**Thanks for the reviews, and please keep them coming! Enjoy!**
"Cloudy day," Steve commented, taking a sip of the black coffee. He never complained about the dreck that SHIELD called coffee, but then again, he never complained about anything.
Tony looked up briefly from whatever device he was fiddling with. "How long has it been now?"
"Three weeks." Bruce's tone was flat, but he was concerned about the lack of communication. Thor had made it plain that they had better things to do than give daily reports, but they had all assumed that the Asgardians would at least send one message to convey the state of affairs. Clearly they were mistaken, from the continuing silence on that end.
"Have we ever tried that thing out?" Steve turned from the window to nod at the device which Thor had completed so effortlessly with Mjolnir.
"Nope." Tony stood up and came over to the table. "Although I have thought about it, particularly after a few glasses of scotch. However, if I did that, I have no doubt that Fury would no longer allow it to reside here," he swept his hand to take in the expanse of Stark Laboratories-" and would insist it be hidden under whatever passes for maximum security these days. I had to allow their technicians to corrupt Jarvis before they'd allow me to keep it here."
"And it only took you two hours to undo it, sir," Jarvis piped up from the wall, at which Tony grinned.
"You don't really think that's all they insisted on, do you?" Bruce drawled, and threw his eyes at Captain Rogers, who merely raised an eyebrow coolly.
"Just because I agreed to be here does not mean I don't appreciate your insights into sneakery and skullduggery," Steve replied, turning his gaze to Tony. "I just don't have to agree to participate myself."
"We're having a bad influence on him," Tony said with a nod. "So shall we push the button?" His finger hovered over it, and then the air was rent by a terrible screaming sound, a wail that sounded inhuman. All three of them saw a dark shape streak by the window outside, and a loud explosion.
"Push the button." Bruce said, then slammed Tony's hand downward before Tony could react.
"Put on the suit!" Steve Rogers snapped, grabbing his bag.
"Jarvis! Mark VIII, stat!" Tony cried, another explosion rending the air.
"Why is it always New York?" Steve muttered, wrestling himself into his suit without regard for the other two.
"Why do you guys take so long getting ready?" Bruce growled, his fingers flexing as the green rippled across him and his clothes exploded across the room. He didn't wait for permission, merely crashed out the window, taking one of the dark wraiths downward with him.
Tony was keeping an eye on the Asgardian device, watched as a man's face swam into view. He had dark skin and piercing yellow eyes. "Hey! We've got a problem here on Midgard, don't suppose you can send some assistance?" he said sharply as the pieces of the newest version of the suit were clicking into place.
"Man of Iron, we are still without a Bifrost. Describe the creatures to me."
Steve took another look out the window and saw a teeming mass of them crawling over the Hulk, who was fighting them off as much as he could. "Dark, sort of shapeless, hard to catch!" He paused to see Tony's facial shields assembling. "You ready yet Stark?"
"I will notify Odin. We will try, Midgardians."
"Thanks. Hope I can talk to you again when we've sent 'em packing," Tony said, slamming his faceplate down. "Sorry for the wedgie, Captain." Tony grabbed Steve and flew out the window, the connection to Asgard closing from Heimdall's end.
It was complete chaos outside. Underground power transformers were blowing for no reason, making the lower floors of buildings darker.
"Where are they coming from?" Rogers yelled after they had cleared the wraiths away from the Hulk, who paused momentarily.
"There." Tony pointed, then fired at an oncoming wraith. It split apart in front of them, seven separate tendrils peeling apart and passing around them. Captain America turned and watched it reform itself, continuing on to wreak havoc on the city.
"Stark, where are you?" Tony heard through his headpiece.
"Saks Fifth Avenue—where the hell do you think we are, Romanoff?" Tony shouted, blasting away with increasing frequency. "These things reform themselves, we've got to find a better strategy!"
"Let's see if we can help you with that," Natasha said, passing over in a helicopter and allowing Barton to drop with a level thud to the ground.
