On the lawn of the Avengers Compound, a silver-white beam of light descended from the sky.
The light faded, revealing Clark Kent before the crowd. His skin had a faint metallic sheen, stars swirled deep in his eyes, and the aura radiating from him sent Tony's armor into defensive mode.
"Dimensional purification complete." Clark's voice was calm, yet it carried a pressure that seemed to freeze the air. "The contaminated star sector has been cleansed."
Tony instinctively took half a step back. Alarms blared inside his armor, reporting that the man before him had exceeded its energy-detection limit.
"That's Silver Superman?" Steve asked quietly.
Chu Hang nodded. He looked at Clark with a trace of satisfaction.
"I'm going away for a while," Chu Hang said. "Three days. No more than three."
Clark asked no questions. He merely nodded. "I'll guard this place."
His gaze passed over baby Arthur in Wanda's arms, then over the Avengers around them. His tone was flat, but it left no room for doubt. "Until he returns, anything that dares come near this place will regret ever having existed."
Tony opened his mouth to speak, then merely sighed.
There had been a time when he'd considered himself one of Earth's strongest. Now a man who could crush him without effort was willingly standing guard for someone even stronger.
The world was changing too fast. He could barely keep up.
"Nathaniel, have you found the source of the virus?" Chu Hang turned to the boy staring at a holographic projection.
Nathaniel's fingers flew through the air as streams of data from the Kang's Legacy database flashed before his eyes.
"Found it." His voice tightened. "Universe Z-2149. The outbreak began in... the Quantum Realm."
"The Quantum Realm?" Tony frowned.
"Hank Pym, from that universe." Nathaniel brought up a