Marvel's Villainous Gacha 72 (Patreon)

With his relationship with Nebula transforming far faster than expected, his next priority was to find her a new fighting style, especially since she was the best guide he could find, meaning they would spend a lot of time.

Together, they trained, while also hunting some of Thanos’ peripheral bases.

He deliberately targeted bases closer to the Kree Border, making it look like a retaliation from the Kree Empire for Thanos’ support of Ronan. He even hacked some of the Kree bases on the other side of the border, leaving some fake digital evidence that it was a rogue faction targeting Thanos.

Unfortunately, such an approach require them to stay in radio silence for long stretches of time. Any attempt to communicate with his bases required him to hack Kree military satellites, which was an unacceptable risk.

However, he expected it to be alright, since everything was pretty much in control. Avengers were there to keep Earth safe, and if things got really bad, there were automatic measures in place.

Unfortunately, when he finally returned to neutral space after a long campaign, he realized he had been too optimistic.

A priority alert was waiting for him.

An alarm from Earth, which, checking the timeline, was late for almost four days. He would have ignored, but the nature of the warning changed his mind.

A rogue AI breach. He would have loved to learn more about it before committing, but that wouldn’t work. It was faster to return. Luckily, Nebula was more than happy with his method of handling the weight of the quick travel, and a day later, they were above Pluto.

“So, this is your home planet,” Nebula said, then paused. “Wait, why does it look familiar?”

“Thanos ordered Loki to attack us, but we pushed that attack back. Though, from your description, it seems that we were very lucky Thanos chose not to attack directly.”

Nebula nodded. “He doesn’t do that anymore. He’s more focused on his mysterious grand plan with the stones.”

He nodded. “That’s true.”

“Still, it’s merely due to luck that you have managed to defeat the attack with minimal losses. I wasn’t allowed to see his plans with Loki, but he probably sent weak forces only because Earth falls under Asgard dominion. He is still hesitant to test Odin.”

He nodded. He might think Odin was a terrible father and an inept king, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t scary. He had seen Thor fighting, and Odin was probably leagues better, despite his age.

“I suspected that much. Do you mind if I leave you in the station for a few days while I check the situation? You can use the time to practice.”

She nodded, mellow enough to accept that thanks to the unique method of their travel.

He left her in the station, and jumped back to Earth. It didn’t take long for him to realize the situation had already been solved, but left a significant devastation behind.

He was just glad that his obsessive cybersecurity methods on his bases had shown their value. They weren’t even noticed, because the connections came down at the first sign of digital breach. Though, it seemed that the rogue AI didn’t notice their presence.

He didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if a rogue AI had taken over his arsenal, with thousands of mechs and star fighters across the planet, and the less it was said about Pluto base, the better.

With that solved, he turned his attention to exactly what had happened. There was limited public information about it, the biggest fact being that it started on Avengers Tower, and ended up in Europe. In the capital of Sokovia, to be exact. For some reason, the rogue AI decided to make a point by lifting the whole city to the sky.

The Avengers managed to handle it, but not flawless. The event had caused hundreds of civilian deaths.

Curious, he checked what people in the government were focusing on. Saying that they were salivating for the opportunity wasn’t an exaggeration. In the grand scheme of things, a few hundred dead civilians in a less developed country were not something that American politicians cared about. Hell, half of them would happily order a drone strike to kill that many just to distract from a scandal.

But since the issue originated from the Avengers, it was inevitable.

It was also why he never even tried to be a part of Avengers. They were too public, too popular, and that meant enemies.

Admittedly, he would have expected their shine to last for a while, but everyone seemed to agree that Rogue AI was Tony’s fault.

“Well, it’s likely,” he said, as he knew Tony had already created AIs to work for him, including JARVIS. Imagining one going rogue was not a stretch.

There was a reason he avoided creating an AI even though he could.

He decided to check Sokovia to see if he could help. Not physically, mostly because it wasn’t needed. He had sent a cloaked drone to scan, which confirmed that all the urgent cases had already been taken care of. Apparently, Avengers had a new tech called Regeneration Cradle, which could handle deadly wounds.

He was glad for it.

The less critical his healing talents had become, the better.

All that remained was to make contact with someone that could tell what happened.

&&&

He didn’t reveal himself, and waited until Natasha was alone to slide next to her, still in Sokovia. “How about a drink?” he said.

“How about several?” she responded as she leaned against him silently.

