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Chapter 73: The Nuclear Bomb Strikes! Mushroom Cloud Over The Territory Of The United States
🕑 Added 2025-03-13 18:24:48 +0000 UTCJust as the Destroyer armor arrived, far away, Phil Coulson received an order from Nick Fury to head to the battlefield immediately and manage the handover with the aliens. His mission was also to silence the Security Council.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. holds a special status, with authority even greater than the CIA and FBI, it is still insignificant in front of the Security Council.
After receiving the order, Coulson immediately led his team to set off.
On the way, Coulson pondered how he would explain the military situation during the upcoming meeting and how to mend the relationship between the two parties to acquire the necessary intelligence.
Thinking of the difficulty of the task, even Coulson couldn’t help but feel a headache.
"Shet! We need to clean up the mess those guys caused!" Coulson muttered irritably, then glanced over the intelligence analysis.
But soon, another call came through.
"It's bad, sir, we’re fighting again!"
"Fighting again? What’s happening?"
"Aliens! Another guy in strange armor just showed up, knocked out the X-Men, and is now fighting the aliens!"
"Got it," Coulson said before hanging up the phone, his frown deepening as he looked toward the distant battlefield. A war was raging.
"F**k, is there no end to this?" he muttered.
Meanwhile, Nick Fury also received a report from Coulson and sighed in frustration.
It’s all because of a hammer, yet so many monsters and threats have appeared—mutants, aliens, the military, and more.
Now, there was another armored figure whose intentions were still unclear.
The melee of all parties involved had attracted everyone’s attention, and starting anything was nearly impossible.
As ordinary citizens, they could only watch from a distance, too afraid to get too close to the ongoing battles.
This is the tragedy of being an ordinary person. Even the best agents couldn't avoid the chaos.
And to deal with the extraordinary threats, they would need to rely on even more extraordinary forces.
But S.H.I.E.L.D. had no Transcendents available to handle the situation, and even against a mutant like Magneto, they were powerless. The aliens who had already defeated Magneto posed an even greater threat.
Just as Nick Fury was trying to figure out how to resolve the situation, an emergency call came in. After a short while, his expression changed drastically.
"What? How dare they! This is the territory of the United States! There's a small town nearby with thousands of citizens!"
"Stryker... are they crazy?"
"It’s just a colonel. How did he manage to move all those people?"
"Damn it! A bunch of lunatics!"
Before the call ended, Nick Fury dialed another number.
Phil Coulson, still watching the battle unfold, picked up the call. His calm expression shifted immediately.
"Get out of there, as fast as you can!"
"F**k, this world must be crazy!"
At a certain military base in the New Mexico desert, two planes slowly took off from the airport, heading toward Aaron’s direction.
At the same time, in a small town near the battlefield, a military force, in coordination with the local police, urgently evacuated the residents. Those with cars drove away, while those without were squeezed into transport vehicles. Every time a car was filled, it immediately drove off without giving anyone a chance to protest.
In a nearby hotel, Dr. Eric and his assistant Daisy, who had come with Jane, were also "taken care of" by the soldiers.
Seeing the mass evacuation in the small town, Eric was puzzled.
"Doctor, is war about to break out here?" Daisy asked in confusion.
"War? This is America. Who would dare attack us?"
"Did you notice that there are no other troops stationed here? Also, the military convoy hasn't been set up for defense. They’re clearly not preparing for war, but for evacuation," Eric analyzed.
"But why would they evacuate?" Daisy wondered. "Could this be related to Jane?"
When Jane called earlier, she briefly explained the battlefield situation, so both of them knew something significant was happening nearby.
Eric had tried reaching Jane multiple times to prevent any danger, but she had always declined. Curiosity, after all, is human nature.
"No, the real retreat shouldn’t be happening now," Eric said. "Something is about to happen, and the regiment has been ordered to evacuate."
Daisy scratched her head, "Could it be a big explosion, or something that could affect the town?"
"A big explosion? How could..." Eric started, but then an idea he had never considered suddenly crossed his mind, and his face turned grim.
"Damn it, they wouldn’t... would they?"
"Simple!" Eric quickly pulled out his phone, only to find that the signal had been cut off.
Things were heading toward the worst possible outcome.
Eric, now frantic, disregarded the soldiers’ attempts to stop him and rushed toward Jane's location.
"Doctor, what’s happening?" Daisy asked, alarmed by Eric’s frantic behavior.
Eric sped through the checkpoint, ignoring the warning shots fired by the military.
"They’re going to use nuclear bombs against the aliens!" he shouted.
"What?" Daisy’s face twisted in fear. "Why did we turn around and leave?"
