Darkest Before Dawn
Ch.19: Assemble
Steve Rogers x OFC fic
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Story Masterlist // Seren’s Masterlist
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It was decided that whether or not it went against the rules, the Avengers Initiative would continue and take on Loki's alien army, but this with Seren at the head of it. A fee of them were done following Fury for the moment. Seren promised things would be different under her command.
"Tony's already gotten a head start for the tower," Seren said as she, Steve and Chloe walked down the corridors. "Best to see what we're dealing with even though we know it's going to be bad. Plus, it'll give him a moment to patch up whatever he needs to do on his suit."
"I've got a few quinjets we can steal," Chloe chirped, fully ignoring the look Steve threw her way. He had preferred to call it 'borrowing'. She reiterated that it was, in fact, stealing. "But I don't know how to fly one."
"I've got a suitable persona for that spot," Seren stopped in front of the medical room, precisely Clint's. She glanced at the pair, still checking in with them one last time before she opened the door. She wanted Clint to join them but not at the cost of making everyone else feel like they had an intruder. Of course they agreed again.
With a breath, she pulled the door open and stepped inside, immediately catching sight of Clint and Natasha. The redhead snapped her head up, noticing the trio's strange demeanor as soon as they were inside.
"Clint, are you okay?" Seren would start with the most important thing of all.
Clint stood up from his bed and nodded, sighing when he realized (all over again) how badly they made the situation that was already bad enough to begin with. "Yeah, now I am. And you?"
Seren shrugged her shoulders. "Okay in that I'm sane again, but Loki really messed us up. All those claims of what the Tesseract could show you…"
Clint nodded silently. Neither one wanted to talk about the Tesseract's visions again. "I'm assuming we're taking them on?"
Seren smirked. "We've been guarding that thing for such a long time now that i think it's only right we bring it back in. And Loki definitely owes us." Clint fully agreed. "We've got to go," she said, eyes flickering to Natasha as she went on, "Loki's going to start sending the Chitauri in at any moment now. Stark's already at his tower but he's going to need backup. A lot of it. You don't have to come, either of you—"
"Oh, we're coming," Clint said, glancing at Natasha to see her nodding with him. "Loki owes us, Soul. He's not getting away with this."
Seren beamed. "Great! Because I need you to fly the quinjet!"
"And Fury?" Natasha asked, figuring that part had to have already been discussed amongst the others before coming to talk to them.
Seren glanced over her shoulder to Steve and Chloe. "Apparently, there's been some secrets withheld. Let's just return the favor for a moment here. Is that a problem?"
Natasha shrugged. "Never has been." Seren managed a short laugh with her.
~ 0 ~
The group headed for the hangar to retrieve a quinjet. A young S.H.I.E.L.D. engineer caught them on their way and quickly sprinted up to them. "Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here—"
"Son, just don't," Steve shut him down and kept moving. For this moment, and this moment only, he would be a little rude. (But he might come back later and apologize...and explain.)
They took the quinjet and started for the famous tower. Seren had set up a direct line with Tony to keep each other updated as they grew closer to the Tower. When she wasn't talking to him, she was apart from the rest of the group lost in thought.
Steve noticed it every now and then. He would be naive to think that she would get over Loki's brainwashing so quickly. He presumed the same went to Clint, but the man was sitting right next to Natasha. Steve suspected they were very close. Seren didn't like sharing — she wasn't used to it.
She was lost in thoughts, gripping the star pendant of her choker constantly. Interestingly enough, the pendant seemed to shine all on its own.
Steve tried remembering if he'd ever seen it before and could only place it the times he visited S.H.I.E.L.D. It wasn't a necklace she wore anywhere else. He supposed he should have asked by now why she only wore it for "work". Right now, it could be part of the reason she was bouncing her foot so heavily. Steve saw Natasha looking at Seren every so often from ahead, the redhead's expression was a time bomb. The foot tapping had to stop sooner or later.
"Hey Seren," he came to sit beside her, luckily stopping her foot in the process.
"Hey," Seren said quietly, slowly coming out of her thoughts.
"I don't know how sturdy that thing is but you probably shouldn't play with it so much…"
Seren looked down at her hand, almost as if barely realizing she'd been toggling with it. She dropped her hand to her lap. "Yeah," she mumbled.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Seren snorted. "After what I've done, you can have my position at S.H.I.E.L.D. if you want it"
Steve settled a look on her. "Not funny."
"Very," Chloe chimed in from her seat, seeming uninterested in her eavesdropping while she checked her nails.
Seren mock-glared at her. "Shut up!"
Chloe flashed the pair a smirk. "See, Steve, the way to get her talking is to annoy her and I am very talented at that."
Steve playfully rolled his eyes at her. "Duly noted."
"Go ahead and ask me, Steve," Seren sighed. Nothing would ever knock some prudence into Chloe.
