Chapter 70

Coulson

"Boss?" I hollered over the howling wind of a coming snowstorm. "He's here."

Before me laid a large cryogenic chamber with a block of Ice holding a frozen Captain America. His body was spread out and looked almost ethereal, preserved forever by the Ice. The satellite scans revealed that his frozen body had been ensconced in a faraway alcove surrounded by minerals that affected 1970-era scans. After retrieving him, we placed him in the chamber. The Eggheads were already working on strategies to slowly thaw him out and bring him back to life.

"The kid was right on the money, again," Fury's voice was giddy when he finally spoke. "Makes you think he's actually Clairvoyant."

"You're skeptical, sir?"

"Of course I am," Fury said. "It's my job to be, and it's your job to get moving and get the captain back home. The world needs him now more than ever."

With that, the director's comm cut, and I was left to stare at the first American supersoldier in awe again. Starstruck does not fully cover how I felt standing there.

I almost didn't hear May walk up to me. "Your nerd is showing. Didn't you say you collected cards and other World War 2 memorabilia?"

"Oh yeah," I said with an enthusiastic grin.

"You should show it to him," she said. "I'm sure he'll get a kick out of that."

I nodded at first, but then my eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You're setting me up to fail, aren't you? You want the Cap all to yourself."

"I won't deny I'm eager to do a couple of rounds with him," she said, giving me a meaningful look.

"You mean sparring, not sex, don't you?"

I knew May well enough not to fall for such an obvious tease.

"Don't get me wrong, the cap is easy on the eyes," she said, "but I'm more interested in seeing how he fights. He led dozens of missions, defeated one of the most dangerous military leaders of the 20th century, and sacrificed himself to save the free world. I'd like to see how a man like that carries himself."

"Very patriotic of you, May," I said deadpan. "How do you think he measures up against the kid?"

May looked my way. "He beat the Red Skull, and he's rumored to have fought other super soldiers."

"So, you think the Cap will win."

May did not answer.

---

Fury

Seconds after I got off the call with Coulson, Dante's call came in.

"What's the word?" I asked.

"We're coming in," he said. In front of my desk, a ring of sparks and golden energy winked into existence and grew to the size of a doorway. Dante, an unfamiliar sorcerer, and Jean Grey walked through. Dante cut the call, and the sorcerer seemed a bit skittish, scanning my office suspiciously.

I couldn't take my eyes off the kid, though. She was dainty, dressed in form-fitting robes the sorcerer was also wearing. Dante was going against the grain with a loose, bloodstained shirt and a red jacket.

Jean Grey didn't look like a walking apocalypse. Yet, all of the evidence gathered indicated otherwise.

To think the dainty girl had come so close to wiping out New York and a chunk of the country.

"It's good to finally meet you, Director Fury," she said amicably, offering me a hand, and I took it with a smile and nod.

"Likewise," I said. "Glad you came out in spite of the circumstances. I don't expect you to be okay with our methods after Xavier."

"I'm not," Jean said, "but I've been convinced. Pierce is dangerous, and he has to be stopped, not only for the mutants but for everyone else."

Music to my fucking ears, but the finality with which she spoke bothered me.

I was missing something.

"We're here for Pierce's location, security, the works," Dante said, stepping forward. "We'll start with him, and over the next few hours, we'll visit every other high-ranking member of Hydra and finally put the fucking Squid into the ground."

I froze for a second, not quite believing my ears. "I thought we agreed the plan was to control Pierce, not kill him."

I looked down at Dante, whose eyes met mine, irreverent and unafraid. Something did change.

"We stand to gain far more if we play the long game," I argued. "And I shouldn't have to remind you that you're my god damned mercenary."

"Jean is more of a hammer than a scalpel right now," he said with a shrug. "She'll split Pierce's skull before she manages to convince him to turncoat. The best you can get is the Xavier special. A full memory download that will likely cause Pierce's death."

"Xavier survived the brain download," I said to Jean. "What's different now?"

"This Pierce is likely not a telepath," Jean explained, "and my power hadn't consolidated yet when I touched Xavier's mind. Now, I'm more powerful than ever. Even the mental extraction Dante is suggesting runs a risk of giving him an aneurysm."

I swallowed subconsciously. She was even more powerful now? What in the hell was I getting in bed with? And it wasn't just her either. Dante somehow worried me more.

I thought he'd be taking it easy with his burn wounds. Natasha reported that they'd covered over half of his body. Yet, here he stood, shirt stained with blood, ready to fight.

Part of me wondered if the constant pain was one of the reasons he was being so impulsive.

"Natasha and Clint are working on blackmail to halt Pierce's hands forcefully," I said, turning to Jean. "They were the backup if you didn't show, but I see a way forward for both strategies. You can extract information from his mind that we can then use to blackmail him. It's a win-win for everyone. We keep him under our thumb while also buying time until you can do what Xavier did."

