Steve looked out at everything that had happened to New York since they had got involved. People were running from fear, fires were raging and his team was so broken. There's no way any of them would be the same ever again. Not just for all the Avengers, but for the whole world. After today, the whole world would never be the same again.


Fury and Emily stood where they were left to talk to the Council, the conversation only getting more heated the more destruction that came to New York. "Director Fury and Supervisor Carter," the councilwoman spoke. "The Council has made a decision."

Emily clenched her teeth as she looked over at Fury, not knowing what to tell them. They were just so damn hardheaded. "I recognize that the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid decision, I've elected to ignore it."

"Director," They both turned over to the councilman on the right. "You are closer than any of our subs. You scramble that jet – "

"That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman!" Emily jumped in, not being able to take this from them anymore. Maria was breathing heavily at what she was hearing. They wanted to destroy New York and all the people in it. The Avengers. "Until I'm certain my team cannot hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against the civilian population!"

"Supervisor," He spoke in a commanding voice, causing her to just clench her fists tighter. "If we don't hold them in the air, we lose everything."

"I'd send the bird out that we already have." She spoke angrily before shutting off their line of communication and looking to Fury. "If they touch that city – "

Fury grabbed her shoulders intensely, looking her right in the eye. "They're not going to do anything. Melody is going to be fine."

Emily could feel all the fear running through her body beginning to come to the surface. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she was shaking, never being so close to losing Melody before and having nothing she could have done to protect her. "Promise me."

Fury stood there, looking at her, pity washing through his whole face because no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't promise her that.


Natasha continued her ride on the back of the alien driving its aircraft when a blue energy whizzed past them. When she looked back, she began to roll her eyes at his stupid antlers. "Oh, you." He was catching up her on his own version of all the other alien's vehicles, sending off more blasts in her direction. These weren't just any blasts. These were from the Tesseract. "Hawkeye!"

Clint looked over to the direction she was in, but he had to blink a couple of times at the sight of his best friend riding an alien vehicle. "Nat," He spoke in a skeptical voice, probably not ever going to be able to get over this. "What are you doing?"

"Uh," She spoke uneasily, glancing back at Loki before going back to what was right in front of her. "A little help?"

Clint couldn't help this smile beginning to emerge on his face at what she was asking him. He clicked the button on his bow, knowing the perfect arrow to use for the god. "I got him." He pulled the arrow back, his smile only getting wider, knowing this is the one thing he wanted to do since this whole fight started.

His eyes narrowed, waiting until he was in the perfect spot before sending off his arrow. It flew in the air and it would have hit him perfectly if Loki wouldn't have caught it. But it never was Clint's plan for Loki to get hit with it. As Loki looked back at Clint, he sent him a small finger salute before the arrow exploded in his hands, sending him off his aircraft and back onto the Stark Towers balcony.

Loki took a moment to be able to sit back up around all the shards of glass. He threw his head back to get the hair out of his face just in time to see the Hulk jumping at him. He was thrown through the glass windows and into one of the walls, falling to the floor, breathing for help.

Before he could do anything, he looked up with an angry face, the Hulk roaring towards him, only making him madder. He stood up quickly before the Hulk could even do anything. "Enough!" The Hulk stopped running, looking him up and down, confused by his outburst. "You are – all of you are beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature!" The Hulk continued to stare at him for a moment, just wanting him to stop talking. "And I will not be bullied by – "

He quickly grabbed him by pulling his legs out from under him. He then rapidly began to throw him from side to side, creating dents in the floor with every time. The throws got even harder the longer they went on until the Hulk got tired of it and left him in one of the dents. The Hulk began to walk off, scoffing as he looked back at the god lying on the ground, gasping for breath. "Puny god."

Loki laid in the rubble of the floor, still not being able to process what had even happened. A weak sound of pain began to linger in his throat, realizing for the first time that he might actually lose this.


Natasha stood on the roof of Stark Towers, beginning to move towards Dr. Selvig. He was looking down at the balcony of Stark Towers. Natasha moved slowly, not sure if he was still under the control of Loki and if something was going to happen, she wanted to be prepared. He looked up at her and she finally saw that his eyes were no longer the blue Loki was making them. "The scepter." He spoke in wonderment before looking back down on the balcony.

