A/N New chapter. Sorry about my little rant before I was going through a lot and I just snapped sorry.
Anyway here is the next chapter and as you will tell I added a few things and a nice little scene between Venus and Captain America which I hope you liked. I just thought that in the movie he had a look of defeat on his face and wondered what made him continue fighting in a battle he thought he couldn't win so I added it. I hope its ok.
It is a little confusing with the changing of names and what names to use while writing so I changed between it a fair bit, sorry I just wasn't sure what name to stick to for some of them.
I am still deciding what to do as a sequel. It wont follow Winter Soldier at all. In my universe it never happened. So I am either going to write a series of connected oneshots of moments in Mina/Steve lives or a story based mainly on romance, not as much action. I am actually leaning towards the oneshots. Let me know what you think.
As always review and no flames.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.
Steve, Tony and Mina walked in silence to the main area where the team was sitting only hours before. Mina rushed forward when she saw Ami with tears rolling down her face. She took the seat next to her and wrapped her arm around Ami.
"Are you okay Ames?"
Ami shook her head as she looked at the three that just entered the room. The two men gave her a look of sympathy before they took two of the empty seats.
"I was the first one to get to Agent Coulson. I wanted to save him but he wouldn't let me even try. He just wanted me to sit with him. It was heartbreaking."
Tony nodded at her. "I'm sure you helped by just sitting with him Blue."
Mina sighed as she leant her head on Ami's shoulder and hugged her tightly. "This fight is unlike any we have fought before Ami. They are humans, they don't turn to dust and they don't come back from the dead but we have to be strong. There are casualties in all wars but we will fight on to make sure that no other good men and women like Agent Coulson die."
Mina looked at Steve as she comforted Ami, thanking him again for helping her be strong. Ami blinked back the tears and nodded, determined to not let Loki kill anyone else.
Fury walked into the room and stopped in front of the table with Agent Hill walking close behind. He toyed with some cards in his hands.
"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them."
He threw down the cards in his hands revealing that they were Captain America trading cards and that they were covered in blood. Tears came to Mina's eyes as she saw Steve lean forward to pick one of them up. Mina looked between the others and her heart broke at the looks of defeat and regret on their faces. She turned back to Fury as he continued talking.
"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor... I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming. " He turned towards Steve. "Yes. We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier."
He looked over the four people in the room. "There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could." Fury looked at Tony. "Phil Coulson died, still believing in that idea. In heroes."
Tony abruptly got up from his chair and walked out of the room with Mina, Ami and Steve staring after him.
Fury sighed as he looked at the remaining heroes, two of which they had never intended to have in the team but would have made such a difference.
"Well, it's an old-fashioned notion."
With that he walked out of the room leaving Mina, Ami and Steve sitting there lost in their own thoughts.
Steve stood up with a determined look on his face and made his way out of the room.
Both girls stood up and followed him, they were unsure of what was going to happen next but they had to be there. They were not supposed to be part of the Avengers initiative but the two Senshi were already too invested in this fight and the people involved to leave it the way it was.
The three walked in silence with Steve leading the girls through the helopad until they made it to the room that Loki's cell used to be. Tony was standing on the catwalk overlooking the part that opened up to drop the cell down to earth.
Ami walked up to the level Tony was standing as Mina and Steve stayed on the other side. Steve leaned on the railing as Mina stood beside him.
Ami was unsure of what to do so she stood slightly behind Tony and let Steve talk as she could tell he had stuff to say.
"Was he married?"
Tony stared off into space. "No. There was a, uh...cellist. I think."
Ami stepped forward next to him but didn't touch him. Afraid to set her knew friend off. "I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man.
Tony shook his head as he looked between the three heroes. "He was an idiot."
Steve crossed his arms and pushed away from the rail he was leaning on. "Why? For believing?"
The two girls stepped back, content to let the boys figure things out. They both knew that the men needed this to try and get over some of their issues.
Tony looked around him. "For taking on Loki alone."
"He was doing his job"
Tony scoffed as he looked at Steve. "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..."
Steve sighed as he made his way to Tony. "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."
Tony shook his head as he walked towards Steve. "Right, I've heard that before."
"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"
Tony went to walk past Steve but whirled around at his words.
"WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS!" He paused and Ami was about to step forward and try and help but Mina rested her hand on her arm and shook her head. The two men were not finished yet and they listened as Tony continued. "I am not marching to Fury's fife!"
Steve kept calm as he addressed Tony. "Neither am I! He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we've got to put that behind us and get this done."
Steve looked over to the two girls indicating he was now addressing everyone on the team. "Now Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list..."
Tony who was staring at the blood stain at the wall turned back to the others and interrupted Steve. "He made it personal."
Steve looked at Tony. "That's not the point."
Tony shook his head. "That IS the point. That's Loki's point! He hit us all right where we live. Why?"
Mina quietly put in her thoughts. "He did it to tear you all apart."
Tony crossed his arms "Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? THAT'S what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."
Steve nodded as he followed Tony. "Right. I caught his act at Stuttgart."
"Yeah, that was just previews. This is - this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..."
Tony paused as the four looked at each other knowingly. "Son of a bitch!"
Steve took action as the leader of the group. "He is at Stark Tower. I will go get Agent Black Widow and Hawkeye. Meet at the jet. Suit up."
He then left the room as the Tony went to get his suit. Mina and Ami quickly transformed into Sailor Venus and Mercury.
Mercury turned to Venus as they made their way through the helopad to where the jet was waiting.
"You could tell Fury was lying couldn't you about the cards? They weren't in Agent Coulson's jacket they were in his locker"
Venus nodded. "Of course I knew but I know what he was trying to do. He needed something to give the others a push to work as a team. We needed that push once, so I understood where he was coming from. "
Mercury nodded and moved on to her next thought. "Maybe we should contact the others. If this is the final act we could use their help."
Venus sighed and shook her head. "No we can't let them know. I don't want Usa anywhere near this fight it has nothing to do with her."
"It has nothing to do with us either Venus but we are here fighting for human kind, they would want to help."
"We are fully in the fight. We haven't been here long but we have made friends and yes we could use the others but they wouldn't get here in time without us there to do a Sailor Teleport. If we tell them what is happening they will just fret about not being able to help. We are not alone here Mercury and I have confidence in us and our friends. Please tell me you agree with my decision."
Mercury sighed and nodded. She wanted the others with her because she had never fought a battle without them and felt like she wasn't good enough without Usagi. Though, she also wanted to be selfish and wanted to show the others that she wasn't just the weak brains of the operation that she could win without them. Mercury was just afraid that she would fail everyone and this time she wouldn't be brought back from the dead.
She looked over at Venus to see the look of determination on her face and she felt comforted by it. Venus was a formidable opponent and Mercury had faith in her abilities as he had fought on her own or years before joining the others and she was also was the strongest of the inners.
Venus smiled reassuringly. "We will be fine. We will watch each other's backs and we will have our new friends fighting with us."
At that moment they turned to see Captain America and Agent Black Widow walking towards them with another male agent. Captain America nodded in acknowledgement.
"Sailor Venus and Sailor Mercury this is Agent Barton or Hawkeye if you prefer. Barton these are warriors that are some of the best I have seen. Iron Man is already on his way there."
The girls smiled at Hawkeye before following them into a jet only to be greeted by a maintenance man on the jet.
" Uh... You are not authorized to be here!"
Captain America shook his head. "Son... just don't."
The five got into the jet and Hawkeye made the plane take off on their journey to Manhattan.
By the time they got to the city the portal had already been open.
"We need to get in there now Capt." Venus exclaimed as she saw how much destruction there already was.
Captain America shook his head. "We will use the guns on the jet before we get in there."
Hawkeye and Black Widow were shooting the enemy from the jet until Loki shot the jet causing one of the engines to stop working.
Hawkeye yelled to the others. "Hold on tight. I'm going to try and land this thing as smoothly as possible."
Venus, Mercury and Captain America grabbed onto the jet as it was falling down. It crashed hard onto the ground and slid a few metres before coming to a halt when it hit a building.
Everyone inside quickly got out of the plane and began running towards the portal.
Captain America was in the lead and turned to the others. "We've got to get back up there."
They kept running and came to a halt as they heard noises from the portal. They were standing in a V shape with Captain America in the front Venus and Mercury on either side behind him and Hawkeye on Venus' side and Black Widow on Mercury's.
