Being on a special combat aircraft for a significant amount of time and still working was new to Natasha. In the briefing room , she sat with her feet on the table, scrolling through information on her laptop, searching for her target. She was joined in the room by several other people who were assisting her in her search for the unknown assassin, who could appear and disappear anywhere at any time.
Phil Coulson The leader of the group she had temporarily joined, along with her deputy Melinda May, were now sitting and looking through documents scattered across the table that had been faxed to them from the office.
At the other end of the room, another shield agent, who is more of a power part of the Grand Ward team, sits and steals glances at the red-haired spy.
And the last person in the room was a young woman who called herself Skye . Her gaze kept wandering from the computer she was working on to Ward , who was sitting and studying information on a tablet.
The team had two more members, Fitz and Simmons, two agents who were responsible for the scientific area of their work and who were now working in their own small laboratories.
For several days now, everyone had been spending most of their time following the trail of a mysterious killer who had left traces practically all over the world. Knowing what to look for allowed one to guess which unsolved murders he had committed. So, a large file of documents was set aside for more detailed review and study.
"So why are we doing this anyway?" Ward stood up from the couch and began looking around the room. "We don't have an official mission to capture this target. Even you weren't given such an assignment."
His last question was directed at Natasha, as was the intense look he gave her.
"Ward," Phil decided to answer his subordinate, "We're doing this because this man poses a serious threat to the security of any organization. Besides, we don't always carry out missions that are reflected in reports for greater secrecy."
"But even if we find him," Sky decided to support the man she liked, "how will we be able to catch him?"
"We'll think about it when we find him. Finding this killer is our top priority right now," Melinda replied harshly to the local hacker.
"Everyone has weaknesses. You just have to figure them out." Natasha turned her gaze on the young woman, causing her to lower her head to the monitor and continue working.
Her actions amused the former Russian spy, because at their first meeting, Skye's gaze was full of adoration, as if meeting her idol.
"Ward, we're all on the same side here," Phil began to reassure his subordinate. "Natasha is here to help, and I trust her completely."
"Do you have any more questions, Agent Ward?" Natasha had crossed paths with him a couple of times while they were working together, and he wasn't the only one trying to get close to her, for obvious reasons. Considering she has higher clearance and is close to Fury, that makes her the superior in most situations, which doesn't sit well with the local hottie.
- No... ma'am.
Skye , instead of doing her job, was watching the squabble and therefore did not immediately notice what her computer displayed.
- Oh oh Oh, I found something!
The scorching heat disappeared as soon as the three avengers crossed the gate.
- Heimdall , how good that you heard me.
Thor joyfully went to greet the gatekeeper and even hugged him out of joy.
"I was looking for you, my king, but I couldn't find you, something prevented me from doing so," Heimdal reported joyfully, but embarrassedly .
While Thor was happily chatting, the two Earthlings began checking their wounds. Tony sat down tiredly on the floor, his adrenaline fading and his body demanding that its owner take decisive action to restore his health.
- Thor – the voice of the lord of water attracted the attention of the god of thunder – Tony needs help.
- Yes, now follow... - here he thought for a moment - call for water and check that he is okay, and I will return now with the doctors.
After taking a few steps, the future king grinned broadly, extended his hand forward, and smiled as his hammer flew out of the palace. The feeling of the hammer's power in his hand calmed the blond man somewhat, and he spun the hammer around and went for help.
As soon as Thor left the platform, a sufficient amount of water rushed in. It was located under the rainbow bridge and literally enveloped Stark's entire body, leaving only room for his face to speak and breathe.
While Alex was doing the check, he noticed his patient reaching with his tongue to the liquid that was enveloping his body.
- What? I could use a drink right now, anything. – he answered the unspoken question.
Luckily, the gate guard didn't just stand there, but came up to him, took a flask from his belt, and began slowly pouring it into Tony's mouth.
"It looks like you've found yourself an interesting adventure," Heimdall's voice literally echoed off the walls of his shelter.
"Thank you, Heimdal ," the doctor gratefully began to take a few sips from his flask.
"Well, I don't know, that definitely wouldn't make my top ten." The enveloping water brought relief, which gradually brought Stark back to his senses.
"And so, while my friends were looking for a way to leave this place, I fought with hundreds of these dead people who literally surrounded me," Thor told his story, taking another sip from the cup and then abruptly smashing it on the table, and at the moment of collision, a small explosion of forked lightning occurred.
