The warning came through Tony's HUD in Jarvis' vouce like a punch to the chest.
"Nuke inbound!"
He didn't hesitate.
"Copy that," Tony said, already accelerating.
"I know exactly where to put it."
Above Stark Tower, the sky burned blue and white.
The portal churned like a living wound,
Chitauri ships still spilling through in endless waves.
Selvig's voice cut through the chaos as he directed Elias who was holding the scepter.
"The scepter plunge it exactly over here."
He pointed, frantic but lucid.
"The energy nexus. You must plunge it into the core once the portal destabilizes!"
"Uh, tell them I can close the portal anytime," Elias said to Natasha, gripping the scepter tightly.
"Guys, we can now close the portal."
"Wait," Tony said sharply.
"Don't close it yet."
Natasha hesitated.
"Tony—"
"There's a nuke coming in hot," he continued.
"And if we're lucky, this is a one-shot problem."
Elias looked up—past the Leviathans, past the fire and falling debris—to the missile streaking toward them like a falling star.
He understood immediately.
Without a word, he floated closer to Natasha and gently pressed the scepter back into her hands.
"You close the door," Elias said calmly.
"I'll make sure he comes back."
Natasha met his eyes for half a second—then nodded.
Tony closed in on the missile, he held it up and flew alongside it.
Once he was near the tower he guided it upward, straight to the portal.
Steve watched him go, jaw tight, shield clenched.
In another timeline, another battle, once the Chitauri became lifeless, he would've shouted the order even though Tony still haven't made it out.
Not this time. Not after everything. This battle? It was just on top of what they faced together.
So, no. Captain America didn't follow the plot. Even if new batches of aliens comes through he wouldn't order to close it.
He wasn't the only one.
Below the portal, Elias hovered in silence, crimson blade extinguished, telekinesis holding him steady against the violent pull of alien physics.
Thor stood nearby, lightning crackling faintly around him, eyes fixed upward.
Hulk stared skyward too—Bruce whispering something only he could hear.
"Wait for him," Banner murmured inside his head.
"Just… wait no matter how long."
Natasha didn't move.
Even as Selvig grew frantic behind her.
"If you don't close it soon—!"
"We wait," Natasha said simply.
Clint watched from above, arrow notched but forgotten, his gaze fixed on the portal.
On Natasha.
On the place where Iron Man had vanished.
Then—
A flash.
Inside the portal, Tony saw it.
The nuke detonated.
White fire.
Silence.
The Chitauri mothership shattered in an instant—ripped apart from the inside out.
Across Manhattan, every alien froze mid-flight… and fell.
Tony's systems screamed.
Power drained.
His world went dark.
He fell through the portal.
Fast.
"TONY!" Steve shouted.
Hulk crouched to jump—
—but Elias was already moving.
A controlled burst of telekinesis intercepted Tony's falling body, slowing him, guiding him down with impossible gentleness until his foot touched the street instead of cratering it.
The moment Tony was safe, Steve gave the order.
"Do it now!"
Natasha plunged the scepter into the machine.
The portal collapsed.
The sky healed.
Silence fell over Manhattan.
Thor landed beside them where Elias set Tony down. Immediately he took off Tony's mask which Elias froze over to do, fearing his telekinesis might take not just the ironmask but also his head.
Hulk lumbered closer, Banner's anxiety bleeding through him.
Steve knelt immediately, fingers at Tony's neck.
His face darkened.
"He's alive," Steve said.
"But barely."
Hulk growled—low and furious—then roared.
The sound echoed through the empty city.
Tony's chest jerked.
His helmet hissed open.
His eyes fluttered.
"Okay," Tony rasped.
"First question—did anyone kiss me?"
The tension broke.
A breath of laughter escaped Natasha as he heard Tony's voice through the comms.
Steve shook his head despite himself.
Even Thor allowed a small, baffled smile.
Nearby, Clint stood very still.
He wasn't staring at empty air.
He was staring at a translucent window only he could see.
[Congratulations for assisting the trial of Elias Mercer, Dark Jedi—dear friend of Arthas Menethil.]
[Reward granted: +2 Inventory Slots]
[You have been given a choice.
Choose wisely:
1. Retain memory of the System and join the Generals of Arthas Menethil alongside the others:
– Steven 'Grant' Rogers
– Anthony Edward Stark
– Robert Bruce Banner
– Natalia Alianovna Romanova
2. Forget the System and return to normal existence but keep the reward.]
Clint swallowed.
"What the hell…" he muttered under his breath.
He turned, about to call out—
And his heart seized.
[WARNING!
You are not permitted to share information regarding the System.
Violation will trigger what you just felt which will eventually results in death if you continue sharing.]
Cold. Absolute.
Cornered.
Clint closed his eyes.
And chose.
.
.
"Clint," Steve called.
The archer blinked, the window gone.
He exhaled slowly and jogged over as if nothing had happened.
They regrouped on another building where a familiar figure stirred.
Loki lay amid broken stone, bruised, eyes drooped clearly defeated.
As the Avengers approached, he raised his hands slowly.
"I yield."
Thor stepped forward without hesitation, fastening restraints around his brother's wrists.
"You will answer for your crimes," Thor said.
"In Asgard."
No one objected.
Above them, the sky was whole again.
The Avengers won the battle with a member not included in the original plot.
Someone who doesn't exist in any other universe. What could he have setup within Loki's mind?
Now that Clint joined what could this mean to Elias?
.
.
.
SHIELD arrived swiftly.
Quinjets descended in controlled formations, rotors thundering against the smoke-choked skyline.
Agents poured out, sealing perimeters, cataloging wreckage, and securing anything that even looked Chitauri.
The alien bodies—once terrifying—now lay inert, their weapons silent, their machines dead the moment the mothership fell.
