Chapter 106 106- Avengers (12)

At first, the teachers had only left to search for Bailey, but then they saw it on the news. New York was being attacked by an army of aliens. And her brother was out there, fighting an inexhaustible army.

Audrey had not hesitated. Nor had Kitty or Jubilee. The three girls had left together and joined the battlefield, alongside their teachers. Audrey expected them to be angry, but the moment he saw them running over, Cyclops gave orders. "Shadowcat, you’re with Angel and Nightcrawler for search and rescue. Jubilee, Luminary, you’re on the strike team."

Luminary, that was her superhero name!

Her golden aura exploding outward, she focused it into her fists and shot out lasers at the aliens, keeping the output down to only stun.

But she underestimated how tough they were, as they shrugged off the strike, turning their attention to her. She was about to move when Marvel Girl appeared, and with a flick of her hand, the aliens were crushed between two slabs of concrete, splattering outward.

Professor Grey warned, "Luminary, switch to lethal. These are mindless drones, they do not possess a mind of their own."

Audrey pursed her lips, she still did not like this, but she did draw the line somewhere. And, idly, she remembered her discussion with Mason before. What should be done in the event of an alien invasion. She bet he never would have expected both of them to be right, or for it to actually happen.

Properly joining the fight, Audrey fought a little awkwardly at first. Not because she lacked the power, but because she had barely started learning how to fight alongside her classmates, so she found it hard to keep up with her teachers.

But real combat was the greatest teacher of them all, as she quickly found herself falling in sync with them. She stopped acting on her own, tiptoeing around them, and started becoming part of the whole, following Cyclops’ orders.

And inwardly, she had to admit, she was impressed. Although she had never said anything, she, alongside other students, had always wondered how Cyclops had become the leader of the X-Men on the field when they had Storm and Marvel Girl, who were so powerful.

Only now did she realize that it was not because of power, but vision. It was like he had an eye watching from over the battlefield, knowing the positions of all his allies at all times, and understanding how to best use their powers to work together.

It was then that Mason arrived. She had not seen him since she had arrived, but Marvel Girl told her that the falling giant flying snakes were his doing, which made Audrey wonder just how strong her brother had gotten. She did not think that even at maximum output, she could take down one of those.

They were surrounded by a platoon of aliens, slowly grinding them away, when Mason appeared like a ghost in the middle of them. The others had noticed him coming down from the sky, but Audrey had been too focused on the ground.

Seeing that he was standing in the middle of the battlefield with no protection, Audrey was about to warn him when he turned to look at the aliens, and they suddenly all fell limp. Every single one of them, without exception.

Her words stuck in her throat, she involuntarily gasped as Mason stomped over. His chest was rising and falling from the heavy breaths he took. His traditional haori had long been discarded, leaving him in his black undershirt, stained by purple blood.

This chapter was copied from the author's publication page without approval, while the official version remains a way to support them.

"What are you doing here?!"

Although she was shocked, she stood her ground, puffing out her chest. "I am helping my city. And don’t start blaming my teachers, I came here behind their backs!"

Mason looked like he wanted to add more, but he took another look around before clicking his tongue and turning to Cyclops. "We appreciate the help, X-Men. I don’t know if you’re caught up, but there is a machine on top of Stark Tower powering the portal. Mister Fantastic is currently working on breaking it. Loki and the kid have disappeared, but we’re confident he’ll come back."

Cyclops looked at her brother gravely, like he was assessing a threat, but he replied politely nonetheless, "We would have come to defend the city either way. Marvel Girl has sensed that these aliens are being controlled from beyond that portal. If we could destroy their command center, we could put an end to this."

Mason dismissed the idea with a curt shake of his head. "Thor attempted to fly up, but he faced heavy bombardment. From what he saw, there were several ships, so even if someone passed through, they’d have to get lucky to get the command ship. If it is even there."

Cyclops sighed, but his back remained straight, combat-ready. "So we’ve got to keep fighting like we were until that portal is closed?"

Mason was helpless also. "If you got someone you think could help, send them to Baxter Building, but yes, essentially."

The two men stared at the devastation surrounding them, swept over by the inconsequential nature of man, when Marvel Girl exclaimed, "T-there’s a nuke incoming!"

Hesitation and stuttering were utterly unlike Professor Grey, but when Audrey processed what she said, she understood. Cyclops looked equally horrified, but Mason looked more resigned than anything.

"Don’t worry, we’ll deal with it. Keep doing what you’re doing." And like that, Mason jumped off at impossible speeds.

----

Mason tapped in the earpiece Natasha had given him when he found them, and asked, "You guys heard about the nuke?"

Tony immediately replied, his voice stuck somewhere between amusement and disappointment, "Just did. It’s nice to see how valued we are by Uncle Sam."

"Oh geez, is that for real? A nuke?" came Spider-Man, who had also been given one. The kid had kind of glued himself to the group naturally.

Reed, who should still have been in his lab, urged over the sound of the wind, "This must be stopped! Victor and I are getting close! Stop it at any cost!"

Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom working together. Now if that wasn’t a sight for sore eyes. Although, knowing Victor, they were probably working on two different solutions, racing each other to see which of the two would solve the problem first.

Steve asked, "Thor, do you think you could redirect it?"

"Probably not without destroying it."

Mason leapt into a bunch of Chitauri, tearing them apart as he said, "Tony, can you send it into the portal?"

"No chance, champ. It will get destroyed the moment it approaches it. This won’t create a nuclear explosion, but it would be useless, and potentially disturb the portal and create an even greater catastrophe."

"Do we have a better solution? Because if that bomb explodes in the city, it will definitely destabilize the portal."

Tony replied, "Well, I suppose not. Can’t say I’m that keen on doing it. A cleaner way to deal with it would be to destroy it before it explodes. If it is dealt a sufficiently strong blow, the explosive charges will explode irregularly and stop the nuclear fission from taking place. I wouldn’t count on the Hulk for that, so Thor, do you think you could do it?"

"I do not fear your little weapons. Mjolnir will crush your bomb like tinfoil."

In the sky, Thor, who had been raining down lightning on the Chitauri still in the sky, propelled himself South-West, in the direction of the missile, when a blast of green-blue energy was fired from Stark Tower, slamming right into him. His condition was unknown as he fell from the sky.

"Loki."

Mason’s face hardened as he recognized the signature and rushed in the direction of the tower, but he noticed something unusual.

A figure was flying down from the portal. They were neither Chitauri nor Leviathan, but a humanoid dressed in white-gray robes. And even from a distance, Mason could feel a spirit no weaker than Professor X.

They were flying towards Stark Tower too.

Then, the portal closed abruptly.