Greer Grant sat in her cell in the mobile S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, peering at her palms. She had always been told that she had larger than average, but what she saw now was just a totally different story. While not identical to a tigress’ paws, her digits were bulkier and had sharp, black claws instead of human fingernails. So dangerous were they that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who caught her had to place restraint gloves on her hands. How did she go from a research assistant to a falsely-accused prisoner of a super-secretive spy organization?

Suddenly, Greer heard the door click open and then slam shut. Sitting down before her in two chairs were two costumed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Hawkeye was the first to speak up.

“Sorry about the taser-arrow.” He apologized to Greer, “It was the only way to ensure a capture with the least amount of casualties.”

“Great,” Greer responded while staring at the floor, “the trigger-happy archer is the ‘good cop’. I can’t wait to see the ‘bad’ one.”

“Greer.” Mockingbird spoke in turn, “If you don’t cooperate with us, we can’t help you.”

“No one believes the girl who supposedly took the ‘tiger’ juice.” Greer retorted, “Why would you all be any different?”

“Maybe we want to do a thorough job?” Hawkeye said as he leaned back in his chair, raising the front two feet off the ground. “There’s something fishy about this whole thing. The relevant security tapes coincidently were missing. You had a wound caused by blunt force on the back of your head, which is inconsistent with the ‘official’ story. So what really happened, Greer?”

Greer then told the two costumed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents how her day started and how she stumbled upon one of her coworkers downloading some of their finds and research, and how everything went black when she tried to go and turn her in. And when she woke up, she was now this tigress-human hybrid. And Greer had no doubt that Shirlee Bryant had injected her with the tiger serum.

“Well, looks like it’s time to dig some dirt on this Shirlee Bryant.” Hawkeye turned to his partner.

Everything is so...cold.

Steve Rogers, better known to the world as Captain America, was going to die. He knew it. Sure, Steve had been in plenty of life threatening situations before. Many of them were worse than the predicament that he currently faced. Danger was a part of the job. Danger had encapsulated Steve's life ever since he agreed to take part in an experiment that would change the face of the world. Project: Rebirth had ripped Rogers from the comfort of his impossibly ordinary life and thrust him into the extraordinary world of super spies, Nazi dictators, scientific nightmares and mythical monsters. Steve had wanted this. He had asked for the danger. Practically begged for it. Some had called him nothing more than a thrill seeker. His neighbors had thought that skinny little Steve Rogers only wanted to go to Europe so he could kill Nazis. Steve had never been about that. He didn't want to kill anyone. When he watched the propaganda reels before movies or listened to the battle reports on the radio, Steve had seen only one thing in Germany: bullies. And Steve Rogers didn't like bullies. So he tried to sign up for the Army. Many, many, many...many times. They never let him in, no matter what he tried to do. It wasn't until that fateful encounter with Doctor Abraham Erskine's aide that Steve was given the chance to fight for what he believed in.

That life would soon be behind him. Freezing water surrounded the sinking body of Captain America. He desperately struggled against the current, trying and failing to swim toward the surface. His muscles screamed in horrific agony, begging Steve to stop moving. Every bone in his body ached, demanding that Rogers just stay still. A sharp pain stabbed through Cap's skull, threatening to tear his cranium in half. Darkness appeared at the edges of Steve's vision. He was losing consciousness. The American war hero kicked at the water beneath him, flailing and thrashing about. Despite all of his strength, despite all of his skill, despite all of his unbreakable resolve...Captain America could not win. This is it, isn't it? This is the end. He had fought so hard, only to end up here. Dying in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Not the heroic ending I'd always imagined for myself. Steve mused as water rushed into his lungs. I'll miss you, Peggy. Tell Bucky I- wait. Bucky. Barnes is still stuck on that island, fighting Kleiser. He can't beat that kraut on his own...I gotta help him.

I'm comin', Bucky...Just hang on. I'm comin'-

---

Light poured into Captain America's eyes. It stung like hell. It was as if he hadn't opened his eyes in nearly a century. Steve couldn't feel anything. Every appendage, digit and organ was numb. He was so cold he swore he was on fire. Rogers struggled with all of his might to move even a centimeter. But he was encircled by ice. Where am I? His thoughts were groggy and unfocused. His vision was starting to return; that was good news. Somewhere in the distance, a quiet beeping repeated itself. Where am I? What is this place? Doesn't look like the Pearly Gates...And I imagine Hell would be a bit hotter. Life flowed into Steve's hands. He could twitch them now. Feeling returned to his toes. He felt stronger with every passing moment. The cold was rapidly evaporating as well. I- Is this a coffin? Got to get outta here. Captain America flexed his super soldier serum enhanced muscles, shattering the ice around him. He shoved his knee through the frozen water over and over, digging a small hole in the home grown glacier. It wasn't until flesh met metal that Cap paused in the endeavor. What could that be? So many questions- now its time for some answers! Captain America wound his fist back as far as he could in the tiny space, throwing it forward with all of his might into the metal object in front of him.

The front of the cyropod flew off, right in the back of an unsuspecting AIM scientist. The other guards turned toward the source of the attack, finding only the freezing mist rushing from the now open pod. An AIM goon raised his rifle in the direction of the pod. The man took a tentative step forward. "What th-" A lone shadow appeared in the mist. It didn't move, yet it looked almost...humanoid. "He's awake!" Was all the agent could shout before he was over taken by the shadow and pulled into the expanding fog. One of his companions went flying away, shrieking as he was catapulted twenty feet into the air and out of sight. Glass shattered, a red fist effortlessly smashing through one of the scientist's helmets to punch the man inside right in the nose. The others were incapacitated in short order. Whatever took them down had yet to step into the light.

A powerful arm wrapped around Sam Wilson's throat. Another gripped the hand wielding the shield. Whoever was holding him down was impossibly strong. The voice that followed had been heard and adored by millions; yet few had heard it uttered in such a threatening tone and lived to tell the tale. "I don't know why you're dressed like that or why you have my shield, son, but you have three seconds to tell me where you're holding Bucky Barnes. Or else."

Coulson stood overlooking the garage in the plane as he watched the team come aboard, they were a bit rag tag. Two scientists, three field agents and himself. The biggest wild card of all was Timothy Dugan not many other people knew the truth about Dugan, though as off this mission that number would go from five to nine with each member of his team being read into what happened, that said he'd try to hold of for as long as possible as other than himself and the Director the only people that up until now had known the truth were the techs who were present whenever the A.I downloaded into a new body. He could forgive Fury for what he'd done. Dugan was one of the original Howling Commandos, and one of Fury Seniors best agents in the beginning days of S.H.I.E.L.D. Shortly after Fury Junior became Director he was killed in a mission, unable to cope with the loss of such an agent and close friend Fury brought him back as an LMD, convinced that his youthful look and physique with increased strength was a result of his body being enthused with the Infinity Formula. It was a complicated lie to keep up with, and he had had discussions with Fury about bringing the truth out. They couldn't keep it a secret forever.

Next on the duty roster was Agent Melinda May all around badass, though preferring to go in punching and kicking rather than taking a gun. It was a good sign that it was going to be a tough fight if she ever took a pistol, if she took two then it was going to be a rough ride. He had known Agent May for years, ever since they were both probationary agents. While he had spent most of his time working with powered individuals and building the Index she went on to become a specialist, one of the best spies S.H.I.E.L.D had to offer. Not to mention one of the deadliest, not including people with powers. He doubted that even Wilson before he was given the formula would be able to take Melinda may, though Agent Tony Masters could probably give her a run for her money, good thing he had them both on the plane. The two of them may have never worked together but he had no doubt that the two of them together could perform Ops with very little support of necessary, why the Director had not teamed the two of them up before now he had no idea.

In terms of scientists, he had the best and the brightest. Agent Leo Fitz and Agent Jemma Simmons. Two people who thought things, and said words, that made absolutely no sense whatsover to him. Though the fact that they had studied their respective fields their entire lives he could understand why, not that he exactly knew what their fields were. All he knew was that Simmons was the one that dealed with the living side of things and Fitz dealt with the technology. Though he knew that that was a very narrow definition, but if he fully understood what they did then he wouldn't need them on his plane.

Nodding to himself, secure in knowledge that this team could bring itself together and be the Critical Response Team that Fury wanted them too, while it was unlikely they would be the first to arrive on the scene after an incident, the concept was that this specialized team (and others like it if it was successful) would arrive at the scene, cleanup anything hazardous or unknown and then investigate the cause if necessary. That and they would be the welcome wagon for those being put on the index. "You'll all be glad to know I've got an easy one for you. We're going to meet Thor-" They all looked at eachother with various levels of dubiousness. "-Yes, the person who we believe to be the real Thor. Even if he isn't, he's managed to lift up the hammer that was left in Stark Tower and that's a powerful weapon. He's not moved much since then as far as we're aware. So we're going to go to Montanna, have a little chat and hopefully nothing will go sideways. Stow your gear, wheels up in ten."

Okay... so maybe Tony Stark MAYBE tinkered with the comms system before the mission. He was bored and flying out on his own needed something to do. Still it hopefully kept Sam in check from being a brat about things. Either way though the comms also was keeping Tony in the loop about what was going on. Which was important since the numbers of AIM agents and weaponry was only getting worse.

Suddenly though Sam’s side of the comms link suddenly was producing sounds that Tony wasn’t sure of. Until he could hear Sam’s air getting cut and someone with a voice that was making Tony’s spine quiver like jello demanding to know where ‘Bucky Barnes’ was. “Bucky?” Tony asked himself before turning, needing to quickly debating the plan before using his nav to figure out Sam’s location. Swooping down and blasting a hole in the lower side of the building, burrowing through the ground.

Slamming through the wall nearby Iron Man came to a screeching halt near Sam and Steve. Quickly having his helmet pull off of his head. Holding out a hand not only to try and calm the guy down, but blast him if it gets too dangerous. “Hey come on man, don’t do something you’re going to regret!” Tony tried to calmly tell the guy. Who was becoming more and more familiar by the second. Especially when he remembered the voice demanding to know where ‘Bucky Barnes’ was. Tony had to hide it, but he was almost stunned into silence at the realization that Captain America was getting choked out by Captain America... the actual one... from the 1940s.

Pt. 1 "Five Nights In Paradise"

---

---

Location: Manhattan, NY.
Time: 21:25


It was night time at the docks. A very secret place for a drug deal. But, this drug wasn't just any drug. Obitox it was apparently called. A new type of drug that was very, very addictive. The side effects of this drug were many, going from hallucinations to slow motion effects. It is very deadly, resulting in the person on this drug taking too much of it or making that person hallucinate horrible things, making them go psychotic and on a possible murderous rampage. A group of thugs with bullet proof vest and combat styled clothing were walking around three cargo boxes. The thugs were also carrying assault rifles.

"Aye, Jimmy. When the heck are they finna show up?" One of thugs with the aviator glasses on asked the tan thug with the buzzcut, who was apparently Jimmy. "How many times do I gotta tell you, mayne? They'll be here soon!" He snapped at the one with the aviator glasses. One had a cigar in his mouth, and a baseball cap. He was leaning on one of this big red cargo boxes. The other was scratching his neck, yawning. There were 5 other thugs around as well, walking around.

Suddenly, a playing card floated in the air, descending slowly while swaying left and right as the air pushed it do so. It was blazing with a sort of glowing purple aura. "Hm?" The thug in the aviator glasses said. He, Jimmy, and the other thug with the cigar in his mouth walked over. The card started making the noise of TNT when the string on top of it is lit. Suddenly...

