"Well? How did it go?"
After escaping the Helicarrier, Loki made his way to Stark Tower to rejoin Amora and Skurge. Once on the tower's roof, Loki turned his head and saw Amora sitting on an expensive grey couch. She had a glass of red wine; a satisfied grin was on her face. Skurge stood tall behind her, axe in hand. The man frowned as his small, beady eyes followed Loki as he walked towards the two.
Off to the side were Erik Selvig and Elizabeth Ross. They were putting in the finishing touches to the Tesseract device so they could open the portal that would allow the Chitauri invasion onto the earth.
Loki glared at Amora and raised his scepter slightly. Skurge narrowed his eyes and raised his axe slightly, causing Loki to pause.
"Did it go exactly as you planned?" Amora grinned and took a sip of her wine. Most likely acquired from Tony's wine cellar. "Or did it blow up on your face like I said it would?"
"Silence, you wench!" Loki growled and turned to the Doctors. "How much longer?!"
"It won't be much longer, Sir!" Betty said and turned to him with a strained smile. "We'll have the portal open in ten minutes!"
"Wonderful! The faster we conquer this dirt ball, the faster I can return to Asgard with Thor in tow." Amora stood and walked over to the Tesseract device. "Well, I'll be going through the rest of this tower's wine selection. Let me know whenever the show starts. Let's go Skurge."
"Yes, Milady."
Loki glared as he watched them leave down the stairs. How he wanted to raise his scepter and blast that infuriating smile off her face. But he wouldn't dare, not while her lap dog was around. Loki turned to the Doctors and huffed. No matter. His army would soon arrive, and he would be the king of this planet. He would show that pathetic All-Father. Yes, he would.
•••
"Sir, I turned off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustaining."
Tony frowned as he slowed to a stop above the large Tesseract device in his armor. He turned his head and looked down at Erik Selvig and Elizabeth Ross; they stood before a laptop with several thick wires connected to the device. His armor jerked as it struggled to maintain flight. The energy source was running low. Tony barely made it back to the city as it was. He had to switch armors soon.
"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig, Dr. Ross." Tony said as he glided in the air.
"It's too late! She can't stop now." Erik looked up at Tony and had a passionate look on his face. It made Tony's skin crawl. "She wants to show us something! A new universe!"
"Dr. Selvig is right! We have to show everyone what she has to offer!" Elizabeth said and waved at the Cube.
"…okay." Tony said, annoyed. He's had a long day and didn't have time to listen to the mind-controlled mad scientists. Lifting his hands, Tony shot two repulsor blasts at the device to destroy it.
"Geh!" Tony grunted as a powerful wave of energy shot out from the device, pushing him back in the air with a loud bang.
Quickly righting himself in the air, Tony looked down and saw Erik and Elizabeth splayed out on the ground. Unconscious.
"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable." Jarvis said.
"Yeah, I got that."
Tony looked down and saw Loki standing on the platform of his penthouse. He was staring up at him with an annoying smile. Tony glided over to his penthouse's main platform. "Sir, the Mark Seven is not ready for deployment."
Tony grunted in annoyance. "Then skip the spinning rims. We're on the clock."
Landing in a clang, Tony walked into his penthouse, and his custom rotating mechanical arms began deconstructing his armor. Once his armor was off, Tony glared at Loki as the god walked around his penthouse.
"I don't remember giving you a key." Tony said, walking down to the main level of his penthouse and over to his bar. "I've been having security issues lately. Good help is hard to find these days, so I'm gonna have to remove you myself."
"You should have left your armor on for that." Loki said and walked towards the center of his penthouse. His scepter glowed ominously with power.
"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the uh- blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" Tony shrugged and began placing some ice cubes into a glass cup.
Loki glared at Tony and tilted his head. A cruel smile on his face. "Stalling me won't change anything."
"No, no, no- threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one." Tony shook his head and glared at the god in front of him.
"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?" Loki looked up at the sky through the glass wall with an expression of eagerness.
