"You've figured I'd come," Natasha said as she noticed Loki was expecting her. She is 5 meters away from the glass wall, standing there with her hand crossed.
"After," Loki turns to Natasha. He approaches the cage edge slowly.
"After whatever torture Fury can concoct, you will appear as a friend, as a balm, and I would cooperate…"
"I want to know what have you done to Agent Barton," Natasha cut him off and announced her business. Loki smiles, showing his teeth.
"I'd say I've expanded his mind…" He is at the edge of the glass wall. Not touching it as Fury threatens to drop him into the ocean if he does. He pretended to do as Fury saw now. He knows that only a stupid man will kick out their only lead to the cube.
"Once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What will happen to his mind?" Natasha asks calmly as she approaches the cage.
"Ohh, is this love agent Romanov?" Loki said teasingly.
"Love is for children. I'd owe him a debt," she asserted.
"Tell me…" Loki turns back, away from Natasha. He sat down, with his body lazily rested on the wall. She realizes that if she wants to proceed, she needs to share the debt with Loki.
"(Sigh) Before I worked for Shield, I uhh…well, I made a name for myself, I have a very specific skill set…" She sat down near the cage where there is a place to sit and continue.
"I got into Shield radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call."
"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki perked up a bit from his position. She had caught his attention back.
"Not let you out…" Natasha says playfully.
"Oh no, but I like this, your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man…" Loki grinned. His plan is working.
"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian…or I was.."
"And what are you now?"
She stands up and gets near Loki. She crosses her arm again. "It's really not that complicated. I have red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."
"Can you?" Loki says menacingly.
"Can you wipe out… that much red?" He grinned.
"Dreykov's daughter, Sao Paolo, the hospital fire," He continued. Natasha's poker face starts to shake. She swallowed her saliva as her past flashed inside her mind.
"Barton told me everything…" Loki holds his knees and stands back up. He walked slowly toward her.
"Your ledger is dripping. It's gushing red. And you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything?" He said in an accusing tone.
"This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child's prayer. Pathetic…" He insulted her. And he isn't done yet.
"What will he think about you? If he knows all of this? The doctor?" Loki grinned.
"He has nothing to do with this," Natasha said urgently.
Loki laughs out loud. "Your place to breathe? Your safe zone?" He mocked Natasha for what she shared with Barton before. Then, he looks at her seriously.
"You're no different than the ones who killed his family…" Loki throws the cold truth to Natasha's face. And she knows about it. That's why she has been keeping her distance since he came back to the helicarrier.
If Kai knows what she has done. Will she still be accepted by him? Can he still smile when he looks at her face?
"You lie and kill. In the service of liars and killers…" Loki continues as Natasha isn't saying anything.
At the bridge. Fury got an alert that somebody is breaking into the secure files. He knows only Stark will do something like this. He runs urgently to the lab where Stark and Banner are working.
Loki: "...You pretend to be separate. To have your own code. Something that makes up for the horrors ..."
Steve finds the phase 2 weapons that Hill had brought with her from the NASA research lab on Fury's order. The gun he found is the Hydra weapon, with the Hydra emblem still on it. Steve inhales and exhales shortly as he is reliving the past. This time, at the beginning of the war.
"...But they are a part of you. And they will never go away. " Loki finishes his speech. He takes a look at the teary eyes of the agent. He feels satisfied as he managed to break the Black Widow. Now, he has gotten two of them.
If only he stopped there.
*Bang* He slammed the glass wall in front of Natasha. "I won't touch Barton. Not until I made him kill you. Slowly. Intimately. In every way, he knows you fear…"
Natasha turns back to run away. Loki continues saying menacingly with a loud voice in case she doesn't hear him.
"And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I'll split his skull…" He stops screaming and catches his breath as he looks at Natasha's sobbing back.
"This is my bargain you mewling quim…" He says softly.
"You're a monster." Natasha lets out a shaky voice. Loki is greatly satisfied by his performance. He grinned widely. His plan is almost complete. Without him realizing it, a chuckle escaped his mouth.
"(Hahaha) Oh no. You brought the monster."
Natasha turns around facing Loki. Her eyes are clear and there is no sign of her breaking down at all. "So…Banner? That's your play?"
