Ch.11

We had a whole year and five months after we left the X-Men compound of peace in our personal lives. The babies had been born and I mean babies. Jean had a daughter of course that we named Krista and without a real last name on my part, all my children took after their mothers. Natasha had a son she named Ozzy while Jessica gave birth to a daughter she let me name so I named her Jenny Jones.

Then there was Wanda who insisted our son be named something strong yet, calling him Osborn Maximoff. We got to see the kids grow from babies who couldn't crawl to standing and walking in little shoes. Natasha had seen it on her glasses while on assignment and she'd been there when Ozzy called her mama as his first word. She'd been in tears because her cold operative facade was down at home ever since the kids were born.

Wanda had been at work at Shield as well when they contacted me. There was a code red from Loki coming through the tesseract Shield had been experimenting with to make weapons. I'd felt the anomaly beforehand and sent Jean with the kids and Jessica to Ta Lo before Fury called me in. I suited up and came through a portal to the helicarrier.

He then asked me to get Banner and I made the call. Bruce opened a portal and walked through in a Vibranium, Uru and adamantium lined suit of his own. He asked me. "Is it science or war, boss?"

I turned to Fury and told him we'd find out. He nodded while worried as Natasha came in. She knew the kids were safe so she stayed calm while Steve Rogers was brought in by Coulson. I asked Fury. "What is it exactly that happened? Pretend I'm dumb and give me a play by play."

Fury explained how things went down and I grunted before telling Bruce. "Professor Hulk mode."

Banner nodded slowly and grew, changing as his suit adjusted to his size. Even his glasses changed and adjusted to his needs before he asked Fury for the labs and asked what they were doing to track the tesseract. He told them to hold on before turning to me. "We need access to Oracle."

I frowned but my mask prevented him from seeing it. Fury asked what Oracle was and I grunted. "Oracle is a satellite system that tracks alien and mystical artifacts or aliens, mutants and Inhumans across the globe. It can find anyone or anything anywhere on, in or under the planet within hours. There is no cloaking, stealth technology or power that can stop Oracle from finding what it seeks and no security measures that can prevent anyone from using Oracle from getting into their systems. Hell, the entire solar system and a good portion of the the galaxy has been mapped out by Oracle. It is the Ten Ring's failsafe for tracking and preventing a demonic or alien invasion via stealth."

Half the Shield operatives in the helicarrier states at me, dumbfound by my words. I held up my arm and typed into a pad as a crystal screen formed before passing it to Fury. "That will give you temporary access but it'll dissolve after a day. No one outside of the Ten Rings is allowed access and no one outside of the Guardians has permanent access, not even me. It is in a word, unhackable. Consider this me placing my trust in you. Oracle is a useful tool, but it can be a devastating weapon as well."

He nodded and thanked me before I went quiet and sat down, meditating while putting the legions on standby. Bruce used what he knew to help speed up the search using spectrometers across the globe and a basic cluster recognition program for gamma radiation signatures. Jean asked in my mind if I needed her and I told her no, that the kids needed her more right now, but if there was a fight I wouldn't leave her or Jessica out of it.

She relaxed from what I could feel and I went back to thinking and trying to remember everything in my core where not even she could look into. Oracle found Loki damned fast so Fury sent Natasha and Steve. They brought Loki back along with Tony Stark and Thor after an incident. Loki came quietly to his cell and Fury had a talk with him.

Thor told us of the Chitauri and I contacted the Ten Rings immediately. "This is the Ancient, all warriors of the Ten Rings, prepare for war. As of right now we are on red alert. Feel out for a breach in the world shield and go there as soon as it comes. Do not wait for my signal. Oracle is searching now for the alien device known as the tesseract, thought to have the space infinity stone inside it."

I got confirmation and told them of the Chitauri and their plans to use the space stone to come out on this side of the world shield with it meaning it was made of similar energies as the time stone. Fury asked what kind of forces I could bring to bare now since he only knew about the thousand men I lost in the frost giant war from the book Tony had spread.

Thor told him and the rest. "The Ten Rings has a hundred legions like the one that faced the frost giants a thousand years ago before my people arrived to help. One such legion is off world helping maintain peace in the nine realms with the armies of Asgard. There are ninety-nine remaining and a reserve legion meant to rebuild if all the rest fall in war. They're the ones referred to as Guardians I suspect."

I nodded slowly and turned to Fury. "All of them are blooded warriors trained from birth to defend this world at all costs. They will lay down their lives and do whatever is necessary to ensure humanity's survival, even if it means they themselves won't be alive to see it. There is no torture or mind manipulation power in existence that can break their will. They are absolute in their resolve, as am I."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "A lot of men think that until the pain starts."