*BOOOM!!*

The card exploded, causing a purple explosion and throwing the three thugs back as they yelled in surprise! Remy LeBeau, or rather Gambit dropped down landing on his knee. He pulled a small silver baton out of his trench coat pocket and it extended into a staff! The thug known as Jimmy was unconscious, but the other two and the rest of the thugs ran over! They saw Gambit's black eyeballs with the red glowing fires for pupils. They stepped back, in shock then recovered and raised their guns.

"I'm afraid dis is a drug bust. So I suggest ya put ya guns down and surrender." Gambit spoke, he sounded mostly like a regular American but with a dash of a Cajun accent in his voice. "There's 6 of us, and one of you. Like we'd surrende-" The thug was instantly quiet, as Gambit had threw a playing card in his chest! The impact of the explosion from the card threw the thug back into the cargo of drugs. Gambit then smacked his staff into one's chin, knocking him down. Another thug fired his assault rifle at Gambit! Gambit deflected the bullets with his staff, then threw three playing cards at the thug! The explosion made him practically fly, and spin around. He landed face first, and groaned in pain.

Gambit span his staff, as another thug ran at him. He smacked the thug's gun out of aim, then rammed his knee into the thug's chest, knocking the wind out of his chest. Gambit then slammed the staff into the thug's cheek.

Gambit charged energy into his own staff, the tip of it glowing the purple aura like his throwing cards. He then thrusted it into another's thug chest, sending him flying backwards. The last thug shot Gambit in the back, Gambit raised his eyebrow and turned around. "Ya do realize wearing body armor, right?" He then ran at the thug, and rammed his the edge of his staff in the thug's neck. The thug fell into the pule of drugs. Gambit grabbed his neck, and pulled him close.

"Now, you're gon' tell me who supplied ya with these drugs." He said, with a calm but scary tone. The thug sputtered, and answered. "I - I dunno, man. Only our boss knows!" Gambit then heard a group coming closer. This was drug deal. "Lucky.." He then cocked his hand back and punched the thug in the nose, leaving him unconscious. He then charged a playing card with energy, and dropped it on the cargo of drugs.

"One down, five t' go."

He ran off into the night. A smile spread across his face. The group of people finally came to the now chaotic looking spot. "What happened here!?" He said, he came here to buy drugs. Not to see an aftermath of a warzone!The thugs were knocked out, and he saw a half burnt up playing card on the ground. He picked it up and it made a sizzling noise.

"Oh, s@#%! Run!" He told his entourage as it exploded. Throwing them all back, and taking the drugs down with it.

Sam was going to call on the radio when the Iron Wonder decided to burst through the ceiling of the room anyway. There was something to be said about finesse, because that boy didn't have it. Only issue being that he'd never manage to convince him to go through S.H.I.E.L.D basic training to try and knock some sense into him, maybe a confrontation with the Hulk would do it though. Though he couldn't exactly arrange that, it's not like he was in control of the Hulk or knew where he was. He pushed up against Captain Rogers forearm, alleviating the pressure enough to get words out but not enough to show his full strength or get into a fight, the last thing he wanted was to get in a fight with his predecessor who apparently had no idea what was going on, as evident by the request to know where Bucky Barnes was, Bucky being his best friend and the only other Howling Commando (Not including Captain America himself) to be declared M.I.A, presumed K.I.A.

"You need to listen to me Cap, you've been on ice for over seventy years. Bucky hasn't been seen since then, I'm the current Captain America. I work for an organisation called S.H.I.E.L.D that formed from the S.S.R after the end of the Second World War." There was the sound of an explosion from up above their heads. "We're also in the middle of a facility run by a group called A.I.M who are pretty bad guys so if you could please stop choking me so we could get out of here it'd be appreciated. Listen, I know we can't prove any of this right now. Though if you come with us we can take you back to the U.S and get you in touch with Timothy Dugan, one of the surviving Commandos." He pulled his head as best he could, to give Stark a stern look. The last thing he wanted was for the boy to escalate matters further.

"Also if you're that insulted by the colour scheme, you can have it back, Cap." He loosened his grip on the inside of the shield and knocked it off his wrist, it falling to the floor with a clatter. "As far as I'm concerned, I was just borrowing it anyway."

---

Bruce sat in the cafe in the middle of Alaska. He had followed the same routine for the past couple of months, and he looked rough. He was living in a homeless shelter, it kept him off the grid. There was no better way to slip through the gaps of the American Government than be someone in need of help, people were kind and he rarely got in a situation that could possibly set off his temper. The closest he had gotten to 'Hulking out' was two weeks ago when a drug addict came in in the middle of the night and began assaulting everyone, thankfully he was subdued before he could get anywhere near him. He was completely anonymous here, though he knew it couldn't last.

Sooner or later he'd be pushed to find a job, pushed to try for the welfare system or even have his name and background searched. As soon as that happened it would be over for him here, though for now he could sit in this cafe, nursing a hot cup of tea between his hands. Sipping it gently, watching the news. The world hadn't gotten any less crazy since he was taken hostage by the team of mutants, or powered people or whatever they were. The real problem was the deal he had made to make it out of there, sometimes he could swear the Hulk visited him in his dreams, trying to stir him and take control. A deal broken, allowing Hulk to roam free for his help. Though he couldn't risk it, after all Hulks way of getting out of the last situation resulted in a nuclear crisis. On the bright side there was very little fallout, no towns had to be evacuated. The hunters just lost some of their hunting grounds, that and the government had stepped in to stop any form of crosscontamination with irradiated animals moving into the general population.

He still didn't know what happened to any of the people that had been part of the programme, though he didn't really care. They weren't his problem, they could rot for all he cared. All he cared about right now was what was at the bottom of this cup, though he didn't really want to get there. As soon as he got there he'd have to get up, leave. Wander the cold streets until he could get back into the shelter at night to go to sleep, and then perform the same routine all over again. He shook his head, he had been wallowing in his own self pity for far too long, maybe it was time to actually try and solve this problem himself. Though first he'd have to find his way to some form of lab, somewhere he could get the equipment he needed to deal with the Hulk once and for all. There were few places with resources like that, and even more importantly he'd probably need help. He already had a candidate in mind, Doctor Samuel Sterns. Probably the next best expert in the fields of radiation and Gamma Energy, after himself at least. He'd just have to find a way to get in touch with him, and that'd be the hard part.

Warren flew through the night sky in a blue and white suit. Wings extending, muscles contracting, he was ready for a fight. As it were, there was no fight to be had. Archangel landed on a nearby rooftop and looked out over the city. Aggravation was all over his face and he couldn't believe what he'd found out earlier when checking in on one of Worthington Industries leading bio-chemists....

Hours earlier...

Lucy, Warren's personal secretary, showed in Mr. Sweet. Warren was sitting behind his desk, wing concealing jacket on as always. He had a little paperwork in front of him. Budget reports, receipts, some documents between Doctor Sweet and Warren Worthington II.

"Thank you for coming in Mr. Sweet. I was hoping to discuss these budget reports and what you and my father were working on..." Warren began before the sinister looking gentleman spoke up.

"I'll cut the act if you will, Mr. Worthington. I know your secret. That you're a mutant with big ol' bird wings under that frumpy coat of yours. Presumably the same one running around in tights calling himself Archangel pretending to be a superhero." Mr. Sweet said with a grin and clasping his hands in front of him with his elbows on the other side of Warren's desk.

Warren had a look of shock on his face now. He couldn't believe this guy knew that much about him.

"What do you want? I can't keep giving you the company's money for whatever you and my father were cooking up..." Warren began.

"What we were cooking up? How about I show you instead..." Sweet continued pulling out an iPhone and showing Warren his biological clone, without wings and in a simple t-shirt, with Warren's father... "You didn't think all those photos that showed up in the papers were just photo manipulations did you?"

Warren was still in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I was on the phone with them twenty minutes before arriving. Cut my funding now after I've accomplished so much... and I'll have WW4 drown WW2 before they reach the Bahamas." Sweet continued smiling in sinister fashion.

"You're bluffing." Warren claimed trying to man up, before Sweet stood up from the desk and put his hands in his pockets.

"We'll see about that..." Sweet responded walking out the door.

~KL~

The Winter Soldier's contacts, correction, Strucker's contacts, weren't particularly well informed. No recent sightings of Fury could be confirmed, some vague movements, erratic and hard to follow were all he had to go on, but Winter Soldier was an expert hunter, an expert assassin. Fury may be a SHIELD super spy, but even spy's could be rooted out like badgers from a badger hole.

Bucky blended into the early morning crowds, bustling to their appointments and workplaces. Assassins and spys were experts of disguise and there was no better way to disguise oneself than to walk within a huge crowd. Bucky's gaze flicked across the crowd, head down, he moved quickly, quietly, eyes and ears peeled.

Fury appeared, moving like a fish in the massive school of other fishes around them. Cutting through the hustle and bustle. Bucky kept his eyes on the super spy as they drifted closer and closer, Fury wary of all, but unaware of how close he was stepping to the man who would shortly assassinate him.

Bucky allowed his shoulder to bump Fury's, Nick catching a glimpse of a shadow beside him, head turned to the side so the Winter Soldier's features were concealed.

"смерть наступает для вас"

Fury's head snapped around to catch the stranger but the space beside him was vacant, the assassin had vanished. His eerie warning buzzing around Fury's head. Nick flipped open his phone and sent a high priority message, doing a 180 degree turn, abandoning his earlier destination to find somewhere safe.

Bucky melted back into the shadows watching Fury from a distance. He donned his tactical armour and muzzle-like mask. He checked the safety on his side arm and let his fingers brush across the hilt of his trusty combat knife, watching Fury weave a different path in the opposite direction. The Winter Soldier had Fury on the run, or at the very least, trying to cover his tracks so he wouldn't be followed, but it was too late now, Bucky was on his trail and it would end with one of them dead, and it would not be the Winter Soldier. Panic made men vulnerable, and Bucky would wear Fury down so there would be no mistakes. Fury was no simple target though, it would take more than one subtle threat to strike fear and terror into Fury's heart but the chase had now begun and Bucky was the hunter, not the hunted.




Tarene greatly disliked sea-travel ... the Midgardian ships were crude enough to actually float on water, not fly as Asgardian ships had done. The sea was rough too and although she didn't get sea-sick, she did find the sensation of the ground beneath her wobbling like jelly deeply unsettling.

Several hours later she landed in a Welsh port and disembarked. This place was not at all like New York City, the only part of Midgard she'd actually come to know and grow somewhat accustomed to. It was much greener, the people spoke with a strange new accent and the buildings weren't anywhere near as high, fewer people and considerably less crowded streets.

This would be her new beginning and it was considerably less interesting than New York, but perhaps she'd not be caught out here ... SHIELD was probably still pursuing her after her attacks in New York. Once the bigger threats were taken care of, surely they'd hunt her down as well. SHe had to make sure she had thoroughly vanished by the time they came sniffing around for her.