"What?" Loki doesn't understand what just happened.
"Loki means to unleash the hulk. Keep Banner in the lab. I'm on my way. Send Thor as well…" Natasha said to the earpiece and she ran briskly toward the room exit. She stops by at the last moment and turns to Loki.
"Thank you, for your cooperation…" Natasha said as she walked out. The god of trickery and mischief is tricked by the agent.
…
In New York, it is almost Dawn. The dark sky is showing an orange hue, signifying a new day is beginning.
"I can't believe it. You're telling the truth," Gwen is shocked as she reads the latest test result. The test showed that Ryan is fully healthy.
"Too bad I couldn't enjoy being spoon-fed anymore...But anytime you want to try out a nurse's outfit…" Ryan hugged Gwen from behind.
"Don't even…" Gwen said angrily. Although the idea is not bad, she is still angry as she found out Ryan injected the disease into his body.
Ryan chuckles. Then, he dragged her to sit down on the sofa.
"Gwen, there is something I need to tell you," Ryan said in a serious tone.
"This isn't another one of your hoaxes is it?" Gwen asks, a bit worried. Sometimes he does things like this. He is too serious even for minor issues. She had worried herself out unnecessarily, multiple times already.
"Not this time I'm afraid. Dawn warned me about…" Ryan shares the thing that is going to happen with Gwen. She is shocked at first and starts to freak out.
"What about my dad? He is the police captain. How can he fight it?" Gwen is holding her head, trying to picture the chaos that is coming. Throbbing pain occurs on her left eyebrow as she stresses herself.
Ryan takes her hand away gently and moves it from her head. He keeps holding her hand, not letting go. Circulating divine healing magic using his magic circuit system, he sends out healing energy to calm her down.
Gwen takes a deep breath before she looks at Ryan's face. She wanted him to help as she knew he could do it. But the memory of him being battered after coming back from space stops her. She couldn't put the responsibility on him. It is selfish for her to wish that.
"Is there anything we can do?" She asks. Are they going to let the people suffer?
Ryan kissed her forehead and vowed to her.
"I promise you. I will do whatever in my power to help, with nothing holding me back."
She calmed down after hearing it. "I am still being selfish aren't I?" Her wish will cause a lot of trouble for Ryan.
"You're not. It's just, with great power…"
"Sir, an anomaly has occurred," ALBUS interrupted the couple and Ryan's great saying.
Ryan stands up and goes to check the anomaly. While he was fiddling with the computer, he asked casually.
"Gwen, I shared it with you because I want to ask you, what do you want to do?"
To be honest, he wants to lock her up on the island. Or in a safe box. Even if the world burns down, she needs to survive. Only then will he survive.
"I…will be going to work!" She said unexpectedly. Ryan is dumbfounded.
"Even after I shared all of that?" He asks promptly. What he wanted is for her to take shelter. Gwen smiles and walks right next to him.
"Didn't you make some contingency in the company building? I will stay there and help when the time comes," She hugs his waist and kisses him on the cheeks.
She will help the people, and at the same time, she will stay out of his way. He loves him too much to focus on anything else if she is putting herself in danger. She knows that. Ryan already told her about the Ancient one warning him. 'Do not interfere until the portal opens.'
The bald one has seen multiple paths they can take with the time stone. These have the least casualties. The Avenger formation and the wormhole invasion are necessary for the world to change. She couldn't let Ryan go and disrupt the situation.
"Don't worry about me. If I am in danger, then I will teleport straight away to the island," Gwen holds Ryan's nervous face and says to him as she looks into his worried eyes.
"(Sigh) I guess this is the downside to dating a superhero," Ryan mumbles. Gwen is puzzled when she hears it. Isn't the hero him?
"You meant you?" She asks.
"Nope…" He kisses her forehead. She gets ready and leaves the house to go to the company. Bryan had put a female bodyguard for Gwen to drive her to and from work.
The bodyguard in a full black suit and black pants takes her job very seriously. The sedan is driven carefully on New York Street. Gwen notices an SUV is passing her car on the opposite side.
"Isn't that Mr. Mills' car? He is rarely coming late," Gwen recognized the car as she had been driven in it multiple times.
