Chapter 1

Scene: The top of Stark Tower, New York, May 4th 2012

"It's too late! Nothing can stop her now. She's trying to show us something. A New Universe!" Dr Erik Selvig's shout echoed through the air.

Tony cursed himself silently. 'Why didn't I just blow the top of my roof with a missile? Wai-'

"Jarvis! Why didn't I just blow up my roof with a missile?"

" Sir you had no way of knowing what would have happened with the Tesseract if you had done so."

The uncompromising reply that was relayed to his hud didn't help much. 'Well no point crying over spilt milk.' Tony thought in dry humour.

"Dr Selvig, last chance. Shut it down, or I'll do it for you."

"Like I said Mr Stark. It's too late. The portal's is already self sufficient. No force on Earth is going to stop it." Selvig's manic but surprisingly well articulated response only added more fuel to Tony's growing headache.

*Thump*

A pulse of raw power thrummed out of the machine, near by buildings shuddering due to its tangible density.

"Ok this is getting a little too rowdy for my taste…" Tony's grumble being inaudible due to the high pitched whine of his repulsor charging. 'Here goes nothing.'

*Whine* *Boom* *Crack*

A shockwave of blue energy rippled outwards from the machine as the repulsor blast splashed against a hitherto invisible energy shield. The resulting blow back throwing both him and Dr Selvig like ragdolls. 'Ugh, that smarts. And it didn't work either.'

"Jarvis?"

"The forcefield is pure energy. It's impenetrable. We are helpless Sir."

"No such thing Jarvis. Captain can you hear me?"

-Line Break-

Steve was not having a good day. Well no one was, but when you haven't really had a 'good day' in almost 70 years, you stop being nit picky about it. And here he is, suited up for yet another war.

'It just doesn't stop does it?'

"You okay there Captain?" Natasha's voice echoed through the comms and the jet. There was concern in her voice. Real one. 'Huh.'

"It's nothing Ms Romanova. Just want to get this over with. You two okay there?" Steve called out, looking at them with once again, refreshingly real concern.

"We're fine Captain. This isn't our first rodeo or anything like that. Another day, another fight."

'Another day, another fight huh?' "And what about you Barton?"

Clint didn't take his eyes off the skies as he responded to the super soldier.

"I'm fine Cap. Or I'll be fine. Apparently shooting an arrow at psychopaths that take over your mind is therapeutic."

'A little dry' Steve mused 'But it'll have to do.'

"You'll get your chance soon then. I want to clock him in the face myself too." Steve tries to lighten the mood, but his voice fails to hide his concern.

"We'll stop him." Natasha's mumble was barely audible.

'More worried than I thought.' Steve walked up to the cockpit and gripped both her and Clint's shoulders. "We will." Assurance, like a solid pillar. A few minutes of silence later, Steve's comm crack up.

Captain can you hear me?*

"Stark. What's the situation there?"

Look up. I was too late. The portal's up and the machine itself is out of reach. It's going to get ugly soon. I see a dozen stragglers in the air already. I'll keep them occupied as long as I can but I'll need backup.*

"And you'll have it. Try to keep as many of them as you can trained on you, we'll provide cover fire and meet up with you. We'll come up with a plan to stop them after that."

Natasha's voice quickly cut in, "I got eyes on the portal."

Steve craned his neck forward and looked out.

"Are portals supposed to be that big?"

"Make sense I guess." Clint chipped in. "It's for transporting an army right? They'll probably have heavy artillery as well."

Hey, uh Clint, right? Yeah that's not helpful at all* Tony was unamused.

"Engaging enemy now." Natasha droned. The auto cannons aboard the jet revved, spewing forks of light alongside the literal hail storm of bullets, shredding multiple Chitauri Chariots into scraps.

"Captain we'll drop you off inside the city and take care of as many of these air troops as possible. You'll be fine by yourself right?"

"I'll be fine. Right now our priority is containment and evacuation. I'll rally up with the local law enforcement and whatever defense they have set up and coordinate from there. We'll rendezvous at times square and come up with a better plan of action. Also be on the lookout for Thor and Banner. They might show up in the middle of it all."

"Thor I understand, but Banner? Do you think he'll actually show up?" Clint's lack of confidence was as clear as day.