"Doctor?" Natasha asked, thrown by his comment as she moved to crouch down to his eye level.

He sighed, his face only getting sadder as he looked down at it, not really being able to believe that all of this happened because of him. "Loki's scepter, the energy." He finally looked back to her. "The Tesseract can't fight. You can't protect against yourself."

Natasha sighed as she looked at him. She hated seeing him like this. She ended up putting one of her hands on his shoulders, looking him right in the eye. "It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing."

That's when an idea passed over Dr. Selvig's face. "Actually, I think I did." Natasha turned her head to the side, not sure what he was talking about anymore. "I built in a safety to cut the power source."

Natasha's eyes widened as she turned her head. That's when everything he was saying all clicked. "Loki's scepter."

"It may be able to close the portal." He told her with a nod before looking back to what his eyes were fixed on before just a floor below him. "And I'm looking right at it."


Clint shot an arrow off at the closest one to him before reaching in his sack for another arrow. That's when he realized that his last arrow was just used. He looked around panicked, knowing he had to act fast. He pushed back an alien with his bow, before kicking him off the roof. With that borrowed time, he turned to the last alien he took down, pulling the arrow out of its skull and putting it back into his sack.

He clicked a button on his bow, knowing he had to get out of there with all the incoming alien ships. He began to run to the end of the building just as the explosions left a trail behind him before jumping off. Everything seemed to move slower as he spun around while stringing up his bow. He took a deep breath, waiting for the perfect place to let go.

Once he released it, the arrow head attached to the building with a string attached to it. He began to throw his weight down, using the bow to send him down from the sky safely.


Melody and Thor fought as hard as they could on their spacecraft, forcing it to go in any direction they wanted. Melody looked to one of the aliens behind Thor, making its way towards him, causing her to get an idea. She actually couldn't help her smile. She had always wanted to do this. "Thor," He turned to look at her, ready for what she had to tell him. "Throw me over your shoulder!"

He had no time to argue or question her once he saw one of the aliens beginning to advance on her back. He picked her up the middle of her waist before tossing her over like she weighed nothing to him. She flipped in the air once he released her, sending her on the alien to rip out its programming with no struggle.

That's when it all started to go downhill. A crash rung through the air, and when they both looked, one of the eel like aliens made its way through one of the buildings and was coming right for their spacecraft. They had nowhere to go, but down once it crashed. Thor grabbed onto the nearest building and reached out for Melody's hand, but he just barely missed it. "No!" Thor screamed as all he could do was watch her fall.

Melody thought she was completely done for as the wind whizzed past her until she was abruptly caught, sending her head to throw back harshly. Clint lowered the few feet he had left to get to the ground and walked her to a stop. He pulled harshly on his bow, causing the arrow to come right back down and into his sack.

He threw his bow to rest on his shoulder and looked down at Melody worriedly, knowing her head hadn't come up yet, worrying that the fall might have broken her neck. She was breathing heavily as she raised up her aching neck to look at Clint. For the first time in a long time, she was really looking at Clint. She was studying every feature and she suddenly remembered why she loved him. "You saved me." She spoke through her deep breaths.

Clint's lips pulled into a smile as he looked to her. "Of course I did."

Melody began to mimic his smile, knowing she couldn't string this out anymore. She loved him and all she wanted was to be with him again. "I think we should start over."

Clint nodded, his smile only getting wider at an idea he got. He shifted the weight in how he was holding her to put out his hand. "Hi, I'm Hawkeye."

Melody threw her head back as she giggled at him. When she picked her head back up, she sighed, only more convinced that this was the one man for her. She put out her hand, trying to make a serious face as their hands met. "I'm Dark Violet."

They took an extra moment, holding each other's hands before Melody let go, her face growing serious. She put her hands on his face, pulling him in as he adjusted his grip on her again, getting a better hold. They shared an intense moment, looking into the eyes that they missed so much in the past few months, knowing that they had missed out on that old feeling of home. She pulled him in, finally giving him that kiss that they had been teasing since they met again. And in this kiss, they finally knew that now was their time. Finally, they were the lucky ones.


