......…
Third Person P.O.V.
The God of Storm, Hadad, who chose the demonic path and became the famous demon Ba'al, did more with the sacrifices than to empower himself enough to fight Thor on the same level.
The small pagan god also gained demonic abilities that he didn't show in his combat against Thor. He has a hidden connection with otherworldly creatures and forces.
From God of Storm to God of Thunder, maybe Hadad deep down couldn't let go and wanted to defeat the son of Odin with similar powers.
In the end, that culminated in his defeat, but it is still unclear whether it would make any difference if the God-turned-Demon used any trump card. The result of that battle is already set in stone, but the troubles that Hadad seeded on Earth are still active.
And of course, in the form of a demon invasion.
Eidolon predicted that this offensive against the demonic grip on Earth would create a response in the shape of an invasion. It always ended up with an invasion when demons are involved. It is always the final objective of any demon.
What Eidolon didn't expect was that it would not be the invasion of the average demon group, but another type of otherworldly creatures.
After they left for the mirror dimension, the island in the real world started going through changes.
It is unclear if it was meant to happen under the will of the demons, or if it is a consequence of losing connection with the otherworldly patrons. Still, the island starts shaking and being destroyed by a cataclysmic earthquake.
The few buildings started falling as enormous cracks spread through the island, splitting the land. The clouds above churn dark as weak lights seep from the cracks in the ground, and as the cracks widen, more of that light escapes, and as more of that light escapes, the clouds move more.
From a faraway perspective, a person would be able to notice how the clouds slowly lower themselves to the ground as the light gets stronger. It is like the earth and the sky are attracting each other, and their meeting is inevitable.
And it is exactly what happens. The dark clouds continue to spiral downward, forming a hurricane that envelops the whole island. From a distance, it is possible to see some lights flickering inside, like little stars in a nebula.
That is when the portal is opened: a vortex rift inside the hurricane, and something foreign starts crawling out of it to invade this planet.
The creatures that start moving out of the hurricane look like they are made of the dark mist that forms the storm.
They are roughly humanoid, monster shadows with long limbs, malevolent eyes, and sharp teeth. It seems there is some light inside them because their eyes and mouth shine, giving them distinctive features. But no one would be able to tell them apart.
Dozens come out first, then hundreds, then more, spreading in all directions and making the place even darker, as if they suck all the light.
Luckily, as careful a guy as Hector is, he put some fast-acting subordinates on standby in case an invasion happens while he is away.
And with demons, an invasion always happens…
Amidst the dark sky, a small figure slowly floats down just to face the giant hurricane; she shines with a green light, like a beacon in the darkness, completely unfazed, like this is nothing much.
"Pretty fitting for my first big job." Tatsumaki smiles widely, her green hair pulled up like she is underwater.
"Don't let them leave this place while I study the rift inside the hurricane." A monotone voice speaks behind her.
Raven also appeared, shining with a weak and paradoxical black light.
"Don't give me orders!" Tatsumaki barks back.
"It is not my orders." Raven doesn't engage in the discussion, simply closing her eyes and adopting a meditative stance in the air.
The light surrounding her body grows stronger, and magic circles appear around her as she mutters her famous words under her breath; the circles then fly to the hurricane and sink into it, not to destroy, but to investigate the magic inside.
For some reason, Tatsumaki got annoyed that Raven ignored her; it looks like the goth sorceress is the mature one in the situation.
So Tatsumaki, of course, does the mature thing and puffs her cheeks angrily while stomping in the air… and then she goes to vent her frustration on the monsters floating in the sky.
But as if the universe wants to annoy her, she is interrupted by some fighter jets that flew too close to her, enough to blow her clothes.
Luckily, Eidolon and Edna changed her outfit so she has a full-body suit beneath the new version of her dress. She is even using a full-face mask. The new hero clothes are pretty stylish, in black and green, tight but still fluttering.
Edna wants something sharp but cute, and she is successful in creating something that uses Tatsumaki's floating abilities to make her look like a deadly fairy.
And also so she doesn't flash any kid who looks up.
"What are those idiots doing now?!?" She rages in the air as the fighter jets speed through the air and try to bomb the hurricane.
The missiles did absolutely nothing to the hurricane; it didn't even shake, showing that it's more than wind and mist.
The attack attracted the attention of the dark monsters, making them launch themselves at the jets.
