Chapter 12: Preparations

After answering a few questions from mostly Tony, Adam introduced the virtual training/recreational grounds available to all UNSC staff.

Adam knew from not only the movies but from what he watched when the three attacked the Red Room Academy aerial base, Tony was currently not fit to wear the armor. He just recently had a near death experience from Palladium poisoning and just recently was able to create a new element using Vibranium at the core.

Tony didn't truly start to change until after multiple events transpired that he slowly took shape into a true hero. His kidnapping and being held hostage in the middle east, the Invasion of New York, the attack from Aldrich Killian and his Extremis enhanced soldiers, Ultron then last but not least Thanos.

Each event slowly shaped Tony into a person truly worthy of being called a hero, giving him the strength to perform the most selfless of acts, sacrificing oneself for the survival of all.

The snap of his fingers ended the threat of Thanos once and for all, saving not just Earth but the galaxy as a whole. However Thanos isn't the only threat and Adam knew it. So he planned to expedite the process for Tony.

Adam planned to forge Tony into the hero he was meant to be much sooner, although it will change everything and Adam may lose his advantage of his knowledge of future events he was fine with that.

Adam knew deep down that even though things will play out differently he still could use his knowledge to his advantage. Knowledge is power, and not only did he have knowledge he also had advanced technologies.

If he so wanted he could take over the Earth without lifting a finger, all he had to do was put two of the Anlace-class light frigates he had orbiting Earth, shut down all communication for the planet.

Two strategically placed EMP bombs could cripple the entire Earth and its power supply, from that point on he just needed to sit back and let the planet tear itself apart.

Rather than conquer by force Adam was going to take a page out of HYDRA's plan for world dominance, he would use security to win over the Earth. He would rebuild the UEG or United Earth Government that had begun to develop in 2075 on the Earth in Halo and became a governing body in 2170 and was eventually taken over by the UNSC due to the war with the Covenant.

Although the UEG had its faults, its benefits could clearly be shown since in less than 100 years after it was created it had become the sole government over the Earth, the UEG was originally under the UN and was only supposed to facilitate extraterrestrial colonial commerce, exploration and industry.

This gave birth to UNSC who quickly gained military strength and renown amongst the colonies and crushed rebellion after rebellion, bringing order to the chaos of the Interplanetary War. This propelled the UEG above even the UN and Colonial Administration Authority (CAA) thus allowing the UEG to absorb both into itself.

Once this happened the multiple countries began truly working together and massive leaps were made in technology which in turn slowly turned the tide in the war with the Covenant.

Adam planned to unify the Earth, eliminate HYDRA and other organizations such as the Hand, the Ten Rings, Hellfire Club and even the Eternals or at least their leadership at the very least since most of the Eternals only thought they were protecting humanity. They were but for nefarious reasons, humanity was to be sacrificed to awaken the Celestial Tiamut the Communicator who was being born within the Earth which once born the Earth would be destroyed. Ajax knew this was the reason they protected humanity while the others protected it out of good will.

So Adam began to implement a few new projects while the three Avengers trained within the simulation battles of the base they would be attacking. He wanted to build a space station with a shipyard. This would allow for not only the ability to build ships and modify them, it would allow him to set up long range galactic defensive networks to protect the sector of space the Earth was in.

With a space station Adam and his crew could leave Earth with peace of mind, even if a large fleet were to attack, it would be able to detect and defend the sector for as long as needed for the Infinity to enter slipspace and arrive in plenty of time.

Slipspace was much faster than the jump points used throughout the galaxy. Even if Infinity had to recall its whole fleet back within itself after receiving notification of an invasion they could easily be back within an hour. A space station with a fully functioning defensive array could hold back extremely large fleets for days if not weeks.

UNSC was very experienced in not just physical force but electronic warfare as well. Disrupting comms and sensor arrays were child's play to the UNSC thanks to their wars against the Covenant. With the additional boost to their own technology they received from adding Forerunner and Covenant technology at the end of the war, coupled with human ingenuity and innovative thinking, giant leaps were constantly occurring even on the Infinity now.

By the time night had fallen the three Avengers, mainly Tony, had improved dramatically. After Tony had caused the deaths of both Steve and Natasha various times within the simulation, he slowly began to realize many faults he had. The simulator was very lifelike, although if you died in the simulation you didn't die in real life, it still hurts like hell. The device could trigger the pain receptors within the brain, pain is always the best teacher after all. If they got shot and didn't feel it in the simulation battle, how would the soldier act when shot in real life even if it wasn't fatal?

This allowed trainees to not only adapt physically to a battle, but also mentally, accustomed to pain and were able to push through pain until their last breath.

Tony too had been shown his armor wasn't invincible as he had thought, Eve had ensured that he was put through the ringer. This had been not only an eyeopener for Tony but it also gave way to his ability to think of solutions to fix the suits shortcomings.

