Freya looks up at Stark Tower as they exit the jet. Noticing it's now missing the "R" and "K". Turning her head back to the streets, all she sees is the destruction that Loki's army has caused so far. She looks up at Steve as she mentally reaches out to him.
"Steve, the civilians..."
"I know..."
He gives her a grim look before looking back at the rest of the group and motioning for them to follow him as he takes off at a run.
"Cmon, we gotta get back up there!"
The three assassins are hot on the soldier's heels as they run down the street toward the tower. As they near the end of the block, they begin to hear a loud, mechanical growl. Slowly coming to a stop, they look up at the portal. Their eyes go wide as a huge leviathan flies out of it. It lets out an earth-shaking roar as it flies down in front of the tower and glides over their heads. Chitauri ground troops begin to repel off of it onto nearby buildings it as passes in between them. Letting out their own roars as they slide down the walls. Some of them crash through windows, eliciting screams from the civilians still trapped inside.
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asks in disbelief over comms.
"Seeing. Still working on believing," Tony replies. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
"Bruce?" Freya asks in confusion.
"Just keep me posted. JARVIS, find me a soft spot." Tony blasts into the distance as he flies after the leviathan.
With their training immediately kicking in, the three assassins quickly find cover behind a cab. Steve follows them and crouches down next Freya when he catches up.
"We've got civilians still trapped up here," Clint nods at the Captain.
Explosions go off near them as a few Chitauri chariots fly overhead. One of them being ridden by Loki. Freya's blood boils as she watches him fly away from them while he causes more havoc.
"Loki." Steve sees him too and watches Loki as he shoots at civilians on the street below. "They're fish in a barrel down there."
Finally noticing them, alien ground troops begin to shoot at their location. A shot nearly makes contact with Steve's head and he quickly ducks. Natasha stands, takes out her dual pistols and begins firing at the approaching enemy. Clint moves positions to the cab next to them to get a better viewpoint.
"We got this. It's good. Go," Natasha nods at Steve. The soldier's attention quickly lands on Freya as he tries to search her green eyes for confirmation.
"We'll be okay," she nods. "We've got each other's backs."
"Do you think you can hold 'em off?" Steve asks the final assassin for assurance. Clint turns around to face the other man with a smirk.
"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure."
He swiftly nocks an arrow before standing and firing it at the closing Chitauri. It hits one straight in the forehead, killing it instantly. The arrow releases a small barrage of projectiles and takes out two more. Steve looks at Freya one last time and nods.
"Be safe."
"You too, Spangles."
She sends him a brief smile before he turns, nimbly leaps over the side of the bridge and drops out of sight. Explosions closely follow him after he does. Freya turns her attention back to the fight. She stands and quickly begins grabbing on to the aliens with her telekinesis. She slams two of them into each other before grabbing two more and throwing them into the walls of the buildings next to her. Creating craters as their bodies make contact with the structures. A projectile buzzes by her head making her turn to the alien that shot it. Her eyes flicker angrily and she reaches her hand out to him, lifts him off the ground with her powers and crushes him mid-air.
"Atta girl, Mercury," Clint snorts next to her.
She sends him a quick wink in response. They suddenly hear screams coming from a city bus not too far from them. Clint looks up at her from his crouched position in silent conversation.
"Go," Freya nods. "Nat and I will cover you."
Not even bothering to respond, he quickly sprints over to it and starts working on getting the trapped civilians to safety. Positioning herself out in front of them, Freya throws her hands out. Creating a large barrier, she shields Clint and the civilians that are starting to pour out of the bus. Projectiles and gunfire from the enemy Chitauri begin to bounce off the shield with loud thunks
"Oh, my God! What's happening?!"
Freya winces as pain shoots through her head.
"We're all gonna die!"
She gasps and holds her breath as the pain makes her barrier begin to falter and her knees slightly buckle. Shaking her head, she tries to concentrate.
"Cmon, Freya. Focus. Focus! Find an anchor."
Steve's blue eyes flash through her head and it instantly calms her. The pain quickly subsides and she reels her powers back in. Exhaling and smiling, she realizes she's getting control of her new power. Gun shots from Natasha bring her focus back to the fight as Clint steps up next to the redhead. Freya falls back to Natasha's right.
"Just like Budapest all over again!" Natasha shouts to them. Clint snorts as he nocks another arrow before releasing it and killing another alien.
