"Mick!" Steph screamed into the mic as she noticed people running from the LuthorCorp building. "Please dear God, one of you tell me you've got an eye on him!"
"He's not in the crowd, him or the Cat," Alex replied.
"I only see smoke and dust in there," Jake replied. "Can either of you get a reply from Falcon or Overwatch?"
"No, long range is dead on my end," Alex replied quickly.
"Same," Steph grumbled. "We'll give him five minutes. If he doesn't come out, we're going in after him."
"Deal," Alex and Jake said together.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mick rubbed his head, his eyes hazy. Clouds of smoke and dust filled the lab. "Cat? Jerren?" Mick called out weakly, coughing and brushing the dust from his face. The smoke cleared enough for Mick to see Cat's shimmering silver hair close by, prompting him to stagger over. He knelt down, rolling her over.
"Cat, come on, wake up." Mick urged as he pulled her into his lap. His focus shifted as he heard a crackling, then a massive pile of debris shifted. He could make out the outline of a person holding some kind of staff with the help of the glowing blue and green aura coming from the left side of them. He braced himself, ready to protect himself and Cat. Mick watched as another figure ran up, and was immediately blasted backwards.
"I need to be higher up," the figure had a poise, yet masculine voice. He sounded calm, yet fierce. Mick's heart sank when he saw what looked like Superman lifting him.
"Webs?" Cat's hoarse voice drew his attention away.
"Yeah, I'm right here," Mick held her tightly.
"Have you checked for survivors?" she asked as Mick shook his head.
"I found you first," he admitted.
"Well, I'm fine," Cat rubbed her face, then used Mick to pull herself up. "We need to get out of this mess."
The pair walked around, hearing scuffling of rocks and debris. Mick then sprang into action, quickly pulling it away, when Cat's light shone on Jerren's blood and dust covered face.
"Am I dead?" Jerren asked with a whimper.
"Not today," Mick continued working on uncovering him.
"I feel like I was hit by a truck," Jerren groaned.
"Join the party," Mick said as he helped Jerren to his feet, allowing him to lean on Mick's shoulder for support.
"Pardon my confusion, but who's she?" Jerren pointed at Cat.
"I call her Cat. She's my -" Mick paused as the ground shook.
"Partner," Cat finished, coming to Jerren's other side as he staggered. "We were working together to rescue you."
"Well, that's going quite smoothly, isn't it?" Jerren mocked as Mick looked up at the light and dust above them.
"Could be worse," Mick said glumly. "We could all be dead."
"This is true," Jerren shrugged. "But at least then I wouldn't be in this much pain."
"Don't worry, Jemma will patch you right up as soon as we get out of here," Mick said confidently. "This part might hurt a bit more though."
"Bring it on," Jerren coughed.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephanie started to aim her grapple gun when Superman and another man exited the building. Superman wore a strange look, and the other man was more intriguing. He wore a suit with green trim, had long curly black hair, in one hand had a golden scepter with a blue orb infused into the spike at the end, in his other hand was a strange glowing cube. The man in the suit pointed higher as his staff vanished like magic, Superman listened like a well trained lapdog, lifting him under the arms and floating up towards the top the the LuthorCorp building.
"Are you seeing this?" Stephanie called out on the coms.
"Yeah, but something seems off," Jake sounded just as confused as Stephanie felt.
"Agreed. Let's see what this does," Alex radioed back, as an arrow flew at the man in green. The man caught the arrow seemingly inches in from his face before turning to look in Alex's direction. The arrow vanished, in its place was the man's staff.
"Oh crap!" Alex dove from the rooftop as a blue energy blast slammed into the building where he had been. He fired his grapple gun with his free hand, barely having enough time to slow down. He hit hard, rolling to take off some of the momentum. It was still too much, causing quite a bit of pain as he rolled more to avoid the falling debris.
"That seemed to go well, Genius," Steph looked toward where Alex fell.
"It did, indeed," Alex grunted in pain. "Now we know that freak has some kind of magic powers. Not that it really helps us at the moment."
"It makes things more complicated," Jake replied. "Especially if he's controlling Superman with that magic."
