They call her Human Torch! Chapter 28

In the lab 7 minutes later.

Tony was using a melding tool to try and save the helmet in his suit, it has taken a beating and he knew he would need another one from his office in New York. He had attached a monitor to Bella's finger and was trying to distract himself while her heartbeat got started again. Cap walked in a moment later and went straight for Bella.

"The blood is all cleaned up. I spoke to Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton. He is no longer under the effects of the.. Scepter mind stone, but she said his head is still hurting. He will fly the Quinjet. Thor was apparently d-"

He stopped when a flutter was heard around the room from the monitor. Both men looked down in time to see Bella take a deep harsh breath and shoot up off the bed before yanking the monitor off her finger. Her eyes looked wild and she was disoriented for a moment but she blinked and relaxed he stance when she saw no one else but Tony and Steve.

"Where is that asshole?"

"Unfortunately they got away. How are you feeling? Let me see your back."

Tony tuned her and pushed down on the skin. Steve could only look on at the perfectly smooth skin, it wasn't bruised or scarred, it was as if nothing ever happened.

"I'm fine now Tony. What about Phil? Loki had him under the effects of the mind stone. Is he okay?"

"He helped him get away but he is fine physically. Clint is back though and he is feeling a little fuzzy in the head but he is on our side now."

She nodded to herself and mumbled "Good, good." But she snapped her head back up.

"Where is Bruce and Thor? Why isn't Bruce here? Is he still-?"

Steve walked passed Tony and interrupted Bella.

"Thor as you saw, was let go in the cage, we do not know where he is. Dr. Banner apparently was distracted out of the Helicarrier so he wouldn't finish destroying it. He jumped out and they are not sure where he landed either or if he is still in his other form."

"I need to go find them. First I need to go talk to Clint and see if he remembers anything about Loki's plan."

"He said he didn't ask questions but he knew Loki will make a move today."

Tony looked up suddenly.

"The trace was completed right before the explosion. I can access my system and check what location it was."

"Good. I'll take an earpiece and you just let me know. Take a Quinjet with Clint, Nat, and Steve. I'm gonna go see if I can find Bruce or Thor."

Tony sighed and shook his head.

"Bella you just died a couple minutes ago. Relax a moment and just wait to go with us."

She shook her head and left the room quickly for a few minutes before coming back in a new suit. She looked and Steve in the eye and smirked his way before turning and moving her hair to the side. Steve felt his face heat up but went forward quickly and finished zipping her up. Tony looked at the both of them and tilted his face. He had never seen Bella smirk that way, there was a little wiggle in her eyebrow that almost made her look like she was flirting and Cap over here turned firetruck red at just the thought of touching her bare back.

"Son of a bitch!"

He hadn't meant to say it out loud but both heads turned to him in surprise.

"What?"

"Uh, nothing. Just looking for the location."

She nodded his way before stepping away from Steve.

"Alright. I'm leaving."

"I thought we agreed you would stay."

"Nope, I never did. I need to go see if Bruce is okay. If he is in his other form then I can calm him down enough to, you know, stop destroying stuff. And if he is Bruce then he will need clothes."

Tony thought he could confirm his suspicion right then and there about Bella and Cap.

"Hey Bella, Answer me this. You have seen the Doctor in both forms right? Tell me, does his downstairs grow as much as the rest of him does when he is in Hulk form?"

Bingo! He saw Capsicle's jaw clench for a moment and Bella's blush as she turned to see Cap's reaction. Yeah, there's definitely a little crush going on there.

"God Tony! How would I know? I've never seen Hulk naked. His pants rip up but they still hold when he is in that form."

"Oh so you haven't seen Hulk naked but you have seen Bruce in the buff?"

He almost chuckled and broke character when her cheeks started smoking big time. That is always so weird to see.

"Well not on purpose! When he goes back down to small size, the pants obviously fall off and.. yeah but it's not like that and you know it. You know what? Why am I even explaining myself to you? I'm leaving. See you guys later."

She turned in a huff of embarrassment and took off towards the nearest deck. I finally let out the laugh I had been holding in but saw that Cap was giving me a disapproving look.

"What? It's fun to get her flustered and worked up. Plus I needed to see your reaction to confirm something."

