A shimmering portal materialized on the outskirts of the village Celeste had located, and fourteen figures emerged into the twilight.
They all stopped dead at the sight before them.
Houses burned and collapsed. Rubble and ruins scattered everywhere. But the true horror lay in the human bodies littering the ground.
The corpses of men, women, and children that Muur had slaughtered...
"What happened to them?" Iron Fist asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Muur happened," Celeste growled.
Wong stepped forward and crouched beside the nearest body.
He closed his eyes briefly, reciting a quiet prayer for the deceased—he couldn't even determine their gender. He only knew their life had been stolen.
He pressed his palms together and slowly moved his hands from the corpse's head to its toes, mystical energy flowing between them.
"Just as I feared," Wong said grimly. "He drained everything from them. Their life essence, their very souls."
"Why would he do this?" Shuri couldn't help but ask, her voice tight.
Celeste glanced at her. "Hunger, for one. I'd wager he's trying to replenish the strength he lost in Hong Kong."
"How could it come to this?" Luke Cage said softly, staring at the devastation.
Iron Man's expression beneath his helmet was as grim as everyone else's. "Friday?"
"No life signs detected, boss," his AI reported apologetically.
Tony's fists clenched at the confirmation. Anger filled him, cold and focused.
The group began moving forward when Hawkeye quickly instructed them to split into two teams to cover more ground efficiently.
Iron Man took point with Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Celeste, Winter Soldier, Wong, and Jessica.
Hawkeye led the second team: Shuri, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, She-Hulk, Mordo, and White Tiger.
Both groups moved on high alert, the occasional sound of wood and gravel crunching beneath their feet the only noise in the eerie silence.
Hawkeye stopped his team and scanned the area.
"Seems like nothing's here," he muttered. "Though that might be because we can't see what we're looking for."
The other team heard his assessment through the comm units distributed earlier.
"Are we too late? Has Muur already moved on?" Iron Fist asked.
"Not likely," Ghost Rider said, his eyes beginning to smolder with hellfire.
"Then where is he?" Luke Cage asked, glancing into a burned-out house and spotting the charred remains of a mother clutching her child.
"Are you certain he's still here?" White Tiger pressed.
Celeste opened her mouth to respond, but paused, sensing something shift in the Force.
"He's here. He's coming. I can feel his presence," Celeste stated firmly.
"You're sure?" Jessica asked quietly.
"It's hard not to notice the presence of someone who's been living in your head for millennia."
"That's not creepy at all," Jessica said, her tone sardonic even as it brought back painful memories of another man who'd once haunted her nightmares.
As they continued through the devastated village, an unnatural wind began to rise.
None of them noticed immediately.
As Hawkeye examined another body, he heard stumbling footsteps followed by muttered curses in Wakandan.
He glanced over to find Shuri kicking away a piece of debris in frustration. She looked shaken.
The veteran Avenger approached without a word and placed a hand on her shoulder.
The Wakandan princess startled at the sudden contact, but relaxed when she saw who it was.
"Hey," Hawkeye said quietly. "You okay?"
Shuri didn't answer immediately.
"Come on, stay focused," Hawkeye encouraged, leaning in slightly. "You've got this. We're here, and this is basically what you've been training for. Besides—you're ready."
Shuri opened her mouth, then simply nodded and gave the archer a grateful smile.
The two continued forward. Then the entire team stopped as the breeze transformed into a howling gale.
A wave of corrupted energy swept across all the bodies on the ground.
Everyone froze, watching in horror.
The corpses on all sides began to twitch. Then they began to move—
"What the hell?!" Several shouts erupted, everyone turning toward Shuri.
The princess had her gauntlets raised, energy crackling between them as she fired at the nearest reanimating corpse.
"What are you doing?!" Luke Cage nearly shouted.
"What do you mean, what am I doing? Have you people never seen a zombie movie?!" Shuri fired back, hoping her actions were justified. "You don't just stand there!"
The Avengers jolted again as Iron Man opened fire, repulsor beams obliterating the twitching bodies of the villagers.
Multiple panels opened across Tony's armor, deploying dozens of micro-missiles that streaked forward.
Within seconds, all the visible corpses were reduced to ash.
"There," Iron Man said with grim satisfaction. "That should handle them."
"Seriously?" Shuri protested. "I shoot first, and I get yelled at. He does it, and nobody says anything?"
"Well, you did inspire him," Iron Fist offered. "So... good initiative?"
Shuri shot the martial artist an unimpressed look.
"Okay, that was disturbing," Jessica spoke up. "But isn't this a little too easy?"
