Two Months Later
April 2012
Six Days Before the Chitauri Invasion
David stood on the roof of the South Bronx building at three in the morning, watching Manhattan glow against the dark sky. He couldn't sleep. Hadn't slept properly in weeks. The timeline was collapsing faster than he could track.
Their trap had worked. They'd identified the leak , a contractor with Meridian ties who'd been passing information for eighteen months. Marcus had handled it quietly. The contractor disappeared, probably into federal custody via Coulson's remaining SHIELD contacts. Hydra went quiet after that. Too quiet.
Then Thor showed up in New Mexico. Right on schedule, which should have been reassuring except David's memories were increasingly unreliable. Events kept accelerating, shifting, arriving early or late or not at all. Ultron had already happened when it shouldn't have. What else was different?
His phone buzzed. Sofia, because of course she was awake too.
"Satellite feeds show unusual activity over New Mexico. Thor-related. Thought you'd want to know."
"Already tracking it," David replied. "How bad?"
"Destroyer-shaped bad. Town's getting wrecked. Thor's people are handling it but civilians are caught in the crossfire. Sound familiar?"
It did. Except in his timeline, the New Mexico incident had been relatively contained. This sounded messier. "Casualties?"
"Twelve confirmed dead. Sixty-plus injured. Small town wasn't prepared for alien robot fights."
David closed his eyes. Twelve people who might have lived if he'd thought to warn someone. But warn them about what? That Norse gods were real and sometimes dropped murder machines on small towns? Who would have listened?
"Foundation response?" he asked.
"Already coordinating with local hospitals. Sending medical supplies and trauma specialists. Elena's organizing housing for displaced residents. We're stretched thin but managing."
"Good. Keep me updated."
He hung up and stared at the city. Somewhere out there, Loki was planning. The Tesseract was active. SHIELD was preparing. And in less than a week, a portal would open over Manhattan and pour alien invaders into New York.
David knew it was coming. Had known for three years. Had built everything around this moment. So why did he feel so completely unprepared?
His gift stirred, responding to his anxiety. The building beneath him hummed. Concrete and steel resonating with his attention, ready to move if he needed them to. He'd been practicing since the revelation. Learning his limits. Pushing boundaries. Sofia had been right about the training sessions , having baseline measurements helped. Knowing he could hold structural integrity across fifteen buildings simultaneously for four hours before passing out was useful information. Exhausting to discover, but useful.
Marcus appeared through the roof access door, carrying two coffee cups. "Figured you'd be up here."
"Can't sleep."
"None of us can. Team's running on caffeine and anxiety." Marcus handed him a cup. "Coulson called. SHIELD's moving assets into position around the Stark Tower. They know something's coming."
"Do they know what?"
"If they do, they're not sharing. But they've got enhanced monitoring on cosmic energy signatures. The Tesseract's showing unusual activity."
David sipped his coffee. It was terrible, which meant Marcus had made it himself instead of stopping somewhere decent. The gesture mattered more than the quality. "How's the final prep?"
"All Foundation properties are hardened. Supply caches positioned. Medical clinics fully stocked. Evacuation routes marked. Communication networks tested and redundant. We're as ready as we can be." Marcus paused. "David, when this starts, you need to make a choice."
"What choice?"
"Whether you're evacuating with civilians or fighting alongside the responders. Because your powers , you could make a real difference out there. But that means putting yourself in direct danger. Again."
David had been thinking about this for weeks. "I built the Foundation to save people. If I can save more people by actively using my powers instead of hiding in a bunker, that's what I do."
"That's what I thought you'd say. Which is why I've been coordinating with Coulson. If you're going active during the invasion, SHIELD needs to know. They can't have unknown enhanced individuals operating in the chaos."
"You told Coulson I'd be in the field?"
"I told him the Foundation's director would be coordinating on-site response and had unique capabilities for structural reinforcement and civilian protection. He read between the lines." Marcus's expression was serious. "David, this is going to be bad. Worse than anything we've prepared for. If your memories are right, we're looking at a full-scale invasion. Alien forces, advanced weapons, potential nuclear response. People are going to die. A lot of people."
