"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad!"
"Nah, I'm telling ya, it totally was."
"Rocket's right, that really was an evil laugh."
"I did not let out an evil laugh!"
"Gotta disagree with ya there pal. Totally evil, all the way. Only thing ya needed was black leather and you'd be all set, oh Dark One."
"It wasn't evil!"
"You cackled loud enough to make the floor shake. Sounds pretty evil to me dude. You're worse than Vader… you're the Emperor!"
"Ok, first off: you take that back Peter! And secondly, it wasn't an evil laugh… it was more of an… diabolical laugh… in the sense that… it was the fruition of an ingenious master plan, not of my… evilness."
As my defense peters out, our little party comes to a halt, the other members of my team looking at me with glances holding varying levels of skepticism (as in, Rocket is openly scoffing and even Peter is rolling his eyes).
"C'mon Groot, buddy, you don't think that was an evil laugh, do you?"
"… I… … …am Groot." The sapient tree shuffled awkwardly, for once trying his best to not look at me.
"… Bill?"
The cyborg's eyes stop tracking the broken hall of the temple to glance towards me, before he gives a careless shrug.
"It was a textbook example of an evil laugh."
With that said, he starts walking again, clapping me heartily on my shoulder.
"Do not worry, I have already accepted that you are a diabolic warlord quite some time ago. This is nothing new to any of us, save maybe yourself."
And with that he's off, the rest of the group in tow, but I can see the grins they're trying to suppress, and the way that Rocket's tiny shoulders are shaking with laughter so I play along, throwing my arms up in despair, calling out in my most dramatic tone of voice.
"Oh, woe is me! I have been found out! Very well then, allow me to show you the face of true evil! From now on, we must all wear black leather, wear spikes on our shoulders and have nicknames that incorporate the word blood, teeth or blade, preferably all three. Exceptions can be made for Casual Fridays. Muhaha." I finished dryly.
And with that, all tension is broken with Rocket's laughter echoing through the ruins of the ancient Morag temple. We keep bantering back and forth as we make our way towards Oliver, all six of us easily piling into his cabin.
Having spent hours cooped up together when we left Xandar, as well as the money that I was paying them combined with their own loose morals, meant that the new additions to my team weren't too spooked of my little power trip (heh) after I got the Stone, and Bill and Sterns were with me long enough to overlook it anyways.
Oliver ascended into Morag's atmosphere with ease, the perpetual storms that plagued the planet ineffectively battering his windshield. While there was nobody on (or in the vicinity of) the planet, I still ordered Sterns to take us out via Boom Tube, rather than just opening a Tesseract portal to Earth. Even if nobody was here, that didn't mean nobody was watching. If Thanos had any kind of surveillance on the planet, then he would notice the jumps that Oliver had made.
Two incredibly powerful teleport signatures, separated by a short time spent in the vicinity of the Power Stone? Should Thanos indeed be keeping an eye on Morag, then his mind would immediately jump towards the Power Stone being taken. If he comes here to check on it (though he'd probably send a disposable middle man instead, in order to keep his true motives hidden from the galaxy) and he finds it missing, he might react… unpredictable.
The thought of an unpredictable Thanos unnerves me, so if I have to endure the (relatively) slow method of travelling via Boom Tube for a little longer, then so be it.
Thankfully, I didn't think it necessary to put as much distance between us and the planet as we had done with Xandar, so after a few hours I had Sterns drop us back into Real Space, before giving him permission to once again rip a hole in all conventional (and unconvential) notions of Space in order to take us home.
Once again, we entered a plane of existence that reminded me of the Hyperspace Lanes of Star Wars, only more electrifyingly blue, before with a sudden jerk we were spat back out into reality again, flying high above Earth's upper atmosphere, the entire continent of North America no larger than my fingernail sitting underneath our position.
Something was terribly wrong.
A crawl went up my spine, to my scalp, and then back down all the way to my toes. Something akin to nausea made itself known with a vengeance, and I could feel all of my muscles tense as sheer adrenaline slammed through my veins.
When I looked down at Earth, I could see why.
New York was burning.
"Sterns." I growl out, getting startled looks from the other occupants of Oliver's cabin.
My friend is way ahead of me, bringing up a viewing screen that runs across Oliver's dashboard. It takes a few moments, before Sterns' outgoing call is answered by the harried looking face of Phineas.
"Oh thank God, you're here! Get down now, we need all the fire-power we can get!"
"Phineas! What's going on!" I bark out, the man's digitized eyes snapping towards mine in an instant.
"We're being invaded."
Ice coils in my gut. The next Invasion isn't supposed to happen until well over half a year from now, when the Convergence allows the Dark Elves to reach Earth. What did I change? Did my trip in space set someone off, causing them to attack Earth?
"Who? Who is it Phinaes?"
… Had Thanos moved early after all?
Phineas' answer somehow managed to be even worse.
"It's Hell. Hell and Dormammu are invading New York."
For a moment, there's only a stunned silence, before it's broken by Rocket.
"I get Hell's attacking, but who's Dormammu?"
Somehow, the fact that my planet, my town is being attack by demons sets off a fury in me that takes me by surprise. With burning eyes and veins, I turn to the raccoon, my teeth grinding as I growl from deep in my chest.
"A soon to be very dead entity."
Turning away from Rocket, I look at Sterns.
"Sam. Take us down. Now."
"Aye, aye!"
As Oliver angles his nose downwards, and rapidly starts accelerating, igniting the air around us, I look back towards Phineas.
"Fill me in."
And so he did, showing me extensive video footage clearly taken from his army of drones. The sight of the demons (ugly looking lizard things that seemed to have been mixed with fire and horns into grotesque shapes) nearly sends me flying into a rage, something on a very deep, magical level making me want to lash out and tear them limb from limb.
Seeing them descend upon the populace of New York with gleeful howls, I'm not exactly inclined to curb that desire.
"It began five days ago, when several holes opened up in Central Park, all spouting flames and they began releasing hordes of demons. We were taken by complete surprise, apparently there were some really advanced energy dampeners in place, not even the Ancient One had felt anything off. Because we weren't prepared, and it was a sunny day… those first few hours were bad. The Avengers and Othrys were quick to form an initial perimeter though, trying to push the demons back, Cap and Harper leading the attack. They were quickly joined by the Masters of the Mystic arts, led by the Ancient One."
