Updated authors note. Please read!
Sorry everyone, not a new chapter.
I just wanted to let everyone know, I came off my horse 2 weeks ago and fractured my ulna in quite spectacular fashion. I go in for surgery tomorrow to get it pinned and plated. Unfortunately, this puts any further updates off for a while as one-handed typing is very slow and makes my other hand ache.
I'll be back as soon as I can.
Getting out of the medical wing was surprisingly easy. No-one stopped us with the way Steve was marching along. Natasha and Jared took one look at Steve and got up off the bed and came without a word of complaint. Steve filled us in on the way down to the armory. We were stealing a Quinjet and going to New York. Tony had an epiphany about exactly what Loki was doing.
Our only hitch was at the armory. Dad was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.
"I heard you were going somewhere." Dad's face was made of stone.
Jared and I exchanged a guilty glance. Even at our age, there was still the feeling of being caught doing something naughty when did had this look. Neither of us denied it. I felt myself stand a little straighter, ready for an argument.
There was something in Dad that sagged in defeat. He already knew what we were doing.
"I made sure your access codes for the Quinjet still work," Dad said as he stepped aside. "And I got these out for you."
In a neat pile were all of our weapons and a set of ear comms for everyone. My custom sniper rifle. Clint's favourite bow and trick quiver. Natasha's Glock and Widow Bites. A pair of Glock's for Jared. Two P30's. Along with all the ammo we could possibly need.
"You need anything?" Dad turned to Steve.
"No, I'm good, Sir," Steve looked surprised at the stockpile of weapons. "Thank you."
Dad looked at me and Jared, waving off Steve thanks. Before I could say anything else, Dad pulled us both into a hug. It was awkward and uncomfortable but I hugged him back as best I could.
"Be careful." Dad's voice was choked with emotion. "For the love of god, don't do anything stupid."
"We will," Jared sounded just as emotional as Dad.
I had a huge lump in my throat as I hugged them both. I'd nearly lost Jared not too long ago. Now we were about to wade into a war with aliens. We were going in short handed. Steve might have his super strength. Tony had his armour. But Thor and Bruce were both gone. Bruce had turned into the Hulk and disappeared when he jumped off the Helicarrier to attack one of the jet escorts. It was all one huge mess.
Yet, here we were, Armed and ready to take on whatever Loki was going to throw at us.
Dad let us go and stepped back. His gaze lingered on Clint for long enough to make Clint shift uncomfortably. The guilt on Clint's face said more than anything ever could.
"Everyone knows," I cut in before Dad could get snappy again. "I'm sorry and I'll explain it on the way."
Poor Clint looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.
"Bring them back in one piece please, Barton," Dad said gruffly.
Dad stepped forward and hugged Clint briefly. Poor Clint looked so surprised and tense under the rare show of affection from someone else. I always forgot Dad had known Clint since he had first joined SHIELD.
Dad said something too low for me to hear. Whatever it was, Clint nodded, and as he raised an arm to return the hug.
Natasha had purposely taken a step away from Dad. Far away enough she wouldn't be in hugging range. She was in full Widow mode right now, snapping her magazines into her gun. Jared was standing as close to her as he possibly could. I didn't miss the concerned look Dad on his face as he looked between the pair. The look then shifted to me and Clint.
"I'll keep people distracted," Dad said, after swallowing hard. "You need to go."
I nodded, feeling a lump in my own throat. Before Dad could turn away, I reached out and hugged him again. I didn't want a fight to be the last conversation we had in case this all went south. Considering what we were up against, the odds of it going south were pretty likely. I'd never had either of my parents right there before a big mission.
"I love you," I said hoarsely. "Tell Mom I love her too."
Dad didn't say anything. He hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe.
"Go."
The moment didn't last long. I knew it couldn't. We had such precious little time.
I grabbed my sniper rifle and the copious amount of ammo that was with it. With one final look at Dad, we were all moving.
The armory wasn't far from the flight deck. I fiddled with getting my comms in place before I did anything else. Despite knowing my way around, I let Steve lead us. I still couldn't help but stare at Steve's ass. Someone really had to redo his suit to make his ass look better.
