𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 ✘ 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐅𝐅

{1¹⁰} {THORNS AND ROSES}

"Agent Ryder, do you copy?" Natasha's stern voice drifted through the speaker into her ear, and after a short moment when Roxi brushed the dust off the weapon, and wiped the blood from her chin, she could hear everyone waiting tensely for a response, even though she could hear gunshots and Steve's shield ricocheting off of the Chitauri's metal armour.

"Yeah," she spoke wearily, pressing a hand to the comms in her right ear, fingers coated with half-dry blood, "I copy." She heard Clint let out a breath of relief, close to a sigh.

"Where are you?" Steve asked quickly, grunting slightly as he hurled his shield - she presumed. Natasha had been making her way to Stark Tower on the Chitauri speeder, occasionally swerving wildly to avoid pieces of buildings that seemed to be trying their best to aim for her, when she realised that she hadn't heard Ryder's cool, calm voice through the comms for a moment, and had inquired about where she was.

"I'm on East 41st," Roxi replied, after glancing around for a street sign, and ended up finding it on the floor twisted and damaged, half buried beneath a pile of rubble. 

"Alright, make your way to Lexington where it crosses 42nd," he instructed, and after another glance around to get her bearings, Roxi set off, over the twisted carcasses of the Chitauri and the huge boulders of rubble that littered the street, her bloody fingers covering her stinging, bleeding left forearm, trying to protect it from any further infection that it might've already gained, she stumbled around a couple of corners and  jumped from vehicle to vehicle to reach the bridge. When she had finally made it up, blood dried and caked on her face, dark hair hanging limply and her eyes clouded, she manoeuvred over the rubble, being careful not to twist her ankle of break her leg before she finally reach the spot where Thor and Steve were fighting. 

"Hey boys," she called, taking her hand off the injury and swapping the quarterstaff into her right hand, either end shooting out of the handle, as she came close enough to be heard, "leave some for me!" And so they fought. Roxi had never fought so long, against so many opponents with such advanced weapons before. She could feel every fibre of her body screaming at her, her muscles ached and her head pounded, but she kept going, putting as much force as she could behind every thrust and cut, because she wasn't fighting just for herself. She was fighting for the Avengers, for S.H.I.E.L.D, for the people of Manhattan and possibly the world. She couldn't lose. If she did, hundreds of thousands of people could die. It was a heavy weight to carry on her shoulders, but she was prepared to do it if she had to.

But she didn't have to. She had a team Here she was, fighting with Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, the Hulk and Hawkeye, together. They would share the burden. With that realisation, it felt like some of that weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and her movements became slightly quicker and stronger, fighting back the hordes of Chitauri desperate to claim a world where they didn't belong. But they kept coming. Roxi hated to admit it, but the only way that they might make it out of this alive was if the portal closed. So she kept fighting, waiting, hoping. Finally, Natasha's voice crackled through the comms line once more.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."  A wave of cold relief ran through Roxi's body, and she shuddered slightly as Steve practically yelled through the comms

"Do it! "

"No, wait," Tony instructed, and Roxi strengthened her grip on the handle of her quarterstaff as the relief began to drain from her body and as the next group of Chitauri grew nearer. 

"Stark these things are still coming," Cap argued as she thrust the tip of her weapon into a Chitauri's face. 

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow up in less than a minute," Tony told them with no hesitation. Roxi spun on the spot to gain momentum before slamming the tip of the quarterstaff into an alien's temple, through its helmet. She withdrew it , leaving a gaping hole that quickly filled with blood. She heard a clang behind her, and turned to see a Chitauri crumpling as Steve hit it on the head with his shield, sending her a nod before quickly moving on. She heard an alien grunt behind her just in time and ducked as a bolt of energy soared through the air where her head head been moments before. She turned, quarterstaff extended like a bat, and stood up as she did so, slamming the weapon into the underside of the Chitauri's chin, probably breaking it's jaw, before it crumpled and she moved onto her next opponent.