Steve looks up. Clearly I'm not imagining it.
"What was that?" I ask, scared.
"I don't know."
Then Hill bursts in.
"Guys, we're going to have to are attacking."
"What? Now?" I scream.
"Yeah. We need to get to Stark Towers."
But as she speaks soldiers enter. They surround the three of us.
"Please tell me you were pissed off enough to bring guns." I whisper in Hill's ear.
She smiles grimly. "That's the job of the maid of honor. Always be prepared." She opens the purse and pulls out a gun. She discreetly passes it to me and another to Steve.
"Knife?" I whisper.
She passes a small blade.
In one quick movement I cut off most of the dress. Underneath is a simple lace bodice down to mid thigh. Not ideal, but a hell of a lot better without the skirt.
I slip off the silk high heels.
Hill does similar work on her figure hugging red silk dress. She takes off her heels and readies her gun.
"1, 2, 3... fire!" I whisper.
It's perfectly timed. Two quick kill shots and we all start close quarter.
Soon the men lie dead. The white Venetian lace has blood splattered on it.
"I don't think I'm getting married in this." I say.
Hill smiles and gestures for us to follow her.
We go out to a very scared Pepper and Jane.
Then more soldiers arrive. I rip the bodice in the fight.
Hill pulls out five earpieces. She gives us all one.
"Do you two have any idea how to use a gun?" Hill asks Jane and Pepper.
They both shake their heads.
She shows them and gives two small guns.
"Just how much did you fit in there?" I ask, eying the clutch.
"I have two more guns, a lot more knives like that and ammo. A lot of ammo."
"Impressive. We need a plan." I say.
"How about bait?" Steve suggests.
"Yes. We go back in there, pretend I know nothing, along with Pepper and Jane. You two hide."
"Perfect." Hill says. "And believable."
We go back. Steve gets rid of the bodies and Jane and Pepper help me put the ridiculous skirt on.
It works perfectly. We manage to kill 10 more.
"We have to leave here. Stark Towers is where we need to be."
I nod. "I'm guessing front door is out of the question?"
"Definitely."
I walk forward and slip across the lobby. I jump over the desk. The others quickly follow.
I crawl into the back room and stand. There's a corridor that leads to the kitchen here.
We all go along it. Before I emerge on the other side I carefully listen. But it just sounds like an ordinary kitchen.
We carefully walk across. There's only mild objection if we really get in the way of the busy chefs.
The door to the alleyway is already open.
"How exactly do you know there's a back door in the kitchen?" Steve asked.
"I've had more than a few missions here. And the Plaza is strangely popular with drug dealers."
We walk out and try to be inconspicuous. But that's nearly impossible.
Eventually we just get in a cab.
The traffic near the Tower is insane. As we get nearer we see why. The Asgardians attacked while we were all at the wedding.
"What happened to the guys?" I ask Hill.
"According to Fury, they're in a safe place until they find a way to access the suits and weapons."
I nod and jump out of the car. The others follow as I run to the Tower. The soldiers don't notice until we've killed half their men. Or at least disabled. Jane and Pepper only shot legs and shoulders.
I fight my way to the private elevator. The others soon join me and we go up.
Me, Steve and Hill quickly suit up. Jane and Pepper stand there awkwardly. They don't have suits. They shouldn't even be here.
"Jane, you're good with computers right?" I said.
"Um, yeah, I guess."
"Can you hack?"
"Some stuff. Nowhere near Tony's level, but I know the basics."
"Great. I need you to access every surveillance equipment in New York. That you can. Stay here and be our eyes and ears."
She nods and goes to the computers.
"Pepper. You should be able to use one of Tony's suits right?"
"Well... Yeah... Maybe."
"Try." I command.
She nervously goes out. After a heated debate Jarvis starts putting it on her. She can fly fairly well. I suspect Jarvis will tell her how to do anything else.
"I need you to get to the guys. Bring what you can with you."
She nods and comes back in. She throws one of the tracking bracelets for the Mark 2, and some guns into a bag and takes off.
I turn to Hill and Steve.
"We need to hold this place. They will send more soldiers."
Hill nods.
The three of us nervously step into the elevator and go back down.
The glass doors are cracked and nearly broken.
I take a deep breath and ready my guns.
Then another large crack appears. The glass shatters. The rough soldiers all push through.
