Lavender wisps curled and fluttered, disappearing quickly in the breeze at the height of Stark Tower, as they revealed Cassandra's frame. An older-looking man in a blue button-up and khaki pants stood at the computer before a large machine, the Tesseract held in its center. "Dr. Selvig!" Cassandra called out, taking steps toward him. The doctor looked over his shoulder at the sound of her voice, and her feet instinctively faltered. His eyes were the same as Clint's, with icy blue coloring the iris and pupil. Not only that—he was unkempt and tired-looking. Had he eaten? Had he slept since Loki took him? "Shut it down, doctor!"
"It's too late! She can't stop now!" he replied, before walking toward the side of the machine, closer to the Tesseract.
Cassandra paused near the computer. "She?"
"The Tesseract. She wants to show us something! A new universe."
He was clearly deranged, made so by either the Tesseract or the scepter or both. Whatever the reason—it only caused her to pity him. After all, he would not be here if it weren't for Loki's mind control. No, he would be adamantly opposed, even so under duress. Yet there they both stood on either side of the line atop the roof. Cassandra could feel the energy radiating off the machine like warm tidal rings that pulsated down her spine, the pointed tip of the somewhat cylindrical machine beginning to spin.
Taking in a deep breath, she lifted her hand. "It's time to wake up, doctor."
Selvig's head turned to look in her direction at the sound of her words, though she doubted he truly understood anything said to him. She grabbed hold of the energy occupying his mind and the doctor's face contorted, knee buckling, with a strangled sound. Pulling it out was always the easy part. It came free just as the energy inside of Clint, held tightly by her hands as Selvig fell unconscious on the gravel beneath their feet. The blue energy twisted and fluttered between her palms.
Knuckles paling, she struggled to hold it, the concentration of it pushing and pulling away from her—almost violently. Though the edges and various wisps shaded purple, lavender crawling over the translucent, smoke-like substance, the majority of it remained the same. There was nothing more she could do, she knew, if she could not force it to conform. Her eyes shifted up to the device harnessing the Tesseract. The tip was spinning faster by the second, working itself up to an unknown speed, most likely in order to finish its task.
Then, she had a thought. If she couldn't disperse it, could she use this energy for other means? What would the Tesseract do if it was attacked by its own level of energy? She took in another deep breath through her nostrils, muscles gently trembling against her constriction, and then turned her palms outward. The energy burst from its containment, straight toward the Tesseract. However, the beam was intercepted by a circular energy field surrounding the device.
Cassandra pressed harder, concentrating the energy in her hands to localize and strengthen it—pressurizing it like a thumb on a garden hose. The energy carved into the field a little deeper, though it did not break. "Any day now, Cass," Tony's voice came through the earpiece settled into her right ear, impatience and a vague hint of gruffness to his voice.
Gritting her teeth, she resisted the urge to snap. "Aren't you supposed to be stalling?"
"I'm in the middle of it, pissy pants. Kinda hard when you're thrown out of your own window."
"Woe is you."
The sound of the Iron Man suit's thrusters echoed into her ear from somewhere in the distance, but she didn't dare look. Taking a step closer to the machine, she pressed even harder, groaning as the energy from her palms began to burn into her skin. The beam of blue was slowly turning purple, lavender and electricity gradually crawling toward the energy field, but it was not enough. The tip of the machine was whirring now, spinning incomprehensibly fast. Then, a thick beam of pure blue energy shot from the tip, racing toward the sky.
Energy radiated off of it in a strong wave and Cassandra was pushed backward, boots stumbling quickly across the gravel to keep her balance, the beam aimed at the energy field broken entirely. Head tipped back, she watched as the beam connected with the sky. A deep, dark blue and a rich black appeared in the spot they touched, and it began to creep outward with smoke-like wisps, tendrils of energy that opened the sky.
It looked like a festering wound, a ring of energy with a molded appearance around a large, gaping hole. Despite the elevation difference, the dark figures that flooded out as wasps from a hive held a visible shape. Somewhat human-looking beings—as that they stood on two legs, with a face and hands—on small hovercrafts, plated with gold armor. They poured through the hole and dispersed in all directions before they could reach the depth of the tower roof, but Cassandra found herself instinctively ducking regardless.
Tony flew up in his suit, blasting as many as he could before they reached the city, but there were far too many. Those that reached the city flew through the streets, blasting anything in their sights. Cars exploded, buildings were shot at, and the people running wildly for cover in the streets were like disturbed ants. Pedestrians and random civilians ran as fast as they could, some with no visible refuge in sight. "Stark, we're on your three. Headed Northeast," Romanoff's voice came over the earpiece then.
