Okay so rewatching this as I write and there are several scenes that I'm convinced that weren't in the versions that were in the pictures or on the telly. Hence why there might be some gaps if you're watching it on Disney plus.

Chapter Twenty Five- A Moment of Stillness.

From her position atop Stark Tower, Natasha could see everything from the streets below to the galaxy above. She had never been particularly interested in space, knowing only what she needed to for the occasional assignment. The sights she could ignore, store it away in a box to either review later or forget about completely. When a mangled scream came over the radio, she winced, closing her eyes tightly as if to turn away from the pain of her closest friend's heart breaking. It wasn't the first time she had heard a human make that kind of noise and she reluctantly added it to the catalogue of others she had collected throughout the years, some she had even caused. She kept her eyes trained on the skies, watching as the gap in reality became smaller and smaller, Tony's window of time to get back to earth closing.

For the first time in what felt like hours, the skies were calm and the city was at a standstill. Aside from her initial assessment for SHIELD and stories from Lucie, Natasha didn't know much about the billionaire. The one thing that was obvious was how much he loved his daughter. As a child, before the Red Room, that was the way she imagined her own parents, although she remembered very little of them, untrusting of those small moments for fear that it was something conjured up by her imagination.

At the very last moment, when hope had been lost, a figure slipped through. The scarlet and gold of the suit impossible to mistake. By the skin of teeth he had made it.

"Son of a bitch."

Unfortunately the relief was short lived as it quickly became apparent that Tony had no control over his suit. He tumbled uncontrollably through the air, replacing horrified screams with sharp orders.

On the street, Lucie begged the AI to take control of the suit so that her father didn't crash to the ground. Knowing that despite her father's ingenuity that he would not be able to survive that kind of fall.

When a green blur shot through the air, clinging onto buildings as he went, all Lucie could do was stare, paralysed with horror as Hulk snatched Tony out of freefall. Though why Hulk was that high up was a mystery to her, had she known the damage he had just inflicted on Loki, she would have thanked him.

Everyone stared as Hulk gradually came to the ground, landing close by and taking all of the impact himself as he carried Tony's lifeless body. Thor moved forward, immediately removing the front portion of the helmet and tossing it across the debris covered street to where it skidded to barely an inch away from her scuffed surface of her boots.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Lucie frozen, the only time he had ever seen her afraid. All the bravado and sarcasm and jokes had melted away as she was unable to tear herself away from the . Her eyes had lost their usual sparkle and the slightest shock threatened to make her crumble completely. He reached out to guide her towards her father and felt the her hand relax as his hand touched hers, letting the knife she held fall to the ground and land with a dull thud in the ash at her feet.

As soon as Steve let go of her hand, Lucie rooted herself to the ground, unable to move any further when she the arc reactor at her father's chest, no power. The suit was powered by the miniature arc reactor that kept shrapnel from entering his heart, if it wasn't lit then that could mean only one thing. She dared not blink. Unable to tear away from the dust filled tears away. Of all the death and destruction she had witnessed, none of it had stopped her in her tracks quite like this. Everything around her was silent, the world around her still, instead all she could hear was her own strained breathing. There was no training she could call on and she had no energy to try and figure it out for herself, instead relying on instinct.

The Hulk stood over her father and while she knew it was a deafening roar that he made, she didn't hear a thing, still fixed on her fathers face. There wasn't a single mark or blemish to his skin, the suit had done it's job and protected him from harm but not even he had considered what the suit may need outside of Earth's atmosphere.

Even when Tony's eyes shot open and he gasped for air, Lucie didn't react, convinced that it was some trick that her mind was playing on her.

"What the hell? What just happened?" Tony asked as the arc reactor powered back to life. "Please tell me that nobody kissed me."

"We won," Steve answered quietly.

"Lucia?" Tony asked, frantically looking around for some sign that she was safe.

He catalogued each injury he saw. The cut to her forehead, the bruising around her neck, the wrist guard that was barely attached to her torn uniform. He almost didn't recognise her.

At the mention of her name, she felt a weight being lifted from her chest and Lucie was finally able to take a breath. She let the kneepads of her uniform clatter against the concrete and taking one of Tony's hands in both of hers, his suit making hers look like that of a small child.

"I'm okay," she said, offering up a grateful smile as she was pulled her tightly against Tony's armoured chest. The relief starting to counteract the grief as she let herself drop the façade and tears fell down her face.

"Alright, hey good job guys. Let's not come in tomorrow, lets just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what that is, but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet," Thor announced, his gaze fixed on Stark Tower.

The final loose end that needed to be tied. Loki.

"And then, shawarma after."

Everyone was silent on the ride up to the penthouse, exhaustion weighing heavy on them all with the exception of Thor who was still riding the high battle had given him. The elevator had no music and other than to inform them that Loki was under guard, JARVIS didn't speak.

For Lucie, the initial shock had started to wear off as she kept a firm grip around Tony's arm, the scorched metal giving her a kind of comfort that it had never given her before. Wires and circuitry threatened started to dig awkwardly into her arm but she didn't care, instead clinging harder as if to make sure that he wouldn't disappear.

Her free hand was reached out beside her to where Clint stood, bow in hand. The pair didn't speak yet somehow Steve watched as they had an entire conversation without so much as looking at each other.

The pair studied the other with careful consideration, something they had done dozens of times before on the way back from missions. In simpler times when they dealt with drug dealers and mafia bosses and corrupt government officials with the occasional pirate for good measure. How had they gone from that to fighting gods and aliens in the middle of New York City?

