The siblings flew up to the portal while avoiding fire from the aliens
They each blew one up before one of the aliens got a lucky shot in and hit Artemis's shoulder "you okay" Tony called
"Yeah" Artemis replied shooting the one that shot her
Artemis and Tony suits opened up at the shoulders and rockets flew out blowing up most of the army
A few of them escape past the siblings and headed towards the civilians "Tony, I'm going after the escapees" Artemis called then took off after them
Artemis smirked seeing the things have horrible aim and began blowing them up
Artemis had some chasing her while taunting them "how are you an army if you can't even shoot straight" she laughed flying pass a building
"Stark, Carbonell we're on your three, headed northeast." Natasha said
"What? Did you stop for drive-through?" Tony asked
"Hawkass's flying so probably" Artemis laughed
"That was one time Artemis and you told me to" Clint said
"Save your bickering for the bedroom, we got bigger problems" Nat said
"Swing up Park. We're going to lay them out for you," Tony instructed before flying passed a fight that was raging between Thor and Loki who were both throwing heavy hits.
Artemis made a smooth arc in the air as she looped around several buildings with the Chitauri still hot on her tail.
One didn't quite manage to make the turn and collided with another building creating a blazing explosion.
Artemis eyes lit up seeing the explosion "Tony, they make good explosions when they get destroyed" she said
Steve snorted from inside the jet just as Loki shoot them down
Artemis smiled swooping around making turns and shooting at them
She stopped seeing a leviathan like Chitauri leading more through the portal
"Stark, Carbonell are you seeing this" Steve asked
"Seeing, still working on believing" they said as they flew beside each other
"Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?" Artemis asked confusing the others.
"Banner?" Steve questioned.
"Just keep us posted," Tony said quickly before asking JARVIS for details, "JARVIS find me a soft spot."
"Yinsen, help him" Artemis said
Artemis began flying around the leviathan and trying to find a week spot
"Just like Budapest all over again," Natasha shouted
"You and I remember Budapest very differently," Clint replied.
"That's because you were caught sleeping with the rulers daughter" Artemis laughed flying behind Clint and blasting one that was sneaking up behind them
"Shut up Iron Woman" Clint said
Artemis laughed only for her to get shot in the back "yep, it's just like Budapest" she muttered turning around and shooting the Chitauri
Artemis joined her brother in firing at the Leviathan "you're wasting bullets ma'am" Yinsen informed
"Right then" Artemis said "Plan B"
"Artemis, I don't need to know about your sex life" Tony joked
Artemis laughed as they flew away with the leviathan following them
"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked as Thor joined them
"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable," Thor relayed.
"Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys," Tony said
"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.
"As a team," Steve said.
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor insisted.
"Yeah? Well, get in line," Clint quipped.
"Save it," Steve said sharply, "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark and Carbonell up top. They're going to need us to…"
Artemis and Tony frowned at the silence before Steve connected them
"Stark, Carbonell, we got him," Steve radioed to the siblings
"Banner?" Artemis asked.
"Just like you said," Steve said
"Then tell him to suit up," Tony said, "we're bringing the party to you." They rounded the corner at that moment followed by the leviathan.
"I don't see how that's a party," Natasha said puzzled.
The siblings flew down close to the ground and as the leviathan was following them intently it too swooped lower upturning parked cars as if they were nothing.
Bruce immediately turned and began to walk towards it. "Dr. Banner," Steve said stepping forward, "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
"That's my secret, Captain," Bruce told him, "I'm always angry." That was the last thing that Bruce said before he turned back the approaching leviathan and became the Hulk intentionally for the first time.
The Hulk took a fist to the Leviathan and it ground to a sudden halt. As the back kept its momentum it caused it to fly up to a straight position in the air and was about the curl over and land on the team when Tony intervened.
"Hold on!" he shouted and aimed one of his missiles at the flesh of the leviathan beneath its armor.
The others instantly dived for cover as after a few seconds the leviathan exploded sending bits scattering down. Artemis moved to cover Clint with a repulsor shield
"When the hell did you build that" Tony asked seeing the shield
"A few weeks ago" Artemis replied
The Chitauri that was hanging onto the building screamed angrily but Hulk just roared back as Artemis and Tony descended into the circle their team had formed
"Guys" Nat called looking up and everyone did as well seeing more Leviathan and Chitauri coming through
"Call it Cap" Tony said
"All right, listen up," Steve instructed, "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, Carbonell 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 asked Tony.
"Right," Tony quipped walking over to him, "Better clench up, Legolas."
Tony grabbed the back of Clint's shirt and blasted up onto the building that Steve had indicated with him.
Artemis flew away as well as Steve finished giving orders
"Thor," Steve resumed, "you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up."
Thor got Mjolnir up to speed and took off as Steve addressed Natasha, "you and me, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk…"
The Hulk gave a grunt to look at Steve as he gave him a one-word instruction, "smash!"
Artemis looked back to see Hulk jumping onto a building and start smashing the aliens
A little while later Artemis blasted passed Hawkeye with her brother
"Stark, Carbonell, you got a lot of strays sniffing your tails," Clint warned.
"Just trying to keep them off the streets," Tony quipped in return with a slight smile.
They turned a corner and headed down another street with the Chitauri soldiers still following them.
"Well, they can't bank worth a damn," Clint laughed enjoying their interaction and hitting another Chitauri craft that was speeding past with an arrow without even turning, "so find a tight corner."
On the ground Natasha groaned, this is what she was afraid of, Tony and Clint getting along. Combining both Stark siblings and Clint is a recipe for disaster
"We will Roger that" Artemis said as they split and half of the aliens followed each
Artemis smirked finding a corner and bank making some crash into the building
"Nice call," Tony told Clint, "What else you got?"
