"The heartbeat you heard belongs to a Celestial embryo named Tiamut. He was planted like a seed in Earth's core. And all the energy generated by you-the billions of intelligent beings on this planet-is nourishment for his hatching."
All the air seemed to vanish from the conference room in that instant.
"JARVIS, cross-reference the ancient civilization databases." Tony remained on guard as JARVIS's data streams flickered across the holographic display.
"Search complete, sir. Sumerian clay tablets from Mesopotamia and murals in the underground temples of Teotihuacan contain identical golden giant-god totems and geometric symbol matrices associated with the 'Eternals.' The features match by 99.4 percent."
Banner swallowed with difficulty. He understood the law of conservation of energy all too well. If all intelligent life on Earth was merely nourishment, how terrifyingly vast would the thing that hatched be?
"Hatching day." Natasha Romanoff delivered the words coldly, her finger still resting on the trigger. "When a chick hatches, the eggshell doesn't survive. Right? But why should we believe you aren't bait sent by the Deviants?"
"Yes. The moment he wakes, Earth will be torn apart from its core." Sersi closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. "At the original rate, it would have taken another few hundred years. But..."
Sersi opened her eyes, fixing her gaze on Tony.
"Recently, the dimensional barriers around Earth have suffered extraordinarily violent damage. Someone detonated a thunderstorm in space that transcended the laws of reality, and even forcibly tore apart the foundation of the Dark Dimension. The remnants of that high-density dimensional energy leaked straight into the core, like a shot of supercharged oxytocin."
The corner of Tony's eye twitched hard twice. The swaggering image of Chen Xiao, who always left everyone else to handle things, instantly flashed through his mind.
"I knew it...