Aheavy Chitauri gun fired at Iron Man. The beam missed him and destroyed part of a building in Sokovia. “Sir, the city is taking fire,” Jarvis said.

“Strucker’s not going to worry about civilian casualties,” Tony said. “Send in the Iron Legion.”

The Iron Legion was a squadron of remotely operated Iron Man armored suits. They landed in different parts of Sokovia. “Please return to your homes,” one said. “We will do our best to ensure your safety during this engagement.”

In another part of the city, another Iron Legionnaire broadcast its recorded speech. “This quadrant is unsafe. Please back away. We wish to avoid collateral damage and will inform you when the current conflict is resolved. We are here to help.”

Not all the Sokovians loved the Avengers. One of them threw a bottle of acid at the Iron Legionnaire. It smashed on the legionnaire’s mask, melting partway through it.

Tony got a damage report from the legionnaire. What ingrates , he thought. Then he had to dodge incoming fire and decided the legionnaires were on their own.

Strucker rallied his troops, knowing the Avengers would eventually breach the fortress’s defenses. “Once again, the West bring violence to your country! Your homes! But they will learn the price of their arrogance! We will not yield. The American send their circus freaks to test us, and we will send them back in bags! No surrender!”

The men cheered as Strucker turned and spoke quietly to Dr. List. “I’m going to surrender. Delete everything. If we give the Avengers the scepter, they may not look too far into what we’ve been doing with it.”

“But the twins,” Dr. List protested.

“They’re not ready to take -on—”

Dr. List pointed. “No, I mean...​the twins.”

Strucker turned to see where Dr. List was pointing. A moment ago, the twins had been waiting, together as always, near the scepter in a shadowed corner of the room.

Now they were gone.

Hawkeye dodged the crackling blue beams of the Chitauri weapons, finding cover behind a tree. He rolled out and fired at one of the defending gunners.

The arrow disappeared.

He drew his bow again and was about to let fly when something hit him hard enough to knock him sprawling back into the trees. He got up ready to fight, and for a split second a man appeared in front of him, wearing a -close-​-fitting blue suit, with a shock of white hair. The man held up Clint’s arrow.

“You didn’t see that coming?” he said mockingly. Then, before Hawkeye could respond, the man vanished.

No, not vanished. Ran at an incredible speed. For just a moment, Hawkeye had seen him start to move.

In the moment he spent thinking about that, a blast tore through his side. He spun and went down hard.

“Clint!” Black Widow called. “Clint’s hit.”

Captain America ran to Hawkeye’s aid and was knocked hard out of the way, slamming into a tree trunk. He looked around and called out, “We’ve got an Enhanced in the field!” That was their term for other people like the Avengers, who had some kind of power unknown to regular humans.

Black Widow got to Hawkeye’s side. “Can someone take out that bunker?” She ducked away from incoming fire.

The Hulk was the first to respond, plowing through the bunker and destroying it. “Thank you,” Black Widow said. She looked down at Hawkeye’s wound. It was bad.

“Stark, we really need to get inside,” Captain America said. The invisible shield was holding them up, and they still didn’t know where the Enhanced was or what he could do.

“I’m closing in,” Iron Man said. A Chitauri beam knocked him off balance in the air. “Jarvis, am I closing in? You see a power source for that shield?”

He landed on the outside wall of the fortress, knocking soldiers away as Jarvis responded, “There’s a dense particle wave below the north tower.”

“Great,” Iron Man said. He fired repulsors down a narrow alley, blasting open a gate. “I want to poke it with something.”

Taking to the air again, he concentrated his fire on the shield in that area. A rupture appeared, and the shield began to lose coherence. The hole got larger, energy spitting around its edge. They were through!

“Drawbridge is down, people!” Iron Man called out.

Captain America heard him and turned to Thor, who was finishing off the closest defending soldiers. “The Enhanced?” Thor asked.

“He’s a blur,” Cap said. “All the new players we’ve faced, I’ve never seen this.” He scanned the woods and the outside of the fort. “Actually, I still haven’t.”

“Clint’s hit pretty bad, guys,” Black Widow said over their comm link. “We’re gonna need evac.”

More tanks and soldiers started spilling from the fortress gate. “I’ll get Barton to the jet,” Thor said. “The sooner we’re gone, the better. You and Stark secure the scepter.”

“Copy that,” Cap said. Soldiers charged out from their cover, with a tank coming up behind them. All of them were in a single line because of how thick the forest was in their area. “It’s like they’re lining up,” Thor said.

Cap knew what he was getting at. “Well, they’re excited,” he said.

He held out his shield, and Thor swung Mjolnir against it, sending a shock wave down the path that scattered the soldiers and destroyed the tank. They’d practiced that move, and both of them grinned to see it work.

Thor began spinning his hammer, getting ready to take off. “Find the scepter!” he called.

“And for God’s sake, watch your language,” Iron Man added.

Cap headed for the fortress. He couldn’t help but smile at Tony’s joke. “That’s not going away anytime soon.” rogw75ntFV09mHwARstObgbqmZMsFZRxllXGiD2pFAeAnUW6gIQ66hQfbSMBDoqo