An expression of shock was plastered on Captain America's face. At everything. Everything around him was pure insanity. None of it made any sense to him. First, what looked like a man in a suit of armor straight out of science fiction burst through a nearby wall. Then the future knight pulled off his helmet and things got even stranger. Howard...? He wondered briefly. But something was off. Aside from the missing facial hair, Stark looked like a kid. But there was no denying the similarity. Steve had a man dressed in his uniform and holding his shield in his arms while a man in armor right out of War of the Worlds stood a few feet away, wearing a face likened to one of his closest colleagues. He was confused and, frankly, frightened by what he saw. He couldn't begin to wrap his mind around what was happening. Rogers' state of total perplexity would multiple tenfold when his hostage started to explain. Seventy years? He'd been gone for seventy years? Impossible- even in a world of super soldiers, magic and aliens, Steve never would have guessed that he'd up surviving; led alone being woken up nearly a century later by a winged colored man draped in an America flag and carrying his signature shield. He was so far out of his depth...What was the world like now? Had they won the war? Were his friends still alive? Steve was glad to know Dugan was still kicking. But Bucky...Had Klaiser- No. There's no time for that, Cap. Keep your head with the mission and leave the rest of it for later.

"I won't pretend to understand a single word coming out of your mouth. But if you know Dum Dum..." Steve released his grip on the now unarmed man. "We'll beat our gums about this whole thing later. Let's get out of here." Captain America (or the old Captain America, he supposed) looked down at his shield. He had bled with that thing in his hand. He had killed with it. And for a time, Rogers thought he had died with it. And now it was being offered back to him. Steve reached for the weapon. It was a completely involuntary action. But he stopped himself before he picked it up, looking at the red, white and blue stranger. "I'm out of my depth here. I haven't held that thing in seventy years. You keep the shield. You're this era's Cap. Not me." Steve turned toward the robot-man, staring at him. "If this is the future, and you're who I think you are...Are you Howard Stark's son?"

Steve caught sight of a muzzle flash in his peripheral vision. Instinct kicked in and he dove to the ground, his fingers wrapping around the downed shield. In one fluid motion, Rogers rolled, turned and threw the disk. He was fast enough to be little more than a blur of bright colors to the human eye. The shield smashed into the chest of the attacker; a man dressed like a bee keeper, holding some sort of machine gun. The weapon bounced off its target and ricocheted into the frame of the doorway. The shield tagged a second AIM scientist and then the third and final one, before flying back into Steve's waiting hand. He grinned, handing it back to Sam.

"Saw the flash from the devil's piano." He explained. "I didn't catch your name, son. I'm Steve. But you already knew that."



Nrosvekistan, Eastern Europe

"Help! Please, can anyone hear me?! HELP US!" Andrei Beckstov screamed at the top of his lungs. In all fifty-six years of his long life, Andrei had never been so terrified. The sounds of explosions and gunfire were deafening. No matter how loud he yelled, no one would ever hear them over the accursed cacophony of war. The building shook from a bomb going off nearby, causing the rickety apartment to creak and shudder. The roof had already partially collapsed, blocking the only stairway to the first floor. A group of his strongest neighbors had been digging at the rubble for fifteen minutes, yet had made no semblance of progress. With every excruciating minute that passed, another piece of the building fell apart. The structure had survived a single bombing. It was a miracle they were all alive. But their residence was crumbling by the second. If someone didn't find an exit soon, they would all perish. There was no fire escape to climb down. They were far too high to jump to the ground; and the building next to them was rubble. Some of the women had tried to create a makeshift ladder out of sheets. That plan had failed, resulting in the death of two young girls who had bravely volunteered to go down first.

All hope was lost. If the buckling roof didn't crush them or the floor didn't cave in underneath them, then the battle raging outside would do the job. Death was inevitable, as it always was. Who could save them? What divine intervention could free them from the grasp of Hell?

"Look, daddy! An angel!" Andrei's youngest daughter of seven, Vera, tugged on her father's tattered shirt. He bent down and picked his little angel up, tentatively kissing her forehead. "Oh, baby. I love you." Tears formed in the aging man's eyes. "We'll be with mommy soon. I promise." His words of encouragement fell on deaf ears, for the girl merely smiled. "Look out the window, daddy! He's right there!" Andrei placed Vera back down, taking a knee so as to look her in the eye. "There's no angel, Vera. Now I told you to stay away from the windows. Come on. Let's go see miss Dinah." But the persistent child wouldn't have any of it. She grabbed her dad by the hand and practically dragged him to the window. "What did I just s-" Vera placed one hand over Andrei's mouth and used to the other to point. His eyes instinctively followed her gaze. He didn't see it at first. He was blinded by the sun's light peaking through the clouds. But when he did see it, Andrei openly cried. A silhouette of a man. A shadow of a god. His flowing cape distorted the picturesque scene but the humanoid shape was unmistakable.

"Over here, angel! We need your help!" Vera stuck her head out of the window, waving frantically. "I don't think he can hear us, daddy-" The little girl leaned further out of the room. She didn't notice when her feet left the ground. "Angel! Look-" Vera went toppling out of the window, screaming at the top of her lungs as she rocketed toward the concrete road below. "NO!" Andrei tried to reach out to her. He nearly dove out of the window himself, only stopped by the hand of one of his neighbors. "Andrei. Andrei, don't." He comforted the broken man. "She's gone. Dear Lord, she's gone." Beckstov placed his hands over his face. "I can still hear her voice." He whispered. "Its like she's-"

"-ngel!"

"What?!" The two men gasped simultaneously. Hyperion floated in front of the window, Vera in his arms. "That's my daddy. And that's Piotr; he's my neighbor." Piotr fell prostrate, praying in Latin. Andrei held his hands out, his mouth agape. He tried to speak. All that came out was a rasp. Zhib-Rhan carefully set the youngling down, allowing her to run up and hug her father. Then, as quickly as he came, Hyperion vanished.

He had a war to fight.

A war to win.

Needless to say the last month for the God of Thunder has been surprisingly fun. After stopping some random crime around the city, finally feeling that glory burning through him again. Even if it was against petty thugs with guns, the lame-asses. After that he got to tour Stark Tech’s headquarters where Tony Stark gave him a smart phone and HD TV which he still hasn’t bothered to plug in since he can’t get cable and doesn’t have anything to hook up to it. The phone was cool though, how many people can say they have a billionaire CEO on their contact list.

There was the things about Loki. The two haven’t seen one another that often, Loki’s been busy with SHIELD which Thor completely understood. They had gone out for drinks a time or two. Loki getting a surprise in how refined Thor’s tastes in alcohol have become as of late. Still as nice as those nights were, Thor could still sense Loki’s hesitation. Even with the events that had caused them both to feel like they would never see one another again, Loki still doesn’t seem comfortable around Thor. He hoped his little brother can forgive himself soon, what had happened has already become long since history. He was ready to move on now, and he wanted Loki to join him.

Though that brought him to the here and now. Having Mjolnir back was one thing, but now Thor didn’t really know what to do with the whole window of opportunity at his feet. He kept quiet at his home in Montana for the most part. Just trying to decide what to do and where to go. Periodically returning to New York where he looked into possible places to live there. Since it did feel like that might be a good next step. Seeing as how all the fun stuff was going on there, and Montana didn’t exactly have many threats to it besides wild animals.

The cloaking systems in the plane let them touch down outside the house without so much as a rattling window, albeit if the God of Thunder took to watching the grass he would have notice it move with the air being pushed out from the engines in VTOL/Flight mode. Coulson stood at the ramp as it lowered, in the strange way with cloaking technology anyone outside would now be able to see the interior of the plane but would still be unable to view the exterior. It was all very Sci-Fi, and he loved every moment off it. Standing at the bottom of the ramp he straightened his suit as Dugan and Masters came up, Dugan sorting his hat and Masters adjusting his holster. Coulson just turned to them and flashed them a smile. "Guys, it's a welcome wagon. Sit back, relax. Enjoy the plane. I'll call you if I need anything." They glanced at eachother. "If it makes you feel any better I'll make it an order." He walked away to hear their grumbling, they had his best interests at heart but sometimes the single welcoming face was better than a friendly face and a couple of goons. Even if they were welcoming a supposed God of nigh indestructible nature and with unknown destructive capabilities. That said Fury was trusting Loki and Loki trusted Thor, that and he hadn't beaten up any billionaires recently so he had that running for him.

He walked upto the door, straightening his tie as he did one last time before he raised his arm to the door and knocked. "Mr uh, Odinson? My names Phil Coulson, I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm here to speak to you."

As Thor sat at his coach, wearing a simple shirt and jeans, Mjolnir in a strange coffee table display position. Glancing up he heard the knock on the door and for a moment wondered who was visiting him at the moment, considering the last time he had guests over it was a long lost brother. He started to entertain the thought it was his father Odin until he heard Coulson speak up.

Getting up with a faint grunt, Thor went to the door, seeing the plane behind him with Coulson’s incredibly hard to read face in front of him. SHIELD at the very least made for interesting set ups Thor had to admit. “Certainly...” Thor responded, not able to hide his slight confusion over the visit. “Please come in.” He got out of the way of Coulson, gesturing into his cabin. His voice still holding some of Thor's royal tones even if the hundred of years or so on Midgard had taken away his use of the royal we.

As Coulson helped himself inside. Thor went ahead and left the door open as he followed Coulson. “I have to admit I was wondering when all of you were going to come pay me a visit. Nice vehicle by the way, does it come in blue?” Thor joked, arms folded as he wanted to hear what Coulson had to say.

"Standard issue black I'm afraid." Coulson retorted as he walked into the shack, it's not exactly what he was expecting from the house of a God, or Demi-God? He wasn't entirely sure which category Thor fell into, especially with the fact he was actually real. It was just one of the ways in which things had become increasingly complicated over the years, or rather months. They seemed to be going through a spell of increased activity of super powered individuals, such individuals had existed for years but it seemed that now they all seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork to either be a hero or a villain. He looked at the hammer on the table and had to admit he was tempted to give it a tug, he knew it probably wouldn't work but the temptation was there.

"All in all we've been letting your brother, since he agreed to work with us, handle you. Though at the end of the day there's no substitution for getting to know someone yourself. Besides, we don't have a good track record with people using that hammer, are you aware of the exploits of it's previous owner?"

Thor chuckled a little as he was told that Loki of all people was handling him in relations to SHIELD. Once thought of the man as his nemesis, now needing to keep him in check for a government agency. There was almost worrying irony to it all. One that made Thor hum quietly to himself in the back of his throat in slight worry.

'It is an impressive long term plan...'

'Hush you, have some faith in your sibling...'

As Coulson brought up Mjolnir and it's previous handler Thor gave pause. Glancing over at the hammer before strolling over and picking it up. Casually as it was a toy in his grasp. "So I've heard unfortunately..." Thor noted as he glanced down at the hammer in his hand. "Distressing news sadly. Tarene was a good woman when I knew her. Very strong resolve and loyalty. Though I'm worried if it's those very same qualities that made her commit her heinous acts". Thor had given Tarene's actions pause for thought. After looking back over at the ship Coulson came in on, before looking back at the SHIELD agent. "I can only guess I should be adding finding her into my schedule if this visit is any hint."

"I don't hint, Tarene could be a problem but no-ones pressing charges. We have a condition here, called PTSD. This stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Basically where you go through something that traumatic you can go through attacks of paranoia, distrust or even aggression. Let's just say we're as worried about her as we are for other people. As to whether or not you should be involved in going after her, I'll leave that entirely up to you. Though something you should be aware off, if you're going to jump in the ring as a new player is that beating up the bad guy doesn't instantly mean you've won, there are consequences to every victory." It seemed like an apt point to make, given what little of Thor’s history they had learned from Loki. Though it didn't help that Loki was being secretive about it himself, though with all the was going on in the world he couldn't blame him for that.

