The Xenophage continued toward the bridges, moving with what could only be described as a frightening determination to catch up with it's prey.
"Thor, don't let it go that way," Black Widow ordered through the comms.
Thor immediately looked toward the route the creature was taking.
"Aye."
His eyes shifted toward Captain America. "Cap."
"Got it."
Steve abruptly brought himself to a stop, his shield scraping against the pavement before he planted his feet firmly on the ground. He turned toward the approaching Thor and raised his shield, bracing his entire body as though preparing to absorb an incoming attack.
Thor didn't need an explanation.
Mjolnir came flying from his hand.
At almost the exact same moment, Captain America hurled his shield.
The two weapons collided in midair.
CLANG!
Mjolnir struck the edge of the shield at precisely the right angle, transferring an enormous amount of momentum into it. Captain America's shield immediately changed direction, shooting forward with incredible speed.
The shield streaked across the street and slammed into the Xenophage from the side, knocking the creature violently off its intended course just before it could reach the bridge.
"Nice shot!" Spider-Man shouted.
Thor caught Mjolnir as it returned to his hand, while Captain America's shield ricocheted through the air before returning toward its owner.
Iron Man was already moving to contain the situation as several launchers deployed from his armor, firing controlled blasts around the Xenophage rather than directly at it. The explosions forced the creature away from crowded areas and toward sections of the street where there were fewer civilians, effectively herding it without giving it a clear opening to escape.
At the same time, Tony's suit continued scanning the surrounding area, while JARVIS coordinated emergency routes and traffic patterns. Iron Man repeatedly broke away from the pursuit for brief moments to pull civilians out of danger, catching falling debris, redirecting vehicles, and using his repulsors to clear obstacles before immediately accelerating after the Xenophage again.
The heroes weren't only chasing the creature, but were trying to control the battlefield around it.
And the Xenophage, apparently realizing that, continued running as though the entire city had become one enormous obstacle between itself and its prey.
The Xenophage seemed to notice the heroes' efforts to protect the civilians, and if its reaction was anything to go by, it decided to make use of that concern to its advantage. Rather than simply running, the creature began deliberately creating hazards in its path, forcing the Avengers to divide their attention between pursuing it and keeping innocent people from becoming casualties.
As it sprinted down the street, the Xenophage suddenly slammed into a passing car, sending the vehicle tumbling wildly through the air. The sedan spun end over end with terrifying speed, its tires leaving the ground as it rolled directly toward a student walking along the pavement with headphones over his ears, completely oblivious to the chaos unfolding around him.
He was just making his way home from school, unaware that he was seconds away from becoming roadkill.
Something must have instinctively warned him, because he suddenly glanced to his side. His expression immediately froze when he saw the rapidly rotating sedan hurtling toward him. There was barely enough time for his brain to process what he was seeing, let alone move out of the way.
Fortunately, Spider-Man was already there.
Peter swung through the air at full speed, one web shooting toward a nearby building as he redirected his momentum. He swooped down at the last possible second, wrapping an arm around the student's torso and sweeping him clean off his feet before carrying him away from the vehicle.
The whole maneuver looked less like a heroic rescue and more like something straight out of a Disney movie, complete with the kid playing the role of the princess being whisked away from certain doom.
"Gotcha!"
The student barely had time to react before Spider-Man deposited him safely onto the pavement several meters away. The boy stood there staring after him, headphones still hanging around his neck, his face frozen somewhere between confusion and disbelief.
Captain America, meanwhile, was having a much less convenient time keeping pace. Unlike Thor and Iron Man, he couldn't simply fly after the creature, and unlike Spider-Man, he couldn't effortlessly swing from building to building. Instead, Steve had to rely on his shield, agility, and sheer physical ability to rescue civilians and clear obstacles from the Xenophage's path.
Every time the creature caused another hazard, Cap was forced to stop and intervene. He caught falling debris, shoved civilians out of danger, redirected vehicles, and used his shield to absorb impacts that would have otherwise injured innocent people. It meant he was gradually falling behind while the others continued the aerial pursuit ahead of him.
The frantic chase continued through the city, with the Xenophage proving increasingly difficult to contain. It used everything around it to its advantage—cars, buildings, tunnels, narrow streets, traffic, and even civilians—constantly changing direction and forcing the Avengers to react while it relentlessly pushed toward its original target.
Venom.
From high above, Hawkeye remained aboard the jet following the chase from the air. He drew his bow and fired several specialized explosive arrows ahead of the Xenophage. Each arrow detonated strategically, not with the intention of destroying the creature, but of forcing it away from crowded streets and toward less populated routes.
The explosions helped relieve some of the pressure on the heroes below, giving them fewer civilians to rescue while maintaining pursuit.
"So far, you've done a poor job keeping it contained," Hawkeye said through the comms, his voice carrying an unmistakable edge of frustration. "Kill the damn thing already."
"Yeah, yeah. Already on it," Iron Man replied.
Tony accelerated forward before turning his helmet slightly toward Spider-Man. He gestured for Peter to follow his lead.
"It's party time, boys. Let's put ugly here to bed," Iron Man announced. "Seriously, I have a date in about thirty minutes, and I could really use some champagne right about now. I'm parched."
He raised both hands as repulsors fired.
Iron Man began alternating his blasts with almost rhythmic precision. After seeing how effective the repulsors were at staggering the Xenophage, Tony had no reason not to give the creature more of the same. The blasts weren't powerful enough to kill it outright, but they were painful, concussive, and more than capable of throwing its massive body off balance.
