388Back on STARK Tower, Dr. Selvig was regaining consciousness, lifting himself up off the ground a gash on his head and his nose bleeding. The bright blue light in his eyes fading as the mind controlling energies of the Scepter disappeared. He looked up in shock, seeing chariots flying across the sky, knowing he was the cause of all this.
"Poor Erik. All this chaos. He's gonna blame himself for it." Nora said sadly.
"But maybe there's something he can do to stop the portal. He designed the machine, he should know how to stop it." Ren said hopefully.
Down on the streets, the military was arriving, jeeps with mounted machine guns drove through the rubble littered streets and through alleyways, Marines ferrying people down into subways and out of harm's way as they fought back against the alien invaders.
Steve was on the ground, holding back a Chitauri rifle as its wielder attempted to impale him through the face. He knocked it aside and then threw the soldier into the side of a car, standing up slowly and hearing Hawkeye over the radio. "Captain, the bank on 42nd past MADISON, they cornered a lot of civilians there." The archer informed him.
"I'm on it." Cap confirmed.
"Go, Cap!" Jaune cheered.
"Please... Don't let anyone be hurt." Pyrrha pleaded.
On the main floor of the bank, there were dozens of people huddled together in the middle of the room, while above them were Chitauri soldiers aiming their weapons. They had been herded inside to be exterminated, woman and children could be seen as the people looked up in terror at the monsters.
One of the soldiers drew a rectangular device from its belt and activated it. It clicked open and started emitting a blue light. Leaping in through the window was Captain America, who rolled to his feet and threw his shield towards the Chitauri with the device, striking it in the head and knocking it down. The other two turned and raised their rifles, firing. Steve leapt for cover, behind a overturned wooden desk. He kicked it towards the shooters, knocking one over the edge and another pinned to the railing, both their weapons lost.
"Thank goodness." Ruby said.
"He could not have timed that any better." Blake agreed.
"And he did a masterful job of using the environment to his advantage by pinning them with the table." Ozpin added.
Steve leapt forward and over the desk, punching one and then snapping its neck before tossing it over the railing, the people looking up in shock.
"Everyone! Clear out!" Cap ordered.
The second soldier rushed forward, grabbing Steve in a chokehold and tearing at his face, removing his mask. Steve jabbed him in the kidney as the downed Chitauri stood back up with his rifle in hand. Steve flipped back and over his attacker, using him as a shield to take the hits from the first soldier, who quickly looked down at the device, whose beeping had slowly grown louder and faster. He scrambled for it with his hands.
Steve rolled for his shield, jumping up and shielding his body with the entire circumference as the bomb detonated, throwing him out of the building and on top of a car. He let out a groan as he slowly lifted himself up.
Everyone was on the edge of their seat when the Chitauri grabbed Steve in a chokehold, but cheered when he freed himself and defeated his attacker. "Way to go, Cap!" Velvet cheered.
"And impressive reversal. And the way he shielded himself from the explosion with the relatively small surface area of his shield was very incredible." Winter praised.
"Indeed. It reminded me of Sun when he and Jaune were playing Cannonball." Penny noted.
"Maybe we should call it the Captain-Ball, then!" Yang cheered.
They all winced when he landed on the car, though. "That will likely slow him down for the rest of this battle." Ironwood stated.
Inside, the people were safe, unharmed by the explosion. They quickly evacuated the building and were escorted away by waiting policemen and firefighters. One woman, a waitress, stopped to looked towards Captain America as he stood there, thankful that he had saved her and everyone else.
"But in the end, the civilians are safe. We all know Steve would be more concerned with them than himself." Glynda stated.
"Director Fury, the council has made a decision." The councilwoman declared.
Direction Fury was still on the bridge, speaking with the World Security Council, hands on his hips and looking none too pleased with the proceedings, glaring openly with his one eye at the members of the Council. "I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it." He countered.
Everyone burst out laughing at this. "He just shut them down! I love this guy!" Qrow laughed.
"Still, what could the decision have been, I wonder? If it's that bad for him to word it like that?" Weiss wondered.
"I'm sure they're gonna keep pushing for it anyway, so we're about to find out." Emerald told her.
"Director, you're closer than any of our subs, you scramble that jet..." The first Councilman ordered.
"That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman. Until I'm certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population." Fury told the councilmen with no room for argument.
"They want to bomb their own people?! Are they crazy!?" Coco asked, Ironwood wincing because of his future actions.
"No way! Even I wouldn't go that far!" Neo cried out.
"They can't be allowed to do that. They just can't." Blake said in horror.
But that didn't stop them from trying. "If we don't hold them in the air, we lose everything." The first Councilman insisted.
