Relying on the powerful green lantern ring, Robert alone tore a gap in the Chitauri army that loomed like a dark cloud.
Wolverine's eyes lit up at the sight. It reminded him of those chaotic, brutal scenes from old battlefields. Back then, they didn't have equipment like this — nowhere near this level of power, nowhere near this kind of cool.
"Shit!" Wolverine cursed angrily, climbing onto one of the mechas. Mimicking Robert, he raised both arms and unleashed a barrage that shot skyward like a rainstorm.
"Cool! Hahahaha, die!" Wolverine yelled, half-laughing as he fired. He didn't look like a soldier in the heat of war—he looked like a kid playing Space Invaders.
Cyclops watched, his fingers twitching. He was itching to give it a try. But as Captain, he had to stay steady. Responsible. He cleared his throat. "We must stop the Chitauri," he declared, but the next second, he couldn't help but scramble up onto a mecha himself and start firing.
The Gatling gun might not have matched the destructive force of shells or bombs, but its sheer style made up for it. Why didn't Robert just simulate a nuclear bomb? Besides the fact that he couldn't — even if he could, a nuke wouldn't be half as cool as this. A mecha wielding twin Gatling guns… now that was every man's dream.
"Men, so childish," Ororo muttered, rolling her eyes. But even she couldn't resist. She too climbed onto a mecha and started spraying the sky. Compared to using her mutant powers, this was almost too easy — and fun.
With five people attacking together, the Chitauri in the sky were falling fast. Their metal shells, built to withstand the harshness of space, couldn't stand against this relentless metal storm. Countless Chitauri were ripped apart midair, falling like meteorites.
Down in the city, the Avengers had just finished off a massive whale-like warship and cleared out a wave of Chitauri on the streets. When they finally looked up at the sky, they froze.
"What the fack!" Captain America blurted, breaking character. Even someone as well-mannered as him couldn't help but swear at the sight.
What was that green glow?
Had the Chitauri really been stopped — just like that?
Don't be fooled by how easy it looked from the ground. Intercepting the Chitauri had been a brutal slog. Captain America's whole body was aching, his uniform torn, covered in bruises and scrapes. Among them, maybe only Hulk had made it through without a scratch.
"Has Earth's technology developed this far?" Thor asked, astonished. "These combat mechas can fly and wield this kind of firepower?"
Thor, who'd seen the wars of many worlds, couldn't believe his eyes. He'd always thought Earth was backward, primitive compared to Asgard. But now… now he wasn't so sure.
The massive guns and mechas tearing apart the Chitauri weren't inferior to Asgardian weapons at all. Those Chitauri ships, built with alloy hulls tough enough to endure the extremes of deep space, were being shredded effortlessly. Thor frowned. Was this really just the effect of kinetic weapons? It didn't add up.
He turned to Tony Stark, smacking his armored shoulder. "Stark, you should have told me earlier. Earth's weapons are this strong?"
Inside the Iron Man suit, Tony's face twisted into a grimace. He'd once been the world's top arms dealer. If anyone knew the limits of Earth's tech, it was him — and he knew for a fact that this kind of power was impossible.
Sure, Gatling guns were cool, but they couldn't even scratch the armor of a whale-class warship. Even the energy blasts from his own suit — far more advanced than any ordinary weapon — barely dented those Chitauri beasts. And yet here they were: massive warships riddled with holes from mere "Gatling guns."
This wasn't normal.
"Jarvis, scan! I want to know exactly what this is!" Tony barked.
"Performing scan," Jarvis responded calmly. "Sir, the energy signature is unknown. The structures in the sky resembling human technology are all made of pure energy."
Tony's HUD displayed a lock icon. It zoomed in and fixed directly on Robert, surrounded by his army of mechas.
"Sir, the energy is emanating from the human in the sky. The mechas are energy-based constructs — some kind of replicas."
Tony's mouth fell open. "What?" He didn't even need Jarvis to confirm it — he could see it plain as day. The amount of energy needed to create an entire fleet of these things… it was staggering. An army conjured from nothing.
The instantaneous power output must be far beyond even his best arc reactor. Could a single person really channel this much raw force?
Even Thor, with his command over the primal power of lightning, didn't seem this extreme.
When had humanity evolved someone like this? Could it be one of those secret mutants? Tony's mind flashed back to the files he'd hacked from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s servers — dossiers on enhanced individuals. But none of them matched what he was seeing now.
Mutants had impressive abilities, sure — but this? This was something else entirely.
Tony forced himself to stay calm, even as his heart pounded. "Thor, this isn't Earth tech. This is some kind of special ability. Everything you see up there is made of energy. And the person behind it… is him."
Thor's face darkened. "A person? You humans have grown this strong?"
He shook his head in disbelief. He'd always thought Earth's might was limited to its fragile technologies and the occasional outlier like the Hulk. But this… this was on a different scale.
If Earth could field people with power like this, what did that make Asgard? He felt a ripple of unease. Were Earth's warriors rising to rival even the gods?
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