Round One

It was a short flight from the helicarrier to Manhattan, but not short enough. By the time we got there the portal was already open with aliens weaving between buildings and terrifying the scrambling citizens. "Stark, we're on your three headed northeast," Natasha's voice echoed from in front of me and over the comms.

"What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing up Park. I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

Clint turned the jet to follow Tony's instructions while Natasha released the guns from underneath us. "Is this a bad time to mention that I am completely unprepared to be in a battle?" Natasha and Steve both looked back at me with annoyed looks. "I have really bad timing, okay? Shoot me."

"Rogers," Natasha said, his name somehow conveying her intentions.

Steve moved from one side of the jet to the other while Natasha returned her focus to shooting down the aliens that were trailing after Tony. "This is a bad idea," he sighed while pulling a pistol out of a compartment built into the wall. "Do you even know how to use a gun?"

"I'm a fast learner."

There was no room for argument as we were hit by something I didn't see, fire spreading over the roof while a dozen alarms started blaring from the front console. I tightened my grip on the gun Steve had given me as I stumbled back into the wall. Clint managed to maneuver us in between two buildings to avoid more damage, bringing us over a mostly empty parking lot before we crashed into the concrete.

While I was clinging to the wall to keep myself on my feet, Natasha and Clint were already unbuckling themselves from their seats and opening the hatch to leave the jet. Steve pulled his helmet down over his face and picked up his shield before turning to me. "Look, if you don't think you can handle this, then just stay down and away from the fire."

"No, I can do this." I pushed myself away from the wall, nodding with what I hoped looked like confidence. "They're just freaky, flying aliens trying to kill us all and take over the world. No big deal."

Steve didn't look convinced, but the threat at hand must have seemed more important than convincing me to stay safe because he just copied my nod before following Clint and Natasha outside. I can do this. I mean sure, I have very little fighting experience, no idea how to defeat these invaders, and somewhat unstable powers, but what I did have was determination. That counts for something, right? Sure it does.

I followed after the others, looking to the sky as screaming people ran in the opposite direction of us to escape the barrage of destruction. "We've got to get up there," Steve said, pointing towards Stark Tower. Just as he was lowering his hand a throaty rumble broke out of the portal, followed by a giant, slithering… thing.

We all watched with matching expressions of disbelief as the alien soared over our heads while more of the Chitauri rappelled out of it, landing on the buildings and sliding down. Steve was the first person to speak, keeping his eyes on the alien as it turned a corner and disappeared from sight. "Stark, you seeing this?"

"Seeing. Still working on believing. Where's Banner, has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve finally dropped his eyes from the sky to stare at the surrounding horde.

"Just keep me posted."

"So what do we do now?" Steve, Clint and Natasha all turned to me, and I gestured around at the multiple explosions and groups of terrified people running from the aliens that were raining from the sky. "Where do we even start?"

All of us looked to each other, expecting somebody else to have the answer. When it became clear that none of us had a clue what we were supposed to do, Clint spoke up. "There are still citizens trapped around here. We should focus on them."

"I'll take care of that," Steve offered, taking over as the leader of our small group. "Natasha, you keep the Chitauri back while I make sure everyone gets somewhere safe. Clint, you take the high ground. Get in a building, on top of a car, it doesn't matter. Just make sure you keep them pinned down. Alice-"

He was cut off by a cluster of Chitauri on what looked like flying jet skis zooming over our heads, firing randomly at the ground. We all scattered to find cover as they shot down at us with bits of buildings and cars showering the streets. In the middle of the group I spotted a green cape.

I reacted just as I had back in Germany- without thinking. I shoved my gun into the waistband of my pants before running to the nearest car that wasn't completely demolished and using it as a springboard, jumping up and grabbing onto the bottom of the hovercraft. In an instant I was gripping onto a metal bar for dear life with the wind whipping past me while I climbed upwards.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Steve yelled through the comms.

The Chitauri noticed me hanging off his hovercraft just as I pulled myself up into the seat. I pulled my pistol out and shoved it against the side of the head before pulling the trigger. Black blood splattered against the side of my face as he slumped to the side, and I cringed while pushing him off the vehicle. "A little bit," I answered Steve, wiping my face off with my sleeve and grabbing onto the handlebars.

"Can you fly that thing?"

I shrugged at Clint's question before realizing he couldn't see me. "Umm…" I looked over the controls, though I was really happy enough with the fact that it hadn't dropped out of the sky yet. "I'm gonna go with yes. Also, their blood is really gross. Just a heads up."

After testing my grip on the handlebars, I tested out my flying skills by veering left and right. "Ah, dammit. Inverted controls. I hate that." Other than the annoying way the controls were set up, piloting the vehicle wasn't too difficult. Once I was comfortable with the hovercraft, I refocused my attention on the other Chitauri ahead of me. Okay, weapons. There was a red button on the right handlebar, which was either going to be a brake or a trigger. Only one way to find out.

