Hey folks been a little bit but finally running out an update for the Reading: Hela's Vanguard. Please go check out the original fic on AizenTheGoat's profile here on fanfiction.
Furthermore if you want to chat at either Aizen or myself come join the servers that we frequent on discord. Links for both the Goat Server and Triumvirate server can be found here→ /7x4YFstKcz and here→ /auc4PQjVtz
A quick review reply and we will get to it.
Review by warfire17: This reading is awesome, if you can, after you finish this, you should do Naruto: Magik by Thayerblue1 I think you could make an awesome reading for that story.
My response: I would love to do a reading for Thayerblue1. Huge fan of their stories. That being said I only do readings for folks that talk to me directly about it. Truth be told his star trek fic is one of my favorites on fanfiction and I would love doing a reading for it.
Anyway let's get on with the story shall we?
Minato was rather pleased to be the one to receive the book next and begin reading. The host had acquiesced to Kushina and Sasuke's request to keep going.
"I thought I told you two to wait outside until I came to get you." Thor said clearly irritated.
Loki and Kushina chuckled at that. Both were pleased to get to see the aftermath of Naruto and Loki messing with Thor.
"True brother. You did." Loki agreed "But it started getting cold out there and we figured it'd be a lot warmer in here." Naruto nodded, agreeing with the black haired god. Despite not knowing Naruto not a soul in that building was buying their story for a second.
"Ok. Somebody's gonna have to explain what's going on here. Pronto. Come on." Stark said with a clap of his hands. Having one of the most dangerous people the Avenger's have fought along with a complete unknown was not something he was comfortable with. Naruto noticed that after the man had clapped his left hand was creeping closer to some sort of device on his chest. He briefly wondered what exactly that would do. He had to put his thoughts on hold as Thor began doing damage control.
"One of the most dangerous people they have dealt with, huh? Impressive praise from a former enemy, Loki." Hela commented.
"Yes, well I do suppose I aim to please." Loki replied with only a bit of sarcasm in his tone.
"Alright. I'm sure all of you know my brother Loki." Said brother flashed a charming smile and waved. He was not surprised to find that no one bothered to wave back. Thor then pointed to Naruto "This is our brother in law Narudo." He introduced.
Thor averted his eyes from the glances sent his way. He wasn't the best when it came to names, plus Naruto's was a bit of a strange one.
"Uh it's Naruto." The blond clarified.
Thor looked at him with a somewhat confused expression. "Yes. That's what I said." He replied before continuing. "Anyways these are the Avengers. We have Tony Stark, known to the world as Iron Man. Rhodes known as War Machine. Then…" He trailed off as he looked at the young boy.
"So he's new then?" Minato asked.
"Yes." Answered though he was very intrigued by the young man.
Noticing all the eyes on him the young man spoke. "Oh hey I'm Peter Parker." Peter walked forward to be polite and shake their hands but was stopped as a hand fell on his shoulder.
"Uh uh don't get too close. One of them has tried to conquer Earth before and the two get along so he can't be that much better." Tony says still cautious.
Loki simply shrugged and Hela snorted at the midgardian's actions. Had her beloved wished it there was nothing that could stop him from hurting the boy. Well almost.
Seeing this Naruto raised his hands up to try and appease the man. "I'm not here to conquer anything alright." He says before willing the reality stone to display his staff in his hand. Probably not the best idea since everyone not named Thor or Loki immediately got on guard. "If I wanted to take over the planet or kill everybody I could have by now." He added before sliding his hand down slightly allowing everyone to see two glowing stones.
Thor and Odin both rolled their eyes at the clearly smug expression on Hela's face. However some of the readers could tell she was almost disappointed they weren't watching Naruto take the planet in her name.
"Thor." Tony called "Are those what I think they are?" He asked, his eyes never leaving the glowing rocks.
Thor laughed as he took in everyones shocked reactions along with the young mans confused one. "Yes my friend. Two infinity stones. The Space stone as well as the Reality stone." His voice then took a more serious tone. "The Mad Titan Thanos is on a quest to collect all six of them."
"He says he plans of collecting the stones and then using them to decimate half of all living life in the universe." Naruto finished.
"And suddenly your conflicted past with them probably doesn't matter." Sasuke commented.
"What can I say, when things get tough I'm someone everyone wants on their side." Loki shrugged.
"Dear brother, be careful your head is starting to swell with hot air." Hela said with mild annoyance.
Loki frowned but Frigga almost smiled at the sight of Hela curbing Loki's most fatal flaw.
