I do not own Avengers or any of the characters.

Army

William stared out the window. The city was a battlefield already. The entire city. The top of Stark tower, which was now missing the "K" in Stark and had a damaged "R", was firing a massive blue beam of energy into the sky, the beam ending at as massive portal that had blue smoke-like energy around it and space on the far side. Through the portal came flying scooter-like vehicles with three dark-grey-skinned aliens on each, one flying with a pair of arm-like steering controls in the front of the fliers, and two on the back with what looked like bladed energy rifles, at least if William was seeing them through his binoculars properly.

William's gaze shifted back to the beam and his brow furrowed as he once again felt the energy in him begin to stir, his powers seeming to grow excited. "I guess Loki was serious about an army after all."

Barton flew the jet through the city, taking a street Tony told them to and when Tony flew past in front of them, Natasha opened fire with the jet's minigun, destroying a dozen fliers that were chasing Tony, any that survived breaking off and flying around the city again, blasting anything and everything in bombing runs using their rifles and guns attached to the fliers. They flew up Stark Tower to where Thor was fighting Loki, but Loki instantly blasted the jet's left rotor. William and Olivia both instantly strapped themselves in as the jet began to plummet toward the ground, Barton struggling to keep it under control. Rogers, on the other hand, simply held on to the ceiling.

Finally, they plowed into the ground and skidded to a stop, everyone instantly unbuckling and scrambling out of the Jet, William helping Olivia grab all of her weapons on the way. As they got out of the jet, however, they stopped as something above them let out a cry like that of a whale. They stared up at the portal as a gigantic eel-like creature flew through, covered in thick metal plates, the thing roaring as it was free of the portal. The thing was a hundred feet long and fifteen feet tall with a half-dozen armored fins along its sides, and once it was down between the buildings, Chitauri began to burst out of its sides, crashing into the sides of buildings and stopping, dozens of them.

"Stark are you seeing this?" Rogers asked.

"Seeing," Stark said. "Still working on believing."

William sent an arrow up at the creature and it exploded against an armor plating, only for the creature to not be harmed at all. "Shit."

"Where's Banner?" Stark asked. "Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Rogers asked.

"Just keep me posted," Stark said.

"What do we do here, Rogers?" William asked. "We need a plan."

Just then, a small group of fliers shot overhead, raining blasts along a street, Loki riding on the lead flier.

"We've got civilians trapped up here," Stark reported as he flew past a building on their right.

Rogers looked toward the people in the street Loki was flying along, but just as he was about to go help, energy blasts began to hit around them, Natasha and Olivia opening fire at the Chitauri forming up in the street on their opposite side from the civilians.

"We've got this, go," Natasha said as she, Clint, and Olivia took cover behind an overturned taxi, Olivia still firing with her AUG.

"You think you can hold them off?" Rogers asked.

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure," Barton said, pressing a switch on his bow's grip, a small tray with his arrowheads rotating before one was attached to an arrow's shaft. He drew it and fired, and when the arrow hit one Chitauri, it fired a vertical ring of tiny projectiles that killed two more.

"In a few minutes, Olivia will have killed them all," William said. "Just go."

Rogers nodded and turned, leaping off of the bridge they were on as Loki and the other fliers began a second pass. Clint turned and ran to a bus where several civilians were hiding off to the side and Olivia glanced at William.

"I think it's time for me to get serious, don't you?" Olivia asked.

"Wait, for real?" William asked. "You're not serious yet?"

Olivia smirked before her face screwed up in concentration. Then, five more of her stepped out of the original, William's jaw falling open as his eyes practically fell out of his head. Each of the new moved to her tray of weapons, one of them picking up the Browning M2, one picking up the M240B, and one picking up the sniper rifle. The last two drew their G36 and P99s respectively.

"You and me are going to get the civilians out of that building," the one with the pistols said to William.

"Me and her will stay here and help you, Agent Romanoff," the one with the G36 said, gesturing to herself and the one with the AUG.

"We'll go set up around the city to bottleneck the portal and pick off the ones flying around," the sniper said as the two machine gunner ran off, the sniper following.

William turned to the building Stark had reported hostiles in and sent an arrow with an energy rope trailing it into the roof, then yanked the rope and was sent streaking up at the window on the top floor, the Olivia with the pistols running for the ground floor. As William smashed through the window, three Chitauri just inside spun toward him, only for him to slash through all three with an energy sword.

