A/n: So yeah another one and since this is an immediate update after chapter 6 i can't respond to any reviews on the last chapter for now. Nonetheless thanks for all your support, and suggestions can be made by you guys for the chapters ahead for me to make any additions from your requests.

Let's get to it.

Don't like, then don't read, its that simple..

Chapter 7: All variables on deck and a necessary death

People fear what they don't know and reject what they can't understand... Sometimes it is rejects and the unknowns that can make the most difference in a world of complacency. In order for such things to make the necessary difference , they must be put to the test against what the world regards as NORMAL..

What people regard as NORMAL is overrated... I was never normal before and even in this life i don't wish to be normal regardless of the world's rejection or fear of being different. NORMAL is good in some ways, but for there to be change, NORMAL must DIE...

With Steve:

Having had a quite debating and somewhat questionable conversation with both Banner and Stark, Rogers couldn't deny his curiousity and suspicion about SHIELD as well as their use of the Tesseract, especially now with Loki's scepter in play.

If all the organization wanted was to promote clean energy then why not invite Stark who was admittedly the best expert in the world on the subject?

The man was arrogant but he knew his stuff well, besides Stark was just a call away from Fury so why not contact him?

It was definitely suspicious indeed.

The Captain was about to check around the Aircraft until he felt a little strange, like something was off about him and the feeling was coming from within his suit. Like something was in his suit that shouldn't be.

It was a strange feeling but a feeling he wasn't gonna ignore considering it always saved him in the past.

Wasting no time, the captain proceeded to check his clothing and upon getting to his pockets he felt something inside.

Bringing out its content, it was a pen, and while trying to uncap it he felt a jolt of electricity in his palm making him drop it and wince slightly.

The sting having subsided he checked his palm and saw a burnt ink writing saying. "Follow your instincts"

Steve was confused by this, not just the writing but on how the pen got into his-

Wait a minute...

He remembered being hit by someone, "accidentally" at the time while on the ship a few minutes ago. He didn't quite get a look at the person nor did he bother with only a quick apology being given, but it seems that such encounter perhaps wasn't so accidental as that was the only person he had physical contact with on the ship.

Perhaps that would explain how the pen got into his pocket.

Coincidence?...

Very unlikely...

Now more than ever Rogers was very suspicious and had to make some findings to satisfy such a feeling. Whoever the mole was who put this into his pocket, the person did it for a reason and to him off all people.

Finding this person now and asking about what they knew would be a waste of time seeing as there were too many people on the ship to even begin with, however he could still make some other findings, and without a second thought he made his move, leaving the pen on the floor.

His gut hardly ever disappointed him and with this instruction, well perhaps he really needed to go with his gut.

Unknown to him, there was a tracking device imbedded in that pen and with it being shut off now, signaled to the receiver that work was in progress and that the intended target got the message.

Onto the next phase then.

Scene change (Sometime later):

While was everyone was bitching and arguing, none of the potential team members seemed to notice the increase in radiation of Loki's scepter which was currently feeding off their discord. At least no one in the room did...

In another part of the ship, a certain female checked her sensory watch which detected the sudden increase in radiation, however she was the only one with a device at that moment to be aware of such seeing as every other person was busy with other things. Though, the levels detected were just too high to be normal and it was quite disappointing that no one seemed to notice it, but it was to her advantage as she could act accordingly before any other person, besides the radiation was Otherworldly so normal detection gadgets wouldn't pick up on it.

Only she had a device capable of detecting such on the ship and for due reasons. Being ahead of the "Herd" was key after all...

It seemed the SHIELD operatives were too confident in their security not to be prepared for such seeing as no one was supposed to know about such an aircraft existing.

That was unimportant.

Her mission was almost complete as it seemed the captain had gone with his "Instincts" as suggested and was now probably questioning his findings in a heated situation near the only radioactive substance on the ship excluding banner, being the scepter.

But for now there was nothing she could yet until her "Lady" or The Boss gave the go ahead.

She would wait for either of them, and so she went back to her post.

"Kitten"

"What!" Blossom yelled mentally. She was still pissed at what she saw concerning Kage and the red head not too long ago and even more so since she was stuck her and could do nothing about it. What could she do really anyway as they were on a mission at the moment, so her ranting about her feelings on the subject would be, Unprofessional of her, something that she couldn't allow of herself and doubted The Boss would appreciate..

There was also the mental teasing she got from Kitty about her being overprotective and, Jealous...

The former was understandable, but the latter, like seriously..

