The moment was short lived as more Chitauri and the huge Leviathan's started to pour through the open portal.
"Guys."
There was a tinge of worry in Natasha's tone. I doubted anyone else would have noticed. But it was a first for me.
"Call it Captain," Tony said.
"All right, listen up."
The way Steve said it made me stand up a little taller. I nearly snapped to attention at the authoritative tone in his voice.
"Until we can close that portal, we're going to use containment." Steve turned to me and Clint. "Kari, Barton, I need your two on the roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays."
"Got it." I hiked up my sniper rifle. My eyes were scanning the area for the best possible perch. At least Manhattan was good for high rooftops. "Jared?"
"I know just the place." Jared reached for me and in the next breath, we were standing on a rooftop.
From up here, you could see the widespread chaos. Steve wasn't wrong about needing to keep this contained. The Chitauri were everywhere. They didn't seem to have any order to what they were doing. Random groups branched off and shoot at whatever was moving on the ground. The wind was fierce up here. I had no idea where I actually was except that it wasn't far from the Chrysler tower.
"I'll see you after," Jared's raised voice made me turn to him. His hair was whipping around wildly in the strong breeze up here.
"That you will." I reached forward and hugged him briefly. "Don't die."
"You either," Jared's snort of laughed was muffled in my hair.
He let go of me and then he was gone.
I didn't have any time to lose. Lucky for me, Dad packed me a lot of ammo. The sniper rifle was light enough I could easily fire it standing up. Standing up allowed me to keep my 360 view. It was target heaven up here. I hitched the rifle up to my shoulder and looked through the scope.
Everything faded to a laser sharp focus. The noise of the team in my ear, the roar of the battle around me, and New York city being blown to pieces. I lined up my first target and squeezed the trigger. Following my target was easy. I went for the driver of their flying chariots. Without the driver, it crashed into the closest building.
There was no time to celebrate the shot. Hitting targets moving at this speed was an art form. It was like Clint and his crazy trick shots. Except for this time he wasn't there to celebrate or video us doing more and more insane shots. I was in my own little bubble up here.
Another shot and the head exploded of another Chitauri driver.
Then another.
And another.
It kept going and going. Magazine after magazine of ammo.
In my ear, I could hear what everyone else was doing. Clint was in the same position as me. Calling out shots. Jared and Natasha were on the ground with Steve. Thor was flying around and doing his thing. A few times I caught sight of the Hulk absolutely plummeting everything in sight.
The only problem was we weren't making a dent in the number of Chitauri coming through the portal. For every one of them I shot, three more would take its place.
I'd only been half paying attention to the conversation over the comms until I saw Natasha whizz past on one of the chariots. Loki was right behind her on his own chariot.
"Nat, what are you doing?" Clint's voice crackled in my ear, echoing my own thoughts.
"Uh," Natasha sounded frazzled. "A little help?"
I swung my rifle around and lined up Loki. He was going too fast for me to be sure I'd actually hit him. The Chitauri had been getting smarter and zig zagging, making them harder to hit.
"I got him."
Clint's confident answer let me take my focus off Natasha. If Clint had it, I could focus on something else.
A big swarm of Chitauri got my attention right away. I let off one shot and killed my intended target. Unluckily for me, I also gave away my position.
My hand went down to grab another magazine. It was met with an empty ammo pouch.
"Fuck."
A quick inspection showed I was down to my last magazine. There was nothing left. I'd gone through all of my ammo. The Chitauri were coming way too fast now.
"Jared." I tried to stay as calm as possible. "Do you remember when we used to play catch as kids?"
It was a trick of ours. I'd jump from somewhere high and Jared would teleport in midair to catch me and put us on the ground safely.
I threw the rifle over my shoulder and started to run for the edge of the building. I was really hoping whatever Jared was doing he was ready for me.
"And Mom beat our asses for it?" Jared sounded very out of breath. "Why?"
