-S.W.O.R.D. Headquarters-
"Let me get this straight," Nick Fury said, his one good eye fixed on Doctor Strange with laser focus. "You're telling me there's a god hidden inside the Earth?"
"Yes," Strange confirmed.
"And Earth's consciousness—the planet itself—is trying to exterminate all of humanity to prevent this god from being born?"
"Correct."
Fury leaned back in his chair and let out a harsh laugh. "This is absolutely insane."
Christine Palmer stepped forward, her expression serious. "That's what the Ancient One told us. She has no reason to lie, Director Fury. She spent six months investigating this, even consulted Eternity itself to confirm—"
"Okay, okay." Fury held up his hand. "So what do we do about it? Hmm? You're the mystical experts here. Give me something I can work with. A plan. A strategy. Anything."
Strange and Christine exchanged a glance, and both shook their heads helplessly. "I'm sorry, Director. I can't think of a solution. When I dealt with Dormammu, I exploited weaknesses in the dimensional rules of his realm to force him into a bargain. But this..."
Christine continued, "A god—a true god, not just a powerful entity—isn't something we can simply fight. The scale is too different."
"We have a god," Fury pointed out. "Thor is a god, isn't he?"
Strange shook his head. "The nature is different. Thor is Asgardian—powerful, yes, but fundamentally physical. This entity... if I'm being honest, it may not be weaker than Dormammu. The only advantage we have is that it hasn't fully awakened yet. We might still have time to act before it reaches full power."
Clint Barton, who'd been listening silently from the corner, suddenly spoke up. "Wait. Aren't we missing the immediate problem here? Earth wants to wipe out humanity right now. Shouldn't we be focused on surviving that before we worry about killing some god that hasn't even woken up yet?"
Strange turned to face him, his expression grave. "Agent Barton, the reason Earth wants to destroy humanity is because humanity is the catalyst for this god's birth. Once it awakens, Earth itself will be destroyed—the entire planet shattered like glass. The consciousness inhabiting Earth understands this. So to save itself, it's chosen to eliminate humanity before we can trigger the god's resurrection. Do you understand?"
Maria Hill's eyes widened with understanding. "So the only way to solve this permanently is to eliminate the god. If we don't destroy it, Earth will keep trying to kill us. Even if we survive this attack, there will be another. And another."
"Exactly," Strange confirmed. "We dealt with the Elementals, so now Earth is creating extreme climate events—disasters with no specific targets, impossible to predict or defend against. It won't stop until it achieves its goal: human extinction."
"Great," Fury said flatly. "So we're back to the original question: how do we destroy a god hiding inside our own planet?"
Silence filled the office. No one had an answer.
Fury sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging slightly—a rare display of weariness from the normally unflappable director. "We wait for Tony and the others to get back from Vormir. This is above my pay grade." He turned to Hill. "But while we're waiting, brief everyone on what Earth's consciousness has been doing. I want everyone to understand what we're up against."
"Understood." Hill nodded and pressed a button on her remote. A holographic projection materialized in the center of the office, displaying global maps and streaming data.
"Under normal circumstances," Hill began, her voice taking on a briefing cadence, "Earth experiences approximately fifty to sixty tropical cyclones per year. Roughly one thousand earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or higher. And statistically, one earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or greater every one to two years. These earthquakes also trigger two to three destructive tsunamis annually."
The maps shifted, showing historical data. "Before the Elemental incident last year, this data remained relatively stable with only minor variations. But starting this year—starting just after we defeated the Elementals—Earth's climate has undergone extreme, unprecedented changes."
New data flooded the displays, red indicators appearing across the globe like a spreading infection.
"To date, the number of tropical cyclones, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and other climate or geological disasters worldwide has increased by factors of three to ten times normal levels."
She zoomed in on the Pacific Ring of Fire. "The Circum-Pacific seismic belt now experiences an earthquake on average once every forty-seven minutes. The intensity has increased dramatically—ordinary earthquake-resistant buildings can no longer withstand these frequencies and magnitudes. Cities that were considered safe are now becoming uninhabitable."
The hologram shifted to show weather patterns. "The frequency and intensity of droughts, floods, and tornadoes have tripled. And consider this: we're only in June, and the Pacific has already spawned forty-three typhoons. Flood-prone regions are experiencing torrential rainfall every single day, while drought-stricken areas have received zero precipitation for months."
Fury stared at the data, his jaw tight. "Why didn't we catch this sooner?"
Hill's expression was apologetic. "S.W.O.R.D. has been focused on extraterrestrial threats and future war preparation. We weren't monitoring routine climate data closely. And..." She pulled up additional reports. "The meteorologists who first detected these anomalies did submit warnings. But most institutions dismissed them, assuming the disturbances were residual effects from the Elemental attacks."
Strange stepped closer to the hologram, studying the patterns. "Earth's will is being clever about this. Unlike the Elementals—which were obvious, targetable threats—these disasters appear natural. Random. There's no single enemy to fight, no way to stop it with conventional force."
"Why now?" Barton asked. "If Earth wanted to kill us, why wait until this year to ramp up?"
