Tony looked at the seven figures before him. Even before the three new ones joined, they were already getting their asses beat.
Rhodey was dying; the suit was crumpled around him and his vitals were critical. Tony needed to get him out of here, needed to get him medical attention before it was too late.
Natasha was barely able to stand on her own, one hand pressed against the wound in her stomach. The wound was bad even with the nanomachine seal Tony had applied.
The Hulkbuster was heavily damaged, with only one arm usable and the power core flickering. It would be better for Bruce to get out of it before it became a coffin.
Sam was basically useless here without his wings.
Tony's own armor was slowly being repaired by the nanomachines, but the damage was extensive functionality at best fifty-eight percent, systems failing across the board.
Only Cap, Peter, Wanda, Vision, Strange, Thor, and the talking tree and raccoon were in proper fighting shape.
"Did you have better luck than me?" Apocalypse asked, looking at the Mad Eternal as he descended.
"Yes," Uranos replied, his voice carrying easily across the battlefield. "But not in the way I wanted." His expression darkened. "My kin here were weak. Pathetic excuses for Eternals who died far too easily."
He then looked to the Avengers, his cruel smile returning. "We are doing you a favor by killing you all now. This world is doomed anyway." He grinned wider. "It's a Celestial seed world."
"What the hell is he on about?" Tony muttered.
"No idea," Strange replied, his eyes narrowing.
"Oh yeah, I heard of this," Rocket said casually, checking his weapons.
"I am Groot," Groot rumbled in agreement.
"Exactly," Rocket confirmed.
"What?" Tony demanded. "Someone explain before I—"
"It means Midgard is being used to grow a Celestial," Thor said grimly, his voice heavy. "Celestials are powerful beings of creation and destruction. They create new ones by seeding worlds with their essence. When the Celestial is born..." He paused. "The world is destroyed. Completely. Nothing survives."
Peter's voice cracked. "Wait, you mean this world? Our world? Earth?"
The Ghost Goblin's maniacal laughter interrupted them all, the sound echoing across the ruined city. "Oh, don't worry, Peter! Like dear Uranos said, you won't be alive to see it!" The flaming skull cackled with insane glee.
"Who are you?" Strange demanded. "Why have you done this? Why are you after us?"
"Can't you see?" the Black Skull said, spreading his arms theatrically, the symbiote writhing around him. "We are hunting Avengers. All Avengers. Across the entire multiverse... and you have the honor of being the first."
"The fuck," Tony muttered, his mind trying to process what that meant. A multiverse. There was a multiverse.
Uranos' eyes had never left Thor. "You look like someone I fought some time ago," he said.
Thor glared at him, Stormbreaker raised, crackling with lightning. "You know nothing of me."
"Tell me," Uranos said, his smirk widening. "Does the name Odin mean something to you?"
Thor's expression darkened with fury. "Don't even speak my father's name, cur."
Uranos' grin became vicious. "Good."
In a blink faster than even Thor could respond, Uranos closed the distance. One moment he was standing twenty feet away; the next, he was directly beside the God of Thunder.
He punched Thor in the stomach.
The impact sounded like a cannon firing, the shockwave flattening rubble around them. Thor doubled over, all the air driven from his lungs, Stormbreaker slipping from his grip. Uranos grabbed him by the throat with one massive blue hand, then threw him away like he weighed nothing.
The God of Thunder became a streak across the sky, his body tumbling end over end as he crashed through multiple ruined buildings, concrete, steel, and vibranium-reinforced structures exploding like they were made of paper.
Uranos cracked his knuckles, smiling. "Just like his father. All bluster, no substance."
Then he flew after Thor, leaving a sonic boom in his wake, intent on finishing what he'd started.
The battle had begun again with renewed fury.
Cap immediately resumed his fight with the Black Skull. Wanda flanked him, her chaos energy swirling as she searched for an opening in the symbiote's defenses.
Strange and Sadurang resumed their mystical duel, spiraling through the air above the battlefield in a deadly dance of amber and crimson light.
Apocalypse and Vision clashed once more, the first mutant's incalculable powers meeting the might of the Mind Stone in devastating exchanges.
The Berserker fought Groot, Rocket, an injured Natasha, Bruce in the damaged Hulkbuster, and Sam.
