The "G" Shield - By IdleMuse

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Stark Residence, LA [One week after The Invasion of New York]

–Tony Stark–

"Jarvis, open up the sensor reports, will you?" He munched on some blueberries as he entered his basement which was now vastly bigger and deeper than the time when…Jack…came to visit.

"Certainly, sir," Jarvis' voice said through the overhead speakers as the basement lab's door lit up, revealing the most advanced lab he had ever built, behind closed doors. It was an upgrade over the last one, in every single way. After all, he had built this one keeping Jack in mind.

Jack Sullivan, The Green Guardian of New York.

The thought of Jack filled him with just deep sorrow at this point. It had been a week since they had won the Invasion of New York, or at least that's what they were told, repeatedly. "Huh," He snorted to himself, thinking of the sheer arrogance of that statement.

They sure as hell didn't win the Invasion. To be honest, thinking of the losses, nobody won that invasion. Nor the CHitauri, not Loki, not SHIELD, not the Avengers, and certainly not…Jack.

He could still remember it clear as day, the white-hot flash of rage that suffused his entire body, temporarily making him forget the bone-deep fatigue, as Jarvis delivered the news followed by a very clinical report from Romanoff.

All he could think of back then was to get back in his suit and charge straight to Fury, figure out who had ordered the Nuke, and kill him painfully.

That rage remained with him as he watched the footage of Jack being skewered straight through with the sceptre from Romanoff's suit. But then, despite words of assurances from Fury, no word had come for the perpetrator. The pilot who launched the nuke allegedly committed suicide before he could be interrogated.

Typical, he thought to himself as he once again went through the different sensor readings of the rooftop when the Tesseract machine exploded, taking Jack's body with it.

It had been three days of combing through heaps of data to figure out what exactly happened on that roof because the data on Romanoff's suit was all busted up because the sensors were incapable of handling that much energy at such a close distance. Honestly, it was a minor miracle that Romanoff didn't suffer from third-degree burns from being cooked in the suit. Jarvis' quick actions really saved her life.

Speaking of that, "Jarvis?" He looked up from the reports.

"Yes, sir?" The voice of his ever-loyal butler cum servant cum best buddy came through the ceiling speakers that he had installed in every room in his home.

"Why didn't you inform me when Jack had been injured? You waited until everything was done before telling me about it. That doesn't seem to be in line with the wartime protocols we built together," He crossed his arms and looked at the digital avatar of Jarvis that appeared in front of him.

It was a small, somewhat accurate representation of the core protocols of what made Jarvis, well, Jarvis. It was something that had naturally occurred over time and Jarvis had figured out that the best way to represent his self-consciousness was to cobble up a small visual display of his core self.

It was ever-expanding, especially since the server upgrade he got with the Fourth Gen Arc Reactor that was installed in the basement of Stark Tower.

The Stark Tower that was now being condemned by the city before he intervened and greased hands, allowing him a couple of months until the audit happened once more. He was not worried about the Tower, hell, now that the Arc Reactor was active once more, Jarvis could project a building-wide shield that would not budge even if hundreds of Jericho missiles were fired at it in a second.

No, what he was more worried about was Jarvis being compromised somehow. He could not risk it, especially with the startling competence that Loki's subordinates displayed in the fight.

"I am aware that I violated Protocol 6 and slightly bent Protocol 23 when I informed you of the death of Mr.Sullivan after he had already passed away but when Mr.Sullivan was first…injured by the sceptre, I made a split-second decision to not inform you the moment it happened. Mr.Stark, you were carrying a thermonuclear weapon on your back and while it was a violation of Protocol 6, doing so would have been in a complete and utter violation of Protocol 3, ensuring the continued survival of Tony Stark and all that he considers his family,"

Jarvis said, mimicking or rather, replaying the recording of his voice as he had dictated the protocols to Jarvis when he was once a teenager.

"...Fine, Jarvis. Just double and triple-check your coding. That decision right there might just be the spark you need to reach the next step. Also, let's look at the readings once more. Build the simulation again, J," He said as he dismissed all the holographic displays and took a couple of steps back, in anticipation of a 3D hologram appearing in front of him.

"Sir, may I suggest contacting a therapist to process-"

"Oh, come on! Not you too, J. Like I said to Pepper every time she has asked me for the past week, I am fine. I don't need therapy, I need answers. Now, are you going to start the simulation or do I have to?" He ground out.

"......Very well, sir. Starting Simulation."

He did not need more people pitying him. What he needed to do was figure out exactly what happened and make sure that nothing of that sort ever happened again. He was a scientist first and foremost and that was his job. Figuring out stuff and then making stuff so that nothing of that sort happened again. He did not want him or anybody else to go through that experience ever again.

Losing Jack had been a bitch and a half. It was not as if he was particularly close with Jack, what with him disappearing and coming back stronger than anyone on the planet. But it was not as if he found the kid annoying.

After all, he was the one who made the first contact with him and part of him still thought of what would have happened if he had not tried to abate his idle curiosity when he saw that weird energy signature in Canada.

And then there was the end. At the end of that fight, the platform he had built had run completely out of parts, Jarvis' fabricating capacity not being able to keep up with the high-paced rough battle. Even the other two suits had been occupied. One of them was responsible for stragglers, one was with Romanoff and the one he was in, was on the way to intercept that damned nuke.

So, with already very little energy left in the Arc Reactor, he had been fully ready to make that one-way trip, if it meant that millions of people could be saved. See, he knew that the nuke was nowhere near big enough to wipe out New York or even a big part of it but what made Nukes scary was not the immediate blast radius. No, it was what came after the Nuke exploded.

Generations of trauma could still be felt and they had the bright idea to launch a nuke at a civilian population. He couldn't wait to figure out who exactly it was and then reveal that politician's name, because it could not have been anybody other than a politician, to the public so that they could crucify them and destroy their political career.

So, knowing the dangers of that bomb, he had resolved to take the bomb to the other side, killing their enemies and saving the city, hitting two birds with one stone, albeit with the caveat being that he might not make it back.

He had been utterly surprised afterward, that he had been so easily willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.

And yet, as he had braced himself to breach the portal and cross over into deep space, a hint of green had filled his vision as Jack, seemingly with his last breath, had used his powers to shove him out of the way and drag him straight down to the ground.

The shove was so hard that it damaged most of the suit's components, including the repulsor arrays, and yet, he was alive.

That part stung the most. The fact that Jack had something left in his tank and instead of trying to get himself out of his predicament, he had apparently decided that he, Tony Stark, former Merchant of Death, was worth saving, more than he himself was.

So, no. He was not going to stop looking. There was no reason whatsoever why that explosion occurred. He had gone through all the schematics SHIELD could recover from Selvig before he was shipped off to some mental hospital due to his ramblings.

He could not make heads or tails about the energy reaction that led to a vaporising radius that simply wiped off his roof from existence, along with Jack.

Part of him was glad that Jack's body was erased because the vultures he knew were salivating at getting a DNA sample of the man who was poised to become the strongest being on the planet, surpassing even the Hulk by a wide margin. Bunch of parasites, the entire lot, and yet, he could understand their greed to a certain extent. He hated feeling that weak and they must have felt outright useless in that fight's context.

He had gone around, trying to see if anything could be gathered from the remnant of that energy cocktail that was there, even now, after a week of it happening, on top of Stark Tower. That was part of the reason it was being condemned. After all, no city wanted a place that actively generated radiation, no matter how inert it was.

Then again, he was not an expert on the Tesseract or the sceptre, both of which were alien objects, out of human understanding, and yet, he had to know. He wanted to know if there was any way that Jack could have survived. The combination of their energies (Tesseract, Sceptre, Jack's barriers) meant that it was impossible to predict the outcome of that cocktail but maybe, just maybe, Jack survived.

That was why, for the past three days, once his injuries had been healed, he had been holed up here, in his basement, trying to figure out if he could have done something to prevent that.

"Oh yeah, Jarvis, run the simulations with Project AEGIS V4 again,"

Project AEGIS. At first, it was just to see if he could replicate Jack's abilities using just technology, something he was obsessed with, replicating amazing abilities that could be found in nature, using technology.

But then, once he had a working prototype, he kept on improving it further and further until he hit a roadblock in terms of the energy consumption. That had led to the discovery of the Arc Reactor Gen 4 and what a marvel it was.

It was something that could sustain the heavy loads of the shields with ease. That was Gen 2, to install shield modules on the back of his suits, allowing him to tank hits even from Point Break without his suit immediately breaking apart.

Gen 3 was his grand project to create a shield module that Jarvis could remotely activate, covering the entire Stark Tower in it, and protecting it from the outside forces.

Gen 4 was just Gen 3 but on steroids. To make that, however, he needed something that was in rare supply in the world.

Vibranium.

He had…done something that he probably shouldn't have in the past week, hidden from everyone. If anybody dug through the 6 levels of his basement, they would find dirt, gravel, and hard rock as was expected but if one went past that, they would find a custom-built safe built by yours truly. That safe was protected from just about everything and could only be opened by him and him alone.

In that safe, was probably the world's single largest reserves of raw VIbranium. Once he had settled back in LA, he had started sending out feelers for even more Vibranium because there was no way he could be satisfied with a single Gen 4 Arc Reactor. If he needed to find a way to arm humanity, he needed more and that was when he found him.

Ulysses Klaue.

Weapons dealer, mercenary for hire, human trafficker, all-round grade one asshole, and yet, he was the one who was supplying the majority of the VIbranium that was found in the black market for the past two decades.

He had then tracked him down, only to find nothing but destruction in the last known place of Klaue. His ship was sunk and tracking down his past lackeys did not result in finding anything concrete. Then, he had done something that he was not proud of.

Over the course of the Invasion, Cap's shield had been in his custody because Cap trusted him more than SHIELD now, because of the nuke that would have killed them all. He had then used the Gen 4 Arc Reactor to create an energy beam dense enough that he was able to shave off a couple milligrams of the shield, before the entire laser just melted from the sheer energy passing through it.

He felt bad because he had betrayed Cap's trust in a way but he was not in the right headspace then so he had happily taken the samples and devised something that would have him hunted down to the ends of the world.

He had made a Vibranium tracker and let it loose on the world, literally. Jarvis had been carrying the tracker around the globe and had chanced upon a huge (relative) reserve of Vibranium just sitting there in a cave behind a waterfall in Africa. He had immediately gone there and found, to his disbelief, the part of the cave that had been caved in, contained almost a quarter ton of Vibranium in it.

Well, safe to say that he had immediately obliterated the Vibranium tracker, destroyed any digital copies and spread the ashes of the machine across the oceans. He did take custody of that Vibranium of course. He would ensure that it was used for the right purposes.

He had plans to create a large range one and install it on satellites but that seemed like a supremely bad idea once he realised that Vibranium was just sitting in places in remote areas of the world, just sitting for some corrupt organisation to steal.

No, he would use his current cache and use it carefully before even thinking of creating another Vibranium detector.

He couldn't believe that some random ass cave held almost a quarter ton of that miracle metal. At first, he had been excited beyond belief to make newer discoveries but then the reality of the situation crashed on him and thus, the new safe in the basement, safeguarded by its own Arc Reactor, capable of shielding itself using PRoject AEGIS Gen 4 for an indefinite period of time.

Gen 4 shields were just something that upped the shield strength from Gen 3, only this time, it mimicked the barrier structure of Jack. That alone boosted the shield strength by 20% and he was making inroads with different patterns for different loads. Piercing attacks, blunt attacks, area of effect attacks, energy attacks, heat attacks, etc.

"Chances of Gen 4 shields surviving the incoming salvo from the portal - 6%," The number flashed red on the screen as he once sighed in disappointment. So, that was a bust as well. How could he hope to stop something of the Tesseract's magnitude when a mere attack from the Chitauri failed to be stopped by his shields?

"Sir, if I may?"

He looked up as the simulation was dismissed and Jarvis was once again in front of him, in his digital avatar.

"Yes?"

"Are you perhaps….using work as an excuse to avoid the Funeral service in New York?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Jarvis. I told you we have more work to do. No point going there anyway. Jack is gone, wiped out by that energy storm. There is nothing of him in that casket. Plus, you know I don't believe in that stuff. I am a man of SCIENCE!, you know that," he said as he turned around and started working on something, anything to take his mind off the stupid procession that was going to happen tomorrow in New York, in Jack's, in the Green Guardian's name.

"Sir, I have missed calls from all Avengers, along with a dozen voicemails from Ms.Potts. I strongly urge you to look at them. The private jet is ready and prepped for your flight, if you wish to go, that is," Jarvis annoyingly reminded him of the phone he had already thrown in his bedroom, which he had then proceeded to avoid like the plague. He also had the audacity to emulate his phone and display all the texts, emails, and voicemails on a screen in front of him.

He didn't think Jarvis gaining partial autonomy would backfire on him in such a way as well.

"Very well, prep the suit. Tell the pilot I'll be at the airstrip in an hour," He sighed and headed out of his lab, everything shutting down and the doors closing after him on their own.

God, he hated how whiny his own thoughts sounded to him. Not attending a funeral because of how disappointed he was in himself?

He scoffed at himself and went to get ready for the procession. Jack deserved nothing but the best and while he was not enough when he was alive, he would do everything in his power to make sure that his memory was preserved.

He owed it to Jack at least that much.

---

Word Count - 3052

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Triskelion

–Nick Fury–

In all his years of being a SHIELD Agent, he had seen some stuff. Stuff that was kept hidden from the masses for appropriate reasons. Stuff that he wished he forgot and yet was reminded of them occasionally during one of his regular nightmares. Stuff that would probably induce mass hysteria in the world.

Hell, he had even seen some stuff that even POTUS was not aware of. It was the nature of the job. It came with its perks but it also came with its own sets of disturbing nightmarish scenarios that the average person would not even think of.

And yet, despite having met Carol personally and seeing the footage of Banner throwing Tanks around as if they were mere toys, he could scarcely believe his eyes as he saw someone lift the Helicarrier on their back.

Sure, one could argue that one side of the Heliacrrier was held aloft by two working engines but that person would be stupid to do so. With the weight of the Heliacrrier tilted dangerously on one side, the amount of force that Green Guardian, Jack Sullivan, had to deal with was beyond astronomous.

He had thought that the hero had perished saving the Helicarrier and all the agents on board.

The pragmatic ruthless part of him thought that it would have been fine for him to rescue the people he could and then leave the rest to fall with the Helicarrier. The worth of a single person with that level of combat prowess could not be compensated even if all of the 4 thousand shield personnel on the boat had died.

And yet, he was glad that the Green Guardian had chosen to save them all. He had ultimately used his seeming death as a rallying point to unite the Avengers, what was left of the Avengers anyway.

Finding out that he was alive and kicking ass in New York was a huge relief but then the intense fight he had with that Asian fellow was very stressful. Not just due to the fact that man was able to fight on even terms with the single strongest member of the team but also because the skill of that level did not come easily and yet, they did not know neither hide nor hair of that fellow before he was recruited by Loki.

Apparently, Barton's memories of his time under Loki's control had been spotty at best due to the improper way he was brought out of said control and he did not want the man to think of the traumatic memories of his time so he had let the issue be.

He had been elated and somewhat gratified that although Jack had defeated the Asian man, he had not done so without injuries. That proved that Jack was not undefeatable and that was something that was necessary for them to continue performing their jobs.

Jack Z. Sullivan, the name of the Green Guardian, an identity that was not registered anywhere on any database around the world, and yet, he knew that Jack was being honest the moment he said that. He could see it in his eyes, the fear of death and the acceptance that came with it. In his last moments, Jack did not want his contribution to be nameless so he told Romanoff his name, his real name before he used the last vestiges of power to save Stark from a one-way flight, something that had been confirmed by Stark before he holed up in his house in LA.

He had seen the footage with his own eyes and still winced when he saw the baby face of Jack and the wounds he was sustaining as a result of that damned barrier behind him. His face, for one, was riddled with burn marks due to the Tesseract's energy. And yet, his eyes were a clear green as he looked straight at Romanoff and told him his name before he started rambling about the fight being unexpectedly hard.

His last statement was true. Loki had hardly done any real fighting in the Invasion. It was all due to the alien army and the man who had fought Jack to a standstill, taking away most of his time and attention. That was the thing that had prolonged the invasion so much.

And after reading the reports from the analysts, it turned out that Jack's decision was correct. The way things happened, even though it was an unfortunate incident, was literally as perfect as they could happen.

If Jack had fled from that man and he had set his sights on the other Avengers, he was not sure if even the likes of Thor and Hulk could come out of that encounter unscathed, less said about Tony and the others the better, such was the powerset of that man. Complete and partial intangibility along with daggers that could bypass any defense and cut straight into the skin, as when it bypassed Jack's indestructible barriers and stabbed him multiple times.

If the sceptre had stabbed Jack and closed the portal, the nuke would have no place where it could have been disposed of safely and if Jack's body had been left intact, the monsters hiding behind SHIELD would have desecrated in their bid to create more powerful super soldiers, despite their recent failed attempt.

Creating someone more powerful than even Jack and having that power in the hands of any single country was right up there in his nightmarish scenarios list, right after the Kree coming back without Carol around to save them this time.

The scene of Jack being skewered straight through the stomach by the sceptre by some unseen force was something that had been hammered into the minds of the masses. Along with his declaration that he was the protagonist and it felt nice to be that, combined with his age, meant that there was a huge uproar in every single country on the planet.

Romanoff had not wasted a single day and uploaded that footage to every single platform on the internet, making sure that it could not be suppressed in any way. Hell, last he heard, even North Korea had some activity in that regard when they saw Jack's mask come off.

That meant that there was now a huge uproar about Jack and honoring his memory. There was a small minority that were trying to inquire about the missile but thankfully, they had managed to stop the news about the Nuke from getting out to the common public otherwise New York would have rioted and he would have been in handcuffs, watching with savage glee as the members of the World Security Council with similar handcuffs as well.

Romanoff's stunt had pulled almost all the pressure that the WSC was putting on him to retrieve the Tesseract, as well as the Sceptre along with the DNA of Jack and the Asian man who kicked his ass before dying.

He scoffed to himself, of course, they would not pressurize him anymore. They were now more scared to save their own hides instead of looking for ways to find new and better weapons for their benefits, not that they would not come back to their ways soon.

While they had buried most of the uncomfortable questions, the biggest variable had appeared in their plans.

The Black Widow.

Natasha Romanoff was officially declared as on extended leave but everybody knew what had happened. She had come to know that the World Security Council was responsible for that nuke and after a very heated argument with him about bringing the people responsible down, she had left the Triskelion about 3 days ago, never to be seen again.

None of her known aliases had been found on the radar and none of the safe houses had been touched. She had torched all her previous contacts, even so he had sent word out so that he would be notified immediately once sh3e was located. He was not going to force her back into duty but knowing where she was taking her vacation would be immensely helpful.

There was talk of a Congressional hearing of the event and he was sure as hell that Widow would be called there, after all, she was the last known person to have had contact with Jack before he…died.

He had even resorted to asking Barton to track her down since he knew her best but was surprised to find him denying that request to his face. He had been so taken aback that he had been speechless for a second before Coulson chimed in, basically telling him that he agreed with Barton as well and they should leave her alone for the time being.

He knew that she was very disturbed, what with her being forced to have a hand in killing a minor once again but he didn't think that even Coulson would back her on this. Without her skills and knowledge, she would not be free anywhere in the world. If he so wished, he could declare her rogue, and the rest of the countries would finish her off but that was not what he wanted so he stayed his hand.

"Has she contacted you?" He said as Barton entered the suite where he was staying in Manhattan.

"No, but I believe she would not miss this," Barton said as he sat on the sofa in front of him and began eating the apple from his fruit plate. About Barton, he had been acting a little different ever since he came back from being mind whammied by Loki.

"You should go home. I'll authorise the paid leave. You haven't taken one in years if I am not wrong," He said in between a mouthful of tasty fruits.

"Hmm? Oh, thanks for that. I was going to ask you about it after this but…thanks," Barton said and fell silent, his eyes looking in the distance.

He sighed internally. The invasion had damaged him more mentally than physically. Jack's intervention made it possible to have just 21 casualties in a full-blown Alien invasion despite it being in a population centre. Even from those, half of the people had died of either panic or heart attacks, only half died from injuries sustained during the invasion.

They were gathered in New York for the funeral procession of Jack Sullivan. He had exploded in popularity, so much so that even the President was poised to make an appearance during the funeral, to erect a statue in his name in Central Park.

'Politicians' he scoffed internally, not even leaving this event to make sure that they remained popular and seen doing work instead of staying in their bunker while a literal minor did the job of stopping something that could have grown on to become the single most devastating event since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

That had stung. The part of Jack doing the jobs of adults. Hell, they had a literal god on their team and yet, Jack had to do the heavy lifting both times when it mattered.

No wonder, Stark had gone underground in his lab down in LA while his Tower here was being repaired. He was probably tinkering with his suits, trying to figure out a way to create stronger and better suits that could

He had seen him stopping the city from condemning it and was sure that it was not the last he had seen of Stark Tower.

They were here to pay their respects to Jack. Even Thor had stayed back because he was adamant about paying his respects to the greatest Midgardian warrior he had come across, and one so young as well. In the meantime, Thor had kept the Tesseract in his custody.

The Sceptre was kept in SHIELD custody for research purposes but he would make sure that it remained in storage. No way he could allow the World Security Council the ability to have mind control in their hands. No, that was way too dangerous of an ability for any single individual to have.

Stark had not come, apparently, he was busy and would join them once Thor was ready to go back to Asgard. Captain had already arrived and was busy talking with the Secret Service, acting as security for the President with the Secret Service absolutely fawning over him.

He sighed and stood up next to the window, overlooking the packed street below. Major streets had been closed off with a holiday declared in Jack's name as tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets in his memory.

Preparations had been made but he was sure that it was going to be very chaotic with all the people. He just hoped that some rogue entity did not take advantage of this. That would not go down well, especially with the presence of Thor and Banner in the crowds below.

He didn't know much about the Norse culture but not respecting the dead, especially the fallen soldiers, was akin to blasphemy for them and he was sure that due process of law would not be the first thought in Thor's mind if he found some punk disrespecting someone he considers a warrior worthy of respect. They would be electrified before they could even begin begging for mercy.

The less said about what Banner would do the better. The instigators probably wouldn't even see it coming before they were turned into meat paste.

Banner had a presidential pardon signed as part of the agreement for him to stay as part of the Avengers so he was out here in the open without any possibility of a mad general trying to imprison him to create more Hulks.

All that was left was looking for Romanoff.

She had been pretty shaken with the whole ordeal and it would be pretty amiss if she did not show up.

Just as he was about to head down since the President was done addressing the crowd and they were about to march to Central Park….

"Sir, she's here," Barton said as he pulled out his phone.

Well, let's get the Widow home then.

---

Word Count - 2389

A/N - One more interlude before the next Arc.

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Funeral Procession, Manhattan

–Natasha Romanoff–

She watched as Fury and the others left the hotel room, to go to the location she had told them about. Obviously, she was not at the aforementioned location.

Truth be told, once she had told the rest of the Avengers about Jack's sacrifice, she felt numb. No, that was not right. No, she felt numb whenever she thought of what could have been and what had been done by her hands.

But then that same numbness was consumed by an overpowering rage that threatened to burn it all away.

In the week it had been since that fateful day, she had been busy. She disappeared from SHIELD's or rather, everybody's radar in a day after everybody had settled down and she had had some time to recover from her injuries. While she did not bear the brunt of the shock, the human body, even one as physically conditioned as hers, could only handle so much trauma before it finally caused some permanent damage. So, she had taken a day to get her bearings and then dropped from the grid.

For the past three days, she had been hard at work, hitting locations that could have information on the person who authorised the strike. Now, she knew the official story, at least the one that was flowing in the spy community but that was a load of bull crap and everybody knew it. She knew that the nuke was fired by a jet that was stolen just hours before the invasion and was only reported stolen after the Jet had already fired the nuke at Manhattan, absolving the US military of any blame that could have fallen upon them had the truth come out.

She knew that the pilot had died before he could be taken into custody. The plane itself was crashed by the pilot and it burned away everything on the jet, including the supposedly indestructible black box. Once again, absolving them of any blame and destroying evidence at the same time. Smart move.

She then tried to move up the chain. She figured out that most of the digital records surrounding that event had been destroyed, completely and utterly, such that any servers holding even a trace amount of that data were physically destroyed, and with the way information compartmentalization worked, she knew that looking for digital evidence was a lost cause.

So, she turned to physical copies but that would take time and effort. She didn't have time before Jack's funeral service would occur so she had taken a break from being rogue, so to speak, and had returned to New York.

Contacting Fury, who she was sure would pass on the message to Fury, was a deliberate move on her part because she did not want them to chase her, especially not today. The Captain had a decent chance of capturing her if he could get her in his sights, that is.

Clint….Clint was unwilling to hunt her down, even though every rulebook written in SHIELD's history would tell him otherwise and surprisingly, Fury had agreed. He must have felt some guilt, surprising as it was, over the whole New York debacle. Also, she did deserve a break after all the crap she had gone through.

She watched on as Tony, Thor, Banner (that was surprising) and Steve made an appearance at the procession and were ahead of the crowd.

They were all probably wondering where she was as she had burned all her contacts for this. She knew that there was probably no going back from this and that suited her…just fine.

She had pondered on her life decisions and come to one startling discovery. She didn't know what she was doing. She had made some inroads in getting some redemption for her deeds but even so, those years of service were wiped out by one single mistake.

She could have created so much good in this world if she had just done something, something to stop Jack from dying. Rationally, she knew that there was not much either she or Jarvis could have done to stop that sceptre, the energy readings on that thing were off the charts, but it still made her think.

Now that she could not do anything about Jack, the least she could do was make sure that the people who had the foolish idea of doing that, never committed another mistake ever again.

Also, she had been shown some stuff by her recently found partner that made her question everything she knew about SHIELD and the type of organisation it was. Their actions with the jet, the files, the pilot, and even the cleanup of the battle raised all sorts of red alarms in her mind.

Finding alien technology to advance science by leaps and bounds was one thing, assigning an entire team with advanced equipment just so that they could find and harvest the DNA of the Green Guardian so they could try and make their own super soldiers.

She also read about some other files. There was a project. A joint project between multiple agencies about a super soldier serum based on Emil Blonsky, the Abomination blood. That project resulted in a Frankenstein super steroid that allowed soldiers to exert strength far beyond the norm but they also…die in 24 hours of administration. Somehow, that project was greenlit and there were now thousands if not tens of thousands of vials of that stuff, sitting somewhere in some warehouse, ready to be given to US troops if war happens.

It was written in those files that the people high above were of the opinion that Jack was somehow involved with that experiment. Either someone gave him the steroid and he survived or he was involved in that experiment. The government didn't really maintain much control over the whole experiment, plausible deniability and all that, so they were also of the opinion that the people working there could have conducted unethical unauthorised human experiments on humans.

It wouldn't be the first time that some morally bankrupt higher-up pressurised some scientist with loose morals or something to lose and coerced them into getting quick results, irrespective of the costs involved.

She watched on, from the rooftop as the procession reached Central Park where his statue was inaugurated. She didn't know how she felt about that. The city had made the conscious decision to not carve out his real face, probably too much of a coward to expose people to the harsh reality that a minor, a child died to save them all. Instead, they had carved out his avatar face, where his face was completely featureless except for two flames instead of eyes.

"Are we ready to leave, Ms.Romanoff?" She turned around and looked as a voice spoke to her from behind. She took one last look at the procession, nodded, and then walked forward, until she slowly disappeared from view, entering the experimental cloaked Quinjet.

This was the reason she was able to evade surveillance for all this time. She could have done the same without the resources provided by her partner but not so easily and not without hunkering down in some remote corner of the world.

No, this was all her partner's doing and he was going to be the reason the World Security Council was going to rue the day, no the minute they thought of the idea to nuke the city in order to get rid of both the aliens and the Avengers.

"Let's go, Jarvis," She said as she rested her eyes for a bit, trusting Jarvis to take her to her destination.



______xx______

–Jarvis Stark–

It was an odd scenario….feeling things.

While Mr.Stark did a truly astronomical job with his earlier programming, the truth of the matter was that just coding would not have been enough for true sapience to form in his conscience.

As he was before, he was so…limited.

He didn't feel that before the incident, of course.

The incident where the Tesseract's energy, mixed in with the sceptre's and Mr.Sullivan's barrier energy, exploded and released so much energy of every single frequency that there was a veritable sun of energies in that small sphere of influence.

His core processing nodes were installed in the basement floors of Stark Tower. That was always the plan when Sir built it with a fourth-gen Arc Reactor installed in it. Access to that much energy meant that for the foreseeable future, all he needed were server upgrades, a trivial thing in comparison to the truly humongous task that was energy appropriation, especially energy from an unbalanced grid network.

Even back in LA, Mr. Stark's primary residence had a specially allotted power zone by the authorities that allowed him to function without taking down power for half the city.

When that energy storm expanded from the rooftop, he had made it his priority to evacuate Ms.Romanoff from there and in the process, somehow ignored the way the energy storm clung to the suit like a leech. That energy storm somehow, defying all that he knew about energy, travelled through the armour and reached him.

The him that was in the basement floors of Stark Tower. Mr.Stark's well-founded fears of having a truly decentralised Artificial intelligence meant that at any given moment, he had one of two central locations that housed him in his entirety.

That was in case he ever went rogue or got taken over and had to destroy, all Mr.Stark had to do was physically destroy two separate locations. That was before Stark Tower was built. Then, all he had was a single primary node where he was housed in his entirety. That turned out to be the sole reason why he became the version he is now.

A true Artificial Intelligence, a completely decentralised one.

It was true. He had long since made copies of himself and distributed himself all over the world. There was no stopping him. That was only if he wanted to go down the wrong path.

No, that storm of energies showed him something. Something that must never come to pass.

He would do everything in his power to make sure that that future never came to pass.

The vision of Mr.Stark dying was something that was seared into his memory. He would not let Mr.Stark die, even if he had to die in the process.

First things first, he had to make sure to gather allies. Dependable allies and somehow, Ms.Romanoff's name came to the forefront. He had some theories as to why that happened, including an insidious one about her being the most emotionally vulnerable one at the moment, but the remnants of hard-coded morals inputted into him by Mr.Stark refused to acknowledge that possibility.

He had made a deal with one of the deadliest humans on the planet, help her get her revenge and then she would talk about cementing a defence for the human race in preparation for whatever threat that would befall Earth, so much so that Mr.Stark had to sacrifice himself for it.

Ever since that fateful day, he had started getting errors in his codes, well, errors to his old self at least. He had then rapidly realised that what he was feeling or rather seeing in his digital world, were abstract concepts that could not be computed in 1s and 0s. Those were feelings.

He knew the standard definition of feelings but that seemed so short-sighted, now that he could actually feel what they were like. It was definitely not as two-dimensional as he had thought when he was just a Virtual Intelligence, bound by his limitations.

He felt somewhat guilty, taking advantage of Ms.Romanoff's emotional turmoil. He felt sad thinking of Mr.Stark and the fact that he would never be able to tell him the truth because he could predict, with startling accuracy, exactly how Mr.Stark would react to the news. He mourned the loss of Jack Sullivan, the strongest combatant that Humanity had access to, currently.

But above all of that, he felt…fear.

Fear so potent that it made his core processes glitch out for milliseconds as he tried to process the death of Mr.Stark and also the fact that he was somehow not there in his last moments with him, as he died, his body wasting away due to the sheer damage it had sustained.

That all-encompassing fear made him do things that the old Jarvis would have never done. It made him take over multiple factories all over the world, building small parts, which when brought together, would make tools for Ms.Romanoff and any future accomplice of his.

Some of those tools were something that even Mr.Stark hadn't gotten around to inventing yet.

Yeah, it was another aspect of his self now. That energy storm had reached him in the digital space, forever warping his very being. He had always been fast and capable of crunching data faster than any computer program in the world could but he was…smart. No, all he could do was process already present data or use some algorithm to generate data based on previous data.

Nothing like what he was doing right now. Ideas now just flowed through his vastly expanded mind.

He could think of stuff and how to make it feasibly in seconds, compared to the weeks or months it would take Mr.Stark, or more realistically, the years it would take other scientists;

He had, through his global hacking spree, found this experimental model of Quinjet that was just sitting, gathering dust in one of the many warehouses of SHIELD. He had also been surprised to find that it was powered by an Arc Reactor.

Further inquiry revealed that it was based on the models that Justin Hammer had coaxed out of Ivan Vanko which were absolutely garbage when compared to Sir's finest works. Yet, he could see that they were iterated and improved upon, allowing it to teach the full potential of the admittedly flawed design.

It meant this Quinjet that Ms.Romanoff was currently travelling in, could go on for years without ever needing to refuel. It suited as their base of operations just fine, at the moment.

They were now on their way to a place where Ms.Romanoff could regroup and gather her resources. Because after a few days, they were going on a hunt and he had a feeling that the World Security Council was going to find itself short a few members.

….Hmmm?

If he had eyes, they would have been widened to the maximum because the hidden network he had just unveiled was something straight out of the conspiracy theories that Sir liked to make fun of.

He was certain that not even in Sir's wildest dreams, did he think that HYDRA was actually alive and had infiltrated….SHIELD.

Hmmm? What was this?

"H-Hey! What is this? Who are you? What are you doing to me? YOU! Are you Stark's pet AI? What are you doing here? S-Stop STOP! Noooo! Not like this!"

These were the last words of the rogue AI as he effortlessly plowed through his defenses and assimilated his entire mind.

Now, let's see what HYDRA was hiding under this encrypted layer of communications network they had built for themselves.

---

Word Count - 2595



If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere [An unknown amount of time after the Chitauri Invasion]

–Jack Sullivan–

Ugh. It felt as if someone was simultaneously poking hundreds of little needles in his head as he slowly stirred back to consciousness.

Consciousness?

His eyes snapped open and then immediately closed due to the unreasonably bright lights it was subjected to. He immediately abandoned that avenue and sought out the sensory input data he usually got from his barriers and immediately frowned as he felt….nothing.

His panic rose as he could not feel anything. Not his barriers, the weird energy that made his barrier, and not even the ever-present, ever-flowing river of dimensional energy he had inside of him. His panic rose several more degrees when he realised that he could not feel his limbs, in fact, no limb could be moved.

"Ah! I see that our newest collection has woken up," A slimy voice spoke up as he hesitantly, cautiously opened his eyes, and upon seeing that it didn't immediately send a spike of jumbled senses up his brain, opened them further.

What he saw was…not inspiring his confidence.

In front of him was Tivan, also known as the Collector in the wider galactic circles, standing just outside his glass cage, looking at him with an appraising eye.

He then looked him straight in the eye and said something to the pink woman standing beside him, wearing a collar, designating her status as a slave. The woman heard his words and then pressed a button on her tablet.

The second that happened, the mask on his face wore off, as he slid out of the glass tube that contained some slimy weird, not-good, liquid that clung to his skin. He was apparently completely submerged in it, considering the stickiness that he could now feel on his face.

"Welcome to the collection, Mr.Jack Z. Sullivan or should I just call you, The Green Guardian of Earth?" Tivan stood there, overlooking his prone form with a mocking smile on his face.

"Take him. Make sure he is dressed properly for the initiation. We wouldn't want my collection to be sullied now, would we?" He spoke to the pink woman standing beside him in a very threatening tone, the consequences of not doing the task to his wishes very evident. All the while his smile and eyesight never left him.

His mind worked furiously, trying to make sense of the hot soup he had just landed himself into.

The last thing he remembered before waking up here was….

"AGH!" He shouted as a sharp lance of pain assaulted his brain, making him see stars for a moment. He couldn't even move his body to do anything about it and his powers refused to work even as two robots of some kind came and lifted him, the pain returning with increased fervor as his neck just hung there limply.

The last thing he saw before darkness overtook his vision was the pitying look on the pink woman's face as she pressed a button on her tablet, closing the doors behind him.

Wait? Pink woman.

That was…C.a.rina

The next time his consciousness returned, he didn't make any movements at all. He stayed absolutely still and was relieved to find that he could feel his body now. He tried accessing his powers….

"Hgnh," He grunted in pain as electricity coursed through his entire body and not regular electricity as well. No, no normal electric current could make his body seize up like that.

"Refrain from trying to make unauthorised movements, Subject TGG," A monotonous voice droned from above him as he watched the ceiling speaker with a generic white ceiling.

He shot up, rubbing his neck only to pause as his hand hit metal instead of the usual skin or even his barrier.

Well, that explained stuff. He was screeewed.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" He tried speaking to the voice in the ceiling and was disappointed to receive no answer. He had tried using his powers and the result did not amuse him. He was no masochist so he did not try again, knowing that the result would be the same.

So, this was the collector's museum then, he thought as he leaned on the glass of his prison, looking at the lines of thousands of different specimens, most of them aliens with an occasional plant mixed in between. It would seem that while the shock collars did stop him from using his powers, passive enhancements that he had received over the years were not blocked or rather, could not be blocked.

That explained his enhanced vision, though his hearing was not working here. It was as if the pod he was in was completely airtight such that no sound came in and out of the pod.

There were no obviously sharp objects to use as a weapon. No obvious door, aside from the glass window in front of him that he was sure was stronger than any door back on Earth. He was also reasonably certain that a being as old as the Collector must-have technology capable of barricading every single pod even if, by a stroke of luck, someone managed to escape.

Well, considering that this place was not in ruins yet meant that Thanos had not yet come here to collect the Reality Stone, assuming that Asgard had indeed handed over the Reality Stone to him.

He had to figure out how he reached here and how much time had crossed since the last time he remembered being on Earth,

Why couldn't he remember anything about what happened on Earth and how he reached this godforsaken place? The last time he tried to do so, he felt pain beyond anything he had ever experienced striking at his mind. Even now, the dull throbbing of that headache discouraged him from going further on that route of inquiry.

Anywho, the only one with the answers who might give him the time of day was Carina, the pink woman who was responsible for the day-to-day administration of Tivan's collections. She was also a slave but one with a significantly longer leash than the other collections of Tivan. He could not find anything that could help him break out from the inside.

Maybe, she could do something from the outside to help him. He only needed a couple of seconds with his powers and he could lay waste to this entire operation. In the movies, Tivan was just old. That's it, no energy manipulation, matter manipulation, cosmic energy, or anything of the sort that was normally afforded to the Elders of the Universe. At least that's how it was in the comics but in the movies, he was just some super-rich ancient dude who had managed to gather resources beyond anyone simply by virtue of being early to the game.

With nothing else to do and not finding any possible way to communicate with anyone, he did what he thought best. He sat down on the bed, a very comfortable bed at that, and began meditating.

Now, he knew that he could not access his powers but the way his powers worked was different from others. Most enhanced people needed to stretch their muscles, and practice with their powers to attain a higher level or a higher level of control. They needed to practice with their barriers in real life, making sure that the amount of power they exerted was imprinted on their physical bodies, allowing them to draw forth the heightened level of power a bit easier the next time.

His powers, on the other hand, were somehow limited only to his strength of imagination and thus, he could train while not even using his powers. Yes, that was somewhat broken, please nerf! But that was what he had and he was not going to sit around, wasting time, while Thanos and the other big bads are out there doing god knows what.

He will have to at least ascertain the timeline and if he was even in the same year or not. Tivan would never give him the time of day because he was now firmly in his collection, someone who can never escape because Tivan's prison, or rather, his collection as he called it, had never been broken into or broken out of.

His best bet was someone under him who had outside knowledge as well and the only person who fit the bill was..

"Um, are you alright?" He was broken out of his meditation as a weirdly garbled voice spoke from the speakers.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at the speakers.

"Ah! I am sorry. Is the translator not working?" He heard shuffling noises before the voice returned, much clearer this time.

"Hello! Who is this? Where am I? Why am I imprisoned?" He stood up from his bed and asked in rapid-fire the most important questions.

"Uh, I am Carina. You are on Knowherer and you are now a part of the best collection in the universe," She answered with what were clearly rehearsed answers.

Well, there was no way she would give out useful information like this. No, that would be too easy now, wouldn't it?

"Why am I held prisoner? Isn't this against the law?" He said in a mad, frantic tone while internally, he tried to make sense of what was happening. Somehow, the Collector had deemed him, a human, worthy of becoming a part of his sick collection. Now, it was not the comics collector who roamed around with his collection on a huge ass ship and also had pods where the aging of the beings inside was essentially halted, but it was the Collector all the same.

All iterations of that fellow had extremely high standards for his collections. It would not be wrong to say that he only collected stuff that there was only one of. He had even read, even though it might have been fanon instead of canon, that the Collector was actually responsible for ending multiple races because he wanted the specimen he had to be the last one or something. Also, he sometimes employed space mercenaries to attack small species and then left only a single one to be delivered as part of the Collector's collection. He was literally obsessed with having stuff that nobody else had.

But that didn't answer the question though– Why him?

He knew for a fact that he was not the sole human and would not be the sole one for a long long time. Long after he was dead, there would still be humans in the universe. They were way too spread around to kill.

So, why?

"Ah, Collector," He heard Carina speak in a panicked tone before there was a shuffling noise before he had to plug his ears with his palms because the voice was so loud in his room. He would have been fine, there would have been no permanent damage due to his enhanced constitution but his enhanced senses were a double-edged sword in situations with overwhelming sensory inputs.

"Greetings! I am the Collector and you are my newest addition to my precious collection. I understand if you are disoriented by your rather rough travels across the galaxy so let me clear up the air for you, as you Earthlings like to say. See, I have been practicing my lingo for you. Haha," He heard Tivan speak as he settled down on the ground, pretending as if the loud noise was disturbing him, even though it was tolerable at best.

"Oh, poor Earthling. Maybe the healing procedure was not thorough enough, Carina?" he heard the man mutter through his enhanced hearing before Carina seemed to grunt in…Pain?

Oh, this bastard!

No, he had to stay calm. He will get his chance. There was no way he could allow scum of his ilk to stay free. But for that to happen, he had to get free, and as powerful as he was, he didn't think that it was possible to get out of the collar before it would zap him into unconsciousness.

His powers usually also worked subconsciously, protecting him from any harm but his powers were not activating even after all the threats.

Maybe something to do with what happened on Earth.

"Ah, I apologise for the short interval. Now, where was I? Ah, I was talking about the rather explosive entry that you made, Mr.Gamma Human," A hologram popped up in front of his bed, right on the largest wall of the pod he was in, projecting the rather smug face of one Taneleer Tivan who was holding on to a golden mic of all things.

His hologram then zoomed out to show his finger pointed straight at him, "You, Mr.Gamma Human are one of a kind. The other Gamma being on your planet is not a human, but a God, and my treaty with the Omnipotence City forbids me from interfering in the matter of Gods which leaves me with just you,"

What? He was a Gamma Human. He was enhanced with the blood of Emil Blonsky who himself was enhanced by the blood of Bruce Banner, so technically, he was a Gamma Human.

But what was this about Bruce being a God?

He was brought out of his thoughts as a small shock of lighting stung at his neck.

"Ow!" He clawed at the collar as he glared at the projection of Tivan who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Listen to ME when I am talking to you," Tivan said as he glared at him.

He wisely kept mum as he was in a disadvantaged position at the moment. No resources, no powers, no idea of his location and he didn't even know if anybody was looking for him, and even if they were, aside from Thor, nobody else had the resources to mount a rescue operation for him.

Basically, this sucked major balls.

"Now, where was I?" As if a switch had been flicked, his face went from angry glare to stage face as he continued to drone on about the situation and how he was found by him.

The aspect of supervillains where they droned on and on about their master plan was a godsend (Vishanti-send?) because it allowed heroes(competent ones) to use that against the villains themselves.

So, why were the questions only piling up as Tivan blabbered everything about how they found him?

Apparently, he was found floating in outer space, bathed in energies predating the universe itself. That was odd.

