Ivy here.
We stood at the window, watching for a moment in silence as the portal closed. And then a dark speck fell out.
"Come on," said Hawkeye.
We managed to make it to the street to see a dark blob falling out of the closing portal.
We made it around the corner in time to see the Hulk land holding Mr. Stark and setting him down on the ground.
Thor and Cap were kneeling over him. His face was perfectly still.
No one said anything.
Then the Hulk roared.
He jumped.
"Whoa! Whoa! What just happened?"
"We won," said Cap.
"Hey, alright! You know what, let's not come tomorrow, let's just take a day," said Mr. Stark. "You ever tried shawarma?"
Cap looked puzzled.
"There's a shawarma joint a couple blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."
"We're not finished yet," said Thor.
The Avengers assembled in the street and headed up into Stark Tower, with Mr. Stark complaining up the damage all the way up the stairs. Yes, we took the stairs. Yes, Stark Tower actually has them. The elevator was out of order. The Hulk, being unable to fit in the narrow stairwell, was trying to make his way up from outside, and Thor would fly up, after he finished patrolling for any surviving Chitauri.
By the time we made it just half way up, everyone was exhausted, me most of all. On top of all that, this was the most tired I'd ever been in my life. My arms hurt from all the cuts from glass shards. Though Hawkeye had done his best to get them out, slivers and splinters still remained.
Thor and the Hulk made it to the top of the tower at about the same time we did.
Loki was just getting up as we surrounded him. Hawkeye pointed an arrow at him.
He didn't say anything for a moment. He just stared at us.
"You failed," he said to me.
"Yes, thankfully. And you failed. I told you that you would."
Different emotions mixed inside of me. Anger. Relief. But no sympathy. I couldn't manage to feel any pity for this alien, who had been willing to destroy a planet – and, ultimately, a universe – in order to get revenge on his brother. I understood how he was feeling, but nothing justifies any of what he did.
Wow. I almost can't believe it. I'm one chapter away from a finished multichapter story. And it only took a few years for me to do it! I'll miss this story... but not for long. In all liklihood, Ivy and Miranda, or Ivy and another friend of hers, will be Tony Stark and Pepper a visit sometime soon. Sometime after May 3rd...