Sorry, for the extra-long wait. Either way, though I hope you enjoy and leave a review if you so desire.
Chapter 7:
I stepped back avoiding a kick, I grabbed the offending leg and pulled the attacker forward before flipping them over my shoulder slamming them into the ground. They rolled backwards onto their feet taking a fighting stance, I stood relaxed waiting for them, they circled me as if they were a predator which I suppose would make me the prey. I don't play the part of prey very well, to prove this the combatant struck, he attempted two straight on kicks I smacked them down one at a time, though using the hand I had used to block the first kick I made use of my longer reach to punch him in the stomach and he lost his balance falling backwards.
"You need to be aware of your opponent's reach as well as their strength. You rely on your agility so when your doing so many attacks be wary of a counterattack," I told the combatant as he stood up. I watched him take up a ready position and smirked at him "take a break T'challa I know you're tuff, but so is the ground" I told him again and he relaxed a bit.
"You have to know when to stop, rest, and think" I told him and he nodded, "thank you for the sparring and the advice" T'challa said grabbing a towel from a nearby table looking down at the various weapons that sat on the table a black shotgun that was reinforced, a small submachine gun with a stitched pattern on the back, two blades one adorned with a purple gem the other a curved golden blade.
He looked to me and then back to the curved sword as if asking for permission to pick it up, I nodded granting it, he gripped the hilt of the blade and lifted it his enhanced strength preventing him from stumbling behind the heft of the blade. "It's called Abide the Return" I told him he ran his hand over the golden metal joining his other in gripping the hilt and he gave it an experimental swing. T'challa swung a few more times getting used to the blade, I had brought the blade out of storage to do maintenance on it and use it to remember.
"It is an incredible blade" T'challa said to me placing the blade back onto the table he looked between me and the blade "I assume there is a story behind it?" the young prince questioned I snorted "yeah, there are a lot of things on this ship with stories, that one though is a hope given solid form," I told him and he looked confused "can you tell me what you mean by that?" he asked curious to hear the story.
I walked over to the console and smiled at him and keyed in Wakanda "not today, say hi to your father for me" I told him and pressed the button sending him back to his home. I stood at the console looking at that solitary sword, a shine from the golden blade, I sighed then walked over to pick it up handling it with care.
Kalais floated in and saw me holding the sword his light blinked and a transmatt light surrounded the sword and it disappeared back into the vault along with the other weapons on the table. "Thank you Kalais," I said letting my hands fall to my side.
"The prince seems to be progressing," Kalais said having been watching from the shadows, I smiled "he is, but that drive to keep going until he's won is a trait of a warrior not a king." I said to Kalais whom bobbed up and down in agreement "he is a good warrior but I think he has the potential to be an even better leader he just needs to learn, I think that he could even give our queen a run for her money." Kalais said I looked at him and smiled "maybe" was all I said before moving towards my quarters.
I was almost there when an alarm started going off, Kalais immediately flashed in saying, "Jason energy spike consistent with the tesseract" I immediately turned and hurriedly towards the hangar "get Fury on the line I'll start prepping the ship" I told him knowing that if the tesseract was releasing so much energy Transmat would be difficult, as such I started sprinting towards the hangar.
Kalais was following closely behind "he sent us to voicemail" Kalais said and I stopped my sprint "there isn't voicemail on the communicator," I told Kalais through gritted teeth, "it's a figure of speech he won't let me connect to him," Kalais said and I turned continuing my sprint "well we're going to ignore that fact, and you're going to force it through, got it." I told Kalais and he responded with just a simple bleep as he took action to force the link through.
There was a clicking noise from the comm that signaled the link going through "Jason, I don't have time to talk we have a situation" Fury said taking an educated guess as to who forced communication "and you think that the blue cube of nearly limitless power that I let you research suddenly releasing enough energy to destroy a city block, has nothing to do with me?" I asked the man and he was quiet.
"It's gone, someone took the cube" Fury said, and I stopped moving, Kalais floated next to me his shell expanding to simulate wide eyes. "How?" I growled out knowing the security around the cube having a slight hand in it myself, the fact that I didn't know something was wrong with the cube until something exploded is surprising enough, but the fact that someone was able to take the cube without me knowing is infuriating.
