32 31. The Battle Nears
'Well, that was a bust...' Jerry sighed. 'And here I was thinking of going to Asgard as well, helping Thor save his mom in return for him helping me get the Aether sounded like a solid plan..'
Well, at the very least, he would've tried to save Thor's mom. He doesn't know if Frigga's death is an absolute point or not, but Jerry would have made the effort nonetheless.
As a son himself, he couldn't help but empathize with Thor. But no matter, Jerry had a backup plan – a raid on Knowhere. This would happen when Asgard naively gives Aether to Taneleer Tivan, The Collector, for safekeeping.
But raiding that place would increase his chances of getting exposed to Thanos.
"Excuse me, but you all will have to come with us!" A policeman interrupted Jerry's contemplation with an absurd command.
"Pietro..." Jerry said, and just then all the policemen disappeared from their places. Only their empty cars remained.
Moments later, Pietro appeared with a nonchalant demeanor, clapping the dust off his hands. "Are you always gonna use me for silly errands?"
Shortly after, Wanda also came down from the stealth ship, she gave him a wry smile.
"Now that we're on Earth after such a long time, is there anything you all want to do?" Jerry addressed his companions.
They hadn't stepped on Earth's surface for a year, but thanks to the advanced artificial environment of the ship they didn't suffer from any repercussions after returning.
"We're some of the most wanted people on Earth, and you're seriously suggesting we roam around carelessly?" Wanda gave a mocking smile.
"Hah, don't worry. Most ordinary people are unaware of the people on the wanted list. Besides, right now they're busy with something else. And~ I'm literally inside the S.H.E.I.L.D's servers. Come on, don't hesitate to enjoy yourself, is there anything that you want to do or not?"
Wanda closed her eyes with an amused expression, seemingly in contemplation. "Okay, let's just have a coffee at a cozy cafe..."
Jerry just nodded, but the place is a bit far from here, he can't walk there in his costume and he doesn't want to use the stealth ship... but then his eyes went towards Darcy who was staring at them from a distance.
"Excuse me, Miss Darcy." Jerry called out to Jane's intern, "Do you think you can drop us off at a nearby cafe?"
Darcy flinched.
She was usually a chill and nonchalant person, but in front of these strange super-powered people, she was a bit nervous. And how was she going to deny these possibly dangerous people when neither Thor nor Jean were here?
"..."
"..."
A moment of awkward silence ensued.
.
.
.
.
Since Darcy's car had only space for 4 people, Ian decided to go home on his own.
Darcy's driving was as chaotic as it could be, the sudden turns around the alleyways sometimes caused Wanda to yelp in a cute voice.
Upon reaching the cafe, they all ordered beverages, with Darcy joining them unexpectedly. No one objected to her presence.
Jerry refrained from ordering, unable to drink through his visor. Exposing half his face in public was out of the question.
That's when Wanda used her powers to make all the guests leave the cafe and made the staff do their work ignoring their presence. Her mastery over her powers have increased by leaps and bounds in the past year.
Well, she could have made the other customers ignore their presence as well without making them leave but she kinda wanted an empty cafe...
"Now you can drink comfortably," Wanda smiled.
Jerry also nodded with a smile behind his visor, "Sure. Then... I'll have a cold coffee. And also hide my face from Darcy too."
Wanda chuckled, "Already did, I know that you can be a bit paranoid sometimes."
After a brief coffee break, it was time to leave.
"See ya, guys!" Darcy bid her farewells as she drove off, having become friends with them.
"Well then... Now it's time to go back to Mars..."
As he announced, ancient scriptures appeared beneath their feet, and they found themselves enveloped in a pillar of brilliant colors—the Bifrost.
"Holy Shit!!!!" Pietro exclaimed....
"Woah!!"
"Fuck Yeah!!!"
And so did Wanda and Jerry, Jerry was the happiest one. There was only reason they were being summoned to Asgard and he was sure why. The first phase of plan was a success...
Jerry grabbed Wanda's waist for her support. The turbulence was intense.
'Is there something going on between these guys? Earlier, in the cafe, Wanda also wiped the coffee off his face with a napkin too...' Pietro silently took another note of the growing closeness of his sister with the alien...
But his focus was again grabbed by the vibrant colors of the Bifrost. The turbulence wasn't causing much trouble for him, he was a speedster after all.
When they exited the Bifrost, they were greeted by Heimdall, Thor, and Jane.
As Jerry saw Thor with a serious expression, he couldn't help but smirk behind his mask and thank him internally for his successful entry into Asgard.
"I take it that now you all are aware of the gravity of the situation?" Jerry asked.
Thor sighed, his concern evident. "Father doesn't know the method to remove the Aether from Jane's body. And from what he confirmed about Aether, the existence of Dark elves cannot be ignored as well. As you're the person who claimed to know about Aether, I have decided to place my trust in you."
Thor sighed and looked at Jane, before continuing, "And if those Dark Elves really dare to come after my Jane, then they would bear my wrath..."
Jerry raised his brows, impressed by Thor's commitment to Jane. 'Truly worthy of Thor.'
"Right, we should get the Aether out of her body as soon as possible, its harming Jane's body as we speak. But the equipment I need is in my ship. Can Heimdall summon it through Bifrost?" Jerry inquired.
Well, the mothership was too huge of a vessel to get through the Bifrost's small entrance. The Bifrost's main targets of transportation are Asgardians— Asgardian Army...
As such, Jerry had to manually call it here. He had to send the coordinates of Asgard to his ship through his wrist terminal. The signal couldn't pass through at first but Heimdall did some wizardry and then it connected somehow.
Jerry didn't ask the logic behind it, he knew that it was incomprehensible for him right now anyway.
The mothership would arrive here in a couple of hours. Till then they were free to tour the place.
Thor's additional guests caused Odin to release another exasperated sigh, but he ignored them for now. Just for a day, he would allow Thor to bring his friends as he wanted.
At the chance of freely roaming around the mystical place, Pietro couldn't hold his excitement and he disappeared to who knows where.
Jerry and Wanda decided to give Thor and Jane some alone and took a look around on their own for a bit. Asgard looked really pleasant to the eyes and it also had a good amount of defense mechanisms installed at strategic spots.
'But there isn't enough to stop an invasion when it really happens. Clearly, they don't think that it could happen to them.'
In a couple of hours, the mothership arrived, it was quite a spectacle to see the ginormous mothership at the edge of Asgard.
Jerry took a snapshot of it.
The mothership was parked on the top of a flat mountain, located in the empty regions of Asgard. Jerry didn't delay further to go into the ship and order every one of the soldiers to get battle-ready. Well, it was just a simple line of command in the control center...
He also took the Sceptre with him, for the upcoming battle it was going to be a crucial tool.
The fight to defend against the Dark Elves invasion was near. He has already spotted the right-hand man of Malakith infiltrating the prison wards.
Even though Jerry could've stopped that one, he didn't. The reason for that is he wants to capture Malekith alive.
Now, he was not underestimating him. Jerry just really wants Malekith's knowledge about the Aether.
These Dark Elves had possessed the Aether, or the Reality Stone for the longest time. They have made weapons, ships, and whatnot using the power of this relic.
By brainwashing and then copying the memories of the big bad of the Dark Elves in this battle, he was going to stop the tragedy that was going to befall Asgard but mostly get a better understanding of Reality Stone's working and behavior.
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