Elsewhere, Thor had spotted something. Loki, the God of Mischief, was falling inside the spinning containment cage from ten thousand meters up.
He seized Mjolnir, rotor-spun into flight, and dove after him. He landed on the outside of the cage.
"Get back!"
He waved his arm, looked skyward, and raised the hammer.
Lightning gathered from the clouds, bypassing Alex, and poured down into the weapon. It wrapped around Thor and crackled across the surface of the cage.
He roared and slammed the hammer into the cage, shattering its outer structure.
Loki scrambled, grabbed the edge of the broken frame, and hung on, "I'm coming for you, brother."
Thor dove and reached for him.
His hand closed around nothing.
Loki's image dissolved with a faint, playful smile. A projection.
Thor didn't even have time to curse before the cage came down on top of him and drove him into the earth.
In the air above, the real Loki waved one hand almost casually and drifted down toward the ocean nearby.
High above, the disaster continued to unfold.
Inside his armor, Tony Stark said: "JARVIS, mark the positions of Nick Fury, Romanoff, Coulson, and the others."
["Of course, sir."]
In moments, a map appeared on his visor with everyone tagged.
Iron Man shot out through the chaos, cutting a line of fire through the sky, and dove into the Helicarrier's command hall as it spun toward the ground.
Inside, the wind pressure had everyone pinned against railings and consoles, unable to move.
Stark swept through and peeled them off one by one.
Then he flew back out and found Black Widow tumbling uncontrolled through open air. He immediately went for her.
Natasha was spinning. She tried to spread herself wide, arms and legs out, and stopped the rotation. But a massive slab of armor plating was coming down straight above her. She was not confident she'd survive the fall. She was even less confident she'd survive that.
Then a deep red laser cut across from above, dividing the slab cleanly in two. Iron Man swept in, grabbed her, and flew straight between the two halves as they drifted apart.
He stopped in midair.
Black Widow and Director Fury dangled from his hands. Agent Hill was across his back. Agent Coulson was gripping his leg.
"I feel like I could get a job at the circus," Tony remarked inside his helmet.
Natasha immediately asked, "Did you see Barton?"
"In case you missed it, I was slightly busy."
Even so, he gave the order, "JARVIS, find Agent Barton."
["Yes, sir."]
["Agent Barton located. Six thousand meters below your current position."]
Tony let out a sharp curse and immediately started descending, passengers and all.
In the open air, Steve Rogers was falling when a plane passed close enough to grab. He shot a hand out, caught the edge of the broken cockpit, and hauled himself inside.
He dropped into the seat. Strapped himself in. Hit the ignition.
The engines turned over but wouldn't run properly. The ground was swelling fast. Steve found the eject handle and punched it.
The seat launched. The chute opened. He drifted down in a slow arc.
From above, he watched Iron Man streak a line of flame down toward a hillside in the distance.
"Come on!"
"JARVIS, faster!"
Tony kept shouting inside his helmet, but the AI showed there was no more speed to give.
Below him, Barton appeared to have lost consciousness. He was in free fall.
Stark threw Black Widow over his shoulder, let her and Hill hang across his back, and freed one hand. He reached down as far as it would go.
His fingertips were almost there.
Then Barton hit the ground.
A spray of red filled Tony's field of vision.
"No!"
"Barton!"
Both Tony and Natasha cried out. The armor fired downward to bleed off the momentum and brought them to a stop just above the surface.
In the distance, a chain of heavy detonations rolled across the land. The wreckage was coming down.
Piece by piece, large and small, sections of Helicarrier struck the earth and threw up towers of thick black smoke and tails of savage fire.
Hot wind carrying the smell of ash swept across the scene.
Fury closed his eyes.
On the ground, a hand broke through a pile of rubble. Thor dragged himself out of the debris. He coughed hard, over and over, until he finally got his breath back.
He lay spread-eagle in the dirt and stared up at the sky.
"Loki, you bastard."
He got up and held out his hand. Across a stretch of open field, the wheat split apart as Mjolnir came screaming back to him.
Thor gripped it, spun it into a roar, and launched himself skyward, flying toward the horizon.
———
In a collapsed building somewhere, Banner came back to himself slowly.
"Are you alright? I saw you fall from the sky."
