It had been a week since since Thor defeated Malekith, wanting to catch up with his fellow Avengers he payed a visit to the Avengers Tower given the occasion Stark decided to throw a small party so that the Avengers and James Rhodes could welcome their friend back.
Stark and Banner were still hard at work in the lab on some new project, Rhodes was trying to find some drink suitable for the situation at the bar while Barton, Rogers had yet to arrive, and Romanoff talked with the Asgardian but their conversation got cut short when Thor turned to face the windows and stared at some uncertain thing in the distance, what ever it was they saw that he was tense as if ready to strike.
"Is something wrong?" Widow asked
Thor didn't reply, he knew exactly what he felt even if his senses for such things were rather undeveloped and untrained but he could definitely sense it, reiatsu, but that was impossible such a great amount and without any type of warning, it could only mean trouble finally he let his guard down when Barton's hand fell on his left shoulder.
"I'm sorry." Thor replied in a visible nervous tone
"What happened?" Hawkeye replied
"Nothing, just got distracted with something. Everything's fine!" he replied with a large laugh, patting his comrades in the back
"So you come back to Earth and nearly destroy London...you never were one to lay low." Widow said in a friendly manner, trying to get the conversation back on track
"And that is why we put up with him." a voice said from the lab
Stark walked down the stair to the lab, Banner followed close after him still both men traded some words about what ever new project they were cooking up. Only Banner approached the trio while Stark went to find Rhodes, the scientist greeted the Asgardian and listened to the conversation. Finally Rhodes emerged from the bar with two bottles at hand, Tony was quick to take them from him and reply sarcastically.
"Took you long enough."
"Funny Tony, next time you go and find something to drink in the middle of all of that." Rhodes spat back waving at the direction he had come from
"Just hurry up, we're keeping the others waiting."
From there they all sat around the glass table, drinking and talking the time away. Rhodes had just told his best attempt at an epic story, when Thor simply smashed his glass in his hand, silence fell theirs eyes falling on the Asgardian that wasn't the only strange thing soon after the lights and windows began to vibrate.
"I have to go to the landing pad." he replied quickly getting up
"What do you mean!?" Stark growled
"We have company, I would suggest you gear up." he replied trying to keep his calm while he rushed to the source of the disturbance
"You heard the man, gear up people and Bruce just try to keep calm."
With these words from Tony the Avengers went for their gear, luckily Stark had made it an habit to keep a spare outfit for each member of the team at the Tower for such possible situation. Thor ran outside and what awaited him was completely different from what he expected, Shinigami supposedly wore black clothing and above all would have warned about any visit, Thor composed himself putting on a confident stance and walked towards the two strangers.
"Why didn't you bring the pet?" the one with blue hair asked
"There was no need to bring her along." the other replied, just to be met with a laugh
"You just didn't want to carry her here!" his reply fell on deaf hears
"But maybe this will cheer you up Ulquiorra, it's the Asgardian." the blue hair individual clacked turning to face Thor
"You wanted the Asgardian, Thor Odinson at your service. Now state your business here." Thor roared in a furious tone, trying his best to intimidate the two men
"Seems like he's got some fight in him..." Grimmjow began
"And he isn't alone."
Stark, followed by the rest of the Avengers except for Hulk, took a stance at the side of their friend, the strangers simply looked at each other like before the black haired one seemed uninterested while the blue haired one was visibly trying to hold in his laughter.
"Now if Rogers was to show up, it would be pretty neat." Stark said to Thor
"Do you mean that Captain America guy?" Grimmjow asked
"What's it to you?" Widow growled back
"Kicked his ass when we arrived here, great to see he's friends with more...interesting people."
"I say we split up to fight them. I'll take the black haired on you can take the other." Thor suggested
"You are going to fight that guy alone?" Stark asked shocked
"It's better this way." he said in a definitive tone, he started taking steps forward his eyes set on the green eyed intruder
His stern look soon faded when he noticed Stark walking side by side with him.
"What are you doing!?"
"I'm not going to let you have all the fun, besides if they need they have the Hulk." Stark replied calmly
Grimmjow surveyed the approaching pair, seeing their determination he decided it would only be appropriate to give them a small lead on their soon to be opponent, taking a small step to the side he said in a low tone, just enough for the two men to hear.
"He has an habit of punching wholes into peoples chests, so be on the look out for that." he whispered with a devilish grin
They seemed unfazed by this new information and took their final steps in the direction of Ulquiorra, it seemed interesting to them that their opponent had yet to take his hands out of his pockets, Thor deduced two things from this either he wasn't truly aware of who they were or he was just that confident.
"Asgardian you were able to sense us weren't you?" the stranger finally spoke
"Yes..." Thor replied, but was cut short by Ulquiorra
"Then follow me." with this he disappeared
"How are we suppose to follow him?" Tony asked sarcastically
Thor didn't reply, Tony saw him just standing there with his eyes closed in what seemed to be in the state of great concentration, a few seconds later Thor's eyes darted open as he lunged into the air quickly followed by Stark, who was somewhat lost in the situation.
