Fire! My Favorite Toy!

Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, and Iron Man—Tony Stark—had been the first to arrive at Stark Tower, but they were already fighting a losing battle. The four of them were pitifully few compared with the endless Chitauri pouring out of the Space Gate... They were a mere drop in the bucket! Against the Chitauri's overwhelming numbers, all they could do was make a few ripples.

"Hey! Tony, that big guy's all yours!"

Captain America threw his shield. After knocking several Chitauri off their flying vehicles, it spun back into his hand. Somehow, he'd made a shield with a design completely unsuited to aerodynamics behave like a boomerang. No wonder he was a seasoned defender with his talent maxed out!

Just then, the Space Gate atop Stark Tower expanded a little more. Countless Chitauri vehicles kept pouring through, along with a massive ship... No! It wasn't really a ship. Maybe it was a giant bug that could fly without wings? Captain America took one look and decided he couldn't handle the thing. He promptly called Iron Man Tony over for help. They were on the same team, after all.

"Whoa! Captain, you really know how to pick 'em... Jarvis, can you analyze its weaknesses?" Iron Man Tony tried attacking the giant bug with his lasers and shoulder-mounted mini-missiles, only to find that none of them could penetrate its thick armor.

With his weapons useless against such a heavily armored beast, Tony had no good options. After trying a few more attacks and seeing that they still had no effect, he could only act as bait, leading the monster in circles while asking Jarvis to analyze it as quickly as possible.

"I'm sorry, sir. There isn't enough data to identify its weaknesses." Jarvis was powerful, but analyzing the weaknesses of a creature it had never encountered was asking a bit much. It was only an artificial intelligence program!

"I recommend lowering your altitude and drawing it into the streets. It doesn't seem very maneuverable when turning."

Perhaps Tony's earlier attacks had angered the giant bug. Or perhaps Iron Man was simply the only enemy in the sky and had made himself an obvious target. Either way, the bug no longer needed to be lured. It roared and charged straight at him.

"You're right, Jarvis. I'd better lead it away first." Seeing the bug bearing down on him, Tony felt a little uneasy. After a moment's thought, he decided it would be best to avoid its charge for now.

Tony veered downward! He called out over the comms to Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, who were still fighting, then hurriedly began circling the skyscrapers! The flying beast stayed hot on his heels! It spiraled through the air, smashing into buildings along the way. Shattered masonry and twisted steel crashed down onto the streets, killing the unlucky people who hadn't managed to escape in time.

Once Tony had finally drawn away the biggest and most fearsome-looking monster, the three barely had time to catch their breath before more Chitauri swarmed toward them. Blue laser fire struck the cars they were using for cover, setting off explosions. The police officers beside them no longer dared to return fire. One by one, they fled with their heads down! This kind of intense battle clearly wasn't something ordinary police officers could handle.

"We can't keep this up! There are more and more of them! We have to think of something!" Black Widow Natasha realized her pistol had run out of ammunition!

She had no choice but to drop it and twist forward, kicking a Chitauri soldier who had attacked from the side and snapping his neck. Then, using the force of her kick to propel herself, she flew toward another enemy, twisted his arm until it broke, and used his laser weapon to blast his own head apart!

After struggling mightily just to take down two enemies, she found even more of them closing in... There were simply too many, as if they were endless! They couldn't keep fighting like this!

"I'm out of arrows, too!" The double-crossing Hawkeye had run out of regular arrows as well. This kind of intense, close-quarters battle clearly wasn't his specialty. He was better off sniping enemies from a distance than fighting them hand to hand!

And just like that, before he'd had much chance to fight, his quiver was already empty! Close combat was still a bit too much for him. He'd managed to knock a few enemies unconscious, but compared with their numbers, it meant nothing! This was a full-scale interstellar war. Just look at the endless fleet and the enormous mothership coming through the Space Gate overhead. Their forces had to number at least in the tens of thousands! Even if the enemy stood still, the four of them would never kill them all before dropping dead from exhaustion!

"This is bad!"

Captain America was also being forced back by the growing mass of enemies. At last, he, Black Widow, and Hawkeye had no choice but to stand back to back, watching as layer upon layer of Chitauri surrounded them! The muzzles of their weapons, each fitted with a blade, glowed blue. They looked ready to fire at any moment! In another instant, the three of them might be riddled with bullets.

"Magic: Shockwave!"

Just as the three were nearly in despair, a little girl's clear voice rang out.

Then a tremendous shock wave swept over them. The three were hurled hard against the side of a cargo truck, while the hundreds of towering Chitauri surrounding them were blasted high into the air...

As members of the Avengers, they were strong enough to withstand an impact like that without being seriously injured. Seeing a chance to turn things around, they ignored their aches, hurried to their feet, and looked up. It was little Annie who had saved them!

