Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing related to Marvel, either the comics, movies, TV shows, etc. All of that belongs to the Disney Corporation (though I might try kidnapping Captain America and Hawkeye some day, just for fun).

AN: Here's the next chapter! It's also the last chapter of this fic; there's an epilogue after this, and then it's off to the sequel! Thanks a bunch to everyone who has read this story, and to those who have also reviewed! Enjoy!

Chapter 12: War Part II:

There was no way I could be seeing what was there. It just wasn't possible, even in my most fantastical imaginings.

A giant portal of some kind hovered over the Stark Building. Hundreds of enemy fighters were on the ground, shooting anything that stood in their way. Many were on foot, but there were others on what appeared to be flying jet skis, which were clearly armed with energy blasters. People were fleeing in terror, screaming as they ran down streets or into buildings to hide.

But even worse than the warriors in flight or on the ground were the giant aircrafts that had brought them here to Earth. They were enormous, and appeared to be some sort of living leviathan creature covered in metal armor. I could not imagine how the Avengers could take down something so huge and heavily protected.

The 'window' that I was observing through shifted, showing all of my friends ready to do battle. I had to melt into a smile at seeing Cap take charge of the situation; he was cool and calm as he appeared to be giving orders to everyone, sending each of them out with a specific task. However, I did have to worry just a little bit as The Hulk gave a rather savage grin when given his orders –as much as I liked and trusted Bruce Banner, I didn't think it was a good idea to give his alter ego permission to go destroy things, even if it was a battle to save the Earth from invasion.

With all the fighting going on, it was hard keeping track of what was going on. New York was a big city, and there were enemy fighters everywhere –it was like watching an ant hill, with a few key players getting swarmed from every angle by a seemingly endless force.

To give them credit, the Avengers were all doing their damnedest to hold their own: Cap was beating enemies left and right with his shield; Natasha was shooting, punching, and knifing everything in her path like a pro; Tony was shooting missiles from his armor, while Thor threw lightning. Hulk, of course, was smashing whatever moved, and then some.

But as more invasion ships began pouring into New York through the portal, I struggled to cling to hope. As good as they were, the Avengers couldn't possible hold up forever, and I knew that most of them were taking a major beating.

And yet, even as my little vision window began to close, I let hope stay inside my heart. I don't know how, but they would win. Loki was totally going down!

Even though Steve was able to keep his head together during the fighting, part of him knew that winning against Loki's forces was going to serve two purposes. The first was to keep the world safe from invasion; the second was to get Adena back, safe and sound.

Occasionally, as he took down a monster or gave orders to the local police or firefighters, Steve found his thoughts drifting to Adena's wellbeing. He tried staying optimistic, believing that she was unharmed and somewhere out of danger, but that was all speculation: he didn't know where she was, or whether Loki had tortured or harmed her in any way.

All of the unanswered questions about Adena ate away at him, and the only way that Steve managed to cope with them was beating the hell out of any alien invader that got in his way. It was, as Adena had put it, 'therapeutic,' and helped drive him to fight and, hopefully, win.

From his vantage point above the city, Loki sneered down at the battle scenes. Although the Chitauri were many, somehow, against all expectations, the Avengers were still strong in battling their enemies. Even as exhausted as they must be, it was clear that they intended to fight until they collapsed or were dead.

"Well, dead is exactly what I mean to make them," Loki growled as he flew about the city on his small hover craft.

It was a lovely sight, even with the heroes struggling to prevent the invasion. People fled to and from buildings, all trying to save themselves from death. Warships flew over, around, and between buildings as Chitauri warriors slid down ropes to take the city. The Chitauri who were on personal hover crafts searched out their brethren who looked in need of aid against their Avenger opponents, and attempted to engage in battle. Weapon's fire shot through the air, sizzling as it burned through the streets and lit them up.

Destruction was everywhere, and Loki relished it. He could already imagine the palace he would build atop the foundations where the Stark Tower stood, and where he finally managed to strike down his brother would be a monument to the deed.

