Chapter 51: We Are Being BreachedNotes:Hey guys! Thanks for reading the story :) Just a friendly reminder that the story is an AU, so I've made a small change in the original Avengers script. That's all, hope you enjoy!
All rights go to Marvel
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Skye's POV
Loki was successfully taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. just as we had planned. With him, on the inside, we would tear the Avengers-wanna-be apart so that they wouldn't stand in our way when we used the Tesseract as we planned this day. Selvig was delivered the iridium we managed to get from the gala and was attending to his part of the mission. All I needed to know now was that I needed to get Loki out of the Helicarrier so that he would lead us to the next phase of our plans.
With what I knew, I managed to get my hands on a Quinjet, which I was currently in. A team that I had assembled and I were making our way towards the airbase of the organisation. Despite being unable to fully hack into their systems, I was skilled enough to send a virus that would register our jet in their systems and our coming would be more subtle than it would otherwise have been.
In order to get the exact place where the Helicarrer was, we were using a system to track the energy that the Spectre was emitting. "Transport Six-Six-Bravo, please relay confirm codes. I've got you on the computer but not on the day log. What is your haul? Over" the voice of an agent came through our speakers and I knew my plan had worked as to register our vehicle.
"Arms and ammunition. Over" I replied and got ready for what was to come.
Everyone was preparing on the back of the jet, wearing their suits and holstering their weapons, whereas I had moved to the side and opened a box that was laying there. I took the bow in my hand and prepared the arrow with which I would blow one of the engines up. I would have to remember and thank Clint at some point for insisting on teaching me how to use his weapon of choice, as it did turn out to be handy.
The pilot opened the cargo hold and I looked at the air vehicle as I took in its distance, the air currents and where exactly I needed to put the arrow to cause as much destruction as possible. I might not be as skilled as Clint to shoot arrows while fighting with great ease, but I was good enough to do what was needed of me at this moment.
I held the string of my bow, checked my target one last time and released the arrow.
I watched as the explosive arrow planted itself right next to one of the four main engines. Once I made sure everything was going according to plan, I let the explosion echo through the sky as we landed on the Helicarrier and made our way in.
"Keep that engine down" I order a handful of agents. "Alpha team, wait for the cameras to go dark." I pointed to some others. "The rest of you, say close" I finished and a wave of 'Yes, ma'am' and 'Got it' was heard as I started making my way to the control centre. The next important step would be to shut the other engines down before they managed to repair the one that I had just blown up.
Clint's POV
The moment the explosion occurred everyone parted ways. Natasha had confirmed that she and Dr. Banner were fine, though I highly doubted it for the latter as he was already agitated from the disagreement that we had in his laboratory. Stark and Rogers left to repair the engine that I could only guess Skye blew up, Thor disappeared God knows where and I followed the Director in the control panel. Coulson and Hill were there with us as well.
If one more engine was to go down, then we would drop to the ground. Something I was really not keen on doing.
"We need full evac on the lower hangar level" Fury instructed Hill and me and we got ready to go there. We had just taken a couple of steps before something was thrown our way and Hill screamed, "Grenade!", and was sent flying to the ground as I joined her a few meters to the side.
I managed to get my bearings fast enough, despite the ringing in my ears before of how close I was to the small explosion. I saw a few agents, with their weapons upcoming in from a corridor and despite them wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. gear I knew they were the enemy. My bow was thrown a bit further than I was and by the time I got to it, Fury had already incapacitated almost all the enemies, and the one he missed was put down by Hill who had already got her bearings.
"We have the Hulk and Thor on Research Level 4. Levels 2 and 3 are dark" someone announced. Fury and Hill quickly decided on a way to act and she gave the appropriate orders. I was shooting arrow after arrow, as the people we were fighting seemed to have no end.
I was about to shoot another arrow when I felt the vibration rising from somewhere behind me. I had spent my fair amount of time training Skye so that I knew how to recognise her use of powers blindfolded. "Watch out!" I screamed but was too late as she shot a vibration beam in our way, making me dock to the side so as not to be hit. Fury was the first one to get up and spot her and so he shot her with his gun. I was somewhat glad that he didn't hit her but at the same time, I was not sure whether that was a good sign. It was only a moment later that our systems failed and then another engine started losing power, as we slowly started falling to the ground.
I saw something attached to a computer and went to pick it up, which turned out to be a USB stick. Skye must have used her powers to shot it and get in our systems. I cursed under my breath and broke the small device in my palm. Everyone was running around, trying to get the systems back on the play.
"It's Skye," Fury said through the comms. "She took out our systems and is headed for the detention level. Coulson is right behind her. Does anybody copy?"
I was about to reply when I heard Natasha's voice. "This is agent Romanoff. I copy" she said and then her end went quiet. "Permission to join, sir," I said as we didn't have any more enemy forces to worry about and all our effort was put into getting the engine back up. I couldn't possibly be of any assistance there at the moment and following Skye was something I needed to do.
"Granted," Fury said without as much as turning in my direction and I took off behind Coulson, Natasha and Skye.
Skye's POV
As soon as I shot my USB in one of the computers, I was sure that my program would do its work and one of the engines would soon fail and there would be chaos in the whole of the Helicarrier. That was when I moved swiftly through the corridors that I had memorised and made my way to Loki's holding cell, where another agent had already taken out any security and had freed the alien.
