Tony soared through the battlefield, pushing his suit to its absolute limits.
The Infinity Suit responded like an extension of his own body, its power thrumming through his veins.
He twisted mid-air, dodging a barrage of plasma fire from the Chitauri warships.
"Alright, let's see how much you guys can take," he muttered, locking onto three warships at once.
With a flick of his wrist, golden energy surged from his gauntlets, forming a concentrated blast that lanced through the sky.
The first ship exploded instantly, its burning wreckage falling into the streets below. The second took a direct hit to its engines, spiraling out of control before slamming into a nearby building.
The third managed to evade, returning fire. Tony barely managed to raise a shield in time, the force sending him tumbling backward.
"That one actually stung," he grumbled, righting himself.
Another squadron of Chitauri fliers swarmed toward him. Tony flexed his fingers, feeling the energy pulsing beneath the nanotech. 'Time to test this out.'
Focusing, he reached out toward one of the warships, willing its energy toward him.
A strange sensation rippled through his body as the ship's engine flickered violently. The vessel shuddered, its power reserves rapidly draining into Tony's outstretched hand.
Within moments, the ship's systems collapsed, and it plummeted from the sky in a fiery explosion.
Tony clenched his fist, feeling the raw energy coursing through him. "Huh. So that actually worked."
But something was off.
A strange sensation prickled at the edge of his awareness—something beyond just alien technology.
This was clear after he absorbed the ship's energy.
His suit's sensors also detected an irregular shift in the fabric of space-time, right around the portal. Tony hovered in place, narrowing his eyes.
He had felt this before...
'Wait a minute... Why does this feels like the day I transmigrated here?'
'Is it some form of reality manipulation at play or something else,' he frowned at that dangerous guess.
"That's not just Thanos' tech," he muttered. "Something else might be messing with reality."
"Maybe I need to share somethings with them?"
He tapped into his heightened magical affinity, stretching his senses beyond the battlefield.
The air around the portal rippled unnaturally, as if something—someone—was manipulating it from the other side.
His stomach twisted.
'This isn't just a standard invasion. Loki's buying time for something. But for what?'
For a brief moment, Tony debated revealing some of the things he knew. The problem was, he couldn't. Not without blowing his cover. He had to be careful about it.
"MARVEL, enhance my readings on the portal's energy signature," he commanded.
"Sir," MARVEL responded, "these fluctuations do not match known the Chituari technology already analysed."
Tony exhaled sharply. "Yeah, I figured."
Tapping into the team's comms, he relayed the information. "Heads up, team. The portal isn't just a fancy alien doorway. Something else is messing with space-time, and I don't think that's something good for our little blue planet."
Steve's voice crackled in response. "What are you saying, Stark?"
"I'm saying Loki isn't alone on this. There must be an extremely powerful force working with him or even...commanding him."
No one responded for a moment and Stark continued to say, "I think there's another player on the board."
A brief silence followed before Natasha cut in. "You're sure?"
"As sure as I am about everything," Tony said. "Which means I'm about ninety percent confident and ten percent hoping I'm wrong."
Bruce's voice joined the conversation. "Any idea who—or what—it is?"
Tony hesitated. 'Yeah. But I can't tell you.'
Instead, he went with, "Not yet. But I've got a feeling it's something Earth has never faced before."
That got their attention.
Steve was too experienced with all these alien stuff yet so he asked. "So what do we do?"
Tony inhaled, setting his jaw. "I'll handle Loki."