Peter's cries echoed through comms and my attention snapped towards him. He caressed his wound and fell into a state of panic. I whipped around to see Hawkeye shooting arrows at Ira from a distance. Ira tried to deflect the arrows with her sword, but she only managed to hit one of them. Loki sat back and enjoyed the show, watching as chaos rained upon us. I turned back to my cousin and started running towards him, yelling into my earpiece as I did, "Barton, cover me!"

"On it," Clint replied and watched my surroundings carefully. He drew back the arrow, held it there for a second, exhaled and released it. The exploding arrow flew and impacted against Carnage's skin, causing a chunk of him to blow up. Carnage yelled out and ran towards Hawkeye as his arm healed. Hulk tackled him down before he could reach his teammate and threw him across the battlefield. Juggernaut rammed into Hulk, launching him into the walls of the White House. A part of the building collapsed onto the big guy, burying him in debris.

I dove passed Dr. Soul, who was still recovering from the Widow's Bite, and stopped right before Omega Red. He reached to grab Peter and I shot my hands out, grabbing a hold of his metal arm weapons with my powers. He fought back against the force, grunting as he tried to set himself free. I tied him up by his own weapon-like whips and threw him onto Dr. Soul to trap them both.

My hazel eyes flickered back to Peter, who had a meltdown in the middle of the battlefield. He stumbled and fell to his knees, ripping his mask off and clutching it in his hand to try to forget the immense pain breaking through his shoulder. His brown eyes focused on his bloody wound as sounds of agony left his lips. I grabbed the sleeve from his torn off arm and threw the arm aside in slight disgust. My hands quickly put pressure on his wound, but backed up as he sharply gasped. "Don't worry, it'll be okay," I shushed him in reassurance and grimaced. He cried out with all the strength he had and it was unsettling to hear. Peter slowly went into shock. "We need to get Peter to a hospital. He's bleeding out!"

"I'll take him," Tony offered and flew out of his fight to pick him up. "Come here, itsy-bitsy spider," Ironman picked Spider-Man up off the ground and propelled into the sky. Carnage latched onto Tony's foot and held him down. Tony kicked and tried to shove the fire from his free boot against Carnage's face, but it didn't work.

Fire sparked between my fingers and licked its way up to my wrists, setting my whole hand ablaze. "Hey, ugly!" I shot a fire blast at the creature and got its attention. He sent Tony and Peter flying in the other direction, but Tony quickly regained control and launched off to the nearest hospital. Carnage licked its teeth and his arm formed into an axe, while his feet materialized into two spikes.

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned and cracked my neck. Carnage ran straight towards me, and I anticipated his movements. He sharply turned his arm to swing at me and missed by a hair. I dodged and heated my hands up hotter and hotter, getting myself ready to make a move. Carnage kicked his legs, one in a swish downwards and the other to my side. His foot hit my side and I cried out for a split second before launching fire at his chest. The heat ate at his skin, but it wasn't enough to get him to back off.

I threw my fist at him to get a closer advantage, but he quickly smacked my hand away and scratched my skin. Blood trickled down the rake marks and he became more hostile when he smelled the iron in the air. A twisted smile set upon its mouth as he began to frenzy. Kick to the shin, uppercut to what I thought was a jaw, ice to the chest, nothing worked. He blocked the moves with super fast reflexes and countered with his own. Slash in the face, his claws scraping against my soft skin. Blood flew into the air as he dove in for his next move, his sharp foot aiming for my leg. I jumped up and brought both fists down onto his shoulder. His red and black gooey skin froze in place, leaving the top of his arm useless. That was the only hit I could land on him, for he rebounded and broke the ice off before I could do anything. Any attempt to outsmart him failed.

A special arrow flew straight towards Carnage's back, but he whipped his arm around and caught it without turning his head. My body tensed up and a frown settled on my lips. How did he know that was coming for him? I didn't even know about it until the last second. I contemplated and lost my focus. I shook the thoughts away and tried to put my mind back into the fight.

Carnage threw the arrow back rapidly, letting it explode next to Barton. He fell down from the blast and took a second to recover. Venom pounced on Hawkeye and scratched at his body, attempting to tear it up in a matter of seconds. His slick black claws reached up into the air for more damage and forced his hand down, his fingers jabbing into Clint's side. His scream screeched through communications into our ears.

