Shots flew passed her head and she spun out of the way, glancing back over her shoulder. Turning and flying backwards, she released a huge stream of water, knocking the two Chitauri planes from the sky.
Suddenly hearing a roar of a motor beside her, Sam flinched and covered her face with her hands as she prepared for the blow that was expected to come.
However, when nothing happened, she opened her eyes to find the Iron Man suit flying beside her.
"Jeeze, Stark. You need to warn me next time you sneak up on me like that!" He just chuckled as he continued to fly beside her. "If you haven't noticed, we are being invaded by hoards of aliens and no offense, but you could kinda pass as one of them!" She growled in agitation, finding it hard to believe that he was so calm in a situation like the one that they were in.
"Hey, Sam. You know what? If we didn't bicker so much, I think that we could actually be friends." He suddenly told her and she quickly turned her head to look over at him. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing else for the moment. "What?" Stark said, seeing her eyes upon him. "I'm serious!" He protested.
She only shook her head in disbelief. "We are really talking about this right now?" She said as she suddenly banked upwards as a Chitauri hovercraft came flying at them.
Both Tony and Sam fired upon the vehicle, causing the thing to explode in a cloud of metal and smoke.
"I don't see a better time not to!" Stark said as Sam flew back down at his side. "Disasters really bring people together!" He claimed as he suddenly fired over her back, destroying another ship that was trying to attack them. "Anyway, Sam. You need to get back to the Tesseract and figure out how to shut it off. You're smart. You know physics stuff. Shut it down."
"Alright." She said before turning off and heading back to Stark Tower. Her brow remained furrowed though as she thought about Stark's words. Maybe he really did want to be friends with her.
Dropping down out of the sky unto the top of the tower, she saw that Selvig was slowly hauling himself up from the ground.
"Dr. Selvig! I'm here to shut off the machine!" She yelled over the roar of the portal as she rushed over.
Reaching outwards, she touched the force field and hissed in pain when an unfriendly shock jolted her fingers.
Pulling her hand away, she shook it out before assessing the damage, only to find her fingertips blackened slightly.
How am I ever supposed to get through the force field? She thought to herself, her eyes trailing up the blue energy that was creating the huge portal above.
Without warning, another small wave of energy wafted off the machine, causing Sam's headache to throb painfully.
Why would it always do that when she was around? Why did she always get headaches around the Cube? Why could she never think straight when it was nearby?
"Agent Barton, have you seen anything that could set off the cube?" Fury glanced over at his agent who was following beside him and the female as they began to walk back towards the cube.
Barton rested his eyes upon their newest female companion and Sam felt her skin begin to prickle with nerves.
"No, everyone in the lab has been here for a while now and no one else outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been in here... Until now." He said and she could only swallow nervously.
"Brother, she is the key to everything. You and I could rule this sad world together, if we just used her..." An eerie smiled twitched at Loki's lips as he turned to gaze at her. Sam's hand began to shake and the orb soon began to grow heavy.
"See? Everyone craves power. Even the purest of hearts..." Purest of hearts. Purest of hearts. Pure.
Nearly swallowing her tongue, she turned and looked back to the machine as the memories continued to echo through her head, giving her the solution to shutting of the machine.
She was the key.
"God, I'm so stupid!" She screamed up at the sky, her hands clutching her head in anger.
"What?" Tony asked through the open com link and she could only shake her head in disbelief.
"It was right there in front of me the entire time!"
"What?"
"I. AM. THE. KEY." She yelled in frustration, nearly pulling her hair out as she explained to Stark what she had discovered. Stark gasped on the other end of the line, the pieces also beginning to fall into place for him.
"Your storms create pure and natural energy. If we could just harness that-"
"We could shut off the Tesseract." Sam interrupted Stark as she continued to gaze at the Cube as it turned inside the machine.
The line was silent for a moment. "Hey, Sammy? Kiddo?" Stark said quietly as if he were talking to a child.
"Yeah?"
"You're gonna have to get pissed."
Sam laughed out loud at this, thinking that the billionaire was joking with her but when the link was silent she also grew quiet. "Yeah, that's not going to happen..."
"We have to try something, kiddo. I've seen videos of what you can do and your storms will, without a doubt, make enough pure energy to break through the barrier."
"Tony... I can't. There's too many people that are going to get hurt if I-"
"SAM!" He shouted into the headset, silencing her entirely. "We have to try something. The longer the portal stays open, the more people are going to die. This is our only option."
"Stark... I just-I can't do it, alright? I'm not going to risk people's lives-"
"Samantha I-don't-know-your-middle-name Greene. Listen to me. I believe in you. You are stronger than your powers. You can do it."
