Chapter 17 - Rachel Stark

"Smash."

 And with that, the Hulk smiles and jumps onto the building, taking down three soldiers off the bat. The three of us turn back around and face a mob of Chitauri that was trying to get the jump on us. Nat jumps under the bridge and comes around behind them so that Steve and I could get a better shot. 

And then we attack. 

Steve goes to my left and I quickly lose sight of him. No matter, I'll just take these out on my own. I start to take the first one down. I shoot at it with my pistol until it was limp on the ground. I make my way over to it, hoping to find something useful to take on the others with. I grab its gun off of the ground and start to fire it at the others. I quickly take down a portion of the mob, their weapons cutting through them much easier than any of our guns. I am on a roll shooting the Chitauri, taking out everyone else's. As I finish off the group, I hear another one land behind me. I quickly turn around to the Chitauri, ready to fire until I see red, white, and blue. I stand up straighter, then slump down in fatigue. Then I feel pain. I feel it in my left leg, on the back of my thigh.

"Steve, I need some help here," I say in a strained voice.

"What is it?" he asks, worried by my tone.

"Where am I shot?" I ask, feeling the pain but unable to see the back of my leg. He runs to my side, takes me into his arms, and sits me down gently. I feel his hand run up the back of my thigh, quickly stopping when I suck in a huge breath. 

"Rachel, are you alright?" She says, crouching down next to me, examining my thigh.

"There's nothing we can do out here. It is one of those shots that fry up all of the nerve endings. You're not going to bleed out, but it is going to hurt." Steve says, worried almost, but trying to hide it.

"Alright. I will try not to overwork." I say as the three of us begin to stand up again. I shift most of my weight onto my right leg as we wait for something else horrible to happen. 

"Cap," Nat starts, "none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal."

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," I say, leaning against the railing of the bridge.

"Well, maybe it's not about guns." She says, pointing to the flying Chitauri. Her plan solidifies in my brain as a firey look sweeps across her features.

"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride," Steve skeptically points out, looking between the two of us.

"I got a ride. I could use a lift though." She says with a slight smirk, backing far away so that she can get a running start. She motions for Steve to hold his shield up. 

"You sure about this?" Steve asks, bracing himself.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun." She says.

"Go get 'em, Nat!" I say. She gives me a worried smile, then she starts, jumping off a car onto Steve's shield. Just as she jumps off, a wave of Chitauri comes from both sides.

"Cap, you got left." he nods as we begin to take out the squadron. 

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As the last Chirtauri falls, Steve and I take a deep breath. The adrenaline rush from seeing all those Chitarui come at me is slightly wearing off and my leg begins to hurt again. The two of us catch our breath and look around, still shocked by what is happening. 

"Captain, Stark number two, the bank on 42nd past Madison, they caught a lot of civilians in there," Clint says over the comms. I look over to Steve. He gives a slight shrug.

"We're on it. And really? Stark number two?" I say rolling my eyes and starting to run/gallop with my injured thigh.

When Steve and I get to the bank, I go through the front doors while he went through the window on the second floor, hoping to catch the Chitauri by surprise. As I wait for my signal, I start to think about Steve and my growing feelings towards him. I feel a certain way when I am around him and I can't help but hope he feels the same way too. The butterflies, the smiles, even him holding my hand on the quinjet today. Every interaction I have with him feels special. I feel like I need to come clean about how I have been feeling. 

"Everyone, clear out!" And that's my cue.

"Everyone, please move this way. There are police and firemen outside to take you to safety...." I look up then and see Steve get thrown out of the window. I usher the first group of people out of the building then quickly make my way over to where he was. 

"Captain!" I yell, trying to get my voice above the loud noise of the crowd. I look around frantically until I spot him on top of a broken car. "Hey... Hey, it's me. Are you alright?"

"Hey, Rach," he says in a strained voice, "I'm alright, just help me down please." He says. Once he is off the car, the civilians start to pile out and Steve turns his back to them in order to hide his face. His mask was thrown off while he was trying to take down the Chitauri in the building.

"Stark! You hearing me? We have a missile heading straight for the city!" Fury says over the coms. I put my hand over the comm in my ear, hoping someone would repeat what was just said. 

"How long?" Tony asks.

"Three minutes, tops." Steve and I look at each other, knowing this is it.

"Captain, I need your help just a little up the road from where you are now," Thor says in our ears.

"Copy. I am on my way." Steve says then turns to me. "Are you going to be alright?" I nod. "Okay, you go and help the police get the civilians down into the subways. I will call you if it is too much. You need to rest your leg, alright?" he says, in a gentle yet commanding tone that only he can pull off.

"I'll be fine. I can take care of myself," I say. He hesitates, his eyes holding some kind of emotion that I can't make out. "Go. I'll live." I say. He stays for one more second. I offer him my most reassuring smile as he finally takes off. 

After a few minutes of helping the police drive people away from the streets, I look around to survey the damage again. The full weight of the situation falls to my shoulders. The Chitauri are coming at us from all angles, and they're still falling from the sky. A nuke is coming in hot, promising to wipe out the island of Manhattan. And we can't stop it. We can't save the day. I take a moment to think. If this is my last day on Earth, where do I want to be? I think about Tony and Pepper, Natasha and Clint. My mind finally lands on Steve. 

Steve. 

I take off running in the direction that Steve went, searching frantically. I don't care that he didn't call me. I'm going.

When I finally find him, I see Thor helping him up.

"Steve!" I yell. He turns around and sees me, giving me a pained smile.

"God, you were shot," I say, in shock, running over to the two of them. I throw my arms around his neck, catching him off guard as his body jerks down to my level. He hugs me back immediately, his arm tightening around my waist. After a moment, Steve sucks in a sharp breath. 

"Uh, Rach, my, ugh, stomach." He chokes out, clearly hurting.

"Oh, okay, sorry." I say, flustered by my outburst of emotion. I tuck a few stray hairs behind my ear and look over to Thor who is looking rather confused by my emotion as well. He raises an eyebrow and I just wave it off. 

"I can close it!" Nat screams through the comm, breaking up the quiet moment on the street. "Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!" Steve says, a glimmer of desperation on his face.

"No, wait!" Tony says. I look up to the sky, confused and searching for Tony.

"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve says, looking back to me.

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

"Tony, you know that's a one-way trip." I say, feeling my insides churn.

"Yeah, I do. I love you, Rach. Tell Pepper I say 'goodbye'" And it is with those words that I break into pieces.

"Tony, no, please. Just stay please." I choke out into the comms only to receive no reply. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his red and gold suit fly straight up into the portal. 

I'm the only Stark left. 

I fall into Steve's side and he takes me into his arms, holding me tightly. I bury my face into his neck and let myself cry into his shoulder. All is quiet for a moment. My breaths echo over the street and bounce off of buildings. Suddenly, the Chitarui in the distance fall. I look up from Steve's shoulder and look around confused. With tears falling from my eyes, I put my hand up to my ear. 

"Close it," I say darkly. Steve pulls himself back slightly so he can look at my face. He and Thor look at me in shock. I just stare off into the distance and try to keep myself from falling apart. "He's not coming back," I say. I bury my face into Steve's shoulder again, trying to block everything out. I feel Steve move his head, turning it to look up at the sky. 

"Son of a gun."