Bella fired at another Chitauri. "These things just keep coming!"
"Yes, yes they do. We've got to close that portal," said Agent Romanoff. "It's coming from on top of Stark Tower. "He was using the arc reactor to power it."
"Got it," said Bella, taking off toward the tower. "Anything else we know for sure that could help me out?"
"It's powered by the Tesseract," supplied Agent Barton, "and surrounded by a barrier of pure energy."
"Thanks," said Bella, and landed on the rooftop.
What she wouldn't give to study the portal technology. But it would be better if it was simply destroyed. In the middle was the glowing blue Tesseract. "So this is what it's all about," she said.
"Miss Stark?" said a voice.
Bella spun around. It was a man, pulling himself up off the roof.
"Who are you?" asked Bella.
"Erik Selvig."
"Oh, right. Thor mentioned you once."
His eyes were not a glowing, icy blue – no longer under Loki's control.
"Yes, I'm Bella Stark. You designed this?"
He nodded.
"It's quite something, I'd love to take a good look at this later. But do you know how to shut it down?"
He nodded. "I built something in to stop it. Loki's scepter. You can't protect against yourself, and the scepter is powered on the Tesseract."
"Where is it?"
"Down there." He pointed down toward the landing strip Tony had put in for their suits.
Bella jumped down and retrieved it, then returned.
"I can close it! Can anyone hear me? I can close the portal!"
"No, wait!" said Tony.
Bella looked toward the portal. More Chitauri poured out.
"Stark, these things are still coming!" said Cap.
"I got a nuke coming in. It's going to blow in less than three minutes. And I know just where to put it."
Bella's heart skipped a beat as she realized what he meant. "What?"
"Izzy… tell Pepper. Tell her what I told you about…"
"Tony, you can't! Your suit can't have enough power, let me do it!"
"And let you get stuck in space? I'm your father. Do as I say."
Tony had never said that before, as far as Bella could remember.
"Tony, please don't!"
"Izzy… I'm sorry. JARVIS, freeze it."
The suit suddenly went still. She could see out it and hear everyone, but couldn't move.
"I'm sorry, Bella. Destroy the suits, all of them except yours. I don't want them falling into the wrong hands. Destroy everything you can."
"Please, don't. I'll do it, just please don't."
Bella knew she couldn't move, but she tried to anyhow. Knowing Tony wouldn't listen, she turned her attention to the AI. "JARVIS, please unfreeze me. Please…"
"Mr. Stark has the final word, Miss."
Red and gold shot past the tower, up and into the portal. And Tony was gone. She couldn't follow him into space.
Bella's suit unfroze. She didn't go after him. Instead, she sank to the ground, burying her face in her metal hands.
"Tony? Can you hear me?"
Silence.
But it didn't mean he was dead, it just meant he got bad reception in space… he couldn't be dead. Tony couldn't be dead.
"Close it," ordered Cap.
"What?" squeaked Bella.
"Close it."
Bella hesitated.
"Do it!" It was an order that Bella couldn't ignore.
She pushed the spear into the portal. And the last of her hope along with it.
There was an awful moment after she did, watching the portal and every hope of ever seeing Tony again disappear.
And then, at the last moment, a red and gold speck fell through.
Bella instinctively jumped up and flew toward him, catching him in midair.
"Tony, are you okay?"
No response. He was completely limp.
Bella flew down to the ground, landing in front of Cap and Thor. She pulled the helmet off, throwing it to the side.
Tony's eyes were closed. His face was still.
"No," whispered Bella.
Then the Hulk roared.
Bella jumped.
Tony yelled. "Whoa! Whoa! What just happened?"
"We won," said Cap.
"Hey, alright! You know what, let's not come tomorrow, let's just take a day," said Mr. Stark. "You ever tried shawarma?"
Cap looked puzzled.
"There's a shawarma joint a couple blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."
"We're not finished yet," said Thor.
"Where's Loki?" asked Bella.
"Top of Stark Tower," said Tony with a grin.
"Hulk smashed," said the Hulk, grinning.
And in the next and final chapter, Bella's superhero name will finally be revealed. I hope I chose a good one… I'm not too sure of it.
I finished my story We Don't Belong Here. First story I've finished on here. Just telling those of you who haven't finished. And it seems I will finish this one soon as well… I'll miss Bella and Ivy, but don't worry, they'll probably be back soon. Sometime after May 3rd.
After that, I have a special story I'm planning out for Bella. I'm not giving away anything in the way of details right now. I want to wait until Iron Man 3 comes out to make permanent decisions aside from a few details.