30

The entire world was discussing Stark's admission that he was a neo-human. The stock market was feverish with the skyrocketing price of Stark Industries shares, and the network was discussing the appearance of a beautiful fire-haired angel-valkyrie, who rescued thousands of people from the rubble, then resurrected and healed them, because of which Jean Grey's popularity surpassed the popularity of any other superheroes at one point. Artists from all over the world produced images of both decent and indecent nature, while cosplayers made costumes to later share pictures that may or may not contain nudity. t levels of nudity.. And so it happened not only because of the incredible, even by the standards of non-humans, abilities, but also because of the incredible beauty of the girl. Saving the world by a bald old invalid in a wheelchair is one thing, while saving it by a beauty in outstanding armor is quite another.. Because of the latter, there was a debate on the Internet about whether Tony Stark is Tony Stark Iron Man. The latter made her look like his ally, if not an ally, then certainly a good friend.

Against the backdrop of these events, as well as previous ones, like new Stark products and constantly falling oil prices, the news of Tony's wedding to Pepper somehow got lost. Magazines that specialize in actors' personal lives mainly wrote about it.. And even then, somehow with little interest. It's too boring to discuss a settled billionaire. Of course, some tried to recall Tony's past merits and cautiously predicted when the stray genius will go out of control, but the legal department of "Stark Industries" ate the dog on libel cases, so that much did not allow themselves even "Daily Bugle" with its scandalous editor Jay John Jameson. The latter was more interested in rumours about Iron Man and the recently revealed Spider-Man.

By the way, Stark wasn't in the way of denigrating his apprentice for two reasons. Firstly, preserving Peter Parker's incognito, and secondly, Tony wanted to show him the other side of fame. That despite all your good deeds, there will still be those who will pour slop on you. Many people criticized Captain America because he didn't take part in the fighting, even though he was a symbol of patriotism and the ideal soldier.. And then for his frequent actions without consulting his command, which did not always lead to positive results. For example, once during the release of American POWs, Hydra destroyed the entire base, burying it under a layer of earth and concrete. The saddest part was that they had already agreed the prisoners to be exchanged, and if it weren't for the Captain's actions, they would still be alive. Stark wanted the irrepressible apprentice to have his way, but it would be better if it was under his watch, when Tony and Jarvis could back him up.

And so the wedding day finally arrived. They invited Stark's friends, including Rowdy who is now a head-grown and his physically satisfied girlfriend Sif, to the wedding.. Tony made good on his promise to protect his friend's arse from being torn in two by a serum like the one Pepper had injected. There were also quite a few familiar and prominent faces in Stark Industries.

While Dr. Octavius was occupied with his reactor calculations, his wife tried to wake the scientist who was captivated by his new thermonuclear device but failed..

Not yet Dr Benner, who was rapidly regaining his old regalia in his new body, was now cooing with his now wife, Betty Ross. The couple had signed quietly, much to the dismay of Tony, who resented the lack of a stag party. In fact, this was the reason for the quiet wedding.

Helen Cho, who did not cannot use the serum on himself, because of which the already beautiful American of Japanese descent now literally fought off the excessive attention of a different sex. However, the courtship of charming Victor Von Duma, who improved the affairs of his company thanks to the help and cooperation with "Stark Industries", the girl took more favourably. The reason for this was that Victor, because of his mutation, was a frequent guest and the object of Helena's research, which, against the background of his broken heart by Susan Storm, resulted in a romance between a multimillionaire and a lonely scientist.

Of course, Tony couldn't help but invite his student, his girlfriend, and the lad's future mother-in-law, Lydia Hardy. The latter changed her opinion of Parker after he got rich because of a patent on the synthetic web. Moreover, among the business areas of the elder, Hardy had and clothing brands. And in this area, the one who is the earliest to introduce various kinds of innovations, the one who skimmed all the cream. If Peter refused to give her the rights to the patent and technology, the woman would have suffered considerable losses. Speaking of Peter himself. A relationship with a beautiful girl who didn't pressure him, but supported him wholeheartedly in his endeavours, studies with Tony, battles with Lady Sif, his own business, enrolling as a part-time student at a prestigious university, and his superhero successes finally washed away all the guy's insecurities. His core character hasn't changed. It's just that the once teenage boy has matured rapidly, gaining a backbone, confidence, and a solid backbone. His aunt May, who was also invited, could not hide her happiness and pride in seeing the success and growth of her nephew, whom she considered more her son.. And she was also present at the wedding, chatting with one of Tony Stark's friends, the head of security, Happy Hogan.