"What would that be?"

"That you like her. I can see how much it bugged you, the thought of her seeing another man naked..."

"I don't know what you are talking about Stark. Get back to work. We have a battle coming up."

He turned and walked out the door but not before Tony got the last word in.

"Oh Captain my Captain! You can't fool me! Don't worry I'll keep your secret romance!.."

He chuckled once more and got back to work. I am hilarious.

With Bella.

I had to admit to myself (not to anyone else) that this was a pretty stupid idea. I had no idea where to go. We were so high up in the air with the Helicarrier that when Thor and Bruce fell out of it, they could have landed miles and miles away.

I flew for almost 10 more minutes before deciding to swoop lower. There was something white in the middle of a field that seemed out of place. I didn't want to land by someones house but then again, it was in the middle of nowhere and it seemed too small to be a house. The lower I got the clearer my vision was. The sight was where the cage had clearly crashed, there remained the hard white cage structure but the glass that surrounded it was shattered everywhere. The cage was here, but where was Thor? I flew up again but didn't go too high this time. I looked 5 miles to the left of the cage and found nothing, going back I went 5 miles right of it. This time I was looking over what looked to be a field with hundreds of wild flowers. In a way it reminded me of the meadow that Edward use to take me to. I never think about him anymore, not after so many years so it surprised me that the thought of him angered me slightly but mostly I was just indifferent. I had truly moved on from him, no part of me held any lost love feelings or even hurt feelings… Well, not hurt for him leaving me romantically, but I will always be hurt and never forgive him leaving me unprotected against Victoria. If he would have protected me then she would have just focused on me instead of going after Charlie. Thinking about it made my chest heavy. I had to stop this line of thinking.

"Bella? BELLA!"

I looked down and saw Thor looking up at me and waving his hands about. I sigh in frustration with myself. I was so distracted with my line of thought that I wasn't even looking down. After landing next to him I hug him.

"I was looking for you but of course you found me first. Are you okay?"

He looked down at me as he hugged me back with force. Looking into his eyes, I saw them swimming with tears, a look so betrayed, heartbroken.

"My brother, he tried to kill me. He actually let me fall."

Goosebumps bloomed from my stomach as my heart dropped for him.

"I'm so sorry Thor. You can't know what could possibly be going on in his head. Not that it makes this all okay, his anger and the betrayal he feels is all so misplaced but I'm sure that your brother loves you the same. He wants to be a king but you became one, well, almost became one and he didn't know why it could not be him. Then he finds out he is adopted and he is actually a frost giant, he became what he was always taught was his enemy. It must have messed with him in a way that altered every memory that involved you and your father, he made himself overthink everything and made himself believe there was a division. Honestly, this is all, it's just a tantrum he is throwing, he wants attention."

"His adventure to attention must come to an end. It has taken enough lives as it is. I will not have anyone else die at my brothers hands."

He nodded and picked up his hammer. With a look of determination taking dominance over the rest of his emotions, he turned to me.

"What is our next move?"

"We need to go back towards the Helicarrier until Tony remembers to send me the place but until then can we just fly low for a moment. Bruce jumped out of the Helicarrier and I don't know where he landed. Unlike you, he cannot fly."

Thor smiled softly and agreed. We flew 20 minutes before Tony's voice came on over the earpiece.

"Hey Bells?"

"Yeah."

"New York. My building."

"Are you serious?"

"Yup, he wants an audience."

I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment before Thor nudged me. I opened them and he pointed towards a warehouse below. Actually it looked like an abandoned mill. There was a gigantic hole in the roof and a small dust cloud surrounding the entire place.

"Gotta go Tony. See you there."

"Yup."

I turned to Thor.

"How did you find me and now him? You are either very good at finding, or I just suck."

He didn't respond but he smiled indulgently at me. My attention was on the front barn door when it suddenly opened and I saw two men come out. One was clearly and older man in a security uniform but the second was Bruce in some jeans that looked like they were almost falling off him and no shirt or shoes.

"Bruce!"

He turned surprised but smiled tiredly at me. I remembered he told me once that when Hulk came out unexpectedly, he got very tired and slept for hours at a time. He did better when we practiced though, and when he chose to become Hulk.

