∆ {1⁹} {CAUGHT IN A STORM} ∆

ROXI HAD ONLY been to a few parties in her life, so she didn't know a great deal about them. However, she did know that they weren't supposed to be a giant space monster that would kill you if it got close enough. She stared up at the Chitauri leviathan in disbelief as it soared through the air just behind Stark.

"I-I don't see how that's a party," Natasha commented, her gaze too transfixed on the monster. Stark brought the giant alien down to street-level, causing its metal covered fins to gouge the tarmac and destroy countless cars as the leviathan let out another screech. Banner glanced back at the alien in slight disbelief, then his eyes swung back to Cap for a split-second, before he turned abruptly round again, now facing the charging monster like the rest of them were. 

"Dr Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry," Steve suggested, walking forwards a few steps forward among the rubble.

"That's my secret, Captain; I'm always angry," he informed them, turning around, before transforming into the Hulk. Even though Roxi knew he couldn't control his actions and that he didn't know what he was doing, she couldn't couldn't quite help feeling a slight twinge of fear. Instead of pushing this one to the side, it was replaced by a little respect and slight awe as he punched the leviathan straight in its face. It had an interesting effect. The sudden force that stopped the space monster caused it to contract like an accordion, but at the same time, it went up, flipping over through the air onto its back as the metal spines attached to its spine sprung off due to the force of the punch. Stark fired a rocket into the now torn-open flesh of the leviathan as it sailed slowly through the air, back towards the bridge they were standing on. 

Roxi followed Clint to shelter behind a flipped taxi once again, much preferring the space to crouching behind a shield with Natasha and Steve. The alien was blasted off of the side of the bridge, even more of the armour coming off in chunks and bouncing off the ground from the impact of the mini missile. 

"Today the weather forecast is a hail of aliens with light showers of dead space megalodons," Roxi muttered to herself, trying to take her mind off the fact that she might die within the next half hour. She didn't think anyone had heard, but the smirk on Clint's face as he glanced over at her told her otherwise.

"Can't forget the thunderstorms," he replied under his breath as the pair made their way out from behind the demolished to the group, taking formation in a circle. Clint had his bow armed, while Natasha had her pistol up in front of her face, similarly to how Roxi held her quarterstaff, guarding the side of her face, where blood still trickled down from her temple from her earlier encounter with a Chitauri. Steve stood next to Tony, and for once they weren't fighting, letting the group have their dynamic hero moment, which included the Hulk, who looked the calmest Roxi had seen him - though that wasn't saying much. The relative calm was ruined when three more leviathans came flooding out of the portal, opening their mouths in a deadly screech showing their rows of huge, sharp teeth. As she thought about it, Roxi realised that she hadn't seen the leviathans destroy anything with their mouths, which could mean that it was a weaker spot.

"Try their mouths if you have the chance," she instructed Clint quietly, who nodded, before Cap began giving out orders again.

"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything, call out patterns or strays. Stark; you've got the perimeter, anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it around, or you turn it to ash," He instructed, carefully punctuating his little speech with hand gestures. 

"You wanna give me a lift?" Clint asked of Tony, who walked over in his battered and scraped armour. 

"Right; better clench up Legolas," he fired back, just as Roxi began to wonder why she, Natasha and Clint didn't get proper armour; both she and Natasha were bleeding, and Clint was likely to be by the end of it, but then she reminded herself that the three had a very different combat style to Tony, Bruce, Thor or even Steve. Stark took Clint to whatever perch he had chosen, before Cap continued speaking. 

"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal; slow them down. You've got the lightning; light those bastards up," Thor nodded and took off, and Steve turned his attention to Natasha and Roxi. 

"Us three, we stay here on the ground; keep the fighting here. And Hulk," he said, turning to the green giant, "Smash." The Hulk gave a grin of some sort of appreciation, before he leapt up to the side of one of the office buildings on either side of the bridge they were on, taking a Chitauri or two with him. Back on the ground, Roxi glanced around at the area carefully, watching for movement behind the rubble, because although she knew that the Chitauri weren't stealth and had a full STRIKE team style of attack, she couldn't help being paranoid. She shot a glance at Natasha over her shoulder, only to find an alien had somehow ended up behind her. Roxi gave a slight sigh as she spun around, one hand gripping the end of the quarterstaff, allowing the other end to swing into the Chitauri's metal armour with a slight clang, before it bounced off, the whole staff vibrating with the force. The alien screeched at her - for slightly too long; it allowed her to stab her quarterstaff through its mouth and out the back of its neck. The purple blood once again shot out, but thankfully, it only hit the ground this time. 