The Ghost Goblin flew with manic glee. He threw his chain, the links wrapping around Peter and constricting with burning green hellfire. The Goblin yanked him into the air, cackling as he flew through the ruins, using Peter's body like a wrecking ball and slamming him into building after building.
"KIDDD!" Tony yelled, his heart lurching.
He immediately began flying toward his protégé, repulsors flaring to accelerate.
But something grabbed his legs mid-flight. Tony was yanked backward, spun, then slammed into the ground with bone-jarring force. The impact cratered the earth beneath him.
"Iron Man, right?" a mechanical voice said. The armored figure stood over him, four red eyes glowing with malevolent glee. He placed one heavy boot on Tony's chest, pinning him down. "I am the Iron Inquisitor."
Tony fired his repulsors point-blank, the beams striking the Inquisitor's chest but barely pushing him back. He used the momentum to slide out from under the boot and roll to his feet.
"Iron Inquisitor?" Tony mocked, his faceplate retracting so his smirk was visible. "What, Iron Asshole was already taken?" He fired another blast, which barely did anything.
"Did you get that suit from a Renaissance fair? Because it looks like someone welded together a bunch of medieval torture devices and called it armor."
The Iron Inquisitor laughed. "You know, Tony, I did miss that humor of yours." He raised both hands, and concentrated energy beams erupted from his palms.
The blast hit Tony full in the chest, sending him flying backward through a collapsed wall.
Tony crashed through rubble, his HUD flashing warnings. "Okay, he's got firepower. Noted."
They engaged in earnest. Tony used his superior maneuverability, the nanomachines constantly reforming weapons and shields. The Inquisitor was slower but far more powerful, each of his attacks capable of catastrophic damage. They flew, dodged and fired; the two Iron Men were locked in a duel of technology and magical technology.
High above, Sadurang and Strange dueled with spell after spell. Sadurang used Asgardian dark magic, dimensional breaches and eldritch horrors summoned from places that shouldn't exist, keeping Strange constantly on edge, always defending and never able to mount a proper offense.
"I will be disappointed if the first Sorcerer Supreme I face is this weak," Sadurang taunted, his crimson spell forming chains that tried to bind Strange.
"I'll show you weak!" Strange snarled, his hands moving in complex patterns. He unleashed a spell that brought forth the Fangs of Farallah, seven dragon-headed constructs of golden energy that burst from his hands, jaws wide, lunging at Sadurang from multiple angles.
"Good! Good! You are bringing out the good stuff!" Sadurang laughed, clearly enjoying himself as he defended against the mystical serpents.
The Ghost Goblin flew through their duel. Peter was still caught in his chains, being slammed again and again into buildings, concrete and metal exploding with each impact. The Goblin's maniacal laughter never stopped.
Finally, he threw Peter down toward the ground.
Peter managed to fire a web mid-fall, catching a broken beam and swinging to land safely; his enhanced reflexes saved him from what should have been a fatal impact. He rolled and came up in a crouch.
The Goblin did not stop. He unleashed a barrage of green hellfire toward him, the flames burning with unholy heat.
Peter dodged. He leaped left as a fireball struck where he'd been standing, flipped backward as another carved through the air, and wall-crawled up a ruined building as a wave of flame washed over where he'd been a second before.
"This guy is crazy," Peter called through comms.
"Hang on, kid," Tony replied, deflecting another blast from the Iron Inquisitor.
"Karen, activate Instant-Kill function," Tony said.
"Oh, that," Peter said, even as his HUD changed, new targeting systems activating and the mechanical spider-legs on his back extending with enhanced weaponry at their tips.
The Ghost Goblin threw bombs pumpkin-shaped explosives wreathed in green hellfire that detonated on impact. Peter dodged, webbed two out of the air, and flung them back. The Goblin laughed and kicked his glider away, dropping down for hand-to-hand combat.
The Goblin lunged with chain-wrapped fists. Peter dodged with acrobatic grace, firing webbing that the Goblin burned away with green flame. Peter used the environment, swinging on webs between buildings, using the spider-legs to vault over attacks, creating distance and then closing it rapidly.
"PETER!" the Goblin shrieked.
Peter swung low, using both feet to kick the Goblin in the chest, then webbed him to the ground.
