[Just as Tony's repulsors sent Loki sprawling across the penthouse floor, the Tesseract atop Stark Tower erupted with a brilliant blue-white beam of pure energy that pierced straight through the atmosphere and into space itself.]
[Tony immediately noticed the tremendous energy discharge and looked up to see a massive tear in the fabric of reality opening directly above his tower - a swirling portal to another realm.]
[The Chitauri forces that had been waiting in the void between worlds saw the wormhole stabilize and immediately began piloting their anti-gravity assault craft toward Earth's dimension.]
[Looking at the first wave of alien invaders emerging from the portal, Tony's voice was filled with grim determination: "Right. Army."]
[JARVIS immediately switched the Mark VII from standard flight mode to full combat configuration. The armor's optical systems changed from their usual blue glow to an aggressive red, and weapon status indicators began displaying throughout Tony's HUD.]
[Tony launched himself directly toward the portal, no longer having the luxury of dealing with Loki personally.]
[Each Chitauri assault craft was operated by a three-being crew: one pilot controlling the vehicle's movement, and two gunners in the rear seats wielding energy weapons for attack and suppression fire.]
[Tony rolled and twisted through the air to avoid incoming energy blasts, then fired both palm repulsors at the lead craft, causing it to explode in a brilliant fireball before rocketing upward to engage the first wave of invaders directly.]
[Through his suit's advanced targeting systems, Tony rapidly acquired multiple enemy contacts and fired a volley of micro-missiles from his shoulder-mounted launchers. The guided projectiles struck their targets with devastating precision, turning several Chitauri craft into expanding clouds of debris.]
[Despite his initial success, it was clearly insufficient to stem the tide. More Chitauri forces continued pouring through the wormhole and began spreading out across Manhattan in all directions.]
[The citizens on the streets below had initially stopped to gawk at the spectacle unfolding above them. When the first energy blasts began raining down and vehicles started exploding around them, they finally understood the reality of their situation and began fleeing in panic.]
[Under the sustained Chitauri assault, numerous cars and trucks were either destroyed outright or flipped over by the concussive blasts. The entire street descended into absolute chaos within moments.]
[Civilians still caught in the open desperately sought shelter in nearby bars, restaurants, and shops, pressing themselves against windows to watch the alien forces wreaking havoc on their city, paralyzed by the surreal nature of the attack.]
[Meanwhile, Loki moved to Tony's armor assembly platform as his ceremonial horned helmet and battle armor materialized around his form through Asgardian magic. He gazed down at the chaotic streets of New York with obvious satisfaction and dark pleasure.]
[Just as Loki was savoring his elevated position and the destruction spreading below him, Thor landed on the platform with the force of a thunderbolt.]
["Loki! Turn off the Tesseract, or I will destroy it!"]
[Loki aimed the Mind Scepter directly at his brother and responded with cold amusement.]
["You can't. There is no stopping it. There is only the war!"]
["So be it."]
[Loki immediately launched the first attack, leaping down from his elevated position and bringing the scepter crashing down with tremendous force.]
[Thor dodged with Asgardian agility and countered with a backhand swing of Mjolnir. Loki immediately recovered his footing and blocked the hammer strike with his scepter's shaft. When the blow was deflected, Thor didn't press his attack and instead took two steps back to reassess.]
[Loki seized this tactical pause to launch a sweeping horizontal strike with his scepter, using a technique designed to clear multiple opponents. After Thor avoided the attack by ducking low, Loki grabbed the scepter with both hands and positioned it behind Thor's neck in an attempt to gain leverage.]
[He angled the scepter's tip toward Thor and fired a concentrated energy blast at point-blank range.]
[Thor's combat reflexes were exceptional, and he immediately raised Mjolnir to absorb the energy discharge. Seeing that Loki was preparing another attack, Thor brought his hammer down forcefully to disrupt his brother's stance and prevent him from bringing the scepter to bear again.]
[Mjolnir struck the scepter's shaft with tremendous force, causing the energy beam to deflect wildly and blast a massive crater in Stark Tower's reinforced exterior wall.]