"What, did you stop for drive-thru?" Tony questioned. "Head up Park. I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."
"Copy."
Tony flew along to draw fire from the nearby Chitauri. They followed him on their hovercrafts as planned, right toward a T intersection, as Clint and Agent Romanoff piloted the quinjet up the vertical line. They readied the guns as Tony flew past them. Then, they fired on the Chitauri that followed. Many in the small group were shot out of the sky, their remnants fallen on the street and exploded cars below, while the minority left flew away.
The quinjet flew up above the buildings, coming around the back side of Stark Tower. On the deck of the top floor, gods collided. Thor and Loki tussled viciously—though, neither of them truly wanted to win this fight. "Nat?" Clint called, angling the jet.
Romanoff, readying the guns, replied, "I see him."
She began spraying the deck with bullets as Loki managed to wrangle Thor off of him, pushing him away. But Loki turned to face the jet and raised the scepter. He shot a blast of energy at the jet's left engine and the wing caught fire as it whirred and stuttered. The craft tipped to the right and dipped, falling toward the street. Clint guided the descending jet as best he could, aiming it through the streets for a non-occupied section of pavement near a sky-scrapper a block away.
Cassandra watched over the edge of the roof at Stark Tower. Her gut clenched, contents sloshing as the quinjet crashed into the concrete. There was minimal physical damage but she wanted to scream. A trembling hand scrambled for her earpiece, lungs burning as they pumped far too quickly. "Clint, Romanoff? Are you guys okay?"
"We're okay," Romanoff replied. "All of us."
A bout of relief was felt in Cassandra's bones, but it was too small. She took steps back from the edge of the roof. There was nothing she could do up here. If such powerful energy like that from the scepter couldn't even break through the energy field, what could? Therefore, she saw her opportunity, and she jogged toward the edge. As she reached it, she gave a hop. Then she was free-falling into the open abyss of the divide between buildings, toward the chaos on the street below, as though she were a bird in a backward nose-dive.
Once down far enough, she vanished within her purple smoke, only to appear a few yards lower. She repeated the process once more before reaching the street. Her speed had not slowed down quite as much as necessary, causing her feet to trip over themselves to run fast enough in order to stay upright. But she dug her heels in, forcefully slowing herself, as she leaned her weight backward. Steve, Clint, and Agent Romanoff were all running toward her from the crashed quinjet just down the street. "Did you just do what I think you did?" Clint shouted to be heard as they approached.
Gasping in a breath, Cassandra nodded, signing. "Fastest way to travel. What's the plan?"
"Oh my god," Romanoff mumbled. Her eyes were straight up, watching the hole in the sky. Reflexively, Cassandra twisted, turning to look up with her head tilted back—and her jaw fell open. Through the black hole came a monstrous creature, roaring like something prehistoric. It was long and spiny and plated with armor. If she was asked to describe it, Cassandra could only call it a space whale.
It floated through the air like a marine mammal, dipping low enough to break the statue atop the building in front of them on the ground. From its sides, Chitauri warriors sprung free, clinging to the buildings on either side of the horrendous creature. They broke in through glass windows and the screams of terror resulting from the barrage of blaster fire inside could all be heard at street-level.
"Oh, fuck this," Cassandra spoke beneath her breath, stepping backward as her eyes followed the creature above them while it passed.
Steve questioned into his comm, "Stark, are you seeing this?"
"Seeing. Still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
"Banner?" Steve was confused.
"Just keep me posted."
Debris fell from the buildings as the Chitauri climbed about. Clint sidestepped and grabbed hold of Cassandra's arm before giving it a tug, pulling her toward him as he began to move. "We need to take cover and regroup," he said, an eye still lingering on the chaos above them. Cassandra moved willingly, quickly with him toward a nearby taxi cab. Agent Romanoff was soon behind them, the three crouching behind the vehicle, and Steve followed suit just a moment later.
As Cassandra's back hit the taxi door, she exhaled a shaky breath. "Charles, now would be a good time to bring in the cavalry," she thought aloud, eyes straight ahead. "Are you still listening?"