Smiling, he thought of the sleeping woman who lay within the Tower. Adena had been pale and breathing deeply when he had last seen her, but his mind recalled how flushed and angry she had been when she had confronted him. The red blush of her cheeks and the flash of defiance in her eyes had only driven his desire to obtain her –oh, how he enjoyed her spark! Loki intended for that flash of radiance within her to burn for a very long time, even after he had her at his mercy.

At that moment, he sensed the air move sharply in his direction, coming from an angle that practically screamed his death.

Reaching out, he easily caught the puny arrow in his hand, and smiled…right before it glowed blue and self destructed.

In the confines of my mind, I could feel the darkness pressing in. The flickering lights that occasionally became my windows to the outside world were blinking in and out of existence, almost like static on a television, leaving me wondering whether I was falling deeper into the coma-like state I was in, or if I was slowly crawling my way out of it.

Or it could also be that Loki's power over me was failing, an idea that fired me up inside. If Loki was losing his grip on me, then he was losing to the Avengers. That gave me hope, and I grasped at it with both hands, holding tightly as a surge of energy shot through me, sending a burning sensation straight through my mind and heart.

For a moment, I thought that meant the spell or telepathic hold Loki had on me was over, but after what felt like an eternity passed, I realized that wasn't the case. I was stuck within the confines of my mind, with no way out.

An immediate sense of fear and claustrophobia began to settle in. What if I never woke up? What if I was stuck here forever? Maybe Director Fury could help me somehow? He had a lot of scientists at his disposal, so maybe he could order them to find out what was wrong with me?

Suddenly, another surge of power shot through me, this one far more powerful than the first. I felt something tear, as though whatever spell on me had cracked, but wasn't yet falling apart.

Then, all of the flickering lights went out, and I fell into complete sleep and darkness.

With the destruction of Loki's forces, Steve felt only half as relieved as he should have. The world was safe, but there were two major things that needed to be dealt with: the first was finding Loki and putting him in handcuffs; second, getting him to spill where Adena was.

Finding Loki was easy; Hulk had basically used him as a rag to (almost literally) wipe the floor with. Lying out in an unresponsive daze on the floor, the Asgardian obviously wasn't going to be answering any questions soon, which gave Steve and the others time to take a breather.

While the other Avengers took the opportunity to clean the sweat, grime, and blood off of themselves in Stark's personal apartments a level down, Steve began pacing the room, trying to ignore the pain in his side, where an enemy had blasted him earlier. His armor had protected him from the worst, and he wasn't bleeding – much – but it still hurt like hell.

"You should get cleaned up, Captain," Stark said, fingering a hole in his metal armor. "I doubt that Loki's going anywhere." He pointed to Steve's left side. "Or at least get your wound seen to. Natasha does a great job with cuts and stuff."

Steve hesitated a moment before Stark clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Go on. Adena wouldn't want to see you messed up, now, would she?"

He winced at the thought of Adena still being missing, but Stark had a point –he couldn't let her see him like this. He was filthy, and the wound in his side needed medical attention. Steve decided to take Stark's advice and see if Agent Romanoff could patch him up a bit.

Within twenty minutes, Steve and the other Avengers came together to see if they could get Loki to spill his guts. By that point, their prisoner had regained most of his motor functions, and was making a feeble attempt to crawl to safety. That was not going to happen.

Sensing that he had company, Loki paused in his sad efforts to run and turned around. Even when he had clearly lost the fight for Earth, he managed to paste on a sardonic smile. "If it's all the same to you," he said, smiling as he took in his captors, "I think I'll have that drink."

A hand on Steve's shoulder kept him from picking up Loki and beating him even more into a pulp. Instead, he shook the hand off his shoulder and reached down to drag their prisoner up so he could look him closely in the eye.

"Where is Adena?" Steve growled, his grip tightening to the point of his knuckles cracking.

Loki merely gave a half-mad grin. "And what if I told you she is dead? What would you do then?"

Behind Steve came a growl and a shift of very large feet as The Hulk took a step forward. "If she's dead, then we'll let Hulk here have some more fun throwing you around," Steve threatened, eyes narrowing. "After that, maybe Thor will have some fun lighting you up, followed by Hawkeye using you as a pin cushion."