"I send that bird out, we already have." Fury declared with finality as he shut off his viewscreen, turning away from it, as Maria Hill looked on worried.
"Wow. Fury is epic. Why can't you guys be more like him?" Cinder asked the two headmaster's who both gave her a small glare.
"If only it were so easy to simply dismiss the council in such a way." Ozpin stated.
"I could have saved literal hours from my life if I'd ended things like that every time." Ironwood agreed.
Natasha, still driving the chariot while on the back of the dead driver, was under attack. A shot came in overhead and nearly struck her craft. She looked up towards the one shooting her. She recognizes who it was. "Oh. You." She said worriedly as Loki was in pursuit, firing at her wildly and damaging several buildings along the way.
"Oh, no! Not uncle Loki! Not now!" Nora cried out.
"He's smarter than all these Chitauri. He'll get her if someone doesn't help quick." Winter said with concern.
"Hawkeye!" She called her partner.
Barton saw her, looking on in bewilderment. "Nat, what are you doing?" He asked.
"Uh... a little help!" She requested.
Barton pulled the trigger twice and selected his weapon of choice, drawing the arrow and nocking it in a smooth motion he set up the shot. He took his time now, preparing for the kill shot, he smiled as he zeroed in on his target. "I've got him." Hawkeye declared as he fired the arrow.
The arrow streaked through the air and was right on target, level perfectly with Loki's head. But the Asgardian caught the arrow inches from his head, turning to look at the bolt and then back at its shooter, smirking as if to insult the archer.
"Crap! He caught the arrow!" Jaune said worriedly.
"Oh, yes. So very helpful. Thank you SO much, Hawkeye." Weiss said sarcastically.
Cinder knew there had to be something else planned, though. She'd done something similar against Amber. "Wait for it..." She said.
But the next moment, the arrowhead opened and a beeping sound emitted and the very next moment after that, it exploded. The Chariot exploded as well, smashing into the side of STARK Tower, knocking of the ST on the side of the building while Loki was flung off and onto the balcony. Natasha had also exited her chariot, leaping off the vehicle above the tower and vaulting onto its roof with little effort.
Cinder smirked and crossed her arms. "I knew it." She said confidently.
"Loki's pride worked against him. He didn't think a single arrow could hurt him, so he disregarded it, not realizing it had an EXPLOSIVE in it." Blake said with a giggle.
Neo smiled at this, leaning against Yang. "Hawkeye sure is THE BOMB." She said, laughing as Yang pulled her into a hug.
Orion's head immediately turned backwards at the pun before he summoned a wooden bat in his hand. "No puns!" He called out as he swung it down on Yang's head.
"Ow!" Yang yelled grabbing her head. "Why'd you hit me? She's the one who made the awesome pun!"
"You were her influence therefore it's your fault." He told her.
Loki stood up, looking none too pleased with his pride wounded worse than himself. As he stood up, the Hulk leapt up and barreled into him, knocking the trickster into the penthouse and into the far wall, smashing it and knocking Loki to the floor.
Loki brushed aside his cape and, with a grimace, quickly stood back up as the Hulk moved towards him. "ENOUGH! YOU ARE, ALL OF YOU ARE BENEATH ME!" He declared, to which the Hulk stopped, confused at the sudden outburst.
Qrow whistled at this. "Not gonna lie, Loki's got guts to yell in THE HULK'S face." Qrow admitted.
"That's not gonna end well." Ruby said, eagerly awaiting the Hulk's retaliation.
"I almost feel bad for him. Almost." Velvet said.
"I AM A GOD, YOU DULL CREATURE! AND I WILL NOT BE BULLIED BY..." He continued, but then the Hulk interrupted him mid-speech, taking him by the leg and then violently and brutally smashing him into the floor several times, before lifting the man up to glance at him... and smashing him twice more before tossing him into the floor one last time.
Loki was embedded into the stone floor, unmoving but very much aware. The Hulk then moved off, clearly done with the God, but not before doing one last bit of damage... to Loki's pride. "Puny god." He muttered out, while Loki was still in his crevice in the ground and could do nothing but let out a long, quiet whimper of pain.
Everyone in the audience burst out laughing at this. Even the adults couldn't even try to hold back their laughter, Ironwood bringing his fist down repeatedly on one of his armrests that conveniently appeared for such a purpose and Glynda had to lean against Qrow to prevent herself from falling over from laughter. "That... That was incredible! The way he interrupted Loki, then thrashed him and gave him everything he deserved!" Glynda laughed.
"And the puny god comment at the end! So perfect!" Coco giggled.
"I am SO doing that the next time I fight a Grimm!" Yang said excitedly.
"Puny Grimm." Penny declared, before giggling.
