Chapter 131 A Moment of Crisis!

Manhattan, New York – TCRI Laboratory Building.

Under the leadership of Shredder, who had escaped from prison, The Foot Clan alien invasion plan was proceeding at a breakneck pace.

Boom!Suddenly, the skies changed dramatically.

A blue energy beam shot skyward from a device on the top floor of the TCRI building, exploding within the clouds above Manhattan and rippling across the sky.

The clouds, affected by the energy beam, rapidly expanded, darkened, and swirled into a vortex.

At the center of the vortex, it seemed as though another dimension was opening, ready to unleash something onto the world.

Crack! Crack!

Fierce flashes of lightning and blue energy streaked through the darkened clouds.

The entire city of New York could feel the unnatural atmosphere. Hearts raced, and an inexplicable sense of dread gripped the citizens.

Looking up at the expanding clouds originating from Manhattan and spreading over the entire city, the people of New York could feel a foreboding sense of doom about what was to come.

A Hotel Room.

Nick Fury, hearing the commotion outside, looked through his window at the stormy sky. He saw the indescribable, terrifying energy converging above.

Just as Phil had previously warned, a spatial portal was being opened!

And behind this portal was an alien force that was impossible to believe—but undeniable nonetheless.

"The Teleportation Beacon!"

Nick Fury face darkened.

He realized that the situation had escalated into the worst-case scenario he had feared. At this point, any action against The Foot Clan might already be too late.

The Foot Clan decision to take such extreme measures within just a few hours had completely exceeded Fury expectations.

"Found it!"

Natasha burst into the room, her expression grim, and approached Fury.

"TCRI Laboratory," she reported. "We've pinpointed the location of the energy release—it coming from the TCRI building!"

"Deploy all agents," Fury ordered gravely. "Shut down the Teleportation Beacon and stop The Foot Clan from bringing aliens to Earth!"

He paused before continuing. "Also, notify Tony. New York is under threat, and S.H.I.E.L.D. needs his support."

"Understood!"

Natasha nodded. "Hawkeye is already en route, and Coulson is gathering reinforcements to launch a coordinated assault on TCRI…"

She hesitated for a moment before adding, "Should we contact Anton?"

Contact Anton?

Fury immediately understood Natasha implication: they were considering asking Batman for help.

To ensure success, it made sense to inform Batman of the situation.

Although, judging by the magnitude of the event, even if they didn't notify Batman, he was unlikely to remain unaware of the crisis unfolding in New York.

After all, it was Batman who had first provided S.H.I.E.L.D. with intelligence about the aliens.

"No need," Fury said after a brief moment of thought, shaking his head. "If S.H.I.E.L.D. can handle this, there no reason for Batman to intervene. But if we can't, Batman won't stand idly by."

"Understood!"

Natasha followed his orders, then found Coulson and rallied all available agents in New York.

The team quickly piled into their vehicles and sped toward the TCRI building at full throttle.

Meanwhile, at the TCRI Laboratory Building:

"We did it!"

Shredder expression was manic.

Watching the Teleportation Beacon successfully operate, he could already see the scene in his mind: General Rang using his war fortress to conquer Earth, with Shredder rising to dominate the globe.

"Yes, we succeeded!"

Stockman chimed in, his face just as exhilarated as Shredder.

"Once the energy reaches its peak, the space-time gate will fully open, allowing the war fortress to cross over. The sight will be magnificent."

Stockman laughed wildly. "This is my miracle. Galileo, Newton, Einstein—they pale in comparison to what happening here. From now on, I will be the most prominent figure in the history of science!"

Shredder glanced at him but said nothing.

Boom!

Above them, the dark clouds grew even thicker, lightning flashing incessantly.

Under the terrified gaze of onlookers, the blue energy converged into a single point before exploding outward in all directions.

Boom!

The shockwave, accompanying the energy explosion, formed a gust of wind that swept through every corner of New York.

The Hudson River surged with massive waves.

Nearby coastal areas saw waves reaching heights of tens of meters.

Cruise ships rocked violently, and passengers on board looked terrified.

Everyone could see that something was emerging from the swirling clouds in the vortex above.

"It starting!"

Shredder watched the changes in the clouds, knowing that the components of the war fortress were arriving on Earth piece by piece, merging into a whole.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Alarms blared throughout the TCRI Laboratory.

"Someone broken in!"

The female ninja Karai, hearing the alarm, checked the surveillance footage and saw a man armed with a bow and arrow swiftly cutting through the building interior.

The Foot Clan guards stood no chance against him.

