Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Chaos

Some people need order to survive, others only truly flourish in chaos.

The morning when the Battle for Earth, and in a lesser degree for all the Realms, took place, began like any other. It'd been three days since a number of precogs all around had woken after dreaming of the coming army, some only of the warriors on their way to the planet, while others were able to get glimpses of the actual war.

Nightingale had been among those who'd had the dream, one of those who'd seen the most with the exception of Destiny of the X-Men and the Oracle sisters of San Francisco. No one knew how or why, even in her life as Tinúviel she'd never been a seer, that was her mother; the only visions of sorts she'd ever had, had been those related to her pregnancies.

Since it was the end of the week, Skye had gone to SHIELD HQ in the outskirts of New York to drop the weekly report on her team their training and the way they worked with the teams they'd been assigned to that week. Aside from the supernatural teams taking turns to work together in different groupings so they could get used to the ways their abilities could mix together, Skye's team had taken to mainly working with one team of SHIELD Agents who seemed be the most open-minded regarding their special abilities and the like. It was the team formed by Agents Bobbie Morse, Lance Hunter and Antoine Triplett, with FitzSimmons providing backup and all kind of gadgets.

The short meeting that morning went as well as could be expected. Her team had proven capable of following orders from 'baseline' (they didn't like referring to them as humans) Agents like Sharon Carter or Phil Coulson, as long as said Agents showed them respect. There had been a situation with Victoria Hand, who looked down upon her team and so they didn't like her; and their attempt at working with Agent Rumlow and his heavy-duty team STRIKE had been an absolute mess. But aside from that they were doing quite great. It'd been decided that Agent Coulson and the team he'd hand-picked would be their primary partners so-to-speak, as they worked together best.

Skye was on her way out the place, when she got distracted by something odd for a moment and ended crashing against another Agent. The older woman, with black wavy hair to her shoulders and sharp blue eyes actually seemed to look Skye up and down, as if trying to find out who she was exactly. And it was that, considering where she would be doing, Skye had dressed in black jeans, a black shirt, boots and her black-leather jacket that morning, and the ensemble made her look a bit like the rest of the agents around her.

"Miss Skye..." The older woman stated once she recognized her.

"Agent Hartley." The brunette nodded at her.

Agent Hartley's team was one they'd attempted to work with. It had seemed to go pretty well, until Lincoln and her happened to hear the comments one of the agents was making about them, his doubts... his fear about them. Skye had gone ahead and requested not to work with them again, adding a note to Agent Coulson (AC, as she'd taken to calling him) to recommend the team not be paired with any gifted group, for everyone's peace of mind (though making sure not to say anything that might seem like gossip or negative criticism).

"Just Skye is fine, ma'am." The brunette said absently, still mostly focused on whatever it was that had distracted her.

"In that case call me Izzy." The woman replied. "Is everything alright Skye?"

"I... I'm not sure..." The younger woman admitted.

She knew something was off, could feel it inside, but had no idea what it was.

"You know." Izzy seemed to decide to change the topic. "I've been meaning to talk to you. Your team and mine, we worked together that one time, and I though we did alright, but then we were pulled out of the pool. Vic says it was your recommendation to Agent Phil Coulson..."

That definitely called Skye's attention onto the woman. As she tried to guess if she was angry, or just curious about why she'd done what she did. It seemed to mainly be the second, so Skye decided to answer honestly:

"I heard you talking to one of your agents after our training session." The brunette said. "He expressed... reservations about working with gifted. Felt unsettled about our powers. I say this not against your agent or yourself Ag... Izzy. I simply did not believe it to be a good idea to continue as we were, for any of us. Your own agents would have never been able to do their best if a part of their minds were always focused on us, on doubting us, on feeling... unsettled. I expressed it might be best to part ways."

They both knew it hadn't been all the Agents expressing themselves that way, but one. But there was no need to put anyone in evidence. And deep down Agent Hartley probably knew it'd been for the best. In any case, she did not insist. Though that might also have been because she noticed how distracted Skye was.

"Is everything alright?" The older woman asked, not for the first time.

"No." Skye answered honestly. "There's something off, something in the air... I can feel it."

Izzy would have questioned what exactly she meant (as far as they all knew, Skye wasn't one of the gifted, not in any supernatural way, at least). But right then, a sound akin to cloth tearing, only much, much louder, and then the sirens began blaring.

"Level 7, Defcon 1." Maria Hill's voice was heard even over the sirens, through every single speaker. "All Agents to your positions. This is not a drill. I repeat. This is not a drill. This is the real deal ladies and gentlemen. We're at war. The chitauri are here! I repeat Level 7, Defcon 1. We're at War!"

Everyone was moving the moment she announced it wasn't a drill; most even before that. There had been a drills, every few months, since the news had come out that an alien army was on its way and would be attacking one day. And not only SHIELD. With help from Stark Industries, OsCorp, and later on other organizations, various drills had taken place across all mayor cities in several countries. Civilians getting used to answering the sirens and evacuating. They probably had grown tired of it at some point, especially all those who, by virtue of not being involved with SHIELD or any other member of the Alliance in any way, hadn't the slightest idea of the danger their planet was in. But it'd been decided it was better that way, so as not to risk world-wide panic and chaos on the streets.

In any case, it would hopefully help protect civilian lives.

In SHIELF itself, and various military and intelligence organizations across the globe, the countries had been progressively raising the defense readiness conditions in the time since Loki's original 'attempt' at an invasion (Though only the highest ranked in SHIELD knew any of that, most only knew the sorcerer and his wife as part of the Alliance, practically honorary Avengers).

After Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig had been rescued and the Tesseract retrieve, they'd raised the situation into a Defcon 4, as part of the preparations. Once the Alliance was well on its way, and with the suspicion that trouble might come at any moment, it'd gone to Defcon 3. It'd reached Defcon 2 just a few days before, the morning all precogs had revealed their dreams. And right then, it had gone up again. To a level it'd never before reached. Not in all the history of the US. Because War was no longer a chance, but a fact.

Skye rushed out of SHIELD HQ alongside Agent Hartley, a hand on her ear as she got in touch with her team on their private comm channel. It'd been decided it was better that way. Her team, the X-Men, and one other whose name she couldn't really remember and were quite new each had comms with their own private channels, with team leaders having possession of a second comm with access to SHIELD channels in order to coordinate. The various covens preferred to use magic to communicate among themselves, though the leaders too had SHIELD-issue comms. Skye finished giving orders for Deathlok to take leadership of the team (they'd practiced, so it wasn't that much of a surprise), while she would be staying with SHIELD, as it was easier; she'd just stopped talking, when a huge explosion seemed to rock the earth beneath their feet. Several agents actually lost their footing.

"Holy shit..." Several agents cursed at the same time.

Skye and Izzy turned to see what they were looking at about the same time. It was a creature, a huge flying monster. Like a mix of a ship of some sort and a living being, with a metallic exoskeleton; the aliens, the chitauri jumped off it to attack, and it was flying.

"Dear spirits..." Skye gasped, not quite believing what she was seeing.

"Well, don't you all just stand there gaping like idiots." Hartley called with all her authority, calling order. "Get moving people! Shoot that thing down!"

Skye had serious doubts that thing could truly be shot down, but still followed the rest of the agents, raising her own gun and using it to shoot at the thing. Of course handguns did nothing at all. But the scariest part was when, two agents working together managed to pull out a rocket-launcher and shoot at the thing, and even that wasn't enough. There was an explosion, and small pieces of the exoskeleton came off, but for the most part nothing changed. The thing was still flying down the street at them, taking pieces of buildings and vehicles as it moved.

The agents began backing away, fear and self-preservation slowly taking over, when Skye made her choice. It wasn't an easy choice, all the opposite, but she knew it was the right one.

"Tell your people to back up a little." She told Izzy.

"What...?" Hartley was still shooting, and couldn't fully understand.

"I know it sounds absolutely crazy, but I need you to tell your agents to stand back." Skye said in her most solemn voice. "I'll handle this."

Izzy was going to tell her she was crazy, but then it was too late, Skye was walking ahead. Izzy gave the order, more afraid that one of her agents might shoot Skye by mistake, than truly believing she could do anything. She saw the younger woman put her gun away, before taking her finger-less gloves off methodically, letting them fall on the street as she kept walking.

Skye kept walking until she reached the middle of the street, more or less, just a yard or so ahead of the agents that had, thankfully, stopped firing at Hartley's order. She took a deep breath, clearing her mind like she'd been taught then she raised her hands, and pushed.

To all the agents, it was like Skye was just standing there, hands extended, grasping into the air. Then, right as some of them were beginning to whisper about her possibly being crazy... it was like some kind of great shudder, and the huge creature stopped in its tracks. Skye's body trembled visibly, her arms shaking for a moment before she strengthened her posture, and everyone could only stared because... had that slip of a girl really just stopped that monster just by standing there with her arms extended?!

For several seconds no one moved. And then, it was Mack (Agent Alphonso Mackenzie), at Izzy's side, who spoke:

"That won't be enough." The dark-skinned man stated roughly.

"No, it won't." Izzy nodded, though she hadn't the slightest idea what to do.

