By the time Agent Hill arrived at the scene with a full security detail, the damage was already done. Standing at the center of the chaos was a gaunt, alien figure with the face of some ancient beast, his expression calm and contemptuous despite the guns trained on him from every direction. He didn't look worried in the slightest. If anything, he looked mildly bored.
The scepter in his hand rotated once, smooth and deliberate. A ring of yellow-blue light rippled outward from its tip, spreading through the room before anyone could react. The guards froze where they stood, their bodies locking up as if their wills had been ripped away in an instant.
Then their eyes darkened.
One by one, every armed man and woman in the area dropped to a knee, their faces blank, their voices perfectly synchronized as they bowed their heads. "Master!"
Ebony Maw moved through them like a patient priest among kneeling believers. He stopped in front of a researcher, raised the Mind Scepter, and pressed a memory directly into the man's mind. It wasn't just an order. It was knowledge—the precise method required to use the Cube to open the portal.
His voice was soft, almost gentle, which somehow made it more unsettling. "I need you to build a machine to help me open the portal."
The researcher's eyes brightened instantly with unnatural obedience. "We'll need an element, Master," he said without hesitation.
…
Back at the Avengers base, Locke was occupied with something far stranger than an alien invasion. He was currently training his new pet—the miniature Galactus knockoff everyone at the base had started calling Little Devourer.
He'd already had one of the professors examine the little thing thoroughly. The result had been bizarre but clear. The creature possessed a complete and independent soul, but it was also, to put it bluntly, kind of stupid. Locke had no idea how Moonstar had managed to create something like this, but somehow she had.
For all its oddness, the little monster had become weirdly popular around the base. A lot of people liked it, especially when it wasn't trying to chew through reinforced metal.
At that moment, Little Devourer was sitting in front of Locke with all the stubborn dignity its tiny armored body could manage. Its head was turned away in open defiance, refusing even to look at him. Locke, meanwhile, held a huge roasted leg of lamb right under its nose, the smell rich and greasy and absolutely irresistible.
"You want it?" Locke asked, grinning as he waved it back and forth. "You want it, don't you? Then take the armor off for me."
The little thing swallowed hard and turned its face even farther away, doing its best to maintain its pride. Seeing that it still refused to budge, Locke shrugged and took a massive bite himself. He chewed loudly and obnoxiously, putting on the most exaggerated expression of satisfaction he could manage.
"Mmm. Damn, this is good."
That did it.
Little Devourer launched itself at him like a cannonball the size of a melon. It slammed into his chest, latched onto the lamb leg, and tore off a huge bite in one savage snap. Locke yanked back instinctively, but the little guy refused to let go. By the time he finally pulled it away, a large chunk of meat and bone had already vanished down its throat.
Its cheeks bulged as it struggled to swallow, but not a single drop of grease stained the armor.
That armor had been driving Locke crazy for days.
He'd tested it repeatedly, and it wasn't simple plating. It looked almost like leather at first glance, but the actual performance was outrageous. As far as durability went, the only materials in the entire Avengers base that could match or exceed it were vibranium and adamantium.
And toughness was just the beginning. The armor was fireproof, shockproof, waterproof, thermally insulated, and even resistant to magic. To Locke, that last part was especially tempting. He wanted nothing more than to strip the suit off the little brat and toss it directly to Anton and his son for full analysis.
Unfortunately, Little Devourer refused with a stubbornness bordering on fanaticism.
Since Locke genuinely treated the thing like a pet, he wasn't willing to use force. That left him with only bribery, threats, and constant harassment. So far, none of it had worked.
With a sigh, he tossed the rest of the lamb leg over. Little Devourer pounced on it happily, and Locke leaned back in his chair, glancing up at the sun overhead as he stretched lazily.
Recently, he had discovered another one of the sun's ridiculous side benefits. As long as he spent one or two hours under direct sunlight every day, his physical attributes would increase slowly on their own. The growth wasn't explosive, but it was constant—roughly two to four attribute points per day for each stat.
Too little time under the sun did nothing. Too much was just inefficient.
