"STOP!"
Mulder tried to halt but his momentum carried him another few steps forward, right to the lip of the crater that hadn't been there a few seconds earlier. A crater that now existed where the Avengers had only just been standing. A crater filled with smoke.
"SCULLAAAY!" he cried, just as other agents reached the edge of the crater and began calling the names of the other Avengers. Hearing a whirring noise from above, Mulder looked up to see Tony and Thor flying downward toward him, Tony carrying Clint.
"The blast pushed us upward and away," Tony explained as he placed a grateful Clint back down onto the solid ground. "I managed to grab hold of Clint as I was thrown up." He landed beside Mulder. "Have you found the others?"
"No."
Mulder moved forward again to the lip of the crater and began to scramble down the edge as Tony took off and hovered his way down beside him, arm outstretched and ready to grab Mulder if the ground gave way beneath him. Mulder slid most of the way down on the frozen ground, his weapon in hand just in case. He moved forward through the smoke calling for Scully, Steve, and Nat. Tony moved off to his side, as did Thor who had dropped down to join them.
"Over here!" Tony called. Mulder ran toward his voice and almost tripped over something half-buried in the ground. Looking down, he realized it was Cap's shield. His heart sank for a second until he realized the shield was moving slightly, clearly being pushed from behind. Grabbing hold of the edge along with Tony, the two pulled it up and found Nat curled in a ball behind it with Steve crouched over her protectively.
"We're OK," Steve croaked out, "the shield took most of the impact. We're just a little winded."
"And a little deaf," Nat added loudly as Thor appeared through the mist and helped her to her feet.
Having established they were fine, Mulder continued his search even more frantically. Over the comms, he could hear people calling to Scully and Bruce, neither of whom were responding. The smoke was finally starting to clear and as he looked, he caught sight of a flash of red. Running forward, the red shape coalesced into Scully's hair. He found her collapsed on the ground. He crouched down beside her and felt for a pulse but found nothing. Placing the back of his hand by her face he felt no breath and he saw no movement across her chest. Panic welled up in him. Despite being told on numerous occasions that she had "died" countless times before, this was his first time witnessing that for himself and he couldn't control his emotions. Lifting her into his arms he called for a medic down his comm. Before he had finished, however, he saw something huge and green on the ground near him. The Hulk lay unconscious, a syringe sticking out from his chest.
The next few seconds stretched out so far as to become infinite. The perimeter of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents reformed without Mulder, all weapons trained directly at the Hulk. Tony took off, hovering directly above the unconscious mass. Clint appeared on the lip of the crater with his bow primed and ready. Steve and Nat pushed away from the medical team checking up on them to watch.
All the while, Mulder stood holding the limp form of his partner in his arms not knowing quite what to do.
Thor had reappeared from somewhere, the small device from Svartalfheim held in his hand.
"Do we know what has become of the Purity?" he asked.
No one answered. Taking a deep breath, Mulder stepped forward.
"I know how to check." He turned to Steve, "take her."
Steve, seeming to notice Scully's body for the first time, stepped forward and took her from Mulder's arms. Turning away, Mulder made his way toward the Hulk. Nervously, he crouched down beside his head and gingerly lifted one eyelid. Beneath it, the telltale black worms of Purity swam across the eyeball.
"He's still infected," he called back. He heard the collective intake of breath and knew the fear it conveyed. Looking around, Mulder again saw the syringe sticking out from the Hulk's chest. "The syringe penetrated his skin but the plunger was never depressed, the vaccine is still in the barrel."
"Can you push it in?"
"I'll try."
Mulder shuffled the few steps down to the Hulk's chest and placed one hand on the plunger. Wrapping his other hand around the shaft, he pushed down, watching as the amber liquid disappeared. Without warning the Hulk awoke and roared, leaping straight to his feet and staggering around a few steps. Mulder scrambled backward across the dirty ice, as the Hulk swayed and roared, pulling the syringe from his chest. Hearing a scream of pain from behind, Mulder looked over his shoulder to see that Scully had regained both life and consciousness just in time to watch the horror show playing out before them all. Another roar from the Hulk forced Mulder's attention back to him just in time to see the Hulk freeze in place and begin shaking. As Mulder watched, the Purity virus began to ooze from the Hulk's eyes and ears.
"Get the containment ready," he shouted to Thor who had apparently already figured out that he was needed and was doing something with the alien device.
"I hope you know how to use that thing," Mulder said as Thor passed him.
"Haven't a clue," Thor admitted.
As Mulder processed that piece of unwelcome information, he saw that all the black oil had apparently left the Hulk's body and pooled on the ground.
"We have to stop it now!" Tony called from above.
Back on the ground, Thor pressed a sigil on the device, which seemed to open it.
"Here goes nothing," he said to Mulder before throwing the small box right into the blackness. There was an unearthly shriek that knocked them all to the ground but when Mulder was able to look up again he saw that the box was seemingly sucking all the Purity into it.
"It's like a microscopic black hole," he breathed, "the gravity is dragging the Purity inside it."
"Some of the other realms have powerful knowledge of how to manipulate gravity," Thor replied quietly as they continued to watch. The Purity was fighting back twisting and rippling in its attempts to free itself from the irresistible grasp of the gravitational force dragging it inside the box. Mulder sensed movement beside him and realized Steve had stepped forward to watch, Scully still held in his arms.
"Hey," Mulder whispered to her.
"Hey," she whispered back but the sound was cut off by a barking cough that brought up a lot of blood.
"Rest," Steve told her gently but forcefully.
As they watched, the other Avengers all joined them, forming a line as the Purity fought its losing battle. Even Bruce, who had returned to human form, staggered over to join them and the Avengers stood, united as one, watching as this latest foe was finally vanquished.