And for what Tony had in mind, that was all he needed. He wasn't trying to kill it with the repulsors but trying to halt its advancement.
Tony moved around the creature like a conductor directing an extremely violent orchestra, each blast arriving at precisely the right moment to keep the Xenophage trapped inside a cage of concussive force.
Repulsor to the left.
Another repulsor to the right.
Missile.
Repulsor.
The Xenophage attempted to adjust, only to be hammered back in another direction before it could regain its footing. Every time it tried to accelerate, another blast struck its side and disrupted its movement.
Spider-Man immediately took advantage of the openings.
Peter swung in and fired webs at the creature's limbs while it was still reeling from the concussive attacks. Webbing wrapped around its legs and arms, further restricting its movements and preventing it from building enough momentum to escape.
Captain America finally caught up, sliding into position with his shield raised. He immediately moved in to keep the creature occupied, striking whenever it tried to break through the webbing and forcing its attention away from Spider-Man.
The roles were clear as Cap and Spider-Man kept it occupied and restrained, Iron Man kept it trapped so Thor would deliver the finishing blow.
Thor rose above them, Mjolnir clutched tightly in his hand as dark clouds began gathering overhead once more. Lightning flickered through the clouds, illuminating his stern expression as he raised the enchanted hammer.
The Xenophage looked upward as the others cleared out from the area of effect.
For the first time during the chase, it seemed to recognize that something truly dangerous was coming.
As Thor brought Mjolnir down, a concentrated bolt of lightning descended from the clouds, following Thor as he plunged toward the battlefield. The God of Thunder descended alongside the lightning itself, Mjolnir held forward as electricity gathered around its metallic surface.
Then Thor and the lightning struck together.
The impact wasn't a flash, but it was an explosion.
KRA-KOOOOOM!
The concentrated blast slammed directly into the Xenophage, with the electrical current channeling through Mjolnir at close range as Thor's full weight and the devastating force of the lightning drove the creature into the ground.
The street shook beneath the impact.
The Xenophage disappeared beneath a column of white-hot electricity as lightning descended from the heavens with enough force to shake the surrounding street. Its claws dug deep furrows into the pavement as its entire body convulsed violently beneath the electrical assault, black flesh blistering and smoking as arcs of electricity crawled across its armored hide.
For several seconds, the creature remained completely trapped within the storm, its monstrous silhouette barely visible through the blinding torrent of lightning. The air itself seemed to vibrate from the sheer intensity of the attack, while chunks of shattered pavement and debris were thrown outward from the impact.
Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the lightning vanished.
Smoke slowly rose from the crater.
Seconds later, the only thing visible through the smoke was the silhouette of Thor standing over the fallen Xenophage, Mjolnir still crackling with residual electricity as the rest of the team watched to see whether the monster would finally stay down.
At its center, the Xenophage lay motionless, its enormous body sprawled across the ruined pavement. Its charred hide steamed in the night air, and for a moment, there was absolutely no movement.
Spider-Man stared at it as he cautiously tilted his head. "Did... did we get him?"
One of the creature's fingers twitched, causing Peter to immediately stiffen.
Tony let out a tired sigh from inside his helmet. "Kid, why don't you go poke it with a stick and confirm its status?" he suggested, sounding entirely too casual about the possibility of the monster suddenly getting back up.
Peter gave a small, nervous laugh as he glanced between Ironman and the smoking creature. "I'd rather not."
His eyes lingered on the Xenophage for another moment before his thoughts shifted toward everything that had happened recently.
'The Avengers definitely know something.'
There had been too many incidents occurring too close together for him to believe otherwise. Monsters appearing out of nowhere, strange attacks, invasions, and now this thing that had apparently crossed half the city just to hunt another creature. Whatever was happening, the Avengers seemed to have some idea of what was going on, even if they weren't exactly eager to share.
Peter finally turned toward Iron Man, visibly hesitating.
"Mr. Iron Man... Tony Stark... sir," he began, stumbling slightly over the formalities as he tried to figure out how exactly to phrase the question without sounding like a paranoid teenager interrogating one of Earth's greatest heroes.
Tony's Iron face plate opened up as he looked toward him, watching as Peter took a breath.
"What's all this about? It's been one thing after another for the past couple of months, and a lot of them have been monster-related so far. I mean, first we had the invasions, then this gooey alien stuff, and now this thing. Is something going on that we should know about?"
Tony stared at him for a moment.
Then, almost suspiciously, his expression softened.
"It's nothing to worry about, kid," he said. "And if the world's indeed coming to an end, isn't it better to just go on and enjoy every single day?"
Peter blinked in puzzlement, unsure of what to make of that.
Tony continued before he could respond. "Go get some rest, kid. You did well today."
There was something about the way Tony said it that made Peter suspect he wasn't getting the full story.
But he wasn't going to complain about the answer.
"Yes!"
Peter did everything within his power not to jump into the air and pump an enthusiastic fist overhead. He somehow managed to restrain himself, maintaining the appearance of a relatively composed superhero while internally celebrating like Peter Parker had just been given permission to leave school early.
For once, Spider-Man had survived another monster attack, saved civilians, helped the Avengers, and gotten a compliment from Iron Man.
That was a pretty good day.
Meanwhile, after chasing down Venom like a deranged predator desperately wanting to clap some underage cheeks having spotted his next victim, Shazam finally caught up with him.