"Thor is taking on a squadron down on sixth," Clint informed him.
"And he didn't invite me," Tony replied mock offended and took off towards there.
"Well with your ego" Artemis laughed ducking under a glider and began looking at it "oh Yinsen" she sung
A scan began "Nata, I'm sending you a scan of the gliders" Artemis said
Nat looked confused before a screen popped up on her widow bites and showed the scan
Artemis flew overhead just as Nat took control of a glider "nice" she laughed
Nikko walked into the bridge with blood on her clothes and saw Fury talking to the council
"Director Fury," the Councilwoman insisted, "the Council has made a decision."
"I recognize the Council has made a decision," Fury retorted, "But given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I have elected to ignore it."
"Director, you're closer than any of our subs," the head councilman informed him, "you scramble that jet…"
"That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman," Fury shouted, "Until I'm certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population."
Nikko raised an eyebrow then smirked already thinking about giving the information to a certain someone
"If we don't hold them here, we lose everything," the councilman attempted to persuade.
"If I send that bird out, we already have," Fury said dismissively and ending the call.
Fury then looked at Nikko "how" he began
"It's Lily and Salt, if anyone can do it, it's them two" she said "but she needs to be informed"
Fury nodded "who's gonna call her" he asked
"Was he really that serious with the cellist" Hill asked
The two looked at her "who's the only cellist we knew" Nikko asked
Hill looked at them shocked "you mean those two are dating" she asked
"Only, Fury, me and Lily knows" Nikko said leaning against the table "and now you"
Artemis was firing at the Chitauri only to have more come and firing on her knocking her to the ground "Yinsen reactive the power" Artemis yelled
Before the power came back on Hulk came and caught her "thanks Hulkie" she said
"Arty, friend" Hulk said as Art's suit repowered
"Yeah, Arty, friend" she said patting his arm then flew up avoiding the Chitauri fire
"Sir, we have a bird in motion," Hill shouted, "Anyone on the deck, we have a rogue bird. We need to shut it down! Repeat, take-off is not authorized!"
Nikko ran out of the room and a minute later ran onto the deck with a rocket launcher
She shot the wing of the jet causing it to land but another jet took off and Nikko made two fireballs and threw them at the jet but it didn't do anything
"Tony, Artemis, do you copy" Nikko said into the comm "You have a missile headed straight for the city."
"How long?" Tony asked distracted from his fight but Artemis came and saved him from getting hit over the head
"Three minutes, max," Nikko informed them, "the payload will wipe out midtown."
Tony fired at the approaching soldiers and then instructed, "JARVIS, put everything we got into the thrusters."
"I just did," JARVIS told him as he pushed herself off the ground and then launched himself into the air
Artemis followed him "I can close it," Natasha said tensely "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."
"Do it!" Steve shouted but Tony interrupted him with a quick, "no, wait!"
"Stark these things are still coming," Steve said confused.
"I got a nuke coming in," Tony told him, "It's gonna blow in less than a minute," he paused as his systems identified the missile. Then he set off changing direction as fast as the suit could ending up right behind the missile, "and I know just where to put it," he finished.
He caught up with the missile and latched on beneath it
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Steve said worried.
"Save the rest for the turn J," Tony told JARVIS ignoring Steve's comment.
Artemis flew beside him fending off the soldiers as Tony wasn't able to
Jasmine set in a bar drinking a beer when the news came on
"The streets of New York City have become a battleground. The Army is here trying to contain the violence but clearly, it is outmatched."
"And I have to say, in all my years of reporting, I have never seen anything like this."
"We have limited information on the team but we do know that billionaires Tony and Artemis Stark's Iron Man and Iron Woman…"
Jasmine drained her beer and ordered another one to hold herself back from calling her family knowing that they have more important stuff to worry about
Tony sped towards Stark Tower with Artemis acting as his bodyguard
Steve and Thor looked up as Tony activated extra thrusters are turned so he was flying parallel with Stark Tower.
"Artemis, go to Hawkeye" Tony said "I need to do this"
"No Tony" Artemis said
"Yinsen, Jarvis, active remote control" Tony said
Artemis gasped when she lost control of her suit and she was flown away from him to Steve and Thor
Both the Hulk and Natasha looked up too as they heard/saw what was happening but Tony just kept going and passed through the portal disappearing from view.
Artemis landed besides the two men and removed her helmet "Dammit Tony" she said watching the portal
Nikko watched the footage with tears streaming downing her face as the agents cheered.
She's glad Lily and Salt are too busy to watch this
Jasmine ordered whiskey and began knocking them back as someone in the shadows drained his vodka, thinking of the promise he made an old friend but he failed to keep it.
Artemis, Steve and Thor looked around confused seeing the Chitauri and even the Leviathans powered down
"He destroyed the power source" Artemis said
A light from an explosion reached the team and Steve faltered slightly before saying, "Close it."
Artemis turned and buried her head into the closet to her, which was Thor
The beamed was disconnected and the portal began to close
Right before it close something fell out "son of a gun" Steve smiled and Artemis pulled away from Thor and looked up and saw Tony falling
"He's not slowing down," Thor said panicked beginning to spin Mjolnir ready to go catch him
But the Hulk got there first leaping across and catching Tony whilst slowing their descent by digging his heels into the building. Then he softened the landing by jumping onto a car and then skidding to a halt throwing Tony off him.
Steve, Artemis and Thor ran to his side and Thor rolled him over as Steve asked "is he breathing?"
Thor ripped off his mask and threw it aside and Steve leaned down to check but he obviously couldn't hear anything and the arc reactor wasn't glowing causing Artemis to cry out