"He will. He's a good man. I have faith in him."

"Alright then, I'll hold you to that Cap."

Natasha voiced over again, "Captain we'll let you off here. There's at least 200 hostiles in the city. Be ready for a tough fight."

"I'll be fine. Good hunting you two."

The Quinn jet's engines roared as it touched down near the ground. 20ft from the ground the jet was immediately assaulted by heavy fire. The jet swerved right, gunning down any and all Chitauri foot soldiers in the cannon's path. Steve waited patiently for the bay doors to open, securing the strap of the vibarnium shield on to his back. As the bay door open, Steve is taken aback by the sheer destruction caused by the Chitauri attack. The entire cityscape is in ruins, hundred foot columns of fire and ash rising up by the dozens, screams of pain and fear echoing through out the air. 'Good God! It hasn't even been 10 minutes.'

"Good luck Captain. We'll see you soon." Natasha called out.

Nodding in affirmation, Steve wasted no time and jumped down from the jet, landing on his shield as it crushed a Chitauri soldier unlucky enough to be directly under him. As he recovered from the drop he was immediately set up on by a small contingent of hostiles. Eight Chitauri soldiers, equipped with high tech energy weapons and superior physiology. Each individual troop can at any given time, wipe the floor with an entire squad of human origin. The Chitauri, feared by many as an endless tide of near perfect coordination and military precision. The Chitauri, known throughout multiple sectors of the Galaxy as the Ashen Fog, capable of laying waste to their enemies in true lightning fashion.

All together, they don't even last 10 seconds.

The first Chitauri took aim to fire on the Avenger. As it looked down the sights of it's rifle, all it sees is the enemy whipping their hand in an arc. Or at least it sees the end of said motion, with Steve's hand outstretched. And then it dies as the blunt edge of a vibarnium shield slashes half of it's face off, along with the top half of it's rifle.

The rest faired even more poorly. Even before they can register the death of one of their own, two more are already down,thanks to a well placed punch to the chest for one, and a roundhouse kick to the base of it's skull for the other. One of the aliens finally gets a bead on the human Avenger, but the side of it's head is caved in by a shield after it had finished it's third ricochet from a newly destroyed car nearby. Two more goes down by a literal storm of punches and kicks, Steve weaving in and out of the wild shots they had fired in his general area. The remaining two split apart, circling the enemy from the sides. The shots from the left are dodged with contemptuous ease as the Avenger rapidly closed his distance with the alien. The soldier on the right took aim at the enemy, the shots from it's brethren missing harmlessly by only inches, such is their precision, only to see it's dead comrade crumpling to the ground with no enemy in it's sights. It grunted in confusion. Then suddenly a rush of air above, the Chitauri quickly aims up, only to come face to face with a metallic star as the Captain had already recovered his shield after it's final ricochet and was again using it for a soft landing. It's final thoughts being, 'What the actual fuc-' or the alien equivalent.

"Phew! A little slow." Steve exhaled out. "And I didn't even get to use this." He said as he patted his custom M1911, chambered in 500 Magnum. Which he immediately drew out and shot at an enemy sniper on the top of a nearby overpass, the bullet hitting it's head like a battering ram, ragdolling it some meters out.

"Right, I'm heading out to meet with the local forces. Rogers out."

"Copy that Captain." Natasha called out from the Quinn jet, which was already enroute to the portal, taking out multiple Chariots and ground troops with it's auto cannons and rockets.

Steve stood tall, taking a deep breath. "Another day, another fight." 'When will it end?'

-Line Break-

"Jarvis, status report." Tony called out as he destroyed another squad of flying aliens.

"Sir, core temperature is still within the normal parameters, armor integrity is at 100 percent, weapons systems are all operational, armor power supply at 93 percent with a percentage lost at every 30 minutes of flight, you have used nearly 15 percent of the onboard kinetic weapons arsenal, projected damage to the enemy forces… is less than 0.05 percent. Sir need I remind you that fighting an intergalactic army by your lonesome is highly counter productive."

"Hey hey! Tone that sass down mister. I swear I raised you better than this. What's the status on the ground?"