"Gentlemen," Hawkeye said, sending one arrow that took out six wraiths at once.
"Great, we can slow them down, but what the hell are we going to do to STOP them?" Rogers shouted, using his shield to decapitate or otherwise maim two of them. The pieces floated off, and more were rushing forward.
Natasha let loose with automatic gunfire from the Blackhawk, and it shattered about thirty of the things. As before, the tendrils wafted away, to reform elsewhere and go about their destruction.
"We've got to get the civilians out of here!" Steve shouted, seeing that the wraiths were beginning to attack the citizens.
"Agreed," Tony shouted, trying to spot the Hulk. "We've also got to get the Green Machine out of the line of fire—look at that!" He took off in the Hulk's direction without being asked, as Hawkeye paused to take a good look at what was happening.
The Hulk was being swarmed by the creatures, and they were being beaten off by the Hulk, but then there would be a flash and Bruce was standing there naked, before they fell on him again and he transformed again.
"What the hell is going on?" Steve said incredulously.
"Holy shit," Hawkeye said, and Natasha's voice flared through his headpiece. "I'll help Stark. You two see about getting the civilians moving, now! We have to find a defensible position."
Startled out of their reverie by the sound of the helicopter's wings, the men swung back into action, working back toward the remedial line that was trying to be scratched out by the National Guard and the military. They worked hard to protect the civilians, shattering wraith after wraith with the same effect. It bought them time, nothing more, and as more of them filled the air it began to make little difference.
Then he saw one feeding on a civilian. The man's face was unforgettable after the Captain dispatched his attacker to the ether, where it reformed and sought another target.
"They are killing their victims," he choked out harshly, turning away from the dead body to try to stop the next one. "I don't know what they're doing, but it's not pretty."
Hawkeye nodded and refocused his attention on the oncoming wave. "We've got to get the civilians safe, Captain."
"I know that," Captain America gritted out, then threw himself into the fray with renewed vigor. "Let's make it happen."
Above there was little doubt that the Hulk was in trouble. He was flashing back and forth so quickly now that Natasha doubted he would last. "Stark! Draw their attention away from him!"
"At your service, Black Widow," Tony said, then used his laser to cut through several of the wraiths above the Hulk. Unexpectedly, this drew their attention to him en masse.
"Um, Romanoff, I think that was a bit too successful," Tony said, zipping away at full thrust as they gave chase.
"Sir, there are twenty-six in pursuit," Jarvis said with his imperturbable calm.
"Romanoff, you gotten Banner onto your copter yet?" Tony asked, zipping around buildings with an alacrity the old suit had never possessed. Good thing too, the creatures were fast.
"They are gaining, sir."
"Thanks for the weather report, Jarvis. Put your considerable brainpower to hypothesizing why my laser drew their attention so fast," Tony snapped, his own brain already racing through the possibilities.
"Bruce, come on buddy," Natasha huffed, helping the nearly unconscious doctor to his feet. "I'm here to help you, Banner, but you need to put one foot in front of the other before your friends come back."
Slowly he shuffled along, Natasha keeping an eye on the skies all the while. It was only a minute, but it felt like an eternity until she got him into the chopper and levered herself back to the controls. "I've got Banner. I'm taking off."
"Ah, well, good, because when you get a minute I could use a hand," Tony said. "Actually, twenty-six of them." He turned and fired both hands quickly before resuming his race, sending two off but leaving him with too many to handle.
"Got too many admirers, Stark?" Natasha quipped, her eyes focused on the skies and looking for his telltale flash.
"They'd like a piece of my ass, literally."
Hawkeye was running low on arrows and Captain America was running low on patience. "We've got to find a better way to fight these things. This isn't working."
"You think?" Hawkeye tossed back, aiming and taking out another one that was trying to slide by toward the line they were managing to hold with the Army and National Guard. Guns were roaring left, right, and center, but they were due for another fallback in about three minutes or less.
"Have the civilians been taken onto the trains yet?" Steve shouted to an Army captain who was coordinating communications.
