Sue threw her hands up and produced the biggest dome of protection she could muster. She willed it to stretch over Thor and Steve, the latter being at least fifteen metres away. She expected chunks of the leviathan to fall and bounce off the forcefield, but when half of the beast stayed intact as it fell from the sky, the collision was too much for her.

The barrier broke apart as the leviathan's body fell to the side, missing everyone below. But Sue felt the impact and fell backwards, smacking the back of her head against the road. Blood slipped out of her nose, the sign of using too much power. Sue laid on the floor with her vision blurry and her side aching.

The other Avengers were getting tired. Steve was sent out of a building that he was in to protect civilians and landed on a car, caving in the roof. Bruce was surrounded and fired at by chariots, to which he roared and tried to swat them away like a swarm of flies. Natasha jumped off her highjacked chariot and landed on the Stark tower balcony that held the Tesseract and formed the portal. Clint swung through a window and smashed through its glass, wincing on the floor of an office at the collision. Tony fell out of the air after firing through the leviathan and crashed into the road, Chitauri approaching him with their weapons raised. Johnny was caught by a Chitauri that slipped behind him and sent him into the side of a building, his flight dwindling him down to the same street that Sue and Thor were on. He fell to his knees once he met the floor and felt the same dribble of blood leave his nose as his sister's.

'Are you alright, flaming man?' Thor walked over to Johnny and helped him to his feet.

'I'm good,' Johnny let out a hiss and put his hands on his hips, catching his breath. He touched the blood that leaked out his nose and saw Sue get to her feet.

'This is getting to be too much for me,' Sue let out in a breath. 'I don't know how much more I can take.'

'Stark, you hearing me?' Fury's voice filled Tony's helmet. 'We have a missile headed straight for the city.'

'How long?'

'Three minutes, at best. Stay low and wipe out the missile.'

Tony stood up after his moment of recovery and fired his repulsors at the Chitauri closet to him. He then took to the air and got JARVIS to track for a missile that was around the perimeter of New York City.

'JARVIS, put everything we got into the thrusters!'

'I just did.'

Sue stood with Thor, Steve and Johnny. The four of them stood cautious as Chitauri loomed in the streets nearby. They had fought for hours and were beaten, bruised and tired. The Storms stood next to each other and relished in the fact that they were both alive. They both joked over the earpieces during the battle, the other Avengers occasionally chiming in. They all hoped the jokes wouldn't stop, despite some of them being irritating and lame. But it confirmed who was alive and still fighting.

'I can close it!' Natasha's voice flooded their earpieces. 'Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!'

'Do it!' Steve cried.

'No, wait!' Tony was heard.

'Stark, these things are still coming!'

'I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute.'

Tony attached himself to the belly of the missile that headed for the city. He fired his boosters and repulsors to force its path to change and go upwards towards the portal. Tony used all his might to keep the missile going all the way through the sky and towards the Chitauri ship. He looked to his screen that showed Sue's vitals and even though her suit showed some injuries and fatigue, she was alive.

'Stark, you know that's a one-way trip,' Steve was heard.

'Sue?'

Sue looked up to the portal in sky and saw Tony leading the missile towards it. The red spec underneath the white weapon was all she could see and her lips parted at what it meant. With her hair covered in soot and her skin caked in blood and dirt, she let her arms lay limp by her sides. The tears that swam in her eyes knew what was happening before she would admit it.

'Tony...' she said back and Steve, Johnny and Thor looked to the woman. They collectively agreed to turn off their earpiece, leaving the line clear for the two.

'Don't know if I'll make it out this one.'

'Don't say that...' Sue felt her throat begin to close and her chest ache. 'We had that kiss...'

'We did. We should have some more of them sometime.'

'It's a date, then?'

'We'll go to that shwarma place.'

'Yeah... so that means you must come back. Tony... you're coming back... right?'

'Sue... I've gotta tell you, since I don't know if I am coming back, but... I lo-'

The line went dead, and Sue's tears fell. She chewed on her lip to keep the sobs at bay as Tony disappeared through the portal with the missile. Johnny looked at the way his sister's face filled with sorrow and ignited himself, jumping into the air and soaring upwards. Steve and Thor watched as the man climbed higher and higher with his beam of flames trailing behind him.