"Hey, how did you guys find me?"

"Thor spotted you while we were flying around the area. How do you feel?"

"Tired… Bella, did I, did I kill anyone?"

"No. I mean you tore down some systems and stuff but most importantly, no one was hurt. Right Thor?"

"That is correct. You and I entered in a glorious battle but neither of us could get a good handle on each other."

I could tell Bruce felt a little awkward at Thor's 'glorious battle' comment. It bugged him when he didn't remember stuff.

"So what's with the motorcycle?"

"Oh, I thought I could ride it towards.. somewhere that isn't the middle of nowhere.."

"You are in luck my friend. It just so happens that I can fly."

"Bella you know I don't like when you carry me."

"Suck it up."

I nodded towards the old man as Thor and I took off. Me with Bruce clutching me around my throat and Thor clutching on to his hammer.

After a few minutes I put 1 finger to my ear sensor and kept it turned on.

"Tony?"

"Yep?"

"We are on our way."

"Who is we? Did you find them both?"

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"We are on our way towards New York. Clint, Romanoff, and Mr. Stars and stripes, are in the Quinjet behind me."

I went to reprimand him about calling Steve that but I knew it would just make him do it more.

"Are they on headset?"

"I gave them earpieces but they won't turn them on until they get to New York. Look I am here and I see Selvig. Gotta go."

"Be careful Tony."

"We'll see."

They were already in New York but still minutes away from the actual Stark building.

"Bella, look."

I followed where Thor was pointing to. A beam went straight up towards the sky and I could see it looked just like the portals we would use in Asgard.

"They're here."

I felt slightly out of breath as fear crept in. I knew from the Chitauri information that they were almost like robots. I was sure I could probably melt through their 'armor' that acted as skin to them, but the problem was their numbers. How outnumbered would we be? I cringed when I saw a few dots fall from the sky, the closer we got the more clearly I could see them, and then begun the explosions in buildings and cars on the streets. We got close enough to land and quickly Thor went towards the building top, probably to find Loki.

"Bruce? Are you fighting with us?"

"I don't think it's a good idea Bella. What if I forget what side I'm on and I start attacking them? What if I just destroy buildings?"

"You have to trust yourself Bruce. Trust that if you choose to be Hulk then you will have control. You remember more, you act better, and you understand more when you don't fight him."

Bruce looked down in thought but we were soon joined by Steve, Nat, and Clint. I went up to Clint and hugged him. He hugged me right back and I felt him take a shuttering breath.

"I'm so happy to see you back."

"I'm happy to be back. How are you feeling?"

"Still fuzzy. But just like you, I'm glad to be back."

I smiled at him softly and patted his arm before stepping back and really looking at the three of them.

"You guys haven't started yet right? You look a little.. rough."

Natasha glared at me slightly before deadpanning.

"We were knocked out of the sky in the Quinjet."

"Oh. I see. Sounds like fun."

"Yes you should try it sometime."

Before anything else could be said, we heard a deep rumbling sound coming from the sky. We looked up at first and only saw more Chitauri soldiers but then it was… well I don't even know what to call them. It had the same color and protective armor as the rest of them but it was almost in the shape of a whale. A mix between a sea turtle and a whale… Only 50x the size. It floated almost gracefully down, swimming through the New York air and terrifying the rest of us. For a moment all we could do was look up at the sky with our mouths hanging open. Holy shit there's soldiers jumping out of it! Is that the Chitauri Leviathans I read about?

"Is it a ship? Full of them, or maybe a gigantic Chitauri that just happens to hold some in it's compartments..."

I was talking to myself but I knew we had to jump into action when they started crashing through building windows and screams could be heard in the air. Steve had the same idea because he turned his earpiece on and spoke into it.

"Stark, are you seeing this?"

"Seeing, Still working on believing. Where's Bella and Banner. Have they shown up yet?"

"Banner? They are here but he is not in a fighting… he is not fight ready."

"Ah, so doctor mode."

We took cover behind a few cars but I stood up.

"I need to try something before I jump into battle."

