Wake Up
The Hulk let out another loud roar and all of us, all of the Avengers, stood in a circle watching the Chitauri, Steve on my left and Natasha on my right.
"Guys..." Natasha's worried voice alerted me to more of the massive alien ships flying through the portal.
"Call it, Captain," Tony's voice came from the other side.
I watched at Steve stepped forwards so he could see us all. "All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal our priority is containment," his head snapped to Clint. "Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you get the perimeter. Anythings gets more than three blocks out you turn it back, or you turn it to ash."
Clint looked to Tony. "Can you give me a lift?"
"Right. Better clench up, Legolas," Tony told him as he grabbed Barton by the back and flew up.
"Thor," Steve continued. "You gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightening. Light the bastards up." Thor didn't reply, instead he swung his hammer round until he had enough speed to fly up, too, leaving Steve looking to me and Nat.
"You two and me, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here," I nodded as he spun to look at The Hulk. "And Hulk....smash."
The Hulk grinned before launching himself into the air and onto a building.
~
I was growing tired quickly, my joints aching from fighting and limbs in pain from taking several hits. Despite being a few meters away, I could hear Steve's loud grunts of pain as he fought more Chitauri, quickly disposing of them. Nat was quieter, yet I could still hear her yells every once in a while. It wasn't until I saw her pinned against the car struggling that I ran up and shot the Chitauri in the shoulder, giving Nat the chance to take it's weapon and shoot it with it. A noise behind us panicked the two of us, and we spun round, weapons raised, to find Steve.
I sighed in relief. Nat lowered her weapon and rested against the car and I put my head in my hands to stop it from reeling; I was fatigued and dizzy by now.
"You all right, Rose?" Steve concerned voice made me lift up my head and open my eyes.
I gave him a drowsy nod. "Just peachy, Cap. Yourself?"
Before he could reply, Nat spoke up. "Captain, none of this is going to mean a damned thing if we don't close that portal."
The three of us glanced up at it and I winced at the sight of yet more Chitauri. These things must procreate more than bunnies.
"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," Steve admitted.
I shrugged. "Well, maybe it's not about guns. If they haven't worked so far. I mean, Loki comes from a place where they don't exactly use many guns to fight with, right?" I suggested.
Natasha looked up at it with a determined look. Steve noticed. "If you wanna get up there, you're going to need a ride."
I watched as Nat looked up at the Chitauri's flying devices. "I got a ride." She walked to the other side of the bridge, calling back to Steve. "I could use a boost, though."
He backed up and readied his shield as I moved out of the way behind him. "You sure about this?" I asked her nervously.
"Yeah," she replied, not so convincingly. "It's gonna be fun." and with that, she ran and leapt onto Cap's shield as he pushed upwards, propelling her until she latched onto one of the Chitauri flying past.
"Okay, that was really cool," I muttered and Steve just shook his head at me.
"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked again, eyeing my probably bruised cheek (from where debris had hit me earlier) and my slight limp (from being knocked to the floor by a Chitauri). His hand was resting on my shoulder in a friendly way, but as I looked at it and then into his concerned, blue eyes, I felt a shiver. I shrugged off his hand.
"Sure. Ready to go when you are, Old Man," I joked and he grinned before we were suddenly shot at, Steve's fast reflexes causing him to lift up his shield in protection.
When he lowered it, I saw several Chitauri creeping towards up, weapons raised and ready.
"Then let's go," he simply said before rushing forward and slamming his shield against one of the Chitauri's heads.
I sucked in a deep breath before following after him, reloading my gun as I followed before turning and shooting one in the leg, it dropping to it's knees before I shot at it again, this time in the head, before it fell. I span just in time to block a hit from another one and kicked it back only to have Steve turn around and slam his shield into it. I nodded a thank you at him briefly before turning to another one.
Shot after shot after shot Steve and I fought the small army gathered around us, the two of us becoming increasingly fatigued and almost ready to give up. But even in the moments where I faltered, something about Steve helping me up or nodding at me from across the street brought a new energy to my fighting and I found the strength to hit back.
The sound of someone's voice in my ear startled me, and I realised I hadn't payed attention until I heard mention of civilians trapped, and Steve's voice saying, "I'm on it," before he dragged himself up and began to walk off.
"Hey!" I yelled at him, following after like a puppy. "Where do you think you're going?"
"People are trapped in a building being held hostage by the Chitauri, I can't just leave them, Rose," he told me firmly, quickening his pace until he was jogging.
I huffed. "I'm not telling you to leave them just give me a bit of warning so I can mentally prepare myself. I'll cover you," I told him and he merely nodded and came to a stop.
I could see at least three Chitauri from the broken window, and Steve pointed up. "That's my entry. Stay here, no matter what. Help civilians out, keep the outside Chitauri at bay. Got that?"
I gave him a half hearted salute and reloaded my gun. "Roger that, Captain,". He rolled his eyes before launching himself from the top of a car and diving in through the window. "Show off..." I muttered to no one in particular but in my earpiece I heard Clint distinctly laughing at me.
I patiently waited for Steve to return and kept myself busy by catching my breath and scanning the area once, twice, three times until a crash above me caught my attention. Sharp shards of glass showered me as I raised my arms to cover my face and a body landed heavily on the car. I lowered my arms to see Steve lying face down, looking utterly pained.
