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America, the Colonies?
Chapter 7: Chitauri Invasion
Captain Jack Sparrow stared intensively at Clint Barton, who had once been an enemy and tried to kill him along with everyone else. The man was tied to a chair to make sure he didn't escape and/or attack anyone. Natasha was also in the room, interrogating the man.
There was something familiar about the man, Jack mused. He had seen him somewhere before the man had attacked the Helicarrier. He could recall something about running away on rooftops...
Jack's eyes widened as he realized that this man had been one of the people chasing him, along with Natasha and Tony. This all had happened the day he had landed on this weird place. At first, Jack had been worried they were after the compass, but it had turned out they weren't.
The compass... Jack blinked as he realized something. Natasha, Tony and Thor had all learnt about its existence the day he had escaped from the S.H.I.E.L.D building. Tony had only examined it briefly, before concluding that, whatever it was that was causing its abilities, wasn't because of its technology. He had mentioned some weird energy coming from the item. Thor had mentioned telling his father about the compass but had assured Jack that the Asgardians had no intent of taking the item from him, even if the item would be useful. Natasha on the other hand...
"Something wrong?" a voice asked, making Jack blink as he was brought out of his thoughts. He focused his vision on the man in front of him, who was staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Natasha was looking at him also.
Jack flashed a smirk. "Nah, mate. I just realized yer th' same person from th' night a few weeks back", he said, getting confused looks from both agents.
"What night?" they asked simultaneously, making Jack look at them in slight surprise.
"Ye know, th' nigh' after I appeared to... Battery... Park", he said, the somewhat new word to him rolling awkwardly from his tongue. He had heard Tony say it many times. The man had even taught him what it meant, along many other words.
"Oh. That night", Clint said, having completely forgotten the whole ordeal with everything going on at once. "Yeah, I remember. I knocked you out."
Jack frowned at that, mumbling something that went unheard by the two other people in the room. The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents then continued their conversation, leaving Jack to his thoughts again.
Natasha... she had probably told that Nick Fury guy about the compass. If that was so, however, how was it that no one had even asked him about it? Maybe she hadn't told Fury after all.
As if on cue, in walked the Director of the S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury.
"Director", Natasha and Clint saluted, getting a dismissive look from Fury.
"At ease, you two. How're you doing, Agent Barton? Feeling better now that Loki's mind control's effects have negated?" he asked, getting a nod from the man.
"Yes, sir. I'm ready to get back to duty as soon as I'm needed", Barton answered, getting nods from Fury.
"That's good to hear. For now, I want you to lay low, okay? Make sure you're really up to it before joining in on the action again", Fury said, getting a hesitant nod from Clint, before turning to Jack.
"Mr. Sparrow, a word", he said, walking away from the room. Jack glanced at Natasha in confusion and, after seeing her gesturing for him to follow Fury, he followed the man.
Almost immediately after Fury and Jack had left, Steve Rogers walked into the room.
As Jack caught up with Fury, they began walking towards an unknown destination - well, unknown to Jack at least.
"Where're we goin'? Jack asked, not liking not knowing things that directly affected him. Fury just ignored him and instead started talking:
"You did well during the attack", Fury said, eyeing Jack with his one eye, "From what Agent Romanoff told me, it almost seems like you saved her life."
Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. "Saved? I don't know abou' that", he replied getting a raised brow from Fury.
"Really? Then what about the way you distracted the Hulk long enough for Thor to step in?" Fury pressed, getting a frown from the pirate Captain.
"My pistol did nothin' to th' monster", Jack said in annoyance, remembering how he had tried to be clever and everything while shooting the monster, only for the bullet to bounce off.
"That is to be expected. Your pistols were made in the 18th century, while the Hulk can withstand an army shooting at him with modern guns at the same time and even a tank shooting at him", Fury reassured, getting a confused look from Jack. The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. sighed at that, "In other words, Hulk is bulky as hell."
"Oh", Jack replied, having understood that. "Why didn't ye say so in th' beginnin'?"
"Why don't you guess?" Fury replied in annoyance, starting to get tired of the conversation, "The reason I called you out like this is exactly that; your weapons aren't strong enough to fight these enemies. They might've been some of the best way back when you lived, but now their only value is as collectibles."
Jack looked like he had been insulted. "Collectibles?"
Just as he said that, Fury threw open a pair of doors, giving Jack a view of a room full of weapons of all kind. Jack looked around in interest, having never seen something like the sight before him. He went to pick one weapon up, only for Fury to stop him. Jack glanced at Fury over his shoulder, getting a hard look from the man.
"Don't. Touch. Anything. Got that?" he asked with a serious no-nonsense voice that left no room for an argument. Jack nodded with a slight hesitation, getting a nod in return.
"Good. Now, I have a few things for you here. Consider them a gift for a work well done, if you will. An upgrade to your current equipment and weapon arsenal", Fury said and walked further into the room in order to retrieve Jack's new equipment. Jack himself looked around at all the different weapons in the room.
