It was the thunder that had given Thor a clue to the fact that he and this Man of Iron were not alone. Oh he saw the flamboyant man moving with a speed no human had a right to but he didn't give him much thought.
He didn't constitute as much as a threat as whatever was coming was.
The reason the deafening crack of lightning addled him so was that it wasn't his lightning.
Whereas his lightning and powers were controlled and precise and devastating. This was…erratic, unpredictable and equally devastating.
If not more so.
Still, if that didn't stop his, the flamboyant man's and the Man of Iron's fighting then the warrior coalescing from a mist of water did.
The warrior didn't so much as materialize of the water, rather he had walked from it, coming from a casual walking stride with the water vapor and mist creating his form, armor and weapons.
Sporting resplendent golden armor, constituting of two pieces an underlay of a leather tunic with a reinforced armored breastplate engraved with Grecian writing along the edges and what appeared as tidal waves pushing parallel from each other with a simple grey steel engraved trident on the center of the chest. A Corinthian helmet adorned his head, engraved with, instead of a trident, a delta, at the crest of the forehead and more engravings of a raging ocean on the cheek plates. Instead of a vertical plume of red horse hair, his was adorned with sharpened metal frills that were highlighted in a blood red and void black.
He wore a pair of black combat pants and boots with shins covered by golden greaves and a long tight back long sleeve underneath the armor completed the absolute and impending image this warrior projected.
Even a large circular bronze shield materialized from the water mists and showed the menacing and even frightening face of woman with hair of snakes with glowing piercing and venomous blue eyes. A large steel grey spear was carried being used as a walking staff as the rest of his intimidating figure continued to form from the mists of water vapor.
The man before them stopped before getting too close to the tired trio.
Thor gnashed his teeth and had an innate desire to destroy this warrior. To prove himself better.
Thor would later swear by the Nine Realms that the warrior raised an eyebrow in humor at the Thunder God's attempt to appear frightening.
"Who's Water Boy?" The Man of Iron asked sarcastically while waving an arm in the direction of the newcomer.
The warrior continued looking towards Thor who glared equally.
"What do you want?" The flamboyant man brandished his equally flamboyant shield.
The warrior simply looked towards the mountain where Loki was eagerly watching the spectacle.
"Loki is in the custody of SHIELD."
"I am not asking." The voice was smooth but held an undercurrent of chaos and unbridled power.
It sent chills even down the spine of the battle-hardened Thor.
For the first time, in the longest time. Thor felt a feeling that he had long forgotten about. One that was lost to him for a thousand years.
Fear.
Everything in an instant slowed to a snail's pace as Thor's instincts took over.
He was lucky they did.
Thor watched as a mist of water thickened to a thin but incredibly hardened sheet of ice that coalesced around the Man of Iron, completely immobilizing him.
Thor watched as a spout of concentrated water materialized from the ground and hit the flamboyant man straight in the face knocking him onto his back, several more spouts broke through the hardened ground and kept the flamboyant man on his back as the high pressure made it impossible for the man to bring his shield to bear.
And Thor watched as the large grey spear came sailing towards him, intent on striking him and impaling him, aiming for the head.
His instincts of course took the helm and Mjolnir had hit the spear causing it to careen off course.
Still that didn't stop the warrior. Time took back to its normal pace and Thor charged, throwing Mjolnir. To his surprise, the warrior moved ever so slightly so as to avoid the flying hammer.
The warrior brandished his shield, the glowing blue eyes of the snake woman pulsed and Thor hesitated for a split second.
A split second was all the warrior needed.
In that split second the warrior landed three consecutive hits on the Thunder God. The first being bashing the bronze shield against his head. The second being a swift hook of his free hand smashed against the side of Thor's face. The third strike was the shield being used as a weapon as its bronze edge bashed against Thor's shoulder sending him stumbling.
The stumble cost him another split second and another series of hits from the unforgiving warrior.
An armored shin collided with Thor's face sending it to one side, the bronze shield meeting him halfway and sent him meeting the muddy ground. Thor reacted purely on instinct as it seemed that was only what was going save him.
His being called for Mjolnir and the hammer responded instantly, recognizing the almost begging need for his companion.