Once Tony was sure Melody was safe, he flew by the eel, feeling it was time for revenge against this thing for almost killing his niece. He began blasting the side of it, sighing when he realized it wasn't doing any damage. "Sir," Jarvis spoke. "We're losing power before you penetrate that shell."

Tony flew around it, trying to find out how to get to this thing…when he finally got it. "Jarvis," His words were glowing with excitement. "You ever hear of the Tale of Jonah?"

"I," Jarvis spoke with uneasiness, realizing what his master was going to do. "Wouldn't consider him as a role model."

He circled the beast until he got right in front of it, going right for its mouth. He traveled through it, blasting at every chance he got, taking it apart from the inside, causing it to fully blow up and send him flying into a glass bus stop. He skidded to a stop on the street, struggling to get up, but once he got up, he took a blow by one of the aliens, sending him right back down. And only more began to advance towards him.


Maria was pounding away on the screen that stood in front of her before looking back to the two in charge. "Sir, we have a bird in motion!" Emily and Fury froze in that second. They did it. They were really planning on killing everyone in Manhattan to stop this alien attack. "Anyone on deck, we have a bird in motion!"

Fury took off in the other direction as Emily moved forward, bent on stopping it. She began pounding buttons on the screen, locking everything she could to make that trip impossible. "That is a rogue bird!" Emily yelled out to everyone. "We need to shut it down!"

Fury ran out on the hanger of the helicarrier with an RPG resting on his shoulder, just waiting for the jet. It rushed on the runway right into a prepared Nick Fury. He shot it, the back becoming completely destroyed before skidding to a stop.

He took a moment, feeling relief until another jet took off in the opposite way. There was nothing he could do about it. He pulled out his pistol, ready to shoot, but it was too far away. There would be no damage done to the jet, and it was now headed for the island of Manhattan.

Emily took a deep breath, looking at the footage from the runway, knowing there was one option they had left. She put her finger to her ear, taking a deep breath before talking. "Stark, do you hear me? We have a missile headed straight for the city."

Tony pushed himself up as the aliens continued their advance towards him. "How long?"

"Three minutes, at best." Fury joined Emily in the control room, knowing exactly who she was calling for this mission. "Stay low and wipe it out."

Tony just kept getting hit by the aliens, but he didn't need to worry about them anymore. He had something completely different to worry about. "Jarvis, put everything we've got into the thrusters!"

"I just did, sir." Jarvis reported right as Tony shot off into the sky in search for the missile.


Right when the jet got in view of the Brooklyn Bridge, the pilot knew it was time to let go of his package. With only the press of the button, he let go of something so destructive, it would kill millions in seconds. "Package is set. Detonation in two minutes and thirty seconds."


Thor, Steve, Melody and Clint stood around each other, all of them having each other's backs as they fought each alien with their own personal skills. Thor swung his hammer and Steve assassinated all that came his way with his shield. Melody and Clint used their strength along with her daggers and his arrows.

Steve thought he was clear as he moved his shield away from him, but he was immediately shot in his stomach, sending him down. Thor blocked all of their shots with his hammer to get to his friend and Melody and Clint shot down as many as they could in protection of Thor. Right when Thor got close enough, he kicked back a nearby car, destroying each alien trying to hurt Steve.

Melody put out her hand for him as Clint helped him up from the back and Thor used himself as a shield for any other aliens trying to get to him. "Are you ready for another bout?" Thor questioned once he was standing and resting his hand on his wound.

Steve smiled to himself as he looked around at the place. "What, you getting sleepy?"

Each of them gave him a slight smile, but as they looked around, they weren't sure how much more they could take.


Natasha moved forward with Loki's scepter as Dr. Selvig monitored it on the computer. "Right to the front." He instructed the closer she got.

It took strength for her to even try to break the barrier, but once it got through, she knew she'd be able to take the whole thing down. "I can close it." She spoke through the radio. "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

Each of them on the ground looked to each other with wide eyes. "Do it!" Steve commanded.

