Chapter 105: Spy Games Ch. 26
"It is with great pleasure that I announce the finalization and implementation of the Avengers Accords! With these incredibly important documents as our guiding hand, the United Nations and the Civilized World can rest easy knowing that empowered individuals are not only watching over us but have the oversight necessary to keep them on the straight and narrow."
The officious committee member pauses for a moment before smiling wider still.
"And who better to oversee that oversight then the greatest hero Earth has ever known? Who better to make sure that our empowered have a proper example to look up to then the one who has saved our planet from both internal and external threats time and time again? It is my pleasure to announce the hero Valiant as the Oversight Director of the Avengers Accords!"
The applause as I step on stage is noticeable, if a bit muted. To be fair, I'd sort of rushed things. A week, that was the time frame I'd given myself to keep things interesting. And what a week it had been. Officially, my time was spent in meeting after meeting with members of the UN, discussing all sorts of things about the Accords.
Unofficially, I'd compelled the shit out of a ton of very self-important politicians, effectively turning enough of the UN subcommittees presiding over the Avengers Accord to my side that when it came time to put someone in charge, my name had not only been put forward, but I had also been appointed to the position by a landslide.
Of course, now I was facing the Greater UN. Would my subterfuge hold up much longer? Did it really matter? Smiling wildly, my perfect teeth on display as I take the stage and step up to the podium, I grasp it with both hands and look around the massive room.
"Thank you for this honor. I must say, Earth has had it's fair share of challenges in the last decade. From the advent of the Iron Man armor and all the power it wielded, to the revelation that aliens are real, and more than that, they can be quite hostile. But humanity has always been resilient, incredibly so. In the wake of these changes, did humankind stick their heads in the sand, or find a big rock to hide behind? No, of course not. Humans rose to the occasion and proved that no alien threat was ever going to be enough to stop the march of progress."
Horse shit, of course. In fact, thanks to my interference, a vast majority of the fighting that had taken place these past few years had been hybrid versus alien, more often than not. Amusing to say the least, but I wasn't going to say that out loud. Despite the vast majority of the Greater UN not being sure what to make of my appointment, my words were still having their effect. It was hard not to fall for a good 'Humanity Fuck Yeah!' speech when you yourself were human.
"The universe is a big and frightening place, and clearly it's done waiting for us to get out there. It's come to us, but time and time again, we've proven we can deal with all challengers. I have no doubt that in the future, humans will continue to prove themselves worthy of the respect that has been earned so far on the Galactic Stage. Needless to say, I am proud to call Earth my home, and eager to continue my work as your humble servant."
And with that end to my speech, I leave the stage to louder applause than before. As I depart, I let my smile grow into something wicked and evil. What I'd just done was incredibly ham-fisted and entirely over the top. But it was done, and there was no taking it back. Besides, it wasn't like I actually WANTED to be Oversight Director for the Avengers Accord. Blegh, talk about a yawn fest.
No, this move was made to make me look desperate… and to in turn make my shadowy enemies just as desperate. They'd already started moving against me, but now that their plans to shackle me with the Accords had been dashed on the rocks, they would have to try something else, they would have to step up their game. I had to admit, I was curious to see what would happen next… and if it would finally pull them out of the shadows fully.
-x-X-x-
The message comes within the day… and it comes from Tony Stark. I have to admit to some mild surprise at that. I wouldn't have expected him to betray me. And yet, what little use I put the Mind Stone to (I don't go all out, I want this to be at least a little surprising to keep it fun and engaging) tells me that he is indeed walking me right into a trap.
So of course, I spring it. Stepping foot in Tony's tower, moving to the elevator under the guidance of Jarvis, I step inside… and smile as the elevator transforms and plummets deep beneath the Earth, becoming a cage while also descending to the lowest of the subterranean levels of Stark Tower. I smile… right up until the cage that they've made for me glows, and I suddenly find myself frozen in place, an energy field of some sort completely locking me down in an instant.