"Loki's scepter is reacting to something. Its radiation levels have spiked significantly which seems to have attracted attention from visitors"

"What's causing it?" Asked the disguised woman with a focused demeanor, all traces of anger or boredom gone for the moment. It was a little amusing to Kitty how her host could change emotions so fast but chose not to comment on it.

She had commented enough already.

"It seems the Avengers are having a couples argument" The AI joked slightly.

Blossom wasn't amused as this was a serious matter especially with the possibility of "visitors".

If the "Visitors" were who she thought they were then that means Loki's band of loyal and corrupted followers were around the corner with no one on this ship none wiser.

To think the world's top security organization didn't know they were hacked, twice, and now possibly about to be attacked.

They were manipulated from the start and now they would pay the consequence.

"Is Banner in the room with them?"

"Yes"

Well it seems the consequence may be chaotic if the DR was in play. An attack on the ship would definitely trigger the "Other guy", but she was sure Kage would handle it if no one else could.

The Hulk was a minor nuisance to her brother and too her too, but she would only face the beast if it was necessary. She was strong, but not arrogant and trouble seeking.

"Communicate this Kurama then"

"He most likely already knows and probably The Boss too"

"What about our agents, especially those "two"? Are they aware?" Blossom inquired further.

"I believe they are aware as well. As for the rest of our agents on the ship we have very few of them on duty and a far from harms reach if there was an attack. Do you want me to instruct the other "two" further?"

She thought about it for a moment and then answered.

"No. They have their orders. Let things play out the way they should be, only then would we act" she finished..

'At last, some action to come'.. She thought with anticipation.

People were gonna get hurt, but that was the way of the world especially when war is lurking.

"You save the world, but you can't save everyone individually". Kage once said and she had to agree.

For now she would wait...

There was still some more action to come and it would be explosive if she had anything to say about it.

Scene change:

"I CAN'T DIE ALRIGHT, neither can the other guy. I put a bullet in my mouth and then he spit it out, so yeah you cannot kill me" said Banner with a pained expression on his face. He didn't particularly know why he was being so open about this, but who cared.. He needed to let off some steam and this was better than going full green mode.

Besides they were pissing him off with how they were tiptoeing around him.

Well it seemed he was so carried away that he didn't realize he was holding the scepter.

With how everyone was looking at him, suspiciously and with some wariness he knew something was definitely not right. This wasn't supposed to happen...

"You puny humans arguing like worms fighting for food in the belly of a beast!" stated a deep Robotic voice apparently from nowhere.

Everyone looked around in surprise trying to find the source of the voice, but to no avail.

At least now they were distracted..

"Are you all that stupid that you didn't realize that you had a radioactive, otherworldly object glowing and radiating as much nuclear energy as a nuclear bomb in your current surroundings? Even those on the outside can detect it and you bunch can't even despite being so close... PATHETIC!" remarked the same voice through the speakers as everyone had identified where the sound was coming from.

It was Kurama, and yes, both he and Kage knew what was happening. The latter's peculiar conversation with Loki being quite enlightening as to what the mischievous god's plan was.

So far, his people were ready, all was good, for SHIEILD however, well...

Everyone in the room looked at the scepter and did notice that it was indeed glowing and radiating more energy, however they all had the same question in mind. "Who was talking".

Though Stark had a different question in mind.

"Is that an AI's voice?" the man questioned mentally.

It sure sounded like one, but quite... different.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" ordered Fury, his lone eye narrowed at the speakers.

"I believe its too late for that Mr one eye, and oh yes, a message from the Boss for all of you... Don't blink" with that said, the voice died.

Before anyone could answer or ask anymore questions. It happened.

BOOM!

All hell broke loose.

Scene change:

With the Hulk on a rampage which took out both Natasha and Thor, the latter who was fighting the behemoth and losing, the rest of the ship was in chaos with people scrambling all over.

Everywhere was a mess.

The worst place for that to happen being the control room with armed enemies using grenades and smoke bombs in play, Fury doing his best to take them out one after the other.. But there was only so much he could do.

Hill was unconscious, everyone was either running to safety or injured and well the Team were occupied, so yeah there was only so much he could do against an army of soldiers of which he was about to get shot by one.

Luckily, a certain irritated, disguised woman appeared on the scene, acrobatically out of nowhere and rammed into the armed man. pushing him some distance away with a strong force that was enough to knock him out cold.

It was Blossom herself, still in her disguise who had made her way from her position over here as soon as the chaos started, picking up speed and zoning out her surroundings and the people running around in panic.

She had a specific target in mind which was a mission from Kage himself.

