While Thor was free-falling to his supposed death, Loki idly stood by the control panel and proceeded to make his escape, and leave Coulson to die a horrible death.

"You're gonna lose..." Phil croaked, looking up to Loki, who turned back to the dying man. "Am I?" Loki snarled at him.

"It's in your nature."

"Your heroes are scattered," Loki said. "Your floating fortress falls from the sky... where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction," Coulson mumbled.

"I don't think I'm –" Loki managed, just as Coulson pulled the trigger of the Destroyer rifle, blasting Loki through the wall and through the other side.

"So that's what it does..." Coulson joked to himself, and tried to hang on for dear life.

~~An hour later~~

The engines managed to stabilize and keep the Helicarrier afloat with Stark and Steve's help, and Barton was snapped out of Loki's control, and he was now being held in a cell.

However, Loki and the rest of his mind-controlled posse had escaped... and Phil Coulson was nearing the last few moments of his life. Fury and Zach entered the holding cell to find the agent bleeding out.

"Sorry, boss," Coulson muttered, just as Fury removed the weapon off his chest. "The god rabbited."

"Just stay awake," Fury commanded, not wanting to lose someone he'd know for years, one of his closest confidants. "Eyes on me!"

"No..." Coulson mumbled. "I'm clocking out here."

"Not an option," Fury instructed.

"It's okay, boss," Coulson managed. "This was never going to work – if they didn't have s-something to–..."

Coulson stopped, and breathed his last breath, now still and motionless. Fury looked grim and mournful to Phil's body, just as Zach frighteningly checked his pulse, while muttering what he believed Coulson's last words were.

"Something – to avenge." Zach mumbled, as he pressed the tips of his fingers near Coulson's neck. He had no pulse.

Tears leaked from his eyes, now having seen death take someone he cared about. It was a horrible feeling, it sunk to the depths of his stomach. It killed him inside to think what Coulson's girlfriend, Audrey would feel at this moment.

The medical team arrived immediately after, taking Coulson's body, while Fury stood up and leaned against the railing.

Zach had stopped the medical team, and dug into Coulson's pockets, retrieving his Captain America trading cards, now coated and drenched in his blood. "You'd probably need these," he solemnly said as he handed the bloody cards to the Director. "Guess Steve never got around to signing them."

—------

"They called it," Fury said to Tony & Steve, now seated on the roundtable of the Helicarrier. The two were feeling the effects of Coulson's death, and now, they were in the pits.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury held up the trading cards. "Guess he never did get you to sign them." He added bitterly, and threw the pack in Steve's directions, still coated in the fallen agent's blood.

Steve regretfully picked up one of the cards, and looked at it. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube," Fury added to the list of cons they had. "Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye."

Fury held his hands down to the table, and shook his head. "Maybe I had that one coming."

Fury then explained what the idea was, what the Avengers Initiative was meant to be, and recalled the motto he had told Zach four years ago. "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea.... In heroes." Fury finished his speech, hoping for a sliver of hope that this idea could still become reality.

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion." Fury stated, and turned his eye to Zach, who sat near a corner, looking at a photo with him and Coulson, near about the first couple days of his SHIELD training.

"You know something?" Zach said to Fury, just as the elder man walked towards him. "Natasha wasn't my only mentor here, Coulson was too." He managed to chuckle and wipe away his tears.

"He always checked in on me, we had our talks... he told me about the time he had his first date with Audrey!" He smiled, just for a moment. "And now, I'm gonna have to go to Portland to tell her he's gone..." Fury kneeled down to the young man's level.

"I could have done something, Director." Zach lamented. "I could have been there, and maybe – just maybe! – Coulson would still be alive..."

"If you're saying it's your fault, stop it, because it's not," Fury explained. "Coulson knew what he was doing, and he didn't die an Agent of SHIELD. He died an Avenger."

"You have a good heart, Zachary," Fury added. "You really do want to protect those who can't be protected, just like your mother did all those years ago. Probably how she got her callsign... Carol "Avenger" Danvers."

Zach looked at the man in disbelief. "Yes, you heard that right." Fury said, feeling his stare at him. "Your mother is the reason I named this Initiative as the Avengers Initiative. Make Coulson proud as an Avenger. Make your mother proud."