The moment I walked into the holding cell I saw Loki in the door of his cell, smirking and waiting. Soon the reason became apparent as his brother came rushing into the room, trying to tackle Loki and put him back on his cell. However, as the God of Mischief, Loki had created an illusion of himself and Thor ended up locking himself up instead of his brother.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" The dark-haired Asgardian asked with a shake of his head.
Instead of an answer, however, the God of Thunder hammered the glass in an attempt to break it, alerting the security measures prepared by Fury. He would soon fall off the plane with the press of a button. Loki however wanted to be the one to do so and I stepped away from the control panel, taking the sceptre from his hand.
With my powers, I was feeling every vibration that was coming from the room and I felt a different pair of steps closing in. Creating a mental image of what was going on around me, I translated the familiar steps to Phil's ones, as he finally caught up with me after I inserted the USB minutes ago. I looked at the agent who was standing in the doorway. "Stay here" I commanded and he didn't second guess me. Focusing my powers in my legs, I jumped high with a proper boost and hang from a pipe on the side of the wall, waiting for the second in command to come in the room.
"The humans think us immortal", he dramatically said. "Shall we test that?"
But before he released his brother cell from the Helicarrier, a grunt was heard from underneath me as the other agent fell to the ground unconscious from a blow that Coulson delivered. "Move away, please," he said, pointing a kind of weapon towards Loki. I could see his eyes darting around trying to locate me, but it was more essential for Loki not to escape. These were his orders after all, and I couldn't blame him. I wanted to make him see the truth in what we did, but since I was holding the sceptre and not Loki, reasoning with him was not possible.
I saw him move towards Loki and talking with him. I stalled for as much as I could, but when he activated his weapon I had to protect the Asgardian.
I absorbed the vibration when I landed behind Coulson so that he couldn't hear me and did the only thing I could. I pierced his back with the sceptre, earning a gasp from him and a yell from Thor who was looking at everything play out and was unable to help.
"Skye?" Coulson whispered in shock when I pulled back the sceptre and he fell to the ground. I couldn't look at him, not after I did what I did. I knew I needed to do that, he was a threat after all, but that didn't make it all too easy. So, instead, I focused on what I could and that was to complete the mission.
"Sir, a couple more people are approaching," I said as I felt the vibrations sent from both Nat's and Clint's running footsteps. "You go to the exit point and I will deal with them," I said and after I received the nod from our leader, I exited the room.
I made my way towards my brother and sister and I felt them stop when my footsteps reached their ears. They both went into hiding as if this would help them. Since Clint was one of the two, he was the one who knew the full length of my abilities, so he knew he wouldn't be able to sneak up on me. Despite all that, I kept walking as if I wasn't aware of their hiding spots.
I was in a narrow corridor, restraining my movements, metal pipes were all around and subsequently a lot of places to take cover. I knew that neither preferred to use deadly force against me, but I guessed that if I didn't back down they would be forced to. And I also knew that there was no way that I would manage to convince them to join us, they were unable to see the truth until Loki's sceptre touched their hearts. The moment when I stepped in between their hiding places an arrow was shot in my direction, aiming for my knee and trying to incapacitate me.
I swiftly and easily stepped away and lifted my hand towards Clint, aiming my vibrations to his bow. By directing all the quakes to his weapon I tore it apart from the inside out, leaving him with a bunch of arrows at his back and probably a knife and pistol, since he usually carried them with him at all times.
Just as the bow was destroyed I felt my vibrations picking up Natasha trying to sneak up on me from behind. I immediately turned around hand outstretched as I send a beam in her direction, only for her to tightly grab my wrist and redirect the blow so that I just hit air.
Without missing a beat, I turned around and brought my elbow at her face, making her release my hand to guard her face. As she stepped back Clint fell down from his nest sending a kick my way, which I barely managed to sidestep from. I kicked the back of his knee just in time before Natasha ambushed me from the other side. I had to admit that this was way harder than I had initially anticipated. Them both working together, especially after all the years they spent as partners during missions, made them this amazing duo. There was this rumour that had once risen that they were telepaths and they spoke mentally to one another when they were sent in the field.
So as Natasha came once again, all I could think of was quake the whole place, making the room we were in shake as hell. Thankfully this bought me a few seconds as Clint, who was already on one knee, fell on his back and Nat had to grab from one of the railings. With that in mind, I send a beam to the bar that Nat held onto, making it collapse and Natasha fall to the level below.
Clint, however, being used to my powers, got up quickly and attacked again. With my back turned on him, he sent a powerful roundhouse kick that hit me just above my shoulders and on the side of my neck. The blow made me fall sideways and hit my head on the railing just as Natasha managed to somehow get back on the corridor and carefully close in on me.
I felt as if a part of a fog had been lifted from my head, a fog that I didn't know was there until that moment. I could suddenly think somewhat like my old self, with the voice in my head suddenly going quiet. Like before Loki touched me with his sceptre, like before all I cared about was to utilise the Cube.
My head was pounding hard, as if someone smashed it with a hammer, only I didn't know if it was solely from the hit that I just took.
"Nat? Clint?" I asked when both closed in and my brother hesitated for a second. Natasha didn't do as much, instead she sent a punch that landed on the side of my face and threw me into oblivion.