"That's not our problem right now," Stephanie barked. "We need to find out if Mick completed his mission, and then kill him for abandoning us."
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patten began buckling his gear to his sides; his pistol, his baton, the close range ear piece, then his spectral glasses. Jenn followed, grabbing her baton, pulling her red hoodie over her body armor. She slid her phone in one pocket, and her falcon crested knife on her side. Her fascination with the birds of prey is what landed her the codename Falcon.
"I don't know what to expect out there, so be ready for anything, got it?" Pat commanded.
"Yeah," Jenn said nervously.
"I'm sure even the Responders are on shortwave by now, so we're only using code names so as not to mix up with them. Just like New York, stay close," Pat said as Jenn tried hard to push back her nerves.
She ran through the names in her head. Patten is Raptor, Alex is KnightHawk, Steph is Eclipse, Jake is BlueJay, and Mick is Recluse. "I'm ready for this."
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mick pulled Jerren up from the wreckage, Cat on his side with her grapple gun. The inside of the LuthorCorp lobby was in shambles. Sparks flying from torn wires, shattered screens, pieces of the floor dangling only held together by rhubarb. The sight of it made Mick's stomach turn. How anyone could've survived this was beyond him. Mick and Cat started forward when he heard familiar voices calling out for them.
"We're over here," Mick yelled back, realizing he lost his earpiece at some point. His suit was in shambles, pieces of his Recluse gear could be seen underneath. He was never more glad to see Stephanie and his team disobeying orders.
"You look like hell," Alex stated as Mick nodded.
"Try having a science experiment explode and drop a floor on you, and we'll see how you feel," Mick tried to laugh it off. "Jerren, kids, kids, Jerren."
"Nice to finally put faces to the elusive Outcasts," Jerren said with a nod. "Fitz and Simmons told me all about your ragtag team of color coded teenagers with attitude."
"Did you just refer to us as Power Rangers?" Jake asked, slightly offended.
"Did you seriously understand his nerd reference?" Steph asked, slightly disgusted.
"At least I'm the cool green one," Alex adjusted his glasses. "In other news, there's a magician potentially controlling Superman."
"Damn it all," Mick looked down, shaking his head. "You three get Jerren out of here. Try to get Pat on the comms, and make your way back to the safe house, I don't care how you do it either. Stay away from Responders. Our SHIELD cover cannot be blown. Lex owns too many government workers here."
"What are you going to do?" Steph asked as she looked at Mick's injured state and Cat standing beside him.
"What every reckless vigilante does," Mick coughed. "Try to stop the bad guy."
"Please don't let him die," Steph said, looking at Cat who feigned a smile. "If you do that, maybe I'll forgive you for wearing my clothes."
"I'll do my best," Cat nodded as they emerged outside. No sooner than they did, a blue beam fired into the air, swirling around into a massive vortex in the sky. Lightning crackled across the vortex, then it seemed to tear wide open, revealing the massive dark void of space.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce pulled the cowl over his face. Broad daylight wasn't his typical time to don the mask. Something had to be done about this massive hole in the sky, and quickly. His computer gave him no answers, only the notifications were that all normal communication lines were down. Thankfully he had spotty connections to his personal satellite feeds, although that could be compromised if that hole continued to grow.
Moments later he was racing across the city on his black motorcycle, his cape flapping behind him. He watched as a large armored brown-leviathan looking creature emerged from the tear in the sky. It let out a thunderous roar, followed by several smaller things flying through the still growing rift.
"Alfred, can you hear me?" Bruce called out as he carefully dodged cars, trying to make his way toward the source of the beam.
"Not -arly, -ir" Alfred's voice cut in and out as he tried to reply.
"Radio Nightwing and Batgirl, have them fly the Jet out here quickly. I'm going to need help," Bruce stated, hoping that his message went through. He also reached forward, tapping the screen on his bike, sending out the SOS signal to the Batfamily, just in case his message didn't go through.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"JARVIS, is this live?" Tony asked as he looked up from tinkering on his suit.
"It would appear to be a live feed from Metropolis News Network," JARVIS replied.
"Alright, time to take the suit for a spin," Tony said boldly.
"But sir, the mark VII suit has not been fully calibrated," JARVIS answered.