The pilots are already panicking as the monsters almost hit them, when an invisible force saves them.
BAM
An invisible force field pushes all the monsters away, and the jets have time to make a curve.
Thump
Tatsumaki lands in one of the jets, looking down on the pilot and co-pilot
"What the hell are you doing, IDIOTS?!!? DON'T INTERFERE!!" She shouts.
Not that she can be heard, not even her face can be seen, but her body language says that she is not happy with them. She gesticulates by pointing away, for them to leave, and even makes an ugly gesture with an angry fist to show the consequences of disobeying her.
Thankfully, Tatsumaki is wearing an armband with the SCP symbol, so after an annoying talk about protocol with their superiors, the jets are ordered to retreat a few miles but still keep the perimeter till a second order.
"Unbelievable…" Tatsumaki fumes angrily.
But she remembers that there are targets to vent her anger right there.
"Okay, you smokeheads, you are done." She says with a dead tone.
First of all, this is a pretty bad matchup.
Maybe those creatures are more than mist, not as easily affected by the natural elements as other gases, but Tatsumaki doesn't simply use wind either, despite her name.
And like Hector once taught Cassandra, you can easily deal with gases with wind attacks.
BOOM
A single invisible blast pushes all the monsters away, dissipating them easily, but even more start appearing. It is almost unfair; her power is simply too good against them.
Tatsumaki changes her hand gesture, from an open palm to a grab motion, and the dark mist starts coalescing into a single point, the dark monsters being squeezed together by the invisible power of her telekinesis.
When she is condensing hundreds of monsters into a ball smaller than her head, she uses her telekinesis to launch it back in the hurricane, and releases her hold. When the pressure is gone, the ball explodes, and finally the hurricane is affected a little more but not enough to dissipate.
And more and more monsters take the place of the ones destroyed.
Tatsumaki doesn't even break a sweat by eliminating the monsters before they become a threat. They are fast, strong, and fierce, but her advantage over them is simply too great.
They can't even muster their full strength or gather great numbers.
The problem is that it seems that this dark hurricane has endless supplies of them.
It even starts to annoy Tatsumaki again. "OY! Aren't you done??" She shouts back at Raven.
"It is not a hard fissure to close…" The goth sorcerer answers calmly, "But it will take some time to gather the energy. Hold on for a little longer."
"Grrr. Be faster."
"You are not even struggling…" Raven deadpans
Yeah, there is no way those two would struggle against minions even if they are numerous. They are two of the strongest that Hector has to offer, and without any enhancement yet.
Tatsumaki by herself can be considered an Omega-level meta in this world's terms, and at this level the opponent needs to pass a certain threshold to be considered a threat; if not, they are fodder even if they are numbered in their millions.
The telekinetic hero's job becomes almost tedious as she partakes in some "spawn camping", giving no chances to the enemy. It is boring, but she is used to dealing with her opponents easily; after all, it is rare for her to find someone on her level.
Crack
To save her from her tedious task, Eidolon and Thor came back from the mirror dimension.
"Hm? Situation?" The black-clad hero asks immediately after a look at the hurricane.
Cortana, who was inside his body, reconnects with their equipment and is immediately updated on what is happening in the world and here, so she simply transmits it to his high-speed brain.
"Everywhere is progressing well… but this place…" Eidolon's eyes narrow
"I feel that I saw those creatures somewhere…" Thor also frowns
The instincts of the two are warning them for some reason, even when Tatsumaki is dealing with them easily. As if there is some hidden danger… but they already dealt with Hadad, the one that is connected with those creatures…
Thor can't remember where he saw something similar, maybe in a book he casually browsed in the past, maybe in a dream…
Eidolon's brain goes through the vast library he read in the Kamar-Taj and Asgard, but he still can't connect anything with those monsters.
"!" But then it clicks… he was looking at the wrong place, and there is a reason it took too long to associate it with his knowledge. "Black Winter…" He mutters, and a rare, serious, maybe even worried expression appears on his face.
It came from his other life, as a comic fan, where he read an issue of Thor about this enemy, a universe-eating villain so powerful that Thor has to become the herald of Galactus to face it, joining hands with the World Eater for the Power Cosmic.
He remembered that comic raised his interest because it showed a new visual for the God of Thunder, one that he thought was super cool.
But the Black Winter is a single gigantic entity that goes through universes like a swarm of grasshoppers, a cosmic plague of the highest category.
