NOVEL NEXT Chapter 14
A/N: Two more chapters before we leave Earth for the next arc!
Chapter 14
(Yelena Belova)
May 12th, 2010
Hyperdimension
Brig
Waking up in a cell and being doused in gas wasn’t what Yelena would have thought was in the cards for her night. Though she felt better than before, her mind was a lot less clouded, and she could finally think rationally again. The artificial intelligence had told her how all her sisters were controlled and even offered to let her participate in the operation to free them. Yelena was given thirty minutes to decide as the preparations for the assault on the Red Room Academy were already underway.
Yelena was still in her cell and given clothes with a strange shimmering grey fabric; due to her training she was full of doubts about what was happening to her. She couldn't imagine that someone had taken pity on her and decided to free her; after all, life had taught her that there's no free lunch.
Step, step, step. Yelena heard heavy footsteps coming from outside her cell… the blue field of energy stopping her from exiting the cell didn't inhibit sounds nor Yelena's vision. She could see a cell similar to hers with a corridor separating them. A tall woman in black and red armor presented herself before the shield force-screen, she had shoulder length crimson hair, green eyes and… she looked strangely familiar.
"Добрый вечер, сестра. (Good evening, sister.)" Yelena recognized this voice, but barely recognized the woman because she was absolutely different from the one she remembered in her memories.
"Наталья! (Natal'ya!)" Yelena finally reacted.
The tall woman smiled at her fondly, but lost it when Yelena frowned and said with animosity, "Я не должен удивляться тому, что ты здесь. (I shouldn't be surprised that you're here.)"
Natalia looked somewhat hurt by Yelena's tone, making the blonde feel vindictive and sadistic satisfaction deep inside. But it wasn't the time for personal gratification… "So you're working with aliens now?"
There was an accusation in the tone Yelena employed that Natalia waved away easily as she crossed her arms and looked down at the woman she considered her sister. "The Princess made me an offer I couldn't refuse, then fixed what the Red Room did to me. And as a bonus, now I am going to free our people of everything they did to us. Just like I intended two years ago."
There was a lot of conviction in Natalia’s eyes, she didn't even doubt what she was saying, at least that was what Yelena felt as she looked at her big sister. "Are you? So we just change one master for another?" The assassin was still not convinced…
When someone or an organization discovered the capabilities of the agents having gone through the Widow Program, they always succumbed to their greed and wanted to subjugate them to place them under their control… but the faith Natalia was showing made Yelena envious in turn.
*Can I gamble in this situation?* She asked herself, would she let herself be used again? Yes, she would; if it means that her people could be free. There was no reason to refuse Natalia’s offer… after all, people act according to their perceptions and impulses, meaning if a person comes back to you consciously, it’s because it benefits him or her in some way, but this doesn’t mean you don’t get satisfaction when he/she comes to see you too, and you feel happy because he/she feels happy (maybe) and vice versa. Even though we can’t really perform what we call altruism, as in, being the other person, we can act with the other person’s well-being in mind over our own. If not then how could a mother make the conscious decision of dying for her child?
The fact that people only act according to their internal impulses doesn’t go against empathy or how society works, it’s one of the most beautiful things about life. We are more of a very complicated system than a set of individuals, in simple words, we use each other for our species to subsist.
Natalia shook her head and put her hand against the force-screen, making it become a darker color of blue. "Captain Komand’r doesn't need us."
Yelena frowned, she was sure that this was the princess' name. "Captain? I thought she was a princess."
Sighing, Natalia closed her eyes in frustration as she said, "She has many titles…"
Yelena noticed how Natalia felt… "You sound really weary, is that woman bothering you?"
The spy knew she couldn't hide it but Komand’r's seducing attempts were slowly wearing her out. It didn't make it any better that she had almost succumbed to one of her 'power-massages' two days ago and gave in. Natalia often made the stubborn princess switch targets from her to Darcy or Amora, but Komand’r was slowly getting wise of her methods.
It was strange to have her methods turned against her, Natalia thought; Yelena smiled at her sister’s discomfort as the female spy began to say, "Komand'r wants into my…"
Natalia mumbled the rest of her sentence making it impossible for Yelena to hear the rest. "Could you repeat that?"
Natalia punched the force-screen in frustration. "I said she wants into my panties, damnit…"
Yelena burst in laughter and landed on the cot attached to the cell’s wall on her right; Natalia glared at the assassin until the blonde said, "Oh it’s just the usual, it reminds of that operation in Khimki, how that mob guy kept harassing you, you remember?"
