Victoria

"Is Stark already there?" Asked Steve.

"I believe so." Said Natasha. "What the fu-." She muttered and we stood from our seats to approach the cockpit. Through the glass we were able to see a ray of blue energy emerging from Stark Tower's roof. I bent down a little and saw a hole in the sky.
"It's the portal." I said, cutting her off.

"And those things flying down are...aliens?" Asked Steve.

"Yeah, the Chitauri army Thor mentioned."

"I think I'll have to give you another ten bucks, Carter." I hummed in response.

"Oh, this is gonna be a hell of a story." Said Barton.

"Yeah, if you live to tell it, pa." I said and Clint looked over his shoulder at me, grinning. As he chuckled, I patted his shoulder and Natasha opened the communication channel and we all synched up with it.

"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast." She informed.

"What? Did you stop for drive-through?" Asked Stark, sarcastically. I rolled my eyes, amused, nonetheless. "Swing up Park. I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

  When Tony flew past us, Natasha opened fire at the Chitauri, destroying most of the alien ships. When Clint flew upwards, Nat kept on blasting them. Soon enough, we reached the top of the tower, we spotted Thor fighting Loki at the terrace.

"Nat?" Said Clint.

"I see him. Level up." Clint set the jet in front of the Gods and opened fire, but Loki also fired at us. The blast of the sceptre hitting one of the turbines of the jet. The ship jerked and we grunted at the sudden movement. Steve and I almost lost balance, I held on to his arm and he brought me closer as he held on to one of the holders in the ceiling, his arm around my waist.

  The ship crashed a couple of minutes later on the ground, thankfully, our skilled pilot managed to land it —sort of— avoiding it from blowing up with us in it. The momentum brought Steve and I to the floor.

"Everyone alright?" Asked Barton. Steve was laying on the floor while I was on top of him. We looked at each other and I cleared my throat as I stood up and offered a hand, which Rogers took for me to pull him up, I noticed his breath was too agitated.

"We're good." I said. "Everyone's got what they need?" Clint assembled his bow and Natasha nodded. I nodded back as Steve took his shield.

"Let's go." He said and we got out of the Quinjet. The city was a chaos; crashed cars, people screaming and running everywhere, and aliens flying around. Straight out of a science-fiction movie.

"We gotta get back up there." Said Steve as we ran towards Stark tower. As we approached, we heard some sort of loud mechanical growl coming from the sky. The four of us stopped the run and looked up, from the hole came out a giant beast, as well as plenty more aliens in small ships.

"Is that...an alien whale?" I asked.

"Looks like it." Clint said. I almost laughed.

"Shit." I muttered as it flew over our heads. I spotted aliens jumping out of the whale-like alien to get in the buildings. Apparently, that thing was used as transport, it wasn't only a gigantic beast.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Rogers asked Tony.

"Seeing. Still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he showed up yet?"

"Banner?"

"Just keep me posted." One of the aliens blew up a car near us, forcing us into taking cover behind a taxi that was near us on the road.

"We've got civilians still trapped up here." Barton informed us as he looked at a bus that was on one side of the bridge we were on. That's when another wave of aliens on speeders flew over us, shooting the buildings below.

"Loki." I said when I saw a man wearing a horned helmet on one of the speeders. He blew up cars and aimed at the people on the streets.

"They're fish in a barrel down there." Steve said as he looked at the civilians behind us. When I moved slightly up, I dodged a blast of energy that almost blew my head off.

"Bad guys, twelve o'clock." I said as I drew out my guns and moved to a car that's upside down to the left, Rogers staying with me while Barton and Nat took cover on the opposite side behind a van. I got out of hiding to shoot back, killing one of those things.

"Barton and I've got this." Said Nat to me over the gun and blast fire, my eyes questioning her, but the redhead nodded before I looked back at the front to fire at the aliens. "It's good. Go." I looked at her.

"You sure?" She nodded again.

"Do you think you can hold them off?" Asked Steve as he got ready to get up.

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Said Clint. He stood and fired an arrow that took out four aliens at once.

"On three?" Steve asked me.

"Just jump." I said and ran towards the stone railing. Steve ran with me as Natasha covered our back and we jumped off the bridge we were at. I landed on a traveling bus and rolled over it's ceiling as the Chitauri fired at us, their blasts on our hills, destroying the hood below our feet. Steve and I pressed the run and jumped off the bus before it got blown up, landing on a car and sliding down its hood just to run down the street.

  We ran and jumped over cars, dodging blasts from the aliens as we went, screaming over the loud noise ideas to get the people to safety eventually coming up with a plan. Further down, we spotted police cars blocking the street. We headed towards them. Steve landed on top of a car while I slid down it to push an officer out of the way before he was hit by one of the blasts.

