T W E N T Y  T W O

22. | the battle of the chitauri.
divide and conquer

steve.

•

"TIME TO go."

"Go where?" Agent Romanoff asks me.

I stand in the doorway, in uniform and ready to leave. "I'll tell you on the way there," I inform her. "Can you fly one of those jets?"

The other door in the room swings open, revealing Agent Clint Barton. After Natasha whacked him in the head when Loki carried out his little plan, the impact knocked him back into control. So now we have Clint on board. "I can," Clint says, entering the room.

I glance at Natasha, waiting for her okay. She nods in response. I look back at Clint. "You got a suit?" I ask.

He nods slowly.

"Then suit up."

And with that, all of us go to the dressing rooms where our suits are being held. I snatch up my shield while Clint grabs his bow and quiver and Natasha stashes all her various weapons. Afterwards the three of us step through the helicarrier in all our gear, ready to hijack a jet. I spot one with the hind hatch open, meaning someone's inside. There aren't many lights on inside as we step in, but there is a man inside.

"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here," the agent tells us, stepping away from the computer he's fixing.

I set my jaw for a mere second before saying something before he can. "Son, just don't," I spit at him. For a moment I think to myself, This man is older than me, yet I'm calling him "son". I then realize it's probably just the suit talking, not me. Ever since I became the big and honorable "Captain America," I've treated all the operatives here like the kids that chased me for autographs. I'm playing the the legend all these people grew up with. As soon as the cowl comes on, I'm no longer Steve Rogers — I'm Captain America.

And thank god it works because he's out of the jet and we're out of the helicarrier within two minutes, on our way to assist Tony in the Big Apple.

[•]

As soon as we enter the big city, the first thing I see is a giant ray of blue light shining like a beacon over the top of the Stark Tower. There are things zooming everywhere around it through the sky, erupting chaos below. Just passing over the city, I can hear the sirens and screams from the citizens. This is not good.

"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast," Agent Romanoff tells Tony Stark through the comms.

"What? Did you stop for drive-through?" I hear Stark's muffled voice reply. "Swing up park. I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

Soon we're heading towards the Stark Tower, where Clint looks a little nervous. I soon see why after I look out the window — Thor and Loki are brawling outside the Tower. Loki sends a beam at the jet, causing us to lean and the engine to struggle. I have to grab on to a rail inside the jet to keep myself upright. So now I'm dangling from the ceiling of the wheezing jet while the left wing is on fire.

Great entrance.

That's when we have a sort of crash landing. After we dodged a few skyscrapers, the jet skid across the concrete, almost knocking into a building. Natasha and Clint unbuckle from their seats up front while I release the rail and retrieve my shield before we all head out the rear exit. As I step out, sirens ring through my ears as my feet crunch on top of the crumbled concrete. There are abandoned cars and people scrambling everywhere.

"We got to get back up there," I say as we sprint through the streets.

Just as we turn a corner, ready to sprint right into a building, there is a loud and deep mechanical growl from above. Citizens barrel away from it, tripping over their own feet while doing so. Natasha, Clint, and I just stare at the sky with our jaws dropped in horror.

In the center of the light blue sky, there is a deep blue, portal-like ring opening up. A few small aliens shoot out, but then there is the big one. It moves through the sky as if it was slithering on the ground, its tail curving as it exits. It would look like a massive snake excluding it being of metal plates and having shark-like teeth. It dives slowly toward us, near the ground. I then get a closer look at it. It looks more like a fish than it does a snake now, but it is damn terrifying, nevertheless. Shooting from it are Chitauri soldiers, sliding off the sides of buildings and crashing through windows.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" I ask him through the comms, still in utter disbelief. I just look up at the sky, shaking my head.

"Seeing. Still working on believing," he answers. "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?"

"Just keep me posted."

A few moments later, the three of us head to go and take care of the small armies of aliens. We duck behind a stationary taxi cab that is coated in a layer of rubble.

"We've got civilians still trapped up there," Clint says, motioning to a building near us.

Just before my eyes dart to it, they follow a flying pedestal. There is a man on it, seemingly leading the Chitauri behind him.

"Loki," I mumble.

There are explosions and fires behind his path. Cars are overturned in his wake.

"They're fish in a barrel down there," I mutter.

