(Soleil's POV)
Soleil was flying alongside Tony as they both made their way back towards the Stark Tower after leaving the Helicarrier. Soleil could not help the low hiss that escaped her after hearing Tony's thrusters pop before powering up again due to the damage done to the suit.
"You look like you've been through a shredder." Soleil muttered.
"I practically was." Tony sighed as he corrected himself when his thrusters popped again.
"You can't fight in that suit. Not without getting seriously injured."
"I know. I'm thinking about using the Mark VII."
Soleil's eyes widen. "What?! But it's not-"
"I know." Tony said. "But I don't have much of a choice here."
Soleil held back a growl as they neared New York city and the Stark Tower came into view, along with Dr. Selvig and his device powered by the Tesseract.
"Sir, I turned off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustained."
Soleil heard Jarvis through Tony's helmet comm before the two of them flew to a stop and hovered above the device and the astrophysicist.
"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig." Tony ordered calmly.
"It's too late!" Dr Selvig smiled, and Soleil growled at the blue hue in the doctor's eyes before he turned to look at his device. "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe."
"Okay." Tony lifts his arms up and fires at the device. But the Tesseract puts up a force field around the device.
The barrier absorbs Tony's repulsor beams before sending them right back and sending Iron Man flying, while Soleil and Selvig get thrown in the aftershock. Dr. Selvig crashes against one of the AC systems on the roof and passes out, while Soleil swiftly twist her body to land on her feet.
The sound messes with her ears and at this point, Soleil was wondering if her head was going to ever get a break from all the abuse its gone through in one day. She moved over to check if Selvig was okay and found that he was only unconscious, while Jarvis spoke.
"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable."
"Yeah, I got that." Tony muttered and turned to look down at the balcony of the Tower. Soleil followed his gaze and looked down to see Loki; who had a smug smile on his face as he looked back at them. "Plan B."
Soleil left Selvig and jumped down, meeting up with Tony as he lands on the walkway to dismantle his suit.
"Sir. The Mark VII is not ready to be deployed." Jarvis stated.
"I already told him that, J. His mind is already set." Soleil sighed as she started to walk towards the entrance of the lounge.
"We are gonna have to skip the spinning rims. We're on the clock." Tony ordered as he begins walking and his suit starts getting dismantled. He keeps his eyes trained on Loki as the God does the same while making his way into the lounge area as well.
Soleil shift back to her human form; decked out in her suit and her hair still in a ponytail, as she moved towards the counter where she had left her phone two nights prior.
~~~
Lion Queen;
Hey, Pep
You busy?
Peppermint;
Not at the moment.
What's up, Sol?
Lion Queen;
You're still in DC right?
Peppermint;
Yeah.
Happy and I are about to leave the hotel once I finish packing my stuff back up so we can bring them to the car.
We'll be heading to the airport right after to fly back to New York. The flight should be an hour and 15 minutes long.
Why do you ask?
Is something wrong?
Lion Queen;
I probably shouldn't lie
Right...
I mean that.. where the best case scenario is; I should.
Peppermint;
You better not!
Soleil!
What's wrong!
Are you okay?!
Is Tony okay?!
Did he do something?!
OMG!
Is he already showing signs that he's forgotten your 2 year anniversary coming up next month.
Lion Queen;
Woah!
Hold on, Pep!
I can't tell you what's wrong. More so because I don't want to scare you.
But me and Tony are fine.
He did not do something...yet.
And I haven't seen any signs of him forgetting our anniversary nor have I seen signs of him remembering.
It's still a little less than a month away.
And at the moment we have bigger 'issues'
Peppermint;
You better promise me you both will make it out alive!
I swear to God!
Soleil Leona!
Don't let this be the last time I hear from you.
And through text of all things!
Lion Queen;
I promise we'll make it out alive.
Come on, Pep~
It's Tony and me you're talking about here.
Peppermint;
Exactly.
I'm not so sure about Tony. Knowing him, he'll do something stupid.
Lion Queen;
Don't jinx it!
I already told him not to!
Peppermint;
At least I can trust you to not actually do something stupid.
Lion Queen;
Thank you for the belief.
Much appreciated.
