Battle of New York (Part 1)

New York, above Manhattan.

The once-clear sky seemed to have been torn open by a massive wound.

A pitch-black wormhole hung like a demon's single eye, watching the ants below.

"Roar—!!"

Amid bloodcurdling shrieks, countless Chitauri soldiers riding flying vehicles poured out like a plague of locusts. Energy beams rained down like a storm, turning the streets into an inferno in an instant. Cars exploded, and screaming crowds scattered in panic.

"Sir, is this the 'party' you mentioned?"

JARVIS's voice sounded inside Tony Stark's helmet. "It appears we are late."

"No, we made it just in time for the opening dance."

The gold-and-red Iron Man, Mark 7, cut a graceful arc through the sky, palm repulsors and shoulder missiles firing at full force.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!"

A barrage of small missiles accurately shot down more than a dozen Chitauri aircraft.

Tony charged straight for the top floor of Stark Tower, the source of it all. But he quickly discovered that the pure energy shield surrounding the Tesseract was indestructible.

"Can't shut it down!" Tony shouted. "The shield is made of pure energy—we can't break through it at all!"

Just then, a deeper roar echoed from the depths of the wormhole, as though it had risen from the ocean floor.

"Wooo—!!"

An enormous, suffocating shadow slowly squeezed out of the wormhole.

It was a giant fish swimming through the air—a Leviathan.

It was hundreds of meters long, its entire body covered in heavy biological armor. Its massive fins sliced through the glass facades of skyscrapers like blades. Countless Chitauri soldiers clung to its sides, leaping down like parasites to slaughter people on the ground.

"Stark, do you see that big thing?"

Steve Rogers's grave voice came through the comms. By then, the Quinjet had arrived above the battlefield.

"I see it." Tony swallowed. Even he felt pressure facing an interstellar war machine like this. "How do we take that thing down? Blow it up from the inside?"

"No need to make it that complicated."

The Quinjet's hatch slowly opened.

The raging wind poured into the cabin, scattering Jiang Li's black hair.

He stepped to the open hatch and looked at the rampaging Leviathan below, a disdainful smile curling his lips.

"A loach that size would have too many bones even for sashimi."

Steve and Natasha looked toward Jiang Li.

"You're planning to use that?" Steve pointed at Jiang Li's watch, recalling the hundred-meter giant from that night.

"Of course."

Jiang Li took a deep breath and pressed the Omnitrix.

This time, turning the dial felt exceptionally heavy, as though the form itself carried immense mass.

"In a city full of skyscrapers, nothing makes a better opening than a tokusatsu show."

Jiang Li leaped out of the cabin.

He plummeted through the air at high speed, heading straight for the oncoming Leviathan.

"It's Hero Time!"

"Transform!"

"Boom—!!!"

A red-and-white pillar of light erupted over Manhattan, its radiance nearly eclipsing the sun.

A terrifying wave of pressure instantly blasted away the surrounding Chitauri aircraft.

When the light faded.

A red-and-white cosmic giant, with a sleek crest atop its head and standing over a hundred meters tall, appeared out of nowhere amid the city's forest of skyscrapers!

"Way Big!!"

Its enormous shadow covered several city blocks.

New York citizens fleeing for their lives stopped in their tracks and stared blankly at the sky.

The police officers firing wildly forgot to pull their triggers.

Even the arrogant Leviathan visibly stiffened when it saw the colossal figure that had suddenly appeared before it.

It was huge.

But Way Big... was bigger!

"Roar!"

The Leviathan let out a threatening bellow, opened its enormous fang-filled jaws, and charged at Way Big, intending to use its massive body to knock down this obstacle in its path.

"Quiet down, little dried fish."

Jiang Li, in Way Big's form, did not dodge. To avoid crushing the streets, he adjusted his posture with the fins on his back and lightly set both feet at the center of an intersection between two broad avenues.

Then he stretched out his hands and directly seized the Leviathan's two enormous fangs!

"Stop... right there!!"

"Bang—!!"

The thunderous impact resounded through the skies.

The Leviathan's charge, carrying thousands of tons of momentum, was forcibly halted in midair by Jiang Li!

The beast wildly swung its tail, trying to sweep down the nearby buildings.

Jiang Li's gaze sharpened. He directly blocked the tail sweep with his body, taking the heavy blow head-on and protecting the residential district behind him.

"Is that all the strength you've got?"

A trace of disdain flashed through Jiang Li's enormous eyes.

He exerted force with both hands, his muscles bulging.

"Up!"

Before countless stunned onlookers, Way Big actually lifted the hundreds-of-meters-long biological warship and swung it around like a baseball bat!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"

The massive Leviathan cut a blur through the air.

"Off you go!"

Jiang Li twisted at the waist and hurled it with all his strength, deliberately avoiding every building as he aimed toward the wormhole in the sky.

"Boom!!"

The Leviathan was used as a super javelin and smashed viciously into another Leviathan that had just emerged from the wormhole nearby!

"Thud!!!"

The two beasts collided in midair, unleashing a horrific crack of shattering bones. They tangled together as they fell, crashing into the Hudson River and throwing up waves a hundred meters high.

"Oh my God..."

Steve stood at the cabin hatch, staring at the scene. His shield nearly slipped from his hand. "Is... is that his full strength?"

"No."

Natasha piloted the plane, her voice somewhat dry. "Tony's data analysis says this is just a warm-up. But I'm detecting violent fluctuations in Jiang Li's energy readings... maintaining that size appears to consume an enormous amount of energy."

At the top of Stark Tower.

Loki stood on the terrace, staring at the red-and-white giant taller than Stark Tower itself. The smile on his face had vanished completely, replaced by deep fear.

"This is impossible..."

The hand holding Loki's scepter trembled as he recalled certain ancient legends from across the cosmos.

"That size... that energy signature... could he be a descendant of the Celestials? Or that legendary Cosmic Storm Giant capable of destroying planets?"

"I knew it..."

Loki gritted his teeth. "That little thief who stole my armor is the greatest variable! He has to die first!"

At that moment, Way Big slowly turned his head.

Those enormous yellow eyes locked tightly onto Loki standing on the terrace from several kilometers away.

Jiang Li raised a hand and made a throat-slitting gesture at Loki.

His massive voice echoed above the city:

"Loki! Wash your neck clean!"

"Once I've stomped these fish to death, I'm coming to settle the score with you!"

After saying that, Jiang Li felt a rapid beeping warning from the Omnitrix on his chest.

The red light began to flash.

It was a signal that his energy was about to run out! The Way Big form was still too much of a burden for him at his current level.

"I need to finish this quickly."

Jiang Li took a deep breath and stopped wasting words.

He broke into a run between Manhattan's skyscrapers, each step triggering a small earthquake as he charged toward the Chitauri army still rampaging through the city.

At the same time, the enormous wormhole in the sky seemed to be affected by some unknown interference, and strange purple lightning began to appear around its edges.