They all stared up at the portal to see a Leviathan coming out of the portal. As it got closer to the ground, Chitauri started jumping from it.
Captain America addressed Iron Man. "Stark are you seeing this?"
"Seeing, still working on believing. Where's Banner as he shown up yet?"
"Banner?"
"Just keep me posted."
The five jumped out of the way as a blast came close to where they were standing. They all crouched down behind cars to assess the damage and the best plan of attack.
"We've got civilians trapped..."
Hawkeye was cut off as a Chitauri flew over head blasting its way through with Loki on the back of one of the crafts.
Venus stood up. "Enough assessing we need to get into this fight. Innocent people are being injured."
Captain America nodded. "They are fish in a barrel down there."
Just at that moment a group of Chitauri dropped down in front of them.
Black Widow turned to Captain America. "We've got this go."
He nodded. "You think you can hold him off?"
Hawkeye nodded as he got his bow and arrow ready. "Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure."
Captain America turned to Venus. "We worked well together. Care to join me?"
Venus nodded and turned to Mercury who nodded. "I will stay here and help them."
Black Widow smiled and nodded. The two had helped each other with the Hulk and formed a small bond.
Captain America nodded at Venus and the two ran towards the end of the bridge and jumped off. They were followed by blasts but didn't stop. They rolled across the top of the bus and jumped off the back of a flipping vehicle before landing in a crouch.
Venus grinned at him. "Piece of cake."
The two then took off running towards where the police were setting up a block. Venus shook her head at the police. She always hated them since her days of Sailor V. They were always thought they had the situation under control when they had no idea what was going on.
Captain America and Venus jumped in front of them to instruct them on how to help. Venus started addressing them trying to ignore the fact they were ogling her and weren't likely to take orders from her.
"You need men in these buildings. There are people inside and they are going to be running right in the line of fire."
Captain America took over as he could see the way the policemen were looking at Venus. "You take them to the basement or the subway. You keep them off the street. We need a perimeter as far back as 39th."
The older cop scoffed. "Why the hell should I take orders from you two?"
Eight Chitauri's jumped down and Captain America and Venus sprung into action. Captain America raised his shield to block the blast as Venus called on her powers. Captain America was to handle the closer ones and Venus was left to take care of the longer distance ones which she was fine with.
Venus flipped through the air and crescent beamed one before she turned around and roundhouse kicked another that was coming at her from behind. She used her Venus Chain to grab onto the three that were furthest back and flung them into a wall.
Captain America was handling a few others. He batted one Chitauri away with his shield before blocking a point blank assault. Another came at him and he punched it in the face before he broke the weapon of another ones arm and hitting it with it which sent it flying across the street. Into the pile Venus had sent into the wall.
Venus turned around to the police and winked as he kissed her hand. "Venus Love and Beauty Shock" The orange heart then formed on her hand as she threw it at the four Chitauri that had started to get back up. She threw it right on target causing them to explode.
Captain America nodded and gritted his teeth. "That's why you should take orders from us. Oh and stop ogling my partner."
Venus smiled at him for calling her his partner and defending her.
The police sergeant nodded." I need men in those buildings. Lead the people down and away from the streets. We're going to set up a perimeter all the way down 39th Street."
Venus and Captain America turned and made their way back to the others.
Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mercury were busy fighting the Chitauri and trying to get the civilians to safety. Black Widow and Hawkeye where using their guns and arrows to provide cover for Mercury. She had used her Mercury Bubbles Blast to provide fog to help the civilians trapped in a bus escape unseen.
After she helped them out of the bus she joined the other two by shooting water blasts at the enemy that froze and destroyed them.
The three of them kept on fighting the Chitauri that kept coming at them. Mercury was easily using her powers but the other two had started using their hand to hand combat skills.
The three worked expertly together with Mercury covering the long distance enemies and Hawkeye and Black Widow covering her back for those that got too close to the threesome.
The three were getting outnumbered. Hawkeye got knocked to the ground and had one jump on him as Black Widow had three Chitauri come at her after she used on of their weapons against them. Mercury was managing to handle her own until she too found herself surrounded with the Chitauri aiming their weapons at her.
