[Shield Helicarrier]

[TPP]

"Well, I would think you would be thanking me for negotiating with Thor."

Eddard' voice was smooth in its reply.

"Negotiation would mean both sides of the table get something Mr Grey. I don't think SHIELD earned something in your ' Negotiation' with the Prince." Fury retorted in his crisp voice avoiding expertly Eddard's emerald orbs staring down at him.

"Asgard can punish Loki far better than Earth ever could, Director. The Tesseract was something that the earth has no way of handling. Neither responsibly nor safely. It is something that should be locked away and its keys forgotten." Eddard gave his words of wisdom, knowing what truly is held withing the shiny blue cube. ' A conceptual singularity' something that that scared the deity.

Fury exhaled in frustration before saying, "You might fancy yourself as God, Mr Clarke but let me tell you something- You don't seem omnipotent to me. And I refuse to be judged by anything less than an omnipotent and perfect God. " While he said this Fury had walked towards Eddard.

The spy looked into the eyes of the red-haired god. One black eye stared into another emerald one.

Eddard smiled ruefully as he gazed at the older man, "I do not fancy myself as a perfect being, Director. I would never trade my imperfections for perfection. They make me. It might sound condescending but trust me, when I say, I am not your enemy or of Earth's. This world is my home just as it is yours."

Fury exhaled as his gaze softened at Eddard's words yet his nature as a spy was ingrained into him, "Words are nothing but words Mr Clarke. Actions- Your actions will speak louder very soon. War is coming, you will be needed. And I hope you answer to that need. If not for SHIELD then for what you just called home."

The man then turned away from Eddard and left, his trench coat billowing behind him due to his fast pace.

"Huh." Eddard let out as his eyes roamed the bridge of the helicarrier, where many SHIELD agents were working on finding Barton and Selvig internationally.

He pushed his fingers through his red hair as his mind wandered to the conversation he just had.

[Hulk containment cell.]

Loki was walking from one part of his cell to another as if taking a walk in his family garden. He even bounced a step now and then. He looked at the camera smirking as if knowing someone was watching him.

"Don't you get tired, keeping the act of superiority must be difficult with the kind of welcome you have been shown, no?" Eddard appeared out of nowhere in front of the entrance.

"Ah! Pretender, they sent you. I would have thought the woman would be the go-to choice."

"Nobody sent me. I am here for a chat God of Mischief, Loki Laufeyson." Eddard smirked as he saw Loki going rigid at the last word.

Loki's voice came out hard, as if with a hint of steel, when he hissed calmly with narrowed eyes, "You and all that you hold dear will burn when my army arrives here, you filthy masquerader. And they may have not sent you but they definitely are watching."

"Ah! Forgive me. I had completely forgotten that you have been adopted by Odin, Odinson." A green beam of magic hit Eddard's gauntlet. It pulsed in malicious purple light that devoured the magic beam.

Loki who had been wearing simple leather jerkin just until that moment was now standing in gold inlaid, green dyed interwoven banded Asgardian leather jerkin, topped with a gold inlaid Asgardian leather trenchcoat, and finished with gold gauntlets, leather pauldrons, and emerald green cape. He also had what looked like horns made out of gold.

"You call yourself Loki Of Asgard and draw on her power. You decry her rightful king. You Loki Laufeyson, of Jötunheimr, are nothing more than a monster that children are warned about during the winters. You filthy Frost Giant." Eddard knew his gamble had worked when Loki opened his mouth but closed it as if deciding what to speak.

"No-No, Eddard Clarke, God Of Light. I am not the monster here. You are the monster. All of you. SHIELD, The Widow, Banner, Thor, Stark. Yours hands drip with the blood of your enemies and innocents." Loki chuckled his breathing now under his control as he went on his rant, "I am here to liberate humanity from accursed men like you. That is my glorious purpose, I am the rightful master of Midgard. I shall guide this world towards greatness under my rule."

"So that's the plan, huh? To pit the avengers against each other. Banner and Me? I am sure you had not taken Thor's presence into account due to the Bifrost's destruction." Eddard observed calmly, the glee and viciousness, he had previously dished out towards the God now completely absent from his face.

Loki merely stared back at him in horrified fascination.

' Your silence is louder than any man's screams, Odinson', Eddard thought to himself when he saw the god's ever present smirk that had vanished.

*Next Day]

[ Banner's Lab]

Eddard was walking towards Banner's lab. It was more of Selvig's older equipment's lab that had been refurbished to accommodate the cosmic cube's search quest.

' The place is definitely going to devolve into a school's boy's locker room's level of chaotic in a short time. Captain America looks pissed due to SHIELD screwing with HYDRA weapons.' Eddard snorted as he looked at the man entering the lab with what looked like a gun from Science Fiction films.

Eddard heard the clearly pissed voice in which Rogers spoke, " PHASE 2 is SHIELD using the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

Fury's voice sounded patiently as he tried to manage the clearly escalating situation, " Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-"

Stark cut him off, " I am sorry, Nick." The thing was, the man did not sound apologetic at all and was acting arrogant as usual.

