-Vormir-
"You failed." The narrator's voice echoed across Vormir's desolate landscape, cutting through the silence like a blade. "How does it feel, Tony Stark?"
Tony, who had just arrived on the barren world with his team, clenched his jaw. "Yeah, we failed in that timeline. But we're going to make sure it doesn't happen in ours. We'll get revenge on Thanos." His voice hardened. "Instead of asking me how I feel, why don't you show us how we actually turn this around?"
Do you really want to know? The narrator's tone was almost mocking.
"Yes!" Tony didn't hesitate.
"Then you must understand something: there is a person—a very important person—without whom you cannot reverse the situation. Without this individual, victory is impossible."
Tony's eyes lit up with interest. "Who? Tell me who—"
"But compared to that revelation," the narrator interrupted, "your more immediate troubles have not been completely resolved."
"WHAT?!" Tony's voice echoed across the mountaintop.
"What did you say?" Steve stepped forward, alarmed.
"What trouble?" Carol's hands began to glow with energy, ready for a fight.
A chill ran through everyone present. The last time the narrator had warned them about "trouble," it had been the Elementals—entities that had nearly wiped out humanity before they'd even understood the threat.
Tony's mind raced. What could the broadcast mean? What trouble hadn't been resolved? But the narrator had fallen silent, clearly unwilling to elaborate further.
"Come on," Tony said grimly, starting to walk faster up the mountain path. "We need to check on the Soul Stone and get back to Earth. Fast."
The team moved toward the mountain peak where the Soul Stone's altar awaited. They walked cautiously, weapons ready, eyes scanning for any sign of the Red Skull—the cursed guardian of the stone, doomed to guide others to what he could never possess.
But the Red Skull didn't appear. Not when they reached the halfway point. Not when they crested the final rise. Not even when they stood before the ancient altar itself.
"Where is he?" Thor gripped Stormbreaker tightly, his eye narrowing. "The Red Skull should be here. He's been bound to this place for decades."
A terrible premonition crept over Gamora. Something was wrong. Very wrong. She walked slowly to the edge of the cliff, the precipice where sacrifices were made to obtain the Soul Stone, and looked down.
Her breath caught in her throat. "That's... oh God. Everyone, look at this!"
"What?" Steve called out. "What is it?"
"What's wrong?" Bruce echoed, moving toward her.
At Gamora's urgent tone, everyone rushed to the cliff's edge and looked down into the abyss.
A body lay at the bottom, broken and still. Blue blood had pooled around the corpse, already congealed in the cold air. The figure was unmistakable—her three-bladed spear lay nearby, her distinctive armor scorched and damaged.
"It's Proxima Midnight!" Gamora's voice was filled with shock and confusion. "Why? How could she be here? Who would sacrifice Thanos's most trusted warrior?"
The implications hit Tony like a physical blow. "He already got it. Thanos beat us here. He sacrificed her for the Soul Stone." His voice was hollow. "We're too late."
"Damn it!" Rocket kicked a rock, sending it tumbling over the edge. He turned to Captain America, his small face twisted with frustration. "What do we do now, Cap? Try to track him?"
Carol shook her head, studying the congealed blood below. "She's been dead for a while—hours at least. There's no trail to follow. He could be anywhere in the universe by now." She turned to face the group. "I think we need to get back to Earth immediately. If the narrator is warning us about unresolved trouble..."
"Then Earth might be in danger right now," Thor finished, his jaw set. "We go. Now."
-Earth-
The people remaining on Earth were in complete chaos. The narrator wouldn't issue warnings randomly—something serious was happening, something they didn't know about.
Nick Fury was in the middle of a crisis. Tony and the others had barely left when the broadcast dropped this bombshell, and the first thing Fury thought of was last year's Elemental incident.
In his assessment, that was the only thing the narrator could be referring to as "unresolved trouble." After all, they still hadn't confirmed why the Elementals appeared in the first place. Many people believed firmly that the creatures had followed Mysterio from another dimension.
But the suspicious, paranoid Nick Fury would never draw conclusions so easily. Doubt always lingered in his mind, nagging at him like an itch he couldn't scratch.
He turned to a S.W.O.R.D. agent standing nearby. "Pull up all reports of abnormal weather patterns on Earth since the Elemental incident. Cross-reference with seismic activity, unusual geological events, anything that doesn't fit normal parameters. I want every suspicious anomaly flagged and on my desk within the hour."
"Yes, sir!" The agent hurried away.
Fury didn't wait. He strode toward his office, pressing his earpiece. "Hill, get to my office. Now."
-New York Sanctum-
Doctor Strange stood in the library of the New York Sanctum, surrounded by floating books and mystical diagrams. He frowned as a familiar presence suddenly manifested in the room—a presence he hadn't felt in months.
The Ancient One materialized, her bald head and serene expression unchanged, but there was something in her eyes that Strange had never seen before: genuine worry.
