Chapter 31: Daring to Invade My Territory! You Are Seeking Your Own Death

Today, Agent Coulson did something unprecedented: he slept until the afternoon. By the time he emerged from the bedroom with bleary eyes, it was almost time for Annie to finish school. Normally, at this hour, either he or Melinda would have already gone to pick her up. He couldn't understand why Melinda was still here.

"What's wrong? Melinda, don't you need to pick up Annie from school?"

After greeting her, Coulson intended to head to the kitchen for something to eat. It was well past lunchtime, but it was still a bit early for dinner; he certainly wouldn't make it through without a snack.

"Annie and the others have extracurricular activities this afternoon, so school will let out a little later. It won't be too late to go in a bit," Melinda said, staring at Coulson with an expressionless face. "As for you, Coulson—did you have a nice, cozy sleep? Look at the time. You're only just getting up?"

"You have to understand, anyone who flies through the sky all night, tosses and turns all night, and then comes back to do over an hour of little Annie's homework would sleep until the afternoon just like me! Seriously, last night wore me out. I could barely fall asleep until dawn!" Coulson found a loaf of bread in the fridge and grabbed a bottle of ketchup; his lunch was finally sorted.

"What is it, Melinda? Did something happen again?" After casually slicing two pieces of bread and spreading ketchup on them, Coulson watched Melinda curiously as he ate. He could sense that something was off with her. He was used to it, though, as there had been plenty of bad news lately.

"There are actually two pieces of bad news. Do you want to hear them?" Melinda remained expressionless.

"Oh? Tell me. It couldn't be that evil god Loki running off again, could it?" Hearing it was bad news, Coulson frowned. There had indeed been a lot of bad news recently. After Thor had snatched Loki away last night, he had fought a massive battle against Iron Man and Captain America, leveling a small patch of forest in the process.

But in the end, things had turned out okay. After negotiations, Thor had dutifully escorted Loki back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and locked him in a special prison. Since Melinda said there was bad news, surely it wasn't Loki escaping again? With a bunch of Avengers guarding him in a specialized cell, how could he possibly escape? Was he really that powerful? Besides, Coulson remembered that even the Hulk, Bruce Banner, had arrived at headquarters. Could they really not keep an eye on one Loki?

"You hit the nail on the head! Loki actually did escape! And that's not all—they nearly destroyed headquarters. The Helicarrier was almost brought down! Now, most of its functions are paralyzed. And on top of that, the Avengers' Thor is missing, and after the Hulk caused a ruckus at headquarters, he was kicked off the Helicarrier and who knows where he crashed..." Melinda sighed as she spoke.

She felt that everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. had likely fallen into Loki's trap. Perhaps his appearance in Germany last night and the chaos he caused were a deliberate attempt to lure S.H.I.E.L.D. into chasing him! Looking at the chaos he had caused at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, it seemed his goal had been achieved. If he truly had a conspiracy in motion, S.H.I.E.L.D. probably wouldn't have the time to deal with him now. Perhaps the only good news was that Hawkeye had been brought back.

"And you're just planning to sit here and do nothing?" Coulson was momentarily stunned by the explosive news.

"What can I do? Drive my car to headquarters to provide support?" Melinda asked, her voice tinged with a laugh of exasperation.

"Oh, right! We really can't get to headquarters without a jet. My Laura can't fly that high or that far!" Coulson realized she was right; there was nothing the two of them could do to help in a situation like this.

In truth, Coulson was quite lucky. Because of Annie, he and Melinda had been tasked with the important duty of supervising and caring for the little girl, which allowed them to stay away from the vortex at headquarters. If this were the original timeline, he would likely have been dead for a long time after having his heart pierced by Loki.

"Then, should we request instructions from headquarters to see if there's anything we can help with?"

"Forget it, don't go adding to the Director's troubles! Just finish your food and get ready to pick up Annie in a bit," Melinda said, giving Coulson an annoyed look.

Headquarters was likely a mess right now. The grand S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters had nearly been wiped out! Not only was the Helicarrier severely damaged, but many people had died. Wouldn't asking for instructions just be looking for trouble? She was certain that the dark-skinned Director was fuming; who would dare cross him right now? Were they tired of living?

"OK! I'll go in a bit!"

Just as Coulson was about to take a few more bites before leaving, he suddenly heard the distant, piercing wail of air raid sirens. He instinctively locked eyes with Melinda, and the two of them rushed toward the house's intelligence receiving equipment. They had to confirm immediately what was happening! Who would trigger the city's air raid sirens at a time like this? If it wasn't a drill, then something catastrophic was happening!

Listening to the air raid sirens echoing across the entire city, the teachers and security guards—who had already gathered all the students and were preparing to board buses to return to school—were also at a loss! They hadn't received any notice of an air raid drill today. Why were the sirens sounding? Was it a false alarm? Or did some idiot press the button while drunk?

While Teacher Maine was still confused, continuing to gather students to board the buses, a frantic musical sound began to emanate from Annie's backpack! It was the S.H.I.E.L.D. emergency communicator that Coulson and Melinda had provided for her. However, since it had been placed in her bag, it had never been used. For some reason, it was ringing for the first time today.

"Huh? Uncle Coulson? Auntie Melinda? Is something wrong?"

Under the gaze of her teachers and classmates, Annie had to pull a small square object with a dazzling black casing and the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem from her backpack. It was a phone-like device. After Annie fumbled with it for a moment and pressed a button, the communicator projected a light screen, displaying 3D holograms of an anxious Coulson and Melinda.

"Hello? Annie? We just received the latest news. The evil god Loki opened a portal at the top of Stark Tower, and the Chitauri army has begun attacking New York! You must be extremely careful! Also, if you can help, that would be best!" A noisy roar began to come through the phone; it seemed the fighting had already started on Coulson's end. He was struggling to fend for himself and only had time to notify Annie.

