Life can Change: What a Marvel Part 3 (56k —> 66k) (Patreon)

Meanwhile, back in the lounge, the remaining captives sat under guard. Juggernaut paced the room like a caged bull, occasionally smashing a decorative vase or punching a hole through a wall. Blob lounged in the kitchen area, devouring everything in the fridge and Pyro sat on the edge of a table, flicking a lighter open and closed, small flames dancing across his fingertips.

In the far corner, Johnny, Ben, Sue, and Colleen huddled together. Johnny kept muttering curses under his breath. "Those damn freakishly big bastards. I could roast them all if I got one clean shot."

Ben growled agreement. "Yeah I'll take the metal head, damn guy thinks he can get me with a cheap shot."

Sue tried to keep them calm. "We can't do anything stupid. Dad and Reed are still with them. One wrong move and—"

Colleen cut in. "You really think they're going to let us live after they're done?"

Johnny and Ben nodded fiercely. "She's right," Johnny said. "We gotta do something."

Sue reminded him, "Johnny, our dad and Reed are still in danger. If we start a fight now..."

That mollified him, but only barely. The group sat in tense silence for a while each of them sat waiting for any kind of opening that they could take. Sue considered trying to use her powers to make a path towards the door, and she would've if not for the fact that the blob was sitting in front of it. That was when Sue noticed one of the overhead lights flickering in a deliberate pattern. She frowned, watching closely until her eyes widened in understanding.

short-long-short, pause, repeat. 

Morse code. 

She recognized it instantly. She also recognised that there was only one person who would've been sending the message right now. 

Natasha.

The message was clear: "I'm going to distract them. Cover your ears."

Sue whispered it to the others. "Backups here, she's about to make a distraction cover your ears and get ready to fight."

Sue could tell they wanted to ask more, but this was neither the time or place to do so. They merely nodded and prepared themselves for it, something which pyro seemed to notice. 

"What are you—"

The lounge door slid open without warning and several stun grenades rolled across the floor. 

Sue, Colleen, Johnny, and Ben covered their ears and eyes just in time. The mutants were not so lucky. The flashes and bangs hit them full force and sent all of them to the ground or at least in juggernauts case leaning against the wall. The helmet had protected him from the stun affected but his eyes had been wide open at the time and it completely blinded him. 

"Go!" Sue shouted.

Colleen rushed towards pyro as she knew the other mutants were a little out of her league. She kicked up a knife to her hand as she ran and immediately threw it straight into his shoulder. Pyro roared in pain and fired blindly trying to hit whoever had stabbed him. Unluckily for him Natasha rushed into the room from the hallway, slid past the blob and kicked the blonde man in the knee forcing him down. She then grabbed the dagger out of his shoulder and used it to slit his throat and kick him down to the ground. 

Unfortunately the Juggernaut recovered faster than expected, shaking off the stun with a roar. "You little bitch!" he bellowed at Sue, charging like a freight train.

Sue thrust her hands forward and A force-field platform materialized under her feet, lifting her ten feet into the air just as Juggernaut crashed through where she had been standing. The juggernaut tried to stop himself, but was unable to and he ended up crashing through the wall and down 30 stories. 

"Youuuu BIIIITTCHHH—"

Meanwhile Ben grabbed Blob from behind, locking his rocky arms around the giant's waist in a crushing bear hug while Johnny reignited, sending an intense je of flame directly into Blob's face. The heat intensified until Blob's skin blistered and blackened. 

He howled, flailing around and trying to get out of his grip but he failed and Johnny was able to blast him until he fell down and collapsed on his front.

The room fell quiet except for everyone who seemed to be shocked that this had worked so well. Eventually Johnny and Ben stared at Natasha, who was wiping blood from the blade and putting it back on the side. 

Johnny blinked. "Wait... Nat what are you doing here? Wait does that mean shields here? With what we did earlier I doubted they'd come back here."

Ben rumbled, "How many agents did you bring?"

Natasha holstered the knife. "SHIELD isn't here."

They stared at her, confusion forming on their faces. Why was one of their top agents here if SHIELD wasn't right behind her?

Sue stepped forward. "She's the fugitive they were looking for."

Johnny's jaw dropped. "Wait what? Why?"

"It's complicated," Sue said quickly. "We can talk about it later. Right now we need to save Reed and Dad."

Natasha nodded. "We have to leave. Call SHIELD. With the GeoCore, Magneto is more powerful than ever. We can't—"

SCREECH

Before she could even finish her sentence the entire wall and door imploded inward in a screech of metal. The whole floor shook and everyone fell to the floor as it seemed the whole building was about to collapse. Though it seemed to settle a moment later, and as they caught their footing everyone in the room looked towards the opening and to Magneto who strode through the debris. 

"Quite right, Agent Romanoff," Magneto commented.

The group moved to attack but Magneto flicked one wrist. And the metal beams, window frames, and rebar ripped from the walls and ceiling, broke out and straightened before wrapping around each of them. Sue tried to form a force field around them but it shattered under the pressure from alll the metal. Once they were all restrained her eyes locked on her father, limp and carried by Reed, blood staining his pant leg.

"Dad!" Sue screamed.

Magneto glanced at Franklin. "Calm yourself Miss Storm. Your father is fine. He simply had to be punished a little for his insolence."

Sue's voice shook with fury. "You have what you want, if you're done here just leave!"

Magneto smirked, stepping into the center of the ruined lounge. "Why would I leave now and deprive you of a truly spectacular sight. You are about to witness a truly important day in history," he began.

He raised both hands and the entire building shuddered. Each of the walls peeled open like tin cans and the floor beneath them lifted smoothly into the night air, exposing the lounge to the open sky thirty stories above Manhattan. 

Mystique handed him a small transmitter. "You're live," she said.

"People of New York, and people watching around the world," he said,. "Some of you may know who I am, for those of you who don't. I am Magneto. For years my people have been in hiding, for years we have feared what may happen when we stepped into the light. When we did step into the light, you spoke of mutants as if we are a problem that needs to be solved. You have studied us, registered us, and imprisoned us, and you have told yourselves that it was for everyone's safety."

Traffic lights froze in place as cars were forcibly stopped in the middle of intersections. Digital billboards shifted to his image, and office screens that had been displaying spreadsheets or news feeds now showed his face instead.

"You say that we are dangerous," Magneto continued. "You say that we must be controlled. You build machines to detect us and prisons to contain us, and you tell yourselves that you are protecting humanity when you do it. What you are really protecting is your own fear."

He lifted one hand slowly, and along a nearby avenue of parked cars rose into the air. Their frames twisted as metal pulled inward under pressure, and glass shattered as windows broke from the strain.