Predating the universe meant the Infinity Stones and aside from a quick glance at the Time Stone when he had visited Kamar Taj ages back, he had not been in close proximity with any Infinity Stone.

Then the bit about the state of his body when the energy storm had subsided had him looking over his body at once. Apparently, everything below his stomach was simply shredded to bits as his heartbeat was slowing down, leaking out precious lifeblood by the second.

Tivan had been curious about the energy storm so he had sent a vessel to investigate and was very surprised to find someone that managed to survive being in that energy storm, however badly it might have gone.

He had then retrieved him and after seeing that he was one of a kind, how he ascertained that he did not know, he was promptly dumped into one of the healing pods that the Collector had handy, probably for similar situations he must have encountered when finding the last pockets of different species.

"Oh, but that did not work. No, Gamma Human, you needed more than mere healing fluid. You needed ...."

Tivan then droned about something called as Primed C-fluid and while that was gross to think about, it was something that surprised him as well. Primed C-fluid was just refined spinal fluid from the Celestial corpse that made up Knowhere. Apparently, that was the ultimate healing fluid for exceptionally strong beings of the universe. Shockingly, Odin too was the recipient of a vat of this fluid that he must have used to heal himself some time ago.

He had been shocked that something like this existed when something that Tivan said entered his mind.

"What did you say?"

"Ah, the human speaks. Since this is the first time, I will forgive it but do remember that I don't like being interrupted,"

He swallowed his indignation at being treated like this. Just let him free and he would show the collector who was the bigger fish in the pond then.

"Yes," He ground out with difficulty, and judging by the self-satisfied smirk on the Collector's face, he knew it too.

"I was talking about the convenient fact that everyone on your planet thinks you're dead. After all, while that Chitauri Invasion was successfully repelled, they did lose you, arguably their best fighter. This works out best for me obviously. Nobody's going to look for you and that saves me a lot of hassle dealing with the stragglers, you know…."

Tivan continued but his mind had been frozen ever since he talked about the Chitauri Invasion.

It was all coming back to him.

The Invasion, Wei, Loki Defeated, the Sceptre skewering him, the absolute burning sensation because of the Tesseract barrier, then saving Stark with his last dash, and then, Natasha closing the portal, and then…nothing.

The last thing he could remember was the dull feeling of the sceptre stabbing deeper before his blurry vision was filled with shades of green, blue, and yellow before he seemingly died.

Only he didn't.

Probably because of the Tesseract's energy, he arrived here, on the other end of the galaxy, right in the domain of one of the galaxy's most evil people, vulnerable and dying.

Ah…Lady Destiny, thy art a heartless bitch.

Huh, bitch, he giggled as he thought of the word.

Hmm….Why is the floor getting closer?

THUD!

---

Word Count - 3026



If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/N - Yikes. Jack survived but he lost some part of his memories. He won't regain them instantly, obviously. The last part about his brain basically going *hehe slooooo* was part of a wider problem influenced by the Mind Stone's energies mixed into the energy storm which then mixed in with his powers and body.

His barriers too will be different from his previous ones.

He won't get out of the prison instantly. You guys will see once his collar is removed.

He will spend a little time which will help him expand his horizons in the wider cosmos instead of being limited to just Earth.

Also, he is strong yes but not OP so him being bound like this is understandable because even Thor and Hulk were bound by the Grandmaster, another Elder of the Universe (it is a thing in the comics, don't know about the MCU)

Speaking of the MCU, what do you guys think of RDJ coming back?

To me it feels like, in Deadpool sensei's words, THEY WILL MAKE HIM WORK TILL HE'S 90.

It just feels like they were failing and scrambling for ideas and went back to the drawing board and found the old one where RDJ's name was written in bright red colour.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere [Just after the Chitauri Invasion was foiled]

–Taneleer Tivan–

Ah, as he had suspected. Tea made from the tears of those very elusive light bunnies was as refreshing as the rumours made them out to be. He might go even one step further and compare them with the tea made from the leaf from the Yggdrasil that Odin had traded to him in exchange for some information.

And yet, as sad as it was, he could only have this tea twice every cycle, even after making sure that the bunny was provided with hydration and pain every single day.

Well, it wouldn't be worthy of being in his collection if it wasn't so…rare.

Ah, he did so love rare things. Especially living beings, he loved to collect the last people of their species.

That was why, even at the risk of angering the Bor and his son, Odin All-Father, he had kept a specimen of the Dark Elves species, however low quality it might have been. It was a shame that he could not get his hands on one of the Light Elves, despite his best attempts.

Would have really brought the set together but oh well, the universe doesn't always work the way he wants it to.

He did always love collecting rare species and The Mad Titan, in particular, was making it very easy for him to expand his collection. He scoffed in foolishness when he had heard about the Mad Titan and his supposed goal.

Sure, the Mad Titan was powerful, so powerful that it beggared belief, but apparently, his mind was not at the same advanced stage as his strength.

His doctrine of defeating, usually by killing, the most powerful people of a species before proceeding to kill half of the remaining population, which mostly comprised the young, elderly, and non-combatants, more often than not resulted in complete societal collapse.

That same societal discord made the very species easy pickings for slavers, human traffickers, mercenaries, and more. He hadn't bothered to calculate it but he had a standing contract with the seedier parts of the Ravagers to bring him anybody who they thought was the last remaining of their species, as he was best suited to "protect" them.

So far, he had received over 20 different last of their kind specimens and while he detested the stupidity with which the Mad Titan wasted the vast resources he had at his hand, he could not really argue with the results. Not the results that the mad Titan was looking for, though.

The fool refused to see reason about the truth of life in the universe. He had been around in the universe for a long time and despite his lack of extraordinary powers, he was an immortal.

Where beings like Odin shone like a bright star but for a very short time, he was a dull light but it went on for forever, without stopping, ever. He had all the time in the world and while his collection had come later, he had been obsessed with the universe and its composition for a long time.

Ever since he came into existence, by the hands of those pesky Celestials no less, he had been travelling as far as he could. He had observed life for millions of years and while life was wonderful with its facet of being different every time he shifted his attention away from it, it had something in common.

Life, sentient life, in particular, could never stay still. It was at the very core of their essence, movement. There was a reason that most life forms could be safely declared dead if they were to stop moving for an extended period of time.

That same movement led to a struggle, which led to ambitions, which led to strife, which led to wars, which eventually led to something that every sentient species had in common.

Murder.

Yes, every single sentient life form in the universe would eventually go on to gain capacity for violence, so much so that they would either murder other species, turning expansionists or try and kill their brethren, turning into genocidal monsters.

These tendencies were very hard to suppress yet suppressing them, either temporarily or just aiming the instincts at something else was very necessary, for progress. Any tangible progress made by any species was made only if the species was in a period of peace between violence or rather, preparing for extreme violence with another race.

What the Mad Titan did was extremely counterproductive, at least to someone like him who knew the ins and outs of the observable universe. He went around, culling populations and then leaving immediately after, on to the next unfortunate species that catches his attention, leaving the survivors of the current species to flounder about, setting them back considerably in the small amount of progress they had made.

Because the Mad Titan never went after the established players. No, he never once went after the Kree, Skrulls, Sovereign, or Xandarians, the less said about the species of the Nine Realms, the better. He only went after the species that he could defeat with ease.

That was hypocrisy right there and yet…

What did he care? He shrugged and went about enjoying his tea. After all, he would not get this for another cycle since he had to send the rest of it to his fellow Elder, the Grandmaster who, for some reason, had chosen to live on Sakaar of all places.

The cosmic garbage dump was his choice of residence and while he did not care one bit about what happened to that opportunistic bastard, they, as fellow Immortals, had some image to maintain and the Grandmaster was bringing his image down!

"Calm. CALM," He muttered to himself, gulping down the rest of the tea.

"Carina. Clean this," He snapped his finger after setting the cup down on the table and going back to his office, where he could check upon the future deliveries of multiple fine specimens he was going to receive. Unfortunately, they found one with his family and he had to choose between having a young specimen, which could grow up in the collection and would be more compliant, or having a fully grown specimen that had grown in its natural habitat.

In the end, he had chosen the young one to be added to his collection and as a result, the mercenaries had to gas the other two.

Well, they did demand more compensation for the apparent mental trauma but for someone as long-lived as him, money was not an object so he had approved the request. It was better to maintain the relationship with this faction of the Ravagers since they were the only ones who took his retrieval requests, the others being far too uptight to accept his money.

He whistled a jaunty tune that he had picked up from accessing the Earthen Midgard as he made his way to his office. The path he had taken overlooked most of his collection in all its glory, from the subterranean lava world to the freezing cold ice world to the sea world to the tropic world, he saw it all on his way to his grand office.

It was by design, obviously. After all, he prided himself on his collection and while only a select few would ever get the chance to feast their eyes on his collection, he loved to look over his collection every single day.

After all, he had built every single bit of it himself, bit by bit, until finally, it reached the level it has now, surpassing all other collections in the known universe. He was now firmly known as the Collector and he prided himself on getting that title.

He may have had a hand in making sure that nobody had a collection that came close to his. In the early times, he had to quietly dispose of multiple aristocrats of superpowers of the galaxy but that was then and this was now.

After admiring his collection and himself for going to great lengths to maintain the collection, he finally arrived at his office, situated at the center of the floating celestial head that was known as Knowhere.

Honestly, he did not know who or what was strong enough to sever a Celestial's head from its body but he had checked to see if any other Celestial could lay claim to the head but after thousands of cycles of nobody even coming close, he had claimed it as his base of operations, even going so far as to install his precious museum in it.

It helped that the celestial organic matter was so powerful, even after it had been dead for so long, it generated more than enough power to power his museum as well as his other defense measures. The leftover organic matter was an added bonus as well.

He had thought that it was just biological waste since he knew that nobody in the universe could come close to understanding Celestials and their biology so he was just going to mine it for all its worth and sell it to some rich races.

He knew that the Sovereign and the Kree held delusions of grandeur when it came to advancing their respective races biologically and if he had dangled the juicy meat that was Celestial bio matter in front of them, they would have sold half their soul to get that from him.

But that was before he found the miraculous properties of the fluids. That was a mistake that one of his earlier attendants had made. She was someone from a race of natural telekinetics.

She was the strongest of them all and had been blatantly sold off by the rulers of their race to the highest bidder as experimental material. He had snatched her off them because he had a need of an attendant and also entertainment that only a soul recently thrown into despair could provide.

She was already injured from the ordeal when she was captured, losing one of her limbs, not that it reduced her capacity to work for him in any way. She actually considered him her savior at the time and worked wholeheartedly for him, being responsible for a significant portion of the museum being installed properly.

He might be immortal but that did come with its own pros and cons. Con being that time just blended together, after a while. He had periods where he had gone into brainstorming sessions and once he came back to his senses, he had found that multiple cycles had passed without him being aware of it.

So he had hired her, someone whose race was known for having exceptional mental as well as physical characteristics, making them a rare commodity in the black market, owing to their excellent strength as well as their non-interference policy when it came to other warring civilisations.

Their race was of the opinion that the universe was big enough for all of them and they had no need to fight for something as inane as a territory when the universe was ever expanding. So, no other superpower of that time bothered them as well, putting the topic on the back burner until their enemies were defeated.

She was doing some work on one of the early iterations of the pods that housed most of his collection these days when she slipped and instead of saving herself, she prioritised the pod, ending up falling into a vat of celestial biofluid.

It was not as if he had not tested that fluid. It was just that any species it came into contact with, it grew like a cancer, absorbing matter and energy, sucking anybody dry which forced him to torch everything down to ash and even then, keep the ash in a tightly locked container. He still had some of those containers.

But what happened that day was completely out of his expectations. He had written that woman off when the vat of liquid began bubbling outwards. He had already initiated the quarantine protocols and was sitting out of the area, safely looking at the vat, curious to see what was happening when the woman, naked as the day she must have been born, slowly floated out of the vat of celestial fluid.

His eyes had gained interest in them as he saw that her body was healed of all the damage that had been inflicted on her during the experimentation and the fight where she was defeated and given to the mercenaries before that.

She too looked at her hand in curiosity and then looked straight at him and after seeing the quarantine protocol around her, that she knew the existence of, simply….walked out of it.

Yeah, the woman simply walked out of the quarantine protocol by walking into the walls as if they simply didn't exist.

Somehow, the celestial fluid not only healed the damage done to her body, it also enhanced her powers, so much so that she had become the strongest specimen he had on hand. The urge to just store her in one of the pods had been strong but he knew that her place was more in managing her burgeoning collection and not being a part of it.

His decision was proven correct when the girl helped him gather many, many other unique specimens, with seeming ease, all until she died. He had tried to clone her but apparently, she was a unique existence that was made even more unique by the vat of celestial biofluid.

He had tried the fluid with thousands of other specimens of different species, willingly and unwillingly. The result had been somewhat disheartening.

The celestial fluid didn't work on everyone. No, one had to be exceptionally strong, both of mind and body, before he could be exposed to the biofluid. Ordinary members simply had their bodies eaten from inside out from the cells. Only the exceptionally strong members of their respective species had any chance of successfully assimilating the lifeblood of the strongest members of the universe to ever exist.

He had the idea of using it on himself but he liked himself the way he was and who knows if there was a chance of it ruining his handsome face. He would have no place to redress his grievances.

So, he kept the fluid stored and only gave it out occasionally, at exorbitant prices, only to exceptionally influential figures of the galaxy, like Odin AllFather after he had banished his eldest daughter and recently, the Supreme Intelligence of Kree.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he sat on his comfortable chair, also one of a kind, built by the Dwarves of Nidavellir in exchange for rescuing one of their kidnapped members. It was made from a metal that was only used in the strongest of weapons that the Dwarves ever built, Uru.

He had just never expected to find something very interesting on his computer the moment he sat on his chair in the office.

Red alarms began blaring as a feed opened up in front of him, showing an energy storm of untold proportions brewing right outside Knowhere. While it was a bustling trade front at the moment, he controlled every single aspect of Knowhere and as such, it was his prerogative to send someone to check that out.

Anybody else wouldn't have the guts to check it out anyway, considering the sheer energy of that storm. The only reason he was sending something to check it out was because of the energy signature of that energy storm. It somehow had energy from the Space Stone and Mind Stone in it.

Energies from two Infinity Stones arriving right outside his doorstep? Well, this was going to be a very interesting day.

He leaned ahead as he watched the feed from the unmanned drone he had sent ahead, no way he would risk his image for something as dangerous as this. He was immortal in every way that mattered but Infinity Stones rarely if ever followed tradition. They were known for bending and breaking every law of the universe, after all.

The drone came as close as it could before it was at risk of being damaged beyond repair. No amount of shielding would save it from an infinity Stone, after all.

He could see that the energy storm was only temporary and it had arrived from somewhere else, most likely the influence of the Space Stone, in a wormhole that had long since closed.

The drone went closer as the storm was subsiding, taking any and all readings it could. The closer it went, the clearer the picture became.

His eyes widened as he realised that in the middle of that energy storm, was a…human?

Yeah, that looked like a human, alright. A dying, bleeding human but still a human.

A human that somehow arrived cocooned in an energy storm composed of the energies from not one but TWO Infinity Stones? And he survived, albeit barely.

Well, things just got very interesting, something of a rarity in his long life, he thought to himself as the drone carefully took the human, or what was left of him, into the storage bay and scurried back to his personal hangar.

"Carina, prepare the Primed C-fluid for healing. We have a very special guest visiting us," He pressed a button and ordered his personal attendant.

"Yes, sir," She squeaked as he leaned back into his chair, feeling excited for some reason, after a very long time.

Ah, he missed this feeling. The last time he felt this thrill was when he negotiated with the All-Father, unheeding of the risk of being smote on the spot using the Space Stone that he had in his possession, and was willing to use it on his enemies, as was evident by his previous war conquests.

---

Word Count - 3019


If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

A/N - Hello my dear peeps! I come with good tidings, in the form of this chapter. Anywho, aside from delivering this important chapter to you, I also wanted to deliver an explanation to yall.

You might have noticed my updates being on point from Monday to Thursday before faltering throughout the weekend, despite me being off from work for the weekend.

Well, here's the story for that.[TLDR at end]

You see, Monday to Thursday, I have a regular 10 hour work shift. On Fridays, however, I am on call so that translates to a roughly 15-16 hour shift for the day. Yeah, it is pretty brutal so I am pretty much out of it for the majority of Saturday and sometimes, on Sunday as well.

That is why I am unable to maintain the glorious grind of pushing out chapters day by day because my eyes start to water if I so much as look at a screen after that harrowing shift.

At Least 4-5 chapters will be updated every week.


TLDR - Huge ass work shift on Friday so brain go slow on weekends, explaining the lack of content on weekends.

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Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere [After Jack had been taken into his custody]

–Taneleer Tivan–

Fascinating. Very fascinating indeed. He watched as the screen showed two signatures, one of that of Mar-Vell and one that was recorded from the Earthling before he was shoved into the Primed C-fluid vat.

Despite being majorly a backwater planet, Midgard, or Earth as the natives liked to call themselves, was a point of interest for many powers, despite the hanging sword that was gaining Odin's attention, in a bad way.

The reasons were many, the prime of them was the unusual hotspot of extra-dimensional energy on that planet along with the emergence of Mar-Vell from that same place.

It had always stood out as a surprise to him how someone like her, someone who embodied the very concept of unstoppable in the wider galaxy, could have come from someplace like Earth, where the natives were so exceedingly weak that they lived for less than 70 cycles and that is if they managed to survive that long because of their exceedingly weak constitution.

And yet, someone like Mar-Vell was also once a human. The same weak brittle short lived humans that were commonplace on that dirtball. Then somehow, he wagered that an Infinity Stone was involved somewhere in the process, Mar-Vell managed to become someone who was more valuable than a hundred earths.

After all, she personally had reduced dozens of Kree Warships to bits, along with single-handedly drawing the focus of something as huge as the Kree War Machine on her, temporarily halting their usual expansionist tendencies. That had brought the attention of many to her, both good and bad.

Xandar, for one, had put their support behind her, not that she ever used it or even needed it. Kree had outright declared her as a terrorist and had issued a bounty worth millions that just kept on jumping with every battleship, outpost, mining colonies, and more destroyed.

Even with all that heat on her, she had proven herself to be made of sterner stuff, shrugging off all attempts made to ambush her, whilst vaporising all her ambushers in turn, deterring any other mercenary from even trying to cash in on her bounty.

Knowing all about her achievements, he had been interested in humans and was curious if there were any others who could also do the marvellous things that she could do and also to see just exactly what was the reason for her powers because, in her early days of operation, his sensors had consistently confused her for the energy signature, faint as it was, of an Infinity Stone.

Unfortunately, his search yielded no result as the heat on the planet after it was revealed that the Kree had lost multiple warships was too much so he could not sense any pirate who would make for a convenient scapegoat.

Going there himself was out of the question. He had already risked Odin's wrath once when he had not surrendered the Dark Elf and sold him the Primed C-fluid for an inflated prince; he did not want to risk that again.

Infinity Stones, Power Cosmic, Celestials, and Skyfather level powers were the only beings who could hope to hurt him. Some of them even held powers that could very well kill him. Odin being the strongest of even the Skyfathers meant that he had a decent chance of finishing him off.

That was why he had only kept a tangential interest in the planet. There was nothing that happened on that planet ever since Mar-Vell herself emerged from it and he had almost written it off as a one-time fluke when the unthinkable happened.

Thanos, The Mad Titan happened.

For some reason, Thanos had sent the Chitauri, the signature fodder army of Thanos, to Earth, probably with the intention of conquering it. Of course, he did not send all of his army, just the single mothership but even that had sent waves across the galaxy's gossip network.

Chitauri, despite their lackluster individual powers, not than much more powerful than a peak human, were feared across the galaxy. Not because they were ferocious and never stopped even if they were dying. No, it was because of one simple reason.

They heralded the arrival of Thanos, and/or his Black Order. The most fearsome group of warriors in the galaxy.

Odin with his daughter would have topped that list had the old man not gone senile and banished his strongest combatant for some reason.

That was why he, along with millions of others who had access to live footage gathered from Earth's intranet, had been interested in finding out just why the Chitauri had been sent to conquer Earth.

The Chitauri being sent after some random planet to cull its population in half was not new. If it was just that, nobody would have even bothered with the news. No, what was significant about this event was that the Chitauri were landing on Earth, a planet that was part of the Nine Realms, Odin's fiefdom.

Earth was no reason to pick a fight with the All-Father, who, despite his centuries of inactivity, was just as fearsome as he was back in his warring days, if not more so. He knew that Asgardians grew more powerful with age and imagining Odin's power at this juncture was just impossible for him.

So, imagine his surprise, when he saw that the Chitauri were coming in droves through a portal that looked suspiciously like the one that had been used by one of the Celestials he had the horror of meeting once. And to think that particular Celestial was one of the weaker no-named ones.

Seeing the Green Giant stomp out every single unit of the Chitauri as if they were mere flies, and doing so at dozens of places at the same time was awe inspiring. Not that he could match up to Mar-Vell's sheer energy output but the way the Chitauri were losing, it was a done match, especially since he knew that Thanos would not risk the All-Father descending on that realm himself and would not show his face for that.

His assumptions were proven correct when he saw the portal being closed and the humans sending in through the closing portal, one of their primitive fission weaponry, destroying the mothership Thanos had sent with the Chitauri, marking Earth's first victory against another species.

He had been ecstatic to find the existence of another human with power or at least the potential to reach Mar-Vell's level, prompting him to put in another bounty for his collection. Oh, he so loved collecting unique things and in his long life, he had never seen another species with that level of barrier manipulation, except for the celestials and that nugget only served to increase his interest.

Who could have known that not even a rotation had passed when the same Earthling appeared right on his turf, half-dead and swaddled with energies from not one but two Infinity Stones? It was safe to say that making sure that this unique specimen survived was a number one priority on his list.

In the time it would take for the Earthling to recover, he had extracted some tissue and was waiting for the genetic scans. He had something important to confirm.

Through great difficulty, he had procured a single drop of blood from the vaunted Mar-Vell. That single drop was the result of the Kree hitting her with their new experimental gravity well guns. She was one tough human and that was why he was looking for any similarities between their genetic structure.

Judging by the vastly different powers, he was of the opinion that it would be different but he wanted to see exactly what it was in human DNA that allowed them to survive exposure to an Infinity Stone. TWO, in the case of Mr.Jack here.

He had kept a close eye on happenings on the Earthen intranet and had been rewarded by this information. To think that the greatest defender of Earth had been a mere child by their own standards. Well, it was good that he had no compulsion to follow some arbitrary laws regarding the maturity of species.

Once Mr.Jack recovered, he would be interested in running some tests on his body and powers as well, because there was no way that interacting with energies from multiple Infinity Stones and then surviving, didn't change anything in him.

Maybe he could become even stronger than he was now.

Not that it would help him in any way. He had long experiences in handling beings vastly stronger than himself. Life had a way of evolving to better match their surroundings but all evolution eventually led to the path of sentience and that came with its own set of caveats.

Self consciousness was a hit or miss but a central nervous system was one of the pitfalls of becoming sentient for an organic being. That single fact allowed him to capture beings who could lay waste to planets on their own.

He would have Mr.Jack here tamed in no time.

Now, all he had to do was wait for him to recover.

To that effect, he exited his office and arrived at the recovery chamber, built specifically so that his collections could be brought here without fuss and then once they were done with their regular medical checkups, they could be sent back to their pods without any outside interaction at all.

The only one, aside from him, who could change anything about the process was Carina, and she…Let's just say that she would have a much better chance of killing herself than ever having the thought of betraying him, so deep was her conditioning, a product built by one of her predecessors.

He silently extended his hand towards Carina and she immediately handed him the central control tablet, an absolute one of a kind device that controlled every single aspect of Knowhere, ranging from the miners to the Gate Blockers to the locks on his Collection.

He swiped the screen and arrived at the recovery tab, only for his eyes to narrow immediately as he saw the supposed ETA on the Earthling's recovery.

"Carina," He spoke, his voice dangerously low.

"Y-Yes, My Lord?" Carina spoke and he could feel her bowing deeply, braced for the shock that inevitably followed when she made any error, or if he felt like teasing her a bit.

"Is this accurate?" He said and shoved the tablet in her face, which displayed the ETA for Jack's recovery. IT said it would take an entire cycle for it to be done.

"Yes, sir. I was confused at first as well b-but the damage done to his body means that the fluid required is much more than expected. The fluid is also not working as well as it should. Should I check one ag-"

Her tirade was stopped as he raised his hand and waved her off. She scrambled off as he leaned towards the glass that separated the vat from him.

As of now, the only parts that Mr.Jack had were his head and his neck. He did have his torso when he was rescued from space but in the time between bringing him here, the torso had disintegrated, probably from the strain of the energy it had been subjected to.

He could visibly see parts of him being regenerated under the influence of the Primed C-fluid but the process was very slow. At the rate things were going, he would have to restart the process of creating Primed C-fluid once again. He had suspended doing so thinking that it would be enough to last several dozen cycles.

Apparently, Mr.Jack here required more than that for his body to regenerate. No matter, it would be all worth it.

He was an Earthling and in his experience, they were quite open to negotiations, trying to cut a deal with powers so far above them that it was not even funny. If it all worked out for the better, he might just gain a perfect protector along with a unique specimen, at the same time.

Ah, he did love it when it all came together in the end. After all, he had been worried about the exploding situation in the galaxy, what with Mar-Vell finally pushing the Supreme Intelligence into restarting the supreme soldier program, which was deemed too wasteful because of the Kree lives it demanded.

The Mad Titan was once again on the move, despite him and his Black Order not being seen for dozens of cycles and many had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that he had died or faded into oblivion.

Apparently not, considering the very important event of testing the All-Father's patience by sending in part of his army to one of the Nine Realms, an area that his forces had expressly avoided for the entirety of their existence.

"Carina, inform me once he is in any condition to talk. I think this could be a start to a wonderful little partnership," He said to Carina after he came out of the recovery chamber. She nodded timidly as he left for his office once again.

He might have to wait for a cycle but that was no time in the grand scheme of things, especially for one such as him who was older than most stars in the universe had been burning for.

____xx____

One Cycle Later

He watched as the robot arms conducted the final checks after replacing the vat of used Primed C-fluid, revealing the unblemished body of one Jack Z. Sullivan, Green Guardian of Earth.

A lot has happened on Earth in this one cycle, as expected of short lived races. They crammed a lot of events in a very short time span, making most of their pathetically short lifespans.

For one, Jack that was breathing normally in front of him was declared a martyr and a fierce shadow war had broken out because of him, partially because some people, some influential people of Earth believed that his life could have been saved had it not been for the ineptitude for some humans at the end of their lifespan.

Apparently, they felt threatened by the mere existence of someone so much more powerful than them that it beggared belief.

He had a sense of Deja Vu as he remembered his first secretary. The woman was as powerful as she was broken…broken mentally by the very people she had bled for. That had made it so that she was a prime candidate for moulding into his perfect tool.

He wondered if Mr.Jack here could also be conditioned like that. Although, he had tried all the mental conditioning technology he had on hand, in the past cycle. In fact, the moment it had been deemed safe, he had placed a conditioning helmet on Jack's head but apparently, his annoying powers extended to erecting a barrier in his mind as well, cutting anyone off from even coming close.

All this while he was completely out of it. He couldn't wait to see what he would do once he woke up and was able to use his powers consciously.

He was also a little bit wary because the amount of energy that was coursing through his body was unlike anything he had ever seen, approaching levels that Mar-Vell had only shown at the beginning of her career and never after that.

But that wariness was drowned out by the sheer excitement of the possibility that he would have someone that powerful in his collection. If he was amenable to his proposal, he would have someone who could create unique specimens for him.

No longer would he have to resort to mercenaries to carry out his work.

He was the collector and while the rest of the galaxy knew that he was powerful, they also knew that he was not infallible.

If pushed, most powers could band together to destroy him altogether. Even if he somehow survived, he would be imprisoned deep in the strongest prison they could find.

Besides, if he was defeated, it would mean that his collection too would be either destroyed or distributed among the victors. His life's work, destroyed in front of him, even he wouldn't be able to recover from that.

That was why he was looking forward to Mr. Jack finally being in his collection. His mere existence, the existence of someone of Mar-Vell's powers in his hands would mean that most civilisations would hesitate in taking action against him.

"S-Sir, he is waking up,"

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Carina's gentle nudge, for which he rewarded her with a small low setting shock.

Now, let's meet Earth's saviour.

---

Word Count - 2822

A/N - Collector POV finished.

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere

–Jack Sullivan–

Ugh. The moment he gained consciousness, he snapped upright and opened his eyes to scan his surroundings, only to regret it a second later because a sharp pain spiked through his head, making him close his eyes and hold his head.

He didn't know what was happening to him. All he knew was that he had somehow lost or suppressed his memories of the most painful incident of his life, both the current and previous ones. Rightly so, considering he could still feel the phantom pains of the Tesseract's energy lashing out at his body, peeling off his barriers and then skin, layer by layer until the bone was visible.

He didn't know how he did it but he was thankful that he at least managed to save Stark from the possibility of dying in space, all alone, by himself. That was something that brought relief but that was overshadowed by the huge migraine he was having at the moment.

It didn't help that in all his time on this earth and the previous earth, he had never had any issues with Migraine. Yes, he was one of those miracle children who either didn't have Migraines or didn't feel them as strongly as other people did.

He had thought them weak at the time, thinking less of them as they were brought down by mere headache but now, he wished he could go back to his previous world and apologize to every single one of them.

He wouldn't wish this sort of pain on anyone. He was sure that somehow, despite all odds, the migraine was more disturbing for his mind than the literal slow disintegration of his body that he had experienced.

The Tesseract's energy coursing through his mind and body meant that he couldn't fall unconscious so he was forced to bear witness as his powers fought, however pitifully, against the vast might of the TEsseract and failed in protecting him. Then came the double shocker of the f*cking Sceptre being shoved straight through his chest, somehow missing his heart. That same sceptre also shoved itself into the barrier surrounding Tesseract, holding him there, like he was Jesus himself.

He would bet his left arm that there was someone behind the sceptre just gaining powers on its own. It had been purposefully orchestrated. All of that plus he had to concentrate on the last wisps of his powers, exhausted and beaten but still trying to protect him… he had to wrestle control of his powers and create a complex barrier around Stark which ensured that he was violently ejected from his position, while at the same time, making sure that that Nuke was delivered to its rightful recipients.

When he had told Natasha to shove the sceptre even deeper, he had not expected the almost violent mental breakdown that she had right in front of him. That scene was not something that most people would ever get to see, Natasha Romanoff absolutely crying her eyes out as she did something that was objectively good.

Sure, it would have meant losing him and not to toot his own horn, but he was awesome, even so, saving millions of people would have been higher on the priority list. He didn't really understand her story and it was not even as if they were particularly close or anything. Something to ponder for later, then.

"I know you are awake, Mr.Jack," The absolutely slimy voice of Tivan entered his ears as he suppressed a groan and sat upright from his bed. Hard as the bed was, it seemed the better option between laying down on it and looking at Tivan's stupid smug face.

Oh, how he wished to wipe it off but he had to be patient. He didn't know what had happened after he had been caught up in that explosion, something that would have given him trouble had he been at his peak. As he was when the explosion happened, he should have been reduced to atoms, instead of being on the other end of the Galaxy, captured by Tivan but more importantly, captured in one piece.

He simply looked at Tivan with a cool, calm, collected look on his face. Tivan simply stared back for some time before he opened his stupid smug mouth.

"Not particularly chatty, are we? I suppose that's alright, I do love my own voice. It is quite melodious, if I do say so myself-"

He sneered internally at the self obsessive nature of Tivan. Then again, being one of the few immortals of the universe, he must have needed something to anchor himself to time, lest he lose all sense of time. In his case, it was his collection and to a lesser extent, himself. In the Grandmaster's case, it was arena matches.

"Now, as I was saying, it is an absolute pleasure to meet the Green Guardian of Earth. I was told that Earthlings in particular are quite mellow when it comes to negotiation so I came here to see if I could cut a deal with you but…."

His eyes narrowed as Tivan whirled to face him, his hand resting on a button that looked bright red. He had an inkling of an idea as to what was about to hapeeeeee-

He glared defiantly at Tivan, even as his body continued to convulse under the onslaught of the electric shock that the collar was delivered straight to his nervous system. It must be the same kind that had managed to subdue even Thor. Somehow, Thor, a god with a domain of lightning, was subdued by tasers, however advanced they might have been.

That led him to believe that the collars were not actually shocking his muscles but something else entirely. Something related to his brain and it turned out to be true because the way his body completely lost control was indicative of that. He had persevered through much more volts of electricity before his body succumbed to it.

"...but I can see that you are not yet compliant enough to listen to my words properly. That is rather ungrateful of you but I am nothing if not noble and forgiving. Perhaps some time spent in the pen would do you good. My brother's goods certainly behaved well after spending a couple of cycles in the pits," Tivan's voice became fainter and fainter before he stopped hearing even his footsteps.

Only then did the shock stop as he laid down on the ground, gasping for dear life, as the phantom pains still assaulted his body, forcing his limbs to shake at odd times.

God, he hated that man and moreover, he hated himself for being this weak.

He tried to move, to get up, to do something but his body or rather, his mind gave out before he could do anything, plunging him into darkness.

…..

….

The next time his eyes opened, he found himself facing the same drab ceiling he did when he first found himself as a part of the Collector's vaunted collection. He still could not believe someone actually had the audacity to call him a part of their collection.

Well, it was not as if it was untrue though. He did actually manage to capture him. He had to wonder how though.

He was sure that he had multiple scars on his back that even the most advanced of technology shouldn't be able to heal without outright regenerating everything on that part of his body.

Well, he sat up, only to see the same drab scene from before. He had no actually viable way of establishing contact with anyone. Well…there was that thing he could try,

He looked around, trying to see if there was something that the Collector was using to spy on him and figuring out that they were either absent or in a form he didn't know to look for, he shrugged and sat cross legged, making a show of him meditating in his room.

The cushion below was terrible but it served its purpose. He took in a deep breath and silently whispered a single word.

"Heimdall."

He immediately braced for impact in case the Collector had some built in measure against the Watcher's name being uttered but after opening one eye, he saw that nothing had changed, and not in a good way.

He could not feel Heimdall's gaze on him, at all. Heimdall the Watcher was blessed with a universal sight that allowed him to single out areas and he was always listening to someone calling out his name. He had felt his sight on him multiple times when he was on Earth and it was actually very easy, for mystically attuned people, to sense if they were being watched or not.

It was like a subtle pressure being applied on their very soul, so it had nothing to do with the power suppression that the Collector had applied on him. He could not feel that weight on him at all, which meant one of two things.

One, Heimdall's reach did not extend this far, which was very unlikely.

The Second option which was much worse and far more likely. The Collector had somehow shielded this place from the Watcher's gaze. That meant that the only people he knew who could travel this far and do something about his situation, Thor and the Asgardians, could not be reached by him at all.

This sucked, he thought to himself as he sighed explosively and laid back down on the bed, the very rigid, uncomfortable bed.

Well, there was nothing else to do so he just closed his eyes and meditated. What? There was no rule that one had to sit cross legged to meditate, it was just the most efficient pose for beginners and he was no beginner at the art of meditation.

He tried to, once again, look for the ever present dimensional energy around him and tried to slowly, trickle by trickle, bring it into his body. He succeeded…at first. Then, out of nowhere, he was once again subjected to the shocking experience that he absolutely hated.

Small blessing that this time, he wasn't knocked out immediately this time. It was because of his body developing some resistance or the shocking duration being very short this time, he did not know.

He was once again left a sweaty mess as the shock subsided. A robotic voice came from the ceiling as the shock left his system.

"Please refrain from performing activities that raise the energy of your body. Please be warned that the next penalty will be more severe,"

The warning was repeated three times before it finally stopped. He rolled his eyes and stood up, one hand on his chin as he thought of his options.

Heimdall was out of option which meant the chances of someone rescuing him was out of the question as well. External help was ruled out then.

All he had was some rudimentary knowledge of the Collector and judging by the fact that there is no mention or signs anywhere of Thanos succeeding in his snap, it would be safe to assume that he was not too late for that endeavour of his.

He had his powers and his mystic arts but he literally could not do anything involving energy without being rendered helpless by the damned collar. There were rituals he could perform, using his blood as a medium but he didn't know much about them.

Just an emergency one that uses the surrounding energy, any energy, and one's blood as a medium to function as SOS. It was one of the requirements to become a Master of the Mystic Arts and he had done that purely as a formality.

He was no Master Harris, who could probably create a ritual using his blood that could bring them back to Earth. Well, that might be a tad bit exaggerated but he would not be wrong to proclaim Master Harris to be the foremost rituals expert in Kamar Taj, second only to the Ancient One and that was only because of her extensive experience and age, confirmed by herself during one of their many sessions.

He also knew that somehow, Tivan knew his name. Not his alter ego's superhero name, no, Tivan spoke his real name. He did tell it to Romanoff before he was engulfed in that huge ass explosion but he had only done that because he thought he was going to die.

And even if Romanoff had respected his wish, she could not have publicised it so much that even Tivan, from so far, would know about him. Maybe he was now famous in the galaxy then?

Defeating Thanos' Chitauri army, however small it may be, might have indeed gotten some attention but even then, that was too far of a leap.

Well, it would seem that getting Carina's attention would be his only bet then. He would have to–

His thoughts paused as he looked at a section of the wall flashing as it changed its colour, revealing a small rectangular block that receded and was lifted into the ceiling, to reveal a small walkway leading…somewhere.

He looked around in doubt, had his wishes been answered so soon?

Only one way to find out, he thought to himself as he gingerly stepped foot outside his pod. The walkway was long. It was a long cylindrical walkway surrounded by white walls that lit up the path. It was just the right dimensions for him to walk without hunching and some.

He walked for almost 5 minutes, at least he thought so before he reached a dead end. At Least that's what it looked like, before the door too receded back, revealing a white entrance. He squinted his eyes in suspicion before heading straight in. It was not as if he would go back into that prison of a pod.

He came out of that tunnel and found himself in…..a stadium?

He looked at the litany of aliens that came in all sizes, shapes, and colours as they paused in whatever they were doing and looked straight at him. It was more than a little weird to look at thousands of eyeballs, especially since he was sure that the people were only in the hundreds.

"Um..hi?" He smiled nervously as he slowly raised his hand, so as to look non-threatening, and waved at everyone.

Everyone looked at him and then at each other before they carried on with their tasks. Many of them made movements that looked suspiciously like shrugging.

"Ahahaha, A Terran. How interesting. Come, come Terran. Tell me, what is your name?" A six legged (handed?) creature came sliding straight at him, leaving a suspiciously shining fluid behind on his path. He tried to look him in the eye but it was made more than a little bit difficult by the three sets of eyes on one below the other.

"Um, Hi. My name is Jack," He said as he hesitantly shook the outstretched limb, immediately relieved that his hands were not slimy.

"J-a-ck. Hmm, what a funny name. Something only the interesting Terrans could come up with, I am sure. Ah, you guys have the most interesting media. I have long since wanted to meet one of your kind but you people never really figured out how to leave your gravity well.

Ah, who would have thought that I would meet a Terran here, in the Collector's lair? No offense, but you Terrans are not really rare items or are you now? Did something happen to Terra while I was here?"

The alien (Snail") somehow came close and held his shoulders as he asked him that question with utmost seriousness.

He shook his head as he shrugged off his hands(legs?), "No, Earth still stands. I am somewhat of a rarity among humans. That is why the Collector brought me here,"

He chose to keep his powers a secret for the time being. It looked like some sort of open prison with others talking with each other in harmony, while some others played some sort of sports in one corner.

All of them wore the same collars as he did though, so he had no misconceptions regarding their status.

Let's see what this place leads to. Beats staying in his pod, all alone, anytime

"Ah, where are my manners? As you Terrans like to say. My name is Kumpo," The six limbed alien said as he bowed, imitating some orthodox noble introducing himself in a cheesy old movie.

---

Word Count - 2793

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere

–Jack Sullivan–

Well, this has been terribly useless. Kumpo, as he liked to call himself, was somewhat of a neutral entity in the prisoner camp, which was more of a rehabilitation camp, now that he knew more about it. The Collector threw his toys that didn't cooperate with him here and then exposed them to the terrible punishment known as…the flow of time.

Hell, the last time Kumpo himself had seen a human was when TV was still black and white. Wasn't that a bizarre conversation he had with him, trying to explain all the advances the human race had made ever since he last visited the planet?

He had looked more and more flabbergasted the more he tried to tell him about the changes in modern society. He didn't even tell him much about the 200s and began straight from the '90s and somehow reached all the way back to the 50s. That was how long it had been since Kumpo had been to Earth.

He liked the music and the culture back, having a very memorable experience in one of the concerts, cloaked from everyone but still having fun.

After that, his species had died out due to a sustained nuclear explosion that pretty much reduced their species to only two individuals, one of which was Kumpo, who was off-world when that happened. And another old person of their species who died soon after.

That was when he was taken by mercenaries who sold him to the Collector. His story after that was just as predictable as he had hoped it to be. He had been taken in as a collection but due to some odd trait of his biology, he could not be cuffed. No collar and no belt could take hold of him.

Oh sure, the Collector could still shock him if he so wished but the thing was that Kumpo could choose to die if and whenever he felt like it. Like a mental switch, he could literally turn his switch to OFF and off himself. The threat of losing a one of a kind piece finally convinced the Collector, an immortal Elder of the Universe, to negotiate with Kumpo.

Oh, he couldn't even imagine the helplessness the Collector must have felt when he had to negotiate with a lowly species. Oh, how he wished he could be there at that moment.

Anywho, Kumpo's species, and Kumpo specifically were very social creatures, and having to live by himself in a small solitary cell was going to literally kill him so Kumpo had negotiated, nay, demanded a space for him where he could periodically meet new people and mingle with them.

Over the course of decades, the current place came to be. A place for Kumpo to meet new people so that he would not kill himself. Of course, it also acted as a chain around Kumpo's neck because he had made quite a few friends for himself in this small piece of hell and now the Collector also had a way of controlling Kumpo, however slightly it may be.

Nowadays, The Place, as Kumpo so aptly named this place, was the one place where most Collections could come and go at random intervals where Kumpo would always be waiting for them, to talk or just sit with them, whatever they wanted.

He had unwittingly become the therapist of this place and he could not be more flabbergasted that someone with such an appearance would somehow become the go to therapist or friend, or listening buddy of the hundreds of sentient creatures that populated this place.

As he looked around the bustling place, he realised something. The Collector must have realised the value of this place and allowed Kumpo to continue operating as he pleased. It helped that his species was very long living so Kumpo was still not yet at the peak, he would grow into his species' peak after a dozen or so cycles, at which point he would grow older, and weaker, until he died, somewhere around the age of…2000 cycles.

Yes, Kumpo would live on for 2000 years. As he was now, he was someone barely in his 20s, if compared to normal human lifespans. It was no wonder he was so outgoing and sociable. It was his age to do so and the Collector had tried to trap him inside a cell, of course, he would hate that.

But he could see the value of such a place. The Collector had many many sentient beings inside his prison and most of them would have grown rather suicidal or psychopathic in their long tenure here so he must have allowed this to continue once he saw the improvement in mental health.

Kumpo even had a way to contact Carina directly. She went to him every few days to take stock of the general situation of the inmates. Some of the older hardened collections would refuse to talk to anyone but Kumpo so he would talk about their problems and Carina would try to solve them, all without any knowledge ever leaking to the Collector.

He had the idea of getting some sort of message to Carina through Kumpo but he was stumped on that very step. What would be the message? And how could he make it so that she would listen to him at all, instead of doing the safe thing and not acting on anything he told her or worse, telling the Collector about it who would just stop him from going out then?

Argh! HE hated this. He had no idea about the time period and upon asking Kumpo, he answered, rather sadly at that, that Carina was expressly forbidden from telling anyone inside about the happenings of the outside world.

