60: Chapter 60 The Last Minute

"Ahhh!" The remaining Chitauri shrieked at them.

"Come on! Come and get it if you've got the guts!" Peter roared back.

The portal distorted again, and three more Leviathan flew out. Hope was plummeting in his chest, but he couldn't let it all end here.

"Captain America, you take command," Tony said.

"Listen up. Before the portal closes, keep the enemy contained to these few streets. Do not let the front line expand any further," Captain America scanned the nearby buildings. "Barton, get to the roof and observe the whole situation. Keep an eye on the enemy's movements, and report the location of any stragglers immediately. Stark, the perimeter is yours. Drive them back, or burn them to ashes."

"Give me a ride?" Clint asked.

"Hold on tight, Hawkeye. If you fall, I'm not responsible," Tony scooped him up and flew off.

"Thor," Captain America turned to Thor. "Go jam the portal entrance. Use your lightning to strike all those bastards down." Thor flew off without a word.

"Natasha, you and I will hold the ground. Don't let the enemy break out of this area." Captain America then looked at Peter. "Spider-Man, leave those flying crafts to you. Can you still use your Webbing to stop them like before?"

Peter nodded: "No problem."

"Hulk—" Captain America looked at Hulk. "Smash."

Hulk grinned, leaped into a building, and crushed the Chitauri who dared to shoot at him along with the wall.

Peter used repulsion thrust to swing into the building complex. He knew this city too well, and he knew exactly where to set traps. Landing on an outer wall, he quickly switched his Webbing bracers and activated the spray mode designed for large-scale combat.

Thick strands of Webbing wove into a giant net, spanning the street. A squad of Chitauri flying crafts crashed into it, sticking fast like flies. Peter smiled and kept swinging, carpeting the district with net after net, capturing batch after batch of Chitauri flying crafts.

Tony almost crashed into a net. "Watch out!" Peter shouted.

"Sorry, kid, didn't see it!" Tony flew past. "There's a squad on Sixth Avenue, can you handle it?"

"I can."

Peter swung to Sixth Avenue, just in time to see the Chitauri surrounding a group of civilians. Just as he was about to act, a black shadow dived into the enemy ranks ahead of him.

He recognized her. "Kitten?!"

He smashed down a soldier, its head hitting the ground; his mechanical spider arms pierced three beside him; the remaining mechanical spider arm whipped out Webbing, dragging away a Chitauri that was about to strike his girlfriend.

"I told you not to come!" He blasted an enemy away with a punch, lunged to Felicia's side, and pushed her away. The next second, a blue plasma beam grazed between them.

"You know I wouldn't listen," Felicia laughed, nailing a Chitauri with her grappling hook gun, dragging it to the ground, and finishing it off with a shot to the head.

"Whoa—where did you get that gun?!" Peter asked while fighting.

"Swiped it from my mom, I'll explain later!" She fired three shots in succession.

"It's too dangerous, Kitten." Peter pierced a skull, smashed the corpse into the incoming enemies, and fired another shot.

"The guy who carries a nuclear weapon on his palm has no right to tell me that," she curled her lip.

"I love you." Peter threw the last Chitauri into the sky, and Felicia finished it off with a shot. He turned to the gathered crowd and then looked at her: "You have to take them to a safe place."

"I won't leave you alone," she lowered her voice.

"I'm fine." He pressed her shoulder, rubbing it gently, "But these people need you more right now. Take them out of the city center."

"You just want to chase me off the battlefield," she gritted her teeth.

"Exactly." Peter lowered his voice further, "You can't beat these things yet, not for now. I promise I'll help you get stronger later, strong enough that I won't have to worry about you anymore. But for now, Kitten, I need to make sure you're safe. Please, for my sake."

She didn't like being called weak, but she knew he was right. She pressed the side of his helmet, and the lower edge of the mask slid open—this was something he had added, so he didn't have to take off the whole helmet to eat.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Peter gave a low response and hugged her back. There were shutter clicks around them, but he didn't care. When they separated, he looked into her eyes.

"You better come back alive, Spider-Man. Otherwise, I'll tell the whole world about you, me, and what happened with Jean that night."

He smiled: "I love you too, Kitten. Be careful."

Felicia nodded and quickly led the crowd underground. Peter pulled down his mask and threw himself back into the battle.

He sprang into the air and fired Webbing. A Chitauri flying craft zoomed past. He was about to strike, but noticed a red-haired woman sitting in the pilot's seat.