Steve went to the first available Quinjet. There was a technician in the Quinjet, fiddling with something under the communication desk. I knew his face from my time here with the F-35 training.
"Hey, you guys can't be in here."
"Son," Steve said with his full Captain America voice on. "Just don't."
"Please," I added with a smile.
The technician gave me an exasperated look. But he didn't argue. He gathered his tools and left the Quinjet. I didn't miss the side eye he was giving Clint and Jared as he left. Jared looked like he was going to snap at him. Clint stared straight ahead, totally ignoring it.
I didn't waste any time. I jumped straight into the pilot seat and started powering up. Clint was right beside me, running through the world's quickest pre-flight.
"Kick the tyres and light the fires, Ice Queen," Tony's voice filled the speakers. "We're going to my place."
At least it wouldn't be a long trip. We could be in Manhattan in less than an hour depending on how fast I flew.
"Copy that."
The Quinjet was on and we were ready to go. I prayed Dad was right as I typed in my access code to activate the launch pad. The brief moment of waiting for the code to activate was the longest of my life. But access granted come up and the hydraulics kicked in, lifting us up onto the runway.
At least the Quinjet had VTOL. We didn't hav to wait for clearance to get off the runway. I lifted into the air right away. I could hear some very unhappy people in flight control trying to get us to stop.
"Hang on, this might be bumpy," I cautioned as I increased the throttle.
It was one of the worst takeoffs I'd ever done. But it was also the quickest. I was worried about someone coming out and shooting us down so I hit the throttle way too hard.
"Fuck, Kari," Jared's strained voice came from the back. "Are you trying to kill us?"
I glanced over my shoulder to see Jared and Steve both looking white in the back. Natasha was cleaning her nails looking unperturbed. A quick glance at Clint showed that even he was looking a little green. I eased off the throttle and leveled out.
In front of us, Tony was a streak of gold and red in his armor. It really was an incredible sight his armor. I'd never seen it in action in person before.
"Meet you there," Tony's voice came over the radio. "Don't be late."
In a flash of red and gold, Tony was gone.
Then there was silence.
It was completely awkward. Steve was studying his shield intently. Natasha was still cleaning her nails with her knife. Jared was studying something on the back of his hand like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Even Clint was staring at the controls of the Quinjet with a thousand yard stare.
"You wanna fly for a bit?" I asked, reaching over to touch Clint's leg.
He jumped a mile out of his seat. Still, he looked at me with a faint smile and a nod. Whatever Clint had just been thinking about seemed to be long gone as I switched the controls over to him. A sudden thought hit me and I was ashamed of myself for not thinking of it sooner.
"Jared, where's Sam?" I asked, turning around in my seat.
Jared looked at me with a furrowed brow. To my surprise and relief, he laughed.
"Oh shit, poor Sam," Jared said as he laughed. "I dropped him in Alexi's bedroom. He nearly shot me and then Alexi came barreling in."
The mood in the back of the Quinjet lightened slightly. Steve smiled and Natasha laughed a little. Even Clint's smile grew a little wider.
"She hugged Sam so hard around his legs, he nearly fell over." Jared's smile dropped a little. "I didn't want to hurt him. I just needed him out of the way."
"I'm sure he'll forgive you," Natasha said quickly. "After all, he can't resist Alexi even at her worst. He's probably playing tea party with her right now."
I'd rather be playing tea party with Alexi right now than flying to New York to stop an alien invasion. I shot Natasha a grateful smile. There was going to be a lot of self-flagellation come out of this. It usually wasn't Jared's style but given the circumstances, I could understand it.
"That's Evans' daughter?" Steve asked. He looked a little lost right now.
"Yeah," Jared confirmed with a nod. "She's Kari's goddaughter too. The child is a sociopath but we love her."
I looked over at Clint. He usually had a lot to say about Alexi. But now he was staring straight ahead, his face an emotionless mask right now.
"I have something to ask," Steve's words tumbled out so fast I nearly missed what he was saying.
Curiously, I turned around to see what he wanted.
"The girl in the coffee shop," Steve started, looking embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ellie?"
"Yes?"
Natasha was the first to answer. This was going to give her ammunition to torment Steve for the next decade. I almost pitied him for bringing it up.
