A/N: Still not that long of a chapter, but at least it's longer than the last one, am I right? Ha ha. Anyways, this is the second-to-last chapter. Only one more left to go, guys! Also, I highly doubt that there is going to be a sequel, so savor it while it lasts, okay!? Lol.

Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and/or favorited this story during its duration. I hope people continue to read and enjoy it once the updates are done. :)

I don't own Avengers. That would be kind of pointless for me to make this fanfiction if I did, now, wouldn't it?

Now, without further ado: The chapter! With plot! And action! And... oh, just read it. I should really work on my long-windedness...

Amrita and Bruce were currently lying on a blanket on Tony's private beach, cloud-watching and talking about random things. Amrita was having trouble focusing on the questions, though, because the fact that Bruce's and her hands were clasped in between the two of them, with his thumb stroking the back of her hand occasionally, was rather distracting. It gave her a giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Okay, okay. I've got one," Bruce said, turning his head to look at her. She mirrored his movement and immediately blushed as their noses almost touched they were so close together. He grinned at her, and she knew from the teasing edge to it that it was because of how red her face was. She pouted. "What's your biggest pet peeve?"

"Ugh. Nail-biting," she groaned. "Do you realize how many health problems can be traced back to nail-biting? There is a strain of bacteria that live under the nails that—"

"Okay, shhh," Bruce said, patting her on the head placatingly. She growled quietly at him, and he smirked in response. "Well, now I know what to do if we ever get in a fight…"

"Oh, you wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?" he teased.

Amrita rolled her eyes at him.

"Shush, you. Now, what is your favorite animal?"

The two of them just stared at each other in silence before Amrita gave Bruce a questioning look. He responded with a shrug and motioned as though he were zipping his mouth shut. She gave an exasperated sigh and motioned that she was unzipping it.

"Thank you. It was getting a little stuffy in there," he quipped. He paused for a moment, thinking. "I like dogs."

"How original," Amrita said drily.

"Well, it's true," Bruce said defensively. "They're man's best friend. Unconditional love. Aside from the fact that most of them shed like there's no tomorrow, what's not to like?"

"The slobber…the pooping wherever they want…the smell…" Amrita said, ticking the things off on the fingers of her free hand.

"Okay, point taken. The dog issue should be tabled for further discussion at a later date." He nodded, as though to affirm his own statement.

Amrita sighed, and was about to comment on that when their gaze was drawn skyward by the somewhat familiar sound of repulsors, signaling Iron Man's arrival.

Tony landed just a couple feet away from the lounging couple as they scrambled up into sitting positions.

"Bruce. Rita," he acknowledged each of them in turn with a brisk nod. "I think you should both suit up. Like, right now."

"What? Why? What's happening?" Bruce said, sounding alarmed at the sudden turn of events.

"Because," Tony explained, sounding impatient, "we are about to get incoming in about T minus…um…now!" He launched himself forward, knocking Amrita and Bruce down and out of the way as a giant, scaly form rocketed down into the spot where they'd just been sitting, tearing the beach blanket to shreds as it rolled, its sharp teeth gnashing in its grotesquely humanoid face as it went.

Amrita hissed, bristling at the sight of the naga. It wasn't the last one to land, though. All of a sudden, they were surrounded by the falling forms of naga as they descended from the sky, some able to control their descent better than others.

"Bruce…I think you may want to step back," Amrita warned him as she felt the quivering power surge through her body, initiating the transformation.

Bruce watched in somewhat horrific fascination as his…well, he supposed she was his girlfriend, now…transformed in front of his eyes. She had told him about this, and he had glimpsed it through the Hulk's eyes, but he had never witnessed it in his human form. She grew much larger than he'd imagined she would; he wagered a guess that she was about ten feet tall by the time she stopped growing. Her hair had turned to feathers, and wings larger than he thought possible had sprouted from her back. Shining gold armor seemed to pour over her form like liquid and hold the shape of her body beneath it. The most frightening part, though, he found, was her eyes.

Her eyes were gold, just like always, but they held a ferociousness—a bloodlust, even—within them that he didn't think she could be capable of, and the whites of her eyes had turned black. Add to that the fact that her fingers had turned into talons like that of a bird of prey, he suddenly felt an odd sense that they truly belonged together.

They were two people who others would also call monsters.

"Brucey? Your turn," Tony prodded.

