Chapter 100: It's about to go down.
"Sir, this individual of unknown origin suddenly appeared here with a weapon. He disregarded our warnings and injured our colleagues. He's created a mess," the lead agent said, saluting –his chief.
The man who had arrived was Agent Coulson, dressed in a –black suit.
"I –understand," he said. "Stand down, and leave this to me. And remember to send the men on the ground to the infirmary." The lead agent glanced at Thor, then complied.
Coulson walked directly over to Thor with a friendly smile. "Hello, Mr. Thor, it's good to see you again. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D. I apologize for the –unnecessary trouble you've encountered. I hope you don't mind."
Thor planted his Stormbreaker axe on the floor. After a moment of thought, he recognized Coulson.
"You're the man who tried to steal my wife's laboratory equipment!" he declared loudly.
"That's all in the past," Coulson said, his smile momentarily freezing for a moment. "It was a misunderstanding. Don't mention it. I'll take you to meet our director now. He's heard of you and is looking forward to seeing you."
"Yes, I came here for a reason, so let's go see your director," Thor agreed, readily changing the subject. He was feeling anxious, recalling his father's instructions.
"Thor, follow me," Coulson said.
"Wait, aren't my friends on this ship too?" Thor asked, suddenly remembering. "Where are they?"
"They're in the lab," Coulson replied. "We'll inform them you're here, but let's go see the director first."
"Wait, Thor!" a voice called out, stopping Thor in his tracks.
"Stark, Captain, you're finally here!" Thor said, a wide smile spreading across his face as he saw the familiar faces.
"Thor, where did you go?" Tony asked, patting his sturdy shoulder. "And how did you find this Helicarrier? How did you –know we were here?" Tony was puzzled, as the Helicarrier was in stealth mode and difficult for anyone –on Earth to find. He couldn't fathom how Thor, who he considered to be less than clever, had found them so easily.
"Heimdall told me," Thor answered simply. "He said you brought my brother here, so I came directly to take him back to Asgard to see my father and face his due punishment." Thor explained that after he had left Stark Tower, he had realized he didn't know where Loki was. So, he had used Stormbreaker to summon the Bifrost and returned to Asgard to ask Heimdall for Loki's location.
There, his father, Odin, had explained the gravity of the situation and commanded him to bring Loki back.
"Thor Odinson, you may be disappointed," Nick Fury said as he –arrived. "Loki is a major criminal on our planet. We cannot simply hand him over to you. He will be punished according to our laws."
"No," Thor replied, his face darkening.
"I will take him with me today, no matter what. Loki is from Asgard, and we will be the ones to judge him. This is –not your affair. Besides, he's my brother, and I won't stand by and do nothing."
The tension in the room grew as the two men stared each other down, neither willing to back down.
"He killed over eighty people during his time on Earth," Natasha said softly, breaking the tense silence.
"Uh," Thor said, his momentum deflating. "…he is adopted."
"Alright, everyone, calm down," Captain America said, trying to diffuse the situation. "We can give Loki to Thor to take back, but not right now. We need to figure out his plan first and get the Tesseract back first."
"Before I came here, my father told me that my brother has a mysterious person secretly helping him. This person has given him an army of an alien race from the universe called the Chitauri," Thor revealed, his tone now serious.
"The Chitauri aren't very strong individually, but their numbers are vast, their technology is far more advanced than Earth's, and they are a viciously brutal race. If they were to attack Earth, the consequences would be unimaginable. The entire planet would be devastated, and its people would be slaughtered indiscriminately."
A hush fell over the room as everyone took in the information. This was far more complicated than they had thought; it was a global catastrophe.
"This is the perfect opportunity to show what the Justice League can do," Tony thought, a bold new idea forming in his mind.
"So, Loki stole the Tesseract to open a portal and summon his army?" T'Challa asked, interrupting the silence.
"But since he's been caught, how is he going to command them?"
"Maybe Loki allowed himself to be captured," Banner said, voicing his suspicions. "He might have a conspiracy, and we've been unknowingly manipulated by him."
"Alright, dwelling on this won't help," Nick Fury said. "Our –priority is to retrieve the Tesseract as soon as possible. Without it, Loki can't continue his plan."