Mjolnir crashed against the side of the unsuspecting warrior who was tossed against the muddy ground.
His momentary lapse of concentration lessened the pressure of spouts of water on the flamboyant man. Who coughed up fits of water. Still he wasn't fast enough on the recover as another even more power current of water struck him with enough brute force to knock him unconscious sending him slumped against a shattered tree.
As that was happening Thor charged Mjolnir with a bolt of lightning and sent blasting towards the warrior who tossed the bronze shield in retaliation.
The shield absorbed the strike and impacted Thor.
The ensuing explosion sent a shockwave in the clearing.
Again, Thor's instincts saved him yet again as he batted away a strike from a black steel sword and narrowly ducked the swing of another.
Something chilled him as the blade passed him, a certain serene whisper passed his mind.
He thought nothing of it for the time being and blasted the warrior with a jolt of lightning.
Apparently, something had broken the ice encasing the Man of Iron as the beams of light struck the warrior's blades who used them as makeshift shields.
Sensing Thor approaching him, the warrior ducked under the strike of Mjolnir and shoved the Asgardian away and slicing horizontally to make him backpedal even further. He simultaneously deflected another beam of light from the Man of Iron back at the flying robot who easily dodged it.
It was for the next few moments that the warrior and Thor going blow for blow while simultaneously fending off the Man of Iron's attacks. Neither could land a hit but slowly, far too slowly for Thor's liking, the warrior was being pushed back.
Thor could feel the frustration emanating from the being.
All of sudden, however, in what could only be described as a lucky hit the Man of Iron had managed to strike a blade from the hand of the warrior who had misjudged the beam's trajectory.
The blade was sent sailing and stabbed itself into the ground. Growling in annoyance, the warrior set a sweeping slash that forced Thor to deflect instead of attack like he had been intending to do. Several spouts of water began jutting from the ground all of them with minds of their own as they attempted to bring down the Man of Iron who maneuvered to avoid them.
Still it was not enough as Thor locked weapons with the warrior who for all intents and purposes should not have had the strength to have opposed him thus far.
"Who are you?" Thor growled as he narrowed his eyes into the poisonous green of the warrior's.
In response the warrior had smirked and Thor frowned. In a single precise and fluid movement, the warrior had relinquished his defiance in the weapon interlock completely and used Thor's momentum against him, dropping the cold black blade, ducking and with a silver glinting curved dagger was poised to end his life with a single stab.
The entirety of Thor's life flashed before his eyes.
Had it not been for the flamboyant man's flamboyant shield, his ethereal experience would've ended there.
Instead, the warrior was not expecting the frisbee attack and was thrown backwards, rolling into a crouched stand with the silver dagger held in a reverse grip. The three heroes formed up and faced the mysterious warrior who simply stared back at them in his crouched stance.
"I ask again, who are you?!" Thor demanded, Mjolnir sparking blue in anticipation. The poisonous green glowing eyes stared back in contempt. Slowly, the warrior began dissolving into a mist and vapor of water on a wind that didn't exist.
Thor had questions.
And the Nine Realms would pay if he didn't get his answers.
Percy materialized at the top of a nearby mountain where he observed the three take custody of the one he was to apprehend. The trespasser seemed compliant.
A little too compliant for Percy's liking.
"There are two of them." Percy announced as he stabbed the dory into the ground and took off his golden helmet and set it upon the spear. A whirling monsoon whipped about him. He kept dry of course.
As did Lady Artemis.
An invisible shield protected the goddess from the rains but it looked as if she struggled against the powerful winds as she pushed herself to the demigod's side. His raised eyebrow caused the winds to lessen and he turned his gaze back towards those he had fought.
He missed the grateful smile offered by the goddess.
"Yes there is." She agreed while frowning. "Olympus asks that you only take the one you are originally after. The blonde one is to remain unharmed and the others are to remain unharmed."
"Is this a request or an order?" Percy asked as he looked towards the unnatural jet that landed.
The goddess frowned even more at that. "You are without purpose, Percy."