"After I charge up my suit, I can put my tank missiles to good use," Tony volunteered, smiling eagerly. "I've also got a few other toys that really pack a punch."

"I've got a few knives handy," Natasha said in full seriousness. "They're still sharp…for the most part." She paused as she hefted Loki's scepter in her hands. "And there's always this thing. We can see how it affects him."

Hawkeye gave a savage smile. "I'm all for that last one. Let's give him a taste of his own medicine."

The threat of the scepter being turned on him was apparently too much for Loki, because he seemed to sag a little in Steve's grip. "She's safe," he grudgingly admitted. Steve was very satisfied that it tore at Loki to say it. "She's in a deep sleep, one of my own making. You will find her two levels below, in a female's sleeping chamber."

Tony perked up. "She's in Pepper's suite!" he said. Heading to a computer panel in the wall, he activated what looked like a homing beacon. "Jarvis is picking up the little computer I loaned her. Since we never found it on the aircraft, it's safe to say that she's still got it on her. And according to this," he pointed to the screen, "she really is two floors below." Stark paused. "Unless he's trying to dupe us by sending us on a wild goose chase."

Loki held up his hands in defeat. "She is there. To wake her, you need to simply to wave the scepter over her. That will dissolve the remnants of the spell."

Natasha griped the scepter even tighter. "Come on, Captain. Let's go get her."

Waking up from the black nothingness, I immediately knew how Snow White felt when her sleep spell was broken. The only difference was instead of Prince Charming, I had Natasha Romanoff with a glowing scepter in her hands, and Captain America standing over me, both with concerned looks on their faces. Even though none of them were exactly Prince Charming, it was still a very welcoming sight!

After everything came into focus and the fog around my brain faded a bit, I smiled up at them. "Hi," I managed to croak out. "Did we win?"

"Yes, we did," Cap smiled as he came to help me up from the bed. "Are you alright? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Standing shakily on my feet, I shook my head in an effort to answer his question and to clear it. "I'm fine, just groggy. How long have I been out?"

Natasha shrugged. "A while. I'd have to say twelve hours at least."

I sighed. "No wonder I feel all out of it." Glancing up, I saw Cap giving me a very scrutinizing look-over. "I'm fine," I firmly told him. "He knocked me out on the ship, and that's it. I'm not hurt, or in pain. My head feels fuzzy, but that's it. Can we go now?"

Natasha smiled as Cap offered me an arm. "Come on. You can see what kind of shape Loki's in."

I have to admit, I didn't know what to expect. During the elevator ride up, I wondered how much death and destruction Loki had caused in his quest for world domination.

As soon as the elevator opened, I was treated to a round of hugs from my friends. Tony had to be careful with me, as he was still in his suit, as did Thor, but Clint Barton, who was codenamed Hawkeye, came to shake hands and congratulate me on surviving my experience. Barton also told me that if Natasha counted me as a friend, then he would, too.

"Trust me, you're a friend," Natasha confirmed as she gave me a hug with one arm, since the other had the scepter in it. "Anyone who willingly goes to face down a demigod with almost no backup totally has my respect."

Bruce was still in his Hulk form, and at his feet knelt a very beat-up Loki. Actually, it looked as though Thor or Hulk had sat on him, then used his flattened carcass to wipe the floor.

"Whoa," I said, staring at the now-captive demigod. "What happened to him?" I looked closely at Thor. "Or should I say: who happened to him?"

At that question, Hulk gave a very nasty grin, not-so-subtly telling me that this was his doing. I had to go over and pat him gently on one big, green, muscular arm that was wider than my waistline.

"Hulk did good," I told him, earning a pleased smile from him in return.

To my surprise, Loki chuckled. "I knew you had a bloodthirsty side to you," he said.

Hulk growled warningly at him as I made to face my kidnapper. "Considering you hurt my friends, kidnapped me, stuck me into a coma, and tried to destroy my planet, I think I have a right to be, when it comes to bringing you down," I retorted. "Believe me, if I had my way, I'd borrow one of Tony's Iron Man boots and use it to kick your testicles straight up through your forehead. But as it is, I'll settle for Hulk whipping you around like a terrier with a rag doll."

