Because Hawkeye Barton had no idea where everyone inside the laboratory was standing, the explosive arrow he fired did not directly hit anyone.
Instead, the powerful shockwave from the explosion blasted everyone off their feet.
Tony's vibranium bracelet immediately activated.
The nanotech armor spread across his body in an instant, shielding him from most of the impact.
He was almost completely unharmed.
Tony quickly stood up and headed toward his main armor.
Although the vibranium nanotech suit was convenient, its offensive power was limited.
For a large-scale battle like this, Tony preferred to wear his full vibranium armor.
Meanwhile, Nick Fury rushed toward the command center.
Inside the damaged laboratory, Dr. Bruce Banner was becoming increasingly agitated.
The explosion had pushed him dangerously close to losing control.
Natasha was right beside him.
However, her leg had been pinned under a piece of debris.
She couldn't move.
She tried to calm Banner down while slowly reaching into her pocket.
Inside was Karl's Ice Card.
If Banner transformed into the Hulk and attacked her, Natasha would not hesitate to use it.
ROAR—!
Banner finally lost control.
The Hulk burst out.
Just as he was about to attack Natasha—
BOOM!
A powerful punch suddenly slammed into Hulk's face.
It was Thor.
Thor had arrived just in time and knocked Hulk away.
He then lifted the debris trapping Natasha's leg and threw it aside.
Without hesitation, Thor immediately began fighting Hulk hand-to-hand.
Unfortunately for Thor, Hulk's strength was overwhelming.
Within moments, Thor was beaten back repeatedly.
Fortunately, the Asgardian physique was extremely durable.
If Thor had been human, he would probably have been bedridden for months.
BOOM—!
Thor's anger exploded.
He summoned Mjolnir back into his hand.
With the hammer in hand, Thor launched another attack against Hulk.
He even threw Mjolnir directly at him.
The hammer struck Hulk and landed nearby.
ROAR—!
Hulk roared furiously at the hammer lying beside him.
He grabbed it and tried to lift it.
He pulled.
Nothing happened.
He pulled again.
Still nothing.
Mjolnir did not move even slightly.
Realizing he couldn't lift it, Hulk angrily abandoned the hammer and rushed toward Thor again.
With a brutal punch, Hulk sent Thor flying into the wall of the Helicarrier.
Before Thor could even stand up—
Hulk's next attack had already arrived.
BOOM—!
Meanwhile, Hawkeye had already landed on the Helicarrier.
Several agents under Loki's control followed him.
Armed with weapons, they began moving toward the damaged engines.
Nick Fury immediately contacted Tony.
"If those engines aren't repaired soon, this carrier is going down!"
To prevent the Helicarrier from crashing, Tony and Steve Rogers rushed toward the damaged engines to repair one of them and stabilize the aircraft.
BANG—!
Hawkeye infiltrated the command room alone.
He fired an arrow directly into one of the control ports.
When the arrow struck—
Every computer in the command room instantly crashed.
One of the Helicarrier's engines shut down completely.
Nick Fury reacted immediately.
He pulled out his pistol and fired at Hawkeye.
But Hawkeye had already moved.
Every shot missed.
Fury quickly reported Hawkeye's position over the communication channel.
Natasha's voice responded immediately.
"I'll handle Barton."
At the same time—
Agent Coulson discovered something even worse.
Loki had escaped from his containment cell.
And he had already retrieved his Mind Scepter.
Coulson aimed an energy weapon directly at Loki.
But Loki had already created an illusion.
Coulson realized too late.
The Loki he was aiming at was fake.
The real Loki appeared behind him.
With a swift motion, Loki drove the scepter straight through Coulson's chest.
The blade pierced completely through his body.
Meanwhile—
Thor deliberately provoked Hulk.
The enraged Hulk charged straight toward him.
At the last moment, Thor dodged aside.
Hulk lost his footing and fell directly off the Helicarrier.
He plummeted toward the ground below.
Thor barely had time to react before he saw Loki running out of the corridor.
Thor immediately chased after him.
But once again—
It was another trick.
Thor suddenly found himself trapped inside the containment cell originally designed for the Hulk.
Loki had manipulated him perfectly.
He laughed coldly.
"You really are easy to fool, brother."
Loki pressed a button.
The entire containment cell detached from the Helicarrier and fell toward the earth below—with Thor trapped inside.
Elsewhere on the carrier—
Tony and Steve successfully repaired one of the damaged engines.
The Helicarrier stabilized.
Natasha ambushed Hawkeye during the chaos and managed to subdue him.
Loki, meanwhile, escaped with the agents he controlled.
They boarded a Quinjet and flew toward the location of the Tesseract.
Later—
Nick Fury gathered everyone together.
He held up a bloodstained Captain America trading card.
Then he told everyone about Coulson's death.
The room fell silent.
Everyone looked grim.
Except for Tony.
Tony stared at Fury with an expression that clearly said:
"Keep acting."
Coulson had shown Tony that trading card before.
And Tony knew something important.
That card had never been in Coulson's pocket.
It had been stored in Coulson's locker.
Although Coulson was truly dead, Tony knew Fury was using the situation to manipulate everyone's emotions.
Even using Coulson's personal belongings to push them into fighting.
This only made Tony dislike Fury even more.
Soon afterward, the spectrometer finally detected the location of the Tesseract.
It was located in Stark Tower in New York.
Tony immediately activated his armor and flew toward New York without waiting for anyone else.
During the flight, Tony called Pepper Potts.
When he heard that she was currently staying safely at Karl's manor, he finally relaxed.
Then he accelerated toward Stark Tower.
At that moment—
Karl was observing everything through the Mirror Dimension.
He watched Erik Selvig activating the Tesseract device on the roof of Stark Tower.
The device was preparing to open a long-distance portal.
Karl also saw Loki stepping out of the Quinjet, holding the Mind Scepter.
Karl did nothing.
He simply watched quietly.
However, he still informed George Stacy.
He quickly brought Helen Stacy to the manor as well and explained what was about to happen.
Even George Stacy fell silent when he heard about the coming interstellar invasion.
But despite that, he still prepared to go out and protect civilians.
Karl did not try to stop him.
If George wanted to go, Karl would let him.
Soon after—
Tony arrived at Stark Tower.
He fired a repulsor blast directly at the portal generator.
But the attack had no effect.
Jarvis quickly analyzed the device.
"Sir, the structure is protected by an extremely powerful energy field."
"It cannot be destroyed."
Tony then noticed Loki standing inside the tower.
Tony approached him in his vibranium suit and launched an attack.
But the Loki in front of him suddenly disappeared.
It had been another illusion.
SWOOSH—!
At that moment, the device on the roof of Stark Tower fired a massive blue beam into the sky.
A huge portal opened above New York.
On the other side of the portal—
The Chitauri army began pouring into Earth.
Seeing this, Tony immediately activated another armor module.
A red-and-gold device launched from Stark Tower and flew toward him.
It began assembling over his current armor.
The suit rapidly expanded.
The design resembled a Hulkbuster-type armor, but the entire structure was made of vibranium.
Tony transformed into a towering armored giant.
Then he launched himself into the sky and began attacking the Chitauri forces.
Meanwhile—
Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and the recovered Hawkeye Barton boarded a Quinjet from the Helicarrier and headed toward New York.
Elsewhere, Bruce Banner regained consciousness in a factory.
With the help of an old man, he found some clothes and an old motorcycle.
Then he also began heading toward New York.
...
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