When Alex finally called it, her shirt clung to her spine and her lungs burned like she'd been sprinting for miles. Wanda looked tired too—sweat-dark hair at her temples, chest rising and falling—but there was still a bounce in her step that made Alex's jaw tighten.

A sudden, blinding roar split the air. Rainbow light slammed down in the center of the grass like a pillar from the sky—violent, beautiful, impossible. The Bifrost.

The impact left a charred circular mark, black swirls and Nordic-looking patterns burned into the ground, about eight feet across.

Alex's hand was already up before her brain caught up, power flickering amethyst-purple shot through with green. Wanda's red snapped to life beside her. Steve stepped forward, shield raised. Pietro coiled to move. Tony's nanotech rippled up his arms.

Thor stood where the light had been, solid as a promise, smiling like he hadn't just detonated the lawn.

And beside him—

A man in dark Asgardian leather with long black hair and a look of amused contempt. Magic-restricting cuffs clamped around his wrists. No muzzle. No chains. Just that expression—like he'd already found the weak point in the room and was deciding whether to press it.

Alex exhaled through her teeth and dropped her glow first, purely out of spite.