"No, I'm here to find out more about you. Firsthand, you realize we know virtually nothing about you? Do you appreciate how little that happens?" He shrugged. "I suppose not, but the thing is your an unknown entity. All we have to go on is some CCTV footage from the local town and your recent heroics in New York. Other than that all we know is what we've been told by Loki and Tarene, though it's hard to go on that information considering the fact that both of them thought that you were killed in the destruction of your home. So why don't you fill in some of the blanks for me? Then we'll see how we can help each other."

Thor was fairly amused by how little the almighty SHIELD knew about him, it was surprising in some ways. Mostly how long he had been on Midgard he figured that would have something that showed him being somewhere doing something. It was comforting though in a way to know how well he had covered his tracks up to this point. "Well first off I do understand what you're trying to suggest about Tarene. Not to sound boisterous or anything but I've been alive on this realm than a lot of your family tree." Thor made clear hoping that wasn't some kind of accomplishment to be loud about.

As he took a seat in an adjacent seat near the SHIELD agent. Thor took pause in trying to figure out how to summarize thousands of years into a nice condensed format. "Well I'm not sure how open your schedule is for the full story. As that would certainly take quite a bit of time." Thor joked with a grin. "In all seriousness I'm not sure how much Loki has told you about the realm of Asgard. It is indeed as the Norse have written in many ways, some of it a bit fabricated. Essentially I was the son of Odin, the ruler of the lands. Loki became my adopted younger brother when his father was slain. Loki became bitter over time as he was never treated fairly because of his heritage and being an outsider."

"It all came to a very violent head when he started the destruction of Asgard. I... I had fought him but I couldn't bring myself to finish him. Soon I had to escape Asgard as it was bursting into flames around me." Thor paused, a small lump in his throat swelling as the memories of the day started to swirl violently in his mind. "Many of the people were looking to me for guidance out. I didn't want to let them down but... I had to choose between saving them and being killed or saving myself." Thor slouched down, his hands cupped over his mouth for a moment as he needed to try and fight through the self loathing and pain he started to feel. "I was suppose to be the hero but I couldn't do it. I was a fool, too scared to actually see the story through."

Needing a deep breath, his fingers shaking ever so gently. Thor finally just let himself back back into his own seat. "I spent the last... I don't even know how long its been anymore. Just going from place to place on this realm. Taking up various odd jobs, trying to survive." Thor paused, sliding a hand through his hair as he finally was able to stop dwelling on the past. "Never really told anyone about that before..." Thor said, realizing the circumstances. "That was actually kind of nice to finally get that off my chest."

Wiping a tear away Thor paused one last time, "Sorry if I got a bit over dramatic there. Its not exactly a happy story. Plus this isn't a therapy session. I suppose though that's about as good a summary as I could provide. Honestly I was sure Loki was long gone, and Tarene I had no idea what had ever happened to her. So I was just as caught off guard as either of them, or you and SHIELD for that matter...."

Coulson kept a straight face throughout the exchange. He had been honest, or at least as honest that Coulson would ever know. It wasn't exactly an easy topic to talk about, so he'd trust it at face value. "The important thing is that you've spent long enough atoning for your sins and reflecting on them. Your past doesn't define you, it just paves the path for who you're going to be." Coulson looked at his watch as he stood up straightening his suit. "I'm afraid, I'm a busy man and have other things to do I'm afraid, though I'm sure we'll meet again at some point or other." He began walking towards the door when he threw a cellphone towards Thor.

"That's got Tarene’s last known location, I'm not saying you should hunt her down but she's obviously in pain. Maybe it's best if a friendly face has a talk with her before she gets herself in more trouble, hm?" With that he turned and walked out the door, and straight into the back of the waiting jet. The cargo ramp closed, so the entire plane was now invisible as he tapped his earpiece "Takes us away Agent May."

Although he wasn't sure about the source of the words, hearing them did give Thor some resolve as he watched Coulson start to leave. Only to be toss ANOTHER phone that apparently had the last known location for Tarene. Weren't these things like hundreds of dollars? Why did he now have two of them? Fiddling with the phone, awkwardly jabbing at the phone like it owed him money. All the while grumbling about how "This tech stuff you Midgardians made makes no sense!".

Finally he pulled up Tarene's last known location. A ship yard in New York City, near a ship that was leaving for Wales. Thor stared at the information. Wondering what exactly she was doing. Still it didn't detract him from the thought Coulson slipped into his mind. Seeing an old friend, giving them something assuring and comforting when they still didn't have something familiar around them. Thor could certainly do worst then provide someone comfort.



“Ugh... yeah you’re welcome...” Tony muttered to himself as Sam gave him a glare. He hated the guy so much now, it wasn’t even a question anymore. Still Steve seemed like he was giving into what would seem like a very hard pill to swallow for anyone. Strangely even maybe taking it in stride which felt very... off. When Steve looked to Tony all Tony could do was awkwardly scratch his head. “Well the name is Tony Stark but uh... if I actually say I’m Howard Stark’s grandson, is that going to make this whole situation more awkward?” He meekly asked aloud. Not really sure either of them could have a good answer.

Suddenly though, before anyone could or would answer Tony. An AIM agent came in quickly reminding Tony how the situation is dire to say the least. Only when Tony had his helmet slip back on Steve had already grabbed his old shield, and launched it at the guy knocking him out before catching it again. Needless to say, Tony had a strange moment of turning into a fanboy for the guy. Because that was seriously one of the coolest things he had seen in a while. “Oh my God you’re already like top three coolest people I know...” Tony exclaimed to Steve, powerful words coming from Tony Stark admittedly. Only for reality to need to get back into his brain. “Hold on,” Quickly Tony voiced in commands to contact SHIELD. “SHIELD this is Tony Stark, we uh... Captain America is alive and here... no I mean like the older one! The Steve Rogers one! Seriously! We need back up and an escape vehicle NOW!”

Carol rubbed her head as she recovered from a blow to her face. Several feet away, her assailant was soared towards her through the air on her wings. In the woman’s hand, she held a javelin-like projectile. While at first it seemed like the woman was going to fly right up to Ms. Marvel, she abruptly landed a few feet away from her target and hurled the javelin at Carol. Remembering her encounter with the Scorpion, Carol dodged out of the way rather than try to rely on her photonic energy to shield herself from the attack.

After Carol had dodged the javelin, the woman continued her attack. While Ms. Marvel was definitely had the advantage of pure power and strength, this alien obviously has military training with both weapons and unarmed hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, this woman’s experience in combat, especially in comparison to Carol’s experience, compensated for Carol’s raw advantages. Otherwise, this battle would have been over long ago.

“Die, Kree whore!” The woman yelled as she scooped up her javelin and tossed it at Carol again. And for the second time, Carol ducked out of the way.

“Kree what?” Carol asked as she pulled the javelin out of the wall and snapped it in half, something which she should have done long ago.

“You bear the star.” The woman gestured at the eight-point, yellow star that was located on the front of Ms. Marvel’s costume.

Before Carol could respond to what the woman said, the winged woman took to the air again and dive bombed towards her. Carol tried to shoot her down with a couple photonic blasts, but her opponent was agile enough to swoop out of the way. Then, just like a hawk pouncing on its prey, the woman drove her legs into Carol’s stomach and slammed her into the wall behind her.

“I am Deathbird of the Shi’ar Empire and it will be the last name you will ever hear.” She raised her hand above her head in preparation for the finishing blow. Now that Deathbird was now closer, Carol realized that the feathers on the woman’s head was not part of some sort of headdress, but were rather attached to her head.

Before she was struck by Deathbird, Ms. Marvel sent out a photonic pulse in order to get the winged woman away from her. Just at that same moment, several S.W.O.R.D. agents stormed the premise. When she realized that she was surrounded, Deathbird soared up high above everyone. Then, she flew straight towards the exit, knocking a few agents out of the way as she left.

“Are you alright, Ms. Marvel?” Agent Lawson asked Carol when he approached her.

“Yeah,” She replied while she stared at the exit of the building. “We obviously bit off more than we could chew. That lady was no bee-keeper goon. And she’s obviously not a mutant.”

“What makes you say that?”

“She mentioned a few things that I never heard before, like the Shi’ar and the Kree, and I’m not talking about a group of Native Americans from Canada.”

---

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Henry “Hank” Pym, Jr. was half-way through his exceptionally late lunch when the text message from his mother came in— a scenario the two had talked about not long after Hank had donned the title of “Ant-Man”; sort of. When Hank had the conversation and the two set up automated alerts to Hank’s systems (and phone) it was meant to be vague so they didn’t have to type out an elaborate message of what was going on and worry about their own safety with a quick few numerical clicks. Hank didn’t exactly want his mother (or any member of his family) seriously hurt because she was texting while a super-villain or mad scientist was chasing her down with an oversized ray-gun.

Fortunately, Hank wasn’t too far from where he need to be due to the fact that his favorite bistro was practically around the block from Yellowjacket Incorporated. Though given Hank’s exponential increase in upgrades, modifications, and tweaks the Ant-Man suit was beginning to outgrow its namesake— a fact blatant to anyone who witnessed the suit go up against the godly might of Hyperion back during Hank’s first training session as an Avenger. Thinking about the bout still gave Hank the shakes and the more scientific sensibilities he had spent his life avoiding ironically seemed to control every instinct in his body at the list of possibilities that the suit could have. But the scientific potential would have to wait and he’d have to focus on the task at hand. There was no point in geeking out in his head over the possibilities of the suit when people were in danger; people he cared about.

Checking Yellowjacket’s blueprints and the tracking signal of his phone he took a light breath.

It was time to get to work.

Peter hid the ball of webs, which encapsulated his civilian clothes, high up on a building wall in an alleyway that was less than a block away from Yellowjacket Incorporated. Once his clothes were secured, Peter turned his attention back towards Yellowjacket Incorporated. He had a score to settle. Although Peter hoped for the best, that the intruder did not have a disintegration gun or something like it, he knew that he needed to keep his expectations realistic.

As he swung back to the scene of the crime, Peter wondered who this new villain was. Peter had never seen this criminal before. Therefore, unless the lunatic had chosen Peter (or rather Spider-Man) as his first opponent in his criminal career, this man was in no way a part of Peter’s rogue gallery. Furthermore, besides the fact that the majority of the villains that Peter had so far brought to justice had an animal theme, the intruder could not have known Peter’s identity. He probably is not expecting Spider-Man to show up.

When he came closer to Yellowjacket Incorporated, Peter saw a rolling chair, along with a few other miscellaneous items, were thrown out, or rather blown out, of a window on the same story of the building where Janet van Dyne’s office. Although all potential bystanders were cleared from the nearby street, the police were still present as they blockaded the building. Therefore, Peter changed his swinging trajectory and swooped under the debris. With some quick and accurate marksmanship, Peter caught the items with a web net.

Now that he had the web net slung over his shoulder, Peter made all haste to climb up to where the window had been broken. Once there, he leaped up off the wall and swung through the window on a web line. Peter then landed on the desk at the center of the room, dropping on the ground the silk-made bag that he had used to catch the falling objects that had originated from this office room.

“Hey, this isn’t a State Farm’s commercial! Without your friendly neighborhood superhero, there could have been some property damage. And that’s ignoring that window.” Peter crouched on the desk as he faced the intruder, who was already adjusting the settings on his gun-like device.

