Fury knew the moment he saw the readings that this wasn't a natural disaster. The pattern was too deliberate, too rhythmic—man-made.
"Pull up satellite visuals of the impact zone," he ordered.
Hill's fingers danced across the console. A few grainy images appeared, but she shook her head. "Satellites directly above the area were fried by the energy surge. The rest can't get a clear view—thick storm cover. But whatever this is, it's not a nuke."
Fury narrowed his one good eye at the twisting columns of energy flashing across the screens. "A few days ago, Lock said he was heading there to find a friend. Asked me to grant visitation clearance for that friend's daughter."
Hill raised an eyebrow. "You think he saw this coming?"
"Knowing him?" Fury grunted. "He damn well did. Get our people on evac duty. Minimize civilian casualties."
While S.H.I.E.L.D. scrambled to evacuate the city, the chaos drew others—reporters, mercenaries, opportunists from shadowy groups—flocking toward the growing storm. Among the fleeing masses, a few figures moved against the tide, rushing toward the source instead of away.
Lock felt a deep, weary exasperation.
He'd assumed Darren Cross was just another megalomaniac scientist—dangerous, sure, but manageable. A chance for Scott to grow, not a world-ending threat.
He'd been wrong.
The thing Cross had become was beyond reason. Even Lock, who had faced gods and monsters, couldn't immediately trace the source of this impossible power. Snakehead's strength had at least made sense—hundreds of doses of super-soldier serum. But this? This was something else entirely.
Cross's fists detonated with the fury of miniature suns, each blow shaking the clouds.
"King Lock!" Cross's laughter was manic, echoing across the ruined landscape. "You like playing savior? Let's see you save them from this!"
He raised a fist. But instead of striking at Lock, he slammed it into the ground.
Scott and Hope shouted in horror. If that blast connected with the earth—suburbs or not—it would level half the city.
Lock moved faster than thought. In a single flash, the world bent around him. The next instant, he and everyone else were thousands of meters in the sky, looking down through the swirling storm clouds.
And then—
"BOOM!"
A blinding explosion erupted below.
A rising sphere of fire bloomed like half a sun turned upside down upon the earth. The ground buckled. Soil and stone ripped skyward. A shockwave swallowed sound itself.
The screaming of hundreds of thousands vanished into silence.
Everything within the blast radius was gone—homes, roads, lives—erased by a single, monstrous act.
The fireball swelled, crawling toward the city. But then—
Light flickered across the skyline. A translucent barrier shimmered into existence, a vast dome covering millions of terrified souls.
The blast struck the invisible wall and rolled along its surface, unable to penetrate. The people within the city stood frozen, mouths open, afraid to even breathe as the roaring inferno pressed inches away.
For endless minutes, the nuclear fire burned, devouring oxygen until the sky dimmed. Then, finally, it faded. Winds howled in its wake, dragging in new air to fill the void.
Above the clouds, Lock stared down at the smoldering wasteland, his expression hardening into cold fury.
Cross had crossed the line.
Before, Lock had stayed his hand. Cross had seemed arrogant but not irredeemable—a lesson for Scott, not a corpse for the morgue. But this negligence, this arrogance, had cost countless innocent lives.
He would not make that mistake again.
Cross, meanwhile, hovered in the smoke, eyes gleaming with wild delight. There was no trace of guilt—only pride.
"Magnificent," he murmured, watching the destruction below. "I never imagined it would work so perfectly."
Lock said nothing, only raised his hand. Space itself rippled at his command.
Cross sneered. "You think you can kill me, King Lock? You think your tricks can stop this?"
He threw another punch. The air cracked.
Lock deflected it, bending the blast harmlessly into orbit.
Cross's laughter turned feverish. "You still don't understand, do you? You think you're powerful—but I am science itself!"
Lock's brow furrowed. "Science?"
Hope's eyes widened. "Wait! He's generating nuclear fusion inside his body!"
Scott blinked. "Inside—what?"
Hope spoke rapidly, words tumbling over each other. "Pym particles compress atomic spacing—that's how shrinking works. If you control the compression just right, you can force atoms close enough to fuse."
Professor Pym and Bill Foster both went pale with realization.
Lock glanced between them, still confused but listening. Ava, standing apart, folded her arms, eyes wary. She didn't trust Lock, but she wasn't about to interrupt.
Cross laughed again. "Hah! Even the mighty Lock can't grasp it. You're no scientist—you're a relic!"
Lock's jaw tightened. The insult hit harder than it should have.
Hope pressed on. "Fusion means when two atomic nuclei merge into a new one, part of their mass becomes energy. It's how hydrogen bombs work. But Cross is doing it with Pym-particle compression inside his own body."
Lock's eyes flicked to the glowing maniac below. "So his punches are… literal nuclear detonations."
Hope nodded grimly. "Exactly."
Cross smirked, raising his fists. "A thousand punches, King Lock! Let's see how much your precious earth can take!"
He swung again—another sun bloomed and vanished into Lock's spatial fold.
Lock's mind raced. Hope's explanation painted a terrifying picture. A single gram of fused matter could release the energy of thousands of tons of TNT.
And Cross had said ten thousand punches.
Even if he were exaggerating, even if he could only sustain a fraction of that—it was enough to tear the planet apart.
Lock exhaled slowly.
He couldn't let this creature live another minute.
But before he struck, a thought flickered through his mind—Pym particles altering atomic structure to release limitless power. Dangerous, yes. But perhaps… also a clue.
He would deal with Cross first. Then, he would study this phenomenon.
For now, there was only one certainty.
The man once known as Darren Cross had to die.
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A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
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