"Although we have mutants with space-related powers, do you really think we're at that level yet?" Ethan asked suddenly, his eyes narrowing.
"Of course, we mutants will give everything in this fight—to take down as many enemies as we can, and save as many lives as possible."
"So even Magneto and his Brotherhood are getting involved." Fury leaned against the console with a weary grin. "I guess it's something. Funny, the enemy I've been trying to eliminate all this time is suddenly more useful than I am."
"They're not the only surprise we're bringing." Ethan smirked and, without another word, leapt off the railing.
In a flash of redirected vectors, he soared toward New York.
The helicarrier hovered above the western Atlantic coast. At Ethan's speed, he reached New York in minutes.
The familiar skyline came into view, and right in the center stood Stark Tower—always flashy, always impossible to miss.
It towered above the city, shimmering like a beacon.
Meanwhile, Tony had already arrived at the top of the building.
There, he spotted the Tesseract pulsing with raw energy—and Dr. Selvig, frantically working on the portal device.
"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig," Tony ordered sharply.
"It's too late! We can't stop it now," Selvig cried, his eyes wild with obsession. "Keep watching, Stark. You're about to witness a universe no human has ever seen."
"Then I'll force it closed." Tony aimed and fired an energy blast at the portal generator.
The beam struck the barrier—but immediately rebounded, slamming Tony backwards into a wall.
"Sir, our attack is ineffective," Jarvis reported calmly. "The energy field is deflecting all external forces."
Tony groaned, dragging himself to his feet. "Then it's time to talk to the man upstairs."
He glanced over at Loki, who stood smirking on the balcony like he was posing for a magazine cover.
"Sir, armor status critical," Jarvis warned. "Power levels are insufficient for sustained combat."
"Great. Guess it's time for a good old-fashioned chat," Tony muttered.
Tony walked in, armor disengaging. Loki turned with a smug smile. "Here to beg for mercy already?"
"Actually, I came to scare you," Tony shot back coolly.
"Without your suit?"
"Call it a gamble. I've got faith in my team. Took us a minute, but we've found our footing." Tony casually opened a bottle from the bar.
"Tried that. Didn't taste like victory," Loki sneered.
"Want a sip?" Tony replied, swirling the drink. "You think you can rule here? Even if your alien friends crush us, even if we fall—know this. We'll come back. If not as defenders, then as avengers. You ready for that?"
"Maybe I'll give it a shot," Loki said, raising the scepter and tapping it on Tony's chest.
Clink. Nothing happened.
Loki blinked. "Is this thing broken?" he muttered, annoyed. "This is the second time today. Do the Chitauri make everything out of junk?"
"Could be," Tony said, grinning. "Or maybe I'm just that charming."
But Loki wasn't buying it. He jabbed the scepter toward Tony's forehead.
Loki narrowed his eyes. "You know who your enemy is, don't you?"
Tony's face shifted. "Of course, Your Majesty."
"Then intercept the others. Especially the one called Ethan." Loki's expression darkened. He hadn't forgotten the mutant who brought down the Destroyer. "Don't disappoint me."
"Don't worry," Tony said, tapping a sensor on his wrist. A sleek, high-tech armor—the kind no one had ever seen before—launched into the air and hovered beside him. "I've done my homework. I won't."
"Is the portal about to open?" Ethan had already seen the explosion from Stark Tower, and just as he reached for his communicator to contact Professor X and Magneto, a streak of flame shot across the sky.
"Tony? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be handling Loki?" Ethan raised an eyebrow, surprised.
Tony didn't respond with words. Instead, he raised his hand. Several sleek, steel drones zipped in behind him, one of which split open to reveal a large rocket launcher that clicked into place in Tony's arms.
"You're under Loki's control, aren't you?" Ethan gave him a half-amused, half-disbelieving look.
"Not exactly," Tony said, calm but eerily distant. "Let's just say I've broadened my mind... at the cost of my freedom."
"So basically, you lost your mind. Got it."
The missile launched before Ethan finished the sentence.
"Boom!"
A fireball engulfed the area where he stood.
"Remote-detonated incendiary missile," Ethan muttered, stepping out of the flames unharmed. "Nice quality. But it won't hurt me."
"That was just the warm-up," Tony replied. "A distraction. It's meant to suck the oxygen out. The real payload's coming now."
The four drones hovering in a perfect square around the area suddenly dropped. A beat later, they all exploded simultaneously. The blast created a massive flame column, clouds of smoke billowing upward, and everything in the zone was flattened instantly.
