Heat of the New World - Book 2 (The Avengers)

Chapter 12 - Battle For New York: Part 5

Annabelle picked the scepter up off the ground and carried it back up to Natasha. "Here. I'm gonna go help the boys."

"Women always have to pick up the slack, don't they?"

"You know it," she smiled, pulling her hood and mask up before going back downstairs and working her way over to Thor and Steve. "Steve!" she called as she saw him get shot in the stomach, making him fall to the ground. Thor knocked a car at the Chitauri while Annabelle fired on them with the staff. "You okay?" Annabelle asked as Thor helped him up. He nodded, but she noticed he had lost his helmet.

"You ready for another bout?" Thor asked.

"What? You getting sleepy?" Steve panted as his hand rested on his stomach. "What are you doing down here?" he asked her.

"Helping."

"What about the portal?" Steve asked, but Natasha's voice came over the comms before Annabelle could answer.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

"Do it," Steve said, but Tony cut in.

"No, 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."

"Stark, you know that's a one way trip." He didn't answer and they watched as he flew by, holding the nuke as he flew into the portal. They looked around as suddenly all the Chitauri collapsed as they saw the explosion.

"They're hive minded," Annabelle realized. "He killed the mothership." They all watched, hoping for Tony to come back through the wormhole as the explosion got closer to the edge.

"Close it," Steve finally said as they waited to the last second. The portal closed in on itself as they watched, seeing Tony falling from the sky. "Son of a gun."

"He's not slowing down," Thor realized, starting to swing his hammer before Hulk jumped across from one of the nearby buildings, catching Tony before sliding down another and landing close to them. They ran over, closing the distance, Annbelle quickly pulling her hood off.

"Is he breathing?" Steve asked as Thor ripped the mask off, but Tony didn't move. They all looked down sadly before Hulk roared loudly, causing Tony to gasp as his eyes flew open.

"What the hell?" he let out. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

"I don't think anyone here wants to do that," Annabelle told him before chuckling and sharing smiles with everyone around, Natasha and Clint running over.

"We won," Steve let out and Tony sighed in relief.

"Alright. Yay. Hooray. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet," Thor told him.

"And then shawarma after," Tony said and they chuckled. Thor helped him up and they started back to Stark Tower.

"We did it," Annabelle said to Steve as they brought up the rear.

"Yeah."

"Ever think we'd be fighting aliens?"

"No," he laughed, shaking his head.

"It's crazy how much has changed. Some for the worst, some for the better. I'm just glad we got to see it."

"Me too." She smiled, looking up at him before giving him a hug, making him stop. "I thought-"

"It's okay. I can control it now." Even though she couldn't see it, she knew he was smiling as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. They caught up to everyone else after a second, standing in front of Loki as he lay unconscious.

"What did you do to him?" Natasha asked, looking at Annabelle.

"You did this?" Thor asked.

"To be fair, Hulk did get to him first. Then I knocked him unconscious," she shrugged.

They turned back to Loki as he groaned and opened his eyes, sitting up slightly. "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

We only have one chapter left! That will be up tomorrow and then the post credit scene will be up Sunday morning!