They looked at me like I was crazy but I used my flames to propel me high in the air. As soon as one flew past me, I grabbed on and knocked him off his little flying scooter. Bringing him down to the ground, I put both hands around it's head and turned up the heat as hot as it would go. My hands felt like they were going straight through play-dough as the material melted and the rest of the body stopped struggling. Hm, so they are as easy to kill as frost giants. Good, now what worried me was the numbers.

"Well, looks like you got it made. We can't really use that move though."

Natasha looked like a mix of annoyed with amused.

"You have what you use best. Guns!"

"Yeah yeah."

Steve got up and looked around before barking out orders.

"Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, keep then distracted here, I'll go work on helping out the civilians down there. Bella, Work in the air. Try to keep as many as possible from hitting the ground. Dr. Banner. Are you a civilian or are you fighting with us?"

Sexy sexy man taking charge….

"I'm not a civilian, that's for damn sure."

Bruce turned uncertain towards me but I nodded at him.

"I have all the faith in the world that you can do this. Don't fight him Bruce, just like we have practiced so many times. I will bring you back, no matter what."

He nodded but I got distracted at what Steve was doing, he talked to the police about setting up a perimeter to keep civilians away but they looked at him like he was crazy and talked back to him but when there was an explosion behind him he turned towards the 2 Chitauri soldiers and started fighting them with his shield. He punched one right in the face and used his shield to cut off a limb while using his foot to knock it out. Fucking hell that was hot. So hot, Sexy. The police men looked to him in shock for a moment before repeating his orders into his speaker. That's right asshats! I walked up to him and took out a soldier coming up behind him. He turned around and saw me right before grabbing one and propelling it's body towards me. I took the hint and grabbed one limb to pull while he pulled on another. Together we ended it quickly and he stopped short for a second to smile at me.

Steve was caught between being amazed at this alien invasion and being terrified of it. The thought of aliens being real was enough but seeing them with his own eyes was different. He had to stop to organize his thoughts every couple of minutes since he was so enraptured in Bella's fighting. She was graceful and clean in her moves, something so feminine about her and pure while doing something so deadly and grim. After they killed a soldier together, she had come up next to him and had spoken directly to him in a rough voice.

"Glad to have you on our side Captain. Wouldn't know what I would do if I had to fight against you, not after seeing some of your moves."

He smiled at her teasing words but her low tone of voice was so arousing and the way she lightly pressed her warm body against his back for just a second was more than enough to make his body spasm after she turned to leave. Did she do that on purpose? No, why would she?

Stark's voice came on the earpiece after a couple seconds.

"Hey, tell Banner to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

All of us looked towards his general direction and saw him bringing in the Chitauri ship. Agent Romanoff shuddered next to him.

"I- I don't see how that's a party."

Dr. Banner looked back towards Bella and she reached out to squeeze his hand. He walked towards the thing coming right at us and waited last minute to transform right before our eyes. The Hulk let out a massive roar that shook the streets as he used his fist to stop the creature. The impact and shock of the stop made it's lower body lift to the point where it was about to collapse on all of us. We ran for cover but Bella and Stark fired at opposite sides to get the body to explode. All the Chitauri that witnessed it let out battle cry's in fury.

Bella stood next to Hulk while he was panting. He looked about ready to smash something else soon. Taking a few steps back I signaled to everyone else to do the same before I got his attention.

"Hey big guy."

His head turned to me and I saw his anger melt to sadness. I had learned this expression as the first one he gave me every year. He would miss me after not seeing me for a long time.

"Bell! Bell gone."

"I'm back now buddy. We need you now okay?"

I pointed towards the Chitauri and made sure he saw all of them flying as well.

"Hulk smash them!"

I stood by Thor, Nat, and Clint, first before moving next to Steve and Tony.

"Hulk does not smash us! We are your friends. We are fighting them okay? Not you. We will not hurt you. I will not let them. Okay?"

He growled under his breath, not happy that he couldn't crush them but nodded in understanding. The Chitauri dropped down lower and suddenly made a nearby car explode and startled Hulk. He roared out and wildly looked around before locking eyes back on me and moving towards me.

"Bell hurt!"

"No, no! I'm not hurt. I'm fine! See?"