"I don't know her number and I want to give her a heads up," Steve said in a rush. "I promised her lunch and then got called away on all of this."
Natasha and Jared had near identical smirks on their face as this piece of information.
"I left things unsaid once, I don't want to do it again."
The honest statement from Steve softened their evil smirks into a genuine smile. Even I was smiling as I half turned my attention back to the controls.
"Where does she work?" Natasha asked smoothly, pulling her phone out. "And her last name."
I was always amazed at where Natasha could hide her phone in her skintight combat suit. Steve gave over the information and Natasha was tapping away on her phone in seconds. Poor Steve looked a little perplexed at how quick this was happening.
"Nat is our resident stalker," I filled in. "She's can get anyone's information in less than five minutes."
"Or minute," Natasha said dryly, flipping the phone around. "Here you go."
I didn't want to know what database Natasha just hacked to get the girl's phone number so quickly. Steve didn't argue though, with a murmured thanks, he took the phone and went to the back of the Quinjet.
Clint's hand on my leg drew my attention back to the cockpit. His hand absently ran up and down my leg before coming to rest on my knee. It was a small and comforting gesture. Something I'd missed since he'd been taken. Even if we weren't fucking, I still would have missed this.
"If this all goes to shit, I want you to be the one to tell Laura," Clint's voice was so low, I nearly missed it. "You know where all my letters for them are."
"I do." I gave Clint's hand a squeeze. "I'm guessing Dad said something about bringing us back alive?"
"He would appreciate it," Clint said dryly. "And I believe I'll be getting a shovel talk if we get back."
"When we get back," I corrected Clint. "I'm sorry. I had to bait Loki for Natasha."
"It's okay," Clint said with a shrug. "I blurted it out to Coulson and then panicked because I wasn't sure who would kill me first. You or him."
There was a spasm of pain cross Clint's face at the mention of Coulson's name. He took in a deep breath to control himself.
"Coulson said he wished he'd take a picture of the look on your face," I said lightly. "Apparently it was hilarious."
Clint relaxed a fraction. He looked so on edge right now.
"I really didn't mean it," Clint said with a small laugh. "Coulson asked me why I was grinning at one of your texts. I just panicked and it fell out of my mouth before I could stop myself."
Jared was making a fake gagging noise behind us. I glanced over my shoulder to see what the hell he was doing. Considering the smirk on his face while fake gagging, I knew he'd heard our conversation.
"Fuck off Jared," Clint raised his voice. "You don't get a say in the matter considering how we all found out you and Nat were fucking."
"Yeah but that's my sister." Jared pulled a disgusted face. "Like, why?"
"Because Kari answered the door in her extra skimpy lace underwear," Clint said with some mild exasperation. "And I'm only human."
"Considering some of Kari's skimpy underwear, I'd say that's totally understandable," Natasha said, breaking up any bickering that might have ensured.
Natasha's joke made me smile a little. Being caught up with everything over the last few days I hadn't really stopped to think about what Jared would think about all of this. If he'd gotten shitty about it, there might have been an argument. Considering the shit that happened between him and Natasha, I thought my reaction was pretty damn fair. Clint had been pissed for ages. At least I'd taken it in my stride.
"I do not want to think of my sister in skimpy underwear," Jared said dryly. "Or you Barton. Ugh, gross."
Jared sounded like a teenage boy. I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to the controls.
"You know my thong turns you on."
Apparently Clint wasn't done. His snappy retort made me laugh though. I had sadly seen Clint in a thong. It was not a pretty sight even with the copious amount of alcohol we had drunk that night in Amsterdam. At least now I could confirm Clint was much better at his manscaping since then.
Our laughter was short-lived as Steve back to the front, handing Natasha's phone back to her. His face was pinched and serious. I felt bad for him. He was barely a month out of being frozen and he was about to go on a potential suicide mission. He'd lost so much already.
"Do we have a plan?" Steve asked.
I glanced at Clint who was looking as lost as me at the question.
"We'll deal with whatever we need to on the ground," Jared spoke up quickly. "How well do we all know Manhattan?"
No one knew Manhattan better than Jared. I was going to be happy to let him lead.
"You know it best," Natasha answered before I could. "We'll need you to be able to point us in the right direction if things are going south. It's a big island but I don't think we're going to contain it."
