A/N: Back again, guys. As I say every time, the response to this story has literally been astounding. I was never overly confident in my writing skill, but this—this has been an eye opening experience, and I love each and every one of you for supporting me. I think you're all enjoying the story, right? The story has gotten over 7,000 hits. 7,000 freaking hits. Holy. Crap. Thank you so much. Lately I've been getting sent suggestions for the story, and though most writers hate it, I've absolutely loved it! It doesn't mean I'll use all of them, or use them exactly the way you guys say, but you keep throwing me some curveballs that I want to add to the story. So, if you think of anything, message me, I'd love to hear from you! Love you all!
Manhattan was in complete chaos. The screens around me showed utter devastation in every direction. Citizens were scrambling, running for their lives, as these aliens, the Chitauri, were flying around on what almost looked like motorbikes. The NYPD were swarming the streets, trying to assist, but their weapons were almost powerless against the foreign creatures.
I was moving side to side, keeping a wary eye on all the monitors around me. There was still no sign of Banner or Thor. Dr. Selvig, still under Loki's mind-control, was positioned at the very top of Stark Tower. He had invented a harness for the Tesseract that would allow a portal connected outer space to open. Stark had tried to stop him, but he had been too late—the gaping hole in the sky was permitting the Chitauri soldiers to fly through at will.
Suddenly, to my left, another screen opened up, revealing Thor flying towards Stark Tower. I pressed my finger to my earpiece and spoke, "Guys, Thor's headed for Loki right now—still no sign of Banner." As Thor and Loki began to fight each other, a giant worm-like creature flew out of the portal. My eyes grew wide and I was about to page the team, but Steve beat me to it.
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve shouted, fighting off another Chitauri soldier.
"I'm seeing, still working on believing," Tony replied, flying through the streets of New York City, blasting aliens as he went. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
"Banner?" Steve replied, surprised at Tony's curiosity.
"Just keep me posted. JARVIS, find me a soft spot," Stark commanded, flying alongside the giant worm.
It was quite the commotion aboard the helicarrier. Everyone on board the ship was in the control room, intensely watching the monitors and listening in on their earpieces. We were about 20 miles outside of Manhattan, flying over the water. After the explosion the other day, the ship wasn't strong enough to be able to participate in a true battle. Those of us left on the ship had to help from far away.
My eyes flickered over to Thor's screen, where he seemed to have the advantage over Loki. Loki was lying on the ground, just along the edge of Stark Tower, Thor just feet away. As the blonde god went to deliver another blow, Loki rolled right off the building, landing on one of the Chitauri hovercrafts. "Damn," I mumbled as Thor took off to assist the other Avengers in fighting the aliens. "Loki's on the move, heading south. He's riding one of those bike-things," I said clearly, as to be heard over the war down below.
"Just leave him for now," Steve commanded. "Right now, I want everyone to focus on getting the people out of here and getting rid of these aliens." Just as he was saying this, I saw him jump on top of a car surrounded by a couple of police officers. "I need men in these buildings. There are people inside that can run into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or through the subway; you keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th," he demanded, pointing down the street.
The officers, stunned, retorted, "Why the hell should I take orders from you?"
Suddenly, a group of Chitauri soldiers descended upon the group. I watched Steve throw his shield and fight them off with ease, killing more than four aliens at once. Once the coast was clear, he paused, glaring at the officer, who immediately turned around and started walking down the street.
"I need men in those buildings. Lead them down and away from the streets…" the officer spoke into the walkie-talkie on his shoulder. I let out a small chuckle.
The Avengers on the ground assembled, excluding Stark, and were just starting to lay out a plan when another monitor lit up to my right, revealing Bruce Banner riding a motorcycle. Just as I was about to page the team, he rolled up right in front of them. "So. This all seems horrible."
"I've seen worse," Agent Romanoff answered, referring to her altercation with the Hulk aboard the helicarrier just the other day.
"Sorry," Dr. Banner replied.
"No," Natasha immediately replied. "We could use a little worse."
Steve spoke into his earpiece. "Stark, we've got him—Banner, just like you said."
"Tell him to suit up," Tony demanded. Looking over at his screen, I could see he was flying towards the assembled group, the giant worm nipping at his heels. "I'm bringing the party to you."
As Tony rounded the corner, Natasha's eyes grew wide. "I don't see how that's a party."
My earpiece fizzled out just then, tuning out the rest of the Avengers. I tapped it, trying to get it back on, when I heard Nick Fury's voice. "Dr. Andrews, Agent Hill, we're having a bit of a situation. Leave someone qualified in charge of the monitors, and both of you come down to the conference room." Agent Hill looked back at me, making eye contact, and we both nodded. She chose one of the men sitting below us to watch the visuals for me, and we headed down to Fury.
"What is this about?" I whispered to Agent Hill as we were walking down the hallway.
"I have no idea," she replied, shaking her head. "If he's willing to leave just another soldier to watch over the guys in a battle this big…it must be important." I nodded my head in agreement.
