Coming Together

Olivia looked up as Natasha came to sit beside her in the quinjet, Steve by the pilot's seat, speaking quietly to Barton as he piloted the ship. She was carrying a black bag that she had brought with her on the jet, dropping it down on the ground beside her feet and starting to rummage in it.

"Facing down Loki wasn't the last thing Phil did," Natasha told her, "He got this to Hill first."

"What is it?" Olivia asked when Natasha turned, a bundle in her hand that was wrapped in of dark black cloth. It was long and thin, about two feet from what she could tell.

"Yours," Natasha said, moving to place the bundle on Olivia's lap.

Olivia was slightly embarrassing by the fact that it took her a moment or two to realize what Natasha meant. This was the weapon she and Maria had been talking to Phil about, the one that they seemed to think fit her. She looked down at it, and back at Natasha, the woman smirking and nodding for her to open it. She took a breath and gently began to unwrap the object. Well, she was wrong about that, it was objects. There were two of them.

It looked like a metal rod of some sort, with a grip on the end, though there was a small button just above the grip. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, and now that it was in front of her...she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Batons," Natasha explained when Olivia just stared at them, "Coulson went all out, managed to get you the only prototype made of vibranium. Don't tell the Cap SHIELD managed to get their hands on a little more of it," she teased a little, "You can fix them behind your pack, pull them out if you need them. They're retractable, but you may need to get holsters or work on your utility belt before you can put them there. This," Natasha pointed to the button just above the grips, "This will activate the FF-03."

"And that is?"

"A Force Field," Natasha continued, "Whenever you bring the two batons together in a cross or an x or anything, it will automatically trigger force field and create an energy in front of you to repel attacks."

"Not quite a shield," Olivia murmured, recalling Maria's words, but still quite A shield.

"The buttons are for if you can only manage to raise one of your arms, they'll trigger the energy. And," Natasha reached out to show her the bottom of the grip, where it appeared to have been smoothed into a dome shape, but there was an odd sort of static around it, "New tech. Place the baton down with this end touching a surface, any position you put it in, it'll stay. If you push both buttons while the batons are positioned somewhere, the FF-03 will create not just a shield, but an entire force field dome around you."

"So, if I'm treating someone who's injured," Olivia realized, "I can use this for extra protection, so I don't end up distracting anyone else on the team."

"Yeah. The FF-03 was designed to absorb any attacks and use it to keep the shield powered. The more you're attacked, the more energy it stores and the longer it lasts."

"That's...it's...Tasha I..." Olivia shook her head, not sure what else to say. She had been so worried about the fact that they would give her a weapon, she didn't even stop to think that they might be giving her something more than that. In her mind, weapons were used to attack, sometimes to defend, to hurt or kill...but Natasha and Maria and Phil had gone above and beyond and given her a literal way to protect people with the 'weapons.'

"Like Hill and I were saying, you're ambidextrous, so having two weapons would give you a better chance," Natasha pointed out, "Batons are non-lethal, short range but not too close. You won't have to engage in literal hand-to-hand combat, you won't have to worry about you taking out anyone, it'll be that," she nodded at the batons, "That lands a blow, not you. I know it's a technicality," she rolled her eyes, "But I've worked with some people in the past who didn't want to physically hurt someone. And the way they got around it, was to use something that didn't let them physically touch the other person. I thought, maybe, it might help you."

Olivia thought on that, on the logic behind this weapon, and she could understand where Natasha and Maria were coming from with it. By having two batons, one in each hand, she would be able to utilize her non-dominant hand, keep it sharp. It would also make sure that, if she was injured on one side, she would still be able to protect with the other. And, by having them be batons, something that made it so she wasn't physically landing blows with her hands on another person, it wouldn't be her hurting them, but the baton instead. She would be able to stop a person from something of a distance. She would also have more control over where she landed the blows, aiming for non-fatal areas, like taking out a leg or hitting someone in their side without needing them to get close enough for her arm to reach that area.