A sound came from behind the taxi cab, popping and sizzling like a live wire, and Steve rotated on the balls of his feet to see over the vehicle's trunk. As his eyes settled over the obscure of the metal, a rush of wind pulled his eyes skyward almost immediately. White wings broadened to their full span as they carried a human form quickly over their heads. Adrenaline rushed through Cassandra's veins at the familiar sight of Warren soaring above. He flew up higher in an arch, close to the side of a building, and latched onto a Chitauri.
Warren wrapped an arm tightly around the Chitauri's neck and pulled as he pushed off the brick with his legs, diving toward the street as the Chitauri's gun blasted in its flailing arms. He ripped the gun from the Chitauri and hit the breaks, reversing his thrust as he dropped the alien warrior. Flying upward again, he aimed the blaster at the Chitauri on the ground and fired. The trunk of the taxi cab crushed beneath the weight of Beast's body as he leapt onto it, looking over the side at the four still crouching behind.
All startled away at the sudden sound, but Cassandra's lips broke into a wide grin, pushing up to her feet. "Where do you want us?" Hank asked, eyes shifting from Cassandra to the Captain on the ground.
Around him, Cassandra could see them—the X-Men. Blink held open a portal long enough for all to pass through. Then, she allowed it to close, stepping forward to join the others. Blink, Bobby, Kitty, Peter, Jubilee, Kurt, Lori, Scott, Storm, Logan, and Rogue all walked toward the taxi in their suits now. Steve, Romanoff, and Clint all stood from behind the taxi and stepped out, all wearing expressions of surprise. "Is this everyone?" Steve asked, as his shocked eyes swept quickly over the group.
Hank hopped from the back of the taxi, the vehicle swaying as his feet landed on the pavement beside Steve. "Were you expecting more?" he asked, an amused smirk playing at his lips.
"This is more than enough," Steve shook his head, still taken aback. "Are you the leader?"
"That's usually me," Scott stepped forward. The movement drew her eyes and Cassandra couldn't help but frown. They would need his help, she knew. Any help at all would be greatly accepted. But the sight of him churned up remaining resentment within her gut she couldn't quite swallow just yet.
A barrage of hovercrafts zipped through the air above then, and all looked up. Loki's appearance on one of them was hard to miss. They flew quickly, over the bridge, and began firing at the cars on the street. The cars exploded, flames fanning high as chunks of hot metal were sent outward. Civilians ran in terror, screaming and shrieking. "Cass, it's your call," Steve said, eyes darting from the destruction to Cassandra's face. "You know who can do what, but we've gotta get moving fast."
With a sharp exhale through her nostrils, Cassandra nodded once. "Beast, Jubilee, Iceman, Cyclops, and Blink—go with Cap and fan out. Storm, Nightcrawler—take care of the bogies up top with Angel. The rest—stay here and hold off the others coming down from the portal."
The team members moved the second the last order left her mouth. Steve hopped onto the cement railing and leapt from it, landing on a parked bus below. Beast followed suit, while Blink opened another portal, allowing Bobby, Jubilee, and Cyclops quick access to the blazing street below, before hopping through herself. Storm rose up in a strong wind, lightning whipping the sky as her eyes turned white, and Kurt disappeared from the remaining group in a blue cloud. He resurfaced on the side of a nearby building, swiping a blaster from a Chitauri with his tail.
"There's people on that bus," Clint realized aloud, tipping his head toward the parked bus not far away on the bridge.
Kitty looked to Rogue and Lori, and nodded. "On it."
The trio turned and ran for the bus, and Clint followed. Agent Romanoff unholstered her guns and began firing at the approaching Chitauri at the other end of the bridge. Peter armored up, skin replaced with metal, and Colossus ran into the line of blaster fire. "Stay close, kid," Logan directed his words at Cassandra as he walked by her suddenly, moving quickly.
"I'll try," Cassandra replied, with an unsure shrug of one shoulder.
Logan pushed the blades of his hands through the skin and ran into the incoming Chitauri behind Colossus, slashing at the armor and their exposed bodies. On the street below, Bobby shielded civilians with walls of ice. It was a temporary barrier brought down with a single blast, but it gave Scott enough time to shoot down the Chitauri overhead that aimed at them. Beast tore apart any that made it to the ground as Steve sprinted toward the next block, where police had parked their cruisers in a cluster.
Even still, more Chitauri sped by on their hovercraft, shooting at civilians and random buildings. There was no pattern to the chaos, no purpose—other than pure and total destruction. Angel flew quickly behind the hovercrafts, now two blocks away, and shot at them with the blaster he'd taken. Storm was a little higher, above it all where she could attack the trickle of Chitauri still coming through the portal in the sky. Cassandra forced herself to focus amongst the mess on the bridge. Lavender energy cracked and popped as it exploded from her hands, aimed straight for the faces of three approaching Chitauri.