'Figures...' Tony mumbled before his air cut off and the missile impaled the Chitauri ship.

They waited. Johnny hovered in the air as Natasha waited by the portal with Loki's scepter in hand, ready to close the bringer of hell. The Chitauri soldiers fell to the floor from the destruction of their mothership, but Tony was yet to leave the portal. Sue stared up and lost more hope the longer it took, her knees weakening and her tears soaking her cheeks.

'Close it...' Steve was heard.

As Natasha contacted the scepter with the Tesseract, the portal warped from the interruption of its projection. Johnny waited in the sky, hope falling as the portal's edges caved in. He was going to begin descending back down to the city, dreading the look on Sue's face that he knew would be heart-breaking to see. But he saw the suit that contained Tony Stark fall through the portal as it collapsed and sealed the world away from the Chitauri.

'Son of a gun...' Steve mumbled at the sight. The relief washed over the Avengers that watched from below and Sue pulled her head up at Cap's words.

'Oh my god,' she let out in pure bliss. The tears continued to fall as they morphed from sadness to happiness. She was overcome as she saw Tony suit make it back into the Earth's sky and waited for him to say something into her ear.

'Tony?' she tried but was met with static. The connection was lost once Tony went through to the portal to a time in space that was lightyears away. But it was the lack of movement and the absence of his boosters to kick into flight that worried her.

'He's not slowing down,' Thor exclaimed. Tony free fell down to the city and Sue was met with another wave of worry and fear.

The ball of inferno that was Johnny Storm flew into the city from above and captured Tony before he could fall further. He took hold of the suit's middle and headed down to the street where Steve, Thor and Sue watched. Sue was relieved once more and rushed to meet her brother that brought Tony back down to Earth. She noticed how Tony's suit held up against Johnny's intense temperature and felt the heat radiate off the two as Johnny's feet touched the tar of the road.

Johnny lowered the suit to the floor as smoke wafted off the metal. He shook off the flames and stepped back to let his sister run to Tony's side. Thor and Steve gathered around, and the demi-god pulled the mask off Tony's helmet to reveal his face. Sue put her hands on Tony's shoulders, flinching away when the searing metal burnt through to her fingertips. She glanced over at the culprit, and Johnny raised his shoulders in a 'sorry' motion.

'Tony?' she called. The bridge of his nose was split and leaked blood down his face. His eyes were closed, and he looked peaceful, unmoving. The suit was scratched up with the arc reactor buzzing in its chest, unsure whether to power the body inside. Sue saw how the red metal was chipped away and absent of paint in some areas, but Tony lay unmoving.

Sue went to fall back onto her elbows at the loss of hope, when Bruce landed next to the group and let out a mighty roar. The ground shook and Tony let out a gasp of air, his eyes wide and shifting around. Sue felt more tears well up and she let out a laugh, pressing her lips together to prevent the large grin that threatened to stretch across her face.

'What the hell?' Tony gasped and panted. 'What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me.'

The group let out a laugh and Sue raised an eyebrow. Tony's gaze landed on her for the first time and his heart warmed at the sight of her smiling face. He thought he would never see her again, yet there she was, the cupid's bow covered in dried blood and her skin caked in dirt. She was beautiful beyond it all and he let the side of his lip hitch up in a smile.

'Except you... you can kiss me.'

Steve let out a sigh and looked up into the city. The damage was brutal and the bodies of the Chitauri would need to be cleared. But at least the invasion was over. None of them were dead and most civilians were safe. The fight was a success and the Avengers were able to rally together to create a team.

'We won...' Steve said. Bruce crashed his fists into the road to hold up his crouching figure and Johnny eyed the green monster. The two helped each other throughout the battle, but he was still unsure about the beast that nearly tore apart SHIELD's helicarrier.

'Let's just not come in tomorrow,' Tony raised his head to talk but laid it down when his strength wavered. 'Let's just... take a day.'

'We're not finished yet,' Steve looked to the Stark tower.