"Natasha?! Is that you?!"

"No time to explain, Spider-Man!" She roared.

Peter blinked. The Russian Agent driving a Chitauri flying craft—this was a scene he never could have imagined in his dreams.

Another squad of Chitauri lunged at the civilians filling the street. The Police fired back, but few survivors remained. The moment the monsters opened fire, Peter threw a Webbing grenade. The exploding Webbing instantly wrapped them into a ball.

The trapped Chitauri fired wildly, the scorching plasma beams scorching the Webbing black, but they couldn't break free. He landed in front of a Police car, crouched down, groaned, and lifted the entire car over his head, looking at the stunned Police: "Excuse me." Then he turned and smashed the car into the struggling alien creatures, like swatting a bug.

He pushed along the defensive line established by the Military and Police, forcing the Chitauri back toward the center of the war zone, buying time for the civilians to evacuate. As he gradually approached the center, he saw Captain America—his uniform scorched, his body covered in bruises.

"Captain America!" He landed beside him, "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, just a few scratches," Steve grinned.

"I can tell," Peter looked him up and down. A squad of Chitauri lunged over. The Military was still evacuating civilians; they had to stop them. "Can you keep up, old man?"

"Old man? I'm battle-hardened," Captain America laughed, and the two charged side by side.

The enemies landed and opened fire. Captain America raised his shield to block in front of Peter. As soon as the gunfire paused, Peter flipped over his shoulder, and a barrage of repulsion blasts tore through the enemy ranks. Steve threw his shield, and Peter caught the high-speed rotating shield with Webbing, turning it into a sharp circular blade that cut back and forth through the enemy ranks before throwing the shield back into Captain America's hand.

A Chitauri suddenly popped out, its plasma beam hitting Peter squarely in the lower abdomen, blowing him away.

"Spider-Man!" Captain America shouted while blocking the subsequent fire for him. Peter propped himself up to stand, his abdomen burning with pain, the armor scorched through to reveal the skin underneath, but fortunately, the injury wasn't deep.

Thunder fell again, roasting the remaining enemies. Thor landed: "They're getting bolder."

"How are you?" Captain America asked Peter.

"I won't die. But we can't hold out much longer." Peter looked around.

"Can you hear me? I can close the portal," Natasha's voice suddenly came through the communication channel, making everyone's spirits lift.

"Close it!" Steve shouted.

"No, wait!" Tony interrupted.

"Stark, they're endless," Steve said.

"There's a nuke heading for the city, it'll detonate in less than a minute. I know where to send it."

The communication channel went quiet instantly.

Peter, Captain America, and Thor all looked up at the rapidly approaching fire in the distance. That wasn't an ordinary missile, but a nuke capable of wiping all of Manhattan off the map.

"Stark... you know that's a one-way ticket, right?" Steve's voice carried respect.

"Save the remaining power for the return trip, Jarvis," Tony cut off the communication.

They looked up and saw the red and gold figure catch up to the missile, carrying it toward the sky. The armor trailed a long plume of fire, and under everyone's gaze, it drilled straight into the massive portal and disappeared on the other side.

More Chitauri lunged down, but just as Peter was about to charge up, they all suddenly froze, crashing to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.

He stared at that gate. Tony didn't come out. Was it because of his appearance that the story had deviated?

"Close it," Captain America sighed.

"No, wait a little longer, he might still make it," Peter said urgently.

"Spider-Man... I'm sorry," Steve said, "Close it."

The beam on top of Stark Tower extinguished, and the portal began to shrink. At the very last moment before the edges closed, a red and gold figure fell out.

"This guy..." Steve grinned.

"Tony!" Peter cheered. But Tony was falling, showing no signs of slowing down. He turned to Thor: "He's not slowing down, catch him!"

"With pleasure," Thor swung his hammer to fly, but Hulk had already swept across from the building complex, caught Tony, slid down the wall, and landed steadily.

They ran over. Thor ripped off the faceplate. Tony's eyes were tightly shut, his face had no trace of color, and his chest showed no sign of rising or falling.

"Move aside," Peter gathered bio-electricity in his palm, pressed it onto the chest armor, and poured it in forcefully.

"Ah!" Tony opened his eyes abruptly, and everyone stepped back. He looked around wildly: "What happened just now?! Nobody gave me mouth-to-mouth, right?"

"Steve was about to kiss you," Peter pointed at Captain America, and Captain America just chuckled softly.

"We won," Captain America looked at the devastated city.