Just as global public opinion completely reversed and everyone assumed the crisis was over—
Deep beneath an abandoned nuclear power plant in Russia, a massive shadow blanketed the subterranean space.
Gravik, the new leader of the Skrulls, was staring intently at dozens of glowing monitors.
Every single screen played a loop of Peter's performance in the UN assembly room alongside the overwhelming tidal wave of praise sweeping across the global internet.
Everything he had painstakingly calculated—his grand strategy to usurp control of Earth and overthrow the global power structure—had been turned into a complete, utter joke within a single hour of Peter's return.
The high-ranking political pawns he had spent so much effort infiltrating were plucked out like weeds by Peter's hands.
The hybrid shape-shifting warriors he took so much pride in—capable of mimicking superheroes to perfection—were as fragile as cheap paper dolls before the Arbiter.
"The Arbiter..."
Gravik's voice rasped, every single word forced out from between gritted teeth.
He had lost—completely and indisputably.
But he refused to accept defeat!
Beside him, a Skrull lieutenant swallowed hard, unable to hold back his anxiety:
"Commander... should we consider evacuating Earth for now? Talos has been trying to contact us, saying he can help coordinate—"
BANG!
Before he could finish, a sphere of searing, molten energy blasted his head to pieces.
"Evacuate?"
Veins bulged along Gravik's forehead, making him look like a feral beast ready to devour anything in sight.
He cast a cold, menacing sweep across the entire assembly of remaining Skrulls:
"Where else can we evacuate to?! Leave Earth just to be hunted like dogs by those damned Kree again? To drag out a pitiful existence in the cracks between galactic empires?!"
Hearing this, every Skrull present wore a bitter, hopeless expression.
It was true. They had been losing for far too many years. Even if they returned to deep space, they stood zero chance against their ancient nemesis.
Having forcibly terrified his subordinates into suppressing any further doubts, Gravik stood up and walked over, running a hand along the massive, freezing metal surface of the experimental apparatus behind him.
The Super Skrull Gene Fusion Chamber.
This machine was his absolute last trump card for a reversal!
"Doctor, what is the status of the new gene fusion apparatus?"
A hunchbacked, large-headed Skrull scientist poked his head nervously out from the crowd:
"Ninety-two percent... According to the original schedule, we still need at least three days to complete final calibration—"
"We don't have three days!" Gravik snapped, cutting him off cold.
"Initiate the apparatus immediately and gather all remaining Skrulls for gene fusion."
"Right now?!" The big-headed scientist gasped in horror:
"Commander, executing the fusion without full calibration will trigger severe cellular rejection! The survival rate will be sixty percent at best! That means we will lose nearly two thousand warriors for nothing!
Even worse, destabilizing the genetic sequence like this will permanently damage our DNA chains! It will destroy our reproductive capabilities!
Even if those who go through it manage to survive, they will completely lose the ability to pass on our species!"
"Sixty percent is more than enough."
Gravik's answer was chillingly decisive.
"As for reproduction—reserve three hundred civilians to serve as our pure genetic vault. Every other remaining individual will enter the chambers as planned for immediate gene fusion."
"But—"
"There are no buts!"
Gravik erupted into a furious roar, slamming a fist down onto the heavy steel desk beside him, shattering it into jagged shrapnel.
"Did you fail to see what that damned human just did in the United Nations?!"
"Eight cities! Eight of our first-generation hybrid fusion warriors were crushed in under sixty seconds as if they were nothing more than ants!"
"Without a dedicated army of Super Skrulls, do you honestly believe we will survive the next three days?!"
"If we cannot claim Earth, we have no future to speak of anyway!"
The scientist's mouth opened and closed, but not a single argument came out.
"Fire it up," Gravik waved his hand dismissively.
"Rather than having all of us slaughtered by that monster or wiped out slowly across deep space, I would much rather gamble everything on this one throw."
"Understood..." The big-headed scientist let out a heavy sigh, pressing down on the activation lever for the new-generation gene fusion apparatus.
With that single motion, the entire subterranean base began to tremble violently.
Inside the machinery, fusion fluids containing DNA samples harvested from numerous superheroes were rapidly blended together.
At the same time, large groups of unarmed Skrull civilians were dragged at gunpoint toward the rows of glowing pods by heavily armed soldiers, giving rise to heart-wrenching screams of agony.
Deformed, mutated failures were tossed out of the chambers like toxic trash.
The fortunate soldiers who survived the process stepped out with flushed, ecstatic faces, revelling in levels of raw power they had never dreamed possible.
Roughly half an hour later, the fusion sequence officially concluded.
Out of four thousand Skrulls, only around two thousand seven hundred survived.
Though the survival rate was even lower than anticipated, the results were terrifyingly impressive.
Every single surviving Skrull warrior now possessed a minimum of three distinct superpowers simultaneously!
The foundational baseline for every single soldier consisted of the Extremis Virus combined with the Super Soldier Serum.
The Extremis Virus had been a golden jackpot Gravik stumbled upon while Peter was off in space.
He had accidentally located Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen secretly developing the technology in the Middle East.
Realizing how priceless the tech was, Gravik hadn't hesitated for a single second. He simply usurped the operation, executed both Killian and Maya Hansen, and claimed the entire Extremis project for himself.
Relying on the Skrulls' superior technological level, he had refined it into an even higher-tier Extremis Virus, fusing it seamlessly with the Super Soldier Serum.
"Magnificent!"
Gazing upon the legion of Super Skrulls standing before him, their eyes glowing with unhinged obsession for power, Gravik let out a wild, arrogant laugh:
"Arbiter... so what if you're strong?! I refuse to believe that you alone can handle over two thousand fully upgraded Super Skrull warriors at once!"
At that thought, something else crossed his mind. He turned toward another trusted lieutenant:
"Pass down my order—bring up our two special guests. Tell them it's time to construct our new world!"
Moments later, Wanda and Pietro were escorted into Gravik's presence.
However, the eyes of both siblings were completely hollow and lifeless, like wooden puppets.
Clearly, both Maximoff twins had been mind-controlled using specialized Skrull neuro-toxins.
"Raise your hands," Gravik commanded lazily.
The two raised their arms in stiff, robotic unison.
"Sit."
They sat down instantly.
Watching Wanda and Pietro obey his every whim like marionettes on strings, Gravik's laughter grew even more unhinged:
"Oh, Arbiter... I truly can't wait to see the expression on your face when you run into my two secret weapons!"