Chapter Nine
I polished my Firebolt as Mr. St-I mean Tony was fixing his suit.
"Lead the way Tony," I said to him. "I'll be right behind you."
He suited up, and lead the way outside. I hopped on my broomstick and followed him to Stark Tower.
We got to the top of the tower and saw Dr. Selvig on the roof with his portal device.
"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," Tony told him.
He turned around to face us.
"It's too late! She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe."
"Okay," I said, fed up with what he was saying.
I pointed my wand at the device and cast a spell, only to have it bounce back at us.
"Yeah, I got that," I heard Tony say.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Jarvis says the barrier is made of pure energy and it's unbreachable."
"Fantastic."
"Plan B. I'm heading down, and you g-"
"Go around the back."
"Yeah."
I watched as Tony fly down, landed, and started walking inside. His suit was being removed as he walked inside, and I noticed Loki watching him. Hopefully he didn't see me.
Once I saw Tony go inside, I flew down, around the backside of the tower and landed outside. One floor down from where I was, I saw Loki standing.
"Tony," I started, "I'm going to apparate to you. Clear your throat if you're in the same room when Agent Coulson and I came to you."
A few minutes later I heard Tony clear his throat.
I apparated, quietly and behind his bar to remain hidden, just in time to hear Tony reply to something Loki had said.
"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you."
"You should have left your armor on for that."
"Yeah. It's seen a bit of mileage, and you've got the glow stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"
"Stalling me won't change anything."
At that point, Tony walked around to be behind his bar. His eyes looked at me before bringing his eyes back up to look at Loki.
"No, no. Threatening. No drink? You're sure? I'm having one."
"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers," Tony answered, pouring himself a drink. He looked up and continued talking.
"It's what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes'-type thing."
"Yes, I've met them."
"Yeah. Takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a headcount, here. Your brother, the demigod, a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a witch, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."
I couldn't believe that Tony added me to his list. However, I couldn't ask him why when Loki was in the room.
"That was the plan," Loki told Tony.
Tony took a sip of his drink.
"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
"I have an army."
"We have a Hulk."
"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off."
"You're missing the point. There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you."
He paused before continuing.
"Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."
I peeked around the corner to see Loki walking closer to Tony.
"How will your friends have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?"
He held his specter up to Tony's chest. Apparently, nothing had happened, so he held it up to Tony's chest again. A look of confusion crossed Loki's face.
"This usually works," he stated.
"Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon. One out of five…"
Loki grabbed Tony by the throat and threw his across the room towards the windows.
Tony got up, talking to Jarvis.
"Jarvis, anytime now."
Tony had just barely gotten up when Loki picked him up and held him by his throat.
"You will all fall before me."
"Deploy! Deploy" Tony called out before Loki threw him out the window.
A few seconds after Tony had been thrown out, something flew from the wall and went out the window after Tony.
Not long after that, Tony flew back into view, I stood up. It didn't really make that much of a difference; Loki was still looking at Tony.
"And there's one other person you pissed off."
I apparated in front of Loki, who looked shocked by the fact that I had just appeared in front of him and pointed my wand at him.
"His name was Phil," I said, casting a spell at him, making Loki fly across the room.
At that moment, a portal opened up, several miles above the tower.
"Right. Army," Tony said when we started to see Chitauri pour out of the portal.
Tony flew up closer to the portal, while I just apparated from roof to roof casting spells, jinxes, and curses.
When I heard screaming coming from the streets, I apparated down and started to help people inside buildings.
I heard a crash come from above me. Sure enough, when I looked up, the "K" from Stark Tower was falling to the ground. Looking at the cause, I saw two figures fighting.
"Stark, Olson," I heard Agent Romanoff say over our earpieces, "we're on your three, headed northeast."
"What? Did you stop for a drive-through?" Tony asked them.
"At least they're here Tony," I told him.
"You're right. Swing up Park. I'm going to lay them out for you."
