"What's the situation on the other fronts?" Steve asked, keeping his eyes locked on Sixsix while addressing Natasha. Even wounded and aged by Vilgax's fear-based powers, his tactical mind continued processing battlefield information with the methodical precision that had made him a legend.
Natasha's report came in clipped, professional tones despite the chaos erupting around them. "The eight energy signatures have turned their respective zones into absolute hellscapes, but our people are working on solutions. Wanda and Pietro deployed to Los Angeles to handle the berserker there."
"Can those two actually pull it off?" Steve had witnessed the Maximoff twins' capabilities firsthand, but Sky Hammer Messengers operated on a completely different level of destructive potential. Even enhanced individuals could be overwhelmed by space-grade weapons.
"We have to trust them," Natasha replied, checking her ammunition count while maintaining visual contact with their opponent. "That's all we can do right now."
She continued her sitrep with the efficiency of someone accustomed to delivering bad news. "Wakanda's got two of our people providing support, Caiera and Brunnhilde are backing up their forces. The orbital station's been breached, but they've got Hulk up there now, so that's either really good news or a complete catastrophe waiting to happen."
"And elsewhere?" the Winter Soldier prompted, his enhanced hearing picking up distant explosions that suggested multiple simultaneous engagements.
"Ben's... girlfriends are engaging another Sotoraggian operative," Natasha said carefully, her tone suggesting she was still processing the interpersonal complexity of that situation. "Even with Dr. Connors backing them up, they're facing long odds."
"Same as us," Bucky observed with characteristic understatement.
The addition of Natasha and Sandman to their team had provided welcome tactical options, but the fundamental power imbalance remained unchanged. Once Sixsix committed to using his Sky Hammer seriously, their numerical advantage would become irrelevant in the face of space-level destruction.
"Then we fight anyway," Steve declared, accepting a healing injector from William Baker's extended hand. The Primus-manufactured medication worked with startling efficiency, knitting torn tissue and restoring some of his depleted energy reserves within moments.
Whatever Ben's paying his R&D department, it's not enough, Steve thought as strength flowed back into his limbs.
He charged forward again, shield materializing in his hand as the magnetic recall system finally brought it within range. But this time, Sixsix had abandoned all pretense of playing with his opponents.
The alien mercenary extended one armored hand, and his Sky Hammer flew to his grasp like a guided missile, space energy already beginning to build around its impact surfaces.
The real fight was about to begin.
Halfway around the world, Caiera the Oldstrong stood atop a vibranium-reinforced watchtower, her silver skin gleaming in the afternoon sun as she coordinated defensive positions with the precision of someone who had spent years managing interstellar conflicts. Beside her, Brunnhilde checked her weapon loadouts with the methodical care of a warrior who understood that survival often depended on having the right tool for each specific threat.
Their enemy controlled the power of the ocean itself.
Thal'Ba had originally been an Atlantean warrior, one of many aquatic beings whose homeworld had been devastated by space conflicts they'd played no part in starting. When Vilgax's spare Sky Hammers had descended to Earth, they had sought out the individuals whose rage and desperation made them perfect conduits for the weapons' corrupting influence.
The transformed Atlantean now stood waist-deep in Lake Turkana, his enhanced form drawing moisture from hundreds of miles away to create a localized tsunami that threatened to wash away everything the Wakandans had built.
"Princess Shuri's force fields are holding for now," Caiera reported, watching streams of data flow across her tactical display. "But he's pulling water from three different river systems. The hydrological pressure alone will overwhelm their defenses within the hour."
"Then we don't give him an hour," Brunnhilde replied, her hand moving to the hilt of Dragonfang. The legendary blade hummed with eagerness, its enchanted metal resonating with the space energies saturating the battlefield.
The Northern Front
In the frozen wastes of northern Europe, Loki danced between reality and illusion with the fluid grace that had made him the most feared trickster in the Nine Realms. Beside him, Frigga wove spells that bent perception itself, while Thor's sister, recently freed from her prison, added her own considerable power to their coordinated assault.
Their opponent wielded ice and winter as weapons, each gesture creating blizzards that could flash-freeze entire city blocks. But the God of Mischief had spent centuries learning to turn environmental disadvantages into tactical opportunities.
"This would be significantly easier with Thor here," Loki observed, creating a mirror-image of himself that drew the enemy's attention while he flanked from an impossible angle.