"Mm…no, thanks. I think I'll sit this one out," he said nervously. "I don't want to run the risk of causing…friendly fire, as it were." In other words, he didn't want to risk possibly hurting Amrita. She had enough to worry about as it was with how many naga they were surrounded by. Even if she had fought an entire army of them before, that didn't mean he felt unconcerned for her well-being.

Tony shrugged, the suit echoing his movement. "Suit yourself," he said, launching himself up and blasting away at the naga that just kept coming despite that Amrita was tearing through their ranks like a hot knife through butter, her strikes deadly with their accuracy.

Bruce stood awkwardly for a few long minutes that felt like an eternity, watching the battle go down. The naga that writhed along the beach around him barely paid him a second glance, their attention solely fixed on Amrita—or Garuda, he supposed he should call her in this form. He didn't really think that the Amrita he'd come to know and—dare he say it?—love was truly who was in control there. This was something, or someone, more primal and instinctive; someone fixated on vengeance for a loss that had been suffered so very long ago. He was struck by the realization that this must be what other people felt like when they saw him in his Hulk form, his usually calm self replaced by something angry and destructive.

Bruce looked around the beach, realizing that although Garuda was cutting through the naga's ranks at a fairly brisk pace, for every one she felled, two more landed on the beach to take its place. He tensed as Garuda was slashed across one wing. The wing fell limp and she whirled, knocking her attacker back with the other wing. The other naga that she had been fighting managed to get a good swipe at her back as she broke the neck of the one she was facing, and Garuda screeched in pain as the naga's nails dug in deep.

Bruce saw red.

The roar he let out at realizing Amrita was in trouble was inhuman—and familiar. He could feel his mind clouding over with rage as he gave himself over to his angrier self.

The Hulk lurched forward through the mass of writhing serpents, knocking them aside impatiently as he went until he reached Garuda. He had eyes only for the naga that were attacking her, and he snatched the one that had gone for her back from the air as it was in mid-swipe, aiming for her back again. The Hulk picked up the serpent…

…And threw it straight down into the ground, burying it up to the end of its tail in sand. Its tail writhed, but he simply stomped on it, and it went limp.

Hulk snorted, turning back to Garuda to see her send him a grateful nod as she tried to fend off the other naga that had taken their fallen comrade's place. Hulk grinned.

"Hulk smash!" he yelled, diving into the fray once more.

With both the Hulk and Garuda decimating the enemy's numbers, it soon seemed like the tide was turning in their favor.

"You know, I'm not usually one for senseless violence, but it looks good on you two," Tony drawled, feeling fairly drained from the fight that, despite that they seemed to have the upper hand now, did not look like it was going to be ending any time soon.

Garuda just hissed in response, the Hulk not even signaling that he'd heard Tony's comment at all. Tony frowned, though no one could see it from outside his suit.

"Gee, you guys really know how to make a guy feel wanted," he muttered, zeroing in on another target when he saw something that made him stop in his tracks.

All of the naga stopped their fighting, turning towards the part of the beach that had suddenly turned into a scene of a sprawling forest at dusk. Hulk and Garuda knocked out their respective opponents (Garuda killing hers) before turning to see what was drawing everyone's attention. A tall, blue-skinned male with four arms and long, curling black hair stepped out, along with a beautiful woman dressed in delicately embroidered robes, with long, thick black hair, tan skin, and a softly-shaped oval face.

The woman's features were marred, however, by the sick, sadistic smile she wore.

"Garuda," she purred silkily. "How nice to see you again. I hear from dear Vishnu that he undid the memory block I performed on you when you so rudely cut our last meeting short." She gave a theatric pout to convey her "hurt".

Garuda hissed. "Imposter! How dare you play at being the holy consort of a god?" Her gaze flashed to Vishnu, who stood stoically at "Lakshmi's" side. "Vishnu, what are you doing? Are you just going to stand there and let her mock you?" she demanded angrily.

"Ah, ah, ah," the imposter said, bringing her hand out that had been positioned behind Vishnu's back and waggling a familiar, wicked dagger at her in a taunting manner. "Dearest Vishnu may be immortal, but if I were to incapacitate him with his own dagger, he would fall into a deep enough sleep that I could remove his head from his body and move them far enough from each other that he wouldn't be able to recover himself. And I'm quite certain you would never be able to stand for that." The naga regarded her coolly. "So, about this whole 'fight to the death' thing. In exchange for letting Vishnu live, let's say…you die. Without a fight." She smiled sweetly. "Deal?"