A wedding is an event where either people fight and punch each other in the face, or on the contrary, imbued with a romantic atmosphere, wish to experience the same happiness as the newlyweds.

Before the ceremony began, those gathered in the pavilion lined up next to Tony Stark's Beverly Hills home were discussing the future celebration. Everyone agreed that Pepper and Tony were the perfect couple and would complement each other. The sensible Pepper and the zany Tony Stark. Moreover, the former is also the CEO of "Stark Industries" and has both the skills and talent to manage a huge corporation, which Tony did not have. And he wasn't really interested in it. He intervened only when necessary, as in the same conflict with oil and gas and automotive conglomerates. No one considered the marriage unequal and, what is even more unbelievable in high circles, a marriage of convenience. In that rare case, real powerful love complemented the calculation, and it was nurtured and tested over many years.

And so, standing under the wedding arch next to the Catholic priest, Tony, in a classic three-piece suit, waited for his bride. He had only one regret. That his parents weren't there for him right now. He only hoped that maybe they were watching him and seeing their son settle down, grow up and finally get married, something even his mum wasn't sure about. He would have a lot to show them, and even more to tell them. That he had finally fulfilled his father's dream of clean energy and flying cars and his mother's dream that Tony would just be happy and find love. But alas, they were not with him. And Stark vowed in his heart that he would do everything he could to make sure his children, and he was sure they would be someday, would not experience similar feelings and he would attend their birthdays, graduations, weddings and the birthdays of their grandchildren already. Parents are often so protective of their children that they forget about themselves, not thinking about the pain they will bring to their children if they leave prematurely. It was the greatest grief Stark had experienced, yet the regrets went nowhere. He acknowledged he had failed to be a responsible son, and there was nothing he could do to change it.. In fact, that was why he was so good to Peter, associating the teenager with himself as a young man. It was physically painful for him to watch him flush his talent down the toilet. And looking at his progress now, Stark was proud of him as well as himself.

However, when his guest band AC/DC played "Back in Black" instead of Mendelssohn's march, it swept away all his thoughts.. This was the ultimatum that Tony had issued, and he was stubborn as a donkey. He didn't want to hear a boring march or any of that rubbish. He even had to find a priest who would be a rock fan and wouldn't mind such sacrilege. So at the moment, the delighted holy father tried not to stare at the stage and shake his head in time with the music. The guests got shocked naturally. After all, they had covered the stage up to this point. However, some even calmed down, because this is Tony Stark. And if he doesn't pull something off, it's gonna be weird.

- How did you talk Pepper into it? - Rowdy whispered to Tony before the bride arrived.

- It was pretty simple. I first suggested we have the wedding in a glass cage with crocodiles. Then I just moved on to a more palatable option.

- That's a clever idea.

- Or else — Shh, it's about to start.

Rowdy knew what was coming. And he also guessed that Stark had talked Pepper into one more eccentric stunt. The bride didn't come out of the door. She came down from the sky with a bridesmaid in the person of Jean Grey in a red dress. Pepper herself was in a classic white coloured dress made from Peter's spider silk, which made the fabric look completely weightless and airy. This was already an ultimatum from the girl herself. No spiked tresses, as Tony had suggested, or his armour she didn't want to use. She had promised herself that her mother would see her in a white dress, and she had honoured that. So far, though, Potts admitted that the rock sounded more upbeat, and the flight was indeed exciting. And somehow she was so used to her almost-husband's antics that she treated them with a healthy indifference. It couldn't be otherwise, because otherwise there wouldn't have been any wedding.