"You talk too much!" Peter shot back, the mechanical spider-legs firing concentrated energy blasts that made the Goblin stagger.
Peter went for a punch as the Goblin escaped from the webs, his fist cocked back.
A massive lightning bolt struck the ground between them, the impact so close that both were thrown backward by the shockwave.
"What the—?!" Peter shouted, looking up.
High in the sky, Uranos and Thor fought.
Uranos attacked Thor relentlessly, his eyes glowing with cosmic energy as he fired concentrated beams. The blasts came in rapid succession left, right, center forcing Thor onto the defensive. The god of thunder used Stormbreaker to deflect the attacks, the enchanted axe absorbing and redirecting the energy, but he was being pushed back, unable to counter.
"You have a better weapon than your father," Uranos called out. "But you are weaker than him!"
"Do not speak my father's name with your vile tongue!" Thor roared, lightning gathering around him, electricity building.
He brought the axe down. A massive bolt struck Uranos directly. The Mad Eternal's body convulsed as millions of volts coursed through him, his scream of pain and rage audible even over the thunder.
Uranos fell, plummeting from the sky like a meteor.
But he stabilized before hitting the ground, hovering just above it. His expression had changed: no more smirking, no more taunting. His eyes blazed with serious intent.
He flew at Thor with terrifying speed, taking the fight seriously at last.
They clashed midair, slugging it out. Thor got the upper hand initially. He hit Uranos with a devastating right hook that snapped the Eternal's head to the side, then a left, then an uppercut that lifted Uranos higher. Thor spun, using the momentum to swing Stormbreaker. The axe struck Uranos in the ribs with a sickening crack, and the Eternal was sent flying.
Thor pursued immediately, not giving him time to recover. He unleashed a concentrated blast from Stormbreaker, pure lightning channeled through the weapon. The beam struck Uranos full force, and the Mad Eternal crashed down onto the ground below, the impact shaking the entire battlefield.
A massive crater formed where Uranos hit, dust and debris erupting in a towering cloud.
"FOR ASGARD!" Thor bellowed, his war cry echoing across the battlefield. He descended with Stormbreaker raised high for the killing blow, lightning trailing behind him like wings.
The axe came down.
Uranos moved. The Eternal rolled aside and Stormbreaker struck the ground where he'd been a microsecond before, the impact creating another crater, lightning exploding outward.
Uranos fired an energy blast at point-blank range. Thor raised Stormbreaker to deflect, but Uranos had anticipated it the blast was a feint. The Eternal closed the distance and swung, a vicious hook that caught Thor on the side of his face so hard his grip on Stormbreaker loosened.
The enchanted axe fell from Thor's grasp and Uranos caught it midair with one hand.
"No!" Thor shouted, reaching for it, but Stormbreaker did not return to him. Uranos held it and began attacking Thor with it.
Uranos swung the battle axe in a brutal arc that caught Thor across the chest. The enchanted edge cut through Asgardian armor like paper, blood spraying. Thor stumbled back, gasping.
Uranos did not relent. He struck again, the axe blade biting into Thor's shoulder, carving deep, then into his side, then his leg.
Thor tried to defend himself with his bare hands, but Uranos was relentless. He reversed his grip and smashed the flat of the axe into Thor's face. Once. Twice. Three times. Blood spewed from Thor's nose and mouth, his forehead split open.
The God of Thunder fell, breathing heavily, blood pooling beneath him.
Uranos stood over him, barely winded, holding Stormbreaker casually. "I am disappointed," he said, genuinely let down. "Your father gave me a better fight. Are you sure you are his son?"
He held up Stormbreaker, examining it. "This will do quite well when I face your father again. I'll tell him his son died screaming."
Thor's eyes, battered and bloodied, barely able to focus, suddenly began to glow.
The sky darkened, clouds swirling into a massive vortex directly above them. The storm intensified beyond anything natural.
Lightning gathered.
It struck them both as they disappeared into the blinding light.
=========
Vision and Apocalypse clashed in the sky.
Vision used his phasing defensively, becoming intangible whenever Apocalypse's attacks reached him. He phased through matter-manipulation strikes, energy blasts, and reality-warping blows, staying immaterial just long enough to avoid damage before solidifying and firing back. His Mind Stone beams were his primary offense, concentrated streams of cosmic power that forced even Apocalypse to respect their potency.
