"So, you have truly become the new Lord of the Dark Dimension?"
Doctor Stephen Strange asked the question, though the answer was already vibrating in the very air around them.
"That's right," Ben Parker replied, his voice calm and resonant, shedding the last remnants of his Anodite luminance as they stepped back into reality. "Now, let's go back. It's time to let the others know we've won."
The transition was jarring. They materialized in Manhattan, New York, leaving the psychedelic horrors of the border of Hell behind. However, the city was still shrouded in the oppressive gloom of the Darkforce Dimension, a lingering cage that isolated them from the rest of the world.
As soon as the heroes stationed at the Sanctum saw them return, they rushed forward, anxiety etched on every face.
"We won!" Strange announced, a rare, genuine smile breaking his usually stoic demeanor.
He felt lighter, despite the crushing realization that he was now heavily in debt to Ben Parker. The "nine out, thirteen back" interest rate on the Genesis Mana he had borrowed was predatory at best, but Strange found he didn't care. The Ancient One had been a cosmic deadbeat for over six hundred years, borrowing power from dimension to dimension while living a carefree life. If she could do it, so could he.
At worst, Strange thought with a mental shrug, I can pay it back slowly after I die. Or negotiate an extension in the afterlife.
He realized Ben was right about one thing: to be a true Sorcerer Supreme, one had to have skin thicker than a tank's plating.
"You won?" Luke Cage stepped forward, his arms crossed over his massive chest. He looked Strange up and down, skepticism radiating from him. "What's it to you, wizard? What exactly did you do?"
Strange stiffened, his cloak rustling indignantly. "I led the way! I navigated the treacherous borderlands of Hell and bought crucial time against a Demon God!"
"So you were a tour guide and a meat shield," Cage retorted, not buying it. "Did you get any kills? Did you deal any real damage? Sounds to me like you just got carried by the MVP."
Strange opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. The silence stretched, heavy and awkward. Technically... he's not wrong.
"Now that Dormammu has been defeated, we should dispel the Darkforce dome and release New York," Strange said, eager to change the subject.
"Now is not the time," Ben interjected firmly. "Dispelling the barrier now would only alert Hydra's sensors that we've neutralized the threat. We need the element of surprise a little longer."
Ben swept his gaze over the assembled resistance members. "I will open a small, undetectable passage for our teams to leave. We have work to do."
He turned to the sorcerer. "Strange, your job is to locate Wanda Maximoff. Break the spell Chthon has over her and awaken her mind. We need the Scarlet Witch back on our side."
"Cloak," Ben addressed the young man whose body was a living doorway to the Darkforce. "I need you to go to France. Find Scott Lang's daughter, Cassie. Intel suggests she's being held and controlled by Hydra."
Cloak, who had absorbed a significant amount of Ben's Genesis Mana during the previous battle, nodded vigorously. For the first time in a long time, he felt stable, no longer fearing he would dissolve into a formless shadow. "Don't worry, Boss. Leave it to me. I'll rescue Cassie, I promise!"
"No," Ben cautioned, his tone sharp. "Do not act rashly. Once you arrive, perform reconnaissance. Wait for the absolute right opportunity to extract her. If you get caught, we lose our leverage."
"What about us?" Luke Cage asked, gesturing to the gathered street-level heroes.
"You need to split up," Ben commanded, slipping naturally into the role of general. "Head to the various Hydra marshalling points in the neighboring cities. Your objective is to hijack their transport ships. We need air superiority."
The heroes nodded, though the numbers were thin. Most of the resistance trapped in New York were formidable fighters but they lacked the manpower for a wide-scale operation.
"I have a recommendation," Daredevil spoke up, his head cocked as he listened to the heartbeat of the city. "Wilson Fisk. The Kingpin. He still commands a significant network of loyalists and has resources we don't."
"Then let him come along," Ben said without hesitation. "An enemy of my enemy is a tool I can use."
Moments later, a large contingent of heroes and villains gathered before Ben. Wilson Fisk stood among them, his massive frame imposing even next to Luke Cage. The Kingpin cooperated not out of altruism, but out of necessity. He despised the world Hydra had built. Under their totalitarian regime, there was no room for a King of the Underworld. Fisk was treated like a common criminal, a cog in their machine, and his pride would not allow it.
"Let's move out," Ben ordered. "We wait for Natasha's signal."
As the teams dispersed through the portal Ben created, he glanced at his watch.
"I wonder how the other operations are proceeding," Ben mused aloud.
"It went very smoothly, Sir," the voice of Azmuth, the sophisticated AI Ben had developed based on the Galvans' intellect, chimed in over the comms.
"Looma and Felicia successfully engaged the Scarlet Witch," Azmuth reported. "They managed to subdue her temporarily but were forced to retreat when additional mutant forces and Madame Hydra arrived. However, per your instructions, the White Queen offered the Cosmic Cube fragments to Madame Hydra to gain her trust."
"And Vision?"
