The ground in Siberia was hard as concrete, especially with the lingering cold still clinging to the air.
But Thor, being Thor, didn't bother with any kind of safe landing strategy. He just jumped straight from the Quinjet like he was cannonballing into a swimming pool. His legs plunged a full meter into the earth. Lucky for him, those Asgardian legs were long, otherwise, he might have learned exactly what "ball-crushing impact" meant.
Mario couldn't help himself. "You seeing this? The God of Thunder can't even fly without his hammer."
Kaecilius, who'd spent enough time with Mario to develop his own sense of sarcasm, replied deadpan, "Is it possible the hammer is the real God of Thunder, and Thor is just an accessory?"
Mario stared at him for a moment, then broke into a grin. "That's an argument I literally cannot refute."
BOOM.
Thor had barely pulled himself from the crater when a skull slammed into his chest. The explosion sent him flying backward.
The Wither's attack dealt 12 points of damage, for Thor, that was like getting slapped by an angry toddler. Annoying, but not exactly life-threatening. He recovered quickly, and charged toward the floating monster.
But the Wither had other plans. It hovered high in the air, refusing to descend, firing skull after skull while dodging Thor's attempts to reach it.
In its first phase, the Wither stayed airborne, attacking all living targets while evading enemy strikes. Without any ranged attacks, Thor could only stand on the ground.
That's when he noticed something else. While dodging another volley of skulls, he checked his body and felt a weakness spreading through his limbs.
Am I... poisoned?
Aside from that one time Loki had spiked his mead as a prank, leaving him trapped in the bathroom for three days, he had never been poisoned. His Asgardian physiology and divine power usually made him immune to toxins. But the pain in his body forced him to accept reality. He was actually poisoned.
Compared to Thor's struggle, the other Avengers were faring slightly better, though "better" was relative. The Wither's three heads weren't just for show, it could lock onto and attack three separate targets simultaneously.
"Stay sharp!" Rogers shouted. "Don't take direct hits, dodge and counterattack!"
He had learned this lesson the hard way. Even with his backup shield raised, the blast's shockwave had felt like someone had rearranged his internal organs with a sledgehammer.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Cap!"
"You okay?"
He rolled aside to avoid another skull, looking increasingly battered. "I'm fine. Just keep moving!"
High above, Tony was weaving through the Wither's attacks with far more agility than his ground-bound teammates. He fired an energy blast at the creature, watching it connect.
"They don't seem intelligent," he reported through the comms. "Just aggressive. Keep your distance and—"
He dodged another skull, then glanced down at Thor, who was still futilely trying to punch a flying enemy. "And for God's sake, someone tell Point Break to stop trying to fistfight something that can fly."
The Quinjet's wing-mounted machine guns roared to life, spewing a hail of bullets at the nearest Wither. The sustained fire actually worked, the creature's health bar dropped rapidly, forcing it into its second phase. But the transformation came with a price. The Wither went absolutely berserk, unleashing a storm of skulls in every direction.
Explosions turned the battlefield into a hellscape. Every hero was covered in soot and fresh wounds.
Kaecilius frowned as he watched the carnage unfold. "Are we really just going to stand here and watch?"
Mario clapped his hands together. "You're right. Let's sit down and watch properly."
He pulled two wooden planks from his inventory, placed them on the frozen ground like bleacher seats, and settled in to enjoy what he was mentally calling "Avengers vs. Minecraft: The Movie."
"Don't worry. Real heroes always turn things around at the last possible moment. That's literally their whole deal."
Kaecilius sat on the other plank, still frowning. "I feel like we're the villains in this scenario."
Mario's response was completely serious. "Kaecilius, remember this, even if we are the villains, we must never admit we're the villains. That way, there's always a chance for redemption later. We can't count on the Tesseract this time. Next, we'll focus on Pym Particles. Maybe we can use the quantum realm to get back to our universe."
Kaecilius nodded, his eyes fixed on the wormhole and the struggling heroes.
