The sky itself split apart.
As the massive head of Annihilus forced its way out of the widening portal, the clouds warped around him like ink pulled into a whirlpool. The very air screamed under the distortion. His enormous mandibles twitched as the insectoid armada poured out behind him, thousands upon thousands of creatures flying in perfect formation, their wings buzzing like a storm of knives.
Below, the surviving Avengers and the Fantastic Four stood amid the ruins of the city, staring upward in grim silence.
Captain America's grip on his shield tightened as dust and ash swirled around him. "This," he muttered, voice low and hard, "is about to get very ugly."
Iron Man's helmet shifted toward him, the glowing eyes narrowing with that familiar tone of sardonic calm. "How'd you figure that, Cap? Was it the giant floating head, or the strong feeling that we're smack in the middle of another world-ending event?"
Reed shot him a glare, voice sharp. "Tony, this isn't funny. Get serious."
Tony's visor reflected the monstrous figure looming above. "Oh, trust me," he said flatly, "this is me being completely serious."
And then the world went quiet.
Then, Annihilus opened his mouth.
The screech that followed was a force of nature.
A sound so deep and violent it made the air itself vibrate. The shockwave slammed into buildings, shattering windows across entire blocks. Concrete cracked and the metal supports groaned. People screamed as they clamped hands over their ears and fell to the ground.
Every Avenger fell to one knee. Natasha grimaced, clutching her head. Reed's ears bled instantly as he tried to hold himself upright. Even the ever-stoic Captain America was forced down, his shield vibrating from the resonance.
Only Tony reacted fast enough. "Jarvis cut off external audio!"
JARVIS: "Acknowledged sir, muting all external sound channels."
The world went silent inside his suit, but not quiet as he could still feel the sound, pounding against his armor like invisible fists. The vibrations slammed through the metal, rattling his bones.
Beside him, The Thing was on one knee, cracks forming along his rocky shoulder. "It's… like someone's poundin' me with a sledgehammer!"
JARVIS: "Sir, analysis complete. The entity's emitting ultra-low frequency sound waves amplified by exotic energy, essentially weaponized resonance. The vibration density exceeds any known decibel threshold on Earth."
JARVIS: "It's a sound attack sir, and it's killing everything with ears."
———————————-
Miles away across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and into the next city, the shockwave hit.
Civilians collapsed in the streets, clutching their heads as blood streamed from their ears and noses. Windows imploded, alarms wailed, and car horns blared uncontrollably.
In the sky above, the X-Jet trembled violently. Jean screamed, grabbing her head as blood trickled down her cheek. Beast's instruments went haywire.
Storm fell to her knees mid-flight, lightning scattering wildly across the sky. "It's… inside my head!" she gasped.
Below them, thousands of civilians fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Even animals such as dogs, cats, birds all collapsed instantly. The air was thick with a low, terrible hum that made everything vibrate.
——————————-
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters — Helicarrier
At that same moment, Nick Fury pushed himself off the floor of the bridge, groaning. "Somebody please tell me we got the sound filters back online!"
"Silencer's up, sir!" an agent yelled over the noise. "Audio dampers engaged!"
The sound lessened barely. The ship still trembled, its metal framework vibrating as though the giant creature's scream was tearing through the atmosphere itself. The lights flickered and the monitors sparked. And still, the sound bled through the muted ship.
Fury looked up at the main screen. The feed showed Annihilus, his massive form emerging from the widening portal, with the swarm streaming out behind him. Every sensor readout screamed red.
Across multiple smaller screens, other regions lit up in chaos as cities all along the eastern seaboard were invaded. Death rates spiked second by second.
"Jesus Christ," Fury muttered. "He's killing people with his voice."
"Sir!" one agent shouted, blood dripping from his ear. "We've got a missile incoming!"
Fury's head snapped up. "What? From where?"
"Trajectory shows it was launched twenty seconds ago from an unmarked silo. Estimated impact is New York City."
Fury's jaw tightened. "Let me guess… world council authorization?"
"Yes, sir."
He cursed under his breath, the veins at his temple pulsing. "Of course they did. Those cowardly sons of—"
Another agent looked up from her console. "Sir, the missile's flight pattern is unstable. It's wobbling. Could be malfunctioning."
Fury narrowed his one good eye. "Unstable flight on a live nuke headed for Manhattan… perfect."
Within seconds, the bridge's holographic display flickered as four separate feeds appearing: the World Security Council.
Their faces were pale. Blood ran from their ears, and the noise behind them was muffled but still a bit audible.
Fury glared up. "What the hell were you thinking? You launched a nuke over U.S. airspace?"
One of the generals slammed his fist on the table. "Director Fury, watch your tone. The situation demands immediate action."
"Action?" Fury snapped. "You call nuking millions of civilians action? That's not strategy, that's insanity!"