As he spoke, several videos were playing, showing the Avengers raining down missiles, arrows and lightning on the teeming horde, while the black clad shapes of the Hysminai cut a swath of death through the opposing forces, their silent movements starkly contrasting the howls and shrieks of the demons. Harper was backed up by about a dozen of my Othrys' personnel, all clad in armor and armed with weaponry reverse engineered from both the Chitauri and the Kree. I could even see Skye in the back, doing a fairly accurate impression of the kinetic bursts of the Black Panther suit whenever she hit the ground or a demon with her bare fists, her Inhuman powers turning out to be a devastating weapon. While the two teams threw themselves into the thick of the fighting, large portals suddenly opened all along the edges of Central Parks, wizards emerging by the dozens, the fluttering robe and bald head of the Ancient One in the front, Kaecellius and Mordo at her sides. I saw her give a nod to Kaecellius, who appeared to be more youthful, and more muscled. The wizard nodded in return, before shedding his upper robes, and dropping to all fours. His muscles bulged and shifted, the hair of his scalp growing into a blood-red shaggy mane, while coarse fur sprung up all over his body.
Straightening back to his feet, Kaecillius summoned one of his spears, roaring at the oncoming demon hoard, his now leonine face snarling in fury. The Ancient One didn't even spare a glance towards her were-lion friend, instead simply taking a few steps forwards, summoning magic arrays around her hands, before slamming them into the ground at her feet.
Causing nearly twenty tentacles of energy and rock to burst from the ground and start crushing demons left and right. The swarm was halted in its charge, and with a battle cry the other wizards joined the fray, slinging spells left and right. Kaecillius tore through demons left and right, moving with supernatural grace and speed, but even he paled to the Ancient One letting loose. With every move of her glowing arms, the very ground and air turned itself on the demons, large sinkholes swallowing up their putrid forms by the dozens, targeted tornados flinging even the largest of their number around like ragdolls.
It was what Strange had showcased during his battle with Thanos on Titan, turned up to Eleven.
Phineas continued his hurried explanation.
"Using Cross Technology, we managed to set up a crude cordon around Central Park, enlarging cars and stones and stuff. They came in waves, all throughout the night. On the second day S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived and started giving air support. They also started combing through New York to pick off the demons that had slipped past us, with me, Carter and Fury coordinating and Cap leading the ground forces. With our backs secured and air support in place, we finally had the chance to put up siege equipment in place and to wall of all of Central Park using Cross Tech. The Army managed to come on the third day, which we really needed, because the demons had kept on coming, and most of us were dead on our feet by then. The Army even brought in Blonsky, literally dropping him in the middle of the demon infestation, and he went to town on them, which gave us some breathing room for a few hours. Then he ran into one of the holes, and has presumably gone through the massive portal that we suspect is underneath the network of tunnels that the demons have been using to get around. Some of them are in the subways, though it's almost impossible to keep track of all of them. Anyway, the Abomination is either dead, or in Hell, and we're stretched way too thin to go looking for him. But between Othrys, the Avengers, the Army and SHIELD, things we're finally looking up: we were digging in, the strike teams had a chance to take a breather, and it all appeared as if we were building up for a successful counter push."
"Let me guess: Dormammu." I said grimly, seeing Phineas nod as he shows us footage of an enormous sinkhole opening up above New York, similar to what was shown in the Dr. Strange movie.
"The army had just barely arrived or the sky did… that. Sucked up about a third of all our aircraft, and a significant part of mine and Stark's drone fleet. The Helicarrier had to break off and make an emergency landing in Washington Square Park, knocking over the Arch, because a tentacle ripped off one of its engines. Apparently, with the Ancient One and most of the Masters on the battlefield, the Sanctums were left understaffed, and the three were attacked simultaneously and successfully. It completely blind-sided all of us, and it didn't help that our freshest troops were the least well equipped. Most of the Avengers and the Othrys combatants were running on fumes. We even had Loki released so he could join the fight, just so that we could give some of our other combatants some down-time. Thankfully, the Ancient One slapped him with an unbreakable, uncharmable bracelet, so we know it's still him and not an illusion while he sneaked away. All this meant that when Dormammu started bringing his army in, we were suddenly getting hammered hard. The best we could do is fall back to our perimeter and defend the line. Thankfully, New York had steadily been evacuating ever since Hell's first attack, so by this point it was declared that danger-close was acceptable and our jet fighters could swoop in to start fighting off Dormammu, though they had to get close to the point that most surrounding buildings now lack all of their windows… and in some cases their upper levels."
The creatures sent in by Dromammu were markedly different from the more traditional demons from the Hell Dimension. Where the Hell-demons were the classical bestial beings of fire, Dormammu's spawn would fit much better with some Lovecraftian setting. What I assumed to be hordes of Mindless Ones fell in the dozens to Earth from the portal in the sky, most of them appearing like bipedal humanoids, as if the effect that Kaecillius had around his eyes had continued along their entire bodies. Great beasts of chitin and dark flesh began leaping from building to building. Heaving tentacles, immense in length and making impossible turns extended through the hole in the sky, swatting at everything that came near it (including the few airborne demons that wandered to close) and drawing it inside of the portal, like an octopus gorging itself.
If the demons of Hell caused feelings of anger within me, then seeing Dormammu's vile spawn caused sheer fucking hate to boil my blood, and I found myself breathing heavily as the temperature within Oliver's cabin started to rise.
Phineas hurriedly kept talking though, either not noticing or not caring about my visible anger.
"We were still suffering heavy casualties, being caught between a rock and a hard place, with demons on both sides now. We might have been forced to give up several of our defensive positions, but thankfully, Jessica arrived and managed to hold the line, allowing Harper's team and the Avengers some much needed rest, and giving the Army the chance to dig in and hold the line."
My heart clenches when Phineas shows footage of a blur slamming into a large Dormammu spawn that had jumped off the top of a building, descending on a platoon of soldiers down below. The impact caused a brief shock-wave, and the ten feet tall extra-dimensional horror was sent flying several hundred meters, the side of what passed for its chest completely caved in. The blur descends to the ground, taking out several of the Hell demons that had been harassing the soldiers, finally coming to a stop with her boot crushing one of their spines. The heavy trench coat, burning eyes and Extremis skin are unmistakable.
As is the slight bump of her belly.
"On the fourth day, when we had managed to fight off Dormammu's surprise attack, it was decided that we would make our own surprise attack on the Hell Portal, since it was deemed an easier-access target than the portal in the sky. Closing it would allow the Ancient One and the other wizards to focus on sealing Dormammu again. A strike team made of the Avengers and elite SHIELD strike teams, the Hysminai and Jessica riding Susan, and the Ancient One and Kaecillius fought their way through the army of demons, tracking the residual gamma-energy trail that Blonsky had left."
Not gonna lie, seeing the Avengers, Hysminai, wizards, spies and Jessica group up and kicking the shit out of a demon horde might just be the coolest thing that I have ever seen, a concert of death as they cut down dozens and dozens of demons with a coordination that was inhuman and with powers that came straight out of legend. The demons barely had any time to feel fear before they were ripped apart by lightning, lasers, magic or superhuman fists.
"They got pretty close, but when they pinpointed the portal, an energy-field sprung up between them, and they couldn't breach it. It was technology of a level even higher than Othrys, and since they were surrounded by demons from all side they didn't have the time to try and dismantle it, so they had to fight their way back. Black Widow didn't make it."