Annie was floating in midair, still clutching one of her little bear Tibbers' legs with her left hand. Her right hand was held out in front of her, its small, pale palm open. Clearly, she was the one who had just sent the enemies flying.

"Annie!" Captain America was about to greet her and thank her, but Annie didn't pay him any attention. She kept her right hand extended, and a fierce glow of fiery energy began to gather in her palm.

"Oh, God! Get down!!!" Captain America only had time to warn Hawkeye and Natasha before using the last instant to shield his head with his shield and throw himself flat on the ground. His battle-honed instincts told him this was the only way to survive! Anyone who dared to stand up would die horribly!

"Metamagic: Focus!"

Annie paid no attention to the three lying on the ground. With a little cry, she conjured a red magic circle beneath her feet, and it spun at high speed. More and more magical energy gathered in her hand. She aimed her outstretched right hand at the enemies, who had been blasted into the air and were now flailing as they lost their balance and began to fall.

"Magic: Incinerate!"

Fierce magical flames erupted from her palm in a vast fan, filling the sky above the entire street as they roared toward the hundreds of enemies!

When Captain America and Hawkeye jumped up to help Natasha put out her burning hair, all they saw were white ashes drifting down from the sky like snow. A thin layer covered the ground and the surfaces of the abandoned vehicles. They were... the ashes of enemies burned to nothing?

The three turned to stare at Annie in shock, their mouths agape and words failing them. Her attack had terrified them. They'd always assumed that, strong as Annie was, there had to be limits to her power. They'd figured S.H.I.E.L.D. had brought her into the Avengers mostly because of her powerful pet bear, Tibbers.

But who could have guessed that Annie herself was the truly powerful one? And not just powerful—absurdly so! She'd disposed of hundreds, perhaps a thousand Chitauri soldiers with such ease, without even breaking a sweat! How many had the three of them managed to kill after all their exhausting efforts? A hundred? Two hundred?

"Hey! Guys! Help! Somebody, please!!!" Just then, Iron Man Tony came racing back, pursued by the giant bug and looking thoroughly ragged.

A gigantic bug was right on his tail! He had no choice but to yell for help. He'd tried countless times to attack it, hitting it all over with all kinds of weapons, but none of it had done a thing! The bug looked completely unharmed and kept chasing him in circles.

Before the three below could come up with a way to help Tony, Annie, still floating in the air, didn't even look behind her. She casually tossed a Shatterfire behind her. The fireball grazed Tony's back and shot into the roaring bug's faceplate. When the magic exploded, its tremendous energy melted the creature's head into a burning skull! Then the lifeless bug crashed into a building, reducing the ten-story structure to rubble...

"Oh! All right, you win. I'm impressed!" Iron Man Tony, who had never gotten along with Annie, watched as she casually took down the giant beast that had left him helpless and started eating his words. That bug had seemed terrifying to him, but this little girl was even more terrifying? She was not someone to mess with!

But Annie paid no attention to what they thought. She looked up at the Space Gate atop Stark Tower! Some device up there seemed to be constantly supplying it with energy. Maybe that was the key to getting home!

Because she could sense a spatial artifact there, one with a power over space unlike anything she'd ever encountered! It had to be the Space Stone. There was no doubt about it! More importantly, she could tell that the Space Gate's fluctuations were very similar to those of the one that had brought her to Earth! Her arrival on Earth had to be connected to that artifact, didn't it? If she could get her hands on it, maybe she could go home? That had to be it!

Annie made up her mind. She had to get that Space Stone. She declared that it belonged to her now! If anyone dared to stop her and steal her things, she'd burn them down—burn them down, all of them!!!

Earth was a lot of fun, but it wasn't her real home. Nobody should bother a girl who missed home! Especially not when that girl was powerful. If there hadn't been so many innocent civilians here, Annie would have already set the whole area ablaze and turned it into a Flame Inferno! And once she created a Flame Domain, its power would boost her flames. No matter how many bad guys came down, she'd burn them all!

The bad guys' human-wave tactics were useless against her. She was a genuine Demigod Mage! If only Tibbers could fly, she could have tossed him out to block the exit of the Space Gate. What a useless little bear, making her handle everything herself... Hmph! For now, she'd just have to take care of the bad guys nearby.

While her thoughts wandered, Annie began speeding toward the top of Stark Tower. Layers of burning flames appeared around her, red fire enveloping her completely. Countless fireballs emerged and circled around her at the center. Soon, Annie herself was nowhere to be seen... The Avengers in the distance could only make out what looked like an enormous fire dragon, rushing toward the top of Stark Tower. Any Chitauri aircraft that dared attack or approach her was chased down and destroyed one by one by the circling fireballs...