Steve nodded along with everything Natasha was saying.
"Me and Hawk can be eyes in the sky," I added, shooting Clint a quick smile. "It's what we're best at. If we get a decent perch, there's plenty we can see and shoot. "
It still didn't help there was only five of us, including Tony. Loki had an entire army behind him. Thor and Bruce were both missing. We were severely lacking some heavy hitters on the team. And some serious numbers. Maybe two or three STRIKE teams would have been better to bring along.
Clint's hand gripped my knee again, calming my racing thoughts. I blew out a long breath and gave me what I hoped to be a reassuring smile. While I'd been lost in thought, Jared and Steve were going through options on the ground. I wasn't any help here. I was at my best out of the thick of the action. Steve and Jared were the best hope at getting the civilians out. Natasha could provide cover for them on the ground and us from above.
Manhattan was huge. That was our biggest problem. If Loki's army was ground only they'd run into the same problems as us. But if he had air support, things were going to be a lot harder.
"We could always call the Professor for help," Jared said quietly as he glanced towards me. "I hate to be the one to point out, but we are seriously outnumbered."
Steve looked between both of us for clarification.
"Professor Xavier runs a school for people like us," I explained. Jared's suggestion had merit. The only problem was the Professor didn't like getting involved in huge events like this. He'd always said they'd done enough damage and publicity in the 70's that had taken this long to repair. "He would already know because we went to him to try and track you Jared."
Jared shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He did well to hide his guilt but I could feel it radiating off him.
"I would hate for Loki to be able to do to several Enhanced people what he did to you and Barton," Steve said after a long moment of silence. "We may need them though as a backup."
A niggling thought came to my mind. As well as Professor Xavier, Grams had some contacts that might be helpful. My mind was still blown that Magneto himself had shown up at Dugan's funeral and he and Grams were old friends.
"Get a hold of Grams." I really hoped Jared wouldn't ask questions here. "Ask her to contact her other friend because we may need them too."
For once in his life, Jared wasn't a nosy little shit. Natasha handed him her phone and Jared bent his head down, fingers furiously going over the screen.
A speck in the distance showed that we were closing in on Manhattan. My stomach clenched with nerves. This was it.
As we get closer, I could see what looked to be a portal in the sky. From this distance it looked like a hive of angry ants pouring out from it. There had to be hundreds of them.
Everything went silent in the back.
There was nothing to say. Part of me considered telling everyone to jump and flying the Quinjet straight into the portal. Whether it would do any good or not was the only thing stopping me. And the whole dying thing too.
"Here we go," I said quietly, straightening up in my seat.
Clint wordlessly handed the controls back to me. He looked pale and grim as he stared ahead at the scene that was growing bigger with every passing moment.
"Stark we're heading north east," I opened the radio channel as we got close enough.
I couldn't see him. But I had no doubt he was there.
"What, did you stop for drive through?" Tony's snarky response was not what I was expecting. "Swing up Park. I'm going to lay em out for you."
At least I knew where that was. It was confusing from the air the layout of the city. At least there were plenty of landmarks to go by.
It wasn't often I got to use the automatic gun on the Quinjet either. The .50 cal bullet at a thousand rounds a minute was deadly. It also gave me a better look at the alien army of Loki's.
They have some kind of air chariot. There was no other way to describe them. One driver and another on weapons. They looked heavily armored with some kind of laser weapon. They were mobile but not super agile. I was able to plow plenty of them down while climbing back up towards Stark tower. A movement on the balcony caught my eye.
It wasn't just where the beam of light opening the large portal was coming from. Loki was there with Thor, both fighting.
"Kari."
Clint's clipped hard tone made me tighten my jaw.
"I got him."
I hit the brake a little too hard and banked, coming up near vertical in front of them. I could hear Jared swearing in the back at the sudden movement.
Loki threw Thor to the ground giving me the perfect opportunity to pull the trigger. I sent a mental sorry to Tony as the bullet hit his building, spraying glass everywhere.
It was as if it was nothing but a minor annoyance to Loki. He turned and fired a beam from the staff.
I was too slow to avoid it.
It clipped the left engine of the Quinjet. Alarms started screaming and the Quinjet started to drop.
