Corrupted - The Tigris Series Book 1

Chapter Twenty Five

July 23, 2012

The sound of the creature's roars and screeches sounded all around us, unpleasantly mixing with the screams of terror from the civilians. Seeing the people run for their lives down the streets of New York reminded me of the last time I was in New York on September 9th, 2001. Only this time, it is an alien invasion. This time, the world's safety is in jeopardy.

This time, I was going to help save it.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve questioned, still trying to process the horrifying sight of the giant serpent creature.

"Seeing. Still working on believing." Stark replied in my earpiece.

I caught sight of him shooting towards the creature, flying alongside it to get a good look as it slithered through the air between the tall buildings. He looked like a speck compared to it's massive size.

How will we ever defeat it without the proper weaponry?

"Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?" Stark asked with a demanding tone.

"Banner?" Steve said, confused as to why Stark expected the scientist to show up.

"Just keep me posted." Stark replied.

I turned my attention back up to Stark tower, catching sight of Loki rolling off of the building, and landing on one of the Chitauri's flying bikes. He now lead one of the many charges throughout the streets, shooting at random buildings and streets. Thor stood alone now, watching the chaos as he seemed to be out of breath.

I brought my attention back to Natasha and Barton, who were now taking cover behind a taxi that was overturned onto it's back near the edge of the bridge that we were standing on. Steve ran to take cover next to them, gripping his shield tightly. Before I could follow suit, one of the Chitauri flew around the corner of the building to my right, and shot a blue blast of fire at me. I dove to the side, avoiding the hit. Once I hit the ground, I rolled skillfully back onto my feet, and jumped up with one leg with a quick spin to fling my new arm-plated blade  at the back of the alien's head as he zoomed past me. The blade went right through it, killing it instantly. It's bike started to droop and crashed into a nearby building. I then hit the button to retract the blade as I ran towards Natasha, Barton, and Steve, sliding to kneel beside them. The blade came flying towards me right on cue, and perfectly re-attached itself to the plate.

"As you all can clearly see, staying here and doing nothing isn't quite working out for us!" I snapped, irritated that they were all stationary.

"We've got civilians still trapped up there." Barton reported, eyeing the building ahead of us.

Another bike flew above us. I caught sight of a green cape as it zoomed past. Steve saw it too, and looked back to watch it fly down the street, shooting at anything and everything. Cars and trucks exploded with each impact, turning all of them over onto their backs. I caught sight of one of them being a police car; as usual, completely powerless.

"Loki." Steve rasped, keeping his focus onto the God of Mischief.

Civilians continued to run through the streets. Some barely escaping the shots, some not so lucky. They didn't know where to go, so they just ran. Hoping that wherever their feet took them, it was somewhere safe.

"They're fish in a barrel down there," Steve commented, also watching the civilians.

Another bike flew at us, shooting at our heads as we peeked over the overturned taxi. We ducked to take cover once again, barely avoiding the shots.

"I don't know about you, but I don't think I can sit here for another second to watch the city be torn apart." I growled, furrowing my eyebrows in frustration.