With the appearance of the Chitauri, SWORD and the military, who had already prepared, began to deploy into New York City.
Neither General Ross nor Tony Stark believed that an all-or-nothing plan would definitely succeed. Both sides had long been prepared for ground combat.
Fortunately, Tony Stark had already given the employees at Stark Tower the day off and arranged for Pepper Potts and his bodyguard, Happy, to be in underground air-raid shelters; otherwise, the Stark Industries's losses would have been truly massive.
As for evacuating the entire New York City... sorry, SWORD didn't have that much authority, and other government departments didn't want to take responsibility afterward. So, after all the back-and-forth bickering, news of the alien invasion had only circulated among some high-level officials until now.
Consequently, at this moment, the entire New York City had fallen into complete chaos. Even the troops who had arrived on the outskirts of New York City under the guise of an exercise saw their morale crumble instantly.
This was actually America's fault. Who told them to make so many alien movies? In the movies, aliens are always invincible in terms of technology, and in the end, they are only defeated by the protagonist's plot armor or some low-probability event.
In the real world, ordinary American soldiers didn't believe they could actually win against aliens. The soldiers who had been urgently assembled were scattered across the streets, shivering as they looked at the sky. The low-ranking officers in command were also speechless at the sight of the darkened sky, not knowing if they could resist the aliens or if they would live to see tomorrow's sun.
"I'm done! I'm going home!" A private threw down his weapon and ran out of the formation, only to be shot dead by a military judge. Although the officers were also terrified, many knew that sticking together might mean survival, while scattering would mean certain death.
Actually, the reason their morale was so low, besides the nature of American soldiers themselves, was another reason everyone knew: there were no high-ranking officers. On the entire battlefield, the highest commander was only a colonel.
No generals dared to come to New York to command, mostly out of fear of taking the blame or dying. It would be fine if they won, but what if they lost? In movies, aliens are synonymous with being overwhelmingly invincible, and these generals were scared too.
The chaotic Hell's Kitchen finally found a moment of peace today. Kingpin walked out of his office and looked up at the sky.
"aliens? This world is getting more and more ridiculous." Spitting out his cigar and crushing it underfoot, a terrifying Haki faintly flowed around Kingpin. Several Chitauri who had just flown over his head seemed to get dizzy and fell straight down.
"Such weak spirits... or are they just puppets?" Kingpin smiled slightly.
In reality, these biological puppets created by the Chitauri were not afraid of ordinary mental attacks.
The brain capacity of these biological puppets was so small that it was impossible to even sense their mental reactions. No matter how vast one's mental power was, it would be useless against a stone or a piece of steel.
However, Kingpin's Conqueror's Haki was not just a mental attack; it also carried a certain physical pressure, which completely crushed the already pitifully small brains of these biological puppets, leading to this result.
By this time, the originally disorganized US military had suppressed its internal chaos and began attacking the Chitauri. Although their morale wasn't high, their firepower was still formidable.
"Rat-tat-tat." Various howitzers and rocket launchers launched a fierce initial assault, followed by the firing of various anti-aircraft machine guns.
The Chitauri fell to the ground like dumplings, crashing into piles of flesh and blood. Even more were blown apart mid-air, with severed limbs scattered everywhere.
Seeing that these aliens weren't as god-like as they had imagined—aside from their terrifying appearance, they didn't exceed existing knowledge in other aspects—many US soldiers suddenly gained confidence. They could be fought!
With the soldiers' courage returning, the subsequent battle became easier. Relying on heavy firepower, they managed to block the Chitauri for a full ten minutes.
It was unclear whether the Chitauri mothership lacked weapons of mass destruction or if they had been destroyed by Black Bolt. Although the mothership had various energy weapons, the most powerful ones were only comparable to missiles. Furthermore, because of the concentrated energy, while they had extreme armor penetration, their kill radius was smaller than that of a normal missile.
However, soon, relying on their overwhelming numerical advantage, the Chitauri broke through Earth's firepower blockade—first a few, then dozens, hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands.
The Chitauri army had no formation to speak of; they were a group of interstellar raiders. The first thing they did after breaking through the blockade was to scatter everywhere, creating chaos, attacking human anti-aircraft guns, and breaking up human formations.
With a thwip, a strange spider web enveloped a Chitauri standing on a flyer. Spider-Man gave a gentle tug, pulling the alien off the flyer. With a boom, the flyer exploded, and the Chitauri fell to his death.
"Doesn't seem too hard to deal with," muttered Spider-Man, who had already settled his family. Then, he saw a super-fat man throw a punch toward the sky. Amidst countless bolts of black lightning, all the Chitauri within a range of hundreds of meters in front of his fist fell like dumplings. The terrifying wind from the punch was like a storm.
"Whoa! Which superhero is this? This is truly eye-opening!"
"That guy is no superhero," a low voice sounded in Spider-Man's ear. "He is the underworld emperor of Hell's Kitchen in New York, and the leader of the largest gang in the entire United States—Kingpin!"
Spider-Man gasped. "That guy is Kingpin!"
Spider-Man had been active in New York for quite a while and had at least some understanding of Kingpin. Even if he didn't know his face or identity, he knew of his supreme status in the New York underworld.
"No wonder he's the underworld boss! His strength is a bit ridiculous!"
Seeing Kingpin, dressed in black and invulnerable to blades and bullets, knocking down large numbers of Chitauri with every move and being incredibly strong, Spider-Man shrank back slightly.
The one standing next to Spider-Man and speaking to him was Daredevil of the Defenders. How could the Defenders not take action during such a major event?
However, because Jessica Jones had been intercepted by Shin and Wanda, the one who had newly joined the Defenders was Daredevil Matt's current girlfriend, Elektra.
Elektra was originally the host of the Black Sky. After the power of the Black Sky was extracted by The Ancient One, she still retained some physical enhancements. Combined with the fact that her own combat strength was not weak and she was a peak human martial arts expert, her joining the team filled the gap left by Jessica Jones.
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Now available - Chapter 645: Shin the Villain