Chapter 129 – The Cost of Defeat
"If I had known it would be this easy, we should have just taken Loki out from the start."
Tony let out a long, ragged sigh of relief. Professor Xavier had been right: the Chitauri were essentially bio-mechanical drones dependent on an external signal. Once the portal was severed, the signal died, and the entire army instantly went limp. They had wasted so much energy fighting a war of attrition against machines that could have been shut down with a single surgical strike.
Still, the battle hadn't been in vain. They had measured the alien threat, and more importantly, they had cataloged the true scale of the hidden power on Earth. Nick Fury would have plenty to think about after this.
On the Helicarrier, Nick Fury's expression remained grim. Agent Hill stood beside him, watching the feed with a pensive look.
"It seems our S.H.I.E.L.D. files are significantly outdated," she noted. "The mutants have always sought peace with humanity, and their intervention today proves their stance. You should meet with Professor Xavier. Perhaps we can recruit more of them for the Avengers."
"And Magneto," Fury added. "He nearly destroyed New York last time, yet he helped today. We need to find a way to engage with him."
"And the followers of the 'Devil's Envoy,'" Hill continued. "They were pivotal. Our attitude toward him might need a... reassessment."
Fury nodded. "We'll convene a briefing to evaluate our relationships with the mutants and the Envoy's group. The Fruit Users played a massive role today. Ordinary human forces are virtually helpless against them. The military's response time was abysmal; we absolutely need a mobile, high-output team."
Fury's resolve to build the Avengers was now absolute. The team's rapid response had been the only thing keeping New York from being wiped off the map. He was already planning to expand the roster, pulling in every enhanced individual he could find.
"The city will be under lockdown," Hill said, moving to the next crisis. "Alien technology is scattered everywhere. How do we handle it?"
It was a nightmare scenario. Alien tech was the holy grail of weapons development, and every power-hungry faction on the planet would come crawling for a piece. Sharing it would only accelerate Earth's own internal arms race, leading to a new cycle of conflict.
"That's a problem for later," Fury said. "First, get Loki. I don't believe he invaded Earth just for a throne. The Chitauri aren't the kind of army to follow a dreamer's whim. There is a larger conspiracy, and Loki is the key. And those two figures who fought Hulk and Thor? Who were they? If they're still on Earth, we are in grave danger. Loki will answer all of this."
Meanwhile, Loki was in a state of pure, bewildered panic. He had been told the Chitauri were an unstoppable force of conquest. He had seen their power firsthand. No one had told him they were dependent on a signal. A "high civilization" that relied on electricity to move was, to his mind, nothing more than a mechanical puppet show.
How did Stark close the portal? Loki wondered. The Tesseract's link was supposed to be unbreakable.
Then it clicked. The Scepter. Stark had taken it back. Perhaps it had restored Selvig's mind, and the doctor had left a backdoor in the device he built.
"Incompetent fools," Loki spat, his frustration mounting.
"Loki," Thor's voice boomed.
Loki looked up to see his brother descending, Mjolnir in hand. "Escape? Why would I bother? You can't touch me, brother. I've planted countless 'Straw Dolls' inside my army. If you hurt me, the damage is passed on to them. You call yourselves heroes? Go ahead—start the slaughter."
Loki's laughter was bordering on manic. He was untouchable.
ROAR!
Hulk crashed into the scene, his lungs burning with rage. He had tried to smash a Leviathan, only to find the beast unresponsive. With no enemy left to fight, his anger was boiling over—and he had spotted Loki.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
"Hulk, stop!" Thor commanded, seeing the green titan's intent.
Hulk ignored him, continuing his charge.
"I said, stop!" Thor moved to intercept, raising Mjolnir. Hulk didn't even flinch. He feinted with one arm, drawing Thor's attention, and then struck with a speed Thor didn't think possible. The god of thunder was sent flying like a cannonball.
Hulk reached Loki.
"You can't touch me!" Loki screamed. "The Straw Dolls—if you hurt me, you hurt them!"
Hulk didn't listen. He grabbed Loki by the ankle and began slamming him into the pavement with rhythmic, bone-crushing violence.
"Hulk, stop! You'll kill the innocents he's linked to!" Thor yelled, scrambling back to his feet.
Hulk paused, looking at Thor, and growled one word: "Trash."
Thor blinked, stunned, until he heard a pathetic moan from the ground. Loki was a broken mess, yet no one else had collapsed in sympathy.
"Why... why isn't the damage transferring?" Thor asked.
"Because," a voice came from above, "his Straw Dolls are too far away."
Tony Stark landed, his faceplate sliding up. He looked at Loki with a smirk. "You planted your 'Straw Dolls' in your army, didn't you, Loki? Well, they're all dead now that the portal is closed. Your insurance policy just expired."
"How... how did you know?" Thor asked.
"I didn't, at first," Tony admitted. "But Clint hit him with an arrow, and he took no damage. Then I hit him, and nothing. I realized he was using the portal as a conduit to plant his links. Hulk just stumbled into the perfect counter-measure."
"Why the Chitauri?" Thor mused. "Why not link it to the people of Earth?"
"Maybe he didn't want to risk us finding his hosts," Agent Hill's voice crackled over the comms. "Or maybe he just didn't care if the aliens died."