"We will not stand by and allow an alien to infringe upon our freedom and property, Nick Fury. You've always maintained that you and your team exist specifically to handle extraterrestrial crises; now is the time to prove it."
"Your priority right now is simple: get the Tesseract and the Scepter back."
"Get them back? How?" Nick countered. "You want me to demand property from a galactic powerhouse that owns a fleet of Star-Destroyers?"
"If they truly possessed that kind of power, they wouldn't be bothering to communicate with us like this. It's a common trope—the weaker one is, the more they try to flaunt their strength through casual displays of dominance. It's nothing but a bluff."
The bickering of the World Security Council still echoed in his ears, leaving Nick with a pounding migraine.
Regardless of their posturing, he knew one thing for certain: there was no way in hell he was going to knock on Madam Herta's door to ask for those artifacts back.
But playing dead forever wasn't an option either. That would only goad the Council into bypassing him to pull some extreme, desperate stunt—a scenario he had to prevent at all costs.
In the past, Nick's stance on aliens had been a rigid 'us versus them' philosophy—shoot first and let God sort out the biology.
But things were different now. He didn't want to make an enemy of Herta; in fact, he wanted her as an ally.
This encounter had been a wake-up call. Earth was nowhere near ready to hold its own on the galactic stage.
Setting aside the fact that the Chitauri hadn't even sent their main fleet—only a vanguard through a portal—there was still the matter of Asgard.
As Earth's nominal 'sovereign,' Nick didn't exactly feel confident standing tall in front of them, either.
Thor was easy enough to get along with, but the fact that Asgard hadn't sent a single soldier to help deal with Loki until the dust had settled spoke volumes about the attitude of those in power there.
From start to finish, they hadn't given Earth a second thought.
And it wasn't just Asgard. The few aliens from The Blue who had arrived here treated Earth with that same casual indifference.
Sure, he had Captain Carol Danvers as his trump card, but could one woman really shoulder the weight of an interstellar war? Earth lacked the capital for such a conflict.
If war broke out, the battlefield would be Earth itself. Even if they could withstand the enemy's firepower, what would become of the planet's ecology in the long run?
To put it bluntly: they couldn't afford to provoke a single extraterrestrial civilization right now.
However... based on today's conversation, the visitors from The Blue gave him the impression that they were open to dialogue, perhaps even cooperation.
Judging by the attitude of the one called Themis, there were likely plenty of civilizations tripping over themselves for the chance to become a subsidiary planet under Herta's wing.
Thinking of this, Nick recalled his conversation from the previous night with Talos, the leader of the Skrulls living on Earth.
Talos hadn't been able to provide much intel on Herta. His people had been hunted by the Kree since long before she was even born.
But that didn't mean they hadn't heard the name. It cropped up in the memories of many refugees and the Kree they had encountered.
The word among the stars was that if you could make it to the territory of The Blue, you'd at least be guaranteed a life of peace and plenty.
In other words, Herta and The Blue had a remarkably positive reputation in the cosmos, which lined up with how Asta had conducted herself during their talk.
Of course, Earth wouldn't become a subsidiary. They would be partners.
Ideas flashed through Nick Fury's mind as he solidified his strategy.
He had two main goals: keep up contact with The Blue to prevent the Council from doing something stupid out of impatience, and try to win them over as allies.
Even if a formal alliance failed, he had to maintain a friendly rapport.
The first goal was manageable. The second? That was the real headache.
Setting aside the fact that 'rapport' implied a level of interaction Earth wasn't yet capable of, what could Earth possibly offer to get a seat at the table?
Regardless, he decided that more contact was the way to go. Since the matter of Earth's compensation hadn't been settled yet, he still had time to bridge the gap.
--+--
Meanwhile, back on the starship.
Themis and Janus returned to the bridge, unable to stop themselves from gossiping about the day's events.
Who doesn't love a bit of drama? Especially when it involved a galactic heavyweight like Asgard. The situation was pure comedy.
A disgruntled second prince brings outsiders along to try and rule his family's vassal state, only to find out the locals don't even recognize him, leading to a massive brawl.
Then, the crown prince shows up without a single soldier to stop his brother, only to get backstabbed by his own vassals halfway through the fight.
What was Asgard thinking? Did they care this little about Midgard?
Sure, they had always seemed indifferent—Midgard didn't even know the rest of the universe existed—but it was still Asgardian turf, wasn't it?
Was this really okay?
And besides... Asgard had said they would provide an explanation, yet they hadn't shown any real initiative.
It wasn't that they couldn't empathize with a prince dealing with a messy rebellion, but there was a hierarchy to these things.
They were Madam Herta's people. No matter how busy you are, are you really going to disrespect Madam Herta like that?
As die-hard fans of Herta, the two of them were genuinely annoyed, feeling their idol wasn't receiving the deference she deserved.
Their foul mood didn't last long, however. Asta and Arlan arrived at the bridge after reporting the status of the negotiations to the lab.
"Madam Herta just informed us," Asta began, "that the Tesseract is an Asgardian collectible. While they are gifting the Tesseract to Madam Herta free of charge, they have also promised to provide her with Dwarven smithing technology in the near future."
Herta's thirst for knowledge was legendary across the stars.
Most of her trades involved the exchange of a civilization's unique data or technology, even if that knowledge was redundant or trivial to her.
But this was different. Dwarven smithing was famous throughout the universe; the weapons they forged possessed the power to reshape worlds.
If it weren't for Odin's protection, the Dwarves would have been partitioned and enslaved by various powers long ago—in fact, that's exactly what their history looked like.
With fewer than a thousand Dwarves remaining, their craftsmanship had become the stuff of myths.
Odin's sincerity was certainly striking.
However...
If that was the case, then the Tesseract didn't count as compensation from Earth—or rather, Midgard.
Janus and Themis didn't see a problem with Odin handing over the Tesseract.
Midgard belonged to Asgard, so anything on it was technically Asgard's property.
Even if Midgard currently called itself 'Earth' and tried to cut ties, you don't just sever a thousand-year-old connection that easily.
But that left them in a bit of a spot.
They hadn't intended to give Midgard a hard time, choosing instead to lean on Asgard. Partly because Midgard was a vassal, but mostly because Midgard didn't have anything they actually wanted.
Now that the Tesseract was off the table, what did the people of Earth have left to offer?
Themis and Janus exchanged a meaningful look. If the locals couldn't produce anything of value, they'd have to start handing over people.
Even if they knew Madam Herta didn't care about such trifles, they had to uphold her dignity. Her honor was not to be provoked or slighted.
You can't just take a shot at them and expect to pay nothing for the privilege.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.