ANGRBODA ※ Tony Stark [1]

26 - ALIVE

STEVE THREW HIS SHIELD at three Chitauri who were charging toward him. The circular weapon came spinning back into his hand like a boomerang.

A few meters away, Thor was knocking out Chitauris one after the other with a swing of his hammer. He made it look effortless.

The alien beasts kept pouring out of the portal and, frankly, Steve didn't know how long they could keep this up.

Suddenly, it felt like the whole of New York lurched to a stop. A deep, primal roar bellowed out, making his blood run cold. Before he knew it, a shadow was cast across the city... and Steve almost wished he'd never looked up.

A colossal beast was slithering out of the portal in the sky. It was as massive as two buildings placed end to end and looked far more monstrous than any of the Chitauri; like some sort of metallic Leviathan.

Even Thor couldn't tear his eyes away from the giant monster passing over their heads. For the first time since the beginning of the battle, the God of Thunder and the super-soldier felt truly out of their element.

Neither allowed the moment of weakness to last for long though and Steve quickly raised a hand to his earpiece.

"Stark," he called out "Are you seeing this?"

Tony didn't take long to answer "Oh I'm seeing alright... still working on believing."

"This thing will do more damage than the entire Chitauri army if we don't deal with it now!"

Tony was flying quietly in parallel with the Chitauri Leviathan but it didn't seem to notice him. He observed the colossus intently until an idea popped in his head.

"Listen," he told the Captain "Do you know where Banner is?"

"Banner?"

"Yeah. I need him to pop the nose off that thing. It'll help me get through the armour and I'll fry up the rest with my blasters."

"You think it'll work?"

"Let's hope so."

"Well Banner's near the 27th avenue, last I saw him."

Tony winced "That's not wide enough. I need him to be on the 16th at least."

"You're going to lead him there?"

"Not me. I'm focusing on getting that big lizard's attention. I need the Hulk to be in position as soon as I arrive."

"Well, the closest person to Banner is Angie."

Tony bit his lip uneasily at the mention of Angie's name. He really, really did not want to call her in but what other choice did they have?

"Are you sure she's the closest?"

"Positive."

"Alright. We're doing this," he finally gave in.

"Got it," the Captain acquiesced before cutting the communication line.