It is not this… these countless crazy creatures. Even though the grasshoppers metaphor would be very fitting, it is just one gaseous giant that consumes everything in its path.
He can feel Hadad's presence through the hurricane and the creatures, but that only raises more questions than it gives him answers.
Now he at least knows what Hadad was using all the evil demonic energy he was accumulating from humanity… to grow this army of Black Winters. It was not only to increase his personal power.
"Black Winter?" Thor frowns at his side
"Let's deal with it first." Eidolon says, "Thor, stop that storm."
The God of Thunder nods seriously. "I feel that is a weird phenomenon, but I will succeed."
"Raven." Eidolon calls her. "Are you ready?"
"I have an idea of what to do." She says while floating to his side
"Then do your thing, and I will do mine."
"Already figured out something?"
"I just have some spells that I learned for this exact situation." How could he not? A portal opening to another dimension is basically a cliché at this point.
"I am gonna stitch it then." Raven says, "I have some experience in closing portals. My father was a constant annoyance. "
"I will go in to work on the finesse." It is the only warning Eidolon gives before throwing himself headfirst into the hurricane.
His recklessness has a reason and a justification. This situation can really get bad if it is left alone for too long, and so he should go all out while the threat is low.
In the middle of the hurricane, he can feel Raven's magical power hitting the Eye of the Storm and inundating the rift in the middle, where the Black Winter creatures are coming with some strange magic.
Her magic stabilizes the rift and even starts filling it up with a barrier. It is a crude method, like closing a wound and then letting the body heal the rest. The body in this case is the universe, which obviously doesn't want invaders, but this rift is too small for the natural laws to notice, let alone act quickly.
Eidolon's approach is even more direct.
At this point, he knows some spells to close portals.
"Taun taun cham fon craw." It sounds silly but is a real incantation that deals with extraterritorial forces when paired with the power of Vishanti.
Well, Eidolon doesn't have anything with the power of Vishanti to use as an energy source, not the Eye of Agamotto or the Book of Vishanti.
But as fate would have it, Eidolon recently acquired that Eye of Agamotto from another dimension, and despite being broken, he studied it like he studied Cyttorak's power when he fought the Juggernaut.
It is not even 1% of the power of the real thing, only an imitation where he tries to transform his own vital energy into something similar to the trinity of benevolent gods that formed the Vishanti.
Again, it is very fake and can only hold itself up and work because Hector himself assimilates some gods like Apollo, but this rift is nothing special either.
Eidolon tries to create a benevolent energy that would help the universe deal with any malady, in this case those invaders that are like viruses. That is the principle of this spell; the target needs to be something that would hurt the World.
Hector learned it as one of the first contingency plans against the Beholders, but he will need more than this… It is just that anything starts from somewhere.
'Not gonna lie… I was a little worried the universe would reject me too…' It seems the fact his body was born in this world still takes precedence over the fact he is a transmigrated person.
When he finished the spell, the space around the rift solidified and emanated a white light, countering the darkness… Then it moved to the open wound in the air and started forcing it shut.
It enhances Raven's own spell, and Thor's help stopping the hurricane also decreases the quantity of Black Winter monsters appearing. Tatsumaki is now contemptuously dealing with them.
It doesn't take long for this unstable rift to finally close shut as some Black Winter creatures still try to come to this side and are bisected by the space.
"..." Eidolon observes for a moment as the storm disappears, and then uses some spatial powers just to make the space more stable.
It is something that would happen naturally, but he will speed up the process. It will also prevent a third party from taking advantage of this point.
You never know…
He works similarly to a construction worker covering a crack with more and more cement, throwing everything he has on it.
He even laid down some invisible traps around, like the spell of air mines of Ainz's repertoire, and other powers that would alert him if someone approached this area.
"I am glad to see your paranoia never changes, Master." Cortana comments with a smile
"And it will never change…"
When the sky is clear again, the four heroes get close to talk. Eidolon even creates an invisible platform in the air.
"This is worrying…" Eidolon starts
"That bad?" Raven asks
"It looked easy to me." Tatsumaki comments haughtily
"Those pieces of trash are just insects compared with the real danger of the same origin." Eidolon speaks gravely. "Even I don't know much, but I am talking about something that can end the universe before you notice the sky has darkened."
"..."
