AN: Dedicated to the lovely @EpicGeek. I love her, she is an awesome person, and incredibly supportive.

"What's the plan, Captain?" Peter asked from the corner of the quinjet. He adjusted his red mask and jumped a few times to get his blood pumping. This was his first time back out in the field, so he was more than ready to get back in the fighting zone.

Steve watched us all get ready for the battle, letting Peter's question sink into his mind. Tony put on his red and gold suit after letting Jarvis fly the jet. Tasha and Clint whispered to one another as they gathered their weapons. Natasha filled her belt with numerous items, while Clint filled two quivers with arrows and put them on his back. Thor played with Mjolnir, throwing it up into the air and catching it a few seconds later. His blank face gave none of his emotions away as he stared off into nothingness. Bruce rubbed his temples and tapped his foot against the floor.

Steve stepped forward to the center of the jet and faced all of us. His red, white, and blue shield hung on to his back. His outfit matched the colors of his shield and a small 'A' adorned each bicep. Rogers began to report, "Clint, Lilly, and Peter will be on the ground down the street from the portal. A lot of the soldiers haven't gotten far, so we need to block them off from the rest of the city. Bruce will go around the city hunting soldiers down and taking care of them. Any civilians are supposed to be protected." All four of us nodded accordingly and waited to hear the rest of the plan. Steve looked at Nat. "Natasha, you're going to stay in the jet and shoot at them. Once Clint runs out of ammo, you two will switch positions. Tony, you're with me. We're going to be positioned close to the portal."

Thor chimed in, but his eyes didn't focus on anything at all, "I'm going to take care of Loki."

We all silently agreed. No one was going to object to that. Even if we did, we'd have one hell of a fight with Thor. I blinked a few times to make sure my contacts were clear and put my hair up into a ponytail. I never understood how Nat could fight with her hair flying everywhere. "Wait, what about Red Skull?" I inquired. He was a big key to all of this too.

Steve eyed me as his hands clenched into fists. He scoffed, "That coward might not even be there. If he is, I'll take care of him myself."

Natasha dropped us off towards the end of the street. This...This sight was madness. Loki used his scepter to kill people, blow up cars, and crash any jets or airplanes in the sky. People screamed and ran to cover, even if they had no chance of survival. Soldiers marched out of the portal in masses and went out to do their job. Blood stained the streets and a strong smell of sulfur hung in the air. Sparks flew off of broken lights and buildings were falling apart.

"Ah, you've finally arrived," Loki created a copy of himself that stood in front of us. He mocked the original Loki's actions and grinned like a madman. "Are you enjoying the show so far?"

"Where's Red Skull?" Steve asked quickly, scouting the area for the villain, but coming up with nothing.

"Somewhere safe to direct his agents. He's still here, just not having as much fun as he could have," Loki asserted and walked to the side. He wore the same armor as last time I saw him, but now, he had a ram-like helmet adorning his head.

Thor sounded tired and full of hurt, "Brother, you need to stop this. There are innocents dying. Haven't you learned before that you can't take over the world?"

Loki scoffed, his words like venom, "I don't give a damn about innocent people dying. I'm here to restore order. And if that starts with the Avengers' deaths, then so be it." The image disappeared, and Steve, Tony, and Thor headed towards the target. Soldiers flanked us on the street.

Hawkeye shot off arrow after arrow as fast as a gun shot bullets. A stone cold expression took over and his light blue eyes dulled. Staying focused was the key to winning. The arrows hit their intended targets dead on, not missing once. That was the awesome thing about Barton. He grinned slyly when he caught me watching him as I took guys down and said, "I never learned how to miss."

Eight guys charged at me, all from different sides. I paced myself back and forth until one of them got close enough. I decked one in the face, leaving him with a broken nose as he stumbled backwards into another. I grabbed a hold of one's arm, twisted it, and used my leg to wrap around his neck and break it. Three down... A hand latched onto my side, holding me in place. I head-butted him and punched him in the throat, causing him to choke and fall. My hand flicked to the side, making a sword fly out of a soldier's hand and thrust it into his neck. A shield knocked me backwards into another soldier. She put me into a choke hold, trying to get me to pass out. I bit her arm, making her cry out. I threw her over my shoulder and kicked another guy in the face after I spun around. The guy retaliated with punches. One in my shoulder, another on my jaw. I used my powers and took his metal chest plate off, crushed it into a spear, and dug it into his heart. Blood spewed in every direction accompanied by a shriek. I huffed and caught my breath. My chest ached and burned, but there was nothing I could do about it. One more...

I glanced around, noticing the soldier wasn't there. A sharp ting sounded off behind me. When I turned to see it, the soldier stood there with an arrow sticking through his eye. Gravity took over and his body collapsed onto the ground.

"Bulls eye," Barton snickered and caught my attention. "Want to see something cool?" Clint snatched a row of arrows from the quiver on his back and aimed them at a bunch of soldiers. The soldiers scattered in an attempt to dodge the arrows. Barton steadied the bow and released the arrows from his grasp. The arrows flew through the air and tore apart from each other, targeting one man each. The men died on impact. "Target locked based arrows. Cool, right?"