"I gotta say, Olivia, you really are a freak," William said over his communicator earpiece. "That power of yours is borderline overpowered. What happens if one of you dies, though?"

"Don't know," Olivia responded, the earpiece auto-filtering out the gunfire on her end so he could hear her. "Not planning to find out."

William chuckled, running through the building and slaughtering Chitauri as he went, taking the stairs down one level at a time, checking it quickly while escorting the civilians. The second level he searched, a Chitauri leapt at him from the side, only for him to spin, his sword reshaping into a staff, which he slammed into the underside of its jaw before forming a spearhead and driving it down into it. Then, he turned and hurled the spear into another Chitauri, the spear knocking it out a window before exploding as a flier hit it. The next level down, he kicked the door in and instantly fired an arrow with a dozen smaller arrowheads forming a sort of ball on the end into the air in the middle of the large room, the smaller arrows bursting out of the main one, which faded, then slaughtered the Chitauri in the room while leaving the civilians unharmed. The next floor, as William entered the room, a Chitauri grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides, only for spikes of white energy to erupt from the Chitauri's back before fading, the Chitauri collapsing. Another took a swipe at William and he formed himself gauntlets and boots of energy, beginning to beat the Chitauri to death before finally forming a sword and splitting it up the front.

Just as he finished with that one, Olivia stepped into the room, shooting the other three Chitauri who were just stepping into it. Then, the two of them ran outside, the couple dozen or so civilians they had saved together fleeing, following Barton's directions to the subway where the Chitauri wouldn't be able to shoot them. William and Olivia rejoined Natasha, Barton, and the other two Olivias just as both of the Olivias with rifles ran off. A moment later, Rogers returned, slamming into a pair of Chitauri shield first, Olivia killing them with a spray of bullets as soon as they stopped bouncing. Then, lightning exploded down on the Chitauri in front of them, killing them all just before Thor landed heavily in front of them.

"What's the story upstairs?" Rogers asked.

"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable," Thor said.

"Thor's right, we gotta deal with these guys," Stark said.

"It's a barrier of pure energy, right?" William asked, remembering the video feed Stark had sent them of the barrier around the portal machine bouncing his repulsor blast back at him. "Maybe I could syphon it away, or adjust my powers to match it, that way I can get a weapon through."

"It's possible," Stark said. "But we still have to deal with Loki's army first."

"The longer the portal's open, the more army we need to deal with," William pointed out.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team," Rogers said.

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said.

"Yeah?" Barton asked. "Well, get in line."

William heard a pair of machine guns finally open up and looked up, seeing twin streams of tracers flying up into the portal, not a single bullet missing the portal, meaning there were none to fall on civilians. At the same time, a sniper began to very carefully pick off grounded Chitauri.

"Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need," Rogers said. "Without him, these things could run wild." Rogers turned to them, beginning to gesture with his hands as he spoke. "We got Stark up top. He's gonna need us to..." he stopped, turning as Banner slowed to a stop behind him on a borrowed, or stolen, motorcycle.

"Perfect timing," William said. "The gang's all here."

"So, this all seems horrible," Banner said as they all walked over to him, Olivia reaching up and duplicating a couple of Barton's arrows to replace those he'd already used.

"Horrible?" William snorted. "This is great. It's the perfect excuse to let loose and kill anything that moves."

"Would you mind walking forward, then?" Olivia asked.

"Don't start," Rogers said. "Stark, we got him."

"Banner?" Stark asked.

"Just like you said," Rogers confirmed.

"Then tell him to suit up," Stark said. "I'm bringing the party to you."

"Oh tell me he's joking," William groaned.

Just then, Stark rounded a corner, the massive eel-like creature following, roaring as it smashed through the corner of a building. William groaned, Thor growled, readying himself, and Olivia sighed.

"I-I don't see how that's a party," Natasha said.

Stark flew low, getting the creature to start flying along the road, and shot past them within seconds. Banner glanced at them then turned, walking toward the creature.

"Dr. Banner!" Rogers said worriedly. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Captain," Banner said. "I'm always angry."

Then, in the amount of time it took for him to turn and throw a punch, he'd completely transformed, his fist exploding into the creature's snot. The creature shoved the Hulk backward about twenty feet before Hulk stopped, the creature flipping into the air over him, its armor breaking apart and falling off as it went. Then, Stark fired a missile into its side, and when the missile exploded, it blew the creature apart. William grabbed Olivia just before the explosion and hurled himself and her both behind a bus for cover, Barton took cover behind a taxi, and Rogers pulled Natasha to himself, kneeling down and holding his shield over them. When William looked around, there was a massive chunk of metal where he and Olivia had been, and a chunk of metal had bounced off of Rogers' shield.

