SHIELD EMERGENCY ASSEMBLY.
The room was silent in the way only professionals experienced with catastrophe could manage.
Holograms floated over the central table Yellowstone before, Yellowstone after. Thermal maps bled red. Seismic readings still spiked. Ash clouds spiraled across half a continent.
Nick Fury stood at the head of the table, arms crossed, jaw tight.
"This," he said flatly, "is not an incident."
Tony Stark leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled, sunglasses on despite being indoors. "No. That's a statement. One that cost us a supervolcano."
Thor stood rigid, Mjolnir clenched in his fist, lightning crackling faintly around him even now. His voice was low, dangerously so.
"He carries my blood," Thor said. "Not metaphorically. Literally."
That landed hard.
Bruce Banner stared at the readings, pale. "You're telling me he triggered Yellowstone… on purpose?"
"Yes," Natasha Romanoff answered. Her eyes never left the projections. "And then cleaned up his own infected army like it was housekeeping."
Steve Rogers exhaled slowly. "That's not just crazy power. That's control."
Maria Hill brought up another feed. "There's more."
The image shifted Hell's Kitchen.
A warehouse. Bodies. One very specific absence.
"Wilson Fisk is confirmed deceased," Hill continued. "No remains. No DNA. He was absorbed."
Tony let out a humorless laugh. "So he nukes a national park, eats a crime lord, and walks away."
Clint Barton rubbed his face. "Street-level heroes are gonna get flattened if they try to play brave with this guy ."
Fury's single eye hardened.
"He's escalating deliberately. Yellowstone was to show us he doesn't care about collateral. Fisk was to show he's collecting intelligence."
Thor slammed Mjolnir into the deck, the impact cracking the floor.
"He mocks the gods. He steals divine essence. This thing is an abomination."
Tony snapped back, "With all due respect, Point Break, yelling at it hasn't worked yet."
...
Banner spoke quietly. "If he's done with stealth… then he's done hiding."
Fury nodded once.
"Which means the world just became his battlefield."
Elsewhere
Washington, D.C.
Emergency sirens wailed as ash-darkened skies rolled in weeks ahead of schedule.
The President stood in the Situation Room, staring at a live feed of Yellowstone's eruption.
"Tell me again," he said slowly, "that this was caused by a single individual."
No one answered.
United Nations. Emergency Session
Ambassadors shouted over one another.
"This is an act of war!" "No, this is beyond war!" "If the Americans can't control their monsters.. " "He's not American!"
The word containment was spoken. Then sanction. Then nuclear options, quietly, fearfully.
Wakanda
Shuri stared at the data feed, fingers flying across holographic screens.
"This biology," she murmured, "it rewrites itself faster than our scanners can stabilize."
T'Challa's expression was grave. "Then brute force will only feed him."
Latveria
Victor von Doom watched the global panic unfold from his throne room.
He said nothing.
He was already planning again. For he is Doom...
Asgard
Heimdall's eyes burned gold as he watched Derrick's movements ripple across the realms.
"Midgard trembles," he said.
...
Public Opinion
News anchors argued. Conspiracy theorists screamed. Religious groups prayed or celebrated.
Markets crashed and Flights were grounded.
And somewhere above it all moving too fast to track, no longer caring who watched
Derrick continued forward.