I put my hands up and did a full circle for him to see. He grabbed me with one hand and pulled on my arms with the other. I looked towards the others on the ground and smiled at them to calm their panicked looks. Unfortunately another car exploded at that moment and in his anger he squeezed his hand around my waist. I grimaced and let out a cry when I heard almost all my ribs crack. Tony Flew up at my level instantly and got in Hulks face.

"Put her down!"

"No Tony stop. I'm fine."

"You're not fine, you are in pain!"

"He doesn't know it. We have done this a million times Tony, really, I lost count of how many times he has broken my ribs. Just back off and he will put me down."

"Fine but we will be talking about this later."

He landed back down and Hulk then finally put me down. Steve rushed forward to crouch by me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. My ribs are already popping back in place."

Steve nodded and helped me up but then turned to Hulk, I think he just wanted to get him away from us.

"Hulk!"

He turned to Steve and growled. Steve just pointed back to the Chitauri.

"Smash!"

He growled again but this time with a grin on his face as he leaped off and straight up a building to start ripping them off. Steve turned back to me and grimaced when he actually heard my last rib pop back.

"Does it hurt?"

"Well, I think it's less than a human because I am able to stand high doses of pain but still a break is a break."

He nodded but we all had to get back in the game with the destruction of the Chitauri still going on around us.

"Call it Captain."

"Alright, until we can close that portal, our objective is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, Bella, You guys got the perimeter in the sky. Anything gets more than 3 blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

We nodded our agreement but a voice behind me made me stop short.

"I can help. What do I do?"

We all turned to see someone dressed in a red suit… Spiderman's suit. Of course only Tony and I knew it was Peter. He saw me and ran into my arms. I hugged him with all I had but had to hiss into his ear.

"What the hell are you doing here Peter? You're gonna get hurt!"

"I missed you too Bella."

"I did miss you but you have to go home! You are going to get hurt!"

"I can help! I'm not going to sit by the news and watch you fight when I can easily help defend the city."

Everyone was watching us as they had heard the end of the conversation. I turned to Steve and spoke to him first.

"Steve, this is.. Spiderman. Put him on Civilian duty."

"Bel-"

"No! You are just a kid! I will not let you get hurt. You are my responsibility remember? I am your mentor.. or I was anyway."

He sighed stubbornly but nodded as he turned to Steve and waited instruction. Once I saw him go the way he had pointed I walked up to Steve.

"I'll keep an eye on him from up top but if he try's to join in on the fighting just send him back to help people or the police. He is going to turn 21 in a few days, he is still a kid okay? Just..-"

"Don't worry Bella. I will make sure he is safe."

"Thank you Steve."

He nodded and I took off to take as many out of the sky as I could. I didn't pay attention much to anything else as I fought. After seeing Tony dive into the mouth of one Leviathan and come out the other, I started doing the same with the ones that kept coming out the portal. I had killed over 60 Chitauri but it didn't look like I had even dented the amount of them. With the portal open it was just never ending. At one point I saw Thor standing on the tip of a building and calling a whole bunch of thunder, clouds rolled over and darkened the street for a moment but I saw him direct every bit of power towards the portal, stopping them for a while from coming out but of course thunder is not never ending. I looked down and saw Nat jump on one of the Chitauri as they flew over her. That woman has balls! Unfortunately her leaving left Steve alone and surrounded. I swooped down and we stood back to back as we took them out. He turned towards me and lifted an eyebrow.

"Are you even breaking into a sweat yet? If Thor and Hulk can sweat, I'm pretty sure you should be too."

"Fire evaporates liquid remember?"

"Right."

"I am kinda tired though. I feel like we have been going for like 2 hours now. How long has it been since we started?"

Tony's voice came over the earpiece.

"It's been 28 minutes."

"Well shit..."

"Yep."

A leviathan flew by and I looked up to see Thor and Hulk fighting over 20 of them up there. They were doing great working together and before we knew it Hulk grabbed a piece of armor and dug it into the Leviathan's back. Without missing a beat Thor brought down his hammer and the whole thing instantly went down. Steve and I turned when we heard army tanks rolling in. They started firing and helped a little but not nearly enough. Clint's voice came on the earpiece for Steve.

"Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison, they cornered a lot of civilians there."

"I'm on it."