I apparated to the top of a nearby building after I saw Tony fly by. He was followed by several Chitauri. As they passed by, I was casting spells, and even though they were working, it didn't seem like it since more and more Chitauri were coming through the portal.
A few minutes later, I saw the quinjet fly in and start shooting at the Chitauri that were following Tony.
Still keeping my focus on the army, I saw the quinjet fly to where the two figures where, turns out they were Thor and Loki, and prepare to shoot.
They didn't get the chance to shoot, and I saw Loki aim his specter at the quinjet and fire, hitting one of the engines.
Seeing the engine catch fire, I aimed my wand at the quinjet. A giant gush of water erupted from the tip of my wand towards the engine of the quinjet, putting out the fire.
"What just happened?" I heard Agent Romanoff ask.
"You saw the water too? Where did that come from?" Captain Rogers replied.
"That was me," I answered.
"What do you, 'that was me'? How could you have done that?"
"Well, Captain-"
"Steve."
"What?"
"You can call me Steve."
"Oh." I paused before continuing. "Well, Steve, I have magic, so I doused the fire in the engine. You saw me use magic before."
"I have?"
"Yes. Don't you remember?"
"Captain, what happened?" I asked when I saw him holding onto a cord to keep from falling from the helicarrier.
"I backed up too far trying to shot the other guys," he replied.
"Cap," I heard Mr. Stark say, "hit the lever."
"I need a minute here!" Captain Rogers cried out.
"Lever now!"
"I've got it!" I informed them.
I apparated to the lever, but a man started shooting in this direction. At the same time, Captain Rogers pulled himself up. I cast a spell at the man, not Captain Rogers obviously, before pulling the lever.
"I guess he never did get you to sign them."
He tossed the cards onto the table.
When I saw them, I noticed they were covered in blood. Captain Rogers picked one up. I took out my wand, after looking around the room, which was empty except for some agents that I recognized to be wizards, and started to clean the cards of the blood.
"Guys," Agent Barton grunted, "Now isn't the best time to be remembering the past. I'm a bit busy here."
"Right, let me help you with that."
I raised my wand to help again, but I was too late. The quinjet had just crashed into the sidewalk of one of the many streets of New York.
A couple of minutes later, I saw Cap-Steve I mean, Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton come running from inside the quinjet.
I apparated to them.
"How's it going here?" Steve asked as if he hadn't just crashed.
"As you can see, not good," I answered him.
"Okay," he sighed. "We got to get up there," he said running off. The rest of us followed him.
"How? Well, I know how I can, but what about you guys?" I yelled to him, trying to keep up.
All I got in return was a glare.
When we finally stopped running, it was in front of Grand Central Station. Steve, Agent Romanoff, and Agent Barton were all looking up at the portal that letting in all of the Chitauri.
"Ah man. Look at all of those creatures coming through," I groaned, as a giant Chitauri went by, with smaller more humanoid shaped one jumping off the sides and into buildings.
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked Tony.
"Seeing. Still working on believing," Tony answered back.
"Better believe quicker," I quipped.
"Don't believe you have magic, but I can still see it."
"Yeah, whatever Tin Man."
"Focus on the problem at hand, Stark, Grace," Steve cut in.
"Sorry," I replied.
"Yeah, me too." Tony paused before he spoke again. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
"Banner?" Steve questioned.
"Just keep me posted," was all Tony said.
"We've got civilians still trapped up here," Agent Barton reminded us as we hid behind a car.
Just then, we saw small flying Chitauri scooter things flying above us.
"Loki," Agent Barton almost growled.
"No," I whispered to myself as I saw the damage he was doing. I saw people running trying to get to safety as cars were exploding after being shot at.
"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve said as he and I were watching what was happening.
All of a sudden, I felt movement next to me. When I looked over, both Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton had both gotten up and started shooting at something behind me. I whipped my head around to see what they were shooting at. What I saw didn't surprise me. A few Chitauri had landed several yards away.
"We got this. It's good. Go," Agent Romanoff said to Steve and I.
"Do you think you can hold them off?" Steve asked them, looking at Agent Barton.