The elevator comes to a stop, even as I probe at this trap with the stones, only to be surprised when they prove sluggish and unresponsive. Even when I attempt to expand my consciousness beyond the confines of the metal box with the Mind Stone, I find I can't. Even my mind is trapped in this space.
The first hints of annoyance begin to creep in when a screen on the wall of the elevator-turned-cage suddenly unfolds and turns on, revealing a veritable smorgasbord of familiar individuals. I glance over the rest of them for a brief moment but focus my attention on who must have been the architect behind all of this. Tony Stark stares back at me looking only ever so slightly guilty. Chuckling, I flex against the confines of my unseen bindings.
"I must admit, Tony. Your betrayal, I really didn't see coming. Tell me, was your little disagreement with them a week ago all an act? Or are you this easily led by the nose?"
Tony winces and glances back at those with him. Among them number Peggy, Bucky, and Steve, the three who had advocated the most for the Accords during our last conversation as a team. However, when he looks back to me, his face hardens, and I see the man who flew a nuke through the wormhole in New York all those years before.
"This isn't a betrayal, Vali. Not on my end. You know, when they first came to me, when they told me that we had to start preparing a countermeasure for you, I didn't want to believe them. I didn't think you were capable of all of the crimes they wanted to lay at your feet. Just because they wanted to paint you as a monster didn't mean I would just go along with it and see you as one all willy nilly."
He pauses, and I raise an eyebrow, prompting him to continue.
"And then you went and spent the last week taking away free will from every UN member you met with until you had enough thralls to force the UN to give you power and authority over the Accords. I'd wondered why the hell you didn't care more about what they were trying to do. But now I suppose I know. You wanted the Accords so that you could take control. So that you could have all the power. I assume you joined up with Hydra for the same reason, back when you first came to this world."
Ah, so it was my own ham-fisted work that had turned Tony against me. Honestly? That made plenty of sense. My actions were definitely in proper Bad Guy territory. I purposefully wasn't as subtle as I could have been, purely in an effort to draw out my enemies from the shadows. It seemed that in the process, I'd made an enemy of the smartest human on Earth, give or take.
I ignore the crack about Hydra, of course. I wasn't going to justify myself to him. Instead, I curl my lips into a half-smirk, half-sneer, even as I look towards the SHIELD brigade.
"And you lot? This is how you repay me for eternal life, I suppose?"
Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes make for excellent muscle as they stare at me emotionlessly with their arms crossed over their chests on either side of the estimable Peggy Carter. Peggy, of course, is the one that speaks for the trio, stepping forward with her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed together.
"None of us asked you for immortality, Vali Masters. You forced it upon us, Bucky and I. Just as you forced it upon Agent Coulson, just as you forced it upon many others. Such as Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis."
… I'd admittedly been trying to ignore that pair of elephants in the room. It was so much easier to banter with Tony or condescend to Peggy, then to acknowledge that both Jane and Darcy were there as well, staring at me with puffy eyes that made it clear they'd both been crying.
More than anything, their betrayal hurt most of all. The only one that might have hurt more would be if Natasha was here, but the mother of my child in this universe was nowhere to be seen. Even then, I don't think a betrayal from Natasha would have hurt as much as Jane and Darcy did. The red head was a practical sort, I'd always known that. And frankly, I was closer to the pair then I'd ever been to Natasha, despite making a child with her.
"… Et tu, Jane? Darcy?"
"S-Shut up… shut up! You don't get to… q-quip at us!"
Darcy storms forward, getting in the camera's face and thus filling up much of the screen as she snarls at me.
"You KILLED us, you bastard. And for a long time, we both thought we were okay with that. Imagine our surprise when we found out it was only because of your hold on us that we didn't run screaming for the hills! You had me working with NAZIS, Vali!"
I open my mouth, but it really is Darcy who knows me best, because she preempts me.
"And don't say it's okay because you had them mind controlled! Keeping super soldier Nazis around as your private little army is NEVER okay! Especially when you're mind controlling ME to manage them for you, you bastard!"
Huh, I could have sworn Darcy knew that all those hybrids were Hydra. Had I really never told her? Had it never come up in casual conversation? Or had she simply stomached it because I had never quite managed to remove my control over her and Jane after bringing them back in the heat of my Aether-prompted slaughter of the two women.