"He has more important responsibilities," Frigga replied, her voice carrying the patient authority of someone who had watched civilizations rise and fall. She knew that Thor's current quest for power would ultimately benefit them all, even if it left them temporarily undermanned.
In the ruins of what had once been the most magnificent realm in the universe, Thor Odinson knelt beside a spring that had once nourished the World Tree itself. The landscape around him bore the scars of space war, black thorns that drained life from the soil, crumbling spires that had once housed the greatest heroes of legend, skies that wept ash instead of rain.
This was what remained of his heritage. This was what his arrogance and failures had allowed to be destroyed.
But the Asgardian people lived on in Genesis, and with them, the possibility of redemption.
"I was once arrogant," Thor said to the silent spring, his voice carrying across the empty expanse. "As a prince, I believed myself invincible and looked down upon all who served me. As a mortal, I wallowed in self-pity and abandoned the responsibilities that defined me."
He waded deeper into the sacred waters, allowing them to close over his head as he sank toward the bottom. This place had given birth to the World Tree itself, surely it retained enough power to forge a true king from the broken pieces of a failed prince.
"All-Father," he prayed, his words creating bubbles that rose toward the surface like released souls. "I, Thor Odinson, God of Thunder, beg for your aid. I offer my left eye as payment for the wisdom needed to protect my people and defeat our enemies."
The sacrifice was genuine, he felt his enhanced vision dim as mystical energies began flowing around him. But the loss was a small price for the power that answered his call.
Genesis
Odin felt his son's prayer across dimensional barriers, and a proud smile creased his increasingly youthful features. The All-Father's time in Ben's realm had restored much of his vitality, while his connection to the Mana had enhanced his already formidable capabilities.
"It wasn't easy," he observed to the Ancient One, who sat beside him in meditation. "My foolish son has finally begun to understand true leadership."
"Though perhaps he should seek strength from within rather than without," the Ancient One replied gently, her enhanced perceptions revealing the vast untapped potential that lay dormant in Thor's divine essence. "The power he carries could reshape the multiverse itself, if properly awakened."
"Patience," Odin counseled. "He's still learning. The path he walks now is far better than the one that led to Asgard's fall."
With a gesture that sent ripples through multiple dimensions, Odin channeled a massive surge of divine power toward his son. But this was no simple transfer of energy, the gift was interwoven with Mana, creating bonds that would tie Thor's growth directly to Genesis itself.
From this moment forward, the God of Thunder's development would strengthen Ben's realm, while the expanding dimension would enhance Thor's capabilities in turn. It was a symbiotic relationship that would grow stronger with each passing year.
The Primus Building
Explosions lit up the night sky over Manhattan as several agile figures burst from the top floors of Primus Tower in a shower of glass and twisted metal. Felicia Hardy landed with feline grace, her enhanced reflexes allowing her to absorb the impact and roll immediately into a defensive position. Behind her, Mary Jane Watson and Dr. Helen Cho emerged from the destruction, their faces grim with the knowledge that they were severely outmatched.
From the smoke-filled breach in the building's facade, a figure in purple armor stepped forth with casual confidence. In one armored hand, Eighteight, the most skilled of the Sotoraggian siblings, held the limp form of Dr. Connors in his transformed lizard state. The massive reptilian scientist, despite possessing strength measured in hundreds of tons, had been handled like a troublesome pet.
"Dr. Connors!" Helen called out, her medical training making her acutely aware of the damage that kind of casual treatment could inflict on even an enhanced physiology.
"This is a battle between ladies," Eighteight observed, her translation software rendering her mechanical voice with dismissive arrogance. "Males should withdraw to a safe distance."
She tossed Connors aside like discarded garbage, the impact of his landing creating a crater in the reinforced street surface.
"Stay sharp," Felicia warned, wiping sweat from her brow as she assessed their tactical situation. "She's the strongest opponent any of us have ever faced. We need to be smart about this."
Eighteight didn't bother with further conversation. She launched herself forward like a purple missile, her enhanced speed turning her into a blur that crossed the distance between them in milliseconds.
The Sky Hammer crashed into the street with geological force, the impact creating a massive crater that sent all three women tumbling through the air. Their vibranium-enhanced suits absorbed much of the kinetic energy, preventing immediate death but doing little to mitigate the overwhelming force differential they faced.
Felicia, drawing on years of acrobatic training and enhanced reflexes, twisted in mid-air to land feet-first against a building's facade. She used the collision to redirect her momentum, launching herself at Eighteight's exposed throat with claws extended.
