Peter shook his head, trying to refocus. He couldn't let the overwhelming energy distract him. The fate of the city—and possibly the world—was at stake.
"Alright, let's do this!" he said, determination lighting up his face beneath the mask.
Tony glanced at him. "You sure you're good, kid? You zoned out there for a second."
"I'm fine. Just a lot to take in," Peter replied, not wanting to explain the strange experience. "Let's focus on shutting this thing down."
Tony nodded, his HUD scanning the Tesseract machine. "We need to disrupt the energy flow without causing an overload. Too much pressure, and boom, Manhattan's gone."
"Noted," Peter said. He used his web-shooters to latch onto a few key components, carefully adjusting their positions while following Tony's instructions.
Elsewhere on the Battlefield
Max and Loki clashed fiercely, their battle creating shockwaves that reverberated through the city. Loki summoned daggers of glowing green energy, hurling them toward Max, who effortlessly dodged each strike.
"You think your army of shadows will intimidate me, mortal?" Loki sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. "I am a god!"
Max smirked. "A god? Funny, you're bleeding like a mortal." He gestured toward Loki's side, where a cut from him had left a dark stain on his pristine outfit.
Loki snarled and lunged at Max, his scepter glowing with Tesseract energy. Max dodged, countering with a swipe of his shadow blade, which clashed against the scepter in a burst of energy.
"Face it, Loki," Max taunted, "you're outnumbered, outmatched, and soon, out of time."
As they fought, Max's Night Army continued to devastate the alien forces, freeing more civilians and pushing the invaders back. Rize joined the fray, her vampiric abilities cutting through the Chitauri with deadly precision, while Gwen, Flash, and the others used their powers to protect the fleeing civilians.
Back at the Tesseract Machine
Peter and Tony worked quickly, but the portal remained open, and more aliens poured through.
"This isn't working!" Peter exclaimed, frustration creeping into his voice. "We need to hit it with something big."
Tony's eyes narrowed. "Something big, huh?" He glanced at Peter's webbing and then at his own repulsors. "How much of that web fluid do you have left?"
"Plenty," Peter replied.
"Alright, I've got an idea. Let's rig up a slingshot using your webs, and I'll fire one of my unibeams right into the core. If we time it right, it should destabilize the energy field and collapse the portal."
Peter hesitated. "And if we time it wrong?"
"Then we're toast," Tony said bluntly.
Peter sighed but nodded. "Got it. Let's do this."
They quickly set up the makeshift slingshot. Peter fired webs to anchor it in place, while Tony adjusted his suit's unibeam to maximum output. The two exchanged a quick glance.
"On three," Tony said. "One... two..."
Before Tony could say three, Peter yelled, "Go!" and activated the webbing.
Tony fired the unibeam straight into the heart of the Tesseract machine. The energy field crackled and pulsed violently before finally collapsing in on itself, shutting down the field. At that moment, Peter quickly used the slingshot they had rigged to catch the Tesseract, pulling it out before the energy field could rebuild itself.
Together, they managed to retrieve the Tesseract cube, and without its power, the portal began to close on its own—slowly but surely.
"Great work, kid. Now hand that thing over. It's not a toy," Tony said with a laugh, holding out his hand for the Tesseract cube.
Peter was just about to give it to him when Max's voice echoed in his head. "Don't. It's ours now."
Peter hesitated, then nodded as if answering an unspoken command. "Sorry, Mr. Stark. We had a deal—Max helps you guys, and we take the Tesseract. So, I'm taking it now."
With that, Peter leaped off the platform and swung away, the Tesseract safely in his grasp.
Tony stared after him, clearly annoyed but not chasing. "Well, I just wanted to study it for a bit," he muttered to himself as he looked at the portal, which was now almost fully closed.
"At least this thing is finally shutting down," he added, glancing at the wreckage around him. His eyes landed on the side of Stark Tower, where the damage had left only the letter 'A' intact from his company's name.
Tony smirked as an idea crossed his mind. "You know what? I think I like it. 'A' for Avengers."
Loki, now kneeling amidst the destruction, watched the portal close. He sighed and collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Looking at Max, he muttered, "Just what are you?"
Max, standing calmly and gazing at the dissipating portal, smirked. "You can call me Night Monarch."
Loki laughed weakly. "What a presumptuous title." Before he could say more, Max waved his hand, summoning a misty tendril that struck Loki squarely, knocking him unconscious.
"Now then," Max muttered, looking at the battlefield littered with Chitauri corpses, "time to make use of all these bodies. Let's create a Shadow Dragon."
He raised his hand, a dark purple magic circle forming high above the city, radiating ominous energy. As Max began chanting, the circle pulsed with power, casting an eerie glow over New York.
On the ground, Captain America and Black Widow noticed the massive circle. "What now?" Steve asked, turning to Thor, who had joined the fight midway.
Thor glanced up at the circle, his expression grim. "That... looks like a magic circle."
"Magic?" Steve echoed, then turned to Max. "Is that your magic circle?"
Max glanced at him briefly. "Yes, it's mine. Don't worry about it."
"Don't worry?" Steve's brows furrowed. "What are you doing?"
"Putting the dead Chitauri bodies to good use," Max replied, continuing his chant.
Moments later, the magic circle pulsed with an intense energy. Everyone watched as the light spread across the battlefield. When it touched the corpses of the Chitauri—and even their massive Leviathans—the bodies vanished into nothingness, disintegrating without a trace.
Then, from the remnants of the largest Leviathan, a shadowy form began to rise. The air around it shimmered with power as the Leviathan's massive frame transformed. Dark wings sprouted from its back, its body reshaping into a fearsome, draconic form. Scales, black as the void, shimmered with a violet sheen. Pulsating veins of dark energy coursed through its massive frame. Its eyes snapped open, glowing an intense purple as it reared its head back.
And then—it roared.
***
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