Here we are at chapter twenty two! Hope everyone's staying safe!
So it turns out that I forgot to upload this. Oops. Sorry.
As soon as I've reached the end of this story, I'm going back to edit it to make it better. This is by no means my best work but I plan to make it that way,
Chapter Twenty Two- A Little Worse.
Clint was right. New York wasn't the same as Budapest. Until very recently it had been the mission, the legend that secured their careers with SHIELD. Budapest might as well have been Little League with the Chitauri against them.
"Anyone else think we should get a raise after this?" Lucie asked nonchalantly.
"You're a billionaire," Natasha half laughed.
The former Russian spy crouched low, taking care to keep herself from becoming an easy target despite Lucie keeping her eyes on the sky; an old habit to watch out for herself, to keep herself alive. She counted each shot, an old habit that made sure that she never ran out of bullets. As each clip emptied, she let them drop to the floor and then slammed home a new magazine of ammunition before the old clip had even hit the floor with barely a break in the gunfire.
"It's the principle!"
In an attempt to save some of her knives, Lucie too opened fire, aiming for the Chitauri flying overhead in attempt to weed out some of the civilians who had yet to get to safety. She couldn't help but feel out of her depth, her thoughts struggling to focus on the task at hand when more chaos than she had ever seen threatened to drown them.
Glass shattered as it collided with concrete and the stone facades of some of the older buildings were beginning to crumble and fall to the ground below, some landing on cars and others smashing to the ground with a dull, echoing thump.
"Nat," Clint half sang, well aware of a Chitauri on the ground that was making it's way towards the trio.
"I know," she replied.
Eyeing the spear it held, Natasha waited until it was close enough for her not break rank; acutely aware of the risk it could have to her team mates. With her weapon trained at the soldier's head, she fired once it was almost close enough to stab the spear through her torso. Bang. With a single shot the soldier crumpled the ground and didn't move again. Quickly, Natasha snatched up the spear and aimed it another soldier who had decided on it's next target.
Clint tried to ignore the alien invasion around them though it would be a lie to say that he wasn't freaking out. His stomach churned, unable to think past keeping himself, Natasha and Lucie alive. The professional in him barely managed to keep it together, concentrating on loading each arrow and following through when it struck its target perfectly each time. After so much practice and experience, archery was easy for him, as simple as walking and as natural as breathing, still there was an amazing amount of concentration that went into each shot.
He tried to ignore the alien soldier that fell to the floor when Black Widow shot it through the chest with a Chitauri spear, but he was, as usual, nothing short of impressed. She was built for this. She must have been a fan of her newly acquired weapon because she had dropped her guns to the floor with the clips still half full.
To hiss left, Lucie wore the razor sharp confidence and focus that waited for her in the field. You would never know from that tableau that she disliked guns, her grip around the grip unwavering as she fired off in cannon into the skies, sending the soldiers to the ground and their crafts losing all power and crashing to the ground and into piles of shrapnel and flames.
Together they launched themselves from the bridge and down to where Rogers was fighting solo, the police following his orders on foot, leading civilians to safety and shooting at the sky as they went, evacuating the block to the best of their ability. Despite their rudimentary aim, some officers managed to take down some of the Chitauri, bringing down the threat with every one that they got out of action.
Lightning cracked in the sky and all four of them dared a glance to Stark Tower but unable to see anything from their position. On an otherwise mild day, they could only assume it was the god of thunder himself.
Steve moved so that he was back to back with Lucie, shielding her from attack as she engaged hand to hand with a foot soldier, her cover lost as Clint and Natasha were locked in their own battles.
"You good?" Steve grunted, knocking a soldier to the ground with his shield.
"Another day in paradise," she smirked. Her eyes held no warmth, instead it had been replaced with raw adrenaline. She swung a knife from her hip so that it slashed straight through a foot soldiers chin and then wiped the ink like substance on her gear before it had even hit the ground.
"What's the story upstairs?" Rogers asked as Thor landed with a graceful thud onto the asphalt beside them.
They allowed themselves to look at the sky for a moment, assessing how bad it truly was, a quick count of just how outnumbered they were. They also made sure to take a few seconds to catch their breath.
"The powers surrounding the cube are impenetrable," Thor answered, annoyance radiating in his voice.
"Thor's right, we gotta deal with these guys," Tony countered, still avoiding the Chitauri in the sky, taking out what he could along the way. "Lu? You good?"
"I'm fine. You?" For once, she didn't let her childhood nickname annoy her, instead she just answered the question and then refocused herself.
"You know me, getting there."
"How do we do this?" Natasha asked, for once in her career looking for some kind of leadership.
"As a team." He sounded so bold and confident that nobody questioned him. It wasn't a plan but it was a start.
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor announced.
Behind him, Clint checked the tip of an arrow that he had retrieved from where he had lodged it in the chest of a Chitauri soldier. "Yeah? Get in line."
"I'm behind Hawk," Lucie agreed, taking the opportunity to change out the magazine in her handgun. She wiped the grip with her sleeve and flexed her hand to relax the tendons that were starting to burn.
"Save it," Rogers said, refocusing them as he compiled his plan of action. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us." He stopped, distracted by a motorbike appearing in his periphery.
It barely ran, the engine covered in rust and duct tape, the fact that it had arrived in one piece had been a miracle in itself. Astride it sat Doctor Bruce Banner who looked around the city as he barely registered the shocking destruction around him. "So… this all seems horrible."
"I've seen worse." Natasha dared a half smile.
"Sorry."
"No, we could use a little worse," she reassured.
"Stark? We got him," Rogers said over the comms, unsure of where exactly the billionaire was in the city.
"Banner?" Tony asked with a relieved sigh.
"Just like you said."
"Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
Tony had barely finished his sentence when he flew into view, a scarlet metal missile swooping around the corner with a Chitauri Leviathan barrelling down the street after him with no plan of stopping.
"I don't see how that's a party…" Natasha stuttered, watching in horror at the next wave of the Chitauri army.
"Holy shit…" Lucie whispered to herself, her eyes immediately fixed on the red and gold metal man that was racing ahead, too close for comfort.
"Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry," the Captain advised.
"That's my secret Captain. I'm always angry."
With far less spectacle than on the Andraste, the transformation far more controlled as his skin turned green and began to swell so that Banner was lost in under the Hulk. There was no battle this time, Banner willingly handed over his control and let the big guy take over.
So this one is a little short but there's still more to come.
Stay safe everyone, may it be in the BLM protests or Covid.