Disclaimer: This chapter is rated T for action/violence and some language. I do not own anything of The Avengers, only my OC. I might switch between calling Captain America, Steve and Steve, Captain America. And I apologize if I tweak the storyline.
Eir sat in one of the seats in the back of the jet. Her mind was racing, her thoughts picturing what the battle would be like. Would it be as simple as battling and recapturing Loki, or would they be too late and have to face an entire alien army? Both scenarios sent a jolt through her and made her heart beat faster.
"About three minutes until we reach Manhattan." Natasha said as she piloted the jet.
Eir tried to calm herself. Getting jitters before a fight wasn't going to help her or her teammates, whom she could not and would not let down. That was what really frightened her, losing another friend, failing others completely. Steve had been looking at Eir for some time now. He could see the worry in her eyes, that's how he could tell how she felt. Her eyes showed her emotions, even the ones she tried to hide. He couldn't take it anymore and walked over to Eir, sitting down in the seat next to her.
"You ready?" he asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Definitely. Why wouldn't I be?" Eir said, stammering her words.
Steve just looked at her. The expression on his face Eir knew said, "really?"
Eir sighed.
"Fine. I'm nervous about the battle. I just don't want to let you all down." she said, "What if I can't fight well enough?"
"From what I've seen, you've got a pretty mean right hook." Steve replied.
His comment made Eir smile a little.
"Are you afraid of Loki?" Steve asked.
"No, I'm afraid of failing. I failed Coulson when I was too scared, too weak to overcome my feelings and attack Loki when he escaped his cell. If I had attacked him, Coulson would still be alive."
"I've never been one for this sort of advice but I understand that you and Loki had a thing before. But if Loki was too much of a selfish bastard that he couldn't see what an amazing woman he had to put his ambitions before you, then he needs to receive a sucker punch to the face!" Steve stood as he spoke, his voice filled with passion.
Eir looked at him with a surprised expression. She couldn't believe that he had just said that. She couldn't believe he felt that way about her.
Steve cleared his throat then sat back down.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry about that." he said apologetically.
"No, it was sweet. I think that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me." Eir said sweetly.
Steve was silent, but a slight smile appeared on his face at her words.
"We're entering the city." Natasha said.
Eir and Steve stood up and walked over to the cockpit. They all looked out the glass windows to see a blue bolt shoot into the sky from Stark Tower. Everyone's eyes grew wide with shock as a dark hole opened up in the sky. Hundreds of Chitauri warriors began flying through the portal and into the city.
"I guess it's fighting an army then." Eir said.
"Where's Stark?" Steve asked.
"Over Stark tower." Natasha replied.
"Where's Loki?" Eir asked.
"He's there too." Natasha replied, a hint of anger in her voice.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Clint replied as he placed more arrows into his quiver.
Natasha piloted the jet into the city, weaving through the buildings.
"Stark, we're heading north-east." Natasha said through the com-link system.
"What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing that park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you." Tony replied sarcastically.
Eir saw Tony fly past them in his Iron Man suit. Seconds after, a bunch of Chitauri on speeder followed. Natasha activated the weapons on the jet and began shooting them down. Eir struggled to maintain her balance as Natasha maneuvered the jet. The jet was shaken violently as a Chitauri speeder crashed into the wing of the jet. Natasha struggled to keep the jet upright as it began to crash to the ground. Eir lost her balance and was tossed to the other side of the jet. Instead of crashing into the hard wall, she was caught by Steve, who was holding onto a metal pole.
"Thanks." she said.
"Don't thank me yet." he replied.
"Brace for impact!" Natasha shouted.
Steve pulled Eir into his arms and protectively shielded her with his body as the jet hit the ground. The force of the impact shook everyone violently as the jet skidded across the street. When the jet came to a stop, Eir looked up at Steve.
"Now you can thank me." he said.
"Thank you." she replied as Steve released her from his embrace.
Eir immediately checked on Natasha and Clint. Clint had held onto a cord on the side of the jet and was fine, and Natasha had survived due to positioning the jet so it crashed on its side and not head on. Eir breathed in a sigh of relief as she realized they were okay.
"It's not over yet." Natasha said as she climbed out of the cockpit.
Eir nodded as Natasha hit the switch that opened the access hatch. The hatch slowly lowered to reveal the damaged buildings and rubble filled streets of Manhattan, courtesy of the Loki and the Chitauri. They exited the jet and their attention was immediately drawn to the portal in the sky as a leviathan-like creature came through it. Eir could not believe the immense size of this beast. It was larger than anything she had ever seen.