"The city is 2 percent destroyed as the majority of the enemy hostiles are being contained around you and Ms Romanova. Although that may soon change as the enemy concentration is increasing by the hundreds. Sir if we keep the status quo up, the city will be overrun in just a few hours."

Tony grunted in effort as he rocketed through multiple flying squads, gunning them down with his onboard arsenal of rockets and missiles. "Damnit! What's the status on the bastard?"

"Loki is still content on watching sir. He has yet to make a move. This may change soon as my sensors have already detected a surge of electric potential heading for Stark Tower. ETA 30 seconds."

'Finally' "Agent Romanova, how are you doing on this fine day today?"

Now's not the time for jokes Tony. Is there anything else we can do to at least slow these things down?*

"I am just as stumped as you, though Thor's finally here so he might be able to do something. Maybe even punch that bastard in the face for an added benefit."

Thor's here? Good that'll do something I guess. Clint relay it to Captain.* A soft 'got it' cracked through the comms.

Stay in the air and take care of the bulk of them for now. We'll provide backup as much as we can.*

"Right I will Roger that. If you catch up to Thor before me, tell him that his brother is an asshole but his hair is fabulous."

Whatever you say Tony. Black Widow out.*

"Black Widow? Huh… surprisingly fitting."

His musings were immediately cut off by Jarvis. "Sir, enemy armor coming through."

*Grumble* *ROAR*

Tony could only pale as the massive Chitauri Leviathan lumbered through the portal in a languid pace. It's multi storey face almost mocking him.

The Leviathan was massive, more reminiscent of the Kaijus from Japanese entertainment. Thick, daunting armor completely covered the creature as if they were scales, giving the Leviathan a dragon like appearance. Multiple menacing frill like appendages seemingly made of some sort of metal protruded from either side of it's body, almost like the hood of a cobra. It looked like horror movie equivalent for a spaceship/dragon combo. It slowly made it's way to the cityscape, causing the heroes and the fleeing civilians to truly understand the gravity of the situation.

Steve's voice cracked in through the comms. *Stark, are you seeing this?*

"I'm seeing it. Still working on the believing part."

Jarvis was once again the bearer of bad news. "Sir, sensors are picking up multiple energy signatures from inside the creature. It's a troop transport vehicle."

"What?! How many?"

"An estimated number of 100. The alien metal is interfering with my deep scans."

Stark swore through his breath. "Cap? Heads up. Things are gonna get ugly down there and soon."

What do you mean ugly?*

The moment Steve made his query the metal scales under the Leviathan shuddered before slowly shifting aside. Inside the scales where individual Chitauri ground troops, numbering in the final hundreds, waiting to be deployed. Steve was numb. 'A troop carrier?! This thing is a transport vehicle?'.

The Leviathan made a quick swerve and then performed a low altitude pass through the city, devastating multiple buildings with it's spiked hood, it's huge mass making sure that a contest between it and a building always ends with building eviscerated. It then produced a bone chilling rumble which sent the still intact glass quivering. Steve paled even further. 'Oh God, what now?'

*Crack* *Boom*

The troop compartments that had previously opened, for a lack of better term, bombarded the surrounding area with it's occupants. The armored Chitauri, not even breaking a sweat, crashed into buildings and pavements alike, easily walking of the impact like nothing, before firing on the people and buildings that we're still present.

Bolts of energy rained down on the people as they scrambled to safety, many being gunned down in the process. The Leviathan paid no heed to the destruction it had caused and slowly made it's way to the next designated sector for another bombing run.

"Stark the city can't take any more of this. You have to lead it away from here."

I'll think of something Cap. Just… just make sure to save as many as you can.*

Tony's voice was somber. Steve silently swore. 'We are not equipped sufficiently to deal with something like this. This is bad. And it will only get worse.'

As if insult to injury, Natasha's voice once more rang out.

The Quinn jet is hit. We are going down fast. Sorry Captain, we won't be able to provide any more air support.*

"Shit"

Tony himself was swearing. He quickly enquired Jarvis on the status of the Quinn jet.

"Agent Romanova and agent Barton have successfully escaped from the jet Sir. Though the jet itself is out of commission."

"Damnit. Fine. Jarvis patch me through to Fury."

