Thor, refusing to be deterred, destroyed the nascent tornado and rocketed straight toward the Wind Elemental. He dodged a sweeping palm of air and plunged directly into the creature's swirling vortex of a body, determined to destroy it from the inside out.
"HAAAAAH!" Thor roared, unleashing his full power. Dozens of thick, divine lightning bolts erupted from his body, striking the elemental from within. The currents of electricity writhed like captive serpents, illuminating the storm giant's form.
Rhodey and Max didn't let up, one firing a continuous stream of repulsor blasts while the other unleashed a torrent of golden electric light, creating a three-pronged assault.
But the Wind Elemental, struck by a storm that should have torn a mountain apart, didn't even flinch. Instead, its body simply convulsed, a slight tremor that effortlessly squeezed Thor out of its form and sent him tumbling through the air.
"What in the nine realms?!" Thor gasped, regaining his balance. He was utterly bewildered. An attack like that should not have been ineffective. Even a being as powerful as Captain Marvel would have been severely injured by such a barrage, yet the elemental seemed completely unharmed.
Max flew over to him, his own attack ceasing. "What's happening? It's not working."
Thor's face was grim, his breathing heavy. The continuous lightning had drained a significant amount of his energy.
"This thing…" Rhodey's voice crackled over the comms, a note of dawning horror in his tone. "It doesn't seem to be afraid of lightning. Damn it! We made the wrong call!"
"What?!" Thor shot back in disbelief.
"Thor, look out!" Max yelled.
Just as Thor turned, the featureless part of the elemental's face that resembled eyes flashed with a brilliant, blinding light. A powerful bolt of lightning, a perfect imitation of Thor's own power, shot out and struck him head-on.
Max reacted instantly, raising his hands and firing a counter-barrage of his own golden lightning. "Damn it! It can use electricity!" he shouted, his face paling as he struggled against the elemental's overwhelming power. "We've been fooled!"
Then, the Wind Elemental suddenly stopped its attack. Max, acting on instinct, continued to fire, and the creature simply hung in the air, allowing the golden arcs of electricity to strike its body. It didn't dodge. It didn't defend. It absorbed them.
This time, Thor saw it clearly. The lightning wasn't dissipating. It was being consumed, drawn into the elemental's form like water into a sponge. It had been feeding on them the entire time.
"Max, stop!" Thor roared.
Max immediately cut off the attack, the horrifying realization dawning on him. They had been making their enemy stronger.
But the now super-charged elemental was not about to let them off the hook. A gale blew from its newly formed mouth, and a new tornado, far larger than the last and crackling with stolen lightning, spun into existence before it.
"Son of a bitch! Run!" Rhodey yelled, immediately banking away. He was the only mortal among them. His armor could handle energy attacks, but if that thing overloaded his Arc Reactor, he was finished.
Thor was furious, but he knew any further attacks would be futile. With a reluctant growl, he and Max began to retreat.
"Hold your position!" Fury's voice suddenly cut into Rhodey's comms. "Carol is en route. Just try to hold it back!"
Fury had originally intended to send Captain Marvel straight to New York, but after seeing the elemental absorb lightning, he'd changed his plan on the fly. He would send his strongest asset to deal with the immediate threat and free up Thor and Max to support Strange.
"Fury says to buy time!" Rhodey relayed to the others.
"Alright! But we can't attack it!" Max said, already thinking. "So we let it attack us, and we just dodge!"
"A sound plan!" Thor agreed.
"Let's fly circles around it! Harass it! Just don't let it form another big tornado!" Rhodes shouted over the howling wind, and the trio split up, flying evasive patterns.
But the elemental seemed to see through their plan. It ignored them completely and simply continued its steady path south.
"You have got to be kidding me," Rhodey grumbled. He fired his repulsors again, but the elemental paid him no mind.
"Damn this creature! What is it doing?" Thor said, completely exasperated. He was itching to attack, but reason held him back.
"Where is it going?" Max asked, appearing at Rhodey's side.
"Who knows!" Rhodes cursed, re-establishing his link with Fury. "Fury, I'm sending you its trajectory. Analyze its destination!"
"On it!" Fury's voice replied instantly.
The analysis came back moments later. Wherever the elemental had traveled, it had passed through developing storm systems in the ocean. Fury immediately understood. It was absorbing the energy from naturally occurring storms to strengthen itself. He contacted the National Weather Service, demanding real-time atmospheric data for the entire North American coast. The answer came back in seconds: a massive storm system was brewing in the Atlantic, moving towards the southeastern coast.
Based on the elemental's path, Fury saw its horrifyingly simple plan. It was heading for the storm. And its flight path would take it directly over New York City.
Fury's head throbbed. A cosmic entity eating the sky over Manhattan, and now a lightning-devouring storm monster was on its way to join the party.
"Carol," he ordered, his voice dangerously calm. "Your new mission: destroy the Wind Element before it reaches New York."
"Understood," a new voice replied, clear and confident.
Suddenly, a brilliant comet of light shot past Rhodes and his team. Captain Marvel, glowing with cosmic energy, streaked across the sky at impossible speed. She intercepted the Wind Elemental in seconds, forcing it to a halt with a powerful photon blast.
The creature's body, which had shrunk back to a smaller vortex for travel, swelled again. Its facial features became complete, not just with eyes, but with a mouth that opened in a silent, furious roar. A gust of wind so cold it felt like the void of space blew from its maw.
Captain Marvel's expression didn't change. Her body became wreathed in a rainbow of crackling energy as she flew headlong into the arctic blast, a star defying a hurricane.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more early access chapter of this fanfic or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~