VI
What a hell of a day to die. Clint Barton thought as he felt and saw the beginnings of a storm in New York. Dark…malevolent clouds forming and clamoring around each other as if they were alive. He smelled the rain in the air before he felt it. Arcs of blue lightning dancing around as thunder boomed over the explosions that racked the city and a light wind began to grow at a pace that was similar to molasses.
He accounted for it all of course. Any change in the weather no matter how miniscule had to be taken under consideration for when he used his signature weapon.
He loosed an arrow and killed a Chitauri pilot that careened into its wingman.
They both exploded.
Other thoughts filtered through his mind as well as he loosed another arrow, this time arcing it just right for it to explode in the midst of another group of fliers. It was almost too easy.
Things like, I didn't wear the right clothes for this weather and I'm going to strangle the weatherman were most prevalent.
He loosed an arrow. Some sort of emplacement gun that a group of the Chitauri were attempting to assemble as fast as they could blew apart in a burst of black metal, purple blood and torn limbs.
Clint was drawing patterns from their movements however. When the aliens first appeared they were more erratic and chaotic in their attack. That made it seem like they had no objective as they shot their rifles and arm cannons discharging blue plasma anywhere and everywhere, only intent on sowing discord and confusion.
Typical shock and awe tactics for an initial attack. They were already disorganized and their sudden attack had thrown them off-kilter even more as the…pseudo-Avengers fought to attain some measure of containment and control over the tide of aliens.
Now however, more and more fliers were dropping off their chalks of infantry somewhere north of Stark Tower. They were making more attack runs on that particular area. They were sending more of those Leviathans there to discharge an annoying amount of infantry.
He maneuvered to get a better view of what was drawing so much of their attention, going so far as to use a grapple arrow to swing to the building beside him.
The Hawkeye had to climb several stairs and break down a door but it was an easy enough venture.
He figured it was Thor, as the Asgardian didn't have an earpiece so Clint had the glorious job of trying to keep track of someone that could fly and, consequently, didn't like staying in one place.
Luckily his red cape made him stand out like a sore thumb.
But he didn't see a cape of red of Thor there nor did he see the poison green body of Hulk.
Instead he saw glinting gold.
The entire thoroughfare the golden warrior was stalking down was an entire mess.
For the aliens that is.
Barton watched as he loosed an arrow that destroyed a flyer that was straying a little too far from the rest of the fighting.
The first thing the archer's eyes registered was that everything that wasn't human behind the warrior was simply dead.
The next thing he noticed was the giant space whale that was looming ever closer to the guy, who looked entirely unfazed at the prospect of facing one of the behemoths down as he continued slaughtering his way through the highway.
Thor was dealing something elsewhere.
Hulk was taking one down already, protecting the Captain and Natasha below.
And Tony was essentially making it rain with blown up chariots.
Anyone with the firepower or strength to kill one of these things was already busy.
Clint pitied the guy that got mixed up in this whole thing as he shot a pair of arrows into the heads of two Chitauri that were attempting to sneak up on him. They exploded halfway down the building sending the rest of their crawling buddies to their deaths as well.
But for some reason the archer could not seem to pull his gaze away.
That was when it happened.
The golden man had for the briefest of moments, regarded the whale, hefted his spear, lightning arcing like erratic snakes across its entire length, in one hand and launched it straight at the beast.
That same spear pierced straight into its eye and embedding halfway into the soft and exposed flesh. That was not what killed it though. It may have only just pissed it off but what killed the Leviathan was the lightning as it coursed through the entire body and length as it roared in unbearable pain.
Its sides began exploding, pods that Clint knew contained more Chitauri infantry blew outwards being engulfed in fiery explosions as the cybernetic whale overloaded and began bursting from the inside out as it crashed off to the side of the avenue.
The warrior did not stop to watch his spear sail as if he knew that the whale would die. Instead, he continued moving drawing a short black blade from its sheathe inside his shield, effortlessly protecting himself from a myriad of blue bolts that attempted to fell him.