"Whoa! I can already see them..." Annie hung up the phone and looked up to see a large group of flying vehicles speeding toward their park!

The vehicles looked like oversized jet skis, except they were flying in the sky and were even larger! Three or four Chitauri were riding on each. The one in front was responsible for controlling the craft, while the two or three in the back continuously fired laser energy weapons at the ground. Their attacks caused explosions upon impact with the earth, and the crowds in the park immediately began to panic, fleeing in all directions.

"Ah! Help! HELP ME!"

"AAAAHHH!!!"

A group of bikini-clad girls who had been lying on the lawn enjoying the sun had just scrambled up when they were struck by laser beams. After the explosions, limbs and blood splattered everywhere, staining a small patch of the lawn red.

And that wasn't all! More flying vehicles began to swarm toward them. The indiscriminately firing energy weapons ignited many of the trees and bushes in the park. Smoke and explosions, fire and blood, combined with the panicked crowds—in an instant, a peaceful leisure park had been turned into an apocalyptic scene!

Seeing how brutal these aliens were, the crowd became even more chaotic!

People were crawling and running, seeking any building or cover they could find. One large adult man even shoved his head into a concrete pipe, leaving only a ridiculous, fat, round butt sticking out of the pipe, unable to squeeze in!

Annie's elementary school classmates were equally terrified and stunned, frozen in place, even forgetting to run! When a severed hand, belonging to some unknown woman, was blown into the open space in front of the student group, little Angelina was the first to collapse to the ground, wailing loudly. Her crying triggered the other students, who all began to scream and cry in unison.

"Oh! My God! My God! What... what on earth is happening?" Upon hearing the students' cries, Teacher Maine was finally the first to react. She knew she had to do something; she had her students, and she had to protect them!

"Children, quick! Stop crying, be brave! Stand up and hide in that building with me! Hurry!"

Although she stepped forward, trying desperately to pull the children along, how could one person manage so many terrified students? Instead of helping, her frantic movements only made the students cry even louder.

"Oh, no!"

At that moment, a Chitauri flyer spotted the elementary students in disarray on the lawn. It banked sharply and flew straight toward them, firing two blue energy lasers from a distance. Maine only had time to let out a silent cry of despair before she instinctively closed her eyes, using her narrow back to shield her students.

"Hmph!"

In the moment Maine felt certain of her death, she seemed to hear a cold snort from Annie! Having closed her eyes to await death, it took a while for her to realize that they hadn't been attacked. She opened her eyes, only to witness an incredible sight!

Annie had one small hand extended toward the sky, and a massive, fiery red hemispherical shield protected Teacher Maine and the other students. More blue lasers continued to strike the shield, but they only caused faint, ripple-like waves on its surface; they could not penetrate through.

"Hmph! I won't forgive you!" Annie's previously happy face had turned completely cold. She was angry—furious! The consequences would be severe! Those must all be bad people, very, very bad villains, and they had to be burned immediately!

Then, she began to levitate, slowly drifting outside the shield. Looking at the Chitauri flyers still circling overhead and whistling past, Annie raised her right hand again. A violent surge of magical power began to gather intensely, as if countless energies were converging in her hand. In the next second, a massive fireball instantly formed above Annie's small hand. The scorching heat caused the surrounding air to boil, even distorting the light.

"Flame! Shattering Fire!! Go!"

Annie glared at the Chitauri still attacking from above and snorted. The giant fireball in her hand suddenly exploded, instantly splitting into countless small fireballs the size of basketballs! They whistled through the air at high speed, as if guided by a navigation system, scattering to chase down the Chitauri flyers. Once they bit into them, they exploded violently... clouds of flame swallowed them whole!

Accompanied by a series of roars and the death screams of the Chitauri, not a single one of the hundreds of Chitauri flyers in the airspace near the lawn escaped! The crew and the machines were all blasted into burning fragments by the fireballs, which then began to fall to the ground like a rain of fire.

This was everything Teacher Maine saw after opening her eyes while shielding her students with her arms! Even many years later, whenever she thought back to this event, she still felt a sense of disbelief! Before this, she never would have imagined that the most mischievous, troublemaking, and accident-prone little Annie in her class would be the one to save them all at this moment!

"My God! Annie, what are you?!" Maine looked at the transparent shield still protecting them and at Annie, who was floating in the sky having just annihilated all the terrifying monsters, and was too shocked to speak.

Annie frowned as she watched the Chitauri still flying and attacking the ground in the distance. The entire city was beginning to billow with thick smoke, accompanied by constant explosions and screams. Annie liked this city very much; although she wasn't an Earthling, she didn't want it to be destroyed by a bunch of villains!

"Teacher Maine! It's very dangerous outside, please don't step outside the light barrier!"

Annie looked down and instructed her teacher, reminding them not to leave the range of her magical shield until the danger had passed! Then, with a wave of her left hand, she manifested a Mage Hand, grabbed her teddy bear, Tibbles, from her discarded backpack, and began to accelerate toward the distance. She decided that today, she was going to fight a real battle and let these villains know the consequences of provoking her!

Annie felt that she had been brought to Earth for no reason, and whether she would ever have a chance to return to her home in the Voodoo Lands was still uncertain! She was already quite pitiful! Now that she had finally found a place to settle that she was satisfied with, and had a little home, a family, teachers, classmates, and friends, this city was her self-appointed temporary territory! In Annie's mind, it was simple: wherever she lived, everything within a hundred miles was her territory!

And now, look: she had been tricked away from her home and trapped here on Earth, and these villains actually dared to invade her territory? They were simply seeking death!