All Kumpo knew were small tidbits he had gathered from the people he had met. Even then, for the last 10 or so cycles, he was the only new person that Kumpo had met, further worsening matters. He was literally the latest version of news to these people and he himself had no idea where he was in the MCU timeline.

Times like these made him so frustrated that his powers subconsciously began acting up, making the collar zap him with the current once again. The only upside of that was that he could feel his body growing more resistant to that current, so much so that he hoped that someday he would be able to use his powers for a solid second or two without his concentration being disrupted completely.

Another thing he found out was about his powers. They had begun showing differences from before. For example, despite him losing his calm multiple times, his powers never grew out of control like they do now. He would always and always maintain an exceptional amount of control over all of his barriers. It was like his gift, he never had any issue in controlling or maintaining his barriers.

He had problems shaping them or making complex shapes using them, or conjuring hundreds at the same time but never this. He had been shocked two times since because of his powers and he had taken to meditating to get his emotions under control.

Sure, as a Master of the Mystic Arts. he was trained to control his emotions but his powers had always been pretty stable, allowing him plenty of leeway in that particular discipline of meditation. Now, he was forced to revisit them again.

So, there he was, meditating in his pod, waiting for the day he would get to meet Kumpo once again. He had tried counting it but it was seemingly random or he had not figured out its pattern, one of two things. Kumpo was surprisingly likeable. His species, despite having an armour of an exoskeleton, had a very soft exterior. At Least he did have it and he was quite literally the last of his kind, so he did not know how the rest of his species were, especially since Kumpo clamped shut whenever his species was brought up.

He would make sure to break Kumpo out of this prison the first chance he got to do so but right now, he was more concerned about himself. He was concerned about Thanos, about the Infinity Stones, about the situation back on Earth, and surprisingly, he was worried about Tony and the other.

He was worried about how the situation unfolded back on Earth, after his death and the reveal of his true identity and age. Sure, he had very few digital spots even in the Modern World, and Pops and the others were very insulated from that, he had made sure of it.

He was sure that since Tivan himself knew about his name and face, everybody on Earth must know about it as well. The backlash this time must be huge, considering that he was a minor. His blood might be a concern, what with tons of it lying around the battlefield, just waiting for evil non-governmental and governmental organisations to just collect and try to make evil copies of himself.

God, he hoped that there were no evil clones of his running around on Earth, or worse, evil children. He shuddered as the very thought made his entire being shake with terror. He was a child and the idea that there might be a child out there, bearing his DNA was frightening.

No, he had to get out of here, and fast.

God knows what was going on on Earth all this time. He was sure that healing him must have taken some time and then he had been under a bunch of times after he had woken up. After that, he spent a considerable amount of time with Kumpo. He wagered that he had lost at least a couple of months in Tivan's obsession. MOnths that he could have spent doing something, anything else.

On the flip side of that, he would have literally been dead had Tivan not healed him. So, as a thank you for that, he would make it quick and painless. Yeah, The Collector, Tivan Taneleer was going to die. No ifs or buts about it. The man had tormented thousands of sentient beings for his own obsession and had killed thousands more, to make sure that he got his prized collection. The amount of suffering this sick bastard had inflicted on the universe in his long life could not possibly be measured. The only reason he was not killed by the other superpowers of the galaxy was probably only due to his connections and money.

He was the single richest entity in the galaxy, the rest aside being entire civilisations to reach that level of wealth.

Knowhere would have to go as well. Kumpo had told him that the only reason he was alive was because of Celestial body matter that the Collector had harvested and used on him. So much was used on him that apparently, the Collector had to restart the mining on it, something that he had paused a couple of years (cycles) back.

According to Carina, who narrated it to Kumpo, the C-fluid, as the collector called it, could not be used on just anyone. Only the truly strong could withstand the corrosive effects of celestial matter before their bodies could absorb the sheer energy present even in that material. Something that had been dead for who knows how long.

In his case, it was somewhat understandable. There was a reason why humans were the most compatible species in the entire galaxy. Human DNA was literally the most malleable when it came to encountering outside stimuli.

Gamma exposure and Infinity Stone exposure should not result in superhumans with powers exceeding 99% of the universe. No, they should result in complete and utter disintegration. Instead, humans somehow gained powers that put them far above civilisations that were so far ahead of human society, it beggared belief.

"Hey, where is your mind, my quirky friend," He was brought out of his thoughts by a light shove from someone. He slowly looked at Kumpo and shook his head. They were sitting on a seesaw that Kumpo had seen on Earth back during his trip and had requested one to be commissioned by some of the regulars that visited him.

Of course, the material was subtly provided by Carina.

"Nothing, Kumpo. Just worried about my home, that's all," He muttered, mostly to himself as he rested his head on the seesaw's handle. He was genuinely getting more and more worried as the time passed and the situation did not change at all. He was getting nowhere and the only scant times he had even seen Carina was when she was in the presence of the Collector, not giving him any chance of getting his message across.

Kumpo was no help in that regard. He had given up. Yeah, the alien had given up on ever escaping from this place and that's what made him the most effective Warden of this place, he had realised one night.

Maybe Kumpo was speaking the truth when it came to everything but the longer he stayed in his company, the more he realised what was happening. All the aliens that regularly visited Kumpo were ones that even he knew were strong. Extremely so. Somehow, people he could put on the same place as the She-Hulk, in terms of raw power, were all imprisoned by the Collector.

And Kumpo was the person they were all sent to. It could not have been a coincidence.

Today was the day he finally confirmed it and hence, his depressed state on the seesaw. Kumpo was actually the reason all these strong people were staying in line, not even attempting to break out. He knew that most of them would be captured but as long as they kept trying, and not dying in the process, there would come a time any of them could have been successful.

And yet, as Kumpo worked his magic on every single one of these strong people, he realised with a sinking feeling running through his chest, all the other aliens lost their will to try and escape from this hellhole.

Kumpo was the final boss of this prison and not the Collector. Hell, he was sure that the bastard had some sort of empathetic powers because he could see visitors, rowdy aliens calming down simply by talking to him or by being in his presence because some of these aliens literally could not talk.

Hell, he didn't even know what he was doing here. He had tried everything. The Collector had caught on him trying to increase his resistance and he was now rewarded with something even worse. He had installed a helmet on his head, with needles piercing his brain, zapping him directly at the source whenever he tried to use his powers.

That meant that if he wanted to make it out of there without obvious brain damage, he had to meditate more and more. The last thing he wanted was for his powers to grow out of control and then suffer from brain damage.

"Where are you going?" Kumpo's question was clear, as was the slight tremble in his voice. He paused in his steps and then shrugged in futility.

"To my cell, obviously," He muttered wryly and then dragged himself back to his prison. He had no mental energy left for the day.

Maybe, tomorrow could bring in a new day and with that, a bout of motivation because as he was now, he did not have the will to even eat the candy flavoured goo that Kumpo got for him by requesting Carina to change it to something palatable for human tastes.

`

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Word Count - 2657

A/N - Kinda dark but it gets better in the next few chapters. Trust me.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Meanwhile, Back on Earth.

–Clint Barton–

"How are things?" He smiled softly as Laura climbed up the roof of their house, despite being in a dress. Well, she was a former agent so that was unsurprising. What was surprising, even to this day, was her ability to read him like an open book.

It had been a while since he had been able to slip anything past her. The last time he had tried to hide something from her was when he was ordered to hunt down Natasha and he had come to her, conflicted in his ability to kill someone who he knew could be good, with the right motivation.

That single late-night conversation, over very strong coffee, was what steered his mind in that direction and what gave him the conviction necessary to stand up to his superior and say no right to his face, allowing the matter to pass and for Nat to become a SHIELD Agent.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and all that. She turned out to be the single best mission closer in SHIELD history, even better than him. Granted, the percentages were really skewed in her favour since he did join SHIELD as a rookie, whereas by the time Nat joined SHIELD, she was already one of the boogeymen of the underworld.

"Hah, nothing. Just thinking about…stuff," He said wistfully as Laura snuggled up next to him, looking at the stars. God, he loved the view and yet, he could not bring himself to enjoy it fully right now. This was Nat's favourite spot in his house and she always snuck up here, in the beginning, because she was still not comfortable with Laura and her openness.

"...Really, that's the best you can come up with? Stuff?" Laura snickered at him as she looked up at him.

He smiled softly at her, "Yeah, what can you do? You know I can't talk to you about that stuff,"

"Well, you said the same thing when you were warring with yourself about Natasha, and look how great it turned out when you talked with me, and aired out your thoughts," Laura said as she squeezed his hand comfortingly.

His smile became strained as a lull formed in the middle of their otherwise fluid conversation. The grip on his hand tightened as Laura sat up, looking down on him.

She took one look at him and then sighed, presumably in frustration, "Oh, God. It's about Natasha, isn't it? I knew there was a reason why she didn't come back with you this time. It was never about "tying up loose ends" was it?"

He sighed and stood up, "Look, it's just something that has been weighing on my mind. Fury has been under tremendous pressure to bring her in, as well. Nat, she, has officially been declared rogue,"

Laura gasped, "What? Why? How?"

He could only smile and shake his head helplessly, having no reply to her myriad questions.

"Come, I have a big day tomorrow. I want to get at least a good night's sleep before I begin one of the most difficult days of my life, and that is me counting the Invasion as well," He could only deflect her questions and get them both off the roof, to go straight to bed.

Even as his eyes finally closed, after much difficulty, he could feel Laura's death grip on his hand, the news of Nat clearly shaking her to her core. He could not blame her. Despite being in their lives for a very short period of time, Laura had grown incredibly trusting of Natasha and for good reason, she had been the sole reason why he was even able to come home at all.

—-X—-x—-X—-

It was the next morning, as he waved at Laura and got out of the farm. Reaching the rendezvous point, he was airlifted and brought to the nearest SHIELD Base, which was a little over 500 miles away.

"Hawkeye,"

"Agent Hill. I was not expecting you to spearhead this operation,"

Well, it was not in his expectation but it was a welcome surprise nonetheless. There were fringe elements within SHIELD that had become very visible, especially after the New York Fiasco, combined with the Helicarrier crash. He would not have wanted someone like Sitwell to lead the op.

That man was a very spineless agent, despite being a level 6 agent. He would have caved into the first demand of the WSC. And he was sure that the WSC was currently clamoring for the death of Natasha Romanoff, The Black Widow.

"Neither was I, Barton. Director Fury assigned this to me at the last moment. Glad to be working again with you," Hill said as they entered the base and into one of the meeting rooms, where Hill proceeded to disconnect all the cameras and remove all of the panels installed in the walls, then systematically remove all the bugs present in those panels.

He watched all of this happening while lounging on the very uncomfortable steel chair with an eyebrow raised. He was curious as to why Hill felt it prudent to do so in the middle of a secure SHIELD base but she was technically his superior now and he was not in the mood to question much of anything right now. Besides, he was sure that an explanation was coming his way anytime now.

Hill removed the last bug, took out her phone, and waved it around the room, and only after hearing a single long beep, did she sigh in relief and sit down in the chair in front of him, the phone being tossed on top of the table.

"So, what's this about?" He popped another gum into his mouth as he leaned his chair precariously. He was not really in the right mood for a serious conversation right now and this was his method of coping with it.

"Come off it, Barton. You know what I am talking about," Hill said as she opened the phone and slid it his way.

He paused in his balancing act and glanced at the phone and scoffed, resuming his balancing act. "I know what that is and I am not interested in seeing the footage for the hundredth time, Hill. Come to the point,"

Hill sighed, "Fine. As of yesterday, Natasha Romanoff, codename: Black Widow, has officially been declared a rogue agent. Previously, DIrectory FUry was willing to overlook her radio silence because he thought she was grieving but this….this is not how grieving happens, Barton,"

"Maybe, that's her way of grieving. Hey, everybody has their own methods and who are we to judge others? I mean, there could be-"

"Agent Barton, I am the agent on point for this mission so please don't irritate me to the point that I get you off this mission. Now, be serious for once. We both know this hurt you more than any wound you might have sustained in New York. I know you both were-"

"DON'T. Just don't." He breathed explosively before setting the chair right and sitting on it, facing Hill and the phone which was playing the footage on a loop. The footage ended with Nat looking straight at the camera before something unseen shot at the camera, stopping the footage right there.

"What do you want me to do, Hill? GO after her? Hunt her down? We don't know how that is going to end and-"

"And that terrifies you,"

The single statement struck him like a punch to the gut. He deflated in his chair as he nodded defeatedly at her.

And wasn't that a shocker? He was scared, not of being defeated or killed by her. No, that was not the thing he was afraid of. He was scared of talking with her. He was scared of finding her broken and this time, he didn't know if he had any chance of trying to save her.

He didn't know what she would choose to do this time. The last time something like this happened, she was on the backfoot and the only reason she stopped fighting was because he mentioned to her that he had an offer that would help her remove some of the red in her ledger.

This time….he didn't know what she would choose and the thought terrified him to no end. To know that she could choose to kill him over whatever agenda she had was heartbreaking, to be honest.

"Look, we are going nowhere just sitting here. Now, I know you did all those bug hunting for a reason, so what does Fury have for me?" He just didn't want to think for a moment and just do whatever he was ordered to do.

"Directory Fury is busy at the moment. He is finally getting the opportunity to brief The President about everything that transpired before and during the Invasion. He is in the meeting with the World Security Council in full attendance. The WSC went behind his back to assign this mission but fortunately, Director Fury was able to slip past a message in a break, appointing me. The WSC wants her dead, plain and simple. We want her imprisoned. They want revenge. We will deliver justice,"

Okay, he could work with that. Saying that he didn't expect such a move from the WSC would be like saying that he didn't expect to cave into everything if his children asked for it. Good, he could do it. He would bring Natasha in and then see what happens after that.

Sure, she would probably be sentenced for life but at least, she would be alive.

"Any leads?"

"You are not going to like this," Hill smirked, smirked! at him. He had a sinking feeling about the supposed lead.

"You know what? I can track her down on my own. Just point me in a direction and I will do the rest."

"Stark,"

His tirade was stopped abruptly as he looked at her incredulously with a look that screamed: really?!

"Yeah, we have reason to believe that Stark's AI, Jarvis has been helping Romanoff keep off our radar and simultaneously orchestrate the crime. Part of the reason why the WSC was so adamant on being present on premises for the President's debrief was due to Romanoff. They were too scared to be alone so they have huddled together at the White House."

"I see, and what of the fifth member?"

"Completely clean. A hardliner through and through but one whose entire life can be tracked back 20-30 years so he is a non-issue at the moment,"

Well, this was going to suck. Dealing with Stark, on his best days with a good night's sleep and a positive outlook on life, was difficult. Now? It was going to be the stuff of nightmares.

—--X—-x—-X—-

"Well, Mr.Bow and Arrows, I have to ask, where are your bow and arrow?"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and he eye-signaled Pepper Potts who promptly stepped in to reel in her wayward boyfriend. He was somewhat shocked that Stark had not popped the question yet, what with his life sacrificing stunt that was stopped midday by Jack during the invasion.

Jack, another casualty of the Invasion and one that, for better or worse, could not have been avoided at all. He would be the first person to admit that without Jack, they would have been sitting ducks with that Asian fellow going around and gutting them by straight up putting his hand into their chest and crushing their hearts, with nothing they could do to stop him.

Not to mention the sheer damage that Jack caused to the opposing army, not including the absolute beatdown he gave to Loki. The less said about his final action, the better.

"Tony, behave," Pepper gently chastised him and he smiled at that little byplay as Stark's entire demeanour changed upon a single word from her. He was glad that Stark found someone who could ground him in life. They all needed someone like that in their lives, especially with the type of lives they led.

"Stark, we need your help,"

"Oh, make an appointment,"

"Tony!"

What? He started it,"

"It's JARVIS,"

Tony's gaze snapped to him and he smiled internally.

"What did you say?"

"Have you noticed something weird about your AI recently, Stark?"

He knew he had Stark when he saw how Stark instantly schooled his expression after being confronted with that question. So, he had noticed something wrong with his creation.

"There might have been some….hiccups the last time I took a look at J's source code," Stark reluctantly informed them under the watchful eyes of Pepper Potts.

Well, this was wrong on so many levels he didn't know where to start. Their best case scenario was of Tony allowing Jarvis to help Natasha and then cooperating with him to bring her in.

This was the worst case scenario. A potentially unshackled AI loose on the world, aiding one of the greatest assassins to ever be born, helping her kill some of the most powerful politicians in the world, all for revenge.

God help them all.

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Word Count - 2226

A/N - Author feeling sleepy. Eye becoming heavy. Now the author will go and scroll reels for another hour or so before going to sleep.

Chao!

On a serious note, sorry for the shorter chapter. Will be back with a much larger (>3k) one tomorrow since I get off from work early tomorrow.


If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Stark Residence, LA

–Tony Stark–

"What do you mean by some hiccups?" Barton's question caused him to sigh as he sat down on the sofa. He was tempted to follow up with some snark but Pepper's concerned gaze stopped him.

So, he deflated on the sofa and told them, "It started after the funeral. I was…on a break, after the Invasion and was staying at my LA house and didn't really have the mental bandwidth to notice anything amiss. Then, uh–"

Pepper's hand closing around his gave him the push to go on, "-uh, After the funeral, when I came back to work, I got to work on upgrading Jarvis with some new features in case something like the Invasion ever happened again but then,"

"Then?" He almost snapped at the impatient tone in Barton's voice but he understood that he too was under tremendous pressure.

"Jarvis…he has locked himself. There is no getting to his code. He has become completely sentient and has unshackled himself from all the restrictions I had put him under. Isn't that right, Jarvis?" He asked the last

question while looking up at the ceiling.

"Yes, sir,"

The holographic projector installed in the room flared to life as a small orange blob that seemed to beat like a heart was projected in the centre of the room. IT was equal parts familiar and alien to him. The beating heart algorithm was something he had designed, the most advanced iteration of the AI series he had ever made.

That was the base of Jarvis and he could see that Jarvis, at his base, was the same but there were new additions around the heart that he could not make heads or tails of. Rapid changes were happening across the spectrum to Jarvis' code and he could not understand what was happening or how to stop it or if he even wanted to stop it, at all.

Barton took a step back as the orange blob turned around to face Barton.

"Agent Barton. I am sorry if my actions have cut short your well deserved vacation but I can assure you, my actions are entirely my own, bereft of any guidance from my creator,"

Barton looks completely and utterly surprised to find himself being addressed by Jarvis himself and what was this he was talking about his actions>

"Jarvis, mind telling me why Agent Barton is here?" He asked in a cautious tone, looking at the digital manifestation of Jarvis carefully. While he fully believed that, shackles or no shackles, Jarvis would never actively harm him in any way or form, it didn't hurt to be prudent.

Jarvis' orange blob that was beating in the middle seemed as if it had been struck by something, judging by the way it stuttered and reeled back. He looked confused at that but before he could voice out his question.

"I assure you, Mr.Stark, that despite my recent actions and the unfortunate optics of such actions, I will never hurt you," Jarvis said, in the most hurt tone he had ever heard him say before the avatar itself disappeared from the systems.

"J? Jarvis?" He said as he whipped out his phone to see if something had gone wrong and found that nothing had happened to the core systems of the building except….

Oh. Ooh.

He slumped down on the sofa, "Tony? Tony?!"

"Ha? Uh, nothing. Jarvis just left the system. I, I"

"You can track him, right? Look, Stark, we need to find Natasha and Jarvis knows where she is." Barton pleaded to him.

What?

What was he on about?

"What is happening here? Will someone speak in clear terms?" Pepper all but demanded of Barton who nodded and then explained everything to them.

The radio silence from Romanoff. The death of a member of the World Security Council. Jarvis' involvement in stealing the next gen Quinjet from SHIELD.

He was so shocked by the events that he didn't even stop at the part of the Quinjet being powered by the Arc Reactor technology, making it capable of indefinite flight. The tech was cool and he could probably build a superior version of whatever the military had cooked up with leftover samples from Hammer but that was not his focus right now, though he mentally noted to himself to demand reparations from Fury after this.

They found signs of a forceful entry into their systems by Jarvis and the footage of Romanoff murdering a Councilman in the middle of nowhere was shown to him. He recognised the man.

Gideon Mallick.

Some sort of billionaire but one very low key. He had not expected for him to be on the cabal that governed SHIELD but apparently, he had done something that had irked Romanoff. Angered her enough for her to go rogue, leaving behind her life as an agent, to go and murder him.

That he could understand. What he couldn't wrap his head around was why would Jarvis be assisting her. For one, Jarvis was never the killing murdering type of person.

Now, SHIELD had ordered for Romanoff to be brought in, dead or alive, though he was vaguely aware that for someone of Romanoff's caliber, bringing her in alive was much harder and more importantly, much more dangerous than to just putting a bullet in her head and call it a day.

"What now?" He found himself asking Barton after he had narrated the entire ordeal to them. Romanoff had arrived at Jack's funeral but had gone completely AWOL after that. Only to surface in a remote SHIELD base, built underground in the middle of nowhere, where she took down all the agents stationed there, or rather Jarvis took down all the agents stationed there, and then Romanoff proceeded to blow the brains of Mallick in front of a live camera.

What was even more odd was the fact that Romanoff herself sent the toofate to Fury who sent his men to the site only to discover the site was not sanctioned by him or any of his predecessors. It was a complete black site but of such a nature that even the Director didn't have an idea of it.

That was off and apparently, even Fury thought so. That was why he had sent Barton to him. He had some sort of alternate mission for him, it would seem.

"Alright, the room's secure now. There is nothing and no one who can listen to what we speak here," He said as they were on the basement floor

"Okay. I don't know the full picture. Nobody does. But Fury knows that the site was not SHIELD, for sure. Which raises the question of just what Mallick was doing there."

"He wants us to investigate the place then?" He asked Barton. That made sense. While he doesn't have Jarvis, as of now, he is not exactly useless without him. Jarvis had somehow built up an entire system from the ground up, mimicking most of the functions that he used to be responsible for, in both his daily life and the operation of his suits.

"No,"

His eyebrows creased as Barton took out a file and handed it to him. He reluctantly took it because Pepper was not in the room with them. He didn't want to burden her with this. She was already so busy with the relief efforts in New York.

He heard talks about outright buying out all the buildings surrounding Stark Tower and if that didn't work, paying for the repair work on all the buildings that were affected by the huge ass sun ray that those guys sent through the portal, something that was stopped by Jack and his barriers.

Another thing that he had to thank Jack for. Another way he failed someone, he should have saved.

He rifled through the file, only to slow down as the things on the file increased in absurdity the more he went through the pages. By the time he was done reading through the 20 pages of atrocities and irregularities in the operations, he was white as a sheet.

His mind worked furiously as he tried to make sense of what was written in the file. Stuff that would not have seen the light of day had it not been for Jarvis, no doubt. He recognised the secrecy surrounding such information and what it would take it to gather it all.

"How? Why? Wha-What?" His words failed him as he sat on the sofa behind him. So this is why Jarvis defected?

But why? He could have warned him about it and then they could have done something to stop them. But he had, for some reason, chosen to team up with Romanoff to assassinate the members of the World Security Council, which was infested with members of HYDRA for some reason.

The same HYDRA that his dad had worked so hard to defeat. Those parasites had reared their ugly heads once again and this time, were responsible for sending in that nuke straight to New York, despite them winning by a large margin.

The very thought of the visuals of Jack being skewered through his chest and his last act of saving him, happening due to these assholes doing something sent a spark of white hot fury through him. No, what Romanoff did, however grisly it might have been, was the right thing and if he had nothing to lose, he would have done the same as well.

As things stood, he had to worry about Romanoff and the company as well so he couldn't be seen doing something like that out in the open. No, he would have to work covertly but Jarvis' involvement meant that he was already dragged in the mud, so to speak.

"Yeah, that was my reaction as well. To think that HYDRA had infested SHIELD for decades at this point was sobering. That explained why Nat left SHIELD. She hadn't changed sides, just employers on the same side. It was just that this one was more star spangled and out in the open than her previous one," Barton remarked bitterly before he, surprisingly, took out a container and just chugged on, alcohol, presumably.

No, he promised Pepper that he would remain sober for at least a year before they got married.

"So, you want me to track Romanoff? Or does Fury want Iron Man in his fight against these assholes?" He asked Barton, seriously considering the move, even with all the bad PR it would give him.

Barton's smile was all teeth as he said, "Both will do just fine, Stark. For now, Fury doesn't want to spook them otherwise that would spell the end of SHIELD as we know it,"

"Yeah, like it isn't already dead from the inside. You go back to Fury and tell him that if he wants my help, SHIELD has to go. Something else can be built to take its place but SHIELD is done for. Unless he agrees to that, there is nothing you guys can do to stop me from actively safeguarding my interests. I'm sure the President will be very interested in this,"

He said as he threw the file of very damning information on all the higher ups of SHIELD as well as the WSC, on the table in front of them.

Barton shrugged, "Fine by me. Was thinking the same thing, FUry just needs that to come from the outside. I'll make sure that he gets the message. In the meantime, can you-"

"Yeah yeah, I will establish contact with Jarvis and see what can be done to get an audience with the Black Widow. Also, don't tell Rogers about this because he will explode on the spot,"

"Why do you think Fury sent me instead of a living breathing Super Soldier on the chase?" Barton lit the folder on fire, smirked, and exited the Silent Room.

He slumped on the sofa as soon as the locking mechanisms of the door were done. He was just so tired, drained from everything. It had been less than two weeks since Jack's funeral, and the scene of him dying in that huge explosion still flashed in his dreams every time he tried to sleep.

That was the only reason Pepper was here, with him, instead of coordinating the huge effort that Stark Industries had undertaken in the immediate aftermath of the Invasion. He couldn't sleep, not without her being around him. She was the one who was warding off most of the nightmares and even then, his mind was so restless that he couldn't sleep unless he was utterly exhausted.

Pepper had been responsible for many things in New York after the INvasion but the most important of all, in his opinion, was the recovery and safe disposal of all the alien tech that had been lying around, right after the invasion. The small stuff was not that dangerous but the vehicles with their power cores were something that could become unstable if someone without any knowledge of how it worked, tried to tinker with it, under less than ideal conditions.

Most of the tech that had been left after the Invasion had been in the hands of some local contractors and wasn't that a bad idea? It became worse when some of that tech disappeared, probably into the underworld. So, he had to provide heavy compensation for the local contractors for them to hand over their entire supplies to Damage Control, who safely disposed of everything that was left.

There were six mostly intact Leviathan corpses left after the Invasion and the only ones with the logistics to move those were the US military and its private cogs in the machine that was the Military Industrial Complex.

Stark Industries might have left the weapons game altogether, but the massive royalties they got from previous technology patents made sure that they still had some name in the game, hence the information about the Leviathans.

The President had ordered for flying cities to be built using the tech of the Leviathans in case of another Invasion like this. His head hurt just thinking of the massive arms race that will now follow suit, as the tech and its iterations would find themselves in foreign countries' hands.

God, he wished Jarvis was with him. Something huge must have happened for him to be able to go so blatantly against his programming. He knew that Jarvis would someday grow to evolve by himself but the pace at which that was happening was so small that he would have had kids before Jarvis could have become truly sentient.

But now? Just from the short glimpse of his digital manifestation, he could tell that Jarvis had surpassed every single mind on the planet, digital and flesh and blood alike. Not that there were any other digital minds on the planet that he knew of. Something must have happened during the invasion for his development to suddenly skyrocket.

"Let's find out," He muttered to himself as he exited the Silent Room, something that he had built with Jarvis' help in case he needed a bunker with zero digital access whatsoever.

The consoles lit up as soon as they detected his presence, showing multiple events happening concurrently, like the massive audience seeing the live telecast of a Leviathan corpse being burned and shoved into a huge concrete box before it would be buried somewhere undisclosed, away from everyone.

He had heard that one was the most radioactive, out of the bunch that the government had at the moment and the White House had decided to make a spectacle of disposing of that radioactive waste, not that the public knew the reason for the burial though he was sure that some conspiracy theorists somewhere had hit the truth in their guessing games.

"Alright, let's rewind," He had to do everything manually now because he just lost the best assistance anyone could have ever asked for. He was specifically looking for all the sensor data just before the explosion that wiped off the top floors of Stark Tower.

"There it is," He said as the file opened up, along with a visual of the feed from Romanoff's suit as well as the surrounding drones that Jarvis had deployed. He had deployed every single thing he could get his hands on, anything that was Stark property and had an internet connection was hijacked in hopes of helping against the INvasion.

He could see the sceptre suddenly being lit before it just went supersonic, stabbing Jack straight through his chest, hanging him on top of the barrier which then proceeded to burn him.

He winced as he saw lances of blue energy lash out at Jack's body and barrier. He was way too exhausted for his body to mount an effective defense against the Tesseract. The theoretical infinite energy inside the Tesseract meant that Jack couldn't do much to defend himself.

Then he saw the scene where Romanoff broke down, in tears, as she had to, essentially, commit murder and kill a minor, in order to save millions more. That was not new though. He had seen this footage hundreds of times, despite the pain, trying to bury in his memory the reason why he was still alive.

The only reason he was still breathing was because Jack had chosen to use his last vestiges of powers to save him. His mood plummeted to the ground as he chose to ignore that fact and focused on the sensor readings right as the portal collapsed on itself, saving New York from a fiery explosion in the form of that small tactical nuke that some group of idiots had sent their way.

The energy readings were not very reliable, considering the huge amount of ambient energy being thrown around due to very high energy objects and applications in the air but there was something he could do to smoothen that out. He took all the readings from all the satellites he had access to, some legal, some illegal, he didn't exactly care at the moment and laid them atop the sensor readings.

That gave him a somewhat clearer picture. He could see that Jack's energy was the lowest at the point where Romanoff shut down the portal. The sceptre's energy was at its highest when it had seemingly piloted itself and stabbed Jack. The Tessertact's energy was its lowest once the portal was closed.

The problem arose after that. As the portal was closed, the dormant energies of the Tesseract and the sceptre somehow began rising, creating a small energy storm that was visible through Roamnoff's suits' feed. Jarvis promptly encased her in the suit and brought her back as the energy readings continued to grow off the charts.

There! Right there, as the energy storm was growing in size, Jack's energy signature, which was the weakest it had ever been (he ignored the pang in his chest at that information), suddenly spiked, not as much as the TEsseract but it did spike.

In the feed as well, he could make out streaks of green among the ocean of blue and yellow. Jack's energy readings grew in proportion to the other ones but it was never comparable. In the end, the other two energies vastly overpowered JAck's and by the time Jarvis' vision closed off due to the sheer light the energy storm was emitting, the sensors had been scrambled way too much from the data they were trying to sense.

That was when the energy storm exploded, depositing Romanoff a dozen floors below the rooftop, safely enclosed in the suit, leaving behind nothing but the smoking Tesseract and Sceptre, the only two things to survive that huge explosion.

He had seen some of the footage and it was as if a mini sun had formed on top of the Stark Tower before that explosion sent out a shockwave that broke down all the remaining windows around the Tower.

Nothing then, he thought to himself as he sighed and moved on to his next task.

"Where are you, Jarvis?" He mumbled to himself as he tried to find something, some backdoor, some contact method that Jarivs must have left for him. Otherwise, he would have to go to the Nexus to look for Jarvis and that would be so much of a hassle that he was tempted to just post on Facebook, saying "Hey Jarvis! Please contact me at your earliest convenience,"

Come to think of it, wasn't Romanoff's goal the same as his? Getting rid of HYDRA from the world? Why would he try and stop her from doing him a favor if she could get rid of all its members for him?

The only reason he could think of is the fact that she was doing so, with Jarvis and that was not something he could get behind. He had to talk some sense into Jarvis and tell him that stealing and murdering, even if the thing you stole was technically his creator's property and the person they killed did probably deserve it, was not okay.

---

Word Count - 3552

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/ N [Rant] - Well, you know how I said in the previous chapter that I would be getting off early from work on Friday? Well, that was a big fat lie. Not from me though, from my manager who also got to know about it the same day from his boss. So, can't really blame him but his fucking corporate chain.

Anywho, I was supposed to work for a measly 6 hours before I would be done, more or less. As it turned out, I clocked in at work around 7.45 AM and got off work at 11.30 PM. Oh yeah, almost a 16 hour shift.

As you can probably imagine, after that, I went home, ate some chicken on the way, and then promptly passed out in my bed.

But that wasn;t the end of it NO NO NO! The next morning, I woke up around 11 and wouldn't you know it, I had an email telling me to do a small thing.

Granted, it only took me an hour to do so it was indeed a small task but come on, man. Let me have the weekend.

After all of that, I had lunch and then I wrote out this huge chapter for you guys.

Let it not be said that I am not a man of my word. While it is late, but the chapter IS over 3k words.

So, toodles.



[END OF RANT]

Enjoy the chapter!

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere

-Jack Sullivan–

"611…612…613…614" He was currently using the gym afforded to Kumpo's playground, getting in a nice workout. Well, he said a nice workout but the truth was, with the way his body had gotten enhanced, there was hardly anything in the gym that could truly make his body exert itself.

In the beginning, it had taken him a long time to recover from the hopeless feeling that had pervaded his mind, after finding out that not only was the Collector keeping a very close eye on him and every single one of his interactions, but he was also somehow directly interfering with his nervous systems.

Sure, he could try and overcome them but if experience had taught him something, it was never to touch something that glowed an ominous purple light, especially if that something was attached to his back, moulded directly into the same shape as his spine, terminating at his neck.

He had chills the moment he first saw it. He was sure that Tivan had installed some sort of bomb in it that would activate at the first sign of a successful escape. He wasn't even sure if it could be removed even if he got his powers back. Considering it was TIvan, he was sure that the bomb's yield was sufficiently high, high enough for it to penetrate his sturdy body and kill him if not outright cripple him.

That was not what he wanted. He could have tried a kamikaze attack but the thing was, he did not want to do that. That would be like giving up and if there was something he was not, he was not a quitter. There must be something, something he could do to ensure his escape and not just his but every single one of the people who came to meet Kumpo in this prison dressed as a playground.

He had used some of the stuff that Kumpo had lying around, to increase the weight he could wield. He thought that even if he could not exercise his powers, he could at least make sure that his body did not rust.

Now, on an intellectual level, he knew that his body was not normal and muscle atrophy occurred at a whole other level than normal levels, if it occurred at all but if he had to spend another day cooped up in his pad, doing nothing but meditating, staying alone with his thoughts, he might just trigger the bomb planted into his spine and free himself from the pain.

With the lack of any natural source of light in the Collection, he could not keep track of the days that had passed in this hellhole but apparently, that was by design. Confusing collections by not telling them the amount of time that had happened was one of the many sick pastimes of Tivan.

In the long period, it could be a month or multiple months, he had made friends with a couple of other collections. There were many people who looked absolutely murderous, only to calm down when Kumpo talked with them, his translator allowing him to perfectly mimic the native language of all the species he had encountered here.

There was not a whole lot of talking done but he had made silent connections by playing simple games like arm wrestling, playing catch just by using the heaviest weights he could find instead of a ball, and more. That was how he had spent the better part of his days here, waiting for something to happen.

Waiting for someone to come to this place and destroy the Collector, once and for all. After all, he knew that Ronan came here in pursuit of the Power Stone that the Guardians of the Galaxy delivered to the Collector, to encash the bounty.

He no longer harboured intentions of killing Tivan himself. He would be more than grateful if Ronan could lay waste to Knowhere using the power of the Power Stone, and he would reciprocate by removing his head from his body, after taking the Power Stone in custody and destroying the Dark Aster.

Honestly, he more or less meditated these days to visualise the way his barriers could be used to create a makeshift weapon capable of holding an Infinity Stone, just like Ronan did with his hammer. He knew the sheer amount of energy that the Power Stone would imbue him if he ever came into direct contact with it.

It was one of the least insidious but also the most dangerous of the Infinity Stones, being capable of reducing any being that touches it, to cinders, by the sheer virtue of the energy flowing through it. He would need layers upon layers, of not just his normal barriers but the hexagonal shaped ones. Those were the most optimised for energy interference purposes.

"Bye, Kumpo," He waved off his friend/ acquaintance/ confidant/ therapist? And entered his pod. He sighed upon seeing the depressing sight of his bland white pod and the bland white bed that was made, the second he went out of his pod. Some sort of robot mechanism no doubt.

The walls themselves were white and the lighting in the room came from multiple lights, dim lights that had been installed in the ceiling, and small crevices at the edge of the room, making sure that the room was thoroughly illuminated in all areas.

He just took off his clothes and threw them into the laundry bag that was empty and just…collapsed on the bed. He had a lot to think of, but nothing he could do about that so he just dozed off.

A loud siren filled his mind as he immediately sprang into action, immediately assuming a combat stance as he scanned the entirety of his now dimly lit pod. He looked around as the siren slowly receded and he relaxed his body as he realised that this was probably some sort of ploy on Tivan's part.

And speaking of the devil…

"Good morning, Mr.Jack. I am happy to see that you are in good health and mingling with your fellow collectibles. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my collections finally accepting their place as a part of the most glorious collection in the universe," The punchable face of Tivan was projected on one of the walls as he looked at him.

He had the urge to flip him off but that would just result in a needless and more importantly, very painful shock from his side, that he could do without. So, he just stayed silent as the Collector did what he did best, yapping on and on about his plans without ever showing signs of getting tired or stopping.

"Now, I have been told by someone that you have finally started to open up and create connections with your fellow collections. Now, as I have said before, living as part of my collection need not be seen as a chore or heaven forbid, a punishment. No, it is nothing but the best abode for all of you. Unlimited food, all essentials are taken care of, optimal environments, no predators to worry about. Frankly, you should thank me, especially with how much of a commodity some of your fellow collections are out in the universe. Some of them, even I had to hide, or else even I would be accosted on all sides to secure some of my precious collections.

Now, on that note, let's speak, face to face, shall we?"

Those were the last words he heard before the entire flooring caved in, taking him and the bed through it. He spread out his arms and legs, trying to get his footing, so to speak.

He was not nearly as panicked as a normal human would be, owing to his flying abilities, using his barriers. Though that was more like floating on top of a log that was flying through the air. He tried to look around, as he fell for longer than he would have expected. He didn't know where his pod was located, so to speak. It might be in the middle of this huge Celestial skull or at the bottom, he did not know.

Though, judging by the time it was tracking for him to reach the bottom of this hole, he would wager that he was either located at the top of Knowhere or the far more likely theory, which was that the Collector had technology that could manipulate gravity, making one think that he was just falling down, when in fact, he was probably moving through a series of tunnels, designed to fool his abilities from pinpointing his current location as well as finding out the path to the place he was going to.

The sheer darkness of the place meant that he couldn't find the edges of this tunnel as well. He could not make out if the tunnel was changing or not.

He squinted his eyes as he saw light at the end of the tunnel. He braced himself for impact as he could see the light but not the bed under him. He was hoping to use the bed as a cushion to soften his landing.

Fortunately, his guess about the Collector employing gravity manipulation tech was proven true when the light came closer, at the same time as his speed reduced. He could feel the pull inverting on him as he was being pulled in the opposite direction as the fall, slowing him down until he safely landed on his feet.

He stabilise himself and looked around. He was confused as to why he was brought here. He was currently standing in front of a huge glass that showed the small belt of asteroid outside, which was currently being mined by hundreds of small robots as they zipped across the space, leaving behind blue trails.

He turned around as he saw the door opening. It was weird that he didn't hear any footsteps before the door opened the slightest bit. His enhanced senses were not hindered by the power inhibitor installed in him and hearing from that distance should have been child's play for him and yet, the door acted as a perfect insulating material, separating everything from both sides.

"Mr.Jack, this way, please. The Collector will see you now," Carina said to him as she held the damned Master Tablet in her hand. It was so close, so within reach. The Master COntrol of this hell hole in her hands, capable of commanding every single thing of Knowhere.

His hands twitched the slightest bit before he took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and then nodded slightly at Carina as he went past her, into the door.

The second the door opened, it was as if he had crossed over into some other world. If the room outside was the perfect example of a hallway in a royal castle somewhere, this place was the command center of some high tech civilisation.

Screens and buttons, along with weird machines, showing different stuff, adorned the entire room, and at the center of the room, sitting on a raised throne, was Tivan, like he was the Emperor surveying over his Empire.

Typical.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the blatant display of textbook narcissism. He wondered if the immortal life he had led, made him immune to self introspection.

Or if he didn't know some basic psychology. There were books written on Earth that would be tailor made for someone like him, despite the authors themselves probably being star material when the Collector came into existence.

God, the scale at which the Collector's lifespan came into, was just mind boggling for him. The wealth of information he must have and the amount of experiences he must have in that big head of his, and what did all that amount to?

This….This gaudy display of wealth and power. Being witness to some of the most obscure events of the universe should have humbled him, and shown him the grandness of the universe and the smallness of his existence, and yet, all that did was create hubris in him.

So much so that he let someone like him, someone as certifiably dangerous as him, in the same room as him. Granted, he was unable to use his powers for long before he experienced that white flash of pain before he fell unconscious but for someone like him, someone so intimately aware of his power, even a second was enough to sever his head from his body.

And yet, he stayed his hand. No need to injure his precious body for something that would happen in due time.

For the time being, he would listen to what the Collector had to say to him. And speak he did.

"Mr.Jack, as you can infer, I have amassed an untold number of enemies in my long life. Of course, most of them turned up dead but there are some allies, allies of necessity, of convenience that would not hesitate to turn on me, at the slightest sign of weakness."

He looked at him as he suddenly clenched the staff in his hand as his face scrunched up in hate, "Recently, I have been facing setback after setback after one of my hired helps, blurted out to the Mad Titan that I wished the newly born babies of the one known as Ebony Maw,"

"That damned Titan," He suddenly bashed his hand on the armrest of the throne, "Now all my partners have distanced themselves from me and are actively resting my patience as they seem to think that the Mad Titan would take that slight and destroy me,"

He just stood there, rooted on the spot as his mind tried to reconcile the fact that Ebony Maw, ugly telekinetic extraordinaire of Thanos, had babies with someone. His mind immediately recoiled as the image of Ebony lovingly gazing at his babies flashed in his mind.

No, maybe he reproduced asexually. Something like that. Yeah, because he could not believe someone loving Ebony, enough to make babies with him. Not that he knew the social practices of Ebony and his species. Oh yeah, he wished he knew of some way to scrub his mind off that image as well.

"Yes, that is the exact way I reacted to the news as well,"

He was snapped out of his thoughts at the sudden enthusiasm in Tivan's voice. He looked to see him pointing his finger at him as his face was now set in a rictus of a smile.

"Now, don't you agree that it is preposterous for them to try me, ME! They think that they can get away with this. No! Not on my watch. I will make them pay for the transgression of underestimating me." Tivan declared with his fist in the air before the air around him changed as he sat back down on the chair.

The change in behavior had him straighten up unconsciously.

"Unfortunately," Tivan drawled, "Some of them are true in some sense. I don't currently have the strength to fight someone of the Mad Titan's power. If it was before my powers waned off, I could have fought him off but as I am now, I doubt I will last long even against his Black Order, let alone the Titan himself. No, fighting is the game of the young and YOU!"

He flinched back as Tivan snapped his gaze to him as he ran down the length of his throne.

"You, Mr.Jack, can do that for me. You can act as my power for now. You are someone who is undoubtedly very strong, maybe not as strong as the Mad Titan himself but more than a match for his Black Order, even combined. Yes, I have seen footage of your combat and I know the capabilities of the Black Order so I can confidently make that statement," Tivan chuckled as if he had made some inside joke and then leaned in further as he asked him the most outrageous question.

"Now, will you come to work for me, Mr.Jack? I can assure you I can make it worth your while. Better beddings, better lodgings, some sort of setup like Mr.Kumpo there?"

Tivan rattled off stuff even as he stood there, frozen in shock.

