The alarm of S.H.I.E.L.D. does not come from the earth, or even from Solar System.
Deep-Space Monitoring Network captured an abnormal space distortion signal. The source was far away from the edge of Milky Way, but its target trajectory was accurately calculated by Friday and pointed to the earth.
"It's not a fleet, it's not an energy attack," Tony·Stark stared at the holographic star map, his expression solemn as never before, "It's a... space folding phenomenon.
Something is jumping directly over, it's not big, but the energy signature is extremely weird."
Bruce·Banner compared the database. "The energy signature does not match any known alien civilization--Kree, Skrull, Shi'ar--.
Older, darker. With strong Negative Zone energy readings."
Nick Fury's one eye narrowed. "Be specific, Doctor Banner."
"It's like... a scar in space," Banner tried to describe it. "Wherever it passes, the structure of reality itself is slightly... necrotic."
Before he finished speaking, the alarm was upgraded.
"The target appears! Located in geosynchronous orbit! Number: five!" Hill's voice carried a hint of unnoticeable nervousness, "Wait... they disappeared!
No, it landed! The landing points are scattered around the world - Sahara Desert, Siberia tundra, Amazon Rainforest, Pacific Ocean trench, and...New York city center!"
Avengers acts instantly.
Tony and Rhodes rushed over New York; Natasha and Barton mobilized Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to block the Manhattan block;
Steve and Banner rush to the ground coordinates; Thor senses the direction, and Mjolnir stirs up the wind and cloud;
T'Challa as far away as Wakanda also provided satellite support and border warriors on standby.
Strange and Wang were inside Sanctum Sanctorum, feeling the tremor of magic. "It's not a dimensional invasion," Strange made a seal with his hands, and golden sparks flickered.
"But the fabric of reality is being... pulled at. Their very existence is poisoning the integrity of space."
New York city center, Times Square.
Five figures suddenly appeared in the bustling crowd. They were not in a spaceship, but seemed to infiltrate directly from the shadows.
They wore uniform dark armor with an ancient and ferocious style. The armor was inlaid with purple energy Crystal.
They did not attack, but stood indifferently. The leader raised his hand, and in the palm of his hand, a piece of Crystal projected a huge, constantly rotating picture of the galaxy - not any star map known to mankind.
The crowd fell into panic and curiosity, but were pinned to the spot by an invisible pressure.
Tony and Rhodes landed in front of them, the weapon systems locked. "Report your identity and purpose!" Tony's voice came through the armor's loudspeaker.
The leader, an alien with a haggard face and sunken eye sockets like a skull, made a hoarse voice, a kind of weird English processed by an automatic translator:
"We are Dark Order. We are here to trace the source of the imbalance of 'Cosmic Harmony'. Hand over 'Source of the Dissonance' and we shall leave."
"What Source of the Dissonance?" Steve arrived with a shield in front of him.
The alien's eyes swept over Avengers, and finally settled on a certain direction - not Malibu, but a point in the void. "It disturbed the eternal tranquility.
Its frequency... is harsh." There was pure, inhuman disgust in his voice.
"I don't understand what you are talking about!" Rhodes shouted, "Disarm immediately!"
The Dark Order members moved. There was no energy weapon flash, the faint purple Crystal on their armor lit up, and the surrounding space instantly became sticky and dark.
The light was distorted and the sound was attenuated. Avengers felt like it was stuck in an invisible quagmire, with sluggish movements and rapid loss of armor energy.
"They are extracting the energy of space!" Tony exclaimed, and the armor's thrusters flickered as if they were malfunctioning.
Thor fell from the sky and was bombarded by thunder and lightning, but when it approached Dark Order, the lightning was swallowed up and dissipated by the twisted Dark Dimension. "What kind of magic is this?!"
"It's not magic!" Strange's voice came through the communicator, with urgency
"It's something more basic! They are reducing the local entropy value! Making the laws of physics invalid!"
The attacks of Black Widow and Hawkeye on the ground were also in vain. When the bullets and arrows entered that dark area, their speed dropped sharply until they stopped.
The leader of Dark Order spoke again, his voice calm. "Mortal efforts are in vain. Hand over 'Source of the Dissonance', otherwise this place will become Void Core."
The situation is at a stalemate, Avengers's attacks are all ineffective, and the opponent's most advanced technology and strongest magic are helpless just in defense.
Meanwhile, Malibu Beach.