This was why even now after a few years of first creating the armor he was already at the Mark 6 and had been already working on a Mark 7 which was still in development.

Tony had thought he was in the final stages of developing the Mark 7 but now he knew he was far off, he would be revamping the Mark 7 as soon as he got back home.

After Adam sent the signal to end the simulation, the three Avengers awoke, and Adam had them rest and eat for an hour. The three gladly took him up on the offer since they were suffering a small headache from the simulator as the battle experience had to integrate into their minds.

As Adam reviewed the report from the simulator and the three Avengers filled their bellies, in an unknown part of the universe aboard a massive ship the Mad Titan himself was sitting on his floating throne with his two daughters Gamora and Nebula at each of his sides. His personal servant known only as the Other at the foot of the stairs that led up to the main platform, he held a Sceptre with a glowing gem near its top in his hands.

"The tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world, a human world. They wish to wield its power, but you know its workings as they never will Asgardian." The cloaked blue skinned servant of Thanos spoke, as a man with a golden horned helmet and green outfit stepped out from the shadows. "The great master Thanos agrees to your terms and grants you the power to lead his army to conquer the human planet. The planet will be yours. The tesseract, Sceptre and universe his." The servant approached Loki and held out the Sceptre for him to take.

As Loki touched the Sceptre the gem glowed a little brighter, within Loki's eyes a color matching the glowing gem covered over his eyes changing their color from their original emerald color to a blue.

"I shall conquer the human planet and bring you the Tesseract, I am a King of Asgard and already know of what planet you speak of. I have been to the planet various times, they are nothing but weak mortals. As long as your army is as powerful as you claim then conquering the planet will be simple." Loki answered as he looked up at Thanos, deeming thie servant near him beneath him so he spoke directly to Thanos himself.

"You will have your army, boy... But know this Asgardian, if you should fail in delivering the Tesseract to my hands there is nowhere you can hide or run that I can't find you. Just remember whose army it is you command, they can just as easily be turned on yourself if you don't uphold your end of our bargain." Thanos' deep voice resounded thru the dark hall of the throne room.

"We shall be watching you Loki of Asgard. The Chitauri army is gathering and will be ready in six months standard time. Within the Sceptre you will find the knowledge needed to activate and use the Tesseract, use this time to your advantage. You are granted permission to use the Tesseract to expedite the invasion, but you must hand it over once your conquest is over." The Other said, ignoring the clear disrespect he was being shown by Loki since even his master ignored his hubris.

With a slight smile Loki turned and left, he had no idea that he had fallen under Thanos mind control due to it being subtle. The longer he held the Sceptre the more control Thanos would have over Loki.

This was why he would provide an infinity stone to Loki, since Thanos had more control over the mind stone. Loki didn't even know that what he held was the mind stone. Therefore he was unable to adequately defend himself from such a subtle influence, had Thanos tried for complete control from the beginning Loki could've defended against it thru his training in magic.

Once Loki left, Thanos turned to face Gamora and said, "My beloved daughter, I have a mission I want you to handle for me. Locate the Soul Stone, I have already sent Ronan to find the Power Stone and the Black Order to look for the Reality Stone. The Space and Time Stones are both on the human planet, but before I can take action I will need the other three stones. Otherwise I will need to wait until both Odin and the Sorcerer Supreme are no more."

Hearing that she would be able to leave her adoptive and mad father for an extended period of time brought a rare feeling of joy to bubble within her. She didn't dare show it in case he changed his mind, "Yes father, I shall turn the universe upside down to find the location of the Soul stone."

Looking towards her sister Nebula, although her sister hated her to the core since she felt their father doted on her, Gamora cared for her sister greatly. She knew they both were nothing but toys and they were both dispensable in their fathers eyes, so she made an attempt to get her sister away from the torture Thanos put her thru doing modifications to her body and turning her into part robot.

"Would I be able to bring my sister, with the two of us looking for it should double the time it takes to find it for you, father." Gamora asked, hoping he would agree to her request. However she was sadly disappointed by his reply.

"No. I have another task for her. There is no rush for the Soul Stone at this time. Should Ronan and the Black Order locate the other two stones perhaps that will change. Focus on your task, and don't disappoint me my daughter." Thanos finished and turned his throne to look out onto a dull planet which showed scars of battle even from space.

Half of all life had been wiped out on the planet below, something the Mad Titan wished to do on a universal scale. His goal of gathering the Infinity Stones was to use them to kill half of all life within the universe.

Both Gamora and Nebula came from such worlds as the one below, their planets and people were massacred until their world held half of its original life it did before Thanos arrived. Men, women, children and animals. Half of all planetary life was snuffed out.

Now the Earth too had found itself in the Mad Titans path, his army he had given Loki had orders to not stop the killing until half of all life on the planet was extinguished. No matter if Loki won quickly or not, half of the Earth's population would be wiped from existence.