⤷ may 4, 2012
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From the portal, a shadow emerges from the darkness of space, soaring down to them with a roar that makes her stomach churn uncomfortably. It looked like something from the old horror movies Ben and May showed her, except in real life; big and armoured and flying right over them, deploying Chitauri soldiers left and right.
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve checks, not entirely believing the sight. Irina feels for him, really.
This...was the weirdest thing she's ever seen.
And that's having watched The Human Centipede.
"Seeing," Tony's voice says in her ear. "Still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
"Banner?" Steve asks.
Irina's brows furrow slightly in confusion. What had happened to Banner? Last she'd heard, he had apparently Hulk'd out.
"Just keep me posted. J.A.R.V.I.S, find me a soft spot."
Irina glances up just as a group of Chitauri gliders came soaring towards them. She curses. "Get down!" She warns the others, just as fire is rained upon them.
Romanoff and Barton dive behind a few abandoned cabs, and Steve lifts his shield, grunting as he takes a few hits defending them, but he digs his heels into the ground and holds his ground. Irina sucks in a breath, curling her fingers, before she shoots out a blast of blue energy, much like Loki's scepter, and watches it destroy a glider, the Chitauri soldier flying off and somewhere to the ground with a cry.
When the fighters fly away, her and Steve run to the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, ducking behind the cab to catch their breath.
"We've got civilians still trapped up here," says Barton.
Another crew of Chitauri glide over them, one figure in glittering gold armour, making him stick out from the rest. She narrows her eyes on that figure, watching him wreck havoc down the street.
"Loki," Steve points out. He looks back at them, making eye contact with Irina, who grimaces. "They're fish in a barrel down there."
Blasts of blue are shot towards them, and Romanoff brings out two pistols, shooting at the Chitauri soldiers that had jumped down from their gliders and were stalking towards them. Barton hid behind the cab across from them, bow in hand as he looks over at them.
Romanoff looks at Steve. "We got this. It's good," she assures him. "Go."
Steve looks over at Barton. "You think you can hold them off?"
"Captain," Barton looks back at them, clicking a button on his bow as he smirks, "it would be my genuine pleasure." He reaches behind him, taking out an arrow and loading his bow with expertise, standing up and turning to the approaching soldiers. He releases the arrow with no hesitation, striking a Chitauri in the head, before multiple shots ring out, taking down various with one shot.
Irina's eyebrows climb to her hairline in surprise.
Rather impressive.
"See, now that's a Katniss Everdeen," she mutters, shaking her head. "Stark should know better."
"Roberts," Steve addresses her with haste. Her eyes quickly dart to him as he jerks his chin out to the street, gesturing, "you're with me."
"Of course, Captain," she nods, flashing Steve a soft grimace as they both rise and run out to the street.
They leap onto a bus, sprinting away from explosions that rain down behind them. The heat and familiarity of battle link their minds for a moment, as Irina knows when to take Steve's hand, letting him throw her ahead as he jumps off a car the moment it flips over. The captain rolls into a landing, meeting her as they continue to sprint as fast as possible down the street.
"You handle the NYPD," Irina says to him, voice jerking and shaking as they run, "I'll get some of these guys out of the air and cover you."
"Right," Steve pants. They diverge as Irina stops, whipping around while Steve continues. She stretches out her hands, feeling the power flare inside of her, aching to be let out.
Let us free, it cries.
Let us help.
Let us aid.
Irina curls her fingers, pulling the cries out from her body. The energy forms in the palm of her hands, glowing a light blue as it twists and warms the surface of her skin. She throws her arms out when the time feels right, the balls of energy shooting out of her hands and hitting two Chitauri gliders flying overhead. She watches them explode, one of the ones she hit flying into another and taking it out.
They fall towards her position, but are directed away at the last second as a blur of red, white and blue comes from over her head. She watches it hit all three falling gliders, hitting them away from her.
Irina blinks in surprise, before the blur comes back towards her, and Steve appears at her side, reaching up and grabbing his shield. He looks at her, checking her once over. "Done," he tells her. "The authorities will lead civilians down underground. A perimeter's been set up all the way to 39th. That should keep them in."
Irina nods, letting out a breath. "Alright. Let's get back to our resident Mr. and Mrs. Smith," she says.
Steve fixes her with a confused look, and her lips spread into an amused smile. She gives a one-sided shrug. "It's a movie. My neighbour showed it to me," she answers.