Natasha moved towards the CMS device. "The Scepter…" Selvig told her. Natasha turned, seeing Selvig along the edge of the roof, looking down at something.
"Doctor." Natasha acknowledged him.
"Loki's scepter, the energy...the Tesseract can't fight. You can't protect against yourself." The doctor explained.
"Of course! The scepter and the Tesseract have the same form of energy and the same frequency, so they'd cancel each other out!" Pyrrha realized.
"Finally! Some good news!" Ruby said in relief.
"I'd say Loki getting beaten into the ground was good news, too, but that's also nice." Emerald said.
"It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing." The agent assured him.
"Well, actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source." Erik declared.
"Way to go, Doc! Even when you're out of your mind, you're still a genius!" Yang praised.
"For some part of him to resist or be able to push through and make that safety, he must have incredible mental fortitude." Ozpin said, impressed.
"Loki's scepter." Black Widow realized.
"It might be able to close the portal. And I'm looking right at it." Selvig theorized. Like he said, just over the edge on the balcony below was Loki's scepter.
"Thank goodness it didn't go flying after Clint shot him down, or the Hulk knocked him into the penthouse." Ren said in relief.
"Agreed, but now Black Widow heeds to hurry and retrieve it. There's not a moment to lose!" Winter said urgently.
Thor rode on the back of a chariot, knocking aside the passengers– one who inadvertently killed the driver. As the vehicle careened towards a building, a Leviathan burst from it. Thor was knocked aside by the massive beast, as the building it emerged from began to collapse.
"Darn those things! We'd need an entire Dust mine to be able to destroy one!" Ironwood said angrily.
"They've got to have a weakness in there somewhere." Qrow insisted.
"Tony will find a way. He has to." Jaune said determinedly.
Iron Man flew up beside it and started using his laser to try and cut through its armor, but it failed to do anything. "Sir, we will lose power before you cut through that shell." JARVIS told Tony.
Iron Man pushed ahead of the Leviathan, before quickly turning around and heading straight for it. "JARVIS. You ever hear the tale of Jonah?" Tony asked.
"I wouldn't consider him a role model." JARVIS said in concern.
Everyone looked to their hosts, who pointed back at the screen.
Along Iron Man's legs appeared a series of missiles. He moved forward without changing his course, heading straight for the maw of the giant Leviathan. It let out a roar and its jaw opened wide, yet Tony did not deviate course, only bracing himself.
He flew right into the mouth of the monster, unleashing his arsenal within the belly of the beast, blowing out chunks of its body from within, bursts of flame exploding through the armor, before the tail end of the creature exploded off and Iron Man was catapulted away. He smashed through a bus stop and into the side of a taxi.
"No way!" Blake cried out.
"Is he insane?!" Weiss shrieked.
"That was so awesome!" Ruby cheered.
"Of course! We've seen that these creatures still have flesh, meaning their soft insides must be far more vulnerable than their exoskeletons, so by unleashing his massive arsenal on the inside, where the damage is also localized and unable to properly disperse, its all condensed on the inside to do massive damage! It's incredibly risky, but also genius!" Penny deduced.
"Well, clearly it worked out in the end." Winter said.
As he stood up, a group of Chitauri soldiers open fired, pushing him back and knocking him to the ground. He was still dazed as they advanced on him with the intent to kill.
"Tony! No!" Velvet cried out.
"Oh, come on! He just flew through a whale, give him a minute!" Coco shouted at them.
"Looks like these guys have never heard the expression fair fight." Neo said with a glare.
"It's unfortunate, but Iron Man likely has brought down the largest number of them, due to being in the fight for the longest time. With the defeat of that last whale, he has likely become their greatest threat, so now would be the time to capitalize on his weakness." Ozpin explained.
On the rooftop, a Chitauri soldier snuck up on Barton, but he turned quickly and killed it before it could do the same to him. Another climbed over the side of the building as Barton reached for an arrow, but quickly glanced back to see he had none left. He then stepped forward and uses his bow as a staff to knock the Chitauri over the edge.
Hearing the sound of Chariots, he turned to see a sizable fleet approaching his position. He was in trouble. He rushed over to the downed soldier, ripping the arrow from its head and placing it back in his quiver, quickly selecting his final arrowhead as the Chariots began opening fire. He leapt over the side of the building, turning in the air to fire at the the arrow at the side of the building.
Cinder groaned. "Running out of arrows was always a pain. I learned to work around that by using my semblance to make arrows, but if I use a bow like his with custom arrowheads, that could be a problem again." She said.
"Sadly, it seems like Mr. Barton will no longer be able to continue the fight. Without his arrows, I'm not sure how effective he can still be. It certainly seems like his only plan at the moment is to disengage from battle." Glynda realized.
