The quinjet cut through the clouds, its engines a low hum against the silence in the cabin. Bruce Banner stared at a holographic map of the world, his face etched with concentration. Natasha Romanoff sat sharpening a knife, her movements economical and precise. Clint Barton, however, was slumped in his seat, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"Alright, I'll bite," Clint said, breaking the silence. "We've been flying for six hours. What kind of mission is this, exactly? Are we chasing another HYDRA ghost?"
Bruce looked up from his map. "Something far older. Fury's intel points to a set of ancient artifacts, powerful enough to be a game-changer against the kind of cosmic threat he's worried about. They're called the Mythic Rings."
"Rings? Like jewelry?" Clint scoffed.
"Don't," Natasha said without looking up from her knife. "We need to find them. They're important."
"How many are we talking about?" Clint asked, his voice laced with the weariness of a man who just wanted to go home to his family.
"Ten," Natasha replied flatly.
"And they're scattered all across the globe," Bruce added, zooming in on different points on the map. "It's going to be a long trip."
Clint sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm tired, guys. My family is waiting. I really, really want to retire from this weird agent job."
Their hunt became a whirlwind world tour. They unearthed the Ring of Rage from a forgotten Aztec temple in Mexico, its crimson light pulsing with raw fury. They navigated the neon-drenched underworld of Hong Kong to find the yellow Ring of Fear. In a fortified vault beneath a German castle, they secured the green Ring of Willpower. The violet Ring of Love was found in a serene shrine in Japan, and the blue Ring of Hope was gifted to them by a wise hermit in the Indian Himalayas.
The journey continued. They tracked the orange Ring of Greed to a lavish penthouse in America, the indigo Ring of Compassion to a monastery in South Korea, and the black Ring of Death from deep within a cursed tomb in Egypt. The white Ring of Life was hidden in the pristine ice of the Swiss Alps, and finally, the grey Ring of Sloth was located in a bustling Chinese metropolis.
They had all ten, secured in a specialized containment unit. Their world tour was over. But as their quinjet ascended, preparing for the flight home, the cabin was rocked by a violent explosion.
A streak of red energy tore through the wing. Outside the viewport, a woman floated in mid-air, her hands glowing with chaotic magic. Beside her, a man blurred past, a silver streak of impossible speed. Wanda and Quicksilver.
The jet spiraled downwards. Clint fought with the controls while Natasha armed herself. Bruce, however, was trying desperately to keep calm. The containment unit had ruptured in the attack, and the ten rings spilled out, clattering across the floor.
The jet crashed in a remote forest. Before the dust even settled, Quicksilver was inside, a blur of motion disarming Natasha. Wanda tore the cockpit door off its hinges, her eyes glowing red.
"The rings," Wanda said, her voice an eerie, emotionless monotone. "Give them to us."
"They're being controlled," Natasha grunted, struggling against Quicksilver's grip. "HYDRA."
Seeing Natasha in danger, Bruce lost his battle for control. With a roar that shook the trees, the Hulk erupted into being. But as he did, something extraordinary happened. The ten rings on the floor lifted into the air, drawn to him as if by magnets. One by one, they slid onto his massive green fingers, each one flaring with an intense, colored light.
The Hulk roared again, but this time it was a cry of agony. He was engulfed in a rainbow of conflicting energies. Rage, fear, hope, greed—a tidal wave of pure emotion slammed into him. He clutched his head, staggering.
Wanda launched a bolt of energy at him, but the Hulk, acting on pure instinct, raised a hand. The Green of willpower ring flared, and a solid wall of green energy erupted from it, absorbing the blast. He looked at his hands, confused, then at Wanda and Quicksilver. He saw not just enemies, but puppets. The indigo Ring of Compassion glowed, and for a second, the Hulk's expression softened.
With a wave of his other hand, the yellow Ring of Fear pulsed, and Wanda and Quicksilver were suddenly paralyzed, their minds filled with their deepest terrors. The Hulk had stopped them without laying a single finger on them. But the cost was immense.
"Bruce! Are you okay?" Clint shouted, rushing to his side.
The Hulk collapsed to his knees, shrinking back down into Bruce Banner. But the rings remained, glowing ominously on his normal-sized fingers. He was trembling, sweat pouring down his face.
"Get them off!" he screamed, clawing at his hands. "They're amplifying everything! I can't… I can't get back in my own head! I can't switch him off, but I can't get away from these things either!"
Natasha, now free, rushed to his side, her face etched with worry. "We need to get back. Now."
Miles away, in the New Mexico desert where Thor had once been exiled, Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter stood at the edge of a crater. In the center of it was a hammer. It was dark, forged from a metal that seemed to drink the light, with crackling, dark energy coiling around it. S.H.I.E.L.D. had cordoned off the area. No one could get near it, let alone lift it.
"So, what's the story this time?" Steve asked, his eyes fixed on the strange relic.
"Intel says it's cosmic," Sharon replied, reading from a tablet. "Appeared out of nowhere. Looks like a hammer, but every attempt to move it has failed. It's like it's nailed to the center of the Earth."
Steve felt a strange pull, a resonance he couldn't explain. He walked down into the crater, the air growing heavy and electric around him. He reached the hammer and wrapped his hand around the handle. He pulled. It was heavy, impossibly so. But he didn't give up. He planted his feet, took a deep breath, and pulled again.
This time, it moved.
As he lifted the hammer from the ground, the sky instantly darkened. A bolt of black lightning, thick as a tree trunk, slammed down from the clouds and struck him directly.
"Steve!" Sharon screamed, running towards him.
The energy dissipated, leaving Steve standing completely unharmed, the dark hammer held aloft. He felt a surge of power, ancient and immense, flowing into him. It wasn't like the super-soldier serum; this was something else entirely.
"Are you okay?" Sharon asked, reaching him, her eyes wide with shock.
"Yeah," Steve said, his voice filled with awe as he looked at the hammer. "I think I am." He felt a presence in his mind, a consciousness within the weapon. It wasn't just a tool; it was a partner. "I don't know what it means," he said, looking at Sharon. "But I think… I think the hammer chose me."