"I didn't bring my costume," he said, glancing around. "I'll just be a moment."
Mark disappeared when everyone's backs were turned, flying at max speed back to New York in a blur that shattered the sound barrier multiple times.
Meanwhile, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif confronted the Destroyer in the town square, where Volstagg charged forward first and swung his axe in a wide arc that struck the machine's armored chest with a clang that echoed through the streets and sent sparks flying but left only a shallow scratch on its surface. Fandral followed up by leaping to the side as the Destroyer fired a beam from its faceplate that scorched the ground where he had stood a moment before, and he countered by flipping over a nearby bench to close the distance and thrust his rapier into a joint on the machine's arm, twisting the blade to pry at the mechanism inside before pulling back to avoid a swinging fist.
Hogun moved in silence from the shadows and slashed his twin blades in rapid succession across the Destroyer's legs, aiming for the seams between plates where the metal might give way, and he managed to score a thin line that leaked molten energy before the machine pivoted and kicked out with one foot that he barely rolled under to evade. The metal seemed to heal straight after as well.
Sif seized the opportunity by running up a pile of debris and launching herself high into the air to drive her sword downward into the Destroyer's back with both hands on the hilt, burying the blade deep enough to make the armor shudder and emit a low hum of protest as she hung on and tried to wrench it free. The Destroyer responded by twisting its torso sharply to shake her off, but she held firm until it fired a short burst from its vents that forced her to let go and drop to the ground in a roll.
Volstagg recovered his footing and swung his axe again at the machine's knee joint while it was distracted, landing a blow that buckled the leg slightly and made it stagger forward one step before it straightened and unleashed a sweeping beam that caught him across the chest and sent him flying backward into a brick wall that cracked on impact and left him slumped against it with smoke rising from his armor.
Fandral darted in once more and stabbed repeatedly at the exposed wiring in the arm joint he had damaged earlier, drawing a spark of electricity that arced to his sword and shocked him enough to make him stumble back, which allowed the Destroyer to backhand him with its massive fist and propel him across the street into a parked car that dented under his weight.
Hogun pressed the attack by throwing one of his blades like a dagger into the machine's shoulder seam and following with a leaping strike from the other blade aimed at its neck, but the Destroyer caught the thrown weapon in mid-air and crushed it in its grip before grabbing Hogun by the arm as he landed the second blow and hurling him through the air to crash into a storefront window that shattered around him.
Sif rose to her feet and charged again with her sword raised, slashing at the Destroyer's midsection in a horizontal cut that glanced off the armor but forced it to turn toward her, and she ducked under its retaliatory punch to thrust upward into its underbelly, only for the machine to counter with a point-blank energy blast from its faceplate that exploded against her shield and threw her backward into a pile of rubble where she lay stunned and struggling to push herself up as the others groaned and tried to regroup while the Destroyer advanced on the fleeing civilians.
The Destroyer rampaged through the streets and targeted a gas station with its beam, carving a glowing line through the pumps that ignited the fuel and caused an explosion of flames that billowed outward and threatened to engulf a group of townsfolk trapped inside a collapsing diner as the structure groaned and began to fold in on itself.
Mark appeared in a streak of blue and white light and flew straight into the diner through a shattered window to scoop up the family of four—a mother clutching her infant, a father holding a toddler, and the two children clinging to each other—and he carried them all in his arms as he burst out the back door just as the roof caved in with a thunderous crash behind them. He set them down on a safe sidewalk two blocks away and immediately darted back toward the chaos, spotting an elderly couple on a crumbling porch where the flames licked at the wooden supports and caused the structure to tilt dangerously, so he landed beside them and lifted the man under one arm and the woman under the other before taking off again to deposit them gently next to the family he had just saved.
Mark then noticed a stalled car in the middle of the road with passengers screaming inside as a power line snapped overhead and fell sparking toward them, and he swooped down to grip the vehicle's roof with both hands, hoisting it into the air with the engine still sputtering and the tires spinning uselessly before he flew it clear of the danger and set it down on an empty lot several blocks away where the occupants could scramble out unharmed. With the immediate threats handled, Mark turned in mid-air and flew directly toward the Destroyer to face it head-on, positioning himself between the machine and the remaining scattering crowd as it prepared to fire another beam.
He floated in front of the destroyer, his cape fluttering in the wind. "Alright tin can, playtime's over."
Mark shot toward it like a missile, tackling its midsection with bone-jarring force that drove it backward through a storefront, glass shattering around them. The destroyer recovered, swinging a massive arm that Mark ducked under before countering with an uppercut to its chin that rang like metal on metal, but it fired an energy beam point-blank, throwing him skidding across the pavement.
Mark rolled to his feet, shaking it off, and boosted forward again, delivering a sledgehammer punch with both hands that slammed it down, making the ground bounce under the impact.
He grabbed its leg, swinging it around in a wide arc before slamming it into the earth again and again, craters forming with each crash, but the destroyer kicked free mid-swing and blasted him backward through a bus, the vehicle crumpling like paper. "What the hell is this thing made of?" Mark grumbled, pulling himself from the wreckage.
He got back up and flew toward it, avoiding a sweeping beam by barrel rolling mid-air, then hitting it with an uppercut that staggered it before spinning into a kick that launched the destroyer back through a row of parked cars. Thor, the warriors three, Jane, Darcy, Erik, and Sif watched from a safe distance, the warriors hyped up and awed by the new fighter's prowess.
"See that? That is my friend Mark the Mighty!" Thor shouted proudly.
Jane and Erik exchanged stunned looks. "What—Invincible is Mark?" Jane asked in disbelief.
Darcy facepalmed. "Thor, you weren't supposed to say that! He wanted to keep it a secret."
"Ah, my bad!" Thor said, scratching his head.
"He wears such a strange costume," Fandral commented, wiping blood from his lip.
Mark was launched back near them by another beam, skidding to a stop. "Shit, what's this thing made of?"
He shot forward again, tackling the destroyer out of the town and into the open desert, throwing it high before punching it mid-air again and again with rapid strikes that dented its armor, following up with a super-speed combo of hooks and jabs that echoed like thunder before slamming it down into the sand with a massive crater-forming impact.
When he landed, the destroyer tried to rise, but Mark kicked it back down hard. "Stay down... I don't know who's controlling you, but it's over."
The destroyer seemed to power down, its glow fading as it went still, and Mark breathed a sigh of relief, floating away to check on any injured people, it seemed to be a ruse however as the destroyer powered back up and hit him out of the air where he fell and hit the ground.
"Okay I guess it's round two," Mark said before getting up and going to smash the dumb robots head in, but before he could a massive energy beam hit him from above, sucking him upward in a vortex of light and wind that threw him around like a leaf in a storm. Mark cursed as he tumbled through the beam, the world blurring around him until he hit the ground hard on his back, the impact jarring but not damaging as he pushed up and looked around, realizing he was on a cold, icy planet blanketed in snow and jagged blue crystals under a stormy sky.
"Shit..."
(AN: what sort of trickery is this where did Mark go? Anyway Mark has gone missing blah blah blah anyway see ya.)
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