"Can anybody copy?" Natasha continued through the earpiece. "I can shut it down."

It was like Natasha had heard me from the top of Stark Tower. I looked at Thor and Cap in hope.

"Do it!" Cap ordered.

"No, wait," came a new voice, Stark's.

"Stark, these things are still coming."

"I got a nuke coming in. It's going to blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

Remembering the argument that happened only hours earlier, I remembered a nuke being mentioned. I knew it was something highly dangerous and deadly. But why would S.H.I.E.L.D. decide to use one? Whoever gave the authority to do that clearly had no faith in us. The nuke was their way of saying you can't do your job; we've got to end this ourselves. This said person—or group of people—was willing to wipe out everyone, not just the Chitauri.

I saw the look on Cap's face; an expression that told me what Stark was attempting to do was going to come at a price. Whatever hope I had was replaced with dread.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Cap said solemnly.

He got no reply.

In the distance, the familiar cries of Chitauri started up again. My heart leaped against my ribs. I hated how fast I understood these deadly concepts right now, in the midst of battle. The Avengers, the world, would lose Iron Man.

We watched the skies, waiting for Stark to fly overhead with the nuke that would end this battle. I could hear him coming for us, for the portal. I swallowed, already picturing the awful moment in my head. I was sure what I thought and what would happen would be equally terrible to witness.

Sure enough, Stark came thundering through the air, the nuke held just above his head. Thor, Cap, and I all watched and turned as Stark made a straight shot up for the portal. Once it swallowed him whole, I could already feel the tears in the corner of my eyes. Though I barely knew Stark, any casualty in this mess hurt me.

We waited with bated breath. Meanwhile, more Chitauri were about ready to pick another battle with us. None of them fired their weapons. I guess I have enough in me for another round.

But I didn't need to prepare for another fight with the aliens. They all simultaneously collapsed to the ground on which they stood, like a switch was flipped in their bodies. Whatever Stark hit with the nuke took them out, as though they were robots all connected to the same power source.

I couldn't get relief out of the sight like I wanted to. I still feared for Stark, who was still on the wrong side of the portal.

"Close it," Cap murmured.

I looked at him, wide-eyed. I wanted the portal closed as much as the next person, but while Stark was still in there? He was basically condemning the man to death in space! But he did say it was a one-way trip. Stark knew what he was getting himself into.

With a heavy heart, I watched as the portal began to shrink. I would wait until it closed entirely before I burst into tears. The hole became smaller and smaller, the power stream from the device was thinning, almost nonexistent.

But just as the portal was almost gone for good, something was spat back out. It wasn't an enemy, but an ally.

An ally in a red and gold suit of armor.

"Son of a gun," Cap murmured.

I wanted to burst into celebration, but something was off about this picture. Stark wasn't falling gracefully, he was hurtling towards the ground.

"He's not slowing down." Thor noticed it as well.

I heard Mjolnir pick up wind, indicating Thor was going to fetch Stark from the sky. Even I wanted to catch the falling man, but neither of us had to. A green mass came to Stark's rescue.

I couldn't have been happier to see the Hulk. He grabbed Stark before latching onto a building. His mere strength made him slide down, tearing out the bricks. The beast launched himself off the building, keeping Stark close to his chest as he landed. The Hulk hit the ground back first, keeping Stark in his arms.

I was the first to bolt for the two, with Cap and Thor right in tow. The Hulk had disposed of Stark on the ground, who was lying in a sprawled eagle position. We hovered worriedly over Stark, who didn't look to be moving.

"Is he breathing?" Cap asked.

Thor ripped off Stark's iron mask, tossing it away. I swallowed a sob back down. Stark looked eerily peaceful, like he was only sleeping. Cap knelt beside him to try and get a heartbeat through the suit.

"Anything?" I dared to ask.

Cap looked up at me, his eyes said it all. I kept a hand over my mouth, suppressing the tremors in my body. We'd lost an Avenger. The world lost a superhero. Our side suffered a terrible loss.

Stark's act reminded me of the heated debates he and Cap had had in the Helicarrier, before it was attacked. Cap had said that Stark only did things for himself, that he wasn't the man to lay his life on the line for others. I was sure Cap was eating those words right now. If Stark hadn't thought of putting the nuke in space, we wouldn't exist.

