Jay tried to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Control.

  Anger and reality manipulation weren't a great combination. Light flickered across his hands again, responding to his emotions. Buildings in his peripheral vision bent slightly, their geometry warping at the edges.

  "Control it," he muttered. "Franklin's godfather doesn't get to unmake Manhattan because he's pissed off."

  The light dimmed as reality snapped back into place, and Jay's breathing evened out.

  Then pain lanced through his skull.

  A crack formed at the corner of his right eye, spreading across his temple.

  "Shit."

  Jay touched his temple. His fingers came away clean, but the sensation was unmistakable. The adaptive containment was holding, but barely. Using Franklin's power, even passively, was pushing his limits.

  He'd need to be careful. Every use of the reality-warping power widened the cracks a little more. Darwin's adaptation was holding, but it wasn't infinite. Push too hard, too fast, and he'd shatter from the inside out.

  The crack pulsed as a warning.

  He needed to wrap this up. Fast.

  But he couldn't just snap and undo everything. Couldn't erase the invasion, though the temptation was there.

  But the Earth and the heroes would lose all the progress they'd made. The team forming in fire and blood. The bonds being forged. And more importantly, Loki had already announced his claim to Earth across the known universe.

  The milk was spilled. No putting it back in the carton, especially with his worsening condition.

  So, Jay had to make the most of it.

  He snapped his fingers again.

  'SNAP'

  Reality melted back to normal as the impossible geometry straightened, colors that had no names faded, and Manhattan's streets returned to Euclidean sanity.

  Everyone who'd been experiencing vertigo suddenly found their inner ears working properly again.

  The Chitauri stumbled mid-flight, their chariots wobbling as normal physics reasserted itself. Several crashed into buildings they thought were a hundred feet away, but turned out to be five feet closer.

  Civilians on the streets gasped as some fell to their knees, vomiting, and others just stood there, tears streaming, not sure if they'd just had a stroke or witnessed God.

  Even Thor looked shaken, one hand pressed to his temple. "By the Norns... reality itself bent to his will."

  & finally, Jay's appearance shifted.

  His scorched purple shirt and torn jeans dissolved, replaced by something that made every empire watching sit up and take notice.

  White. Pure white of stars burning at their core. A three-piece suit, tailored with impossible precision.

  Beneath it, a black shirt, dark as the void between galaxies and a red tie, the exact shade of a dying star's final pulse.

  Clear aviator glasses materialized on his face, lenses reflecting not the world around him but something deeper. Something cosmic.

  The rainbow light was still there, but it was contained now, no longer cascading wildly.

  Jay reached out with his technomorphing power, hijacking the quantum broadcast network Loki had used. But he pushed it further. Not just the Nine Realms or just the empires that had been watching.

  Every civilization with the technology to receive it. Every species capable of spaceflight. Every empire and warlord that might consider Earth easy prey.

  They were all tuned in now.

  Then he turned his full attention to Loki.

  "Loki Odinson," Jay's voice carried across Manhattan and beyond, through every speaker and device, rippling through space itself. His tone was conversational, almost friendly. Like he was discussing the weather with an old acquaintance. "The bastard son of Odin Borson the Allfather, claiming dominion over Midgard with a borrowed army."

  There was poison in those words. Mock sympathy wrapped around contempt.

  Loki's face went rigid. His theatrical confidence cracked further as his eye twitched. "You dare..."

  "The Jotun prince," Jay continued, not letting Loki finish. "Who pledged his loyalty to the Mad Titan. And in exchange for what? These mindless Chitauri? Talk about falling from grace. From Prince of Asgard to Thanos's errand boy."

  The words landed like piercing arrows. Every hero, every villain and every empire watching saw Loki's mask slip and saw the shame and rage he'd been hiding.

  "ENOUGH!" Loki's voice cracked. The word came out strangled, higher-pitched than intended. His composure, already fraying and threatened to snap entirely. "You MORTAL! You may have used some cheap trick to steal that power you have, but I am a GOD, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by..."

