"Those strange shapes do look a lot like Deviants."
Sersi, the Eternal with the power to manipulate energy and the one who had alerted Ikaris, kept replaying the uploaded footage. By her calculations, Ikaris... who had already been in North America... should have reached the scene by now.
To be honest, openly appearing in the modern world was bound to cause problems. The last time they had wiped out Deviants was back in the sixteenth century.
In the past, they could fight without restraint and their existence would fade from memory within a few decades.
Not anymore. Not with cameras everywhere.
And now the Deviants... creatures that should have been exterminated long ago, beings that fed specifically on humans... had somehow reappeared?
"The Celestials gave us life, so we must use that life to carry out their will... protecting humanity from the Deviants. I hope Ikaris can quickly confirm whether these unfamiliar things are Deviants or not."
Sersi had no idea that the lover she trusted had already labeled Adam in his mind for his own inscrutable reasons and attacked without hesitation.
She found out soon enough. Her eyes widened as she watched the footage of two figures engaged in a battle that was tearing the city apart.
…
"The situation is clear now: an unidentified man flew into New York at ten times the speed of sound and confronted Adam for unknown reasons."
Fury pointed at the satellite feed, his face expressionless but dark enough to scare anyone. "Energy monitoring satellites show an incredibly high power signature on this individual. Where the hell did this superhuman come from?"
As director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he was always prepared for crises, but he absolutely hated unexpected variables.
Soon, something even more shocking appeared.
From the shattered laboratory where Abomination had emerged, another massive figure stepped out.
"Abomination? He teamed up with Adam?" Maria Hill asked, surprised, before quickly realizing her mistake.
That wasn't Abomination.
The satellite AI was constantly analyzing the data. Despite the limited angle, the conclusion was clear: this muscular individual was noticeably smaller than Abomination... a "smaller build."
"That's a Xenomorph," Dum Dum Dugan said after a pause, his voice dry. "Or am I remembering wrong? The injured Abomination returned to the lab looking for whatever caused his transformation… and what came out wasn't Abomination, but something extremely similar… a Xenomorph?"
Everyone present was a seasoned top-tier agent, but for a moment, they all fell silent.
The implications of that brief footage were horrifying. It shattered fundamental assumptions about the world and the nature of life itself.
Could things really be as they suspected?
"If that's the case, it makes sense why Adam engaged Abomination before we could," Coulson added. He had just arrived, his brow furrowed with unprecedented seriousness.
They soon saw the mysterious man attempt to attack Adam, only to be intercepted by the hulking Xenomorph that resembled Abomination. The fight erupted instantly.
Wherever the man and the Xenomorph went, buildings were left in ruins. Reinforced concrete might as well have been paper in the face of their power.
It was pure, brutal violence... blow after blow, no defense, every strike aimed at landing one more hit on the opponent.
Melee was all they needed.
The bloody, savage exchange left Fury and the others frowning in grim silence.
The level of destruction was heart-stopping.
Especially if Adam had somehow used a mysterious method to turn Abomination's power into a new Xenomorph…
"I thought he was a minor player we just needed to monitor closely," Fury finally broke the silence. "Turns out he's a damn shark. And he used us to get his hands on an absurdly powerful Xenomorph."
"Boss, I feel like this new Xenomorph is already stronger than Abomination and still getting stronger. In this short time, it's grown more muscular and its power seems to be catching up to that mystery man. It's almost like…"
"Hulk," Fury finished. "Our worst-case scenario is probably reality. Combined with the vampires Adam captured alive, we can draw some preliminary conclusions. We just don't know exactly how he transfers power from different lifeforms to the Xenomorphs."
"It would have to be surgical organ transplants, consumption, or genetic extraction. But all of those take time. How long has it been since Adam moved on Abomination?" Coulson racked his brain but couldn't make sense of it.
"Raise Adam's threat level. Bump it up four tiers. He needs focused surveillance and caution," Fury ordered.
Did a creature that could steal power and grow at an exaggerated rate really exist?
S.H.I.E.L.D. had severely underestimated Adam. In this incident, they had been played, reduced to nothing more than a backdrop for the rise of a new powerhouse.
It left a bitter taste.
But Adam was in an excellent mood. He watched the two figures clash fiercely from afar, deeply satisfied.
At the start, the newly born Xenomorph from Abomination had been at a disadvantage, often needing to eat multiple punches just to land a single claw strike on Ikaris.
As time passed, however, its terrifying potential shone through. This Xenomorph had inherited Abomination's finest genes... in other words, Hulk genes.
The more it fought, the angrier it became. The angrier it became, the stronger it grew.
The escalation was so ridiculous that even Ikaris found it unbelievable. After just a few exchanges, the "Deviant" in his mind was already trading blows on equal footing.
Punches were no longer effective. Heat vision could only scorch the metallic exoskeleton without reaching anything vital.
Ikaris's only real advantage was that he could fly!
He refused to believe this thing could suddenly sprout wings on the spot.
"Whatever you are, since you're willing to fight for that human, I'll just kill him instead!"
A flash of ruthlessness crossed Ikaris's eyes. He drove a fist into the Xenomorph's chest, knocking it back, then fired a heat-vision beam. He immediately shot skyward, abandoning the creature to go after Adam.
The Xenomorph protecting Adam was incredibly strong, but Adam himself... the controller... might not be. He could be stronger… or weaker.
But the Xenomorph had powerful combat instincts. It couldn't fly, but with its thick legs and powerful tail, it leaped high, grabbed Ikaris by the leg, and yanked him back down to earth. A vicious claw swipe tore through Ikaris's suit, leaving bloody gashes.
When powerful beings fought and grew familiar with each other's strength, it became an open book. Ikaris tried to break free but kept getting thwarted.
The longer they fought, the more Ikaris's composure cracked. He was actually injured!
He had been willing to expose himself to billions of humans just to silence witnesses and keep the Deviants as a private trump card. And it had come to this?
"I can't keep fighting. Even if I win against this thing, it's pointless now."
Ikaris gritted his teeth. After this battle, he had realized these creatures probably weren't Deviants after all. Their physical changes came from normal muscle expansion and bone growth... fundamentally different from the energy-based transformations of true Deviants.
Worse, there was no doubt that several of Earth's most powerful individuals had now taken notice of him and the Eternals behind him.
"Enough! Stop! They are not Deviants!" Ikaris roared.
"Well said. I've also confirmed something... you are the evil Deviant, humanity's greatest enemy!" Adam's righteous voice rang out in reply.