The S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier had a metallic gray look to it, with flashes of neon blue glowing from the floors, the walls, and the various monitors that were organized across the main control room.
And it was currently under siege from the demons of Muspelheim.
Sharon had an assault rifle equipped on her, and as a black, molten creature came charging towards her, she yelled and began firing, taking a dozen shots to bring the creature down. She had to be called in on her day off because of the crisis at hand.
Near her was the third-in-command of S.H.I.E.L.D, Steve Trevor, who fired at another creature that screeched as it lunged towards Sharon.
All across the main control room, S.H.I.E.L.D agents were yelling and shrieking as the minions of Surtur came charging towards them. Phil Coulson had a more advanced gun, one reverse-engineered from a race known as the Dominators, and a green blast of fire came bursting out from his weapon. Three of the demons were running at him with the speed of a cheetah, but the blast engulfed them all in green fire.
Nick Fury and Maria Hill were also firing at as many of the creatures as they could. But a dozen agents had already fallen to the floor, dead, and another four joined them a moment later.
"Evacuate! Now!" was all Fury said. He waved his hand towards the door after one of the creatures plopped down to the ground, dying from wounds inflicted by his bullets.
Sharon only looked behind her for a moment, and saw several agents letting out screams that came to an abrupt end as more residents of Muspelheim tore into them. She saw one agent shooting at one such creature, only for his gun to either jam or run out of bullets. The creature lunged at him right afterwards.
"Get out! You heard Fury! Everyone get out!" Steve Trevor said. Phil Coulson was the first agent to flee the main control room, and Trevor followed close behind. Sharon got closer and closer to the main entrance alongside three other agents. After a moment of running, she looked over her shoulder and saw Fury, Hill, and two more agents running out of the room. And it was only a moment later that the demons came charging towards them.
"We just got reports that the pods have been damaged!" Hill said, immediately following it up with, "Get to the safe rooms!"
The agents did so. Sharon could hear the firing of assault rifles and advanced guns behind her, to the point where she could not even hear herself think. Then the creatures began popping up in front of the group.
Trevor and Coulson began firing at the creatures. There were half a dozen of them. Coulson fired two green balls of fire towards them, and it was mere moments before they screeched vehemently as they burned. Trevor began firing at one of the creatures, as did Sharon. Both took another dozen rounds of bullets each to fall down dead. Together, as the remaining three came towards the group, Sharon fired at them with Trevor and Coulson, and though they bellowed and loudly, it was not long before they fell to the ground.
Just then, the door to one of the safe rooms was in sight. Coulson sped towards the panel next to it, typing in the correct code and opening the door. The ten agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. all got into the room, and as roaring in the distance got louder, the door slammed shut.
Everyone took a moment to breathe.
"What the hell are these things?!" Coulson said as he panted and placed his hands on his knees.
"They're trying to destroy us, that's what you need to know right now," Fury said, standing up straight.
"This really is a situation for the Vanguard. Hell, all superheroes," Trevor added as he filled up his assault rifle.
Hill looked up at the ceiling. "Our scanners indicate that these creatures are located all across the world. The Vanguard, the M-Force, and all the others have to have their hands full."
The walls that enclosed the room began to bang and dent, and bellowing could be heard from the other side.
Sharon sighed before narrowing her eyes. "Whatever the Vanguard are doing…let's just hope to God that they can preserve against this."
As the dents grew larger and more common, she added on, "Oh Jesus, we need them more than ever," before loading her gun up.
As Surtur's forces began storming the headquarters of S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlin began cracking her knuckles. Other scientists and personnel were running and yelling in the opposite direction, but as the monsters came their way, Caitlin sighed. She and Harrison Wells had been working on an experiment involving just her. Now, with the apocalypse seemingly at their doorstep, this was definitely the time for it to come into play.
Caitlin's hands turned a dark blue, and she blasted ice towards one of the demons right as it jumped up into the air against her.
Cisco, Jane, and Jack Soo came by her side, along with a dozen S.T.A.R. Labs guards. All of them carried ray guns pulled right out of a sci-fi novel, and they all began firing at the creatures.