My eyes briefly widen at the news. While I wasn't close to Romanov during this life, she had still been one of the heroes that I had enjoyed watching back in my old universe, and knowing that I had changed things to the point that one of the heroes died before their time was oddly… disheartening.
That said, I wasn't surprised. After all it's rather foolish to run into an army of demons armed only with a Taser. Something like that was going to happen sooner or later.
Still, her death merely galvanized me, my desire… no, my need to reduce these abominations tarnishing my planet to their constituent atoms only growing.
"We were all exhausted, angry and hurt by that point, and Widow's death pushed us over the edge. We scrambled every bird we had, and made a move to unleash all of our ordinance on the area surrounding the portal and force-field. It was a very near thing, or we would have gone for the nuclear option this time. However, the moment that we started the move, high-yield explosives began to go off all over New York. It quickly became apparent that whenever we approached with a jet or something, a bomb would go off, and so we had to scrap that tactic. We were literally forced into a grinding infantry battle, with Dormammu pelting us from above. So, on the fifth day, we decided that if we couldn't attack Hell directly, we would instead attack Dormammu. The Ancient One had a plan of entering the Dark Dimension and using the Eye of Agamotto to either defeat Dormammu in combat, or otherwise to close the portal from that side. She was accompanied by a similar strike team as during the attack on the Hell-portal, while SHIELD was diverting all of its resources to locating any bombs that might be used for the next "warning". A few went off, but between them, Stark and me, we got most of them. But when the strike team got close enough in the Quinjet, they were cut off by what seemed to be another demon on a Star Wars-like speeder. We have confirmation from SHIELD as well as an anonymous call that this entity is the Ghost Rider, though it's unknown why it's aiding Hell, or Dormammu. Fuck, we still don't know why those two have teamed up!" Phineas says in a harried tone, but my eyes are completely focused on the flame-wreathed figure that flies around on a futuristic looking speeder, throwing a burning chain around one of the Quinjet's wings and pulling it down.
It's quickly smashed aside by Thor, but worryingly enough, even getting hit in the side with Mjolnir seems to be insufficient to put it down.
Instead, the roaring flames around it's charred-black skull merely seem to glow even brighter, though whether that showcases anger or excitement is anyone's guess.
It looks slightly… off compared to how it's usually depicted though. The skull isn't a smooth white, but a broken, charred gray, as if its own flames are hurting it. Most Ghost Riders also don't have fangs, as far as I can recall. And its proportions aren't… human. The spine is too long, as are its arms, and it definitely has claws instead of fingers. It's legs are digitigrade, and on the footage a tail is clearly visible.
The most worrying part however is the clear sign of Dormammu carved into the exposed bone of its forehead and the tell-tale signs of Dark Dimension corruption visible in its empty sockets.
"The Ghost Rider fought off the combined might of the Avengers and Jessica long enough that Dormammu's tentacles managed to bundle together, and unleash an enormous energy wave. It atomized the Quinjet, carved a trench all down the length of Fifth Avenue and clipped Thor, who would've died if Loki hadn't managed to pull him out of the way. He's lost an arm though, but he still claims to be combat capable, and considering he's still on his feet and Mjolnir is still crushing demon skulls, none of us have really bothered to go against him. That was six hours ago… Michael… what are we going to do?"
Again silence falls over the cabin, as I look past Phineas' face and down to the approaching surface. I can see Central Park from this height, much of its greenery set aflame, and massive walls of a dark metal, twenty feet thick and sixty feet high surrounding it. The rest of New York isn't in much better shape, looking even worse than in the aftermath of the One Day War. We're only a minute away from New York, though Oliver will have to slow down significantly in order to keep our arrival from doing more damage than five days of interdimensional warfare.
"Hell is on our doorstep. Demons are swarming our streets. And humanity has been fighting off the apocalypse for days on end. What do you think we're gonna do?" I say in a heated tone, looking from my companions to Phineas, before a large grin splits my face.
"We're gonna fucking win this!"
Seeing answering grins from the people around me, I focus back on Phineas.
"Soter. Send out the call to all commanders: Pull back from Central Park. I'm going in, and with the amount of firepower I'm bringing, everything not outside of those walls is danger-close. We close the portal to Hell first. Then I'll deal with Dormammu after. The Ghost Rider is probably going to run interference, and since the Sanctums were attacked simultaneously, it probably has allies. I want everyone else to run counter-interference, so that I can close the portals. Then we'll go after the one responsible for all this with everything we got."
"You got it, Hyperion."
"Sterns, when we're half a kilometer above Central Park, open the door and let me out. Open the cargo-hold shortly after. The rest of you, wait until the lightshow is over, than form up on me: we'll push towards the portal while the Avengers and Harper keep everybody, and everthing else from our asses. Rocket, Groot, Peter: consider this your first performance review. Bill: it isn't Muspelheim, but you, out of everyone else here knows what will happen if demons claim victory. This is your chance to keep that from happening again. Can I count on you all?"
Getting various nods, grins and even a 'yes sir!' from Peter, I give a satisfied nod, before I feel Oliver come to a halt. Without a word, Sterns shifts his seat back far enough that I can easily pass him, while Oliver's door opens without any visible input from the scientist. Instead, he merely gives me a grim nod, before his own faceplate slams down, his mechanical arms whirring to life.
Clearly, he's not willing to sit this one out.
As soon as the door is opened, I dash outside of Oliver's cabin, letting gravity drag me down before I start pouring on the speed with my natural flight and the various Blue Boxes in my Aurelion Armor. Below me, I can see a horde of demons look up at me, before they start swarming towards where I'm going to crash. They range from the size of a dog to as large as a tank, but the smaller ones seem more abundant, while the larger ones (commanders or something, I guess) are far rarer.
In a move not out of place of the World War Z movie, they start piling on top of each other, and even as I descend to earth, they start clawing towards the sky. The distance keeps shortening, and I barely even pay attention to the sonic boom in my wake. My entire focus is on the swarm beneath me as I hurtle towards the grounds at speeds that would simply flatten most other organics.
As the distance between me and the multitude of claws, teeth and flames decreases from a few hundred meters to just a few dozen in the blink of an eye, I flood my body with Chi, raise my shield with the Power Stone shining brightly in the middle, a purple-golden glow shining over the entire battlefield, a high-pitched whine building around me, at the very last second I flip a switch in my armor…
… and I hit with the power of a nuke. A purple ring of sheer power plows into the Earth and rapidly expands outwards, the entirety of New York buckling underneath my onslaught. All of Central Park and the city blocks surrounding it are sandblasted by the tidal wave of dust and debris that my impact created.