"You need men in these buildings." I told them as I pointed to the buildings on each side of the avenue. "There are people inside and they're going to be running right into the line of fire."

"Take them to the basements or through the subway." Steve suggested. "But you gotta keep them off the streets. We need a perimeter as far back as 39th." The officers looked at each other confused.

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" Said the police Captain. Behind us, a blast echoed.

"Incoming." Said Steve as we turned around, soon, the aliens were coming at us fast. I shot two of them while Steve engaged combat with another pair of them. I climbed up one of the alien's back and electrocuted its neck.

"Rogers!" I called Steve when I saw a big alien with what seemed like a blaster aiming at his head in the distance, he turned around and I threw my gun at him as he threw the shield at an alien behind me. I caught the shield midair as it returned due to the momentum and used it to cover myself from a blast that an alien sent my way. I heard Steve fighting off one of the aliens and blocked another blast before hitting the alien with the shield.

"Back at ya!" He called. I threw the shield back to Steve and he threw back my gun. I caught the weapon and shot one of the aliens in the head while Rogers sliced the arm of one of the aliens with its own weapon, disarming it and hit it with the shield, knocking it out.

We looked back at the cops and the Captain was already repeating the orders Steve had given him. Steve and I looked at each other and he smiled at me. "You're...amazing." He said, making me blush. I smiled at the ground, then at him.

"You're pretty cool, too, Cap." Steve chuckled.

"Did you practice with the shield before I woke up?"

"Maybe?" I answered with a timid shrug, his smile widened. "Hope you don't mind." He started shaking his head.

"Not at all. Not one bit. Actually, I think it's pretty neat." I tilted my head, still smiling, and let out a chuckle.

"Good. Should we head back?" He scoffed and we started running back to where we had left Natasha and Clint.

  Both agents were fighting off the aliens smoothly, but they were about to get overrun by those filthy things. We climbed up a pile of cars and jumped onto the bridge. I slid down the ground and shot two aliens while Natasha disarmed one of them and proceeded to kill three, Cap hit a couple with his shield while Barton took out four at the same time again.

  I kept the guns in the holsters and pulled out the batons, fighting the aliens off, closely. I assembled the staff of the batons to avoid one of the aliens that tried to attack me from above with it's own staff and managed to kick him away, that's when they were electrocuted by lightning. Thor landed before us a second later and the first minutes of calm arrived, but I knew it wouldn't last long.

"What's the story upstairs?" Asked Steve.

"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable." Thor informed.

"Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys." Stark said in our earpieces as a few alien ships zoomed by. My eyes found the portal in the sky.

"How do we do this?" Asked Nat.

"As a team." Rogers replied. I rolled my eyes at the clichéd comment with a smile.

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor commented.

"Yeah? Well, get in line." Barton said as he adjusted the tip of his arrows. I scoffed.

"That makes three." I muttered as I reloaded one of my guns.

"Save it." Said Steve. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild." Rogers walked a few steps away and we followed him. "We got Stark up top. He's going to need us to-" A motorcycle engine called our attention, a known man parked the vehicle a few meters away and we approached him.

"So, this all seems horrible." Banner commented.

"No shit, Sherlock." I said.

"I've seen worse." Natasha said as she shrugged.

"Sorry." Bruce apologised.

"No, we could use a little worse."

"Stark, we got him." Steve informed.

"Banner?" Asked Tony.

"Positive." I affirmed. "Just like you said."

"Well, tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." I frowned, my eyes finding Rogers by instinct, his blue orbs engaging with mine quickly. Further in the back, we spotted Stark flying towards us, the giant alien whale following behind.

"I- I don't see how that's a party." Natasha commented.

"Yeah, it's missing the balloons and confetti." I added. Tony flew low and the whale followed him, moving over the concrete, then Stark flew past us. Banner turned away from us and started to approach that thing.

"Doctor Banner," Steve called. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Captain." Said Bruce as he looked at us over his shoulder. "I'm always angry." He turned back at the beast as he transformed into the Hulk. With one fist, he managed to stop the alien thing, its tail going up due to the momentum it had. It was being turned around and could crush us if it fell over us, but there was no time to run.

  I looked at Steve, his blue eyes already on me once again. He extended his hand and I ran at him. Steve pulled me close, his arm wrapping my waist as he squeezed me to his chest to cover us with the shield as Stark blew the alien up.

  Steve groaned and stayed on the ground. I looked up at him, he was breathing heavily. "Steve?" I called. He had his jaw stuck together and his eyes shut. "Steve." The aliens started raining on us. "Cover me!" I said to Nat and Clint, they nodded as I pulled Steve towards a car to take cover and cover our flank. "Steve, look at me." Steve's eyes were everywhere, on the aliens blowing up things, the people screaming in the distance, he was overwhelmed. I realised he felt like he was back in the war he woke up from.

"I can't breathe." He said and I kept the batons in their holster to remove his helmet. "I can't."

"Look at me." His breath was very uneven. "Steve, look at me." I cupped his cheeks and his eyes engaged with mine, his shoulders fell with relief as he suddenly stopped breathing. "That's it." I nodded.

"I'm not back there, am I?"

"No, you're not. You're fighting another battle, you're leading a team and we're here for you. We have your back." He nodded. "I have your back." He nodded again. "Stay with me."

"Always." He exhaled, making me smile.

"It'll be over soon, I'm sure of it. Just push through. I've got you." I looked behind me and nodded at Natasha when she looked my way, then I turned back at Steve. He put on his helmet again and held on to his shield tighter as we both stood up.

As the beast was destroyed to pieces above us, we stood up, hearing the aliens that were on the buildings screech as they looked at us. All seven of us formed a circle looking up at them and getting ready. Hulk roared as I reloaded the other gun I had and looked up.

"Guys." I called as my eyes got glued to the sky. "Second wave, incoming." I added as more of those aliens came in through the portal.

"Call it, Captain." Said Stark. I looked at Steve, he breathed in and out, then sent his shoulders back and the image of Captain America returned to us.

"Alright, listen up." Steve said as he looked at the sky, too. The tone of authority returning and replacing the frightened voice he had a moment ago. "Until we can close that portal our priority is containment." Steve turned to look at the team. "Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it into ash."

"Can you get me a lift?" Barton asked Tony.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Stark held Barton's quiver and both flew up and away.

"See? I'm not the only one making pop culture references." I said to Natasha, who rolled her eyes at me, a soft smile on her lips.

"Thor, you got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Thor nodded, spun the hammer and flew off the ground, too. Steve turned to Nat and I. "You two are staying with me on the ground. We keep fighting from here." We nodded as he turned to Hulk. "And Hulk...smash." Hulk smiled at Steve before he impulsed itself up with one jump, landing on the buildings and killing off the aliens that were there.

"More aliens." Natasha informed and we took cover. This assault wave was stronger, faster, angrier. I shot them and took them down repeatedly, but they were far more aggressive and tough to kill than the prior ones.

I used the batons and electrocuted them to fight them faster before I assembled the staff again and fought two of those guys, electrocuting them one by one. That's when one of the aliens tackled me and pinned me to the ground, he placed his spear up and got ready to impale my head to the concrete, but Steve pushed him away and hit the alien's head with the shield, taking him out.

"Are you okay?" I nodded as he extended his hand and pulled me up.

"Thank you." He nodded back.

"I've got you." He echoed my words from earlier, making me smile. We approached Natasha, who panted against a car, tired.

"Captain, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Said Nat as we looked up at the sky, more of those nasty aliens flying out of it.

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it." Said Steve. I thought for a moment, then I thought of a possible solution.

"Well, maybe it's not about our guns. Or guns at all." I commented as I disarmed the staff and kept the batons in place, my eyes glued to the portal. Steve looked at me.

"If you wanna get up there, you're going to need a ride." He said as a new wave of aliens ran at us. I turned around to face him and saw the aliens in their speeder-looking-ships flying towards where we were.

"I got a ride." Steve looked up. "I could use a boost, though." Each one of us walked to the opposite sides of the bridge.

"You sure about this?" Rogers got ready, holding the shield with both hands in front of him.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun." I waited for them to close in even more, to fly above us.

"Hey, uh, you...didn't give me an answer about that coffee date." He said to me.

"Right." I felt a wave of nervousness washing over me. In my experience, dates didn't really go well and, due to my past, I tend to slam doors closed and reject the idea of love because it's something that I don't really know. Not properly, at least. I only have a vague memory of it. Natasha and Sharon have been telling me to let myself go and jump off the cliff from time to time, I wondered if this was the right time. And I guess it is because we don't really know if we were going to make it out alive, there was an uncertainty that just made it feel right to say yes. Jump, then fall. "Sure. When?" I nodded with a smile. Steve smiled back at me.

"Does Friday sound good to you?" I scoffed.

"Yeah. Just don't be late, Rogers. Eight on the dot." He scoffed back.

"You got yourself a deal." We smiled at each other as I ran towards him, jumped on the car to impulse myself even more and then moved towards Rogers. When my feet were on the shield, he pushed me up as one of the speeders flew above us, I spun in the air before I held on to the alien ship, feeling as if my arm was being ripped off my body due to the speed we were flying at.