Luckily Venus and Captain America jumped back into the fray. Venus used her chain to grab one of the Chitauri around the neck and pulled hard causing it to get flung off Hawkeye. She then flipped beside Black Widow and punched one in the head before crescent beaming another. Black Widow nodded at her before kicking the other in the stomach and blasting it.
Captain America had jumped in front of Mercury and held up his shield to block the blast. She went to thank him but instead yelled out. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody."
The attack hit the three Chitauri that were sneaking up on the two of them. Captain America nodded his thanks as Thor landed with a bolt of lightning killing the last three left on the bridge.
Captain America spoke up. "What's the story upstairs?"
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable."
Iron Man interrupted through the ear piece. "Thor's right. We've got to deal with these guys."
Black Widow looked between everyone. "How do we do this?"
"By working as a team." Venus said as she stared at every one of them. "It's the only way we can defeat them."
Thor looked at them. "I have unfinished business with Loki."
Hawkeye stared at him while fixing an arrow. "Well get in line."
Captain America nodded at Venus. "Venus is right. It's time we worked as a team. Save your vengeance for later. Loki is going to keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We've got Stark up top, he is going to need us to..."
Captain America was interrupted by Bruce riding in on a motorcycle. Mercury smiled widely as she ran over to him, the others following after her at a more sedate pace.
Mercury stood at him and stared at him as he turned to the others. "Well this all seems horrible."
Black Widow glared at him. "I've seen worse."
Bruce looked at her and then to Mercury. "Sorry."
Mercury smiled softly before looking over at Venus who nodded. "We could use a little worse."
Captain America shared the news with Iron Man. "Stark, we've got him."
"Banner?"
He nodded. "Like you said."
"Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
Iron Man then flew towards them with the Leviathan trailing after him.
Black Widow shook her head. "I don't see how that's a party."
The Leviathan was crashing towards them and Captain America stepped forward. "Dr Banner now might be a good time for you to get angry."
Bruce turned around and grinned. He glanced at Mercury before he winked. "That's my secret. I'm always angry."
They watched as Bruce hulked out and punched the Leviathan causing him to skid back a bit and it to flip over. They watched as it began to fall.
Iron Man shot at it. "Hang on." He then proceeded to shoot the Leviathan to try and get smaller bits falling to the earth.
Hawkeye grabbed Black Widow and hid her under him to protect her from the blast. Thor grabbed Mercury to make sure she was ok and Captain America grabbed Venus and covered them both with his shield.
Once the Leviathan crashed the Chitauri stopped and turned towards them growling. The Hulk growled with them as the eight of them formed a circle with their backs facing each other.
They watched in horror as more of the Leviathans came through the portal.
Iron Man turned to Captain America. "Call it Cap."
Captain America nodded before turning to the group. "Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority's containment. Hawkeye, 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 you turn it to ash."
Hawkeye nodded as he turned to Iron Man. "Want to give me a lift?"
Iron Man nodded. "Right. Better clench up, Legolas."
The others watched as the two flew up in the air before Captain America turned to Thor. "Thor, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow 'em down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up."
Thor nodded as he began to swing his hammer causing him to fly off.
Captain America turned to the three girls. "We stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk?"
The Hulk turned to Captain America who nodded. "Smash."
The Hulk grinned and jumped away from building to building smashing as he went.
Venus smiled. "Who knew that The Hulk could smile."
The four of them grinned before flying back into action. Venus and Mercury teamed up together and Captain America and Black Widow were astounded by how well they worked together. They didn't even need to communicate.
Mercury would cause a fog to shroud the area while Venus would use her chain and crescent beam to take down the majority of the enemies. If she missed any Mercury would have her back and freeze them before Mina smashed them with the Venus Chain.
They found a quiet point when Mercury turned to Captain America. "None of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal. They are just going to keep coming."
Captain America nodded. "Our biggest guns couldn't touch it."
Black Widow stepped forward as she eyed the Chitauri that were making their way towards them. "Well. Maybe it's not about guns. Mercury you come with me. I could use your brains. Venus and Cap are you two going to be ok handling things down here?"
Captain America looked at Venus. She smiled and nodded. "We will handle it fine down here. How are you going to get up there?"