"You remember Budapest very differently from Frey and I!" Clint replies over the gunfire. Freya just shrugs as she uses her telekinesis to literally rip apart an alien that had tried to shoot at Natasha.
"Eh, I agree with her! Aside from the aliens, it's actually kinda familiar!" Freya shouts back.
A roar causes them to spin around. A new squadron of foot soldiers is closing in on their flank. One tries to approach Clint, but he quickly sweeps its legs out from under it with his bow. Pulling an arrow from his quiver, he spins it and brings it down on the alien. Stabbing it in the chest and killing it instantly. Natasha jumps on the back of another one, using her Widow Bites to shock it, effectively bringing it down.
As the car Freya throws with her powers takes out almost a dozen of them, a grunt is heard next to her. Turning, she sees that Clint had been tackled by one of them. Her eyes and aura ignite in anger as she uses her powers to lift it off of him. She flicks her wrist, sending it flying headfirst into a light post, snapping its neck. Being momentarily distracted, she doesn't hear the Chitauri that had come up behind her until it's too late. Hearing something at the last second, she whips around to defend herself. Coming nose to nose with the alien as it snarls in her face, she gasps as a searing pain is felt in her stomach. She looks down at the spear that is currently impaled into her lower right abdomen.
"Shit! Freya!" Clint yells in panic.
Clint shoots the alien in the head with an arrow as he runs up to her. He slowly pulls the spear out of her stomach and she groans in pain. She grips his shoulder, trying to steady herself. Blood is starting to seep out of the wound and stain her uniform blue. She puts a hand on it to apply pressure and blinks rapidly in an attempt to clear her vision.
Using their own weapon against them, Natasha wields one of their spears. Taking out the three that had cornered her against a car. Before she can check on her best friend, another group of Chitauri runs up on them. As Clint and Natasha step protectively in front of Freya, ready to fend them off, Steve jumps into the fray. Landing in front of the three assassins, he knocks down two aliens with his shield before turning to the one on his right. He swings his shield with immense force and knocks the alien off the bridge. Another one approaches him from the front, only to catch the edge of Steve's shield as he buries it in the alien's chest.
With more Chitauri approaching, Steve begins to step forward to deal with them. That is, until lightning rains down and completely annihilates them. Giving them a short break from the battle. Thor lands with a grunt, slightly unsteady on his feet. Though, when he sees the state his niece is in, he stands up straight and ignores the pain he's in. He runs over to her as Steve approaches her, too.
"Niece, are you okay?" Thor asks frantically.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Totally fine," she waves him off with her free hand. She breathes heavily while the other pressed against her wound. Clint moves her hand that's on the wound to the side to get a better look and cringes.
"Kiddo, you were just stabbed by a spear. I don't think so."
"What do you mean she was just stabbed by a spear?!" Tony screeches over comms.
"Dad, I'm fine! Everything's fine!"
"It's my fault, I distracted you," Clint sighs.
"Don't flatter yourself, Old Man," Freya snorts. Clint and Natasha just shake their heads at her in amusement. "I'll be fine, I can already feel it starting to heal," she reassures everyone.
She isn't lying. She can feel it slowly healing, but it hurts like hell and is making her slightly weak. It will still probably take a while for it to fully heal. And being in the middle of a battle is definitely going to slow down the process. Most likely making it more painful as well. Steve had been watching her closely throughout the exchange. Seeing the pain that had briefly flashed across her face. Worried for her, he mentally reaches out.
"Are you really okay, Freya?"
She looks up at the blue-eyed soldier and stiffly nods.
"I'm good. Promise."
Steve can't help but think of how much she reminds him of Peggy. Beautiful, strong, fearless. His worry-filled eyes linger on her for a moment before turning his attention to her uncle.
"What's the story upstairs?" he asks the god.
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable."
"Thor's right. We gotta deal with these guys," Tony agrees.
"How do we do this?" Natasha asks.
"As a team," Steve replies while watching more chariots fly overhead.
"I have unfinished business with Loki."
"Yeah? Well, get in line," Clint snaps at Thor while he works on his arrows.
"Hey, you guys aren't the ones with daddy issues," Freya grumbles.
"Save it," Steve orders as he starts to walk away across the bridge. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top. He's gonna need us to-"
He's interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle. Everyone averts their attention to the noise and starts walking toward it once they recognize the person on the bike. Bruce pulls up on an old, beat up motorcycle. The clothes he now has on are extremely tattered and baggy. He leans the bike against an abandoned car and starts to approach them.