Something fires at our car, rocking it slightly. Natasha shoots in the direction that it came in. Just as two more Chitauri soldiers leap on to a car in front of us, she turns to me. "We got this. It's good. Go," she says.

I sigh, breaking eye contact with her. "Do you think you can hold them off?"

Clint smirks from behind an overturned taxi cab. "Captain—" his bow churns "—it would be my genuine pleasure."

Just as he says that, he shoots an arrow right into the head of a Chitauri soldier. Natasha starts firing her handguns, bullets lodging into their brains. This gives me some time to run off.

I leap over a railing and land on the roof of a bus. As I roll on to it, flames erupt beside me, most likely from the doing of a Chitauri. I jump off just in time for it to explode behind me. My feet touch a car near it, and it flips just as I hit the rubble. Through all of the firing and explosions around me, I sprint my way over cars and around small fires. I make my way to the heart of the city — Times Square, where the chaos is probably unmeasurable. When I arrive, there are cop cars everywhere, all stopped and covered in dirt with their drivers looking the same way.

Two panic-stricken police officers converse in front of me, both holding their guns out but not exactly sure what to shoot at. To catch their attention, I land on the roof of a car in front of them. They both are startled when I do so, aiming their guns directly at me, but not firing (thank God).

"You need men in these buildings," I tell them, pointing to the skyscrapers that have screaming people trapped inside. "There are people inside and they're going to be running right in the line of fire. You take them to a basement or through the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

The older cop raises an eyebrow at me. "And why the hell should I take orders from you?"

I just narrow my eyes down at him for a moment, sincerely questioning whether or not he can see either the famous spangly suit or the shield.

A second later, there is an explosion near a building less than a block away. The idiot cop recoils back, his eyes as round as saucers. I block a blue ray with my shield, kicking a Chitauri off the roof of my car. Turning to my left, I punch three other ones. After taking the last one, I grab its gun, glaring at the officer. Instantly, the stubborn cop turns around and informs the other officers of the plan.

Serves him right.

I turn on my heel and head back to where Natasha and Clint are stationed. Just as Clint goes to fire an arrow and Natasha holds up a long staff-like weapon in front of her, I jump in front of them and hit a Chitauri with the edge of my shield. I stare at five more that are making their way towards us. Once I make eye contact with one, five rays of lightning strike down from the sky, electrocuting all of them. Thor lands on the ground with his hammer in hand, his red cape flapping behind him.

"What's the story upstairs?" I ask him as he stands up.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," he says.

"Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys." I look up to see Tony zooming in between the buildings in the sky.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asks.

"As a team," I tell her.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor says.

"Yeah? Get in line," Clint spits as he retrieves his arrows from the Chitauri bodies sprawled across the floor.

"Save it," I growl. "Loki's going to keep the fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up too. He's gonna need us to—"

I stop myself as I hear the rumble of an engine behind us. We all jerk around to see what it is. My eyes widen slightly once I see Dr. Banner, covered in dirt and wearing tattered clothes, slowly rolling in on a motorbike. He leans it against an overturned car and starts walking towards us.

"So, this all seems.....horrible," he says.

"I've seen worse," Natasha mutters.

"Sorry," Bruce apologizes.

"No, we could use a little worse."

I tap out of their small reunion, contacting Tony about Bruce.

"Stark, we got him," I tell Tony through the comms.

"Banner?" he asks.

"Just like you asked," I add.

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

There is a deep growl that comes from the sky. I first see Stark, in his suit, cut around the corner of a tall building. Then I see the "party". And it is not the kind of party I would want to attend. The big monstrous thing that came out of the portal earlier slithers through the corner of a building, knocking out some of the concrete. Yup, not a party I want. And it seems like none of the others. Clint and Natasha look up at the sky, silently cursing. Thor sets his jaw determinedly, clutching on to his hammer. Then there's Banner, who looks like he might pee himself and/or run away screaming.

"I-I don't see how that's a party," Natasha remarks.

I watch Stark lead the massive mother Chitauri near the ground. It tears up the cars and road underneath it with its metal fins that hang off its belly.

"Dr. Banner," I mumble, "now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

Bruce turns around to face me mid-stride. A grin curls from the corners of his lips. "That's my secret, Cap'n." The Chitauri is getting close. "I'm always angry."

