[221B Bleecker Street, NY]
Eddard was sitting in the meeting hall waiting for Jacob to join in the room.
Jacob came in and Eddard began, "Well, it looks like the one-eye has messed up. The Tesseract has been stolen and we are looking at a coming invasion most probably. The question is how prepared are we?"
"You wish to boot the system during the invasion or after it?" Ava asked and Jayden smirked when they saw the shocked look on Eddard's face.
"How the hell did you even figure that out?"
"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Ava smirked.
"Yes, I was hoping to make use of it as soon as the invasion ended." Eddard said rubbing the back of his neck.
Kayneth laughed and said,"That system took eight months to build, I am sure everyone wants to see it go online."
The whole order that was assembled nodded- Some excited and some confused.
"What are we going to do?" Draco asked.
Eddard blinked and then chuckled, "Jessica has got some new toys for you."
Jessica grinned and said, "You are going to love it."
Harry asked, "What about the non combatants here?" his gaze flickered to Sophie.
"Anybody other than the fighters will not leave this place. Jayden's protection spells and the other concepts of the place will make it safe.
Harry, you will be helping the communication between me and the fighters." Harry nodded at the command.
"What are we supposed to do?" Draco asked.
"Kill aliens, save people and collect samples. You know the usual." Eddard shrugged.
Jayden asked, "Can I join them?"
"Who is going to start the system then? Me? I can tell you I have no such expertise. The only thing I did was design and connect the interface." Jake Turner said.
"No Jayden, you sit this one out. Alright, next thing have you got your parents to come here?"
Sophie and Jacob gave him a nod.
Jacob added then, "We did. The guest quarters are ready. We have a bulk of food cooked along with pre-made supplies. It isn't enough to feed millions but a few thousand will do nicely."
"Well the invasion is more a skirmish than a full blown planetary war so the way we handle the situation post war is more necessary."
"Agreed, now you are going to that flying carrier of SHILED, correct? Take care and don't get hurt." Mia, the ever-kind and gentle woman told Eddard.
He smiled, she was a great person.
[Helicarrier]
"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha Romanoff told Steve Rogers smirking.
"Trading cards?" Steve Rogers was perplexed by the term.
"They're vintage, he's very proud." The explanation came.
Their talk was interrupted by an awkward Bruce Banner.
Steve greeted the man by shaking his hand, " Doctor Banner."
" Oh yeah. Hi. They told me you would be coming." , Banner said awkwardly.
" Word is you can find the cube." Steve stated plainly looking the man in the eye.
" Is that the only word on me?" Banner asked meaningfully.
" Only word I care about." Steve stated as if he truly did not care.
"Perhaps you should, the HULK hits hard." came the voice of one Eddard Clarke as he materialised just behind the captain.
The man turned faster than Eddard would have expected and grabbed him by the shoulder, Steve saw who he had grabbed, Eddard grinned because in the whole wrestling match he had not moved an inch and Steve realized that he had grabbed and tried to throw someone that could fight the Hulk if the colored films were to be believed.
"Careful Captain, you might want to be careful with trying to wrestle with a god."
"Mr Clarke, I was not informed of your arrival." The super soldier muttered.
"Fury has no awareness of my presence here." Eddard shrugged at the incredulous looks he got.
Steven started saying something when he was intercepted by Natasha Romanoff.
" Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."
They moved to bridge of the helicarrier.
He saw Steve giving Fury a ten dollar bill.
Eddard could not help but snicker at the look on Fury's face.
Fury looked at Banner and then Eddard, "Dr Banner and Mr Clarke, Thank you for coming."
Eddard just looked at the man and said, "I wouldn't say told you so but 'Told You so.'"
Fury grimaced but Banner saved the man by adding, "Thanks
for asking nicely. How long do I have to stay?"
The two wandered off for sometime as Eddard asked Steve, "I am quite curious, did sleeping for seventy years feel like regular sleep?"
Steve looked at Eddard then stated cautiously "It does feel like going to sleep but one I never wanted."
Eddard nodded at the philosophical answer.
[Stuttgard, Germany.]
Eddard was bored as he looked at the God of mischief and super soldier talking.
He nearly scoffed. There was nothing more divine in Loki than a normal person, like Jacob.
Yes, he was strong and held in himself magical energy in great quantities, but Eddard could not feel what he had been looking for. There was no divine spark in Loki. He was connected to some sort of Divine spark but he himself did not hold a spark.
He heard them arguing philosophy and human's need to subservience, Loki's idea actually was true if you were only looking at the need for subservience and forgetting the complete need of rebellion in humans. The man looked at humanity's worst and forgot completely of its best.
The solider displeased Eddard more simply by his virtue. Nobody could be that good. The Holier-than-thou attitude and stubbornness would be the soldier's downfall. Eddard himself helped people if he could afford said help but his self preservation and mental calm would always triumph his need to play the hero. He did not harm those that did not harm him yet he did not allow those that harmed him to move freely without retribution.
Eddard would lie and manipulate others for their own good as well his own but he would never be needlessly cruel to them.
"Not going to help him?" came the voice of the SHIELD agent.
"Our new guest would be angry if I stole his thunder." Eddard replied. As soon as he said that, the Jet started playing a song, AC/DC if he was correct.
He saw as Stark and Rogers captured Loki.
"You are surprisingly very calm about an invasion that might end the world." came the voice of Stark as he and Rogers entered the jet to load up a cuffed up Loki.
"How do you think the Tesseract getting stolen has anything to do with an otherworldly invasion?"said Eddard shrugging.
"I thought this guy was a scout that was planning to use that cube to power their destroyed rainbow bridge."
Eddard's eyes widened at the misunderstanding Stark had made. He burst out laughing since Stark thought that Loki was working under Asgard's order and was trying to take the cube to Asgard.
