Chapter Summaries

A brief summer rain turned hundreds of thousands of Manhattan residents into Blacklight zombies, prompting Nick Fury to order the island sealed and search for Mercer. As the crisis worsened, Fury went to recruit Steve Rogers and ordered Natasha to find the Hulk.

• Rain-triggered itching led victims across Manhattan to become Blacklight zombies, and the infection spread to more than five hundred thousand people in ten hours.
• Nick Fury ordered infected neighborhoods sealed and infected people shot if they could not be contained, then prioritized closing Manhattan Island and finding Mercer.
• Natasha reported that investigators had found no infection source and that no one could verify the people claiming to know Mercer.
• Nick Fury decided to leave Stark aside and seek help from Steve Rogers, whose recovery from seventy years frozen had left him in peak condition.
• Steve Rogers continued punching bags in the S.H.I.E.L.D. basement as Nick Fury arrived and asked, "What's wrong? Can't sleep?"

Nick Fury recruited Captain America and Tony Stark to help contain a rapidly spreading zombie outbreak in Manhattan, while Stark investigated Mercer’s extraordinary speed. The chapter left Stark weighing Fury’s request as his palladium poisoning worsened and he learned Captain America was ready to fight.

• Nick Fury showed Captain America reports of a zombie infection that had overwhelmed more than half of Manhattan in ten hours, and Captain America agreed to help contain it.
• Stark reviewed footage of Mercer killing Whiplash and realized Mercer had moved too fast to track, making Stark wary of ever becoming his enemy.
• Nick Fury called Stark about the Manhattan outbreak, and Stark saw the horrifying reports after learning he had missed the news.
• Nick Fury asked Stark to deploy his Iron Man Armor despite his palladium poisoning and to make a protective suit for Captain America.
• Stark was surprised to hear that Captain America, the super soldier frozen for seventy years, was ready to fight.

Banner determined that rain had spread the Blacklight virus, and the Avengers deployed to eliminate the infected after learning they could not be cured. As the cleanup continued, Mercer saw that only 36% of Manhattan was infected and decided he had to spread the infection himself.

• Banner concluded that the Blacklight infections began with the rain, and Stark confirmed that infected areas matched the rainfall map.
• Hawkeye reported that the infected could not be cured, so Nick Fury ordered the Avengers to eliminate them.
• The Avengers and the military began clearing infected blocks on Roosevelt Road, First Avenue, and Second Avenue.
• Mercer watched the city’s cleanup from a high-rise and checked the system’s mission progress, which showed Manhattan was 36% infected.
• Mercer decided to spread the infection himself because the mission required all of Manhattan to be infected.

Mercer unleashed his Blacklight Armor and began spreading the infection through the city, overwhelming the streets with more infected. Captain America confronted him and, with Stark’s help, blasted him back, but Mercer’s armor rapidly regenerated as the fight continued.

• Mercer formed his Blacklight Armor, moved through the city, and infected people as he went.
• Hawkeye and Stark noticed that the number of infected was growing rapidly, while Natasha reported that a survivor shelter had been infected all at once.
• Captain America encountered Mercer and attacked after Mercer struck him, suspecting him of causing the outbreak.
• Captain America called for backup, and Stark used his lasers against Mercer after having Captain America reflect the beams with his shield.
• Mercer regenerated the blasted-away sections of his armor, prompting Stark to recognize that the fight would be difficult.

Stark and Captain America faced a mysterious figure in Black Armor as zombie hordes converged and zombies from the Zombie Marvel Universe arrived through a rift. Mercer revealed that the armored figure was his puppet, then moved to fight the Zombie Heroes himself.

• Stark attacked the figure in Black Armor, but the figure cracked his armor with a single punch.
• Stark carried Captain America away from an approaching horde, while the zombies left a clear space around the figure in Black Armor.
• A rift opened in the sky, releasing ordinary zombies and a zombified Stark and Captain America; the Blacklight Zombies turned on the newly arrived zombies.
• The figure in Black Armor said the newcomers had finally arrived, while Mercer revealed the figure was his puppet and sent it to infect the survivors.
• Mercer approached the Zombie Heroes and used Shusui to cut down zombies, then kicked a group of them apart.