"For years, we have tried to coexist," he said. "Some of us have opened schools. Some of us have tried to help your governments. Some of us have saved your lives. In return, you have treated us as weapons or threats. You have hunted us, and you have killed us."

He turned slightly and flicked his wrist.

Across the city the Empire State Building jerked sideways. The metal frame of the entire building twisted and tore away from the structure, and the upper section fell, crashing down through lower city. With a single gesture of his hand he had destroyed one of America's greatest landmarks and killed thousands of people. 

Magneto placed one hand over the GeoCore attached to his chest.

"This device was built to stabilize your world," he said. "It was designed to protect the planet and your cities. Now it serves a different purpose."

He extended both arms outward and spread his fingers.

"It will be used to speed along evolution..." 

Deep below Manhattan the iron within the earths crust responded to his command the tectonic plates that shifted below the earth started to move. The ground shifted as sections of pavement lifted and cracked. Streets split open along long lines, and water pipes burst as pressure tore through them.Buildings swayed as the entire foundations shifted. Windows cracked and fell. People inside those buildings lost their footing and fell as the structure beneath them moved.

"Do not be dismayed this is not the end," Magneto said. "This is merely the end of your illusion of control. You believed that your cities and your numbers gave you power. You believed that your machines made you strong. You believed that mutants would always remain under your foot."

He clenched his fists and the shaking intensified.

The entire city was shaking as a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook the city. The sound of people screaming and dying as buildings collapsed and people were buried alive filled the city. Sue could only look on in horror as the entire city looked like it was about to collapse. 

"You were wrong," he said.

But before Magneto could continue he was distracted by a strange beam of light that was moving towards them. It was mostly white with a kaleidoscope of colours rippling within. The narrow beam of light descended from the sky and struck the floating section of the Baxter Building. 

"What is this," he demanded.

"I do not know," Magik replied.

The beam dissipated and a figure became visible inside it.

Everyone looked shocked as Mark descended slowly until his boots touched the broken surface of the floor. His beard was thick, and his clothes were mostly torn away and ripped revealing his chest and legs. Dirt marked the fabric, and dried blood stained one shoulder. 

His eyes remained fixed on Magneto.

Magneto's expression tightened. "Illyana," he said.

Magik stepped forward and thrust her arm outward in an attempt to open a portal beneath Mark's feet, she focused on the connection that allowed her to reach Limbo.

Nothing happened.

She tried again but once again nothing happened, her breathing grew faster as she felt nothing where there should have been something. "I cannot feel Limbo," she said, her eyes widening. 

"Because it's gone," he said.

Magik stared at him, feeling herself tremble slightly.  Apart from the beard and the damage to his clothing he looked the same as before, which unsettled her in a way she could not hide. They had trapped him in there at least an hour ago, and while she knew the time dilation could be finicky at best he should still be an old man at the very least. 

Mark looked straight at Magneto. "It's over Eric."

"No... no I don't think it is..." Magneto said as he reached out with both hands and a moment later Mark slammed into the ground, dragged downward by an invisible force. Deeper and deeper he went through concrete and then metal then pure earth and stone as he was dragged down to the earths core, had this happened to him before he went through that portal he might not have been able to stop it. 

But he wasn't the same as he was before. 

With a grunt Mark stopped himself from falling through the ground any further. The he pull was immense, stronger than anything he had ever felt. He realized Magneto must have linked his own body's magnetic field and linked it directly to the Earth. 

The entire planet was trying to drag him to its core.

Luckily it seemed the effect wore off quickly and Mark was able to rocket back up out of the ground and go straight towards Magneto, he then reached him and tore the Geocore off of him and crushed it in his hands. 

"You're too late. It's over." Magneto laughed. 

Mark didn't understood what he meant at least until he turned around and saw it, in the distance, a massive hundred-foot wave rose from the harbor, racing toward the city. The result of the earthquake that Magneto had summoned. 

"Millions will die," Magneto declared. "And with this act, the war begins."

Mark turned, staring at the oncoming tsunami, trying to think of what to do, but every second he floated there was a second it came closer. Not being able to wait any longer Mark flew straight across the ruined lounge toward Johnny and Sue. He landed hard in front of them. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I need to borrow something from both of you right now."

Johnny and Sue stared at him, still held tight by the metal coils around their bodies. Before either could speak, Mark placed one hand on Johnny's shoulder and the other on Sue's arm. A bright glow spread from his palms into their skin. The cosmic rays that had changed them flowed out of their bodies and into his. Johnny and Sue both grunted in pain as the energy left them.

When he was done Mark stepped back, his body practically humming with fresh energy. He looked up at Magneto and shouted, "Flame on!"

Fire exploded around him in a roaring blaze. He shot straight up into the air faster than any of them had ever seen. The floating lounge shook from the force of his takeoff.

Magneto floated thete in the sky and Mark stopped directly in front of him, flames roaring around his body like a second skin. "Mass genocide is never the answer Eric," Mark said, "You of all people should know that."

Magneto's helmet hid his expression, but his hands tightened into fists.

Mark did not wait for a reply. He turned and shot away from the city, flying south over the water at full speed. He pushed himself harder than he had ever pushed before, he pushed himself so fast that the air around him began to burn making him look like a meteorite. He reached out to the energy inside him and touched the faint energy of the Bifrost and he used it to propel him forward at even greater speed. He added Johnny's flames at maximum power, pushing the fire out behind him like rocket engines. 

The combination made him accelerate so fast that he flew around the entire world in only thirty seconds. 

Continents blurred beneath him and before he knew it he completed the circle and aimed straight down into the Atlantic Ocean just ahead of the massive wave that was racing toward New York.

He hit the water at full speed, the impact sent a wall of spray hundreds of feet high and at the same time vaporised it and turned it into steam. Mark kept going, carving a deep trench through the sea. He flew deeper and faster and the trench grew miles long and hundreds of metres deep in seconds. Water rushed into the new chasm from both sides making the main body of the tsunami lose its forward power as it poured into the gap. The wave slowed and dropped as the trench absorbed its energy and broke its shape.

Mark burst out of the water at the far end of the trench. He turned back and flew towards the city before he faced the wave and raised both hands. Sue's force-field power flowed through him and a huge, invisible barrier formed in the middle of the remaining tsunami. He pushed the barrier forward with all his strength in the shape of a wedge. Blood burst out of his nose and eyes as the wave crashed against wave split and curved inward on itself. The two halves crashed together and collapsed, the height reduced to nothing more than shin-deep water that washed harmlessly onto the shore.

