Chapter 23

I walked into Fury's office and sat in the chair next to Tony, wiping the tears from my eyes. Tony grabbed the box of tissues from Fury's desk and held them out to me but I shook my head no and used the back of my gloved hand. Tony returned the box and Fury and the President walked in. I still wasn't on good terms with the President and I was hoping he wouldn't piss me off today. I was already at my limit.

"So, I called you guys here with some good news." Fury smiled at me but quickly lost it when he noticed the redness around my eyes. 

"The Asgardians are back." His tone was less excited and more...cautious.

"Damn, really?" Tony laughed. 

"How do you know?" The President asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Loki visited me earlier. Said Thor had something for me." Fury shrugged.

"What else did Loki say?" The President asked as he raised a brow.

"He said they were gone for so long because the war was never-ending. The Frost Giants of Jotunheim found a new source of power. It took them many years but they were finally strong enough to attack Asgard." Fury explained as he walked around his officer.

"The Asgard keeper, um, uh-" He snapped his fingers as he tried to remember the name of the Asgardian bifrost keeper.

"Heimdall." I coldly replied. He snapped his fingers at me in a gun form and nodded as he continued.

"Heimdall, he closed the bifrost when the attack happened. He didn't want anyone getting in or out. Loki said the war was brutal, many died." Fury said as he stopped next to me. I crossed my arms and leaned back in the chair as I stared at the front of the desk.

"So, they're back? The war is over?" The President asked.

"Seems so." Fury shrugged.

"Alex, I thought you'd be more happy about this. Your pet God is back." The President laughed. I clenched my jaw and glared up at him, biting my tongue.

"Speaking of Alex and Loki." Fury said as he walked over to his officer door. He opened it up and Loki walked inside. I kept my eyes ahead of me, refusing to look at the God. Fury walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder as he smiled down at me.

"Since he's back, you two are gonna be partners again." 

"What??" Loki and I both asked. I shot to my feet and Fury removed his hand as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah. You two worked so well together. I figure why not again." Fury shrugged.

"Uhh, Nick, I don't thi-" Tony was about to protest for me but a bright flash stopped him and we all looked to the left corner of the room. Thor landed with a giant purple head in his arms and a wide smile on his face.

"Hey guys!" He laughed. I was too focused on this Loki partner thing to worry about what he was doing.

"I can't be partners with Loki. I already have a partner." I said, pulling everyone's attention to me.

"No one cares about you and Bucky, Alex." Loki scoffed. I clenched my jaw and glared at him as I furrowed my brows.

"I wasn't talking about my boyfriend." I loudly said, putting emphasis on the last word. Loki visibly cringed over that but quickly hid it with a scowl of anger.

"I'm talking about Peter." I added.

"True. But the God brothers returning now is perfect timing." Fury argued.

"Guys?" Thor asked, setting the head down on the ground.

"How??" I scoffed as I crossed my arms.

"Well, with Eddie Brock joining us as an alley, he needs someone to teach him the ropes. Help him out and all. Peter is perfect for that." Fury shrugged as he nodded.

"I have a head for you, Fury." Thor said as he motioned to the head. Everyone looked at him and he smiled but I looked at Fury and shook my head no.

"I don't want to be her partner." Loki argued.

"You can't just take my partner from me. Someone else can help Brock. He isn't even an Avenger. He just helps us sometimes." I pointed out as I dropped my arms to my sides.

"It's Thanos, if anyone cares." Thor mumbled as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"We don't!" Loki  and I both harshly yelled. I felt bad about being mean to Thor but I had to get this Loki partner business sorted out.

"Well, you should. It took me a really long time to get his head off of his body. He had a very thick neck." Thor motioned to his neck, gesturing to the air around it.

"Seems like it. That is a huge head." Tony said as he stood up and walked over to the head, examining it.

"I'm not being his partner." I sternly said as I crossed my arms again.

"You are and that's final." Fury said, even sterner and harsher than me. I inhaled and glared at the God, who was already glaring at me.

"Perfect." Fury smiled at us.

"Thanos you say?" Fury asked as he looked over at Thor with a raised brow.

"Yeah. He was helping the Frost Giants with the attack." Thor nodded as he looked down to the head.

"Are we sure he was the only one helping the Giants?" The President asked. All eyes fell to him and I knew exactly what he was implying. Loki told me the government has files about where he really is from. Files the President would have access to. I clenched my jaw and the President laughed as he looked over at Loki. As angry as Loki made me, someone attacking him like that made me angrier. He had no right or reason to say that garbage.

"What do you mean?" Thor asked. He was so oblivious sometimes.

"I'm just saying. Loki is a Frost Giant, right? Wouldn't he be more inclined to help, ya know, his own kind." The President asked, shrugging.

"You-" Loki began to say something but I quickly cut him off.

"Shut the fuck up." I snapped. The room went silent and the President's smirk fell from his face and anger overtook it. He slowly stood up from his chair and I immediately knew what was coming. I tightly closed my eyes and braced myself. 

A harsh electric current flowed through me and I tensed up as my breathing stopped. My head jerked back and my back arched as the front of my body pushed forward. The electric current touched every inch of me on the inside, burning me, holding me in place.

"Alex!" Loki yelled out.

"STOP!!" Tony shouted. The pain stopped and I collapsed to the ground but before I could hit it, I landed in someone's arms. I closed my eyes, trying to push through the aftershock of pain and relaxed as my breathing continued on as normal.

"What the fuck Brad?!!" Tony yelled as he knelt down next to me and gently pushed the strands of hair from my face.

"She needs to watch her mouth and know her place. I told you, no more chances after that little stunt on Krile." The President harshly said. I opened my eyes as the pain faded away and was met by Loki's green ones. He looked so worried as he stared down at me.