"Someone came through and caused a chain reaction which led to the explosion. The guy was able to use some sorta magic. Look long story short, guy came through cube guy, guy killed a few people, guy used some fuckin mind control, guy took cube, guy blew up my base and destroyed my helicopter." Fury listed off the events that led to the explosion I had turned back and headed towards my vault, knowing if something like this was going on, I would need weapons not scanners.
"What's his name?" I asked Fury grabbing my Badlander from my vault in addition to the malfeasance that I already carry. "Loki he's Thors bouncing baby brother" Fury answered I nodded and Kalais bobbed next to me in acceptance, "well I hope Thor won't get pissed when he finds a few rounds in him" I said moving back towards my ship bay.
"No, we need you to stay where you are, you monitor the entire world for threats, start looking for the cube's radiation, we'll bring in a special task force to handle the ground. You don't want to go public and Loki is a show pony with an entourage" Fury said, and I growled but turned to head back towards the bridge. The benefits of me observing from orbit out waying me hunting on the ground, "I'll get the satellites set to searching then" I told Fury, Kalais blinked in surprise.
"Keep me in the loop and I'll do the same but if I find the cube I'm going to get it and I'll be keeping it this time," I told Fury immediately ending the communication not wanting to bother listening to his argument. "Are we really not going to do anything?" Kalais asked looking at me I just turned around and began walking towards our command center.
"We are doing something we're going to begin planetary scans of the Earth to find the cube, then we're going to take it back." I told Kalais while moving down the hall "which is why while I'm handling the satellites your going to hack into Shield make sure we know everything they do, and after this they don't get the cube back." I added on and he bobbed up and down it looks like we were in agreement we gave them one chance to study and protect the cube. They failed now I'll deal with it and then amend our agreement appropriately.
Break
I looked down at Earth patiently waiting for any information, the slow spin was barely noticeable but just watching that slow turn in and unto itself was comforting, I gripped Malfeasance and breathed deeply the combat training with T'challa was only substituting the constant conflict of my home, I didn't want it, but the quiet is terrifying after experiencing it.
"Jason, they caught the guy" Kalais stated floating into the room, I looked over to him moving away from the window. "Has Fury contacted us about it?" I asked him and he shook his ball in his shell "they're still transporting him maybe they're waiting till he's in a secure location," Kalais suggested I stared at him before turning to a screen that had been scanning for the cube.
"Were you able to place the beacon in the Helicarrier?" I asked Kalais taking his reasoning into consideration, he gave a quick reply of "yes," I keyed in the specific beacon moving one of the satellites to give me a view of the Helicarrier at first nothing was happening but I left the satellite there to observe it following the Helicarrier in its traveling. I walked out of the room after I saw nothing happening "keep an eye on that let me know when they bring him in," I shouted back to Kalais.
I jogged towards my vault keying in the code and allowing it to click open. I walked inside passing the weapons, armor and rows upon rows of precious materials, finally coming to a shelf with pyramids of spheres I looked through the stacks eventually finding the specific tools. "I love these things, it sometimes makes me wish I was a hunter," I muttered turning around and exiting the vault watching it shut behind me.
Returning to the bridge Kalais was still monitoring the helicarrier he glanced up at me "they brought him, and Fury still hasn't contacted us," he said, I sighed in slight disappointment but really this was expected he wanted to clean up his own mess. "What about Coulson any word from him?" I asked Kalais hoping my friend would try to keep me in the loop, but the movement in Kalais' shell led to my disappointment.
"Fine, can you get into the helicarriers systems using the beacon?" I asked him, it wasn't hard to tell he was happy I had asked. "I thought you'd suggest that at some point, so I altered the beacon a bit to give me access," Kalais said his light flickering for a moment in I assume him activating his addition to the beacon.
With some time we were both looking at monitor in front of us, this time we stood witness to a redhead standing in front of a circular glass cage of which I could only assume contained Loki, "the woman is Agent Romanoff, one of Furys more trusted members" Kalais told me, I nodded focusing on what was happening in the video.
"It's simple there's red in my ledger and I want to wipe it out," Romanoff spoke. That has nothing to do with the cube knowing I wasn't going to get anything from this I moved away from the console grabbing Badlander from the table placing it on my back attaching the earlier retrieved spheres to my belt, sliding my Helmet on, and checking Malfeasance.
