POV Rio
"What's up? I haven't seen you in a hot minute," I reply to Tony.
"I... I need help," Tony says begrudgingly.
"Wow... And here I thought you would never ask," I say with slight surprise.
"I'm not that bad!" Tony complains.
My answer was to raise my eyebrow at him, which, to his credit, he at least looked a little ashamed.
"Okay, fine, I should have asked for help a lot sooner. Preferably, before I wasted 37 billion dollars on suits," Tony comments.
"Really?" I ask, unimpressed.
"Sigh. Come on, just help your best friend, Tony, with the little uh... mess," Tony says with a smile.
"Best Friend is a bit... Strong a word for our relationship," I joke while removing his arm from my shoulder.
Tony looked shocked and appalled before I started smiling, and he caught on.
"Damn, you almost got me there. You should be an actor," Tony jokes while wiping the nervous sweat from his forehead.
"I'm already an actor," I answer honestly.
"What?" Tony says with surprise.
"Yeah, I've been acting in a movie for a while. I left a message with Jarvis when you couldn't pick up the phone. Didn't you get my message? Heck, Selene and Lara are in the movie as well," I say with confusion.
"Oh... Yeah that! I know what you're talking about," Tony says while looking really shifty.
I raise my eyebrow again.
"We're getting off topic. Could you help me with the last Xenomorph Hive?" Tony says while avoiding our previous topic.
"Yeah, I could have helped a while back, but you didn't ask, and when I offered previously, you refused, so I let you handle things your way," I reply calmly.
"Hahaha... Yeah... Well, you know we can all make mistakes," Tony says while avoiding eye contact.
"Yes, multi-billion dollar mistakes from what it sounds like," I say while sipping some tea.
"Cough. Cough. Yeah, well, I'm asking for help now, so I've learned," Tony says while squirming a bit.
"Whatever, tell me what you've tried so far," I reply.
"Well, my current strategy was to slowly whittle down their numbers by using several remotely controlled armours, and then, recently, after making what I thought was a lot of progress, I used that strategy you suggested previously of a swarm of suicide drones. However, it was during that attack that I realised how much I still had to go. To make matters worse, the Xenomorphs counterattacked, and we lost a lot of men. While most of those were Hydra plants, I had worked to get assigned there, but it didn't change the fact that many good people died due to my failure," Tony says quietly.
"Hmm, I see. I'm sorry to hear that. Have you tried using sonic weapons?" I ask.
"Yes, they were effective for a while, but eventually they adapted, and now it doesn't do much," Tony replies.
I nod and start looking through my gear list to see what would fit the best, given the current situation. Eventually, I find something that might work.
"What I'm about to show you is a very dangerous weapon, but given your mind, I have faith you can recreate it. If you can and we can mass reproduce them, we can use them to wipe out a good amount of Xenomorphs. I'll also send in an alien I captured and have them fight the Xenomorphs to the death. Don't worry about them reproducing from them, as the alien isn't biological in origin," I explain.
"Show me," Tony says excitedly.
I pull out a Thermal Detonator and hand it to him while explaining how it works. I also handed him the notes I had made from my current research on it.
"Wow, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning," Tony says with a wide smile.
"That is just the beginning. How would you like to have access to a lab that makes yours look simple in comparison," I say with a smirk.
"You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention," Tony says excitedly.
I take him to the Watchtower and try to stop myself from laughing at Tony's reaction to the Watchtower. He basically geeks out over the technology and the laboratory I showed him. When I said it was far more advanced than Tony's lab, I wasn't exaggerating. You have to realise that the Watchtower was built from the combined efforts and technology of the entire Justice League. We're talking Kryptonian, Martian, Human, Green Lantern, and even a little Thanagarian technology brought together to make something truly impressive. There were also some magical additions from Themyscira.
"With this lab, I can recreate it. Give me three, no two weeks at most, and I can replicate it and begin mass production," Tony says excitedly.
"Sure thing. Just let me know if you need anything now. If you excuse me, I have some Xenomorphs to kill," I say while leaving Tony to his work.
I went to the brig on the Watchtower, specifically to the special prisoners I had there. The prisoner I was here to see was an alien that I had caught attempting to hunt humans as a part of some sort of intergalactic hunting sport of theirs. They love the thrill of the hunt.
But unlike something like the Yautja, also known as the Predator, this hunter has no qualms about killing the weak and helpless. Normally, I would just kill them and be done with it, but this was a unique situation, as they were a Cybertronian. A former Decepticon, to be precise. As such, I disabled them with Pulse Grenades and then placed them in containment before contacting Optimus Prime about my unwanted guest. I also studied my unwanted guest a bit to learn more about them, but it was fairly uninteresting. But now I had a use for them after Optimus let me do with them whatever I wanted.
