Earth-10086, Thor's Universe.
On Earth, in the ruins of a broken city, the deathly silence was shattered by a hoarse voice.
"Captain," the Kraven the Hunter pressed against the broken wall beside him, his nostrils flaring, "It's not safe here. I smell decay, it's very close."
Steve Rogers was wiping the triangular Vibranium Shield in his hand with a rag; the scratches on the shield looked like wrinkles etched on a face.
He didn't even raise his head; his long hair covered half his face, only the rage in his blue eyes was clearly visible.
"Damn it, those skeletons again?" He spat, the sound like it was being forced out of his throat. "Is there any safe place in this world anymore? Bullshit!"
He stood up abruptly, the Arc Reactor on his chest glowing faintly with blue light—the last thing Tony had left him.
"It's all Nick Fury's fault! That son of a bitch, that one-eyed bastard! I should have tied him up and sent him to the cotton fields in the South when he dug me out of the ice! Let him know what real hard labor is all about! Instead of using his maggot-infested brain to scheme against his own people!"
Steve's curses became the only background noise in the ruins, a torrent of profanities, each one different, spewing forth from Nick Fury's skin color to his ancestors for eighteen generations, none spared.
The others in the group had long since become numb.
White Fox Ami Han, leaned against the corner of the wall, her silvery-white tail drooping limply as she gently stroked the sword at her waist.
Luna Snow and Cyclone stood together, one surrounded by an almost imperceptible chill, while the air around the other was eerily quiet.
Moonstone Kara Sofen hovered in mid-air, arms crossed, observing coldly.
They all remember how Captain America, the moral paragon, turned into the madman who constantly spews "fuck" after witnessing the Avengers die one by one.
Perhaps, this is what the end of the world should look like.
"Captain," Cyclone Lei Ling's voice was soft but clear enough, " Kraven is right, the airflow is wrong. A large number of things are moving towards us from all directions."
As soon as she finished speaking, Steve's cursing stopped abruptly.
A ruthless glint flashed in his cloudy blue eyes. He nodded, his voice barely audible. "Withdraw."
He grabbed the other shield and charged forward like a Beast ready to hunt.
The survivor squad moved swiftly through the ruins.
Steve cleared the way at the front, swinging across huge ravines with Spider-Man's Silk-Shooter, his agility undiminished.
Kraven the Hunter and Amadeus Zhao covered the rear.
Amadeus Zhao gripped a long metal rod tightly. The once-prodigy's face no longer held the sunny smile, only a solemnity beyond his years.
He knew very well that he was the team's last trump card, and also their most dangerous bomb.
Once the Hulk's power is unleashed, the massive commotion it creates will be enough to attract Infinity Hela.
That was their real nightmare.
"This is bad, guys..." Cyclone's voice suddenly trembled slightly as she pointed ahead, "We... might not be able to escape."
Everyone looked in the direction she pointed, and their steps stopped in unison.
At the edge of the horizon, on the dilapidated streets and between the collapsed high-rises, countless undead skeletons emerged from every shadow.
They have no eyes; only the flame of their Soul Stone flickers in their dark eye sockets.
They wielded rusty weapons, their bones grinding together with a sickening "crunching" sound, forming a tide of death that was utterly engulfing their small, isolated island from all directions.
Despair, like solid ice water, was poured over everyone's head.
"Motherfucker..." Steve Rogers laughed instead, licking his chapped lips, his stubble-covered face filled with a crazed fighting spirit. "I've been fed up with these shitty skeletons for ages!"
He stomped his foot hard, and the ground cracked.
Fuck Nick Fury!
With that signature roar, he shot into the sea of skulls like a black and blue cannonball.
The two Vibranium Shield in his hands transformed into the deadliest meat grinders, each swing and throw accompanied by the sound of bones shattering.
Silk shoots from the dispenser, sticking to skeletons in the distance, then slamming them down onto their companions.