There might have been times when we didn't quite stick it and resulted in some broken bones. I trusted Jared with my life though.
"Catch!" I yelled into the comms and took the biggest leap of faith in my life.
I jumped off the edge of the building.
Flying through the air with no safety net was terrifying. The ground was rushing up towards me far too quickly. I closed my eyes and cringed. Terminal velocity was going to mean this was quick if Jared didn't catch me in time.
Strong arms wrapped around me and then the world dropped out.
My eyes were closed but it didn't stop the dizzying feeling of one of Jared's fucking awful teleports. We landed on hard ground, Jared on top of me. Every bone in my body rattled and for a few seconds, I couldn't breathe. My sniper rifle dug into my back, leaving more bruises that I'd be able to count.
Jared rolled off me and shot at something close by. The gunshot left my ears ringing and vision swimming.
"Kari!" Jared's started yell pulled me out of my stupor in a big hurry.
The Chitauri that had been closing in at me on the rooftop had found us. There were so many of them. It was like an angry hive swarming towards us.
Scrambling to my feet, I found myself back to back with Jared. A quick glance over my shoulder saw we were being surrounded.
"Use your powers," Jared yelled over the noise. "I've got your back."
Use my powers. Even after all this time, I still struggled to gain full control over what I needed to do. I didn't have much choice now. Swallowing hard, I put my hands up.
The humidity was a killer today. I was dripping in sweat in my black uniform. I could feel the moisture in my hair crackling along my fingers, right there, and ready to go.
"Ready?" Jared asked. He pushed up against my back. I could feel his heavy breathing against my own. I sucked in as much air as I could possibly manage.
"Ready."
The heat from Jared's flames was scorching as it flew out from him. At the same time, I used every drop of moisture in the air and pushed out my own power as far as I could. My breath misting in the air from the sudden freeze was a stark contrast to the fireball behind me.
I think I made a sound. Maybe the inhuman scream wasn't me. But the ice in the air pushed out and froze everything until the end of the street. My hands trembled with the effort of using my power so heavily, but I kept pushing. Everything in this world had a limit to it, including alien bodies. What felt like an eternity later, the Chitauri all shattered from the deep freeze, falling from the sky into a million shards of moisture.
As I stopped, the heat from being me was gone as well. I was completely drenched in sweat and shaking from the effort. Looking over my shoulder, Jared had singed everything to ashes all the way down the block.
"Fuck yes," Jared said through his panting effort to breathe. He held up his fist.
A manic laugh bubbled out from nowhere as I fist-bumped with Jared. I could scarcely believe the damage we'd just done. His laughter joined in mine as we struggled to compose ourselves.
"I'm out of ammo." I reached up to wipe my face with my sleeve. "You?"
"I threw my Glock's at a few Chitauri," Jared said with a laugh. "My comms are down."
Mine was crackly and cutting in and out. I'd been too focused on not dying to hear anything after Natasha had asked for help. I reached up to press my ear to see if I had anything besides the static.
"….close it."
I think it was Natasha's voice. I pressed in harder, trying to hear properly.
"Shut….portal."
Natasha's next few static filled words made me look up in surprise. I quickly looked around to get an idea of where we were. After a quick glance, I couldn't make out what street or where we were.
"Jared, we need to get to Stark Tower," I said, holding out my hand. "I think Natasha said she could close the portal."
Jared didn't hesitate. One moment we were on an unknown street and the next, we were on the balcony of Stark Tower.
There was glass everywhere. It looked like Thor and Loki had quite the fight. To my left, Natasha had Loki's scepter. Dr Selvig was off to the side with a computer. He looked up sharply at our presence.
The next second, Tony flew by in a blur of red and gold. He was guiding what looked to be a bomb.
"Holy shit," I said under my breath as I followed the Iron Man suit. In a few seconds, it was gone into the portal.
"What the…" Jared began only to be cut off by an enormous crash.