"When I first met you, you were wearing that necklace and all the other times when we were at the base you were too. You don't wear it outside, though…"
"I don't," she agreed. "It belonged to my grandmother. On Celessia, when you turn 21, you're officially an adult by society's standards. You're ready to take on the world. You get to go into this special mine that has the most unique stones and you carve your own star out of it. My grandmother says that you don't pick where you carve, the spot chooses you. The stone chooses you and it embodies who you're meant to be in the world. Obviously I didn't get to do that so when I turned 21, my grandmother gave me her star as a birthday present." She gripped the pendant between her fingers. "See, it's a lovely present and it's really all I have from Celessia but at the same time it's...it's a reminder that even though I'm too alien for this world, I'm not enough of a Celessian either. And after what happened with the Tesseract, I really don't feel like I deserve any star at all."
"Hey, if we're on that track then I should put my bow and arrow down," called Clint from the piloting seat. "And I sure as hell would rather throw it at Loki first."
"He's...right…" Steve said slowly. It wasn't the words he would've said exactly but it still conveyed the same message. "You can't think you're any less worthy because of something that wasn't your fault."
Seren glanced at him with a curious look. Steve couldn't be sure what she was doing but it felt like he was under scrutiny. Then, without saying anything first, she made a motion at him with her finger to come closer. When he did, she whispered, "So when are you finally taking your own advice?"
His eyes widened as his entire expression fell into a deep stun. To her credit, Seren didn't say it in a snap nor a smug way. She was waiting for him to genuinely answer her question, no matter what it was.
"I don't…" Steve couldn't be sure what exactly she was talking about but there were a few outstanding thoughts that could be it.
A small smile appeared on Seren's face. "I know I'm not all that great with conversations, but I know how you've been feeling this whole time. You think you let your people down, but you didn't. And I think it's about time you get that."
Steve could only silently thank her for her gesture. Truth is he was horrible with conversations as well, and she knew it, which was why she didn't expect him to say anything anymore. He looked at her again, really looked at her again, and found himself smiling at her. He really did get so lucky that she had been there when he woke up, that she had said yes to help him out. What would he have done if someone else had taken his case? He didn't even want to think about it.
~ 0 ~
Arriving in the city, the first thing the group saw was a huge streak of blue striking into the sky directly from Stark Tower. Not only that but it had opened up a portal where the Chitauri army was spewing out from. Chaos was inevitable.
"Stark, we're heading north east," Natasha informed Tony who had already suited up and was in the air.
"What, did you stop for drive-thru?" Everyone collectively rolled their eyes at the sarcasm Tony was simply incapable of setting aside even in situations like these. "Swing that park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you." He zoomed through the air, leading several of the Chitauri to where ultimately they would either crash with each other or be shot at by the quinjet.
"Let me out," Seren wobbled on her feet during the shaky ride. New of the Chitauri were chasing them with weapons at an all time high. "Seriously, let me out!"
"What? Are you crazy?" Clint looked over his shoulder to see her trying to make her way towards the ramp.
"Yes, possibly! But we need to help Tony in the air and, hello!" she waved, "I can fly! I use the star matter to control the gravity around me. I can help Tony, now let me out!"
"Seren, are you sure about this?" Steve was more than reluctant to see that ramp opening up for her, especially when there were murderous aliens chasing them.
She nodded determinedly. "Loki specifically used me because I was—" she raised her fingers to do air quotation marks, "—strong, so I want to show him just how strong I can really be." Her threatening smile was unusual yet not completely disdainful. She wanted to make Loki hurt, simple as that.
In the end, there was no choice but to let her go. The ramp opened up, prompting Steve to move closer to the pilots lest he wanted to jump out too.
Seren turned right around and promptly jumped out. Cold wind slapped her face but it was soon pushed away when she rose up. She scanned the area to see where she could best put up a fight.
Tony spotted her and zipped around her until he came to a stop beside her. "Hey, Twinkle Star, nice of you to join me. The real one, anyways."
Seren rolled her eyes. Without saying a word, she thrust a hand straight ahead, releasing a raging jet of colorful energy that blasted through several Chitauri in one go. "Would a Twinkle Star be able to do that?"
"...actually, yes."
"I hate you!"
"Yeah, yeah, follow me?" Tony slipped slightly ahead, waiting to see if she would follow.
"Yeah," Seren smiled his way. Sarcasm or not, he did know how to fight.
When Loki spotted the quinjet getting far too close to Stark Tower, he moved to bring it down...literally. He fired the scepter at the jet's rotor blades and watched eagerly as it caught fire. It was short lived when Thor tackled him to the ground to continue fighting.
The quinjet had a terrible spiral as it reached the ground but ultimately it was only a small bit compared to what the rest of the streets looked like. Most cars were upturned, people were running for their lives, and any building that stood was on its way to crumbling down.
"We gotta get back up there," Steve said and gazed up to the sky. He caught sight of Tony in the Iron Man suit, leading Seren towards a fresh new section of Chitauri. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself - she was definitely doing that right now saving Tony's backside from a sneaky Chitauri - but even seeing it didn't make Steve feel any better about seeing her in a fight.
"What the hell…?" Natasha's breathless words pulled Steve's gaze to where she and Clint were staring at.
A giant armored Leviathan was emerging from the portal, and with it even more warriors. As it lowered, the warriors jumped from its side to any building in the vicinity.