And then, Skye was taking the decision out of their hands, again. She gave a step, then another, and another. She walked slowly, approaching the monster.

"Skye!" Izzy yelled, forgoing the comms completely. "What the hell are you doing?"

"This isn't enough!" Skye answered, yelling too. "I cannot hold him back forever, and even if I could, it's not enough. It needs to be taken down completely."

Izzy did not ask how she thought she could do something like that. How anyone could do it... she could have never imagined someone being able to do what she'd already seen the young brunette do. Even with the mutants in the Alliance. She'd heard rumors of the things Magneto was capable of: lifting submarines out of the sea, moving the Golden Gate bridge to a spot of his choice (or had been, when younger); the things Phoenix had been able to do as well, everything from raising people in the air, a place, a house... to tearing a person into pieces, pulling cells apart... It was amazing, and terrifying (and the reason Mack and so many others couldn't help but feel unsettled and even afraid when in close contact with the gifted).

Skye reached the monster then, she touched the front of its snout and then she pushed. Someone in the back asked if she was planning on pushing him somehow... but that wasn't what happened. Not at all, instead, the creature seemed to shudder once, twice, then it began actually shaking, quite violently... and then it seemed to reach its climax, as it fell into pieces. It began small, pieces of its skeleton coming off, practically being shaken off, then it got worse in the next few seconds, until suddenly, like an enormous jigsaw puzzle, the monster came apart.

The pieces crashed onto the ground heavily enough to make the earth shake for a moment. And then Skye was stumbling back. Izzy ran to her, holding her up.

"Just what the hell was that?!" Hartley demanded as she helped the girl backed from the monster.

Skye snorted through her panting. It'd been a long while since she'd used that much power for anything, and never in such a way. It'd been more exhausting than she ever imagined possible. At the same time, it was good to know she could do it.

"That was awesome!" Mack announced as he joined them, surprisingly not an ounce of fear on his expression as he looked straight at Skye. "Tremors...?"

"Just call me Quake." She told him, and smiled.

xXx

Mary Jane was on stage, during the rehearsal for her newest play, when the sirens began blaring out on the street. And not just that, her own cell-phone began ringing, a tone she'd assigned specifically to work as an alarm. She was off the stage and fishing the phone out of her jacket before anyone could say a word.

"Yes... I'm at the theater, will be out in five minutes." She stated before hanging up, already putting on her jacket.

"Watson!" The Director. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Do you not hear the sirens?" MJ was honestly confused when noticing that no one other than her had so much as moved.

"Yeah, but it's just another stupid drill." The Director said with a scoff. "I'm tired of letting those ridiculous things interrupt my work. You cannot pause art. So come back here and return to the rehearsal."

"This is not a drill!" MJ cried out, horrified by the lack of worry shown by the man. "This is the real thing. How can you be so callous!"

"You're just a naïve girl who doesn't yet understand, but you will." The Director stated. "Now go back to that stage, or kiss your part goodbye."

"I'm not going back." MJ said, straightening up, no longer the young amateur actress, but the beautiful soon-to-be-wife of the owner and CEO of one of the greatest companies in the country. "Those sirens are real, and I have a duty to complete now."

As she said that she slipped an ID on a chain over her head. It was SHIELD issue and had been given to all the civilians who'd insisted on helping when the time came, as paramedics, rescue leaders, or anything else that might be necessary; most were, like her, romantic partners of a hero (like Gwen Stacy, Pepper Potts-Stark, Betty Banner, Jane Foster, Sarah Wenham-Danvers, Kate Tunney-Parry) and a few others who were such close friends they insisted on being involved (like Happy Hogan, Peter's aunt May, Nightingale's aunt Kathryn, Gwen's own family -though they though they'd joined for her, not quite knowing why she was really there-, Erik Selvig,).

"What does that mean?" One of the other actors asked, curious.

"It means I'm one of the civilian volunteers working with SHIELD." She answered honestly, turning to face the Director again. "You complain about the drills, but they were meant to prepare you all for what we've known was coming."

"How would you know anything?" The man sneered at her. "A slip of a girl like you..."

"I may be young, but I'm not the naïve little girl you insist on seeing me as." The redhead told him. "My name is Mary Jane Watson, and my fiancee is Harry Osborn..."

"You're the head of OsCorp's future wife?!" Several of the girls shrieked. "Why didn't you ever say anything?!"

"Because I wanted to make my own way as an actress." She answered honestly. "I wanted to earn my parts for my own talent, and not my future husband's name."

"How could one like you ever meet someone like him?" The Director still didn't believe him.

"I didn't sell myself, if that's what you're implying." She hissed at him, before pulling her phone out again, and showing them a picture from her gallery, of her Harry and their two best-friends, the day of their graduation. "We were in the same high-school. "

"Those are Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker!" One of the boys stated, then clarified. "I worked as an intern in the low floors of OsCorp, everyone said they were geniuses, working in some of the biggest and most top-secret projects the company had."

MJ was about to comment about that, when her phone rang again, she picked up immediately.

"Hello?" It was Harry's chauffeur. "Mark. Yeah, I'm still inside. Be right out. … Have you heard about the others? … I see. I shall call Harry once I'm at HQ then."

She picked up her bag, and was halfway to the door, when someone called to her.

"Just what's going on?" The youngest of the girls inquired.

"War." She answered quietly, walking out before anyone could ask her more.

The last thing any of the young actors who knew her saw of her, was the moment when she slipped into the black Mercedes waiting for her outside.

xXx

Professor Charles Francis Xavier-Lehnsherr stood by the glass wall of Tony's penthouse floor in the Tower. The original plan had him staying with his husband, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr-Xavier in the Institute in Westchester; but in the end he just couldn't, they couldn't. So a second X-Men team, the senior team, had joined the juniors (though they weren't that young anymore, all in their mid-twenties at least), formed by Beast, Havok, Storm, Cyclops and Marvel Girl (Jean refused to keep the name Phoenix after her brief loss of control and actions as Dark-Phoenix... only the fact that the professor had managed to miraculously return to them convinced her of not quitting and giving up completely). Mystique was out too. Leaving the Professor, Magneto and Destiny in the Tower to help coordinate things.

The junior team were on evacuation duties mostly: with Nightcrawler, Blink and Shadowcat using their respective abilities to get out those who might end up trapped in the destruction caused by the battle going on. Colossus helped cover up for those Shadowcat saved, as she didn't have the power to just send them straight to safe point, unlike the other two. Pyro and Iceman gave them cover with their powers. Wolverine and Rogue had pretty much allowed their more wild sides to take charge and jumped straight into the fight.

"Stop fretting Charles, I can almost hear your thoughts, and I know you're not trying to project them." Erik stated in a half-teasing tone.

"I don't like being in here, while they're out there, risking their lives." Charles admitted quietly.

"It's not like you, like either of us would be of much use out there." Erik pointed out ruefully. "Lets accept it Charles, we've gotten old."

"Eighties is not that old..." Charles pouted, but even he knew it was.

And really, they didn't actually look that old. Charles was in his early eighties, with Erik being a few years older than him, though they both looked to still be in their sixties, at most. There were other mutants, those who'd reached the zenith of their power while being much younger, their twenties or thirties, who seemed to almost not age at all. It was apparently part of the mutant gene. Their bodies registered when they reached their peak level, and that was taken as their golden years, allowing them to stay in that period for much longer than baseline humans. It was the case of others like Storm, Nightcrawler, Havok, Beast, even Cyclops. Jean had aged, as sort of side-effect of the darkness of her 'evil' alter ego, but still look young for her age. However, both Erik and Charles had 'lost' their powers for whatever the reason for more than a decade, and that meant that even when they got them back, it took them longer than most to reach the highest level of their powers, making them age more and faster than they would have otherwise (not considering the effect Auschwitz, certain events and drugs might have had on them).

"We're not the men we once were Charles, or who we once might have been." Erik admitted. "If we hadn't taken so long to see our mistakes, and corrected them... especially me."

"We each had our faults, but we did right by each other, and by our children, eventually." Charles tried to reassure him. "You know the boys were really happy when you and Raven decided to come back to us, for good, finally. Especially you..."

"Maybe." Erik wasn't quite sure how much of that he believed, Charles tended to be too much of an optimist regarding some things. "But truth is they didn't need me. They stopped needing me a long time ago... I wish I'd been here..."

"We cannot undo the past." Charles told him softly. "But we can make sure they have better lives than we did. Which is exactly why we're here..."

Erik nodded, taking a moment to steal a kiss from his husband (he wasn't one for PDA, but the only other person in the room was Destiny, who wasn't really seeing them... technically, and in any case, it wasn't like she wouldn't be aware of things anyway).

"A Leviathan is coming..." The precog announced a minute or so later.

"The Secret Circle alone won't be able to stop that." Charles murmured, worried.

"No, they won't." Erik agreed grimly, before moving for the door.

The Secret Circle, the group of twelve young human witches and warlocks lead by a triumvirate formed by three girls code-named: Muse, Priestess and Huntress were the ones tasked with guarding Stark Tower so it could be used as refuge for the civilians in the area who weren't able to take the tunnels to a more secure zone (the other covens had each been assigned a different spot: like OsCorp Tower, a hotel whose owner had offered to serve as refuge and the biggest hospital in the area).