Dante spoke up. "You're assuming Pierce will let himself be blackmailed in the first place, and he won't start negotiating with the demons, the Hand, or any of the other organizations out to fucking kill us. We just came from a fight with the demons, and they're rearing for a big fucking invasion. Their Lesser demons folded me easily, and they were fighting with their hands tied behind their backs. They have weapons that make our guns look like trinkets, and they have magic that can turn everyday people into demons. They're currently working on doing that to mutants. The moment they're ready to take the surface world, they will," he said harshly. "Pierce and fucking Hydra should be a non-conversation. I say we take them out and focus on consolidating our biggest global assets—the mutants. The higher-ups need to know, on some level, what is at stake."

Dante's words nearly sent me reeling. Son of a bitch. An Eldritch Invader, and now demons? It was too fucking soon. The Initiative was not ready.

"We need to put together a team," he said. "Mutants, humans, anyone we can find, and we need to come up with a game plan to stick it to those sons of bitches. Because, believe me when I say, they're already sticking it to us."

---

Dante

After my grand speech to Fury, Jean excused herself from the conversation.

'I need to find Piotr. He has healed, but he's not waking up.'

I winced. 'That is partially my fault.'

'No, it's really not. She chose to take his body, not you,' she said. 'I need to fix what she broke. Piotr still doesn't know about his sister.'

Fury was confused when he saw her suddenly start walking towards the door. The silent sorcerer followed after her. I offered one word as an answer.

"Colossus."

Fury grunted, immediately understanding, and circled behind his desk to pour himself a drink. He offered me one, at which I raised a brow.

"Not satisfied after all of the blood and fingerprints you already collected?"

For his part, Fury did not deny it, settling into his leather chair. "The boys down at the lab called it the most complicated genetic material they've ever laid their eyes on. It always broke down when he tried running any complicated tests."

"So, that means I won't have any mini-Dante's running around anytime soon," I said, settling down in the chair in front of him, a thousand things running through my mind.

"I promised I'll give you Banner when the time comes," I began, "and it is that time."

Fury's eye grew a little wider, and he leaned forward. "Go on."

"You want a walking nuke that'll likely be loyal to your side?" I began. "Bruce Banner is it. His serum will work, but it will come at a price. I don't know the particulars. What I can tell you for certain is that he'll be able to lift hundreds of thousands of tons and will probably have enough strength to singlehandedly wipe out the entire demon invasion if he's sufficiently motivated."

Fury sucked his teeth in. "And you just had this information in your back pocket this whole time?"

I shrugged. "I learned everything I know when I saw his picture. And with the demon threat imminent and Hydra's death on the horizon, I figured it was time you knew."

"I've not signed off on that yet."

"Why tiptoe around the solution?" I frowned, "Jean will get you everything you need, from the location of secret bases to formulas and experiments. What are you afraid of?"

"The fallout," Fury said. "Pierce is an important man. The world will not be quiet if he and most of Hydra's leadership disappears."

"I don't expect them to," I said with a knowing smile and materialized Thunderer. "That's why we're going to tell your bosses the demons did it."

Fury's eyes went wide with disbelief before he started laughing. The idea had come to me while I was showering.

"It's a win-win. We tell them some bullshit about the demons beginning their first waves of attacks and targeting a few of the most important people in government and so on," I said. The genius of the strategy was that it was largely true. The demons had been abducting mutants and people more as of recent. "It should give you a ton of political capital when you tell them that I and Jean helped you take down Pierce's killer and make them go even harder on the demons."

"Plenty of incentive to keep quiet about the Xavier debacle," Fury said, shaking his head in disbelief. I'd be impressed if I was him as well. If the hunt goes well, I'd have solved all of our problems and bought legitimacy in the eyes of the World Security Council.

"I take it you already have a body?"

"Scorched and split in half," I answered, thinking about the Thunder Harpy. "It's what I spent my afternoon doing."

Fury shook his head. "You surprise me Every fucking time."

"I try."

Fury was quiet for a long moment as he gave my proposition some thought.

"Take Clint and Natasha with you, and make the scene of their death look good."

"Naturally," I said. "I want to keep the rifle, though."

Fury waved. "You'll have it after a few preliminary scans.

"Nat will keep you updated through the operation," I said, getting up from my seat. "Great talk."

I made my way to the base's armory with a small smile tugging at the corner of my lips. Giving Fury Banner was a risk, but his strength was not particularly difficult to deal with if you had the right tools—namely the mirror dimension. Chug him there for a few hours, and he'll cool off eventually.

The real reason I felt comfortable giving Fury a player as powerful as the Hulk was that I planned to be the solution to his split personality. I planned on trading uniting Bruce and the Hulk for the Space Stone way down the line.