Fury stood up and took to his duties as Director, and left Zach to his thoughts.

—-----

Stark had walked out of the meeting room into the place where Coulson died, looking down the hatch where Thor had fallen from. Steve walked in moments later, and crossed his arms, looking down the same hole.

"Was he married?" Steve asked Tony, who still seemed shaken from everything.

"No... there was a uh... cellist," Tony recalled. "I think."

"I'm sorry." Steve apologized. "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job," Steve reasoned.

"He was out of his league," Stark answered back. "He should have waited, he should have–"

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony." Steve said.

"Right!" Tony scoffed at the old man. 'How did that work out for him?"

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked him, just as Tony furiously turned back to him. "WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS!" Tony yelled at the top of his lungs. "I am not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I," Steve argued with the futurist. "He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now, we've got to put that behind us and get this done." Steve calmly replied. "Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list..."

"He made it personal," Tony exclaimed as he looked from the blood stained wall to Steve.

"That's not the point–"

"This is the point, that's Loki's point." Tony explained. "He hit us all right where we live, why?"

"To tear us apart," Steve answered.

"Yeah, divide & conquer is great and all that, but he had to take us out to win, right?" Tony explained further. "That's what he wants, he wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants his audience."

"Right..." Steve replied. "I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"Yeah, that's just a preview," Tony said. "This is opening night, Loki's a full-tilt diva, he wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument in the skies with his name plastered..." Stark stopped talking immediately, as he realized where Loki would want to commit his deed.

A building with his name on it. Stark Tower.

"Son of a bitch!"

—------------

Stark Tower, 2012

Erik Selvig began all the final preparations for the machine, and readied the Tesseract inside to create the wormhole.

"Sir, I turned off the arc-reactor, but the device is already self-sustaining." Jarvis told both Zach and Tony as they approached the building.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," Tony warned Selvig, as the scientist turned around, with a wide grin on his face.

"It's too late!" Selvig cried. "It can't stop now, she wants to show us something! A new universe!"

"Is it Hell?" Zach asked. "Cause I'm pretty sure that's what New York is gonna see from this."

"Okay," Tony answered back as both him and his son readied their fists, ready to destroy the machine. The two both made their blasts towards the machine, but just as soon as it had made contact, it ricocheted off an invisible barrier, hitting them both as well as knocking down Selvig.

"The barrier is pure energy." Jarvis advised the two. "It's unbreachable. The Mark VII is not ready to be deployed, Mr. Stark."

"Skip the spinning rims." Tony told the A.I. before turning to his son. "We're on the clock, kid." Zach nodded and the two began to touch ground where Loki was watching them just below the machine. Tony touched down and the machine instantly removed his armor, while Zach flew in, and Loki walked back inside.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki asked as he marched towards the armorless Stark, while Zach stood by, and retracted his armor.

"Uh... actually," Tony answered. "I'm going to threaten you."

"With your son?" Loki asked, just as Zach kept quiet, keeping an eye on the God of Mischief.

"Oh, you don't know my son here," Tony said. "One of the best hand-to-hand fighters I've seen, and him alone outweighs my suit. You want a drink?"

"And you got your glow-stick right there," Zach finally spoke up. "Are you going to control us, Odinson?" Loki scowled at Zach, who sighed. 

"Oh, that's right, Odin's not your father at all, isn't he?" Zach stalled, just for Tony to spill on a pair of bracelets. "And thanks to you, we've got to deal with your petty shit about not being the King of Asgard, huh?"

"Enough of your insults, you petulant child!" Loki yelled. "Are you afraid not of my army? The Chituari are coming, nothing will change that. And I do not have to fear the offspring of the galactic challenger, Captain Marvel."

Zach lowered his head to meet the god's eye level. "You've heard of my mother?" He asked him, as he chuckled. 

"Everyone in the known universe has heard of your mother," Loki explained "The tales of her exploits had reached Asgard when Thor and I used to fight alongside each other, saviors of the Skrulls, defector of the Kree... but she'd cower in fear in the face of my master."

Zach grinded his teeth together, and clamped his fists shut. "Kid, stand down," he heard Tony yell from above, as Tony didn't want anything to happen to his son.

