Game in Marvel
198

As the team gathered to debrief with Fury, the deck lights flickered suddenly.

Everyone tensed.

Then, a distant rumble grew louder. Something—or someone—was approaching from the sky. Before anyone could react, a booming crack of thunder shook the Helicarrier, and a brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the entire upper deck.

And there he was.

Thor.

He was led inside immediately and Thor didn't even glance at anyone as he moved past. His sharp blue eyes locked onto the glass prison where Loki sat smirking. Thor stormed toward it, practically crackling with restrained fury.

"Loki!" Thor's voice thundered. "You dare threaten Midgard once again?!"

Inside the cell, Loki smiled lazily, resting his chin on his hand as he lounged against the transparent wall.

"Brother," Loki drawled mockingly. "You look ravishing as always. Miss me?"

Thor's nostrils flared, but he restrained himself. Just barely.

Before things could escalate, Liam stepped forward. 

"Liam, I want to take him back to Asgard." Thor declared. 

"You are welcome to do so after SHIELD has the Tesseract back." Liam replied back and spoke of how Loki had kidnapped few scientists from around the globe and they were still missing, along with the Tesseract.

"What did All father say?" Liam noticed that Thor was being silent as he looked at Loki. 

"He intends to open a portal," Thor said. "Using the Tesseract as a bridge for an army."

"An army?" Fury had also joined by now in that small room. 

"The Chitauri," Thor confirmed. "A force vast enough to overwhelm your defenses. He plans to conquer your world in the name of another… we don't know who yet." Even Loki's smirk faltered slightly at that. Liam noticed it and just smirked. He knew who Loki was also afraid of. 

Thor's revelation hung heavy in the air as they reached the bridge of the hellicarrier.

An army. A portal. A conqueror.

Fury's jaw tightened. He exchanged a glance with Tony, who was already fidgeting.

"We need the Tesseract," Fury said firmly. "And fast."

"Good thing you've got me, Nick. And an extra brain to borrow." Tony spoke up. 

 "You volunteering, Stark?" Fury asked. 

"Nope. I'm recruiting." Tony jerked his thumb. "Banner. Dr. Bruce Banner. He's got experience with Tesseract. So I might need your brain for a few minutes. " Banner didn't mind the words of Tony and left with him. He was happy to help in science but not in muscle. 

Fury watched them leave, then turned back to the rest of the group still assembled on the bridge. He pulled a small remote from his jacket and clicked it. The large screens around the Helicarrier's bridge flickered to life.

"I want you all to see this," Fury said.

The video feed that played wasn't from SHIELD satellites or drones. Instead, it was compiled from street-level CCTV cameras, shaky phone recordings, and security cams from nearby buildings. Multiple angles stitched together a chaotic scene.

It showed Loki.

Loki fleeing through the busy streets of New York City after he emerged on the Tesseract facility.

In each shot, he radiated menace—waving the scepter around, trying to bend people's wills. Fury explained in the background, "When he fled, he tried to use the scepter's influence on civilians, trying to create more chaos, more servants. Fortunately, it didn't go as he planned."

Then came the surprising part.

From one of the alleyways, a dark figure swung into view — fluid, agile, and fast.

The figure wore a black-and-red suit, almost organic in its design, nothing like anything SHIELD had on file. He clung to walls, flipped through traffic, and shot web lines from his hands to swing around the buildings.

In one impressive move, the figure launched himself off a lamppost and tried to web Loki's hands together mid-run. Loki noticed it last second and sent a furious blast from the scepter, sending the figure crashing into a parked car across the street.

There was a collective sharp breath in the room as they watched it happen.

But what was even more shocking was how the kid — because, up close, it was easy to tell he was young, maybe no more than sixteen or seventeen — staggered back up. Hurt, yes. But determined. And he immediately went to help usher civilians out of danger instead of going after Loki again.

Fury clicked the remote, pausing the video.

"Who the hell was that?" Steve asked, stepping closer to the screen.

"Don't know yet," Fury admitted. "We're trying to trace him. He's not registered with SHIELD. No known metas or enhanced individuals match the profile. But whoever he is... he's got guts."

"He moves like a cat... but with a strange kind of magic in his steps." Yennefer said. 

"Mutations maybe? Or... technology?" Geralt had seen this world quite closely now so knew that there were mutations here too. 

"That's what we're going to find out. Because if kids like this are stepping up to fight fake gods, we're going to need every bit of help we can get." Fury said. "Liam what do you think?" 

Everyone turned to Liam, but they suddenly realized that Liam was exceptionally silent as he continued looking at the looped videos. 

"Liam?" Ciri called her beloved out, who seem to be distracted seeing the video. Liam, who had spaced out, came back to reality after being called out by Ciri. 

"Yeah.. yeah.. Sorry.." Liam said. He really was spaced out at that time and not just acting. He didn't expect to see this guy. He had been searching for the other world beings and subconsciously thought that only enemies had crawled into their universe and thus search for bad anomalies. 

He even spoke to EDITH and told her to keep track of events that were bad and didn't make sense. He should have specified her to search for beings which didn't make sense because the young boy in here was a proof that he had really lost the plot.

Sigh! He was way too young for this.