"Erik!" Charles called, mentally guiding his hoover chair after his partner. "Love, where are you going? What are you doing?"

"To see how much these old bones can still take." Erik drawled. "To show whoever might be watching that I'm still Magneto."

The older of the two mutants (and former leader of the Brotherhood) walked to the edge of Tony Stark's viewing deck. Where he extended both hands before him and began focusing his power. Briefly touching with his power everything metal in the tower, the surrounding buildings, the cars on the street, the city of New York, and finally the earth's magnetism as a whole (he'd always wondered if he'd be able to truly manipulate that, maybe even invert the polarities, but never really tried it)... before turning all his focus onto the flying ship/monster approaching them, the one Destiny had called Leviathan...

"I'm here love." Charles didn't even consider trying to stop him, just stood by his side, like he'd been doing since their reunion a decade before, like he wished he'd never stopped doing since 1962... "Just remember, the point between Rage and Serenity..."

"I know, mein schatz (my treasure)..." Erik murmured back, and let loose.

xXx

Betty, Pepper and Happy were in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, having just finished with their bimonthly visit to the private medical center that catered to the victims of Extremis and their families. It was a project Pepper and Tony had undertaken after Killian had gone after them a few years before, intending to use Pepper to force Tony to finish the formula. What he hadn't counted on was on the newly forming Alliance and what quite a few gifted were willing to do to pay back the woman who'd pretty much opened the doors of her home to them. It hadn't ended well for Killian, or for Maya Hansen... but at least they'd gotten to most of the 'test subjects' in time to help them, as well as their families, before catastrophes occurred.

The trio were just stepping out of the building talking about their plans, which consisted of returning to the Tower and having lunch with their children (Robbie Banner and Vika Stark), who were at the childcare in the tower (it'd been Pepper's idea, to help all the employees who had young children) and hopefully their husbands (if they managed to pull them out of their labs); when the sirens began blaring.

There was almost no warning when suddenly a Leviathan was going over their heads (it would eventually get quite close to SHIELD HQ, only to be taken down by Skye, revealing herself as a gifted herself, code-name Quake). Chitauri leaped off the creature-ship, landing on the walls of nearby buildings and even the street.

"Code White!" Pepper practically yelled into her cellphone. "Seal the building! Make sure everyone inside is safe!"

Happy rolled his eyes but didn't try to tell her to get inside herself, he knew that his boss would be wanting to get to Stark Tower. And that was supposed to be her post, according to what they had prepared for. Never mind that they'd have to get through a battle-field to get there.

Even getting to the car proved to be harder than anything they could have ever planned, when three chitauri were suddenly in front of them. Happy immediately engaged one, managing to keep up with it, if barely. Betty didn't know what to do about the other, which ended with a deep slash in her left forearm. When Pepper moved in to try and help her, using her modified-taser as she had nothing else on her that might be useful, it was definitely enough to distract him, just enough for Happy to take it down. But then they were left with the third, and no defense.

Right as Happy was beginning to contemplate something beyond insane, some...one or something seemed to come at the creature like a man possessed. The moment they saw him all three couldn't help but think of the Hulk. Except the figure was much smaller, barely a bit bigger than a normal man, though his body was deformed in an almost grotesque manner, he was also much, much stronger than a normal human being; as was evidenced by the way he took hold of the chitauri and practically ripped him in two.

"Ya alright Missus?" The deformed man asked in a gruff tone and with a rather odd accent.

"Yes, fine." Pepper assured him, still trying to recover from seeing what he'd just done.

It was at that point that the man seemed to notice the blood on Betty's arm. He made to approach her, then stopped when she flinched away from him. He let out a breath (which sounded odd coming from someone his size), then reached into the pocket of his half-ripped lab coat, pulling out a small package containing a bit of gauze, bandages, clips, a small vial filled with alcohol and another with some kind of disinfectant; all in all a kit to treat wounds.

"'m a doct'r." He said as an explanation. "Only... I can't exactly treat peopl' when 'm like dis."

"So you're not like this all the time?" Betty asked, softly.

"No." He said. "Tis is not what a am, but what I ave ta be."

It took several seconds for them to truly understand what he'd just said. He didn't seem to mind, as he was already moving away.

"Wait!" Pepper called. "At least tell us who you are..."

"Names no matter." He stated, without stopping. "You can call me Mr. Hyde, though."

And then he was running, throwing himself at the next chitauri, and the next. Neither woman could keep him in their sights for long, as Happy focused on getting them into the car and away as fast as he could. They'd been lucky in that moment, but he wasn't going to risk it. They needed to get to the Tower.

xXx

Peter Parker was in his advanced physics class, taking notes quite fast, regretting the fact that it was one of the few classes he didn't share with his girlfriend and unofficial fiance (he was only missing the ring), but then again, he was studying for a double degree in biophysics, while Gwen was going for biochemistry.

He stopped mid-sentence, while his professor kept on with his lecture, as his senses abruptly screamed at him of incoming danger. In an instant the young man's body was completely tense as he got ready for fight or flight. None were necessary in the end, instead he could hear his phone ringing. Skillet's 'Hero'...

"Mr. Parker." The professor called authoritatively. "I believe you were in attendance during our first day, when I stated how much I do not like hearing cellphones during my class, and explained in great detail what would happen in I heard any ringing."

"I'm really sorry Professor Gonzales." Peter apologized. "I swear I put my phone in vibrate when I came in, I only..."

He broke off as his mind caught up with the only reason (aside from him forgetting to mute his phone, which simply wasn't possible) for his phone to be ringing... it was a special function Stark had set in, to make sure that wherever they all might be, they would know when the time came to fight. The invasion was starting.

The system functioned much like a tornado warning, which gave people up to thirteen minutes to get to a safe place before the tornado actually hit. They didn't actually know how much advantage they might have (not like they could test it). But the device, created by Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Loki Friggson, detected the moment energies began gathering in the atmosphere, the kind of energies that interacted directly with the abyss (in such a manner as to create an Einstein-Rosen-Bridge or, in the specific case they'd been preparing for: a chaos-portal.

"Mr. Parker!" The professor, a very bright physics-engineer, demanded his attention.

He didn't get the chance to say more than his name, as suddenly the sirens (from the school, and those on the streets) began blaring.

Peter was about to suggest they all get moving when an explosion, sounding way too close for his comfort, distracted him. He followed a few other students to the windows, where he could see a huge flying monster passing a couple of blocks down (it'd eventually get close enough to Stark Tower that Magneto would call on his powers to stop it himself). That wasn't the worst part even, no, the worst part were the monsters that had jumped off it and were running/crawling/jumping in their direction right then.

Some of the girls began screaming right then, guys rushing to the doors, looking for an escape, but Peter just knew it wasn't going to be enough.

"Damn it all to hell!" He cursed loudly, as he kicked of his shoes.

"Mr. Parker maybe you should get away from the windows." The professor suggested.

He was one of the few not rushing out, intending to make sure his students were safe, or as much as he could considering their situation.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible sir." Peter answered, almost sardonically. "I'm afraid right not I don't follow your orders."

The man didn't get the chance to ask what the young man thought he was doing, as he pulled off first his shirt then his jeans. It was until the brunette was jumping straight off the window that he fully-processed what he'd seen in those few moments: the bright red and blue spandex with black and white details... the mask the pulling on even as he threw himself off the building. His genius student was Spider-Man?!

Spider-Man for his part, began swinging from one school building to the other, as fast as he could, trying to fight off the chitauri, keep them away from the school, and especially from the students. He used webs to blind them, to keep them away when he could, but it wasn't easy. Then, right when he feared he might have run out of luck, as a chitauri was heading straight for a pocket of terrified students huddling close together in one of the lunch areas, in between two of the buildings. However, the alien never got that far, for right as it was about to, it impacted into something that wasn't fully visible at first. A web, created in between the two buildings, thick enough to hold the chitauri back; the bio-cable was also still 'fresh' enough that the chitauri half-adhered to it.

"Gwen..." The hero breathed out, a bright smile beneath the mask.

There, on the roof-top stood his beloved, wearing a lab-coat over her usual jeans and top, boots, her blonde-hair in a ponytail shining golden under the midday sun. On her wrists was the second set of web-shooters he'd created; they'd originally been meant as an emergency set, in case his main ones were destroyed, like had happened in the battle against the Lizard; but since learning of the upcoming invasion Gwen'd taken to carrying them with her, in case of an emergency. And that had just proven to be a very good decision.

So, together, Spider-Man and his girl, took up the defense of ESU and its students.

xXx

The moment the sirens began blaring, everyone on Stark Tower was on the move. Agents, as well as the X-Men who'd been staying over, the members of Skye's team (sans Skye herself, as she was over at SHIELD HQ) and half or so of the Avengers take positions on the streets surrounding the Tower itself, forming smaller groups with those who complement them best. Nightingale, Loki, the elves, Black Widow and Hawkeye bypassed all of them and headed straight for the south end of Central Park.

"Just why are we here, exactly?" Black Widow inquired, curious.