"For the first time Tony actually looked serious as opposed to apprehensive. "And you're trying to keep him from them?" He asked "How do we know you can keep those safe. Don't take it the wrong way but try and look at it from our angle. It doesn't sound smart to let someone we don't know go around collecting infinity stones." He explained.
"I mean, he makes a fair point." Sakura commented.
"Only because he has yet to see Naruto in action." Sasuke shrugged his shoulder.
"Well he has two stones already and so far hasn't killed anyone or taken over the earth. If he has control over space and reality I don't think it'd be relatively hard for him to do so. Not that I trust him or anything." Peter said adding that last part after being given a look from Tony.
"Oh I like this boy." Hela chuckled, getting snorts of humor and nods of agreement from the room.
"Well it's either that or we let Thanos get them." Loki added "Currently he's in possession of the power stone. If I were to wager I'd say he's out looking for the rest." No one said anything as they all thought over what they'd just heard.
Tony rubbed his chin as he thought things over. Two people were hunting for the most powerful objects in the universe. There was only one way he could see this ending, and that was in an all out war. He looked towards Rhodes and Peter before looking at his Asgardian friend.
"You trust him?" He asked.
Thor felt his sister's and her mother in law's eyes boring into him faintly and shifted uncomfortably from the sudden attention.
Thor looked over at Naruto still slightly miffed about being put on the spot earlier but nods. "Yes. He's faced Thanos once already and forced him to retreat. Besides, if Thanos gets the stones there's the possibility that he wipes out my sister in the process, and I know he won't stand for that." Tony walked over to a cabinet and took out a glass before filling it with some sort of alcoholic beverage.
Hela looked displeased at the idea of being considered so simply eliminated by Thanos while simultaneously looking very pleased that her husband would clearly take on the Mad Titan just for her.
"Ok. So two stones are here, Thanos has the power stone. Vision has the mind stone. That leaves two stones unaccounted for." Tony explained as he took a drink.
"Yeah. The Time stone and the Soul stone are still unknown." Naruto replied. "You said this Vision person has the Mind stone, where is he?" If he could convince the man to hand it over it would be a huge advantage.
Tony shakes his head "We don't know. He and Wanda haven't been seen in a while."
Many of the readers sighed.
"Why can't it ever be easy…actually getting the stone from the collector was pretty easy." Kushina began to complain before realizing it had been pretty easy actually.
"Perhaps the others know where Vision is." Thor offered. Bruce looked uncomfortable as he stepped forward.
"Actually about that. The Avengers have disbanded." He told him. Bruce went on to reiterate the events that happened while the two were off planet. Everything from the Sokovia Accords to the disbanding of the Avengers when Tony and Captain America along with Bucky went at it.
"That could make it easier for Thanos and his subordinates when they attack." Kakashi murmured.
"Give Naruto ten minutes to talk at them and maybe someone tough to slap for a little bit. He'll get them back on board." Sasuke said with complete confidence. He'd seen and even experienced it first hand after all.
"In the end nobody won. The Avengers disbanded and one of my friends was critically injured." He said motioning to Rhodes. The mood was solemn as those who were there were forced to remember the battle. Loki however leaned his head over towards Naruto.
"Sounds to me like Captain America won." He said quietly. Naruto had to stifle down a laugh as he knew now wasn't the time to let Loki make him laugh. He coughs quietly to get himself under control before speaking.
Thor shot his brother a look but the god of mischief simply blinked innocently at him.
"Alright so there's three stones missing at the moment. I have a sneaking suspicion that Thanos may know where the Soul stone is so he's most likely going there." Naruto told them. "Do you have any way of getting in touch with the rest of the Avengers?" He asked Tony.
Tony looked uncomfortable and looked away not answering.
"Tony. Do you have a way to contact Steve and the others?" Bruce asked once more.
"This divide between the Avengers group could prove to be a real issue." Minato hummed.
Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone before muttering yeah.
"You have to call them Tony. We need help." He continued. Seeing Tony not budge on the matter he got a bit angry. "Tony. Every living thing in this universe in at stake. Put your pride aside and make the call."
"It's not that simple. Even if we did manage to get them to help us the government will still recognize them as criminals. They'd be arrested on sight." Tony replied as he looked at the phone.
"It's like their government wants to be conquered. What the hell were they thinking?" Minato wondered.
None of the others had any real answers. The full extent of what went on since he was last on earth was lost to Thor.
"Damn it Tony." Bruce muttered. These accords really screwed it up for them. As if reading his mind Naruto spoke up.
