Busy playing hide-and-seek with Thor, Loki noticed Chitauri soldiers raining down to the ground like drops of rain and felt a bit confused: What's the meaning of this? I sent you to invade Earth, and now you're committing mass suicide?
Puzzled, Loki looked up at the Teleportation gate and saw a group of invisible skeletal creatures feasting around it. His expression instantly darkened.
Back when Loki controlled Barton, he had gathered intel on every member of the Avengers. While he didn't know every detail, he had a general idea of each member's capabilities.
But among all the intel, Li Ming's profile was the thinnest—after all, Barton wasn't familiar with him.
Now, without even digging through his memories, Loki knew these soul-devouring creatures were magical beings under the command of that Wizard who was trying to figure out how to shut down the Tesseract.
The Teleportation gate might be closed, and not a single Chitauri soldier could make it through alive.
Damn that Wizard, always ruining my plans!
Loki glared in Li Ming's direction, then picked up a communicator from a fallen Chitauri soldier and shouted, "You useless commander! Can't you send more troops to break through those skeletal creatures?"
On the other end, the Chitauri commander crouched on the warship felt aggrieved: Oh, so it's not your soldiers dying, huh? Easy for you to say when it's not your loss!
Besides, the Teleportation gate is only so big—what's the point of sending more? Can't you see the skeletal creatures have completely blocked it?
No matter how many we send, they all die!However, Loki was the imperial envoy sent to invade Earth, his status was countless times higher than the commander's. What could the commander do? He could only bow and scrape to Loki, saying "Yes," without even putting down the communicator, and directly ordered the messenger: "Deploy the Leviathan, attempt to pass through the Teleportation gate."
Seeing the commander's compliant attitude, Loki nodded in satisfaction and reminded him: "There's a Wizard by the Tesseract. Those skeleton monsters are his army. Find a way to kill him, and perhaps those skeleton monsters will disperse."
Upon hearing this, the commander's eyes blazed with fury: Damn you, Wizard! Blocking my Chitauri army single-handedly—I'll skin you alive to avenge my brave soldiers!
"Order all Chitauri soldiers on the battlefield to converge on the Tesseract. Eliminate the Wizard at all costs."
As the messenger relayed the command, Li Ming, who had been sensing spatial energy, suddenly heard the roar of a massive creature in the sky.
Squinting, Li Ming looked up and saw a heavily armed 'giant whale' passing through the Teleportation gate, with the Dementors immediately blocking its path.
However, the 'giant whale' was somewhat special. Though also a semi-biological entity, its sheer size posed a challenge. While the Dementors could swarm and devour it quickly, the Chitauri soldiers accompanying it through the gate would slip past the Dementors' blockade.
After some thought, Li Ming issued a command through the slave Contract: "Wangcai, let go of the Chitauri troop carriers and focus on devouring individual Chitauri soldiers."
"Yes, Master," Wangcai replied respectfully before turning to lead the Dementors in continuing to block the Teleportation gate.
Seeing the Dementors abandon their assault on the massive war machine—the Leviathan—the Chitauri commander secretly sighed in relief: Good, good. If those skeleton monsters had gnawed through the Leviathan, it wouldn't just be one or two soldiers dying, but an entire ship's worth.
But soon, the commander received new intel from the battlefield—the Leviathan was being pinned down and pummeled by a 46-meter-tall giant, and all the Chitauri soldiers aboard had been annihilated.
The commander was baffled—what the hell was going on now?
Originally, Li Ming hadn't paid much attention when the Leviathan appeared, assuming Stark would lead it on a merry chase until the Hulk showed up to finish it off.
But from the moment it emerged, the Leviathan knew its target was Li Ming, hiding in Stark Tower. No matter how Stark taunted or provoked it, the Leviathan remained unfazed, flying straight toward Li Ming.
Now, Li Ming was dumbfounded: What's the deal? Did I owe you fish food or something? Why are you coming after me?
Scratching his head, Li Ming curled his lip disdainfully and waved his hand to open a Teleportation gate to the Hudson River estuary in New York City, preparing to summon reinforcements.As the exit of the Teleportation gate materialized around a 46-meter-tall, metal-cast statue dressed in ancient Greek attire, a Statue of Liberty holding a torch in one hand and a book in the other suddenly appeared in front of Stark Tower.
Yes, this iconic American landmark was Li Ming's reinforcement—after all, it was made of metal and built to last.
Grinning, Li Ming ignored the Leviathan closing in on him and swiftly cast a spell on the Statue of Liberty, shouting with full vigor, "Statue of Liberty, for justice—attack!"
The moment his words fell, the once-immobile statue suddenly blinked, turned to face the Leviathan, and swung its raised torch straight at the beast's massive head.
The poor Leviathan, before it could even launch the Chitauri soldiers on its back, was smashed into the ground by the Statue of Liberty.