"He did an excellent job. He's earned the right to leave the battle." Pyrrha declared.
The arrow latched onto the side of the building as he grappled down the side of building, the line going taut as he smashed through the window. He rolled to a stop, letting out a groan of pain as he landed on his back and was unable to stand up.
The Hulk was smashing two soldiers into the ground and tossing aside others, until he was struck in the back by a beam. He turned and a fleet of chariots were all positioned over him, all opening fire and overwhelming him with energy blasts. The Hulk staggered back, raising his hands to shield himself from the blasts as he let out a roar of pain.
"Hulky, no!" Yang and Nora cried out, holding their respective crushes close to them.
"All this time, more and more Chitauri have been coming. And the Avengers can only fight for so long. They're getting worn out. Even the Hulk has limits." Emerald said worriedly.
"Something has to be done before its too late. Romanoff needs to close the portal." Ironwood said, tightening his fist, fearing what would happen if the Chitauri's numbers kept rising as the Avengers continued to tire.
In the Helicarrier, a lone pilot was preparing his craft for takeoff. He was being spoken to by one of the members of the World Security Council. "Director Fury is no longer in command. Override order, 7 ALPHA 11." The councilwoman ordered.
"Those double-crossing scumbags!" Winter snapped.
"Of course, when the council doesn't get their way, they simply overrule a decision in order to get their way in the end." Ozpin said in annoyance.
"I would agree, but having two seats on the council has always helped me achieve what I needed, even if it did come with irritatingly long speeches from Sleet and Camilla about me having such power." Ironwood said. "Still, for them to take direct control like this, especially knowing what they have planned..." He began.
"It's madness... Glynda said in horror.
"7 ALPHA 11, confirmed. Prepare to takeoff." The pilot confirmed.
Back in the bridge, Agent Hill saw on her screen the pilot preparing to leave. "Sir, we have a bird in motion! Anyone on the deck, we have a rogue bird! We need to shut it down! Repeat! Take off is not authorized!" She ordered whoever could answer.
Fury ran from the bridge, moving for the deck with a RPG-7 in hand. He came to the deck as soon as the pilot was taking off. He fired and was able to disable the craft without destroying it.
"Nice hustle, Fury!" Nora cheered.
"And he didn't even destroy the whole thing or kill the pilot. Not bad at all." Qrow praised.
"This feels too easy..." Neo said uncertainly.
But another craft was taking off on the second runway. He drew his pistol but the craft was too far off of it to be of any use.
"They loaded up two planes! The first was only a diversion!" Penny cried out.
"It's disturbing how deeply they planned this. Back up plans for their back up plans. That's villain levels of planning." Cinder said suspiciously.
"Well, they're definitely not good guys. That's for sure." Ruby pouted.
Nick Fury returned to the ship, closing the door behind him and contacting Tony. "Stark, you hearing me? We have a missile headed straight for the city." He alerted the billionaire.
"How long?" Tony asked as he tried to stand back up, but was knocked down by a Chitauri, slamming the butt of its weapon on his head. Around him, the rest continued to harass him, shooting and bludgeoning him while he tried to force them back with his repulsors, but he was having a hard time doing so.
"Three minutes, at best. Stay low and intercept the missile." Fury instructed.
"JARVIS, put everything we got into the thrusters!" Tony ordered as he fought back with more vigor, getting back to his feet and launching himself into the air.
"I just did." JARVIS declared.
"Hurry, Tony! Please!" Pyrrha cried out.
"He has to stop it. There's no other way." Cinder said.
"You got this, chrome dome." Coco declared.
The Jet arrived off the coast, heading towards the city. He flipped the switch to press the button, a hatch opening beneath the craft and releasing a single missile. "Package is sent. Detonation is in 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Mark." The pilot declared. A wide shot of New York was seen, the city was massive, much of the inner city was destroyed, but for miles, buildings remain standing. Soon they would be reduced to rubble.
Captain America and Thor fought side by side, their weapons returning to their hands. Captain America turned to knock aside a Chitauri soldier while Thor stepped forward to knock back another. They continued to battle, fighting against the horde of invaders non-stop, until Steve took a shot to the stomach that sent him to the ground.
Thor stepped forward, using Mjolnir to block several shot before swinging his hammer against a car and sending it rolling towards the oncoming Chitauri. He turned and threw it towards another. For a moment, there was a lull in the battle, enough for Captain America to slowly rise back to his feet, Thor offering a hand to his comrade.
Everyone winced as Steve was shot, but smiled as Thor came to his aid. "Alright, Dad!" Nora cheered.