The narrowness of the door works to our advantage. They're dead long before they get near us.
But they realize this and start hitting the walls and widening the entrance.
"How many are there out there?" I ask Jane over the earpiece.
"About 200. Is your equipment the only weapon Stark keeps here?"
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure he has a museum with fully functioning versions of every Stark project, from his fathers first weapon."
"Good." Jane replies.
A few minutes later the elevator bings and inside is a lot of guns. All very large and very powerful.
"Thanks." I say to the genius.
"No problem."
I slowly walk backwards, still fighting and grab one.
It's a grenade launcher. I immediately fire it behind the front line of soldiers.
A lot die instantly.
"Nice!" Steve shouts, over the general confusion and yelling.
I smile and get ready to shoot again as more soldiers move up.
"Pepper and Tony are back." Jane tells me.
I don't need to fire because Pepper and Tony immediately send mini missiles down.
Most of the soldiers are gone by now. We take them out and all go back to the top floor.
Tony isn't happy to see someone else at his computers. But he is impressed at how far Jane has already gone in getting eyes everywhere. She has all CTTV hacked, and wrote a program to alert her of any Asgardians.
"Alright. They've essentially made the Plaza their base. There's small forces dotted across Manhattan, and larger ones in Central Park and the Empire State Building. We're looking at a total army of two thousand." She says, looking at the screens.
"I'm impressed." Tony says, looking at the screens. Whether it's at Jane again or Asgard it isn't clear.
"We need to get everyone else. Where are Thor, Barton, Clint and Fury?" Steve says.
"In a secure place. We should get to them though." Jane says.
"What about the rest of the guests?" I interject. Most of them were military and would be able to defend themselves.
"A lot of them got away the moment Asgard attacked. The rest are relatively safe."
Jane pulls up footage of the Plaza.
A group of 10 are still there, sitting in the seats with guns pointed at them. "I'm pretty sure Asgard wants them for bargaining."
"Good. What kind of police force do we have?" Steve says.
"Not good. 200 men, even including those who have days off."
"We need to make getting the others equipped a priority." Steve says.
The rest of us nod.
"Is anyone capable of lifting the hammer?" I ask.
"Doubtful. We'll need to get Thor here."
Hill slings Clint's bow and arrow over her back. I fill a bag with hand guns, grenades and ammo and put it on my back.
"So where are they?"
"The top floor of an apartment building on 57th. They're hiding in an apartment. The quickest way is to go down the fire escape. Go over roofs."
We all nod and go out.
There's only a small gap between Stark Tower and the next building.
We all jump or fly it with ease.
We continue for a while.
"It's the next building." Jane says to me.
I nod and leap over the gap. Steve easily catches me.
Hill, Tony and Pepper stay outside to secure the perimeter while me and Steve climb down the fire escape.
The apartment is large and spacious. The four men are all wearing tuxedos and sprawled across the various seats and couches.
"What the hell is going on?" Fury immediately says. He doesn't seem happy.
"We're being attacked." I say, distributing the weapons.
"What?" They all say.
"Asgard. They've got incredible timing."
"And you didn't think to maybe tell me?"
"Our first priority was securing Stark Tower." Steve says.
"That only applies if it's under attack!"
"It was. By about 300 men."
"How is Jane?" Thor asks.
"She's fine. She's set up base at the tower and has hacked as many cameras all over Manhattan as possible."
"Good."
"We need to go back to the tower and make a plan. And suit up." Steve says.
"We're waiting on the ground." Hill says into the earpiece.
"We need to go." I say.
The men nod and follow me down. Hill is waiting just outside the door.
"It's not good." She immediately says.
"What happened?"
"Well, they're on twitter, Facebook, instagram, pinterest,MySpace, bebo, blogger... Basically everything."
"How? Thor's been here for what,two, three years? And he's still largely scared of the computer." Tony says.
"It's highly possible they're making the remaining guests do it. Jane, are they?" I reply.
"Oh shit." She says.
"What?"
"It's on a loop. They're feeding me a loop. Around 20 minutes ago a guy was dragged off to a blind spot. And now it's a loop. He's there."
"Shit indeed." I say just as we approach times square.
We're in the center when the large tv screens go black. And then Hogun's face appears on everything.
"Dear puny humans. You're being taken over. Resistance is futile and will be met with torture followed by death. Turn these people in." Photos of us flash on screen. They even got Hill and Fury.
