03x05 - What If... The Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

[bunniefuu]

Let's begin near the end.

The final act of a tragic story.

When you've seen as many wars

as I have, you get used to it.

The hard part is watching

worlds fall that don't need to

because a hero can no longer

rise to meet their moment.

[metal footsteps]

[sighs]

But I swore an oath.

And so I watch.

In every variation

of this universe,

Riri Williams is

its last best hope.

But in every one I've watched,

no matter how hard she fights,

and how long she struggles,

she always fails.

Always.

You're late.

[Riri] Patrols are everywhere.

And I'm not exactly popular

with the Iron Federation, so

Well, blowing up their

convoys probably didn't help.

You have the money?

You have my score?

Strictly analog,

just like you asked.

This looks intact. How

many more can you get me?

You're willing to risk a lot

for someone who doesn't

strike me as the baking type.

Unless the rumors are true,

and what you're really

cooking up is a weapon.

I don't know what

you're talking about.

I'm just looking to

make a Bundt cake.

Tread carefully, Williams.

'Cause once the Federation has you

in its sights, the story's over.

[distant whirring, footsteps]

Nothing personal.

It's just business.

Yeah, well, that's the problem

with everyone these days.

You never know who's

real and who's a fake.

[pulsing, glass shatters]

[Riri Williams grunts]

Come on, come on.

Why won't it start?

Fake! Fake!

Aah!

Guess that one was real.

- Y'all keepin' it real, too? Bingo.

- [pinging]

Come on! Come on!

- Come on! Come on, just start.

- [sputtering]

[screaming]

[groans]

[clanging, powering down]

Please be a hologram.

Please be a hologram.

[screams, groans]

[strains] Okay. I guess not.

[choking]

[screams]

[thuds, groans]

Who are you people? What

the hell is goin' on?

I'm Admiral Ying Nan

with the Alliance.

He is coming about.

Mystic support!

Captain Valkyrie, let's move.

[The Watcher] Welcome to Earth.

What's left of it anyway.

[The Watcher] Time.

Space.

Reality.

It's more than a linear path.

It's a prism of

endless possibility,

where a single choice can branch

out into infinite realities,

creating alternate worlds

from the ones you know.

I am the Watcher.

I am your guide through

these vast new realities.

Follow me and ponder

the question

"What if?"

The end of the world began

with a birth of the Celestial

that had been gestating

deep beneath the surface.

In this universe,

the Emergence occurred years before

the Eternals could unite to stop it.

But one man saw the

chaos as an opportunity.

The brilliant but ego-maniacal

engineer, Quentin Beck,

who took over Stark Industries.

What followed was a

long and protracted w*r

between an alliance of resistance

fighters and Beck's Iron Federation.

And with victory

within his grasp,

Beck was determined to ensure the Alliance

took its last breath before he did.

[breathing heavily]

The Alliance is down

to their last brigade.

Go to their base

and end them.

[breathing heavily]

We pick up all kinds of

stuff floating around here.

- Drink?

- [exhales]

This used to be someone's,

and now it's just

wreckage.

Hard to see what we

have to drink to.

We are still here.

After the Emergence, that

seems as good a reason as any.

So why am I here?

Or did y'all go through all this

trouble just to make me feel special?

[chuckles]

Our ears on the ground say

the magnetron you acquired

from the Power Broker

is for a weapon of

great interest to us.

A weapon to destroy the Vision.

So, what, you've

been spying on me?

Yes.

- For a long time, actually.

- [sighs]

Our intel indicates

your weapon powers down

Vibranium, decouples it.

But to take out a synthezoid,

you are going to need

a lot more than one busted

part from a Kiddy Cake Cooker.

Wow, okay. Y'all really

have been spying on me.

We just saved your life.

I think you can trust us.

[Riri] Well, that's the thing.

I don't trust anyone.

And from what I've heard, the

Alliance is kind of a sinking ship.

Hmm. Well, you are

right about that one.

Our ship sank a long time ago.

The Vision has ravaged our

forces across the Federation.

This base is all that

remains of the Alliance.

Just when you thought things

couldn't get any more hopeless.

The planet may have

been destroyed,

but the world carries on.

What you decide to

make of the pieces

- [opens]

- well, that is up to you.

Damn, this is

[Ying Nan] Everything?

Everything you will need

to build your weapon.

That is, of course,

if you're interested.

A lot of people died

for all of this.

If you really think there is

no hope left in this world,

then make some yourself.

Y'all got any snacks?