"Sometimes a field test is the best test," Tony stood on the of his pads of his armor's boots, then the arms that assembled his suit emerged, and began assembling his armor for him.
"I respectfully disagree," JARVIS said as the mask closed around Tony's face.
The systems flickered alive as Tony tested his movements. He wiggled his fingers, then lifted his feet, finally moved his head. "Opicts are working, movement feels good, air quality is fine. Alright JARVIS, engage thrusters and stabilizers. Let's see just how fast we can go."
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recluse shot several webs, using them to attempt to scale the side of the building, pausing only when a laser blast severed his web. He caught himself, using another web, swinging back toward the building, slamming hard into the building. He looked up to see strange creatures raining down on the city on what looked like flying what looked like golden hover scooters with another grey alien beast with a golden mask standing behind the driver firing off a spear looking gun.
"What are we going to do about that?" Cat asked as she slid down to Mick's side.
"I guess we deal with these guys, then go from there?" Mick shrugged, then flicked his wrist sending webs at the building across from him.
"Webs, don't do anything stupid, ok?" Cat touched his face with the back of her hand. "You've got those amazing kids to come back to."
"And you still have to tell me your name," Mick said as she smiled at him.
"It's a promise," Cat stated. "If we survive this, I'll tell you my name."
"Sounds like a date to me," Mick leapt off the building as Cat watched him swing hard, kicking one of the creatures, sending them careening into a wall. The creature and scooter exploded, shattering several windows, and leaving a nice hole in the side of the building.
Batman leapt from his bike, firing his grapple gun into the side of a building while slinging several batarangs into the creatures flying overhead. The ones on the golden machines spun into each other, exploding in mid air as parts from their flyers rained down onto the cratered streets below. He had to get above it all, there was no way to maneuver with all the first responders trying to evacuate and protect the people.
He looked around at the destruction and deep concern tore through him, Where is Superman? The thought haunted him. It didn't matter that he didn't trust him, this was the kind of thing that absolutely needed him. The leviathan creature flew overhead, the batarangs clanging off its armor. He needed one of those hover machines. He looked up as several more were approaching. He aimed his grapple gun, fired. The hook gripped something, and away Batman flew.
He flipped over the edge, taking note that they drove in pairs. One seemed to be intrinsically linked to the machine, the other able to fire the turrets. The free standing one charged at him. They were strong, but not agile. Batman pushed him back, jamming the creature with his gauntlet fins before kicking it off the machine. The other alien growled and roared, shaking the machine, Batman simply grabbed him as he looked to see if there was a way to control this thing. Seeing no discernible method, outside of the wire linking the creature to the machine, he simply slammed his gauntlet fins into the creature's shoulder blades. The creature let out a roar of pain, blue oozy blood poured from the wounds as Batman moved his arms around, quickly learning the capabilities of the machine.
Kara flew into Metropolis, gasping in bewilderment. The chaos and destruction, the portal that had been torn into the sky, all of this, but no sign of Clark. She moved quickly to intercept the creatures she quickly recognized as the warring tribe; the Chitauri. She had heard the legends back on Krypton of the Chitauri, and how they would invade like insects, swarming and devastating the planet, leaving it in complete darkness. The screams of the civilians and blaring emergency sirens quickly began to overwhelm her senses. She had to move fast and try to turn the tides of this conflict. Clark had to be out there, maybe the forces were just too much for him alone. She clenched her fists, flinging herself into action.
"SHIELD 626, this is Raptor, we need backup in Metropolis, ASAP," Patten said as he tried sending out a distress beacon on the satellite phone. "There's a giant portal with way too many aliens pouring out. The Outcasts are on the ground, but we're very outnumbered."
"Do you think that's going to go through?" Jenn asked as Patten pressed send on the beacon.
"It's a small chance," Patten said as they dodged falling debris. "But we've got to hold on to hope."
"How are you so brave at a moment like this?" Jenn asked as her heart raced.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm terrified. Who wouldn't be?" Patten clarified as he pulled his pistol from its holster, firing at a Chitauri that landed in front of them, roaring loudly. "There's freaking aliens invading Metropolis right now, but what good is panicking going to do?"