"Because Earth's consciousness needs time to accumulate energy," Christine explained. "Influencing global climate patterns requires immense power. It's been building up slowly, carefully, so we wouldn't notice until it was too late."
Strange's expression darkened. "But something changed recently. Something forced Earth's hand, made it accelerate the timeline."
-Elsewhere in the Universe-
What Strange didn't know—what none of them knew—was that Star-Lord's awakening of his Celestial powers had triggered a cascade of consequences.
When Peter Quill began drawing on his divine inheritance, he unknowingly pulled energy from a source deep within Earth itself: the sleeping Celestial known as Tiamut the Communicator. This entity had been gestating within the planet's core for millions of years, feeding on the evolutionary energy of humanity's growing population.
Star-Lord's extraction of power had acted like an alarm clock, rousing Tiamut prematurely. The Celestial child became anxious, desperate to complete its birth cycle before its power reserves were drained further. So it began manifesting its divine power early, accelerating its awakening process even though the appointed time hadn't arrived.
When Star-Lord left Earth to travel to Vormir, his extraction stopped. But the damage was done. Tiamut's premature stirring had set events in motion.
And then there was Thanos.
The Mad Titan, having obtained the Reality Stone, had sensed the sleeping Celestial within Earth. Recognizing an opportunity to create chaos and distract Earth's defenders, he'd used the Reality Stone to subtly accelerate Tiamut's birth, pushing the timeline forward by years.
Earth's consciousness had detected all of this. It recognized that Tiamut's awakening was approaching faster than calculated. So it abandoned its original plan of a slow, methodical elimination of humanity and instead began rapidly driving climate change, attempting to exterminate the human population before the Celestial could be born.
The sudden escalation of extreme weather events finally drew the attention of global governments. S.W.O.R.D. issued warnings. Scientists scrambled to understand. But their previous meteorological models were useless—this wasn't natural climate evolution. This was a planet trying to commit genocide against its own dominant species.
-Among the Eternals-
The unusual climate changes had also been noticed by Ajak, the leader of the Eternals—an ancient race of synthetic beings created by the Celestials themselves to protect worlds from Deviant attacks.
She stood in her chamber, surrounded by holographic displays showing the accelerating disasters. Her face was troubled, conflicted.
"We have to stop this," she said quietly.
Ikaris, the most powerful of the Eternals, stood beside her. His laser eyes could cut through mountains, his strength rivaled Thor's, but none of that mattered if Tiamut emerged. The Celestial's birth would destroy Earth completely.
"The Emergence is happening ahead of schedule," Ajak continued. "We need to gather everyone. All of the Eternals. We have to find a way to prevent it."
"Of course," Ikaris said, his voice carefully neutral. "I'll contact the others immediately."
Ajak studied him for a moment, searching his face. She knew Ikaris better than anyone—had known him for seven thousand years. And she could see the conflict in his eyes.
"Ikaris," she said softly. "I know what you're thinking. Our mission was to protect this world until the Emergence. But things have changed."
"Have they?" Ikaris's voice was quiet.
"Humanity has proven themselves worthy of life," Ajak said firmly. "They've grown, evolved, achieved things we never expected. The Celestials' plan may have made sense millions of years ago, but now..."
She gestured at the displays showing human civilization. "How can we stand by and watch seven billion intelligent beings die? How can we allow a planet teeming with life and culture and love to be destroyed just to birth one more Celestial?"
Ikaris didn't respond immediately. In truth, he'd been struggling with this question since the moment the broadcast appeared in Earth's sky.
When the sky screen first manifested, Ajak had used her communication sphere to contact Arishem the Judge, the Prime Celestial who had created them. She'd asked about the broadcast, about its nature and purpose.
But Arishem—who had existed for billions of years, who had witnessed the birth and death of countless galaxies—had no answer. The broadcast was something beyond even Celestial understanding. A higher-dimensional phenomenon that defied all known cosmic laws.
This uncertainty troubled Ikaris deeply. If the broadcast was powerful enough to concern the Celestials, what would happen if it opposed the Emergence? Could Tiamut even be born if the broadcast decided to intervene?
These thoughts had been eating at him for months. And now, with the broadcast warning Tony Stark about unresolved threats, Ikaris felt something he'd never experienced before: doubt.
"Ajak," he said carefully. "What if the broadcast stops the Emergence?"
"Then perhaps that's fate," Ajak replied. "Perhaps this is the universe's way of telling us that some cycles are meant to be broken."
Ikaris looked at her—this being who had been his leader, his moral compass, his purpose for millennia. And he realized with growing horror that they were on opposite sides of an unbridgeable divide.
She wanted to save humanity. He wanted to fulfill their sacred mission to the Celestials, no matter the cost.
"Come with me," Ikaris said suddenly. "To the Arctic. There's something I want to show you about humanity. About what they're really like."
Ajak looked surprised but nodded. "Of course."
What she didn't know was that Ikaris had already made his decision. He would show her the worst of humanity—the wars, the pollution, the cruelty. He would try one last time to change her mind, to make her see that the Celestials' plan was just.
And if that failed... if Ajak still chose to betray their purpose and save humanity...
Then he would execute her himself. For the glory of the Celestials. For the continuation of their sacred duty.
Even if it broke his heart to do it.