"How are the powers working?!" Jane asked as she fired towards two of the creatures, sending them down to the ground.
Caitlin's skin turned blue, and her hair turned white, and she continued to blast at the creatures with chilly and polar ice, and she froze three of the creatures.
"They seem to be working just fine!" Cisco said as he fired towards the three frozen demons, shattering them into pieces.
"They need to be enough!" Jack added on, before one of the creatures almost slashed at him. Jack was just barely able to roll out of the way.
Caitlin waved her hand, and ice emitted in all directions, and the demons began taking several steps back. The cement walls were either stained with blood, both human and not, or coated in the frosty substance.
She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. The ceiling walls were broken as the demons breached their way into the headquarters.
"Has everyone been evacuated from the premises?" Caitlin asked as she froze another creature right as it was about to tear into her.
Then she saw Dr. Wells coming into her direction, and when one of the creatures looked his way, she immediately blasted towards them. The founder of S.T.A.R. Labs was flapping his hands into the air.
"Caitlin, wait! Don't! Don't -"
Before Caitlin truly processed what her superior had said, the ice emitting from her hand lightened and lessened. She raised her eyebrows, and her eyes widened.
"What…"
"Your powers haven't been perfected yet! Come with me!" Wells said.
When Caitlin looked down and saw one of their guns laying by a corpse, she narrowed her eyes, and grabbed onto the gun.
One of the demons let out a piercing roar and came towards the two, but Caitlin shot at it.
Caitlin stood behind Dr. Wells, and as he was forced to run from the scene, Caitlin shot at the various creatures, trying to guide her boss out towards safety.
"We need to head out! Now!" Odin roared out at the Vanguard.
Wasp raised her finger. "What about the demons invading this city?"
Odin sighed. "We need to use our strength elsewhere, I'm afraid. What matters is that Surtur must be brought down before Midgard falls and Ragnarök comes to Asgard!"
Superman nodded. "Alright, let's find the exact coordinates of Surtur and use the teleporter to head over -"
"No need!" Odin interrupted, raising his hand up in front of the Kryptonian's. "I can teleport us directly to his whereabouts!"
"Then Odin used the staff in his hand, and it began to glow.
As this happened, Cap looked over to his left. He couldn't help but notice Hal hurrying over to the rest of the group, panting a little as he stood by Hulk and Black Panther. Where had he gone? Cap shook his head – now was not the time to think about that.
With the staff's power, the group was instantaneously teleported. Cap found that the sleek and metal walls of the Vanguard Tower were replaced by the darkened skies and burning grass of the Serengeti, with rain trickling down onto him and the others. There was already a massive army of what appeared to be Asgardian soldiers battling Surtur's army. The Asgardians were donned in gold and muted orange, with capes that flowed in the air as they stabbed their spears and swords into the demons. Some soldiers were not so lucky, however, either getting ripped apart of plopping dead onto the ground.
A few hundred feet away from the group was Surtur, who made direct eye contact with Odin and the superheroes and narrowed his eyes.
"Odin Allfather!" he yelled, pointing towards Odin.
"Ragnarök is not destined to occur for centuries, Surtur! Balder is alive and well! You will not subvert fate!"
Surtur chuckled in the distance. "Fate has never been set in stone, Allfather!" he began, waving his free hand across the air. "And I control fate now! I control the fate of Midgard and Asgard, and I am passing my judgement!"
Odin snarled. "I have lost nary a battle in my days, and today won't be my undoing!"
The ruler of Asgard charged towards the ruler of Muspelheim with furious speed, and he jumped up very high into the air, his spear emitting the color orange. Several members of Surtur's forces looked up in the air, as did the Asgardian soldiers, and Odin lunged towards the ground, stabbing the spear into the Earth. Orange energy exploded from the spear, sending many of the demons back and outright destroying others.
Cap heard Thor snarl. "For Midgard and for Asgard!'
He summoned a lightning bolt with his hammer and unleashed that lightning upon the beasts.
Wonder Woman flew up into the air, and when a Muspelheim fiend shot out fire towards her, she deflected it with her bracelets, then extended her arms out, creating enormous gusts of air that sent the demons unconscious.
