Once everything had gathered together again after the battle, there was still one thing left they had to do. Loki was still up in Stark Towers, unable to rejoin the battle after Hulk threw him against the wall and the floor repeatedly. As a team, they made their way up there together, finding him pulling himself off the floor in pain, turning to see them all standing behind him.

''If it's all the same to you,'' he began. ''I'll have that drink now.'' he looked at them cautiously, taking up Tony's earlier offer.

Clint held his arrow to Loki, making sure he didn't try anything, and the others stood behind him to emphasize that he wasn't going anywhere, he couldn't get past them. They had spent the whole day fighting against aliens and monstrous creatures all because of this man, and they weren't letting him get away again. They had the Tesseract back, they had the scepter, and they were all there in one piece, but it wasn't without sacrifice.

Rebecca still hadn't said a word to Tony yet, mainly because she didn't have the time. Everything happened so fast, now that things were settling, she was only just realizing what had happened, and she didn't know how to react. Tony was shaken up as well, having so narrowly escaped death, and he didn't know what to say either.

Since Stark Tower was in their use, Shield sent in a medical team to check them all out whether they liked it or not. They had just been fighting against aliens, who knows what could have happened. Tony walked alongside Rebecca, neither in their suit anymore, over to the corner as the medics insisted they be checked under Fury's orders.

''You okay?'' he asked, looking over in concern.

Rebecca shook her head. ''No. Are you?''

Tony sighed and looked down at his feet. ''No.''

It was silent again between them for a moment as a medic swabbed their faces with antiseptic. They had multiple cuts all over them, but it wasn't the physical pain that was bothering them, in fact they couldn't even feel it anymore. Tony had gashes in his arms and along his face, and Rebecca had gashes in her side and her face, along with dark purple bruises forming all over them both. It was proof of their battle, but they would much rather forget the whole thing ever happened.

''I...I thought you weren't coming back.'' she told him quietly as the medics walked away after dressing their wounds.

Tony looked over to see the fear in her eyes. ''So did I.'' he admitted. ''But I had to-''

''Don't tell me you had to do it.'' she shook her head. ''You didn't have to do anything, but you always do. If someone's going to get hurt, or almost die to save the day, it's always gotta be you, and it scares me.'' she told him. ''It scared me today, more than ever.''

Tony moved closer to her and put his arm around her shoulder. ''I'm sorry.'' he told her honestly. ''But if there's ever a chance to save people from something, to save you from anything, I will do it, no matter what it takes.''

''And I'm proud of that, I'm proud to call you my dad, I am.'' she nodded. ''But what's the point of doing that when I have to watch you die anyway? You might be saving me, but you're leaving me worse off.''

Tony understood what she was saying, but he didn't know how to respond to it. He would always protect her, always, and there was nothing that was going to change that, but he also understood what she meant. Too many times she has had to stand by and watch him die, she couldn't do it anymore.

He hadn't even had the time to think about Pepper's reaction to all of this, he was just glad he would be able to see her again. His heart sank when Jarvis informed him the call couldn't be connected, he didn't know what he would have told her, but he wanted to hear her voice. Tony knew Pepper was going to be mad at him for doing what he did, but she knew him better than anyone, and she would have known he would have done the same thing again if he had to. Like Rebecca, she was proud of him for doing it, but both of them didn't want him volunteering for sacrifice whenever it was needed. He deserved to live just as much as those he was saving.

Tony pulled Rebecca closer to him so he could wrap his arm around her, trying to reassure her everything was okay now. They were both here, and it was all over now. They'd seen things they didn't even think were possible, but they survived.

''I want to go home.'' she told him, leaning her head on his shoulder. ''This isn't it...I want to go back to Malibu.''

Tony nodded in agreement. ''Me too. I promise we'll go home.'' he told her, looking at her with reassurance. ''But I think we need to just get away for a while.''

''What do you mean? There's so much to do-''

''We need to get away from everything, take a break. Our lives are crazy, and that's never gonna change, but we need to take some time while we can.'' he explained. ''I admit it's not the best timing, but I think this is the final push, we need to get away.''

Rebecca understood what he was saying, and she agreed with him. For months, years, people had always been in their life knowing their every single move, and now that all of this had happened, it was the final straw. They were tired of being dragged into things and coming out worse, they needed to take time to themselves, they needed to be a family.

Two days later, Tony and Rebecca were getting ready to leave the city. There was a lot of cleaning up to do, but thanks to Shield and it's agents, The Avengers got to enjoy a well-deserved vacation with no bothers, and that's exactly what they needed.

Pepper had returned the night of the battle, and it was an understatement at the least to say she was just angry. Rebecca had never seen her like that, but at the same time, she was hugging Tony with all her might while yelling at him, relieved he was okay. She held both him and Rebecca close as she took deep breaths, assuring her she wasn't dreaming, that everyone was okay. She was informed of what had happened to Phil, and she was in shock by how bad the situation had gotten in a matter of days. Her and Phil were friends, and she was going to miss him more than she thought.

Ben also got back to the city the next morning, quickly finding where Rebecca was staying with everyone at one of the hotels that he had to get past maximum security to get to. Rebecca couldn't help crying when she saw him, and in a matter of seconds he wrapped his arms around her, telling her he wasn't ever letting go again. Tony and Pepper left them be, knowing all too well how it felt to be reunited with the one you love, and they had a lot to talk about.

Now, they had all gathered once again in New York, two days after the battle that the world would never forget, and they had one final mission. The Tesseract was back, and with that, Thor and Loki could return home where he would face Asgardian justice for his actions on Earth. Thor was considered a friend to them all, and they were not only here to make sure the man who caused them so much destruction left them for good, but they were saying goodbye to a friend also. They had all formed a bond together, and with what they had all experienced together, they knew it would never break.

