The Pentagon
Washington DC, Capitol of the United States of America
Natasha watched as Jane crumpled to the ground, Thanos standing over her. She glared at him in anger. "What the hell was that for?" she snapped, wanting to move forward.
Loki's hand clamped down on her wrist. She glared at him next, but he shook his head. "Not wise to get him angry," he advised.
Thanos just chuckled. "I am impressed that she managed to kill the Other."
Natasha cocked her head. "Who?"
"The Other," Loki supplied. "First lieutenant, right-hand Chitauri, and anything else that qualifies as his best . . . Chitauri."
Natasha folded her arms, her gaze burning into Thanos. "You still didn't have to knock her out."
It was then that she heard Loki's voice in her head. "Distract him."
"Already doing that, Halloween master," she retorted in her head.
"Would you rather seen me kill her?" Thanos asked, backing up towards the portal.
Natasha followed him. "I still don't get why you want Earth."
"Midgard?" Thanos snorted. "Pathetic. Weak. Scared. Need I say more?"
"You forgot one thing," Natasha replied.
Thanos cocked his head. "What?"
Natasha smiled. "You forgot the Avengers."
Thanos's smile disappeared, replaced by a snarl, and he jumped at her, but Loki's scepter came up and hit Thanos in the chest. A staff similar appeared in Thanos's hands, and he and Loki started fighting. While Loki had the magic, Thanos had the strength. Overall, they were pretty even matched.
Natasha watched the two go at it for a few minutes, then ran over to Jane. She shook her for a few seconds, then watched as Jane's eyes fluttered. "Jane," she whispered. "How do you collapse the portal?"
Jane whispered something, and Natasha leaned down to hear. "Tesseract . . . " she whispered again.
Natasha looked over at the portal, then saw the spinning blue cube in the center of the portal. Natasha looked over at Loki to see that he and Thanos were still going at it, and most they were most likely not going to stop soon.
That meant she had to do this.
She ran over towards a few boxes, looking through them. There weren't any gloves, and there weren't any spears or rods she could use.
She looked back over her shoulder at the Tesseract and made a decision. Before she could change her mind, she whipped both guns from their holsters and started firing at it.
Within four shots, the Tesseract - and the portal - exploded.
***
Gibbs heard the explosion from where he, Steve, and Freddie were fighting. Simultaneously, they all turned to where the smoke was coming from.
It was right over the Pentagon.
Gibbs's blood ran cold, and he raised a hand to his ear. "Sixteen!" he shouted.
"I'm fine," Abby's voice replied. She sounded a little shaky. "It came from the opposite side of the building."
"Sorry 'bout that," Natasha's voice came next. "Kinda had a cosmic cube explosion."
"The Tesseract?" Thor asked.
"The Tesseract," Natasha confirmed. "Loki was - is - kind of busy."
"With what?" DiNozzo asked, coming up with his hand to his ear.
"Oh, only the supreme ruler of the Chitauri by the name of - "
"Thanos," Thor growled.
Another explosion sounded, and this time, Natasha's scream rang through their ears. Gibbs and DiNozzo exchanged glances, then took off at a run for the Pentagon.
***
Loki blocked more and more of Thanos's strikes. Natasha was standing over Jane, talking into the comm. Thanos stopped suddenly, and Loki stumbled a little bit. "There are still Chitauri in the city that will not fall," Thanos growled. "We will not be stopped." He turned to Jane. "And I will kill both girls if I have to in able to get you to stop."
He aimed his spear at Natasha. She looked up slowly, then her eyes met Loki's. He read the look in them. Just do it.
Loki took a deep breath, then teleported right over to Thanos and dug his scepter into his chest. Thanos roared, and a blast of energy flew from his spear and slammed into Natasha's stomach. She screamed and fell to the ground, and after that, Thanos exploded.
***
Stark heard both explosions, and he heard Natasha scream. He hovered in the air, unsure of what to do, when the Leviathan he had been trying to sidetrack shuddered and fell to the ground.
So did all of the Chitauri chariots in the sky.
And all of the Chitauri fighting in the streets.
Stark turned tail and flew at the fasted speed he could towards the Pentagon. "Seven, what happened?" he asked.
Static came over the comm, then Loki answered. "Thanos is dead."
Stark sighed in relief, then landed by the Pentagon. The ashes of the portal were smoldering, and in the corner, both Loki and Jane were leaning over Natasha, who was crouched on the ground in a fetal position. "What happened to her?" Stark demanded.
Jane looked up. "Thanos," she replied simply.
Loki put his hand on Natasha's forehead, and his skin lit up with a faint gold tinge. Natasha slowly uncoiled herself, revealing the burned part of her catsuit where Thanos had hit her. "Thanks."
Both Stark and Loki helped her up when they heard thuds and running from outside. Gibbs, Steve, and DiNozzo were the first ones on the scene, Freddie hitching a ride on Gibbs's shoulder. Abby and Ducky were next with Ziva limping behind them. Borin, Clint, and Maria came from the opposite side, and the roof collapsed in even more as the Hulk and Thor landed.
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "All a lot of fuss over little ol' me!"
Abby hugged her. "We're just glad you're all right!"
"Now to face the press," Steve muttered.
"My favorite thing!" Stark replied.