Hal created six B-52 planes flying around the area. The plane constructs each dropped dozens of bombs onto Surtur's forces, creating explosions of green energy. Carol, Wasp, and Iron Man both blasted towards the creatures, and Superman used his heat vision against them as the demons charged towards him. while Aquaman stabbed at them with his trident, which had been repaired after the Vanguard's final confrontation with Hydra. Black Panther clawed at them, and when a demon punched him in the face, he kicked it in the chest, sending the kinetic energy back. Zatanna created purple copies of the creatures and sent them against their original counterparts, and she watched as purple and red blood oozed everywhere. Batman threw several bat-grenads and batarangs towards them, Martian Manhunter grabbed one by its leg and threw it towards another, and Hank shrank down and began decking the demons when they couldn't see him. Barry ran around at super-speed, punching and kicking several beasts and creating whirlwinds to send some away. And Cap tossed his shield against one of the few trees in the area, and it stabbed into one of the monsters. He ran towards the corpse, pulled his shield out, and gritted his teeth as he bashed two more with it.
Hundreds of Asgardian soldiers yelled battle cries as they pierced the demons with their spears and stabbed them with their swords. After Cap slammed his shield into two more demons, he quickly looked over to see Odin dodging an attempt by Surtur to crush him with his sword.
When Surtur tried the same thing again, Odin created a force field around himself to dodge it. Odin extended his arms out and blue energy blasts came out of his hand, and when they landed on Surtur, they sent him taking several steps back.
Surtur shot out fire from his hands and struck Odin with them. When Odin landed on the ground Surtur raised his hand up and extended it all the way down towards Odin.
Cap was seeing all of this in the corner of his eye as he battled the demons.
Then he heard someone crash onto the ground, and looked to see that it was Hal.
Cap rushed over to Hal, and when a demon tried to rush towards both of them, Cap impaled it in the chest with his shield before looking down at Hal.
"Lantern, are you okay?!" Cap asked as he helped his comrade up.
"There's too many of them…" Hal replied. Cap looked around and saw his teammates groaning and yelling as they tried to fight off the demons.
Even though he could only look at them for a few moments, what stood out the most was Barry taking a moment to hold his bleeding leg before he had to speed away from some of the monsters, electricity crackling all around Iron Man as he tried to blast at the creatures that were trying to encircle him, and Batman bleeding from his face and arm as he tried to kick some of the demons away.
"I'm gonna send a distress signal to the Corps…maybe even to Mar-Vell…" Hal uttered, before collapsing onto the ground. "I don't know if anyone will get here in time, but we have to try…"
Just then, there was an explosion, and for Captain America, everything went black.
There was silence for a few moments, but the world slowly returned to Cap. The roaring and exploding got louder and louder, and Cap could see the bodies of many demons and soldiers on the ground.
As he got up, he looked around. Hal was also beginning to get up, and the Green Lantern took a deep breath. The rest of the Vanguard were all bleeding, grunting, and clenching their teeth as they tried to fight off the monsters. Each and every one of them had tears in their costumes and bruises and small cuts across their bodies.
Batman's cowl was half-gone, as was Barry's mask, and blood was dripping from their noses. Iron Man had many dents on his armor, and even Black Panther and the Martian Manhunter had several tears on their own outfits. Ant-Man grew to regular size, revealing that his helmet had been dented, with both of the antennas ripped off. Ant-Man breathed heavily before one of the monsters charged at them.
Then one of the demons snatched Cap away, and he was dragged onto the ground. He grabbed onto the grass in an attempt to break free of the creature's grip, but it was to no avail.
The creature tossed Cap down and roared in his face, causing spit to fly into the captain's face. Cap kicked it right in the face, and when another demon charged towards him, he uppercut it with his right arm. Then more and more of the creatures surrounded Cap, and he tried to bash each of them with his shield, but he was slashed at several times.
He was able to do a back-flip and jump away from, but now blood was dripping across his face and chest.
Cap looked over and saw Odin jumping up towards Surtur's chest and stabbing it with his spear. Then ice came from the spear and blasted Surtur right in the face. Yellow energy glowed in Odin's hand, and he levitated down and struck the devil-like being in the stomach.