The Hulk wasn't happy, he roared—not as loud as the previous ones I'd heard from him. I screamed as Stark suddenly came alive, like the Hulk's roar had jolted him back to life. He gasped like he had just been brought out from underwater, looking stunned.

"What the hell?" he said. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me, although I wouldn't mind it if Blondie did."

"Sorry to disappoint," I said jokingly.

"We won," Cap said.

Stark sighed. "All right, yay! Hurray. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you tried shawarma?"

I laughed. "What?"

"There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

There's the Stark we all missed.

"We're not finished yet," Thor told him.

We all knew what he meant: Loki.

"And then shawarma after."

I shook my head. "It's good to have you back, Stark."

"Same to you, Blondie. No hard feelings when I tried to knock you off your feet?"

"None at all."

With a little help from each of us, Stark got on his feet. We looked up at what was left of Stark Tower. Loki was still somewhere in there. I remembered the Hulk jumping into there, so Gods only knew what he did to the God of Mischief.

We contacted Agent Barton and told him to rendezvous in Stark Tower. We all managed to get ourselves up there. We didn't do it the normal way, either. The Hulk climbed the tower, Natasha was already there. Thor practically flew up, as did I. Stark gave Agent Barton a ride when he met with us, and I launched Cap up to save him the struggle. He trusted me to throw him over anyone else, especially the Hulk.

"How are we handling this?" I asked. We were just outside, ready to confront Loki.

"You know how I want to deal with it," Agent Barton said.

"I'm sure all of us feel that way," I told him. "But we can't approach it like that. Let's handle this maturely."

We found Loki all right, he looked to be the worst I'd ever seen him. His attire wasn't torn, but the cuts on his face told me enough. He got a serious beat down from the Hulk. So that's what I could have looked like had the Hulk gotten a hold of me. I was thankful that I didn't have to face that pain.

I hoped I never had to.

Loki wasn't really aware of us as we made our way in; he looked to be gathering his bearings still. He got himself in a sitting position, sort of. He leaned heavily on the ground for support. We seven hovered near him. Agent Barton drew an arrow at Loki, though it wasn't necessary.

I had a lot I wanted to say to Loki, and some things that I wanted to do to him. Though he may be defeated, he's not my prisoner to torture. I can talk to him all I want, but I can't hurt him. The Hulk did that for me.

Loki finally noticed us; I could see the exhaustion in his eyes. They were no longer blue; they were back to their regular green.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

I swore I heard Stark scoff under his breath.

* * *

S.H.I.E.L.D. came by to take Loki back onto the Helicarrier as a prisoner once again.

While we'd waited, it was decided that the Tesseract was to go back to Asgard, where it belonged, and that Thor would take the Cube and Loki back with him. They were expected to depart tomorrow. We were all supposed to meet to see them off.

Once Loki was taken away, Natasha and Agent Barton went back onto the Helicarrier. Banner tagged along even though Stark offered his place to him. Cap headed back to his place with a S.H.I.E.L.D. escort. As for me, I ended up taking Stark up on his offer to stay in the tower, what wasn't damaged of it anyway.

The windows that were shattered were bound to be repaired in the future. Despite the openness, I took the couch as a bed. I was lent some clothes. They seemed to be a little tight; especially the pants, but they were something.

I could have easily gone back home, back to the apartment, back to Todd. S.H.I.E.L.D. was even willing to drop me off there. The only thing that held me back from the offer was fear. What if the Chitauri had hit the apartment, or what if Todd hadn't been home, but somewhere in the middle of all the madness?

Fear put off my knowing whether or not Todd survived this day.

I stood outside; sort of shivering in the clothes I was given. Stark was somewhere in the tower, talking to Pepper Potts, his more-than-friendly girlfriend. Thanks to Pepper, I got the blood off my face before she fretted over me more. I knew they wanted the alone time. The way she was worried for him, how they looked together, it reminded me of what I used to have. What I didn't have any more.

Are you still awake, Kiara?

You can't sleep either, Thor?

I should, but I cannot.

What's up?

I should have asked you before instead of like this, I feel like I am intruding on you.

It's fine. What did you want to ask me?

Tomorrow, did you want to return to Asgard?

I should have known Thor was going to ask. Here it was, the perfect chance to return home. I'd wanted to go back once, way before I'd long adjusted to living here in New York. Now, almost a year later, I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted anymore. I found a new life here, I had Todd. I still had many things to learn. I could prosper so much more here.