"I am not even going to ask how you got that from anywhere." then Eddard looked at Loki , "I do not believe this God here is under Asgardian Control. Are you?"
"No I am not under Odin's Bidding pretender." Loki bit out.
"You speak a lot for a prisoner." Eddard looked at Loki as Proto-Excalibur materialized into his hand.
There was a crack of lightning.
Eddard groaned ,"The second one is coming."
Stark looked at Steve confused then at Loki, who sent a knowing look towards Eddard.
"Do we have a problem?" Steve asked looking at Eddard.
"Hopefully not."
Thor entered the jet by tearing the entry ramp's hydraulics out.
He was about to grab Loki when a man in a black shirt and blue trousers grabbed his hand and said, "Peace Odinson. You do not have to take your brother from here, our goals align."
"And who are you?" Eddard answered, "I am, Eddard Clarke, God Of Light. I am currently staying on Midgard."
"Pantheon?" Thor asked dubiously.
"I have none." Thor's eyes narrowed at Eddard's answer.
"A rogue?" The grip on his hammer tightened just a bit.
"I am the Pantheon, Odinson." as he said this he pulsed his divine spark.
Thor's eyes widened then he muttered, "That is why you felt like when father feels like when he uses Odinforce."
"I am sure, Thor. If you were here for the cube and to take your brother home. I would like to assist in your task in return you allow us to hold your brother for temporary detainment since he has someone known as Erik Selvig under mind control."
Eddard's proposal ended up making Thor grimace.
Steve frowned at Eddard, "I don't think you have the authority to do that."
"Who is going to stop me from doing it? SHIELD? You? Stark?" Eddard laughed.
Rogers scowled at Eddard but did not say anything, not wanting to escalate.
[Hellicarrier]
As soon as they had landed, Eddard moved to a corner to call Harry and pair his earphones.
"Anything special?" Eddard asked.
"Nothing-ngh" came the muffled voice of Harry from his earpiece.
Eddard grimaced realizing that Sophie and Harry were getting frisky on the other side.
"I don't care if you two are copping a feel but I will lock you two in different rooms if someone dies because of it."
"Sorry…" came the voice of Sophie.
"Just keep an eye on things. And mute the call, I will tell you if I need something- don't want to hear you two going at each other." Eddard said and muted his microphone.
'Damn! I feel horny hearing them going at it. I need to use the bloody washroom.' Eddard thought to himself while shifting sideways to cover the bulge between his pants. ' Bloody horny couple.'
(AN: Oh the hypocrisy is thick here.)
[Briefing room]
Eddard had rearranged his clothing to hide some details he would not show in lieu of of showing his professionalism.
As he entered the room he heard Romanoff saying ," Loki has him under some kind of spell"
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Rogers spoke up.
"The same reason the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in second world war." Eddard entered and sent a smug look towards Steve Rogers.
Steve frowned then said, "A preemptive strike to take out all opposition against yourself for sometime to give yourself free reign in an area. He wants to take SHIELD out of battle?"
"He wants to take out the Avengers." Eddard said casually which got him blank and perplexed looks around himself.
"What's Avengers?" Banner asked knowing he won't like the answer one bit.
" THE AVENGERS INITIATIVE was a program created byS.H.I.E.L.D.Fury wantedto bring together agroupof remarkable people to face extraordinary threats. Fury's original list of prospective recruits includedAnthony Stark, Eddard Clarke,Thor Odinson,Natasha Romanoff,Clint Barton,Bruce Banner, and CaptainSteve Rogers." came the voice of Tony Stark who was accompanied by Phil Coulson.
Banner grimaced and said, "I thought you didn't need me." looking at Romanoff and Coulson.
"It was something that was scrapped by the council." Natasha said glaring at Eddard and Stark.
Stark smirked and said, "That's not true at all. I consult for this very program."
Eddard shrugged and said, "We are going off track here. What do we do about Loki?"
"We had a deal Clarke."Thor frowned as he looked at Eddard.
"And it will be held as soon as we find the cube, I will hand it over to you Odinson. Do not presume about my willingness to keep my words." Eddard turned his head and looked at Thor as his green eyes glowed Emerald for a second.
"Well he took the Iridium in Germany as a stabilizing agent to achieve heavy ion fusion."
Banner nodded and said, "He would be able to achieve it on any Nuclear Research facility in the world."
"It would allow them to open the portal for as long as they want." Stark nodded as his eyes glittered with respect and curiosity at the same time.
"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." he said turning to the crew of the Helicarrier.
Then he covered his left eye, "How Fury do this?"
Hill, Fury's Lieutenant replied, "He turns." She was amused and annoyed at the same time.
"Sounds Exhausting. Agent Barton can get his hands on all other thing easily except for an energy source that could power the cube up."
"Since when have you been an expert in Thermonuclear Astrophysics?" Hill questioned.
"Selvig's Package and a VI can help a lot in learning and understanding simple ideas like ion fusion and wormholes. The Stark Industry Supercomputers can render calculations like that inconsequential. NASA is heavily underfunded in comparison to my company. Selvig was working with old tech." He said between annoyed and smug.
"I am sure." Maria said unbelieving of the jab since SHIELD put a lot of funding in PEGASUS.
"What kind of power source does he require?" came the voice of the ever-tactically thinking super soldier.
"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner said.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Stark said.
"It would allow him to achieve portal at any nuclear reactor on this planet." Banner said.
There back-and-forth went on for sometime which was cut short by Fury who moved things along, moving Banner and Stark to their new lab.
He then approached Eddard and asked, "Want to tell me about how you are allowing SHIELD property to be taken by a foreign entity without our say so?"
Eddard smirked and said, "Well……………………."
] AN:
Next chapter will be the attack on the helicarrier.
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