I was about to tell him I would go with him but Tony beat me to it.

"Hey Bella you better go with the Captain! Isn't that your bank? Forget the civilians, you gotta protect your money!"

I saw the look of shock on Steve's face and I burst out laughing.

"Don't worry Steve, he's just kidding."

I heard Tony's and Clint's laugh over the earpiece, guessing that he must have taken the comment seriously.

"Come on."

We ran towards the bank and I was surprised that he could almost keep up with me. I mean I was going at a jogging pace and so was he but still to others it looked like we were sprinting. In no time we got to the bank and saw 3 of them on the balcony looking down at a group of at least 40. Steve and I came in through a window and he swiftly threw his shield at one of the Chitauri that had activated what looked and sounded like a bomb. The other 2 started firing at us but I killed one quickly and slammed it's body over the railing while Steve kicked out a table and knocked the 1 left over. He got up and began fighting it but eventually got the upper hand. The crowd let out gasps of horror as they looked up and saw one more jump out of nowhere, it jumped on my back but soon let go as it heard the bomb's beeping begin to accelerate. Steve took another look around and yelled.

"Everyone clear out!"

There was nowhere really for them to go. With just one more soldier left he dove after the bomb but I ran towards it and kicked his face away. I didn't even have time to put my hand to it's head and kill it. I lunged towards the bomb, knowing it could be turned off but not knowing how. With the banks high ceiling I held the bomb to my chest and flew up. I let my body be covered in flames and encased the bomb in flames so I could be ready to absorb it.

"Bella!"

I looked down and saw Steve's horrified face for a moment before the bomb exploded in my hand. Did he forget I can absorb fire? People always thought absorbing fire or explosions would hurt me but Fire felt soothing and natural to me. It relaxed me to let go and absorb it actually. It made me lose myself in the sensation for a moment. The first time it happened was in the Stark Expo and while I was shocked that I could do it, I didn't get to appreciate the natural feeling of it, my natural state. Once I came back to myself after absorbing the explosion I began to feel things around me again. I felt myself falling and was only able to turn off my flames 2 seconds before I landed on the bank's floor. I groaned as I felt my hip shatter.

"Bella! Are you okay."

Steve jumped off the balcony and the sea of people stared at me in shock while parting to let him through.

"I'm fine. Really."

He sighed and helped me up. Grimacing once more as he heard my hip bone popping back.

"What did you break this time?"

"Hip."

He nodded but looked down conflicted.

"I forgot for a moment that you could absorb fire… Stupid mistake on my part really."

"It's okay. I'm sure you or anyone else is ever or should ever get use to seeing someone hug a bomb."

I smirked up at him and he smiled for a moment before we moved towards the front of the building and used our strength to knock the doors open. We helped the crowd of people follow the instructions that the officers were giving them. He stood to the side for a while and I could tell he was tired.

"Come on Cap, Tony is getting beat up over there."

"I can hear you, I'm doing this on purpose, I have a plan."

"Oh yeah? Well by all means, continue with your plan. We will stand here and watch."

"Well, I mean it wouldn't hurt if you just pick some of them off..."

Steve looked down as he smiled to himself but he followed me towards Tony. Thor came and joined us soon after and we were able to take almost all them here out before Tony randomly flew off.

"Where is he off to?"

"He must have gotten something on his earpiece."

We lost focus for a moment while a soldier shot out and got Steve on his side. He fell on his knees and clutched onto the wound. Thor was able to finish the rest of them off with his hammer quickly while I helped him up. Thor came around and patted his back.

"Ready for another bout?"

"What, you getting sleepy?"

I snorted and shook my head.

"Not even close."

Natasha's strained voice came over our earpieces.

"I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"

We looked at each other in surprise but Steve quickly responded back to her.

"Do it!"

"No! Wait!"

Tony sounded almost breathless as he spoke.

"Stark, these things are still coming!"

"I got a nuke coming in, It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

I felt the blood drain from my face and the air leave my body.

Steve put his hand on my back and I realized I had actually bent over slightly. I got back up and spoke urgently in my earpiece.

"You can't do that Tony! You could get stuck! That is a portal straight into Sanctuary! We didn't find one from there to Asgard."