"Blocking the lasers was impressive enough on its own, but flipping the car and throwing his hammer at several more was amazing!" Velvet said happily.
"Still, the way Steve is taking more hits and Thor is fighting more physically instead of flinging his hammer everywhere, it's clear signs that they are tiring. This fight has to end soon." Winter analyzed in concern.
"You ready for another bout?" Thor asked.
"What? You gettin' sleepy?" Steve bantered as Thor scoffed and called back Mjolnir, preparing for the next wave of attackers.
Everyone smiled at the comradery.
Selvig, was preparing the equipment to shut down the CMS, while Black Widow stepped forward with the Scepter in her hand. She pushed the Scepter in and through the portal. It breached through and drew closer to the Tesseract. "I can close it! Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" She informed them all.
"Do it!" Cap ordered.
"No, wait!" Tony interrupted.
"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve reminded him.
"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute." Tony explained as he was flying over the water, his sensors finding the rocket as it passed over Verrazano Bridge. As it passed over, he quickly ascended and gave chase. "And I know just where to put it." He declared as he caught up to the missile and he positioned himself beneath it, grabbing hold of it.
"Is he going to try to fly it into the portal!?" Emerald asked in horror.
"He can't! There's no way he'd survive! His suits haven't demonstrated the capacity for space travel, but the missile might catch him in the explosion from whatever it hits!" Penny said worriedly.
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip?" Steve pointed out.
"Save the rest for return, Jay." Tony said casually.
"Sir. Shall I call Miss Potts?" JARVIS asked.
"You might as well." Tony said, sounding quite scared, likely knowing that this was going to be his final moments alive. In a Private Jet outside the city, Pepper, along with the crew watched the events unfolding in New York in horror. Behind Pepper on the windowsill was her phone, vibrating, but it could not be heard.
"You dolt! Get your phone! This may be your last chance to talk to Tony!" Wiess cried out.
"And that is why, if your phone is on vibrate, you keep it in your pocket, or stay next to it!" Neo said in annoyance.
Back in the bridge, every single agent held their breath as they, too, watched the reports from the news on the situation in the city.
Tony guided the missile down Park Avenue, towards the tower and, as he drew close to it, arced upwards and towards portal. With a final push, he was able to make it turn completely vertical, making a beeline for the portal. Everyone watched on in bated breath.
As Iron Man and the nuclear device vanished through the portal, everyone on the bridge cheered, he had saved the day. Maria Hill let out a pent up breath, while Fury gave a small smile that vanished as the weight of the sacrifice hit.
"The city is safe, but Tony... he might not make it back." Blake said worriedly.
"It's the sad truth everyone must face. In war, there will always be sacrifices." Ironwood said solemnly.
On the opposite side of the Portal, deep in space, Tony was still guiding the missile forward. Tony took a gasping breath, his suit too damaged, or not designed for space faring, could not handle the vacuum. Jarvis tried to speak, but the connection to the AI was cut, along with the phone call to Pepper being disconnected.
"Well it looks like you're about to witness the capability of the nuclear bomb." Orion said looking at Katana. "They should consider themselves lucky they don't have the elements or technology on Remnant to create it."
"Definitely. There are already too many places that are hard, if not impossible to live in. They don't need nukes making that area even smaller." Katana agreed.
The suit began to power down, Tony going limp within the suit as he slowly began to die. Tony could still see, watching as more waves of Leviathans and Chariots approached the portal. Behind them, a large spaceship waiting. The missile continuing towards it and struck its center mass, resulting it a brilliant explosion that swallowed it whole.
"Ya did good, Stark. Ya did good." Qrow praised.
"I believe Captain America would change his words now. Tony truly is a hero." Ozpin declared.
Back on Earth, the Chitauri seemed to be affected by the ships destruction, sparks moving across their bodies before they keeled over. Even the Leviathans in the sky jerked violently before falling towards the earth with a guttural roar.
"Wait, what?" Coco asked.
"They all just died?" Velvet asked as well.
"They acted like our Atlesian Knights when the terminal controlling them is damaged or destroyed." Ironwood noted.
"So, the Chitauri are robots?" Emerald asked.
Katana wiggled her hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. "They are organic, but their warriors usually are cybernetically enhanced at an early age with electronic neural networks and armor fused into their bodies. And they have a hive-mind, which is controlled by that Mother Ship. So, if it's destroyed, so are all of them." She explained.
"As long as it gets rid of them all, I'm happy." Blake said.