The city was safe.

Mark hung in the air for a moment his chest heaving. Every muscle burned and his  vision blurred. He had never felt this exhausted in his entire life. The cosmic energy, the flames, the speed, the force field, all of it had drained him completely. The flames on his body went out and he dropped like a stone and hit the ground on the edge of the harbour. 

Back at the floating lounge, Magneto stared at the shore where the wave had vanished. His jaw tightened, and his eyes moved across the skyline as he watched the water flow calmly along the streets, and as he watched the buildings that should have been crushed still standing the metal around the lounge shifted slightly as his grip on it changed, and the coils that held Sue, Johnny, Ben, Reed, Natasha, and Colleen squeezed tighter for a moment, which made several of them flinch even though they tried not to show it.

He turned his head toward them slowly. "You can blame him for this," Magneto said, he did not raise his voice, yet all of them heard it clearly. "You can tell yourselves that you were saved by a hero, you can tell yourselves that you have won, but now you can remember what it costs when you stand in my way."

Sue pulled against the metal around her wrists, and forced herself to keep her breathing even as the metal tightened around him. "Magneto," she said, "It's over... you've los."

Magneto looked at her as if she had said something pointless. "Silence woman..."

Magneto lifted one hand, and the air around them filled with small fragments of metal that rose off broken furniture and bent fixtures, and the pieces hung there in a rough circle as if he had turned the whole room into a weapon. "You can blame for this Mark," he said again, and his eyes flicked toward Sue for half a second. "You can blame him for interfering, you can blame him for giving you hope, and you can blame him when you die."

Sue's stomach dropped, and she tried to raise a force field, yet the metal tightened snd made her yell out in pain. 

Magneto's fingers tightened slightly, and the metal restraints began to squeeze against all of them.

Then a red blast hit him from the left.

The impact shoved him back through the air, the circle of fragments scattered as he jerked his arm up to stop himself from slamming into the wall of a neighbouring building. 

Everyone was shocked and looked up just to see  a jet cutting across the sky and hovering above the floating platform. Scott stood on the open ramp with his visor lit, and fired again, the blast hit Magneto in the chest and pushed him backward through the building giving them some space.

"Get them out," Scott shouted to the others.

The X Jet hovered closer to them and then bodies dropped from the ramp in quick sequence, landing on the broken lounge floor and the exposed concrete near the torn wall. Ororo floated down first and sent a gust of wind out across the room right away as she raised her arms pushing all the metal away. Wolverine landed beside her with his claws out. Colossus dropped with a heavy step that cracked tile. Beast landed near Sue and Johnny while Jean landed near Reed and Natasha. 

Scott dropped last, and landed near the center, then he turned his visor toward Magneto again.

Magneto's face twisted with anger and floated out of the building with his hands out he moved the metal around him. 

Scott shot him again with another blast of his beams only for magneto to block them with large sheets of metal. However it did give time for the other X-men to free the captives and let them get ready for what was likely to be a shit show. 

Reed was the last one to g tfree as Jean pulled the coils off him, and he immediately moved to Sue's side, and put one hand on her shoulder for half a second. "We need to stop him," Reed declared.

"We will, but we need to deal with the others too," Sue replied.

And if by Magik, she appeared near the far side of the lounge with her sword already out, she moved towards them as Mystique stepped out of another portal beside her and much to their dismay Juggernaut arrived too from a different portal that led to the streets; he stepped fully into the room and rolled his shoulders as he looked at Ben and Colossus.

"Round two, then I'm going to fuck that blonde bitch bloody," Juggernaut said, and he grinned.

"Niet if I have anything to say about it." Colossus moved first and met Juggernaut with a straight punch that hit his chest and pushed him back a step, and Juggernaut answered with his own punch that sent Colossus sliding across the floor.

Ben backed him up and charged hitting Juggernaut in the ribs, but Juggernaut turned with the impact and slammed his forearm into Ben's head. Ben stumbled back, then he roared and hit again, but this time Colossus grabbed Juggernaut from behind and allowed Ben to hit him with a furious combo of punches straight to his stomach.  

Johnny stepped forward and raised his hands.

"Flame on," he said, and fire covered him though it was noticeably less bright than usual, he threw a stream of flame toward Magik, she swung her sword through it and split the fire in the air, and it broke into two streams that rolled along the floor on either side of her.

Ororo moved her hands and pushed wind into Johnny's fire, which increased their potency and made them roar as they tried to engulf Magik's position, Magik stepped back and raised her sword again and stepped through a portal avoiding it and appearing behind them. 

Meanwhile Wolverine lunged toward Mystique, and Mystique shifted her shape mid-step so she became a shorter woman making Wolverine slash through empty air, she then changed back and kicked him in the face and followed through with another kick at his knee. Wolverine roared and slashed at her again furiously only for mystique to continue to avoid him. 

Magneto had managed to send Scott flying with a beam of metal and was now floating midair in front of them. He raised his arms and this time the entire lounge groaned as metal in the structure itself began to shift, beams bent while bolts tore free. Sue threw a large force field dome between Magneto and the others just in time for the first wave of debris slammed into it and bounced off, yet the dome shook and rippled under the impact.

"Give me an opening!" Scott shouted. 

"Got you!" Sue replied. 

Scott then moved to the edge of the dome and fired a blast through a small opening that Sue created for him. The blast hit Magneto and pushed him back, and for a moment it looked like they might keep him on the defensive.

Then Magneto lifted one hand and pulled the metal frame of a broken wall and turned it into thousands of thin needles that he slammed into the dome. Some of them found the small opening and impacted Scott's body making him cry out and fall to the ground. Magneto didn't stop his onslaught there however, he continued to pelt the forcefield again and again until Sue was panting on her knees with blood running down her face from her nose.

"Erik," Charles said through the speaker of the jet, "it is over. You have been beaten. Stand down."

Magneto snapped his head toward the jet, and his face twisted further, his breathing grew heavier as his anger pushed past his control.

"Over," Magneto repeated as he laughed humourlessly. "No, Charles, it is not over."

He looked down at the smashed on the ground that Mark had broken, then he lifted his chin and looked back at the heroes in front of him. "I do not need the device to start this war," he said. "I merely wanted it, and it served its purpose, yet I do not need it to end this city."

Magneto then floated upwards more out and stretched his powers as far as it would go. 

Sues eyes widened as she realised what was about to sharpen. She stepped forward and she tried to push a force field around him like a cage, but her head started throbbing when she attempted it and she fell to the ground. Reed rushed to her side to check that she was okay. "Sue! Talk to me!" Reed said in a panic as he shook her. 

