Chapter 18 - Rachel Stark

"Son of a gun." 

I remove my face from Steve's shoulder again, confused and slightly concerned. I pull away and look behind me, thinking something is coming after the three of us. I wipe the tears from my cheeks and turn back to Steve, trying to question his comment. He locks eyes with me and simply points up to the sky. I slowly look up. 

Son of a gun. 

"Is that... It's Tony!" I scream. My eyes fill with tears again, feeling hope soar back into my body. I break into a smile. After about two seconds of watching his free fall, my smile fades. 

"He's not slowing down!" Thor says, swinging his hammer to start to fly. Just as he is about to take off, the Hulk jumps up and catches Tony. He slowly slides down one of the buildings with Tony in his arms. The three of us watch the Hulk land a little way up the road from our position. I am the first one to start running with Steve and Thor hot on my heels. The Hulk gently tosses Tony's body to the ground as we reach their position. 

Steve kneels down, putting a hand over the metal mask, and pries it off Tony's face in one quick motion. He tosses it aside as I press my fingers to the side of my brother's neck, checking for a pulse. 

Nothing.

I put my hand under his nose, hoping for any sign that he is breathing. When I feel nothing there, I suck in a deep breath and try to keep tears from falling. I ball my hand into a fist and slam it into his arc reactor, hoping to kick start it. I feel Steve place his hand on my shoulder as I keep trying to get my brother to wake up. After another hit to the reactor, I stop, slumping into Steve, placing my head into my hands. I hear Thor walk over to me and feel his hand on my shoulder. I take deep breaths, trying to avoid the panic attack that I felt coming. There is a moment of silence, the four of us just waiting. The Hulk cries out, seemingly in pain, shattering the quiet. 

I hear a sharp intake of breath.

"What the hell?" Tony asks. I look up from my hands quickly. I place a hand on my chest and lean over Tony in disbelief. A huge smile breaks out over my face as Tony makes eye contact with me. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

"We won," Steve says with a small, lopsided smile on his face.

"Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it." I chuckle through fresh tears of joy, reaching out to take my brother's hand. He smiles up at me in relief. 

"We're not finished yet," Thor says. Tony puts his head back on the pavement in pain and fatigue.

"Then shawarma after," he says. I smile and nod over to him, standing up. Steve helps me pull Tony to his feet and I immediately wrap him into a long hug which he quickly returns. As I pull away, I drop the smile from my face and reach up to smack the back of his head. 

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Tony asks, moving his hand to rub the part of his head I smacked. 

"What do you think it was for, you idiot? You can't just do crap like that Tony!" I say, crossing my arms. His pained expression fades into a smirk. 

"Yeah, but who else was going to do it? You honestly thought we were going to get through today without me saving the day? Maybe you aren't as smart as I thought 140140." He says, clapping my shoulder. 

"Always about you, dumbass," I say, chuckling as he slings his arms over my shoulders. 

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Once the five of us reach Tony's penthouse, we meet up with Natasha and Clint. 

"Nice to see that you're not dead," Nat says, picking up Loki's scepter from the messy floor. Tony chuckles, shrugging. 

"It's going to take a little bit more than an alien army to kill this guy," he says, pointing his thumbs towards himself. I roll my eyes and see that Natasha does the same. 

"And to think, I was going to miss your ego," she says with a smirk. Suddenly, a groan breaks our train of thought, I quickly reach down and grab my gun. Everyone else grabs their weapons as well, trying to find the source of the noise.

I look over to the steps to see Loki slowly crawling up them. We all turn our weapons to him, waiting for Loki to acknowledge our presence. 

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now," Loki says with a smug look on his face.

"I don't think there will be a lot of drinks where you're going," I say with a slight smirk.

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After a few days under tight surveillance at the New York City S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Thor informed Fury and the group that he would be taking Loki back to Asgard. After much deliberation from the S.H.I.E.L.D. council, Fury agreed without their support. We all agreed to meet on the outskirts of the city to send them back.  

The group of the six of us stand in a circle around the two demigods. Tony walks over to a van that Erik Selvig brought, opening the case he was carrying to reveal the Tesseract. I feel my face contort into an expression of distaste. I know that this is how Thor said they would travel back, with the energy of the Tesseract, but I have a bad feeling about letting it go. The safest hands are our own, and I would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew where this thing was. 

