The elemental's core pulsed, a final, stubborn act of defiance. It tried to summon the last vestiges of corrupted cloud around itself, but against the combined, overwhelming energies of the Bifrost and Captain Marvel's binary form, its defenses were less than futile. They were instantly annihilated. The core itself was submerged in the torrent of pure power, and with a final, silent scream of light, it disintegrated into nothing.
"Yes! We did it!" Max cheered, his electrical form crackling with joyous relief. "We killed the damn thing!"
"Yeah, but it feels like we barely helped," Rhodes grumbled, his military pride stung by his perceived inadequacy.
"Nonsense," Thor boomed, clapping him on the shoulder with enough force to rattle the armor. "You provided vital support. You stood your ground. That is the mark of a warrior."
"This isn't over," Wanda's voice cut through their momentary celebration. "The storm is still raging. I have to make it stop."
She opened her arms, becoming the eye of the hurricane herself. Her chaos magic flowed outward, a calming influence spreading through the massive storm, working to undo its unnatural momentum and shrink its devastating reach.
But just as she began her work, a shard of spiteful darkness shot out from the epicenter of the final explosion. It was Dormammu's last hateful act.
With the London Sanctum restored, he could no longer directly influence Earth, but he could send this final gift of power to the only elemental that remained. He had given up on conquest, but not on revenge. If he couldn't have this world, he would see it burn.
Wanda saw the venomous comet streak away, but her power was already committed to dismantling the storm. She was helpless to stop it. Captain Marvel, closest to the blast, was utterly spent, her binary energy exhausted. She could only watch as the darkness vanished over the horizon.
Wanda cursed internally but forced the frustration down. The storm was the priority. "Rhodes," she said, her voice strained with effort. "Tell Tony. The fire elemental is about to get a massive power boost. Tell them to be careful."
After Heimdall retracted the Rainbow Bridge, Thor flew from the sanctuary of Wanda's shield into the heart of the slowly waning storm. He summoned crackling bolts of divine lightning, hoping to disrupt the weather patterns and relieve the pressure on Wanda. But it was like throwing stones into a tidal wave. The storm, having lost its master, was now a mindless engine of destruction, and Thor's raw power could do little to calm its momentum.
Tony's face grew grim as Rhodey's warning came through his comms. He and Natasha, Mjolnir in her hand, had already exited the Quinjet. Pushing his armor to its absolute limit, he broke the sound barrier, streaking toward Washington. There was no time to worry about energy conservation now.
The fire elemental had fully descended from the ruins of Mount St. Helens, leaving a burning scar across the landscape. It was now less than ninety kilometers from the capital.
In an emergency bunker, Fury's argument with the national leadership had reached a boiling point.
"We will not wait for Stark, Director," a senator insisted, his face a mask of arrogant pride. "We need to show the world that the United States military can handle these threats. We will engage the target with conventional forces."
"That 'thing' eats metal and energy for breakfast!" Fury shot back, his voice dangerously low. "You're not showing strength, you're serving it a buffet! You'll be sending those men to their graves for a photo op!"
But his words were useless against their thick wall of political pride. The order was given.
Fury stormed out of the meeting room, a cold, seething rage burning in his chest. He didn't sweep his desk clear or smash a fist into the wall. He simply stood in his office for a moment, staring at his hands, feeling utterly powerless against the catastrophic arrogance of the men he was sworn to advise.
"Hill," he said into his comms, his voice flat. "Get me a live feed of the army's defensive line. I want to see this." He wanted to witness the price of their hubris.
Fifty kilometers from Washington, the military had assembled its might. Tanks, mobile artillery, and battalions of soldiers dug in, preparing to face the monster. They didn't have to wait long. It appeared on the horizon, a walking mountain of fire that blotted out the sun. As it strode past high-voltage power lines, the metal towers warped and melted, flowing like water into its molten form, making the creature visibly larger.
"Oh my God," a soldier whispered, his rifle slipping from his trembling hands. "Is that what we're supposed to fight?"
The heat wave hit them first, a suffocating tsunami of superheated air that made it impossible to breathe. The very grass at their feet burst into flame. Behind the elemental, a road of death stretched for dozens of kilometers, a fiery hellscape where countless animals had been incinerated in the spreading wildfire. In the sky, the last of Tony's Iron Legion drones continued their futile assault, their repulsor beams splashing harmlessly against its molten hide.
The sight stole the breath and courage from every soldier on the line. They were frozen, paralyzed by a primal fear that no training could overcome.
"Snap out of it!" the commanding colonel yelled through a megaphone, his own voice cracking. "The enemy is at the gate! If we let it pass, Washington is finished! For your country! For your families! FIRE!"
The desperate roar of their commander shocked them back to action. On his order, every weapon opened up. A dense volley of shells, missiles, and heavy-caliber rounds slammed into the fire elemental.
There was no explosion. The munitions simply sank into the molten body like pebbles into thick mud.
Flying at maximum speed, Tony watched the disastrous scene unfold on his HUD. He saw the fire elemental absorb the full military barrage, and he saw the purple runes of Dormammu's power flare with ecstatic light. The creature was not just absorbing the attack; it was feeding on it.
A cold, furious dread filled him. The military wasn't fighting the monster. They were building it.
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