"Is this it?"
Across the world, people stared at their screens in silence. Live broadcasts showed modern armies, tanks, jets, and missiles being torn apart like toys by the Hammer-Bearers and the Hydra forces behind them. If even the United States military couldn't stop those monsters, what chance did anyone else have?
Fear spread, quiet and contagious.
Cities wondered if they would be next. Whether their streets would become another Washington. That fear flowed upward, unseen, feeding Kull and sharpening his power with every panicked thought.
At a SHIELD facility in New York, Phil Coulson watched the footage with clenched fists before opening a secure line.
"Rowan, we need your help," he said bluntly. "Name your price. Whatever you want."
With much of the U.S. leadership dead, Coulson was now one of the highest-ranking officials left alive. If Rowan Mercer stepped in, Coulson truly could promise almost anything.
On the other end of the call, Rowan stood with Professor X and several faculty members, the broadcast playing on a large screen behind them.
"Calm down," Rowan said evenly. "Kull is an Asgardian problem. I already warned Thor. He's gone back to Asgard, and he should be bringing reinforcements soon."
Almost on cue, the screen flared with light.
A column of rainbow energy crashed down from the sky. Thor appeared in full armor, Mjolnir in hand, flanked by Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, and ranks upon ranks of golden-armored Asgardian soldiers.
Rowan allowed himself a faint smile.
"See? Right on time. Earth isn't that easy to wipe out."
Coulson rubbed his temples.
"Earth might survive," he muttered after hanging up, eyes still glued to the screen. "But Washington might not."
Back at the academy, Rowan turned to the assembled staff.
"Be ready. If Asgard can't handle this, we move."
He vanished a moment later, reappearing at the New York Sanctum. Something about Kull's actions felt deliberate. Too theatrical. Too controlled. Before committing himself, Rowan wanted more answers.
Inside the Sanctum, the Ancient One listened quietly before responding.
"Kull is the God of Fear," she said. "He grows stronger as fear spreads. He isn't conquering cities one by one. He's harvesting terror. Once his strength is restored, he'll leave Earth."
Rowan nodded slowly, then asked the question that mattered.
"Does he have a weakness?"
"There is one," she said, smiling faintly. "Fear empowers him, but it can also undo him. If people stop fearing him, or if he himself begins to feel fear, his power collapses. Odin defeated Kull once because he faced him without fear at all."
Rowan filed that away immediately.
After thanking her, he returned to the academy. The moment he arrived, a thought crossed his mind, sharp and unwelcome.
So that's it.
She never said she wouldn't help. She just made sure I would.
Rowan exhaled and shook his head.
"Doesn't matter," he muttered. "If the payoff's good, I don't mind being used."
On the screen, the situation worsened.
Thor couldn't even reach Kull. Two Hammer-Bearers were enough to keep him battered and grounded. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three together barely held off one enemy, while the remaining Hammer-Bearers and Hydra forces drove the Asgardian army back step by step.
Rowan's patience ran out.
"Professor, you stay and guard the academy," he said. "Everyone else—into the box. We're going to war."
Logan, Steve, Bruce Banner, several newly recruited instructors, and Daisy Johnson were pulled into the spatial container in an instant. Rowan vanished again, reappearing high above New York, invisible against the sky.
He didn't intervene yet.
Below, Kull stood atop the floating city, gazing down at the battlefield with cold satisfaction.
"So," he said, his voice echoing across the ruins, "my cowardly brother refuses to leave Asgard."
His eyes locked onto Thor, bloodied but still standing.
"Very well. I'll return one day and take his head myself. I'll hang it from the branches of Yggdrasil as a reminder of what happens to thieves."
Above it all, unseen, Rowan Mercer watched in silence, waiting for the moment when fear reached its peak.