"Congratulations, Airachnid, you're getting a chance at freedom and the chance to hunt to your heart's content," I say with a large smile to the large spider-like transformer.
"Heh, and why would I want to leave this cell?" Airachnid asks smugly.
"'Cause if you don't, I'll kill you. Optimus has already given me full clearance to do with you what I want. And I've studied what makes you tick, so you're basically worthless to me now. So you chose death or a game for your freedom," I reply coldly.
"Is there even a point in asking?" Airachnid says mockingly.
"Yep, despite your less-than-good track record, I will at least give you a chance to do something before you die, and if you truly do manage to beat the game, I swear upon my eternal soul, you shall be released," I swear solemnly, and a pulse of magic responds.
"Fine, what is this game I must beat?" Airachnid says with more confidence.
"Earth has one last Xenomorph hive on it, and it's a tricky one. I will teleport you into the hive, and you will be tasked with clearing it out. If you cannot defeat the Queen, you must at least wipe out her brood. If you accomplish that, you are free to go," I explain while sending all the data we had on the Xenomorphs, including a map of the hive's interior.
"That's nearly impossible. Sure, I've hunted Xenomorphs before, even wiped out some hives, but that was with ample preparations and the ability to retreat. Being dropped right into the hive is basically suicide," Airachnid complains.
"Yes, but you are skilled enough that I believe you can manage. Especially given your spider form being perfect for hunting in tunnels. And I won't send you in there blind. You will have access to some upgraded weapons. Plasma weapons, to be precise. They should cause immense damage, if not outright kill, the drones. The warriors will require more effort, but I'm sure you can manage," I reply.
"Fine. But be warned, if I survive, I will leave this world, but I will be back eventually. And I need your word, I will be permitted to leave, and that you won't harm me or accost me otherwise for up to a year after I am free," Airachnid demands.
"As long as you don't attack me or those I protect, then I won't come after you," I answer simply.
Airachnid nods, and I teleport her to an armoury that contains just about any weapons she could need. She doesn't try anything and grabs everything she would need before I teleport her into the hive to begin her hunt. Whether she would be the hunter or the hunted remained to be seen. One thing was certain, though: she was right when she said she had a very small chance at victory. I placed her odds at around 10% or so of survival.
Once Airachnid was sent off, I moved back to what I was doing before Tony interrupted me. I had been working to track down the creature that Dr Stern created. The trail had led me to a very strange endpoint. It led to a family of three. First was a man named Ben, the next was his husband Phil, and lastly their son Jack. The entire family was killed, with Phil being of particular note, as almost nothing was left of him after the creature was done with him.
If that was all, then I would find it really odd, but nothing more, but I was able to find out the real secret of this family. Phil was an alias. A really well-crafted fake identity that led me down a massive rabbit hole. Resulting in me learning that his name wasn't Phil, it was Phastos, the Eternal. This further led me to start looking into several other Eternals, and I found some. Or rather, the records of them. Several were already dead. Phastos was the sixth to die from my research. Or at least that seemed to be the case.
'The question is, are they hiding or did they truly die?'
I lean back in my chair and stare at the computer screen. I found the location of two of the Eternals living in the Australian Outback. Or at least some records, they were there, my compass seems to suggest they are there and alive, but the compass can sometimes be misleading, and I can't always rely on it and use it as factual truth. Though I did admit it was likely correct in this case.
I also made sure to check that my wish truly did erase the yet-to-be-born Celestial, and thankfully, I was correct. Everything I scanned for confirmed it was gone, and there was nothing to suggest otherwise. As for the possibly dead Eternals, three died to Xenomorph attacks, supposedly. Ajax, the leader, was found murdered at her ranch in Montana. Sprite was much harder to track down as she can cast illusions, but she was spotted on rare occasions around the globe, which is what I found most suspicious. I had spotted her all over the world, often in areas shortly before a Xenomorph breakout.
'Thank goodness I have Truesight.'
A really useful perk I found was that I can see through illusions both in person and in recordings. The only downside is that I can't tell if it is an illusion when looking at a recording. In person, I get the instinctual feeling that someone is under an illusion even as I see right through it. But with a recording, all I see is a person doing whatever the illusion was doing.
So, for example, if there was a recording of Loki talking with someone, but in reality that was a fake and the real body was sneaking past that person, I would see that someone talking to empty air while Loki started sneaking around. It would look really odd to me, but I wouldn't know for certain that it's an illusion causing the odd situation. Anyone else watching the video would see the fake Loki talking with the person and never see the real Loki.
Regardless, I was now really suspicious of what the Eternals had been up to. And while I still didn't have much proof, I have a feeling the much higher infestation rate across the globe could have been influenced by outside forces.
'Let's see if I can't find anyone who can prove my claim.'
To do so, I would find Sersei, who was close to Sprite if I remembered my lore correctly.