Steve

"What's the status with the warehouse?" Steve asked, his fingers pressed to the communicator nestled in the center of his ear. He was leaning against the side of a building, his nose bloodied, but the rest of him intact. There was a halt in the seemingly endless hordes of alien creatures, which gave him a much needed break.

"Annabelle? Banner?" he asked again.

"Bruce is off comms," Natasha informed, a grunt following her words. Clearly Steve was not the only one who was, or at least had been, busy.

"Probably means the big guy has come out to play," Tony commented.

"Annabelle?" Steve pressed on.

"I'm here," she answered quietly.

"What's going on?"

"Hulk is out. I'm trying to lure him away from the people in the other room…but I can't leave because those stupid eyeless freaks are just hanging here, waiting to come attack."

"Hold on. I'm coming your way."

"I'll see what I can do as well, but I can't seem to catch a break, here," Clint said.

"Don't worry. Take care of yourself," she responded. The way her voice was, quiet and scared, made something in Steve's chest pull. He leaned away from the building and headed in her direction, being careful to avoid being seen by any of the remaining creatures outside. The large one was still out and around, and he was very aware of that even though he didn't have eyes on it right now. He held his shield out in defense, though the street before him now only held corpses.

"Petition to officially call these things 'eyeless freaks,'" Tony joked, but Steve shook his head. He was almost to the warehouse now, picking up his pace to a sprint as soon as he saw the doors had crashed down. As he got closer he could see Annabelle inside, her back pressed against one of the storage shelves that had been left behind when they 'rented' the space out. She caught sight of him and quickly held up her hand, blood spattered on her face and trickling from her mouth. Steve skidded to a halt just before reaching the entrance, staring at her and waiting for further command. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a slow, deep breath. When she opened them again she pointed behind her, then held a finger against her lips. He followed her point with his eyes and found the Hulk standing near the corner of the room, his massive shoulders lifting and falling as he took short, angry breaths. Steve looked back to Annabelle, nodding once. She lifted her finger from her lips and pointed upwards. Her gaze didn't leave him as he slowly tilted his head up, his eyes falling on what looked to be at least a dozen of the smooth white creatures, teeth bared and dripping with salivation as they looked down on her from the rafters. They were eerily still aside from the occasional twitch of their revoltingly lengthy tongues, silent and waiting for anyone to move.

Steve's mind ran through numerous possibilities of how to get out of the situation, but Annabelle caught his attention again with another hand motion. She made a circular shape in the air, pointed to his shield, then pointed to herself. As he met her eyes she nodded her head slowly. He nodded in return. He readied himself as she held out her hand, counting down on her fingers from five. When she reached zero he tossed the shield at her, the motion causing the creatures huddled above to screech and scuttle around. This, of course, caught Hulk's attention as well. He gave an angry exhale and spun around to face the noise, eyes wide and brow furrowed. Annabelle slid her hand across the front of the shield, her eyes suddenly illuminated by her strange electrical light. It became clear after a few moments that whatever she intended hadn't worked, though, a horrified and panicked look coming over her face as she jerked her head upwards just in time for one of the creatures to leap down on her. She deflected it with the shield and shoved it across the room with inhuman strength, then hurled the metal disk up at the rafters. It hit several more of the creatures and knocked them loose before returning, where Steve leaped forward and caught it.

"What were you planning with that?" he yelled over the screams of the fallen aliens, getting in a defensive stance.

"I was going to send an electrical current through it and knock them all out. But you didn't tell me your shield absorbs electricity," she said quickly, somewhat exasperated.

"I didn't know," he answered.

"You take these, I'll do something about Hulk."

She leaped gracefully from her spot, landing several feet up on one of the shelves, which she quickly climbed over and sprung from the other side. He could no longer see her, but he didn't have time to think or worry about what she was doing. Six more of the enemy fell from the roof and tore towards him, collecting the other fallen ones as they went. Dazed as some of them were, they were still fast. He did all he could to bring them down, bashing and slicing through the pack until they were all still, his breathing heavy and his nose dripping with blood once more. As soon as he was sure they wouldn't get back up he turned and rounded the corner of the large shelf, not wasting any time to go assist Annabelle.