A female minister leaned forward, face twisted with fury. "Insanity is what's coming out of that portal! That thing is shaking the continent apart! Do you have any idea what you're up against?"
From the Chinese delegate's end, static crackled as he spoke hurriedly. "Containment is impossible! Our satellites are detecting resonance shockwaves spreading across the Pacific. If this continues, the sound will reach the Asian coast within the hour. It's already hit parts of Europe!"
He pointed to a data feed behind him with maps glowing red with seismic tremors. "We must stop it before the sound wave reaches China. The only logical solution is total annihilation of the epicenter."
Fury's voice dropped to a growl. "You're talking about millions of lives! The Avengers and the Fantastic Four are on the ground and they're handling it!"
The British councilman scoffed. "Handling it? The point of origin is the Baxter Building, Director. The very building your so-called heroes are in. Logical conclusion: they either caused this, or failed to contain their own experiment!"
He pulled up a report of a live data showing energy readings traced directly to the Baxter Tower. "Our analysts confirmed this pattern before the breach expanded. You're defending the very people responsible."
But before Fury could say anything, Maria Hill, staggering beside him with blood streaked down her neck, raised a trembling hand. "Uh… sir."
Fury turned. "What is it, Hill?"
She pointed toward one of the side monitors. Her eyes were wide. "You're gonna want to see this."
——————————
From orbit, satellites caught the fiery streak of the missile cutting through the upper atmosphere with its coordinates locked on New York City. The United Nations Security Council had made its move. Fury's one good eye followed the trajectory feed in silence. The sound in the command deck was still muted or what was left of it, anyway. Every screen vibrated faintly, trembling from the lingering resonance of that sound, the one that came from the gaping wound in the sky.
"Sir, the missile—" Maria Hill's voice cracked through the static. "It's—"
Then it happened.
Before Fury could relay a warning to Tony, the missile veered. Its path twisted unnaturally, the exhaust trail bending in a way no guidance system could explain. Just as it entered the outer bounds of the city, it detonated violently, blindingly with an explosion so vast it should have turned Manhattan into glass.
Except it didn't.
The shockwave met something invisible midair barrier. It rippled like translucent glass, then redirected the full blast upward. The column of fire roared skyward, vaporizing every insectoid in its radius. The sky above the city turned into a swirling inferno once more, a hurricane of molten clouds. And then… silence. The streets below were untouched.
Tony, Reed, Johnny, Ben, and the rest of the Avengers stood frozen beneath the blinding aftermath. Sue had woken up and used her shields to hold back the excess sound wave and gave the teams a breather.
Johnny's flame flickered uncertainly. "Uh… what the hell was that?"
Natasha stared at the rising plume of fire, her jaw tight. "Did they just try to nuke us?"
Tony looked shook his head "Desperate political idiots. They think throwing fire at a collapsing reality is the answer."
Reed's eyes narrowed as he observed the phenomena above them. The refracted energy, the shifting heat patterns, the impossible curve of force. His voice carried quiet awe. "It's being veered off-course… redirected. Look at that, there's a containment gradient, some sort of—" He stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening behind his mask. "That… barrier. It's reshaping the explosion."
Ben turned to him, still catching his breath. "You're saying the big boom just decided to skip us outta kindness?"
"No, he's saying something saved us." Sue said as she struggled with the shield.
Before Reed could respond, Clint's tense voice broke through the comms. "Uh, guys…"
Tony glanced up. "What?"
Clint's eyes widened as he pointed toward the portal. "That."
They followed his gaze.
The monstrous head of Annihilus gleaming in armor that made him look like a horned nightmare god had turned. Its focus was them. The insectoid warlord's enormous mandibles flexed, and those burning yellow eyes narrowed with fury.
"Shit," Rogers muttered, his shield already raised. "Get ready."
Tony barely had time to respond before Jarvis chimed in, it's voice was loud enough for others to hear.
"Sir, incoming I'm detecting a mass fluctuation. A concentrated virtual particle surge with an unstable atomic lattice formation detected."
"What does that mean?" Natasha snapped, bracing herself.
Tony's HUD flared with crimson warnings. "It means we're about to get atomically rewritten if we don't—"
The world turned purple.
A wave of energy, seething and massive, tore through the air above them like a blade cutting through the atmosphere. Buildings close to the mass as it passed by them cracked under the pressure and was reduced to dust, glass rippled like water and shattered to bits. Tony's sensors screamed danger.
"Sue enlarge and reinforce the Shield!" he yelled at Sue. But Sue was already on her last leg due to the heavy assault and was about to collapse when suddenly a thin, nearly invisible dome of telekinetic light snapped into existence around them. Gojo's remnant field around Reed and Tony snapped back to life. It shimmered for a single heartbeat before the world outside detonated.
A thunderous BOOM shook the heavens. The wave struck Annihilus full-on and bathed the whole city in a purple light.
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