With lockdown I don't know which way is up. Tbh I don't even know what day it is anymore.

Chapter 23- The Next Wave

Seeing the Hulk morph into existence in such a controlled and almost calm way was both terrifying and beautiful. Banner's shirt lay torn and tattered on the floor, already coated with debris. The Leviathan didn't stand a chance. The front end smashed in with a single punch as Hulk used the advantage it had given him to shove his full strength against the hull of the ship came to a halt and the tail flew into the air as it failed to completely lose its momentum.

"Hold on!" Tony shouted, firing off missiles until the tail came away, almost close enough to hit the team on the ground.

Thor shielded his eyes with his hand, his hammer still raised as metal and flames fell towards them.

Natasha covered her face with her arm, crouching down beside Steve as he lifted his shield to the sky, in the same moment, he pulled Lucie towards him and gently tucked her under his shield along with Natasha. Fire rained down and shrapnel quickly followed, ricocheting harmlessly off the vibranium shield, leaving those under it, clear from harm. For a few seconds they waited for the shower of metal against Steve's shield to stop.

Lucie stepped away first, immediately looking to the skies and when she failed to spot the familiar red suit, she began to panic. A feeling of relief drowned her for a second when she was pulled into an awkward but brief hug, leather and Kevlar against scorched metal.

"Lu?"

It was barely a syllable but the use of her childhood nickname threatened to pull her out of the mission headspace she was trying to anchor herself in. She pulled away, offering nothing more than a raised eyebrow and a nod in the way of emotion before letting an empty mag clatter to the concrete at her feet and reload a fresh one, loading the first round into the chamber.

The decision to keep his helmet lowered had been a deliberate one. Loki's words had latched on, a tiny chip in a mirror that was getting bigger the more he watched his daughter in the field. Throughout her childhood, he had never let her hold a weapon, not even a toy sword when she went through her pirate phase at age four. How does it feel to know that you raised a killer? Loki could have been lying but the more Tony studied her, the more he knew it to be true. Then there was the way she had goaded Fury after slamming her resignation onto the briefing table. Put a kill order out on me and see what happens. She was like a whole different person. Less the little girl who followed him around, worshipped him almost, and more the dangerous weapon of an intelligence agency.

"Guys," Natasha warned, her eyes trained in the direction of Stark Tower where another wave was making their way into the city. More than they could ever have dreamed existed.

"Fuck," Lucie exhaled, her jaw slack as more Leviathans poured from the portal like water from a free flowing faucet.

"Yeah," Clint agreed. The only time that Lucie had ever seen him legitimately struggling for words.

"Pay rise. Just saying."

"Call it Cap," Tony said.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that rood, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays." Steve then turned to Tony, pointing towards the skies. "Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything that gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Barton asked.

"Right, better clench up Legolas."

Clint knew a lot about Tony Stark from both his own research and from Lucie's stories; he knew next to nothing about the Iron Man suit. Still, he wasn't expecting that amount of power to come out it. Still, on the battlefield, all he could afford to consider him as was an ally…and a ride.

"Thor, you've got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning, so light the bastards up."

Thor gave a single nod and then braced himself to launch into the sky, ready to take down whatever Chitauri he came across enroute to the tower. Easily swinging Mjolnir with enough force to wipe soldiers clean out of their altitude.

Steve then turned to Natasha and Lucie. "We stay here, on the ground. Keep the fighting here."

Then finally. "And Hulk. Smash."

Although he didn't speak, Hulk looked pleased with this advisement. He grinned and ran off to where the density of Chitauri was thickest. Easy pickings for the Hulk but definitely worth the fun.

Seeing the Hulk in action sent Lucie headfirst into shock, of everything she had faced in her career, none of it had prepared her for the Hulk. He looked like every single one of her childhood monsters mangled up together with a deafening growl that stopped her heart from momentarily beating. Breathing became difficult for a few seconds as her body froze until the green beast was safely out of sight. She stared at both Steve and Natasha, who seemed to be handling Banner's transformation far better than she was. Still, she had to admit that she was grateful that Hulk was on their side as he bounded from building to building, ripping soldiers from their perches and slamming them to the ground or into neighbouring structures.

Lucie growled as she slammed a knife into the eye socket of a Chitauri that attempted to pull a teenager boy from underneath a car, one that had been missed during their initial sweep. He fought against the soldier's tight grip on his ankle, shaking until the immobile hand broke contact. She pulled the boy to his feet started running with him in the direction of Grand Central Station, all the while shouting instructions into his ear.

"Head for Grand Central, run like hell and stay out of sight. There's nine rounds left. Go!" Her side arm was slammed into the young man's hand and when she was confident that he had a decent grip of it; Lucie let go and then launched him in front of her, propelling her onwards with enough force to prevent him from being able to turn back.

Once safely out of her grasp, Lucie returned her full attention to the street where Chitauri were still ravaging the city. She wiped away the sweat from her forehead, unable to tell if her muscles were burning under the strain of the fight.

In the singular second of time that she waited for the next wave, she became more aware of her own body. There was blood in her mouth, the metal tang no doubt the result of a lucky shot from one of the Chitauri. Next she texted her fingers, flexing the digits to check the fluidity. Her fingers extended in multiple tiny movements, they way that robots lacked grace in their manoeuvres; she ignored the frustration and shook out both hands, hoping for no logical reason that it would return her hands to their usual state.

The next wave didn't come and as she jogged back towards where she and Natasha had parted, she felt her adrenaline starting to fade away and her energy beginning to betray her.

Natasha held a Chitauri spear, capable of both shooting energy blasts and also skewering an enemy, it looked wrong in her hands although certainly effective given the number of fallen soldiers at her feet. She almost shot Steve straight in the chest, stopping herself at the last possible second when she realised that he wasn't a threat to her before allowing herself to half slump against an abandoned cab.

"Captain, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Natasha was right of course. They could only slow the invasion for so long, especially with so few fighters.

"Our biggest guns couldn't reach it," Steve stated, staring up at the portal above Stark Tower.

"Maybe it's not about guns."

"You're not?" Lucie asked in disbelief, piecing the spy's plan together seconds before Steve got there himself.

Natasha's eyes darted across the sky to the few Chitauri that were still at street level; meanwhile, Lucie shot her a look that questioned her sanity.

"Sure, it'll be fun. Need a boost though."

Steve nodded as Natasha took a few paces back, eyes trained on the sky as she timed her run up and then used Steve's shield as a spring board as he helped propel her into the path of one of the chariots.

"She'll be fine," Lucie offered.

"This kind of thing happen a lot?" he asked.

"Well, not exactly like this," she smirked in reply.

So it's been a minute. Thanks for sticking with me!

The battle should be finished in a couple of chapters and then we'll have a few more chapters after that and then we're done with this and I'll go back and edit.