  I began to climb up the bike, making sure not to fall off. When I was on it, I pulled out the combat knife I carry in my belt and cut the rope the alien that was standing on the bike had attached to his waist, then I climbed up and kicked him off the ship. I jumped on top of the driver and stuck the knife to its back and began using it as a lever, manipulating him.

"How do you fire this thing?" I asked myself and found the alien's hand over a lever with a red button. I guessed red buttons work the same in every dimension or world or universe, so I pressed the button and the guns of the bike began to fire. I shot down, as I could, any enemy that crossed my eye-line. It was going smoothly until one of those blue-purplish blasts flew past my head. I looked over my shoulder and saw Loki. "You." He kept firing at me and I could barely drive —or fly— this thing. "Hawkeye!" I called our eye in the sky.

"Vic, what the hell are you doing?"

"Trying to get to the tower. And I need a little help here!"

"I got him." A moment later, I heard an explosion behind me, looked over my shoulder and saw Loki falling down the speeder and landing on the terrace of the tower. I made sure to fly above the tower's roof and let go of the alien as we crossed said roof, and rolled over the ground, landing roughly on the rocky surface on a fighting pose that Natasha makes fun of me for even if she's a poser herself.

I approached the reactor that had been built by Selvig, the Tesseract in its core. I looked up and the blue stela shone even brighter from here as it hit the sky, keeping the portal open.

"The sceptre." Said Selvig from the ground to my right.

"Doctor." I said as I approached him, noticing his eyes were back to normal as well.

"Loki's sceptre. The energy." I bent down beside him. "The Tesseract can't fight, but you can't protect against yourself."

"It's not your fault, you didn't know what you were doing."

"Well, actually, I think I did." I frowned. "I built in a safety to cut their power source."

"The sceptre has the same energy. It can break through." He nodded.

"It may be able to close the portal." He looked down. "And I'm looking right at it." I looked down as well and nodded.

"Alright, I'll go get it." I pulled out of the belt a cable and got myself attached to it, then I stuck it to the ground. Behind us, I heard one of the alien bikes approaching. "Find cover!" I warned Selvig and ran off the roof to jump, turning around in the air to fire back. I killed the driver and the gunner of that speeder, but the final blast he fired cut the cable, making me fall down quickly. I hit the ground roughly and thanked the fact that I was closer to the floor, otherwise I would've broken my spine.

  I coughed and groaned as I stood up slowly and tried to approach the sceptre to take a hold of it when a Chitauri came out of nowhere and shot his weapon at me, the blast burning the side of my abdomen. I fell to the ground with a grunt and moved right on time to find cover behind a column of the terrace.

I breathed in and out before coming out of my shelter and ran at the alien. I sweep-kicked him, when he was on the ground and I was standing above it, I aimed at its head and fired the gun without hesitation, without thinking; his purple blood splashing on the ground.

  I kept the guns in the holsters after I had looked around, searching for Loki, but not finding him anywhere before I ran for the sceptre. I took a hold of the heavy weapon and found a staircase to the roof just to run all the way up. When I arrived, the Doctor was already connecting his computer to the machine.

"Right at the crown!" Selvig commanded. I grabbed the sceptre with both hands and got ready.

"It won't blow up, will it?" I asked, tightening my grip around the sceptre.

"Hopefully not." I breathed in and out and pushed the sceptre forward, the energy shield around the device made itself noticeable as the sceptre got through. The energy cracking and creating bright sparks that caused me to narrow my eyes and look away from time to time.

"I can close it!" I said for the group to hear me. "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!" Said Steve.

"No, wait!" Stark stopped me.

"Stark, these things are still coming." Natasha commented.

"I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it." I froze as I knew what Tony was thinking.

"Stark...you know that's a one-way trip." Said the man that had done that trip once, sixty nine years ago. Stark didn't say anything, seconds later, he flew over our heads all the way up. I followed him until he got lost in the sky and I couldn't find him anymore.

"Come on, Stark. Come on." I said under my breath and waited a couple seconds. I saw a bright yellow light in the dark spot in the sky and held my breath.

"Close it." Said Rogers, his voice heavy. I held my breath as I pushed the sceptre further. When it hit the crown of the device, the core blew up and a small expansive wave threw the Doctor and I backwards. On the ground, we watched how the blue ray of energy stopped going up and the hole in the sky began to close. That's when I saw a figure falling from the sky. I smiled. "Son of a gun." Slowly, that smile began to fade when I noticed Stark was falling fast.

"He's not slowing down." Thor commented as I watched Stark. Suddenly, Hulk caught him in the air, I stood up and ran to the edge of the building and watched them hit the ground further in the distance.