In the wake of the physical wall of sound that reverberated across the battlefield, there's only a deathly silence, as all combating parties keep their eyes fixed on the raging dust-cloud that Central Park has become. When the dust starts to settle, they first see the outer limits of what once used to be one of the most famous parks in the world.
Nothing but bare earth and upturned trees has been left. The very ground has torn and buckled, great crevices and mounds of earth jagging through the newly formed wasteland. Spread across the ruined land lie the mangled corpses of what once a terrifying demonic host, their bodies now shattered and broken. Their pitiful remains have been shoved against the enormous walls, to the point that they nearly reach the top.
And those were the ones on the outskirts of my attack.
Further inwards, the cracks and ravines make way for compressed earth, the ground here flattened by so much force that it has been compressed into a flat, smooth surface. Occasionally a smear can be seen across the eerie plain: all that remains of the more unfortunate demons.
And finally, the dust around me settles, revealing first a gleaming area of obsidian, a testament to the amount of heat and pressure that was generated by my attack. Again, the area is compressed into a flat surface, but at the very epicenter, there's an enormous crater, easily capable of containing several Olympic-level swimming pools.
And in the center of that crater… me.
A hundred foot tall version of me, Harpe in one hand, shield in the other, my entire body glowing with Extremis and Chi. Looking over the scene of destruction that I have left, I decide that using the Cross Technology in my armor was a good call, grim satisfaction rising within me when I look at the mounds of demonic corpses pushed up against the now tiny looking walls. I look towards Dormammu's portal, which is located halfway between Central Park and Othrys. Much of his forces have survived, but while I really want to start cutting them all to bits, my work here isn't finished yet, my thoughts punctuated by the cracking noised underneath my feet.
The portal to Hell remains, though the force-field that protected it has shorted out, whatever equipment that had maintained it having perished under my assault.
At the thought of the demons rising up underneath my feet, my anger reaches a new crescendo, and with a growl which shakes the earth, I grip my scythe tighter. In response to my thoughts, my Leviathan, whose presence I can feel in my mind, descends from above, coiling it's Cross Tech-enhanced body around me, dwarfing the Chitauri mounts from the One Day War. I didn't dare use him in space, where the Chitauri (and their connection to Thanos) we're widely known, where he would draw unwanted attention.
However, it's unlikely these demons recognize the Leviathan and even if they did, I doubt they'll reach out to Thanos in order to tell him.
A few dozen feet behind me, I can hear Oliver land, the rest of my companions quickly exiting as they look around them with awe-struck faces.
"Remind me to never again antagonize you by claiming you're a dark evil overlord?" Rocket mutters weakly.
A couple of faces appear on the HUD in my helmet, patched through by Phineas: Fury, Carter, the Ancient One and Phineas himself.
Phineas is the first to speak.
"Michael, what was that?" he asks in a small voice, but I'm too distracted to really listen to or care about his question.
The demons underneath are moving closer and closer.
"Later. Got incoming. Keep your forces on Dormammu, and keep an eye out for Ghost Rider. I'll be done here soon." I growl, my eyes burning inferno's at the thought of killing more demons.
Carter and Fury frown, but recognize that right now isn't the time for a briefing, no matter how much this display made all the alarm bells in their minds go off. Phineas of course won't push me (not in front of outsiders at least), but the Ancient One shoots me a considering look.
"You know why I'm so angry."
It wasn't a question, and the Ancient One doesn't interpret it as one, instead answering straight to the point.
"You are Hyperion. The Titan of Fire and Heavenly Light. The beings from the Dark Dimension, be it Hell or Dormammu's realm, they are an anathema to you. Their very existence registers as an insult to a being of your alignment." She stresses.
"Alignment? I'm no saint Ancient One, you've told me so multiple times. How come I'm so far up on the scale of Good that I'm an enemy of demonkind?" I ask skeptically, only to receive a small, tired grin.
"Who ever said anything about Good? I'm talking about Light. Whether you do Good or Evil with either Dark or Light, that is up to you, and is defined by your peers. But as a being of Light, beings of Dark are your eternal enemy, on a level that very few mortals can truly comprehend." The Ancient One explains, but I have to cut her off.
"Incoming." I simply say, getting only grim nods in return as the others disconnect their call.
They know their part.
"Look alive! Or you won't be for much longer!" I yell out to my team, my voice easily carrying multiple city blocks, and it even makes Peter and Rocket stumble due to its sheer volume.
And with that, just as the first clawed hand bursts through the thick layer of obsidian, I slam the point of my kite-shield (now larger than most billboards) into the ground, the purple energy of the Power Stone shooting into it in a great beam of light, the ground around me buckling as I unleash the might of an Infinity Stone once again.
Despite the large scale of my attack, I'm not acting recklessly. I could destroy the planet if I handled the Power Stone incorrectly, as various Celestials have proven and Ronan almost accomplished. Instead of letting the Power spread though, I instead funnel it and channel it downwards, a great beam of force digging into the shattered crust underneath me.
The demons below me are vaporized, and a great sinkhole opens up beneath my gargantuan feet as tonnes of dirt and rock are reduced to nothing with a contemptuous ease. Looking down into the shaft I have opened up, I see several enormous holes opens up into varying other tunnels, a whole neatwork spread out underneath Central Park and even further.
Because I needed to keep the attack contained, and I don't have enough experience with the Stone yet to risk using more complicated attacks other than either a lot downwards, or relatively little sideways, the areas away from my attack have been left undisturbed this time.
All over the 4 kilometer long stretch of destroyed land, holes open up as demons crawl to the surface. Instead of appearing as an invasion force however, it's very clear that these are fleeing.
From me.
I want to order my team to take care of the stragglers while I descend in order to close the portal, but a look over my shoulder shows me that they didn't need any prompting. Beta-Ray Bill has bounded away into a large group of demons, ripping them apart with his gladiator weapons and bare hands with a savagery that would have been unsettling if it weren't on my side. Rocket and Peter are making liberal use of the spray-and-pray technique, their exotic weaponry chewing through the demons as if they were made of tissue paper. The few demons that get close enough to attack them meet a messy end at the hands of Groot, though the sapient tree is careful to only grab the demons that aren't on fire.
Sterns has his mechanical arms extended as far as they'll go and has two auto-turrets placed on his shoulder, each one twice as large as he is. He seems perfectly fine with pretending to be a living piece of artillery, nailing large clusters of demons even kilometers away with pin-point accuracy and explosive ordinance.
And Oliver…
I couldn't see Oliver. Before I can ping Sterns' communicator however, a shadow falls over me. Thinking it a spawn of Dormammu, I raise my scythe with a snarl, only to relax when I see that it's Oliver, flying towards a group of fleeing demons a few hundred meters away.
Instead of deploying guns, however, it overshoots them, crashing into the ground in front of them, actually… rolling over the ground? There's a whining sound as several parts of Oliver start shifting in an accurate imitation of Tony's first Iron Man suit's, electric blue light flickering between the shifting seams in his changing form.
