was a space station, massive, framed against a blue star. I could see four arms but I knew there had to be more, given the huge number of fliers and leviathans approaching the portal. Too many to count Too many to fight alone.

What's out here with an army so massive?

Tony's arm went limp against mine, and I managed enough strength to grab him, letting go of the nuke, and with my chest burning from the breath I was holding to try and turn back for the portal. I managed to fire my main thrusters, but I was running out. I was suffocating on my own air.

I'm so sorry. I haven't done anything with my life but I'm going to die.

Just beyond the bright light of the portal, though, I could see an asteroid, carved and molded up to a peak. I forced myself to look closer, even as my head spun from oxygen deprivation. On the peak was a throne. In the throne was a man, but not a human man. He was tall and broad, and his face was a deep purple, his massive jaw and chin the only real things I could make out.

You. You sent Loki. He wasn't the bad guy here. You are!

He stood from his seat. He had seen that I was still alive, even if Tony wasn't. I clung to Tony's limp body tightly – easily done in space – before a deep, echoing voice that wasn't mine or Mina's or anyone's rang out in my mind.

I will find you again, human.

I lost what little air I had left by screaming into the silence as my face began to burn, around my eye, back towards my temple. If vacuum wasn't going to kill me, he would.

I forced one last burst to my boot thrusters, the grid plan of New York getting closer, and with my face aching and my being throbbing in horror, everything went black.