"Now that is done and over with, let's get down to business." Grimmjow announced letting his arms drop to his side
"Before we get this going, we would like to now who's ass we are about to kick." War Machine said
"Fine, just call me Grimmjow."
"I'm War Machine."
"I'm Hawkeye."
"And I'm Black Widow."
"So who's the strongest?" Grimmjow asked in a more menacing tone
"That would be me." War Machine replied in a cocky tone
"Figures." Hawkeye replied mockingly
"What!?" Rhodes asked back in shock
Widow simply placed her right hand in her forehead not believing that they were discussing this now, sighing she made the decision to initiate the fight with Grimmjow walking past Rhodes she took her fighting stance and signaled her opponent to approach, this was a mistake. Her opponent simply disappeared, she tried to react as fast as she could but before any thing could be done Grimmjow's right hand was around her neck and he was lifting her up from the ground, her instincts kicked in has she placed her hands around his arm and started to unleash electricity through his body still he just laughed. The other two avengers came to her aid, Barton fired one of his arrows, equipped with a sensor so it blew up just a few inches from the Espadas face, creating a small distraction so Rhodes fired a blast from the repulsors in his hands finally separating Widow from her attacker.
"I had it under control." Widow panted placing her hand on her neck
"No one is arguing with that." Barton replied
"So that's it?" the blue haired man replied looking down at his chest where the beams had hit
"Hey guys he's unharmed..." Rhodes announced
"You thought that something like that would even leave a mark in my Hierro...I should have traded guys with Ulquiorra..." Grimmjow said, growing more bored as he went on
"Alright tough guy you want a fight you got it." Rhodes roared back lunging at the Espada
Grimmjow simply stared him down, War Machine closed the distance between them and threw a right hand naturally Grimmjow dodged to the left, Rhodes seemed to be expecting this and lifted up his left hand in front of the Espadas face as he fired another blast. Grimmjow once more jumped back, just has Rhodes fired another blast this time his opponent, now visibly annoyed, simply lifted his left hand taking the full force of the attack with his palm.
"I'm open to ideas." Rhodes finally said looking at the two Avengers
"We could always see if Bruce can help." Barton suggested, getting their opponents attention
"It's too dangerous to let him out in the middle of the city." Widow replied
"I'm feeling somewhat out of this conversation." Grimmjow growled
"He's another member of our team, also know as the Hulk." Barton spat back
"Is he the green guy?" he asked, much to the others reply
"That's him." Rhodes answered
"Why don't you call him out then." Grimmjow suggested looking down at his right hand
The Avengers didn't reply, it was a good question considering their situation it most likely was the best option, but the colateral damage could be disastrous. Again Grimmjow disappeared from their sight just to reappear in front of Romanoff and Hawkeye. Widow brought out her batons while Hawkeye used his bow to try and hit the enemy, who dodged them as if mocking them, Barton brought his bow down on the man his body went numb soon after followed by a massive shock wave going through him looking down he saw Grimmjow had landed a single punch in his gut.
"I got this." came War Machine tackling the Arrancar from behind and propelling him into the ground and into the interior of the tower
"Go and get the Hulk!" he cried out to Widow
Rhodes jumped back letting his fallen opponent get back up, War Machine couldn't let him react so he took aim with his machine gun and repulsors opening fire he blasted the surroundings away, his hope didn't live long when his sensors detected something to his right. Grimmjow lunged at him from the right throwing a spinning kick, still Rhodes placed his arms up blocking the hit, much to his horror a simple kick had left dents in the metal casing, this couldn't distract him he looked at the Espada aiming the machine gun at the head.
The Espada laughed at this and grabbed the face plat of the iron warrior, his grip began to get tighter and tighter damaging Rhodes's systems he fell to one knee which was followed by the other, more laughs came from his attacker Rhodes had to act quickly, his suit redirected what ever remaining power he had to his chest and proceeded to fire it in one powerful blast engulfing his opponent in it. This final effort seemed to have drained the remaining power in his suit, Rhodes was now trapped inside the same suit he used for battle, while his opponent aside from his burned clothing had only suffered a mild scorching.
"That's enough!" a strange voice roared out in anger
"So you've finally come?" the Espada replied with an eager grin
"They said you were looking for me." Bruce continued, in a calm tone
"I want the other guy."
Bruce didn't reply, he looked back at Widow, then his eyes surveyed his fallen comrades and then back at the violent stranger.
"What will it take for you to transform?" he continued, now showing a more interested side of himself
"After what you have done, it wont take much. Just standing here now is taking a lot of self control from my part." Banner said, with a more aggressive tone
"Let me help then...and don't worry I'll just use a small fraction of my power." Grimmjow growled lifting up his hand towards his prey
"What are you doing!?" Bruce cried out
"Cero."