I hurried over. "Captain? You good?" I prodded him with my gun until I heard a strained groan. "I take it that it went well, then?"
Steve slid off the car and stood up, his chest expanding heavily (making it very hard not to stare). He said nothing, ignoring me, not even hearing me as he stared at the ground then up at the previously trapped people being led to safety. I placed my hand on his cheek to catch his attention and he looked at me with his cool eyes. "Don't dwell," I told him, being serious for once. "What's important is that you saved them. Now we fight together."
He swallowed hard. "Thank you, Rose," he placed his hand over mine briefly before letting them both fall. His determined demeanour returned swiftly.
I opened my mouth to say something more jovial, but stopped short as Thor crashed down next to us, the three of us resuming our fight until a shot from one of the Chitauri knocked Steve off his feet. I quickly ran over to haul him back up as Thor finished off the rest. Steve clutched his side as Thor walked over.
"Ready for another bout?" He asked Steve warily.
Steve panted, "What, you getting sleepy?"
Thor just looked at Steve, as if resisting an eye roll before holding out his arm for his hammer to come flying back. I reached behind my hand and tightened my pony tail before sighing deeply, ready to start again.
"I can close it," Nat's voice caught my attention. "Does anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!"
"Do it!" Steve shouted down the ear piece.
"Wait, no!" I heard Tony's voice and my heart lifted that he was safe.
"Stark, these things are still coming," Steve argued back.
"I got a nuke coming in and it's gonna blow in less than a minute," he countered.
"Shit," I breathed out, panic coursing through me once again.
"And I know just where to put it..." Tony continued vaguely.
Then it hit me what his plan was; he was going though the portal. I shared a scared glance with Steve, who frowned. "Stark, you know that's a one way trip."
Tony felt silent and we merely stood staring at the sky as we saw the faint outline of Tony holding the nuke and flying straight into the portal. I couldn't help the weak shout that escaped my mouth as I gripped tightly onto Steve's bicep, praying he'd come out quickly but the seconds ticked by without any sign of him. Then the Chitauri began to fall, all of them dropping to the ground.
Steve took a sad glance at me before uttering to Nat, "Close it," and soon the portal shut, disappearing.
I was heartbroken, until I saw the body of Tony falling from the sky and a smile spread across my face. "He made it!"
"Son of a gun..." Steve shook his head in disbelief.
And then I noticed he wasn't stopping. "He's not slowing down!" Thor noted, beginning to swing his hammer to get him until the Hulk, with an almighty roar, crashed into Tony, then into a building before they slid down and landed on the street, Hulk pushing Tony's unconscious body from his own. We hurried over, me falling to my knees beside him, praying he was still alive, despite the fact he's an asshole sometimes.
Thor ripped his mask from his face as Steve leant down to check for breathing as I held my own breath in anticipation. "Come on, Tony...wake up. Wake up!" I mumbled over and over again.
Steve sat back, defeated and I let out a sob, Steve's arm quickly wrapping around my shoulders and pulling me into his chest as I couldn't bare to look. Hulk let out a deafening cry and then air heard Tony's familiar shout. I spam back around to see his eyes open and chest heaving.
Hulk gave another satisfied roar as Tony looked around wildly. "What the hell! What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."
I laughed as Steve glanced around. "We won..." he said, almost not quite believing it was over.
Tony let his head fall back. "All right, yay. All right, good job guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I wanna try it."
Steve and I chuckled but Thor was solemn. "We're not finished yet," he reminded us, looking up at the now partially destroyed Stark tower.
It was silent, and then came Tony's voice. "And then shawarma after?"
~
The team and I stood behind Loki as we watched him crawl up the steps into a sitting position, clearly badly beaten from his fight with Hulk. He sat down and turned to face us. Clint raised his bow as we stared down at him, daring him to make a move.
"If it's all the same to you," he said cautiously. "I'll have that drink now."
Hulk simply grunted.
~
I stood by Tony, watching from a short distance as Thor led a gagged and handcuffed Loki away. Selvig, with the help of Bruce, placed the Tesseract into a clear cylinder, protecting it from use again. Natasha reached up to whisper something to Clint, who stood in his sunglasses and smirked. Thor gave everyone a nod as he took the cylinder and held it with Loki, twisting one of the handles until a burst of light appeared. I averted my eyes and when I looked back, they were gone.
Natasha and Clint began gathering their things as Steve wandered up to Tony to shake hands with him. Then Tony got into his flashy car and I was about to follow when Bruce slid into the passenger seat. I frowned as Steve noticed and laughed at me, Tony quickly driving off.
"Well, isn't that just charming of my dear brother. Promises me a ride home then takes his boyfriend instead. Just fantastic." I complained, crossing my arms.
Steve shook his head before nodding his head to his motorbike. "Need a ride, Miss Stark?"
I let the smirk spread across my face. "Now you're talking, Rogers!"
Steve settled onto his bike and started it up as I climbed on afterwards, enjoying the sensation of wrapping my arms around his waist and being pressed up against his back.
Tony should forget to take me home more often.