The King: T'Challa.

Chapter 24: Balancing the Scale.

They were losing. Not gradually, but catastrophically. The Outriders came like an unending tide, relentless and ravenous. Every warrior cut down only seemed to summon two more in its place. It was the Hydra of old, made flesh and fury, and the defenders of Wakanda were drowning in its swarm.

Banner's strained voice broke through the comms, carried on the static of panic.
"Too many of them!"

His cries were followed by the metallic groan of the Hulkbuster as the Outriders clawed and clambered over the armour, trying to prise it open like a carcass. Emily had started pushing towards him, forcing her way through the melee, when the battlefield tore open with light.

A beam of rainbow-edged brilliance slammed down into the dirt, blinding and violent. Outriders shrieked and faltered, and from its heart came a weapon—an axe wreathed in lightning, carving through the horde before arcing back into its master's grip.

Thor.

He stepped from the dissipating glow like a figure of vengeance, every line of his body alive with fury. Lightning snaked across his shoulders, his single eye burning with grief tempered into wrath. At his side came strange companions—a tree-limbed youth and a raccoon bristling with oversized weaponry—oddities that would have seemed absurd anywhere else. Here, amid blood and ruin, they were salvation.

Emily drew up alongside T'Challa, with Steve and Natasha flanking them. Even Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian, poised to strike, faltered at the sight. For a single heartbeat the battlefield paused.

From within the Hulkbuster, Banner's laughter cracked out, unrestrained.
"Ha! Oh, you guys are so screwed now!"

But Emily hardly noticed him. Her eyes remained fixed on Thor. There was no triumph in his expression, no hint of relief—only the raw edge of vengeance, the rage of a man who had lost everything and intended to repay the debt in blood.

He raised the axe high, lightning coiling around the weapon like serpents, and roared:
"BRING ME THANOS!"

Then he charged. Rocket scampered at his heels, Groot striding with grim determination beside him. Thor vaulted into the air, suspended for a heartbeat against the burning sky, before crashing down into the densest cluster of Outriders. The impact was apocalyptic—earth heaved, a crater split open, and where there had been teeth and claws moments before, there was only ash and ruin.

For the first time in the battle, the tide hesitated.

***

The Kingsguard, Borderers, and Jabari had swarmed Cull Obsidian, but their efforts were little more than a nuisance to him. His chained hammer swept warriors aside in arcs of crushing force, bodies cratering into the dirt or sent tumbling through the air like discarded dolls.

Emily had seen enough. She pushed forward through the chaos, watching as Obsidian drove the last standing fighter deep into the ground. Timing her chance, she sprang—years of Hydra conditioning whispering tactics into her muscles. Always from behind. His guard was weakest there.

She vaulted onto his massive shoulders, legs locking tight around his neck, arms braced across his jaw. The giant bucked and snarled, his oxygen cut short under her chokehold. For a moment, it was working—his staggering weight listing beneath her grip, limbs slowing. She began to ease, thinking he was nearly out—

A mistake.

Obsidian's body snapped taut with renewed strength. He surged upward and hurled her from his shoulders, the ground rushing up to meet her as she slammed down half the battlefield away. Pain lit her bones, but she forced herself upright, teeth gritted, and charged him again.

They met head-on this time. Hammer against forcefields, chain against energy blasts. Her attacks cracked against his defences but found no purchase; his hammer shattered earth around her, forcing her to duck and weave with dwindling speed. What felt like hours was only minutes, until a voice—T'Challa's—cut across the din. She faltered.

It was enough.

Obsidian lifted his hammer high, chains rattling like a death knell. His roar echoed as he brought it down with terrible finality. Emily planted her feet, hands outstretched, a shimmering barrier blooming between her and annihilation. The hammer struck. Cracks spidered across her forcefield, webbing faster than she could reinforce. With a shattering crack, the shield collapsed, and the hammer tore through, slamming her into the earth.

Everything went numb. Her body refused her commands as she lay in the dirt, half-conscious, her breaths shallow. Obsidian's colossal shadow fell over her. He dragged the hammer back up, poised for the killing blow.

It never landed.

The blur of a black suit streaked across her vision. The Black Panther leapt high, all the kinetic energy of his suit concentrated into one devastating strike. His punch detonated against Obsidian's chest, sending the giant crashing to the ground with a bone-cracking thud. The monstrous form lay limp beside her.

The last thing Emily saw before the darkness claimed her was the glint of T'Cahlla's mask as he stood guard over her.

When she woke, it was to a deep rumbling that shook Shuri's lab. Wanda and Vision stood nearby, with Shuri hovering anxiously over her instruments. Emily sat up too quickly, blinking against dizziness, only to see Wanda stiffen at the window.

Outside, the forest writhed. Movement pressed through the tree line, spilling into the open. The Threshers. Great wheels bristling with metal teeth, grinding earth and corpses alike as they rolled unhindered beneath the forcefield, splitting and veering with horrific precision.

Wanda glanced at Emily, her voice tight.
"We need to go back out there."

Shuri was on her feet in an instant, both palms slamming onto the workbench.
"Absolutely not!"

"Shuri—"

"No!"

Emily pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. Her voice was calmer, but firm.
"I can't sit here and watch while they're being torn apart. They need every enhanced fighter on that field. Warriors with spears won't hold against machines built to shred them."

She pointed out through the glass, to the battlefield erupting into chaos.

"This isn't like the wars you've read in your books, Princess. This enemy is worse than anything we've faced. If I stay here, I'm wasting what I can do."

Shuri's glare was sharp, but it wavered with the weight of her own worry. Emily was already striding for the door, her steps heavy with determination. She paused only once, glancing back at Wanda.

"Keep your comms on. If I call, you'll know it's because I can't hold the line."

Wanda gave a solemn nod. Shuri said nothing.

And then Emily was gone, her silhouette swallowed by the smoke and fire of the battlefield.