I whirled around in surprise as one of the huge Leviathon's crashed into the side of a building. The Chitauri were falling from the air like someone had hit them with bug spray. The roars of battle had suddenly stopped.
There was nothing. The great city of New York went eerily silent.
And our eyes went back to the portal.
Tony should have flown out by now. There was nothing except the gaping chasm of space.
"Come on, Stark," Natasha murmured under her breath.
None of us moved. I held my breath waiting for Tony to come streaking out.
"Close it."
I jumped in surprise as I heard Steve's voice in my ear clear as day. He couldn't have been far away.
Natasha looked over to me and Jared in despair. I knew she didn't like Tony. But he also had just flown a bomb into a space portal and stopped the battle dead. I looked away as Natasha turned back to the device operating the portal.
The beam of light suddenly cut out. Even in broad daylight, it had been near blinding. The bright summer day was back. If it wasn't for the lack of noise it would be like any other day in Manhattan.
I looked back up to the sky. The portal was rapidly closing. Within seconds, there was nothing but a bright blue sky.
And a tiny dot of red and gold.
I squinted into the bright day as the speck grew larger. Tony was coming down at an incredible speed. He was in a free fall tumble and as he got closer.
I looked at Jared, the same time as Natasha caught his eye.
"There's no way I can grab him. That suit weighs a ton."
Despite his words, Jared moved forward and shifted his weight like he was ready to do a running teleport.
Out of nowhere came the Hulk, snatching Tony from the sky. He slid down a building and was gone from sight in a few seconds.
"I'm going to head down there," Jared said.
Before me or Natasha could answer, Jared was gone.
I looked back up at the sky. The portal was really gone. I didn't want to celebrate just yet. But I think we'd just won a battle against an alien army. A literal army from out of space. Even though I'd been shooting them for the last few hours and came up close and very personal with a few of them, I was still having a hard time believing this was real.
Lowering my eyes from the blindingly bright day, I could see the mess of Manhattan spread below us. Stark Tower was one of the highest buildings. Looking down at the destruction below us made me very glad this was over. If this had gone on any longer I wouldn't be looking down at a mess. In fact, if that had really been a bomb, I wouldn't be looking at anything.
I felt numb right now. But when I had a chance to process all of this, I wasn't going to be able to sleep for a month.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Natasha come to stand beside me. Her face was a blank mask as she stared out over the city. Her knuckles were white as she gripped Loki's scepter. Her only show of emotion.
"We've got work to do," Natasha's voice was clipped and cold. She sounded very Russian again. "We'll have to.."
Natasha's voice caught as she trailed off. Her stony facade nearly crumpled right there and then. It took me a second but I knew what she was about to say. We needed to contact Coulson. We always got in touch with Coulson after a fight. He was the one who cleaned our mess up.
"I know." My own voice was thick with emotion. "I have no idea what to do."
I felt lost. Never had I been left to my own devices after a mission. Coulson was always there, swooping in like the protective mother hen he was if we'd done a good job. Or kicking our asses if we'd completely fucked things up. Even though I thought I'd cried a lifetime of tears over the last few days, I could feel my eyes prickling.
In a sudden swoop of golden hair and a glorious red cape, Thor flew up in front of us. I'd seen plenty of people in school who were able to fly or at least levitate. But Thor twirling his hammer in his full armor was something else.
"Stark is fine," Thor's deep voice rumbled as he looked between me and Natasha. "He's coming up now. Loki is inside."
My head snapped in the direction of the building. Whatever Loki was doing, he was very quiet. Unconsciously, my hand went to my thigh holster. Even though I knew it was empty.
"The Hulk has detained him for the moment." Thor sounded as tired as I felt. "I feel like it is necessary that we don't linger too long."
Seeing how tired Thor looked made me feel a little better about my own exhaustion. I slumped on the rail without making it obvious I was ready to fall over.