It was the first time Alex had attended such a feast. Long tables were scattered with food and alcohol. The warriors of Asgard listened attentively to the tales of their future king. It reminded Alex of the small parties of his student years, when there weren't many problems and you could simply have fun without worrying about the future.
Looking over to the edge of the table, one could see the Allfather's face flash with a small smile as Thor involuntarily used his newfound abilities.
Although a few hours earlier he hadn't been so welcoming and had all but ordered the earthlings to return home. And then Thor showed his mettle when he stood up to his father and said his friends wouldn't be sent home like useless trash, especially if any of them needed help. Odin was impressed not only by his son's words but also by the lightning that struck around Thor, even though he wasn't wielding a hammer, which changed his mind.
The first place they visited, of course, was the local hospital. Once the prince himself was checked, he went to meet and talk with his father, while Alex kept an eye on Tony as he recovered from exhaustion and his remaining wounds, and simultaneously tried to learn what the doctors in Asgard had to offer .
Returning from his memories, the Midgardian noticed that the Asgardians sitting next to him had grown a little quiet. Looking up , he saw Queen Frigga .
- I hope you don't mind if I disturb you from your fun?
- Of course not, I am at your complete disposal.
Having risen, he followed her through the corridors.
"I hope the books you were given aren't just lying around collecting dust?" Clearly knowing the answer, the queen glanced furtively at the embarrassed earthling.
- Unfortunately, the lack of time does not allow us to study even a small part of what they contain.
And Alex truly felt sorry for him. Books from an ancient civilization, rich in knowledge and even some magical practices, tormented the man's mind, but the constant work of developing the company and being a superhero took up all his time.
After walking a little further, the two of them entered the medical room, but there was not a single doctor there, only one Asgardian warrior .
The first thing he noticed was the missing left arm and leg of the humanoid lying on the operating table. A warrior who had lost all sense of existence after surviving the battle, his excess weight and unkempt appearance did not give him the appearance of a proud warrior, nor would he be able to die with dignity and go to Valhalla.
- I know that you are a good healer, but I hope you do not underestimate your abilities.
- Your Majesty, I would not abuse our good relations for the sake of fleeting gain.
"Then please," she pointed to the warrior who was now lying on the patient bed.
Approaching the warrior, he saw a piercing gaze in his direction.
"Do your job, healer , " the man's rough voice was laced with hoarseness, as if he hadn't had a drink in some time. "They told me you could get me back on track."
- Don't twitch and then everything will be fine.
Without wasting any time, Alex began performing what even the best alien healers couldn't do, but which an ordinary Earthling could do: regrow limbs. A strong medical education, work with Extremis , and a little tinkering with Asgardian lore all enabled him to perform this operation.
The water from the barrel that was placed nearby stretched out and settled near the lost leg.
- Argh - the wounded warrior did not expect such a sharp pain and began to twitch violently, fortunately for the warrior, his queen came up and put her hand on his head, which put the patient to sleep.
- I thought you could do all this painlessly?
- Of course I can, but then he wouldn't value my abilities very much, and the process would take longer.
Indeed, as soon as the queen paid attention, she saw that the severed limb was reappearing before her eyes, and a minute later the patient could have calmly moved his restored leg if he had not been put to sleep.
Having tested the regrown limb with her spells, the queen smiled contentedly at the work done and asked to continue.
Within a few minutes the warrior was awakened from the spell.
- Hahaha - happily standing on two legs and waving his arms in different directions, he tested his abilities - Thank you, healer, thank you, my queen.
After bowing, they let him go and it was clear that he went off to celebrate and tell his friends about the momentous event, leaving the queen and the two healers alone.
- Well, as you can see, everything went well, and if I conduct several tests, then such things can be done with literally one injection.
- You can be sure that Asgard will not forget this and will pay you back what is owed and even more, but before we finish today, I have a request for you to see one more patient.
"And who is it?" A slightly intent gaze was directed at the queen, as this was not part of the plan.
"I will be one," Odin's voice boomed throughout the room as he appeared. "I hope you don't mind?"
"You don't even have to ask me about that. I'll do everything I can, you can be sure of that . " Alex had to suppress a smile at the opportunities opening up. After all, with success, he could receive things he could never have obtained on his own, and that's not counting the gratitude of the ruler himself. "Please, settle in."
