Hawkeye lined up an explosive arrow with his target.
"Twenty feet up above the red brick, third in," his said under his breath.
"Got him," his own voice confirmed over the comms. "On three."
He counted down to zero in his head. His target zipped to the side and he immediately shifted his aim. At zero, he fired his arrow. It hit his target at the exact same time as its doppelganger hit the target from the opposite side, both exploding at once. The floater's shields flickered. Moments later, a laser cannon from the ground also hit the target, taking the shields down completely.
A repulsor blast from War Machine took the floater down permanently.
Hawkeye grinned. Having a shapeshifting alien who could not only take on your appearance, but also your abilities and thought patterns, as your fighting-buddy was awesome – now that they'd figured out how to make it work.
Seriously, if signing the Sokovia Accords meant being able to work with UNIT, then he was already considering talking to Cap about re-thinking their position on the whole thing. And based on how excited Cap got about the lizard people, he had a feeling it wouldn't really be that hard a sell.
Hawkeye was already lining up his next shot when the world suddenly got a lot brighter. Frowning, he looked up. And blinked at the fluffy white clouds gently sailing across the blue sky. The conspicuously empty blue sky.
He switched his comm to the general channel. "Uh, guys, this is Hawkeye here. Where did the giant spaceship go?"
Tony's reply came only seconds later: "That's a very good question, Hawkeye. And I'd be only happy to explain it, if I had any idea whatsoever what the answer was."
"Spiderman, here. I was, uh, looking up at the sky while I was swinging and it just, like, vanished. It was there one moment and then the next, bam, it was gone. Only without the actual sound effect. Obviously."
"Well, I think we can definitely assume it wasn't voluntary, seeing as how all the floaters are still around and looking really confused," the Falcon chimed in.
Hawkeye glanced at the floaters. Sure enough, they'd paused in their shooting in favour of hovering staring up at where their ship used to be. Some of them were speaking or waving their arms and gesturing at the empty sky.
"Can we assume this is the work of the all-mysterious Doctor?" Natasha asked.
Moments later, a rocket hit one of the remaining floaters – Natasha clearly had no sympathy for their plight. Of course, the hit was quickly followed up by twin shots from laser canons, so clearly neither did the Silurians.
"Hey, it could've been Vision!" Tony protested.
Clint rolled his eyes as he looked for his next target.
"Speaking of which," said Cap. "Antman, Wasp, I guess we don't need you to save your growing powers for the ship anymore."
There was a pause, and then Clint heard Antman's voice on the comm: "Got it, Cap. Wasp's actually got a pretty good idea for that. Stand by."
An explosive arrow hit a floater two down from where he'd been aiming. Hawkeye immediately compensated and fired at that same floater. The vehicle floundered in mid-air as it was rocked by the blasts. A laser blast hit it from above, taking down its shield and pitching it forward. Clint saw its driver scrambling to gain control.
Until a Pteranodon swooped in and plucked the floater out of the sky.
Clint whistled appreciatively.
His attention was, however, immediately taken up by the two figures who suddenly began to sprout out from the ground. Somewhere on the other side of the comms, he heard several startled cries and grinned.
"Hey, I remember this one!" Spiderman exclaimed, sounding entirely too excited by it.
Several of the Pteranodons loudly protested the sudden appearance of two gigantic humans, stopping mid-flight to hover and screech angrily at Antman and Wasp.
"Aw, hey, they're actually kinda adorable from this angle," said Antman as he carefully reached out towards the nearest flying dinosaur.
Wasp slapped him on the shoulder. "They've also most likely got the beak strength to break your finger!"
Antman immediately withdrew his reaching hand and Clint chuckled. The Wasp was a great addition to the team and he really hoped she stayed. He was pretty sure Nat was hoping for the same.
"Wasp to all flyers! Get out of the area or brace for turbulence."
She turned her back on the battlefield and the floaters, who had apparently recovered from the succession of shocking events and were now back to firing back at their enemies. A couple of the shots hit Antman and he hissed in pain before hitting the nearest floater with the gigantic crowbar he was holding. Wasp's wings began to flutter, slowly at first, but they quickly picked up speed, raising her off the ground, but only enough to take her up to the floater's height.
Clint flattened himself further against the rooftop so as not to be blown away. When he glanced upwards, he saw the floaters weren't dealing with the turbulence very well – apparently the Moon didn't get much wind, because the pilots didn't seem to quite know what to do with it. The Pteranodons didn't seem to be having that issue and they eagerly swooped down to peck at their failing shields.
It was difficult to tell which one of them started it, or whether it had even started with just one and instead been a collective decision. If the floaters were communicating with each other, neither UNIT nor Stark had been able to detect the frequency they were using. All of a sudden, the floaters just seemed to stop fighting and, instead, dropped to the ground like very high-tech, albeit slow-moving, stones.
Clint fought against the wind as he crawled just a bit further to the edge of his rooftop for a better view of the ground. He relaxed when he noticed the floaters stepping out of their crafts, their arms up in a fairly universal gesture of surrender.