Jenn closed her eyes, picked up the spear like weapon the Chitauri had, and looked it over. It almost reminded her of the same kind of rifle that Rick brought her and her brothers to shoot skeet with. Another creature landed, and without much thought, she pulled what she assumed was the trigger. A green laser beam blasted the alien creature backwards, smoke trailed off its body as it twitched on the ground.
"Nice shot, Falcon," Pat said as Jenn rested the spear rifle on her shoulder.
"I'm keeping it," she said as Pat laughed.
"For now, that works," Pat smirked. "Long term, we'll see."
The two ran through the streets, Patten using the combination of his baton and pistol to fend off his attackers, while Jenn would pick off what she could long range with the alien rifle. When that didn't work, she treated it like the bo-staff she'd practiced using with Jake. She wasn't the best, but at least the sharp end still worked like a bayonet.
Patten sighted a group of people fighting in the light of a flare pinned down in a crater by the Chitauri. "That's our team!" Pat called out, slamming his baton into an unsuspecting Chitauri. It whipped around, Patten kicking it's leg out from under it, following it up with a knee to its face. Once it hit the ground he fired two shots from his pistol into its chest. He turned back to Jenn to see her snipe a Chitauri who fell from the air, a few feet from them. "You're getting pretty good with that thing."
"Told you I'm keeping it," Jenn smiled, wiping the blue blood from her face.
"We need to get them out of the road and into cover," Pat said, looking around as if he were trying to formulate some kind of plan amidst the chaos. Two Chitauri dropped to the ground beside them, arrows sticking from their faces.
"I don't know that cover is the best plan, everything seems so bad right now," Jenn shot one from its flying machine, which then crashed into the road a few blocks down.
"Yeah, but that flare means someone is hurt," Pat said as he charged forward, Jenn doing her best to provide cover.
"Pat?" Jerren called out as he laid on the ground holding his side.
"What happened?" Patten looked over Jerren as Jake, Alex, and Steph kept a defensive triangle around them.
"Old guy jumped in front of an alien blast thing before it hit Jake, then we got pinned down here trying to get to you actually," Steph barked out.
"Where's Mick?" Patten questioned.
"Somewhere up there," Alex replied, firing another series of arrows into the seemingly endless attackers.
"Jake help me move him, Alex you and Jenn provide cover fire. Steph clear our path forward. We're taking that building as a shelter," Patten commanded as Alex looked at Jenn blasting an alien overhead.
"Nice piece," Alex nodded. "A girl that can handle a firearm. That's pretty sexy."
"Never in your wildest dreams," Jenn murmured.
"Oh you haven't seen my wildest dreams," Alex teased with a wink.
"Thank God," Jenn gagged.
Recluse crashed onto a roof, tumbling hard as he slammed into the railing. He looked up at the giant beast gliding through the sky that tore through his web just in time to see Supergirl slam into it fist first. The massive creature's head crumbled like paper, its armor shattering from its rippling body. The creature then fell below her, its massive body tearing into the buildings as it went down.
"Have you had eyes on Superman yet?" Mick pulled himself up, speaking as if she were next to him rather than floating several stories up. Kara then floated down, looking at his injuries both concerned and confused.
"No," she shook her head. "I've been trying to slow down the destruction from these beasts. Do you know where he could be?"
"Last I heard, he's near the heart of the beam," Mick doubled over, his body begging him to quit fighting. "That seemed like ages ago though."
Kara's eyes shot toward the LuthorCorp building. "Then that's where I'm-" Her voice paused as AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" began playing on every available speaker across the city. The trail of several small missiles streamed across the sky, each exploding on various Chitauri soldiers mid-flight. Then a red and gold blur whizzed past them, blasting several more Chitauri with short range lasers. Mick and Kara then looked between each other, as the red and gold blur paused just long enough to see the armor as he launched another silo of missiles from his shoulders.
"Tony Stark, or Iron Man if you prefer," Mick said as Kara still looked confused. "Dude wears an arsenal for armor. He's on our side."
"Good enough for me," Kara said with a nod. "So you believe Kal is at the bottom of that beam?"