Mercury eyed a passing Chitauri fighter craft. "We can get a ride but we need a boost."
Venus nodded and grabbed out her chain. "Are you sure about this Merc? If my aim is off you could go flying."
Mercury nodded. "I trust you Venus. You ready Black Widow?"
She nodded. "Yeah it's going to be fun."
Captain America held his shield ready as Black Widow ran up to it and jumped up. At the same time Venus used her chain to fling Mercury into the air.
Captain America and Venus smiled at each other until a horde of Chitauri began shooting at them. Venus grinned at Captain America as she called on an attack she hadn't been able to use because of all the people around but now there was just Captain America and herself she could use it.
"You may want to cover your head with your shield Cap. Venus Meteor Shower."
Captain America watched as she pointed her finger up in the air. The usual beam of light shot out of her finger but directly up in the air before it seemed to split into rays of light. The beams of light hit all the Chitauri near them knocking them to the ground and killing them.
Unfortunately it didn't last long as more Chitauri headed towards them when they saw how strong they were.
The two went back to back as they worked as a team. Captain America would throw his shield to take care of the further away enemies and used hand to hand combat if they got to close. Venus decided it was time to bring out her crystal sword and chain as she didn't want to burn out her attacks before the battle was over. She began slashing through the enemies while using the chain to get those further away.
Whenever she could see a large group heading towards them she would use her Meteor Shower while Captain America protected her from those that got to close while using it.
Venus had just grabbed a Chitauri around the neck with her chain and flung it towards her to land on her sword when Hawk Eye addressed them.
"A bank on 42nd and Madison. They've got a lot of civilians trapped there. "
"We're on it." Captain America replied as he turned to Venus.
Venus nodded as they ran towards the bank. As they were going towards it more Chitauri followed after them.
"You handle that Cap. I will handle out here."
Captain American nodded as he jumped in the window. Venus watched after him before she smirked at the Chitauri.
She took off running and flipped directly into the centre of the horde. She grabbed out her crystal sword and began slashing through them expertly. She used her martial art skill to kick and slash through until she saw Captain America fly from the window. Her head whirled around to where he was, blonde hair fanning out as she yelled.
"Captain!"
With that yell she grabbed her chain and made it wrap around a street lamp as she sailed above the remaining Chitauri landing closer to Captain America. She turned to the Chitauri as she kissed her hand.
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock."
It was the biggest Love and Beauty Shock she had ever made and caused all of the enemies running at her to be blown into small pieces.
She rushed beside Captain America and noticed that his mask had fallen off. She gently helped him back to his feet and saw a look of defeat on his face.
"Steve are you ok?"
Steve looked around him at the destruction and the scared civilians faces. "What good has our fighting done? They are still coming and destroying the city. Tony was right everything special about me came from a bottle."
Venus looked up at him in shock."What? Steve you can't be serious."
"I've been thinking about it since he said it. He was right."
Venus groaned as she watched the people try to run to safety and the destruction around her. "He isn't right Steve. Yes the enemy is still coming but imagine how much worse it would have been. I need you to snap out of it and help me fight. You're special Steve, you're a hero."
Steve looked at the ground avoiding her enchanting gaze. "I'm only special because of the serum. "
Venus put her hands on his face and brought his head up to look at her. "You're special because of who you are not what you are Steve. It's not your strength or super human abilities that made you seem like the greatest hero. What made you the greatest hero is your righteousness, bravery, the way that you devote yourself to the protection of those that can't defend themselves and the fact that you fight to defend freedom and justice. All of your virtues are what made Captain America a hero and those virtues came from you, Steve Rogers not from the serum."
Steve didn't know why he did it, but he leaned down and kissed Venus quickly before he blushed and pulled away as he ran back into the battle.
Venus put a hand to her lips as he turned away. She felt something she hadn't felt in an awfully long time. Ideally she would have loved to grab him and kiss him again or to at least talk about what happened but the gawking civilians surrounding her reminded her of where she was.
She blushed as a few whistled as she ran back into the battle joining Captain America.
Both Black Widow and Sailor Mercury landed on the same craft. Mercury acted quickly and froze the first Chitauri that they saw while Black Widow pulled out a knife to cut the chain and kick it off the craft.