The first mark was reached—blasting a gruesome hole through the skin and meat and bone, causing the warrior to collapse, dead. A second bolt of energy had the same result on another, dropping it to the ground with an interrupted screeching sound. Explosions rumbled from all directions, shaking the ground as she released a third energy bolt, but the Chitauri ducked. It learned easily from the others, reacted as quickly as she had, and it aimed its blaster directly at her. As it fired, her hands made fists, shooting up in an X that crossed at her forearms.
Heat burned from within the bones of her arms as purple rippled out in a swift wave. The energy absorbed the blast before hitting the Chitauri, melting the armor to its frame as its face dissolved, crumpling the alien to a sizzling heap on the pavement. "Remind me never to piss you off!" Agent Romanoff shouted the comment from behind a parked taxi, over the sound of bullets firing from a gun in each hand.
Cassandra huffed a reactionary, airy chuckle and continued to aim her hands, sending purple bolts at incoming forces as quickly as she could. Once the bus at the end of the bridge was unloaded and the civilians were out of the line of fire, Clint joined Romanoff's side, shooting arrows from behind the taxi. "We need to get people out of those buildings!" Lori shouted, ducking behind another abandoned vehicle feet from Cassandra. Rogue and Kitty knelt beside her, all three looking to Cassandra for the next task.
"The three of you go! Kitty, keep them intangible until you get inside," Cassandra replied, with a glance over her shoulder. "Don't engage—call for backup!"
"Got it!"
Kitty held out her hands and Lori took the left, Rogue grasping the right, and the three shot up from behind the vehicle. They ran along the length of the bridge and to the next corner, then followed it to the left, out of sight. It was difficult to tell your friends to run into danger. Cassandra understood that long before being in a leadership position—but, now that she was here, it was hell. Worry gnawed at her like a dog with a rawhide, gnashing its teeth at the small semblance of focus she had achieved.
That, and the exertion from using her own energy to fight, was only weakening her. However, the bridge was almost empty. And it was then that bolts of lightning struck the remaining four Chitauri, dropping them dead as Thor landed heavily beside a car. The pavement beneath him crumbled and he faltered, leaning into the metal for a brief moment before pushing off, taking steps toward the others. "I see you've brought allies," he said, a little out of breath as he looked to Cassandra. Though, she was just as out of breath, at the start of exhaustion. "They fight well."
Cassandra nodded. "Figured we could use backup. What's happening with the Tesseract?"
"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable. We must focus our efforts on the Chitauri," Thor responded, confident.
Clint and Agent Romanoff came to stand near Cassandra, Logan and Colossus not far away, listening but keeping watch. "Yeah, it's strong shit," Cassandra agreed. "But it buckled before the portal opened."
"You think you can make a blast strong enough to break through?" Romanoff questioned Cassandra, an eyebrow hopefully raised.
"It's possible—but I'm running low on juice," Cassandra told her, with a small shrug.
Logan walked toward the huddle then, retracting the metal claws back into his fists. "Take me with you, use me as leverage," he said, as he reached them. "I'll give faster than you can take."
Cassandra opened her mouth to speak, but promptly closed it. He was right, she knew it—the plan was sound as long as she was right. Though she knew he would heal, she also knew the pain would be excruciating. A faint rumble touched her ears, then, from somewhere down the street. It tugged her eyes away, shuffling her feet to the left to see around the small group. Bruce Banner sat atop a small motorbike. He drove it toward them amongst the chaos left in the wake of the Chitauri, coming to a stop a few yards away.
Bruce climbed off the bike and started in their direction, covered in dirt and grime, with sagging clothes—and Cassandra couldn't help but take steps to close the gap. The others turned and adjusted to see them both as Bruce said, "So, this all looks terrible."
"We've seen worse," Cassandra replied, standing still. "I hate to ask this. Can we borrow the Hulk for a little while?"
Bruce chuckled. "Of course- I owe you one after what happened up there."
"Don't worry about it—he used his manners."
And he protected me, she wanted to say. For some unknown, bizarre reason, he protected her. Despite the rage, despite the fear. That fact alone was just enough to win some conditional trust. Bruce's lips held the ghost of a small smile as he contemplated her words. There was one distinct reason that came to mind, one explanation as to why the Hulk would purposefully safeguard her, and it brought a bittersweet kind of ache to the left side of his chest. It was truly no wonder, now that he observed her appearance with unveiled eyes.