"No! Wait!" Tony's voice came through, causing Melody to second guess even closing the portal.

"Stark, these things are still coming."

"I've got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute." Melody's eyes widened at his news, knowing Tony. Knowing exactly what he was going to do. "And I know just where to put it."

Right as Tony caught it, Melody could hear the whizzing from the other side. "But Tony," She spoke in a fearful, shaky voice as Clint stood near her, knowing she was going to need him soon. "If you do this…you'll die."

"And you'll be safe." He told her with such assurance, it was breaking her heart. She didn't want her last words with Tony to be over a radio. "I love you, Mel. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me." Melody could feel herself beginning to shake at everything. She could lose everyone, but she just couldn't lose Tony. Not for real this time. "Clint," Clint looked up at the mention of his name, feeling tears beginning to collect in his eyes while Melody already had tears streaming down her face. "Take care of my girl."

Clint nodded through the tears, not wanting to lose Tony, but at the same time, knowing there was no way they were talking him out of this. "Yes, sir."

Tony disconnected communications with them as a tear fell down his cheek. He didn't want to leave Melody either, but he had to have her be safe. "Dammit!" He cursed as he rolled his head back, the sound of her tears just playing through his mind again.

"Sir," Jarvis spoke in a solemn voice. "Shall I try Miss. Potts?"

He looked up at his screen, being able to see the contact picture come up. It was a picture of her smiling, her strawberry blonde hair tied into a professional ponytail, but the best part was her smile. She looked so happy. And Melody was smiling right next to her. The two girls had smiles so bright, he was happy that this was going to be the last thing he saw of the two. They were reminding him why he was doing this. "Might as well." With all of his speed and the strength he got from seeing Melody and Pepper's smiling faces, he flew up, past Stark Towers and into the black hole of the portal into space.

Once he and the missile had gotten through, everyone in the SHIELD helicarrier began cheering. Everyone except Emily and Fury. Sure, it was a win, but they lost Tony from this win. So, to them, they weren't winning much.

Tony's suit began to shut down once he was in space and his picture of Melody and Pepper went away. Since the suit was shutting down, his arc reactor was shutting down and so was his heart. He let go of the missile and watched as he began to float away from it. He was getting weak as the missile continued to fly through the air, but he was going to stay awake for as long as he could. When the missile finally reached the Chitauri's space station, all of the Chitauri on earth shut down instantly, just leaving their lifeless bodies lying all through the streets.

Melody looked back up at the portal from all the Chitauri bodies, just waiting and hoping for Tony to come back down. "Please, please, please, please." She whispered rapidly as Clint put his hands on her shoulders.

Once Tony saw the space station blow, he knew he had done his job. Melody was going to be safe now. That's all he ever wanted. His eyes slowly shut close, finally feeling the peace to fall asleep as his body continued to fall through the air.

All the Avengers were looking up at the portal anxiously, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Come on, Stark." Natasha whispered to herself.

Steve sighed as he saw the explosion from inside the portal, knowing he would never be able to apologize to Tony for everything he said while they were on the helicarrier. Because every bad thing he had ever said about him was proven wrong today. "Close it." Steve spoke with a sigh.

"No!" Melody screamed as she tried to run forward, but Clint grabbed her by the waist, lowering her down to the ground as Natasha moved forward, shutting the thing with Loki's scepter.

Melody let out deep breaths with her hands on the street, not being able to believe what was happening. A noise as loud as thunder rocked the sky just as the portal closed, causing them all to look up at it. Melody then let out a smile at what she was seeing. Tony was falling through the air from where the portal was. He made it. "Tony." She whispered as her smile got wider.

"Son of a gun." Steve spoke as a smile also grew on his face.

Clint began to stand up, helping Melody also as they both looked up, smiles never bigger than they were before. "He did it."

Melody continued her smile until he began to get close to the top of some of the taller buildings. "His thrusters should have kicked in by now."

"He's not slowing down." Thor spoke as he began to spin his hammer, in the thought of flying up to catch him.

