The Will and The Means

Time: 2012 May. Location: New York, US

Felix opened his eyes to see the face of an old friend, Thaedus. The two sat on a bench amongst leisure people surrounded by trees, stone pavements, and high-rise buildings. He noticed Viltrumites with pleasant smiles soaring over the park to their different destinations. Something that Felix hadn't seen before since he last remembered.

"Can you believe it? The reforms are working perfectly. I had no idea the council would fold so easily after Agnarr's death." Thaedus said, running his hand over the prideful Viltrumite mustache. The older Viltrumite was admiring the positive results of their rebellion. Felix could hear noises of small critters and buzzing conversations from the others around them.

"How is this possible?" Felix questioned in stunned expression as he busily surveyed around the calming park.

"I asked myself the same question from time to time." Thaedus rose up from his seat, and contently stared at the bright afternoon sky. "The rebellion succeeded, Frei. We did it."

"No, this isn't right." The usual stern expression from Felix's face was no longer anywhere to be seen. Instead, there was an apparent panic in his eyes now. This was not real. He recollected the jarring and unnatural anger that led him to attack Loki without planning. Felix had felt something similar before on the helicarrier.

Thaedus stood with his face turned away from his friend. There was something ominous about his stilled stance, but Felix could not fully comprehend it. The older man continued, "it isn't? No, it isn't. This was not how it ended. Did it?"

Silence took over their surrounding now. Nothing could be heard except for the unsettling quietness. Felix shifted his sight to examine everything else in his vicinity. But they were all frozen in time. In a tense motion, everyone's eyes were on him now, except for Thaedus. From the ground or the sky, their dead cold gazes stared deeply into his own soul.

"Why did you abandon us, Frei," Thaedus abruptly spun towards Felix and spoke in a harsh unfamiliar tone, "How many people have died for you? How many people have died because of you? Did you think you can just up and leave everything in someone else's hands?"

A pair of palms, cold enough to freeze the sun over, attached themselves onto Felix's shoulders as he violently shuddered to break free in naught, "And here, on Earth, you hid your powers like a rat in the sewers for months. Why are you hiding?" Thaedus's form shifted from one to another, cycling through each and everyone Felix knew in the past and present. The faces melted and reshaped in a horrific combination of flesh and bones.

'Why?' Felix asked himself. He wanted, no, needed a breath. He told himself that it was only for a moment of respite. Earth provided for him a new normalcy that was both unfamiliar and comforting. Away from his duties. Away from his responsibilities. However, like any other world in the grand universes. Peace was never long-lasting.

"Look at you now. Weak, pathetic, and a coward." The entity that was Thaedus said, closing itself onto Felix. He could feel its decaying breath embracing the warmth of his skin.

The hands squeezed his shoulders harder, almost crushing Felix in their grip. He winced at the force, but he felt the weight quickly lifting off his body as his eyes closed. The pair of brown eyes snapped open their view where the scenery around them had changed, morphed into a twisted ruin of the world Felix had once fought for. He stood on top of mass corpses spanning beyond the edge of sight to the horizon. With the sudden transition, he took a step backward in dread. The crunches of bones beneath his feet sent alarms spiking through his entirety. Yet, despite his trials to hover off the ground, nothing happened.

"You have no power here, Frei. I am your fears made real." The voice echoed through the land of death and destruction. Its haunting words gritted like nails on stone, screeching with monstrous sounds.

Felix knew this was a trick of Loki and of the scepter that he wielded, but there is truth in the deception. The last time he stood up to fight against the empire, he had made Viltrum much worse than what it was before. So when he came to Earth, he opted to stay in inaction and secluded himself from Earth's crises. He only did what was required of him to complete his promise with Nick Fury. However, Felix now saw that it was not the right decision either.

Whether it was Viltrum or Earth, he could not shun from away from the misfortunes at hand. He needed to regain the will and the means to change the status quo of either. He saw the powerlessness of its people while those with powers like the Ancient One stood idly by and watched the chaos unfold. Felix had the capabilities to change that here, and he did nothing with it. Now, Felix would use the strength he had to bring up Earth's defenses and its heroes. Then when the right time came, he would turn his ideals back onto Viltrum.

Loki's facade held him captive in his own mind, then he would break out of it with his sheer will. Felix crashed his fists onto the corpses in the hope of breaking the mental cage, but again, nothing seemed to happen. The entity laughed hysterically at his futile attempts.

Since his actions are negated to the torment he was experiencing, Felix brought the damage onto himself. If there were no hosts, then the parasites would die. Felix pierced his own chest with his hand in a final desperate attempt to break free.

"What are you doing? No. Stop." The voice cried out. The agony in its voice gave Felix all the reassurance he needed.

His fingers gripped themselves onto his heart, and with all of his might, Felix ripped out his heart off through the skin, muscle, and ribcage. The Viltrumite's body collapsed onto the pile of corpses with a bright glistening smile.

….