"The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team.' Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."
"Yes, I've met them." Loki said offhandedly.
"Let's do a head count here. Your brother, the Demi-God." Tony said and watched as Loki turned away and looked out his glass wall. Tony quickly slipped a pair of bracelets onto his wrists; he would need them.
"A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, a pair of super-powered twins, and finally, the physical embodiment of vengeance. And you managed to bring them all together to take you down." Tony then walked around the tables and pointed at Loki. "One way or another, we will stop you. This planet isn't yours to conquer."
"Oh, is that so? You lot will stop me? I have an army." Loki said confidently and raised his scepter slightly. Tony walked over to him unafraid, a cold drink in his hand.
"We have a Hulk."
Loki became angry and stepped closer to Tony. "Even so, that green beast won't give you the edge. My army is large and powerful! There is nothing you all can hope-"
"Yeah- you're missing the point. There's no throne; there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. 'Cause if we can't protect the earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it." Tony finished hotly and took a sip of his drink.
Loki frowned deeply and sauntered over to Tony, his scepter raised. "How will your friends have time for me when they're so busy fighting you?"
Tony watched nervously as Loki tapped his chest. Would his mind be brainwashed as well? But when a metal tap echoed from the spear tapping his arc reactor, Tony couldn't help but chuckle. He heard Loki mutter to himself.
"Well, performance issues. You know?" Tony couldn't help himself and made a joke. Suddenly, Loki grabbed his neck and threw him across the penthouse. Tony grunted in pain and whispered to Jarvis to hurry up with the Mark seven. Before he could rise to his feet, Loki grabbed his neck again and pulled him close; his eyes were wide in rage.
"You will all fall before me!" Loki whispered and then threw Tony through the glass wall.
"DEPLOY!" Tony yelled and began falling to the city streets below.
Tony looked up in a panic and saw the Mark Seven armor fly toward him in its compact setting. Tony grinned and spread his arms and legs. The beeping noises of his armor lining up with his bracelets made Tony smile in anticipation. Cold, familiar armor attached to his limbs and unfurled over him. Surrounding him in its familiar comfort and safety.
Tony lifted his hands in front of him and propelled himself back into the air before he could crash into the ground below. Several onlookers below watched in shock and awe as he flew back to his penthouse. He stopped when he saw Lokis back to him and raised his hands.
"This one's for Phil." Tony said and blasted Loki back through his penthouse wall.
WABAAM
Tony looked up sharply and saw a large blue portal open high in the sky. The Tesseract device had finally reached its full power and begun the invasion. Tony watched as several unknown alien creatures flew down in sleek, hovering vehicles.
The Chitauri were thin and grey with narrow, sharp faces. They wore light, dirty golden armor that wrapped around their limbs tightly. They held either a sizeable blaster-like gun or a long, thick spear.
"Right. Army."
•••
The streets of Midtown Manhattan were busy and packed. The sounds of heavy traffic echoed across the city as non-stop vehicles drove in and out to get to their destinations. They ranged from taxis, buses, motorcycles, and personal vehicles. Alongside the roads were walking commuters. The sidewalks were so busy that several commuters had to walk shoulder to shoulder. It was life as usual in the Big Apple.
"H-Hey… what's that?!" A woman in an expensive black suit yelled as she pointed at the sky.
This caused everyone around her to look up and see dozens, if not hundreds, of tiny black specks flying out of the large spinning portal in the sky. This caused several people to start yelling in awe and fright, slowly gaining the attention of everyone in the city block and expanding throughout the city.
BAM
A nearby taxi cab exploded in a flurry of fire and blue energy. The cab driver was able to scramble out of his vehicle, covered in burns and injuries. A fast-flying alien in a sleek hovering vehicle zoomed past, followed behind four others. They began attacking anything that moved and targeted those behind clear glass windows. Nothing was safe from their terror.