It was to find Fury and make sure he was kept alive.

Yes, Kage had ordered her to protect Fury once there was an attack as well as keep the casualties on the ship to a minimum by taking out as many enemies as possible.

They both did have financial investments into the aircraft project so letting it go to ruins wasn't an option. Also Kage felt somewhat obligated to keep people safe from getting hurt, but since he probably would have other things to deal with at that time, she was the main muscle that he had as no other operative of theirs was close by.

Most of the enemies were in the main control room and that was why she ran here.

As for keeping Fury alive, well she didn't want to think about that. It's not the man couldn't take care of himself, but he was just one man, and only human.

So now she had to become a bodyguard of sorts?...

Great...

The colored man being alive was still useful in a lot ways and he had yet to repay all the favors both she and her brother had given him.

Favors they intended to collect on very soon..

All those thoughts aside, now, she was gonna let loose and flex her aching muscles.

It had been way too long since she last had a fight.

Now fully aware of her surroundings and enemy location, the woman in question skillfully summoned a set of shuriken in her fingers and threw them at fast speeds towards a some of the armed men, hitting them in vital spots, taking them out as they fell to the ground lifeless or injured.

However just to be sure she gave a mental order which made the embedded sharp projectiles in the bodies of the men explode, killing them for sure as their body was blown to bits.

One of the armed men still standing began shooting at her, spraying bullets all over in order his target with reckless abandon which only increased the panic all around the room as the remaining people continued to scream, but the woman showed quite the composure and agility as she expertly dodged all the shots fired at her, luring the shooting away from any other person in order to prevent unnecessary casualties.

Eventually the man ran out of bullets and had to reload giving her time to act as she leaped at him acrobatically, swinging her legs around his neck, twisting him around and then grabbing unto his arm in a firm lock, breaking it and making him wince shortly, then grabbed his neck to snap it with ease.

'Next'.. was the thought on her mind.

Other armed men taking notice of the new threat wanted to shoot all at her but she quickly picked up the dead man's gun, threw it at one of them to disorient him which gave her time to cover the distance as she grabbed unto him to use him as a shield to take all the shots fired at her.

Once she had enough, she kicked her now dead human shield with surprising strength towards one of the other men, the force of impact taking him out, summoned more shurikens and began to throw them acrobatically with precision and fast speeds all around to hit her targets dead on while still dodging being shot at.

As she flipped all around to evade being hit, she could see the bullets fly past her in slow motion, just inches away from her body parts and to be honest, it was an exciting feeling.

Ohh how she longed for this, the thrill of a fight with the opponent having superior firepower and being multiple in number.

The speed at which she was dodging the barrage of bullets and at how she was throwing the sharp projectiles was amazing and so fast that anyone who would get caught watching couldn't hope to keep up.

It was almost inhuman...

After taking out more armed men with her fast thrown medium range projectiles and skillfully evading being shot, she stopped dodging seeing as the shooting had stopped signifying that the men wanted to reload or were out of bullets. It was the latter as the remaining men tried attacking her in close combat since they were out of ammunition.

They all came at once as they wanted to bombard or push her into a corner in order to effectively take her out and prevent her from using her long ranged weapons.

Their mistake..

Wasting no time, she went into expert hand to hand combat with the multiple targets, grabbing and breaking their arms, cracking jaws with her punches, dislocating ankles and joints with her kicks and throwing them around at each other with incredible force and ease like they weighed nothing.

However they weren't staying down and kept coming at her, some even with knives and so she returned the favor by summoning a small pair of knives and used them to cut open her assailants with fast, multiple and precise cuts, increasing the power behind her hits, tearing into their skin and effectively taking them out.

One wanted to get away and so she threw her knife at him as it pierced the back of his head upon impact, killing him instantly as he fell to the ground.

If all the armed men weren't dead, then they would soon be as they would bleed out.

In a short span she had multiple bodies of men all around the room, mostly dead and few unconscious with cuts, broken bones and a pair of bloody knives her hands.

Well it was one knife in hand as she stretched the other hand to attract the knife embedded in the head of the downed man back to her, of which the small blade responded accordingly with blood all over it.

She was completely unharmed and frankly, she was disappointed at how quickly it ended.

This wasn't even much of a fight as she could have easily breezed through these men faster if she had a more standard weapon, that wasn't even considering using her more extensive skill set.

However her disappointment was cut short by a fast arrow close to piercing her head, her very quick reflex just allowing her to move her head backwards in time as it flew past her a few inches in slow motion.