"Okay." She breathed quietly, her hazel eyes locked on the machine. "I'll do it." She took a step towards the machine.
"Not yet!" She took a small step back in fear. "I'm going to put this nuke in it first!" She watched as the Iron Man suit zoomed up into the air, carrying a bomb along with it.
"Dr. Selvig!" Sam turned back to look at the doctor, tears filling her eyes, ashamed about what she was about to do. "Take cover!" She warned him and he nodded and ran into the building.
Looking back to the machine, she released a deep breath, her brows furrowing in concentration before she slowly shut her eyes.
Here goes nothing.
She let out another deep breath as she tried to clear her mind and focus in the powers inside of her.
Slowly opening her eyes, she blinked a few times, taking in the warm orange sky above her. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she stretched her arms out above her head and groaned.
Sitting up, she smiled as her eyes fell upon the setting sun, the only sound around her were the waves beating upon the sandy shore.
"You're awake." A deep voice rumbled from behind her.
Glancing over her shoulder, she watched as a familiar man approached. He was dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a dark gray t-shirt.
Sam swore she had seen his face before but any time she tried to place a name upon it, the letters seemed to escape her.
He came to stand behind her before he knelt down. Wrapping his thick arms around her waist, he settled in behind her. He buried his face into the crook of her neck and lightly kissed her tender skin there.
She only let out a content hum before she smiled and reached up, lightly stroking his bearded cheek. Rubbing his beard against the soft skin of her neck, she couldn't help but laugh and squirm slightly in his grip.
Pulling her back against his chest, he only brushed her hair out of her face before kissing her cheek, his lips lingering in that one place for a long time.
"I love you." He breathed yet Sam did not respond the way that she would have if someone else had said that to her.
She simply smiled as if she heard it often.
"I love you, too."
The man beamed and lowered his head towards hers until their lips connected in the gentlest of ways. The kiss was short but extremely sweet.
After pulling apart, she sighed and leaned back against his chest and together, they watched as the sun slowly lowered in the sky, perfectly content to just be in each other's presence.
When she opened her eyes, she felt completely and utterly refreshed. Looking down at her palms, she found that everything was still the same and she thought that it hadn't worked.
However, she suddenly felt her hair jostle about and when she raised her head, she found that storm clouds were raging wildly around her. The sky had also grown dark and thunder rumbled loudly around her.
Her eyes felt... different.
She felt as though she normally did when her powers were out of control, save for the fact that she was still in control of her body. She wasn't replaced with the fearsome thing that normally took over.
She did it. She had taken control of her powers.
She wasn't going to ask questions as to how she did it. In fact, thinking back to what had occurred, she had a hard time pulling the memories back, even if it was a dream.
Brushing off those thoughts, she raised her hands towards the sky and suddenly lightning flickered and shot down to strike her raised palms.
Watching with fascination, she watched as her arms began to glow a strange silver blue color as the natural energy seemed to cling to her body, yet she felt no pain.
Stepping towards the portal, she held her arms out, careful not to touch anything should she lose the gathered energy.
Flattening out her palms, she reached out towards the barrier. Watching with interest as her hands just seemed to slip inside the barrier, the energy began to roll off the Tesseract in waves as if it were trying to repel her.
Digging her feet down into the gravel on the roof, she pushed further into the barrier, determination causing her brows to furrow. Concentrating, she continued to push until she was elbow deep into the barrier.
Looking up, she watched as Stark suddenly disappeared into the portal.
"Sammy?" Stark's voice came through the headset.
"Yeah, Tony?" She replied and the billionaire couldn't help but feel proud that she had used his first name instead of his last. It made it feel like they were closer.
"I'm proud of you." The words caught her off guard and her eyes widened in confusion. Tony Stark? Proud of her?
As he disappeared inside the portal, his com buzzed with static and Sam knew that he was risking his life to save so many people.
His Iron Man suit was not meant to travel in space.
"Tony..." She murmured sadly as she searched the dark portal for any sign of the man in the suit.
"Close it, Sam." Steve commanded through the open com link as well.
"But what about Stark-"
"SAM! CLOSE IT!" He commanded and the woman hesitated for a moment as her eyes lowered back to gaze at the Tesseract.
She furrowed her brow and decided to listen to Steve for once. Gritting her teeth, she pushed further into the force field. Using what energy she had left, she once again pushed and was able to wrap her hands around the glowing Cube.
With a pained cry, she began to pull, the energy beginning to wear off and the force field becoming stronger.
