Chapter 3 -Is this the end of the road for me? (Part 3)

New York City, 2012.

Ben Parker's P.O.V.

Despite a few 'alien encounters' which ended up with some new corpses embracing New York's asphalt and his backpack containing his reserve of cartridges becoming lighter, it took him less than two minutes to reach the Tito Puente Way. From there it was a straight road, with only two blocks separating him from the Statue of Duke Ellington and Central Park behind it, where the three children were told to remain until he arrived. 

Unfortunately, the whole sky, whether it was along the street or over the Park, was filled with those grey monstrosities, all shooting away as if it was a nightmare version of the Fourth of July. From his experience, he could guess that their goal was to create as many casualties and property damages as possible. However, he did not waste his time trying to find out why and instead put his focus on the situation happening in front of him. 

A few policemen and women were fighting back at those ruthless monsters by shooting at them, while others helped the civilians to hide in the buildings and rescued those too injured to move. 

Of course, corpses still littered the street, despite the brave people doing their best to defend themselves. To be fair, untrained civilians with handguns could not put too much resistance against an enemy capable of flying and firing energy beams. That, coupled with the sight of innards and cut-off limbs strewn all around, allowing terror to cripple their logical minds, rendered their struggle quite ineffective. At least, from Ben's point of view. Steeling himself, he thought coldly. "At worst, they will provide some distraction while I extract the kids from there."

Not one to squander his time, he swiftly took off again. As the engine's noise cut through the hellish scene, a lot of people and even aliens turned their heads towards the incongruous sight of a man decked out like a mercenary on a vintage-looking motorcycle going full speed towards what seemed to be the beast's maw.

Being highly experienced in many types of warfare, he knew that he could not waste the element of surprise. As a plan was almost instantly formed in his head, he swiftly grabbed his left modified handgun and started firing towards the closest flying chariot, killing the four grey monsters directly from multiple body shots each. 

Noticing one of the energy weapons that they used falling not far from him, he put back his gun in his left holster, snatched the former from the air, and wedged it in front of him before getting his gun back and starting to fire again, reloading at frequent interval.

Seeing the seemingly unstoppable invaders fall to a normal-looking human caused everyone's failing morale to rise back up and even some normal citizens to take up their concealed handguns and fire back at the enemies. After what felt like minutes, while, in reality, only lasted a few dozens seconds, Ben crossed the intersection of Madison under the bombardment of a heavier flying vehicle, which used canon-type weapons instead of the rifle type he was starting to get used to.

Besides a few shallow cuts here and there on his arms, legs, and bike, all due to the vehicles and even the asphalt exploding around him from the 'fire from the sky', his ride and himself were relatively unscathed, allowing him to continue quickly on the last stretch of the road. 'Thankfully they have terrible aim, or I'd be toast. One good news among other terrible ones. Better than nothing, I guess.' He thought, not losing his concentration.

"Peter, I'll be there in a few seconds. The three of you stay hidden behind the bushes, am I clear? I don't want any distraction while I fight off those ugly flying bugs." Hearing Peter's acknowledgment of his instructions, Ben felt himself relax a little. 'If I play my cards right, all of us might be able to get out of this relatively unhurt. Let's pray that we're lucky enough...'

Right after that thought, he arrived at Duke Ellington's weird cut-in-half square, where he dismounted from his motorcycle and ran towards the trees scattered over it. Hiding behind their trunks and the walls circling the place, he did not forget to bring the alien's rifle with him, all the while firing the last of his handguns' bullets, lodging almost all of them in the enemies' torso, with a few head shots, that seemed more the result of pure luck than actual skill, when one looked at the weapon used to achieve it.

Switching for his semi-automatic rifle, Ben put the energy weapon in his now vacant back holster, since he did not want to fiddle with an unknown piece of tech while he was shot at by a pack of flying troll-looking aliens with the aim of stormtroopers. Also, he thought that by getting rid of enough of them, he would be able to find a gap through which the children and he could leave the place without becoming red fireworks or losing any body parts.

Regrettably, his prayers seemed to go unanswered as not only the grey trolls' numbers did not decrease, but they increased instead. There were even some of those tank-like flying chariots gathering on his position while firing those highly lethal beams, making the trees around him burst into wooden pieces. 

'Fuck! Being too good can be a curse too!' He muttered, guessing that he killed too many of those monsters, which alerted those responsible for giving those 'soldiers' type instructions. Taking a cursory glance towards the sky in the south direction to evaluate the situation, however, made him freeze in despair for half a second before regaining his calm. He hastily ducked on the side, but could not avoid the energy ray completely. The latter grazed his left arm, enlarging his already existing wound, and increasing his blood loss. 

Naturally, those flying chariots did not scare him. He already told the three kids to back off further under the trees when he noticed how his previous plan would not work and having a Peak Athlete body Level allowed him to last for more than ten minutes under the constant bombardment with only shallow wounds as consequences. For the moment, at the very least.

No, his momentary loss of focus was because he noticed one of those huge flying worms coming in his direction from the south of Central Park. Certainly, one could think that it was a coincidence, and its aim may be someone or something else. However, even without Ben's training and experience, one could easily detect how his position appeared like a whirlpool on the battlefield with more and more enemy fighters being attracted to him.