Kiara?

Sorry, I'm thinking.

You do not have to say anything right now if you are not sure.

You won't persuade me to go home?

Why should I? It is not my choice. You may not get this chance again for some time. That is all I will say.

I know. I'll have to think on it, okay?

I should leave you now. Goodnight, Kiara.

Try to sleep if you can, Thor.

"There she is, the Girl on Fire!" Stark sang. I spun around, rubbing my arms. "Not one for the cold, are you?"

"Not at all." I smiled lamely. Stark's eyebrows came together. "What?"

"You never got that taken care of?" He pointed at my right shoulder.

I sighed. "I blame the adrenaline."

"I can get you some medication for the pain."

"I'm not in any pain, Stark."

"Right now you aren't. I would rather give it to you now instead of the middle of the night when you're crying from the agony."

"Then you wouldn't be opposed to grabbing something to bandage me?" I asked timidly.

"Anything you need. Why? That isn't your only injury?"

I shook my head. "I've got an injured side, and my back might be bruised."

"Geez, you're an Asgardian. You're supposed to be tough."

"We weren't battling humans, Stark." I winced. "Do you mind getting those things for me?"

Stark couldn't help but smirk. "Isn't it better to be safe than sorry?"

"If I didn't say yes, you would nag me until I gave in."

"Eh, maybe."

"Thank you, again, for letting me stay here," I said seriously. "You didn't have to offer, really."

"You looked like you would crash on the street if you tried to go back to your place. Those fit you all right?"

"Yeah." I sighed through my nostrils. "Is this it?"

"Is what it?"

"It's all done, this conflict. Tomorrow, the Tesseract is being sent back to Asgard. Loki's been defeated, as have the Chitauri. You all did what you had to do. Do we all just say goodbye and never speak to each other again?"

"I think you mean we. We did what we had to."

"I wasn't originally apart of this mess."

"You're one of us, Kiara. Consider yourself an honorary Avenger. You know what? I'll try to do you one better, I'll see if they can officially add you to the list."

I shook my head at him. "I'm nothing special, Stark. I'm not a genius, I can't call lightning with a hammer, and I most certainly can't shoot an arrow for anything."

"You mean to tell me that the woman who wields fire does not consider herself special? Gasp."

"Did you just say 'gasp' out loud?" I scoffed.

Stark ignored my remark. "Kiara, you kicked ass with us. I think that's more than enough of a reason to consider you. And that's not even factoring your weird combo of abilities, between your fire and that weird mind thing that you do, which, by the way, thank you for not doing it on me again. While I'm still on the subject of that, I think I can help you fly."

I cocked my head. "What?"

"Hear me out. The fire in your palms. If you could train it, you could have enough to somehow help yourself fly, or at least hover. It'd save you the trouble of leaping from building to building like you're on steroids. It's not as graceful as flying, 'cause if you leap and you miss...it's not a pretty sight."

I never thought about that. I'd only just discovered I could produce a wall of fire, but it took a lot out of me. It caused my nose to start bleeding. "Look, I know the topic of fire excites you, but I don't think I want to speak about it or see it for a while. Besides, I'm sure you're as tired as I am."

"And that's your subtle way of saying 'get out and get what I asked for'."

I smiled sheepishly. "Pretty much, yeah."

Stark briefly abandoned me to grab the medical supplies. After about fifteen minutes, he came back. I accepted the supplies, but he didn't leave.

"I can do this myself," I said calmly.

"Unless you can clone yourself, you'll need an extra hand."

I didn't bother to argue with Stark further. Between the two of us, he and I got myself bandaged up snugly. Once he gave me the proper amount of medication, I was more than ready to sleep for a day or two.

"I've already got you a pillow and a few blankets," Stark told me once he saw how fatigued I looked. "Just don't get nightmares and accidentally burn the place down in your sleep."

I laughed. "I've never had it happen, Stark."

"Don't say that, because usually when people do, whatever they say won't happen does."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Goodnight."

"All right, I'm gone." Stark backed off, his hands up in surrender.

As Stark saw himself out, I went to the couch and wrapped in the blanket. The blanket brought warmth and comfort. For the first time in a few days, I felt safe. I knew the world, my life, wasn't in danger.

The revelation hit me. This whole ordeal with Loki and the Tesseract happened in less than a week, in merely a matter of days. It felt like we'd been chasing after Loki for months.