39 Grandfather

Midnight surrendered and gave up all resistance.

Then Kol finally noticed Wakanda's force field and the people inside who were watching everything play out with their eyes wide open.

"Let's go!", Kol commanded Midnight, then flew straight towards the force field.

The barrier looked extremely sturdy, but just as soon as Kol came near it, it made a shrill sound, and a gap opened up big enough for two people to pass through.

This was the result of Kol's Telekinesis.

On the other hand, the people inside looked extremely alarmed by this situation, their guard was at an all-time high.

Rogers, Romanoff, and T'Challa, standing in the front seemed on edge.

They were sweating, on high alert, like about to face some terrifying mythical being where one mistake could result in their impending doom.

Their whole body felt heavy due to all the built-up tension within, muscles felt tight, and chest was cramped due to the breath of anxiety they had been unknowingly holding, ready to fight or flight anytime.

After coming in front of them, Kol landed on the ground, and spoke, "It's alright! We're on the same side.", trying to placate them. They were too anxious.

And it seemed to have worked, but not as well as he had hoped.

Rogers voiced out what was on everybody's mind, "Who are you?".

Hearing this question, Kol sighed, and replied, "Do you have any idea how tiresome it is to explain that every single time? How about we skip the formalities? I'm with SHIELD, and my name is Kol. That's all you need to know for now. We have much more pressing concerns.".

But it didn't seem like they agreed, "We are from SHIELD too. I've been in SHIELD most of my life, yet I've never heard of someone like you.", Romanoff pressed the issue, but spoke in a tense tone, like walking on thin ice.

She had to ask this question, after all, the abilities that Kol showed so far seemed too much for the authorities to allow anyone to possess. She didn't believe that even Fury would let this slide.

Kol replied with a hint of annoyance apparent in his tone, "I'm the new guy. Coulson's team.".

"Coulson's team... so... Inhuman?", Romanoff asked.

Kol replied, "Not really... And I guess I'm not in Coulson's team anymore either. I already quit not long ago.".

Then he tried to change the topic, "By the way, this is quite the setup you've got here. Impressive that you came up with it in such a short time... Sigh! If only the world security council was just as quick to take action! Sigh! Politics!".

Hearing this, Romanoff and Rogers had a sudden urge to groan, no doubt remembering the New York incident with the nuclear warhead, or perhaps the brilliant brainchild that was the Project Insight.

Nope! The world security council was already very attentive. They didn't want them to be even more vested with such matters. For the love of God, no!

On the other hand, seeing him conversing so casually, it didn't seem like an imminent threat, so they relaxed a bit, and finally released that breath of anxiety they had been holding all this time.

Perhaps suddenly feeling an inexplicable sense of camaraderie, Rogers went forward and offered his hand, "Hi! Steve Rogers!", in his usual friendly, vibrant tone.

Kol accepted, and introduced himself, "Kol Mikaelson! It's a pleasure to meet you Captain.", then they shook hands.

Rogers nodded his head, and asked, "Is she safe?", referring to Midnight.

Kol observed her with a pondering expression for a moment, but then replied, "I guess... should be. She doesn't have many options by this point, but it's still better to cuff her just in case.".

But obviously, nobody here had any cuffs on them, maybe Romanoff did, but they were designed for humans.

So T'Challa offered, "Let us go inside and discuss.".

Kol nodded his head, "Yes!", and then they all started walking, following T'Challa's lead.

Romanoff wanted to interrupt, but it seemed like the decision had already been made, so she just followed along.

"So how did you find Wakanda?", T'Challa casually asked.

Kol looked at him, and replied, "I didn't actually. After I quit, I was planning on going on an adventure in space, but instead discovered Thanos' ship floating outside Earth's orbit. It was cloaked. Nobody noticed it. When it released Dropships, I followed along and found this place.".

They made small talk like this as they walked to where their army was standing. Most of them were still gawking, looking stupid, feeling confused by this unexpected situation.

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.

Right around the time when Tony, Strange, and others decided to go back to Earth, Thanos sacrificed Gamora and got the Soul stone.

By the time he got over his grief and used the Space stone to go to Titan, Strange, Tony, and others had already left using Quill's spaceship.

