The moment after Adam said the name, he tried to move.
That was when he realized this body did not answer like Diamondhead at all.
Diamondhead had felt heavy, solid, and direct. If Adam pushed his hand forward, crystal answered. If he wanted to stand his ground, his body felt like it had been made for that. Big Chill was different. His body was a little taller than before, but it was thin, light, and strangely weightless.
Adam lowered his right hand toward the ground.
His body drifted to the right.
He raised the same hand quickly, and the movement stopped halfway before pulling him slightly upward. Adam stared at his own fingers, then tried the same thing with his left hand. His body slid left this time, slow at first and then a little faster.
"Okay," he muttered. "Hands are steering."
He tilted his head down and thought about moving forward. His body glided ahead. When he leaned back, he slowed and pulled away from the cracked entrance.
The people behind him watched in complete silence.
From their point of view, Adam had changed again in the middle of a war, lost the crystal armor, turned into something thin and cold-looking, and now he was floating in place like he was testing invisible controls.
One man whispered, "What is he doing now?"
Nobody answered him.
Adam was too busy figuring out how not to slam into his own shelter.
He moved both hands in small circles and pushed forward. His body floated ahead in a flat line. It was smoother than he expected, but the speed was hard to judge, and the roof of the tunnel was close enough that he did not want to rise too much.
'Now the big one,' Adam thought.
Phasing.
Big Chill could turn intangible. Adam knew that from the show, but knowing something and doing it with his own body were not the same thing.
He aimed for a section of crystal wall that was not part of the main entrance. Then he flew forward.
His face hit the wall.
Adam bounced back with a grunt.
The civilians flinched.
"I meant to do that," Adam said at once.
He had not meant to do that.
He rubbed his nose, then narrowed his eyes at the wall.
'Phase in, phase out,' Adam thought. 'Phase in, phase out. Come on, ghost moth powers, don't embarrass me in front of civilians.'
He tried again.
This time, something inside his body loosened. It was not like becoming weak. It was more like his body stopped insisting that it had to be solid.
Adam passed through the crystal wall.
For one second, everything around him went pale and distorted. Then he came out on the other side and saw the street beyond the sealed tunnel.
Several Chitauri were already down outside. Thor's lightning had done its work. Their bodies lay near the entrance, some smoking, some half-buried under broken crystal and debris. Farther down the street, more Chitauri were gathering again.
Adam smiled despite himself.
"Okay, that worked."
He phased back into the crystal wall before the incoming aliens could aim properly.
Inside the wall, he realized something else.
Big Chill had a lot of powers, but most of them connected back to cold. Ice breath, freezing touch, freezing beams, and that strange ability to freeze things while passing through them. The strongest trick was not just ice. It was being able to become intangible and still affect the thing he was passing through.
Adam came out through the wall again, but this time he pushed cold through his right hand as he crossed.
The crystal around his arm whitened.
Frost spread through the section he was touching. The surface turned brittle, not because his raw strength was greater than Diamondhead's, but because the cold was changing the structure he had already created.
Adam pulled his arm back and punched.
The wall broke open.
It did not collapse completely. Only a rough hole about two meters wide opened in the front, large enough for him to see the street and for the civilians to understand that he had made a new exit.
Several people behind him stared at the opening with hope.
Adam knew what they were thinking. They expected him to make another tunnel.
Before he could say anything, laser fire came from the street.
One blast passed straight through Adam's waist and struck the inner wall behind him.
For a split second, Adam forgot how to react.
Then he looked down at his own body.
The beam had gone through him without touching him.
"Right," he said, almost laughing. "I forgot I can do that."
It was a very good thing that Chitauri weapons counted as something his intangible body could ignore.
Adam turned toward the shooters.
He was still new to this form, but he was learning fast. He pushed forward, and the air carried him out through the broken opening. His speed built with every second, and by the time three Chitauri raised their weapons again, Adam was already in front of them.
'Freeze them,' Adam thought.
He remembered how Big Chill used his breath.
Adam drew in a deep breath and blew cold air straight at the three aliens.
White vapor rushed out of his mouth.
The Chitauri froze where they stood. Ice spread over their weapons, arms, faces, and armor until all three became stiff figures locked in place.
Adam hovered in front of them and stared.
"That is disgusting," he said. "Also amazing."
More movement came from above.
Chitauri were climbing out of broken windows, dropping from ledges, and coming around the side of the building. Some had seen him freeze the first group and were already moving to surround him.
Adam's excitement faded a little.
'If I have to freeze them one breath at a time, I am going to pass out,' he thought.
Clint's voice came through the comm.
"Adam, you've got more coming your way."
"Yeah, I noticed," Adam said, floating backward. "And for the record, I really don't like the flying ones."
Clint kept firing from somewhere above. "Then you are going to hate the next wave."
Another voice cut in after that.
"Cap, civilians are trapped on the next street too," Clint said. "You've got another cluster near the east side."
Steve answered immediately. "I'm on it."
Adam heard that and looked down at the street beneath him.
Then an idea came to him.