"What happened!?"
The merman guard immediately snapped his gaze toward Themis.
"Our refractive camouflage is active! This isn't a targeted attack!" Themis had already begun scanning their surroundings the moment the vibration hit.
Her hands blurred over the console, dials spinning under her touch before she reached a verdict.
But a heartbeat later, a massive impact sent Asta reeling, nearly throwing her from the command podium.
"Miss!"
Hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor, a familiar voice reaching the trio's ears.
"Arlan!" Asta instantly recognized her.
A grey-haired girl wielding a power sword nearly as tall as herself burst into view.
Her bronze skin usually radiated a sunny, vibrant energy, but her stoic features were currently pinched with such intense anxiety that any hint of warmth had vanished.
"What's going on!?"
Arlan rushed to Asta's side, steadying her.
"An army is attacking Midgard!" Themis reported to her superior without missing a beat. "We aren't their target, but our jump point placed us right in the thick of the battlefield!"
"Attacking Midgard? Isn't that under Asgard's jurisdiction?" Arlan asked, her voice laced with disbelief.
Themis's expression soured. She had previously remarked that Asgard didn't particularly care for Midgard, but the reality remained: as an Asgardian protectorate, an assault on Midgard was a direct slap in the face to Asgard.
"We need to call Madam Herta for help!"
Janus's voice was borderline frantic. "I've broadcasted our identity on every local channel, but I'm getting nothing! Whose army is this!?"
"Detecting a massive energy signature... a portal is opening! The invading force is coming through from the other side... wait. This energy reading...!?" Shock choked the words in Themis's throat.
Asta pulled out her communicator. As expected, there was no reply. Panic flickered across her face. "Madam Herta isn't responding...! She must be busy with something else!"
The news sent a fresh wave of alarm through Janus and Themis, yet the direness of the situation forced a cold sort of calm over them.
"Have we requested aid from Asgard?" Arlan looked to Janus.
Before Janus could speak, Themis cut in: "It's useless! This energy fluctuation and the resulting magnetic field are jamming signals across a massive radius! The portal itself isn't even that large, but I've never seen energy like this. It's as if space itself has been thrown into chaos!"
Another violent collision rocked the ship. The Chitauri leviathans—massive bio-mechanical warships—were nearly double the size of their small jump-ship.
These behemoths didn't even need weapons; their sheer mass was enough to swat the vessel out of the sky.
"Power systems are compromised! Switch to backup reserves!" Themis shouted, bracing herself against the vertigo of the tumbling ship. "We have to get out of this sector, now!"
"The warp engines are trashed! We won't get far on backup power alone!" Janus said, his face grim.
Escaping the immediate fray was one thing, but where would they go once they were out?
Cradled in Arlan's protective grip, Asta recovered her senses and immediately took charge.
"Initiate an emergency landing on Midgard! Once we're down, we'll find a way to contact Asgard and Madam Herta!"
"Understood!"
Midgard was currently a war zone. Was heading straight into the fire really a good idea?
No one voiced the doubt.
Asta offered a quick explanation regardless:
"I recognize this energy wavelength. I've seen something similar in Madam Herta's lab. If we get to Midgard, we might actually have a chance to shut that portal down!"
Her words provided a much-needed anchor. A landing meant a chance to call for help, and if they could close the portal, they could claim a favor from Asgard—or at least demand compensation for damages.
She truly was the Lead of the Space Station; even in the jaws of death, she was calculating the maximum profit.
Risk? Without risk, where was the reward?
Without further hesitation, Janus steered the ship toward Midgard.
To conserve energy, they dropped the camouflage entirely. Using every ounce of his piloting skill, Janus wove the ship through the relentless swarm of Chitauri forces, plummeting toward the Earth's surface.
--+--
"What is that thing? A ship?"
High above New York, Tony Stark—Iron Man—was busy intercepting fliers when Jarvis flagged the descent of Asta's small jump-ship.
Hawkeye squinted upward from his vantage point. His keen eyes immediately assessed the situation. "That doesn't look like a Chitauri bird!"
On the ground, Captain Rogers and Black Widow couldn't see that high up, but they kept the report in mind.
However, it didn't take long before even those on the street could see a flaming vessel screaming toward the pavement.
"Can anyone get a word to Thor!?" Rogers barked.
Thor was the only one without a comms unit.
Though they shared the same battlefield, the God of Thunder tended to fight his own war.
But Thor didn't need a reminder. Like Tony, he was tearing through the sky when he noticed the ship making its forced landing.
With centuries of combat experience under his belt, he recognized a vessel in distress at a glance.
Between him and Tony, only Thor had the raw power to catch something that heavy.
Without a word, Thor implicitly trusted his new teammates to hold the line and veered off toward the falling ship.
Thunder and gale-force winds swirled around Mjolnir, propelling Thor to maximum velocity. In a flash, he was beneath the hull.
"Haaaagh—!"
Thor didn't hesitate, bracing his shoulders and arms against the ship's underbelly.
The vessel, which had been in a near-freezing freefall, groaned under his divine strength. The descent slowed, transitioning from a falling comet to a "heavy hunk of iron" held aloft by the god's hands.
With careful precision, Thor set the ship down in the middle of a city block.
Moments later, the hatch hissed open. A young girl with pink hair and blue eyes emerged, leaning on her companions for support.
When Thor caught sight of the identification badge pinned to her chest, his pupils constricted slightly.
"You are from The Blue...?"
"I am Asta, Lead Researcher of the Herta Space Station. We were en route to discuss a ceasefire treaty with the Kree."
The girl was clearly shaken, but she managed to state her identity with concise clarity.
Beside her, Arlan's eyes were full of concern, though her expression remained icy and professional.
"You're the Lead Researcher of the Space Station? That Herta Space Station!?" Thor actually blinked in shock.
As a high-ranking official, she had traveled with such a small escort? No frigate? No guard ships?
"Yes. And you are... Prince Thor of Asgard? Forgive my bluntness, but can you take me to the roof of that building? I need to shut that portal down."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.