"Alright, Lackey, let's do a head count here," Tony called out to the God. "Your brother, the demigod, a super-soldier; a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breath-taking anger management, a kid who has literally cosmic power, a couple of master assassins, and you – big fella – you managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan," Loki smirked.

"Not a great one," Zach remarked, adding on to his father. "When they come, and they will, they'll be gunning for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off," Loki scoffed.

"You're missing the point," Tony said. "There's no throne, no version where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

"Well said, Dad." Zach thought to himself.

Loki's smile faded as a threatening frown appeared, and walked towards Stark. "How will your friends or your son have time for me..." He warned. "When they're so busy fighting you?"

He raised his hand and conjured an illusion behind Zach, which held Zach in a chokehold, and turned him to the main Loki, who took his scepter and pressed it against Tony's Arc Reactor, charging with its mysterious energy. "DAD!" Zach cried.

TING!

Curiously, nothing happened, shocking all three people in the room. He rose the scepter again, and made the same motion, pressing it against his chest, but still nothing.

"This usually works..." Loki muttered, as the illusion dropped behind Zach.

"What's the matter?" Zach said sarcastically. "Performance anxiety much?"

In a rage, Loki grabbed Tony by the throat and threw him to the floor, but just as Zach tried to do anything, Loki quickly shot at him, making him fly across the room and crashing into the liquor cabinet.

"Jarvis! Anytime now!" Tony cried before Loki took him by the throat once more.

"You will all fall before me..." Loki growled.

"Deploy!" Stark said before Loki threw him out the window.

The elevator opened for a red rocket to blast through, knocking Loki down, and shot down after Tony. Zach had gotten up from the bar, shrugged off the glass and made contact with Loki.

"You thought you pissed me off now," Zach fumed. "You ain't seen nothing yet, asshole." He disappeared from Loki's view, and soon Loki felt a tremendous force against his jaw before being picked up and thrown into the floor.

Loki picked up his scepter and started shooting, hopefully trying to hit or kill Zach, but every shot was a miss. Then the scepter shifted in his hand as Zach reappeared, and held it towards the air.

"And there's one other person you pissed off!" They both heard a voice from outside the tower, where Iron Man, now in the Mark VII armor, stood. "His name was Phil."

Zach moved out of the way, and flew out of the tower, while Tony and Loki both aimed at each other, but Tony had received the upper hand and put Loki on his ass.

Just above the tower, the machine activated, and produced a blue beam reaching to the skies, and opened a wormhole right above the city.

And all hell broke loose soon after the portal opened.

Chariots poured out of the portal, as the Chituari began their invasion. The aliens roared and started firing from their fixed arm cannons. Iron Man and Iron Marvel flew up to shoot their rockets and photon blasts, but it proved useless.

The Chitauri had grown from hundreds to thousands.

—------------

The Chitauri proceeded to fly down to the ground, where all the New Yorkers were panicking and running for their lives.

Cars and taxis were being destroyed and flipped over, and the people were fleeing for their lives, and were taking shelter wherever they could. Loki, once again in his Asgardian armor, watched over the city, and watched his army terrorize the city.

"LOKI!" Loki heard a familiar voice and turned to find his not-so-dead brother very much alive, and very much pissed. "Turn off the Tesseract, or I'll destroy it!"

"You can't!" Loki bargained. "There is no stopping it. There is only... the war."

"So be it," Thor decided as Loki leaped off the platform and engaged his brother in battle. Loki swiped his scepter at him, only for Thor to dodge and push it down with Mjolnir, with the ending result of the letters R & K in "Stark" to fall to the ground.

Natasha and Clint flew near the base of where they were fighting, but Loki raised his scepter at them as soon as they fired on him, and he blasted the left wing of the Quinjet, sending them crashing to the ground.

Steve, Clint and Natasha were unharmed, and ran towards the Grand Central Station, but all of New York hear a loud roar come from the wormhole above as a giant floating creature emerged from the wormhole, a Chitauri leviathan that spewed off soldiers from it's sides, and a major threat to the Avengers.

"Look at this! Look around you!" Thor shouted, pointing to the chaos he was causing. "You think this madness will end with your rule!?"

"It's too late," Loki muttered, "It's too late to stop it."

"No, we can." Thor convinced him. "Together."

SHINK!