I work better with brain food.

- [chuckles]

- [man] Admiral, we have incoming.

What's the molecular density?

- [man] Reads as variable.

- [sighs]

[Ying Nan] Eyes up, everyone!

Secure the perimeter!

- Nothing gets through to the lab.

- [soldier 1] Let's go.

- [soldier 2] Go, go, go!

- Two by two, two by two.

[indistinct chatter]

He is already here.

[Valkyrie] Copy that.

How long do you think you'll

need to build that weapon?

- About 12 hours.

- Hah!

Well, how long do I have?

Seven-and-a-half minutes.

I'm sorry, what?

That's how long the Vishanti

protection spell is going to hold.

No. What? What?

[g*nf*re, man screaming]

[grunting]

[ricochets]

Seven-and-a-half

minutes. Really? Really?

[thuds]

[Wong] Sorry, Casper.

You're not getting through. At

least not for the next five minutes.

[Valkyrie, Ying Nan scream]

Guess I need to be an

engineer and a magician. Cool.

[both continue screaming]

Just building a totally theoretical

weapon on the fly. What could go wrong?

[grunting]

Come on. Come on. Come on.

[Wong screams]

[Riri] Cool, cool!

Tick tock, Riri!

In seven-and-a-half minutes.

You can't grill a hamburger

in seven-and-a-half minutes,

but sure, fine!

Come on. Come on. Come on!

Yeah. Yeah, come at me,

you dead-eyed son of a

What?

No, no, no, no, no, come

on, come on, let's go!

Increase the frequency

wave, reverse the polarity.

- Come on, let's go!

- [charging, pulses]

[gasps] You did it.

Without his guard dog,

Beck's illusions are gonna

have a lot less bite.

Perhaps there's a little hope

left in this world after all.

Good, we will need it.

This location has

been compromised.

We will need to wipe away any last

traces of our operation and move out.

What about the rest of the crew?

[Ying Nan] He k*lled them all.

Reverse the polarity. Come on, let's move!

Reverse the polarity. Come on, let's move!

Reverse the polarity. Come on, let's

move! Reverse the polarity. Come on

[Beck] This shouldn't

be possible! [coughing]

Reverse the polarity.

Come on, let's move!

Who the hell is Riri Williams?

[Ying Nan] Our fallen

allies came from many lands,

but they united for one cause.

May their sacrifice be a light

of hope seen across the stars.

- Light the fuse.

- Mm.

[crackling]

Where's Riri?

[The Watcher]

She's lost so much.

Friends, family, the

world she once knew.

She's clung to this

fight to sustain her.

But in the end, it will be

the fight that kills her.

As it always does.

The Vision news

has spooked Beck.

He's reinforcing his Iron Legion on

every province in the Federation.

Any chatter on the

encrypted channels?

Dead silence. We are

all that is left.

Hmm. Well, it's only a matter of

time before Beck finds us, too.

So we take the fight to him while

we're still here and finish him.

With Vision gone, Beck

has never been weaker.

The illusion network is all he has

left. I say we take that from him, too.

What exactly are you proposing?

Beck's entire operation is

run on a nanotech network.

To take it down, we need

to drop behind enemy lines,

blow the nanites powering his

illusions, and then it's over.

His reign, his terror.

Him.

His headquarters are located

on a planetary fragment on the

fast side of the asteroid ring.

Even if we were to

survive the approach

A base like that will

be heavily guarded.

We'd be entering a world of

illusions completely blind.

I can get us past the illusions.

I can plug myself into the

system running Beck's holograms.

Such technology

Is impossible.

But not for Riri.

It's a big swing, no doubt.

That's why you

gotta have vision.

And wouldn't you know, I

got all his spare parts.

[The Watcher sighs]

Here we go again.

Riri Williams always thinks she can

build her way out of her problems.

And with this latest invention,

you wouldn't blame her

for believing she can.

More than a suit of armor, it's

a fusion of human and machine,

elevating her to new

levels of consciousness

no living person has ever known.

You'll be a human synthezoid.

There's no telling how

that power will change you

or if you can ever turn back.

Growing up, I lost a lot.

And then the world ended

and I lost everyone else.

If this will help me take the

fight to Beck, I have to do it.

'Cause this fight

is all I have left.

[The Watcher] But even with the powers

of the Vision flowing through her,

she still can't see that

this is how it ends for her.

Always.

We are approaching

Beck's airspace.

[Wong] Looks like a heavy

ground-to-air barrage.

