Marvel: Hunter

"His strength has increased... how long has it been?"

"No—I need to upgrade the Mark Armor."

—Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff

Tony's feelings toward Blaine were surprisingly positive, even though Blaine had once tried to kill him… even though he had once betrayed him.

But Tony was a rich man—what he lacked most was certainly not money.

If Blaine was only interested in wealth, and maintained a friendship based solely on that, then ironically, he was probably the safest person to be around.

Even knowing Blaine's background didn't change that.

Back then, Blaine had been truly broke—desperate enough to try killing Tony for a quick payout. But times had changed.

Now, even if someone offered Blaine a billion—or ten billion—dollars to take out Tony Stark, he couldn't do it.

On one hand, he could try to kill Tony and walk away with a huge bounty.

On the other, he could let Tony thrive, then cash in when it really mattered.

The first option had a higher immediate payoff. But the second was a steady stream—perhaps smaller in the moment, but sustainable. Blaine clearly favored the latter.

Still, if something dire happened—if he needed money urgently—Blaine wouldn't hesitate to eliminate Tony.

Everything boiled down to self-interest. If there was no threat, Blaine would keep Tony around. But if danger loomed, he'd kill him without blinking.

"I didn't expect him to be so powerful!! He can fly—and command lightning!?"

While Thor and the others remained wary and calculating, Spider-Man was far simpler in his thinking. He thought the whole scene was insanely cool and couldn't stop yelling "So Cool!" in excitement.

But it wasn't a game. The power of the four elemental arrows couldn't be stacked, only extended in range.

Still, even so, the +15 elemental bow's advanced elemental arrows had nearly double the destructive force of Thor's most powerful attacks.

In the sky, Blaine smiled.

Of course, this thunder field wasn't permanent. After all, it was created by elemental arrows—not a self-sustaining power source.

Even the advanced arrows couldn't carry infinite energy. But in large numbers, their power added up. The four Blaine had fired together packed quite a punch.

Unfortunately, there were just too many Chitauri.

And the Chitauri didn't care about casualties. They simply threw wave after wave of their troops at the lightning field, wearing it down bit by bit.

Originally, the field could have lasted ten minutes.

Now, it would be gone in two.

Heartless bastards.

Blaine only had ten advanced elemental arrows total. After firing four, he had just six left. If this kept up, the field would fall in another five minutes—and then the Chitauri would resume their full assault on Earth.

As for regular elemental arrows… they weren't even worth mentioning. They were only about half as powerful as Thor's amplified lightning. They worked on basic Chitauri foot soldiers, but not on the massive Leviathans. Blaine had only managed to take out five of those.

The problem wasn't just damage—it was concentration. The regular arrows didn't produce localized effects. At most, they exploded on contact and dispersed elemental energy. Better than nothing, sure. But compared to Thor's few seconds of full-power godhood, they fell short.

Still, Blaine wasn't complaining.

Advanced elemental arrows were ridiculously expensive—15 million per batch—and even then, you only got five. If not for the 24-hour auto-recovery feature, Blaine would've torn the entire system apart in frustration.

Yeah… Blaine was that awesome.

Naturally, Natasha and the others weren't falling behind either.

Thor and Hulk had racked up an impressive number of kills—both had taken down multiple Leviathans. Hulk, in particular, had managed to grab one of the beasts by the mouth and force it into a turn.

Meanwhile, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were fighting on the ground like normal people.

Steve was holding up—just tired. But Natasha had taken several injuries. She shot a Chitauri using its own weapon, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth as she panted hard.

Steve slammed a Chitauri aside and glanced at her with concern.

"You okay?"

"No. Big problem," Natasha said hoarsely. "If we don't close the portal, they'll just keep coming. We can't kill them all."

"No weapon's going to help."

Steve looked up toward the wormhole. "The lightning field Blaine created—it's weakening fast. It won't last."

"Maybe this isn't about weapons," Natasha said, regaining her breath. "We need to get up there."

Steve nodded. "We'll need a ride."

"I've got one."

Natasha dropped the alien weapon she'd been using and moved a few steps away. "But I'm gonna need a little help."

"You sure about this?"

Steve glanced at the flying Chitauri hovercraft in the sky and immediately realized what she meant. He stepped back and raised his shield in front of him.

"Yeah. It's gonna be wild."

Natasha nodded, then sprinted toward him. She used a damaged taxi as a step, and finally launched herself off Steve's shield as he crouched and raised it for her.

Her leap—and Steve's strength—launched her high into the air. She grabbed the rear of a passing Chitauri hovercraft, climbed aboard, kicked off its rider, and jumped to another Leviathan-like flyer.

She drove her hands into a vulnerable point on the creature's armor, wrestled with its controls, and forced it into a new flight path.

"Turn! Turn! Turn!!"

Only someone as fearless as Natasha would attempt something so reckless—one mistake, and she'd be torn to pieces.

Elsewhere…

Standing atop another Chitauri flyer, Loki frowned.

He could feel the tide turning. The Chitauri ranks were thinning. What had once been dozens of soldiers was now just a handful. When he scanned the battlefield, he saw the drop in numbers himself.

Loki turned his attention to the wormhole—and immediately saw the crackling thunderstorm enveloping its outer edge.

That wasn't Thor's work.

None of the other Avengers had that kind of raw elemental control either.

It could only be him.

"Damn it… him again," Loki growled.

He clenched his jaw and barked the command: "Deploy the entire army. We can't wait any longer."

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