And then Oliver comes to his… feet, one arm held up at the fleeing band of demons, his other resting at his side, a sword of all things held comfortably in his hand.
"Oliver?! What are you doing?!" I can hear Sterns yell out in shock, and I can certainly share the sentiment, simply staring at the truck like an idiot.
"Helping. There's a thin line between being a hero and being a memory." The mechanical voice of Oliver buzzes towards us.
"Uhh, guys?! Why is our vehicle imitating Optimus Prime?!" I hear Peter yell, before he ducks underneath a swipe from what appears to be the illegitimate offspring of a gorilla and a warthog, before kicking it in the nether regions, blasting its face off once its fallen to its knees.
For a moment none of us say anything, before Sterns speaks up, the pride in his voice unmistakable.
"Well, what better role model is there for transportation vehicles?"
"… fair enough." Peter mutters, before lobbing a bomb into the open maw of a snake-like demon, who has exactly two seconds to look nonplussed before the upper part of its body vanishes.
Meanwhile, the demons that have been halted by Oliver are looking restless, and several of them are clearly tired of waiting. Five dart forwards, intent on ripping the fifteen feet tall mecha to shreds, but a blue light shines from Oliver's chest as he grips his sword with two hands.
Then, in the time that it would take a person to blink, there are 6 flashes, and OIiver is back standing in the exact same location as before, while before him lie 5 bisected demons, their cut off edges of their bodies still steaming.
"Surrender, villain! Or taste defeat at the edge of my blade!"
The demons, being demons, do not in fact surrender, instead either trying to flee or attack him. Both are equally useless, as Oliver uses the Space Stone in his chest to great effect, blue flashes lighting up all around the battlefield, as if he were the MCU's equivalent of Minato Namikaze, demons dying in droves before they even have a chance to comprehend what cut them down.
Focusing on my own task, I look down at the sinkhole underneath me. It barely fits me, and I don't see the benefit of taking my Leviathan with me in what is probably going to be a very cramped battlefield. Instead, I send it towards the sky with a thought, where it starts chomping down on airborne Hell demons and the spawn of Dormammu that drops down from the gaping hole in the sky.
Looking back down again after watching my Leviathan swallow a demon commander in a single bite, I stop flying, and instead allow gravity to drag me down into the massive sinkhole I created. My armor and body provide sufficient light for me to see even without assistance from my helmet, and it doesn't take long for my eyes to see a noticeable larger tunnel off to the side.
It's half buried by rubble, but I don't really bother clearing it away. I instead raise my shield, and immediately accelerate forwards. I'm much too large to fit through the tunnel anyways, so instead I keep following its twists and turns as I slam all surrounding stone out of my way. Despite the large size of the sprawling network of tunnels, I arrive at the main chamber of the portal fairly soon, having followed the path in an ever downwards facing slope.
I'm around a kilometer underground, or so my HUD tells me.
The cavern that I'm standing in has been reinforced, and is large enough to house a football-stadium with ease. Such an enormous cavern so deep underground ought to collapse under the weight of all the stone above it (not to mention my two attacks), if it weren't for the impossibly thin struts lining the walls all the way up to the ceiling, coming together in the center, like a dark mockery of what you see in churches.
If it survived two attacks from the Power Stone (though very muted) then it's definitely not any tech known to man, that's for damn sure, but I have no idea what it could be.
Underneath it lies the portal, about the size of a large swimming pool, and a continuous stream of demons keeps pouring out of it, dozens at a time. However, instead of making a mad scramble for the dozens and dozens of tunnels that all lead to the surface above, they keep crowding around the portal, with several demons actually returning from the tunnels and taking up position in the main chamber.
The number of commander-class demons here is significantly higher than what I flattened on the surface, and there are a handful that are even larger than that, though none of them reach my size. They are all standing between me and the portal, and while some of them look fearful, it's clear that this small army is supposed to keep me away from their only way into this world.
And the only way back to their own.
As if an army of filthy, disgusting demons is capable of standing against the might of me! Hyperion, Lord of the Sun and Titan of Heavenly Light!
…
Ahem.
There might be a point to what the Ancient One says.
Still, I embrace my anger, which in turn is amplified by the Berserker-handle of my Harpe. With my blood singing in my veins and the ground underneath my feet melting from the heat I'm giving off, I step into the cavern with an army of demons before me.
For a moment, there's no movement at all, both sides merely sizing each other up. Then one leader lets out a challenging war cry, hurling his spear (which is on fire, of course) towards me at impressive speeds.
In a golden flash, my burning blade has come up in a graceful arc, cutting the spear neatly in half.
Still, while the demon leader is somewhat startled, his cry had its desired effect: as one, the demons start crossing the few dozen meters between us, and with a bloodthirsty grin, I pull back my scythe.
"What can the harvest hope for, but the care of the Reaper Man?" I say with a dark laugh, and then the Harpe descends, its golden after-glow cutting through two dozen demons, before the glow fades, and they fall in pieces to the ground.
And with that, the slaughter begins.
I have barely lost any of the speed I have in my regular form, and the blade of my scythe is now roughly the length of a bus, its Vibranium-Chitauri alloy, enhanced with my Chi and Asgardian battle magic, capable of cutting through demon flesh like a hot knife through butter.
Each cut claims a dozen lives or more, and each next cut follows within a second of the previous one, moving too fast for the demons to have any hope of dodging. Not even ten seconds pass, yet nearly a third of the demons here have perished, even with the constant resupply of the portal.
Soon, the pale gold of my greaves is hidden by the dark blood of the demon horde, but Harpe's blade remains flawless, either because of its enchantments or because it simply cleaves through the demons too fast to be tainted by their filth.
A savage joy overtakes me, and it takes me a few moments to understand that the echoing drone that fills the cavern is actually my laughter. This feels right in a way that very few things have ever done in either of my life. It transcends physical gratification, it feels as if my very soul is getting a shot of adrenaline and cocaine mixed with hard liquor.
I'm euphoric.
This is my purpose.
This is… not what I'm here for, I suddenly realize.
It takes a monumental amount of willpower to regain control of myself, to the point that I stop hacking in on every living thing around me in order to center myself. I didn't come here just to kill demons, I had a goal in mind. A tactic, a strategy to keep to.
I had people on the surface who were counting on me, even now.
Coming back down to earth, I notice three things.
One: I am up to my ankles in cut up demon corpses, a pretty impressive feat considering the size of said ankles.
Two: several of the larger demons have taken advantage of my lapse in attention and are currently in the middle of executing a multi-pronged attack on me.
Three: a hand is coming through the portal.
It's almost as large as mine.