I have to go.
Peppermint;
Sol!
Soleil!
~~~
Soleil had walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools before putting her phone down and shutting it off. She turned around to see Loki entering the room from the door that lead to the balcony, while Tony came in from the side door to her right.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki approached slowly, but confidently.
"Uh...actually, we're planning to threaten you." Tony gestures to Soleil sitting by the bar, as he continues walking towards it.
"You should have left your armour on for that." Loki pointed the tip of his staff toward Tony and then moved it to point at Soleil. "While you should have stayed in your lioness form."
"My claws alone will suffice!" Soleil narrowed her eyes at the God.
"Yeah, the suit has seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny." Tony said as he came to stand between Loki and Soleil. "Would you like a drink?"
Loki moved the staff from one hand to the other. "Stalling me won't change anything."
"No, no, no! Threatening." Soleil corrected as she leaned over to grin at Loki, as she used a similar line he used on her back on the Quinjet last night. "I thought you were smarter than this, so the words wouldn't have to be repeated."
Tony bit back a laugh as he made his way around the bar and grabbed a glass. "No drink? You sure? I'm having one."
"Me too, please." Soleil said and Tony nodded, grabbing a second glass and putting them down on the counter surface hidden from view. He turned back to grab a square glass decanter half full of whiskey and brought it back to pour himself and Soleil a drink.
"Here you are, my dear." Tony smiled as he placed Soleil's glass in front of her.
"Why, thank you~." Soleil giggled as she picked up the glass and raised it towards him before taking a sip, while Loki spoke behind them.
"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that." Loki stated as he looked out at New York city through the floor to ceiling window before turning back to look at them. "What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers." Soleil and Tony said at the same time. Though Soleil had her back faced toward the God, she could still sense his confusion.
Tony on the other hand; could see the clear confusion written on Loki's face, so he broke it down for the God. "It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes' type of thing."
Loki nods. "Yes, I've met them."
Soleil snickered against her glass as she saw Tony holding back a scoff or an eye roll. Or maybe even both, as Tony instead put on a smile.
"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the Demigod." Tony stated and watched as Loki tightens his grip on the staff before turning away. He takes his chance to grab his Mark VII suit's honing device bracelets and straps them on his wrists. "A super soldier; a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breath-taking anger management issues. A couple of master assassins. A beautiful woman who can turn into a mystical winged lioness; and has been ready to rip your insides out. And 'you'; big fella.. you've managed to piss off every single one of them."
Soleil mentally crossed her fingers that the bracelets would work without any issues, before throwing back the little bit of whiskey that was left in her glass. She set the glass down and turned in her stool to face the God of Mischief once again, glaring at him.
"That was the plan." Loki turned back around with a smile on his face.
"Not a great plan." Tony stated as he took a sip from his glass before stepping around the bar and began approaching Loki. "When the rest come, and they will. They'll come for you."
Loki's face turns indifferent. "I have an army."
"We have a HULK." Tony said without missing a beat.
"Oh!" Loki tilts his head slightly. "I thought the beast had wandered off."
"You're missing the point." Soleil stands up and falls into pace beside Tony, as they make their way over to Loki. "There's no throne. There is no version of this, where you come out on top."
"Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it." Tony finished off by taking another sip of his whiskey.
Loki's brows furrow and he begin to slowly walks up to Tony; raising the sceptre. Soleil immediately growls and gets ready to tackle Loki, but Tony steps in front of her.
"How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" Loki taps Tony on the chest with his sceptre and Soleil immediately pulls Tony back.
Soleil's slitted pupils are narrowed directly at Tony's eyes before they widen when she saw no blue hue forming around his irises. She looked back towards Loki; who had mix of shock and confusion on his face.
"This usually works." Loki looks at the stone in his sceptre.
"Well, performance issues. You know?" Soleil snickered, holding back her sigh of relief and thanking God for Tony's arc reactor that must have stopped the flow of power from Loki's sceptre.
"Not uncommon. One out of five..." Tony stated matter of factly as he nodded in agreement to what Soleil said before he was cut off by Loki swiftly moving in front of him, side-checking Soleil and grabbing him by the neck.
