Everyone could tell that the so-called response team likely referred to the Avengers.
Nick Fury had never expected to deploy the Avengers in a direct confrontation. He had initially envisioned assembling a super-hero team to deal with supernatural threats like Werewolves and Vampires.
But he hadn't anticipated having to face an alien invasion.
And the news report contained too much information.
"Jarvis, where is the closest military unit to New York?" Tony Stark asked.
"According to the data, besides the National Guard, it's the 10th Mountain Division stationed at Fort Drum, New York State, belonging to the 18th Airborne Corps!" Jarvis quickly responded.
Usually, people refer to New York City, but there's also New York State, which is a different concept.
"How long will it take for the 10th Mountain Division to reinforce New York City?" Tony Stark inquired.
"Based on the simulations, the first wave of airborne troops could arrive within an hour, and the entire force would be in the city within three hours!" Jarvis replied.
"Tony, what are you getting at?" Black Widow (Natasha) seemed to understand.
"I mean, if this news is live, with no delay, the army might have just arrived, or at least the main force has just reached the city. That suggests the battle may have only been going on for an hour or two, and the situation has already deteriorated to the point where they're considering using a nuke to stop the Aliens from further invasion," Tony Stark made a terrifying deduction.
Everyone gasped in surprise. Only Captain America (Rogers) had a military background, but the others weren't completely ignorant of military combat.
Even caught off guard, with the National Guard holding them off and the Avengers fighting hard, the supposedly strongest military on Earth was defeated within one to two hours.
If you consider the time the Aliens needed to move and spread out, you can easily imagine the situation on the battlefield. The strongest military on Earth was defeated in an instant, and only if every battle was over quickly could the invasion spread so fast.
Only such a rapid change on the battlefield could make the U.S. government decide to use a nuclear weapon, even at the cost of their political lives.
In the previous scene, although the Avengers were in a sorry state, they were still holding their own against the Aliens, not completely defenseless. Tony Stark, in particular, had just taken down a Chitauri Leviathan Ship.
This gave them a false impression, as if Earthlings could actually fight the Chitauri, that they could at least trade blows.
But that was limited to the Avengers, a few top-tier humans or non-humans. There were only a handful of such individuals on the entire Earth.
Normal armies would almost instantly collapse. The disparity in strength between Earth and the Chitauri was obvious.
And the US Army, at this stage of Earth in 2008-2009, was practically invincible, even if it wasn't quite. After all, the neighboring Eastern superpower hadn't yet begun its major rise; they were more or less evenly matched.
If even the US Army performed like this, imagine what would happen to other countries if they faced the Chitauri. The major powers would be defeated with a single blow, and the smaller countries would be a joke.
On a Earth where more than half the countries still relied on propeller planes, the fighting strength of the major powers represented the peak of Earth's military might.
Looking at it this way, humanity was giving off a distinct vibe of impending doom.
A mountain seemed to press down on them in an instant.
It even made them breathless.
The more they knew, the more they understood the severity of the future situation at this moment.
The scene then shifted to the high altitude. Above the sky, a huge crack hung in the air. A massive beam of light swept out from above Tony Stark's Stark Industries Tower, connecting to that giant space fissure.
It was clear that the countless Chitauri forces relied on this device to form a space fissure and ultimately arrive in this world.
And Iron Man, Tony Stark, was carrying a nuclear bomb, apparently to be thrown into it.
"So, it's using this wormhole for space jumping?" Tony Stark squinted. Generally, space travel was nothing more than faster-than-light spaceships or finding space wormholes to jump through.
Both were difficult, neither was something humans could do, and perhaps not even within a few hundred years.
But if the problem lies with this device, what does that mean?
It means there are traitors on Earth, human spies.
This isn't hard to figure out.
Even Dormammu knows to cultivate a few human spies and followers on Earth, so it's reasonable that the Chitauri would have planted their own traitors.
There's no way to stop it.
As far as he knew, Earth was home to many other races, like Vampires and Werewolves, which were considered native. Then there were many other Aliens, with the Skrulls being the largest in scale.