Natasha held out the scepter to Thor. Having it come closer to me made me take a step back without thinking about it. I nearly fell over my own boots by how quickly I moved. That thing had taken over Clint and Jared's minds. I didn't want it coming anywhere near me.
Thor didn't seem to notice my hasty movement, or he was too polite to acknowledge it. Natasha's stony expression flicked the one of concern. She purposely moved the scepter out of my line of sight.
Jared was suddenly back. His sudden appearance made me jump in fright. He had Steve with him. Before I could ask about anyone else, Tony appeared in a whirl of repulsers. His suit had taken a beating. He didn't have the face plate on it anymore. It looked like some Chitauri had mauled him with the deep gouges all over it.
With a roar that shook my bones, the second last member of our team was suddenly there. The Hulk had jumped onto the balcony from seemingly nowhere.
It was something else being this close to the Hulk. He was enormous. 8 feet of simmering rage and more muscles than I'd ever seen on a person before. Considering his alter ego was the mild mannered Bruce Banner it was a stark contrast.
An ear piercing whistle broke through the quiet streets. I looked around, squinting to locate the source. I knew that whistle. It was Clint. He was the only person who could whistle as loud as I could. He wasn't far. Relief hit me hard. While fighting for my own life I hadn't thought about much else. But here we all were, in once piece.
Jared didn't have to say anything. He teleported away before I could pinpoint the source of Clint's whistle. He was back before I could turn with Clint by his side.
Clint was slightly stooped over and filthy but looked otherwise unhurt. The look of relief on his face when our eyes met made my lips curl up a little.
"Let's do this," Tony announced far too loudly. "I want schwarma."
I shook my head a little. I had no idea where the schwarma had come into it. If it got my closer to having some serious painkillers and a nap, I was happy to comply.
Tony led the way. I suppose it was fitting. It was his place after all. I hung back until I was beside Clint. His hand brushed against mine, lingering long enough to give my free fingers a squeeze. It would have gone unnoticed by nearly everyone. But it meant the world to me right now. Clint's touch made some of the pent up stress drain away.
Jared was in front of me. He and Natasha were walking side by side, just like me and Clint. They were so close they were nearly touching. The small gesture made me smile. I had no doubt Natasha was feeling the same way as me right now. There wasn't a word for the amount of relief I was feeling having both of them here with us.
As we walked into Stark Tower, I had to step around the mess of broken glass and metal. Thor and Loki had made a huge mess. As we walked in, I spotted Loki.
He was crawling towards the stairs very slowly and painfully. It wasn't the smug bastard I had seen before. It took all of my energy not to laugh as he groaned dramatically as he rolled over.
As he did. All of us stood over him. Clint had his last arrow out of the quiver and pointed at Loki's face.
Loki was really beaten up. Hulk had really done a number on him. His nose and lip were split. If Asgardians got black eyes, I'm sure he'd have two of them by the morning.
"If it's all the same to you," Loki said with another wince as he settled down on the stairs. "I'll have that drink now."
Clint's entire body tensed. For a second I thought he was going to let go of the arrow. His jaw was set and I'd never seen such hatred on his face.
"All right, get him on his feet," Tony said firmly.
It was like a spell broke. Clint took a step back and blinked rapidly. I was close enough to put a comforting hand on his back.
"We can all stand around posing up a storm later." Tony turned away. "By the way feel free to clean up."
Thor hauled Loki to his feet. Clint lowered his bow and put his arrow back in the quiver in one swift movement. I suddenly felt completely lost. For the first time in days there was nothing for me to do.
Jared made a beeline for the bar. I took one look at Clint and we both went with him at the exact same time. It was only then I noticed Clint was limping ever so slightly.
"What happened?" I asked low enough that only he would hear me.
"Went through a glass window," Clint said with a tight smile. "I'm fine."
Jared was silent as he poured himself a generous drink. It was gone before me and Clint got to the bar.
"Who gets the magic wand?" Natasha asked as she hefted up the scepter.
