Iron Man had run out of power. This time, he'd miscalculated—or maybe things had just gotten out of hand. In the end, Tony had no choice but to burn up the last of his energy to launch the nuke toward the Chitauri mothership in space.
At the same time, Ada's legendary spear throw successfully shut down the portal. Clearly, the Chitauri hadn't had enough time to stabilize it. They could only watch as the gate slowly closed.
Then the nuke exploded.
A blinding burst of light flashed across the stars—like the most beautiful firework. The destructive energy spread in all directions. That was the last thing Tony saw from space before he dropped back down through the shrinking portal.
In the movie, all the aliens collapsed as soon as the portal closed. Reality wasn't that simple. The Chitauri were Thanos's top shock troops. Even after losing contact with the mothership, they kept fighting. But they were like grasshoppers after autumn—still kicking, but not for long.
Hulk caught Iron Man just in time. Tony was nearly out of oxygen. Thankfully, Hulk treated the Iron Man suit like a toy, ripping off the helmet so Tony could breathe again.
"Hulk, can you get me back to Stark Tower?"
Hulk looked up. The enemy was still holding the tower. He grinned. Then he hoisted Iron Man and leapt more than twenty meters straight toward the building. Tony needed a new suit. The fight wasn't over yet.
The Avengers regrouped and, along with the National Guard—who finally showed up—started cleaning up the leftovers. Downtown New York had taken serious damage, but fortunately the entire fight lasted less than two hours. The destruction was mostly limited to the city center. Not too many buildings were destroyed.
All in all, this had been a small battle—not a big one. In terms of destruction, it was nothing. If it had been Superman fighting Superman, half the city would be gone by now.
Still, even with minor losses, this was the first time since the Industrial Revolution that Earth had faced an invasion from an alien civilization. Humanity would soon enter a period of fear and uncertainty.
Not all aliens were as friendly as Superman. What if a real alien fleet arrived one day, launching an assault from deep space? How would humans respond? In a war at the galactic scale, Earth was nothing but a speck.
A red cape floated freely, unbound by gravity. Superman, able to hear the sounds of Earth from anywhere, had been quietly watching the New York battle unfold. This first-contact skirmish had tipped the odds slightly in humanity's favor. It might change the course of human history.
But everything would be up to humans to decide. All Superman could do was silently protect them.
Whoosh—
He vanished from orbit in a blur, his towering figure fading from sight.
Humans always believed they could control everything. Their obsession with the Tesseract was proof. But they failed—and ended up bringing the Chitauri here.
Now the war was over. Earth had to swallow the bitter consequences and lick its wounds. With the portal shut, there was no way to find the Chitauri. No place to take revenge.
And even if they could find them—what then? If the full Chitauri army had come, not even all the superheroes combined could have saved Earth.
Anyone who understood the whole story knew: this event was going to shake the world to its core.
But for now, that had nothing to do with Liu A'dou. He was on the ground, working with Spider-Man to help coordinate civilian rescue efforts. The police couldn't be counted on, and no ambulances were coming. They had to help themselves.
"Everyone, mark the locations of severely injured people who can't move. Use bright red clothing or stick poles upright," Liu A'dou called out. There were too many casualties to save everyone. He took on the role of an old-school medic, tending to those with minor wounds himself.
"Press on the wound," Liu A'dou told a nearby man with a cut on his forehead, guiding him to hold down the bleeding on a more seriously injured person.
"I've cleared out anything that might explode," Spider-Man said as he returned. "What else do you need me to do?"
Liu A'dou looked around. "Help manage traffic. The concert's about to end. Over ten thousand people are going to flood back into the city. It's going to be chaos." He had already messaged Pepper Pots to have someone inform the crowd about the situation in New York after the concert, but it didn't hurt to be extra careful.
Spider-Man had no objections. Liu A'dou had shown impressive leadership. He'd quickly organized all the uninjured and lightly injured, identified people with medical knowledge to form a first aid team, and assigned the rest to assist in locating and marking the severely wounded.
In short, Liu A'dou had brought order to a chaotic scene with incredible speed. Spider-Man was honestly impressed. Of course, what he didn't know was that most people had initially listened to Liu A'dou out of respect for Spider-Man himself.
Nearby, the boy who had lost his uncle was still in shock. The Elf Princess remained unconscious too. She didn't appear to be physically hurt—most likely just fainted from fear.
"What's your name?" Liu A'dou asked the boy.
The boy didn't respond. He didn't want to talk at all. A'dou understood and let him be.
At the Expo venue, the final song was Let It Go—a perfect ending.
Elsa came on stage in her queen's costume, complete with a crown. She was recreating the iconic scene from the movie. The atmosphere peaked when she summoned a miniature ice castle on stage. The whole crowd joined in, singing Let it go~ Let it go~…
Then, her dress began to change—transforming into the classic Snow Queen outfit from the movie. The audience thought, 'Even if the whole concert had only this one moment, it would've been worth it.' It was perfect. They were thrilled. Many Elsa fans were also movie fans, and this ending felt like a heartfelt gift.
"Elsa, stay on stage after the final song," Pepper Pots told her. "There's something we need you to announce to the audience."
After thanking the fans, Elsa said, "Everyone, please don't leave just yet. There's something important I need to tell you."
More activities? Even after three hours, Elsa had been flawless. The audience was amazed. If there was still more to come, they almost felt bad for her. What they didn't know was that Elsa was on the verge of awakening her Microcosmos. Three hours of performance was nothing.
When Elsa first heard that New York had been invaded by aliens, she froze in disbelief. 'Did time roll back to the age of myths?' But the battle was already over. What mattered now was keeping the audience calm to avoid panic about loved ones back in the city.
"The news I'm about to share isn't good," Elsa said gently. "So please stay calm."
Whispers spread through the crowd. Bad news? Confused expressions appeared all around.
"At the start of this concert, there was a major incident in downtown New York. A lot of people may have been injured." Elsa avoided mentioning an alien invasion, afraid it would cause panic. "Also, the roads to and from the Expo Park have been heavily damaged. So for now, we ask that everyone stay here and rest. Stark Industries will take care of your food and lodging. Please don't rush to leave, as there are still many injured on the highways who need emergency attention. We're also in need of volunteers."
Just because there were no ambulances didn't mean the injured weren't being taken to hospitals. And with over ten thousand people needing shelter and meals, they'd need help with logistics. The security team at the Expo certainly wasn't enough.
The crowd exchanged uncertain looks.