Ethan's smile faltered slightly but he lay back anyway. He hadn't realised quite how tired he was until he fell asleep almost instantly. His dreams were dark and murky, with faded voices calling to him but he couldn't make out what they said. Suddenly he could hear Steve's voice call to him, yelling his name.

Ethan's eyes shit open as he adjusted to the brightness. Steve was shaking his shoulder and looking dark. Ethan sat up and asked, "what's up?"

Steve sat down in the chair Dr Hope had vacated. Ethan saw the clock on the wall which said seven thirty.

Steve said "what do you know about what SHIELD was doing with the cube?"

Ethan felt confused, why was Steve asking him this. "Nothing, the project was mostly above my clearance, I only knew that it was in Santa Fe and that it involved the Tesseract."

"And what would Fury try to do when he got his hands on the Tesseract?" Steve had an accusing tone.

"I know what your thinking. If Fury had it he was probably trying to weaponise it. That's just what he does." Ethan said almost getting angry at Steve.

"And you weren't brought in? You are one of SHIELDs top weapons experts." And there was where the accusing glare was coming from, Steve thought that Ethan had be making weapons for Fury.

"I wasn't told anything, Fury probably didn't trust me with me knowing you and Thor. We can go and see, this ship has some of SHIELD's top vaults on it." Ethan swung out of bed and walked out of the room, not watching to see if Steve was following because if he didn't trust him then he had no time to waste on the man.

Doctor Hope called after him to not get into any trouble as Ethan left the infirmary and made his way down long twisting corridors that led deep into the Helicarrier. The vaults were deep into the belly of the beast where next to no one would go. The corridors were left dark as Ethan didn't want the lights to alert anyone to their presence. He waited at a thick door for Steve to catch up.

Once Steve was standing outside the door, Ethan pointed at it and motioned for Steve to break it down. This door would require brute force which even Ethan didn't possess. Even Steve strained as he pulled the door open.

Both of them crept inside, for such a big man Steve could sure be quiet. Ethan pointed up a level, seeing some crates that looked promising. Ethan ran forward and jumped onto the railing before leaping for the next level which he grabbed hold of and pulled himself up. Steve had just jumped straight up, the show off.

Ethan walked over to the crates and pulled the first one open. Inside where HYDRA masks and guns. "Fuck me, Fury had this stash in here."

"You know what this means Ethan, Fury is planning on weaponising the Tesseract." Steve said with anger pumping through him.

Ethan was surprised that he also felt a little anger course through him. He had expected to find these weapons but he was still angry that Fury was planning on making weapons that would be this dangerous. Did he really think that this was going to end well.

Ethan said quietly "We have to put a stop to this."

Suddenly Ethan's earpiece bussed into life and Nat's voice echoed across it "Everyone, Loki plans on unleashing the Hulk. Meet me in the lab and bring Thor."

Ethan looked around, "Come on. We have to get there. Bring one of the guns." After speaking Ethan took a running leap off the walkway and landed by the door to the room. He immediately started running at full speed down the corridor. He even pushed off the walls as he was running too fast to corner.

Ethan was just thinking how bad it would be if the Hulk got loose and was worried for Banner. None of them were ready to combat Loki's mind control. Ethan entered the lab just as Fury came in the other door.

"What are you doing Stark?" Fury said with a stern voice.

"He's breaking into your system because he doesn't trust you, or at least I assume that that was what you put on his console in the bridge." Ethan said matter of factly leaning against the wall to catch his breath. "Banner are you ok?"

Stark gave him an approving look as Banner looked at him questioningly, neither of these two had radios so they hadn't heard Nat.

The computer screen in front of Stark bleeped and he looked at it, "what is phase two?"

Ethan said "phase two is-" but was cut off by a loud clunk as Steve dropped a HYDRA gun on the table behind them.

"Phase two is where SHIELD use the Tesseract to make guns. Sorry the computer was moving a little slow for me." Steve said finishing where Ethan left off.

Fury gestured at the gun and said "We collected hundred of artefacts, that doesn't mean-"

Tony turned his screen around and it clearly showed a missile, "I'm sorry but what were you lying?"

