SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 51: Ouroboros
Nick Fury clasped his hands behind his back and glared back over his shoulder at his unexpected (and very unwelcome) visitor. He was supposed to retire. Five years ago, he had every opportunity to pass the mantle to some other ambitious fool. Without the title of "Director," Nick Fury could be sipping coconut milk on a beach in Tonga, gloriously ignorant of the global dramas enfolding all around him.
But no. When Alexander Pierce asked him to give it a few more years, like a blind idiot, he agreed. Alexander-freakin'-Hydra-Pierce. Now, Director Fury was stuck in the eye of the hurricane and dealing with the joint fallout of an alien invasion and neo-Nazi global coup. Tonga sounded even more like paradise now, far too insignificant an island for Hydra's notice. Nick wondered just how long before he could exchange his trench coat and eye patch for Bermuda shorts and sunglasses.
Now after Alexander Pierce's very thorough confessions, the Hydra lynch pin was now locked away in a high security SHEILD prison and Nick Fury was stuck untangling the mess Pierce's machinations left behind. He would have had his hands full just dealing with the recovery from the Fall. Adding to that the rumored threats of Wakanda seeking global leadership and the very unwelcome appearance of a legion of alien space crafts spouting out threats of invasion and Nick Fury was in no mood to be polite to anyone.
He was downright pissed to have to deal with Eric Stevens on a daily basis. The arrogant piece of SEAL baggage was more impulsive than Stark and more full of his own self-importance than Thor son of Odin, wielder of bolts of freakin' lightning.
Now, Eric Stevens sat at Fury's desk… in Fury's chair… with his filthy, fancy boots on his desk. The expression on the S.O.B.'s face dripped with so much smug arrogance that Fury was tempted to throw a pie at him, just to smother that look off his face. The two-faced, back-stabbing mercenary had elevated himself to nearly the biggest pain-in-the-ass on Fury's shit list. That's saying something, considering Killmonger competed for prominence with an Asgardian supervillain who refused to die and the Neo-Nazi scumbags who popped up all over SHIELD like prairie dogs in summer.
When Killmonger volunteered to "investigate" Wakanda for evidence of collusions with the interstellar terrorist, he conveniently neglected to inform Fury that he also happened to hold Wakandan citizenship… and a blood claim to the throne… the throne that conveniently lost its monarch to a sudden explosion while in SHIELD's custody. When Eric Steven's team only uncovered the most minimal evidence connecting Wakanda to either Hydra or the alien invader, Fury became suspicious. When Eric Steven's took it upon himself to take over the throne of the African nation he had instigated the investigation into, Fury was downright livid. However, by this point, there was nothing that could be done. Until hard evidence connecting the bombing of T'Chaka's cell to Eric Stevens could be found, Eric Stevens had a legitimate claim to the Wakandan throne.
If only the hot-headed lout kept his smug self in Wakanda, Fury could ignore him and focus on the more pressing problems – such as finding a way to clean up the mess Stevens had left behind and determining just what truths Killmonger was sitting on in Wakanda. However, one country wasn't enough for the grasping, mercenary soldier. No. The next thing Fury knew, Stevens stuck his loud mouth into the affairs of every U.N. council and SHIELD meeting that popped up and shouting out orders as if he owned the planet. Fury was about to cast his sorry ass back to Wakanda when he began to spout out intel about an upcoming alien invasion. He then littered the entire tech department with plans for communication systems, satellites weapons, and tracking devices more advanced than any of the eggheads on SHEILD's payroll had ever seen- yet all designed with Earth's technology in mind. Killmonger couldn't identify a satellite from a cell phone and obviously had no idea what the plans were for and yet he claimed they came from "Wakanda."
It wasn't until the former princess of Wakanda turned up on SHIELD's doorstep that the pieces began to fall together. The slight teenage girl had the intelligence of an atomic bomb and her presence in the tech department was just as reconstructive. Every time she opened her mouth or her foreign computer, she made some PhD swoon and soon she was shouting out orders with a confidence that rivalled her cousin's.
