Another Leviathan was split clean in two, crashing down onto the street below.
The two massive halves of metallic wreckage, wreathed in fire and smoke, slammed into separate office buildings. Glass curtain walls collapsed like waterfalls, and chunks of reinforced concrete rained down onto the streets, triggering fresh explosions and waves of terrified screams.
Levi hovered in midair, feeling the energy inside him diminish again.
[Source of Life] was replenishing him rapidly—
But not fast enough.
He looked up. Two more of the same colossal beasts emerged from the wormhole, followed by a dense swarm of Chitauri flyers pouring out like locusts from hell.
They were endless.
The portal had to be closed.
Movie scenes flashed through his mind. Loki's scepter was the key.
And the activation device should be on the rooftop of Stark Tower, operated by the mind-controlled Dr. Selvig.
Levi turned into a streak of golden light and returned to the terrace.
It was empty—just shattered glass and spilled liquor.
No device. No Dr. Selvig.
He rushed into the tower and searched every office on the top floor.
Nothing.
"Damn it."
He had captured Loki too quickly. The timeline had shifted. He'd gotten used to following a map—now the map was gone.
No choice. He'd have to find it himself.
He closed his eyes and unleashed his perception to its limits.
[Spatial Awareness]
The energy fluctuations across all of New York formed a three-dimensional map in his mind. Countless light points representing panicked civilians darted chaotically, mixed with the cold energy signatures of Chitauri soldiers.
He filtered out the noise and focused solely on the Tesseract's energy source.
What he found was chaos.
The wormhole itself was a massive spatial energy source—like a black sun, its gravity distorting everything around it.
The Tesseract shared the same origin. Searching for it beside the portal was like trying to spot a candle next to the sun.
He could only vaguely sense that it was somewhere inside this building.
But exactly where?
No idea.
A classic case of hiding in plain sight.
---
The battle on the ground had descended into madness.
"Cap, three o'clock! Subway entrance! A squad's trying to flank you!"
On the rooftop of a half-constructed building, Hawkeye knelt with his bow drawn tight, his left arm rigid as iron. One eye peered through his scope; the other scanned the battlefield like a true predator.
Before he finished speaking, an arrow was already in flight.
It embedded itself in the subway ceiling—not exploding, but emitting a high-frequency sonic pulse inaudible to humans. The dozen Chitauri soldiers charging out clutched their heads, bodies stiffening mid-motion.
"Nice shot!" Steve's voice came through the comms, ragged with exertion.
He seized the opening. His shield flew from his hand, ricocheting off walls and pillars with metallic clangs like a deadly pinball, smashing the squad to the ground. When it returned to him, its rim was smeared with green alien blood.
"Stay focused!" Natasha snapped.
She slid under a volley of energy blasts, burning debris grazing her cheek and leaving a thin cut. Rolling to her feet, she fired both pistols, shredding a Chitauri who had been about to ambush Steve from behind.
She had no superpowers—only skill and nerve, dancing through a storm of bullets where every breath could be her last. Her magazines were emptying fast. She didn't know how much longer she could hold out.
---
Elsewhere, Thor was a living bolt of lightning.
He summoned thunder, electrocuting a newly landed Leviathan until smoke poured from its armor. Then he flew forward and smashed its skull in with Mjolnir. Green ichor and shattered metal sprayed everywhere.
"There are too many of them!" Thor roared into the comm. No sooner had he felled one than two more descended from above.
Each swing of his hammer cleared a space—only for it to be filled the next second by more enemies pouring endlessly from the portal. His arms were beginning to ache. Every strike felt heavier than the last.
"I'm almost out of missiles too!" Tony panted. "Even my parties don't get this crowded!"
He weaved between skyscrapers in his armor, a dozen flyers on his tail. Laser beams scorched across his plating, leaving glowing red streaks.
"Sir, right thruster integrity at seventy percent. Energy reserves at twenty-two percent. Recommend tactical withdrawal," JARVIS reported calmly.
"Shut up, JARVIS, not now!" Tony snapped, executing a sharp turn to dodge incoming fire and blasting a pursuer out of the sky with a repulsor shot. He felt like a tin can being chased by a pack of dogs—his shell slowly getting chewed away.
The battlefield was a meat grinder. Even the Avengers were wearing down.
---
Listening to the comm chatter, Levi knew he couldn't wait any longer.
He switched to Thor's channel.
"Thor! Stop smashing and get back to Stark Tower!"
"What?" Thor buried a Chitauri halfway into a wall with a hammer blow. "Now? The ground forces are barely holding!"
"Just go!" Levi's voice left no room for argument. "Your brother is sealed in a cube on the top floor, stuck to a wall. Get him out and find out where he hid the Tesseract. Use whatever method you need."
"…Understood." Thor didn't argue further. He cast one look at Steve still fighting below, roared, and hurled himself toward Stark Tower.
After that, Levi hovered in the sky, staring at the massive wormhole.
Waiting for Thor to extract the information, then searching for the device, then closing the portal…
Too slow.
How many more would die in the meantime?
There had to be a faster way.
He rifled through his memories—movie scenes flashing rapidly like slides.
Iron Man. Captain America. Thor.
The Avengers.
Guardians of the Galaxy.
A long-forgotten scene surfaced—
A raccoon-like creature hefting a gun bigger than itself, ranting:
"...Those Chitauri idiots run their whole army off a single mothership. Blow up the mothership, and every soldier drops dead on the spot…"
The mothership.
That was it.
Levi's eyes lit up.
Closing the portal treated the symptom. Killing the one who opened it—that was the cure.
He looked up at the dark, swirling vortex.
On the other side lay the Chitauri fleet. Their mothership.
The plan was insane.
One man charging into the enemy's heart.
But he was the only one who could do it.
He had the energy output of [Binary Form], the durability of Divine Physiology and Adaptive Armor, and an S-Rank Healing Factor as insurance.
If he couldn't win, he could tear open space and retreat.
It was worth the risk.
He opened a channel to everyone.
"Change of plans."
"What kind of change?" Steve's voice came through amid explosions. He had just dragged a civilian from a burning car.
"I'm taking a trip through the portal," Levi said evenly.
The channel went silent for a second.
"Through?" Tony was the first to shout. "Are you insane? That's their home turf! You're going in alone?"
"That's a one-way ticket, Levi!" Steve's voice tightened. "We don't know what's on the other side. You might not make it back!"
"Their army operates on a network system," Levi explained briefly. "I'm going to pull the plug. If I succeed, everything you're fighting will turn into scrap metal."
"And how do you guarantee—"
"I don't," Levi cut him off. "But it's the fastest option. Your job is to hold the line until I get back. Don't let New York fall."
He paused.
"If I don't return, have Thor figure out how to smash that portal shut."
Then he cut the channel.
No more hesitation.
Golden energy ignited around him, blazing like a miniature sun.
He glanced once at the city below—the civilians struggling amid the flames, the teammates fighting side by side.
Then he raised his head, locking onto the dark heart of the wormhole.
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