No… rather, I'd never tried very hard. If I had, I probably could have broken their sire bonds. Certainly, it seemed like my enemies had discovered a way of doing so, given that all those I had turned had in turn turned against me. A low growl rumbles out of my chest and despite my imprisonment, despite there being who knew how many floors between us, Darcy rears back, a flash of fear in her eyes as she steps away. That's good, because I really don't want to talk to her anymore anyways.
"I think… it's high time that you stop hiding behind patsies. As impactful and capable as your flunkies each are in their own right, it seems that now, at the eleventh hour, is when I should come face to face with the man who has managed to engineer my ruin so effectively. I know you're there, Director Fury. Are you so afraid of me that you're not willing to have a chat, even across this far of a distance?"
There's a beat where everyone else in the room doesn't quite freeze, but certainly tenses up. Their reactions are telling, even as Tony opens his mouth, either to deny it or agree with me. He doesn't get a chance to do either, because stepping out of the shadows into the camera frame is the man in question, Nicholas Fury, eyepatch and all, staring at me with his one visible eye and glaring quite impressively.
"Congratulations, Masters. You figured it out."
I grin, though it's less of a grin and more of a baring of teeth as I grit them together. See, I'd been flexing both my body and my power this entire time, and to my increasing consternation, this cage that Tony had built was somehow managing to hold me back, managing to contain me and the stones. Frankly, I would have been amazed if I wasn't utterly infuriated.
"Not like it was that hard, Nick. What other paranoid motherfucker would be capable of going this far, and then go this far, just to bring down Earth's Mightiest Hero? Though I have to admit, I'm quite impressed with your progress all the same. You broke sire bonds I didn't even know COULD be broken. Well done."
There's some bristling from the peanut gallery at the first line, clearly some of them didn't think I was worthy of the title I'd ascribed to myself. They could sit on it and spin, I only had eyes for Nicholas J. Fury. The man in question quirks the corner of his mouth up at my faint praise and chuckles darkly.
"You weren't my first rodeo, Vali. I've been dealing with alien shit for a lot longer than you've been fucking up my backyard. Your particular brand of bullshit might have taken some getting used to, and I'll admit I was further blinded by your ties to the Hydra fuckers in my ranks… but at the end of the day, you got one thing right in that little speech of yours. We humans are incredibly resilient."
I hated having my words thrown back in my face like that. Judging by the miniscule yet insufferable smirk on Fury's lips, he somehow knew it too. Bastard. Of course… I'd known, or at least suspected, that Nick Fury was trying to fuck up my shit for years at this point. I hadn't confirmed it solely because I wanted to see exactly what he would manage.
It's not like I had anything to worry about, or so I'd thought. The man was a fucking baseline human. Sure, he could be the spy to end all spies, but I was Vali fucking Masters and I had spent four thousand years ruling my empire. Not to mention I had THREE Infinity Stones empowering me at this point. Half of a set of six that I was going to use to beat a Mad Titan at his own game.
And yet, confident that I was in my ability to smear Thanos across any surface near us when he and I finally met, here I was being talked down to by Nick motherfucking Fury. Undeniably bristling, straining against the energy field holding me in place to no avail, I snarl.
"So then, what happens now? Do you lock me away in a vault for the rest of eternity, never to see the light of day again? Do you really think you can hold me for long?"
It's Tony who speaks up then, looking grim but determined… and perhaps a little smug.
"Not for long. Just until we can develop a means of getting those stones out of you."
I dart my eyes over to the genius inventor, and amusingly enough, he begins to elaborate. Turns out, not only villains like to monologue.
"I made your prison based off of all the readings that Fury was able to give me from their time researching the Space Stone, as well as the readings generated since you started fucking around with them here on Earth. Basically, the cage uses the power of the stones to keep you in place. You're literally locking yourself up for the time being. It works by-!"
Just as he's beginning to get into the nitty gritty details, Fury's hand comes down on Tony's shoulder. And while the hybrid very clearly pulls himself out of the man's grip, flashing him an annoyed glare, he also gets the hint and stops talking.