But something strange happened. The fire twisted midair, shaped by unseen forces into a swirling tornado of flames. A roaring wind howled through the smoke.
"Really should've updated your data," Ethan's voice came calmly through the roar as he stepped through the debris with a shield of swirling wind around him. "You make an oxygen-deficient zone? I redirect airflow. I breathe just fine."
Tony grunted. "Then let's go old school."
He launched forward with his thrusters, closing the distance in a blink. His fist collided with Ethan's face.
"Bang!"
The ground under Ethan's feet cracked violently from the force. Tony staggered back, dazed like someone who just took two shots of whiskey too fast.
Ethan rose from the small crater, brushing debris off his jacket. "You hit me... but why didn't it bounce back at you?"
"I've been studying you," Tony said, steadying himself. "Ever since I saw you take out Obadiah with my old armor config. That's why I built this—anti-Ethan armor."
"You seriously built armor... to fight me?" Ethan looked more annoyed than impressed. "That's not even passive-aggressive. That's just aggressive. And I helped you, you maniac."
"Exactly. See, I learned your power reflects damage. But if I retract my punch just as I make contact... your ability gets confused. You can't reflect what isn't sustained."
Ethan gave a sideways smirk. "You tricked my body, but not my mind. My power rerouted it underground automatically. I'm not some NPC in a training sim."
What he didn't say out loud was even more important—his mental reflexes, honed by spiritual awareness, often outpaced his physical reactions.
The moment Tony's fakeout hit registered as a threat, his subconscious redirected the kinetic force downward, harmlessly dissipating it.
"Well, I didn't plan to use this half-finished tech to beat you, but it's enough to throw off your ability. You know, I actually have a thing for martial arts. So, I loaded a kung fu combat software into the anti-mutant armor. Wanna test it out? I call it... Iron Fist." Tony clenched his fists, his armor hissing with power as he strode toward Ethan.
"Check this out—Tornado Parking Lot Smash!" Tony shouted dramatically, but instead of punching, he launched a sudden kick.
Crack!
Ethan caught Tony's leg mid-air with a deadpan expression. "Really? That's your move?"
Then, with a twist of his wrist, he flipped Tony over and slammed him into the ground.
"I call this 'Playtime's Over,' followed by a good old 'Wild Wind Hammer Combo.'"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He smashed Tony into the concrete over and over.
"That move never gets old..."
Finally, Ethan stood over him, brushing dust off his shoulders.
"Btw, who told you I only reflect attacks?"
See, Ethan's vector manipulation doesn't just kick in when he's under threat.
It's not just an automatic reflex like a knee jerk or chattering teeth in the cold.
No—he can actively control it, like flexing a muscle. So when Tony tried to hit him with his 'Iron Fist,' Ethan just redirected the force in four directions—up, down, left, and right.
Balanced vectors, zero damage.
Tony groaned from the crater. "This... wasn't in the software manual..."
"Should've added a 'Don't mess with Ethan' chapter," Ethan muttered.
Tony blinked a few times, dazed. Loki's mind control had just taken a hard physical reboot, and now Tony was halfway back to normal. "Wait—hold on, I'm good now. I'm back. Seriously."
"You sure?" Ethan looked down with a grin, dark eyes narrowing. "What if you're faking it? What if you stab me in the back later? Better safe than sorry."
"No—wait, no more—!" Tony yelled.
"Smash time!"
Boom! Boom!
Ethan kept going, partly because he wasn't convinced Tony was clean, but mostly because smashing him was oddly satisfying.
Meanwhile, above Stark Tower, a blue beam erupted into the sky.
The air twisted into a vortex, revealing a swirling glimpse of another galaxy far beyond.
The portal had opened.
One by one, Chitauri ships burst through, flooding into Earth's sky like a storm of metal insects.
The invasion had begun.
"Boom! Boom!"
Energy blasts rained down.
Streets exploded into flames.
People screamed and scattered like ants—but it was no use.
Against the heavily armed Chitauri, they were defenseless.
But not for long.
Ethan looked up at the chaos, cracked his neck, and tapped his earpiece.
"Hey, Storm—everything ready?"
Storm's voice crackled through. "All set. Dr. Stern's first batch of X-Crystals is in position. But Ethan... you're sure about this?"
Her tone held hesitation. Even with Professor X and Magneto choosing not to object, Storm knew what Ethan was about to do—and it wasn't a small step.
Ethan's eyes glinted, serious and unwavering. "The future of mutants isn't something we wait around for. It's something we take. There's no better time than right now."
The battle for Earth—and the future of mutantkind—was about to begin.
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Word count: 1612
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