"Captain," Agent Barton started, pressing some buttons on his bow, "it would be my genuine pleasure."
With that response, Steve and I turned and jumped over the railing. Well, it was more like he jumped over, and I apparated down.
"I don't remember running this much before for other missions," I couldn't help but say out loud.
"What would you rather do?" Steve asked.
"I don't know. Apparate straight there, or not go on missions."
"You would rather not save other peoples' lives?"
"I would like to save peoples' lives, but I can do that while I'm not running," I huffed.
Finally, we got to where police were trying to fight off the Chitauri themselves while trying to protect the citizens.
"You need men in these buildings," Steve informed them, gesturing to said buildings. "There are people inside and they're going to be running right into the line of fire. You take them to the basements or through the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."
The policemen just stared at him, before one of them spoke up.
"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" he questioned.
"Have you noticed he's Captain America?" I asked him.
"So? And who are you then?" he said, aiming his question at me.
"No-one, just a friend that's going-" I started to threaten him when Steve interrupted me.
"Grace, that's enough."
"You still haven't answered my question," the policeman said to Steve.
Before Steve could reply, Chitauri came for us from behind. So, the two of us fought them off on top of the taxi, almost as if it were a dance, right in front of the policemen.
When we finished, we just stood there, proving our point that they should listen to what Steve had said.
"They should have just listened to us from the start," I said to Steve as we started heading back to Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton.
"Too bad for them," was all I got in return from Steve.
When we rejoined Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton, they were in the middle of fighting Chitauri. Steve and I joined in, of course, can't just sit to the side and let them struggle, no matter how out of breath I was. Maybe when this is all over, I should start physical training back up again.
Suddenly, a whole bunch of the Chitauri were struck by lightning. Wondering how since it was the middle of the day with no thunderstorms, I followed the path of the lightning up into the sky to see Thor, who landed on the ground. Right, cause he's the god of thunder. That makes sense.
"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked Thor as he came walking over.
"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable," he informed.
"He's right Steve," I said. "I saw it with my own eyes."
Steve looked at me like he didn't believe me.
"Don't believe me, then ask Tony."
"I would listen to the two of them," I heard Tony over the earpieces. "We got to deal with these guys."
"How do we do this?" Agent Romanoff asked.
"As a team," was all Steve said.
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said to us.
"Yeah? Well, get in line." Agent Barton said as he was gathering and cleaning some of his arrows.
"Save it," Steve butted in. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild."
"Are you saying the only reason that these creatures aren't going to other cities or countries of the world is because Loki is here in New York?" I asked.
"I'm saying it's a possibility," he answered me. Then he continued to address the rest of the group.
"We got Stark up top. He's going to need us to…" Steve stopped talking when we all heard the sound of a motorcycle.
We turned around to see Dr. Banner come riding up to us.
"So," he started as we all walked forward towards him, "this all seems horrible."
"I've seen worse," Agent Romanoff stated.
"Sorry."
"No, we could use a little worse."
Cutting in to their conversation, I decided to let Tony know who arrived.
"Tony, he's here," I told him.
"Banner?" he asked.
"No, Director Fury," I said to him sarcastically, "yes, Banner."
"Just like you said," Steve said.
"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
The moment he finished his sentence, we saw Tony flying around the corner towards us, a giant Chitauri creature following him.
"Uh, what? That's the party?" I questioned.
"Yeah, I don't see how that's a party," Agent Romanoff agreed.
"Dr. Banner," Steve called out to him as he was walking away. "Now might a really good time for you to get angry."
"That's my secret, Captain," Bruce turned his head to look at us while still walking forward before stopping and turning to us again. "I'm always angry."
With that statement, he turned around and transformed into the Hulk, who let out a roar before punching the giant creature. But the momentum of the speed of the creature caused it to drag across the street, coming right for us.
"Hold on!" Tony yelled, firing a small missile at it before it could crash on top of us.
Granted, debris still fell and an explosion happened, so naturally, we all moved or did something to protect ourselves. I don't know what the others did, but I simply cast the Protego charm over myself.