After letting his words sink in, Eidolon continues, "That said, there is nothing much we can do now beyond preparing for a possible return… Thor, I would like you to research the Black Winter when you go back to Asgard. Go through the library, ask your parents, anything you can do… I can't stress enough how this is important."
Thor nods. He rarely sees Eidolon this serious.
"Trust me, I am gonna get everything that I can. The Asgard archives are vast and ancient."
"Just by your father knowing what happened today will be enough." Eidolon sighs. "I just thought of a scary possibility…" He looks into the distance
"What?" Raven asks
"Maybe we got it wrong… Hadad was not a god that fell to a demonic path and broke the taboo to acquire otherworldly powers… Maybe Hadad was always part of the Black Winter, a small part that broke out of the main thing, much like those minions from before, but stronger and conscious… It infiltrated this world and even the pantheon of Annunaki. He was the Black Winter, or at least a piece of it, and became a God of Thunder. He was an enemy from the beginning… Working to weaken us and create a bridge to the real invasion."
"..."
"A god is only the scout?" Raven raises an eyebrow
"That is the scary part… It is very possible. A billion-year-old plan to consume this universe. Not a bad deal to an everlasting multiversal entity. Hadad was not corrupted; he came here to corrupt…" Eidolon massages his temple. "We are so young and already being spawn camped by some nigh-omnipotent beings…"
"Life is unfair." Raven gives him a dry chuckle.
That makes him laugh.
"Hadad doesn't look like he had this big plan. He looks pretty desolated that he was dying." Thor comments with a pensive expression
"Maybe he doesn't have his full memories, only the mission engraved on his being… To trick even gods, he tricked himself." Eidolon replies
"That makes sense."
"But I can also be wrong… and I would love to be wrong this time. It would mean we dealt with him and he was just a megalomaniac that messed with things greater than him." But then he shrugs
"But when the matter is about being pessimistic, you are rarely wrong." Raven says, half a jab, and half a compliment.
"I prefer the term 'realist', thank you." Eidolon raises his index finger
"Anyway, the world is in danger of being destroyed… nothing new, just another day in our lives." Tatsumaki waves her hand dismissively
"Your confidence is very soothing, girl." Thor laughs
"I am not a little girl, you brute!" She shouts at the god
"Hm? Then I am sorry, my lady. I didn't know you are deceptively young." Thor blinks and apologizes
"..." That makes Tatsumaki pause
"Heh~, look at her… all that anger ready to be unleashed and nowhere to go now." Eidolon teases
"There is you!" She turns to him and throws a telekinetic blast at the black-clad hero
Eidolon slaps it away. "Why can't you act mature like Thor? That is why people call you a kid… your attitude doesn't match your power and station." Eidolon taunts
"You should learn to be humble and apologize like him then!" She retorts angrily
"Teasing is more fun."
Thor watches the back-and-forth like a tennis match and looks at Raven, who is also staring at the duo.
"My friend really has a varied taste… Gonna remember to mention this in Asgard." He speaks in a low voice while stroking his beard, hiding his smile.
"I heard that, God of Gossips!"
......….
Kamar-Taj
"Since you appeared, my workload increased considerably." The Ancient One says with an amused expression as he watches Eidolon pile pieces of an ancient demon in the room.
The black-clad hero cut Moloch into cubes of meat, too small for the demon to keep conscious and use his powers. He didn't only cut him physically either; he used many powers and items to turn the demon into a grotesque LEGO set.
Each cube has some shining glyphs imprinted on all sides.
"Have you even thought that maybe if you took your job seriously, it would not accumulate so much at this time?" Eidolon rolls his eyes while tidily organizing what Moloch was, but now is something described in the book "All Tomorrows".
"Then what your generation would do… I can't let the young ones slack off." The Ancient One replies with righteous wisdom. "Easy times, makes weak men…"
"Yeah, yeah… You just want to slack off yourself, old man. You should work for your payment."
"The Ancient One job doesn't have a salary…"
"You have pretty cool trinkets though."
"Do you want the job then?"
"Wait for me to train your successor."
"Strange will be ready quicker."
"So eager to retire… if there is no salary, what are the benefits of retirement?"
"I will be able to unify my mind with the great cosmos and pass away peacefully." The Ancient One says with a warm smile.
"..." Eidolon turns to him. "I am not falling for this shit again. I bet if you die, you are gonna still come back to annoy me as a Force Ghost or something like that."
