Chapter 30: An Enemy Within City Walls
By the time Lucas had arrived, Thor, Captain and Iron Man were already scraping. Iron Man was already engaging in combat with the god of thunder, and was holding his own quite well, actually.
Until he wasn't.
Iron Man was flung back before Captain could block Thor's hammer strike. And, as Thir charged towards the approaching Captain, Lucas struck.
Quick as a blur, he was before the god of thunder, deli ering a heavy, semi-powered punch straight the thehe jaw, sending the god back by a few meters as Thor crashed back first into a tree, splintering the wood.
But Thor was a warrior. That punch only briefly surprised him. He was quick to recover, dashing towards Lucas in a blur of speed, he threw his own punch at Lucas' jaw.
Lucas merely leaned to the right at the last minute, dodging the punch — Only for a second punch to be thrown in his blindspot, right in his chest, sending him flying.
CRASHH!
He crashed right into a bolder, instantly shattering the earth in a shower stones, blood spilling from his mouth. He sensed he had a few ruined organs from the punch alone. Thankfully, his healing factor was actively healing what was ruptured — And an alarming pace.
His telekinetic forcefield that he used to give himself insanely increased durability was instantly battered. It was still active but the energy from Thor's strike was still divine in nature — A superior form of energy, no doubt. It was why it had managed to bypass and severely weaken Lucas' telekinetic shield.
Still, Lucas stood up, facing the charging Thor, who now had his hammer and was actively coming his way, full throttle. Lucas merely smiled, channelling his psionic energy into his fists, he ran to meet the charging god.
THWOOM!
The force of the clash sent a large pulse of energy shockwaving both Thor and Redline back by 20 meters in both directions, kicking up dust in their wake.
"You are strong, Little Mortal, but I am in a foul mood. Get out of the way of Asgardian justice," Thor stated, frowning when both arose to their feet. He even had blood coming from his nose in a steady turrent before it began healing itself. "I won't ask a second time."
"If you kill him or take him from here, we lose our chance of saving our world," Redline explained. "so, I am afraid, I cannot do as you say. Post them hands, o' God of Thunder. Let's see who's truly stronger."
"So be it, Mortal," Thor stated, readying his hammer. "Let us see how strong you are… in the face Mjornir!"
Thor began spinning his hammer, charging up an attack, blue lightning coating the surface of his hammer as he readied to attack.
Lucas pulled out his psionic dagger, charging its capacity with raw psionic force that vastly increased its durability and lethality, causing it to glow with an orange-red and blue iridescent glow that seemed to envelope Lucas' entire body with a power aura, almost like psionic flames.
"I've always wanted to battle a god," Lucas was practically beaming beneath his mask. "I'll enjoy this. Very much."
"Brace yourself, Mortal!" Thor was crackling with lightning, his hammer having generated enough lightning to crackle around his body like a second skin. The skies above even seemed to blacken in his presence. Lightning arched across the skies like a thunderstorm was incoming."You are about to face the full force of my thunder!"
"Bring it on!" Lucas exclaimed.
And the two charged forward like homing missiles. What came after the initial impact wasn't a clash.
It was a cataclysm.
For 20 miles, trees were uprooted. The ground broke apart. The sky cried and the mountains shuddered as a massive energy shockwave sent everyone for miles flying back in a chaotic hurricane of thunder and telekinetic force.
BOOOM!!
The force of the clash caused a crater form from beneath the two fighters as if even the Earth itself didn't want to hold beneath the weight of their power. It sent both participants flying back like anti-magnetic meteors, destroying trees, mountains and the very earth in their wake.
In the end, Lucas had lost consciousness and Thor was gravely injured and barely awake, allowing for SHIELD to re-take Loki into their custody and negotiate with Thor for his help.
When Lucas had woken up in the medbay half an hour later, fully healed, he had to groan at himself. Because not only had he lost, but his psionic dagger—the blade gifted to him by the Eldest when he took his place as the new Redline—was shattered to a billion pieces, irreparable.'
"I'm surprised such a dagger could go against uru metal," a voice sounded from beside him as he looked at the tray of the pieces of his blade left in his. He didn't need to look up to see who was there. Thor's voice gave him away. "You fought valiantly, Mortal. Perhaps next time we fight, it will turn out in your favor…I look forward to our rematch."