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve said through his earpiece.
"I'm seeing still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?" Tony replied.
"Banner?" Steve asked, surprised by Tony's question.
"Just keep me posted." Tony replied.
"Alright, we need to take cover and plan this out." Steve said.
"I agree. Perhaps we can take cover behind that car?" Eir said as she pointed to a flipped car among many others.
Everyone agreed and dashed over to the car, taking cover behind it. Natasha, Steve and Clint took cover behind one car while Eir was behind another one near them. Eir noticed a group of Chitauri soldiers land near them and signaled to the others to look behind them. Steve quickly looked over the car then at Clint.
"Those people need help over there. I'm going in." Steve said.
"I'm going with you." Eir said, dashing over to Natasha, Steve and Clint.
"Hell you're not. You need to stay here with the others. That's an order." Steve said.
"I've never been very skilled at following orders." she replied smugly.
Steve sighed.
"You think that you can hold them off?" he asked Clint.
"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Clint replied.
As Clint and Natasha began laying down cover fire, Steve and Eir made their way through the battlefield towards a group of cops to help them.
As the Chitauri continued to attack and destroy Manhattan, a group of cops struggled to defend the city, clearly out of their league.
"Does the army know what's happening here?" the police sergeant asked a young cop.
"Do we?" the young cop replied.
Suddenly, Captain America landed on a car next to them."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 said, directing them.
"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" the police sergeant asked.
Suddenly, more Chitauri flew by on their speeders, destroying more of the city. Two Chitauri appeared and attacked Captain America and the cops. The cops watched as Captain America defeated the Chitauri with ease.
Suddenly, another Chitauri appeared from behind a cop car and began shooting at Steve. He immediately put up his shield to deflect the blasts. Eir appeared from behind one of the cars and blasted the Chitauri soldier with a bolt of green magic from her fingertips, sending the Chitauri flying into a building, killing it. Steve looked at Eir, then gave her a 'thank you' nod. She replied with a 'don't mention it' smirk.
The police sergeant looked at them then turned to his fellow officers."I need men in those buildings, lead the people down and away from the streets." he said, repeating Steve's orders.
Natasha and Clint rejoined Steve and Eir. As they were preparing for another wave Thor landed beside them.
"Thor, you're alive!" Eir shouted as she rushed over to him, embracing him in a brief hug.
"It is good to see you as well." Thor replied as Eir broke away from the embrace.
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." he said.
"Thor is right. We have to deal with these guys." Tony said through the com-link.
"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.
"As a team." Steve replied.
"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor said.
"Yeah, get in line." Clint said as he screwed tips on his arrows.
"Save it. 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…" Steve said, then stopped as Bruce arrived on a beaten-up motorbike.
"Bruce you're back!" Eir said thankfully as she hugged him.
"So, this all seems horrible." Bruce said as Eir released him from her embrace.
"I've seen worse." Natasha replied, her tone containing a hint of anger.
"Sorry." Bruce replied.
"No, we could use a little worse." she replied.
"Stark, we got him, Banner, just like you said." Steve said through his earpiece.
"Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Tony replied through the com-link.
Everyone's eyes grew wide with shock as Tony flew towards them, with the giant leviathan-like creature behind him.
"I don't see how that's a party." Natasha said, her eyes locked onto the enormous beast.
"Even with my magic I couldn't take that creature down." Eir said as she watched the beast getting closer and closer.
"Dr. Banner, now might be a good time for you to get angry." Steve said.
"That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry." Bruce replied, "Here's that demonstration you wanted Eir."
Bruce turned to face the leviathan then transformed into the Hulk and smashed it, his strength so powerful he stops the creature in its tracks. Eir was amazed, but her amazement quickly turned to alarm as the rest of the creature's body began to fall towards them.
Clint took cover behind a car, while Steve quickly covered Natasha and Eir with his shield as Tony blasted the leviathan to bits with his weapons. As they all stood up they looked at each other, glad to have destroyed the monster. Steve saw Eir standing frozen, looking up at the sky.
"What is it?" he asked.
Eir didn't speak. Instead she pointed to the portal. Everyone looked at the portal as hundreds more Chitauri and giant leviathan creatures came through.
"Guys." Natasha said.
"Call it, Captain." Tony said.
"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."Steve said.