I winced and threw out a pink portal in front of me. I dove through a blue portal next to Venom and launched fire at him. Flames licked up my arms and immense heat radiated off of my body. I jumped on his back, setting my flaming hands against his head. The creature shrieked and frantically tried to get me off of him. "Barton, go!" I yelled and dug my heated hand into Venom's shoulder. The black goo took hold of my hand and sucked it down. Panic built up in my system as the slimy substance climbed up my wrist. My skin turned into diamond and I punched Venom in the face. He immediately let go and I flew backwards. He rebounded, getting close enough to drag his claws against my diamond skin, causing a horrible screech to sound off.

I wailed, kicking him down and regaining my footing. I glanced around to see Steve shielding himself against Saturna's attacks. He crouched down behind his shield and grunted as he threw it at her. The rings she used as weapons clanged against the metal shield, scratching it before it flew back. Steve snatched his shield and launched it again, but this time it didn't return to him. He ran to grab it, and quickly rolled to the side when Saturna came close and tried to hit him.

Both rings swirled rapidly in her hands as she watched Captain America carefully with her yellow eyes. She pursed her lips and dove in for an attack. Saturna's rings clashed against the shield, allowing Steve to go in for a punch to the face and a kick to the abdomen. She stumbled backwards and scowled, "I'm going to kill you."

"You haven't been doing a great job so far," Steve's face stayed emotionless and focused. His blue eyes anticipated her movements and waited for her to strike. He didn't even break a sweat when she came at him in an attempt to cut him in half. He dove to the side and aimed the shield at her legs, causing her to scream and fall to one knee. Saturna made the rings move faster and chucked them at the shield. Cap's shield snapped into two pieces and he snatched the other piece before it hit the ground.

Steve's face fell.

Saturna aimed to hit his arm, but Steve guarded himself. He used one piece to hit her in the back of the neck and knocked one of the rings out of her hand. He had the advantage, but not for long. Saturna threw the disk at his feet, clipping his foot and making him cringe. Steve used the jagged side of the broken shield to clip her in the jaw, pushing her away from him.

Barton had already ran towards Natasha to aid her in battle, even though she didn't need it. He tried to create a tourniquet for his wound for the time being, blood still sinking out from it. He wouldn't leave the battlefield without Natasha, so he'd die fighting to make sure she was safe. He reached for an arrow in the quiver, but he came up empty. Clint took a deep breath and unlatched the bow, turning it into two stun batons. He waited until Dr. Soul ran out of plasma to throw and for Nat to give him the signal.

Black Widow threw a grenade over her head and let it injure Dr. Soul. The villain was thrown back and had to take a second to recover. Romanoff signaled to Barton to attack, and they both moved in. Natasha pulled out an automatic submachine gun from its holster and shot a whole clip out on Dr. Soul. He rolled to the side and attempted to jump away, but a few bullets hit him in the side and waist. He shrieked and defended himself against the next attack. Hawkeye came at him with stun batons, shocking him once and failing the next time. Natasha surged forward with a combat knife and nicked him on his chest. She swung in sync with Clint, almost like it was a dance.

Dr. Soul grabbed a hold of Barton's arm and held on tightly. Barton tried to move away or shock him to the point of him letting go, but he wouldn't. Natasha stabbed him and removed the knife, but the wound healed itself. Both heroes appeared confused until Barton started to feel weak. Dr. Soul seemed to be harvesting Hawkeye's soul for his own gain of healing and more power. The villain aimed his free hand at Black Widow and struck her in the leg with plasma. She gasped and fell to the ground, her hands frantically searching for something in her utility belt. Clint managed to get the villain's hand off of him, but he stumbled backwards in a daze from blood loss and disorientation. Dr. Soul smiled mischievously at his upper hand in the situation.

A red and black substance latched onto my waist and pulled me away from Venom. Carnage yanked me back to him using his self-made webbing, while Venom growled at both of us and made his way over slowly. I tried to force the webbing off, but each time I did, the webbing tightened around my waist. The material was too strong. He pulled me to him and made sure I wouldn't be able to move. I kicked and tried to wound him, but nothing worked. An appendage grew out of his stomach in the shape of a sharp sword. Worry formed in my stomach as I took out my pistol and shot bullets into the bottom of his jaw. The bullets fell to the ground, crushed and broken, while his jaw remained perfectly in tact. Carnage laughed in a deep growl, sending chills down my spine. Venom approached on my left, getting his claws ready to strike before Carnage made a move.

Five Air Force F-15 Eagle fighter jets flew overhead, a excruciatingly loud noise booming as they passed by. Carnage cringed and backed away, letting go of his hold on me to hold his ears as he screeched. I furrowed my brow and took a mental note. Replicating that much sound from ground zero would be difficult, but it did bother him. "Please tell me they aren't here to nuke another city," I commented and tried to think of a way to wound Carnage.

