RED SKULL

Red Skull was angered. His quest for the Infinity Stones had failed. The tesseract was lost to him. His dream of a Cosmic Cube was still a dream. But at least… his work remained. Perhaps there was still a possibility… He studied his instruments with the intensity of a mad-man, unlike his usual calm self, looking for the slight variations that told him he had found somewhere he could go.

He frowned as the needle quavered. What?

"Sir, the portal. It opens!"

"Impossible!" Red Skull spat. "Shut it down immediately, I gave no authorisation!"

Something came through.

"Mein Gott!"

Red Skull hissed at his sub-ordinate for his weakness, but did not kill him. They were about to need all the soldiers they could get, he suspected. If he lived, Red Skull could kill him afterward.

THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN

Tony Stark was working late. Putting the final touches on Ultron. It had been difficult, but he had eventually won his team-mates over. Being part of the Avenge Squad meant something, and they had backed him up.

Tony stopped a moment. He thought. He saw Ultron's eyes flicker, just for a moment. Then he became aware that he was not alone.

"I swear, Fury, if this is another lecture…"

The shadow he knew was there, somehow evading every sensor and warning system he had installed, but not his eye-sight, seemed to shift slightly in amusement.

"I am not Fury." The man said, for his voice gave him away. "But I have come to ask something."

THE SUPREME INTELLIGENCE

Across the universe, one of an infinite amount that Kree scientists had just begun exploring, the Kree Super-Intelligence brooded.

The existence of these alternate realities had been proven just recently, and somehow, the Supreme Intelligence found the convenience of the discovering, disturbing. The first probes had already begun entering into the other realities, reporting back what they found, determining its consistency with measurements.

Things had proceeded as it had planned over eons, but this made it's neuron super-clusters twitch.

And while the Earthly Captain Marvel waged her war on the Kree military outposts, it could ill afford to be distracted with events of such proportions. The Supreme Intelligence had nearly been slain, but in a chance fluke of luck, a Kree warship had spiralled out of a worm-hole disturbance just in time – allowing the Supreme Intelligence, it's nexus, to be taken to safety. Unfortunately, she had survived.

As it is written. Every Kree spoke those words, knowing they were true. But the Supreme Intelligence had encountered something that threatened this very authority. And it must conquer it.

"Prepare the warships."

THE SCARLET WITCH

Wanda still hadn't learned how to use her powers. She still didn't really understand them. But she was learning.

They did something to probabilities, she had learned. She wasn't certain what. Is that what magic was? That witch had known far too much about how to counteract her. If her memory was any indication, she was a little terrifying in her own way, she had seen and done things that no-one else had. And she had known what Wanda was.

Well curse her – Wanda could do just fine without her.

sSuddenly the pages shifted in front of her, and she felt a moment of panic. What? Something had changed. She could feel it. Not just the minute little vibrations she had gotten used to feeling, but something had wrenched for a moment.

DR. STRANGE

He stared at the pattern. It had always been like that, but Dr. Strange knew it shouldn't have been.

"This isn't good."