Following their discussion, the group went back to their work. S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to get information from Loki, while Tony and Banner worked in the lab, trying to track the Tesseract's whereabouts.
"Stark, why have you called us all together?" a voice asked. Almost all the members of the Justice League were present.
"Jarvis, shield the surveillance in this room," Tony commanded.
"Understood, sir," Jarvis's voice replied. "The blocking is complete."
"Stark, what are you doing? Why so secretive?" the Captain asked, confused.
"I have an idea," Tony replied. "Fury would never agree to it, so we have to do it ourselves. My idea is: what if we play along with Loki's plan?"
"What do you mean?" the Captain asked.
"Loki's plan is to divide and conquer us, to make us a disorganized group of people who are easy to defeat," Tony explained.
"Loki himself isn't a big threat. We can –easily take him down. But as Thor said, he has an alien army backing him up. We can't find the Tesseract, so we can't stop him from opening the portal. But maybe we don't need to stop him at all."
Tony's smile grew wider. "With the strength of the Justice League, I don't think we need to fear any alien army. This is our chance to completely wipe them out. So, let's play into Loki's hands–. We'll let him think he's defeated us all. Then, when he thinks he's won, we'll all appear and give him a big surprise."
"Stark, your idea is far too risky," the Captain said. "One mistake, and the entire world will be in danger." He was reluctant to agree.
"Relax, Captain, I wouldn't do anything I wasn't sure about. And don't forget the powerful cards the Justice League holds."
"So, Stark, how do we make Loki think he's defeated us?" Banner asked. He didn't object to Tony's confidence, but he was curious about the details of the plan.
"I have an idea," Tony said, staring at Banner with a thoughtful smile.
"I must be crazy to even be considering this," Banner thought, realizing Tony's plan involved him.
At that moment, the Helicarrier welcomed a group of uninvited guests. Hawkeye, under Loki's control, attacked the ship and destroyed one of its engines. The attack caught S.H.I.E.L.D. off guard, and the aircraft carrier's systems were shut down by a virus. Then, armed gangsters boarded the ship, causing chaos and gunfire.
"Loki's plan has already begun," Tony said as he and the others heard the explosions in the lab. "Fortunately, our plan is already in place. We just need to follow it."
"Everyone, remember your mission," Tony continued, dodging a piece of shrapnel from an explosion. "Don't reveal your full strength. Let Loki think he's defeated us all, and then he'll start –his next plan."
"Stark, I hope your plan works," the Captain said, finally agreeing. "Otherwise, we'll be the ones to be blamed for the world's destruction."
"It will," Tony said. "Now let's get to it. Banner, this is your cue."
"Everyone, sorry," Banner said, preparing himself. "Please stay back."
He began to get angry.
With a roar, Banner's body turned green and grew into a huge monster. His roar echoed throughout the Helicarrier.
"Sir, Dr. Banner is going crazy and wreaking havoc!" Hill reported to Nick Fury.
"Damn it, what a mess," Fury cursed. "Stop these uninvited guests and regain control of the ship. Also, send someone to guard Loki so he doesn't escape in the chaos."
He realized that everything was going according to Loki's plan. He needed to escape while chaos ensued.
"What about Stark? Get them to help!" Fury yelled, shooting at another attacker.
Everything unfolded as it did in the original timeline. Although the number of Justice League members was far greater than in the movie, they held back their true strength on Tony's command. Banner, now the Hulk, ran amok. However, Banner's influence on the Hulk was enough to ensure he only caused destruction, not harm to people. Thor suppressed his power while fighting the Hulk, and Tony and the Captain worked to stabilize the failing engine.
Meanwhile, Loki successfully escaped his cell.
"These people are a group of disorganized fools," he thought, thrilled by the chaos. "Someone's coming," he noted as he saw several people rushing toward him. "No time to play with them. It's time to do what I came here for. When my army arrives, this planet will be mine to rule."
Loki felt his plan had worked perfectly. He had caused chaos, and Banner had become the Hulk. This was enough to distract them and make them vulnerable. Although he found it odd that the chaos had occurred so quickly, he did not doubt his own plans. Feeling triumphant, he left to open the wormhole and summon the Chitauri army to take over Earth.
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