“Tough day?” he asked, hugging her against his chest, letting her rest. “You look like you haven’t slept for a few days.”

“A week,” she responded. Other than that, she just hummed, stressed.

They stayed there for a while. “Sorry I wasn’t there to help,” he whispered, partially to measure her response, but he still felt guilty. He had his critical mission, but it didn’t make any less annoying.

She buried herself in his arms, deeper. “No,” she said. “Wherever you were, I know you had no communication. It’s not your fault. It was not something you could have foreseen. It was not any of us could have foreseen. Well, almost any of us…”

He hummed. She was right, and technically, he didn’t need to apologize, but sometimes, it was easier. “What happened?”

Natasha tensed. For a moment, she prepared to give the official, nice answer, then she changed her mind. He could read that with ease.

Ironically, her voice turned bitter as she relaxed. “Tony’s arrogance bit us in the ass. That was what happened,” she spat out. “He had the genius idea of using Loki’s Scepter to create some kind of super AI without telling anyone.”

He tensed. No wonder she was bitter. “That bad?”

“That’s not even the whole thing. Since he wanted to do in secret, he had done everything in the Tower while having a party. No control, no supervision.”

“Ah. And the moment it went rogue, it had full access to Tony’s toys,” he said. Stark to a T, well-meaning, but reckless and arrogant, with a blind spot toward the faults of his toys.

“Exactly,” she spat out, with a bitterness she wouldn’t reveal to anyone else, because she had always believed Avengers was a way to pay for her past sins, her past forcing her to be a good little soldier.

He kept hugging her while she told the story, Hydra stealing Loki’s Scepter from its top-secret storage, their mission to take it back, the party Tony threw as a smokescreen to keep the Scepter, the sudden rebellion, all underlined by Tony’s arrogance.

He sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t empathize with Tony about being scared of alien invasion, nor taking initiative. But, trying to use a dubious mind-control artifact to create an AI, and to do so without appropriate supervision…

His recklessness was unbelievable.

Most of the details, he didn’t really care, including Vibranium heist, two enhanced Sokovians who first supported Ultron before changing sides. Civilian deaths were also sad, but it was not something he could help with.

“Really, so Tony and Banner stuffed parts of Scepter to Ultron’s body together with remnants of his old AI, and it turned into a hero,” he said.

She shrugged. “Vision. Nice kid, all things considered,” she said.

He chuckled. “Well, no more absurd that Banner’s situation, right?” he said after a few questions. Apparently, both Avengers and SHIELD checked Vision, and confirmed it was more of an artificial lifeform bound to a body rather than a runaway AI that could copy itself, so he stopped thinking about Vision. In a larger scheme of things, the world had far more dangerous stuff to focus on. A robot created by Loki’s discarded staff didn’t require his direct focus.

Not when he was busy chasing the Infinity Stones and trying to find a way to deal with Thanos.

Though, he made a note to update his digital defenses, just in case.

“So, Banner is gone, and Thor only made a brief appearance,” he said.

“Yeah. Apparently, Asgard is at war with another group called Dark Elves, but he seemed confident at their eventual victory. Something about the genius magic of his mother. It was why he didn’t stick around.”

“Good news,” he said. He was happy to hear that they were doing better. Maybe the war would kick them in the ass enough to make them realize they were dealing with a terrible mess.

He also made a note to check Asgard. If they were committing a great force to their attack, it might be a good time to raid Asgard, both for more information about the Infinity Stones, and to steal more books about their brand of magic.

He hoped to find more than what was available in a public library.

But, at a minimum, he wanted to learn how the Infinity Stones looked in their natural state, how they could be used, and their known location, if any.

“So, no Thor for a while,” he said. “Any news about Jane?”

“He says that she’s doing well, but needs to stay under observation,” Natasha said.

It was an interesting answer. Also, a very uncharacteristic lie from Thor. It was even weirder that Natasha didn’t pick up the lie.

… but then, maybe it wasn’t a lie. Maybe Thor was tricked as well. Asgardian magic had too many ways to create illusions or alter the mind. Odin could have easily acted as if he had managed to save Jane, and created an illusion to placate Thor while giving the dark elves a fake target to focus on.

After all, Odin made clear how little he cared about the life of a mortal.

Instead of focusing on that, he brought the focus back to the main line. So, Hulk disappeared in a stealth quinjet intentionally, which is pretty much a declaration of resignation.”

