The Necro-Captain flew back, crashing through warped dimensional walls. "What?!" His voice held shock and rage.
James appeared above him, looking down. "You said the Ancient One wouldn't face you?"
The Necro-Captain roared, hands clapping, dark magic coalescing into a death beam that could erase reality. James didn't flinch; the beam hit his bio-field, fizzling harmlessly.
"That's it?" James asked.
"Impossible!" The Necro-Captain's pupils shrank.
"Your magic doesn't work on me." James stepped forward, teleporting to him, raising his hand. Slap! A backhand spun the Necro-Captain's head 180 degrees, neck snapping audibly. He crashed into the dimensional floor, cracking it.
James landed at the crater's edge. "Get out of his body."
The Mind Gem's orange light surged, a pure mental blast piercing the Necro-Captain's soul. "Agh!" A horrific shriek echoed as a black shadow poured from Steve's orifices, struggling to escape but trapped by the gem's power.
"No! This can't be! I am—" The shadow's words cut off as James clenched his fist. "Purify."
The orange light erupted, erasing the black magic. The shadow screamed, disintegrating. Steve's body collapsed, restored, free of darkness.
The Mirror Dimension dissolved, returning them to reality. Tony rushed to Steve's body, faceplate open, expression complex. "He's really gone?"
James nodded. "The black magic's gone, but his life ended long ago."
Wanda stepped forward softly. "At least let him rest."
Kara, floating, scanned the area. "What was controlling him?"
James's gaze deepened. "A parallel universe entity." His fingertip held a trapped wisp of green energy—the shadow's remnant. "I'll find its source."
He wove seals. "Trace!" The green energy exploded into a projection, revealing a man in a black robe, face identical to Steve's but with ominous green eyes, Darkhold runes swirling around him. He jolted from meditation, eyes meeting James's across dimensions. "Found you," James smiled.
The Hydra-Captain's face twisted, but James cut the connection. Turning to Tony, he said, "You guys head back. I've got business."
Before they could reply, he opened a golden portal and vanished.
Parallel Universe
James appeared above a city, skyscrapers standing but marked with Hydra insignias—billboards, holograms, flags. The Avengers Tower was now Hydra's headquarters, a scarlet "Hail Hydra" slogan floating atop it.
His super vision swept the planet, brow furrowing. This world was Hydra's empire. Captain America wasn't a hero but Hydra's supreme leader, self-styled Hydra Emperor. The Avengers were imprisoned or brainwashed into Hydra's enforcers. Thanos's invasion never happened; Hydra seized the Tesseract, conquering the galaxy.
"Clever," James muttered, locking onto the dark magic emanating from Hydra's palace in Washington, D.C.—the Hydra-Captain's lair.
Whoosh! He appeared in the palace's throne hall. A scarlet carpet stretched down a corridor lined with brainwashed Hydra Avengers: Iron Man in black armor, Thor's hammer pulsing with dark energy, Hulk a bio-weapon.
On the throne, the Hydra-Captain looked up, smirking. "Finally, the intruder."
James didn't waste words, his fist glowing with power. Boom! Space shattered. The Hydra-Captain's eyes widened, his Time Gem flaring to reverse the blow.
"Time doesn't work on me," James said coldly. Bang! His fist crushed the Hydra-Captain's skull, blood and brain matter splattering the throne. The headless body slumped.
The hall fell silent. The brainwashed Avengers froze, unable to process their god-emperor's instant death.
"Time Gem?" James chuckled, picking up the gem, tossing it lightly before storing it. "You didn't even know how to use it."
His eyes flared red, soul-piercing heat vision locking onto the Hydra-Captain's struggling soul in the void. "No! You can't!" it screamed.
The vision erupted, annihilating the soul instantly. James scanned the hall. Boom! The palace shook as dark energy erupted from below, green runes spreading across walls, the building coming alive.
"You think killing me ends this?" A raspy voice echoed, like countless wailing souls. The floor split, a giant dark-energy hand grabbing at James.
Boom! James swatted it away, crushing it. More dark tendrils surged, walls and ceilings twisting into a massive, grotesque Hydra-Captain face. "I'm bound to this universe! You can't kill me!"
James hovered, watching the contracting darkness. "Bound to a universe? You?"
He raised his hands, six Infinity Gems blazing. "Then vanish with it."
Boom! Infinite Obliteration. The gems' power wove a destructive torrent, sweeping the universe. Space shattered, time reversed, reality rewrote, power erupted, souls annihilated, minds erased. The Hydra-Captain's dark consciousness screamed, erased entirely. The universe—Hydra, Avengers, Earth, galaxies—dissolved into nothingness under the gems' might.
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