Clint loosed another arrow that killed the pilot of an overeager alien chariot.
The blade unsheathed, the Hawkeye watched as he sliced the head off of an alien, a shadowy mist like substance leaving through the open neck and being absorbed by the black blade.
He sheathed the blade the moment the swing had completed and ducked under a thrust from a bayoneted rifle, pulling free his lightning spear from the eye of the Leviathan and swept the alien onto his back with the shaft of the spear.
He blocked more shots from more advancing Chitauri before launching the spear once more that turned three of them into a kebab. This time no lightning arced from the spear and instead killing them conventionally.
The golden warrior did not stop his attack as he roughly stomped onto the head of the alien he had so recently knocked over where a focused shockwave emanated from which subsequently knocked over any Chitauri that were in front of him.
They didn't get back up. The warrior advanced and drew his sword again.
All done in a single fluid movement. As it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
Hawkeye fired another arrow in between two fliers where in the exact middle, two thin but metal cables sprung and latched onto their craft. A concentrated bolt of electricity later and they were plummeting to the ground.
Another Leviathan flew towards the area. Though it was clear that it intended to stay out range of the warrior and just stayed at the tops of the buildings while releasing its payload of Chitauri infantry that clung to the sides of the buildings as they readied their weapons at the golden warrior.
The man was too exposed as he brutally cut down any unfortunate alien that attempted to impede his path down the center of the street.
The golden warrior hadn't so much as spared a glance at the flanking and overhead aliens who were lining up their shots, nor the space whale that was hovering above him out of his reach.
His acute eyesight catching the barest hint of movement within the buildings themselves.
Abruptly, as the first blue bolt was fired and instinctually blocked by the warrior with his bronze shield, the sides of the buildings exploded outwards and tossed the Chitauri into the street below them. Most if not all dying from the fall.
He loosed another arrow destroying four more fliers as it exploded in their midst.
Clint assumed to be the cause of the devastated buildings, water burst forth. Tendrils of coiling and writhing water sprung out lancing and striking out like cobras against the flying leviathan, wrapping around it and anchoring it to its position before pulling it downwards towards the ground, freezing it and encasing the massive creature in a thick layer of ice.
The warrior hadn't even turned to look at the whale nor did he even seem to care about the aliens raining down around him. Lances continued to spring from the buildings, striking those that attempted to remain well out of reach of the warrior as he continued his merciless towards Stark Tower.
Wait, Stark Tower?
"We may have a problem." Clint spoke into the earpiece he was wearing as he loosed another arrow.
The voice of the Captain came through. He sounded tired and the archer looked towards the area they were fighting in. It was also littered with bodies of the Chitauri. "You mean other than the aliens?"
Thunder roared and lightning flashed and struck a multitude of alien chariots out of the sky. Thor zipping by a moment later.
"I got a guy headed straight for the tower. Looks like one of Thor's buddies. He's cleaning house north of of you guys on the other side of the plaza." Clint looked back to the golden warrior.
He had cleared it so much that the National Guard and Army were keen on moving in as droves of civilians began to be evacuated from buildings and into the subway lines underneath the city.
"Gold armor?" Natasha questioned. Hawkeye loosed another arrow. "Lightning spear?"
"You met him?"
"Something like that." She quipped.
"Keep an eye on him." Rogers cut the banter. Clint heard the iconic shield bash against something, most likely an alien, through the earpiece. "Natasha, think you can get up there before he does?" His question was immediately followed by an affirmative from Natasha.
A moment later and Barton saw the Black Widow get propelled into the air and onto a Chitauri chariot.
"Is he not a friend?"
"Let's just say he's just as likely to kill us as the aliens." Clint could feel the exasperation in the Captain's voice.
"Copy that." He looked back at the golden warrior who hadn't stopped in the slightest. If anything he was moving even faster. "Nat, you might want to make it snappy. He's picking up the pace."