"Wanna give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony.
"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Tony said as he carried Clint off to a roof top.
"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You've got the lightning, light the bastards up." Steve said.
"You, Eir and I, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk, smash!" he said, pointing to Natasha and Eir then Hulk at the end of his statement.
Hulk smiled deviously, then ran off and started to take out multiple Chitauri. Soon everyone began fighting the Chitauri. Steve was taking out Chitauri soldiers with his shield, Natasha was shooting them with her duel pistols and Eir was blasting Chitauri, both ground soldiers and passing speeders with her magic. Eir watched as Natasha was on the shoulders of one Chitauri, fighting it. As she was busy electrocuting it with her stinger gloves, five other Chitauri snuck up on her, aiming their blasters at her.
Eir quickly ran over, placing herself in-between the attacking Chitauri and Natasha. Eir blasted away two with her magic then drew three throwing knives from the metal belt on her waist. She held them in her hands and focused her energy on them, filling them with magic, causing them to glow green. She threw them at the other three Chitauri. When the knives pierced their skin, the knives exploded, killing them instantly. Eir turned to Natasha, who had finished killing the Chitauri she had previously been on the shoulders of.
"Nice knives." Natasha complimented.
"Your gloves are impressive as well." Eir replied, returning the compliment.
Natasha nodded, then they both went their separate ways to continue the fight.
…
The battle was getting strenuous and tiring. Natasha had just finished taking out another Chitauri with its own weapon. She stood up and looked at the portal, which still had hundreds of Chitauri pouring out of it.
"Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." she said, breathing in deeply.
"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it." Steve said.
"Well, maybe it's not about guns." Natasha replied, as she eyed the Tesseract on Stark tower.
"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride." Steve said, realizing what she was thinking.
"I got a ride. I could use a lift though." she said, taking a few steps back as multiple Chitauri speeders flew above.
Eir stood by watching, wondering if this was truly a good idea.
"Are you sure about this?" Steve asked, preparing to give her a boost.
"Yeah, it's gonna be fun." Natasha replied optimistically.
Natasha ran towards Steve and jumped onto his shield. Steve gave her a boost, launching her up into the air. She grabbed the end of one of the speeders and was carried off towards Stark tower. Steve looked at Eir, who was watching with intrigue.
"Don't look at me. I'm not going up there that way." she said, placing her hands up.
"Okay." Steve said.
"I'll just teleport myself." she added.
"What? Onto one of those speeders?" he asked, surprised by her response.
"Of course not, I can't teleport myself onto something that's moving at such a high speed. I'm going to teleport myself to Stark Tower." Eir replied, a bit of apprehension in her voice.
"What? But Loki's in there, you can't face him by yourself." Steve said in a slightly panicked tone.
"It's my decision. Someone needs to fight him, and I have the most personal business with him out of everyone here, besides Thor." Eir said solemnly.
"Then take me with you." Steve asked, stepping closer to her.
"You're needed here on the ground. The people of this city need you." she replied.
Steve sighed, "I can't convince you not to go can I?"
"I'm afraid not." Eir replied.
"Then let me give you one thing before you go." he said, walking closer to her.
"And what would that be?" she asked.
"This." Steve replied, then planted his lips on Eir's.
Eir's eyes grew wide with shock, then she gave in to the kiss. Steve was the first to pull away, then they both quickly composed themselves.
"Be careful." he said.
Eir nodded then disappeared in a flash of green light.
"Nice kiss Captain." Clint said over the com-link.
"Shut up." Steve said in an irritated tone.
Eir stood on a roof top across from Stark Tower. She was going in, but she had to do something else first. She looked around and saw the Hulk smashing Chitauri left and right on the building beside her. She backed up to the end of the rooftop, breathed in deeply, then took off running to the other side. With one great jump, she leapt over the alleyway below that divided the two buildings and landed safely on the other. Eir blasted away the last two Chitauri that Hulk was fighting and walked towards him. The Hulk looked at her to see if she was friend or foe.
"Relax, um, Hulk. It's just me." Eir said calmingly as she approached him.
Hulk relaxed a little and looked at her.
"I need a favor of you. Can you be at Stark tower in about seven minutes?" she asked.
"Hulk get to smash?" he asked.
"Yes." she replied.
The Hulk replied with a huge smirk.
"Thank you." Eir replied then teleported herself to Stark Tower.
