MCU: Skull and Bones

Chapter 38: Armistice

2012

New York City

(Omniscient POV)

Moving over the war-torn city we see piles of dead bodies, both human and Chitauran, now litter the once peaceful city of New York.

Thanks to the efforts of Brock and The Avengers, most of the Chitauri army has been wiped out, leaving them only left with a couple of healthy battle-ready troops.

The few Chitauri warriors who have survived this arduous invasion walk the corpse-laden streets, still trying to complete their futile mission as they search the abandoned roads and wrecked buildings for any more humans to kill.

Stray groups of civilians hide amongst themselves in nearby storefronts and office buildings, each hoping that this nightmare was almost over.

A small troop of Chitauri march through the streets and pass a little coffee shop during their search, but pause in their steps as they see a couple of human heads peeking over the counter to gawk at the marching aliens through the window.

Intense fear and panic filled the humans' faces as they could only uselessly watch as the Chitauri troop train their weapons on them, preparing to fire.

But, before any laser fire discharged from their guns, the Chitauri suddenly tense and look up with concern as a huge shockwave emits from the portal in the sky.

"Eeeaarrgth!!" They began to shriek in pain and collapse to the ground one by one as the shockwave reverberated throughout the chaotic city.

The few scattered worm-like Leviathans above also begin to fall from the sky, their huge armored bodies trampling the buildings underneath.

The civilians in the small coffee shop look around them, shocked at the sight of their attackers abruptly dying in front of them.

Two of them cautiously get up from behind the cover of the counter and move toward the window to see just what was going on.

Through the clouds above, we can see Iron Man begin to fall from the large portal hanging in the sky, the lights of his suit dead, and his body limp as if he was unconscious.

As he descended from the air, we look over towards Stark Tower where Captain America can be seen plunging Loki's scepter into the heart of the device holding the Tessaract.

The scepter easily pierces through the barrier surrounding the device as the large portal above begins to close rapidly.

Moving back, we see Iron Man getting closer and closer to the ground but before his body could become a bloody mess on the pavement, a large green mass of muscle leaps from a tall rooftop and grabs him out of the air.

Wrapping Iron Man under his arm, the two both ram into the side of a building as The Hulk digs his powerful fingers into the walls, sliding down smoothly before crashing to the ground.

"Th-They did it!?"

"They stopped them!!"

"We're saved!!!"

All the civilians in the small coffee shop cheered in relief as they watched the large portal that loomed over their heads shut close, each feeling lucky that they survived.

"We should thank-"

*Crash*

The civilian abruptly stopped his words and the jubilation in the coffee shop completely died as the back wall suddenly collapsed on itself and a man is sent barreling through the small shop like a wrecking ball.

The civilians try to move out of the way of the man but were too slow as the force of his motion steamrolled over them, shattering their bones and leaving brains, blood, and guts splattered over the shop floor.

As they leave this world, the man's momentum doesn't stop as he slams through the front of the shop and crashes into the building across the street, creating a human-sized imprint in the brick wall.

We look closer and see that the man is Thor, but his appearance showed nothing of the strong and confident God we knew.

Bruises marked his face and body, blood leaked from small gashes, and he was breathing hard like he just ran a marathon around the city.

"Uurragh!" Thor groaned in pain as he picks himself out of the debris of the building and tiredly readies his hammer as he gazed fiercely across the street at the hole he was just thrown through.

Thor's injured body tensed as the sound of fast and heavy footsteps ring out in the space, just before Brock, clad in full armor, rushes from the hole and charged straight at Thor.

Brock didn't look as damaged as Thor, though small cracks could be seen forming in his force field. But these cracks quickly repaired themselves as he charged through the small shop and slammed into Thor.

The Thunder God swiftly dodged the charge and pointed his hammer to the sky as dark thunderclouds began to appear above.

"Aaarrrrghhh!!" Thor roared as lightning erupted down from the sky, arcing around him and blasting anything nearby.

After a short moment, the lightning dissipates and we see that Brock was flown back a few feet from the attack, more cracks forming on his crimson force field, but other than that he seemed to be fine.

Thor grimaced at seeing his attack do nothing as he continued to take in deep breaths, clearly tired from the fight.

Brock glanced at the exhausted Thor, the mouth of his faceplate twisting into a vicious grin.

"That all you got? Cause I can do this all day." His deep, modulated voice called out mockingly.

The two stared at one another for a moment before charging at each other and continuing their brutal fight.

**************

S.H.I.E.L.D Hellicarrier

Nick Fury's Office

"Sir, systems are back online and I've received reports that The Avengers managed to push Loki's army back and stop the nuclear missile from striking the city!" Maria Hill briefs the seated Fury as she stands at attention in front of his desk.

A small triumphant smile cracks Fury's weathered face, but dies soon after as he sees a worried look plastered on Hill's face.

"What is it?" Fury asks tiredly.

"One of the tech's picked this up off of the few street cams left standing. You're going to want to see it." Hill says as she hands Fury a small tablet.

Fury takes the tablet in his hands and sees a few blurry pictures of a crimson comet tearing through the Chitauri.

A confused look comes to his face and sends a questioning look toward Hill.

"Those were captured 20 minutes ago. Scroll down." She explains.

Fury does as she asks and scrolls down to see a short video queued up.

He pressed play and the blurry scene of Thor fighting some kind of.. armored skeleton appeared on the small screen.

The short video continued to play, Fury watching on with an unreadable look, but the feed was abruptly cut when one of the fighters was thrown into the lamppost, destroying the camera.

Fury paused for a moment, reflecting on what he just watched, and placed the tablet down on his desk.

He lets out a deep sigh, folds his hands, and looks up at Hill.

"What was that? Another Asgardian?" He questions.

Hill shakes her head doubtfully.

"Judging by the way the two were fighting, I don't think so. It also helped take down a large portion of Loki's forces." She explains.

"So an unknown third party?" Fury states and Maria nods her head.

"It's strong, too. Thor was selected to be one of the heavy hitters on the team and this thing was going toe to toe with him like it was nothing. How long ago was the video taken?" He questions.

"Only a few minutes ago, Sir."

Fury nods and leans back in his chair to think.

After a moment, he sits back up and gives Hill a resolute look.

"Scramble everyone we have left in the area. I want this thing neutralized, contained, and brought back." He orders.

Maria nodded her head at his order, but her eyes displayed a bit of doubt.

"Can I ask why Sir? The team was just put through hell and we'll be asking them to jump head-first into another unknown fight." She exclaims.

Fury nodded his head at her words, agreeing with the statement.

"I realize the risks, Agent Hill. But this war has shown us that we're going to need more if something like this happens again, and that thing may come in handy."

Hill stayed quiet, still a little uncertain of the order, but saluted Fury all the same.

"As you say, Sir. I will try and get in contact with our forces in the area." She states and turns around to leave the room.

As the door closes behind her, Fury stands up, moves towards the window, and looks out at the vast sea below.

His face was a blank mask but inside, doubt and apprehension plagued his mind. He didn't know if this was the right course of action or if he was just making a bad situation even worse.

After a long moment, a spark of determination returned to his eyes as he steeled his resolve.

"You never really know. You can only hope for the best, and make do with what you get." He mutters coldly to himself.

**************

A/n: Hey guys! We're almost at the end of this arc so hope it's not running too long and that you are enjoying the story so far. And as always, Thanks for reading!

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