Ye Mo swayed slightly after releasing his hand from the Vibranium device.
He didn't fall. His knees slammed into a crack in the paving stones, his right hand braced against the ground, his knuckles white. His left arm was still twitching, his skin cracking and healing repeatedly, its Regeneration ability running intermittently like a cassette tape recorder.
He took a couple of breaths and lifted his head.
The world before him was a little shaky. It wasn't dizziness, but a visual delay caused by mental exhaustion. He blinked, and his vision finally refocused.
No one moved on the street.
Chitauri soldiers lay scattered on the ground, some curled up, some prone, their equipment smoking. Several assault vehicles were burned to their skeletons, black smoke rising upwards. The wreckage of aircraft lay strewn across rooftops and roads like carelessly discarded toys.
He knew that this wave of attacks was over.
But he dared not relax.
That series of lightning strikes was something he had painstakingly created. He crammed electrical fragments, Steel Bone Shield, and Regenerative Phasing rhythm into a single line, managing to unleash a powerful combo. Now his body felt like it was falling apart, and his head was buzzing, but he still had to stay upright.
He slowly stood up, his legs feeling a little weak. He looked down at his hands and saw that his fingertips were still crackling with electricity, flashing on and off like an open switch.
He raised his hand and took off his glasses. One lens was cracked; wearing them would only scratch his face. He casually flicked the bloodstains from his forehead, wiped his face, and his palms were covered in dust and sweat.
Then he turned his head and glanced around.
A red and gold shadow streaked across the sky, Tony's armor arced through the air, and the last enemy aircraft exploded into a fireball, its parts scattering as they fell to the ground.
Tony didn't stop; he circled around, flew back at low altitude, and hovered five meters above the ground. He reduced the thruster nozzles, and the sound changed from a roar to a low growl.
"Done." He landed, his armor deactivating its visor. "The last one's blown up too. The sky's clear now."
Ye Mo did not respond.
He closed his eyes and spread his Telepathy outward. It wasn't a wide-ranging scan, but a meticulous, grid-like investigation, going through each detail one by one.
There were no large-scale hostile fluctuations, no assembly signals, and no signs of command node restarts.
Most of the enemy had given up resistance. Some wanted to escape, but no one organized a retreat. Communication was cut off, orders were lost, and they were like puppets with broken strings, moving a little, stopping a little, not knowing what to do next.
He opened his eyes and looked towards the center of the street.
Thor stood there, Mjolnir slung over his shoulder. He had several fresh wounds and his clothes were torn, but he stood upright. Three black-armored warriors lay at his feet, charred black from the electric shock. He had just tapped the ground lightly with his hammer, the residual electricity sweeping across the fallen enemy soldiers to confirm that no one could stand up.
Hearing the noise, Thor looked up, glanced at Ye Mo, and nodded slightly.
Ye Mo returned the look.
The two didn't speak, but the meaning was clear: the work on the ground was done.
He looked up again.
Emma Frost stood on the exterior wall of a half-collapsed shopping mall. She had just deactivated her Diamond Form and returned to human form. Her face was a little pale, but she stood steadily. She looked in Ye Mo's direction, their eyes met, and she nodded slightly.
Four people, four directions.
No one called for a gathering, and no one gave any orders. But they stood in a circle without realizing it. Tony landed and didn't go far; Thor didn't chase the remaining enemies; Emma Frost didn't get down; Ye Mo didn't move either.
They surrounded the ruins in the middle, as if guarding a position.
The situation is settled.
The Chitauri Army's organization collapsed. He personally shattered its command system, Tony wiped out its air power, Thor suppressed its ground forces, and Emma Frost's interference rendered the enemy's coordination completely ineffective. This was not a minor defeat, but a crushing one. The entire army was like a skeleton that had been removed, with only flesh and skin lying on the ground.
Logically, one should breathe a sigh of relief at this point.
But Ye Mo didn't relax.
He stood there, his fingers still trembling. Not because he was tired, but because for a moment, he had sensed something was wrong.
Just as he released the last bolt of lightning, his Telepathy swept across the top floor of the high-rise building, detecting a wisp of residual energy.
Green. Faint. As if someone had just stopped.
He immediately replayed his memory—the battlefield scenes of the past ten minutes flashed through his mind.
Every time the enemy is about to completely collapse, there is always one command node that is not destroyed immediately. It will hold out for a few more seconds, issue a final command, and then be taken down.
It's not a coincidence.
Someone is controlling the pace, directing him to clear key units, like... guiding him to complete some kind of cleanup.
He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the skyscraper in the distance.
The windows on the top floor were dark, but a flash of green light had just passed through them. It was fleeting, so fast it seemed like an illusion.
But he knew it wasn't.
Loki didn't leave.
He's waiting.
Wait until the chaos ends, until they think they've won, until they start to get distracted.
Ye Mo took a step forward.
His steps were a little heavy; his work pants were chafed at the knees, and every step he took rubbed against the wounds. But he still kept walking until he reached the middle of the four people.
Tony was about to speak, to say something lighthearted.
Ye Mo raised his right hand and pressed his palm down.
The movement was small, but all three of them fell silent.
Tony didn't speak again, and the thrusters shut down. Thor gripped the hammer handle tightly, his eyes changing. Emma Frost stood on the high ground, her shoulders tensing again.
"Don't disperse," Ye Mo said, his voice hoarse but steady.
The three of them stared at him.
"They lost," he said, "But not because you were stronger."
He paused for a moment and looked at the tall building.
"It's because someone wants them to lose like this."
The air suddenly turned cold.
Tony's relaxed expression vanished. He glanced down at the armor status panel: 37% fuel remaining, system notification of minor damage, but not affecting combat effectiveness.
He didn't turn off the thrusters; he just switched them to standby mode.
Thor took a step forward, the hammer drooping, arcs of electricity dancing on its Hammerhead. He followed Ye Mo's gaze to the tall building, his brow furrowing.
Emma Frost didn't move, but her hand rested on the wall. If needed, she could transform back into Diamond Form in a second.
"You mean... there's someone else behind us?" Tony asked.
"Not 'behind us'," Ye Mo shook his head, "He's waiting in front of us. He wants us to win this battle."
"Why?"
"I don't know," Ye Mo said, "But I do know one thing—our current location was arranged by him."
No one laughed.
No one questioned it.
They've fought too many battles. They know that some defeats are actually the beginning of a trap.
Ye Mo took a deep breath, feeling a tightness in his chest. His Regeneration abilities were still functioning, but at a slower pace. He felt the laceration on his left shoulder reopen, blood seeping out and flowing down his arm.
He ignored it.
"We have to hold this position," he said. "We can't chase, we can't rescue, we can't get scattered."
"Waiting for what?" Thor asked.
"Let's wait for him to make his move," Ye Mo, looking at the tall building. "Or, let's wait until we walk in ourselves."
The four of them moved closer together again.
Tony stepped to the right, his armor visor closed. Thor stood in front, hammer held horizontally. Emma Frost leaped from the platform, landing silently, and stood on the left. Ye Mo stood in the middle, his right hand hanging down, the lightning still crackling at his fingertips.
They stood back to back, facing the four directions of the city.
A strong wind rose high in the sky, causing the tattered flags and power lines to flutter.
In the distance, a window on the top floor of that tall building suddenly lit up.
A flash of green light.
It's dead again.
Ye Mo's fingers twitched.