The portal opened out onto the wide, barren plain of some far off planet. Thousands of Chitauri –millions- could be seen marching up and down in ranks, leviathans were getting armoured up and all other sorts of ships were coming and going- including several of those huge ones that Tony blew up with a nuke. I could barely see the ground for all the activity going about and a shiver ran down my spine as I realised my ship was the odd one out.
"We're doomed," I said, pulling up quickly as the troops on the ground began to shoot at us. "How are we supposed to get the Tesseract now?"
Scanning through the buttons I looked for anything that would make the Dragonfly go faster as a few of the smaller Chitauri ships began to chase after us.
Well… I say 'us'.
I looked over in shock to see that Thialfi had gone, risking a quick glance behind me it became apparent that he was not in the ship.
"Okay, that can't be good," I commented, pressing a button experimentally. There was a whistling noise as a flare shot out the nose and I mentally smacked myself. "That is so not what I need right now."
Deciding to go for the noob gamer routine, I pressed every single button- except for those I knew the purpose of- and hoped to god that one of them would make this thing go faster. I discovered several things about the ship during those moments- the row of buttons along the bottom of the screen changed the weapon, one button- which I hated- separated the joystick into four parts to control the individual wings and even one which switched on some headlights under the windscreen (Or spacescreen if you prefer).
The smaller ships were catching up fast, so thinking quickly I cut off the engines, allowing the ship to fall down past the others and made sure to angle it downwards before turning on the engines again. I pulled up in time to miss the ground, using this opportunity to fire my new found lasers- ones which fired a successive stream of fire and took down the Chitauri with ease.
"Where is that Tesseract?" I muttered to myself, looking about for signs of the glow cube (and Thialfi whilst I was at it) but couldn't see it. They'd closed off the portal as well which meant I was stranded here, sure to be killed if I couldn't find a way back soon.
As if on cue, a larger ship fired at me and the shockwaves sent the Dragonfly hurtling sideways. I looked around desperately for any sign of the Tesseract and almost jumped in glee as I saw a portal opening in the distance. A red light began flashing warningly but I ignored it as I sped towards it and hoped that Thialfi was there.
Another hit, but this time the lower left wing was shot off and the ship began to veer to the left slightly. I tried to keep it heading towards the portal, gritting my teeth and persevering onwards until another shot was fired. This one hit the back of the Dragonfly and destroyed it, suction trying to pull me out as it shot towards the ground.
I relaxed my muscles before impact- well as much as I could with the imminent threat of pain- remembering that it would lessen the pain and remembered at the moment to unclench my teeth as the ship hit the ground with an almighty crash. The impact threw me against the controls, winding me and making my ears ring. For a few moments I remained there, not daring to move until I was breathing normally and could think straight. Finally, with a groan I sat back up and placed my hands to my temple as I soothed the aches throughout my body.
Looking out the cracked screen I looked around to spot where the portal was, but the area where it had appeared before was empty and I guessed it must have closed. Judging from the sounds though the army of Chitauri were still here, and battling something that wasn't me or the ship. For a moment I thought it was Thialfi, but there was a loud roar and the sound of something being… well, smashed.
"Please don't say they're here," I muttered to myself as there was a banging on top of the ship before whoever- or whatever- it was discovered the giant hole in the back and came inside.
"Miss Attwater!" exclaimed a familiar voice, to which I could help but smile to even if we had met again under such dire circumstances. I turned to face the Asgardian as he walked over with a grin on his face and the other Avengers- minus the Hulk or course- following behind him. "We thought you captive of these creatures."
"You stole one of their ships?" asked Tony, the face panel on his armour sliding up to reveal his impressed face- more at the technology of the Dragonfly than the fact that someone with no prior experience in flying was able to work an alien ship with some ease. Even I was surprised by how naturally it had come to me.
"I didn't steal it," I huffed, trying to hide my grin. "I borrowed it without permission and with no intention of returning it."
"That sounds like stealing to me," commented Steve as he came in, smiling warmly at me. "It's good to see you again, ma'am."
"Which we would never have done if we hadn't disobeyed Fury," added Clint as he came in, offering me a nod as he and Nat joined the rest. "And if Loki hadn't been so… kind."
He said the last part a bit stiffly, still not forgiving of the god and I frowned slightly. But hadn't Loki been… However, any concerns were momentarily forgotten as happiness welled up in me- they had disobeyed Fury to come and rescue me. I was so happy to see them all and for a moment I enjoyed it, but then reality burst through and I knew we had to leave.
"It's a trap," I said quickly, continuing before they could interrupt me. "They lured you over here to stop you from defending Earth and Asgard when they invade."
"They will invade Asgard?" Thor asked sharply. "We cannot let that happen."
"No-one is going to let us happen- besides, they'd have to take us down to get on to invading and even if we can't handle them all we can at least make a dent in their numbers," said Steve in that typical heroic style.
I shook my head.
"This isn't where they mean to trap you," I said. "They have another place, where they held me and it is nothing but an island in Space."
I described to them the place that I was talking about, but they didn't seem too bothered by it all.
"They can't exactly open it without the Tesseract," pointed out Tony. "And we don't plan on letting them have it."
I did want to believe them, but I had seen the vastness of the army and remembered that the invasion of Earth had only ended because of the nuke to their mother ship. But there were no nukes here and so many more Chitauri, if before was hard then this was hopeless.
"Believe it or not we have a plan," continued the playboy. "The Hulk is out there providing a distraction, we already have you and we just need the Tesseract so we can get back."
"You make it sound so easy," I commented and he grinned at me before becoming more serious.
"Glad to see you're in one piece, Crazy Chick," he said, before grinning again. "I think when we get back we should have some take-out, perhaps pizza- I haven't had that in a while now that I think about it."
"How about we focus on the mission at hand before we think about dinner." Offered Natasha, speaking for the first time. "And about what we're going to say to Fury when we get back."
"How about 'Hey Fury, we got the Tesseract and Crazy Chick so the world's safe'," replied Tony.
"Perhaps we should get back to the battle," interrupted Thor. "I believe the Chitauri are on their way here."
Clint looked out through the hole.
"He's right, a large group have broken off and are heading towards this ship," he informed us.
"How many?" asked Steve.
"Couple of thousand."
"Not too many then," commented Tony, his face panel closing. "Me and Point Break can handle these guys, you lot focus on getting the Tesseract."
He and Thor left, leaving us behind.
"How about we get this thing up in the air," said Steve, looking at the panels in confusion. "Think you can handle this Hawkeye."
"If a rookie could handle her then I'll have no problem," he replied, taking the pilots seat as I moved on to the other. He looked over at me and for the first time I saw something in his expression that wasn't dislike. "You flew this thing?"
"As best as I could," I replied earnestly, flushing slightly.
"You did a good job," replied Steve.
"Not good enough, I failed to save the Dragonfly," I said, and Clint grinned slightly. "That's its name."
"Suits her," was all Steve said as Clint started up the engines, the ship shuddering into life and lifting with some effort into the sky. "Now let's go get the Tesseract."