Loki; who is clearly angry now, flings Tony across the room. Soleil bares her fangs and lets her claws extend before she pounces on the God.
She throws a punch that Loki dodges and pushed his staff towards her forcing her back. Soleil evades the pole and gets underneath it before sinking her claws into Loki's stomach. She twist her hand immediately, but Loki quickly uses his other hand and grabs the back of Soleil's neck before flinging her away as well.
Soleil lands on top of the counter, breaking it in the process while Loki looks down at his stomach and grimaces slightly. But appeared to not mind the flesh wound too much, he makes his way to Tony once again.
Tony pushed himself off the ground. "Jarvis. Anytime now."
Loki grabs Tony by the throat again and raises him up, glaring directly at the man as he gritted his teeth. "You will all fall before me."
"Deploy!" Tony called out and Loki lifts him higher, making him choke out the order again. "D—Deploy!!"
Loki proceeds to throw Tony out the window, and Soleil gets to her feet at this time. "NO!"
She shifts as she makes her way to the pane of glass Tony had just crashed through to stop him from falling as she noticed the Mark VII taking longer than they would have liked to deploy.
As she was about to reach the window, Loki shoots a beam of energy at her making her dodge away and turn to him.
"YOU!" Soleil growled as she took off towards him, but just beyond Loki she saw Jarvis finally setting the suit off. Soleil jumped to the side quickly as the Mark VII suit came out of its depot and knocked Loki over; who happened to be in its direct line of path before flying out the window.
Soleil turned back quickly and pounced on top of Loki. The God swiftly brought his sceptre up, aiming for her head but Soleil evaded it though the tip did slice through her cheek.
Instead, Loki swiftly batted the lioness off him with his sceptre and rolled away before standing up. Soleil now had her back towards the broken window, crouching low and growling at the God as she heard the sound of Iron Man approaching them.
"And there's one other person you pissed off!" Tony hovered outside of the broken window. "His name was Phil."
Loki raised his sceptre to fire at the both of them but Iron Man was quicker, having already had his gauntlets up and fired his Repulsor beams. Loki went flying backwards with a loud grunt as he landed harshly on his back.
Outside; the Tesseract's energy beams into the sky which then forms a vortex and opens up a portal.
A hole in space rips open and from it; the Chitauri army begins to spill out in flying chariots.
"Right. Army." Tony pointed out the obvious and turned to look at Soleil. "Sol!"
"Go. I got Loki!" Soleil never took her eyes of the God as she listened to Tony's thrusters boosting away.
She can hear the sound of explosions above the tower as well as a few of the alien creatures getting by Tony, but she put her faith in the rest of the team to arrive soon. Soleil on the other hand had a God to deal with, and she approached him as Loki let groan.
"You know he can be modest when he wants to be." Soleil snickered, smelling the scent of burnt cloth off of Loki's clothes. "He left himself out in the list of people you pissed off."
"Do you really think I care." Loki replied as he rolled over and grabbed his sceptre.
Soleil charged at him but he swung his sceptre at her, making her have to avoid it and keep her distance.
"You won't get away with this, you know!" Soleil snarled as she circled him.
Loki turned to see a Chitauri chariot fly by before looking back at her with a shit eating grin. "Lioness~. I believe I already have."
Soleil proceeded to dodge multiple beams fired at her, but soon realized it was distraction for Loki to get around her and make his way to the walkway exit. Unfortunately her realization did not come soon enough as Loki shot one last beam at her which hits its mark unlike the rest.
"Hm..It might not control you. But it should keep you down for awhile." Loki stated and takes his leave.
Soleil feels the world shift once again but thankfully not as bad as the first time. She had to be grateful for Loki underestimating her abilities and leaving, or else she would be able to get the jump on him after his control's haze disappeared from her mind.
Stepping outside Soleil had to suppress the shock and partial fear that took over her as she saw the Chitauri attacking the streets of Manhattan, as well as the cries from its civilians. She crouched down low; belly just grazing the flooring of the walkway, as Loki stands near the edge.
He was looking down and taking in all that he's accomplished thus far in his attack on New York, fully decked out his 'reindeer' amour as Soleil stocked her pray. Lucky for Soleil, Loki seemed so entranced by his work; he was none the wiser to her approaching up behind him.