The music ended, and the maid of honour handed that one to Stark. Jean Grey was envious. Not so much because she felt drawn to Tony, but because she read the couple's thoughts until Tony once again came up with a mind-protecting telepathic thingy, which was only possible because of Grey's own help. And in those thoughts, Stark and Pepper really loved each other. Her ex-boyfriend Scott didn't hesitate before attacking her with his eye lasers, which can't be said for Stark and Pepper, who truly loved each other, as revealed in Tony's mind-protecting telepathic thingy, made possible with Grey's help.. And after all, he could have just stayed out of the attack and no one, no one would have blamed him for it. In contrast, Tony didn't attack her, passively holding her back. Though he could have given his abilities. She'd seen him punching through walls with his fist, which even with her power it was possible to damage, but not easily.

In fact, Stark had not only helped her, but saved her from herself. Gave her the knowledge of how to control herself and time to adapt. So, for the moment, he was the only person she could even trust. The anchor that kept her from going insane and deciding that humanity wasn't worthy of existence if even the closest people betrayed and tried to control you. And while she couldn't be his girlfriend yet, even though she hadn't given up hope of it, she could be his friend and ally. Not to mention, it was also quite lucrative. Tony was never stingy with material rewards for talented and useful people, and even more so for those close to him. No, Professor Xavier also provided for all the needs of his students. But the needs were basic: food, a roof over their heads, a room, often shared with one or two other students, personal supplies and clothing. But nothing more. In fact, Jean didn't even have her own car, even though almost everyone in the United States has one. And now she gets a payment for each flight. For India, for example, I paid her $100,000. And this was just the beginning, as Stark promised, as he had an idea to get funding from those countries that needed help.

Of course, he would not charge a disproportionate fee. It's just that as a business executive he understood, any work had to be paid for. Whether it's in services or money. Because not only could unsolicited help lead to aggression, but people might think that non-humans had to do it all. And if they refuse or cannot do so, I will accuse them of inaction. Police, ambulance, firefighters and rescuers work for money, not for ideas. Of course, there is a share of ideology there too. Not everyone is ready to risk his life for the sake of saving strangers, even if it is for a good pay, but it is better to work well-fed than hungry. The same Shield was very indebted to Stark, and therefore helped him quite a lot in licensing and promoting his new products.

, Stark wanted to create a universal rapid response team consisting of non-humans, Jarvis suits, and drones. The abilities and technology applied to simpler, though. The same building houses or moving massive structures. Companies pay millions of dollars to transport parts of wind turbines, ships, aeroplanes, massive excavators and space rockets. Route closures, special vehicles, and a bunch of logistical problems that one Gene can solve.

By this point, however, Pepper and Jean were getting closer. So smiling, Tony lifted his translucent veil when he saw Pepper smiling just as dazzlingly. The latter couldn't believe what was happening. She was afraid that baffling Tony would change his mind, that a meteorite would fall, an alien invasion or some other disaster, but everything was fine. The sky didn't fall on their heads, and despite the company's many problems, the day still happened.

What problems? Besides the companies Stark had given sore calluses to, there was the problem of the non-human haters. Threats, layoffs, rallies - it was and still is. However, after Pepper saw a girl with bat-like wings, pink skin and horns, who cried with happiness that I had hired her, that Tony had been in a hurry fell away. After all, the girl couldn't find a job and was already ready to go to a brothel for perverts, despite a very good law degree from Xavier's orphanage. Now they would have a good succubus lawyer.

The Mutation Blocker had only recently arrived in shops, positioned as a homeopathic and dietary supplement, and not all non-humans knew about it, trusted it, or wanted to use it. And there were a lot of similar stories. Persecution, fear, insults - they all survived it. And, given that mutation usually manifests itself at a very tender, adolescent age, many neo-humans needed the help of psychologists and just a normal attitude to them. Due to this, quite a few employees left voluntarily or got ended for discriminating, insulting, or harassing non-humans.. Even during her wedding, Pepper couldn't get rid of thoughts of her own company. But that's just the way she was, responsible. And it was because of this trait that Tony had once hired an unknown honours student from a not-so-famous university to work for him. Although among the candidates were girls who had studied at Ivy League universities, as well as much prettier ones. Stark, despite his ostentatious folly, was an excellent judge of character.

- Ladies and gentlemen, bride and groom, they gathered here for us to witness the love of two hearts under the shadow of God. On this beautiful day... the priest began a rehearsed speech. Not short enough to seem like an understatement, but not too long to bear everyone. Finally, he came to his last words: ... Let those who oppose this marriage speak now or forever hold their peace.