S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't oblivious to the other Aliens, even if there wasn't absolute proof.
Who knows how many small-scale Aliens have infiltrated and are secretly cultivating human spies?
There will definitely be many people leading the way for these alien overlords, and the number will only grow.
From the bottom to the top, there's nowhere they aren't.
It was impossible to know how many humans within S.H.I.E.L.D. were secretly aiding Vampires, hoping to become one someday and gain immortality.
Tony Stark had just learned all this from S.H.I.E.L.D., and it was truly eye-opening. He felt like his worldview had been shattered and rebuilt countless times.
Although he thought it would be difficult to completely root out these traitors, he had to strengthen surveillance, especially on that old white man, Dr. Selvig. He might be connected to these traitors, or at least have some association with them.
He'd start with monitoring.
Meanwhile, on the screen, Iron Man, Tony Stark, was carrying the nuclear missile. Just as it was about to hit Stark Industries Tower, he exerted all his strength and, at a ninety-degree angle, sent the missile directly toward the wormhole.
When they saw Tony Stark succeed, countless people on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier cheered.
But before those watching could breathe a sigh of relief, they saw the endless, dense ranks of the Chitauri army waiting to pour through the wormhole for reinforcements.
After sending the nuclear missile into the wormhole, Tony Stark's armor's energy was completely depleted. His face showed a mixture of despair and relief.
Jarvis's voice sounded in his ear.
"Sir, calling Miss Potts has failed!"
The Iron Man armor lost all its energy and light, plummeting downwards.
But at the same time, the nuclear missile finally hit the Chitauri's mothership. The light of the nuclear explosion instantly engulfed the Chitauri mothership.
Immediately, the Chitauri soldiers on Earth fell to the ground, and the giant iron beasts also instantly dropped onto the building as if they had lost power.
Tony Stark closed his eyes and fell.
At this moment, the people on Earth were still waiting for his return. Under these circumstances, Captain America (Rogers) finally took responsibility and announced, "Close it."
He knew that now was the best opportunity. If they didn't take this chance to shut down the portal, the consequences would be unimaginable. There wouldn't just be one mothership. This nuclear missile had only destroyed one.
An alien civilization capable of interstellar travel—is this all the strength they have?
Black Widow (Natasha) was currently focusing on cutting off the energy supply to the device.
At this moment, the rift in the sky was gradually shrinking. Just when everyone was feeling utterly dejected and had given up on Tony Stark, his Iron Man armor, pulled by gravity, managed to escape the spatial rift at the last possible moment and began falling towards Earth.
Iron Man plummeted towards the ground at an alarming speed. Smiles appeared on everyone's faces, but before they could fully celebrate, they realized that the Iron Man falling from such a great height wasn't decelerating at all, but rather falling like a meteor.
"Oh my God!" Captain America (Rogers) exclaimed. If this continued, Iron Man would be crushed to death on impact, even with his armor.
It was just too high; the impact would be devastating.
"He's not slowing down!"
Thor said, twirling his hammer, ready to fly up and intercept the armor to save him.
Suddenly, a massive roar erupted, and a towering figure shot into the air with lightning speed, grabbing onto Tony Stark's Iron Man suit.
It was none other than the Hulk.
His other hand desperately clung to a high-rise building, constantly reducing the impact. Finally, he slammed into the ground with Iron Man in his grasp.
Everyone rushed over and removed Tony Stark's mask, but he seemed to have stopped breathing.
Faces were etched with sorrow, but then, with a roar from the Hulk, Tony Stark seemed to awaken as if from a nightmare.
"Oh my god, what happened? Don't tell me someone kissed me!" Tony Stark couldn't help but glance at everyone, anxiously asking.
If that were the case, he'd rather be dead. He, the great Iron Man, Tony Stark, a playboy, a super genius, a world-class wealthy man, a super player, when had he ever suffered such an indignity, taken such a loss?
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(End of Chapter)