บท 69: Reasonable Worries
What the hell, maybe a few more before I fully shut this one down or end it.
Enjoy and thank yaaa
•••••••••••••••
*GRAAAAAHHHHHH!!*
*WIING*
Thor let his hammer go as it dropped onto the chest of hulk, who remained screaming his lungs out.
"What curse is this?!" Thor muttered.
For a few minutes now, hulk has been screaming non-stop and they didn't have a clue what they could do to stop it.
"Keep your distance, who knows if he will go on a rampage." Thor warned the few agents and workers near as he made his way up the stairs.
He joined the group of Avengers in just a few moments, tired and frustrated of what just happened.
"The beast stays helpless, it seems your friend put powerful curses onto him." Thor said as he looked towards Steve.
"Unfortunate…" Tony spoke as he sat on a chair looking down brooding. "Now the big gun is incapacitated."
"Is that really all you can think about?! He's not just a weapo—"
"Well that's what we need." Tony spoke up again interrupting Steve. "He would be a great effect to the cause, why else do you think they had to waltz in and give the big guy a pat in the back huh?"
"That wasn't their aim." Nick Fury chimed in from the other side of the counter.
"According to Romanov, McBride had intended for the hulk to change sides. Luckily for us it didn't happen."
"That's the bright side, better off on the side than against us." Tony shrugged to which Steve sighs in frustration.
"Can we still find the tesseract without…" Thor struggled to either call hulk by the 'beast' or whatever his name was.
"The energy signature was on auto-search, but with all the damage the lab took…" Tony didn't finish as they understood.
"And Barton? Is he well enough to talk?" Steve asked, looking for alternatives.
But before anyone could say anything, Natasha came into the room holding Clint as he still seemed a bit out of it.
"At least we have one recover from their nap." Tony quipped.
"Glad you recovered." Steve stepped up towards Clint. "Do you remember anything that could help us?"
"It's a bit fuzzy, but I don't know much considering I've never asked what or where, I only followed orders." Clint spoke unsuredly.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it will help." Steve said with a smile.
"The attack…it was only meant for a distraction…to slow you down. Loki has made big moves, manpower, devices and weapons moved out, I'm not exactly sure where but something this big is bound to catch some eyes." Clint said.
"That's good." Steve turned towards Nick Fury and Tony Stark. "What can we do with that?"
Fury smirked. "Stark?"
"Well that's not much to go by, luckily for you it's enough for me to—"
*FISSSSSHHHHH*
The room heard the sound of sizzling as they looked to one side of the room to see a glowing circle.
The group prepared themselves as guns, shields and lasers were raised.
The only person they knew who had used the portal was Alfie McBride, and he dared to show himself again.
"Let's hope whatever comes out of that is—" Tony paused. "…a kid?"
Not just any kid.
A light brown haired teenager.
One they recently learned was the daughter of Alfie McBride and Selena Gord.
The daughter of a rogue and a Queen.
Alina Gord McBride.
After her came another two figures from the portal; Green and Shadow.
"Captain!!" Alina shouted in excitement towards Steve Rogers before she scanned everyone else. "Hello everyone."
"Now that we've set up who the favorite is…" Tony quipped as he side glanced at Steve Rogers. "…who are you? I know you kid, but who are you two?"
Green and Shadow took everyone's attention.
"Stark." Green nodded before turning to Steve. "We are friends of…Alfie, and we've been tracking and trying to knock his head back to reality but right now we need your help…"
"So you know what's going on." Fury crossed his arms.
"Hard not to with all this noise." Green shrugged.
"What sort of relationship do you have with Alfie? How do you know him?" Steve Asked wary of the two.
"We have the same teacher, the same one who taught Alfie everything and did the same for me and my friend here." He pointed towards Shadow.
"He's never mentioned anything about you two."
"Well he is a bit preoccupied at the moment, but even then I doubt he'd mention us. We're not exactly all buddied up but we are on the same side in the current situation."
"Not from where I'm standing." Stark chipped in.
"We all know he's not in his right mind at the moment." Green responded.
"What do you need help with?" Steve finally asked.
"We have a friend, who I'm sure you know well." Green turned to Steve Rogers. "Selena Gord? Queen of the Amazons?"
"My mother." Alina cleared it up proudly.
Green continued. "She is involved with some political issues at the moment, she has heavy eyes on her and we need someone who has a bit of influence to get her without any issues…"
"You either want S.H.I.E.L.D. to interfere or…" Fury and everyone turned to Steve.
"What makes you think I have the power to interfere with government business?" Steve asked Green.
"You have more power than you think Steve Rogers, while Alfie McBride has been said to be many things, you on the other hand had always been mentioned to be righteous and courageous above all. Even if the whole government turns against you, the people won't."
"And Tony Stark, I hope you can also come along and stand by Queen Selena."
"Remind me again how pulling her divine highness out of the government's lecture is more important than dealing with Loki?" Stark questioned.