"Sir?"

"We need all the help we can get Jarvis, patch me through."

"Yes Sir"

This is Agent Hills. What do you need Stark?*

"Where the hell is Fury?"

Director Fury is currently unavailable. I'll be the one taking all of your requests. What do you need Stark?*

"Fine, we are heavily outgunned. Is there anything you can do to help? We can keep going but the city itself will be caught in the cross fire."

We have already dispatched several hundred ground troops, though it'll take nearly 20 minutes for them to get there. The US defenses are also being dispatched but it'll take them even longer to reach you.*

"Not good enough agent Hills. In 20 minutes the city will be nothing more than a pile of rubble. What about the helicarrier?"

With the patchwork repair job on it, the helicarrier is just too slow. Besides, Loki's little escapade crippled nearly all of our defenses and Hulk's little slug fest grounded nearly all our jets. Even if we reach there in time, we'll be nothing more than a juicy target.*

"This just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?"

I'm sorry to say this Stark, but right now you're on your own.*

"Figures. What else is new?"

Thankfully Jarvis quickly piped in with good news. "Sir Point Break is enroute to rendezvous with Captain. Loki is no longer on the tower."

"Finally, some good news! Relatively speaking of course"

-Line Break-

Natasha Romanova was not a superhero. She knew that much. She was a spy, an assassin. A product of a failed world view. There was not a single heroic bone in her body, she knew that much. She was not destined for great things nor was she some prophesied saint. And she was fine with it. She was fine being a scapegoat. She was fine with drenching her hands in blood. She was fine being broken for the sake of the world. So it was a surprise that she, for the first time in a long time, cursed herself for not being special, for not being more. 'I mean having a bit of magic on hand would make shooting these things a hell of a lot more easier. What am I even doing with these guns?'

Her musings were cut short by Clint piping up beside her. "Don't give me that look Nat."

"I don't know what your talking about." Natasha quipped as she returned fire on a Chitauri trying to flank them from the back. She quickly ducked and sprang back as her position was hailed on by bolts of enemy fire. She quickly darted through multiple crushed cars while Clint sprayed down suppressing fire with his bow.

"Don't try that. I'm talking about that look right there. The 'I have no clue about what I'm doing here' look. I know that look, I practically invented it."

"You did not invent it." Was Natasha's exasperated reply.

"Nat, really I get it. I mean I clearly have it worse off than you, but I get it." Clint sighed as vaulted side ways while simultaneously dodging three energy bolts whilst stringing two explosive trick arrows through two separate contingent of hostiles, essentially taking out 3 dozens of the Chitauri by his lonesome.

Natasha rolled her eyes as she disarmed a ground troop by expertly jumping on to it's neck and twirling around it, scooping it's gun with her arm as her powerful legs and hips broke the Chitauri's neck like a tooth pick. "You do not have it worse!"

"Nat, we are fighting an intergalactic alien species that is literally Zerg rushing our planet through a space portal made from a magic space cube under the orders of a psychopath demigod who had also taken over my mind… and I have a bow and arrow…"

"I swear Clint if you use the 'I have a bow and arrow' excuse one more time."

"What!?" Clint cried out, "It's a perfectly reasonable excuse. You at least have guns. I mean guns actually make more sense than most of the things that have been happening these past few weeks."

"Whatever you say you big baby ( 'HEY!' ). Just keep shooting."

"You wound me Nat."

Clint grunted an affirmative as he once again backflipped through the air, dodging five more shots, and prepared another arrow to take a few more Chitauri out, but was beaten to the punch by a torrential downpour of lightning that smashed down on to every Chitauri soldier, frying them to a crisp, within a 200m diameter vicinity.

*Crack* *Crack* *Boom*

Thunder rolled like God's fury as the hammer of Thor smashed down on to the pavement, melting the asphalt and concrete by the sheer heat from the residual charge surrounding it. Clint tightened his grip on his bow as a very angry God of Thunder touched down in a stumble alongside it, cracking the pavement even further.

Natasha let out a relieved breath. "Thor, nice of you to join us. What kept you?"

