[A/N]: We finally hit the goal of 350 Power Stones, so here's your second bonus chapter as promised! The next goal is 500 power stones for TWO more bonus chapters! Stay tuned and thanks for the support!
Manhattan
The hologram of Clint's death replayed on holograms across the city. Loki had made sure of that. The archer's body, the blood pooling, the casual way the god had twisted his scepter. Over and over. A message written in a good man's blood.
Natasha saw it three times before her brain caught up with her body. She stood in the middle of a war zone, completely still, as a Chitauri soldier raised its weapon and fired.
The blast should've killed her, but Jones crashed into her from the side, tackling her behind a burned-out car. The energy blast scorched the asphalt where Natasha had been standing.
"Hey! Eyes up!" Jessica shook her shoulders. "I know. I saw. But if you die too, what good does that do?"
Natasha's eyes were empty. "He's gone. Clint's gone. I couldn't... I wasn't there. I couldn't save him."
"So save someone else!" Jessica grabbed her face, forcing eye contact. "There are people still alive who need you! Grieve later! Fight now!"
Another energy blast hit the car. Metal shrieked. Jessica pulled Natasha up and flew them both to better cover, bullets and plasma fire following their path.
All across Manhattan, the reaction rippled outward.
Baxter Building - Fortified Position
Frank Castle stood at the building's main entrance wearing a prototype mech-suit Reed had designed months ago. The suit was bulkier than Tony's, less elegant, built for one purpose: maximum firepower.
He'd watched Clint die on the security monitors. Watched a good man get murdered for theater.
Frank's jaw tightened. His hands clenched on the suit's controls.
Then he turned back to his post.
"Not going anywhere, Doc."
The Chitauri were massing for another push. Three dozen soldiers, maybe more. Frank's targeting systems locked on. His finger hovered over the trigger.
"Nobody gets past me while your wife's having that baby."
The mech-suit's shoulder-mounted cannons swiveled as missiles launched. The Chitauri advance became a fireball, body parts and burning metal raining down.
Frank reloaded. Checked his ammunition count and canned for the next wave.
"Nobody."
Behind the reinforced doors, Sue Storm screamed through another contraction. Reed held her hand while Jay performed the delivery. They were safe.
Because Frank Castle had made a promise. And Frank Castle kept his promises.
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District X - Bunker Entrance
Bobby's voice crackled through Callisto's comm again. "Callisto, we've got civilian vehicles coming in from downtown! They're being herded by police, but the Chitauri are following!"
"How many civilians?"
"At least three thousand. Maybe more."
Callisto looked at the bunker entrance. People were already packed in tight, shoulder to shoulder. The air circulation system wasn't designed for this many. But leaving people outside meant death.
"Send them. We'll make room."
She turned to the Morlocks. "Double time! Everyone inside! Move the supply pallets, stack 'em higher! We're getting three thousand more!"
Marrow wiped blue blood from her bone blades. "We're running out of space down there. People are gonna panic."
"Then Beautiful Dreamer keeps them calm! We don't leave people to die because we're uncomfortable!" Callisto's eye blazed. "We're Morlocks! We survived the sewers! We can survive being crowded!"
Sparks called down from her guard tower, voice high with fear. "Callisto! Three big ones! Coming fast!"
Three Leviathans descended toward District X, their massive forms blotting out the sun. The automated defenses activated immediately. Repulsor cannons and missiles streaked upward, tearing chunks from the creatures' armor. But they kept coming, kept descending, jaws opening to reveal rows of teeth and weapon ports.
"Fall back!" Callisto ordered. "Get to secondary positions! We can't fight those things head-on!"
The Morlocks retreated behind reinforced barriers. Marrow's bone blades extended further, sharper. Anole's scales hardened. Sack positioned himself to shield the bunker entrance with his bulk. They were ready to die defending this place.
They didn't have to.
The sky exploded with lightning.
Storm descended like judgment itself, eyes glowing pure white, wind and rain responding to her fury. "YOU DARE THREATEN THESE PEOPLE? YOU DARE ATTACK THOSE UNDER MY PROTECTION?"
Lightning didn't just strike. It obliterated. Bolts thicker than telephone poles crashed into the Leviathans, cooking them from the inside out. The creatures roared, trying to flee, but Storm was relentless. She called down the storm's full wrath.
One Leviathan died burning, crashing into an abandoned warehouse. Another turned to retreated, but Storm pursued it, lightning chasing it across the sky until it fell. The third turned to fight.
Behind Storm, the rest of the X-Men arrived.
Cyclops' optic blast carved through a Leviathan's armor. Colossus grabbed Chitauri soldiers and threw them into each other. Wolverine... Wolverine just killed everything that came close, claws covered with blue blood and face twisted in savage fury.
"They killed Barton!" Logan roared, gutting a Chitauri soldier. "They killed a good man! They're gonna pay for that!"
But even with the X-Men, even with Storm's power, the Chitauri kept coming. For every one they killed, two more poured through the portal.
Callisto watched from the bunker entrance as three thousand more civilians rushed toward safety, Chitauri chariots screaming after them. "COVER THEM! COVER THE CIVILIANS!"
The Morlocks moved. Marrow's bone spears flew like javelins, puncturing chariot engines. Anole leaped onto a Chitauri soldier, claws tearing. Even young Sparks, terrified but determined, called lightning from the power grid to fry alien vehicles.
They saved most of them.
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