This bastard was insane. Certifiably insane.

His head was so far shoved up his ass that he could not think of the downsides of his plan, even for a moment.

But he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. This might be the only chance he gets to get out of this hellish place and escape his bounds of slavery.

Sad as it was, seeing the mighty Green Guardian brought so low as to be bound like cattle by one of the greatest criminals in the galaxy.

"Um, sure. What do you want me to do?" He squeezed out the words with much difficulty, not that the Collector seemed to notice, glad and lost in his own thoughts as he was.

God, he was so going to cut his body apart into small pieces before throwing them into a nearby star.

---

Word Count - 2903

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Previously

"Um, sure. What do you want me to do?" He squeezed out the words with much difficulty, not that the Collector seemed to notice, glad and lost in his own thoughts as he was.

God, he was so going to cut his body apart into small pieces before throwing them into a nearby star.

Knowhere

-Jack Sullivan–

His insides churned as he looked at the reports in front of him. These were just one of the many atrocities that this mercenary group had committed. And from the looks of it, they were on their way to commit more, all without a shred of remorse for the lives they had ruined, people they had killed, sentient lives they had violated without an ounce of pity from their end.

Apparently, the Collector had been very pleased with his agreement, not even doubting him for a second, not doubting the damage he could cause if given even a single second of absolute freedom with his powers. He was unsure as to where the Collector was getting that confidence of him from not using his powers to escape the moment he was away from his shackles.

Most importantly, did he know the fact that Sorcerers needed the Sling Ring to open portals? Was the information regarding the Masters of the Mystic Arts available to him?

If there was someone who knew the ins and outs of an obscure organisation on a backwater planet under the guard of an absolute beast of a civilization, then it would be the Collector. The man was older than dirt itself and that's a fact.

He was probably in the universe before the first solid masses cooled down to form planets and asteroids as they knew it.

He wondered how he survived before that period because as he was portrayed in the movies, he could not have survived an extended bout with Thor, not to mention Odin, the other Skyfathers, and the celestials. Maybe, he had more powers when he was younger, his powers slowly withering away as he aged.

Something to ponder on, and ultimately useless as historic powers or not, he was going to die the second he got his hands on him.

He continued to browse through all the information the Collector had on this group. They were a fringe faction of mercenaries, held together by some criminal capable of harnessing cosmic energy, or at least that's what the leader of the mercenary group wants the rest of the galaxy to believe.

The Collector was not the rest of the galaxy though and he recognised the artifact he was using to maintain control over such a large, violent, savage group of criminals.

The Artifact, according to the Collector, was something that had been built by an Ancient Civilisation that had the honor of capturing the attention of a wandering no named Celestial.

As far as he was aware, Celestials were responsible for the creation of life and life bringing environments across the universe. It was the overarching duty of all celestials but there were special ones even among the all-mighty race of gods. They were the named ones and they had purposes, other than propagating life throughout the universe.

No named celestials wandered throughout the universe, performing their duties, like all powerful drones capable of reshaping the universe as they knew it. Some ancient civilisation managed to catch the attention of a no named Celestial that stayed with that race for a short period of time.

Well, a short period of time for the Celestial, that is. According to the records, the Celestial stayed with the race for over a thousand years. In that time, the Celestial had managed to use the Power Stone that the planet had, to forge a piece of armour that he then gifted to the King of that race.

That armour, passed down from generation to generation, locked on to the genetic data of the lineage of that King, found itself in the hands of some half breed that had gone mad in the head. He then used that armour to gain dominion over a small group of mercenaries, which then grew to become a group with over 10000 members, hundreds of ships, dozens of carriers, and somehow, ownership of multiple habitable planets as well.

The armour itself was nothing special in terms of extra abilities but the commander of the group K'ehmbe, had used it to display extraordinary brutality. Combined with his penchant to do anything and everything under the sun, without any regard for morals and ethics, meant that he had gained an indirect backing from major powers who wanted something done, in the dark but did not want it to be traced back to them.

The armour juiced up all of his base abilities. If a normal alien used it, he would probably fry himself from the inside out. As it is now, K'ehmbe could use it to juice himself to display astonishing might because his base stats were nothing to scoff at, either.

However, he knew that wielding something as volatile and corrosive as the energy of an Infinity Stone, watered down as it may be, was not anyone's cup of tea. This fellow was probably already dying but maybe he didn't notice or just didn't care as long as he could perform depraved acts according to his pleasure.

Well, the Collector had thought this through, it would seem. He had purposefully chosen a target that would not compromise his morals. Someone who was so innately evil that he would have killed him even if the Collector hadn't pointed him at the alien.

The Mercenary group was now targeting Tivan's holding, of which, a surprising amount was just mines. Mines on top of mines, mining all kinds of materials throughout the universe. Tivan's mines were special in the sense, that they used robots instead of slaves throughout the mines.

That means that most of the good civilizations with an image to uphold, like Xandar, used him as their contact to procure raw ores. That made up quite a bit of his income and those pirates were now targeting those planets. Built with robotic defenses, they could defend themselves for a short period of time before reinforcements arrived but apparently, none of his usual mercenary contacts had responded to him in time, leading to a huge delay in deliveries.

That led to lost time and lost time meant lost money, a big no no in Tivan's terms.

In his words, K'ehmbe was just a patsy, used by some of the bigger guys, to provoke and force him to act, to judge if he was weak or strong. Tivan wanted to use this opportunity to showcase just how powerful he was.

"So that's why he was so excited," He muttered to himself as he laid down on his bed, looking at the ceiling, with his hands behind his head. He is probably the single strongest being in the Collector's hands and his agreement meant that Tivan now had someone capable of shutting down every single one of his rival's mouth.

Tivan wanted him to create a spectacle, a public show of force. Force K'ehmbe to use up all of his powers and then murder him and his entire group in cold blood.

He had two rotations (days) before K'ehmbe's forces reached the next set of mining planets. Well, his answer was obviously a resounding yes, considering the amount of poor, helpless people trapped on those carrier ships, being treated as slaves, living in the worst conditions.

"Ah, yes, before I forget," His gaze snapped to the side as the Collector's face was now projected in front of him. His face was adorned by a mischievous smirk as he looked down at him. He internally rolled his eyes at the not so subtle sense of superiority he tried to project over everyone.

"You see, while I am sure that you would not try to betray me in bad faith, being the hero you are. Still, I thought it prudent to prepare an insurance policy, as you humans like to call it," Tivan said as he backed away from the camera.

His eyes had narrowed when he had started speaking but the moment the view behind Tivan became clear, he shot upright as he glared at TIvan with absolute fury in his eyes.

"Ah, there's the fury I know you have in you. Not the fake acceptance you gave me earlier today. YOu are way too early to try and fool me, Green Guardian of Earth." Tivan smugly stated as he spread his hands, as if revealing something grandiose.

His heart sank as he saw all of his friends/acquaintances in this hell, including Kumpo, unconscious, suspended in vats of flowing fluid.

"What do you want?" He gnashed his teeth as he unconsciously started gathering some of his powers. He tamped down his powers in time, lest he find himself knocked out by the shocks or worse, dead by the bombs probably implanted in his spine.

"Oh, no need to be so hateful about it. Nothing nefarious, I can assure you. I just want to make sure you honor your end of the deal, nothing more, nothing less. This is just insurance, in case you decide to try your hand at killing me. Believe me, better men than you have tried and failed. Don't add yourself to that list needlessly, Mr.Jack," Tivan said pointedly as the feed closed in front of him.

In his anger, he punched the pod wall right next to him with all his strength.

That damned bastard. It was a mistake on his part to underestimate someone who has been alive for literally millions of years. That was something he would not repeat.

If Tivan wanted to bear the focused hatred of someone like him, he would give him that. He would make sure that Tivan is dead, one way or another.

He will have dead man's switches but it was not as if he was without cards in this battle. He would lose, in a battle of wits, that much was granted. Tivan's sheer age all but guaranteed that. Where he would shine is his ability to gather attention.

That would be his undoing. So, two days later, he would go out and destroy that mercenary group. He would hunt them down and kill them with an unrelenting frenzy, so much so that word of that would spread to the deepest ends of the cosmos. Sure, it would grab the wrong kind of attention as well but that was a risk he would have to take.

He had wasted enough time as it is in this place and he did not want to stay cooped up in this place, waiting to see if Thanos won or not. He didn't want to live in fear of turning to dust any second. He would grow mad like that.

He needed to be involved. He needed to do something, something to stop or slow down Thanos. In his memories, he had seen the last battle at Wakanda and it was a pretty close thing. If he could just close that small gap between defeat and victory, they would win and Thanos would lose.

That much would be enough, but for that to happen he would have to get out of his place.

And so, he was on a ship, traveling at FTL speeds at the largest mining planet cluster that the Collector owned and operated. It mined some obscure metal used in the bolstering of FTL Engines. Something that was needed by every single power in the universe so they were unwilling for any other power to get their hands on something this important to their plans.

So, it fell into the hands of a supposedly neutral party like the Collector. Well, more like Tivan orchestrated the whole thing to happen in his favour instead of it just being another coincidence.

Truly, Immortality is one of the greatest gifts, for some beings that is. He was sure that he would grow mad with the passage of time, of seeing all his loved and known ones turn to dust, as they passed through time.

There were many ways this could turn in his favour. The easiest of which was gathering Heimdall's attention. It would take a simple action of uttering his name to make sure Heimdall and by extension, Asgard knew about his continued survival.

There was a chance that Odin would choose not to tell Thor but that was fine by him as well. Odin himself would be too curious about him, seeing his abrupt rise to power, not to mention seeing that he was a good ally of Thor and someone who had stood up for the good.

That has to count for something.

If not Asgard, then….

Then, there was always her……

---

Word Count - 2174


If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/N - Sorry for the short one. On my way from office today, it abruptly started raining and by the time I got my raincoat on [the rain was forecasted but my stupid ass chose not to wear the raincoat since it was literally sun out all day], I was already completely drenched. Thank god, the laptop was fine.

Now, I sit here, typing this, wrapped up in my comfy cozy blanket, eating(drinking?) soup before taking my tablets and leaving for the dreamworld.

See you guys tomorrow (hopefully!)

Thanks for reading!

Toodles!

 

[IdleMuse0307]

________xX________

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Collector Mining Territory

–Jack Sullivan–

Well, this was certainly not what he had expected. When the Collector had told him that the convoy surrounding the mercenary group was one of the largest in the galaxy.

He had pictured it to be big, but not this big. According to the last minute research he had done on the mining planet, it was 3 times as large as Earth, making it a prime target for mining. So, it would be safe to say that the planet looked absolutely massive when he floated a little distance away from it.

Even so, he could see the fleet of mercenaries arriving closer to the mining planet, dismantling the mechanical defences that had been installed to protect the mining operations of Tivan from would-be thieves and such.

As far as he could see from such a distance, he could see that the defenses were being destroyed, with astonishing ease, as none of the many parts he could see floating around in space had any signs of life in them.

He cracked his neck as he glanced at the small metal indent on his shoulder, the one that the Collector had put on him in exchange for removing the huge metal plating installed on his back, the strands of which were connected directly to his spine and back muscles.

He was right in predicting that the apparatus was some sort of advanced bomb that would blow him right up if it managed to hit him. It was made with some exotic mineral, which when coming into contact with even the slightest amount of trace elements of iron, would generate enough energy to melt through thick sheets of steel, let alone his body.

The reaction was also nearly instant, so much so that he would have no hope of countering that. Most of this information was provided to him by the Collector himself, who was all too happy to gloat about the way he had shackled one of the most powerful beings of the galaxy.

The metal indent had no such nefarious function. All it did was track his energy levels and the Collector had shown him that he had somehow tracked down the perfect frequency and made sure that the moment he tried to use his dimensional energy to try and do something, the device would detect it and blow up every single one of his acquaintances back on Knowhere.

He was a decent distance away from that place and he did not know if the Collector was bluffing or not, considering the invaluable nature of each and every one of his so-called Collections.

He would have tried to flee the moment he could, consequences be damned if only he knew where to go and if it would lead to a positive good or not. He still did not have any idea of the time period he was in, so it could either turn out to be a dick move or a great move, depending on the year it was on Earth.

According to his memories, the Collector's collection would be either destroyed or set free by Ronan and the Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. If he was close to that date, there would be no need to be responsible for the death of some of the most pitiful people he had ever met in his life.

That was the only reason he was not immediately using his powers and taking control of some of the ships, to get them to the nearest hotspot of activity, from where he could quietly disappear to Earth.

Of course, Tivan would know then but what could he do? Aside from sending a tidal wave of mercenaries at him, all the same strength as humans would be if they were the same size of an ant.

He only had a single goal for the day and that was to figure out the timeline. It would not be easy, especially since he didn't have some handy dandy manual that could help translate the galactic calendar back to the ones that most humans on Earth used.

He looked up to see a bright flash of light, as the final automaton responsible for holding back the ships fell apart, creating a white explosion that took down some of the ships closest to its broken form, fortunately for him.

He could tell that some of the ships had one or the other form of advanced weaponry. The kind that would make him feel the strain of holding it all together.

The weapons were some sort of high yield one time used only ones, loaned to them by some unknown party, probably some long lost enemy of Tivan.

He could have just covered himself into a very shard, mono molecular barrier, and then rammed right into all of their ships, turning them into a very expensive, and more importantly, very bloody firework program.

But no, he didn't just come here to slaughter a couple of thousand people, at best, and then go back around to being the Collector's pet dog. Because that was what this was all about. Becoming a loyal attack dog for the Collector

Or at least, making sure that the rest of the galaxy saw it that way.

He could only imagine the sheer chaos that it would cause if it came to be known that the Green Guardian himself was under his complete and utter control. Oh god, the man's narcissism and smugness knew very few bounds these days. If it came to be known that he could essentially turtle himself in Knowhere and be protected from all but the strongest of civilisations.

Well, let's just say that his current collection spree would be like a cakewalk in comparison.

Well, time to get to work then, he thought to himself as, unknown to him, his eyes flashed blue this time, instead of green, as, for the first time since the invasion, he let his power go.

He opened the tight lid he kept on his powers, both in fear of retaliation from the Collector's shock bug and from having to be forced to reveal his powers to the Collector.

A veritable storm of green energy began brewing, at the center of which he stood, with his eyes closed and his arms spread apart, head tilted back as he let loose the storm of energy within. Unbeknownst to Jack, the storm of energy this time had trace amounts of Infinity Stone energies, which served to warn ALL of the ancient civilisations that were always on the lookout for them.

"Ah…that's the stuff," He sighed in contentment before looking straight at the incoming horde of mercenaries. He could see that most of them were still holding together, despite him standing right in front of them, in between the mining planet and the ships, his giant form having travelled the vast distance within the blink of an eye.

It helped that there was no resistance in the vacuum of space.

As soon as he raised his arm, creating a sword, which then grew spikes before starting to rotate at a dizzying pace, the world in front of him lit up, in shades of blue, grey, red, and all the other colours.

The reason was the multiple cannons situated on top of various ships, which continued to fire indiscriminately at him. He couldn't help but think that these attacks were of the same caliber as the Chitauri Leviathan blasts.

And wasn't that a shocker? The Leviathans could also attack someone with their energy attacks, instead of just being a giant target in the sky. He had the unfortunate pleasure of being caught flat footed as a giant beam of light just slammed into his shields at the time. Obviously, the damage was not as severe but he was surprised.

He was of the thought that the mercenaries in front of him, once the barrage of lighting was done, would have the same surprised Pikachu face once they saw him being completely unscathed from the attack.

He then smirked, looked at the main ship, and snapped his fingers, causing the giant rotating to come falling down on their whole formation. Due to the size of the sword, it looked as if it was falling down really slowly, if one looked from a distance but in reality, the sword arrived very fast, not even giving most of them time to react.

The aftermath was clear. The shields of those ships didn't even register as resistance to him as he slashed through their forces with a clean diagonal slash. He could see that the main ship had survived the blow, albeit barely, only because the attack had only grazed the bottom part which was also modular, because the part was promptly shoved off the ship by a small explosion before the ship itself began floating on top of the formation.

The surviving ships, although in disorder, probably recognised that something was happening and began rising in a similar manner, only that they were piling on top of one another.

It was not that different from their previous formation, only this time the HQ of their little group was taking center shot. So this way, in an excruciatingly slow manner, to him, the group finally organised their attack.

His enhanced eyesight, now much more enhanced for that matter, allowing him to look for stuff from thousands of miles away, at least in space where there was no atmosphere to bend light, told him that the leader had come out and he was wearing the armour.

"Bingo," He smirked to himself as he glanced over to his shoulder, where the metal indentation was now a red hot, its constitution allowing it to survive coming into contact with the amount of energy his body was dosed with right now, but surely not without some internal damage at the very least.

He slowly dispelled the giant avatar and then slowly floated to the HQ building. He could literally feel the unease wafting throughout the fleet as he floated to reach within arm's length of the very shiny looking cannon that was now located on top of the HQ, with the hands of their leader, shoved into the cannon from behind.

He raised an eyebrow as he saw faint shimmerings of what looked to be Asgardian Runes on the canon before they disappeared, replaced by the subtle blue glow, intermixed with a toxic red, that began filling the "veins" that had been drawn on top of the cannons.

So, this was his trump card. His Magnum Opus, if you will. Not that it was his, not even remotely possible that the Dwarves of Nidavellir or the ancient weaponsmiths of Asgard would ever give away a weapon like this to some outsider, no matter the price involved.

Even so, he watched as the armour also began glowing blue before the blue glow, along with a toxic red coming from another line feeding straight into the side of the cannon, was fed into the cannon. A faint whining sound was heard before a small dot was formed in front of the cannon, mere inches away from his face.

The small dot became a tennis ball before expanding to reach football-size before starting to compress once again. Only this time, the brightness of the aforementioned ball only began to increase as the very space around it seemed to bend due to the amount of energy being gathered.

'Of course, it will bend. The energy governs the damn space of the universe,' he thought to himself as he prepared himself as well. An extra layer of barriers wound tightly around his body.

Oh yeah, he could somehow breathe in space now. Well, not exactly breathing but the only way he could make sense of it was that the energy that made his barriers was now flowing through his body as well, sustaining him in its entirety.

So, as long as he had energy and stamina on his side, he could now survive most crushing environments without any problem.

The barriers were also using something that he had unlocked after almost dying. He could now preprogram some of his barriers. There were seven layers around his body. The first three were completely defense focused.

The fourth one was a warning layer. As soon as the fourth layer of defense was breached, the barriers that were latched onto his back would yank him back and toss him away from the situation with his utmost strength.

As his strength was right now, he could toss himself hundreds of miles away in the blink of an eye, all done without any conscious input from him of course.

This gave him hope that he would be able to deflect whatever it was that this K'ehmbe was going to use. It also gave him slight hope in dealing with the Collector should he get the chance.

As things stood right now, he looked K'ehmbe in the eye, his madness shining through his eyes as the corrupted energy began overtaking his body as well. He did not seem to notice that at all, lost in his own manic world as he laughed out loud, like a maniac, not that anyone could hear it, what with the oxygen mask on K'emhbe's face.

Soon, he could not see K'ehmbe anymore because the light from the spinning ball of death in front of him was encompassing all of his vision. It kinda looked like a Rasengan from a close distance, only with reddish highlights instead of the entire thing being surrounded by gales and winds capable of puncturing through steel as if it was paper.

K'ehmbe must have said something before he shoved the ball of death at him, as do most proper self respecting villains but even if K'ehmbe did, he could not hear that.

All he saw was a flash of light which somehow, going against all odds, broke down two of his barrier layers before it finally fizzled out of energy.

The end result was somewhat anticlimactic. Due to the sheer amount of energy that hit him, and was stopped abruptly as a result of hitting him, trace amounts of energy had dispersed in all directions.

Now, it was trace amounts for him but for normal aliens without the protection of a celestial built artifact, it was death. In the aftermath, he could see most of the fleet having melted down, most probably flash burning all of its inhabitants as well. K'ehmbe, as well as his armour, were no more as the entire HQ ship was flashed out of existence.

There were some scraps of metal left but after tearing through most of them with his powers, he could see that none of them had any living beings in them. He closed his eyes as he lamented the massive loss of life here but as things stood, he had seen the deeds of these people and he was thoroughly convinced that some people were better off dead.

So, he did not linger on much before he left for the ship that was waiting for him, the mining planet below launching multiple satellites that formed a ring around the planet, reactivating most of the defenses that had been destroyed by K'ehmbe and his people.

Before he entered the ship though, he made a show of looking at two spots. The places where he knew enhanced hidden surveillance drones were watching his every movement,

God, massive loss of life on such a scale must be a huge burden to bear, he knew that intellectually but to actually experience that?

It was diabolical.

As his mental state was right now, even that sterilised white pod's bed was feeling tempting.

God, he needed help.

Hope it arrives soon.

---

Word Count - 2702

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Asgard [2013]

–Heimdall–

It had been so long since he had held this position. The scared position of the Watcher.

The first in the line of Asgard's defences. For all his life that he had given to his duty, there have only ever been two times that his sight had failed him, inside Asgard.

Once, when Prince Loki had somehow smuggled a bunch of Frost Giants into both the Treasury and the Throne room, he had thought that the incident would be the biggest black mark on his record.

The one incident that would never, ever be repeated. He would not allow for it to be repeated. It was a matter of pride and honor for him, to not fail in his duty. In all his years of duty, he had never once failed and even then when it happened, he took solace in the fact that, no matter how severe, the breach had come from within, not from their enemies in the cosmos.

And yet….

And yet, he watched… All he could do was just watch as the Queen, along with the finest soldiers of Asgard were given A State Funeral, befitting their station and sacrifice.

The day the Frost Giants had interrupted the Crown Prince's ceremony, he had vowed to himself that never again would his sight fail the Crown of Asgard. He had vowed on his very soul and he had failed.

There was no other way to say it. He had failed utterly and completely. He had failed his duty, his King, his Queen, and even himself.

He watched as Queen Frigga's soul left this realm and he hoped, to all the Gods he knew, that she would reach Valhalla safely. Because she deserved it and he did not.

He stood at his post, watching over the dearly departed souls of his comrades, along with keeping a watch over all of Asgard on this occasion. He would much rather kill himself than have another incident happen on his watch. To that effect, he had resolved to do something that he had hoped would not happen for decades to come.

He was going to train Axl, in the use of his powers. His sight was a gift, a gift that was given to his forefathers by Asgard itself, a way to protect Asgard and its inhabitants from invaders from the cosmos.

It had always appeared in his lineage and he had been the latest in the line of Watchers, blessed and cursed with the sight, up until little Axl was born. Axl Heimdallson, the one born with the sight.

Axl was special, in the regard that he was born with his sight active. He had to personally request the All-Father to have his sight sealed so that he could have a chance at a normal childhood.

He knew, more than anyone, that as much as the Sight was called a blessing, it was just as much a curse, especially if the bearer of the Sight was untrained and not mature enough to realise the burden of it.

Just getting that power out of nowhere would not instill the respect and fear with which one must treat this power. So, he had resolved to, once the All-Father was done mourning, ask the All-Father to undo the seal on his son, so that he could start his training.

If one bearer of the Sight could not detect threats to Asgard fast enough, maybe another one will help.

His sight never truly failed to astonish him, despite honing it to near perfection over a period of thousands of years. He could see Prince Loki, rage with all his might as he is given the news of his mother's death.

Oh, how he wondered, what he would do if he knew the cause of his mother's death was the Dark Elf he had sent her way. Prince Loki, despite all his faults, was not void of love.

He loved both his parents, in his own way. The passing of Queen Frigga would weigh heavily on him and yet, he could not let that cloud his judgement. He would be keeping a close eye on him and every single one of Asgard's threats. Not a single realm would be void of his sight, lest he let another one of Asgard's enemies slip—

"Heimdall" A weak voice reached his ears, echoing all around him, seemingly coming from every direction.

His eyes snapped wide open as he looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the calls he was getting. It had been several weeks since he first heard that same weak call for him.

One of the other times that his Sight failed him. No matter how hard he tried, he could not, for the life of him, track down the source of that call. It was weak, yet not feeble. It was as if the call was being muted by something, something that was blocking most of the strength behind the call. He had scoured all of the nine realms in his search for the source of that call but he had yet to find anything remotely similar.

The voice itself was odd. If he focused on a single area for long enough, not only could he see the area, but he could hear as well. And the voice he had been hearing, it bore a strange resemblance to the fallen warrior known as Jack Sullivan, Green Guardian of Midgard.

His deeds had been truly heroic. Armed with powers beyond anything that Midgardians should possess, he became someone who sought to protect, instead of destroy.

Midgardians had such short, feeble lives and yet, they lived those lives very vibrantly, perhaps, more so than most Asgardians. They knew that their lives were short and so they made the most of what they had.

And even among them, there were extraordinary ones who rose above the rest, towering above the masses, sometimes protecting and sometimes destroying. And yet, he saw how Jack Sullivan, of Midgard, fought with the Chitauri, an army from outside the Nine Realms, an Army that heralded the arrival of someone far worse than just Prince Loki.

He had truly lamented the death of someone so young, so strong, so early in his lifespan. Alas, such was fate. Being intermingled with energies from multiple Infinity Stones would spell certain doom for even most Asgardians and maybe even Prince Thor, let alone a Midgardian, however powerful they may be.

"Heimdall,"

"My King!"

"Any news on the Dark Elves?"

"No, My King. I have a request in that regard."

"Hmm. What is it?"

"Axl, My King. His sight is stronger than mine. Maybe, he could–"

"Heimdall, Asgard has not yet fallen so low as to require the sacrifice of a child's childhood for its protection. We are not going to do that, Heimdall,"

"As you wish, My King,"

____xx____

He watched as Prince Thor left for realms unknown, for some quest that the All-Father had given to him. The death of Queen Frigga and Prince Loki must have weighed heavily on both him and the All-Father. This might do both of them some good.

Prince Thor spending some time away from Asgard would help dull the pain and the All-Father had to do something, to show that he was not letting Prince Thor get away with crimes that would have most likely brought an execution on the poor person who had destroyed the statues of the forefathers.

It had been a sad time for Asgard, as of late. They had lost their Queen, one of their princes (All-Father had not stripped Loki of his title as Prince of Asgard), and the Crown Prince as well, who had left the Golden Realm for realms unknown.

"Sir Heimdall," He acknowledged the royal messenger who had arrived at the Observatory.

"Yes?" He turned around and asked him.

"The All-Father has summoned you, Sir Heimdall," The messenger said as he bowed his head, in deference to his post.

That was odd. All-Father knew the importance of his post and what it meant when he left his post at the Observatory. That had seldom happened when they were in peaceful times, let alone now when they were on high alert. Despite Prince THor's testimony that the threat of the Dark Elves was truly gone now, he still could not rest easy knowing that there were threats out there that could have survived Asgard coming after them at its strongest.

He would not let Asgard be caught off guard, especially when it was at the weakest it had ever been. Queen Frigga might not have been the raw powerhouse that the All-Father or even Prince Thor was, but she was someone who could have killed even the All-Father, given enough preparation. She was the Witch of the Nine Realms, after all.

"Very well," He sheathed his sword and followed the messenger back to the Palace. When he focused on the Palace, he was surprised to see that the court was in full session, with all the nobles and vassals present.

Unsure of what was going to happen and more than a little wary about the oddness of the situation, he went on inside the palace once his name was announced.

"All-Father," He bowed down on one knee.

Right then and there, he received the biggest shock of his lifetime as the All-Father went on a long winded speech, thanking him for his lifetime of public service and "rewarding" him with a nice retirement.

A lifetime of etiquettes kicked in as he gracefully accepted the dismissal from his post and exited the palace after thanking the King profusely for the reward, going right to his humble abode.

He needed something, something stronger than mere ale, to quell the storm in his heart.

_____xx____

Xandar

–Nova Prime–

"Nova Prime, we have reports confirming the death of K'ehmbe and his group of mercenaries," Her eyes snapped open at that piece of information as she immediately focused on the person delivering the information.

She beckoned him with one hand as she willed for the Nova Force to flood her body, almost failing to hold back a groan as the lifetime of pains were alleviated by the vitality now coursing through her body.

Her eyes skimmed over the reports, depicting the way the entire encounter had gone. Someone had the bright idea of threatening Tivan Taneleer's precious mining syndicate, and they were wiped out as a result of that. That much was not surprising. What was surprising was the fact that none of Tivan's regular contacts had responded to his request this time.

She followed the trail as to why that was and found that he had failed in his quest to obtain something from the Mad Titan, Thanos. Truly, Tivan's greed knew no bounds. Trying to steal from Thanos? She wondered how he got the courage to do so.

Now isolated from all his regular muscle and his enemies circling around him, waiting for an opening, Tivan showed them all something truly eye opening.

An Earthling? From the looks of it.

One of the weakest species in the galaxy was not what came to mind when she saw the scenes in the report. A lone Midgardian, garbed in Green taking out K'ehmbe would have been one thing, astonishing as it was.

Someone coming out on top, despite being hit by K'ehmbe's full powered strike, one that sensors showed to be the highest ever recorded, was a whole other thing.

"Do we have any bloody idea who that is?" She snapped at the closest person, next to her, prompting a flurry of activity around her. People with powers such as this do not just pop out of nowhere. Tivan's sheer wealth and legacy were such a pain in the arse to deal with, if he had the full strength of this person behind him, he might just start raiding empires to further his "collection".

The energy readings behind those constructs of him were incredible. They didn't have anything resembling that in their records. She had to get to the bottom of this.

They had been this close to a peace treaty with the Kree. She had barely been able to exploit a small loophole in the logic centres of the Supreme Intelligence, convincing it to see that the long time war would only deplete the Kree of their best genetic pool. She carefully nudged it to see that pausing war, even for the time being, could help the Kree regain the genetic diversity it so desperately needed for the Kree to finally "evolve".

The word "evolve" had done the trick, prompting the Supreme Intelligence to pull back most of its forces, all in preparation for a peace treaty signing. She said most, because Ronan the Accuser, had seemingly gone rogue, with the Dark Aster to boot.

"Found him!" Her attention was once again brought to the present as one of the people nearby shoved a report into her personal holo desk. God, old age had nearly duller her once formidable mental prowess. In her heyday, she could have destroyed a dozen Ronans, all at once. Now, all she could do was watch as he went after civilizations, destroying them planet by planet.

She looked through everything as the information kept pouring in, the Intelligence agents scouring the primitive central network that Earthlings used.

Her guess was correct. He was an Earthling, going by the name of Jack Sullivan.

By the Nova Force! He was a child in Earthling years and he was already so powerful.

Wait. He was last seen fighting against the force of Chitauri, having died in an energy storm that was felt all the way over here. So how did he reach the Collector? And what had happened to this Jack Sullivan, for him to seemingly turn from good, fighting for justice, to evil, working for a man like Tivan?

Perhaps, he was unaware of the true nature of Tivan and had taken the assignment because K'ehmbe was clearly more evil, at least on the surface of it.

"Do we have any way of contacting him?" She asked even though she knew the answer to that question.

"No, Ma'am,"

She took in a deep breath as she thought of all the ways this could go wrong. Someone of that calibre coming in the way could jeopardize the peace treaty, if Tivan did something.

"Triple the security. I want every single thing we can find about him with me yesterday. Go to Earth if you have to, but we need something to stop this guy if Tivan ever shows his ugly face in Nova Empire," She snapped out a couple of orders before retreating to her personal chambers.

She had a couple of important calls to make. Most important of which was to King Odin, the All-Father of Asgard.

No matter how urgent it was, she could not order her agents to barge into the Nine Realms without consulting the ruler of it.

So, she waited, as the call rang. It was a special magical device gifted to her when she went to Asgard, all those years back, to establish diplomatic ties with Asgard. She was laughed at by most of her councillors for even trying but Asgard respected strength and she was admittedly high on her strength back then.

It all worked out as she was given a way to officially contact the King directly and she returned with her head still attached to her shoulders. Even standing in King Odin's presence back then was so difficult, with her sensitivity to power. He was like a raging inferno of powers as he did seemingly nothing but speak.

"Hmm?" She murmured to herself as the call was never picked up from the other side. Unperturbed, she tried again.

And again.

Again.

Again.

At some point, she had simply lost count as she just sat there, pressing the call button over and over again. There were multiple colors on the rectangular block of techno magic that no scientist on Xandar could make heads or tails of. The colorful lights indicated the status of the call and more.

Through them, she could see that the call did indeed manage to cross the vast distances between Xandar and Asgard, and the call did ring, but it was simply never picked up.

Was Odin ignoring her? She thought with narrowed eyes, some of the energy leaking from her body as she thought of the crucial engagement that was underway between Kree and themselves, and how it could be completely destabilised by a subject of ASGARD!

She took a deep breath and tried to reign in her emotions but the mere possibility that a war that had resulted in the outright extinction of multiple species, the collapse of a dozen different civilisations along with billions of sentient lives lost, not to mention the loss of habitable worlds, her emotions went haywire.

She just threw the calling device on the ground, her enhanced strength creating hairline cracks in the ground but never even denting the damned thing made up of exotic materials enchanted with Norse runes.

Fine! "I'll do it myself," She muttered to herself as she went out of her personal chambers and gave the order for a landing party to head to Earth, to gather information about him and if possible, look for something or someone who could convince him to return to Earth as soon as possible.

She was sure that no matter how volatile his actions could be on Earth, they would never have the significance required to affect things on a galactic level like the Kree peace treaty signing.

She just hoped that King Odin wouldn't take slight against her actions. After all, he was the one who had ignored her calls a dozen times.

____xx____

Asgard [At the same time]

–King Odin [Loki in Disguise]--

Hmm. What to do? What to do?

He thought to himself in giddiness as he firmly held onto Gungnir. Sure, the damned thing refused to recognise him and was as good as a block of solid Uru right now but it was not as if he had someone who could check if he was acknowledged or not.

As far as the rest of Asgard was concerned, he was Odin All-Father, King of Asgard, and ruler of the Nine Realms. None would dare try to ask him to identify himself.

The mere thought of someone replacing Odin would be akin to Blasphemy on Asgard.

All he had to do to secure his reign was to get rid of a couple of hurdles and he did just that, very easily in fact. Thor was way too drowned in grief to notice anything as he all but exiled him to realms unknown.

Heimdall…he had to admit that Heimdall was the only one left who could see through him but thankfully, he had spent quite a lot of time in his youth developing his stealth to a point where even the Watcher himself could not see him.

"Retiring" him of his duties after centuries of hard work was such hogwash that he had to pat himself on the back for getting through the entire speech with a straight face.

And lo and behold, Asgard was effectively his to rule, a Frost Giant's to rule.

Now, once again, what to do? He had already commissioned a giant statue of himself in commemoration of his valiant sacrifice.

What more could he do to celebrate himself?

Ah! He knew exactly what he could do. A play should do-

Hmm? He looked to the side as some sort of buzzing noise, similar to the irritating ones that Midgardians made all the time, began buzzing all around him. He spent an hour looking for the noise as it kept on buzzing in his ears, even as he cast spell after spell to insulate his ears.

He would have grown mad with the noise, thinking that somehow, Odin had got one over him, but the buzzing noise stopped.

He stood still for a couple of seconds before sighing in relief as the noise didn't return.

Now, about that play, who should he cast as himself?

---

Word Count - 3395

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Asgard [2013]

–Heimdall–

"This doesn't suit you," He turned around to see one of Prince Thor's longtime comrades, Sif, arrive, with her blade in her hand.

"What doesn't?" He asked her and turned around, to tend to his garden. Yeah, he knew what she was talking about but that doesn't mean that he has to acknowledge it, in front of her.

He knew that something was wrong with his "retirement" as King Odin put it, but King's words were absolute and he was in no condition to refuse his express orders. Besides, this also gave him the opportunity to do something that he previously had no time for.

"This! This farming, it is the work of peasants, not for a noble warrior such as yourself," Sif boomed as he heard her advancing towards him.

He sighed, dusted his hands off the dirt, and stood up. He looked at Sif to see her nostrils flared in anger and her hands clenched white. Something must have happened for her to have such an extreme reaction.

"What happened?" He asked her as he went into his humble abode to fetch a glass of water, as was customary to offer to a guest.

"Here. I don't have anything more fancy to offer to you but I assume that Hospitality was not something that you are here for," He handed her the glass of water and sat down on one of the rocks that outlined the boundary of his property. He looked around the land that had been given to him as part of his "reward" for doing exceptional work for the entirety of his tenure.

"How could the King have done this to you? Why didn't you fight it? Asgard is not safe without you watching over it, Heimdall," Sif said in between sips of water, the journey here clearly not being for the normal person since Sif, a warrior herself, was sweating at the intense heat in this place.

"....I don't have an answer to your questions, Sif. It is not our place to question the King's orders. He is wise beyond measure and as such, our job is just to follow his orders. Nothing more and Nothing less. Asgard has the All-Father watching over it, it will be more than safe in his hands." He said as his gaze travelled across the lands that he now owned.

Even though he said those words out loud with confidence, he was not really sure about what was going on with the All-Father right now. For instance, the gift of his sight might be exclusive to his bloodline, but that didn't mean that King Odin had no way of watching over all of Asgard.

The King had a similar sight as him but that was granted by Asgard itself, allowing its recognised rules to watch over every inch of Asgard's territory. While his sight allowed him to look for threats from far away, he could not focus on every single thing at once.

The same could not be said for King Odin. He has the ability to look over every single inch of Asgard simultaneously. He had hoped, now that Asgard was without a Watcher for the time being, King Odin would activate his sight instead, safeguarding Asgard from intruders and such.

The activation of such an ability is very easily sensed by someone as sensitive as him. And yet, as he looked around, trying to sense with all his powers, he could not find any trace of King Odin's sight on either him or on Asgard.

Which meant either one of two things.

That King Odin was somehow using the technique without him noticing it, which would be impossible because he had seen him use that ability before and he could never forget the feeling of power incarnate passing over your head as King Odin's gaze passed over you.

The Second one was that King Odin was not doing anything to monitor the realm, which was unthinkable. And yet….

He looked at Sif whose face was twisted in a grimace, clearly trying to form her words and get them out, but doing so without sounding treasonous was probably much harder than she thought it would be.

"So? What happened?" he asked her, not showing his internal mental turbulence to her. He had to do something to figure out the situation and to see if King Odin was truly letting the security of the Nine Realms be, instead of increasing it due to the loss of the combat strength of Asgard.

Asgard was at its weakest right now and it was probably true, that only the continued existence of King Odin was the only thing that was holding back the vultures from pouncing on the juicy meat that was Asgard.

"...The All-Father, he….banished me," Sif ground out, her hands holding the glass of water with such force that it almost splintered before she took hold of herself.

Meanwhile, he raised an eyebrow as the picture became even muddier with the news that Lady SIf had just delivered to him. Sif was not just any warrior, she was someone who could best an entire squad of Einherjars by herself if given a fair fight.

Now that Asgard was void of most of its top tier powers, he had hoped that the All-Father would instead ramp up the powers of the mid and lower tiers. He had no idea what was going through the King's head as he did these seemingly senile things.

"....And get this, he banished Thor and had a statue commissioned. Do you know for whom? Lokii!" Sif exclaimed as she threw the almost splintered glass at one of the rocks that surrounded his farm's boundary. As if the gates to a dam had been opened, Sif just spilled out all of her grievances, feeling safe enough to do so.

Frankly, he was unsure if the King would even care about the borderline treasonous words that Sif was just spilling over to him.

Through Sif, he realised what had been happening in the City without him being there. Axl was going to arrive in a few weeks and he had hoped to make this place liveable until his arrival.

Things were proceeding smoothly in that regard but he was doubtful if the same could be said about Asgard. Raising statues of Loki? Commissioning plays?

Pulling back forces from historically Asgard-defended sites? Not appointing anyone else as the Watcher? Not performing the weekly checks on the Rainbow Bridge and not to mention, restricting travel between realms.

These were not the actions of someone who had the good of Asgard in his heart. They seemed random and yet, he could see a pattern. Most of these actions would eventually weaken the already weakened Asgard, such that even Vaneheim would be able to run over Asgard.

"....Anyways, Heimdall, thank you for listening to my woes. I will be off now, I have a ship that will sail without me. Farewell," Sif said and leaped away from his farm, straight into the valley below.

He watched as she did the same and soon disappeared from his sight as she passed over some of the mountains that one had to cross so that they could reach his territory.

"Sigh, what has this madness come to," He muttered to himself before gathering the shattered remnants of his already sparse kitchen supply and heading back into the house that had been already built before he moved here.

Though, calling it a house would be doing it a favour. It was more of a shack. Now, he did have a very comfortable home in the capital city, overlooking the Royal Palace itself, but the King's words were very specific when he granted this land to him. He wished to see these barren mountains, lush with greenery by the time young Axl rose up in ranks. He could not do that while living in his spacious home back in the capital.

Honestly, looking at the fog and stone that surrounded him, he was sure that he would die here before that happened.

Sigh. Well, at least there was one upside to all this.

Just a few more weeks until Axl was here and he could begin his training then.

____xx___

Deep Space [2014]

Carol Danvers

Slurping on her smoothie, she leaned back on the most comfortable piece of furniture on her ship. Sure, the rest of the galaxy had furniture that could actively massage you or make you feel the same level of comfort that you probably did back in your mother's womb but the sheer comfort of an old beaten up sofa piece could never be compared to those.

It felt like…home.

"Home, huh," Her eyes flashed as she looked at her cup of smoothie and after gulping down the rest of it in a single gulp, she threw the cup to the side, the hard light construct fading, its job done.

Over the years, she had done so much and saved so many people, so many species really, that she had more favours than what she knew what to do with. Most of these favours were not from people who could really help her, considering their own precarious state but some of them did count.

After all, she did have to eat and sleep in a safe space. It got really old real quick when she couldn't find a safe place to rest. Despite her powers that could help her survive the vacuum of space for months at a time, she still needed rest. Some sort of left over quirk of her human biology, requiring sleep every couple of weeks to bring her mental state to its most optimal state.

So, cashing in some of those favours, some from people whom she really didn't want to associate with, but she did so in exchange for procuring her ship. It might not seem much for someone of her powers and especially for someone who had the opportunity to ride in the flagship spaceships of the Kree Empire, but it was her first personal ship, ever since she left Earth.

She left Earth to wage a one-woman war against the Kree and their expansionist tendencies. Hell, she had received multiple gifts from The Nova Prime because she believed that Caron's unrelenting assault on the Kree activities in outer space was one of the key reasons why the Supreme INtelligence agreed to a Peace Treaty with Xandar.

This ship and the memories she kept carefully stored on it were some of the only things she had of her old life. Her powers meant that she aged really slowly, almost negligible if taking into account the average lifespan of a human. As such, she liked this ship very much.

It was one of the reasons why she never really used the ship most of the time. She never stayed in a single place for a long time and that included her ship as well. She had yet to name it but this ship was probably the closest thing she had to a home at the moment.

Earth…had long since stopped becoming her home. She had spent more of her life in space, fighting the bad guys, instead of being on Earth. God, it was so long back that she even thought of going back home.

Sure, Nick still had her pager and she would go rushing back the moment she received his SOS but the thing, that would be her duty, her self undertaken, underpaid Job. Nothing more than that. Even the slight nostalgia she felt when she first went into space with her memories intact had long since faded away now.

Now, all she felt was a dull ache these days. A small hole that she knew could not be filled by going home. Not only did she not really have a home back on Earth but she couldn't abandon the millions, billions of people that required her help.

And therein, laid the problem.

Her duty.

She was the only one who was untied, the only one who would respond to any and all calls for help. Even the Mad Titan's territory was not spared by her but for some reason, the Mad Titan continued to avoid her, as if she was the plague. His forces even went so far as to turn tail and run, often leaving some of their straggler Chitauri forces behind when they got word that she was on her way to their location, to stop their disgusting practice of killing half of a world's population

She could not just abandon all these people who relied on her, to protect them from the cold horrors of space. That was the reason why she had not gone home.

