The Unseen Avenger ∘ Marvel

chapter fifteen; it's over

I slump back against the wall, my mouth ajar as I metallic taste begins to coat my tongue. Blood starts to run down my jumpsuit, a trail of red forming on the concrete beneath me. I let out a painful groan, momentarily shutting my eyes. Burning, as if fire has ignited in my shoulder blade, courses through my body. An intense pain stems from the wound as I break out into a sweat.

It hurts. It hurts so much.

I grit my teeth while my eyes continually swept the area ahead of me. I didn't intend to be cornered like a defenseless animal and be finished by an alien. I inhale again, focusing on my breathing while another strike of hurt shoots through me.

I swallow and let adrenaline take over. I will not die today. Sienna Isabelle Firman will not die at the hand of a lucky Chitauri who managed to get a shot off.

I gently turn my head to look at the wound. It's that stupid, no good, messed up shoulder that's been hit, inches from my heart. I curse under my breath as another wave of pain comes on, my forehead scrunching together.

I tremble again. Think, think. I need an adrenaline rush. It will help me overrun the current pain and keep moving. I need to help the civilians.

I look at the fallen Chitauri, reminding myself that my fate might follow his if I don't move forward. More will find the civilians if I don't get to them first. I slowly work my way up the wall, using my good arm to push off of it. I have to put aside the pain. Put aside the hurt. Be a hero.

I find some small irony in my own thinking while I wince once more from my wound. A few days spent around dressed up superhumans and I've started to think I am one.

Stop thinking Sienna! You've got a mission to complete.

I get up, ignoring my ailments. That task is easier said than done when I cringe again at the burning sensation once I begin to move. I round the corner, seeing the civilians are safe inside the alley. Some gasp when they see my shoulder or the fact that a strange, bloody woman in a skintight black suit in the middle of an alien invasion.

"Listen up!" I yell, forcing my pain into my words to heighten my voice. Everyone goes quiet.

"I may have killed those aliens, but more will be on their way. You aren't safe here, but I can get you to a place where you can be. People are rendezvousing in the subways. Policemen will be guarding there. Does anyone know where the nearest entrance to the subway is?"

No one steps up at first and I don't expect any to do so immediately. Most are still in a state of shock about their new extraterrestrial enemies milling about, but a girl several years younger than me takes a hesitant step forward. It takes less than a moment for me to inquire, "What's your name?"

"Hope." The word is delayed and hushed, but she musters up the bearings to answer me.

I grin without thinking at her name whilst I reach into my belt, "Okay Hope, I need you to take these."

I hand her two grenades, very aware of the questionably rash choice I'm, "You'll be leading the group. If you see any aliens, pull the pin, throw, and cover your ears. Please don't blow yourself or anyone else up in the process."

"Where will you be?"

"Guarding the flank. Now go!" I usher her forward with a push from the back, my gaze still hunting for any more hostiles.

Hope starts leading the others to the subway while I take the back of the large group after they pass me. No other civilians or aliens seek to be in sight as we travel several blocks through the smoking remains of Manhattan before we get sight of the subway entrance. The gate of the group's walk quickens upon spying several police officers in front of it, urgent to reach some kind of safety.

One teenage boy almost makes it to the steps before he gets blasted away by energy weapons. Earsplitting screams tear through the air as twenty Chitauri show themselves from behind a building to my left. I aim with my good arm at them while officers rush forward from their posts to protect the crowd. I stay at the flank, pushing hysterical people back as the bump into my wound.

Ouch, Ouch

I kill off two more Chitauri as they get far too close to a young couple who had become isolated from the rest of the group. I see a squad of ten close together, knowing bullets won't suffice in killing them before they would overwhelm me.

BOOM!

Pavement and smoke erupt from where the ten hostiles stand as I instinctively face away from the blast. I look over to see Hope pulling the pin of the other grenade, sending it over to another batch of aliens. I give her a smile as I usher her into the subway.

"Wait," she says, pulling on my good arm," Are you an Avenger?"

She points to her iPhone, a live feed showing Captain America save innocents from an energized detonator. She looks back up at me.

"Yes," I say quickly," And I need to get back to the others. Stay safe."