"We need to stop him!" Sue shouted getting everyone's attention. 

Magneto lifted both arms higher.

Across the city below, steel frames began to tear apart. Building supports bent and broke. Magneto was tearing the metal from the foundation of every building and structure, it was slow, but if he completed what he was about to do every building would no doubt collapse and thousand upon thousand of people would die.

Sue looked toward the city and then back to Magneto, and she forced her voice steady while panic pressed at her throat.

"You have to stop!" she shouted. "You are killing innocent people."

Magneto's eyes locked on her.

"I am ending a lie," he replied. "You wanted a world where mutants stay quiet, where we accept what you allow, where we thank you for scraps, and where we die in the dark when you decide we are too dangerous. You will not have that world!!!"

Scott fired again but the blast hit Magneto's shield that had started to surround him, and Ororo pushed lighting towards him but the metal surrounding him conducted it away from him. 

Meanwhile Ben and Colossus finally forced Juggernaut back for a moment and managed to throw him off the building. But none of it mattered in the end as they couldn't get close to Magneto. Metal kept rising, and it kept twisting into walls and rings and moving blades, any time someone tried to step in, the space filled with something sharp and it forced them back.

Charles' voice came again through the jet speakers. "Erik," he said, "you are not thinking clearly, you are not helping our people."

Magneto turned his head toward the jet, and his anger pushed higher.

"I do not need your approval Charles," he said, and then he lifted one hand toward the city again.

The rest of Magnetos companions joined him as they stepped on metal platforms and floated up next to them. Meanwhile a large building frame tore free from its base several blocks away, and it rose into the air in broken sections, then those sections slammed into a neighboring tower, steel punched into glass and concrete, and debris fell to the ground making people scream.

Johnny looked at Sue and then looked back at Magneto, and he spoke through clenched teeth.

"We can't get close what do we do?" he said.

Ben wiped dust off his face and growled. "Maybe I can throw you," he said, and tried to step forward again, and another coil of metal snapped up at his feet and forced him to stop.

"You will not stop me," he said. "No one can."

_____________________________________

"Hey, hey, he's moving."

"Is that him, is that Invincible."

"It has to be, the cat was flying above the waterfront a few seconds ago."

"Somebody call an ambulance."

Mark forced his eyelids open, at first all he saw were shapes and shadows, then his vision sharpened enough that he could make out faces, and there were more of them than he expected. People stood at the rim of the crater, some in soaked jackets, some in work clothes, some in sweaters and dress shirts, and a few had blood on their sleeves. 

A man in a hard hat crouched near the edge with one hand braced on his knee, and a woman with a backpack held her phone in one hand while she kept looking from Mark to the sky, and a teenager had both hands on the concrete lip like he wanted to climb down.

Mark tried to sit up, but his stomach twisted when he did and the motion sent pain through his ribs.

"Hold on, hold on man don't rush it." Someone stepped forward, then climbed down into the crater. The man looked like a maintenance worker or a building porter. He stopped near Mark's side, then crouched and held one hand out.

"Invincible," the man said, "are you okay, man."

Mark swallowed. His throat felt dry. "Yeah," he barely croaked out. "I'm fine."

The man did not look convinced, and he glanced at Mark's chest and his arms. "You don't look fine man," he said. "We need to get you out of here, get you to some doctor."

Mark tried to laugh and only managed a short breath. "I've been in worse."

"Can you sit up," he asked.

Mark tried again, his shoulders shook, and he got halfway up before his arms lost strength and he dropped back with a grunt.

Several people at the rim leaned in.

"He needs help," someone said.

"Let us get you out."

"We got you, we got you."

Mark blinked at them, he had to force his mind to stay in the moment, since his body wanted to shut down. The for a moment he looked past them and saw the city behind them, it made his stomach sink. Buildings were breaking apart. Metal was moving where it should not move. Dust rose in thick clouds between towers. Pieces of steel flew across the air, then slammed into structures. He heard the sounds of sirens, of car horns and explosions, but most of all he heard the sound of screaming. 

Magneto was doing it.

Mark tried to push himself up again, and the man in the crater put both hands under Mark's arm and shoulder and tried to lift him, and Mark let him, even though pride flared in his chest for a second. He hated being helpless, and he hated needing help when other people were the ones in danger, yet his body would not listen to him.

The man got him upright into a seated position, and Mark had to brace his hands on the broken concrete to keep from tipping over.

"Okay," the man said, breathing hard as if he had lifted something heavy. "Okay, what should we do, tell us what you need man."

A woman at the rim leaned forward. "Do you need water," she asked.

Another voice said, "I got a bottle, I got one."

Someone tossed a plastic bottle down, it bounced and rolled to Mark's knee. Mark grabbed it, his fingers shaking, then twisted the cap with effort and took a small drink.

Mark looked up at all of them. "You guys need to leave..." he told them. "It's not safe here."

The teenager at the rim shook his head. "No," he said quickly. "No, I'm staying."

"Yeah we can't just leave you!" Another said. 

"I'm not leaving either!" Another teen said. 

Mark looked at him. "Kid," he said, "It's too dangerous here, please go..."

The teenager stared back at him. "We're not leaving you," he said.

Mark blinked. "What," he managed.

A woman with a soaked coat stepped closer to the edge and pointed up at the skyline. "You have saved us so many times, we can't leave you now when you need help," she said.

Mark tried to focus on her face while his head felt heavy."The city's coming apart," he said. 

An older man near her shook his head. "We're not running while you' need our help, you're our cities hero sir and I'd feel ashamed to leave you behind," he said.

Mark felt something twist in his chest that had nothing to do with pain. He was used to people cheering when he landed, he was used to cameras in his face, and he was used to people shouting his name like it was a chant, yet this was different, since there was no excitement in their voices now. 

They looked scared. 

They looked tired

They still came anyway.

Mark smiled at that

He glanced at the skyline again, he saw another building panel rip away from a tower and slam into the side of a second one, and he heard the sound of a collapse far off.

He had to move.

He tried to stand, but his legs buckled as soon as he shifted weight forward. His whole body lit up with pain, and it felt like his nerves were exposed. He caught himself with his hands, then tried again, this time he fell forward and the other man caught him 

"Okay," the man said quickly, and he grabbed Mark under the arm. "I've got you Invincible."

Mark clenched his teeth. He did not want to admit he needed help, yet his body was wrecked. He felt like he had been stretched, burned, and emptied all at once, his head kept buzzing as if the inside of his skull had been filled with static.

He had only ever held one type of energy in his body before. Today he had held Sue's power and Johnny's power, and he had forced the Bifrost energy through himself again. That was three different types of energy that he used inside of himself. It had completely wrecked his body. 