"What brings you here?" Strange asked carefully. The Ancient One had stepped down as Sorcerer Supreme after the Dormammu invasion, retreating to Kamar-Taj to live out whatever time remained to her.
Six months ago, she'd vanished from Kamar-Taj without explanation. No one knew where she'd gone. And now, suddenly, she was here.
The Ancient One sighed softly, the sound carrying centuries of weariness. "Things are starting to spiral out of control."
Strange felt ice in his veins. "What happened? What did you find?"
"A terrifying being is about to resurrect," the Ancient One said quietly. "Earth is in danger of total annihilation. And in response to this threat, the planet itself is attempting to save itself."
Strange blinked. "'Itself?' Wait—what do you mean by 'itself?'"
"The Earth, Strange. The planet itself has developed consciousness."
Strange stared at his predecessor as if she'd lost her mind. "You're joking."
"I wish I were." The Ancient One's expression was grave. "Perhaps it was influenced by the broadcast—by the knowledge of futures and timelines flooding into this reality. Or perhaps it was something that was always destined to happen. But Earth has awakened. It has become aware. And it detected something within itself—something dangerous—and began taking action to eliminate the threat."
She paused, letting that sink in. "The Elementals were Earth's doing. Its first attempt at self-preservation."
Strange's mind reeled. "Wait, I don't understand. How does the planet saving itself relate to the Elementals attacking us?"
"I only confirmed this recently," the Ancient One admitted. "Let me explain."
She began to pace, her astral form gliding across the sanctum floor.
"Six months ago, I felt a disturbance—a shift in the fundamental nature of reality around Earth. So I left Kamar-Taj and began traveling the world, investigating the locations where the Elementals died."
"The first place I examined was Mount St. Helens, where the Fire Elemental fell. The volcano had gone completely dormant after the battle, but beneath the surface where the Elemental had traveled, there remained a corridor of cooled lava. Locals call it the 'Highway to Hell' now."
Strange nodded. He'd heard about that. The crystalline hill formed from the Fire Elemental's remains had become a bizarre tourist attraction. Cable cars took visitors over the lava field to view the site from a safe distance.
"I searched there extensively," the Ancient One continued. "Then I investigated the other Elemental death sites. I found... nothing. No mystical residue. No dimensional tears. Nothing that explained their origin."
She stopped pacing and looked directly at Strange. "So I changed my approach. I spent months researching ancient legends, texts preserved in Kamar-Taj's deepest vaults—documents that predate recorded history. And I found references. Warnings, really. About something sleeping within Earth. Something ancient and powerful."
"What kind of something?" Strange asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"At first, I thought this was the threat I'd been sensing. But when I calculated the timeline for this being's resurrection, I realized it wouldn't awaken for several more years. So that couldn't be what was causing the immediate disturbance."
The Ancient One's expression grew distant, haunted. "But I couldn't find anything else. No other explanation for what I was feeling. So I did something I haven't done in centuries."
"What?"
"I temporarily abandoned my physical body and sent my astral form to seek an audience with Eternity itself."
Strange's eyes widened. Eternity was the living embodiment of the universe—a cosmic entity so far beyond human comprehension that even the most powerful sorcerers rarely attempted contact. "And?"
"Eternity confirmed my suspicions. Earth has awakened. It has become conscious, aware. And it detected the sleeping entity within itself—something dangerous, something that threatens not just humanity but the planet itself. So Earth created the Elementals as antibodies, as tools to eliminate what it perceived as a threat to its survival."
Strange felt his mouth go dry. "But the Elementals attacked cities. Killed people. If Earth is trying to save itself, why would it—"
"Because we are the ones harboring the threat," the Ancient One said quietly. "Or at least, that's what Earth believes. The entity sleeping within the planet is connected to humanity somehow. Earth's consciousness isn't sophisticated enough yet to understand nuance or collateral damage. It only knows: threat detected, eliminate threat."
Strange ran his hand over his face. This was insane. How were they supposed to fight their own planet? "So what do we do? We can't exactly blow up Earth to save it."
"No," the Ancient One agreed. "But you must find the sleeping entity before it awakens. And you must either neutralize it or convince Earth that humanity isn't the enemy."
She began to fade, her astral form becoming translucent. "I've done what I can, Strange. I've delivered the warning. The rest is up to you and the others."
"Wait!" Strange called out. "How much time do we have? How long until this thing wakes up?"
But the Ancient One was already gone, leaving Strange alone in the sanctum with more questions than answers.
He stood there for a long moment, processing everything he'd just learned. Then he reached for his sling ring.
Tony and the others needed to know about this. Immediately.
Earth itself had become the enemy. And somewhere deep beneath their feet, something ancient and terrible was stirring in its sleep, waiting to wake up and bring about the end of everything.
The narrator had been right. Their troubles were far from over.