Tony continued to fall away, his eyes closing as he drifted back towards the portal. Back on the ground, Natasha looked up for any sign of the Armored Avenger emerging from the portal. "Come on, Stark..." She said hopefully. (Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha repeated this)
Thor and Cap saw the supernova approaching through the portal, knowing they didn't have time to waste. Thor looked towards Steve, a silent suggestion made, there was no time left to wait. "Close it." Steve said sadly.
Without hesitating, Black Widow pushed the scepter forward and towards the Tesseract. As soon as the scepter touched the cube, the energy discharge ceased and the portal began to close. The threshold closed quickly and just as it did, Iron Man was pulled through in the nick of time as the wave of force from the nuclear explosion encompassed the area where the portal once laid.
"He made it!" Ruby cheered.
"Thank goodness!" Pyrrha sighed in relief, the two girls hugging each other in relief.
"Uh, guys... He's still unconscious." Jaune reminded them.
Iron Man was plummeting towards the earth, Everyone looking up in relief to know he was alive and back. "Son of a gun!" Cap said. But it soon became clear that he wasn't in control, he was falling without any resistance.
Thor realized this and began to wind up his hammer. "He's not slowing down." He said. But before Thor could leap up to save Tony, the Hulk leapt through the air and caught him, slamming into the nearby building to try and stop their descent, but when that failed the Hulk leapt off and to the ground, using his own body to cushion the fall as they landed.
"Hurry, Dad!" Nora cried out as Thor prepared to take off.
However, they were all caught off-guard when Hulk saved him instead. "That works, too." Ren admitted.
"Aww, yeah! Hulk for the win! Great work, big guy! Tony totally called it when he said there was a reason you survived!" Yang said happily.
"An excellent idea to soften Tony's landing with your own body as well, Hulk. Even with your descent somewhat slowed by slamming into the building and the armor, the speed from Tony's landing would still have likely caused massive injury." Penny praised the way Hulk protected his teammate.
As they landed, the Hulk unceremoniously tossed Tony to the ground beside him. Thor and Captain America rushed forward, the former turning Stark on his back and prying away the faceplate on the helmet. Steve tried to listen to a heartbeat, but was unable to hear anything. The three stood over him, motionless, uncertain what to do.
Then the Hulk yelled at Tony. The moment that happened, he woke up with a gasp and scream. Proud of himself, the Hulk let out a mighty roar, while Steve looked on, relieved that Tony was alive. Thor was momentarily surprised, but smiled when he realized that he was alive and well.
Ruby, Yang, Neo and Nora couldn't help but chuckle as Hulk just threw Tony off of him. "Yes, I'm sure that's great for your unconscious, potentially dying teammate." Cinder said sarcastically.
"Eh. I'm sure he's fine. He's in armor, anyway." Neo said confidently to hider her concern for the billionaire.
"Oh, come on! Have none of you heard of CPR or mouth-to-mouth?!" Weiss demanded.
"Weiss, he's in armor. I don't think CPR would work.." Winter reminded her.
"And do you really want THE HULK trying CPR on you?" Blake asked.
"You didn't object about the mouth-to-mouth, Blake." Yang teased again.
Then they were all surprised as Tony woke up from the roar. "I... suppose that worked." Ironwood said.
"Still, I'd recommend the Avengers have a full class on basic medical training after this." Glynda stated.
"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?" Tony questioned.
"We won." Steve declared.
Tony sighed in relief at this, before coming up with a goofy response. "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." He suggested.
"Shawarma, huh? Any good?" Emerald asked.
Katana made everyone a plate with a couple of Shawarma wraps. "Ooh, looks pretty tasty." Ruby said.
"Let's just dig in already! I'm hungry after all that action!" Nora cried out, chowing down on her first wrap.
"We're not finished yet." Thor reminded him.
Tony nodded at this. "And then shawarma after." He said.
Loki was crawling across the floor, clearly in pain. He then heard something and slowly turned around to see everyone standing over him, Hawkeye with a bow pointed right at his face as everyone else glowered at the trickster, who could do nothing but sag on the step.
"Yeah, you're done, Loki. Even if the Hulk wasn't there, Hawkeye's already got that arrow waiting to take you out." Coco warned him.
"I bet Hawkeye just wants him to try something. I certainly would." Cinder said with a smirk.
"If it's all the same to you. I'll have that drink now." Loki stated.
The Hulk heckled at the comment, but nobody moved and inch to accommodate him.
"Honestly, he could probably use one after everything he went through. Not just with Hulk, but also Hawkeye and Thor." Velvet pointed out.
"Even if he was mind-controlled, he's the enemy in control of the army that nearly destroyed their city. A drink is the last thing ANYONE should offer him." Ironwood declared.