She felt herself smiling as she looked down at the objects on her lap, her mind drifting back to her childhood, to a memory of her and Peggy and Michael. One of the few times her health hadn't held her back, when she had been well enough to play outside with them, they'd played a game. It had actually been shortly after she finished the 'Treasure Island' book, Michael had organised a treasure hunt for them, he was guarding the treasure and she and Peggy had to use their swords (sticks) to fight him for it. Peggy had faked being wounded, crying out with dramatics that it was up to Olivia now. Michael had played quite a show of putting up a fight against her but ultimately being defeated by her skills and letting her get the treasure. Batons, she's supposed, were a little like that, like a sword, something she could use to block an attack.

And the fact that they were batons and a bit long, it meant she wouldn't have to worry so much about her strength in the middle of battle. There was something lost in the strength of a punch when it was on the end of something longer than your natural fist. Some of the strength was reduced the farther away the blow was, and there was the fact that it would also depend on how strong her wrists were to hold the metal when it came to a blow. With something like this, she could probably hit someone with it and knock them out without actually worrying she had killed them like she could if she used her full strength and her fist.

"Thank you," Olivia murmured, looking over at Natasha.

Natasha gave her a smile, "With what might be about to go down, you might need to use them with the basics we showed you. Whether you use this or not, they're yours. Coulson would have wanted you to have them."

Olivia nodded at that, looking down at the batons as Natasha got up to join the men at the front again, moving into the second pilot seat to help Barton now that they were getting closer to Stark Towers. She took a breath and did as Natasha suggested, fixing them to the back of her uniform in between her pack and the back of her jacket. The straps of the pack kept it nearly pressed to her back, they were tight enough that the batons felt secure and like they wouldn't fall off. She didn't know if she would actually use them in combat, or if she would just use them for the shield qualities, but they would be useful in some way to have on her. The length of them appeared to be just right, one end of the baton, with the grip, came to rest just by her shoulder, crossing in the back, to rest right by her lower hip. Unless someone was looking closely, they wouldn't even know she had them on her.

No sooner had Natasha reached the pilot's seat and strapped in, did a bright blue light shoot into the sky from the top of Stark Towers. Olivia quickly jumped up and rushed to the front, looking out the main window with Steve as the light struck the sky and swirled open into a portal through which, what she could only assume was, the Chitauri began to spill through.

It was pure mayhem as the alien army launched themselves at the unsuspecting civilians, firing at them, blasting lasers, blowing up cars, setting storefronts on fire. Natasha and Barton banked to the side quickly when an explosion ripped out the windows at the top floor of a building, flames and rubble raining down on the people below. From that moment, it was as though a domino effect of explosions just shot out, rippling across the city as soldiers and cops raced to try and cover the streets.

Olivia couldn't help think that she was likely not going to be using the batons in combat, with all the destruction being caused in just those few moments she could only imagine the state of the people on the ground. There was a high chance there was going to be a large amount of injured for her to tend to while the others dealt with the enemy.

They quickly approached Stark Towers, spotting Tony leading a trail of Chitauri towards it.

"Stark, we're heading north east," Natasha called over the comm..

"What, did you stop for drive-thru?" he replied back, "Swing up Park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

"You may want to brace yourselves," Barton told the two standing behind the pilot chairs.

Olivia and Steve looked at each other and quickly moved into a position to brace for the upcoming maneuvers without moving too far from the front where they could see what was happening. They watched as Tony managed to fly up into the air, bringing a line of Chitauri right into view of the quinjet. Natasha changed the controls, readying machine guns, and fired at the aliens as Barton flew on. But there were just too many and the jet was overpowered, the other aliens targeting it when they realized what was attacking them.

The craft was hit, Barton calling out a warning as he struggled to land it somewhere. He only just barely managed to avoid crashing into buildings before they slammed into the streets. Olivia quickly looked over at the other three, making sure they were uninjured before Natasha was triggering the ramps and they were all running out of the ship.

"We've gotta get back up there," Steve shouted as they ran down the street, Olivia noting that they had just reached the café she and Steve had visited a few days ago, looking up at the architecture Steve had sketched, with Stark Towers high behind it.