Thor growled a menacing low. He straightened himself and inhaled deeply, trying to relieve as much of his frustration as he can before addressing the two humans. "Loki cannot be reasoned with. I had hoped to convince him to stop this madness, but I fear he's more afraid of the true master of the Chitauri than the consequences of his actions. He is currently flying and directing his forces himself. I'd expect heavy retaliation soon."

This is Rogers, agent Romanova do you read?*

"Loud and clear Captain, what's the plan?"

I need all of you to rendezvous at the Square. The snake thing just dropped in about a hundred troops on civilians. I won't be able to do anything fast enough to make a difference. Is Thor here yet? If he is tell him he's on clean up duty*

"Copy that Captain. All right you two listen up. There is a massive enemy concentration near the Times Square, Captain Rogers has his hands full as it is. Thor, he wants you to head directly into the city and take out as many of those things as you can. Clint and I will catch up. Make sure that the civilians are safe. Understood?"

"As you say then. We shall meet up at this Times Square and try to put an end to this madness." Thor retorted as he spun his hammer faster and faster and then lept off into the cityscape, thunder once again rolling in his wake.

"So… that happened."

"Let's go Clint." Natasha sighed, picking up a Chitauri energy rifle.

'We'll stop them… hopefully.'

-Line Break-

*Zoom* *Crack*

Steve silently swore as he dodged yet another volley of energy bolts. The enemy was smarter than he had anticipated. They had quickly pinned him down after they had dropped down from the Leviathan, immediately recognizing the threat he posed. He peeked over his shield with his M1911 and fired off two shots, successfully killing one and critically injuring another.

'They're relentless!' He thought as another volley peppered his position. Instead of weaving through the shots like before, Steve charged into the blanket fire, angling his shield so that every possible injury was reflected back on to the enemy troops. He managed to kill five of the hostiles with his tactic before a fork of lightning crashed into them from the skies, Thor joining him on the ground shortly after.

"Any luck with your brother?" Steve asked and grimaced as he saw Thor's face twist into a nasty frown.

"I tried my friend, but Loki… he escaped on to one those flying Chariots. He's currently leading his army from the front lines. The change in their tactics are likely his doing."

"Figures. He did look like the difficult type. And the Tesseract? Is there anything you could about that or the portal."

"I am afraid not my friend. The Tesseract is beyond anyone bar the All Father himself. The machine is too well guarded for us to even get close. Loki, it seems, was fully intent on winning Earth."

"He's not winning anything if we have anything to say about it. We'll just have make do wit-"

*BOOM!* *ROAR!*

A sudden explosion shuddered through the city, shattering multiple windows on multiple buildings, which was immediately followed by an ear shattering roar of pain and anger. The ground trembled as the pained roar reverberated through the now silent streets.

Whoops! Sorry, my bad.*

A sheepish voice cracked in through the comms.

"Stark? Ju-just what was that?"

Ah I shot that floaty snake thing in the eye with a bunker buster. Turns out those things are also missile proof. And angry! Very very angry- whoa there!*

"Jesus Christ Stark!"

"Truly a formidable warrior. A little too talkative for my taste but-"

Captain this is Natasha, what was that?*

"Tony was distracting one of the big ones."

Ah that makes sense. Why does that make sense? On a side note, we'll be with you in one minute. We'll brief each other then. I need a vacation after this*

"Copy that Widow." Steve signed off. Just as he about to address Thor, more Chitauri show up, performing essentially bombing runs on the two Avengers. Thor quickly took to the air, shrugging off the bolts like they were hardly there while Steve picked up an energy rifle and started picking enemies out one by one from behind his shield. They are quickly joined in by Natasha and Clint as they continue to take down wave after wave of flying soldiers. Thor sensing the problem, charged his lightning and swung horizontally, unleashing a foot thick pillar of arcing electricity, wiping out the entirety of the hostile forces, effectively ending the short skirmish.

Thor looked around, "This cannot go on any longer. Loki's forces would eventually tire us out."

*Vrooom*

Any response was cut off as the sound of a motorbike was heard from the debris. Seconds later the said motorbike was seen being ridden by none other than Dr. Bruce Banner.

Surprise and relief assaulted the Avengers as the possibly strongest of their members finally made his appearance.

Steve quickly called out Tony, "Stark, he's here!"