“Exactly. I’m pretty sure Clint is retiring as well,” she said. “He says he hasn’t decided yet, but it’s practically a done deal.”

“Smart for him to focus on his family,” he said. “What about you? Any thoughts about retiring?”

She sighed. “Maybe,” she said with a sigh. “A part of me wants to do so, especially before they hit us with sanctions.”

He snorted. “Very much deserved sanctions,” he said. “Tony almost destroyed the world with his arrogance. He’s lucky he’s rich, or they would have thrown him into a bunker and force him to make toys for government for the next century.”

“That’s not why—“ Natasha started, then sighed. “What am I saying? Of course, it is. Just…”

“You still believe that you need to pay back the world for everything you have done as a brainwashed assassin, even though you’re just as much a victim there?”

“Was I? I still had a choice. Difficult ones, but still.”

He paused. “What if there was another option?” he said. “One that was more important than the usual cases SHIELD deals with. One that’s about the safety of the planet.” He wouldn’t be sure she would have accepted the offer earlier, but with both SHIELD and the Avengers proving unworthy of her time, she would change her mind.

His space operation was growing, and at one point, he needed to stop managing the operations, because that left him unable to respond to bigger disasters.

“What kind of option?” she said. He pointed to the sky. Her eyes widened. “I see. Let me go have a talk with the Captain and give my resignation,” she said. “Steve’s girlfriend is more than capable of taking my place.”

“They finally started dating?” he asked. “Good.”

She snorted. “Yes, they are making up for the lost time. Very loving. Almost annoyingly so. I would have been jealous, but…” she said, then she leaned for a deep kiss, which told exactly what she wanted to say.

He watched her walk away after she pulled from the kiss, but his smile wasn’t only about the sexy sway of her hips.

[Feat Achieved! Trick Black Widow to leave the Avengers and the SHIELD

+1x Gold Random Gacha ticket]

A ticket was always welcome, even though he still had trouble fully understanding the System’s priorities.

[Magic Spring]

{Rare Item: HOTA - A large spring that is filled with mana rich water that replenishes itself at a rapid pace, taking a bath in the spring is said to replenish magical power very quickly.}

The reward was just as nice, both for himself, and potentially for Jane. He didn’t know how the Reality Stone really worked and what kind of energies it could use, but it was worth a try.

While Natasha went to study, he used the opportunity to make a few calls, checking with the girls. He knew they were safe, but a call was always welcome.

Though he could see Pepper was already on the edge of quitting as well. He didn’t blame her. Being the CEO of the world’s largest company was a great opportunity, but cleaning after Tony was getting more and more difficult.

An hour later, Natasha returned, calmer than he had ever seen her. “Done?” he asked.

“Done,” she said, letting a relieved sigh. “I quit. SHIELD and Avengers, both,” she said.

“Reaction?”

“More or less what’s expected. Tony is already trying to focus on a rebuild, focusing on accountability and responsibility and everything,” she scoffed. “Like he isn’t the biggest loose cannon creating all those problems.”

He shrugged. “That’s Tony. He always believes what he’s doing is right, and when the cost hitshe overcorrects. Just like when he realized his weapons were used by terrorists, and he responded by completely shutting down his weapon production and invent the Iron Man suit. Expect him to do something equally big.”

She sighed. “True.”

“Anything else?”

“Clint is officially out as well," she said. "He decided he had tangled with mortality enough.”

“With Thor and Banner out, what does it mean for Avengers?” he asked. “That’s a very small roster.”

She shrugged. “Vision, Falcon, and Wanda joining the team,” she said. “Technically, it keeps the member count the same. Between Steve and Tony, they are a better fit to deal with that mess.”

“I suspect this brings us to the question that you haven’t been asking for a while,” he said. She nodded. “Alright. First, we need to have a quick trip,” he said. She nodded, silent. He opened a temporary gate, and they took a step.

Directly to Pluto.

When they arrived, she gulped, tensing. “Are we really at space?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“Yes. In Pluto’s orbit, to be exact,” he said. “It’s difficult to—“ he started, then paused. “Actually, you know what, it’s really not. Basically, my powers are stronger than I have led anyone to believe.”

“Since the beginning?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, it’s more of a gradual process. My power is continuously growing, in more ways than I let anyone to believe, until very recently.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Why did I hid it? Mostly because I didn’t trust SHIELD. Too many agents, too many conflicting procedures, and I knew that the moment they realized my power was growing, they would throw me in a bunker, or execute me.”

