From where he stood with Thanos, Loki carefully schooled his face into an impassive mask. He watched silently as rows upon rows of chitauri soldiers marched beneath him, all of them aligning themselves in neat rows as they paraded to a clear space on the planet. He knew – from his first visit – that Thanos had countless numbers of soldiers, but he had never known how much.

Now, he was starting to wish that he never found out.

Above them, chitauri flew on their crafts, some of them attached to the bellies of the space whales which Loki had brought to New York. If the barren planet had a sun, it would have been blotted out by the sheer number of monsters that flew above head. What he had brought to Midgard was but a mere fraction of the army that Loki saw now, and the worry which he had ruthlessly squashed down earlier when Thanos had declared their march to Asgard, rose again.

He began to feel the first stirrings of despair, though he showed none of it on his face, his impassive mask fixed solidly even as his heart chilled with the laughter of the purple being beside him. The army stretched out endlessly, the sound of their boots stamping against the ground reverberating across the desolate planet. Loki was beginning to think that this was a bad idea. He had not anticipated the amount of soldiers and infantry that the Mad Titan had.

A heavy hand dropped on his head, Loki biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from flinching. The hand stroked his hair gently, a horrid mimicry of affection which made the god want to throw up. He closed his eyes against the feelings of revulsion which surged within him, choosing to remain still under the caress.

"You know what to do my pet," Thanos hissed into Loki's ear, his breath hot against the god's face, "Death will be pleased." The Titan rumbled, grinning savagely.

Loki exhaled sharply, waiting for Thanos to remove his hand from his head, though the weight seemed to linger on him, before he bowed to the purple being and vanished.

Thanos smirked, calling the Other to his side, "Mobilize the troops. I want to see Asgard and Midgard burn." He hissed, golden eyes gleaming with anticipation.

The city was as silent as a grave – not a single human or animal emerging from where they hid, terrified of the Chitauri's ferocious onslaught. None dared to venture out into the open for fear of being ripped apart or burnt to a crisp. The sound of engine cut through the air – deafening noise which broke the blanket of silence which had settled over the city.

An assortment of vehicles rolled into the city, gravel crunching beneath the tires as they drove past haunted, crumbling buildings, nimbly swerving around the rubble strewn across the street. The vehicles were a solid black, the only color on their metal bodies the white eagle raising its wings.

Agent Tyler stopped the car when they reached the center of Manhattan, the towering skyscrapers reaching desperately to the sky around them. He stepped out onto the unforgiving ground, smothering a frown as the scent of ashes drifted through his olfactory senses. The SHIELD agent raised a hand, the other vehicles coming to a stop beside his own car, agents clad in black pouring out from the belly of the vans. He put a finger to his ear, activating his comm. unit, "Is everyone in position?"

A short burst of static filled his ears before a chorus of assents echoed in his communication device. A low rumble shook the earth, making Tyler turn on the spot. A satisfied smile curved his lips as the tank rolled forward, unperturbed by the loose rocks and debris that cluttered the ground. The monster of a machine slid smoothly over the rocks and concrete, the barrel of the gun facing forward, ready to fire in an instant. More weaponized vehicles rolled in after the tank, filling up the spaces between the vans.

Agent Tyler nodded grimly, beckoning one of his men to him. Grabbing the other's shoulder, he said in a low tone, "Evans, take a few others and sweep the perimeter, I want you to check if there are any civilians in the area, if there are, get them out of the zone, if not, come straight back here and report to me. Understood?"

The other man nodded and saluted, "Yes sir!" turning and running off, a few other black-clad agents following after him.

Agent Tyler sighed and turned to face his men, all of them prepping their weapons – checking and double checking to calm their nerves down. They were part of an organization which prided themselves on espionage, not frontline warfare, it was understandable that they were nervous. He had tried to give them an encouraging speech earlier, but he was thinking now that it had fallen flat. When SHIELD had been destroyed, Tyler had been at a loss as to what to do. The chitauri had swarmed Manhattan, the Avengers had been beaten, and the military was at a loss as civilian casualties climbed higher and higher. Tyler had taken off as fast as he could, taking whatever weapons he could bring and the bare necessities before he disappeared underground. It had come as a surprise to him then when Fury had found him – though in hindsight, he shouldn't have been surprised that the master of spies would be the one who tracked him down.