Finding nobody there, Thanos decided to wait for a while for his Black Order to arrive, but in case if they somehow failed, he decided to use the Space stone to go to Earth and collect all the stones by himself.

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.

Back to Wakanda.

It'd been a while since Kol arrived and although they were all quite tense in the beginning due to the display earlier, as they talked more and more with each other, they slowly relaxed and eased into it.

After the enemy forces were dealt with, the Wakanda army and Avengers were about to leave the field and go back, but Kol promptly warned them of the coming danger and the fact that it was just the first wave of the enemies. More would surely attack alongside Thanos, who would be here any moment.

Now they were waiting for more enemies to arrive while making casual small talks, "The EXO-7 Falcon propulsion wingsuit. It was created for the Air National Guard, mainly for rescue missions in urban terrain, so maneuverability is better than Stark's suit.", Sam Wilson answered one of Kol's questions.

"What about the speed? And Stark's suit also provides strength augmentation.", Kol asked.

"My top speed is Mach 1.7, but I'm sure it can go higher... as for the strength augmentation, man, that just depends on the user. If you're skilled enough, you can hit 'em with the force of a truck.", Sam replied.

"That's cool... this is a wonderful piece of machinery, but tell me something Sammy... what's up with that name? EXO-7? What's that! It came out of an assembly line or something?", Kol asked.

Unlike Iron man's suit, Falcon's wingsuit was light and compact, like carrying around a backpack.

So if some superhuman with abilities, or say, supernatural creatures with various racial talents were to use a wingsuit like this, then it wouldn't hinder their movements, plus Kol, with his Kryptonian technology, could come up with something way better.

Without wasting any time, Kol used his psychic powers and took a quick look at the suit's design.

With his experience and knowledge, one quick look was more than enough to understand it intimately.

On the other hand, in response to Kol's comment, Sam just smiled and shook his head, it seemed like he was asked this question quite often.

He was just about to answer, but he was interrupted.

Right in the middle of the field, "BOOM!!", a giant pillar of light descended from the sky.

Then in everyone's cautious gaze, the light slowly dissipated to reveal a talking raccoon, a walking tree, and a God of thunder.

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After showing up, the trio looked around in bewilderment, not expecting the scene to be so... quiet.

Thor was about to say something but was interrupted.

Kol pointed at him and yelled, "Hey, you over there! You're late! And what's with that flashy entrance? Go, get over there", pointing at the back, "You're stationed in the back.", as a boss would to an employee who came late on an important meeting day.

Now the trio looked even more confused, and Thor seemed a little offended, "I was in Nidavellir getting my hammer made to fight Thanos.", but he suddenly realized he didn't even know this guy, "Who are you again?", so he asked with confusion written all over his face.

"Your new Boss. You don't even know this? After all of this is over, we're gonna have a long discussion about workplace ethics, and the importance of punctuality.", Kol replied in a berating tone.

This drew Thor's attention from all the questions he might've had in his head about the current situation.

He held Stormbreaker in his hand, took a step intending to intimidate Kol to express his chagrin and annoyance, but was interrupted.

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Romanoff came forward and smiled, "Thor, you look like you've seen better days.", referring to Thor's current beat-up appearance, "Anyway, this is Kol. He took down the first wave of enemies, and captured her.", referring to Midnight, who was standing on the side while being watched by a few soldiers.

This successfully managed to draw Thor's attention away from Kol.

Following Romanoff's gaze, Thor finally noticed Midnight, remembering the tragedy from before. The image of Thanos' Black Order slaughtering innocent Asgardian civilians was still quite fresh in his mind.

He gritted his teeth, clutched the handle of Stormbreaker tightly in his hand, and marched forward at her in rage, "YOU!! IT'S YOU!! I will kill you!".

"Thor wait! Calm down!", Rogers tried to stop him, but was pushed aside, and so was everyone else who dared, but after knocking over a few people, Thor somewhat calmed down enough to talk.

Then the argument began about whether to kill Midnight or not.

However, the commotion didn't draw Kol's attention away from what he had just discovered.

Kol had a modified Infinity Stone inside his chest given to him by his Omnipotent self, and the energy signatures of all the Infinity Stones were very similar to one another.