"Is he breathing?" Asked Steve. Silence.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Is he okay?" Asked Natasha. No one said anything. Suddenly, the faint roar of the Hulk reached my ears.

"What the hell?!" Said Stark and I released a breath with a chuckle. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

"We won." Said Steve after a couple seconds. I sighed, my shoulders down with relief. We had won.

"Alright, yay!" Said Stark. "Hurray. Good job, guys! Let's just...not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day." I laughed again. "Is that...Carter, are you laughing at my jokes?"

"I found you amusing for once, yeah." I confessed.

"That's crazy. She's laughing at my jokes and the world didn't end, we did win." He let out a breath. "Hey, have you ever tried shawarma?" I chuckled. "There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it." Steve, as well as the rest of the team, laughed.

"We're not finished yet." Said Thor and the smile on my lips faded away. He was right, there was just one more loose end to deal with: Loki.

"And then shawarma after."

"Bet. Meet me in the tower? Last one to get here pays for lunch." I said and the six of them arrived in a couple of minutes. We all met at the floor where Hulk had left Loki at, he turned at us and sat on one of the steps near the lift.

  "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now." He said to Tony.

"Alright, get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later." Said Stark. "By the way, feel free to clean up." He walked away as Thor took a hold of Loki and made him stand.

"Right. Who gets the, uh...magic wand?" I asked.

"S.T.R.I.K.E. team's coming to secure it." Steve informed. A moment later, the gates of the elevator opened and Rumlow, as well as Sitwell walked in.

"We can take that off your hands." Said Jasper.

"By all means." I told him as I handed the sceptre over to him, then, I walked up to where Barton was pouring drinks for everyone and took a pair of glasses before making my way towards the Captain, who was standing with his arms crossed by the elevator keeping an eye on Loki.

"Thank you." He said as he took the glass from my hand. I nodded and took a long sip of the cold whiskey, which tasted delightful after all of...this.

"Careful with that thing." Barton warned. "Unless you want your mind erased. And not in the fun way." As Rumlow kept the sceptre in a metallic box, Natasha handcuffed Loki.

"We promise to be careful." Sitwell assured as I took a sip of my beverage. Steve chugged down the whiskey, making me frown and look at him shocked. He shrugged.

"Super Soldier Serum. Can't get drunk." He explained.

"Ah," I exclaimed after clicking my tongue, the taste of whiskey strong on my mouth. "Must be nice not to get hungover."

"Yeah."

"But I bet it's no fun." He chuckled.

"No, sometimes it's not fun at all." I offered him an empathic smile that he returned as I took a mouthful of my drink. "On my way down to coordinate search and rescue." He informed. "You comin'?" I chugged down my own glass as I nodded. We placed the glasses on the counter bar and walked towards the lift.

"On my way down to coordinate search and rescue." Loki mocked, disguising himself as Steve, as the doors closed. I took a deep breath and reclined myself on the wall.

"Everything alright?" He asked with a chuckle. "Did that drink got you dizzy?" He added as he clicked the button of the lift that would take us down. I chuckled, too.

"No. Surprisingly, I have great resistance to alcohol as well." He nodded. "I'm just tired, beat up, and hate elevators, that's all." He chuckled. "What?"

"I never thought an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be scared of elevators." I chuckled alongside him.

"You have no idea. I guess I've never trusted if it rises or falls fast." He nodded at me as I breathed in and held the burned side of my torso, this called Steve's attention.

"Holy smokes!" I let out a loud laugh.

"What?" He ignored me, but there was a smile on his lips as he looked at my wound.

"When did that happen?"

"Hold on."

"What?"

"Did you just say 'holy smokes'?" I asked, still laughing.

"I...yes. No one says that anymore, right?" He laughed with me as I shook my head. "Damn." We laughed even louder.

"What is that even the equivalent of?"

"I don't know. What do you say when you're like really shocked about something?"

"Holy shit, maybe." He bursted out a laugh and held his torso as well. When his hand fell, on his side, I noticed he had a burn mark as well. "Holy shit!" We laughed again. "You okay?"

"I'm good. It's nothing."

"Okay."

"Are you okay?" He pointed at my wound and I nodded.

"Yeah, it just burns a little." We breathed in deeply, the laugh dissipating and turning into soft smiles. "Did a good job today, Cap." He smiled. "You're not as rusty as I thought you'd be." Steve chuckled, melodically.

"Yeah, well, to me the war happened barely a year ago. I'm not rusty at all." I noticed his smile falling, how his eyes got lost somewhere. Without him noticing, his eyes welled up with tears and his shoulders moved up and down.

"Hey." I clicked the button that would halt the elevator, the movement making my heart skip a beat and approached Steve. "Hey." I called again. Rogers looked at me with concerned eyes as my hands found his arms.