"Seren, Stark, are you seeing this?" Because even right now, Steve (and everyone else) were trying their best to make sense of it.
Seren had paused in the air for a moment to gaze with horror at the Leviathan. "I can't...oh my grandmother never told me about these things."
"Where's Banner?" Tony soon asked. "Has he shown up yet?"
"Banner?" Steve repeated, puzzled as he looked around like the man would just suddenly pop in.
"Just keep me posted!" Tony flew off again and this time Seren was right beside him. "Any special power you got, Twinkle Star, to get this thing to slow down?"
"That would be a nice thing, wouldn't it?" Seren drew in a breath as she watched the Leviathan make its way through the street, causing havoc with every sway. She'd never dealt with anything that big, not even in Puente Antiguo. "Let's find out." Her star pendant glowed brightly as she took off after the Leviathan.
"JARVIS, find me a soft spot," Tony instructed before following Seren.
Dust particles danced around Seren's feet before she jettisoned herself even faster. Her body did spins as she reached closer and closer to the Leviathan until her arms waved to create a massive, glowing sword. She swung it forwards and watched in delight when it managed to embed itself into the back part of the Leviathan.
"Oh, nice one," Tony had to give her credit where it was due. The sword, though small in comparison the Leviathan's great size, seemed to be glowing stronger by the second. It was like it was about to…
Seren smirked when it exploded.
"Ah," Tony finally understood the endgame of that plan. "You know, I completely forgive you for trying to kill me earlier."
Seren rolled her eyes. Their mutual satisfaction was short-lived when the Leviathan - the remainder of it - started turning back towards them.
"Uh-oh," Seren's smirk faded. "Didn't think that all the way through...guess we should think of something else.."
"Well, you're the leader here! The Avenger right?"
Seren snorted. "Oh ha, ha! You're all neck-deep into this! Now c'mon!"
The two had to fly off while they came up with another plan.
~ 0 ~
Steve, Natasha, Chloe and Clint did their best to keep up with the fight and usher civilians out of the way. There was only a brief moment of distraction and it was what allowed Steve to catch sight of Loki flying over them on one of the Chitauri crafts.
"There's no way we can catch him from here," Steve said as he watched the green-horned man disappear amongst the Chitauri army. First, they needed to get up and their current 'rides' were battling out the Leviathan.
"Guys!" They heard Clint call for them. They hurried down the overpass to see what Clint was looking at, and the sight couldn't be worse. Many civilians were either trapped or running for their lives as the army kept firing down on them.
"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve wanted to get down there as quickly as possible but he didn't want to leave his new friends behind. They were already separated from Seren, Thor and Tony, not to mention Banner too.
Chloe sensed his conflict and ushered him to go. "Just do it! We got this! It's good! I know Seren likes to talk about me like I don't know what I'm doing, but I promise you that most of the time I do have a clue."
Steve managed to smile for a moment. "You guys think you can hold them off?"
"Captain," Clint reached for an arrow on his back, "It would be my genuine pleasure." He fired that arrow at a Chitauri straight to the head before it split into more arrows to kill more.
That was enough for Steve. Things weren't the same as the 40s anymore, these people were a lot more equipped...though how much they were equipped against aliens was still left unclear. He jumped off the overpass, landing (not so nicely) on a bus that and roll off from it to land safely on his feet on the street. He ran as fast as he could from there, avoiding the constant fires from above. He reached a site where the cops were trying to put up their own fight. He frightened them even more when he landed on a car in front of them.
"You need men in these buildings!" He started gesturing to the buildings around them. "There are people inside and they can be running right into the line of fire. You take them to the basement or through the subway, you keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th—"
The police sergeant gave him an odd stare, which was natural under the circumstances. "Why the hell should I take orders from you?"
Before Steve could answer - and what that answer would be, he wasn't sure - two Chitauri warriors attacked him from behind. He had to fight them off with a few punches here and there. He managed to knock them down seconds later then turned back to the cops. A few seconds later, the sergeant was repeating Steve's orders to the rest of his crew.
Well, that took care of one thing.
~ 0 ~
Seren had seen him a couple minutes ago but one Chitauri after the other didn't allow for a proper greeting. She was focused on taking down as many as she could, until one of them tried being sneaky by attempting to get her from behind. She heard the collision of something strong hitting the Chitauri and when she looked down, there stood her old friend wielding the familiar hammer.
"Thor!" Seren exclaimed happily, something deeply odd in the middle of their situation. She flew down to the ground, unable to stop herself from throwing her arms around him.
"Lady of the Stars," Thor hugged her tightly, "I am glad to see you are back. I know what Loki did to you and I am so—"
"Save it," Seren parted from him, wearing a wide grin on her face, "It's not your fault. Jane and Darcy, they're—"
"Completely safe," Thor assured her, touched that she remembered about them.
"Okay, good," Seren nodded. "But I must say he's really overdone it this time. First, it was just the small town and now it's..." She gazed up at the smoky sky full of Chitauri. "He's not getting out of this one, Thor."