As he turns back around, Bruce's skin fades to a deep green color. His torn blue shirt tears even more, falling off his growing body. The Hulk's large green fist collides with the head of the Chitauri, causing it to scream and halt slightly. The concrete crumbles underneath the two forces. The Chitauri starts to flip over from the amount of strength being shoved into it.

"Hold on!" Stark shouts. He flies to the other side, holding his arm up at it. A blast shoots from his hand and goes into the fleshy part of the Chitauri underneath all the metal. I see a large flame inside it. I go to cover Natasha just as the Chitauri explodes. Once it's completely down, all of us band in a circle to attack what's to come.

"Guys," Natasha says.

I look up at the sky. There's another portal with two of the big Chitauri coming out of it. Fantastic.

"Call it, Cap," Tony says.

The words just seem to roll off my tongue without a second thought. It feels like second nature to form an entire battle strategy on the spot today. "All right, listen up," I start. "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 perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Clint asks Stark.

"Right," Tony nods. He steps over to Clint to give him a boost up to the roof. "Better clench up, Legolas."

Now both are off, leaving Natasha, Thor, Hulk, and myself.

"Thor," I begin again, "you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow 'em down. You got the lightning; light the bastards up."

Thor nods in confirmation, using his hammer to shoot up to the sky.

"You and me," I tell Natasha, "we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk—"

The green man snarls.

"Smash."

Hulk smirks. He leaps up to the top of a near building, doing exactly what I ordered — punching every Chitauri in sight.

I turn to punch a Chitauri in the face, then hit him with my shield. This marks the beginning of the real fight. After a few minutes of attacking all of them, I meet back up with Natasha. She turns around to face me, holding up her staff and ignoring the trickle of blood on her forehead. She lowers it once she recognizes me, panting heavily.

"Captain, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal," she says.

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," I reply.

"Well, maybe it's not about guns."

"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride."

"I got a ride," she mumbles. "Could use a boost, though."

I look behind me, powering myself up to jump. I keep my shield in front of me, eyeing her across from me. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun," she pants. She's lying; she's terrified.

Before I can say anything to her though, she kicks off the side of a car and into my shield. I just see her latch on to the side of one of those things that the small Chitauri use to fly on. I smirk at the sight.

I'm distracted by an explosion to my left. There are quite a few Chitauri coming at me. I bash a few with the edge of my shield as Tony comes in to help. I turn for a moment so that he can use my shield as a mirror to reflect a ray of yellow light at a bigger Chitauri near me. Then he leaves again. A few gang up on me. I just smile and dodge out of the way just as one is about to fire, so it shoots at another one. I punch a few more, resulting in a few more bodies on the ground. That's when one comes up behind me and kicks me to the ground. I groan, landing flat on my back. It pins me to the ground, aiming its staff at me. I fight against it, using my forearm to push it away. I get a grip on its staff, using my other arm to punch it in the face.

"Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison," Barton tells me through the comms. "They've cornered a lot of civilians there."

"I'm on it," I reply. I stand up, grabbing my shield off the ground and heading to that location. I have sprint a few blocks to the bank. When I do eventually arrive, I hear a bomb ticking as I jump in through a window. I toss my shield at a Chitauri holding the ticking device, informing the other two of my presence. They aim their staffs at me, shooting blue rays at the wall near me. I duck behind an overturned desk, ducking between the legs. I push the desk towards the two near me, getting those down. I jump over a railing and snap one's neck, eventually throwing it over the side where the gasping people are all crowded underneath.

"Everyone, clear out!" I shout at them. Before I can even turn around, I feel a Chitauri put me in a headlock and pull my cowl off. I pull at his arm, but it doesn't do anything. I wrangle myself out of it soon enough, the ticking still ringing in my ears. I flip over it just as another one comes out of nowhere, but it does me a favor and shoots the one I have for me. The ticking is faster now.

It's going to go off.

I curl up behind my shield just as it does, flying out the window with more force than I intended because of the explosion. I land on my stomach on a car, my shield softening the impact slightly. I wince as I get up, trying to avoid as much glass as possible. Then I just stand there to catch my breath.

There are firefighters all around me that escort people out of the bank I just blew up. There is more dust and more abandoned cars than I remember. I now have time to truly reflect on what's happening.

It's been less than a month. Less than a month since I was fighting Hydra. Less than a month since I said goodbye to Gen and went into the ice. Less than a month and chaos has already erupted.