Garuda fell to her knees, staring at her master. He stared back at her, unblinking, giving her the tiniest of nods. With that, Garuda's shoulders slumped, and she slowly transformed back into the more familiar form of Amrita. The naga grinned, visibly relaxing at the change.

"Good. Excellent choice, Garuda. I believe you'll find—" The naga's speech was cut off as she shrieked, dropping the dagger that had suddenly turned red-hot in her hand, the flesh of her hand badly scorched and smoking. Vishnu looked around at the rest of the naga inhabiting the beach, raising his fist. Clenching it, the air was filled with the naga's screams, as they curled in on themselves before crumbling to dust. Vishnu nodded, satisfied, before whirling around and grabbed the naga posing as his consort by the throat, lifting up the thing that dared wear his beloved's face in order to try and harm his precious protégé.

"Take it off," he ground out.

The naga writhed in his grasp, incompliant. He tightened his grip, glaring.

"Take. It. Off."

The naga wisely did as he said, transforming back into its true self, its scales glinting dully in the midday sun. Vishnu gave a brisk nod, loosening his grip just enough to allow it to suck in a raspy breath, watching unforgivingly as it coughed and hacked to try and clear its constricted airway.

"Garuda," he said, still watching the naga, unwilling to take his eyes off of it in case it tried to escape while he was distracted.

Amrita responded, glancing momentarily at the Hulk, who seemed to be itching to start fighting again, but was surprisingly still, watching the exchange. Amrita gave him a small smile, grateful that he'd helped her in her fight, before stepping forward, stopping at Vishnu's side.

"We're leaving. This thing," he spat, nodding at the naga in his hand, "is going to take us to where it hid Lakshmi, and we are going to get her back."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tony cut in, stepping forward, still clad in his Iron Man suit despite that the fight was over. "Hold on, doesn't Rita get a say in this?"

Vishnu turned his glare on Tony, narrowing his eyes at the unfamiliar human clad in metal.

"You think my protégé would be unwilling to help me save my consort? Lakshmi is just like a mother to her." Vishnu snorted. "Besides, what makes you think that she would be so quick to stay here? She has lived in Vaikuntha for many millennia; much longer than she has been here, in any case."

There was a groan, and everyone was distracted by the fact that Bruce had returned to his human—and buck-ass nude—form. At the realization that he was naked and there were people looking at him (well, one person and a Hindu god—Amrita was blushing heavily and pointedly looking anywhere but at him), he quickly grabbed the shredded beach blanket that he and Amrita had been lying on before the attack, tying it around his waist with a secure double knot.

"Amrita," he said, staring at her pleadingly, hoping his eyes conveyed his message: Don't leave.

Amrita was struck with guilt at the look, and, glancing at Vishnu, who raised an eyebrow at her, she rushed forward to the mostly-naked man, wrapping him in a tight, apologetic hug. Bruce wrapped his arms tightly around her in return, unwilling to let her go.

"Don't," he murmured next to her ear. "Don't do this. We were doing so good. I don't want you to go."

Amrita blinked back her tears, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"I have to," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Vishnu and Lakshmi have been like parents to me ever since I lost my mother. I could never live with myself if I abandoned Lakshmi to whatever fate the naga have in store for her."

Bruce took a deep, shuddering breath, letting it out slowly.

"…I'll miss you," he said. That was putting it lightly. He didn't want to tell her how much it would hurt him if she left, though. He knew she felt obligated to leave, and he didn't want her to leave with the regret he knew she would feel if she knew how much her doing so would wear at him.

Amrita couldn't hold the tears back anymore at those words. She silently let the tears flow onto Bruce's shoulders.

"I'll miss you, too," she whispered. "We'll see each other again, though."

She was determined to come back. She knew things might not be the same when she came back. Hell, she might not be the same when she came back; but she would never forgive herself if she just gave up on the possibility of what could've happened with the two of them without ever giving it a try.

Bruce smiled sadly.

"I believe you," he said as she slipped from his grasp.

He didn't say, though, that he only believed the next time he saw her would only be for her to say goodbye, watching silently as she slipped away with Vishnu, disappearing into the trees; and then she was gone.