For all answer they all watched as Nightingale tied a cord on her quiver (she carried the bow and quiver of arrows the Ljósálfar had gotten her, her own old ones, from a lifetime before), hung her unstrung bow on a specially design part of the strap that held the quiver to her back, and then walked straight to the trees.

"Just what is she...?" Hawkeye didn't get to finish the question, interrupted by his own gasp of surprise at what happened next.

Nightingale went to stand beneath the lowest branch she could find and after pulling on it a bit, seemingly testing its strength, she held tightly, using it to pull herself up, then on and on, until she was climbing the tree with hands and feet like it was the most natural thing in the world. She was wearing a tight-fitted short violet dress, dark-leggings and soft cloth shoes (magically reinforced, to protect her feet properly without being too thick she couldn't move her feet as she wished, according to Loki); her hair was all pinned up on her head, so as not to get in the way.

"I don't know why I'm even surprised..." Erynion muttered with a good natured sigh.

"What do you mean?" Widow asked, confused.

"A long time go, a lifetime really, it was quite common for the princess to go missing whenever she'd had a particularly trying day." The dark-haired elf explained. "Most never understood how she did it, they never noticed when she left, never knew how she managed, or where she went."

"But you did." Hawkeye guessed.

"It took a while, but eventually I learned." He nodded. "Tinúviel always did love the trees. Then again, we all do..."

As if those words were some kind of signal, most of the other elves present immediately began climbing other trees. They were all taller than Nightingale by a wide margin, but from what had been explained at some point, their bodies were lighter, less dense than human ones, which allowed them to move as they did. Nightingale had been reborn into a smaller but denser body, and it sort of evened out, allowing her to still do the things she usually would.

"I still think that this whole reincarnated-princess shit is a bit too sci-fi for my tastes." Hawkeye stated a bit crudely.

Erynion shook his head. He knew most humans couldn't understand. His own princess seemed to have trouble dealing with it some days. There was no proof that it was her, she didn't look the same physically, not at all, she wasn't even the same race... but her voice, her soul, the light of the stars in her eyes, and the very name Loki had chosen for her. They were all clues pointing in the same direction, as far as those who'd known her were concerned: Nightingale of Midgard was Princess Tinúviel of Alfheim and Asgard reincarnated... also, the fact that Loki had regained his lost memories of her, of their time together at the same time she gained them, helped too.

It didn't change much in their current time and situation, not really. Nightingale still was who she was. Though the revelation seemed to have somehow allowed them some leeway with Odin Allfather and everyone else in Asgard; and she'd 'remembered' how to do things like fight hand to hand, shoot a bow and communicate in a number of other (older) languages (climbing trees was something she did in both lives).

"What's the plan then?" Widow inquired, all business.

"Archers to the trees, obviously to allow them for a better vantage point." Erynion stated. "Though one of us needs to state with each of the spell-weavers, to guard them."

As expected, he would be staying with Thenidiel, not so much for her position as the most powerful elven spellweaver, but because she was his match. In the end Black Widow chose to stay with the other spellweaver (she was more effective on the ground, fighting directly, than on the trees and from a distance). Loki too, stayed on the ground, though he kept moving, trying his best to follow his beloved's moves, even if she was much higher than him.

xXx

Deathlok pulled his hand away from the comm in his ear at the same time his targeting systems and all the weapons fixed on him came on.

"You heard the boss-lady." He called to the other members of his team. "We're to make our stand right here and fight. Shock, you'll be my second."

Everyone agreed, as the young man in the red shirt, khakis and tanned leather jacket, with sparks already lighting up his fingers, went to stand on his right. Scorch took his left. The Goblin was the last to join the formation, staying on the air, on his glider.

"Where's Spider-Man, Goblin?" Deathlok asked, noticing the absence.

"He and his girl are busy protecting ESU." Goblin replied, avoiding saying any names, like they always did when in-suit. "A group of aliens saw fit to attack there. Thus far they managed to keep them in line on their own..."

"I'll send a group of Agents, if that's alright with you." Darcy offered.

They were standing quite close together, a few blocks away from Stark Tower.

"That would be good, I think." Harry agreed. "My girl is in-route to OsCorp Tower, where she'll take over the volunteers there."

"Hey guys!" Shock interrupted them suddenly. "Less talking, more ass kicking!"

As if to emphasize his own words, the man chose that very moment to shoot lighting from his hands, managing to kill one chitauri straight down and stun another. There was no need for any more talk, they all went into motion.

Soon enough they discovered a few of them had certain advantages. Like Scorch, who could get hot enough to half-melt the exoskeleton on the Leviathan, they were still too big for him to handle on his own, but when teaming up with Pyro, the two could take down the creatures. Iceman made sure the fire didn't extend anywhere else and that there was no one underneath when the remains of the things fell.

"If you're one of us, why aren't you with us?" Pyro asked when there was a lull in the battle.

Scorch looked at the younger-man with a raised brow, seemingly not quite understanding what he'd meant with that.

"He means that if you're a mutant, why didn't you attend the Institute..." Iceman began.

"Or join the Brotherhood." Pyro finished for him. "They would have loved you. I mean... man, I can manipulate fire, but you can actually create it!"

"I'm not a mutant." Scorch answered simply.

"You a meta then?" Iceman asked, curious. "Like the Spider-guy and the Goblin?"

"It's more complicated than that." Was all Scorch said.

He'd no idea what his leader might have planned, once the battle was done, if she'd planned anything at all. He knew others hadn't agreed with them joining the growing Alliance, but at least he and Lincoln could see it was necessary. Besides, Skye had saved them from the catastrophe their old leader had been guiding them to (could he still say that when he'd left the Tribe before any of that had ever happened?). Everyone had agreed that Shīmǔ was leading them wrong, in a direction that would have brought them nothing but chaos and death... if the lady hadn't interfered all might have been lost... still, it wasn't easy to change the minds of a whole tribe, especially not when they'd spent decades, whole generations, used to things being a certain way.

Something unexpected happened right then, there were several shots from one of the chitauri's weapons in their direction. Iceman used his powers to freeze most of those weapons, making the metal brittle enough to break easily. However, they both were so distracted they didn't see the shot coming from another weapon, in a different angle. Scorch reacted instinctively, pushing the two young mutants to the side even as he called on a rush of fire to destroy the weapon and its wielder; it was too late, though, to stop the attack in its tracks. The energy was such that it went straight through the flame-armor-of-sorts that formed around his body, piercing him straight through the chest.

"Scorch!" The two mutants screamed in horror.

They'd seen death, both of them, how could they have not when they'd been involved with Alcatraz Island in '06? It was still quite traumatic.

"What the hell happened here?!" Shock demanded as he arrived in a rush.

"Scorch is dead!" Pyro blurted out.

"What...?" The meta saw it then, he was almost sick.

"Shock, on your left!" Deathlok called through the comms.

The meta turned to the side, but before he'd the chance to call on his powers, it went down under a storm of fire, the next one with fire.

"We're not losing anyone else." Iceman stated solemnly.

At his side, Pyro nodded in the same tone, and then they were off again. One member of the Alliance had fallen, as long as it was in their power, no one else would.

xXx

Antoine Triplett and Sharon Carter were running side by side, shooting chitauri down as fast as they could, looking for any civilians who might still be trapped in the area. The X-Men were working on getting people to safety as fast as they could, but they just couldn't be everywhere at the same time, no one could. Just then, they heard screaming from people in an office building half a block away from them.

"Shit!" Triplett cursed.

And Sharon knew why, not too far away from them was one of the huge flying monsters, a Leviathan, the X-Men had taken to calling them. By the way it destroyed things, even if it didn't go straight for them, or the building full of civilians, it was quite likely that the damage and loses would be great.

"We need to be something." The black man stated, though even he knew there was nothing they could really do, not with the time they had.

"We might be able to help." a voice from behind them said suddenly.

The two agents spun around sharply, weapons in hand, though not firing quite yet. What they found was not what they were expecting. Two young adults were standing there: the woman with straight auburn hair to her shoulder-blades, green-eyes and tanned skin in brown pants, a dark-gray loose top, dark low-boots and an off-white jacket; though the man looked even stranger: short graying hair, tanned skin, in a forest-green button-up shirt, jeans and brown long-jacket, he was also eyeless.

"Who are you?" Sharon inquired, trying very hard not to stare at the point where the man's eyes should have been.

"It's alright." He stated softly. "For you to feel unsettled by us, to be curious. We're not your enemies. We're here to help."

"Who are you?" Sharon insisted.

"She insisted we used code-names." The man reminded his partner before answering Sharon's question. "I am Link."

"Call me Replica." The redhead said simply.

"We need to get those civilians out of that building, before that thing gets here." Triplett knew it was insane to trust people they didn't know, but they had little choice.

"We'll take care of that." Link announced, turning around.

"How?" The two agents asked at the same time.

"Like this." Replica announced, as she began running for the building.

The two agents could only watch in shock as, where there had been one woman, there were suddenly two, then three, and so on.