“After you’re not afraid?” she asked.

He shrugged, deciding to fudge the details a bit, while essentially telling the truth. “I didn’t want to. The whole point was to stay as an unremarkable regenerator while enjoying my life, not getting involved in the mess. But, the universe is filled with idiots that seem determined to make it impossible. Starting with the Battle of New York.”

“The Battle of New York?” she asked.

He shook his head. “A bit before that, actually. The Stark Expo and that idiot Justin forced my hand to reveal my precaution.”

Her eyes widened. “Professor Azure is you, right?”

He chuckled, not surprised that she was able to connect the dots that easily. He suspected she could have found that out even sooner, but she made a deliberate point of not looking, showing the same courtesy he had shown to her. “Exactly. Admittedly, building that arsenal was easier than I expected. Just a hidden base, a few stolen machines, and some reverse engineering of Tony’s stuff, and I had a semi-autonomous fleet.”

“You never revealed your tech—“ she started, then paused. “Your classic car hobby,” she said.

“Exactly. A young man throwing a couple million dollars toward his hobby didn’t raise any red flags. From there, I mostly reverse-engineered some tech. I assumed that it would be enough to live safely, but then…”

“Aliens attacked,” she said. “And, you decided to build a huge base.”

“Thankfully, it was when I developed the ability to teleport. I think it has to do with the way they arrived,” he said, which was not true, but easier to believe than the truth of his power. “As for why I did it, these files will give you a better idea,” he said.

With that, he let her browse through all the SHIELD and Hydra files regarding the past alien visits, their nature, and then what he collected about the nature of the dominant galactic forces.

The more she read, the whiter her face got. For the first time, he saw her scared. Truly scared.

He didn’t blame her. He was more angry than scared, only because of his powers, giving him a fighting chance.

“I wish it was a lie,” she said. He understood her point. The files were too extensive to be fake. He probably could have achieved it, but there wouldn’t be any point, because there were hundreds of ways it could be verified, which included merely talking face to face with Fury.

“Exactly my feelings. I was so happy when I managed to make enough money for retirement. A nice arc career, a few friends to accompany me while I finally enjoy life… Then, I realized a bureaucratic oversight was the only thing that was keeping us alive.”

“Not for long, if the information you have on Thanos is true,” she said. “He doesn’t seem like someone that would stay away for long.”

He hummed. That was true as well. He didn’t say anything else, just reached to her, and hugged her from behind. She sighed. “Things are getting too complicated.”

She sighed. “You’re a hypocrite, aren’t you?”

He smirked. “Not necessarily,” he said.

“Why? You believe SHIELD is in the wrong, but you accumulated more power than they had,” she teased.

“Because I’m not going around people to thank me because I’m some kind of grand paternal figure, and if they don’t play along, they are criminals.”

“Pretty loose justification,” she continued. “Hacking everyone, keeping the information of everyone at your fingertips…”

He was familiar with her, too much to miss her sudden tenseness while she asked about information about everyone. “Don’t worry. I didn’t peek into your past, before or after. And I won’t.” For some reason, it made her tense more, visibly so. “Unless I misread the source of your discomfort.”

“Maybe…” she said. “Are you going to start asking questions now?”

“Only if you feel comfortable answering them,” he said. He could have said transportation wasn’t as difficult, but she was about to open up.

“I do. Just…” she said, then sighed. “Why is this so hard?” she added, sighing. He let his arms tighten around her, letting her get comfortable. “I had a sister … not a real one. We were just a decoy family, but … three years,” she added, then started crying. “I just want to make sure that after I destroyed the program, she’s living a good life.”

“What program?” he asked.

That made her look surprised. “Black Widow program, of course.”

He sighed. “I told you, I have actively avoided looking into your past. I mean, I know you have been trained by monsters. That much has been clear from what I had accidentally healed, but…”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Just find and make sure Yelena is alright. I don’t even want to know what she’s doing. Just that she’s alright.”

He nodded, wondering whether he should just lie if he found Yelena dead. It must be why she hadn’t checked. But, that was a bridge that he could cross once he found her…

He asked a few questions to her about the mission, which had been enough to trace her movements. With full penetration to SHIELD and Hydra databases, not to mention every other government on Earth, it was easy.

However, the more he explored, the more he started to frown.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong…