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Vargas glanced at the furious Thunder God Thor, then at the trembling legs on the ground.
"Sorry." He shrugged, the picture of innocence.
"He yelled at me."
"You—!!" Thor raised his hand to strike.
"Thor, stand down!" Captain America stepped in just in time.
"Steve," Thor snarled, lightning crackling over his hammer, "he attacked my brother!"
"Maybe look outside and see how many people your 'brother' has killed, Thor," Steve said coldly.
"Well… he's not blood," Thor muttered, lowering Mjolnir and shuffling aside in embarrassment.
Steve turned to Vargas, gratitude in his voice.
"Friend, we appreciate your help. But we need to know—who exactly are you? Are you one of Nick Fury's people?"
Vargas turned, flashing a warm, friendly smile.
"It was nothing, Captain Rogers."
"You know me?" Steve blinked.
"Of course," Vargas said, walking over and offering his hand.
"Steve Rogers, Captain America, hero of World War II. Your deeds are inspiring."
Steve took the hand; it was warm, strong, and radiated an almost palpable sense of justice.
"I'm—" Vargas began to introduce himself.
Nick Fury's urgent voice crackled through everyone's earpiece: "Stark, do you copy?"
"Those idiots! They've launched a nuke—headed straight for Manhattan!"
"How long?!" Stark paled.
"Three minutes tops; the warhead will vaporize midtown!"
"I've got it!" Tony spun and rocketed out the window. "Jarvis, reroute all remaining power to thrusters!"
"Tony, are you insane?!" Steve shouted.
"No choice!" Stark grabbed the missile and streaked toward the sky-bound portal.
"Jarvis, tell Pepper—"
"Such a touching sacrifice, Tony," Vargas's voice murmured suddenly beside Stark's ear.
Tony whipped his head around in horror: the "Superman" was flying backwards, keeping pace at even greater speed.
"Tony Stark," Vargas said gently, "you're a hero. You don't deserve to die here…"
"You…?"
"The people need you, Tony."
"And I…" Vargas gave Stark a tragically heroic smile.
"I was born for this."
"You'll die!" Stark roared.
"Someone has to, right?"
Still pushing the missile, Tony suddenly felt the weight vanish.
"What the—?" He looked down—the nuke was gone?!
A red-and-blue blur shouldered the warhead and streaked toward the portal at several times his speed.
"…That Superman cosplayer?!" Stark gaped.
"He stole my nuke?!"
"No!!!" Tony hovered outside the wormhole, watching helplessly as the figure vanished.
On the ground—
Steve Rogers pulled off his cowl and stared skyward, expression unreadable.
"…We owe him one."
In the boundless depths of space.
The Chitauri mothership loomed dead ahead.
"Okay, toss it and go home."
About to release the missile, Vargas's X-ray vision instinctively swept the vessel.
He saw engines, the command bridge, tens of thousands of Chitauri soldiers.
Then he spotted a special chamber.
In a separate sector, inside a giant energy shield: "Holy crap—kids?"
Hundreds of unconscious human children were stacked like cargo inside a massive bio-stasis pod.
"…They're not just invading—they're 'stocking up'?"
Vargas's mind raced.
A "dead" hero reaps huge popularity.
But a hero who "dies," miraculously returns, and rescues a whole shipload of kidnapped kids… becomes a living god.
An expression far more "saintly" than any smile before spread across his face.
This is god-sent script!
Time was almost up.
He adjusted trajectory and let go of the missile.
Then he smashed straight through the mothership's hull!
Alarms shrieked through the vessel.
Ignoring every attacker, he blasted a path clear with frenzied Heat Vision.
He rocketed to the colossal container.
"Open up!"
He punched the energy shield!
Wumm—!
Blinding sparks erupted where fist met barrier.
Still not strong enough!
"Aaaaargh—!!" Vargas's eyes blazed crimson; Heat Vision and fist slammed the same spot together.
Crack!
The shield shattered!
He grabbed the pod and ripped the entire life-support chamber out of the deck.
"Hold tight, kids!"
Vargas shoved the massive container around and shot back toward the hole he'd made.
Behind him, apocalyptic light bloomed—New York, beneath the portal.
"He's been in too long…" Natasha's voice was bitter.
"…He's not coming back," Stark murmured, hovering in place.
Captain America clenched his fists, eyes fixed above.
Just as the portal was about to seal—
"Look! What's that?!" an agent below shouted skyward.
A streak of fire shot out of the portal!
It was the Superman!
And he was pushing something huge!
Vargas burst free; the portal snapped shut behind him.
Every Chitauri still fighting lost power and fell lifeless.
The war was over.
"He did it…" Stark whispered.
"Look—he's passing out!" Cap spotted the danger.
Vargas, still pushing the container, lost power and began plummeting straight down.
"Go! Tony!"
"On it!" Stark darted forward.
Suddenly the falling Vargas snapped his eyes open.
"Play the part to the end," he told himself.
He "came to," stabilized mid-air, then slowed and descended, cradling the huge pod for a spectacular Superman-style landing.
Boom—!!!
He touched down in Central Station Plaza, New York.
Around him: survivors of the siege, reporters swarming in.
Every camera, every eye locked onto him at once.
Under the gaze of the world—
For dramatic effect, Vargas slowly dropped to one knee and set the massive container down.
Then he "struggled" back to his feet.
A reporter's voice trembled: "W-who are you?"