The captain shrugs, taking it. He nods back in the direction they came, and Irina nods in return. Wordlessly, the two return to their teammates — god, they were actually that now, weren't they? A real, functioning team.
Shocker.
Steve leaps ahead of her, pushing away two Chitauri soldiers with his shield. She lets out a small grunt as she narrowly dodges a blast, fixing a soldier with a glare and flicking out her hand. A dart of blue hits the Chitauri, sending it flying back with a screech.
Irina huffs.
It was deserved.
A crackle of lightning alerts them all to Thor's arrival. The god stumbles in his landing, and Irina can spot a small trickle of blood coming from his abdomen. Obviously, Loki managed to get in a sneaky hit.
They approach him, Steve the first to lead the conversation, taking charge. "What's the story upstairs?" He asks.
"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable," answers Thor.
"Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys," Tony says from the comms.
"How do we do this?" Romanoff asks.
"As a team," says Steve.
Thor glowers ahead of them at Stark Tower. "I have unfinished business with Loki."
"Yeah? Well, get in line," Barton mutters angrily, fixing his arrows with new tips.
"Save it," Steve says. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top. He's going to need us to..." he quickly trails off at the sound of an approaching motorcycle.
Curious, Irina glances behind the captain, spotting Banner looking more worse for wear than last time she saw him, cruising up on a motorcycle. He gets off as they approach, and looks around at the chaos surrounding them.
"So," says Banner, "this all seems horrible."
"I've seen worse," retorts Romanoff, checking him once over.
"Sorry," Banner apologizes.
The ends of Romanoff's lips flicker upwards. "No, we could use a little worse," she says.
"Stark, we got him," Steve says to the comms.
"Banner?" Tony speaks up.
"Just like you said."
"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
Up ahead of the street they were on, Irina spots the Iron Man suit fly out from behind one of the towering buildings, the same big flying worm they saw from before chasing after him, large mouth open in a roar.
Thor snarls, twirling his hammer in his hand. Irina's eyebrows rise, eyes widening, and Romanoff frowns in confusion. "I — I don't see how that's a party," says the agent.
Irina squints her eyes. "It kind of reminds me of my Sweet Sixteen, funny enough," she mutters.
Barton fixes her with a confused look. "How in the hell could this —" he begins. Irina's lips twitch upwards in amusement.
Banner glances at them, before he turns and approaches the coming beast.
"Dr. Banner!" Steve calls out, stepping forwards. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
Banner looks over his shoulder at them with a grin. "That's my secret, Cap," he says, stopping and looking back. "I'm always angry."
As Banner turns back around, Irina watches as his skin turns shades greener, his body growing. Muscles ripped the baggy shirt he was in, his hands growing into a large, clenched fist. He grows and grows, before the Hulk is there, throwing a punch right into the Chitauri space worm's face, stopping it in its advance.
The alien's tail came up, its armour breaking apart from the Hulk's hit. Irina stumbles back a step as Tony flew overhead, stopping above them. "Hold on!" He says, reaching out an arm and shooting a small missile at the beast.
Irina ducks behind a car alongside Barton as the Chitauri worm explodes from the missile, a piece of armour just narrowly missing her and the agent.
The beast falls away, and from the buildings surrounding them, Chitauri soldiers screech at the seven of them, war cries sounding the air.
The Hulk roars back as they formulate into a circle, readying themselves for the battle ahead. Irina curls a ball of energy in between her two hands, folding and stretching her fingers as she holds it, glaring up at the enemy above. She finds herself between Steve and Romanoff, who loads her gun again and cocks it.
The Avengers Initiative was finally a success.
"Guys," Romanoff mutters, looking up at the portal. Irina follows her gaze, cursing under her breath when the sight of more of the Chitauri army come through. Someone had to deal with that, one way or another.
"Call it, Captain," says Tony.
"All right, listen up," Steve begins. "Until we can close up that portal our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash," he orders.
Barton looks over. "Can you give me a lift?" He asks.
"Right. Better clench up, Legolas," Tony says to Barton, grabbing him from behind and flying up. Irina watches them go.
Steve turns to Thor. "Thor, you've got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up."
Thor swung his hammer aggressively in his hand, before flying up into the sky. Steve turns to her and Romanoff. "You two and me, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk..." he turns to the Hulk, who whips around with a snarl, signifying his attention. Steve points up, "...Smash."
