Something was wrong with the sky.
One moment, sunlight stretched clean and bright across half the planet. The next—
Darkness.
Not clouds. Not nightfall.
Just… absence.
The sky turned into a deep, endless black, scattered with unfamiliar stars. No sun. No moon. Just a silent void pressing down from above.
Inside a New York apartment, Susan Storm and Camila both looked up at the same time.
"…Did the sun just disappear?" Camila asked.
Susan stepped closer to the window, eyes narrowing as she studied the constellations.
"No," she said quietly. "We moved."
Camila blinked. "Moved where?"
Susan didn't answer immediately.
Because the stars overhead didn't match anything she'd ever seen before.
"This isn't the solar system."
Across the world, confusion spread like a shockwave.
Communications failed. Signals vanished. Entire networks went dark as if the planet itself had slipped out of reach.
People tried to call, to connect, to understand.
Nothing went through.
It was as if Earth had been quietly removed from the map.
In its original orbit, only one structure remained.
The White House.
Suspended in space, wrapped in a protective field, drifting where a planet used to be.
Inside, Noah Vale stood facing Future Tony.
Purple energy crackled along his right arm, the Power Stone embedded in his grasp, its light pulsing like a restrained storm.
His left hand remained extended.
Future Tony didn't hesitate. He placed the time-travel device into Noah's palm.
Then, after a brief pause—
"…Can I ask one thing?"
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"My wife and daughter," Future Tony said, voice tightening. "Everything happened too fast. They might still be alive. If you can… bring them back."
Tony snapped his head toward him. "Wait—daughter? I have a daughter?"
Future Tony ignored him completely. His focus never left Noah.
Everything else was already gone.
This was all he had left.
Noah nodded once. "Sure. If I see them, I'll grab them."
He said it like picking up groceries.
Then added, "Where am I looking?"
"New York. A villa near Wall Street," Future Tony said quickly. "And be careful. When I arrived, I was in Virginia. I was being hunted by… infected versions of the others. Don't let them bite you."
Noah let out a quiet laugh.
"They're welcome to try."
He reached into space itself and pulled out a vial of Pym Particles.
For a brief moment, his thoughts wandered—curiosity brushing against the absurdity of the situation.
A universe overrun by undead superhumans.
A multiversal outbreak waiting to happen.
And somehow, this was still just another problem to solve.
He pressed the device.
And vanished.
The world he arrived in was already dead.
Cities burned without purpose. Smoke curled from shattered skyscrapers, rising into a sky that no longer mattered.
The streets were filled with movement—
But not life.
Figures staggered through the ruins, bodies decayed, faces twisted, mouths stained dark with dried blood.
Everywhere, the same hunger.
Endless.
Unthinking.
From above, the planet looked like a corpse that hadn't realized it was supposed to stop moving.
Screams echoed in the distance, cut short again and again.
The infection had spread with terrifying efficiency.
Rocket Raccoon had been the tipping point.
After feeding on Captain America, the infection stabilized his mind just enough to make him dangerous again.
Not just a predator.
A strategist.
He didn't just spread the infection.
He optimized it.
Within three days, Earth had fallen.
In a narrow alley in Virginia, three figures stood over a cornered man.
Hulk.
Thor.
Scott Lang.
All of them wrong.
Skin gray. Eyes hollow. Movements sharp with unnatural intent.
They weren't just mindless anymore.
They were thinking.
Planning.
Tony Stark backed up slowly, his armor damaged, systems failing.
They hadn't killed him yet.
Because they needed him.
The last vial of Pym Particles.
The key to everything beyond this world.
"Damn it," Zombie Scott muttered. "Without more particles, recreating this tech will take years."
Zombie Hulk growled, smashing a chunk of concrete aside. "You let him get away. That was the plan."
Before the argument could escalate—
They froze.
All three heads turned at once.
Something new had entered the alley.
A scent.
Warm.
Alive.
Irresistible.
Noah stood there, one hand still faintly glowing with violet light.
To them—
He was perfection.
The scent of living flesh rolled off him like a signal flare.
Fresh.
Powerful.
Irreplaceable.
Drool slipped from cracked lips.
"…Wow," Zombie Thor murmured, voice low and hungry. "You smell incredible."
Zombie Hulk took a step forward—
And was instantly knocked aside as Thor shoved him away.
"Idiot," Thor snarled. "You don't just eat something like that outright. What if he turns? What a waste."
His grin widened, feral and calculating.
"We keep him. Take our time."
Noah tilted his head slightly.
"Keep me?"
He flexed his right hand, violet energy tightening around his fist.
"Interesting plan."
Only then did they notice.
The glow.
The pressure.
The sheer, overwhelming force radiating from him.
Thor's expression shifted first.
Recognition.
"…Power Stone."
Hulk's eyes widened next.
"…Noah Vale."
For the first time since the outbreak began—
Fear.
Noah smiled.
Not kindly.
"Correct."
He raised his fist.
"As a reward…"
The air warped around his hand, energy compressing into something dense enough to break worlds.
"…you get to see what this does."