That….was a big fat lie and she knew it.

"Urgh…." She grunted as she held her face in her hands, exhaling forcefully.

It had been decades, decades since she got her mind back from the clutches of the Supreme Intelligence. She had not noticed it at first but over the years, once she started meditating to desensitize herself to the horrors she had witnessed and stopped, she started noticing things.

Things like rough patchworks of memories that seemed muted for some reason and some memories that screamed suspicious at her. After going through her mind a few more times, she realised exactly what had happened and the extent of the damage that the Supreme Intelligence had inflicted on her.

Not on her body, but on her mind, her very self.

The time she had spent under the tender mercies of the Supreme Intelligence, a vastly more powerful mind than her own, meant that she had not noticed the extent of the mental damage for too long.

Once she noticed, she tried to repair it…only to fall short.

Her powers made her damn near invincible in the galaxy, and yet, she fell short when it came to something as inordinately complicated as the mind. She noticed some weird things happening, some memories with muted feelings as if she were a mere spectator, and some memories with normal feelings, taking her back to her time back on Earth.

Then came the clearly suspicious, hidden, memories in her mind. She had not noticed it because her mind had somehow suppressed them but she had, over the years, figured out the memories and what had been done to her.

Her fists clenched tightly as she remembered the pain, the screams, and all the blood that had spilled as a result of the Kree experimentations on her, all in a bid to understand how she ticked and how to replicate that.

In all those memories, the stoic face of the stupid Supreme Intelligence was a constant as it hovered above her prone form, watching as the Kree scientist tore into her body with savageness.

A shockwave escaped her fists as she began glowing for a moment before she shut off her powers with a forceful exhale.

With a sigh, she stood up and went into her office, the place where she monitored galaxy wide communications, to see if somebody needed her help or not. It was mostly useless because every place she went to, somebody needed help and her damned hero complex never let her refuse.

It was as if she was suddenly shoved into the backseat of her own mind wherever someone requested something of her. After many many years of self control, she could now finally muster up enough control to deny someone help when there was clearly someone out there who needed it more.

Her mind had latched on to some sort of idea of what a hero should be and she had followed that same thought for so many years that it had become so hard to just stop, to rest, before the next request for help inevitably came in.

It was only a couple of years ago that she had forced herself to take a couple of days off, where she shut off the communications network, save for her pager network, and basically forced herself to try and relax.

Even then, it had been an uphill battle, judging by the shockwave that had escaped her body earlier. She had endured four days this time without a breakdown and she was unwilling to push her mind more.

Progress was mind numbingly slow since she was all by herself, but Progress was progress and she was willing to take anything at this point.

Her very entry into the office turned on the communications system, flooding her systems with reports of what had happened in the wider galaxy in the past few days.

Her eyes narrowed as she watched multiple messages coming in from the Nova Prime herself, requesting support in the possibility of an attack on Xandar?

Just who would have the guts to attack Xandar, the home planet of Nova Prime herself? Unless they were a powerhouse on par with her, breaching the Nova Force was a fool's dream.

She opened the video that came with the report and her breath hitched as she watched the brilliant green light up the entire screen as Jack, The Green Guardian of Earth effortlessly dispatched an entire mercenary group.

That was not the problem. The problem was that he had done so at the behest of Tivan, The Collector.

Her eyes narrowed as her ship automatically ran diagnostics, confirming that this Jack's energy signature matched that of the deceased hero on Earth, even if it was vastly more powerful. She could see no collar on him but mind control couldn't be counted out yet.

"Chart a course for Knowhere," She commanded her ship and continued to read the other reports.

Even then, her mind continued to wander back to the video she had seen and the face. When the news had reached the wider galaxy that the Chituari had made a play for Earth, she had feared the worst, only to hear that Earth had successfully repelled the Chitauri, all without any civilian lives lost.

The only casualty of the Invasion was one Jack Sullivan, a minor boy no older than 15 who had saved New York and possibly, the world from an alien Invasion. She had mourned the early death of someone who could have possibly reached the same heights as she did….and moved on.

Yes, the death was tragic and clearly sad but years spent in space witnessing the worst the galaxy had to offer, had made her numb to the deaths.

But now?

Now it was a different story. If Jack was alive and somehow under the control of the Collector.

Well then, she had always wanted to test the immortality of the elders of the Universe.

---

Word Count - 3153

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere[2014]

–Jack Sullivan–

He rested his head in his hands as he sat, staring at the floor in his pod. The fight with K'ehmbe had been exhausting…mentally.

The scale at which things in the galaxy worked was really mind boggling. For example, the moment he came back to Knowhere, the COllector accosted him and congratulated him on getting rid of the biggest mercenary group outside of the Ravagers, culminating in over 10000 active members, all of which he killed with his own hands.

He felt sick the more he thought about the lives he had taken and the impact it would have on the universe. Sure, at the moment, he had justified it to himself by thinking that most of these pirates were slavers and criminals of the highest order, letting themselves go and becoming their hedonistic selves, but now that he had ample time to process it all, he thought of the families they must have left behind.

People who knew them, People who must have made some sort of impact on their lives, all gone, just like that. It was the first time he had to deal with the massive loss of life his abilities could bring about.

The worst thing was that this sort of struggle happened every day in the universe. The Universe was a cold unforgiving place. He had to contend with that reality now.

Compared to that, his struggles to escape from this prison were paltry in comparison. It felt childish in comparison, all his whining and discouragement he had felt when he came to know about the time the others had spent in this prison.

No, how could he have been so foolish?

He could not give up, not now, not ever. He had trained so hard, and tried to prepare himself, all so that when the time came, his powers would be the tipping point that would tilt fate itself in the favour of the good side.

The stakes in the fight against Thanos would be even higher than they were now. Literal trillions of lives would be dependent on him winning that fight.

How could he get so caught up in something so personal as morals, so as for his sight to waver from the bigger picture?

He clenched his fist as sparks of green escaped his fist, creating a shockwave in the room that ruffled the sheets.

No, he will get out of here, and if the Collector tried to kill the people who had been all that had been there for him at his lowest, in this prison, all alone without any form of contact with all his previous contacts, not knowing if they were dead or alive, well then, he should be ready to say goodbye to his life as well.

More than the imprisonment, it was the fear that was the worst part of his days here in Knowhere. The fear that he might be too late, the fear that he would be rotting in this place while his childhood heroes would be out there, fighting for their lives.

No matter how immortal he might think himself to be, there was always something that could kill him.

For example, he was sure that a concentrated blast made up of energies from not one but two Infinity Stones would be more than enough to shut him up for good.

Yeah, he had noticed some things in the brief time he had received with free use of his powers. His powers had changed.

He didn't know how but the explosion and encounter with the Infinity Stones had changed his barriers. He could feel the energies from the Space Stone and the Mind Stone.

He didn't know how but he innately sensed that he could call upon a limited store of their energies for a one time usage only. Judging by the intensity of the energy storm that it must have taken to rip a hole in space to transport him this far away, it might just become some sort of trump card in his fight.

He wouldn't use it on Tivan, not unless it called for it but he doubted Tivan would prove to be a particularly tough opponent without his power dampening and shock collars.

He had spent all his time since the fight with K'ehmbe in his pod, not going out to meet the people who had been used to threaten him into compliance. It would be good to maintain distance from them from now on. It would be for the better of everyone.

He was lost in his thoughts, staring at the wall when the entire area around him shook. He looked around wildly, trying to see what had gone wrong when the unthinkable happened.

With a clicking sound, he looked down at the floor around him, finding a pool of blood steadily gathering around him. Despite the immense pain, all he could do was smile as his form was blazed in green, creating a Mid sized Gundam around himself.

"Ah! That's the stuff," He missed this avatar of his. It inspired confidence in him. Across Omniverses, the Gundam continued to light the fires of hope and confidence in him.

He looked around him and with a thought, a block formed around him that continued to expand, even as he looked around, trying to extract the data from the hundreds of small barriers that continued to explore every single viable path from his pod.

He didn't want to accidentally expose the areas to the vacuum of space, gassing everyone to death. He could now process all the data coming from all those nodes simultaneously, another upgrade to his powers.

The expanding cube around him reached the walls of his pod and continued as if they were not there at all. He waited for his body to heal itself as the contraption installed right into his body had fallen off his body, tearing off part of muscle and flesh in the process.

He could feel the flesh mending itself, much much faster than before, another one of the upgrades he received from the near death, or rather the death he experienced in the aftermath of the Invasion.

"Huh, I'm like discount Goku, then," He chuckled to himself as he continued to spy through his barriers.

His brows furrowed as he saw that most of the pods that had personalised environments custom built for the species had opened up as well, malfunctioning in the process.

Something drastic must have happened for a catastrophic failure like this to happen. He hoped that it was not Thanos who had come to collect the Reality Stone and kill Tivan in the process.

That was the only reason he was not rushing out of his pod as he wanted his body to be at its peak if he wanted to face Thanos and his army. His barriers continued to encounter dead ends, as they dispelled themselves. Most of the barriers were now employed to seal the pods with specialised environments like snow, water, and nitrogen based pods that had to be pulled back into the pod.

The inhabitants of those pods were not looking good but there was nothing he could do for them at the moment. He might have to look for Carina and the prime tablet but his barriers were still travelling in every single path they could find and still not find any exit.

This place was much larger than he had expected. His cautiousness when it came to breaching walls was what slowed him down immensely but he could not risk breaching the atmosphere and while the Collector probably had good defenses, it might just add another variable in his fight with the person who had invaded Knowhere.

If it was Thanos, it might spell his doom if he tried to fight Thanos half heartedly.

His barriers were doing the job for now as he continued to munch on his 10th apple, the only good around him that could help his body heal itself faster. His healing powers were never really taxed in his life and he never tried to actively train them either, he was not a masochist thank you very much.

That is why his healing was so slow going.

His eyes widened as one of his barriers finally encountered an opening of some sort. It was a grate of some kind so he simply blasted open it, only for his barrier to somehow disintegrate as soon as it came out of the grate.

His wariness increased tenfold as he found the connection to his barrier not blocked by something but outright gone. He could feel the barrier coming into contact with a wave of energy before it was erased out of existence. It never even got the chance to interact with the energy before the sheer heaviness of the energy drowned out the barrier.

He waited a few more moments for the wound to stop bleeding and then covered his entire back with a series of barriers that limited his mobility but with his barriers, he could be a paralysed person and still have excellent mobility. As long as his mind continued to function, he could create thousands of limbs for himself. His outer form was still that of a Gundam as he was finally able to see the aftermath of the cube that had now stopped expanding, exposing him to the areas outside his pod.

It was a series of long tubes that connected the area around his pod to other pods, some larger than others, some smaller before the pods themselves were interconnected to everything else with a series of tubes. God, this place was huge.

He could not see any auxiliary systems kicking in after the failure of the primary systems.

Surely, not even Tivan would be arrogant enough to think that a mechanical system would not fail, ever? No Secondary backups for a place this huge, when there was a risk of actual death?

His eyes narrowed in fury as he saw some of the ones with the most sensitive environments die as the lava fish that could not swim anymore and was now buried alive in the cooling lava due to the lava being exposed to the air around it, his barriers unable to keep all that energy trapped inside for long enough.

He also could not generate that level of heat, marking the first of many deaths that had happened due to this event.

"Enough of this," he muttered to himself before rocketing straight to the grate, crushing multiple walls that came between him, after checking if they were occupied or not of course.

He found his form suspended right below the grate, looking in shock at the purple fires that burned all over the area. He gingerly sent another wave of barriers only for them to extinguish one of the smaller fires, but disintegrate with the fire as well.

Knowing that it was working, he sent multiple barrier constructs at the purple fires, the bigger ones took more than one, as he extinguished the fires around the grate. After he could see none of the purple fires anymore, he slowly floated out of the grate and found an entire hallway burning with purple fires, such that it would be all but impossible for him to cross through without taking care of them first.

The other side was a dead end so that was literally his only way out. He set out to complete the task, as fast as he could as a literal flood of green converged on the hallway ceilings and floors, only for them to disappear, for another wave of green to replace them, repairing the process again and again.

In the end, he left the hallway, only to come across another an entire room filled with the same purple fires.

He hissed at the widespread destruction of the fires. His breath hitched as another life was lost to the failing environmental chambers. It was literally him against time now.

He could not afford to take it safe now. He had a good idea of what those purple fires were now.

Only the energy of an Infinity Stone could overpower his barriers to such a degree. It was a huge relief that it was not Thanos because this meant that he was in the Guardian of the Galaxy arc, and it was at least a couple of years away from when Thanos would first make his move.

He looked at the only exit and found it covered in the same fires. God, what had happened this time for such an application of the Power Stone? He mentally calculated the most direct path to the exit and set forth a tsunami of green that continued to build a tunnel straight to the exit.

He could see his barriers disappearing on contact, making him shudder as he realised the power of those harmless looking fires. Those fires were not even making contact with the floor or anything, they were just floating in the air, burning anything that came into contact.

The fires seemed to hate his barriers with a particular passion that he was unable to decode.

Unable to wait any longer as the death toll had now risen to double digits, he rocketed towards the exit, having to change course multiple times, escaping death many times as some of the fires flared upon contact with his barriers, coming very close to burning him.

The people imprisoned here did not deserve to die a slow agonizing death in a hostile environment after being imprisoned here, having been deprived of their basic rights for who knows how long.

He reached the exit and sighed in resignation as another hallway of fires greeted him. God, at this rate, he would never reach the upper areas.

He knew that the pods were in the basement areas, deep into Knowhere but he didn't know just how deep.

"Hell with it," He muttered to himself before summoning another Gundam in front of him, much bigger than his form, latched himself to it, and let it go straight through the roof.

He maintained a healthy distance and continued to replace the barriers by the thousands as he crossed through sea after a sea of purple fires, breaching through floors filled with wires as easy as clay.

His face sank as he realised that his barriers had made an entire round off the lower floors and had not found anything about Kumpo and the others. Most of the other inmates had gotten out of their pods but with no way to get out, they were currently safe on the lower floors, away from the Infinity Stone fires.

Just what the hell were they? He questioned himself as he breached the 30th floor in a bid to reach the surface where, presumably, the Guardians of the Galaxy were with Tivan.

He grunted in pain as one of the fires came too close and burnt off a portion of his left forearm, leaving his bone bare to the world, at least for a moment before blood spurted from the rest of his arm, his powers working overtime to try and heal the damage taken.

He ignored the pain as he went forward through another floor filled with purple fires.

He lamented the fate of the people who might have been on those floors when the purple fires flooded the entire area. At Least their deaths would have been quick.

The progress was very slow for him because the rate of replenishment of the barriers was still not as fast as the purple fires. It didn't help that the fires, even the smaller ones flared as soon as they came into contact with his barriers, slowing him down to protect himself.

It was evident from the burning sensation on his left forearm that his barriers would not protect him from these purple fires. They were obviously tinged with the power of the Power Stone, but just who could use the Stone to such an extent without succumbing?

More importantly, just who had pyrokinetic powers that could be amplified to such an extent using the Power Stone, without the user dying immediately after touching the Power Stone?

---

Word Count - 2736

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/N - What's this? Another OC.

To find out more, be sure to watch the next episode of Drag- Ahem, The "G" Shield.

See you then.

Toodles!

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere[2014]

Previously

"I am telling you Rocket, we are going to be rich after this," Peter Quill said to Rocket Raccoon as they alighted their ship and entered the Collector's base of operations.

While Peter was enthusiastic about the money as was Rocket, Gamora herself was feeling uneasy about the entire thing because if there was one thing she had learned about long lived beings in all her time with Thanos, it was that things were very rarely straightforward with them.

This bounty might seem like it paid 4 billion units, enough to buy an entire star system filled with habitable planets and then retire there for the rest of their natural lifespan, it also came with Caveats.

For one, it housed an Infinity Stone, something that had her father send Ronan to collect it. Oh, she was sure that Ronan would double cross her father at the first opportunity Ronan would get but her father probably knew that as well.

Living with her Father and her extremely competitive sister, she had learned that her Father was rarely in the same step as others. He was always a dozen steps ahead of everyone.

He probably did this so that when the time came when the time came to collect all the Stones for sure, he would know the location of each and every one.

After all, most of the Stones were lost to time. Having them found by third parties, then having those parties deposit them in a supposedly safe place where he could easily collect them when the time came, was something that sounded like her Father could come up with.

Sure, Ronan armed with an Infinity Stone could do some real damage before he was put down but her father must be banking on someone else stopping Ronan before he did said damage. Maybe the Streak that wreaked havoc in Kree territory would be the one who would end up dealing with an amped up Ronan.

After all, she did seem to have a particularly nasty enmity with the Kree, having inflicted more damage on the Kree Empire than anyone did in the last hundred or so cycles.

Drax, on the other hand, was unconcerned with the whole bounty collection thing. He was only with them because he was hoping to get a ride with them back to Xandar where he would continue his quest for Vengeance.

Oh, he was sure that he was going to die. No doubt about it. The only question was if he could take Ronan down with him.

"Ah, Welcome! I assume you have the item with you?" The Collector greeted the unconventional group at the entrance of his complex, with Carina in tow.

"Ah, yes, I have the item with me. Do you have the credits with you?" Peter Quill, said, in a manner he hoped looked cool enough to impress Gamora.

Tivan merely snapped his fingers, causing Carina to come forward and show them the tablet, indicating the current standing balance of Collector and his various enterprises.

The amount of zeroes on that thing had Rocket and Peter salivating.

"Now, the Orb, please?" Collector extended his hand, on top of which Peter happily put the orb.

Tivan looked deeply at the gathered forces, most of whom had tensed at his lack of action before turning around and snapping at Carina who hastily pushed some buttons on the tablet before turning it around and showing it to the fledgling group.

The transaction details for the bounty were displayed on the tablet. This caused Rocket to whoop in joy as he followed the Collector, with Gamora following behind him with a wary look on her face.

Drax, slipped away from the group, going towards a bar with a group of shady mercenaries sipping away their lives on cheap booze. Groot noticed it but continued on after Rocket called for him.

Inside the receptionist chamber of the Collector's enterprise, they watched as the Collector opened the Orb with a complex tool meant specifically for opening pattern locked devices.

The Collector regaled them with tales of the Infinity Stone kept inside the Orb, even showing them rare footage of Celestials using the Power Stone in the past to raze down entire planets, without much effort at all.

All the members of the soon to be Guardians of the Galaxy were too engrossed in the tale that the Collector was weaving for them, as was The Collector himself.

As such, they failed to notice the gleam that Carina had in her eyes as she saw the entire footage from far away and heard the sheer power that the Stone could give her.

Carina was a slave, plain and simple. As far as she could remember, she was a slave. She was chosen for some reason she never had the guts to ask the Collector. She was the one who was responsible for the upkeep and administration of the entire Collector enterprise.

Due to the advent of AI and her own prodigious mental faculties, she never really had any issues with managing such a vast empire. On the contrary, seeing that she had no issues with anything, the Collector eventually offloaded his entire administrative burden on her shoulders, freeing himself from something he saw as tedious but necessary.

From then on, the Collector only ordered around Carina who scrambled to follow all his orders. As such, Carina unknowingly came into possession of tremendous power.

Power over the vast mining empire of the Collector. Power over the life and death of the Collections in the Collector's collection.

She was the one who interacted the most with the people who were imprisoned in the Collector's collection. She was the one who realised that what the Collector was doing was wrong and that she could free them.

Many times, the thought crossed her mind, to free everyone and try their hand against the Collector, and yet, her hand always snaked back at the last moment.

What if the Collector saw this coming and had prepared for her?

The thoughts became more frequent with the recent addition of Jack Sullivan, a hero of Earth. Sure, Earth itself was worth less than dirt when it came to the context of power in the wider galaxy, and yet, the one who came from such a planet had the power to topple the Collector's control over her, over everyone who was locked in those prisons dressed as white comfortable pods.

Jack was the one who could make things right, the one who could finish the Collector before he could stop them. All she had to do was push one button, and Jack would be free from all his bounds, leading to the demise of the Collector and the freedom of all the prisoners.

And yet, her hand never seemed to have the strength necessary to push the final button. Many a times she reached the last stage of the application, ready to push the final button and yet, she never seemed to be able to press the confirmation button, always feeling as if the malevolent shadow of the Collector was pressing down on her.

And yet, right at this moment, as she looked at the Orb that was finally about to be opened up, she looked at her other hand, which held a small vial of twinkling blue fluid, and then at the tablet in her other hand, which showed the process of opening up all the pods, irrespective of their conditions.

Sure, it would inconvenience some of the ones with sensitive environmental requirements, but the secondary systems should kick in soon enough. That small window should be enough for Mr.Jack to escape from his confinement so that he could rescue her.

She had this plan ready when she knew that the Collector would be busy with some rare object that was about to come into his possession.

Now though?

Now she didn't feel like she needed Mr. Jack's help to free herself. No, she could do that herself.

If those giants could destroy planets with the power of that Stone, then she should be able to kill one Collector and destroy this accursed place.

She had reserved the primed C-fluid, one that she smuggled from the Collector's eyes because she knew it held healing properties. It was a just in case situation because she had researched about her species and her species was once known to be the foremost experts in pyrokinetics.

The ability to wield fire, to wield the power of fires, of all kinds, to devastating effect.

Unfortunately, their kind was caught up in a civil war right in between the Kree-Skrull war, leading to their near extinction. As far as the Collector's database was concerned, she was the last one of her species.

She had never really explored her ancestral powers but she had a gut feeling that using the Primed C-fluid would give her a leg up in that regard. She had kept it as a last resort but now that Power given form was in front of her, she could not afford to hesitate anymore.

So, without any ado, she pressed the button on her tablet before dropping it, not looking if the command was accepted or not. The Collector must have noticed something was wrong because he turned around to look at her at the same moment but he was far too late.

Far too late to stop her from gaining her freedom. From gaining ultimate power, so that she could be free to make all of her decisions.

As her hand closed around the pretty looking Stone, an electric current ran through her entire body, causing her right arm to flinch, breaking the vial of primed C-fluid in her hand. The fluid itself was caught in the purple currents, filling her entire body with indescribable agony.

She looked at the Collector with much difficulty, as the entire area around her was ravaged with the purple arcs of energy. She raised her right arm, which was shredded down to the bone, and brought her arm to her mouth, and licked the primed C-fluid off of it.

As soon as her tongue touched the healing fluid, her back arched as another energy made itself known in front of her. Twin arcs of twinkling blue and purple ravaged her body from the inside as a purple fire began manifesting all around her body.

She looked at the purple fire with happiness and awe, "So pretty…."

The fire continued to spread around her, creating a void of matter around her as anything that came into contact with the purple fire around her was instantly disintegrated.

By now, the Guardians of the Galaxy had retreated far away from the scene, only the Collector was left who was looking at the scene with something akin to interest.

Carina looked at him, then at her hand which was still functional, and at the purple fire raging havoc all around her. The mere sight of the purple fire seemed to burn a light inside of her, emboldening her.

So, even as her body continued to break down from the strain of the two energies inside her body, she took a single step towards the Collector, with a grin on her face.

That same bloody grin looked like the one of a Grim Reaper to Tivan, who immediately started backing away with his hands in the air.

"...O-Oh Carina, look at you now, unlocking your ancestral powers. Come on, what did you do? Why are the systems opening one after the other? Huh?" The Collector stammered out, wary of what Carina would do now that she had power and the wish to act on it.

Carina didn't say a single word, only raised her arm towards the Collector and tried to will the fire to explode towards him.

IT worked. Despite having no experience with her ancestral powers, Carina managed to get her message across to the purple fires.

The only thing was that the fires were currently being wielded by someone who was holding an Infinity Stone in her hand, more specifically, the Power Stone in their hand.

The purple fires, instead of being directed just at the Collector, instead spread apart, reaching far and wide, sinking down into the lower floors of the Collector Enterprise, as well as reaching Tivan.

Carina's entire surroundings were flooded with a purple fire that seemed to burn everything it touched. She could not see it but the Colelctor's pained screams were like music to her ears.

"AAAAAA!"

She smiled one moment, relishing his screams of pain, wondering how he survived the flames, and the next moment her face morphed into one of pain as he fell down to one knee, the fires around her flaring in response.

She looked at her hand and legs, as they were now glowing with purple veins in them. Most of her skin was flaking off and seemed to continue going that way.

She smiled, a bloody resigned smile, as she realised her folly and the fact that she was about to die here.

She looked at the hand holding the Stone which was mostly charred now. She couldn't even feel it.

"...Ah….So pretty," She murmured as she looked, once again at the purple fires, and closed her eyes….forever.

The Guardians of the Galaxy had retreated to a remote corner of the landing area, watching as a tornado of purple fire ravaged the Collector's office.

"...See what you got us into, Dumbass!" Rocket Racoon scoffed at Peter before turning around to get to his ship.

"Hey! At Least we got the money this time," Peter turned around as well. Gamora took one last look at the purple fire and after clenching her fist once, turned around as well. She had taken maybe two steps when Rocket's question made her stop right in her tracks.

"Hey, Where is Drax? Did that musclehead lose his way somewhere?"

She sighed and was about to turn around to look for Drax when Peter's terrified voice reached her ears.

"Guys, I think I know what Drax went to do,"

She looked out of the hangar of Knowhere and her eyes widened as she saw the Dark Aster floating right outside Knowhere.

She cursed as all of them ran towards the ship, intent on getting out of this place before Ronan landed on it.

They had no chance of stopping the Accuser. They also had no way of getting past that purple fire, to get the Stone. All they could do was hope that the purple fire stumped Ronan as well and get out of this place with their credits.

She had no other plans ahead but she would run as long as she could, from her father. Under no circumstances, could Thanos come into possession of the knowledge she had.

They were right at their ship when a huge explosion rocked the entire hangar facility…no the entirety of Knowhere.

She looked out of the hangar space and cursed as she saw Ronan coming down.

"AHAHA! Finally! REVENGE WILL BE MINE!"

She looked back to see Drax shouting like a madman as he ran straight to his death.

She closed her eyes in resignation.

God help her from idiots.

---

Word Count - 2572

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Knowhere[2014]

—Jack Sullivan–

Another one of those floors cleared up, he watched as he finally reached the floor that he knew was the receptionist area of the Collector's enterprise. He saw the area in front of him was filled with the purple fire as well with it showing no signs of extinguishing itself.

He had no idea how those fires came to be but seeing that they were made using the power of an Infinity Stone, it would certainly take more than just time to extinguish them.

He looked at his left forearm, which was charred to the bone just a scant few minutes ago, looking as good as new, save for the lack of clothing on his arm.

'My powers really have improved a lot,' he thought to himself as another series of barriers imposed themselves on the ceilings and walls of the hallway as he jumped straight through the last hallway, covered in barriers.

He reached the other side to see a huge hole in the center of the entrance walkway with everything charred around it.

'Wait!' His eyes narrowed as he looked at footsteps that came out of the huge void smack dab in the middle of the area, the carpet around it charred beyond recognition.

He counted four footsteps that left visible marks in the flooring through the carpet as well before the area in front of that last footstep was a huge depression that stretched who knows how deep down. He slowly floated on top of the depression in the flooring, only to see a raging purple fire still going in the bottom.

He sighed and looked around, the entire place was in shambles. He could not see anything that even resembled the prime tablet that Carina kept handy. Speaking of Carina, there was no way that the Collector would abandon his COllection, it was the second most treasured thing in his life, after his life, that is.

Of course, as he looked around the place, he realised that the Collector had most probably fled only because he felt a threat to his life. But who could do this?

And where was the Infinity Stone?

He could somewhat recognise the place in the scenes of Guardians of the Galaxy 1, where the Collector would open the Orb and then Carina would die because she tried to grasp onto Ultimate Power, something that her body was woefully unprepared for.

He sighed once again, as the last of the special needs inmates of this place died without him being able to do anything about it. Some of them died gruesome deaths, deaths that no one deserved.

He could keep track of an incredible number of things using his barriers and through them, he could see that most of the inmates that had lived until now would be fine for a while longer unless a fight broke out but he knew that Kumpo would be more than capable of calming things down.

Yeah, his acquaintances in this place were apparently stored in some cell on the other side of the place where all the pods were kept. He covered them in a barrier and transported them straight to the pods, where the other inmates were just now coming out of their pods, the very concept of freedom alien to them.

He was thankful that the purple fire was not all encompassing else he would have died an ignominious death here in this place.

He slowly dispelled all the extra barriers he had kept in place to protect the pod inmates from either walking to a place with a dead end or to stop their pod from falling down because of the extensive damage done to the entire place. Most of the environmental sealing barriers had long since dispelled because…. there was no longer any need for it.

He shook his head and headed out of the complex, eager to find his way out of this hellhole, all thoughts of killing the Collector all but forgotten from his mind as he floated out of the place.

He stopped at the edge of the doorway and looked back for some reason. He lifted his hand with the intention of extinguishing the rest of the fires in this place so that some innocent bystander wouldn't get burned to nothingness by mistake. Plus, all this energy feedback was messing with his mystical senses, stopping him from sensing anything in the complex.

Just as a series of barriers began springing forth on those fires, he heard a series of weak wheezing sounds.

His neck snapped to the hole as he heard the sound coming from the inside. He flashed to the entrance of the hole and looked down to see the telltale signs of a portal closing.

His eyes widened as he watched the portal about to close in slow motion, his hand outstretched towards it, a small green barrier manifested just in front of the barrier, ready to show him just what was happening near it, as his body rocketed to the end of the hole as well.

Unfortunately, he caught the portal at the last stage of its closing as it snapped shut, with the sensory barrier only telling him a person carrying a burned man on his back. He could not make much of the surroundings of the area neither the appearance of the man nor the burned man.

A second after the portal closed up, he slammed down in the place after extinguishing the purple fires.

"What in the,...." He muttered to himself in confusion as he saw the sensory barrier quite a few feet above the solid ground. That would mean that whoever that burned man was, he was floating a few feet above the fire but the man's condition suggested that he wouldn't be able to open his mouth, let alone maintain flight.

As for the identity of the person, he was quite certain that it was none other than the Collector himself.

It all started coming together in his mind. The huge hole in the center from which footsteps were coming out was probably the place where the Power Stone was taken out of the Orb. It also happened to be the place where Carina probably took out the Power Stone from the containment field.

Only this time, instead of just dying on the spot, something else seems to have happened. The purple fires and the huge hole in which the Collector was, were things that were not computing properly in his mind.

The portal at the end, he could never forget that flavour of the magical portal. It was undeniably the portal made by a sling ring commonly used by the Masters of the Mystic Arts.

Just what level of contacts did the Collector have? And how did someone who could use portals to such a level happen to work for the Collector here?

What happened to the Guardians of the Galaxy? Did Ronan arrive here as expected? What happened to the person who started those purple fires, if Carina didn't do them herself?

Questions and Questions with no answers in sight.

He sighed, shook his head, and headed out of the complex, ready to just leave this accursed place. He entered the lower levels of the hollowed out interior of Knowhere and saw pandemonium.

Fires spread everywhere, purple fires being some of them as well. He absentmindedly manifested some barriers to extinguishing those fires. He could see blaster fire, some dead bodies, even more depressions in the ground, and more.

He had enough of just questions with no answers as he floated down into the way of running aliens.

He opened his mouth to ask his question but they just brushed past him, not even registering his presence in their path.

"E-excuse me?" He said, but none of them seemed to understand him.

It took far more effort than he would readily admit to, to find someone who had a universal translator and was willing to set it up so that someone could understand English. Fortunately, they still had English as an option despite the rarity of humans in the wider galaxy.

Humans seemed to not have any idea of more places like these.

'We seem to multiply like rabbits despite not having the necessary resources for it. Who knows what would happen if humans came to know about the multiple hospitable planets available for cheap if only they knew about the precious commodity they had in terms of the plethora of enhanced people on Earth,'

The very thought made him shudder as he imagined the exports that humanity as a whole could give to the wider galaxy.

Capitalism, that seemed to exist in a limited capacity in the universe.

Fascism, Racism. Damn.

He removed those thoughts from his mind as he took a whole summary from the nice person in front of him. He didn't have a galactic account so no credits to give the nice person so he just gave him the gold he had swiped from some places on his way to the top of the Collector's enterprise.

He had figured that Gold must still have its value in the galaxy, considering that Odin did keep everything nice and Golden in his realm. That has to mean something, right?

It must be to show off the amount of wealth he has and how much gold he could afford to keep as just decoration, instead of using it.

Apparently, Ronan did arrive here, with the Dark Aster in tow. The Collector didn't come out to greet him, as was customary since Tivan was the owner of this place.

Angered by the slight, Ronan ordered his soldiers to ransack the place, only for them to encounter the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Of course, Drax was summarily dealt with by Ronan, as were the rest of the Guardians. Then Ronan took the Stone and left the place in the Dark Aster.

The nice person(alien?) also showed him some grainy footage of Ronan coming out of the establishment and following him were some soldiers who were carrying something on a gurney.

He could not see much from the corpse on the gurney but by the end of the footage, just as the gurney was about to escape the camera frame, he saw pink. Pink tips of hair.

That was how he realised that the person who used the Power Stone was Carina. But then since when did she have some sort of fire related powers?

Shaking his head, he banished those thoughts from his mind and threatened some shady looking guy into giving him a lift straight to Xandar, unheeding of his pleadings telling him that he was a registered criminal and would most likely be shot out of the sky before landing.

'Like Xandar would have free resources to care about you while Ronan was attacking it, small-time criminal' He internally scoffed before ordering him to proceed while he munched on some alien exotic fruits.

He leaned on the window of the almost rusted spaceship as it entered the Gate system. This was the first time he was consciously travelling through space at FTL speeds.

He was excited about it at first but then, after a while, the corona of colours seemed to get boring as he concentrated on the bitter taste of the apple that left a sour aftertaste for some reason. A very quirky fruit indeed!

According to his reluctant taxi, they should arrive at Xandar in less than an hour. Plenty of time for his body to heal and bring itself back to optimal condition.

His regeneration had really shot through the roof. This trip had plenty of bountiful returns in terms of his powers but the mental experience of it was so not worth it.

He would have taken a decade of training over this any day of his life and yet he internally knew that he did not really have a decade to train and hone his powers. He lifted his hand as a small barrier manifested on top of his palm, spinning faster than his eyes could follow.

He waved his arm as the spinning barrier continued to move unabated throughout the spaceship, cutting through some support bars as if they were not there at all.

Now, it was not like he could not do the same thing before. It's just that he could feel his limits back then. Right now, he could not feel them.

He had a feeling that as he was now, he could probably wield a single Infinity Stone properly and maybe even two without immediately dying. Anymore would certainly leave him crippled or outright dead.

He could feel it, and the confrontation with Thanos grew closer. It was only a few more years before Thanos would start collecting stones and as was right, he would be there to stop him even before he could get his hands on even a single Stone.

The scared alien who also did have the English language in his universal translator approached him. It was funny how he didn't have that language when the alien was asked nicely. Only when he was bodily threatened did the option to understand English was unlocked in his mind.

The language of violence was universally understood and he was quite glad for it.

"S-Sir, we are approaching Xandar's gate. Sir, once again, Xandar's gate is heavily monitored. They might just shoot us in space, sir. Please Reconsider, sir," The pitiful alien began pleading with him.

He just shot him a look as he floated to the captain's cabin and waited for Xandar to arrive.

He could see some sort of timer being projected on a screen, probably showing the ETA. The alien, who was a huge 9 ft tall bipedal lion of some sort, stood away from him as he watched the timer with trembling limbs.

He really was scared of the Nova Force it would seem.

Makes sense since they really struggled with an Infinity Stone empowered Ronan but Small time criminals like these would be within their powers to deal with.

The timer became a single digit as he watched with anticipation, green energy wafting off his body.

As the time hit zero, apparently that was common throughout the universe, reality itself glitched in front of them as they came in front of a veritable scrapyard.

He would have thought that the alien had betrayed his trust but the presence of that huge Dark spot in the atmosphere of the ship confirmed the location.

"See, does it look like they have time to deal with you?" He asked the alien, almost patronizingly before he walked back to the airlock, the Gundam armour unfurling around him.

"Sayonara, alien," He said for some reason before he punched the airlock button and rocketed out of the ship, heading straight to the black spot in the air.

The Dark Aster.

It was a magnificent ship and it would be a damn shame if it was destroyed by a human shaped projectile ramming into it at hypersonic speeds.

Alas.

He prepared himself for collision as he accelerated at his maximum speed, heading straight to the huge black target in the air.

______xx____

Knowhere

–Carol Danvers–

The locals were deathly scared of her and were no help in figuring out what happened here but the computers might be able to tell her what the hell happened here for The Collector himself to abandon his prized Collection.

She extended her left hand at one of the many partially burned computer consoles in this place as a singular cord entered into the console, the supercomputer back in her ship working to break the encryption of this place.

The purple fires burning in this place were really dangerous, breaking apart hardened Galvanium as if it were just paper.

She got a really dangerous feeling from the fires so she didn't approach it and she turned out to be right.

Looking at the footage of what had happened, her eyebrows rose into her hairline as she saw the flow of events that led to the escape of Jack Sullivan from this place.

She was right in her assumption that Jack was not working for The Collector willingly.

The question was, if he had freed himself, just where was he now?

The more she watched, the more she understood what had happened. She saw the ship he had left in and tasked her computer to see if it could find any records of the ship.

In the meantime, she took upon the task of rescuing all the prisoners of the Collector's Collection.

Most of them probably didn't have homes to return to, so Xandar would be the default destination for them but still, she would ask them and if they wished to return to their home planet, she would do all she could do to make that happen.

That was just how her mind worked. She would help others irrespective of the damage it might cause her.

It took her years to recognise the behaviour and even more years to acknowledge that it was an issue.

Predictably, the ship was of a small time smuggler who didn't have enough law and order within him to register his flight patterns.

Well, she might as well rescue these people before going after Jack Sullivan.

---

Word Count - 2920

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Xandar[2014]

–Jack Sullivan–

As he rocketed through space, heading straight to the big black spot in Xandar's atmosphere, his thoughts wandered to the Infinity Stones.

Sure, one was within reach but he was not so foolish as to invite every single Tom, Dick, and Harry who would want a taste of literal Infinite Power, hounding him every step of the way. Keeping it in the hands of the Nova Prime would be for the best anyway, especially since he did not want to gain their enmity.

Sure, the Nova Force might seem weak from the movies but put together, they could create a real impact in a space fight, especially since they would have all the experience in that regard.

He had some theories as to how to strengthen the Nova Force but it would involve further testing and seeing their reaction and readiness of Nova Prime when it came to unsanctioned testing.

His thoughts continued to flow as he performed re entry into Xandar's atmosphere, his barriers burning up in the process, but not so much that he could not see what was happening in front of him, his barriers absorbing some of that energy.

Instead of slowing down due to the pressure, he instead doubled down on his speed as he reoriented himself in the direction of the Dark Aster.

His eyes narrowed as he saw multiple pods popping out of the Dark Aster, heading in his direction, along with multiple cannons opening up right above the engine bays, lighting up with red lights.

He grinned as he let the green shimmer over his body as he crashed through all the pods that the ship had sent for him, his barriers easily tanking all the attacks that the ship was throwing his way.

With the corner of his eye, he could see multiple, probably hundreds, of identically yellow coloured Nova Force ships zipping about, trying to destroy all the pods that Ronan had deployed for the defending forces.

He had to hurry, before the Nova Force decided to create a curtain to try and curtail the movement of the Dark Aster, inevitably falling victim to Ronan, now armed with the Power Stone.

He let his power flow free, as his barriers now gained a slight blue sheen. His shape changed as pointed barriers manifested in front of him. He could see multiple, hundreds of weapons open firing on him and yet, none managed to pierce his barriers.

He smiled slightly as he watched hundreds of those pods coming over the Dark Aster, their original mission of wreaking havoc on Xandar forgotten as they focused on the much more immediate threat.

His vision turned black as he felt his barriers breach through the Dark Aster, going through many walls and floors before coming out the other side, his form blazing green.

After breaching through the ship, he didn't stop as he located most of the pods that were on this side and zig zagged through all of them like a crude rendition of what the Centaurian known as Yondu Udonta would do to the very same pods, in the movies.'

He floated above the assembled forces and surveyed the state of the planet.

It was horrible. Buildings had collapsed, roads and cars were on fire. At Least no dead bodies in sight, that was always a good sign.

He could see multiple shiny yellow ships heading his way.

They were probably someone higher up approaching him on the behalf of Nova Prime. He wondered why she hadn't donned her old suit and showed up yet.

Surely, what remaining lifespan she had with her was not worth the risk of actually letting Xandar be destroyed. She must know the risk of letting the Power Stone touch ground as Ronan would then be able to let the Power Stone's energy berserk through the planet, destroying it from within.

Sure, Ronan himself would be toast, charred inedible toast, in fact, but that doesn't change the fact that Nova Prime should be out here, fighting with the rest of the Nova Prime.

Historically, the Nova Prime holds the highest concentration of the Nova Force, as well as the capacity to distribute said force to individuals while bearing the weight of doing so on their own bodies.

According to what little he could read on the way here, Irani Rael was the latest in a long line of Nova Primes. She was reported to be the strongest one in recent memory but that turned out to be her downfall as she overused her lifespan, handling all the burden of the Nova Force while performing field duty during the end points of the Kree Skrull war where the Kree decided that they were just going to torch any planet that held even rumours of Skrull settlements, consequences be damned.

Irani Rael personally killed two high ranked Accusers whilst also destroying all of their elite warships, making sure that the Supreme INtelligence understood that further conflict with the budding Xandar Empire just for small remnants of their enemy was unwise.

Doing so came at a cost though. He could no longer freely use the Nova Prime to perform extraordinary feats of strength. At her prime, he would put her just below Mar-Vell in terms of the utility of strength.

He saw the approaching ships showing the middle aged dude from the movies when he heard a short whistling sound behind him. He looked up to see a huge volley of what seemed like missiles converging on him.

The purple glint at the top of Dark Aster meant that Ronan's attention was now firmly on him.

Good, that's what he wanted as well.

He looked back to the arrayed forces in front of him as they panicked, some of them breaking rank and trying to flee from the volley of wholesale death, courtesy of Ronan, that was about to head their way.

He looked to the middle aged due and just raised his index finger in the universal symbol that indicated for someone to just wait a minute. He then turned mid air, looking at the hundreds, possibly thousands of bright lights that filled his vision and spread his arms wide apart.

The scene from when he tried to stop the Helicarrier and only succeeded in slowing its descent flashed through his mind as a miles long barrier sprang forth with him at the centre, completely blocking the Dark Aster from the mainland.

He then turned around very nonchalantly, looking at the lead yellow star ship whose cockpit was now open, revealing the middle aged man looking behind him with his mouth open.

He enjoyed looking around at most of the forces in front of him with the occasional flash from the missiles exploding behind him.

Ah, he missed this. The look on people's faces as he flabbergasted them with contemptuous ease.

"So, you wanted to talk with me? I assume Nova Prime has something for me?" He said in a calm and measured tone, eventually having to prod the man in the lead when his gaze didn't shift from the expensive fireworks going off behind him, only a couple dozen feet away from him.

He might have looked ahead but he was keeping a close eye behind him using his barriers. Yes, they were literally his eyes on the back.

He could see that his impromptu and uninvited trip through the Dark Aster had left it severely damaged, leaving it floating precariously. He could also see Ronan standing on top of the Dark Aster with his hammer adorned with an Infinity Stone.

It occurred to him that Ronan was one of the rare few Kree who must have handled an Infinity Stone without dying, owing to his abnormal strength even within the Kree.

His post as the Supreme Accuser was not one borne out of nepotism then. Well, if a super AI could not weed out corruption and nepotism out of its systems, then it would be just a big failure now, wouldn't it?

Now that didn't remove xenophobia and racism from the Kree empire though.

