Marcus Lee glanced at the furious Thor, then at his own trembling legs on the ground.
"Sorry," he said with an innocent shrug. "He yelled at me."
"You..." Thor roared, lifting his hand as if ready to strike.
"Thor, stand down!" Captain America stepped in just in time.
"Steve," Thor growled, lightning crackling along his hammer. "He attacked my brother!"
"Thor, maybe you should look outside first. Look at how many people your so-called brother has killed," Steve said coldly.
"...He's not really family," Thor muttered under his breath, lowering his hammer and awkwardly stepping aside.
Steve turned to Marcus, gratitude in his voice. "Friend, thank you for your help. But we need to know... who exactly are you? Are you working for Nick Fury?"
Marcus turned around with a warm, friendly smile. "It was nothing, Captain Rogers."
"You know me?" Steve blinked.
"Of course." Marcus walked over and reached out a hand. "Steve Rogers. Captain America. The hero of World War II. Your story is legendary."
Steve took the hand. It was strong and warm, radiating a palpable sense of righteousness.
"I am..." Marcus began.
Before he could finish, Nick Fury's urgent voice exploded through everyone's earpieces. "Stark, do you read me?"
"Those idiots just launched a nuclear missile straight at Manhattan!"
"How long do we have?!" Tony's face drained of color.
"Three minutes at best. The warhead will level the entire city!"
"Got it!" Tony pivoted sharply and blasted through the shattered window. "Jarvis, divert all remaining power to propulsion!"
"Tony, have you lost your mind?!" Steve shouted after him.
"No other choice!" Stark grabbed the missile midair and pushed upward toward the portal.
"Jarvis, tell Pepper..."
"Tony, your sacrifice is quite touching," Marcus's voice suddenly whispered into his comm.
Tony jerked around in shock. The man dressed like Superman was flying backward faster than Tony could move.
"Tony Stark," Marcus said quietly, "you're a hero. You shouldn't die here."
"You...?"
"People still need you, Tony."
Marcus offered him a heroic, almost tragic smile. "And me... I was born for this moment."
"You'll die!" Tony yelled.
"Someone has to."
Tony pushed the missile upward, but suddenly the weight vanished.
"What the...?" He stared downward. The missile was gone.
A streak of red and blue tore through the sky, carrying the warhead at a speed far beyond anything Tony could produce.
"...That Superman cosplayer?!" Tony stared in disbelief. "He stole my nuke?!"
"No!" Tony hovered helplessly at the edge of the wormhole, watching Marcus disappear.
On the ground below, Steve removed his mask and stared at the sky, his expression unreadable.
"...We owe him," he said softly.
Far out in the cold, dark depths of space.
The Chitauri mothership loomed ahead.
"Alright. Drop it and go home," Marcus muttered.
Just as he prepared to release the missile, his X-ray vision instinctively swept across the ship.
He saw engines, command decks, rows of Chitauri soldiers.
Then he noticed something else.
A massive energy-shielded chamber.
"Wait... are those children?"
Hundreds of unconscious kids were stacked like cargo inside a huge biological stasis pod.
"They weren't just invading... they were collecting human captives?"
Marcus's mind raced.
A hero who dies gains respect.
But a hero who almost dies and returns carrying a ship full of rescued children...
Becomes a legend.
A pure, radiant smile crossed his face. The kind saints are painted with.
This was a script sent by heaven.
Time was running out.
He adjusted the missile's trajectory and let it go.
Then he charged straight through the mothership's hull.
Alarms blared across the ship.
He ignored every attacker, incinerating a path with blazing heat vision.
Like a rocket, he shot toward the giant containment pod.
"Open!"
He punched the shimmering barrier.
Crackling sparks burst from the impact.
Not strong enough.
"Come on!" Marcus's eyes flared red, heat vision and fists slamming into the same point.
A fracture appeared.
Then the shield shattered.
He seized the enormous pod and ripped it free from the deck.
"Kids, hold on!"
Marcus shoved the container forward and flew back toward the hole he had created.
Behind him, a world-ending blast consumed the mothership.
In New York, Natasha's voice trembled. "He stayed too long..."
"...He's not coming back," Tony murmured, frozen in place.
Steve's fists tightened as he stared upward.
Then, in the final instant before the portal closed...
"Look! What is that?!" a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent shouted.
A blazing streak burst from the collapsing portal.
Superman.
And he was pushing something colossal.
Marcus tore free of the shockwave just as the portal slammed shut behind him.
Instantly, every remaining Chitauri soldier on Earth collapsed like puppets with cut strings.
The battle was over.
"He did it..." Tony whispered.
"Look, he's about to pass out!" Steve shouted.
Marcus was still pushing the huge pod when his strength suddenly failed, sending him into a free fall.
"Go, Tony!"
"On it!" Tony blasted upward.
But Marcus snapped his eyes open midair.
"Stay in character," he muttered to himself.
He steadied his flight, slowed his descent, and set himself up for the perfect Superman landing.
He touched down at Grand Central Square with a thunderous boom.
Survivors of the siege gathered around him as reporters swarmed in.
Every camera turned toward him.
Every eye focused on him.
With theatrical slowness, Marcus dropped to one knee and set the massive pod down.
He forced himself to stand again, breathing hard, as a trembling reporter stepped forward.
"You... who are you?"