Everyone on the streets began to scream and run in terror as the city became a war zone. Explosions and fires rocked every street and building as the Chitauri rained destruction on the city. Several police cruisers stopped on the streets, their red and blue lights shining brightly. The officers exited their vehicles and looked up in horror and confusion. They didn't know what to do. This was an unprecedented situation.
Just what were they going to do? What could they do against a full-scale alien invasion?
•••
"Loki, turn off the Tesseract, or I'll destroy it!"
Loki's golden armor materialized over him in a golden glow. He stood proudly over the Towers helipad and watched the destruction in glee. But when his brother, Thor, landed next to him in a crash, his good mood vanished.
"You can't. There is no stopping it. There is only the war!" Loki yelled and raised the scepter high.
"So be it." As Thor was about to engage him in a fight, a large muscled figure tackled Thor off the tower, and they both plunged into the chaotic city streets below.
"Finally." Amora said and walked out to watch the war zone below. "Now, I should have some fun myself. Keep that staff warm for me, this invasion shouldn't last long. These humans have no means of keeping up with the Chitauri.
Loki watched as Amora vanished in a shimmer of green magic. An angry expression settled on Lokis's face; he looked down and watched his brother fight Skurge in an impressive battle between two of Asgard's greatest warriors. Without warning, Loki jumped off the platform's edge and landed on one of the Chitauri's flying aircraft.
•••
"We gotta get back up there."
Once they reached the city, Natasha and Clint entered a gunfight, taking out several flying Chitauri forces in the air that Tony was leading along. Wanda and Pietro watched what was happening in the city in a dazed wonder. Harvey had to calm the Hulk as they jerked back and forth in the jet, and the assassin duo took down as many Chitauri as possible.
It wasn't until Loki blasted the jet out of the sky with his scepter that they finally landed on the overpass beneath Stark Tower. With a growl, Hulk ripped the hanger door off its hinges and jumped out. Everyone followed after him as they took in the situation; several of them were slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of Chitauris, and Hulk roared at them defiantly.
"Hey." Wanda said, gaining everyone's attention. She looked up at a massive, twisting, armored leviathan fly out of the portal. Its sheer size left them stunned. "What… is that?"
"Holy shit." Pietro said numbly.
Steve raised his hand and pressed his earpiece. "Stark… you seeing this?"
["Seeing. Still working on believing."] Tony said through everyone's earpiece.
Everyone jumped back as several Chitauri soldiers jumped out from under the overpass and attacked them. Natasha and Barton entered close-quarters combat with four of the Chitauris and took them down with some difficulty. Three Chitauris jumped on top of Hulk, but they were grabbed with an angry roar and slammed into the ground; he then grabbed the last one around his neck and threw it across the bridge.
Steve used his shield and combat skills to take down two Chitauris who tried to zap him with their blasters and spears. Harvey summoned his Blades of Chaos and easily cut down six soldiers in a rush of fire. Pietro used his incredible speed and pushed back a line of Chitauri. Wanda used magic and pushed back a ruined taxi to act as a bulldozer across the street, flattening eight Chitauri.
"There are too many of them." Wanda said and looked around as several more aliens wreaked havoc and terror across the city.
"We have to help these people." Harvey motioned towards several fleeing people. He then turned back to the sky, and the sounds of explosions and glass breaking could be heard in the distance. "We have to get that giant worm out of the sky. We can't risk it crashing through the skyscrapers."
"You're right. Can you help Stark take it out?" Steve asked. Harvey nodded. "Good, the sooner we get that out of the sky, the better."
Harvey quickly transformed into the Ghost Rider, jumped high into the air, threw one blade into the side of an apartment building, and pulled himself onto the roof. From there, he continued jumping and swinging towards the Leviathan and Tony.
Steve then turned to Pietro. "Pietro, you got the speed. Can you get these civilians to safety?"
"Consider it done, Captain." Pietro said with a grin and slipped down his goggles over his eyes. He then vanished in a blur, a cloud of dust behind him.
Immediately, several terrified citizens began to vanish from the streets in streaks of silver and blue. This confused several Chitauri, but they quickly moved on to destroy the surrounding area.