Clint returned a stray knife he had found embedded into a Chitauri and she wiped the blade on her thigh and then slipped it easily into an empty sheath on her belt. Other than reaching out to take his hand, Lucie didn't react, didn't flinch as her knife was returned home. Instead, she reached out and took his hand, glad of reminder that after everything he had been dragged through over the past few days, Clint was safe. Maybe not fine, but safe.

Natasha was waiting for them in the penthouse with a drink one hand and Loki's sceptre in the other. For anyone else, drinking on the job would be frowned upon but over the years, American vodka had next to no effect. Had she not been a made the way she had, she would have been quick to revenge, lashing out without a thought of the consequences. The Red Room had taught her better, she planned and bided her time until the perfect moment, a spider sitting on the edge of her web. It would be easy for her to take the sceptre in her hand and swing it with enough force to make a permanent home in Loki's skull. The sceptre was the most powerful thing she has ever touched to the point that she could swear that it almost spoke to her, urging her to go on. While she would gladly play guardian, she would be grateful when it was out of her hands. It felt nothing like the spears she had used on the ground against the Chitauri. Instead it was heavy and cold under her touch.

She was almost glad then the other Avengers stepped out of the elevator; taking the temptation out of her hands as she locked eyes with Clint and Lucie. More conversation without speaking, there would be time for that later. They were both alive and that was all she ever asked for these days, the two agents who had managed to sneak past the majority of the walls she had locked herself behind.

With Loki still in the marble crater where the Hulk had left him earlier, a crumpled mess in no better shape than a ragdoll. The Avengers surrounded him looking less than impressed.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink," the god said with a pained look on his face. Somehow accepting in the eyes of his defeat. There was no way out, no more cards left for Loki to play. Not with the Avengers stood above him and quashing any thought of another attempt. The battle had been fought and lost.

"All right. Get him on his feet, we can stand posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up," Tony said, wandering off to make note of everything that had been damaged.

"Who gets the magic wand?" Natasha asked, twirling it around her finger like a gymnast with a baton.

"My votes on using it in a batting cage," Lucie muttered so that only she and Clint could hear.

Clint laughed, quickly checking around to make sure that nobody saw.

"STRIKE Team's coming to secure it," Steve answered.

After months of plans and arguments between him and Pepper, they had finally managed to get it perfect. Now it was just another project. This time he wouldn't mind, Pepper could have whatever she liked so long as Loki was gone forever.

As if reading his mind, Lucie took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. "For the record, it was pretty cool."

"Thanks kid."

"So where's my room?" she teased.

Tony smiled and brushed it off with a laugh. In all honesty he didn't want to let her out of his sight for the rest of his life, he wanted to lock her away so that she could never be harmed again. Somewhere away from SHIELD and their influence.

"Rumlow," Lucie said, framing her expression so that it betrayed no emotion. She let of her father's hand and stood almost to attention. For a moment, Tony didn't recognise her.

"Agent James. Didn't expect to see you here," Rumlow replied with his trademark smirk.

"Likewise. Loki is in custody and the sceptre is secure." Lucie indicated towards the lounge where Natasha stood with a careful eye on the god in question.

"Copy."

Although clearly older than her by at least a decade, Tony wasn't sure whether to be proud or concerned at the amount of respect that she was automatically given. The more he watched her, the more questions were raised and he looked upon his daughter as if she were a stranger to him.

Steve hung back until SHIELD had left, watching until Rumlow and the rest of STRIKE left with the Tesseract and sceptre under armed guard and heading for a secure location. Despite everything that SHIELD had done for him, he still didn't trust them. Maybe that was the problem, they had done too much just because they could. Their only wrong move had been the young woman who sat on the kitchen counter, legs folded under her as she picked knives from her uniform and then flung them on the counter. She had thrown bobby pins onto the counter beside her and let her hair fall loose around her face although stained with ash in patches where it had been exposed and her face was looked a sickly shade of grey.

"So, how was your first day on the job?" she teased, giving him her full attention.

"I've had better days," he confessed, wiping the ash away from his face with a damp paper towel.

"You okay?" Lucie asked, taking a second paper towel and attempting to help in dislodging some of the dust and ash.

He looked older now she was up close, the ash clung to his eyebrows and danced along his eyelashes making everything look dingy and grey. As she helped, Steve's actions slowed, letting her take over with gentle hands.

"We should debrief before we head off." His attempt at avoiding her question was pointless and he knew it.

"Steve, Fury won't mind if we take a couple of hours. Everyone' heading down to that shawarma joint my dad mentioned. You coming?" she asked, throwing the grubby paper towels into the sink and pushing herself off the counter.

Steve looked towards the floor as if it would inspire some excuse.

"Come and get something to eat, it'll make the come down from the adrenaline more bearable. If you want you we can argue later about how I lied." Lucie smiled, battering any attempt at an excuse that Steve could offer.

"I don't want you argue."

She smiled, knowing that eventually he would be able to forgive her. He may not understand her motives yet but he was willing to listen and that was all she ever dared ask. Leaving her mangled sidearm on the counter, she headed for the elevator, ignoring the significant dent in the metal from where the Hulk had lost his temper at having to take the stairs.

The shawarma joint a couple of blocks away was one of Tony's better ideas. The owners lived in an apartment above and even though half of their restaurant was in ruins. Tony offered to pay for any repairs and improvements so long as they could eat, the woman behind the counter quickly agreed, recognising the man immediately and together Clint and Thor pushed together three tables and everyone else pulled up a chair. When food arrived they accepted with grateful but exhausted smiles and the tiny amount of conversation, mostly from Thor and Tony stopped, everyone concentrating on staying awake long enough to finish their meal.

So there we have the end of the movie. From now I'm going back and editing the hell out of this so if there is anything you think should be changed or you found confusing please let me know and I'll fix it pronto. xoxo