She growled her response.
Clint now had two people he had to babysit. He loosed another arrow and could feel his dual-quiver getting a lighter with every passing moment.
There was just so damn many. He would run out of arrows long before the Chitauri ran out of bodies. Maybe they should just let this guy deal with the portal, he seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
"What a hell of a day to die." Clint mumbled as he loosed another arrow.
Percy blinked.
And blinked again.
Two of the aliens fell with lifeless thuds as their wounds seeped a black smoke that was quickly absorbed by the xiphos in his hand. He shuddered at that. It never got easier seeing a soul getting trapped inside a blade of all things, even if it was an alien one.
He moved his thoughts away from that.
At the very least his weapons worked fine on them, though they weren't Greek Monsters nor did they explode in golden sand.
But they did do something that was inherent to any form of life.
They died.
Percy wasn't going to complain. He did hate the notion of having the purplish blood on his armor and weapons and scorch marks on Aegis.
He blinked again. His thoughts much to casual for the serious matter at hand. New York is under attack. Focus.
A weariness took hold of him and his shoulders slackened slightly and his left arm burned and stung as he walked across the threshold of the rather ostentatious building, the twin coils of water that flanked him like eager snakes dispersed into a fine mist.
The Son of Poseidon pounded his left arm. One of those aliens had jabbed him with one of their energy edged bayonets. It stung and made his arm burn and sore and almost numb. He almost compared the feeling to dipping it in the Styx but nothing could ever compare to the feeling of bathing in a thousand burning suns.
Percy took a little more time killing that one with the stygian blade.
He unclipped the small silver flask at his hip and took a quick sip from it.
Nectar usually had the taste of the drinker's favorite beverage.
He couldn't identify the taste in the godly drink though.
It almost tasted like nothing, if he was being honest with himself.
Still, he felt a small boost of rejuvenation. The last time he had felt this tired after a fight was the final confrontation with Gaea but this wasn't nearly as close.
He had been left virtually exhausted in the aftermath of that particular fight.
Percy looked around the atrium. It was spacious and had many windows. Or where windows would be if most of them weren't broken or shattered and it would have probably been a decent sight if not for all the rubble and sparking lights that were around.
He spotted an elevator but quickly dismissed the idea. It did not seem like the best of ideas going up one of those at a time like this, so instead he made his way towards a door with an emergency exit sign above it.
He stopped in his tracks when he heard a voice though. It was a small, weak and feminine one. One barely audible over the cacophony of noise outside and sparking and exploding lights.
But he heard it clear as day. His senses wouldn't so easily betray him in the heat of battle. "He-Hello?" It was strained as if it caused her pain just to call out. "Is anybody out there?"
The voice came from the elevator.
It took him only a moment to consider his decision but it was still a tense debate within his mind.
He still had to stop Loki and close that gateway above the building.
But he would not leave an innocent to die. His duty to Olympus be damned.
Percy moved away from the stairs and towards the elevator.
Large wood paneled metal doors stood between him and the source of the voice.
An easy obstacle to pass as he slipped his fingers between the metal doors and slowly but surely pried them open.
His mind flashed back to Giant War as he looked inside the elevator. Scenes like the one before him were too common among the trio of field hospitals that he had visited.
Where the bodies there were treated and bandaged. Here they were afforded no such luxury. There were bodies inside and quite a few of them were lifeless, contorted at odd and unnatural angles. Blank gazes and bloodied heads were pervaded throughout.
His mind snapped back to the reality before him.
There were two alive inside but his quick mind determined only one was capable of being saved. The last was barely clinging to life as it was. His eyes were dilated and his breathing vapid and his chest had a thick steel rod in him. Percy didn't need to examine him to know that his final moments were near.
He didn't look to him any longer and instead turned his attention to the other one.
The elevator creaked as he moved in carefully. The elevator had caved in from the top and sparks would sporadically rain down upon the bodies.