Moving back towards the screen hearing "This is my bargain you mewling quim," Loke said slamming his hands on the glass just as the screen came into view "you're a monster" Romanoff said turning around trembling, Loki smiled "no you brought the monster." Was all he spoke, yet Romanoff stopped trembling and turned "so, Banner that's your play." She stated then moving to leave the room knowing she was leaving I turned to Kalias "can you put me in that room?" I asked my flying friend he bobbed up and down and the usual white transmatt effect surrounded me.
I materialized into the room Loki turned likely attracted by the light "and who are you?" was the first thing he asked, I looked at him for a minute, waiting for alarms that never came, guess Kalias handled that as well. "Mewling quim?" I deadpanned Loki, he shrugged and walked over "she was at the time," was how he answered I cocked my head to the side in consideration.
"Well knight what is it that you wish for?" the pseudo-god asked taking a seat on the bed "you're going to give me the cube," I told him, he raised an eyebrow "ah of course, but why would I do that?" he asked again. "because I asked nicely?" I asked back with a smirk although he couldn't see that with my helmet on.
"Ah well unfortunately that isn't enough after all Gods require offerings," he said with a dismissing wave of his hand. This time I shrugged "well the thing is I don't have any offerings," I started moving towards the door of the cell "but luckily I've dealt with gods before, and all it takes is a good amount of force," I tell him he doesn't flinch at my threat.
"Kalais open the door please," I asked, my floating friend. "I can do that but not without setting off some alarms," he replied back I sucked air through my teeth and looked at Loki who looked confused "I know I just threatened you and all that, but can you give me a second" I asked holding up my hand, "by all means take your time," Loki told me I gave him a thumbs up and turned around giving my attention back to Kalais.
"What do you mean you can't open the door?" I asked the living computer, "I mean I can't open it, the cameras were one thing, but the amount of focus on the cage itself is too much to go unnoticed," Kalais told me making sure I knew "just go and deal with Fury in person. You know I have never been a fan of all this hiding, but you're the Guardian so you make those decisions" Kalais added and I agreed even if I didn't want to, whatever this living sack of feral cats was planning will likely drag me into the spotlight for all the world to see.
I looked back to Loki "it appears I'll have to follow through on that threat later on," I told him turning away and walking towards the exit, "and what a shame that is." Loki said getting the last word. I stopped in front of the exit, "Kalais can you open up this one without alerting anyone?" I asked the sphere, "probably either way we'll find out," Kalais said I growled annoyed with his joke.
I grabbed one of the bombs I picked up from the vault, held it to my chest, and pressed the button on it. Smoke poured out from it; my armor became translucent making me invisible to the naked eye. "Well that's interesting" Loki spoke as the door opened in front of me I walked out moving down the hallway trying to be as careful as possible, "remember you are only invisible, not silent" Kalais said to me to which I didn't answer as he was right in that.
"You want to know my secret Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?" a man with salt and pepper hair asked as I was walking into the room which Fury stood his hand on a pistol Romanoff doing the same Thor watching curiously just behind them, and two men with their backs to me one in a startlingly blue outfit the other being the only one I casual wear.
"I'd be quite curious, but after you put the spear down" I said walking in causing all eyes to turn to me with the exception of the man in the purple shirt who looked down at the spear as if surprised that he was holding it. The spangled man tensed as if preparing for a fight a beep from a device in the back corner broke the immediate tension the man in purple returned the spear to its place and walked towards the open box.
The rest moved towards me Romanoff hanging her hand on her gun, Thor had a smile on his face, Fury true to his name looked furious. "Jason what are you doing here?" Fury growled out, "oh so you know this bipedal tank," Tony Stark said the goatee giving away his identity "not now Stark," Fury snapped at him, "no I actually agree with him who is this guy?" Captain America asked the outfit telling me his identity.
"I'm Jason, I'm the guy who gave Fury the cube in the first place," I told them, the two men and Romanoff all looked at me very surprised. "It is good to see you again son of Jay" Thor said with a smile, as the only person in the room tall enough to see him eye to eye I nodded to him in acknowledgement, his sudden cheeriness surprising. I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted by an explosion.