I react half on instinct, half on battle-hardened reflexes as I take care of the immediate problem. The footsoldiers of this army are inconsequential (as much as a part of me is pained by the idea of not killing every single last one of them), while the larger demons only form a threat when they get the drop on me, like now. Then there's the giant hand currently entering Earth, meaning there's a boss coming. I don't know what the hierarchy of Hell is supposed to be in the MCU, but if it's a Hell-Lord of Mephisto's caliber, then I'm in for the fight of my life.
So, I duck down under a swing from a large flying demon wielding a bearded axe, and in the same move slam my shield into the ground, killing many of the demons in my direct surroundings, and pushing back several of the larger ones that were about to attack me, giving me some breathing room.
I let go of the Harpe as I deftly spin around a spear thrust from a porcupine looking demon with seven eyes (none of them in his head though), using that same movement to backswing my shield into a demon that looks like a Balrog with obesity. The demon's front is caved in completely as it is blown back into the far wall of the cavern, crushing several smaller demons under its lifeless bulk.
Meanwhile, I had kept a telekinetic hold of the Harpe and with a thought, it shrinks down to Ant-man size, flits upwards to the flying demon (who's still looking at me) and then enlarges again, cutting the demon neatly down the middle in a sudden arc of golden light, before it disappears from view again.
While this process repeats itself rapidly all across the cavern, cutting down demons that were out of my immediate reach or who appeared to be agile and fast enough to be too bothersome to try and hit with my shield, I keep brawling with the demons closer to me, the two simultaneous attacks barely a strain on my mental focus.
The melee type of demons all resemble Balrogs and Pitlords, and I honestly cannot see much that differentiates them from the rest of their species, other than their choice in armor and weaponry (not that I really care to look for it though). Their size and thick flesh clearly would've made them effective shock-troops against most species, and my people on the surface would've been forced to divert significant fire-power to take each one down, allowing their brethren to breach the weak point that would open up in the defenses.
Unfortunately for them, they have never had to deal with something both significantly faster, as well as infinitely stronger than them.
I keep spinning around their attacks, taking out more and more of their number by using those spins to backhand them in the face with an Infinity Stone. Most crumple up like tin-foil and are ragdolled across the cavern. A few of the weaker ones get entire parts of their bodies disintegrated. Those few that manage to use the deaths of their comrades in order to get close to me are taken care off with swift jabs of my Meteor Fist, its size and glow now properly doing the name justice, caving in demon skulls with every blow.
With the grace of the Heart-Shaped Herb and the enhanced senses provided by the Mind Stone, not a single demon out of the hundreds that are descending upon me from all sides are capable of even so much as scratching my armor.
Whenever their numbers grow too great, I simply slam my shield into the floor, or summon Harpe back to me and enlarge it, before spinning it around me in a cyclone of death.
All the while, I'm moving towards the portal, where a flaming red arm has now gone completely through. It's clawed fingers scramble at the burning edges of the portal, and before my eyes, it starts to push it wider, allowing more of it to come through.
I don't think it's Mephisto (too much fire), but since he wasn't shown in the MCU I cannot be sure, and I definitely do not want to take any chances.
Still, while the demon horde is barely slowing me down, they are slowing me down. Seeing the second arm come through, which begins pushing against the edges of the portal as well, I let out a hate filled roar, the sound loud enough that I see several lesser demons grab at their heads in clear agony, dark blood seeping from their ears, noses, mouths and eyes (where applicable).
Raising my shield and tucking in my head, I dash towards the portal, brutally shield-bashing everything out of my way and leaving a sonic boom in my wake. I ignore the swathe of death that I carved through their forces, and instead raise the Harpe high above my head, its blade filled with a hungry golden glow…
… only for a burning chain to wrap itself around my forearm. The pain is surprisingly agonizing, especially since I'm supposed to be immune to fire, but what's more surprising is that the chain in successful in halting my arm.
Glancing over my shoulder, I see the Ghost Rider standing on its speeder, both hands wrapped tightly around the chain that's digging into my arm, the highly durable metal plating warping under the effects of the dark Hellfire, my skin boiling from the supernatural heat. The chain is straining to its limits though, several links already deforming and nearly breaking, and I can see the Ghost Riders has its flaming speeder, complete with embossed skulls, riding away from me with as much power as possible, yet my arm won't budge.
With a snarl and a thought, the Harpe leaves my hand and curves up behind me, neatly cutting through the enchanted chain in a single cut. The sudden lack of tension nearly sends the Ghost Rider flying, and I immediately recall my scythe, intend on finishing my job.
But when I turn back to the portal, I'm met with a burning fist to the face. The blow completely blindsided me, which is impressive considering its size, and the strength behind it was sufficient to briefly daze me, though I keep my ground.
Right until a double fisted hammer blow meets the other side of my helmet on the return swing, with enough force to lift me of my feet and send me crashing into the far wall. In a matter of moments I'm back on my feet though and I lay eyes on my attacker.
Relief and confusion flood me in equal measure, since the sixty foot tall demon standing in front of the portal definitely isn't Mephisto, but I'm having some trouble placing him.
Thankfully, he takes care of that.
"HAHA! EARTH! BOW DOWN TO YOUR NEW MASTER! TREMBLE AT THE REIGN OF BELATHAUZER!"
Right. Belathauzer. Class Three Demon. Two heads. Is on fire. Is also referred to as a Dark God and wants to rule Earth.
Pathetic. I'll take great pleasure in crushing this upstart trash.
Said trash turns his two heads towards the Ghost Rider.
"SPIRIT! YOUR MASTERY OF DARK MATTER HAS GREATLY EMPOWERED ME! YOUR AID IN RETURN SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN! WHEN THE PEOPLE OF EARTH LIE BOUND AT MY FEET, AND I HAVE DEFEATED MY REMAINING BRETHREN, THE ACCURSED CHILDREN OF ATUM, YOU SHALL HAVE A PLACE BESIDES MY DARK THRONE! NOW LEAVE ME! I SHALL FACE THIS CHALLENGER AND PROVE MY MIGHT TO ALL BE- urghk!"
His speech is brutally cut off, courtesy of my the blade of my Harpe slamming into his chest and out of his back. His four eyes widen in surprise and pain, but I immediately follow up my attack with a Meteor Fist to the face (the right one), sending him flying into the far wall.
Seeing the Ghost Rider swing around its speeder in order to face me, I break off my next attack on Belathauzer and instead raise my shield towards the Spirit of Vengeance. Just in time as well, since the nose of the speeder opens up, showing an enormous cannon, which lets out a blast of brightly colored laser, which slams into my shield with a keening wail.
My shield briefly shimmers purple as the attack is rebuffed by the might of the Power Stone, leaving the glossy metal without so much as a scratch, but the splash damage around me tells me that taking that attack head on would've been a mistake, the ground turned to burning slag where parts of the broken beam impacted it, and the stench of burning bodies tells me several demons were caught in the crossfire.