She always had a knack for sneaking around or up on people and Soleil was going to put that skill to good use. Merely a few inches away from the God, Soleil tilted her head sideways and opened her mouth wide; ready to tear into the unsuspecting Loki.
"Lady Sol!" Thor's voice called out to her as he landed on the balcony beneath them. This announcement had Loki spinning around rapidly, his staff swinging around at the same speed and making Soleil jump back.
She growled at Loki before turning to look down at Thor and snarling. "Thor!!"
"I apologize, Lady Sol. But I will take care of Loki." Thor said vehemently as he glared up at the other Asgardian.
"I was this close! THIS close, Thor!" Soleil hissed angrily and narrowed her eyes at the God of Mischief before looking to Thor again with her ears flattened to the side. "An arm?"
While Loki slightly paled, Thor shook his head. "I will be returning him home, whole if you don't mind me asking."
"Not even a little piece?"
"I'm sorry, Lady Sol." Thor shook his head again. "I promise Loki will face the punishment he deserves to its fullest extent back on Asgard."
Soleil ears flattened backwards before she released a low growl. "If you guys decide you need someone to rip him to shreds. I would love to visit Asgard."
"You're not welcome." Loki stated, though he looked a tad bit paler as he stepped back and pointed the sceptre at her.
"I assume you're not, so I don't need to listen to you." Soleil said and looked back to Thor. "Don't mess this up, or a piece of Loki is not the only thing I will be tearing off!"
"Thank you." Thor bowed his head slightly.
Soleil took off into a sprint, directly at Loki which caused his and Thor's eyes to widen in panic after their agreement for her to not strike him. Loki charged up his sceptre and fired a beam or two, which she expertly dodged before jumping over the now frightened looking God.
Soleil bit back a snicker as she shifted into her large Lioness form and continued to nose dive down to the street floor. Still catching a bit of the ongoing conversation between the Asgardian brothers.
"Loki!" Thor yelled. "Turn off the Tesseract, or I'll destroy it!"
"You can't!" Loki said without missing a beat. "There is no stopping it. There is only...The War!"
Soleil insides clenched slightly at the sound of that but she could not pay it any mind and had to put her attention elsewhere, as it was need more 'elsewhere'.
She landed on one of the chariots that flew directly underneath her downwards path, and the speed of which she landed on it set it hurling down to the floor and blowing up. Simultaneously, Soleil spread her wings and beat them once to stop her momentum.
Some of Chitauri; having seeing this, screeched at her and began to pursue Soleil, which she took as her time to get going as well. Luck seemed to be on her side -or was it-; as the Chitauri followed her in their chariots, it just so happened that the 'K' fell off the Stark tower and landed on top of them.
Soleil looked up and saw strikes of lightning scattered over the balcony but all she could really think about was her 'baby', it was not even a week old, now her and Tony will have to think about reconstructed.
"Tony~" Soleil whined mentally, as she connected with Tony.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked not sounding too panicked due to the playfulness of Soleil's whine. "Loki didn't last as long as you would have liked in the fight against you?"
"Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to tango. As Thor so rudely cut in." Soleil said.
"How rude. I'll make sure to give him a stern talking to about etiquette, if you would like." Tony chuckled.
"Oh~ like you haven't cut in on me dancing with someone else before. So, you..Hush!" Soleil giggled.
"I was only doing what any caring boyfriend would do."
"Which was?"
"Making sure you were having a good time, and clearly. You were not with him."
"But if I was."
"Sol!" Tony growled playfully, knowing full well that she indeed was not having fun with that guy. He remembered it clearly.
They had been at a charity Gala and after making their rounds to greet other guest, Tony had gone off to get them both a drink. When he got back to where he had left Soleil, apparently someone thought it was wise to try and sweep her off her feet with a slow dance.
He knew Soleil was never much of a 'formal' dancer but he could sense the disdain for her partner at the time leaking off her from a far, even though she had a gorgeous fake smile gracing her features.