"Yeah, made them myself," Peter beamed through comms.

Tony scoffed and chimed in, "Peter's all grown up now, Lilly. He's making stuff himself. We should be proud of him."

"You can never let me have my moment, can you?" Spiderman hissed back.

Steve sounded irritated and broke into the conversation, "You guys should focus. We are in the middle of a battle. Tony, I need you back here."

Black Widow fired from the quinjet above us, aiming at the waves of soldiers coming in through the portal. She moved the ship from side to side, almost like a playful dance as she took them down. Humming echoed through the ear piece. Natasha loved her job. She shot some ships down that came in from Asgard. They were small, dinky things, not fit for war. Nat blew them up with ease.

A loud explosion sounded off and Barton and I flinched. Our attention went up to Natasha, who tried to gain control of the damaged quinjet on fire. "Shit, guys, I'm going down." The jet spun fast and went out of our view a couple streets down. The tall buildings blocked our sight.

Another crash corresponded with the jet colliding with the ground, sending Barton into a panic. "Nat! I'm going to make sure she's okay." He split his bow into two, turning on the stun baton as he ran to Natasha's crash site. He electrocuted soldier after soldier, stunning them before finishing them with a knock out blow to the face.

Ah, those two. In a fight, they're lethal. Around each other, they melt. Their love made them strong. Their strength was a force to be reckoned with. I don't even think they realize it, but they need each other more than anything. In Clint's eyes, Natasha is his whole world, and vice versa. In all of the damage that happened in their lives, the one, most important thing to them that always came first was each other. That made my heart swell with happiness. Someone on this team other than Tony needed to have something meaningful on the side. I'm just glad it was them. I sent one guy to the floor and stabbed another with his sword.

A shrill shriek came from the middle of the street. A little girl wandered around, hands cupped over her ears as she stumbled over the rubble. Her red dress ripped at the bottom and it was stained in unsettled dust from the ground. A soldier walked up to her and was about to raise his sword when I pushed him away with fire. He backed away and shielded himself with the small metal shield in his hand.

Hell would freeze over before I let an innocent child die when I had the opportunity to save them.

I scooped her up in my arms and ran to the closest cover. I dodged bullets flying through the air and kicked some guys out of the way. We ducked behind a car and dropped to the ground. My hand brushed her dirty, stringy black hair out of her face. Ash smeared over her tan skin and little cuts littered her arms. The little girl's glimmering brown eyes flickered up to mine and widened. Her little plump lips were pink like the blush on her chubby cheeks.

"I'm Lilly. Please tell me your name," I pleaded. I needed to make her feel safe. I needed her to trust me. This little girl was lost in the battlefield of a dangerous fight. If she stayed out there, she'd die.

"A...Amelia," her voice was soft and high pitched. She must have been around four or five.

"Amelia..." I put my hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. Her eyes sparkled with innocence and fear, which pained me to see. This must have been traumatic for her. "Amelia, I need you to do something for me." She nodded. "I need you to hide. Alright? Please. I'll come back for you."

Amelia shook her head wildly and screamed, "My daddy said that and he never came back!"

He's probably dead...He would have come back for her if he wasn't. I thought bitterly. I resisted the urge to cringe and pulled her to me in a hug. "I need to go, baby. Okay? I'll come back for you. I promise." I backed away and made sure she was looking at me. "Alright? I will find you. You're going to be safe. I'm not going to leave you. I have to go make it safe for everyone. I need to be a superhero. I promise I'll come back and keep you safe."

Amelia nodded and ran. I sighed and stood up.

Thor flew out of nowhere, throwing Loki around to weaken him. Thor's armor seemed to be in terrible condition and bits of it were falling off. His dirty blonde hair matted against his head and a giant scar ran across his face. Thunder roared in the sky as they passed me.

Hulk leapt onto the street from a building, shaking the earth as he landed next to Spiderman. Peter flung webbing onto some soldiers, sticking them together like a giant burrito. "I guess that's..." he pretended to put on sunglasses and looked in my direction, "a wrap."

I shook my head and commented, "You just couldn't resist, huh?"

"What did you expect?" Peter shrugged. "This is me we're talking about."

A soldier ran up to me and held his sword in the air. I grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm. He cried out in pain and dropped the sword. My foot collided with his groin and sent him to the floor. I kicked him in the head to make him stay down. A sharp cry echoed through comms and my head snapped to where my cousin was standing.

A dagger pierced his skin and dug into his leg. Peter elbowed the man in the shoulder and kicked him with his good leg. The man kneeled over, letting Peter flick his wrists and stick the guy to the floor with webbing.

"Peter, are you all right?" I shouted and sprinted to him. A group of soldiers came up behind him, armed and ready. "Duck!"

Spiderman did as I said and I thrust my hands forward, freezing the men in place with my powers. One screamed and took hold of his sword, barely grazing Peter as he froze.