Mercer fought Zombie Wanda’s forces and discovered that zombified Stark carried nanobots spreading the zombie virus. Wanda revealed she had come seeking the Mind Stone and asked Mercer to save her husband, Vision.

• Mercer killed the zombified Lizard by crushing his skull after cutting off his limbs.
• Mercer approached Zombie Wanda in the air, while the force of his steps tore apart nearby zombies.
• Mercer caught zombified Stark with spatial power and stopped the nanobots emerging from his body.
• Mercer recognized the nanobots as carriers of the zombie virus and tossed Stark toward the figure in Black Armor, who absorbed him.
• Wanda recognized the Space Stone’s power in Mercer and said she had sensed the Mind Stone on him.
• Wanda asked Mercer to save her husband, Vision, saying she believed only Mercer could do it.

Mercer revealed that Manhattan’s zombie outbreak was an illusion created with the Reality Stone, while his real goal was to infect everyone with the blacklight virus. After completing the mission and receiving the Infinite Realm, he left Stark and Captain America stunned by the truth.

• Zombie Wanda told Mercer she could control her hunger and explained that Stark’s nanobots had infected Vision after the Mind Stone was removed.
• Zombie Wanda admitted she had first wanted to eat Mercer but then asked him to save Vision, offering to serve him in return.
• Mercer challenged Wanda’s belief that he would help her, and she recognized that the destruction around them was only a prank.
• Mercer released the blacklight virus across Manhattan, completed his mission, and received the Infinite Realm as a reward.
• Wanda explained that Mercer had used the Reality Stone to make the city experience an illusion, and Stark reacted in disbelief as he listened nearby.

Mercer agreed to try to save Zombie Wanda’s Vision, while Wanda destroyed the zombies she had brought with her. Zombie Void then emerged from the rift with a massive horde, attacked Mercer, and exposed Zombie Wanda’s pretense of protecting him.

• Mercer agreed to help Zombie Wanda save Vision but warned that he could not guarantee success.
• Zombie Wanda used Chaos Magic to annihilate the roughly two hundred thousand zombies that had followed her.
• Zombie Wanda sensed someone approaching through the rift, and Sentry descended as the zombified, bloodthirsty Void.
• Zombie Void unleashed a blast that destroyed nearby buildings, then more than three hundred thousand zombies poured from the rift as Blacklight Zombies attacked them.
• Zombie Void charged at Mercer, and Zombie Wanda appeared to intervene before being struck aside.
• Mercer realized Zombie Wanda had only pretended to protect him to test whether he could save someone.

Mercer summoned four phantoms made from his abilities to capture Zombie Sentry alive, and they repeatedly turned the Void-controlled hero’s attacks against him. Zombie Sentry struggled against their powers as the battle continued.

• Zombie Sentry broke free of Mercer’s spatial restraint and erupted with stellar energy, but Mercer became excited at the prospect of capturing him for his energy.
• Mercer formed four phantoms using his Space, Reality, mind-control, and lightning abilities, then ordered them to capture Zombie Sentry alive.
• The Spatial Avatar returned Zombie Sentry’s punch with overwhelming force, sending him through more than twenty buildings.
• Zombie Sentry hurled a mass of golden energy at the phantoms, but the Spatial Avatar redirected it back into him, blasting away much of his body.
• Zombie Sentry attacked the other phantoms, but the Reality Phantom transformed his energy into petals while the mind-controlling phantom assaulted him psychically.

Mercer used four Infinity Stone avatars to overwhelm zombie Sentry, then captured him with an imprisonment cage created by the Southern Heavenly Gate system. He also trapped zombie Wanda after deciding to make both zombies energy sources.

