Kindred Spirits

I Do Everything (Again)

  The next few hours of my life were spent fighting a seemingly endless number of alien enemies, fighting as a force of nature with Andy and the gang behind me. We moved in a seamless vortex of death, stopping blows from hitting each other's backs, pushing each other out of the line of fire, covering each other when we became injured until we healed. Booker may have only joined the team in the 1800s, but we fought together like we had been doing it for centuries. Natasha struggled to fit our style, eventually falling back to take care of enemies unseen, her history as an assassin shining like the edge of her blades.

  "I may be losing my hearing in my old age, but has anyone found a way to close the portal so that any of this actually makes a difference?" I called as I ripped the head off of the alien in my grip before once again picking up my sword.

  "Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," Steve responded as he landed behind me, holding up his hands as he had our blades and guns pointed at him.

  "Well, maybe it's not about guns," I said as I looked up at the tower, my mind firing as I considered the relationship between the Tesseract and the scepter. 

  "You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride," I looked up as a squadron of Chitauri flew overhead.

  "I've got a ride," I called over my shoulder, jogging lightly to jump on top of a line of cars before sprinting to get on top of a bus, jumping up just in time to catch a stray flier going overhead. I lifted myself to the deck, slicing the tethers keeping it in place before launching it over the side. 

  Scrambling, I managed to figure out the controls before going too far off course. Unfortunately, my pirating hadn't gone unnoticed, forcing me to swerve to avoid the aliens on my tail. "Hey, Robin Hood, wanna make yourself useful for once?" I called as I banked around a building, heading straight towards Clint.

  I dove towards the ground just before reaching him, looking back to see the lead craft exploding and causing the other 2 to blow up from the proximity. "Thanks, Barton!" I called back as I resumed course for the tower. I'm forced to swerve once again as Loki begins to shoot in my direction.

  "Fuck this," I grumble before changing course to sail above the tower in a circling pattern, Loki hot on my tail. Looking back, I jump just as he fires one last shot at me, hitting the craft dead on as I begin to dive back towards him. Holding out an arm, I manage to clothesline him, sending him falling back towards the tower as I level out, correcting my position before rolling onto the gravel rooftop of the tower.

  I stand with a huff, striding toward the crumpled Erik Selvig at the edge of the roof.

  "The scepter," he mumbles as I reach him, helping him sit up as he shakes his head.

  "A failsafe," I pat him on the shoulder as he looks up at me, "Some part of you knew what you were doing, enough to build in a failsafe."

  We both looked over the ledge, seeing Loki's scepter glimmering up at us from where it had fallen. I jumped over, scooping it up before heading inside, though I stopped at the sight of Loki embedded into the concrete floor.

  "Damn, the Hulk really doesn't like you, huh?" I chuckled as I grabbed my camera from my bag, snapping a picture before heading back up the stairs. I made my way to the device, beginning to push the scepter through the barrier surrounding the cube.

  "I can close it, does anyone copy? I can shut the portal down!" I call into my earpiece. "Do it!" the static filled voice of Steve calls.

  "No, wait!" I furrow my brow as Tony begs me to wait. "Stark, these things are still coming!" "I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

  My stomach falls as I realize what he's saying. "Stark, you know that's a one way trip."

  We get no response as Tony guides the missile straight into the portal. My heart is clogging my throat as I wait for the suit to reappear. Chitauri and Leviathan start to drop as I see an explosion destroy a massive craft at the heart of the portal. "Come on, Stark."

  "Close it." I try to swallow the lump in my throat as I plunge the scepter into the heart of the device. The portal begins to collapse in on itself, and a distant figure falls through just before it seals shut. I let out an incredulous laugh, before my smile dies as he fails to slow down.

  I almost launch myself off the building after him when he gets caught by massive blob of green. Hulk lands in front of the team and they stand silently around him. "Is he okay?!" I choke out, tears clogging my throat. The only response I get is in the form of the Hulk roaring, followed immediately by sighs of relief on comms. I nearly fall to the ground in relief as I hear Steve telling me that Tony is okay and to meet them down in the penthouse.

  Everyone came up while Loki was knocked out in the floor, and I made sure to give Tony a decent smack on the back of his head as soon as I saw him.

  "I've had enough people die on me in battle, the jokes are not appreciated, Stark," I scolded while he rubbed the back of his head. "I was unconscious, what do you want from me?!"

  A loud groan interrupted us, the two of us looking over to find Loki dragging himself up into a sitting position before looking at all of us standing in front of him. "If it's all the same to you," he looked over at Tony, "I'll have that drink now."