Chapter 224 — Vessel of Authority
Fires burned in broken patches of ground. Pieces of metal from the destroyed ship still fell from the sky now and then, hitting the earth with distant thuds. Smoke drifted low across the field, and the air still carried the heat of everything that had just happened.
But the fighting was over.
No Chitauri moved. No weapons fired. No one shouted orders.
Everyone was looking at the same place.
At the center of the field, the Emperor stood.
He had not moved since the last strike. The massive ship had fallen, the entity had been reduced to ash, and still he remained where he was, calm and still, as if none of it had required effort.
The light around him had settled. It no longer spread outward in waves. It stayed close to him now, controlled, steady, like something held in place rather than released.
The pressure he carried had not faded.
If anything, it felt clearer.
Not overwhelming. Not crushing.
Just… absolute.
Gaius stood a short distance behind him.
He watched quietly for a moment, then stepped forward.
There was no hesitation in his movement. He already knew what came next.
Tony saw him move and followed. Doctor Strange did the same, though his steps were slower, more careful. He still kept a close watch on Gaius, on the Emperor, on everything that felt wrong and yet impossible to deny.
They stopped a few steps behind.
Gaius spoke first.
"The Infinity Stones?"
The Emperor turned his head slightly.
A small movement, but enough.
He gave a short nod.
Then the ground responded.
Not collapsing, but moving, directed. It didn't explode or break apart. It softened instead.
The ruined section where the Avengers compound once stood shifted as if it had lost all weight. Broken concrete, twisted metal, and layers of debris pressed inward, then slid aside as though guided by an unseen force.
Tony took a step forward without thinking.
"Wait—"
The ground caved in further, forming a deep hollow.
Then something rose from it.
Two figures.
One was limp.
The other moved.
They were lifted slowly, carefully, out of the collapsed ground and brought into the open air before being lowered back down.
Tony's eyes widened.
"Clint!"
He rushed forward immediately.
Clint Barton lay on the ground, barely moving. His body was covered in dust and blood. His breathing was shallow. His face was pale.
And his right arm,
Tony froze for half a second.
It was gone.
Gone completely from below the shoulder. The wound was rough, not clean, and dried blood covered the side of his body.
But his left hand,
It was still holding something.
The Nano Gauntlet.
Even unconscious, his fingers were locked around it, gripping it tightly like he refused to let it go.
Beside him, Scott Lang stumbled slightly as he adjusted back to full size. Just moments ago, he had been small, staying close to Clint, trying to keep him safe. Now he looked around, confused and disoriented.
"What just—"
He stopped when he saw the figure in front of them.
The Emperor.
Scott blinked.
"…okay, that's new."
Tony dropped to one knee beside Clint, scanning him quickly.
"What happened to him?" he asked sharply, looking at Scott.
Scott shook his head, still trying to catch up.
"We were running, he had the gauntlet, then something hit, I don't even know what, he just—he went flying and—"
He stopped, looking at Clint's missing arm.
"…yeah."
Tony didn't respond.
Before he could say anything else, Clint's body lifted slightly off the ground.
Not by Tony.
By the Emperor.
Clint's hand tightened instinctively around the gauntlet.
Even now, even unconscious, he resisted.
The Emperor didn't force it immediately. He simply reached out.
Clint's fingers slowly began to open.
There was tension in them. Resistance.
But it wasn't enough.
The Nano Gauntlet slipped free.
Scott looked at it, then at Tony.
"Uh… are we just letting him take that?"
Tony didn't answer right away.
Behind him, Doctor Strange remained silent. If they tried to fight, he already knew the outcome, they wouldn't win. Not even close.
Tony's eyes stayed on the gauntlet, on the Stones… then shifted to the Emperor.
He hesitated, just for a moment.
Then he shook his head slightly.
"…no," he said quietly. "Let him take it."
Scott frowned, but didn't argue.
The Emperor held the gauntlet in one hand.
For a moment, he said nothing. Then his gaze shifted to Clint, lingering there in silence before he spoke.
"Humans are flawed. Short-lived."
His voice was calm, steady.
"And yet capable of this."
His eyes moved to Clint's hand, still slightly curled, as if remembering the grip it had held.
"To bleed. To break. And still protect."
A brief pause followed.
"You have done more than was required of you."