"So, this all seems horrible," Bruce states awkwardly.
"I've seen worse," Natasha retorts.
"Sorry," Bruce says guiltily.
"No, we could use a little worse," she lightly smirks.
"Stark, we got him," Steve informs Tony.
"Banner?"
"Just like you said," the soldier confirms.
"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
A loud crash followed by a roar is heard. Making all of them look down the street. They watch Tony as he flies in front of a leviathan. Leading it straight to them.
"I-I don't see how that's a party," Natasha says uneasily.
"Clearly, you've never been to one of my dad's parties before his Iron Man days," Freya snorts.
As Bruce turns toward the creature and slowly starts to walk away from them, Steve nervously calls out to him.
"Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
"That's my secret, Captain," Bruce says over his shoulder as he keeps walking. "I'm always angry."
He faces the leviathan and transforms into the Hulk. With a roar, he punches the nose of the creature and stops it in its tracks. Freya's eyes go wide in awe at the sight. As the leviathan's face buries into the ground, the rest of its body begins to flip over the top of it and head straight for the rest of the team. The armor plating on it begins to fold and break away. Leaving gaps that expose its flesh.
"Hold on!" Tony shouts.
He flies back in and shoots a missile at the exposed area. Steve turns around, grabs Natasha and pulls her behind his shield with him. Freya winces as she steps in front of Clint and throws up a barrier. Thor just stands out in the open with Mjölnir raised in his right hand as his left arm goes up in front of his face. After the creature explodes, the team gathers as the Chitauri's angry screams echo around them. Hulk roars as they circle up. Freya looks around at the enemy soldiers while she stands in between Clint and her uncle and ignites her eyes and aura. The Avengers have finally come together.
They're finally a team.
"Guys," Natasha calls out.
Everyone looks up and watches with wide eyes as more leviathans and chariots pour out of the portal. Hulk grunts as Tony addresses the soldier.
"Call it, Captain."
Freya watches Steve proudly as he steps up to lead.
"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
"Can you give me a lift?" Clint asks Tony.
"Right," Tony nods and walks over to him. "Better clench up, Legolas." He grabs on to Clint as they blast off into the sky.
"Thor, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow 'em down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up," Steve tells the god. Thor nods as he spins Mjölnir and flies off towards the Empire State Building. Steve turns to the young Stark next to him, and pauses for a moment. Still not used to looking at her with her eyes and aura glowing bright silver, he shakes his head and refocuses. "Freya, I need you to be air support alongside your dad. Take out as many of those chariots as you can."
"You're still weak, though. I can tell. Don't deny it. Please be careful and join us on the ground again when you can, okay?"
Freya watches Steve as he speaks to her privately and nods. Turning to Natasha she smirks.
"Stay in one piece, Red."
"You too, Merc," Natasha smirks back. Turning to Hulk, Freya holds out her fist.
"Give 'em hell, big guy."
Hulk looks down at her for a moment before a sadistic grin falls on his face and he returns the fist bump. With a quick wink at Steve, she ignores the pain from the wound and takes off into the air. Setting her sights on her first target. A group of chariots had just flown by her as she left the ground. Quickly catching up to them, she uses her powers to make them crash into each other. Causing them to drop out of the sky.
"Stark, you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail."
She listens to the chatter between Clint and her dad over comms as she continues to weave through the skyscrapers.
"I'm just trying to keep them off the streets."
"Well, they can't bank worth a damn. So find a tight corner."
"I will roger that."
She can hear explosions from a few blocks away, indicating her dad heeded Clint's advice. A projectile whizzes past her head. Looking back, she sees another group of chariots as they chase her through the air around the city streets. Grinning, she turns over on her back as she continues to fly. Lifting her hands, she grabs the drivers of the two front chariots and throws them into the passing buildings. With no one to steer them, the two driverless chariots lose control and smash into the other two that's behind them. Sending them to the streets in a burning heap.
"Oh, boy," Tony mumbles. More explosions follows before he audibly sighs over comms. "Nice call."
"Don't thank me yet," Clint replies. "You and Merc both have more incoming."
Sure enough, when Freya looks over her shoulder three more chariots drop in behind her.
"Hey, sweetheart?" Tony calls out to Freya.