"No, they're most likely here for air assistance," Clint responded and watched as Venom wailed in response to the loud noise. He and Natasha helped each other get off the battlefield, since both of their injuries were major. He built on his last sentence, "Those ships weren't made to carry nukes."

I nodded in acknowledgement as a reflex, even though he wasn't looking at me. It was good that another city wasn't going to be wiped off the map. Even though it would help us kill the villains, millions of more civilians would perish. There would be no way for a nuke to be sent out if Loki and Ira slaughtered most of the leading government. Were there even enough high ranking government officials alive to salvage what had been destroyed?

Steve cried out in pain as he clutched his left shoulder. My attention snapped over to him and I broke out into a sprint. Dr. Soul's plasma hit his shield, but Saturna's rings clipped him in the shoulder, ripping some skin and probably muscle apart. He was getting double teamed and I stepped in to even out the numbers. My fist came in contact with Dr. Soul's chest and I swept my foot underneath him. All of my muscles ached, but a sudden burst of adrenaline shot through my system. "You know, Captain, our numbers are running a little low," I reported to him with a small hint of worry in my voice.

"What are you suggesting, Echo?" Cap questioned. He kicked Saturna and aimed the shield at her throat, but she dodged him and rolled away.

Using the superhero name people gave me? That's new, even for you Steve. I thought and stomped my foot onto Dr. Soul's leg, snapping it in two. He wailed and I responded, "I think we need to pull back and get reinforcements. There's only three of us out in the field. The rest are wounded and Tony hasn't come back yet." I looked over to where Hulk was to see how he was doing.

Omega Red and Juggernaut fought the Hulk simultaneously. Omega used his right whip weapon to grab a hold of Hulk's leg and drop him to the ground. Hulk struggled for a second and Juggernaut took advantage of it. He dropped down and dug his elbow into the Hulk's chest after falling onto him. Jugg punched Hulk in the bottom of his jaw, but it only angered the big guy more. Omega Red twisted Hulk's ankle and used his left whip-like tentacle to hold Hulk down underneath Jugg's weight.

"Where are we going to get reinforcements?" Steve asked and backed away from Saturna. They eyed each other menacingly and held back from making another move.

I pulled Omega Red away from Hulk using my powers and launched him to where Loki and Ira sat. They enjoyed the show, watching all of us fight and squirm under pressure. "Hulk, we have to leave," I told him and he reluctantly nodded.

Hulk punched Juggernaut and threw him off into the White House, crushing more of the building under his weight. Venom and Carnage stayed off to the side, talking and fighting amongst themselves about what prey was supposed to be theirs within the hero group. Omega Red picked himself up and watched the scene close up with Loki and Ira. Saturna and Dr. Soul stayed in offense mode, but held their position.

Another villain hung by the White House, observing everyone in their critical conditions. He wore a ripped black coat and three long, bony fingers adorned each hand. He seemed strongly built, but he wasn't from this world. The villain's face had black and white swirls and moved slowly in a circular motion, like a toy magicians used to put people into a trance. He faced our direction, but didn't make a move to stop us.

I shook my head and tried to help Steve off of the battlefield. He put his hand out, signaling he didn't want help and limped towards where Nat and Clint had headed earlier. Hulk ran off ahead of us, probably in an attempt to catch up to the other two team members. I glanced over at wounded Steve and replied to what he said earlier, "I know a few people that would be willing to help."

AN: Ta-daaaaa! And we're finished with the second book! Please, if you like this series, tell your friends, leave a comment, anything! :D I'm going to be writing the third book in a little while. School is starting up on Tuesday, so I'll try to adjust my time and write some every week. I don't know when I'll post it, but hopefully it will be soon. If not, it'll be more towards the summer. Thank you for reading! Here's the summary for "Lost Soldiers" :D

Retreat.

That word was not in my vocabulary, but it was the only thing we could do. If not, the Avengers would be lying dead on the grass behind the White House. Loki would televise it and reign terror upon the world.

We weren't going to give up. Not now. There was too much at stake. The weight of the world sat on our shoulders. We determined the future. We just needed more heroes.

A trip to my childhood home had been long overdue, but I didn't want it to be because of a war. Xavier's School for the Gifted gave young mutants a place to go when they were shunned. It gave them a future. The Avengers and the X-Men had to keep that future alive by taking Loki and his team of villains down, even if it meant laying down our own lives for millions of others.

Loki thinks he's won, but the war isn't over yet.

Book 3 of 3