Christina leaned back against the wall of the Quinjet and surveyed her surroundings, ignoring her pounding heart and throbbing headache. Tony was going to confront Loki by himself, they knew that much, even if Tony hadn't said it.
​
Christina was nervous. She'd never been nervous for a mission in her whole life. She was prepared to fight, to fight as long and as hard that her body would allow, but she didn't know exactly what they were heading into. Yeah, sure, they were going to be fighting aliens, but since when had anything ever been as simple as it sounded?
​
Nothing would've prepared Christina for the scene that she laid her eyes on as Clint navigated the jet into New York. Her blue eyes were the size of craters as she took in the extent of the chaos. Alien warriors were flying down from a humongous portal above Stark Tower, blasting buildings, people, cars. She let her eyes transform, enabling her to pick out every detail of the ground from their position in the air.
​
"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast." Natasha said into her headset.
​
"What? Did you stop for drive-through?" Stark retorted back.
Christina couldn't even bring herself to roll her eyes at his sarcasm. In all of her years as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent she'd never seen anything like it. The look on Natasha face told her that she was thinking the exact same thing.
​
"Swing up Park. I'm going to lay them out for you." Stark instructed. Clint did as he was told, navigating smoothly and professionally through the air of the cramped streets.
Christina caught a glimpse of a speeding red flash followed by a swarm of alien warriors. Clint released a hail of gunfire on the aliens, killing some and missing some.
​
Christina could feel her nerves and senses being set on edge and magnified - heightened; her body was quickly and instinctively putting her in 'fight' mode. She was suddenly aware of everything around her, from the smell of the sweat that ran down the side of Steve's neck to the fluttering sound of feathers of the birds that frantically maneuvered away from the aircraft. The familiar pinching and stinging of her eyes returned, but Christina didn't fight the sensation, she welcomed it.

Christina rushed to the front of the Quinjet to look out over Clint and Natasha. They were rounding the side of Stark Tower, and that was when they caught sight of Thor and Loki.
​
"Nat?" Clint asked.
​
"I see him," she replied. They turned the Quinjet and began firing at Loki, trying their best not to hit Thor. Loki turned to face them, a flash of irritation crossing his face before lifted up his scepter and firing at them. The blast hit left wing, and the Quinjet began to descend down.
​
The shake of the blast caused Christina to stumble backwards and land on her back. Steve quickly bent down and picked her back up, and then they both reached up and grabbed the bars overhead. Clint did his best to steer the aircraft down without hitting anything vital. The Quinjet slammed into the ground, the sound of metal scraping against concrete ripped through Christina's ears unpleasantly. Clint pressed the button that lowered the door in the back, and she glanced at Steve.
​
"Ladies first," Steve said, standing back and offering her the choice to go in front of him.

Christina nodded shortly and marched
out of the aircraft and into the chaos that awaited them. The sun boiled down upon them, while dust and ash scraped against their throats and lungs with each breath they took.
​
"We got to get back up there!" Steve shouted.

The four of them ran for a short distance, surveying the destruction of overturned cars, injured people, and destroyed buildings as they tried to find their way to anywhere else. A loud mechanical noise sounded through the air, slowing the four of them down, and they were drawn to a halt as they stared up at the portal.
​
Her heart literally stopped beating for a second, and she held her breath as what she assumed was a giant alien-worm that was the size of Stark Tower sailed through the portal. The creature was protected by an immensely thick coat of metal armor. It released a roar that felt as though it would shake the ground.
​
The creature flew over them, and as it soared by, they saw that Chitauri warriors were clinging onto the sides of it. Whenever they got near something close enough, they would release a rope and go springing off.
​
"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked into his earpiece.
​
"Seeing. Still working on believing," Stark replied. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"
​
"Banner?" Steve repeated in a questioning tone.
​
"Just keep me posted," Stark said.
​
"The three of you stay here. Take cover. I'm going to run ahead and see how far back a perimeter needs to be set." Steve said, redirecting his attention back to the task at hand.
Christina stiffly nodded and ducked down behind a yellow taxi with Natasha and Clint. She knelt down low to the ground next to her two colleagues.
​
"This is way more than I signed up for!" Christina shouted over the noise of the guns, Chitauri roars and civilians clamoring.
​
"You're right, but I think it's a little late to get cold feet and back out now!" Natasha replied.
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"You sure? Turning around and high-tailing it out of here sounds like a good plan to me!" Christina called back.
​
Within minutes, Steve came running back to them, ducking down behind the taxi next to Christina. "We've got civilians still trapped up here." Clint said his head popped up and looked out over the scene, watching Loki come speeding towards their direction on a flying aircraft.
​
"Loki," Steve breathed out as he poked his head out to get a look for himself. "They're fish in a barrel down there."
​
With that, Christina was on her feet. She lifted up, a gun in each hand, Natasha mirroring her, and she began firing. The Chitauri were moving in, and they were moving fast. Christina didn't need to think as she fired; look, aim, fire.
​
Christina ducked back down behind the taxi to face Steve. "We got this. It's good. Go," she said, nodding at him.
​
"Do you think you can hold them off?" Steve asked. He was in complete control, it was written all over his face.
​
"Captain," Clint said, and he pressed a button on his quiver, activating a certain setting. He looked pleased and ready to take on any challenge. "It would be my genuine pleasure."
​
Clint began firing arrows, and Steve vanished. Christina quickly stood up and began firing. The loud shots from behind her indicated that Natasha was firing, too, as Clint got civilians who were trapped on a bus free.
​
Only one worry was president in her mind: Steve. She knew that he would be fine, but she couldn't help but worry. And she also knew that he couldn't help but worry about her. She saw the pain that flashed in his eyes when he left her there to go help civilians and it made her chest ache to think about the possibility of him getting hurt.
​
As soon as the civilians were safe, Clint came back and settled in between Christina and Natasha.
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"Just like Budapest all over again!" Natasha shouted over the guns and weapons.
​
"You and I remember Budapest very differently," Clint mildly replied, shooting off more arrows.
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"For all the years that I've known the two of you, I still don't know what the hell happened in Budapest." Christina yelled, catching their attention. "Will I ever find out?"
​
"Not likely," Clint said.
​
The Chitauri were dropping rapidly, but as soon as one fell, ten more seemed to magically appear. Christina was in the rhythm of battle; not even needing to think about her surroundings, her senses making her body aware of everything around her.
​
Her guns clicked, signaling that the clips were empty of bullets. She quickly retracted the empty clips and reached into one of the hidden compartments of her suit, but a charging Chitauri warrior caught her eye. The creature was running right at her, and she didn't have enough time to reload. She immediately dropped the guns and unsheathed her sharp katana, steadying herself in the proper sword wielding stance.