"Hawkeye here," he said into the comm. "I think you can stop now, Wasp."
"Got it, Hawkeye. Thanks."
The Wasp's wings immediately began to slow down, lowering her to the ground.
Cap's voice came on over the comm a few minutes later: "Falcon, Iron Man, War Machine, is that all of them? Can you tell if there are any stragglers anywhere?"
"War Machine here. Nope, I'm not seeing anything, Cap."
"FRIDAY's not picking anything up either. I think we've got all of them. Also, again with you giving orders!"
"Falcon here, I'm seeing floater-free skies. And, to be fair, Iron Man, you did follow them."
Iron Man didn't respond to the statement, but Clint could feel his glare over the comm link. He chuckled as he moved his position a few meters and shifted his stance in order to get a better overview of the ground. Notching an arrow, he aimed it towards the surrendering floaters and settled in to observe and be ready to react if any of them decided to try something.
Steve shook his head in amusement at Iron Man's silence even as he paused to take several deep breaths. The laser burn across his right thigh felt like there was a hot iron pressed against his flesh and the one on his arm wasn't exactly doing much better. He was also fairly certain he had at least one cracked rib and possibly a fractured collarbone. And there was blood crusting the side of his uniform, though he wasn't quite sure when he'd gotten hurt there.
All in all, he'd felt better, though he'd also certainly felt worse.
He'd lost sight of his Zygon twin somewhere in the chaos – he wasn't even entirely certain the Zygon hadn't just reverted back to his former UNIT soldier appearance which would explain why he wasn't seeing a carbon copy of his bright blue uniform on the battlefield. Now that the attack had, at least on their end, been averted, he also wasn't quite sure where his rogue Avengers team stood with UNIT, though he was confidant in his assessment of Kate Stewart that she wouldn't start hunting them right away.
In his apology message to Tony, Steve had told him he believed in people. Kate Stewart... she was possibly a person he might just be willing to believe in. It was something to consider at the very least.
Momentary break over, Steve carefully slung his shield onto his back and then braced himself for the pain before limping his way towards where the floaters were now surrendering to a combined UNIT, US Army, Silurian and Avengers fighting force. A shadow passed overhead and he looked up, watching with awe as a Pteranodon flew gracefully by.
He wished he could share this moment with Bucky.
Suddenly a strange whirring, wheezing mechanical sound made him pause and turn. He blinked in a surreal sort of surprise as a nostalgically familiar-looking blue rectangular shape phased in and out of existence several feet away from him, until finally settling into a solid form.
Steve tapped his comm. "This is Captain America," he said, feeling bemused more than anything. It had been one of those weeks. "I don't suppose the Doctor's ship looks like a 1940s police box from London?"
"A 1940s police box?! Seriously, Cap, I think you might–"
"–Yes, that's his TARDIS, Captain. Hang on, I'm on my way to you. Make sure he doesn't leave before I get there!"
There was a stunned pause on the other end. Moments later, Iron Man landed a few feet away from him. His faceplate came up, revealing Tony's incredulous-looking face.
"Okay, that definitely wasn't there earlier," he said. "Aaand I have so many questions right now. So many more questions. Beginning with just how un-aerodynamic that looks, and as a genius who builds things that fly, I'm sort of an expert on that. I mean, who wakes up one morning and decides that an old fashioned police box is a great design for a time machine or spaceship or whatever?"
"Must be pretty cramped with all of them inside too," Steve pointed out.
"Yeah, that too."
Which was when Kate reached them. "It's bigger on the inside," she told them. "In fact I have on fairly good authority there's a library and a full Olympic-size swimming pool somewhere inside its many long and confusing corridors."
"What?!" Tony exclaimed, his mouth gaping comically.
Which was when the time machine's door opened and Amy and Rory stepped out, followed by Vision, Bill, and finally the Doctor himself. Vision was looking slightly stunned, in his own stoic way and Steve couldn't wait to hear his story of what happened.
"Ah, Kate, you're here, excellent!" the Doctor exclaimed, pushing past the others in order to get to her. "I've left Kang and his ship in the mostly-gentle hands of the Time Agency. They're not a bad lot, but their sense of humour's a bit twisted and they don't take kindly to having their technology misappropriated by unsanctioned parties. Needless to say, they were quite happy to have it returned to them. Now, I believe they'll be coordinating with the Shadow Proclamation who will most likely be coming to round up the rest of Kang's men."
"Wonderful," Kate said dryly. "I do so love dealing with the Judoon."
"What'll happen to Kang and his men?" Steve asked.
"Hm? Oh, they'll most likely be returned back to their original time and place, only their memories of these events erased."
Steve frowned. "Will they be harmed by it?"
"What?" The Doctor blinked in surprise. "Oh no, the Time Agency has the ability to carefully target specific memories. It's entirely possible they'll return Kang back home with all his memories except for anything to do with how the time ship worked. Or maybe he won't remember any of this at all, either way, I assure you it's an entirely painless procedure."
