[Original AN: Hey everyone, welcome to the first part of The Crossover Collection, as I'm calling it now. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, there's more information in the last chapter of The Crossover, and a little more information than that on my profile. I hope you enjoy this.

This part is (clearly) an Avengers/Doctor Who crossover. For our dear Marvel heroes, this is after the 2012 movie. And for the (Eleventh) Doctor, this is during his "farewell tour." Before Closing Time, but quite a ways after The God Complex. So the Ponds will not be in this story, unfortunately. Spoilers for both fandoms up to those points.

There are some explanations and descriptions in this story for those unfamiliar with either of these fandoms. You people - sorry if the descriptions and all that are unhelpful. My advice is: when in doubt, google it. There's plenty of information on the web, and google images is always good. So if you need that, please use it, it'll only enrich your reading experience.

For you that are unfamiliar with Doctor Who - just make sure that if you search up the interior of the TARDIS, you include "eleventh doctor" in the search bar. Otherwise you might get some confusing information.

And last of all, if you haven't watched one of these things, I strongly recommend you do, and not just so you can enjoy this story more - they're both fantastic things, and I love them.

So...enjoy. :) ]

UPDATED AN: Hey, guys, long time no see! I've been telling myself I was going to get around to updating this story and improving it where I could, and I finally did it! I almost can't believe it lmao

So obviously, the Crossover Collection proved to be a bit too ambitious for me. I'm keeping the last chapter of the story that was supposed to lead into the Crossover just because I'm too attached to delete it, but don't consider it a part of the story (unless you want to).

With that said - I still appreciate all of you so much. I honestly can't believe the amazing reception this story got, and although I feel that it didn't deserve it, I'm hoping I can improve it so that it does! I love you all to the ends of the earth - thanks for encouraging my writing habit, and for all of your commentary and criticisms over the years.

Over the next few weeks (although hopefully it doesn't take too long) I'll be slowly replacing chapters and fixing things up! So this first chapter is the first of many improvements to come!

If this update still sucks, please let me know, and I'll tweak it. :)

The Doctor, the last of the Time Lords, ducked into the TARDIS, gasping for air as he slammed the doors shut. There were muffled thunks as arrows imbedded themselves in the wood, twanging furiously, but the alien disregarded, them, pushing away from the door. The Doctor bounded up the steps to the console at the center of the brightly-lit room, and hurriedly set the coordinates for deep space, laughing madly the entire time. Fists began to bang on the doors as arrows were pulled out and replaced with swords. Although in other circumstances, wood vs. swords would not have made an even fight, the Doctor was confident they wouldn't break through the seemingly-pliant material. It was only a disguise after all.

The customary wheezing, groaning sound echoed throughout the ship as it took off, and the shouts and cursing faded away. A few seconds later, the Doctor popped his head out of the door and met a glittering sea of stars.

"Ha!" he exclaimed. He pulled a leftover arrow out of the 'pull to open' sign of his ship. The surface sealed itself over immediately, as if it had never been damaged, smooth blue wood pulling together. The Doctor tossed the arrow into space, as much as you could toss anything in zero gravity, and watched it float slowly away with a grin. "Old Lizzie the First's still mad at me, eh? Well!"

He spun away from the doors, leaving them gaping open as he waltzed around the console room. The TARDIS, of her own accord, began blasting music, and the Doctor plopped down in his handy swing below the console to do some repair work. The doors closed themselves, leaving the Time Lord to tinker in peace.

The console room, although bright, was much emptier without its former human residence - but the Doctor was determined to keep that out of his mind, although it was a constant hovering reality at the back of his head.

"You're getting a big shabby, old girl," he told her, patting the platform above his head. The ship hummed indignantly, a couple of lights overhead flashing in warning. "What did you want me to say? I am too, if that makes a difference." With the faintest hint of pain, he added, "We're both getting on in years."

He fumbled the sonic screwdriver as everything shuddered, almost as if the TARDIS had tipped sideways. The Doctor flew out of his swing and barely avoided smashing against the wall as the ship righted itself again. Instead, he thudded to the floor right beside it. The music, he noted as he scrambled to his feet, had not stopped. He dashed up to the console again, hearts racing. He had just pulled the monitor around to face him when the ship gave another shake, and he smashed his forehead against the console with a yelp.

"This isn't because you're mad at me, is it?" he demanded, before he got a chance to look at the monitor. It was a testament to how incredibly off-guard he was by what he saw that he forgot that he was supposed to be focusing on keeping his balance, and nearly slid into the railing surrounding the console. At the last minute, he grabbed at the monitor and solidified his footing, pulling himself back up.

"What do you mean we fell into a wormhole?" he exclaimed. "Again? You have to be kidding me! I didn't even touch anything, I-" There was a screech somewhere in the machinery, and the Doctor winced. "Okay, alright, I'll shut up. No point yelling, we'll make it. Not the first time. Don't worry dear." Another tip, and he only narrowly avoiding braining himself on the typewriter imbedded into the console. As he looked up, frantically turning switches to try and stabilize the ship, he caught another glimpse of the monitor, and the Gallifreyan descriptions scrolling across it.

The TARDIS gave another shudder, as if at any moment she might shiver herself apart. The Doctor ran a soothing hand as best he could along the console, while at the same time attempting to reread the outcome of the damage report.