Natalia’s verdant eyes bored into Yelena’s blue ones. "No it was you he was after, you're still trying to see if it's really me."
This was a typical tactic to see if the person who spoke to her was really who they were; in this world disguise experts existed after all, they could mimic the body language and the way their target spoke. Yelena shrugged and gave an innocent smile to Natalia. "Well you can't blame me, you… changed."
Yelena looked up and down at the redhead with a smirk. The redhead’s face became red with anger as she said, "That’s because of the damn Widow serum reacting strangely with the regeneration process!"
The blonde assassin raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You don't like the change? I find it hard to believe because of those… assets." Her eyes firmly settled on Natalia’s beautiful and humongous breasts.
Natalia put a hand on one of her breasts supported by the flexible part of her chestpiece on her light armor. "You have no idea how bothersome it is to be a H cup! I need custom everything! I'm just lucky the ship downloaded all the current fashion on Earth and is able to replicate clothes in my size."
The two looked at each other in silence, until Yelena broke it and said with an amused tone, "So you sold your soul for clothes huh."
"A bit." Natalia looked downward at her feet.
Yelena did the same and looked at the tasteful boots her prodigal sister wore. "And I notice that you got big feet now, I suppose that getting custom work for those was part of your deal too?"
Natalia gave a look to Yelena. "What, it's hard to find a nice pair of wedge open toes that aren't tacky with my new size…" She said without shame.
The two women laughed in sync, their eyes never leaving each other. But it was finally time to talk business, so Yelena broke the happy atmosphere with, "Why have you come here?"
With a lot of enthusiasm, the redhead began to say, "We're going to liberate everyone today, I want you to come with me, we need to kill Dreykov and-"
Yelena spoke over Natalia’s voice, interrupting her. "I'm not coming with you before at least punching you in the face."
Yelena wanted to ascertain that she was truly Natalia; she knew how her sister moved, or hit. She just couldn't believe that this tall woman with Natalia’s face was the redhead that had protected her in her childhood.
"I understand." Natalia said as she started to disassemble her armor on the spot, first the pauldrons, the arms guards and finally the chestpiece. Clank, clank, clank. Pshhhh.
The armor pieces fell on the ground harmlessly and Yelena moved to the other side of her cell. "Come." She said as she waited for her as she stood tall and ready.
Natalia pushed a button on the cell’s entrance and the force-screen disengaged. She entered the cell and said, "Alright, it's been a long time since-"
Yelena was on her right away and tried to punch Natalia in the face. The redhead moved her head at the last moment, dodging the punch.
"Speak less, fight more." Yelena said.
Natalia caught Yelena's wrist and with a smooth movement and lightning quick exertion projected her on the ground face first and folded the blonde's arm behind her painfully.
"Submit." Natalia whispered in the blonde's ear.
Yelena couldn't believe that she was done-in just like that. The blonde popped her shoulder out of its socket and got out of the hold Natalia had on her and kicked her flanks, then rolled on the ground.
"I forgot you knew that trick." Natalia laughed.
The blonde assassin popped back her shoulder in place and ran toward the redhead, only to be caught by the neck and finding herself slammed into a wall not too gently. It was at this moment Yelena understood that her big sister was no longer in her league, she was stronger faster and… -she punched her in the face again, Natalia didn't even flinch.- tougher as well.
Natalia let go, only for Yelena to massage her throat and give her a hateful glare. "That’s not fair!"
The redhead shrugged with a bitter expression on her face. "Tell me about it, the only ones I can cut loose with are the Tamaraneans now."
What she didn’t say was that she got her ass kicked by Koldonn and his people, they were qualitatively stronger and faster than her. Those men and women fought like they were machines… Yelena’s face settled in a resolute expression as she said, "I demand that I get the same operation done then."
Natalia was reminded of that time when Yelena hadn’t been given the same toys as her and had cried and begged a lot. The redhead rolled her eyes and answered her with, "Maybe if you ask the Princess nicely, she will. Now, have you had your fill of getting your ass kicked?"
Yelena glared at her. "This isn't over, I want a rematch after we close the gap between us."
Natalia smiled and exited the cell. "Sure, now come with me. It is time to put those remnants from the cold war to rest."
~/.\~
Teleportarium
Princess Komand’r was waiting for the two of them in the Teleportarium. Yelena observed the alien woman, she wore a black and purple leotard with a silver jeweled cowl with purple gems, arm guards and thigh high boots; the beautiful sword strapped at her waist conferred her a martial aura. The princess was tall, gorgeous and curvy with dark red hair that made them look black in color; but it was the way she held herself at the moment that made Yelena not want to mess with her, she stood tall and had a no nonsense expression on her face, her eyes blazing with purple light as well.