Notes:Please don't kill me?
Chapter 52: Code Name: QuakeNotes:
All rights go to Marvel
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Skye's POV
When Natasha punched me, only for a moment, I felt at peace. There was nothing in my head, constantly instructing me of my next move or keeping me on track. But, as I said, that was only for a moment.
The next thing I know, there is a sharp pain exploding in my skull, making me leave the sleeping state that I was in. I wanted to sit up sharply and take in my surroundings only to discover that I was bound on the bed that I was lying on top of. The upper half of the bed was at an angle, allowing me to short of sit up, and not be completely horizontal on the floor. Without a second thought, I directed my vibrations to the shackles, trying to break them from the inside out only to come up empty-handed. Startled I looked down, to see inhibitors wrapped around my hands, trying to prevent the use of powers.
"Skye. You're going to be all right" I heard Natasha speaking from somewhere on my right and turned my head in her direction.
A laugh escaped my lips, only making my sister more uneasy. The pain in my head was not leaving and all I wanted to do was get out of those bounds, so I really could not see how I would be all right. "You know that?" I asked. "Is that what you know?" I could tell that my answer was not was she was expecting or, to be more precise, what she was hoping to get.
With my head still throbbing, I couldn't really focus on anything in particular other than this odd feeling that was left in me. I wouldn't be able to describe it even if I wanted to. Slowly, very slowly, I was getting more and more accustomed to the annoying feeling in my skull, and so all the memories of what happened while I was under Loki's control starting coming back to me in waves. Forcefully I hit my head back on the bed, as I recalled everything that I did… everyone that I killed.
Natasha, who had gotten up to get me a glass of water saw my action. "You got to level out. It's going to take time" her tone oh-so soothing and comforting.
"You don't understand–" I said but stopped short before saying anything else. Of course, she did. She was the only person who I knew that could completely and utterly understand what I was going through, especially mentally. "Sorry" I added and averted my gaze from hers as she turned to look at me.
At that moment the door opened, and Clint stood at the entrance of the… whatever I was in. It was not a cell, and definitely not the medic bay, so… Why was I not in a cell? After everything that I did, this was the least that I deserved. After Phill… Shit. How did they even stand to look at me?
A hand suddenly landed on my shoulder, startling me and making me flinch away. "Hey there Kid" Clint said as he let his hand fall on his knee as he was crouching next to me. I tried to smile back, but the action seemed alien to me (no pun intended). So I did what I did before with Nat and I looked away, my eyes glaring at my lap so hard as if this would help my case at all.
I knew that they weren't going to let me out of it so easily, so me initiating the talk would at least give me the illusion of control. "Why am I back? How did you get them out?"
From the corner of my eyes, I could see them exchange glances when I said 'them' in my final question. After all, they had no idea what was going on inside my head while under the influence of the Tesseract, but thankfully they didn't say anything about it. "Cognitive recalibration," Clint said with a smile on his face. And when I shot him a questioning look Natasha elaborated. "I hit you really hard on the head"
I managed to master a small upwards tilt of one side of my lips when she said that and the relief from both my siblings' side was evident. "Thank you" I replied.
The small smile must have been enough evidence for Clint that I was 'me' enough to relieve the bounds in my hands.
This brief moment of relief was instantly overpowered as my mind went back to everything that I did in the last day or two. "Guys," I said as Clint finished releasing my second hand. They both stopped and looked at me, taking in the serious expression on my face. "How many agents did I–?" I was about to ask but didn't get the chance to finish as both instantly replied in the same way.
"Don't" there was a command in this single word. Natasha was the one to continue. "Don't do this to yourself Skye" she said as serious as ever. "This is Loki. This is monsters and magic, and nothing we were ever trained for" she turned back to look for confirmation from Clint who nodded without missing a beat.
"We are not blaming you for anything. You know I don't go easy on you, you are my rookie after all. But Natasha is right, as always" he whispered the last part trying to lift the mood of the room a little bit with his classic humour. But when he was met with silence he just continued, "This wasn't your fault" he emphasised every single word with confidence, trying to make his message clear as day. "If there is one person you want to blame, let that be Loki"
"Loki" I repeated the name finally lifting my head to look at my brother. "He got away, didn't he?" I received a nod and let out a deep sigh. I still remembered the plan that I had created for his escape. That and the backup plan, and the backup plan to that one. Unfortunately, it seemed that I had done my job as his first-in-command too good.
"I don't suppose you know where" he replied, with a hint of question in his tone, though he did see my answer coming from miles away.
I sat up even further and brought my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. "Didn't need to know, didn't ask" I got the glass of water that Natasha gave me. I held it and though my eyes were in its direction I was not really looking at it. Instead, I was lost in my mind thinking of what I knew of his plans. "He's going to make his play soon, though. Today" I said and nodded absentmindedly.
"We've got to stop him" Clint tone was confident.