Slowly but surely, the Tesseract began to move out of the center of the machine. Electricity began to run through her system as the pure energy began to wear off, leaving her defenseless against the powers of the Cube.
"Come on!" She hissed and with one final tug, the Tesseract was ripped free. The portal immediately shut down and began to collapse upon itself.
The force field imploded upon itself, sending Sam flying back into the hard gravel. Her hands were smoking and her fingers were charred as she rested the Cube on her stomach. Simply lying back for a moment, her breathing was shaky before she raised her head to see that the Tesseract was safely nestled in her powerful hands.
However, she laid her head back down from exhaustion and she closed her eyes, the temporary energy leaving her system.
The clouds above and around her began to dissipate, revealing the brilliant sun that shown down from above. A single beam of light was able to break through the blanket of clouds, leaving her form illuminated in the darkness.
She watched as the portal began to shrink and her hopes of Tony returning to Earth was quickly diminishing. However, she watched as a small figure barely slipped back into their realm and began to fall through the atmosphere.
Sam smiled weakly when she came to the conclusion that it was none other than Tony Stark.
Slowly sitting up, she hissed in pain but still clutched the Tesseract in her burnt fingers. She was lucky that she had been wearing fingerless gloves or else her entire hand would have been burned. Sitting there for a moment, she carefully climbed to her feet.
Looking down at the pouch on her hip, she found that it was empty and she frowned. Placing the Cube into the pocket, she looked around and couldn't find ChatnÃr anywhere.
However, she glanced up at the sky and found that Tony was not slowing down. Something wasn't right. He should have been slowing down.
"Shit. Tony!" She screamed and she hobbled over to the edge of the building in preparation to jump but watched as the Hulk came out of nowhere and caught the man in his grasp, destroying an entire building in the process.
Without thinking, she threw herself over the side of the building and began to fall through the air.
The notion that she wasn't strong enough to carry herself didn't occur to her until she almost hit the ground and she forced the air currents to slow her down.
Landing clumsily on the ground, she dropped to her knees and stayed there for a moment before easing herself onto unsteady feet and running down the sidewalk. Coming around the corner of the building, she found the rest of the Avengers surrounding Stark's still form that was lying against the pavement.
Stopping in her tracks, she froze and as if they could sense her arrival, the men all turned to look at her, sad expressions upon their faces. Thor rose from where he had been crouched beside the suit before he rushed forward to catch the very weak looking female.
Her legs gave out just as he reached her and she let him hold her, her face pressed into his armor. His large arms easily supported her and she just pulled her head away from his chest to survey the damage that Tony had received.
His arc reactor that lay in the chest of his suit was no longer glowing and someone had torn off the face of his helmet, revealing that his eyes were closed and his body still.
Stepping away from Thor, Sam hobbled over to the man's still form before slowly kneeling down beside him.
Reaching out, she carefully lay her scared hand upon the chest of his battered suit.
Her hazel eyes flickered across his face, searching for any signs of life and she felt her heart sink when she found none.
"Come on, Tony." She said, thinking that Stark may just be playing around. "This isn't funny." Her brow furrowed when he again did not awaken and she then felt a tear fall from her eye to trail down her dirty cheek. "Wake up, Stark."
She was quiet for a moment and she sniffed but looked up when she felt a hand appear on each of her shoulders. Steve was on one side, Thor on the other.
Both provided her with support so she turned back to what might have been a great ally and an even greater friend.
"Stark, when we first met. I thought you would be this wonderful and kind genius who used his money to develop lifesaving suits of armor." She laughed slightly then. "But it turned out that you were a total dick head." Thor then began to rub her back, his hand making soothing circles. "But then we all grew closer as a team because we had finally faced reality. To save the world, we would all have to work together. And even in the end, you were the first one to believe in me. You were the first one who believed I was strong enough to control the full extent of my powers. And for that, I thank you." She wiped the back of her hand across her face, causing the dirt and grime to smear. "And I also believe that we also could have made it work... Being friends I mean..."
More tears fell freely but most of them were not sad. Most of them were grateful. Grateful that she had people surrounding her that believed in her. Grateful that she found that she wasn't so alone in the world. Grateful that she was accepted, even if it was by a band of misfits, for no one else would accept her as they had.
Steve then removed his hand and Thor pulled her in for a hug. She gratefully accepted his offer and simply let herself fall into his embrace, completely and utterly exhausted due to the events that had occurred over the last few days.
Burying her face into the crook of his neck, she just let herself be there, needing someone to hold her and keep her up.
