"Sir, Iron Legion units 1 through 47 have been deployed!" JARVIS monitored the situation in real time and reported to Tony.
"What are those two sorcerers doing?" Tony glanced down at the streets below.
"Dr. Strange and Ms. Christine are assisting with civilian evacuation! Mr. Pietro is escorting staff members out of Stark Tower."
JARVIS quickly updated Tony on the activities of team members who hadn't been visible in the main battle.
"Good! JARVIS, prepare the Mark Destroyer One armor for immediate deployment! I'm on my way now!" Tony exhaled sharply and immediately turned toward the Malibu mansion.
"Sir! The Destroyer One armor is being assembled. Please note that the armor's new multiple energy ray systems have not been fully tested. Please use them with caution!"
Tony paid little attention to this warning. He accelerated and began moving away from the city. "Everyone, I'll be back soon. The Iron Legion is en route! The drone swarm has also been deployed. Hold on, reinforcements will arrive shortly!"
"Yeah! Are you going to check on your little brother?" Rhodes responded to Tony's communication while evading a Dark Elf warship.
"Oh, come on! JARVIS, where's Carol?" Tony complained, then asked about Captain Marvel's location, not noticing the anomaly in the air ahead of him.
"Sir! There appears to be something directly in your flight path!" JARVIS suddenly warned.
Tony was momentarily confused, looking ahead but seeing nothing—until he crashed directly into the Dark Elf mothership.
"Ahhh!!! Shit!!! What the hell is that?!" Tony screamed in pain and tumbled head over heels, momentarily disoriented. Even with the Mark 9's excellent shock absorption systems, he was fortunate not to have broken his neck after such an unexpected high-speed collision.
After being struck by Tony, Malekith no longer concealed his presence. The enormous mothership became visible, hovering over New York City, and seven or eight smaller warships launched from it.
"Holy crap!!!" Falcon Sam couldn't help but swear as he spotted the massive mothership so close to him. He immediately veered away, but two warships were already approaching him.
"Help!!!" Sam found himself caught between two pursuing warships. Seeing this, Thor, who was nearby, immediately flew toward him and summoned lightning from a distance to intercept one of the warships!
"Damn it! JARVIS! Take control!" Tony continued falling after striking the mothership. Fortunately, he ordered JARVIS to engage automatic flight controls in time to prevent a crash landing. JARVIS guided the Mark 9 toward Malibu mansion while Tony recovered from the impact.
"Banner! What's your status?" After firing several shoulder-mounted missiles from the War Machine armor, Rhodes checked in with Banner.
"I'm operational! But my armor is out of ammunition!" After destroying two battleships, not only Tony's armor was depleted of munitions, but Banner's as well. Only Rhodes, with his arsenal of weaponry, still had reserves.
"What's the play? Should we let the big green guy make an appearance?" Rhodes frowned. It was obvious that Banner was of limited use without ammunition.
"NO! This is the city center!" Banner refused without hesitation. He would rather provide minimal support with his repulsor beams than unleash the Hulk in the heart of New York.
He didn't want the Sokovia disaster from the Sky Screen to repeat itself in New York. That catastrophe had already made many citizens fearful of the Hulk. If the Hulk were to appear in New York and cause damage, Banner would face tremendous public backlash.
"Damn it! Can anyone give me some support? These aliens are all over me!" Sam's voice came through the comms. Although Thor had intercepted one ship, Sam was still being pursued by another and couldn't shake it. In just a few seconds, he had nearly been hit multiple times.
"On our way!" Rhodes and Banner immediately flew to assist Sam.
Inside Stark Tower, Wanda was about to immobilize Algrim after realizing he was heading for the crashed warship, but Algrim anticipated her move and threw a black hole grenade in her direction.
Wanda had to abort her spell and dodge to the side. Natasha immediately hurled Mjolnir. Algrim didn't attempt to evade and took the hit directly before reaching the warship. The vessel immediately powered up and departed from Stark Tower.
Natasha recalled the hammer and saw that Algrim's warship was ascending. Her expression changed instantly, "Not good! He's after the artifacts upstairs!"
Upon hearing this, Wanda raised her hand and opened a portal. Natasha and Captain America rushed through it and emerged in the room where the Tesseract, the Mind Scepter, and the Aether were stored.
Wanda followed them through and immediately created another portal. On the other side was her room at Kamar-Taj. Natasha and Captain America exchanged glances and quickly moved the three powerful artifacts through.
With the Ancient One at Kamar-Taj, these alien invaders would find it nearly impossible to seize the artifacts. Captain America couldn't help but marvel at how useful the portals were—he had been deeply concerned about how to protect these items.
The Ancient One appeared in Wanda's room, observed the artifacts on her bed, waved her hand to place them into the Mirror Dimension, and nodded at Wanda through the portal. Wanda felt relieved and closed the connection.
"Okay! Everything's secure! Now it's time to drive these bastards off our planet!" Captain America breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the Dark Elves wreaking havoc across New York with determination.
"Yeah! I'm ready!" Natasha spun Mjolnir in her hand, swung it twice, broke the glass on the far side, and flew out.
Captain America looked at the floor—where glass on three sides had been shattered in a single day—and complained: "Stark's windows have the worst luck..."
"Hahaha!" Wanda laughed at his comment, then flew out in the same direction as Natasha. Before leaving, she opened another portal to send Captain America to ground level to assist with evacuation efforts.
"Well, looks like I'm not joining the battle in the sky!" Captain America shrugged, entered the portal, and began directing civilians to shelters.
Fortunately, New York had constructed many underground bunkers. Additionally, a significant number of citizens had already fled the city, reducing the current population. The underground shelters could accommodate most remaining civilians, while those farther from the center would be evacuated in the opposite direction from the conflict.