Chapter 5

Tony Stark stood before the Avengers with Danny at his side. He was wearing what he had named the Mark-G version of his suit. It incorporated weaponry that would be effective against ghosts and a device in the arm to capture them.

Everyone had gathered together to hear the plan of how they would deal with the ghost invasion. They had already been informed by Ant-man and Reed Richards that the portals had stabilised, meaning that once closed, others wouldn't open.

"All right team," Tony began, "everyone has their job to do so pay attention. I'll be teaming up with Black Panther, his vibranium claws seem to work on these things. We'll be focusing on the highest portals on the Northern half of the affected area. Danny and Wasp will take the other half but Wasp, you'll have to wear this glove."

Tony tossed her a leather glove with netted matting covering its surface. "It will modify your stingers in to something that will actually work on the ghosts. Cap, your shield will now also be effective against them."

Steve Rogers looked to the large bracer on his forearm and turned the shield on as if to test it. He took a split second glance in Danny's direction that didn't go unnoticed. "No way are you testing those things on me," he complained.

"Don't you worry soldier," said Steve, "we'll get plenty of practice out there." Danny smiled at the man's good nature.

"Okay Cap, you're teaming up with Hawkeye and covering the ground," said Tony. "And Hawkeye, your arrows are still useless against ghosts. However Ant-man and I have made you some new ones. If you fire one right in to the centre of a portal and detonate it at the right time, that portal will close. That's your main focus guys, you can leave the actual ghosts to the rest of us."

A loud grumble emanated from the back of the group. It was Hulk, stood with his arms folded looking less than impressed with Thor stood beside him. "And what about us?" he pointed out, his voice a deep rumble.

"Your jobs are simple," said Tony, "get out there and make sure that no criminals try to take advantage of the situation."

…

Steve's motorbike whirred in to action and Clint looked on in dismay. "All the gadgets that Tony's made, not to mention my Sky Cycle and you want us to ride on that thing?"

Steve put on his helmet and sat on the bike's leather seat. The bike sank a little under his weight and Clint was sure he heard it creak. "I'll be driving so that means we'll be using my vehicle. Besides I bet you anything she's more reliable than your crazy flying contraption."

Clint slumped forward with a groan. He was about to sling his leg over the bike when Steve handed him a second helmet, a rather ugly brown affair with yellow stars. "Oh joy," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

A scream sounded from outside followed quickly by another. Steve roared the motorbike in to action and the pair went speeding out of the garage. Ghosts had filled the air of all shapes and sizes. To their surprise many of them weren't even remotely human shaped. There were animals, monsters, birds, giant insects and one or two that weren't shaped like anything recognisable.

"Remember, leave the ghosts to me," said Steve, riding past a pair of giant snowmen, rolling a car over. "The portal's are your task soldier."

High above them, near the tops of the skyscrapers, Clint could spot one or two of the portals. He watched as Iron Man approached each in turn. "On your right, Hawkeye!" Steve ordered.

They had driven in to a cross-section and a portal floated to his right, low to the ground. Clint shot an arrow to its centre and pressed the button on the bow handle to detonate it. Timing was crucial, if the arrow was detonated to soon or too late it would fail to do anything. Fortunately Clint was all about good timing.

Clint was flung to sideways and he grabbed the edge of his seat to prevent from being thrown off. "Hold on!" Steve warned, a little too late. Ghosts had flown at them from all angles and Steve opened up his shield.

They drove in a circle while Steve smashed his shield in to any ghost that dared to come nearby. Before he could do anything, Clint felt himself being lifted off the bike. Something had grabbed him under the arms and was lifting him in to the air as it chuckled obnoxiously.

Steve threw his shield, narrowly missing the top of Clint's head and knocking the ghost out of the sky. Clint hit the ground with a roll and once upright again ran to the bike, jumping back in to place. "Well that's one. But why don't we pick up the pace a bit?" asked Clint.

…

Tony and T'challa were making excellent progress. Tony would fly high above the rooftops, zapping every ghost in sight. Occasionally his blasts would shoot harmlessly through the ghosts and when that happened T'challa was there to attack whatever Tony missed.

They had managed to co-ordinate themselves to work by areas. First would come the attack, then would come Tony's "arm thermos" and finally Tony would use a gizmo to close the nearest portal. But with three different jobs to do Tony quickly found himself overwhelmed.

A swarm of ghostly bees surrounded him and before he could so much as switch to attack mode, T'challa was there to deal with them. He flipped from the rooftops and swiped with his claws. It hurt Tony's pride a little that someone with so little tech was having to save his hide.

"You are trying to do too much," the Black Panther warned when the area was clear. "Leave the attacking to me. Collect these monsters with one arm and close the portal with the other."

Tony hesitated before he said, "All right." He was a little unnerved by having to put his targeting systems to one side and let his friend do all the work. There was much that Tony hadn't figured out about these "ghosts" yet. Worst of all, he wasn't entirely sure what would happen if one were to phase through him whilst wearing the suit. He would simply have to put his faith in T'challa.

…

The crow named Malvick glided across the sky with all of New York below him. Everything was in chaos, of the unorganised sort. This was not an attack with purpose, each individual and every clan or group had their reasons for exploring this new world. Some really did wish to simply take a look whilst others revelled in making these humans shriek.

Malvick did his best to stay clear of these Avengers as they slowly tried to empty the city of ghosts. The man of Iron and his black cat worried the crow the most. They had struggled at first but had soon found a new method of teamwork that had sped up their progress.

"Malvick, I have seen what I need to," came Sinsta's voice. Her voice travelled from the crown on his head to permeate in to his mind. Every word was met with a sharp pain, and he hoped this conversation wouldn't leave him with a headache. "Malvick, bring me the Half Ghost."

...

Author's Note: I apologise for the lo-hoooong wait for this. And I'm going to warn you now that it will probably be another long wait for the next chapter. I've been writing two separate books amongst other writing projects so writing time generally goes towards other things.

But on a lighter note, I hope you enjoyed it and I want to thank everyone who has reviewed and followed this story. Ciao for now!