When she turned toward them, she grabbed two cases at her feet and floated toward them. She landed before them, her eyes not leaving Natalia for a second before she finally said, "You're late, Friend-Natalia."
The redhead chuckled. "Sorry, I had to resolve some things with my sister."
*And putting back her light armor had been a bitch, and forcing Yelena to put on that light gray bodysuit was a nightmare.* Is something she couldn't say out loud.
"Hello princess." Yelena said casually after a slight bow, hiding her nervousness.
Komand'r chuckled. "We don't do this here, Miss Yelena. Here, put this on." She handed her a transparent case containing a similar light armor as Natalia and another with a really big pistol.
Looking from the pistol to the princess' face, Yelena said, "This pistol looks… heavy."
The black and silver pistol looked bulky and its barrel was long, there were some electronic parts with a laser and some kind of hologram sight that Yelena could discern but nothing more. She needed a ‘how to’ really badly… This was the first time she’s been handed a fancy space gun, she hoped it was as efficient as the Earth ones.
Komand’r replied, "It’s not going to be after you do the putting on the exo-armor."
Yelena looked at the armor parts in the transparent case; then looked at Natalia with an uncertain expression. "Just do as she says, Yelena. Or she might make you." Advised the redhead who recognized the impatient expression on Komand’r’s face.
As Yelena took the case from the princess’ hand, she was stared at by the Tamaranean as she mumbled out loud, "Hmm, she's a beauty, but… not my type."
“That’s interesting.” Natalia commented with her eyes wide.
Yelena looked between Komand’r and Natalia. "What?"
"Amora is the only blonde for me." Komand'r turned heel and walked toward the workstation controlling the teleporters.
Yelena felt as if she just lost something, even though she didn't compete for it. The blonde assassin watched as the princess calibrated the teleporters and couldn't help but say, "She doesn't make a lick of sense."
Natalia put a hand on her sister’s shoulder in comfort, "It’s okay sister, you'll get used to it; Komand’r often confuses me and has an alien logic compared to ours... And you're lucky you won't be harassed like I am."
Yelena didn't hear what Natalia mumbled at the end but she decided to not sweat the small stuff and said, "Fine… and I am sure that that Amora woman must not be so hot-"
Vorp. Yelena quickly turned toward the strange sound behind her only to be confronted with a really tall, ethereally beautiful green eyed blonde in a similar getup as Komand’r but in green and black color appeared.
"Someone called?" She looked around, ignoring the redhead and Yelena; her eyes settled on the orange skinned beauty at the workstation.
"Какого черта!? (What the hell!?)" The woman had surprised Yelena and she didn't even look sorry or acknowledge Natalia’s presence.
Komand'r quickly answered with a big grin, "No Amora-mate, we were just doing the complimenting about your beauty."
The blonde puffed her chest with her cheek reddening and a smug expression on her face as she said out loud, "Oh then carry on! It’s normal for the servants to gossip about, I shall go back to my research, see you later my Lady."
Amora winked in the direction of Komand’r and threw a literal flying kiss made of golden and green light that landed on the princess' lips; making Komand’r giggle. The Enchantress took on a calendar pinup pose and teleported away with a 'Vorp' sound. She left like she came, like a hurricane, and left Yelena with many more questions.
Such as, "Who was that?!"
Natalia sighed and facepalmed, a resonating smack rang in the Teleportarium. Komand’r had an impish smile on her face. "Amora, my wife."
Remembering what the tall woman looked like, Yelena felt somehow outshined; she understood why Komand’r had said what she told her some minute ago. But it wasn't like she wanted to seduce her or something, unless it was a mission… though it hurt a bit that Natalia was favored over her. "Well sure she was a knockout…"
The redhead crouched and opened the transparent case and took out the armor pieces one by one. She then held the chestpiece to Yelena and said, "Come on, we don't have any time to waste, put this on."
Natalia helped Yelena put on the armor and explained to her how to use the utility belt and pistol, which was just a high speed tranquilizer gun that could shoot its payload at speed going from a hypospray to a low powered rail gun. Yelena was also given an arm wrist mounted weapon that projected a powerful particle beam as a lethal option.
While Yelena was being fitted, Komand’r deployed dozens of black ops drones and sent them to the Red Room Academy in their stealth mode. "Sending drones."
