Marvelous Mutations

Inside the penthouse of Stark Tower, tension snapped like a wire.

Loki held the Mind Scepter loosely in one hand, his usual smirk playing on his lips, until the scepter began to glow.

His grin froze.

"I… didn't do that," he murmured, staring down at the weapon in disbelief.

Across from him, Tony Stark tensed. His survival instincts screamed at him to move, to duck, to do anything. But he was too slow.

The scepter pulsed, and fired.

BOOM~!

A blast of brilliant blue energy struck Loki square in the chest and launched him through the air like a rag doll.

CRASH~!

Glass shattered as Loki was ejected through the top-floor window like a comic book villain.

Tony blinked.

"What the hell just happened?"

He rushed to the shattered window, peering down.

Far below, a distant voice howled:

"Whaaaaaat!"

THUD~.

Tony winced. "Oof. That's gotta hurt."

Still stunned, he glanced at the glowing scepter left behind on the floor.

"…Remind me never to trash-talk whoever programmed that thing."

But the portal didn't wait for explanations.

On the rooftop, the Tesseract's containment chamber lit up like a miniature sun. A pillar of blue energy shot skyward, punching a hole through reality itself.

Above Manhattan, a rift opened.

From the other side, rows of Chitauri warships floated in formation, ready to pour into Earth.

The invasion had begun.

Tony quickly activated his new suit, the Mark Seven, and launched into the sky with thrusters blazing, racing straight toward the alien fleet.

In the distance, a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet touched down on the streets. Thor, Steve, and Natasha disembarked, gazes fixed on the ever-expanding tear in the sky.

They didn't need words.

This was it.

The war began.

…

Down in the streets of New York…

Chaos, people screamed, cars crashed, debris flew. And overhead, Chitauri riders soared through the skies on hovering chariots, unleashing plasma blasts into buildings and crowds.

The invasion was indiscriminate.

Manhattan was descending into pandemonium.

…

Far away, in the shadows of Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One was watching.

As Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, she could sense the shift in the natural order the moment the portal opened. A threat like this could not be ignored, but she also understood balance.

The sorcerers couldn't just abandon their posts. The sanctums were more important than any one battle.

Especially when Dormammu still lurked in the darkness.

Still, this was no ordinary threat. The scale of destruction could destabilize far more than one city.

With a flick of her Sling Ring, the Ancient One summoned a portal.

A shimmering orange circle opened before her, and she stepped through, followed by her most trusted disciples, including Mordo.

They emerged inside the New York Sanctum, only a few kilometers from the chaos.

"Protect the ground level," she instructed Mordo. "I'll cover the sky."

He nodded grimly. "Understood."

While Mordo began assigning sorcerers to key defensive positions, the Ancient One ascended to the roof. From there, she could see the portal, huge, ominous, and the incoming swarm of Chitauri.

With a graceful flick of her hand, she summoned a golden mandala and hurled it. It sliced through three alien soldiers like butter.

But the Ancient One frowned.

This was only the beginning.

She couldn't leave the Sanctum undefended for long. And even with her power, the numbers were rapidly rising.

She would hold them back, but it would be up to the Avengers to end this, she's aware of the importance this fight has for their development.

…

Elsewhere, deep beneath a classified military facility…

General Ross stood in a stark, dimly lit command room, watching New York's skyline through satellite footage. The sky above the city glowed with alien fire.

He should've been scared.

But he was smiling.

His charred eyebrows had never grown back. His hair hadn't returned either. That humiliating incident with Luke had scarred more than just his ego.

But today… today would be different.

The United States military had quietly authorized his secret project: a new kind of soldier. One the world had only seen once before.

Super Soldiers.

And not just enhanced humans like Captain America, but Hulk-grade hybrids, much stronger.

In a massive underground hangar, fifty of them stood in rows, shoulder to shoulder.

Each over two meters tall. Their muscles bulged like tree trunks. A faint green glow shimmered beneath their skin like a quiet warning.

Not full Hulks, but the closer they can get without losing control.

They were engineered using genetic material extracted from the Hulk incident. Individually weaker than the real deal, but as a unit?

Lethal.

If even one Hulk could tear apart a battalion, fifty of these enhanced giants could rip through an army.

And the Chitauri? Well… they were about to become test subjects.

Ross wasn't doing this to protect civilians. He couldn't care less.

This was a field test.

A live demonstration.

He turned as a young officer entered the room and saluted sharply.

"General! The soldiers are ready. Awaiting deployment orders!"

Ross stepped forward, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"Excellent."

"All units deploy," he commanded. "Let the world, no, let the entire universe witness the birth of Earth's greatest army."

"Send them into Manhattan."

"Yes, sir!"

Klaxons rang through the underground base.

Within moments, the fifty super soldiers began marching in sync toward transport units, their footfalls shaking the ground.

They would be dropped directly into the heart of the battlefield.

And when the dust settled?

Ross didn't just want the aliens defeated.

He wanted every news camera in the world focused on his army.

…

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