"Not gonna lie Stark these Accords you were all for were a stupid idea. Is there anyway to over turn it?" He asked.
"No. The accords were ratified by over one hundred countries. It could take years to get them to agree to terminate them." Rhodes informed them. Naruto was going to speak but stopped as he felt something. He turned his head to the right looking out the window before he felt a light pull again.
"It's worse than I thought. It really is going to be a pain in the ass for them." Kushina sighed.
"It might not matter for long if he is sensing some kind of danger." Sasuke commented as he leaned forward slightly.
"What's wrong?" Thor asked.
"I'll be right back." Naruto muttered before tapping his staff on the floor and disappeared into the blue portal. Everyone looked to where Naruto once stood wondering just where he went.
"By any chance is there anything to eat around here?" Loki asked. Everyone glanced at him but said nothing.
"Terrible hosts, your friends are Thor." Loki takes at his brother.
"He has a point. Not so much as an offered seat or drink. The midgardian's seem to have forgotten themselves." Hela hummed getting Thor to sweat lightly when he realized he didn't know for certain if she was making a simple joke or not.
The blond reappeared in the middle of a city, the strange thing was that it was night time. He looked around and noticed pieces of some of the nearby buildings on the ground. Clearly a battle had taken place here recently. As he was looking around he heard an explosion a few blocks away. Once again he disappeared into the portal and reappeared where he heard the explosion from.
"Teleportation is so unfair." Kushina grumbled.
"That's the truth." Sakura added
"You both can use the body flicker technique though-" Minato began to say.
"It's not the same, Minato." Kushina said sounding almost offended by him. He just returned his focus to the book. Even married to her he had trouble handling her odd moods.
He appeared inside a building on the top floor and watched as a battle took place below him. He noticed two alien like figures that looked similar to the ones that had come with Thanos during their last encounter. The bigger figure had a scepter in his hand and was trying to either kill or capture a red humanoid figure. That's when he saw it. A yellow stone situated at the center of the mans forehead.
"So that's Vision." He said to himself. He was expecting a man to be using the stone, not a man being kept alive by the stone. Fighting alongside him was a woman who seemed to have some sort of telekinetic powers. A blond martial artist woman and finally a bearded man with a dark blue suit with a star on his chest.
"More of the Avengers I assume." Odin commented.
"Yes…technically." Thor said before thinking about The woman wielding magic.
Currently the man was holding back a spear from taking his head off while the others were fighting the woman. Looks like it was time to step in. The moment his feet touched the ground everyone stopped what they were doing to see who had shown up.
"Are you two with Thanos?" Naruto asked. The woman looked at him before looking at his staff noticing the two stones. She didn't answer and simply pressed a button on her forearm and her and her companion were engulfed in a blue light before they were taken away.
"So useful." Kushina said jabbing a finger toward the book.
"Ignoring that, now Thanos knows that Naruto is on Earth with two stones." Sasuke said.
"Thanos knows Naruto would be searching for them as well. It was inevitable they would cross paths like that." Hela responded.
Naruto looked at the remaining people before walking forward. As expected most of them tensed up, all except the one with the star. He stood still, didn't look phased but was clearly ready for anything. Naruto could respect that.
"Who are you?" Asked the telekinetic girl as he hands glowed red. He noticed that a red hue had begun to appear around him as he was lifted into the air. Everyone watched in confusion as the blond seemed to turn into red particles of light before he disappeared.
Hela, Frigga, and Loki were especially interested in this girl's abilities.
"Smart of them to be at least on guard. I doubt it would do much but it's still a good showing." Kakashi said.
"Now now no need for all of that." They heard from behind them. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a friend of Thor's." He told them as he realized if they were with Vision they must be the other members of the Avengers. He would've said Loki but chances are he wasn't too popular with them either.
"That could have been entertaining to watch though. I'd love to see the science experiment, the witch, the actual witch, and the…red man get put into their place." Loki said with a smirk.
"Brother, this is why you struggle with making friends." Thor said with a sigh.
"Odd the future me seems to get along with our brother in law even better than you." Loki chirped back shutting Thor up and getting a chuckle from their sister at the by play.
Finally one of them stepped forth. "I'm Steve Rogers. You said you're a friend of Thor?" He asked.
"Friend, brother in law, take your pick. Just to make sure I'm talking to the right person, you're Captain America right? Of the Avengers?" Naruto asked to make sure.
"You have me at a disadvantage. You seem to know who I am but you're unfamiliar to me." Cap replied.
