"Guys."
The team all looked up to the portal in the sky and saw more Leviathan Chitauri coming through; followed by more smaller Chitauri soldiers.
"Call it Cap." Tony said. At that, Steve began his roll as leader.
"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?" Agent Barton asked, turning to Tony.
"Right. Better clench up Legolas." Tony said as he walked over to Agent Barton. He took off right after that, leaving the team at five members still on the ground.
"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Steve said to the Asgardian. Thor nodded and swung his hammer around to take off into the sky as well. Steve then turned to Agent Romanoff and Beatrice, "Us three, we stay on the ground. We keep the fighting here." Agent Romanoff and Beatrice nodded as Steve walked over to stand in front of the Hulk, "And Hulk ... Smash."
Hulk smiled a devilish grin and with one giant leap he was already halfway up a skyscraper tearing Chitauri soldiers apart. "Well, he doesn't waste any time, does he?" Beatrice said with a small chuckle.
"Beatrice." Beatrice turned from watching Hulk to Steve who was looking at her with steady eyes, "Stick close alright? You're still fairly new to all this and I don't want you to get overpowered."
"Yes sir." Beatrice gave a mock two finger salute with her silver hand then followed Steve to stand near Agent Romanoff who was checking on her guns.
"Ready?" She asked, looking at the two. Steve and Beatrice nodded and looked up at the building covered with Chitauri soldiers on their way down to meet the heroes. "Let's do this."
It went on for a while; Agent Romanoff, Steve and Beatrice all fighting and taking down the aliens that threatened their world. As time went on, they all started to get a bit winded and beaten up. No matter how many Chitauri they took down, there seemed to be more and more coming out of the portal. They were like ants coming out of an anthill to find a picnic just waiting there for them. Beatrice had just taken out a Chitauri soldier by slamming her silver fist hard into it's spinal area, rendering it useless when another came out from behind her. She didn't have enough time to fully dodge the Chitauri's blade, making it skim over her side.
Beatrice gasped and the pain shocked through her, but was still able to slam her upper arm to her side and trap the soldier's blade near her armpit. She laughed internally as the Chitauri tugged to get it's weapon back. She then used her hand to do a karate chop-like move and remove the blaster-blade from the rest of the staff weapon. Beatrice tugged at the now useless stick and turned around before taking the stick for her own and used all her strength to stab the stick into the Chitauri's uncovered face. A squirt of dark blue blood got on Beatrice's face, but she whipped it away as she through the stick and the dead Chitauri body away from her.
Beatrice looked over her shoulder just as she saw Steve jump from where he was fighting to right in front of Agent Romanoff who was about to blast him with a weapon she seemed to steal from one of the Chitauri. Agent Romanoff lowered her weapon and looked to her side as Beatrice made her way over to her and Steve. "Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." She said. All three looked up at at the portal in the sky that sat above the STARK TOWER where Loki probably was.
"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it." Steve said as he kept his eyes on the portal.
"Yeah well, maybe it's not about guns."
"You wanna get up there you're gonna need a ride."
Beatrice switched from watching the portal to Agent Romanoff as she was looking up at the Chitauri soldiers flying overhead. "I got a ride; I could use a boost though."
"Are you sure about this? Like really sure?" Beatrice asks, Steve angling his shield and looking at Agent Romanoff for her answer.
"Yeah, it's gonna be fun."
Steve nodded and Beatrice watched as Agent Romanoff took a running start before jumping on the abandoned car near them and then landing on Steve's shield where he thrusted her into the air just in time to grab onto one of the Chitauri chariots passing over them.
"She's so cool." Beatrice said as her and Steve watched her fly off with smiles. A blast from a hoard of Chitauri brought them back to reality and made them tense up.
Steve looked at Beatrice before looking back at the Chitauri, "Back to work."
Beatrice and Steve were back at it as more Chitauri found their way to the two on the ground. They worked back to back as Beatrice punched and kicked the Chitauri's faces in and Steve used his shield and his fists to take them down. Tony who had just blasted a Chitauri who was chasing Agent Romanoff came their way and used his energy beam and fired at Cap's shield who used it to take out a couple different Chitauri. The battle was seeming to go on forever, no matter how many aliens the Avengers took out there were always more to follow.
"Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison, they caught a lot of civilians there." Agent Barton said through the comm, alerting Steve and Beatrice who had just taken down another Chitauri soldier together. Steve stood next to Beatrice as they both looked down at the alien who had it's neck snapped thanks to Beatrice who jumped on its back.
"I'm on it." Steve said, picking up his shield from the ground. He looks over at Beatrice who seemed to be watching him before looking around where they were. There were still many Chitauri soldiers in the city, but for the moment they were in the clear. Steve had to admit that for this being her first time taking on something like this, she was doing a rather good job at keeping it together. Her longish brown hair was a bit matted and kept getting in her face; but she would just brush them away from her light brown eyes that seemed to be analyzing anything and everything.
Beatrice was, like him, battered up and serving some large bruises and cuts. Her silver hands hung at her side and were blotched with wet and dry blood; some from herself and some from the Chitauri she had taken down. And even though it had looked like she had went through hell, Steve hadn't seen her look so strong; not like before on the Helicarrier when she was crying in front of him. This was a new Beatrice, a different Beatrice.
"You go; I'll stay here and clean up." Beatrice said, looking back at Steve.
The soldier snapped from his odd staring and asked, "You'll be alright on your own?"
"I think I can handle a bit by myself. Go, those people need you."
Steve looked at Beatrice for a couple more seconds before nodding and making his way down the street. After that, Beatrice was left on her own. She made her way through the city finding Chitauri and taking them out before they could hurt anymore people. She had made it to a street where there were many Chitauri lurking about and had to remind herself that she was on her own now. The soldiers fired at her and Beatrice dodged their beams before jumping behind an abandoned car for protection. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the fight she would have to do by herself, then jumped up and ran into battle.
Thor, who had been flying around the city doing his best to undo what his brother had done, finally stopped and looked around the area he ended up in. He was looking at all the destruction and chaos when something caught his eye. It was about five or six Chitauri all ganging up on who Thor recognized as Lady Beatrice. There were three other Chitauri all defeated on the ground, but now the group of aliens had surrounded the poor girl. Thor didn't waste a second after realizing it was her to fly down and help the girl. He landed and swung Mjölnir at the creatures until he was back to back with Beatrice.
"I think you could use some assistance." Thor said, eyeing the Chitauri. Beatrice let out a small laugh before turning her head so he could hear her.
"Thanks Captain Obvious, I hadn't noticed."
"I am not the Captain I am Thor."
Beatrice rolled her eyes and looked back at the Chitauri. "Never mind. You take three and I take three?"
"Sounds reasonable." Thor said and went into battle by smashing Mjölnir into one of the Chitauri's faces. Beatrice followed his lead and slammed her fist into the gut of another Chitauri before grabbing its staff blaster weapon and blasting it with its own weapon; killing it. The two were able to take down the group, but their commotion grabbed the attention of other Chitauri and had more flocking towards the two fighters. Beatrice was too busy fighting off a soldier with the weapon she still had when something flew past her and hit something behind her. Beatrice turned quickly to see a fallen Chitauri with Steve's shield laying on top of it's chest.
"The soldier is back." Thor said, turning from his own fallen Chitauri to Beatrice's side. Beatrice picked up the shield and looked up to see Steve walking over to the two now more bloody and bruised and missing his cowl.
"Thanks." Beatrice said, handing Steve his shield back. He smiled and nodded; taking the shield.
"No problem."
The three went on from there, fighting against the invasion. It went on for a while; Steve, Beatrice and Thor checking each others backs and taking down as many Chitauri as they could as fatigue started to gain up on their bodies. Steve had just slammed his shield into a near by Chitauri and was turning around when he was hit with a blast from one of the soldiers. Steve slammed down on the street as he was hit, gaining Beatrice and Thor's attention. Thor moved from his fight and swung his hammer into an abandoned car making it flip and take out the group of Chitauri that had attacked Steve. Beatrice went over to Steve's side once she saw they were in the clear and bent down.
"Steve, you okay?" Beatrice asked, trying to get a look at his wound. But he was holding onto it; blocking it from the girl's view.