She was moving quickly in jagged patterns, the Hulk pursuing her as best he could, though he looked the slightest bit confused. He reached out to clap his hands over her head but she was suddenly on the other side of him, waiting for him to catch up before moving again. Though he was much stronger than her, she was much, much faster. Steve watched and tried to calculate how to cut into this little dance, but she made a different move before he could act. While behind Hulk she hoisted herself up onto his back, nearly being thrown off as he thrashed around in protest. She struggled to keep herself up, grabbing his hair and trying to dodge his angry fists.

"I could use a hand," she spat out, missing one big green fist by mere centimeters. Steve ran forward and stood defensively in front of Hulk.

"Hey!" he yelled, catching his attention. Hulk roared and went to grab at him, giving Annabelle just enough time to slap her hands on each side of his face. At first nothing happened, but then Hulk suddenly thrashed more violently, though his movements quickly became clumsy. He stumbled around, eyes heavy, then eventually lost his footing. When he crashed to the ground, taking Annabelle with him, the room seemed to shudder.

"Annabelle!" Steve ran to her side, Hulk lazily trying to grab at his feet as he passed. His hands were gradually becoming less green, his massive form shrinking in size until only a shivering, half-clothed Bruce remained. Annabelle lifted a hand, lightly setting it atop Bruce's messy head of hair.

"He's alive, right?" she asked, sounding tired.

"He's fine," Steve assured her after giving Bruce a quick look, holding out a hand to help her up. She graciously took it. "Your face is a mess," he added jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. He'd never seen her look so tired, nor so defeated.

"So is yours," she responded, smiling faintly.

"Touché."

Steve was glad to see that smile. There was something warm about it, something that gave him strength. This was the woman who had reached out to him those years ago. Finally the words of her heartfelt letter had a face—and what a beautiful face it was.

"There's a problem, guys," Tony interrupted.

"Let me guess. Your plan didn't work, did it?" Clint asked.

"The plan was perfect. These things just didn't react the way they were supposed to."

"Uh huh."

"Do you have another plan?" Annabelle asked, then gestured to Bruce on the floor. Steve took the hint and picked him up, taking him to one of the side rooms where the group of gifted people were hiding. He lightly knocked after finding the door sealed shut.

"Dr. Banner needs to join you. Please, open up." It took a moment, but eventually a small woman pulled the door open and let him in.

"I'm working on it," Tony said, answering Annabelle.

"I'll go out there and see what I can do," she said. Steve laid Bruce down against the wall and checked in with the group of people, making sure no one was hurt or needed help in any way. When he confirmed that everyone was alright he stepped back out of the room. Annabelle was gone.

"Couldn't have waited for me?" he asked, jogging out of the warehouse to try to catch up with her.

"You're too slow," she commented over the communicator.

"Oooooh!"

"Clint."

"Sorry."

"Well, where are you headed? I can meet up with you there." Steve waited for a response, but he didn't get one. "Hello?"

"She's fine, Cap, I see her," Tony said. "She packs a hell of a punch."

"I don't doubt that. Can you get me her location?"

"Near the tower. She's fighting off a—uh oh—!"

"What's the matter?" he stopped running, lifting his head to try to see the tower from beyond the other large buildings. From where he was standing, he could only see the top.

"They're in my tower!" Tony cursed.

"Is there anything in there that would cause us trouble?" Steve asked, then reconsidered. "I don't know why I ask. Of course there is."

"That's not why I'm upset! I just rebuilt that tower from the last stupid invasion!"

"Ah, Stark, worrying about the important things," Natasha mocked.

"I'll take care of it," Annabelle cut in, finally joining the conversation.

"How many are there?" Steve took off in a run towards her direction. There was no way he was letting her fight through things alone. He'd already left her alone too much today.

"Nothing I can't handle."

"Aw, Annie, let Cap help you. He always wants to be the prince that saves the day," Tony added.

"Never call me Annie," she answered, ignoring the rest.

"May I just take a moment to say how privileged I feel to be a part of these conversations?" Clint asked, to which everyone, nearly in unison, yelled no.

