The street lit up like it was midday. A blinding beam of blue energy tore through the air, vaporizing everything in its path. Cars melted into twisted frames, lampposts exploded like matchsticks, and the ground cracked under the immense pressure. Glass shattered in buildings lining the street, and flames licked upward from severed gas lines.
But Alexander was already gone.
The shadows had yanked him from the blast zone in the final split second, dragging him across dimensions of darkness and reappearing him on the rooftop across the street. He stumbled slightly on landing, boots scraping against the wet tiles as he dropped into a crouch. The echo of the explosion still trembled in his bones, his ears ringing from the thunderous impact.
Below, the six-legged walker shifted with eerie mechanical grace. Its massive body adjusted position, servos hissing, targeting systems locking on. The cannon was already cycling up for a second blast.
"You weren't kidding," Tony muttered through the comms as he circled overhead in his suit, surveying the damage. "That thing just vaporized three blocks."
From her position behind a mangled taxi, Natasha peeked out, her face grim. "We need to take that thing down now before it gets another shot."
"I'm open to suggestions," Tony replied, banking left as the walker sent a volley of plasma fire his way. He spun midair, jets firing hard to avoid the barrage that lit up the night like a strobe.
Alexander's eyes remained locked on the machine. The glow coursing through its frame wasn't random—it pulsed in patterns, signaling internal energy shifts. He knew those signatures. Similar to the Tesseract. Dangerous. Chaotic. Far beyond conventional HYDRA engineering.
He closed his eyes for a second.
The shadows around him stirred.
They whispered, feeding him data—resonance feedback, weight displacement, surface vibration. And then he saw it: a slight imbalance in the creature's movement.
"There's a power node under its center," Alexander called into the comms. "Beneath the third leg on its right flank. It's exposed when it leans to fire."
"I can hit that," Tony replied. "But I need a clear shot, and it's got me on a leash. Any chance you can distract it?"
"I'll give it a reason to focus on me."
Natasha's voice came through immediately. "Wait, Alexander, don't—"
But he was already moving.
Alexander launched himself from the rooftop. The rain blurred around him, wind howling as he descended, shadows trailing behind like wings.
He landed directly on the walker's back with a resonating thud.
The machine reacted instantly. Defense mechanisms flared—spikes of energy shot from its armor, attempting to impale him. But Alexander ducked and twisted with fluid agility, racing along its spine as the creature began to shake violently.
Turrets rotated, targeting systems screeched to life.
"You are insane!" Natasha's voice barked in his ear.
"Possibly," Alexander muttered.
A bolt fired from one of the upper turrets.
He vanished midair—teleporting through the shadows and reappearing lower on the creature's right side.
The node pulsed beneath him.
He didn't wait.
Abyssal fire erupted along his forearm as he punched his hand forward, driving it into the armor. Tendrils of darkness surged into the circuitry, sparking, destabilizing.
Inside the walker, a high-frequency alarm began to scream.
Tony's targeting systems locked in.
"I've got it."
A surge of repulsor energy lit up the sky. The beam hit the compromised node dead center.
The walker shuddered, legs collapsing inward. The sound of metal warping echoed down the block.
And then it exploded.
The blast sent Alexander flying through the air like a ragdoll. He smashed through a billboard, wood and metal snapping around him, and disappeared into a cloud of smoke and debris that engulfed half the street.
"Alexander!" Natasha shouted, sprinting toward the wreckage.
Tony hovered low, HUD scanning wildly. "No visual! I'm not picking him up!"
The wreckage burned. Flames crackled. Black smoke thickened.
They didn't even have time to regroup.
A sharp, electronic screech cut through the chaos.
Tony's HUD lit up with new contacts. Multiple hostiles. High-speed approach.
"Guys," he said, tension bleeding into his voice. "We've got company."
Through the smoke emerged the second wave.
Larger. Heavily armored. Faster.
Six new soldiers stomped through the debris like giants of war. Each wore upgraded armor—sleek silver plating etched with glowing blue circuitry. Their weapons were more refined, smaller but deadlier, energy signatures surging with every step.
And in the center of them stood something worse.
A figure clad in deep silver armor, taller than the rest. Its face was obscured behind a black visor, twin red lights glowing from beneath like burning coals. In one hand, it held a long, spear-like weapon crackling with the same unstable blue energy.
It stepped forward, slow and deliberate.
The figure raised its weapon.
And pointed it directly at the smoke.
At where Alexander had fallen.
End of Chapter 69
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