The battle was over, but the scars it would leave behind would take a long time to heal. Smoke and ash filled the air, mixing with the choking smell of burning debris, cars, buildings, and aliens. The Avengers stood among the devastation, their faces grim as they worked with firefighters and paramedics. Once bustling with life, the streets now y broken gss and overturned cars with Chitauri ons and maes all over the streets. The fires were burning in different pces; e fme flickering and casting shadows around the wreckage.

  Emergency responders ran through the chaos, trying to help everyohey could. Paramedielt beside the irying their best to ease their pain. Children cried for their parents, and the screams of people g for help filled the air. Despite the efforts of the Avengers, not all could be saved. The heart of the city was broken, and its people were hurting.

  Captain Amerielt beside a woman who was holding the lifeless body of her child. Tears ran down her soot-streaked face as she g to the little oeve pced a hand on her shoulder, his voice heavy with grief as he said softly, "I'm so sorry." He stood slowly, his jaw tight, and turo look for more people who needed help.

  Close to this se, Jean. She was usielekiic powers to lift heavy ks of rubble from the entrance of a subway station. The dust and debris fell aeople trapped below became visible. Dirt and blood-stained survivors climbed out, coughing and stumbling towards safety. Her face ale as she gazed at Steve. "There are more people stuck down there," she said urgently. "We need more help." Kitty and Jubilee were also at work.

  A few meters from their location sylocke, cheg on the aliens, making sure they were dead.

  On what was once a street, bustling with activity, stood Natasha, Nick Fury, and Aron. Crumbling tall buildings loomed all around them, their walls ripped wide open by massive holes. Some of them were tilted, as if ready to topple. Natasha was exhausted. She had pushed herself to the limit, fighting t down a Chitauri dreadnought.

  Fury clicked oton to his s. "What is the report of damage?" his sharp voice demanded.

  There was a sound through from one of the agents, desperation creeping into the sound of the voice. "Sir, the casualties t is too high: over 100 reported dead, with multiple numbers more iwo plete squads lost near Graral. We are still ting..."

  Fury sighed in long breath and shut his eyes for a fra of a sed. "Roger. Keep me updated."

  Iron Man nded by them, his suit battered and sparking. Tony Stark removed his helmet and looked out at the city from a face that was drawn in lines of weariness. "Well, the city's irely gohat's something, right?" The attempt at humor was woefully ill-timed; the moment weighed too heavily.

  Johnny Storm hovered above them, his fmes barely glowing. He looked down at the city in shock. "I k'd be bad, but not like this," he said, his voice quivering.

  Bruce Banner walked over in his human form. His clothes were torn, but his expression was calm. "We did what we could, but this kind of damage was unavoidable against ahis powerful," he said. "We have to prepare better for ime."

  Natasha gave him a tired nod. "If there is a ime," she replied, "there might not be a city left to save."

  There, in a battle-scarred Times Square, the agents set up an emergency medical ter. Stretchers lihe area and doctors and nurses rushed uark floodlights to attend to all the injured. Along one side of the square were rows of bodies. The authorities were still w to identify them.

  Fury moved through the ranks of the dead, pausing ent Ramirez, a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who had fought hard. For a moment, he stood silent. "You gave everything," he said softly. "And we won't let it be for nothing."

  Natasha stood up and touched him on the shoulder. "Thanos will pay."

  News crews swarmed the area and broadcast the destru live on air. Anchors were talking in somber tones while sharing the rising numbers of casualties and images of the wreckage. e among people was already building. A reporter asked angrily, "Where were the Avengers or X-Men before this attack? Did nobody see it ing?"

  Politis demanded answers, and rumors about the aliens and Avengers spread fast, and they started spreading fusion and fear.

  Amid all the sorrow, there are moments of hope. A small child emerged from the rubble of a colpsed building, carried by a firefighter. His dad, a middle-aged man, who was g over his wife's dead body, ran up to his kid while trying to hide his tears.

  t was sitting on the rooftop, sing the se with his binocurs, in the sky above the city. He saw a family trapped in a burning building. He shot a grappling arrow and swung into a to save them as the structure crumbled.