Just as they came to a stop, the city seemed to suddenly fall silent for just a moment…before a loud, angry roar bellowed out from the portal. An enormous shadow began to slither its way out, becoming clear as it moved into the daylight. There was no other word to describe the creature other than a leviathan, one that was carrying Chitauri soldiers on its back.

"…oh dear," Olivia murmured as they all stared, completely out of their depth, while the creature flew over them, heading further into the city, the soldiers on its back hurling what looked like grappling hooks at the buildings it passed, using it to slide down them to the streets, others breaking right through the windows.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve shouted into the comm..

"I'm seeing," he replied, "Still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Bruce?" Olivia shook herself, "No, not as yet."

"Just keep me posted."

"Come on," Steve called as they began to run down the streets, trying to get closer to the tower.

But it appeared the Chitauri knew enough of what was happening on this side of the portal that they were flooding the streets to block the way, causing them to duck down behind an overturned taxi.

"We've got civilians still trapped up there," Barton reported.

Olivia tried to peer over the taxi to see if the Chitauri had grabbed any hostages in the direction Barton had indicated, only for Steve to pull her back down when Loki, on some sort of flying chariot, flew overhead.

"Loki," Steve glared after the Asgardian as he went on a spree of blasting anything and everything around him. Cars were smashed to pieces, people fleeing as fires sprang up for his efforts. It was clear they were terrified.

"Steve," Olivia reached out to touch his arm, catching the sound of something down the bridge they'd stopped on. She looked over at it, Steve following her sight to see a mass of Chitauri down that way, even more people trapped…but even more, a row of police cars further down.

If they could get to the police, they could use their help to secure the civilians.

"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve frowned, concerned for both the police and the civilians they were trying to protect. It looked like a large number of the officers had congregated in one spot, trying to form something of a barricade, but it wouldn't help if they were all trying to fire at the Chitauri. All they would be doing was drawing attention to themselves and baiting the Chitauri into an attack of their own. If Loki or the others decided to fire at those police officers, the city would be down in a great number of First Responders.

The two super soldiers looked back to the side, hearing thumps and crashes, to see more Chitauri soldiers had landed just a few feet away from them on the other side of the overturned cars. Natasha quickly stood, two pistols in her hands, firing at them and managing to take out one or two. Barton ducked low and made his way to another overturned car, readying his bow and arrow.

"We got this," Natasha told the two of them, knowing they were torn between helping to get the trapped civilians Barton had identified or getting to the police, "It's good. Go!"

"You'll secure them?" Olivia asked Natasha, wanting confirmation and the woman nodded.

Steve turned to Burton as well, wanting to make sure they weren't about to leave them outmatched. It was one thing to read about their skills in a file, it was another thing to assume they could handle it just from that. He wanted verbal confirmation from the two assassins the first, "You think you can hold them off?"

"Captain," Barton began, pulling a trigger on his bow that seem to spark a mechanism on his quiver that selected an arrow for him, "It would be my genuine pleasure."

They watched as Barton stood, his bow and arrow already aimed and released, shooting one of the aliens right in the head. Natasha quickly moved to her feet as well to help him, and Steve and Olivia took that as their cue to head out. Steve looked to Olivia for a brief moment to make sure she was on board, and she nodded quickly, the two of them turning to make their way down the bridge. The Chitauri seemed to realize they were moving targets and began to try and fire at them, but they were both incredibly fast.

They made sure to keep each other in their line of sight, keeping even with each other as they ran. Right now, in the middle of something like this, where they were running through explosions going off around them, they needed to be able to see each other.

For Steve it was familiar, running through a battlefield with HYDRA trying to stop him by dropping bombs or setting off mines. He needed to see Olivia there, to remind himself that he wasn't back in that position, it wasn't 1944, he wasn't alone. And for Olivia, she needed to see Steve there, within arm's reach. She had been close enough to the front lines a time or two where she could hear the explosions going off, could see them in the distance. While she has never had Steve's experience of being right in the thick of it, she HAD had more than enough nightmares about it. About explosions going off all around her while she tried to help the soldiers affected by them, but she couldn't reach them because more and more bomb seemed to fall all around her, and then she would be standing in the middle of a field of bodies when the dust cleared, and they would all stare at her with dead eyes filled with accusation. She needed to see Steve, to remind herself this wasn't one of those nightmares, this wasn't the same thing, they were together and when they were together they could do anything.