Ethan walked over to the screen and had a look at it. "These power outputs, this could level a city easily." Ethan turned to Fury, "what were you planning on doing with these?"

Everyone turned to see Nat and Thor walked into the room. Nat said to Bruce, "don't you think you should remove yourself from this situation doctor?"

Bruce looked back at the missile and pointed at it, "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty far removed. I agree with Ethan, what were you planning on doing with these? Why were they even necessary."

Fury raised a hand to point at Thor. "Because of him."

Thor looked confused, "me?"

Fury explained "three months ago we had an alien grudge match that levelled a small town. We learned that we are hopelessly, hilariously outmatched."

That was true at least, the Destroyer had killed so many people.

"My people have no quarrel with yours." Thor said with anger in his voice.

"Yes but you aren't the only people out there are you? The world is filling up with people who can't be matched." Ethan looked at all of them in the room. The Soldier, The Spy, The God, The Weapon, The Monster... And him. All of them in the room where the people who Fury was talking about and he was right.

They couldn't be matched. Hulk had destroyed Harlem. Iron Man was a global figure head. Thor had destroyed a town in his battle with the Destroyer. Captain America had won World War Two and Nat had killed more people than Ethan liked to think about. Even he had blown up the Louvre.

Ethan stepped forward, anger coursing through him. "And what Fury? Are you planning on stopping us? Just locking us away in a big hole? These weapons are for safety, but we aren't safe. So why are we even here?"

"Those weapons were to be used as a last resort Jacobs." Fury said without cracking his intimidating facade.

But Ethan was pissed off now. "We may not be a team but we sure as hell know which side we fight for, can you say the same?"

"My job is to keep the peace-"

Ethan cut him off, "Which is much easier when everyone is dead." Ethan looked around the room, "what are we in this room? Chaos ready to be unleashed, maybe we are but we aren't going to blow up this planet. That's why we are here Fury, as people who will save the world."

It was clear to him now, Fury didn't trust them. He knew that they could get the job done but when it came to whether they would do his job, well there is became a unclear. If they couldn't be contained then they might be a threat later and Fury hated threats.

Thor spoke from the corner "these weapons are a sign that the earth is ready for a higher level of war. They will bring nothing but destruction to your world. I agree with Ethan these weapons are meant to control not to help."

Stark spoke next, "they're a nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms things down. The kid's right, maybe you should think that we could do some good."

"I see it in us, we can be there. We can be a team, you should have some faith in that. Have faith that we will do good Fury." Steve said.

Ethan could feel the energy in the room, they were united against Fury. Ethan saw it then, the potential to be a team, the possibility that they could actually save the world.

Bruce's voice echoed through the room with rage pumping in it, "This is the hand you've been dealt Fury, what are you going to do with it." Ethan saw Banner reach behind him for the staff and suddenly realised that this was how Loki planned on unleashing the Hulk. "I'm a monster inside, destruction made solid but you have to be stopped."

Loki was playing with his mind, making him believe that the Hulk was needed to stop Fury. Ethan saw Nat and Fury close there hands around their guns and decided to act. He did the most stupid thing he could but somehow knew it would work.

Ethan leaped forward and punched Bruce across the face. Banner recoiled from the blow and Ethan saw his eyes stretch and he wondered if he had made a mistake but then Ethan saw it was just shock at what he had done. Ethan had broken him out of Loki's suggestions.

Bruce put the staff back down and looked across at the computer which had just bleeped. "Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick today."

He looked down at the tracking computer and said "oh my god."

As he said it the room exploded. Ethan was blown back, hitting something that felt almost solid which he realised must be Thor who destroyed the wall behind them as they were thrown into it. His whole body ached and groaned as he rolled off of Thor who had absorbed most of the blow. His ears wear ringing and he was covered in cuts from shrapnel in the room.

Groaning he stood up as Fury called through his earpiece. "Status report."

Hill yelled through it "engine three is down, someone needs to get in there to fix it."

"Stark you hear that?" Fury said.

"On it. Got Rogers with me." They had all been so angry with Fury a minute ago but now they were taking orders. They had voiced their anger and now they had to get back to work.

"Romanov, Jacobs? Report."

Ethan pressed the button on the ear piece and called into it "I'm ok, got Thor."