It took Steve nearly ten minutes to finally get to the tower, though, again, Annabelle was nowhere in sight. That is, until she crashed through one of the windows from high up, holding two of the alien creatures in each hand. He watched with worry as she plummeted to the ground. She caught herself, though, and managed to land gracefully on her feet. After throwing the creatures into a pile of others that she'd collected close by she brushed herself off, her face bright as she surveyed her work. She turned towards Steve, hands firmly on her hips.

"I told you I could handle it."

"I didn't doubt you, I jus—"

The most sickening scream rang through his ears, his legs quivering suddenly as nausea overtook him. The ground shook violently, the remaining windows in the towers that surrounded them shattering with the impact. Before he could move, before he could even speak, Stark Tower before him crumbled. Through the rubble came one of the massive, mother aliens, teeth bared and body markings flaring with color. The rumbling stopped but the nausea remained, and he had to take a moment to breathe before pressing a shaky hand to his communicator.

"What was that noise?" Tony asked.

"Oh, Tony...you don't want to know," Natasha replied somberly.

"I always want to know." Within seconds Steve heard Tony's suit soar by, his thrusters sputtering.

"...What the fu—"

"I'm on it," Annabelle interrupted. Before Steve could grab her she had sprinted off towards the intimidating beast, her hands extended a bit out to the side.

"Annabelle!"

"Don't worry, Cap, I'll take this one. Sit your old man butt down somewhere." Tony started.

"This isn't a time for jokes, Stark," Steve threatened, clenching his fists.

"No one come near. If what I do doesn't work, hit it with all you've got," Annabelle said.

"I don't care what you say, there's no way in—" He cut himself off as he watched her dig in her ear and pull out the communicator, tossing it aside as she ran. "...unbelievable."

"Maybe she has a plan. Let's give her a minute," Tony said.

"Excuse me, do you see the size of that thing? And you're just going to let her go alone?"

"There's not much we can do at this point but trust her. Nothing I've done to get rid of the big ones have worked."

"But—

"Let her take this, Steve. She's not a little girl," Natasha said softly. Steve squared his jaw and turned to watch Annabelle from afar.

"The moment this doesn't work, we go in."

"Absolutely."

Annabelle stopped just short of the monstrous creature, taking her still outstretched hands and swinging them around in front of her, one hand just barely missing the other until her arms were crossed at the wrists. She took a visible deep breath and scrunched her fingers, pulling her arms back as she did. Whatever she was doing seemed to have no effect on the creature, however, even though she herself looked like she was struggling. She dug her heel back into the rubble and bent at the knees, pulling her fingers in until they formed into fists. The moment her fists were tightly clenched, something incredible happened. Steve could hardly believe it himself, watching in wonder as the creature's legs gave out, a bright array of colors exploding from under its skin. They shot like fireworks as they broke their way through the alien's scaly white skin, curling out in bands of light too surreal for him to believe. In moments the alien had collapsed, and, with it, Annabelle. She fell back into the rubble, buried suddenly in the dust that rose up from where the big one had fallen.

Steve rushed over, heart thumping, Tony right behind him. He fanned away the dust, searching around with what little he could see.

"G—H—he—r—" He couldn't understand Tony as he spoke through the communicator, everything jumbled. He could, however, see the light emitting from the arc reactor a little ways away, and chose to follow it. He stepped carefully over all of the fallen pieces of Stark Tower, eventually catching up to Tony. He was crouched on the ground, holding one hand out to use as a sort of flashlight. The light was shining directly on the dirt and ash covered face of Annabelle, her eyes shut softly and her head loosely hanging to the side. Steve quickly knelt down as well and took her wrist, feeling for a pulse. He didn't get one.

"We need medical attention, now!" Steve called into his communicator, but got no response.

"I think our signal is jammed," Tony said under his breath. "I'll take her."

"No, I've got it," Steve insisted.

"Come on, Cap, you don't always have to be the hero." Tony shifted his eyes down, but the look on Steve's face stopped him from saying anything else in protest. "...fine. Take her. Quick." Steve scooped her up and ran out of the fog of dust as fast as he could, holding her close to him. He heard some more garbled speaking in his ear which sounded vaguely like Clint, though he hardly paid it any attention. All that mattered at that moment was getting Annabelle somewhere to revive her. He only hoped it wasn't too late.