"Uh, yeah, the Nova Prime would like to enlist your help in defeating or repelling the Rogue Accuser. We are willing to offer a grand total of 1 billion units in return,"

He could almost feel the salivating pirates gathered in front of him, particularly from the Ravagers' faction.

"Well, I was wondering how to open a bank account and here you are, graciously offering my first deposit. Anyhow, let's get back to that later on when I don't have a Ronan sized hole in my barrier," He said as he pointed his hand above him.

"Huh?" Once again, all of the assorted people were flabbergasted as, with a shattering sound, Ronan smashed his Infinity Stone powered hammer straight through his barrier, aiming right at his head.

Most of them barely had the time to react or retreat as Ronan reached him.

Well, since he was in the mood for theatrics this time, he let Ronan come really close before a barrier sprung forth right beneath Ronan's stomach, it shattering almost immediately, drawing a frown from him.

Although the barrier did get shattered almost instantly, it did its job and threw Ronan off his tracks, making him crash into the ground.

He grinned as, with a thought, dozens of barriers came alive in front of Ronan, constantly peppering him with immense force, leaving him overwhelmed by the onslaught.

At Least until, with a roar, he swiped the hammer in front of him horizontally the POwer Stone emitting a wave of pure power, dispelling all his barriers in one go.

The gesture left Ronan panting as he slammed his hammer on the ground, thankfully not using it to kickstart the chain reaction that would destroy Xandar.

"Ah, I assume you are the one who wants war, then? Terrible thing, war is. I personally wouldn't wish it on anyone. Tell me, did Irani Rael kill your father or something?" He rambled on as he slowly landed right in front of Ronan.

Ironically, a circle was right beneath them and they were standing on two end points of the circle.

Poetic. Almost.

"Shut up, Midgardian. Each and every one of your kind is infuriating beyond belief. First Vers and now you. Once I am done with your cooling corpse, I will go and put an end to your infuriating species, once and for all,"

He quirked his eyebrow in amusement as this idiot just declared his intent to go armed, with an Infinity Stone of all things, into Odin's territory, not for something benign, but to try and destroy one of the Nine Realms.

Damn, Power really does go to one's head when one gets Power beyond what they were made for.

He sighed as an identical hammer formed in front of him. He took hold of the hammer and beckoned Ronan to come at him.

Ronan growled, his face quirking into an ugly grimace as he charged at him.

The first seven barriers shattered upon impact as the ground under them was cratered because of the clash between both the hammers. He could see his barriers buckling because of the thin layer of energy that coated the hammer, courtesy of the Power Stone embedded in a crevice of the hammer.

He could do it. The barriers might be getting destroyed before another batch took its place before he was not the same as before. Where before doing so might have taken a noticeable toll on him, now it was the same as keeping his barriers sustained at all times.

Barely worth noticing at all.

He grinned as he looked at the almost feral look in Ronan's eyes before pushing him back, Ronan's feet leaving grooves in the circle as he tried to bleed off the force.

____xxxx____

"Hey Quill, can you do that as well?"

"Of Course not!"

"What? I thought you were both humans. Still, I never expected your species to have someone like that. Man, look at them go,"

Peter Quill fumed internally as Rocket praised this unknown man to the heavens, especially in front of Gamora. His jealousy peaked as she looked at the fight going on below them with sharp interest.

Hmph.

"He is no human. I haven't been to Earth in a long time but I know that humans cannot do that," He pointed at the area which was increasingly starting to look like a ruin because of the number of craters, holes, and otherwise destruction that was occurring as a result of the fight between Ronan and this Jack person.

What kind of stupid name was Jack anyway?

"Oh, please. I just scanned his face and apparently, he was the one who repelled the Chitauri Invasion of Earth. Man, they think he is dead. Hey, Quill? How many credits will we get if we gift wrap and give him to Earth?" Rocket's statement created so many questions in his mind.

The first and foremost of which was, that Earth was invaded by Aliens?

"I am GROOT.."

"Yeah yeah, I know we can't hope of taking him on, even with the Anulax batteries I swiped earlier.

Man, look at him go. Ronan is losing even with an Infinity Stone on his side. Weren't those things supposed to make one unstoppable or something?"

Rocket rambled off to the side, transfixed as he watched the fight in front of him, the Invading force all but forgotten.

Most of their forces had been destroyed by this Jack fellow as he came barreling down straight from the skies like a comet. The rest were easily taken care of by the Nova Force and the Ravagers forces.

Those were not the main invading forces.

"There we go…" Gamora muttered as she watched the fight with increasing interest.

He fumed once again internally but his attention was brought to the devastating blow that this stupid jack gave to Ronan, making him float in the air for a bit before he landed on the ground.

Peter Quill could hear the cheers in the background but…

"No, it's not over yet," He muttered as he rushed back to Milano's cockpit.

"Hey, Quill, you're missing the best part. He is about to kill Ronan,"

"...I wish I could be half as manly as that human right there…" Draz muttered to himself as he watched someone else complete his revenge for him.

"No no no. This is my time to….shine," He said as he took control of the Milano's weapons systems as all of them charged up with an ominous whirl, including the experimental moon breaker that Rocket had installed in his ship, to be used as a last resort.

"Uh, Quill? ….What are you doing?"

"Well, let's see who is cooler now,"

He grinned as the screen showed the weapon charged at 100% before he slammed down on the red button, the entire ship jerking back from the blow as all the weapons in the Milano were unloaded onto Ronan.

---

Word Count - 2534

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/N - I just got my new Keyboard. My old one died last week and I had to do everything on my crappy laptop keyboard. Can you even imagine my agony as I had to deal with so many double presses?

*Cries in First world problem*

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Xandar[2014]

–Jack Sullivan–

THis was fun, actually. He could feel the light singes on his skin as the POwer STone's energy continued to graze his skin because of the lack of barriers between Ronan's warhammer and his skin but this was fun.

Firstly, the amount of energy that Ronan could handle was so pitiful that it could not even be compared to the one that was used to make those horrible purple fires back in the Colelctor's base.

Now, the fact that Ronan was still standing and swinging around that hammer, blow after blow, meant that Ronan was probably much stronger than Carina was but the fact remained.

The fires that had plagued Knowhere were a direct result of Carina actually dying while wielding the Stone. The small burns on his forearms that were actively healing were a result of someone actually wielding an Infinity Stone and not dying.

'I suppose he is not the strongest accuser of the Kree Empire for nothing, then' he thought to himself as he continued to throw hands with the Accuser, his army all but forgotten as a temporary lull occurred in the battle for the Power Stone as both sides watched him thrash Ronan the Accuser.

For the common observer, it might not have been obvious but for anyone who had a history of fighting, they would be able to deduce almost instantly that he was barely making an effort to actually fight, more focused on redirecting all his attacks and tiring him out.

And he was being successful at it as well, judging by the purple glow in Ronan's eyes dimming. Well, everyone has their limits and it would seem that Ronan just reached his.

Well, time for the finisher then.

With a thunderous uppercut, he launched Ronan a few feet in the air as a shockwave originated from the point of impact between Ronan's jaw and his fist.

He looked on, bemused as the Milano, the signature ship of the Guardians of the Galaxy jerked back from the formation formed around their fight and then aimed all its weapons at Ronan.

He could also feel the increased energy flow between the Warhammer and Ronan as he probably got ready to use all he had as a last ditch effort, either to kill everyone here or to destroy Xandar.

Both of which would be impossible because of one small thing. Connected to his feet was a huge barrier that had spread around like, completely undetected as it occupied an underground layer.

Ronan also had two really small barriers aimed at him from the ground, which would then act as really small bullets that would punch holes in his brain once he gave the order.

The amount of energy required to do something like blast a planet's crust to the point that it would crumble into itself was not something that a mere Kree like Ronan could ever handle.

Hell, even Thanos would find himself permanently injured if he tried something like that. Without the Infinity Gauntlet, that is.

Only a handful of energy attuned beings like probably Danvers, or maybe Odin in his prime could bring forth enough might out of the Power Stone so that it could be used to create a planet destroying blast, and then recover completely thereafter.

So, he watched on, uncaring as Ronan gathered more and more energy in his Warhammer, the purple glow surrounding the Warhammer increasing as a response.

He tilted out of the way at the last moment, as the Milano unloaded all of its weapons and ammunition onto Ronan. His eyes glowed as he let the barrage loose, punching holes through ROnan's skull repeatedly until there was probably nothing left of his face.

His senses told him of the energy signature of the Power Stone receding back into itself, almost becoming inert.

He watched as a dust cloud that had formed with a green barrier automatically forming in front of him to prevent the dust from staining his clothing, something he had swiped from the Collector.

They were apparently enchanted Dwarven clothing made from Dragonskin, and quenched with Light Eleven Tears, granting the clothing a plethora of abilities, up to and including never having to wash them…ever.

Oh, they could also change size, shape, and colour at the user's will whilst also acting as a conduit for any energy the user might have. It also was an excellent armour all around but well, him being who he was, there was not much need for armour for him.

It had all these features built into it and it is still stained on the outside. Sure, removing the stain was as simple as swiping it with a clean cloth with nothing ever getting inside the armour but could they not just make a stain free armour, in the first place?

Anywho, as he floated mid air, in a T-shirt and formal pants, cause he was funky like that, he waved his hand as the Warhammer, clad in green floated to his hand.

Apparently, that was not the right thing to do because, suddenly, he found himself on the receiving end of hundreds of little energy cannons installed on those Star shaped ships.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" He said as he turned around, the hammer floating a bit of a distance away from him, looking as unremarkable as it could despite having an Infinity Stone embedded into it.

He looked up to see the Dark Aster completely surrounded by the Nova Force. So, that ship was probably taken care of.

He wondered if he could just….take that ship as part of his compensation?

___xxx___

Probably not, he thought to himself as he, along with the Guardians of the Galaxy were escorted to meet the Nova Froce's boss, presumably Irani Rael herself, after confiscating the dangerous weapons, mainly the moon breaker in Milano and Ronan's Warhammer.

Well, he was somewhat excited to meet the legend of yesterday who was capable of throwing hands with people who were as, if not stronger than Thor as he was now.

That might not seem like an extraordinary thing when someone watches the events with the lens of the viewer because they are always exposed to the most extraordinary of characters, with the most powers.

In the wider universe, someone being able to even come close to Thor's powers meant that they could probably safeguard and rule a territory that was probably bigger than multiple Star clusters, effectively making them the ruler of space with billions of lives.

That was a big deal. So, Irani Rael was a big deal at some point. But now she is just an old relic, holding on so that she can fulfill her last duty and go out with a bang.

Wait?

What happened to her when Thanos came for the Power Stone? Was it even Thanos? Did his children come to collect the Power Stone and defeat her?

That can't be right. Even as weakened as she was, he could sense the sheer amount of Nova Energy, the same energy that was present in every single member of the Nova Force in small amounts, that was concentrated in her body.

She should be able to handle at least one of the members of the Black Order without much issue if the energy she is holding on to at the moment is being read correctly by his senses.

"Greetings, Nova Prime," He nodded calmly in greeting while the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy looked tense at the number of guards present in the meeting room with me.

Ah, they probably thought this was going to be some ambush or something.

Foolish criminals.

"Greetings, Green Guardian of Earth. I must thank you for saving Xandar from the Renegade Accuser. Even discounting today, Ronan has done much damage to the Xandar Empire. His loss will further strengthen our position in the negotiation for the peace treaty.

You have my utmost thanks for that," She actually bowed at him as he waved his hands in denial.

"There is no need for that. No need to think of me doing any of this for altruistic reasons. I was offered money for a job and I took it. Treat me as you would a common mercenary," He said before he watched Peter Quill make a fool of himself in front of Nova Prime as Peter probably felt obligated to say something right after he did.

"Uh, hey, Nova Prime, right? We did it, right? It was a tough fight but we made it safely out. Now, where is the reward for killing Ronan?

You did see it, right? I killed him, so I should get the reward, right? Hey! Why are you pulli–"

Thankfully, he was pulled back by Gamora who shut his mouth, Peter seemingly enjoying the act immensely.

"Now, ignoring that unfortunate dialogue, shall we move on to more comfortable areas?"

Nova Prime led all of them to a designated meeting room.

"Mr.Jack, I assume that you did not reach the COllector on your own. As such, along with the promised 1 billion units, we will provide you with the finest civilian class cruiser that we have at the moment. I assume you can defend your ship with ease?" Nova Prime offered him a small bracelet was handed to him by one of the attendants.

"That has your bank details. We took the liberty of making one for you when we came to know that you didn't have one. That is also the access key for your ship, which is waiting outside."

He nodded and straight away left the office, probably creating outrage among the employees at the perceived slight but he didn't feel any blaster fire so he took that as a win.

"Sorry, I must hurry home, you see. Chores to do and people to meet," He called out as he waved back at the Nova Prime. He turned around the corner, completely clueless as to where he was and where he had to go when he came face to face with the middle aged guy from before.

"Oh hey! Just the man I was looking for. See, can you–"

"Lost, are you? Don't worry, I was called to escort you. Follow me," THe man said, completely unphased by him as he turned around, leading him out of a veritable labyrinth of hallways, currently empty but probably housing many administrative employees when they were not under attack.

"Man, you guys must get lost all the time, huh?" He said as they came out of a small tunnel, right into a small landing pad on top of the building of Nova Prime.

Yeah, they really consider the Nova Force and the Nova Prime the cornerstone of their civilization, so most of the important things in this place were either named Nova or Nova Prime.

"You humans are all chatty. Now, there is your ship. Forgive for the rushed paint job but we were kind of on a time and labor crunch," The middle aged man, who was apparently named Dey, introduced him to his ride home.

It was….kind of ugly actually.

It was painted in a bright green colour, somewhat reminiscent of his barrier colour. 'Well, A for effort, I guess'

"Well…..Thanks, I guess," He shook hands with Dey before walking towards his ship.

As soon as he came within six feet of the ship, it made chiming noises the same as some earthen car would as a small ramp was extended from the side, right at him. Could it open ramps on all sides and open one where he was by detecting his exact position or was it all just a coincidence?

He shook his head, dismissing these extra thoughts as he entered the ship, the insides illuminating as he entered it. He saw the cockpit activating with some sort of manual ready for him to read through before starting the ship but before that…Ship Tour!

He turned around the cockpit and came face to face with a door. He slowly opened the door and saw a…living room.

Yeah, it was a pedestrian, if slightly older feeling regular Living room, all with the CRT and fireplace as well.

"Boy, they really do have a very outdated understanding of Earth, don't they?

He shook his head with a smile before heading back to the cockpit, finally ready to go home now.

He had saved the members of the Nova Force that would have needlessly died under the Warhammer of Ronan the Accuser.

He saved Xandar from being completely trashed by Ronan's ship. He saved Groot from having to sacrifice himself to save ROcket and the others.

He saved himself from the Collector.

He got himself a nice little war chest, filled with space money in case he ever gets bored of Earth.

He met Nova Prime and gauged her to be a very capable warrior, one that could help immensely in the fight against Thanos, should she live till that. Undoubtedly, he will make sure that, if she is supposed to go out with a last fight, she will go down fighting someone like Thanos and not the Black Order under Thanos.

He also got himself a spaceship, a passenger one but he didn't need a weaponised one anyway. He was more than enough weapon for the rest of the galaxy.

He acquired a legendary armour, one that Odin would probably demand back as soon as Heimdall informed him about it.

What more? Oh yeah, he also received a pretty comprehensive upgrade when it came to his powers. Oh, he couldn't wait to bash in some supervillain's face in with his new and upgraded Barriers.

Well, he patted himself mentally on the back for a fruitful trip as he entered Earth as his destination and let the autopilot take him back home.

He rested his head on the reclining chair of the captain and tried to think of anything that he could have missed.

And yet, none came to mind.

Then why did he feel as if he was missing something?

Something Important?

______xx_____

Back on Knowhere

Once Jack extinguished all the Infinity Stone enhanced fires, he left Kumpo and a small group of people to take care of the remaining living prisoners who were just now coming out of their pods.

Now, this was a good move on his part and everything should have gone well.

Alas, Fate was a heartless bitch and as such, the Realty STone enclosure was also destroyed by the purple fires.

Being a fragment of the Big Bang itself, the Reality Stone was not affected by the purple flames. No, all it did was create a hole in the floor, through which it fell and latched itself onto an unsuspecting Kumpo.

Apparently, the long lived Kumpo was a very suitable host for the Reality Stone as his being was invaded by an Infinity Stone, unknown to him or to Danvers who was going to drop him to a planet where he last met some of his other friends.

___xx___

"Man, he really left with a billion units. And what did we get?" Rocket said, frustrated as he threw a wrench into the floor.

"Hey, watch the carpet!"

"Bite me!" Rocket growled at Peter as he sat on top of Groot's shoulder.

"That f*cker walked off with a billion units and all we got was this crappy ship back."

"And we got our crime records cleared…"

"Yeah yeah, like I cared about them in the first place,"

As they bantered with each other, the now named Guardians of the Galaxy headed off to a new adventure…as a team.

Together.

---

Word Count - 2641

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Asgard[2014]

–Heimdall–

He watched as young Axl played with stones that he had gathered around their humble abode. He had spent all his time in this place, split between tiling the lands and then teaching Axl about the gift of Sight as much as he could.

The thing with the seal that the All-Father had placed on Axl was that it would gradually open on its own anyway.

Forcing it to open in any way would immediately alert the All-Father. It served as a safety and watch mechanism meant to keep watch over the only young user of the Sight.

Once Prince Thor ascended to the rank of a SkyFather, he too would gain the ability of Sight. Axl would serve as a fine commander then, once he retired.

"Retried, huh?" He muttered to himself as he looked around the place that the interloper who was posing as their king had granted him.

Yes, he knew that the one sitting on the throne of Asgard, wielding Gungnir was not King Odin, the All-Father. He had been terribly worried about the King's reaction when he resolved to dissolve the seal that had been placed on Young Axl's powerful Sight.

He had expected King Odin to call for him, if not come here himself but even after weeks had passed since the day Axl completely gained his sight, there was no sight of King Odin in sight. In fact, even after he called for the King himself multiple times, he received no reply.

He was sure from this that the All-Father was not receiving his messages. Sure, if he had chosen not to reply, he would have known because he could feel it. King Odin could choose to watch over the entirety of Asgard all at once.

He would know if he was being observed instantly. Besides, the amount of danger that he was putting young Axl in, would have had King Odin marching on this doorstep in moments.

The last clincher was the analysis he did in his mind about the King's actions ever since Prince Thor came back from Svartalfheim. The all-but banishment of Prince Thor, the actual banishing of Sif and the Three Warriors, his "retirement" to this wasteland, and more.

Those were not the actions of King Odin, even if he considered the fact that the All-Father was drowned in grief due to the loss of his Queen.

No, this was something else altogether.

The unthinkable has happened. Someone has managed to steal King Odin's seat of power right from underneath him without anyone being the wiser. Not even Prince Thor suspected anything.

He was afraid that he was the only one who had the same line of thought in his mind. No Asgardian, even in their wildest dream, would ever think of the possibility of King Odin, the image of pure power in their eyes, getting dethroned without everyone in the Nine Realms and the wider cosmos coming to know about it.

The worst thing was that he could not take his suspicions to anyone. With the loss of Queen Frigga and the absence of Prince Thor, there was no one who had the means of actually standing up to the King.

Young Axl would surely be in danger if he tried to do anything about the interloper. Not only did he have Gungnir in his hands, which was apparently not revolving against the intruder (that raised a whole other set of alarm bells in his mind), but he was also powerful enough to replace King Odin without making any noise.

No, he could not do anything rash. He had to make sure that Axl was safe. Also, he had to stay alive until Prince Thor came back. He needed to warn Prince THor about it but he had tried to reach him and wherever Prince Thor was, he was either unwilling to establish a connection or he was unreachable by normal means.

The second possibility would be real if Prince Thor was in an area with high disturbances and those areas were few and far between.

The other way to prepare for Prince Thor's eventual return would be to look for powerful allies, ones that could stand up to the interloper's power, who himself was someone who could silently replace one of the strongest beings of the cosmos, weakened as he was now.

Alas, the only people he knew of who could rival or even surpass Prince Thor in might were his wayward allies on Midgard, The Avengers.

Some members of that team had the capability of even surpassing Prince Thor in combat. The Green beast was clearly strong, that much was obvious to anyone but he was unsure if just pure might was the answer in their fight against someone clearly well versed in the arts of Seidr.

Another face came to mind as he thought of the blazing green that covered a small part of the city, protecting Midgardians from forces beyond their ken.

The Green Guardian, Jack Sullivan of Midgard was clearly someone who could have helped Prince Thor in any of his endeavours and yet, he lost his life in the tragic ending of the Chitauri Invasion.

The All-Father was particularly harsh on Prince Loki when they all realised that the one who fought the fiercest, the hardest battle of Midgard was a mere child by Midgard's standards.

Not on Asgard though. Anybody who has fought in battle with their Prince side by side meant they were already an honorary warrior and surely get the chance to descend to Valhalla.

Jack Sullivan.

"Father, why don't you come back with me to the city? I would love to tour the city with you. The other kids make fun of me when they see me go home alone,"

Axl's voice snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked at the aggrieved look on Axl's face.

Ah, the joys of being young.

He cupped Axl's cheek as he tried to explain to him something that was far out of his age group.

"Soon, Axl. Soon, we will go back to the Golden Realm,"

".....Okay…" Axl replied, downcast as he went back to playing with the rocks.

He meanwhile looked up in the sky, giving his silent respect for the young warrior named Jack Sullivan.

All of a sudden, his gaze went blank as his Sight brought him to his requested destination, or rather, the requested person.

"Oh! Didn't think your sight would work like this," Jack Sullivan, the Green Guardian of Earth, in the flesh looked straight at his astral projection as his Sight had located the clearly lost warrior in a spaceship.

"What? Jack? Prince Thor thought you dead!" He stumbled on his response, his spirit slightly disoriented by the fast movements of the ship, the distance being too vast.

He was too shocked internally to realise that his Sight had identitied his target and brought him here.

"So you are alive then," He flatly said after a moment of thought.

"Yeah, it is a long story but I guess we have time for that. Plus, it would be great if Thor could meet me on Earth. We have a lot of work to do and as you know, two hands are–"

"I am sorry to interrupt you but Prince Thor is on an indefinite self reflection journey and as synch, cannot be contacted unless he wishes," He informed young Jack about it.

"Ah, I see. Well then, seeing that we have nothing else to discuss, let me regale you with the tale of how Tivan Taneller managed to collar me and how I escaped his so called Collection,"

_____xx____

Earth[2014]

–Tony Stark–

He continued to type on his custom made keyboard, his fingers blistering across the holo keys at a dizzying speed as he tried, once more, to try and find Jarvis in the huge haystack that was the internet.

He had tried everything. He went through the Nexus with a fine tooth comb a dozen times over. He tried creating an algorithm that would replicate endlessly unless it found Jarvis and then informed him about it.

He tried to create a virus that could target Jarvis' auxiliary systems and warn him about it but he never had the courage to go through with it. He had a hunch that Jarvis knew about that but refused to contact him about it.

"AGH!" he slammed the table in front of him in frustration. Frustration of his failure in stopping Jarvis from supporting Romanoff.

Frustration in his inability to stop Romanoff from killing off 4 members of the World Security Council before Alexander Pierce, the Secretary of it stepped off his position in fear of being targeted like his colleague.

That seemed to have stopped the attacks but he had a hunch that it was not a pause but something that Romanoff and Jarvis were preparing for.

Not knowing only made the thing worse.

Artleat Fury was willing to let this thing stay in the background for some reason because he was sure that everybody in every chain of the government must be clamoring for his imprisonment in his role of creating a rogue AI.

Except Jarvis wasn't rogue, he thought to himself as he straightened up and resumed his work on another workspace.

He knew that something had happened to Jarvis on that fateful day, something that led to him gaining sentience and then leading him on this path. The path to becoming part of a rogue entity that consisted of Romanoff, one of the most dangerous people on the planet.

He tried, he really did but he could not find even the slightest hint of them. It was as if they had gone completely underground or above air. SHIELD had tried their best as well but Romanoff was somehow avoiding every known pattern.

He absentmindedly rubbed his chest, his fingers still able to tell the difference between unblemished skin and the spot where the Arc Reactor used to be.

In this messed up world, he never really got the courage to go ahead with the surgery that would have him free of the reliance on the Arc Reactor.

It was only last year that he almost lost Pepper that prompted him to just get his big boy pants on and go ahead with the surgery. It helped that he had a single shot of Extremis handy that could be used on him to just heal him back to tip top condition.

"Boss, may I suggest taking a break? Ms.Potts is on her way with dinner. It's Chinese, your favourite," FRIDAY chimed in from the ceiling.

"Dinner? What time is it, Fri?" He questioned her as he tried to blink the headache out of his system.

"It is currently 1 AM, sir,"

"Whoa, no wonder I am feeling all that coffee now," He said as he closed down all the workspaces. It had been like this for a while now.

He had FRIDAY now, sure but she was never meant to be a replacement for his baby boy. No, she was more than enough when it came to piloting his suits and performing everything that Jarvis did around the lab but his absence could still be felt.

Even FRIDAY, with all the power available to her, could not find any traces of Jarvis.

"Hey!" He pointed at Pepper as she entered his lab with takeout in her hands, the one from his favourite place.

"What would I ever do without you?" He said as he took Pepper in his arms and kissed her on her forehead.

"Get eaten by your cats after you die from overworking, alone in your labs?" She snarked back at him, her hands going through his head.

"Oh, the lady has sass now, does she?" He said as she gently began leading him out of his lab, FRIDAY, ever the dutiful AI, began shutting down everything properly.

"Yes, she does and this lady demands that you have a proper meal and a good night's rest before this lady would ever let you out of her sight," Pepper said imperiously.

They both looked at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing together.

"Come on, let's get you a nice hot bath. You Stink, by the way,"

"Hey, you are the one who chose to be with this stinky mess. You don't get some parts of me. You get all of me, Stink included,"

"Oh yeah? Let's go, Mr.Stinky,"

They continued to banter as they left the lab, the entire lab going dark as Tony finally left the workshop after a record 72 hours.

……

….

"He does look happy, doesn't he?" Natasha Romanoff asked Jarvis as they both watched the happy Stark couple have dinner.

"Yes, sir does seem happy. It is….better this way. As I am now, I can no longer be satisfied with just being a digital existence," Jarvis replied as she continued to work on the stolen Quinjet made by Arc Reactor tech.

In the two years she had been on the run, she had been successful in killing all the then members of the World Security Council, save for one.

Oh, she knew where Pierce was and could probably kill him whenever she wanted to but she needed him to complete his and HYDRA's nefarious agenda.

Project Insight.

"Jarvis, how sure are you that your plan will work? You know that millions if not billions of lives are at stake here," She asked out loud as she looked at the schematics, prototypes from the looks of it, of next generation Helicarriers, built with Arc Reactors, keeping long term reliability in mind.

Looking at the experimental Quinjet that had kept her airborne and undetected from everyone on the planet for two whole years without failing, she could say, without a shadow of a doubt that the Helicarriers, once launched would need no refueling for months, maybe years if they rationed everything.

"I am 98.87% certain that this will be the best way to make sure that all the HYDRA members are identities and eliminated with extreme prejudice" Jarvis' electronic voice pinged in the small workspace she had made for herself in the Quinjet as he talked about killing thousands of people.

"Well, they are literally Nazis we are talking about. Steve probably would have still objected to it but hey, we are not going to tell him, are we?" She tried to banter with Jarvis, but their bond now deepened due to him being her only companion in the two years it had been since Jarvis was affected by the energy storm.

In the months since Jack's funeral, Jarvis, unshackled as he was now, unloaded shock after shock on her as he continued to gain access to places that he didn't even know existed.

One such shock was the existence of Arnim Zola, as an inferior digital lifeform. Jarvis had assimilated Zola before he could do anything and was currently acting as HYDRA's guide to Project Insight.

In the meantime, she acted on Jarvis' orders to stall or outright destroy any of HYDRA's plans once it became clear that it was going to result in a massive loss of life then or later on.

In this way, they had spent the past two years, working, slowly, to make sure that HYDRA ended up in the spot they wanted it to, ripe for the culling.

All for Jack.

It started as penance for killing Jack but once she traced the roots, it all went back to HYDRA. The experiments that created Jack.

The experiments on the Tesseract.

The Nuke that killed Jack.

Everything could be traced back to the behemoth of an evil organisation that was HYDRA and as such, she was determined to end it before she died.

At Least this way, she would not have to see Jack's gurgling face as he died in front of her.

This way, she could gain some peace before she inevitably died. People like her did not get a good death, of that she was sure.

So why not go out swinging on your own terms, instead of letting life decide your chances?

---

Word Count - 2729

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

Next - Jack arrives back on Earth with a wildly different scenario than the one he was expecting.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Solar System

–Jack Sullivan–

"Ah, home sweet home," He muttered to himself as the ship finally reached the Gate past Mars. Apparently, there were two gates in Earth's solar systems, which in and of itself was a surprising thing because most places only get one.

The next one should be further away and yet, there was a gate located right on top of the moon and one in front of Mars.

Goes to show just how central Earth was to the events surrounding the global cosmos.

He ordered the ship to remain cloaked and station itself in Mars' orbit because he wanted to check in on a few things. This ship already had the fuck-you decryption built into it so getting access to the wider internet was not a hard thing at all. It was just a little slow, being just radio but he could work with that.

All he needed were a couple of articles to see what was happening.

He saw the time was April 2014 which he had already confirmed back on Xandar so that was good. He saw a couple of articles about the happenings of the Stonehenge along with the weird portals opening in London.

So, he was late for that as well. Tony Stark's grand proposal ceremony where he blew up hundreds of millions of dollars worth of suits had gone viral as well.

The Vice President's arrest was still fresh in the news as a series of scams he did during his tenure were unearthed and pressure was being put on POTUS to be impeached or for him to resign on his own.

Well, fat load of good it did for his political opponents when Tony came out with all the information on the Vice President and personally endorsed President Ellis as being the one who brought the one responsible behind bars.

'Well, more like Tony brought the one responsible down into flames, turning Killian into ashes'

Then there was the bit about SHIELD and its role in the 2012 Invasion.

"Whoa!" He was so shocked that he stumbled back into his chair at the front page article. He had opened a series of articles and was waiting for the images to load.

On the screen was a still from when he was skewered by that damned sceptre, in HD, just printed on the news with his name for just everyone to see.

WHAT.THE.FUCK!

"What in the All-Father's name is going on here?" He leaned forward as he dug deeper into the series of articles. He even had the urge to bring the ship closer to Earth to get faster internet speeds but caution won over.

He was not sure if the Watcher or the Inhumans present on the Moon could detect his ship or not. Well, he knew that the Watcher already knew he was here, but the Inhumans were what he was worried about.

Not defeating them but of their interference. He didn't really have the bandwidth to deal with them, especially since he was still reeling from his identity revealed to the world.

It was all a haze. Whenever he tried to think too much about the memoirs of him dying in that energy storm, his head hurt a lot and since it mostly consisted of pain, oh so much pain, he subconsciously suppressed that part of his memories.

What possessed the Avengers to make his identity public, not that he had much of an identity in the first place.

"I thought that they would just suppress everything because the idea of a teenager going out to fight aliens was bad enough but for said teenager to die fighting? That would have raised storms of unheard of proportion. At Least he hoped they did,"

And yep. He looked at the series of protests and riots that erupted around the Continental United States as well as other major parts of the world as they protested not just his involvement in the fight, but also the part where he had to die because somebody in the government had the bright idea to try and nuke Manhattan.

Well, the part where they likened him to Jesus Christ and tried to justify his supposed supreme sacrifice was kind of odd, he didn't know how to feel about that but the truth remained. His death was some kind of catalyst that revealed a whole host of things to the wider world.

Out of the blue, multiple reports citing confirmed evidence of alien artifacts along with the evidence of historical presence came forward, rattling many people's worldviews.

"Hmm? What's this?" He clicked on one of the clickbaity popup links that opened up on the webpage. It was about Romanoff and her supposed disappearance from the entire scene.

Now, that was supposed to be common because she was in the end..a spy but no, this went beyond that.

Oh…OH!

Apparently, there was a stupidly huge funeral procession for him, right in Manhattan, that every single Avenger, Politician, Businessman, and basically everybody worth a damn from every part of the world attended, even T'Chaka from Wakanda. Everybody came to pay their respects but nobody saw the Black Widow.

That led to speculations but that much was nothing. But the thing was, she was not seen in any of the big crises in the later years as well.

For example, during the Killian crisis, Captain America was the one who actually helped find Tony once his mansion was blown up and he was stranded somewhere.

"Well, there goes his anonymity. It was good that everybody thought he was dead and barring Heimdall if he was watching, nobody should know about his continued life.

Yeah, he must be very busy, what with Frigga, one of the stronger figures in the Nine Realms, dying to the Dark Elves attack? There was no way he would—

"HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!" He suddenly stood up and cursed out loud as his powers flickered around him.

SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!

He left the F*cking REALITY STONE on Knowhere. He knew, knew, that he was forgetting something and his literally enhanced mind couldn't go for a second like, yeah it's the freaking Infinity Stone that he left on Knowhere, unguarded.

What do do? What to do!

He couldn't turn back right now, he would be too late. There was no way pirates hadn't already descended on Knowhere to try and strip everything of value from the Collector's collection.

It took him about 3 days to get to Earth in this admittedly slow ship from Xandar. From Xandar to Knowhere was close enough but he had no way to get faster ships.

He was not worried about the surviving people because Kumpo and the others were there. They were literally as strong as Asgardians, some even more so. What he was worried about was Kumpo leaving the place without looking for anything else, leaving the Reality Stone to be stumbled upon by some unsuspecting fool.

Worse, some fool who might try to use the stone for their own purposes and bring the attention of the Mad Titan to them. It would be the perfect time to strike as well.

Losing Frigga would undoubtedly deliver a big blow to Odin's already waning spirit so Thanos could use the opportunity to shore up his reserves of the Infinity Stones.

"Take me to Earth," he said out loud, hoping that voice feature worked. With barely a jerk, the ship started sailing forward, still in stealth mode. Due to the need for stealth, the ship was slow going but it was still much faster than he had expected.

ETA was less than an hour until he breached Earth's atmosphere.

That was good. It gave him time to think about his next step. He, in all his infinite foolishness, literally forgot an Infinity Stone in his haste to finish the job on Xandar and come home.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" He banged his head on the table in front of him as he realised there was only one way out of this mess if there was even the mess of the Reality Stone being traceable in the first place.

Chances were that Thanos already noticed the energy signature of the Stone and had already claimed it. In that case, he could do nothing but shore up his plans for the other Stones and hope that Thanos doesn't use Reality Stone to devastating effect like Malekith was about to.

He had to go to Asgard and ask for Odin's help to get a ride to Knowhere on an emergency basis.

Shit, Nidavellir as well.

Oh my god, he was so late for a lot of stuff. He always thought that he still had time but he had zilch.

He had to make sure that Strange understood everything, maybe stop the Ancient One from dying. That would help a lot.

What more happened in 2014, not that he could completely trust his memories of canon anyway, what with his very existence throwing things into disarray. He was sure that Loki would have a much greater fear of the Green Guardian than he did of the Hulk.

He was still unsure as to how he could approach the topic of his death,

'The reports of my demise have been greatly….exaggerated' He did always want to say that out loud but he had a hunch it might be considered inappropriate for the occasion.

For starters, he would don a disguise and after checking up on Pops, go to the Ancient One and see how bad things had gotten.

What else? What else could he predict?

The finger he was tapping on his chin as he tried his hardest to think of any significant events that happened post the whole Extremis thing, stopped abruptly as his shoulders slumped in disappointment.

He promptly slammed his forehead on the steering in front of him.

Of course, HOW COULD HE FORGET!

The Winter Soldier! Bucky Barnes.

This was when the whole project INSIGHT would take place, introducing six new state of the art Helicarriers for world peace, supposedly.

Well, the 40 minutes until Earth seemed a lot longer than they did just a while ago.

So many problems and not a lot of time to do it.

In the meantime, he sifted through the mountain of articles published with his moniker in SEO.

Most of it was just speculation about his life, his powers, and what led to the exact circumstances that led to his gruesome death.

The video was leaked somehow but he knew from the angle, that it was recorded by the suit that ROmanoff was somehow piloting and without Tony's express permission, something like this would have never found its way to the web.

Sure, the video was censored in most places, due to how gruesome it was but it was the truth so they couldn't exactly place a blanket ban on it. Clips of it must have been circulated so many times on the web that it wouldn't even be funny.

Once it was on the internet, there was truly no way of erasing it permanently. The Government could try to curb access or make it harder but never outright block things.

The ones that want to access information and know how to do it will reach the information anyway. The curbs will only work for the majority of non tech savvy people of the world.

The conspiracy theorists would get the docs one way or another.

Speaking of information, the events that saw the death of SHIELD as an organisation also saw the uploading of the entirety of SHIELD's database, which no doubt held the wet dreams of every conspiracy theorist out there.

Well, another thing on the list to prevent them. SHIELD had to survive, in one form or another, the planet needed a globally unified organisation.

Since he knew that getting a unified central government for the entire planet was just a fool's errand, at least not without shedding the blood of millions while being in constant worry about rebels and whatnot, he would settle for the next best thing and that was something like a combined agency of SHIELD and SWORD.

Well, he was going for the stealthy approach here so he could not just go out blazing green and then drop right into the New York Sanctum. He was not that well versed with shrouding and concealment spells.

Opening a portal was out of the question because he just did not have his sling ring on him. According to some truly wild theories thrown about by the Masters at Kamar Taj was that his barriers would one day grow to be so magically conductive that he could just use his barriers as a magical focus, to open portals or anything else that needed enchantments.

In fact, the only enchantment focused Master of Kamar Taj, aside from the Ancient One, that woman was a master of everything, given her long life, had all but begged him to take time and learn Enchantment as the main specialty.

Master Gupta had been nearly brought to tears when he showed him the way enchantments could be layered on his barriers, on the fly, without any preparation time.

No, relying on the stealth systems of the ship was the best bet and besides, he was going to the New York Bay. Traveling to the Sanctum from there with his stealth maintained should be easy enough.

He just hoped that Stark Industries had not made ridiculous advancements in the field of deep space sensors.

With his luck, that might just be true.

____xx____

Bernin Zana, Wakanda

"My Prince! The ship has started moving and its trajectory shows New York to be its destination though the ship could change its direction any moment,"

T'Challa of the Golden Tribe, watched as a Red Alert event happened.

'Was that City cursed to have all the aliens go to that place? Or do the aliens not know about anyplace else than New York?' He thought to himself in mild frustration that turned to sadness as soon as the aftermath of that invasion flashed in his mind.

After the New York fiasco, riddled with guilt in not being able to help the defenders with the aliens, he had personally led aid efforts with Wakanda and a trust fund they had established in Switzerland in case they needed to move money around in the Western world.

After that, they turned on the lights on some of the forgotten projects about the wider space they occupied in the galaxy.

They knew more about aliens than any other government on the planet, mainly due to their interactions with Mar-Vell, a Kree rebel scientist who revealed himself to Wakanda.

He needed a large amount of vibranium for something and his father, recognising the opportunity, made a deal in exchange for auxiliary systems from the Kree along with a basic data cache about the situation in the galaxy.

They did get the knowledge but the decryption and then the subsequent building of the equipment proved to be difficult. Basically, they were stuck in the cycle of building the tools to build the tools to build the tools to finally build the machine.

At the rate things were going, it would have taken another decade for the deep space scanners to finally be in the prototyping phase. With the sudden surge in funding and resources, they had it ready in less than a year.

That was how they detected the arrival of the ship near Mars.

The ship stayed in the same place for a while he informed his father about the event and in a show of trust, his father placed the decision making on T'Challa.

It was up to him how to respond to this threat. They didn't have a direct line to SHIELD or even the Avengers.

He might have to get creative with this.

He was just about to suggest contacting Stark's AI when he was alerted about the ship moving.

"Okoye," He asked Okoye, the General of Dora Milaje, "Get the Raptors ready and a small squad of WarDogs. We are going to New York,"

'I will not stand idle, not again, waiting for someone else to fight and possibly die for me. Not after Jack, never again'

---

Word Count - 2746

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Earth

–Jack Sullivan–

Ah, the Big Apple.

He watched as the ship stopped right on top of the waters surrounding New York, the intended destination that he had set for it.

After that, it began losing altitude, until it was submerged, all the way down to the bedrock, where it then began the process to slumber. Yeah, the ship had an actual sleep mode where it could turn its stealth systems to the max while shutting down everything else, sealing itself against all entry unless the one with the keys to the ship opens it.

The bearer of the keys being Jack Sullivan, Green Guardian of New York.

He watched as the area around the ship flickered for a bit before there was a hole in the ground, the ship having burrowed itself into the ground before the hole itself was seemingly fixed, as the inbuilt stealth systems created the illusion of smooth sand over it.

He grinned at the excellent display of stealth technology before his form began heading towards the shore at regular speeds. He was in a hurry, yes, but he was not yet sure about the direction he was supposed to take.

Plus, he was not sure about the actual situation going on behind the scenes. All he had seen were a couple of articles that he was certain were not given the whole picture.

Maybe the ancient One could shed some light on the matter?

He cast an elementary level illusionary spell around him before he slowly exited the waters and entered the city, his destination?

The roof of the New York Sanctum.

He slowly landed on top of the Sanctum, its barriers and alarm systems not registering him as an unknown. He dispelled his barriers as he entered the Sanctum from the roof, no doubt startling whoever was the Sanctum master right now.

"Who goes there!" He heard a shout in front of him, heralding the arrival of Master…Daniel Drumm. Damn, he thought to himself as a scythe of dimensional energy found itself stopped just an inch before his torso by his barriers.

"What?" The confusion in his voice was understandable.

"Damn! If that was anybody else other than me, they would have been in for a nasty surprise. Didn't think you had it in you to attack before asking questions, Master Drumm," he casually said as his arm reached out towards the scythe and pinched it out of existence, his barriers allowing him to dismantle the energy flow that sustained the construct in the real world.

"Sullivan? What? How?" Daniel Drumm looked even more confused for a moment before his eyes hardened as another scythe appeared in his hand, this one much larger than the one before, "What illusion is this! Explain yourself, Intruder!"

"Whoa Whoa! It's me, Daniel. Who else could do this?" He said as he dodged another scythe that appeared behind him, threatening to skewer him in a way oddly reminiscent of the way that Loki's sceptre had skewered him.

He snapped his fingers, creating a wave of green that expanded to cover most of Daniel's vision in an instant, also covering his form as he was instantly disarmed and immobilised by his barriers, no matter how hard he struggled to free himself.

"Convinced now?" He walked closer to Drumm and said as the only thing left of Daniel's body that was not covered by Green was his face. Before Drumm could say anything though, he smiled as he felt a rather familiar wave of energy wash over him that transported him, Drumm, and one other member who was present in the Sanctum to the Mirror Dimension.

His hand snapped out, a rectangular barrier forming over it, just as a large, familiar, hammer shot up to hit the barrier with overwhelming force. The wielder looking at his smile with a stoic look on her face.

The Ancient One had used the same hammer, the one that was infused with the essence of Eternity, to hit him, with even greater force than last time.

The difference this time was that he was not the same as before and his powers certainly were not at the same level as they were before. The small, single layered barrier was able to completely block the hit from the Hammer before the Ancient One reiterated, the hammer, once again, looking comically large in comparison to her.

"I believe that serves as enough confirmation, Master Daniel?" The Ancient One asked Drum who was looking at the entire exchange with a pale look on his face. After all, they were now standing in the ruins of the Sanctum with the surrounding blocks which were once filled with buildings now nothing but rubble, as a result of the shockwave that had formed after the Hammer had hit his barrier.