He took his helmet and clipped it to his hip as he moved. The last thing this person needed to see was some masked person. He needed to reassure her after their ordeal and steady her nerves. The calmer she was the faster he could help her and the faster he could deal with Loki.
The only one was the girl that called to him. He kneeled and forced a tired blue eye open to check if she was even lucid. "Hi." He whispered and pressed a soot covered hand to her forehead checking for a fever and blood and came into contact with the red liquid at her temple. "I'm here to help. Where are you hurting?"
She nodded and leaned in slightly to his touch. "I…I can't feel my leg. I think…I think its broken." She hissed in pain as he shoved a body off of her.
"I'm going to move you and it will hurt but I can't treat you in here." Percy said as reassuringly as he could. It wasn't a voice he often used. The last time he had was when…
He internally shook his mind from the thought.
She nodded slightly and he crouched beside her and moved to scooped her up bridal style, she moved an arm over his shoulder and hissed in pain at the sudden movement.
Percy moved her as quickly as he could out of the elevator as the top began to collapse more at the sudden movements.
No more sound emanated from the dying man.
More panels had fallen atop the bodies as they crossed the threshold of the elevator. He set her down against the nearby receptionist desk, kicking away debris to make it at the very least comfortable. He examined her more in the light. Dirtied blonde hair done up in a tight bun with a spot of bloody red from a nasty cut on her temple and her hair frazzled where it wasn't tied down.
Her leg was contorted weirdly. An easy enough fix but it would take some effort to do so, healing others wasn't exactly an attribute of his inherent abilities but it was something he could do with a decent amount of effort. However, the amount of energy expended was equaled to the severity of the wound or injury. "You are going to feel some pain again and discomfort but your leg will be as good as new." He explained. She was wearing a black knee length pencil skirt with a white button up. Typical business wear.
He summoned a sheath of water for her leg and he held her down as the bone and tissue within her adjusted. She winced at the movement and had clamped down on the collar of her shirt to keep from screaming out as well as grab onto his arms as much as she could.
After a moment, the water dissipated and she flexed her leg slightly. "Thank…thank you." She mumbled in amazement at her leg. He didn't respond as he touched her cut temple and coat of water. It was deeper than he had originally thought as he felt the water seep through further than a superficial cut would normally be. She winced slightly at the feeling but it was cleaned and healed a moment later.
"Stay here until more help comes. I have business upstairs to deal with." He spoke and adorned his helmet once again. She nodded at his words but didn't otherwise speak. She most likely had a concussion but that was something that only time would heal. "Also, I'm sorry." He raised his hand. A white mist gathering at the tip of his forefinger.
"Wha-" The wisping finger touched her recently healed forehead. She fell asleep. The intent to forget his face in his mind.
He may have been willing to help her but he wasn't about to endanger himself in case someone started asking her the wrong questions. Instead he set her under the receptionist desk.
Moving for the stairs at a jog, he spared one last glance at the torn-up elevator and the body of the man he didn't save. I'm sorry.
He continued up the stairs and attempt to mist travel but the ability still alluded him. His hands would turn to mist with a concentrated effort but other than that he couldn't travel any faster than what his legs could carry him.
Regardless, he was still moving pretty quickly taking two or three at a time. He stopped for a moment and took a look upwards to see an abyss of black and more stairs than he he could count.
Woe is the life of the demigod.
He continued his journey. His boots pounding more stairs than he ever thought he would climb.
It felt like an hour before he reached the top.
It was really only ten minutes.
The emergency door was quickly pushed open and Percy strode past the divider to see Loki, nearly passed out, inside a crater in the mosaic floor. The Son of Poseidon suppressed the urge to simply kill the Asgardian but he stayed his instinct to end his threat here and now.
Mostly, because he looked healthier. His previous pale and gaunt features looked fuller now.