Weeks later after the attack, there was a series of images on the event as well as the Avengers. "Despite the devastation, what has been confirmed as an extra-terrestrial attack, the extraordinary heroics of the group known as the Avengers has been to many a cause not only to…" A TV reporter... well, reported, as some images showed the cleanup of the aftermath of the attack, with another showed a candlelight vigil for those that had been lost. Another showed people celebrating in the streets after the attack and weapon iconography of Captain America's shield.
Everyone bowed their heads in respect as the vigil was shown, but smiled as the celebrations were shown. "Man, too bad they couldn't be there. They deserve it after all they did." Jaune said.
"I'm sure everyone's recognition and gratitude, along with knowing that they saved the world was enough for them." Pyrrha assured him.
"Not for me! I'd want to party!" Nora declared, causing everyone to laugh.
People were singing their praises to the heroes, others were worried about them existing. The idea of these people having these kinds of power was frightening, questioning if there was more that they didn't know. "Superheroes? In New York? Give me a break!" Stan Lee scoffed.
"Stan Lee!" The students all called.
"These so called heroes have to be held responsible for the destruction done to the city. This was their fight. Where are they now?" A senator demanded.
"Are you kidding me!? The destruction happened WAY before they showed up! And if they didn't, there wouldn't be a city anymore! How can you possibly insinuate the are at all responsible for the damage?!" Weiss demanded.
"Well, Tony was there and suited up before the Chitauri appeared, but I still agree with you, Weiss." Winter agreed.
The Avengers gathered in a park, cordoned off by shield agents as they were escorting Loki somewhere. He had been handcuffed and muzzled.
The waitress Steve saved was then being interviewed. "What? That this was somehow their fault? Captain America saved my life. Wherever he is, wherever any of them are, I just wanna say thank you." She stated.
"Ooh, I wonder just how she plans to thank him." Yang said suggestively. "What do you think, Blakey?" She asked her partner teasingly.
"Sh-shut up, Yang." Blake said, looking away with a blush, knowing full well Yang knew what she was thinking.
"Real mature, Xiao Long." Emerald said, blocking Yang's view of the Faunus princess.
In a meeting with the World Security Council, Fury had them listen to the testimonials from the people that were saved because of the Avengers. Despite this, they did not look pleased. "Where are the Avengers?" The third councilman demanded.
"I'm not currently tracking their whereabouts. I'd say they've earned a leave of absence." Fury told him.
"After all that, a vacation is the least you could give them." Qrow said, several others nodding in agreement.
"And the Tesseract?" The councilwoman asked.
"The Tesseract is where it belongs: out of our reach." Nick explained as Bruce was picking up the Tesseract and placing it within a device in Thor's hands.
"Good idea. If there's one place the Tesseract doesn't belong, it's on Earth." Glynda agreed.
"We've already seen that Asgard has a big vault full of powerful weapons Odin took away from other people. Looks like Thor's continuing the tradition." Neo agreed.
"That's not your call." The first councilman told him.
"I didn't make it. I just didn't argue with the god that did." Fury explained.
"Yeah! You don't want to argue with my dad, do ya!?" Nora challenged.
"I wouldn't mind seeing him tap his hammer on the councilman's head and watch him drop like a bag of cement." Cinder said with a smirk.
"It belonged to Asgard first, it should be returned to them." Velvet agreed.
Thor placed a hand on Selvig's shoulder as he wished his friend goodbye. Barton was staring at Loki intently, when Natasha walked up and whispered something in his ear, causing him to grin.
"So you let him take it and the war criminal, Loki, who should be answering for his crimes?" The first councilman asked.
"Oh, I think he will be." Fury assured the councilman as Thor held out the device to Loki, who reluctantly grabbed hold of it. Thor turned to the others and nods his head to them all. He twisted the handle of the device and both him and Loki were ensnared by the Tesseracts energies and teleported away, back to Asgard.
"I hope he won't be punished too harshly. We know he was under someone else's control." Ruby said.
"Still, he seemed to have far more control than the others. That likely suggests some form of willingness." Weiss reminded her partner.
"And technically, he never answered for the whole 'almost destroying Jotunheim' thing." Yang added.
"I don't think you understand what you've started. Letting the Avengers loose on this world. They're dangerous." The councilwoman warned him as the Avengers began dispersing, Tony shaking Steve's hand as Natasha gave Bruce a bag from the back of her car. Natasha and Barton got in their car while Tony and Bruce hopped into the maroon sports car. Steve got on his bike and drove off.
"Are they forgetting that at least half of the Avengers work for them? Romanoff and Barton are high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agents, Rogers clearly accepts missions from Fury, so he must work for them as well and Stark is a consultant who works closely with them as well. The only two that don't are Thor and Banner. And while I suppose they are technically the most dangerous of the group, both of them clearly only want peace with Earth... As long as Banner is in control." Ironwood said.