"That is more like you, that has such great attachment to this material plane." The Ancient One shoots back
"Sorry if I lived less than two decades and have things to do yet… Not all of us have thousands of years to deal with our regrets and accomplish our objectives."
"If you are not on the right path, a thousand years is not enough, and if you are, you can live a fulfilling life before your thirties."
"You really can't help yourself with throwing some ancient sage-style pep talk, huh?"
"It is part of the job."
"I really need to read this job description at some point." The two joke for a while, laughing a little before talking more seriously. "So… what do you think the repercussions of what happened will be?"
"Oh, that is rare; you did something before thinking about all the myriad of possible consequences?" The Ancient One laughs while conjuring a table and two chairs for them
"A good hero always acts without thinking from time to time." Eidolon chuckles while sitting. "And should we talk here? That wall of flesh is not a good view for a good tea."
"But it is for a disgusting tea…" The Ancient One laughs mischievously. "I had those leaves for so long, from a forest that doesn't exist anymore… they are awful." He says while preparing the tea
"Don't act giddy about that." Eidolon deadpans
"It is every day that a good opportunity to use a rare item of my stock comes by."
"Just burn it then."
"It would be a waste…" The Ancient One finishes preparing the tea and puts it in two cups. "What is life if not chugging down some bitterness from time to time?" He asks while raising his cup
"It makes you appreciate when it is really sweet, right?" Eidolon also raises his cup with a smile.
The two drink at the same time, less like tea and more like they are taking a shot of tequila.
"Ugggggghhh! Disgusting…" The Ancient One makes a childish, ugly face, like he is 3 years old and was forced to drink some medicine.
Eidolon acts cool and keeps his face steady, but he doesn't lie. "That is the worst thing I've drunk in all my life, and I'm pretty sure I drank some sort of demonic horse piss in Hell."
"At least you have the experience in case you drink more horse piss in the future." The old sorcerer says sarcastically.
"Right? You never know when this knowledge will be useful." Eidolon replies in the same energy
"But about what you have done, I would worry about all the other three demons coming back in some way in the future." The Ancient One shows a serious face. "All except for Moloch that you brought to me."
"Figures… typical." Eidolon scoffs. "Whatever, Hadad is the Black Winter, or the Black Winter is offering him powers- the guy can be revived through it eventually… Those entities need to learn to let go of their subordinates. Let them die."
"Don't be like that; Would you let your subordinates die?" Eidolon has to admit that it is quite hypocritical of his part. "Eventually you are gonna be able to kill them all for good." The Old Sorcerer consoles Eidolon.
"Don't patronize me." Eidolon rolls his eyes. "But you are not wrong. Moloch was a successful experiment… but only a test. I am not so confident in keeping him sealed for a long time, so I will trust him to you. Eventually though… I am sure I will be able to kill them for good, and not just stick them into a box."
He is really confident; after all, he can receive, or at least get, all abilities in the Omniverse. Even if the Gacha is bad to him, Hector can simply go to a certain world and get the means to kill immortal beings, demons, or gods.
From the top of his head, he can think about 6 universes where he can get the necessary tools… The problem is such a great power is, of course, in incredibly dangerous worlds.
"Problems to Future Eidolon." The hero says, and the Ancient One laughs mysteriously
"Poor Future Eidolon."
"Fuck that guy. Anyway, I have some ideas for contingency plans; tell me your honest opinion on how well they would fare." Eidolon says, if the Ancient One only acts when the situation gets really perilous, the hero can at least use the old man's experience for something.
The Ancient One sighs dramatically. "You are really making me do my job…"
"I am doing your job!"
"Good job by the way, Intern."
"I am gonna slap your bald head again."
......
A Day Later
Ophelia Sarkissian
"So what are our losses?" Ophelia, or Viper, the leader of Serpent Society of Hydra, asks one of her operatives. She watches over the agent's shoulder, her posture impatient.
She was just woken up to receive the news that the world's status quo changed… again.
It seems that it happened every full moon since the so-called "Age of Superheroes" started. Now she is here in the control room to be updated on what happened, surrounded by her people.
"A major loss of our targets of blackmail…" The agent starts while typing on his computer, with images of important people on the screen. Billionaires, movie directors, actors, politicians, hosts of TV shows… everyone that Eidolon's operation arrested.
"Tsk… whatever…" She rolls her eyes.