"I'm sure we will find a solution that is good for all of us," Thor said, implying that he still thought his brother could get away with his life at least. Seren didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't exactly on the Avengers' priority list.
"I'm glad you're here again," she said instead, squeezing his arm, "Thank you."
Thor nodded at her. Seren looked up at the sky again and with one exhale, she took off.
Down below, more of the Chitauri were directly coming for Natasha and Clint since they were causing the most uprise amongst the civilians. Steve returned to their aid but three still weren't enough for the incoming aliens.
"Where's Chloe!?" Steve yelled amongst the chaos. They fought them off until Thor returned, striking enough Chitauri to allow them a minute's moment. "What's the story upstairs?" Steve immediately asked him. He had lost sight of Loki long ago and he only saw blips of Seren and Tony.
"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor said helplessly. He had tried and tried but the Tesseract was still perfectly intact.
"How do we do this?" Natasha directly asked Steve. So far, what he was doing was only slightly working for them.
But Steve knew it wasn't all on him, he was still following orders from someone else. "Well, it's like Seren said: as a team."
"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said like a warning for them to back off his brother.
Clint readied new arrows for the incoming Chitauri and remarked, "Oh yeah! Get in line."
"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need," Steve cut them off. There were no times for bickering right now. "Without him these things could run wild. We got Seren and Stark up top, they're gonna need us to…" The sound of a motorbike took his, and everyone's attention, away.
It was Banner who had finally rejoined them. It was a miracle how he had gotten through all the chaos unscathed, though his appearance spoke volumes of his landing from the Helicarrier. "So, this all seems horrible…" He said slowly as he surveyed the damage around them.
"I've seen worse," Natasha said, leading Banner to look at her specifically.
"Sorry."
"No, we could use a little worse."
"Stark, we got him," Steve informed the man through the comms. "Just like you said."
"Then tell him to suit up. Seren and I are bringing the party to you," Tony warned seconds before he and Seren were seen coming towards them from the opposite end of the street.
Natasha gulped at the sight of the Leviathan chasing them down. "I don't...I don't see how that's a party."
Banner turned to face the incoming Leviathan and started walking towards it. It was nearing the ground thanks to Seren's and Tony's strategic flying.
"Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry," Steve called as the man got closer but without any green marks on him.
"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry." Banner lost his human form and in returned became the Hulk. With one fist he punched the Leviathan and sent it smashing into the ground.
"You guys are going to need to take cover!" Seren warned the rest of the team. Seconds after her warning, they watched a radiant glow wrap around her body. It was like colorful flames had taken her over but once she clapped her hands in front of her, a wave of energy blasted from her fingers.
It took the Leviathan by storm and exploded it into pieces. Said pieces were far too big for a clean win. Everyone moved to take cover as the pieces came storming down. Clint had endeavored to take cover while Steve used his shield over himself and Natasha, Thor bracing himself for the impac but in the end, none of them had felt a single piece strike them...not even a tiny bit. When they each opened their eyes, and Steve lowered his shield, they saw they had been encapsulated under a bright, glowing blue dome.
Chloe stood in front of them with her arms raised above her head, sustaining the barrier for as long as she could. "What? You guys thought Mindscape would let you down?"
"Referring to yourself in the 3rd person is so lame, Winters," came Tony's drawl through the ear comms.
"Tony, shut the hell up," Chloe didn't think twice.
"And Mindscape? Really? How attached are you to that name?"
"Tony!" Seren hissed. She lowered hereself to the ground beside Chloe, motioning her to bring the barrier down. "Don't over-exert yourself."
"I'm fine, Seren," Chloe said, lowering her arms down, "Is everyone else okay?"
"Yeah, thanks for that," Steve nodded, "Didn't know you could do that..."
Chloe grinned. "Been working on it!"
The Chitauri cried out, making everyone come together to see what the new damage would be. The Hulk roared at the Chitauri in the sky, Thor prepared Mjolnir for the next blow and Natasha primed her gun. Seren and Tony rose into the air above them as the first line of defense for their friends while Steve reached forwards to pull Chloe to their side. More Leviathans were coming out of the portal with, they presumed, even more Chitauri warriors to deal with.
"Guys?" Natasha was more than ready to hear some good ideas right now. "Seren?"
Seren was assessing as fast as she could, though her eyes lingered on the portal that kept spewing out Leviathans. "Nothing's going to get done if that portal isn't shut. Until we figure out a way, let's focus on keeping the fight within boundaries. Captain? Would you like to add something?"
Because of course Steve was already thinking of ways to do that. He liked that they were aligning with their way of thinking. "Seren's right," he nodded. "Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Seren, I think you and Stark should take the air again. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
"Yes, Captain," Seren grinned, unknowingly sharing the same one with Steve. She often poked fun at the title but this time there was something beyond 'making fun', they just weren't sure what it was. "Stark, ready?"
"Wanna give me a lift?" Barton called out to the pair before they could take off.
"Right," Tony moved over to him, "Better clench up, Legolas."
"Take care of yourself Chloe," Seren cautioned the young blonde before she followed into the air.
Chloe playfully rolled her eyes. "You have no idea how long I've been doing that."