The pirate widened his eyes as he noticed a particularly big weapon on one table, before making his way towards it. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen and, it interested him. He walked around it once, examining every detail, before moving his hand towards it slowly.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Nick Fury called out behind him, snapping Jack out of the trance he found himself in, before he retrieved his hand back to his side. Fury walked to the other side of the weapon, standing across of Jack, his gaze digging a hole through Jack's head.
"What's this?" Jack asked in wonder.
"This is what we call 'Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun', codename 'Bambino'. It was brought here recently, after Agent Coulson... passed away", Fury told him, hesitating slightly at the end. Jack nodded.
"How'd he die?"
"Loki killed him. He went to get revenge with this weapon and paid the price for it." Jack frowned slightly, but then looked at Fury, who had been staring at him intensively.
"Follow me", Fury said, moving away from the weapon and towards another table, where a bunch of items were lying around. Jack followed as well, curious of what he was getting. He would've much rather kept his own stuff, but as it was, they weren't of much help in this world. Not only Hulk, but that one man's headgear had protected him from Jack's bullet. That was enough of a reason for a change.
When the table came into view, Jack got a good look at all the items on it. There were two pistols, a sword, some kind of glasses, boots and a vest. There was a bundle of clothes as well.
"These", Fury said, picking up the two chrome colored pistols and handing one of them to Jack, while he took aim at a training dummy, "are Desert Eagle mark XIX .50 AE. 10-inch barrel, weight 4.4 pounds. They have 7 rounds per magazine, so you got to watch out for that." Having said that, Fury pulled the trigger of the gun. The bullet hit the training dummy in the head. Fury then glanced at Jack, who was examining the gun in his hand.
"They work kind of similar to the ones you have", Fury continued, watching as Jack took aim at the draining dummy, "Before you shoot, I'm warning you, these guns have a pretty big-"
Jack pulled the trigger and the bullet soared through the air, hitting the dummy. The backlash was unexpected by Jack though, making him almost fall to the ground.
"-backlash", Fury finished, staring at Jack. "Here are the holsters", Fury continued, handing the two items to Jack along with the other Desert Eagle. Jack put the weapons in the holsters, before placing them on the table for the moment.
"Moving on, the sword", Fury continued, picking the said sheathed item up and handing it to Jack, who unsheathed it and looked at the blade. "A solid steel Japanese katana made in Tokyo. Nothing special, really, but it's much more durable than the one you have now. It should be pretty close to the weight of your sword. If not, then... oh well."
Jack did a couple of swings and nodded, before sheathing the sword and placing it on the table as well. Jack had to admit, these weapons were a lot better than the ones he had used. Still, these other items... What were they?
"I get th' pistols and sword, but what's th' rest of these?" he asked, picking up the glasses with black tinted lenses. "What do these glasses do?"
"Those glasses act like binoculars. You can zoom in and out on a target. I thought you could use them, being a pirate and all. Then this here", Fury said, picking up the vest, "Is a bulletproof vest. It stops bullets from killing you... most of the time. The boots have metal plates that make your kicks feel that much harder and provide protection, and the clothes include flexible pants and shirt, along a trench coat with pockets full of .50 round magazines. Any questions?"
"Only one", Jack said, frowning slightly, "Why's there no hat?"
"A hat is completely unnecessary accessory to wear during a mission, thus one wasn't included. Besides, you'd drop it anyway", Fury answered, before turning around in order to walk away. However, he was met with Agent Hills's gaze.
"Director: Stark and Rogers along Agents Barton and Romanoff have left for New York, despite their orders", Agent Hills said, getting a nod from Fury, who turned back to Jack.
"Seems like you'll get a chance to test your new gear out soon."
As Captain Jack Sparrow stared down from a Quinjet at the streets below, the Chitauri started pouring down from the sky through a portal opened by a mind-controlled scientist of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jack had no idea such a thing was going on as he prepared to jump from the vehicle.
"You sure you wanna jump?" the pilot called out from the front, eyeing the pirate for a moment. "I could land, you know."
"Nah, 's okay. I saw that Captain of America do it. How hard can it be?" Jack asked, trying to put the parachute on and failing, getting a sigh from the pilot.
"It's not as easy as it looks, I tell you. And I'm pretty sure it's Captain America", the pilot said, trying to make Jack change his mind, before noticing something: "You have the parachute backwards."
Jack frowned and turned the parachute around, giving a small grin as he finally managed to put it on. "I'm not changin' my mind ye know."
The pilot shook his head and glanced out of the front window, his eyes widening and jaw dropping as he noticed aliens flying around along some gigantic creatures called Leviathans, not that Jack knew that. He turned slowly to Jack, before opening his mouth to speak:
"You might want to take a look at this before doing that", he said, getting a frown from Jack, who walked to the front.
"What're ye-", he started, but the words died in his mouth as he saw a Chitauri vehicle fly by. The two watched as one of the creatures brushed against a building, taking it down. Suddenly, three Chitauri stopped right in front of their Quinjet and glanced at each other, before opening fire.