Thankfully her seeing it in slow motion allowed her detect the explosive attached to its head, making her backflip away before it made contact with the floor as it exploded upon impact.

Looking up, she saw the sillouhette of man making an escape and was about to give chase to the fool who dared use her for target practice until a click of 2 guns were made in her direction.

"Hold it right there" ordered the now conscious agent Hill forcefully. Fury being on the opposite side with a gun pointed at the unknown woman.

He had seen many shit in his life, but no agent of his could move as fast as this woman. Such skill and precision to take out these many armed and trained men without a scratch, that was something else. Even Natasha would have difficulty, maybe even resort to using guns to fire back but this woman used fucking throwing ninja stars, almost inhuman speeds to move around and surprising strength to take out bulky armed men in a very short span of time.

Yeah, he watched the entire thing...

She might be dressed as one of SHIELD'S operatives, her glasses with her appearance making her look like a computer nerd which was most likely a disguise, but Fury knew that none on this aircraft could do what she just did. Not by a long shot, except maybe HIM..

Now that he thought about it, she did look a little familiar though...

That pegged the question, who was she?

"Identify yourself" he ordered even more forcefully than Hill.

"In quite a pickle aren't you kitten. You got the action but forgot the reaction... You aren't losing your touch are you?" Joked Kitty.

Of course her host could definitely get out of this quickly, that didn't the female AI wouldn't make an attempt to tease.

"I won't ask you again, identify yourse-" Fury was cut off and the ship began to fall sideways, making him and Hill lose their balance, dropping their weapons and temporarily losing sight of their target as the engines shut down and the computers momentarily offline.

The woman they had pinned down and wanted to interrogate a moment ago now gone like she was never there.

They had more things to worry about now with the aircraft plummeting...

Unknown to them Barton had shot a virus injecting arrow at the mainframe control using the chaos with the shootout as a distraction to get the job done, the virus now scrambling everything on the ship especially a set of locked doors where Loki was kept caged in.

Well Kitty knew about that but kept that to herself seeing as her Host was busy kicking ass and having her moment.

While Fury was yelling out orders on the comms to Stark, the captain and a now conscious Natasha, the disguised woman was listening in from the shadows.

When Blossom heard enough, she made her move..

It seemed her work here was done for now as others were in place to do the rest in terms of saving the aircraft from crashing.

At least she got some action..

Though, there was a small score to settle with a certain arrowhead guy if she could beat the red head spy first to get to him.

Blossom was sure the woman was already on the move to stop her friend, but she would beat her to it, maybe even have a small confrontation with the former spy afterwards.

She was still irritated about the footage she saw of the woman and Kage in a closely locked position even though it was with due cause.

Perhaps a little detour wouldn't hurt, after all she wasn't the only one on the ship with directives from her brother.

Speaking of which, she did wonder what was he up to amidst the chaos.

With Kage:

With the Hulk out of the way, there was nothing on the aircraft whether ally or foe that Kage couldn't deal with in the unfolding panic and chaos, one that he was currently sitting out and letting play on its own.

Loki was really a creative and cunning bastard to plan all of this as the Asgardian intentionally allowed himself to be captured for the purpose of weakening the potential enemy and causing distrust amongst their ranks.

Such action had the reminiscent feel of Kage's old life where the ninja world thrived off deceit and betrayal, at least until he changed it all by bringing peace to the world after the 4th war.

Loki could have definitely thrived in the elemental nations indeed. In this reality however, the Asgardian would fail miserably with or without the Avengers. There may be no peace here like his world, but there would be no room for tyranny either especially not by an outsider.

The truth was, there was never much of peace after the 4th war as Otsutsuki upon Otsutsuki kept showing up. Here it seemed things were not so different as when one problem was settled, another would arise, this time on an inter galactic scale.

Kage was ready to take on Loki and his army alone if it came down to it and while it would be quite the challenge, he was confident he could handle them as he had faced worse.

What could be worse than a large, unknown army of Chitauri?

Well in the farthest reaches of the universe and dimensions, darker beings with more sinister ideals existed ones that he doubted Loki had the faintest of an idea of. Though he had yet to fully interrogate the Asgardian, Kage was sure that Loki didn't have the faintest clue of what true power was as the bastard was just all talk and little no bite. Hell even Kurama as an AI could deal with the god as he wasn't even worth fighting.

How Thor ever lost to Loki was a mystery to Kage till now.

However that didn't mean Loki didn't have any connections to beings who knew of what true power was as his conversation with him was somewhat enlightening in that regard. The god was afraid of failure and tried covering up his fear with arrogant words, not because of failure itself but because of what whoever he had connections with would do to him if he failed.