"STRIKE Team is on their way to secure it."
I looked at Steve as Clint poured himself a drink. He was the only one with his comms still in. That was very quick of SHIELD to organize to get a STRIKE Team here. Either that or the STRIKE Team was already on their way because SHIELD didn't believe we could contain the threat. Then again, the missile Tony had to carry into space was a dead giveaway they didn't trust us.
Clint pushing a glass into my hands brought my wandering thoughts back into the present moment. The amber liquid in the heavy crystal glass smelt amazing. Tony certainly kept the good stuff around. I barely had time to take a sip before I heard the elevator open.
Automatically, I braced myself to quickly hide the booze, expecting Coulson to walk out.
Instead, Agent Sitwell came around the corner with Rumlow and a few of the Alpha boys.
It took my tired brain a few moments to process that Coulson wasn't here. There was no need to hide the booze. Instead, I stared at Sitwell as he went to Natasha.
"We can take that off your hands." Sitwell was all business.
"By all means." Natasha looked happy to be handing it over.
Rumlow had a large case in his hands. He caught my eye and gave me the smallest of smiles before turning to put it on one of the tables.
Natasha made her way over to the bar where Jared was already pouring another drink.
"Careful with that thing," Natasha said in a sing song voice.
I glanced at Sitwell who had just gone to touch the tip of the scepter. With a guilty look on his face, he snatched his hand away.
"Unless you want your mind erased," Clint sounded perfectly calm as he handed a glass of scotch to Natasha. "And not in a fun way."
I managed to stop the manic laughter that nearly burst out at Clint's dry statement. Nothing about the last few days had been fun. Even Jared was staring at Clint like he'd grown another head.
Natasha knocked her drink back like it was vodka. I slammed another drink down as Thor marched Loki past us.
Jared went perfectly still as Loki went past us. In a movement faster than I'd ever thought Jared capable of, he lashed out and grabbed Loki by the neck.
There was much height difference between them. But the flames coming down Jared's arms gave him the advantage here. Loki didn't even flinch. He gave Jared an infuriating smirk.
"You made me try and kill my sister," Jared said with a snarl.
I knew I should be attempting to pull Jared off. I couldn't bring myself too. I had plenty of anger aimed at Loki and if I'd had the chance, I would have taken it out on him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Clint with an indifferent look on his face. He hadn't bothered to try and pull Jared off Loki.
Steve and Thor both had more sense. Each of them grabbed Jared by the arms and yanked him off as quickly as he'd latched onto Loki. Steve pulled away with a hiss of pain as the flames on Jared's arms became so hot even I could feel them from here.
Natasha's worried glance made me step forward. The ice was already forming on my hands before I got to Jared.
"Come on, he's not worth it." I laid a comforting hand on Jared.
It was such an odd feeling to see those flames dance over my hand but hold no heat. Jared told me it was an unconscious thing. His body seemed to know my touch and never burnt me. It was another thing I could never explain. The flames on his arms died down but Jared was still seething.
"I could really go for his head on a spike," Jared said through gritted teeth.
Loki scoffed with an amused look crossing his face.
"Really?" Loki turned to Thor. "I try and kill you all the time and you…"
Loki never got to finish his jab. From his armor, Thor produced something and slapped it over Loki's face.
"Shut. Up" Thor's looked 100% done with his brother right now.
I had no idea where Loki's handcuffs or muzzle had come from in that tight armor of Thor's. But it was satisfying seeing Loki in chains. Thor roughly yanked him along towards the elevator.
Jared didn't move a muscle. His jaw was clenched so hard I was worried he was going to break his teeth.
The elevator pinged again and more of the Alpha team came out, fully armed and in heavy armor. No one was taking a chance. Along with them, more SHIELD personal came out of the packed elevator. They went straight for Thor and Loki. Steve, Tony, and the Hulk all went towards them.
