The next morning, Natasha woke up in the infirmary, an IV in her hand, her ankle wrapped and elevated, and ribs wrapped. Clint was still asleep on cot next to her bed. His IV had been removed during the night. Natasha tried to sit up, but the pain in her head reminded her to lie back down. Her movement woke Clint, who looked up at her with blood shot eyes.

"You ok?" he asked.

Natasha just groaned. "You?" she managed to say.

"Nat, did we just fight an alien invasion?"

"Think so."

"Uhhg!" he moaned and flopped back down.

A nurse heard them talking and popped her head in the door, "Stay DOWN! Agents." She ordered.

Clint raised his hand to her, "No problem." And dropped his arm back down like it didn't work anymore.

They were both asleep again in a few seconds.

Two days passed before Loki even regained conscience, but he was still unrepentant. Thor could wait. Their people experienced time differently.

In that time, Barton and Romanoff were discharged from the hospital with strict orders to stay on the SHIELD base in New York. Before they left the medical wing, they were allowed to see Phil Coulson. His condition was unchanged, and Natasha sobbed into Clint's shoulder at the sight of Phil being kept alive by machines. No one knew how long Phil would stay that way.

New York was still reeling in the aftermath. Reality had been changed. Every in the world now knew that humans were not alone in the universe and speculation as to what the future held was everywhere. The news media had latched onto the public's fascination with Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. People were divided as to whether the big green monster came from outer space or not. Some people claimed he had been seen years before, but others found that hard to believe. Thankfully for SHIELD, its agents had managed to go un-filmed, save for one shot of a man dressed in black carrying a child out of bus window. That shot was Nick Fury's personal favorite.

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were used to the attention, so they kept out in public so as keep the focus away from the other fighters. Bruce Banner stayed in Stark Tower with Thor, as much to hide out as to keep an eye on Loki. The helicarrier crew was overwhelmed with repairs and poor Maria Hill hadn't slept in days, for fear that something else on the carrier would break and cause the ship to sink. It would be months before it could fly again. Fury divided his time between the damaged carrier and the New York base, spending more time in his helicopter surveying the damaged city than anywhere else. He'd been called to Washington D.C. 12 hours prior, but kept giving them excuses as to why he couldn't possibly leave New York.

More chapters coming soon…