"Oh good," he said brightly, "not another universe again. What would this have been, the third time since the War? It was just getting-" the alien was cut off as the TARDIS screeched again. "Hush, we're all right!" he ordered, staggering around the console and pressing buttons. "Should settle down, now, we're almost through-" And then everything stopped without warning, including the music, and he went crashing to the floor, hard enough to rattle his bones. "Ow."

He gave himself five minutes to recover, then forced himself to slowly sit up and lean against the console, wincing.

"At least we don't have to deal with an entirely new universe," he said. "That's always a pain." He rubbed his head and worked his jaw a little as he thought. "Well. What have you got for me this time?" And then, just as he was straightening his crimson bowtie and brushing his tweed jacket off, just about at the doors, he turned around, a very confused and indignant look on his face, and demanded, "But what was with the rough landing? Have I done something to upset you again, because I wasn't the one shooting the arrows, alright, and-" he was cut off as a gust of wind sent him stumbling outside, and the doors shut before he could rush back in and insist on an answer.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at the doors, made an, I'm watching you, gesture, and then spun in a complete circle before facing forwards and taking in, for the first time, his surroundings.

New York City. Hm. Odd.

No one had looked twice at the TARDIS landing, though, which was good. It meant, to the Doctor's relief, that the perception filter was still working. He'd been a little worried about that, as on his last misadventure, several of the Queen's soldiers had found the ship far, far more quickly than they should have. That was always a hard bit to repair. Not so much that a perception filter was extremely difficult, but that it wasn't necessarily easy to access. And when the TARDIS had anything too serious wrong with her, she had the nasty tendency to behave like an injured animal, and hide the problem away where it was not simple to locate or work on.

He shook that off and glanced around. According to his estimates, it was June, 2012. A pleasantly warm day in the city. A time full of opportunity and several interesting developments to be found.

The Doctor hummed to himself as he walked, taking in all the details of the city. A good stop on his farewell tour, if he said so himself. At this, he felt a pang of suppressed sadness and horror, and for a moment let it fight past his carefully constructed walls and crawl its way to the front of his mind. He didn't have much time until he had to go and face things in 2011 Utah. Until then, he'd decided to do whatever he could to finish up in the universe. Right whatever wrongs were the most pressing. Say goodbye to a few friends (or not-really-friends, like Elizabeth the First). See the greatest sights in the universe before his time was up. New York City certainly counted, especially with the Empire State Building finished and gleaming in the sunlight, like it certainly hadn't been on his last visit with Martha. And hadn't that been long ago...too long.

He pushed everything back down and resumed his cheerful humming, determined to wait until whatever problem there was in New York City was solved and he was alone to dwell on things. It wouldn't do to be in a puddle of self-pity if there was an evil alien overlord attempting to take over New York. He couldn't let his pending doom get him down, could he? At least he could say that he knew he wouldn't die here. He had a bit of time left.

That was always a plus.

"So why, exactly, are we all here?" Tony Stark drawled, his feet propped up on the conference table in Stark Tower. The remaining members of the Avengers surrounded him, all gazing in confusion at Nick Fury as he considered each of them.

At last, he began, leaning forward to set his arms on the table. "There are reports of an alien in New York." At that, everyone went deadly still. Fury inclined his head, and continued, "It appeared in a blue telephone box, in the middle of the city. Naturally, you understand S.H.E.I.L.D.'s interest." He gave a wry smile. "We want to detain it and make sure it's not a threat. Thor's here to help us with that. We're pretty certain that his knowledge will be useful to us in determining our next steps."

"What do you want us to do?" Bruce Banner asked, not bothering to hide his irritation or uncertainty. "Are you expecting another battle?"

Fury frowned. "Not if we're careful," he said. "Dr. Banner, you and Mr. Stark need to have a room for our guest. Secure, easy to guard. Barton, Romanoff, and Rogers will catch the alien. Thor will determine its species and threat level. Is that acceptable?"

"Who's gonna guard the cell?" Tony inquired, idly tracing patterns on the table.

"I was thinking of bringing a few agents in," Fury said, a tad icily.

Tony pressed a hand to his heart, mockingly affronted. "In my tower?" he exclaimed. "How rude!"

Fury was not impressed. "We won't touch your precious things, Stark," he growled. "And we're bringing in our own tech."

"I'm sure," Tony smirked, but got up and sauntered out the door, beckoning for Bruce to follow him. "Let's go build that high-security guest room, then, shall we?"

By now entirely too used to Tony and his way of being, the remaining heroes ignored the two geniuses as they left, still focusing on Fury.

"When do we move out?" Romanoff asked.

"Immediately," Fury said. "Your suits and equipment are down the hall, as well as all the other information you may need. We're expecting this to be brief. Be efficient, and quiet. We don't want to attract any unwanted attention. No civilian interference."

Romanoff, Barton, and Rogers exchanged looks before they stood and left the room, none of them speaking but all silently hoping the same thing - that this wouldn't turn out like Loki.

Well there, that's that! I hope you all enjoyed the update. Personally, I was astonished at how much better my writing is these days, and I hope you're pleasantly surprised as well! :)

Naturally, I probably didn't fix everything, so if you have any feedback at all, let me know! Is it really better? Or is everything more terrible now, somehow? Throw words at me.

Thanks again everyone!