"Well, so much for radioing him."
Tony winced as he looked at the battered Thunder God lying in the dirt. Every inch of his own body was throbbing with phantom pains from when the Kurse had swatted him earlier.
Sure enough, before Thor could even push himself up, the Kurse was back.
The black-armored monster leaped through the air and slammed down right in front of the Asgardian. If Thor weren't, well, Thor, he would have been paste by now. Any normal being would have shattered like glass under that kind of assault.
Inside the Boxer, Luca didn't waste time with words.
He stomped on the pedals, driving the massive mech forward.
WHAM.
The giant excavator bucket slammed into the Kurse's face with the force of a wrecking ball.
The monster barely had time to raise its arms to block before it was launched backward. It crashed through one skyscraper, then another, disappearing into a cloud of dust and debris.
"Sheesh..."
Tony, who had just been marveling at the Kurse's strength, hissed through his teeth.
It didn't matter how strong the Kurse was physically. Physics was still physics.
When a two-hundred-ton mech swings a haymaker, a two-hundred-pound alien—super-strong or not—is going for a ride.
Maybe bigger really is better? Should I build a Hulkbuster? Tony mused, ignoring the fact that his current suit was basically a glorified paperweight right now.
Luca was about to tell Thor to get up, but the words died in his throat.
The Kurse was back. Again.
Already. And without a scratch.
It tore through the rubble like a missile, ignoring the buildings collapsing around it, and charged straight at the Boxer.
BOOM!
The Kurse slammed into the mech's chest plate like a living cannonball.
A shockwave of white air pressure exploded outward.
Even with its two-hundred-ton bulk, the Boxer staggered backward, metal groaning under the impact.
Inside the cockpit, the gyros whined as they fought to stabilize. Thanks to the advanced shock dampeners of the Conn-Pod, Luca wasn't turned into jelly, but the whole world shook violently.
He didn't panic. Before the Kurse could land, Luca swung the mech's arm again, swatting the alien away like a pest.
But as he watched the monster stand up again, completely unfazed, a sense of dread settled over the group.
This thing was practically invincible.
Fortunately, Luca had the ultimate cheat code: he had seen Thor: The Dark World.
He knew brute force wouldn't kill this thing. He needed to be smarter. His eyes locked onto the Kurse's waist.
As the monster charged for another round, Luca changed tactics.
He braced the mech, balling the right hand into a fist, as if preparing for a clash of titans.
The Kurse, fueled by rage and arrogance, took the bait. It focused entirely on that massive metal fist, ready to shatter it.
But just as the two were about to collide—
SNAP.
The Boxer's fist unclenched.
Instead of punching, the massive hand opened wide and snatched the Kurse out of the air.
THUD.
The alien slammed into the mech's palm. Luca could hear the metal straining and warping as the Kurse punched and clawed at the fingers, its strength terrifyingly real.
"Hold him... just hold him..." Luca gritted his teeth, fighting the controls as the hydraulic pressure warnings screamed at him.
He knew the mech couldn't hold the monster for long.
"THOR!" Luca's voice boomed over the external speakers. "PULL THE GRENADE! ON HIS BELT!"
Thor, despite his injuries, understood instantly. His warrior instincts kicked in.
He roared, forcing his broken body to move, sprinting toward the trapped monster.
But he was slow. Too slow.
The Kurse, realizing the danger, thrashed harder. The mech's grip was slipping.
Suddenly—
CLANG.
The sound of a metal hatch being kicked open echoed from the mech's leg.
A white blur shot out from the Boxer's maintenance hatch.
It was Gwen.
She sprinted across the mech's arm, leaped onto the struggling Kurse, and yanked the pin from the black hole grenade on its belt.
She kicked off, backflipping away, and screamed at Luca:
"THROW HIM!"
Luca didn't hesitate. He whipped the mech's arm back and hurled the Kurse high into the sky.
Mid-air, the grenade detonated.
The singularity collapsed.
Even the Kurse's indestructible body couldn't withstand the physics-breaking crush of a black hole. It roared one last time before being compressed into nothingness.
Silence fell over the street. The black dot in the sky vanished.
Luca let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Inside the cockpit, he manipulated the controls to give Gwen a giant metal thumbs-up.
She had torn through the web-straps holding her in the cockpit and jumped out the emergency hatch without a second thought. If she hadn't, Thor never would have made it in time, and the Kurse would have torn the Boxer apart.
"Okay. One down," Luca's voice crackled. "Now for the big one."
The mech turned its head toward the massive flagship hovering over Greenwich.
"And Loki," Tony added helpfully.
"Right. And Loki."
Luca stared at the Harrow ship. He crouched the mech, engines revving.
"Hold on to your butts."
With a massive leap, the Boxer transformed mid-air, curling back into its ball form.
It hit the ground rolling, picking up speed until it was a blur of metal, charging straight toward the alien flagship.
Behind him, Gwen was helping Thor to his feet. She watched the giant metal ball rocket away and blinked.
"Hey! What about us!?"
Luca was long gone.
Inside the rolling sphere, he was running on the treadmill controls, pushing the mech to its absolute limit.
His plan was simple: Physics.
The Boxer might be small compared to the flagship, but at this speed? Two hundred tons of impact force would do damage. If he could just punch a hole in that ship, they couldn't leave Earth.
The target loomed closer. The dark metal hull filled his vision.
The sphere launched into the air, a cannonball aimed at the heart of the enemy.
BOOM!
The impact shook the city.
But...
A shimmer of dark red light rippled across the ship's surface.
The Boxer didn't punch through. It bounced off.
Luca was sent tumbling backward through the air, spinning out of control.
"Crap! Since when does that thing have energy shields?!"