"I don't know about anyone else, but this normal human needs a bathroom break," Natasha said lowly as she came to stand on the other side of Jared.
I knew where the bathrooms were. I tapped Jared on the shoulder and motioned behind me. That seemed to snap him out of his anger.
No one paid us any attention as we slipped away. I wasn't surprised to see Natasha follow Jared into one of the bathrooms. A small, selfish part of me wanted to be with Clint right now. There were no arguments from Clint as I followed him into the other bathroom.
The floor we were on was the main entertaining area. The bathrooms were set up to accommodate multiple people. There were several stalls in the lavish marble lined room. Everything about it screamed opulence. And here I was, tracking alien blood and dirt on the light colored floor.
Natasha had been right about needing a bathroom break. I wasn't surprised to find I was really dehydrated. Coming out to wash my hands and face I was confronted by the mess my face was.
I had a thin layer of grey ash over my face. Underneath it, I could see my black eyes really starting to come out. My lips were dry and cracked. I looked like hell. Splashing cold water on my face helped shake off some of the exhaustion. I grabbed a hand towel and gave my face a good scrub trying not to feel guilty at the mess I was making of the pristine white towel.
Clint bent forward running his hands through his hair. There was a soft tinkle as debris hit the sink. He winced as he pulled his hand away quickly.
"Here, let me help," I said, hoisting myself up on the bench.
Clint moved over wordlessly so he was level with me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. Burying his face into my chest, I hugged him closely.
"Bet you wish I had Natasha's boobs right now," I joked lightly as I ran my fingers through Clint's hair. It was full of tiny shards of glass, no doubt from where he went through the window.
Clint chuckled softly at my joke. His grip tightened on me momentarily before letting go.
"Nope, I got exactly what I want right now." Clint's voice was muffled but I heard him clearly enough.
I smiled and went back to picking the glass out of Clint's hair. None of it was embedded deeply and he was lucky he didn't shred his head to pieces. The moment of peace and quiet was soothing. I could feel the muscles in my neck and back slowly unwind. Under my touch, I could feel Clint relax against me.
It was mind blowing to think of what we'd been through over the last few days. I thought my previous missions and battles had been mind blowing. This was an entirely new game. I struggled enough with men who were monsters. Now I'd come face to face with actual monsters from outer space.
Yet here we were. Still alive when we probably shouldn't be. I was beginning to feel like a cat who was fast running out of lives.
"We should skip lunch," Clint's voice was quiet and muffled.
There was more to that statement. I hear it easily. It wasn't just lunch we would be skipping. I'm sure Clint would like to skip the country if he could right now. SHIELD had protocols for everything. Somehow, I didn't think they'd have a protocol for an agent who had their mind taken over. This was going to be messy.
"We should," I said in a quiet murmur. I ran my fingers through Clint's hair one more time, checking for more glass. "I don't know about you but I'm going to need a holiday after this."
Clint made a noise that rumbled against my skin. Neither of us moved for what felt like a very long time.
"We need to go." I hated to be the one to break our quiet moment up. However, we were going to be looked for if we didn't move.
Clint sighed heavily before letting releasing his grip on me. He looked at me with exhaustion so clearly written all over his face. I thought I looked bad. Clint looked a hundred times worse than me.
"I know," Clint said with a forced smile.
That smile broke my heart. Clint looked like he was barely holding it together. Still, I managed to muster my own smile up. Only one of us could lose our shit right now and Clint had more of a right to that than I did.
I squared my shoulders and braced myself. We'd just won a battle. But I had a horrible feeling the war was just about to begin.
Authors Note
Welcome back! Thank you for your patience everyone.
My arm is being very slow to heal. At least now I have a brace that lets me write a little faster than one handed typing.
I've always said coming into the Winer Soldier timeline has always been at the front of my mind. It's my favourite part of the story. I'm so excited to be here. Kari has so much growing to do. She's come a long way but the next part of her journey is going to be a wild ride.
Until next time.