"I have to Bella. It's this or we let Manhattan explode."

"I can absorb it! Let go of it and I will take care of it."

"No Bella. This is not just any bomb. This is meant to take out an entire Island. You don't know if you can pull it off and I won't let you experiment with it."

I let out a breath in desperation. My voice almost came out whining.

"Tony, you'll pass out when you get too high, the pressure will be too much. We don't even know if that planet has oxygen!"

He didn't respond this time. I looked to Thor for a moment.

"Bella, Sister let this go. It is his choice."

Anger and determination took over.

"No! He is being stupid."

Before he could move towards me I took off into the air as fast as I could go. It took 3 seconds to get to where Tony was holding and guiding the Nuke. I heard his sigh clearly over the earpiece as I positioned myself behind him and began helping him guide the bomb towards the portal at a faster rate.

"Bella.. What are you doing?"

"You are stupid if you think I am going to let you go and get yourself stuck on another planet without me. If you won't listen to my way then I will at least help you out on your way."

"Bella I can do this on my own, think of Kitty."

"Don't! Don't you dare bring her up! Think about Pepper you asshole!"

".. You're really gonna let me be responsible for killing my best friend?"

I heard the trace of panic in his voice as we were close to the portal now. I knew calling me his best friend was his way of saying he appreciated my support but also his last plea for me to let go. Right before entering through it I called out to him.

"Love you too Tony."

We entered through and instantly I felt the pressure from the lack of oxygen. Sanctuary was a black void with millions of stars. It was not nearly as stunning as Asgard and that seemed somehow fitting for what evil resided here. I used my strength to push the bomb right at the gigantic spaceship sitting in the middle of the planet. I looked straight ahead in satisfaction as I saw it explode but when I looked back I saw the portal becoming smaller and Tony falling. Just like I imagined, He had become unconscious. I felt pressure in my chest from lack of air and my head began to pound. I could feel my flames becoming weaker but I used the last bit I had to get to Tony and push him hard towards the portal. My eyes felt too heavy to keep open and once I saw he was passed the portal, I was able to let go and close my eyes as I let my natural state take over.

Steve looked up at the sky after Bella shot off towards Tony. He heard their conversation and couldn't believe that she would willingly go back into space after working 8 months to get back. It was crazy and a part of him was upset that he might never see her again and she didn't bother looking his way but another part understood that they had just met and he didn't really mean anything to her. Realistically he had to admit that his admiration for her grew to new heights. Her bravery astounded him tremendously and even though he had told Stark that he didn't know what he was talking about, he really was attracted to her. At first she had reminded him of Peggy somewhat, but now, they were 2 completely different people. Both good, strong women, but different.

His thoughts are broken when all the Chitauri begin to shake then fall over. Every soldier in the sky fell, and every single one that was gripping onto buildings released their hold. He looked at Thor and let out a sigh of relief. Even Hulk was just standing there with them while looking up at the portal. His gut tightened and Thor looked down while putting his head in his hand.

"Close it."

As soon as he had said it and saw the portal's beam break, he wanted to shout out and have Romanoff open it again. It felt wrong to close it, it felt wrong that he called it, but he knew it had to be done. They kept their eyes trained up but finally the portal closed and the sky remained perfectly blue, no trace that anything had ever happened. Thor's sharp intake of breath made his eyes go back to the air, there he saw the famous red and gold colors of Iron man.

"Son of a gun!"

He looked back up for Bella but felt his breath catch when he finally saw a blue flame much higher in the sky. He couldn't be sure that it was actually her. Isn't her flame.. the color of normal fire? Why is she blue?

The more she fell the more color she started to get back. Thor looked on and started swinging his hammer.

"They are not slowing down!"

Stark was closest but before Thor could take off, Hulk's giant form leaped into the air and caught him before laying him down in front of them. Thor pried off Tony's helmet and looked up to Bella. Her fire had drifted her away from the city and more towards the edge of the island. She was over water and no one could get her because her flames kept flickering on and off but she showed no signs of life..

"Go to her! She will land in the water but as soon as her flames are out you need to get her!"