That's when I see the Asgardians that have arrived. They're surrounding us.
"Now bow down." The large face leaves with these final words.
All but us get down on their knees.
"Guns ready." I whisper. I look up at Tony and Pepper, flying above us.
We're hopelessly outgunned. But we stay standing.
The people around us look with hope in their eyes. Most of them were probably here for the battle of New York.
My eyes search their faces. Then I vaguely recognize a guy. He was wearing a police uniform last time. Now he's dressed in jeans and a shirt.
I slowly pull out another gun and let it be passed to him. He stands and aims.
"Foolish humans. You will bow down." One of the Asgardians say.
"I really don't think we will." Fury says.
I look around. A few people point at the gun and themselves. I throw more around. Why not? I have 4 times as many as we could possibly need. They also stand.
"You will bow down." The soldier is getting angry.
"We most definitely won't." I say.
Then he shoots. I easily dodge and shoot him.
Then everything is insane. We're all firing everywhere.
Fury gets shot in the shoulder but continues killing.
I pass out more guns and give half second lessons.
Somehow it works. We manage to kill them.
The people I gave guns to come up to me and try to give it back.
"No. Keep it. You'll need it." I say, shaking my head. "This was just one part of a battle."
They nod uncertainly and walk away.
"You're giving away guns?" Tony questions, landing.
"Yes. Look, there's 2000 soldiers. We can't defeat that. Not alone. Why the hell shouldn't we give a gun to anyone who can handle it?"
"She has a point." Steve says.
"Can we stop fucking talking and get to the tower?" Fury yells.
I see a car, sitting on the street. It's been abandoned and the key is in the ignition.
"Fury, get in the car. Steve, Bruce, Thor, you're going with him." I say.
"What? Why? And I amn't stealing a car." Steve immediately protests.
"Because for now at least we're keeping a low profile. And that suit is anything but. Fury needs to get to the tower fast, and Bruce and Thor are relatively defenseless. Also, Bruce is driving,not you."
"Hey! I'm deeply offended by your words!" Thor roars.
"Who cares?" I say.
"I really don't think I should be driving." Bruce says uncertainly.
"Don't be modest. You don't have a gunshot wound, you're from this planet, and I'm betting your licence didn't expire 70 years ago."
"Hey-" Thor starts.
"Oh my god, will you stop acting like two year olds and get in the freaking car!"
Grumpily, the four get in. I laugh at the sight of them in a Toyota mini.
They drive away.
"So us splitting up is what's best?" Pepper questions.
"We would only slow each other down. Now come on. The rooftop will be fastest."
Hill and me run to a building and go up the fire escape.
We make it there at around the same time.
Jane nervously clears a table for Fury. Thor and Steve had to carry him up.
His face is contorted with pain.
Pepper and Tony quickly change out of the iron man suits.
"We need a doctor. No offence." I hastily add. Jane is nervously removing his shirt to get at the wound.
She looks slightly nauseous when she sees the amount of slightly sticky blood.
I push her aside. "Please tell me you have a stash of drugs somewhere Stark."
He nods and leaves. After a minute he hands me some pills.
I force them into Fury's mouth. He swallows.
"Are you sure we can't go to a hospital?" Pepper says.
"Yes. You saw those soldiers. They were searching, and I don't think I'm being arrogant when I say it's probably for us."
I grab a bottle of vodka and pour it into the wound.
Fury yells out in agony.
Judging from the amount of blood, the bullet hit an artery.
"I need a bandage, clothes, anything."
Somebody hands me a shirt. I rip long strips off and put the rest under his shoulder. I quickly tie the strips around the small wound and apply pressure.
I realize my hands are covered in blood. It's even under my French manicured finger nails.
The bleeding gradually slows to a stop. I back away and wash my hands. The blood is stubborn. I desperately scrub until my hands turn red.
When it finally goes I walk out to the roof.
The city twinkles in the moonlight. Even during war people are out, celebrating. I should be one of those people. But even as I think the words I know they're wrong. Even if the wedding had gone fine, I wouldn't be celebrating.
Steve came out after a while.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Just wondering how my life got this screwed up. My wedding to a guy I don't love was ruined by a bunch of aliens, I had to kill roughly 100 people, and I just washed my boss' blood off my hands. All on my wedding day."