Nat's voice came through and it sounded painful, "I'm with Banner, we're OK."

Ethan turned to Thor who had gotten up "we have to get to Nat, Banner might let the Hulk loose and you are about the only one who can stand up to him."

Ethan took off down the hallway and Thor followed him close behind. As they turned the corner they heard an echoing roar which caused Thor and Ethan to skid to a stop. The Hulk had gotten free.

"Nat" Ethan mumbled to himself and started running even faster than he had been. They must be in the maintenance areas at the bottom of the ship. Ethan followed the sounds of explosions and roaring. As they ducked down narrow gangways Ethan started to see a smashed path and prayed that Nat had managed to get out of the way.

Ethan turned a corridor to see the Hulk running down it smashing the glass screens, he could just make out Nat running infront of him. He was massive, green and running really fast. Ethan could see why it was one of the only things Nat was afraid of.

Ethan started running towards the Hulk, flicking his wrists to extend his gauntlets as he ran. The Hulk managed to catch up to Nat and hit her, causing her to fly through the air and hit a wall. Ethan ran even faster as he turned to face her, ready to land a killing blow and as he got close he jumped up and pushed off a pipe that was sticking horizontally out of the wall.

He yelled out "Thor" as he punched the Hulk across the face. The blow caused a massive crunching sound and The Hulk stumbled backwards. The gauntlets had added enough onto his strength to push him away.

Ethan stood in front on Nat and held up his arms, the Hulk roared at him but before he could move closer he was intercepted by Thor who flew into him and caused the two of them to crash into the hanger bay.

Ethan turned to Nat who was sitting up but shaking. Ethan knelt down in front of her and said "it's ok, he's gone." She looked up at him but still shook slightly.

Ethan heard Fury's voice call through his earpiece, "we've got hostiles moving towards engine two."

Ethan tapped on his ear and said "I've got them." He pressed the button again and then looked at Nat and said "you gonna be ok?"

She nodded at him slightly so Ethan took of running, going in the opposite direction to the sound of the loud fight between Thor and The Hulk.

As Ethan climbed up through the Carrier he found out what had happened. They had been attacked by a Quinjet, which had to be Barton. As Ethan turned a corridor he saw a pack of SHIELD soldiers making their way down the corridor with the guns raised towards him.

Ethan ducked back around the corner as they started shooting him. The hostiles must be wearing their gear. Ethan extended his left gauntlet and pulled out his gun with the other hand. He breathed out hard before jumping around the corner, spinning in the air and pulling the trigger twice, dropping the first two guards who fell back into the people behind them.

Ethan pushed his gun back into its holster as he landed on one knee and extended his second gauntlet. He ran forward and put them infront of his face where a few bullets pinged off before he was upon the group.

Ethan jumped and grabbed the neck of the first man, snapping it as he slid over his shoulder and kicked the man behind him. He then turned and punched the third man in the stomach, feeling it burst underneath his hand. He then uppercutted the man causing the front part of his head to disintegrate. The fourth man was dropped when Ethan blasted a shotgun round into his chest and the fifth man turned to run.

At least he had the right idea but Ethan flicked his gauntlets closed and pulled an electrodisk from his watch and threw it at the retreating man who fell to the ground shaking. Ethan walked over to him and stamped his foot down on the man's face. The skull cracked under his boot and the man on the ground instantly died.

Ethan heard Fury's voice over the radio. "A medical team just called it, Agent Coulson is dead."

Ethan felt his heart skip a beat. He had to be wrong, Coulson couldn't be dead. Ethan started running to Loki's cage and burst into the room to find Coulson dead on the ground, stabbed in the back. He had a massive gun in his lap.

Ethan sank to his knees next to Coulson's body. He felt empty inside, his heart was beating in an empty socket. Ethan reached across and closed Coulson's eyes. Coulson had been one of the only stable elements of Ethan's new life. Being his handler couldn't have been easy and yet Coulson had been there for him. Loki had gone to far now, he had stepped over the line and Ethan would destroy him for it.

Ethan stood up and locked eyes with Fury. His eyes matched his name in a very rare show of emotion and Ethan knew that his own eyes echoed the feeling.