The drones looked like big spiders with four limbs equipped with antigravity and the others possessing other tools while a turret was mounted on their abdomen, they could fire plasma based particle beams or used an electric based ray gun to take down non-lethally their targets.
The goal of this operation was to take the mobile aerial platform with minimal damage, they couldn't go in guns blazing and kill the mind-controlled minions as well. TALI's objectives were to teleport the Widow trainees in the crypt, hack the control of the school and send the data obtained to Fury to smooth out any issues; while Natalia and Yelena's goal was to kill general Dreykov. No mercy would be shown to him.
The two Widows walked onto the pedestal, they were attired in different colors but had the same body language showing that they were ready to dish out violence.
"Ready for sortie!" Natalia said to Komand’r after putting on her helmet.
Of course, Yelena had to add her two cents. "Beam me down Scotty."
Komand'r looked at her and shook her head with a smile. Natalia elbowed her sister and simply said, "Geek."
Then they were wrapped in a field of blue energy and disappeared in a shower of light.
~/.\~
(Random Widow Trainee "Mona Ismael")
Red Room Academy
Gym
She hated this place, the gunmetal ceiling, and the white plaster of the walls… so much blood and sweat has been shed here; there was also the usual death. That was why there was only a raven haired teenage girl in the seventy square meter space. Her name was Mona and she was of middle eastern descent. Mona was made to clean the gym after the night training session, she cleaned a particularly tenacious bloody stain on the tatami. The Taskmaster had really gone to town on Karina to teach them a lesson, it bothered her deep down how things were done here; she didn’t see the point of killing perfectly good future operators to show a point. It lowered the number of personnel and killed morale, but Dreikov killed the last trainee who dared to give him suggestions.
The man had put down Karina in one minute despite herself being the best trainee of her generation. The lesson was about how there’s always someone stronger; Taskmaster wanted to cement himself as an unattainable force in the Widows’ mind. Mona had wanted to avenge Karina but something stopped her from doing it, a siren song that told her that it was normal that one of her sisters was killed.
Mona had seen that everyone else was struggling with the same thoughts as her. Somehow, she had been singled out by one of the handlers present to dispose of Karina’s body; before getting the body of her friend in the incinerator, she appropriated some of her brown locks to make a bracelet to always have her with her. This has become one of the ways the trainees could go on, they remembered those who were killed.
As she finished cleaning the tatami, Mona was grabbed by two sets of hands and made to stand up. Mona was confronted by a young woman with odd silver and green eyes with long black hair, clothed in the blue pajamas they all wore in bed.
"Did you, do it?" The young woman had a husky voice.
"Milena?" This was one of the older trainees in the academy; she was also part of a special program.
Mona looked on her left and right side, two carbon copies of Milena were holding onto her. Those two were Misha and Melinda. They were triplets, raised as an exceptional group of assassins to destabilize a nation; their technical and martial skill were judged to be on par with Natalia Romanov and Yelena Belova.
"Did you, do it?” Milena repeated with much more urgency in her tone.
"Y-yes, I have braided it. Look." Mona took out a bracelet made of brown human hair with silver clasp.
Milena took the thick bracelet from her palm and looked at it, it was decently made. Milena placed it back in Mona’s palm and closed the teen’s palm on it. Then she said, "Good-"
Misha continued the sentence, "You didn't-"
"Forget." And Melinda finished it.
Mona didn’t like it when they started to finish each other's sentences like this, it was disturbing, but no one had the heart to tell them to stop when they knew how hard the handlers were on them. Melinda and Misha let go of Mona and looked at the gym’s state and decided that they should help. However, they never would have guessed that none of that mattered when all of them felt something bite them. They all reacted in sync when they saw a flying mechanical spider floating two meters from.
They barely went into a fighting stance when all four of them were surrounded by blue light and whisked away from the Academy. When they could move again, the girls automatically grouped up and looked around them.
"What the hell was that?" Mona asked out loud.
Misha answered, "Some kind-"
"-of robot?" Milena finished.
“Where are we?” Melinda asked.
They found themselves in a dark empty room with the ground and ceiling suddenly lighting up with white light. The four girls shielded their eyes and found themselves being dosed with a red gas. They began to cough as the red smoke invaded their lungs and the girls suddenly felt lighter and with their thoughts less muddled. The triplets shook their heads and felt their telepathic link more clearly than before, it was disturbing.
A female voice that rang around them said, “You’re free.”
“Who said that?” Milena shouted out loud, slowly looking around her despite the blinding light.
“You’ll be put to sleep for your safety.”