Yet, Killmonger had hardly any hard data or useful intelligence on this supposed upcoming alien invasion – other than the recommended technological advancements. He knew nothing about what sort of beings would be coming ("Aliens, man. What else you need to know?") or what kind of transportation they would use ("Space ships… you know… the ones that fly.") or where they were coming from ("Outer space. Probably past Pluto or near Venus or something.") Despite the glaring holes in his intel, Killmonger was obviously convinced it was his job to save the planet and that he was the only one who knew how to do it.
As if that wasn't bad enough, then came the day Killmonger informed them all he had agreed to host a contingent of alien refugees from Thor's home planet.
"You can't do that!" Fury protested. Afterall, a pair of Asgardians was enough to flatten New York, Puente Antiguo, swathes of a New Mexico forest, and knock over the rest of the countries on earth like dominoes. Fury could only dread what an entire space ship full of the bastards could do to the planet if let loose upon it, refugees or not.
"You don't got no say in Wakanda," Eric Stevens said. "We are a free country."
"You don't have the authority to grant asylum to aliens in your borders. This is a global security risk."
"Like hell I don't! I'm the king and I'll do what I want! If I said they can come, then they are coming and there's not a damn thing you can do about it," Stevens said, his face hard and daring Fury to challenge him.
No, with those four armored women with their spears pointed in Fury's direction flanking the newly minted Wakandan king, there was very little Fury could say about it. The Asgardians would come, sooner than he'd like, and he just hoped they'd keep themselves in Wakanda and out of the business of the rest of the planet. The cynic in him scoffed. He couldn't even keep one Wakandan out of his office and in Wakanda, how the hell was he supposed to keep an entire boat load of Asgardians contained and under control?
Fury began to wonder if the ship full of "refugees" was actually the lauded invasion force and if the pair of Asgardian princes had been sent on ahead to clear the way for their countrymen to take over the planet.
Well, Fury held this view to himself… until circumstances made him doubt his conclusion. The aliens that showed up first looked nothing like Thor and his buddies and they did not come proclaiming "peace on Earth, goodwill to men." No, the spaceships that first showed up in their solar system were a flock of ginormous space Cheerios broadcasting threats to destroy to entire freakin' planet.
And what did Stevens, the self-proclaimed protector of the universe do? Jack shit. He babbled something about "timing" and "orders" and "not here and now" and it's then that the pieces came together.
Loki.
When Stevens invaded Wakanda, instead of dragging out the alien would-be conqueror in handcuffs, Killmonger came back hired by the alien prince and doing his bidding. There wasn't a damn thing Fury could do about it now but smack himself on the head for his blindness. Now, with the threat of a new alien invasion hanging over their heads, it was not the time to deal with Stevens.
Fury had suspected Loki's involvement from the beginning. Suspicions were a far cry from proof and the Asgardian bastard proved more slippery than a jelly fish and just as invisible. For over a year, the Asgardian had invaded Fury's own office and directed the innerworkings of SHIELD without anyone being the wiser. Till Pierce started blabbing everything, Fury had no idea just how close he had come to the alien invader. Loki had been within arm's reach of Fury more times than he could count and Fury had no idea.
After Pierce's revelations, Loki had disappeared from view and no more appearances of Thor were reported anywhere. Of course, Loki would try to obtain a new puppet, a new mask, a new skin to hide his nefarious deeds. Fury sometimes wondered if it was truly Killmonger haunting his office or if it was Loki masquerading as Killmonger. He rather suspected the latter. It would explain the inhuman amount of arrogance and propensity for irritation the interloper possessed.
The host of Cheerio warships vanished almost as soon as they appeared, well, most of them did at least. Five remained, their focus uncomfortably directed at Earth but they did nothing and no more communications came or went.
That is, until the alien prince showed up on Fury's doorstep and burst his way into Fury's office without setting off a single alarm or security camera. The self-same alien invader that now starred him full in the eyes, a shit-eating grin on his face that rivalled Killmonger's. With both Stevens and Loki in the same room, Fury had to reconsider. Perhaps Loki was making duplicates of himself or one was an illusion. Perhaps each were the real deal. Fury rather wished he could poke them each with a needle to make one pop or splash one with a bucket of water to make one melt.
Loki appeared with an entire entourage around him and interrupted what had already been a terrible day.
"Do we get to kick some alien ass now?" Stevens asked to unwanted visitors, without so much as a preamble. He placed his hands behind his locks and used his boots to lean farther back into his chair. Fury gritted his teeth and glared at Loki.
