"That's the Ti Stone?!"
Tony stared as the ruined street was restored in an instant, marveling at the gem's power.
"That's only one of its lesser functions."
Strange lowered his hands and closed the Eye of Agamotto.
A flash of blue light appeared as two figures descended from the ship and landed on the ground.
One was towering and massive, built like the Hulk, with muscles that looked as hard as stone. In his hand was an enormous hooked axe resembling a ship's anchor.
The other was much smaller and thinner by comparison, clearly soone who relied more on intellect than brute force.
They were two mbers of the Black Order: Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw.
"Sorcerer, surrender the Ti Stone. In return, we will grant you the rcy of a painless death."
The noseless Ebony Maw had already noticed Tony's group lurking nearby.
"Sorry, Squidward. Earth's closed today. Why don't you head back to wherever you crawled out from?"
Tony stepped forward openly now, followed by a group of superheroes.
"Hey~~ have you ever watched SpongeBob? You look a lot like Squidward. Are you related? Are you so kind of mutant octopus? Can you squirt ink?…"
Peter's mouth had started running again, rattling off questions nonstop.
Ebony Maw completely ignored Tony and the endlessly talking Peter, focusing instead on Strange.
"Sorcerer, are those two noisy creatures speaking on your behalf?"
Strange answered him with a Shield of the Seraphim.
"Your actions constitute an illegal invasion of Earth. In the na of the Sorcerer Supre, I banish you."
This battle was unavoidable. Better to strike first.
"Sorcerer Supre~~ I have t one before. If mory serves, she was female. Quite different from you."
Ebony Maw showed no regard for Strange whatsoever. The Sorcerer Supre he had encountered had been the Ancient One.
After sensing Strange's magical power, he scoffed.
"Little sorcerer, you are unworthy of that title. Your strength falls far short."
"Why don't we find out?"
Strange spread his hands, sending the Shield of the Seraphim flying toward Ebony Maw.
Maw remained perfectly calm and glanced at Cull Obsidian beside him.
"The sorcerer carrying the Stone is mine. Kill the rest."
Cull Obsidian swung his massive hooked axe and began walking toward Tony.
"Bruce, you're up. I think Hulk should be enough for this guy."
Tony tilted his head toward Bruce.
Bruce started straining, trying to bring Hulk out.
But Hulk refused to erge.
Veins bulged along Bruce's neck. His skin even began turning green.
Still, Hulk wouldn't respond.
"Co on, man~~ the big guy's almost here~~"
Tony looked at Bruce, who appeared to be exerting himself so hard he looked constipated.
"Looks like he needs so motivation."
Frank stepped forward, pulled out a pistol, and pressed it against Bruce's head.
Even then, Hulk refused to appear.
At this rate Bruce was more likely to rupture a blood vessel than transform.
"Alright, alright~~ it's fine, Bruce. We can handle it."
Tony finally gave up. Another few seconds and Cull's axe would be landing on their heads.
"Take care of him."
Tony left Bruce with Matt and Frank before striding toward Cull Obsidian.
He tugged on a clasp on his clothing.
His loose athletic wear instantly tightened into a fitted form.
Then he tapped the hexagonal Arc Reactor on his chest.
Nanotechnology surged outward imdiately, rapidly covering his body.
The familiar red-and-gold armor ford around him, finishing with the faceplate snapping into place.
At the sa mont, Cull Obsidian arrived before him.
The gigantic hooked axe ca crashing down.
A shield instantly ford on Tony's arm.
He blocked the strike and simultaneously extended an energy blade from his other hand, slashing across Cull's waist.
Despite his massive size, Cull was surprisingly agile.
He raised an arm to block the blade.
The energy sword struck his thick skin without leaving even a scratch.
Still, the impact forced him back several steps.
Tony imdiately released the floating drones behind him.
Combined with his repulsors, they unleashed a barrage that blasted Cull Obsidian off his feet.
Cull was sent flying directly toward Ebony Maw.
Maw casually waved a hand.
Cull's trajectory changed instantly, sending him hurtling toward a nearby street corner instead.
He crashed through the wall of a shop.
Felicia wrapped an arm around Peter as the two swung through the air on web lines toward Cull.
Tony and Pepper took flight toward the sa location.
"Bruce, if the big guy inside you doesn't want to co out, you should leave imdiately."
As he spoke, Strange opened a portal.
Bruce, Matt, and Frank were sent through, along with half a car that happened to be nearby.
Then Strange raised his magical defenses.
Ebony Maw attacked at the sa mont.
Countless stone spikes erupted like a storm, flying toward Strange.
His magical shields intercepted them perfectly.
Strange retaliated with the sa spell.
The stone spikes flew back toward Maw.
But when they reached within a ter of him, they suddenly stopped.
Then they reversed direction and shot back toward Strange.
Strange quickly opened a portal.
The spikes disappeared into it.
A second portal opened behind Ebony Maw, and the spikes poured out toward him.
Maw didn't even glance backward.
A strange ripple spread around him.
The mont the spikes touched it, they crumbled into dust and vanished.
anwhile, Cull Obsidian burst out of the rubble.
The first thing he saw was Peter and Felicia.
Before he could react, Peter kicked him square in the chest.
Boom!
The sheer force launched Cull through multiple buildings.
He tumbled all the way into Central Park, smashing through several large trees before finally coming to a stop.
Tony and Pepper descended from the sky imdiately.
Repulsor beams blasted toward Cull.
At the sa ti, Rhodey appeared overhead.
Micro-missiles rained down on Cull Obsidian as though ammunition were unlimited.
A massive explosion followed.
Smoke and dust filled the area, completely obscuring the center of the blast.
Suddenly, the enormous hooked axe shot out of the smoke straight toward Tony's face.
He barely had ti to react, let alone dodge or block.
At that mont, Peter dropped from above and caught the massive weapon with both hands.
"You okay, Mr. Stark?"
Peter even had enough energy to glance back at Tony.
Clearly, stopping the weapon hadn't been difficult for him at all.
Cull Obsidian charged out of the smoke.
He grabbed Peter and hurled him away.
Peter bounced across the ground like a pinball, rolling a trendous distance.
Felicia arrived at the sa ti.
Her agile body moved through the air like a wildcat.
After a graceful flip, she landed on Cull's shoulder.
Sharp claws extended from her gloves.
The toxin-coated blades stabbed toward his neck.
But Cull's skin was unbelievably tough.
The attack left nothing more than a faint white mark.
Cull reached up to grab her.
Felicia nimbly dodged, landed, and imdiately charged again.
Rhodey raised the machine guns mounted behind him.
A hail of large-caliber rounds poured down onto Cull Obsidian.
The bullets hamred the ground so hard they blasted shallow craters into the earth wherever they struck.
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