Black Widow then stabbed the Chitauri driving the craft and tried to steer. Mercury stood on the back of the craft and was using her attacks to freeze the other Chitauri coming after them.
Sailor Mercury sighed as she created a fog before turning to Black Widow. "Great, we have company."
Natasha looked over her shoulder to see Loki following after them and shooting at them.
"Can you handle it until we reach the top of Stark Tower?"
Mercury nodded as she looked back at Loki. "I will provide a cover but I think Hawkeye has the best position to land a shot."
Hawkeye heard their conversation and responded. "No problem, I've got him."
He shot an arrow that was heading straight for Loki. At the last second Loki caught it and smirked at them before it blew up.
Black Widow turned to Mercury. "Time to exit this ride."
Mercury nodded and the two jumped from the craft and landed on Stark Tower. Mercury watched as Loki also landed on the tower.
"Should we go after him?"
Black Widow was about to answer when The Hulk came smashing through. "I think the big guy can handle it."
The two women made their way towards the machine and Mercury grabbed out her Mercury computer to analyse how to shut it off.
She was interrupted by Dr Selvig. "The sceptre."
Black Widow turned around towards him. "What?"
Mercury nodded. "Of course! Loki's sceptre. The energy. The Tesseract can't fight it, you can't protect against yourself."
Black Widow nodded as she kneeled by Dr Selvig. "Thanks doctor. You know all this wasn't your fault. You didn't know what you were doing. "
He shook his head. "Well actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source. Loki's sceptre it may be able to close the portal. It's down there"
He pointed and the two women nodded. Mercury shook her head. "Now I wish I had Venus' powers. It would be much easier to get that."
Venus, Captain America and Thor were fighting alongside each other on the ground when they heard Fury say a missile was heading straight towards Manhattan.
Venus decapitated the Chitauri she was fighting as she turned to Captain America. "A missile will blow up the whole island!"
Captain America nodded and was about to respond when he got shot in the gut. Venus whirled around and stood in front of him as she used her chain to take out the three Chitauri coming for him. Thor helped by using his hammer to flip a car over and into the other Chitauri. He held out a hand to help Captain America up as Venus called out "Venus Meteor Shower."
The attack decimated all the Chitauri that were in a three kilometre radius from where they were standing but after the attack she fell to her knees.
Captain America held out a hand to help her back to her feet. "Are you ok?"
Venus nodded as he helped her up. "I put a lot of energy into that attack to make it cover a bigger distance than it usually does. I just need a second. "
Thor looked over at them. "Are you ready for another bout?"
Captain America looked at him with a glint in his eye. "Why? You getting sleepy?"
Sailor Mercury and Black Widow had managed to get Loki's sceptre and were getting ready to try and shut the portal down.
"You do it Black Widow. I have long range attacks for any Chitauri that try to stop us."
Black Widow nodded as she held the sceptre up as Dr Selvig instructed her. "Right at the Crown."
She slowly started to push the sceptre through the force field. Before she tried to contact the others. "I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."
The first voice she heard was Captain America. "Do it."
She was about to continue doing it when Iron Man interrupted. "No wait!"
She paused as Captain America responded. "Stark, these things are still coming!"
"I got a nuke coming in. It's going to blow in less than a minute, and I know just where to put it."
Captain America sounded worried as he replied. "Stark, you know that's a one way trip?"
His only response was. "Save the rest for the turn, J."
Venus watched from the ground with Thor and Captain America when she finally got what Captain America meant by it being a one way trip.
She turned to Captain America. "I will not let him give up his life. There has to be a way to make sure he gets back through that portal."
She looked between the two men who just looked at her sadly when she heard Mercury. "Venus there is no gravity in space. With the suit out of gas he won't fall back to earth, he will be stuck in space when the portal closes. I'm sorry Mina."
Venus shook her head. "No there has to be another way."
She looked up to see how high Stark Tower went before a plan came into her head. "Thor I need you to get me as high up as possible."
Captain America looked at her. "Venus I can't let you do whatever you are planning."
Venus looked over at him with a soft smile. "I didn't ask for permission. Now Thor."