"That's what my team told me. They seemed to think someone was controlling him, so be careful," Mick warned as Kara nodded.
As Kara flew toward the beam, clouds began swirling around. There was a boom of thunder, and lightning tore through a Chitauri warship, sending it crashing to the ground with sparks dancing across its massive body, destroying a myriad of the Chitauri that had flown in underneath it. There was another massive lightning bolt, this one brought a powerful aftershock. Her heart sank. She reached the fighting in time to see the golden haired man wearing armor, a red cape, and holding a hammer being slung to the ground ruthlessly by none other than Kal El.
"Kal, stop!" she cried out, Kal pausing only momentarily to look at her. The dull blue in his eyes, the deadness, something was certainly wrong with him. He appeared before her, moving without regard. He grabbed her by the throat, snarling like a feral beast as Kara fought to break his merciless grip.
Batman crashed the machine into the building, looking around at the carnal destruction being done by these creatures. He quickly jumped in, tearing one from a civilian who was trying to escape into the stairwell. Two swift kicks, dropping it low enough, then he snapped the creature's neck. The time for compassion was gone. These creatures seemed to have a singular purpose; kill.
Iron Man flew overhead, blasting through several dozen of the flyers. He was certain he saw Recluse fighting alongside a woman who looked like a woman he was sure he'd seen working with the thief CatWoman. Two more heroes joined the fight that he'd seen in the Puente Antiguo Incident. The woman blasting radiant beams from her hands in a red, blue and gold suit, then a man wearing a green and black suit slamming things with green energy.
Sure it was helpful having them help, but something was wrong, these creatures seemed to be pouring from that portal endlessly. Batman began rationalizing, then quickly arrived at the conclusion: shut the portal, then take down the threats. The other heroes could protect the civilians while he handled the bigger problem. He started making his way through the ruins of the city, using his grapple gun to ascend and descend as necessary.
A shockwave pushed him backwards, drawing his attention upward. There he finally saw Superman. To his shock, Superman was holding a woman by the throat. She looked to be struggling while Superman had no emotion on his face. Batman reacted quickly, pulling a small green meteor rock that he'd been studying from the belt compartment. He then clipped it to his batarang, firing his grapple gun to gain some height in order to rescue the woman. Once he was high enough, he threw the batarang as hard as he could. He watched with his breath held, if he was correct in his deductions, the batarang should pierce Superman's skin, and that rock should subdue his powers.
There was a brilliant flash as Superman looked down at his leg were the batarang lodged in. He shook his head, reaching for the batarang, releasing the woman. His skin grew pale, and he slowly began descending. He then tore the batarang from his leg, dropping it to the ground. His focus shifted from the woman to Batman.
Batman braced himself only to hear a thunderous boom. Superman crashed into the building, while the man with the hammer now flew in his place, turning his focus back to the LuthorCorp building. Batman then recognized the woman as Supergirl, who then flew after Superman. He then made his way to LuthorCorp. This madness had to end, even if he had to fight that man with the hammer to end it.
Tony flew alongside one of the Chitauri leviathans, blasting its passengers, trying hard to pierce its armor to take it down. "Sir, we will lose power before we penetrate that shell," JARVIS stated as Tony fired several repulsor blasts at it.
"Do you have any other plans then?" Tony snapped, speeding out in front of the colossal beast. "Wait, I might have one. Have you ever heard the tale of Jonah?"
"Um, Sir, I wouldn't consider this one of those kinds of moments," JARVIS replied.
"Open wide, big and ugly," Tony growled as he adjusted himself to fly right into the creature's mouth as it roared. "JARVIS let 'em have it!" he belted as he entered the beast.
Several explosions went off, ranging from the throat, middle, then far end of the creature, then Iron Man erupted from the creature, slamming into the ground near Recluse and Cat. Recluse swung hard with electricity trailing from his fist, slamming into the Chitauri at the front of the web of them he'd wrangled. They all screamed out as the lightning danced between them through the webs, dropping the hoard all at once.
"Nice trick kid," Iron Man said as he pulled himself up. "Keep up the good work." With that, he launched back into the sky.
"Thanks," Recluse panted, Cat doing her best to hold him up.