"We're going to find him and then I'm going to end him for this." Ethan said with rage pumping acid into his voice. Coulson had been the person who was always there for him. Who helped him through missions and had listened to his problems.

Ethan walked away from the body and walked down to the infirmary. His chest still felt empty, the void left behind by Coulson's death was almost overwhelming. There were only two people Ethan felt he could be around right now as they were the ones who relied on Coulson just like him.

Ethan stumbled over the two of them in an infirmary room, Nat and Clint. Ethan had found out the Clint had been freed from Loki's control by Nat whilst he was fighting the group of men. Ethan slid open the door and walked in.

Nat and Clint were sitting next to each other on the bed. Clint looked meekly up at him as he came "Hey Ethan." His voice was horse but warm. They had gotten Clint back.

Ethan fell against the wall and slid down it. "He's the first person, the first that person that I've lost who I cared about. I just feel so angry inside and so hollow. What are we meant to do now?"

Nat leaned forward on the bed and said "we are meant to carry on and finish the mission. Coulson wouldn't have had it any other way."

Ethan nodded. Nat was right, they had to finish the job to make sure that Coulson didn't die for nothing. He looked up at the two super assassins. "How are you feeling Clint?"

"Haven't quite processed everything that happened yet but I'm getting there. I'm sorry for what happened in Germany, I felt like I was going to kill you."

"It doesn't matter now, I know what it's like not to be able to control yourself." Ethan said but Clint furiously shook his head.

"No it's not ok. I was out there, trying to kill you all and help Loki whilst you were hear uniting a team to stop him. I don't even know what would have happened if you weren't here Ethan. Half of them would have torn eachother apart. I don't know how you can do it."

"I barely did anything, I just said that Fury wanted to control us."

Ethan was surprised him by saying "You did more than that. You showed us what really mattered, that saving lives is what we do and that's what we have to do now."

Ethan's communicator bleeped and he looked at it to show that he was requested up on the bridge. "You two stay here and get cleaned up, I will go and help Steve figure out what to do next."

Ethan left the room, he felt that Nat and Clint needed some private time. They were close, closer than Ethan could quite understand and they had to talk some things through. As Ethan walked onto the bridge he looked around and could feel the somber mood in the atmosphere. They had been attacked at home and their own had been killed.

Stark and Steve were sitting at a table in deep thought, Ethan tapped Steve's shoulder as he sat into the chair next to him. Fury walked towards them as he pulled something out of his jacket.

"These were in Coulson's jacket, I guess he never did get a chance to ask you to sign them." Fury threw a pack of cards on the table that were spotted with blood. Steve leaned in and picked them up, his face was plastered over them.

"We're dead in the water up here. we've lost all communications, the location of the cube. Banner. Thor. Lost my one good eye." Fury's voice broke slightly, "maybe I had that coming."

"Yes we were going to build an Arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, called the Avengers Initiative. To bring together the worlds strongest heroes to fight the battles we can't. Phil Coulson died believing in that dream."

They all sat in silence. So Fury had finally played his hand. They were the to be an army. Soldiers to save the world. Ethan felt sick inside, the world rested on their collective shoulders and he wasn't sure if he was ready for it. Ethan stood up quickly and stumbled out of the room.

He ran down the corridors, trying to out run his feelings but they still stayed with him. Ethan eventually found himself for inside the prison where the cage containing Loki had been. He stumbled forward and sat down on the edge of the walkway with his legs dangling of the edge.

It felt odd to be sitting here, less than ten meters away from where Coulson died and he wasn't sure if he could do the job Coulson had expected him to do. Ethan turned his head as Steve came into the room and leaned on the railing next to him.

"I know what you are thinking Ethan. That you can't do this, but you're wrong and I think you know that inside. You are one of the most capable people I've ever met. You grew up in a horrible place but you managed to leave that behind to come and do good. You saved the world twice in a row and then you found a girl who loves you. You went to Paris and stopped what your father was doing and you managed to put an end to one of the biggest smuggling rings in Europe. You even managed to convince a room of the most powerful and volatile people on the planet to see that maybe we could fight for good."