Eddard entered unseen by the others and quietly took a seat at one of the chairs that had been left for the searching duo by the SHIELD duo.

"You were saying?" Stark asked Fury as he turned the designs and plans for PHASE 2, a.k.a. Project PEGASUS over for everyone to see.

"I was wrong director, the world hasn't changed a bit."

At that very moment, Thor and Widow entered the lab.

"Did you know about this?" came the soft spoken voice of Bruce Banner who had not spoken a single word in the whole argument between the three men. He was looking at Romanoff questioningly. Eddard could have sworn he saw the man's iris go green for a second.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Romanoff twitched a little at the accusation from Banner.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," he snarked back. ' Man's not holding back.' Eddard barely stopped himself for cackling.

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Natasha was stopped from interrupting the man by Fury.

He sighed, looking around the room.

"It's because him and Clarke." He said pointing his thumb towards Thor.

"Us?" The Blonde haired prince had first been stunned then his eyes narrowed as if saying, ' elaborate.'

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Fury whispered the last few words.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor eyebrows had shot up at the insinuation that Asgard was an aggressive party in the conflict.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled. What could we do if someone like Clarke was malicious? We desperately needed an assurance. The Avengers Initiative and PEGASUS were just that. A safety net." the man admitted, looking ready to faint by the point he finished speaking. He looked like someone who had ran headfirst into a wall.

"SHIELD is outgunned, that is something you are right about." Eddard's voice rang in the room as everybody turned to look at him in surprise. "Your arrogance was thinking that SHIELD is the only thing that defends Earth. The Earth is neither weak nor helpless, Director. We are considered a backwater planet because becoming a centerpiece in the goings of the Universe is a good way to invite conflict on our own doorstep. The Earth remains defended because it has its Champions. The General population cannot even fathom the safety nets in place."

"And yet these said defenders remain ever elusive in face of War." snapped Fury at the God.

"A war? A skirmish is more like it. They remain anonymous because the defenses you have will be enough.With all of us combined, we could erase the Chitauri." Eddard fired back.

"Of course, nuclear deterrents is our go to option." Stark laughs.

Eddard was about to reply when his earphones informed him of a voice message from Harry. He tuned the conversation that was going on around him out.

"Draco saw that Mr-*Clap* 'Sophie stop hitting me!' Dr Selvig was seen by Draco near Stark's Tower a minute before you received this message."

Eddard sent a message back replying, "Thanks Potter." He chuckled as he imagined Harry frothing from his mouth like in some of the Harry Potter fics he read daily. ' My name is Hadrian Peverall-Potter-Slytherin, Headmaster Dumbledore.'

As Eddard was distracted by his own thoughts, the argument had truly devolved into petty insults like 'Everything special about you, came out of a bottle.' or 'Take off that suit and what are you?'

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried! I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" Eddard heard Banner screaming suddenly. He also saw the SHIELD operatives tensing while Stark and Thor were grimacing at the words.

"That sounds cowardly." Eddard couldn't help it, he muttered it. Everybody but Thor looked horrfied at what Eddard had said.

"Oh, is it? I lost everything. Most who know about me and my condition look at me as if I am a monster." Banner nearly snarled.

"Prove them right Banner, attack me. Prove those who think the Hulk is a monster that cannot be controlled." Eddard had no problem beating the shit out of Banner to get his point across.

Steve grabbed Eddard's shoulder, "Doctor please put the stick down." This prompted everyone to look at the scepter that was in Banner's hand.

"Lucky you Mr Clarke. I am not loosing control today." Banner turned towards the monitors.

"Oh yes! Lucky me." Eddard drawled.

"We got a location?"

"I can get there quite fast." Tony suggested smugly.

"No! You are not leaving alone." Steve grabbed Tony's shoulder.

"You gonna stop me?" Tony flicked Steve's hand away.

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve challenged looking every bit the super soldier he is.

"I am not afraid of hitting old men." Both Steve and Stark were now staring each other down.

"The tesseract can't be controlled by humans." Thor quipped pridefully.

Eddard tensed his muscles knowing that shit was going to hit the fan pretty soon for him.

"Oh my God." Banner muttered in horror as he realised the cube's location.

"Yes, child?" muttered Eddard before an explosion rocked the whole helicarrier.

]Author Notes[

For those saying MC is weak and not trying to become stronger. He has no need for power right now. He would rather read fics and webnovels.

This excerpt from a comment I found on YT is perfect to explain why he doesn't want to use his Conceptual Permeation too much.

' Can you understand the delicate mindset of a person that has control over reality? It means reality controls them. Imagination becomes the enemy.

Reality as they know it starts to slip away. Drama, tragedy, conflict- all things that do not fit their view of reality is changed. These become excuses to 'correct' reality. Everytime they change reality, no matter the nobility of such changes, they start to spiral into the temptation of making everything 'better'.

They lose all reason and exist as nothing but a shell that changes reality for erratic reasons. '

' The world ain't perfect, true, but a perfect world is not one where any of us would want to live in. A perfect existence sounds like a sad existence. '- Sage Author-kun.