Wuen——!
The Chitauri soldier, seeing that one shot hadn't finished the target, prepared to fire again.
It showed no shock over Lewis's miraculous recovery.
Bang!
A white flash swept across—!
Matilda leapt and swung her sword in a wide arc—within the blink of an eye, the Chitauri grunt was sliced clean in two.
Casually, she reached out her slender hand and caught the string of the balloon that had drifted nearby———
Pop~
Her small cloth shoes landed back on the ground.
Matilda walked toward Lewis and asked, "Is that you, Sister Darcy? Are you alright?"
"Matilda!"
Lewis recognized her and exclaimed in surprise, "It's me!"
She knew full well—Ye Li's little sister might be young, but she was seriously skilled.
"Darcy, you're in New York too?"
Seeing that Lewis seemed fine, Matilda returned the escaped balloon to a little girl.
"Here~ your balloon, happy Children's Day."
Little girl: "...."
My mom is lost... this isn't a happy day...
Seeing that the little girl was still unhappy, Matilda bent down slightly, resting her small hands on her knees, and asked with a smile.
"Are you a fan of Sister Jessica?"
"Je...."
The little girl bit her finger timidly, "....Jessica?"
"She's the female knight~"
"The female knight!"
Hearing Matilda say this, the little girl's tear-streaked eyes lit up.
"Big sister, do you know the female knight?"
"Hehe, I'm the female knight's little sister."
"Wow~! You're all amazing!"
Seeing the little girl cheered up so quickly,
Lewis smiled at the sight, "Hehe~"
As expected—only big kids truly understand little kids~
Whoosh—!
Whoosh—!
Whoosh—!
At that moment.
Several more interstellar bikes zipped out from behind the building, charging straight toward them!
Lewis hurriedly tugged at Matilda, "They're coming again! They're coming again! Let's run!"
Just as she finished speaking—
Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom!
Several Chitauri flying soldiers exploded into bursts of fireworks.
Right after, Meow Meow Ball flew out of the smoke and returned to Matilda, twirling and spinning around her.
Lewis was stunned, "Wow…"
Peng——eng～!
A different kind of jet sound echoed through the air.
The red-and-gold armor flew above the trio.
Iron Man, chasing Meow Meow Ball, saw it return to Matilda and immediately realized she had taken care of those enemies.
Tony: [Oh my god, look at what I found… a Children's Day limited edition Thor?]
Thor: [???]
Steve: [Tony, this is not the time for jokes.]
[Fine.]
[Either way, I'm about to send her home.]
Tony temporarily turned off his communication and landed beside Matilda, speaking to her.
"Matilda, you did great, but I think you should go home. Li probably wouldn't want you facing danger."
Matilda blinked, thought for a moment, then said— "Who are you?"
Tony: "...."
"Hey! I'm Stark! Mr. Stark, the one who gives you candy!"
Tony lifted his helmet and asked speechlessly, "Does your brother know you're here? Where is he?"
Matilda shook her head, "I sneaked out on my own, I don't know where Li is…"
"Huh~? You sneaked out?"
Tony immediately put on a strict parental look, crossing his arms and saying—
"Right now, go back to Sunnyvale Manor. Your Uncle Stark will handle things here."
Lewis whispered from the side, "...That seniority doesn't seem right… Are you trying to take advantage of Li's status?"
"Ahem…! Of course not…"
Tony hastily changed the subject, "This beautiful lady, you are…?"
"Never mind. Doesn't matter who you are."
Before Lewis could introduce herself.
Tony, acting as unpredictable as ever, pointed at Matilda and spoke directly to Lewis.
"As an adult."
"You. Keep an eye on her"
"Don't let her run around."
"I have things to do. Goodbye."
After saying that.
His faceplate snapped shut.
Peng——eng～!
And flew back into the sky.
"Hey!!"
Lewis shouted helplessly at the famous Iron Man, "How am I supposed to keep an eye on her?!"
Stark didn't hear her.
He was already high up in the sky.
[Jarvis, search for 'Silk' Cindy Moon's home address.]
Unlike Nick Fury.
Fury believed that Ye Li had precognition, given how he painted the Battle of New York in advance, and might know a way to deal with the Chitauri army.
But Tony had heard from Li Ye that the one with actual foresight… was 'Silk' Cindy Moon.
So, visiting this girl might be useful.
[Sir, the search is complete.]
"Moue!!——!!"
Just as Jarvis finished locating it, a massive roar, like that of a whale mixed with an elephant, echoed from the portal in the sky.
Stark looked up and reopened the communication: [Oh… The big guy is here….]
Natasha: [Looks like we all saw that. How do we deal with it?]
Stark: [I'll try to find its weakness.]
Barton: [What about us?]
Stark: [Wait for the Hulk.]
"...."
"It's huge!!"
"Can the superheroes stop a monster like this?....."
"No one can! That's impossible!"
"Even the Lady Knight doesn't have that much strength!"
"We're doomed! We're really gonna die this time!"
As the alien behemoth charged in, the fleeing people couldn't help but despair.
In their memory—
Ghost-Spider, Black Cat, and other well-known heroes... seemed incapable of stopping something this massive.
Szzrrt—
Barbara yanked the silver baton out of a Chitauri grunt's eye socket, flung off the gunk sticking to it, and muttered, "Looks like I'll need a new pair of weapons when I get back."
"Ha… ha…"
Natasha panted, using a black baton to support her exhausted body.
Back-to-back with Barbara, they leaned on each other, gazing helplessly at the Leviathan biological warship.
"This is as far as we can go…"
"When's that Hulk you guys keep talking about gonna show up?"
Barbara, after shaking her silver baton clean, split it apart and slid it back into the holsters on her toned thighs.
Then pulled out a handgun, and with precision, finished off a crawling Chitauri soldier—Bang!!
Natasha looked toward the sky, speaking weakly: "Dr. Banner fell off the mothership and went miss—wait... something's flying in…?"
Huen!～～!!
A silver streak like a glowing ribbon sliced across the sky——!
Jessica leaned back in midair, her feet shifting into a braking stance as the silver light halted mid-sky.
After many days, she had taken off her detective outfit and once again donned the armor of the Lady Knight.
"Who's that in the sky?"
"A new superhero?"
"Hey! That's the Lady Knight! You fake fan!"
"Come on! She's so high up, how am I supposed to tell?!"
That petite, graceful figure of a girl stood firmly in front of the rampaging Leviathan beast…
The fleeing crowd couldn't help but look at her.
"Can the Female Knight do it?"
"She won't get hurt… will she?"
One fan suddenly stopped running and shouted toward the sky, "Lady Knight! You can do it!!—!"
With him leading the cheer, more and more voices soon joined in.
"You got this!!"
"Female Knight, be careful!"
Some overly-imaginative fans were even crying as they yelled at Jessica—
"Forget about me!! Just run!!"
The cheers quickly spread across the streets, even reaching the Avengers.
Tony: "I feel like I'm not needed anymore."
Cap: "Are fans always this intense these days?"
Barton shrugged.
"Cap, you've got plenty of fans too—shame you can't fly up there to let them see you."
Meanwhile.
Seeing a tiny girl daring to block the Leviathan warship—
The Chitauri immediately had the beast roar and charge at her— "Moue!!——!!"
"You'll be the biggest thing I've ever punched."
The girl's expression was calm, unafraid.
She tossed the Ox Talisman lightly in her hand, caught it in her palm, then gently blew on her little fist—
"Hoo~"
BOOMMM!!!——ENGG!!!
The sound cracked like thunder.
Like a mountain collapsing.