"What's up, Dad?"
"Looks like we're gonna cross paths at the intersection up ahead. Wanna introduce our new friends to each other?"
"Sounds like a good time," she chuckles.
Tony and Freya get to the intersection at the same time. High-fiving each other as they cross paths. The Chitauri following the both of them don't have time to stop or turn and end up crashing into each other. All of them go up in flames when a giant fireball erupts mid-air.
"Hell yeah! Great job, Merky!"
"Nice! You too, Dad!"
"All right, Bird Boy, what else you got for me?" Tony asks Clint.
"Well, Thor's takin' on a squadron down on Sixth."
"And he didn't invite me," Tony scolds the god.
Tony heads off in the direction of Thor while Freya continues to fly through the streets. Taking out every chariot she sees, she attempts to keep the skies as clear as she possibly can. She's about to go after another chariot when she recognizes the fiery redhead that's driving it.
"Natasha?! What the hell are you doing?!" Freya screeches at her sister.
"Uh, heeeeey, Frey. Just, um, decided to catch a ride?" Natasha awkwardly tries to explain in question form.
"You're gonna give me gray hair, Red," Freya mumbles. Natasha laughs at her over comms in reply. Shaking her head at her best friend, Freya flies off down another street as she listens to Clint make more call outs.
"Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They've cornered a lot of civilians in there."
"I'm on it," Steve confirms.
Freya studies her surroundings and realizes she's not far from the bank.
"I'm close as well," she informs them. "I'll meet you there, Cap."
She does a sharp U-turn and jets off back to the bank's location. She lands next to Steve just as he runs up to the curb next to the bank. Looking around, she can't find the front door. Realizing they're on the side of the bank and the entrance is around the corner, she looks up at Steve. She finds him looking down at her after he had come to the same conclusion. He glances up at the windows before quickly looking back at her with a smirk.
"Wanna give me a lift?" he asks.
Freya grins as she lifts her arms up in front of her and takes hold of the Captain with her powers. Guiding him up to the windows, she tosses him through a broken one. Quickly flying up and following him in, she sees him throw his shield at one of the Chitauri. It hits it square in the face, knocking it out as something falls from its hands. Noticing two more by the railing, she throws up a barrier just as they attempt to shoot Steve. While blocking their gunfire, she takes note of an overturned desk in front of her. Throwing a powerful kick at it, the desk slides across the room and hits the two Chitauri. One falls over the front of the desk while the other is pinned against the railing. Steve runs up to the one that's still pinned and puts it in a choke hold. He swiftly snaps its neck and throws it over the railing to the floor below them. Freya joins him at the railing and looks out at the civilians below them while wildly waving her arms around.
"Get out of here!"
"Everyone! Clear out!" Steve yells at them as well.
The alien that had fallen over the desk suddenly appears behind Steve. It puts him in a choke hold and rips off his helmet. He quickly does a back flip and breaks out of the alien's hold. Freya turns and kicks it in the face, disorienting it. Steve pushes it forward and uses it as a shield while the alien that had originally gotten hit by his shield attempts to shoot them. After taking fire, the alien in his hold drops to the ground dead. A sudden rapid beeping gets both Steve and Freya's attention. They both realize the object in the Chitauri's hand is a bomb. Before Freya registers Steve's movements, he swiftly retrieves his shield and grabs her arm. Yanking her to him, he yells for her to jump. Trusting him without a doubt, she follows his orders and jumps as Steve hugs her close and covers them both with his shield. The bomb goes off and the explosion sends the both of them sailing out the window where they roughly land on a parked car.
With her ears ringing, Freya slowly picks up her head as it swims. Her vision is blurry as the world around her starts to come into focus once more. Feeling movement around her waist, she finally registers one of Steve's arms draped around her as half of her body lays on his. In mid-air, he had turned their bodies so he would take the brunt of the impact from the landing. She looks up at his face and lifts a hand up to cup the side of it.
"Hey, look at me," she orders. His blue eyes finally focus in on her and lock with her green ones. "Are you okay, Steve?"
He gives her a stiff nod as he inspects her injuries with concern. A few small cuts are scattered across her face and she looks exhausted.
"Are you?" he asks.
"Yeah," she smiles. "Thanks to you."
"My pleasure, ma'am," he says with a cheeky smile.