"Fact of the matter is, you aren't going anywhere. Stark is going to get those stones out of you, and THEN we'll see what needs to be done next. It's the end of the line."
Sliding my gaze across those assembled (Pepper and Rhodey were there too, likely as support for Tony, but neither had said a thing, and really, who gave a fuck about them?) before me, I attempt to appeal to their… humanity, I suppose?
"And you're all okay with that, are you? No trial, no due process, no justice? I'm just going to be vanished into a dark hole, never to be seen again, is that it?"
There's some uncomfortable shifting, but mostly a whole lot of stony faces. It would seem they've all come to terms with the need for my imprisonment. Likely, they've already talked out the moral implications and weighed the evil I'm capable of against the evil of locking me away, never to see the light of day again.
How… downright irritating. To think, just a little while ago, I was turning the Ancient One herself, the Sorcerer Supreme, into my bitch. I had taken the most powerful magic user in this dimension and broken her upon my cock. And now I was being undone by what… Tony and some fucking energy readings? I was trapped by science?!
I had gone right past rage and settled into something quiet yet filled with fury. Amusingly enough, the thought of Boudicca makes me realize I'm not long for this imprisonment either way. As soon as I stay missing long enough, my pet Sorcerer Supreme will come looking for me. I was now regretting leaving her with the Time Stone for the time being, just in case she needed it to deal with the problems within her own Order.
Perhaps the Time Stone could have broken me out of this cage where my current three were failing me. Or perhaps not. If Tony was to be believed, it was likely the power of the Power Stone itself fueling my prison.
Regardless, I couldn't say for certain when Boudicca would come for me. It was entirely possible that a genius like Tony would figure out a way to extract the stones from me before she realized I was even missing. It wasn't like I told her I'd come back for her and the Stone at any given time. When she did finally come looking for me, it could be weeks, or months, or even years.
More than that though… it would be utterly humiliating to be rescued by the woman who I had so thoroughly enslaved. To have her save me from this imprisonment would hurt my pride even worse then the fact that I was captured in the first place. No… no, I would not be waiting for Boudicca to come to my rescue like some pathetic damsel in distress.
"I suppose then… it's time to put your cage to the test."
And then I truly begin my attempt to break free. Before had been probes. Before, I'd been distracted with conversation, curious to hear what they all had to say in spite of myself. I hadn't really put my all into it. Now I was. With an inhuman roar, I strain against Tony's cage with all my not inconsiderable might. There's a shaking sound, and I think I might be causing an earthquake in New York, because the room that they're all in begins to shake on the screen in front of me.
There are exclamations of alarm and loud cussing, but I'm not focusing on them anymore. I'm focusing on breaking free, so that I can give them all a piece of my Mind. Straining against the cage with all of my might, with all of the power that I've collected and cultivated in this universe over the years, I can practically feel myself reaching beyond anything I've done so far.
If I was a Saiyan, this would definitely be a Super Saiyan moment for me. As it is, as a hybrid, even with four thousand years and three infinity stones behind me… it's STILL not enough. I'm downright horrified when I realize it, at the height of my attempt, fighting as hard as I fucking can to get free, causing who knows how much damage to New York above my head in the process… and still not able to do it.
I fail, and as I slump in my unseen bindings, gasping for breath, I have to come to terms with that fact. Thankfully, it takes them a little while to right themselves from where they've fallen or scrambled for safety. The room that I'm seeing on the screen looks outright TRASHED, and I can even see glass from what was probably a window now strewn across the floor. Might have destabilized the whole tower. Could be close to coming down now. Good.
"H-Holy shit…"
That would be Tony, who's looking off screen, likely at another computer, his hands flying across a keyboard.
"Stark, report!"
And that was Fury, stumbling to his feet, looking spitting mad.
"That was the equivalent of a Magnitude Four Earthquake on the Richter Scale. We got the worst of it, being at the epicenter. But still… there's damage all around us."
"And the prison? Is he still contained?"
