Chapter 275: Guardians of the Multiverse (5)

[Third Person's PoV] 

One by one, they disappeared through the portal. Stephen was the last to step through the blue gateway set up by the Watcher. However, before entering, he aimed upwards and made a quick circular motion before rushing inside.

Ultron glanced down at his missing Soul Stone, his expression twisting with irritation.

"I've been had!" he growled.

When he looked back up, he was shocked to see a multitude of corpses raining down around him. As he raised his gaze further, the downpour intensified until he was buried beneath a mountain of growling, writhing bodies.

A minute later, a brilliant yellow light shone through the gaps between the corpses. The glow spread rapidly before erupting into a cascade of explosions that rocked the entire area. The sheer force of the blasts disintegrated the undead, leaving Ultron standing in the middle of a massive crater.

But he was not alone.

Floating above him, wreathed in volatile crimson energy, was a woman.

She extended a hand, and a scarlet glow flared to life around her fingers. Her brown hair lifted slightly, and her eyes—glowing ruby red—locked onto Ultron.

If Peter had been there, he would have recognized her instantly.

It was the Scarlet Witch.

But something was wrong.

Her eyes, though red, were also eerily pale and misty. Her skin had a sickly greenish hue, and her jaw hung unnaturally wide.

She was dead.

Worse—she was a zombie.

With a wave of her hand, Ultron was suddenly engulfed in a crimson aura. A concentrated beam of energy blasted toward him, forcing him to let out a guttural snarl as pain rippled through his mechanical form. The sheer potency of the attack sent visible red shockwaves into the ground below, while Zombie Wanda let out an inhuman screech.

Ultron's remaining Infinity Stones pulsed, absorbing the raw energy surging through him. He funneled the excess power into sealing the laceration in his chest, restoring himself to pristine condition—minus the Soul Stone, of course.

He turned his cold gaze toward Wanda, who blinked in surprise.

Spanning outward from the planet's core, an orange-red glow began to spread, as if the very world was heating up from within. The eerie illumination engulfed the entire planet—

Until it exploded.

The detonation sent shockwaves rippling through the cosmos, shaking the distant stars.

---

Elsewhere…

As Peter and the others stepped through the blue portal, they found Gamora and the rest of the team waiting with their machine.

The world around them was in ruins. Mountains of rubble and wreckage stretched as far as the eye could see. It was a wasteland devoid of life—except for the people standing before them.

Peter and Carter immediately noticed an unfamiliar woman among them.

Both spoke in surprise.

"Natasha?"

"Romanoff?"

Standing before them was none other than Natasha Romanoff. But she was different.

She wore dark armor with shoulder pads, her expression weary and hardened by loss. She looked like someone who had endured far more than the Natasha they knew.

"I found her stalking us," Harry said, hovering on his glider—conjured for him by the Watcher at his request.

"Yeah, we explained our situation, and—unsurprisingly—we all want the same thing," Felicia added, raising a hand.

Natasha crossed her arms. "They already told me what you're planning, and I'm in." Her voice was edged with determination, a shadow of darkness lingering behind her words.

She looked at the newcomers and asked, "So… did you bring it?"

Peter casually tossed the glowing Soul Stone in his hand.

"We got it. It was as easy as taking candy from a cosmic newborn entity capable of mass destruction ~" he said with a playful smirk.

"Just hand it over before he arrives," Gamora warned.

Peter flicked the Soul Stone toward her.

But it never reached her hand.

Mid-air, the stone froze in place.

A voice rang out, chilling them to the core.

"Haven't you all been taught not to take what doesn't belong to you?"

Time itself seemed to freeze. A shimmering green dome of energy surrounded them, locking them in place.

Ultron materialized before them, his gaze fixated on the suspended Soul Stone. He reached out to claim it—

Only for another hand to close over it first.

Ultron turned sharply.

Peter stood there, the stone in his grasp, electricity violently arcing around his body.

Meanwhile, Doctor Strange made an elaborate hand gesture, causing the Eye of Agamotto to pulse with temporal energy. With another flick of his fingers, the time-stopping dome shattered.

A shockwave burst outward as Peter surged past Ultron at blinding speed, skidding to a stop.

He grinned, electricity still crackling around him.

"I'm fast as fuck, boi!!"

Ultron's gaze darkened.

"I'll kill you first."

But he knew—if Peter had been troublesome before with the others, he was going to be an even bigger problem now that there were even more of them.

The Space, Power, and Reality Stones on Ultron's armor gleamed.

Ultron Sentinels flooded the battlefield, surrounding them from all directions.

Peter let out a deep sigh.

"Guess we're working overtime, guys."

…

Meanwhile a while ago away from the chaos: 

"Uhh, Bruce, are you sure about this? It could kill you. I mean, you've been teaching me nuclear science, but I'm still having some difficulty with it. One wrong move, and I could—"

"I lost the ability to transform," Bruce interrupted, clenching his fists. "Which means I lost the Hulk."