He chuckles lightly. "No matter what you do, life gets screwed up. I'm a living testament to that. In my nineties and I still go to work in a blue skin tight jumpsuit."
I laugh. "You're not really in your nineties."
"Technically I am."
"Well, you certainly have the stamina of a far younger man."
I turn to face him. He kisses me in a rush of passion.
Our bodies morph together in the moonlight. Even through our suits my entire body feels electric.
I don't think of who could be watching until Clint comes out.
"What the hell is this?" He yells.
I jump away from Steve, frightened.
"I... Clint..." I don't know what to say.
He pushes me aside and punches Steve, doing himself more harm than his target.
"Please Clint!" I beg. "Don't do this."
He continues pummeling Steve.
Then the heavens open and the sky starts to pour.
Steve does little to defend himself.
"Please don't do this!" I sob. I can't help the tears that flow freely.
"What the hell? You don't do that!" Clint yells.
Nobody inside has noticed.
I try pulling Clint away but he is fueled by anger and betrayal and easily shakes me off.
In desperation I jump up and do the master thigh hold.
Clint freezes.
"Why? Why would you do this to me Natasha?" He yells.
"Because I love him!" I scream over a crack of thunder. I look inside and see Thor carefully watching. Of course he orchestrated this.
Both men freeze. I quickly flip Clint onto the ground.
I avoid looking at Steve. It's the first time I've admitted that I love him in a long long time. At least, that he'll remember. Memories of that horrifying night come back to me. That gripping fear I felt when I realized Steve might die saving me.
I turn and walk in. But then Steve is reaching out and grabbing my wrist. He pulls my damp body to his and kisses me.
Our mouths eventually break apart but our bodies stay in this sweet and warm embrace. I rest my head on his chest and listen to his slow and steady heartbeat. Like so many others, I never want this moment to end. But sadly we can't always get what we want. My body seems to hate me as I start shivering slightly.
He breaks it first and pulls me inside.
Our friends are huddled around the large modern fire. Jane is roasting marshmallows. Where she got them I have no idea, since I highly doubt Tony Stark leaves marshmallows lying around the place. It's a lovely image that I want nothing more than to be a part of. Thor is filling a two seater, with Jane sitting on the floor in front of him. He's gently stroking her hair. Tony and Pepper are snuggled together on the other couch. Pepper has fallen asleep, and Tony looks close to it. Bruce and Maria are sitting on armchairs near each other, talking. She's smiling flirtily.
Thor looks up as we come in. He grins arrogantly and goes back to playing with Jane's hair.
I sit down on the floor beside the fire and Steve instantly sits beside me with a blanket. He wraps it around me and holds me.
After a while Clint comes in. He's soaked. Nobody pays any attention but me as he glares at me and Steve before walking away.
I am not sure when but at some point I must have fallen asleep. I am lying on a bed, in his arms. Sunlight bathes the room in warmth.
A part of me is surprised to have even made it through the night without the Asgardians attacking.
I am tempted to go back to sleep until Steve starts to wake up.
"Hey." I whisper.
"Hey." He whispers back, eyes closed. "We should probably go. They need us."
"And right now I need you." I whisper, smiling and sitting up.
Steve opens his eyes and grins.
The scene waiting in the kitchen seems strangely normal. The only thing betraying us from being any more than your average luxurious apartment inhabited by ten unrelated adults is the bright light in Tony's chest. And Thor shouting at the shiny toaster to give back his pop tarts.
Once Jane explains it to Thor and the pop tarts are done I make some toast and pour myself some coffee.
Eventually we all sit down at the large glass table.
"Natasha, Steve, you're being moved into one of the sound proofed rooms."
"Why?" I ask.
"Because you woke me up waaaay too early with the screams."
Steve blushes slightly.
"I'm betting you're just jealous because you've never gotten Pepper that loud." I say,smirking.
Everybody laughs. Even Pepper snorts and hides giggles behind her coffee mug.
"Oh yeah... well... Pepper is just more dignified than you!"
Thor laughs so loudly it scares me slightly. Pepper can no longer hide it behind her mug.
I smile triumphantly and continue eating.
"We need to attack today." Steve says.
"We need to wait. There could be our own soldiers coming." Tony says.
"And how many do you think they're going to send? Trust me when I say it won't be a lot. Natasha was right about what she said yesterday. We need to arm the people. We won't win this with only ten people. We'll win this with the ordinary people. Anyone who can handle a gun, we should give it to them."