That alone concerned Kage.

After all this he would have another chat with the Asgardian, a more hands on conversation to make the god of mischief spill his guts. He was sure by now that Loki would be in the process of escaping, something that his idiot brother Thor would probably have had an unintentional hand in by whatever attempt he would make to confront his misguided brother, leading to Thor himself falling into another mess of his own.

It was always like that with Thor and his brother and it never ceased to be amusing. It wasn't his problem though as whatever mess Thor dug himself into, he would dig himself out of. Besides, he had a few issues to settle with the Hot Head Lighting god especially about breaking the terms that he set for him when they last spoke.

However before he could think further, he felt it.. His tattooed eye narrowed in concentration at the feeling and his muscles tensing up slightly.

Looking in a specific direction, Kage just stared as his posture became rigid and static.

DEATH was in the air and not just anyone's death, it was someone important.

"Boss" spoke the AI in slight concern for his Host. Kage's emotions were spiking through the roof and not in a positive way.

They both knew this was coming as it was expected, but still...

Without another thought, Kage disappeared in a burst of unprecedented speed, leaving a cold aura in his wake.

Scene change:

When Natasha caught up with Barton there were a few things she had in mind , and perhaps a few approaches even as to how to deal with her friend. All of that however was put on abrupt hold when she encountered the archer being held in a chokehold by an unidentified person.

Judging by the clothing the person wore she would say he or she was one of SHIELD'S operatives, but considering the scene in front of her, Natasha doubted that was the case.

A spy or mole maybe?

Whoever this was had quite the strength to be able to lift the man with one hand and with ease.

On reflex Natasha placed her hand on her gun holster, ready to draw her weapon at a moments notice if this person turned on her. Looking a little closely she did notice that Barton's body had fallen limp, signifying that he was unconscious, however the person didn't relent from the chokehold which prompted Natasha to draw her weapon as she spoke.

"Drop him"

CLICK! was the sound of her gun ready to fire.

Immediately he was released.

THUD! was the sound of Barton's limp body falling to the ground, Natasha still pointing her gun at the person who was still facing opposite her.

"Step away from the body and turn around. Slowly" Natasha ordered cautiously.

The person did as instructed, turning around slowly and when she saw the person's face, Natasha was confused..

White hair, stone cold green eyes, a composed posture and an emotionless look, yeah she knew who this was and that added more to the confusion because by all accounts, this person was not supposed to be here and certainly not dressed as a SHIELD operative.

"It looks like you have seen a ghost" replied the person in question with hands placed calmly behind the person's back like the world's deadliest woman wasn't pointing a gun in their direction.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Demanded Natasha with a heavy frown, still pointing her gun.

"What else would i be doing here if its not my brothers work. Where he goes, i go and besides, you are welcome"

Natasha was now more confused especially with the last statement.

"Welcome for what"

"Stopping your friend here from doing anymore damage and escaping" the person gestured to thee unconscious man lying on the floor behind.

Natasha only narrowed her eyes at that, holding her gun even tighter with her finger pressed firmly against the trigger. Taking out Barton was no joke and judging by the state he was in she would say the now identified person took him down with relative ease.

She had to be wary, after all this was the sister of the no 1 enigma on SHIELD'S official and unofficial radar. The fact that she was even here at the same time with her brother just didn't sit right with Natasha.

She wasn't even sure why the woman's brother was here after all he denied her request to accept helping them out.

So now with two of them in play, yeah Natasha was confused.

Lady Ryu was as much of an enigma as her brother, and in not a good way. The woman creeped her out from the first day she met her and that was saying something seeing as Natasha had dealt with a lot of creepy people before. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing a more mature, deadlier version of herself.

She shuddered just thinking about that..

Did Fury know about this?.. Was this a plan of sorts?. Natasha wondered.

"How did you get in here?"

"With a disguise of course, how else" Blossom replied like it was the most obvious thing, her face not changing its expression.. She had long ditched her disguise and now more than ever she wasn't bothered to reveal herself.

All the cameras on the ship were down and so she didn't have to worry herself about being seen or detected. Everyone was either in hiding from the chaos or finding ways to fix the falling aircraft.

"And" inquired the former spy further.

"The rest is History as they say" was the immediate cryptic reply.

"Well history or not you are gonna have to tell me those ways because you aren't going anywhere until I am satisfied" finished Natasha with her gun still pointed at the woman.

Then the woman did something unexpected.. She chuckled..

This prompted a raised eyebrow from the red head.

