Carol had already sensed the danger.
Holding the spacecraft up with one hand, she threw a punch with the other. Brilliant cosmic energy erupted instantly, colliding head-on with Stormbreaker.
BOOM—!
A massive shockwave exploded between them.
Thor was blasted backward more than ten meters, while Carol remained completely unfazed.
"Thor, stop! She saved the ship!"
Valkyrie flew out from the vessel on her winged horse and raised her Valkyrie sword to block Thor's path.
Thor panted angrily. Upon hearing Valkyrie's explanation, he froze for a moment.
An awkward expression appeared on his face.
He raised a hand and recalled Stormbreaker.
"Let's head back first."
Karl spoke.
By now, Tony and the others had arrived one after another. After learning it was all a misunderstanding, they accompanied the group back toward Wakanda.
---
After landing safely in Wakanda, Valkyrie finally relaxed.
Half of the Asgardians had reached Earth without major incident and had found a place where they could continue living.
Under T'Challa's orders, the Asgardians aboard the ship were temporarily settled together, while everyone else gathered once more in the conference hall.
"Long time no see, Nick. You look a lot more worn out than before."
Carol stepped forward to greet Nick Fury.
Despite the passing years, Carol looked just as young as ever, while Fury had visibly aged.
"Not everyone can stay young like you."
Nick rarely smiled, but seeing an old friend genuinely lifted his spirits.
Carol hadn't forgotten their agreement.
"How's Goose? Where is she?"
Carol looked around.
The Goose she mentioned was the orange cat—or rather, the Flerken.
"At my place, sleeping in her nest. She's gotten so fat she can barely walk."
Nick unconsciously touched the eyepatch covering his eye.
The unpleasant memories came flooding back immediately.
Carol nodded.
"I never imagined Earth's technology would develop this far."
Her comment made Nick feel somewhat embarrassed.
Wakanda's technology existed on an entirely different level from the rest of Earth.
There was only one Wakanda in the world.
"What did you call me back for?"
Carol changed the subject and got straight to the point.
"Something serious has happened on Earth."
Nick proceeded to explain everything about Thanos.
---
"Thanos... I've heard of him."
Carol's expression became serious.
"He's destroyed many planets. Usually he wipes out half the population at random. Some worlds that resisted were simply annihilated."
Clearly, she knew who Thanos was.
His reputation throughout the galaxy was infamous.
She simply had never fought him personally.
"What do you think?"
Nick asked.
He understood Carol's strength better than most.
Calling her overwhelmingly powerful wouldn't be an exaggeration.
"Find him."
"Then kill him."
Carol answered without hesitation.
Given her abilities, an ordinary Thanos might genuinely not be her opponent.
However, she overlooked one crucial detail.
Thanos now possessed five Infinity Stones.
His power was no longer what it had once been.
Especially after obtaining the Time Stone, the five Stones amplified one another, bringing the Time Stone's potential to unprecedented levels.
"Do you know where Thanos is?"
Nick asked.
He trusted Carol's decisiveness and had full confidence in her abilities.
The problem was that nobody knew Thanos's current location.
"You can find him?"
Carol stopped walking.
Her original plan had been to gather information throughout the galaxy.
There were information brokers in the universe whose intelligence networks were frighteningly comprehensive.
Some even seemed to know almost everything happening across the cosmos.
"We have a way to lure him out."
Nick got straight to the point and explained their bait strategy.
After hearing it, Carol abandoned the idea of searching the universe.
She agreed that the plan was workable.
"Then let's prepare."
---
In the end, the group chose the Australian Desert as the site of the final battle.
Nick Fury would coordinate with the Security Council and arrange temporary shelters in case the fighting spread across the Australian continent.
Everyone else began making preparations.
Wakandan aircraft stood ready for deployment.
Every available Avenger-affiliated agent was mobilized.
Quinjets were placed on standby.
---
"Tony, it's time to change armor."
After the meeting ended, Karl found Tony.
The vibranium nanotech armor was sufficient.
But merely sufficient.
Its enhancement potential still had limits.
Tony frowned.
He knew exactly which armor Karl was talking about.
That suit couldn't be nanotech-deployed and lacked the flexibility of his current armor.
However, it was undeniably better suited for the coming battle.
"JARVIS, deploy the armor."
Tony immediately instructed JARVIS to release the suit from orbit.
The armor Karl was referring to was none other than the Destroyer Armor Tony had developed using fragments of the Destroyer combined with vibranium.
Uru metal plus vibranium.
It was currently Tony's only armor with genuine magical properties.
"Yes, sir. Estimated arrival time: three minutes."
JARVIS replied.
Meanwhile, aboard a Stark Industries satellite in near-Earth orbit, a red launch hatch opened.
A red cone-shaped capsule shot out and began descending toward Earth.
---
Karl and Tony stood in the plaza chatting while waiting for the armor to arrive.
At the same time, warning sirens began sounding.
Wakanda's defense systems had detected an unidentified object approaching at extreme speed.
Everyone quickly gathered in the plaza.
Even Carol had already taken to the air.
Tony hurriedly reassured everyone that it was merely one of his armors.
The conical capsule slammed into the ground and landed directly in front of him.
A retinal scanning device emerged automatically and performed a full-body scan of Tony.
Then the capsule slowly opened.
Inside stood a metallic-colored suit of armor.
It was the Destroyer Armor that Tony had exiled to near-Earth orbit long ago.
Unlike the nanotech suit, it couldn't deploy automatically.
Mechanical arms extended from the capsule and began attaching each component piece by piece onto Tony's body.
As the circular arc reactor on the chest lit up, red light shone from the armor's eyes.
At the same time, mysterious glowing runes appeared across the armor's surface.
They were ancient Runic symbols—impossible for most people to understand.
Though perhaps Thor could.
"Isn't that my father's old Destroyer?"
Thor walked over carrying Stormbreaker and circled Tony once.
"I never expected you to turn it into armor."
He recognized it immediately.
The Destroyer had once guarded Asgard's vault for ages.
Later, Loki had sent it to Earth to deal with him.
"That's right."
Tony nodded.
"This thing was built using Destroyer fragments. I've just never really used it."
He quickly ran a diagnostic.
Aside from critically low energy reserves, the armor was functioning perfectly.
"Mind giving me a charge?"
Tony looked toward the only two people present connected to mystical power—Karl and Thor.
As for Strange and Wanda, nobody knew where they had gone. They weren't around at the moment.
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