“This matter does not concern you.” The man aimed his weapon at Peter and fired. However, due to Peter’s enhanced reflexes and spider-sense, the device missed Peter, who had leaped off the desk, and struck the desk instead, causing it to be shrunk down to a fraction of its original size. After the desk had been reduced in size, Janet van Dyne was revealed to have been hiding behind the desk, probably in order to protect herself from being blown out of the window by the intruder’s weapon.

“It becomes my business when things start falling out of windows.” When Peter jumped off the desk in order to dodge the intruder’s attack, he landed on and clung to the neighboring wall. Then, Peter leaped towards the man and aimed to plant his foot in the man’s stomach. However, before Peter’s kick could connect with its target, the man suddenly activated another device on his belt, which caused him to shrink down to such a size that would make it difficult to spot him, let alone hit him. As a result, Peter landed a couple feet behind where the man had been standing.

“What the heck was that?”

As her foot impaled the stomach of yet another of the screeching parasites that had swarmed out of the portal towards her, America Chavez darted her eyes up towards the crack looming above her. Despite having encountered similar cracks throughout her superhero career, she still was unable to describe what they looked like, with the sight appearing much like a giant flash of light to her eyes. As such, she found her eyes moving away in pain, only for her brows to furrow as she elbowed another one of her attackers.

Moving quickly, she pushed forwards, kicking outwards as she did so at oncoming parasites, and floated towards the top of the crack. As she approached, her vision blurred once more, not being able to take in all of the light. Regardless, that didn’t stop her, and with one swift lunge she found her hands clasping around the rim of the universe itself.

Now came the hard part; closing the crack for good. Normally an act such as this would come as no trouble to Ms. America. She closed interdimensional holes all the time in fact; every time she kicks one open! All it takes is for her to clear her mind and think of a happy thought. Unfortunately in this case it would seem that that wouldn’t be enough. The hole was too big for a mere memory of last night’s pizza or the thought of women’s volleyball teams. No, this would take something much more.

Closing her eyes, America Chavez took a deep breath, as she cleared her mind of all abstract thoughts. Then, slowly, a smile crept across her face. In one swift motion, she pulled down, bringing the roof of the crack down with her. The crack fell shut, mirroring a garage door, disappearing into nothingness without even a sound.

What’s a happy thought stronger than even this crack in the fabric of the universe? Family.



Despite it being nearly midnight, the New Jersey street was awashed in light and activity. Huge crowds of civilians had gathered, amassing a mixture of both people half asleep in dressing gowns, and drunken club-goers. The commotion had only started about half an hour ago, although it had only been ten minutes later before the men in suits arrived. S.H.I.E.L.D. they called themselves. The group had cornered off a large chunk of the street, working with local police to keep people back and control the peace.

Despite their attempts however, it was still easy to see what they were protecting. Right in the middle of the street another crack had appeared, tearing straight through the air like a nasty glowing scar. Ms. America’s next target.

As everyone around him were attempting to take a decent photograph of the crack for their various Instagram accounts, one man simply watched on silently. The commotion amused him, evident by the smirk that was etched into his boyish face.

Taking one last glance at his interdimensional doorway, the white haired man turned on his heel and headed back into the crowd, before disappearing around a street corner.

“I hate it when we have to pretend to be local law enforcement.” Clint complained while he yanked on his shirt collar. “I almost feel naked when I’m not in my standard threads.”

“I wouldn’t say that out loud if I were you.” Bobbi told her partner as they climbed the flights of stairs to their destination. “Especially since your ‘normal’ uniform is composed of various shades of purple.”

“Hey, don’t takes shots at the color purple! If Samuel L. Jackson can rock a purple lightsaber, then so can I!” Clint retorted back.

“Whatever.” Bobbi muttered, trying to end the conversation because they were approaching the apartment door. Once they were standing in front of the apartment door, Bobbi knocked a couple times. For a few moments, the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents could hear some shuffling from within the apartment until a blonde haired woman cracked open the door, which still had the door latch attached.

“May I help you?” The woman asked.

“CPD.” Clint told the woman, “We have a few follow-up questions.”

“I already told the police everything when they interviewed me at the university.” Shirlee Bryant told both Clint and Bobbi. “Anyways, I’m kind of in a hurry.”

“May we come in?” Bobbi told Shirlee, “It will only take a few minutes out of your day.”

The woman hesitated for a second before she allowed the two undercover agents into her apartment. When they entered, Clint and Bobbi discovered that Shirlee was indeed in a hurry. In fact, it looked as if she was planning to leave the city until the investigation died down, since there was a single packed suitcase on a nearby table.

While Bobbi was distracting Shirlee with some follow-up questions about the crime she supposedly witnessed, Clint walked over to the table where the suitcase was located. He then partially unzipped the bottom of the piece of luggage, although he did not open it because he did not want to somehow screw up future prosecution. Instead, he hoped that, when Shirlee takes the luggage, some dirty laundry to spill out onto the floor. And he wasn’t looking for any clothes.

“Okay, Ms. Bryant. You’re free to go now. If you remember anything else of relevance, please call us.” Bobbi told her, handing a card that had their contact information.

Now given the green light to leave, Shirlee walked over to her suitcase, picked it up, and placed it on the ground so that she could roll it out. However, as she began to walk out of the apartment, some of the contents of the suitcase slipped out, just as Clint had predicted. Among these items were a few vials, which contained the same serum that was being worked on at the University of Chicago.

“Looks like you might have to change your plans!”

Walter Newell had studied all of the clues he had, but still couldn't pinpoint the location of Atlantis. He spent the next several days upgrading security in Hydrobase, which he's calling 'Hydropolis' now. Much to the disappointment of his girlfriend Diane, Walt moved his personal stuff into a corner of Hydropolis he's renovating into his living space. Diane's brother, an oceanographer himself, closed himself off to the world recently and she doesn't want to lose Walt to his work in a similar way. Off and on Walt worked with his boot jets and fins to better maneuver in air and under water. He also managed to squeeze in some target practice with his bio-electric blast.

Elsewhere...

"Are you sure about this, Dr. Dorcas?" a man asked on the other end of the phone.

"This Hydropolis of Walt Newell's has got to be shut down before he starts a war with something nobody's ready to deal with. And YOU'RE the man to get the job done." the sniveling doctor proclaimed.

"I just got back from eating an Atlantian who was swimming a little too far from home, can't it wait until tomorrow?" Tiger Shark asked on his end of the phone call.



"When will you learn that even with shark and stolen Atlantian dna I'M the brains and you're the muscle. Now he's gone and hired a bodyguard in a 'Stingray' suit!" the old man exclaimed, "If Hydropolis continues to grow and change and the Atlantians see it as a threat they'll start a war with the surface. Just go over there, toss his bodyguard around, and pretend you're under mind control or something. I don't know. Go ahead and hospitalize Newell too.

"20th Century Fox was about to sign me for a three picture movie deal, I was gonna be the next big superhero moviestar. Why're you trying to keep Atlantis a secret?" Tiger Shark asked.

"That's none of your concern Mr. Arliss. Speaking of secrets, when did you plan on telling me your sister was in a relationship with Newell?" the doctor asked as Tiger Shark got speechless on the other end, "Arliss? TODD!? Can you hear me?!?" Dr. Dorcas yelled into the phone.

On the other end, Tiger Shark had dropped his phone into the giant aquarium pool. He grabbed the remaining severed leg of the blue skinned Atlantian and took another bite before letting out a burp. Tiger Shark had already tore apart the night staff at the Coney Island Aquarium but now made his exit en route to Hydropolis.

~KL~

"ANOTHER!" Tarene cried merrily, hoisting up a drained pint glass with a beaming smile. As miserable as the past few months had been since she'd come to Midgard, she found herself surprisingly pleased with herself here in Fishguard in Wales.
"I can'ae have another" the local fisherman shook his head in defeat, damn midgardians couldn't handle their booze half as well as Asgardian's. As much as she liked it here, she missed having GOOD drinking buddies. She thought of her old friends, as she often did in the few fleeting moments she paused and reflected. She remembered Thor and Fandrall knocking back mead as if the sun would never rise over Asgard again. Then one day ... it didn't. She drained another glass and turned to one of her new coworkers. For the past couple of days she'd been busy hauling heavy cargo about around the docks.

Glancing down at the photo in his hand Thor couldn't help but let out a small sigh of worry from his nostrials. It had been eons since he had seen her in person and some part of him was beginning to be concerned if maybe she should be left alone. He knew she wasn't the kind of person who could let go of the past as he had. From even back in the days her temper had her practically fight through Valhalla and Hell alike to seek vengeance.

He adjusted the small tote bag he had slung on his shoulder as he glanced around the small Welsh town. It seemed lovely, but Wales had always seemed lovely the few times he had visited it. Still he knew deep down he was there for what he felt was the right reasons, and it wasn't to admire the United Kingdom's countryside. Glancing around Thor saw a salty looking old man near some of the docks. Quietly bundling rope onto his shoulder by himself. Approaching Thor held up the picture of Tarene SHIELD had given him when he made a pit stop in New York City flying through towards Wales. Where he also changed out of his battle armor and into a simple shirt and jeans. He didn't want to give Tarene any real concern. It was why he also kept Mjolnir tucked away in his tote bag. He was worried if she saw it Tarene would do something rash.

"Excuse me..." Thor asked trying to sound as friendly as possible before holding the picture of Tarene towards the old man. "I'm trying to find this woman, do you have any idea where she is?" So far his trail had been a mixed bag, but curiously shipyard workers in the area usually vaguely remembered her, and Fishguard was one thing that came out of those hazy memories.

The old man looked as though he was about to tell Thor to leave him alone when he paused looking at the picture. Suddenly and slowly cracking a smile. "Aye! That be Tara! I believe she should be at the bar this time of the day..." The old man seemed fond of Tarene, or Tara as she was known apprently. The old man arched an eyebrow at Thor. "You two lasses sure look alike thinking about it. Are you related?"

Pausing a little from faint surprise. Thor chuckled to himself, "No but come to think of it I guess you could say so in a way." Thor remarked more thinking aloud than anything else. "Still thank you sir."

"Aye think nothing of it." The old man went back to his business as Thor left him. Wondering what life for Tarene had been like since that fateful day in Stark's tower.

It had taken some time to find the bar the old man spoke about, surprising given the size of the town. Still he was able to come across it. Small little cozy looking place that had clearly been there some time. Opening the front door with a gentle push forward Thor glanced around the bar. It seemed decently filled, but it still took a moment for him to see her. Chugging away like the professional alcoholic he always knew her as.

Tarene was blissfully unaware of Thor. She didn't know he was still alive, much less hunting her down in her rural coastal hideout in Wales. It was a rather ironic twist come to think of it. She'd sought him out so furiously, and the second she ceased her search, he was essentially appearing.
"Tara, ya never tell us about where you came from before ya started working on the docks, go on and tell us an ould' story, we've told you all the tales from here to Glasgow!" one of her drinking buddies said jovially, the trad band that were playing in the corner were starting to pick up pace and as patrons of the bar got a little drunker they began to sing and clap along.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you!" she admitted with a sigh. It sure would be nice to tell them about Asgard but they'd think she was mad, and she'd only feel homesick.... Then again, they were getting pretty drunk so perhaps it wouldn't hurt, it wasn't as if they'd remember the next day anyway.
"Well actually ... I guess it can't hurt. Order another round, this could take a while, I've travelled quite a lot" she started, clearing her throat to start where it all began. The 9 Realms, Asgard, all the various realms she and her friends had explored, and then crashing down into New York City and royally screwing up. They'd need a lot to drink to get through it all and promptly forget it afterwards.

