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Thor's attack signaled the beginning of a long battle.
Mjolnir was directly slammed onto the abdomen of Tarot, but it only caused him to slide one meter backward and nothing else. The hammer flew back toward Thor and he grabbed the handle of it. He then jumped higher in the air to slam the hammer down on Tarot's head.
"Annoying," Tarot said as he waved his arm to the side. Thor was suddenly hit by a massive shockwave and was slammed onto the Triskelion building, buried deeply in its wall.
"Let me ask you a question. What do you think will happen when you kill all of those people?" Kai asked calmly despite the confrontational situation of Tarot and the Avengers.
Ryan couldn't let the battle move without some dialogue. He needed to tamper with the Avenger in the scenario he created, so Kai was his helper.
"Will there be peace? Will the world reach the idea of your ideal world when all the people fear you?"
Tarot shook his head.
"Ideals were just that. Ideals. They are not reality. I could change almost anything in this cursed world. But I won't be able to change the nature of you human's."
'Change anything?' Fury widened his eyes. Then, he silently took a step back from the battlefront and disappeared into the shadows.
"Then why the hell did you kill all those people if you knew that nothing will change??" Tony said angrily.
He aimed his shoulder missiles and shot out dozens of small missiles at Tarot. However, the missiles stopped mid air and turned back to attack Tony instead.
"Because it's the most rational thing to do."
"It was also rational not to kill people!" Tony yelled. Hulk roared and sprinted to Tarot. However, he was kicked in the head and flew backward.
Hulk staggered back up, but Tarot threw a card toward him before he could do anything else. Hulk was stuck with the
'Damn, he wasn't this strong before,' Tony thought while scanning Tarot for any weaknesses.
"Sometimes, rationality in a way makes you blind to the real world. Thus, you completely overlook something crucial. Rationalism and pragmatism are not the only things that drive human actions. At your core, you are still foolish creatures," Tarot said with a rather disappointed tone.
He too wanted to escape the thing called emotion. Even if he kept rationalizing it, those countless deaths on his hands were making his mental state awry.
"Are you saying that we are animals? That we follow our basic instincts instead of using our abilities to think?" Carol asked with burning anger in her heart. "Aren't you a human too!?"
She appeared next to Tarot and punched his head left and right. He just let her hit him without stopping her as he thought he needed to be punched.
"Maybe I am. Maybe I am not," Tarot replied ambiguously with cracks visible on his helmet. The cracks suddenly disappeared, causing Carol to widen her eyes.
Then, he grabbed her hand and threw her onto the hard floor, shattering the ground into web-like cracks. Her arm had been injured and her bones fractured when she hit him before. It surprised her greatly as she was never injured after she got her powers.
Tarot had no mercy on the almost incapacitated woman and stepped on her stomach to move toward the other Avengers. Enhanced by countless magic buffs, he knew he would have to take a period of witness after this. However, he kept adding more magic onto his body even though he was in pain.
"Yes. No matter how much you believe you've modernized. No matter the social constructs you pledged to live by. Humans continued to be foolish creatures. You think you're advanced but when pushed around, you still prioritize emotions over logic. "
Tarot looked at Tony when he said that. The smartest man in the world, but Tony kept acting using his emotions.
"Killing all of the criminals isn't logical. It's execution," Steve said as he threw the shield toward Tarot. It bounced back to him without even injuring the man. Steve said while trying to punch Tarot with his magic gauntlet.
"A human being who did a lot of stupid thing, maybe even evil. But most of the people also have one small piece of goodwill inside of them. Maybe just a scrap of it. But it's something. And you come along and that one tiny flicker of light gets snuffed out forever."
"That is a good thing wasn't it?" Tarot sneered.
"What about hope? What about redemption?" Steve asked angrily.
"What about Santa Claus? What about the Easter Bunny?" Tarot mocked.
"Ask your friend at the back, what do he think about it?" Tarot pointed at Bucky. "Or the Oracle. What do you think about it? Will the people actually change if given the chance?"
Steve turned toward Bucky who had a calm face. Bucky already thought about the question. He believed redemption and hope was only available for people who deserve it. He also thought that he wasn't on the list of people who deserve it.
"They can try," Ryan muttered as he used his ice gauntlet to create a half sphere dome.
"Foolish answer. You were mad at me because I killed the people that were supposed to be killed by your law years ago. None of the people I killed today deserves redemption."
Tarot turned to Bucky and said, "You're not one of them."
Bucky waved his hand to gesture that Tarot should ignore him and focus.