Steve looked over to Thor who was waiting to hear what he should do. "Thor! You gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow 'em down. You got the lightning, light the bastards up."
Thor swung Mjolnir and flew off to the highest building in sight and sprung up all the thunder the could to shoot directly at the portal.
Steve then turned to Natasha and Chloe. "You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk—" Hulk turned around at the call of his name. Just the sight of him in person was still a lot for Steve but he managed to push through. His finger did an awkward point at the green man. "...smash!"
Hulk grinned, or smirked, at the instructions. He took a giant leap into the air and took out dozens of warriors on his way.
~ 0 ~
"Seren, Stark, there's a lot of strays on your trails," Clint warned the two who were flying in opposite directions. Whether that was only causing more 'strays' they weren't sure.
"Just tryin' to keep them off the streets," Tony said back. What else could he say? Yes, he was aware there was a trail of aliens behind him!
"I think they like us," Seren spun around to fire a boomerang of star energy at her strays. It took out several of them but there were more to join, forcing her to fly off again.
Tony was forced to go through tunnels and more streets before he could shake off his group of strays. Like Seren, however, he saw more warriors lining up to pick up where their fallen brethren had left off.
"Thor's taking out a squadron down on 6th!" Clint informed them minutes later.
"And he didn't invite me!" Tony sarcastically said as he zipped in Thor's direction.
Seren rolled her eyes. "Sarcasm! Focus, Stark!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Don't 'ma'am' me!" She promptly snapped.
Tony was thoroughly confused on how that was wrong too when he wasn't the only one who called her that. "What the—"
"GO!"
Down on the ground, Natasha was doing her best to take down as many warriors as possible. One of them managed to throw her onto a car. Just as it was about to attack her, she swiftly used her Widow's Bite and shocked it outcold. She swiped the Chitauri gun and shot back with it. She felt someone land behind her so she quickly spun around to shoot them down as well, only to find it was Steve. With a heavy breath, she leaned against the car. "Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal."
Steve knew she was right but how to close the portal was still left undetermined.
"Watch out!" They heard Chloe cry. A warrior had been about to land on both of them had Chloe not shot a flaming blue energy at it. Its entire body disintegrated in seconds. Chloe came running towards them, out of breath. "Hardly the time to have a conversation guys!"
"We have to close that portal," Natasha insisted.
"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," Steve reminded her.
"The Tesseract is up there?" Chloe looked up into the sky, at the tower where the blue beam was emitting from. "Maybe I can help. I think...I hope…" She tapped the side of her head. "Maybe the Hivemind knows something about it."
"The Hivemind?" When this was all over, Steve would make Chloe sit down so she could explain in full detail just what her abilities were. She had mentioned this 'Hivemind' once or twice before but he never really paid attention.
Chloe met his gaze with an apologetic smile knowing what he was thinking about. "It's alright, I still don't understand it either. They don't speak to me very much but when they do, they're very knowledgeable."
"You think they know about the Tesseract?" Natasha jumped on the chance. She knew only small details about Chloe's powers but she knew what a Hivemind was.
"I could try to ask…" Chloe shrugged, "I haven't exactly mastered this whole thing yet."
"Well if you wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride," Steve told the pair.
Natasha glanced up just as Chitauri crafts flew past them. "We got a ride!" Chloe audibly groaned once she realized what Natasha was thinking of. "We just need a boost. C'mon, Chloe!"
"I really hate this plan," Chloe muttered as she followed Natasha to the other side of the overpass.
Steve wasn't exactly liking the plan either. "Are you sure about this?"
Natasha shrugged, or rather shook herself to prepare for the high jump. "Chloe, jump on the next one as soon as you can."
"Yeah, alright," Chloe glumly stepped aside to give her some space.
Steve had no choice but to prepare himself as well. "Seriously, are you sure?" He asked Natasha one more time as he put his shield in front of him.
"Yeah, it's gonna be fun!" She charged towards him, jumping on his shield to get that much needed boost. She flew into the air and grabbed ahold of the incoming craft. "CHLOE!"
Chloe threw her head back. "The things I do for Seren."
Steve had just enough time to laugh before she did the same as Natasha and ran towards him. She was thrown into the air and swung herself atop another craft. Each of them had to take care of the warriors already on the crafts but after that came the best part: trying to drive the actual things.
"Captain, the bank on 42nd, past Madison. They cornered a lot of civilians there," came Clint's voice.
"I'm on it," Steve headed off for the bank.
Clint was right. It was crowded with civilians surrounded by three warriors. Steve made the quick surprise bit and jumped through the window to take down at least one of the warriors in one go. With one down, he moved to the next and punched and ducked until he could get his hands around the second warrior's neck to snap it.
"Everyone clear out!" He shouted at the stunned civilians, motioning them to start running.
The last warrior caught him by surprise when it grabbed him from behind. He turned and twisted his body to flip the warrior on its back. A grenade - or at least it looked like one - rolled from the warrior's body. Steve blinked only once before it set off and blasted him through the window and onto a car. Everything rang in his ears but there was an insane brightness in front of his eyes.