Lightning began to race across the sky and clouds drew in as Thor called his powers into play, but even the rumbling of the churning thunder couldn't cover the screeching of the Chitauri and the clunking of their armour. It was like a war cry in some way, the constant sounds of shifting and moving, nothing ever staying in the same place as Roxi fought once again on autopilot, her hands moving fluidly with the quarterstaff without error. The only sounds she could focus on were the sound of the Chitauri as they paraded proudly through the streets of Manhattan, like proud soldiers who'd just won their side a victory, and Roxi had to remind herself that they didn't have a victory, and she and the other Avengers hadn't lost. Not yet, not while any of them could still fight, and she vowed to herself that she would fight until she could't anymore; she wouldn't let anymore people suffer because her actions. She couldn't. 

Something bubbled up inside her, and after a moment of scrutiny as she plunged the blade of the quarterstaff into a Chitauri's throat, she recognised that it was that cloud-like feeling, but this time, all of her other shunned feelings swirled up inside it as it slowly expanded, driving her to fight. To fight, but also to survive, to kill. 

The handle of the quarterstaff was slipping from her clammy hands due to her sweat when she finally wrenched herself out of her trance, the blades both covered in the purple blood of the aliens, which had already started to congeal. All she could taste and smell was metal and blood, her emotions still rising up inside her. She was caught in a storm, but not the one Thor had summoned. It was worse. It was a storm in her head. Her storm, and there was nothing that anyone else could do about it. She had to deal with it. 

Roxi looked around her to see where she was after her trance, and she realised she was much further away from Cap and Natasha than she should be. She considered going back, but she didn't, for two reasons. One; there was yet another group of Chitauri marching towards her, and two; she had never been fantastic at following orders, why should she start now? When she glanced over her shoulder, she could still see the blue of Steve's uniform and Natasha's flaming red hair as she fought the aliens. Roxi didn't wait for the Chitauri to come closer, because it was the biggest group she'd had to deal with yet. Instead, she held her quarterstaff in her right hand and pulled out her pistol with her left, before aiming and shooting. Six of the aliens crumpled to the ground, accompanied by more furious screeching as the rest of the Chitauri made their way closer, over the rubble and ruin. 

Roxi slipped the now empty gun into its thigh holster just as the first alien came into range of her quarterstaff. This group had their own weapons, some kind of staff with an energy blade, which meant that this round would be much harder. She glanced up briefly, only to do a double-take. Natasha was on one of the speeders, fighting the Chitauri there. Roxi brought her eyes back down to the first Chitauri, and began to fight.

Above, Clint fired an arrow before glancing back down towards the bridge where Steve was still fighting. He frowned slightly as he looked around for the feisty brunette who had somehow become one of his best friends. He became more worried when he couldn't find her.

"Ryder? You good?" He asked, pressing a hand to his ear where his comm rested. After a short moment filled with static, worry and thunder, her voice crackled through the earpiece.

"Yeah, just a little preoccupied," She answered, sounding slightly out of breath. In fact, she had just killed another Chitauri and she quickly dodged another beam of energy as it was sent at her. She dropped to her knees against the rubble to evade the blade of the Chitauri's weapon, and swept her staff at the alien's legs, knocking it over, before she stabbed it just above its chest plate. Her gaze rested on the Chitauri for a second before a screech above her told her that she wasn't done yet. 

Roxi moved out of the way just as the alien behind her lunged, causing it to spear itself on the other blade on the end of the quarterstaff. It was what she had planned, but it still made Roxi scrunch her face up in disgust as she attempted to free the weapon of the Chitauri's bodies. Before she could manage it, she heard another alien come up behind her. Instinctively, she whirled around, with her left forearm in front of her face, to face a Chitauri who was a little way away, completely prepared to fight. But so was she, and as she carried her first punch, the white cloud-like feeling seemed to hum along her arm, adding some extra energy behind her fist. 

Her earpiece had broken at some point after she'd spoken to Clint, and a sudden static filled her mind, and Roxi let herself focus on that; it's steady, calming quality, to help provide a sense of safety and permanence. Then the cracking of the thunder filtered in, followed by the steady thumping of blood in her ears, and Roxi started to relax; this was her area. She was good at this. The white cloud inside of her seemed to take advantage of her moment of calm amid the chaos, and it flooded up, into her head, and Roxi closed her eyes, and allowed the churning mass of emotions to explode out of her. There had been a ring of Chitauri around her, and from the sound of the various screeches of pain, she guessed one of the other Avengers had come to help, and she opened her eyes after a moment, hoping to find sanctuary. But instead, she found carnage. 

{A/N:} Soooo. Interesting chapter this time. What do you think? Sorry it's so late (stupid writer's block) and also that it's so short; I really wanted to end it there and thankfully I managed to get it over 2000 words. Please leave a vote and a comment so I can improve. I'm kinda happy with chapter and kinda not caus I suck at writing fight scenes but I'm happy with the way I managed to portray Roxi's emotions. Like I said, let me know what you think.

JabberJay11

2135 Words

Written: 27 / 07 / 2020

Published: 27 / 07 / 2020