"And so the grandiose Olympians send their attack dog to deal with other gods that they are too scared to deal with themselves." Percy stopped her argument but did not deign to look at her. "There are other demigods out there for your precious games. They have their purpose, to serve you. Me? I fulfilled mine when Gaea turned to silver ash."
"They can't stand against these beings."
"They will never stand against these beings if you don't give them a chance." Percy turned slightly to the goddess then turned his gaze towards the jet that was lifting off.
She looked away at that.
"The demigods of this generation know nothing of what the previous have been through. Only a few stories and pictures are what remains of my family. They will never know the struggles of being a demigod." He looked away as the monsoon started to die down exponentially. His gaze shifting towards the battle torn forest clearing. His voice turned to a solemn choked whisper. "And that's okay."
And that's okay.
Tony Stark was an open-minded individual.
Of course, that was if you asked him what he thought of the encounter the warrior in the forest. On the inside, however, he was frightened.
You see, here was this individual with extra-ordinary powers that made Thor, Rodgers and himself, look like second graders comparing bat sizes in a little league game where they had no clue what they were doing.
This warrior did. He went in and incapacitated both him and the Captain without so much as a wink in their direction where he then went on to turn the literal god of thunder into a punching bag.
And while Tony knew they had him on the back foot, it had felt like….God he didn't know what it felt like. Something was nagging at him, eating at him, a little squeaky whisper that simply wouldn't shut up.
It was telling him to run.
The flash of venomous green that held no mercy nor humanity in them.
Tony's instincts were telling him that this warrior was holding back when he fought them. And as the warrior was pushed back, he began using more and more of his abilities.
It was only after the fact that the warrior dissolved into a fine watery mist did the trio notice that they had been fighting in a the middle of a raging monsoon that JARVIS proceeded to tell him that any longer and the storm would've evolved into the hurricane category and escalated up those tiers rather quickly.
Still, it was still up for debate in his mind whether or not it was worth the expression of surprise when they informed the esteemed director that another player was after Loki.
Even if was just a raised eyebrow and a slight upending of the corners of his lips. The billionaire weighed the scales in his mind. Was it worth the absolute trashing of his multi-million dollar and technology advanced exoskeleton that possessed enough firepower to match the United States Army?
Totally.
Tony smirked as he eyed the gathered individuals and then frowned. Thor looked extremely contemplative as he thumbed his blond beard while Steve was snoring in his chair with his arms crossed, his face was bruised.
Tony wasn't any better and had almost been susceptible to pneumonia and frostbite but he wanted to be awake when Thor gave his briefing.
"So, Point Break what do you have for us?"
Thor absently sent him a glance before rising and moving towards the reinforced windows and watching the raging ocean.
"If it is who I think it we must be cautious." Thor began. "He's a hardened soldier and knows nothing but war, he will not hesitate to kill us."
"He sure wasn't hesitating when you guys fought him." Natasha sauntered into the bridge and took a seat next to the sleeping captain who she proceeded to lightly smack the back of his head, he coughed awake and was wide eyed before Tony could remark on the drool that had accumulated on his collared flannel shirt.
"Trust me, red haired woman. If he had wanted to kill, he would've." Thor rumbled. "He wasn't expecting us to be there."
"We surprised him so he didn't kill us?" Rodgers questioned.
"Hmm." Thor nodded as he took in the sight of them.
Nick Fury's only eye twitched.
Tony wanted to giggle.
And Steve coughed into his hand.
"He has to be working for someone." Nick asked or rather stated and his eye twitched again.
Tony so wanted to laugh.
"He is." Thor declared and pounded on the glass as he did so, startling all the agents around him. "But to get to them, we must get to him."
"Shouldn't be too hard eh, Banner?" Tony stated and tapped his co-scientists arm.
"I- wha- wait what?" The normally calm man stammered at the implication. Though Thor shook his head.
"This warrior is their sword and their shield." Thor said. "I would rather negotiate with him."
Nick's eye twitched the final time and Tony couldn't help himself.
The billionaire, playboy, philanthropist and genius extraordinaire burst out a chuckle and everyone looked towards him. "I'm sorry, but- I just-" He sighed in exasperation and let out another laugh as he approached Fury. "But does anyone else not see it?" At no one's response, Tony simply threw himself into his chair and gestured to Fury.
