"From today onward, Tarot's threat will be raised to the tenth level," Fury ordered his agents. His face was solemn as the sudden information that he got was causing him to change his entire plan.
Fury walked quickly inside the Insight Helicarrier Construction Hangar with Maria Hill.
A team of level 8 and 7 agents were following him from behind with quickened steps to follow their director's speed.
"I want every analysis done on his powers, personality and even possible identity."
The agents loyal to Fury jotted their tasks. After losing the 8th level Agent, Victoria Hand, Fury was restless. Not only was the chaos targeting SHIELD, but Tarot had targeted many places around the country.
"Now!" Fury snapped his order, causing the agents to scatter. Now that he had to rely on the back list agents, he got frustrated as their experience wasn't enough for them to handle sensitive matters.
All of them, except Hill.
"What did we find from the documents?" Fury asked Hill using a hushed voice, trying to cover his conversation.
"All reports bought by the agents on the scene were gone. They said it had been burned when Tony Stark used his incineration weapon."
"And before they were burned?" Fury said as he had captured the entire battle from the air using the highest quality camera he had. The duo managed to read some of the report before it was 'burned'.
"The mission was approved by Agent Sitwell," Hill said as she read the enhanced picture of the mission report.
"I see, put some monitoring on Sitwell. Use outside the books agents for this," Fury ordered.
"I understand sir," Hill replied and split off from Fury.
"Now to face the thunder," Fury muttered alone as he rode the elevator towards the conference hall. There, the World Security Council was waiting for him to give them answers he didn't have.
While waiting for the elevator to reach the top floor, he sends a text to another of his agents, Phil Coulson.
'The re-emergence of Hydra? Or am I too blind to never catch their tail?'
Fury was racking his brain for the possible outcome of the entire incident. No matter what happened, he needed to ensure that the Insight Project was completed — and that it should fall into his hand instead of the Hydra's hands.
"And for this, I need an ally."
…
"It didn't need stitches, I will just glue it together," Kai said as he brushed Natasha's hair to the side and checked up on the wound. Natasha nodded slightly, giving Kai permission to do that.
Kai was sitting directly in front of Natasha as their chairs were facing each other.
The silence inside the room carried a certain tension. The uncomfortable feeling, as if a bomb was going to explode lingered among the two people left in the room.
Using a cotton dipped in iodine solution, Kai pressed the cotton lightly onto the wound on Natasha's head. While he was reaching for the glue, Natasha broke the silence between them.
"Are you ever going to talk to me again?" Natasha asked something that she felt she needed to know ever since he ignored her during their last meeting.
Kai pressed the antiseptic hard onto her wound, making her groan in pain. "Ouch," Natasha flinched, and glared at Kai hatefully. A fake reaction from someone who can handle inhuman torture. What she wanted to do was to make him pay attention to her.
"Seriously? The Avenger, Black Widow couldn't take a small sting?" Kai said pseudo-mockingly as he glued the wound together. The process was simple enough for him not to spend much time with her.
She clenched her fist as Kai was finishing up. "Natasha…not black widow," she said with slight agitation in her shaky voice.
It was because she was Black Widow that she didn't stop doing missions, trying to save the world. Her bloodied past wouldn't let her rest, and change her ways. She knows that if she stayed with Kai, she would stop doing what she was supposed to do. Her redemption was still far away.
"Does it really matter? Didn't you already decide to throw Natasha away?" Kai said, referring to the time she hid her feelings and threw away any chance for her happiness.
"I didn't. I just need…time," She said with exasperation. Stuck between SHIELD that gave her a second chance, and Kai, the one who loved her the most, Natasha had been lost trying to figure out her identity.
Will she stay as black widow for her entire life, or will she start a new life with Kai?
"That's why I'm not talking to you," Kai said in a casual voice, startling Natasha. "If I talked and pretended nothing was going on, you will keep doing what you're doing before, am I right?"
Kai said his question was more of a statement, causing Natasha to look down on the floor. Her inability to make a choice did instigate the more cowardly side of her to come out and let Kai change his mind instead. That way, she can keep being an agent while keeping at his side.
"I will ask you this, what do you think being with me means?" Kai asked again in a low tone, causing her to look up toward his eyes.
He then added, "Do you think that I will ask you to remove your agent's identity or the widow's identity?"
She took a deep breath and replied, "No, you won't. But you also won't fully be with me as you'll be suspicious about me all the time if I keep being an agent."
Kai had a gentle expression on his face, and he used his hand to prop up Natasha's face. She was putting her head down after telling Kai about her true feelings.
"Nat, I always knew that you're an agent. And I like you anyway. Kinda unfair for you to assume that about me, don't you think?"