But that wasn't the end. The statue seemed to notice the "big whale" was still breathing, so it raised its enormous iron foot and stomped on the Leviathan repeatedly until it was reduced to a pulpy mess encased in Iron skin. Only then did the Statue of Liberty swagger back to Li Ming's side, acting like a bodyguard as it crushed any straggling Chitauri soldiers nearby. No exaggeration—it literally squeezed them to death. After all, the statue stood 46 meters tall, and compared to its massive hands, a tiny Chitauri soldier was nothing more than an insect to be squashed.
When the Chitauri commander learned how their Leviathan had died, he flew into a rage: Damn it! We thought crossing the Teleportation gate would let us kill the Wizard, but now some freakishly strong bodyguard shows up out of nowhere!
After a moment of thought, the captain furiously barked at his messenger, "Relay my orders—release all remaining Leviathans! Kill that Wizard!"
Soon, one "big whale" after another surged through the Teleportation gate, charging toward Li Ming with murderous intent.
As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. If Li Ming had only faced a single Leviathan, one Statue of Liberty would have been enough. But seeing the enemy mobilize en masse, it was clear they were dead set on taking him down.
Li Ming glanced at the Tesseract. Normally, he could just summon his dark cloud and flee when outnumbered—but now? This is a rare opportunity.
Unwilling to abandon his chance to master spatial magic, Li Ming dialed Stark's number and said in a frustrated tone, "Hey man, you know where I can find more giant statues? Metal ones."
Stark glanced at the Statue of Liberty in front of his company's building, swinging its torch and smashing Chitauri soldiers like whack-a-moles, then at the massive pile of pulverized Leviathan nearby. Sighing, he said, "Austin, you really know how to push limits. I figure animating one statue like this is enough to land you in prison for life—and you want more?"
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Li Ming's eyes darted as he whined, "I just figured out how to shut down the Tesseract. If I leave now, all that effort goes to waste."
Stark's expression stiffened. Watching the endless stream of Chitauri soldiers launching from the Leviathans, he realized that without a superweapon like the Statue of Liberty, this battle was looking grim. Stark sighed helplessly, "Is there really no other way?"
"Well..." Seeing that Stark couldn't immediately think of any other large metal statues, Li Ming assessed his own magical energy and said, "How about finding me two small Liberty Goddess statues from a craft store? I can enlarge them myself with magic."
"Deal," Stark agreed without hesitation this time.
Before long, Stark brought two palm-sized metal Liberty Goddess statues to Li Ming and tossed him a communicator. "Banner's here. He and Thor are each holding off one Leviathan for you," Stark said, pointing at the communicator with a strange expression. "Fury wants to talk to you."
With that, Stark turned and flew toward a Leviathan approaching Li Ming, ready to intercept the creature that might disrupt Li Ming's efforts to close the Tesseract.
Fury wants to talk to me? Li Ming wondered as he put on the communicator. Before he could even ask, Fury's furious roar blasted through: "Austin, you damn bastard! Do you have any idea what you've done? The Liberty Goddess statue is not something you can just mess with! The President himself called me about this!"
Feeling his eardrums throb from the volume, Li Ming rolled his eyes and casually stuffed the communicator into his pocket before Fury could finish.
It's just a statue, so what if it moves? What are you gonna do, bite me?
Li Ming glanced down at the Statue of Liberty in his hand, sneered a few times, and tossed out two small statues while quickly completing the spell.
By the time the two statues hit the ground, they had transformed from palm-sized figurines into towering 4-meter-tall metal statues dressed in Greek attire.
Not only that, but Li Ming also believed warriors should look the part. What was the point of holding a torch and a book? Symbolizing reading during a blackout? Too much scholarly air—not good.
Might as well change the torch into a spiked club and the book into a shield. That's how a warrior should look.
And so, a miniature Statue of Liberty suddenly appeared on the streets of New York, wielding a spiked club and charging headlong at a Leviathan. In full view of the public, she lifted her skirt, flipped onto the Leviathan's head, and began smashing it violently with her club—pure unadulterated aggression.
The other miniature Statue of Liberty was more ladylike. She stood at a street corner, waiting for a Leviathan to appear before slamming it to death with her shield in just a few strikes.
After each statue had taken down a Leviathan, as if celebrating their victory, the two "ladies" high-fived each other under the watchful eyes of countless satellites.
Then, the "lady" started tap-dancing on the spot, casually stomping on the Chitauri soldiers crawling out of the Leviathan's wreckage.
The "aggressive one" was far more direct—she swung her spiked club like a golf club, sending dazed Chitauri soldiers flying. The airborne soldiers even crashed into their incoming reinforcements, taking them out too.
Aboard the Helicarrier, Fury watched the pseudo-Statues of Liberty high-fiving, dancing, and playing games with a face as dark as thunder.
Now he was worried—what if Li Ming suddenly lost his mind and made the real Statue of Liberty standing in front of Stark Tower perform a ballet routine on live satellite feed?
If that happened, America would be utterly humiliated. After all, the world—not just the U.S.—was watching New York right now.
Covering his face, Fury brooded: Damn it, are we gonna have to assign agents to guard the Statue of Liberty every single day now?