"It might be Loki," Hela said suddenly as they walked through the golden corridors toward Odin's throne room.
Elric looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Your brother? You think he's the traitor working with Thanos?"
"While we were transporting you to the past," Hela explained, her voice carrying a note of frustration, "there was an unexpected magical explosion. The temporal displacement created massive feedback—arcane energy erupting in all directions."
"It almost completely destroyed the underground dungeons," she continued. "The containment wards shattered. With that blast, many prisoners died outright from the raw magical discharge. But many more escaped in the chaos, taking advantage of the confusion."
Her expression darkened. "Loki also escaped during that incident. Stole one of our smaller, faster spacecraft and vanished before we could lock down the hangar."
"Okay, but that doesn't necessarily mean—" Elric started.
"Although many of those escaped prisoners have motives to move against Asgard," Hela interrupted, "revenge, profit, ideology—none of them possess the detailed intelligence about Asgard's operations and movements that would be needed for this kind of coordinated plan."
She stopped walking and turned to face him directly. "And you said that the Skrulls claimed someone would ensure an Asgardian spacecraft passes through normal space near Earth, right? That they'd receive exact coordinates and timing?"
"Yeah," Elric confirmed. "The voice in the recording promised precise information about an Asgardian ship's route."
"I don't think anyone else besides that cowardly brother of mine could arrange something like that," Hela said flatly.
It also makes perfect logical sense when you think about it from Thanos's perspective, Elric Thought, resuming their walk. "Asgard currently possesses three Infinity Stones, or at least the universe believes we do."
The Space Stone, which we openly display as a symbol of power. The Time Stone, which is now on earth which is under Asgard. And the Reality Stone, which while not actually in there direct possession anymore, most of the universe still thinks is in there vaults."
"Oh yeah, what did you do with the Time Stone, by the way?" Elric asked curiously, the question suddenly occurring to him.
According to his clone's memories, the Time Stone had been borrowed from the Sorcerer Supreme—the Ancient One herself—specifically for the mission of sending Elric to the past. Because his clone had been extremely afraid that while experimenting with the Time Stone himself, he might accidentally get thrown randomly into the past or future, completely messing up their careful plan.
So even though the clone had desperately wanted to study the artifact, to understand its mechanics and magic, he'd resisted the temptation.
"We already returned it," Hela replied. "You have no idea how troublesome it was just asking to borrow that thing in the first place. The Ancient One made Father swear three separate binding oaths just to let it leave Kamar-Taj temporarily."
"That aside," Hela said, her tone shifting to business, "what should we do about Loki?"
She asked the question almost subconsciously, as if consulting Elric on Asgardian internal matters was the most natural thing in the world. As if his opinion carried weight in decisions about her family.
"Should we send out the Asgardian military to surround Thanos's fleet before they can act?" she suggested. "Show overwhelming force? And I've heard Thanos is individually powerful, but with you here alongside our forces, there shouldn't be any real problem, right?"
Elric almost rolled his eyes. This is an Asgardian matter. Why are you involving me in your family drama?
Although he complained internally, but while he was about to voice something about maintaining appropriate boundaries, suddenly a brilliant idea flashed through his mind. The pieces clicking together into a larger pattern.
A genuine, somewhat mischievous smile appeared on Elric's face.
"Hela, why don't we let them proceed with their plan?" he said slowly. "Or better yet—we might even be able to cooperate with them. Use this situation to our advantage."
"What? How?" Hela looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "You want to cooperate with people planning to attack Earth?"
Elric's smile widened. "Let me explain..."
Sokovia - Two Months Later
It had already been two full months since Natasha had started working in the manual labor camps. Or as she'd come to think of it privately, the start of her personal hell on Earth.
She was the Black Widow. She'd danced between bullets in firefights across three continents. She'd silently assassinated world leaders and high-value targets in their own heavily guarded compounds. She'd survived torture, brainwashing, and the brutal Red Room training that killed most candidates.
She could say with absolute confidence that this manual labor was the hardest job she'd ever done in her entire life. Harder than anything in her extensive and violent career.
She finally understood something she'd never appreciated before: One day of genuine hard physical labor was harder than all the assassination missions she'd ever completed combined.
After the brutal 18-hour shifts, hauling materials, digging foundations, operating heavy machinery, the most common thought cycling through her exhausted mind these days was simple:
Why am I still alive? Why didn't I die on one of my previous missions? This would all be over.
And it wasn't like she hadn't tried to escape. She'd attempted it multiple times, as had several other prisoners who'd arrived after her.
But those seemingly loose guards, the ones who appeared to just casually watch the work sites? She'd initially taken that as carelessness, as overconfidence from people who didn't understand what a trained operative could do.
She'd been catastrophically wrong.
They were directly monitored by satellite surveillance from orbit, every single movement tracked in real-time. So the moment she tried anything, the instant she made a move toward the perimeter or showed any suspicious behavior, several guards would instantly swarm her position.
And although these guards individually shouldn't have been any significant problem for her under normal circumstances, after working 18 hours a day for weeks straight? Let alone fighting effectively, even just moving quickly was extremely difficult. Her body was constantly exhausted, running on fumes and those strange nutrient pills.
While Natasha was experiencing this grinding ancient-style punishment labor, living a life that made her genuinely question her career choices...
SHIELD Headquarters - Director's Office
On the other side of the world, a very different conversation was taking place.
"Nick, it's absolutely certain," Talos said, his Skrull features showing earnest conviction. "A rebel group from Asgard will be passing through Earth's solar system. We've confirmed the intelligence through multiple channels."
Nick Fury sat behind his desk, his single eye fixed on the Skrull leader with deep suspicion.
"They're just a little more advanced than Earth in some technological aspects," Talos continued, laying out the pitch smoothly. "And actually behind Earth in many other aspects. For instance, their total population across all their holdings is only about 30 million individuals. Barely a large city by Earth standards."
"So even if intercepting and destroying their rebel ship causes some minor diplomatic friction with Asgard," Talos said with a dismissive wave, "it won't be a very big incident. Not like we're attacking their core territory or anything."
"That's just the worst-case scenario anyway," he added quickly. "They might even thank Earth for capturing dangerous criminals and rebels. This could establish Earth as a legitimate player in cosmic politics."
"Are you sure about this intelligence?" Nick asked, his tone dripping with suspicion. "Because this smells like a setup, Talos."
"We're friends, aren't we?" Talos said, placing a hand over his heart with an expression of wounded sincerity. "I would definitely not deceive you, Nick. Not about something this important."
Hearing Talos explicitly claim friendship and trustworthiness only made Nick even more suspicious. That was exactly what someone planning to deceive him would say.
Although he had numerous suspicions now—his instincts were screaming that something was wrong—nothing could actually be done about it at this point.
This bastard Skrull had gone behind his back and made a deal directly with the World Security Council. Bypassed Fury entirely and sold them on this operation.
And those greedy, short-sighted bastards on the Council had agreed without properly thinking about the potential consequences. They'd seen "advanced alien technology" and "establishing Earth's cosmic presence" and ignored all the glaring warning signs.
The decision had been made above Fury's head. His objections were noted and overruled.
"Okay, Talos," Nick said finally, standing up from his desk with evident reluctance. "Come with me. Let's discuss the tactical details of this operation."
He turned and started walking toward the briefing room, his long coat swishing behind him.
While looking at Nick's back as they walked, a trace of genuine guilt flashed through Talos's eyes. He did consider Fury something like a friend, or at least an ally. This deception tasted bitter.
But just as quickly, that guilt was replaced by firm determination. His people needed this.
You guys can check out my patreon with some extra chapter, and want to support this story.
patreon.com/LMStar666