"You speak as if you hold the power here but you don't. If i were you i would put down that gun and attend to my friend over here unless you want me to demonstrate why i am the sister of the one and only Dragon" finished Blossom definitively.

"Is that a threat?"

"It could be if you don't behave as instructed. My brother might be nice, but i am not especially with someone like you"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" demanded Natasha in slightly angered tone. She didn't know why this woman's words were getting to her, but something about the way she spoke was, off...

Instead of a response, Blossom just walked towards the red head in slow and steady strides, hands behind her back, her face remaining as emotionless and composed as ever.

Natasha just watched the woman like a hawk as she approached, her fingers itching to pull the trigger of her gun the closer the woman got to her. She even had the urge to take a few steps back, but she held strong under the oppressive aura the white haired woman gave off.

A small bead of sweat even fell off her forehead when the woman got too close.

Silence...

This was no ordinary Businesswoman, heck nothing was ordinary about the Ryu empire. She did wonder if Fury had a file on her too as well.

Now standing a few feet away, the gun pointed directly in her face, Blossom just stared through the weapon at the Red head, her green eyes clashing with woman's own as they had a brief stare down.

In her mind, she was amused at the Red head's valiant effort to stand her ground, but subtle signs in the woman's posture indicated that she was wary and a little afraid.

Good!..

She had to give it to the former spy though, she was a good actress indeed.

"You just had to make your presence known and felt huh Kitten" the AI said offhandedly.

Her host wasn't arrogant, but she did like to throw her weight around especially when she sensed anything remotely dangerous.

It was Hypocritical, but Kitty wouldn't say that out loud, at least not at such time.

With her aim achieved, Blossom walked past Natasha without care in the world. However, the red head wasn't done yet as she made an attempt to restrain the woman, grabbing her arm only for her hand holding the gun to be twisted and the weapon placed under her chin by the woman in a firm arm lock.

Damn! she thought as the red head had barely seen the woman's movement, nor did she anticipate such speed.

The speed of the counter was impressive, but the strength behind the grip was even more so. Heck she was even standing on her toes as the woman had her partially lifted into the air.

"I didn't say you could leave" Natasha managed to speak out even in her compromised state.

She was trying to figure a way of escaping this grip, but she was failing with every mental attempt.

"Nor did i ask for your permission" Finished Blossom. "Like I said, if I were you I would deal with your friend over there and-

Before she could add anything further, She felt it...

'Hmmmm' the white haired woman hummed to herself while still holding the red head in the arm lock. "It seems someone important has met their untimely end already. If i were you i would find out who it was instead of picking fights you don't want"

With that said, Blossom with another feat of strength tossed Natasha to the other side, but the red head was able to cushion her fall by rolling backwards onto the ground once she hit the floor, getting into her super hero pose and ready to get back into action.

(Reader, If you watched Black widow then you should know the pose I am talking about)

However once she looked up, her target was gone, with only an unconscious Barton on the ground.

"Shit!" she exclaimed to herself.

She wasn't gonna let this go, not by a long shot.

Temporarily forgetting Blossom's last statement, Natasha went onto checking up on her downed friend, making a report to Fury that he had been captured.

She would soon find out what the white haired woman meant.

With Rogers:

The captain was in a pickle of his own as he was simultaneously fighting off enemies while playing his part to assist Stark to save the falling Aircraft.

From butting heads to working together, who would have thought..

Steve had successfully dispatched several enemies but one in particular was persistent and shooting at him with quite the heavy firepower which was disturbing him from pulling the lever Stark asked him to.

"Capsicle what's your status?" asked an occupied Stark through the comms.

"Working on it" was Steve's sharp reply as he remained behind cover.

The heavy shooting continued, making him to stay hidden for a little longer.

He was enhanced, not immortal or invincible.

Suddenly, the shooting stopped.

A brief yell, a cracking sound and that was it. Silence..

Quickly getting out of cover, the captain was ready to pounce on whoever was there but when he emerged there was no one, except the body of the armed man on the ground.

Briefly, his senses caught unto movement.

Not wanting whoever it was to escape he picked up the downed man's gun and pointed it in the direction he saw movement, calling out with small bursts of shots fired in the person's direction.

"STOP"

The shots did their work as the person jumped out of hiding.

The revealed person stopped cold, facing opposite of the captain, not making any movement whatsoever despite the situation.

"Hands were i can see them" the captain ordered while trying to get a description of how the person looked like.

The person was dressed as a SHIELD operative, but at that point it could be anyone just playing dress up.

