The call came at four in the morning.
Arthur was in his study, going over the list of remaining targets for his death crusade. The list was getting shorter. Eve's algorithms had been running for months, and Arthur had been methodical. The Mephisto victims were almost entirely accounted for. The dark practitioners who drained innocent souls for unnatural longevity were harder to find, but their numbers were dwindling too. Soon there would be no one left on Earth to hunt. He would need to look elsewhere in his quest to earn Death's affinity.
Suddenly the secure comms channel chimed. Carol Danvers spoke, her voice uncharacteristically tight.
"Arthur. We have a problem."
Arthur sat forward in his chair. "The Chitauri fleet?"
"Yes. They just vanished. Completely gone. There is no hyperspace jump signature and no thermal exhaust. It is like they engaged an advanced cloaking field that my ship simply cannot detect."
Arthur leaned back and stared at the dark window. It seemed Loki and his controllers had already adapted their plans and taken action.
"Is there anything at their last known position?" he asked.
"That's the strange part. One ship was left behind. A single vessel, sitting exactly where the fleet was." She paused. "It's just... waiting. Maybe for me."
"A trap."
"Almost certainly." Another pause followed, longer this time. "Arthur, you have been vague about how critical tracking this fleet actually is. I need direction. Do I investigate the ship? Do I try to find where the fleet went? What is the priority here?"
"We need to investigate, but not alone," Arthur said firmly. "Wait for me. I am coming."
The line went dead. Arthur stood up and began preparing for a space mission.
—
Carol was waiting in orbit above a barren moon, her ship's cockpit bathed in the cold light of an unfamiliar star. Arthur materialized in the co-pilot's seat beside her. She did not flinch at all. She was completely used to his sudden arrivals by now.
"There." She pointed through the viewport.
A massive Chitauri warship hung in the emptiness. Dark, jagged, and ugly. It looked more like a hollowed-out asteroid than a constructed vessel. Angular plates of black metal had been bolted over what might have been raw rock, studded with weapon emplacements and sensor arrays that jutted from the hull like broken bones.
"They must have noticed they were being followed," Carol said, her jaw clenched. "Sensors show a skeleton crew of Chitauri soldiers and one massive life signature in the main hangar. They left this behind for me."
"Yes." Arthur studied the ship through Death Sight. The hull blocked most of his perception, but he could feel life inside. He ignored the weak, flickering threads of the crew and concentrated on the other presence. Something large and dense and burning with a steady, powerful flame that was nothing like the dim sparks of ordinary soldiers.
Carol glanced at him, noting the strange twilight grey that had overtaken his eyes. "New trick?"
"Something like that. It helps me sense living things through physical obstructions." He blinked and refocused, his eyes returning to normal. "I can feel our host. He feels strong."
Carol asked, "Stronger than me?"
"Very few beings in this universe are stronger than you, Carol. None of them would waste their time playing sentry on a decoy ship like this." He considered. "But whoever's down there might give you a decent fight."
Carol's expression shifted. There was no concern in her eyes, only pure anticipation. "Good. Tracking a ghost fleet for months with nothing to hit has left me terribly restless."
"Enjoy yourself," Arthur said. "I will handle the crew. The Mad Titan does not know who has been tracking his fleet, and I would like to keep it that way. No survivors. No records. No data leaves this ship."
Carol cracked her knuckles with a sharp grin. "Then let us go."
She opened the hatch and launched herself toward the warship, trailing golden light across the void. Arthur went invisible and followed.
—
Arthur reappeared in the ship's main control room.
It was a cramped, utilitarian space. Banks of alien consoles lined the walls, their screens flickering with Chitauri script. Four soldiers manned the stations. They were hunched, grey-skinned creatures in segmented armour, their movements mechanical and joyless.
Arthur did not waste a single second. He raised his hand and released a barrage of silent, invisible cutting curses. The aliens dropped to the metal deck in pieces before any of them could even reach for an alarm.