"I actually just learned about you a couple minutes ago. I was talking with Tony Stark and Bruce about past events when I felt a spike of energy which I'm now sure was the infinity stone inside your head." He said pointing at vision at the end. "Which I'm assuming they wanted to take."
"I wish I could track infinity stones like that…" Loki murmured.
"Why? You could wield one at most. Dont underestimate the sheer power those stones posses Loki." Hela commented.
"I can kind of see the resemblance to Odin now." Loki replied.
"Hurry up and read before the gods start fighting or something." Kushina mumbled to her husband.
Captain America was going to ask how he was sure it was the stone but stopped as he finally noticed the stones. From the angle where he was he hadn't seen them when he forced the two aliens to retreat.
"They were indeed here for the mid stone. What are your intentions?" Vision asked.
"Originally I was going to ask the wielder of the stone to hand it over but it looks like that stone is what's keeping you alive." He answered.
"So the upfront and honest approach. It will probably work with them. Just from what I'm seeing." Sakura said.
"Yet it remains terribly boring."
The blond woman stepped forward, a frown on her face. "ok hold on. You said you were with Thor, where is he?" She asked.
"He's back at the Avengers headquarters. We need your help." He told them, though he was now looking at Cap as he seemed to be the leader.
"Help with what exactly?" Cap replied.
"They are asking a lot of questions when there is clearly a crisis brewing. Would it not be better to gather everyone together and figure out the situation as one?" Hela asked.
"Moving people together even if the group is small is not a simple task Hela." Odin scolded.
"Really? I've always seemed to have no real issue with it. Then again it has been quite a while since I wasn't sealed away. Perhaps I've forgotten the finer aspects of socializing." She said with
"It's a pretty long story, how about we talk about this elsewhere?" He could see the hesitance in their eyes, and he couldn't blame them. He was a complete stranger who suddenly came to their aid and had two infinity stones in his possession, one of which he was familiar with. "Alright how about I go get Thor if it'll make you guys a bit more at ease?" He asked. Without giving them a chance to reply the blond summoned a portal behind him and disappeared.
He reappeared back at Avengers hq and quickly scanned the room for the asgardian. "Thor, I need you to come with me for a while. Your friends aren't exactly trusting me right now." He told the man. Thor nodded and downed his beer he had been drinking before standing up.
"Hold it." Tony said. "If Thor is going so is Loki. I don't know if he's turned over a new leaf or whatever but I'm not risking him staying here." The god of mischief just smiled, glad he could still get ironman on edge.
"No manners at all." Loki jeered. Not only Hela but Frigga quirked smiles at that while Thor snorted in humor.
"Alright fine. It'll make it a little more difficult but I can manage. Let's go." With that the three men disappeared from the room.
Back with Captain and his team they all began to wonder what was going on. The blond had told them that they needed the help of the avengers but hadn't been specific. His thought's were cut off as the blond returned again this time with two familiar faces in tow. One of which they were not so happy to see.
Immediately they were on guard as Loki stepped forward with Thor.
"Captain." Thor greeted with a smile "It's good to see you again. Worry not about Loki, he will cause you no trouble." They look skeptical but trust his judgement.
"Thor it's good to see you." Cap replied before pulling the asgardian in for a hug. An action that was mimicked by everyone at the scene.
"You are all much closer than I thought you were son." Odin commented.
"They are all some of Earth's mightiest heroes. It would be impossible for me to not at least greatly respect them." Thor replied.
"I'm sure you have some questions. All of which I'll be more than happy to answer. A warning, it's not a good situation we've found ourselves in. I wanted you to come to the avengers headquarters to discuss the recent events but I've been told you're not allowed." He said with a frown.
"They may not be allowed at the hq but I know somewhere we can talk." Naruto said as he opened a portal and stepped aside, motioning them in with his hand. Loki was the first to enter not even looking back. The rest followed after being reassured that he could be trusted.
"I have to say I am liking how well you and Naruto are getting along Loki. It gives me hope for our family." Frigga said with a soft smile.
Hela nodded her agreement. The thought of a decent family was a tempting one.
Kushina was just happy to see her son interacting so positively with people he could call family.
Captain America looked around in both wonder and confusion at the semi ruined city the blond man had taken them to. All around he could see people working together to rebuild damaged buildings and streets. He looked up at some of the ones that were in tact and was in awe at how much gold lined the city.
"Welcome friends, to Asgard." Thor announced "Or what's left of it at least. Come."
"It will be rebuilt even greater than before. With our true history on display, every aspect of it." Hela declared boldly.