Besides if the person was just a simple operative then why wear a hood...

"You don't want me to do that" replied the person with a robotic voice.

So this person wanted to keep their voice Hidden too then. More reason to be wary.

"And why is that?" inquired the captain further with his hands firmly on the gun and his posture ready for a confrontation.

"I would hate to hurt you"

Steve wasn't a proud guy, but his ego did take a small hit a hearing that.

"The more reason why I should be wary of you then". Rogers answered with a frown... After a brief pause he asked. "Who are you?"

"An ally"

Steve eyes narrowed.

"How can I be sure of that?"

The hooded individual thought for a moment.

"I did take out the person shooting at you" the person replied while while still facing opposite the captain.

"That doesn't prove anything"

"Think back then"

"What"

"The pen"

"What pe-

Then it clicked. Lowering the gun a little for a brief moment he replied in confirmation. "It was you"

"Yes"

So he wasn't crazy then.

"Why?"

"I think the better question is who, but as for why, well your instincts never lie do they." the person replied knowingly.

Steve was confused, but still kept his sights and gun pointed at the person's back.

"Who are you?" he asked again, but this time more forcefully.

"You know who I am" the person said even more knowingly, giving a sideways glance at him with the hood still covering their face.

Steve was about to enquire further, until a voice in the comms distracted him.

"Capsicle what's the hold up already. I am dying here"

"On it, just give me a-

Looking ahead, the person he was interrogating now gone and nowhere in sight.

Damnit Stark" thought the captain as he went back to his initial mission.

One thing was sure, there was a lot going on behind the scenes and Steve wanted to be in the know about these things and especially who was behind them.

For now he would stay focused on the mission.

Hopefully there will be little to no casualties after this.

Scene change:

"Coulsen is down" were the 3 words that made the entire team to be in the state they were now.

It was sorrowful times indeed.

There were losses, injuries, chaos and even more of the latter to come after this but there right now there was a loss that was above others.

It was the death of an ally, a companion, a devout follower, a friend.

Laying there on the brink of death was Coulsen, the ever present right hand man of Fury, a very good ally as well as confidant of Natasha Romanoff.

The former spy would be hit harder than most by such event considering what the man had done for her over the years. She didn't even want to think of losing another person that close to her again. No, she couldn't let that happen.

She might have lost one companion, but at least she had gotten back another being her buddy Barton, though in a slightly compromised state.

A least one her closest people was still alive. That was good enough..

Was that what the white haired bitch was referring to about someone important having died?

How did she even know about that?

If she like the rest of the team didn't discover that it was Loki who did this then she would have thought the woman was responsible. She had a lot questions but for now, they would have to wait to be answered.

And she will get answers.

At this point, it was a time to mourn and hopefully, re-strategize..

What was Coulsen thinking getting involved in a fight with gods?

It was foolish getting involved in a battle like he did and with a so called Asgardian god no less, but Coulsen wasn't one to shy away from a fight.. Unfortunately, his brief fight with Loki would be his last. For now anyway...

In the Marvel world, nothing was ever as it seemed, even death..

He was supposed to be the man to take after Fury when the man step's down, but fate had other plans. His death was a necessary one to those who it mattered as this wasn't the end, rather it was the beginning of another phase.

At least his death would serve as a motivation for the Team of Heroes to work together and save the world, at least he hoped so just as he told Fury, believing that the man would do what needed to be done to get the team together and working.

It was a noble last act, one that Fury intended to honor and maybe even pull strings along the way to give his old friend another chance at life. Secretly of course.

There was a forbidden protocol of SHIELD which a handful few knew about, Fury included, would have been enough to revive him though with some crucial side effects.

However that wouldn't be the case, at least not in this reality.

A certain White Haired, tattooed enigma of a supposed Billionaire would have his say on the matter. This time, not even Fury would interfere...

No, our main character had bigger plans in mind... The Director of SHIELD would be in for a shock when such plans were revealed, that's if he was still alive then.

Coulsen would be missed by everyone especially the one eyed leader, but it was better this way.

Standing before the dying agent was Kage himself, his tattooed face calm and yellowish eyes with an unknown emotion in them.

The man was already dead as it was only a matter of seconds before he would pass away, so he just stood there, watching the man as he could hear his heart beat slower by the second indicating imminent death.

Kage didn't pity the man, no, he respected him before and now even more so. He would die a Hero and frankly, such a death was needed for future purposes.

This was not the end for the man. It was an end, but not "The End", far from it.