Banner? Heh, told you so. Tell him to suit up, I'm bringing the party to you. (* ROAR *) Yeah yeah whine all you want you overgrown gecko you.*

Bruce looked sheepish as he gestured around. "Um, hey everyone. This… this all seems terrible…"

" I've seen worse…" Natasha smirked out.

"I'm sorry about what happened Agent Romanova. I-"

"No! No i-it's okay. Nothing too bad happened and well, frankly we could use some worse."

'Is this happening right now?' was the thought that ran through nearly every ones mind barring Natasha, Bruce and Thor for obvious reasons.

Tony was… amused for the lack of better terms. *Alright you two,you can make googly eyes at each other later. I'm bringing the party to you.*

Bruce choked in his spit and Natasha looked taken aback but she quickly schooled her features, ignoring Clint's mirth filled expression. Thor as usual missed all the social cues and patted Bruce on his back. "It's good to see you again my friend. We shall once again revel in the joys of glorious combat." Thor thundered out as he kept patting Bruce.

"Ahahaha… please don't revel."

*CRAAASHH!*

The sound of buildings crumbling ran loud through Times Square as Tony was seen frantically dodging enemy shots as he swerved towards the gathered Avengers, the daunting form of the Leviathan gliding in to view behind him. Buildings were bowling over like dominoes as the Leviathan disregarded everything except for the pest that had injured it.

"I uh, I don't see how that's a party…" Natasha voiced out.

Thor smirked as he adjusted the grip on his hammer and looked at Bruce, who had an uneasy look on his face. "Are you ready my friend?"

"As I'll ever be I guess." Bruce's expression changing from an uneasy one to a resigned one. He started slowly walking towards the monstrous alien seemingly without a care in the world, confusing the rest slightly. Thor only smirked knowingly.

Steve couldn't help but call out, "Dr Banner. Now would be a good time as any to get angry."

Bruce didn't even slow down his languid pace as he turned around to look at Steve. "That's my secret Captain. I'm… I'm always angry."

*Riiiiiip*

The sound of ripping fabric was heard by everyone present. A kind of heavy set pressure was building up. Tony quickly shot over the now growing man and aimed up at the monster that was chasing him.

*BANG!* *GROAN!* *CRASH!*

A single punch.

The ground cracked like thin ice, the slab like feet of the green beast digging into it. The armor of the mighty Chitauri Leviathan, capable of shrugging of a sustained salvo from a squad of Nova Grid Fighters in formation, splashed onto itself as if made of jelly, bending and shearing around the massive fist embedded in it like it was made of paper. The sheer mass of the creature not even registering for the green beast, it folded upwards, it's momentum still carrying it forward. The heavy armor pieces crumbled like Lego bricks, exposing the organic tissue beneath. Tony wasted no time shooting a souped up version of an incendiary missile at it, turning the entire thing into charred fragments. The sounds of battle immediately died down. The Chitauri seemingly taken aback. The easy victory that was promised no where in sight. Loki himself was mildly surprised.

'Tenacious bunch aren't they?' he mused.

The Chitauri snapped out of their daze, recognizing the true nature of the threat before them. All together, they took off their visors, and bellowed a warcry.

*Scream!* *ROARRRR!*

The challenge being seemingly met by the Hulk, the personification of Bruce's strength.

Cries of challenge was being repeated, Loki himself getting slightly excited. 'Their spirits are being mended. That won't do.'

He smirked.

"Sent the rest."

*GROAN!* *ROOOAAARRRR!*

The seemingly dormant portal rippled like a lake. The Avengers themselves paled, even Thor breaking out a cold sweat. Hulk snorted, unimpressed, but there was a tightness in his demeanor that wasn't there before. Clint gulped down hard, tightening his grip on I'm weapon of choice. Natasha steeled herself, going back inside her indifferent shell. Steve and Tony shared a look, nodded and turned to address the others. Loki was amused, as dozens of massive Leviathans and thousands of flying soldiers poured out of the portal. Yet because of this laser like focus on the portal and it's inhabitants, both sides failed to notice a small spec of purple light, almost like a small star, swiftly changing it's course.

And then all hell broke loose.

-Chapter End-