Alpha – The Beating Core
The chamber shook with every throb of the monstrous heart. Green ichor pumped through glowing arteries, flooding the air with a sickly heat. The swarm of armored serpents burst forward, scales clicking like blades, eyes burning with unholy light.
Greta stepped up first, rune-fire spiraling around her arms. "Stay behind me."
She unleashed a torrent of sigils that carved through the first wave, serpents exploding in shards of blackened bone.
Jessica raised shimmering barriers, holding back serpents that clawed at her from above. Sweat poured down her brow as the impact rattled her bones. "They're endless!"
"Then we cut the source!" Susan Storm barked, projecting force-fields to pin the serpents against the walls. "Reed—now!"
Reed's arms elongated like steel lances, plunging deep into the fortress's pulsing heart. For a moment, it writhed, resisting, then released a shriek that rattled their teeth.
But the backlash came fast. Vines of living flesh whipped out from the heart, wrapping around Reed's limbs and dragging him closer.
Jessica slammed a barrier dome over him, holding the tendrils back, but her knees buckled.
"I… can't… hold—!"
Greta pressed her palms to Jessica's barrier, flooding it with rune-light. "Then we hold together!"
The swarm redoubled, serpents tearing themselves from the heart as though it was birthing them endlessly.
---
Beta – The Living Veins
Far below, Beta Team ran through tunnels that pulsed like throats, the fortress veins glowing brighter with each step. Explosives dotted the walls, planted by Natasha's precise hands.
"Five junctions," she muttered, checking her timer. "Hit them all at once, or this thing just regenerates."
Delilah's fire tornado shredded drones flooding the tunnel, her eyes blazing with both fury and strain. "Then give me something to burn besides these pests!"
Baymax hovered close, projecting a shield dome around Natasha as she wired charges. "Vital signs: unstable. Sustained combat is eroding your stamina, Delilah."
Delilah bared her teeth. "Then I burn brighter."
Varisa summoned a hurricane in the narrow corridor, blasting drones into walls so hard they dissolved into ichor. She spun toward Natasha. "The veins are tightening—we don't have long!"
The tunnels groaned as fleshy walls began to collapse inward, trying to suffocate the team.
Natasha slammed the final detonator into place. "On my mark—"
The fortress screamed, an ear-splitting psychic shriek that nearly knocked them flat. Drones poured from every vent, like the veins themselves had opened to vomit soldiers.
---
The Breaking Point
Both teams — Alpha drowning in serpents, Beta suffocating in living tunnels — teetered on collapse. Reed's limbs were nearly pulled into the heart. Jessica's barriers flickered like broken glass. Delilah's flames sputtered as exhaustion finally dragged at her core.
Then—
A surge of energy ripped through the fortress. The walls convulsed as if struck by a giant's hammer. From the upper levels, a voice carried:
"Step aside!"
The ground split as a new force entered — Vanessa, wrapped in a corona of crimson energy, Juggernaut smashing through the wall behind her, Luna Snow gliding on a wave of frost.
The fortress reacted instantly, focusing its tendrils toward the newcomers. Vanessa lifted her hand, absorbing the crushing impact as though it were nothing. The damage flowed into her veins—then back out, redirected, pulverizing the serpents that swarmed Alpha.
"Thought you could use a hand," Vanessa said, her voice calm even as the battlefield quaked.
Alpha and Beta teams both staggered in relief as the weight shifted.
Jessica gasped, half in awe, half in shock. "Who is she?"
Greta only smiled grimly, recognizing the power.
"Someone the Serpents should've never let walk through their door."