  While Loki spoke, his image began to shimmer. A telltale sign everyone had learned to recognize. His classic Illusion.

  The real Loki materialized behind Jay, scepter already thrusting forward. The blade aimed directly at Jay's heart, just like it had done to Clint. The same killing blow that had worked less than an hour ago.

  "JAY, BEHIND YOU!" Steve's voice cracked with urgency.

  "MOVE!" Tony's repulsors tried to charge, but his power was drained.

  Natasha's face went white. She was seeing it happening again. "NO! NOT AGAIN!"

  Even Thor moved, Mjolnir already spinning, but he was too slow.

  The scepter's blade punched through Jay's back and emerged from his chest. Clean through the heart. The same wound that had killed Clint Barton.

  Loki's face split into a triumphant grin. "Cheap tricks and borrowed power mean nothing against..."

  Jay reached up calmly and grabbed the blade protruding from his chest.

  His expression hadn't changed. He just looked mildly annoyed.

  "That's your opening move?"

  He pulled the scepter through his chest. Not out the way it came but forward. The blade slid through his body like he was made of water, offering no resistance. Blue blood from previous kills still stained the metal, Chitauri ichor mixing with Clint's dried red. But no fresh crimson joined it.

  Jay yanked the scepter free and held it up, examining it with the critical eye of someone appraising a substandard product.

  His white suit was still pristine. Not even a hole where the blade had passed through. The fabric had simply decided not to be damaged.

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  Loki's triumph curdled. Confusion flickered across his face, then disbelief, then dawning horror as his mind tried to process what he'd just witnessed.

  "Points for persistence," Jay said. He twirled the scepter like a baton, the deadly weapon becoming a prop in his hands. "wanna try again?"

  He offered the scepter back to Loki.

  The God of Mischief took it with shaking hands. His fingers trembled against the shaft. His breathing had gone shallow, rapid.

  This wasn't possible.

  That blade had pierced a mortal's heart and should have been instantly fatal.

  But this human stood there, unharmed, offering him the weapon back like they were playing a friendly game.

  What was this creature?

  Loki's mind raced. The scepter had another function. It could control anyone, turn them into puppets. He'd done it to Barton, to Selvig, to dozens of SHIELD agents.

  One touch was all he needed.

  Loki thrust the scepter forward again, but this time aimed for Jay's chest. Where the blade touched and blue energy pulsed. The Mind Stone's power activated, cosmic energy attempting to rewrite Jay's consciousness.

  Jay just stood there and let it happen.

  The blue energy washed over him like water over stone. Spread through his body in visible waves, azure light racing along his nervous system. The Mind Stone's influence pressed against his thoughts, millions of whispers trying to find purchase, trying to rewrite his will into submission.

  Then it just stopped as the blue glow faded and whispers went silent.

  Jay reached up again and grabbed the scepter and pulled it away from his chest.

  "You're really terrible at this, self-proclaimed ruler of Midgard."

  His 'Mind Shield' perk had activated automatically. The cosmic power of the Mind Stone crashed against a barrier it couldn't penetrate.

  "How..." Loki stumbled backward. His voice came out thin. "The Mind Stone is absolute. It cannot be resisted by mortals. It's impossible."

  "Impossible is such a boring word." Jay gripped the scepter. "You know what else is boring? Your whole villain speech. 'You were made to be ruled. You will kneel.' Did Thanos give you a script? Because it sounds like he gave you a script." Jay shook his head in mock disappointment. "You know, Loki, you're really wasting the potential of this weapon. Especially this."

  He yanked.

  The scepter's housing shattered. Blue metal and Alien technology that had taken the Mad Titan's scientists years to craft came apart like wet tissue paper.

  Energy cascaded outward in golden waves, the Mind Stone's containment failing catastrophically. The air pressure dropped.

