Over Washington, dark clouds loomed.
Three massive Helicarriers, their turbine engines letting out a deafening roar, slowly climbed to their attack orbits. These were the weapons of HYDRA, and the ambition of Alexander Pierce.
"All units, pay attention. Prepare to breach!"
Steve Rogers's voice rang out over the comms channel.
Three teams charged toward the Helicarriers from three different directions.
[Lead Ship: insight]
Steve and Bucky chose to breach directly.
Steve used his shield to ricochet, leaping between buildings with Bucky before crashing onto the deck of the Helicarrier insight.
*Boom!*
As soon as they landed, they were surrounded by dozens of HYDRA Agents.
"Fire!"
A dense volley of energy bolts shot toward them.
"Bucky!"
Steve roared, raising his vibranium shield. Bucky immediately extended his metal arm, pressing firmly against the inside of the shield.
This was a defensive formation they had practiced on the battlefield seventy years ago.
The energy beams slammed into the shield, creating ripples of energy, but they couldn't budge it.
"Now!"
Steve suddenly pulled back the shield and charged forward. Bucky darted out from behind him, raising his rifle and firing.
Gunfire and explosions blended together. Every time Steve threw his shield, it accurately knocked down a row of enemies. Bucky's marksmanship was also precise, his bullets always finding the gaps in the enemies' armor. Steve led the attack while Bucky provided support; the two coordinated perfectly.
"They're coming through! Stop them!"
More HYDRA Agents poured out of the hangar, along with several small combat mechs.
"Bucky, the server core is on the third level below the bridge! I'll cover you!" Steve shouted. He hurled his shield, which ricocheted through the corridor, knocking over several Agents.
"Stay close!"
Without a word, Bucky slung his rifle over his back, drew a combat dagger, and used his metal arm to tear open an alloy blast door before charging in.
Their goal was to plug the logic override key into the main server before Pierce could press the button... [Left Wing Ship: truth]
On the other side, things weren't going well for Natasha and Sam.
Sam deployed his mechanical wings, carrying Natasha through a barrage of anti-aircraft fire. Dozens of HYDRA Drones were in hot pursuit, with lasers and missiles constantly grazing past them.
"Sam! On the right! Shake it!" Natasha fired her dual pistols from Sam's back, taking down several Drones.
"I'm trying!" Sam performed a sharp barrel roll to dodge a missile, but the wing was still clipped by the explosion, triggering an alarm.
"Dammit! Power systems at fifteen percent damage! We can't hold on much longer!"
Just as they were about to be surrounded, Lin Huai's voice came over the comms channel.
"Need a designated driver, ma'am?"
As soon as he spoke, a massive shadow burst forth from the clouds.
It was hydra, the giant mechanical serpent modified by Johnny Blaze. On its massive body, the blue energy conduits had turned into burning orange-red Hellfire. Flames spewed from the eyes of its three heads as it let out a roar.
Johnny, clad in dark red armor, stood steadily atop the central serpent head, a flaming chain in his hand.
"Make way, little birds, the big guy is here!"
Johnny laughed and swung his chain with a flourish.
One of the Hell Dragon's heads opened its maw and spat out a thick pillar of dark red fire, sweeping across the airspace and instantly melting over a dozen Drones.
"My god..." Sam watched this scene in a daze.
"Don't daze off, Sam!" Lin Huai's figure appeared on another of the Hell Dragon's heads. "Go help the Captain and the others! Leave this place to us!"
"Copy that!" Sam immediately adjusted his heading and flew toward the insight.
"Alright, big guy." Lin Huai patted the serpent head beneath his feet and smiled at the Helicarrier truth in the distance. "Let's show them how to tear an aircraft carrier apart by hand!"
*Roar!!!*
Laughing, Johnny steered the Hell Dragon to crash into the broadside of the truth.
*Rumble!!!*
The hull armor buckled and tore under the impact. Johnny swung his chain, wrapping it around a massive turbine engine and yanking it outward!
With the sound of twisting metal, the massive engine was ripped from the hull, trailing thick smoke as it rolled across the deck.
The truth immediately lost its balance and began to tilt.
From the bridge, the HYDRA Commander watched the flaming dragon on the monitors and roared, "Fire! Shoot it down!"
But the anti-aircraft fire melted the moment it touched the Hellfire. The Hell Dragon's three heads frantically bit and slammed into the hull; one head melted through the deck with its breath, while another smashed the armory, triggering a massive explosion.
It was a completely one-sided dismantling... [Right Wing Ship: the liberty]
On the final battlefield, the Hulk smashed directly through the deck of the the liberty and landed in the middle of the hangar.
"Hulk hate tin cans!"
He roared, grabbing a fighter jet and hurling it, smashing several distant automated turrets into scrap metal.
Tony followed close behind. Instead of participating in the destruction, he headed straight for the server core.
"Big guy, buy me some time! I'm going to fly this ship home and scrap it to give my Villa a new roof!"
But Pierce was already desperate. Seeing two Helicarriers out of control, he issued an order.
"Fire! Open fire on downtown Washington! If we can't have it, then we'll all be destroyed together!"
The the liberty's main guns began to pivot, aiming at the city below.
"Jarvis! Stop it!"
Tony immediately abandoned the plan to insert the chip, turned around, and focused all his fire on the guns' rotation mechanism.
"Sir, energy overload! Our attacks cannot completely stop it!"
"Hulk! Smash those guns!" Tony roared to the Hulk in the hangar.
*Roar!*
Hearing this, the Hulk leaped high into the air and dug his claws of rage deep into the barrel of the main gun. With the screech of twisting metal, the alloy barrel was torn out of shape by the Vibranium claws. Then, he plunged both claws into the mount of another secondary gun and roared as he ripped it from the hull.
Sparks flew, followed by a series of explosions.
"Well, looks like my roof is out of the question." Tony sighed helplessly as he watched the mess the Hulk had made of the Helicarrier. "Jarvis, initiate the Vulcan Protocol."
Tony took out the iron hammer he had brought back from the North Pole.
"Since I can't take it home, I'll send it home."
He flew to the Helicarrier's keel structure, raised the Hammer of Vulcan, and gently pressed the head of the hammer against the most central load-bearing beam.
"Analyze... and then, Restore."
There was no loud noise, nor any explosion.
The moment the hammerhead made contact, the alloy keel—strong enough to support hundreds of thousands of tons—saw its structure instantly disintegrate. The solid metal was forcibly reverted into its most primitive metal powder, which drifted down.
At the same time, the Hulk was still busy with his demolition work. He used his claws of rage to tear huge holes in the hull, pulling out the internal reactor cores and throwing them into the sky like balls.
Under the dual assault of material restoration and violent dismantling, the structure of the Helicarrier the liberty was completely destroyed... [Skyfall]
A spectacular scene unfolded in the skies over Washington.
On the lead ship, insight, Steve and Bucky successfully inserted the chip. Its main guns pivoted and fired a shot at the truth, which was already being torn apart by the Hell Dragon.
The truth disintegrated in the explosion, turning into a ball of fire. Its falling debris then struck the the liberty, which was also falling apart below.
Trailing black smoke and flames, the three Helicarriers lost all power and plummeted from ten thousand meters toward the Potomac River below.
The sky was burning.
The city was trembling.
And this chaos had only just ended.