He wanted to lie back down.

He wanted to close his eyes and sleep until his body stopped hurting.

He wanted to stop thinking.

He looked up again, and he saw the skyline breaking, and he saw debris falling, and he heard the sound of people screaming in the distance, and he felt anger rise up inside him.

He could not sleep.

He could not stay here.

He did not have a choice.

He forced air into his lungs. "

"I'm fine."

"I'm fine."

Whether it was to comfort them or comfort himself he didn't know.

The woman with the backpack climbed down into the crater, and moved close enough to grab his other arm, then she looked at him like she was checking if he was going to pass out.

"We're not going to leave you until you're safe," she said.

Mark wanted to tell her that she should not be here. He wanted to tell her that Magneto could pull the metal from her and cut her in half, he wanted to tell her that a piece of debris could come out of nowhere and crush them, he wanted to tell her that nothing about this was safe.

Instead he nodded. 

"On three," the man said.

They counted, and they lifted, and Mark pushed with his legs even while they shook, and he got upright. His knees wobbled. His stomach rolled. He kept his hands on both of their forearms as if he was using them like rails.

He stood.

The group at the rim let out a short burst of sound similar to cheering though mixed with some relief. 

Mark swallowed again and forced himself to take a step.

His foot scraped over the broken concrete.

His second step came easier.

He took a third, then a fourth, the pain stayed, yet his legs finally began to obey.

He climbed out of the crater with their help, when he reached the street he stood up on wet pavement. People stepped back to give him space, several of them reached out as if they wanted to touch his arm.

Mark looked at all of them. "Stay at the water front," he said. "It's not safe in the city at the moment."

He then gave them all a grateful smile. "Thank you... all of you, leave it to me now," he told them. 

He then let go of the people holding him up and took another step forward, then another, he started moving faster as his body warmed up. He walked, then he jogged, his breathing getting heavier.

He needed to get back up there.

He needed to stop Magneto.

He pushed into a run, his legs protested and his spine felt like it might snap but he kept going.

"GO INVINCIBLE!!!"

"YOU CAN DO IT!"

"KICK HIS ASS!!!"

He bent his knees and jumped.

For a second, nothing happened, and his stomach dropped as he thought he had nothing left, but then his body responded and he shot off the ground and launched into the sky. He angled toward the floating lounge and pushed himself forward back toward the tower where he saw the Baxter building. 

Magneto hovered near the upper floors while he laughed. "You all thought Homo sapiens were the superior life form on Earth," he said. "Watch as I crush them. Watch as your towers fall. Watch as your civilisation breaks."

The buildings near him groaned again as the top floors collapsed into the middle.

Mark saw people at the windows, there were people in there. He immediately shot forward and did not slow down. He launched toward the building and punched through the collapsing facade. He moved through the building at super speed getting everyone out one or two at a time, all while the building colllapsed around him. Eventually he managed to get them all to safety and he shot forward to a magneto and stopped at a distance. 

"It's over," Mark said while panting. "You're done Eric. You're just making it worse for yourself."

Magneto's mouth pulled into a smile that looked half manic. "It is not the end, it is merely the beginning," Magneto replied. "You think that if you stop me you stop the idea. Even if I fall here, I will not be the first. There are hundreds of mutants like me. All of them are oppressed by these inferior beings. Their freedom will only come with Homo sapiens destruction."

Mark's hands tightened into fists.

"You are wrong..."Mark said with his fists clenched together. 

"That's just the talk of a coward." He looked up

At Magneto who was glaring at him. 

"You've got so much power... you could have done real good with it. You could have helped people. You could have protected mutants and protected humans, you could have been the guy that proved it could work. You could have given hope to both sides... but you didn't even try."

Magneto's eyes narrowed.

"In a world that already had enough pain and death you still chose violence," Mark went on. "You chose this, and you did it since you think it's easier than walking the hard path and being the better man, refusing to become like the people you hate. You gave up. You turned all that pain into a reason to hurt everyone else."

Magneto lifted his chin slightly as if he was listening, yet he did not look like he was hearing anything.

Mark took a breath and kept going, "Look at what you've done," Mark said. "Look at how many people are going to hate mutants even more now. Look at how many children with powers are going to get blamed for what you've done today. You're not helping them. You're making their lives worse. You're setting them up to get hunted harder than you ever did. Deep down you know that."

"You've let your prejudice against people doom thousands of your own kind to the very fate you say you wanted to avoid!!!" Mark shouted. 

Magneto's face tightened.

Then his anger hit the surface.

"You speak of cowardice," Magneto said, and his voice rose while metal around him started to vibrate. "You, who hides behind admiration and applause. You, who believes that saving a few lives will change the world."

"Invincible... such a pretentious and fitting name, look at you. You have so much power and what have you used it for? Performing tricks for the humans like a dog? What do you understand of struggle? Of pain?"

Mark shook his head. "I understand enough to know you're wrong."

Magneto's hands spread outward. "YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING! Humanity is a scourge upon this earth and a danger to not only themselves but to the proper inheritors!"

The air filled with metal.

"If I have ti kill every last one of them then I will do so!" Magneto said as he summoned tons of metal. It came from everywhere at once, steel beams ripped from buildings, street signs, rebar pulled from concrete, broken cars, railing from rooftops, and structural supports torn from bridges. The mass formed into a moving cloud, and it shot toward Mark in a wide arc.

"Then we'll see whose will is stronger..." 

Mark launched forward.

He flew through the first wave of metal that was sent towards him, punching a path open with his forearms and shoulders. Metal slammed into him from the sides and the back. So much metal was hitting him that it was hard to stay on course, it was hard to even see where he was going, but he kept moving, if he stopped he would get buried under it.

A thick beam hit his ribs and spun him sideways.

A car door hit the side of his head and snapped off into the air.

A length of rebar wrapped around his body and yanked him down.

Mark twisted, tore it free, and flew upward again

Magneto clenched his fist, and the whole mass compressed and it formed around Mark like a ball. He then slammed it down to the ground, but that wasn't the end of it, metal kept piling on top of him one after the other burying him deeper and deeper. His arms went up instinctively, yet the hits kept coming.

Finally, a thick slab of steel slammed into his chest and drove him into the ground, he hit the street hard enough to crack pavement into a web around him.

For a second, he lay there.

He could hear metal moving.

He could hear Magneto laughing somewhere above.

Mark clenched his jaw, then pushed.

He burst out of the crater and launched back into the air, his body screamed at him for it. 'You can sleep later...' he thought to himself as he shot back towards magneto. 