Down on the ground, the Iron Inquisitor was getting the better of Tony. Each exchange left more damage on his armor, but Tony held on through sheer stubbornness and tactical creativity.
Wanda and Cap were cornering the Black Skull. Wanda's chaos magic wrapped around the symbiote like chains, holding it down and pinning the Nazi to the ground. The alien organism writhed and shrieked, but her power kept it contained.
Cap rushed in, trying to physically remove the symbiote from Schmidt's body. The symbiote fought back viciously, tendrils lashing out and cutting into Cap's arms, chest, and face. Blood ran down Steve's body, but he didn't let go, gritting his teeth against the pain.
The Berserker was being attacked from all sides. Natasha hit him with electric stingers; the Widow's Bite stung as the electrodes embedded in his flesh. Groot imprisoned him with roots and branches, wood wrapping around the Berserker's limbs and constricting, growing thicker and thicker until the feral mutant was completely encased.
Bruce, in the damaged Hulkbuster, fired the remaining repulsors and the chest beam. Rocket unleashed everything his guns had; plasma bolts tore through the mutant's body in a concentrated barrage of firepower. When the smoke cleared, flesh had been stripped away in places, metal bone exposed, organs damaged. He should have been dead ten times over.
But he was still standing. And laughing.
"What the fuck, dude?" Bruce said, horrified.
"Okay, I want off this planet," Rocket said, his voice filled with fear for the first time.
"I am Groot," the tree agreed nervously.
Natasha moved in for a killing blow, her blade aimed at the Berserker's exposed neck but the adamantium-laced bone stopped her weapon cold, the metal ringing against it.
Near them, Peter and the Goblin continued their fight. The Ghost Goblin was back on his glider, laughing maniacally as Peter swung through the ruins, using his webs and the Iron Spider's capabilities to attack from every angle.
"ENOUGH!" Apocalypse's voice boomed across the battlefield.
He punched Vision away with such force that the android became a streak across the sky. Then the mutant descended and landed directly on top of Rocket.
The impact was fatal. Rocket did not even have time to scream. His body simply ceased, crushed beneath Apocalypse's boot into something unrecognizable.
"I am Groot!" Groot's voice was anguished, impossibly deep with grief. "I am Groot!" He released the Berserker immediately, branches whipping toward Apocalypse.
Within seconds, Apocalypse turned his attention to Bruce in the Hulkbuster. He raised one hand. The ground beneath the damaged armor suddenly became liquid as Bruce fell into it, and as soon as he did it became solid again.
Apocalypse's eyes shifted to Sam, who was trying to flank him. The mutant did not even gesture. Sam simply turned to dust, his body disintegrating into particles that scattered in the wind before he could even register what was happening.
Apocalypse turned to Groot, who was hitting him with his enlarged hands. He motioned with his hands as Groot's wooden body began breaking down at the cellular level. The tree's anguished scream, "I am Groot!" echoed across the battlefield as he was annihilated, reduced to nothing but sawdust.
The Berserker, now freed, moved with predatory speed. He turned and decapitated a shocked Natasha with his adamantium claws. "That's how you do it, bitch!" he snarled.
"End it now," Apocalypse commanded coldly, his glowing eyes surveying the battlefield. "We have elsewhere to be."
"Well said," the Black Skull agreed. He hit Wanda away with a massive symbiote fist, sending her tumbling. Then he turned his full attention to Cap, and it became immediately clear he had been holding back the entire fight.
He began wailing on Steve Rogers with brutal, overwhelming force. Each strike broke bones. The symbiote formed blades that carved through Cap's suit and through his flesh. Blood sprayed with every impact. Cap tried to defend himself with his shield, raising it desperately.
The Black Skull grabbed the shield and simply broke it in half. The vibranium disc cracked like glass under the symbiote's strength.
Cap fell, mangled and bloody, barely breathing.
Apocalypse then turned his attention to the mystical duel still raging above. Sadurang and Strange were locked in combat, hearing Apocalypse's ultimatum. Sadurang transformed, his body morphing into a gigantic dragon, red-scaled and wreathed in flames.
