While the citizens of New York were still marveling at how their buildings had suddenly relocated underground, and they are still filming what looked like a sci-fi underground city
But above the ground had already turned into a full-blown battlefield.
The Dark Elves' frigates, jet-black and forged from an unknown ultra-durable dark matter alloy, glowed ominously with red engine lights.
They looked like flying blades—deadly, sleek, and fast.
These blade-shaped frigates had insane mobility, easily outperforming any fighter jet Earth currently had.
Armed with dark-energy pulse cannons and dark matter homing missiles, they could strike multiple targets at once.
Thanks to their agility, they could even turn themselves into literal flying blades, ramming into enemies head-on.
Yeah, you heard that right—ramming.
That's how confident they were in their armor.
The Dark Elves boasted some of the best materials science tech in the universe.
Their ships didn't even need to shoot. A solid collision alone was enough to make enemies tremble.
Given their combat record, like how they once pounded Asgard's forces, it was clear that if a regular Earth air force were up there right now.
The losses would've been catastrophic.
In fact, the Rhodes Industries drone fleet that first engaged them had already suffered heavy casualties.
Even Tony Stark's Iron Legion had taken some losses in the initial skirmish.
"Mr. Stark," came Kagura's voice over comms, "These frigates are built with dark matter alloy. Regular energy weapons and conventional firepower can't even scratch them."
Having hijacked a Dark Elf frigate with her core skill, Conscious Dive, Kagura was now piloting the stolen craft through the chaos of explosions and aerial fire.
"We've got to figure out how to take these things down, or New York really might be flattened."
"Exactly what I'm thinking," Stark replied over the channel. "My current weapons aren't doing much either."
"Only the vibranium armor-piercing missiles on the Mark 43 suit have had any effect—but there's too few of them, and the Iron Legion doesn't carry that loadout."
"Wait a sec… I think I've found a weakness."
Kagura tapped deeper into the frigate's network, her consciousness diving through layer after layer of Dark Elf data. "Bingo."
"Mr. Stark, try adjusting your high-energy laser weapons to the X-band frequency."
"According to what I found, with enough power, that frequency should be able to disrupt their armor's energy matrix."
By hacking into the frigate's systems, Kagura had gained access to their weapons and armor specs, dark matter armor included.
It turns out the armor was stabilized using an X-band energy field.
So, logically, X-band frequency weapons could interfere with it.
"Is that intel solid?" Stark asked, already modifying his laser weaponry. "According to your data, the arc reactors in our suits can't sustain that kind of output for long."
"If this doesn't work, we'll be at an even worse disadvantage."
"But," he added with a grin in his voice, "what the hell—let's give it a shot. Iron Legion, move out!"
In an instant, the Iron Legion shifted formation mid-air, swooping in behind Stark and launching a coordinated assault against the Dark Elf fleet.
These weren't the mismatched, flashy prototypes from before.
Ever since the retirement of the Mark 42 suit, all the old models used in the Hydra campaign had been mothballed.
In their place? A new series of standardized, mass-produced Iron Man suits.
Uniformly colored in sleek blue and white, with hints of gold trim, these suits carried the full combat capabilities of the Mark 42, but with one big upgrade a swarm-based command system powered by artificial intelligence.
Thanks to J.A.R.V.I.S.'s control and a hive-mind algorithm, the suits worked as a seamless team.
It was, in many ways, a Stark Industries knockoff of the "Lark" drone swarm tech that Kagura had used before.
But this knockoff? It was incredibly effective.
Under J.A.R.V.I.S.'s guidance, the suits could form battle formations and execute tactics far beyond what any single pilot could manage.
And this new version of the Iron Legion had a name one that would've left Kagura with a very complicated expression if she heard it.
That name was Ultron.
Above New York, the battle raged on.
And this time, with their lasers adjusted to the X-band frequency, the Iron Legion finally started doing some damage.
Bright violet beams lit up the sky like stage lights, cutting through the night and slicing into the once-invincible Dark Elf frigates.
The previously dominant enemy ships now found themselves under real threat.
The updated lasers didn't just punch holes—they caused the armor to fall apart.
The energy matrix maintaining the dark matter plating destabilized, and once it failed, the armor just disintegrated, peeling off like wet cardboard.
Looks like Kagura was right those X-band fields were crucial to keeping the armor intact.
Once disrupted, even "invincible" tech fell to pieces.
"Nice! The attack worked! I repeat, the attack is effective!"
Tony Stark banked hard in his Iron Man suit, pulling off a sharp turn as he shouted into the comms. "Hitomi, you're amazing!"
Just then, the Dark Elf warship hijacked by Kagura swooped into formation beside him, flying in sync with Iron Man to provide cover.
"Aww, thanks for the compliment, Mr. Stark!" Kagura chirped playfully. "So based on your combat report, that means all of Rhodes Island Industries' laser weapons are now tuned to the new frequency, right?"
"Wait a sec—hold up!" Tony suddenly realized what had happened. "You were using me as a test subject?!"
Turns out, Kagura had been using Tony and his Iron Legion as live field testers, adjusting their laser weapon frequencies in real time to identify what could actually pierce through the Dark Elves' dark matter armor. Once the right frequency was found, it was synced across all allied weapon systems.
"Ehe~! Well, that's because the Iron Legion is top tier! If we used drones, they'd probably get shot down before they even fired a shot!"
Kagura added a cutesy tone for extra flair. "Alright then, time for the counterattack!"
This time, however, she wasn't aiming to destroy the Dark Elves' last "Ark"-class warship outright.
She believed there was still a chance to resolve things through dialogue.
But, as always before any negotiation can happen, you need a big enough stick to make the other side listen.
And right now, Kagura was about to swing that stick straight at Malekith's smug face.
Whether the Dark Elves had a future... would depend entirely on Malekith's sense of reason.