"What the hell is going on—why are there two Tohkas?"
After seeing Miku Izayoi, Tony flew over to her. In his mind, Miku must know something.
"I don't know! Tohka got all weird after Loki's scepter touched her, and then, somehow, there were suddenly two of her!"
Contrary to his expectations, Miku also knew nothing.
"Fine, whatever—let them fight it out. As long as they don't land on the ground, it's fine."
He glanced once at the two figures clashing spectacularly in the sky but didn't have the energy to care. Instead, he turned his gaze elsewhere—to the spot where the Tesseract was mounted.
"Looks like I need to find a way to shut this thing down. If I can do that, this whole battle should end."
Deciding not to think about the aerial duel, Tony fired a blast straight at the device. Immediately, the Tesseract unleashed a wave of energy that sent him flying.
"Wow—this thing's tougher than I thought."
Climbing out of the dent in the wall, Tony found that his attack had no effect whatsoever. But then he noticed the doctor on the ground had also been caught in the blast.
"Oh, he must be under control too."
With an exasperated sigh, Tony walked over and dragged him to a safer spot. Then, as if refusing to admit defeat, he powered up another repulsor.
"Hmph—let's see if you're really that indestructible. I don't believe even that brat Tohka's energy couldn't punch through this."
With that mutter, he fired an even stronger blast than before. He had to admit, these new repulsors packed a lot more punch. As the beam hit, the shield around the Tesseract rippled like water. But then, a surge of energy hit back even harder.
"Oww—what the hell are you doing?"
Even Miku Izayoi, standing off to the side, got caught by the backlash. But she just summoned a shield to deflect it. Tony, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky—he was launched clear across the roof. As for Dr. Selvig, he was fortunate to still be unconscious on the floor, so he didn't get hurt again.
"Damn it—what is this thing even made of?"
Picking himself up, Tony fired a few blasts to clear out some Chitauri soldiers. At least smashing their little ships restored a bit of his confidence.
"Do you have any way to break that shield?"
Knowing he couldn't do it alone, Tony returned to Miku Izayoi and asked. He'd heard her energy was basically the same as Tohka's.
"Hm?"
Frowning, Miku glanced at him. Her attention was still mostly fixed on Tohka. But since it was Tony asking, she couldn't just ignore him completely. She opened her mouth and unleashed a few sonic blasts toward the Tesseract.
"No good—my attacks don't do direct energy damage. They can't affect the shield." Seeing that it didn't even react, she shook her head.
"Damn it… Fine, can you control those Chitauri soldiers?" Since that hadn't worked, Tony tried a different question.
"No. They're all semi-mechanical—I can't do anything to them." She honestly didn't want to help, so she just came up with an excuse and turned her gaze back to the fight in the sky. The two Tohkas were still going at it furiously, but she could tell neither was aiming to kill yet, which was a relief.
"All right, we'll have to rely on ourselves then."
Hearing that, Tony could only shrug. He didn't press her any further and immediately flew down to rejoin the battle below. Before he left, he tossed Miku an earpiece.
"Keep an eye on Dr. Selvig. If he wakes up, call me right away—he's probably the only one who knows how to shut this thing off."
"Got it—I'll watch him." Accepting the earpiece, Miku stuck it in her ear.
She didn't want to fight, but she didn't mind watching over that person for them.
Elsewhere in New York, the fighting was absolutely raging. Even with a few more heroes than in the original story, Spider-Man and the others hadn't managed to change the tide. In the face of the Chitauri's endless waves, they seemed almost insignificant. Of course, there was one unexpected addition.
"Wow—look, it's an octopus!" He wasn't joking.
After Tony fixed Doc Ock's mechanical arms, he'd let him work in the company lab. After all, the mansion was his private space, and he didn't feel like letting a stranger stay there.
"Hey, are you alright? What were you doing when they broke into Stark Tower earlier?" Tony flew over to him.
"I went out to pick up a few things. When I got back, the system was already hacked—and then there was that blast. I couldn't even get back inside." Doc Ock glanced at Tony, then casually grabbed a Chitauri soldier and hurled it into an enemy skiff, which exploded with a boom.
"Fine—I get it." Tony sighed helplessly. This really was partly his fault. He hadn't expected someone to hack his system again. He'd already decided that when this was over, he was definitely upgrading Jarvis.
"These things just never end. How long are we supposed to keep fighting them? There's no end in sight."
At that moment, Doctor Octopus was getting irritated. There were simply too many enemies—no matter how many they destroyed, more came. Once they got exhausted, they'd be in real trouble.
"I don't know either. We just have to hold on until the hammer guy and the big green one show up."
Tony looked out over the battlefield and couldn't help feeling helpless. With the two heaviest hitters nowhere in sight, they were all stretched thin.
On the ground, Tohka had no idea what was happening. Right now, she was locked in a fierce struggle with the other version of herself.
The two almost identical girls were clashing madly in the sky. Around them, everything was filled with their attacks. The Chitauri wouldn't be foolish enough to come near, since far too many of them had already been casually killed.