His mind drew towards Eidolons…He shook his head. If that was the case, this was out of his hands and no longer his responsibility.
No time to dwell on that though. His first priority was to close that damned portal and end this invasion. The suspected possession of Loki would have to wait.
Natasha, after a brief commandeering of a Chitauri chariot, found herself on the skywalk. But what stopped her in her tracks was not the battle raging around them nor the storm whipping about the city of New York.
No, what stopped her was the presence of that golden warrior that she had met in the forests of the Ardennes.
Glowing and powerful sea green vortexes stared back at her comparatively pale emerald orbs.
She did not want to fight this guy. He hadn't so much as flinched when she used her Widow's Bite gauntlets on him and she doubted anything she had left on her would do anything else save annoy the man.
Just being in his presence made her want to shrink away and if not for her mental conditioning, she probably would have. But that was not all, back in the Ardennes, all she felt was a gripping fear as if she were the prey and he, the predator. Here though, it was not like that. There was no fear here, well a tinge of it if she was being honest with herself but mostly she just felt the raw power exuding off of him in roiling waves.
It made her want to bow to the power he wielded so effortlessly. The Black Widow had seen footage of Thor and could tell even he exerted visual effort when wielding his powers.
This guy though, he didn't need to summon his strength. He simply directed it. Molded it. His powers were bent to his will and when he called they responded. Eagerly. Hungrily and Devoutly as if they served no other purpose than to be used.
She shook her head of those thoughts.
"Uh hi?" She said dumbly. What else was she supposed to say to someone like this?
He cocked his head in response as if he were some sort of confused puppy and not a force of nature.
"Hi?" He said, his voice was tinged metallic, just like Rogers and Tony described when they had met him on the deck of the helicarrier. She couldn't make out any other discerning features of it other than the fact that it was male. She stepped around the skywalk, scepter in hand. He took a step back as she approached, eyeing the weapon in her hands carefully and with suspicion. "You know what you're going to do with that?"
Was he scared of it, enough that he was willing to at the very least hear her out? It certainly seemed that way. "I have a couple ideas." She tried not to make it sound as evasive as it was. Her spy instincts coming full force as she didn't want to completely divulge their plans in case they weren't aligned.
He flicked his wrist and a black sword materialized in his hand.
Okay. Maybe now is the time to be direct. The implication was as clear as the alien invasion happening around them. "The Doctor up there," She pointed with a gloved finger towards the absolute top of the building. "says the portal can be closed with the staff."
He eyed her suspiciously, taking a couple hesitant steps forward to follow her gestured direction. He regarded her one more time and then flicked his eyes to the scepter once again with his narrowed eyes.
"How do you plan on getting up there?" Was his question.
It was a good question.
One she hadn't thought of answering before coming down here. The only way up there was a hatchway covered by the portal emitter. She had to slide down the glass panels onto the skybridge in order to get down. Not a safe venture considering it was raining. Not hard but enough to make a her hair matt.
"I don't have one…yet." Natasha would not let herself seem so incapable.
His eyes narrowed further.
"Just keep that…" He jabbed a finger at the staff in her hands as his sword disappeared with another flick of his wrist. "thing away from me."
"What do yo-" Was all she got out as a thick tendril of water materialized from the air and wrapped around her waist like a belt and carried her to the top and setting her down gently on the gravely floor, though she still staggered at the weird sensation.
The golden warrior appeared only moments later, a second tendril of water carrying him upwards beside her. He was much more graceful and merely stepped from the grasp of his tendril of water. The two tendrils began circling around the device, probing the blue barrier gently.
Natasha was fast though she didn't waste any time and moved to stand before the portal emitter.
Erik glanced at the man in horror. "You're not Loki are you?"
"No." Was the simple answer.
Selvig didn't trust his answer as he backed away from the golden man and almost slipped off the building if not for one of the water tendrils keeping him up.
"Selvig!" Natasha shouted. Now was not the time to be clamming up.