"Vision returned to the base with fake fragments, successfully deceiving Steve Rogers into believing the mission failed," Azmuth continued. "The plan to deliver false intelligence was also successful. Hydra believes they are seizing the initiative and collecting the fragments first."
"Very good," Ben nodded, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. "By controlling the flow of information, we control their movements. Next, Steve will undoubtedly launch a full-scale attack on the Las Vegas base to secure the final fragment held by T'Challa."
"Your deduction is entirely correct, Sir," Azmuth confirmed. "We have already intercepted the message Rogers sent to Scott Lang."
"I'll make my appearance a little later then."
Ben looked up, his gaze piercing through the ceiling of the Sanctum and the gloom of the Darkforce dome. Somewhere out there, across the membrane of reality, another Earth loomed like a guillotine blade.
Peter had sent several distress messages from that alternate reality. Ben had a rough understanding of the nightmare they were facing.
"A Zombie Universe," Ben muttered, his expression darkening. "And one with a Zombie Ben Tennyson or Benzarro to boot. That complicates things."
In a universe overrun by the undead, where even the heroes had succumbed to the hunger, a corrupted wielder of the Omnitrix was a threat level beyond catastrophic. It might require the raw power to resolve.
The Zombie Universe
"It's a success!"
Tony Stark burst out of his makeshift laboratory, looking more like a beggar than a billionaire. His armor was gone, replaced by rags, and his face was gaunt, but he held a vial of bubbling green liquid aloft like it was the Holy Grail.
Standing nearby, a man with pale skin and wild white hair adjusted his goggles. It was Dr. Animo.
"I rarely praise anyone other than myself," Animo croaked, his voice filled with a twisted sort of admiration. "But you... Stark, you are truly a genius!"
Tony beamed, though the smile looked ghastly on his decaying face. "You too, Doctor. Without your previous trials and errors—and your questionable ethics—I wouldn't have cracked the sequence. This was a joint effort."
Tony wasn't just being polite. Dr. Animo's intellect was terrifyingly singular. Specifically, his obsession with genetic mutation and bringing the dead back to life had solved the crucial hurdle: reversing necrosis.
Making rotting flesh revitalize and function again was biologically impossible—like trying to un-cook an egg. But Animo had done it. He possessed technology capable of reviving ancient fossils into living creatures, and by modifying that "Transmodulator" tech, they had created the serum.
"A miracle has truly occurred!" Peter stared at the vial in amazement. "Are... are you sure it works?"
"The experiment has been conducted," Tony said rapidly, his scientific manic energy returning. "Two zombie test subjects were exposed. Both returned to their original biological forms intact. Cognitive functions restored. Hunger suppressed. No side effects observed in the short term."
"As for long-term observation," Tony's shoulders slumped slightly, "we don't have that luxury."
"How long until the bomb is launched?" Animo asked, wiping grime from a microscope.
"Uh..." Peter glanced down at his watch, and his face went pale. "Thirty minutes."
Tony froze. "What? Thirty minutes?"
"How can there be only thirty minutes left?" Tony grabbed Peter's wrist to check the time himself. "Calculations stated we had at least two hours before the gravitational threshold was critical!"
"That was the original timeline," Peter said, his voice trembling. "But I just got a message from the other side. Shuri and Dr. Octavius are worried. They think the dust from the destruction of this Earth might drift into their universe during the collision. If that dust carries the zombie virus..."
"They moved up the detonation," Tony finished, horror dawning on him. "They're going to vaporize us early to ensure containment."
Damn it.
"What can we do in thirty minutes?" Tony paced frantically. "We have the cure, but we have no delivery system! We'll have a hard time even finding him in that time!"
"He can be found," Peter said quickly, trying to salvage hope. "We've been tracking the energy signature of Benzarro throughout your research. He's close."
"What's the use?" Tony snapped, despair cracking his voice. "Don't forget, we still need to evacuate the civilians! We can't cure the whole planet and get everyone to the ark in half an hour!"
He slumped against a workbench. "I'm sorry, Doctor. It seems our efforts have been in vain. We solved the puzzle, but the game is over. We can't save this world."
"It wasn't a waste of time for me."
A chilling, raspy laugh cut through the despair. Dr. Animo stood by the window, looking out at the ruined city with a gaunt, ghost-like smile.
"I didn't develop this medicine to save the world, Stark," Animo sneered, his obsession with the 'Verities Award' and scientific recognition echoing even in this dead world. "I just wanted to prove that I could do it. That my genius could conquer death itself. That is all."
As for his dream of creating a prehistoric neo-world populated by his mutant creations? He knew that was impossible now.
"Unfortunately, you're all going to be destroyed along with my masterpiece," Animo chuckled, the sound mocking their heroism. "If you survive this... tell your team to conduct a preliminary observation before jumping into a doomed timeline next time."
Animo picked up the vial, swirling the green liquid.
"As for us..." Animo's eyes gleamed with reckless scientific curiosity. "Since the potion has been successfully created... how can a man of science be satisfied without field testing it on the ultimate subject?"
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