As the team enjoyed their dinner in an empty restaurant SHIELD was looking for any alien tech that had been shot down.
They not only wanted the tech for themselves but also wanted to keep the technology out of the hands of others.
Fury had been called into several council meetings and was even paid a visit by the head of the WSC Alexander Pierce. They wanted the large unknown ship, it had hindered their plans by locking the weapons system on a plane they had secretly sent with a nuclear warhead. They planned to nuke New York and blame the Avengers and aliens.
However, before they could carry out their objective the systems were hacked and invaded and the plane was forced to return to base for a system check up. It had been the most advanced plane to date with full stealth and what was supposed to be the best cyber warfare technology money could buy.
Yet its systems were easily and quickly taken over by an unknown ship like it was childs play. This didn't sit well with the council at all, they were supposed to have access to the best. They represented the richest nations on Earth. They were supposed to have the best which was why the council was so against the Avengers Initiative. Technology was what they preferred due to it being controlled, while people had a conscience and morals so could potentially not follow orders given.
"Director Fury, I'm sure we don't have to explain the importance of getting that ship. It is obviously built here, that's an American built spaceship and was stolen from one of our facilities." General Ross spoke up first as he looked at Fury with greed evident on his face.
He ignored all the noise from the holographic images from around the table. He saw the military might of such a ship and had been in the military all his life. General Ross has seen many secret military projects, although he had never seen anything like the Infinity he could tell it was a war ship.
Ross knew there was more to that ship and he wanted it, he had completely forgotten about Bruce Banner.
"Oh, and what Project was it stolen from General Ross, cause I have no record of it in our databases. If you can produce said documents proving your claims I wouldn't have a problem requesting its return. However, until said documents with adequate proof of its claim I will not bring it up. You all saw what that ship was capable of and I don't intend on over playing our hand." Fury looked directly at Ross and refused. He knew what he wanted, cause he wanted the same. Like hell he would allow Ross the ship.
Fury knew he couldn't get the ship like that, you had to be discrete and find the best route. All it takes is getting access once and he was sure their scientists could take over the ship's systems.
"Where is the ship now?" One of the council members asked.
"Unknown, for now. But I have some of my best eyes on its owner." Director Fury answered without hesitation.
"You mean the Avengers. You know we scrapped that project. If-" Another council member began but was cut off by Fury.
"It worked. We needed a response team and they got the job done. Whether that ship had shown up or not New York wouldn't have fallen. However SHIELD did detect an F-35 with a nuclear payload coming within firing range. If anyone could explain that?" Narrowing his eye on General Ross, Fury asked rhetorically. He knew he wouldn't get one.
"I think that's just your opinion, Director Fury. Nothing from before that ship showing up did it look like your heroes were winning. Sure they took down quite a few, but everyone could see it was only a matter of time till they were overrun." General Ross fired back, he didn't admit or deny anything but made it known how he felt.
"Soldiers win wars Director Fury, not a bunch of civilians accompanied by some spy assassins. Hell, if what my men say is true there's even a kid with them." General Ross continued.
"That kid is the owner of said ship." Director Fury explained.
"All the more reason to confiscate or impound the ship. The kid is not old enough to drive so not old enough to own it. If he has parents they can easily be convinced to hand it over." General Ross excitedly pointed out, which caused many on the council to agree.
Just as the discussion was moving towards how they planned on getting their hands on the battleship the holographic images flickered and an unknown woman appeared within the middle of the table.
"Your attempt would be futile, the Infinity is no longer on the planet. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Cortana. I run operations and logistics for Infinity and her fleet. I am here only to inform you that the alien technology has been collected by our fleet and has already been moved off the planet as well." Cortana responded which shocked all attending the meeting.
"You're his Mother?" General Ross immediately asked, hoping she was since he would be able to know who he needs to go after for his ship. Now that he knew it came with a fleet he was even more interested in it.
"Negative. I am merely an assistant to my master. I only came to inform you that we have already confiscated and cataloged several Chitauri technologies. My master is willing to share said findings given that the Avengers stay as they are. A team separate from SHIELD and the Government but will work side by side when called upon. Also he requires to be left alone if and when he returns to Earth. In return for your cooperation he will share some findings of alien civilizations in your galaxy as well as assistance when needed." Cortana explained which shocked those in the room.
"That technology is ours to begin with, your master stole that ship from our research base and-" Just as General Ross was about to go into a speech, he stopped because soon numbers appeared over Cortana's image. Soon videos and documents began appearing in front of everyone.
It showed various projects that were on and off the books for SHIELD as well as every nation present at the meeting.
