"Well, I think it's safe to assume that this has something to do with Loxxi's little legion he's throwing together. If he wants to fight the League, he'd want to get people with experience fighting each of us," Victor pondered as he looked off to the horizon, "That with Loxxi tossing the Adth Metal onto Mannheim makes me think he's working with a guy with magic. How else could he get the ring into the prison?"
"Now would be a good time to still have Fate. Losing him has made the world very vulnerable," T'Kurri said with a sigh. "A replacement for the role he played on the team would be wise."
"We have Jessica coming back in the next few days," Victor replied, "And the kid's got a fair share of knowledge on the stuff too. We can manage."
"Fatal Compass provided a level of expertise and training in the mystic arts that the League currently lacks. Besides, having more people around to lighten the burden of the world on your shoulders may provide beneficial," T'Kurri advised wisely.
Victor scoffed, "Not everybody can take that weight, and I can't afford to have anyone else crushed."
"That's not your sole responsibility, Stark. It never has been. The burden of protecting the world falls upon us all. You must learn to put your faith in others," T'Kurri said placing his hand on Stark's shoulder. "Do you not remember? You were the first person we put our faith in to join the team after it formed."
Diana stared at the heavily damaged prison beneath, "Agent Faraday, what's going to happen to the rest of the inmates in there. This place can't be safe for containment anymore."
"Fury is currently looking into other options, but she is not happy about any of this. We'll put as many as we can in the Iron Vault, but some of them are too high of a security risk. I don't suppose we can use that fancy projector Thunderman's got to throw the rest in that pocket dimension of his?" Faraday asked.
Diana's expression turned sour again, "Out of the question. The Silent Zone is reserved only for planetary threats. We can't use it so flippantly," she snapped. After what happened with Kamala, Diana did not want anyone else being so carelessly cast aside. "Your whole system needs a major overhaul, Agent. I'd like to know exactly how much has slipped under the League's radar. Tell me, how many of these people actually got a fair trial? Was justice truly served, or is Fury using these people for something else?" She stared daggers into Agent Faraday. Diana was not messing around when it came to protecting the Inhuman Amazons, or any other superhumans at this point.
Faraday was intimidated by Wonder Crystal, "Look Ms. Amaquelin, your anger isn't with me. I'm just the middleman, my job here is to help you. I'll set up a meeting with Director Fury so you can voice your concerns. I want the same things you do. I'll make sure everything is properly addressed through the correct channels on my end so you can do things your way," he assured professionally. Faraday truly seemed to have the best intentions working with the League regardless of everything else SHIELD was doing above and around him.
Diana took a deep breath and shook Faraday's hand, "Thank you Agent Faraday. Fulfill your promise, and I'll make sure all the current surviving members of the MSA will sign your cards," she offered with an exhausted half-smile.
"I'll do my best," Faraday said with a nod, "Anyway, I should be back inside, I'm leading evacuation."
"You sure you don't need our help, Faraday?" Stark called out.
"We're good, we have carriers on the way for bringing the prisoners back to dry land," Faraday declined. "And to assuage your worries, Ms. Amaquelin, Fury called the Sergeant too, he'll be assisting transport to the Iron Vault over the next few days." After his explanation, he disappeared into the crowd of agents back inside the prison.
"Alright, best of luck, Agent," Diana said with a heavy sigh. She rejoined Victor and T'Kurri and groaned in exhaustion.
"Well, I am absolutely wiped out. I don't know about you, but I could use a drink," Victor suggested with a smirk, trying to brush past everything that just happened.
"Hold on a second Stark, we're not going to ignore what went on in this prison. Any superpowered people just tossed aside in here, no trial, even kids? I thought we were supposed to be fighting for truth, justice, and a better tomorrow," Diana said, shooting Stark a glare.
Victor was set aback, but held his composure, "Those were Thor's ideas, but something that simple never works. You may not like it because some of them are yours, but I don't relish it either. These guys have been popping up and wreaking havoc constantly since we all took center stage. Neither S.H.I.E.L.D. nor the UN would let us play ball if it wasn't by their rules."