Magneto met him with more metal, yet this time Magneto shaped it into limbs.

The mass formed into thick arms and hands, each one large enough to grab Mark whole. The limbs swung at him from different angles, Mark dodged the first, then he punched through the second, then Magneto pulled it back together again and formed another strike.

Mark flew in close and tried to hit Magneto directly.

Magneto snapped a shield into place.

It was a layered wall of metal plates that rotated and overlapped, and every time Mark punched it, the plate he hit folded inward and then slid away while another plate replaced it.

Mark punched again.

The shield absorbed it and shifted.

Mark punched again, harder and  felt the resistance give slightly, this was enough to spur him onwards. He pushed himself harder and tore through the metal like an animal, sending punch after punch, causing multiple shockwaves across the skyline and making Magneto fully go on the defensive. 

Mark roared as he brought his hands together in a powerful thunderclap that broke through the metal and exposed Magneto for the first time. 

He shot forward and got one clean hit.

His fist slammed into Magneto's chest armor and shattered it along with the ribs behind it and Magneto shot backward through the air. He crashed through the side of a building and tore through several interior walls before bursting out the other side.

Mark followed.

Magneto pulled metal from inside that building as he flew, and he formed it into spikes that tried to catch Mark in the chest. Mark swatted them aside like flies and kept going.

Magneto formed hands out of the metal again and grabbed Mark before throwing him down to the ground he then sent it down like a punch which cratered the ground, but unknown to him Mark wasn't there. 

When he had hit the ground he dug underneath the earth and moved away from the crater. This allowed him to get the drop on him when he shot back out of the earth and connected a fist with his jaw.

Magneto's head snapped sideways, his helmet cracked and almost broke, and he crashed into another building.

Mark hit him again before Magneto could stabilize.

Magneto slammed through a window line and into an office floor, metal was constantly forming around his back to cushion the impact but it did little to spare him from the pain. 

Mark grabbed him by the front of his armor and dragged him back out through the wall.

Magneto's eyes burned with anger.

He lifted both hands and ripped a section of the building frame out, and the entire floor buckled. Steel supports bent inward. A portion of the building collapsed downward. Mark scowled and let go of Magneto as dozens girders dropped and aimed at him. Mark avoided most of them and caught the last one before spinning and using it to hit Magneto, though the metal warped and bent before it could it him. 

Mark dropped it and grabbed magneto before throwing him up through the collapsing building. Magneto flew through the hallways sending every bit of metal shooting towards Mark as he aimed to escape, yet Mark wouldn't let him. He reached him and grabbed his handle before spinning and throwing him through the wall. 

"I'll survive being buried under hundreds of tons of rubble, will you Eric!" Mark spat as he grabbed him and held him in place. 

"Let go of me you ill mannered creature!!!" Magneto spat as he made metal coil around marks body until it yanked him off. Magneto then used the falling debris as cover and shot metal through the air in thick spears that hit Mark further back. Magneto then started rotating the metal spears at high speeds to the point where they were almost vibrating before he shot them at Mark. 

And to Marks surprise he took one through the shoulder. The impact spun him, and pain shot down his arm.

He tore it free and threw it aside, then he launched forward again and hit Magneto in the chest, or at least he would have had the master of magnetism not shielded himself. Magneto then answered by slamming Mark into the side of a building with a moving slab of steel.

Mark crashed through windows and hit a concrete pillar.

Magneto flew after him and hit him again, this time a whole wall section folded around Mark like a clamp.

Mark pushed outward and broke it apart, then he flew up and tackled Magneto, he roared he pushed himself harder and they went through multiple buildings together before they hit a rooftop together.

Concrete cracked under the impact as they rolled across it. 

Both men were tired more so than they'd ever been before, but still Mark was the first to get up he then got on top of Magneto. 

Magneto wrapped metal around Mark's waist and tried to pull him off.

Mark punched Magneto in the face and broke his hold on the metal for a moment for a moment.

"It's...it's...over..." Mark said as exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him. 

Magneto who was bruised and bloodied simply scowled at him. "You haven't won... you may find others easily broken... but you'll find my will is like steel."

Mark went to punch him again only to feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned expecting to see more metal spears only to be surprised when it was in fact Wolverine flying towards him. 

Wolverine impacted a Mark and he flew off Magneto, tumbling across the rooftop with the other mutant. "Watch out bub!" Wolverine growled out as he tried to resist magneto but he couldn't.

Schink

Wolverine then started stabbing Mark over and over again. 

"AHHH!" Mark yelled out as his claws managed to stab through his invulnerable skin. Wolverine managed to stab him a dozen times, despite not wanting to, before Mark caught his arms.  

"Don't take it easy on me, I can heal pretty fast just throw me out of here," Logan said as he continuously tried to sink his claws into him. 

Mark nodded before he pushed up and flew into the air with his arms still around Logan. He then started to spin faster and faster until they were a blur he then threw Logan. The mutant went sailing out of the city like a rocket hopefully ending up somewhere not populated. 

Mark then coughed and blood filled his mouth and spilled across his lips. Wolverine had gotten him a few times in his lungs. 'Those claws sure were sharp...' he thought to himself. 

He looked back down to the rooftop and saw Magneto stumbling and struggling to stand. 

He didn't hesitate he flew straight at him and tackled Magneto straight down through the building and into Central Park, slamming into the ground with a massive boom. 

In the crater Mark rolled on top of him again, he mounted Magneto and placed both kneee on either side and one hand on the ground, otherwise he thought he might collapse.

He raised his fist and punched.

Magneto's head snapped sideways.

Mark punched again.

With no metal around them he couldn't defend and his head was snapped back again. 

"Don't make me kill you..." Mark shouted. "Just give up..."

Magneto's face was bloody now, yet he still smiled through it.

"No matter how many people you save," Magneto said, "the moment you fail is the moment they will hate you."

"Maybe you're right..." Mark commented as he clenched his fists. 

"But the moment I stop believing that tomorrow will be better is the moment I end up like you..." 

"That will never happen..."

Mark pulled the helmet off the elderly man and raised his fist again once more as he went to finish him, it was then he felt something in his mind. Like someone trying to push through, it didn't take him long to realise someone was trying to talk to him telepathically—similar in the way he would do it. 

'Mark I know you must want to kill him... but he's defeated, you removed his helmet, let me take control now...'

Mark didn't answer for a moment. 

In truth he didn't know what to do.

Magneto had killed thousands of people today. 

He deserved to die, that's what his gut told him. 

"D-Do it..." Magneto mumbled out from beneath him with a bloody smile. 