The anti-vibranium edges of her weapons could theoretically cut through any known material, including the alien's advanced armor. If she could land a clean strike, the fight would end in their favor.
Five white streaks cut through the air like silk threads as Felicia's claws sought their target.
But Eighteight's combat experience spanned multiple star systems and dozens of successful contracts. She bent backward with inhuman flexibility, allowing the lethal swipe to pass harmlessly overhead, then swept Felicia's legs out from under her with a contemptuous kick.
Before the Black Cat could recover, Eighteight was already pivoting toward Helen Cho, who had been attempting to flank from the opposite direction. The Sky Hammer moved in a devastating arc that caught the doctor across her right side.
CRACK!
Helen's enhanced durability, derived from her regeneration cradle technology, wasn't enough to withstand space-level force. Half her torso simply disappeared, reduced to glowing particles that scattered like gruesome confetti across the battlefield.
"Dr. Cho!" Mary Jane cried out, rushing forward to help even as Eighteight casually drew an exotic weapon from her belt.
The dark matter grenade tore through space-time itself, creating a localized implosion that Mary Jane's vibranium suit was powerless to resist. Her left arm vanished into the dimensional void, severed at the molecular level.
"Mary!" Felicia extracted herself from the wall she'd been embedded in, her heart clenching at the sight of her friend's injury.
"I'm okay," Mary Jane gasped, using her remaining hand to inject both herself and Helen with emergency healing serums. Her missing limb was already beginning to regenerate, though the process would take several minutes. Helen's injuries were far more severe, without her enhanced recovery abilities, she would already be dead.
"Impressive vitality," Eighteight observed, studying their rapid healing with professional interest. "Lord Vilgax will be most interested in acquiring samples of that compound."
"Vilgax?" Mary Jane spat, her pain making her voice sharp with anger. "You mean that overgrown squid Ben's going to turn into calamari? I'd love to see that."
"INSULTING LORD VILGAX IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH!"
The casual dismissal of her master's power sent Eighteight into genuine fury. Divine energy erupted around her form like visible flame, the Sky Hammer beginning to accumulate enough force to level several city blocks.
This would not be a measured strike, this would be complete annihilation.
But as Eighteight raised her weapon for the killing blow, a rainbow bridge suddenly tore through the darkness above Manhattan. Lightning crackled along its length, not the blue-white electricity of natural storms, but deep crimson energy that spoke of space power channeled through divine will.
BOOM!
The red lightning struck like the hammer of a god, intercepting Eighteight's attack and sending shockwaves through every building in a six-block radius. When the energy dissipated, a tall figure stood between the alien warrior and her intended victims.
Four massive arms blocked the Sky Hammer's descent, muscles straining against space force with the kind of determined strength that could move mountains. Princess Looma Red Wind had arrived, and her crimson eyes blazed with battle-fury.
"Ben!" Felicia called out joyfully, then paused as she got a better look at their rescuer. "Wait... you're not Ben."
"Ben? That's quite an intimate way to address him," Looma observed, her voice carrying dangerous undertones as she turned to examine the three women more closely. Her four red eyes narrowed with what looked suspiciously like territorial assessment.
"Don't tell me you're another one of Ben's fiancées," she said with poorly concealed irritation.
Felicia and Mary Jane stared at the Tetramand princess with expressions of pure shock.
Fiancée? Since when was Princess Looma engaged to Ben? They'd been operating under the assumption that she was simply another member of his expanding team of female friends. The revelation that she'd apparently advanced beyond girlfriend status sent waves of competitive panic through both women.
They exchanged meaningful glances, a wordless conversation passing between them. If this continued, they'd lose out to a violent alien princess who solved most problems by punching them into submission.
Both sets of eyes turned toward Helen Cho, who was still radiating happiness at being included in Ben's romantic prospects. They needed additional allies if they were going to maintain any sort of competitive position.
Looma, meanwhile, was experiencing her own form of relationship anxiety. Not because Ben had multiple romantic interests, Tetramand culture embraced the idea that strong males would naturally attract multiple partners. What bothered her was the perceived weakness of his Earth-based friends.
Such fragile creatures, she thought dismissively. They're not even as capable as Caiera or Brunnhilde. Ben really needs to develop better standards.
But personal judgments would have to wait. They had a Sky Hammer Messenger to defeat.
"Listen carefully," Looma announced, her voice carrying the authority of someone accustomed to command. "I am the strongest among all of Ben's girlfriends. From now on, you follow my lead in combat."