Chapter 192 — Briefing on the Helicarrier
After Gaius and Tanya arrive on the deck of the Helicarrier, everyone stands together for a moment.
The agents nearby remain unsure how to react. One moment they were preparing for an alien invasion, and the next moment two completely unknown individuals appeared out of thin air.
Seeing that everyone has arrived, Tony Stark breaks the silence.
Tony says calmly,
"Since everyone is here, let's go see Nick Fury and find out what this is all about."
The suggestion is simple and practical.
Everyone agrees immediately.
The real purpose of gathering on the Helicarrier is to discuss Loki and the Tesseract.
There is no reason to remain standing on the deck.
Before they begin walking, Tony notices something.
Tanya is still slightly tense.
Her posture is controlled, but her attention remains focused on Gaius.
Her instincts are still reacting to his overwhelming presence.
Even though she logically knows he is not hostile, her body is still warning her.
Her grip on the rifle remains steady, but her shoulders are slightly tighter than usual.
Tony sees this clearly.
From Tony's perspective, Tanya still looks like a young girl, even though she introduced herself as a commander.
So he speaks to her in a gentler tone.
"Tanya, don't worry. Gaius won't attack you."
Tony says this casually, but with reassurance.
His voice carries a relaxed confidence, as if the situation is completely ordinary to him.
Tanya pauses for a moment.
She takes a breath and calms herself.
The tension in her shoulders slowly eases as she exhales.
Then she nods slightly toward Tony.
Her expression returns to its usual composed state.
She understands that she must control her reactions.
Allowing fear to affect her judgment would be unacceptable for a soldier.
While the group begins walking toward the interior of the Helicarrier, Natasha Romanoff approaches Gaius.
She is curious.
The last time she saw him, the situation had already been chaotic.
Now he has appeared again without warning.
She asks directly,
"Why did you come here again, Gaius? Is this about Loki?"
Gaius looks down at her calmly.
"Yes."
He answers simply.
"There will be a battle with xenos."
The word immediately catches Natasha's attention.
"Xenos?" she repeated, her eyebrows rising slightly at the term.
Then she asks,
"How do you know that?"
Gaius does not answer.
He continued walking, his heavy footsteps echoing through the steel corridors of the Helicarrier.
He has no intention of revealing the Multiversal Chat to people outside the system.
The existence of that system is not something he wants to expose carelessly.
Natasha notices the silence.
But she does not look offended.
Instead, she simply smiles slightly.
While walking with the group, Natasha contacts Nick Fury through her communication device.
She reports the situation.
"Fury, do you copy?"
"I'm here on the deck. Report."
"Banner and Steve are already here," Natasha said. "Tony Stark has just arrived."
"Go on."
"Gaius has appeared as well."
A short pause followed.
"And there's another unknown, a child. Name's Tanya."
She is not particularly discreet about the report.
There is no reason to hide it.
If anything, allowing the others to hear the report shows trust.
Nick Fury receives Natasha's message.
When he hears that Gaius has arrived, he reacts immediately.
He leaves his office and heads straight for the Helicarrier deck.
Fury moves quickly through the corridors.
When he reaches the deck, he looks around.
But the area is empty.
Confused, he grabs a nearby agent.
"Where are they?"
The agent answers quickly.
"Director Fury, they already went down."
Fury's expression darkens slightly.
Natasha had reported that they were on the deck.
But by the time he arrived, they had already left.
He realizes he basically ran in the wrong direction.
Instead of waiting there, he had rushed ahead.
Now he has to chase after them.
Fury immediately turns and walks faster toward the interior corridors.
Meanwhile, Tony and the others reach the Command Bridge of the Helicarrier.
This is the central control area of the massive aircraft carrier.
Inside are multiple workstations.
Pilots and technicians monitor flight systems.
Large windows overlook the ocean far below.
Standing among them is Maria Hill, the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Maria looked up as the group approached from across the deck.
She immediately recognized several familiar faces , Tony Stark walking at the front, Steve Rogers beside him, Bruce Banner following quietly, and Natasha Romanoff beside them.
Then her eyes shifted past them.
The towering armored figure needed no introduction.
Gaius.
Maria recognized him instantly, her expression stiffening slightly, though she maintained her professional composure.
Her gaze moved again, settling on the last member of the group, a young girl in a military uniform. Maria frowned slightly.
She had never seen the child before.
As Deputy Director, Maria Hill has access to high-level intelligence files.
She knows about Gaius.
According to the classified information she received, he is a soldier from a far future where humanity is fighting enemies such as:
Aliens
Heretics
Chaos
Because of that knowledge, Maria stepped forward to meet them as they approached.
She gave a professional nod and addressed the group.
"Everyone, welcome to the command bridge of the Helicarrier."
Tony looks around the bridge.
He notices someone missing.
"Where's Fury?" he asks.
Maria is about to answer.