"Webs, there's no way you can keep fighting like this, maybe you should take a break?" She suggested as she felt his weight pulling on her.
"We can't just leave these people to fend for themselves," Recluse's exhaustion was showing in his heavy breathing.
"You're not going to do them any good if you're dead," Cat set him down, digging her claws into a Chitauri as it landed near them. She then stripped it of its weapon, tripping it, and stabbing it as it hit the ground.
"Maybe a few second breather," Recluse said, hanging his head, unable to pull himself to his feet.
Clark shook his head, looking around in the building. Everything was such a haze, how he ended up here, all the chaos he could hear. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to sort it all out. Had he really used the Phantom Projector combined with that cube to open a portal to the far reaches of space at the whim of the Asguardian, Loki?
"Kal," he looked up quickly upon hearing Kara's voice. "Are you back in your right mind?" she walked up to him, her caution confirming his dread. These lucid dreams weren't dreams at all. They really happened. Metropolis really was under attack, and he helped in it.
"We need to get to the top of LuthorCorp," Clark stated. "We have to destroy the Phantom Projector to close the portal."
"Are you sure you want to do that?" She asked nervously. "If we destroy it, there's a chance that everything in it would be expelled through that rift."
"We either destroy it, or those things destroy the world. I'll face whatever comes from the projector if I have to," Clark said boldly.
"Okay," Kara nodded. "Then we'll go together. Less of a chance that Loki can control the both of us."
"Deal," Clark smiled.
Thor slammed down on the LuthorCorp roof, lightning crackling around him. Loki stood there, smiling at the chaos he'd wrought. "Loki, what is this madness you've done?"
"Do you like it?" Loki asked, turning to Thor, his golden armor flashing onto his body, capped off with his long horned helmet and scepter. "They will bring this world to its knees at my feet, and crown me as its king, and all it cost me was the Tesseract."
"Are you still obsessed with the crown? Was destroying Jotunheim not enough to satisfy your bloodlust?" Thor was mortified by the atrocities being committed by his brother.
"I was rejected by both my own people and the ones who raised me," Loki sneered. "I will find my kingdom how I must."
"What good is a kingdom in ruins?" Thor belted out. "Who then will you rule when your kingdom is dead?"
Loki snarled, turning away from Thor. "It doesn't matter. It's far too late to stop it," his words were almost regretful.
"Then join me, and we can end it together!" Thor urged, only for Loki to laugh. Thor dropped to the ground as he felt a knife plunge into his side as another Loki revealed itself, while the one before him faded away.
"One day you'll stop falling for that, dear Brother," Loki spat. A red, white, and blue shield slammed into him as a black jet flew overhead. A man with dirty blonde hair, in a star spangled red, white, and blue uniform landed, catching the shield as it flew back to his right arm. Two batarangs then bounced off Loki's armor, from the other direction, then there stood a man dressed in all black, with a cape and a cowl with what appeared to be horns on the top.
"You foul creatures think you can lay a finger on me?" Loki stood up in disgust. "I am a god!"
"There's only one God," the man with the shield said. "And I'm positive he doesn't dress like you."
Loki held his staff out, only for Thor to punch his leg from under him, causing him to miss the black clad target. Thor then rolled to his feet as Mjulneir flew into his hand. "If you won't join me, then you will surrender." Thor warned.
Loki sneered as he fired two blasts, on ricochetted by Thor's hammer, the other blocked by Captain America's shield. Batman slammed Loki hard, then was met with the Asgardian's incredible strength as he tried to block a kick. Thor jumped in, deflecting the swing from the staff, then Captain America slammed his shield into Loki. Loki slammed his staff on the ground, launching all three away from him with an energy burst.
Loki crashed through the roof, then a floor, then the ground beneath him cracked as well. He gasped in both shock and pain. His eyes fluttered to see Supergirl floating above him wearing a cheeky grin. He then let out a pain filled gasp, dropping his head to the floor in defeat.
"You all need to get to the ground," Superman said looking at Thor, Batman, and Captain America. "I'm going to destroy the Phantom Projector. It might be extremely dangerous the higher up you are."
"Is that going to close that portal?" Captain America asked.
"It should," Superman stated.