Tony was all too happy to physically cut in between the two of them when he saw the man's hand roaming lower down Soleil's back. Tony shoved both drink into the man's now free hands -lucky nothing spilling on anyone or breaking- before he hooked his arm around Soleil waist and pulled her close.
This was the good part, Soleil -bless her soul- was a phenomenal actor which she must have picked up from him over the past three years...has it really only been three years? Tony got to thinking.
But back to the Gala, Soleil coolly rested her head against Tony's shoulder and smirked at the man. She introduced Tony as her boyfriend like it was not an already none fact to the world, but apparently this man had to be living under rock to not have heard.
The man immediately paled and ended up stuttering a lot as he tried to introduce himself while also trying to ass-kiss. Neither Soleil or him were having it, but Soleil was the first to ask to go home and Tony did not need to be told twice.
Though before he left Tony whispered the man a threat of ever touching his woman again, he will personally end his entire career before he could even blink.
"You know I wasn't." Soleil giggled. "What was his name again. Allan? Adrian? August? Something..Kelfer. Maybe."
Tony sighed. "Who cares and good riddance. If I ever see him again, it will be too soon."
Soleil's laugh always sent a warm feeling to his chest, and once again Tony was seriously wondering how it's only been three years since they have met. He felt like he knows her as much as she knows him, as if they had been together for a lifetime and he could only hope that they still had the rest of their lifetime to be together.
"How are you holding up on your end?" Soleil asked, playfulness gone and back to work mode. He couldn't blame her really, they were in the middle of an alien invasion.
"Have a few tails on me. You?"
"Same as you."
"Stark! We're on your three. Sol, we're on your nine. Headed North-East." Natasha's voice cut in.
"Finally~, the cavalry is here." Soleil snickered, speaking through her mental radius -so everyone can hear her-.
"What? Did you stop for drive-through?" Tony sighed, his impatience showing just a tad bit. "Sol, you near?"
Soleil barrel rolled underneath him and expertly stopped herself before beating her wings hard to gain altitude again. Her 'tails' were not so luck as the collided with side of the a building.
Soleil caught up to him and nodded her head. "Hello, Sweetheart. Miss me?"
"Always, Kitten." Tony smiled.
"Now's not really the time you two." Natasha stated.
"Yeah, yeah." Soleil rolled her eyes and Tony chuckled.
"Swing up park. We're gonna lay them out for you." Tony ordered and increased the power in slightly.
Soleil followed beside him with ease as more Chitauri chariots seemed join their little train as they rounded the top of the Stark tower and proceeded downwards. Then they went around the back of the tower, down to street level once again, and making it toward the entrance of grand central station.
That is where it just so happened that the Quinjet was ready and waiting to fire a barrage of bullets at the Chitauri trailing after them. A portion of the group got blown to pieces but it was never gonna be that easy.
"Sir. Miss. We've got more incoming." Jarvis announced.
"Fine. Let's keep them occupied." Tony nodded. "Ready, Sol."
Soleil looked towards him with a fond expression despite her lioness form. "With you. Always."
Tony mentally cursed his heart to be still for how fast it was beating, and now certainly not from adrenaline alone. He cursed Soleil for making him such a sap and making his knees buckle over some of the sweetest things she says. He loves her, Tony was in love with her and if he makes it out of this alive. He was going to tell her just that.
"Alright. Let's go then." Tony nodded again as he began to fire his repulsor beams at incoming chariots.
Soleil broke off and swiftly circled a one of the high-rise buildings to get behind 'their' tail and flank them. Pushing herself to catch with Tony once again while also lessening the herd, as she practically batted some out of the sky or outright charged into them; sending them spiralling out of control and crashing.
Catching up with Tony; who had also cleared their oncoming targets, before he spoke. "Nicely done. Don't we make a great team. I get the head, you get the tail."
"It's horrible that you think I should get the butt end of this." Soleil snickered.
Tony chuckled. "We can switch whenever you want, Kitten~. I won't mind."
"Of course, you ...wouldn't.." Soleil trailed off as her ears perked upwards before looking up to see a giant Chitauri flying..no swimming through the the portal along with more of the smaller enemies. "I'm not seeing things, aren't I?"