And at that very moment... Nothing happened. There was no collapse of the sky, no apocalypse. The ceremony has ended.

- Exchange rings. And, groom, you may kiss the bride.

- I was thinking I couldn't wait. Stark, not the least bit embarrassed, suckled Pepper to the whistling of Rowdy and a host of guests, who tossed handfuls of rice and released doves.

And just at that moment, it was as if a bomb had exploded in the ocean, five hundred metres away.

- Tony, that's cool, but don't you think it's a bit much? - Bruce Benner commented, clearing his ear from the weakened blast wave.

- Hmm, that's not me, Tony answered him, watching the wreckage of the ship to the side where the explosion had occurred.

It was at that moment that Jarvis shouted.

- Third degree alert, I almost got hacked!

And a combined magic-power rainbow shield unfolded over the mansion. Turrets of varying size, calibre and number of guns extended straight out of the grass, flowerbeds and roof of the Stark mansion. In the roof itself, the lids that housed the launching shafts for the drones, Stark's suits, and missiles immediately flew towards the horizon.

- What the hell is that? How long have you been turning your house into a fortress? Is that even legal? - asked Victor Von Doom, speaking not with indignation, but with interest. Is it possible to buy such toys from Tony?

- Wait, let me sort this out.

A holographic spherical projection appeared in front of Stark, showing a massive invasion not only in the US, but around the world. Some grey-skinned humanoid creatures in armour were landing from the sky. In the sky itself flew huge leviathans, laden with cannons, showering the ground with something resembling plasma. Hell and Israel reigned. Sure, the military was doing a pretty good job of shooting down the enemies, but they were taking heavy losses themselves and couldn't get everywhere in time. By this point, several of Stark's missiles had split into a huge number of smaller missiles and destroyed three armoured whale-like Leviathans floating in the air at once, as well as several dozen enemy fighters.

- Jarvis, what the fuck is going on, and what's wrong with our satellite defence system? And who the hell is that?

- These creatures call themselves the Chitauri. They came out of a blue portal in Earth orbit and paralysed all defence systems. I could not recover from the attack and I'm currently protecting the country's nuclear capabilities from being hacked.

The world is clearly in a terrible state. I don't think we're gonna forget this wedding. Pepper, I'm sorry, but you know what?

- Go, my hero. Just be back in time for dinner. - Pepper smiled sadly at her husband.

She knew she couldn't hold him, and he was quite strong now. So instead of nagging him now, she had to support him. She would tell him all her worries and resentments later, not in front of everyone.

- What are you talking about? - asked one of the invited journalists, who did not understand what Tony Stark can help in such a situation? Wouldn't it be safer to stay in a secure house?

- About that.

I covered Tony in trillions of magic-soaked nano robots, creating the Iron Man armour.

- I am Iron Man! - the eccentric billionaire shocked those unaware of his secret. - I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I couldn't think of a better occasion. I'll try to make it in time for dinner, darling. Gene, you take Washington, I'll take New York. Jarvis, activate all the drones.

- ALL OF THEM? - Jarvis interjected.

- EVERY ONE OF THEM!

At that moment, in the planet's orbit, underground in several secret bases, many of which had no direct exit, shrunken drones flew out of expanded spatial vaults and beyond, increasing in flight. They weren't all the same. There were both small, skittish ones and huge ones resembling anime mech.. Some had weapons, while others had life-saving devices. It enchanted some from top to bottom, while others used technology only. In his time, Stark had accumulated and run thousands of suits through the time acceleration chamber. Not that he needed that many, he just didn't want to use an empty acceleration chamber, so he stuffed it full. Given the anti-material reactor, as well as the absorption power that had manifested, Tony could tap directly into this source of mana and energy, and therefore had no shortage of it. He'd made quite a few of them in his spare time, and he'd trained Peter on Jarvis's drones.

- Can he do it? - Rowdy asked, who wanted to be with his friend now. But he hadn't been able to get himself a suit.

- Is he? He'll be fine," Pepper believed in Tony. He promised nothing he couldn't deliver.