Blue bullets shot forward, hitting the vehicle directly in front of me and knocking it out of the sky. Trigger, yay! Man, fighting is super easy. I don't know why Steve was so worried.

As I rounded a building I came face to face with another horde of Chitauri that looked none too happy that I had hijacked one of their hovercrafts. Right. They fight back.

I pulled a hard left when they started shooting at me, circling around behind them and returned fire, managing to take out another three before they were following me again. My main focus was on Loki, however, so I continued to dodge their attacks as I went back to following after the man in green. He had at least six Chitauri surrounding him, so I would have to take them out before I could get to him.

Unfortunately, I was only able to kill two of them before he noticed he was being tailed. He booked a right while I followed after, circling back to where I had first started following him. When I managed to catch back up to him, I saw that he had turned around and was facing me. Oh no.

I only saw his smug little smirk for half a second before he blasted me out of the sky with his scepter, my vehicle spiraling out of control. The explosion was small, but enough to knock me sideways until I was dangling from the side of the hovercraft with my arms screaming in protest at the strain of holding on. "This is bad! Bad, bad, bad!"

"What's going on?"

I didn't have the chance to answer Tony as I abandoned the hovercraft before it could crash into the side of a building, leaving me freefalling straight towards the debris filled street. My arms were flailing by my sides while my screams were swallowed by the rushing wind, my head filled with the thought that this was it. Before I could hit the ground, however, I was intercepted and started flying sideways. I didn't immediately see what had stopped me, but whatever it was I was clinging to it in an instant.

I didn't realize that it was Thor who had saved me until we landed safely on the street where Steve, Natasha and Clint had regrouped. The minute Thor set me down, I wobbled over to a large piece of rubble to lean against for support as I gripped my stomach and focused on not vomiting. "Are you okay?" Natasha asked.

I was covered in black alien goo, every part of me was sore, and there was still a raging invasion all around me. "Peachy," I sighed, standing up with a deep breath.

"What's the word upstairs?" Steve asked Thor.

"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable."

"Thor's right," Tony said. "We gotta deal with these guys."

Natasha looked me over one more time before turning back to the rest of the group. "How do we do this?"

"As a team," Steve answered, without really answering anything at the same time, which sparked a miniature argument over who had dibs on the jerk who caused this whole mess.

"I have unfinished business with Loki."

"Yeah?" Clint scoffed, plucking an arrow out of an alien's head. "Get in line."

"He shot me out of the sky with his magic glowstick!" I added, gesturing exaggeratedly backwards towards my wrecked hovercraft.

"Save it," Steve cut in, looking at all of us. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. "We got Stark up top, and he's gonna need us-"

Steve was interrupted by the rumbling of a motorcycle. We all lined up to watch as Bruce rode in, covered from head to toe in brown dirt and wearing ill-fitting clothing. He cut the engine and stepped off the bike to step in front of us, nodding as he glanced at the destroyed city around us. "So, this all seems horrible."

"Really?" I shrugged. "I thought we were having a grand old time."

Bruce chuckled once at my joke, while Steve shot me a disapproving look before keeping his promise to Tony. "Stark, we got him."

"Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

Right on cue, Tony appeared from behind a building with another one of those scary-as-all-hell snake aliens closing in behind him. At the sight of it heading towards us, all of us stepped back and gripped our weapons just a little tighter. "I don't see how that's a party," Natasha said, shaking her head.

Bruce glanced back at us before walking deliberately closer to the alien. Steve followed a few steps behind him, calling after him. "Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Captain." He glanced back over his shoulder, though he continued to walk forward. "I'm always angry."

His borrowed clothes ripped at the seams as green crept over Bruce's skin, much faster than it had back on the helicarrier. He grew at least four times his normal size as he turned back to the incoming alien, and just as he clenched his fist it crashed into the alien's head. The collision caused rubble to spark out from the ground as the metal screeched across the street.

When its tail lifted up, we realized that it was going to flip over and land on top of us. Clint jumped behind a taxi while Steve pulled Natasha behind his shield, and I ducked behind Thor with my arms covering my head while he used only his hammer as protection.

It broke into multiple pieces as it hit the ground, and when I stood back up I saw that Tony had landed just behind us. We took form once the immediate danger was gone, all moving so that our backs were facing each other as we moved into a circle. The Hulk roared on my right while Natasha reloaded her gun to my left.

I watched the portal as it seemed to grow even larger while at least another dozen of the larger aliens wriggled their way out, hundreds of Chitauri flying out behind them. "Awesome," I mumbled sarcastically. "Time for Round Two."