"Gentlemen, we need to move immediately. We cannot allow Loki to succeed."
Nick Fury clapped his hands and glanced at Tony, who already looked eager to spring into action.
"We need someone to head to Stark Tower at once to confirm the situation.
Everyone else, be ready to deploy at any moment. Keep the jets on standby at the flight deck."
"I'll handle the arrangements," Deputy Director Maria Hill replied decisively.
"That bastard—I'm heading to Stark Tower right now," Tony said without hesitation. After all, it was his building. There was no way he could stay uninvolved.
After leaving those words behind, he immediately activated his armor and shot off in a hurry.
"I'll go with Stark," Thor said, swinging Mjolnir and taking flight as well.
Nick Fury suddenly frowned. "Where's Coulson? Why can't we reach him?"
"According to communicator tracking, Agent Coulson should be in the warehouse," a technician replied after typing rapidly on the keyboard.
"Send someone to check," Nick said calmly.
A few minutes later, Coulson appeared in front of Nick Fury.
"So, you were knocked out and slept in the warehouse for dozens of minutes?" Nick raised an eyebrow as he looked at Coulson rubbing the back of his neck.
Internally, however, he felt a slight sense of relief—at least nothing serious had happened.
Coulson nodded and reported everything in detail: how he had gone to the warehouse to retrieve a weapon and encountered the man called Illusion Dream.
"Should we ask Tony? Maybe he knows something about this Illusion Dream," Coulson suggested.
Nick pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"That can wait. Our top priority right now is stopping Loki's plan. Otherwise, the entire Earth could be in danger. Compared to that, everything else can be dealt with later."
"I understand," Coulson replied with a nod.
"Immediately mobilize all of our agents in New York and have them ready to support the Avengers. And get me Frank," Nick Fury ordered, using every bit of authority and force at his disposal to prepare for the coming crisis.
"A new era is about to begin. Midgard will soon welcome its absolute ruler."
Standing atop Stark Tower, Loki looked down upon New York, gazing at the activated portal device with ambition and exhilaration.
"As long as we're here, you won't succeed," Tony said, flying into the air above Stark Tower, long streams of exhaust trailing behind his armor.
"Loki, stop now—before irreversible damage is done. There's still time," Thor urged as he arrived, gripping Mjolnir.
"You're too late. The portal has already begun activating," Loki said smugly, shaking his head.
Just as he said, the Tesseract within the device suddenly trembled, releasing a towering beam of energy straight into the sky, tearing open in space itself.
Under the sustained output of the Tesseract's spatial energy, the rift continued to expand. Through the portal, both Thor and Tony could clearly see the dark universe beyond—and the countless, densely packed Chitauri fleets waiting on the other side.
"Damn it!" Tony cursed, immediately firing his armor's energy cannon at maximum power toward the device, trying to destroy it and shut down the portal.
However, the full-powered blast was effortlessly blocked by a thin, pale-blue energy shield surrounding the machine. It didn't even produce the slightest ripple.
"It's useless," Loki said confidently. "Once the device is activated, the Tesseract's energy forms a protective shield. You'll never break through it."
"A shield formed by the Tesseract's energy… that's not something that can be broken easily," Thor said grimly. Being familiar with the Tesseract's power—once belonging to Asgard—he knew just how troublesome it was.
At that moment, large numbers of Chitauri soldiers began flying out of the portal on their hovercrafts. The instant they emerged, they unleashed indiscriminate fire on everything around them.
"Shut down the portal now, or I swear I'll make you regret it," Tony demanded, aiming his weapons at Loki.
He immediately fired his palm repulsor—only to hit empty air, blasting a massive crater into the rooftop of Stark Tower instead.
It was clearly just an illusion.
Perhaps Loki had been an illusion from the start. Or perhaps he had already slipped away unnoticed.
Either way, it no longer mattered.
Tony glanced at the mind-controlled Dr. Erik Selvig nearby.
"Thor, break Selvig's brainwashing first. See if he knows how to shut the portal down."
"We need to stop the Chitauri forces first," Tony added.
Leaving those words behind, he immediately charged toward the Chitauri, unloading all of his micro-missiles at the invading fleet.
Thor used his divine power to release Selvig from Loki's control, instructed him to find a way to stop the device, then swung Mjolnir and summoned massive bolts of lightning that crashed down upon the Chitauri.
"Tony, what's the situation?"
Steve, Kent, Hawkeye, and Natasha arrived aboard a Quinjet and immediately contacted Tony.
"Not good," Tony replied urgently, dodging enemy fire while blasting apart several Chitauri craft.
"Loki has already opened the portal. The Chitauri are invading New York. And the device is protected by a Tesseract energy shield—it can't be destroyed, so we can't shut the portal down."
"We need to draw the Chitauri's attention and lure them into open areas. Buy time for civilian evacuation," Steve said.
Transforming into Kuuga, he leapt straight out of the Quinjet.
With a single, unrestrained punch, he sent a Chitauri soldier flying.
"Chief, something major is happening at Stark Tower in Manhattan. There are heavy civilian casualties, and officers are requesting backup," a police officer reported with a strange expression at NYPD headquarters.
George Stacy frowned. "Another Grongi incident? Or a terrorist attack?"
"It's an alien invasion."
"Aliens?!" George stood up abruptly. "This isn't April Fools' Day!"
But after watching the live footage from the scene, he fell silent.
Gaia Memories, Grongi—fine.
But now even aliens?!
"Immediately contact all nearby police units for support and begin evacuating civilians.
Deploy the G3 squad to the scene," George ordered.
No matter how unbelievable it seemed, he still issued the correct response without hesitation.
(End of Chapter)