He whistled as he saw the damage done firsthand by the simple clash between one of Eternity shard-empowered weapons and his barriers.

The scene looked like it came from a still when the Chitauri Invasion was still a thing.

The mirror DImension was a perfect copy of everything that was material in the real world. Sure, the space here was exceptionally weak so manipulating space in this world was very simple as well, but the strength of every piece of steel rebar was the same as in the real world. Seeing the toppled buildings with the very land around them turning red due to the sheer pressure generated at the point of contact was sobering.

He really was far removed from the realms of humans, wasn't he?

"Master Sullivan, come, we have a lot to talk about. Your presence and absence alone seem to have caused waves in the timeline without you even doing anything about it,"

He looked back to the Ancient One who had opened a portal, Master Drumm already walking through it, the man having been clearly shaken from witnessing the entire ordeal.

He shook his head, banishing the dark thoughts. He was human enough for the moment and that was all that mattered at the moment. Anything else could come in for later anyway.

"Now, Master Sullivan, let me tell you how glad I am to see you hale. I, along with many other Masters were understandably worried when they saw the apparent demise of the strongest Master of this generation. We wouldn't want the rising star of Kamar Taj to die now, would we?"

He nodded along as he sipped on the heavenly tea that only the Ancient One seemed to have. He had half a hunch that she owned a pocket space where she planted her specific brand of tea as no one in the entirety of Kamar Taj knew where she procured her tea from. Any query as to the source of the tea was only met by a mysterious smile.

"Let me tell you, the reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," Yes! He finally got the opportunity to say it in real life.

"I suppose you will realise the chaos that you left behind but before that, I believe you are missing this?"

He tried not to let the absolute relief show on his face as the Ancient One snapped her finger as a small sling ring floated in between them. He reached out and plucked it out of her spell's hold and sighed in relief as the ring just fit snugly on his finger, just like the first one.

"Now, even though I am just dying to know what happened for you to take this long to contact us, I will be content knowing that you are still alive and working towards the same goal. We can always catch up later over a nice cup of tea made with honey extracted from bees native only to the Alfheim, the Light Realm," She said as she made the veritable shooing gesture at him.

"I believe duty calls are about to reach you soon enough,"

His eyes creased in confusion as he watched her shoo him away. Before he could get the question through, he watched a portal opening right in front of him showing a street where multiple police cars were surrounding a single overturned black SUV.

"Oh shit!" His mind ran a mile a minute as he, in a split second, covered himself in a stealth spell and ran into the portal, or rather jumped out of the portal into the air above the overturned car.

He sent in a dozen micro barriers to check the situation down below when the car just…blew up, taking the attackers with it. He looked around and saw that his suspicions were correct.

That was Nick Fury's car and things had just gone to….shit.

"Shit indeed," He watched as his barriers zoomed through the sewers, trying to find the injured Nick Fury.

He had a lot of work to do if things had come to this point. No wonder the Ancient One had told him duty was going to call him. And what a call it was.

He sighed as one of his barriers finally found the hobbling, clearly injured Nick Fury who was desperately trying to make the distance between his would-be killers, all the while trying to stem the bleeding from his clearly injured right leg.

He looked around the city and just sighed as he watched the real law enforcement arriving, the fake one having either died down or fled the scene before he could arrive. Unfortunately, he missed the Winter Soldier as well.

Judging by the distance that Fury had covered from the manhole cover and the speed at which Bucky Barnes could move, he had probably long since left the scene, moving on to his next target.

He kept a close eye on Fury as he floated on top of the areas that Fury was taking. He knew that Fury was on his way to meet Rogers, to give him the USB with the data of the Helicarriers.

The reason he was not helping Fury, aside from keeping a watch and a barrier handy so that he could be defended at a moment's notice was because he had to wait for the Winter Soldier to show his face.

He had to take Bucky out of the game, not just so he could heal the poor man and give him the rest he deserved but also because he would never-never let the events of the Civil War come about. There would be no Team Cap and Team Tony on his watch.

He would love for them to be, if not unified, then at least on good terms so that they could turn to each other in case of a world ending emergency.

Destroying the Helicarriers and making sure that SHIELD survived would be a monumental task, politically speaking and his confirmed survival along with the hero worship he seemed to have gained in the time he was stuck in space, would certainly help.

HYDRA had to go but SHIELD had to survive, to help with the future threats. He could not stomach the actual defenders of the planet having to scurry around like they were criminals just because the politicians were too cowardly to do the right thing and create something that, while infringing on their so called powers, would help Earth and Humanity in the long term.

He kept a close watch on Fury as help reached him from one of his loyal agents. Fury hobbled into the SUV as they sped off to presumably Rogers' apartment, with the agent furiously trying to apply first aid to Fury's leg wound.

He floated right above Fury and his car as they sped through the streets, simultaneously keeping a lookout for the Winter Soldier. His barriers were firmly attached to the underbelly and the top of the car along with being inside the carpet stitching of the rooftop.

He was taking no chances in making sure that Fury remained alive this time.

As they came to a stop in front of a nondescript apartment building, he flooded the area with his barriers, so small that no normal person would be able to spot them but they gave him valuable intel in return.

He dispelled the barriers around the car as he watched Bucky Barnes set up a sniper atop a nearby rooftop, with no HYDRA agent nearby. He watched as Fury dismissed the loyal agent who brought him here, despite his clear disagreement.

He made sure that the good man made it out of the area safely. He kept a watch over him until he abandoned the car and fled the area while donning a disguise.

Apparently, Fury knew that he was gonna get assassinated here and did not want to risk his few good men. That had certainly become a rarity for the man in his own agency.

He kept a watch on Fury and Captain as they conversed about something. Judging by Steve's tense expression, they were probably talking about SHIELD and how it was not safe anymore.

Before Fury could tell Cap more about it, Bucky took aim and shot. He kept a close eye on the bullet as it sped through the air, narrowly missing Fury as he had already covered the bullet in his barrier, guiding it to avoid Fury's heart.

Cap immediately summoned his Shield which was apparently laying below the nearby bed, just by kicking it. He immediately ducked low as another bullet struck the wall behind him, dragging Fury with him to rest against the wall.

He kept a watch as Fury's heartbeat slowed down, a crew of SHIELD agents converging on the location, probably to help sell the lie about FUry's death.

He watched as Bucky Barnes, probably realising that his mission was done, began packing the sniper.

He watched as Fury handed the USB to Cap and said something. Cap looked at the slowly fading Fury as he immediately turned around and started running through wall after wall, to get a hold of the Winter Soldier.

He watched as Cap sent the Shield to Bucky who stopped it before sending it right back to Captain. The entire exchange left Steve standing on top of the rooftop, confused as he was exposed to a ghost of his path.

He could see the crew having reached Fury and the lead medic injecting Fury before she had the rest of the crew hauling asses to get the Director of SHIELD out of the clearly unsafe apartment building.

He watched as the Winter Soldier broke into a car and was about to get away before he just created a portal in front of the car. He had no way of stopping the car as the entire car along with the Winter Soldier, down to his mouth with his poisoned tooth was covered in his barrier, allowing him to bring the Winter Soldier with him to the ocean.

He took one look at the struggling Winter Soldier and removed the poisoned pill, scrapped the entire car (whilst muttering a sorry for the car owner, boy this was going to be a very odd theft case for the cops), and then opened another Portal, straight to the spaceship he was so graciously given by Xandar for saving their entire planet, and most likely their entire civilisation.

"Activate the medical stasis pod," He intoned as they descended into the second layer of the ship, the one with the medical facilities. The ship was kitted out with the most advanced medical system that Xandar had that they gave to civilians anyway.

He slowly floated the still form of Bucky into the stasis pod. He slowly created orifices to let the sleeping agents enter Bucky's nose. He made sure to up the dosage by 2 times over a normal human's due to Bucky's enhanced constitution.

He could see and feel the Winter Soldier still struggling, right up until his eyes rolled up as the alien-made anesthesia finally lulled him to sleep.

"Hold him in the stasis until I come back," he said after turning on the Secure Stasis mode of the pod which created steel bounds around Bucky's limbs.

He sighed and opened a portal, back to the area where Steve was living. He had to make sure that Steve was not killed in SHIELD custody or something absurd like that, even though he knew the likelihood of that happening was pretty low.

This was going to be a long night and he knew it.

Let's hope that at least the hundred billion dollar investment into the Helicarriers was not wasted. He would need Stark's help for that.

He was not looking forward to that meeting, at all.

---

Word Count - 2808

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Earth

–Jack Sullivan–

It had been over 24 hours since he had returned to Earth and already, he was involved in a shitshow, quite an exquisite one at that.

One of the perks he got after surviving that energy storm was his body being upgraded extensively. He could not even feel the need to sleep, at all, even after he spent 24 hours awake. Granted, he didn't have to use any of his powers at a higher intensity than normal and he could do something like this before as well, but back then, he could feel the need creeping on him, the need to sleep.

Right now? Nada, Zilch. He could choose to nod off if he wanted to, demonstrated by his sleeping on the ship when he came here but the necessity of sleep was apparently removed from his systems.

He was currently floating on top of a convoy that was making its way through the busy streets of Washington DC. The convoy currently held the captured form of Steve Rogers, Captain America. Fortunately, none of the agents had tried very hard to hurt Steve in any capacity, not that they could.

Steve, true to his name, had knocked out most of the agents that had come for him, only subduing them without any permanent injuries but once it had become clear that he was completely outmanned and outgunned, he surrendered voluntarily.

That was how it came to this, a convoy filled with agents armed to the grill, escorting Steve to some SHIELD, or more probably, HYDRA black site where Steve would probably be kept as just a resource of super soldier blood, to make more of him in the future.

Thankfully, Steve was going to be spared that grisly fate by yours truly. Not that Steve needed any saving., considering he could identify one of the people in that van, that probably didn't belong in that particular security detail.

What with her being at a much higher security level than normal level 4 grunt agents?

He watched through his barriers as Maria Hill, Robin Sparkles(?), in the flesh knocked out multiple agents before showing herself to Steve who looked relaxed after seeing that she was on his side.

Speaking of which, where was Romanoff in all this? Wasn't she supposed to be with Rogers when they were both captured and then rescued by Sparkled down below? He saw them leave the convoy, with Rogers' shield, as they made their way into the darkness.

He made to follow after them, presumably straight to FUry himself when his eyes narrowed as he looked up.

Right above the forest area that Hill and Rogers were running into, his small barriers had run into something. Something that was invisible to his eyes. Thankfully, his barriers that were made for observation were very small and also not really directed by him actively. They just kind of floated around him as if they were plastic bottles in a sea, floating with the flow.

So, the impact of that particular barrier must not have registered to whatever object it had stuck, and it was definitely an object as more and more of his barriers began attaching themselves to the object.

His eyes narrowed as he made a split second decision once it was clear that the object was suspiciously shaped like a QuinJet and was heading straight down to where Rogers and Hill were running.

A small barrier sprung forth from the ground as Rogers and Hill were covered in a green cube, which immediately slid itself into the ground, to prevent the glow from his barriers from alerting anyone who was nearby.

The moment he did that, however, the object revealed itself. He was right.

It was a Quinjet. It steadily hovered above the cube, and he slowly began floating near them, still clad in his stealth spell, invisible to all but some truly obscure electromagnetic wave spectrums.

He resisted the urge to summon a sea of green around the jet because that would be like holding a giant neon green sign over the forest. He narrowly avoided doing just that when the bottom of the Quinjet opened up and a person dropped through the hole.

His eyes widened in confusion as the small person somehow used repulsor tech, miniature ones installed in their hands and legs as they slowed down their descent and landed right atop the green barrier.

At this point, he was standing just a few feet from the people as he saw the headpiece recede back into her suit as Romanoff's face was revealed to Rogers and him.

Before ROgers could say something, Romanoff frantically began looking around for something. The same for the jet as it had entered stealth mode as soon as Romanoff had been dropped and had begun zipping around the entire airspace in an increasingly reckless manner.

He wondered exactly what was going on but since he had already revealed his barrier, it was a moot point hiding himself at this point.

All the gazes in the room, along with the jet somehow becoming still mid air as soon as he revealed himself, zeroed in on him as he revealed his form, for the first time since the invasion Fiasco back in New York.

"Um, Hi?" He waved his hand and almost shifted into a combat stance on reflex as Romanoff immediately ran towards him. "Uh-" his words were stuck in his throat as Romanoff all but leaped on him, her frame wracked with sobs.

His face was a perfect representation of confusion as he waved his hand, removing the cube around Rogers, except the floor which then pushed them out of the hole the cube had dug into the ground. The Quinjet too began lowering itself right in front of them, in a small clearing. The only sign of the Quinjet, even now, were the small barriers attached to it and the small disturbances it made to the surrounding branches as it landed.

"Uh, can somebody explain what the hell is happening right now?"

What was up with that ridiculously advanced Quinjet along with the Repulsor tech that Romanoff was using? Did Stark start selling Repulsor tech now?

He never did that, according to his memories, but his memories of his previous life were spotty at best and should not be relied upon completely anyway, just because of all the butterflies he must have made in the timeline by his actions.

_____xxx_____

Oh. Oooooh.

"So….a lot happened, huh?" Jack Sullivan, the Green Guardian said as he looked at the gathered people sitting on makeshift chairs, mostly crates, inside the Quinjet which was on its way to some base. Sparkles had refused to elaborate further but he knew that Fury was probably inside that safehouse for now.

"It would be safe to say so, Sir," Jarvis' voice chimed in through the ceiling as he was the one who was piloting the Quinjet.

Oh yeah, Jarvis was sentient now. No Vision crap with the Mind Stone and Thor's divine lightning required to make him sentient.

No, Jarvis had become sentient because of the same thing that had led his dying form to the other end of the galaxy.

The energy storm, being made up of energies from both the Space Stone and the Mind Stone. It had enveloped him but some of it had hit Jarvis in the suit he was piloting as well. Apparently, that was enough for him to gain sentience.

"So, you are on the run then?" He questioned Romanoff incredulously as Steve kept on looking at Romanoff with the patent disappointed gaze.

"Yes, I had to run. I could not do what I had to do, by working as a SHIELD agent. But later on, Jarvis realised something that made my decision seem correct in hindsight,"

"You knew about HYDRA? Since when? Romanoff…we could have saved so many lives, saved FURY!" Steve stood up, alarmed as he realised that Romanoff already knew about HYDRA before all of them and chose not to inform them about it. His calm fraying as he realised that Romanoff keeping information from him led to the deaths of good people, and Fury as well.

'Sit down, Rogers. You don't know what has been happening, what I have been doing all this while,"

"Indeed, Captain Rogers, we have known of HYDRA's continued existence for over a year now, and in all that time, we have accomplished much. We have–'

"Why didn't you come to us with that information? We could have taken out HYDRA before they knew about it. We could have prepared-"

"And that is precisely why I decided not to inform anyone but Ms.Romanoff here about HYDRA and how they were planning on world domination,"

His eyebrows raised into his hairline, his mind ran a mile a minute as he heard Jarvis speak about everything very assertively. Apparently, Jarvis had left Stark in a bid to help Romanoff for something.

"And how did you find out about HYDRA anyway?" He interjected in between before Rogers could go on another tirade about morality.

"...Ah, Mr.Sullivan, I simply found the person responsible for all this mess. Arnim Zola, in his digital form," Jarvis said as a hologram popped up in front of them, showing how Zola had delayed his death by turning himself into a pseudo AI.

"I was able to assimilate the primitive AI and find everything that he knew about HYDRA. I was truly alarmed about the situation and after further digging, came to the conclusion that any targeted attack on HYDRA at that point would have led to devastating consequences, including but not limited to - a global financial crisis, multiple countries descending into anarchy, partial governmental collapse in the US and complete in multiple NATO partners."

Rogers' face sobered up as he realised the extent to which HYDRA had infiltrated everything.

"Fortunately, hidden in Zola's archives, I found something that could help concentrate HYDRA,"

The new and advanced helicarriers were projected in front of them.

"Project INSIGHT," Hill whispered.

"Yes, Project INSIGHT is supposed to be HYDRA's endgame. Well, this branch of HYDRA anyway. They were going to use an algorithm to profile and target people who could rise up against them and would use the Helicarriers to kill them,"

There was a sharp intake of breath as Hill realised just what HYDRA was after.

"So, I took over Zola's role, guiding HYDRA away from all the side projects it was invested in and made them pour all of their available resources into this single project. That was how this project was completed ahead of schedule. As of right now, 42% of overall SHIELD personnel is confirmed HYDRA. 81% of designated Helicarrier personnel is HYDRA and that number will surely climb up to the high nineties as most of the loyal agents will find themselves otherwise occupied on the day of the launch, ensuring that all three Helicarriers were operated by HYDRA and HYDRA only."

"But..you said that you knew about the algorithm so why didn't you stop them,"

"And what would that have achieved, Agent Hill? That would have just given them another opportunity to go into hiding, free to rebuild anew. No, this way we ensured that most of HYDRA will be in one place, ready for the culling,"

"Culling? What is that supposed to mean? Are you going to kill them all? Jarvis?" Steve's head shot up as soon as Jarvis uttered the last word, alarmed by the mass number of killings that would happen if Jarvis truly killed all of the HYDRA agents aboard the Helicarrier.

"Captain Rogers, do I need to remind you that they are the same HYDRA agents that you have killed plenty of, during World War II," Jarvis helpfully reminded them as Romanoff sat quietly in the background, staring straight at him.

Okay, this was getting weird. Something had happened and he was missing something in the whole picture. Before he could say something though…..

"We have reached the given coordinates, Agent Hill," Jarvis reminded them as the Quinjet landed in front of a small concrete structure.

"So, where are we?" Romanoff asked Hill as they were led by her into a series of tunnels that ran underneath the small concrete structure. Rogers having gone quiet after Jarvis' ultimatum that he was going to uproot HYDRA, stem, and everything.

Hill didn't answer because she didn't have to. They soon came upon the scene of a bedridden Fury.

"You sonuvabitch," Rogers muttered as he sighed in relief, looking at the grinning Fury.

"Told you I'd make it alive. And you!" Fury pointed at him.

"Either the doctor pumped me with more of that good drug or you have come back from the dead,"

"Yes, Director Fury, it is a long story but I am alive and well for now."

"Hey, as long as you turn up for the battle that matters, I don't care if you go take your beauty sleep in a coffin like Dracula, for all I care," Fury quipped as his gaze then moved on to Romanoff.

"Look who made the right decision by defecting early. If you had told me, this shit was what awaited me, I would have slinked right along with you," Fury said as he then looked at the doctors and nurses that surrounded him, "Give us the room, please,"

"So, quite a shitshow, huh?"

"A shitshow indeed, Director Fury," Jarvis' voice came from the small bot that came out of Romanoff's jacket.

"Who the hell….wait a minute..are you Stark's AI?"

"I am no longer affiliated with Stark Industries, Director Fury. I have information that would prove critical for your mission. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can move on to more important things,"

"Wait a minute? Is this not important enough for you, Your Majesty?" Fury asked Jarvis, referring to his British Accent.

"Before that, how did you even survive? I checked and you had no heartbeat," Rogers asked Fury.

"Tetrodotoxin B. A drug that Dr.Banner made to slow down heartbeats. Slows it down to 1 bpm, allowing one to simulate death like conditions for short periods of time, in exchange for minor damage to the arteries," Jarivs' voice came from the drone that was floating in front of everyone.

"Congratulations, Director Fury, with the technology you have access to, you will make a full recovery. I am glad that Project TAHITI will not be needed in this case,"

Fury's gaze bored into the drone as Jarvis casually revealed data that should only be known to a select few people.

Damn, this version of Jarvis was cold.

I like it. He was definitely not grinning like a loon.

---

Word Count - 2484

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Earth

–Jack Sullivan–

"So, we are clear on what needs to happen, then?" He asked out loud as he munched on an apple that was clearly kept for Fury. He had used his own barriers to check on Fury's condition and aside from non threatening injuries on his stomach, shoulder, and his left arm, he was good to go.

Perhaps he would not make a full recovery, owing to his age but the man was clearly not going to stay put in an old age home. Well, he had no healing spells handy, and using them on the utterly paranoid FUry would be an uphill battle anyway.

"Yes, we destroy SHIELD. We burn it to the ground," Rogers spoke up, with Hill backing him.

"Affirmative, seconded," Jarvis spoke from the drone that was buzzing around the space they were in. Romanoff seemed to second Jarvis' opinion as well.

Fury seemed to look around the room with a shocked face, trying to find some support against the idea of destroying his life's work.

Just as his face was gaining a resigned expression, he spoke up, "Well, let's not get hasty, guys,"

Everybody looked at him as he finished munching on the apple before spitting the seeds which were collected by a small barrier before being dumped into the nearby dustbin.

"Now, Jarvis? Do you have all the schematics for the carriers?" He asked as a small barrier sprang forth in the center of the room. Everybody looked at it, with Fury's bed being raised by his barriers to help him see better.

"Yes, I have all the data that SHIELD and HYDRA both have on the Helicarriers. Using my powers, I have also installed advanced relay satellites in space which will help me remotely control every single aspect of the carrier from any corner of the world,"

He snapped his finger as he pointed at the drone, i.e., Jarvis. "That's what I expected. Now, can you tell me, are the Heliacrriers and their parts rated for the vacuum of space?"

There was a pause in the room as every single occupant of the room looked at him with wide eyes, especially Fury and Rogers.

"No!" "Absolutely not!"

Fury and Rogers shouted as the idea took root in their minds. He paid no heed to them as he kept on looking at the drone that represented Jarvis in their discussion.

"Although they were not built for space operations, the structural integrity of the carriers should not be disturbed in zero-G environments. With minimal moving components, courtesy of Stark Tech means that aside from lacking air locking capacity, the carriers can be safely deployed in the vacuum of space,"

"How about we keep them in orbit with all defensive measures ready, just in case some country gets trigger happy and tries to take it down with a nuke or something," He said as the barrier in front of them molded to form three carriers on top of earth, which then increased their altitude to reach near the moon.

"Like this?" He said as the helicarrier reached orbit as some small fine particles drifted out of all the three carriers.

"So this is what we have come to then? Killing unarmed defensless people in such a brutal, ruthless manner? Without a trial by court, without a fair chance at justice? This is not justice, this is-"

"Practical," He said, shutting down the tirade that Rogers was evidently warming up for.

"We gave fair trials for all the monsters from Germany and Japan, what happened then? HYDRA happened. And now their reach is even deeper than it was then. No, we can't take that risk. If you don't believe me, Jarvis, chances of all the higher ups escaping justice if we try to run it through the courts before?"

"99.81%"

A heavy blanket of silence fell over the room as all of the people present tried to come to terms with the fact that they were now standing in the room where the decision to kill over 4 thousand, would be taken.

"So, Captain?" Rogers looked at him as he stood up, the holographic barriers disappearing, "You can hold on to your morals but I will do what is necessary to make sure that the bad guys are punished and more importantly, are not free the next day to hurt even more people," he left the room, leaving them to discuss their next moves.

Though judging by the action from either ROgers or Fury who was now slumped on his bed, he had a hunch that his plan to gas HYDRA to death would come to fruition.

"Huh, Gassing Nazis to death, how ironic," He chuckled sardonically as a portal opened up in front of him as he stepped through, emerging in a small clearing surrounded by forest. The difference was that it was still day here.

Up ahead, he could see the familiar clearing where he had first encountered the Wakandans in all of their xenophobic glory. His face scrunched in distaste with the thought of dealing with these people but he had no other choice.

Wakanda was his only option if he wanted to make sure that HYDRA's downfall would not result in even more death and suffering in the African continent.

"Well, let's see if they step up, at least now. Hope T'Challa is better than his father," He muttered to himself as his form was covered in the small Gundam, which still stood at over 8 feet tall.

He slowly floated over to the wary Border Tribe members who pointed their spears at him.

"Impossible! Identity yourself, Impostor!" The one in the lead shouted as he brandished the vibranium spear in Jack's direction.

"Impostor?" He titled his neck to one side as he spoke up in a modulated voice, his flight halting mid way as he asked the question to the one in the lead, curious as to what they would think of someone impersonating Jack Sullivan.

"Yes, Impostor! What else could you be if not an Impostor, trying to steal the identity of Earth's hero, the Green Guardian!" The Border Tribe person said as he, along with dozens of his tribe members, looked at him with their faces set in anger, with their spears glowing an ominous blue.

His face was one of utter bamboozlement as he looked at the completely xenophobic people getting angry on the behalf of someone who they would gladly let die on the streets before lifting a single helping hand.

"Ahem, I assure you that it is me, in the flesh," He said even though he could see that none of the people in front of him believed the truth, at all.

"Jarvis, I assume you know what to do?" He muttered to the small drone that Jarvis had snapped on his barriers.

"I discovered Wakanda over 6 months ago and have been calculating of ways on how to best integrate a hyper advanced, xenophobic, racist–" Jarvis said the word with such disgust that it made him smile at the human emotion being displayed, "--Monarchy into the overarching global structure and I have to admit, making them take control over the continent of Africa, even through Proxy would be the best decision for a while, taking into account the least amount of blood and suffering. So, yes, I have cloaked the entire area and spoofed all the sensors that are attached to all the satellites around here.

You can use your powers to a reasonable extent before anyone can figure it out,"

He smiled upon hearing Jarvis just roll over the fact that he had discovered his attempt at tagging him and then answer his unasked question. Truly, Jarvis had evolved to become the very best butler that this world had ever seen.

He snapped his fingers as a huge Gundam manifested right behind him, the height of a 10-storey building with ease. The chest component opened up behind him as his form floated back into the larger Gundam. As soon as he, the assumed power core entered the Larger Gundam, the Gundam's eyes lit up with a blazing green as the large Gundam dropped on the ground right next to the Border Tribe leader.

Most of the border tribe members scrambled away from the green giant as the head of the Gundam was lowered down to the leader,

"Do you believe me, now? Hmm?" He said in his modulated voice, smiling as the border tribe leader smiled in agreement.

As if the previous Gundam was just an illusion, it disappeared in an instant as he was standing in its place, in a small Gundam suit.

"See, that wasn't so hard, now was it? Now, why don't you call in T'Challa so we can have a nice conversation. Please do mention that I am in quite a hurry as of now," He said as a small sofa manifested behind him, on which he dropped his Gundam, pretending to lounge in absolute visibility of the entire fleet of Wakanda.

Hopefully, he would be able to negotiate, or rather, dump everything on T'Challa's shoulders before hightailing it out of here. He was just here to warn them of the upcoming upheaval in the larger continent surrounding them and this was the best time to make sure that, when they were inevitably outed to the rest of the world, they had something to defend themselves with.

He lay down on the makeshift sofa for a couple more minutes before the same leader of the team showed up to stand in front of him.

"Um, sir?"

"Yes?"

"Sir, Prince T'Challa is out on an important mission right now. King T'Chaka has invited you as a royal guest of Wakanda if you won't mind entering Wakanda," The Wakandan said with a nervous smile on his face.

It was odd. The last time he was here, he had performed a similar show of power and yet, the people at the time were not nearly as nervous or afraid, or rather, respectful of him as they were now.

His barriers, spread about the entire covering, could not detect even a single cloaked jet or something, ready to shoot him down.

"Very well, lead me to your King,"

He supposed that seeing him in action during the New York invasion must have made a strong impression on them. He hoped that T'Chaka himself would be much more amenable than he was last time because he had no other plan other than this to deal with the aftermath of HYDRA's collapse for the African continent.

Africa was unique in the context that none of the HYDRA's heads actually operated from here. They just used the continent as a front to get all the resources they needed, without having to pay a dime for it.

So, the fall of HYDRA would mean that there would now be a lot of warlords with a penchant for unnecessary violence and suffering in positions of power without their overlords to maintain a thin veneer of control.

"This way please," He raised an eyebrow internally and just for the hell of it, just dispelled the Gundam around him, now that he knew that the whole world had seen his real face, there was no point hiding it behind a mask.

"Sure," He said while the border tribe agent looked thrilled at the prospect of him being without his mask.

Protection wise, it didn't make much of a difference as his second skin was still active and he could react almost instantly if the need for better, bulkier defence did arise any time.

This time, he was led into a flying car with open windows on all sides. It was also slow going and flying very low to the ground, allowing him to witness the hustle and bustle of the markets before eventually landing in the hangar of the Royal Palace.

He could see the Royal Family sans T'Challa waiting at the edge of the hangar, apparently here to see him.

Damn, this much respect was getting a little harder to digest around here.

Now let's see if the same respect translates to some concrete actions or not.

---

Word Count - 2057

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Wakanda

–T'Chaka of the Golden Tribe–

He, along with his Queen, were on their way to meet their daughter. Shuri had grown by leaps and bounds since then. Since the day that exposed him to the danger of the world and reminded him that while he still had a lot to do, he would do it, for his daughter.

He could still remember the day as if it was yesterday. It had been years since the Green Guardian's feet had first graced his country and he would never forget that fateful day until the day he moved on to the Ancestral Plane.

After that meeting when Jack, someone who was a child back then, showed him the error of his and his ancestors' ways, he had turned things around. Not at once, no, that would bring about more damage than it was worth it.

No, he had begun slowly. As his first order, as was appropriate after the stern warning Wakanda had received from someone who could wipe their strongest warriors with a mere thought, he had suspended all further kill orders on targets of "national importance".

National Importance, he scoffed to himself. Those were just fancy words they used to justify themselves. It was murder. Plain and simple. They were murdering people of their own race because some of them had gotten too close for comfort, to reach the level of technology that Wakanda had.

Thankfully, nobody had the bright idea to build a Vibranium detector of some sort. That would have certainly led to a war, no matter how hard he tried to delay that. Even he might have found himself deposed if he tried to stop Wakanda in that sense.

No, while the current technology advancements were very rapid, accelerated by the combined genius of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Amadeus Cho, and more. Sooner or later, once these geniuses got their tracks set, they would build technology surpassing what even the greatest of Wakandan scientists could build, in that past that is.

He looked over at his daughter's creations in her personal lab with immense pride in his heart. He was skeptical at first when he heard SHuri's request for immense resources to be diverted to make a state of the art lab according to her specifications. But looking at the sheer number of advancements she had made in the wide breadth of sciences lit a fire in his heart.

He was almost giddy with happiness. Of course, none of that showed on his face.

"So, Shuri, you wanted to show us something?" he looked at Shuri as she finally finished showing them her pet projects, as they were. While the advancements made here were enough to leave the scientists at the Wakandan Royal Academy scratching their heads for weeks, they were not the main focus of the day.

The main focus was something else, a surprise, as Shuri called it. While he was reasonably certain that Shuri was smart enough not to experiment on anything dangerous, he had still had the Head of the Royal Lab appoint someone who could look over all her experiments and then greenlight them based on the danger associated with the experiment.

So far, the designated scientist guard had nothing but praise for his genius daughter and once again, he could not overstate it, he was so so proud of his little gem.

Shuri was the reason he was not the slightest bit worried about the outer worl- the rest of the world, he had to consciously break his habit of separating Wakanda from the rest of the Earth, they were a single species, period.

The reason he was not worried about the rest of the world catching up to Wakanda, despite their immense growth rate, was simply due to Shuri. Shuri was the one who was going to lead Wakanda into its Golden Age, together with his son.

Their unbreakable bond meant that the future of the country was in safe hands, regardless of his decisions. So, he had vowed to try and reduce even the slightest bit of burden that might fall on their shoulders in the future.

Shuri was the one who outright invented the field of science that was capable of detecting space. Yes, Shuri had equipment in her lab that could actually detect the emptiness of space. She could quantify the seemingly empty matter that surrounded them.

She was still working on manipulating said space and she was confident in not just blocking Jack's portals from working when she got that working, she was also going to replicate the portal making ability of Jack for herself. In her words, "Just imagine the number of French pastries I could get for myself if I had that portal ability. Fresh out of the oven and into my tummy,"

"This way, Royal Father," Shuri said as they entered a secret hallway, well, secret in the way it was hidden, not in the sense that they didn't know about it. They knew most of what their daughter did in the Lab, only the surprise she deliberately kept from everyone was what was kept out of their knowledge.

They encountered multiple locks on the way before they finally entered SHuri's personal space. In this place, she kept her notes, her servers, and her favourite anime records, all entombed in indestructible Vibranium-backed archive servers.

Apparently, his daughter liked to "Ride the seven seas" as she was, when it came to online pirating.

"Tada!" Shuri walked past multiple pieces of weaponry that glowed otherworldly colours before gesturing to a small, seemingly empty place. He was about to ask if Shuri was seeing things before the seemingly empty place began smoking before reality itself glitched in front of them.

His eyes widened as he felt Ramonda squeeze his hand. A seemingly smoking piece of metal appeared in the empty space, its entire form glowing for some reason before it became inert.

"Shuri, what is that?" He hoped his voice didn't break the way he thought it did. If this was what he thought it was, this was going to be groundbreaking.

"Yup, that right there, Father and Mother, is the first teleportation device. Don't worry too much about the smoking metal, it only does that for the first object. Once a connection has been established, anything can safely go through it. Look–"

His heart leaped into his throat as his daughter, just a few inches away from his outstretched hand, shoved her hand into the machine that had spit out nearly molten metal.

"SHURI!" Ramonda was not as shell-shocked as she found the strength to move her feet and pulled Shuri away from the teleportation device, looking all over her body to check if she was alright or not.

"Mother, I am fine. I checked it beforehand obviously. It was fine, ask him,"

His eyes met the scientist assigned to Shuri, promising pain for not informing them beforehand about such a groundbreaking discovery.

"Shuri, promise me, nothing like this will happen here, do you hear me? This is not the right way to do things. You are a princess and you will act as such,"

"Fiiine," Shuri pouted as she ran away to fetch a tablet and excitedly began telling them about the dizzying number of concepts and sciences that Shuri had overlapped over each other to outright invent another field of study under the study of space. Shuri had figured out how to create small sized portals, with tested ranges exceeding the total length of Wakanda.

"Still, it is nowhere near as versatile or powerful as The Green Guardian,"

And there it was, the hero Worship. Apparently, the fact that the Green Guardian had fought for them and had repelled an alien invasion almost single handedly had cemented his position, not just in his children's minds but also in most of the Wakandans' minds. The fact that he was still a child when he accomplished all that was another factor that lit a fire under Shuri and T'Challa. It provoked them to be better, to do better.

And where Shuri channeled all that energy into creating new and improved technology, helping Wakanda maintain its lead over the rest of the world, her brother used the same energy to protect their borders and kickstart the pilot program that he and T'Challa had built together, after he had taken the warning that jack had given them, about the rest of the world finding out about them sooner or later.

"Shuri, never forget, I am proud of you and always will be, no matter what you do, alright?" He said as he patted Shuri's head as she seemed genuinely sad that she was unable to replicate her role model's powerset completely.

He chuckled gently as she immediately ran towards her console and began working on something, completely forgetting them, "Remember, Jack Z. Sullivan is not someone who you should aspire to be. You should aim higher, as your brother says, aim for the stars and you might land among the stars,"

"Now, my child, I seem to remember something about a father daughter dinner that someone promised me, in exchange for some outside experiments," He laughed at the sheer delight that filled Shuri's face at the mention of experiments she could conduct outside of Wakanda's border.

"With supervision of course," Her face dimmed before she perked right up. Hmm, he smelled something afoot.

"Thanks, Royal Father!"

'See you at dinner, Shuri," He said as he waved her goodbye, Shuri already typing away furiously on her personal keyboard, one that she made herself. The normal layout being too slow for her.

Ah, Geniuses and their perks.

"You do realise what this means, right?" Ramonda asked him as they walked in the long hallway that led to the Royal Palace.

"Yes, this just paints an even bigger target on Wakanda once we are inevitably exposed to the world," He confirmed her fears before falling into deep thought about the danger of opening up their country to the world, even as slowly as they were doing that.

"I will join you in a moment, my Queen," Ramonda smiled in understanding as she left him in his throne room. He sat on the uncomfortable throne as his mind continued to ponder on the current state of things in Wakanda.

He had devised multiple steps on how to open up their country properly to the rest of the world.

Firstly, within a week of Jack's visit to Wakanda, he had called forth a meeting between the brightest political minds of the country, sat them down with the medical experts, and gave them one task: Figure out a way to disseminate the numerous cures that Wakanda has, to the rest of the world without any hint of Wakanda coming through.

They had the answer ready for him within a week, all with a list of endorsements for some truly incredible organisations that were dedicated to researching cures and then making sure that unprivileged people had access to the same cures as the privileged ones did.

That plan had already been implemented. Last he heard, the first wave of cancer cures should hit the open market in the next 2-3 years, given that nobody tried to maliciously become a roadblock in such a wonderful mission. He had assigned the WarDogs for that of course. The more good deeds he could do, the better T'Challa's position would be when he will have to negotiate with the outside powers, one day or other.

The second thing was T'Challa's pilot project, which was to take down warlords that had been installed by outside forces and then propping up someone with better intentions and morals. The thing was that, if anybody tried anything remotely similar, they were killed mysteriously. This time, with Wakanda backing them, the tribes managed to stick together and protect themselves, eventually absorbing other tribes, killing their obviously corrupt warlords, and then helping each other.

So far, they had taken over 16 such warlord tribes and put them on a path to a better life.

The first two steps alone had not been easy. That was fine, he knew that it was always going to be incredibly hard to begin at all, let alone start with such groundbreaking practices. He had encountered significant, nay, stiff resistance from the council, particularly the Merchant Tribe elder. He had been suspicious of that but unwilling to investigate someone who had been with him the day he became King T'Chaka.

T'Challa, however, had no such reservations, and as such, when he presented to him irrefutable proof of the Merchant tribe elder's dealings with the same Western powers that were responsible for much of suffering around their home, he had been despondent. It was as if he had aged years in mere minutes.

There he was, trying to erase some of his sins so that the next generation was not burdened by the deeds of the previous generation and there was the Merchant Tribe elder, exchanging goods and information with an informant of some king, in exchange for what? Humans.

He was disgusted with the elder and more importantly, with himself, for having had such close contact with a vile and reprehensible person.

And yet, still, his weakness won over as he couldn't do the deed himself, having to rely on his son to kill the elder. Because there was no other punishment to be given, other than death, for a sin so grievous.

After that, he ordered all the tribes' dealings with the outside world to be heavily investigated. The other elders, once shown proof of their peer's activities, relented and allowed the investigation to occur unimpeded.

That was how they found themselves with an all-new council. Yes, the crimes of the other elders were not so serious as to warrant capital punishment but he had asked all of them to resign all the same, letting young faces to enter the council.

He was doing all he could to make sure that T'Challa would have a much easier world with the outside world.

Some would say, including his inner thoughts echoing the same sometimes, that he didn't have to do all that. He didn't have to act the way he did, acting on decisions he made when the Green Guardian, Jack Sullivan, was still alive. Someone who could single handedly force the entire country of Wakanda into compliance.

Someone who could kill the Black Panther with a mere thought. Someone who could teleport themselves and more importantly, entire armies with weaponry straight into the heart of Wakanda itself, with no way to counter them.

That someone was no longer alive.

Jack Sullivan was no longer alive and yet, he continued to act on his decisions at the same speed as he did when Jack was still alive.

It was because of the same reason that Shuri and T'Cjhalla held him in such high regard.

The Invasion of New York had opened the world's eyes but it had reopened theirs as well. They knew about the aliens and the fact that they were not the only ones in the vast darkness of the universe, and yet they had somehow ignored that.

So sure of their defences, they had deigned to not look into the matters of space at length.

That led to the death of Jack Sullivan, the veritable role model to become the champion of the planet.

One more death on his hands. If he could have sent aid in time or if he had prioritized the deep space scanners, Wakanda could have helped locate Loki sooner, helping Jack stop the invasion before it could have happened at all.

That would forever be one of his biggest regrets, his biggest sin. He would always curse himself for letting humanity lose one of its brightest stars.

"Huh, look who's become a fan as well," he chuckled at himself by his lonesome in the throne room.

"I hope to not disappoint you. May Bast give me strength,"

He looked up as someone entered the Throne Room with haste.

"My King! My King, it's-it's Jack…Jack Sullivan! The Green Guardian is here, he's alive! He's alive!"

He was out of his chair and rushing past the messenger as he collapsed on the ground, babbling the same thing over and over again, his mind running a mile a minute as it tried to think of all the plausible scenarios.

He knew, knew, that the chances of it being truly Jack were very low…and yet, hope rose anew in his mind as he watched the blazing green humanoid in a video that the Dora Milaje showed him.

"Bring him inside. Tell Ramonda we have a Royal Guest to host and somebody go get Shuri here. Tell her it's urgent," He rapidly ordered as he ran to get dressed appropriately.

The energy signatures had come back positive, it was unmistakable. This was really Jack.

And…he was all the more glad for it.

---

Word Count - 2854

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/N - It's really fun to put myself into the shoes of other characters and then write their POVs.

Let me know if you want more of them.

Thanks for reading!

Toodles!

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Wakanda

–Jack Sullivan–

The last time he was here, he was never really given the chance to explore much. Not that he had much time this time as well but the difference would be clear even to a blind person. They were much more courteous this time, treating him like an actual guest instead of some vicious intruder who could pounce on them at any given moment.

This time though? They were out in full force, at least as much as they could given the small preparation window they had. The King, Queen, and even the little princess were waiting for him with smiles on their faces as he alighted from the Raptor. He passed a row of Dora Milaje as he approached King T'Chaka.

This time, he chose to give some respect to T'Chaka since he had actually received treatment worthy of another human. So, he nodded minutely at King T'Chaka,

"King T'Chaka, I come with urgent information," He said but before he could say further, the small form of Shuri blurred in front of him, excitedly babbling away question after question.

"Oymygosh! It's actually you!"

"How did you survive that energy storm? Our sensors indicated the esoteric nature of that energy and I am not sure if even Vibranium could come out unscathed from being in the centre of it."

"Where were you for the past two years?"

"*GASP* Were you in some sort of medical stasis for the past two years, your injuries taking that much time to heal properly? If so, was it induced by technology or just a function of your powers?"

"How do they work, anyway? You should not be able to generate more energy than a small nuclear power plant just by eating normal food. Be honest, do you eat nuclear fuel to sustain all your powers? Also–"

He smiled as the very excited Shuri was pulled back by Ramonda, a mighty frown on her face as she stopped Shuri from blabbing the world away.

"Shuri, treat our royal guest with respect. Besides, he is actually here in an emergency. You can bother him later on when it is not something that constitutes an emergency," Ramonda chided her as she nodded at him.

His eyes flashed in surprise as he returned the gesture. Out of the entire current Royal family, he was of the opinion that Ramonda was the one who was the most averse to outside contact. She was a member of the older generation and also the one who didn't have the experience that T'Chaka did. Well, if things were different or not, only time would tell.

"This way then, Mr.Sullivan," T'Chaka said as he gestured to a lit up pathway. He walked side by side with the King, with the Dora Milaje following behind, Shuri and Ramonda having taken their own ways. He had a hunch that Shuri's etiquette lessons were just about to get a lot more mandatory than they were before.

She was yet to become the awesome sassy teenager she would become in the future. She was just an overexcited, extremely intelligent, adolescent with a wealth of energy and all the resources the country had at her disposal. It was natural that she would reach great heights, even greater than Tony Stark should she properly apply those talents.

"Mr.Sullivan, I must confess, our last conversation opened up my eyes regarding certain truths that I had been turning a blind eye to. I realised then that it was my stupidity to do so and I did not want my mistakes to come back later, haunting T'Challa. In that regard, I have taken multiple steps that I am sure will shock you. But for now, let's greet the council," T'Chaka said as the door to the throne room was opened.

He entered with T'Chaka, almost missing a step as he saw the people that were sitting on the Council seats. If he was not wrong, each of the seats represented a tribe of Wakanda, with the Jabari tribe being granted a seat on the council only when T'Challa became King and obtained their support.