"I don't like the safety risks this place poses to those held within. The ocean is no place to keep a human life. But otherwise, I see where you are coming from," the Orca said with a nod. As a king, he had to make many tough decisions, imprisoning threats to his kingdom were many of them.
Diana looked to T'Kurri in shock, "I can believe the leaders of the world can let things like this happen. But we are meant to be a standard above them."
"Man fears God, Diana. They always have. The only reason they believe in him is because of what he provides. Above all else, we provide security. It is our duty to protect this world and keep it from falling to madness," Victor asserted. "You brought me on this team because the Martian couldn't hack it. You needed somebody to run logistics, work with the government, and pay for everything the League needs to function. I do my job, I pray for the day I no longer have to, but until then, I protect the world. So, excuse me, Princess! Your fantasy for what the world should be isn't real."
"And what about Kamala? She was a victim of mind control, she needed protection from the systems you enforced," Diana snapped, her fist starting to heat up, igniting in a small flame, ready to strike Victor. "How can you not have any compassion or sympathy for what she's been through?"
"I followed due process, S.H.I.E.L.D. viewed Ms. Gigantic as a threat to national security because of her potential strength. And based on today, she is too strong to be running around playing hero with no training," Victor explained firmly. "And don't try to make me the bad guy in this. There are too many people for me to keep track of every case. Besides, you're the one who forgot to get her off." It was at this point that Stark flipped the right side of his helmet back over his face. Man did indeed fear God, and he wanted to be prepared in case this exchange was going to incite her wrath.
Diana's outrage only seemed to grow as she witnessed Stark's masking. The flames seemed to crawl up the rest of her arm like a twisted serpent. "That's always been your go to, Stark, hide behind your tech. It's always something else's fault, you were just the vessel to let someone else do what you wanted in the first place!" she chastised the former war profiteer. "You call it making the hard choices, but you're just a coward with no sense of integrity. You may have kept the Toymandarin here, but you've let others play with you like he did for years after." Diana tore into Victor's psyche like her flaming sword. "How can you even call yourself a man, when all you are is a shell?!"
Diana had crossed a personal line with Stark. Victor's arc reactor started to glow and pulse as if he was charging an attack, "Do you have any idea how much I have sacrificed to be a hero, to be a member of this team?! I have put more of myself into keeping the lights on and everything above board than the rest of us combined! If you really want to give me shit for what Stark Labs does, NOW, then you better tear up your ID card, Princess. What do you even know about sacrifice?" His voice echoed and reverbed from his helmet metallically as per usual. But it now carried a worn-out growl, the Cyberman was fed up with what he perceived as Diana's hypocrisy.
Wonder Crystal snapped and threw a flaming punch towards Victor's face. Cyberman quickly reacted with unleashing the unibeam from his chest, but both were caught by T'Kurri. Diana's punch was clutched in his hand, and he quenched the fire by a blast of water from the blowhole in his mask. Meanwhile the unibeam's power harmlessly dissipated into the Black Orca's Vibranium glove, planted on the cyborg's chest. The metal was designed for energy absorption and dispersion. He couldn't claim to be stronger than either of the two, but he possessed a very specific set of skills that served well for situations such as this. His powerset filled gaps in the team like an eel slipped in and filled a narrow sea cave.
The Wakantlantean king locked eyes with Diana, then turned to do the same to Stark. With just a glare, he made Stark unmask the human half of his face. "It is unwise for us to quarrel here. We as champions of this world have the most difficult set of responsibilities, the pressure can get to us sometimes, but we still have to be better." Black Orca spoke with great authority before eventually letting the both of them go. "We cannot showcase in-fighting for the world to see." Deescalating the conflict was his top priority to not sully the League's perception in the eyes of any SHIELD agents watching them.