"I was born in a land far far away..." Tarene started with an appropriate flourish, Hogun had always been animated telling stories, she kind of wished he was telling the story, or Thor, he had a great voice for stories too. "Whoa- ..." Tarene pressed a palm to her temple, something felt off. It was a niggling little pain, subtle but ... it was annoyingly present, like an angry whisper in her brain, or a sad one, she couldn't quite tell.

"Did you-?" she wasn't even sure what she was about to ask, Did you feel something?. No. It was her, there was something wrong with her.
"Perhaps I should get some air. I promise I'll tell the whole story another time, I'm feeling a little strange." Tarene said excusing herself from the bar, a pint half-finished. She NEVER left a drink half drunk. It was all or nothing when it came to Asgardians and alcohol.

Watching from afar Thor almost felt like leaving, again that nagging worry he should just let her be. It didn't help that she seemed like she was having a wonderful time. He couldn't hear what she was saying but he could imagine it was something fun. She had a knack for really being the life of anything involving heavy booze and socializing.

Quietly though he watch her suddenly look droop as if she was sick or something. Her pint not quite finished Thor had to decide if he was going to leave or not quickly considering Tarene was heading towards him. Finally though as she got up to him Thor made a warm smile. "Well, I never thought you'd become a lightweight after all these years." He teased, hoping that could leave things in the right direction to begin this reunion.

Tarene knew she wasn't drunk. Midgardian beer wasn't halfway strong enough to even get her more than just a little bit tipsy (god she'd kill for a good Vanaheimr Ale). The fact she was certain she wasn't drunk made her wonder briefly if she was mad, that COULDN'T be Thor Odinson.

"I thought you dead." she said numbly, staring dumbfounded at her old friend who seemed relatively unchanged. He had all his limbs, his face and head were in the correct place and fully formed ... he wasn't even skinny or squished up. He was real and whole and there.

Suspicion crept in, the ringing in her head growing louder, more furious, she realised it was Mjolnir, calling her? No ... it was still in Stark towers, it couldn't be here, this wasn't really Thor. It was Loki. A trick, surely, he'd played tricks on her before.

"How do I know this is no trick?" she growled warily.

Thor paused slightly at Tarene's question. There was something strange about how she was seeing her like this. Broken, defeated, able to put on the smile when she had too but not personally joyful. Now the single piece of joy she could have she had to almost assume it wasn't real.

Thor finally felt his smile slowly fade a little as he realized it all. Finally he just gently let his arms carefully slide around Tarene as he gently hugged her. "Its no trick Tarene. I could never let something like that happen my little hammer girl..." Thor knew that was the way to show he wasn't some figment of her imagination. 'Hammer girl' was the first thing he had ever really called her. Considering the first time he had ever seen her she was clocking some guy upside the head with a golden hammer. Long story, but he had called her that before knowing her name was Tarene, even after that he'd still call her hammer girl to get her riled up at times.

Man he was immature.

Tarene felt numb, but also painful. It irritated her. There had to be something in Midgardian water that made her stupidly over-emotional. But he was real.

"But I- I watched Asgard break and burn- You were there. I saw- You pushed me through the Bifrost and it collapsed and then Asgard was gone- How did you?-" she was blathering on, mindlessly letting words tumble out because it seemed too good to be true.

After a few moments of hanging like a limp noodle in his one-sided hug, she gripped him tightly, probably a little too tightly, if he weren't Asgardian, she'd probably have snapped his spine. "I've scoured the realms to find you- When I found Mjolnir I-" then her thoughts caught up with her and half reluctantly, half terrified, she broke the hug apart. She remembered what happened with Mjolnir ... she ... lost his hammer. Well sort of, she knew where it was and it wasn't likely to have moved, but she didn't hang onto it which was irresponsible.

"I found Mjolnir- I thought maybe you were alive and I searched but ... Then Loki-" she froze up entirely. He should have killed Loki on Asgard, and he didn't and Asgard was destroyed, she'd come so close to killing him here and yet. "I did not kill him." she confessed numbly. She couldn't even explain why, he'd caught her off guard with his words. Yes, that was it, he'd tricked her again, but now it would be okay, Thor was back, they'd stop him together this time, like they should have on Asgard.

"They call him a hero here, I was imprisoned by their SHIELD, he is tricking them I know it, we need to stop him." she insisted, suddenly snapping her head back into the game, though part of her nagged to stop what she was saying, pause and breathe. She was a criminal, she was happy hiding here, it wouldn't be wise to take on SHIELD.

"I- .. I shouldn't ... I, I should stay here."

"Shhh shhh shhh..." Thor gently rubbed the square of her back. He of course knew everything she had told him. Between Agent Coulson, seeing the security footage, and having caught up on particular recent events. He knew even if Loki was lying to him about something, everything showed Tarene was hurting deeply and maybe now just knowing Thor was alive could provide her enough. He wasn't about to break it to her he already knew the whole story. That Mjolnir was not only no longer lost but with him right there. That he had made peace with Loki, heck that he was with SHIELD now. He knew she would break hearing all that right now, so he just wanted to provide some comfort. Let her hopefully rid herself of her emotional baggage. Then he could leave her be in this town, and just make sure SHIELD knows to be careful with her.

Part of him did feel guilty he was going to lie to her but at this point, knowing what she had done and could still possibly do. It was probably just going to have to suffice. "It's alright Tarene. I had heard in the papers of some of the things you had done. You have no idea how hard it was to find you." Thor paused, glancing around the bar. "Here lets get a table. I'm sure we have plenty to catch up on."

Guiding her with an arm gently on her shoulders Thor led her to an empty wooden table. Letting her take a seat at one chair while he scooted himself into the other one. Letting his tote bag lay next to his feet far side from Tarene. "I'm very sorry I never tried to contact you. I honestly thought you had perished as well. Besides I have been travelling and hiding so long I would've had a very hard time doing so." Thor kept a hand on top of her's on the table. Wanting to continue to show support. Of course seeing a beer menu on the table he did with his other hand snatch it up. Opening it to start browsing the options. Not a lot of variety, but he did notice some particular oat ales that sounded delicious. He glanced back up at Tarene. "Well... I hope you haven't gotten too far ahead of me in alcohol content." Thor teased.

Tarene let Thor guide her to the table, truth be told, she felt a little unsteady and her head was spinning but it wasn't the booze that was to blame. She took a few moments just to gether herself, she couldn't help but be incredibly overjoyed he was alive and well. She also felt incredibly regretful. She'd let him down terribly. She let Loki escape, she'd harmed Midgardians, and he was rather fond of Midgardians, come to think of it, Tarene quite liked them as well. Dwight was great, some days she even missed him a little, and the Welsh were full of craic and jokes, given the weather, they needed SOMETHING to make them smile so it came as no surprise they were jokers and storytellers.

"I ought to beat you half to death for frightening me like that you know." she finally managed, then added, "And don't get me started on Midgardian beer, its horribly weak." she rolled her eyes. He'd need to drain a whole reservoir just to get started.

"We do have much to catch up on." she sighed as a serving girl made her way over to distribute more weak Welsh booze and clean up empty glasses. "I was in New York for some time ... you read in the papers though ... You know I- I resorted to some desperate measures but only to find you and to stop Loki." she assured him, but somehow it sounded like a lame excuse. She shouldn't have hurt people, she shouldn't have attacked Stark and ironically, it was Loki who had stopped her.

"I do no understand how you find your way around this confusing realm." she shook her head, Wales was simpler than New York City though, perhaps she'd figure it out eventually. "I want, so badly, to go back to Asgard." her eyes were water and her voice tearful.

"Actually... I've rather really began to enjoy Midgardian beers." Thor began taking a light sniff of the beer he was given. Its hint of barley gently tickling his smell. "Sure it's not what I would considering potent but the Midgardians have really developed a good sense of flavors." Holding up his glass to Tarene he took a drink. "Hmm, but getting back to what you were saying... yes... so I had heard you resorted to some extreme measures." Thor noted with a disappointed tone he couldn't help. "I'm not sure how hurting a perfectly nice CEO would help find Loki. Frankly I'm still shocked his alive either." Thor was still fairly surprised by that, having seen Loki die once before right in front of his eyes.

"Still, Loki can and will be dealt with in due time if he is indeed planning something. You have to remember Tarene its not just you or I anymore who have to fight him." Thor knew that many of the 'superheroes' as people have called them were possibly capable of handling Loki if his brother was indeed taking his sweet time on some evil plan. Still if Loki was up to something, as hard as it was for Thor to believe anymore after spending time with him. He'd be the one to put Loki down once and for all. He would be furious if anyone else tried.

"Speaking of, I'm only going to be in town for the night. I have a cabin out in Montana in the United States I'm heading back too. Built it myself actually..." Thor with a grin held up his hands. "Yes I actually got my royal hands dirty believe it or not." Thor went back to the brew, taking another drink. "I was planning on selling it though, not sure where I'll move next though." Thor knew fully by now he was moving to New York City soon, as SHIELD was actually helping him find a nice place that they would pay for. It was surprising how friendly the organization was being with him. Though he knew his stature and legend probably made them understand he wasn't the kind of person you let be on their bad side.

"Still I wanted to make sure you were fine and that hopefully you can find some peace in your life. Asgard was a long time ago Tarene, maybe its time to just let it stay in the past. Midgard is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be you know?" Thor told Tarene with a hand on her shoulder. Now it was time for the big part of his plan. He hoped he was going to be careful enough with her. Especially knowing now how wounded emotionally she was.

Tarene stared at her drink when Thor pointed out how she'd been a tad extreme, though he didn't chastise her. He was being oddly gentle which was nice but still a tad strange. Back on Asgard, people had no problems smacking her on the head when she was stupid, that was a long time ago and she'd been a child then. Now she was an adult and they weren't on Asgard. She was about to explain why she'd attacked Stark, because he had technology, but it seemed pointless. She wasn't on trial, this was Thor, he understood.

"No one on this planet understands how big a threat he is. You and I are the only people left alive who know how dangerous Loki is." Tarene warned. He may have been Thor's adopted brother, but he was still a dangerous malevolent God. Those other heroes were rather impressive, but they'd never fought Loki as she and Thor had done.

She frowned when he revealed he'd be leaving soon but what could she say to stop him, at least he was going to New York of all places. Perhaps she could put him and Dwight in contact, Dwight would explode, his nerdy little brain would be overloaded. She owed him a meet and greet with Thor after she'd scared him half to death countless times.

Her frown deepened when Thor suggested she settle in and enjoy Midgard and let Ragnarok go. He wasn't seriously saying that was he? "You can't be serious." she said, her hand balling up into a fist, a knee-jerk reaction, but she seemed to be reigning in her fiery temper as best she could. "Have you forgotten what happened?" she asked incredulously. "Asgard was our home. They were our friends and he tore it all apart, for what? So he could be King of the Ashes?" she was clearly upset by the idea of forgetting, much less forgiving what had happened.