The battle situation changed dramatically. The Withers that had entered their second phase began engaging in close-range combat. Even Tony, the most mobile of the group, was now forced to constantly dodge a Wither that had locked onto him specifically.
BOOM.
Another missile launched from Tony's suit struck the Wither chasing him. The explosion was deafening, and the creature's body plummeted from the sky, becoming the first Wither casualty of the battle.
For a moment, he didn't react. The Wither had shown no indication it was about to die, and he'd just been lazily weaving figure-eights through the air.
"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. announced calmly, "the target has been neutralized."
"Yeah, I can see that, J." Tony steadied himself in midair. "Analyze the combat data. I want to know exactly what killed it."
J.A.R.V.I.S. processed the Wither's damage log with his superior computing power and began presenting optimized attack strategies.
"Barton!"
Rogers' shout drew everyone's attention.
Hawkeye had been singled out by one of the Withers, and in close-range combat with almost no mobility, he had no chance of dodging.
BOOM.
The ground erupted, leaving a massive crater. He was blasted backward, hit the ground twice, and lay motionless.
The Wither showed no mercy. Another pair of skulls appeared, striking him again and sending his limp body tumbling across the frozen earth.
Everyone on the field knew the truth. He was dead.
The creature shifted its attention skyward, where Natasha was piloting the Quinjet and launching a furious counterattack.
But the Wither wasn't about to let her off easy. It closed the distance and fired two skulls. The Quinjet's armor meant nothing. The aircraft was instantly crippled, spinning out of control.
There was no plot armor this time.
Mario watched the burning wreckage spiral toward the ground. He checked his mini-map, Natasha's red marker had vanished completely.
"Well, that's gonna be a traumatic experience for both of them," he commented.
Then he pulled a staff from his inventory, pointing it toward empty air.
"Mind Trick! Mind Trick! Mind Trick!"
It was one of the simplest necromancy spells, Novice tier, barely worth mentioning. But extremely effective for what he needed.
As the spell took effect, violent retching sounds came from behind him. Loki's figure materialized out of invisibility, looking miserable. He could barely stand, taking one shaky step forward before collapsing to the ground, gagging uncontrollably.
That was the beauty of the Mind Trick spell: inducing fifteen seconds of intense vertigo and sickness. Judging by Loki's state, it was working perfectly.
"Still trying to pull a sneak attack?" Mario walked over to where Loki was dry-heaving, poking him twice with the staff like he was prodding a sick animal. "Make a sound if you're still alive."
Loki rolled over, staring blankly at the sky. His eyes were hollow, as though his soul had left his body. That sudden dizziness had made him feel like his brain was trying to exit through his mouth.
Seeing Loki in this all-too-familiar state, Mario glanced at the staff in his hand. "I didn't grab the wrong one... Why does this guy look like he just got whacked by the Imperomite staff?"
As he spoke, a smile crept across his face.
Then, moving faster than thought, he spun around, the staff transforming instantly into his battle sign while his other hand drew the Nihilite cleaver.
CLANG.
A metallic ring echoed across the battlefield. Loki, somehow holding a golden dagger, had appeared directly behind Mario mid-backstab.
"Ugh..."
Agony surged through his entire body, as if he'd been stabbed multiple times simultaneously.
"Still trying to play the assassin, huh?" Mario put away the cleaver and brought his battle sign down hard on Loki's skull.
THUD.
The dull impact suggested Loki's head wasn't empty. But the double Thorns damage, combined with Mario's near-total deactivation of damage reduction, meant that even a Frost Giant's constitution couldn't recover quickly from repeated blunt force trauma.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Eventually, Kaecilius stepped forward, unable to watch anymore. "He's unconscious. Hitting him now won't accomplish anything. Maybe wake him up first, then continue?"
Loki had long since passed out. Though called a god, he was ultimately just a physically tough alien.
Mario finally stopped, looking at the bruised and swollen Loki. He put away his battle sign.