An iceberg fell down from the sky and trapped Tarot. He was enclosed by a sturdy ice shield but he shattered the ice with a punch.
"When a human being is overwhelmed with hatred, they'll keep fighting without concern for self-interest or reason. Regardless of what they might stand to gain or to lose. That's why we're fighting right now. You refuse to see things with my point of view, and you hate me for going against your ideals."
Steve hesitated. Natasha and Kai worked together to attack Tarot in close combat.
Kai slashed at Tarot multiple times and managed to save Natasha from his cards. He said during the fight, "I have seen hatred personified. I've witnessed countless acts of vengeance that were driven by fury. I have personally experienced the irrationality of humanity. I know what happens when emotions make someone unreasonable."
He kicked Tarot backward, almost causing Tarot to fall. The Emperor card 300 second expired, causing Tarot to be in a period of weakness.
"Without condoning. Or Condemning. I understand your actions today. I assumed you too understood that we needed to bring you down," Kai said calmly.
Tarot was satisfied by Kai's performance. "Try. Bring me down. I won't stop you from chasing after me. However I still have a job to do. So I will fight you before my job is done."
"What job?" Tony asked in fear.
Tarot took out a golden card that was different from the others.
"This is a special card called the Magician. Using it, I can fix the Tri-carrier like new and resume killing people all around the world. Unless…you stopped me."
"Is that what you wanted, for someone to stop you?" Steve asked, causing Tarot to be quiet for the first time.
"Enough talk. Let's fight!" Thor, who had crawled out from the Triskelion building, resumed his attack on Tarot. The Sun card loses its power as it could only hold something for a minute, releasing the Hulk.
Danvers stood back up and took to the sky. Tony had finished recharging his armor and escaped from the missiles.
"Thor, Lightning!" Steve commanded. Thor summoned the cloud and struck Tarot with a huge blast of lightning. Hulk and Danvers attacked Tarot in close combat, causing Tarot to be pushed back.
Once Tarot was pushed backward, Tony and Ryan readied their attack. Tony charged his uni-beam while Ryan finally unleashed his left hand gauntlet.
Ryan charged a compressed fire beam on the gauntlet and released it at the same time Tony unleashed his attack. The beam merged together to create a devastating attack, creating an intense blinding light which then hit Tarot's abdomen.
A huge gaping hole opened on Tarot's body! The Avenger thought the matter was over.
However,
"Is that it?" Tarot said while regenerating the wound on his abdomen. The gaping hole had burned the majority of his organs, but he kept his calm amidst the intense pain.
Although the material of his suit was indestructible, the nano-tech had the weakness of the bond between the molecules. Intense energy may cause the bonds between the material to break, causing the wound on his abdomen.
"What the-" Tony muttered. Steve threw his shield toward Tarot to prevent him from healing himself. Tarot grabbed the shield mid-air and said, "The symbol of America. The unbreakable shield. I guess it was useless today."
Then, he did something incomprehensible to the people there. Tarot held the shield with both his hands and ripped it into two pieces! A feat not Thor, Hulk or Danvers could do!
"Try again," Tarot said while throwing the golden card to the Insight Helicarrier wreckage. It slowly enveloped the Tri-carrier and slowly, the broken pieces stuck back together.
The people there were silent as Tarot's Might had overwhelmed them. How could they win in a fight where the enemy is a god? "Hurry, otherwise you'll be too late."
"What kind of creature are you?" Thor asked, alarmed by the prowess of the man in front of him. He felt that he was facing Odin, and he was sure that the man wasn't a mortal.
"Me? I am the amalgamation of people's wishes. I exist to guide people toward their destiny. I am…Tarot."
…
The Templar didn't stay still during the battle with Tarot. Together, they formed a defense line to help the Avengers.
Thor has a wound on his arm and part of his body was battered. His shiny golden hair had dirt all over it. He didn't remember when was the last time his Asgardian physique was injured or that he was in a tough battle like this.
Hulk was angry, but he kept missing when he attacked Tarot. Tarot kicked his head a few times, causing the Hulk to almost lose consciousness.
'Angry hulk is dangerous,' Tarot thought as he kept getting Hulk angrier. He was having fun with the Hulk until someone interfered with him.
Danvers had helped the Hulk before he was falling asleep and will turn into Banner.
'She is really strong. But she is still at Thor and Hulks level,' Tarot thought as he handled Carol easily. He noticed that her advantage was the super flight speed in which she couldn't show much fight one-by-one. Also, she sucked when fighting as a team.