Xiao Han's brows frowned slightly under his sunglasses. He didn't hear something, but felt it.
An extremely subtle but constant sense of dissonance, like an unignorable, false note of white noise added to the perfect silence.
This feeling was not directed at him, but it permeated the space widely, interfering with the absolutely peaceful immersion he felt when enjoying the sunshine.
He turned over irritably.
After a few minutes, the feeling not only did not disappear, but was caused by the collision between Avengers's futile energy attack and the opponent's ability to swallow energy.
It produced a "resonance" that was even more unpleasant to him.
"Tsk." He made an impatient voice, and Super Vision instantly penetrated the distance and locked onto the five "noise sources" New York in the city center.
The next moment, he appeared above Times Square, suspended between Dark Order and Avengers.
His appearance caused the Dark Order members to react for the first time. They all raised their heads, and the purple Crystal on their armor flashed violently.
Instead of absorbing energy smoothly, it became unstable and made a sizzling noise. A trace of... astonishment seemed to flash across the leader's skull-like face?
"You..." the leader's hoarse voice was filled with disbelief, "Such a strong 'abnormal sound'... actually attached to a life form?"
Xiao Han didn't look at Avengers at all. He just stared at the five Dark Order members with cold eyes. "You are very annoying. Turn it off."
He is referring to the energy field on the other party that interferes with space and creates "noise".
Dark Order leader seemed angry at this "unreasonable" request:
"Ignorance creation! We are maintaining the silent order of the universe! Your existence is a paradox! Clear..."
Before he finished speaking, Xiao Han moved.
There was no huge momentum, just a simple punch, hitting the twisted Dark Dimension.
A strange scene happened: the strange force field that disabled the power of Thor and magic
In front of Xiao Han's fist, like glass being hit by a huge boulder, there was an overwhelming shattering sound that was not transmitted through the air but acted directly on the space!
The dark force field collapsed instantly!
The five Dark Order members staggered back as they were hit hard, and the Crystal on their armors were in varying light and shade.
The leader looked at Crystal with cracks in himself in horror, and then looked at Xiao Han: "Impossible! How can the power of pure physicality interfere with Domain of Silence?!"
"It's so noisy." Xiao Han's second punch has arrived.
This punch directly knocked the leader away, crashed through several buildings, and was finally embedded in the wall of a building in the distance. His armor was shattered, and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead.
When the remaining four members saw this, they activated some kind of device without any hesitation. Their bodies began to become blurry, as if they were blending into shadows.
"Want to run?" Xiao Han Heat Vision flashed in his eyes, not shooting at the enemy, but accurately scanning the shadow they were blending into.
The shadows twisted violently as if they had been burned, and the four Dark Order members were forcibly "squeezed" out of the transfer that was about to be completed, and fell to the ground in embarrassment.
Xiao Han fell in front of them, watching them indifferently as they tried to get up.
"Go back and tell the people who sent you," his voice was not high, but it had a suffocating sense of oppression.
"The earth is very noisy and I don't have time to play the silence game with you. Come again..."
He paused and added, "I will mute you forever."
The four Dark Order members struggled to get up and dragged the seriously injured leader without any harsh words.
He just gave Xiao Han one last look with a mixture of fear and disbelief, and activated the device again.
This time, there was no obstruction, they completely blended into the shadows and disappeared.
The pervasive spatial discomfort and "white noise" disappeared.
Times Square is in a mess, but the crisis is over.
Tony landed, opened his visor, and had a complicated expression. "Do you... know them? They said 'Source of the Dissonance'..."
Xiao Han glanced at him and seemed to find this question boring, "Who knows." He patted the non-existent dust on his clothes.
In a flash of golden light, he disappeared and went back to continue his sunbathing.
Avengers was left looking at each other in confusion, looking at the chaotic scene and countless questions.
"Dark Order...Domain of Silence...Source of the Dissonance..." Steve muttered.
Strange's portal opened and he walked out, his face pale. "They are not from any known dimension... They are like... scavengers of the rules of the universe itself.
And they seem to think... the existence of Xiao Han is a kind of 'noise' that needs to be cleared away."
This conclusion cast a new shadow on everyone's mind.
It seems that what they are facing is no longer a specific enemy or crisis, but some kind of more abstract and larger conflict at the level of the laws of the universe.
Their "allies", on the other hand, seemed not to care at all, and only found it... annoying.