The Black Lion - A fighting chance. (Patreon)

George Stacy, New York Police Station – New York.

“FUCK!!” George shouted, slamming the damn phone against the desk, only to throw it against the wall.

At the same time, another tremor shook the damn city.

“Bad news, Captain?” one of the officers asked, frowning, fearing the worst.

George looked at him and let out a heavy sigh.

“We won’t have support.”

That was all he said, making everyone in the room fall completely silent for a moment… before chaos broke loose.

All the captains and officers began shouting uncontrollably, their faces filled with fury, disbelief, indignation, and fear.

And George couldn’t blame them.

“What? A fucking alien ship is attacking the city and the army isn’t responding?!” an outraged captain said, making the rest of the officers around him nod.

“Don’t get it wrong, Martinez. General Marcus Williams and his men are more than willing to answer our call, however…” George spat with hatred and contempt. “President Kelly, in his infinite stupidity, has forbidden any kind of aid to New York, they are evaluating the situation”

“What? But why?” another officer said, incredulous, asking what everyone was thinking.

George looked at him, ready to answer, but in the end, it wasn’t necessary.

“Because New York is Harrison Evans’ territory. The idiot president won’t send help to the city and will use our suffering as a damn political campaign,” Ramirez spat, having deduced the president’s stupid plan.

“That… is also my theory,” George said, making the entire room fill with fury and disbelief once again.

All the police officers looked at each other. They had all heard the warning from Evans Technologies, and although the stupid mayor had reassured the population that everything was under control, most people in the city hadn’t thought twice and evacuated toward the Black District, right at the base of the Rock.

Several agents were already helping with evacuation efforts, but everyone knew… it wouldn’t be enough.

A lot of people would die today, there was no doubt about that.

And that certainty weighed on every soul in the room like an unseen Hammer.

Suddenly, more explosions struck the city, powerful and terrifying, explosions that at another time would have been cause for alarm.

Now… they meant hope.

“Those must be the AATIS Lily mentioned,” he muttered to himself, feeling a slight sense of relief knowing that Harrison, even in his absence, had not left his home unprotected.

Even absent… his shadow still shielded the city.

“Orders, Captain?” Ramírez asked again, uncertainty evident on her face.

George shook his head quickly and answered with a sigh.

“With the alien ships and the battle ongoing, the bridges are red zones. Shut down all traffic and redirect evacuation through the Lion Tunnel, it’s safe and will allow us to move civilians toward the Black District with relative security, inside the planetary shield”

The captain said no more.

He didn’t need to.

Everyone knew what he wasn’t saying.

There was a very real possibility… that many of them would not return home tonight.

Suddenly, the sound of an engine echoed through the station, at the same time, his phone rang.

Strange… considering that since the invasion began, there had been no signal at all.

George looked at the device, raising an eyebrow when he saw it was Lily, answering immediately.

“Lily? Are you alright?” George asked urgently.

“Everything is fine, George, I am safe in Evans Tower, however, I spoke with the girls, Emma sent you a gift for you and your people, it is in the rear courtyard, and George… be careful please,” said the sweet voice of the redhead.

George reassured her calmly before ending the call, just as a young officer, visibly shaken, burst into the meeting room.

“CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!!” he shouted completely out of himself.

George looked at his phone again, before making a gesture for everyone to follow him.

As they made their way toward the rear courtyard, the captain couldn’t help but think about Lily’s words…

What kind of gift could she possibly mean? in a situation like this, he didn’t have the luxury to think about it.

At least… until he arrived to the yard.

And froze.

“Shit…” Ramírez whispered in total astonishment, seeing how three ships, clearly of human manufacture, floated gently above the police station, waiting patiently.

They were beautiful, metal of a dark black color with green details, elegant but deadly, armed to the teeth with a pair of frontal cannons and what seemed to be heavy armament under the wings.

They were not just machines… they were a promise of retaliation.

Moments later, a small Evans drone descended from one of the ships, flying directly toward George.

“Captain Stacy, a pleasure to see you, Lady Lily sends her regards!” said the strange being, with a high-pitched mechanical voice, but with human gestures.

“A pleasure… uhh…” said the captain, not knowing how to address the strange creature.

“Dobby, one of many cybernetic guardians at the service of Master Harrison,” said the drone, making George nod calmly.

“The current situation is precarious, although Lady Emma and the rest of the lionesses will defend the city tooth and nail, without Master Harrison and the Pathfinder, our personnel is limited in evacuation operations, therefore, by order of Lady Lily, contingency ‘Last Guard’ has been activated, granting private military technology from Evans Technologies to the New York Police Department temporarily, with the objective of increasing the probability of success in the defense”

The drone’s words hit George with surprise and disbelief…

Until the ships opened beneath them.

And large crates began to fall.

At least a dozen.

All with the Evans Technologies logo.

“And that capsule is yours, a gift from Lady Lily, with an omni-tool connected directly to the command center of the Rock, good luck Captain, FOR EARTH!” said the drone before leaving quickly toward the battlefield.

“Shit…” George whispered, raising his gaze toward the sky.

A blue haze dominated everything, while the enormous alien ship, accompanied by smaller ones, assaulted the Rock without mercy.

The sky was full of drones, ships… and war.

Harrison’s AATIS fired without stopping, keeping the larger ships away from the shield, while the sentinels, drones, and strange Evans ships, along with a terrifying electrical storm, destroyed the attackers.

They were holding.

They had a chance.

And for the first time since the invasion began… it didn’t feel like suicide.

“Shit…” Ramírez repeated, opening one of the crates.

A rifle.

But not just any rifle.

It was a single piece of metal, light, with a green line running across the entire weapon.

“LAS-05 Scythe, class 1 energy rifle,” George read in surprise.

Ramírez fired.