"I know."
"And you're still going out there?"
"I have to. Marcus, I've spent three years building infrastructure to protect people during disasters. This is the disaster. If I hide while others fight, everything we've built means nothing."
Marcus nodded slowly. "Okay. Then we do this smart. You're not going alone. I'll coordinate security teams. Sofia handles communications and intelligence. We position Foundation responders at strategic points across Manhattan. You move between locations, reinforce structures, help evacuate civilians. But you don't play hero. You don't engage enemy combatants unless absolutely necessary. Understood?"
"Understood."
"And David? When you're out there, using your powers in front of god knows how many witnesses, there's no going back. Everyone will know what you can do. The Foundation becomes the organization run by an enhanced individual. That changes everything."
David had accepted that weeks ago. "Then it changes. We adapt."
His phone buzzed again. This time it was a group text. Tony Stark had created a chat called "SCIENCE BROS + That Architecture Guy Who's Actually Useful."
Tony: "Banner and I are detecting massive energy spikes from the Tesseract. Something's about to pop off."
Bruce: "More specifically, dimensional barriers are thinning. We could be looking at a portal event."
Tony: "Which is science-speak for aliens are coming and we should probably do something about it."
David: "Timeline estimate?"
Bruce: "Anywhere from hours to days. The energy curve is accelerating but the exact trigger point is unclear."
Tony: "I've got the suit ready. Tower's defenses are online. SHIELD's moving in like I'm running a terrorist organization. Fun times."
David: "Foundation properties are prepped. If this goes south, we can shelter thousands."
Tony: "When this goes south. Let's be realistic here. We're talking about hostile entities with unknown capabilities potentially invading Manhattan. South is the only direction available."
Bruce: "Tony's optimism is inspiring as always."
Tony: "I contain multitudes. Mostly sarcasm and justified paranoia."
Marcus was reading over David's shoulder. "Stark knows it's coming too. Good. Means we're not coordinating blind."
"He's been preparing. Probably longer than he's admitting." David pocketed his phone. "What about the rest of the team?"
"Everyone's on standby. Patricia's coordinating evacuation protocols. Sarah's got medical teams positioned. Isabella and Elena have community networks activated. Tyler's overseeing structural reinforcement of priority buildings. We're as ready as we're going to be."
"Then we wait."
"Then we wait."
They stood on the roof together as the city slowly woke around them. Lights flickering on in apartments. Early morning traffic starting to build. Millions of people going about their lives, completely unaware that in less than a week, the sky would literally tear open.
David's gift pulsed. The building resonated. And somewhere deep in his merged memories, a countdown timer ticked down to zero.
Six Days Later
May 4, 2012
10:47 AM
The first sign was the energy pulse. David felt it through every building he'd ever touched, a ripple in reality itself that made concrete shudder and steel sing. He was at the Henderson Park Community Center, coordinating final preparations, when the world lurched.
"Did you feel that?" Tyler asked, grabbing the table.
David was already moving, pulling out his phone. The group chat exploded.
Tony: "Portal opening. Stark Tower. Get people inside NOW."
Bruce: "Energy signature matches theoretical wormhole physics. This is it."
Sofia: "All Foundation properties, initiate lockdown protocols. This is not a drill."
Marcus: "David, what's your location?"
David: "Henderson Park. Moving to South Bronx building. That's our command center."
Patricia: "All teams acknowledge and report status."
Responses flooded in. Green lights across the board. Every Foundation property activating emergency protocols simultaneously. Three years of preparation condensing into a single moment.
David ran outside and looked north toward Manhattan. The sky above Stark Tower was wrong. Twisted. A point of brilliant blue light expanding, tearing a hole in reality. And through that hole ,
"Holy shit," Tyler breathed beside him.
Alien ships. Dozens of them, pouring through the portal like hornets from a disturbed nest. Sleek, chitinous things that moved with insectoid precision. And behind them, larger vessels. Troop carriers or bombers or something worse.
The Chitauri had arrived.
"Get inside," David ordered. "Activate shelter protocols. Get everyone into the reinforced sections. Now."