"Not to mention, Barton and Romanoff are average human being with exceptional skills, but anyone who trains long enough could easily become just like them. And even Rogers, while being physically enhanced, still has the same capacity for damage as a normal human." Winter added.
"Still, the belief that there are individuals like them out there is enough to give some people pause." Ozpin explained.
"Right. Like when people first found out about Faunus. A little disturbing to see something that looks just like you, but with claws, fangs or horns." Qrow said with a nod, holding up a hand to Blake to ensure he meant no offense.
"They surely are. And the whole world knows it. Every world knows it." Fury stated with finality.
"Was that the point of all this? A statement?" The first councilman asked.
"A promise." Fury declared, before he shut down the monitors and walked out, towards the bridge. Fury and Agent Hill walked together, toward the window looking out into the world.
"Sir, how does it work now? They've gone their separate ways, some pretty extremely far. We get into a situation like this again, what happens then?" Maria asked.
"Again, half of them work for you and Stark lives in giant buildings with his name on the sides of them. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't have a hard time finding them." Emerald said.
"And even if they didn't, they all clearly seem to live in New York. With S.H.I.E.L.D's wide array of surveillance methods, it should be easy to keep track of them all." Penny added.
"I think they're just trying to be dramatic." Ren told them.
"They'll come back." Fury stated confidently.
"You really sure about that?" Hill questioned.
"I am." Nick confirmed.
"Why?" The second-in-command inquired one final time.
"Because we'll need them to." The Director declared one final time.
"I like that. The idea that heroes will come together when they're needed most to do what's right." Pyrrha said with a smile.
"Yeah. It's an awesome concept, like you call they're name and they'll be there." Jaune agreed.
"I'd like to be that, just be cruising around, hear someone call for me and deck whatever Grimm might be coming at them." Yang agreed.
Agent Hill didn't seem to understand, but did not question it, leaving it up to faith. As she turned, around Fury looked out through the window, smiling.
Inside STARK Tower, Tony and Pepper were preparing the new design for the tower, scaffolding and construction crew already present doing the work to retrofit the penthouse. As the view pulled out to where the STARK used to be, revealing the giant A remained.
"I get it! That A is like the one in the title! So that tower is gonna be like the Avenger's headquarters! Awesome!" Ruby cheered.
"A bit obvious, but I suppose that's a nice idea, for them to have a large tower looking over the entire city. It could stand as a reminder that they're up there watching." Blake said with a smile.
"Yeah. I bet Cap won't call it a big, ugly building then." Coco said with a smirk.
In the vastness of space, where Loki once pledged his allegiance to whomever gave him the Scepter, The Other spoke to his master, kneeling before the throne.
"Oh, great. These guys again." Coco grumbled.
"Yeah, Loki's getting punished, but the guy who forced him to do it is Scott-free." Jaune said angrily.
"Still, perhaps this will give us the chance to see who truly is behind this." Ozpin reminded his students.
"Humans. They are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. And they are unruly and therefore they cannot be ruled." The Other explained as someone stood from the Throne, looking out onto the vast darkness of space.
"To challenge them is to court death." The Other warned. Turning to look at him was a purple-skinned man, his eyes glowing blue and a cruel grin appearing on his face. The thought alone, seemed to excite him.
Everyone was shocked and horrified by this man's appearance. Blake and Velvet even jumped behind the couch, their predatory senses telling them to run as far as they could. "Th-that's the person behind all this?" Velvet asked fearfully.
"Yes. That is the Mad Titan, Thanos." Katana confirmed.
"And he's trying to take over the Earth? The universe?" Winter asked.
"Oh don't worry, you'll see everything when you are ready to see it." Katana assured them.
"You're evil!" They all cried.
Back on Earth, not long after the battle. The heroes were sitting at a table eating some Shawarma. They didn't speak, just ate in silence, too tired and worn out by it all to really say anything. Was the food any good? No one would know. How was this place still open?
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at this. "Oh, my god! They actually went and got Shawarma!" Yang laughed.
"Well, when Tony wants something, it's pretty difficult to stop him from getting it." Blake said.
"Well, I hope it's the best food they've ever had. They deserve it after all this." Pyrrha declared.
"If they were to have done something on that magnitude on Remnant, I would make sure they ate free at any restaurant on Atlas for life." Ironwood decreed.
"So, are we ready to watch the HISHE?" Katana asked.
Cinder had been quiet for a while, but finally spoke up. "Actually... I need to be excused for a minute..." She said, her breath sounding slightly hitched as she quickly made her way to the bathroom, her body slightly, but still visibly shaking before she closed the door behind her.