Just now, Kol sensed a familiar energy reaction coming from somewhere inside Wakanda, so he used his psychic powers to check, and found that the Mind stone was already out of Vision's head and Scarlet Witch was about to destroy it.

So without hesitation, Kol used the Space energy to teleport the Mind stone directly into his left hand.

On the other hand, the ongoing argument in the field had somewhat halted.

Judging by the fact that Romanoff, Rogers, T'Challa, and many others had their fingers pressed onto their ears and standing cautiously like kittens on edge, they had most likely already received reports of the Mind Stone abruptly disappearing in thin air.

Seeing no reason to hide, Kol leisurely walked forward, drawing everybody's attention onto himself, "So you wish to destroy this stone to prevent Thanos from getting it?", while showing off the stone in his hand.

"Kol, what are you doing?", Rogers asked cautiously.

Romanoff had her hand near the gun.

Everyone else seemed cautious, on edge, like ready for the fight to erupt at any second, even Thor's attention was finally drawn away from Midnight.

Kol continued, "It doesn't work that way. These are infinity stones. The only way to truly destroy them, is to destroy them all at the same time, otherwise the destroyed stone can be revived by the remaining ones.".

Hearing this, everyone had different reactions, "What!", "Are you sure?", "It's still worth trying!", "Why should we believe you?", some were surprised, some were confused, while a few outright refused to believe it.

Doctor Banner argued, "We've already checked the science. The stone can be destroyed by something that matches its energy signature.".

"I'm not saying it can't... but just think about it. There are six Infinity Stones. Mind, Power, Space, Time, Reality, and Soul. If we destroy the Mind stone here, then Thanos who already has Reality and Power stones by this point can just revive it on his end, or if he has Time stone, then he can just make it so it was never destroyed in the first place. Destroying the Mind stone will be like directly handing it over to Thanos.", Kol replied.

"How do you know so much about the stones? Who are you? Reveal yourself!", Thor asked as he raised his Stormbreaker in a threatening manner.

As for the others, judging by their current posture, they didn't completely believe what Kol was saying, but his argument did make them question their methods.

Kol replied, "I am the God of Power. My domain is the same as one of the stones. There's no one in this universe who knows more about them than me.".

Hearing this, Thor had a confused look on his face as he asked, "A god... you... You claim to be a God! An Asgardian? I've never heard of a God of Power.", but then again, he didn't know about his half-sister either, so perhaps...

Thor wasn't an idiot, from the beginning he had been feeling something familiar about Kol but was unable to pinpoint it due to his inexperience. After all, he had only received Odinforce recently and was overwhelmed by his father's death, then the incident in Asgard, and Thanos' attack.

On the other hand, Kol saw an opportunity to quickly resolve the conflict peacefully, or at least delay it until later, so he took it.

He spoke with majesty emanating from his voice, "I'm your grandfather, Thor. With the deaths of so many innocent Asgardians, so abruptly, I couldn't just stay still and enjoy the afterlife. I resurrected myself.".

To this, Thor just scoffed, and replied in a derisive tone, seeming quite ribald, "Huh! Nonesense! There's no way you're my grandfather. Do you think I'm a fool? How dare you mock my family... trying to deceive me in such manner... I will...", but was interrupted.

"BOOM!!", in vacuum, the speed of lightning was the same as the speed of light, but in the atmosphere, it was much slower.

However, it was still not something that Thor could evade.

Just as he was talking, Kol raised his hand and fired an extremely concentrated ball of natural lightning.

Thor's pupils shrank, he could see it coming, but could do nothing to evade it, and was hit with the full force of it in the gut.

His Stormbreaker was flung aside as his body bent at an angle and traveled horizontally in the air due to the sheer force of the hit.

"BANG!", he collided with Wakanda's force field that was more than a hundred meters away and fell with a thud.

Then without wasting any time, Kol teleported next to him and kicked him over, making his unconscious body face the sky.

Then he used a hint of Telepathy to wake him up.

Asgardian physiology was quite special, that was Kol's strongest attack with natural lightning energy, and it seemed that besides the broken armor, Thor was just knocked out and suffered burnt marks on his torso that didn't appear to be life-threatening in any way.