Nick Fury stood at the center of it all, watching with a single eye that missed nothing.
Thor wasted no time.
With Loki shackled and silent—bruised, humiliated, and very much defeated—the God of Thunder retrieved the Tesseract from SHIELD custody.
The scepter, however, was another matter.
After a brief exchange, it was handed over to SHIELD for "containment and study."
Elias noticed the way a few agents looked at it.
Hungry.
Thor didn't.
Or perhaps he chose not to.
Farewells were brief as they moved to a different location. No shawarma this time.
Thor clasped hands with Steve, nodded once to the others, then grasped the tesseract with Loki.
They twisted the device holding it.
Blue light flared as space folding in on itself.
In a blink, both brothers were gone—Asgard reclaiming its problems.
The battlefield grew quieter.
That should have been the end of it.
It wasn't.
The Avengers stood together amid the ruins while SHIELD worked around the ruins.
To any outside observers, they looked normal—exhausted, battered, alive.
But beneath that surface, something else was happening.
Windows hovered.
Invisible.
Unspoken.
Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Bruce all received prompts—identical in structure, quietly unfolding in their vision.
No one reacted.
Not a twitch, not a breath out of place.
Then Clint's name appeared in the system.
That earned him something different.
Not shock—just the slightest flicker of recognition from the others.
A glance held a fraction too long.
A pause that meant we see it too.
But not here.
Not where SHIELD still sees or hear them from a distance.
They moved without signaling, drifting away from the chaos until they reached a stretch of broken street where no agents lingered.
Just rubble, smoke, and the distant hum of recovery efforts.
With Thor gone, Clint broke the silence.
"So," he said, arms crossed.
"Anyone wanna explain how I just got recruited as a general for a villain?"
For a split second, the masks cracked.
"You have also been chosen?" Steve asked quietly.
Clint snorted.
"Hard to miss a glowing window congratulating me for helping a Dark Jedi."
That earned a look—from Elias this time.
Tony rubbed his face.
"Okay. Great. Fantastic. Hawkeye's in the club."
Natasha exhaled slowly.
"We didn't have a choice."
Clint frowned.
"Neither did I, apparently."
That was when they explained.
Not everything—just enough.
How it started without warning.
How survival forced decisions.
How refusing meant innocent people died.
How the world had already almost ended once—and they made sure it didn't happen again.
A zombie apocalypse.
Clint listened in silence.
When they finished, he nodded once.
"Yeah… okay. I get it."
Then he looked at Elias.
"One thing still doesn't add up," Clint said.
"How does he end up as a dear friend to the big bad?"
Elias sighed.
"If I tell you," he said mildly, "you probably won't believe me."
Clint blinked.
"Dude. Aliens just invaded. Gods fought in the street. Hulk exists. I think my disbelief died somewhere around the flying whale."
Elias just gave him that smiled.
A very obvious smile that says you might regret saying that.
Before he could answer, Elias gestured subtly.
"Let's get the rewards first. Then we find somewhere… less public."
No one argued.
The System answered.
One by one, identical windows appeared before the generals.
[Congratulations for successfully helping Elias Mercer pass his trial!
You have received:
• +1 Inventory Slot
• 100 Loyal Facehugger Eggs]
Tony stared at nothing.
"…I'm sorry, what eggs?"
Natasha's expression remained calm, but her jaw tightened.
Bruce swallowed.
"Those… those are from Alien, right?"
Steve simply said, "We are not using those."
Clint muttered, "I just got mine earlier. I was hoping I misread."
Elias said nothing.
His rewards continued—visible only to him.
[Congratulations for completing the Special Objective:
→ Prevent Loki Laufeyson from taking control of Earth.
A mountain cannot contain two tigers.
Mission Status:
• Eradicate the Chitauri Army — Completed
• Close the Wormhole — Completed
• Defeat Loki Laufeyson — Completed
You have been rewarded with 3 abilities:
Fire Control — Total control over existing flames.
Fire Summon — Create fire without external sources.
Fire Immunity — Complete immunity to all forms of fire. ]
Elias felt it immediately.
Fire answered him.
Not demanded—recognized.
The System continued.
[Combat Summary:
• 163 Chitauri Soldiers defeated (163 exp)
• 3 Leviathans defeated (15 exp)
Experience Gained: 178 EXP ]
Then came the last reward.
[You have defeated a victim:
• Loki Laufeyson
Reward Acquired:
The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (Evil Dead) ]
The knowledge flooded in.
Too much.
Too wrong.
Summoning. Possession. Resurrection. Reality warping. Time. Space. Curses. Prophecy.
A book that wanted blood.
[ Necronomicon Ex-mortis - the book of the dead from the evil dead universe.
It's powers and functions:
•Summoning & Possession: Summons demons which possess living people turning them to deadites.
•Resurrection: Can turn the dead as violent deadites or, restore a dead person to life.
•Portal Creation & Interdimensional Travel: Open rifts to other dimensions including the deadlands and realm of the dark ones, and more.
•Space-Time Manipulation & Reality Warping: Can alter history, rewrite destiny, and send people through time and space.
•physical manifestation: the book can move, bite and display sentience often requires blood to activate its powers or display its full power.
•Prophecy & Knowledge: contains prophecies, knowledge of evil, and demonic lore.
•Infliction of Curses: spreads plagues, corrups objects and can create monstrous entities.]
[Due to the corruptible nature of the reward, the system decided to give yoh another reward:
Madness Immunity - you are immune from madness or any other form of mind corruption/control ]
For a moment—just a moment—Elias had felt hopeful.
Fire. Protection. Control.
But when he saw the book.
Elias closed the window, staring at the ruined street ahead of him.
"…Shit."
End of Chapter