Ch 1 Chapter 1 — The World of Heroes
"A soldier dies a thousand times before the end. But what happens when death refuses to let go?"
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The last thing Alex-217 remembered was fire.
Plasma bolts tearing through metal. The screams of his squad echoing over the comms. The air around him thick with smoke, glass, and molten debris. The Covenant had found them — and Reach, the fortress world, was burning.
He stood atop a ridge overlooking what used to be a city. Now it was just ash and flame, a graveyard of steel. His MJOLNIR armor was cracked, power core bleeding energy. He was alone.
> "SYN," he rasped through a fractured comm. "Status report."
The AI's voice flickered in his mind — faint, fading, almost human in tone.
> "Shields offline. Reactor core instability critical. Evacuation is… not possible."
Alex closed his eyes briefly. He already knew that.
In the distance, the Covenant glassing beams rained from orbit, turning the surface into rivers of fire. The planet itself seemed to scream.
> "We're not getting out of this one, are we?"
> "Negative, Commander. But we can deny them the shipyard."
He looked back at the fusion core buried beneath the facility. Enough explosive power to level a city. Enough to give humanity a few more hours.
He smiled beneath his helmet — a grim, weary smile.
"Then let's make it count."
He pressed the detonation code.
And for a heartbeat — there was silence.
Then the world ended.
A blinding white swallowed everything — heat, pain, then nothing.
---
"...Commander?"
A voice broke through the void.
> "Commander, can you hear me?"
Alex gasped. Air filled his lungs — too fast, too sharp. He coughed violently, body arching as if his nerves were being rewired.
Light stabbed through his visor. His HUD came online, flickering with strange data streams. Atmospheric oxygen levels. Radio frequencies. Unknown biome tags.
He rolled over, hands sinking into concrete dust.
Wait— concrete?
He blinked. He wasn't on Reach. He wasn't even in space. Around him rose skyscrapers of glass and steel — intact, modern, teeming with light. Traffic lights blinked, sirens wailed, and far above, something massive and alien screamed.
He turned his head toward the sky.
And saw it — a leviathan-shaped beast, armored and writhing through the skyline. Metal and bone fused together, swarming with smaller creatures.
Aliens. But not Covenant. Something else.
> "SYN?"
> "Reinitializing systems… standby."
His armor's HUD flared to life, painting the battlefield in cold blue outlines. Thousands of life signs. Energy readings spiking in multiple directions. A combat zone — but this wasn't UNSC territory.
Explosions rattled the ground.
Alex staggered to his feet, half his systems offline, armor dented and burned from the blast that killed him.
Then he heard a voice — faint, distorted through a public channel:
> "Avengers, assemble!"
He froze.
"Avengers?" he muttered.
> "Commander," SYN said, tone sharper now, "dimensional variance detected. Comparing data… confirmed. This world corresponds with Marvel Universe Designation 199999."
He blinked. "Marvel? You mean like— comic books?"
> "Not anymore."
A massive explosion tore through a nearby street, throwing cars like toys. A figure in red and gold armor soared through the debris, unleashing repulsor blasts. Another — a man with a star-spangled shield — deflected plasma fire and shouted orders.
Alex stood still for a heartbeat, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
Tony Stark.
Steve Rogers.
Thor.
Impossible.
And yet, the HUD didn't lie. SYN's recognition subroutines mapped every face, every heat signature. The data was real.
He wasn't hallucinating.
He was standing in the middle of the Battle of New York.
---
A Chitauri skiff screamed overhead, firing plasma bolts into the street. One struck a fuel truck, erupting in flames. The shockwave hit Alex head-on, knocking him backward into a crushed taxi.
His shields flared weakly, then stabilized.
> "Warning: energy reserves at 31%. Suggest minimizing engagement."
Alex gritted his teeth. "No promises."
He rose, scanning for civilians. Two were trapped under fallen debris — a woman and a child, crying for help. He sprinted forward, armor servos whining, and ripped the concrete slab off them with one arm.
They stared up at him, terrified. To them, he must've looked like an alien himself — faceless, seven feet tall, armored like a tank.
"Run," he said simply, his voice filtered and deep. They didn't wait for a second invitation.
A Chitauri soldier landed nearby, weapon raised. Alex reacted on instinct. He slammed his fist into its chest, sending it flying through a wall. His armor systems howled in protest, but adrenaline drowned it out.
Then more came. Three, four, maybe five. Plasma bolts filled the air, and Alex dove into cover behind a bus.
> "Commander," SYN warned, "power levels critical. Shields won't hold if this continues."
"Then we end it quick."
He primed his thrusters, vaulted over the wreckage, and dropped into the squad like a meteor. The street cracked beneath his landing. One Chitauri went down with a crushed ribcage. Another's rifle snapped in two as Alex swung it into a lamppost.
A third tried to flank him — he caught it mid-leap, slammed it headfirst into the pavement, and kept moving.
Every motion was automatic. Efficient. Brutal. The kind of combat only a Spartan could execute.
But even he was running on borrowed time. His shield meter flickered red. Alarms screamed.
A Leviathan roared above, shadow blotting out the sun. Its massive cannon began to glow.
> "SYN, options!"
> "One. Not recommended."
"Do it."
He charged forward, sprinting straight into the creature's shadow. His thrusters screamed as he vaulted up a crumbling building, jumping from ledge to ledge. Chitauri skiffs opened fire, but he didn't stop.
He reached the roof — and jumped.
The world slowed. He soared through smoke and light, every muscle burning, every system on the verge of collapse.
He landed on the Leviathan's back with enough force to crack its plating. The creature shrieked, twisting midair.
> "Commander, structural weakness located. Marking target."
He jammed a plasma grenade — salvaged from a fallen soldier — into the glowing vent.
"Here's something you can chew on."
He kicked off, fell thirty stories, and hit the ground just as the grenade detonated. The Leviathan exploded overhead, raining molten shards into the street.
For a moment, everything went quiet.
And then — applause.
He turned. On the street below, Captain America stood beside Black Widow, staring up at him. Iron Man hovered nearby, scanning him from head to toe.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Cap shouted.
Alex didn't answer. He just retracted his visor. Blue eyes met their stares — calm, steady, exhausted.
"Just a soldier," he said. "Trying to survive."
Before they could respond, another explosion rocked the city. The battle wasn't over.
Tony's voice crackled over the comms. "Alright, mystery man. You can explain later. Right now, we've got aliens to swat."
Alex nodded once. "Copy that."
> "Commander," SYN whispered, "I suggest we integrate into their combat network for coordination."
"Do it."
A digital pulse rippled through the air, syncing his HUD to the Avengers' comms. Instantly, data flooded in — enemy positions, Stark's flight path, Thor's lightning arcs. It was chaos, but organized chaos.
He ran toward the next engagement, falling into formation without hesitation. Cap deflected plasma bolts, Thor summoned a storm, Iron Man strafed from above — and Alex filled the gaps, cutting through Chitauri lines like a scalpel.
When the dust settled, the sky opened in a blinding blue light. The portal above Stark Tower began to collapse.
The battle was ending.
But Alex was barely conscious. His systems were dying. His body felt heavier with each step.
> "SYN… status…"
> "Critical damage. Power reserves… eight percent. Recommend hibernation mode…"
He stumbled, vision tunneling.
The last thing he saw was a familiar figure approaching through the smoke — Captain America, reaching out a hand.
"Hey! Stay with us! Who are you?"
Alex's lips moved, barely audible.
"Spartan… two-one-seven…"
Then everything went black.
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End of Chapter 1