***

Some might say that even thousands of drones against a full-scale invasion wouldn't do it. But firstly, the military didn't sit idly by, secondly; he wasn't the planet's only superhero, and thirdly, each of Jarvis's drones could replace a dozen of the most advanced fighters, and magically enhanced ones could replace as many as a hundred. After all, I made each of them of adamantium, vibrantium and had technologies that were thousands of years ahead of the current ones. Not to mention the magic that made all the drones' characteristics absolute. They could fly right through leviathans completely unscathed.

Jarvis himself not only kept the planet's information system from being hacked but also used his computing power to control the drones in the most efficient way possible. The AI could not only use existing tactics, strategies and manoeuvres already known to humanity, but it could also come up with its own thanks to hundreds of thousands of simulations. And it continued to learn on the fly, full using three-dimensional space, performing manoeuvres that would have turned a live pilot into a bloody mess. So fast and precise that the drones' movements were like the gankata from the film Equilibrium, so that I wasted almost no plasma or laser shots, despite the pirouettes and speed.

They also easily predicted and dodged Chitauri shots, and the occasional plasma charges that reached their target, caused by the population's defence against stray hits, did little or no damage. For the entire universe, both vibranium and adamantium were very rare. A little of it could start a massacre. However, the drones were entirely made up of such metal, and they had force shields to protect them. Moreover, they could self-repair through magic or nanites..

However, drones were also in short supply everywhere. Especially in New York, where the flagship of an alien aggressor loomed over the city, looking like a large mussel that had opened its shell. The ship was nearly a kilometre across and shadowed the whole of Manhattan, looming directly over the Stark Tower. From it, projectiles of bluish plasma flew at the city, as well as dozens of Leviathans, hundreds of fighters and landing shuttles. Right in front of Stark's eyes, a trio of F-22 Raptors entered the attack trajectory and fired several missiles that exploded, leaving only waves on the force shield protecting the huge enemy dreadnought. However, the fighters, though not without damage, withstood the retaliatory strike. All thanks to the vibrantium coating.

Tony pondered what he should do. Firing anti-material projectiles was risky, and Stark wasn't sure he could absorb that much energy. And what if it exploded? Not just Manhattan, all of New York would be dead.

- Jarvis, get to civilian protection and evacuation. Send all gravispiders and flyers to that," Tony instructed, glimpsing some monks with glowing magical shields and lassos, an archer shooting exploding arrows, a Captain America cosplayer with a shield, and lightning bolts flashing in the distance that were blasting away the invaders.

- Already on it, sir.

Stark nodded to himself. Jarvis is becoming more and more independent. Time would tell. In the meantime, he had the big boss as his target. But first, it was necessary to at least weaken the shields. So Tony gave the command to redistribute some of the satellite defences to attack the invasion flagship. What were these satellites? Over-protected, spell-hidden, holographic invisibility laser cannons, powered remotely by protean charms from a base on the Moon. Yes, he had a base on the moon. At first, Stark had simply fulfilled his childhood dream and left a footprint next to that of Armstrong, the first man on the moon. And then, when it became necessary to build a protected and safe source of energy for the Earth, he remembered this natural satellite. So at a depth of two hundred metres on the back side of the satellite, there is a huge antimatter reactor in its own subspace, to which drones deliver lunar rock for processing.

And by the way, Tony found an empty World War II-era Hydra base on the backside. Other than old equipment and dried corpses under the effects of vaporisation in space, he found no one. Judging from the records, the Hydrovans had been working with some sort of cube that allowed them to create portals. However, they lost connection with Earth, and the Germans could not provide for themselves. Consequently, they died faster from lack of oxygen than from thirst and hunger.. But that was not the point, but Tony had a really bottomless source of energy, which would not be a pity to lose. Does it matter if there are more or fewer craters on the moon, considering it will be damaged?? And the debris in the most improbable case, when subspace does not collapse, and defence and teleportation charms do not work, will fly away from the Earth, not towards it.