Tyler ran. David pulled out his phone, connecting to the Foundation command network. "All stations, this is Chen. Portal event confirmed over Stark Tower. Alien forces incoming. Initiate full emergency response. Shelter civilians, activate medical stations, prepare for casualties. This is what we built for. Make it count."
His gift was already spreading, reaching out to every Foundation building across the five boroughs. He felt them all , concrete and steel and human lives inside, people who'd trusted him to keep them safe. He wrapped his awareness around each structure, reinforcing, hardening, preparing to hold against whatever came next.
The first explosion hit Midtown. Then another. The sounds of alien weapons fire echoed across the distance.
David's phone rang. Coulson.
"Chen, where are you?"
"Brooklyn. Coordinating Foundation response."
"We need you in Manhattan. Your structural abilities could save lives."
"I know. I'm heading there now."
"SHIELD will provide transport. Helicopter's en route to your location. ETA four minutes." Coulson paused. "David, this is going to be bad. Worse than anything we've prepared for. But right now, you might be one of the most valuable assets we have. Buildings are going to fall. You can stop that."
"I'll do what I can."
"That's all anyone can do. Good luck."
The line went dead. David looked at the portal, at the ships still pouring through, at the city about to become a warzone. He thought about hiding. About coordinating from safety. About letting others take the risk.
Then he thought about eight thousand people who'd be sheltering in his buildings. About the civilians trapped in Manhattan without protection. About Tyler and Sofia and Marcus and everyone who'd believed in what they were building.
He reached out through his gift, touching every Foundation building at once. Felt them all respond, solid and ready. Then he pushed further, extending his awareness to the limits. He touched other buildings too , structures he hadn't designed but could still influence. The entire city's architecture became an extension of his will.
His nose started bleeding from the effort. He ignored it.
The helicopter appeared over Henderson Park, descending fast. Military markings, SHIELD insignia. The side door opened and someone waved him aboard.
David ran for it, jumped in as the helicopter barely touched ground. They lifted off immediately, banking hard toward Manhattan.
Through the open door, he watched his city prepare for war. Police setting up barricades. People running for cover. And over it all, that impossible portal vomiting nightmare machines into reality.
"You're Chen?" the SHIELD agent shouted over the rotors.
"Yeah."
"Heard you can do things with buildings. That true?"
"That's true."
"Good. Because we're going to need miracles today."
David looked at Manhattan growing closer, at the Chitauri spreading across the skyline, at the scope of what they were facing. "Then let's make some miracles."
The helicopter dove toward the chaos, and David let his gift expand fully for the first time in his life. Every building in range sang with his attention. He felt their structural stress, their load-bearing points, their weaknesses and strengths. He felt the people inside, thousands of individual lives depending on foundations holding firm.
A Chitauri ship strafed a building two blocks ahead. The structure shuddered, concrete cracking. David reached out, wrapped his will around failing support beams, forced them to hold. The building stayed standing. The people inside lived.
"Holy shit," the agent said. "You just , "
"Get me closer to the heavy damage," David interrupted. "And tell whoever's coordinating , I can stabilize structures, but I need to know where the civilians are trapped."
The pilot banked hard, dodging debris. "Command, this is Transport Seven. We've got the builder on board. He's active and effective. Requesting priority targets for structural reinforcement."
The radio crackled. "Transport Seven, proceed to Park Avenue and 38th. Building collapse imminent, civilians trapped. Time critical."
"Copy that. Moving in."
The helicopter screamed toward the target. David could already feel the building failing , a high-rise office tower hit by multiple weapons strikes. The south wall was compromised, upper floors sagging, load redistributing dangerously. Maybe two minutes before catastrophic failure.
"Can you do this?" the pilot asked.
David was already reaching out, his consciousness diving into the building's structure. He felt every crack, every failing beam, every point of stress. Felt the 200+ people inside, some injured, some trapped, all terrified.
"Yeah," he said, blood running freely from his nose now. "I can do this."
He closed his eyes and pushed. The building screamed, but it held.
And somewhere above, Iron Man engaged a Chitauri leviathan while the portal continued vomiting horrors into his city.
The invasion had begun.
And David Chen, architect and builder, was going to war.