"Are you an alien?"
He opened his eyes. He was lying in rubble. And he was naked.
"Oh no."
He looked up. An old man was watching him.
"Did I hurt anyone?", he asked.
The old man shook his head and reached for a pair of pants nearby, "Nobody around here to hurt. Scared a lot of pigeons, though."
"Fell through my ceiling though, big green fellow without a stitch on."
"Here."
He tossed the pants down. A shirt followed, "You sure you're not one of those outer-space aliens?"
Banner worked his way into the clothes and shook his head, "I'm definitely not."
The old man looked at him sincerely, "Son, you're not well. You ought to see a doctor."
Banner spread his hands, "I appreciate the advice."
———
[New York]
[A Wakandan-Operated Hotel]
On a holographic display, Prince T'Challa and General Okoye watched the full destruction of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier play out. They watched the man in the red cape and black armor hang in the open sky, scepter in hand, watching it all with a quiet smile.
They closed the display and looked at each other.
"General Okoye, what do you make of this?", T'Challa's face was heavy.
Okoye exhaled, "Seeing this, I'd say that His Majesty's decision to surrender last night was not just reasonable, it was the right call."
"The Conqueror's power is terrifying. Destroying the Helicarrier is one thing, but that ship had a collection of extraordinary people aboard."
T'Challa nodded, "Iron Man Tony Stark. Captain America Steve Rogers. The renowned Black Widow. Dr. Banner. And an Asgardian."
"That none of them could stop him is what makes it truly frightening," Okoye glanced toward the main hall. Inside it, Caitlin was reclined in a chair with sunglasses on, enjoying a massage while a musician played violin nearby. She had drifted off to sleep somewhere in the middle of it.
"Your Highness. Perhaps we could make use of this woman?"
T'Challa's answer was immediate, "No."
"We cannot take any risks right now. Not even small ones."
"The Conqueror is too powerful. One mistake and we're finished."
"I will not have my capital and my people end up like that Helicarrier."
"So, General Okoye. Never. Never entertain that idea."
The general sighed, "You're right. For now, obedience is the only path."
"Although, perhaps it isn't entirely a bad thing."
"With power like his, having him over us means Wakanda has nothing left to fear."
T'Challa glanced at her, "We never had anything to fear to begin with."
"We only need to protect ourselves."
Okoye didn't agree, "Perhaps that was true once. But Prince T'Challa, since the Asgardians appeared, this planet has become a far less safe place."
"Someday our technology may not be enough to protect Wakanda. When that day comes, the Conqueror's protection may be worth everything."
T'Challa thought about his own defeat at the Conqueror's hands, the memory still fresh, and found he had nothing to say.
———
On the hillside where Barton had fallen, a small grave had been made.
"What do we do now?", Agent Hill looked at Fury.
Nick Fury closed his eyes, "I've lost my best agent. I've lost a Helicarrier. I've lost a great number of good people."
"Banner and Thor are unaccounted for."
"I don't even know how the Helicarrier was destroyed."
"And now I don't know where Loki is, or where the Tesseract is."
"I'm out of moves."
Silence fell over the group.
"Maybe I brought this on myself. If I hadn't tried to assemble everyone, we wouldn't have drawn something this powerful to us."
"Right now, I genuinely don't know what the next step is."
"But I'm not ready to stop fighting. So, Stark, can you give me a lift to the nearest city?"
"Stark?"
Iron Man hadn't moved.
"What's wrong with you?"
"The stage!", Tony turned around, pressing a hand to his forehead like something had just clicked into place, "Loki isn't the type to stay in the background. He's a performer. He loves an audience."
"If he has the Tesseract and wants to open a portal, where would he choose to do it?"
"It has to be somewhere with all eyes on it. Somewhere everyone is watching."
Tony hit himself on the head, "New York. My Stark Tower!"
He slammed the faceplate down, fired his boots, and was airborne before he finished the sentence.
Fury called after him, "Hey! I said give me a lift!"
Iron Man was already a small black dot against the sky.
Fury looked around at the remaining group, "Looks like we're hoofing it."
Then came a vehicle sound. They looked toward the slope. A pickup truck was pulling up to the bottom of the hill. Captain America Steve Rogers leaned out the window, "Anybody need a ride?"
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