It didn't take long for many more drones and robots to arrive, which Stark found oddly similar to his Ultron prototype, though JARVIS dismissed it as merely an external resemblance.
Despite being surrounded, the Avengers didn't feel any pressure. It had been a long time since they'd failed, and now wouldn't be the first time.
While this was due to their power, one of their advantages was how many of them there are.
In fact, they were even in the process of becoming more of an "organization" than just a superhero team. Of course, their goal wasn't to build something like S.H.I.E.L.D., but something more like the Justice League, where they're all part of the same group—but with various sub-teams and associate heroes who aren't full members.
That way they could distribute their forces more effectively around the world. For a few months, before the superhuman era had begun, Tony Stark alone, in his armor, had achieved the closest thing the world had seen to world peace. The Avengers were confident they could do the same.
After a while and once most of the robots were destroyed, the ground began to tremble, as if giant titan footsteps were approaching. And it wasn't far from the truth, because when they looked toward the noise, the Avengers saw five massive robots, at least ten meters tall, advancing on them.
"Wasn't this guy supposed to be a particle tech expert? Why the hell does he have robots?" Rhodes asked, irritated. While robots weren't a big problem for some, for others like him they were still quite annoying.
But he didn't have time to complain, because one of them fired a red beam, forcing him to dodge.
The beam hit a house wall; it vanished instantly, causing the entire structure to collapse in a chain reaction.
Tony looked at Rhodes and mocked him.
"There's your particle tech."
Then he turned to the team.
"All right, team, I've seen videos of experiments where they shrink entire buildings, so this beam is definitely using size reduction."
After saying that, he flew toward the head of one and fired a missile. The robot simply ignored it without taking any damage, before opening its mouth and firing another red beam.
Tony flew back to the rest.
"I tested it, they're very tough," he said as if it had been a successful experiment and not a total failure.
Thor laughed at his attitude and stepped forward.
"Nothing is tougher than my hammer."
Saying that, he began spinning his hammer powerfully and then threw it at one of them.
But the moment it hit the robot, it just staggered back a little without taking any damage. In fact, the blow didn't even make a sound, which left the group bewildered.
However, they didn't need to think much, because an almost maniacal voice sounded around them through speakers.
"Hahaha, what do you think? While it isn't a perfect replica, it's an imitation with at least 60 percent vibranium effectiveness. It took me hundreds of years to achieve."
The group had long ceased to be a collection of ordinary people and had become a team with access to classified information from around the world, so everyone knew what vibranium was.
"Hundreds of years?" Natasha asked, always trying to extract more information.
"Save your questions for when we catch him, Natasha. I'll handle this one."
Thor, wounded in pride from not damaging the robot with his hammer, used lightning this time, summoning a furious storm with bolts audible even outside the dome.
However, the attack failed again. Although the lightning struck, it caused no damage. Instead, the robot's body began crackling with electricity, as if it were made of a conductive material.
The moment he raised his hand, the smartest among them already knew what was coming.
Steve shouted immediately.
"Dod..."
Though many team members have superpowers, not all can dodge a lightning strike.
However, the one who can had plenty of time to help the rest as well, so there was no issue.
"...ge!"
By the time Steve finished warning them, the lightning had already struck, destroying the ground and leaving a large crater, but the team was already out of the strike zone.
Steve turned to Pietro and thanked him.
"Thanks for that."
Pietro nodded, but didn't answer. Instead, he looked at the robots. The rest of the team did the same. They had let Thor attack, but it hadn't worked.
They weren't in a turn-based war, so they stopped playing and all attacked together.
However, to their disappointment, the robot seemed able to counter all attacks with ease.
None of their strikes left a mark, so any impact was useless. Just like energy attacks; even Wanda's magic seemed useless.
Whenever her chaos magic approached the robots, they were shielded by a strange red energy that made it impossible for her magic to penetrate.
While they kept attacking over and over, Pym's manic voice continued over the speakers.
"All right, keep trying, it won't do you any good."
After several rounds, they were quite tired, while the robots seemed almost intact. Although they had suffered some damage, it wasn't enough to even slow them down, so the team was starting to worry.
Especially because it wasn't just about attacking, but also about dodging their attacks.
At one point they even started firing projectiles. The group simply dodged them at first, while the stronger members stopped them manually.
However, once they hit, the impact sent them flying into the air and crashing into the dome.
Surprise turned to understanding when they approached some of those projectiles and saw what they were.
They were damned miniaturized buildings. Although shrunk, the objects still retained their mass. If you add that the mass was fully concentrated, it became even more dangerous. That is why a blow from someone like Ant‑Man is dangerous even though he's a normal-sized person.
After several rounds of shooting, they stopped, giving the group some breathing room. But the pause was interrupted when all the projectiles began to return to their original size, turning the battlefield into a warzone full of explosions and uneven terrain.
The group could do nothing but protect themselves inside a shield created by Wanda to buy a brief respite.
"Any plan?" Tony asked, looking at the team.
Thor stepped forward and left the shield.
"The plan is to keep attacking."
Saying that, he summoned lightning again toward one of the robots, which simply ignored it and redirected the bolts at Thor.
Of course, lightning wouldn't harm the god of thunder, so he kept on attacking.
Gwen, however, noticed something. Although small, one spark had damaged the top of the robot. Realizing this, she voiced her excitement.
"I've got it!"
The team looked at her, waiting for answers, and she didn't disappoint.
"Leonardo said it when he called you, right?" she said, looking at Natasha. "You'd only be wasting time. And Pym said something similar when we arrived: that Scott didn't hold them off for long. I don't know how he built those things, but it's obvious we got there much earlier than we should've. So..."
"Those things aren't finished," Tony finished the sentence, earning a resentful glance from Gwen.
"That's right. Thor's lightning, even a little, just caused a small damage to the robot. Something that didn't happen before."
"So the plan is..." Natasha began.
Gwen stepped forward and exited the shield.
"That's right. The plan is to keep attacking."
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+20 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)