"Keep going! Stay down and find cover!"
Behind him, another Chitauri pod scread down onto the street.
"Steve—!" Banner yelled into his comm.
"I see it!"
Steve leapt, grabbing onto a lamppost, swinging himself up and onto the pod as it hovered. He smashed into its control plate with the edge of his shield, disabling its flight pattern. The pod sputtered violently and crashed into a nearby building, Steve landing in a crouch just before impact.
But it wasn't enough.
A third squad of Chitauri dropped — and this ti, they landed dangerously close to the alley Banner had just cleared. One of them raised its weapon, aiming directly at the retreating civilians.
Banner's breath caught.
He sprinted toward them, arms pumping, heart racing.
"No!"
A flash of plasma shot past him, slamming into a parked car. It exploded, sending a wave of heat and shrapnel across the street. The mother scread, diving with her child as debris peppered the concrete around them.
The Chitauri raised its weapon again.
And sothing inside Banner broke.
He stopped running.
His breathing deepened. His fists clenched.
"No more..." he whispered.
Another plasma bolt tore through the air — but it never reached the civilians.
Because Banner was no longer there.
In his place stood the Hulk.
He erupted from the street in a roar of fury, the transformation ripping through muscle and sinew in seconds. Asphalt cracked beneath his feet. His eyes burned with primal rage.
He lunged forward, grabbing the Chitauri mid-stride and slamming it into the pavent like a ragdoll. Its body cracked, armor folding like paper. Another turned to fire — too late. Hulk's backhand sent it flying through a nearby building wall.
Steve turned in ti to see the green titan unleash hell.
Hulk grabbed a Chitauri by the leg and used it to beat two others into the ground, roaring as he moved to shield the alley where the civilians cowered. He stood between them and the advancing wave like a force of nature — a wall of muscle and wrath.
"Hulk!" Steve called. "They're trying to flank!"
Hulk turned and leapt skyward, landing on top of a descending pod. With a mighty punch, he sent it spiraling into a water tower. The tower collapsed, flooding the street and washing away so of the wreckage.
Steve took the opportunity to push forward, shield up, fighting side-by-side with Hulk as Chitauri sward. The mother and child were still alive. Watching him with awe. Yes, she did see the man turn into a monster but she didn't fear this person. Her eyes were filled with gratitude. Hulk didn't notice it and was one his way to kill more of the puny ants.
Smoke curled through the broken avenues of the neighborhood. Screams. Explosions. The sharp bark of gunfire. From above, Chitauri pods swooped like vultures over carrion.
And yet — in the blink of an eye — light shimred at the mouth of one such alley. A gust of wind followed, then silence.
Ciri was there.
Her sword already in hand, silver streaked with alien blood, she stood over the crumpled form of a Chitauri, its head split cleanly down the center. The family behind her — an elderly woman and two young boys — gawked in stunned disbelief.
The family had never seen such a beautiful girl and that too with ashen hair like hers before. And with the sword she looked more dashing than ever. She was wearing a standard SHIELD suit which had vibranium coating, thanks to Tony. Thus most bullets wouldn't hurt her.
"Go," she said gently. "Now. This way." She gestured toward a gap in the rubble she'd cleared seconds earlier.
They had questions but didn't question her. They just ran.
She didn't wait to watch them vanish.
In another breath, she blinked.
The world shifted.
One step, and she was a block away, standing atop a half-demolished bus, hair whipped by wind and fire. Below her, a man cried out, pinned under a pile of debris. She jumped down, sword still in hand, and with one strong pull, lifted the beam just enough for him to crawl out.
"Th-thank you," he gasped.
Ciri nodded, already vanishing before the words had fully left his lips. The chaos didn't shake her. She was trained for worse. She had faced wraiths, Wild Hunt riders, and horrors without nas. But this… Normally when facing monsters it was just a few people. But never in such a close city with so many people.
But she also got to witness the ugly side of humans too.
As she blinked into another alley — mid-stride now — Ciri halted sharply.
Ahead, tucked in the shadows between two ruined buildings, a small girl no older than eight sobbed quietly. Her hands were scraped.
But it was the man beside her that caught Ciri's attention.
He wasn't comforting her.
He was gripping her arm tightly, too tightly — pulling her away from the light of the street. His other hand rested suspiciously near a pocketknife tucked into his coat.
"Stop struggling," he hissed, yanking her again. "You lost your parents. I'll take you sowhere safe."
"No! Let go! Let go!" The girl didn't feel comfortable at all. She got separated from her parents in this chaos and had been actively searching them. Ciri stepped forward slowly.
"Let her go."
The man froze, halfway through pulling the girl into the shadows.
"Mind your own damn business, white-hair. This doesn't concern you."
"You're shaking," Ciri said. "Is it guilt? Or fear?"
"I said back off." The man growled.
There was a blink — a gust — and before he could lift the knife, Ciri was in front of him. Her sword didn't move, not even a swing. Just the flat of the blade pressed against his neck, cool and unyielding.
"I could cut you in a hundred places, and you wouldn't even have ti to scream." The man dropped the blade. He stumbled backward, eyes wide, and ran without another word. He had just seen a ghost, so of course he ran. Ciri turned her gaze to the girl, who had crouched down behind a trash bin.
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