It is a loss, but it is not that bad. Hydra has blackmail material on those people to use in case they need it… Losing those cards is annoying, but it won't create any real trouble for their actual or future plans.
"Our routes are also compromised." The agent continues, showing a map of the world, their lost routes blinking red.
"That is more annoying." Ophelia clicks her tongue.
Hydra uses the trafficking routes of others to move their own things, whether people, illegal substances, or even weapons. It adds another layer of protection, because if the route is discovered, the first to fall would not be Hydra.
Hydra is very serious about not being exposed.
Their modus operandi has already received a heavy hit when Eidolon messed with the Crime Lords around the entire American continent. Now it only got worse.
The agents continue listing how Eidolon's last crusade affects them, Ophelia discovering that it basically peeled more of their layers of protection; he arrested many of Hydra's proxies, people who would do dirty things for them without even knowing that Hydra exists.
All of this brought them a little closer to the light.
"Send the order to everyone to lower their heads for the next weeks. Slow down their activities and, if possible, stop them outright. We need to rethink our methods." Ophelia orders.
"And the other Sectors?" The agent asks with an unsure expression.
Ophelia doesn't have the authority to command all of Hydra. Yet…
"Tsk, at least send the suggestion to everyone." She barks. "If they are smart, they will follow it! There is a fuckass god-like hero that is turning the planet into his family friend playground! We better start adapting because we are slowly moving forward in the line to the chopping block!!"
Ophelia's anger comes from fear and desperation.
One individual is enough to destroy decades of planning, everything they built. Hydra still exists only because they value anonymity beyond anything else.
She even praises the wisdom of the ones who made this move, who chose to hide and get rid of their pride after their loss, to bide their time until the right moment to act.
It is the only thing keeping them alive right now.
She is under no illusion that if they are a little less hidden, Eidolon would prioritize eliminating them. Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D., at least, then the Black-clad hero.
"He is starting to mess with more than mutant-related issues…" She murmurs under her breath, her eyes trembling
"Then we should create more mutant troubles, to keep him occupied." Behind her, Sidewinder appears, followed by more people of the Serpent Society.
"Are you an idiot?" She turns to him angrily.
The Serpent Society is still very divided.
Sidewinder was the original leader of the group, but Ophelia took over, fracturing Serpent Society into two factions. Basically male and female, but it's only a coincidence.
"Watch your mouth." Sidewinder frowns at her; he can't let her disrespect him in front of his subordinates
"Oh sorry, I shouldn't say the obvious out loud." Ophelia rolls her eyes
The tension increases; Ophelia doesn't care much about the inner conflicts now; she is too angry, and she has the strongest faction, especially after her last recruitment. She doesn't care.
"We already have so many plans in motion, plans that need to be secret until the day they come to fruition; if not, they will fail…" She speaks, "Do you want to hastily create some bad plans just to potentially expose us all?"
"We could at least delay this hero till the day our plans can be acted upon," Sidewinder argues
"Just to lose more resources…" She scoffs
"We are already losing. At least we should do something!" He shouts
"What we lost is only collateral damage! Do you want to discover how much damage he can do when he targets us??" She shouts back, "Because I don't!"
The man and woman stare at each other for a long time, everyone in the room tense except one person as the stare contest continues.
Eventually, Sidewinder has to concede. If a fight breaks out, he would lose, so he can only save face by scoffing once and turning around like he doesn't care about Ophelia.
Ophelia watches him go with a cold and calculating look, trying to think what dumb move he can do and if she would be better off ending Sidewinder already.
She doesn't need him anymore if he is gonna be on her way; his power is not needed now either; and maybe that is why he has been so prickly lately, predicting that he is about to be discarded.
The reason for this bad blood and even greater division between Serpent Society is leaning on the wall silently.
Lord Drakkon doesn't even need to do anything to create trouble in this nest of vipers. When everyone hates each other, but things are kept in peace because of some balance, it only needs one push from one side for chaos to happen.
And his existence is this push.
Serpent Society is about to go through a bloodbath to be reborn anew under one single leader, and everyone knows that is happening because of Lord Drakkon.
He is simply too strong. The day Ophelia is sure that she doesn't need Sidewinder or any of his loyal minions… they are dead.
Sidewinder is obviously making preparations for that day, even trying to recruit Lord Drakkon, but the Super Sentai hero seems loyal to Ophelia.
