Just as the compromised drone tumbled from the sky, its metal shell glowing cherry-red, the 1st generation Spider-Man reacted. A thick strand of black webbing, gleaming with the living texture of the symbiote, shot out and snagged the device. With a practiced flick of his wrist, he reeled it in, and the symbiote flowed over the drone, encasing it in a protective, heat-proof shell before it could be destroyed.
"Peter! Can you hear me? I've got a plan!" Tony's voice, sharp and clear, crackled from the drone's speaker.
"Loud and clear! What's the plan?" Peter shouted back, his voice slightly muffled by the symbiote.
"First, confirm for me—you're completely immune to the heat, right?"
"Yeah! The symbiote was enhanced by sky screen. Under its protection, I'm totally immune to extreme temperatures!"
"Perfect!" Tony's voice was electric with inspiration. "See the launch bay under that drone? There's a Dark Elf black hole grenade inside!"
Spider-Man shifted the drone in his symbiotic grasp, peering at the underside. Tucked inside a small compartment was a compact, alien-looking grenade. "I see it! Funny, I was having a similar idea!"
"Great minds, kid. Here's the play: I'm going to use concentrated firepower to punch a hole in the elemental. You get inside, find its core, and give that thing a taste of gravitational annihilation!"
A confident smile spread across Peter's face, hidden beneath the mask. "Yes! I was just wondering how I was going to get in!"
"Listen up, this is critical," Tony's tone turned serious. "This weapon is insanely powerful, but its effective range is only one meter! You have to be precise. And remember, it has a five-second delay once you fire!"
Tony rapidly relayed the tactical details, having already looped Strange into the conversation.
"I'm betting the core is in the upper right quadrant of its torso," Tony explained, his words quick and calculated. "When it regenerated its arm, Jarvis tracked the magma flow. It was all being pulled from that area. That has to be the source."
The logic was sound. Even with the symbiote's protection, entering the body of a living volcano was an unbelievable risk. The less time Peter spent swimming in magma, the better.
"Once Peter has eyes on the target, his drone can transmit the exact coordinates," Tony continued. "I'll redirect every remaining black hole grenade to that spot for saturation bombardment!"
"Good," Strange's voice cut in, calm and measured. "But if you can't destroy the core completely, just find a way to rip it out of its body. I'll banish it to another dimension." He didn't know the full extent of Dormammu's enhancement and was leaving nothing to chance.
Far away, in the cosmic stillness of Asgard, Heimdall stood before the Bifrost. The great machine had cooled from its last use, but he knew reactivating it at full power so soon could destabilize the delicate energy balance of the Nine Realms. He could no longer afford to care.
The Avengers saw a monster; Heimdall saw an apocalypse in motion.
Through his all-seeing eyes, he watched something the heroes on the ground could not: deep within the Earth's crust, massive rivers of magma were being violently pulled from the heart of Yellowstone Park, converging on the elemental's position. The creature had long ago realized it couldn't succeed alone. It was tapping into the world's largest geological powder keg, preparing to trigger an eruption that would scour the entire continent of life. The resulting volcanic ash would plunge the planet into an ice age, rendering it uninhabitable.
It was a world-ending plan that had been unexpectedly complicated by Dormammu's interference.
When Heimdall saw the tendrils of magma creeping toward their destination, he knew he could not wait. Even if the strike would cause irreversible damage to the surface, it was a price that had to be paid. This was not like the wind elemental, which had absorbed the Rainbow Bridge's power high in the atmosphere. The fire elemental was grounded. The impact would be catastrophic for the immediate area.
With grim resolve, Heimdall grasped the hilt of his greatsword and twisted it in the console. The Bifrost roared to life, its rainbow energies beginning to gather, targeting the precise location of the elemental below.
Tony, oblivious to the divine intervention about to unfold, finalized his calculations. "EDITH, execute."
All remaining drones converged on the elemental's chest. A fusillade of black hole grenades shot forth. Spider-Man looked up, watching in awe as the projectiles struck, not with explosions, but with waves of silent, spatial distortion. Chunks of molten rock and torrents of lava were simply… gone, sucked into the miniature singularities. His spider-sense screamed, a frantic alarm warning him to stay clear of the impossibly destructive forces at play.
In seconds, a gaping, black wound was torn open in the right side of the elemental's chest.
"Go, Peter, go!"
Hearing Tony's confirmation, Spider-Man didn't hesitate. He launched a strand of black webbing, anchoring it to the molten edge of the cavity, and swung himself inside just before the entrance began to seal itself.
"Peter! You have to come back!" In the Mirror Dimension, the 1st generation Gwen pressed her hands against the invisible barrier, tears welling in her eyes as she watched him disappear into the roiling red depths.
"He'll be fine," the 2nd generation Gwen said, placing a comforting hand on her counterpart's shoulder, though her own eyes were fixed on the spot where he had vanished. "He has to be."
Heimdall adjusted the targeting angle, aiming to strike straight down from the top of the elemental's head to force the creature to absorb the full, devastating blast. Time was running out. The supernatural storm was closing in, and the magma flows were nearing their destination.
Inside the elemental, Peter found himself suspended in an ocean of magma. The pressure was immense, but the symbiote held firm, creating a breathable pocket of air and shielding him from the toxic gases and unimaginable heat. He swam forward, propelling himself through the molten sea. All around him, on the "walls" of the internal chamber, the dark purple energy lines pulsed rhythmically, all drawing their power from the same location. Just as Scott had described with the earth elemental, the core had to supply energy to control the body, creating a map of glowing, corrupted light.
He found an arterial conduit and shot upward, traveling dozens of meters before emerging into a larger chamber. And there it was. A colossal, pulsating heart of black-and-purple energy, at least three meters in diameter.
"I see the core!" he yelled into the drone's comms. "Bad news—it's massive!"
"Damn it! No time to worry about that now!" Tony's voice shot back. "Deploy the grenade! After it hits, I'll use the suit's unibeam to help you blast an escape route!"
Spider-Man aimed the drone, his hand hovering over the manual firing switch.
Just as he was about to press it, the heavens tore open. A column of pure, blinding rainbow light broke through the clouds and descended with silent, unstoppable force.
"Whoa! Wait, wait, wait! That's… the Rainbow Bridge!" Tony's voice, broadcast from the drone, was filled with genuine shock. "It looks like Asgard is providing some backup!"
The weapon's appearance was unmistakable; Thor had used it more than once. Rhodes had told him how the Bifrost had played the decisive role against the wind elemental. And now, it was here again.