"Yeah, but can you really say that your feelings will stay the same?" Natasha said, dejected by her reality. No matter what, she won't be able to hold the trust someone had given her.
"I won't be able to promise that," Kai replied, further pushing Natasha into the abyss. However, he added, "Because I don't know what will happen in the future. But I do know about one thing…"
"What?"
"The future you're afraid is only a branch of the future. There might be a time when you will get your happiness. But if you don't take the first step, then you won't be able to even reach the starting line to get to the time."
Kai saw that Natasha was deep in thought . To be honest, he could only talk calmly as some time had passed. If he says it at the time when his wound was still fresh, he won't be able to look at her face without revealing his emotions.
"There's also another option. That is.. to return back to being friends.That way, things won't be so complicated," Kai suggested with a heavy heart.
Rather than making a difficult choice, this method was more of a compromise between these two people that Kai had thought of, to return their relationship before they had the kiss.
" I guess, that's the most… rational option," Natasha said after thinking about the pros and the cons.
Pros; They will be able to work together and keep their trust on one another.
Cons; If Kai decided to move on, then she would have to see him become happy without her by his side.
"Friends…sounds great," Natasha decided. Her hand shivered, but she gripped the side of the chair, holding it all together.
"Okay then, how about dinner… as friends?" Kai replied, hiding his longing heart. He was disappointed, but he had hidden it deeply inside his heart to ensure that she didn't suffer anymore.
"Sure," Natasha replied reluctantly. Her brain knew that this was a rational decision, but her heart won't play along.
Kai and Natasha locked eyes for a while inside the empty medical room.
Natasha stared at his lips and he realised it. He too has been doing the same thing. Slowly, they inched towards one another.
Without thinking, Natasha kissed him and he reciprocated the action. She invaded his mouth using her tongue and bit on his lower lips.
She jumped on top of his lap on the chair he was sitting on, and passionately kissed him while unbuttoning his clothes. He did the same things and….
5 hours later.
Kai and Natasha were laying together underneath a blanket on a medical bed.
"We're still friends right?" Natasha said as she tried to comb her dishevelled hair. Her bare legs kept being entangled with Kai's, not wanting to seperate.
Traces of their entanglement could be seen in the medical room as their clothes were thrown everywhere. Their enhanced bodies had created an extremely pleasurable evening for both of them.
"Sure, I can handle being this type of friend," Kai replied. Suddenly Natasha's hand moved across his body underneath the blanket, readying him for round two.
At the upper floor of the tower.
"We needed to add possible teleportation toward Tarot's list of powers. How can a person have that many abilities?"
Tony was listing out every possible ability that Tarot had used, and planning countermeasures for them. The battle video was analysed by JARVIS and Captain America, to ensure the contingency plan for Tarot will work.
"Where is Kai?" Steve asked Banner who was going to the medical room to check up on the couple. Kai was needed here as he had a lot of combat experience and he was also the one who had lasted the longest against Tarot.
"He's….busy," Bruce said and dismissed the Captain's concern.
Bruce was startled when he heard sounds of pleasure coming from the door of the medical room. He ignored it and kept walking away . Steve shook his head afterward and focused on the briefing.
"Tony, what did Ryan say?" Bruce asked, trying to change the topic. He was happy for the couple, but still they were at war. 'Couldn't you guys wait a little…'
"He's busy too. Don't know what he is doing right now… always busy," Tony grumbled in dissatisfaction.
He was the one who appointed Ryan as an Avenger. When Ryan didn't do his job, it made him look bad.
…
The chat group: Circus of fools.
Mythic: Are you sure that it's safe to let your uncle be?
Hydra: Yeah, can we move onto something else please. I don't want to talk about it….
Vampire Kid: How about the fact that you don't know about the Jackal until he disappeared.
Hydra: He didn't disappear. I just haven't found him yet. But seriously I lost all trace of him. Even tried to use a tracking spell, and it couldn't find him.
Ryan had known about Gwen's uncle after he asked the chat group about it. He planned to do something before a tragedy happened, but Jackal was gone.
He had broken into Raymond's house to find some of his hair, skin, or even saliva to use a tracking spell on Raymond.
He also used some of Raymond's personal belongings and used the spell from Hogwards for the belonging to levitate and goes to find Raymond while he follows the item from behind.
But both methods failed spectacularly and he thought that Raymond was dead. Only a dead person could avoid the tracking.
It was until Mephisto notified him that Raymond may have been taken over by the dark personality inside of him. That's why the spells didn't work.
TheDoctor: It might fail if he changes all the DNA inside his body. Maybe he is in his monster form this time. You found the experimental clinics?
QueenElf: You destroyed all the experiments right?
