[At the top of Stark Tower]
[Dr. Erik Selvig repositioned the damaged computer equipnt and pointed directly at the Tesseract: "Right at the crown!"]
[Natasha imdiately followed his instructions and began pressing the Mind Scepter's tip toward the Tesseract's energy field.]
[This ti she successfully penetrated the protective barrier, and the breakthrough gave her renewed confidence: "I can close it! Can anyone copy? I can shut the portal down!"]
[Captain Arica imdiately responded with urgency: "Do it!"]
["No, wait!" Tony's voice cut through the comm with the opposite instruction.]
["Stark! These things are still coming!" Captain Arica was unaware of the nuclear threat bearing down on them.]
["I got a nuke coming in! It's gonna blow in less than a minute!" Tony had already reached the coastline and could see the high-speed nuclear warhead approaching the city.]
[He executed a sharp deceleration and pivoted to intercept the missile's trajectory. Thanks to all the power being channeled to his thrusters, Tony's speed was now greater than the missile's velocity.]
["And I know just where to put it."]
[Tony grabbed hold of the nuclear weapon. Captain Arica had already deduced what his teammate was planning and tried to dissuade him: "Stark, you know that's a one-way trip!"]
[Tony ignored Captain Arica's warning and focused on his AI: "Save the rest for the turn, JARVIS!"]
[JARVIS offered one final consideration: "Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?"]
[Tony glanced at Pepper's photograph displayed on his HUD. He hesitated for a brief mont before responding: "Might as well."]
[Aboard Tony's private jet, Pepper was intently focused on news coverage of the battle unfolding in New York.]
["The streets of New York have beco a war zone! The army is here, they're trying to get so kind of periter, but honestly, from this vantage point, they look like they're being overrun!"]
[The television banner read: "BREAKING NEWS: MIDTOWN MANHATTAN UNDER ATTACK"]
[Pepper's attention was completely absorbed by the anchor's comntary and the footage on screen, and she failed to notice Tony's incoming call displayed on her muted phone beside her.]
[The news anchor continued: "I have to say, in all my years of reporting, I have never seen anything like this!"]
["We're getting more information about this so-called response team! The one we do recognize, Iron Man! Billionaire Tony Stark's flying machine!"]
[Everyone aboard the SHIELD helicarrier was also monitoring the battle in New York. The entire command center had fallen into an eerie silence as they all understood the implications of the nuclear weapon.]
[Tony carried the warhead and flew directly toward Stark Tower, maintaining low altitude throughout his approach. Because he stayed close to street level, no Chitauri forces detected his unusual cargo or moved to intercept him.]
[Thor and Captain Arica on the ground were the first to spot Tony carrying the nuclear weapon as he flew overhead. As he drew closer to the tower, Tony began his ascent and adjusted his trajectory upward.]
[Just when it appeared Tony might collide with the building, he successfully angled the missile to vertical orientation, streaking past Natasha and Dr. Selvig before soaring toward the portal above.]
[As Tony and the nuclear weapon disappeared into the wormhole together, everyone in the command center except Nick Fury and Agent Hill began celebrating. Only those two remained grimly silent.]
[Even so, Hill felt a asure of relief. They finally didn't have to worry about New York being obliterated by nuclear fire.]
[Hill glanced at Nick Fury, whose expression remained unchanged because he understood all too well that Tony would very likely not be returning.]
["Sir, I'm losing you!" As the suit's power was consud by the void of space, diagnostic data began disappearing from Tony's HUD one by one until the final indicator went dark.]
[Tony's energy reserves were completely exhausted and he had lost all power. He released the nuclear weapon and began falling back toward Earth under gravitational influence.]
[Although his systems were offline, Tony could still observe the situation ahead of him. The nuclear warhead flew directly toward the massive Chitauri command ship. In a brilliant, silent explosion that illuminated the entire fleet, the mothership was completely destroyed.]
[Simultaneously, all Chitauri forces on Earth lost coordination and collapsed to the ground. They were clearly biological weapons - without their command vessel, they had no autonomous function.]
[This included the massive Leviathan creatures, which also plumted from the sky and crashed heavily onto building rooftops throughout the city.]
[Tony watched the brilliant detonation ahead of him, closed his eyes peacefully, and continued falling toward Earth.]
[Back at the tower, Natasha stared up at the portal: "Co on, Stark!"]
[But when Tony failed to appear after several crucial seconds, Captain Arica grew concerned about additional threats erging and ordered: "Close it!"]
[Natasha had no choice but to comply and drove the scepter forward, successfully making contact with the Tesseract. The energy beam maintaining the portal dissipated, and the wormhole began slowly contracting toward closure.]
[Just as the portal was about to seal completely, Tony's powerless form fell through the shrinking aperture.]
[Seeing him erge, Natasha couldn't help but smile with relief.]
[Captain Arica laughed with obvious joy: "Son of a gun!"]
[But Thor quickly realized sothing was critically wrong: "He's not slowing down!" He imdiately began spinning Mjolnir to launch himself skyward.]
[However, Hulk was faster. He leaped upward and caught Tony in a protective embrace, landed on a nearby building's side, then used the wall to control their descent to street level. He was extrely careful to land on his own back first to prevent Tony from sustaining impact injuries.]
[Thor and Captain Arica rushed to their location and carefully turned Tony onto his back. Captain Arica looked at him with obvious concern: "Is he breathing?"]
[Thor removed Tony's faceplate and tossed it aside. Captain Arica leaned over and tried to detect vital signs, but couldn't hear anything through the Mark VII's armor plating.]
[Hulk observed Tony's unconscious state and couldn't help but release a thunderous roar, which startled Tony back to consciousness. Captain Arica was genuinely surprised that he had survived.]
["What the hell? What just happened? Please tell nobody kissed ."]
[Seeing that Tony still had enough energy for his characteristic humor, both Thor and Captain Arica were visibly relieved.]
[Captain Arica took a deep breath and nodded: "We won."]
[Tony exhaled with obvious relief upon hearing this confirmation and remained lying on the ground: "Alright! Hey! Alright, good job, guys! Let's just not co in tomorrow. Let's just take a day."]
["Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."]
[Thor surveyed the devastated cityscape around them: "We're not finished yet."]
[Tony rolled his eyes at this reminder: "And then shawarma after."]
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