Wrapped in the green symbiote, the Hulk's violent struggles slowly ceased. A strange calm settled over him, and his huge, muscular body began to shrink, reverting to Bruce Banner's familiar form. Seeing the transformation complete, Loki recalled Mjolnir to his hand.
Bruce sat up, looking around with a blank, dazed expression before scratching his head in confusion. "What… what happened?"
"You raged," a new voice said.
Banner flinched as the green symbiote oozed from his body, coalescing into a shimmering, amorphous shape beside him.
"Don't worry," the creature said, its voice a smooth, low tenor. "I'm not Venom." It had apparently sifted through Banner's memories while calming his mind and learned of the other symbiote.
"You… you helped me?" Bruce asked, astonished. "You suppressed that monster?"
The symbiote seemed to shake its head. "You think he is a monster, so he believes he is a monster. But he is you." The creature was clearly aware of the complex relationship between Banner and the Hulk. In its view, there was no Hulk, only a single, fractured being. Bruce's resistance, his self-loathing, was what gave the rage a separate name.
Banner didn't care for the philosophy. He hated the Hulk. If something—anything—could help him contain that destructive force, he would welcome it, even if it wasn't human.
"Of course, I am willing to help," the symbiote said. "And my name is Phantasm."
The Chitauri vanguard was annihilated. The Other and Cull Obsidian were dead, and Ebony Maw had been thrown aside like garbage. Now, even the Hulk was pacified. Supergiant knew the situation was hopeless. She had no idea how the battle on Jotunheim was faring, but even if Corvus and Proxima succeeded, they couldn't come to her aid. Loki had reclaimed the Tesseract.
For the first time, the eternally calm telepath felt a pang of regret. We should have evacuated the moment we obtained the Space Stone. But every battle they had ever fought had been a one-sided slaughter. Arrogance had become ingrained. Taking what they wanted and cleansing the planet afterward was a process so routine that the thought of a strategic retreat had never even occurred to them.
The loss of the Tesseract meant the mission was a failure. Now, her only consideration was how to protect the Mind Stone in her possession.
A bolt of lightning struck the ground before her. Loki, clad in his silver armor, appeared in a flash of divine energy. In his wake, the other heroes assembled.
"A little late to run now, isn't it?" Tony jogged over, his Mark V armor looking battered and worn. Falcon descended, dropping Steve to the ground before folding his wings. Harry zipped over on his glider, and Felicia leaped gracefully between the ruined buildings. Her nimble form, long silver hair fanning out behind her, caused Tony to let out an appreciative whistle.
Felicia ignored the playboy completely, her eyes locking onto Loki. "Where is he?" she demanded.
"Ben?" Tony asked with a smirk. "Probably abandoned you."
Felicia's glare could have frozen hell over.
Loki glanced at her. He'd been on Earth long enough to know this was the little Black Cat Ben often ran with at night. He also knew she was one of his… attachments. And then, he thought of Looma. This was bad. Very bad. Thinking of the Tetramand princess's explosive temper, Loki's eyes subconsciously darted away. He could just imagine Looma arriving with a warhammer, intent on smashing this little kitten's head flat.
He was not sure, but he was absolutely certain he needed to keep Ben's secret.
"The Plumbers' headquarters was also attacked by Thanos's forces," he said smoothly. "Ben went to provide support."
"No wonder we didn't receive any backup from them," Steve said with a nod of understanding.
Loki spread his hands dramatically. "Who said that? I am a member of the Plumbers. Without me, you would have all been finished long ago."
Stark snorted at their conversation, a familiar line of thought solidifying in his mind. Ben was still unreliable. Not because of his ability, but because his loyalties were divided. The moment a larger threat appeared, he was forced to leave Earth undefended.
Earth needs Earthlings to protect it, Tony thought. They had been humiliated by Thanos's army, and in his view, it came down to a lack of manpower and the right kind of firepower. His own advanced armors had been of limited use, while the mass-produced Iron Guard—built from Hammer's crude but effective designs—had proven to be the backbone of their defense. He also couldn't ignore the fact that the planetary shield, their ultimate defense, had been bypassed by the resonance between two Infinity Stones. With the location of the other stones unknown, what was to stop Thanos from trying the same trick again?
The more Tony thought about it, the more certain he became. He needed a powerful, loyal army of steel to arm the Earth. But he kept his thoughts to himself. There was still an enemy to deal with. All eyes turned back to Supergiant.
"Put down the stone and surrender," Steve commanded. "Or you will be put down."
As long as she held the Mind Stone, she was a threat, capable of turning the tables at any moment.
"I do not fear death." Supergiant smiled, a chilling, serene expression on her face. Her voice was calm, almost longing. "Long before my Lord Thanos found me, I sought it. He saved me from that desire and promised that once my destiny was fulfilled, he would grant me death as my ultimate reward. It is not something I fear. It is something I have earned."
Her nihilistic devotion left the heroes at a loss. They surrounded her, but very few of them were in any condition to continue the fight. Tony's Mark V was practically useless. Steve, Peter, and Felicia could still fight, but their power was nothing against an Infinity Stone. Her only real threat was Loki.
Loki met her gaze, lightning dancing between his fingers, the air around him shimmering with the cold of a thousand winters. He had now mastered the Casket's power, containing the eternal winter within his own body. The temperature in New York had already returned to normal.
Back at Primus Tower, the change in temperature had stirred Dr. Connors from his sluggish state. But he had no intention of rejoining the battle. He knew his place. Compared to a normal hero, he was a titan. But against gods who could shatter worlds, he was just a scientist in a big lizard suit.
"My ultimate strength is less than a hundred tons," he muttered to himself, donning a lab coat that looked comically small on his massive frame. "I'm just a weak scientist. Better to stay out of it." He returned to his lab, his mind already buzzing with a new project: upgrading Peter's chameleon suit from simple color-matching to true, active camouflage. To achieve a state of near-invisibility. It was a long way off, but the research had to begin somewhere. Seeing his colleague's dedication, Dr. Octavius, not wanting to be outdone, immediately followed him into the lab.
On the battlefield, the standoff continued. The citizens in the shelters watched the broadcast, their day a rollercoaster of terror and relief. The evacuation, the space battle, the shield's activation and subsequent failure, the heroes' defeat and their triumphant comeback. They had no idea how close they had all come to utter annihilation. If not for Ebony Maw's fatal arrogance in pursuing Loki, there would have been no chance to turn the tide.
But now, it was over.
Just as that thought settled in everyone's mind, the situation changed once more.
Peter felt it first. A deep, thrumming wrongness that made his spider-sense scream.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Venom hissed in his mind.
Before the symbiote could finish, a deep, resonant hum filled the sky. A shadow fell over the city. A massive, ring-shaped black spaceship materialized from a tear in reality, eclipsing the sun.
Tony flipped up his faceplate, his face a mask of disbelief. "What is it this time?"
It was Loki who answered, his voice devoid of its earlier bravado, replaced by a cold, grim certainty.
"Thanos is here."
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