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The room fell silent for a moment.
"Watch?" Tony couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Twenty to thirty thousand alien troops are knocking on our door, and you're just going to watch from the sidelines?"
"What else?" Peter spread his hands matter-of-factly,
"If I stepped in, the fight would be over in three minutes. Do you think you'd still have a chance to get some hands-on training?"
The entire conference room collectively fell silent.
Boss, you make such a good point, we're actually left speechless...
"Don't worry, you just need to fight with everything you've got."
Peter propped his feet up on the conference table like a boss:
"When you guys can't hold on any longer, I'll step in. But before I do—"
He swept his gaze over everyone present, his tone turning serious.
"I want to see just how far you can go."
...
After the meeting, the first thing Peter did was call George.
On the other end of the line, the esteemed President of America nearly fell out of his chair.
But he quickly accepted this outcome and, based on his absolute trust in Peter, decisively stated he would follow Peter's lead in handling the situation.
After notifying George to be on standby, all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites adjusted their orbits, their lenses all pointing in the same direction—the outer reaches of the solar system.
At 1:03 PM, the first set of clear images was transmitted back to the ground.
Five massive black silhouettes appeared near Jupiter's orbit. They were shaped like some ancient sea creature, covered entirely in a metallic shell, with dark red bands of light shimmering across their surface.
Chitauri Leviathans.
When the images were projected onto the large screen in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s central control room, everyone present involuntarily stopped what they were doing.
Tony, as the technical Advisor, was the first to speak:
"Based on their current speed, they will enter Earth's atmosphere in twenty-three hours and seventeen minutes. The landing coordinates... are unpredictable."
"No need to predict them either."
Peter took a sip of his cola and casually remarked:
"A force from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy suddenly arriving on Earth is most likely coming for us."
"Us?" Everyone couldn't help but be stunned:
"What do we have that they could possibly covet?"
Peter didn't answer, just exchanged a knowing glance with Tony.
An infinite energy source like the Tesseract in the truest sense—what intelligent being wouldn't be tempted?
The message reached the White House within a minute.
George hesitated no longer. He immediately activated the presidential emergency broadcast authority. Televisions, phones, and outdoor screens across all of New York simultaneously displayed a red alert.
"Attention all citizens of New York City—"
George's voice emanated from every terminal. His expression was serious, but his tone was surprisingly steady. This President, who had once faced Iron Man's missiles without batting an eye, displayed the composure befitting a head of state at this critical moment.
"Intelligence agencies have confirmed that an armed force from outer space is moving towards New York. It is expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon."
"Do not panic. I assure you, we have been preparing thoroughly for this day."
"All citizens are requested, within the next twelve hours, to follow the route guidance pushed to your phones and proceed in an orderly manner to the nearest underground safe house."
"Let me say it again—do not panic."
Without their previous experiences, everyone would have surely thought this was an April Fool's joke, or that President George had gone mad.
But after the last Inheritors incident, the public not only didn't panic, but instead displayed an unprecedentedly swift reaction.
Everyone followed the plan, uniformly gathering and heading to the nearest shelters.
By noon the next day, civilians were no longer visible on the streets.
The streets of Manhattan were empty. The large screens in Times Square were still cycling through evacuation instructions.
The Superheroes were scattered in small groups at various high points across New York.
Captain America stood on the Brooklyn Bridge, his shield on his back, his gaze fixed on the sky.
Tony hovered at the top of the Empire State Building, his full Mark 47 suit ready for battle.
Gwen crouched on the edge of an apartment building rooftop, her feet dangling and swinging in the air, looking quite relaxed—but the Shun Shun Rikka pinned in her hair was already glowing faintly.
Felicia stood at the very center of Central Park, the Ten Rings on her fingers shimmering with a subtle energy sheen.
Sif found a seat atop the torch of the Statue of Liberty, her twin swords laid across her knees.
William and Alexei guarded the two banks of the Hudson River.
Natasha and Hawkeye occupied the rooftop of the United Nations building.
Hulk paced back and forth on the streets of Lower Manhattan, each step causing the ground to tremble.
As for Peter himself?
He brought a chair and sat on the rooftop of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, holding a cup of coffee.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the distant Universe, on Thanos's floating throne, a massive holographic projection displayed real-time footage of the direction towards Earth.
Loki sat in a corner, gripping the armrests with both hands, not saying a word.
Ebony Maw stood respectfully behind Thanos: "My Lord, the vanguard fleet has entered the gravitational range of the target star system. They are expected to reach the surface in three hours."
Thanos did not reply, merely staring coldly at the blue Planet in the projection.
This time, he would use absolute force to make Loki understand that before Thanos, all beings could only kneel in submission and accept the rules he set!
...
3:17 PM.
A massive tear ripped open the clouds over New York.
Five Chitauri Leviathans pierced the atmosphere, trailing long tails of fire, appearing directly above Manhattan.
The Leviathans' hatches opened mid-air.
Tens of thousands of Chitauri soldiers, along with countless Leviathan beasts, leaped from the exits of the mother ships, their metal armor reflecting blinding light in the Sun.
They wielded energy rifles, firing at their surroundings the moment they landed. Wherever they passed, building facades shattered, vehicles exploded, and the roads were blasted into deep craters by energy bolts.
Manhattan became a battlefield within three minutes.
But what puzzled these soldiers was... they couldn't find the intelligent lifeforms they had expected.
The streets were empty.
After a brief moment of confusion, before the Chitauri soldiers could make a new assessment—
A red, white, and blue circular shield came whistling from the direction of the Brooklyn Bridge, accurately taking out a Chitauri soldier with a headshot.
Immediately after, more and more figures emerged.
Their numbers were insignificant compared to the tens of thousands of Chitauri troops.
But the power they unleashed left even Black Dwarf and Supergiant in awe!
Wherever they went, Chitauri soldiers fell like harvested wheat.
On the S.H.I.E.L.D. rooftop, Peter watched the battle leisurely and casually asked:
"Friday, run a real-time casualty count! I want to know who'll be the MVP before I step in today!"
"Received, sir. Current ranking: Mr. Stark: 53."
"Ms. Felicia: 102."
"102?" Tony's eyes widened like copper bells, and he couldn't help but shout over the internal comms:
"Are you cheating?"
*Crackle-crunch!*
The moment his words fell, a blizzard of ice and snow abruptly manifested in the distance, instantly freezing hundreds of Chitauri soldiers into ice sculptures.
Immediately after, Natasha's voice, slightly tired but tinged with amusement, came over the comms:
"Everyone, I'm taking the lead for now~!"