"They are sending the trains as fast as possible through the subways, sir. There have been some disruptions from-" he was interrupted by the boom of an exploding underground transformer-"power supply disruptions."
"Many more of those and those civilians will be running instead of riding," Hawkeye muttered. "Did Asgard say anything about reinforcements?"
Steve met Clint's blue eyes with a steely look in his own. "No."
"Any time now, Agent Romanoff," Tony said, performing a quick uplift right in front of some particularly ugly razor wire. "I'm in Queens now, Agent." As expected, several of the wraiths were shredded and vanished.
"I've got you," Natasha said, bringing her guns to life again as Tony raced by. "Hang on Dr. Banner, this is going to be rough." The wraiths shivered around the craft, tossing it to and fro as their energies, or whatever it was, slapped through the air with a violence that was hardly the gentle passing of air currents.
"Shit," Natasha said as the rotors seized. "We're going down!"
"Can't help!" Tony shouted, putting an extra kick on with three creatures on his tail. "Jarvis, reorient that laser to the rear, now!"
"Yes, sir."
Hawkeye and the Captain were falling back with the rest of the troops when several loud booms sounded and the power died across several blocks. The wraiths that were attempting to whiz overhead stopped their forward progress and vanished into the shadows between the buildings.
"That's not good," Hawkeye said, and the Captain nodded his agreement, not taking his eyes off the frontlines.
"What is that?"
A large black wave was advancing toward the southern part of the island, sweeping across the ocean like a haboob in the Sudan.
"I don't want to find out. Run!"
Their feet hit the ground as the first buildings were swallowed.
Tasha shook the nearly unconscious Banner in the seat next to her, the helicopter spinning crazily, the rear rotor not enough to keep it aloft. "Bruce, if the other guy doesn't show up, we're going to die right now!"
She worked the controls viciously, the stick feeling like it was stuck in rubber cement, the large top rotors almost ceasing their motion. She glanced out the window, no safe landing spot to be had, no chance to jump clear. The earth was rushing up at a crazy angle when she was literally ripped from the machine and pulled skyward, green arms catching her, chair frame and all, and rolling as they landed hard on a building roof, the Hulk skidding through the pebbles and partway through the brick wall at the top. Before she could blink, his form changed again and Banner shoved her off him weakly.
"You're welcome," he whispered, putting his head down on the roof.
"Thanks for hearing me," she said in a daze, shaking her head to clear it.
A couple of blocks away, Tony had never loved the sound of his AI's voice as much as when he said, "The laser modifications are completed."
"Thank God," he said, feeling one of the creatures grab hold of his foot. He deployed the weapon, hearing the hiss as whatever the creatures were composed of was split by the laser beam. He cut it off quickly, not wanting any more new friends.
"Romanoff, where are you?" Tony chirped, and Natasha pulled herself up to stand and get her bearings.
"Somewhere near 75th and Adams…I see the Fleischer Doughnut sign," she said. "Uh, Stark—southern horizon. Hurry!"
"Shit." Tony put on the afterburners, spotted them on the building.
"Hang on," he said, reaching down and grabbing each of them by the arm and taking off. The cloud was behind them, the booms of buildings going down leaving little doubt of their fate if they lingered.
"That…that's not good," Bruce said, watching the entire lower half of Manhattan getting destroyed as they flew.
"No shit, Sherlock," Tony said. "Let's hope Hawkeye and the Captain are out of there…damn it." Tony banked hard and raced toward Stark Tower.
"What are you doing?" Natasha shrieked, but Bruce realized what Tony was after.
"I can grab it!" he shouted, and Tony nodded inside the mask. He swooped all three through the Lab, Bruce's hand grabbing the device from the counter as they crashed through the opposite window, the black front less than thirty feet away.
"Get us clear!" Natasha shouted as the buildings started to shudder.
"Yes ma'am," Tony drawled, heading toward Vermont. "Let's hope we can get clear of it."
As they headed off and watched the entire island being consumed, this was a pertinent question.