"Hey, Sparky," Tony's voice suddenly reached Cassandra's ear, and she instinctively frowned, eyes shifting away. "Look alive. I'm bringing the party to you."
Just then, a prehistoric sounding bellow echoed out and all eyes shot skyward. At the far end of the street, one of the large, floating beasts was chasing after the Iron Man suit—cornering sharply to speed right toward them at the bridge. "I don't see how that's a party," Romanoff shook her head. The beast dipped low, its arms hitting streetlamps and crushing abandoned vehicles as it followed Tony.
Tony shot upward, and the beast continued, even after he was out of sight. Bruce turned to walk toward it. As his feet took steps, they increased in size, green color crawling up to cover his skin. In a matter of seconds, he'd grown several feet taller and his shirt was ripped away in shreds as his arms and torso thickened with muscle. It was leveled, controlled, concise. The Hulk had been ripped from his body by force—but now, it was fueled by cooperation and mutual interest.
The Hulk roared before lurching into a sprint at the quickly incoming beast. He sent his fist into its nose and dug in his heels, slowing it down even as it pushed him along the pavement, concrete breaking and ripping up in chunks. The beast's long body folded, rising high and tipping forward as its momentum was suddenly stopped. Logan was quick to grab Cassandra's arm as the back end of it began to fall forward, right toward the group still at the start of the bridge. "The roof, kid, now!"
As the others in its path dove left and right to escape, Cassandra turned into Logan, gripping his shoulder as she envisioned the roof of Stark Tower. They were taken away in a brief but electric cloud of purple smoke. Tony shot a small missile at the exposed side of the beast and it ruptured, fire and entrails raining down on the bridge as it veered off course. It broke through the bridge railing and crashed onto the street in a heap. Chitauri warriors clinging to the buildings high above screeched at the sight of the small victory—but they were far from retreating.
Cassandra and Logan arrived on the roof of Stark Tower. Dr. Selvig was conscious on the gravel now, pushing himself up to sit with a heavy groan and a hand on the side of his head. He squinted at the X-Men as they approached the machine once more, before quickly glancing at his surroundings. "Oh no," he said, eyes lingering on the random explosions and chaos happening over the edge of the building. "What have I done?"
Cassandra shook her head. "It was Loki—you didn't know what you were doing. I'm gonna need you to get away from the machine."
"What are you going to do?" Selvig asked, as he clambered to his feet.
He walked toward them only to pass by, moving to stand a few feet behind them. "I'm going to close the portal," she answered. With a tilt of her head and a glance upward, dread filled the pit of her stomach. It was a simple answer to a complex and nearly impossible problem. Logan turned to face her, and placed a hand on her shoulder, bringing her eyes back down.
"We can do this," he nodded once, confidently. It was the kind of confidence born from gritted teeth and aching bones, gunpowder and musket burns, the last ounces of will. From doing what needs to be done—and being given no other choice. "No matter what happens, don't stop. Give it all you've got. That's the only way this is going to end."
Swallowing hard, she nodded, a small tremble of her skull. Her eyes found the sparkling blue glow of the Tesseract. As she lifted her hands, she exhaled, shifting her heels into the gravel to brace them. Energy burned through her veins and erupted from her palms, drawing her brows together in a grimace. She could feel Logan's hand on her body, the rich energy swirling within him—and she wrapped mental fingers around it. Logan grunted at the sharp pain in his gut but he held on.
Cassandra directed the new energy through her palms. The added power thickened the beam, deepening its push against the energy field. She channeled it, clenching her jaw as she felt herself leaning forward, physically pushing against the fire in her skin. Purple bent the visible force field, causing it to dip inward, inching closer to the center the harder she pushed. Then, a voice from the depths of her mind, warm against her ears. Cassandra, S.H.I.E.L.D. is sending a nuclear missile. I've alerted the others, but you haven't much time. Hurry.
The information felt like a bat to the spine, a blow to the backs of her knees. She fought to remain focused but a stifled whimper escaped her throat. How could they send a nuke? Why would they result to something so catastrophic? It was confusing, alarming, and heaped anxiety atop her head like hot coals. But Logan's grip on her shoulder tightened, and she understood—don't stop. Voices filtered in and out through her earpiece but she blocked them out. With a half-step forward, she further balanced herself, and forced more energy into the beam.
