Before Duke could realize, the RPG had already exploded, as time returned back to normal, and he was blown away by the shockwave and sent flying into a building nearby.
"Mortal lives are so fragile." Loki sighed and shook his head with a cruel smile, as he got off the truck and walked towards Clint who was somehow unconscious and grabbed his body and dragged him into the vehicle as it drove off into the distance.
A few minutes later, the dust settled, as the crowd began to gather at the site of explosion, Natasha appeared followed by the commander and several SHIELD agents.
"My God! The homeless shelter, all those people!" " And the kids they all..." The crowd looked on in horror, as Natasha staggered through the crowd, her left hand clutching her left rib, and her lips slightly bloody.
Accompanied by SHIELD agents, she finally reached the site of explosion, where she saw a figure kneeling on the ground with his clothes torn in several places.
She instantly rushed to the person and turned him around, however the face she saw wasn't what she was expecting at all. It was Duke, however, the left side of his face was burnt up, although rapidly healing.
His eyes were lifeless; his pupils had vanished, leaving behind empty and hollow sockets filled with blood red lightning.
She took a step back in fear, as she watched him a bloody red force field of lightning materialize around his body.
"Fury, we have a problem! A huge problem!" She instantly took a phone from one of the agents and called SHIELD HQ.
....
"This is a disaster!" A few hours later, everyone was once more gathered within the SHIELD Helicarrier, as Dr. Banner said with a huge frown on his face.
"What was he doing at the homeless people's shelter?" Cap asked, as Stark stood up and picked up the glass remote.
"Jarvis, can you show us what the drones captured, and what Duke was doing inside there?" Stark spoke to Jarvis, as a series of images were displayed on the screen, showing Duke playing around with the kids.
"So he's a philanthropist?" Fury asked as he watched the scenes on the screen. "No it's more than that. I had drones follow him secretly and from the videos captured, it's safe to assume that those homeless people were his uhh family." Stark replied, as he tapped on the remote once more.
Soon, a video began showing on the screen, a video with Duke singing the happy birthday song with the kids, carrying them in his shoulders and hugging the women.
"So what do we do now?" Banner asked as everyone grew quiet. "And where the hell is Clint?" Fury suddenly asked as they looked around. "Loki took him away when he was unconscious." Natasha said as she lowered her head.
"Goddamn it!" Fury slammer his hand on the table, as his face flashed with exhaustion and exasperation.
"There's nothing we can do now. I suggest we find Loki, get the Tesseract and decide what to do next." Cap said, as the others nodded....
....
"Back here so soon?" Within a huge dimension, where time and space was non existent, a familiar figure appeared as another figure sitting a huge lightning throne chuckled and said to him.
"I-I lost them, I lost everything..." Duke said, as his expression turned melancholic and he knelt and wept. "Yes you did." The Speed Force avatar replied. "You lost your family because you were weak and slow." It added, as it got up from the lightning throne.
"You Duke, have been blessed with a cosmic concept, the very origin of momentum and motion, and you can only move at a pitiful speed? How disgraceful!" The Speed Force avatar spoke with contempt.
"I didn't ask for all of this!!!" Duke shouted in anger, as he stood up. " I never asked for any of this!!" He spoke again, as he wiped his tears. "Tell me Duke, do you think your family asked to be killed? Or do you think those people who have died in the past asked for it?
No one asks for anything. That's why it's called fate!! And only with enough power can you prevent fate from messing up your life!!" The avatar spoke, as Duke sighed.
"Tell me Duke, what is your goal? With an unlimited cosmic energy at your disposal, what do you plan on doing?" The avatar walked back to its throne and sat down.
"I—I~" Duke began to stutter. "That's right. I thought so too." The avatar chuckled.
"You could become faster, make use of the Speed Force. Because the moment you achieve light speed, you would be able to break the shackles of space and time." It continued as Duke listened.
"Would I be able to bring my family back?" Duke asked as his widened the moment he heard he could break the shackles of time.
"Of course you can. Speedsters who are fast enough can time travel." It said.
"So I just need to become fast enough." Duke thought, as he clenched his fists....
....
Stuttgart, Germany...
"Aarrghh!!" Outside a huge museum, dozens of people were gathered and were screaming in fear, as a man in a black suit and overcoat holding unto a scepter walked out gleefully.
As he kept on walking to the crowd, his outfit began to morph into a sleek golden armor overlaid with green robes, as the scepter transformed into a long spear.
A police car rushed towards him from the side, and without looking, he stretched the spear towards it, and unleashed an energy blast which caused it explode from the gem embedded in it.
"Kneel before me!" His body immediately divided into clones, which surrounded the crowd, as they all spoke at once.
"Kneel!!!!" With another bellow, the noise from the crowd instantly mellowed, as they all fell to their knees.
"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?" He said as he began to walk through them. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation." He added.
"The bright lure of freedom diminished your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity; you were made to be ruled."
"In the end you will always kneel." The speech continued until an old man wearing a brown coat stood up from his knees defiantly.
"Not to men like you." The old man said, as Loki laughed. "There are no men like me" "There are ways men like you." Both of them faced off from a distance, as a small smile crept up to Loki's face.
"Look to your elder people, let him be an example." Loki chuckled, and pointed the spear towards the old man who panicked. Instantly, a blue energy beam shot out towards the old man, however just as it was about to blast him away, a figure in a blue and red suit holding unto a shield appeared in front of the old man and blocked the energy beam with his shield, as it deflected back and slammed into Loki, and sent him flying.
A/ N: I need powerstones guys!