Thor landed in front of a decrepit building with a shallow sway and made a show of brushing off the lingering electricity that ran along his skin. This was slowly becoming a problem if Mjolnir was in on it too.
The drizzle had stopped during his fly over and it pricked his mind that he was unable to tell if he had caused it or not. He added it to one of the things that didn't make sense recently.
"Hello."
He walked around the building that looked like it was about to keel over with the slightest touch. He could have gotten the location wrong but he doubted it. Apart from the falling building and vegetation, he was pretty certain he was in the right place. He might be wrong, after all it had been a century and a half since he last crossed paths with Midgard sorcerers.
"Is anybody… home?" From where he stood, it looked more like a ruin than a house but he wouldn't judge. He remembered them being the reclusive sort. Maybe they took it a step further in the last hundred and fifty years.
"Hello!" He called out again, once more doubting he got the wrong address. "My name is Th–"
"I know who you are, Odinson." Ahah, the person he came to meet had met him in person.
"You could have answered when I called the first time… making me shout for nothing." He grumbled under his breath – which she heard, which he knew she did – and looked around the place inquisitively. "Did you move?"
"Pardon?" The Ancient One tilted her head.
Thor pointed at the skeleton of wood that once was a building. "Did you fail the test of, what was it again… mortgage?"
"This is not my house, Odinson." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't have a 'house' nor do I have to pay mortgage."
"So who owns this building then?" Now he was very confused. He was certain he saw her brewing a pot of tea here the last time he met her.
She gave him the same look his mother and father sometimes gave him – the one that said they could almost read his mind. "It belonged to a dead druid."
"Oh. So you killed him and took his house." Now that made sense. It was more of his style. Unfortunately the heroes didn't really seem to like the idea of battle spoils.
She sighed and motioned for him to follow. "I didn't take his house… I just had a drink in it. His speeches made me thirsty."
"Those. I understand." He nodded as he followed after her. The veil around them shattered and he found himself in another location. A monastery. It was likely the hold of their order.
"Wow. This place is… nice." He struggled for the words and the end result came out shallow. He had little interest in intricate magics so he doubted he could appreciate the fine arts he was seeing.
"Polite pleasantries doesn't suit you, Odinson." The Ancient One led him to an alcove and gestured him to sit on a mat with a wine gourd at the side which he gratefully obliged after setting his hammer down. "What brings you to me, young god? Is this Odin's way of training you in diplomacy?"
He coughed into his hand as the question squeezed the liquid burning down his throat. "Not really. No. It's a little of the same thing, but at the same time not exactly."
She gave him another look and he dropped the gourd and got serious.
"The hellish realms. Something happened there. Do you know what happened?" Heimdall's sight was prevented from piercing the veil and he told her exactly that and all else the gatekeeper had told him.
"Unfortunately, and it pains me quite to admit it, I am just as clueless as him. Whatever happened was something no one foresaw. Not even our greatest relic could predict what had happened or the fallout from it."
That would be the cracks in the Great Ward, he suspected. Midgard was connected to a lot of underworlds so whatever might have affected the dimension tether down there must have affected the one connecting it to earth, which in turn sent hundreds of tiny hairline cracks through the wards. Just big enough for some demons to muscle through.
Something big was happening and their best eyes were getting blinded. It was a bit too optimistic for them to hope that it was not as serious as they hoped it to be.
"How can I help?" All he wanted at this point was to crack open some skulls and he figured this was the best way to get to that point, without his father silently nagging his every step.
"Did he send you here?" She asked as she opened up a book and started reading through it.
"No. I just… I just wanted to clear my head." He confessed with another swig of the gourd.
"And you think bashing skulls in is the best way?"
"It worked back then, no reason for it not to work now."
"Fortunately for you, Odinson, you seem to have arrived at the best times. I could use the extra effort." She said with the smoke of a smile even as her eyes remained in her book. "Now then, what can I do for you?"
Thor chuckled, half confused. "I already told you." He patted his hammer for emphasis.
"Thor," she called his name for the first time, "most people come here for personal reasons, not for permission to perform a duty."
Heimdall was the one who actually recommended this through an indirect comment after he noticed Thor's unwillingness to speak to Odin at the time. Other than this and talking to his father and mother, his only option was to brute out the depression.
He pointed at his head and said only one word which she seemed to understand. "Doubt."
"If that is the case, then maybe bashing some skulls will actually help you. If it doesn't, well I have other ways." She admitted.
"What other ways?" Thor asked curiously as he emptied the last drop of wine in the gourd.
She laughed. "If nothing else, then you'll probably be using that famous Asgardian gold of yours."
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The worst part about being retconned, as Clint had so aptly put it, was that Natasha currently had nothing to her name.
Fury and Coulson were already calling it a timeline mesh rather than a timeline rebrand and that settled another feeling inside her. Before, her entire identity was an outline, or a folder, and she liked it that way. It summed up perfectly who she was and what she did for a living.
Now, her entire identity was nothing more than a deliberating label. No notes, no annotations, no marks, no nothing. She thought that it would have been perfect for someone like her only to quickly find out how much she hated it.
She couldn't even talk to another SHIELD agent without them looking baffled at her. She did not have an apartment, safehouse, or a bank account in her name, or names – not even a boarding ticket, or a phone number, or an email address. There was nothing that pointed at the fact that she ever existed.