Pssh. Slowly another kind of gas spread in the room and the light dimmed visibly. The four girls huddled together; their eyelids felt heavy and they had a tough time trying not to close them. The triplets hugged each other with Mona in the center in a defensive posture, doing their best to not lose consciousness, a fight that they lost.
~/.\~
(Natalia Alianovna Romanov)
Administrative Deck
General Dreykov’s office
20 minutes later
She was in an expensive office, with luxurious furniture and decoration. She hid behind the statue of Julian the Hospitaller, while Yelena had chosen to hide in the fake ceiling,waiting for their target.
“All trainees secured and in stasis.” TALI declared on the tactical network.
Natalia was aware of how powerful and intelligent the artificial intelligence was, but they were making record time on the operation. Teleportation was a great tool for infiltration and extraction on people who aren't ready for it or don't know how to block it. Already they were in Dreykov’s office under cloak and were about to dish out some good old revenge; that's how easy this operation was growing to be.
“Good Job TALI.” Natalia congratulated the AI on the network.
“Thank you. Only the personnel are left, you’re allowed to use lethal means. But we would prefer to have the clerks and Dreykov’s right hand man, Taskmaster alive.”
Natalia understood why TALI wanted them alive, it was to give legitimacy to this operation and come out smelling like roses when they present the results to the UN. The Organization was quickly thought to be useless and a more efficient one was going to be put in its place; Natalia had heard that there were talks about Planetary unification from the grapevine.
“What about Dreykov?” Yelena asked.
Natalia understood that those orders didn’t sit well with Yelena, she wanted to make the man pay for everything he did.
“Terminate him. He isn’t useful for the narrative we’re trying to build.” TALI said matter of factly.
The black widow heard Yelena gasp and then laugh silently on the tac network. It took her a moment to calm down before she said, “Understood.”
The two of them waited for a while as they were sure that Dreykov would come, after all, the only escape pod that was in this aerial mobile platform was inside this office. The drones were already taking care of the most problematic people inside; The general’s living quarters were linked to this office and he should now be apprised of the situation… right now.
It took five minutes but the panicked footsteps coming from the door linked to the little apartment became noisier. The door exploded open and a corpulent man in sleepwear with white hair and glasses on his nose passed through the door and he ran toward the mural behind his office desk showing Stalin bitch slapping Hitler.
The man pushed a button under his desk and the mural lifted vertically to reveal a door that he was about to unlock with an electronic lock. Before he could type a number a dart fired Yelena's pistol and stuck into Dreykov’s hand.
"Aaaah!" Dreykov held onto his hand as the powerful paralytic did its job.
He fell on the floor like a bag of stones and Yelena uncloaked and exited the fake ceiling to fall at Dreykov’s side. The man watched with horror as the assassin walked up to him and holstered her pistol.
"Здравствуйте, генерал. (Hello, General.)" Yelena greeted the man.
He had grown even fatter from the last time she had seen him two months ago. Dreykov has been enriching himself and his cronies in the Russian government through the tireless work of young women who were taken from their families, trained to kill and mentally and physically violated to be slowly turned into dolls.
Dreykov tried to move his body, but the paralytic in the dart was too powerful, he could barely speak as well. "Кто ты, черт возьми? (Who the hell are you?)"
Yelena laughed. "Ты никогда не узнаешь. (You'll never know.)"
She raised her hand and 'zap, zap' she pierced the man’s chest with two short bursts of her wrist mounted particle gun. When the man stopped moving, she made a satisfied nod and said, "Mission accompl-"
Yelena was interrupted by Natalia who pointed her own wrist gun to Dreykov’s head and fired three times. Zap, zap, zap. The assassin looked at Natalia, hand pointed at Dreykov’s head, his face unrecognizable with all the holes in it.
Yelena looked at Natalia who asked her, "What?"
Shaking her head, Yelena asked, "Isn't it too much?" As she pointed a finger at the mutilated face of General Dreykov. Blood was slowly pooling on the marbled floor.
Natalia shrugged. "No it isn't, I learned my lesson: Always double tap. Dreykov survived my first attempt years ago and everyone has paid for it."
Yelena was in thought, until she nodded and said, "True. Can I put more holes in him?" Her hand was already pointed at Dreykov’s body.
The black widow chuckled. "Mhm, it's better to be safe. Have at it."
They spent the next three minutes reducing Dreykov’s cadaver into chunky salsa just to be sure that he wouldn't get up with morbid glee.
"Now that this is out of your system, sister. Let's finish the job." Natalia said after stopping her desecration of the body.
Yelena fired one last blast and turned to the office's door and cloaked. She was out for retribution. When she was done, there wouldn't be a widow program or anyone else connected to it who would survive.
~/.\~
(Tony Stark)
May 13th, 2010
He was crushed and disappointed, he could no longer enjoy getting smashed. This was one of the drawbacks to being enhanced, his metabolism burned through the alcohol in minutes and he couldn't get drunk. Tony put the Vodka bottle back on its shelf and decided to clean the glass. He opened the faucet and used the dishwashing liquid, at the same time he asked out loud, "Jarvis, is the prototype assembled?"
"In another ten minutes, sir." The AI informed its creator.
Tony hummed in satisfaction, he had been asking Pepper and his think tank of AIs about the more immediate problem that they had to save the environment. The carbon Dioxide emission was a problem; but he had come with a logical solution. Plants and trees use photosynthesis to capture carbon dioxide and then release half of it into the atmosphere through respiration. Plants also release oxygen into the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
If nature could do it, why not invent a device to do the same to mitigate or destroy the greenhouse effect on the climate? That was Tony’s idea since he had access to TALI’s research and simulation about human civilization and the viability of their ecosystem.
"Good, we need those carbon dioxide to oxygen converters like yesterday." Tony put the clean glass on the glass covered counter.
The converter was part of a larger project that would be the start of his space program. Tony intended to be the first to develop a faster than light drive, and explore to find a planet to colonize. The billionaire was given the schematics of an old Tamaranean civilian spaceship as an example of how to build one of his own.
But as usual, Jarvis was here to ground him and stop him from having his head in clouds for too long. "The problem will be the implementation, sir."
Tony wiped his hands with a towel, raised a finger to one of the cameras that Jarvis used to see his environment and said, "Space Princess' message has stirred the hornet nest. I will offer the solution for cheap and clean energy and a way to clear the atmosphere. The public will love it."
There were a lot of online discussions and experts on talk shows speaking about the announcement the Princess had made. The poor sods couldn’t even imagine the type of powerful computers Komand’r had at her disposal, TALI was herself a super intelligence that dwarfed the entire computing power present on planet Earth; it was normal for Tony to think that the AI had a super predictive engine able to divine how human society and civilization would fall.
"I fear that you overestimate humanity, sir." Jarvis said as he sent videos and articles about how people were already moving on from the announcement of the alien princess.
Ping!
Tony took his smartphone and began consulting the packet of information Jarvis had forwarded him and the AI continued to speak in a defeatist tone. "From my personal observation, humanity has become lazy, selfish, and easily swayed by convenience and disinformation campaigns made by the rich few to control the masses."
It was an inevitable truth that the few controlled the many; and that they worked subtly to take away people's freedom generation by generation. But he couldn't attack the system right away, to make the world a good enough place to live, baby steps and a plan for a better society were needed. "That’s normal, Jarvis, the continuous advancements in technology make our lives become much easier. With an easier life, we become more inactive, which then makes us “lazy.” And rich people don’t like that their bottom line is attacked. I think that the middle east and the rich oil barons need a kick in the balls."
Tony was about to migrate to the living room when two people appeared in a flash of blue light. The billionaire had momentarily shielded his eyes, so when his vision wasn't all blue he saw a six feet two tall blonde man in armor with a silly red cape and a hammer in his right hand, at his side was a big wooden barrel. Accompanying him was the beautiful alien Princess who had made his life interesting, she wore a sword at her waist, which was definitely new.
Komand'r moved at super speed and hugged Tony and kissed his cheek. “Hello Friend Tony!”
The blonde man behind her sighed and made an awkward smile. “Kom, we should have knocked first!”
Before Tony could put his hands on her waist, Komand’r moved away from him and was at the blonde's side, floating and holding onto his free arm. “Calm down Thor, we’re here for the drinking. Friend Tony will be happy after you do the gifting of this Dwarven brew you brought with you.”
Tony simply rolled his eyes, the woman had a tendency to do whatever she wanted, he knew that; so, decided to forget that the princess assumed too much about what he thought. “So, Space Princess, what are you doing here today? Did you come to hide from the big bad AI?”
Komand'r was terrified to go against the artificial intelligence of her ship, she had equated TALI to be the mix of a drill sergeant, governess and a jealous girlfriend. The orange skinned beauty didn't answer, she simply took a pouch that was at her waist, took something from it and it was a bag of cookies… she took a cookie from it and moved at super speed to stick it into Tony's mouth. “Here, get a cookie.”
Tony splattered a bit and took the cookie from his mouth. “Huh, it's still warm.”