Even so, the result was amazing. As long as the weather cooperated, he was basically getting more than three hundred free attribute points every month.
That was the kind of passive growth that made people emotional.
So damn good.
…
Königstraße 28, Stuttgart, Germany.
An upper-class banquet was underway inside an elegant private hall, the sound of violins filling the air with polished sophistication. Men in tailored suits and women in expensive gowns drifted across the dance floor beneath warm golden light, smiling, drinking, and trading empty compliments.
Hill entered the venue in a fitted red evening dress, moving with the kind of quiet grace that drew eyes instantly. More than one man turned his head. Several of them approached her before she'd even crossed half the room, but each was dismissed with a cool smile and a few carefully chosen words.
She didn't come here to socialize.
Instead, she stood calmly off to one side, apparently listening with polite interest as her target, Dr. Heinrich Schäfer, finished his speech to a room full of applauding guests. He basked in it for a moment, then stepped down from the podium with the easy confidence of a man who thought himself untouchable.
Hill started walking toward him.
…
At a research institute not far away, a SHIELD strike team moved at the exact same moment. The agents were armed, disciplined, and fast. Security guards barely had time to register the breach before they were gunned down one after another.
Within minutes, the team reached an alloy security door deep inside the facility. One of the agents pulled out a specialized device and pressed it against the iris scanner, the mechanism humming as it began replicating the necessary biometric pattern.
Back at the banquet, Heinrich noticed the beautiful woman approaching and brightened visibly. His mouth had already started forming the first line of whatever oily nonsense he intended to say.
"Excuse me, beautiful lady, would you—"
A blur flashed past.
A narrow blade plunged straight into his eye.
Heinrich screamed and collapsed instantly, writhing on the floor as the ballroom exploded into panic. Guests shrieked and scattered in every direction. Somewhere behind her, glasses shattered and music died mid-note.
Hill calmly wiped the blood from her hand and walked out through the chaos. By the time police arrived, she was already gone.
At the institute, the SHIELD team opened the security door and secured the iridium.
In a hidden room elsewhere, Ebony Maw watched the operation unfold from a remote feed and allowed himself a faint smile. Through the Mind Scepter, he immediately contacted Thanos, who sat far away among the stars.
"Master," Ebony Maw said, bowing his head slightly, "I have found the Cosmic Cube. I can bring it back to you."
He hesitated before continuing. "But… must we still summon the Chitauri army and slaughter half the people on this planet?"
On his throne, Thanos looked like a purple titan carved from some nightmare version of stone. He considered the question in silence.
He already knew a third gem was on Earth, guarded—at least in theory—by a powerful sorcerer. If Ebony Maw returned now, two gems could certainly be secured. But Thanos wasn't after two. He wanted all six.
No exceptions.
"Conquer this planet," he said at last. "Find the third gem. It is here."
Ebony Maw paused, momentarily surprised. Two Infinity Stones on a world this small? It sounded absurd.
Then again, that just made things easier. Half his master's dream might be accomplished in a single campaign.
After a moment of thought, he spoke again. "Master, I will need support. This planet has several defenders more troublesome than expected."
"I will send Corvus Glaive and Cull Obsidian to aid you."
Ebony Maw bowed his head more deeply. "Yes, Master."
Once the connection ended, he turned his attention to the question of where to open the portal. It needed to be somewhere unforgettable, somewhere so visible that conquering it would terrify the entire planet at once. That kind of spectacle mattered. If the world broke psychologically, the war would already be half won.
As he considered the options, the computer before him began cycling through image after image pulled from Earth's networks.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Stark, and today I'm introducing the greatest invention in Stark Industries history…"
"The Avengers strike again—Earth's mightiest heroes assemble…"
"Tony Stark, the greatest inventor of the twenty-first century…"
"Avenger member Wolverine Logan: past and present…"
"Stark seen late at night with eight women…"
Ebony Maw studied the feed for a long time before reaching an obvious conclusion. On this world, two names dominated public attention more than any others.
The Avengers.
And Tony Stark.
Their associated strongholds were easy to identify: Avengers Base in New Jersey, and Stark Tower in New York.