Odin jumped up high in the air and grabbed onto one of Surtur's horns, and thrusted his spear into his foe's forehead. The king snarled loudly as he deepened it, and Surtur roared in agony as this happened.
But then, Surtur grabbed up Odin, and now had him in the palm of his hand. He grinned, and then he clenched his knuckles while Odin was still trapped in his hand. He did it a second time before throwing Odin down to the ground. When Odin tried to get back up, Surtur stomped on them, then thrust his giant sword and brought it down upon Odin, rendering Asgard's ruler unconscious.
Then Surtur looked up in the air and said, "Your efforts are all in vain! Accept your impending doom!"
Then fire blasted out from around him, causing fire balls to go all over the place.
Cap placed his shield in front of himself and sweat poured down from his head alongside the blood. And he took a deep breath.
But then he jolted as he was zoomed out of the way. He just barely managed to see the fire blast crash down onto the yellow dry grass. And this sensation…he recognized it. It was the same one as from when he was taken from New York to London to see Peggy one last time.
After a few moments, he looked over, and saw Jay Garrick adjusting his helmet.
"Don't worry, Steve," Jay said with a smile. "The cavalry is here."
It was moments later that Alan Scott and Namor all levitated down from the air, and stood by Jay Garrick.
Then he saw that Alan was creating a giant green bubble with his power ring. As Alan brought it down to the ground, he saw the heroes in there: The M-Force.
Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Beast, Elasti-Girl, Changeling, Negative Man, and Robotman all stood there, opposite Captain America. Also with them were Jade, Obsidian, Elongated Man, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Logan. Spider-Woman had left the M-Force last month, while Logan had joined them as 'Wolverine'. Wolverine now wore a yellow suit, with blue gloves, shoulder pads, and boots. He was sleeveless and had areas of black around him; among those were a long, pointed black mask.
Spider-Woman was the next to show up, however, alongside Shazam. Shazam levitated down to the ground, carrying Spider-Woman with him as he did so.
Valkyrie rode down onto the scene with her noble steed from her aside. Not only did Lady Sif accompany her, but Cap's eyes got a little bigger when he saw Mera on the horse as well. Valkyrie guided the horse down onto the ground, and three women got off and stood there with the other heroes.
Mar-Vell and Kilowog also levitated down to the ground. They must have responded to Hal's distress signal. Not too far from them was Shuri, who had donned the mantle of Doctor Fate once more. She created a yellow band of energy around Solovar, which allowed him to float above the ground with her. The latter two landed moments after the former two did.
Cap nodded at the army of superheroes and allies that stood before him, but only a moment later did he look over his shoulder and see the rest of the Vanguard coming his way. Superman, Iron Man, Thor, and Wonder Woman were the first to come by his side, with Wonder Woman carrying Batman alongside them.
Barry sped over to the area, and Hal and Carol came to the scene not too long after. Hal created a bubble of green energy, like Alan's, that carried Hulk, Aquaman, Black Panther, and Hank inside of it.
The last of the heroes to show up were Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, and Wasp, who were all quick to land their feet firmly onto the ground.
Surtur was now a few hundred feet away from the dozens of heroes that now opposed him, and all he did was snarl and stab his sword into the ground, creating massive fires around the forces.
"You think I am intimidated! This has only made things more interesting! It will make it all the more satisfying when your world falls!" he yelled out.
Meanwhile, hundreds of his minions were charging towards Cap and all the allies that stood by his side.
Cap and Superman exchanged glances, and both of them led out war cries. They were joined by most of the others, and then they all began charging towards the minions along with the Asgardian soldiers. Many of them ran, and others flew in the air, but they were all heading towards the minions and Surtur.
Cap locked eyes with a specific minion that looked at him furiously and growled. In the corner of his eye, he saw Aquaman striking against one of the demons with his trident, Black Panther slashing at one of them when it tried to knock his face clean off, and Batman throwing two of his batarangs against another one.
Then Cap yelled out one more time before he bashed at the demon with his shield, and began fighting for the very fate of Earth itself.
There were a lot of allies by his side, and he simply had to hope that it would be enough.