Stark Tower

Luca coughed up another mouthful of blood, yet the smile on his face did not diminish in the slightest.

If he hadn't been unaccustomed to his severed right arm and instinctively used his prosthetic to block that last strike, he might have had to say goodbye to his left arm as well.

How could Luca not be happy about such a joyous occasion?

He ignored the intense pain and weakness radiating throughout his entire body.

Looking toward Tony Stark in the distance, only two Chitauri soldiers remained.

Because he had lost his Folding Light Gun somewhere during the previous explosion, Luca exerted a slight force with his left hand, ripping off the remaining third of his right prosthetic arm and tossing it in front of him.

Immediately after, he pushed off hard with his right foot, arcs of electricity flashing once more across his red-and-white sneaker.

The next moment.

"Bang—"

The mangled prosthetic beneath Luca's foot shot forward like a cannonball, covering a dozen meters in an instant and slamming straight into the skull of a Chitauri soldier with a trail of sparks and lightning.

Arcs of electricity exploded, and parts scattered everywhere.

Whether it was the blessing of the laws of the world or simply the perfect amount of force, the Chitauri soldier struck by the "cannonball" tilted his head and, without so much as a groan, collapsed into a dead faint.

Tony Stark, having finished off the last of the surrounding Chitauri, stood frozen in place.

He stared at Luca, whose right forearm was empty and whose mouth was stained with blood, yet who stood straight and continued to smile.

This kid...

Even with all his experience, Stark didn't know how to evaluate the boy before him.

But at the very least, he knew one thing: everything this boy had done was to assist him.

However, before he could say anything more, a voice crackled through his helmet's comms.

"Stark! Can you hear me? A missile is heading toward Manhattan!"

Hearing Nick Fury's alert, Tony Stark's expression tightened beneath his faceplate.

He glanced at Luca, who was sitting down against a wrecked car, and quickly replied.

"How long until the missile arrives?"

"Three minutes at most. The nuclear warhead it's carrying will level the entire city center!"

Hearing this, Tony Stark dared not delay any longer.

He shouted to Luca in the distance.

"Kid, find somewhere to hide! Don't run around!"

With that, flames erupted from his limbs, and he soared rapidly into the sky.

Watching Iron Man fly away, Luca twitched his lips into an ugly smile, not taking the man's words to heart.

He propped himself up with one hand and stood back up, his gaze locked firmly on Stark Tower in the distance, his eyes filled with a level of excitement he hadn't shown before.

"The nuke is coming? Then I'd better hurry up~"

Perhaps even Luca hadn't noticed that, at some point, the thrill of moving toward his goal had far outweighed his fear of death.

He picked up the backpack he had dropped earlier and scavenged a near-mint condition Folding Light Gun from a Chitauri corpse.

Luca curled his lip in disdain.

"Not even a piece of spatial equipment? I'm really losing face for transmigrators."

Time slipped away in a blink.

For the next two minutes, Luca did not engage in combat with a single Chitauri soldier.

Although he felt he might be getting a bit too overexcited, he still knew the difference between enjoying a thrill and actively seeking death.

By avoiding enemies as much as possible and occasionally taking a potshot or two, Luca witnessed Iron Man carrying the missile straight into the sky and saw the massive hole in the heavens close.

Countless Chitauri soldiers fell in droves, like robots that had lost their power.

Massive Leviathan warships crashed into the ground, and speeding Chitauri skiffs lost control, slamming into buildings and streets.

The few people remaining on the streets went from shock to cheers, then to weeping and hysterical laughter.

It seemed everyone was celebrating this hard-won victory.

Only Luca had now reached the base of Stark Tower.

"So that's how these guys got up to the roof?"

He watched as Hulk jumped to the top of Stark Tower, holding Iron Man in one hand and Captain America in the other, with Thor—spinning Mjolnir—following closely behind while carrying Hawkeye.

"How did these people manage to get in front of Loki and strike a pose before he woke up?"

The question that had plagued Luca for so long finally had an answer.

"Is this really necessary..."

Shaking his head in speechlessness, Luca, who had been keeping a close eye on the movements in the sky, was the first to notice another gold-and-red figure silently flying into the top floor of the building.

"It's starting..."

He withdrew his gaze after only a brief glance.

Luca's attention was focused more on the first floor of Stark Tower right in front of him.

The Chitauri soldiers had only just been dealt with, and the lobby was still in complete chaos.

Neither the police nor rescue teams had arrived yet; the vast majority of the people on the scene were employees of Stark Tower and nearby civilians.

Some were trying to run out to call for help, while others were trying to rush in to seek shelter, and the few security guards still dutifully performing their jobs were completely overwhelmed by the crowd.

If Luca wanted to slip inside right now, it would be effortless.

However, he knew that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would arrive before long, and he didn't want to expose himself to them just yet.

Besides, stopping Loki from taking the Tesseract didn't necessarily require him to enter the building.

After searching around and finding a spot where he could take in the entire first floor through the exterior glass, Luca began to wait in silence.

Not long after, a large number of agents arrived on the scene to begin maintaining order.

But with everyone in a state of panic, and given how distinct the Chitauri—who had been the enemy just moments ago—looked, these agents and the New York police who followed closely behind were only doing their best to maintain order and evacuate the wounded, rather than dispersing the ordinary civilians.

At the same time, Luca noticed that above the building, the Tony Stark from the future leaped down, landing in a hidden corner.

Before long, a fully armed "S.H.I.E.L.D. agent" in tactical gear walked out from the corner where Tony had disappeared.

However, the "white light" radiating from the individual was far too conspicuous.

Nanotech armor? That's certainly convenient!

Watching the disguised Tony walk into the building and seeing Loki, escorted by the Avengers, descend in the elevator and appear in the lobby, Luca twisted the dial on his Power-Enhancing Shoes once more.

After a moment's thought, he also took the Monkey Bomb, which was missing one Hextech Crystal, out of his backpack.

However.

Just as Luca finished this action, he suddenly sensed something.

The noisy environment around him suddenly fell completely silent; the previously loud wail of sirens and the overlapping shouts of the crowd seemed to have been abruptly cut off.