His mask had been pulled from his face with the blow. He shook himself as he pulled himself up, feeling everything kind of spinning around him. And ringing. There was definitely a loud ringing in his ears. He couldn't go back into the fight just then. He needed a moment, just one minute to collect himself and...breathe. It was like he was suddenly back in the war; everything was in chaos, things burning, people screaming. The ringing was getting louder—
"Steve!"
He blinked a few times, everything going in slow motion for him.
"Steve! Hey!" It was Seren who had found him. She panicked seeing him grow more distant and lost with each second that passed by. "Hey!" She cupped his face and forced his gaze down on her. "Hey, hey, hey! It's me! Steve? Steve!"
Steve finally looked at her — a good sign that allowed Seren to breathe a sigh of relief. The ringing was beginning to fade too, letting Steve hear the massive cries from the collapsed bank. The cops were helping the survivors run to safety again. He didn't know it, but his face paled.
Seren saw it happen right before her eyes. "Hey, hey, look at me," she instructed him, "Just—just look at me. I'm here." It was the war coming back to him, it had to be. She felt stupid for it never occurring to her that this might trigger some things for him. It was one thing talking about PTSD and a whole other thing for him to be thrown back into battle. And this time, they weren't Nazis. They were full-fledged aliens. "You're okay. Breathe with me, okay? Just breathe with me for a moment."
Steve nodded silently, shakily, incapable of forming words in that moment. He looked straight at her, focusing on his breathing and just...her. Her eyes. He needed to lock onto something that wasn't tainted with blood and death. Her eyes were a soft green and he was just noticing now that her irises had a subtle colorful glimmer to them.
Little by little, Steve felt the heaviness in his chest begin to loosen up. He was breathing again, seeing, and hearing without the overloading part. He felt Seren's fingers tenderly resting on his face, waiting for him to give her a sign that he was alright.
"I'm...I'm okay..." He swallowed hard, "I'm—"
"Are you sure?" Seren asked, not about to let him go headfirst into the fight again just because he wanted to help them. "Because I get it, Steve. It's a lot. It's...well...this is exactly what happened before...you know..."
"No, it's different," Steve said, taking one of her hands from his face and holding it in his, "I don't plan on sleeping for another 70 years this time. I got lucky the first time that you were there to help me. There won't be another you in 70 years." Seren's lips stretched into a smile. "I want to stay here."
Seren's cheeks warmed up. "Yeah?"
"Yes," Steve nodded, squeezing her hand.
"Okay..." Seren swallowed hard, laughing out of sheer nerves that didn't exactly stem from the Chitauri above them.
And speaking of...
Seren heard a familiar scream in the sky. She turned her head up in time to see Chloe and Natasha raging on their crafts. Seren's eyes widened. "Why are my friends up on alien crafts? How did they get up there?"
Steve dropped Seren's hand and stepped back from her. "I'm going down that way and you take the other side?"
Seren looked at him with an indescribable expression. He couldn't decide if she was upset that he had been a part of such a plan or if she was about to laugh. He really hoped it was the latter but just in case...he ran off.
"You are so…" Seren laughed. No, no, this was not the moment for a laugh. She shook her head and soared into the sky, leaving a trail of color stardust.
~ 0 ~
Natasha had just managed to land on the roof when Seren reached Chloe's craft.
"You're insane!" She yelled at Chloe.
"Yes, I am!" Chloe nodded in agreement before her face scrunched. "Now help me!"
Seren groaned and scooped Chloe out of the craft to bring her to Stark Tower. Natasha was picking herself up when the two landed.
"You couldn't have done that before?" Chloe shot a look at Seren when her feet touched ground.
"Oh, sorry," Seren rolled her eyes. She flew back into the air.
"No time, gotta run!" Chloe dashed towards the Tesseract. She skidded to a stop in front of it. She cracked her neck on both sides and let out a breath. Her eyes glowed a bright blue as she entered the Hive Mind.
Natasha watched it happen with a degree of interest but hearing a man groaning pulled her attention away. Selvig was waking up and by the looks of guilt on his face, he was himself again.
"Loki's scepter, the energy — the Tesseract can't fight. You can't protect against yourself."
"It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing," Natasha told him, just like she had said to Clint when he first woke up after being 'recalibrated'.
However, there was a puzzled look on the man's face. "Well, actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source."
"Loki's scepter," Natasha realized.
"It may be able to close the portal. And I'm looking right at it." Selvig peered over the platform to see Loki's scepter lying on the ground.
Chloe shook her head out of her Hive trance. "How the hell did this thing make it to Earth in the first place?" She was absolutely horrified by the Tesseract's presence after what she learned. She spun around, ready to hear those answers, when she saw Natasha and Selvig looking over the ledge. "What? Did I miss something?"
~ 0 ~
Seren has caught few warriors collecting civilians once again. She flew over one, slamming her feet over one warrior until she heard the crack of its head against the ground. With balls of star matter, she rose into the air again to fire down at the remaining warriors.
"Seren! A whole flock of 'em are taking the street by 40th street," Clint said urgently.