It was a simple plan, the Replicas would split, looking for civilians through every floor, when one found some, she would 'call' Link (part of his power was to be able to find them), who then would teleport to her and get the civilians out, on and on, until they got them all out. Outside, the two SHIELD agents took on the task of guiding the people to the closest subway entrance, several yards away, it was the safest route away.

"Why had we not seen you before today?" Triplett asked one of the Replicas, curious.

He wondered quietly if she was the original, if any of them could be considered as the original, or they were all the same. Not like he was willing to ask, it was unlikely she'd answer, it was probably considered quite personal, and he could end up offending her, which he wasn't about to do considering how much help she and her partner were being.

"We were not part of the team that chose to come work with SHIELD." The woman answered with a light shrug.

"Why not?" The agent insisted.

"We did not agree with the lady on working with government agencies." She replied. "The last time agents of any kind got anywhere close to us... it didn't end well."

Triplett (and Sharon, who was close enough to listen) could hear what wasn't being said as much as what was. There was more than just the two of them, yet they weren't wearing the kind of suits the X-Men wore, and didn't wear any of the tokens the various covens did; the only other gifted aside from those, were Skye's team...

"And you agree now?" Sharon inquired, choosing to ignore the implication of there being more of them, for the time being at least.

"We still do not trust you agents, we probably never will." Replica admitted after a while. "But we accept that, in order to keep our planet safe, we sometimes may need to work with people we don't like, or trust."

Nothing more was said on the topic, soon enough the building had been vacated. Just in time for the Leviathan passed by right then, practically destroying two floors of the building, the last civilians running for the subway stairs as crystal-shards and pieces of plaster and metal rained around them (nothing on them, as Link created a sort of dome above them in the last moment, which worked like a shield, kept them safe.

"Come with us?" Sharon offered her hand to them. "I'm sure there will be other places where we could use your help."

"The lady would want it." Link murmured thoughtfully.

"Well do it." Replica agreed.

And they were on the way. Ready to help protect as many people as they could.

xXx

The battle was going well, for the most part, there were some loses on the side of the Alliance, though certainly not as many as on the side of the aliens, and they were trying very hard to keep it that way. As the battle progressed, the team's moved. Once all civilians were out of the battle-zone (the Professor made sure of it), those who'd been working on helping them, turned their efforts fully to the fight, which helped too. Then they began working in closing the are of the battle, pushing the aliens together, freeing zones and allowing them to team-up with others. Even the agents who'd been so unsure at the mere thought of having so many gifted around seemed to learn to accept them as the battle progressed, some even began to trust them.

"This isn't going to be enough." Nightingale stated bluntly at some point.

She was sitting on the low branch of a tree, which was about head-height for her match, as she took a break (and worked on salvaging what arrows she could).

"Got any ideas?" Loki asked calmly even as he conjured yet another dagger and threw it at a chitauri getting dangerously close.

"Maybe, though I don't know if you'll be willing." His beloved admitted.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked, wondering if he should be afraid.

"Stop holding back." She whispered softly yet pointedly.

For a moment he didn't quite know what she meant, until he felt his beloved nudging mentally at a certain corner of his psyche which he usually kept under lock and key.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." He murmured quietly.

"We both know you're not a monster." She stated. "So try a different one."

"What about your people?" He tried to stall.

"They're no longer my people, they stopped being my people long before I even died in my last life, so that one doesn't count." She stated. "And regardless, in this life I was your wife first. You will always come first for me..."

"I know." He admitted.

"What is it you're really afraid of?" She whispered, making sure no one else heard.

Truth was, not even Loki knew, not for sure. A part of it was having believed for so long that his Jotun nature made him a monster, even when she'd tried to convince her in the last few years, it just never seemed enough. And then he'd regained memories long lost, and it all had gained a new depth. The truth about the Allfather... his Father's plan and why he hadn't put in into effect, his family's love and acceptance, and not only theirs... Sif and Erynion already knew, they had found out in what could probably be considered the worst possible circumstances (when he was half lost with pain and grief after his match's death). Others didn't know, but then again, it wasn't like he'd ever cared much about what others thought.

Sensing her Maverick had made up his mind, Nightingale fixed her quiver of arrows and bow into place, before jumping off the branch and straight into his beloved's arm, sliding down his body before allowing her feet to touch the ground.

"You did that on purpose." Loki half-grumbled half-moaned.

His wife just smirked mischievously.

"I'm so locking you up in our bedroom for a week straight once this is over." The Silvertongue announced with a leer.

"Only a week?" His match drawled provocatively.

"Hey, you two!" Darcy called to them even as she evaded one chitauri and shoot her taser-gun (high enough to fry) at another one. "This is time to fight, not to have eye-sex!"

The comment, blunt as it was, was enough to make the two focus once again on what was important. Loki took a deep breath, and as he let it go his skin began changing, first getting paler, then gaining a blue teeth, dark markings... ending with his emerald green-eyes turning blood-red and coal black.

"What the... shit!" Hawkeye cursed abruptly.

Many people were staring at Loki, and the tension in the elves was particularly sharp. Until Nightingale went and stood on her tip-toes, cradling her beloved's blue face in her bare hands before kissing him, a short, tender kiss.

"How can you touch him?" The younger spellweaver (not Thenidiel) asked, awed.

"He's my match, and I am his." Nightingale answered simply, as if that were enough (and with the Ljósalfár, she knew it was).

"The rest of you, don't touch his bare skin when he's like this." Erynion added for good measure.

"Iceman, heads up!" Nightingale called loudly, realizing what her beloved was about to do, a moment before he did it.

Loki spun around, throwing his arms out and suddenly their corner of the park, along with the street before them and several yards on every direction were covered in ice.

"Man!" One of the younger agents complained as he slipped and fell on his ass.

Several more stumbled, but most managed to regain their balance with a little effort.

"What's the point of going all Frozen on us?" Darcy quipped.

"Cold makes the metal brittle." Phil answered as he used the butt of his gun to hit a frozen alien, it fell into pieces. "It makes that easier."

"Then I'm all up for it!" Darcy announced. "Come on Lokes! Let it Go!"

Loki scoffed but upped the cold anyway. Iceman took that as a signal and summoned an ice-armor of sorts around his body, which helped his powers. And then they were off.

The chitauri began falling much faster after that. The chitauri, when realizing the ice was as good as a death sentence for them, tried to avoid it, only to find their escape routes all blocked by Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Spider Man, Goblin, Quake, Deathlok, the Thing, the Human Torch, Blink, Storm, Marvel Girl, Havok, and every other heavy hitter from the various gifted teams.

It'd almost become a game to some of them, especially the youngest members of the Alliance, as they practically slid down the iced streets, hitting everything in reach with whatever weapon they had on hand.

Nightingale was laughing gleefully. She had no more arrows, but they weren't necessary either, she just kept using her bow (which was strong enough) to hit too. She has doing quite well until something happened, no one was quite sure what. The reincarnated princess slipped, and if her Maverick hadn't teleported to her side in the nick of time and caught her before her head hit the hard iced ground.

"Nightingale!" He cried out, turning back to his Aesir skin out of sheer worry.

"I'm alright..." She murmured, slipping a bit into elvish, half-unconscious as she was. "I just... I think... I'm cold..."

"No, you're not." Loki stated rather than asked. "My love..."

The hazel-eyed girl let out a breath in a quiet 'oh...' of absolute surprise... before her eyes closed and she fell limp on Loki's arms.

"Nightingale!" He practically screeched.

"She's alright, Prince Loki..." Thenidiel murmured, approaching, like all other elves having no trouble at all walking on the slippery ice.

"My lady Thenidiel..." Loki whispered, voice broken in worry. "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing's wrong with your match, Prince Loki." Thenidiel assured him softly. "She just seems to have missed something quite obvious."

"She said she was cold." Darcy commented quietly.

"True." Erynion agreed. "Yet the cold has never hurt her, not in this life, or the last, because of her match to Loki."

"Like I said, she missed something that should have been obvious." The she-elf stated.

"And what's that?" More than one person demanded, having had enough of the word-games.

"She's pregnant." Thenidiel announced with a beatific smile. "Congratulations Prince Loki, in a few more months you will be parents... again."

Loki had no words with which to reply to that, he just embraced his unconscious wife tightly, kissing her hair with a reverence few had ever seen before. He stayed like that for a little while, before processing the other thing that had been mentioned.

"She's cold..." He repeated quietly. "But I just turned into a Jotun, I'm too cold to help her..."

It hurt to even admit that much, but in the end helping his beloved was much more important than his pride, it always would be.

"If you don't mind." Pyro called, approaching slowly. "I could be of help."

Loki nodded, signaling for the young man to approach. Pyro was still holding a small flame in his hand as he'd been using it to shoot flames at any chitauri he could (their numbers were lessening every minute). He turned the flame on himself, warming his whole body, without actually putting himself on fire (he wasn't the Human Torch, thank you very much)

Loki placed his beloved in the mutant's arms delicately, making sure not to touch the younger man, so as not to cause a shock of temperatures. In no time at all Nightingale's skin began regaining her rosy tone (she'd gotten paler throughout the battle), her breathing easing down from the near pant it had been in before. And, as her body finally settled, Loki was capable of sensing her properly, the detail he somehow hadn't picked up on before... the life growing inside his beloved... a soul he was sure he'd felt before.

