I didn't flinch when another building crumbled, making the concrete under my feet tremble. Steve and I looked in the direction of the portal where aliens were still pouring out. In the distance, I saw Thor heading our way.

"We need to keep taking them out. As many as we can." I said, gesturing towards a large group on foot in the distance, "Those are a good place to start. Our priority is keeping the civilians safe." Steve nodded, rolling his shoulders in preparation.

We engaged the pack at the same time Thor reached us. I thought I was tough on my own, but mine and Pendragon's combined magic was a force to behold. While Thor and Steve moved like a well oiled machine, Pen and I were like a singular entity. While I wasn't strong enough to crush an alien on my own, together we could break them. It was horrifying, but it made me feel like a god with power over life and death. We silently and mutually decided it wasn't worth the effort just to gank one of the grey bastards and alternated between freezing and boiling.

"Duck!" I heard Steve shout, and we both dropped to the ground as Thor's hammer came down on the shield. A huge ringing noise hit us like a brick wall, but we stayed where we were versus the aliens that were launched flying. The frozen corpses shattered from the shockwaves. We stood up and collected together. Only then did I see the bleeding injury on Steve's side.

"Steve, are you alright?" I asked, gelling the blood to promote clotting. Steve nodded, panting. Then the radio flickered with Natasha's exhausted and desperate voice.

"I can close it!" She gasped breathlessly, "Can anyone copy? I can close the portal!"

"Do it!" Steve shouted.

"No, don't!" Tony added, his voice commanding, "I've got a nuke coming in, it's going to blow in less than a minute!" Steve and I paled. Pendragon and Thor looked at us.

"They launched a nuclear bomb at us…" I said slowly, "The portal!" I pressed the com button on my earpiece and spoke firmly, "Tony, are you going to put the bomb where I think you are?"

There was silence for a moment, and then I heard his voice again, friendly like he usually was, "Bingo, kiddo."

"Stark," Steve said gravely, "You know that's a one way trip, right?" I felt my stomach turn, and pressed myself into Pendragon's arms for comfort.

"No…" I murmured softly, watching with blurry vision as the missile came into view over the water, with Tony holding on tight. They blew past above us and Tony's propulsors lifted them into a vertical accent. We were holding our breath as he disappeared into the wormhole.

After what felt like an eternity, the portal lit up with a fiery red glow and tears began to flow freely from my eyes. All of a sudden, all the aliens still walking crumpled to the ground like ragdolls, the mothership destroyed. Loud crashes and explosions sounded across the city as the whale beasts fell to the ground, and the bikes did too.

"Tony?" I tried the com, but there was no answer, "Tony! Answer me!" My voice raised into a panicked scream as my heart broke. Pendragon grabbed me close, hugging me as tightly as I could as I broke down in hysterical sobs.

"...Close it…" Steve told Natasha, defeated. An echo of thunder rumbled across the silent city as the portal closed. Pendragon shook me lightly, making me look up.

"He made it through," He said, bewildered.

"Son of a gun…" Steve smiled, relieved. Relief faded into concern and fear when we realized he was still tumbling.

"He's not slowing down," Thor said, whirling his hammer to go catch him. Luckily, he didn't have to, Hulk leapt to action and caught the falling suit. We took off running to meet him, and saw Hulk standing next to a still Iron Man. Thor rolled him over and ripped his mask off. Tony's eyes were closed, and his body still.

"I don't think he's breathing," I said tearfully, pounding my fists on his metal chest, trying to will his blood to flow. Nothing happened, and he didn't move. My heart leapt to my throat when Hulk roared at Tony, and apparently, Tony's did too.

"AAH!" He gasped, lurching back to life. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief and I threw my arms around him and cried. Hulk roared in pride and victory as Tony gasped.

"What the hell?" He asked.

"I thought we lost you!" I whimpered.

"What just happened?" Tony looked at the guys, "Please tell me no one kissed me." I heard half-hearted chuckles as everyone relaxed. Steve rolled back on his heels and looked out at the city.

"We won." He said, almost like he couldn't believe it. I sat up, sniffling.