"You're not the one crying?" I shook my head. "Oh." He said after he realised it was him. I hesitated a second, but at the end I wrapped my arms around his neck. Steve didn't know how to react, his breath raised up as he hesitated, but soon his arms wrapped themselves around me, careful with the fresh wound on my side.

Steve exhaled a breath, his shoulders down as well as his guard, and he broke down in that lift. I held him tighter as I felt his nose brushing my neck, his tears splashing against my uniform. Few minutes went by without us letting go; slowly, Steve started to pull away.

"I'm sorry." I shook my head.

"It's okay, you've got nothing to be sorry for."

"I just got really overwhelmed all of the sudden." I nodded. "You know, back in the day it wasn't really okay for us to cry."

"Well, these are different times. Boys cry too, and it's okay." He smiled at me, suddenly remembering something. "What?"

"My mother used to say that." I smiled back as he sniffed. Without thinking, I brushed one of his tears away with my thumb. Steve blinked, startled at a touch he was not expecting.

"She definitely was a very wise woman."

"Yeah. She was." A beat. "You're too kind to me. You don't have to."

"I know. But apparently being kind it's in my nature." I added with a shrug. "You deserve being treated with kindness, too, you know?" He just looked at me. "I read everything there was to be read about you, I watched every documentary, every movie; studied every file and...I've looked into every sketch made by you. I hope you don't think it's intrusive or..." he shook his head. "I just understood what those drawings meant. They should've been kinder to you." Steve smiled, softly.

"The world needs that."

"What thing?" He chuckled.

"More people like you in it." I hummed in response. "Thank you."

"Anytime." He nodded. "I mean that." Steve simply looked at me. "I need you to know that I'll be there anytime you need."

"Why?"

"Because I know you need a friend."

"From all those months you apparently spent spying on me?" He teased and I scoffed.

"Yeah, those months I spent doing my job." He scoffed back. "I could see you could've used a friend to sit down at lunch and talk over coffee, draw together, spend an evening training at the gym, all of that." He gulped and blinked away the tears in his eyes as I described his routine. "And...I'd really like to be your friend."

"I'd like to be your friend, too." We smiled at each other. When I was going to let go of him, he held on to me tighter. "Wait, don't let go. Not yet." I nodded.

"Okay." I hugged him again. "We can stay here as long as you need."

Steve nodded and we remained embracing each other for about five minutes. We were just a floor away from the Tower's lobby, so it was no big deal. Eventually, we let go of each other and Steve nodded at me when I asked with my eyes if he was ready.

I clicked the button that halted the elevator and it started to go down again. A minute later, the doors opened. We found ourselves before a whole team sent by Fury. "You did a great job, too, by the way." I smiled at him.

"Thank you."

"Hey, Cap?" Nat called him through comms. "Can you sweep the tenth floor?" He sighed.

"Sure thing. Everything alright?"

"Yeah. It's just a security thing." He nodded.

"Carter!" Hill called me from the building's entrance. I nodded.

"Duty calls." He nodded with a smile.

"See you in a minute." He said to me.

"Alright." I said. When we tried to walk away from each other, we realised we were still holding hands. Our eyes met, his cheeks started to get tinted red as mine were tinted pink. Slowly, we let go of each other, his hand slipping through my fingers as walked on our separate directions.

After a couple minutes, we began to move people around to organise the agents in order to restore New York. We had a very busy afternoon, which was spent taking care of the city here and there. We were working on the streets and eventually, Stark said we were very close to the shawarma joint he wanted to try.

  The seven of us walked in and the people kindly gifted us the food even if we insisted on paying for it, which I'm actually thankful for because I was only carrying the ten bucks Steve had given me when this whole thing started. We ate in silence.

  Thor was delighted by the food, claiming it was one of the best meals he has had, besides Asgardian dinners; Clint and Nat were chatting and making jokes with Tony while Banner focused on his food and eventually made a witty remark on the conversation, while Steve and I just watched.

Neither Rogers or myself were very hungry, so we shared our food. I was drinking the last sips of my beer as Steve sighed and relined his cheek on his fist as he watched the people seated at the table with a soft smile. I looked at him. "What?" I asked in a whisper, not calling anyone else's attention, but his. Steve looked at me and shook his head.

"Just thinking."

"About what?"

"How this is a team." He said after a short pause. I smiled at him, he smiled back, and we turned to face the Avengers, laughing at something Stark had said.

  I nodded and set the bottle at the table before grabbing one of the remaining fries that were on a basket before us. I ate it as I felt my head heavy and let it fall over Steve's shoulder with the nervous butterflies fluttering in my chest as I breathed in and out, feeling my cheeks flushed.