"R-Right!" The older fellow moved to the front of the computer. He pointed and spoke. "Right there at the center of the crown!"
Natasha brought a finger to her earpiece. "I can do it! I can close the portal."
"Do it!" Steve's weary and winded voice sounded in her ear.
"Hold it." Tony spoke, he sounded tired and worn much like Steve's. "I got a missile coming in." There was a pause. "And I know just where to put it. Just do me a favor and clear the way for me, would you guys?"
Natasha threw a glance to the golden warrior who had maneuvered himself away from the edge of the building and centered himself a short distance away from her and Selvig, a suspicious glare directed at the machine before her turning towards the city as a whole.
The Chitauri seemed to catch onto their plan to close the portal as several dozen fliers changed their heading and began heading towards them and the flying Iron Man that was headed towards them.
"I don't suppose you can deal with them?" She ventured. It was a rhetorical question as no sooner did she say those words, a tendril lashed into his hand and stiffened into the form of a spear. She recognized it. It was that lightning spear that he wielded in the forest.
The warrior raised his spear with a stretched arm. It did not arc with lightning this time. It didn't even spark. It simply looked like any other ancient spear.
The rain stopped falling near immediately from those dark looming and thick clouds over the city. Arcs of lightning flashing dangerously across the skies but there was no booming nor cracks ofthunder to be heard.
The wind stopped into an echo of its former self. Near non-existent.
He brought it down in a menacing thud. The opposite end digging deeply into the gravel at their feet.
Natasha's and Selvig's breaths caught in their throats. It was as if the city stilled in one moment and everything went quiet.
Dozens if not hundreds of swirling spouts of water began descending upon Manhattan. They were of all various sizes but they did not harm a single building they touched as if they were merely there, coursing of their own accord.
No. Not on their own. Natasha's mind strayed to her earlier thoughts.
They are waiting to be used. She realized.
Her thoughts mirrored the next action of the golden warrior as he brought up his spear pointed towards the city, leveling it horizontal to his body, as if he were challenging the city.
His grip tightened ever so slightly.
Thousands of tendrils and lances of water and ice lashed out from the swirling columns of water as they struck fiercely against anything that was not of this world. Leviathans roared in pain or in the throes of death as they were speared by the icy attacks. Whips of water coiled and struck at the chariots of the aliens and even the Chitauri infantry themselves and tossed into the air where they turned into so many balls of fire or corpses of ash as the waiting clouds of lightning finally lashed out with their own power, arcs of lightning eagerly destroying anything and everything that was tossed into the air.
Natasha could only stare at the overwhelming display. She shook herself to the matter at hand. Mission first, gawking later. She tracked Tony as he pushed his suit to the absolute limits trying to redirect the missile.
The tech savant only barely managed to point it upwards before it hit his tower and the Black Widow let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
She watched Tony fly up to the portal and waited.
And waited.
A second sun flared into being from inside the portal and she had squinted to see if Tony was going to come back.
She glanced towards the city.
Where everything alien in nature just died.
Grappled and struggling leviathans went limp and subsequently dragged safely and cautiously to the earth while the Chitauri simply fell to the ground as if they were mere puppets and their strings had been cut.
Natasha looked back towards the portal. Come on, Tony. The radiant light was getting brighter and ever closer.
There was a sigh of resignation from Rogers as his voice was heard through her earpiece. "Close it."
She jabbed the tip of the scepter into the crown., sparks arcing off all the while.
The beam blinked away from existence as the portal above New York began closing. She still waited with bated breath for some sign that Tony would be alive.
A small glint of red and gold armor fell through just as the portal closed.
She let out a sigh of relief at the sight but the man was not stopping nor slowing in his descent. Hulk appeared, leaping into the air and easily caught him. Hopefully, Tony was just unconscious and not dead.
She heard a tired sigh from behind her and she looked to the golden warrior again, who raised his spear.