I feel Steve tense up next to me watching Bruce put the Tesseract into the device. As Thor takes one side of the device into his hand, he offers the other to a cuffed Loki. He begrudgingly takes his side. Thor takes one last look over at us and nods. He switches the handle of the device, turning the two of them into beams of light, causing the rest of us to back up. 

"And just like that, as mysteriously as they arrived, they were gone," I say in a low voice, hoping to lighten the mood. Tony smirks over at me and Nat offers a small chuckle as I smile over to them. The six of us look around in a bit of disbelief, confused as to what we do next. 

"I think it's time we head off," Bruce says, breaking the silence. "We don't want to pull any more attention than we already have." Steve nods and the group disperses to say their goodbyes. I turn to Nat and engulf her in a quick hug. 

"Stay safe, okay?" I say, rubbing her upper back lightly. She nods into my shoulder, giving my cheek a small kiss as we pull away. I hug Clint next, keeping our goodbye brief. I go to Bruce next, offering my hand. He shakes it quickly. 

"It was my pleasure to meet and work with you, doctor. I hope our paths cross again," I say with a sincere smile as he wrings his hands. He offers me a sheepish grin and turns to walk back to Tony's car. I slowly turn on my heel, coming face to face with Tony. 

"I'm going to miss you little one," Tony says. I roll my eyes and pull him into a hug. 

"I'm going to miss you too." I let my arms fall and he steps back. "What are you going to do with yourself now?" I ask.

"Eh, I'll probably redo my building, maybe make some adjustments to my suit." He says with a giddy smile and a shrug. "What are you guys planning on doing?" he asks, pointing between me and Steve who has walked up beside me. I turn my head towards him and give him a little smile, acknowledging his presence. 

"Well, we will probably be going back to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury said something about D.C." Tony scoffs at the mention of Nick Fury and I roll my eyes. "You know, you could come work for S.H.I.E.L.D. too. We could really use you," I say, sincerity leaking into my tone. 

"You know me better than anyone Rach. Following isn't really my style," he says with a smirk. I sigh.  

"One thing I do want to do right now is to go see mom and dad. I really miss them." I say and he nods. 

"Say hi for me kid. I'll see you soon," he says, turning on his heel and blowing a kiss over his shoulder. 

I stay in my spot, watching everyone leave around me. Everyone is going their separate ways. Steve and I are heading back to our apartments, Nat and Clint are probably going to take the next mission, and Tony and Bruce are going to go back to Stark Towers to do science things. It is strange seeing everyone leave; we all just experienced this huge event and now we are all going off alone, leaving me feeling incredibly vulnerable. I light tap on my shoulder snaps me out of my thoughts and I quickly turn around. 

"You know, I am really going to miss that Demigod," Steve says, putting his hands behind his back with a smile. 

"Loki? Are you crazy?" I tease and he lightly rolls his eyes. After a beat of silence passes between us, I gently pull him into a hug. He stands, stunned for a moment, and then wraps his big arms around my shoulders.

"Rach, what's up?" he asks.

"You're so great, you know that?" I say into his chest.

"Well, I try to be." He says, feigning cockiness. I lightly smack his chest as I pull away, flashing him a smile. Another moment of silence falls on us as we lock eyes and my stomach begins to turn. I clear my throat, breaking up the moment. 

"Are you ready to go home? I'm tired and hungry." I say, awkwardly putting my hands in the back pockets of the jeans I am wearing and rocking on my heels. He rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat, looking flustered. 

"Okay, I'll make you something when we get home then?" he says over his shoulder as we make our way over to his new bike. 

"I would love that," I say as he gets onto the seat. He fiddles with something on the bike and then hands me a helmet. I take it in my hands slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Steve, are you for real?" I ask in a surprised tone. He smirks and grabs his aviator sunglasses, slipping them on. I cock my head to the side, still unsure why I was gifted this. "I've survived an alien invasion and you are one of the safest drivers I've ever known!" I exclaim, chuckling a little.

"Hey, it's not me I worry about. There is only one super soldier in this duo," He says chuckling as well.

"Fine, but if this helmet 'accidentally' falls off the top of Stark towers, it's definitely not my fault." He chuckles and gestures for me to get onto the bike and as soon as I am on, he takes off.

This is the part about my job that I love. I love the uncertainty of it all. That any second I could get called in and might have to stare death in the face. I love the fact that the job leaves me hanging. Life would be so boring without the surprises that are thrown at us. But I also love the relaxing part. I love relaxing with my best friend.