Chương 354: Prelude of the War...

[Montefiori, New York]

Nick Fury was standing outside the looking glass while he was intently looking at the man inside... he thought that maybe the facts would change if he glared hard enough... alas, he failed...

"So, Agent Coulson, how did this happen?" Fury growled in an irritated tone.

"We don't know... for whatever reason, the CCTV cameras of that area were intentionally turned off so we don't have anything..." Agent Coulson finished with a frown on his face. Fury didn't like this...

"So, have you confirmed this man's identity?" Fury asked and Agent Coulson nodded his head.

"Yes, I know it might be hard to believe but that man is the one and only James Buchanan Barnes" Agent Coulson said in a dramatic tone and Fury simply rubbed his temple in annoyance... this can't be happening at this moment.

"What is his condition?" Fury asked curiously, this could be an asset for him.

"Physically, very bad. Someone decided to break his spine and cripple him... but Stark says that he could fix it with his metal armour. The doctors have also found that he is physically enhanced but they would need time to conduct more tests" Agent Coulson said, this made dark lines appear on top of Fury's head but he still nodded his head in understanding.

"Mentally, we don't know... the doctors are saying that there are signs of extensive brainwashing... but they would need to conduct more tests to confirm anything..." Agent Coulson said with a grim look on his face. He was a huge fan of Captain America's best friend so it was an obvious reaction for him.

Fury looked completely stoic but he was anything but stoic inside his mind... he was raging inside his mind while thinking about scenarios... it wasn't every day when you find a brainwashed old war hero... Fury took another glance towards the man lying inside the room and a wild thought appeared inside his mind.

If Barnes was still alive... then there was still a chance that Captain was alive... after all, they have never found the body... they had to stop the previous search for Project PEGASUS.

But Fury was sure that the World Security Council would happily agree with his proposal... after all, they will be getting a Super Soldier if everything was right... at worst, they would be getting Captain's corpse... that could be used to boost morale for the upcoming war.

"Agent Coulson, keep me posted... I have to arrange a meeting..." Fury said cryptically and walked away and Agent Coulson simply nodded his head...

Fury arrived inside his office and took out the inter dimensional pager given to him by his friend... all this time he has been contemplating if he should activate it or not... now he had finally made up his mind... he finally activated the pager... with that Fury laid back in his seat and put down the pager on his table... he had to arrange the meeting now...

Just like Fury had thought, the World Security Council agreed with his proposal after some arguments... so he immediately dispatched several teams to find the wreckage... Coulson was obviously the leader of all these teams... two weeks had passed just like that but they have finally found the wreckage and along with that they have found Captain's Shield.

While SHIELD was busy with Captain, the rest of the world was rigorously preparing for the war... Wakanda had already made their official statement saying that they were going to participate in the war... naval fleets were already being dispatched around the island of Elysium but for whatever reason, they haven't seen any reaction from Elysium or Leviathan...

[New York Sanctum] (Earth Zeta 71)

It has been a year and a couple of months since they have been trying to create a pathway to the other dimension so that they could get back the Infinity Stones... finally, all of their preparations were complete.

"So, are you sure about this Wizard? We won't end in some kind of apocalyptic world, right?" Carol Danvers asked with an unsure look on her face, she only received a blank stare as her answer.

"Don't be like that Danvers... everything will be fine" Thor said in a cheerful tone... Loki simply made a face after hearing his brother's cheerful voice.

"Everything aside, the suit looks really badass... Tony, you never disappoint me, my friend" Peter Quill gushed out with an awed look on his face... everyone in his group simply rolled their eyes.

"Ok... I am activating the pathway..." Strange said loudly and everyone became completely silent. A few sparkling magic circles appeared in Strange's hands and the next moment, all of them found themselves inside the mirror dimension...

The mirror dimension was acting weirdly and all of them were floating inside the mirror dimension and all of sudden a dent started to form in the sky of the mirror dimension... the dent kept increasing until a funnel formed in the sky connected to another mirror dimension but on the other side, they could see the moon's surface.

Slowly they started to be dragged towards the funnel in the sky and only after a few seconds they were inside the funnel... all of them felt an immense amount of pressure on their bodies... after some agonising seconds, they found themselves sprawled on the moon's surface.