She cringes at him and shakes her head in amusement. Slowly, they both climb off the car. Their muscles aching as they look around them at the destruction. The pain in Freya's side is increasingly getting worse. She's beginning to get weaker. If the battle lasts much longer, she knows she won't be of much use before long.
"Freya?" A new voice grabs her attention as she turns towards it. Coming face to face with Danielle.
"Dany? Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. B-But, you... What.. How... Y-You... And your blood. It's b-blue." Pausing, Danielle looks at Steve, "And you. You're café guy." She points back and forth between them. "You two. Fighting aliens. With superpowers."
"I'm glad you're okay, Dany." Freya grins as she walks forward and pulls the young girl into a hug. "But now's not the time to talk, all right? Later, I promise. Go get to safety."
Dany numbly nods and takes off back to the police officers that are escorting the other civilians to safety. Freya turns back to Steve, who had been silently watching the exchange, and nods toward the end of the block.
"Cmon, lets go meet back up with Thor."
There's more chatter over comms as they make their way down the street.
"Hawkeye!"
"Nat, what are you doing?"
"Uh, a little help?!"
"I got him."
Freya can hear the grin in Clint's voice. Another explosion goes off next to the tower. She's about to ask him what poor soul ended up in his crosshairs, but a loud explosion near them makes her look up. She sees the rooftop that Clint had been on now destroyed. Her stomach drops in terror as she reaches out to him over comms.
"Clint! Clint, are you okay?!" A few seconds go by before she breathes a sigh of relief.
"I'm okay, Kiddo," Clint grunts.
Finally meeting up with Thor, the three blondes fight along side each other as they take out more ground troops. A cry from Steve makes Freya whip her head in his direction. A Chitauri gun had blasted him in the stomach. Sending him to the ground.
"Steve!"
Ignoring her aching muscles and the quick onset of exhaustion, she swiftly dispatches the Chitauri that had been shooting at Steve and runs to his side. Dropping to the ground as he slowly starts to get up, she checks him over.
"Hey, Spangles. Look at me. You good?"
He glances at her and nods his head. Unable to speak through his labored breathing. Thor takes out the rest of the Chitauri in their area and walks over to them. He sticks a hand out to the other man to help him up. Steve looks up and gratefully accepts it. Freya stands while Thor pulls Steve to his feet and eyes him.
"You ready for another bout?" Thor asks.
"What, you gettin' sleepy?" Steve tries to catch his breath while he holds his side and looks around.
Thor summons Mjölnir back to him as they hear Natasha's strained voice over comms.
"I can close it! Can anybody copy?! I can shut the portal down!"
"Do it!" Steve orders.
"No! Wait!"
Freya's eyebrows furrow in confusion at her dad's objection.
"Stark, these things are still coming," Steve states as he looks around. Her dad's next words make her freeze.
"I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute... And I know just where to put it."
"Dad..." Freya whispers.
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip." Steve watches her as he speaks, his heart breaking at the expression on her face.
"Save the rest for the turn, J," Tony ignores him.
"Dad... Please... Please don't do this," Freya begs as tears start to roll down her face.
"I'm so sorry, Merky..."
Her head jerks up as Tony flies overhead with the nuke, heading straight for the tower.
"Dad! Don't, please! Let me help! Let me do something!" Sobs are beginning to shake her body as she starts to run forward.
He barely makes the turn and clears the tower. Now closing in on the portal.
"Cap, Thor, keep her there, please."
Obliging, Steve and Thor grab on to her and hold her back as she fights them.
"No! No, let me go!" Freya screams.
"I love you so much, sweetheart. I'm so proud of you."
"I love you, too! Please, don't do this!" she wails as he disappears into the portal. "Dad..."
Suddenly, all the Chitauri around them begin to collapse. Thor and Steve look around as the alien bodies drop to the ground. Freya still has her eyes trained on the portal. As she stands there and waits, her chest suddenly constricts. She stops breathing as her hand reaches up and grasps at it. It's the same feeling she had when Phil died. But this is one hundred times worse. Instantly, she drops to her knees as she gasps for air.
Steve and Thor are by her side in an instant as they ask her what's wrong. But she can't hear what they're saying. A roar of white noise fills her ears as she keeps her eyes glued to the portal. Holding out hope that her dad will fly back through at any second. Steve looks up too and watches as the explosion from the nuke gets closer and closer to them. He shares a look with Thor before reluctantly giving the order.
"Close it..."