"Hang on," I called out to the back.
Panic threatened to take over but my training was hanging on by a thread. I was going to quit flying if this trend of me crashing Quinjet was going to become a habit.
There were so many buildings to avoid as we rapidly lost altitude. All I could do was steer and pray that the little control we had left could get us on the ground. My stomach lurched into my mouth as there was nothing I could do but hang on. I managed to get us between some buildings and onto a fairly clear patch of road. There was nothing I could do about clipping the few cars in the way.
We hit the ground with a skidding thud. There was nothing stopping us sliding along the road until we hit the steps of a building. It felt like forever until the Quinjet had come to a shuddering groan. My body turned to jelly the second we stopped. I was gripping the controls so hard I'd lost feeling in my hands.
"Hey, come on." Clint's voice snapped me out of the rising panic.
He reached over and gently pried my left hand off the control. My fingers ached my they started to work again. I loosened my grip and with shaking hands started to unbuckle myself.
"We have to get back up there." Steve was already up and bouncing out of the Quinjet.
Jared was stooped over looking like he'd just lost his lunch. Or whatever meal he had last. Natasha was grabbing weapons out of the weapon hold. By the time I got up, she had everything out and was handing them out. I slung my sniper rifle over my shoulder, clipped on my ammo belt, and two thigh holsters. I doubted I'd have enough ammo but it would have to do.
Steve was waiting outside for us. My legs felt useless as we all jogged after him. Even Jared stuck close to us. I half expected him to teleport as soon as he could. But he was right beside me.
A shadow coming from the portal and a deep guttural sound that was not of this earth came bellowing from it.
I couldn't even describe the enormous creature that came out of the portal. It was like an enormous sea monster that fly. It came right over our heads, giving us a perfect look at the heavily armored creature. More aliens were pouring out from the portal with it, launching onto buildings and crashing through windows. Aliens started to fly out of the monster and onto more buildings.
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve's voice was full of disbelief as he stared up in the sky.
"Seeing, still working on the believing," Tony's voice came through our comms clearly in our ears. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
What? I thought Banner had disappeared during the Helicarrier attack.
"Banner?" Steve's confusion echoed my own.
"Just keep me posted."
Tony sounded so sure of himself. Jared looked at me in question and all I could do was shrug in return. Our confusion was short lived. In a matter of seconds, a small group of alien soldiers had spotted us and were closing in.
Clint reacted first. The arrow sailed past my ear and embedded itself into the head of the first alien.
It felt like a switch had flicked in me. Everything suddenly felt eerily calm as I raised my P30 and fired. It might have shot an alien and seen a purple blood splatter from the impact. But it wasn't different than any other mission.
Except it was aliens.
I was having a really hard time coming to terms with that. Even though I shot at the Destroyer in Mexico. I knew Thor was an alien. An actual alien army was something else.
Crouching behind an upturned taxi gave us excellent cover and an opportunity to survey the damage. The Chitauri, I think Thor referred to them as, were crawling everywhere. They didn't seem to have an actual strategy. They simply saw a target and went for it like mindless drones.
Our biggest problem now was now we were on the ground, there was still a lot of civilians running for cover. More chariots from overhead began firing at the people still on the ground. The five of us took cover as the shots rained down from above. The part of the taxi I'd been sheltering behind blew up mere inches from me.
It was almost instinct now. I threw my hands up and made an ice shield over us. It cracked and bits of ice rained down on us. But at least we weren't dead.
"Come on." Clint gave me arm a tug once the noise from above stopped. "We gotta move."
I shattered the shield and stood up. Jared and Natasha were gone in the next instant. Steve and Clint both went in opposite directions. I went with Clint.
We found ourselves behind another taxi. If things weren't so dire I would have laughed. There's one thing New York had plenty of. Taxis. Natasha and Jared were there a second later, breathing heavily and covered in alien blood. They looked immensely pleased with themselves. Steve joined us a second later.
"We've got civilians trapped," Clint said as he motioned to the street underneath us.
We'd ended up on an overpass. At least it gave us some kind of picture of what was happened. I followed Clint's line of sight. There were heaps of people running for cover as the Chitauri fired from overhead. A bus had been caught in the street and I could hear the screams of people from inside.