  At first, he tensed, but soon his head fell upon mine and I could swear I heard his chuckle. Nat looked our way and smiled before she turned back to the conversation. We enjoyed our company as the night fell and called it a day.

  Over the course of four weeks, our job as the Avengers was done in New York. We stepped aside for S.H.I.E.L.D., National Security and the Police to work searching, aiding, and rebuilding. My apartment in New York got destroyed throughout the battle, which was the perfect excuse to head back to Washington.

  I took care of myself, I got the battle wounds stitched up, slept, kept a low profile. I visited Peggy twice a week and we'd have very nice conversations but always staying away from anything that had to do with my job, discarding secrets, trying to just be a family. A granddaughter learning about her grandmother's life. It was beautiful.

I got a new fish because old Nick died during the battle of New York. I got to live a normal life for a while, despite the constant nightmares and the PTSD that forced me to wake up extremely early and run around the block or box at my local gym until my arms and muscles gave out. It was tough, but I managed to live a life for a while. Baby steps, as Peggy always says.

  Today, I made myself some breakfast after I had returned from my morning run. A habit I picked up when I spied on Steve. As I sat down to eat the bowl of oats and fruit I had made, the phone rang. It was the work phone. I sighed and picked up.

"Carter, here." I answered as I chewed some strawberries and mango.

"Carter, you're expected to join the rest of the team outside of Central Park at noon." Hill informed and I looked at the watch on my wall, it was 7:45. "Thor is departing with Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. We want you there."

"Alright."

"You'll have a car waiting outside of your apartment in a couple hours. I'll shoot you a text when it gets there." I nodded to myself.

"I'll be waiting." Hill hung up the call and I finished my breakfast calmly. At 8:00 I got into the shower and took my time washing off the sweat and the post-battle stress I still carry with me. It was tough, being in a defensive mode most of the time, not being able to sleep properly. It takes a lot to un-see what I've seen, but I believe we were getting somewhere. At least I hoped so.

  Twenty minutes later, I was ready, wearing a pair of washed down blue jeans, black boots and a pale blue button up shirt. My hair still damp, but my makeup was done. I got the text from Hill and got out of the apartment, taking a small bag with my IDs, the phones, some cash, and the journal I kept since Reawakening because I had promised the Captain I'd show him the sketches that Phil and I had crafted for his suit. I locked the door once I had gotten out and reached the lobby, where I found the black car with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s eagle on the doors waiting for me outside.

  I hopped in and the driver got me to New York in three hours. When I arrived, Natasha and Clint were getting out of another black car that was parked a few meters away from us, opposite to a convertible cherry red AUDI from where Stark was getting out of. The second I got out and closed the door behind me, Steve Rogers arrived in a motorbike, and lastly another car parked behind Steve, from it Selvig and Banner got out.

"Nice ride." I complimented Steve's bike.

"Thanks. It was a gift from S.H.I.E.L.D." He told me.

"Oh?" He nodded as he got off the bike and we walked up to each other. "So you stole it?" Steve chuckled as he kept his hands in the pockets of his khaki trousers.

"I won't tell if you don't." I laughed, too and made a gesture of me zipping my lips closed. Steve nodded with a smile as Thor arrived from the sky with Loki in handcuffs.

"I like that style on him." Steve nodded as we approached them. From the back of the car the Doctors had emerged from, they pulled out a device made out of what seemed to be glass. Tony had with himself the suitcase where he had kept the Tesseract, when he opened it, Banner pulled the cube out of the case with the use of a pair of tweezers and placed the Tesseract in the glass device that Selvig had in hand.

  Doctor Selvig gave one end of the device to Thor and the other end to Loki. When both Gods were holding it, Thor looked around and nodded at us before he twisted the end of the device he was holding. Slowly, both of them were covered by the blue energy generated by the Tesseract and disappeared, being teleported back to Asgard.

  Now, it was time for the 'goodbye for nows'. Natasha gave Banner a bag with his stuff while I shook hands with Stark, both of us agreeing to befriend each other in the near future. Banner came up to me and shook my hand as well, then got in Tony's car and they drove away. Then I turned to Natasha and Barton.

"So, where are you off to?" I asked them, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'm going home." Said Clint and I knew very well where he was going to spend his time off.

"I don't know." Nat told me. "I'm searching for a place at the moment."

"I can offer you my couch, if you want." She smiled at me.

"Thank you. But, in all honesty, I want to get rid of all of you for a while." I chuckled. "I'll know where to find you."

"I know." I sighed.

"You?"

"Back to D.C." She nodded. "I'll try to sleep for a whole month." Both agents chuckled.