This made me snap my head in his direction. "Yeah?", I asked sarcastically. "Who's 'we'? I told Loki what he needed to know to tear this team apart. I told him about you" I started, my hand pointing at them. "I told him about Bruce, how to aggravate him, to make him lose control. I told him about Stark. He asked, I delivered. No questions asked. Anything he said, I would have done" I continued and didn't notice how I had let my legs fall the edge of the bed and they hung loosely, as I stared at the floor. Or how the other two people in the room sat on either side of me, Natasha's hand on my back and Clint's on my shoulder. "I knew who you were. Oh, I knew very well who you were. I just didn't care. Because for all I knew, only Loki mattered, Loki and his plan. I instructed Loki to get out, as I dealt with you two just as–" I choked on the words as I relived my action of piercing Phil from the back and he never saw it coming. He trusted me and what did I do in return? Stab him in the back.
"Just as what, Skye?" I heard Nat whisper from my right. I shook my head, tears running now freely down my cheeks. I couldn't tell them, how would they stand to look at me if I did? "I know it's hard. But you need to tell someone, otherwise, it's gonna weigh you down. Whatever it is, you can't carry the guilt with you, you need to let it go" she soothed, talking from experience.
"How can I?" I questioned and wasn't sure whether what I asked was coherent enough for them to understand. My eyes were tightly shut and my sobbing had turned to hiccups.
I felt Clint squeeze my shoulder. "We are here for you Skye, always. No matter what happened, you will always be our little sister" he sincerely replied.
Shit, I thought as I was so easily persuaded to tell them. I lifted my head looking at either side and got my siblings attention to its fullest. "Just as Phil" I whispered but from the shock in their faces I knew that they had heard me just fine. I knew that they mustn't have known. Especially since I had made sure the cameras in the detention room were down. Their lack of reply had me taking a shuddering breath. "I am a monster" I added my head hanging once again.
This seemed to snap them back into reality as they both kneeled in front of me, Natasha gently grabbing my chin and making me look at them. "Skye, listen to me very carefully. You are not a monster"
I made a move to brush her hand off my chin and shake my head only for my wrist to be grabbed by Clint. "We knew" he smiled gently and sadly simultaneously.
This had me blink a handful of times. "You did?" I asked, my voice a bit hoarse from the crying. "How?"
"Phil left to follow you after you left to go to Loki's cell. You came out of there, he didn't. So it must have been either you or Loki and from your reaction and guilt… Well, we didn't say anything but I think we both understood that it was you"
I looked at them with disbelief. When both met my glare with an understanding expression I knew they were telling the truth. "Who else–?"
"No-one" I was cut by Clint. "It was only us two, Hill and Fury who knew that Phil was following you. Fury told everyone that it was Loki". I shot him a look as if asking "So, Maria and Fury know?", and he intercepted that. "They don't know the details, so they will probably ask later on though I have a feeling you're gonna tell them yourself after this whole mess is over"
"Yeah". I didn't want to think of that now.
What mattered now was finding Loki. If not for anything else, then for AC.
There must have been a difference in my expression as I was given space to stand up and walk to the side, where a washbasin was and I went to throw some water on my face to clear my thoughts. "So," I said as I turned back to look at the others, a goal clear in my head now as I pushed all other thoughts and distractions to the side. "Who's left? Because if no one else is going to deal with the alien, I will do so myself" I declared.
Before either had the time to open their mouths and reply, the door opened and Captain freaking America walked in. "Time to go" he declared.
"Go where?", asked Clint.
"I'll tell you on the way. You can fly one of those jets can't you?"
"That, he can," I said and only then did he finally realise that I was in the room as well. "But I'm coming with Capsicle" and heard Clint scoff and saw him smirk at my reply, and especially the nickname. With that, he shot me a smile and I turned my attention back to the Captain who was looking questionably at Natasha, who of course nodded.
"You got a suit?"
He asked and this time I actually did smirk at him, taking the inhibitors off my hands and feeling my powers running through my veins. "Yup, that I do". We all left to gear up and met at the take off-site, to steal a Quinjet and head towards the Stark Tower of course.
When we did get in the jet and set course to New York, Captain Rogers spoke again. "We need code names for when we are out there. I already know of Hawkeye and Black Widow and I guess you do as well. I also take that you know how to call me in case you need anything?", he questioned and I nodded in reply. "Good. So, what do I call you?"
I thought about it for a second before reviewing the field name that we had to prolong decided with Clint I would use in case I was to act outside my 'agent' status. "You can call me Quake"
Notes:Sorry for the few hours delay. Hope you all enjoyed :)
Chapter 53: Here I StandNotes:
All rights go to Marvel
Chapter Text
Skye's POV
Stark, wearing his suit and all, managed to get to New York sooner than Nat, Clint, Rogers and I did with the Quinjet. By the time we arrived there was a portal in the sky, high above the Stark Tower. From there a whole army of the Chitauri, since that's what Thor had named them, was storming in towards the city and Stark was trying his best to destroy as many as he possibly could. Though for every one he shot down, two were taking his place.
That's how we got into the play, as we contacted Tony and instructed him to fly right in front of us for Natasha to shoot them, as she handled the Quinjet's weapons, under Clint's piloting supervision. And we did assist, taking down a reasonable amount of enemies until we closed in the Stark Tower and saw Loki fighting with his brother on the balcony of Tony's building. And I guess that Loki didn't particularly appreciate us opening fire in his direction and so, with a simple blast from the spectre, we were shot down.
There was no need for words as we all braced ourselves, Captain and myself mostly since we were not sitting anywhere and were just holding onto the handles over our heads as the Jet fell from the sky. We were, however, very lucky since Hawk was piloting and the abrupt fall of the small aircraft was smoothened as much as possible.
