Chapter Twenty-Seven: Nobody Likes Skrewts

When Peter jumped out of the jet like the heart-attack-inducing spider-boy he is, Hiro about gave away his presence in the cargo basket trying to decide whether he was going to yell and smack him after this was over – or then and there, he wasn't picky – follow him, or do both. The first option was sounding enticing. He settled on that one and was just settling back in when the flying machine shifted ever so slightly with the added drag of the deployed weapons system before banking upwards at a steep incline. The combined shifting in the cabin caused him to lose his clawed grip of a soft-packaged first aid kit, falling down onto a side seat with a surprised yowl. He supposed the myths about cats landing on their feet were true as he splayed his legs upon landing for balance, then strutted over to a wide-eyed Captain America. What, it wasn't normal for it to magically rain cats inside a plane?

"Hiro?" the blonde in question exclaimed. The commlink in his ear squawked indignantly at the shocked word and his hand went up to it. "Yes, that's what I said. Your cat is on the Quinjet." The hard floor he'd made his way to had nowhere for his softly padded feet to grip, even if he tried to prick something with his claws. Agents Romanoff and Barton – or Black Widow and Hawkeye, he supposed – spared them a split-second glance before continuing to pilot the plane in an upward circle, taking shots at the Chitauri that flew around them.

An abrupt pull-back maneuver almost caused Hiro to completely lose his footing until he latched onto the captain's pants leg, to the amusement of the soldier. "No problem, I'll make sure he's safe." A pause, and the kit could only imagine the creatively sarcastic insurance the teenager was extracting. "… copy that. Signing off." Their ascent smoothed out as they exited the latest swarm of aliens and the feline carefully made his way to the front of the cockpit.

"Nat," Hawkeye warned as they rounded on Stark Tower, right in front of the balcony.

"I see 'em." As the team watched, Loki slammed Thor's head into the railing, shattering the glass as Hiro hissed his displeasure. The brothers wrestled, Loki managing to throw off the blonde thunder god with a disgruntled expression that gave away his chagrin at having to fight hand-to-hand like this. The traitorous trickster swung his staff towards the jet as the pilots' fingers jammed the fire buttons, the blue laser slicing through their left wing's engine with a jarring impact inside. His hold was loosened and lost as the aircraft spiraled downwards and Hiro's green eyes found the only other passenger holding onto the ceiling bars for dear life.

Their wild ride continued through the city, bouncing off any number of buildings as the single engine spun them in its sad attempts to keep them airborne. At one point, the animal caught a slightly stunned Captain America swinging around the cargo hold, only held in place by his grip on the aforementioned bars. The descent the flightless jet took them on was much faster than their ascent, it was a lot smokier too. He was sure they were going to crash into some poor bloke's office the way they were going but was pleasantly surprised and impressed as Hawkeye's piloting set them down, albeit bumpily, in a plaza outside some retail store.

Once they "landed" – Hiro was partial to the word "crashed" at the moment – it was a scramble to gather weapons and get out of the downed machine before they became sitting ducks for the Chitauri. Captain America led the way down the ramp, which had opened with surprising ease compared to the damage the rest of the systems had taken. The kit found a secure perch on the archer's shoulder as he scooped him up. He wasn't complaining; Agent Barton might've been one of his favorites with the way he reminded him of his wise-cracking, spidery friend. Plus, the dirty blonde was the least likely to do a flip and knock him off out of the three.

"We gotta get back up there," the star-spangled superhero was saying. They stood in front of Grand Central Terminal, just a block away from Stark Tower. The trio of humans had stopped and were staring open-mouthed at the thing that just came out of the portal, though Hiro couldn't say he was much better.

Its roar practically shook the buildings and it looked scarily like a giant, flying, toothy version of a Blast-Ended Skrewt that some bloody idiot had put armor on. Honestly, it looked like something from Hagrid's dreams and his own nightmares. It flew over them, flashes of light that he assumed were propulsion devices launching Chitauri ground troops into nearby buildings. The cat simply hoped that Spidey was around somewhere near them. Captain America finally found his voice amidst the new level of chaos. "Stark, are you seeing this?"

Right up against Hawkeye's ear, Hiro could barely catch the replies. "Seeing, still working on believing…"

"Seeing what – HOLY MOTHER OF MEGATRON!" Seems like Spider-man had seen the flying skrewt – for lack of a better name – from wherever he was. "That thing is butt-ugly!"

"Ya think?" Iron Man drawled. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" the captain questioned.

"Just keep me posted." To his onboard AI, though it seemed he left them on the line anyways, "J.A.R.V.I.S., find me a soft spot." With that, the conversation was over, and the heroes scrambled to hide behind a taxi, planning their next move. Obviously, being saddled with a relatively defenseless cat put a wrench in things.