I run away from the scene, shooting down the last of the aliens before heading back to the front lines of the fighting. I make it there within three minutes to find Cap and Thor fending off impending enemy soldiers.

I see a Chitauri aim at Thor. I send a knife it's way, hitting its hand. It must have accidentally pulled the trigger because it hits.....Rogers of all things.

Cap tumbles over, hit in the gut. My first thought immediately ventures to Did I just kill Steve Rogers? Fury's going to murder me. The posthumous ghost of Coulson is gonna kill me!

I quickly finish the alien off and go to help Rogers up and find out if I inadvertently caused his death. Thankfully, he's still breathing.

"You good?" I ask as he gets to his feet. I hand him his shield.

"What, you gettin' tired?"

I don't resist a while raising my pistol to shoot the Chitauri lingering close behind him, "Nah."

We go on, fighting. I go down as Thor tells me to duck, taking out a squad in front of me with his hammer. I kick the last survivor in the face, then shoot at his gut.

"I can close it! Can anybody hear me," Natasha's voice comes through the earpiece, "I can shut the portal down!"

Hope floods through me as I send a knife into a aliens throat. No more Chitauri could come.

"Do it!"Cap shouts into the earpiece as soon as I do.

"No, wait!" Iron Man's voice enters the conversation.

"Stark, these things are still coming!" Rogers yells.

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

Where the heck did the nuke come from? I look up to see Iron Man fly past us, clinging to a missile. He starts to go straight up.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?" I say. But he's already shut off his earpiece. He keeps gaining speed, meters away from the wormhole. Closer, closer. And he disappears.

We all look up, hoping to see him come back. C'mon Stark. Nothing. C'mon you stupid billionaire. Nothing.

All around us, Chitauri soldiers fall to the ground, dead. We see a supernova start inside the wormhole. I look over at Cap, who nods. It's over.

Rogers presses his earpiece, "Close it."

Seconds later, the beam stops, and the portals starts to rapidly close. I look down at the dead aliens. It's done. And Tony Stark is gone.

"Son of a gun!" I hear Cap say. I look up, my spirit lifting with my body. A tiny figure falls through the sky. Stark. He keeps falling. And falling. And falling.

"He's not slowing down." Thor says, swinging Mjolnir, his hammer around. Just as Thor flies up, the Hulk snags Stark out of the air, the both of them crashing and sliding down a building, landing relatively safe on the street.

The bromance lives on.

Hulk throws Stark off him. Thor, Cap and I run over to him. Thor rips off the billionaire's helmet. He appears to be dead. No, no. I can't live with another death. Not now, not ever. I hold back tears as I sigh. I take it all back, you stupid billionaire. I take it all back.

Then... the Hulk yells in rage. It makes us all jump, even Stark. Wait, Stark?

"What the hell?" He yells as I laugh, "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me!"

I crack a small smile.

Cap pants, "We won."

A moment passes," Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma?"Stark jokes," There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

"We're not finished yet." Thor says, looking up at Stark Tower. Loki.

"Ohh......And then shawarma after."

We find Clint and Natasha. She hands me the scepter as she sits down, tired.

I marvel at it. It's so beautiful, horrible. I feel power. I look at the blue gemstone in the middle. Power.

You can have it all.

I feel drawn to the golden scepter. The raw strength it gives someone. It's a good feeling. It's an invincible feeling. No one could stop me.

Take it. Take it now. It is yours.

I can feel what Loki understands, I can feel power. I can grasp it. Nothing could stand in my way. I could rule. They could all die. Wait?!?

I throw the scepter down, backing away from it. Everyone else looks at me like I've lost it. Only Natasha looks at me like she understands.

"The scepter has some kind of ability to give you a feeling of invincibility. It makes you drunk with power." She says. The Hulk nods. The rest look confused but look away as I look at them. I couldn't kill them. Never.

We start to walk up to the penthouse part of Stark Tower.

A genius idea crosses my mind," Hey guys...."

A while later, we watch as Loki climbs up the broken stairs, swimming in glass and broken metal. He then stops, turning around. He faces the Avengers, Clint holding up his bow inches away from his face. The alien's eyes show his remorse and defeat.

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

SHIELD later finds a tied up, beaten up Loki on top of Stark Tower, but no Avengers.

And where were we? One word.

Shawarma