The first Chitauri rushed into the city, and artillery fire immediately erupted.
The side of an office building shattered with a deafening roar, glass and steel bars flying out like pieces of paper. Alarms blared, and people began to run in panic. Some fell to the ground, while others carried their children and scrambled into alleyways. The portal in the sky continued to expand, crackling with purplish-black arcs of electricity, as more aircraft poured out from within.
Tony did not wait for orders.
He activated his foot thrusters to full power, propelling himself into the sky like a cannonball. His armor locked onto the three leading aircraft, and shoulder-mounted missiles launched instantly, exploding into three fireballs with a series of "bangs." His palm cannons were fully charged, and a blue light swept across, slicing the fourth aircraft in two, sending it tumbling and crashing to the ground.
"These alien locusts arrived right on time," he said in the channel. "Who hired this alarm clock? I suggest giving it a bad review."
The aircraft began to disperse, attempting to evade the intercepting fire. Tony sneered and brought up the radar interface, "Trying to play guerrilla warfare? You haven't even calibrated your navigation."
He dodged the oncoming energy beam with a side somersault, and then fired a particle cannon shot, hitting the tail fin of a spacecraft squarely. That thing immediately went out of control, crashed into its companions, and exploded into a mushroom cloud.
Thor made his move at that moment.
He leaped from the statue in the plaza, Mjolnir arcing through the air. A bolt of lightning struck, hitting a Chitauri infantry squad on the ground. The six soldiers didn't even have time to scream before they were electrocuted and fell to the ground, smoking.
The ground shook when he landed.
"Another bunch of arrogant invaders!" he roared. "The thunder of Asgard is not to be profaned!"
The second bolt of lightning struck, thicker than the first. The entire block was illuminated, and a group of enemy soldiers who had just landed were instantly vaporized. Thor raised his hammer, arcs of electricity coiling around his body, making him look like a human-shaped high-voltage tower.
"Again!" he shouted, "Let me see how many lives you have left to give!"
Ye Mo stood on the rooftop without moving.
With his eyes closed, his Mental Network spread out, covering fifteen blocks around him. He sensed five people trapped on the top floor of the mall, the staircase blocked by the collapsed ceiling. He also discovered an elderly man trapped under an overturned bus, his legs pinned down, his breathing faint.
He relayed the information to the nearest patrol officer, guiding his actions with his mind.
"Take two steps to the left and use the iron bar to pry open the front axle," he whispered.
The patrol officer did as instructed, the vehicle loosened, and the elderly man was pulled out.
He marked three evacuation routes: one leading to the subway station, one to the hospital's underground parking garage, and the third to a fire escape. This information was synchronized into Emma Frost's mind, and she then disseminated it through a mental link to nearby rescue personnel who could still respond.
"Don't run towards the main road," Ye Mo warned. "That area is entirely within the range of aircraft fire."
Emma Frost stood to his right, her entire body transforming into Diamond Form.
She didn't speak, but her eyes remained fixed on the sky. She could sense long-range targeting signals. When an aircraft stealthily locked onto Tony's back, she immediately called out, "Three o'clock, high-altitude sniper unit."
Tony reacted incredibly fast, instantly diving ten meters down. The energy blast grazed his helmet and struck a building behind him.
"Thanks, White Queen," he said. "I'll treat you to a carbonated drink next time."
"I don't drink sugary drinks," Emma Frost replied.
"So what do you drink? Distilled water?"
"Quiet down," Ye Mo interrupted, "The enemy has more than just this many troops."
Sure enough, the portal spat out another batch of new units.
This time it was a heavy transport ship, three times larger than the previous aircraft, with pods hanging from its bottom. The moment the pods opened, dozens of Chitauri soldiers slid down the ropes, quickly forming combat teams and advancing along the main road.
They didn't fight randomly, nor did they chase people.
Instead, they concentrated their firepower on facilities such as traffic lights, communication base stations, and surveillance cameras. A signal tower was blown up and fell down, hitting a substation and causing an instant power outage in the entire area.
Ye Mo opened his eyes.
"They're cutting off all communication," he told Emma Frost. "Not to take over the city, but to cut off the internet and electricity, leaving everyone isolated and helpless."
Emma Frost nodded. "This is a containment tactic; first paralyze information, then control the nodes."
"So their goal isn't to kill us all," Ye Mo, looking at the battlefield, "But to make us blind and deaf, and then search for something."
He looked toward the relay station in the distance.
Although I can't go there now, the thought has already been planted.
Tony was then surrounded and attacked.
Four aircraft surrounded him from different angles, their energy beams weaving into a net. He barely dodged the first three, but the fourth grazed his right arm armor, sending sparks flying. The system indicated minor damage, not affecting his mobility.