"Hulk." Steve said, gaining the Gamma-powered man's attention in a huff. "We need to take down these Chitauri, have at it."
Hulk nodded and jumped high into the air with a growl. He landed on the side of a tall building where several Chitauri soldiers were climbing on and began slamming them with his fists and kicking them down to the ground in a heap. From there, he continued scaling the building and jumped on the roof. Hulk bent his knees, jumped directly in front of a speeding Chitauri vehicle, and punched it out of the sky.
"Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays." Steve said to Clint, who nodded quickly and began running over to one of the taller skyscrapers in the city block they stood in.
Clint pulled out an arrow and shot it towards the edge of the building roof with deadly accuracy. As it flew, a long, thin cable fluttered in the wind until it straightened out as the arrow dug into the reinforced concrete. With a button push, Clint began to repel up at fast speeds.
Steve raised his hand to his earpiece. "Stark, you get the perimeter once you and Miller take out that worm. Anything gets more than three blocks out; you turn it back, or you turn it to ash."
"Copy that, Cap." Tony said as he flew through the city, the Leviathan gliding beside him. Tony fired several of his shoulder rockets at the Leviathan. When the smoke cleared, its tough armor had only minor burn marks. "Harvey? I could use some help. This thing isn't budging."
Ghost Rider ran across the roof of one of the taller business center buildings and jumped into the air; a stream of fire flowed under his feet, pushing him higher. With his twin blades, Ghost Rider landed squarely on the Leviathan's head and stabbed deeply into it. Causing the Leviathan to screen in pain.
"Burn to ashes." Ghost Rider said and flooded the inside of the Leviathan's head with Hellfire. It began to writhe and yell in pain as it tried to shake him off. With a roar, he forced flames throughout the alien creature's body, engulfing it in fire. Its now dead body descended towards a tall grey skyscraper, but as it crashed into it, the Leviathan's body shattered into clumps of ash and char.
Ghost Rider fell from the air and landed with a loud crash on Sixth Avenue. He stood up and watched several foot soldiers run towards him, their weapons raised angrily. It was then that two beams of energy tore through the soldiers and the street with a loud burr of energy. Ghost Rider looked up and saw Tony fly past him.
"Thor! We need you to bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Steve spoke into his earlier and looked towards where they saw Thor fighting Skurge while they flew in the quinjet.
"Once I defeat Skurge, I'll make my way there." Thor said into his earpiece and wiped his mouth. Looking down, he saw a small amount of blood. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, while Skurge himself was in no better shape. The area around them, which was right outside of Madison Square Garden, was heavily destroyed. Creators and rubble lay strewn around everywhere, and heavy dark smoke rose from the fires nearby fires and burning vehicles.
"Once you defeat me?" Skurge threw back his head and laughed loudly. "Don't underestimate me, Odinson. It is you who will fall before me."
The two Asgardians dashed towards each other and swung their respective weapons. Axe met hammer in a shower of sparks, but in terms of power, Mjolnir had the edge. Skurge's axe flew out of his hand, and Thor swung a backhand into Skurge's face. Knocking him back several feet and into a totaled taxi cab. Thor then raised his hammer, and thick dark clouds manifested over him in the sky. With a grunt, Thor brought down his hammer and pointed in Skurge's direction; as the tall tattooed Asgardian rolled off the cab, a power bolt of lightning shot down into his body. Skurge screamed in agony as he convulsed violently.
Thor watched as Skurge fell to the ground in a heap. He could see the man was not unconscious, but Thor had more important manners to attend to. He looked around and in the air at the invasion and grew angry, spinning his hammer quickly. Thor used its momentum to fling himself towards Stark Tower.
"Romanov, Maximoff, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here." Steve turned to the two women and looked at the incoming Chitauri forces. Fifty armed soldiers were advancing towards their position. Without another word, the three ran towards the Chitauri and started their assault.
The battle over New York had just begun.