Eir arrived in the entertainment room of Stark Tower. She walked down a small staircase and into the main part of the room. There was shattered glass covering the floor from the broken windows near the balcony. Eir stepped over the glass lightly and looked around continuously. She stopped by the windows and looked outside. The entire city was enveloped in the chaotic destruction of the Chitauri's attack. Eir heard the sound of a shoe crushing glass and whirled around, hands extended, ready to blast any enemy with magic. Loki was standing a few feet away from her.
"I see I've failed to get the drop on you." he said smugly.
Eir glared at him. Not a word leaving her lips.
"Please tell me you've come to your senses and are here to join me in ruling this world." Loki said.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Eir replied.
"Then why have you come here? To fight me?" he asked.
"That's the idea." she said.
Loki looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"Not the best idea if I do say so myself." Loki said, a smug smirk on his face.
Eir did not reply. She continued to aim her fingers at him, prepared to use her magic at any second.
"Are you absolutely sure you want to fight me?" he asked.
"Yes." she replied.
"Very well then." he replied.
Eir quickly ducked to avoid the blow from Loki she was anticipating would come. She saw Loki's arm above her head, a failed attempt to get her from behind. Eir turned around and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back. She took Loki by surprise as she held his arm painfully behind his back.
"I see you've learned a few tricks from those humans." he said.
"More than you know." she replied.
"If that's the game you want to play…" he started to say, then used his other arm to grab her and push her away.
As Eir regained her balance, Loki grabbed her from behind and locked his arms around her, causing Eir's hands to be pressed against her chest. She struggled to break free of Loki's grip.
"… then I'll play along." he said, finishing his previous statement.
Eir continued to struggle then remembered how Natasha fought her enemies. Eir whipped her head back, smacking Loki in the face, then while he was disoriented, she stomped her foot on Loki's foot. Loki released her from his grip and stepped back to recover. Loki felt his forehead with his left hand, when he looked back it had fresh blood on it. He looked at Eir balefully then charged her. Eir quickly drew her throwing knives and threw them at Loki. He dodged each knife that flew towards him, the knives exploding against the back wall.
Loki began advancing on Eir. Hoping to do better outside, Eir ran out onto the balcony. Once on the balcony, she looked around for Loki but he was nowhere in sight. Suddenly she felt a hand tightly grip the back of her neck. She used her peripheral vision to see Loki's serious and cold glare. Eir struggled to free herself. She tried to trip him using her leg but he avoided it.
"Nice try." he said.
Loki then tossed her to the ground a few feet away. She painfully rolled over pieces of broken building that had fallen and stopped against a small stone staircase. She struggled to get up due to the pain as Loki approached her, malice clear in his eyes.
"You fought well Eir. There's much more fight in you than the last time we met, but I have been victorious." he said.
"You know, my plan was never to beat you Loki. Just buy some time." Eir said, struggling to speak through the pain, "and, give you this!"
Eir suddenly stood up and nailed Loki with a fierce right hook, sending him reeling back. Loki staggered to his feet and glared balefully at Eir. As he was about to attack Eir, he heard an angry roar.
Loki's eyes grew wide with surprise as he turned around to see The Hulk leap towards him. The Hulk threw Loki through one of the unbroken glass windows and into the main room. Eir began healing herself as she heard Loki shout.
"Enough! You are all of you beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied -" Loki began to say but was grabbed by Hulk and smashed around then left in a hole.
"Puny god." Hulk said as he walked away towards Eir.
Eir struggled to get onto her feet, she was pretty sure she had messed up her ankle pretty badly. The Hulk walked over to her and helped lift her onto her feet. She smiled at the Hulk as she regained the ability to walk.
"Thank you Bruce." she said.
He smiled back, then leapt out of the building to continue smashing Chitauri.
Eir limped over to Loki, who was smashed into a hole in the ground. She looked at him and smirked a little.
"You fought well, Loki. But I have been victorious." Eir said with a grin.
Eir turned away from Loki and walked onto the balcony to see what was happening down there and if she could spot any of her teammates. As she looked, a group of Chitauri speeders flew by at shot at her. She was barely managing to dodge the blasts when she heard a cracking sound. She looked around but there was nothing, she then looked at her feet and saw that the ground she was standing on was crumbling. Eir had only enough time to gasp before the ledge gave way, sending her falling through the air.
Eir tried to focus on teleporting somewhere safe, but the fear and rush of falling made it too difficult to do so. All she could do was scream.