After too long a silence devoid of any sort of plotting, Widow sighed heavily. "Just give him here. I'll run him down to the tower and be back before you notice I'm gone." Without waiting for a response, the redhead plucked Hiro off the archer's shoulder and made off with him down the street. She fluidly dodged anything that came at her, be it debris from a nearby building or an angry-sounding alien that was swiftly dispatched by a bullet in its forehead a second after she passed by. Sliding across the hood of a car, the duo was suddenly right by the door of Stark Tower and the Black Widow was setting the kit gently inside the lift and telling J.A.R.V.I.S. to take him to a safe floor.

The AI obliged happily with the request, closing the doors before Hiro could even think of objecting and shooting the box higher. The last thing he saw of Agent Romanoff was her fiery hair whipping around as she jogged back out to join the fight. The tower's machinery pulled him farther and farther up and he wondered if J.A.R.V.I.S. had misunderstood the assassin at some point and was taking him straight to the roof, or if Loki had somehow found a way into the system, which was dismissed straightaway due to the Asgardians' tendency to be utterly baffled by anything and everything "Midgardian."

Eventually, he felt the ascent slow and the doors open to a fairly undamaged floor that was also rather bare, lacking everything that could characterize it as lived-in besides basic furnishings. Hiro instantaneously rushed over to the – miraculously – unbroken window and peered out at the chaotic city through the spider-web cracks in the glass. Everywhere he looked, there was a fire, an explosion, cars piled up, and buildings torn down. Chitauri soldiers were scattered along the streets and chariots pulled them along in the skies.

Harry knew what war was like, he'd been in one, after all, but this was so much more than he was used to. He'd been in fights, in skirmishes, but this was a larger scale that he hadn't seen in the wizarding world. That was relatively contained, this… this was large and scary and impossible to ignore in the way that the muggle world had brushed the wizarding war off as terrorism, or something. This? No one was going to be able to brush this under the carpet. Aliens were real, and they were in New York. Chitauri zipped by his vantage point from time to time, taking no notice of him, and he even saw both Iron Man and Spider-man whiz past separately.

But even with so much happening right outside, he still wasn't satisfied. He hopped to his four paws and trotted over to the lift. Now, he wasn't expecting J.A.R.V.I.S. to open the doors, or let him off the floor, but he was willing to bet that the stairs were somewhere close to… there! A door a few meters away from the lift, labelled with such an obvious "STAIRS" sign that he felt stupid for missing it. The handle was parallel with the floor, still there was a tiny crack that let light into the stairwell, and the door apparently wasn't one of the types that swung heavily shut and smacked you on the rear because it simply sat slightly open.

Hiro was able to nose it open – well, he had to shove it with his back legs braced on the doorframe, but whatever. The metal railing provided a clean view of the central shaft that ran down the entirety of the building. A cool breeze blew up and around, ruffling his black fur, whistling and generally creeping him out. Something was broken on a lower, or higher, floor to allow that in. The cat just ignored it, beginning his journey up step by step, not knowing which floor he was on, but knowing that everything interesting was going to be found on the upper floors. What Hiro hadn't considered, was that each step was as tall as him. This was going to take a while…

I am SO SO sorry for the delay, please blame SBA testing. I know I do.

Sorry for the short length of this chapter. Just wanted to get a tad bit of Hiro in there so y'all know what he's up to. And I originally had Peter shouting "HOLY MOTHER OF MOSES!" but it didn't sound right, and he just seems like the type of person to make random sci-fi movie references. Like me.

One last rant... THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! We are at 146 reviews, 270 favorites, exactly 400 followers, 50,515 views, and I really hadn't realized, but this thing had hit 57,650 words before I posted this chapter (so now it's more... wow...). Once again, THANK YOU for all your support. I really can't believe it sometimes (read: most of the time).

See ya later!

Lucky (tries, she really does)

To elithturtle: Oh just you wait! The cat-to-boy scene is pretty good, if I do say so myself.

To winfield56: Sorry you had to wait, and that this one's shorter. But it's always good to hear from you people!

To SIlvermane1: Um… I don't think I'm familiar with that fandom, sorry…

To Hannah (Guest): Don't worry, I have until like, chapter thirty-something already written. Which is good, 'cause otherwise you guys would be waiting MONTHS for each chappie. I'm sloooow…

To twilightsirius: Ha! I love it! I think you'll like a certain scene I wrote in a future chapter.

To Vladimir Mithrander: Have I said how much I enjoy your reviews? 'Cause they're awesome sauce. Anyways, thank you, and you know Hiro so well! Aw!