The silence in the briefing room was a living thing, heavy and suffocating. T'Challa's question—"How do we fight a god that wields our own pain as a weapon?"—hung in the air, unanswered. Every eye was on Tony Stark.
He looked exhausted, the weight of a thousand realities seeming to press down on him. With a quiet, deliberate movement, he activated the holographic table. A complex, shimmering emblem appeared in the center of the room—a circle intertwining the symbols of technology, magic, and life.
"We don't," Tony said, his voice quiet but clear, cutting through the tension. "We don't fight it on its terms. We build a better argument. I call it Operation: Nexus." He met T'Challa's gaze. "To answer your question: you don't fight a god that wields your pain as a weapon. You build a god that understands why that pain is necessary."
He looked around the room, his expression hardening. "My consciousness, what's left of Jarvis, has been running non-stop threat assessments. The Eidolon isn't just coming. It's accelerating. It will establish its 'Reality Quarantine' around Earth in under 48 hours."
A wave of shock rippled through the room.
"Forty-eight hours?" Clint Barton's voice was strained, his mind immediately flashing to his family on the farm. "Stark, what does this attack even look like? What are we fighting?"
"Everything," Tony said grimly, expanding the hologram. He laid out a desperate, four-front defensive strategy. Their job, he explained, was not to win, but to hold reality together long enough for the real plan to work.
"On Earth," he began, highlighting a map of the globe, "the physical heroes—Stormwarden, Agent Valkyrie, Logan, Mariko, Quantum Strike, Momentum, Venom Spider, Deadpool, Black Panther, Killmonger, Ghost Code, Nakia —will be the frontline. You'll fight the psychic manifestations the Eidolon creates and protect civilians from the spreading wave of apathy."
He shifted the view to space. "In Orbit, the cosmic powerhouses—Starheart, Thor, and Gamma Spectrum—will fight on the edge of the quarantine bubble, trying to break the shell or fight the energy source projecting it."
The hologram flickered, showing a swirling, non-physical plane. "The Astral & Mystical Plane will be our fight," he said, nodding to Wanda, Loki, and Sylvie. "We won't be throwing energy bolts, but actively countering the Eidolon's 'code' as it tries to rewrite our reality. This is a battle of will and magical law."
Finally, he looked to Stephen Strange. "The Psychic Plane is Dr. Mindstorm's domain. He won't fight directly but will act as a psychic firewall for the entire planet, shielding the collective consciousness of humanity from the Eidolon's wave of despair, buying us precious time."
Carol Danvers scoffed, her arms crossed as she floated an inch off the floor. "This all sounds very defensive, Tony. Thor, Bruce, and I can hit whatever is projecting that quarantine with the force of a star. Why are we trying to 'hold it together' instead of just blowing it apart?"
"Because it's not a machine, Carol! It's a concept!" Tony snapped back, his frustration showing. "Attacking it with raw energy would be like trying to punch a thought. You'll drain yourselves for nothing. This defense… it's a distraction. It's the single greatest magic trick ever attempted: making the Eidolon look at our left hand, while our right hand builds a miracle."
He took a breath, the room hanging on his every word. "The real plan… the only way we win… is an act of creation."
He then explained the impossible: they would not destroy the Eidolon. They would copy its fundamental code and build its perfect opposite. A new being. Nexus.
The room erupted.
"Are you out of your damn mind, Stark?!" Logan roared, slamming his fist on the table hard enough to dent the metal. His rage was pure, distilled terror. "You want my family, my kids, fighting your memory-monsters on the deck of this tin can while you cook up some… 'better argument' in a lab? To hell with your plan! We fight what's in front of us!"
"You intend to perform a 'spiritual hack' on a primordial intelligence?" Loki asked, his voice laced with genuine disbelief. "Stark, your arrogance is truly cosmic. That is not code; it is the foundation of a consciousness that has existed for eons. What makes you think you can touch it without it shattering your own soul into a million pieces?"
Tony stood firm against the tide of doubt. To Logan, his voice softened slightly. "I know what you're fighting for, Logan. We all do. But fighting what's in front of you is a loss. We have to fight what's behind it." To Loki, his eyes flashed with grim certainty. "Because I'm not just using science or magic. I'm using something it doesn't understand: a binding contract. The Hellsource Protocol I took from Mephisto allows me to interact with beings on a conceptual level. It's our only way in."
Loki stared, his skepticism momentarily replaced by sheer astonishment. "You... you trapped Mephisto? The Lord of Lies? And stole a piece of his power?" He let out a short, incredulous laugh. "Your audacity is not merely cosmic, Stark. It is certifiably insane. And perhaps... our only hope."
Tony continued, outlining the phases.
Phase 1: The Heist. He would perform a high-risk ritual, using the Hellsource Protocol to treat the Eidolon's code as its "soul," forcing a momentary link to create a perfect, but inert and soulless, copy. The rest of the heroes would have to defend him while he performed this incredibly dangerous "hack."
Phase 2: The Architecture. He pointed to Shuri. "You will lead the forging of the Body—a perfect, stable synthetic vessel of Vibranium and Uru." Shuri nodded, her mind already racing. He turned to Dr. Mindstorm. "You will build The Mind, psychically architecting the pathways for true sapience and reason within the synthetic brain." The doctor's cybernetic eyes glowed faintly. Then, he looked at Bruce. "And you, Gamma Spectrum, will provide The Heart. Using the ten rings, you will overwrite the Eidolon's nihilistic directive with the full power of the emotional spectrum."
Bruce looked down at his rings, a flicker of fear in his eyes. "My rage, Tony? The monster I was? You want that… inside this new being?"
"It needs to understand rage to understand peace, Bruce," Tony replied gently. "It needs all of it."
Finally, Tony's gaze fell on Wanda. "The vessel will be complete, but dormant. It will need a spark. An act of pure creation. "
Phase 3: The Spark. Wanda flinched, her hands trembling. Her voice was a choked whisper. "Tony… you want me… after everything I've been through… to be the one to create life? I killed so many people. What if I'm not stable enough? What if I… break it?"
"That's exactly why it has to be you, Wanda," Tony said, his voice soft but firm. "You've been to the abyss and come back. You understand the balance between creation and destruction better than anyone. This isn't about being stable. It's about making a choice. You are the only one who can."
The entire, insane plan was laid bare. The room was dead silent.
Steve Rogers, who had been listening with an expression of profound conflict, finally spoke, his voice quiet but carrying the weight of a commander. "Tony… we're talking about creating a new, sentient being for the express purpose of fighting this war. We would be creating life to be a weapon. Do we have the right to do that?"
Tony turned to him, his eyes burning with a desperate, passionate fire.
"We're not creating a weapon, Steve. We're creating an answer. The Eidolon believes choice is a flaw. That love, grief, and hope are errors in the code of the universe. We are going to build a being whose entire existence is a testament to the power of that choice. We are giving the universe a chance to prove the Eidolon wrong. It's the most human thing we can possibly do."
A long, heavy silence followed. Steve looked around at the faces of his team—terrified, outmatched, but still standing. He gave a single, firm nod. "Okay, Tony. We're with you."
The holographic emblem of Nexus glowed in the center of the room, a symbol of their impossible, terrifying hope. The clock had started ticking.