  And there, cradled in Jay's palm, was the Mind Stone itself.

  A yellow gem, perfectly cut, radiating power that made the air shimmer. Ethereal energy danced across its surface. Consciousness and will given physical form. Just being near it made thoughts feel louder, more insistent, like a thousand voices all speaking at once.

  "The Mind Stone," Jay announced, holding it up for everyone to see. For every empire watching to witness. "One of the six Infinity Stones. And you've been using it like a cattle prod."

  Thor's jaw dropped. "Brother... you had an Infinity Stone? You made a deal with Thanos for an Infinity Stone?"

  Loki couldn't speak. Couldn't even move. Because Jay was holding the Mind Stone. Actually holding it. Flesh touching cosmic power that could rewrite minds across galaxies.

  And he was fine.

  Jay tossed the stone casually, catching it like a coin. The gesture was deliberate. Mocking. Showing how little threat it posed to him.

  "But wait," Jay said, his voice carrying that same casual amusement, like he was about to reveal a bonus prize on a game show. "There's more."

  He turned toward the Tesseract.

  The cube was still on its pedestal, still glowing, still maintaining the portal. But the mothership was already through. Already in Earth's atmosphere. The portal's purpose was fulfilled.

  Jay made a grabbing motion with his free hand, fingers curling like he was picking up a ball. He even made a sound effect, voice pitched higher in deliberate mockery: "Yoink."

  The Tesseract flew across the rooftop into his palm. Space itself bent to accommodate, the cube moving not through distance but around it.

  And just like that, the portal above New York, death's maw that had loomed over the city, snapped shut like a closing eye.

  "NO!" Loki lunged forward, but it was too late.

  Jay held the Tesseract in one hand and Mind Stone in the other.

  Then he closed his fist around the cube.

  "Heh, this is what goes for a cosmic cube in this universe!?" Jay said mockingly.

  The sound was like breaking glass played at the wrong frequency. The Tesseract's housing, forged in the heart of a dying star, shattered. Its blue glow intensified. Space warped violently. For a moment, it condensed into a single point.

  Jay opened his hand.

  The Space Stone sat in his palm. Blue where the Mind Stone was yellow. Perfectly cut and radiating power that made distance negotiable.

  Two Infinity Stones.

  Jay juggled them casually, from one finger to the other. Yellow and blue light danced between his hands, creating purple afterimages.

  Thor's grip on Mjolnir went slack. "By the Allfather..."

  Because he'd grown up with stories about the Infinity Stones. About how touching one could grant immense power or instant death depending on the bearer's strength. About how even Odin himself treated them with caution and respect.

  This human was holding two of them.

  Loki's composure shattered completely. The theatrical mask he'd worn throughout the invasion crumbled to dust. His hands shook violently, the tremors spreading up his arms. His breathing turned ragged, each inhale a gasp. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the autumn chill.

  His eyes darted. Looking for escape routes. For options. For anything that could salvage this situation.

  But there was nothing.

  His grand plan, his invasion, his claim to Earth, his chance to prove himself to Odin, to Thanos, to anyone who'd ever dismissed him as the spare, the shadow, the unloved son, was collapsing around him.

  And this mortal, this insignificant human who shouldn't even register on a cosmic scale, held the tools of his failure in his hands like they were paperweights.

  The old Jay would have been desperate to absorb the stones' powers. Carl Creel's material absorption would have let him integrate them into his being, add their cosmic energies to his already ridiculous collection.

  But compared to Franklin's reality manipulation? The stones were redundant. Useful, but not essential. At least not for now, as it would only add to his body's strain.

  He tucked both stones into his suit's breast pocket like loose change.

  As Jay's fingers released the stones, that crack in his temple widened by another centimetre, branching into smaller fractures. Pain stabbed through his skull, sharp enough to make his vision blur for a moment.

  He took a breath and steadied himself.

