Anchor

The sound of a motorbike engine halted Steve mid-sentence as he tried to give the team instructions. The heroes turned in the directing of the sound and were greeted by their missing member. The group migrated over to Bruce and his beat up bike. After his fall off the carrier they didn't expect him to make an appearance in this battle. Then again they didn't expect Lex to either and here she was, standing with them.
"So, this all seems horrible," Bruce commented, as he made his way toward the others.
"I've seen worse." Bruce looked over at Natasha. The look of guilt graced his face briefly.
"Sorry." Was all he had to say.
"No, we could use a little worse." She reassured him that whatever transpired between them was settled. Lex wasn't sure exactly, but she was glad that they understood each other.
"Tony, we got him." Lex informed the billionaire as he continued to fly over New York.
"Banner?"
"Just like you said," Steve added.
"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." They didn't quite understand what thehe meant. Tony shot out from around the nearest building, a leviathan close on his tail.
"I don't see how that's a party…" Natasha stated.
"Seriously, Stark?" Lex moaned.
Bruce turned without hesitation in the direction of the flying creature and took a few steps forward before Steve spoke up. "Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
"That's my secret, Captain," Bruce looked quickly over his shoulder. "I'm always angry." And with that Bruce's averaged sized frame began to expand, and turn green and became the Hulk. The leviathan went nose first into Hulk's fist. The foreign creature's body was stopped and its armor began to cripple under the force. It went vertical and threatened to fall on the rest of the team.
"Hold on!" Tony shouted. He blasted it, hoping it would scatter the bits and pieces of the creature so it didn't land directly on the Avengers. Thor covered his face, while Steve covered Natasha with his shield. Clint, being the over protective big brother that he is, shielded Lex's body with his own behind a flipped taxi.
As the pieces of the leviathan settled on the streets the Chitauri began to screech as one of their own crashed and burned. The Avengers regained their composure and gathered together. They had their back facing one another and they stood in a circle. All three hundred and sixty degrees were covered as the team took their stance. All seven members looked to the sky as two more leviathan and even more Chitauri came through the portal.
"Call it, Captain," Tony said. This surprised Lex seeing that he hating not being in charge and relinquishing leadership to anyone else.
"Alright, listen up," Steve started. "Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment." Steve faced his team. "Bartons, I want you on the roofs. One on that one," Steve point to one on their left, "And one on the one," then to one on the right. "I want eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays."
"Got it," Lex answered for the both of them. She couldn't help a small smile briefly flash across her face. Steve was a true solider and leader. She could hear it in his voice.
"Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
"Wanna give us a lift?" Clint asked, turing to the metal hero.
"Right." Tony stepped behind the siblings and grabbed their collars. "Better clench up." With that he shot up in the sky. He drooped off Clint first at the roof on the right. Before she let Tony take off again, she locked eyes Clint.
"Be careful bro," She gave him one of her nervous smirks. He knew it meant she was afraid of what would happen. She didn't want anything to happen to him and vise versa.
"You too, kiddo," He gave her a kiss on the forehead before Tony snaked an arm around her waist and took off. Within a matter of seconds they were on the left rooftop.
As Tony touched down on the roof Lex turned to face him. "Do me a favor Tony and don't do anything stupid."
"No promises." Was all his said before he took a dive off the edge and up into the air.
Lex pulled out an arrow and started taking aim at the enemy.
"Stark, you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail." Lex turned to look for Tony as she took another Chitauri out.
"I'm just trying to keep them off the streets." Tony answered. There were too many to face head on so he was forced to just lead them off the streets.
"Well, they can't bank worth a damn." Lex informed the two.
"Find a tight corner." Clint said, realizing where Lex was going.
"I will roger that."
The siblings took aim at the Chitauri that were on Tony's trail, hoping to lighten the load.
A few sharp turns later Tony was free of the trailing creatures.
"Nice call." To be honest, it was still a little strange for Tony to be working like this with Lex, but it was something he was sure he would get used to.
"What else you got?" Tony asked itching for more.
"Thor is talking on a squadron down on Sixth." Clint informed him.
"And he didn't invite me." With that Tony made a beeline for Sixth Street.
Lex saw Steve launch Natasha up into the air as she grabbed onto one of the Chitauri's flying vehicles. Lex saw that a new wave of Chitauri were headed towards Steve. She took aim and landed two head shots in a matter of seconds. As Lex took aim for a third time, Tony came swooping in to help out Steve. Lex was impressed with how quickly they fell into sync, easily taking out the surrounding Chitauri.
As Tony shot up, he flew up the side of the building she was on, taking out the Chitauri that were advancing up the side. Lex looked over to Clint to see if he was having the same problem and sure enough he was. She shot down four with no problem.
While Lex was busy helping Clint out, Clint informed the Captain of something he observed, "Capatin, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They've cornered a lot of civilians in there."
"I'm on it."
