Thor's breathing was ragged. The continuous battle and endless attacks, even the empowered Thor couldn't take it!
"Hah...hah...Stark, are you tired yet? Should I announce that I won?"
However, he still forced himself to hold on, revealing a brilliant smile on his face, and smiled at Tony!
"Everyone! We can't go on like this. Our enemies are endless! In the last half hour alone, we've killed tens of thousands of Chitauri soldiers, and more than a dozen of those warships! But it doesn't seem that our enemy is any close to exhausting their numbers!
Sooner or later, even if we could still go on, the city below us will fall! On top of that, this energy shield could only hold on for less than twenty minutes, giving the enemy soldiers free reign throughout New York City! The casualties would be immeasurable!"
Tony felt that the current situation was very disadvantageous! How many troops did the enemy have? They had no idea! "We need to think of a way to close the wormhole!"
The Captain had a brief moment of rest after Thor unleashed an ultimate move!
"I've inspected the wormhole device. There's a layer of pure energy on it; it's impenetrable! Do you want me to transform into Hulk?"
Banner brought more bad news!
"Stop, Bruce! Your transformation isn't what we need right now! I've asked Jarvis to analyze the weakness of these creatures, but it would take a while! We need to hold on for now!"
Tony replied again. It wasn't much, but it was a good news!
"This is the only way now!"
The Captain could only helplessly agree, because he had no battle plan against the aliens either!
...
"Sir, the enemy units were composed of partially mechanical and biological portions! But they do not experience fear! This does not make sense!
"My analysis suggest that all living creature have ways to express emotions! Fear, sadness, joy, and other emotions would affect their behavior, but the alien lifeforms don't seem to experience such situations!
"It suggest that they were more similar to me, an Artificial Intelligence, than humans!"
Jarvis gave its analysis to Tony, but Tony felt that Jarvis' analysis was a little off! It was unlike how Jarvis normally was!
"Partially mechanical? Emotional response? Without fear? Wait, I think I get it!"
However, Tony's racing thought formed conjecture from the information and put the strange tone in Jarvis' voice aside!
I think I know what we need to do! The enemy is a race controlled by higher intelligence. All the soldiers are only executing orders from their core, so they had no need for emotions and fear!"
Tony shared his thoughts with everyone!
"Could it be a creature like the Zerg?"
Thor suddenly mentioned a weird term to Tony!
"Uh, I guess? I think that if we destroy their command center, these foot soldiers would collapse on their own! And naturally, the command center could only be across this wormhole!"
Tony awkwardly affirmed Thor's question before continuing!
"So, we need to destroy the command center beyond the wormhole? But how are we going to do that? It's going to be difficult with only our forces!"
The Captain's response felt like cold water on Tony's head!
For a moment, everyone fell silent again. They finally had a solution, but they found that it was impossible to implement it! This made everyone feel a little discouraged!
"Wait, I know where we can find a weapon to destroy the command center!"
Suddenly, Tony had an epiphany!
...
The crew of the SHIELD helicarrier all watched the situation in New York closely. Some of them clasped their hands in solemn prayer!
Nick Fury didn't have such luxury, however, because he was currently facing the Council!
"Director Fury, your mistake has caused the Avengers Initiative to fall through, and now an alien had invaded Earth! All the responsibility for all loss and casualties of this incident is entirely in your hands!"
Members of the council accused Nick Fury through the video screen! They even accused Nick Fury of luring the aliens to Earth!
"Has everyone here forgotten, just who had rejected my Avengers Initiative proposal time and time again? It makes no sense that you pushed the responsibility for its failure to me!"
Nick Fury's tone was calm, but his face was cold and grim!
"It is not time to shift or assign blame! We need to find a way to eliminate the aliens invading New York!"
A female council-member tried to move the volatile discussion forward!
"What else is there to discuss? I cannot in good faith let us hand over the safety of the world to the so-called Justice League who doesn't belong to any government organization! So, let's just launch a nuclear bomb!"
A casual but horrifying suggestion was thrown into the mix!
"I will never authorize nuking our own civilians! The situation has not devolved to the point that we need a nuclear bomb! I believe that the Justice League will have a solution!"
Nick Fury was mortified by the suggestion. He didn't expect that the council would propose such a terrible method! To think that they would suggest launching a nuclear bomb on a city with millions of civilians!
Heavy atmosphere once again descended, as everyone present calculated their risks and options!
...
"Haha, I didn't know you trusted us that much, Mister Bald Pirate! I must say, your unyielding dedication for protecting civilians makes me see you in a new light!"
A new voice not belonging to a council-member suddenly interrupted, causing panic between them!
If their proposal to send a nuclear bomb to a civilian city was exposed, they wouldn't be able to cover it up!
"Stark? You hacked into our meeting? This is a criminal—"
Nick Fury also had a shocked expression on his face. Although Tony had a new level of respect for his firm refusal, he still couldn't tolerate Stark eavesdropping on their meeting!
"Between me and you, who just proposed to nuke a population center with millions of civilians, which one is more of a criminal, I wonder?"
Tony retorted directly when he heard Nick Fury's question.
"Stark, I just rejected the proposal to launch a nuclear bomb!"
"Well, Mr. Stark, I don't think you came here just to quarrel with Director Fury, right? Just say what you need already, if it's something we can do, we will do it for you!
"We just need a guarantee that the members of your Justice League would stop the alien army that is invading New York!"
It was the female member of the council who interrupted the direct argument between Nick Fury and Tony and guessed that Tony had a special purpose to talk to them!
"Don't worry; the Justice League headquarters is in New York City, so we will definitely work hard to protect it! Anyway, time is of the essence, so listen carefully.
"My request is that you send someone to launch a nuclear bomb at my location. The bigger, the better!"
Tony cut through the chase and stated his true purpose!
"What? You came all the way here to tell us to launch a nuclear bomb? Are you crazy!"
Including Nick Fury, everyone was stunned by Tony's words!