My Glorious Purpose

The Battle of New York Part 2:(Edited)

(Tera's POV)

I nod at him and we soon re-engage in battle. Steve uses his shield, while I pick up the blaster Nat dropped earlier. I begin firing and slicing away. Tony soon comes to join us. Steve lifts his shield and Tony reflects a repulsor blast off the shield, taking out the surrounding warriors. I jump out of the way, crouching behind an overturned car. Tony then flies up the side of a building, hitting more warriors as he gains altitude.

We continue fighting. I see Chitauri falling out of the sky seemingly for no reason, but I know Clint is up on some rooftop, firing at them.

I'm soon cornered by two aliens. I blast the first one, but before I can face the second, he has me in a headlock. I lose the blaster when he grabs me, I'm out of ammo for my pistol, and I can't reach my knives.

"STEVE!" I scream for the Captain, but it's no use. He's on the ground, holding off a Chitauri trying to impale him. I feel the grip on my neck tighten.

"Steve!" I barely manage.

"Hold on kid!" He pushes the warrior off and onto sharp debris. He picks a blaster, but before he can shoot, a green light hits the warrior in the face. I feel his grip loosen and he falls to the floor in a crumpled heap. I fall to my knees, holding my throat, coughing, trying to catch my breath. Steve and I both look up, trying to locate where the light came from, but all we see is the Chitauri army flying through the sky.

We suddenly hear Clint's voice through the earpiece. "Captain, the bank on 42nd, past Madison. They cornered a lot of civilians in there."

"We're on it."

We jog towards the location Clint gave us.

When we reach the bank, Steve jumps through a window and begins to fight as I follow suit. He snaps the neck of one and throws him into the pit.

"Everyone clear out!" Steve orders.

I jump the balcony and land in the pit with the hostages.

"Everyone follow me!"

I lead the way to the doors only to find them blocked by an alien. They're really starting to tire me.

"Get down!" I yell as he begins shooting. I run towards him, with my knives drawn, dodging his blasts. When I'm close enough, I roll between his legs and stand up behind him. As soon as he turns around to face me, I slice my knives across his throat. He falls to my feet and I wipe the blood off my blades. I push the doors open to let everyone out.

"C'mon! Quickly! We don't have time!"

People run past me. As soon as everyone leaves, I go looking for Steve. He's standing next to a car that has a suspicious looking dent in it.

"Hey Cap, your mask is gone."

"That's okay," he says out of breath.

We join up with Thor and resume our battle. We hear Natasha saying that she can shut the portal down.

"Do it!" Steve answers her.

"No, wait."Tony commands.

Steve replies, "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."

"No Tony! You won't make it!" I yell at him. But he doesn't respond.

He flies over us, holding on to the missile. Tony redirects the missile, barely missing his tower, and pushes it up towards the portal. We watch on with fear and anticipation. He disappears inside the portal, still carrying the missile. We hold our breath. There's nothing. Then out of nowhere, the Chitauri warriors begin to collapse, and the Leviathans fall from the sky, crashing into buildings. Thor, Steve, and I look around as they rain down on us. I look back up at the portal, waiting to see Tony come flying out.

I hear Nat whisper, "Come on, Stark."

"Close it." Steve tells her.

I grab his arm. "But Tony! He's still in there!"

I receive a solemn look in return.

We look back up to see the portal shrinking rapidly. We watch, knowing that Tony won't make it out. I suddenly feel a hollow sense of loss. Sure, I barely know him, but I feel like I just lost someone important to me. He sacrificed himself for us. None of us were supposed to die in this mission.

A split second before the portal closes, we see something plunging to the ground. A red and gold dead weight.

Steve smiles. "Son of a gun!"

I laugh with joy, "He made it!" I say, hugging Steve.

"He's not slowing down." Thor calls out to us.

He prepares to fly at Tony when the Hulk grabs him out of the air, slides down the side of a building and crashes to the ground in front of us.

Hulk throws Tony off him and we run over. Thor pulls off the faceplate and Steve listens for a heartbeat, we look at each other when we notice the arc reactor isn't glowing.

"Tony," I whisper, turning and burying my face in Thor's chest. I can't look at him. I sob quietly and Thor holds me tighter. Suddenly the Hulk roars and beats his chest. I hear a shocked gasp and turn around to see Tony open his eyes. He looks around, shaken.

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

I laugh, wiping my tear-stained cheek.

"We won," Steve tells him, relieved.

"Alright, hey. Alright. 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 wanna try it."

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

"And then shawarma after?" Tony asks him, hopeful.

We sit him up and quickly make our way to Stark Tower.

As we make our way towards the stairs, Tony cries out, "No, no, no, no," We turn to look at him. "We just fought off several hundred monsters, we're all bleeding and in pain. We're taking my personal elevator. C'mon."

We follow him to a set of doors, you wouldn't even know that they were there. Maybe because Tony hid them behind a painting of himself. I roll my eyes.

"I saw that kid!"

I grin at him sheepishly.

We make our way up to the penthouse and we find Nat and Clint already waiting for us.

"Nice staff," I tell her.

"Nice gash," she responds before pulling me into a tight hug.

"We did it Nat. We won."

"Not yet."

We all turn to face Loki. He crawls over to a stair and turns to see us surrounding him. Clint with an arrow drawn and aimed at him, Natasha holding his scepter. He flinches slightly when he sees the Hulk growling at him. His eyes land on me. I see a flash of dismay cross his face, but it's gone as fast as it came. He's probably disappointed I didn't die.

"If it's all the same to you," he says breathlessly to Tony, "I'll have that drink now."

I try to hold my smile and I can see Tony with an amused look on his face. Thor grabs him and places cuffs on his wrists.

"Let's go," he growls at Loki.

We enter Tony's elevator after telling Hulk he had to use the stairs. He punches the doors in anger when they close, but we already begin our descent.