Of course, when the debris cleared, we all simply had to stand in a circle facing outwards, as if we were in a movie. I stood between Steve and Agent Romanoff.
When I saw that there were Chitauri on the buildings next to us, but not attacking I had to say something.
"Why aren't they attacking us?"
"Be glad they're not right now," Agent Romanoff said to me.
"Yeah, okay. It gives me time to catch my breath for a few minutes."
It was silent, except for my heavy breathing, for a few moments before Agent Romanoff spoke again.
"Guys."
We followed her line of sight to where more Chitauri were streaming out of the portal.
"Call it, Captain," Tony told him.
"We'll follow whatever you say," I said, backing up Tony.
"All right, listen up," Steve started, "Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton and Grace, I want the two of you on that roof. Eyes in 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 us a lift?" Agent Barton asked Tony.
"I don't need a ride up there," I informed him.
"You don't?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I can do this."
Right in front of everybody, I apparated to the rooftop Steve wanted Agent Barton and I on.
"Come on slowpoke!" I called down to him.
"How about that lift now?" I heard Agent Barton ask Tony over the earpieces.
"Right," Tony said to him. "Better clench up, Legolas."
A few seconds later, Tony dropped Agent Barton off.
"Took you long enough."
"Not all of us have magic, Olson."
"Whatever Barton. Now shut up, I'm trying to listen to what Steve is saying to the others."
"… bottleneck that portal," I heard Steve say to one of the others. "Slow them down. You got the lightning." Ah, he must be talking to Thor. "Light the bastards up. You and me, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk… Smash."
With that command given, I saw Hulk take a giant leap onto one of the sides of the buildings nearby and start to smash some of the Chitauri.
"Is that Thor?" I asked Agent Barton as he and I started firing, well me casting spells, but whatever.
"Where?"
"Where the lightning is gathering at the Empire State Building."
"It must be," he answered. "I don't know who else could do that."
Then I saw the lightning aimed at the portal.
"It's not working, but at least he's taking out Chitauri," I said to Agent Barton.
He made a humming noise.
"Stark," he started, "you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail."
"I'm just trying to keep them off the streets," Tony replied.
"Tony," I said, cutting in, "they can't make sharp corners really fast. So, find a tight corner."
"I will roger that," was all I got in return until I heard him grunt, "Oh, boy."
A couple of minutes later, Tony came over the earpieces again.
"Nice call. What else you got?"
"Thor is taking a squadron not that far from you," I informed him.
"Where?"
"Sixth," Agent Barton answered.
"And he didn't invite me."
"Steve, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They've cornered a lot of civilians in there," I informed him.
"I'm on it," I heard him grunt in reply.
A couple of minutes later, I saw Steve come flying out of one the windows of the bank and landed on the top of a car on his stomach.
"That looked like it hurt," I said to myself.
"What?" Agent Barton asked me.
"Nothing."
For several minutes, Agent Barton and I stood on that roof shooting at the Chitauri army when I saw Agent Romanoff on one of the Chitauri flying scooter things.
"Is that Agent Romanoff?" I asked Agent Barton, gesturing to where she was.
He looked over to where I was gesturing.
"Yes," he answered. I think he was about to ask her something when we heard her over the earpieces.
"Hawkeye! Grace!" Agent Romanoff called out.
"Nat, what are you doing?" Agent Barton asked her.
"Look!" I said to him. "That looks like Loki behind her!"
"Uh, a little help." Agent Romanoff requested.
Just like that, Agent Barton pushed some buttons on his fancy bow and aimed right for Loki.
"I got him," he stated simply.
Then he fired.
Either it worked or it didn't, but I did see Loki go flying into Stark Tower, which only had the letters 'S' and 'A' left.
"Agent Romanoff, what are you doing?" I asked her since she never answered Agent Barton.
"I'm on top of Stark Tower trying to figure out how to close the portal," she answered me.
"Do you need help?"
"Help would be nice."
"On my way."
I apparated to the top of Stark Tower.