The Chitauri that had been rising on the creature and had all bailed out before the explosion roared angrily down at them all.

"Thanks," Olivia said. "Now let go of me."

"Hm?" William asked, realizing he was, in fact, still holding her around the waist. "Oh, sorry."

They walked out of cover, rejoining the others, now including Hulk and Stark, as Hulk roared back at the Chitauri. At the same time, more and more Chitauri began to flood through the hole, the other Olivias unable to stop them all, including multiple more of the eel creatures.

"Guys," Natasha said, watching the Chitauri spread from the portal.

"Call it, Captain," Stark said.

"Alright, listen up," Rogers said. "Until we close that portal up there, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything, call out patterns and strays." He pointed up to a tall building off to the side. "William, you're going with him. You work well from a distance with those arrows. Stark, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back, or you turn it to ash."

"Can you give me a lift?" Barton asked.

"Right," Stark nodded, walking over. "Better clench up Legolas."

William snorted as Stark took off with Barton.

"Thor, try and help Olivia bottleneck that portal," Rogers said. "Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up."

Thor nodded, spinning his hammer before flying away.

"You, me, and Olivia stay on the ground, keep the fighting here," Rogers said. "And Hulk..."

Hulk turned to him.

"Smash," Rogers said, pointing upward.

A wide grin split Hulk's massive green face and he shot into the air, exploding into the side of a building and began to slaughter Chitauri. William glanced at the beam, again feeling his powers grow excited, or maybe agitated.

"What about the portal?" William asked. "Should I try to get through it?"

"Not yet," Rogers said. "For now, help Barton."

William nodded and turned, using a string arrow to get himself to the roof of the building he and Barton were assigned to. Just as he landed, Barton advised Stark find a tight corner to take advantage of the fliers being unable to pull sharp turns, all while firing an arrow almost backward and destroying a flier without looking.

"I'm so glad you and I never actually had to have an arrow fight," William said, firing a scatter shot arrow as he had inside, hitting a half dozen fliers.

"You seem to be doing pretty well," Barton said, both shooting several more fliers.

"Dude, you just hit a moving target without looking," William said.

"Heads up!" Barton said suddenly.

William turned, seeing a pair of fliers moving to ram him. He smirked, swinging his bow down to the right, as he stepped to the right. The bottom arm of his bow sliced through the flier and pilot Chitauri both, the flier exploding against the roof. Then, William spun in a circle, turning his hand over the other way before slashing in the same arc, this time using the upper arm of his bow to slash the two Chitauri who had been on the back of the flier but jumped off before it reached him. As soon as he finished, he pulled and arrow back and sent it into the air, the arrow exploding just as five fliers were within range, destroying them all.

"Yeah, I'm not having a melee fight with you," Barton said. "I'll stick to arrows." He sent an arrow past William's head into a Chitauri pilot before the arrow released a ring of projectiles, the projectiles destroying two other fliers as the one the pilot was flying hit a third.

"Nice call," Stark said suddenly, having finished with the fliers chasing him. "What else you got?"

"Thor's taking on a squadron down on Sixth," Barton said.

"Isn't he supposed to be bottlenecking?" William asked, glancing up at the portal, which was still being partially, though ineffectively, bottlenecked by Olivia's duplicates.

Just then, a Chitauri landed behind him, just in time for a sniper bullet to turn its head into paste.

"We're even for you pulling me out of the way of that exploding worm," Olivia said. "Oh, and there are Chitauri sneaking up your building's walls

"Fair enough," William agreed, using a scattershot arrow to clear the Chitauri trying to climb up the sides of the building. "That all of them?"

A sniper round hit one just below the edge in front of him.

"All I can see," Olivia said.

"Barton, can you handle yourself alone?" William asked.

"Yeah," Barton nodded. "Get going."

"Captain, I'm heading for the tower," William said.

"Natasha will meet you there," Rogers said.

"Keep her," Olivia said. "My rifle duplicates are almost there."

"Alright," Rogers said. "Go."