  Ghost-Spider swung through the streets, carrying medical supplies and ferrying the io safety. She was talking to herself, muttering. "We did our best. Didn't we?" Still, that hint of doubt persisted in her voice.

  ...

  Aron walked through the chaos, his boots g against shattered gss aal. The acrid stenoke and burning debris assaulted his senses, but it was the psychic weight of despair pressing against his mind that made him stumble. His powers heightened his awareness of the anguish around him—every thought, every scream, every prayer for help reverberated in his skull like a cruel symphony of suffering.

  He stopped in front of a crashed car where a father cradled the limp body of his teenage son. The man's thoughts were a storm of self-bme and helplessness. 'Why couldn't I protect him? I should've done more. This is my fault. I wasn't fast enough.'

  Aron ched his fists. He could have stopped this. He should have stopped this. He was so drunk on the power of the Space Stohat it took a while for him to get a grasp of the reality.

  His gaze moved to a young girl around 7 or 8, sitting amidst the wreckage, clutg a torn stuffed animal. Her sobs were quiet, but her mind screamed with questions. 'Where's Mommy? Where's Daddy?' Aron dropped to one knee in front of her. "Hey," he said gently, though his voice trembled. "You're safe now. We'll find your parents, I promise." She looked up at him, her tear-streaked face a mixture of fear and hope. Aron lifted her into his arms, cradling her as though she were the most precious thing in the universe.

  A few meters away, he saw a dead woman. The kid instantly pointed her fi the woman and said in a sad voice, "Mommy." Aron quickly put the kid to sleep using his psychic powers and handed her over to a passing paramedic.

  As he tinued walking, the voices of the ihe lost, and the bereaved all crashed around him like a tidal wave. He could hear them. He felt their pain as if it were his own.

  'I'm scared...'

  'Make the pain go away...'

  'What's happening?'

  'Where's my family?'

  'I don't want to die.'

  Aron shook his head. It was too much. He couldn't bear it. "No! Stop!" he shouted in anguish, c his ears.

  The air around him ed and crackled with psioniergy as his powers fred out of trol. So far everything he had done in this world had been to live a peaceful life and have fun. But fate wasn't too kind to him. He was forced to fight dangerous criminals, mutants, aliens, robots... It wasn't by his choice, still, he did what had to be done. He tried to live a life filled with danger and treated all his fights as fun. He overpowered everyone and easily won every battle so far.

  However, right now... There was nothing fun about this.

  The world he was treating as a ic world turned out to be more real thahought. He was reminded of this when the Chitauri attacked. This world was no game. It was filled with real people who really suffered when tragedy struck. Aron couldn't help but feel the guilt a weighing heavily on him.

  He could have stopped this attack. He should have stopped this attack. Death warned him about Thanos, yet he didn't took it seriously.

  "Aron," Jean said softly, pg a hand on his shoulder. "This isn't your fault."

  Aron turned, his voice low and filled with self-loathing. "Isn't it? With my powers, I could've stopped them—stopped all of this—before it began. But I hesitated, Jean. And now look at them. Look at all of them." He gestured to the devastation around them, his voice breaking. "They're dead because of me."

  Jea his gaze, her voice steady but filled with empathy. "I feel it too, Aron—the pain, the grief, the loss. It's overwhelming. But this? This isn't your burden alone. None of us could've prevented all of it, not even with all the power in the world."

  Aron looked away, his jaw tightening. Her words carried weight, but the guilt was too raw to let go. Still, he nodded, aowledging the truth in her vi.

  Jean pced both hands on his shoulders, f him to meet her eyes. "Listen to me. These people don't need you drowning in guilt. They need you to keep going. They need you to help them, because you . You still save lives, Aron. Focus on that." Her voice softened, but her resolve remained firm. "We'll face the rest together wheime es."

  "No." Aron closed his mind and took a deep breath. The Phoenix Force began to seep out of his body. "There is still a ce." He ched his fists, summoning the Phoenix Force around him. He could feel it. The Phoenix urged him to use her power. 'I have the power and I'm gonna use it this time.'

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