The sky raged.
Explosions lit up the Manhattan skyline as the Chitauri pushed harder. Another Leviathan breached the portal, roaring as it crushed through an office tower. Buildings crumbled, streets cracked, and civilians screamed amidst the chaos.
In the eye of the storm floated the cloaked stranger, still, composed, timeless.
To the Avengers, he was a mystery.
To the invaders, he was death.
"Target the portal!" Tony's voice crackled through the comms. "We close it, we cut them off!"
"Stark!" Captain America shouted, "What's our play?"
"Keep them busy!" Iron Man darted through the sky. "I'll handle the nuke!"
From the tower, Thor launched into the air. Cap rallied troops on the ground. Hulk smashed through columns of Chitauri foot soldiers. And in the chaos, Fate remained suspended, untouched, untouchable.
He gazed upward, golden runes circling his body.
"A fracture in space… anchored by chaos. It must be unraveled."
He raised both arms.
Above, reality split. A series of massive golden circles layered with ancient sigils expanded beneath the portal, humming like the strings of a celestial instrument. The very fabric of the sky bent to his will.
"By Order, I Sever The Thread."
With a voice that echoed across planes, he extended both hands, and the spell activated.
A beam of concentrated golden magic surged into the portal's edges. Not an attack, a surgical severing. The rift screamed, distorting like a punctured drum. The Chitauri still coming through were sliced mid-transition, their bodies erased as the doorway began to collapse.
The Leviathan that had just emerged shrieked as time slowed around it, its form caught in stasis, then folded inward into a dimensional pocket, vanishing without impact.
Tony, flying toward the nuke, turned his head. "Holy— who is this guy?!"
"Concentrate, Stark!" Steve barked.
But even he couldn't look away.
Minutes Later...
The explosion happened high above the city, a burst of fire as the nuke detonated away from civilians. Tony plummeted back down. The portal, wounded by Fate's spell and sealed by Natasha's override, collapsed into a spiral of fading starlight.
Silence.
Smoke rose from the ruins. Sirens echoed distantly. The invasion… was over.
The Avengers regrouped in the street: dust-covered, bloodied, triumphant. The city lay battered but standing.
And amid it all, he landed.
Not crashing. Not flying.
He descended like a spirit.
The golden armor shimmered faintly. The helm faded, disassembling into streams of light that vanished behind him, revealing a young man with dark hair, piercing violet eyes, and a calm expression, too calm for someone who had just helped save the world.
Natasha was the first to speak. "Okay, now that we're breathing again… we need answers."
The man turned to them, his voice human again, but still touched with something greater.
"You don't need to fear me."
"That's not very reassuring," Clint muttered.
"Who are you?" Steve asked. "And what was that power?"
"I am…" he paused, eyes distant for a moment. "…called by many names. But here, now, I've inherited a mantle. A responsibility. I speak for Balance — and I act when chaos overflows."
Thor stepped closer, curiosity alight in his eyes. "You wield sorcery unlike any I've seen, stranger. Not Asgardian. Not Midgardian. Something older."
"It is not mine," the man replied. "It was given. Bound to me… by something far older than any of us."
Steve folded his arms. "You're going to have to do better than cryptic riddles."
He nodded slightly. "And I will. In time."
That's when the sound of engines filled the air. A shadow passed over them, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, descending into low altitude. Moments later, a black quinjet touched down beside them.
Out stepped Nick Fury, flanked by Maria Hill and a full security detail.
The man in the cloak turned calmly as the agents surrounded him, weapons not quite raised but clearly ready.
"Stand down," Cap said quickly. "He helped us."
"I saw that," Fury replied. "Which is why he's not in a cage yet."
Fury's one good eye focused sharply on the mysterious figure. "You've got about thirty seconds to explain who you are and why I shouldn't consider you the next global threat."
"I am not your enemy."
"You sure present like one," Fury snapped. "Magic. Reality-bending tricks. Showing up in the middle of an alien invasion with more firepower than the Avengers. Forgive me for being skeptical."
The man stepped forward slowly, unfazed. The agents stiffened.
"I was sent here by forces beyond your understanding," he said. "Not to conquer. Not to rule. But to protect. Something is coming. The portal above this city was not a beginning, it was an echo. A crack. And more will follow."
Fury narrowed his eye. "Is that a threat?"
"No," he said. "A warning."
Golden light swirled faintly around him. Maria Hill instinctively flinched.
Fury raised a hand. "Alright. So what do we call you?"
He hesitated.
Then: "For now… Fate."
The name lingered in the air.
Fury stared him down, then finally, with a sigh, gestured to the agents to lower their weapons.
"Fine. But we're going to talk. Properly. You've made a hell of an entrance, Fate."
"Not an entrance," the man murmured, eyes scanning the damaged skyline. "A beginning."