Fury had called the disbanded agents in, searching through underground networks, fishing out the agents which he knew were not chitauri in disguise and giving them a message. They had all turned up little by little in an abandoned bunker which looked more like a sewer than anything else. He had briefed them on the situation at present, and revealed to them – not in so many words – about the Avengers' whereabouts. He impressed on them the importance of pushing back the enemy, but Tyler didn't hold much hope of being able to win this war. He wasn't one to put faith into other people – life had taken too much from him for him to rely on anyone else except himself – but even he knew that it was a suicide mission to take on the hoard of chitauri and hope to come out as the victor.

He had seen both attacks, and he knew that the chitauri that was coming back for a third would be far smarter than its predecessors. Nonetheless, the ex-SHIELD agent had been the first to volunteer to fight on the frontlines, figuring that he had nothing to lose anymore, and if he was going down, he might as well bring some of those bastards down with him. He was more surprised by the fact that Fury had appointed him as the leader of the resistance against the chitauri.

Now, standing at the foot of the Empire State Building, Tyler lifted his eyes to the sky, the clear blue color the calm before the storm. He swallowed harshly, turning to face the men he had sent out to do a perimeter sweep earlier. The blond haired man – Evans – jogged up to him, "Sir, there aren't any civilians nearby –"

"Yeah I'd reconsider that statement actually."

The two of them whirled around, Tyler sliding his gun out of his holster and cocking it fluidly at the girl that stood behind them.

"Who are you?" he demanded, his senses on high alert as he observed the girl. She wore a curious shirt – Death to Barbie? – with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. She had a silver tiara resting on her head, somehow unaffected by the gravity-defying spikes. Her outfit came with a pair of canvas pants and hiking boots, a quiver of silver arrows slung on her back.

She grinned and stretched out a hand, uncaring about the gun that was pointed straight at her face, "Name's Thalia, what's yours?"

Tyler narrowed his eyes, "Tyler," he said, after a long while, Agent Evans looking at him unsurely, "You shouldn't be here."

The girl just cocked her head and laughed, "Nah, I wanna see the action."

Tyler scowled, "Listen here kid, this isn't some kind of action movie which you can just expect to walk out of it alive. This is a warzone, and you are a civilian, so I suggest you get out of here immediately, and let my men and I do our jobs without having to babysit you."

That caused the girl's smile to slip off her face, making her look ten times more dangerous than she had been earlier. Tyler suppressed the urge to shiver, stubbornly standing his ground. He had seen enough casualties to last him a lifetime, he didn't want another one to be added to the list. He remained rooted to where he was standing, even as she took another menacing step closer to him, until they were almost nose to nose.

"Listen here, you arrogant, pig-headed male," Thalia said quietly, her eyes sparking with electricity, "I have a quiver of arrows on my back, with no bow in sight, why is that? I – no, we – can help you and your men in this fight. You are going to need our help against the chitauri. They're going to come from a portal any moment soon, and they're going to swarm you. And yes, I know what they are and where they come from because I've fought them." She poked him in the chest, "You're going to need all the help you can get, so I suggest that you don't turn away allies."

Tyler felt his ire blazing, "You –"

"Incoming!"

Acting purely on instinct, Agent Tyler shoved Evans against the SHILED van and launched himself at Thalia, bringing the both of them down to the ground just as an explosion rocketed through the city, the heat of the explosion searing the back of his neck, debris raining down all around them. He rolled off of the girl, ignoring her outraged sputters, firing three bullets at the chitauri who flew right above them. The bullets found their mark and the alien collapsed, the hovercraft it was on crashing into a nearby building. The SHIELD agent snarled into his earpiece, "Fire at will!" watching with savage glee as the tanks ripped into the chitauri hoard that had suddenly appeared.

He spied another alien approaching him from the corner of his eye, but before he could shoot, a silver arrow appeared in its forehead, killing it instantly. Shocked, he turned to face Thalia, who was now holding a silver bow which he knew hadn't been on her earlier. The girl grinned cockily at him, "Still think I can't handle myself?"

Tyler scowled, all traces of shock wiped away immediately at her statement. He turned away and surveyed the area, taking care to dodge the incoming blasts, "Get away from here and stop trying to play Robin Hood!" he shouted at her over the din of the battle.

Thalia snorted, feeling her power surging within her, "Please," she drawled, knocking three arrows at once, "I'm much better than that wannabe archer." She fired her arrows, each of them hitting a different target dead on.

Tyler hissed, leaping forward and ducking into a roll which let him come up to the side of the missile-proof SHIELD van, Thalia doing the same as she took cover from the stray blasts. She grinned internally at the furious look of the agent before her, wondering vaguely how much she could rile him up before he snapped. Said agent scowled at her amused look, a thought occurring to him as he shot a few more aliens, "What did you mean by 'we'?"

Thalia grinned, firing more arrows above the roof of the van and ducking down again, narrowly avoiding an energy blast. "Tell your men that if they see anybody in a bright orange shirt and armor or girls in a silver parka, don't shoot them, we're on your side."

Tyler looked at her in confusion, "Who are they? Who are you guys?"

Thalia grinned, "We're your allies in this war."

After announcing the imminent approach of the chitauri, Thor quickly made his way to where the Warriors of Asgard were gathered, hefting their weapons and organizing themselves into the standard Asgardian formation. The prince of Asgard landed beside his father, who was standing on a high balcony, overlooking the realm's warriors as they prepared for the final battle.

"Do you truly think we can win father?" Thor asked softly, casting his bright blue eyes to the old man and king that stood beside him.

Odin gripped his spear tighter, the knuckles on his hand turning white, "There is no other option but to win."

He pounded Gungnir against the ground three times, the sound reverberating around the courtyard, echoing across the land. The Warriors fell into position, alert and ready, looking up at him. Odin looked at his gathered soldiers grimly, speaking, "The Mad Titan arrives on our doorstep. He will bring death and destruction, he will bring swarms of his armies. But Asgard will brave the storm that lingers on our horizon. We will win!" He shouted, garnering cheers from his soldiers, "As we always have. As we decimated the Jotuns, as we put an end to the reign of the dark elves, to the war that Vanaheim called upon us, once again, we will defeat the Mad Titan and his underlings!"

The whole courtyard vibrated with shouts as the Asgardian warriors howled their pride. Thor caught the smug eye of Sif, who stood with the Warriors Three amongst the Asgardian troops. He turned away, unwilling to let her smirking face fuel the fire already ignited in his breast. He turned from the balcony, after giving his own mighty shout, the Warriors marching out of the courtyard and into the streets, separating into smaller platoons to cover a larger area. The Thunder God went in search of his friends, feeling his own hackles rising with the thickening tension and anticipation.

He found them on the edges of the palace, near the streets where the commoners of Asgard lived. Tony was already in his suit, as were the rest of them. They were all huddled together, looking grimly at each other as they prepared themselves for the battle of their lives. Thor frowned, realizing that only Bruce was nowhere to be seen.

"He's with the healers," Steve said, replying Thor's voiceless question, "We decided that he would be more useful there until we need him."

"We will definitely need him." Thor rumbled, "Thanos is no mere enemy, the might of the Hulk will save countless lives."

"That's what we said," Clint snorted, fingering his bow lightly, "But he insisted on helping he healers as much as he could, at least until the other guy wants out."

Thor turned to Percy, who was perched on a wall which had once been part of a building but which had been destroyed by the chitauri. "Perseus –"

"I'll be near the bridge." He interrupted, his eyes hard and his face devoid of any emotion. When he turned to face Thor, the thunder God had to suppress a flinch at the deadened look in those sea green eyes. "Water on Asgard works pretty much the same for me as water on earth," the demigod continued, unknowing of the thoughts of the hammer wielding God. "It's the best place for me to be when the chitauri come." He finished, turning to look off into the direction of the glittering bridge.

Thor sighed, his action mirrored internally by his fellow team mates. They had all grown attached to the young boy who had been forced to grow up far too fast. He was not one of them in name, but they had accepted him into their little ragtag group, his quirks and straightforward personality a refreshing change for most of them who dealt with manipulative bastards on a day-to-day basis. They had enjoyed his presence, had fun with him in the tower, even learned to tolerate the God of lies who had set fire to New York when the demigod was around. All that was washed down the drain in the end, and the Avengers felt the loss of their youngest member keenly. They were heroes, and it struck too close to home when they failed to save the one person they had all claimed responsibility over.

The war horn interrupted the quiet which had descended over their group, and all of them looked up to see the sky splitting open above the dome of the Observatory, a black maw growing larger and larger as the seconds dragged on. From the nightmarish void emerged the first of the monstrous whales, their screeches reaching the ground even from the height they were at.

"Everyone," Steve said, his eyes on the horde of space whales that were slowly drifting out of the portal, "I want you to remember what you are fighting for. We fight not only for ourselves, we fight for the ones who cannot fight beside us." He looked at everyone straight in the eye, pushing home his point, "We fight for our home," he nodded at Thor especially, "we fight for survival, and we will win. If the enemy cuts you down, stand up and return them the favor two-fold. They hit you – hit them back. If they kill you – kill them too." The Captain straightened up and leveled a stern gaze on all of them – even Percy. "Most of all, remember that you're fighting for the ones you love. If Thanos wins, it's the end. So we will win, and we will fight to win. Understood?"

Tony grinned cheekily behind his mask and raised a hand in mock salute, "Aye aye Captain!"

Steve sighed exasperatedly, but there was a smile playing on his lips. Clint smirked and said, "Let's go home together guys. We can have shwarma as an after battle meal."

They all laughed and agreed, then Thor looked at Tony, who nodded, the two of them leaping into the air straight at the whales. The only two fliers of the whole realm – it was their job to take care of the airborne creatures. Steve signaled for the Avengers to split, each of them running to where they knew the Warriors were, lending a hand wherever they could.

Percy's eyes darkened as he watched his friends head off for battle, reaching his left hand behind him, gripping the leather handle of his Olympian Silver sword, letting the metal ring against metal as he drew it out of its sheath. In his right hand, he reached into his pocket and took out a nondescript ballpoint pen, looking - for all intents and purposes - like a cheap pen that could be bought at any bookstore on the streets. He stared at it for several moments, nostalgic emotions surging within him before he clamped down on them, flicking the cap off the pen. A bronze blade sprung forth immediately, a comfortable and familiar weight in his hands. With a little bit of concentration, the Aether uncoiled from his wrist and enveloped Anaklusmos, adding an extra edge to an already deadly weapon. Allowing a smirk to flit across his face, Percy vanished into thin mist, just as the chitauri on the hovercraft raced across the Rainbow Bridge.

The whole city was a living nightmare – it was practically a warzone, and Agent Tyler was just wondering when the hell did some higher power decide that New York would be the perfect ground zero. He bit back a curse as he narrowly dodged a stray blast from the chitauri, firing back his own shots at the offending alien. He had lost his gun sometime in the battle, but he couldn't care less about it. Now, it was all about survival – any object that had the potential to be a weapon would be used just as such. He had picked up the current rifle in his hands from one of his men, uttering a short apology as he stripped the dead man of his weapons, guilt wracking him as he left the bodies behind.

He would stop to think about that another time though, preferably one where he wasn't bombarded left, right and center by annoying aliens. The girl – Thalia – was still with him, weaving in and out of debris and rubble to fire shots that were scarily accurate. Each of her silver arrows found their mark in the eye of the chitauri, and they were felled one by one. He spotted several orange shirts in the corner of his eye, worn by teens by the look of it, and he resisted the urge to order them to safety. He had seen the teens in action, although he was extremely confused by their choice of weapon – who brought baseball bats to a gunfight?

In the midst of the chaos, he found himself beside the silver clad girl again, and decided to ask, again, "Who are you people? Teenagers shouldn't be fighting like this!"

Thalia grunted and fired three arrows in rapid succession, before ducking back behind an overturned car. "I told you, we're –" she fired another two arrows, "– your –", a little bit of electricity injected into her next arrow and the chitauri convulsed and collapsed, its charred body smoking slightly, "– allies!"

"I know that." Tyler hissed, firing a spray of bullets into a group of chitauri flying overhead. The bullets killed two of the chitauri on the hovercraft, sending them crashing into the other in an impressive display of fireworks. "What I meant was – what are you guys? How are you fighting so well? Teens are not supposed to be fighting in wars like these!" he stressed.