"No...No, we are not." Tony said looking at the same beast of a Chitauri; leviathan, swimming downward and between the streets of Manhattan. Unloading more enemies from its sides, which made it appear to be tasked more as ship of some kind.
"Stark! Soleil! Are you two seeing this?" Steve asked from somewhere on the streets, Soleil having heard the sounds of the Quinjet going down. But at least; from how Steve sounded, they appeared to be fine despite the crash landing.
"Seeing.." Tony trailed off this time.
Soleil hissed in the direction of the leviathan. "We're still working on believing."
Tony seeming to have found his composure soon after. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
"Banner?" Steve questioned, which was understandable since none of them knew where Bruce or the Hulk had ended up after jumping off the Helicarrier.
"Just keep me posted." Tony ordered.
"This one's all your's, Tones." Soleil stated as she was not suited for taking this type of enemy down. Despite her large form, she was probably only as big as its head at best meaning she could only do so much. "Not really my department."
"No worries." Tony said. "Jarvis, find me a sweet spot."
Leaving Tony and Jarvis to deal with that, Soleil flew off -taking a few Chitauri out in her path, as many as she could- before finding Steve, Natasha and Clint leaning against on overturned taxi.
Soleil shifted to her human form as she ran due to the momentum of her landing before dropping to a slide and ending up next to the three of them. "What'd I miss~?"
"As you have been clearly in the thick of it. Nothing much." Natasha smirked.
"What's the story in the sky?" Steve asked, and Soleil sighed.
All work, no play with this one. But I guess that's just who he is. Soleil thought to herself as she looked to Steve. "Tony's working on finding a weak spot for the leviathan."
"Leviathan? That's what we're calling it?" Steve asked.
"Why not?! You got any better ideas, Star Boy?" Soleil raised a brow playfully.
It took a moment for Steve to respond. "No..No. Leviathan is good."
Soleil nodded and turned to Clint Barton as he was staring at her wide eyed. Soleil giggled knowing it was due to her shift and other form, while she held out her hand to him. "You're not the first to be stunned by large Lioness form~! Nice to finally meet you, Agent Barton."
Clint seems to have found his composure after Natasha nudged him and he shot out his hand to shake with Soleil. "Nice to meet you too, Ms. Marcella. Though I wish it were under better circumstances."
"Well, we are in the middle of an invasion. And you were being controlled for a good amount of time. So, no worries. I felt that. And please, Soleil is fine." Soleil gave a firm yet comforting -empathetic- squeeze before letting go.
"Loki controlled you too?!" Clint's eyes were wide as the middle of Soleil sentence was more important than the rest at the moment, to him at least.
Soleil rubbed her temple, still feeling some pain in her head but nothing too unbearable. "Felt like I had an anvil dropped on my head, but my abilities fought it off."
"I see." Clint nodded slowly before they all focused on the ongoing screaming and panic surrounding them as civilians literally ran for their lives to get away. Or at least the ones that could. "We've got civilians still trapped up here."
Just as Clint said that a group of chariot flew over them with one God of mischief; who just so happened to be leading them. Soleil let out a low growl, reminding herself to take a piece out of Thor when she found the chance. Whether verbally tear into him or physically, she'll decide later.
"Loki." Steve breathed out as he followed the artillery of shots fired down at the streets by the group of chariots. The people screamed and scattered in different direction, no one knowing which way was the safest to go. "They're fish in barrel down there."
Soleil ears twitched and swivel to face in front of them as she crouched lower as a shot fired over her head and shattered the rest of the window of the taxi's driver side door. The four's attention turned to chitauri beginning to land on the street floor with lance/spear type weapons that had the ability to also fire beams of energy.
Clint move forward to swiftly hide behind another over turned car while Natasha covered his back by firing a few shots at the closest aliens.
Crouching back down, Natasha looked between Soleil and Steve. "We got this. It's good. Go."
"Do you think you can hold them off?" Steve asked the two spies.
"Captain..." Clint started off as he hit a switch on his bow that indicated a change in the type of arrowhead he was using, his mechanical quiver moving per command. "It would be my genuine pleasure."
After that Clint proceeded to pull out an arrow, straightening up and firing at the nearing Chitauri. Nailing one right in the forehead, and as the body went down; some bullets fired off from the arrowhead.