"Aye, this Queen of yours may be strong but Loki can not be ignored any longer." Thor said.
"How is she in this situation in the first place?" Steve asked.
"With Alfie under Loki's control, he was able to recruit various enemies of the Allies during World War 2, you might know the organization called The Hand and an Amazon called Caterina." Green informed.
"As well as a few other dangerous forces in the dark."
"I thought The Hand has been dealt with already?" Steve turned towards Fury.
"Apparently not, according to what he is saying." Fury pointed to Green. "On what sources are you basing this off of?"
"We have been in the shadows more than you have and we can guarantee that the Hand has been active even before you thought they were annihilated.
If Alfie was in his right mind right now and standing in front of you then he would have told you the same, the Hand still lives on and so are its leaders." Green said.
"The head of The Hand as well as its members were dealt with decades ago, I know, I was there!" Fury responded in denial.
"Yagyu Kojiro was not the leader of the Hand as S.H.I.E.L.D. had suspected, and neither had he died. S.H.I.E.L.D. was pretty persistent with their strikes against them so in order to disappear back into the shadows they put one of their best agents to work, to make sure S.H.I.E.L.D. strays from the real identity of the Hand, they purposely leaked Yagyu as the head of the shadow organization and led you astray."
Green didn't continue as Shadow spoke for the first time.
"The true leaders of the Hand are much more dangerous and tricky." Shadow turned to Steve. "You might know that Alfie has connections to one of them."
Steve frowned. "From what I know, Alfie was constantly targeted by men who moved around through the shadows, he later informed me that it was in fact the Hand."
The term "Black Wolf" was used many times by these ninjas, as Alfie mentioned something about a past with someone in the Hand organization.
"Alexandria." Shadow spoke.
"Alexandria worked her way up the organization before she became the true leader of the Hand, not just a finger. But there are four other leaders that operate in their own countries—"
"That's enough, we don't have time for this." Shadow spoke, cutting off Green.
"The point is, Alfie was able to free Katerina from the Amazons hold and she caused havoc which resulted in Amazon Queen Selena being held accountable."
"We can talk about this some other time." He stepped up and looked around. "Where is the Hulk?"
"What would you want with him?" Natasha asked with hostility.
*GGRROOOOAAAAAHHH*
Hulk screamed out once more for everyone to hear.
*FLOOSH*
Shadows spread around shadows before he sank onto the ground, disappearing.
The Avengers were alarmed, Tony's helmet closed and Steve raised his shield while Natasha and Thor turned to the door intending to head towards the Hulk.
"Wait wait, we're not here to fight, he's only checking on Hulk." Green tried to mediate their wariness.
"I don't trust you." Fury spat out.
"Of course you don't, and you don't have to. I've actually come to offer a proposal to you."
"What?"
"We will let you handle Loki, while you let us focus on Alfie McBride, he is more dangerous on Loki's side then being on ours."
Nick Fury frowned, sure if they let these two handle Alfie McBride then that would be a giant migraine off their worries. But—
"Fine, let's get this over with." Steve Rogers stood up before he turned towards Tony Stark as if asking for his decisions.
Tony instead turned to Green and asked. "Do you have any idea where dear old uncle is?"
"We might…"
"Then you might also know Loki's location, as well as the tesseract." Tony raised a brow.
"…we might…"
"Where?" Tony asked with a glare.
The others shook in surprise, this man knew where Loki and the tesseract was located but still kept it.
"I can tell you, but only if you help us with our situation first."
•••••••
"You've done well until this point, but now you shall bow to your rightful ruler."
On Stark's tower, Loki stood just behind the window looking out into the city admiring how far the mortals have come.
"Now that we've come this far…should I take care of the so-called avengers just to be safe?" Alfie spoke behind Loki with worry about the avengers rise and another groups interference.
*THOOMP*
With a kick, Alfie slid back as a dent appeared on his armor.
"No, you defiant fool." Loki said nonchalantly. "These fools do not matter any more than a few crawling insects, once that portal opens, they will know what true power is. And I would not need to lift a finger for my rightful throne in midgard."
"With all due respect, it will not be easy. Even if the avengers fall, Earth has many forces hidden in the dark that will retaliate. Humans are formidable when there is a common enem—"
"ENOUGH!!" Loki jerked as he grabbed Alfie by the throat and lifted him. "YOU DARE QUESTION ME?! It matters not how many of you will come to stand in my way, I will stomp every last one of you."
Without his mask, Alfie remained unfazed through the confrontation.
*PFOOSH*
The sound of blasters made its way towards their ears.
"Tsk." Loki clicked his tongue as he threw Alfie to the side as if trash. "Go, protect the portal, when the time comes you will see how useless your worries are."
And with that, Alfie disappeared.
A projected illusion of Loki appeared on the terrace, who stood watch as Iron Man landed on his own building.
Shedding his iron suit, Stark made his way inside as did Loki while they sized each other up.
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