Mark raised his fist and drew it back. 

"I want to... god knows I do," Mark said, his voice and fist both trembling as he looked down at him. 

His fist then unclenched and instead he used it to help himself stand up. 

"But I won't..."

"Today happened because you decided the world couldn't change. Because you stopped believing anyone could be better. So you forced it. You tore it apart. You killed thousands because you thought you were right."

"And you want me to do the same thing right now."

"You want me to believe some people are beyond tomorrow. Beyond redemption. Beyond the possibility that things can improve."

He shook his head.

"No."

"Hope isn't pretending everything's fine and being naive. It's choosing to build something better even after it's been broken. It's choosing not to become the thing that hurt you."

He stepped back from him.

"If I kill you, then I'm saying you were right. That the only answer to fear is force. That the only way to fix the world is to decide who deserves to live in it."

His eyes didn't leave him.

"And I refuse to live in that world."

He looked out over the devastation again.

"Tomorrow has to be better. Not because it will magically fix itself. But because we decide it will be."

He let the silence sit.

"You don't get to take my belief in that."

"You don't get to turn me into proof that hope is a lie."

He nodded toward the X-Jet that was coming in for a landing.

"You answer for what you've done. The right way."

"So naive... so hopelessly naive!" Magneto spat as he tried to move to his knees. 

Mark chuckled before he stood straighter.

He then drew in a big breath as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I AM INVINCIBLE!!!!"

The sound echoed through the park. 

It echoed through the buildings and the trees. 

And for a second the city answered with silence.

Then heads began to appear.

People stepped out from behind trees and broken doorways, they leaned out from building lobbies and store entrances, and they looked toward the crater with wide eyes as the dust drifted in the air. Some were soaked from the earlier water, some had bandages wrapped around their arms, and some were holding strangers upright as they moved closer. They saw Mark standing over Magneto, and they froze. 

"He did it!!!"

"Invincible won!!!"

"Fuck yeah!!!!"

Cheering rose in small waves at first, then it gathered into one loud noise that rolled through the street as more people came closer, pointing and calling out his name. Phones lifted and were filming as Mark stood straight with his fists clenched standing over the villain who had torn the city apart. 

He looked the part of a true hero. 

Mark did not react to any of it. He stood there, his chest rising and falling, and his eyes fixed forward.

When the X Men arrived along with the others they all converged on Marks position. Sue and Natasha ran ahead of everyone else to make sure Mark was okay. 

"You're hurt," Sue said as she reached Mark, she put a hand out toward his arm.

Mark didn't answer.

Natasha leaned in. "Mark, look at me."

Mark's posture shifted slightly, like his legs were about to give out, then his head dipped forward. His shoulders sagged. 

He went down without warning.

Sue caught him first, then Natasha grabbed his other side, and Johnny moved in to help hold his weight as they held him up.

"Mark!" Sue said again, louder now. "Mark! Wake up!."

His eyes were closed, his face was slack, but at least he was breathing. 

"We need to get him to the jet," Sue said quickly.

Charles' voice came through the nearby speaker as the X Jet lowered into position. "Wait," Charles said.

Sue looked up. "Charles, he needs help."

"I know," Charles replied. "But let him stand there a moment longer in their minds." He looked out to the hundreds of people gathering in a circle. 

Sue hesitated, then looked around at the crowd that had gathered, at the faces watching with relief and shock, and she understood what Charles meant even as she hated it.

Charles rolled closer in his chair and stopped in front of Magneto, who lay half kneeling in the crater, breathing hard, his eyes still burning with anger.

"It is over, Erik," Charles said. "You will face justice for what you have done."

Magneto's mouth curled. "I recognize no justice body made up of inferior beings."

Charles leaned forward slightly. "Humans are more alike to us than you think," he said. "You have more than proved that today."

Magneto's eyes narrowed, and his lips moved as if he was about to spit another insult, but he never got the words out.

Charles' gaze hardened.

Erik's face went still.

His shoulders dropped.

The tension in his arms vanished, and his head lowered as his mind shut down under Charles' control.

Everyone exhaled slowly as it was all finally over. 

Ben lifted Mark, and Johnny moved in close to support his legs while Reed cleared the way, they carried him toward the open ramp of the jet.

"We need a hospital," Sue said. 

"We'll get him help don't worry," Scott replied.

_____________________________________

"So you're telling me we've been in a fuckbuddy relationship for weeks," Darcy said, with both hands on her hips, "and you didn't notice it wasn't me."

Mark lay back against the raised hospital bed with a white sheet pulled up to his waist, one arm bandaged from wrist to elbow, and a brace around his ribs that made it hard for him to sit all the way up. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand and looked at the ceiling like it might offer him a way out.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I really am. I didn't know."

Colleen, who was sitting on the edge of a chair with her legs crossed and her arms folded, let out a short laugh. "Don't blame him," she said. "When it comes to women his IQ drops into the negatives."

"Hey," Mark replied, turning his head toward her. "That's not fair."

Jessica was leaning against the wall near the door with a cup of coffee in her hand. "It's fair," she said. "But if you weren't so endearing I'd have thrown you in front of a car by now."

"And if he wasn't so handsome," Trish added, as she sat in the other chair with her phone in her lap.

Sue giggled from where she stood near the foot of the bed, hands clasped in front of her, she tried to hide it, which made it worse.

Mark lifted his hand like he was surrendering. "Come on, guys. Give me a break. I'm injured here."

Darcy took a breath, then sighed like she had been holding it for an hour. "You're lucky we're just giving you a hard time," she said, "we're not even talking about the fact that over fifty percent of the people in this room have slept with you, around the same time too."

The room went quiet for half a second.

Mark let out a nervous laugh that sounded like it got stuck halfway. His eyes moved from Darcy to Jessica, then to Trish, then to Colleen, then to Sue, and then back to Darcy.

Colleen's eyes widened. "That's the look," she said, as if she had just solved a puzzle.

Jessica nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's definitely it."

Sue tilted her head and looked at Mark like she was studying him in a lab. "I see what you mean now," she said to Colleen.

Mark blinked. "The look," he repeated. "What look."

"The lost puppy look," Colleen said.

Trish raised a finger. "I'm pretty sure I walked up to you in that bar because of that look."

Darcy nodded right away. "Yeah, he got me with that look too," she said, then she pouted and added, "though I was too busy being kidnapped before I got to sample anything."

Trish snorted and Colleen laughed out loud.

Jessica rolled her eyes, but there was a small smirk on her face. "Such a womanizer."

Mark didn't own any chickens, but if he did, he was pretty sure they'd be coming home to roost right now, and they'd be loud about it.