William sprinted tot he edge of the building and leapt off, landing on a flier just after the two arms of his bow split the two gunner Chitauri in half across the chest, then slashed out to the left, killing the pilot. He instantly let his bow fade and grabbed the controls, accidentally pressing a button and sending an energy blast into another flier. He grinned, beginning to blast any an all fliers that flew in front of him. Two began to shoot at him from behind but Stark blasted them for him before moving to help Rogers and Natasha, then going to clear Barton's wall for him. William passed an eel that Hulk and Thor were riding on while killing Chitauri, then Hulk drove a chunk of armor into the eel's back and Thor slammed his hammer down on it. William smirked. They really weren't a bad team after all.

He steered toward Stark Tower and leapt off the flier just as a blast hit it, the flier crashing down in a cluster of Chitauri that were bearing down on the two rifle-wielding Olivias. William shot a rope arrow into a building, the energy rope slowing him down enough for him to land in a roll. Then, the stood and sprinted to the two Olivias, all three running into the tower. The tower was free of Chitauri, so the only bad part about the run up its stairs was the run up its stairs. By the top of it, William and the Olivias were ready to collapse, gasping and panting for breath and more staggering than running.

"Fuck you...for having...such a...tall tower...Stark," William panted.

"You could have asked for a lift," Stark pointed out.

"Fuck...yourself," William said, staggering to the machine.

"Don't touch it!" Dr. Selvig said. "There's an energy barrier protecting it! You can't get through."

"Not me," William said, forming an energy sword. "But maybe this."

He reached out and when the sword touched the barrier, ripples flew across it as he felt the energy in his blade rebound into itself, fighting against itself and throwing heat and steam like white phosphorous, which melts through steel beams in seconds.

"If I can damage the machine enough, maybe it'll shut down," William said, focusing on the feel of the energy his sword was failing to break through, trying to make his own energy feel the same.

"You're trying to change your energy projection to the same signature?" Selvig asked. "That might work. I built in a safety to cut the power source. Originally I made it to work with the energy of Loki's scepter, but if you can mimic the energy...you might just have to make contact with the base."

"Good," William said, just as his sword suddenly turned light blue and stabbed through the barrier. "Got it! Anybody hear me? I'm through the barrier! I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" Rogers ordered.

"No, wait!" Stark said.

"Stark these things are still coming!" Rogers said.

"I got a nuke coming in," Stark said. "It's gonna blow in less than a minute."

William swore. "Waiting on you, Stark."

"Copy that," Stark said. "I know just where to put it."

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip," Rogers said.

"Olivia, head down and grab Loki's scepter, then come back up," William said. "I don't want him getting his hands on it and blasting me while I'm waiting for Stark."

Both Olivias nodded and turned to run toward the stairs again.

"Sniper me has you covered up top," Olivia's voice said over the communicator."

"Understood," William said. "I'll let your machine gunner duplicates know when to cut their fire."

"Copy," Olivia said.

Just then, Stark's chest dinged against the edge of the roof on the way up.

"Jesus, Stark!" William said, flinching. "Cutting it a bit close, aren't you!?" His powers throbbed suddenly and he grunted. "Fuck! I can't hold my energy in an altered signature much longer! Hurry up Stark!" He looked up, seeing Stark nearing Olivia's flying bullets. "Cut it now, Olivia!"

The bullets stopped and Stark shot through the portal. William grit his teeth, struggling to hold his energy, the blade inside the barrier beginning to slowly grow thinner as the edges of it began to change back to normal and be forced back by the barrier.

"I can't hold this any longer!" William grunted, barely down to a finger's width of blade inside the barrier.

"Close it," Rogers said.

William grunted in effort, shoving forward and stabbing his blade into the machine where the beam was being projected through. Instantly, the beam ended just as the energy of William's sword being forced back into itself finally exploded, launching him backward. He crashed down hard, just as the Olivias returned, both stopping and staring at him.

"So you finally bit it, huh?" the Olivia with the AUG asked, walking over and kneeling. "Bout fucking time, you fucking prick."

"Don't get your...hopes up...cunt," William groaned, opening his eyes and pushing himself up, looking down at the burns covering his torso. "Damn. That's probably going to scar. Did Stark make it back?"

"He's back but..." Rogers trailed off.

Then, suddenly, the Hulk let out a roar and Stark's voice shouted in surprise and fear before gasping for breath.

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

William smirked, trying to stand, only to collapse again. The Olivias both slung their rifles and knelt, helping him up and toward the stairs. Then, they headed down the stairs to the living room where Loki was lying in a crater, waiting for the others to join them while they watched Loki so he couldn't escape.

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