She rushed to the street as soon as she could. There were other warriors on their crafts specifically targeting the buildings on their sides. The civilians were essentially trapped without working elevators, and even if they were working...how would they make it out of the Chitauri-infested streets anyways?
"Seren?" Clint called again. "Stark's handling another block, he can't—"
"I don't need him," Seren cut him off. Somewhere else, she could almost hear Tony's indignant 'rude!'. She touched her star pendant that was once again glowing strong.
"I'm going to try something risky…" She bit her lip as she gazed at her hands. Her grandmother had once taught her but...that was a long time ago. She always practiced the moves that her grandmother taught her, the moves she learned on her own, but this particular move she didn't have the luxury of trying very often. It was always about space. She needed a lot of space.
It was now or never.
Hues of different colors radiated like flames around her. Even the star tattoos on the side of her neck and shoulder seemed to sparkle. She flicked her index finger against her thumb four times in a line in front of her. Red, yellow, blue and green particles floated in the air until she clapped her hands together, smashing all the particles together to create a sphere of light. She held it between her hands and brought it close to her chest. The flames from her body connected with the sphere.
Seren felt the colossal amount of energy bubbling inside her and the sphere. She soon remembered the other reason why she didn't try this move very often. Along with the monument spurge of energy came with an equal amount of fatigue. She was pouring most of her power into the attack. She blasted the sphere forwards with all her might and it crashed right into the first Chitauri craft in its way. Its explosion rocketed like a pinball, taking out all the other crafts around. It was a colorful explosion that deteriorated into sprinkles of colors, like rain.
The wave of fatigue that hit Seren allowed her to witness the 'pretty colors' for a few seconds until her body gave out. Civilians in the buildings on both sides saw her fall from the sky. She landed on the cement road with a loud thud, creating a few cracks from the strength of the fall.
"Seren!" Clint had watched the fall from his spot. Steve and Thor heard the landing seconds later.
Steve caught his shield from the air and turned to find where that landing had come from. He saw remnants of colorful flames in the air and immediately knew it had to be from Seren. With widened eyes, he made a way towards the sight only for one of the Chitauri to catch him off guard and shoot him in the ribs. He had no choice but to drop with a groan.
Thor took care of the Chitauri with a whole car then sent Mjolnir in the opposite direction. He quickly helped Steve stand up before the Chitauri could re-gather. "You ready for another bout?"
"What, you gettin' sleepy?" Steve joked for a second then laid eyes ahead of them.
Thor followed his gaze and caught the last dancing flame in the air. "Seren?"
Steve nodded. "She must have fallen. Seren?" No response.
There was, however, another call through the comms. "I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" Natasha was urgently repeating herself until someone answered her.
"Do it!" Steve told her.
Up on the rooftop, Selvig and Chloe were busy setting up the equipment in just the right manner so that Natasha would be able to plunge the scepter into the barrier surrounding the Tesseract.
"No, wait!" Tony suddenly called.
"Stark, these things are still coming!"
"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute!"
Steve paused and exchanged glances with Thor. They heard the same thing, right?
Tony was flying right towards the missile coming for the city. "And I know just where to put it!" He was able to grab it but now he had to somehow find the strength to redirect it.
"Stark, you know that's a one way trip," Steve said, though he figured that Tony already knew this. It was getting familiar again.
"I can help…" Seren's voice came through, albeit slightly raspy. She felt a terrible ache throughout her body and she might be seeing colors but they didn't have to know that.
"It's alright Twinkle Star, I got it," Tony said but Seren was already pulling herself off the ground. She stumbled a few steps.
"You're out of your mind Stark!"
"Seren, it's in outer space!" Steve exclaimed in case she forgot.
"Yeah, and I can use my star matter for protection. I can probably encapsulate my oxygen at least for a few minutes!"
"You said probably!"
"Yes I did." Seren gazed up at the sky. Tony was working hard to take control of the missile. She couldn't just let him handle it on his own when she had the capacity to help. That's not what an Avenger would do.
"Seren!"
"Close the portal no matter what happens."
"You can't—"
"It'll be fine. It's okay. I'll be okay." Seren was aware that she was breathing slightly quicker. This is what she was ultimately trained for. Anyone with the right power who could make it up there should do everything they could to do it and save people. "It's what S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted me for."
There were many things that ran through Steve's head with that comment, but it all came out in a shout. "AS A CHILD! A CHILD!" Tony was absolutely right in that S.H.I.E.L.D. manipulated Seren. "You were a child, Seren! You — that should've never happened in the first place!"
"They needed me. There was no one else." Seren raised her head up to the sky, eyes squinting from the brightness. She had to calculate things perfectly to meet with Tony.
"It doesn't excuse bringing a child into this type of world!"
"Doesn't matter, it happened, and now I have a chance to show that they did good in trusting me." She might be afraid of what was going to happen with that nuke, she might be afraid of what was actually up there in space, but no one around her should have to die because she was too afraid not to make a move.
"Seren, listen to me, please," Steve was actually losing air the further this conversation went on. Flashes between now and the 40s were resurfacing in his head. One moment he was begging Seren not to move and the next he was yelling at Bucky to hold on. Everything he remembered about Bucky was all he heard and it was then he understood. "You feel like you have to prove yourself but you don't, you really don't, I should know..."