Ethan sighed and said "when you say it like that I sound heroic or something but it never felt that way. I may have convinced that room that we should work together but it's going to be you who leads us Steve. Your the only one we all will trust, you are just so... Incorruptible."

Both of them looked around as Stark walked in, "he's right you know. Cap you may be an idiot sometimes but the kid's not wrong about you being a good leader. We all know that you won't be Fury's lapdog and you may be a half good tactician if my father was right."

Steve looked across at the blood splatter and asked, "did he have anyone."

Stark said "there was a cellist I think." Ethan didn't know that. His heart pulled itself nearly out of his chest as he thought about the people Phil was leaving behind, himself included.

Steve turned to Stark and said "maybe you are right but now we need to put away any differences that we may-"

Stark cut him off and said "he made it personal."

Steve said "that's not the point." Ethan could see a glint in Stark's eyes, he was on to something and Ethan stood up. An energy was flowing through him, he was ready to fight now.

"No that is the point, that was Loki's point. He hit us all where we live but why?" Tony said looking around the room frantically.

"To tear us apart, or at least attempt to." Steve responded.

"Yeah divide and conquer is great and all but he knows he has to take us out to win. He wants to beat us and he want to be seen doing it. He wants and audience. He wants the grande finale... He wants a giant monument with his name plaster-" Stark's eyes suddenly grew, he knew where Loki was! "Son of a bitch."

It suddenly snapped in Ethan's mind as well. Stark tower, it was perfect. Loki could destroy the world from the home of the only known Avenger and the Ark reactor there was the perfect way to quick start the cube.

Panic shot through Ethan. An alien army was going to invade New York and they had to stop them. Ethan pulled out his communicator but he couldn't connect to the SHIELD communication net as the carriers communication rig was still down, maybe he could piggyback onto a cell network closer to the city. Amy was still in the city and she was now in danger and Ethan couldn't let that happen.

Ethan jumped up "We have to get there, thousands of people will die and Amy is still in the city."

Steve nodded and said "You two go get ready, I will get Barton and Romanov. Stark you fly ahead and try and stop the portal. Ethan you try and contact Thor and get him to rendezvous with us there."

Ethan ran out the room and down to his lab. Once he was there he pulled on his combat vest and slipped his gun into its holster and pulled his staff across his shoulder. He then loaded up on several knives that slipped into different slots. Ethan even pulled a few grenades of a shelf, you never know when they could come in handy. Finally he grabbed a small device off his main workbench. As he walked out of the container Ethan pulled up his hood. He was ready to kill.

After Ethan had put on an entire armoury he ran up to the main launch deck. It was freezing and the air was thin but Ethan just ran across the deck and threw the small device he had picked up of the edge. As it fell the small cylinder sprouted wings and started to fly through the air.

Ethan connected to it from his communicator and sent it to the coordinates as a small electrical storm that SHIELD had detected a few minutes ago that was only a few miles behind them. It had to be Thor and Ethan had a little care package for him.

The drone could move very fast and would arrive in less than five minutes so Ethan barely had to wait before his communicator bleeped and saw Thor through the drones nose camera. He fired a small dart out of the drone and keyed in a command. Returning to base flashed across his screen and he put away his communicator.

Ethan now pressed his earbud and said "Thor are you reading this?" Ethan had set up a private communication grid that just included the Avengers. Inside the cylinder that Ethan had fired had been an earbud and a little note that told Thor to put it on.

"I am hearing your voice Ethan. It's is good to hear you." Thor said in a gruff voice.

"Yeah same here. Stark figured out where Loki is. He's going to open a portal at Stark tower over New York, you need to get there now." Ethan said fast.

"Thank you young one, I will see you there." Thor said and Ethan heard a rush of air before the line went dark.

"Triton here, can anyone else hear me?" Ethan said into his earpiece. He had switched to his code name now, he preferred it when he was out on a mission.

"Reading you loud and clear buster." Clint said over the radio and Ethan swore under his breath quietly as a Quinjet rose infront of him. The back ramp was down and Ethan saw Steve standing inside holding a strap on the ceiling. Ethan darted forward and took a running leap off the edge. He felt a stab of fear flow through him as he saw the ground far below him but that quickly faded as he landed inside the jet.

