"I'll be right back."
Alex stood from his seat, casting a glance toward the visibly frustrated Hank.
"Oh, and Hank," he added with a wink, "this time I'm actually going to save people."
Hank's face, previously scrunched up like a walnut, immediately relaxed.
"Then don't waste timeāgo!" he urged.
He knew this was still a tactical move on Alex's partā¦ but at least he was taking action.
BOOM!
With a sonic boom, Alex vanished from the base.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters ā Now a Wasteland
The sounds of battle had all but faded. Gunfire had grown silent. Explosions ceased.
Because it was over.
The war was lost.
Megatron stood triumphantly at the shattered gates of the base, towering over the rubble like a demonic king.
Beside him was Barricadeāone of the few surviving named Decepticons. Not particularly powerful, but remarkably hard to kill.
The others were lesser-known models.
The famous onesāStarscream, Soundwaveāhadn't arrived yet.
Eight Decepticons had come. Two had fallen.
Six remained.
And these six alone had completely destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and decimated the military reinforcements.
The level of devastation they wrought was nothing short of despair-inducing.
"Colonel Stenson, report! What's your status?!"
A commanding voice crackled through the commsāa general, demanding answers.
"ā¦Total collapse."
Stenson's voice was bitter, his jaw clenched. Admitting this truth was painful.
"What?" the general barked. "In this short a time?!"
He couldn't believe it.
"Colonelā¦ It's been an honor serving with you."
Stenson's voice lowered.
His gaze swept across the battlefield, at the towering metallic monsters slowly advancing toward them.
His 50-man rapid-response team, complete with APCs, tactical trucks, tanks, and helicoptersāall gone.
"Colonel, take cover!"
A sharp cry from Peggy Carter pierced through the rubble.
She was crouched behind a collapsed concrete wall, her voice tight with urgency.
But Stenson didn't listen.
He drew his sidearm.
And stood tall.
"Run!" he barked back to Peggy. Then, without hesitation, raised his gun at Megatron.
Megatron sneered.
"Admirable. But utterly pointless."
One of the Decepticons raised an armāits weapon spinning like a mounted minigun.
BOOM!
But before it could fireā
A sonic boom ripped through the air.
Everyone blinked.
In the next instant, a figure slammed down into the battlefield like a comet.
The shockwave cracked the ground.
Dust flew.
Eyes widened.
Mouths fell open.
A manāa humanāhad descended from the sky.
---
Even the Decepticons were momentarily stunned.
Since when could Earthlings fly?!
"It's himā¦"
Peggy Carter's pupils contracted. Then, relief flooded her features.
"We're saved."
She had never seen Alex in action, but Howard Stark had spoken of himāspoken of a man who could treat Decepticons like training dummies.
If he was here, there might still be hope.
The few remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents looked at Alex like he was a god.
Even in a world filled with chaos, this moment felt surreal.
"Whoā¦ who is that?" one whispered.
"Iā¦ I don't know. But if Carter's expression means anything, he might just be our miracle."
---
Alex ignored the awestruck stares.
His eyes calmly found Peggy's through the chaos.
"Where's Stark?" he asked flatly.
Peggy blinked. So that's the cover he's using, she realized.
He was using Stark as an excuse for arrivingāsmart.
He didn't want to be seen as some hero rushing in to save humans. That wouldn't suit the image he was building for mutants.
"Stark's already been evacuated. He's safe."
Alex nodded.
He turned his gaze to the Decepticons, a wicked grin curling his lips.
And thenā
ZING!
Twin beams of searing red heat vision burst from his eyesā
āand sliced clean through the neck of a Decepticon.
THUD!
The massive metal corpse crumpled like a felled skyscraper.
Silence.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Every jaw dropped.
Colonel Stenson nearly popped a blood vessel trying to understand what he had just witnessed.
Even Peggy gasped.
She knew Alex was strongā¦
But this?
This was something else entirely.
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