• Mercer's four avatars forced zombie Sentry to retreat by combining their attacks and abilities.
• Zombie Sentry tried to flee Earth, but the Southern Heavenly Gate system analyzed his abilities and imprisoned him in an invisible cage.
• Mercer summoned zombie Sentry's cage and taunted him as he bounced helplessly inside it.
• Zombie Wanda praised Mercer, then discovered that he had trapped her too.
• Mercer accused zombie Wanda of testing him and declared that she would become one of his energy sources.

Mercer captured Zombie Wanda and another powerful being, restored Manhattan, and explored the newly acquired Infinite Realm. He entered its first unlocked world, Equivalent Exchange, and discovered that he retained his abilities there.

• Mercer trapped Zombie Wanda and another captive in tiny cages, then used the Reality Stone to restore Manhattan and its people.
• Mercer returned to New York, bought a house, and reflected on how his power had changed his attitude toward ordinary people.
• Mercer activated the Infinite Realm, which unlocked the Equivalent Exchange world and allowed real-world items to be brought into the game.
• Mercer connected directly to the Infinite Realm and arrived in a blocky world resembling Minecraft.
• Mercer examined the game interface and realized that he still had all his abilities.

Mercer explored the Minecraft-like world, gathered resources, and survived painful attacks from a Creeper and a skeleton while crafting iron equipment. After three in-game days, he noticed that other players had begun joining the vast shared world.

• Mercer discovered that his stored abilities and weapons required a Transmutation Tablet to activate, then began gathering wood, food, and iron.
• A Creeper exploded behind Mercer, badly hurting him, and a skeleton shot him with an arrow; he blocked their attacks with dirt and crafted a shield and iron pickaxe.
• Mercer mined cautiously with branch mining, returning to the surface for food and eventually crafting a full set of iron armor.
• After three in-game days, Mercer saw messages from Joker, I'm Not a Moe Girl, and Brother Di Eternity describing their encounters with monsters.
• Mercer realized that players around the world were joining the shared game world and beginning to explore it.

Mercer obtained diamonds, entered the Nether, and crafted a Transmutation Tablet that contained his equipment and enabled him to set up equipment for generating transmutation value. After leaving the game to eat, he was approached by Agent Romanoff.

• Mercer mined four diamonds, claimed the first-diamond achievement, and announced it under his name.
• Mercer built a Nether portal, became the first player to enter the Nether, and returned with glowstone.
• Mercer crafted a Philosopher's Stone and a Transmutation Tablet, then discovered that his equipment was stored inside it.
• Mercer used the tablet to prepare an Energy Condenser and Energy Collector, logged out, and went to a restaurant for food.
• Agent Romanoff asked to sit with Mercer, who questioned why S.H.I.E.L.D. kept sending her to handle everything.

Natasha Romanoff approached Alex Mercer on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s behalf and offered him a chance to join the organization. Mercer rejected her and trapped her in a vivid illusion of the Red Room before warning her to leave him alone.

• Natasha sat down across from Mercer while S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and snipers surrounded the restaurant, but Mercer ignored her flirtatious attempts to get his attention.
• Mercer identified himself as Alex Mercer and revealed that he knew the positions of the forces surrounding the restaurant.
• Natasha offered to recruit Mercer into S.H.I.E.L.D. and erase the record of his killing Whiplash, but Mercer mocked the organization and refused.
• Mercer used an illusion to make Natasha relive a month of Red Room training, though only ten minutes passed in the restaurant.
• After returning Natasha to reality, Mercer warned her that killing the agents would be easy and told her not to bother him again.

After leaving Natasha and S.H.I.E.L.D. behind, Mercer was caught in an unusual earthquake in New York and traced its source deep beneath the Earth. He discovered a vast cocoon of golden light and was left stunned by what lay underground.

• Mercer left the restaurant after Natasha collapsed, and Rumlow withdrew his S.H.I.E.L.D. team on Nick Fury's orders.
• Mercer walked through New York and agreed to take a photo with two girls who recognized him.
• A series of unusually persistent tremors shook the city, and Mercer moved the girls to safety.
• Mercer used his spatial power to search underground and found that the tremors came from deeper than the Earth's crust.
• Mercer discovered a cocoon of golden light at least ten thousand meters across.

