The final assignments had barely been settled when FRIDAY's calm, synthesized voice cut through the room. "Sir, I'm detecting another significant drop in the Amazon River's water volume."
Tony's face hardened. "Alright, that's our cue. Gear up, people! There's no time to lose!"
The organized calm of the briefing room dissolved into the focused chaos of deployment. Captain America piloted the lead Quinjet, with Natasha and Mysterio aboard, streaking towards South America with Tony flying escort in his armor. Close behind, another jet piloted by Barton carried the ground team—a formidable assembly including the Spider-Men, Sandman, Ant-Man, and the Hulk—on a course for the African deserts.
In the skies above the compound, the air itself seemed to crackle. Thor, wreathed in lightning, soared into the upper atmosphere. He became a living beacon, a bolt of pure energy that War Machine and a newly empowered Max Dillon followed, drafting in his thunderous wake as they ascended to meet the Wind Elemental.
Simultaneously, thousands of miles away, sirens began to blare around Mount St. Helens. The first phase of a mass evacuation was underway. The war had begun on three fronts.
Of all the threats, the Water Elemental was the closest. By the time Tony's team arrived, the creature had already emerged from the depths of the Amazon. This was no reluctant beast being flushed from its lair; it had surfaced with purpose. As they watched, it drew water into its colossal form, swelling with the river's might until it towered over a hundred meters high, a shimmering, vaguely humanoid titan of churning water.
"It's already started," Tony's voice crackled over the comms. "Alright, team, let's shut this thing down for good!"
"On it," Steve replied, banking the Quinjet sharply. "Doors open in five."
As the rear hatch hissed open, Natasha and Mysterio leaped into the open air. Steve pulled the jet into a holding pattern, its cannons swiveling to track the target.
Natasha didn't hesitate. Clenching her grip on Mjolnir, she channeled its power. Her armor flared to life, electricity arcing across its surface as she became a living bolt of lightning. She plummeted from the sky, a meteor aimed directly at the elemental's head. The impact was cataclysmic. A deafening roar, like a mountain being dropped into a silent lake, echoed for miles. The creature's head, dozens of meters tall, exploded into a shower of spray that fell back into the Amazon like a sudden downpour.
Flying nearby, Tony whistled in appreciation. "Whoa! Looking good, Nat! Give it a taste of the new hardware!"
"This won't be enough to destroy it! It will reform in seconds!" Mysterio shouted, his voice tight with urgency. He thrust his hands forward, summoning two swirling vortexes of emerald green energy. He clapped them together, and a much larger beam of concussive force erupted, slamming into the elemental's headless torso. The immense power knocked the water giant back several steps, but it wasn't enough to push it from the river onto the shore.
Natasha's successful strike didn't slow her descent. Fueled by the power of thunder, she plunged directly into the creature's churning body.
Seeing her intent, Mysterio wrapped the elemental in shimmering green bands of energy, momentarily arresting its movements. "Natasha!" he yelled, the strain evident in his voice. "Whatever you're planning, do it now!"
No reply was needed. From within the heart of the watery beast, Natasha raised Mjolnir high. The sky, already darkening, roiled with black clouds. Thunder rumbled, and after a few agonizing seconds of anticipation, a colossal bolt of lightning tore through the sky, striking the elemental with divine fury. The electricity surged through every drop of water, a circuit of destruction that struck its hidden core.
"That's the signal!" Tony yelled, activating his own protocol. "Iron Legion, light it up!"
From all sides, dozens of his automated armors opened fire, their repulsor beams converging on the monster's form in a coordinated barrage. While they fired, Tony charged his own weapon, the primary repulsor on his chest glowing brighter and brighter. "Come on, come on…" he muttered, pouring energy into the shot.
Mysterio's face was slick with sweat, his arms trembling as he struggled to contain the hundred-meter creature. Natasha's lightning was interfering with its ability to fight back, but he knew he couldn't hold it for long.
After five seconds, Tony's charge was complete. He raised his arms, and a series of smaller, hotter lasers shot from his gauntlets. They sliced through the elemental's body, their intense heat hissing as they vaporized the water, and kept going, neatly cleaving a line of ancient trees on the far riverbank in half. The water titan was instantly severed at the waist. Its lower half, losing connection to the core, dissolved back into the river. The massive torso tilted and fell backward with a tremendous splash.
"See? I knew that would work!" Tony said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "Didn't hit the core, but the effect was pretty good!"
"It's not over!" Mysterio roared, his expression anything but relaxed. "It can recover at any moment! We have to get its core out of the river! Natasha!"
Natasha burst from the water, Mjolnir held high. She understood instantly. With a battle cry, she summoned another bolt of lightning, but this time, she swung the hammer down and smashed it directly into the river itself. A massive electrical charge surged through the water, once again disrupting the core as it tried to draw power.
Seizing the moment, Mysterio focused his energy, surrounding a huge sphere of river water he believed contained the core. With a grunt of immense effort, he ripped the sphere from the river and hurled it onto the shore. The moment it landed, he released his hold, and the water soaked into the soil, leaving a small, glowing object exposed on the muddy ground.
"Now, Cap!" Tony yelled.
From the hovering Quinjet, Captain America unleashed a torrent of fire. Machine gun bullets tore into the ground, chewing up the earth in a five-meter radius around the core. The glowing object was struck several times, but the rounds ricocheted harmlessly off its indestructible surface. It shot into the air, making a desperate beeline for the Amazon.
"Oh no, you don't!" Mysterio shot forward, blasting it with another beam of green energy that knocked it away from the river. The core, still supercharged with the water it had absorbed, remained undamaged. It abandoned its attempt to reach the river and began to float in the air, pulling ambient moisture toward itself to rematerialize.
A new body, only a few meters tall, began to form around it. But before it could fully solidify, Natasha rushed from the river, a blur of motion. She swung Mjolnir in a wide, powerful arc, smashing the new form into a cloud of mist. Without pausing, she brought the hammer down directly onto the exposed core.
CRACK!
A visible fracture appeared on its surface. She struck it again, and again, hammering it with relentless fury until it shattered into dozens of glowing fragments that scattered across the ground.
Tony landed beside her, his faceplate retracted. "Is that it? Is it over?"
"I don't know," Mysterio said, shaking his head as he approached. "But just to be safe…" He raised his hands, and a torrent of green energy blasted the fragments.
Tony's chest-plate lit up, unleashing a blinding beam of pure destructive power. Under the combined onslaught, the last remnants of the Water Elemental's core were utterly vaporized, leaving nothing behind but a patch of scorched, smoking earth.