"Master Shredder!"

Karai expression turned grim. "We've been exposed. Batman might come here, and those four turtles…"

"Don't panic!"

Shredder, his face impassive, glanced at two vials of purple liquid. "These are serums given to me by General Rang. They grant superhuman abilities."

"Uh…"

Stockman shook his head. "I'm just a researcher. You don't expect me to fight, do you?"

"Don't we already have test subjects?"

Shredder sneered.

He turned his gaze toward two petty criminals who had been in the same prison cell with him and had been inadvertently transported to the TCRI Laboratory alongside the Teleportation Beacon.

Bebop and Rocksteady.

These two would become the rhino and warthog mutants familiar from the Ninja Turtles' lore.

Watching this unfold through Cyborg perspective, Anton smirked, a hint of nostalgia in his expression.

Fate had a funny way of working.

With just a little nudge from Anton, the story seemed to follow the path he remembered.

Soon enough…

Hawkeye had effortlessly cleared the enemies on the first floor and was about to take the elevator to the top when he was met with two towering, bipedal creatures charging at him with thunderous momentum.

To be fair, calling them "monsters" would be slightly inaccurate.

More precisely, they were "animals."

"A rhino? A boar?"

His eyes widened, feeling as though he had somehow wandered into a zoo.

The boar and the rhino sprinted toward him with superhuman speed, their footsteps causing the ground to quake and crack under their weight.

The next moment, the two creatures delivered a ferocious head-on charge at Hawkeye.

Bang!

Hawkeye was sent flying, like a discarded ragdoll, smashing through the wall behind him and landing sprawled out on the street outside.

At that moment, several black cars approached.

Screech!

The sound of screeching tires filled the air as the vehicles came to an abrupt halt, leaving black skid marks on the ground.

Hawkeye eyes widened as Natasha stepped out of one of the cars, glancing down at him.

"I'll pretend I didn't see that," she said, surveying the scene as the other agents exited their vehicles, all carefully avoiding eye contact.

"Ahem!"

Hawkeye coughed, knowing he had just made a complete fool of himself.

"The enemies are… no joke," he managed to grunt through gritted teeth.

Boom!

The rhino and boar burst through the wall Hawkeye had smashed, stepping onto the sidewalk with twin jets of steam puffing from their massive nostrils.

"Uh, yeah… no joke," Natasha muttered, momentarily stunned.

She had not anticipated that Hawkeye "not simple" assessment referred to this.

In recent times, New York seemed to have turned into a veritable zoo.

Bats, spiders, turtles, lizards, octopuses—and according to S.H.I.E.L.D. detailed investigations, even rats—had all made appearances.

And now, here were a rhino and a boar.

What was it with people turning into animals? Was the mutant trend really this popular now?

A flurry of absurd thoughts flashed through Natasha mind before she snapped back to reality. She quickly waved at the agents around her.

"Move quickly!"

Her voice was firm. "We don't have much time!"

"Understood!"

TCRI Laboratory Building

Interior, Top Floor.

Eddie, hidden in a small corner, watched everything unfold with keen interest, marveling at the appearance of Rhino and Boar.

However, it wasn't his time to act.

Having discussed the plan in detail with Anton, Eddie knew the full scope of what was in motion.

Anton was certain that S.H.I.E.L.D. had no chance of defeating The Foot Clan.

With General Rang alien assistance, even just Rhino and Boar were enough to give S.H.I.E.L.D. a serious headache—let alone the war fortress entering Earth piece by piece.

Eddie calm demeanor stemmed from the fact that everything was going exactly as Anton had predicted.

At this moment, Cyborg was monitoring the entire New York City network and communicating with Eddie through a Bluetooth earpiece.

"I've already infiltrated the war fortress central database. Once it fully enters Earth, I'll take control of it from General Rang," Cyborg instructed Eddie. "For now, stay put and let S.H.I.E.L.D. deal with The Foot Clan. When they hit a wall, that when we make our move. It time for all of New York—and the world—to know about the Justice League."

"Relax. I'm way more reliable than Phil," Eddie replied, patting his chest confidently.

It worth mentioning that Anton hadn't hidden the events in Brazil from Eddie.

While Eddie didn't fully approve of Cyborg "eliminate witnesses" approach, he understood that Cyborg actions were ultimately to rescue Phil.

Let not forget—Phil was Eddie protégé.

Eddie chose to accept the reality.

After all, it was Cyborg who eliminated the witnesses, not Batman or Anton, so it had little to do with them.