Guess that means

you're up, Riri.

Are you ready for

this? What do you see?

It's working, yeah.

I can see what's

real and what's fake.

Just stay on my wing

and you'll be fine.

[whirring]

[Riri] Fake!

Fake! Fake!

Fake!

That's real! Light 'em up now!

[groans] Whoa, whoa!

- What?

- What's going on?

Why are you slowing down?

Something's off. My neural

network is sputtering.

But I can fight through it.

Come on, Riri. You can

do this. I know you can.

- [expl*si*n]

- [Riri Williams screaming]

[Wong] Oh, oh, oh!

[Riri Williams

continues screaming]

[grunts]

[Ying Nan] Riri. Riri!

[screams]

Come on. Are you with

me? What's your status?

There's something wrong

with my neural network.

I can't see through

the illusions.

Can you still hack

the control hub?

If we can actually

make it there.

Where's the rest of the team?

They're holding off Beck's forces to

give us a chance, but not for long.

We need to finish this, Riri.

[exhales]

[panting]

[distant explosions]

[charging]

[clanging]

I've led you this far.

This is where you end it.

[Riri Williams panting]

Wireless connection's

still dead.

Old-fashioned way it is.

Just the fate of the literal

world at your fingertips.

No presh.

You might wanna take cover.

This is about to get

What? No.

No, no, no!

No! Ying Nan!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

[Beck laughing]

Come on, Riri.

You should know in this world,

you can't trust anyone.

No, this doesn't make any sense.

We navigated the holograms,

followed the coordinates.

The nanite network

should be here!

And it is

because I am the network.

What the

You're not the first person

to give themselves a

high-tech makeover, Riri.

I had my nanites

uploaded into my body

so I could control

all my illusions

with the blink of an eye.

So if you came to

take them from me,

I'm afraid you're gonna

have to pluck them

out of my cold dead body.

By the looks of it, I won't

have to wait very long.

The tech has come at a price,

but it was worth it because now,

you are all that

remains of the Alliance.

No. These are all lies!

Easy, Riri. I shut down

your phasing capabilities.

I programmed Vision, remember?

And from the moment you

brought his tech back online,

I've allowed you

to do just enough

to come right to me.

- [electricity crackling]

- [screaming]

Then why bring me here?

So I can live to

enjoy my victory.

I didn't think I had much

time left in this world

until I saw this brilliant little

glow-up of yours and realized

I don't need my body

when I can have Vision's.

[screaming louder]

It'll be so much faster

if you don't fight, Riri.

See? Almost done.

It's too bad. I was starting to

feel like we had a connection.

That's the thing

about connections.

- They go both ways.

- [powering down]

[grunting]

[screaming]

If you hadn't noticed,

I'm kind of stubborn,

and I've come too

far to give up now.

[Beck] Oh!

But you will.

[laughs]

[screams]

Beck, put away these magic

tricks and stop hiding!

You're right.

If my illusions

will not break you,

perhaps the truth will.

You never left the fields.

[gasps]

[sobbing]

[Beck] Your team is dead.

The Alliance is dead.

You failed.

You failed your friends.

You

You have nothing

left to fight for.

[The Watcher] This is it.

The moment where it always ends.

Her spirit is exhausted.

She's seen too

much, lost too much.

Her will to fight is all Riri Williams

felt she had left in this world,

and now she's lost that, too.

- [pulsing]

- [Riri Williams screams]

[The Watcher]

Finally, at the end,

without any hope left,

I just

I don't know if I can bear

to watch it one more time.

- Yes!

- [groaning, grunts]

Oh, thatta girl, Riri.

You don't have to

resist anymore.

No.

Fight.

Riri.

Fight.

- Fight back.

- [panting]

[crackling]

What?

What What's happening?

[gasps] No, no!

No, no, no, no!

No, no, what are you doing?

Finishing this.

I beat you!

[screaming]

No! No, no, no, no!

My nanites!

[gasps, coughs]

[gasping heavily]

I see through your reality.

No, no, no. [coughs]

And I'm shutting it down.

I am the master of illusions!

I can make it like your

little victory never happened.

The people will never know.

They will because I'm going to

give them a vision of the future.

With what?

Hope.

No.

No. No.

[people cheering]

[thudding]

[gasping]

[gurgles]

[The Eminence] What has he done?

[The Incarnate] He has

broken his oath. Again.

[The Executioner] We

cannot allow this to stand.

No.

So from here on, we must

continue to watch

him.

[upbeat instrumental

music playing]