Chapter Twenty: The Chitauri

“Doctor, do you know how to shut it down?” After Atanis helped Selvig regain his senses, Tony, who had hurried over, also attempted to attack the device but to no avail.

“The scepter, Loki’s scepter,” Selvig gasped, trying to catch his breath. “You can use a power of the same origin to penetrate the barrier—Loki’s scepter and the Tesseract draw from the same force.”

Everyone immediately looked at Atanis, but his brows were deeply furrowed. “Dr. Selvig, are you certain?” he asked, retrieving the Mind Scepter from his storage space.

Selvig nodded with conviction, but to their surprise, the scepter could not pierce the shield surrounding the device.

“How is this possible? I specifically set up a backdoor,” Selvig muttered in disbelief, staring at the scepter in Atanis’s hand as he hurried over to the computer to check the parameters.

“This—this defies all logic. The Tesseract is modifying the device on its own. It’s completely out of control!” Selvig was stunned. Previously, the Tesseract required this man-made machinery to open a portal, but now it was activating entirely on its own.

Atanis was equally perplexed. As far as he knew, the six Infinity Stones were incredibly stable and would not activate themselves without external provocation—unless someone else had interfered.

Above them, the blue portal in the sky continued to expand. More and more Chitauri were pouring through, invading the world. Since the portal couldn’t be closed for the moment, Tony took the lead, soaring up to engage the Chitauri in battle.

Thor too spun his hammer and charged into the fray. The portal was currently in the suburbs, and they could not allow the fighting to spill into the city.

Hot on their heels, Steve and his team arrived at the scene. “Stark, we’re at your nine o’clock, heading east. What’s the situation?” Natasha saw the Chitauri swarming through the sky and immediately contacted Tony.

“Were you all having afternoon tea on the way? Get over here and join the fight!” Tony was engaged in a running battle with the Chitauri’s flying cavalry. Surrounded by open plains and wary of damaging the reactor, he could only dodge in midair.

Natasha piloted the Quinjet swiftly into the battle. Upon receiving intelligence, S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately dispatched its own squadron of fighter jets.

The Chitauri flying cavalry were far more agile than the jets, and soon Natasha and her team were forced to crash-land nearby. Steve and the others quickly evacuated the wreck and began fighting the Chitauri on the ground.

Atanis stood guard beside Selvig. The Chitauri were dangerous, but if the portal couldn’t be closed, their numbers would only grow.

“How could this be? It makes no sense,” Selvig muttered as he repeatedly adjusted the data, trying to shut down the aberrant device, but nothing worked.

Atanis also attempted to halt the device through his own methods, but the shield powered by the Tesseract was as strong and durable as a mothership’s, utterly impenetrable by his current strength.

“Doctor, keep working on closing the portal—I’ll go support the others.” As a Chitauri leviathan lumbered through the portal, its immense size pressed upon them all. Atanis quickly conjured a barrier shield around Dr. Selvig before rushing to aid the rest.

Although not as powerful as the Tesseract’s shield, Atanis’s barrier was more than enough to withstand the Chitauri’s current attacks. However, the shield relied on his own power and could not be positioned too far away; fortunately, the battle was unfolding directly above and around him.

“What’s the situation?” Steve asked, flying over to Thor and Atanis. With Steve’s arrival, Thor cleared out a section of enemies so they could land safely.

“It’s not good. We can’t shut down the portal. Dr. Selvig is trying other methods,” Atanis explained succinctly. “I’ve set up a shield to protect the doctor, so his safety isn’t a concern.”

“He’s right. Let’s focus on taking out these invaders first,” Tony’s voice came through their earpieces. He had already had JARVIS hack into Selvig’s computer and knew the device was beyond Selvig’s control.

“What should we do?” Natasha turned to Steve. As a spy, this was her first time on a battlefield.

Steve assessed the approaching enemies and assigned tasks. “Stark is up there trying to keep them busy. He needs our help…”

Suddenly, the sound of a motorcycle rumbled behind Steve. Everyone turned to see Dr. Banner arriving on an old, battered bike.

“Stark, he’s here,” Steve reported to Tony.

“Banner? Excellent. Get him to change—showtime’s about to start.” Tony, having drawn the leviathan’s attention, circled in the air, using its massive bulk to disrupt the smaller Chitauri. Now he dove toward the ground.

Seeing the leviathan in pursuit, Dr. Banner immediately grasped his role. “Dr. Banner, now’s your chance to let out your anger,” Steve said, understanding Tony’s plan.

Banner only smiled. “That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always angry.”

With a mighty punch, Hulk smashed the leviathan into the earth, its body shattering under the blow. The force of the impact sent its corpse hurtling toward the group behind Hulk.

Tony fired a missile, blasting the carcass back. With the leviathan dead, the Chitauri soldiers hesitated in their advance toward the city, instead turning furiously toward those who had slain the beast.

But more leviathans began streaming through the portal, all charging toward the team.

“Guys—” Natasha was the first to spot the new threat and warned everyone.

“I’ll leave the orders to you, Captain,” Tony said, knowing he wasn’t suited to lead. He handed command to Steve, while Atanis, though experienced in battle, was unfamiliar with anyone present except Thor and stayed silent.

“All right, listen up. Until we close the portal, we need to control the battlefield. Barton, take the top of the water tower and keep watch. Stark, your job is to hold them back—don’t let them reach the city.”

“Can you give me a lift?” Barton glanced at Stark.

“Of course. Ready, Legolas?” Tony replied, scooping him up as they soared away.

With them gone, Steve continued issuing orders. “Atanis, what exactly can you do?”

“You can think of my abilities as similar to Thor’s,” Atanis replied, keeping his explanation brief as time was of the essence.

“All right. Thor, Atanis, you’re both on portal duty. Do everything you can to slow their reinforcements.” With their assignments given, Atanis and Thor flew into the sky.