The attack seems to have taken quite a bit out of the Ghost Rider's vehicle however, but before I can capitalize, I can see Belathauzer work himself back up to his clawed feet, a hateful snarl on both of his faces as he summons a burning zweihander out of thin air.
I don't particularly like the idea of being stuck fighting off both a Dark Dimension-empowered Ghost Rider and a Dark God, especially in an underground spawning cavern for an army of demons. I quickly decide on a course of action and turn towards the slower Belathauzer, keeping my shield between me and the far more agile Ghost Rider. Without warning, I shoot forwards, completely disregarding any lesser demons in my way, my golden glowing hand closing around Belathauzer's throat in a flash.
He has just enough time to widen his multiple eyes, before I shoot upwards, my shield leading away. Upon impact with the reinforced roof, the advanced tech that the support beams are made out of finally yields under a direct confrontation with the Power Stone, and the entire roof of the cavern is blown upwards.
I barely pause, pouring on even more speed, blasting the ground above me up and outwards, until after a few moments, the Dark God and I blast out of the earth in an enormous spray of dirt and gravel. Since we're so close together, Belathauzer doesn't have the room to wield his great sword, so with a double snarl, he dismisses the bulky weapon and instead summons two flaming daggers, which he attempts to slam into my sides.
The one on my left uselessly shatters against my shield, but the one on my right finds its mark, sinking in about the third of the way into my flesh underneath my outstretched arm, hindered by the massive and enchanted Aurelion Armour.
Still, the wound, while fairly minor, burns with a pain even greater than the chains of the Ghost Rider, and with a howl I retract the plates keeping the Mind Stone from view, and unleash a beam from my forehead about six times as large as what the Vision was capable of, straight into Belathauzer's face at point-blank range.
The pain of the stab wound refuses to go away though, even as the blade falls apart in gouts of Hellfire.
As the Dark God is sent flying across the entire length of Central Park, the roar of engines behind me alerts me to the Ghost Rider's approach, who bursts from the massive hole like the Spirit of Vengeance that it is, chains already whirling around it and several turrets extended from its speeders.
Before it can do more than take aim however, a blur slams into its side, sending it skidding across the ruined earth of what was once Central Park. Jessica is hovering in the air, her duster snapping around her as she crosses her arms in front of her chest, her eyes two burning infernos.
"Go. I'll deal with this one."
"Thanks, Jess. Be safe." I boom with a nod, one which she answers with a soft smile, before she dodges out of the way of one of the Ghost Rider's chains, and the battle between the two begins in earnest.
Hearing a garbled howl of immense rage, I focus back on my own fight, quickly pinging Sterns as I raise my scythe, and shoot towards where Belathauzer has worked himself back to his feet, having healed most of the damage, though his left face is definitely looking worse for wear, having lost several teeth and sporting what appears to be a dislocated jaw.
As I prepare to do battle with the Dark God once again, Sterns quickly takes my call.
"Sam. Portal, one click downwards. Have Oliver teleport you down there. It emits Quantum Energy. See if you can shut it down. Call for back-up if you need it. I'm gonna kill this Dark God."
"Got it."
And with a blue flash, Sterns and Oliver are gone, having gone down into the belly of the beast. I knew that he should be able to come up with something given his mastery of the Quantum Realm and the fact that Aida, the robot Radcliffe would build in the Agents of SHIELD show, constructed a body for herself by channeling quantum energy from the Hell Dimension after obtaining the…
… the Darkhold.
A piece of technology from Hell, that drives people mad, and allows you to build whatever tool or machinery you require by, in the words of Radcliffe "blasting the universe's deepest thoughts through your eyeballs".
I think I know why the Ghost Rider is so powerful, other than its Dark Dimension enhancement.
It also explains its futuristic mount and the advanced technology keeping the portal secure.
As much as the dilemma of an empowered Ghost Rider is a pressing problem, I can't afford to think more on it, since Belathauzer and I are now in striking distance of each other. He has summoned his sword once more, but this time he has also shrouded his body in even more Hellfire than usual as a means of protection.
As I bat his sword aside with my shield, shattering it on impact and cut off one of his legs with a low swing of Harpe, I show him that his efforts are futile before the Titan of the Sun.
With a snarl of pain and hate, Belathauzer falls backwards, but instead of hitting the ground he falls through a hastily summoned portal, which closes behind him just in time so that the blade of Harpe slams into the ground instead of his abdomen.
Focusing my mind and senses, I can feel his dark energy pop up several blocks away, behind the defender's lines. I immediately blast off towards his location, trusting my team and the defenders on the walls to keep the demon army here contained until Sterns can close the portal.
As I reach Belathauzer's position, I can see him standing in the open, his arms spread wide and a leg made of flame and dark magic replacing the one he lost until he regrows it. Both of his faces are grinning, though the one that took the full brunt of my Mind Stone beam is somewhat struggling with the expression, owing to the fact it's missing a significant part of its jaw.
"COME THEN! COME AND STRIKE ME DOWN! GO AHEAD!" the Demon Lord roars with booming laughter, immediately making me suspicious.
I come to a halt floating several hundred feet off the ground, and a roughly equal distance away from him, glaring down at him with a forbidding gaze and bared teeth.
"What are you playing at, foul creature?" I hiss, my rage building even higher as Belathauzer's grins grow wider.
"ASK THESE PATHETIC WORMS YOU TREASURE SO FOOLISHLY!" he crows, and turning to look at the various soldiers and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents surrounding us, I realize with a grimace what he means.
All of them have taken out their weapon and placed it against their own temples. In a single move, the demon has taken hundreds of our defenders hostage.
"You think this will save you, filth? This will be the day where you will finally be cut down and destroyed, demon, no matter how much you flail in the face of your own doom!" I growl out, gaining a smirk from Belathauzer.
"AND HOW DO YOU ENVISION THAT? ONE MOVE, AND YOUR PRECIOUS HUMANS PERISH AT THEIR OWN HANDS! YOU CANNOT BARE TO HAVE THEIR DEATHS ON YOUR CONCIOUSS, CAN YOU?!" the demon laughs in a mocking tone, but my answer is quick to shut him up.
"Indeed. But you are assuming that they shall perish at all. You are not the only one proficient in the Mind Arts, you pathetic worm." I hiss out, and with a flex of my will, the Mind Stone in my helmet burns as bright as a sun.
I can see Belathauzer's control over the humans as fiery threads that extend from him into their heads. There are so many of them, it almost looks like a tapestry.
Fueled by the Mind Stone, I grab all of the threads simultaneously and with a great heave, yank them from Belathauzer's body. Having exposed his own mind on such a large scale had taxed him, since he's unused to controlling so many humans at a single time, and the backlash of the violent disconnect between him and hundreds of minds is enough to cause him serious pain, as he sinks to his knees screaming, clutching at his head.
Before he can recover, I've dropped from the sky like a bullet, descending upon him faster than he can react. With a blinding downwards swing, the blade of Harpe embeds itself into his chest, slamming him into the ground with enough force to crater the street and make the humans stumble, and pinning him there.
The demon howls in pain, ineffectively scrabbling at my greaves and the blade sticking out of his chest. His beady eyes focus on my faceplate, and he opens his mouth, unleashing a great bout of Hellfire, damaging it quite badly and shorting out my HUD for a few moments. It's abruptly cut off by my shield slamming into his face, the same one that got mauled by my Mind Stone attack. It's almost gone at this point, completely caved in, and it takes Belathauzer a few moments before he's coherent again.
"YOU CANNOT KILL ME! I'LL RETURN TO MY DIMENSION! I'LL WAIT! GROW STRONGER! AND WHEN ALL THAT YOU HAVE BUILT HAS BEEN REDUCED TO DUST BY THE PASSAGE OF TIME, I SHALL RETURN! I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD ON A PIKE AND PUT OUTSIDE MY GATES! YOU'LL NEVER BE RID OF ME! I! AM! BELATHAUZER!"
"Be silent."
I raise my shield high above my head, the bottom edge pointing up towards the sunny sky over head. Once again, the Mind Stone starts glowing in my forehead, as large magical arrays spring into existence around my raised arm, growing to immense size and revolving faster and faster.
I wasn't a Master of the Mystic Arts. That required a level of time and devotion that I simply had not yet put in my studies.
But I did have an understanding of Magic that was rather unique, thanks to my extensive testing with Pangborn and Maya Hansen on the very principles and building blocks of spells.
And I had a body that was a Magically attuned powerhouse.
But more importantly, I was Hyperion. The Sun was mine to command.
What I did wasn't a spell in the strictest sense, but more a manifestation of my Will, shaped by the immensely powerful energies of my Mind, enhanced as it was by an Infinity Stone.
When I closed my raised fist, my hand didn't close on empty air, but on something more… solid.
"INVICTUS!"
Feeling the build-up of energies above him, and probably sensing their intent as well, Belathauzer shows true fear for the first time, his struggles to free himself from the scythe pinning him to the ground reaching frantic levels.
"SOL!"
A beam of sunlight, thicker than most skyscrapers, descends from the heavens at blinding speed, impacting my raised shield, which starts glowing bright enough that I have to close my eyes. Bathed in the beam of concentrated sunlight, I let out a roar which shakes the surrounding buildings to their very foundations, before I slam my shield into Belathauzer's face, the enormous beam following in its wake.
The Dark God's screams are drowned out as a shockwave brings down the surrounding buildings and a beam of light consumes us both. After several long moments, the light starts to fade, the enormous beam slowly thinning, before disappearing entirely.
And all that remains is me, standing in red-white glowing armor, and a completely burnt out street, a dark stain underneath me the only remnant of what was once the Dark God Belathauzer.
It took nearly all of my magical power and mental fortitude, not just to summon the spell, but to keep it from glassing the surface of the entire North-American continent.
And perhaps even more.
I drop to a single knee in exhaustion, the air still shimmering with remaining heat, breathing out a deep sigh of bone-deep fatigue and relief, my eyelids growing extraordinarily heavy.
I did it.
I defeated- no. I erased a Dark God, who had been boosted by a Darkhold wielding, Dormammu-empowered Ghost Rider, in personal combat.
Fuck yeah.
Before I allow myself to simply collapse where I stand (or rather, where I'm kneeling), I contact Sterns. He immediately takes my call (to my mild surprise, it's routed through one of Phineas' drones, showing me footage of the cavern from a spot a few feet to Stern's left) and I can see that he's crouched right in front of the portal, continuous blue flashes showing that Oliver is busy watching his creator's back.
Judging by the fact that the demon bodies are stacked higher than Sterns is tall, he's doing a damned fine job of it too.
"Sam?"
"Give me a moment! You were right about the Quantum energy! I'm putting up what's essentially a jammer and signal scrambler in one, keyed into the frequency of their Quantum-string fields! Basically, it should rip itself apart…. NOW!"
At his shouted command, Oliver teleports next to him, grabs his shoulder, and teleports away in a blue flash, leaving a boxy contraption lying on the floor, which is covering in glowing lines and blinking lights. Phineas leaves his drone, allowing us to keep a watch on what I assume to be is a bomb of some kind.
Several demons jump towards it, but right as the fastest one reaches out, nearly touching it with his long, clawed fingers, the bomb goes off, a flash of light and energy blasting outwards in a bright cone. Phineas' drone is sent spinning away, it's footage shorting out several times before it dies completely, but what I saw was enough.
The portal collapsed in on itself, while the demons that were within the range of the cone run around screaming as their very flesh starts losing cohesion, sloughing of their bodies as they die a messy and slow death.
Turn out, when your living tissue is in part created by Quantum energy from the Hell Dimension, and someone just so happens to completely disrupt and negate that energy, said living tissue becomes… unraveled.
I let out a grin as I work myself back to my feet with a monumental effort, looking over the rooftops of several buildings towards the thick of the fighting. The demons that were already out of the caverns are still here, but now their numbers aren't being constantly refilled, making it possible to stamp out their infestation to the very last.
Dormammu's portal is still open though, disgorging its own vile creations, but even as my gaze tracks towards it, I can see my Leviathan (it's head about as large as an entire regular-sized Leviathan) barrel through several of the larger spawn of the Dark Dimension, slamming into them with contemptuous ease and batting them around with a tail the size of a building.
And several he simply swallows whole.
Seeing the tide of battle turn back into our favor, I let out a large grin as I prepare to join the fray again.
We can do this.
We can win.
Of course, that's when things go to absolute shit.
The Ghost Rider slams into existence about a hundred meters away from me, roaring out of a Hell-portal.
And dragged behind it, with its chained wrapped tight around her neck as she struggles for air, is Jessica.
Rage that transcends every single notion of the concept that I have experienced until now roars to life within me, but before I've done more than raise my scythe, the Ghost Rider reels in Jessica, placing one clawed skeletal hand above her face.
As I freeze in place, the skull of the Ghost Rider seems to grin even wider, before it dismisses its flames.
"Hello Michael. I hope you haven't forgotten about me? I certainly haven't forgotten about you." She says, and all that I can do is look in stunned silence into the twisted face of a grinning Shuri.
AN: Right, this is only Part I, but I have class in a few minutes, and I wanted to get this out right now, before it takes me another week to get back into the flow of things. So yeah, hope you liked that. Cheers!
Fun Fact: The story for Avengers: Endgame features several of the characters splitting up and going on different journeys. As a result, not everyone needed to read the full script—which also meant that it could be easier to suppress spoilers and leaks of plot points by having fewer eyes on the full script. Of the entire cast, only Robert Downey Jr. got to read the full script for the film.