And now several wide, several metres in diameter, blinding rays of light fell on the starship. After that there was a rumble, thunder, because someone instantly heated the air to the state of plasma. Someone focused the rays of light on the atmosphere with the most appropriate wavelength, which caused blinding rays of light to fall on the starship. Some wavelengths such as ultraviolet and hard X-rays are absorbed while the planet's magnetic field reflects particles of solar matter.. And others, like infrared, in some windows of "transparency" freely pass through and heat the Earth. But not everything is so simple, and even this spectrum does not penetrate completely calmly, so that part of the energy, passing through the atmosphere with an invisible beam, turned the same atomised dust, water and other particles into plasma. After all, the spectrum cannot penetrate through calmly, and it turns atomised dust, water, and other particles into plasma as it passes through the atmosphere with an invisible beam.. So the impact was quite strong and could easily vaporise the ground several metres deep, after which they would form a crater of considerable size due to the sharp burning up of matter to plasma.

Of course, Tony also had magically enhanced religions in orbit. They had simple bolts and those with potentially anti-matter stuffing in the magically enhanced railguns in orbit. They were not afraid of projectile recoil, and the projectiles themselves did not waste energy on friction, since that was eliminated.. However, lay the problem. Such projectiles easily penetrated not only Leviathans but also medium-sized ships of opponents, simply noticing no shields. Which meant they would hit New York. However, the space race proved it wasn't just called that, and the shield shimmered, but stood up to it. But that was enough for Stark. Flying into one of the open hangars at full speed and shuddering because of the sharp wave of incoming shield energy, Tony said grimly,

- Playing around? Well, now it's my turn to play.

And his mood was understandable. Not only did the situation itself, with cities being destroyed and people dying, not give him any pleasure as a person or as a business executive, but I had pulled him out of his own wedding!

- Mr Stark, the director of Shields, wants to contact you. He says it's urgent.

- Tell him I'm a little busy," Tony replied, turning one of the ugly Chitauri into a mincemeat of shards of armour and meat with a swipe of his hand.

The turrets on his shoulders automatically tracked the targets and left holes in their foreheads. And the shrunken drones he always had with him flew out and, enlarged, helped Tony fight, as well as trying to connect to the spaceship's systems. Which was quite a challenge, as the Chitauri had fought many species and races before, and so their hacker base was so large and efficient that it gave even Jarvis trouble. And Jarvis himself was ignorant of the internal structure of both software and "hardware". Even the code's number system could be completely different - ternary, quaternary, and hell knows what else.

- No, it wouldn't work that way, it would take too long.

Grabbing another alien, Tony opened his visors, making it easier to legilimensionalise. Tony wasn't worried about the chitauri's well-being, so he gutted its brain, crushing its mind and tearing its mental shell apart. Squeamishly tossing the vegetable corpse aside, Tony grimaced at the headache. Alien minds were hard enough to read as it was, and the Chitauri were semi-intelligent, trained to wield weapons, shoot and kill. They were more animals, subject to instinct, than actually intelligent individuals. They didn't care about anything but war and obeying the strong. The leaders bred them from test tubes and brainwashed them for loyalty to the leader and lack of self-preservation instinct.. That's why they were more like bio-robots with stitched heads. However, even their meagre knowledge was enough for Tony to understand the approximate structure of the ship and where their controls were located.

Anger overwhelmed Tony. Avada Kedavra, the curse that kills, was never his forte, as he could never wholeheartedly wish for someone's death.. But now it came out easily. Sickles, fireballs, beams of plasma and light flew out of the sped up Stark at such a rate that his trek from the hangar to the control room was one continuous beam of multi-coloured light and the incessant sounds of carnage. The bridge had known of Tony's invasion, but no one had expected him to reach it in a moment, and so no one had been prepared for the appearance of a purple blood and flesh-covered, armour-clad, angry Stark.

Tony didn't know one thing. The Titans, besides an innate pride that wasn't particularly noticeable against his own, had a keen sense of justice. And that sense fitted perfectly with the psychological withdrawal he'd undergone in Afghanistan. And now his sensuality was resonating with the rest of his soul, and Tony didn't even notice that he was releasing the avads with his bare hands instead of a concentrator. After all, Jarvis had shown Tony the results of the invasion, and they were horrible. If in Russia, China, the United States and the European Union, where there is a powerful army and non-humans in government service, everything was not so bad, although there were hundreds of victims, in the poorer countries was a real genocide. And, as Stark pointed out, Wakanda did not help its race brothers much, defending only its own territory. Black racists turned out to be racist even towards their own tribesmen. But Tony did not divide people by colour, creed or orientation. He looked at the core of a person. An asshole was still an asshole, regardless of race or species. However, these thoughts flashed briefly in his sped up mind.

