When Shin decided to get serious, no one else really had the chance to do anything.
A second later, the battlefield was quiet. The Zerg that had swarmed around were all lying dead, their bodies split open in grotesque fashion. Everyone's attention was then drawn to a strange sight at the center of the chamber. There, arranged in a row, were four massive pods that looked unsettlingly organic. They pulsed faintly, as though alive, and inside each one floated a familiar figure submerged in green liquid.
It was the Fantastic Four.
Tony Stark's face immediately darkened beneath his helmet. The pods didn't look like any medical or scientific apparatus he had ever seen—no sleek design, no clean mechanical lines. Instead, they resembled the husks of monstrous insects, with grotesque, chitin-like textures wrapping around the glass chambers. Reed Richards might be obsessive with his experiments, but his aesthetic was practical, grounded, and always recognizably human. These pods were nothing like his work.
Which left only one possibility.
"They weren't built by Richards," Tony muttered grimly. "Which means the bugs did this."
Up until now, Stark had assumed the Annihilation Zerg relied on crude biotechnology, sophisticated in its own way but still primitive compared to real engineering. The sight of these pods, however, forced him to rethink everything. The seamless integration of biology and advanced systems here meant the Zerg weren't merely savage invaders... they were a civilization with intellect, research capabilities, and technology that rivaled the most advanced known species.
"That's… a problem," Stark admitted under his breath. He exhaled sharply, his words dripping with uneasy sarcasm. "Now I'm wondering just how many of these Annihilation Zerg are crawling around in the Negative Zone. Hopefully not enough to fill an entire universe."
They searched the facility but didn't find the dimensional rift that had allowed the Zerg to invade. That didn't mean it no longer existed. Reviewing the recovered data, Tony quickly pieced together the truth.
"The rift may be closed, but they've already mapped coordinates inside our universe," Stark said. "That means they can open portals wherever they want, whenever they want."
Shin folded his arms and cut him off with a shrug. "Don't dwell on it now. If they pop up again, it'll probably be on this planet anyway. The universe is small, sure, but it's not our immediate problem."
Turning his gaze back to the pods, Shin gestured for the others to focus on what mattered in front of them.
The life-support chambers were connected to the entire building's power grid, which explained why the Zerg hadn't removed them. Keeping the Fantastic Four alive must have been critical to whatever process they had begun.
Stark leaned in, scanners running across the surfaces. The more he examined, the worse his expression became. "They're not just holding them. They're trying to change them. Splice human biology with Zerg. If the process completes, we'll have four half-Zerg hybrids on our hands."
He didn't bother theorizing how to gently disengage the system. He didn't care for the delicate option. Raising his armored fist, Stark brought it down in a brutal strike. The reinforced glass walls of the pods shattered, spilling foul-smelling green liquid across the floor as the captives tumbled out, coughing and gasping for breath.
Ben Grimm, the Thing, was the first to stir. His orange, rock-like hide was coated with viscous slime, and his movements were sluggish. Still, he forced himself upright, his heavy frame staggering as he got his bearings.
"My body was already different to begin with," Ben rasped. "Guess that made it harder for them to… change." His words trailed off as his eyes took in the carnage around him, the corpses of countless Zerg, their fluids smeared across the chamber in grotesque splashes.
Then his gaze fell on Shin, Tony, and the others who had gathered around.
Tony's voice, distorted slightly through the Iron Man armor, came out with a sharp edge. "Alright, Rocky. Start talking. What kind of suicidal research project did Richards drag you into this time?"
Ben, honest to a fault, already felt a heavy weight of guilt in his chest.
Seeing the destruction and knowing Reed's obsession had once again unleashed chaos, he could only sigh. Besides, he was well aware of Stark's current role as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., the man now in charge of monitoring superpowered individuals. That authority only added to Ben's sense of responsibility.
"It's Reed's work," Ben admitted quietly. "Negative Zone research. He thought if we could open a stable channel, maybe we'd find new territory… somewhere humanity could expand to."
Stark let out a metallic laugh, but there was no humor in it. He slapped his own helmet with a clang. "Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Even I've never been that reckless. Did Richards ever think about what might be on the other side? About what he'd be letting through?"
Ben lowered his gaze. "We… we thought we could handle it."
"You thought wrong," Stark snapped. "Instead of land for humanity, what you've actually found is a door for the Zerg."
His words carried the bitter sting of truth. The Zerg weren't just a few scattered creatures. They were a system, a machine of war built on endless numbers and specialized evolution. Their lowest-level drones were already stronger than baseline humans, tougher than most enhanced soldiers, with natural armor that could shrug off small firearms. Their warriors scaled up with frightening variety: some carried built-in energy projectors, others had blades sharper than steel, and still others carried adaptations that mimicked cosmic technology.
And now, with evidence of life-support pods and spatial coordinate mapping, it was clear the Zerg were far more advanced than anyone had imagined. These weren't mere monsters; they were a civilization capable of interstellar travel.
Ben's rocky brow furrowed as the guilt deepened. Reed's brilliance had always come paired with a fatal flaw: the more dangerous a subject, the more fascinated he became. The safer paths never interested him. Time and again, others had warned him to reconsider, but he always pressed forward. And now, the Fantastic Four's mistakes had nearly doomed the universe.
The other members began coughing and stirring as well, their minds still foggy from the green liquid. Reed Richards blinked awake, confusion in his eyes as he adjusted his elongated limbs.
"What happened? Tony… you saved us?" His voice was weak but laced with gratitude.
For all his flaws, Reed was still polite, especially when confronted with another brilliant scientist. He didn't carry Stark's arrogance, Pym's stubbornness, or Doom's hunger for power.
Under other circumstances, Tony might have bantered with him, maybe even indulged in some scientific sparring. But right now, with the image of those insectoid pods still fresh in his mind, his patience was gone.
"Richards," Stark said, his voice low and sharp, "do you even realize what you've done?"
Reed straightened slightly, excitement flashing in his tired eyes despite everything. "Then it's true. The Negative Zone exists. My theory was correct!" His voice quickened, almost trembling with scientific fervor. "Do you understand, Tony? This is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of science!"
Tony's hands clenched into fists at his sides, servos in the armor whining faintly.
For Reed Richards, it was a triumph. For Tony Stark, it was a catastrophe waiting to spiral out of control.
And for Shin, watching the two scientists clash, it was a reminder that sometimes intellect could be more dangerous than raw power.
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