Steve and Tony made it back to the control center just as things were wrapping up.
Steve glanced at Hermione, then at Fury , who was still cursing a blue streak , and pulled another ten dollars from his pocket, handing it over without a word.
He'd thought nothing after the Helicarrier could surprise him anymore. Apparently, he'd been wrong twice today.
Looking at the wand on the cover of that mysterious file, he had a pretty good guess who it belonged to.
While Fury was being forced to do his work, Hill was hunched over the surveillance playback.
Then her face went white.
"Loki's escaped!"
"Thor was locked in a cell and dropped off the Helicarrier!"
"Coulson , he —"
Her voice cut out. She didn't finish.
Fury was on his feet before the words fully registered. He crossed to the screen, took one look at what had happened, and drove his fist into the table. The metal surface caved in.
He ran to the cell where Loki had been held. Coulson was on the floor. There was a hole in his chest , raw and dark and wrong.
"Sir... I'm sorry..."
Coulson forced the words out. The light in his eyes was already going.
Fury stood there, unable to speak.
...
The control hall was suffocating.
Sitwell stared at Coulson's body. Something moved in his eyes , reluctance, maybe. Pity. Coulson had been S.H.I.E.L.D., and he'd been HYDRA, but standing here now, he couldn't help feeling the particular grief of watching someone like yourself get cut down. In the eyes of aliens that powerful, ordinary people were nothing. Not worth the effort of remembering.
He was lucky. He'd latched onto the witch early and gotten himself a life-saving prize in the bargain.
Otherwise, it could have been him lying there.
Tony and Steve felt it too , that heaviness. Of everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson was the one they'd actually gotten along with. Deserved his reputation as the welcome wagon for every new hero who walked through the door. Got along with everyone.
Hermione stood off to the side, watching them grieve, and thought: Truly worthy of being the Marvel newbie village chief.
"Apparition!"
Her face was blank. She vanished.
Everyone assumed she was upset about Coulson. She was barely fourteen , probably the first time she'd lost someone she actually knew. Of course she needed to leave.
After she was gone, the remaining few looked at each other.
There wasn't much to say.
A comrade was dead. Loki had escaped. The scepter was gone. The Helicarrier was barely holding together. The Cosmic Cube was still missing. Thor and Dr. Banner had both disappeared. The Chitauri could come through at any moment.
And on top of all that, they'd somehow managed to drive Hermione away.
Just thinking about it gave them a headache.
Hulk , Hermione had chased off. The carrier , Hermione had fixed. Hawkeye , Hermione had pulled back from the edge. Meanwhile, this team of self-proclaimed extraordinary individuals , Iron Man, a super soldier, a god, the world's best spies , had spent half the day and accomplished nothing.
Fury stood. His gaze moved over each of them.
He was about to give his speech.
...
Half an hour later.
Inside the Quinjet.
Steve was fully geared up. Natasha and Barton stood behind him, both in black combat suits, faces set. Tony's armor had been through emergency repairs and could barely fly. It would have to do.
"Ready?" Steve asked.
"Been ready." Natasha's voice was flat.
Barton said nothing. He checked his bow, checked his quiver.
Tony closed his faceplate.
"Move out."
...
Stark Tower.
It went exactly as Tony expected. Loki was there. They went back and forth, sharp and fast.
"Maybe we can't protect the Earth," Tony said, walking straight up to him, not blinking. "But if it falls, we'll avenge it. Every bit of it lands on you." He held Loki's gaze. "You picked the wrong fight."
"What if they're too busy fighting you?"
Loki raised the scepter and pressed it to Tony's chest.
He pressed it again. And again. Nothing happened. Loki frowned.
"It always worked before."
Tony glanced down at the Arc Reactor, then back up at Loki's baffled face.
"One in five men has that problem. It's actually pretty common." He kept his expression perfectly neutral. "If you need it, I can ask the little witch to put together a potion for you — something to get things working again —"
Loki grabbed him by the throat and threw him out the window.
Tony screamed all the way down.
J.A.R.V.I.S. activated the flight program. The new armor shot out after him, snapping into place around his body mid-fall. Tony hit the thrusters, pulled up, and hovered in the open air.
Then, from the top of Stark Tower ,
VOOM!
A blue pillar of light tore into the sky.
Above the city, a massive circular void split open. Deep space showed through the other side. And from it, swarming like insects from a broken hive, Chitauri soldiers poured out by the thousands, riding their gliders, weapons already firing.
Blue energy beams raked across the streets below. Skyscrapers erupted. Glass rained down in sheets. The screaming started immediately, from everywhere at once , people running, people falling, the city swallowing itself in explosions and sirens and fire.
Tony's jaw tightened. He snapped back, hit the throttle, and launched himself into the swarm, pulse cannons firing.
Thor arrived. Mjolnir swung in a wide arc, and lightning split the sky, crashing down onto Chitauri gliders in bursts of white heat. The ones it hit turned into fireballs and fell.
Then, through the chaos , a little scooter.
Dr. Banner stepped off it. He took one slow breath. His body started to change. Skin going green, frame expanding, the seams of his clothes giving up.
"ROAR!!"
Hulk hit the ground and the ground felt it.
He launched himself onto a Chitauri glider, grabbed both edges with his bare hands, and tore it in half. The metal shrieked. The pieces fell.
The Avengers were assembled. The battle was on.
Tony cut through the air in tight arcs, firing in bursts , clean, precise, one Chitauri soldier per shot. Steve moved through the streets below, shield up and then out, knocking them back in waves. Natasha worked the alchemy bracelet Hermione had given her, flickering in and out of sight, threading through enemy lines and leaving silence behind her. Hulk was a force of nature, charging straight through everything, unstoppable, leaving wreckage in every direction.
Then the sky shook.
Something enormous began to emerge from the portal.
➤ Next: Thunder, Ice, Fiendfyre
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