Knock

Knock

Everyone looked over. 

The door opened slowly. 

Natasha stood there with her coat still on, her hair tucked back, and her eyes fixed on Mark.

His heart clenched, but he kept his face still.

Jessica was the first one to move. She pushed off the wall and cleared her throat. "Okay," she said, "we're going to go."

Sue nodded. "Yeah. We should give them a minute."

Colleen stood. Trish stood. Darcy stood last, still looking like she wanted to say another ten things, but she held back. They moved toward the door in a group, and as they passed Mark they each leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, one after another. 

"Get better," Sue said softly.

"Try not to get beaten up again," Jessica added.

"Try to stop dating shapeshifters," Darcy said.

Trish smiled. "Call me when you get better we can have some fun."

Colleen smirked. "Rest, puppy."

Mark sighed. "I hate all of you."

They left, and Jessica pulled the door mostly shut behind them, leaving it cracked just enough so they can hear what was going on.

Natasha stepped inside.

She closed the door fully, then took off her coat and folded it over the back of the chair near the wall. She stood there for a moment with her hands at her sides, then she looked at Mark and let out a short breath.

"You've got quite the harem," she said jokingly with a smile. 

Mark chuckled, though it sounded smaller than he wanted. "Would you believe me if I said things just got out of hand."

Natasha's mouth lifted into a grin as she walked closer. "When it comes to you," she said, "I probably would."

She stopped beside the bed.

They stood there in silence for a moment, Mark could hear his own breathing and the faint sounds of the hallway outside.

Natasha glanced at his bandages and the brace, then back to his face. "Over the months we've been apart," she said quietly, "I kept thinking about what I'd say to you when I saw you. I even came here with a whole speech ready."

Mark nodded. "Yeah."

Natasha swallowed. "Now I can't find the words."

"I know what you mean," Mark said.

She stepped a little closer, close enough that Mark could see the small tension around her eyes, and close enough that his chest tightened again.

They both spoke at the same time.

"I just," Mark started.

"I wanted," Natasha started.

They stopped.

They tried again.

"You—" Mark said.

"You can—" Natasha said at the same time.

They both broke into a short laugh. 

Natasha took a deep breath before she took the first real step into it. "I knew I'd hurt you when I was first assigned," she said, her vocie trembling slightly. "I knew that going in. I've done it before. With men. With women. It was my job. I got close, I took what I needed, I left."

Mark listened without interrupting, though his hand tightened slightly around the sheet.

Natasha paused, then she shook her head. "But it was different this time," she said. "This time I fell in love, and for the first time in my life I had something other than my job. I had you, I had a home, and I had a life that I actually wanted."

Her voice caught for a second, and she blinked fast. "It terrified me," she said. "It terrified me because I knew the moment you found out, I'd lose it all. I didn't know what to do. I didn't go into it with a plan to fall in love. I didn't even know it was possible for me. So when it happened, I did the only thing I could think of. I hid it."

She pressed her lips together. "I started sending less and less to SHIELD," she said. "I wanted to break away from them. I wanted to keep my life with you. I know it was unrealistic. I know it was reckless. I just..." She let out a shaky breath. "You mean so much to me."

Her eyes glassed over. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

Mark lifted his hand and reached for hers. His fingers found hers, and he closed his hand around it gently. "You did hurt me," he said. "A lot."

Natasha's face tightened, and tears slipped down before she could stop them.

"But I won't lie," he said. "It's hurt just as much to be away from you."

Natasha covered her mouth for a second, she shook her head like she was trying to stop herself from breaking, then she failed, and she let out a small sound that turned into a quiet cry.

Mark held her hand tighter. "I can understand why you did what you did," he said. "It's easy to say you shouldn't have lied, and it's easy to say you should've trusted me, but I get it. I get why you didn't think you could. I get why you were scared."

Natasha wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. "I was," she whispered.

Mark nodded. "And I'm not saying it fixes it," he said. "I'm not saying we go back to how it was overnight. It would be a struggle to get back there." He looked at her. "But I'd be lying if I said I don't want you back in my life."

Natasha breathed out, and her shoulders dropped a little. "I understand," she said. "I'm not asking for a reset. I'm just... I'm glad I can be here."

Mark nodded. "Me too."

Natasha's gaze flicked down toward their hands, then back up. "I left SHIELD," she said quietly.

"I heard," Mark replied. "Sue mentioned they were hunting you, but she didn't say why."

Natasha went still.

Her eyes shifted away from him for a second, then back, then away again like she was searching for a way to say it and failing.

Mark gave her a small smile. "Whatever it is," he said, "it's fine. Tell me when you're ready."

Natasha swallowed and her fingers tightened around his, she hesitated, then she said it.

"I'm pregnant."

Mark's eyes widened.

For a moment he didn't speak at all, the silence stretched long enough that Natasha's face tightened again as if she was bracing for a bad reaction.

Mark finally found his voice. "I thought you couldn't."

Natasha let out a tearful smile that looked half surprised and half scared. "I didn't think I could," she said.

Mark stared at her, "Nothing's going to happen to either of you," he said. "Nothing. I don't care who tries. I don't care what they think they can do. I'll protect you from the world if I have to."

Natasha leaned down and kissed him. It was slow at first, then it deepened when Mark lifted his free hand to her cheek, the kiss turned into something that felt like it had been waiting for months to exist again.

When she pulled back, she pressed her forehead against his and closed her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Mark swallowed. "I never stopped loving you," he said quietly.  They stayed there like that for a moment, until Natasha drew back enough to look at him.

"When you're better," Mark said, "I'm going to warn SHIELD what happens if they try anything."

Natasha's mouth lifted slightly. "You might not need to."

Mark blinked. "How come."

Natasha sat down on the edge of the bed carefully, keeping her balance, then she looked at him with a look that was almost amused. "I heard from someone I trust on the inside," she said. "SHIELD's in a panic right now. They lost something called the Tesseract. I don't know what it is. Apparently it's classified, but a lot of people are panicking about it."

"Oh," Mark said. "Still think I'm going to kick Fury's ass."

Natasha giggled. 

She shifted closer on the bed, then she looked toward the door where the others had left, and she looked back at Mark with a raised brow.

"So," she said, "tell me about these girls."

Mark let out a nervous laugh. "Do we have to do this right now."

"Yes," Natasha said, and she tapped his shoulder lightly. "We do and don't think you can use the look on me either.

(AN: Finally it's over part 3 is now done and we are now moving into the avengers storyline. Also I'm pretty sure with this chapter the entire story is like 120,000 words. I hope you enjoyed it.)