COUGH! COUGH! the almost dead man started to choke on his blood as he briefly gained consciousness on reflex, but was calmed by Kage's hand was placed on his chest, sharing a calming energy with the man as he kneeled before him and spoke softly afterwards.

"Rest now brother, rest for now. It will be over soon" Kage said quietly.

The dying Coulsen could only stare at his kneeling companion, his eyes almost dead but there was an emotion in them, one that Kage recognized quite easily. It was an interesting emotion, one that he knew all too well.

Then, it was over... Coulsen was gone as the life drained from his eyes and went limp.

If Fury thought he was the last man to see the dying agent then he was wrong.

A lot of people had scores to settle with the Asgardian, especially now with a dead comrade by his hands. Kage now was one of them, but for other reasons..

Good!

Onto the next phase it was..

"Kurama!" Kage called out mentally.

"Already done. The necessary parties have been notified and will do as instructed" replied the AI quickly.

"What about Blossom?"

"Her mission is done alongside the other one. Your orders Boss"

Kurama knew this was a time to be serious considering what the dying man meant to his Host and the situation at hand. Besides, he was The Boss and had to be treated as such especially when it was called for.

"None for now"

"Understood"

The AI understood that despite being a partner and companion to Kage, he had his place in the hierarchy of abundant connections his Host had at his disposal.

Yes, his host had many connections and a lot of secrets behind him and it was quite ironic considering he wasn't as secretive while still living as Naruto Uzumaki.

The former Orange Hokage was an open book with a plain mind, this version of him put even the late Madara Uchiha to shame.

But at least he still had one attribute from his old life which was still trusted companionship, though on a more conservative scale.

He may have lesser people as companions in this life with a less naivety when making such relationships, but he still had them, though for less friendly purposes.

Unknown to many including Fury, the dead man on the ground was one of them, but this was not the end.

Now standing to his feet, Kage looked at the dead man's body for a while as he was focused in thought.

Human life was so fragile and minuscule compared to the many entities outside of Earth. In his previous life he had died once before after Kurama in his 9 tails form was taken from him during the 4th war, and died again in old age only to find himself in a new body, in a new world with most of his abilities gone.

Even in this new life he had encountered death several times, with death still lurking around him even till now but regardless he was still alive, kicking and most importantly, he was sane.

No human would be able to take on his burdens, both past and present. He was still human for the most part, but now more than ever he had to push past those boundaries, again.

The saddest part of it all was that more people would die in this invasion and in the ones to come because Earth just as Thor said, was showing others that they were prepared for a higher form of war, a war that they were completely outclassed for and considering the Dark entities that exist in the universe, Earth wouldn't survive even with the Avengers in place as a working unit.

Kage guessed that was where fate thought it best he came into the picture.

He shook his head mentally at that. To think he once didn't believe in fate.

This new life of his had made him have a more conservative and thoughtful approach, one that he was sure many of his friends from his old life would be shocked to see him apply.

Even as the strongest Shinobi of all time he was still for the most part an idiot even up to old age. Times were different then as well as the way of life, here on the other hand the strongest didn't always win as if that was the case then a certain female Celestial of earth would be unstoppable.

The woman did have that mentality when he met her, that was until when he beat her down and took down her ego quite a peg.

Those were thoughts for other times.

"What now boss?"

Kage now fully focused again looked away from the dead body and ahead into space, saying to no one in particular one word.

"War".

All unknown variables were making their debuts and now, it was time to come out of the shadows and go to work.

It was time for the Shadow Dragon to become The Maelstrom...

A/n: So Coulsen is dead and we move on to the next phase. Well i left some cliffhangers for y'all and if you can figure out where i am going with this then Kudos to you.

The man's death was a necessary one as it motivated the Avengers to come together, however i have something else in mind as regards how it relates to our protagonist, but that will be for much later.

My Oc won't be paired with Naruto, but will have a significant impact on his development. She was chosen and saved by our main character for a reason and she already had a brief stand off with Natasha with more of such scenes to play out as the story moves forward.

Any reviews from the last chapter and this one would be responded to accordingly if required in the next chapter, of which it will take quite a while to be updated since my next target is my other story, "A god Awakened".

Next chapter will be the Manhattan war, of course with a lot of personal changes so expect more ambiguity and variations. As regards Naruto and My OC's relationship as well as history will be touched on as we progress, and as for the female character who Rogers encountered, well she is part of the Marvel Universe and will be revealed later.

As for how Naruto and Tenji are connected, that will also be touched on as we progress. Yes, Tenji is also and OC, but a brief one since he is dead, or sort of.

Peace out and God bless.