The Avengers as a group would be dangerous. For safety's sake, Stark Tower was the better opening move. Once the Chitauri army arrived in full force, they could sweep straight from New York to the Avengers base in a single crushing wave.
…
When Locke received word about the Germany incident, he was genuinely thrown for a moment.
Loki had already been derailed from the original track by him and was probably getting the hell beaten out of him by Thor somewhere in Asgard right now. So why was the plotline from the first Avengers movie still trying to happen anyway?
That made no sense.
He had actually spent a lot of effort in secret trying to locate the Cosmic Cube himself, but it had gotten him nowhere. Fury's old hidden base was still hidden well enough to be a pain in the ass even now.
So there was only one explanation that really fit.
Thanos had gotten impatient and decided to start snatching gems personally.
The thought made Locke's expression change immediately.
Damn.
If Thanos got the Cube and used it to open a portal straight back home, that would be a disaster. A version of Thanos with five Stones appearing on Earth was not an opponent Locke was ready to bet against.
Which meant one thing.
If it came to that, the Time Stone had to be taken away and destroyed.
And as for what power could actually destroy it…
The Phoenix.
If the worst-case scenario arrived, then Jane would have to be sacrificed to awaken the Phoenix Force.
To be fair, thanks to Locke's existence, the Phoenix power inside her was unusually stable right now. There were no signs of eruption yet. Even so, he would need a backup plan. He'd have his people begin collecting all available intelligence on Strange immediately.
That said, he couldn't ignore the more immediate problem.
The Chitauri still might invade New York.
Thanos had never exactly been known for restraint. If he showed up on Earth, the odds of him leaving without killing at least half the population were basically zero. And if there was going to be an invasion, then by universal law and narrative gravity, it was going to happen in New York.
No point arguing with destiny when destiny was that predictable.
Locke immediately placed a video call to Acting President Obama.
The man looked terrible.
His hair had gone completely white, deep wrinkles lined his face, and his eyes were dim with exhaustion. He looked less like a president and more like a stubborn old man refusing to die out of pure spite. Locke had to respect that, at least a little.
Before he could say anything, Obama sighed heavily. "Locke, I'm planning to announce tomorrow that the presidential election will be moved up to early next month. What do you think?"
Locke paused.
Deep down, he wanted Obama to stay in office a little longer. The two of them had a strong working relationship, and things got done much faster when the guy in charge already knew how to cut a dirty deal.
So Locke decided to help him.
"Do you want to hold onto the presidency for a few more months?" he asked.
Obama's eyelids sagged even lower. "And how exactly do you plan to make that happen? Which country are you going to attack this time? What do they have, a mountain of gold?"
Locke smirked slightly. "A bunch of aliens may be about to invade Earth. If you beat them cleanly and publicly, that should buy you a few extra months in office."
Obama's eyes narrowed at once. "Is that real?"
…
To help Obama turn the whole situation around, Locke laid out a very practical plan.
First, Tony Stark—who would absolutely steal every ounce of glory if left unattended—had to be removed from the board. So the Pentagon would officially invite him to Hawaii under the pretense of discussing a major defense partnership.
Second, the New York National Guard would be quietly pulled out to a neighboring state for joint exercises. Ideally, most senior officers would be caught up in that operation at the exact wrong moment.
At the same time, warships would be moved into position off the coast of New York under strict secrecy. A few Marine Corps rapid-response teams would also be staged nearby, ready to act.
More importantly, over half the Avengers needed to be sent on missions around the world. The fewer variables in New York, the better. Leave only Wolverine and Colossus behind—two guys with no real talent for stealing the spotlight politically.
Professor Xavier could remain as well, though mostly as an insurance policy. The Chitauri didn't really have souls in the usual sense, so his powers wouldn't be especially useful against their rank and file. But if the situation got bad enough, he could still be deployed against commanders or other high-level targets who did have minds worth breaking.
Finally, Obama would prepare several speeches in advance. The moment the invasion began, the press conference would go live.
America would not fall.
And neither would he.
New York would be in crisis, and he, Barack Obama, would be the man to turn the tide.
....
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