105- Avengers (11)

Clenching his fists, Mason did not wait and leapt through the window in the direction of Stark Tower. Johnny was following of his own accord.

But seeing the figures appearing at the portal, crossing over to this side, Mason told him, "Block the aliens!"

Johnny listened, flying up and turning bright enough for everyone in the city to see, while Mason closed in on Stark Tower. Now that the structural damage was the last of his troubles, Mason reached the top before Johnny even reached the portal.

There, he found the machine, currently maintaining the portal. It looked smaller than Mason would have expected, but there was no mistaking the Tesseract.

Selwyn was watching his work with half-lidded eyes, while Hawkeye was standing guard, looking equally out of it. There was also a teenage boy there, looking much more in control of himself and frightened, with Loki looming over him.

The God of Mischief’s gaze was not on Mason, nor was Hawkeye’s. Instead, they were staring at the other person on the roof.

Doom was examining the machine with interest as he said, "What are you doing here, Mason? There are aliens to beat. That should be your specialty. Leave this to Doom."

Laughter erupted from Loki as he made a spell circle become visible on the ground, right under Doom. "Your friend here tried to cheat the game by plucking the Tesseract ahead of time. But no one likes a cheater, so he was punished. As long as the portal stands, he won’t be going anywhere."

Mason looked between the two before briefly unleashing his Spiritual Domain. The psychic pressure made both man and god flinch, but the two villains were not his targets. Instead, it was Selwyn and Hawkeye.

Selwyn was instantly knocked unconscious, but Hawkeye, who had a stronger will, suddenly fell to his knees with a painful groan, holding his head. But the mental compulsion had been broken.

Retrieving his Spiritual Domain, Mason asked, "Titania, you were the one who sent her, weren’t you, Doom? To kidnap Loki and force him to tell you where the Tesseract was. Because you understand what the Tesseract truly is, don’t you?"

Doom did not answer, but Mason could read it in his eyes.

The next moment, Thor landed beside Mason, his eyes blazing. "Loki! Stop this madness!"

Loki rolled his eyes, especially upon noticing Iron Man closing in from the sky. "This can’t be stopped, brother. This world will fall, like all the others who faced him."

"Him?"

Loki gave them a mysterious smile, pointing up. "Don’t worry about it. The real army is here." Then, as they looked up, he disappeared in a green mist, alongside the teenage boy.

They looked up. Johnny had been holding the line remarkably well, by showering the whole portal with white-hot flames. The only Chitauri that passed were burned to a crisp.

But something finally broke through. A giant leviathan, nearly as large as the portal itself, slithered through the air like gravity meant nothing to it. That even Johnny’s flames could not stop.

Moreover, as it fully arrived on this side, an invisible shockwave was fired at Johnny, sending him flying. He disappeared into the streets beneath, removing the block on the portal, allowing the countless Chitauri to pour in.

Thor twirled his hammer and shot into the sky. Meanwhile, Mason approached the machine and felt the invisible barrier with his Divine Sense. Feeling it did not help him resolve it, unfortunately.

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Tony arrived next to him and informed him, "It’s already self-sustaining, we need to take the whole machine down if we want to close the portal. We can’t do it rashly either, if we don’t want this thing exploding on us. Loki… he built this in a rush. One wrong move and the Iridium won’t be able to contain the energy any longer. I’m sure you can imagine what would happen if the energy sustaining that wormhole above our heads destabilized."

Doom scoffed from the side, "The accelerator is surrounded by an energy field supplied by infinite power. You’d have an easier time destroying the planet with brute force than that barrier."

"No one talked to you, Tinpot Dictator."

Mason frowned, understanding the solution could not possibly come from him. In the movie, they had used Loki’s spear, which housed the Mind Stone, to bypass the barrier, effectively bypassing an Infinity Stone with another. They did not have that option, meaning they would have to find something else.

Thinking of Doom, Mason said, "Go find Reed Richards. He’s the smartest man I know. Work up a solution."

"Richards! You think Richards can break this barrier? The moment I break through this containment spell, I will destroy this barrier myself."

