Sprite, faced with Masacre, did what she did best.
She created illusions.
A perfect copy of Hit-Monkey appeared before him, hands raised in surrender, voice carrying Hit-Monkey's exact chitter.
Masacre didn't hesitate.
He shot the illusion square in the face. The image shattered into light.
He stood completely still for a moment.
"That... that was an illusion," he said, his voice cracking as genuine anguish formed behind his mask. "That was my chance. My one clean shot at finally getting rid of that demonic monkey. And you..." He turned slowly toward where Sprite was hiding. "You took that away from me, you Godless creature."
His voice carried the weight of a man robbed of something sacred.
Sprite's calmness shattered as Masacre advanced on her position. She created more illusions, duplicates of herself, monstrous creatures, environmental hazards that should have given any sane person pause.
Masacre walked through every single one. The grief of not silencing Hit-Monkey fuelled him like a furnace.
"Lord, give me the strength to deliver your judgment on this witch," he continued, addressing Sprite directly even though she was hiding behind seven layers of illusion.
He reached through them and grabbed her actual collar, pulling her out with embarrassing ease.
Sprite kicked him in the scrotum.
It hurt her foot more than it hurt Masacre.
"Ow," she said.
"Yes," Masacre agreed. "The Lord said to protect your valuables more than your head. That is why I wear a cup blessed by three priests." He set her down firmly. "Also, stop kicking there. It is rude."
While the fight raged across Tiamut's chains, Sersi made her move.
She slipped away from the main battle, her transmutation powers letting her phase through obstacles, converting chain links to air temporarily before reconverting them behind her. She moved with purpose toward Tiamut's head, following the crimson chains to their source.
If she could just reach whoever was controlling these restraints, whoever had the audacity to bind a Celestial like common livestock, she could end this whole situation herself.
She found far more than she'd expected.
At the summit of Tiamut's head, nestled in a natural depression where the Celestial's crown met his skull, sat a complete laboratory that made her stop cold. Not a makeshift setup — a full scientific research station that looked like it had been transported directly from Phastos's own workshop. Computers hummed with processing power, holographic displays showed complex simulations, and dozens of containers filled with glowing red liquid lined the workbenches.
The chains weren't just restraints, Sersi realized with growing horror. They were also conduits, feeding that red liquid directly into Tiamut's body at key points marked on the simulation displays.
Two older humans moved through the lab with frantic energy, their hands flying across keyboards while they muttered technical jargon Sersi couldn't follow.
"Step away from the equipment," Sersi commanded, her hands glowing with golden energy as she prepared to turn their computers to dust. "Whatever you're doing to Tiamut ends now."
Before she could release her power, crimson strings materialized around her body.
They wrapped around her limbs, her torso, her neck with a gentleness that somehow felt more threatening than violence. The energy they carried interfered with her own powers at a fundamental level, disrupting the particle manipulation she used for transmutation.
Her powers failed completely.
"What... how?"
"Look who we have here," a familiar voice said from behind her, smooth and controlled. "A cat burglar. Skulking around and sneaking in doesn't really fit the honourable reputation of Sersi the Eternal."
Sersi turned.
Domino stood at the lab's edge, her black and white mercenary suit pristine despite the chaos of battle below. Her scarlet-tinted eye tracked Sersi with the focused calm of someone who had already calculated every possible response and found them all manageable.
"You." Sersi's voice came out strangled. "You did this. You chained a Celestial like an animal."
"Technically, I just supervised," Domino corrected. "Hank and Janet did the actual science. I just made sure nothing went catastrophically wrong. Well, more wrong than chaining a space god usually goes."
Recognition crashed over Sersi like cold water.
The Goddess.
The woman who had brought 47,000 people back from death itself. Who had performed miracles on par with Celestials.
"Oh shit," Sersi breathed.
"Yeah." Domino's smile carried zero warmth. "Oh shit indeed. Now, here's what's going to happen. You're going to call your team and tell them to stop fighting. We're all going to have a calm conversation about why we're here. And if anyone tries anything stupid, I'm going to demonstrate exactly why fighting a goddess is a terrible life choice." She tilted her head. "Questions?"
Sersi's mouth opened and closed several times. "You can't just... Tiamut is sacred. He's a Celestial. His awakening is..."
"Going to kill seven billion people." Domino's voice went flat. "Yeah, we know. That's literally why we're here. Did you think we chained a space god for fun?"
"But Arishem commanded..."
"Arishem's not coming to save you, honey." Domino's eye flashed with something dangerous.
Sersi stared at her for a long moment, something cold moving through her chest.
Then she activated her emergency beacon.
The signal pulsed across the battlefield, cutting through every Eternal's consciousness with impossible-to-ignore urgency.
The fighting stopped immediately.
Ikaris, who had finally recovered from his concussion and was preparing another attack run, froze mid-flight. His head snapped toward the source of the signal, confusion replacing rage.