"Alright, yay!" Tony said weakly, the powered down suit keeping him on the ground, "Good job guys, let's just not come into work tomorrow. Let's just take a day…" He grunted with the effort of moving and looked around at us, "You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here…" Tony rambled. Steve and Pen couldn't help but laugh, and I smiled watching him go on and on about how we should all totally go out for shawarma.

Thor had to interrupt our "thank the gods we're alive" chat with a truthful remark, "We're not finished yet." We all shut up immediately. Loki, we still had to deal with Loki.

"...And then shawarma after." Tony concluded. No one disagreed with him.

We met up with Clint and Natasha on our way back to the Stark Tower. The only letter left intact on the beaten up building was an 'A', for Avengers I suppose. We piled into the elevator, with Hulk climbing up the outside of the building. Tony came up with a brilliant idea for a superhero pose while detaining the beaten bad guy. Considering that out of all of us, he came the closest to death, we agreed to indulge him.

We slunk silently into the room, creeping up behind Loki. The battered and bruised god was struggling to crawl up the stairs, but tensed when he felts us watching. Clint drew an arrow as we stood heroically, surrounding the villain. Loki smiled and relaxed back onto the stairs. He knew he'd lost, and wasn't about to object.

"If it's all the same to you," He began, hands raised in surrender, "I'll have that drink now." I felt the corner of my lips twitch into a smile, and I'm sure Tony also felt amused by our little inside joke. We kept our weapons trained on him until the SHIELD Agents showed up with shackles with which to arrest him once more.

This time, we agreed that Loki would be better locked up back home in Asgard, where his magic wouldn't be able to get him out as easily, but SHIELD would hold him for the time being.

Then as a group, we hiked to the shawarma joint that Tony had seen before he almost died. We kinda owed it to him after all, and we'd earned the right to relax. As the employees swept up dust and rubble, we squished in quietly around the only table that was still whole. I sat on Pendragon's lap as he fed me bites with his own hands in order to keep me from getting blood on my food. We all parted after our meal to get back to our own lives, and for me to get medical attention.

Pendragon and Steve took me to the hospital where my mother works. My hands were examined by a different nurse, but when he heard that my Mom worked here, he paged her down. We hugged each other and sobbed, she was so relieved I was okay and I the same for her. She had to run back to her department in order to help take care of everyone injured during the invasion but I was still a severe case.

A doctor told me that if bandaged and left to heal on its own, there was no guarantee my nerves would recover, even with a skin graft I still might have limited feeling and dexterity from the extent of the damage. It would take about a month to heal on their own, and about the same time if I got a skin graft so I opted instead to let it heal on its own. Pendragon agreed to help me with the regular treatment and bandage changes, as well as general help with life as I recovered.

Several days later, we all met in Central Park. Natasha and Clint came together, Thor with Loki, Pendragon and I with Bruce and Tony, and a couple agents with Dr. Selvig. We'd agreed that the cube would be safer in Asgard as well, rather than on Earth where doubtless it would be used for evil again. Loki glances at my mummified arms, and I was unable to read the look in his eyes. Were he not muzzled, he would have probably told me himself. Nat and Clint smirked at him, gloating their win. Tony and Bruce were hanging out, being scientists together. I stood close to Pendragon, his arm over my shoulders. I met Loki's stare with hatred in my eyes. His face was still red and scarred slightly from my magic, but he healed faster than a human. I hoped the King and Queen would see how much I had made him suffer.

Thor and Loki each took a side of the cube's holding mechanism and twisted. We stepped back as blue light surrounded them. The color was nice, not like Loki's green magic. After they were gone, we bid goodbye to each other and I settled myself into the back seat of Tony's convertible. We were going back to the tower to rest and recover. Bruce was going to stay with us there, making use of Tony's labs and security. Tony decided to take Pepper with him to his house in California for a nice vacation after repairs were finished. Steve went back to his apartment, where he would continue to live and train, and visit me at the tower. Clint and Natasha went back to work for SHIELD, but I knew they'd be in contact once in awhile.

We're the Avengers after all.