His expression darkened, a deep sadness settling in his eyes. "I never thought I'd miss having that guy inside me. A few months ago, I would've been thrilled to get rid of him, to finally have my life back."

Bruce paused, then sighed. "But now that he's gone… it feels like a part of me has been ripped away. You guys—Peter, you, all of you—have shown me a side of the Hulk I never even considered. I used to see him as nothing but a monster, a nuisance, a force that made my life harder. But now I understand… he was more than that."

His voice softened. "Maybe it was just survival instinct, but no matter how chaotic he was, the Hulk always protected me. He's the reason I'm still alive, the reason I got to experience things I never would have otherwise. And because of all that, I've realized something…"

Bruce turned to Lizzy with renewed determination. "I need the Hulk."

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, then continued. "Either you'll kill me, or Ultron will. But if there's a chance to bring him back, I have to take it. The Hulk increases our chances of winning, and you… you're the only one who can make it happen."

Lizzy hesitated. "Bruce…"

"You underestimate yourself way more than you need to," he said firmly. "Have confidence in the training we've done in the virtual world. And stop comparing yourself to others."

He gave her a knowing look. "Comparison is the thief of joy, Lizzy. As your teacher, I know how smart you are. But you're measuring yourself against Peter and Gwen. Those two are geniuses among geniuses. Even I feel inadequate next to them most of the time." Bruce scoffed, shaking his head with a weary smile.

Then, he spread his arms and legs, closing his eyes. "Now, focus. You need to use your abilities—Weak Force and Strong Force—to change the type of radiation you're controlling and releasing."

Lizzy groaned, running a hand through her red hair in frustration. "Ughhh! If you set such high expectations for me, I'll have no choice but to live up to them! I hate disappointing people, damn it! Curse you!"

Despite her words, flames began to flicker around her as she rose into the air. Looking down at Bruce, she yelled, "Don't you dare die, you hear me?! If you die, I'll kill you myself, and it won't be labeled an accident! I don't want your death weighing on my conscience!"

Bruce chuckled, giving her a reassuring nod.

Lizzy sighed, inhaling deeply before exhaling slowly, steadying her nerves. "Remember your training… remember your homework…" she muttered.

Then, Firestar ignited.

She became a true flaming star in the sky, the sheer intensity of microwave energy she was emitting distorting the air around her. The heat waves shimmered visibly, an overwhelming aura of power radiating from her.

"Remember… microwave radiation is one of the lowest frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum," she murmured, her eyes snapping open, glowing like molten fire. "While gamma rays… are the highest."

Lizzy—no, Firestar—floated in the air like a miniature sun, her flames rippling and warping the space around her with sheer heat. She furrowed her brows, focusing on the fundamental forces Bruce had drilled into her during their lessons.

"Alright... focus. If I want to shift my microwave radiation into gamma waves, I have to manipulate the nucleus itself, not just the energy output."

She took another steadying breath and visualized what she needed to do.

"The Weak Nuclear Force… it's responsible for radioactive decay. It lets neutrons turn into protons and vice versa. If I tweak that process at an atomic level, I can alter the very nature of the radiation I'm emitting."

Her flames shifted, pulsing with an intensity that vibrated through the air.

"Then there's the Strong Nuclear Force. It's what holds protons and neutrons together in an atomic nucleus. It's the reason atoms don't just fly apart. If I can stabilize my manipulation of the Weak Force, I can ensure that I don't cause uncontrolled nuclear reactions. No chain reactions. No unintended explosions."

She gritted her teeth, hands trembling as she refined her control, feeling the shift at an atomic level. The microwave energy around her compressed, the wavelengths shortening as she funneled more energy into them.

"Electromagnetic radiation gets stronger when the wavelength decreases. That's how you go from radio waves to microwaves, then infrared, then visible light, ultraviolet… and finally X-rays and gamma rays. I just have to force my energy output to shift along that spectrum."

A sudden pressure built in her chest as the energy intensified. The air around her crackled violently, the heat surging from a scorching burn to a pure, force of radiation. Her body became the bridge between the fundamental forces, her control over the Weak and Strong interactions allowing her to complete the transformation.

Her flames dimmed—no longer just heat but something far more dangerous. The space around her felt heavier, charged with a volatile green energy that pulsed with a deadly presence.

Gamma rays.

Firestar opened her eyes, their usual warmth now replaced with something sharper, something that carried the weight of understanding. She appeared like a green sun radiating more than just radiation. 

She appeared almost like a celestial body. 

She looked down at Bruce, sweat beading down his forehead from the sheer intensity of the radiation.

"It worked."

She clenched her fists, her body vibrating slightly from the energy coursing through her.

"Now, let's get the Hulk back."

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