Safe?
Tony let out a broken laugh as he hovered over the ruins. His sense of safety had always been built inside Stark Tower—built inside his lab, his wine cellar, the unbeatable view of New York's night skyline framed by those floor-to-ceiling windows.
And now, all of it—along with the land of dozens of surrounding blocks—had been stomped into this bottomless crater by one man's foot.
Safe?
The word was a cold joke.
He didn't even dare land. The area beneath him had once been his tower's luxurious lobby. His private airstrip…
"Priority… find that damned scepter!" he rasped, forcing down the taste of blood in his throat and the crushing pain in his chest that felt like it was about to explode. "Divert all Stark Industries satellite resources worldwide! Open them up to S.H.I.E.L.D.—no, open them to every unit that can still move… ugh!"
A violent cough racked him, his body swaying inside the underpowered armor.
"Open the highest-level comms channel to Steve and the others! I want Brooklyn turned upside down!"
He forced himself to look toward the center of the crater.
It was empty. The man was long gone. Only a few shallow footprints were left on the smooth inner wall—ordinary sneaker prints that climbed toward the rim in the direction of the hotpot restaurant.
A bone-deep chill swept through Tony.
Wealth, technology, genius, everything he had always been so proud of… in the face of that bald head's absolute power, it was all pathetically fragile.
He was unwilling. He was furious.
But more than anything, he was afraid.
And after the fear came something even worse: a deeper emptiness and helpless drift.
"Captain?" Natasha's weary but steady voice sounded over the comms. "Clint and I found a large amount of pulverized Chitauri remains in the southwest of Sector B, but Life Scanner One shows… abnormally clean readings. Loki's energy signature appeared briefly to the northwest, then vanished completely. Best guess is he used advanced illusions or some kind of spatial transit to escape."
Steve Rogers yanked his vibranium shield free from the cracked ground and pushed himself upright, every step tugging on the pain in his battered body. His gaze swept across the enormous, smooth crater, then moved on to his scattered teammates.
Natasha. Clint. Bruce, who had barely managed to return to human form—he'd been clipped by the tail end of the shockwave, knocked out cold, and only woke after Natasha jabbed him with an emergency sedative. And Tony, swaying unsteadily in midair.
Captain America drew a long breath. The icy air, laced with the dust of shattered concrete and the scorched tang of metal, stabbed into his lungs and set off a fit of coughing.
He had to steady himself.
No matter how much that bald man had shattered their understanding of the world and their sense of control, a new enemy had already slipped into this city. Their target was a power capable of destroying the world.
"Copy that, Agent Romanoff."
Steve's voice came through the comms, hoarse but rock-solid.
"All Avengers, listen up. Phase One objective is complete: the wormhole is closed, and the large-scale alien invasion has been stopped. But Phase Two threat is now confirmed. Thanos's high-ranking lieutenants—the Black Order—are covertly operating in New York. Their target is the lost Mind Scepter."
He paused, then went on.
"Move to maximum alert. Primary mission: locate the Mind Scepter and neutralize the potential threat. Engagement protocol: do not initiate contact with any newly appeared… unknown individual unless absolutely necessary."
He forced himself to push out that last line.
At the edge of the crater, Dr. Banner leaned against half a broken wall. One lens of his glasses was shattered. His face had gone white as he fiddled with a portable gamma radiation detector, trying to pick up some trace of residual energy from the bottom of the pit.
The device's display showed nothing but chaotic static and error codes.
"This is impossible… The shockwave's energy profile was purely physical kinetic force? No high-level radiation residue at all? That… that's not scientific…"
He muttered to himself, sinking into a mire where his own professional knowledge refused to reconcile with what he had just witnessed.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!]
[[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]