Thor dropped his hammer, and stumbled back, just as Loki stabbed him with a small knife, just like how he did when he turned into a snake when they were children.

"Sentiment," Loki whispered. Thor grabbed him by one of his horns, and pushed him into one of the windows of Stark Tower, and picked him up into the air, and dropped him to his feet.

Loki looked up, and rolled off the balcony and onto an incoming chariot. Thor begrudgingly removed the knife from his chest, and threw it aside.

—------------

"We need to get out! They gotta bring the National Guard!"

"National Guard?! Does the army know what's happening here?"

"Do we?" a pair of cops were arguing amongst each other, just as Captain America landed on top of a cop car.

"I need men in these buildings. There are people inside that can run into the line of fire," Captain America commanded. "You take them through the basement or through the subway. You need to keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

"Why the hell should I take orders from you!" The police sergeant yelled back at him. Just as he did, an explosion blew up the area behind them and two Chitauri dropped down to take on Captain America.

However, Steve bated his shield against one of them, and then deflected the blasts from the other's rifle and removed it, knocking him out and batting the other one away again. One came back, and Steve cut off it's arm, causing it to shriek in pain and fall down.

Now embarrassed for not listening, the sergeant turned back to his precinct. "I need men in those buildings," he repeated Steve's words to them. "Lead people down and away from the streets.We're gonna set up a perimeter all the way down to 39th Street."

Back in the skies, Iron Man and Iron Marvel were keeping up with the Leviathan, trying to find a weak spot on it. Tony deployed a pack of rockets towards the face of the creature, causing it to turn to another direction and towards them.

"Oh, fuck." Zach radioed to his father. "We're fucked, it's coming to us!"

"What the hell is step two!?" Tony added as the two took off ahead of the Leviathan.

Thor summoned bolts of lightning to electrocute the Chitauri soldiers, killing them instantly as the God of Thunder touched down alongside Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked Thor.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable."

"Thor's right," Tony called on comms. "We gotta deal with those guys."

"And wherever the hell Loki is," Zach added. "He doesn't have his scepter either."

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked the boys.

"As a team." Cap responded.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor told them.

"Yeah, get in line," Clint replied as he tightened on new arrowheads onto his existing arrow shafts.

"Save it," Cap tells them. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him there things could run wild. We got both Starks on top, they're gonna need us."

Just in front of them, Banner rides in on a small motorbike from the place he crashed in, along with a fresh pair of clothes. The team slowly approached Banner, as he stepped off the bike and turned to the team.

"So, this all seems horrible," Banner admitted.

"Starks, we've got him."

"Banner?" Both of them answered.

"Just like you said, Tony."

"Then tell him to suit up." Tony dictated. "We're bringing the party to you." From behind a nearby building, Iron Man & Iron Marvel zip pass, with the Leviathan on their tails.

"I-I don't see how that's a party..." Natasha said to them. The two men flew down with the Leviathan slowly gaining on them. However, Bruce started in it's direction, and walked slowly towards it.

"Dr. Banner!" Steve called to him. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Cap," Bruce chuckled to him and looked back with a smirk.

"I'm always angry."

Bruce turned back around towards the Leviathan as his skin slowly turned green, and his clothes ripped its seams. His muscles grew in size and so did he, where he was now towering over the Avengers.

Now transformed into the Hulk, the green giant smashed it's fist into the Leviathan's face. It still pushed him back, but the Hulk was able to hold his ground, to the point where the leviathan jerked into the air, and had it's own armor crashing into itself.

Tony and Zach both fired their rockets and photon blasts to a opening on the Leviathan as everyone ducked and braced for cover.

The Leviathan's head now fell from it's body and landed down below them, gaining the attention of the Chitauri, who screamed at their leviathan's murderers.

The heroes all formed into a circle, where the Hulk roared back at the Chitauri, and both Iron Man & Iron Marvel landed on both of Cap's sides. Natasha slammed another magazine into her pistols, Clint readied his bow and arrow, and Thor spun his hammer in his hand.

And this is the moment... where everything changed forever.

Loki watched from above in a Chitauri chariot, and only muttered, "Send the rest." From the wormhole, two more leviathans came flying down, along with more soldiers. Natasha saw this and said, "Guys..."

"Call it, Captain," Tony told him.

"Alright, listen up," Steve called for their orders. "Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use that containment."

"Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays."

"Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Tony took Clint by the shoulder and the two flew off.

"Thor, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. Take Zach with you, you've got the lightning, he's got the photon blasts. Light the bastards up."

Before Thor and Zach could take off, Natasha turned to Zach and whispered, "Be safe up there, all right?" She warned. "I don't want to lose my favorite student today."

Zach chuckled as he turned back to her. "Nat, I'm your only student."

"Still works." Natasha smirked and pecked his cheek. "I'll see you in a minute."

Thor and Zach took off towards the building, leaving Natasha, Steve, and the Hulk on the battleground. "You and me," Steve told her. "We stay here on the ground and keep up the fighting. And Hulk?"

The Hulk turned furiously, looking towards who called for him, but he was still docile and stood ready for his orders.

"Smash." Steve pointed towards him, and the Hulk smiled gleefully, grinning through his teeth, and the excitement built up for him to destroy the Chitauri. He jumped to a tremendous height, scaled a building, and killed all the Chitauri in his way.

Landing on a nearby building, Thor held up Mjolnir to the skies, as the clouds began to get darker and Zach fought off all the Chitauri in the way. Once getting enough lightning, Thor thrust the energy towards the wormhole, killing the incoming Leviathan.

Helicarrier Bridge, 2012.

"Director Fury. The Council has made a decision." A World Security Council Member addressed the Director of Shield.

"I recognize the council has made a decision," Fury acknowledged. "But given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."

"Director, you're closer than any of our subordinates," Another World Security Council Member by the name of Gideon Malick spoke up. "You scramble that jet–"

(a/n: for any of my AOS watchers, yes, Gideon Malick was in the first Avengers movie. They brought him back for season 3 of the show)

"That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman." Fury said. "Until I'm certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population."

'If we don't hold them in the air, we lose everything."

"If I send that bird out, we already have."

~~Back to the Battle of New York~~

Iron Man and Captain America had used their lasers and shield to incapacitate all the Chitauri around them, while Natasha took control of another chariot.

Zach, Thor and Hulk were in the process of killing another Leviathan as the latter two stripped it of its armor, while Zach blasted a hole through it, dropping it to the ground as the Hulk steered it's jaw away from the civilians.

Just as Natasha was piloting the chariot, she felt nearby blaster fire, finding Loki on her tail. "Oh..you." The two were in a mad race, driving around the buildings nearby where Hawkeye was stationed.

"Nat, what are you doing?" Clint asked on comms.

"Uh... a little help!?"

Hawkeye clicked a button on his bow, and readied an arrow at Loki's chariot. "I've got him," He smirks to himself and aims for him.

SHOO!

He let go of the drawstring and let it fly towards Loki, straight towards his head.

However, Loki had immediately caught the arrow without looking. He smirked to himself, thinking the archer had finally missed.

He was so wrong.

The arrow blew up in front of him, knocking him back into the Stark Penthouse, while Natasha and Zach flew up towards the machine, where Selvig was finally out of Loki's control.

Loki got up to his feet, but only to find the Hulk heading straight for him, crashing inside the Penthouse.The Hulk was on all fours, pounded his fists against the floor, and ran towards Loki.

"ENOUGH!" Loki screamed. "YOU ARE – ALL OF YOU – BENEATH ME!"

"I AM A GOD – you dull creature. And I will not be bullied by–"

Loki couldn't finish as Hulk grabbed him by the leg, and smashed him left and right repeatedly, until Hulk decided he had enough and threw him to the ground.

"Puny god..." The Hulk finally spoke as he walked away from the Trickster. Loki stayed there, whimpering in fear of how much he underestimated the giant.

Top of Stark Tower.

Black Widow and Iron Marvel walked towards the machine, looking for any way to dismantle it, as Selvig got to his feet. "The scepter..." muttered Selvig.

"Doctor Selvig," Zach gasped as he helped the doctor to his feet.

"Loki's scepter. The energy," Selvig rattled. "The Tesseract can't fight, but you can't protect against yourself."

"It's not your fault," Natasha comforted him. "You didn't know what you were doing."

"Well... actually, I think I did," Selvig responded. "I built in a safety to cut the power source."

"The scepter," Zach answered.