But before she can speak, a voice comes from behind them.
Nick Fury enters the room.
He walks toward the group calmly.
His expression is completely normal.
He showed no sign of having just run through the Helicarrier in search of them, his posture remained steady and controlled, as if everything were proceeding exactly according to plan.
"I've been waiting for your arrival," Fury says.
He looks toward, Tony, Steve and Bruce
"I've been waiting for you three."
What Fury does not know is that Gaius already sensed him earlier.
Thanks to his Observation Haki, Gaius can sense presences across the Helicarrier.
He had already noticed Fury running through the ship trying to catch up.
But Gaius says nothing.
Fury's gaze moves across the group.
He pauses when he sees Tanya.
His eyes lingered there longer than anywhere else, the single visible eye narrowing slightly in clear surprise.
A small girl.
Military uniform.
Holding a rifle.
The image is strange.
Fury finally speaks.
"I didn't expect you to come, Gaius."
Then he looks toward Tanya.
"And you are?"
Tanya steps forward.
She gave a precise military salute, her movement sharp and disciplined, the rifle held perfectly steady against her shoulder.
"I am Tanya von Degurechaff."
"Wing Commander of the Imperial 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion."
Her voice is calm and professional.
Fury returned the salute automatically, the gesture almost instinctive from his military past.
But he is clearly surprised.
A battalion commander?
A child?
And she mentioned something else.
"Aerial mage."
Fury studied her carefully, his gaze shifting briefly to the rifle before returning to her eyes.
Then he asks probing questions.
"Where are you from?"
"Are you from Kamar-Taj?"
He asks this because Kamar-Taj is the only place he knows associated with magic.
Tanya answers directly.
"No."
"I am not from Kamar-Taj."
"I am a soldier of the Empire. The Fatherland."
The word Empire makes Fury glance briefly toward Gaius.
After all, Gaius also comes from something called the Imperium.
The names are not identical, but the idea is similar.
Fury is about to continue questioning her.
Tony interrupts.
"Stop it, Fury."
"We're here because of Loki."
Tony does not want this conversation turning into an interrogation.
There are more urgent matters.
Fury nods slightly.
"First, thank you all for coming."
He looks toward each of them.
"Doctor Banner."
"Tony Stark."
"Steve."
Then he adds,
"Gaius. Tanya."
He continues.
"I gathered you here to find Loki and retrieve the Tesseract."
Bruce Banner nods.
He has already been working with S.H.I.E.L.D. since Gaius defeated the Hulk earlier.
Steve Rogers spoke next, his voice firm as he looked toward the others.
"You should have left the Tesseract at the bottom of the ocean."
Tony answered immediately, cutting off the argument before it could start.
"First, we need to find Loki," he said. "He still has the Tesseract."
Bruce turns to Fury.
"Do you have somewhere I can work?"
Fury nods.
"Agent Romanoff will show you."
Natasha gestures for Banner to follow.
Tony decides to go along as well.
Before they leave, Fury turns to Gaius.
"I don't have a room for you."
He says it bluntly.
"We didn't exactly plan to accommodate giants."
Then he adds,
"We'll prepare something before night."
He turns to Tanya.
"You should follow Tony for now."
Neither Gaius nor Tanya objects.
Before leaving, Gaius speaks.
"Prepare housing for the arrival of my men."
Fury paused, his brow tightening slightly.
"Your men?"
Gaius nods.
"Yes."
"Ultramarines. A Sister of Silence. And a Dreadnought."
Fury was stunned, and Maria Hill stiffened slightly beside him.
Gaius continues calmly.
"The Dreadnought is too large to summon here."
"So I will only bring the Ultramarines and Sister of Silence."
"Five people in total."
Fury slowly nods.
"Then we will prepare rooms."
Inside his mind, Fury is extremely surprised.
If Gaius can summon soldiers like that…
Then theoretically he could summon an entire army.
Meanwhile, Tony and Bruce follow Natasha to the laboratory.
The room contains advanced S.H.I.E.L.D. technology.
Large monitors.
Satellite connections.
Scanning systems.
Banner examines the equipment.
"This should work."
Natasha gestures to the main workstation.
"Director Fury prepared it for you."
Banner sits down and begins connecting systems.
Satellite feeds appear on the screens.
Tony leaned casually against a nearby console.
"So we're going to find Loki through the Tesseract?"
Banner answered without looking up, his fingers moving across the controls.
"Yes. The Tesseract produces a unique energy signature."
He paused briefly.
"Gamma radiation."
Tony smirked slightly.
"Your specialty."
Banner gave a small nod.
"If Loki activates it anywhere on Earth, we'll see it."
He links every gamma detection system on the planet.
Satellite maps appear across the monitors.
Energy readings begin updating.
The system starts scanning the entire planet.
Banner leans back.
"Alright."
"Now we wait."
~~~
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