Dante's POV
"They should go to SHIELD."
Matt sounded like he was passing a gallstone. Jesus. He might need that drink more than I do. I hadn't gotten the full TL;DR of Matt's relationship and battles with the Hand, but it had to be…colorful if he was this torn up about it.
"You sure?" I asked. "I could also send them to a hell dimension, if that's more to your taste. I don't trust SHIELD with high-value targets since the whole RAFT incident," I said…not to mention the Lauren thing. I kept that part to myself.
Peter turned to me, likely intrigued by the prospect, and the girls looked like they had opinions. Still, I was deferring to Matt—mostly because it was his fight first, and partly because I was bribing him for favors to come.
"Hold us if you must, but know that your victory will cost this planet," Bakuto said smugly, rising to his feet. "You dared to harm a fragment of our true master. A Demon Lord, just like your father, who arrived in this universe through a gateway in Limbo. She's gathered millions of followers across the galaxy, all of whom have fed her for thousands of years. She will come for you for what you've done."
I blinked at him and snapped my fingers, putting him to sleep on his feet. He pitched over and hit the floor chin-first, limbs splaying like a crash-test dummy. That brought me a small measure of delight.
"…so as I was saying, are you sure?"
Peter did a double-take, and Jessica laughed. Colleen remained stoic, while Matt stared at me like some disapproving older brother.
"What?" I shrugged. "He was running his mouth, and whatever this Beast is, it's a future Dante problem. I'm heading into space soon. Might as well add that to my to-do list."
The remaining Hand leaders looked scandalized—almost angry that I would suggest such a thing. I put their asses to sleep as well.
"You're not kidding, are you?" Peter asked in a small voice.
"Nope," I hummed, walking over to the downed martial artists and tapping them with the tip of my spear. It drained them of their chi, adding it to the glut I'd stolen from the Demon Lord. It'll help my spear grow stronger, more dangerous.
It also made it easier to restrain them. I summoned a pair of demon-energy-infused metal strips and shackled them all. Then I turned to the lingering fires nearby and snuffed them out with a fist.
Looking back up at Matt, I asked one last time, "So, Fury? You sure you want that?"
He nodded.
I sniffed in clear disapproval, but I transported them to my dimension. I'll handle delivery later.
"So…dinner?"
—
After the team switched to civilian clothes, Matt recommended a bistro in Brooklyn. I teleported us there—into an alley—and tapped one of the runes sewn into my jacket.
It transformed my face and eye color. Subtle enough that someone might compliment me on looking like Dante if they stared too long.
"Wow, that's freaky," Jessica wowed and poked at my face and eyed my coat. "I mean, if you can slap this onto a necklace or a ring or something, I won't have to wear a mask when I'm fighting. You have no idea how much it limits your field of vision."
I gave her a flat look. "You don't say..."
She plowed on nonthewiser. "If you can slip something for makeup in there, too. I won't complain. You have no idea how much time it takes up in the mornings..."
Before long, we were seated at a table with food in front of us, trading barbs.
"I've been keeping up with you guys on the news. I mean, damn—you've been busy. Taking down Tombstone, handling that mutant breakout at the prep school," I said, taking a sip of ice water.
Peter rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't think you were watching."
"Of course I am! My job these days involves an unhealthy amount of politicking and wholesale murder."
Colleen asked, tipping back her beer. "What's an appropriate amount of politicking?"
"None! None whatsoever," I grumbled.
Jessica snorted and laughed.
I was still put out by the presence of Asgard on Earth. And while cooperation with them might very well be a good thing—just like Captain Marvel suggested—the presence of that slippery motherfucker Loki rankled me.
"As lovely as this meal is, I know you didn't stick around after the emergency for an after-mission hangout," Matt said, eyes boring straight into me. "You want something."
I chalked it up to some natural antagonism because of my methods, but it was also that ridiculous perception, wasn't it? With his enhanced eyesight, I was now an open book.
Leaning back into my seat, I rubbed the collar of my jacket, isolating us from the rest of the Bistro with a rune. "Fair enough, Matt. I tend to only eat dinner with my girlfriend these days. She's the only one I really have time for."
"You left us in the lurch with all of this power and no feedback," Matt argued, then pointed at Peter. "And what about him? Wasn't he like your apprentice for all of five minutes before you dumped him on us?"
Peter's eyes went wide, his face pale like he'd been slapped.
"Peter can reach me easily enough if he wants to talk," I said, narrowing my eyes, "but even he knows—realistically—that I'm slammed on the best days, and that's even after using my dimension. I don't get off hours. But that's not what really bothers you, is it? You're still stuck on the killing-people thing."
"Your disregard for human life is frankly baffling," Matt said, folding his arms. "I don't understand how you can fight for billions of people but be okay with killing so many."
"Because it's kill or be killed," I explained slowly. "We are at war, Matt. The Beast, the Cambions, the greater Demon Lords and their armies—they're coming at us with lethal force. Responding with anything less would be a mistake. And even if we went the non-lethal route, the logistics of jailing hundreds of thousands of ultra-violent demons indefinitely would bankrupt us. And don't get me started on the massive political embargoes we'd have to cross to even get the federal government to entertain—"
"I get it!" Matt snapped.
"Do you?"
I tilted my head, and I swear he mentally flipped me off.
"When I came to each of you, I made you a promise." I looked around the table, starting with Matt and Colleen. "Support and power to put an end to the Hand." Then I looped to Spider-Man and Jessica. "Both of you just wanted to help. And that's why I'm here again. I need you. The world needs you—for probably the greatest rescue mission in the history of the world. The humans in Limbo. I want to get them out."
Read up to Chapter 243 on Patreon.com/artandcreativewriting