The sky over Earth changed color.
It was not dramatic at first. No thunder, no fire, no tearing of clouds. Just a subtle dimming, as if the light itself had decided to hesitate. Satellites were the first to register it. Then telescopes. Then every radar array, observatory, and deep-space sensor on the planet began screaming at once.
Something enormous had arrived.
A planet.
Not drifting. Not falling. Sitting in space with deliberate stillness just beyond Earth's orbit, wrapped in layers of energy that bent light and distorted gravity. Its surface gleamed with impossible geometry, continents of living metal shifting slowly like a breathing thing. Vast forge-spires glowed across its crust, and orbital rings bristled with weapons large enough to make moon-based defenses irrelevant.
Cybertron.
Panic spread faster than information ever could. Governments scrambled. Militaries went to full alert. Civilian networks flooded with speculation, fear, conspiracy. To most of Earth, it looked like an invasion had finally arrived from the stars.
The Avengers responded within minutes.
The compound went into lockdown. Defensive batteries powered up. Carol Danvers was already airborne, heading toward orbit. Doctor Strange opened a dozen portals at once, scanning for hostile intent. Thor called Stormbreaker to hand, lightning crackling around him as he stared up at the alien world with open disbelief.
Then the alarms stopped.
Every single warning system went quiet simultaneously, overridden by a signal so clean and absolute that it left no room for argument.
Tony Stark's wrist display chimed.
One message. One sender.
No need to worry. It's just me. Come see.
Tony stared at it for a long second.
"…Of course it is," he muttered.
He was already suited up when he launched, thrusters flaring as he punched through atmosphere and into the dark. As he closed the distance, the scale of it hit him harder than any sensor reading ever could. Cybertron wasn't just big. It was intentional. Every structure, every plate, every glowing line screamed design at a level that made most human megastructures look like toys.
A hangar iris opened seamlessly in front of him.
Tony flew in.
The interior was cathedral-sized, forged from living metal that flowed and reshaped itself as he passed. Energy conduits pulsed like veins. Automated systems tracked him but did not target. At the center of the chamber, standing calmly with his hands behind his back, was Alex Price.
Tony landed hard, nanotech retracting as he took it all in.
"…So," Tony said slowly, looking around, then back at Alex, "you're telling me you went out for tech and came back with a forge world."
Alex nodded. More or less.
Tony let out a short laugh that was half hysteria, half awe. "I leave you alone for a bit and you steal a planet."
I didn't steal it, Alex replied evenly. I took control of it.
Tony stared at him. "…That's worse."
Alex gestured, and the hangar walls shifted, opening into a vast panoramic view of Cybertron's surface below them. Forges the size of cities burned with controlled stellar fire. Shipyards assembled vessels larger than any Earth carrier. Defensive arrays rotated silently, tracking empty space where threats might one day emerge.
This is Cybertron, Alex said. The Cybertron.
Tony blinked. "Wait. You mean as in the Cybertron."
Yes.
Tony rubbed his face with one hand. "Okay. Okay. Multiverse confirmed, sanity optional. I'm just gonna accept that."
He looked back out at the planet, eyes sharp now, engineer's instinct kicking in. "You didn't bring it here just to flex."
No, Alex said. I brought it here to make sure Earth survives what's coming.
With a thought, Alex triggered the forges.
Across Cybertron's surface, massive constructs awakened. Energy surged through planetary-scale frameworks as new arrays unfolded, projecting layered shields that extended outward, not just around Cybertron, but outward into surrounding space. Invisible walls of force began to lock into place along calculated vectors, forming a defensive lattice that encompassed Earth itself.
Tony's HUD lit up with data. His breath caught.
"…Those are planetary shields," he said. "Plural. Stacked. And they're not anchored to Earth."
They're anchored to Cybertron, Alex replied. If the Source Wall opens again, if entities try to breach reality, they won't reach the planet. They'll be forced to engage in open space.
Tony let out a low whistle. "You just turned Earth into a defended objective instead of a battlefield."
Exactly.
Alex turned to him. I'm sharing the base technology with you. The living metal frameworks, the adaptive shielding logic, the forge algorithms. Improve them as you see fit.
Tony looked back at Cybertron, then down at his own armor as nanotech flowed over his arm. A slow, dangerous smile formed.
"Living metal nanoscale integration," he said quietly. "Self-healing, adaptive morphology, combat learning at the material level…"
He looked up at Alex. "You realize I'm about to make my suits terrifying."
That's the idea.
Tony laughed, sharp and exhilarated. "You know, most people would've started with a bigger gun."
Alex's gaze shifted briefly to the distant stars. Bigger guns don't win wars like this. Infrastructure does.
Below them, Cybertron continued to awaken, its forges reshaping destiny at a planetary scale. Above them, Earth drifted in silent orbit, unaware that for the first time in its history, it was no longer defenseless.
And somewhere beyond the stars, whatever had cracked the Source Wall would soon learn that the fight would not begin on the ground.
It would begin in space.