"… Yeah, yeah he's still contained. We'll have to hope that was all he had though, because if he keeps going, we might have to evacuate."
I grin a little at that, because frankly… I'm far from done. And even if I can't escape, there's nothing I'd love more to bring down this whole fucking city with me. Unfortunately, I'm already too winded to say as much… so in the end, I just curl my fingers in towards my palms as far as I can as I let out another titanic roar and begin my second attempt at breaking free.
"OH FU-!"
The shaking begins again as I reach down deep within the well of power within me. I need more. More power, more strength. But the stones… the stones feel all but worthless here. I need to get out, I need to escape, and they aren't helping me.
It's almost like… it's almost like they're telling me THEY need more as well. Even with the Power Stone boosting it, it's not enough for the Reality Stone to warp me out of this technological terror Tony has created. They have infinite power, of course, they ARE the infinity stones. It's me, the vessel, that's lacking. I need to be more for them, I need…
My roar turns into a scream as my bones begin to snap and break. The transformation, a transformation I haven't used in… a very long time, begins in earnest. My skull fractures and then reshapes itself, my mouth and nose elongating into a distinctive canine snout.
"What the fuck is happening? What is he doing?!"
"He's changing! What the hell, he's GROWING! He's physically GROWING!"
My vessel needed to be stronger? Fine then. I had stronger, if that was what the stones needed. I could DO stronger. With a purely bestial roar, I continue my transformation into my wolf form, a form I have long, LONG neglected. What need did I have for becoming an animal, even if that animal was easily twice as strong as my humanoid form? I was already strong enough as myself.
But needs must, and in this moment, becoming a wolf presented my best opportunity of breaking free. It was clear the cage was made to contain a humanoid figure of my approximate size and shape. Now though, as my skeletal structure remade itself, as my flesh tore and reformed before beginning to grow fur… I wasn't very humanoid anymore.
As the long-forgotten power of my wolf form flows through my newly constructed muscles, I let out another roar. My mind… my mind is still my own, but there's no denying I'm losing control fast. I just needed to get away. I needed to be gone from this place.
I needed to be ANYWHERE BUT HERE!
-x-X-x-
Her first instinct upon seeing the massive unconscious wolf is to turn her ship around and flee. Her second instinct is to riddle it with bullets, annihilating the damn thing on the spot. Luckily for Scrapper One-Four-Two, neither of those first two instincts win out. She's sober enough to realize after a beat that the wolf is NOT the dark-furred one from her nightmares. It's not Hela's beast, Fenris.
Slowly, the dark-skinned disgraced Valkyrie brings her ship in close to the downed animal for a landing. While it's got a different coloration then Fenris did, it's certainly an impressive specimen. Big enough that she's able to see its fur rising and falling with long, laboring breaths from the cockpit of her ship. The beast is alive, and without a second thought, she descends from her ship to approach it.
Hands on her hips, Scrapper One-Four-Two hums as she looks over the massive sleeping wolf. Sakaar was the trash heap of the galaxy, created by the planet's ruler, a self-important man who called himself the Grandmaster. To be fair, everyone else called him that too, he did sort of rule the joint. Regardless, everything from all over the galaxy could make its way to Sakaar, thanks to the numerous wormholes that littered the planet's atmosphere.
Most of the time, that junk wasn't alive. Sometimes however, it was. Either way, Scrapper One-Four-Two made her living (and more importantly her booze money) off of bringing back the most interesting pieces of scrap, both living and otherwise. This great big fucking wolf almost certainly counted, and after checking that he would live (it was indeed a he, she takes a moment to check that too) Scrapper One-Four-Two leans back and grins.
"Well, you might not be Champion material, but the Grandmaster does like seeing his gladiators fight beasties. You should be good for at least a few bottles of the hard stuff."
And then, because the wolf is clearly unconscious and unable to hear her, the dark-skinned Scrapper reaches down and grabs him by one of his hind legs, slowly beginning the laborious process of dragging him towards the ramp of her ship.
All in a days work for one of Sakaar's veteran Scrappers.
-x-X-x-
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