The Juggernaut sized up the aliens not far off and confirmed once more, "I just have to smash it open, right?"
Once he got his confirmation, he took another couple of looks at that all-metal fortress. It looked pretty solid, but the Juggernaut had faith in his own power: as long as he could charge, as long as he could get up to speed, no substance in this world could stop him. That was the confidence the Demon God Cyttorak had given him.
Stashing the box of money in a small pack on his back, the Juggernaut let out great heaving breaths, his chest and belly booming like a struck drum. Then he stamped down hard, and amid a thunderous roar he began to accelerate.
"Cap, clear your three o'clock!" Even without Daisy's word, Cap had already spotted the Juggernaut barreling in like a raging bull.
There was a flicker of surprise in his eyes. What was this heroic fellow in red about to do? Was he really going to ram metal with his head?
If someone had tried that back in World War II, he'd surely have pulled them aside—why do something so reckless? But not anymore. In the six-plus months since he'd awoken, he'd come to realize that modern people's abilities were all over the map. Maybe this eager fellow had something to rely on.
The troops likewise opened a path. They had attacked repeatedly without breaking through, and lacking Captain America's constitution, their casualties were appallingly heavy. If not for Captain America repeatedly leading the charge, they'd have fled long ago.
"Aaah! Aaah!" The Juggernaut roared as he ran, working himself up. His somewhat beady eyes brimmed with confidence. He didn't believe anyone could stop him—once he got running, he could shatter even magic, let alone metal.
With unstoppable momentum, the Juggernaut slammed into the metal wall that Captain America had failed to breach time and again.
The arowana-shaped troop ships posed no obstacle to him. The metal wall—the kind that would have drained Stark's armor dry—was smashed open into a preposterous, person-shaped hole.
The Juggernaut had felt just how solid and heavy the wall was, but so what? He wouldn't back down for anything. He poured on more brute force, increasing his speed by another twenty percent.
His enormous weight plus the force of impact kept him from stopping at all. After smashing through the arowana ships, he plowed on and crushed countless Chitauri hiding behind the fortifications.
He tore in from three o'clock, cut clean through in a matter of seconds, and burst out at nine o'clock. Without so much as a word to anyone, he bolted west and soon vanished from everyone's sight.
Captain America was left a bit dumbstruck. He watched the Juggernaut knock down swaths of Chitauri along the way, then stomp over them with his huge feet, blood and pulped flesh mingling with severed limbs to pave a road of mangled meat.
A pack of aliens—killing them was nothing to agonize over. This was Marvel, not DC next door; hardly anyone here clung to a no-kill principle. As a veteran of World War II, Captain America had killed plenty of men, and Stark even more so—he'd cut down people in Afghanistan like so much livestock.
They just felt that this "heroic fellow," the Juggernaut, had come and gone in far too much of a hurry. He'd clearly been a huge help—why not exchange a few words and make a friend before running off?
There was no time to dwell on it. The breach was open now, and every minute, every second was precious. Cap gave a great shout, "Follow me!"
Behind Captain America came the Avengers, and behind them a throng of American soldiers. Their fighting strength might be uneven, but on the strength of Stark and War Machine's heavy firepower, the main force still surged inside.
Scattered Chitauri kept rushing forward to block them, but the Juggernaut's earth-shaking charge had already scared the wits out of them. More than anything, they were worried this operation had failed.
They were going to lose either way—why throw their lives away for nothing?
Beyond the atmosphere, the Chitauri commander gave the order: stop fighting to the death for Supergiant, let's pull out!
Captain America downed three Chitauri in a row. The once densely packed enemy ranks had begun to show gaps, and his gaze fell on Supergiant, who gripped the Mind Scepter (Loki's Scepter) and dueled Professor Xavier across the distance.
By drawing nearly a hundred times her own psychic power from the Mind Scepter, Supergiant had already overwhelmed Professor Xavier—had even, in turn, glimpsed some of the old professor's memories. But they were all trivial things, nonsense like drinking a cup of coffee a day.
She didn't know who it was she fought, but her opponent was no planetary will—just a mortal, a mortal with unbelievably powerful psychic ability. Backed by the Mind Scepter, Supergiant held victory firmly in hand. Her only concern was whether, once she won, she'd still have the sanity to let go of the scepter and give up this seemingly omnipotent power.
Ten seconds and she'd defeat him. She began the countdown. Nine seconds, eight seconds!
Just as victory was within sight, Captain America finally broke through the encirclement. The instant he saw Supergiant, he hurled his shield without a second thought.
The round shield, carrying all of Captain America's strength and conviction, swept past several Chitauri soldiers, traced a graceful arc through the air, and struck Supergiant on the temple.
The distance was a bit far. Captain America's strength might seem boundless to ordinary people, but to Supergiant it was only average. The timing, however, could not have been worse for her.
Her psychic power was so intensely focused that she'd never expected an outside force to intrude. Wielding the Mind Scepter with her own psychic power was, to begin with, like a child handling a pistol—a supremely dangerous thing.
Avoiding any interruption was the most basic rule of all.
Taking a shield to the head on the eve of victory not only knocked away the advantage Supergiant had so painstakingly built, it delivered her an unspeakable, crushing defeat.
A massive backlash of psychic power left her in agony beyond bearing, her head as though cleaved into pieces by a great axe. Her once whole, smoothly flowing thoughts were severed by force, and many of Thanos's secrets were laid bare before Professor Xavier.
"No!" Supergiant would never allow such a thing to happen. She would sooner die than betray Thanos.
Already at her very last gasp, she burned her life force, wrung one last bit of psychic power from her own life, and used it as a fuse to set off a mind bomb she'd long since planted in her mind.
A super-storm in the mental realm exploded thunderously in a place ordinary people could not see.
Before he could understand the truth about Thanos, Charles—the old professor, first in the line of fire—had his connection violently cut off by her. His face contorted with pain and blood at the corner of his mouth, the old man struggled to pull off his helmet and slumped back in his wheelchair.
"The psychic battle is over." The White Queen, observing all this, immediately reported to Daisy.
"Everyone, on my command—all-out attack! Kill every last piece of this trash that came to Earth!" Daisy gave the order for a full assault. In the same moment, the Chitauri issued their own order for a complete retreat.
"All-out attack!"
"All-out attack!"
The cry carried across the whole city, and the troops on the outskirts were spurred on as well, hastily assembling. Nearly three hundred thousand American troops charged into New York from three directions. If not now, then when? Now was the time to press the advantage.