Odin surprisingly didn't argue. He was starting to see that he had been too hasty in dealing with Naruto and Hela. Perhaps it was time to bring about change in Asgard.
It was about a minute walk before they entered a giant palace, gold lining almost every part of it. Though the deeper they got into it the more rubble they found. Finally they reached what Cap would guess to be the throne room. He had some knowledge on norse mythology and the person sitting on the throne did not look like Odin. Instead he saw a woman in a black and green skin tight suit sitting crosslegged looking over a book. He quickly hurried his pace to walk alongside Thor and whispered "Isn't Odin supposed to be sitting there?"
"Father passed away not too long ago." The man replied solemnly.
"Oh no! Anyway…" Hela said boredly.
"I'm sorry for your loss." He too knew what it was like to lose people important to him. "But shouldn't the throne go to you as his heir?" He followed up.
"Yes but my sister and I came to an agreement and it was decided she would be the new ruler of Asgard." He told her. Steve turned his attention back to the woman and remembered what the blond had told him. He had introduced himself as both Thor's friend and brother in law. He hadn't known Thor had a sister.
"Neither had I until a short time prior." Thor huffed faintly eyeing his father.
Odin rolled his eyes. How did all three of his children become such melodramatic brats?
"We're back." Naruto announced as he walked up the stairs to the throne to greet his wife.
She looks up from her book and greets him with a kiss before looking back at them with a seemingly uninterested look. "So you are." She didn't ask but he knew her well enough to know she was curious about the others.
"Reading one another through looks alone. Cute." Kushina cooed. It was strange for most in the room to consider Naruto and Hela as anything nearing cute. Most thought more along the lines of homicidal or tyrannical.
He stood to her right. "These are Thor's allies from Midgard." He said. Steve, being the ever polite one walked forward and nodded.
"You're highness." He greeted. The others followed suit but didn't speak. Hela raised an eyebrow and smirked at the display. Naruto had to hold back a groan as he knew this would do wonders for her ego.
"He is my favorite of your friends, brother. You may bring him to my kingdom to grovel as you wish." Hela stated.
"I remain alive and ruling Hela." Odin groused.
"Yet here I am free of any seal…maybe it's not long now." She said with a shrug.
"That he'll be alive or ruling?" Thor asked only to deflate as he was ignored outright.
"I like this one." She said looking at Steve. "Has Thor or my husband told you what's going on?" She asked him, seeing him as the leader of the group.
"Not yet." Cap replied. "We were brought here to get some answers."
"Darling." She tells Naruto. Nodding he begins to fill them in the same way he did with Stark and the others. It took well over half an hour to relay everything to them, stopping occasionally to answer questions from the group.
"A lot of words to say angry purple man with army is coming for magic rocks." Sasuke sneered.
"Well most of us have to communicate in more than grunts and glares to get our points acrossed Sakura said before avoiding the Uchiha's eyes that looked toward her in shock.
"That's why they came for the stone." Vision commented.
"How many are left?" Steve asked referring to the stones.
"Two. The time stone as well as the soul stone." Thor answered. "We've come to the conclusion that Thanos must have an idea of where the soul stone is located and is heading to retrieve it as we speak."
"This is bad." Natasha said finally contributing to the conversation. "From what you've told us it doesn't sound like he'll just sit back and allow you to keep the stones out of his reach. He'll target you again. This time he'll be stronger if he has another stone." She added.
"How kind of her to state the obvious to make sure we are all on page." Hela rolled her eyes at the woman. She was not among the favorites of her little brother's friends.
"He has an army." Loki told them "When I invaded Earth Thanos was the one who gave me the Chitauri. He has thousands under his command. Soon he'll call them to help him retrieve the stones."
"We'll be greatly outnumbered. Even with the Avengers as well as yourselves we can't take on an entire army along with a man wielding infinity stones." Vision commented. "We'll need a lot more help"
"Surely Thanos has made plenty of enemies in the past. Unite them and bring him down that way." Sasuke said.
"That only works if any of those enemies were left with the ability to pose a threat to him. I highly doubt that very many were." Minato corrected.
Steve having been quiet nods to himself. "I think I know where we can get it." He said before looking at Naruto. "Do you know where Wakanda is?"
"That's the end of the chapter. I assume you don't know where this Wakanda is?" Minato asked the Asgardians.
"No, it's likely some nation on Midgard." Loki answered.
Before the group could continue a set of lights illuminated the room and new readers had joined them.
That is that. I hope you enjoyed.
I haven't dropped this just haven't touched it in a while, but here we are again.
That's all for this update today though so,
Till Next Time