They both ran down the bridge and jumped off the side of it, flipping in the air and landing on a truck just underneath it, diving into a roll and back onto their feet as they continued to run. They jumped off the truck, landing firmly on the ground, and kept going. Olivia did her best to keep her eyes trained on all of her surroundings, keep her attention keen and sharp in case she heard any cries from civilians who might have been trapped or were injured. What she heard broke her heart, she could hear people still trapped in the buildings, and she could calculate from how high up she was hearing them and the time it would take for them to reasonably reach the bottom level of the buildings, they might end up running out right into the thick of it all.

"We need to get the officers evacuating buildings," she called to Steve as they neared the blockade of police cars, "We can't let them run out into the fight."

Steve nodded, "My thoughts exactly," he told her, as they approached the cops who were firing their pistols up at the flying chariots, but it was clear to both of them that the guns were useless against the Chitauri armor.

"Why are they wasting ammunition?" Olivia had to ask out loud, it was so glaringly clear the guns would do nothing yet the police kept firing.

Steve could only shake his head, asking himself the same thing. Instead of firing at the Chitauri with things that weren't even working, the police should have been focusing on evacuating the surrounding area. When one method failed, go for a second.

They were finally close enough to the police officers that they jumped into the air, Steve landing on top of the police car while Olivia landed on the hood.

"We need men in these buildings," Steve began to give orders.

"There are people inside that are about to run right into the line of fire," Olivia added.

"You take them through the basement or through the subway."

"But whatever you do, you must keep them off the streets."

"We need a perimeter as far back as 39th..."

One of the officers, clearly the sergeant by his identifying insignias, scoffed, "Why the hell should I take orders from you?"

"DOWN!" Olivia shouted, hearing something approaching them from behind that sounded quite a bit like an energy blast that they had heard the Chitauri firing at people on the way over. She jumped down off the hood, pulling the sergeant down with her, as Steve turned and blocked the blast with his shield.

Two Chitauri soldiers tried to leap at him, but Steve fought them off with ease, slamming them to the side with both his fist and his shield, and then turned to give to the officers a look. That was all they really needed to know exactly why they should listen to the order they had been given. They had been firing at these creatures and hadn't been able to take them out, yet Steve had felled two in mere seconds.

"I need men in those buildings!" the sergeant pulled himself to his feet and began to turn to his men, ordering them as he went, "Lead the people down and away from the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

"Civilians secure," Olivia reported back to Steve with a small smile.

He gave a nod, the two of them quickly looking around to make sure that the civilians were taken care of, that there wasn't anything major that still needed their help. They trusted that Natasha and Barton could hold their own against the Chitauri, but neither of them wanted to leave the two assassins alone for long. Natasha would need to make a headshot every time as would Clint, for they'd seen through the police that human weapons were largely useless against the enemy armor. And if one of them got hurt in the time it had taken them to get to the police, Olivia would be needed to tend to the wound.

They looked to each other and quickly made their way back to their starting point, coming up on Natasha and Barton to see they had begun to be overrun by the Chitauri. Steve used his shield to his advantage, slamming into the Chitauri soldiers with all his might, using both his fist and shield to knock them down and away from Barton.

Natasha gasped as one of the Chitauri was able to get a blow on her, sending her falling back, and aiming one of their rifles at her...

Only for it to be knocked to the side.

Natasha looked over, seeing Olivia standing behind it, the batons in her hand, having used one to hit into the side of the Chitauri's head and send a diving to the side, out for the count.

"Useful, right?" Natasha smirked at her.

Olivia shook her head, moving the one baton to her other hand to reach out and help her up, "Well, they're not exactly human..." Olivia offered. She didn't know how she would handle the situation if the attacking army have been human instead of alien. Her oath extended to helping others, but it was always with the understanding that it was the human race in question.

