The Army Descends

New York, Stark Tower. A blue pillar of light shot into the sky.

On the rooftop, a group had already installed a device. It was Hawkeye, Dr. Selvig, and the others.

They faithfully carried out Loki’s orders, using Arc Reactor Energy at Stark Tower to activate the machine and open the portal.

"Is this enough?"

Hawkeye looked at the pillar reaching the heavens and could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He knew there was still considerable combat strength at Stark Tower. Not to mention Tony’s bodyguard Happy, who had a suit of armor, it seemed Tony was also building an army of robots inside the tower. Hawkeye alone would have had a hard time completing the mission.

Fortunately, there were quite a few capable people among those under control. They lured Happy and Little Pepper Potts away by fabricating news that Tony Stark had been seriously injured and was recovering in Europe. Only then were Hawkeye and the others able to enter the tower smoothly, install the device, and activate it.

As the pillar of light appeared, an enormous portal slowly opened in the sky.

"Ha, so it’s true? Your target was Stark Tower!"

At that moment, an extremely eye-catching figure appeared in the air. The somewhat bulky armor, colored in Tuhao Gold, belonged to the returning Happy.

He had originally been heading to the airport with Little Pepper, but Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. called him and told him that Hawkeye’s target was Stark Tower, as well as that Tony had not been injured. Growing suspicious, Happy returned to the tower, only to see the pillar of light appear.

"Happy, you’re too late."

Hawkeye had dealt with Happy before. After all, they were both people with "armor," and they occasionally chatted. In any case, Happy and Hawkeye had met several times and could be considered acquaintances.

"Hawkeye Barton, aren’t you with S.H.I.E.L.D.? Why did you suddenly come to Stark Industries?"

Though he spoke, Happy did not hesitate in the slightest. The weapons on his armor locked onto the group of agents present. No matter what they were doing, Happy believed they had to be stopped!

"I said, you’re too late."

Hawkeye Barton was not one to sit around and wait to die. He raised a hand, and a powerful bow unfolded over his arm, automatically nocking an arrow before firing it at Happy.

"Hey, you agents really are ruthless. We were still talking, and you attacked at the drop of a hat!"

Perhaps because he had been around Tony for too long, Happy had become rather chatty himself. With Jarvis’s help, he easily dodged the arrow while still muttering under his breath.

"And that is why we’re agents." Hawkeye Barton finished speaking expressionlessly. The arrow he had fired curved behind Happy after passing him, then struck Happy from the rear.

Even Jarvis could not react that quickly. The arrow had already hit Happy’s Tuhao Gold armor.

"Damn it, a sneak attack!"

Happy’s eyes widened. Just as he was about to fight back, a powerful electrical current erupted from the arrow, instantly burning out some components inside his armor. After a series of spasms, the armor fell straight down before Hawkeye Barton.

"Hey, as expected of an agent. Impressive."

Happy’s armor opened, and he looked awkwardly at Hawkeye before offering him an embarrassed greeting.

"Mm, what did I do?"

Hawkeye Barton raised his head and looked at the portal in the sky, muttering to himself.

At that moment, the blue tint in his eyes had faded somewhat. The Mind Stone’s control over him was gradually weakening.

Controlled by Loki using the Mind Stone, Hawkeye and the others had obeyed Loki’s every command and faithfully carried out his tasks.

And the only task Loki had assigned was to open the portal. Now that the portal had opened and the task was complete, his control over them naturally weakened.

At that moment, Hawkeye naturally regained his consciousness.

Looking at the ever-expanding portal in the sky and realizing what he had done, Hawkeye’s face was filled with regret.

"Hey, Barton, what’s wrong with you?"

Seeing this, Happy, lying on the ground, raised an eyebrow at Hawkeye and asked curiously.

Judging by Hawkeye Barton’s current condition, it seemed he had regained his awareness. Happy had heard from Nick Fury that Hawkeye had been controlled, and now that he saw signs of recovery, he felt uneasy.

How could he not be uneasy and afraid? If Hawkeye was still under control, he might just kill him outright.

These people were all agents. Not one of them was harmless, and quite a few people had died at their hands.

"This device opened a portal. On the other side of it is an alien army."

At that moment, Dr. Selvig had also regained a little of his consciousness. His face pale, he looked at the enormous portal in the sky.

He knew he had done this. He had created the portal device, and Dr. Selvig felt deeply guilty about it.

"Doctor, how do we close it?"

Hawkeye looked miserable as he stared at the device in the distance and hurriedly asked.

"There’s no way. It has already formed an energy barrier. Only energy of the same level can break through it. We have no way of stopping it now."

Because of the Tesseract, the device had generated a layer of blue energy barrier that protected the entire machine. Knowing how sturdy that barrier was, Dr. Selvig could not think of any way to open it.

"I’ll try."

Hawkeye took a deep breath, raised his left hand, and fired a palm cannon at the barrier.

Unfortunately, the energy blast did not even produce a ripple when it struck the barrier. The attack was easily deflected and did not damage it in the slightest.

"Damn it!"

Watching this, Hawkeye was furious. At the same time, he noticed that several alien soldiers had begun flying out of the portal in the sky. Riding aircraft roughly the size of cars, they dove straight toward the ground as waves of energy attacks fired from the guns in their hands.

The Chitauri army had officially descended.

"Happy, repair your armor and prepare for battle."

Hawkeye took a deep breath and spoke to Happy, who was sitting on the ground. Then he shot into the sky, the bow integrated into his arm unleashing attack after attack at the Chitauri soldiers overhead.

Miniature missile launch ports also opened across his back. Under the control of the computer system, they precisely struck the invading Chitauri soldiers.

However, although it was also Kirin Armor, it was ultimately the earliest version and could not compare with the magical armor currently used by the Chinese military.

The weapons and ammunition carried by Hawkeye’s armor were limited in quantity. It simply could not sustain a prolonged battle for very long.