"I told you to take it out of her! She doesn't need it!" Tony yelled as he stood up and faced the President.

"And I told you no." The President snapped.

"Fury, do something!" Tony scoffed as he looked over at the director. I slowly sat up and out of Loki's arms. He gently helped me to my feet and I adjusted my suit as I looked over at the President.

"He can't." I replied, inhaling as a small amount of pain ran down my spin.

"What? Why?" Tony asked as he looked at me and then Fury. Fury dropped his head and licked his lips, thinking of his respond.

"Because Brad here knows everything about us. The Avengers and our allies. He knows how to stop us. He told Fury he would have us all arrested and tried for terrorist acts and treason if we disobeyed him any longer." I explained, remembering the conversation I heard while recovering from the surgery that gave me my little implant.

"The current he sends through me is electricity from planet Krile. Electricity I can't control." I added.

"Jesus Christ." Tony scoffed as he tore his eyes from Fury and placed them on the President.

"Why wasn't I told this??" He added, crossing his arms.

"Because, Stark, you are nothing to me. You don't deserve to know everything. Your brat only knows because she was eavesdropping." The President spat as he put the remote back in his pocket. The brother's stayed silent as they watched us.

"Now." The President adjusted his tie and smiled at us as he walked towards the door.

"Loki and Alex are partners again. Peter is with Brock. Thanos is dead and the Asgard brothers are back." He recapped as he grabbed the door-handle.

"Is anything about the device in her neck gets out, I will have you all killed." The President harshly and quietly said before leaving the office. I sighed and looked down to the floor as Tony put his arm around me, comforting me.

"I'm sorry." Fury said as he sighed too.

"Don't be." I said as I looked over at him. The room went silent again and I looked down to the floor as I licked my lips.

"Well, that wasn't the home coming I was expecting." Thor awkwardly laughed. I couldn't help but smile at the goofy God. I moved away from Tony and walked over to Thor, throwing my arms around him.

"Welcome home Thor." I said as I pulled away. Tony patted Thor's back and Fury examined the head, nudging it with the tip of his boot.

"Yeah, and thanks for the gift." He chuckled as he looked at Thor.

"Fury, you there?" I heard Star Lord over the comms. Fury walked over to his computer and clicked his mouse a few times before nodded and answering Quill.

"Go ahead." He said. I moved over and behind him and watched The Guardians of the Galaxy's live feed as they trudged through a thick forest.

"Something fishy is going on here. I don't think it was a star that consumed Gatlon 4." He said before tripping and falling into Drax. They began arguing with one another and Loki raised a brow as he and Thor joined us.

"What happened to Gatlon 4?" Thor asked as he crossed his arms.

"It exploded and then all of the bits left from it just disappeared. Bruce and Tony originally thought it was a black hole or something, maybe a star exploding." I explained.

"But in their research they found a similar type of planet destruction occurring just 1 week before Gatlon 4. Prima T.L. Same exact thing happened. Explosion and then all the remaining evidence just up and disappeared." I continued.

"They were each in a different galaxies but both sat as the 4th planet from the sun. Prima T.L was in the galaxy right above, or ahead, of Galton 4's galaxy. We scouted out the galaxy after that and found some weird readings around the 4th planet in there, Fredelon, which is where they are." Tony nodded at the Guardians.

"And after that?" Loki asked as he looked over at me.

"Tronlet is the next 4th planet in the next galaxy." Tony replied as he looked over at us.

"So, why are we looking into it then?" Loki asked, raising his brow.

"Earth is after that." I replied, looking away from him and over to Tony. It was scary, thinking we could be next in line for some planet destroying event. But Fury and everyone else on the team was working hard to figure out what was happening.

"What's going on Quill?" Fury asked, watching the screens. I looked over and saw that they were now running out of the forest.

"Feels like an Earthquake! Whole damn planet is shaking!" He yelled as he sprinted through the thick leaves and branches. I grabbed Fury's second monitor and faced it to me as I turned it on. He kept the activity of the planet and surrounding space monitored on it at all times. My eyes went wide as I stared at the fluctuating waves on the graph, indicating the planet was being put through massive stress.

"They need to get out, now!" I said as I looked back at the live feed monitor. 

"You heard her. Get the hell off that planet!" Fury yelled. Star Lord began cussing as his helmet covered his face and he flew into the air. He landed at the ship and quickly jumped in and turned it on as the ground under his shook. He lifted it off the ground just as it split apart, revealing the lava underneath.

"Gamora??" He shouted as he flew towards the rest of the group. He wasn't able to land but Groot managed to toss them all up to the ship and climb up himself as the trees were consumed by the land. Star Lord's feed looked from the ground and up out through the window as he spun the ship around and engaged his drive, sending them flying away. I gasped a little and watched as they cleared the planet just as it exploded.

"D-Did anyone else see that??" I asked.

"See what?" Fury asked as he and the others looked over at me. I reached over and pressed the special keys on his keyboard that controlled the feeds. I pushed Star Lord's feed back a few minutes and slowed it as he looked up from the ground and out the window. As the ship turned and he turned to look to his left, I spotted it. A small black figure standing in the distance. I paused the feed and pointed to it. It was barely visible through the destruction around it, but I could make out the human shape.

"There." I said, my heart sinking into me. The figure looked like he was lording over the destruction. He stood on top of an object I didn't recognize and could barely make out the color of it. He was watching the Guardians flee. He was destroying the planet.

"Who the hell is that?" Tony asked as he leaned forward and studied the image.

"Him." Loki whispered.

"Who?" Tony asked as he looked back at the God.

"The man the CT brought through to our world. He's finally making his move."

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