"The portal closes, then what? We just take down the remnants of these creatures?" Batman asked.
"The Chitauri operate on a close range hivemind. If that connection is lost, the remnants will die off on their own," Supergirl stated.
"You know an awful lot about these creatures," Batman said coldly.
"I've seen what they do to planets in Kryptonian history crystals," Supergirl clarified.
"There are true survivors of Krypton?" Thor asked, both Superman and Supergirl nodding. "Of which house do you hail?"
"The house of El," Supergirl stated as Thor smiled.
"These are indeed trustworthy," he said fondly.
"Good enough for me," Captain America said.
"Not me," Batman grunted. "But what other choice do we have?"
"Not many," Superman said as everyone nodded, moving to escape the rooftop. "Ready?" He looked at Supergirl.
"I hope you're ready for the consequences that come with this," she said as they both floated up, eyes lighting up red.
The beams fired down at the Phantom Projector, the blue beam then turning blood red. The explosion was massive, the shockwave launched both Superman and Supergirl in opposite directions. The beam rippled as the portal collapsed upon itself, slicing the leviathan that was pushing through clean in half, crashing just beside the LuthorCorp building.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pat was never more relieved than when he saw Daisy Johnson's team arrive with Jemma Simmons in tow. There was only so much he could do when it came to wound dressing, especially in this situation. The way they came charging in, felt like the cavalry had arrived. The walk onto their quinjet felt surreal, Pat guiding Jake, Steph, Alex, and finally Jenn, who relented the Chitauri rifle into his custody only. They all cheered once they received word that the portal had closed and the Chitauri had fallen.
Mick and Cat hobbled down the street together, both more exhausted than they believed possible. They watched as Chitauri fell lifelessly to the ground from the walls of the buildings overhead. They looked at each other, then up to the sky, more relieved that the portal had closed.
"So I guess we did it?" Mick laughed weakly.
"I guess we did," Cat said happily.
"Yay," Mick fell to the ground under his own weight, unable to carry on anymore. "Can we just call in tomorrow, maybe take a long weekend?"
"I think we can afford that, if you want," she carefully pulled him near a fallen awning. She then sat down beside him, pulling his head onto her lap. "You still with me, Webs?"
"Yeah," Mick said softly.
"I think I owe you something, don't I?" she looked down at him, he struggled to keep his bruised eyes open under his cracked mask and fractured lenses.
"I guess you do," he smiled at her.
"I'm sure you heard Lex say it," she started. "But I'm Felicia Harding under the mask."
"That's really pretty," Mick closed his eyes. "Mick, Bellouve." Felicia laughed as he slurred his last name as he passed out. She then pulled his phone from his pocket, using his face to unlock it. She then sent an SOS beacon to his SHIELD contacts, before setting his phone back on his chest. She laid her hand on his face, succumbing to her own exhaustion.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce stepped onto the Batjet, Dick and Barbara helping him gather some of the Chitauri weaponry and armor for analysis before SHIELD moved in and decontaminated the whole city. Today proved exactly what he'd been fearing. They were severely unprepared for alien threats, including threats like Superman. They were just extremely lucky that everything went just right. Bruce didn't like playing the odds, especially not when they were that low.
"Sorry we showed up so late," Dick shrugged. "This looks like it was a blast to deal with."
"It wasn't," Bruce stated starkly.
"That makes how many kinds of known aliens now?" Barbara asked as she set down a Chitauri rifle.
"Too many," Bruce growled.
"Oh come on, you've got to think it's pretty cool that we're not the only intelligent life out there!" Dick excitement exploded.
"I don't. That's just more things we have to prepare for," Bruce said sharply.
"Nah, alien chicks, UFO's, all of that sounds pretty awesome to me," Dick laughed.
"Excuse me? Alien what now" Barbara slapped him in the back of the head as Dick winced.
"Nothing," he rubbed his head trying to hide his smile.
"Do these things look attractive to you?" Barbara pointed at the dead Chitauri.
"Not at all," Dick grimaced. "But That doesn't mean all of them look like that. I mean, that Thor guy was an alien. I bet the chicks on his planet-" Dick paused seeing the scowl on Barbara's face. "Nevermind."