The moment Ethan was inside the ramp pulled up and they powered away. Clint called from the cockpit "Nice of you to drop in" but he yelped at Nat hit him.

"Such a cliche, Ethan come and take the stick. I need to get contact with Stark going." She called to him.

Ethan jogged across the plane and switched out with Nat who was the copilot. She started tapping at a screen.

Steve stood behind him as Ethan checked the weapons systems onboard. "You really tooled up didn't you" Steve said.

Clint laughed and looked at Ethan, "yeah I count at least five knives and four grenades."

Ethan laughed aswell and said "You never know when a grenade will come in handy, and there is another knife in my boot as well."

Steve sat backdown behind him and as Ethan saw the city skyline on the horizon he pulled out his communicator and connected to a network.

As soon as he was connected he pressed Amy's number and called her. She picked up with seconds. "Ethan oh thank god it's you."

Ethan said frantically "Amy where are you? Are you still in New York?"

"Of course I am, I'm at HQ and we are getting some strange reports from midtown. There's a light above Stark Tower flashing into the sky and Iron Man is there. Apparently there is a portal in the sky and things are coming through it."

Ethan felt tension in his chest, "Amy, it's started. You have to try and get somewhere safe. Get out of the city or go deeper into HQ. There must be somewhere secure."

"I'll go down to the labs, they are pretty secure but Ethan what's going on?" Amy said with fear in her voice.

"It's an alien invasion. I'm inbound with Steve, Nat and Clint. We are going to stop them." Ethan said matter of factly.

"Oh god Ethan. You are just a few people. How can you stop an invasion?" Amy said

"We are the only ones who stand a chance. Now I love you so you have to stay safe. You hear me." Ethan said with pain in his voice.

"I love you Ethan, I love you so much." She said with deep emotion rippling through her voice.

"I love you to, now I'll see you soon ok." Ethan said and turned her off before it became too painful not to hear her voice. He turned to Barton, "what about Laura and the kids? Are they going to be safe?" Ethan said but Clint didn't look afraid.

"No they are fine, the moment I was compromised Fury moved them, they are in the Midwest somewhere. It was a contingency plan we roughed out one day incase I was ever turned. I'll go find them after this is all over." He said calmly but Ethan heard pain in his voice as well.

Ethan watched infront of him at the explosions that could be clearly seen from the city. Small ships were darting around and shooting bolts of blue energy that would explode on impact. Ethan also saw the large portal where they were coming from, it was a writhing blue mass in the sky and as Ethan watched it a huge monster seemed to swim through the air out of it. It looked like a cross between a whale and a turtle and it carried a massive shell on its back.

Nat managed to get contact with Stark as they flew through the city. "Stark we are incoming, do you read us?"

Stark's voice came through loud through the speakers. "What, did you stop for drive through? Hurry up, I'm lining them up for you on Park."

Ethan flipped switches on the control panel and and a targeting reticule appeared on the windscreen in front of him as a large calibre Gatling gun lowered under the nose of the jet. Clint manoeuvred them down a road with tall buildings on both sides and Ethan saw a orange streak fly past the end of the road quickly followed by several of the hoverscooters. The reticule lined up with them as they flew passed and Ethan pressed down hard on the button at the back of the joystick.

The first bike exploded as the chain gun fired hundreds of bullets in the few seconds that Ethan fired for closely followed by the next six that came flying past, the debris raining down on the street below. Stark's voice came through the speakers again after Ethan had destroyed the ships following him saying "You better get up to the tower, Thor is fighting Loki up there."

Clint pushed the stick up and they flew straight up, narrowly missing the top of Grand Central Station. They flew around the tower as they climbed it with Clint avoiding the bolts of blew energy that where being fired at them and Ethan shot down a few more ships that were flying towards them.

As they reached the top Clint pulled them out a bit and they got a clear view of Thor and Loki fighting. Both of them were brutally thrusting and smashing with huge amounts of power in their attacks. Ethan span up the gun as Loki turned towards them with his staff outstretched. Ethan managed to shout "look-" before a blue bolt of energy shot from the end and hit one of their engines.