Mercer discovered a Celestial incubating beneath Earth and learned that it would emerge once the planet’s living consciousness reached its peak. He realized its birth could destroy all life on Earth and wondered whether Thanos’s plan to erase half of life might have been an act of salvation.

• Mercer formed a spatial avatar at the edge of Earth’s inner core and found a golden cocoon that reacted to his presence.
• Mercer examined the cocoon and established a mental link with the humanoid being inside, who identified himself as a Celestial.
• Mercer learned that the Celestial was incubating and absorbed the consciousness of living beings until a planet’s life reached its peak.
• The Celestial’s explanation made Mercer realize that its emergence could shatter Earth and kill every living thing on the planet.
• Mercer thought of Thanos’s plan to erase half of all life and wondered whether Thanos had been trying to save Earth.

Mercer forced the newly hatched Celestial to become his subordinate, then discovered that nurturing it required the Soul Stone. He went to the Ancient One to ask where Vormir was, leaving the Celestial waiting in its cocoon.

• Mercer told the Celestial to obey or die, and the Celestial agreed to become his subordinate.
• The Celestial shrank its cocoon to Mercer's size and said it needed five more years before emerging.
• Mercer tried using the Southern Heavenly Gate system to create the life consciousness needed to nurture the Celestial, but the system said he needed the Reality Stone and Soul Stone.
• Mercer left to find the Soul Stone and went to the Sanctum Sanctorum to ask the Ancient One where Vormir was.

Mercer used the Sharingan to take Vormir's coordinates from the Ancient One, then traveled there to claim the Soul Stone. He reached the cliff with Red Skull, who explained the Stone's life-for-life price, but Mercer answered with a display of spatial power that Red Skull recognized as the Space Stone.

• Mercer told the Ancient One he was recruiting powerful beings for his faction and asked her for Vormir's coordinates.
• When the Ancient One refused to risk the Sanctum Sanctorum, Mercer used his Sharingan and the Mind Stone to obtain the coordinates from her thoughts.
• Mercer traveled to Vormir and met Red Skull, who could identify him only by name.
• Red Skull led Mercer toward the summit and explained that obtaining the Soul Stone required trading a life for a life.
• Mercer dismissed Red Skull's warning and released spatial power, prompting Red Skull to recognize the Space Stone.

Mercer obtained the Soul Stone without sacrificing a life and used it with the Reality Stone to create the life consciousness the Celestial needed. As the Celestial prepared to emerge within a day, Mercer worried that a Celestial Seed might also exist on his stronger Earth.

• Mercer overpowered the Soul Stone’s restrictions, claimed it, and left the Red Skull behind.
• Mercer returned to the Celestial and used the Southern Heavenly Gate system to construct life consciousness with the Soul Stone and Reality Stone.
• The Celestial said he would reach his complete form within one day, and Mercer wondered whether his own Earth held a Celestial Seed.
• The Celestial warned that a fully formed Celestial in Mercer’s stronger universe could be extremely dangerous.

Mercer learned how pocket universes could serve as way stations for cheaper travel and devised a method to create one with the Southern Heavenly Gate, Space Stone, and Reality Stone. While waiting seven days for the golden cocoon to absorb energy, he considered how to reuse Zombie Sentry’s power and realized he could accelerate time, but then remembered he had not claimed the land where he placed the relevant items.

• Mercer asked the golden cocoon how to reduce the energy cost of traveling between universes, and it suggested building a pocket universe as a way station.
• The golden cocoon explained pocket universes and transmitted its knowledge to Mercer, who determined that the Southern Heavenly Gate system could use the Space Stone and Reality Stone to create one capable of growth.
• The golden cocoon said it would need seven days to absorb the energy, and Mercer agreed to wait while drinking tea and extracting power from Zombie Sentry.
• Mercer considered how to use Zombie Sentry’s self-restoring energy without exhausting him and proposed accelerating time around him.
• Mercer decided the Equivalent Exchange Module might provide a time-acceleration item, then remembered he had not claimed the land where he had placed those items.