Soleil was slightly intrigued by Hawkeye's weapon of choice, a simple bow and arrow could only do some much. But for some reason the thought brought her back to the cave in Afghanistan, when the Ten Ring's leader spoke about the bow and arrow being the pinnacle of weapon's once upon a time.
She quickly shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts, knowing that the SHIELD upgrades and customization's to Clint's weapon were something far more better than what the bow and arrow in simplest form ever could imagine to be.
"Soleil." Steve called out and Soleil snapped back to attention.
"Ready?" Soleil asked.
"Let's go." Steve said and raised from his crouch to get moving. Soleil did the same, as Natasha stood up and started firing shots once again.
Soleil and Steve made a break for the side of the bridge before jumping over the railing, Soleil shifted back into her average size lioness form and landed on the ground. Steve landed on top of a bus beside her as some chariots began shooting from above them.
As Steve jumped off the bus onto the roof a car, a large explosion sounded off right behind them. It made Soleil quickly moved to the sidelines while Steve was thrown from the roof of the car, but being the super solider he is; Captain America did a front flip and easily landed on his feet.
The both continued on their path; having to avoid scrambling civilians, fallen debris from several surrounding buildings and overturned cars as they went. Not to mention the ongoing barraged of beams still being fired at the two of them.
They soon came across a group of NYPD trying to hold off the Chitauri to the best of their capabilities, which gave them an 'A' for effort in Soleil's books.
She came to a skidding stop in front of them, nails digging into the concreted of the road to slow her down from body checking anyone while Steve landed on of the roofs of their cars.
"Sunbeam!" One of the officers said and Soleil nodded, while Steve began to bark off orders.
"You need men in these buildings. There are people inside and they're going to run into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or through the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th." Steve breathed out.
The other officer beside the first one looked at Steve confused. "Why the hell should I take orders from you?!"
Soleil knew something like this would happen, and she could not blame them for lack of faith and trust on a group of superheroes that just shows up and decided to take charge of the situation. Soleil shifted back into her human form, the police officers's eyes widening but she's been through this song and dance more than once.
"It would be wise of you to listen. The more you show your hesitancy and mistrust, the more lives will be lost. And that will be on you! Because while we are trying to fight off these creature, it is your job to protect the civilians."
"But, Ms. Marcella!" One of the cops started off but it was immediately cut off by some chariots coming around from one of the buildings and some of the enemies jumping down to join the soiree.
Steve took the two the landed on the car he was on, while Soleil took the two who landed near her. Running forward she grabbed one of their lances that was aimed to fire at her and aimed it at the other. She made sure to give it a kick in the solar plexus region -if it has one- before prying the lance out of its owner's hands.
She took the lance and stabbed it into the one on the ground, impaling its head before the other one grabbed her from behind. Soleil quickly extended her claws and sunk them into the Chitauri's arms holding her neck.
The screech it release was extremely annoying at a close distance to Soleil's ears, but she pushed on as she pried the arms from around her. Spinning around Soleil crossed the Chitauri's arm -that her claws still had hold of- and brought him downwards to knee the alien in the head.
The Chitauri fell to its knees and screeched in pain once again, as Soleil removed her claws from its flesh. Right after she grabbed the alien by the jaw and turned its head violently to expose the flesh of its neck.
Soleil sunk her claws into it and pulled whatever the Chitauri was made out of through the gap before letting it fall limp at her feet. As she finished up, so did Steve though it appeared he had been watching her fight and stood there looking at her in awe along with the NYPD.
"What? Did you think I only fought in my lioness form?" Soleil snickered as she shook her hands -partially- clean. Her words seemed to cause all the men looking away, slightly embarrassed.
Either way, her and Steve's little display of power -capability- difference seemed to set the head officer's mind straight.
"I need men in those buildings, lead the people down and away from the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th." The officer dealt out orders Steve had said previously and the rest of the cops took to their newly appointed task.
With that settled, the cops would hopefully take a small weight off their shoulders with having to worry about civilians running around on the streets. Steve and Soleil decided to make their way back to the spies they had left to defend against the Chitauri.