"We got to get back up there," Rogers said, taking the lead and running towards the Tower.
We hadn't even covered a decent amount of distance before we came to a slow stop, all of us looking at the portal as a giant thing crossed over. I had never seen anything like it before in my life. I mean, it was enormous! And could it be that this alien had only its size or external armour for its advantage? Pfft, of course not. It was also carrying a fair amount of Chitauri who jumped off the creature and on the buildings that surrounded us.
Suddenly there was a blast echoing nearby and we all snapped out of the daze we were in and run to take cover. "There are still civilians trapped up in there" Clint informed us, pointing at a bus that had stopped in the middle of the ruins.
The blasts echoed once more as Chitauri Chariots flew right above us and started firing at the street next to where we were hiding. People trying to run and survive the alien attack, but as they were like that in the open, it was like they were all carrying large targets on their backs. "They're fish in the barrel down there," Roger said as if we didn't have eyes to notice that on our own.
"Take cover!" I said as I sensed a large number of aliens coming our way when the others were distracted. I lifted my hands and send a huge vibrational wave to the upcoming enemies, sending them flying a few meters back. But they were fast to get back on their feet and resume their advance on our position.
"We got this. It's good. Go" Nat said, looking at the Captain who in turn asked Clint if he thought they could hold them off.
"Captain" he started and I could see his mischievous smile play on the edges of his lips. "It would be my genuine pleasure" and with that, he stood from his hiding spot. The headshot instantly killed the alien but this was not the only trick up Hawk's sleeve, as the arrow was specially designed and shot the Chitauri in the surrounding proximity.
Just like that Natasha was on her feet, shooting at the enemy force but I knew that this couldn't possibly hold for long enough. And there were people trapped in the bus nearby, but with the cover that Nat was creating, I doubted that Clint would have the time to get everyone out.
I could feel my heart beating in my chest as I heard my sister yell for me to cover for her as she changed ammo in her guns.
Well, Skye,/ I thought to myself. You wanted to come and stop Loki, this is what you get. Peachy… and with those thoughts I stood up and threw my hands above my head, creating a dome with my quakes, shielding the bus and the three of us.
In the mental image that I had constant in my head from the surrounding area, because of all the vibrations that were cursing through the streets and into my legs, I could mentally see Natasha stop and turning to look at me. "Why didn't you start with that?"
As if to answer her question, all the enemy forces who were dealing with us shot in my shield simultaneously and I fell on one knee, just as the dome shrank just a little bit. "I haven't perfected it yet" I replied though greeted teeth, as I did my best to hold off the Chitauri until everyone was out of the unstopping vehicle. "Maybe hurry up?" I managed to get out as the second wave of shots were fired to the shield.
"Ready" Natasha stood next to me before I had the chance to ask as I had noticed the bus having been fully evacuated.
"Ready" Clint joined in at my other side, his bow tightly held and the string pulled back for when the first shot would be needed.
I looked from side to side, looking at my siblings. I was used to them being next to me like that but it was different now. It was not like all the other times we stood next to each other all those years. The seriousness, the vibes they externalised were different. These people next to me were not my brother and sister. They were not Natasha and Clint, or even agent Romanoff and agent Barton.
No.
They were Black Widow and Hawkeye.
And they meant business.
And there was no way in Hell that I was going to be the one to slack off in the last minute. Because despite the lack of words I knew that they both waited to see what my next move would be.
So I stood.
With shaky legs because of the force trying to keep me down, but I stood.
I stood tall.
And I took my place among the two Avengers and I became Quake.
"Ready"
Chapter 54: Battle of New YorkNotes:
All rights go to Marvel
Chapter Text
Skye's POV
We were fighting the Chitauri. Due to the close distance separating us, Clint had to resort to his hand-to-hand combat skills and leave archery for another time. We were holding our ground relatively well and as we were about to finish off with the last of the enemy forces that were surrounding us, Captain jumped in and helped with the finishing touches.
Soon, Thor followed after practically falling from the sky and wasn't looking in the best shape ever. I wonder what had happened to him. Though I refrained from asking, Rogers didn't seem to share the same opinion as I did. "The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable" the Asgardian answered the WWII hero's question.
"Thor's right" Tony's voice was heard through our comms. "We got to deal with these guys first"
"I have unfinished business with Loki" Thor was fast to interrupt.
His interruption had me raising an eyebrow his way as I re-strapped my right gauntlet, which had fallen a bit out of place from the previous fight. "You think you're the only one?" I challenged only to be interrupted by Rogers who seemed to have taken the Captain rank of our team.
"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need" he declared and I had a hard time not rolling my eyes. Perfect, more aliens trying to kill us, I sarcastically thought as he continued speaking. "Without him, these things could run wild". Well, if he put it like that how could I complain?
The sound of a motorcycle closing in stopped the Capsicle from giving any further orders and we all turned to look at Bruce who was closing in riding, you guessed it, a motorcycle. "So, this all seems… horrible" he said when we closed in around him.
"I've seen worse" Natasha replied and I didn't doubt it. But when the doctor apologized she continued, "No, we could use a little worse".
