There was originally the most powerful man on Earth, who was in the suburbs of New York City, using his "clairvoyance" to watch the scene unfolding in the sky over New York. Several times, he wanted to rip off his shirt to reveal the "S" emblem underneath and take on the aliens as Superman.
Just as he was about to act, his clairvoyance suddenly spotted S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier about 10 kilometers away in the opposite direction. Especially when he realized that the flight path of the U.S. Air Force was directly above his house, he gave up.
Lois Lane had just finished a call with her boss when she noticed Superman's grim expression: "What's wrong, Clark?"
"Nothing, I just suddenly remembered the visit from Miss Prince a while ago and the warning letter I received a couple of days ago."
Lois and Clark both fell silent.
The warning letter was simple and direct, with just one sentence: "Mr. Clark Kent, New York is about to face a catastrophic crisis. If you're willing to help, you're welcome to join us. You just need to reply, and I'll receive your message. If you're worried about your family's safety, try to take them away from New York in the near future. Even if you don't come, we should be able to handle it."
It was a completely well-intentioned reminder, without any moral pressure—at least not on the surface.
At this point, Superman preferred to bury his heroic identity deep down and live as an ordinary person, at least on the surface.
In fact, when he knew that New York had superheroes like Spider-Man (both male and female) and Iron Man, he was quite pleased. His adoptive parents had spent so many years teaching him how to be ordinary. He also enjoyed living as a regular person.
But now, watching his city suddenly being attacked by aliens and plunged into war, the feeling was... complicated.
It was a very subtle sense of detachment!
As an ordinary man, he was powerless against such a terrifying invasion. Taking his family far from disaster was the "only thing he could do."
As a hero at heart, he couldn't help but feel the absurdity—when did New York need anyone other than him to protect it? Without him, could they really manage?
But then he saw a man slice open a massive space creature with one strike, a "god" sweeping through half the sky with lightning, and an incredible green giant punching a space creature's head so hard it flipped completely over.
As Clark, he breathed a sigh of relief.
As Superman, he suddenly felt a bit lonely.
At that moment, Lois gently placed her hand on his: "Honey, if you want to go, then go."
With such a considerate girlfriend, what more could one ask for?
Clark smiled warmly: "If necessary, I'll step in, but they're doing a good job. New York isn't as dangerous as you think. Besides, there's a big eye watching from above."
He pointed behind him, and Lois squinted, barely making out what seemed like a black dot on the horizon.
She understood completely: "Do what you think is right."
Clark gave a genuine smile and suddenly felt grateful for the considerate strange who knew his name but didn't report it to the authorities.
On the other side, Atreus wasn't too concerned about whether Superman joined the battle.
After all, a five-member Avengers team managed to handle it in history. There was no reason why adding him, Wonder Woman, Batman, and a whole bunch of heroes wouldn't do the job.
He was practically halfway to forming the Justice League here.
And Superman was merely an insurance policy.
Not just him, there was also the Ancient One, who was lying low in Kamar-Taj, quietly watching the battle.
As the guardian of the Time Stone and Earth, the Ancient One, who could make Asgardians hesitant to enslave Earth, would also step in if necessary.
With these two super heavyweights as a backup, it was like the guaranteed pull system in a gacha game. It would be great to resolve things early, but if not, Atreus, who had already reached the guaranteed number of draws, wasn't scared at all.
If Superman, capable of destroying worlds, was the "90-draw soft guarantee," then the Ancient One, with her space magic, was the "180-draw hard guarantee."
This is what it means by "Guaranteed heroes are top-tier."
Those who can serve as guaranteed heroes are naturally immensely powerful.
At the end of the day, Atreus just wanted to make an appearance with Superman and build some goodwill early on.
Meanwhile, the battle in New York was going spectacularly.
Thor healed the minor wound on his waist with his incredible regenerative abilities and immediately joined the effort to kill the Leviathan beasts.
Just as the Hulk violently tore off one of the Leviathan's armor plates and slammed it into the creature's neck, Thor came in with a hammer strike to drive the "nail" in.
The triangular piece of armor pierced through the Leviathan's flesh, stabbing deeply into its spinal nerves, killing it instantly.
The massive space creature, as large as a destroyer, slammed into the ground with the force of inertia, sending pieces of solid pavement flying as it carved a terrifying trench over 100 meters long and 20 or 30 meters wide, finally crashing into an almost-abandoned train station.
The creature took its last breath and died in the station hall.
A slightly smug Thor stood shoulder to shoulder with the Hulk, unaware that the Hulk, who was mostly rational, was often irrational when dealing with him.
"Bam!" A second later, the smug Thor was punched into the air by a quick, violent jab from the Hulk.
Only someone as clueless as Thor wouldn't mind. If it were a more hot-headed teammate, they'd already be cursing out Bruce Banner's entire family.
At this moment, the U.S. National Guard, for once, stepped up their game. Promised to assemble in an hour, they arrived in about 40 minutes and charged into the battle zone.
The National Guard is part of the U.S. Army's second line of defense.
They led the way with armored fighting vehicles, bulldozing through abandoned civilian cars, followed by a fleet of Humvees and military trucks.
They started firing machine guns and heavy-caliber weapons at the sky.
More National Guardsmen climbed to the tops of skyscrapers with man-portable anti-aircraft weapons, joining Hawkeye and Huntress in firing at the Chitauri's small aircraft.
The combined firepower from the streets and rooftops created a brand-new anti-aircraft net.
"Rat-a-tat-tat!"
Bright tracer fire added a sweet aroma of gunpowder to the skies over New York.
But as more and more Chitauri entered New York's airspace, the battle shifted slightly in their favor.
The situation now was like the Federal Reserve facing an economic crisis—pumping water into a leaking pool.
It was a thought-provoking elementary school math problem.
Meanwhile, as Chitauri radar signals filled the radar screens, Nick Fury, aboard the helicarrier, received another call from higher-ups.
"Use the nuke!"
In some sense, that was another soft guarantee.
(End of Chapter)