Chitauri poured from the sky like silver rain. Buildings crumbled. Sirens wailed. Screams echoed off the canyon walls of broken glass and steel.

The Avengers were everywhere and nowhere.

And Y/n was running.

Rooftop to rooftop. Leaping gaps five, ten, fifteen feet wide. Her boots skidded on gravel as she landed, momentum carrying her forward. Loki stood on a ledge below her. The Tesseract in his hands glowed blue.

He raised it.

Light gathered at its center.

Y/n jumped.

And in the space between one rooftop and another, her body changed. Sinew and bone reshaped themselves. The air shrank in her lungs. Her vision sharpened, color bled into heat and contrast.

A sleek black panther hit Loki square in the chest.

The Tesseract spun from his grip. The scepter skittered across the ledge and clattered into the street below. Loki's back slammed against concrete with a sickening crack.

And then—

Silence.

He didn't move.

His green eyes stared up at her. Wide. Unblinking.