"As you can see no project of this planet has or had such plans. Even with separate factions within both SHIELD and the military neither has anything close to an intergalactic cruiser. The closest faction would have to be Hydra with their research on Artificial Intelligence. They were able to map Doctor Arnim Zolas brain into a databank to create a very primitive sentient AI, which still is nowhere near the capabilities of the Infinity." Cortana responded with a hint of humor in her tone. "And judging from the elevated heart rate of a few individuals I take it you had no idea Hydra was not only still around but well above you." She continued with a smile.
Director Fury was hit the hardest with this news. He saw the SHIELD and Hydra symbols on many of the project paperwork. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Hydra was in SHIELD, especially for the simple fact Doctor Arnim Zola was mentioned. He was brought to SHIELD after World War 2 along with many other Nazi scientists to be harvested for their intelligence thru Operation Paperclip.
Little did they know that Doctor Zola along with the other scientists who were taken and dispersed among SHIELD and the other participating governments, they instead hid deep underground and continued Hydra themselves. But rather than continue to operate as they did when Red Skull ran it, instead they stayed in the shadows. They knew that they had to create enough fear and instability world wide if they were ever going to have a chance at world dominance.
They began infiltrating every government organization and had their hands in just about everything. Cortana made sure to even show the human experimentation Hydra was doing to mutants using SHIELD as a cover. Seeing this both Fury and Pierce went pale, but for different reasons.
Fury because he knew if Charles or any of the other mutants found out that SHIELD was experimenting on mutants, even though it was Hydra not SHIELD he knew the relationship would crumble and may find themselves at odds with them. Fury knew he had to do something fast, especially after he saw his boss as white as a ghost as well thinking it was for the same reasons. Fury began copying all the documents and videos being displayed.
Alexander Pierce was pale because he knew it wouldn't take long for Fury to piece together who was Hydra within SHIELD, or at least the higher ups. Mainly himself and a few of the other senators and public officials. He already saw the look in Nick Fury's eyes, he was scanning each document with a keen eye. He too knew he had to act quickly. He would have to bring up Project Insights timetable. He was relieved that the ship Infinity was off the planet which meant he had to get it up and running quickly. He knew once that ship appeared his plan wouldn't work.
"So I take it you are the ship itself? An AI that runs the ship Infinity?" Alexander Pierce asks, trying to divert attention from the documents.
"Wrong again. Yes I am an AI, but as stated I only handle operations and logistics. Hence why I am the one in contact with you and not the others. Trade agreements fall under logistics and I am more suited to communicate to others than the other AI. I have been uploaded with every language and given communication subroutines that allow me to communicate with any intelligent being on your planet as well as others." Cortana explained.
"So shall we begin our discussion or would you like to schedule our talks for a later date?" Cortana inquired.
Meanwhile back in New York after the Avengers finished their celebratory shawarma feast, Billy had rapid fire questions from not just Tony but also Thor. He had met a few of the greek gods and in fact Zeus was his idol. Upon finding out Billy had the power of Zeus, Thor found himself a new brother.
Upon hearing Thor and Billy's conversation, many of the Avengers didn't know what to think. Talk of gods and such was a little unbelievable especially since the ones they were talking about were well known throughout history.
Tony on the other hand only had questions regarding his ship, which Billy didn't want to give too much away thus changing things further than he already has.
'I really need to get out of this universe before Ancient Baldy gets any other bright ideas.' Thought Billy as he casually answered questions but remained vague with his answers.
He knew he had to start balancing the scales of multiple universes after he found out about the different time scales for each universe. He knew that was trouble just waiting to happen depending on the time difference. one day the universe may be fine but within a few days it could be too far gone if he didn't do something about it.
First he knew he needed to get more control of his abilities cause he knew many of the universes weren't all fun and games. SPC's and many of the other universes such as DC and monsterverse were just a few high risk universes. He knew his life wouldn't be threatened too much after acquiring the Sentry powers but there were many SPCs with reality warping abilities along with many powerful foes in other realities.
As he sat and pondered his next moves he was brought out of his thoughts from a notification from Oracle.
A spike of darkness was detected in the world, showing an attack on magic of that world causing a reduction in magic. If he did nothing its connection to the rock of eternity would have to be severed and the world would be lost and eventually consumed by the darkness.
Seeing his change in expression the Avengers stopped conversing and Steve was the first to speak up.
"Is something the matter?" Steve asked sincerely.
"Well no and yes. No as in nothing wrong in this world as of now but yes as in there is a problem elsewhere. I will have to go off world for a while to resolve it." Billy replied with a sigh.
"Do you need help? Even though we barely made it out of our own fight I'm sure many of us wouldn't mind another." Steve responded as he looked to each of the Avengers to make sure they agreed. Many of which did, especially Tony and Thor.