From the perspective of their team, Cyborg decision was the right one.

Of course, as far as Anton was concerned, it didn't matter whether Eddie liked Cyborg or not.

As teammates, personality clashes weren't the issue. What mattered was their ability to follow orders and work together.

"Eddie, this is Anton."

Suddenly, Anton voice came through Eddie Bluetooth earpiece.

"Eddie here, loud and clear!"

"Leave the TCRI building immediately. Cyborg has detected Tony Stark entering the New York area and heading straight for your location," Anton instructed. "Tony AI, J.A.R.V.I.S., is trying to access TCRI network. It might detect your presence. You've done enough. Join us when it time to take the stage. For now, leave the fight to them."

"Understood!"

Eddie nodded.

The next moment, Venom extended a tendril from Eddie back, snaking through a partially open window. With a leap from nearly 200 meters up, Eddie plummeted.

Whoosh!

During the fall, Eddie remained expressionless, even appearing to enjoy it.

At the critical moment, a tendril shot out like a bullet, latching onto the rooftop of another building. Like Spider-Man web, it pulled Eddie safely to the rooftop.

Moments later, Eddie vanished from the area.

Whoosh!

A few minutes after Eddie left, a red shadow streaked like lightning across the sky, arriving near the building.

"The Foot Clan members. Their leader, Shredder. Female ninja Karai. Creator of the Teleportation Beacon, Dr. Baxter Stockman. They're all inside the building."

J.A.R.V.I.S. voice echoed inside Tony armor.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are attacking the building, but a rhino and a boar are blocking their way."

"A rhino? A boar?"

Tony froze, watching the footage J.A.R.V.I.S. projected onto his virtual display. His lips twitched in disbelief.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of New York Zoo Syndrome.

Boom!

Above, pieces of the war fortress began drifting through the vortex, crossing the space-time gate and hovering near him.

"So this is alien tech?"

Tony muttered to himself, a mixture of curiosity and concern creeping into his tone.

Alien invasion.

This was a global catastrophe in the making, on a completely different scale from anything before.

Compared to this, past events involving villains like the Green Goblin, the Lizard, or Doctor Octopus were mere child play.

"Try connecting to the alien network," Tony instructed, narrowing his eyes as he noticed what appeared to be a network interface on one of the floating components. "Decrypt the data… I want to know what this is all about!"

Moments later, streams of data appeared before him.

"War Fortress…"

Tony muttered, his expression growing increasingly grim. "An alien warship… its commander is named Rang."

Ring, ring!

His musings were interrupted by an incoming call from Nick Fury.

"Tony, what your status?"

Once connected, Fury serious voice came through. "S.H.I.E.L.D. assault is being stalled. You need to shut down the space-time gate as soon as possible."

"I'm on it," Tony replied curtly, ending the call.

Thanks to J.A.R.V.I.S. monitoring, he knew that the majority of the war fortress components had already crossed into Earth and were on the verge of assembling.

Time was running out. There was no room for delays.

Whoosh!

Jets of air blasted from behind him.

Tony shot downward like a falling meteor, aiming for the floor where Shredder was located.

Boom!

But just as he was about to reach that floor, a beam of energy from the sky struck him squarely.

"Damn it!"

Tony face darkened as his armor lost power, sending him plummeting from nearly 200 meters above.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents below watched his descent with alarm, fearing that one of their most powerful allies was about to crash and burn.

Fortunately, Tony managed to regain control of his suit just before hitting the ground, pulling himself back up into the sky.

This time, he aimed directly at the nearly complete war fortress above.

J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him that all the war fortress components had crossed the space-time gate and entered Earth.

Shutting down the Teleportation Beacon now was futile.

The key lay in taking down the alien controlling the war fortress.

"Rang!"

Tony muttered under his breath as he charged into the circular war fortress, drawing the attention of everyone watching.

Inside, the alien Rang, hidden within the robot he had created, sneered at the sight of Iron Man bursting into his domain.

Boom!

An energy blast struck Tony, sending him flying out of the war fortress with the same force he had used to enter.

How he entered was how he exited.

The sight left not just the citizens of New York but also the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents watching stunned and speechless. Their expressions shifted from shock to helplessness, and finally, to despair.

"Batman!"

"Where Batman?"

The people of New York suddenly remembered the caped figure with the pointed ears.

Since the Green Goblin incident, Batman had been conspicuously absent from the public eye.

Recent headlines had been dominated by Cyborg, Iron Man, and Green Arrow.

But where was Batman?

In this moment of crisis, would he show up?