Mirror, Mirror ↠ Steve Rogers

Chapter Fourteen

"Oh my God."

The biggest chitauri so far emerges with a primeval roar. It has to be the size of a city bus, probably bigger, and from the ground, it looks like some kind of leviathan-esque sea creature, slithering through the air into the city.

It passes directly above them, casting a shadow, and it's so close she can feel the heat radiating off of it as jolts of electricity move through it like an electric eel. The air tastes like ozone and she can feel her hair trying to stand up.

As it passes, what must be hundreds of chitauri soldiers detach themselves from it, latching onto buildings and sliding down or crashing through windows. The head of a statue goes flying past them as the chitauri...ship? Creature? Knocks it off. She can just barely hear the sound of energy blasts going off in some of the surrounding buildings, along with a sudden spike in the level of terrified screaming surrounding the whole scene.

Yeah. This definitely not anything she's seen before. She'd chalk it up to the spy-not-soldier thing, but glancing at Rogers' face, she can tell he's as stunned as she is. No, this is more in the realm of human-not-alien than anything else.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asks.

"I'm seeing. Still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?"

"Just keep me posted."

With that, Stark falls quiet, and Strike Team Delta looks to Steve for instruction. He takes a second to survey the terrain--crowded, damaged road, the buildings still being chipped away at--and then turns to them.

"We're getting as close to the portal as possible. The cars are foxholes. Run when you can, duck when you can't, and shoot down as many of these bastards as you can in between."

With that, he runs, and they follow. Leila switches out her knife for a gun as they duck behind an upended Audi. It's not her preferred weapon, but until they get closer, it's going to be the more efficient choice.

It doesn't take long for the chitauri to notice them, and soon they're dodging direct attacks from above, forcing them to move more slowly. As they do, Leila takes a mental headcount.

There's the four of them on the ground, more or less fine for the moment. Stark in the air, also apparently fine. Banner may or may not be showing up; she wants to ask why Stark thinks he might, just so she can weigh the evidence for herself and know where to set her expectations, but sets it aside for the moment. And then there's--

"Thor," she says. Steve glances over at her. She shoots down another chitauri flyer and then presses the comm unit against her ear.

"Stark, is Thor still active? Last I checked, he and Loki were at each other's throats."

"Still kicking as far as I can tell, Princess," Stark replies, sounding absent. "But I haven't checked in on 'em in awhile."

"Goddamnit," Leila mutters as they reach an overpass. She dives behind a surprisingly intact taxi, Steve right behind her.

"We've got civilians still trapped up there," Clint says as he crouches down beside them.

Before Leila can respond, she hears the sound of concurrent explosions and rises to her feet, hazarding a quick glance at the underpass from behind the taxi. A band of chitauri race through the air, leaving explosions in their wake. She lowers herself back behind the taxi at the same time Steve rises to his feet, leaning against the front door and looking over his shoulder.

"Loki," Steve says as they approach, and as they close in, Leila sees him too. Loki leads his men from atop a chitauri flyer. He seems to pay them no mind, but chitauri soldiers drop to the ground as they pass overhead.

Steve is still focused on the explosions, watching with a clenched jaw. "They're fish in a barrel down there," he says, jaw clenched.

Leila looks around at the chitauri, trading her gun for her knives. Finally. "We got this," she tells Steve as he lowers back down behind the taxi.

"Go," Natasha adds. "It's good."

"Think you can hold them off?"

Clint looks up, and under all the chaos, Leila hears his quiver make that soft click sound it does when Clint's ready to unleash hell. He looks over and smiles.

"Captain," he says, nocking an arrow, "it'd be my genuine pleasure."

With that, Clint shoots an arrow straight through a chitauri head. Steve jumps off the overpass onto an abandoned bus and takes off up the street. Leila steps out from behind the car and onto the center of the bridge, drawing the attention of several chitauri. They step closer.

She twirls her knives and smiles.