"Jane is still out there. They’ve blocked the signal to prevent the news from leaking!" Eric didn’t answer.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Daisy’s fear grew. She knew there was no way to stop him now.
Meanwhile, the Destroyer was fighting Sif, the Three Warriors, and others. As the most elite fighters, Sif and her companions exhibited far superior physical prowess and combat skills compared to the X-Men, allowing them to fight the Destroyer to a standstill.
In contrast, the X-Men were helpless, unable to do anything other than flee.
Wolverine, Logan, had just regained consciousness. His powerful healing factor made his death a rare event, but the pain from the battle was still overwhelming.
He chose to join the fight against the Destroyer, hoping to use his indestructible claws to make an impact.
However, when Logan approached the armor, he found that his claws couldn’t even scratch the surface.
"Why is this happening?"
"The armor of the Destroyer is made of Asgard’s Uru metal, forged by the dwarf king himself. Your feeble claws can’t leave a mark," Vostagg explained.
"This is not a fight you can participate in. Leave," he added.
Just as Vostagg finished speaking, he was knocked back by a laser beam from the Destroyer. Though the beam had enough force to destroy steel, Vostagg simply lay on the ground for a moment before getting up, unharmed.
Logan, however, was not so lucky. A single blow from the Destroyer sent him flying, causing immense internal damage and almost shattering his bones.
In this battle, Logan’s claws were useless, and his strength was no match for the Destroyer or the three warriors. His only role was to draw fire and be an unbreakable nuisance.
"No, something’s coming," Jean Grey suddenly said, sensing an imminent danger through her mutated telepathy. She looked up into the sky as a sense of dread filled her.
Aaron, too, noticed the incoming threat and furrowed his brow. He didn’t share the special ability Jean had to sense danger, but soon, the source of her worry became clear.
"Here it comes!" Jean warned.
Aaron had also felt the impending crisis. In the distance, two black dots appeared in the sky, soon followed by the launch of four missiles.
"That’s a nuke!" someone shouted.
The others, noticing the danger, began to panic.
Sif and the others didn’t understand the threat, but the X-Men’s faces turned pale with realization.
"We’ve been abandoned!" one of them cried. "S.H.I.E.L.D. lied to us!"
"They want us to die with the aliens!" another shouted.
"That’s a weapon capable of killing gods!" someone explained, horror in their voice.
Thor, who hadn’t fully recovered his strength, realized just how vulnerable they all were.
"Can you stop them?" Charles asked Scott.
Scott, pressing his glasses, looked grim. "They’re moving too fast. I’m not sure I can hit them. And there are four of them."
"I’ll do my best," he added.
Meanwhile, Ororo was summoning a storm, hoping to detonate the bombs early. Even a remote detonation could potentially give them a slim chance of survival.
"I can try using Magneto," Charles suggested, looking at Aaron.
Magneto, locked in a cage, had noticed the missiles but had little control over the magnetic forces to deflect them at this distance.
Aaron, however, was calm and already had a plan.
"Not a problem," he said, waving his hand to create an ice-blue portal.
In the next moment, the four nuclear bombs disappeared.
"Where did they go?" Jean wondered, her powers of telekinesis unable to reach them.
"They went where they should," Aaron replied cryptically.
Back at Stryker's base, he was celebrating with his lieutenants, certain that the death of Professor X and Magneto was imminent.
But then, a soldier rushed in, panic on his face.
"Sir, there’s a problem! We’ve lost track of the nukes!"
"Where are they?" Stryker demanded.
"Found them... the nukes are back at the base!" the soldier said in disbelief.
And then, the world shook. Eight massive mushroom clouds erupted in New Mexico, obliterating the military base.
A stunned silence fell over everyone as they realized the true extent of the disaster.
"...Back to where they were supposed to go?" Charles murmured, a deep frown on his face.
Aaron simply shrugged. "No need to guess. I just sent them back to the starting point."
Before he could say more, the shockwaves from the detonations hit them all. A moment of silent awe followed.
"Is this the weapon of the people of Midgard?" Thor asked, his rage rising.
"Damn Midgardians! They want to start a war!" he shouted.
Charles, seeing Thor's wrath, quickly intervened.
"Wait! This could be a misunderstanding," he said urgently, trying to prevent a conflict between the two sides.
"Misunderstanding?" Aaron asked, his expression dark. "Do you really think this can be explained away as a misunderstanding?"
"I’ll give you a satisfactory answer. Everyone involved will be held accountable," Charles promised.
Aaron nodded, "I’ll make sure of it."
Charles took a deep breath. In order to prevent an all-out war, even the peaceful professor could take a firm stance.
"Better so, or I’ll do it myself!" Aaron warned, before turning his attention elsewhere.
Someone was watching.
