Marvel Brave: A power-lacking boy aims to be the strongest in a world of heroes. - Burning sky, cooling hands

Haruto raced down the stairs, his legs trembling. The emergency lights along the walls flashed red. The alarm siren stabbed sharply at the back of his eardrums. His lungs burned with pain. Still, he couldn't stop his feet. —Sakura. He repeated her name in his mind. That alone was the fuel that kept his body moving. The security guard had said Sakura "got out early." Just those words drained all the strength from his body. Thank god. Thank god, really. But he couldn't relax until he saw that smile again. Absolutely not. Through the emergency stairwell window, the outside scenery flickered into view. The high-rise buildings of Park Avenue. Beyond them, against the gray sky, a pillar of pale blue light stretched upward. The portal Loki had opened on the roof of Stark Tower—a dimensional rift. The center of the hole was black, only its edges burning with pale blue fire. From that hole, countless shadows were pouring in. Chitauri soldiers and war chariots. "Oh crap..." Haruto gasped. A massive swarm, enough to fill the entire sky. It was like watching footage of some decayed future. It didn't feel real. But the vibrations coming through the window glass and the distant booming sounds of beam explosions told him this was no dream. When he burst out into the first-floor lobby, the atmosphere changed completely. People's screams and angry shouts swirled around him. A crowd surged toward the entrance, ignoring the security guards' directions. Shards of broken glass lay scattered across the marble floor. Haruto pushed through the crowd and leaped outside. In that instant— BOOOOOOM!!! An explosion. The car right next to him was blown away. The blast of hot air slammed into his face, and Haruto fell. He put his hands on the asphalt and lifted his head. A small war chariot shot through the gap between buildings at high speed. It was shaped like an insect, made of some grotesque metal. From its hull, blue beams fired one after another. The beams indiscriminately pierced the fleeing people. "GYAAAAAAAH!!" "Someone, help—" "Mama—" Screams. Shrieks. A businessman, his back pierced by a beam, collapsed right in front of Haruto. The back of his suit was scorched, and the sickening smell of burning flesh assaulted Haruto's nose. His eyes stared vacantly at the sky. He wasn't moving. (—He's dead.) Haruto felt the blood drain from his entire body with an audible rush. His fingertips trembled. Nausea welled up inside him. This was a battlefield. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't protect anyone. "...Ugh." His knees shook. He couldn't stand. Just then, the terminal in his pocket vibrated. The ringtone jolted Haruto back to his senses. He looked at the screen. Sakura. "Sakura...!" He pressed the call button. *"Haruto! Are you okay?! Where are you right now?!"* The voice coming through the speaker sounded like she was about to cry, yet she was desperately trying to stay calm. The moment he heard that voice, his body—which had felt heavy as lead just moments before—became light, as if by magic. "I just got out of the tower! What about you?! Where are you?!" *"I'm at Corner Bites! That place we always talked about, the usual shop! Near the subway station!"* "Wait there! Don't move, no matter what! I'm coming right now!!" Haruto averted his eyes from the fallen businessman. (*I'm sorry.*) He apologized quietly in his heart. He couldn't do anything. He didn't even have the emotional capacity to mourn a stranger. He would protect only Sakura. That was why he had come this far. Forcing down his trembling, Haruto started running. He sprinted at full speed through the city as it was being destroyed. Overhead, he could see Iron Man's red figure intercepting a Leviathan—a giant mechanical flying serpent. In another direction, lightning flashed as Thor's Mjolnir crushed enemies. They were fighting in the sky. But no one was coming to the ground. West. Westward. Forty-Sixth Street. Haruto leaped over clusters of overturned cars and scrambled up piles of smoldering rubble. His lungs felt like they were being crushed, and white spots flickered before his eyes. Even so, he couldn't afford to stop. He rounded a corner at breakneck speed. "—Haruto!!" A familiar voice. The half-destroyed storefront of Corner Bites. She was crouched in the shadow of the broken glass door. Her black hair, which fell around her shoulder blades, was covered in dust, and her usual half-up hairstyle had come undone. But her large brown eyes alone gazed straight at Haruto, unchanged. "Sakura...!" Haruto rushed over to her, practically tumbling. Sakura jumped up and threw her arms around him. Her slender arms wrapped around his back, trembling. "Thank goodness... really, thank goodness..." Her tears soaked the scorched shoulder of Haruto's jumpsuit. Haruto hugged her head fiercely in return. She was warm. She was alive. "Sorry I'm late." "No... I believed you'd come." Sakura lifted her tear-streaked face. There was a small scrape on the right side of her face. *She must have been so scared,* Haruto thought, and his chest tightened. Just then, Marta burst out from the back of the shop. "You two, get inside, quick! It's dangerous out here!" Marta Vasquez was the nagging but caring owner of the deli. She usually wore a clean white apron, but now it was covered in soot, and her right hand was wrapped in bandages. "Ms. Marta, that injury..." "This is just a scratch. More importantly, you two, take these." Marta held out two plastic bottles of water and a damp towel from the counter. "Head south. This place is done for." "But what about you, Ms. Marta?!" "I'm staying with my shop. I've lived here for forty-three years. I can't leave it now." Marta grinned broadly, her wrinkled face creasing. "God will go with you. I'm praying for that. So go on, now." Haruto hesitated for a moment, then gripped Sakura's hand tightly. "...Thank you, Ms. Marta." "Thank you so much!" The two of them dashed out of the shop. Behind them, Marta shouted in Spanish. "¡Que Dios los acompañe! (May God be with you!)" Haruto didn't look back. Gripping Sakura's hand, he ran toward the Forty-Second Street subway station. Her hand was colder than when they had shaken hands, and it trembled faintly. (*Don't let go. No matter what.