"Yeah, just got the wind taken out of me." He wheezed, trying to compose himself. Thor walked over to the two and held his hand out to Steve who took it and stood up, followed by Beatrice.
"You ready for another bout?" Thor asked, aiming his question at Steve who still looked like he was trying to catch his breath.
"Why? You getting sleepy?" Steve asked. Thor smiled at that and before raising his hand and his hammer flying into his grasp. The three were given a small amount of a break when Agent Romanoff's voice came through the comm.
"I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!" She yelled, gaining Beatrice and everyone else's attention. Steve was the first to respond.
"Do it!" He yelled. Tony though came through on his end.
"No wait."
"Stark, these things are still coming."
"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."
Beatrice's eyes widened at the word nuke. Steve continued to talk to Tony, making an uneasy feeling twist in Beatrice's stomach, "Stark, you know that's a one way trip?"
She tried to get a look into the sky to see Tony at all, and after a while, she saw something flying towards the portal rather than out of it. Beatrice's breath caught as the flying from got closer and closer to the portal. Once it went through with the missile, there was a pause before the Chitauri around Beatrice, Steve and Thor all dropped to the ground; like they had powered down. They all looked back at the portal, waiting for Tony to fly back out, but seconds went by and still nothing. Beatrice heard Steve move next to her before hearing him say, "Close it."
"What?" Beatrice asked, finally looking away from the sky and to Steve. He didn't look at her though but watched as the blue beam eminnating from STARK TOWER stopped and the portal closed. Beatrice looked back up just to see the last of it disappear and leave a clear blue sky. Something though was falling from the sky and it took Beatrice a second to figure out it was Tony.
"Son of a gun." Steve said. Beatrice smiled, but it left her face once she realized that he wasn't flying or catching himself.
He was free falling.
"He's not slowing down." Thor said. There was a whirling noise Beatrice thought was Thor swinging his hammer around but it stopped when they all watch the Hulk come into view and catch Tony before crashing and sliding down the side of a building. Beatrice was the first to start running in Hulk and Tony's direction, the uneasy feeling she had before getting stronger. Thor and Steve followed the girl until they met up with the beast. Thor flipped Tony's body over and took off his face mask to show his face. It looked almost as if he was sleeping, but as Steve put an ear to Tony's face and didn't say anything, Beatrice knew something was wrong.
"No. No, no no no no." Beatrice said covering her mouth and falling down onto her knees near Tony's head. Tears started to fall from her eyes, the sound of Beatrice sniffling was the only sound coming from the group. Steve and Thor bowed their heads in respect and Steve put a hand on Beatrice's shaking shoulder, trying to calm her down a little. They were all jolted though when the Hulk roared down at Tony's body and seemed to scare the man awake. Beatrice's eyes were wide as Tony looked around before catching her eye.
"What the hell?" He asked her, then looked around some more before looking back at her, "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."
Beatrice let out a small laugh before wiping away her tears that were now flowing out because of shear joy. Steve smiled at Tony before looking around and sighing, "We won."
"Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it." Tony explained. Thor looked over his comrades before looking back up at STARK TOWER.
"We're not finished yet."
There was a beat of silence as Loki ran through everyone's minds, but Tony still broke the silence, "And then shawarma after?" Beatrice smiled and laughed.
"Yes, Tony. Then shawarma after." She said. Thor and Steve helped Tony up and out of the rest of his helmet, then the three walked towards STARK TOWER while the Hulk bounded up the building. Tony was walking next to Beatrice when she mumbled to him, "I thought you were dead." Tony looked over to her and finally noticed the water marks that whipped away the dirt from her cheeks.
"It takes more than an army of aliens and a missile to take me down, kid."
"Good to know ... I'm really glad you're okay."
"Aw, that's sweet. I feel all warm and tingly inside."
The group made it up to the top floor where they found Loki and met up with Agents Barton and Romanoff. The group got together and watched as Loki crawled out from the small dent he was in and to the stairs near him. He turned and looked at the group of heroes in from of him, Agent Barton aiming an arrow at the god. He locked eyes with them all before sighing and saying, "If it's all the same to you. I'll have that drink."
ALMOST DONE ALMOST DONE YAAY! one more chapter before the bonus part :) hope you like it. this is the longest chapter in the whole book :)))))))