"Your lust for blood rivals my brother's, King N'Jadaka and I doubt you are any more prepared for a throne than he was," the dark-haired Asgardian said and he tossed a glance over at the towering behemoth of a man beside him. "No, your highness. You have served your purpose admirably and we appreciated your communications. Now, we have come for another purpose."
"I knew it," Fury grumbled to himself. He strode across the office to glare at the five beings in front of him, their presence making his rather large office suddenly feel small. "Thor, Loki- I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see both of you here again. Funny. I keep hearing one or the other of you is dead and yet here you are. Both of you. You are surprisingly spry for a pair of corpses."
Loki grinned. "Technically, my brother and I have both died, at different points. A singularity similar to the Tesseract resurrected us and here we are."
"Of all the beings in the universe to resurrect, it would have to be these ones? Worse than a cockroach," Fury muttered to himself. "Princess Shuri, I see you are still alive? You vanished off planet for a time."
The little Wakandan nodded and gave him a dimpled, but hesitant, smile. "Director Anger, it is good to see you again. Are you well?"
Fury snorted. "Who are your other companions?"
"This is Heimdall, Gatekeeper of Asgard, and I believe you are acquainted with Lady Jane Foster, Midgardian Astrophysicist," Loki answered.
Fury's eyes snapped up to the woman he had assumed was another Asgardian. She wore Asgardian garments and silver armor. Her hair was tied behind her head in a series of elaborate braids. In a belt around her waist, she carried a knife and a hammer, similar to Thor's. She stared at him through eyes as bright and blue as sapphires and Fury gaped.
"What the hell you do to Dr. Foster? Why's she have blue eyes? You couldn't get her loyalty the old-fashioned way so you stole her mind?" Fury said, rage coloring his voice as he began to pace the small space in front of his visitors. He was tempted to clock the woman on the head to free her from Loki's control but sandwiched between three massive aliens, he didn't think he'd get the chance.
"Director Fury, it's a long story," Dr. Foster began. She took a small step towards him but Loki's arm on her elbow kept her from coming any closer. Her own hand clasped over his in a way that made Fury feel positively ill. She was about to continue when she was cut off by the Wakandan.
"Daktari, it is not so very long a story, is it? No, it is very simple. Dr. Foster destroyed the Stone Prince Loki used to capture minds. When she destroyed the Stone, it turned her eyes blue permanently and made her, well, it made her a little bit stronger than she was before. See, not so very hard?"
Jane let out a huff but she smiled at Shuri. At Fury's expression, she shrugged. "That's the story in a nut shell. My mind is my own. No one is controlling it."
"Prove it," Fury said.
Jane shrugged again and looked around the room in concentration, as if determining how to prove herself.
"Jane, slap Thor," Loki commanded.
Jane grinned at that. Then, she swung her arm back, as if preparing to strike Thor. At the last moment, her trajectory changed and she landed a slap firmly on Loki's cheek instead. His head flew back and he caught her hand in his and slowly lowered it to his side, their fingers intertwined.
"Disobedient minion. This is an intolerable display of disrespect. Now, kneel," Loki said with an imperious glare leveled on Jane.
Jane rolled her eyes and looked back at Fury. "No chance."
Fury grumbled to himself, but stopped pacing and stood before the gathering. "Well, get on with it. I'm assuming you have a reason to be here other than Dr. Foster's extreme makeover, Asgardian edition. What the hell do you want?"
"Ah, now we come to it," Loki said. He dropped Jane's hand and took a step forward. "We have come on important business that concerns all the realms within Yggdrasil and even beyond. Asgard, serving as emissary for the Nine, requests two boons of Midgard: First, we ask for a contingent of displaced peoples to be granted temporary passage and asylum in your lands. Second, we ask for your assistance with Midgardian weapons."
"We already agreed to take in your Asgardian refugees," Fury said.
"For which we are profoundly grateful," Thor interjected, placatingly. "There are more refugees that we also need to evacuate through Earth before we can permanently place them on other realms."
Loki crossed his arms over his chest and his expression radiated defiance. "To put it simply, we need to evacuate an army. It will appear as an invasion force. It is not."