"I hope he's still alive."
"It's all interesting what he says, of course, but who's going to pay for it all? I don't want to give up a chunk of my salary to help who knows who."
"The one who shot must be rewarded, otherwise this monster is going against people to whom God gave all this to test them, and they must go through it in their own time."
"It's a shame this happened. My younger brother has very poor health, and it would have been great if he could have gotten into the program."
After scrolling through the comments under one of the videos where he was shot, Alex turned his gaze to his general, who was sitting and trying to glare at him.
"Well, that's normal, what did you expect from social media?" His finger scrolled through a couple more comments. "What do you expect from me?"
- You... you're a jerk. I've suffered so much because of you. Do you even know how many people I had to convince that you were healthy and okay. And instead of letting everyone know you were healthy, you went on a drinking spree and flew around the planets, leaving me to clean up this mess.
- Yes, I must admit it turned out ugly, but I couldn't help but stay a day in Asgard ; the prince himself and the queen asked me to stay and share my adventures.
- And you continued drinking there.
- Not only that, we also had business conversations.
- I wonder what kind of conversations you had there.
"You'll find out soon, don't worry." The sly smile on his face seemed like another headache for Dasha in the future.
The Avengers' return attracted attention, as the large rainbow beam in the middle of the clearing still worried many, considering who might have arrived. But upon seeing the two Avengers, many calmed down and began offering maximum assistance. Tony made one call, waited for the jet to arrive, and immediately headed home, wondering how he could justify himself to his girlfriend.
Having finished reminiscing about his return, Alex threw the phone away and stood behind the chair in which the blonde was sitting and began to lightly massage her shoulders.
- Why are you so worried? Is this all because of those fat cats? You didn't have to convince anyone! You just had to say I'm fine and forget about it. They don't care, they just want a reason to withdraw their money.
- But ahhh – he pressed on one point in her tense body.
"You need to oversee the company's operations. I told you it wasn't your job to figure out where to find the money. Besides, it's actually a good thing; now we know who needs more attention."
The blonde enjoyed the work of her boss's hands.
- There's another plus to this. Now just imagine how everyone who's left us now will be begging to come back.
- Yeees .
- They will be on their knees and beg you to let them come back.
- They will regret that they looked down on me.
" That's the mood." He stopped massaging her shoulders and returned to his seat. "We still need to decide..."
Plip plip
A signal from the tablet interrupted their conversation.
- This security guards , they reported one incident that is currently happening.
Handing the tablet over to Alex, he saw a recording of the live broadcast from the phone.
- And here is a reason to return in style.
for the Queen of Asgard to descend into the dungeons, where some of the most dangerous creatures in the entire galaxy are kept. For hundreds of years, she had no reason to appear here, but recently she began to descend here quite frequently.
Following a familiar route, Frigga approached her adopted son's cell, but unlike her other visits, this time no one was visible in the cell.
- Loki, I know you're here.
A few seconds later, the god of deception appeared with a green glow and a satisfied smile on his face.
- You should have seen how worried the security was when they couldn't find me.
Looking at his mother's serious face, the smile slid off his face a little.
- Well, I'm sorry, there's nothing much to do here.
He pointed to the space around him and the yellow screens that kept him there.
"Son, you have to tell me everything," she placed her hand on the energy screen to be closer to her son, if only for a second. "Your father can't keep you here any longer."
"He's not my father." All the cheerfulness the prisoner had was gone after his mother's words. "I'm just an adopted child."
You don't understand everything. You usurped the throne, destroyed a vital facility in Asgard , sparking numerous rebellions across the nine worlds, and then contacted unknown entities and attempted to seize power in one of the worlds under your control while we were weak.
At some points a smile appeared on Loki's face.
- You might as well say that these worms from that planet demand something from us.
" Luckily, they don't want you," Loki said, looking puzzled. "A lot has changed while you were here."
After briefly examining her son's features as if trying to memorize them, she continued.
"Only one reason would be enough for Odin to execute those guilty of your crimes. You have many more, and the only reason it hasn't happened yet is because he loves you."
Loki placed his hand on his mother's and closed his eyes. For a moment, Frigga thought he was about to tell her everything that had happened to him after his fall from the Rainbow Bridge.
- No, he turned around so as not to show his mother's face.
"Forgive me," tears appeared on the queen's face. "Then I won't be able to help you anymore."