The words weren't soft or comforting, but they were real.
The Emperor raised his hand. Clint's body lifted slightly as a faint golden light formed around him.
Tony's eyes narrowed as he watched.
The light didn't flare or burst. It simply worked.
The bleeding stopped. The torn flesh at Clint's shoulder shifted, slowly and steadily reforming, bone first, then muscle, then skin.
A new arm. Whole. Complete.
Clint's breathing steadied. Color returned to his face as the light faded.
Scott stared, then muttered under his breath, "Okay… yeah. That's something."
Tony said nothing.
Behind him, Doctor Strange watched in silence. The act itself didn't surprise him, he knew what a being like this was capable of.
What unsettled him was that he chose to do it.
Clint groaned.
His head shifted slightly.
"…what…"
His eyes opened slowly.
The first thing he saw was light.
Then a figure.
Tall. Still. Eyes glowing.
Clint stiffened.
He tried to pull back.
Only to realize he wasn't touching the ground.
"…what the~"
He looked down.
Floating.
The gauntlet was nearby.
Instinct kicked in.
He reached for it.
His hand stretched forward,
And stopped.
Frozen mid-air.
He blinked.
"…okay, not good."
The Emperor lowered him gently back to the ground.
The hold on his body released.
Clint stumbled slightly as his feet touched down, then quickly moved toward Tony and Scott.
"Who is that?" he asked under his breath. "And why does he have the stones?"
Tony didn't answer right away.
Instead, he reached out and grabbed Clint's right arm.
Clint tensed.
"What—"
He stopped.
Looked down.
His arm.
He flexed his fingers.
Opened and closed his hand.
"…no way."
He turned it, staring at it like it might disappear.
"My arm…"
Scott nodded.
"He healed you."
Clint looked back at the Emperor.
Then at Tony.
"…and we're just… okay with this?"
Tony exhaled slowly.
"…right now?"
He shook his head slightly.
"…yeah."
Before Clint could say anything else, the Emperor spoke again.
"Come, Gaius."
Gaius stepped forward without hesitation.
He stopped in front of the Emperor.
The Nano Gauntlet floated slightly, suspended in the air between them.
The Emperor looked at it.
The Emperor looked at it, the Infinity Stones within it. In truth, he could not fully use them in this state. He was only a fragment of himself here, a psychic manifestation anchored to Gaius. Even his armor and weapons were not truly physical, but constructs shaped by psyhic.
He could force their use through sheer psychic exertion, but it would be inefficient and unstable. Fortunately, that was unnecessary, he and the Ancient One had already accounted for this.
He spoke to Gaius.
"I cannot use them fully."
The Emperor continued.
"This form is incomplete. What you see is not entirely physical."
His gaze shifted briefly to Gaius.
"I require a vessel."
Gaius understood immediately.
The Emperor looked at him directly.
"Allow me to use your body."
There was no force in the words. No pressure. Only a statement.
Because if Gaius did not allow it, it would not happen. Not even the Emperor could override him. Even the slightest resistance would be enough to stop it.
Gaius didn't hesitate.
"In your command."
No hesitation. No doubt.
The Emperor did not respond.
He simply moved.
His form broke apart into light, not violently, but smoothly, like something dissolving back into its base state.
The light drifted forward, then into Gaius.
The moment it touched him, the change began.
Gaius straightened slightly. His armor remained unchanged, but his presence shifted.
His hair lifted subtly, though there was no wind. His eyes changed, light filling them, not from without, but from within.
Tony felt it immediately. He suited up at once, and Clint and Scott Lang quickly prepared themselves as well.
Doctor Strange stepped back, hands already forming defensive patterns.
Whatever stood before them now was no longer just Gaius.
Gaius or the Emperor raised his right arm. The power fist was already there, six empty slots waiting.
The Infinity Stones lifted from the Nano Gauntlet one by one, moving through the air with perfect control. No hesitation. No wasted motion.
Each stone aligned, then locked into place.
Space. Mind. Reality. Power. Time. Soul.
One by one, they clicked into the fist.
The moment the last one settled, everything changed.
The air tightened, not violently, but completely, as if reality itself had become fixed in place.
He lifted slightly off the ground, only a few inches, but enough.
Energy gathered around him. Not wild. Not unstable. Perfectly controlled.
~~~
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