"You are not helping my blood pressure," Fury retorted with a scoff. "So, Asgard is sending its army here, as well as a load of civilians, and I'm supposed to believe you aren't trying to take over my planet?"
"These are not all of Asgard," Loki explained. "Some are of Aesir descent but others come from as far afield as Nidavellir and Muspelheim. A few even hail from Midgard in the days of your fathers. Regardless of origin, we need to remove them from their current location and bring them to a place more accommodating to their biology."
"Explain," Fury demanded, not liking the sound of that at all.
"The Mad Titan, the being who threatened your planet and the master of the Chitauri force who invaded New York, he attacked Asgard," Thor explained. "Forces from across the Nine Realms coalesced to war against him. Unfortunately, the Mad Titan wields an Infinity Stone -similar to the Tesseract but with nearly unlimited destructive power. He nearly destroyed us all. Our army retreated to Jotunheim to regroup, but the frigid clime is not ideal for most of the species of the Nine and the energy that is required to maintain so many warm-blooded bodies is more than the Jotnar can sustain for long. Before we can best the Mad Titan, we need to move our armies and develop an alternate plan of attack."
"Why can't you bring them somewhere else?"
"Alfheim bars our mode of travel unless prior permission to enter has been obtained. For beings that live tens of thousands of years, their bureaucratic process may outlast the lives of the majority of our army. Nidavellir is a possibility but the realm is much farther from both Asgard and Jotunheim and thus we waste precious time and energy transporting so many. No, Midgard is so titled because your realm is the one most centrally located within the branches of Yggdrasil and the gateway to all the other realms."
"How long would they need to remain?" Fury asked.
"Only as long as it requires to destroy the Mad Titan," Loki said. "That leads me to our second request."
"Weapons, yeah. I'm afraid we aren't the one-stop-shop for swords and arrows."
"We wish for weapons such as were used on New York," Loki said.
At that, Eric Stevens sat up and dropped the Rubicks cube he'd been fiddling with and he stared at the interlopers with his mouth open. Fury swore loudly and swung to stare at them again.
"Why the hell would I give you weapons of mass destruction?" Fury cried.
"Simple. I wish to destroy Asgard," Loki said.
"You are insane!" Fury said.
"Of course. I thought you knew."
"Director Fury," Shuri interjected, stepping forward and giving Loki a disapproving glance. "Representatives from each of the Nine Realms have spent hours and hours discussing different ways of destroying the Mad Titan and the Power Stone. Unfortunately, this is the best one we can come up with. Right now, Thanos is trapped on Asgard, but we do not think he will stay trapped there for long. Our hope is that if we destroy Asgard, then not only Thanos but the final Infinity Stone will also be destroyed."
Fury sighed and dropped his head into his hands to rub at his temples. "So, let me get this straight, you want to bring an entire army of alien soldiers to Earth…but not to invade us… while you blow up the planet they were living on… and then you expect me to believe that they will just leave again and not colonize my whole planet after theirs is blown up?"
"Yes," Loki said, though the amused tone and crooked half-smile gave him almost a diabolical appearance.
Fury swore again.
"Would you wish to check the veracity of our claims with your Man of Iron or your Captain America?" Thor suggested, his hand motioning to the closed door of the office.
"They are both dead," Fury answered warily.
"Were dead. Past tense. They, too, are back," Loki said.
The next thing Fury knew, his office door opened again and two more figures squeezed into the already crowded room.
"Hey Cyclops. Did you miss me?" came an unmistakable voice.
"Stark! Rogers!" Fury shouted, not sure whether to feel more relieved or terrified at the pair which marched their way to stand beside Loki.
"In the flesh! Do you want to kiss me to make sure I'm real?" Stark said and he puckered up his lips and leaned towards Fury.
"Loki and Thor are telling the truth," Captain Rogers said, after rolling his eyes in Stark's direction and pushing him away from Fury. "We fought on Asgard and then retreated to Jotunheim. Representatives from each of the realms were chosen to decide the best course of action. This is the best we could come up with… for now."
Fury swore loudly and banged his fist against his desk so loudly that it made Stevens jump and drop his cube.
Yes. He really should have chosen Tonga. If the island still existed after all this settled, there was nothing in all the Nine Realms that was going to keep him from retiring. As soon as possible.