Lucas looked up at this, his face as blank as usual. His body was mostly healed, just a few bandages here or there, but even that ws mostly unnecessary given how he'd be completely healed within the next 20 minutes, he predicted.
Thor grinned. "I would enjoy the challenge."
After leaving the medbay, Lucas made his way to the main brig, where everyone was gathered. They seemed to be in the middle of discussing what to do with Loki.
"—has him under some kind of spell," Natasha was saying as he entered the room, taking his seat at the end. "Along with one of ours."
"I want to know why Loki let us take him?" Steve said. "He's not leading an army from here."
Thor then goes on to explain the Chitauri—the otherworldly army from Outer Space.
"I think it's about the mechanics," Banner stated. "Iridium... What do they need Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent," Lucas stated just before Tony could, he tried not to let his amusement towards Tony not able to make yet another dramatic entrance show. It was difficult, but Lucas had a hell of a poker face. "If my guess is accurate, they will use it to stabilize the gateway they intend to use to breach the Earth.... They'll be able to keep it open for however long they wish to and deploy however many of their forces they have at the ready — And then some. It will be…well, apocalyptic… For us, anyway."
His words caused all eyes to turn his way. Lucas even spotted Natasha's raised brow.
'People seem to forget that I am still incredibly smart,' Lucas tried not to feel offended by the surprised looks from the group, but his expression did give away a hint of his annoyance through a twitch of his brow. 'Honestly, its unimportant. Let's just get through this and get ready for everything else.'
Instead, he spoke up—or he was about to, when his notification pinged, which was odd considering Lucas never had his phone off DND—the only reason it would ring would be if selected contacts messaged him (like Felicia, Bucky or the Eldest)—or if the Blake business were under duress and the nearby city surrounding the business assets were in trouble — And only if Luke was unavailable.
'And, considering Luke is off traversing the multiverse....' Lucas pulled out his phone and frowned at what he read. 'This is a conundrum…'.
"Business issues, Mister Blake?" Natasha asked and Lucas realized everyone had their eyes on him.
He quickly put away his phone.
"Something has come up. I need to return to... Well, unimportant," Lucas thought aloud, shaking his head. "Look, I've seen glimpses of what's inside that head of his, and I've got to tell you this: DO NOT underestimate that trickster. Under ANY circumstances. If you do, you will lose this fight before it even begins. He's a child throwing a fit for something that he believed was his… Only, he's cunning and powerful enough to wreck you all. Do not underestimate him."
With that, Lucas vanished, reporting to his Redjet — But his words had caused an uncomfortable silence to pass through the room.
For if someone like Lucas Blake was hesitant to underestimate Loki, then they definitely shouldn't…
Lucas made sure he took the Redjet on his way from the Hellicarrier. Why? For one thing, he had no intentions of letting his baby girl fall victim to Hawkeye's sabotage venting that was about to happen aboard the helicarrier. That whole "destroying quinjets" scene in his entrance invasion was not something Lucas wanted his daughter anywhere near.
For another, a crimson jet could prove incredibly valuable when his enemy has finally made their big move.
[Somewhere In New York]:
"Hahahaha!" a loud series of cackles sounded above Manhattan. It was animalistic and entirely malicious, holding no glee outside of dark ill-intent and murky amusement.
High atop the Manhattan skies, watching the city below fall into chaos as it became overrun with giant lizard men and mutated giant lizards, the villain known as the Iguana cackled in the late day sky, as, beside him, Doctor Octopus, the Rhino, Mister Negative, Scorpion, the Sandman and Kingpin were all gathered, watching on as, below, alongside the lizards, multiple Kingpin goons and Sandman replicants wreaked havoc on the city. And along the various rooftops, members of the Hand stood as silent sentries to the massacre happening down below.
"New York, it is time," Mister Negative grinned maliciously. "Time to take over this city."
"Show no mercy to anyone!" Kingpin shouted to his goons. "Take no prisoners!"
"And, if the Spider-Man and the Defenders show their faces..." Iguana's cackles only became louder. "Devour them!"
The city was in turmoil. The people were now at war—and the Hand and the Sinister Six had teamed up to take New York.
With the Avengers facing the Chitauri threat and most of his more powerful allies scattered to the wind, can the Redline face a threat as big as this?
He'll have to try, or risk losing everything—because B.L.A.K.E Industries was the real prize this army of supervillains has their eyes on....