The ship was blasted back and Ethan grabbed the stick, helping Clint keep them level. Ethan looked around out of the front viewscreen and pointed at a square that looked empty and yelled "There."

Clint pushed the stick and managed to pull them out of their spin just long enough for them to crash land straight into the ground. Concrete broke under the nose and shards of rock flew out to the side of them. Ethan rubbed the back of his neck after they had stopped, it had jarred painfully as they landed and pain coursed through it. He quickly followed Clint out of the cockpit and Steve had lowered the back ramp and the four of them ran out into the square. People were running away from Stark tower all around them, some even stopped to look at the four of them running the opposite way.

"We have to get back up there," Steve called to the rest of them but they had to duck behind a pillar as a patrol of ships flew over their heads and blasted the cars behind them. They were on the raised freeway and Ethan saw the people scurrying around below them, trying to get out of the line of fire.

Nat was looking at the front ship and said "Loki." He must of had enough fighting Thor because he seemed to have jumped onto the ship. Two of the aliens jumped off a building and landed in front of them. Ethan pulled out his Glock as fast as lightning and loosened off two shots into their heads causing both of them to fall down.

The four of them ran over to the dead bodies and Ethan saw a humanoid shape but with a scary insect like face that had small beady eyes and sharp teeth. Steve was looking over the edge of the freeway and saw the people trapped in the shops below them. About five or six blocks down a group of police cars were trapped and the police we trying to shoot down the ships.

"There are people trapped down there, I need to get the police rallied and moving. Can you hold them off up here?" Steve said with authority in his voice.

More of the aliens were dropping in front of them and they were pulling out large energy guns. Clint raised his bow and looked at Steve. "Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." He said as he loosed and arrow into the front Chitauri. The arrowhead opened up and sprayed out bullets that dropped the closest three or four.

Ethan pulled his hood down further over his face and pulled his staff from across his shoulder. Pressing his palm across the central button Ethan pressed down and the pole extended to its full length. A blue shot came from behind them as Ethan spun around to see that another squadron of ten aliens had dropped behind them and were closing on a group of cars that still had people hiding inside of them.

Ethan pointed at the aliens that Clint was firing at and yelled "You two deal with them, I've got that lot." Nat nodded and Ethan turned and started running. He jumped on the bonnet of a yellow taxi and jumped from car to car in huge leaps. The aliens were firing bolts at him but he moved to quickly for them to hit him. It was better for them to be firing at him than the cars with defenceless people inside.

As the first alien came in range Ethan jumped off the final car and spun in the air, smashing his staff into the alien's face causing the skull to whip round and crack. Ethan landed in a roll and shot past the first alien that was collapsing to the floor and swept out the legs of the second alien before bringing his foot down on its face. Juice flew up as Ethan's foot hit the pavement beneath what used to be a head.

There was another alien infront of him but a group of three behind had formed a line like a classic firing squad so Ethan jumped over the closest aliens head and pulled his staff across its neck and twisted it around so it was between him and the front line of enemies. Bolts fired into the thing's chest and left huge holes. Ethan broke its neck just to be sure and dropped off it again to roll towards the firing line and brought his staff up between the first alien's legs.

There must have been something there as its eyes widened and it fell to the floor clutching its crotch but Ethan had already spun his staff around and obliterated the second one's head before the second one had started to fall. Ethan brought his staff down on the third one's arm causing it to screech before he hit it in the stomach causing it to fly back where it was impaled on a jagged edge of a burnt out car chassis.

Ethan crunched the first alien's neck who was on the ground and turned back to the cars, breathing deeply from the sudden activity. Ethan put his staff back in its holster and ran over to the first car and pulled the door open, inside a woman cowered beneath the steering wheel and Ethan pulled her up. "Come on, you have to get out of here." He pointed at a nearby emergency stairwell that would lead back to ground level and she started running for it.

Other people followed as they saw the coast was clear and Ethan shepherded them out even as more aliens landed behind them. Ethan yelled out for everyone to get down and pulled out his gun as blue bolts flew above his head. Ethan loosened of a few shots back and the first line of aliens fell. The second row were dropped by shots from behind Ethan and he turned to see Nat firing at them.