Loki's smile melted into something that hovered between dreamy and insanity. "You would have made a great Queen for my empire," he said. "I would love to see you truly angry –you would be magnificent when it came to torturing prisoners."

The timely arrival of a few dozen SHIELD agents prevented me from answering. As they hauled Loki out the door, cuffed, gagged and under the guard of a ton of armed agents, I was seriously disappointed that I didn't get to verbally chew out Loki -but then, I didn't want to say anything that might nauseate the other guys present, so I decided to let it go.

With the capture of Loki, the SHIELD agents who remained took quick statements from all of the Avengers, and offered their congratulations on their victory. They also took away Doctor Selvig, who had been the one to harness the power of the Cube; the Cube itself, tucked into a carry case; and a large helicopter came to take away most of the machine it was powering. I had no doubt that the machine would soon become either scrap metal, or some scientist's permanent study project.

To my surprise, after obtaining my side of the story for their records, the remaining agents offered me a ride back to Director Fury's hovercraft. However, I refused, because the others didn't seem inclined to go anywhere anytime soon.

"I'll stay with my friends," I said, causing Cap to relax a bit. The poor guy had been hovering close by ever since I'd woken up, and I had the distinct feeling that he didn't intend for me to be let out of his sight anytime soon.

Once the SHIELD agents had left, I turned and looked at the others. "Well, you all look like crap," I stated, earning a few chuckles and rolled eyes. "Hey, it's true!"

Tony pointed mockingly at me. "You know, she's right. I'm going to get out of this," he rapped his knuckles against his suit, "and after Bruce manages to calm himself back down, we can all go get that shawarma I was talking about."

My stomach chose that moment to growl. "Oh, man, shawarma sounds great! I'll wait here, if you want."

Tony waved towards the bar. "Help yourself to something to drink. I'll be right back." He looked over at Hulk. "Uh, why don't you 'walk it off,' Banner. Plenty of room outside; lots of fresh air, nice view, all that stuff. I'll find you something to wear."

Hulk sniffed disdainfully and looked as though he wasn't going to budge, but changed his mind. Out he went, climbing up the side of the building to the roof, probably in search of privacy. While the others had gone to collect themselves and take a breather, Cap decided to stay with me in the trashed room and wait.

As soon as we were alone, I found myself swept up in a tight hug, a vision of red, white and blue dancing before my eyes as Cap muttered something about me scaring him half to death. He then started lecturing me on how I should not go facing powerful beings without backup and fight training, and that I was never to scare him like that again.

When he was done, I smiled and looked up at him. "I missed you, too, Cap," I cheerfully replied as I pulled away.

Looking down at my arm, I saw flakes of dried blood dusted across the fabric of my shirt. "Oh, my God!" I cried. "Cap, you're hurt!"

He smiled and made me look up at him. "I'm fine. Natasha patched me up, and the blood is old. I'll be fine in a few days, thanks to that serum I've got in me."

I wasn't sure if I could believe him or not, but since he wasn't bleeding profusely or in obvious pain, I decided to take his word for it. "Okay, but if you're lying, Cap, you're in big trouble." His smile turned into a grin.

At that moment, Bruce showed up in his human form, a smile and a relieved look on his face as he tried to hold up his extremely stretched out pants. "Wow, am I glad to see you in once piece," he said, reaching out with one arm to hug me. "I think the Other Guy was happy to see you, too, though I think the Captain is the most relieved."

"I'll bet," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "He's probably going to be insufferably protective after this."

Both Bruce and I exchanged smiles as Cap pretended to look offended. Rather than arguing with me, however, Cap sighed and shook his head. "Let's change the topic, huh? Can you tell me what, exactly, shawarma is? I don't think even Stark knows, but he's the one who suggested it."

I perked up. "Yes! A lesson in ethnic food!" I cried, feeling excited. "I've been waiting forever to get you to try other foods besides American!"

Cap sighed as I grinned. Let the lesson in cuisine begin!

AN: Review?