She had sworn to protect people, by taking this mission with Steve it extended to protecting this planet. Aliens did not fall under her jurisdiction. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself. That was probably the only way she would make it through this battle, reminding herself these were not people, they were not humans, her oath did not apply to them.

"Stick with that," Natasha agreed, quickly pulling out a pistol and firing it at one of the lingering Chitauri soldiers that tried to sneak up on Olivia. Now they were even.

They suddenly ducked to the ground, when a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, apparently targeting the Chitauri soldiers but not them, blasting the aliens back in a massive shockwave. They watched as the soldiers convulsed and dropped to the ground, moments before Thor landed.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked, quickly brushing off the shock at Thor's sudden appearance.

"The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor stated grimly.

"Thor's right," they could hear Tony over the comm., "We gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

Olivia looked around at them, catching Steve's eye as she smiled, "As a team," she said, earning a quirk of his lip in return.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor warned.

"I would imagine."

"Yeah, get in line," Barton grumbled.

"It's going to have to wait," she glanced between Barton and Thor with a pointed look.

Steve nodded, "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us..."

"Bruce?" Olivia cut in gently, when Bruce himself drove up to them on a small motorbike, getting off and looking around the city with a grimace on his face.

"So, this all seems horrible..." he spoke.

"I've seen worse," both Natasha and Olivia spoke, glancing at each other.

"Sorry," Banner winced, understanding that Natasha's words, at least, had come from when the Hulk had chased her through the base earlier. He'd managed to get in contact with Fury moments before he'd seen the portal open.

"No," Natasha shook her head, "We could use a little worse."

"Stark?" Steve called into the comm., "We got him."

"Banner?" Tony asked.

"Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

Before Steve or any of the others couldn't even speak those words to Bruce, they saw Tony fly out from behind a building, leading the largest of the Chitauri army, the leviathan creature, right behind him.

"Oh, bother..." Olivia breathed at the sight of it even more enraged than it had been when it came out of the portal. Whatever Tony had done to get it to follow him the way it was, clearly only made it angry.

"I...I don't see how that's a party..." Natasha shook her head in disbelief.

They watched in horror as Tony seemed to try and both avoid the Leviathan's attacks while also keeping its attention, swooping up and down the street but the leviathan followed every move he made, ending up barreling right into the street and into the buildings with every move.

"Bruce?" Olivia looked over at him as man began to slowly walk towards the approaching monster.

"Now might be a really good time for you to get angry," Steve told him.

Bruce gave them a sad smile as he looked over his shoulder, "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry."

As he turned back to continue his walk, his body began to swell and stretch, green shooting through his veins before it spread across the skin, and they watched as Bruce morphed into the Hulk before their eyes, letting out a roar before he launched himself at the leviathan.

It was truly a sight to behold, watching the Hulk attacking and seeming to succeed against the leviathan. Tony turned in mid-air to assist, bringing out rockets from his armor, and releasing one. It hit the creature, blowing it completely away, screeching and flailing as it flew past.

Steve reached out, grabbing is Olivia by the waist and pulling her close as he lifted his shield above them. Bits and pieces of the leviathan that had been blown off raining down on them, chunks of meat on fire that sizzled when they reached the pavement. Steve slowly lowered his shield and they looked at the result of the Hulk and Tony's efforts, the largest of the alien army finally taken down, giving them hope that they could stand against the rest of the Chitauri force...when even more leviathans flew out of portal.

Olivia blinked quite a few times as she stared at the approaching enemies, shaking her head slowly at the sight of it. She took a deep breath and let it out, looking over at the others, "We can do this," she told them, belief firm in her voice.

Natasha didn't seem like she fully believed it, but gave a brief nod as she looked over, "Guys..." she began, her expression saying everything. Even if they couldn't do this, they had to keep fighting. They couldn't give up. Because they were the only thing standing in between the Chitauri fully invading.

"Call it, Cap," Tony spoke as he landed beside them all.