Strange began to use the Time Stone, the Eye of Agamotto opening.
Apocalypse raised his hand. As he used his power, the Eye of Agamotto simply vanished from Strange's chest.
"No!" Strange shouted, but it was too late.
In a split second, Sadurang's dragon form unleashed its full might. The massive jaws opened, and a concentrated blast of fire erupted forth, hotter than stars and infused with dark dimensional magic.
The blast hit Strange directly.
The Sorcerer Supreme was immolated, burned away to nothing, the most powerful mystic on Earth killed in an instant.
One by one, the Avengers fell, and Tony watched it all in shock as he was hit once more by the Iron Inquisitor, the blast sending him stumbling backward.
"Look at that, Tony," the Inquisitor said mockingly, his voice dripping with malice. "All your friends are dying. How does that make you feel?"
Tony's mind was in three places at once. One part focused on Cap, kneeling on the ground, his shield and body broken and bloodied. Another watched Peter fighting the Goblin, barely holding on. The third tried desperately to focus on his own fight, on surviving.
The Iron Inquisitor noticed Tony's gaze drifting to Peter. "Ahh," he said with understanding.
Tony's eyes widened. He attacked with renewed desperation, but the Inquisitor simply kicked him down, planting a heavy boot on Tony's chest and keeping him pinned there.
"Goblin!" the Inquisitor called out. "Bring the boy here!"
The Ghost Goblin was in the middle of striking Peter repeatedly, slamming him into the ground with chain-wrapped fists, then picking him up and punching him again and again, each blow accompanied by maniacal laughter. Peter's mask was torn, his face bloodied, his body trembling from the sustained beating.
The Goblin grabbed the barely conscious Peter and flew over, the flaming skull cackling with glee.
"Leave… him," Tony said, his voice weak and desperate. "Please."
"It's fine, Tony," the Inquisitor said conversationally. "Let us show you the depth of your failures." The Goblin brought the now maskless Peter toward them; he was barely conscious, blood running down his face.
"Please," Tony mumbled. "He's... just a kid..."
The Goblin laughed maniacally, only to suddenly jerk to the side, barely dodging a Mind Stone beam that carved through the air where his head had been.
Vision had returned to battle.
Apocalypse intercepted him mid-flight.
The mutant simply appeared in Vision's path, moving faster than the android could react. His hands grabbed Vision by the arms, and with a casual motion that belied terrifying strength, he began to pull.
Vision's synthetic body resisted vibranium components, advanced polymers, and Infinity Stone energy all fighting against the force. But Apocalypse's molecular manipulation worked at the atomic level, destabilizing bonds and breaking connections.
The sound was horrific: metal screaming, the Mind Stone's energy flaring desperately. Apocalypse ripped Vision apart down the middle, tearing through the chest cavity, pulling arms from the torso and separating the android's body into pieces. The Mind Stone fell free as Vision's consciousness flickered and died.
"VISION!" Wanda screamed, having just recovered from the Black Skull's attack.
She saw the man she loved being destroyed, his body torn to pieces.
Something inside her broke.
Wanda floated up, her grief and rage becoming power. Chaos magic erupted from her body in waves, raw and uncontrolled. The red power expanded like a shockwave, spreading across the entire battlefield. Everyone, heroes and villains alike, was driven to their knees by the sheer weight of her power.
The ground cracked. Buildings that were still standing crumbled. Reality itself began to warp and twist around her.
Wanda flew straight for Apocalypse, and for the first time the first mutant looked scared.
She hit him with a blast of pure chaos magic. Apocalypse was thrown backward.
She did not stop. She beat him down, again and again. Chaos magic tore at him, unmaking him at the fundamental level. Each strike carved away pieces of him.
She lifted him into the air with her power and began pulling him apart the same way he had destroyed Vision slowly, deliberately, making him feel every moment of it.
Just as she was about to deliver the final blow, ending Apocalypse forever…
Her hand was caught.
The entire battleground felt darker but also brighter, a paradox of light and shadow that shouldn't exist.
Wanda's eyes, glowing with chaos magic, turned to see a woman wreathed in dark flames. She wore a full black robe, and her face was hidden behind a golden mask.
Wanda tried to free herself, chaos magic flaring desperately around her arm. But the woman was stronger, impossibly and incomprehensibly stronger.