Seeing this, Kol made a mental note, if he had a chance, he would surely study a few Asgardians to see if they were all special, or was it just Thor for being the God of thunder.

"Aghu! Cough! Aahhh!", Thor grunted in pain, and slowly regained consciousness.

When he looked up, he saw Kol's face and was immediately on high alert, ready to reach out for Stormbreaker.

But Kol just smiled, and presented his hand, "You don't have to call me grandfather, but... who do you think I am now? Huh? Boy!", his tone emanated majesty and intimidation.

There were millions of thoughts racing inside Thor's head. He wanted to resist, fight desperately for his insults, and teach him a lesson. But Thor was a warrior. He could feel a lot from that one blow just now. He could tell... he had no chance of winning. This man was much stronger than Thanos. He gave him the feeling of facing his father, perhaps even stronger. All resistance was futile.

In the end, Thor reached out and accepted Kol's hand.

Then there was another question - Does someone so strong really need to lie about something like that? He could take whatever he wanted with his strength. Mind Stone? That was nothing! They couldn't stop him at all.

Sometimes, some lies were so ridiculous that they would become the truth.

Words couldn't help but escape Thor's lips, "Grandfather!", he'd never had the opportunity to meet the man himself, but this domineering behavior... such strength... perhaps... it could be. There was indeed such a possibility.

That's how you kill multiple birds with one stone.

Kol didn't know anyone here and needed someone to vouch for him to temporarily keep the Mind Stone. There was no one here besides Thor who could do that, a fellow God, and an Asgardian who recognized strength above all else.

On the other hand, Kol just took out their strongest available guy in one move, which served as a deterrent effect for anyone who might've had any ideas.

Plus the definite possibility for future cooperation with Asgard could not be ignored.

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Right around the same time when Kol met up with the Avengers, the situation had taken turn for the worse in the Lighthouse.

After the LMD soldiers became scraps, General Hale was quite desperate. Desperate enough to ask SHIELD for help.

But of course, she couldn't just trust them.

So she tried to bait them by "accidentally" revealing her location.

She intended to do a prisoner exchange with General Talbot, who was in her custody, for Ruby, her daughter.

But she lacked manpower and resources, so Daisy managed to track her down to her hideout.

Now SHIELD had Ruby, General Hale, General Talbot, and the absorbing man, who was loyal only to General Talbot, in their custody.

However, that was when things became really dire.

General Hale was communicating with the 'Confederacy'. She had promised them Gravitonium in exchange for their help in dealing with Thanos' forces.

Unfortunately, it was an empty promise. The Confederacy simply wanted Gravitonium, and then take advantage of Earth's weakness after Thanos' attack to conquer the planet full of resources.

On the other hand, General Hale never trusted the Confederacy from the beginning, hence her plan for 'the destroyer of worlds' using the Particle Infusion Chamber to create a super-soldier powerful enough to intimidate the Confederacy in case they had any second thoughts.

When General Hale was captured, the Lighthouse base was hacked into and all the facilities inside were controlled remotely. Then it was put on full lockdown.

Coulson temporarily released Hale, and they worked together to try to buy some time, Hale, to create her perfect soldier, and Coulson, to come up with a plan, perhaps call Avengers for help.

Hale and Coulson used the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device, or Jump drive, given to Hale by the Confederacy to directly teleport to Confederacy's spaceship to negotiate peace.

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However, the negotiations failed, and they were captured.

Then the Confederacy used a similar method to teleport a large number of their forces inside the Lighthouse, aiming to get Gravitonium from inside the Particle Infusion Chamber.

This was it. The trial... it had begun.

Kol's trial to see who among them was worthy enough for the title of 'Graviton'.

'Graviton' was a villain in comics, but not here.

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Hi guys!

I just edited one sentence in chapter 11. ONE SENTENCE!!

Then all the chapter comments were automatically deleted, including how I wanted Astrid's appearance to be.

So here it is again. She would look like the younger version of Sarah Gadon, who played Dracula's wife in Dracula Untold.

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If you like this novel, then don't be afraid to add it to the library and vote power stones.

See you next week.