BOOM!!!
The thick white cocoon toppled to the ground.
Peter casually tossed the shield back to the Captain.
Steve caught it and let out a breath of relief. "Nice job, kid."
"It was nothing."
Peter scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
"He won't break out, will he?"
"My webbing's tensile strength is insane. Just a single strand can hold several tons. And as for him—"
Peter glanced at the War Lord, now practically mummified inside a tangled mass of webbing.
"I'll admit he might be stronger than me, but getting loose won't be easy."
"That's a relief..."
"Uh, maybe you could get me out of here first before you two keep chatting?"
T'Challa poked his head up and said.
"I can't get any leverage in this position..."
"Oh!" Peter smacked his face, embarrassed. "Sorry, you're kind of so dark I didn't notice you were in there too."
"Uh, I mean your suit, not your skin..."
Worried he'd caused offense, Peter only got more flustered.
"It's fine. I don't care."
"Just hurry up."
T'Challa said flatly.
He had grown up in Wakanda, a Black nation, and he was its king. He wasn't like those American—well, he wasn't hung up on the color of his skin at all.
Steve hurried to pull at the axe, but even he couldn't wrench it free in one go.
Only after Peter lent a hand did the two of them manage to pry the nearly three-meter-long axe from the wall and drop it to the floor.
"It's almost twice as tall as I am."
Peter said, astonished.
T'Challa finally worked himself free. He rotated his arm, exhaled, and said,
"So we won?"
"Of course—wait!"
Peter started to nod, but in the next instant, the Spider-Sense struck him like a lightning bolt.
A shudder ran through his entire body, and he spun around to face the War Lord, still bound up like a zongzi.
And then, the three of them watched as the white cocoon was ripped apart in an instant. The War Lord burst free, turning to face them with a savage grin.
"Did you really think that could hold me?"
He let out a mocking laugh, then a split second later erupted into a rage, roaring, "Don't you dare lump me in with that useless piece of trash, Black Dwarf!"
The roar coalesced into a physical wall of sound, a shockwave that slammed into Peter, Steve, and T'Challa.
Steve gritted his teeth and covered his ears, but Peter pinched his nose shut.
"OMG, when's the last time you brushed your teeth?"
"Your breath smells like a toilet that hasn't been cleaned in a month. I seriously have to wonder, don't aliens believe in hygiene? Or do you guys not even have toothbrushes?"
"Let me squeeze you out some toothpaste."
Saying this, he raised his hand and shot two strands of webbing straight at the War Lord, sealing his mouth shut.
The War Lord: ...
The colossal monster tore the webbing from his mouth, and the look he fixed on the three of them was now blazing with fury.
"I'm getting rather tired of you pathetic weaklings."
He hooked his foot under the battleaxe Peter and the others had tossed aside and flipped it up into his grip.
The three-meter-long weapon looked like nothing more than a tiny toy in his hands.
Seeing this, Steve and T'Challa immediately readied themselves for a fight. Only Peter remained frozen in place.
Because his Spider-Sense was screaming at him:
Run!!!
"Run, Cap!"
Peter snapped back to his senses and threw himself at Steve.
But he was still a moment too late.
A violent purple light suddenly erupted from the War Lord's battleaxe!
In an instant, the energy surged past its peak. From that axe, a terrifying power transformed into a hurricane, howling outward!
Everyone present found themselves unable to move a single step.
The War Lord revealed a triumphant smile, and in the next moment, the energy-charged axe came cleaving down—
BOOM!!!
In a flash, a beam of purple light seemed to pierce the dark void of space itself.
Everyone saw that strike.
The colossal energy beam blasted straight through a section of the Leviathan's massive body. The immense torrent of power shot out into the cosmos, even dragging countless Chitauri soldiers into its wake.
The beast let out a long, mournful cry.
Now, extending from its gills, nearly a hundred meters of its body had been completely obliterated. Its enormous bulk lost balance and began to roll.
"Cap?"
"Spider-Man?"
Falcon and the others, struggling through the battle in space, immediately tried to hail Steve.
There was no response.
At the gaping hole in the Leviathan's body, everything was sucked out into the vacuum of space by the sudden pressure differential.
Only the War Lord's towering figure remained standing firm.
He did not believe those three Earthlings could have survived such an attack. The power of that strike was, one could say, far greater than even Veronica's fist!
Even the Chitauri Leviathan beneath his feet now lay at death's door from that single blow.
It didn't have much time left.
But the War Lord did not care in the slightest.
These things were just massive biological weapons. Carrying the Chitauri army to their target was all they were required to do.
And now, as long as it still drew breath, it would continue to serve its purpose!