"You know," I started, "If it weren't for the Chitauri army flying around or New York being destroyed, I would say that we have a pretty good view from up here."
"Suppose so, yeah," Agent Romanoff agreed with me.
We both turned to the device that both housed The Tesseract, currently at least, and was creating the portal.
"The scepter…" we heard Dr. Selvig say from behind us.
Agent Romanoff and I turned around.
"Doctor," Agent Romanoff said to him.
"Loki's scepter. The energy," he started. "The Tesseract can't fight, but you can't protect against yourself."
"It's not your fault," Agent Romanoff said from where she was now kneeling beside Dr. Selvig. "You didn't know what you were doing."
"Actually, I think I did. I built in a safety to cut their power source."
"So, what you're saying is," I started, "if we can get Loki's scepter, then we can cut the power source and close the portal?"
"Yes, that's right."
Dr. Selvig turned his head toward the ground, as he was laying near the edge of the tower.
"And I'm looking right at it."
I moved to the edge to look at it as well.
"I see, it shouldn't take us that long to grab it."
"Are you kidding?" Agent Romanoff asked. "That's several floors down, going up and down the stairs alone could take maybe 10 to 15 minutes."
"Have you forgotten already, Agent Romanoff? I have magic," I said, holding my wand up and twirling it in my hand. Then I pointed my wand at Loki's scepter.
"Accio scepter."
The moment I finished speaking, the scepter came flying into my hands.
Agent Romanoff and Dr. Selvig only stared at me.
"What?" I asked, handing the scepter over to Agent Romanoff.
Dr. Selvig pulled up his laptop as Agent Romanoff circled the portal device.
"Right at the crown!" Dr. Selvig called to Agent Romanoff while pointing at the spot she should place Loki's scepter.
She forced Loki's scepter through the forcefield then paused.
"Let the others know," she told me.
"Agent Romanoff can close it. Does anyone copy?" I asked the others over the earpieces. "She can shut the portal down."
"Do it!" Steve cried.
"No, wait," Tony said.
"Stark, these things are still coming."
"I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute."
"What?!" I yelled out. "Why?"
"And I know just where to put it," Tony informed us.
"That doesn't answer my question," I grumbled to myself, sitting on the ground and closing my eyes, exhausted.
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Steve told Tony.
"There he goes," I said, hearing him fly by.
"How do you know? Your eyes are closed," I heard Dr. Selvig ask me.
"I could hear him," I said to him, opening my eyes. "I'm not deaf just because my eyes are closed."
Several seconds later, we saw the Chitauri creatures lose power and fall to the ground.
"Tony did it," I said quietly.
I looked up to the portal, waiting for Tony to fly out of it.
"Come on, Stark," I heard Agent Romanoff say to herself.
When nothing happened for a little bit, I heard Steve give the command to Agent Romanoff.
"Close it."
With that order given, Agent Romanoff turned back to the portal device and pushed Loki's scepter until it hit some part below The Tesseract. The energy cut out, and the portal started to close.
The portal closed, and I leaned back, closed my eyes and sighed.
"Son of a gun," I heard Steve say, but I just ignored it, finally glad to be done with the battle.
"Agent Olsen," Agent Romanoff started speaking, "he survived."
"What?" I asked, opening my eyes. Sure enough, there was Tony in his Iron Man suit, falling out of control.
"He's not slowing down," Thor said.
But before Tony hit the ground, and Thor could do anything, Hulk leapt through the air and grabbed him.
A couple of minutes later, I heard Hulk let out a short roar, only to let out a longer roar a few seconds later.
"What do you think that was all about?" I asked Agent Romanoff, as we both dusted ourselves off before heading inside and down the stairs.
"I have no idea," she responded.
We gathered with the others a few minutes later, meeting in the room where Loki was. Quietly, we gathered behind as he struggled to get the few stairs in the room. Then he paused and turned around. I glowered at him from where I stood in between Steve and Thor.
"If it's all the same to you," he started to say, "I'll have that drink now."