[Even the iconic Stark Industries logo on the building's facade was damaged, with nearly half of it blown away by the misdirected blast.]
"So these are the Chitauri?" Captain America's expression grew notably more serious as he observed the alien forces.
"These creatures are definitely hostile! Look at how they immediately began attacking civilians!" Tony's eyes narrowed as he watched the invaders begin their systematic destruction the moment they emerged from the portal.
It was obvious that the alien forces harbored tremendous malice toward Earth and its inhabitants.
"Tony's fighting alone up there. Even with the other Avengers helping, they can't possibly prevent this scale of disaster!"
"We need more team members to deal with this crisis! Individual heroics don't work well against interstellar warfare!"
"It seems Fury didn't realize the true severity of the situation at that time. Otherwise, he should have called Carol back much earlier!"
"It's not that simple! It takes Carol a significant amount of time to travel from deep space back to Earth. Even if Fury had sent the signal much earlier, she wouldn't have been able to arrive within just a day or two!"
When someone mentioned Captain Marvel, Banner explained why she might not have been available, since the war had been launched in such a compressed timeframe.
From the moment Loki arrived on Earth to when the Chitauri invasion began, only a few days had passed. In such a short period, even with Carol's incredible speed, she wouldn't have been able to make the journey in time.
[The New York Police Department had also detected the situation and dispatched multiple patrol units to the scene. As soon as the officers exited their vehicles, they saw Tony streaking overhead at high speed.]
[Behind him were several Chitauri assault craft in close pursuit, their energy weapons firing continuously.]
[At the same time, the remaining Avengers were approaching New York City in their commandeered Quinjet aircraft.]
["Stark! We're on your right!"]
[Hearing Natasha's voice through his comm system, Tony first responded with typical sarcasm: "What, did you stop for drive-through? Swing up Park Avenue!"]
[Then he focused on tactics: "I'm gonna lay them out for you!"]
[As he spoke, he flew past Stark Tower where Thor was still engaged in intense combat with Loki.]
[Tony led the pursuing Chitauri forces directly toward the designated intercept point.]
[Hawkeye was piloting the Quinjet while Natasha operated the weapons systems. After Tony flew past their position, she immediately opened fire with the aircraft's chin-mounted rotary cannon, sending streams of high-velocity rounds toward the enemy craft.]
["Sir! We have more incoming!" JARVIS reported as additional Chitauri forces began emerging from the portal.]
["Fine! Let's keep them occupied!"]
[The Quinjet continued firing as it maneuvered through the urban landscape, successfully downing several assault craft, but the aircraft also sustained damage from return fire during the engagement.]
[Meanwhile, Thor grabbed Loki's scepter with one hand while swinging Mjolnir with the other. Loki avoided the hammer strike by leaning backward, then grabbed Thor's armor and slammed him face-first into the tower's reinforced windows.]
[The two Avengers in the Quinjet witnessed the brothers' brutal confrontation: "Natasha!"]
["I see him!"]
[Hawkeye maneuvered the aircraft around for a clear shot just as Loki threw Thor to the ground, temporarily separating the combatants.]
[Natasha immediately seized the tactical opportunity and opened fire with the Quinjet's weapons. Dense streams of projectiles swept around Loki's position, forcing him to take evasive action. Loki spun around and retaliated by firing his scepter directly at the aircraft.]
[A concentrated energy beam struck one of the Quinjet's engines, causing catastrophic damage and sending the aircraft into an uncontrolled spin.]
[Thor was immediately enraged by the attack on his allies and charged forward, tackling Loki with a devastating shoulder strike to the midsection. He then began pummeling his brother with a series of powerful blows.]
[Inside the damaged Quinjet, Captain America desperately grabbed onto whatever handholds he could find to stabilize himself during the violent descent, while Hawkeye fought to maintain some degree of control over the aircraft to prevent it from crashing into one of Manhattan's skyscrapers.]
[The Quinjet finally crash-landed in a small plaza area adjacent to the main street. Fortunately, none of the occupants were seriously injured in the impact. They immediately evacuated the wreckage and regrouped on the street level to continue the fight.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~