All of them were groaning and moaning due to pain... it took them a few seconds to collect themselves. Slowly they started to pull themselves up from the surface of the moon... "Vision... Vision... what happened to you?? Please answer me... Vision!!" Wanda's hysterical screams were heard out... which seemed to bring everyone back into reality.

Throughout this whole time, Strange seemed to be frowning... he had lost connection to the Time Stone, he could no longer feel its power... the Eye of Agamotto was completely powerless now... Wanda finally raised up her head and stared right into Strange's eyes.

"What happened to Vision?" Wanda asked dangerously while her eyes narrowed on Strange.

"...I think that Infinity Stones have stopped working... though I don't know why" Strange told her truthfully, there was no reason to hide anything now. Wanda started to release her power while glaring at Strange...

"You killed him..." Wanda said dangerously and red miasma started to form around her hands.

(A/N: From now on, I am going to add 2 at the end of the names of the people who arrived from Earth Zeta 71, this will make it easier for us to differentiate between the counterparts)

"You are saying that these pesky insects killed me?" all of a sudden a cold feminine voice was heard throughout the place... this stopped Wanda from attacking Strange who had already prepared magical circles in his hand.

"Yes, I have said before that your counterpart was much weaker than you..." a male was was heard throughout the place...

"Who are you? Show yourselves, cowards!!" Thor screamed and lightning crackled around his body.

"Did you hear the big words from that insect?? I am truly ashamed for my counterpart though..." the female voice spoke once again and slowly a tall female dressed in a skintight greenish-black armour... the whole group immediately recognized the woman...

"Hela..." both Thor and Loki uttered out her name with a horrified look on their faces... they would have already attacked Hela, but from her aura alone, they could easily conclude that this Hela was a lot stronger than the Hela they have fought...

Another man slowly appeared beside Hela, the man was dressed in crimson battle armour, the whole group immediately recognized Leviathan... but before anyone could do anything... the whole group... they were 40 in numbers including Vision and all of them were surrounded by a blue cocoon.

"Ah... please… there is no need to be violent... you see, I kill anyone who tries to be violent with me... now, all of you are grieving from the loss of your friend... I don't want to cause you more pain..." Leviathan said with a serene look on his face... some of them even believed that he was telling the truth.

"But we can always arrange something on a later date..." Leviathan was cut off when Hela cleared her throat... Leviathan gave her a look and turned back towards us... "As you can see... this lady here had decided to call dibs and as a gentleman... I won't argue with a beautiful lady" Leviathan continued spouting his bullshit and the whole group was enraged but because of the blue cocoon surrounding them they couldn't do anything.

"Well... let get this over with..." Leviathan said and waved his hand and Vision's lifeless body floated into his hands... all of a sudden red miasma started to surround Leviathan and his eyes immediately shot towards Wanda.

She looked murderous... and her whole body was surrounded by the red miasma... "Some people simply never appreciate your goodwill..." Leviathan said and pointed his finger towards Wanda... everyone could see that Wanda was trying her best but Leviathan wasn't affected by her power.

"Crucio..." Leviathan mumbled and the blue cocoon surrounding Wanda disappeared, she immediately dropped to her knees and started to scream like a banshee... she started to roll on the ground due to the immense pain she was feeling... the whole group from Earth Zeta 71 was horrified to see a scene like this...

Only after a whole minute, Wanda stopped screaming... she was once again surrounded by the blue cocoon... Leviathan picked up Vision's body and ripped out the Mind Stone and threw away Vision's body as thrash inside a portal. Leviathan nodded his head with a satisfied look on his face and then his eyes zeroed in on Strange and the next moment, he had the Eye of Agamotto in his palm...

Strange was horrified to see that but he couldn't do anything... Leviathan crushed the Eye of Aggamotto and picked up the Time Stone, Strange was stunned still when the spell he had put on the Eye of Agamotto didn't affect Leviathan...

Leviathan looked towards us and his eyes landed on Charles... "It is nice to meet to you again Charles... well, I would have liked to stay here and chat with you guys some more but I need to go... so ciao..." Leviathan said while waving his hand and a portal appeared in front of him, both Hela and Leviathan entered the portal and the blue cocoon surrounding the group from Earth Zeta 71 finally disappeared...