[A/N]: You absolute mad lads 🤯🔥 you actually pulled it off. We hit 500 Power Stones and yeah I guess that means two bonus chapters. So here's your first one 💥
The second one's coming tomorrow okay just let me write it up first 😵💫✍️ don't come for me just yet. You guys are insane and I love it 💙
SHIELD Helicarrier - Bridge
Nick Fury watched the mothership emerge on the main screen. His jaw was tight, his remaining eye tracking the impossible numbers of enemy combatants.
"Director," Hill said quietly. "The World Security Council is demanding... they want to authorize a nuclear strike on Manhattan."
"Tell them no."
"Sir, with that mothership..."
"I said no!" Fury slammed his hand on the console. "We don't nuke our own cities because we're losing! We don't murder eight million people because aliens are winning! We find another way!"
"What other way?" Hill gestured at the screen. "We're outmatched. Outgunned. The heroes are exhausted. That thing is going to level Manhattan whether we like it or not. At least if we..."
"At least if we nuke it, we murder everyone Loki hasn't killed yet!" Fury's voice could cut steel. "At least we do his job for him! At least we prove him right that we're too weak to save ourselves! Is that what you want, Hill?"
She met his eye. "No, sir. But I also don't want to watch New York burn while we stand here arguing about impossible victories."
Fury turned back to the screen. The mothership was deploying troops. Thousands. More every second. The heroes below were being overwhelmed.
He pulled out a pager from his coat. Old technology. Ancient by modern standards. But it had one function, one purpose. A device for summoning help when everything else had failed.
The pager was blue and red. A golden star symbol marked its face.
Fury had been saving this for years. Keeping it as his last resort. His ace in the hole for when the world was truly ending.
He pressed the button.
The signal launched. Through atmosphere, through space, through impossible distances. A beacon calling out to someone who'd once told him: "If you ever need me, really need me, use this. But only once. Make it count."
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Streets of Manhattan
Peter Parker crawled out from under a collapsed storefront. His makeshift red mask was torn. Harry's jacket was scorched and smoking. His entire body screamed pain. Three broken ribs, probably. Dislocated shoulder. Concussion for sure.
He'd been fighting for twenty minutes. Felt like twenty hours.
The evacuation shelter was three blocks away when the Chitauri had attacked. Gwen had grabbed his hand, trying to pull him inside.
"Peter, come on! We need to go!"
He'd pulled away. Couldn't look at her. Couldn't watch her face when he said what he had to say.
"I... I can't. Gwen, I can do things. Things I couldn't before."
"I know!" Her voice broke. "I saw you! You lifted us like we weighed nothing! You ran faster than cars! Peter, what happened to you?"
"The spider bite." Peter's hands shook. "It changed me. Made me different. And if I hide while people die, when I could've helped them..." His voice cracked. "Then it's my fault they died. Because I could've saved them and I didn't."
"Don't be a hero!" Tears streamed down her face. "It's not your job to save everyone! You're just one person! You're my friend and I don't want to lose you!"
Peter finally looked at her. Really looked at her. At the fear in her eyes. The desperation.
"When you can do the things that I can..." He swallowed hard. "When you can help people and you don't... and then the bad things happen..." He gestured at the chaos around them. At the burning buildings. At the screams. "They happen because of me. Because I could've stopped it but I was too scared."
Harry had been quiet through all of this. Then he pulled off his jacket and his beanie. "Here. Stay anonymous. And promise me you come back."
Peter nodded. Took the offered clothing. Looked at his two best friends one more time.
Then he ran into hell.
Now, twenty minutes later, he'd saved maybe thirty people. Pulled them from burning cars. Webbed up falling debris. Used his spider-sense to dodge attacks he had no business surviving.
But thirty people out of millions wasn't enough. Wasn't nearly enough.
A Chitauri soldier rounded the corner, weapon raised. Peter tried to dodge but his body wouldn't respond fast enough. Too slow. Too hurt. This was it.
Suddenly, adamantium claws punched through the alien's chest from behind.
Wolverine pulled his claws free, blue blood spraying. He looked at Peter, this kid in a torn mask and burned jacket, bleeding and broken but still standing.
"You've got grit, kid. But maybe leave it to the adults."
Peter didn't answer. Just webbed another piece of falling debris, saving someone below. Then he turned and launched himself at another Chitauri soldier without a word.
Logan watched him go. "Stubborn little..."
But he was grinning. Reminded him of someone. Someone who'd died too young, too brave, too damn stubborn to quit even when they should.
"Alright kid," Logan muttered. "Let's see if you survive this."
They fought side by side. The old soldier and the new hero. Both too stupid to quit.
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Stark Tower Rooftop
The Avengers assembled on the rooftop through pure chance.
Iron Man crash-landed first, armor sparking, repulsors barely functioning. JARVIS was screaming warnings about power levels, structural integrity, life support systems all failing simultaneously.
Captain America climbed up next, one arm hanging useless at his side. He'd taken a direct hit from a Chitauri weapon. The serum would heal it eventually. Eventually wasn't now.
Black Widow and Hulk arrived together. Natasha was conscious but barely, carried in the Hulk's massive hand. The green giant himself was wounded. Bleeding from dozens of cuts, moving slower than before, the rage that sustained him flickering under sheer exhaustion.
They stood in a loose circle, facing Loki, who remained untouched beneath his protective shields.
"The Avengers," Loki said mockingly. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Look at you. Broken. Defeated. Ready to kneel."
"We don't kneel," Steve rasped. "We don't submit. We fight until we can't anymore, and then we fight some more."
"Poetic." Loki raised his scepter. "But ultimately futile."
He attacked.
His illusions multiplied, making it impossible to tell which Loki was real. Tony's targeting systems couldn't lock on. Steve's tactical mind couldn't predict. Hulk smashed six Lokis before realizing they were all fake.
The real Loki struck from behind, scepter stabbing into Tony's arc reactor. The armor shut down completely. Tony hit the rooftop hard, suddenly wearing two hundred pounds of dead metal.
"Stark!" Steve threw his shield. It bounced off Loki's protective barrier without even scratching it.
Loki's next attack hit Steve, energy blast cratering his chest. The super soldier went down, blood bubbling from his lips.
Hulk charged. Loki simply stepped aside, let the Hulk's momentum carry him off the roof. The green giant fell six stories before crashing into the street below.
That left Natasha.
She was unarmed. Injured. Barely able to stand. Facing a god with unlimited power.
Loki approached her slowly, savoring his victory. "Any last words, spider?"
Natasha looked up at him. Her eyes were empty of everything except one truth. "Yeah. Clint was a better person than you'll ever be. And he died believing in something. What do you believe in?"
Loki's smile faltered. Just for a moment. Then he raised the scepter to end her.
The voice came from everywhere at once, filling the air itself with absolute certainty.
"That's enough!"
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