[Stark Tower. The Penthouse.]
Tony landed on the gantry, the wrecked Mark 6 peeling off him. He walked inside to find Loki staring at the city.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki sneered.
"Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Tony said, walking behind his bar. Sebastian was already there, placing a fresh glass of scotch on the counter.
"Drink, Sir?" Sebastian asked, as if a Norse God wasn't standing ten feet away.
"Thanks. Loki? A drink?" Tony offered.
Loki whipped around. "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"
"The Avengers," Tony took a sip. "It's what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type thing."
Tony stalled, listing the members, while slowly sliding on two metallic bracelets.
"You have my army," Loki snarled, raising the Scepter to mind-control Tony. Clink. It hit the Arc Reactor. Nothing happened.
"Performance issues?" Tony smirked. "It's common. One out of five gods..."
Loki snapped. He grabbed Tony by the throat and threw him through the reinforced window.
CRASH.
Tony fell.
Sebastian didn't move to save him. He just looked at Loki.
"Rude," Sebastian noted.
Loki turned to the butler, raising the Scepter. "Now for you, demon. I will—"
WHOOSH.
A pod shot up from the balcony, chasing Tony. The Mark 7 armor deployed in mid-air, wrapping around Tony just before he hit the pavement.
Iron Man rocketed back up, blasting Loki flat on his back.
Up in the sky, the portal opened. A hole in space tore the blue sky apart. The Chitauri army poured through on chariots. Then, a massive, armored Leviathan—a flying space whale—swam into the atmosphere.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., dump everything we got into the flying sushi!" Tony yelled, flying toward the beast.
Sebastian looked at the unconscious Loki, then at the invasion outside.
"I suppose I should go downstairs," Sebastian sighed, adjusting his cuff. "The Young Master is going to need help cleaning this up."
He stepped off the balcony, plummeting toward the street seventy floors below.
[Park Avenue. The Streets.]
Chaos. Cars flipped. People screamed. Chitauri soldiers blasted everything in sight.
Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye were pinned down behind an overturned bus.
"There's too many of them!" Natasha yelled, reloading her pistols.
A squad of Chitauri landed on the bus roof, aiming their energy rifles down at the team.
ZIP. ZIP. ZIP. ZIP.
Four silver flashes. The four Chitauri dropped dead, silver dinner knives embedded deep in their skulls.
Sebastian landed silently in the center of the street. He had a stack of silverware in one hand.
"Captain Rogers," Sebastian nodded politely. "Miss Romanoff. Mr. Barton. Lovely day for an invasion."
"You're late," Cap grunted, deflecting a plasma blast with his shield.
Thunder cracked. Thor landed, lightning arcing from Mjolnir, vaporizing a dozen aliens. The Hulk roared, leaping over a building and smashing a Leviathan into the pavement.
Iron Man landed next to them.
The team stood together in a circle, back-to-back, as the army swarmed around them. Cap, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Widow, Hawkeye... and the Butler in the immaculate tailcoat.
"Call it, Cap," Tony said.
"Alright, listen up," Cap took command. "Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
"Want to give me a lift?" Hawkeye asked Tony.
"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Tony grabbed Hawkeye and flew off.
"Thor, you've got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You have the lightning. Light 'em up."
Thor swung his hammer and flew toward the sky.
"Natasha, you and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk?"
Cap pointed to a nearby Leviathan smashing through a skyscraper.
"Smash."
Hulk grinned and leaped away.
Cap turned to Sebastian. The soldier paused, not sure what orders to give a demon.
"Sebastian," Cap said. "Tidy up."
Sebastian smiled. His eyes began to glow. He drew four butter knives from his pocket.
"With pleasure, Captain."
A Chitauri chariot flew low, firing at them.
Sebastian didn't dodge. He ran toward it. He jumped ten feet in the air, kicked off a wall, and landed on the moving chariot.
He grabbed the two alien pilots by their necks.
"Excuse me," Sebastian whispered.
CRUNCH.
He tossed the bodies off and jumped away as the chariot crashed into a bank.
Sebastian became a blur on the battlefield. He moved faster than Natasha could track. He parried energy spears with serving trays. He threw forks with the accuracy of sniper rounds. He was a whirlwind of violence, a terrifyingly efficient killer dressed for a dinner party.
[Stark Tower. The Penthouse.]
Loki woke up groggy. The invasion was going well, but he needed to regroup.
He crawled toward the balcony. He needed to get to a chariot.
CLICK.
The sound of a heavy deadbolt sliding home.
Loki froze. He looked back at the penthouse doors.
Sebastian was leaning against them. He held a single key up, twirling it on his finger.
"Going somewhere, Little God?" Sebastian asked softly.
"Move, demon," Loki hissed, standing up. "You cannot stop me."
"I don't intend to," Sebastian pocketed the key. "I am merely the doorman. Your appointment has arrived."
A shadow fell over the balcony.
Loki turned pale.
The Hulk landed on the terrace. The concrete cracked beneath his green feet. He looked at Loki with pure, unadulterated rage.
"ROAR!"
"Enough!" Loki shouted, trying to regain his dignity. "You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by—"
Hulk grabbed Loki by the leg.
SMASH. SMASH. SMASH. SMASH. SMASH.
Hulk whipped Loki back and forth like a wet towel, slamming him into the concrete floor over and over again, embedding the god into the foundation of the tower.
Hulk stopped, panting slightly. He looked down at the flattened, whimpering god in the crater.
"Puny god."
Hulk turned to leave.
Sebastian walked over to the edge of the crater. He looked down at Loki, whose eyes were rolling back in his head.
"Well," Sebastian dusted a speck of concrete off his sleeve. "That was delightfully rustic."
He looked up at the sky. Natasha had closed the portal. The Chitauri were dropping dead. Tony had fallen from space, caught by the Hulk.
The battle was over.
Sebastian pulled out his pocket watch.
"Lunchtime," Sebastian murmured. "I believe the Young Master mentioned something called... shawarma."
[End of Arc 3]
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