Survive pt.1

*Whhhhrrrrrrrrrr!*

Tony flinched and covered his ears as the siren that wouldn't have been out of place in the middle of an air raid, echoed off skyscrapers for miles. However, just as quickly as it started, the noise cut off as the classic Halo announcer voice took its place.

"The first signs of an infection have been spotted in the area."

"This zone is now under quarantine."

"Do whatever it takes to survive."

All of a sudden, the billboards for miles in every direction, briefly flashed before shifting to a warning notice that reiterated what had just been said. Underneath, a counter in the millions was displayed, ticking down the moment it caught his eye.

Tony took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Noticing the panic beginning to spread down below, he reached for the MA3, just now noticing that it was mounted across his back, and slung it to the front. With a familiar weapon in hand, he could finally get back into the mindset that this was all just a game.

A cruel, fucked up game, but a game nonetheless.

"Jarvis?" he called out experimentally. This was his tower after all, it only made sense that his AI could be here too.

Sadly for him, that wasn't the case and it looked like he'd be going at this solo.

Sighing, he moved to the elevator and decided to find out what else there was to use in this place. Who knows, maybe if he was lucky one of his suits could be lying around here somewhere. While the things wouldn't be able to hold a candle to MJOLNIR power armor, it was better than anything a common grunt would get.

•••••••••••

A few minutes earlier, high above the recreation of New York, two figures studied the various participants on an elongated list the AI had summoned. Though there were easily millions of names, after inputting their specifications, it was easy to narrow them down to just a few hundred.

Of course, James wasn't about to let his plans for Marvel fall apart due to sheer chance. It should've been obvious to anyone by now that he was going to select the first infected, there wasn't going to be any randomness in the least.

"Hmm, what about this one?" Queen asked from the side. "I know of your dislike for her in the post-endgame MCU."

James was looking over the list quickly as they couldn't take too long before people started to figure out their game, so he just spared a brief glance before shaking his head, "No, if all goes to plan she won't have any relevance anyways."

The AI sighed as she swiped away Jennifer Walter's name, the fifth one she'd brought up so far.

After a few more seconds of silence, James' face lit up as he found the perfect candidate, "Here, she's the one."

Queen raised an eyebrow at his selection, it not being anywhere near her first choice, and posed a question to her creator, "Are you sure, sir? I can see your reasoning, but she's not likely to win in the first place."

James smirked, "It doesn't matter, look at who's all around her."

The man rubbed his hands together evilly as he conjured a reclining couch and a tub of popcorn while his assistant looked over the data in surprise.

"Hmm, I see," she said while nodding and making it so. Slowly, she grew a smirk of her own, "That's quite the fortunate spawn grouping for us."

James sat back atop his new seat with an expression of contentment as he met his partner's eyes, "You know how I've always hated those stuck-up twats, they're always way too full of themselves, especially for nothing more than bloody bodyguards no less. There's no way I'm letting that country of holier-than-thou isolationists to get my stuff and keep it all for themselves, so this just works out too nicely."

Seeing her begin to think along the same lines as himself, James laughed and patted the seat next to him in invitation. He passed her the tub as he leaned back and focused on ground zero of the infection.

He couldn't help but laugh loudly once again at seeing all their shocked faces, the knowledge that they'd be going home empty handed making their despair all the sweeter. James paused at that thought, wondering if now was the beginning of his villain arc, before shaking off the feeling at seeing his AI starting to chuckle herself.

'How could a man as upright and honest as myself not be a good person?' he grinned smugly, stealing back some popcorn for himself and refocusing on the drama taking place below.

This was going to be a good show.

•••••••••••

As the voice of the announcer began to fade from his ears, T'Challa looked around with wariness. He was fortunate enough to have been dropped in with a few of his people, but their location was far from ideal.

As he looked around the UN Council Chamber, he met the gaze of those he could only assume were foreign diplomats like himself. He couldn't tell of course, what with everyone using game avatars and being in UNSC military uniforms, but his sharp mind put the pieces together after realizing that this was the place he'd spent the most time at in New York.

They'd all looked through the windows and seen the familiar skyline by now, so it was simple to discern where this map was located.

The giant blue portal helped too.

Personally, he'd thought that it was a decision made in poor taste. It was too soon to bring people back to the day their world view had been shattered and seeing the slight trembling in some of the others present, he knew it was wrong.

Frowning, he called out to his second in command from over his shoulder, "Okoye, gather the others. We'll form a blockade at the exits and funnel them in through a single entrance."

"…"

*groan…*

"Okoye?" he asked again, slightly nervous.

"KYAHH!!"

T'Challa whipped his head towards the woman screaming, only to see her pointing in his direction.

His eyes widening, he turned around and jumped back, raising his rifle with a fluid motion, "No…"

Seeing their Prince's actions, his Dora Milaje followed suit, only to shocked by their findings as well.

"OKOYE!"

"SISTER!"

Standing before them, twitching violently while bracing herself against the wall, Okoye's body spasmed as she transformed.

But that wasn't the only surprise of the day.

Instead of the bloated, grotesque appearance of the flood they'd all been expecting, her body had begun to be transformed into a figure that everyone recognized. One that had sown terror into the hearts of humanity just a few days prior.

Despite themselves, everyone in the room couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination as the swift transformation occurred before their eyes. Even though they were all armed, no one fired a shot until the process was completed.

Maybe it was shock, or fear, or even despair at the knowledge that no one here would be walking out of here as victors anyways, but as the change came to a conclusion and they locked eyes with the grey-skinned, bone-faced, alien monstrosity, the room was as silent as a chapel.

That was, until it began to scream…