'Come, mortals! The feast is served—greet your king!'
Atop Stark Tower a cube housing this world's top-tier power hovered quietly in mid-air. Around it stood three men: one in ornate golden armour with horned helm, his delicate face flushed with excitement, holding the sceptre Thanos had given him. Loki glanced at the sceptre, then at the enthralled Hawkeye Barton and Dr. Banner, looked around, heart swelling with pride and the thrill of conquest, and shouted his feelings aloud as he aimed the sceptre at the cube. A blue beam lanced from the staff and struck the cube dead centre.
As if obeying an order, the cube released a vast surge of energy. A huge pale-blue band shot from the cube into the sky, and a colossal space gate appeared above New York.
'My God! What is that?'
'Is it the end of the world? Were the Maya right?'
'What's happening?'
Many in the city noticed the sky-born spectacle; some believers even thought the 'gates of Heaven' were opening and Angels coming to take them. They were wrong: what loomed was no heavenly gate but a horde of alien warships bent on conquering Earth. The arrivals were no Angels but semi-mechanical beings called the Chitauri, cosmic predators whose boss was the notorious tyrant of the Universe, Thanos.
'He really came—and brought such a "surprise".'
The helicarrier had raced toward New York, monitoring Stark Tower. As expected, Loki was up to something big. Watching the swarm of small fliers and whale-like giants pour from the space gate, Nick felt his heart nearly stop.
'Uh—don't look at me. He's my brother, but he's adopted.'
Everyone gave Thor an odd look—was this your family's doing well? Meeting their eyes, Thor disclaimed responsibility: Loki was adopted; Asgard wasn't to blame.
'Ugly things,'
Tony remarked, sincere in his opinion; to him the Chitauri looked like oversized armoured bugs.
'All right, gentlemen, no need for speeches—move out, now!'
Nick ordered, cradling his head, while his hand brushed the pager in his pocket—not yet. No need for the ace while he could still handle things.
At Nick's command Captain and Natasha sped off in a small flier; Tony shrugged, armour covering him as he rocketed away. Now wasn't the time for bickering: soon his own Stark Tower would be rubble. Though meant to become Avengers HQ, seeing it wrecked still stung.
Thor said nothing; he'd meant to retrieve his brother. However badly Loki had messed things up, he was still family, and Thor would drag him back to Asgard for Odin's judgment.
The helicarrier waited quietly outside New York for support. Too clumsy and huge to last more than a few rounds, it would only feed the enemy if it charged in.
'Let's hope the losses stay within acceptable limits.'
Looking at a building crushed by a giant 'Leviathan', Nick could only pray optimistically like this.
"Starting so soon?"
At this time, Artoria, who was still a kilometer away from New York, also saw the scene in the sky. It was truly spectacular. With her superhuman vision, Artoria could clearly see the Chitauri carrier, which was comparable to a 'Kun'.
"Saturday, how are the cameras operating?"
"Everything is operating normally, master. We've lost a few cameras, but they aren't major issues."
"What about the intrusion into S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Everything is under control, master."
Receiving Saturday's reply, Artoria was very happy, a pleasant smile curling at the corner of her mouth. The sports car she was sitting in roared with full power, driving towards Stark Tower. At this time, there were quite a few people running outside, but it hadn't reached the point of traffic paralysis yet. It might be different in a while.
"Something's happening. Black Spider Suit, activate."
"Understood."
Gwen was walking from school towards Artoria's company. Passing by Stark Tower, she discovered the anomaly. She found a deserted corner and pressed her watch. After fingerprint identification, a black and white suit instantly covered Gwen's body. The web-shooters on both her arms fired gray-white spider webs, sticking to a small flying craft in mid-air and pulling it to the ground. Gwen, in her battle suit, stepped forward and kicked the Chitauri on it to death, beginning her hunt.
This was also the first strike in the Battle of New York against Thanos; Gwen completed the first kill.
"What on Earth is happening to this world? Seriously."
Little Spider also arrived quickly. He was quite far away, but the moment he saw the live news broadcast, he quickly claimed he had a stomach ache, ran to the toilet to change clothes, and rushed out, leaving his friend behind, staring at the lunch in front of him, wondering whether to eat it or not.
Swoosh~!
Small ships flew out from the large space portal in the sky. The people of New York fled in panic, but many were soon pierced by beam guns and fell to the ground. This was a real war, not a movie. Children frantically looked for adults, only to be spotted by Chitauri on their flying craft and shot. Such killing machines were emotionless; they only followed orders from above.
This wasn't the first time they had done this; many Planets had been taken down by them. If their 'god', Thanos, didn't wish to kill half and leave half, they probably would have wiped out all life on the Planet long ago.
"Those bastards."
Captain jumped down from the craft prepared by S.H.I.E.L.D. Seeing these human tragedies, he was truly enraged. He threw his shield with great precision, knocking down a Chitauri flying above his head. The shield bounced back and was caught steadily by Captain.
"Captain, how should we proceed?"
After firing two more shots at the fallen Chitauri to blow its head off, Natasha asked Captain while holding her gun.
"Defeat them and save the people."
Captain used his shield to knock away a guy who pounced on him while speaking to Natasha.
"That order is certainly simple and clear."
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