"Diana, as much as you hate to hear it, Stark has a point. The League of Marvelous Individuals only exists how it is today because of what Stark has given us. Hard choices do have to be made sometimes, and he had to make a lot of them. Additionally, Ms. Zeul's imprisonment was your responsibility to undo. I know Fate's death weighed heavy on all of us, but that does not excuse your duty to your people. We will find her, and make sure she gets the justice she deserves for what's happened to her," the Orca assured, followed by Stark giving a cocky smirk. T'Kurri then redirected his attention to Victor.
"On the other hand, Belle Raft was a total disaster class of human rights violations that you outfitted and endorsed because you were afraid to stand up to Fury, and for many of those hard choices to did choose the easy solution. I know you think you have gone through suffering, but many have gone through much worse, and it is our duty as heroes to stand up for them. We had faith in you because of the potential we saw, Stark. And you let us, and the world down."
Victor let out a heavy sigh, he knew T'Kurri and Diana were right, and he was guilty over it. The bravado and ego he put on was gone. "What was I supposed to do, Orca? I know how screwed up Belle Raft is…well was. But SHIELD is cracking down on guys like us. That's hard to fight back against. I played ball to keep us from being next on the chopping block, and I am...so tired. I'm sorry for what this became. But I did what I had to."
"Well, what you have to do now, is rebuild. You're going to be focusing your attention solely on working to create a new facility for containing and potentially reforming the villains we defeat," Black Orca decreed with nobility.
"What? What gives you the authority to do that?" Stark asked incredulously.
"Simple, I am a king.," T'Kurri responded with a smirk behind his helmet. "And I think Thor would agree with me on this. You do owe him eighteen life debts. This'll probably count for two or three of them."
"What about the rest of my duties on the Watchtower? Who'll run monitor duty?"
"We'll rotate amongst ourselves for now, but we'll hire someone else to run things full time." Diana answered. "But don't you think you'll be doing this on your own either. I'll be working with you personally on this, so that I can assure that anyone else who goes through your system actually faces justice." She did not have any faith in Stark at the current moment.
Victor should have felt offended, but after T'Kurri's previous words, he was alright to have someone help shoulder the weight for him. "You drive a hard bargain, Princess. But alright." There was still tension there, but a respect for now that seemed better for the good of the team.
T"Kurri took pride in resolving a potential civil war before it got too out of hand, "Anyway, didn't Stark mention getting a drink?"
Diana let out a relieved sigh and smiled, "Yes of course, we should celebrate your return to active duty. Although it may prove wiser to wait for your wife to arrive for us to do so."
"I wouldn't hold your breath. Transporting a human from Wakantlantis to the surface world will be a complicated process that shall take a few more days," T'Kurri declined.
"Still, we should wait," Stark interjected, "After all, she's the person we'd actually be celebrating to come back. You're not all that special, Whale Man."
Orca remained in good spirits despite his teasing, "Just for that Stark, you are buying," he said with a snicker, "And you know how much I can handle."
Stark groaned and began tapping coordinates into the panel on his arm. "Damn Wakantlantean constitution. You still got your ID card, right?"
Orca shrugged, "Sorry Stark, crushed from the undersea pressure. Kendra's too."
"Alright, Diana, just grab him," Stark said with a roll of his eye, concluding the teleportation setup.
Diana smirked and wrapped her arm around T'Kurri's shoulder, "Welcome back, my friend." She still had a lot on her mind, but for now she was content to put that aside, even for just an hour, having a drink with friends.
And just like that, the three of them would disappear from the site of what once was Belle Raft. They would be teleported to a bar in Neo Metropolis called the Jack of Clubs. There, the three would have a brief refrain from the hustle and chaos that came with being a superhero. When one is tasked with the responsibility of protecting the entire world, the weight of it is on their shoulders. They know a looming power is upon them, and while they believe they can stop it, it shall be difficult. But with the return of Black Orca, and Stormbird on the way, the League almost feels united, but without the Fatal Compass, they aren't. The coming months will prove very trying for the League, but they shall fight through it together. But even on their own, they're never truly alone with themselves anymore, are they? I have been the Phantom Watcher, and I shall await your return to the Amalgam.