Nick Fury stood in front of the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at the endless skyline of steel and glass.
Then he caught sight of his own reflection.
He sighed heavily.
Days of nonstop work and sleepless nights had already destroyed the tiny bit of hair regeneration he'd finally managed to achieve. Worse, the dark circles under his eyes were becoming increasingly horrifying.
Life had been brutal lately.
S.W.O.R.D.'s research into the Tesseract had only just begun making breakthrough progress when Loki showed up and detonated his entire schedule like a grenade.
The so-called God of Mischief had arrived swinging.
And Fury had taken every hit directly to the liver.
His trusted right-hand man, Hawkeye, had been brainwashed and turned against him.
The lead astrophysicist studying the Tesseract, Erik Selvig, had defected too.
Even the underground research facility that had consud billions of dollars in funding was now buried rubble.
That was money.
No.
That was S.W.O.R.D.'s hard work!
anwhile, Fury also had to deal with nonstop pressure from representatives of the world powers who suddenly found their courage the mont Drex Valen stopped appearing in public.
At the sa ti, he had teams desperately searching for the Tesseract.
Unfortunately, Loki was apparently excellent at hiding things.
Fury's agents had found absolutely nothing.
Which made him even angrier.
S.W.O.R.D. was supposed to be leagues beyond the old S.H.I.E.L.D., so why were there still so many useless idiots working for him?
Of course, Fury knew the real reason S.W.O.R.D. commanded so much authority in the first place.
Drex Valen.
The man alone represented ninety percent of the organization's deterrence.
Everyone else was basically decorative accessories hanging off the real weapon.
Ironically, Drex himself found that deeply annoying.
He hadn't even publicly revealed how absurdly powerful he truly was, yet people already treated him like a one-man apocalypse.
As paranoid as ever, Fury refused to gamble everything on his subordinates suddenly becoming competent.
So while one team searched for their perpetually absent director, another was dispatched to find Bruce Banner.
Only Banner had a realistic chance of tracking the Tesseract scientifically.
…
"You've got potential."
"Appreciate the complint."
"But potential alone isn't enough," Loki said calmly. "I need more. You understand what I'm saying, yes?"
Night wind swept through the moving vehicle as Loki sat comfortably in the back seat, speaking to the loyal followers under his control.
"I will bring liberation," he continued. "And you will beco the vanguard of that liberation."
"But one servant isn't enough."
"Understood," Hawkeye answered calmly.
His expression looked completely normal.
"In Queens," Hawkeye said, "there's a giant obsessed with strength. In Manhattan, there's a man made of iron. I believe both could beco valuable assets."
"Excellent," Loki said with satisfaction. "Take to them."
Loki wasn't stupid.
He understood Midgard was strange.
Most humans were weak.
But the strong ones?
So of them were absurd.
Winning through direct confrontation alone would be difficult.
Fortunately, Loki hadn't arrived alone.
Beyond the small Chitauri strike force accompanying him now, an entire planetary-scale invasion army waited behind him.
If quality failed, quantity would suffice.
Even the strongest warriors would eventually fall through attrition.
Gods were ant to stand above mortals.
Humanity was ant to kneel.
Fear.
Submission.
Obedience.
That was the natural order of things.
Anyone arrogant enough to raise a weapon against a god deserved death.
Loki could already see it in his mind.
The world beneath his rule.
…
S.W.O.R.D. Helicarrier.
Not the outdated S.H.I.E.L.D. version, either.
Drex Valen had considered Fury's old flying aircraft carrier obsolete and built an entirely new one personally.
This vessel now served as S.W.O.R.D.'s true headquarters.
Maria Hill stood at the center of the command room.
"We've located Loki."
"Where?" several voices asked imdiately.
"Stuttgart, Germany. Königstraße 28. He appeared at a charity gala."
Tony Stark snorted.
"So an alien billionaire cos to Earth and starts doing charity work?"
He spread his hands dramatically.
"Can I officially consider that a personal insult? I'm supposed to be the king of philanthropy around here."
Hill completely ignored him.
"Ben. Natasha. Deputy Director Fury wants both of you deployed imdiately."
"Bring Loki in."
"Understood."
"Moving out now."
Ben Grimm and Natasha Romanoff headed out together without hesitation.
Tony looked offended.
"What exactly is Fury thinking?" he complained. "Does he seriously believe Iron Man ranks below a rock monster and a spy?"
A public showdown against an alien invader in Europe was exactly the kind of stage Tony Stark loved.
And Hill not stopping him was basically approval.
She imdiately sent the update to Fury.
anwhile, Bruce Banner had just arrived aboard the Helicarrier and was being escorted toward the research labs.
…
Germany.
North plaza, Königstraße.
A massive crowd knelt across the square in terrified silence.
Despite standing there alone, Loki completely dominated the scene.
Just as he claid, humans naturally bowed before overwhelming power.
They craved rulers.
Craved authority.
Craved gods.
Unfortunately for Loki, one elderly man in the crowd apparently lacked self-preservation instincts.
The old man stood upright and openly called Loki a hypocritical tyrant to his face.
The smile vanished from Loki's expression instantly.
Humiliated publicly, his patience evaporated.
He raised the scepter coldly.
If humanity needed a lesson about rebellion, he would provide one.
Blue energy gathered at the tip of the staff.
The next second, the old man should have exploded into bloody fragnts.
Instead, a massive orange figure dropped from the sky and landed directly in front of him.
BOOM.
The energy blast struck Ben Grimm squarely in the chest.
Not even a pebble chipped off his rocky hide.
Years of brutal fights, monster attacks, and repeated near-death experiences had caused the Thing's body to evolve even further.
The stone composing his skin had beco monstrously dense, approaching diamond-level hardness.
The kneeling civilians panicked instantly and scattered in every direction.
Loki rely glanced at them and let them flee.
Above the plaza, a Quinjet hovered roughly twenty ters overhead.
Natasha Romanoff locked targeting systems onto Loki while speaking through the aircraft's external speakers.
"Loki. Drop the weapon and surrender."
Loki smiled coldly.
To soone who considered himself rightful king of Asgard, surrender was humiliation.
Murderous intent flashed through his eyes.
He fired instantly.
The blue energy blast tore toward the Quinjet.
Natasha reacted imdiately, maneuvering the aircraft aside just in ti.
But Loki had already committed to the attack.
Which ant he didn't see Ben moving.
The Thing charged forward and drove a massive fist directly into Loki's face.
SMACK.
The impact sounded almost like a brutal slap.
Loki staggered sideways, fury exploding across his features.
Unlike Thor during his exile, Loki still possessed his divine strength.
His physical abilities vastly exceeded normal humans.
And people often forgot sothing important:
Loki was a Frost Giant.
He possessed roughly fifty tons of strength and absurd physical durability.
Ben's punch hurt.
But to Loki, it was closer to taking a heavyweight boxer's hook than suffering a crippling blow.
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