Though Tony and Captain were speaking I faintly heard the Iron Man saying that he was bringing the party to us, while all my focus was at the newcomer who was looking back at me just as intently as my name escaped his lips. And then he turned around as Tony came from around the corner, bringing with him this huge monster that was previously carrying a whole armada of Chitauri.
"I–I don't see how that's a party" Nat questioned and Bruce started walking towards that thing.
"Dr. Banner" Captain stopped him in his tracks. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry"
"That's my secret, Captain," he said. His eyes met mine, glowing in a very familiar way as a smirk made its way to both our lips and I nodded at him, finishing off where he started as he turned to the monster transforming into the Hulk. "He is always angry" and with that, the Hulk slammed his fist to what could only be the face of the creature making it tumble forwards. Then Tony shot small missiles to the now exposed-from-its-armor body and the thing went down hard.
As we gathered together, breathing this small victory in, the portal seemed to suddenly come more alive, and more and more Chitauri started oozing through there. I clicked my tongue followed by a "Perfect" as all our attention turned to the sky.
And with that our small break was over and the Captain took the wheel and started ordering everyone to their positions. Turned out, that apart from Natasha, him, and myself everyone else had flown somewhere else. It was up to us to keep the fighting on the ground, as much as possible that was, and protect as many people as we possibly could, though in my mind there was a voice saying that there would be a lot of casualties from today's battle.
Despite the fight having just re-started it was obvious that it wouldn't take all that long before the enemies overpowered us.
At the moment, I was sending wave after wave to Chitauri who just kept on coming, while trying my best to dodge the beams that they fired in my direction from their spears. I had just sent the last one flying to two other of its companions, making them topple over and at least partially slowing them down. As the enemy trio went down I turned around only to see Natasha jumping to Captain's shield who boosted her on the sky and towards one of the Chitauri Chariots who was flying above.
"What's she doing?" I asked as another shot was fired in our direction and the Captain threw his shield to kill the alien.
"Trying to close the portal" and with that we parted again, each going to do their thing.
"Hold on to something!" I screamed just to make sure that he would hear me, as I brought my hands to the ground hard and released my power making the concrete shake violently and cracking lines to decorate its surface.
"We don't want to destroy the city, we want to protect it!" The Captain yelled back as he continued his punches and kicks and shield throws.
"I know what I am doing" I bite back as I ran up to an alien, dodged as he waved his spear, and tried to separate my head from my body. The moment I was at its back I placed my hands on its armor and destroyed the metal, leaving him exposed so that it wasn't hard to finish him off.
"Do you?", he asked back before quickly adding, "Duck!". Tony landed in between us and shot a beam from his suit to the Captain's shield, while the latter redirected it and took out most of the aliens in near proximity before Iron Man flew off to the skies once again.
I didn't even stand up as I hid behind an empty cab to take cover. As the alien, who didn't seem to be very bright, jumped over me and towards the Captain who was fighting off another enemy and had his back turned to me. Peachy, I thought. If I were to blast him, he would fly towards Rogers and I would never hear the end of it. So instead I ran up to the Chitauri who heard my approach at the last minute and turned around, but it was too late for him. I slid under his legs and shot him up in the sky, where he very conveniently crashed with a Chitauri Chariot. Hm… I wouldn't say no to that.
"Guys, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They've cornered lots of civilians in there" Clint's voice came echoed in our ears.
"I'll take this one" I said and started making my way there but before I jumped off the bridge that we were currently on I was stopped with a hand on my elbow.
On reflex, I snatched my arm off the grip and brought my other hand up, ready for a shockwave only to see Rogers. Stupid man, grabbing someone in the middle of a war zone. "Thank you" he spoke but before I replied my eyes and senses caught movement behind him. Not gently at all, I threw him on the ground and vibrated the alien who was about to pierce him from the back.
"That's twice already Captain. Get your head in the game" I told him as I helped him up and left him to fight his own battle as I jumped onto the street below and started running towards the bank that Hawkeye appointed moments ago.
Suddenly I was really glad for all the cardio that Clint and Maria made me do during training because, boy, it came in handy. As soon as I laid my eyes on the building that I was heading towards I saw the people gathered on the ground, looking up. So I guessed if I were to deal with the Chitauri there I would have to go through the window. I picked up my speed and threw my hands towards the ground as I boosted my jump high up. Reaching the height I wanted, I broke the window with my shoulder and rolled into the building.
The moment I stood up I noticed an alien holding something like an explosive device in his hand and so, without even thinking about it, he crashed through the wall to the other side when I hit him with my quakes.
That alerted his two companions who didn't hesitate to fire at me. I ducked behind a fallen desk, while still listening to the grenade-like device as its beeping sound filled the room.
Before they had the chance to do anything else, the desk was sent flying in the direction of the two aliens. One of them fell to the ground as the desk crashed mainly onto him while the other's spear flew from his hand. I took this opportunity to close in and destroy the armour of the still-standing Chitauri, just as I had done before. I put all my strength into kicking him hard to the chest and he fell to the ground level and to his death. The people, who parted as the alien fell in the middle of where they were gathered, looked up at me.
I barely managed to get a, "Clear out!", before the last alien grabbed me from behind, wrapping his arm around my throat. I brought my elbow to his ribs multiple times, trying to make him fall off my back. When that didn't work I jumped, bringing my knees up in my chest and then forcefully down to the ground, generating as much power as I could using my whole body weight, and threw him over my shoulder.
