A few dozen minutes earlier.
Stark Tower.
Boom——~——Bang!～!!
Stark attempted to destroy the device opening the cosmic portal, but the energy from the Tesseract's protective shield directly bounced him away.
J.A.R.V.I.S.: [Sir, that's composed of pure energy — it cannot be penetrated.]
"Yeah, I noticed."
Unable to stop the Tesseract from opening the portal, Tony returned to Stark Tower, intending to change out of his battle-damaged Mark suit.
But then——
He had just taken off his damaged battle suit when he was caught by Loki, who had escaped from the helicarrier...
…..
"You're missing the point. There's no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top."
The two exchanged a flurry of words, naturally finding no common ground.
"Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. "
Tony swirled his drink, playing along with Loki. "Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."
"How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?"
Loki stepped toward Tony with a vicious glare, raising the nerfed Mind Scepter and pressing it against his chest—
—Ding～
The spearhead tapped against the Arc Reactor, producing a crisp metallic clang.
"Hmm?"
Seeing no reaction from Tony, Loki, unwilling to believe it, tried again—Ding～
"..."
Loki was confused, and a bit awkward. "It should work."
Tony, ever the smartass, quipped, "Well, performance issues. You know? Not uncommon. One out of five…"
Bang!
Loki grabbed Tony by the neck and slammed him onto the table.
The photos on the table toppled over from the impact.
"Photos?"
Loki held Tony down with one hand while picking up a photo of Pepper with the other, sneering, "Your lover? You won't be seeing her again."
"Uh....."
Tony struggled, but how could a mere human resist a Frost Giant?
"What is this?"
At this moment, Loki's attention was drawn to a repaired painting on the table—
It was Ye Li's painting, "The Battle of New York."
'Is this the scene of the Chitauri invasion?'
Loki was momentarily stunned.
Because the Chitauri hadn't arrived yet, but judging from the painting, it seemed to have been completed long ago...
Loki, who prided himself on his intelligence, suddenly felt the scent of a conspiracy...
Simply put, he was overthinking things.
And because of that, his grip on Tony loosened slightly...
Tony seized the opportunity and shouted.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.! What are you waiting for!!"
Boom——!!
The fully activated Mark 7 suit launched instantly!—
The red-and-gold 'coffin' crashed into Loki, sending him flying, then disassembled and assembled itself onto Tony.
Tony flexed in his new suit, "Perfect!"
Then.
He glanced at "The Battle of New York" on the table and sighed, "I was actually saved by a painting..."
…..
On top of a high-rise building.
The hem of a casual outfit fluttered in the wind.
Ye Li stood casually at the edge of the railing, hands in his pockets, eyes closed, sensing something...
Suddenly—Whoosh!—a Chitauri soldier riding a cosmic hoverbike came to a stop not far in front of Ye Li.
Click!
The Chitauri soldier, seeing someone standing there so boldly, pulled out the ray gun from its back and aimed at him, ready to fire.
Ye Li didn't even open his eyes.
He simply raised his right hand.
Aimed it toward the direction of the energy blast———
The black combat suit materialized like liquid... but it only wrapped around his palm before stopping.
Biu!
Bang!
After blocking the ray.
The black-gloved hand clenched—
Crack... La... La...
The Chitauri soldier, along with its gun and speeder, were twisted into a ball and dropped from the sky.
Clang!
Hearing the sound of the object hitting the ground.
Ye Li continued sensing with his eyes closed—the Chitauri soldier wasn't his target...
'Still hasn't appeared...'
'Is the Ancient One playing tricks on me…?'
…..
"Move! Move! Move!"
Several police cars screeched to a stop on the street.
George got out of the car with a group of police officers.
He watched the Chitauri rampaging between the buildings, gritted his teeth before he drew the pistol from his waist, and fired into the sky—
Bang!
"Open fire! Cover the civilians' retreat!"
"Uh...."
The officers exchanged looks, glancing at the Chitauri's ray guns, then at their own small handguns...
"Sir, the National Guard won't arrive for another hour, and we're not even sure if the military knows what's going on here… maybe… we should wait for now..."
"I said—"
George's expression darkened as he emphasized his command again, "Open fire!"
Bang! Bang bang! Bang! Bang bang!
The officers took cover behind their patrol cars, firing at the aliens—but it had little effect...
After all, hitting the fast-flying Chitauri with a handgun was incredibly difficult—there wasn't a sharpshooter like that in the entire police department.
Or rather.
If such a sharpshooter existed.
If that were the case, he definitely wouldn't still be in the police department—he'd have been reassigned to an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D.
Biu biu biu—!!
A few Chitauri soldiers took notice of the police, unleashing a barrage of blue energy rays—
Biu!
"Get down!"
George pushed down an officer beside him, and the rest immediately followed suit.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The energy rays shattered the concrete road, sending up clouds of dust.
The officers huddled down, too scared to raise their heads—asking the police to handle an alien invasion was truly pushing it.
Fortunately, at this moment.
Gu—!
A Quinjet arrived.
Captain America, Black Widow, Mockingbird (masked Barbara), and a recovered Hawkeye entered the battlefield—
Whoosh—! Whoosh—! (Barton)
Bang—! Bang—! (Natasha)
Clang—! Clang—! (Steve)
"This is really bad."
Barbara connected the two short batons, twisted her slender waist, and swung the now-long staff at a Chitauri soldier who had leapt down to attack her———
Boom!