"It should be a coup," Ethan said with near certainty as he observed the chaos inside the hidden city.
The moment Pietro heard those words, his expression lit up with relief. "I knew it!" he said excitedly. "There's no way I got dumped. Wanda, you see that now?"
Ethan could only stare at him speechlessly.
The city below them was clearly in the middle of a violent political uprising, and Pietro's biggest concern was still whether his girlfriend had broken up with him.
It was honestly impressive in a strange way.
While Pietro celebrated his vindication, Wanda's mood turned noticeably sour. If Pietro hadn't actually been dumped, that meant she'd lose her favorite excuse to mock him.
But just as the thought crossed her mind, another idea suddenly sparked in her head.
Her eyes lit up.
"Pietro," Wanda said slowly, her tone suddenly serious. "Didn't Ethan say your girlfriend is part of the Inhuman royal family?"
Pietro blinked.
"Yes…?"
"Well," Wanda continued calmly, "if this really is a coup, that means someone is trying to overthrow the royal family. In that case, your girlfriend might be in serious danger right now."
Pietro froze.
The logic was flawless.
Considering that Crystal had already been out of contact for several days, the possibility suddenly felt very real.
The excitement on his face vanished instantly.
"Wanda, open a portal," Pietro said urgently. "We need to get inside now."
Attilan was sealed behind a massive protective barrier. Even with his incredible speed, Pietro couldn't simply run through it.
But now that the city was visible, Wanda had a clear reference point for the destination. That meant opening a portal was no longer a problem.
Wanda crossed her arms and smiled mischievously.
"If you call me 'big sister,' I'll open it," she said sweetly. "Otherwise I won't."
Pietro stared at her in disbelief.
He had not expected Wanda to choose this moment to start blackmailing him.
"Wanda, you…"
His voice trembled with anger.
He turned toward Ethan for help, but Ethan simply shrugged and gave him a look that clearly said, Handle it yourself.
Even if Ethan intervened, Wanda would still open the portal eventually. But he had no intention of getting involved in the sibling rivalry.
Besides, Wanda was his future wife.
"…."
Pietro muttered something under his breath.
"I didn't hear you," Wanda replied calmly.
Now that she had the upper hand, there was no way she was letting him off easily.
"Sister!" Pietro finally shouted. "Open the portal or I'm really going to get mad, Wanda!"
Wanda's smile immediately widened.
She knew perfectly well when to stop pushing.
"Good boy," she said cheerfully. "Your big sister will open the portal for you."
With that, she raised her hand and drew a glowing circle in the air. Sparks burst outward as a portal opened, revealing the interior of Attilan.
Thousands of years ago, two powerful alien civilizations—the Kree and the Skrulls—had waged a massive war across the galaxy.
For strategic reasons, the Kree eventually arrived in the solar system. When they discovered Earth, they became fascinated with the genetic potential of early human life.
As a result, they began experimenting on primitive humans.
Their goal was to create powerful soldiers that could be used in their galactic conflict.
Eventually, they succeeded.
The experiments produced a new race of super-powered beings known as the Inhumans.
However, for reasons that were never fully explained—perhaps because the war situation had changed—the Kree eventually abandoned their experiments and left the Inhumans behind on Earth.
Left on their own, the Inhumans began to develop independently.
Over thousands of years, they built a complex society and formed their own political structure. Because they inherited fragments of Kree technology, their civilization advanced far beyond human levels in many areas.
Around seven thousand years ago, the Inhumans decided to separate themselves from humanity entirely.
They built a city of their own—Attilan.
Originally, Attilan existed somewhere on Earth.
But during the twentieth century, as human technology advanced rapidly, the Inhumans began to worry that humans might discover them.
To avoid that possibility, they relocated their entire city to a safer place.
The moon.
Now, as Ethan and the others stepped through the portal, the signs of rebellion were visible everywhere.
Broken buildings littered the streets.
Bodies were scattered across the ground.
Attilan had clearly become the battlefield of a coup.
Seeing this scene, Pietro's anxiety grew rapidly.
"Ethan," he said nervously, "how are we supposed to find Crystal?"
Attilan wasn't a small place. The city was roughly the size of two New Yorks combined.
Searching for a single person here would not be easy.
Ethan was about to respond when his expression suddenly changed.
After entering the city, his observation abilities had immediately begun scanning the surroundings.
"Someone's coming," Ethan said.
Just as the words left his mouth, the ground beneath their feet began shaking violently.
Ethan calmly stabilized himself using telekinesis.
Wanda, Tony, and Pietro instead activated their armor and lifted off the ground to maintain balance.
Moments later, a massive figure appeared in front of them.
The man's upper body looked completely human—broad shoulders, powerful muscles, and a stern face.
But from the waist down, his legs ended in enormous hooves like those of a powerful animal.
The identity of the newcomer was obvious.
Gorgon.
He was the cousin of Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans, and also served as his personal bodyguard.
His ability allowed him to generate devastating seismic vibrations by stomping the ground.
Of course, those hooves were the price of that power.
For Inhumans, gaining abilities required exposure to Terrigen Mist, which activated their latent genetic potential.
But the transformation always came with side effects—physical mutations that could never be reversed.
For example, Black Bolt could never speak normally because his voice could destroy cities.
Crystal possessed incredible elemental control but suffered from an extremely fragile immune system.
As for Gorgon, his legs had permanently transformed into powerful hooves.
Compared to mutants, whose X-gene activated naturally once they reached a certain age, the Inhumans' condition was far less fortunate.
After all, mutants were the evolutionary result of experiments conducted by the Celestials.
The Inhumans were merely abandoned test subjects created by the Kree.
From the moment they were born, their starting point had already been lower.
"Who are you?" Gorgon demanded in a deep voice. "Are you allies of Maximus?"
Ethan stepped out of his armor and raised his hands calmly.
"Hello," he said. "We're guests from Earth. We came to Attilan to find someone."
The answer did nothing to ease Gorgon's suspicion.
If anything, his expression became even more serious.
The Inhumans had moved to the moon specifically to avoid human interference. The fact that humans had now found Attilan—especially during a coup—made the situation extremely suspicious.
"Who are you looking for?" Gorgon asked cautiously.
He did not attack immediately.
Anyone capable of locating Attilan clearly understood the existence of the Inhumans. If they dared to come here openly, they likely had something backing them up.
And with Attilan already dealing with internal conflict, creating another enemy was the last thing they needed.
"Her name is Crystal," Pietro said quickly.
Gorgon's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know Princess Crystal?"
"I'm her boyfriend," Pietro replied without hesitation.
To show he had no hostile intentions, he stepped out of his armor as well.
Seeing that, Wanda and Tony also exited their suits. With Ethan standing there, neither of them felt even slightly worried about their safety.
"Princess Crystal's boyfriend?" Gorgon repeated.
He looked Pietro up and down carefully.
He was already aware of the situation.
A few days earlier, Crystal had argued fiercely with her older sister Medusa, the queen of the Inhumans, because of this exact issue.
After all, in Inhuman society, marriages with other races were strictly forbidden.
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