Tony quickly identified the headman, which was easy. He was of a different species. Dressed in a purple hood, he held a golden staff in his hand. Tony wouldn't even talk to him. The astral reflection of his soul alone told him how much shit he'd done. Not only was it full of darkness, but most disgustingly, it was rotten. So Tony gutted his brain just the same... And he almost threw up.

He realised what the leader of the Chitauri, the mad Thanos, who wasn't with them, was doing. He and his army were wiping out half the population of every species he met, arguing that there weren't enough resources in the universe for everyone. That's nonsense, though. Not only were there millions of times fewer inhabited planets than uninhabited ones, but the fucked-up purple big guy, who looked like the Hulk, didn't make any allowances for sparse and multi populated species, for those that thrived and those that survived. He could easily halve a surviving species of a thousand individuals and a few tens of billions. Allegedly, it's fair and just.

Fortunately, the Chitauri had not come here to reap the harvest, but to fulfil a certain duty to a certain Loki. The leader did not know the details and simply followed orders without thinking. But the order was simple - to take over the Earth. And only after that Tony found a video on the Internet, which no one would believe. Some smarmy deer in a horned helmet trying to bring the UN assembly to its knees. This incident happened just this morning, and the news had no sooner broken than the invasion began. And it was this same deer that opened the portals in Earth's orbit for the army to come through.

After ordering Jarvis to find the bastard, Tony also handed over the keys and codes to connect to the ship's major computer. With them, the hacking process didn't take a second, so soon all the internal defences were destroying the Chitauri themselves, and the dreadnought itself took off and fly away from the populous metropolis. By the way, the command keys allowed to give orders to the rest of the Chitauri, whose loyalty and performance, together with their limited intelligence, were playing against them at the moment. After giving the order to retreat and return to orbit, Stark gathered them all together and, using both his defence satellites and the dreadnought's many cannons and missiles, reduced them to dust, reduced them to atoms by plasma and annihilation blasts. Otherwise, catch them in groups or one by one. There was a quiet pop behind him, and Tony turned round to see Jean, who, unlike him, who looked like a demon from hell, was perfectly clean. The self-cleaning charms had kicked in, though, and removed all the blood.

- I knew it was you. Taking away a girl's toys, aren't you ashamed? I was just getting the hang of it.

- People died, and you're kidding me? Or did you have to let them die so you could play with them?

- Serious Tony Stark? I don't like it," the girl sighed, shaking out her fiery red hair. - I'm sorry, but even through the mental blocks, I've been hearing people's pain, so I'm on edge right now.

- So am I. And I've said before that I don't like to be serious. Because that's when someone dies," Tony answered her glumly. - I also have some bad news....

Stark transmitted with a mental packet everything he had learnt about Thanos and the fact that he was collecting some artefacts of astronomical power. That's what prompted the invasion of Earth.

- So what are we going to do?

Tony noticed the girl did not say "you" as before, but "we". She was no longer separating herself from him. And in principle, that was a good thing. He quickly watched Jin's battle with the Chitauri... Well, as a battle, a massacre. And the scene was so cinematic that it was worthy of being included in a Hollywood blockbuster. From different angles it was possible to see how a beautiful girl in scarlet armour, who appeared out of the air above the White House, moved with the help of a port-key, hovered in the air and spread her arms to the sides like a saint. The Chitauri and Leviathans then literally exploded from within, and it pulverised their vehicles and armour to dust within a two kilometre radius. Jin looked like a bloody angel against the bloody purple rain that dripped around her as if afraid of touching her sacred body, aided by the streams of flame that burst out of her, resurrecting and healing the injured. Then the rubble of houses, tarmac, and other destruction reassembled itself, as if I had rewound the film. Jin did this both by telekinesis and with the help of an artefact with powerful restoration charms, which was powered by a reactor from the moon.

- First, let's clean up this mess. We should help the victims, discover the culprit, and reconstruct what was destroyed.. And then," Tony clenched his fist so tightly that the vibrantium glove of his armour bent. - We'll get ready.