Drex Valen stared down at the superheroes trapped inside the collapsing city with a complicated expression.
Even he hadn't expected the Monster Association to make its move now of all tis.
Still, once he'd chosen to let them operate freely in the shadows, he'd known sooner or later sothing would spiral beyond his control. In that sense, this outco wasn't entirely surprising.
Right now, though, the real priority was the Chitauri.
Across the globe, every nation capable of monitoring the battle had entered a state of maximum alert.
This was a full-scale alien invasion.
Outside of Raditz's arrival years ago, humanity had never faced anything remotely close to this level of extraterrestrial threat.
Raditz had only been one individual. Powerful, yes, but ultimately defeated.
This was different.
An endless army was pouring through the portal above New York, and their numbers were still increasing.
Even with Drex holding the line almost single-handedly and slaughtering aliens by the tens of thousands, nobody believed his armor had infinite energy reserves.
Eventually, he had to hit a limit.
After urgent negotiations with the United States, multiple world powers finally committed their forces.
Russia deployed.
China deployed.
Every nation with the capability sent what they could: War Machines, Iron Mongers, Decepticons, fighter squadrons, naval fleets.
At this point, nobody cared about military expenditure anymore.
If the Chitauri established a stable foothold on Earth, the entire planet would beco a battlefield.
Honestly, Loki had made a strategic mistake.
If he'd opened the portal sowhere isolated instead of directly above New York, the Chitauri could've secured territory first and expanded outward afterward.
Once an alien beachhead was established, removing it would've beco exponentially harder without resorting to nuclear saturation strikes.
And even then, the losses would've been catastrophic.
Of course, judging from the way Loki was currently busy stabbing and emotionally terrorizing his own brother, strategic planning clearly wasn't his priority anymore.
At this point, his dream of ruling Midgard was collapsing in real ti.
Because Midgard looked far more terrifying than Asgard.
Especially the man flying above Manhattan.
Loki knew exactly who Drex Valen was.
The strongest man on Earth.
And after witnessing this battle, Loki couldn't deny the title fit perfectly.
Drex's expression suddenly turned strange as he glanced toward a distant rooftop.
The Ancient One was standing there.
Watching fireworks.
Or rather, casually wiping out passing Chitauri with effortless spells while looking completely relaxed.
The aliens ignored her existence entirely.
Every one that drifted too close simply vanished.
Drex almost laughed.
What kind of absurd leisure was this?
Had she already finished dealing with Dormammu?
The last ti she ntioned confronting the ruler of the Dark Dinsion, Drex had fully expected her to disappear for decades from Earth's perspective.
After all, ti inside dinsional warfare barely ant anything.
Especially in the Dark Dinsion.
For all he knew, only a few days might've passed for her while decades rolled by on Earth.
"Did she grind enough boss fights against Dormammu to speedrun him this ti?" Drex muttered.
Dormammu himself was honestly overrated.
At the end of the day, he'd just been a lucky sorcerer who stumbled into the ownerless Dark Dinsion and fused himself with it.
Back in Kamar-Taj, his talent probably wouldn't even have ranked among the top-tier masters.
Certainly not above Wong.
That weakness was exactly why he'd abandoned his physical body and rged with the Dark Dinsion entirely.
Inside that realm, it made him terrifying.
Outside of it?
Much less impressive.
Frankly, if the Ancient One had beco the master of the Dark Dinsion instead, she'd probably be operating on an entirely different cosmic level by now.
As though sensing his gaze, the Ancient One looked up.
She smiled warmly at him and gave a polite nod.
Drex returned his attention underground.
The superheroes who had fallen into the collapse were staring around in shock.
Beneath New York existed an enormous subterranean city.
"JARVIS," Tony said imdiately, "scan this place."
A terrible feeling settled into his stomach.
A hidden underground tropolis beneath New York...
There was only one explanation.
This was the Monster Association's headquarters.
The realization hit everyone like a punch to the face.
S.W.O.R.D. had searched the entire world for the organization. Endless investigations. Intelligence operations. Surveillance networks.
And all this ti...
The enemy had been directly beneath their feet.
If that beca public knowledge, the embarrassnt alone would be historic.
JARVIS quickly returned the results through satellite-assisted mapping.
The underground complex covered nearly an entire cubic kiloter.
Hundreds upon hundreds of tunnels spread through the structure like a giant ant colony.
Even conservative estimates suggested the base could support over a thousand monsters.
And the mont the heroes landed inside...
The ambush began.
Natural Water, the Dragon-level monster, reacted instantly to killing intent.
High-pressure water jets ripped through the darkness.
Bruce Banner, Emil Blonsky, and several others were pierced clean through before they could fully react.
So weaker superheroes suffered devastating injuries on the spot.
"It's a trap!"
Nick Fury slamd a hand onto the command table aboard the Helicarrier.
The battlefield reports flooding in painted the entire picture imdiately.
Loki hadn't just brought an alien invasion force to Earth.
He had allied himself with the Monster Association.
That explained why the portal had opened above New York.
This city wasn't chosen randomly.
It was the Association's headquarters.
The plan was obvious now.
The Chitauri would overwhelm the surface while the Monster Association exterminated S.W.O.R.D.'s superheroes underground.
Once Earth lost its superhuman defenders, conquering the planet would beco easy.
"Motherfucker," Fury growled.
His face darkened even further.
They had all underestimated Loki.
A god of deception who looked foolish on purpose was far more dangerous than an openly malicious enemy.
Everything before this had been an act.
And sohow, even Fury himself hadn't seen through it.
A being who'd lived for thousands of years wasn't sothing ordinary humans could easily outplay.
But now that the trap had sprung, retreat wasn't an option.
Not anymore.
At close quarters, hesitation killed armies.
The mont one side chose to withdraw, morale shattered.
Fury knew battlefield psychology too well to make that mistake.
"Deploy the War Machines, Iron Mongers, and Decepticons underground imdiately," he ordered. "If the heroes get isolated down there, they'll be overwheld."
For the mont, Fury took over battlefield command from Drex.
The Director was currently holding back an alien army almost entirely by himself.
If Drex got distracted for even a mont, the consequences could beco catastrophic.
S.W.O.R.D.'s chanized forces launched imdiately.
So did Umbrella Corporation's.
War Machines.
Iron Mongers.
Decepticons.
Everything available entered the fight.
Humanity had never co closer to a true extinction-level disaster.
There was no room left for division.
Only total war.
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