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.
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.
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.
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.
Come on, come on. Why won't it start?
Fake! Fake!
Aah!
Guess that one was real.
Y'all keepin' it real, too? Bingo.
Come on! Come on!
Come on! Come on, just start.
Please be a hologram. Please be a hologram.
Okay. I guess not.
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.
Welcome to Earth.
What's left of it anyway.
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 war
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.
The Alliance is down to their last brigade.
Go to their base
and end them.
We pick up all kinds of stuff floating around here.
Drink?
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?
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.
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.
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...
well, that is up to you.
Damn, this is...
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.
Admiral, we have incoming.
What's the molecular density?
Reads as variable.
Eyes up, everyone! Secure the perimeter!
- Nothing gets through to the lab. - Let's go.
- Go, go, go! - Two by two, two by two.
He is already here.
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?
Seven-and-a-half minutes. Really? Really?
Sorry, Casper.
You're not getting through. At least not for the next five minutes.
Guess I need to be an engineer and a magician. Cool.
Just building a totally theoretical weapon on the fly. What could go wrong?
Come on. Come on. Come on.
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!
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?
He killed 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...
This shouldn't be possible!
Reverse the polarity. Come on, let's move!
Who the hell is Riri Williams?
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.
Where's Riri?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fake!
Fake! Fake!
Fake!
That's real! Light 'em up now!
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.
Oh, oh, oh!
Riri. Riri!
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.
I've led you this far. This is where you end it.
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!
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.
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.
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.
If you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of stubborn,
and I've come too far to give up now.
Oh!
But you will.
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.
Your team is dead.
The Alliance is dead.
You failed.
You failed your friends.
You...
You have nothing left to fight for.
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.
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!
Oh, thatta girl, Riri.
You don't have to resist anymore.
No.
Fight.
Riri.
Fight.
Fight back.
What?
What... What's happening?
No, no!
No, no, no, no!
No, no, what are you doing?
Finishing this.
I beat you!
No! No, no, no, no!
My nanites!
I see through your reality.
No, no, no.
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.
What has he done?
He has broken his oath. Again.
We cannot allow this to stand.
No.
So from here on, we must continue to watch...
him.