"Not today… child" it said.
The dark figure simply flew upward, dragging Wanda with her effortlessly as if the Scarlet Witch's powers were nothing more than an annoyance. Then she threw Wanda away like nothing, the most powerful Avenger tumbling through the air.
Dark flames erupted from the woman's body, spreading wide like wings and forming the unmistakable silhouette of a Phoenix, but twisted and malevolent.
The dark Phoenix flames rushed forward, engulfing Wanda completely.
She screamed as the dark fire consumed her. She tried to fight back, red energy flaring against black flames, but it was not enough. The dark Phoenix fire burned through her defenses and through her very existence.
Her screams cut off suddenly as she was reduced to ash, her body unmade by cosmic fire.
The Scarlet Witch was gone.
=========
Tony watched in horror at what had just happened.
How many of them were there?
The newly arrived golden-masked woman joined the group as Sadurang returned to his normal form and landed beside the others.
From the skies, Uranos returned, holding Stormbreaker in one hand and the corpse of Thor in the other. He threw the God of Thunder's broken body carelessly among the other fallen Avengers.
Only Tony, Peter, a dying Rhodey, and Cap remained.
"Phoenix," Uranos said, glancing at the masked woman. "I see you got involved."
Phoenix looked at the Black Skull. "And here I thought you said you did not need my help."
"We didn't," Apocalypse said flatly, fixing his armor.
"We did, my lady," Sadurang added with a respectful bow.
The Berserker just grunted, still licking blood from his claws.
The Black Skull dragged the broken body of Cap toward where the Goblin and the Inquisitor were holding Peter and Tony. The symbiote wrapped around Steve's limbs, pulling him across the scorched earth like a rag doll.
Skull tossed Cap's body next to Tony. Steve still had one half of his shield clutched in his hand.
"Is this it?" the Black Skull asked mockingly, crouching beside Cap. "Is this the mighty Captain America, the hero who never gives up?"
To Tony's shock and everyone else's, Cap shakily began getting up. His arms trembled, his legs barely supported his weight, blood pouring from dozens of wounds. But Steve Rogers rose to his knees, then to his feet, swaying but standing.
He lifted his broken shield in one last act of defiance.
"I can do this all day," Steve said, his voice barely above a whisper but carrying absolute conviction.
The Black Skull only grinned. He picked up the other half of Cap's shield from the ground.
He drove the broken piece through Steve Rogers' chest like a spear.
Cap's eyes went wide. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. His body went limp, held up only by the shield fragment impaling him.
The Black Skull released him, and Captain America fell.
"Well, apparently not," Skull quipped, seeing his now dead nemesis.
"No," Tony sobbed, too weak to speak properly, tears streaming down his face.
"And then there were two," Phoenix said, her voice eerily calm.
"Three," the Inquisitor corrected, looking at Rhodey's broken form on the ground nearby.
"Please, no, no," Tony begged, his voice cracking.
The Inquisitor laughed. "Say goodbye, Tony... bye, bye."
He fired a concentrated blast at Rhodey's already half-dead body. Rhodey was gone in an instant.
Tony sobbed.
"And now," the Inquisitor said, turning to look at Peter in the Goblin's grasp.
"Please, please," Tony sobbed, trying to move from the Inquisitor's grip.
Peter opened his eyes slightly, blood running down his face. "Sorry, Mr. Sta—"
He didn't get to finish.
The Ghost Goblin's green hellfire erupted, engulfing Peter Parker completely. The teenager's scream was cut short as the flames consumed him, incinerating flesh and bone until nothing remained but ash scattered in the wind.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Tony screamed, the sound torn from his soul. He used the last of his energy to fire his repulsors at the Iron Inquisitor, the blast weak but powered by pure grief and rage.
The Inquisitor staggered back a step, surprised by the desperation behind the attack.
"End this," Apocalypse said coldly. "Let's leave."
The ground shook.
"What was that?" Berserker asked, looking down.
Tony began laughing, a broken, desperate sound. "Oh, did I forget?" he said weakly, blood bubbling from his lips.
The ground shook more violently, as if something massive was coming from underground.
"We have a Hulk," Tony whispered.
The earth exploded.
