End of Chapter 115

Loki could see it clearly—the Chitauri troops were no match in battle. These supposedly invincible soldiers wielded single-shot rifles, and their grenades took half a minute to detonate after being thrown. Their aircraft handled turns clumsily.

The massive Leviathan looked imposing, but in reality, it was just a prop, with combat power roughly equivalent to a train, and its capacity was even less than a single carriage.

“Looks like I need to retreat,” Loki muttered.

“Roar~”

A green figure lunged at Loki, grabbing him midair and falling with him to the ground.

The two crashed into a small building, shattering several floors beneath them before finally hitting the street below.

Amidst the dust and rubble, Loki wore a look of existential doubt. Being held by the Hulk was unbearably painful; it felt as if his bones were being crushed.

“That’s enough.”

Loki had truly had it. Rising angrily, he glared at the Hulk.

First, he was bested by a woman’s strike, then struck by Hawkeye’s arrow, and now this monstrous brute. He couldn’t stand this band of mortals any longer. Couldn’t they just accept their fate quietly and submit to his rule? After all, he was a god.

“Assistant, you monster, I am a god—a noble deity.”

The Hulk ignored his words, lifting one of Loki’s feet and relentlessly smashing it, then spinning him like a windmill before flinging him away.

“Pathetic god,” Hulk sneered.

He turned and left, ready to continue fighting the Chitauri soldiers.

Only Loki remained, lying in the middle of the street, his eyes vacant as he gazed at the sky.

The sky was so blue, yet life was so bleak.

Nick Fury had refused the invitation from the American high command.

Yet, the high command bypassed Fury and directly ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to launch a nuclear missile at downtown New York City.

Whether the target was the Chitauri forces or those monstrous humans was unclear.

Fury took down one plane with a rocket, but another had already taken off.

He immediately warned Michael, “The first nuclear missile is heading your way. Be extremely careful.”

“What?”

Everyone was shocked. They hadn’t expected betrayal from their own allies.

Michael had anticipated this and calmly replied, “Leave it to me. I’ll send it into outer space.”

“Good.”

Knowing Michael’s ability to open portals, the others were less worried and continued fighting the Chitauri soldiers.

Thor landed beside Captain America and teased, “Are you tired?”

Grimy and worn, Steve Rogers answered, “I could fight all day.”

“Then let’s keep going.”

Thor was nearly fully recovered. Being a god, his constitution was unlike that of humans.

Gwen had brought the Mind Staff to the rooftop of the Angel International building.

“Can we shut down the Tesseract now?”

“Yes.”

Gwen and Black Widow slowly inserted the staff into the device.

As expected, the energy shield around the device did not obstruct the Mind Staff.

Soon, the staff touched the core region. The energy balance near the Tesseract was disrupted, releasing a shockwave that knocked both women to the ground.

At the same time, the portal created by the Tesseract began to close.

Now, only the nuclear missile remained.

Michael suspected that Hydra had orchestrated the launch, hoping to kill two birds with one stone—eliminate the heroes fighting for justice and humanity.

Michael flew over the ocean, spotting the incoming missile from afar.

Thinking of the Chitauri warship, he opened a larger portal.

The missile immediately entered the portal, and Michael closed it at once.

The residual flames spread but, since it was over the ocean, no civilians were harmed.

Michael turned and returned to the city.

He examined the fallen Chitauri soldiers; due to the mothership's explosion, they were all dead.

Upon closer inspection, Michael discovered these fearless Chitauri soldiers were actually bioengineered creatures.

He informed the Cobra Squad and the remaining mechanical soldiers to collect the Chitauri remains for research.

As for the "lab rat" squad, Michael ordered them to stand down.

These little guys were mischievous and curious about everything; one even looted an unattended pizza shop during the retreat.

Michael was speechless when he heard this.

The team gathered around Loki, who was undergoing electrotherapy administered by Electro Man to aid his recovery.

Once Electro Man regained energy, he began attacking the Chitauri soldiers who were now everywhere.

Suddenly, a figure dropped onto the street—it was Loki, freshly pummeled by the Hulk.

Electro Man saw Loki and, overwhelmed with grief and fury, transformed into the Thunder King Yang Yongxin, immediately unleashing a new round of electrotherapy on him.

“Hey, brother, stop it! If you keep this up, he’ll die,” Peter exclaimed, rushing forward to pull Michael away.

To avoid being accidentally shocked, Peter had switched to his insulated Spider-Man suit.

Steve glanced at Thor, worried he might get angry.

Unexpectedly, Thor remained calm and said to Steve, “It’s fine. He’s used to it by now.”

Steve nodded in understanding.

With a brother like Thor, it would be hard not to get accustomed to electric shocks.

Loki looked at everyone, and when he spotted Hulk, he even got a yell from him.

“Do I still have a chance?”

“No chance,” Thor said, lifting him up and fitting magical-restraining handcuffs on him.

“Why didn’t we use these before?” Rhodey grumbled.

Michael smiled. “We had them originally, but I made an even better set. Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. dismantled them.”

Tony suggested, “We’ve been fighting for a while. How about we grab some food together?”

“Alright, what shall we eat?”

“There’s a Turkish kebab place about two blocks away. Let’s give it a try.”

Steve looked at the police maintaining order nearby and said, “We’re not done yet.”

“Fine, we’ll go after a while,” Tony replied.

“I can come with you?” Loki asked.

“No,” Thor smiled.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived, beginning to clean up the battlefield.

They usually appeared after the fact, much like police in movies—either late or on their way.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury was at odds with the military, and for a time, troops were blocked from entering New York.

Fury’s stance was clear: When you need us, you launch nuclear missiles; now that the fight’s over and you want to claim the victory, don’t even think about it.

Thus, the cleanup operation was repeatedly delayed. Meanwhile, some opportunists began secretly looting Chitauri technology.

Since Michael and Tony had arranged for people to hack the nearby surveillance, the military arrived too late to stop it, leaving it unclear how much alien tech had already slipped into civilian hands.