No Way Out? Then Make One

Sokovia, 18,000 feet above sea level

The once-blue sky had turned a deep, cosmic dark blue. The sunlight was blinding, yet carried no warmth.

The air had grown thin and biting cold.

"Cough, cough..."

An elderly man trapped at the edge of the ruins clutched his chest in agony, his face turning purple. He gasped desperately, yet drew in little oxygen. The children around him were also beginning to lose consciousness from the lack of air and the cold.

Steve Rogers watched the scene, his shield covered in scratches. His super-soldier physique allowed him to endure this environment, but he could not protect the civilians behind him.

"The air is too thin." Steve's voice carried an urgency never heard before. "Natasha, how much longer do we have? If we rise any higher, Ultron won't even need to do anything. These people will all suffocate to death."

"This is already the limit." Natasha stood at the cliff's edge, looking down at the bottomless sea of clouds as the wind tossed her red hair. "We don't have any large transport ships. This isn't even an evacuation anymore. It's a dead end."

"This is your ending."

Ultron's cold voice rang out from loudspeakers scattered throughout the city, carrying the arrogance of a judge passing sentence.

"At the place closest to heaven, you will watch the insects you protect die. There's a certain ceremony to it, isn't there?"

"Bzzzz—!!"

Just then, a deep engine roar, like that of a giant whale in the abyssal sea, suddenly pierced through the clouds and shook the entire floating city.

The sound was so immense that it even drowned out Humungousaur's heavy footsteps.

"Is that Ultron's reinforcements?" Gwen clung to the hand of a clock tower, squinting down into the sea of clouds below.

"No..."

Still maintaining his sixty-foot giant form, Jiang Li—Humungousaur—stared fixedly into the clouds with massive amber slit-pupiled eyes. He sensed that familiar vibration frequency, and a savage grin spread across his face.

"That's... cavalry."

"Boom!!"

The sea of clouds exploded!

A massive silver-gray warship burst through the thick storm clouds and slowly rose along one side of Sokovia with unstoppable momentum.

Four enormous turbine engines blasted blue flames behind them, while the S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle emblem on the hull gleamed under the sunlight.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier No. 64!

"That's..." Steve's eyes widened, and at last a smile appeared on his usually tense face. "You old bastard."

"I may be a drifter, but I've still got a few things in reserve."

Nick Fury's slightly smug voice sounded over the comms. "Looks like things are pretty lively over there. Mind if a few more people join in?"

"Fury!" Natasha could not help laughing as she cursed. "This is the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my life."

"This is also the most beautiful ship I've ever seen in my life."

Standing at the city's edge, Jiang Li looked like a primordial beast guarding a lone island. His line of sight was nearly level with the Helicarrier's command deck.

The confrontation between two colossal entities made even Agent Maria Hill suck in a breath inside the command room.

"Sir, that... dinosaur. I think we need to confirm its friend-or-foe identification code?"

"As long as he doesn't eat the lifeboats, he's on our side." Fury waved a hand calmly. "Launch the lifeboats! Full-speed rescue! Leave these bastards a way out!"

"Clank, clank, clank—"

The Helicarrier's lower bay doors opened, and dozens of silver airships poured out like a swarm of bees, racing toward Sokovia's various gathering points.

"So this is S.H.I.E.L.D..." Gwen watched the scene, overwhelmed by the sight.

"Stop staring! Get them aboard!" Steve roared, his fighting spirit reignited.

However, Ultron had clearly been enraged by the sight.

"No matter what you bring, the outcome will be the same. I will not allow any survivors!"

At Ultron's command, thousands of Ultron robots in the sky abandoned their struggle with the Avengers and descended on the fragile lifeboats like a swarm of mad hornets.

"They're trying to shoot down the lifeboats!" Tony shouted from the air. "Rhodey! You should be here by now!"

"Boom—!"

A silver-gray figure charged into the battlefield amid the thunder of fully unleashed rotary cannons.

War Machine, Colonel James Rhodes!

"Whoa! This place is seriously high up!" The moment Rhodey entered the field, his radar was flooded with massive heat signatures. He stared at the supermonster standing at the city's edge. "Tony, what the hell is that Godzilla down there? Did I come to the wrong movie? Or did Jurassic Park join the fight too?"

"That's Jiang Li! Quit talking and cover the flank!"

"Fine, as long as he doesn't bite me!"

"You want to touch the lifeboats? Ask me if I'll allow it first!"

Jiang Li watched the robots diving toward the civilians and released a roar that shook the atmosphere.

He did not cancel his transformation. Instead, using the terrifying strength granted by his giant form, he grabbed a broadcasting signal tower over twenty meters tall with both hands. It had been snapped apart earlier.

"Up!"

With a shriek of twisting steel, Jiang Li forcibly tore it from the ground. In his hands, it was like a devastating baseball bat.

"Home run!!"

Humungousaur twisted at the waist, sweeping the massive signal tower out with a howling gust of wind.

"Whoosh—bang!!"

Dozens of robots preparing to dive-bomb the lifeboats were smashed apart midair by the gigantic iron bar, becoming blazing balls of scrap metal that burst like fireworks.

Jiang Li stood at the very front of the evacuation point, using his mountainlike body to shield the civilians boarding behind him from every stray shot and shockwave.

"Get aboard! Don't push!"

Jiang Li's voice was like thunder, yet it carried a reassuring strength. "As long as I'm standing here, not one piece of scrap metal will touch this ship!"

Before boarding a lifeboat, a little girl clutching a rag doll looked back at the terrifying "monster" that was protecting them.

A somewhat gentler expression—though still terrifying to anyone else—appeared on Humungousaur's savage face. His massive claw raised a thumb.

"Go on, kid."

"Thank you, Mr. Dinosaur!"

As the first batch of lifeboats safely took off, the battle finally shifted from passive resistance to an orderly evacuation.

But the true crisis had only just begun.

The center of the church.

Ultron watched more and more lifeboats fly toward the Helicarrier, the red light in its eyes growing increasingly violent. Its plan was falling apart. Its perfect destruction was becoming a joke.

"If you want to leave... then none of you will leave."

"I don't need to wait until we reach the highest point."

Ultron suddenly turned, looking at the humming Vibranium core engine behind it.

"I'll smash this city down right now!! Even if it isn't high enough, all of you will still be buried with it!"

It charged toward the core switch.

"Not good!" Thor, guarding the church entrance, changed expression. "It's going to trigger it early!"

"Stop it!!"

"Roar!!"

Hulk charged in first, but the anti-gravity field around Ultron suddenly erupted and hurled Hulk away, smashing him through the church wall.

"You cannot stop the inevitable!"

Ultron's fingers were only inches away from the core's reversal switch.

"Humungousaur can't get in there!"

From afar, Jiang Li glanced at the narrow church entrance.

While running, he slammed the Omnitrix.

The gigantic dinosaur body instantly broke apart in a flash of red light. Using the tremendous momentum, a streak of red light shot from the dissolving colossal form!

Ruler of the skies—Jetray!

"Sorry, this path is closed!"

Jiang Li pierced through the air at supersonic speed, rushing into the church at the critical moment. Green neuroshock lasers fired simultaneously from his eyes and tail.

"Boom!"

The lasers slammed viciously into Ultron's back, blasting it away and sending it crashing into the altar.

Jiang Li hovered above the core, spreading his enormous manta-ray wings as he looked coldly at Ultron.

"Avengers! Hold the core!"