Green energy tore through the concrete as if it were paper.

“Oh… mama likes this,” she said completely in love.

“That’s not all! Look at this!” said another officer, pulling out a harness.

“Class 1 kinetic barrier,” he read, activating it and seeing how an invisible field covered his entire body.

“According to the label, this can repel bullets, plasma and explosions—”

Hope returned.

Not as salvation… but as something earned.

“DON’T WASTE TIME! They trusted us, we respond with our best, arm yourselves, we have civilians to evacuate, and if we find those bastards, make them pay in blood!” George ordered.

Cheers filled the place.

They had a job to do.

No matter the cost.

George took a shield and a pair of pistols labeled LAS-58 Talon, that looks similar to a revolver.

The aliens had struck first.

But Earth would respond.

With fury.

With blood.

With war.

And this time… humanity would answer back.

Ronan the Accuser, The Dark Aster – New York.

A tremor shook the ship, something he had never experienced.

What the hell was that?

“What the hell hit us?! DAMAGE REPORT!!” the Kree commander ordered furiously, as he looked from the command center how another one of his gunships was brought down by the disgusting primitives.

Disgusting primitives who had shot down five of his support ships, primitives who possessed plasma weapons so powerful that they even made his battleship tremble, whispers a weak voice in his head.

Primitives who were resisting and fighting against Kree supremacy.

“It’s those cannons, they are extremely powerful, with a rate of fire simply absurd, that swarm of drones overwhelms our fighters and those robots are the nightmare of our gunships, we need support,” said the officer, overwhelmed.

Ronan’s response? To take his fucking hammer and smash it into the insolent officer’s head, in front of the rest of the crew.

“DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO SUGGEST THAT THESE DISGUSTING PRIMITIVE APES REPRESENT A THREAT TO US?!” he snapped, enraged.

And as expected, no one responded.

Nothing like a good dose of Kree discipline to motivate the crew.

“We need to take down those cannons, the shield is connected to what seems to be a… shit, an artificial star? Did they build an artificial star on this planet?” said a second officer.

“Something you wish to share with us, officer Ko-Rel?” Ronan asked, warning clear in his voice.

However, the woman, far from intimidated, simply looked at him with veiled contempt and, with mockery in her voice, answered.

“This planet is far more advanced than our reports estimated, that tower is made of a material unknown to us, that energy shield will not fall unless we destroy the entire fucking planet with it, the only way to disable it and those cannons… is from the inside,” the woman said.

Ronan wished with all his being to crush the insolent woman’s skull, but… her words gave him an idea.

“Analyze the terrain of the region, our reports indicate that the pathetic humans are evacuating the zones surrounding the battle, which means there must be a way to enter the shield, I want you to find it, as soon as possible,” said the Accuser, turning around and leaving the bridge.

“Redirect the ship’s weapon energy to the jump device, we will use the Chitauri the Mad fool gives us as cannon fodder, sending our glorious soldiers as officers, do we have a response from the rest of our fleet?” he asked.

“Yes, Captain Yon-Rogg is standing by with a planetary suppression fleet,” said Kor-El, unease in her voice.

Ronan nodded, satisfied.

“Perfect, use the anomaly, we will modify our jump device so that the Chitauri and Kree fleets arrive on the planet, we will take what we need and crystallize this damned planet once and for all,” Ronan snapped with devotion, his only interest being the greed of possessing two cosmic anomalies.

Kor-El and several officers looked at the captain with frowns.

“Redirecting the energy will leave us vulnerable to enemy attacks, those cannons will tear through us like paper and leave us exposed,” the officer warned.

“I know, but the ship’s armor can withstand the enemy assault for a time, the damage the Dark Aster receives will be compensated by the arrival of the Chitauri troops and Rogg’s fleet, prepare everything, you have your orders,” Ronan said, leaving the command bridge, full of stunned and worried officers.

They all had the same feeling…

That they were making the greatest mistake not of their military careers…

But of their lives.

And deep down, even their discipline could not silence that growing dread.

And they were not wrong.

None of them suspected that, in a short time, everything they believed about power would change forever.

And that their understanding of the human species would change forever.

Steve Rogers, Olympus Station – Below the Atlantic Sea.

“How much time do we have left?” the blond man asked impatiently, watching as the preparation bars on the screen rose steadily, but slowly.

“A couple of hours before the first Terran Fleet is ready to emerge, Fleet Master,” said the mechanical voice.

Steve sighed heavily and cursed, pulling his eyes away from the screen and focusing them on the immense window with a beautiful view of the station’s shipyards.

The ships… were beautiful and powerful, soon they would be put to the test against a real enemy.

The alien fleet that was ravaging New York without a shred of mercy.

What were they looking for? Steve ignored it and frankly didn’t care.

They had attacked innocent people without hesitation… a courtesy he would make sure to return with the same fervor.

No hesitation. No mercy.

Steve was lost in his thoughts, when a familiar voice began to sound through the communicator.

“Steve, this is Hackett aboard the "Zeus", we are almost ready—”

“This is Drencher, commanding the "Poseidon", we are finalizing the last details—”

“This is Kahohu from the "Hades", ready to bring plasma and death to those sons of bitches HAHAHA”

Steve nodded to himself, checking the final parameters.

“This is Rogers, aboard of the Olympus Station, mission controls prepared and ready, awaiting final clearance for emergence, we will make the invaders pay for their audacity, FOR EARTH!” Steve said with passion and leadership.

“FOR EARTH!” the three responded, before cutting the communication.

Steve took the photo from his new uniform.

It was a photo of Peggy and himself, recent, taken in the streets of London a week ago.

Something to fight for.

Something worth bleeding for… and if necessary, dying for.

“The show begins,” he said to himself, returning to the command center.

There was much to prepare.

And no room left for failure.