''I wish you all the best of recovery.'' Thor looked at them all. ''And I thank you for the privilege to battle by your side.''

Rebecca gave him a warm smile as she stood beside her dad with his arm around her shoulder. The others mirrored her expression as they nodded in his direction, stepping back as Thor and Loki both clasped the Tesseract in their hands. As they stood in a circle surrounding the two Gods, they witnessed the power of the Tesseract take them from this place as they disappeared into the air, back to Asgard.

''What do you think cap', gonna go sightseeing?'' Natasha asked him as she walked with him over to his motorcycle.

''I'm gonna head home, check out the neighborhood.'' he smiled. Steve looked up at Tony, the man he had started of disliking so much, and ended up with so much respect for. ''I hope this isn't the last we see of each other Stark, you're a good man.'' he nodded.

''Same to you cap'.'' he nodded.

Steve looked to Rebecca. ''And you should be proud of yourself. I hope I see you around sometime.''

''I hope so too, Steve.'' she smiled.

Rebecca watched as Steve rode away, giving them all a wave as he headed back to redeem whatever was left of his old life in Brooklyn. They had to say their goodbyes, but none of them knew how hard it was. They didn't realize until now just how much they meant to each other. The sort of bond you could only get from fighting an army of aliens together.

''You guys heading back to Shield?'' Rebecca asked Clint and Natasha.

They shrugged their shoulders.

''Maybe, after a while.'' Clint shrugged. ''Might take a wrong turn on the way back and end up in Europe somewhere for a while.''

Natasha grinned over to him, a small gesture she thought would go unnoticed, but they all saw what was between the two of them.

''I'm sure we'll cross paths again.'' Natasha told them both.

''I wouldn't doubt it.'' Tony agreed.

They watched as they both parted from the group, walking back to their Shield car where they were to travel back, but Rebecca knew they weren't going straight to Shield. She knew Clint was being serious when he said they would end up in Europe.

''Well, you ready to go?'' Tony turned to Bruce who had his bags in his hand.

Bruce looked over to them both. ''You still haven't told me where...exactly.''

Rebecca looked over to their car where Happy was waiting outside with Pepper and Ben next to him, the car filled with luggage. Tony was right, they needed a break, but so did Bruce. He had nowhere to go now, and he was a friend to them both.

''You don't have a problem with flying do you?'' Tony slung his arm over his shoulder, walking over to the car.

''Uh...'' Bruce stuttered.

Rebecca smiled to herself at how things had turned out. It wasn't the happiest of endings, but it was good enough. Tony made it over to the car and put Bruce's bags in the back, sliding his arm around Pepper's waist and giving her a kiss before they got into the car. Ben stood outside, looking over to Rebecca who was smiling to herself still.

''Bec?'' he called out.

''Just a minute.'' she told him.

Looking up to the sky, she took a moment to think about Phil, and how proud he would be. He always told her she'd be good at this stuff, but she never thought there would be a day where she could test that theory, yet here she was.

''I miss you Coulson.'' she spoke to herself, smiling at the way she said his name as if he was right in front of her. ''I'll see you when I punch out.''

Rebecca walked over to the car, Ben enveloping her in his arms for a moment before kissing her contently. She was happy, despite all that happened. She had her family, and now they were finally getting what they deserved, a break. They got into the car and Tony asked if they were good to go. Pepper smiled over to them as well, excited to be getting out of the city for a while, no work, no business, just being together.

''Ready.'' she nodded.

''So...about this 'flying' issue...'' Bruce began.

''You'll be fine.'' Tony waved the issue off. ''It's a private jet. And don't worry you'll get your own room and stuff when we get there, do you own thing and relax. I promise a total, stress-free environment.''

They all settled into their seats as they drove off, and it was silent for a moment until Bruce let out a yelp of pain and they all looked over to see Tony poking a metal rod in his side.

''Tony!'' Pepper scolded.

''What? I was just joking around.''

Bruce shook his head and hid a laugh, amazed at how he had managed to tolerate this man enough to call him a friend.

Pepper rested on Tony's shoulder as their hands linked together on his lap and they looked out the window at the city. Rebecca did the same with Ben, and they looked up at all the destroyed buildings. Although it held terrible memories, it also held one very important fact. No matter what happens, no matter who comes back or what they had to deal with, they would all think the same thing. We will avenge.

I wasn't expecting to finish this with this last chapter, but I honestly thought of wrapping it up nicely right now for some reasons that I might come back to one day. I have no idea if that was a good ending chapter or not...but I feel it was a nice sum-up of everything. I wanted a nice, content feeling to the end of this one, with a few loose ends if I want to pick this one up again and write maybe a spin-off of this ending, I don't know. I just wanted all the Avengers to have a somewhat happy ending and I thought Bruce going with Tony and Rebecca was nice and gave him a sense of family for once, I like that. I have a soft spot for Bruce Banner.

I MIGHT write an Iron Man 3 story in the future, but it won't be for a while since I'm still freaking out about how wonderful and perfect it was and I need some time to think about how I'd write it, but it's definitely on the cards. But if you guys would be interested in that, let me know.

Also, I do have my one-shot series 'Being A Stark' that I'll continually be working on now this is over, so please send me some ideas for one-shots if you guys want me to go along with that. (Leave them in the review section for Being A Stark, please)

Thank you all so much for sticking with this story, you have no idea how much I appreciate every single reader and reviewer of this story, you're all amazing and I thank you for taking the time to view my story. You'll be hearing from me again one day, definitely with Being A Stark, but in terms of Iron Man 3, that will be a future endeavor for me, so watch out for it!

Thanks guys! And to take a line from Iron Man 3 to wrap this up, Tony Stark will return.