Thalia rolled her eyes, calmly picking off the chitauri like she did with monsters when she went on hunts with her Lady and her sisters. "Listen, we, meaning the people in orange shirts and the girls wearing silver, we can take care of ourselves. We have training that prepares us for this, and New York is our home too, we're not gonna let the aliens just trash it like that!"

Agent Tyler hissed, if he had known that signing up for this battle meant that he had to deal with annoying girls who kept insisting on being mysterious, he would never have volunteered himself to Fury. "So what, I just tell my men not to shoot the people in orange and silver? And for that matter, what about guys in silver? Is that going to happen too?" he demanded, feeling incredulous at the words that had just pooped out of his mouth.

Thalia shook her head, "Nah, no guys in silver, only girls. But really, you should be glad that you have more help than you thought."

The SHIELD agent just groaned.

The chitauri sped along the Rainbow Bridge, chittering excitedly at the approaching spires of Asgard. They had been waiting for this day for months now, offset by their master and his desire to hoard the gems. As they approached the end of the Rainbow Bridge, they failed to see the giant wave of water rising up until it crashed into them, sending numerous hovercrafts falling like flies.

Percy grinned savagely as the water brought down the first wave of chitauri, none of them seeing his attack until it was too late. The wave behind them turned and fired their guns immediately, but Percy was already in motion. He leapt at the chitauri that were on the bridge – some of them having fallen into the waters below – slicing through their necks before they could have the chance to attack him. He willed the water to form a protective shield around him, repelling the shots fired by the second wave of chitauri. He knew that he had taken the first one by surprise, and that the second would not fall for the same trick as the first.

Instead, he dove forward, hacking and slashing his way through the chitauri which had landed on the bridge – more of its brethren following as they tried to stop him – but he was too fast, too slippery for them to catch. He was severely outnumbered by the chitauri, but he was in his home element – and he exploited his advantage.

A whirlwind started to build up around him, the wind whipping the faces of the chitauri, buffeting them. He struck like a viper, his swords flashing in the light – a split second warning before the blade sank into alien flesh. The chitauri could feel the Aether wrapped around the bronze blade, but they couldn't touch it. Percy let a smirk adorn his face as his Aether-enhanced blade ripped through the chitauri ranks like a hot knife through butter. He spun on his heel, gracefully dodging a sneak attack from behind, twirling his sword such that he held it in a reverse grip, before slicing horizontally across the chitauri's neck – its head separated cleanly from its body as he moved on to another opponent. The chitauri horde buzzed angrily, their movements becoming more frenzied by the minute as none of their attacks hit the demigod and all of his found their mark. The chitauri in the air arranged themselves into a formation while the grounded ones kept Percy busy. They flew forward, aligning themselves in a V-shape manner and let their guns loose, bolts of energy raining down on the demigod.

The chitauri watched as one of the bolts found their mark, searing its way through Percy's calf, making him drop to a knee as he cried out. The rest of the shots followed in a similar manner, and the demigod hissed, throwing up a hand to protect himself against the barrage.

Smoke filled the area as the chitauri kept up the assault, not relenting the slightest bit until the entire Bridge was covered in smoke. They all paused, watching, waiting for the smoke to clear to reveal the charred body of the hydrokinetic demigod.

It never happened.

Before the smoke could even clear, sharp darts of ice flew out of the smoke screen, piercing each and every chitauri that was in the air. The screeches of pain of the dying aliens lingered long after the smoke cleared, revealing a lone demigod surrounded by the dead bodies of the chitauri lying all around him. He looked at their corpses grimly, shards of pure ice sticking out of their bodies like a gruesome pincushion. He craned his head to the sky, spotting another swarm in the distance.

Percy sighed, knowing without turning around that the attack had already begun on Asgard – it was not possible for one person – not even him, to hold back the entire chitauri army. What he had done was to take down a portion of that vast army, and he knew that Thanos had countless more. He narrowed his eyes at the approaching swarm, taking a step forward and hefting his blade –

He spun and threw his sword up at the last minute, deflecting a blast that was aimed for his chest and which would have no doubt burnt him to a crisp. As it was, he still flew back a good twenty feet from the impact, sliding across the Rainbow Bridge. He rolled to his feet immediately, pausing at the sight of his attacker.

His lips curled into a snarl, "You."

Standing forty feet in front of him, Loki cocked his head to one side, staring impassively at the demigod, a long staff held in his hands.