Tony Stark soared towards the open sky at the top speed his new Mark 7 could mutter. Felix would be upon him soon, and while he was confident in the latest model of his arsenal, he knew that he could not hold the alien for long.

"I'll need that direct communication line to Felix's helmet again, Jarvis." Tony requested.

"Already patched through, Sir." The A.I replied, "On your six."

Tony swung around and blasted Felix with his anti-tank missiles as swiftly as he could. Despite not severely damaging the Viltrumite, the explosion allowed Tony seconds to dodge out of Felix's trajectory. The sudden gush of wind notified the man of his closed call.

"Is there any way we could talk this out?" Tony jested, hoping to buy some time to think of a way out of the fight.

The scepter had consumed Felix's mind, but not all consciousness was the same. While the take-over had rendered the Viltrumite under Loki's control, his psychic refused to submit, causing Felix to a more feral state. He remained silent and rushed towards Tony with mind bending speed. Thanks to the fast processing of Jarvis, however, he was able to escape the strike mostly intact. The other's fingers scraped the exterior of the metal helmet, leaving two distinct marks on the newly coated golden finish.

"Come on, straight for the face? We'll do this the hard way then." Tony protested and directed the mounted lasers on his arms to Felix. The condensed heat broke through the alien's armor and swiftly seared the flesh on Felix's left shoulder.

Growling in pain, he glided towards Tony once more. However, Felix caught the iron man's leg in his fierce attacks this time. The Vitrumite's iron grip strangled the metal and machinery as Tony struggled to kick and punch Felix away. The thrusters burst to pull Tony free of Felix's hold with all their force. The two tugged in opposite directions as armor stripped off Tony's legs like paper tearing. At that moment, a hammer strike swatted Felix on his side, and he reluctantly let go of the billionaire from the pain.

"What took you so long?" Tony yelled out through the speakers. Thor arrived in the knick of time and floated down to his companion's height level.

"My brother happened. How did you anger the Viltrumite, metal man?" Thor questioned back to Tony.

"Your brother happened," Tony replied to which Thor gave a knowingly nod. The two turned their attention back to Felix, who had now recovered from the previous blow.

"Felix, we are on your side!" Thor yelled out to the wrathful mustached man.

"Right, like I haven't tried that already," Tony responded sarcasm even in this situation.

The fight ensued with the two strove to incapacitate Felix while he aimed to kill them. However, Tony and Thor soon realized that they could not hold back at all since the man's durability and fierceness was nothing to scoff at.

"How do we break him out of this spell?" Thor asked as he pulled Tony away from one of Felix's attacks.

"Natasha freed that archer guy by beating him unconscious. We have to hit his head hard enough." Tony was sweating from the various near-death experiences he had just had. "I'll be the decoy, just make sure to get that hit ready." A plan formed in his mind, and he quickly relayed it to Thor.

Tony glided away from the god of thunder and murmured, "I can't believe I'm doing this." Then he turned to Felix and screamed, "Hey! Come and get me, big guy! You should consider shaving that mustache!" Flairs of energy beam discharged from his palms.

Thor raised his hammer upward as dark thunderous clouds formed in unison. A lightning bolt shot from storm onto Mjolnir, charging it with the flow of electrons from a negatively charged body to a positively charged body.

The untamed Felix charged Tony in a flash yet milliseconds before he could reach the billionaire. Thor jumped in with his hammer above his head, aiming to strike with all his strength. The Viltrumite instinctually raised both arms to catch the devastating blow before contact despite their efforts.

A resounding boom expanded outward with enough force to push Tony any from the others. The hammer lodged onto Felix's chest, causing damage to the man but missing his head. With both sides holding onto Mjolnir, Thor quickly let go of his hammer. Before understanding what had happened, the mind-controlled Felix plummeted onto the ground, crashing through an entire apartment complex. Unsure whether they had succeeded or not, Thor and Tony descended to investigate the aftermath.

Felix was fixed between the ground and Mjolnir. He thrashed and clapped the Earth to break out of his prison in his feral state. Shockwaves and quakes from his attempts reverberated as the rest of the building collapsed due to the sheer force of his movements. Before the dust storm swallowed the scene, Thor saw his hammer swayed little by little in disbelief.

"By Fenrir's teeth." Thor prayed under his breath, "Get ready, metal man. It's not over yet."

Despite his tattered armor, Tony took his battle stance and replied, "We really need to work on all these name-callings, Thor."

The cloud of particles covered their sight while the thunderous struggles of Felix continued to rage on. Nothing came out to swipe at them when the dust dissipated before the noise died down from the surroundings to their benefit and shock. Felix slow floated off towards the two, holding Mjolnir in his hand. Both of the men crunched in their bodies, with Thor more bewildered than Tony. The Asgardian unconsciously cursed," Shit of a Bilgesnipe!"

The two waited for the strikes to come, but their attacker only glided slowly towards them, covered in dust and dirt. The three were now only inches away from each other. Felix flipped the hammer so that its handle pointed at Thor and said, "I think it's time to clean up this invasion."