Thor nodded as he swung his hammer around before grabbing onto Venus. The two went hurtling through the air and landed on the tallest point of Stark Tower just as Iron Man went through the portal with the missile.
Venus turned to Thor. "Throw me as high up as you can." He looked at her like she was insane and she screamed. "THROW ME NOW!"
He grabbed her and threw her as high up as he could. Luckily he had the strength of a god as Venus was sent hurtling through the air and into the portal. She screamed out "Venus Love Chain encircle."
It wrapped around Iron Man and pulled him toward her, as the missile hit the enemy's ship. When she had a strong grip on him she unwrapped the chain from him and saw a bit of metal on top of Stark Tower. She focused the energy and made the Venus Love Chain as long and as strong as it could go.
"Venus Love Chain encircle!"
The others back down on earth watched in amazement as a glittering heart-linked chain came shooting out of the portal and wrapped itself around Stark Tower, just as the explosion behind them was catching up.
Mercury turned to Black Widow. "CLOSE IT NOW!"
Black Widow nodded and inserted the sceptre the rest of the way in, causing the portal to close just as Venus and Iron Man were flung through the portal.
Unfortunately most of Venus' energy was spent from the battle and making the last few attacks stronger than they usually are. She lost consciousness which caused her to lose the chain and her transformation.
The others watched in horror as the chain and Venus' transformation began to shimmer away causing them to be sent hurtling towards the ground.
"They aren't slowing down." Thor exclaimed as he began to swing his hammer around.
Just before Thor took off, The Hulk came hurtling through the air and caught both Iron Man and Mina in his arms before he landed roughly on his back making sure to protect the two heroes in his arms.
The Hulk dropped Iron Man and Mina onto the ground as Thor and Captain America rushed over.
Thor pulled off Iron Man's mask as he checked for a sign of breathing. There was no sign of life and his arc reactor in his chest seemed to be as dead as Tony.
Captain America knelt by Mina. Her hair was fanned out behind her like a golden halo and her skin had gone pale.
Thor and Captain America looked at each other sadly before looking up at The Hulk.
The Hulk roared loudly and by some miracle it woke Tony up. He sat up breathing heavily as he looked around him.
"What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."
Mina spoke up from where she was held in Captain America's arms. She had regained consciousness but it would take her a few days to fully recover. Her eyes were closed but she had a cheeky smile on her face. "I wouldn't mind if someone kissed me."
Captain America looked down at Mina with a blush. He smiled widely at her when her beautiful blue eyes opened to stare into his before turning to Tony. "We won Stark."
Tony smiled as he laid on the ground in pain. "Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys."
Mina looked over to Tony as she grinned at him. "You totally owe me one Stark. I saved your ass."
Tony put on a fake serious expression. "I knew you cared for me Mina but unfortunately my heart belongs only to Pepper."
Mina laughed as she slowly got to her feet supported by Captain America on one side. "I'm crushed Tony. I save your life and you still don't love me."
Tony who was helped to his feet by Thor winked at her. "I don't think it's me you want anyway."
She blushed as she glared at him. "Don't make me regret saving your life Stark."
He chuckled as he slowly walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her. "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."
Mina laughed and smiled fondly at Tony before she turned to Thor. "Sounds great Tony but I don't think we are finished yet."
Tony sighed and nodded. "But then Shawarma after?"
The five heroes made their way up Stark tower meeting Hawkeye, Black Widow and Sailor Mercury on the way. Mercury gave Mina an enquiring look as she saw her being supported by Captain America. "I'm fine Merc. Just need to sleep it off."
The Avengers all nodded to each other as they walked into the room where Loki was. They all stood in formation as he tried to get up. Hawkeye was in the front and centre with his arrow pointed at Loki's face, Mercury and Black Widow where on either side of him with a Mercury holding an attack ready and Black Widow pointing his sceptre at him. Next to Mercury was Mina. She may not have been transformed but she still was dangerous when it came to hand to hand combat. Captain America was beside her with his shield at the ready. On the other side of Black Widow was Thor with his hammer and Iron Man. Finally the Hulk was at the back of the group and still managed to be the most intimidating.
Loki slowly sat up and turned to Tony. "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."
A/N Hope you liked this chapter the action is mainly over but the story isn't quite finished yet. There is one more chapter.