Me and Thor were pushed back, Romanoff and purple shirt were thrown through a window, Captain America was thrown into me and Stark went to the ground, "put on the suit," Rogers groaned out I assumed he was talking to Stark as both me and Thor were covered head to toe in armor. "I'll go check on Banner and The Widow woman," Thor told me and moved through the door, I walked over to Fury and pulled him up.
"Hill?" he asked while getting up "Kalais why aren't we already connected into their commlink?" I asked my tech guy "because then they would know we exist" Kalais bluntly replied "you hear that Stark?" Fury asking a question in a conversation we only could hear a third of, "well can you patch us in?" I asked him straining myself to be kind "well yeah it should be easy after all Fury wired it through the communicator we gave him," Kalais told me "Coulson initiate defensive lockdown in the detention center, then get to the armory," Fury ordered Coulson.
I pulled Fury too his feet as the conversation ended "I need to get to the command center, you coming with?" Fury asked me I nodded drawing my hand cannon and strolling towards the door, "Kalais how is this all looking from the outside?" I asked him confidently walking through the hallways Fury right behind me. "Well the Helicarrier is on fire and you have guys with guns running in" Kalais said almost cheerily I snorted.
"Um can someone please tell me who that is?" Starks voice came over the comm Fury put a finger to his ear "That's a shield asset who's been helping us from the shadow which reminds me, Hill inform everyone that if they see a fancy giant to not engage him," Fury added as an afterthought, "Oh Fury didn't know you cared," I commented moving forward he snorted "just don't want to see the shiny armor get dented" he said as we came to the bridge.
"Get us over water" Fury shouted as we walked into the control room, the man I assumed to be the pilot responded quickly "navigations recalibrating, we're flying blind," I looked out the window right at the sun "is the sun rising?" Fury asked the man he nodded "then put us on the left," he told him the pilot turned focusing on the consoles in front of him. "We need full evac on the lower hangar bay" he said speaking to a woman in front of him, she nodded then moved to leave I continued my cloud watching.
I was brought out of it by the shout of "grenade" I stood up straight and shrapnel bounced off my armor Fury moved to the side of the entrance shooting the first guy to come in pulling his body down I shot the second with malfeasance throwing the body back, the third was got by the woman who called out the grenade. I walked towards Fury who was moving back towards the consoles, "I'll start clearing out the shooting problem," I told him walking through the corridor the first wave had come from.
break
More soldier were running towards me, they took aim as soon as they saw me I raised Malfeasance up and ran forward I took aim at the man in front of the groups using the narrow hallway to my advantage I fired the slug cutting through his helmet and into his skull I turned and fired at the next one just to his left. The third I met in front of me he raised his gun trying to put it to my stomach I caught it with my free hand and put malfeasance to his chin pulling the trigger dropping both him and his gun. A fourth behind that one continued his charge till my foot met with his chest caving it in dropping him immediately.
An explosion behind me forced me to turn back sprinting the way I came, another explosion sounded off in the room as I came sliding in the screens started turning black, Fury was firing on a gap in the ceiling I followed suit putting two round into the wall to scare off the shooter "engine one is in shut down" a voice spoke over the intercom "Stark we're losing altitude," Fury called over the comm, "I noticed" the man called back over.
"Jason you need to get to the Detention level fast, Coulson's hurt" Kalais told me sounding worried I turned and began a sprint towards my friend. I passed people, salvage and everything in between crashing through many different doors trying to reach the location as fast as possible.
I entered the room seeing one of my few friends on the ground blood coming from his mouth, I bent down in front of him and held out my hand "hey big man," Coulson said while Kalis flashed in hovering over my palm. "Hey flashlight," Coulson added when he saw Kalais who stared scanning him immediately trying to see if there was anything that he could do for this.
"Doesn't look like I'll be able to show you guys what Earth has to offer after all huh," Coulson said I took off my helmet and smiled at him. "Oh your still going to show us, except we're doing it on sparrows" I told him Kalais stopped scanning him, "that's right you're going to show me everything the golden age has to offer," Kalais said I could already tell the ghost was lying.
"Nah you'll have to see that on your own, you'll have to find the perfect burger to try Jason, and Kalais stop looking at renaissance fairs" Coulson told us as Fury came into the room I stood up and stepped back letting them have their moment and watching as one of my friends died in front of me again.