***
NCIS Navy Yard
Washington DC, Capitol of the United States of America
Gibbs walked into the bullpen a few days later, noticing that DiNozzo and McGee were the only ones there. Natasha had been talking with Vance a lot lately, and Ziva was with Bruce and Ducky. Clint and Jane were hiding out at the FBI, Borin and Maria of course at CGIS. Stark was talking to the news people, Steve was at the Pentagon like usual, while Thor and Loki were in Asgard talking to Odin, Thor's father.
Gibbs looked at his desk, then smiled. "Is Freddie with Abby?" he asked.
DiNozzo nodded. "She, Stark, and Freddie make the ultimate science trio."
The door to Vance's office opened, and Natasha followed by Vance stepped out. Gibbs folded his arms as DiNozzo and McGee stood, looking up.
Vance looked down at them. "There's someone that wants to talk to all of you when you get the chance," he informed them. "And call your friends from SHIELD, too."
"Understood," Gibbs replied as DiNozzo picked up the phone to talk.
"Meet in MTAC when you come back," Vance added before leading Natasha into MTAC.
"So what devil wants to talk us down now?" DiNozzo asked curiously.
***
Natasha entered MTAC, and Vance closed the door behind her. She turned to look at who was up on the screen, and her eyes widened.
Director Fury.
She swallowed. "Good afternoon, Director."
Fury nodded curtly. "Afternoon to you as well, Agent Romanoff. Having fun?"
"I've nearly died of gamma radiation and I helped fight off what felt like World War III," Natasha countered. "Does that sound like fun?"
Fury snorted. "You're not where you're supposed to be."
Vance turned to look at Natasha. "You're in both NCIS and SHIELD. A double agent by many standards."
The door swung open again. "She's made her choice," Gibbs countered as he, followed by DiNozzo, McGee, Ziva, Ducky, and Abby with Freddie on her shoulder walked in. "I support it fully."
"Who brought in the pirate?" DiNozzo wondered, looking up at Fury.
Natasha snickered. "Director Fury of SHIELD, this is Agents Gibbs, DiNozzo, David, McGee, and forensic scientist Abby."
Fury raised an eyebrow. "And is that Agent Clarke's spider robot?"
Freddie's offended chirp filled the air, and Abby folded her arms, glaring at Fury. "He's got feelings, remember that," she warned him.
Fury raised his hands. "I'm not saying anything else until - "
"And I keep saying that I know this place around like the back of my hand!" Borin's voice came as she slammed the door open.
"Yeesh," Maria muttered as she followed Borin in, holding the door open for Clint and Jane. "I didn't mean anything." She looked up at the screen and sighed. "Sir."
"Agent Hill," Fury acknowledged. "I'm surprised you're there as well. As with Agent Barton."
"Guess Fornell didn't file that complaint about a missing agent," Clint commented thoughtfully, standing by Natasha and folding his arms. Jane stood back, twirling her hair around her finger. "You didn't hear about that?"
"Shocking," another voice said as the door opened one final time. "The all-knowing Director of SHIELD actually didn't hear about one of his best agents being missing?"
"Mr. Stark," Fury growled as Stark led the way into the room. "Captain. Doctor. Thor." He narrowed his one eye. "Loki?"
"Director," they all acknowledged. Loki just glared right back at Fury.
"What's he doing here?" Fury asked.
"He's saved my life twice," Natasha piped up. "And Thor got me out of the gamma problem."
"Nice job, Asgardians," Fury told them gruffly.
Thor and Loki nodded in acknowledgement. "So what exactly are we doing here again?" Loki asked.
"Figuring out why Agent Romanoff was at NCIS instead of SHIELD," Fury replied.
Steve tensed. "Is that a bad thing, Director?" he asked.
"She qualifies as a double agent," Fury growled. "She has to choose one or the other."
Everyone turned to look at Natasha, who had gone pale in the face. "What?" she whispered.
Even Vance looked a little uncomfortable at that. "Director, I don't have a full problem if she goes between any of them," he told him. "Really, I don't. As long as she tells me next time."
Fury shook his head. "One or the other, Romanoff."
"Are you kidding me?" Gibbs growled, stepping up by Natasha. "If you seriously think that you could break her from here, you're wrong."
"Natasha's not doing anything wrong," Bruce added. "Did she hide anything from you besides the fact that she's at NCIS?"
"Stay out of this, doctor," Fury warned.
"The Avengers are part of SHIELD, we certainly can't stay out of this," Stark snarled.
"Then take a vote," Vance suggested. "All in favor for Agent Romanoff staying where she is?"
Gibbs, Steve, DiNozzo, Stark, Ziva, Bruce, Maria, Ducky, Thor, Loki, McGee, Clint, Jane, and Abby all raised their hands simultaneously. Fury looked pretty ticked, but Natasha's smile couldn't be beaten. "Outnumbered, Director," she said sweetly. "Sorry."
Fury didn't say anything. He just quit the call.
Vance smiled at Natasha, holding out his hand. "Sorry about the legs," Natasha apologized, shaking.
Vance just grinned wider. "Just don't make me that ticked again."
"No promises," Natasha replied.
There was silence. It was Stark who broke it. "So, anyone up for shawarma?"
***
Classic Stark. Always wanting the shawarma. :)
So this is the last chapter! But there is an epilogue coming. And after the epilogue, I have a few choices for you reading wise. ;)
So stay tuned! Epilogue coming in a few minutes!