Sam Carlson, the renowned female bodyguard that has a tiny scar on her chin and left eyebrow, answered politely, "He had a day off yesterday. Do you want me to ask him?"
"No need. I was just talking," Gwen said as she texted Khan. She gets chatty when she is nervous. She asks Khan to spend the day in the Knight Industry with her.
Khan is working in the same building as the marketing staff. She is glad as she can play hooky at work today.
The moment Gwen reaches the industry, Bryan Mills, the head of security, arrives at Ryan's penthouse building. He parked inside the private area for the security details, where there is a private elevator heading straight to Ryan's place.
Bryan parked the car and went out to open the back door. He held the hand of the passenger politely as he escorted her out of the car.
An alluring leg with smooth skin comes out of the car, followed by the Goddess of Beauty.
"We've arrived, Mistress Amora," Bryan said to the woman. His eyes are hazy. She brushes her finger on her chest.
"I've never met a mortal so…skillful…and strong…" Amora said as her lower part heats up. She was supposed to come here a few hours ago, but she got distracted after she met Bryan. He is very handsome for someone his age, and his figure is on another level from the mortal Amora found.
He is the only mortal that has the honor of going all the way with her. Enhanced by Ryan's elementary gene fluid, Bryan has the strength of almost 4 men. It is substantial for him to satisfy a non-combatant Asgardian.
Her bad habit came in again. She always does this. It's very easy for her to fall in love, especially if it is someone she enchants. She grabs Bryan's hand and puts it in between her breasts.
"Let's go," Amora says with an innocent girl voice. She blushes a little when she peeks at Bryan's face. She already finished one mission last night. This is the last one, then Loki will help her free her sister from Asgard's prison.
…
"What are you doing Mr. Stark?" Fury walks inside the lab hurriedly and confronts the hacker.
Stark is looking at the monitor in the lab while sitting on the desk. Banner is standing lazily beside him.
Kai isn't there as he is summoned to the medical clinic. An excuse. To avoid any sabotage by the doctor.
Kai smiles wryly when he hears the summon. Tony and Banner are greatly dissatisfied by Shield's behavior as they do this. Tony increased the hacking rate because of this.
"I'm kind of wondering the same thing about you," Tony said as he was checking the data he found. The screen is displaying a document titled; PHASE 2.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract," Fury said, exhausted. There is a reason why the WSC rejected the Avenger Project. The people here are impossible to control.
"We are. The model is locked and we are running for the energy signature. We get a hit, we will have the location within one mile," Banner said as he pointed to the monitor running the algorithm he, Kai, and Tony cooked up.
"What is Phase 2?" Tony asked Fury. The data is sent to his personal computer. Among them is data on the Reaper incident. He will soon know why Shield is very cautious when they are dealing with Kai. Not right now, but soon.
"Phase 2 is Shield uses the Tesseract energy to make a weapon," Steve comes in suddenly and drops the Hydra rifle on the lab table. Natasha and Thor are on their way to the lab. The infamous argument scene is brewing, but Kai isn't there to witness it.
As the original Avenger is arguing in the lab, Kai is bandaging a female agent's head. She couldn't hold her grin as Kai was smiling at her. One of the founding members of the Kai fan club has volunteered as a tribute when they needed someone to get hurt. She couldn't wait to share this with the president later on.
"Is there scheduled cargo coming in?" Kai asks suddenly. The female agent sees the quinjet Kai is staring at.
"No. But sometimes the agent is coming and going. Our position is only given to the agents, so there is nothing to worry about," She tries to explain to Kai, but suddenly, a big explosion occurs and it shakes the ship!
The ship suddenly loses its altitude, and the female agent almost falls from the chair. Kai quickly grabs her into his arms as they roll to the floor.
"Are you okay?" Kai asked the stunned agent.
"Y-yeah," she can barely answer. Her heart is beating very quickly as she can feel Kai's warm breath on her face.
"(Roar)" Kai heard the sound of the inhuman roar.
"Hulk," he says in a soft voice. Grabbing his cane, he sprinted toward the source of the sound. He jumped to the lower floor where Hulk is.