The other Eternals disengaged from their opponents with varying degrees of relief. Most of them had been losing anyway, discovering these mercenaries were considerably harder to beat than anticipated.
Druig peeled himself off the ground where Hit-Monkey had left him, his dignity in complete tatters. "That's Sersi's signal. She's calling a full stop."
"Thank god," Kingo groaned, his body covered in bruises from repeated giant-sized punches. "I was running out of energy anyway. Those tiny people hit surprisingly hard for their size."
The mercenaries lowered their weapons, falling back to defensive positions without pressing the advantage.
"Everyone to the summit," Sersi's voice echoed across the core chamber. "Including you, Ajak. And Phastos. We need everyone here for this."
The journey to Tiamut's summit took on a surreal quality. Eternals and mercenaries made their way up the Celestial's body in awkward silence, using his armour plating as handholds and his joints as rest points. The scale became more apparent with each step. What looked like small ridges from a distance were canyons up close. Pores in his skin were large enough to drive vehicles through.
Hope kept her hand on her suit's controls, ready to shrink and fight if things went sideways. Deadpool kept making jokes that nobody laughed at, which was usually a sign he was nervous beneath his mask.
When they all assembled at the laboratory summit, climbing over the final ridge of Tiamut's crown, the sight that greeted them killed any remaining desire for combat.
Hank and Janet worked at their stations, barely acknowledging the new arrivals. They'd entered that state of scientific focus where the rest of the universe ceased to exist, leaving only the problem and the tools to solve it.
And behind them, Tiamut's golden form pulsed with steady rhythm, completely unaware of the drama unfolding on his head.
Ikaris's eyes blazed gold as he stepped forward. "You humans have chained our god. Defiled his sacred space. This is an act of war against..."
Domino's elbow appeared on his shoulder so suddenly that his words died mid-sentence.
Her arm rested there with casual intimacy, like they were old friends sharing a private joke.
"Chill," she said quietly. "It's not that serious, Homelander."
Ikaris's entire body went rigid. Not from simple fear of being hurt — he'd faced death before. From the primal recognition of standing next to something that occupied a completely different tier of existence. Domino's presence pressed against his synthetic biology with weight that made every threat assessment protocol he had scream warnings. Not quite at Arishem's level. Not yet. But so far above anything else Ikaris had encountered that the distance between them felt infinite.
He tried to pull away.
Domino's hand tightened on his shoulder just enough to make it clear that moving would require her permission.
"We're going to have a conversation," she continued, tone maddeningly calm. "You're going to listen. Then you're going to ask intelligent questions. And we're going to work this out like adults. Sound good?"
Ikaris managed a nod that came out more like a nervous twitch.
Domino released him and stepped back to address the full group.
"Right. Since we're doing this formally. I'm Domino, also known as Neena Thurman. You've probably heard of me."
Nervous nods all around.
Most of the Eternals recognized her immediately. Who wouldn't? The woman who had performed feats rivaling Celestials. Who had resurrected tens of thousands, taking them back from Death's own domain. Their synthetic cores registered her presence as something simultaneously familiar and alien — human, but fundamentally other in ways their threat assessment protocols couldn't quite categorise.
"These are the Mercs for Money," Domino continued, gesturing at her team. "Deadpool, Slapstick, Masacre, Hit-Monkey, Gorilla-Man, and Machine Man. They're with me. The folks in the lab are Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, the two smartest people currently alive when it comes to solving your specific problem. And you've already met Scott and Hope."
She paused, letting that settle.
"Now. I'm going to explain our plan exactly once. Pay attention, because I'm not repeating myself, and this is the only way Earth survives the next few days."
Ajak's expression shifted from shock toward something fragile and hopeful. "Survival? You have a way to prevent the Emergence?"
"Better." Domino's smile was sharp. "We're going to perform a C-section on Earth and deliver your god without killing the mother."
Silence.
The kind of profound, absolute silence that came from hearing something so absurd that language temporarily ceased to function.
Then every Eternal reacted simultaneously.
"WHAT?!"
The collective shout was loud enough that Tiamut stirred slightly beneath them, the Dreaming Celestial's golden light flickering like a sleeper disturbed by a loud dream.
Beneath their feet, Earth's avatar manifested as a phantom presence visible only to Domino, feminine and ancient, carrying equal parts amusement and exasperation. Gaea's voice, when it came, was felt more than heard.
"Language, dear. The baby can hear you."
Then she was gone, leaving behind only the faint impression of maternal fondness.
Domino winced. "Sorry, Gaea. I'll watch my mouth."
She looked back at the stunned assembly of Eternals and mercenaries standing on the head of a sleeping god, six thousand kilometers deep in the heart of the Earth, staring at her like she'd just suggested the impossible.
Which, to be fair, she had.
"Now then," Domino said, rolling up her sleeves. "Let's talk about how we're doing this."
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