I grabbed a piece of metal lying on the ground and heated it up with fire from my hand. "Did the dagger go all the way through your leg?" I questioned as I bent down next to him.

"No," he winced and held onto the broken car next to him.

"This is going to hurt," I warned and pressed the metal against his wound. He yelled out and clenched his teeth together to stop himself. His skin sizzled and molded back together, stopping the external bleeding for now. I tossed the metal aside and got up.

Peter and I gazed at the soldiers for a moment, finally taking in what they looked like. Bearded men, tough, big with muscles. Some were women with fierce expressions, ready to die for their cause. Golden armor so polished that it reflected sunlight while behind a sheet of ice. What bothered us most was their eyes.

Their luminous, blazing blue eyes watched us. They weren't a normal shade of blue. The power contained within the scepter must have changed them to look that way. To match...almost as if they were being controlled.

"Hulk..." Peter called out through his ear piece.

The Hulk came around the corner, jittery with anger. His eyes focused on us and narrowed.

I finished the statement, "...smash."

Hulk grinned and ran towards us. He slid against the pavement and waved his arms around, shattering all of the soldiers contained in ice. Shards flew everywhere, sprinkling the streets with body parts and ice. The Hulk huffed and screamed out, wanting more satisfaction. He flipped around when he heard more soldiers incoming, and went in for the attack.

Peter looked over at me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Thanks."

"No problem," I nodded and watched him start to climb one of the buildings.

My eyes fell onto Steve and Tony, who were standing in the path of the portal. Soldiers were pouring out like crazy. What was it...wave four? Already? Them against a thousand soldiers seemed highly unlikely. "Please don't..." I whispered to myself. They ran towards the portal and attacked enemies. Iron Man fired his weapon at Cap's shield and deflected it to the enemies as Steve moved it from side to side, taking almost half of them down. More attacked from behind and formed a giant circle around them. "Damn it..."

I used one hand to hold Tony's suit in place and the other to use the army's metal armor to push them back into the portal. Without me there, hundreds of men looked like they were dog piling on top of each other to make a tower. I took control of their metal swords and guns and fired them all at each other. Blood splattered from the mountain like a volcano and shrieks of pain acted like sound effects. I stumbled backwards and hit a light post. Used...too much power. Have to...cool down.

I swore to myself in a whisper and dragged my hand down my face. Sweat seeped into my cuts and bruises splotched my face. My skin burned from some of the blaster shots that hit me earlier. After using all that power, my joints became stiff and sore. I set my hand gently against my rib cage and gasped softly in pain. I knelt down to the ground. "Tony...Steve...are you okay?"

Steve spotted Red Skull escaping from a building and went after him. Red Skull uncovered the pistol in his hand and shot at Captain America. Cap reacted quickly and blocked the bullets with his shield. Johann aimed his gun underneath the shield and pulled the trigger, forcing a bullet to push through Steve's rib cage. He yelled out and decked him in the jaw with his shield. Steve threw his weapon at some Hydra agents coming up next to him; the shield flew out of his view and didn't come back.

He relied on fist fighting. One blow to Red Skull's face, another to the stomach. One, two, three, four, punches just kept coming. This was all Johann's fault. He's the reason Peggy is dead. Rogers trapped his opponent in a choke hold, waiting for him to fall unconscious. Red Skull dug his foot into Rogers' shin and thrust his head backwards, hitting Steve in the forehead. Captain America stumbled.

"You sound pretty winded, Parker. Are you okay?" Stark questioned.

The scene couldn't get crazier. Loki and Thor fought next to the portal, throwing around emotional words and cries of war. Asgardian soldiers fought us and took on some unsuspecting civilians off in the distance. Tony swept in and shot them down before the innocents could take any damage. Hydra agents surrounded the city, sparring off with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents for control. Civilians ran down streets screaming for their lives and diving for cover. Smoke simmered from burning corpses and gunfire shot through the air. Swords clashed against each other and into bodies. Bombs burst, throwing debris and dirt in every direction. So many sounds...So much going on.

I couldn't focus on it all. "Yeah...I'm fine..." I trailed off and waited to heal.

Something pierced my skin and dug into my back. I screamed out in agony, almost overloading the microphone.

"Oh, she's doing swell," Loki answered from behind me. He triggered the scepter and shot a blast through a chunk of my rib cage. Pieces of flesh and bone flew around, splattering against anything in its path. Blood trickled down my chest, dyeing my clothes a dark shade of red. He pushed the weapon farther through the wound and got close to my ear to speak into the ear piece. "Looks rather flushed at the moment, don't you think?"

A loud shriek broke out of my throat as I gargled blood. The scepter's power raced through my veins, leaving traces of blue behind. My head burned at the sudden power and felt like it was drilling through my brain. My hands trembled as I tried to comprehend what was happening.

"Sorry that you have to die, Lilly Parker." Loki paused and his voice lowered, "You had so much potential."