"Meril..." He breathed out, remembering with near-painful clarity the name his eldest daughter, Helena, had told him she and her nana (mom) had chosen for the new baby, before the tragedy that took both of their lives, that turned Helena into Hel.

"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt or everything, but I think the portal is closing." Quake called to everyone else right then.

"How do you know that?" Mr. Fantastic asked, squinting at the portal. "I don't see anything to indicate a difference and...

"I can feel it... I think." The young woman interrupted him. "I think I felt when it opened too."

"So that's what had you so distracted when we were at HQ!" Hartley called from a side, remembering quite clearly how unfocused the woman seemed be earlier.

"I think so, yes." Quake nodded slowly.

"Guys, the portal has begun to close." Jane Foster's voice could be heard through several of the comm channels.

"So, it's over then?" Shock guessed. "We won."

A number of the fighters, particularly the youngest, began cheering and celebrating their victory, until something completely unexpected happened.

"Guys!" No one knew for sure who called it. "We have an incoming nuke! Coming due east!"

"What the... but we won!" Several began complaining.

They'd defeated the enemies, why then had a nuke been shot? It didn't make any sense... except, for a few of them, it made perfect sense. It's not like it was the first time something like that happened to them...

Iron Man made his choice then, he wasn't waiting for someone to give any orders. He knew what he could do, what he was gonna do, and what it was likely to cost him, he was still ready to do it. And then...

"Blink!" Rogue called, full of authority.

"I'm on it!" The blue-eyed mutant with pink-highlights in her hair called back.

She ran to an empty spot, from where she shot one arm out, just a few feet ahead of the bomb, before throwing the other high, in the direction of the portal. The nuke went into one of her 'holes' and came straight out of the other, and through the chaos portal.

"Thor, Storm, we need to get that portal closed now!" Coulson ordered.

They really needed that, before the nuke, or anything else, came back out. The two mentioned warriors were on the move instantly, and they weren't only ones. Quake did what she could, though at such a distance she wasn't quite sure how helpful she was being, still, she tried.

With a sound akin to a sonic bomb being detonated, the portal closed; the last thing anyone saw through it was something big (they had no idea what) blowing up. Then everyone broke into wild cheering and celebrations.

Among it all, Nightingale's eyes fluttered open.

"Fintalëharyon (Trick-prince)..." She called in elvish.

"I'm here, Arwenamin (my lady)... He replied in the same language.

"I saw her." His love told him softly, as she moved from Pyro's arms to him. "I saw our daughter, she's so beautiful. Meril..." She noticed the eyes of so many on her, and switched to English as she added. "I saw our Rose..."

xXx

While some of the 'heroes' had been all for marching straight to Fury, wherever he might be, the moment the battle was finished, and demand explanations for the nuke that had been fired into Manhattan; a few managed to convince them to wait. Pepper, the Professor, and some of the older witches said it was better to make Fury go to them; while the expert at computers, like Darcy, Skye, Tony and a few others believed it was better to have all the cards in their hands before the confrontation took place.

It happened three days later. The remains of the aliens had long since been swept and disposed of (and the heroes made sure there was nothing left at all). In the previous years SI and OsCorp had made sure to create a fund meant to help with repairs and restorations after battles (they hadn't phrased it like that, but the point was the same) so there was money already in place to begin working on fixing everything up. There had been no civilian casualties aside from a few minor wounds when people had gotten a bit too hysterical during evacuation. The only loses of life were among members of the Alliance, and even among them they were blessedly few.

The only true conflict had happened the day after the fight. Arrangements were being made for those who'd passed away, when they found a SHIELD Agent trying to 'take a piece' of Scorch's body, he already had a vial of blood.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Deathlok practically roared at the man. "That does not belong to you!"

"Technically it belongs to no one." The Agent stated. "Though it should belong to the world. The kind of power, he possessed, the kind of weapons..."

Shock, who'd rushed upon hearing Deathlok's shout, entered the room that served as morgue right then. He reacted instinctively upon seeing what was going on, shooting a bolt of lighting at the Agent, destroying the samples he'd recovered already, and burning him badly.

Things only went from there. When the man, Agent John Garrett, tried to present a formal complaint, he found no one on his side. Even other Agents who'd expressed concerns in the past, about the gifted (like Victoria Hand and Robert Gonzales) chose to stand by the Alliance.

"It's that monster's fault my subordinate is dead!" Garrett snarled at one point.

The body of Grant Ward had been discovered in the battle-field hours after the battle ended. He'd been burnt to death.

"The least I'm owed..." Garrett continued his rant.

"You're owed nothing!" Deathlok cut him off.

"Ward got exactly what he deserved, death." Quake said, voice full of hate. "He tried to kill Pyro and Iceman! I wonder if he didn't do that under your orders..."

That left everyone speechless. Garrett didn't even get the chance to try and deny it, as an image appeared in every screen, footage of a security camera, which showed Grant Ward picking up the weapon of a dead alien, and firing it at the two young mutants when their backs were turned, as they were focused on dealing with other enemies. Only Scorch had noticed his shot, and having no time to warn them, did his best to protect them, though it cost him his life in the end.

"I warned your man what would happen if he ever tried anything against me and mine." Quake told Garrett in a hiss. "He's just lucky Scorch killed him... I would have done much, much worse. And just in case it isn't cleared just yet. You try anything, you'll be finding out what exactly I'm capable of, understood?"

As if to prove a point, she pressed a finger to Garrett's shoulder, just for a handful of seconds, it was enough. The Agent stepped away, holding onto his aching shoulder before turning away. Quake knew his kind, he knew that some day, some how, he would try to get back at her, back at her people; she would be ready.

No one moved a muscle until the man was well a distance away.

"Guys, you need anything?" Pyro asked as he poked his head in, his voice breaking just a little as he realized just whose body was there. "I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to be sorry for Pyro..." Quake assured him softly. "Scorch made his decision, and if he believed you and your friend were worth it, I'm willing to believe it too."

"St. John." The boy said softly. "My human name, it's St. John Allerdyce."

"It's a pleasure to meet you John." She chose to return the favor. "Call me Skye." She seemed to ponder something for a moment before speaking again. "How hot does your fire run?"

"How hot do you need it?" The mutant asked in turn.

She didn't answer him, not really, her eyes turning to the body still on the slab was answer enough, John understood what she wanted him to do.

There were no ceremonies. They weren't necessaries. The rest of Scorch's team arrived quietly, as well as Iceman (who asked permission to be present, to be able to say thanks one more time). Then Shock produced a small spark (John had lost his lighter in the fight), which Pyro took and turned into a flame, he focused his powers then on turning it hotter and hotter, until the fire was almost white; and once it was ready, he poured it straight on Scorch's body.

Skye used her own powers to make sure that the fire would only burn Scorch's body (it was hot enough probably to even melt the metal slab it laid on); while Iceman ran a refreshing current around the room, as it was beginning to feel as hot as an oven.

When the body was reduced to ashes, those were collected by the team. They were planning on taking them to China and spreading them there, in the place Scorch... Chan had called home for most of his life.

It was a solemn occasion, all in all. By far the most unorthodox funeral taking place in those days. Garrett's actions also gave a new level of tension to the 'meeting' that took place two days later (though, no one had seen Garrett since... they never would again, though no one would ever find out about the man who decided the Agent was a risk to his daughter, and as such, he couldn't be allowed to live...).

Professor X and Magneto also approached Quake at some point during those three days. She'd been talking to Deathlok and Shock who, recognizing the mutants wanted to have a private chat with their leader, put some distance between them, making sure no one would interrupt.

"First of all." The Professor stated very seriously. "My sincere condolences, miss, for the loss of your team-mate."

"Your family." Magneto added with a nod.

"Thank you." Quake replied with a respectful nod. "You wished to talk to me."

"We did." The professor. "It's about your powers, yours and those of a few of the members of your team."

Quake didn't need to hear more to know who he spoke of. It was quite easy, for those who knew what to look for, to realize that a few of them were quite different from the rest. Spider-Man and Goblin were technically qualified as metas, or enhanced (depending who you asked), Deathlok was an enhanced through and through; but Scorch, Shock, Replica, Link and her... they were different, and that was no secret, not really.

"We're not mutants, if that's what you're wondering." She told them straight out.

"You're not metas either." Magneto stated. "I'm sure of that."

"No, we're not." She seemed to think about if for a moment, before elaborating. "What we are, it is in our blood, so-to-speak. However, unlike mutants, with us it's not about reaching a certain age and gaining our abilities. While we are all born with the potential, only a few ever get them 'activated' to call it something."

"How is that possible?" The professor didn't understand.

"According to the legends of our people, a long, long time ago, gods came from the skies, they called themselves Kree." The girl explained softly. "They found Earth and wanted to create an army out of the humans. They took a few and experimented on them. Something happened, none of us know what. But it caused them to abandon the experiments and leave. Those who'd been experimented on did not seem to be any different... but then a new generation was born. They looked normal, until something happened, a device left behind by the Kree activated, and the children were suddenly all different. It went from there." She took a deep breath. "At some point they began training, preparing the children, while trying to make out who were the best possible candidates for the change, those who would be able to accept it without going insane, or dark. It wasn't easy. It was also supposed to happen when they were young enough to adapt, but old enough to understand what was happening. It didn't always work out."