Without warning, an earsplitting roar broke through the silence that had descened upon the group and the entire group of Avengers jumped in fear. Looking over her shoulder, Sam's eyes fell upon the Hulk when she heard another quieter scream come afterwards.
Tony's eyes burst open wide with fear and his arc reactor began to glow brightly. He had literally been scared back to life. Talk about ironic.
"What the hell? What just happened?" He took in the forms of his companions as they were circled around him, concerned looks upon their faces. "Please tell me no one kissed me!" He said and Sam felt the anger inside her swell.
"No but I'm about to kill you!" She snarled before leaning away from Thor and smacking the billionaire on his metallic chest.
"Sammy, you're speech was beautiful and if I do die... I want you to give a eulogy." His face was dead serious and Sam smacked him again for good measure, not liking how he was joking so much about death after what just happened.
She just leaned back slightly, Thor's arm hanging around her shoulders.
"That is PDA! I don't think your parents would approve of that nonsense!" Tony bellowed and Sam could help but wipe away the tears from her dirty face before smiling slightly.
"Is everything a joke to you?" She said as she sniffed, slightly upset that Stark had only been dead moments ago.
"Funny things are." He replied weakly, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"We won..." Steve breathed in disbelief as he stood up from the ground. Sam herself could tell that he was exhausted beyond belief and after all, he was only human. Tony let out a loud sigh before he leaned back in relief.
"Alright, hey! Good job, guys! Let's just..." He tried to sit up but failed. "Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day..." Tony groaned and lay back down instead.
Silence descended upon the group.
"Have you guys ever tried Shwarma? There's a Shwarma joint two blocks down from here. I don't know what is is but I wanna try it." Stark explained as he still lay down on the ground. Sam just snickered at him.
"We're not finished yet." Thor warned before looking back up at Stark Tower and they all realized that they still had to deal with the God of Mischief.
"And then... Shwarma after?" Tony asked, hope still lingering in his eyes.
"Sure, Tony. Whatever you want." She said as she moved to help him up. Grabbing one of his hands, Steve assisted her and together they hauled him up from the ground.
He stood shakily upon his feet for a long moment before he tried to take a step forward. It seemed as though the suit wasn't going to cooperate and his legs locked up.
With a yelp, he nearly fell forward again but Steve and Sam were able to catch the billionaire before he could face plant again.
"Sorry, kiddos. Just give me a minute." He said before the two of them stepped back and he ejected himself from his suit.
Without another word, the Avengers all piled into the elevator of Stark Tower and it was an awkward ride up.
The quiet jazz continued to play and Sam just shifted her weight to one hip, trying to find a comfortable position. She happened to glance over and she found that Thor was watching her intently. Her cheeks flushed a bright red before she looked away, Tony noticed the exchange and couldn't help but smirk.
With a ding the elevator doors opened and the group of heroes stepped out into the pent house.
Immediately, all eyes drew to Loki's form as he pulled himself out of the ground where the Hulk had lodged him.
In a moment of weakness, Sam felt her head pound as her body struggled to stay upright. Simply reaching out, she grasped onto the nearest object, hoping that she would not fall. Her eyes were shut for a moment as she concentrated on restoring her balance. When she opened her eyes, she found that her hand was wrapped around Thor's forearm.
"Samantha? Are you alright?" He asked her quietly, his blue eyes growing dark with worry.
"I just need something to hold onto." She explained before the two of them continued forward, Thor taking his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders, providing her with both support and protection.
As they came to circle the God, he raised his startling green eyes from the floor to find the group of Avengers before him. His eyes suddenly drew to his brother and the blonde female, a smirk covering his features when he saw them with each other. Thor's grip on the goddess only tightened.
"If it's all the same to you, I think I'll have that drink now." Loki spoke as he held up his hands in submission, a slight smile on his face. No one in the group, besides Tony, found his remark to be relatively funny.
Once both the Cube and the God of Mischief were apprehended and locked away, the group of exhausted Avengers trudged into the nearly destroyed Shwarma joint.
Tony pranced in like a happy five year old while the rest of his companions simply slumped down into the dusty seats around a large circle table.
Ordering anything on the menu, all of them were quiet as both their minds and bodies tried to process what had just happened and how tired they were.
When the food was delivered, the restaurant was nearly silent. The only sound that could be heard was the quiet sweeping of the older woman who owned the restaurant and the shuffling of objects as her husband dug through the piles of debris lying about.
And Sam could only eat her food as she gazed around the group, her mind coming to the conclusion that they were in fact a very awkward group. None of them had anything in common. Yet that was what united them.
They were freaks but they would always be freaks together.