When we walked into the conference room, Fury was speaking to a wall of screens, each showing a different member of the council. "I recognize that the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."
"What the hell?" I whispered to Hill, and she nodded at me, looking equally as confused.
"Director, you're closer than any of our subs, you scramble that jet—" one of the councilman demanded.
"That is the island of Manhattan, councilman. Until I'm certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population," Fury fired back, firm.
"Oh my god," Hill breathed out. I was just as shocked as her. The council…they were suggesting we blow up all of Manhattan? The whole island—just wiped out? There were innocent people down there! Women, children, our team, Steve…they couldn't do this. Fury would never allow it.
"If we don't hold them in the air, we lose everything," the councilman persisted.
"I send that bird out, we already have," Fury said. He shut down the screens and turned away, massaging his temples.
"Director Fury, we can't possibly allow them—" Agent Hill began.
"Do you think I don't know that?" He answered, visibly seething.
"What do we do? They won't listen to us—they'll do it anyway, if it's what they've set their minds to," I said. Director Fury and Agent Hill nodded their heads, deep in thought.
"We need to get up there," Fury said, starting to walk towards the door. "They'll send it out from here—there's no one else within fifty miles."
Agent Hill and I sprinted after Fury back up into the control room. I reclaimed my position in the center of the room and my earpiece fizzled back to life. My eyes immediately focused on Agent Romanoff, who was standing on top of Stark Tower with Dr. Selvig, who seemed to be in control of his own mind again.
"Loki's scepter, the energy…" he began. He seemed as if he was coming out of a daze, trying to recalibrate his mind. "The Tesseract…can't fight. You can't protect against yourself."
Natasha put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing."
Dr. Selvig looked over toward the Tesseract and shook his head. "Well, actually…I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source."
Agent Romanoff nodded, already knowing where this was going. The briefest of smiles flashed across her face. "Loki's scepter."
"It might be able to close the portal," Dr. Selvig said, looking over the ledge of the building. "And I'm looking right at it." I focused the monitor towards where Selvig was facing, and saw that the scepter was sitting alone on the level just below them. Agent Romanoff jumped off the ledge, grabbing the scepter, and ran back inside Stark Tower, making her way back to the Tesseract.
My attention was directed away from the monitors when Agent Hill stood up, shouting toward Director Fury. "We have an unauthorized bird taking off!" she shouted, forcing all eyes on her. "Take-off not authorized!" she shouted into her earpiece.
Fury grabbed a bazooka on the wall beside him and walked outside onto the airstrip. Aiming at the plane taking off in front of him, he shot the plane, making it skid to a stop before ever leaving the helicarrier. I let out a sigh of relief for a moment, until another plane took off right behind it—the plane carrying the bomb. There was no stopping it. It was already on its way to Manhattan.
"Stark!" Fury shouted, running back into the control room. "You hearing me? We have a missile headed straight for the city!"
"How long?" Tony replied, sounding completely calm. I looked over to the screen following him—he had a team of about ten Chitauri following him. How could he still sound so relaxed, after all this?
"Three minutes, at best," Fury replied, sounding grim. Hearing the sadness in his voice, that's when it hit me…if someone didn't stop it, all of Manhattan would be gone in just three minutes. My home. After my family had been killed in a car accident when I was 23, I needed a change of scenery—and New York was the perfect place. My new life was about to vanish before my very eyes.
I watched as Stark flew through the city towards the bay where the missile had just been launched. The other Avengers were still on the ground, killing more of the Chitauri. Natasha had retrieved Loki's scepter, the tip just breaking the barrier surrounding the Tesseract. "I can close it!" she shouted into her earpiece. "Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"
"Do it!" Steve shouted while fighting off another alien.
"No, wait!" Tony yelled. I looked over toward his monitor—he was closing in on the bomb, flying straight towards it.
"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve cried in reply.
"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute," Tony answered. "And I know just where to put it." He had reached the bomb, still rocketing towards the city. He got under it and steered it using his shoulders. Tony shot straight up, heading towards the portal.
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Steve said, suddenly soft-spoken. He had reprimanded Tony countless times for being heartless and selfish. He accused Tony of only fighting for himself and always finding the way out. Stark didn't reply to Steve's comment—he just kept flying straight up, getting closer and closer to the portal, until he flew right through it.
Everyone in the control room burst out in cheers, minus Fury and I. Manhattan had been saved, but Tony…where was he?
Still having not heard the deafening roar of the bomb detonation, I glanced back over the screens, making sure everyone was in good condition. It would all be over in a matter of seconds, and everyone seemed to not have suffered any severe injuries.
Just before the thundering boom of the bomb, I watched as a Chitauri threw one final swing at Steve, lodging his spear deep into my Captain America's side.
A/N: I know, you all hate me. I'm not usually a cliffhanger kinda gal, but look at that. It was right there at my fingertips—I've had this planned since I decided to write the story. And don't worry—the story's far from being over. I hope you're still enjoying it. I even gave you two chapters in one day! I love you all, talk to you soon!
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