Another lot of chariots flew overhead, firing into the cars behind us. It made us duck. Except for Steve.
"Loki."
The name came out like a curse on Steve's lips. I looked up just in time to catch a brief glimpse of Loki's ridiculous green gape and enormous horned helmet on one of the chariots. I snuck a look at Jared. His lips were pressed into a thin line as he stared at the fast moving chariot. I could almost hear him doing the calculations in his head whether he'd been able to teleport onto something moving that fast.
Loki was shooting everything in his path as he flew overhead. There was little hope for people as they scattered best they could. The screams were near ear splitting.
"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve said looking at all of us.
It was so clear on his face that he wanted to get down there and help. Unfortunately, as he said it, another group of Chitauri ground soldiers were closing in on our flank.
"We got this," Natasha reassured him. "Go."
As she said it, we both got to our feet at the same time and fired. Natasha took down one and I took two down with neat headshots.
"You think you can hold them off?" Steve didn't look persuaded.
"Bitch, please," Jared said with a snort.
He teleported right into the thick of the incoming Chitauri. I was ready to kill him myself at putting himself right in the action. My curse didn't make it to my lips as the flames grew on Jared's arms.
I had never seen Jared actually use his pyrokinesis in a fight. It was mostly used to piss people off or as a party trick. As the flames came down his arms, Jared clenched his fist.
The next few seconds were devastating for the Chitauri near him. Jared's fire exploded in a circle around him, instantly incinerating anything in its path. I felt the blast of hot air even from my distance.
"You got this," Steve said with all the confidence in the world. He turned to us with a small smile before leaping off the bridge and onto a bus.
I'd have to tell Grams that Steve was still a reckless idiot.
"Cover me, I'll get the civilians in the bus," Clint said as he stood up, firing a multi-shot arrow into the nearest Chitauri.
I always loved that arrow. Watching it imbed itself into the eye of a Chitauri and then shoot three more was always amusing. I didn't have time to stand there and be amused. I went in front of Clint and started to shoot at anything that moved.
Jared was still standing far away enough to be causing the Chitauri a lot of problems. He was burning everything in his path. It was a relatively easy job of picking off the ones who had kept far away enough from Jared and were trying to shoot him from afar.
It was oddly detaching as I fired. When you were firing at another person to take their life, there was always the moment just before the impact that most people realized they were about to be shot. There was always a mixture of emotions, anger, and fear being the most prominent. But these creatures didn't have that. You could barely see their faces through their masks. None of them paused, even for a second, when one of them was gunned down near them.
They just kept coming.
"Just like Budapest all over again," Natasha yelled over the sound of the gunfire.
Clint had rejoined us, arrows loosing with inhuman speed.
"You and I remember Budapest very differently," Clint said with a mixture of exasperation and fondness for their old jab.
"Someone really needs to fucking tell me what happened in Budapest," I muttered lowly.
Clint heard me, even over the noise. He spared a quick grin in my direction before we kept firing.
Jared was getting more and more overrun. I was on my third magazine for both my P30's before he decided to pull back. He came between us, collapsing against the upturned car.
He stank of burnt hair and smoke. His whole body was trembling with exhaustion. Still, he determinedly pulled out his own Glock and loaded it.
"There's more coming," Jared said as he snapped the magazine in. "At least thirty at my count."
"Good, it may make it a little more even," Natasha said blandly. She wrinkled her nose as Jared moved closer to her. "You fucking stink."
Natasha gave him a little shove to put some distance between them.
"I have no arm hair left," Jared said with a tired laugh. "And I think my eyebrows are a little singed."
They were looking more manicured than usual. Jared normally didn't get anything to burn unless he really wanted it to. Him losing body hair meant he didn't have full control of what he was doing. I wasn't surprised given the ferocity he attacked the Chitauri with. There was some pent up rage in my brother.
There wasn't any more time for joking. The Chitauri were coming in thick and fast. Jared's estimate of thirty was grossly underestimated. They were learning too. They managed to flank us despite our best efforts.