*) Haruto squeezed Sakura's fingers back, almost painfully hard. The subway entrance was jammed with citizens trying to evacuate. People pushed and shoved each other as they descended the stairs. Angry shouts, crying, mothers calling for their children. Clinging to the stairway railing, Haruto desperately pushed through the crowd. He absolutely refused to let go of Sakura's hand. After a great struggle, they finally reached the underground platform. It was hell. People, people, people. The platform was packed solid with evacuees, not a gap to be found. The air was thick with sweat, dust, and the faint smell of blood. An elderly man leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. A young mother clutched her baby to her chest, trembling. "It's okay... it's okay." Haruto muttered it as if trying to convince himself. Sakura, her face deathly pale, still gripped his hand firmly in return. Then— RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE— An ominous tremor echoed from the ceiling. Haruto looked up with a start. The next moment— A deafening roar. The ceiling split open. A massive chunk of concrete came raining down as countless particles of light. Pale blue light. A Chitauri beam. The attack had pierced the station ceiling and struck directly above the platform. "UWAAAAAAAH!!" "Run!!" "Someone—" Before anyone could finish screaming, a rain of rubble poured down. Reflexively, Haruto wrapped his arms around Sakura and dove under a pillar near the wall. CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH!!! The sound of destruction was ear-splitting. Dust billowed across the platform, instantly turning his vision pure white. Screams cut off one after another. The smell of blood and dirt stabbed at the back of his nose. "Sakura! Are you okay?!" "...Yes, I'm... I'm okay..." Sakura's voice was trembling. Still holding Sakura, Haruto looked around. The platform, which had been overflowing with people just moments ago, was now a mountain of rubble. Dozens of people were pinned under steel rebar and concrete. Motionless hands. A baby stroller, crushed into a pulp. Black stains splattered across the walls. Haruto fought back his nausea. Just then, from the other side of the dimly lit tunnel, an unfamiliar voice echoed. "Gyagyagya..." An unpleasant sound, like a mix of metallic clanking and a beast's growl. Multiple Chitauri soldiers were closing in from the far end of the tunnel. "We're running, Sakura!!" Haruto pulled Sakura's hand and stood up. Only the fluorescent sign of the emergency exit gave off a faint light. Still holding Sakura's hand, Haruto ran into the underground tunnel, which had gone pitch black from the power outage. ... Total darkness. Only Haruto's ragged breathing and the sound of two pairs of footsteps echoed through the narrow tunnel. In Haruto's left hand was Sakura's right hand. It was damp and cold. But her will was definitely there—in the strength with which she squeezed his hand back. "This way!" He recalled the map of the emergency connecting passage. This tunnel, which led toward Grand Central Station, should eventually reach a junction. From behind them came the growls of Chitauri soldiers and the screams of survivors. "Gyagyagya!!" "Stop!! Don't come any closer!!" "Gugya—" "GYAAAAAAH—" The sound of something being severed, and a person's dying scream. Haruto desperately fought the urge to cover his ears. The back of his eyes burned hot. Gritting his teeth, he kept running through the darkness. "Haruto... I..." Sakura spoke in a thin voice as she ran. She was out of breath. "It's because of me... that you're caught up in all this..." "No!" Haruto practically shouted it. "I'm doing this because I want to protect you. It's not your fault." "But...!" "No 'but'! More importantly, don't talk! You'll bite your tongue!" Haruto roughly pulled Sakura's hand even harder. Sakura let out a small gasp, then squeezed his hand tightly in return. Before long, a small point of light appeared ahead. An exit. An emergency staircase leading to the surface. "Just a little more!!" Summoning the last of their strength, the two of them sprinted through the darkness. The moment they stepped outside, intense sunlight stabbed at their eyes. Near Fiftieth Street. The city was in an even more horrific state than before. Cars were overturned, and fires blazed everywhere. Black smoke covered the sky, blocking out the sunlight. The asphalt had caved in, and water gushed like a waterfall from broken pipes. "Hahh... hahh...!" Haruto put his hands on his knees and coughed violently. Sakura also leaned against a wall, breathing heavily with her shoulders. "...It's okay now. We've made it this far." He had just started to say it. FWOOOOOOSH—!!! An earsplitting metallic sound echoed overhead. The moment he looked up, a Chitauri war chariot slammed into the wall of the building right next to them. Impact. Explosion. The middle floors of the building crumpled like spun sugar, and a massive fireball swelled outward. "Get down!!" Haruto threw himself onto the asphalt, practically pushing Sakura down with him. The blast wave sent both of their bodies flying. He was slammed onto his back against the ground, and for a moment, he couldn't breathe. Ringing in his ears. His vision whited out. Scorched glass and chunks of concrete rained down around them like a storm. "...Sa...kura..." In his hazy consciousness, Haruto pushed himself up. "Where are you... Sakura?!" The ringing in his ears made even his own voice sound distant. He looked and saw Sakura about three meters behind him, pinned under a fallen steel beam. Her face was

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Episode 5

Name: Marvel Brave: A power-lacking boy aims to be the strongest in a world of heroes.
Author: Novelia

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