"Take cover!" the pilot shouted and threw himself to the floor as the laser bullets of the Chitauri broke the glass of the cockpit, sending fragments of the glass all over the place. The pilot grabbed the Quinjet's controls and pulled the vehicle away from the Chitauris' fire.
He steered past one of the flying creatures, narrowly missing a building as he did. He saw two of the three Chitauri chasing him and flew nearby some buildings, managing to get one of the two chasers crash. He then flew high, before suddenly changing direction and opening fire at the last remaining chitauri, destroying its vehicle. Taking a deep breath, the pilot turned to where he though Jack to be at and grinned.
"A piece of cake", he said, before noticing Jack was missing. "Jack?"
Unknown to the pilot, Jack had fallen off the Quinjet somewhere along the way and was now falling towards the ground. Screaming could be heard as Jack approached the ground. The pirate managed to calm down slightly and stopped screaming, before realizing he didn't know how to use the parachute.
"Pull th' string, they said", he mumbled, trying to find a string where to pull. He didn't have a long time searching it, and soon enough he found a string. He pulled.
A sound of something snapping could be heard as the string snapped in half, leaving Jack to stare at the piece in his hand. The screaming continued as Jack watched the ground zoom in and soon enough it'd meet Jack and leave a wet red spot. Just as that was about to happen, Jack was snatched from the air by a man in red and yellow armor.
"How's it going, cap?" Tony Stark asked the still screaming pirate Captain, before frowning. "You can quit the screaming now; the danger has already ended." Just as he said that, a flaming Chitauri vehicle dropped from the sky, almost hitting them. "Well, almost."
Tony landed on a destroyed street, placing the pirate down on his feet. It took a moment for Jack to realize he was back on earth and once he did, he fell on his back, not minding the pain as he was happy to be safe. Tony eyed Jack, noting the broken string still in the pirate's hand and the spot on the parachute where it should've been at.
"Bad luck, Cap", he said, before glancing around them. "Considering the circumstances, it's pretty quiet around here."
Jack finally regained himself and dropped the unused parachute as he got up from the ground. He then wiped the dust off his clothes, before turning to Tony.
"I owe ya", he said, just as the curse Tony placed on them with his words took effect and some Chitauri dropped down from their vehicles.
"Should've kept my mouth shut", Tony commented, activating the Iron Man suit's weapons and taking aim at some of the Chitauri as Jack mirrored him with his new Desert Eagles.
Before anything could happen, an arrow hit one of the Chitauri in the head and exploded, before the rest of the Chitauri were killed by pistols. Tony and Jack looked at the direction they came from and saw Hawkeye and Black Widow coming towards them.
"We didn't need your help." Was the first thing Tony said as Natasha and Clint were close enough to hear him.
"Really, Stark? That's the first thing you say when you receive aid in combat?" Natasha asked with a small frown.
Tony glanced at Jack, before looking back towards the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
"I'm not needed here anymore", he simply said, before blasting off to the sky, away from the three. Natasha shook her head as Barton simply watched the Iron Man go.
"Damn that Stark", Natasha said, before realizing Jack was there, noting the new gear. "Seems like Fury prepared you. Are you here to help us out?"
"Aye, Fury told me to come", Jack said, getting a nod from Natasha. "Didn't tell me 'bout th' situation, though."
"Aliens are attacking New York. That sums it up pretty well", Barton said, and the pirate nodded. The reunion of the three didn't last long as more of the Chitauri jumped down to the ground.
The three got ready to fight the Chitauri: Natasha and Jack aimed their pistols at them, while Barton aimed them with his bow. One of the Chitauri roared and ordered an attack, only for a shield to knock it out. Captain America appeared and beat up some of the Chitauri, getting a frown from Jack, who had wanted to test his new weapons.
"You okay?" Rogers asked, getting some nods from Clint and Natasha, but Jack just looked a little annoyed. Rogers was just about to ask why that was, when two Chitauri jumped at them without a warning, only to be electrocuted by Thor, who landed soon after.
There was a sound of an old moped and everyone turned towards the sound to see Banner. Everyone approached the scientist, who looked at them.
"So, this all seems... horrible", Banner said glancing around him at the destroyed city. The others didn't get much of a change to reply, as suddenly Iron Man flew into view followed by a Leviathan.
"Doctor Banner", Captain America said as the man started walking towards the approaching creature, getting a glance from the man in response, "Now might be a good time for you to get angry."
Bruce just smiled and continued walking towards the creature.
"That's my secret, cap. I'm always angry." Having said that, he turned into the big green monster known as the Hulk, before smashing the Leviathan with his fist. The creature pushed the Hulk backwards, but the Hulk held on, stopping the creature. Tony fired a missile at the creature in order to finish the thing, blowing it to pieces.
Jack stared at the flaming chunks of the Leviathan in awe, before glancing at Natasha, who raised an eyebrow.
"Ye were right", Jack said, "Th' green monster was Banner."
A groan from Natasha followed this statement, even if it was swallowed by the angry screeches of the Chitauri.
There they stood, in the middle of the war against the Chitauri. These people of different backgrounds weren't individuals anymore, for they stood as a team:
The Avengers.