"It might be able to close the portal," Selvig reasoned as he looked down below him. "And I'm looking right at it."

Elsewhere...

"Director Fury is no longer in command. Override order seven-Alpha-one-one."

"Seven-Alpha-One-One, confirmed. We're go for take-off."

"Sir, we have a bird in motion!" Hill warned Fury, who turned back to the Council with rage. "Anyone on the deck, we have a rogue bird! We need to shut it down! Repeat, Take off is not authorized!"

Fury grabbed a missile launcher and ran out of the command center. He aimed at the Quinjet about to take off, and fired, knocking it off. However, it was nothing but a decoy.

"Stark, you hear me?!" Fury radioed in to him. "We have a missile headed straight for the city!"

"How long?"

"Three minutes, at best. The payload will wipe out Midtown."

—------------

"Nat, we have a nuke inbound," Zach warned her. "The WSC wants to make New York an atomic wasteland." Natasha nodded and grabbed Loki's scepter, as Selvig directed her where to aim it, digging it through the force field.

Zach saw the nuke coming and his father trailed after it. And he knew what his dad was about to do.

He was gonna send it through the wormhole to blow up the other side. A literal one-way trip to hell.

Zach wasn't sure if he would survive.

Tony had taken hold of the nuke and pivoted upward towards the wormhole. "Save the rest for the turn, J." Tony instructed Jarvis.

"Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?" Jarvis asked, with a hint of concern in the A.I's voice.

"Might as well."

Stark Industries Plane.

Pepper watched in horror on the Live TV, just as Amara and Jayden watched as well. She couldn't fathom that this was happening in New York, and that Tony and her son were there, fighting actual aliens.

She didn't even notice Tony was calling her on her phone.

"Mama, isn't Uncle Zachy there?" Jayden worriedly asked his mother. "Where is he?" Amara turned to her son, and cuddled him in her arms, just as worried. "I-I don't know, baby." She choked. "I hope he's okay..."

—------------

Tony climbed higher and higher as Zach watched him, and Natasha stood ready to destroy the portal. His suit began to freeze up as he flew above into the unknown and in the abyss.

SHIELD agents yelled and cried in joy, that a nuke wouldn't threaten them anymore. Fury sighed in relief and tried to get back into contact with Stark.

However in the void of space, Jarvis spazzed out, and the call to Pepper failed. Tony was losing power, and he slowly let go of the nuke and fell back down to Earth.

But it was a success. The nuke had flown into the mothership of the Chituari, and was completely decimated. The remaining forces had dropped dead and the Leviathans stopped flying, one crashed in the Grand Central Station.

"Close it." Steve ordered Natasha, and she dug through the barrier, shifting the Tesseract, and closing the portal, but by the skin of his neck, Stark had fallen out of it before it closed.

"He's not slowing down!" Thor realized and swung his hammer, but fortunately, Hulk jumped in and grabbed Stark, digging his fingers into the building and safely landing with Stark.

Thor and Steve rushed to Stark's aid, and Thor pried off his helmet, finding Tony motionless. Steve checked for any signs of breathing and trailed his hands down, hoping Stark made it out alive.

It looked like Steve was wrong. Stark would be the one to make the sacrifice play.

The Hulk grunted and looked to his comrades, and roared at the top of his lungs, shocking Tony into waking up.

"AUGHHH!" Tony cried in shock as he woke up. "What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

Steve chuckled at the joke. "We won." He smiled.

"Alright, hey, alright." Tony weakly spoke up. "Good job, guys... let's just not come in tomorrow, let's just take a day...

"Have you ever tried shawarma?" He randomly asked them. "There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it. Zach's been raving about that stuff forever."

"We're not finished yet." Thor answered.

Tony nodded. "And then shawarma after."

Stark Tower.

Loki finally had the grace to admit defeat. He pulled himself up the nearest stairs, bleeding from his nose and having many regrets.

He breathes slowly for a few seconds, and turned around with a not so pleasant surprise.

The Avengers now stood before him, and Clint pulled an arrow in front of him, ready for anything Loki may try.

"If it's all the same to you..." Loki breathed. "I'll have that drink, Stark..."

---------------------------

a/n: huge shout out to wonhosmila for the new cover! Love ya, pana! 

along with that, one more chapter, and we are onto Agents of Shield!