He pulled a small device from his jacket. It looked like an alien data chip, matte black and featureless. He inserted it directly into the primary console terminal and watched the main screen flicker wildly.
"Eve," he whispered into the silence.
"Online, Master," the AI responded softly through the room's localized speakers.
"Scrub everything. Purge all internal recordings, wipe any trace of our presence, and make absolutely certain no data leaves this ship. Thanos cannot know who was here."
"Initiating purge protocols now. Estimated time is five minutes."
"Take your time. I have some cleaning to do."
Arthur left Eve to her digital work and moved swiftly through the ship. The corridors were narrow and dimly lit, patrolled by Chitauri soldiers in pairs. He moved through them like a ghost, dispatching each group with the same clinical efficiency. Severing curses flashed silently. There were no alarms and no warnings. Just quiet death spreading through the vessel, one corridor at a time.
Five minutes later, he stepped back into the control room.
"Purge complete, Master," Eve confirmed. "All transmission channels and sensors have been permanently disabled and the data erased."
"Good. Did you find anything before you wiped it? A reason for the fleet's disappearance or their exact destination?"
"The ship's databanks were scrubbed clean before it was left here as bait, so there was nothing in the primary archives. However, I was able to recover fragmented audio from the ship's internal surveillance. The commander was recorded telling his crew the fleet was heading toward Earth. Beyond that, I found nothing. There is no flight path, no timeline, and no coordinates."
Arthur absorbed that piece of intelligence. The fleet was heading for Earth. The information was good enough. At least Loki's plan hadn't changed. Earth would face the Chitauri, not something worse.
"Understood. Pull yourself out. We're done here."
He retrieved the data chip and pocketed it. Just then, the entire warship shuddered violently. Alarms began to blare, bathing the corridors in flashing red light. The metal deck groaned beneath his feet.
Carol's battle had begun.
—
Carol found her opponent waiting in the main hangar.
The space was cavernous. High ceilings. Open floor. Cargo containers stacked along the walls. A room built for loading and unloading heavy equipment, now cleared and empty save for a single figure standing at its centre beneath the harsh overhead lights.
He was massive. Eight feet tall, perhaps more, and built like a siege engine. Thick limbs encased in dense plating that might have been armour or might have been part of him. A face that was blunt and heavy and utterly without expression. Deep-set eyes that burned a dull, furnace orange. He carried no weapon. He didn't look like he needed one.
He stood with his arms loose at his sides, feet planted, watching Carol descend through the breach she'd punched in the ceiling with the unhurried patience of someone who had been waiting for exactly this.
Carol landed on the hangar floor ten metres from him. Her fists glowed gold. Energy crackled along her arms and shoulders, casting sharp shadows across the ruined ceiling above.
The general studied her. His furnace eyes moved from the glow of her fists to the emblem on her chest to her face. Something shifted subtly in his expression. It was not surprise. It was recognition.
"The Annihilator," he said. His voice resonated in the metal walls. Deep and grinding like the sound of heavy stone dragged across heavy stone. "Destroyer of the Supreme Intelligence."
Carol raised an eyebrow. "I have fans out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"You have a reputation. Not a favourable one." The general's mouth curved. It was not a smile. It was the expression of something that had learned what smiles looked like by watching other species do them. "I am Karrok. General of the Outrider Legions. Servant of the Great Titan."
"Thanos," Carol said flatly. "I have heard the name. Big purple guy. Completely obsessed with his deranged idea of universal balance."
Karrok's furnace eyes flared. "You speak of my lord with disrespect."
"I speak of everyone with disrespect. Saves time." She cracked her neck. "Your lord sent you to deal with me?"
"He sent me to deal with whoever was blindly nosing around his army. I honestly did not expect it to be the Annihilator."
"Why? Are you afraid?"
"Surprised. Defeating you would be an honour worthy of my station."
"That is very sweet, Karrok." Her fists blazed even brighter, illuminating the entire hangar. "But I really would have preferred the Mad Titan himself."
"My Lord has much more important matters to attend to. I am more than enough to end you."
"We will see about that."