Thor nodded and looked back to Stark before swinging his hammer and taking off towards where Bella had just fallen into the ocean. I turned back to Stark and crouched down while trying to shake him, even putting my hand over him didn't do anything, I couldn't feel for a heartbeat with his armor in the way. Hulk looked down at him and let out a grunt at the same moment that a wet Thor came back with an equally wet Bella to lay next to Stark. Hulk freaked when he saw Bella lying unconscious. He stomped on the street and let out a roar right in their faces. Both of them popped their eyes open and while Bella sucked in a deep breath, Tony let out a small yell.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me.."

Steve leaned back and felt out of breath now that everything was actually over.

"We won."

"Hhuh alright, yay! Alright good job guys! Lets just not come in tomorrow, lets just, take a day."

It was clear that he was in pain but he turned to Hulk.

"You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about 2 blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I want to try it."

I couldn't hold in my laugh. I could begin to see why Bella liked him so much. He had a defensive type of humor. I could still see some fear in his eyes but he was trying to move away from talking about it or drawing attention to his fear. If I looked past the sometimes insulting comments, I could see a good man. Thor looked down at Bella and Stark, he looked at him and grimly looked towards the Stark building… What was left of it of course.

"We are not done yet."

They all looked to the building where Loki still was but Tony simply sighed.

"And then Shawarma after."

He turned and smirked at Bella but for the first time they really payed close attention to her. Tony sat up quickly and grimaced in pain but moved closer to her.

"Bells? What's wrong?"

She looked up at him weakly and took a lot of effort to turn her hands and show us her palms. They still had the blue tint to the low flame on her palms. She cleared her voice but it still sounded like it took a lot out of her to talk.

"I can't turn them off. I'm too tired and keeping the flames at bay is taking too much out of me. My adrenaline needs a restart."

Stark sighed and thought for a moment.

"What do you mean keeping the flames at bay is tiring you out? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Stark turned to him and began to explain in a robotic voice.

"Her natural state is in flames. She constantly has to focus on keeping them off. It's why when she loses control the flames come back. If she relaxes completely right now, she would be covered in flames, they are part of her, not just something extra to have on hand. It's also why she can absorb fire without it hurting her."

He looked back at Bella and could see her eyes grow heavier as her little flames at the palm of her hands grew slightly bigger.

"You need to shock your system."

He looked to her apologetically.

"What do you mean?"

"Take off your shield."

"WHAT?"

That got her a little more responsive but still Steve didn't know what Stark meant by her shield.

"That will burn me."

"Yes and it will shock you enough to get your adrenaline back on track and have your healing kick in to give you an energy boost."

She looked to him pitifully but finally nodded and closed her eyes. He payed close attention and was thankful to his advanced sight because he was able to see a slight quiver around the air surrounding her. His eyes widened in shock when she let out a whimper and he saw her hands turn red. Her 'shield' whatever it was exactly, was what kept her from burning? It seemed to work right because she took in a breath from the pain and the air around her seemed to calm instantly and her palms started healing themselves and she got up. She took a deep breath and offered Stark her hand before hugging him.

"What would I do without you?"

"Crash and burn."

She smiled but looked around us. The city was in bits and pieces.

"We are far from done..."

She turned to Hulk and spoke to him softly.

"Hey big guy."

He sat down and petted her head.

"I need you to bring Bruce back, hun."

He frowned at her for a moment and shook his head.

"Come on, please? I need Bruce to go and help the people that are hurt. I promise I won't disappear for a year again okay? Bruce doesn't have to hide anymore. I promise I will find a field soon where you can come out and we can hang out all day okay? Very soon I will do that, I promise. Bruce just needs to help these people. Look around you. Look how broken everything is? Bruce can help us with that."

Hulk actually frowned when he looked around. I had not seen, or actually I had not thought that he was capable of not being angry. Bella did very well with him. She spoke softly at him but didn't baby him and give him his way. Hulk looked at Bella one more time and took a deep breath as he started shrinking and becoming Dr. Banner again. Bella turned quickly to me and extended her hand, silently asking for my shield. Confused, I gave it to her and she reached Dr. Banner right on time to cover his.. intimate body parts. Stark laughed and turned to me.

"Don't worry Captain, I'll sanitize it and give it a nice paint job for you."

"...Thanks.."