The Hulk burst out from the ground with a roar that shook the entire city. He hit the Iron Inquisitor first, sending the armored villain flying hundreds of feet. Then he turned on the Goblin, a massive green fist catching the flaming skull and sending him crashing through buildings.
The Hulk was glowing green, his body growing larger with rage, muscles expanding beyond anything they'd seen before. He was savage, primal, unlimited fury given form.
"HULK SMASH! YOU KILL PUNY BANNER! HULK MAD!" he roared, spittle flying from his jaws.
He struck at everyone savagely. Berserker tried to attack with adamantium claws, Hulk grabbed him by the face and slammed him into the ground so hard the earth cratered. Sadurang began weaving spells Hulk hurled a boulder that forced the sorcerer to portal away. The Black Skull tried to bind him, Hulk simply tore through the alien organism like paper.
Uranos flew in with Stormbreaker Hulk caught the axe mid-swing and headbutted the Eternal, sending him reeling.
The Phoenix moved away from the strikes, not attacking, simply observing with a tilted head.
Apocalypse, now holding both the Mind Stone and the Time Stone, tried to use them on the savage Hulk.
But Hulk was too fast, too angry. He charged, faster than Apocalypse anticipated, and hit the mutant. The impact was so powerful that both stones fell from Apocalypse's grasp, tumbling to the ground.
The Hulk stood over him, chest heaving, eyes burning with limitless rage.
"HULK STRONGEST THERE IS!"
"PHOENIX!" the Black Skull shouted desperately. "KILL HIM!"
Phoenix laughed. "Did you not say you did not need my help?"
"NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" Apocalypse roared, trying again to use his powers.
But the green being's rage knew no bounds. The angrier Hulk got, the stronger he became, and watching his friends die had made him angrier than he'd ever been. Power radiated from him in waves, his muscles still expanding, his roar shaking the foundations of the earth itself.
Hulk looked up at Phoenix in the sky, his eyes burning with fury. He crouched, muscles coiling.
"HULK KILL FIRE WOMAN!" he bellowed, and leaped.
The jump carried him hundreds of feet into the air, massive fist raised to strike the Phoenix down.
An orange beam hit him midflight.
The Hulk fell, crashing to the ground with tremendous force, the impact creating another crater. He tried to rise, confused and enraged.
The beam hit him again. And again. Concentrated blasts of orange energy that actually hurt, that actually forced him down.
Orange constructs materialized around him. Massive chains formed from solid light, wrapping around his arms, his legs, his torso. Hulk strained against them, muscles bulging impossibly large as he pulled, roared, and fought with everything he had.
To Tony's and the Hulk's shock, the chains held. Hulk couldn't break free.
"ARHHHHHHH!" he screamed, pulling harder, the chains beginning to crack.
A large orange spear construct materialized above him and drove down, impaling him through the shoulder. Then another through his leg. Then his other arm. More came, dozens of them, each one pinning the Hulk to the ground. Green blood sprayed with each impact.
Tony, barely conscious, looked to the sky along with everyone else.
An orange being descended from above.
His entire figure was wrapped in deep, burnt-orange armor and cloth. A hood shadowed the top of his head, and beneath it he wore a cold, expressionless metal mask. The mask's features were sharp and angular, giving him an imperious, commanding presence. He wore armor plates over a flowing robe, all in shades of burnt orange and gold, with a cape that billowed in the wind. Everything about him screamed power and authority, as if everything around him belonged to him alone.
On his hand, a ring glowed with orange light, made of crystal and etched with a star emblem.
"Doom commands you to heel, beast," he said.
He floated over the now completely impaled Hulk, who still struggled against the spears and still roared defiance despite the pain. The masked figure raised his hand, orange energy building.
"You should have stayed buried."
He fired.
The strongest Avenger was vaporized completely, reduced to nothing; not even ash remained.
The Hulk was gone.
Silence fell across the battlefield.
Doom turned and saw the two Infinity Stones lying on the ground where Apocalypse had dropped them. With a simple motion of his hand, they flew to him, floating into his grasp.
They all stood before Tony, all nine of them.
Emperor Doom.
The Dark Phoenix.
Black Skull.
Sadurang.
Uranos the Undying
The Iron Inquisitor.
Apocalypse.