The Hulk grins.
Irina watches as he leaps off the ground and onto the buildings around them, grabbing Chitauri soldiers and throwing them away with a snarling roar.
She looks at Steve and Romanoff, letting out a long sigh at the fighting to come. "Let's go," she says.
They break off, not straying too far from one another as they fend off Chitauri soldiers. Irina throws out balls of energy, one right after the other, at the coming enemy, taking them down with all she can muster.
She finds not having used her powers much for the past five years made her have loads to let out now. Which, in all honesty, helped.
"Stark, you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail," Barton says into her ear.
"I'm just trying to keep them off the streets," explains Tony.
"Well, they can't bank worth a damn," says Barton. Irina hears an explosion sound from above. "So find a tight corner."
"I will roger that."
Irina finds herself smiling despite it all as she carelessly throws a ball towards a Chitauri soldier sprinting towards her, gun raised. The hit strikes it, and the alien falls in a miniature explosion of blue energy.
"Nice call," sounds Tony from the comms after a moment. "What else you got?"
"Well, Thor is taking a squadron down on Sixth."
"And he didn't invite me," Tony clicks his tongue.
"How mean of him," Irina chuckles as she turns around, surveying her area. Despite the loads of chaos and destruction, she finds herself clear from any Chitauri at the moment. "Want me to tell a teacher? Get the principal on the case?"
"You know, the teasing isn't helping your case, Roberts," Tony snarks.
Irina rolls her eyes, before the sound of a weapon whirring up catches her attention. She whips around, spotting a platoon of Chitauri flying overhead. One shoots at her, and before she can dive for cover, it manages to hit her in the shoulder.
Burning pain flares from her right shoulder, and she cries out, clutching it as she stumbles behind a cab, squeezing her eyes shut as the platoon flies overhead, a few extra blasts as they fly by are shot her way that thankfully miss.
The sound of engines come from above. Irina peels an eye open, flinching when a loud THUD comes from in front of her, but when it's the Iron Man suit, she lets out a breath of relief. "God, you just scared the shit out of me," she sighs.
"You good?" Tony asks, and she can see him checking her once over from beneath his mask, before his gaze narrows on her burnt shoulder, and the trickles of blood sliding through her fingers.
Irina gives a weak nod. "Totally," she huffs out, catching her breath. "Just peachy, even. Let me just catch a breath, here. I didn't sign up for aliens from space."
"Yeah, none of us did," snorts Tony. He reaches out a hand. "Come on, you got this."
She peers up at him, grimacing. "Do I?" She mutters.
She was so tired. So hurt.
She didn't want to come back to this.
So why did she?
Why was she here?
Tony opens his face plate, brown meeting brown as he frowns at her. "Come on, Irina," he mutters, "you can. I know it. You always were the more stronger of us," he says with a wry smirk.
Irina frowns, feeling her eyebrows pinch together in pain as she regards him with a sad look. "...I don't remember who that person was, St — Tony," she admits. Tony looks at her in confusion, and she continues. "I don't remember who Irina Stark was. I can't...I'm not whoever your little sister was. I'm someone...something else, now. I — I can't be who you want me to be."
Tony frowns, pain erupting in his eyes as he takes in her words. He sniffs, averting his gaze as it flickers to the side for a moment, before he meets her eye again. He gives a singular nod. "Alright," he says.
Irina blinks in confusion.
"Fine by me," Tony continues. "We work it out, you know? We start from Base One, go from there, but we don't let it be nothing, you hear me? Whatever happened to you, we work past it. We'll get there," he looks her in the eyes, offering a crooked smile, "because I want to know my sister again, one way or the other."
Irina grimaces, blinking harshly as she feels tears coming to her eyes for some godforsaken reason. She sniffs. "God, you're an asshole, Stark," she huffs.
Tony flashes her a grin. "Don't I know it," he says, wiggling his outstretched hand at her. "And it's Tony. I told you."
She gives a small roll of her eyes, taking his hand with her uninjured arm. Tony pulls her up gently, just as a voice comes from within his helmet. "Stark, do you hear me?" Fury's voice reaches her ears. Irina frowns in confusion. What did Fury need?
"You have a missile headed straight for the city."
Tony meets her eye, a shine of horror in both their eyes.
Oh, dear god.
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