The city was a war zone.
Flames devoured entire streets as cars exploded one after another, sending shockwaves that rattled glass high above. Civilians ran in every direction with some screaming, some too stunned to move at the disaster as shadows of winged insectoids passed over them. The air was thick with smoke and terror; the skies, alive with the shrill cries of alien beasts descending from the breach above.
News helicopters hovered desperately between the chaos, their spotlights cutting through the haze as panicked voices filled the airwaves.
"We're getting reports of heavy casualties across midtown!" one broadcaster shouted, his voice cracking through static. "Military forces are en route—wait, we're—oh my God—"
The feed snapped. The camera fell from the helicopter, spinning downward until it shattered on the asphalt.
Below, the Avengers were already knee-deep in the fray.
Captain America slammed his shield into one insectoid's skull, its green ichor spraying across the pavement. "Keep the line tight!" he barked through the comms. "Don't let them overrun the evac zones!"
"Easy for you to say, Cap!" Clint's voice came through, strained but sharp. "Some of us don't have an indestructible frisbee!"
High above, perched atop a half-collapsed skyscraper, Hawkeye fired one arrow after another explosive tips, acid tips, anything that could tear through chitin. "I'm almost out of trick arrows here! Somebody wanna come up with a plan before we're all bug food?"
"Tony gotta be working on it!" Natasha shouted, vaulting from a flipped truck and landing in a crouch. Two taser batons crackled in her hands as she struck an insectoid across the neck, rolling beneath another and shooting it clean through the mandibles. She looked up at the sky, breathing heavily. "That one's not even moving."
Ravenous hovered high above the skyline, gaze fixed on the chaos below. His expression was neither anger nor excitement just cold indifference, as if he were watching an inevitable conclusion unfold.
"We're wasting time," Natasha hissed, reloading. "As long as he's there, they'll keep coming."
"Then we find a way to cut them off!" Cap shouted. "We close that portal, and the rest follow!"
"I'm on it!"
A flash of light streaked past as Iron Man rocketed through the smoke, the sonic boom shattering what little glass was left in the nearby buildings. He spun sharply, deploying laser arrays from his gauntlets.
"Jarvis, full scan, I want a reading on that thing's power source."
"Analyzing, sir," came the calm response. "However, the invading army's numbers have increased by approximately thirty percent since last report."
Tony groaned. "So we're playing defense against a multiplying army. Great. Remind me why I never took a vacation."
He twisted midair, firing his shoulder rockets before unleashing a spinning laser burst, a brilliant ring of red that cut through the swarm in a full 360 arc. Dozens fell, their bodies burning as they crashed to the ground.
"Nice fireworks show, Stark," Clint said, ducking behind a billboard as energy bolts tore through the walls. "But we're still drowning down here!"
"Then start swimming!" Tony snapped back. "Cap, I'm picking up unstable readings coming from the Baxter Tower, that's ground zero for the energy surge! If I can get inside and reroute the field, we might stand a chance at closing that damn portal."
"Then move, Stark!" Steve called back, raising his shield just as an insectoid crashed into him. The two slammed through a café window, and Cap drove the shield straight into its chest before it could rise again. "We'll keep them busy."
"On it!"
———-
Amid the chaos, Spider-Man swung through the smoke-filled canyons between buildings. His webline snapped taut as he yanked a mother and her child out of the path of a crashing car, landing them safely on a nearby ledge.
"Okay, okay deep breaths, folks! Nothing to worry about, just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in the middle of an alien invasion! Totally normal Tuesday!"
He leapt backward, firing twin webs at two insectoids before slamming them together midair. "Ugh, man, I am so done with interdimensional bugs!"
He swung up again, dodging a collapsing billboard. "Mr. Stark, any chance you've got a big red OFF switch for that portal thingy? Asking for, uh everyone."
"Working on it, kid," Tony's voice replied, static buzzing through the comms. "But if you could keep the casualties to a minimum, that'd be great."
"Yeah, I'll just add that to the to-do list right under 'don't die!'"
Spider-Man webbed another creature to a lamppost before slingshotting himself toward a nearby rooftop, narrowly avoiding an energy blast that turned the entire side of a building into molten slag. He landed, panting, as the tower above him groaned and began to tilt.
"Aw, come on!" he groaned, launching rapid-fire webs to hold the structure upright just long enough for the trapped civilians to escape through the shattered lobby doors. "Go, go, go! The building's not part of the rent deal!"
——————-
Outskirts of the City
Thunder rolled as fighter jets screamed across the skyline, weaving through clouds of smoke. Ground forces moved below with tanks, APCs, and squads of soldiers. Their combined firepower shaking the section.
"This is Eagle-One, locking on targets," a pilot said through the comms, voice tight. "We're not making a dent in these things!"
"Keep your distance," another responded. "Form up on my six. We're going for a strafing run."
The jets dove together, missiles streaking through the air before exploding among the swarms. Green fireballs lit the horizon, insectoid bodies tumbling earthward.
"Splash confirmed," Eagle-Two said. "That's a few less nightmares to deal with."
But the radar blipped again with hundreds of new contacts.
"You gotta be kidding me…"
A sudden flash appeared and one jet took a hit.
"I'm hit! I'm hit!" the pilot yelled, alarms blaring. "Hydraulics failing, ejecting!"
He pulled the lever. The canopy exploded upward as the seat launched into the sky but a green beam lanced through him before his parachute could open, leaving only ash.
"Eagle-One's gone!" another voice roared. "Taking the shot!"
Missiles streaked toward the insectoid that fired the beam but another blast came from above, vaporizing the jet before it could bank away.
"Command, we're losing them!"
——————
Military Command Center — Washington
The air inside was tense, filled with voices and the hum of monitors. Generals stood around a wide table, faces pale as the feeds showed explosions lighting up the city.
"This is a disaster," one growled. "We're losing control of the entire sector!"
"Protocol Seven!" another snapped. "We have to consider it now!"
"That's a goddamn nuclear strike!"
"It may be our only chance before this spreads!"
Fury's face filled one of the main screens, jaw locked. "Sir, I advise against that measure. There are still millions of civilians down there."
"Director Fury," a councilman said coldly. "You heard what that blue creature said. This planet will burn. If we lose containment here, the rest of the world follows."
Fury's tone darkened. "And you think nuking New York is containment? Not on my watch."
"Then give us results, Director," another councilman hissed. "Because so far, your Avengers have failed to stop a single wave."
Fury leaned closer to the screen, his voice low. "You sit behind your polished desks while my people bleed on the ground. You want results? Let me do my job. Or you'll have more than one war on your hands."
————-
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier
Fury cut the feed and exhaled sharply, muttering, "Cowardly motherfu—"
"Sir!" Mariah Hill rushed in, tablet in hand. "There's been a development!"
Fury turned, eye narrowing. "What kind of development? How much worse has it gotten already?"
"That's the thing, sir," she said, handing over the tablet. "It hasn't gotten worse. All the invading forces outside the city… are dead."
Fury blinked. "Come again?"
"Every sector. From Jersey to the outer bridges. Drones confirm thousands of corpses floating in rivers, piled in streets. All dead."
He stared at the images and saw twisted, mangled insectoid bodies scattered across landscapes, their armor crushed inward as if something had torn through them with impossible force.
"What the hell…" he muttered.
Fury lowered the tablet slowly, eyes fixed on the screen showing the breach still burning above the city.
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