Seoul's neon skyline pulsed like a living circuit, streets buzzing with life below. But in one forgotten industrial district, silence reigned — broken only by the steady thoom… thoom… of heavy footsteps that shook the pavement.
Cain Marko — the Juggernaut — loomed out of the shadows, each stride like a small earthquake. His crimson armor glinted in the glow of street lamps, and the sheer presence of his power was enough to make the air feel heavy.
At his side walked Vanessa, her golden hair tied back in braids, her sapphire suit gleaming under the moonlight. Unlike Juggernaut's brutal bulk, her figure carried an eerie grace, but her eyes were sharp, cold — unshaken even as two low-level Black Serpent scouts lunged from the rooftops.
One struck her across the chest with a blade that should have cut her in half. For a heartbeat, her body split apart — and then instantly knitted back together, as if the wound had never happened.
The second serpent drove a spear into her side. She barely flinched. Instead, the Serpent warrior screamed in agony, its chest rupturing with the very damage it had meant to inflict on her. The creature collapsed, lifeless, while Vanessa brushed dust from her arm as though swatting away a mosquito.
Juggernaut chuckled, his voice like gravel grinding.
"Every time I see it, kid, it gets freakier. You're a walking nightmare. Ain't a thing alive that can kill you."
Vanessa tilted her head, her expression calm, almost bored.
"Not can kill me, Juggernaut. Can't even touch me."
The two continued deeper into the industrial sprawl until they reached a frozen pocket of the city — a street layered in frost and crystalline ice, where the neon lights refracted into rainbow shards.
Standing at its center was Luna Snow — the Korean K-pop idol turned superhero, her long black hair fluttering in the night breeze, her aura glowing faintly with icy mist. She raised a hand, frost creeping across the pavement as she spoke.
"I felt the Serpents moving here," she said, her voice calm but wary. Her eyes shifted between Juggernaut's hulking mass and Vanessa's unnerving composure. "But I didn't expect you two. Cain Marko, the unstoppable… and you…" Her gaze lingered on Vanessa. "…the girl they're whispering about. The one the Serpents fear."
Vanessa smiled faintly, a dangerous glimmer in her eyes.
"Whispers travel quickly. Good. That saves us some time."
Juggernaut planted his fists against his waist, towering like a war god.
"Listen, Snow. We ain't here to fight — unless you want it that way. We're building something bigger. Black Serpents, Avengers, X-Men… all of them are just pieces. But we — we're unstoppable. With Vanessa's gift and my power, nothing on this earth can stop us. And we want you."
Luna's eyes narrowed, frost curling tighter around her feet.
"And why would I join two people who walk hand in hand with destruction?"
Vanessa stepped forward, her voice low, melodic, yet carrying a blade's edge.
"Because if you don't, the Serpents will come for you — and your city will burn before you can stop them. With us, you'll be more than a protector. You'll be untouchable. Imagine a Korea shielded by ice and wrath, where no serpent dares to tread. Imagine being part of something unkillable."
A tense silence filled the frozen street. The mist around Luna thickened, swirling like a storm as she weighed the offer.
Juggernaut smirked beneath his helmet.
"Your choice, Snow. Join us, or stand in our way. But if you stand against us…" He cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing like thunder. "…not even the cold will save you."
Luna's breath frosted in the night air, her aura glowing brighter. She didn't answer yet — but the world around them seemed to hold its breath, balanced on the edge of an alliance… or a clash that would freeze and shatter the night.
Vanessa's calm expression softened for the first time, her eyes lowering as if remembering a ghost from long ago.
"You asked how I ended up with him," she said quietly, her gaze flicking from Luna back to the massive form of Juggernaut beside her.
"One day, I received a letter. It was from my mother. She never spoke of my father before… not once. But in this letter, she told me his name — Cain Marko. She said my real father would come for me, that I should be ready when he did."
Luna's brows furrowed, a wisp of frost curling in her breath. "So you believed her? Just like that?"
Vanessa gave a small, cold laugh, though there was no humor in it. "I didn't want to. But when the day came, when he stood before me… I asked him directly. I told him I was his daughter."
Juggernaut shifted uncomfortably, his great fists tightening. "And I told her the truth. All I had was the letter too. Didn't remember no woman leavin' me a kid. Didn't remember no child. But the blood in her eyes, the power in her bones… I didn't need no test. I knew she was mine."
Luna blinked, startled. "So you just… accepted it?"
Vanessa lifted her chin, her voice firm again, laced with steel.
"Yes. Because it fit. My healing, my strength — things no one could explain before. I stopped asking questions the moment Juggernaut said yes. I didn't need anything else. I had my father."
The giant placed a hand — a massive gauntleted slab of metal — on her shoulder, careful, almost gentle. "She's my blood, Snow. That's all that matters."
Luna's icy aura pulsed around her, emotions swirling beneath the frost. She could feel the sincerity in Vanessa's words, even through their grim partnership.
Still, her voice was edged with warning.
"Blood ties don't make you unbreakable. They don't decide what side you're on, either. The Serpents are tearing the world apart — and if you and your… father stand with them, you'll be no different."
Vanessa's lips curved into the faintest smile.
"Who said we stand with the Serpents? They want the world destroyed. We want it conquered. There's a difference."
The silence that followed was sharp as glass, leaving Luna torn between disbelief, sympathy, and the cold awareness of what Vanessa and Juggernaut truly were becoming.