Close combat was not my forte. None of my extensive training could ever prepare me for the alien to come rushing at me. It was easy to get caught into the rhythm. Shoot, duck, weave and do whatever I had to avoid being singed by their weapons. It didn't take the Chitauri long to separate us. I ended up by myself with my back up against one of the fallen cars. Jared was on the other side of the car alternating between his pyrokinesis and the Glock.
Clint getting tackled by one of the Chitauri got my attention. I fired a round into the one closest to me and turned to help him. It was a close shot but I managed to wound one of them enough Clint could easily stab him with an arrow.
In my moment of inattention to my side, both of my P30's were shot out of my hands. Whatever the weapon was they were using near burnt my hands. It was an amazing shot from the alien. I had to give whatever alien it was credit for it. The sheer shock of such a close hit was only outweighed that I had one of the Chitauri right in my face.
These things didn't sweat. But whatever moisture they had on them in the humid summer day was enough for me. I grabbed its arm and before it could react, the Chitauri froze in place.
I had no time for victory. More and more were overwhelming us. Without a gun, I went for ducking in and using my power instead. They were scarily easy to freeze and it didn't take them long to back off, trying to come at me from afar. Natasha had managed to kick her spare Glock towards me as she snatched up one of their weapons.
At some point, Steve had joined in the fight. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of red, white, and blue.
It was overwhelming the sheer number that kept coming towards us. Even Steve was starting to look swamped. I'd lost all track of time but I knew I was soaked in sweat and I could feel the lack of sleep and food from the last few days fast catching up on me. Three of the Chitauri managed to corner me and for a second I thought I was done. They were too close and there was no way I could shoot all three of them that quickly. Or freeze them.
At least I could go down trying.
That was until a click of an empty magazine vibrated down my fingers.
I threw up an ice shield a second before they opened fire on me. It wasn't going to last long so I went for a last ditch effort. No one else was close to me so I knew I could.
I pushed the ice out as far as I dared. It enveloped everything in its path, only stopping right as Jared's flames came from the opposite direction, killing everything I didn't reach.
A second later, lightning rained down from the sky, sending a massive shockwave through the ground. The last group of Chitauri surrounding us dropped dead as Thor landed heavily down next to us.
I could have kissed Thor for his perfect timing. He was in even more handsome in the intricate armor than before. His hair was mussed and he looked extremely pissed off.
"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked.
I took a moment to stand back and breathe. Clint quickly strode off and began to grab his used arrows. His quiver was nearly empty.
"You know what I have going in my head right now?" Jared said to me quietly as Thor answered Steve about the cube being impenetrable.
I shook my head slightly, trying to pay attention to the serious conversation in front of us. Tony had said something but my comms had gone crackly and I only got every third word.
"No capes."
It took every ounce of my self control to not burst out laughing. One of my favorite scenes from The Incredibles. Both me and Jared could recite it off by heart.
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor's threatening tone drew both of us back into the conversation.
"Yeah, get in line."
Clint's dry tone made me look at him in concern. He was fixing one of the arrowheads away from the group. Even Natasha glanced at him with a furrowed brow.
Clint wasn't exactly a vengeful person. Right now he sounded and looked like he wanted to put Loki's head on a pike.
"Save it." Steve was all business. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us."
That was an exhausting thought. I was going to have to start using my sniper rifle at close range for the next wave of Chitauri.
"Without him, these things could run wild." Steve was in full Captain America mode right now. "We got Stark up top and he's…"
Clint looking down the road drew my attention away from Steve. I braced myself from another onslaught of aliens to come bearing down on us. Instead, it was Bruce on a rickety old motorbike. Steve took another second before he noticed our attention was elsewhere and looked as well.
It was oddly quiet as Bruce rode up to us. No one seemed to know what to say to him until he stopped and got off the motorbike.
"So," Bruce started as he looked around. "This all seems horrible."
"I've seen worse."
There was a bite in Natasha's tone. I still didn't have to full story of what happened with the Hulk coming out on the Helicarrier. I was too busy trying not to be killed by Jared.
"Sorry." Bruce sounded sincere and a little sheepish in his apology.
"No," Natasha's voice softened. She had been a little harsh before. "We could use a little worse."
Oh yeah, unleashing the Hulk worked so well last time. At least SHIELD's cover up story of a gas explosion seemed to stick.
"Stark." Steve reached up to touch his comms unit in his ear. "We've got him."