At this moment, Hulk is running for Natasha. He wants to tear the liar apart! Tony and Steve are putting their differences apart and are working together. They are going to go fix the wind turbine.
In the dim corridor of the Helicarrier storage area, Natasha is running and swinging from the metal bar to get away from the Hulk. Her face is full of sweat and she is breathing heavily. She is facing the monster on her own!
"Roar!" Hulk screams as he grabs the metal bar Natasha uses to swing up to another floor and he bends it in half.
Being enhanced, Natasha is running easier than the original timeline. However, it didn't matter much when she faced the Hulk.
A well-dressed figure suddenly jumps between her and the monster.
"Kai, DON'T!" Natasha yelled. Why is he intervening after what Shield had done to him? Why is he saving her? Why did he put himself in danger? There are a lot of questions that she wants to ask.
*Bang Bang* The helicarrier is in chaos. Kai turns to Natasha and orders her. "I think Barton is here. Go stop him. I got this," He takes out his cane without pulling out his sword.
Hulk swings a punch at Kai. He bends his knees and dodges backward, matrix style. He dodged a few attacks, and he didn't fight back. He is not even showing hostile intentions toward Hulk.
Hulk isn't completely brainless. He can feel the hostility and fear others are emanating when they see him. Kai didn't show any of those and it makes Hulk want to smash other things.
"Hulk, the sun is getting really low," Kai tries to placate the monster as the monster is slowing down. But he did the wrong thing.
"ROARRRRR!!" Hulk roars in front of Kai. A heavy torrent of saliva sprayed on Kai's face. His eardrum shakes a little. Hulk may not be able to catch up with Kai's speed, but he only needs one punch to incapacitate the man.
Natasha didn't leave. She didn't know what Kai wanted to do, but she didn't want to leave him without any backup. She keeps calling for Thor in the earpiece. She is following the battle from behind.
"Hulk, have you tasted chocolate before?" Kai asks as he is dodging Hulk's punch and guides him to another place he sets up.
Kai flips acrobatically 20 meters away from the Hulk. It is a relatively open space where he lands. Hulk is still running towards him.
To Natasha's surprise, Kai throws his cane away from him. He takes out a candy bar and opens it up casually.
"Kai RUN!" Natasha yelled. A few agents are in the vicinity, and they also see what is happening. All of them are puzzled by the sight going on in front of them.
Hulk…stopped.
"Fuh, it worked," Kai let out as the Hulk was a meter away from him. He's been using his wind to make a sound barrier so that Hulk couldn't hear the chaos. Only his voice. He had been stopping the agents from aiming at the monster by flicking a small bead to their rifles.
The candy bar that he opened is enchanted with an alluring charm. Hulk will find the candy irresistible. Hulk snatched the candy bar from Kai's hand and put it in his mouth.
"Yum yum" Hulk is chewing the caramel-coated candy and is letting out exclamations of satisfaction. Kai turns to Natasha, who is standing in the direction of the camera he sets up.
Kai put the same candy next to his face and said with a bright smile.
"You're not you when you're hungry. Grab a SNICKERS today."
Natasha: …(face-palm)
The agents: ....
Thor who just arrived: …..
Hulk: yum yum yum
Hulk snatches the snickers Kai is holding and throws it into his mouth without opening the wrapper.
"Hey, that's mine..." Kai scolded Hulk.
"Humph," Hulk snorted as he turned to look at Thor. Will he fight the god next? However, the guy starts to show signs he is turning back to Banner. The agents are pulling Thor back in case he disrupts the process.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Natasha loses her temper for the first time in her decades of experience as an agent/assassin. She strides toward Kai angrily.
"Shouldn't you go get Barton first?" Kai raises his arm in surrender and reminds her. She snapped out of it and changed her direction.
"Don't even think I will let this go!" She said as she went to find Barton. Kai smiles as he looks at her intoxicating back.
'Wait, Phil!' He snaps out of the stupor and runs toward Loki's cage.
Banner already turned back. The agents are bringing him to a safe place, away from the chaos.
"What just happened?" Banner asks. The agent is silent. Banner thought he had killed many people, that is why they are not answering. Little did he know, the agent did not answer as they couldn't find the right word for it.