And just because I am the luckiest person in the whole universe, he happened to land right next to the grenade which was about to explode. I watched as if in slow motion as he grabbed it and lifted it to send it my way. But before it left his fingers the time run out and a blue explosion occurred, taking him with it. I barely managed to jump in time and create a vibrational dome around me when the blast met me and threw me out of the window. I had not taken into account the strength of the explosion of the thrust that is created and as soon as I was out of the building my dome disappeared and I crashed with my back on the roof of a car.
"Shit" I exclaimed as I lifted my torso and jumped off the vehicle.
I had just a moment to collect my breath before another, "Shit", left my lips as my mental image filled with the upcoming enemies.
"Everyone clear out! Hurry up!" I yelled at the firefighters and police officers who were helping the people from the bank to a safer place as I took off towards the aliens, trying to hold them off and buy the civilians some time.
I could feel my powers slowly draining but didn't have much of a choice really, there were a lot of lives at stake and there were just as many enemies coming in our direction. Well, I thought. There is always a first time for everything, right?
And with that thought, I brought my hands to the ground and closed my eyes. My mental image of my surroundings being the only thing guiding my quakes as I send them individually to all the enemy forces that I could see in my mind's eye. The vibrations traveled through the ground and in the bodies of the aliens, through their feet. And they did their job as one after the other, the Chitauri started to fall on the ground as they were torn apart from the inside out.
After that, I collapsed back on the ground completely exhausted. Still, alert if any more Chitauri came my way, but I really wasn't sure in what shape I would be in should something like that happen.
So, when I heard Natasha's voice saying that she could close the portal I let a small smile play on my lips as I sighed in relief. The smile was soon replaced by a grimace as Tony requested the portal to remain open for him to send a missile in.
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Captain said and my eyes widened as my mind caught up to what was happening.
"Tony," I said. "Tony, you can't! What am I supposed to say to Pepper?" But he was not saying anything. He just directed the missile towards the open portal. "Tony!" I yelled at him almost desperately trying to make him snap out of whatever thoughts he was consumed by and answer me.
I watched him as he crossed the line separating Earth from outer space. "Tell her–" he started to say but then the connection was lost.
Chapter 55: The Sooner, The BetterNotes:
All rights go to Marvel
Chapter Text
Skye's POV
"You are all dismissed", Fury's words brought me out of the trance that I was in.
My eyes moved to the screen on the wall opposite to me, where the director was ready to end the video call that we had for the past few hours. "Sir", I hurried to say before the call was terminated. The other Avengers, who had gotten up to leave stopped momentarily looking at me, and the pirate lifted his gaze to meet mine. "May I speak to you?", I asked and saw his eyebrow twitch. "In private?", I quickly added when none of the others made any move to exit the room, silently asking them for permission.
I half expected Natasha or Clint to ask everyone to get out, but it appeared unnecessary as everyone quietly left me alone in the huge conference room in the, quite destroyed, Stark Tower.
"What is it, agent?" He asked when the door behind me was locked. But when I didn't reply for some seconds he prompted again. "Skye…" he softly spoke and the use of my name made me shake my head and concentrate. "What is it that you want?", his facade as the hard front face of S.H.I.E.L.D. had been lifted off him, and instead I was gazing at Nick. The man who despite what many said cared for every single one of his agents and viewed us as family.
"In regards to the recent events I was wondering if it would be best to step away from the organization," I said and I could see disappointment fill the pirate's features. "Let me finish" I hurried to add before he reprimanded me for even thinking in that way. "You know better than anyone that I care for a lot of people who work in S.H.I.E.L.D. Hell, I am pretty sure that the close relationship that I have with some of them must be against protocol but you never mentioned anything. I would hate for anything to happen to them because of me… because I am not trustworthy. We both know what happened to AC. I am also sure you understand that despite my brain being altered, and despite you not blaming me for it, I do blame myself and I don't want to be a risk to the others, because this is what I am at the moment: a risk.
"I respect you, I do, and this is why I am asking you to consider this option. This is not me running away like last time, it is completely different. What I am asking is that you decrease my Level 7 access to the organization's archives and that you reposition me. I would love to be in the field and I would love to work to protect the people I care about, but maybe as a consultant? This way, if anything were to happen I wouldn't have access to critical files that could be used against you or anyone else" I finished and took a deep breath while letting it out just as forcefully.
The man whose facial expressions had turned blank was looking straight back at me as if he could read into my soul. After what seemed like forever to me his shoulders slumped, if only a tiny bit, and he sighed.
"Skye, look" he started. "The events of the past few days have exhausted a lot of people and have pushed them to the edge. I had the whole damn council demanding me to send a nuke to the city. I had people, good people, die in the line of duty" I flinched at the last part. "I am sure that there are a lot of people who are going to be quite displeased that Maria will be my second after Phil and I am definitely sure that there will be more than a handful of people who will want to go behind my back. There are not a lot of people that I trust, but you are one of them"
"Sir–"
"No" he didn't even let me form a sentence. "You don't get to speak until I have finished my part. Is that understood?", he asked more out of kindness since his tone didn't leave any space for disagreement. So when I nodded he was quick to continue. "Good. Now, you are one of the people I trust Skye. There are hundreds of agents who would kill to have your Clearance Level and yet you are fast to dismiss yours, or any Clearance Level for that matter because you believe you are endangering your friends and the organization in general. What this tells me is that you are fully trusted and worthy of how high you are in the ranks. And just because of all of that I am even going to increase your Clearance to match agent Hills.
