Chapter 17

As I'm working through what I should do with the ship, I hear sirens getting closer until I finally see strobing lights appear behind the now massive crowd of people all taking photos and video of the ship.

The local police are not the only ones beginning to swarm now that the 'battle' is over. I see ten black Sedans pull into the area as police start putting up barricades and pushing people back behind them. And finally, I hear jets inbound, I look up to see five SHIELD jets coming in for a landing on the open field.

Natasha comes out of one of the Sedans and walks toward me, looking confused at seeing Thor and Jane off to the side talking animatedly to each other.

"What happened? And why is Thor here?" She asks me after reaching me.

After explaining what happened since I parted with her, and why Thor and Jane Foster were here, she made another call to Fury to let him know the situation was handled.

While she was doing that I noticed that all the jets had landed and tens of scientists were pouring out of the back, setting up equipment and taking readings of the area. A thought struck me,

'I can't let Hydra have even the basic information about this ship. Who knows what they would do with it before I could stop them.'

I immediately tap into the Space Stone and focus on the technique the Ancient One taught me about creating a portal to the Mirror Dimension. 

Directly above the massive ship, an azure-blue portal appeared and quickly expanded to encompass the width of the ship. When it was wide enough, I dropped the portal down. As the portal passed over the ship, it disappeared into the event horizon. In moments the skyscraper-sized ship was entirely gone and people started to freak out at the sudden vanishing act.

Natasha looked over to me while still talking to Fury,

"Was that you?"

Walking closer to her I spoke softly but loud enough for Fury to overhear,

"We don't know who's who. I rather THEY do not get anything from this." I said looking her in the eye.

She listens for a moment to what Fury says then nods,

"Fury's not happy, but he understands. He'd like to have it examined afterward." She echo's Fury.

"We'll see." I hedge, still not fully trusting SHIELD's intentions.

She continues talking to Fury as I move over to Thor and Jane,

"Sorry for interrupting," I cut into their discussion, getting their attention, "I wanted to say thank you, Thor. You came when it looked like Earth was in trouble."

Thor smiled and clasped my shoulder,

"Think nothing of it, Dante. Midgard is under Asgard's protection and it is the least I could do to return the favor of fixing the Bifrost."

"Did you have to bring Dr. Foster back now though? You expected a fight when you arrived, right?" I ask him.

"Uh, aha," He sheepishly chuckles, just now realizing he brought her into a potential warzone, "My father wasn't happy about me bringing Jane to Asgard and was ordering me to take her back before Heimdall notified us of the attack. We were already at the Bifrost about to return when he did." He shrugged.

"Did you at least get checked by the Asgardian healers before that?" I ask Jane.

"Yes, they said I was fine. I even met Queen Frigga, Thor's mother. I couldn't believe all the tech Asgardians have, they even have..." Jane started to speak about all of the things she saw and began postulating how they worked.

"Well, that's good to know I didn't miss anything," I said after she began to wind down.

"Was the ships' disappearance your work, Dante? What do you plan on doing with such a craft?" Thor asked me, getting Jane's attention.

"Hold on! That was you?" She looked at me slack jawed

I threw up a small sound barrier and looked around to make sure no one had just heard that.

"Yes, Thor. Some people would do terrible things if they had even one piece of the technology from that ship, not to mention what others would do just to get it. I think it's for the best to remove the problem at the root." I explain to him and he nods, accepting my reasoning. Jane, not so much.

"What do you mean?! Do you know how far science would advance if we got to study it? Interstellar travel, gravity manipulation, and countless others." She argued.

"And think about all the negatives as well, Doctor. The breakthrough in nuclear fission was used for a bomb to end all bombs. Take Tony Stark's Iron Man suit as a more recent example. Governments across the world want them for their soldiers, not for the good of the people." I tell her adamantly. She doesn't look happy but she's not able to refute me either.

"To answer your second question, Thor. I don't know yet. For now, it will stay out of reach for others till I find a good use for it."

I look off to the crowd that has only grown and now see numerous news vans and cameras scattered around the area. Not wanting to deal with that now, I bid both Thor and Doctor Foster goodbye and walk back to Natasha who's finished up her talk with Fury and was waiting for me.