Doom was fuming in his magical cage, and Mason narrowed his eyes. Knowing Doom, it did not sound like he had a way out. He was truly trapped.

Tony nodded at Mason’s suggestion, ignoring Doom, and so Mason leapt off the tower, joining the fight.

His gaze landing on a Leviathan flying by, Mason slid alongside a building, then jumped atop it, forcing it to swerve from the impact. Then, he unleashed his Spiritual Domain.

The Leviathans were not only giant armored serpentine creatures, but they also held hundreds of Chitauri each. Those were in the middle of jumping out when Mason’s Spiritual Domain hit.

The Chitauri possessed surprisingly weak minds, with every single one of them falling unconscious. As for the Leviathan, the armor that was keeping it afloat through gravity boosters was completely fried by the sudden change in gravity caused by Mason.

So the Leviathan was suddenly hit by Earth’s gravity, which was further boosted by Mason’s Spiritual Domain. It fell like the dead weight it was, crashing into the street below.

Mason knew this was about the most damage he could deal to something of that size, so he moved directly to other targets.

As Mason descended to the streets and was about to attack a platoon of Chitauri attacking civilians, a red and blue figure blurred past him, smashing a car into the group.

Spider-Man stopped next to Mason, his white lenses dramatically widening. "Mr. Tunt! This is crazy! There are aliens attacking New York! We need- I don’t know what we need to do!"

Mason patted his shoulder. "You’re already doing a fantastic job, kid. You probably got the best mobility out of anyone in this city. I want you to use that. Evacuate those you can. The current priority is damage control."

"But what about that giant wormhole in the sky?"

"We already got Iron Man and Mister Fantastic working on that. Hopefully Doctor Doom too."

"T-this is crazy!"

Mason sighed, "I know. Alright, move out. Speed is of the essence."

Spider-Man disappeared with a couple of swings, while Mason continued making best use of his powers. He would have liked to use his Spiritual Domain wantonly with how effective it was against the Chitauri, but it was not an infinite resource. He had less than fifty seconds' worth of Spiritual Energy, and each activation cost at least one second's worth of it.

With an invasion that could potentially last hours, it was a precious resource to use only when necessary. So Mason decided to target the Leviathans specifically. As soon as they appeared, he would target them before they could even approach the ground level, destroying their gravity-defying engines.

The fall was enough to kill all the Chitauri on them, and when Mason managed to get them particularly early, it could even kill the Leviathan itself. Most of the time, though, they would survive but find themselves stuck on the ground level. They could still cause a lot of destruction, but they were far easier to kill there.

Hulk particularly liked those, as Mason found the green giant often trailing somewhere behind him, picking up those Leviathans that fell.

The two of them were especially efficient as they targeted the area beneath the portal, with Mason doing his best to block them from approaching Hell’s Kitchen. The individual Chitauri were impossible to stop, but no Leviathan entered the neighborhood.

He could also occasionally spot Tony and Thor in the sky, mainly targeting clusters before they could land, like Mason. Hawkeye had recuperated enough to be fighting alongside Natasha as well, while Steve and Spider-Man somehow found themselves working with each other.

When he passed by the New York Sanctum, Mason also found several Sorcerers to be there, doing their best to protect their area. They were warded out of sight, but they were easy enough to find for someone who knew where to look.

The Fantastic Four were doing their own share of fighting, protecting Baxter Building. Mason could feel Reed working inside, presumably on a way to close the portal. The other three were making sure he was not interrupted.

Then, there was the final group fighting, and that was the X-Men. Their whole main roster was present, led by Cyclops through the battle. Their presence was quite the boon, as Storm had turned the entire sky over Manhattan into a thunderstorm, which Thor used freely. Iceman was excellent at blocking the Chitauri, and Angel and Nightcrawler were probably putting in the most work out of anyone at evacuating.

The first time he saw them, Mason was just passing by, so he did not stop, but the second time, he noticed a golden radiance in their midst, and several more presences.

Mason nearly felt his heart drop when he saw it was Audrey. So, for the first time since the beginning of the battle, Mason stopped.