EIGHT
THE FIGHTING continued on. Hope was starting to realize that the rest of them(the humans) were starting to get a bit exhausted because they didn't have the supernatural, alien, or enhanced stamina that she, Thor, Hulk, and Steve had.
Steve, Natasha, and Hope met up. The three of them had worked on the ground. "Captain, Dove, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal" Natasha gestured to said alien portal in the sky. It was easy for Hope to tell that Natasha was getting tired.
"Our biggest guns won't touch it" He gestured to Hope. "I tried using my magic to close it. It would take more than just me alone to close that big of a portal in less than a day" Hope explained.
"Well, maybe it's not about guns or magic" Hope and Steve realized that she was gesturing to the flying robotic/alien chariots. "You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride" Steve reminded the Black Widow.
"Hope—" The auburn-haired tribrid looked at her fellow team member with a smirk. "A little blood for insurance before you give me a boost?" Hope nodded. She knew they had given Natasha her file at some point before they left. Hope wasn't afraid of having Natasha be a vampire if she were to die.
Hope bit her wrist enough to make it bleed before having Natasha drink her blood that healed people and could end up turning someone into a vampire so long as you died with it in your system. Steve scrunched his nose in disgust and looked away for a brief moment.
The wound healed almost instantly. Hope then held her hands out and was ready to boost the agent up into the air with her extra werewolf strength. "Ready, Nat?" The red-haired woman smirked back. "Ready as ever, Hope!"
They timed it perfectly. Natasha was boosted high up in the air and was able to get a good grip on the chariot. Both Steve and Hope watched as Natasha zoomed off and sighed in relief.
They were disrupted when a blast from one of the alien guns was directed at them. Despite knowing it wouldn't hurt Hope as much, Steve still blocked both of them from the blast with his shield.
Hope only rose her eyebrows at Steve for a brief moment before they continued to fight the chitauri. Tony showed up in his Iron Man suit and helped the two fight for a few moments.
"You know when this is over, you should come stay at Stark tower. That is, once it's renovated" He told Hope, frowning inside the mask as he thought of the damage that was being inflicted on his beloved tower. "I would be honored, Stark" She teases before Tony flew up and went to go deal with the aliens that weren't on the ground.
The battle continued on and Steve was starting to get strained. Thor met up with the three to help fight even more chitauri that was coming there way. Steve had his shield, Thor had Mjölnir, and Hope had her magic and her werewolf abilities. Her eyes had stayed glowing the tribrid color the entire battle.
Steve had gotten blasted by some of the alien technology. Thor gave Hope a quick glance and gestured over to Steve, letting her know that he could handle the rest. Hope nodded and ran over to the soldier and helped him up.
She knew he wouldn't take her blood so she muttered a pain reduction spell. "Asinta Mulaf Hinto, Sho Bala" Hope then helped him up. "You ready for another bout?" Thor asked as he made his way over to the two, having destroyed the nearest chitauri.
"What? You gettin' sleepy?" Hope smiled sadly at him, starting to lose hope(ironically) that they'd come out a winner in this fight. That is until Natasha turned the mic on her com and spoke to them.
"I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!" She could practically feel Steve's relief. "Do it!" He ordered, wanting everything to be over.
"No, wait!" Hope was puzzled when she heard Tony say this. "Tony, these things are still coming out of the portal" She reminded him.
"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it" Hope froze as fear flooded her. Tony was going to sacrifice himself to save the entire city, and pretty much the entire world.
She hated this. If he died, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Despite the words of the press and even Natasha's evaluation on him when she went undercover, Tony was a caring person who tried to hide it with sarcasm and booze.
She had only known him for a short amount of time but she had already built a connection with him. He comforted her when Phil died. He was also the love of Pepper's life, someone who she had met in her visits to S.H.I.E.L.D. and bonded with.
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?" Tony didn't answer Steve's comment. "Hey kid, how would you like at least 12% of Stark tower while Pepper gets the rest?" Hope's lip started to tremble as she also realized that Tony didn't think he was gonna survive. "We'll talk about it when you come back, Tony" Tony muttered an 'okay' over the mics before disconnecting.
They were only able to watch as Tony grabbed ahold of the nuke and flew both it and himself straight into the portal. They noticed it had been affective when all the chitauri collapsed around them, dead.
Steve shared a look with Thor before looking at Hope. She had already lost her legal guardian, her father figure, and was about to lose someone she was starting to consider pack, her family.
"Close it" Hope parted her lips to argue but not even a sound escaped her lips as her eyes started to water. Natasha closed the portal. They all watched with a tiny bit of faith that Stark would fall out at the last second.
"You're not a mistake, kid. You were born for a reason, just gotta find out what it is".
Hope winced as Tony's words echoed through her mind. She hadn't noticed the debris around her starting to violently shake as she became overwhelmed with her emotions.
Thor luckily did. He didn't know the true difference between a witch's magic and the magic he saw his mother and Loki use on Asgard, but he knew it was connected to her emotions somehow. He rested his hand on the girl's shoulder, grounding her and her magic with a simple touch of comfort.
Hope sent him a grateful smile only to become confused when she saw both Thor and Steve look back at the portal with amazement. She turned around to see a figure flying out of the portal at the last second.
"Son of a gun" Their happiness was cut short when they realized he was still falling and was gaining speed. "Thor, he's not slowing down!" Thor spun his hammer around as she was about to fly up. He stopped when they all noticed the Hulk catching Tony in midair and used one of the buildings to get to the ground a lot less fast.
The Hulk fell to the ground on his back, using himself as a shield almost so Tony wouldn't be crushed. Once he finally hit the ground he shoved Tony off of him.
Hope used her werewolf speed to run over to Tony, Steve and Thor were right behind her with their own enhanced speed. Hope quickly turned the man over and Thor ripped off the golden faceplate from the suit to show Tony with his eyes closed as if he was dead.
Hope was about to start mumbling the same spell she used on Steve until she realized she didn't hear his heartbeat. She couldn't help the fact that her eyes were watering once more. She dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands as she felt her claws coming out.
Hulk wanted the Iron Man to wake up so nobody was sad anymore, it was quite confusing to see, so he roared loudly which shockingly startled Tony awake/alive. Hope gasped in shock seeing as he hadn't had a pulse since he fell.
"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me!" These were Tony's first words after basically coming back to life. They all shared the same goofy grin over the fact that Tony Stark, the hero of New York, was alive.
"We won," Steve told him. Tony sighed in relief, letting his head rest back fully rested on the ground. "Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it" Hope didn't even attempt to hide her laughter.
"We're not finished yet," Thor said, looking up at Stark tower where Loki was still at, not able to even move after his ruffle with Hulk. There was a beat before Tony spoke again. "And then shawarma after?".
***
Loki struggled to finally get himself up after the fight with Hulk, getting a grip on the stairs to help drag himself up to a sitting position. He heard a noise behind him so he turned his head around to see the entire Avengers team in front of him. Each one shared an equally pissed off look.,
Tony stood with his damaged suit. Hulk with, well, himself. Steve had his scratched up shield in his hand. Thor had the famous Mjölnir in his own hand. Natasha held onto the scepter. Hope had sparks of fire coming out of her fingertips. Clint Barton stood right in front of his face with his bow that had an arrow pointing straight at him.
Loki assessed each and every one of them for a few moments before he accepted that he had been defeated this time. "If it's all the same to you. I'll have that drink" The only verbal response he received was Hulk's snort.