"No", he continued and shook his finger when I opened my mouth. "I am not finished". I gulped but remained quiet. "When you were under Loki's control, you were not able to access our files as easily because you were considered a compromised agent. So if, which I really doubt will happen, something similar happens, we will follow protocol and your access will disappear.
"Now, you all have a leave of absence and since the council wants to know who you are, your files have been sealed and only a select few know your identity or anything about you. Use this time to relax as much as you can, because when I call you back I expect you to come. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Good. Now go and try not to overthink about what happened" and with that, the screen went black and the room was filled with silence.
I didn't know how much time passed since Fury had terminated the call but I was lifted out of my thoughts when someone knocked on the door of the conference room and the door whooshed open. "We are going to Central Park to see the Asgardians off this planet, finally," Bruce said. "I am guessing you are coming as well?", he questioned and I could tell that some of his concern had leaked to his voice.
I took a deep breath and turned around, making a great effort to smile as I walked past him. "The sooner the better, right?" I asked and could hear a light laugh emitting from the doc.
Pepper's POV
I was in my flight back from Washington when a portal opened on top of New York and aliens cursed through. I could do nothing but watch in horror when Tony flew through there, carrying a missile on his back.
I had ordered the pilot to land as soon as possible, only to be informed that we would not be able to touch ground in New York because of the battle and we eventually landed in New Jersey and had to drive back to the Stark Tower. Of course, Happy was on the wheel as I sat on the back as my thoughts ran wild. When we did arrive at the tall building, there was no one there and when I asked J.A.R.V.I.S. he said that everyone was currently at Central Park.
"Perfect. Just perfect" I found myself speaking to no one in particular as Happy was looking from the distance in silence. I took a few deep breaths before somehow collecting myself. "Will you let me know when they come back, please?" I asked the A.I. to receive a positive reply. I turned back to Happy who had yet to move. "Please, go and have some rest. I'll wait for the others to come" I smiled at him, but I was quite positive it resembled more of a grimace.
"I'm gonna wait here with you, if that's okay," he said and walked closer, leading me to the only intact sofa in the well-destroyed room.
I let out a sigh. "Thank you" there was no need for more words as we patiently waited for the others to come back.
It must have been a solid hour, 60 whole minutes, or at least this is how long I thought had gone by before J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice let me know of a car being pulled in the garage/Tony's workshop. And the moment the elevators reached our floor and there was this characteristic 'Bing!', I rushed and waited for the metal doors to pull apart.
"Hey, sweetie," Tony said with his characteristic playful smile on his face.
I gaped at him, and without even thinking about it I slapped him hard on the cheek. "Hey, sweetie?" I questioned. "Hey, sweetie? Are you freakin' serious right now? You carried a missile on your back, went through a portal to outer space and all you say is 'Hey, sweetie?'. Oh you have some nerve" I yelled at him and he had remained quiet during my whole monologue, still a bit startled by the slap. Then I pulled him hard closer to me our lips connecting, if only for a second before I pushed him away and hit him in the chest. "You don't get to do that and have me worried sick and then come back and have that stupid smile on your face as if nothing happened" I said and finally let a couple of tears escape my eyes as they were fighting their way to the surface for a few good hours now.
I was left breathing heavily and that was the only sound in the room really, as I looked into those brown eyes and dared him to say something.
There was a sudden burst of laughter which had me tear my gaze off of the billionaire's one. The familiar sound throwing me off a bit. "Really sorry Pepper" a familiar voice echoed from behind the man who I was now pushing aside only to reveal another pair of people, one whom I had no idea who he was and one that I had not seen up-close for over a year now. "I tried to hold it in but I couldn't," Skye said as she kept on laughing and held her stomach from how hard she was enjoying the situation.
"Skye?" I questioned, not expecting to see her here. True I did get a glimpse of her in the fight in New York but I was, definitely, not expecting her to come here.
"Oh, boy," she said and used her finger to take off some of the happy tears that escaped her eyes. "You should have seen my reaction when the idiot over here came back from the port–"
Her words were cut off as I closed the distance between us and enfolded her in a fierce hug. Her arms hugged my back as her head rested on the space between my collarbone and shoulder. My hands were pushing hard on her back as if I was afraid that this was an illusion and that she would disappear if I didn't hold her firmly enough. I felt her tense under my touch at some point and short of flinching away and was fast to retract and look at her face as she grimaced in pain.
"Shit, Skye I am so sorry! Are you hurt? Of course, you're hurt, what am I even talking about" I started mumbling and was interrupted with a light touch on my shoulder.
I turned to look at the brunette who was looking back at me with a reassuring look. "It's fine, really" she tried but could see that I was not completely convinced. So she let out a sigh and turned to look at the men in the room who were looking at our interaction. "I am sure you all have questions and I guess I should answer them, right?" Her eyes traveled and met those of the only man whose identity I didn't know. "The sooner, the better?" She asked and he scoffed with a burst of light laughter escaping his lips.