But only she knows how false that is…
"So…" Lord Drakkon's voice echoes through the room after Sidewinder left. "How connected are you with those people that the Avengers dealt with again? Tell me more…" His voice sounds threatening; from his dark spot, his red visor shines menacingly as it stares at Ophelia
"..." The woman feels that if she answers wrong now, she is dead. It would be ironic if that happened; if Viper's greatest asset is what would deal with her for Sidewinder.
At this point, she is already familiar with the eccentric personality of this wannabe hero. His skewed sense of justice is what allows her to manipulate him to her side, but is also what will make him bash her head on a wall if he doesn't like what Hydra does.
He agrees with her that some sacrifices are necessary for the greater good, but he can disagree on those sacrifices.
"Not really…" She answers, her voice a little weak, but she at least makes sure it doesn't crack. "The worst we do is raising the young ones as child soldiers, and we always get orphans or ones that would die in the streets, and no one would miss them anyway. Not as perverted as what those guys are doing."
She is not lying. Hydra at least does evil things for a reason and not for pure hedonism. They are a well-oiled machine of evil, not tools to gather playthings for some pervert.
Ophelia remembers the time she thought Lord Drakkon would kill her when the topic of kid soldiers and mind control came up. She is still not sure if she is out of the line of fire, but luckily the Serpent Society is not really involved with those sectors of Hydra. They are more focused on infiltration, assassination, and information gathering.
So if one day he kills someone because of that, it may not be her… maybe even an obstacle in her path to take control of the organization.
"..." Even after hearing her answer, Lord Drakkon just stays silent, completely still.
"What? At this point you should know we are not the cartoonish evil version that appears in a Captain America comic from the 50s." She shrugs, trying to act casual, but tense and afraid that he will just attack her all of a sudden. "We would not exist today if we did not get rid of this part of our organization decades ago."
"..."
"..."
"Said the Green Snake Nazi Lady…" The words come from behind her.
"!" She didn't see him move, and she never took her eyes from him, but somehow he is already behind and talking on her neck.
But despite all that, Ophelia visibly relaxes, even going as far as closing her eyes and breathing out.
There is an obvious threat that 'I can kill you at any moment' by him showing off how fast he can sneak up on her, but he called her by that ridiculous nickname… So he is in a joking mood.
"I work with you so that I can deal with evil… I didn't like staying here without doing anything as others put in the work." Lord Drakkon says behind her, "I thought you were a specialist in gathering information, but I was never informed of all this evil existing before yesterday… so, why should I continue to agree to be your attack dog if you don't give me the toys I want to chew?"
"..." This man is really hard to deal with, but nothing that Ophelia is not prepared for. "I didn't know that you are interested in those… mundane matters." She speaks carefully, "I thought that you wanted only to deal with super-villains."
"Normally no, but seeing those crimes and the poor victims, I would not be an anti-hero if I did nothing, right?" His tone softened slightly, subtly admitting that maybe there is a miscommunication between the parties.
"Then I know what can satisfy you. Wait a little longer, and I will have a list of evildoers that you can deal with." She bargains
"..." For a tense moment, he doesn't answer.
He doesn't answer anyway; he just turns around and walks out of the room.
Ophelia finally turns around when his steps are far away, and sighs.
"Now I need to throw some poor bastards under the bus… but it will be worth it." She comments before sighing again, "Why can't he just fuck me? Things would be easier…"
It will be another loss, but keeping Lord Drakkon at her beck and call is essential at this stage where hostilities inside Serpent Society are high. She basically needs him now that Sidewinder is openly showing his fangs.
........
Third Person P.O.V.
Hector, wearing his Lord Drakkon suit, goes back to his room with a smirk.
'This is easier than I thought…'
With a few words, he was able to use the resources of Hydra itself to get any bastard he ended up missing as Eidolon. That while creating tension and dividing this group.
'Maybe I have talent as a spy.' He chuckles silently
Now he just needs to let Ophelia do this work for him and continue to spread his influence after joining the winning side of this power struggle.
'Heh~' Who is he kidding? The winning side will be his side.
He will continue like this, using Hydra while slowly dividing it, not cutting off the heads, but making the organization get rid of them willingly.
Ophelia or the girl related to the Red Skull, it doesn't matter; he is gonna help one of the two rise in the ranks of Hydra while making them discard anyone that opposes them. And could have been their allies.