Ethan and her ran back down the line of cars as the final few people escaped from the section Ethan had just been in and found Clint pinned down from heavy fire from at least eight Chitauri. Ethan slid beneath a large trailer baseball style and pulled an electrodisk from his watch as he slid. On the other side of the trailer he threw the disk at the closest alien before pushing of the ground and double kicking the alien next to the first one.

The alien that Ethan kicked flew backwards into two that where standing behind it and they were both executed by Nat who shot them between the eyes. Ethan ducked behind a taxi as the Chitauri closed in on them again with wild shots flying above his head.

Ethan dashed back down the road away from the aliens and dodged from side to side to make himself a difficult target and pulled out a knife from his belt. Ethan jumped over a taxi and rolled in the air, throwing the knife into the throat of the front alien.

Ethan landed hard on the ground, his face pressed a few inches away from the floor. He had landed next to Clint who was firing arrows at the Chitauri, pushing them back. Ethan pointed at a bus that he could see had people trapped inside of it. The door had been blocked by a car pushing into it and Ethan saw that it was mostly school children on board.

Two aliens were running around the side of it and one pulled off a grenade from its belt to throw into the bus. Ethan had to act fast and jumped forward, pushing off the ground using his staff Ethan leaped high into the air. Ethan twirled his staff above his head and pressed down on a new button.

A small whirring sound hummed at the end of the staff and the final foot of staff on both ends split open and pulled back, revealing a wicked looking steel blade that had a razor sharp edge and fierce point. Ethan twisted the staff in the air and he landed on the chest of the first alien, the top blade sliding through the face of the alien like butter. The alien fell backwards and Ethan twirled the staff, ripping through the face of the alien and sliced the second's head in half from the top to the chin.

The idea had come to him after he had upgraded the staff with Thor's Mithril because Ethan needed something sharp to cut through the destroyer if he ever came back.

"Cover me!" Ethan yelled to Barton and Nat who immediately stood up and started firing at the alien mass, pushing them back and focusing their attack on the two agents. Ethan managed to get to the side of the coach and smashed the window on the side. He pushed a car out of the way and motioned for the people to get out. "Come on, you have to get out of here."

The first person of the bus was a big man who started having the smaller kids passed down to him. Ethan stood at the corner, peering around at the aliens down the street, managing to peg a few that were trying to sneak around with his Glock.

Ethan turned back to the man who had four or five small children around him, "Go. Get down to street level," Ethan said whilst pointing at the maintenance stairway. The man looked hesitant but Ethan just glared at him and he seemed to decide not to argue. Ethan managed to pull open the middle doorway and the people streamed off the bus and off the freeway.

Once they had all managed to get out Ethan ran back to join Nat and Clint who were getting pushed back, Clint getting slammed to the floor by an alien before he stabbed it with an arrow though Nat seemed to have figured out how the alien guns fire as she managed to blast one with the energy.

Just as another wave of aliens landed a shield suddenly flew from below them and killed three of them before Captain America jumped up next to them and pulled his shield out of a corpse. Suddenly the next group of aliens were all electrocuted as lightning rained down upon them and Thor dropped next to them.

They all walked forward and Steve asked "What's the news upstairs?"

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable" Thor said darkly. Ethan knelt down and pulled out the knives that were in his boots and put them in his belt to replace the ones he had lost before he checked his staff to make sure it was still working.

Stark's voice chimed in through the radio saying "Yeah and these things aren't letting up."

Nat turned to face Steve and asked "how do we do this?" She looked dirty but her eyes were full of energy.

"As a team." Steve said simply. Ethan felt a stab of pride run through him as he looked around at them all. Here they were, saving the world. Steve turned to look up and pointed at the sky "We've got Stark up top." But he was cut off by a motorbike that roared near them.

Ethan whipped around to see Bruce stopping just near them. He dismounted the bike and walked slowly towards them. Ethan walked forward and punched Banner lightly on the arm. "You had us for a minute but I knew you weren't dead." Ethan pressed his earpiece and said "Stark, Banner turned up."

"Well tell him to suit up, I'm bringing the party to you." Tony said with a small stab at humour. They all turned to the end of the avenue where Stark had just flown around the corner, closely followed by the giant turtle monster that smashed through the skyscraper on the corner.