Hydra: Tarot did. (laughs.gif)
Queenelf: (stare.gif)
He had destroyed all the experiments and had caused an immense loss for Roxxon, but Jackal was gone. He also managed to save almost 2000 human lab rats from the inhuman experiments and had cured all of them.
It wasn't hard for him to do so and they had never seen him coming. His main target however, was lost.
Now, he was doing a worldwide bust on the world trafficking network, from the legal front and also in the dark.
"Still, Raymond…" Ryan muttered to himself. The question here is, should he tell Gwen about it, or should he do it himself as usual?
Mythic: You should tell her.
Hydra: But, will she hate me afterward?
Mythic: She won't. It's not like you're the one who changed her uncle into that thing right? Have a little faith, are you not going to be husband and wife?
Mephisto: GOT IT!!! The feeling of being watched. Isn't that the Watcher?
"Ahh, damn it," Ryan muttered after the sudden realization.
"He won't suddenly drag me to become a Guardian of the Multiverse right?" Ryan mumbles, then he laughed dryly, "Ha.. ha.. Ha.."
After thinking for a while, Ryan decided to tell Gwen the truth about her uncle. Her reaction was… complicated.
First, she cried for her uncle. Then, she got angry at her uncle for ignoring scientific procedures. Then, she became worried about what her uncle might do.
"We need to find him," Gwen begged.
"I am scanning every place in the world that I could get into right now. I will tell you immediately if I got a ping," Ryan said while patting Gwen's back.
She started to intervene in the matter herself. She worked tirelessly to find her uncle, and to bring him to justice. She stayed in front of her computer, and kept adding to her uncle's habit and tendency toward ALBUS.
A world-wide scanning was ongoing. A split, 18- screen monitor was built inside Ryan's penthouse for specific matters like this . If Fury knew about this, his mouth would drool to get the same thing.
"Gwen, you should rest, " Ryan said as she had been up for almost a day now. Her enhanced physique does help keep her going, but the mental fatigue was taking a toll on her.
It was lucky that he decided to retire Tarot for a month, as he can be there for her during this difficult time. He grabs her hand gently, and pries her away from the monitor.
"Hey…we're going to find him. Okay?" Ryan brushed her messy hair and said in a comforting voice.
"Should I have not told you about this?" He asked, wondering if he had done something wrong.
"No… you did the right things. It's just… I wish I had never had to hear about it. I wish… that my uncle didn't do any of that stuff…"
Without realising, her tears started to fall. Ryan hugged her tightly, and vowed inside his heart to find Raymond no matter what.
…
3 days after fighting Tarot.
"Have you thought this through? " Kai in his surgeon attire said to the patient lying shirtless on the surgical chair.
"Yes. Tarot had ceased his activities, so this is the perfect time…"
"I didn't mean that Tony. I mean about you. Are you sure about this?"
After careful consideration, Tony decided to undergo his surgery. He didn't think he could postpone it any longer. The more he postponed the surgery, the guiltier he felt towards Pepper and the baby.
Being free for a little while underneath the card's influence, Tony had changed a little bit. He became more decisive and more confident.
'I don't know whether Tarot does that on purpose but…'
When he didn't overthink, when he didn't have his anxiety, when he didn't have the overwhelming desire to make his father proud or his responsibility as a hero, he had focused on the more important things in life.
That was… his family.
"You want me to hold your hand as you undergo the surgery, old man?" Ryan who was sitting at the side of the surgical room chided.
It was one of his house's rooms that was repurposed to be a surgical suite. Pepper was waiting outside in the living room for him to finish his surgery.
"I swear I will drag the MediQuick to the Avenger tower next time. By then even Kai can retire," Tony said with dissatisfaction. He wanted to do this in a hospital, but Ryan's MediQuick couldn't interfere with the house's internal server.
Well, that was what Ryan told him. Under his and Kai's watchful eyes, there was no chance for the surgery to be a failure. Still, he kept himself nearby for any unexpected development.
Slowly, the anaesthesia kicked in. Tony fell unconscious on the MediQuick chair, and the surgery started. However, Kai went to sit next to Ryan instead of watching over Tony when it was one minute into the surgery.
"He shouldn't even be on anesthesia," Kai said as the surgery…was already over. The shrapnel inside of Tony's veins near his heart were removed easily. Kai had removed Tony's arc reactor from his chest and now MediQuick was healing the gaping hole in his body.
If Stark knew how easy it was for him to survive the operation, he would felt stupid for postponing it for so long.
"How long will it be before he wakes up?" Ryan asked, but not asking the doctor next to him. A computerised voice answered his question instead.
[ Approximately 3 hours before regaining consciousness]
Ryan nodded when he heard about the estimate.
"Okay then, let's talk about the bachelor party. Will Pepper let him have one?" Kai asked playfully.
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