The setting sun hung low in the sky, painting the world in shades of blood and fire. Golden light wove itself into threads of crimson across the heavens, spilling down on the ruined town of ShanGuangang. To anyone watching, it was as if a vast net of gold and scarlet light had descended from above, trapping this broken place within a cage of twilight.
The streets, littered with flesh and blood, were silent. Not a single living civilian remained to walk them. Only fragments of ruined houses, shattered glass, and the metallic stench of iron filled the air.
Lois trailed behind James, his breathing ragged, his nerves stretched taut. Every step was a battle against fear. He gripped his gun tighter, trying not to think about the horror they had already witnessed since stepping into this cursed town. His lips were dry, and he licked at the sweat running down to them, wishing it would wash away the taste of dread.
Suddenly, James stopped.
Lois froze, every muscle stiffening as if a predator's eyes had fallen on him. He raised his weapon, scanning the shadows.
"What is it?" Lois whispered, fear sharpening his tone.
"Look up at the sky," James said, his voice calm but heavy with tension.
Lois tilted his head—and nearly dropped his gun. Above the Johnson Public Library, several human torsos floated in midair, twitching unnaturally as if refusing the dignity of death.
A wet plop sounded. A droplet of blood landed squarely on Lois's forehead. He reached up, trembling, and his eyes went wide.
These were corpses—pieces of men and women who should have been long dead. Yet they moved as though caught in some invisible current, drifting southwest toward the market avenue, as though fleeing something unseen.
James exhaled slowly, his eyes narrowing. "Go on. That's the last place." He pointed toward the distant outline of the town hall.
Lois swallowed his terror and followed.
The town hall loomed ahead, half-collapsed, its proud roof shattered. Signs of battle scarred every inch of the building—gaping holes from explosives, charred walls blackened by fire, and shattered glass crunching underfoot.
Then James spotted something that made his face harden.
Lois ran ahead, stumbling toward the wreckage. "No…" he gasped. A cluster of destroyed Foundation vehicles lay twisted in ruin, their insignia scorched but unmistakable. "It's the first exploration team!!"
Empty shell casings littered the ground. Discarded rifles and half-broken equipment lay abandoned like the bones of fallen soldiers.
The only comfort was the absence of bodies. But here, in Valleyport, that was hardly good news.
James ignored Lois's panic. His gaze swept the wreckage until he spotted a detached surveillance camera dangling by a broken wire. Hope stirred in his chest. He retrieved the memory card and slotted it into a handheld device.
The screen flickered to life.
The video showed the front of the town hall already devastated, the great entrance gone, replaced by a circular glowing anomaly. The light shimmered, shifting across the spectrum from deep blue to violent violet.
James instinctively glanced at the real entrance—it was quiet now, no glow, no sign of that luminous vortex. But the footage told a different story.
Gunfire erupted from the speakers. A convoy of vehicles barreled into view—Foundation transports, battered trucks, even civilian cars pressed into service. Lois leaned closer, recognizing them instantly.
"That's them! And… and Samsara's cyborg team!" His voice cracked with panic.
The footage confirmed it. Even the legendary Samsara unit, augmented cyborgs who had survived SCP-1730, were here. And yet, from the chaos, it was clear—they too had found no easy victory.
The convoy halted. Townspeople and Foundation agents spilled out, herded toward the glowing circle of light.
Then something stepped from the lead Foundation vehicle.
The audience in the Marvel world—watching this feed live—fell into stunned silence.
A creature nearly three meters tall, body bristling with electronic devices and strange instruments, moved with a deliberate grace. Its presence was suffocating. It was not a cyborg, not a human, not anything they recognized.
"Who the hell is that?" Stark muttered aloud in his tower.
"Not Samsara," Natasha whispered. "But he feels… stronger."
Onscreen, the being worked at one of its strange devices, twitching as though fighting an unseen force.
Before anyone could comprehend, a skin-like monstrosity leapt from the town hall's roof, descending on the crowd. Panic erupted. Foundation soldiers and robotic units opened fire, but bullets and energy blasts barely scratched it. The thing latched onto a townsman's head—
—and the giant creature moved.
With terrifying speed, it ripped the parasite free, hurled it to the ground, and unleashed a torrent of flame. The air ignited in a roar of fire. The skin-thing writhed, shrieked, then crumbled into ash.