Eir's screams pierced the air and could even be heard throughout the battlefield. Steve looked up to see a person falling from Stark Tower. He soon knew it was Eir by her scream. He ran as fast as he could towards the tower, in a desperate dash to get to her.
Eir knew it would only be seconds before she hit the ground. Images of everyone she cared about flashed through her mind. Her parents, her new friends, and Steve. As she prepared for the impact that would end her life, she closed her eyes. Eir was shocked when she was stopped mid-air. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up to see the face of Tony's Iron Man suit. She had been caught by Tony bridal-style, how he managed that was a mystery to her.
"So, did the fall from heaven hurt or, no wait I caught you." he said snidely.
Eir knew there was a huge cheesy Tony Stark grin underneath the metal mask.
"Very funny Tony. So, no hard feelings about the uh, the right hook I gave you?" she asked.
"Nah, but I expected if I ever got punched it would have been by your new boyfriend, Spangles." Tony replied.
"You saw that?" she asked.
"Yep and I'm never gonna let him hear the end of it." he replied.
Tony lowered Eir to the ground, where Steve was waiting. Once Tony had set her down he took off again. Steve immediately rushed over to Eir.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm a little banged up but you should see Loki."
"Good. How did you manage to beat him?" Steve asked.
"Well, I just distracted him long enough for The Hulk to arrive and… well smash. And I also gave him that punch you recommended I should give him." she replied with a smirk.
Steve smiled a little.
"Well I'm just glad you're safe. I never thought I'd say this but, I'm going to have to thank Stark after this." he said.
"Likewise." Eir replied.
A few moments later Eir and Steve went back to fighting more Chitauri soldiers. Steve and Thor were fighting Chitauri back to back. Thor using his hammer and Steve his shield. Eir was positioned about ten yards away from them behind a partially destroyed car, blasting Chitauri away with bolts of magic and using her throwing knives if needed.
The battle began to escalate in difficulty. The Hulk was overwhelmed by a concentrated force of Chitauri fire, Tony was getting beaten around by Chitauri foot soldiers and Clint had just barely managed to survive being blasted off a rooftop after running out of arrows.
Steve, Thor and Eir were continuing to eliminate more Chitauri on the ground. Eir turned her head to check on how Thor and Steve were doing just in time to see Steve get hit in the side of his stomach by a Chitauri blast. She gasped and quickly ran over to him as fast as she could. Thor knocked away the remaining Chitauri with his hammer, then helped Steve to his feet.
"You ready for another bout?" Thor asked him.
"What, you gettin' sleepy?" Steve replied.
"Are you alright?" Eir asked, a tone of worry and panic in her voice.
"I'll be fine. I heal fast." he replied.
Eir ignored his stubbornness and quickly began healing him.
"I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!" Natasha said through everyone's com-link.
"Do it!" Steve replied.
"No, wait!" Tony said through the com-link.
"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve shouted.
"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it." Tony replied.
"What is a nuke?" Eir asked.
"It's a nuclear bomb, and if it blows, all of Manhattan will be leveled." Steve replied.
"How is Tony going to stop it?" she asked.
"I'm going to put it in the portal." Tony replied.
"Stark, you know that's a one way trip?" Steve said solemnly.
Eir and everyone else watched as Tony flew with the missile into the portal. They all waited a couple of minutes, but he was nowhere in sight.
"Close it." Steve said through the com-link to Natasha.
Eir watched as the portal began to shrink smaller and smaller. She still couldn't find any sign of Tony. Right before the portal closed fully, she saw Tony's red and gold form fall through the portal. She breathed a sigh of relief until she realized that he wasn't slowing down.
"Son of a gun!" Steve replied in relief and surprise.
"He's not slowing down." Thor said, preparing to throw his hammer to launch himself to catch Tony.
Eir watched in horror as Tony's limp figure neared the ground. Would no one catch him?
Just as it seemed that Tony would fall to his death, all of a sudden, Hulk appeared and snagged him out of the air. Eir breathed a quick sigh of relief as Hulk placed Tony on the ground. Her relief was soon replaced by distress as she realized he wasn't moving. Thor quickly removed the face plate of armor and tossed it away to reveal Tony's unresponsive face. Eir quickly ushered everyone away from Tony as she hurried to try to revive him.
Eir tried to feel his pulse, he didn't have one. Eir quickly looked at his arc reactor heart, which faded color and powered down.
Eir couldn't lose another friend, not now.