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Charles Xavier sifted through Tony Stark's memories, piecing together everything he could about the alien parasite now threatening Earth.
"For the average human, this would be an extinction-level event," Charles said grimly. "Oscorp's symbiote research catalogues the most powerful specimens they've encountered but with this kind of number, if they all land… civilization could be gone in days."
His tone left no room for doubt. Even the weakest symbiote was stronger than a human being.
Tony exhaled sharply. "And how exactly do we stop this? The meteor shower is covering the entire planet. It's everywhere."
A flicker of regret crossed his face. If only he had joined Nolan's Starfleet Initiative when he had the chance maybe they'd have had orbital defenses ready to intercept the threat before it reached Earth. But now? It was too late.
Fury's last update had been worse than bad: nuclear strikes had done nothing. Which meant there was only one man who could handle this now.
Nolan.
Across the globe, nations were scrambling. Military satellites lit up as leaders held frantic meetings. The last time anything like this happened was the Chitauri invasion but that had been focused on New York. This… this was everywhere.
Tony was still plotting defense scenarios when the first meteors breached the upper atmosphere. Streaks of fire tore across the sky in broad daylight.
"Damn it Friday, deploy the Iron Legion! All of them!"
Beside him, Blink (Clarice Ferguson) opened a shimmering portal back to the Xavier Institute.
"I'll need Cerebro," Charles said. "If we're going to coordinate a counterstrike on a planetary scale, we'll need every telepath on Earth."
---
At S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury turned the pager over in his hand. He'd promised Carol Danvers he'd only call her for a real end-of-the-world emergency.
Yeah. This was it.
Before he could press the button, the sky lit up.
Dozens no, hundreds of radiant energy beams burst high above the atmosphere, weaving together in precise, impossible patterns. The light bent and merged, forming a shimmering planetary shield.
Tony, already airborne in the Mark L armor, stared up in shock. He knew that color. That signature.
"Nolan…"
The meteors slammed into the shield, rippling it like water. The rock casings shattered revealing the nightmare inside. Black, liquid-like masses writhed, their forms shifting and stretching in defiance of physics.
Every civilian looking up saw it.
"What the hell are those things?"
"More aliens? We just got over the last invasion!"
"That's disgusting! And… wait, is this a defense shield? Did our governments do this? Guess they finally prepared for something."
---
In a high-rise corporate tower, Carlton Drake, head of the Life Foundation, froze. His eyes locked on the black shapes in the sky.
He knew what they were.
Symbiotes. Every last one.
And there were… far more than he had ever imagined.
Riot's memories within him told a different story there weren't supposed to be this many. He had been planning to create a signal to summon Riot's army to Earth, thinking it would be small enough for him to control.
Enough to rule the world.
But this? This wasn't a conquest.
This was consumption.
---
Kamar-Taj
The Ancient One stood in calm silence, watching Nolan. Moments ago, he had used time magic to step backward in history. She felt her own memories shift, retroactively updating to include witnessing Nolan's ascension to a Skyfather-level being.
She did not resist. That was the danger of uniqueness in the absence of another being of equal status, a singular entity could rewrite reality's past, and every mind in the multiverse would adapt to the change.
Wanda, sitting beside Nolan, glanced between them.
"Master… has Nolan completed his ascension?"
In her mind, Nolan had already become Skyfather weeks ago though she vaguely recalled him saying something about "closing a temporal loop."
"Yes," the Ancient One replied with a slight nod. Though the truth was more complex. Nolan was not "closing" anything. Unique beings were the loop.
Once he altered the past, all of existence adjusted.
---
Nolan slowly closed his hands. The Eye of Agamotto around his neck snapped shut, sealing away the glow of the Time Stone. An almost imperceptible wave of power radiated from him as his eyes opened twin orbs swirling with red and white energy.
"So this is Skyfather… unimaginable."
His voice was low, awed even by his own transformation. In truth, his soul had already undergone the metamorphosis weeks earlier on the night his past self claimed Bast but he had maintained the same chain of events to avoid destabilizing the timeline.
The Ancient One inclined her head again.
"Congratulations."
With his expanded vision, Nolan could now perceive her true power: an ocean of mystic energy, vaster than he had imagined. Dozens of dimensional conduits fed into her being, each bound by the power of the Vishanti. And deeper still, a shadowy guardian anchored those conduits from beyond reality.
"Peering at others is impolite," the Ancient One chided with a smile. Then, with a thought, she hid herself from his sight.
"My apologies," Nolan said, though his mind still reeled. No wonder she can cast any spell without effort. With the Vishanti guarding her flanks, even cosmic entities would think twice before challenging her.
And somewhere far above them, the symbiote army began to fall.
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