When he turned back to observe the battlefield, the situation had completely transformed.
All the Withers around the wormhole had now plunged through it, entering outer space. There, they moved like apex predators in their natural habitat, perfectly comfortable, even more dangerous without atmospheric constraints, relentlessly hunting the Chitauri swarm.
The Avengers weren't faring much better. The weakest members, Hawkeye, Natasha, and Rogers had all fallen.
Without vibranium, Cap was... well, Steve Rogers and not Captain America
Meanwhile, Thor was pummeling a second-phase Wither into the ground with his bare fists. Even without Mjolnir, he fought like a warrior god. But his condition was terrible. Blood streamed from multiple wounds, and his furious expression had shifted to one of grief as he processed the deaths of his teammates.
Tony, who had been flying moments ago, was now forced into desperate close combat. All his ammunition was spent, and his repulsor beams proved completely ineffective against the Withers.
When the last Wither finally fell, the battlefield went silent. He stood frozen in place, unable to move. The psychological blow of watching teammates die was simply too much.
Nearby, the crashed Quinjet billowed thick black smoke, ready to explode at any moment.
Mario grabbed Loki by the collar and turned to Kaecilius. "Time for us to make our entrance."
"Let's close that wormhole first. I think those Withers are more than enough to give the Chitauri a serious headache."
The Withers had a special trait: every time they killed an enemy, they instantly recovered five health points. Against the Chitauri's overwhelming numbers, they were in their element. He planned to leave them in space to "play" with the alien invasion force for a while.
He began walking toward the Tesseract, his footsteps echoing loudly enough to rouse Thor and Tony from their shock.
When Thor saw Loki, limp and unconscious in Mario's grasp, he immediately charged forward.
Mario didn't waste time. "Don't move. Take one more step, and I'll end him. You know I can do it."
Thor froze instantly.
"Is this what you wanted?"
"Take a look around you..."
Mario didn't stop walking, continuing toward the Tesseract while glancing at the devastation. The Siberian landscape had been completely destroyed by Wither bombardments, the ground riddled with smoking craters.
Reaching the Tesseract, he pulled out his diamond pickaxe and struck once, knocking loose the cube that was still releasing energy pulses.
As the Tesseract lost power, the wormhole slowly began to close. He looked at Thor, then tossed Loki in his direction.
"Yeah," he said bluntly. "This is exactly what I wanted."
Thor caught his brother instinctively. Realizing Loki was still alive, he exhaled with relief, only to nearly choke when Mario's words registered.
Lightning began surging across his body. Fueled by rage and grief, he unleashed the full extent of his divine power.
Seeing the electrical display, Mario clapped. "Now that's what I was hoping to see."
He didn't consider himself a good person, but he had fondness for the Avengers. If his methods were harsh, well, the results were what mattered, right?
Thor gently set Loki down and glared daggers at Mario. He leaped into the air. Dark storm clouds gathered. Countless lightning bolts appeared, all converging and pouring into his body.
"AHHHHHH!"
"Banish!"
Mario cast the spell immediately, targeting the incoming Thor.
[Banish:
Tier: Apprentice
Element: Necromancy
Mana Cost: 15
Effect: Forcefully teleports a target to a random location within limited range, regardless of their will.]
The spell struck Thor directly, and did absolutely nothing.
"Apprentice-tier spells don't work on him anymore?" Mario's eyes widened slightly. "That's new."
Seeing that Thor wasn't slowing down, Kaecilius quickly opened a portal right in Thor's path, with its exit positioned directly above the unconscious Loki.
Thor tried to decelerate and retract his lightning, but momentum and physics were cruel masters. He plunged through the portal and slammed hard into Loki with the force of a meteor strike.
CRACK.
The impact created a fresh crater. Loki's eyes snapped open from the impact, just long enough to see Thor lying on top of him.
"Thor..." Loki's voice was weak. "You actually... struck me..."
Before he could finish the sentence, his head rolled to the side and he passed out again.