The worst of it all was the emotional blow. No one remembered her. Not Hill, not Laura and the kids, not even her former teammates – who were no longer her teammates. In fact, everything about her life remained the same except that nobody knew who she was, and also she now had her sister back. Honestly, that alone made this all worth it, even if she was having trouble showing it.
She thought… she never thought she would see Yelena again. She had long made peace with the fact that her sister was dead only to find out that she suddenly got her very alive sister back for free. Well not for free. She had to spend some time as bird feather in exchange, quality bird feather.
Now she was Agent X – The Widow. No name, no face, no trail, no mission data available on any intelligence market. If the Winter Soldier was 'real' then she got him beat.
But that was not where her problems ended. In fact they were only just beginning. With the existence of the Merchant, Fury once again started phase 2, but unlike phase 2, he made this a controlled and limited expedition.
The existence of the Merchant, as well as the insinuation that there were more like him, possibly in other galaxies and spatial sectors, made the planetary arms race even more dangerous.
There was no mistaking the fact that Isaac was a literal agent of chaos. Someone with such power and weaponry, choosing to come to a black water planet like Earth to sell them for cheap, no matter how Fury thought about it, didn't bode well for them. Always the pessimist, he thought, and they all agreed, Isaac's emergence and the nature with which he introduced himself coupled with Thor's opaque warnings meant that something akin to a universal war was about to begin, and as the profit mongers they were, the Merchants were agents who were trying their best to muddle the waters as much as possible. It was a galaxy-wide lottery event and they intended on cashing out big. Who cares if a planet or two destroyed themselves, right?
She abhorred the thought of it. Now they got magicians and demons showing up every now and then, some muttering shit like how 'Hell isn't safe anymore'. She didn't even know where to begin with all that.
Everything was pointing at something that would make an alien invasion look tame in comparison. God, she hoped they were all reading this wrong. She hoped it wasn't as bad as everything seemed to be saying it was.
Right now she was on a mission(well not really) and while she wanted to punch Fury for it, she couldn't because, well, it was her job. She was the only unknown in SHIELD as everyone thought she was just a new recruit — Only the Avengers knew who she was(not fully) and that was because she knew she(and Yelena) could trust them with it — so no eyes on her yet.
As for what she was doing? Going back to the goddamned shop of course. If nothing else, Natasha could say that Nick Fury was one daring motherfucker.
"Welcome back, Miss Romanoff." She only rolled her eyes, not reacting overtly to him calling her name.
"Please, just Natasha." And wasn't that another headache.
"Of course." Isaac easily complied.
He had read her memories, both her and Clint. If before she had been compromised then now she was a highly contagious contamination. Apparently, according to the Merchant himself, he had full authority to read the impressions and history of any item traded into his shop.
As far as they were all concerned, he was privy to every information both her and Clint were open to. Fury sending her here was a stroke on so many levels that she couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer balls of it.
"How can I assist you today? I hope Nick enjoyed his recent purchase, yes?"
She nodded easily. "He had a few colorful words for them. Glowing if you ask me." She pushed down the shiver that ran up her back as she stood face to face with the haunting nightmare that was a smiling Isaac. She still remembered his bored gaze in that white room before everything went dark.
If he noticed her trepidations then he was being considerate by giving her time to mold herself past it. God, she hated this. If she knew this would happen she would have protested the order.
Well he did give her an allowance without a spending frame so she could help herself with that. That wasn't to say she forgot the objective: to buy something ridiculous.
As for how Fury would be able to afford it, last she heard Yelena was tracking down Trask so maybe that had something to do with it.
"Fury sent me to pick up something in regards to 'big guns'." Did she just throw her boss into the fire? Yes, yes she did.
"The planet buster type?"
"I would say too big but I think that's what he's aiming for." She surprised herself how easily she replied with that.
"Ah, then we have to go with the classics."
She expected something. She did not expect what she was about to see.
—Imperial II-class Star Destroyer(Star Wars): Forget a war on terror, there will be nothing left to terrorize once this star fleet completes its assignment.
This predecessor of war machinery is a staple in every successful orbital campaign. It possesses communication towers with signals that span multiple star systems, advanced deflector shields, energy generator, reinforced structures and heavier cataclysmic armaments.
Port to starboard, ye blubberheads!
Price: $************
She looked at the price, blinked twice and carried her dry gaze to Isaac's smiling face.
"Got a discount for that?"
"As it just so happens, I'll shoot past three different quotas if you make the purchase. I'll tuck in a 19% discount coupon with it."
"Right. I'll send the remaining bill up to Fury." She said, still looking at him. "Got anything more personal for me?"
She didn't say it because he knew what she was asking for. He had seen her memories like he said so he knew what she was asking for.
He easily understood as he slid something towards her.
—Nine Leaf Yin Lotus (Wuxia): This supernatural herb, with its deep yin constitution, is a natural remedy for yin-aligned cultivators below the Foundation Realm.
A fully germinated Yin Lotus, identified by its fluorescent nine petals, can cure deep body trauma and scar tissues that are less than thirty years old.
*This remedy is only for those still in the Body Tempering Stage. The lower the level, the better the efficacy of the herb.
"Should I bill it with the gun?"
She took only a second to reply with a dim, "Yes".
"Make it two."
She left the shop immediately and exhaled softly before picking up her phone and dialing her boss.
"How did it go?"
"We're broke." She replied.
"So cash isn't going to cut it."
"Unless you want to put the entire country in debt. If you got another magic rock now would be the time to trade it."
Fury went silent over the line for a second before his reply came in. "I'm on it."
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Patreøn*com/1stDepth
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