The War Lord did not return to the beast's interior. With a single leap, he reached the creature's head, standing at its crown like a god of war.
He planted his immeasurably powerful battleaxe before him, as if offering a prayer to battle itself.
"Charge!!"
"For war!!"
He bellowed.
In the soundless vacuum of space, every Chitauri suddenly reacted as if receiving a burst of pheromones, roused to frenzy.
Their fighting spirit blazed even higher!
Among the heroes, by contrast, morale had noticeably wilted.
Sam and the others were still desperately worried about Steve's fate, but the relentless waves of Chitauri soldiers gave them no chance to think.
"Bent Parker!"
"Just how much longer?!"
Tony's voice crackled, a bombardment against Bent's earpiece.
"Your cousin's in trouble!"
"Calm down,"
Bent's voice echoed in Tony's ear. "Peter's fine."
Of that, he was confident.
After all, he had prepped Venom as a contingency. That creature's last host had been Deadpool. Even if Peter really did die, the healing factor Venom provided would bring him back to life.
At this very moment—
On the outer shell of the Leviathan, a figure in black—Peter—was crouched, his feet adhering to the creature's skin. He stared at his own hands, stunned.
The surging power flooding through his body left him utterly amazed.
"This is..."
"Jackpot!"
Venom's voice echoed inside Peter's head, making him jump.
"What the hell was that noise?"
"Relax, kid!" Venom said.
"What? Who are you?"
"Who am I? No, no, no—who are we!" Venom corrected.
"We?"
"That's right!" Venom grinned wide. "We are Venom!"
"What?" Peter still hadn't grasped the situation.
But Venom was already past caring. Like a monster, he seized control and launched Peter forward, pouncing on a Chitauri riding a hover chariot. With a brutal crack, he snapped the alien's neck.
"Let's go on a killing spree!"
"We are Venom!!"
Venom quickly drew everyone's attention. After all, he looked like Spider-Man and Black Panther had fused together.
The real Black Panther, however, let them know he was still alive.
His suit could provide a brief supply of oxygen. At this moment, he had managed to drag Steve—still wrapped in a webbing cocoon—to an Iron Man suit and stuff the Captain inside.
Then he found a suit for himself and put it on.
Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
But the ever-increasing flood of Chitauri continued to exert immense pressure on them all.
Tony voiced the same question.
"Not yet?!"
This time, he got a definitive answer from Bent.
"It's ready."
Inside the satellite.
Bent looked at all the data and text displayed on the instruments, finally letting out a breath of his own.
The Space Stone's program had at last been cracked. Now, all he had to do was press the button, and he could instantly activate the Stone's energy and envelop the entire Earth in a protective shield.
"Then what are you waiting for?"
Tony yelled.
"For you all to retreat back inside the shield, obviously." Bent said. "Tony, lure the big one over here too."
"What, are you crazy... wait. You're thinking of—?"
Tony grasped Bent's plan.
He clearly wanted to exploit the moment the energy barrier activated, using the sheer force of the shield to slice that monstrous Leviathan clean in two!
"I should warn you, the guy who beat the crap out of the old popsicle is standing right on the beast's head. This will send him falling to Earth with it."
"A fall from the upper atmosphere is enough to kill him on impact." Bent replied.
"And even if it isn't, we still have Four Arms."
"Alright, let's do it your way!"
Tony decided to roll the dice.
He shouted into the comms, "Everyone, prepare to fall back! Where's Natasha?"
Natasha's voice cut into the channel. "I'm still inside the beast's body. I blew up their incubation chamber. Might not be able to make it out in time..."
Hearing this, Bent said, "Try to head toward the creature's head. We'll pull you out before it crashes."
"Copy that!"
With everything arranged, Bent exhaled, his finger hovering over the button, waiting for all the heroes to evacuate.
So, the battle lines stretching across the sky began their retreat toward Earth's atmosphere.
The smaller Leviathans had not yet been entirely eliminated. They clustered alongside the massive creature like deep-sea fish, some seeming to escort their mothership, others like children clinging to their mother.
Then, another voice echoed through the empty satellite.
"You can't activate the Stone."
It was Loki.
Bent turned and saw the long-vanished Asgardian.
Loki looked utterly wretched.
He was covered in wounds, his magnificent robes torn to shreds, as if he were a slave on Sakaar once more.
Bent frowned slightly. His gaze toward Loki became a silent question—not just asking why, but also asking about his condition.
But Loki had no time to explain. Panting, he said with great difficulty,
"It's a trap."
"The moment you activate the Stone, you walk right into Thanos' snare..."
/-\
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