Komand'r gave Tony a perfect smile as she smugly said, “Freshly baked from the oven. Darcy told me that you reward smart people with them.” She gave Tony the entire cookie bag.
It was delicious, so Tony accepted the offering and acknowledgement of his superior intellect. But someone had to rain on his parade...
“No Princess, the smart cookie reference was just a figure of speech.” The blonde beefcake said with a roll of his eyes.
The smug expression disappeared on the princess' face and she asked, “Really?”
Tony glared at the He-man expression in his house and stepped back, holding on the cookie bag. “No take backs!”
Komand'r laughed at him and looked around herself as if she was looking for someone; Tony thought that she wanted to see Pepper again, to kiss her or some such…
“So, what are you here for?” The billionaire asked with an impatient tone.
“We just finished an operation, and I wanted to do the decompressing. We brought strong alcohol as I did the remembering about you going through the enhancement package of Healer Talonn.”
*She knows!* That means the Healer deliberately made him able to process alcohol faster!
Tony was about to curse Talonn's name when something interrupted him. With a 'vorp' noise, a tall woman with long golden locks, green eyes and a perfect hourglass figure appeared behind Komand’r. The woman glared at the princess and said in a voice sweet like honey, “You forgot to invite me, my Lady.”
Tony might be an idiot when women are concerned, but he knew when he shouldn't butt out in someone's business, even more so when they were in trouble. Tony came back to his senses after shaking his head. *Wait! This is my house!*
The billionaire walked to Komand’r's side and demanded, “Well… well… well, who’s this?! Are you invading?”
Amora was the first to speak up as she crossed her arms under her ample chest. "What is it with mortals and their obsession with alien invasion and anal probes?"
Tony’s mind went into overdrive at the 'mortal' comment, he looked between Amora and Thor; they seemed human but with how tall they were and how impossibly beautiful they looked he thought that it was strange.
Komand’r interrupted his train of thought. “No Friend Tony, I am not doing the invading. And this is my wife, Amora.”
This shocked him, Komand’r was married? The billionaire turned his head to the other man in the room; 'Her wife?' Tony mouthed to Thor who shrugged and dutifully ignored the tall blonde angel who appeared uninvited.
Tony then decided to focus on the two women in the living room. Komand’r looked angry. “Did you leave Ruby alone?”
Amora waved the question away and glared at the princess, “She’s being cared for by the handmaidens and your mistress.”
There was silence in the room, Thor and Tony looked at the women bickering. Tony smiled, “I’m smelling drama.”
For once it wasn’t him who was being accused of cheating; looking at the princess’ expression, Tony thought she looked guilty. Thor added to Tony’s comment, “You don’t know the half of it…”
He-man turned to Tony and looked him up and down; the billionaire felt as if he was being judged and weighed… “So, you’re Lord Stark. Komand’r speak highly of you.”
Tony puffed his chest, but compared to how big the man before him was, he felt lacking. He chuckled nervously as he said, “She says good things I hope… and who might you be…? Her new boy toy?”
Thor was confused by the turn of phrase, he showed it by frowning at Tony. “My name is Thor Odinson, I am often toyed with by her due to her whimsical nature,” The god didn’t deny. “But maybe you are asking about the state of our relationship from the allegory you presented?”
The billionaire forgot that the man may look human, but he sure wasn’t acting like. “Yes. Wait, you're the Thor?” Tony looked at the hammer in the man’s other hand,
Thor nodded, happy that he was recognized. “I am the only Thor Odinson. And to answer your question, Komand’r has been adopted in the house of mine Mother, the All-Mother Frigga, you could say she’s an adopted sister.”
*Yeah, right. I've seen porno with the same theme.* Tony thought. There was no way any red blooded man wouldn't want to be with someone like Komand’r, the Tamaranean Princess was beautiful.
“So,” Tony smirked up at the larger man. “You’re a prince as well?”
“Among other things. Here take this.” Thor lifted the barrel with one hand and placed it before Tony with a loud Boom.
Cracks spread under the wooden container and some tiles were damaged. Tony didn't look amused. “How much does this weigh? And you're paying for what you broke, He-man.”
Thor looked somewhat sheepish. “Sorry, we will dispatch some workers later. Anyway, this is a magical Dwarven beer cask enchanted to never run out.”
Magic? Magic existed? Tony had a lot of questions to ask Thor. However, a heavy seductive moan rang in the room. Tony and Thor turned to look at Komand’r and Amora holding onto each other and kissing as if their lives depended on it.