"You weren't like that." Magneto stated, it wasn't a question.

"No." She admitted quietly. "The change was forced on me, sort of, in an attempt to push me into joining their tribe. As well as to accept their plan to make it so Earth would belong only to the Inhumans, no one else."

"And how was that supposed to happen?" Magneto inquired, seemingly intrigued.

"The terrogenesis crystals, which are used to cause the change, the mist they create, it not only activates the Inhumans' powers, it also kills any non-inhumans that come in contact with it."

Magneto had no words for that. No one but his partner knew it, but truth was he couldn't help but think of his own old wish for mutant domination. It was the reason why he'd asked the question, wondering if another race of gifted would have achieved what he hadn't. And then, realizing what such triumph would have meant for him, for his Charles, their children... he suddenly realized what was so wrong about such plans.

"Inhumans?" The professor asked, curious.

"It's what our ancestors called themselves." She shrugged.

"Their plan failed, I supposed." Magneto guessed.

"Yes of course." Quake nodded. "At first I simply refused to take part in it. It was at that time that I met those who would become my team. Then Jiaying tried to force my hand using my own team, I wasn't about to allow it... Things happened... I was the only one who walked away from that confrontation. There were some of the Inhumans who didn't like me after that, not for a long while. Jiaying had been their leader for so long... Shīmǔ, they called her, it means 'teacher mother' in Mandarin." She let out a breath. "Even though most of them understood that what she wanted to do was wrong. They still didn't like what I did... some couldn't even grasp the idea that I went against her... Especially after everything she did to protect me, when I changed outside of their traditions, without their blessings..."

"Who was she to you?" The Professor asked softly.

"She was my mother." Quake revealed.

The truth was, as usually happened, more complicated than that. The conflict had been between her and Jiaying, but no one knew that someone else had intervened at a crucial point. In the end it hadn't been her that killed the former leader of the Inhuman, but her father, Jiaying's own husband... who chose to honor his promise to his beloved wife, of protecting their daughter, even against said beloved wife. But Skye had kept his involvement a secret, knowing those who'd been most loyal to Jiaying, like Gordon, Alisha and Yat-Sen would have hunted him down, killed him, for doing such a thing. So she'd taken that burden instead, just like he took the burden of the kill itself from her.

The mutants had no words to say after that.

xXx

Nick Fury knew, from the moment he went through the door, that something was most definitely off. After three days he'd realized that, for whatever the reason, if he wanted to talk to the Avengers and to all the other non-humans who'd been involved in the battle against the aliens, he would have to go looking for them. He had the reports submitted by the agents who'd lead teams on the ground, like Isabelle Hartley, Sharon Carter and Bobbi Morse; he'd also heard rumors of outrageous claims Garrett had been making, considering some of the metas; never got to confirm or deny that one though, as the Agent had gone missing.

Maria Hill hadn't liked the idea, thought that him going looking for them, gave them power, and that just wasn't right. Fury knew she was probably right, but even then, he chose to do it. And of course Maria followed him.

The first signal something just wasn't right (well, not the first, but still) was when he suddenly heard JARVIS's AI in the speakers of his quinjet, giving him instructions regarding landing, and prohibiting anyone but him, Hill, and as many as two agents of his choosing from getting off the aircraft. Their route had been fully controlled (and no doubt monitored too), before being lead to what until recently had been an empty floor bellow the living area of the Tower. It had been transformed so half of it was full of cubicles, while the other half housed the biggest conference room one could imagine. And even before Fury and his people entered it was already more than half full to capacity.

The Director had noticed (of course he had, he wasn't an idiot) that some of his Agents had never returned to SHIELD HQ after the battle. With Barton and Romanoff he could pass it off as them wanting to stay around their team (though before the creation of the Alliance he'd have never imagined them growing close to anyone outside their little group and Coulson... in that moment there were actually rumors that they might have married in secret sometime in the last few years). Coulson could also be easily explained as choosing to stay with the Avengers, while those he had hand-picked might have chosen to remain near him. And then there was Captain America... the man had been chosen as an Avenger, yes, yet before the threat of an alien invasion had become known, he'd shown no interest whatsoever in leaving his SHIELD-issued apartment more than absolutely necessary. Steve Rogers was a soldier through and through, and even he'd said so more than once... and yet he'd chosen not to return either...

"Just what is going on here?" Hill demanded, seeing all the people in the room.

There was a tension in the room, so thick it could almost be cut with a knife. And not everyone in the room was sitting in the chairs around the holotable. A few, like Stark, Romanoff, Peterson, Magneto, Rogue and the Wolverine stood against the walls; Hawkeye was perched on top of a cabinet; the Professor was on his chair beside his partner. And then there were those Fury and Hill didn't know, which weren't exactly few.

"That's what we'd all like to know, Nick." Stark hissed, dead serious.

"Easy Tony." A female voice called. "Let me handle this."

Fury looked honestly flabbergasted when he saw the woman standing before him, almost as if he'd just seen a ghost.

"Katharine..." He breathed out.

"The name is Kathryn Nicholas, it's always been." She corrected him calmly.

"Agent Kathryn Adler... the Sphinx." Hill realized.

"Former Agent... and that's irrelevant right now." Kathryn Salani, Nightingale's aunt, stated calmly. "What I... what we all would like to know right now, is who in the seven frigging hells decided to drop a bloody nuke in the middle of Manhattan... after the battle was already won?!"

There was no answer forthcoming... though if that was because Hill and Fury had nothing to say, or they simply didn't want to say it, it was difficult to tell.

"It's not really that difficult." Magneto drawled, voice dripping with poison and hate. "It's not like it's the first time they did it anyway."

"What...?" Hill wasn't expecting that.

"October 24th, 1962..." Magneto began.

"The Cuban Missile Crisis?" Felix Blake, one of the agents with him, interrupted, confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"There was a lot more going on back then, that just the Soviets wanting to place nuclear missiles that close to the US." Magneto stated evenly. "A battle took place, the likes of which you couldn't possibly imagine. And after all was said and done, after it'd been won, by the right people... soldiers, your soldiers, and the Soviets, banded together, they shot their missiles at the beach, at the very group of people who'd just saved them all, who'd prevented nuclear war. They put their differences aside, to try and kill those they all saw as freaks, simply for being different, for not being what most would consider human."

"How could you possibly know that?" Victoria Hand asked, honestly intrigued.

"You were there, weren't you?" Hill guessed.

"I was, we both were." Magneto stated, signaling to his partner. "We lead a group of young mutants, barely more than children back then, against an insane bastard and his own team. We stopped the war you feared so much, and then all weapons were turned on us." His eyes narrowed. "So really, what happened three days ago is just more of the same, as far as I'm concerned. I'll never understand what makes Charles keep believing."

"Because not everyone is like them." The Professor said quietly, though all could still hear him. "There is still hope..." He sighed. "And the day I stop believing that, I will feel so lost..."

Erik did not insist, he knew how much things like that hurt his Charles. It was something he hadn't understood back in '62, but then again, back then he'd been young and more than a bit stupid. So full of anger he couldn't see the love Charles held for him... or maybe he just hadn't been ready for it, for Charles, back then... it'd have taken them a very long time... Erik would never regret anything more than he did all the years they'd lost. At least they'd had a chance, there had been a short while, back on '06, when he'd feared he'd never get even that much.

"Here are the facts." Skye stated abruptly, taking over. "Grant Ward tried to kill two mutants for... well, we don't even know why he did something that stupid. Scorch noticed and helped them, did what he could to stop Ward and in the end it cost both of them their lives. Just two days ago John Garrett tried to collect samples: blood, skin-cells, and who knows what else, from Scorch's body, claiming he'd a right to it, as if he hadn't been a human, as if having powers meant Chan had no rights. I, of course, didn't allow that."

"Are you the reason we cannot find Agent Garrett?" Hill asked suspiciously.

"Please!" Skye snorted. "He left the Tower by his own foot, I could show you the security feed if you want... I warned him though, of what would happen if he ever tried to hurt my people again."

Hill murmured there was no need for that fed, though JARVIS showed it on the holo-table anyway. Fury and Hand though, chose to focus on the second part of the woman's statement.

"And just what would you do?" Hand asked, a brow arched.

Skye seemed to actually have to stop and consider how to answer that, when someone decided to give her a hand so-to-speak.

"Hey Tremors!" Mack called.

Everyone turned in his direction at the same time, saw him raising a gun, pointing it at the young woman. He wasn't that far from her, and yet there was no negative reaction. Skye just rolled her eyes, mostly at the nickname, before waving a hand in the air, right in front of the gun, it fell into pieces at their feet.

"Exactly what I just did." The woman stated simply.

The Agents had heard the reports about what the leader of one of the teams had done just outside SHIELD HQ to one of the whale-like monsters; though most hadn't really believed it. It seemed simply too incredible. Especially considering that throughout all the training time, Skye had never once shown any gift, beyond what she could do behind a computer. And yet, the proof was right there before them.