"Kill!" the Kraven the Hunter roared, his spear transforming into a venomous snake, precisely piercing the skulls of one skeleton after another, extinguishing the flames of their Soul Stone.
" Seol Hee!" Cyclone called out.
Luna Snow nodded, then spread her arms, unleashing a burst of bone-chilling cold.
As the Cyclone raised its hand, a sudden gust of wind arose, whipping up the chill created by Seol Hee, and a small blizzard formed out of thin air in this neighborhood.
Countless black ice crystals howled in the wind, like the sharpest blades, easily slicing through the fragile bones of the undead skeletons.
Skeletons struck by the black ice crystals will have their Soul Stone fire quickly dimmed and eventually freeze completely.
Occasionally, a few pure white ice flowers would gently drift down onto the injured teammates, immediately easing the pain in their wounds as the cool, healing energy seeped into their bodies.
Moonstone Kara Sofen remained silent as golden energy enveloped her and propelled her into the sky.
She was like a dazzling Sun, pouring out her power across the gray sea of skulls.
Waves of photon shockwaves shot out from her hands, each explosion clearing out a large area.
Only Amadeus Zhao remained restrained.
He wielded his long staff, using his super brain's computational abilities to always find the most effortless angle of attack, smashing the skulls' heads one by one.
But he knew in his heart that it was useless.
These skeletons were endless, as if all the dead on Earth had been transformed into Hela's army.
No matter how fast they killed, they couldn't outrun the swarm of skeletons.
"Pfft!"
The White Fox's shoulder was slashed open by a rusty sword, and blood seeped through its dark blue combat uniform.
She grunted and cleaved the attacking skeleton in two with a backhand slash, but more skeletons surged forward.
" Amadeus!" Steve's voice rang out from the other side of the battlefield, filled with unprecedented urgency, "Take them away! Quickly!"
Amadeus Zhao watched as his teammates were gradually swallowed by the sea of skeletons, saw Luna Snow's face turn pale from overuse of her abilities, and noticed that Kraven had several more wounds on his body.
His brain was calculating frantically.
Win rate: 0.
The probability of escape Infinity zero.
Without transforming, everyone is wiped out.
Transformation might attract Hela, making it a near-death experience.
Screw calculations!
"Aaaaaaah--!"
A roar that sounded inhuman burst from the boy's throat.
His body swelled at a visible rate, his military green coat was torn apart, and his skin turned an indestructible emerald green.
In just a few seconds, the slender Korean boy disappeared, replaced by a green giant the size of a small mountain.
Amadeus Zhao—no, now the Hulk who retained his sanity—his green eyes burned with pure rage.
"Get the hell out of my way!"
Instead of charging forward, he suddenly raised his two enormous hands and slammed them hard against his chest!
"Boom--!"
A terrifying shockwave emanated from him, spreading out in a fan shape!
The air was compressed to its limit, forming an invisible wall. All the undead skeletons hit by the shockwave, regardless of distance, were instantly pulverized into flying bone dust!
A huge fan-shaped vacuum zone was forcibly cleared out.
"Get up here! Quickly!" Amadeus roared at his surviving teammates, crouching down, his broad shoulders like a safe fortress.
Without the slightest hesitation, everyone quickly climbed onto Hulk's shoulders.
Hulk aimed carefully, then with a burst of power from his legs, he leaped hundreds of meters into the air like Rocket, landing heavily on the roof of another building.
"Keep up!" he roared at the Moonstone and Cyclone in the air.
Two female heroes immediately followed, flanking Hulk.
Amadeus carried his comrades, leaping between the rooftops of the desolate city, each landing causing an earthquake.
Below, an endless sea of skulls continues to gather, appearing from above like a black tide, slowly and steadily engulfing the entire world.
Steve leaned on Hulk's shoulder, feeling the immense force beneath him and the whistling wind in his ears.
He glanced back at the sea of bones, then at the few remaining companions beside him, his unshaven face expressionless.
He uttered two sentences in a voice only he could hear:
"This fucking world! It's utter garbage..."