Chapter 13

"I don't care how it might look on our part, just do it." Norman Osborn, once street level super criminal now leader of his own Avengers, growled as he slammed the phone down. Stupid people, trying to tell him what to do or how his actions could backfire. Morons.

Things were fine. Everything was fine. He had regained his lost honor with his acts in the Skrull invasion, he was now the leader of the god damn Avengers and the power he was amassing from the shadows with the rest of the Cabal made every day worth waking up for.

And even if something did go wrong, why would he need to be worried? He had Sentry on his side.

It was just a shame that he couldn't send him after that little shit that was the son of Hulk. Wasn't he supposed to be dead after a bomb had killed his mother while she was pregnant with him anyway?!

He wished he could simply send one of his Avengers to deal with the kid and be done with it but he couldn't. This was the son of Hulk after all, if he was anything like his father than none of his team could deal with him with the exception of Sentry and Ares. Problem was that Sentry was a friend of Hulk so he likely wouldn't want to kill the brute's son. Ares could have been a good option but the brat was with the X-Men right now. The combined might of the team would be far too much for the Olympian.

No, no he simply needed to test the waters so to speak. To get a reading about the brat's combat potential in a battle instead of simply destroying bombs. And his plan would work perfectly for that.

He would learn how the bastard's powers worked, how the people around him acted and then he would strike!

"Mister Osborn, the rest of the Avengers are waiting for you."

"I'm coming now Victoria." And he would win, just like he did against the Skrulls and Stark.

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"Sorry that I just put Skaar in your hands with no warning yesterday." I said with a smile as I sat down beside Noriko who simply shrugged.

"It's okay, he didn't really cause any problems before you came back with the… Warbind?"

"Warbound." I corrected her with a smile.

"Yeah, them." Noriko nodded as she gestured towards where the Warbound were sitting with Skaar in the backyard. My bratty brother would never admit it but I could see that he was warming up to them very fast.

"It's eye opening. Seeing people who attacked New York and defeat the Avengers along with Hulk just sitting around a kid and having fun." Noriko muttered with a faraway look in her face.

"You sound surprised." I said with a raised eyebrow while Noriko looked away.

"The only interaction we had with the… culture of Sakaar was when your father beat us all up. I can't help but have some biased views that are being challenged by what I'm seeing now." The blue haired mutant said and I could only nod. It wasn't exactly something I was pleased about, but it was definitely understandable.

As much as I wanted it to be otherwise, there was an actual reason people were so afraid of father even though people like Sentry and Thor existed as well. With those two people tended to be at ease, they couldn't help but feel that they were with someone like them. Someone who was relatively harmless.

The Hulk on the other hand… His rage, his strength and his mannerisms; they never let the people forget the one important truth about the 'supers' around them.

'This guy can kill me.'

For a normal civilian, the knowledge of a being that could easily kill them and his acts never letting them even pretend that fact didn't exist… it must be quite sad to be so weak.

Not that Richards and his band of genius morons had that excuse, wonder if I could mess with them without causing issues for myself?

"What was it like? On Sakaar?" Noriko asked me with a tilt of her head and I frowned as I gripped my chin.

"From what I gathered, Sakaar is somewhat similar to deserts of this world. Ridiculously hot days and ridiculously cold nights. If one is not prepared then they will end up dead simply standing on the planet. And that is without mentioning the beasts of the planet, which are even scarier than this horror country called Australia." I said with utmost seriousness which somehow seemed to make Noriko laugh.

"Heh, and what about the people?" She asked between giggles and I continued.

"People are… varied. There were those who were weak, mostly those who spent their whole lives in the so called civilization. Bunch of self righteous assholes. The ones who actually lived on Sakaar were different, they became accustomed to the dangers of the planet and could survive the nights were the beasts roamed. Though this also had the unfortunate side effect of making them into psychopaths." I said with a shrug as I remembered the Axeman Bone and Omaka who were powerful warriors with very unpleasant personalities.

"Sounds similar to some people of this world." Noriko snorted and I had to smile, she was fun.

"Maybe, but your world also seems to have those who can go against those kind of people in order to protect others. The only one on Sakaar who actually did that was father, and then the Warbound." I said with a smile.

"Cool story." A familiar voice came from behind us and I ended up eye to eye with Illyana when I turned around.

"Would have been far better with some bloody details though." She said with a smile which seemed to unnerve Noriko while I smiled back.

"The stories on Sakaar tend to skip over the bloody parts, it would be rather tiresome to hear the same things in every story otherwise." My words seemed to amuse the Russian mutant so I continued.

"So; are you here to continue the, what was it again, hazing?"

"Hah, no. No we'll continue that later. Cyclops wants to see you, said that there was something he wanted to discuss."

"Then please, lead the way."

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AN

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