While the confrontation at the tower raged on, Ulquiorra had made his way to a small clearing in the forest near their initial arrival, it was also the same place where he had left Orihime. She was resting on a boulder when he dropped in from the sky landing near her and scarring her off the boulder in the process, the Espada ignored this choosing to wait for her to recompose herself.
"I'm sorry, you scared me." she replied trying to show how clumsy she was, of course Ulquiorra showed no reaction to this
"Why did you come alone?" she asked, while she wiped away the dust from her clothing
"Grimmjow stayed behind taking care of some trash, two others should be arriving at any moment." Cifer answered
She nodded in reply taking in the information, her mind now full of what Grimmjow could possibly be doing with the "trash", she knew the Sixth Espada was not one to spare people but who could possibly help who ever he was attacking and now they were expecting two others to arrive, would Ulquiorra ask her to fight, maybe for that proof Aizen talked about, or would Ulquiorra use who ever was coming as subjects for her to display her healing abilities.
Thor and Stark landed in the clearing they stood near the trees, Ulquiorra seemed rather distracted to them which was strange since he was the one who had asked for them to follow, of course Stark saw fit to initiate the conversation.
"So we follow you and now you just give us the silent treatment!?" Tony let out in is usual loud tone, causing no response
"What are you? I can see that you aren't Shinigami but you do seem to share some similarities with them, so you must have come this far for something." Thor began trying to use a more pacific tone to ease the situation
"You compare me to a Shinigami?What an amusing comparison." Ulquiorra replied, still showing no emotion
"So what do you want?" Stark asked once more
"You assume our intentions are hostile, I guess it is the easier conclusion for you, yet you are correct we came here looking for something, a object called Tesseract." revealing his true goal, shock covered the faces of both Avengers
"You wont find it!" Stark spat, Ulquiorra's eyes fell on him
"We got rid of it." Stark continued, Thor looked at him but quickly he understood what his comrade was doing so he said nothing
Ulquiorra looked at the Asgardian, he seemed shocked by the words he had just heard from the man in armor, it was possible he was lying or the Asgardian didn't know about the situation even if he showed familiarity with the name.
"I see...Indeed my main objective was to recover that object, but I was also given a secondary objective and taking into account my failure to recover the Tesseract does not mean the failure of the mission, I can simply accomplish my second goal."
"What is this second goal?" Thor asked, preparing to fight
"We were tasked with gathering combat data from three particular individuals, you being two of them." Ulquiorra answered, taking a few slow steps towards them
"A two on two seems fair." Stark said in an eager tone, causing Orihime to look at them in shock at what he was implying
"I will be your opponent. Woman stay behind and wait for my orders." Ulquiorra growled in a authoritarian tone
"Yes..." she whispered lowering her head
"What ever you prefer just means an easier job for us." was the sarcastic reply he received
"Won't you take your hands out of your pockets?" Thor asked, Ulquiorra simply took his right hand out of his pocket
"One will be enough." the Espada replied
Ulquiorra vanished, Tony started to scan the area for any sign of the enemy while Thor looked around trying to sense where he could show up, the Espada emerged behind them, Tony was the first to turn around ready to fight but instead he received a kick to the gut sending him into a nearby tree, his feet calmly touched the ground now paying attention to the Asgardian.
Thor brought Mjolnir forward attempting a simple attack, of course the Espada dodged jumping back which Thor did the same in reply he began to spin mjolnir and lunged at Ulquiorra, but instead of simply tackling his opponent he threw his hammer at Ulquiorra, who seeing no possible threat in this he placed his hand in the way to block it, when the object made contact with his hand he felt an overwhelming weight and momentum behind it which sent him flying backwards a long side with it, still such tactic was useless before him putting his left foot on the floor he used his Sonido to disappear once more.
The Asgardian called back his weapon just in time for Cifer to emerge a few feet behind him, Thor faced him ready for the next move Ulquiorra lifted his hand up aiming at Thor which started to glow red, out of instinct Thor placed mjolnir in front of him a massive explosion followed the hammer shot into the forest from the nature of the impact, where Thor was now only a cloud of smoke and dirt stood followed by a painful cry from the thunder god.
Stark finally staggered out of the woods, the explosion seemed to have woken him up, he saw the woman taking cover behind the boulder and a massive cloud of smoke that covered up Thor and their enemy.
"Thor!" he cried out
Finally the Asgardian crawled out of the resulting crater and the damage was visible, his left arm was gone in it's place only a bloody burnt stump remained, slowly he managed to get on his knees using his remaining hand to cover up the injury. Stark took flight in the direction of his fallen comrade just to be stopped by Thor's pleas.
"Get away! You'll just get yourself killed!"
"What about you!? What will you do while you bleed to death!?" Tony roared back
"He wont die, I was not given the permission to kill any of you." Ulquiorra stated
"Are you enjoying this?" Stark spat back outraged
"Woman." the Espada said, turning his head in the direction of the boulder
"Heal him."