Battle of New York (II)
"How did you bypass our defense?" Fury asked.
"You called that defense?" Loki taunted.
"Why are you here?" Thor asked. However, before Loki could answer, Natasha fired; she emptied her clip on him. Sadly, this did nothing as the bullets passed through Loki's body.
"That wasn't very nice," he smiled before looking at his brother. "To answer your question, I'm here to offer a gift."
"Watch out," Thor yelled to a confused Banner. However, it was already too late. Another Loki appeared behind him, holding the scepter with the Mind Stone pointing at the back of his head.
"What a strong spirit. Sadly, it's futile," Loki commented. Banner rapidly transformed into the Hulk, roaring like a wild animal. Thor turned into a lightning bolt to rush toward his brother. However, as soon as he touched him, he was encased in a green sphere.
"I hope you enjoy this present," Loki's voice echoed. Hulk started to smash everything in sight. He flew upward, smashing his way up more than three floors.
"Damn it," Fury yelled as he rushed to the main deck. He needed to take control to ensure the helicarrier did not fall from the sky. The others went to suit up. After getting his shield, Steve went after Hulk to see if he could calm him down. Tony followed after him.
"You need to slow down the carrier's fall," Steve ordered.
"Who are you speaking like that to?"
"This is not the time for this. You're the only one who can fly."
Tony stared at him before flying away. His first thought was to fix the propelling system, and he did so. However, a few minutes later, Hulk destroyed them.
'I thought the old man in red and blue would stop him,' Tony complained. With the propellers busted, the only thing he could do was hold this thing on his own. However, he did not know whether his armor could do such a feat. After what happened two years ago, his pride was hurt, so he accelerated the development of his suit. But he was not prepared for such a situation.
'This is not the time to be overthinking.' Tony rushed underneath the Helicarrier, holding it all its weight.
"Sir."
"What is Jarvis?"
"At this rate, we will lose all power in 35 minutes."
"It's fine since our objective is not to hold this thing for as long as possible. We only need to lower its altitude to reduce the damage caused by it crashing," Tony said, and that's precisely what he did.
After 10 minutes of holding up, his armor had many problems due to bearing too much load. Lightning suddenly rushed out of the Helicarrier, shocking Tony and everyone else. 'Thor?'
Thor had broken through the illusion world his brother had placed him in. "Loki," he roared. He flew out of his room toward Hulk. He smashed the hammer in the green giant's head, knocking him out with one hit. The battered Steve Rogers looked at him in shock. However, Thor ignored him as he flew outside and slowly carried the Helicarrier to the ground.
"You're really the God of Thunder?" Tony asked. Thor effortlessly took the carrier from him.
"Let's go check on the people," Thor answered. It took a while to settle everything, and the result was 12 people dead — including Agent Phil Coulson.
The group looked at Caulson's body, covered by a white cloth, and silence and sadness overwhelmed the room. Almost everyone had met this kind and geeky secret agent, and if there was one thing Caulson had going for him—it was his likability.
"Loki…must pay." Everyone turned to look at Banner, who had awakened. His face was pale, but his anger and hatred were almost palpable.
"Whatever he's planning cannot be good, so we must stop him at all costs," Steve stated, and the others agreed. A loud boom resonated outside as they were about to discuss their next state. They rushed to check and saw a crack in the sky, followed by countless alien creatures rushing into New York.
"That was his plan from the beginning — an invasion," Steve analyzed. "The Tesseract was the key to opening the portal. We must stop him."
Before finishing his words, Thor raised his hammer, releasing a massive electrical storm that killed most of the Chitauri from the crack. However, he soon realized that the next batch was harder to kill; it was as if someone had blessed them with immunity to lightning.
The Avengers scattered to deal with the situation. Tony, Thor, and Hulk focus on the enemy in the air, while Cap, Natasha, and Clint concentrate on the energy on the ground. They also took charge of evacuating the citizens. Fury spoke with the council to ask for additional aid, which they provided.
After dealing with all the Chitauro, the crack opened again for a second wave, and this time, the Avengers were more efficient. Thor tried to find his brother on the Stark's tower to stop this madness, but there was no one. They had to fight four waves before Thor sensed a powerful energy wave on top of the building. He and Tony rushed up there while Hulk jumped. The others took one of the Chitauri's gliders to reach up there.
"It's time for the grand finale," Loki said with a smile, looking at this group.
"Is this a game to you?" Natasha asked.
"It is."
"What happened to you, brother?"
Loki looked at Thor. "This will be our 457th battle. If I remember correctly, I've only won 56."
"Wait, I thought your record was 205."
"I no longer feel the need to count those dishonest victories."
"It seems you've changed."
"More than you can imagine."
"This is not the time for a family reunion," Tony said.
"That's right. You've gone too far this time, brother," Thor said.
"But you're wrong. This is child play compared to what you will face," Loki smiled. First, let's remove nuisances." Natasha and Clint suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground, unable to get back up. They were conscious, but their bodies could not move. Steve immediately went to check on them.
"Their pulse is okay," he announced.
"Damn God," roared Hulk as he jumped next to Loki, swinging his enormous fists downward. Loki calmly evaded him before punching his stomach and making Hulk flinch. However, the green monster became even more enraged and swung with even more fever.
"You have the strength but no technique," Loki calmly stated as he evaded and hit Hulk with an elbow; he followed this act by hitting his knee, forcing him to his level before upper-cutting the creature in his jaw, knocking him out with relative ease.
"Haha, it was so easy," Loki laughed, thinking about how Hulk had treated him in his original timeline. The group was quiet. Everyone, besides Thor, experienced significant heart palpitations. They knew of this rampaging monster's strength, but he was taken down so quickly.
"Stand aside, "I'll deal with him," Thor declared. He calmly walked forward. "It seems you've become stronger."
"I can say the same to you," Loki replied.
"Why not use this strength to help Asgard? Why do this?"
"Defeat me, and you'll know the answer," Loki sneered.