"You're famous," Is the first thing she says to me, "Videos and pictures of the event are flooding the internet like a wildfire. SHIELD tried to smother it but they reappeared faster than can be dealt with, so they've stopped trying. Your 'fight' against those beings is all over the internet and people are asking questions about you."

"Wonderful," I sigh, " I rather not deal with that right now. Do you need to stay here or are we still going to that contact?"

"Fury has someone else dealing with this," She points over to a non-descript SHIELD agent who looks to be moments from ripping their hair out while talking to the scientists who are just shrugging their shoulders.

"Alright. I can take us to wherever you are supposed to meet the contact instead of trying to leave by car," I motion to the massive crowd.

She agrees and tells me the location, just North of London in a more rural area. So I use the Space Stone to designate the location and open a portal for us.

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On arrival, we see a rather average single-floor English cottage house, but the lawn and ivy bushes that surround the house are severely overgrown reaching about knew height.

"Are we at the right place?" I ask Natasha. She pulls out her phone and brings up a GPS map showing that we are at the right address.

"Let's check if anyone's home." She says as she starts walking up the rough pathway to the front door.

Multiple knocks on the door are met with silence. Checking the windows at the front and side of the house shows that the inside is bare of furniture and filled with dust, no one has been here in years.

Natasha makes the call to Fury telling him the contact hasn't been here in years from the looks of it. She hangs up two minutes later,

"Well, Fury was pissed. The loss of this contact is pretty big. I think he's more angry that he didn't know about it till just now," She says putting the phone into her pocket, "So he has no further leads on them for now."

"Well, do you want me to take you back? I can drop you off anywhere you need to be." I offer.

"I've been given leave till further notice. It's been a while since I've had a day off..." She looks at me " How about that date?"

The sudden change of topic surprised me and I asked,

"Now?" 

"Unless you have something else to do?" She says, raising an eyebrow questionably.

"No, not at all. Are you a fan of art perchance?" 

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I started by taking Natasha to the Louvre Museum in Paris. She told me, that with all of her work as an undercover agent and spy, she never got to truly take in the sights of locations like this, always having to focus on the mission.

It was after about an hour of us looking at the art, that Natasha and I both noticed people were starting to stare at me for longer than what could be considered normal. Natasha was gorgeous by any measure and so she was used to people staring, but the fact most were focused on me was the odd part.

It wasn't till we noticed a group of those looking had their phones in their hands looking back and forth from me to the phone that Natasha made the connection,

"The videos," She whispered to me but acted like everything was normal.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to go somewhere so public so soon. I motioned to the side of a hallway that led to restrooms. Once we broke the line of sight of others, I displaced us back onto the street.

"Sorry, I should have thought about that before now. I didn't expect people to start recognizing me so soon." I apologized.

"Don't worry about it. I am glad to know now that you are not like Stark, he would have been signing autographs." She laughed as we began to walk down the street.

"Yeah, I'm not one for peacocking," I chuckle, "I've got an idea, since a public date is a little tough to do right now, how do you feel about something more private?"

"Oh? Trying to get me all alone now? How bold." She says playfully.

"Well, can't say that I don't. But I was thinking of somewhere we could relax and still get to know each other more, without being interrupted."

"Okay, what did you have in mind?"

I tapped into the Space Stone and looked for what I had in mind before leading us into a cross alley devoid of people. I made sure no one could see us before opening another portal.

As we stepped through our feet gently settled into the white pristine sands of a medium-sized tropical island in the South Pacific. No people inhabit it so we are alone here.

"Well, you certainly make taking a vacation easier," She says while looking around at the beach and up at the coconut palm tree-filled interior of the island, "Nice place, where are we?"

"An uninhabited island in the South Pacific, north of Guam. A little sun, sand, and relaxation." I smile, gesturing around.

"Uh huh," She motions to our clothes, " A little much for a tropical beach though. You planning on us going skinny dipping?"

"I wouldn't mind, but if you feel like changing into something more appropriate," I tease her, getting a half-hearted glare. I flood the area around us with my power and start to mold it to my desired outcome.

Before her eyes, the pristine beach now sports a tropical bungalow just off the tree line.

"I've been working on my ability," I say to her slightly shocked look, "I've figured out I can do a lot more than just turning back the clock to fix things. The house has a bedroom closet with clothes that will fit you."

"Naughty boy. Already knowing my sizes." She teases as she walks up the steps and into the house, putting an extra sway in her hips as she does.