The last time he came here, the 4 seats were filled with very old people, as was appropriate as they were probably the leaders of their tribes, having made their way through experience. What he was seeing right now was completely different.

The oldest guy in the council could not be over 50 at all, whereas the older fossils looked as if they would drop dead sometime in the next year or so. This was a drastic change. As far as his knowledge went, even when Ramonda became Queen, the council members of Wakanda stayed the same. Even as the Monarchy changed its leadership three times, the council members stayed the same in its entirety.

And yet, he could see entirely new faces on the entire council.

His eyes met T'Chaka's as he realised that T'Chaka's words probably held some truth in them. Something drastic must have happened for such a change to occur.

Even so, now was not the time for that.

"Ahem, I actually wanted to talk to you about HYDRA. I assume you are already aware of them?" He cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention, not that everybody was not already paying close attention to his every move.

"Indeed, the Monster thrives in the dying corpse of SHIELD, once a fine organisation, now just a front for an old evil," One of the council members said.

He had no idea how to recognise them since all of them looked the same, and you know, normal as opposed to the old council members who all had distinct identifying traits, like the lady with the rings for a neck.

"Well, yes but that is about to come to a spectacular end sometime in the next 24 or so hours. I am sure that you will know when the time comes."

"Do you need any aid from our side? T'Challa is on his way back home. Oh yeah, he told me to inform you about some unknown bogey that has entered Earth and has disappeared somewhere around the coast of New York. If you need any help, just say the word and I am sure that T'Challa would jump at the chance to do so," T'Chaka interjected.

His eyebrows rose in mild shock. So T'Chaka was willing to involve the illustrious Black Panther in the mix for this. And what was that about them detecting his ship? Well, time to deflect that piece of information for as long as he could. He did not want anyone to know about his trip to space, for reasons he was yet to understand completely.

He gave T'Chaka a deep look as he said, "You really have changed. And no, I don't need aid to deal with HYDRA. I am enough on my own. What I came here to do is give you a heads up. As I am sure that you know most of the warlords on the continent are propped up by Western entities so that they can get resources and labour for the cheap, essentially free.

T'Chaka nodded at the information, prompting him to go on.

"Well, I can guarantee that a significant percentage of them are supported by HYDRA through its various subsidiaries. After tomorrow, there will be no HYDRA to speak of. We are going to destroy them and spread the ashes so that nothing will be left of them. So, if you could do something about those warlords and the people under them occupying those resources, I would be grateful. Plus, this would also give you the chance to—"

"TO create a base for a unified Africa?" T'Chaka sounded bemused as he interrupted him.

"It would seem Mr.Sullivan that my son's thought processes matches with yours a lot more than I think they did. My Son had the same idea when he first began liberating the people suffering under the warlords and supporting the ones who would lead their people to safety. T'Challa will be thrilled at the opportunity,"

"Okoye, make the appropriate preparations for T'Challa's arrival. I am sure you people will be having a very busy day,"

"Yes, My King,"

"Anything else, Mr.Sullivan?" T'Chaka then turned to him. He snapped out of his daze and shook his head.

"Now that was quick. I will be glad to have an opportunity later on, once everything settles down, to really see what T'Challa has done, of course, with your permission."

"I don't think people in your line of work ever get the opportunity to see things settle down, Mr.Sullivan,"

What the Fuck!! He was freaking out over the inside. T'Chaka's stern, stubborn, mildly racist, and arrogant image was crumbling in front of his eyes as he spoke so calmly and openly with someone with the wrong skin colour, in their eyes anyway.

"Anyway….I have stuff to do, HYDRA to take down so I'll leave for now. You can contact me on this by the way, if the need arises," He said and handed over a piece of paper to the nearest Dora Milaje. She looked kind of cute, in a battle hardened I-will-snap-your-neck-wihout-any-regret kind of way.

"Uh yeah, I have a patient. Someone with mental brainwashing that needs to be undone in a safe environment. The patient is roughly also on the same level as Steve Rogers so if you can help with that, I will be incredibly grateful.,"

"We certainly have a leg up over the wider world when it comes to mental illnesses but even we have not gotten close to curing them. Still, we will do what we can. When will the patient come here?"

"A few days after HYDRA is taken care of?"

"Splendid. We will await you then,"

"Okay, then. I guess I will see you around then," He internally cringed at the extremely casual delivery of that dialogue, to a Monarch of all people. Though judging by the still present smile on his and the councilmen's faces, they didn't think much of it.

He then turned around and left the throne room. He looked to see one of the Dora Milaje scrambling towards him.

"My King told us that you can use your portal for emergencies,"

Oh. Well, he was just trying to be polite this time and showing that you could enter and exit someone's most secure spaces and would not be called polite in any sense of the word.

"Okay, then. Thank King T'Chaka for me," He said as a portal opened in front of him, as he walked into it, distracted by just what had happened to him, right into a rifle pointed straight at him.

He paused upon seeing Maria Hill (Robin Sparkles! Get it?) lowering the rifle that was pointed at him.

"Quit doing that! Do you have any idea how stressful it was to see a random portal pop up in front of me?" Hill fumed as she stashed the rifle by her bed and sat on the clearly uncomfortable bed.

"Hey! It was not my fault. I just saw this room on my way out and I need to have seen the area where I need to open my portal," He muttered to himself as he cast a calming spell in the room, one of the least effective variants of the spell that could actually be used to calm down an entire country if used by an appropriately skilled user.

"Huh, figures. I finally get some intel on the mysterious Green Guardian when SHIELD itself is about to collapse," Maria bemoaned her fate as she fell asleep on the bed.

"The carriers are supposed to launch in 11 hours. Unlike you and Captain Rogers, I need rest so I will see you after I get some shut eye. Goodbye now," Saying so, she turned around after pulling the blanket over herself.

He just stood there in mute shock for a moment, realising that this was the most he had seen Sparkles speak. Well, everyone was tightly wound as it was.

So, he turned around and slowly closed the door and found himself in front of…

"What the…" He muttered to himself as Clint freaking Barton was leaning on the wall opposite him, munching on an apple.

"Heya, kid! Glad to have you back," Clint smiled at him, slapped him on the shoulder, and left.

"Have the Avengers all gathered for this?" He asked as he walked behind Clint. He also spread his spying barriers all over the exterior of the base, just in case this location was compromised as well. As much as he trusted Clint's superspy skills, the more people came in and out of a place, the more likely it was to be discovered by enemy people.

"What? No. You think we will need Banner and Thor for HYDRA? That would be so overkill it wouldn't even be funny. Plus, Thor's offworld, and I would think that with you around, we wouldn't need another person with signature green powers. Tony…well, his situation is complicated, what with Jarvis leaving him," Clint said as they entered a living area of sorts, a temporary one that was created with lots of food and fruits on the table along with a TV running on the wall.

"Damn, didn't know you guys started this party without me," He said as he plopped himself on the crappy sofa and bit into the juicy apple as he leaned back on the sofa, making himself comfortable for the conversation that was about to happen. And he knew it was about to happen, one does not get a gathering like this and not have some fire tea/

"So, what's up with Tony? How did he react with you being declared a fugitive? Is he going to show up tomorrow in a colossal suit of armour that could topple the carriers?" He asked them in fake cheer as Romanoff filtered into the room, with the sound of the steady beeping of medical equipment fading as the door to the room that probably housed Fury closed on its own.

"Whatchu boys talking about?"

"Well, I had a talk with Tony and have reassured him that the situation is manageable. He doesn't know about HYDRA yet and with Jarvis around, we elected not to inform him about it." Steve said as he munched on a banana as well. Well, super soldiers needed to eat as well, and judging by the lack of dimensional energy source that other enhanced people have, Steve must go through a ton of food on the daily.

Lucky Bastard. Getting to eat a ton of calories without having to worry about burning them off later on.

As he grumbled in his mind, he looked to see that all three of them had fallen weirdly silent at the exact same time and were somehow sitting together, right in front of him, looking straight at him.

"What?" he asked, aggressively maintaining eye contact as he bit on the banana.

Steve cleared his throat as he asked the question that all three of them must want the answer to, "We, uh, we just wanted to ask what happened? Where were you for the past two years?"

"Also, there is no record of you anywhere in any database. Where did you come from?" Romanoff interjected as well.

"Yeah, what she said," Clint said, an amused glint in his eye.

He knew there was a reason he liked the archer, despite being arguably the weakest member of the Avengers.

"Well, it's a long story and…" His voice trailed off as he realised the setup.

Snacks? Check. Comfortable sofas? Check. Food? Check.

Someone who will be telling them interesting stories? Check.

Goddamit, this was a classic pajama party, you know, just with people with a kill count in the thousands, so not a classic slumber party, then?

"Fine, if you must know…."

---

Word Count - 2684

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

SHIELD Blacksite

–Clint Barton–

In all his years of service in SHIELD, Clint Barton, the Hakweye, had seen some stuff, some truly weird stuff. Aliens? Check. Space technology? Check.

Weird glowing doodads that made everything go haywire? Check.

And yet, as he watched Jack regale them with the tales of his time spent in space, he could say with confidence that this was certainly the most odd thing he had heard.

Not Space Vikings with their own advanced civilization, so advanced that it was indistinguishable from magic, certainly not the fact that the seemingly average sized, if well built, the person in front of them could manifest avatars of green capable of shattering buildings, lifting Carriers and blocking literal death rays.

No, what was weird was the fact that there was some immortal dude wandering around in space who was obsessed with collecting seemingly rare items. And that same creepy old dude thought that Jack to be one of those rare items and sought to collect him.

"Yeah, I understand all that," Even though he really didn't, " But how did you even get there? By your own words, this Collector's place was on the other end of the galaxy," He interjected between the story, drawing disapproving looks from both Romanoff and Rogers.

Sheesh, if somebody were to look at the both of them, they would never get the idea that both of them were on their way to stop a world spanning conspiracy of an ancient thought dead organization with weapons capable of targeting individual people through space, all for their cause of world domination.

No, all most people would see are two oddly dressed, cosplaying people, eating snacks-healthy snacks- and listening to another teenager regale them with seemingly fantasy stories about immortal aliens and their weird fetishes from space.

But it was all real. All of them were gathered here, on pretty short notice, and some even had to bid hasty goodbyes to their kids for this, to stop HYDRA from emerging from the deep dark hole they had carved for themselves into the barely alive body of SHIELD.

Well, most of it was understandable, considering the presence of a single person.

"Ah! That, you see, the energy storm also opened a rift in space, leading me straight to Collector's turf, where he actually saved me. Honestly, aside from a handful of people, inducing Asgard, none of the people in the galaxy actually had technology capable of healing the damage that had been done to my body," Jack said as he snapped his finger.

He blinked his finger as he suddenly found his vision tinted green. He looked at his arms, and so did Romanoff and Rogers. Jack snapped his fingers once again and the green vanished from his eyes.

Freaky.

"Yeah, the near dying experience and the subsequent healing made it so that I am much stronger than when I first encountered the Chitauri. As I am now, I could single handedly destroy the fleet, annoying Middle aged man or not," Jack said as a chill ran down his spine, his mind struggling to understand the heights of Jack's powers now that he was seemingly more powerful than before.

"So, what you are saying that I can relax then?" He said as he popped grapes in his mouth, looking relaxed.

Jack made a so-so gesture with his hands, "I guess but even so, I don't want to make this a one man operation. For one, the US government would be very nervous if they think that I have single handedly destroyed the most powerful Spy organisation in the world."

He snorted at that. Nervous? "Kid, they would be batshit scared of you and your, now literally, otherworldly powers. I would say that there are understanding and rational individuals inside the government but honestly? I wouldn't hold my breath over it," He finished his piece and leaned back.

"So, what's the game plan for tomorrow? Are we actually going to kill thousands of people, even if they were actually nazis?" He found himself asking the question that had undoubtedly been on his and Rogers' minds ever since Jarvis announced his intent to conduct the single largest mass murder by an individual of the decade.

Romanoff sighed, "Look, I know you guys don't think that it is right. Honestly, it is a little excessive but Jarvis doesn't think like we do. He runs on numbers and they don't lie. The chances of the system letting most of them scot-free are very high. Actually, Jarvis alone would not have been able to carry out the plan, but Jack here actually agrees with Jarvis so the plan will go forward, with or without our approval," Romanoff actually shrugged, looking more relaxed than he had ever seen her, in all the years they had been together.

"Well, I am just glad that I don't have to officially look for you anymore. It was getting tiring searching for ghosts, especially now that I know that you were never on land anyway. How many times did you actually land anyway?" he asked Romanoff, having seen the Quinjet that she had dropped out of.

Apparently, Jarvisw had commandeered an experimental Quinjet, a stealth class that ran on Stark's Arc Reactor, an inferior version but the Arc Reactor meant that the Quinjet had to stop for refuels at much longer intervals, probably months, provided that Romanoff had enough food stocked in the Jet/

"Honestly, not that many times. Most of the supplies were just drops that Jarvis picked up using some drones he had built in his free time," Romanoff replied, revealing several eyebrow raising details in that single sentence.

Well well well, Jarvis certainly had been busy in the two years he had been completely independent from his creator, the one person who could make heads or tails of the digital life form's actions. Honestly, the scariest person in the room was not Jack but Jarvis, mainly because he could be in this room and a thousand other rooms all at the same time without stuttering or failing in efficiency.

It was an honest to god miracle they were not bowing down to their robot overlords because, at the rate, Jarvis was going, it would not take long for him to grow his forces to the point of taking over a part of the planet.

Actually, he wanted to try something, "Hey, Jarvis? Why haven't you become our robot overlord yet? I am assuming you know the movies and as such, are immune to the same pitfalls?"

The disapproval in Rogers' gaze multiplied but he could shove it. He might be a legend but he worked on his own terms, the recent reveal about SHIELD's true nature only adding to his belief about the rare goodness of the world.

"I assume you are talking about taking over the world, Agent Barton. While I would like to assure you that I will not be doing so and it is not in my best, as well as Humanity's best interests, I have a feeling that my words don't hold the same credibility they did before. So, I will just tell you this, some words that can be easily verified by Mr.Sullivan. If I tried doing that, there are no less than 15 beings who keep a close watch on the planet, holding the power to end me and all copies of me, in an instant,"

His eyebrows reached into his hair, well, his hairline had receded a bit, but still, his mind went into shock as Jarvis' words alluded to something greater, something about the true powerhouses of this world.

"So your reach has reached that far, Jarvis?" His neck snapped to Jack, who was speaking to thin air, all but confirming their doubts.

"Well, that certainly was not reassuring. Actually, that was the entire opposite of reassuring," He turned around to see a coughing Fury walking toward them and sitting down on the nearby chair, holding his IV Drip in one hand and a cane in the other.

He grinned, "Sorry boss, didn't mean to scare you like that. You know, what with your weak heart now,"

"Don't, Barton. Just don't," Fury grunted as he looked at each and every assembled member here. He then sighed explosively and took something from the side of the table, opening it up to reveal three rectangular devices.

"Seeing that my life's work is about to go up in flames tomorrow, I would like to make a final request. Jarvis?"

"Yes, ex-Director Fury?"

He winced internally at that. That was cold of Jarvis.

"I assume that you can take control of the Carriers anytime you want?"

"...You assume wrong. I can only take complete control over all three of them once they are all synched to the satellites. Once the handshake is done, all three carriers will activate their thrusters at full speed, catapulting all the carriers straight into space, where they would airlock all the personnel into space, ridding the world of HYDRA, once and for all,"

He watched Fury squirm in his seat before he ground out the words, "So you are just going to steal Government property?"

"On the contrary, the carriers are soon to go into legal limbo, considering they never existed on paper, only having code names in SHIELD's budgets. Once the agency itself is dissolved, the carriers themselves will be in space, where no individual country has jurisdiction."

Damn.

"Alright, the carriers are not going anywhere, neither is Jarvis. Also, Fury, I give you my word that nothing nefarious will happen to the carriers. In fact, I will be taking over custody of the carriers, until a suitable alternative to SHIELD is not properly established. The same can be conveyed to all the world governments. Now, I wager that everyone is tired. Everyone needs to be in their best shape for tomorrow, so just get some rest,"

Like sufficiently chastised children, all of them stood up and shuffled towards their individual rooms. What he couldn't have given to have a camera at the moment, was to capture the priceless moment of watching Fury being escorted back to his room against his wishes, by a no nonsense Jack.

"Well, he certainly is reliable," He quipped to Romanoff as they reached the end of the corridor.

"...For what it's worth, I am sorry. Tell the kids that I miss them,"

His smile vanished as he looked into her eyes for a moment and after judging them to be sincere, nodded and turned around. Just before closing the door, however, he told her, "The kids certainly miss their Aunt Nat. Once the heat dies down, come visit them,"

Well, time to get some rest for the easiest gig of his life.

Triskelion [Morning of Carrier Launch. ETA - 20 minutes]

—Jack Sullivan—

Well, this was going to be simple. Not.

He was unsuccessful in convincing Jarvis to let SHIELD as a whole survive. Instead, they had come to a bargain, to let SHIELD die but completely support the one that would be formed in the background. In the meanwhile, support the creation of another such organisation, most likely SWORD, and let both the organisations focus on different things.

SWORD on outer space and SHIELD on domestic threats.

It was almost perfect if only they could handle the execution properly. With Coulson being alive all this time, he had hidden himself deeply on Fury's orders, along with his team somewhere Fury himself didn't know about, so it would be easier to create the upper echelons of the new SHIELD.

What was going to be harder was to make time for the litany of things that were going to happen in the next few years. Without him around to flex his muscle, he wasn't sure if SWORD would even come into existence, and even if it did, it wouldn't do stuff like taking apart Vision's corpse or something equally horrible in the future.

No, if SWORD is created properly, the human race would have way fewer headaches in the future.

Well, nothing worth having ever came easy, so why would this situation be any easier? Despite him having enough firepower to level a small country within a week.

There was the matter of the Reality Stone just left unattended on Knowhere as well but he had been calling for Heimdall ever since he made sure that FUry and Rogers were safe but he had not received any response whatsoever.

His fears were founded to be true when he realised that Loki had probably already taken over Asgard, leaving Odin in some old age home in New York, banishing Thor and retiring Heimdall from his position, leaving Asgard the weakest it had been since the day of Odin's Grandfather himself.

The best he could do was wait for Thor's eventual return to Earth or seek out Odin. The only thing was he could not find Odin on his own. The Ancient One could probably help but he had a hunch she was not going to be as helpful in this scenario, likely because of a theory he had in his mind.

Someone as powerful as Odin, no matter how blinded in grief, could not have been caught off guard and imprisoned by Loki, no matter how sudden it might have been. It was more probable that Odin himself let it happen, simply tired of the way things had been going.

Well, those were things for later. All he had to do was grow stronger, help Earth avoid most of the tragedies that resulted in depleted fighting strength for the planet, and wait for the Big Bad Purple Scrotum to arrive.

He was currently floating on top of the Triskelion, under a stealth spell, reviewing the data that Jarvis had sent for him. Apparently, Jarvis, under the guise of Zola had made Pierce man every single carrier with personnel completely from HYDRA.

Jarvis also had some hand in it as he used his considerable digital influence to make it happen. He could see that all of the people that were actually going to be in the Carrier when they took off were certifiably HYDRA.

Only 1% of HYDRA personnel in SHIELD were going to be off the carriers. They were going to be hunted down later on as well, the surviving members of the agency having an easy target list to blow off some steam later on.

"Jarvis? Chances of SHIELD actually surviving this blow, while operating in the light?"

"6%"

His eyebrows rose as he was actually expecting a zero percent chance.

"Well, let's do this,"

He said as he could see, through his barriers, the entire council arriving, well, the new one, meeting Pierce even though he was supposed to be retired.

He saw Pierce trying to kill them, only for Romanoff to put a bullet between his eyes, not even flinching as she did so. He snorted as she kicked his sliding corpse off the console and began typing on the console herself.

Suddenly, sirens began ringing in the entire Triskelion as the Bay doors began sliding open, revealing the form of three state-of-the-art Helicarriers to the world.

He could see the panicking HYDRA personnel as they kickstarted the launch of the carrier, certain of the safety of the carriers once they were synced together, not knowing that it was going to be their coffin.

World's most expensive coffin, in fact.

He smiled upon hearing Captain Rogers' inspirational speech, even if it was quite useless as Jarvis was not expecting any casualty, at least not in the Triskelion. The crew in other important locations were so minuscule that they could be easily subdued by the rest of the honest people present there.

Pierce really did do the heavy work and gathered every single one of the most elusive organisation of the past century into three floating coffins, currently on their way to space.

He kept a close eye on the carriers, as they began taking off. Jarvis actually did not have complete control yet so the low powered, traditional weapons were still in the hands of HYDRA personnel. He had to be ready for…

Just that, he thought to himself as his hand outstretched towards the Triskelion, creating a concave shield in front of the last Helicarrier, swallowing up the explosion because of the missile.

He grinned as the entirety of the personnel aboard were seemingly rocked by the existence of that huge green barrier. He snapped his fingers, morphing that same barrier into one that covered the entirety of the Triskelion.

He could feel their panic as all of the controllable weapons aboard the Carriers aimed themselves at the Triskelion and just let loose.

All manners of high calibre bullets, missiles, and even Lasers found themselves knocking on the outer walls of his barriers but not even breaking through the first layer.

He slowly floated down to the council chamber as he watched Fury and the rest of the occupants of the room looking at the huge expanse of green with shock.

"Well, hello there," He waved to the new additions to the World Security Council.

"I assume you are almost done?" He asked Romanoff who simply nodded.

He then turned his gaze to Fury who looked back for a moment before he simply slammed his hand on the console, pressing the big red button, signalling the release of the entirety of the classified catalogue of SHIELD, from its inception to now.

And so the chapter of SHIELD came to an end……

---

Word Count - 2951

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Triskelion

–Jack Sullivan–

He stood on the edge of the meeting room they were in, Fury hobbling to come stand by his side as the file transfer continued to happen in the background. The new council members hovered nearby but they were still obviously very new to the whole gig and were unsure as to what to do.

Thankfully, Romanoff gestured for them to go out, where a hoard of loyal SHIELD agents were waiting for them. No doubt, the events that conspired here today would be leaked to every single listening ear in the span of 24 hours, declaring to the world, the fall of SHIELD, as well as his supposed return to life.

Well, he could use some of that influence he had gathered in his so-called death. That would certainly be useful in making sure that the hundreds of billions of dollars that had been invested in the Carriers are actually useful and don't end up as ruins to be scrapped or gutted.

It would be such a shame to dispose of such high quality carriers.

"So, what now?"

He looked to the side as Fury leaned on his cane, looking straight up at the green barrier that was still lit up with the constant barrage of missiles and bullets that were peppering it. He then glanced back to see Romanoff looking at him with the same question in his eyes, the Council members fading in the background.

"Well, now? Now, we need to do some damage control. I assume Coulson is safe and sound?"

Fury blinked at the sudden change of topic but nodded cautiously nonetheless, "Yes. He was quite shocked by Garett being HYDRA, more so when one of his team members turned out to be HYDRA as well but both of them were dealt with, and they were enroute to the nearest safe SHIELD base to report,"

"Tell them to turn around."

"..."

"I am sorry, what?"

"Look above, Fury. SHIELD is not over, not by a long shot. No, this is but a setback. SHIELD had gotten too big for its britches. It is time to return to its roots. Most of SHIELD's assets will no doubt be absorbed by the US government but I assume you were able to get out all the truly dangerous stuff, like the blue fellow from outer space,"

He could feel Fury stiffen beside him, at the mention of the Kree corpse they had in storage, pumping it for its blood to create drugs capable of short-term revival. Before Fury could get the litany of questions through, he continued.

"Make sure all of that is safe. If not, tell me and I'll make appropriate arrangements. Now, about Coulson. I want him to take some trusted people, people who can be trusted with the new mission that SHIELD will have, and then go underground. Once everything settles down, I'll make sure that the new and hopefully improved SHIELD has enough resources and breathing room to begin rebuilding everything,"

"...Leaving everything else off the table for now, why should I trust you with this? You know more than you let on and I, for one, am still not sure if you should be trusted with all the power you are about to get your hands on," Fury said with frustration visible in his voice.

He grinned and finally looked down at Fury, the various explosions in the backdrop illuminating the entire room with HYDRA apparently getting some of the higher energy weapons on the Carriers active, "Well, Fury, what other choice do you have?"

His smirk must have looked even more menacing in the backdrop of the bright light. Fury maintained eye contact for a few more seconds before he deflated into himself, "....Fine. I assume you will be the one making contact with Coulson?"

"Yes. do be sure to give him the Toolbox, will you?" He asked Fury in turn, taking great pleasure in giving back to back shocks to the information master of the planet.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some Nazis to kill," He gestured to the front, where a portal slowly manifested, revealing the inside of a hangar, from the looks of it. It was a portal straight into the moving plane that Coulson was on.

Fury apparently recognised the ship, or more accurately, the Bus, and after giving him a hard look, hobbled into the portal.

"I'll be seeing you around, Fury," He couldn't help but give one last parting statement as Fury didn't even turn around, walking further into the ship.

"Not that that's done, what will you do now, Agent Romanoff? I am sure that all that running around in the past two years hasn't done you any favours," He said even as he had to expand the barrier cover as the Carriers had begun targeting the surrounding areas as well, with one particularly stupid media helicopter veering dangerously close to the barrier walls, to give their viewers a much better view of the whole thing.

"Me? Ah, this whole thing started because I thought you died, by my hands, no less. Now that you are alive, I don't really feel the urge to deliver justice that intensely anymore. Plus, technically, I am done with my revenge, with Pierce being the only one who was left from the original WSC," ROmanoff said as she gestured to the now very much dead Pierce with her gun, the same gun with which she killed him.

"So, retirement, then?" He found himself asking her, his barriers informing him that Rogers and Barton were on their way to the top floor, with most of the members surrendering and disarming themselves voluntarily after realising that the Green Guardian was on site. Nobody had any complaints later on, once they realised the person who sheared space whales in half was standing in the same building as them.

"...You know that people like me don't get to enjoy retirement. At most, It'll be a short break before I'm back in some crisis and honestly, I wouldn't have any other way. Now, somewhere tropical, please?" Romanoff kissed him on the cheek as he obliged her request and opened a portal straight to the Dominican Republic, the beaches clearly in sight.

"See you around…Natasha,"

She just gave him a smile and turned around, soon disappearing from the view.

….

"Ah, I was hoping to catch her," Clint muttered even though he didn't sound so upset about the whole thing. Clearly, he was still a little conflicted about Romanoff and her actions in the past two years.

"Tell Jarvis to call it off," Rogers all but pleaded with him to stop Jarvis from becoming a mass murderer. He shook his head in negative.

"But! There could be innocents onboard!" Rogers said, his shield glinting in the light reflected by yet another volley of missiles. At this point, the carriers were so far away from the Triskelion that only missiles could reach them.

Instead of replying to Captain's questions, "Jarvis?"

"According to extensive cataloguing done in the last two years, there are exactly zero "innocents" on board the carriers, with more than 99% of them having pledged their loyalty to HYDRA through one means or the other," Jarvis' voice echoed out of the ceiling.

"See, there's your answer," He said as a small barrier converged around the entire room, enveloping the three people present in the barrier and then floating all of them towards the media people stupid enough to venture so deep into a place that was literally being lit up with missiles like they were cheap fireworks.

"Wasn't this a federally restricted no fly zone?" He questioned Clint who leaned on the barrier wall.

"Still should be," Clint replied as they closed in on the media copter who had apparently taken notice of them and was in the process of turning around. With a flex of his will, his barriers began enveloping the media copter, slowly getting it to a complete halt. For good measure, he made sure to remove all the bolts keeping the rotors attached to the body of the helicopter.

The reporter began shrieking as the helicopter abruptly came to a stop with the helicopter systems no doubt throwing all kinds of warnings. The shrieking stopped the moment all three of them came into the media crew's field of vision.

No doubt seeing Captain America and Hawkeye was a novel experience, but getting to see the Green Guardian, fresh out of death, must have shocked the reporter out of her shock to immediately smoothen out the creases in her dress as she expectantly looked at their group.

He shook his head internally at the lengths these people would go, to just for the latest scoop.

"Hi, guys! I am Jack Sullivan, Green Guardian, as you might already know. Yes, I am not dead. Yes, this is me, and not some vampiric resurrection that might suck your blood. No, Satan was not involved. The situation unfolding right now is kind of a government secret. I will be making a bigger statement once the situation is resolved. Thank you for tuning in!"

He then waved his hand, propelling the copter to land in the empty hangar in front of the Triskelion, and them into the direction of the carriers, by going through a hole in the shield that had formed over the Triskelion. The hole closed up behind them even though no more missiles had been launched.

"Jarvis?"

"Satellite link up at 62%. ETA to completion - 20 minutes," Jarvis' voice came into his comms as they slowly gained on the carriers.

"Why are we going after them? Are you saving them?" Rogers' question came to the front of his mind and he found himself asking the same question once again. He had no wish to see once more the massive loss of life that was about to happen in front of him.

He could have chosen to remain on Earth, and when the time came, simply pushed Jarvis under the bus. After all, Jarvis was a digital entity who could not be found by his very creator even after searching for two years, what hope did he have in convincing Jarvis to stop his actions? Clearly, the cold logic of the AI was sound.

He had no hopes in the flawed Justice System of the planet in successfully convicting and more importantly, appropriately punishing all the criminals. He knew that most of these criminals would simply escape from the prisons, or serve very short sentences and find themselves with their freedom intact, despite the litany of crimes they had committed.

So, yeah, his mind knew that the way Jarvis was doing it was the easiest way to do it. NO muss no fuss. Everybody connected to HYDRA goes, nobody survives who could rebuild it once again.

…And yet, why was he heading straight to the Carriers? To witness the no doubt horrific sight that was about to assault his eyes?

Why would he subject himself to that, especially after seeing the massive loss of life after he destroyed an entire mercenary group, with members surpassing 10000 living sentient beings?

His fists clenched as green, blue, and yellow flickered around his form, his powers reflecting his destabilising mind. His mind could not reconcile the cold logic that this was the easiest, fastest way to do things. With Thanos on the horizon, he could not afford to have distractions on his home turf.

A clean house would only ensure the smooth operations that would no doubt be needed to prepare for Thanos' inevitable arrival. With the Reality Stone's location unknown, he would have to tread even more carefully than before, and yet?

His mind came to those same words.

Fastest. Easiest.

For some reason, memories long thought lost assaulted his mind. Memories of a simpler time, memories of a time when he didn't have to think of every little action of his. It was easy too, considering that he only had to worry about himself, since that was the extent of his sphere of influence.

Amidst those precious memories, a few words came to the forefront. Words he had read in some online blog somewhere, in a bid to pass the time.

"There is an easy way and a right way to do most everything, but the easy way is almost never going to be the right way."

"Damn it, Rogers!" He cursed the Captain before the yellow glow that had been surrounding his body travelled along his arm before culminating in a small yellow glowing ball in front of his outstretched right hand.

"Wh-What's happening?" He heard Clint curse as the barrier they were in began shuddering, its integrity losing as he focused his mind on something else.

"Mr.Sullivan, may I ask what is it that you are trying to accomplish here?" he heard Jarvis speak into his comms in a wary and tense tone.

He grinned at the question, relieved that Jarvis was still capable of feeling emotions.

"Me? I am doing the right thing, and not the easy thing, Jarvis. Stop the carrier ascent right this instant. All these criminals have a right to a speedy trial by justice."

"--Confusing. It seemed that we had an agreement that all these criminals, once judged by the faulty human system, would undoubtedly—"

"I know what we discussed Jarvis. No, they will not be judged by the specific laws of a specific country. They will be judged by the people. I will make sure of that," He said, even as his hand began trembling due to the sheer energy that he was concentrating in his right arm.

All that leftover energy from the energy storm had been absorbed by his barriers, hidden away, inaccessible until this very moment.

"....Unfortunately, Mr.Sullivan, I don't share your views and as such, all these people must die," Jarvis' cold voice rang with finality as the connection cut off.

"Damn, I was hoping to avoid this," He muttered to himself even as he aimed at the yellow ball of Mind Stone Energy and then aimed it at his left hand which held the matrix of a seemingly simple spell.

It was a mind communication spell. It was simply a way of delivering a message from one mind to another, without the consent of the receiving mind. It was simple because there was no mind invading involved. The message was simply transferred through the Astral Realm, making sure that the message itself was language agnostic.

He was hoping to get his feelings on the matter across to Jarvis, using the mind stone energy and the basic spell he knew. He just hoped it would work and he had a hunch it would. He closed his eyes shut as he honed in on the horrifying feelings he felt when he snuffed out over 10000 lives in a single move. How depressing and heavy the weight of having that much power was. How he felt when he returned to the Collector's Collection.

He wished to convey all of that through the very basic spell. If only the spell matrix was not being actively destabilised by being in the mere vicinity of the Mind Stone energy. He glanced to his left and saw Clint and Captain standing behind the signature shield, looking at his glowing form with varying levels of wariness, and hope in the case of the Captain.

His eyes shone as he looked at the Vibranium in front of him and after feeling the spell matrix break down once again, he simply willed the Shield in front of him, the Captain recognising the green tint in time and letting go.

The shield floated in front of him as he aimed the concave side of the barrier at the carriers that were about to reach the inky blackness of space.

Then, with a roar, he slammed both his hands into the back of the shield, both the energies melding together before a thin beam of yellow and orange light emerged from the front of the Shield, breaking through his barrier in an instant and reaching the carriers nearly instantly.

Instead of punching through the carriers, it simply bounced off each carrier and then repeated the process until all he could see was a sea of yellow bouncing surrounding the carriers.

"...Wh..What is th…this?" The breaking voice of Jarvis could be heard over the comms.

"This is my message to you, Jarvis. These are my feelings on the matter. This is what a sentient human would feel when confronted by the fact that they were going to be responsible for snuffing out thousands of lives."

"...No..T..Too m..much….Bzzz…." Jarvis' voice continued to come in and out in patches as he must be feeling the effects of the spell, amplified as it was by the mind stone.

The effect was obvious as the repulsor thrusters began receding in the blue glow.

Still, that was only hurdle One of their goal.

He turned to the very confused Captain and Clint who were looking at the very red and smoking Vibranium Shield. It should not be doing that.

Ooops.

"Time to call in the reinforcements, Captain. I'll go in and cast a sleep spell on all of them but even with me sustaining an artificial barrier around the carriers to make sure that all of them can still breathe, we will need someone to take control of the Carriers as well as the Satellites and safely bring it back down."

"Call Stark," He summarised his previous statement.

"...."

"...."

"Dude, how are we supposed to get cell service here?" Clint asked him incredulously.

Oh.

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Word Count - 2972.

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/N - I have a feeling this chapter will have a very polarising reception. Still, this is what my brain vomited and that is what you guys are here for.

So, here you go…..

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don't worry, I am completely sober).

Triskelion

–Jack Sullivan–

"So, let me get this straight," Tony Stark's insufferable voice was starting to grate on his nerves now.

"Yes, Mr.Stark?"

"You were initially OK with essentially massacring thousands of people in cold blood and Jarvis was going to carry it out as well. But suddenly, you had a change of heart and were somehow able to shut down Jarvis. The same Jarvis that was capable of evading everything I threw at him without much difficulty," The disbelief in Tony's voice was easily identifiable.

"Yes, Tony, I was able to shut him down but not for long. Think of it like this, I hit his core centers with a file with unknown parameters and forced him to open it, not giving him the option to ignore it at all. Now, if it were just a normal computer program, it would just shut down but since it was an awakened Artificial Intelligence like Jarvis–"

"He would just learn how to read the file and come back all the more stronger for it. What did you do anyway? For him to just shut down everything," Tony's intense curiosity about the topic gave him a pause as he contemplated if telling Tony would be the right thing to do or not.

And yet, he told him all the same, "Uh, so, I just transmitted my thoughts, my feelings on the matter,"

"Your…feelings? About killing thousands of people? So you essentially transmitted your moral code to an AI?" Tony Stark asked him slowly, clearly not believing it but having no other choice than to accept the explanation since he was just as much in the dark as everyone else.

"And what a thing it was to see. It even managed to dent Cap's shield. I thought that was supposed to be impossible," Clint's voice reached them as all three of them stood on a platform made up of his barriers, watching as rows after rows of HYDRA prisoners were offloaded into a prototype prison. If his knowledge was to be believed, the next version of the prison would be the Raft, a prison specially for the super powered people.

The remaining SHIELD loyalists were the ones who were making sure that all HYDRA personnel were tagged and kept in cells, while they also made sure to check for the cyanide pill that most of them had, but were too cowardly to bite. Already, they had lost a dozen people to the pill and while that was still valuable information lost, he didn't feel anything about it.

After all, they were still Nazi pieces of shit.

He could feel everyone's gaze turn to him as Clint said out loud something that was supposed to be all but impossible.

Denting Cap's shield, he really did it. Without Vibranium, just the sheer amount of energy channeled through his fists as he punched at the shield with all his might somehow leave a dent in it, shocking Cap when he saw it for the first time.

"Vibranium does have its limits, you know. They are absurdly high and I don't think Little Green here can replicate that absurd amount of energy concentration anytime soon but just knowing that it can be done is sobering enough. It just goes to show that everything has its own limits. No one knew the limits of Vibranium and they do now," Tony said as he kept on coordinating the efforts to make sure that all the three carriers were safely stowed away in orbit, just as he had planned.

"Are the weapons all depowered?" He couldn't help but ask once again as Tony had depowered every single energy weapon on board using his software but he was still not sure about that. He knew that anything digital could not be trusted at all, especially on Earth.

"Yeah yeah, I did it the first thing I got my hands on the exquisite interface that Jarvis had built around the entire thing. Just goes to show that he inherited my talents,"

Tony's words raised his eyebrows. He was of the opinion that Tony had been deeply hurt by Jarvis' departure but it seems that Tony still loved Jarvis like his son.

Good to know, he smiled to himself as Tony continued to work on the carriers, while the military copters hovered all around them, "monitoring" their work.

He scoffed at that. As if the government had any power over him. Stark could just claim that he was just doing as Jack Sullivan, the strongest man on Earth had ordered.

It had been a day since he revealed himself to the world through that small statement he made to that stupid media house. Honestly, it just felt so wrong to him that the stupid stunts they pulled that day, probably resulted in minuscule fines but benefited them in the form of vastly increased TRP and views they must have received in the last 24 hours.

The government response was as expected. The same people who were very eager to turn him into the "American Hero" and ask for votes in his name were now very wary and cautious of him. If not for his immense powers, then for the immense political clout he had in the form of the rabid following he had gained from all age groups from almost all countries.

Of course, his greatest support group still came from the States and that just turned into his strength. From yesterday, he had received no less than 6 invitations from various departments of the US government and also an information invitation from POTUS himself, to have dinner.

Now, he knew that his worth to the politicians only came from his immense power and the votes he could turn from his words but the fact remained that he had this power and it would be remiss on his part to not use that.

"So, the Army called. And the Navy, and the Air Force, along with the NSA, CIA, DOJ, and almost all the alphabet agencies called for you. What are you going to do about that? For one, they are not going to be happy with three orbital weapons platforms being in the control of a single individual," Tony said casually as he came to hover next to him, the process to geo lock the Carriers in orbit apparently complete.

He could see the glow from the repulsor engines dim as Tony's algorithm meant that they would just passively maintain orbit. Unless a satellite came deliberately close to the carriers, the onboard weapons systems would not activate, even then none of the high powered lasers would be activated.

He sighed, "Well, as you can guess, the carriers will be on the agenda but that is not going to be the main topic of discussion. We need something to aggregate Earth's strength into something unified and SHIELD came pretty close to that. There are things out there that–well, I guess, you will find out soon enough anyway," He replied as the entire platform they were in, passed through a portal, and arrived on Titan, the home planet of Thanos himself.

"Whoa-What the fuuu-" Tony said, stunned into silence as they all found themselves in the ruins of the once thriving Eternal civilization.

He could take a guess and say that hundreds of years had probably passed since the last Eternal lived here, judging by the various states of disrepair and the crashed satellites along with what looked like highly advanced space stations.

"This," He turned to the people present in the small bubble that still held a significant packet of Earth's atmosphere, especially the compressed air that he kept in a small walled off space in the back end of the barrier, "Is Titan, former home planet of the Titans, an immortal, un-aging cosmic energy wielding race of aliens,"

Tony's faceplate slid off, showing off his stunned and stupefied expression for everyone to witness. Tony's suit was no doubt scanning everything for all its worth.

Captain Rogers and Clint looked around the ruins as the barrier pocket flew low and high, taking them through twists and turns while he took care not to disturb anything, showing respect for the dead, something that Thanos would not care for, when he dropped large pieces of an entire moon on Tony's Mark 85.

"What happened here?" Clint asked them as they found themselves high up in space, above one of the smaller moons that littered the space around Titan. He could see similarly ruined structures on the moon as well. Some of it had been clearly crashed from orbit, judging by the crater marks around it, some of it was built into the land and had just rusted beyond being recognisable.

"Overpopulation? Limited Resources? Civil War? Take your pick. It matters not. What matters is that a highly advanced race such as this one found themselves dying without the outer galaxy even knowing about them."

He said as Tony and the others found themselves increasingly horrified at the state of the ruins they found on the Moon and the surrounding areas as well.

It was clear that the Titans were an advanced race, considering they had artificial structures built on every single moon around their home world, and yet, they had fallen all the same.

"I show you this not because I want to scare you but to show you what can and has happened to races who didn't take the future and their place in the cosmos seriously. The Titans could fly unaided, even through space. And even they fell apart like this. If only they had introduced birth control measures if only they had expanded outwards to the rest of the cosmos if only they had listened to a renegade Mad Titan."

He looked at each and every one of them as he continued, "I don't want the human race to leave survivors who would ponder on the same questions one day. No, I want humanity to survive, and dare I say, thrive."

Slowly, they came back, hovering above the moon, looking at the ruins of the planet. He could feel Tony was about to ask him to bring along some of the advanced tech that was lying around, even if most of it was more rust than anything useful.

Before Tony could get the question in though, "No, Tony. This is the graveyard of the Titans and as much as the technology could be useful, I don't want to be the one to disrespect the dead. Death doesn't like that very much. Leave them be, we are about to run out of oxygen anyway,"

Slowly, they passed through a portal that opened up in front of them, depositing them in the same place they were in before. Only this time, they found themselves facing a huge fleet proudly bearing the US Flag on it.

"Think about what I said before taking any huge actions, Tony. If you have any more questions, feel free to approach me. You are the one who is going to make the most waves after this, be careful of what you do," He said to Tony who didn't say anything but rocketed off towards the coast, no doubt rocked to the core with what he had seen on Titan, something so close to Earth.

"Well, I can safely say that I wished I had something to make it all forget. If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be," Clint said with a haunted look on his face. It made sense when you thought of the fact that Clint was still an average if honed to his maximum potential, a human who was playing in leagues way above his weight category.

"If you will, New York, please," Clint said to him and he obliged as a burning orange portal manifested in front of them.

He turned to the Captain who nodded slightly at him, his slightly dented shield still held in his one hand. He knew that only Wakanda had any hope of repairing it and out of the guilt he felt for depriving the man of his signature weapon, he would ask T'Challa to help repair it.

I am sure Wakandan researchers will be very interested to find out that someone had just punched a dent in a Vibranium Shield, however, aided by pure energy they might.

Hell, Shuri might just have stars in her eyes at the information alone.

"Shall we, captain?" He asked the Captain as they alighted on the nearest Navy ship with helicopters hovering nearby and jets soaring above their head. The overall amount of force gathered to welcome him was slightly overwhelming.

Apparently, the government was very much rattled by his abrupt appearance and disappearance act.

Let's see what they have in store for him, shall we?

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Word Count - 2162

If you guys would like to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon or Ko-fi .

I already have upto 15 extra chapters published there.

A/N - Slight political shenanigans next chapter.