The day they lead the organization, Hydra will already be poisoned and weakened.
Ready for the final chop.
......
Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean
While the world is in chaos, Eidolon decided to take a vacation, a weekend off and away from the confusion and everything that is happening, from the eyes of the public too.
And he is not alone…
The hero is clad in a more casual bodysuit, more like a surfer's wetsuit, black with two white strips on his sides. His shoulders and biceps are bare, and it is sleeveless; it also ends in the middle of his thighs.
It is something like an "Eidolon Summer Skin" if one day he makes a game of the heroes of this world.
It protects his identity perfectly while not looking out of place on a beach. The only thing strange is that his mask still covers half his face, and if you look closely, his fingerprints don't make any sense.
He is walking out of the beach house, the only house on this isolated island, and finds Emma Frost staring at her tablet.
She is also wearing beach clothes. A white, intricate two-piece bikini covered by a big, semi-transparent white blouse that goes down to the middle of her thighs, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses.
"Son of a bitch, making us billionaires with a private island have a bad name." Emma comments angrily while reading from her tablet.
"You talk like billionaires are some sort of unfortunate outcasts." Eidolon shakes his head
"We are a minority, right?" Emma turns to him and asks with a smirk
"... I can't argue with your logic." He concedes
"But more important than that… This suicide…" She eyes him carefully.
"..." Eidolon's eyes are two pools of calm water. He stares at her in a way that gives her the answer, but he speaks anyway. "I didn't want him to disappoint the world, so I helped him succeed…"
"...good." Emma nods. "The world is a better place with him dead." She says before giving Eidolon a small smile.
Emma is probably the only one in the world who is aware of this dark side of the hero, that he is not a complete goody two-shoes. He is able and ready to dirty his hands for the betterment of the world.
As a player of the game herself, Emma understands how powerful people can avoid consequences using the corrupt justice system.
It's better that those people face his justice.
At that moment, the quintuplets come running and shouting, racing each other.
All of them are wearing one-piece swimsuits with skirts and some frilly sleeves, but all in different colors. They also have floaties around their waists, on their arms, or simply carried in their hands.
Like their mother, they're also wearing wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses.
"Girls, don't run; you are gonna fall." Emma admonishes them, but without much authority, and the girls don't listen much, going down the stairs a little more carefully but speeding up to the beach once they are on more stable footing.
"Hurry up!" One of them shouts back to the two, like she is impatient with her parents.
"Ugh, so much energy." Emma shakes her head with a fond smile
"That is why it is good they are gonna spend it today." Eidolon says, also staring at the girls running, paying attention to rescue them if they trip.
"You are right, this weekend is for them." Emma shows that by throwing her tablet away like trash.
The strange family of seven is isolated here, to have a vacation only for them.
Emma grabs Eidolon's fingers and lightly pulls him.
"Come, dear~" She gives him a saucy smile over her shoulder. "I want you to help me put some sunscreen on my back."
"..." At that exact moment, the visage that Eidolon had was so good that he instinctively used a power to take a "printscreen" of his point of view.
The beach, nature, sunny sky, five cute daughters running around while laughing loudly, and a beautiful woman… The sun hits Emma and highlights her curves under the semi-transparent blouse she is wearing.
The picturesque vision of a beautiful family.
It was a really beautiful sight, and even made his impassive heart skip a beat. It is a man's dream after all… Any guy would be considered rich if they had a moment like this in their memories.
'Okaaay… This is dangerous…' Eidolon thinks with wariness while allowing himself to be dragged by Emma Frost.
"You knew that this is a trap, master." Cortana rolls her eyes in his mind
'Yeah, but I didn't imagine it would be so effective'.
......…..
A.N.: Hello there
Too bad the MCU never developed much of the Mystical part of the Marvel Universe, so I need to do this for bigger arcs.
I also wanted to deal with this "heavy arc" before Christmas happens in the story. To let the jolly festivities clean the world a little.
In the next chapters, things will be lighter, with fun interactions between characters now. Instead of a lot of action.
.......
If you like this story, consider supporting me in the p.a.t.r.e.o.n... There are chapters ahead.
Here is the Link: (without spaces)
p @ t r e o n . com / Evans 269
Hope you all enjoyed it. Make a comment because interaction motivates me to keep writing. Thanks for reading.
Till next time and stay good y'all.
Bye Bye~