"Stow it, Stark." Fury bit back who then looked at Thor. "Why would we negotiate with him?"
"Because I cannot fight him." Thor conceded. "We cannot fight him on our own. He will be ready for us."
There was a silence before Rodgers finally spoke. "How do we contact him?"
There was an eruption of everyone trying to interject their opinion.
Natasha scoffed and asked if they were serious.
Nick Fury claimed he didn't have the authority to do so.
Banner was, as usual his casual and silent self as he mulled over what was going on.
Thor simply looked back to the ocean contemplatively while Tony was giggling at the absurdity of it all.
"We either do this or risk everything." Thor boomed, interrupting everyone.
There was another silent stare down between them before Nick Fury conceded.
"Alright, how do we contact him?"
Thor was already leaving as he said his next words. "Follow me."
Tony couldn't have moved faster from his seat.
Well, actually he could've.
Damn this limp.
The group was accompanied by a STRIKE team, Tony had suited up but had left his helmet off, Thor was also armored with Mjolnir, Rodgers was in his suit while Natasha was also in hers. Fury was simply standing beside Thor with his arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently.
They were all on the flight deck of the carrier.
"Well?" Fury asked.
"Give me a moment." Thor patiently said as he knelt with Mjolnir in his grasp. Had Tony not been paying close attention to the big blonde brute he would've missed the indecipherable movement of his lips.
JARVIS couldn't identify what he was saying.
After a moment, Thor stood up and stood there?
Tony honestly expected something a little more...grander.
"Well?" This time it was Natasha that said it.
"Now we wait." Thor spoke and no sooner did he utter those words did a large spout of water jet upwards, easily twenty feet above the surface. Two more spouted up on either side of it, these two however looked incredibly more dangerous and rose ten feet higher than that of the center one but at the top were extremely sharp spires of water.
After a moment, a figure rose onto the top of the center pillar of water.
The warrior stood atop it armed with his signature shield and spear. His helmet obscured any view of his face minus his eyes.
Poisonous, Powerful, Green Eyes.
Tony watched the golden warrior scan the group, who had for all intents and purposes prepared to engage.
Tony saw a spark of amusement in the glowing green eyes.
"We have asked for a chance of negotiation." Thor announced, he brandished his hammer and looked agitated almost as if he was annoyed at this person's mere presence.
Tony just had to shake this guy's hand.
There was a noted pause as everyone waited to see what was going to happen.
It only lasted a few moments before the two pointed spires that flanked the warrior collapsed back into the ocean. "Permission to come aboard." His voice was, like before held a smoothness with it but also a tinge of relief.
"Granted." Fury responded albeit begrudgingly. "But first I have to ask you to remove your weapons and armor."
The warrior's gaze shifted to Fury's and nodded almost minutely. In response, the armor turned near translucent showing the clothing underneath for a second before collapsing into a wave a water. Wearing causal blue jeans, a navy blue hoodie with sneakers, a young adult with a shiny wavy black hair.
And poisonous sea green eyes.
"Director Fury." The warrior inclined his head as he began to descend down a set of materialized water stairs, casually tucking his hands into his hoodie.
"Jackson." Fury's only eye twitched.
Tony totally called it.
"Wait a second?" Rodgers interjected. "You know each other?"
"Hardly." Jackson said immediately. "We had a mutual understanding." Jackson turned towards Thor. "You wanted to negotiate? Here are my terms. I speak with my target. Alone and unmonitored. You either grant this or I kill everyone and take him."
His words formed a lump in Tony's throat.
"This doesn't seem like a negotiation." Fury stated.
"You told me not to do anything stupid and you'll stay out of my business." Jackson stated. "This is my business."
"What you are doing is very stupid."
"From your point of view, maybe." Jackson continued turning on Fury. "For me? This is very normal." Then he turned and faced Thor. "Now, God of Thunder? Shall we?" The immense mocking Jackson's voice made Thor growl.
Tony determined this was by far the best day of his life.
For comparison's sake, this chapter was about 3400 words whereas the chapter on the official story is about 6500 words.