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five

"You knew James Buchanan Barnes." Steve whispers to himself.

"You knew him?" My voice echos throughout the small room. Steve rapidly nods, "He was my best friend." He hesitantly holds the tags back out to me, I take them and slide them over my neck.

   Before I can get any other words out, Clint Barton walks up behind Steve, giving a small knock on the wall. "Guys, we gotta — sorry, did I interrupt something?" Clint looks between us.

Steve shakes his head, "No, uh, we'll meet you and Natasha on the jet." Clint just nods and leaves before Steve continues, "Can we finish talking about this when we get back?"

"Yeah, sure." I tell him, noticing how his demeanor changed. "I'll get changed."

• • •

I run my fingers over the purple lining of my black suit, my weapons, and the silver tags on my neck, trying to calm my growing nerves. Steve's pacing isn't helping my case. "Steve," I say quietly, directing his attention to me. "Calm down, you pacing isn't helping my nerves." I sigh, "We're gonna fix this."

He nods, making his way over to the window and looking out as we begin to land. Steve's demeanor changes into one of a soldier, "As far as we know, Loki still believes you're on his side. We can use this to our advantage." I stand from my seat, stretching as I nod.

   "How?" I ask. Steve shrugs, "Not sure yet, it just might give us an edge if we need it."

   He hands me an earpiece that I put in my ear, adjusting it so it was comfortable. I feel the jet begin to descend lightly. "Stark, we're heading Northeast." Natasha's voice booms over the comm set. I stand next to the window as Clint and her fly the jet to the tower. I'm able to see everything below us. The streets, the buildings, the people . . . the chaos.

   "What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing up Park. I'm gonna lay 'em out for you." Tony's voice replies. Natasha swings the jet to the side, making me stumble a bit.

   I regain my balance, continuing to look outside. Coming into view, I see what must be the Chitauri. My gaze snaps to Natasha, who is pressing a few buttons before aiming the gun on the jet at the army.

   I feel the jolt of the machine gun, telling me that Nat is firing at them. I walk over to the two pilots, setting my hands on the back of their seats for balance. My grip tightens when Clint makes an unexpected turn with the jet, banking us back towards the Stark Tower.

   Getting closer, I see a small figure that I make out to be Loki, standing on the top of the building. Barton doesn't hesitate to aim the gun at him, Loki doing the same with his scepter, but firing faster than Clint can, making a blast hit the jet. The blast made me fall off my feet and to the floor. I try to make my way to my feet as quickly as possible while the jet is loosing altitude.

   Luckily, Clint is able to move us to the ground somewhat safely. Stumbling slightly, I stand as they open the ramp, rushing down it behind Steve.

   We arrive in the middle of a four-way street as civilians try to run away. We don't have any time to do anything before we heard a loud bellowing sound. I grab a large knife from my belt, holding it out to prepare for an attack. I look up, expecting the Chitauri, but I'm met with something worse.

   "Oh my God . . ." The words fall out of my mouth. Steve speaks into his earpiece, "Stark, you seeing this?"

   We are consumed by the huge shadow of this weird alien thing above us. "What even is this?" I question, my voice housing disbelief.