Ghost Goblin.
The Berserker.
They stared at him.
Evil stared at him.
Pure evil.
The Masters of Evil.
"We have tarried here long enough," Doom said.
"I agree. Let's leave," the Black Skull agreed.
"Ah, but one more thing," the Inquisitor said, stepping forward.
To Tony's utter shock, the Iron Inquisitor's faceplate lifted, revealing the face beneath.
Howard Stark.
Younger than Tony remembered but unmistakably his father, the same eyes, the same face, but the smile was cruel and wrong.
"Dad?" Tony gasped, his heart feeling like it was going to give out. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening.
"Hello, Tony," Howard said, his voice carrying no warmth.
Then, with a cruel smirk that twisted his father's familiar features into something monstrous, he said, "Bye, Tony."
He fired.
Tony didn't even feel it. Perhaps his heart had stopped from the shock of seeing his father's face, from the betrayal, from the impossibility of it all. He only saw black after that, consciousness fading into nothing.
==========
"It's done," Doom said.
"I would say that was quite the successful first strike," the Black Skull said.
Uranos spun Stormbreaker in his hands. "Are we keeping the stones?" he asked, looking at Doom's palms where the Mind Stone and Time Stone floated.
As soon as he spoke, a blue portal opened. From it walked the Mad Titan.
Thanos stepped through, his form massive and imposing. On his left hand was the Infinity Gauntlet, and already set within it were four stones: Power, Space, Reality, and Soul.
Thanos looked at the destruction around him, the bodies, the ruins, the evidence of absolute carnage. Then his eyes moved to the nine standing before him. Finally his gaze settled on Doom, who held the Time and Mind Stones.
"Well, well," Uranos said with a grin. "Thanos."
Thanos looked at Uranos, his expression unreadable. "You know me?"
"Oh, I don't exist here," Uranos said casually. "But I do know you."
Thanos turned his attention back to Doom. "The stones. Give them to me."
"Doom is not commanded," Doom said, orange light of avarice beginning to build around him as he prepared to attack.
Uranos intervened quickly, stepping between them. "Then may I suggest you give them to him? He already has four, and we were just leaving anyway. No need for unnecessary conflict."
Apocalypse, Phoenix, Sadurang, and the Black Skull all agreed, urging Doom to comply. They had accomplished what they came for: this universe's Avengers were destroyed. They did not need the stones.
Doom stood silent for a long moment. Then, with a dismissive motion of his hand, the Mind Stone and Time Stone flew from his grasp toward Thanos.
"Finally," Thanos said, a small smile crossing his face.
He set the Mind Stone into the gauntlet first, the yellow gem sliding into place with a surge of energy that made the air shimmer. Then the Time Stone followed, green light erupting as it locked into position.
All six Infinity Stones. Complete.
The power surged through Thanos, his entire body glowing with cosmic energy.
"It's time to go," Doom said, raising his hand. Orange energy formed into a massive portal large enough for all of them.
One by one, the Masters of Evil walked through toward their next universe and another set of unsuspecting Avengers.
The portal closed behind them, leaving Thanos alone in the ruins of Wakanda, surrounded by the bodies of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
He raised the gauntlet. All six stones blazed with light.
SNAP.
.
.
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Tony opened his eyes.
He felt cold.
Was this death?
He was lying in snow, soft and pristine, which cradled his broken body. Above him, the stars stretched endlessly across a night sky more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen, brilliant and clear in a way Earth's polluted atmosphere never allowed.
Was this hell? he thought distantly.
No. Too beautiful for hell, he decided, still staring at the stars.
His body hurt badly. Every breath was pain. Every heartbeat felt like his chest was being crushed. But he was alive somehow, impossibly, alive.
He remembered it all. All the deaths. Cap… Bruce..Rhodey.
Peter... oh, Peter.
His heart hurt at the thought, worse than any physical wound.
Tony lay there, staring at the sky. The beautiful sky.
"Huh," he thought, his eyes catching on a bright green star, brighter than the others.
He didn't remember seeing that one, he thought hazily, as exhaustion and pain finally overwhelmed him.
Sleep took him.
Whether he would wake again, he did not know.
He hoped he wouldn't.
.
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Masters of Evil
Ok the next update will be sometime next month.