"Tarot, what is your purpose exactly? Tell me!" Tony asked angrily while aiming his palm repulsor at Tarot.
Suddenly, Tarot threw the tower card at him, causing an explosion on his face.
Tony loses a quarter of his armor, barely flying with his rocket boot and his left arm to stabilize his flight. His face was bare and so was his right hand. Luckily, he wasn't injured!
"Damn it, I lost JARVIS," Tony muttered. He swayed in the air a few minutes before he could land safely.
Kai and Natasha have a few cuts all over their body. Ryan was almost frozen by his ice gauntlet despite the fire gauntlet trying to help him.
However, they didn't give up. They kept standing and their teamwork became better and better.
"Hmm, I guess that's your limit now. I'm afraid that you won't be able to stop me," He said with a sad tone.
"Even if we couldn't…someday…someone will stand up against you. It might not be us, but you will be stopped no matter what…" Steve said.
"Time's up," Tarot said while looking at the air. The Tri-carrier was fixed and was ready for the second round.
"Thor, Hulk, Destroy the Carrier!" Tony said. But when he turned to look at them, he saw that they were entangled by some metal beam and couldn't move.
"Don't worry Tony. I meant…Time's up for me…"
Tarot's body started to turn into a particle of light. The Tri-carrier started to turn illusionary, showing the Avengers the untouched debris of the Tri-carrier on the ground.
"What is all of this?" Thor widened his eyes when he saw the full scale magic.
"You-" Tony said.
"Remember Tony. Strengths have their limits. Even though I seemed invincible, I didn't have much time left."
He walked over to Steve and helped him to get up.
"However, my legacy today will keep ringing until the end of civilization. I have done my part as the villain. Now, it's up to the heroes to rebuild what I had destroyed."
Slowly, he turned more translucent.
"There are still some hydra members all over the world. They are not just on this continent."
Tarot took out a door card and threw it at the side. After the portal opened, Peggy and the agents that he had saved before walked out from the portal.
"Yo-You never killed them," Natasha muttered in astonishment. "What about Barton?"
"I don't kill innocent people," Tarot said playfully. He patted Natasha's shoulder to comfort her. He knew that she was having a hard time when Hydra told her she was one of them."Barton was sent partying with Tom Cruise and his 24 years old girlfriend."
Natasha confirmed what Tarot said as Barton appeared in the earpiece when Tarot removed the communication blockade that was set up.
"So what's the point of battling us, and all of this?" Danvers asked. She was confused by the situation on Earth, even the purpose of this fight.
"A lesson. One day, there will be a time when you need to band together to fight against someone better than all of you. When that happens, remember the way you fought here today. "
" Is that what you see in the future? " Tony asked. Tarot didn't answer his question, but Tony got a reply from his silence.
The battle ended as abruptly as it began. None of them received any type of major injuries during the battle.
For the first time ever for Thor and Carol, they managed to find their limits. It humbled them and they looked at Tarot with complicated expressions.
Thor walked to Tarot and shook hands with him.
"It was a glorious battle. I will wait until one day we meet again," Thor said with acknowledgement of Tarot's strength. He noticed that Tarot didn't fight to kill during their battle, and he too had done the same.
"My arm hurt," Danvers said while she approached Ryan.
"Injuries heal. Why don't you take a few days off on Earth to rest and heal?" Ryan said.
"Sure," Danvers replied. Ryan had been trying to instigate her to come back by showing a lot of new inventions and other stuff, making her longing to get back on Earth.
Tarot was approached by Peggy and Bucky before he fully disappeared.
"So, you're leaving? Who's going to help me move?" Bucky said teasingly while hiding his true emotion.
"Just go to any fortune teller kiosk. You'll find me there," Tarot replied.
"Wait, are you really a card?" Bucky played along.
Tarot shook his index finger toward Bucky. "I am all the cards."
"We have done what you have asked for. Europe is safe. I will keep leading the agents to destroy the Hydra member that had escaped," Peggy said.
Peggy had led a team of SHIELD agents all around Europe and destroyed the Hydra bases there while Tarot handled the country's affair. They managed to capture hundreds of Hydra agents and cut off the Hydras in Europe.
Using some new advanced technology that Tarot made, it was relatively easy for them to do so. The AEGIS will be SHIELD's counterpart in the future that Ryan had planned. Without any bureaucratic red tape, these agents were actually able to solve a lot of trouble around the world.
Not only AEGIS members, but the islanders are also responsible for the Hydra's destruction all around the world.
Park Shin led a team of women in Southeast Asia while Annika handled the African continent. The movement to completely destroy the Hydra organization was in full swing, leaving only a few Hydra agents scattered around the world.
