Who Are You

Wu Yanzu glanced at the seemingly furious Thor, then at the pair of trembling legs on the ground.

"Sorry." He shrugged, looking innocent. "He yelled at me."

"You!!" Thor made as if to strike.

"Thor, stop!" Captain America stepped in just in time.

"Steve," Thor said, lowering his hammer, "but he attacked my brother."

"Why don't you look outside and see how many people your brother has killed, Thor?" Steve said coldly.

"Well... he's not my biological brother." Thor gave an awkward smile and stepped aside.

Steve then looked at Wu Yanzu, gratitude in his voice. "Friend, we appreciate your help. But we need to know—who exactly are you? Are you one of Nick Fury's people?"

Azu turned around, his face wearing a warm, friendly smile. "It was nothing, Captain Rogers."

"You know me?" Steve froze.

"Of course." Azu walked toward him and extended a hand. "Steve Rogers, Captain America, hero of World War II. Your deeds are inspiring."

Steve shook his hand. It was warm and strong, brimming with a sense of "justice."

"I'm..." Azu was just about to introduce himself.

Nick Fury's urgent voice suddenly rang through everyone's earpieces. "Stark, do you hear me?"

"Those idiots! They launched a nuclear missile! It's headed for Manhattan!"

"How long?!" Stark's face went pale.

"At most three minutes. The nuclear warhead it carries can level downtown!"

"I can handle it!" Tony immediately turned and flew out the window. "JARVIS, divert all remaining power to the thrusters!"

"Tony, are you insane?!" Steve shouted.

"There's no other way!" Stark seized the missile with all his strength and began flying toward the portal in the sky.

"JARVIS, tell Pepper..."

"What a touching sacrifice, Tony." Azu's voice suddenly sounded beside Stark's ear.

Stark turned around in horror and saw that this "Superman" was flying backward beside him at an even greater speed!

"Tony Stark." Wu Yanzu's voice was gentle. "You're a hero. You shouldn't die here..."

"You...?"

"The people need you, Tony."

"And I..." Azu gave Stark a tragic smile, like a man marching bravely to his death. "I was born for this."

"You're crazy! You'll die!" Stark shouted.

"Someone has to make the sacrifice, don't they?"

Tony, still "pushing" the missile, suddenly felt lighter beneath him.

"What the hell?" He looked down. The nuke was gone?!

That red-and-blue figure was carrying the nuclear missile and charging toward the portal at several times his speed.

"...That Superman cosplay guy?!" Stark was dumbfounded. "He stole my nuke?!"

"No!!!" Tony Stark stopped outside the wormhole and watched helplessly as he disappeared.

On the ground.

Steve Rogers took off his helmet and looked up at the sky, his expression complicated.

"...We owe him one."

In the endless void of space.

The Chitauri mothership lay right in front of him.

"Alright, toss it in, then go home."

Wu Yanzu was about to let go, but his X-Ray Vision instinctively swept across the entire mothership.

He saw the engines, the command center, and tens of thousands of Chitauri soldiers.

Then he saw a special chamber.

In another section of the mothership, inside a massive energy shield, there were...

"Holy shit! Children?"

More than a hundred unconscious human children were stacked like cargo inside a massive biological life-support pod.

"...They weren't just invading. They were 'stocking up' too?"

Wu Yanzu's mind raced.

A hero who "sacrificed" himself would certainly gain enormous popularity.

But...

A hero who miraculously returned after "sacrificing" himself, while also rescuing a whole shipload of children kidnapped by aliens...

That would be... a god among men!

A smile even more "holy" than all his previous smiles combined appeared on his face.

"This is practically a script delivered by heaven!"

There wasn't much time.

He adjusted his direction and released the missile.

Then he flew straight through the mothership's hull!

Alarms blared harshly throughout the mothership.

Ignoring every soldier attacking him, he swept his Heat Vision wildly around, clearing a path.

He charged straight toward that enormous container.

"Open up!"

He smashed his fist into the energy shield!

Bzzzz—!

Blinding arcs of electricity erupted between his fist and the shield.

Still not strong enough!

"AAAAAHHHH—!!!" Wu Yanzu's eyes blazed crimson as his Heat Vision and fist struck the same point at once!

Crack!

The energy shield shattered!

He grabbed the container's outer shell with both hands and forcibly tore the entire life-support pod from the mothership's floor.

"Hold on, little ones!"

Wu Yanzu pushed the massive container, turned around, and charged toward the hole he had smashed into the ship.

Behind him was light powerful enough to destroy the world.

New York, beneath the portal.

"He's been inside too long..." Natasha's expression was bitter.

"...He's not coming back." Stark hovered in the air, speaking softly.

Captain America looked up, his fists clenched.

At the very last moment before the portal closed—

"Look! What's that?!" An agent below pointed at the sky.

A streak of fire shot out of the portal!

It was that Superman!

And he was pushing something huge!

Azu burst out of the portal, which closed behind him.

The Chitauri forces still fighting all lost power and fell from the sky.

The war was over.

"He did it..." Stark murmured.

"Look... he seems to have passed out!" Captain America noticed something was wrong.

Wu Yanzu, pushing that enormous container, lost power in midair and began falling straight down.

"Quick! Tony!"

"I'm on it!" Stark was about to rush over.

Suddenly, the falling Wu Yanzu opened his eyes.

If you're acting, commit to it, he told himself.

He "awoke," "barely" steadied himself in midair, slowly decelerated, then held up the enormous life-support pod and landed in an extremely visually striking "Superman-style" pose.

BOOM—!!!

He landed in New York's Central Station Square.

All around him were civilians who had survived the disaster, along with countless reporters who had rushed over.

Every camera and every gaze instantly focused on him.

Before everyone's eyes.

To make himself look more "strained," Wu Yanzu slowly dropped to one knee and set the enormous container on the ground.

Then he rose to his feet, seeming slightly "exhausted."

A reporter asked in a trembling voice, "Y-you... who are you?"