"I think Liv is the higher ranking officer here," Natasha spoke, a small smirk growing on her face, needing just this moment of relief to steel herself for the inevitable battle.

"Steve has more experience with battle strategy," Olivia shook her head, "I trust his judgement."

"...wait, LIV?" Tony turned to the two women, sounding completely offended, "The killer assassin gets to call you 'Liv?' How is THAT fair?"

Steve shook his head at that, focusing on their attack plan, "Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or your turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Barton turned to Tony.

"Right," he stepped closer to grab Barton's arm, "Better clench up, Legolas," before kicking on his rocket boots to launch them up to the roofs.

"Thor," Steve continued, turning to the Asgardian, "You've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up," Thor nodded, spinning his hammer and using it to jettison him up top too, "The three of us," Steve gestured between himself, Natasha, and Olivia, "We stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And I expect a full report on exactly what those are," he pointed at the batons still held in Olivia's hands, "When this is all over. They suit you," he added with a wink, before looking over at the Hulk, "And Hulk...SMASH!"

The Hulk gave a wide grin before leaping into the air to do just that.

Olivia, Natasha, and Steve looked around, before turning their backs to each other in a small triangle, everyone ready to fight and hope they would be enough to save the world.

A/N: And now the Avengers have officially assembled :D And Olivia also has her 'weapons' too! :D

I debated over if she should have a weapon at all and if so, what one. It would have to be one that was non-lethal. Olivia, at this point, is still very firmly against doing true harm to others, even her enemies, so it had to be something that wasn't a gun or a blade. But it also couldn't be something that left it mostly to her physically touching people with her fists or feet, to her, a blow from her or Steve could kill a normal human if they aren't careful. Steve has had more than a year of experience in combat with his strength, she hasn't, so she's not confident in her ability to strike out with controlled strength. It couldn't be something that needed to be recharged or could die on her in the middle of a battle. But it did have to be something that could protect her, that could give her the comfort of not being the one to physically land ab blow, something that gave her more options of where to strike than the way you have to be close enough to hit someone with a fist.

Batons seemed like a good fit. Non-lethal, more control, it's not HER landing a blow but the metal. And I figured, with how advanced SHIELD was, they HAD to have some sort of force field tech that could be adapted to weapons. She has her own sort of shield now, it's not like Steve's but it's her own. And it can extend to let her patch someone up if it is that severe a situation :) She made the first step in using the weapons, though we have yet to see how she will be around HUMAN enemies, and we got a hint of Steve's reaction to them, but we'll get MUCH more about it in the next chapter ;)

Two final things here. I know we haven't really gotten to see Tony and Olivia interact in a way I'm sure a lot of you were hoping. I feel like they still needed to have a conversation about things before Tony could feel right teasing, in a sense of genuinely teasing her instead of purposefully trying to hurt/annoy her. That conversation will be coming in the next chapter, they'll come to a new understanding which will help set up some interactions between them in the future ;) We'll finally work out, or at least in this story, what his issue (for there seems to be some sort of minor issue) with her is and why it affects how he feels about Steve more than her, but still involves her ;)

And last thing, tomorrow's chapter will have the announcement of the pairing name for Steve and Olivia! :D So you can still vote if you haven't yet on my profile up until the next chapter and then we'll finally know ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I cannot see Phil being pleased Fury got blood on his cards. Lol, I can see him demanding Fury hunt him down the ones he stained so he can have Olivia and Steve sign them again :) I can't imagine Fury having to sit down on ebay or try to look up trading cards. Imagine him calling up a contact in like a shady selling circle and having to ask if he's got any intel on trading cards for Captain America :'D

Oh Olivia is definitely going to be working her way through modern medicine and things. Seeing how advanced Earth has become is going to motivate her even more to really learn new things that have come out to help the injured ;)

We may see a bit of Olivia fighting harder when Steve is injured, but it may not be in this story ;) Though I can say there will be a moment of Olivia and Loki confrontation, though it may be a bit more funny and less combat ;)

Olivia's nickname from Tony will be coming, but maybe not in this story, but soon ;) There may be something about nicknames in general in the next chapter though ;)