"You were our King! How many of us were willing to sacrifice all for you? How many of us DID sacrifice it all for you?! Sif, Hogun, Heimdall, Fandral, Volstagg, Valkyrie, your closest friends all died to stop him. I would have died on Asgard as well had you not stopped Loki from striking that killing blow. Would you forget my suffering and their sacrifices so easily?" she was angry and tearful at the mere thought. "Have you forgotten who you are? What you are? You are Thor Odinson, King of Asgard, leader of all Asgardians! Are you really going to let all our sacrifices be in vain?"

Thor felt foolish to figure it was going to be this easy. Tarene's will wasn't going to yield at just a simple suggestion. Still he had no idea how much hate was burning in her heart still. Even after the casualities and all the years. "First off..." Thor held up a single index finger. "We don't even know if they're dead. We both thought Loki was dead, heck I was more than sure he was dead." Thor kept himself cool because he didn't want her to fly off the handle anymore than she was already. "Believe me though, no one seethed at what had happened more than me. It took a long long time for me to even consider what I believe now. Much less accept it. I've spent many moons and suns running and hiding. Not able to see the reality of things for what they were."

Finishing his drink Thor quickly wasted no time getting back to Tarene's side. "My soul ached for vengeance Tarene. But eventually I had to accept Asgard isn't coming back no matter how hard I wished, it was a horrifying thought, its still a horrifying thought, and believe me if I could I would make that not so. Suppose you do kill Loki though? Only thing that is going to happen is the ground will be fill with one more of his corpses. Asgard will not come back, Sif, Hogun, Heimdall, Fandral, Volstagg, Valfyrie, NONE of them will come back if they are indeed gone." Thor reached out with both hands, clasping Tarene's own hands in his. "I don't want to see you full of hate anymore Tarene. It was Loki's hate that got us into this mess in the first place. Certainly what he did was heinous, cruel, and merciless. That does not mean though that you should resort to being any of that."

"If for nothing else Tarene..." Thor pleaded, "Even if you do it for no other reasons, do it for me, your king. Live your life, be happy, just. Let. Go."

Tarene smiled sadly. It was overwhelming, all the words, the feelings. Deep down though, Thor was still Thor, unchanged, no- he was changed, but still him, despite all that had happened. Even though all was lost, he was still himself, he hadn't lost his essence. Tarene had lost hers, but perhaps now she could begin to find herself again, properly this time.

"All I have left is my hate." she couldn't forgive Loki, she couldn't let it go. "I lost Mjolnir, and without Her ... I have had nothing left but my hate..." she shook her head, a hand reaching to her side, under her coat. She dropped down to one knee at Thor's side and dropped down her head, drawing Sif's sword before her and planting the tip of the blade in the floor before her.

"I promise, on my life, that I will serve my King faithfully, never cause him harm and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit." she managed to draw her gaze up to Thor, "Let me serve you once again and I swear I will not fail you again."

Thor now was very concerned. He never thought in a million years Tarene would be this
loyal to him. It wasn't helping her show was causing many in the bar, including her co-workers. To stare on in befuddlment and confusion. Including Thor, who only could start by pointing to the sword Tarene had pulled out and asking "I-is that Sif's sword?" slightly worried about how he was going to handle Tarene now that she's swearing oath to him.

"Tarene, please, now you're just making this weird." Thor rubbed his forehead as he looked on. "I can tell you still have hate but if you seek guidance and help you can be happy again. Please Tarene just..." Thor had an idea, "Tarene, why don't you come to America with me? I can let you stay, no, you have HAVE my cabin in Montana. It's beautiful, peaceful, I will do whatever it takes to help make that cabin feel like home for you. Just please don't let what happened destroy you like this. All you have to do is just seek out help and I promise you'll find it. Even if I have to help you personally I will do it."

Tarene looked up confusedly at Thor's suggestion to go back to America with him. She'd be immediately captured by SHIELD again, the reason she'd left was so that she didn't have to hurt any more people.
"If it is what you want of me ... then I shall go to Montana." she agreed, but added, "But SHIELD are searching for me I know it. If I go back and I am captured, I will have to kill-"

Pain lanced through her head, flaming hot like a knife of fire- no... Not fire.

Thunder.

Mjolnir was calling to her but unlike before. It hurt. It hurt but at the same time there was a pang of longing there and it was too close, it was too strong she couldn't ignore it. She clutched her forehead and yelped from the sudden sting before quickly gathering herself. The pain vanished as quickly as it appeared but she knew Mjolnir... Mjolnir wasn't quiet when it wanted someone attention. She spoke and insisted she was heard. Mjolnir had been an old friend from Asgard to her when all else was lost. That was why losing the enchanted hammer had hurt so dreadfully.

"Mjolnir-" she gasped.

"I-I hear Her."

Shit.

Thor was silently furious at himself he didn't just leave Mjolnir where he had landed when he flew into Wales. Now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Especially knowing now Tarene was carrying something as deadly as Sif's old blade. Thor paused, desperately trying to think of some way out. The only thing he could say though was "Wh-what do you mean?" Knowing he sounded like an idiot he had to quickly add more. "How could Mjolnir be in Wales?! Wasn't it suppose to be on the top floor in the reception's room of Stark Tower?"

Thor suddenly realized what he had said. He shouldn't have known the exact location of Mjolnir unless he was there, and he was. "Shit." Was all Thor could quietly hiss to himself. Quickly his mind turned to damage control. Quickly getting to his feet Thor kicked his chair at Tarene. Letting Mjolnir fly out of his tote bag and quickly streaks of lightning magically brought his armor onto him as he called out to the bar. "Everyone out now if you value your life!" Thor wasn't going to let a casualty happen now that he was there for Tarene. Even if being there for her now meant hurting her and giving her tough love. It was always the way people had to teach her a lesson in Asgard.

It all made sense when Thor slipped up and admitted he knew where Mjolnir was. Unfortunately for him, she already had a weapon drawn, though the screeching in her head from Mjolnir calling out to her had disoriented her somewhat. She easily sliced the wooden chair into kindling, though Thor still had the time to draw Mjolnir and quickly tell everyone to evacuate.

"I can still hear her and feel her." Tarene said, her gaze locked on the enchanted hammer.

"Give me the Hammer."

Thor took another step back as he watched the crowd very quickly get the hell out of the bar before he had to return his gaze upon Tarene. Now what looked broken seemed to be shattered beyond repair. Tarene looked mad, mad as Loki had been once. All the years of lonely suffering had clearly taken more than its toll on her. Thor didn't want to be there, he didn't want to resort to what seemed more and more destined.

Seeing the sheer madness, blinding fury pulsing through Tarene's vision Thor felt like everything around him had gone still. Here was a friend who meant everything to him once, an ally, someone he had once even imagined he was in love with. Someone he had actually made love with. For a moment he felt like the only solution in front of him was a solution he had used many times before on Asgard. Violence, Tarene was gone and Thor felt maybe it was time she was put out of her misery....

Thor couldn't let himself though, he had another plan.

Instead Thor calmly rushed back up to Tarene. Clinching hold of the hilt of Sif's sword from right out of her grasp.

"No." Thor told Tarene firmly.

He was her king, it was time she remember her place.

Tarene didn't want to fight Thor. He was her King and yet- Something was wrong, it was all so very wrong.

Then he was standing before her, eerily calm when seconds before she'd sworn she'd seen a flash of violence in his eyes. A look she'd seen him give enemies countless times but he'd never saved it for her ... then it melted away and he gripped Sif's sword and told her "no".

For a fraction of a second she felt her hand twitch, ready to lash out and twist Thor's arm. She stayed her hand, barely.

"As you wish. My King." she managed, unable to entirely hide the venom in her voice. He had drawn his weapon on her, Mjolnir, for just a moment, but he'd still done it. They still had much to work out.

"I do not want to fight you ... Not like this."

Thor felt his nerves finally start to unwind even a little as he held both Mjolnir and Sif's trusty sword in his grasp. He was glad she backed off, as he knew she wasn't someone he could easily defeat even with Mjolnir in his hand. Still he had nothing but concern and worry for her. Finally after a pause Thor approached Tarene. Carefully wrapping his arm around her shoulder once more as he led her out of the bar. Leaving the tote bag behind as he looked out on the fading sun over the Wales countryside.

"Lets go Tarene. I know people who want to help you."

The first thing America Chavez did once she was finally off duty was collapse onto her bed in a feat of exhaustion. It had been a long night, and that hadn’t entirely been due to the colossal crack up in space. No, once she was done with that she had damage control across the rest of the globe to take care of; during her interstellar escapade, several more considerably smaller cracks had erupted nationwide. Fortunately S.H.I.E.L.D. had been there to quarantine the areas before any civilians could stumble through into nothingness. But despite their efforts they had no way of closing them by themselves, meaning that the task fell to Ms. America.

She was obviously happy to help and to ensure that they didn’t cause any harm, but a night of constant flying and portal closing had really taken it out on her.

The sudden rumbling coming from her stomach confirmed this fact. She needed some food, stat. She considered the Triskelion cafeteria, as after all it would currently be serving breakfast food which was always a treat in her eyes. That being said, she had a hankering for something different. That something was decided when her eyes drifted to a canvas paint of the Manhattan skyline she had up on her wall. It wasn’t much but it reminded her of her home on Earth – 212. And with Earth – 212 came her favourite Korean barbeque establishment. Opening one more portal would be worth it if it meant she could taste some succulent bulgogi or a sweet helping of tteokgalbi. The mere thought caused another rumble.

Deciding that to be her plan of action, America was about to heave herself off of the bed and make her exist when there was a knock on her quarter’s door. Groaning loudly like a stereotypical teenage girl, she called for them to enter.

“Excuse me? Ms. Chavez?” The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent asked nervous as he stepped into the doorframe.

“Mmm?” She mused, remaining where she was on the bed.

“That personal enquiry you made a couple of weeks ago? We’ve got something.”



Half an hour later, America found herself in the observation deck of the very same training room that she had entered with Hyperion last month. After quickly putting on a change of clothes and grabbing a coffee from the cafeteria, she had made her way her here as fast as she could. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent from before had briefed her in everything she needed to know and now it was her turn to do the briefing.

Fortunately this time it wasn’t America dealing with the harshness of training like her first visit, with that task instead falling to two teenagers who were currently fending off a squad of training robots.

The first of the two was Kate Bishop. She had grown so much in the past month, and was proving to be a great S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with each passing day. Much like in their first encounter, she was using a bow, with her favouring the medieval weapon over that of more modern weaponry. One of the main reasons was that she said it was “cooler”, a response that America had simply laughed at. Joking aside, she had a damn good shot. In the brief time that America had been observing, she had watched Kate take out three bots with a single shot form her bow.

The other teenager was Humberto Lopez. Despite America having only met him a few times, the two had grown close friends. What’s more is that the guy’s a huge fan of superheroes, even going so far as to adopt an alias himself; Reptil. It was an appropriate name, since Humberto surprisingly had the superhuman ability to transform himself into dinosaurs. It was impressive stuff, although he could only transform certain parts of his body at a time and thus couldn’t actually transform into a full-on dinosaur. As such, right now his arms and head resembled that of some sort of velociraptor, allowing him to tear through the robotic hordes that were surrounding him and Kate.

America watched proudly as the robots around the two teens quickly decreased in number, with a pile of scrap metal forming. Soon only four remained, and it was easy to see that Kate was keen to get the final shot. Leaping forward, the archer landed firmly into the body of one of the robots, sending it into the ground. Rebounding off of that, she turned in the air firing a trio of arrows from her bow, all of which impaled the three remaining bots. Landing with a roll, she twisted her body, retrieving one last arrow from her quiver as she did so, sending it directly into the robotic head of the struggling robot she had leaped onto.

