John flew around breathing fire while the others were running or flying in all directions and making sure that nobody in the team were getting infected by a symbiote. One tried to take over 616-Captain America, only to be beaten down badly by the other Steve and Diana.

Steve and Diana had been working together in this war, and since 616-Steve wanted to see what was so special about the woman that his counterpart had chosen as a partner, so out of curiosity, he too joined. And for the first time he felt an inferiority complex. His counterpart looked like he had all the things he could ask for in life.

A good partner, someone who had lived through ages and someone who could understand him perfectly. This life was envious. But it was something that he could never get. After Knull's problem he would have to be the de-facto leader since Fury would resign after this and Quake would take over. But he and Maria Hill would have to help the new leader a lot so they would have responsibilities. It felt like his responsibilities would never end.

John was right. The problems would never end if they don't grasp the root of it and kill it. It was for this reason that the other Avengers team was so successful in whatever they did. They needed to implement the same theory here. But the problem was that here nobody trusted each other totally.

There was a whole lot of history in each of the Avengers and they couldn't just mingle with each other like best friends. In fact some of them had been enemies for a long time (Red Hulk and Hulk, Red Hulk being Ross, yes the same Ross from movies and he joined Avengers and in fact helped Hulk in his search for One Below All)

So there were always problems.

As 616-Steve was thinking all of this and fighting with the symbiotes, the other two were continuing to killing at the same rate, Diana being the more active and able to bring down more symbiotes. Her Lasso of Truth was even able to free some of the symbiotes from the control of Hive for sometime. But it was only momentarily as their consciousness went back to the Codex so all of the work went for.

Such things were happening in all of the small teams that they had made. John's team made sure that nobody fell under the control of symbiotes. This was one hell of a scene to watch if there were any cameras. But sadly there was none and nobody in the right mood would do it. Of course it was different for the robots as they saw everything and were being controlled by GAIA.

Since the superheroes were busy, the control of robots was given to GAIA which Victor brought over as they knew they would need her help. The robot sentries were flying all around and raining hell on the symbiotes wherever GAIA ordered them to. Reinforcing the teams and giving aerial support.

Men and machines worked together in this. But it was not all flowers and good 'vibes' on the battlefield. The situation was dire and though they were able to bring down enemies at a very fast rate, all in all, this was a drop in the ocean. The whole Earth was gone and if they didn't bring this war to an end fast, the people who had become host to the symbiotes would soon reach the city and it would turn ugly very fast.

Here there were able to kill indiscriminately but once people show up, it won't be the case. So though they were very effective in killing, it was nothing in the grand scheme. And maybe this was the reason that Knull hadn't shown up. He could feel that he might not win against all of the Avengers if he faced them alone so all he could do was hide and wait for the Avengers to just exhaust themselves.

And this was working. John was trying to use his omnipotence on his location but he was enshrouded in Darkness and it was very hard for him to find this guy. And this frustrated John too.

"Norrin, where are you? Did you find it?"

"No. But I got called by it. I am on the way to receive it." Norrin said over comms. This was a relief for John, as he feared that Light hadn't grown up well till now and they would never receive its help. Only Light could purify the Darkness and help John take control of the Hive.

This was the ultimate goal.

In the meantime, in Baxter Building there was another story.

"This thing is amazing. It can bring any electronic device to life. No wonder you had a smile on your cheeky face."

"What can I say, we have all the good toys."