The crowd fell silent. Townsfolk stared with trembling awe as the being gestured for them to step into the glowing anomaly. One by one, civilians entered, followed by Foundation personnel and their robotic escorts.
Finally, only the giant remained. Before stepping through the light, it raised its flamethrower and etched words into the stone above the entrance. Then, with a final motion, it vanished into the glow.
The feed cut.
Silence gripped both the watchers on the ground and the global audience.
Then, voices erupted:
"Who is this creature?"
"Why protect the Foundation?"
"Is this… the existence that ends everything?"
In Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One rose to her feet, her normally serene face pale with recognition. Her whisper broke the silence: "Supreme God…"
Even cloaked in protective devices that masked his divinity, she could sense it. This was no machine, no soldier. This was a Supreme Being, one who had chosen to stand with humanity.
She could scarcely believe it. Could a god truly ally with the Foundation? Could it be that… this Supreme God was a helper?
Back at the ruins, James and Lois stood frozen before the town hall. Above the ruined entrance, the words burned into the stone glowed faintly:
"Pangloss grants you shelter."
The Marvel world erupted.
At Stark Tower, Tony gaped at Rhodey. "Pangloss? Wait—are you telling me that eye-shaped entity James mentioned before was this guy?"
"It's gotta be," Rhodey muttered. "But a Supreme God protecting humans? That's insane."
In Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One sighed, her voice heavy with centuries of knowledge. "It is Him. Pangloss. The Foundation's ally in this war."
Nick Fury's single eye narrowed. "A friendly Supreme God? That's unheard of."
Yet beneath the awe came questions. What had happened to the people who entered the light? Were they saved… or taken elsewhere?
Lois, wide-eyed, whispered, "Could it be that the giant… was Pangloss himself?"
James shook his head. Even he couldn't piece the puzzle together. Before he could decide whether to enter the hall, the intercom at his belt crackled.
"Zzzt—James, this is Mike! Do you read me?"
"This is James," he answered quickly. Relief tinged his voice.
"Thank God," Mike said, coughing. "Where are you? What's the situation?"
"We're at the town hall."
"Stay there. We're on our way."
James blinked. "You came in too?"
"Yeah. SCP-1936-1 is fading. We pulled the first team out already. Damn this place—it's a slaughterhouse!" Mike gagged mid-sentence, the sound of retching echoing through the radio.
Lois smirked despite himself. "Guess someone can't handle the sights."
Ten minutes later, as the last rays of sun bled across the ruins, Mobile Task Force soldiers emerged from the mist, their armor gleaming. The Marvel audience watching the feed breathed in unison, relief washing over them.
Though James and Lois had avoided the twisted monsters rumored to infest Valleyport, the oppressive dread of this place had been suffocating. Every shadow whispered of death. Every silence carried the weight of doom.
At last, the town faded away, like smoke on the wind.
When the scene cleared, James stood back at the Foundation site, beside O5-10.
The elder overseer's voice was solemn. "Yes. The mission ended before it even began. Pangloss was there from the start. He reminded us of Daleport… and entered alongside Samsara during the first exploration."
James's eyes narrowed. "Pangloss…"
"A rare friendly Supreme Being," O5-10 said quietly. "Unlike others, he protects. He rescued the townspeople during the War of the Gods. He has left messages before—warnings, guidance. He stands with us."
James murmured, eyes distant, "He is simple and humble, yet his love stretches to the edge of the universe. He gazes into the abyss of hell itself… and still shows compassion to the weak."
The supervisor beside them stared, stunned.
O5-10's voice cut coldly: "Without Him, the War of the Gods here would have ended the world. We classified it as an XK-class scenario. He alone prevented it."
The live chat across the Marvel world exploded.
"Wait—he was really a Supreme God?!"
"And he saved humanity?!"
"Pangloss… I can't believe it. A god who actually cares."
"For the first time, there's hope."
James opened his mouth to ask why he, of all people, had been dragged into this nightmare. But he didn't. And O5-10, perhaps deliberately, didn't ask why James alone could walk into Daleport's cursed gates.
The answers would come later.
For now, they all shared the same truth—
Humanity had survived the War of the Gods only because Pangloss chose to protect them.
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