The Asgardian ship soared into the sky, its wings slicing through the thin clouds.
Beyond the portholes, the last warm glow of dusk was swiftly stripped away, replaced by the cold, dark glimmer of outer space.
Inside the ship, the atmosphere was stiflingly tense. For a while, no one spoke.
"...Mr. Miles and the others are still in Asgard."
Shang-Chi finally broke the silence. Looking at the crimson battlefield rapidly receding beyond the window, he murmured, "Are they... still alive?"
"Of course they're alive!" Red Guardian Alexei's booming voice shattered the oppressive silence. He clapped Shang-Chi on the shoulder and said bluntly, "Didn't you see it just now? That kid is stronger than all of us put together. And Thor's there too. We don't need to worry about them at all!"
"...Maybe." Lily Williams muttered, her tone unreadable. "Anyway, it isn't the first time he's done something like this."
She took a deep breath, forced herself to focus, and turned her gaze back to the ship's console.
"We've entered the stratosphere. We should reach the Kármán Line within ten minutes."
The moment she finished speaking, a piercing alarm suddenly blared throughout the cabin!
"Beep—beep—beep—!"
Harsh red lights flashed wildly through the cockpit, bathing every face in blood-red light.
"An alarm? Are we under attack?" Shang-Chi's body instantly tensed.
"No."
Lily pointed outside the porthole. The ship was plunging headlong into a bizarre cloud layer that shimmered with brilliant colors in the darkness.
"That's Wakanda Fallout, a byproduct of the disaster five years ago. Since then, global communications networks have been affected, and we've completely lost contact with outer space."
"So you plan to fly above that layer of fallout?" Valkyrie asked from the pilot's seat.
"Yeah." Lily nodded. "After all, no dust cloud could possibly be higher than the Kármán