That was why he understood that his chance of getting out alive from this battle plummeted sharply the moment that giant flying monstrosity started speeding up towards him. Unless his circumstances changed, he was a dead man. But how? He was pretty much alone fighting an unending horde of laser-shooting aliens who for some reason seemed to think that he was a bigger threat than those inhuman beings demolishing them like they were made of paper. Especially that green one, who looked like he was playing whack-a-mole with those same despair-inducing worms which, despite him making them look fragile, could destroy a high-rise building with a swing of their tails. 

'I need to find a way to find a way to increase my killing efficiency and then run away quickly...' He pondered quickly before making a risky decision. 'The energy gun! I'm almost out of ammo anyway, so I might as well try it out.' Not wasting time, Ben switched his current rifle with the alien one, all the while running around and ducking behind the broken vehicles, doing his best to avoid tripping over body parts and other unidentified debris littering the ground.

As if the universe took pity on him, only a few seconds were needed for him to understand the fire mechanism. As for reloading? Who cared about that when literally dozens of those weapons were lying around, seemingly begging to be used by him. "Alright, let's roll bitches!" He cursed, trying to decrease his stress level, before firing as if there was no tomorrow, which would be true if he could not find a way out.

Unlike what people commonly considered as a normal firearm, the energy weapon he was using had no recoil and its barrel did not seem to overheat from too much use in a small amount of time. The 'ammo' lasted longer too. All in all, it was a perfect weapon for untrained people, and those grey trolls, as they could chain shots and overcome quality with quantity. 

As for Ben 'the machine' Parker? Being one of the best special forces' (former) member in almost every category, especially in terms of weapon accuracy, foreshadowed what happened next. A complete and brutally efficient massacre. His killing speed surged so high that there even was an empty space spanning a few dozens of meters in every direction, with himself as the center of it.

Regaining hope that he may survive this clearly hopeless situation, he started to promptly back off towards the Tito Puente Way, while swapping his 'empty' rifle for another one lying on the ground close to his feet. Since he could not outrun that worm-like machine, he might as well draw it into a smaller street, further from where the kids were hiding. His chances of not getting used like a human piñata may even increase as the high-rise buildings around would restrain the number of attackers and maybe, just maybe, stop the worm from going after him. One could dream.

'Let's not count on that, though. So far my luck was just so-so and even losing a limb would be counted as a win in my book, from how things are going. That and the three kids getting away.' He thought, getting slightly distracted, earning himself another wound on his body already choke-full of injuries, soaking his tattered clothes with his blood dripping away from those same injuries.

He cursed inwardly his lapse in focus and his exhaustion surely influencing his mind, dulling his reaction and turning a formerly easily-avoided shot into an incredibly hard-to-avoid one. His blood loss did not help either, and, knowing his body capability well, he recognized that it would not take long for him to falter and die at that rate. 

Pushing his bleeding and tired body to run as fast as he could in the small street direction, he took cover behind a broken down firetruck, a few firemen and civilians' lifeless bodies surrounding him. Peeking at their lifeless eyes, those he could see at least, his heart and mind seemed to relax, knowing with his body's state, he might join them on their way to hell. If he did not get shot, then he would definitely bleed to death, the end-result being the same. 

"So this is where it ends for me..." He muttered groggily, unknowingly falling on his backside, his actual back resting against the firetruck's side. Everything around him turning into indistinct shapes, the loud noises becoming muted, with his consciousness dimming.

"Un-Uncle Ben? A-are you alright? I can see those aliens going in your direction. There's even a huge worm monster." As Peter's voice came through his earphones, the man seemed to wake up temporarily from his unavoidable end, retrieving a bit of his previously missing strength. As he thought about what he had just gone through, a surge of pride and accomplishment surfaced in his mind. He did what he came here to do. He saved his nephew and his two friends. 'Everything has a price. My life for my adopted son's life. It was worth it. Completely worth it.' He thought, a small smile appearing on his battered face. 

"Peter... *Cough* I don't... I don't think I'll ma... *Cough* *Cough* Make it..." Starting to panic, Peter was about to interrupt him when Ben continued. "Let me talk, son... *Cough* I want you to know that... that you and May... You're the... *Cough* *Cough* The best thing that ha... That happened to me..." 

'Broken ribs and a punctured lung too, I've felt better...' Catching his breath to finish what he wanted to say, he could hear weeping sounds from the three children. However, no one interrupted him. They instinctively felt that those might be the last words that they would hear from him. Regaining a bit of strength, he proceeded to talk again.

"I'm proud of you, son. *Cough*" While he was talking he noticed a colossal shadow covering him. Turning his head back to look at its owner, he sighed thinking. 'Big bro, apparently we'll see each other soon... Goodbye, May... I'm sorry I was such a failure as a husband...' As a single tear rolled down his cheek, he saw the beast's tail coming towards him at great speed.

Before losing consciousness from the shock and excruciating pain, he vaguely heard. "HULK SMASH!!"