“Ah, Komand’r finally tamed Amora today.” Thor remarked.
“Wow, they’re sucking faces rather hard.” Tony found the scene arousing, fascinating and… he reluctantly took his eyes away from it. He couldn't lust after his friend and Pepper might condemn him to the couch if he keeps watching and Jarvis tattle on him. *Sellout AI.*
"Let’s leave them alone, why don't you bring this cask to the bar and show me how it works?"
"Very well, I too feel uncomfortable watching them." The Asgardian said.
Tony found it strange and thought that he has misjudged Thor… maybe he was gay and that he needed to be careful around him… Who wouldn’t want to watch two girl kiss?
~/.\~
(Fury)
New York
SHIELD HQ
Five hours later
That alien Princess was all over the world doing whatever she wanted; kidnapping Peggy Carter and giving her her youth back, finding a cryogenized captain America in Greenland, bringing him back to life and stealing his shield and now she was attacking flying facilities in Russia.
The spy walked over to his deceptively well hidden mini-fridge behind the painting of an eagle in flight and took out a can of chilled Corona beer. He went back to sit at his desk, popped the can open and leaned in his desk chair. He was about to drink from the can when the pain in the ass princess appeared in a shower of blue light shone before his desk. Fury closed his lone eye in frustration.
"Furious one! Look, I brought a gift!" He heard the familiar voice of Komand’r greet him.
With an arm, the Tamaranean lifted a six foot two man with short brown hair and eyes, wearing a straightjacket and a muzzle; the man was squirming to free himself. Fury wasn’t impressed by the casual display of super strength; he even somehow lost the bit of fear that he had for Komand’r as she annoyed him by giving him more work than in his total tenure as Director of SHIELD.
Fury put his beer on his desk, away from his computer keyboard and stood while straightening his uniform; he began to reprimand the killing machine with a valley girl temperament, “Princess. You can't just appear here out of nowhere.” Then Fury’s brain nudged as he recognized the man being held like a grumpy cat by the scruff of his neck. “Wait, is that who I think it is?!”
"As I live and breathe, Anthony Masters." Fury commented, surprise etched on his face as he walked to the man who threw him a hateful glare.
“Grrr, hmmmphhhh, hmmph!” The man tried to say something but the electronic looking muzzle kept him silent and incomprehensible.
Fury turned his head to Komand’r. "How did you get him?! And…was it necessary to muzzle him?"
The princess shrugged, grinned and said innocently, “He speaks and swears too much. My wife did the threatening to change him into a Hyena, so we can’t keep him.”
Komand’r let Taskmaster fall on the floor, the man then proceeded to try to free himself by squirming free, but it was all in vain. For the first time Fury wanted to faint, the woman before him was making his blood pressure rise. "Don't you have any protocol for handling prisoners?"
Still looking innocent, the princess took on a thoughtful mien. "Depending on the offense, yes we do have them. Take this grunthmek by example.” Komand’r pointed her finger at Taskmaster. “With his innumerable crimes, the royal court would have let me do the spacing through an airlock as we all see his body do the imploding in the void of space."
Taskmaster ceased to squirm and looked in Fury’s lone eye in fear and his struggle redoubled. Komand’r looked at the man on the ground and her eyes shone with purple light, she also made a really scary smile. Before she could do anything Fury placed himself between the prisoner and Komand’r. "Princess! Please don’t do that!"
She had been about to atomize him with her destructive gaze that she had used the first time she was seen in Monaco, Fury was certain of it. The purple glow disappeared from the princess’ eyes and they returned to their verdant green glow. Komand’r pouted, "You're just like TALI, always do the refusing of the fastest and simplest solution to a problem. Fine, I will not do anything, we brought him to you because of his ties to the Widow Program and Hydra, he was the only one we missed."
Komand’r sounded rather upset, Fury was about to say something to defuse the situation, but the princess continued to speak. "Oh and we did the commandeering of a huge aerial platform, here look."
She used the holoprojector from the computer in her left arm guard to show Fury the model of a huge structure. It showed a cylindrical structure with eight modules attached to it; it seemed to be suspended into the air.
Fury’s eye became sharp as he saw it. "When are you handing it to-"
"I call dibs!" Komand’r interrupted him.
The black man frowned. "You what?!"
Komand’r waved and said while pushing a button on her armguard, "It's mine now, adieu."
She disappeared in a flash of light and left Fury to ponder if he needed to take his retirement. “I’m too old for this shit.”
A/N: Next chapter is all about throwing a party! We're going to leave Earth for a while.
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