She was met with collective stares from several team members.
"Now it begins," Ghost Rider said as his skin began peeling away, flames erupting across his skull.
"Incoming!" White Tiger shouted as something grabbed his ankle. He looked down to see a rotting hand emerging from the earth.
He yanked his leg free and stomped down hard, producing a sickening crunch.
The Avengers then faced the corpses that hadn't been destroyed by Tony and Shuri as they rose from the ground alongside countless others.
More and more of the dead began stirring, unnatural sounds emanating from their mouths. Within minutes, the sickening symphony of breaking bones and tearing flesh filled the air.
"Oh, what the hell—"
Before their eyes, the dead began transforming into monstrous abominations.
"Rakghouls!" Celeste shouted.
As the transformation completed, the assembled Avengers opened fire on the rakghoul horde.
"That's a lot of rakghouls," Tony said, blasting everything in sight.
"I thought he couldn't create rakghouls without the Talisman!" Jessica yelled, hurling one of the creatures into a tree.
"After absorbing all that power, the rakghouls must come to him naturally now," Celeste explained, igniting her emerald lightsaber.
"So he's basically cheating," Hawkeye quipped, driving an arrow through a rakghoul's eye before Shuri finished it with an energy blast.
"Magic always cheats," Wong said, summoning the Wand of Watoomb.
"Weren't you the one who told me not to disrupt the natural order of things?" Doctor Strange asked with a wry smile.
"That doesn't mean I can't acknowledge when others do."
The former surgeon sighed in mock exasperation. "The hypocrisy is strong with this one."
"Can we please focus?" Hawkeye said, firing an arrow backward without looking, catching a winged rakghoul directly in its gaping maw.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the trees surrounding the village began shaking violently.
Screams and roars echoed from every direction.
Inside his suit, Tony's HUD provided a full view of the forest around them—and detected movement everywhere.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he announced. "We're completely surrounded."
"Everyone back-to-back formation! Stay sharp!" Hawkeye ordered immediately.
"Time for some much-needed protection spells," Doctor Strange said, nodding to his fellow mystics. They all pressed their palms together before thrusting them outward.
Multiple arcane symbols and runes flew from their hands, surrounding the gathered heroes in overlapping shields.
"What is this?" Jessica asked, raising her hand as ethereal orange armor materialized around her form.
"Protection spell," Doctor Strange replied curtly.
"Alright, Avengers," Iron Man said as he took to the air. "Time to earn our paychecks."
As soon as he finished speaking, what seemed like an endless swarm of rakghouls burst from the surrounding forest.
The creatures charged straight for the fourteen heroes.
The battle began.
Iron Man, alongside Doctor Strange and She Hulk, unleashed multiple repulsor blasts, missiles, and energy beams into the air.
Jessica spent most of her time airborne, smashing through any rakghoul unlucky enough to cross her path.
Doctor Strange wove a continuous series of spells—burning whips of the Crimson Bands, energy blades, mystical discs, and shields—all designed to repel the rakghoul swarm.
Iron Fist summoned his chi, both fists glowing with golden power.
He knew this wasn't the time to hold back. He unleashed the full might of the Iron Fist. Each strike sent out small shockwaves of yellow energy that either sent rakghouls flying or allowed his fists to punch straight through their corrupted bodies.
Luke Cage utilized his invulnerable ionic form and superhuman strength to bulldoze through the rakghouls, occasionally using their bodies as improvised weapons to create more fighting room for the team.
Celeste's lightsaber and mystical blade worked in perfect harmony, slicing through the seemingly endless waves of enemies with precision born of millennia of combat experience.
She-Hulk simply plowed through anything in her way—straightforward and effective. While she lacked her cousin's berserker rage, she possessed the same overwhelming strength, as evidenced by her devastating path through the rakghoul horde.
Shuri and White Tiger formed a seamless partnership, launching coordinated strikes. When the Black Panther successor defended, White Tiger attacked, and vice versa—a rhythm that spoke to hours of training together.
Ghost Rider carved a blazing path of righteous hellfire all on his own, incinerating any rakghoul unfortunate enough to be targeted by the Spirit of Vengeance.
Mordo and Wong played dual roles of offense and defense, moving fluidly in and around the team to protect their teammates, eliminate rakghouls, or create support portals and enhancement spells for others to utilize.
"Now this is what I like to see," Iron Man exclaimed, genuine approval in his voice as he soared overhead. "Have to admit, I'm impressed with this team composition."
Several of the others couldn't help but smile despite the chaos.
This was what it meant to be an Avenger.
Exceptional people coming together to fight battles no one else could win.