Now that I actually have a second to realize what's happened, I don't know what to think of it. I don't know if it's because I had this same fight just a few weeks ago or that there are aliens involved in this one. What I do know is that the world is completely different from what I remembered in this aspect. There are even bigger threats today that we didn't even think existed back in the forties. All I know is that it's my job to fight it.

[•]

I keep fighting. That's all I have to do now, despite the completely uneven ratio of Avengers to Chitauri. I stand alongside Thor, punching as many of the alien bastards as I can. I think that I got the hang of it until one shoots right at my torso. I groan, falling to the ground. My vision is blurred. My limbs are numb.

We're gonna lose.

I try to stand up on my own, not making it far past my knees. Once Thor has a spare moment, he gives me a hand, pulling me up. My messy and sweaty hair falls into my face as I get on my feet again.

"Are you ready for another bout?" he asks me, eyeing my hand that lingers on my stomach. The suit is black there and some blood is seeping through, but I'm good.

"What? You gettin' sleepy?" I question.

Thor smiles at me, calling his hammer back to him.

I pant, looking down at the floor. Then I hear Natasha's voice through the comms.

"I can close it," she sighs. "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" I shout.

"No, wait," Tony says.

"Stark, these things are still coming."

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

A nuke? A nuke?

Well, the Chitauri can't exactly do that and Fury wouldn't want to. Who does that leave?

The damn government.

But we have a bigger problem. Tony wants to go in the portal. He's not going to make it out alive.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," I tell him in a low voice.

He doesn't reply.

I hear him up in the sky. Thor and I both look up at him. He carries a large white missile in his arms, directing it towards the open portal. He flies parallel to the beam of light creating the dark blue ring in the sky, eventually entering it.

I was wrong about him. He just sacrificed his life for the city. I was completely and utterly wrong. He actually cares.

Suddenly the Chitauri around us collapse, curling up on the ground. The large one falls on to the top of a building. But I just look up at the sky at the closing portal. After a moment of nothing, I glance over at Thor.

"Close it," I order Natasha.

I have to look down from the sky as the ring of blue shrinks with no Tony coming out of it. Then I hear something, forcing me to look back up. There's a body plummeting towards the ground — Tony Stark.

"Son of a gun," I smile.

"He's not slowing down," Thor says. As he spins his hammer around to give him a boost up, someone beats him to Tony. Hulk jumps from one building to another, grabbing Stark on the way. He slowly goes down the side of the building, landing on his back on the ground with unmoving Tony in his arms. Thor and I sprint over to the landing sight to see if he's okay. Thor flips him over so that he's on his back, ripping his mask off.

The three of us kneel on the ground around him, waiting for him to do anything. I check to see if he's breathing, but I don't feel any air on my face. My hand grazes over his arc reactor, which is dim and unlit. I just stare at Stark's face. His eyes are closed, and there isn't even a hint of the usual smirk he adorns.

Hulk and Thor stand back up, leaving me alone on the ground next to Tony. I sigh, resting my arm on my knee. Tony's gone.

Hulk begins to roar. Then I hear someone gasping. I jerk my head to Tony, whose eyes are wide and his mouth is open and gasping for air.

Son of a bitch made it.

"What the hell?" Tony mutters as Hulk roars even louder, bashing his fist on his chest. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

I just smile, leaning back comfortably for the first time today. I nod to myself, catching my breath. "We won," I tell him.

Tony sighs of relief. "All right, yay! Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. There's a shawarma joint just two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

Yep, he's back.

"We're not finished yet," Thor says.

I look back at him, the smirk fading from my face. Tony's smile falls too, but he still lightens the mood.

"Then shawarma after?" Stark asks in a small voice.

[•]

Loki starts to drag himself up from the ground near a few steps inside the destroyed Stark Tower. He's pretty torn up from when Hulk bashed him against the ground, even sporting a few cuts on his chin, nose, and forehead, but he's good. All six of us crowd behind him — Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Thor, Black Widow, and me. Tony's good now, standing up and walking all right. Natasha holds Loki's scepter like it's her price for saving New York.

Loki is greeted by the end of Clint's arrow as he turns around to face us. His light blue-green eyes dart from each one of us and back to the tip of the arrow. "If it's all the same to you," he says in his deep voice, eyeing Stark, "I'll have that drink now."

I see the hint of a smile come from Tony, but no more than a hint to encourage Loki.

We won the battle.