When it got close enough, it lifted its weapon to bring down on top of her. With lightning speed, she flung her arms up and sliced over the creatures arm. Before the alien could even react, she reared her arms back and stabbed him through the heart with her katana. She then turned around and sliced the head off of the alien that had been trying to sneak up on her.
​
Christina saw a Chitauri approaching her from the right. When it closed in on her, she grabbed its arm, hoisted herself onto its shoulders, squeezing its head with her thighs as her hands emitted an electric blue color. She placed her hands on the sides of its head, electrocuting it - it screamed and writhed with pain before it dropped.
​
Christina was dashing and slicing through armor and flesh, Natasha was blasting aliens with a laser emitting spear she grabbed off one of the Chitauri, and Clint was firing out arrows as fast as he could. Out of the corner of Christina's eye, she saw that Steve had come back and was joining them.
​
Three Chitauri warriors in front of them suddenly were electrocuted by zaps of lightning, and Thor landed next to them. His landing was a little wavering; he seemed to be slightly woozy, assumingly from the blood loss of the stab wound on his side.
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"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked, approaching the god.
​
"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable," Thor answered gravely.
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"Thor's right. We gotta deal with these guys," Stark replied in their earpieces, as he zoomed past them, followed by more Chitauri.
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"How do we do this?" Natasha asked. She sounded nervous, apprehensive of what was about to happen.
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"As a team," Steve answered firmly.
​
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor spoke up.
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"Yeah? Well, get in line," Hawkeye piped up, his eyes dark as he handled his arrows.
​
"Save it," Steve sharply snapped.
"Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild." He turned around and face them, again taking control. "We got Stark up top. He's gonna need us-"
​
The sound of a motorcycle filled the air around them, and they stepped back to see Banner riding upon one to join them. They all walked towards the dark-haired doctor as he dismounted the motorcycle and strolled slowly toward them.
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"So, this all seems horrible," Banner said, his voice laced with his usual ironic tone.
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"I've seen worse," Christina reminded him, giving him a pointed glare.
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"Sorry," Banner replied, taking note of her purple eyes.
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"No, we could...use a little worse," Christina said with a gleam of amusement bright in her unique eyes.
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"Stark, we got him," Steve announced into the earpiece.
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"Banner?" Stark asked.
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"Just like you said," Steve conceded.
​
"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."
​
As soon as Stark finished his statement, he came careening around a corner. The giant alien-worm was behind him, making the Iron Man suit look like he was shrunk down to the size of Ant-Man.
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"I...I don't see how that's a party," Christina said with a frown on her beautiful face.
​
Stark shot past them at the speed of a bullet, not slowing down for a second, the creature was hot on his tail. As the distance between the teammates and the creature began to dwindle, Steve turned to look at Dr. Banner.
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"Dr. Banner," Steve said quickly. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
​
Banner had begun walking toward the creature, looking every ounce as cool and calm as Natasha and Christina did, he turned over his shoulder to look back at Steve.
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"That's my secret, Captain." Banner remarked easily. "I'm always angry."
​
Turning around to confront the creature in perfect timing, the mild-mannered doctor's shirt split open as his muscles exploded through, the skin morphing into a bright green. His fist slammed into the creature, and the creature began to crush in on itself.
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"Hold on!" Stark shouted, flying back and holding out his fist, releasing a missile that embedded itself into the creature's flesh before it exploded.
Steve reached out instinctively and grabbed Christina. In a flash, she was tucked underneath his shield with Natasha, safe from the explosion.
​
As the explosive detonated, the Chitauri began to scream and screech. Christina stood up from beneath Steve's shield, and they all backed up into a circle, gazing outwards at their enemies. Steve stood right next to Christina; she could feel him. That was all she needed. In one quick motion, she swirled the katana in her hand, creating a small circling motion out beside her.
​
"Guys," Christina said slowly as she noticed that several more of those giant alien-worms were swimming through the portal.
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"Call it, Captain," Stark said.
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"All right, listen up. Until we can close 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." Steve commanded, his tone authoritative.
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"Can you give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony.
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"Right. Better clench up, Legolas," Tony replied, he grabbed Clint and they were off, soaring high up into the tops of the buildings.
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"Thor, you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Thor took off, and Steve redirected his attention back to Natasha and Christina. "The three of us, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fight here. And Hulk," he turned and looked up at the giant green monster. He lifted a finger up at him. "Smash."