I have to admit, fighting alongside Spider-Man was pretty cool.
The guy never stopped talking. Like, ever. He'd be dodging energy blasts while cracking jokes about the aliens' fashion choices. Webbing them up while making pop culture references. It was impressive and kind of annoying at the same time.
"On your left!" Spider-Man yelled.
I turned. Three aliens charging. I launched myself at them. Grabbed one by the throat. Threw it into the other two. They went down in a heap.
"Nice!" Spider-Man swung overhead, webbing two more to a wall. "Very aggressive. I like it. You're like the angry silent type. The brooding hero. Very Batman."
"I'm not brooding," I said, punching another alien.
"You're totally brooding. The armor. The not talking much. The whole mysterious vibe. Classic brooder."
An alien tried to shoot me. I grabbed its weapon. Crushed it. Punched the alien in the face. It dropped.
"Okay, yeah, definitely brooding," Spider-Man said. "Also, can we talk about how you just crushed that gun like it was made of aluminum foil? Because that was awesome. Is the armor that strong or are you secretly the Hulk under there?"
"The armor," I said.
"Right. The magical anime armor. Which I still have questions about, by the way. So many questions. Like, where did you get it? Is it actually from Akame ga Kill? Because if it is, then that means—"
"Spider-Man."
"Right. Focus. Aliens. Got it." He shot a web at another soldier. "But we're definitely talking about this later!"
We kept moving. Fighting our way toward the center of the chaos. More aliens kept coming. From the portal. From those flying whale things. They just didn't stop.
But we didn't stop either.
Spider-Man would distract them. I'd hit them. He'd web them up. I'd throw them. We had a rhythm going. It was working.
Then I heard it.
That sound. Like jet engines.
I looked up just in time to see Iron Man come screaming out of the sky. He blasted three aliens with his repulsors. They went flying. Then he landed in front of us in that superhero pose. You know the one. Fist on the ground. One knee down. Dramatic as hell.
"Spider-Man," Iron Man said, standing up. His faceplate lifted, revealing Tony Stark's face. "Good to see you're still in one piece."
"Iron man!" Spider-Man practically bounced on his feet. "This is insane! There's a portal in the sky and aliens everywhere and—"
"Yeah, I noticed." Tony's eyes shifted to me. He looked me up and down. Taking in the armor. The shields. Everything. "And who's your friend?"
I just stood there. Because what was I supposed to say? Hi, I'm Adam, I got magic armor from a video game system in my head?
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Not much of a talker, huh? That's fine. As long as you're on our side." He looked at the aliens scattered around us. All down. All not getting back up. "Looks like you can handle yourself. Good. We need all the help we can get."
Spider-Man nudged me. "Say something. You can't just stand there. It's Iron Man. The Iron Man!"
"I know who he is," I said.
Tony smirked. "He speaks. Great. Now that we've established you have a voice, you got a name?"
I hesitated. Should I tell him my real name? Make up a codename? I didn't have a codename. I didn't have anything except this armor and a week of basement training.
"I..." I started.
Then the ground shook.
All three of us looked up.
One of those whale things was coming straight for us. And it was big. Way bigger than the others. Carrying what looked like hundreds of alien soldiers.
"Well," Tony said, his faceplate snapping back down. "Introductions can wait. Let's deal with that first."
Yeah.
The whale thing descended. And I mean descended. This thing was massive. Easily the size of a city bus. Maybe bigger. Metal plating covered its body, glowing with that same blue energy as the alien weapons. And soldiers were clinging to its sides like ants.
"Okay," Spider-Man said. "That's... that's really big. Anyone else think that's really big?"
"We've noticed, kid," Tony said.
The whale opened its mouth. Or what I assumed was its mouth. A cannon of some kind charged up inside. Blue light building. Getting brighter.
Oh shit.
"Move!" Tony yelled.
We scattered. The whale fired. A massive energy beam tore through the street where we'd been standing. Concrete exploded. Cars flipped. The beam carved a trench through the pavement like it was nothing.
"Okay!" Spider-Man swung to a nearby building. "New plan! Maybe don't stand in front of the giant flying death laser!"
I shot into the air, putting distance between me and that thing. My shields hummed, but I had a feeling they wouldn't hold up against a blast like that.
Tony flew up beside me. "I'm going to try hitting it. See if we can bring this thing down."
He banked hard. Repulsors blazing. Shot toward the whale and unleashed everything he had. Repulsor blasts hammered into its armor plating.
The whale didn't even flinch.
Tony flew past, circling around for another pass. "Yeah, that's not working!"
I dove in next. Picked up speed. Slammed both fists into the side of the whale as hard as I could.
The impact rattled my entire body. The whale's armor held. Not a dent. Not a scratch. It was like punching a mountain.
The whale turned its head toward me. Those glowing eyes locked on.
Oh no.
It fired again. Point blank.
I threw myself sideways. The beam missed by inches. I felt the heat even through the armor. My visor went haywire with warnings.
"Yeah, okay!" I shot away. "That's not working either!"
Spider-Man swung in, landing on the whale's back. "Maybe I can web up its eyes! Blind it or something!"
He shot web after web at the thing's face. The webs stuck but the whale just shook its head. The webs tore off like tissue paper.