Just as he was about to jump, the Hulk jumped through the air, catching him and falling to the ground with Tony lying on his stomach. They all ran to where the Hulk had landed just as he threw Tony off of him, having him land on his back.

Melody fell to the ground first, scrapping her knees up from it, but she didn't care one bit. All she cared about was getting Tony safe. She spun him over, pulling his head to rest on her lap as the others got there, Clint close to the Hulk, Thor on Tony's left and Steve right at the middle of his body next to Thor. Thor pulled off his face mask, revealing an unconscious face. Melody began slapping the sides of his face in hopes of him waking up as Steve put his ear to his chest piece. "Tony!" Clint yelled as he used one of his arrows to pry open some of his armor so they could get a better look at what they could do to save him.

As they looked at his lifeless face, they knew that it was too late. Melody held onto his cheeks, knowing it was too late, but still not wanting to accept it. She leaned forward, pulling his head to her lips before planting a kiss on his forehead. "Please don't leave me." Her tears fell onto his face, causing everyone standing around to feel this insane sadness at the fact that they had actually lost Tony.

The Hulk, Bruce Banner was inside of him, not willing to give up on his new friend. The Hulk let out a loud roar, causing the arc reactor to kick back in again, waking up his heart and him. He screamed and let out gasps, causing Melody to pull away from his face as she studied every inch of it. He was back. He was right in front of her again. Everyone let out relieved faces as his gasps continued. "What the hell?" He breathed out as the Hulk let out another roar.

Tony looked back and forth at each of them, still taking deep breaths. "What just happened?" Clint and Melody's eyes met with excited smiles before looking back down at Tony in wonderment. "Please tell me nobody kissed me."

Melody leaned forward, not being able to help it anymore. "I'm about to kiss you." She began planting kisses all over his face, just happy that the one man that had always been there for her throughout her whole life was safe and back with her.

"Oh, Mel, no." Tony complained, but secretly, this was the best thing he could think of. His little girl showing all the love she had for him.

"We won." Steve spoke almost in disbelief as Melody stopped kissing Tony, but was looking down at him with a happy smile.

Tony let out a relieved sigh as his head fell back into Melody's lap. "Alright, hey!" He spoke happily as he opened his eyes again. "Alright, good job, guys." Everyone looked to each other, with wide smiles, but their smiles began to get softer once they saw the smile Melody and Clint were giving each other. "Let's just not come in tomorrow." Clint gave Melody a small shrug, only causing her smile to get wider. "Let's just take a day." Tony looked over at Clint, causing the two lovebirds to look back to Tony. "You ever try shawarma?"

All Clint could do was smile at him, never being happier at the fact that Tony Stark was alive. "No, Tony, I have never tried shawarma."

"Well," He spoke as he picked the upper half of his body up to look. "There's a shawarma joint two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

"We're not finished yet." Thor reminded, causing them all to look up at Stark Towers. They had almost forgotten about the war criminal.

Tony nodded, but then looked back to Thor. "Then shawarma after."


Loki pulled himself up onto the steps of Stark Towers, finally getting strength after Hulk treating him like a toy. He let out deep breaths from his weakness before looking over to where he thought someone was staring. That's where he found earth's mightiest heroes. Clint was crouched on the ground, pulling the string on his bow back as he looked at the god. Natasha held his scepter on the far left next to Thor who gripped his hammer even tighter, knowing that his brother was reckless. Melody stood next to him, holding her dagger down low, but keeping it ready if it was needed. Steve stood next to his great niece, holding his shield in front of him and Tony stood next to his uncle, their issues with each other finally resolved without saying. And Hulk, he stood behind Tony, ready to treat Loki like a toy again.

Loki looked back and forth at all of them nervously, knowing there was nothing he could do. He was stopped by the Avengers. And the best thing he could do now was to go quietly. "It it's all the same to you." Loki spoke while looking over at Tony with a slight smile. "I'll have that drink now."

The Hulk let out a growl as the rest of the six just stared him down, ready to see the justice he was going to have to pay to the people of earth.

There should be only one chapter left in this story and then I will go to my Once Upon a Time story. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the action scenes. I feel like I'm really bad at writing them, but they are necessary! Please review!