"We need to get our message out. Tell them. You can't just presume they'll know." Pepper says.
"Jane, can you hack into radio stations?" Steve asks.
"Yeah, but I think tv would be a lot more effective."
He nods.
"You should do it." I say.
"What? No I shouldn't."
"She has a point. You've got the stars and stripes uniform, you've done stuff like this before..." Jane says.
"Somebody else would be better."
"Who? A Russian? The guy who got on the news for all the wrong reasons? The arrogant billionaire nobody could identify with? The god from another planet? Katniss? No offence." Jane hastily adds.
"What about you, or Pepper? Or Maria?"
"Nobody knows who I or Maria are, and even if they did know Pepper it would only be as owner of Stark Industries. You're the man for the job. Some people might even recognise you."
Steve shifts uncomfortably. "Fine."
Jane nods."We should do that first. And then plan an attack with whoever shows up."
"Won't that bring attention to us? With Asgard?" I say.
"Well, they haven't found us yet."
"But we're going to need to tell people where to go."
"Somewhere away from here. Central Park."
"So you're just going to give away my guns?" Tony says.
"To stop a bunch of people from taking over Manhattan, yes."
We finish eating in silence. I barely pick at my toast, nerves eating away my appetite.
After breakfast I go back to my room. I am just slipping off Steve's t-shirt for a shower when he sneaks up behind me.
"Hey." He whispers, slipping his arms around my waist.
I turn my head slightly to kiss him. I don't want to have to stop. For all I know this could be our last morning together. I turn my body fully, wanting as much of me as possible to be touching him.
Regrettably he breaks the kiss.
"We have work to do." He whispers. But his arms don't leave my body.
"I need to shower." I whisper sadly, walking into our private bathroom.
I turn the water as hot as I can bear. But Steve slips in beside me.
I smile and turn to him.
"They say you shouldn't mix business and pleasure." I say, smirking slightly.
"They're fools."
The mood is sombre when we eventually leave. I sit down on the sofa.
Jane has a camera ready. She and Steve go outside to film it.
He returns half an hour later, looking awkward and embarassed.
Jane immediately goes to the computer.
A few minutes later she turns the tv onto CNN.
They're in the middle of the weather forecast when the video starts playing.
When it's done we pack most of the guns into a large van. We leave only a few for Jane, just in case.
Only Maria and Bruce go in the van. I go over rooftops with Steve.
There are around a hundred people waiting. More show up.
Asgardians soon show up as well, but the small force of twenty are soon killed.
"Jane, what's going on at the Plaza?" I ask, getting an idea.
"They've gotten rid of the humans somehow. It's only Asgardians, including Hogun."
"In the entire building?"
"Yes."
I turn to Bruce. He's handing out sniper rifles.
"Go to the Plaza and hulk out." I tell him.
"What? I can't..."
"Come on. It's only Asgardians there. No humans. It would seriously help."
He reluctantly nods. I go with him, mostly to make sure he doesn't get killed on the way.
"So things are working out with you and Steve."
"Yeah, I guess so. I saw you and Maria last night."
"Really?"
"Do you like her?"
"Why don't we focus on the mission?"
I laugh lightly and continue walking.
"So what do you plan on doing?"
"You're going to go in and lock the door. Then hulk out."
"Seems risky. What if the hulk learns how to use a lock?"
I raise my eyebrows at him.
"Fair point. But he could smash through them."
"Which is precisely why I'm going to wait outside with a tranquiliser."
We reach the building. Guards are outside. I kill them quickly.
He goes inside.
I hear a lot of yelling, smashing and girlish screams before he comes back and smashes through the door.
I tranquilise him and he goes back to normal. I carefully walk in, gun ready.
Bodies litter the ground. When I go into the changing room where just 24 hours ago I was getting ready to marry Clint, it looks the same.
My skirt has so much fabric that it stands by itself. There are still bodies there.
I leave this tomb and go back outside.
Bruce is starting to wake up. I slap his face and we walk back.
There's a battle going on by the time we get back. Even though there's 3 times as many Asgardians as we have, we seem to be winning. Almost all the bodies lying on the ground are wearing cloaks and metal helmets.
I join the fight. The soldiers don't expect me. I get the impression they don't think women can fight.