"Ouch, you hit me?" he exaggerated deliberately. "Even my mom isn't this accurate."
He suddenly pulled up and plunged into the clouds. The enemy caught up, only to crash into the jamming field he had set up beforehand. Navigation failed, and the two aircraft collided and exploded into a fireball.
Tony emerged from the clouds, fired a final shot, and the last one was destroyed.
"For air combat, you'll have to watch me." He swung his arm. "Anyone want to join my fan club?"
Nobody paid him any attention.
Thor's side also launched a second wave of attacks.
More than a dozen Chitauri soldiers charged forward, firing and throwing explosives. Thor didn't retreat but advanced, swinging his hammer in a sweeping motion that sent three people flying. He leaped up, stepping on a soldier's head, using the momentum to launch himself into the air. Mjolnir flew from his hand, piercing through both men before finally embedding itself in the ground, drawing down a bolt of Mjolnir.
The remaining enemies froze for a second.
That's enough time for Thor to get there.
He fought bare-handed, punching each opponent until their bones shattered. The last one tried to escape, but he grabbed him, swung him around, and slammed him into the wall, embedding him completely.
"Your weapons are no good," Thor clapped his hands. "They're not even good enough to make me sweat."
Ye Mo observed the entire process.
He knew these enemies were just the vanguard; the real main force hadn't yet appeared. The current tactic was probing and clearing out, focusing not on killing, but on establishing control of the territory.
He touched the brim of his hood.
The Regeneration ability cooldown progress bar has jumped to 78%. The Telepathy range is stable. The ability modules of the thirteenth level of the Gene Spiral Tower are in standby mode and can be combined and activated at any time.
But he didn't move.
Now is not the time to act.
Tony was still clearing the airspace in the sky, Thor was maintaining the formation on the ground, Emma Frost was guarding the early warning position. The three of them held up the initial defensive line, giving the civilians time to evacuate.
This is the best kind of cooperation.
A Chitauri assault vehicle drove out of the alleyway, its cannon aimed at a residential building. There were still people inside; children's faces could be seen through the windows.
Ye Mo's eyes turned cold.
He raised his hand, and his mental energy instantly locked onto the driver's brain.
"Put down your weapons and stop the car." He gave the order telepathically.
The man released the trigger, and the car stopped.
"Get out of the car and lie down on the ground."
The other party did as instructed.
Ye Mo then let go and turned to Emma Frost, saying, "The north side of the street is safe now; the rescue team can go in."
Emma Frost nodded and continued scanning for aerial threats.
Tony dealt with the last aircraft and hovered high in the sky to observe the situation. His armor was a little hot, but all the systems were functioning normally.
"Hey Mr. X," he chimed in, "Are you waiting for the 'perfect moment' again before you make your move? Last time you said you'd sneak down when I was at my most intense moment, and what happened? You almost got buried in the rubble."
"I succeeded that time," Ye Mo said.
Do you remember how much blood you lost?
I remember you owe me a hot pot meal.
"Alright, alright, I'll treat you to spicy hot pot if we win this," Tony said, adjusting his tone. "But I'm warning you, don't always treat yourself like a expendable resource."
"I'm not a consumable," Ye Mo said. "I'm a fuse—I'll melt when it's time to blow."
Tony snorted, "You're really annoying. You clearly care about your teammates but you insist on acting like a Coldblood AI."
Emma Frost suddenly spoke up, "New signal! A moving unit is approaching from the southeast corner, and it's moving very fast."
All three of them looked in that direction at the same time.
A dark shadow sped through the streets; it was neither an aircraft nor a foot soldier. It glided close to the ground, shaped like a scorpion, with its tail held high and the tip flashing blue light.
"Never seen this model before," Tony locked onto the target, "But it looks unfriendly."
"Let it get closer," Ye Mo said. "I want to see what it's going to do."
"Are you going to conduct another experiment?" Tony frowned.
"A little bit."
The mechanical scorpion rushed into the middle of the street and suddenly thrust its tail downwards to sting. A metal needle pierced the road surface, instantly releasing an electric current that extinguished all the streetlights within a 50-meter radius, and even caused several police cars to lose power.
"It's disrupting the power grid," Emma Frost said.
"It's not just destruction," Ye Mo squinted. "It's implanting some kind of device."
He finally moved.
He took a step to the edge of the building, bent his knees slightly, and prepared to jump.
Just then, the scorpion suddenly raised its head, its compound eyes staring straight at where he was.
Ye Mo stopped what he was doing.
He realized something.
This company came specifically because of him.