  He was running on borrowed time. Every use of Franklin's power brought him closer to catastrophic failure.

  But he had enough left for what came next.

  "Now then, Loki." Jay's voice changed. The friendly mockery drained away, replaced by something colder. "Since you've gone and executed your right to be the rightful ruler of Midgard, why don't we see if you're even capable of fighting Earth's mightiest defenders?"

  He pointed at the Avengers.

  Loki's laugh started shaky and nervous. But it built into something manic. Because laughing was better than screaming. Better than facing the reality of how thoroughly he'd failed.

  "Them?" Loki's voice climbed an octave. He gestured wildly at the Avengers, his movements jerky and uncontrolled. "Those are your mighty defenders? These puny mortals who are all but dead, if it weren't for your distraction? Look at them! Stark's armor is failing. Rogers can barely stand. The Widow is bleeding internally. The Thunderer exhausted! They'd failed already! They'll fail again!"

  Tony's armor sparked. Power at three percent. Maybe one more repulsor blast before total shutdown. He tried to straighten, but servo motors whined in protest.

  Steve's arm hung useless and every breath sent knives through his ribs.

  Natasha's vision swam. Internal bleeding getting worse by the second.

  Thor swayed, exhaustion making his movements sluggish.

  They were broken and beaten. One more push and they'd fall.

  "You're right," Steve said quietly. His voice was rough, but steady. "We're broken. We're beaten." He took a step forward, his useless arm swinging at his side. "But we're still standing. Still fighting. That's what we do."

  "We get back up," Natasha added, forcing herself to straighten despite the agony. "Every single time."

  "Yeah," Tony's voice crackled through his damaged speakers. "Besides, I've had worse Tuesdays."

  "And I," Thor said, raising Mjolnir despite his exhaustion, "have not yet begun to fight."

  Jay's smile changed.

  The Masters of Kamar-Taj, watching through scrying pools, recognized that expression. Their minds went out in prayer for the fool who'd angered the Doctor!

  Bobby, watching from a bunker entrance with the rest of Jay's inner circle, saw it too. "Guys, I know that look. He's going to do something ridiculous once again!"

  Domino, three blocks away, paused mid-reload. She felt it first through her probability sense. A shift in the odds. Something significant about to happen. "Loki just fucked up."

  Jay's voice changed as it became more ethereal.

  "Oh, are they? Then let's try this again."

  He raised his hand.

  Before he could act, Loki made one last desperate move. The God of Mischief's eyes blazed with frantic energy as he thrust both hands forward, pulling on every ounce of his magic. Green energy exploded outward, dozens of illusions manifesting simultaneously. Lokis appeared everywhere on the rooftop, in the air, charging at Jay from every angle with conjured weapons.

  It was impressive and powerful. The kind of spell that would have overwhelmed any normal opponent.

  But Jay didn't even look at them.

  He just raised his other hand and made a dismissive gesture, like brushing away smoke.

  Every illusion popped like soap bubbles. The green energy dissipated. Loki's magic simply... stopped working. Reality had decided that Loki's tricks weren't relevant anymore.

  The God of Mischief fell to his knees, magic exhausted and options gone.

  Jay looked down at him. No mockery now. No casual dismissal. Just a strange sort of pity."Nice try," Jay said softly. "But I think we're done here."

  The crack in Jay's temple widened further as more pain lanced through his skull.

  He'd need to make this count.

  "Avengers," Jay said, and his voice carried the weight of inevitability.

  He snapped his fingers one more time.

  'SNAP'

  The sound echoed. Not just in Manhattan but across the planet. Through the portal and into the cosmos. Every empire watching heard it, felt it, and understood on a primal level that something significant had just happened.

  On the Stark Tower rooftop, the rainbow light from Jay's body pulsed once more. Bright enough to make everyone look away.

  When they looked back, the Avengers stood ready, whole and dangerous.

  And Jay spoke the words that would echo across the universe.

  "Assemble."