Lex now turned to her building as the Chitauri had made their way back up. She continued to shoot them down, but they were coming too fast. She went to reach for another arrow, but found her quiver empty. "Damnit." She muttered. She had technically already wasted a lot of her arrows on the carrier. She hadn't gotten the chance to restock.
"Clint! I'm out of arrows," Three arrows whooshed past her quickly and into the concrete. She shoved two into her quirted and readied the third. "Thanks."
"Hawkeye! Ace!" The siblings looked for their fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She was being tailed and shot at by Loki and another Chitauri.
"Nat, what are you doing?" Clint asked with a 'what the fuck' kinda tone.
"She's being a badass," Chuckled the younger of the Bartons.
"Uh, a little help?" Natasha said, interrupting them.
"I got Loki," He said. Of course Lex wanted a shot at the god of mischief as well, but figured after all he put Clint through he should take it.
"Copy that," Lex said as she aimed and shot at the Chitauri flanking Loki. Next, Clint took his shot. Loki caught the well aimed arrow with no problem and a smug smile formed on his face. Clint return that smug smile as the arrow blew up in his face, sending him flying throughout the sky and into the Stark Tower.
As soon as Natasha was in the clear she leaped off of the Chitauri cruiser and landed on the roof of the Stark Tower. Once Lex saw that she landed safely she began to look for Tony. She saw him dive through the mouth of a leviathan and pop out the other side as the creature imploded from the inside out. Tony hit the ground hard and was surround in seconds. Lex shot one down as it lunged for him. She was about to let another lose arrow, but them remember it was her last.
She looked over to Clint and saw that he was out too. He grabbed an arrow out of a downed Chitauri and stuck it back in his quiver and switched its tip for a grappling one. Lex cringed as he watched him jump off the side as it exploded. He swung into the window a few floors down. Lex decide to follow her brother's lead and do as he did. "Damn, I really need to stop doing this," She mumbled as she launched herself off the building. She shot her arrow and it stuck. She braced for impact as she hit the window, and then the floor. She felt pain rip through her lower abdomen as another bullet hole's stitching popped. She gained a few more cuts along her sleeveless arm as well as she felt her skin begin to sting.
As much as she just wanted to lay there till it was over, she forced herself up and to the nearest stairway. She needed to get the the streets to help out Steve and Tony if he was still down there.
"Stark, do you hear me? You have a missile headed straight for the city."
"How long?" Tony asked Fury as his head was hit by one of the Chitauri.
"3 minutes, max. The payload will wipe out Midtown." Fury warned
"Jarvis, put everything we got into the thrusters." Tony demand.
Tony's trusters kicked into effect just as Lex reached ground level. He was flying through the air as she reached the street. Seeing that Tony was off, she headed for the Captain and Thor who were battling the Chitauri. She inserted herself into the fight alongside the boys. There was too many though. Steve took a shot to the abdomen and Lex got hit in the shoulder. Thor saw that his teammates were down and rushed a car, hitting it so hard and took out the remain Chitauri. Thor helped Steve to his feet as Lex managed on her own to stand. She walked over to the other two.
"Ready for another round?" Thor asked.
"What, are you getting sleeping?" Steve questioned back. Lex smirked at Steve.
"You okay?" She moved his hand to examine his wound. It looked pretty bad, but she knew he would never admit that.
"Yeah, i'm fine," He huffed. "You?" He motioned towards her shoulder.
"Its dislocated, but i'll be fine." The worse thing an archer could ever do is injury a shoulder or any part of their arm. She had suffered through several dislocated shoulders though. She usually had Clint pop it back into place and kept going through the pain.
"I can close it. Can anybody copy?" They all heard Natasha through their earpieces. "I can shut the portal down."
"Do it!" Steve said immediately.
"No, wait." Tony contradicted.
"Stark these things are still coming." Lex stated.
"I got a nuke coming in. Its gonna blow in less than a minute. And i know just where to put it…"
"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip." Steve said a he looked over to Lex who couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Are you kidding me right now, Stark? Now you decided to be the guy to lay down on the wire?" Lex complained. "You've got some shit timing."
"I know, i'm sorry." He stated as he flew through New York, closer and closer to the portal.
"Tony… I… you…" Lex didn't know what to say. These could be the last words she ever spoke to him. "What did I tell you about doing stupid shit!" Lex was letting her emotions come out.
"I said no promises, didn't I?" He chuckled. As he neared Stark Tower he said, "Alexis, I know I've put you through a lot and i'm sorry for that. But-" He flew up the tower. It was now or never. Literally. "But my only regret was that it took me thinking you were dead for me too realize that… that I love you."
Lex's heart broke as he said that. Sure she should feel ecstatic about what he just said, but the fact that he said them just as he was about to take a one-way trip to space made her heart hurt. It hurt because nothing would come of those feelings...
"You fucking suck Anthony Stark." She spit out.
"Well that certainly wasn't the answer I was expect-" He started as he was within a few hundred yards of the portal.
"I love you too." She got out as he plunged through the portal. "Tony?" but the line went dead.

Notes