Using Hydra's name in the purification, Ryan had caused all the criminal organizations and all the ambiguous CEOs in the world to become antagonistic to Hydra completely. It truly spell the end of Hydra.
"I am leaving now. We will never meet again in the future. But remember, if you ever felt lost and needed direction for your future… you can refer to the cards for guidance."
Tarot disappeared completely after he said his last word. *TUK* a soft sound was heard falling onto the floor from the location Tarot had disappeared. Bucky went to pick up the item that had fallen down on the floor.
"He was serious!?" Bucky exclaimed after seeing what the item was. It was a deck of card inside a box labeled,
…
Three days after the incident.
The aftermath of the purification came quickly. The whole country was in chaos. The President lost many members of the congress and the government was in shambles.
The lonely President decided to call a press conference after the situation stabilized. There was still a threat from Russia and other countries when the incident happened and the government was destabilized, but thanks to a certain someone's intervention, the matter was avoided.
The President decided to call a press conference. Crowds of reporters were taking pictures of the President.
"These unprompted attacks teach us many things. The danger toward humanity didn't only come from outer space. But also from ourselves."
The report about SHIELD and their Tri-carrier project was revealed, causing public anger from the government's action to point a gun at them and worse, it was hijacked by someone else. Fury was gone without a trace after this incident, but Ryan knew where to find him.
Although SHIELD and Hydra were revealed to the world, Ryan didn't dump all of the information on the internet as seen in the movies. He agreed with SHIELD's approach that some things shouldn't get into the public.
He struck a deal with AEGIS and planned to support them in their endeavor. He took control of the entire country's response team and managed to stabilize the situation entirely. The assets of all the destroyed organizations were seized by him and will be used to rebuild the country's government.
The president was sharing his experience during the incident. However, he didn't share about him being attacked by the red rain as the masses had been calling the rain as the sky's judgment.
In the report that came out about the red rain casualties, no innocent people had been reported. Some even tattooed the Tarot card on their body as thanks for killing the outlaws and people who had escaped responsibility from being inside the law.
"In our darkest hour, I decided to appoint Mr Ryan Knight as the Vice President of the country and he will help us get through these tough times."
The crowd cheered after hearing the President's proclamation. Ryan walked to the stage and winked at Gwen who was standing in the audience's seat.
"I am promising to do everything I can to bring back the greatness of our country. The missing position in the government will be filled quickly and we're continuously on the watch for talented people that can help us."
The reason Ryan had never displayed any superhuman strength in the world was because of this purpose. Although the public idolizes the heroes, there will be an instinctual fear when their leader is different from them. Especially super powered people, it will be hard for them to actually change anything inside the government.
That's why Tony was so popular. That was because Iron Man was an invention that everyone could use – if Tony would let them.
"During the rest of President's Muller's presidency, I will support him at all times. A new order will be created to adapt to the new norm."
Ryan's eyes flashed a purple glow after saying this words. "Now…let's truly begin."
The new Era that he envisioned had begun.
…
In Sokovia. Baron Strucker's Castle.
"I see. So we're the only ones left," Baron Strucker said to someone in the shadow. Alexander Pierce has survived the culling, however he was captured by Ryan Knight.
"Yes, Malik is missing after this incident. I am deducing that he's already been killed," the head of the Mandroid unit, Arnim Zola muttered.
Strucker said, "Clairvoyant is alive, but his whereabouts were hidden. Viper has completely disappeared."
Zola quietly transferred all the information Strucker said to his master.
"Only I am still standing with my forces. Now, I am ALONE the head of Hydra," Strucker said gloatingly.
"I am still alive!" Zola said angrily.
"Yes, but you're confined with the helmet as the attack had completely destroyed your circuit," Strucker patted Zola's immobile head. He managed to find Zola among the debris from the fight. Hydra was destroyed but he still got a few tricks for himself.
Strucker walked to the experimental site while carrying Zola's head in his arm.
"See…this is the future…" Strucker said while showing Zola the scepter wielded by the god of mischief. Inside the castle, some human was captured for the experiments he was about to conduct.
"Worry not my friend. Someday, Hydra will rise again!" Strucker said with a fanatical glint visible in his eyes.
Among the humans captured for the experiments, there was a pair of twins sitting in their cages. Freshly captured, the Maximoff twins had no idea what was in store for them.
In Knight Manor, Ryan was invited by his father for an afternoon tea with his uncle.
"So, that thing finally came…what should I do now…"
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