I raised my arm and the suit retracted from around it before I broke my fingers, hand and arm in over a hundred places. Bones protruded and blood gushed but I just kept going until my shoulder was broken. The suit covered it and they heard the breaks repairing as the blood was returned and I healed. Steve and Tony winced as Maria Hill spoke. "Jesus."

I told them evenly. "Every warrior of the Ten Rings is subjected to the worst tortures humanity has ever thought up. We fear no pain nor death, we are absolute in our resolve. It is by our own technology and mystic arts that we are able to repair our bodies, but our will remains the same. There is no pain you nor anyone can inflict that we do not do as part of our training."

Thor said he could attest to that and Banner agreed grimly saying it wasn't the most pleasant thing to witness. Thor asked him. "He didn't make you go through it?"

He shook his head. "I'm only a civilian. I don't want to be a warrior and the Hulk makes things difficult regardless."

My arm and hand were fine by now so the healing nanites inside the suit stopped the repairs. Fury asked if I was willing to do the same to Loki and find out, but Thor asked me as a personal favor not to. He told me that Odin has asked that Loki be punished by Asgard for what he did to me and what he's doing now. I clenched a fist before nodding to Thor. "Loki may be on earth, but he is still a prince of Asgard and to do such things would bring war from what few allies we have which we cannot afford to do."

Fury asked. "Asgard is our ally?"

I sighed. "Odin has sworn to defend our world from his people and outside invaders. Thor, you will return and remind your father of his oath. If Loki means to start a war, I will hold Odin to his word."

Thor nodded and said. "My father is gathering our armies as we speak. He has sent me here in the hopes of stopping Loki before the Chitauri can be brought to earth. Asgard is not without honor no matter what my brother's actions would have you believe, old friend."

He told me of the child I have on Asgard with the Lady Sif and I shrugged, telling him we chose our paths and we cannot abandon our duties now regardless of what has happened. He sighed, telling me the child shows great promise even for an Asgardian before promising to look after Kratos, my eldest son, when he can. I remained quiet and stoic, knowing it would be something I can do little about.

The conversation turned to Eric Selvig, Loki and Clint. Some time later I stood before Loki's cell and he asked if I was there to torture him. I tilted my head and my rings lit up when he told me he quite enjoyed running me through with the Allfather's spear, feeling my heart shred as he twisted the weapon and by bones shattering on impact. He called me an old fool for daring turn my back on him and I vibe'd, changing my frequency, as my body shook and I entered his cell through the glass.

He frowned and within ten seconds he was screaming in agony. No illusions worked as I brought him pain. I walked through the door of the cell and told him. "I won't torture you, boy, but next time you speak to me you will do so with respect or you will be beaten like the animal you are before I show you why your father spoke to me as an equal."

He sneered. "Odin is not my father!"

I turned back to him. "Then you're an ignorant fool, but I was referring to Laufey. There was a reason he abandoned his conquest of earth boy, and it had nothing to do with Odin or his army. One thousand warriors of earth stood against a million frost giants and we cut their army in half before I took Laufey's right arm and that was before the Asgardians showed up. We of the Ten Rings have only grown stronger boy. Your war will not end the way you want it no matter the size of the army you bring."

I walked away and he yelled at me that there is no stopping it now. I didn't reply as I had nothing to say to him. I found the rest in Banner's lab and Thor apologized for his brother. I waved him off without a word and Coulson asked. "So you were like the Spartans?"

I grunted. "A drunk Asgardian deserter spread the tales of our battle. Sparta wasn't capable of doing such a feat, they simply didn't have a force with that nerve. They were mostly sheep herders."

Tony asked. "You went through all that torture in training so why does it feel like Loki's jab was personal?"

I grunted as my suit fell away and showed me in a plain white martial arts gi. I slid out of my shirt part and showed them the wound. All the other scars had vanished after my mutation but the massive hole scar over my heart remained, front and back. "Gungnir is no ordinary weapon. Even with my awakened healing abilities the dark matter from the blade lingers and inflicts nightmares, induced pain and occasionally sickness. It is now a part of a fact of my life and has been since my brush with death."

I put my shirt on and my suit grew around me again. Steve huffed. "So that's what you look like under that thing. Why hide?"

I shrugged. "I have my reasons."

I didn't clarify so he dropped it before Thor suggested I come back to Asgard because Odin can remove the dark energy in me or they can try a soul forge. Tony said that sounded ominous and I grunted. "Soul Forges are medical beds using sensors and advanced quantum mechanics to repair the body on a molecular level if necessary."