Amy cleared her throat and then looked at the Doctor pointedly. "Doctor, the ship?"
The Doctor blinked at her. Then his eyes widened in understanding and he looked back to Kate. "Oh, yes, of course. Just before I sent Kang's ship back to the future, he'd ordered one of those smaller ships of his to head to New York as backup."
Kate nodded. "Yes, I already know about that one," she said. "The US Armed Forces are engaging it as we speak. Apparently its captain isn't the smartest tool from the thirty-first century shed and left Washington in a way that put him directly into the path of the battle squadrons already on their way to engage it. The general I spoke to mentioned something about having dusted off some sort of Hulk-buster weaponry..."
"Ah, excellent! Good, good. That's, well, I'd say that's about it. It's been a blast, but I must dash, teaching a class in the morning and all."
"Doctor," said Amy forcefully. "Don't forget you have to take us back twenty years so that Rory and I can negotiate General Larrsa's help."
The Doctor made a face. "Yes, I suppose I do have to do that. I'll drop you back off after. Vision, it was good to meet you. Good-bye Kate... and everyone else. Come along, Bill, let's be off."
Amy crossed her arms. "Doctor, I have had less than two hours of sleep in the past forty-eight hours. I am not heading off to negotiate with a Silurian general until I've had at least eight hours of sleep!"
"You have a bed in the TARDIS," the Doctor pointed out weakly.
Rory's eyes suddenly widened. "You know what we also have in the TARDIS?" he said, looking at his wife.
"Clothes!" they both said in unison.
"Oh god, I can't wait to put on something else!" said Amy as she hurried back towards the TARDIS, Rory at her heels. "I wonder if they still fit."
The Doctor threw his arms up. "Alright, fine, I'll stay for a bit longer! But I'll let you explain to Nardole why I'm late tomorrow morning."
"I thought that thing was a time machine?" said Tony.
"Well, yes, but it's the principle of the matter," said the Doctor with a disgruntled frown.
Bill grabbed the Doctor by the arm. "So, Doctor," she said with a grin. "What do you suppose is the chance that I could get a closer look at those pteradactyls?"
"They're pteranodons," Tony corrected.
"What's the difference?" she asked him.
Tony shrugged, or at least the slight movement of his shoulders looked like it was supposed to be a shrug. "These ones are bigger, apparently."
The Doctor looked down at Bill. "Well, I suppose we could go ask the Silurians," he said.
Steve perked up. "Gee, you think they might let us, uh, touch them?" he asked.
"I honestly have no idea, but doesn't hurt to ask, I suppose."
Beside him, he saw Tony debating whether he wanted to try and break into the TARDIS or see the flying dinosaurs closer up. Eventually, Amy and Rory walked out of the ship, now looking much more like the modern citizens of Earth that they were, and his mind was apparently made for him.
Instead, Tony went up to Vision and threw an arm around his shoulders. "So, Vision, you went to the future," he said with an excited grin. "What was it like?"
Amy's limbs felt heavy and her eyes burned from lack of sleep. And yet she walked out of the TARDIS feeling lighter than she had in a very long time. She and Rory had managed to build themselves a good life in the past; they'd been happy. But now the burden of secrecy, of pretending to be just another couple who remembered the First World War and had survived the worst of the Great Depression, was gone.
She could've happily lived out the rest of her life through the rest of the forties, the fifties and on, but this, the twenty-first century was her time. In her blue floral peasant blouse and medium wash skinny jeans, she felt like she'd finally come home – even if she couldn't quite remember if these jeans were supposed to be quite this tight.
Smiling, she looked up at the bright blue sky and saw nothing but fluffy white clouds and some news helicopters. It really was over.
Time for something new to begin.
"You know," she said to Rory. "If the Silurians are alright with us touching their pteranodons, then we should ask them if they're willing to wait just a bit longer so we can go get the children. I think Timothy, in particular, would be over the moon at the chance to pet a dinosaur." She looked over at Tony pointedly. "I know and I don't care."
Tony closed his mouth and turned back to his conversation with Vision and Bill with a shrug.
Rory put an arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him with a sigh. "Well, I guess this is us starting from scratch again," she said.
"Not exactly..." said Rory.
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You know how you said there'd be no real point to taking money as inflation would make it worth almost nothing in the twenty-first century?"
"Yes, I do recall that conversation..."
"Well, it got me thinking about things that wouldn't depreciate in value over time." He looked over to her with a twinkle in his eye. "What do you suppose a full sets of the Dodgers and Yankees 1944 roster baseball cards would be worth today? I have the full 1941 rosters too."
She stopped to stare at him. "You used a huge chunk of our life savings to buy baseball cards?"
"And several packs of stamps, collected some international ones from the neighbours too. Told them it was for Ben."
Amy couldn't help herself: she threw her head back and laughed. "That is the most ridiculously genius thing I have ever heard anyone do! You are so incredibly lucky our plan ended up working."
And then she grabbed him and kissed him.