Catching site of her friend in the console room, Kate gave America a mocking curtsy before making her way to the stairwell leading up. Humberto followed. Ten seconds later the purple clad girl burst into the room and ran into America’s arms. Despite both now living under the same roof, the two friends hadn’t seen each other for some time now. After exchanging pleasantries, Kate gave her a questioning look, before smirking.

“So what are you doing here? Avengers business not as exciting as you expected and you want a real challenge for once?”

America flashed a smile across her face, obviously bemused by Kate’s remark.

“Actually…” She said, moving her gaze to the girl’s teammate who had just joined them. “I’m here for Humberto.”

Both of the two teenagers opposite her raised their eyebrows in confusion. As such, America decided to press on.

“The boys in suits found Stegron.”

That received the exact reaction that America expected from Humberto. The boy froze in place, all colour draining from his face. He was silent for a couple of seconds, with him briefly opening his mouth to say something before stopping himself. Finally, he gained some control of himself and his emotions and simply furrowed his brows.

“Where?”

---

---

The soldier panted, running for his life and looking behind him. Sweat ran down his forehead, the African goon yelled for help. He was being chased by something, that he couldn't recognize. It was a Panther Man, a monster of some sort. He called out for the rest of his group in the jungle. But all he could hear was the rustling of leaves behind him.

The Black Panther jumped from a tree, and on top of the goon, landing feet first! The godon fell on the ground, screaming out as the sound of his rib cage being crunched. "Who sent you here?!" The Black Panther questioned, drawing his claws out. "You raided a village of innocent men, women, and children. I will not go easy on you." He grabbed the goon by the chest, as the goon coughed and tried to push him off. The Panther dug one of his claws into the goon's arm.

He screamed out, "I don't know! I - I was just sent here to do my job!" The goon sputtered. "Do NOT lie to me." The Panther said, as he dug another claw into the goon's arm. The goon groaned in pain, sweating bullets.

"Now tell me, who wanted you to kill my family!" He yelled at the goon. "Wait - Who, who are you!?" The goon asked, realizing slowly as his eyes widened. "I'm just a mercenary, and my army was told to kill the royal family of Wakanda, that's all I know!"

The Black Panther had let go of him, then rammed his foot into the merc's jaw. Taking him unconscious. So it wasn't a terrorist group that killed his brother and father. They were paid to do so.

---

---

After following leads about this mercenary group, T'Challa Udaku, the Black Panther found out something. They were being given weapon supplies of advanced weapons that no one should have their hand on. Explaining how they were able to kill M'Baku Udaku and T'Chaka Udaku.

T'Challa rubbed his face, in the kitchen sink. He packed his bags and such, the people who didn't know his identity thought this was a business trip to the States. But it really wasn't.

He already knew the dealer was in New York, so it was time to go.

Teddy Altman had a love/hate relationship with gyms and working out. On the one hand Teddy was never one to be hesitant to admit that should he have a chance. He’d be in his place on the helicarrier, drinking sodas, playing Super Smash Bros with some of his SHIELD friends, all trying to come up with God awful puns using character names. “I LINK you need to reevaluate your plan there pal.” “That game was the PIT." That kind of thing. Teddy wouldn’t mind procrastinating working out if he thought he could get away with it. Still once he was there it was never a bad experience. Put on some music from his smart phone and into his headphones. Do some cardio, lift an ungodly sized amount of weights. It always was a good time, especially for the looks he could get. doing so.

Still even as he laid on the weight bench. Hoisting a massive bar holding weights that would normally require multiple people to even put onto said bar, and doing so like it was nothing. Teddy had to admit he was getting kind of bored at the moment. SHIELD haven’t had a lot going on for him to do. Granted he did have his schedule cleared up a bit for the vacation to Disneyworld with his mom. Still it wasn’t normal to have to go out of your way to find things to take care of when you work for a place like SHIELD.

“Will Agent Teddy Altman please report to debriefing room C? Agent Altman to debriefing room C. Thank you.”

Just like that, it was time to work.

As he let the weight bar come back down onto the rack with resounding ‘THUD!’. Teddy reached over and grabbed a towel to wipe his face of the mild sweat that had formed. For the most part he looked normal at the moment. Though a good bit taller than most agents at around 6‘8. He had a frame which although impressive, hid just how freakishly strong he actually was. Still there were flecks of green on his skin visible from under his black gym shorts and SHIELD tanktop. It always happened when he was in his ‘normal’ form as he usually put it, and straining himself on weights. He wasn’t sure if it was something he should be concerned with, but never something he looked into personally.

After showing, and heading back to change out of his gym gear and into his proper SHIELD attire. Teddy was a bit curious what was going to be his assignment. It had been slow for him so it possible they were going to give him something slow to get back into the swing of things with. Which he wasn’t that thrilled with thinking about. He wanted action, he wanted to do his thing. It was partly why he joined SHIELD in the first place. Still opening the door to one of the smaller debriefing rooms Teddy smiled as he saw the legendary Howling Commando himself Dum Dum Dugan. Or as he liked to refer to him as...

“Hey Uncle Dum, what’s up?”

Dugan chuckled softly to himself, it had been Teddy’s nickname for him as long as he knew the agent. Sure it always under minded his tough exterior. But he couldn’t even bring himself to make Teddy stop calling him that.

“One of these days kid you’re going to outgrow calling me that...” Dugan pointed out as he finished his cigar, putting it out in a glass ashtray.

“Hardly.” Teddy told Dugan, flashing his cheeky grin as he gave Dugan a salute, which Dugan returned, before Teddy took his seat.

“Alright so let me cut to the chase Agent Altman. The reason we’ve been keeping you out of action for the last week is we’ve been considering you for what is a pretty substance promotion.” Dugan started, which immediately caught both Teddy’s attention and imagination.

“We’ve started a subset for the Avengers Initiative for younger meta humans. Right now its just known as the ‘Young Avengers Initiative’. So far it’s being headed up by America Chavez, one of the Avengers. However Teddy we believe the group could use a little more SHIELD experience. Experience we believe you can bring while fitting in with the rest of the group’s age range. Now right now we just want to know...” Before Dugan could even finish Teddy was already up out of his chair and leaning his hand down on the small table in front of him.

“Ohmygod YES YES YES YES YES YES YES HOLY CRAP YES!” Teddy’s eyes were beaming. Not only was it a promotion but it was involving the Avengers?! Teddy dreamed of being a superhero and now it was pretty much all but confirmed. Sure it was with a subset of the Avengers, but it wasn’t something Teddy would be insane enough to pass up.

Dugan couldn’t help but chuckle at Agent Altman’s eagerness. The kid had the kind of spunk he wished other agents had. Helped the kid could go undercover and wreck a tank with his bare hands at the same time though. “Alright alright Teddy I thought you’d be interested. Either way if you’re as I’m predicting you are. We’re going to have you assigned co-captain of the squad. Ms. Chavez still has her role with the Avengers so we can’t depend on her to lead the squad all the time. So if she does have other matters we’ll be having the team depend on you. Otherwise we would like you to assist Chavez in leading the squad. We know you’ve absorbed a lot of the knowledge we’ve taught you during SHIELD training. Hopefully you can use that to make sure Chavez grows as a leader.”

Teddy was still beaming as he awkwardly let himself re-seated and situated. It was his dream, real, and he felt like all the hard work had now started to pay off with something awesome. “Sir, with all due respect I promise to fulfill all of that. I’m absolutely honored to be given the chance and I won’t let you or anyone else down!” Teddy remarked almost needing to catch his breath from the good news. He couldn’t wait to tell his mom.

“I know you won’t. Still this also means we’re sending you out for your first assignment with them pretty much immediately.” Turning on the screen behind him Dugan gestured towards the digital picture of a young Hispanic man. “This is one of the people you’ll be working with. Name’s Humberto Lopez. Codename Reptil. He gained his powers to change part of his body into forms of dinosaurs when his parents, who worked for us in our Science division as palaeontologists, took him out to a dig site where he found a rare artifact. This artifact absorbed into him but not before it ended up changing another scientist out in the field. A Dr. Vincent Stegron. Dr. Stegron had been transformed into some kind of mutated dinosaur man figure. Humberto escaped the scene only to return to the scene with his parents and Dr. Stegron missing. Chavez personally had asked us for information pertaining to Dr. Stegron’s location and recently we believe to have found him out in the Savage Lands. While we don’t know if Lopez’s parents are with him the mission is to locate Dr. Stegron and if they are, rescue them and bring them back safely. Any questions?”

Admittedly the mission was to Teddy, putting it mildly, pretty fucked up. Still, one of the first things you learn as a SHIELD agent is that your idea of messed up is going to be trampled on in no time. Its even an inside joke among SHIELD agents when their “broken time” was. That moment that they witnessed so crazy and surreal that completely broke their sense of reality. Still Teddy was already itching to go in, as the mission did sound like one he felt he had to be a part of. His mom was a scientist with SHIELD as well, so he felt for Humberto and wanted to help as best he could. “No sir, has Ms. Chavez been given the news yet about me?” Teddy asked.

“Not yet, we’ve been busy setting the mission up when the superiors gave the call for you to be brought into the program. Though we believe she should be fine given with the decision knowing the circumstances. Now unless you need to know anything else, we need you to report to training room D where the others are.” Dugan reached into a nearby small podium which he pulled out of a folder he slide across the table to Teddy. “This contains information on not only Chavez but Lopez and also a Kate Bishop who is also on the team. Go ahead and read up on them on your way over.”

Teddy gave Dugan the nod that showed he understood. Standing up with the two of them saluting one another before Teddy started to leave the debriefing room. “Oh and Agent Altman?” Dugan asked, leaving Teddy to pause at the door. “Hopefully you can give them a sample of what you’re capable of. They should know we’re giving them a very high quality teammate with some capable abilities.” Dugan told him with a smile.

“Sure thing Uncle Dum.” Teddy couldn’t help but grin again.

“Get the Hell out of here Agent before I personally retract the offer...” Dugan frustratedly told Teddy but trying to hold back a laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Letting himself transform into what he jokingly called ‘work’ mode. Teddy Altman arrived to the observation area of the training room. Slightly taller at just under seven feet tall, more muscular. Most notably though with a green complexion all over, sharp clawed hands, what seemed like padded shoulders with multiple layers to them. Most of all large dragon like wings which he kept tucked in against his back.

“Uh hello? Sorry if I’m interrupting but I’m here to uh...” Teddy wasn’t exactly sure how to introduce himself. Since at the moment he looked like a monsterous seven foot green machine that most likely sounded like a babbling idiot. “I’m here reporting for the group. SHIELD is having me join your squadron acting as co-leader alongside Ms. Chavez. Sorry for the short notice, but I have been breached on the situation.” Teddy noted waving the manilla folder he had been reading on the way over. “So Mr. Lopez let me go ahead and say with my mom also working with SHIELD I’m more than ready and willing for this.” He assured Humberto. His tone making it clear he understood the ramifications.

There was a brief awkward pause before Teddy piped in again. "Uh oh also this is just to kind of show you guys what I can do since um... oh hold on...” Suddenly Teddy began to change out of the green form he was in and back into his human looking self. “This whole like... transforming... thing?” Teddy wasn’t sure at all how to phrase it. Shrugging awkwardly as he finished speaking. “Anyways, sorry... uh as you were saying America.”