"The point is, the bomb." Kathryn reminded everyone. "We know you weren't the one who ordered it to be fired Nicholas."

"Which is pretty much the only reason we allowed any of you in here." Stark added.

"We don't know who sent it." Hill stated.

"Please!" Pepper's unladylike snort was enough to call everyone's attention. "You can't be that naïve, can you?"

Hill didn't seem to have a response to that, neither did Hand and Blake... Fury on the other hand.

"You know who did it." Kathryn wasn't asking.

"Not for sure." Fury stated evasively.

Kathryn just rolled her eyes, before signaling someone with her hand. In a second the screens came on again, showing a variety of video-feeds, pictures, graphics. It took a few seconds, but soon they all realized who that information pertained to.

"Alexander Pierce?!" Hill's voice went through two octaves in her shock. "You hacked Alexander Pierce?! Are you insane?! He's the highest ranked in SHIELD."

"He's also the one who pushed the metaphorical red-button that sent that nuke to Manhattan, to us, when there was no longer any need." Skye practically hissed.

"When Pierce finds out..." Hand began.

"Oh, he knows." Skye interrupted her with a shrug. "Or he will, any moment now. I sent him an e-mail, a short while ago. With a copy of all this, along with explicit instructions of what he's going to do now."

"And what do you suppose he's going to do?" Blake asked, half-insulted, half-curious.

"He's going to quit." Skye stated. "Then he's going to disappear and get nowhere near any of us for the rest of his life, because he does, he will regret it."

"I don't think Pierce will like threats much." Hill commented.

"No, I don't suppose he will." Skye shrugged.

"I don't care whatever he thinks." Stark stated, livid. "He crossed a line, when he shot that nuke, when he decided we were all expendable. If he wants to live, he will run, and never stop running. Least we catch him..."

Tony Stark had once been called the Merchant of Death... it'd been a long time since that, so long, people sometimes forgot why that was. It wasn't just that he'd created guns, but the fact that he could use them (and Fury was convinced there were a lot of guns that never made it to the factory line, possibly never made it out of Stark's own mind). In that moment there was no doubt what would happen to Alexander Pierce if he didn't do as had been demanded in whatever e-mail had been sent to him... and there was no doubt that if Skye didn't do it, Stark, or someone else would. And not even Professor X or Captain America were complaining about the possibility.

They knew any one of them wouldn't be able to do much, not against someone with the power and the experience Alexander Pierce had (and still would have, even after he'd left SHIELD), but then again, they weren't alone. They were an Alliance, and that wasn't something that would end simply because the battle had ended.

That wasn't the end of it either, though the end was not something any of them could have ever seen coming, not at all.

"You what...?" Hill, Hand and Blake asked after the words were first said.

"We, the Avengers are splitting from SHIELD." Captain America repeated in a completely serious voice.

"You cannot do that!" Blake cried out.

"What about the people who need you?" Hand demanded.

"Oh, you misunderstand me, ma'am." Rogers stated. "We'll help the people, we'll never stop doing that. We just don't wish to be associated with SHIELD anymore. We'll be an independent team, just like the Fantastic 4, the X-Men and all the others."

He carefully avoided giving any more names. Darcy and Skye had made sure there were no records in SHIELD's databases of any member of the Alliance, even the Avengers' files had been reduced to the bare basics. After what Pierce had done, and knowing as they did that the WSC had, if not backed him, at the very least turned a blind eye to his actions, was enough to decide they wanted nothing to do with them.

Fury didn't say a word, he knew it was useless. If even Captain America had given up on them... then there really was nothing that could be said anymore. A part of him couldn't help but wonder if there really was something he wasn't seeing, something he was missing... he'd always admired Alexander Pierce... then again the man had looked at Fury after that mess of an op all those years ago, when he was all that was left of the most promising team of Elites since the Commandos, and instead of kicking him to the curve, had offered him Directorship of SHIELD... Maybe he just had been in the same position so long he'd become blind to the things that went on in the other levels, both beneath him and above... He didn't really know, but something told him he would be finding out, and he quite probably wouldn't like it.

Agent Melinda May waited until Fury and his group had left the Tower, their quinjet already in the air, before saying what had been running through his mind for a while:

"With all due respect to Skye, but there's no way you could possibly have hacked Alexander Pierce and the whole World Security Council on your own." The woman stated.

"Whoever said she did it on her own?" Darcy smirked almost predatory.

The message was quite clear.

Phil didn't say a word. He had seen Darcy working frenetically on her computer, late at night, but he hadn't asked what she was doing. He'd known that once he needed to know, she would tell him. He trusted her. Just like he trusted the rest of the Alliance, even those most would consider volatile, even dangerous (like the old 'villain' Magneto, the animalistic Wolverine, the rest of the secretive mutants, the unknown magicals... really, all of them in the end).

"So, can we have a party now?" Tony asked suddenly, his tone a complete 180 from how he'd sounded while talking to Fury and his entourage. "I mean, we saved the world three days ago and we've yet to celebrate!"

It was true. They'd been so busy working on arranging funerals, medical aid for those that needed it, coordinating the start of the restorations, temporary housing for the people whose homes had been lost in the battle, and of course getting ready for the confrontation with Fury (and what they had done regarding Pierce). So really, they were probably overdue some celebration.

"I could do with some celebrating." Pepper agreed.

Soon everyone was nodding in agreement.

"JARVIS!" Tony cried out gleefully. "Get everything ready! Order shawarma for everyone... I didn't ask, everyone alright with shawarma?" There were vague nods all around. "I don't actually know what it is but there's a place a few blocks from here that sells it, I saw it during the battle, and it sounds tasty, so I wanna try it."

Everyone laughed at his rant.

An hour later the penthouse was full almost to bursting point as everyone ate shawarma, drank a variety of sodas (and some alcoholic drinks) as they celebrated what a group of completely differently, yet equally talented individuals had achieved together.

xXx

Late at night, the party had yet to end, though most people had calmed down from their near-exuberant states from earlier. They were sitting in various places, drinking either soda, wine, or some even some of the best whiskey Tony had (he'd stated that if a celebration for saving the world wasn't a good reason for drinking those bottles, nothing was). Things were pretty easy, mostly quiet, when the first lines of a song began reaching them (or at least those still awake):

"There's a hero
If you look inside your heart
You don't have to be afraid
Of what you are
There's an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you know
Will melt away."

"And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you..."

It took a few lines, but soon everyone in the Tower (thanks a little bit to JARVIS) was listening to the Nightingale's song. It seemed almost like an instinctive reaction as they began straying to their beloveds. Tony and Pepper together (their daughter snoring softly in between them), Jane and Thor, Bruce and Betty (their son sleeping beside them), Clint and Natasha side by side, Steve and Sharon (they shared a silent toast to those long gone as they continued drinking), Phil and Darcy (it was the first time they did anything publicly to show they were together). And it wasn't even just them: Charles and Erik had been married for years (and together, in one way or another, for much longer), Mystique and Destiny were together too, though they'd never seen a point in marriage, Logan and Marie weren't married either and had never seen the need (they were mates, and that's all that truly mattered), FitzSimmons, and many others. Some didn't need to be with someone romantically either; like Skye, who didn't have a boyfriend (or girlfriend), but she had those she considered her family, more than anyone who shared her blood too; and many others.

"It's a long road
When you face the world alone
No one reaches out a hand
For you to hold
You can find love
If you search within yourself
And the emptiness you felt
Will disappear."

"And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you..."

On the second level of the viewing deck Nightingale sat on the edge, legs swinging on the air. Her match sat beside her, arms wrapped around her form, palms pressed lightly against her bared stomach (she'd pulled her shirt up); no bump was visible yet, but they both could already feel the growing life inside of her. It was like a dream, like the most perfect dream. Almost like the last 900-odd years hadn't happened, like Tinúviel had never lost her baby, never died herself, Loki'd never gone insane, had never lost his memories... their lives had never been turned upside down. Except all that had indeed happened. And as bad as that part had been, there had been many good things, not the least of which was the Alliance, of which they were an integral part. Only the Higher Powers knew what would have happened if Tinúviel hadn't died and been reincarnated into Nightingale as she was. If she hadn't been born human, allowing the connection to that Realm, allowing them all to join there when it was needed most. Who knew what would have happened then? To everyone they'd grown to know, respect and care for, even for Midgard and the Nine Realms and a whole... Perhaps things really were as they were for a reason...

"Lord knows
Dreams are hard to follow
But don't let anyone
Tear them away
Hold on
There will be tomorrow
In time
You'll find the way."

"And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you
That a hero lies in you...
That a hero lies in you..."

And so the night passed, an end and a new beginning.

The following morning the Aesir would return to Asgard, Loki and Nightingale with them. Jane would join them one day, having earned her place as Thor's bride through her work in Einstein-Rosen-Bridges, the device that had detected the chaos-portal, and many more.

In the following years many other things would be achieved by two or more of their 'sub-teams' working together, and not all of them would be related to fighting villains. After all, there were more than a few genius in a variety of areas, and many people quite willing to help make their world a better place. Together, they could and would change the world...