I prove them wrong as I single handedly kill 20 of them in 5 minutes.
"Natasha! That's not all of them! They're attacking an apartment building on 5th Avenue." Jane says.
"Thanks!"
I kill another and go over to Steve.
"Follow me!" I shout over heavy gunfire.
He nods.
I run around the army, killing as many as I can without stopping.
I see them instantly. They're all entering it. I shoot as many as I can while I run forward.
I hear screams when I enter the building. But the stairs have been destroyed.
Backing away, I run forward and launch myself off of Steve's shield. I combat roll onto the first floor.
The first apartment I go into is empty. In the second one an elderly man has been shot.
I hear screams from upstairs and run up. The stairs haven't been destroyed quite so much.
A woman is screaming as she holds a tiny baby. A soldier is advancing on her.
Neither notice me until I twist his neck.
"Thank you." She whispers, trembling. "My husband left, to fight. You're one of the superheros." It isn't a question.
I awkwardly leave and check the other apartments, but there's no more. I run down the stairs.
Steve easily catches me on the ground floor.
We leave but something doesn't feel right. It feels like somebody's watching us.
My suspicions are confirmed when soldiers surround us. Around 50 in total.
"Surrender." The leader says, smiling.
I look around, but there is no escape. The only choice we have is to fight.
"Okay." I say, walking towards him.
Steve immediately sees what I'm doing.
I walk over and hold out my hand.
He smiles and takes it. I step closer and stab him. He crumples to the ground. I back away, shooting the rest.
They are immediately attacking. Backs pressed together, Steve and I move towards the building. A bullet cuts a lock of my hair.
"Cover me." I whisper. I run towards a car. I look back and they're all running after me. I jump over the car and pause.
When they're all running around the car to get to me, I turn back and throw a grenade at the car. It explodes and the fire immediately hits the gas tank. Most of them are killed instantly.
I smile and go back to Steve. We easily kill the rest.
But then more arrive. 50 more. This time they have no intentions of letting us surrender.
Then I run out of ammo. I throw my guns aside and launch into close quarter.
For a moment it seems like we can win this. Until a beam cuts through my arm.
I scream in agony. But I only take a second before killing the guy who shot me.
Steve rushes to my side.
"We're going back to the tower. Now." He says.
"No. I'm fine."
"Remember the last time you ignored being shot? We both nearly died. We're going."
"But-"
"But what?"
"We're in the middle of a battle."
"And the battle will survive if you leave."
"They need you though."
Steve takes a moment to kill another soldier before answering. "They can live without me."
"What do you think Jane can even do? She's scared of blood."
"You shouldn't be out here."
"It's only my arm. I'll be fine."
The soldiers are thinning. Only five are left.
When they're dead we run back to Central Park. While everyone else continues fighting I dive into our van. There's a plain white cloth. I grab it and tie it just above the wound on my arm. It effectively cuts off circulation and the bleeding. I grab an M4 and go back.
"Jane, is this definitely all the Asgardians?" I ask.
"I think so. There could be some in private residences."
"Good."
There's only 700ish left. I grab a load of ammo and climb onto the van.
They make easy shooting. Others follow my example and climb onto things.
When there's only 100 or so left they start to look around. I don't notice as one by one they start to slip away until only 10 remain. I kill them but soon realize there isn't enough bodies. I jump off the van.
"Natasha! Some are going up to the roof of the Plaza!" Jane screams into my ear.
I gesture to my teammates to follow. I run south, through Central Park. As I get there I see it is too late. They've opened a portal and are going through.
I run up the stairs.
There are only 20 left. I'm not sure how many have already gone through.
Clint and Steve are the only ones who managed to keep up with me. We begin fighting.
The soldiers don't know what to do. Some jump into the portal, others stay and fight.
Everything is going fine until Clint attacks a guy who's trying to get away. He punches the soldier. But in desperation the Asgardian punches back with as much force as he can. Clint stumbles back. He reaches the ledge. I expect him to be faking, and do nothing to help him.
But then his body tumbles back, off the roof.
"Clint!" I scream. I run to the in time to see his limp body go into the portal.
Steve grabs my body as I climb onto the ledge.
I shake him off and strike out against the man that punched him. In half a second he lies dead. I kill the few that remain with vengeance.
I bury my face in Steve's shoulder as I start crying.
The war is won, but I've lost.