"Hey, Fury allowed me to break it to you." I frowned and nodded. "You've been revoked from the Delta Team." My arms fell to my sides as I frowned.

"What the hell? Why?"

"Because I told him to." I opened my mouth to argue, but she placed her hand up, shutting me up. "You've worked with Barton and I for a while. It was alright, but three is a bit crowded." I sighed, knowing she's right. "And I suggested him to pair you up with Rogers. You two work very good together."

"You just say that because you overheard the date thing." She chuckled and Clint smiled.

"Have you gone to that date yet, by the way?" Asked Barton.

"No, not yet." I said.

"Well, you should. He's handsome." I scoffed, my eyes darting towards Steve, who was by his bike just looking at the landscape, although I knew he was waiting for one of us.

"Yeah. Kind of a pretty boy, isn't he?" I added as Steve looked our way, Clint chuckled as they nodded formally at each other. I looked back at my, apparently, former team.

"I did give him the recommendation because you do work well together. I believe you worked better with him than either of us so far." I nodded. I did feel comfortable with him.

"So, Fury agreed to this? It's official?"

"Yes. He's creating the Alpha team, only deployed to top priority missions." Nat answered.

"Basically another Delta." She shrugged, both of us smiling.

"Yeah, but you know he's dramatic, so Fury will call it differently just because Captain America is in it." I chuckled at Barton's words.

"So, this is it."

"Seems like it." Nat told me. "It'll be good for you." I nodded.

"Thank you." She brought me into a short hug, which was odd, since it's not her nature being physically affectionate, neither of us is. But it was and felt nice. When I pulled away, Barton hugged me even tighter. That hug was an embrace in which we fixed our differences, where both of us apologised and got forgiven. "I'll see you around." He pulled away and patted my arm, the place his bullet had gotten stuck into. I punched his arm, hard, on the same spot.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?" He asked as he rubbed his arm.

"The three stitches I got when you shot me."

"Oh. Okay. Fair." We chuckled and smiled at each other before he started walking away towards his side of the car. I watched them drive away, then turned around to find Steve looking at me. I smiled and approached him, noticing how he stood up straight, fixed his jacket and his hair, even if it was perfectly brushed back.

  "Captain Rogers."

"Agent Carter." He said, fidgeting the keys of his bike in his hand. "Where are you off to?"

"Washington." He rose his eyebrows and nodded. "You?"

"Also Washington."

"Are you following me, Captain?"

"I think we can leave the formalities for now, Victoria."

"Alright. In that case call me Vic, Steve."

"Vic." He smiled, coyly. "I like the sound of it." I smiled back, liking the sound of my name emerging from his mouth. "I'm not following you, I just think D.C's much tranquil than New York." I nodded. "However...you still owe me that date." I laughed. "And today's Friday." I smiled at him.

"Hmm...You're right, it is Friday." I looked at the driver that was outside of the car, waiting for me. "Excuse me just a second." I told Steve and walked up to the agent, then, I told him I was alright and he could go back to H.Q, which he did. As he drove away, I walked back to Rogers. "Seems like I need a ride home, if it's not too much bother." He smiled at the ground, his lips curling into a downward smile.

"No bother at all." He said as he looked up and smiled at me, I smiled back. "You've been on a motorcycle before, have you?" He asked as he took off his brown leather jacket.

"I have, why?" He shrugged and placed his jacket over my shoulders. The scent of his cologne hitting me again, softly. That single chivalrous gesture made me smile, I felt myself blushing. He's so attentive and kind, something I hadn't experienced with the men I had gone on dates with before. I liked it. A part of me feared and dreaded the idea of getting too used to it, but another part of me wanted to. The same part of me that wanted to get drunk on his scent.

"Just making sure." His eyes seemed deeper than ever due to how close we were standing to each other. "It'll get windy in the highway." Steve explained, I smiled.

"Such a gentleman." Steve smiled back as he got on the bike and I put the jacket on properly, instantly liking how big it fitted me. Then he extended his hand for me to take and get on the bike behind him. "Thank you." I said as I wrapped my arms around his waist. He cleared his throat.

"You're welcome." He started the bike.

"The only concern I have is that you don't have helmets with you, which is irresponsible driving."

"When you wear a helmet as your battle gear, having a helmet on for any other situation makes your head ache." I chuckled. "Do you happen to know any coffee shops in D.C? That Starbucks thing doesn't count." I laughed again.

"I do. Just drive and I'll tell you where to go." Steve nodded with a smile as he looked over his shoulder at me. I had to fight the urge to kiss the corner of his lips the same way I had done in the past now that he was so near and awake.

"Yes, ma'am." I chuckled and he drove away, both of us leaving New York behind.