Deep in the cosmic void, four figures suddenly appeared amid the Chitauri armada. The space gate had just closed behind them, and the Chitauri, still boiling with rage, found themselves caught off guard.
For a moment, the alien soldiers froze in confusion. None could understand how these intruders had suddenly materialized in the middle of space. But that hesitation didn't last. In the next heartbeat, the swarm surged forward, ready to obliterate them.
Daniel, Thor, Hulk, and Stark had been teleported—courtesy of Loki—straight into the heart of the Chitauri fleet, deep in the galactic battlefield on the far side of the universe.
The sudden shift in space left them no time to think. The Chitauri soldiers, spread across the dark void like a tidal wave, were closing in from every direction.
Then, thunder erupted.
Within a radius of several kilometers, every Chitauri soldier was instantly reduced to charred husks. It was Thor—finally able to unleash the true power of Mjolnir. On Earth, magical energy was dulled by the planet's natural limitations, but in the cold, open galaxy, those restraints disappeared. While space contained fewer magical elements than Earth, Thor's hammer held immense energy on its own—energy that could now be fully released.
Thor's attack bought critical time for Daniel, Stark, and Hulk.
Daniel quickly gathered himself. His wand slipped into his hand from his sleeve, and he conjured a glowing golden talisman. A powerful gravitational pull burst outward from his position, drawing in the corpses of the fallen Chitauri soldiers. Within seconds, he had formed an oval-shaped mound of bodies nearly 30 meters wide and over 10 meters thick.
An invisible protective barrier rose around them, trapping the weak gravitational field within it. Stark and Hulk landed roughly on the corpse-asteroid, surprised but grateful for the foothold.
In the vastness of space, having stable ground was everything. The Chitauri, with their starships, had full logistical support and could fight from a secured base. Daniel and his team had no such advantage. And in space, attacks didn't just come from the front. They could be ambushed from above, below, behind, or any angle impossible to monitor all at once.
Survival depended on more than combat skill. They had to account for zero gravity, lack of oxygen, and freezing temperatures.
Technically, deep space has no measurable temperature—particles barely move there, which brings it close to absolute zero, roughly -270°C. Humans couldn't survive more than a few seconds in this environment. Even astronauts in advanced suits with heated gloves felt the chill of the cosmos.
Fortunately, the area around them wasn't quite that cold. This was the former location of the space gate—where Chitauri forces had been pouring through. Their movement and energy had raised the local temperature slightly, and Thor's massive thunderstrike had further heated the surrounding space.
But even that wasn't enough for Stark.
His suit, though engineered with cold resistance, was designed for temperatures around -60°C or so—not the extreme, nearly airless freeze of space. Within moments, frost layered his armor, and his movements slowed. If not for his internal life support system, he'd already have suffocated.
"He's lucky," Daniel muttered, turning toward Thor. He pointed at the oncoming wave of Chitauri airships and war-beasts, then at Hulk—still scowling—and finally at himself and Stark.
Thor understood immediately. He grabbed Hulk by the arm, swung Mjolnir, and the two launched straight into the heart of the Chitauri horde.
Daniel stayed behind with Stark. The genius billionaire was now visibly shivering inside his armor.
Daniel pressed a hand against the steel suit. A surge of frost was drawn from the metal, flowing into Daniel's own body. Instantly, the frost receded, and Stark's internal heaters were able to restore some warmth. He perked up slightly, his strength returning.
A dark blue glow flashed in front of him. Daniel had encased Stark in a thick layer of magical ice—an insulating sphere that offered a level of protection from the brutal cold. It was like carving out an igloo in the Arctic: the cold air stayed mostly outside, allowing the interior to maintain a livable temperature.
Inside the ice shell, the air from Stark's suit remained trapped. With air present, sound could now travel again.
Daniel's voice echoed from outside, "Tony, did you ever imagine you'd end up being the team's biggest liability?"
"I didn't expect to land in the middle of space!" Stark snapped. "Damn Loki... What's happening on Earth right now?"
"Relax. It's holding," Daniel said. "Didn't you notice? The gate hasn't reopened."
Daniel scanned the surroundings again. No new portals. That, at least, was a small relief.
Their biggest fear was Loki reopening the gate while they were away, letting the Chitauri pour into Earth unchecked. But perhaps Loki, calculating as ever, was waiting for them to die out here before activating the gate again.
Right now, the concern wasn't who among them Loki had replaced, or when he'd do it—it was whether any of them would make it back at all.
In the distance, massive Chitauri starships hovered in the void, unleashing waves of warriors and towering beasts. It was a spectacular and terrifying sight.
Daniel was confident in his own strength. Even Thor could hold his own. But against an entire starship's arsenal of advanced weaponry? That was another matter.
Thankfully, Hulk had also been transported with them. While Hulk wasn't built for space combat, he had raw power. Under Thor's guidance, Hulk bounded from corpse to corpse like stepping stones, using his rage to propel himself forward in bursts of destruction.
The angrier he got, the stronger he became—and nothing made him angrier than suffocating in space. The lack of oxygen only heightened his fury, and with fury came power.
Still, raw power alone wouldn't win this war.
Space combat was nothing like ground warfare. On Earth, close combat happened at tens or hundreds of meters. Long-range battles stretched a few kilometers, with the upper limit around 5,000 kilometers—cruise missiles and ICBMs.
In space, "close range" could mean hundreds of kilometers. Long-range attacks spanned hundreds of thousands—sometimes even millions—of kilometers.
Hulk's mobility was a problem. Without solid footing, he was just a target for starship cannons.
Strategic planning was essential if they wanted to make Hulk's strength truly effective.
The real burden, though, was Stark. His suit was incredibly powerful, but not designed for deep space combat. It couldn't sustain full functionality in these extreme conditions, and its energy output was heavily restricted.
His arc reactor had enough raw power to challenge a starship. But the suit's systems throttled it too much. Right now, he was more of a liability than an asset, and Daniel had to keep protecting him.
Daniel, however, was thriving in this environment.
Even without his Mjolnir, his control of elemental magic was potent. The stifling constraints of Earth's magical field were gone. He could feel the power surging through him once more.
He'd lived in Jotunheim for over 60 years. The cold didn't faze him. In fact, it suited him—especially as a legendary ice mage. The lower the temperature, the more powerful he became.
Oxygen was no longer a strict necessity at his level. He still needed time to adapt to the conditions, but once he did... he would be unstoppable.
That is, if he didn't have to babysit Stark.