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Hell's Kitchen.
Atop Fisk Tower, a throne built from skulls loomed. Upon it sat a gaunt figure in shredded armor, eyes hollow yet gleaming with a sick hunger.
Zombie Corvus Glaive leaned forward, watching with amusement as Wanda Maximoff fought alone against Storm, Juggernaut, and Emma Frost all infected and twisted by the virus.
"So this universe's Scarlet Witch is this strong? Then what about Nolan? Strange was never close to this level…" he muttered. His voice rasped, more beast than man, as he crushed a skull in one hand.
Below, Pietro Maximoff darted across the battlefield, his vibranium-forged body gleaming as he lured packs of infected away at blinding speed.
"A Quicksilver with a vibranium body… What a strange universe," Glaive sneered. "No matter. The food here will restore me to my peak. Then I'll hunt down the ones who dared kill me."
The clash below was brutal. Juggernaut charged with unstoppable force, his monstrous bulk shaking the ground.
Storm's lifeless eyes glowed white as she summoned a hurricane of blackened tornadoes.
Beside them, Emma Frost, bloodied and fanged, assaulted Wanda with invasive telepathy, flooding her mind with hunger and despair.
Wanda snarled, crimson chaos magic flaring. She pushed Storm back with a blast, but Emma's psychic whispers wormed into her skull.
Join us… stop resisting… The constant whispers gnawed at her sanity.
"Game over."
Zombie Glaive blurred forward, intercepting Pietro. His fist crashed into the speedster, hurling him across the street.
Pietro rolled, battered but alive, his vibranium body holding together.
"You monster…" he spat, charging again in a streak of silver. His punch carried the kinetic force of a freight train.
The two collided—
BOOM!
A shockwave flattens nearby ruins.
"In another universe," Glaive hissed, "your sister ate you alive, piece by piece."
Pietro's eyes blazed. "Maybe your world is lost. But your pain doesn't give you the right to destroy ours!"
Glaive's laughter was hollow and cruel. "I'm not destroying. I'm feasting. Either you eat, or you're eaten. That is the truth."
Their fists clashed again and again, shockwaves ripping through buildings. Though Pietro fought valiantly, Glaive's blows grew heavier, faster, relentless.
Pietro faltered, driven back through collapsing towers, until one last punch buried him in rubble.
"Pietro!" Wanda screamed. Her chaos energy erupted, blasting Storm aside.
Emma's voice echoed in her mind: Stop fighting. Join us. This is the true path.
"Enough!" Wanda roared, her crimson energy surging like a storm tide. The telepath collapsed, shrieking as Wanda's backlash shattered her psychic hold.
Juggernaut and Rhino thundered toward her in tandem, but Wanda conjured a portal in their path.
The two juggernauts slammed headlong into each other, the shockwave tearing a crater in the street.
Captain America hurled his shield at her. Wanda caught it midair, flung it aside, and blasted him into a building. "Sorry, Steve. Not today."
She landed before Glaive, eyes blazing. "You monster."
"Scarlet Witch…" For the first time, Glaive's empty eyes flickered with something like recognition. His voice rasped, broken.
"Stronger than the one in my world. But in the end, you'll still be one of us."
He lunged. Wanda's chaos magic twisted into a whip, striking him across the battlefield and smashing him into a crater.
Staggering to his feet, Glaive wiped black ichor from his mouth and laughed. "So agile… so dangerous. No wonder this Nolan interests me. If you are this strong, what must he be?"
Wanda's lips curled into a cold smile. "If Nolan were here, you'd already be strapped to a lab table, dissected like the animal you are."
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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