"He would be happy you got his point." Seren half smiled. She caught sight of the missile. "He died for a cause and if the same happens to me then...so be it. Just do me a favor and look after Chloe, please."
Steve was in full panic mode when he saw Seren's figure shoot into the sky. "SEREN!"
Seren's hands slammed on the missile's bottom just as it was about to hit Stark Tower. She pushed it upwards with Tony.
"I told you not to!" Tony yelled over the comms. "There's no need to sacrifice yourself!"
"Ditto!" Seren's colorful flames sprouted from her head, a thick protective layer covering her face. She really hoped this worked. She only wished she could do the same for Tony but she vowed that as soon as they could let go of the missile, she would send him back to Earth.
When the blue of the sky turned dark, Seren put all her strength into pushing the missile harder and quicker so that she could pull Tony back down. The barrier around her face thickened, much to her relief. Eventually, she shoved Tony down. He didn't protest, probably due to the loss of air, and his body started downwards. Seren then pushed the nuke towards the Chitauri mothership and watched with satisfaction as it collided and exploded.
Down on Earth, the rest of the team watched the warriors and Leviathan collapse out of nowhere. Seren and Tony must have gotten the nuke to the mothership. Steve quickly fixated his eyes on the sky, the portal, to see Seren and Tony. They needed to return, they had to…
"Captain?" Natasha was waiting for the orders. Beside her, however, Chloe was anxiously looking up to the sky like Steve.
Steve was panicking again, all over again actually. There was no Seren, no Tony, neither of them were coming through. What if they hadn't - oh God, what if they hadn't?
"Captain?" Natasha called again. She was trying to wait it out as much as they possibly could but they were cutting it close now.
Steve knew it, he did, but…
'Close the portal no matter what happens.' Seren wouldn't forgive him if he allowed anything else to cross through that portal simply because he kept waiting for her and Tony. It was happening again.
'I gotta put her under water.'
He saw flashes of his last moments before going under ice. Is this what Peggy had felt in those last seconds with him? So frustrated and powerless? He would say yes because that's exactly what he was feeling right now. All the supposed power in the world and he felt completely useless. He told Peggy it was okay, he would be okay. He had made his choice to bring the ship under and even now, with all the mass destruction around him, he didn't regret it. It had saved thousands of lives.
There was a secure sense of certainty in him that knew Seren hadn't regretted her decision either. He needed to remember that and support her, honor it….even though he felt his insides churning at the idea of losing her forever.
"...close it," he told Natasha.
Natasha slammed the scepter into the heart of the device as soon as she heard Steve. Chloe's eyes welled with tears as the portal started closing. Just as the portal completely closes, two bodies fell through.
Chloe literally screeched, making Natasha and Selvig jump. "I see them!"
Everyone quickly looked to the sky again and saw what Chloe had. Seren and Tony were both falling through the air.
"They're...not slowing down," Thor noted after a few seconds.
Steve knew he was right. If they were being honest, it didn't look like either were conscious. His heart hammered wildly knowing what would happen if they didn't catch the two.
Thor readied himself to fly and catch them but instead the Hulk leaped through the air and grabbed them. He slid down the side of a building - wrecking it in the process - until he landed on the ground with both unconscious bodies in his arms. He let them both unceremoniously drop to the ground.
Steve and Thor ran towards them. Steve dropped beside Seren's body and listened for a heartbeat. At the same time, Thor ripped off Tony's Iron Mask faceplate to see his unconscious face. The Hulk roared and beat his chest, making both Seren and Tony wake up in alarm.
"What the hell!?" Tony exclaimed. "What just happened!? Please tell me nobody kissed me!" Everything was spinning in front of him but if he was thinking correctly, the last thing he had seen was the darkness of space. "Hey — you shoved me!" He snapped at Seren.
"What…?" The Celessian was barely blinking lucidly when she heard him. "I...I did that so you could...go back to Earth…" She felt like she needed a bit more air in her lungs right now. "Be...grateful…"
"Seren, take it easy," Steve instructed her as he helped her sit upright.
"I have never done that in my life…" Seren sucked in a sharp breath. "But I guess now I know...if I really focus...I can go into outer-space." She smiled proudly to herself. That was something new she learned about herself.
"Alright, Hey. Alright," Tony languidly waved a hand. "Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma?" Both Steve and Thor looked at him oddly while Seren rolled her eyes. "There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."
"We're not finished yet," Thor made a nod up to the tower. They needed to collect a few things first.
"And then shawarma after?"
"You are…" Seren tried getting up but it seemed like her entire body was on another level. Steve had to reach to catch her. She wouldn't even 'fall' but more of her body slumping forwards. "Oh thanks, lovey."
Steve tried, he really tried, not to let the warm feeling get to him but it did. Seren clearly wasn't thinking (nor seeing for that matter) about what she was saying. She would need medical attention quickly. She was so out of it. That protective face shield of hers might have done more than just bring her oxygen.
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