Chapter 148: Luke's Funeral

Countless Chitauri lost their mental connection and collapsed to the ground in droves. Chitauri in the sky plummeted like raindrops. Leviathans crashed heavily into towering skyscrapers, reducing them to rubble.

Not only New York, but this scene was simultaneously unfolding across several cities on the East Coast, abruptly bringing the battle along the entire coast to an end.

"We... won," Steve Rogers said with a deep breath, his emotions complex.

On the roof of Stark Tower, the Black Widow stared blankly at the empty sky, remaining silent for a long time.

Tony regained consciousness. The superheroes all gathered together.

Yet when they learned that Luke had failed to return in time, the heroes fell into a heavy silence.

Peter Parker stood in a daze, unable to believe this was real. He looked up, and apart from that sun, the sky was completely empty.

Half a month later.

Post-war reconstruction along the entire East Coast was proceeding in an orderly fashion.

New York had suffered unprecedented and severe damage in this alien invasion war. Once the financial center of the world, its significance now transcended that definition.

High above New York, the artificial sun had quickly become a scenic landmark in the aftermath. Bathed in its day-and-night illumination, New York had truly become a city that never sleeps.

The circumstances surrounding this sun at the time had been publicized through days of news fermentation, becoming known to countless people across the globe.

It felt as though it had been deliberately placed there by God at the very moment humanity needed it most.

Yet now, it seemed to have lost its original magnificent power, retaining only its illumination effect.

This did not prevent ordinary citizens from viewing it as a window to vent their faith, especially after suffering such devastating losses.

People praised God, praised the Apostle, and praised the sun.

A stout man stood behind a crowd of believers who worshiped the sun below every day, gazing with keen interest at the glowing orb radiating warm sunlight high above. A look of wonder and admiration lingered on his face from beginning to end.

This man was Otto Octavius, the holder of multiple doctoral degrees.

Yet now, he acted like an eager student, coming every day to study, take notes, and absorb knowledge.

He frequently muttered to himself: "A genius concept... I truly wish to meet the creator... He must be an absolute titan in the field of nuclear physics, but who could it be? Strange... I know every top mind in this field..."

Beside the plaza, on a few massive electronic screens that had miraculously survived the fires of war, Dr. Erik Selvic was being interviewed by television media.

With an unusually serious expression, he said, "Please remember, if not for these children saving this world, you and I would not be sitting here right now. Without the Apostle and his followers, this hard-won victory would not exist. The sacrifice of the Apostle is the greatest loss to our entire human race..."

Earlier, the President of the United States had also delivered a televised address to citizens across the nation.

The President officially made public the identities of the superheroes who had fought for New York and for humanity.

Among them, the identity of the Apostle—a boy of merely seven years old—was also revealed.

Right there on television, before everyone, the President posthumously presented the "Medal of Honor," symbolizing the highest distinction of the United States, before the Apostle's monument.

He said: "The Apostle thwarted the aliens' conspiracy to detonate an anti-matter bomb in Washington, sparing half of America from annihilation. Though the Pentagon was destroyed, it was worth it. He saved us all. God bless him!"

Directly beneath the artificial sun stood a newly constructed post-war monument.

An endless stream of people came daily to lay flowers. These individuals hailed from all corners of the globe, gathered to commemorate and remember the children who sacrificed themselves for all mankind: the Apostle and his followers.

The main body of the monument was a collection of statues.

Beside a six-foot-tall, hyper-realistic sculpture of the Warlord stood four smaller sculptures of the Gales.

At the feet of the Warlord stood the statue of a short-haired young boy. The boy's likeness was lifelike, wearing a gentle smile. Surrounding him were statues of a group of children: four little girls with distinct appearances—one playful, one dashing, one cute, and one quiet; a young boy clad in a spider suit; and a short little figure completely wrapped in a snowman costume.

The monument explicitly inscribed that these were the superheroes who sacrificed themselves for humanity. The world had been saved by such a group of lovely children. Though they had passed on, their fearless courage and spirit would henceforth inspire generation after generation of children...

An unpublicized funeral concluded amidst a lingering, drizzling rain.

Nearly all the superheroes who had surfaced during this war attended Luke's funeral.

When Luke's adoptive parents learned the truth, nothing could have broken their hearts more.

At the funeral site, Luke's adoptive mother, Karen, wept uncontrollably, while his adoptive father, Foggy, wore an expression of profound grief. Surrounding them stood silent figures, paying their final solemn respects to the empty headstone.

Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer dressed in a black suit, held a blind cane, wore pitch-black sunglasses, and raised an umbrella, his expression exceptionally heavy.

Peter Parker was drenched in tears, standing beside his Uncle Ben and Aunt May.

Standing around them in succession were Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Melinda May, and Erik Selvic.

Pain and sorrow were etched onto every face to varying degrees.

Time flew by.

Soon, another month passed.

Luke's warehouse had been converted by S.H.I.E.L.D. into a memorial museum, commemorating the anti-alien invasion battle that had swept across the entire East Coast.

Everything left behind by the Apostle was sealed and confiscated by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury knew that Luke had an artificial intelligence assistant named Christina, but her current whereabouts were unknown.

Ever since that battle, no one had seen the short-legged figure in the snowman suit again. The heroes remembered she was on the street at the time, but she had vanished afterward.

At night, Hell's Kitchen remained as chaotic as ever.

The manifestation of aliens seemed to have injected a factor called madness into the heart of everyone here. Crime was now more frequent than in the past, far more frantic and brutal.

Daredevil continued to crack down on crime here just as he always had. However, compared to usual, Daredevil seemed to strike with much greater ruthlessness; at best leaving gang thugs with broken arms and legs, and at worst crippling them for life.

For a time, criminals in Hell's Kitchen trembled in fear, cementing his reputation as the "Devil of Hell's Kitchen."

During this period, Tony grew taciturn. He locked himself in his lab day in and day out, shutting out the world. No one knew what he was working on. Even Pepper Potts rarely caught a glimpse of him.

After returning from Luke's funeral, Tony seemed utterly indifferent to anything outside, spending his days solely in the company of machines.

In reality, however, Jarvis was monitoring abnormal changes in every corner of the globe every second of the day, paying special attention to the skies.

A condition known as anxiety quietly took root and spread within Tony's heart.

The war had ended on the surface. But the covert war had never ceased. Fury, leading the remaining forces of S.H.I.E.L.D., continuously hunted down Hydra. The name list left behind by Luke played a crucial role.

Every time the Black Widow returned from a mission, she appeared quiet and reticent. Hawkeye and Hill, who knew her well, understood the reason. They had seen the photograph of Luke saved on Natasha's phone.

Perhaps only time could help fade all of this away.

Yet they were also well aware that the name could never be brushed aside, deeply branded as it was into the deepest recesses of everyone's soul...

...

(End of Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One)
(Luke and Lotis are about to embark on a brand-new adventure. Stay tuned for The Apostle Wreaks Havoc in the Universe Arc)
(Only two chapters today)