The dozens of water cyclones and spouts retreating in the air as if they were never there to begin with and a moment later he raised a hand and as if he were pulling away a curtain, the black storm clouds began to disperse into nothing. A clear blue day with tufts of simple white clouds remained as if there wasn't just a massive storm in the city.
The spear collapsed into a mist of water as he dropped it and grabbed at a small silver flask inside a small pouch at his hip. He lifted his helmet just enough to take a quick swing before it was brought back down. She couldn't make out any features from the distance they stood but it wasn't like she was attempting to get any.
Didn't take you for an alcoholic. Was the quip on her mind but she kept her mouth shut. Joking with someone that wouldn't think twice about snapping her neck didn't seem like the best course of action. His hand dispersed in a mist before it coalesced again. The man's eyes narrowed at his arm.
"I have other places to be. So if you don't mind getting your things together…" He trailed off, impatience in his voice.
She couldn't help herself this time. "Got a hot date?"
He didn't say anything else as he simply stared. Right. Talking to this guy was like talking to a wall.
Selvig made to extract the cube and the moment he did so the tendrils of water that were skirting the edges of the machine struck it and wrapped around it like coiling and constricting snakes before tensing. The machine was reduced to nothing but bits of scrap as the tendrils continued to tear the machine apart.
No one said anything at the display. Mostly, because the two that witnessed it agreed with the course of action. The machine could not be left intact.
They stepped by the golden warrior, where the tendrils of water wrapped around their waists like before and set them up on the skybridge. Natasha was much more graceful this time while Selvig shuddered at the awkward feeling.
"Are you an Asgardian?" Selvig blurted, he was clutching the silver case that contained the Tesseract.
At that a chuckle escaped the warrior, but it sounded more like grinding metal wires than a laugh. "No. I'm not."
No more words were exchanged as Thor, holding onto Steve landed on the skybridge while Tony, holding Clint landed only moments after. Hulk was right behind them.
The warrior moved away from the group inside the penthouse tower.
"Thanks for the assist." Barton spoke nodding to the golden man. "Saved a whole lot of lives."
The man shrugged but looked to Thor who looked slightly uncomfortable at the gaze. "I trust you'll be leaving now or do I need to hold your hand while you do that to?"
Thor's uncomfortable gaze shifted to one of anger. "Take care how you speak."
The man was entirely unfazed at the task and Hulk roared at the golden warrior who cocked his head at the green behemoth.
Was that amusement in his eyes?
"I wouldn't mess with uh… Banner until he calms down." Rogers spoke looking at the growing situation with unease.
"Calm? This guy is human?" The warrior asked as he stepped forwards in front of the Hulk. They all watched as a small white smoke cloak his forefinger as he touched the chest of Banner.
The green behemoth convulsed and thrashed.
Everyone froze as they watched the Hulk return to the exhausted form of Banner.
"Holy hell." Natasha breathed. "That would have been handy earlier."
"What'd you do?" Banner breathed as he began to regain his bearings as he rested on the mosaic floor of the penthouse.
"A little trick I picked up a few years back." The man shrugged as he moved away. His hand dispersing in a mist before reforming again and the man this time had surprised in his eyes.
"Is that natural?" Natasha asked.
Thunder boomed overhead, loudly. So loud that everyone clutched their ears at the sound. To the Black Widow it sounded like an angry roar that near deafened her. It died down as soon as it began. The lights that were still on flickered angrily.
"Thor?!" Tony asked who was looking at the ceiling with a wary and concerned expression. "What the hell was that?!"
"That was…." Thor turned his gaze to the golden warrior, who had violently flinched and stumbled at the sound.
"I have to go. I recommend you leave as soon as you can." The man said to Thor a hint of a panic in his voice quickly as he began dispersing in a wave of mist.
And like that the golden warrior was gone.
'The path of the warrior is lifelong and mastery is often simply staying on the path.'
-Richard Strozzi Heckler