"Or not!" Spider-Man jumped off as the whale twisted. "New idea! We need a new idea!"
More aliens were dropping from the whale. Landing on the street. Dozens of them. Weapons raised. Already spreading out.
Tony assessed the situation fast. "Change of plans. I'll lead this thing away. You two handle the ground troops."
"What?" Spider-Man said. "You're going to fight that thing alone?"
"Not fight. Distract." Tony's repulsors flared brighter. "Just keep those soldiers off the civilians. I'll draw this ugly bastard toward the river. Less collateral damage."
"Mr. Stark—"
"That's an order, Spider-Man." Tony shot toward the whale, blasting it in the face. "Come on, you oversized space tuna! Follow me!"
The whale roared. Actually roared. The sound was deafening. Then it turned and chased after Tony.
They both disappeared over the buildings. Tony flying. The whale following. Blue energy blasts lighting up the sky as they went.
I looked at Spider-Man. Spider-Man looked at me.
Then we both looked at the forty-plus aliens that had just landed in the street.
"So," Spider-Man said. "This is going well."
"Yeah," I said. "Great."
The aliens opened fire.
We scattered again. Spider-Man swung left. I flew right. Energy blasts filled the air between us.
"Divide and conquer?" Spider-Man yelled.
"Works for me!"
I dove into the group on the right. About twenty aliens. All armed. All angry.
The first one charged at me. I grabbed it and threw it into two others. They went down in a heap.
Another fired. I dodged. The blast went wide. I closed the distance and punched it. The alien flew backward into a storefront window.
Spider-Man was handling his group on the left. I could hear him making jokes. Something about alien breath and the importance of dental hygiene.
We tore through the soldiers. It took maybe ten minutes. Maybe less. Hard to tell when you're punching aliens in the face.
When the last one went down, Spider-Man swung over to me.
"Okay," he said, breathing hard. "That was... a lot."
"Yeah."
He looked around. More explosions in the distance. More screaming. The portal was still open. Still spewing out reinforcements.
"We should split up," Spider-Man said. "Cover more ground. Save more people."
I nodded. Made sense. Two people could cover more area than one.
"You take west," I said. "I'll go east."
"Deal. And hey." Spider-Man stuck out his fist. "Good working with you, anime armor guy."
I bumped his fist with mine. "You too."
He shot a web and swung off toward the west side of Manhattan.
I launched into the air and headed east.
The city was chaos. Buildings burning. Cars overturned. Alien soldiers everywhere. People running. Screaming. Trying to find safety.
I dropped down when I saw a group of aliens cornering a family. Three soldiers. All armed.
I landed between them and the family.
"Run!" I yelled.
The family didn't need to be told twice. They bolted.
The aliens opened fire. I dodged. Grabbed the nearest one. Threw it into a wall. Punched the second one. The third tried to shoot me again. I crushed its weapon and knocked it out cold.
Three down.
I kept moving. Flew from street to street. Taking down aliens wherever I found them. Helping people evacuate. Clearing paths for them to escape.
Then I heard it. The sound of a shield ricocheting off metal.
I turned.
A man in a blue suit with red and white stripes. Holding a round shield with a star on it. Fighting a group of aliens like he'd been doing it his whole life.
Captain America.
Holy shit.
Captain America was supposed to be dead. Everyone knew that. He went down in a plane during World War II. Seventy years ago. They never found his body.
But there he was. Right in front of me. Very much alive.
How the hell was that possible?
He threw his shield. It bounced off three aliens in quick succession before returning to his hand like a boomerang. He caught it without even looking.
That was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.
Then lightning struck.
Actual lightning. From the sky. Hit an alien and sent it flying.
A man landed beside Captain America. Tall. Long blonde hair. Wearing armor that looked like something out of a fantasy. Holding a hammer.
What the hell?
Who was this guy? Some kind of lightning wizard? Another superhero I'd never heard of?
"There are more coming from the north," the blonde guy said. His voice was deep. Commanding. Had some kind of accent I couldn't place.
"Then we go north," Captain America replied.
They turned to leave and saw me standing there. Just hovering a few feet off the ground. Staring like an idiot.
Captain America's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
Come on, Adam. Say something. Anything.
"I... you're Captain America," I said. Real smooth.
The blonde guy looked me up and down. "A warrior in strange armor. Are you friend or foe?"
"Friend," I said quickly. "Definitely friend. I've been fighting these things all day."
"Good." The blonde guy hefted his hammer. Lightning crackled around it. "Then you will fight with us."
Just like that. No questions about who I was or where I came from. We were in the middle of an alien invasion. Details could wait.
Captain America nodded. "Can you fly?"
"Yeah."
"Then take the rooftops. Clear out any soldiers you see. We'll handle the ground."
"Got it."
I shot into the air. Captain America and the mystery lightning guy took off running down the street.
I was fighting alongside Captain America and some dude with a magic hammer who could summon lightning.
This was insane.
This was absolutely insane.
But I didn't have time to freak out about it. There were aliens to stop. People to save.
I flew toward the nearest rooftop and spotted five aliens setting up some kind of weapon. A cannon. Aimed at the street below.
Oh no you don't.
I dove.