"Banner?" Tony's voice echoed in my ear.
"Just like you said."
At least Steve seemed to trust Tony with whatever crazy plan he was cooking up.
"Then tell him to suit up," Tony's comms sounded a hell of a lot clearer now. "I'm bringing the party to you."
On cue, Tony came streaking around the corner at full speed. Right behind him was one of the Leviathans. Tony skimmed closer to the ground and the massive creature followed him, totaling everything underneath him.
"I…" For once, Natasha lost her composure. "I don't see how that's a party."
Neither did I. How the fuck were we meant to defeat that? I reached back and pulled my sniper rifle from my harness. I doubted it would do much more than piss it off. But shooting some bigger bullet would make me feel better at least.
As I went to snap a magazine into the rifle, Bruce started to walk away. His posture didn't look the least bit tense or worried as he casually strolled down the street. I really hoped he could think something really angry to make the Hulk come out again. Otherwise, we'd be scraping Bruce up off the sidewalk.
"Dr Banner," Steve sounded as stressed as I was feeling. "Now might be a good time for you to get angry."
I exchanged a concerned look with Clint. He'd come to stand beside me, arrow notched and ready to go. He's own look mirrored my own.
Even Jared was staring at Bruce like he'd gone mad.
"That's my secret, Cap." Bruce turned to face all of us, calm as could be. "I'm always angry."
As he turned, his skin turned a shade of green. Right in front of my eye, Bruce began to grow, muscles rippling out from underneath his clothes until he was too large to contain them.
There were no words to describe seeing the mild-mannered Bruce Banner turn into a 12 foot green rage monster. As he did, the Leviathan bore down on us. The Hulk punched it right in the face.
The enormous beast shuddered underneath the full force of the Hulk. It plummeted into the ground and began to tip ass overhead. The tail of it was coming down to land on all of us.
"Hold on!"
Tony flew overhead and launched some explosives into it. I didn't need to be told twice. I grabbed Clint and threw an ice shield up over us, crouching to the ground.
The creature exploded in a mass of purple flesh. It's armor went everywhere, sending debris flying through the air and into the buildings. I could hear the wet slapping sound of the flesh hitting my ice shield. It was enough to make me gag. Thankfully it didn't last long. I shattered the shield and stood back up, Clint at my side.
All around us the Chitauri were screaming. The ones on the side of the building had taken off what looked to be masks and had their entire faces exposed.
The screams were of anger and frustration. It chilled me to the bone. Looking around us we were completely outnumbered. All of us circled close to each other to regroup.
But then the Hulk let our a responding roar. Tony hovered above us before landing next to the Hulk. Clint had his arrow notched and pointed at the closest Chitauri. Thor had his hammer in his hand. Natasha had dropped a magazine out and reloaded her spare Glock. Steve adjusted his shield.
I hiked up my sniper rifle as flames came down Jared's arms.
Fury's crazy plan of the Avengers Initiative didn't seem so crazy right now.
Even if Jared had managed to smuggle himself onto the team.
All I could do was smile as I stood beside my teammates. Ready to take on an alien army.
Authors Note
Yay it's finally here!
First up, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your messages of support and making sure I was okay when I didn't update for awhile. It means a lot to me having people reach out when I've been quiet with writing. Life is just crazy busy. Competition season with the horses has started up here after being in the air for so long. All of a sudden I've gone from having every weekend spare to being completely booked out with competitions until October. I'm home by myself so working 6 horses a day, plus Uni, usually means I fall asleep in my laptop when I do take it to bed to write.
Sadly this also means updates are going to be slow. The Battle of New York was always really hard for me to picture. It comes from so many different angles but being in the first person means it's limited. It's hard to know where to insert Kari and then take things from the movie, but keep it original as well. So the next chapter won't be out in a hurry, however I do have some stuff written ahead because of the steps I need to get to the Winter Soldier arc, so I'm hoping after this, things might move a little quicker.
I've also started Steve's story which will run alongside Crystallize. I'm going to wait until I've got a bit more solid writing before I start posting it. So it will lag behind a little, but have its own entire storyline.
Thank you again to all my amazing readers. I hope everyone is healthy and safe in these crazy times.
