35. END OF AN ARC

"What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say? Jesus?" —Peter Quill in Avengers: Infinity War

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"I'm with Harry on this," Natasha spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "Our government decided to send a nuke to New York. We were very lucky not to be blown up. What if the portal had permanently closed or if it went off before Harry could send it up the portal? We wouldn't be here. I intend to keep working with S.H.I.E.L.D. But, I don't think it's wise to give such power to those willing to nuke us.

"Exactly," Harry nodded. "We want to help people, right? That won't be the priority if we're under government control. Our priority will shift from the good of the people to the desires of the government."

"I understand," Steve said, "but I have always taken orders and followed them. I fought in two different armies and accepted orders without question. But I realized that blindly following orders is dangerous. I've seen people suffer because of it."

"There will be no government interference, for now at least," Fury replied. "I have no doubt they may try to get involved in the future, but for now, you don't have to worry. Director Fury is doing everything he can to keep them off your backs. As long as you report to him, that should be enough to satisfy everyone. So, are you going to join?" she asked.

"I'll think about it and give you an answer," Harry responded after a short pause. "I need to discuss this with a few people first."

"Fair enough," Fury replied with a small nod.

"You know, for a wizard, you're not very fun," Tony said to Harry.

"You realize that I can turn all of your alcohol into water?" Harry replied, a hint of a threat in his tone.

"You wouldn't!" Stark gasped in horror.

"Keep pushing and you'll find out," Harry smirked before downing the rest of his drink.

Fury interrupted, "I talked with the council members last night. They're ready to announce the Avengers as official superheroes. They want to name your team a special task force. It will deal with supernatural threats. But there are conditions."

Tony, ever prideful, argued, "To be honest with you, Fury, I don't think they have a choice now. We're already superheroes in the eyes of the general public. So, out with your conditions."

Fury glanced at Tony. He was still wearing his Iron Man suit, even during the meeting. He was clearly not fully recovered from yesterday's battle. "Stark is right. However, the council still can disrupt more interventions from your team. I'm sure you all don't want to become fugitives like the Hulk."

Bruce responded, "Well, what are they going to do with Ross now? The cat's out of the bag, and we all know he's the Red Hulk. Are they going to keep him captive too?"

Fury replied, "Ross is a peculiar case. I can't divulge much, but according to his testimony, he was mind-controlled by Loki. His Hulk transformation was a side project of the super-soldier serum. Loki exploited that. He sped up the project to create another Hulk to fight Banner. Ross retains his position, and his transformation is controlled. He's more sane in his Red Hulk form."

Tony interjected, "Ross is yours to handle. I don't care about what you do with him. What I want to know is, where is our criminal princely god, Loki?"

Fury pointed to the entrance. Coulson and Maria Hill entered. They brought Loki, who was shackled with reinforced bindings for criminals.

Harry finally voiced what was on everyone's mind, "What are we going to do with him?"

Thor interrupted, "He will go with me to Asgard and face Asgardian justice." His tone made it clear there was no other choice in the matter.

While everyone stayed silent at this decision, Tony spoke up. "Thor, your brother killed many people. I don't think he feels any guilt." I would rather he be dead here by our own hands."

Steve corrected him, "Tony, you can't kill a prince on foreign soil, especially one from another realm. We don't want another war. Besides, we can't keep him captive. It's better we let Thor handle Loki."

"Worry not, armored man," Thor said, trying to appease Tony's anger. "Loki will be punished in Asgard. My father is not lenient when it comes to war crimes, and Loki has crossed a line he shouldn't have." "Fine then, what about the Infinity Stones? The Tesseract and Loki's scepter—what are we going to do with those?" Tony demanded.

The Tesseract will return to Asgard's inventory. It was there before getting lost in Midgard. We need it to repair the Bifröst," Thor explained.

"What? Why are you deciding everything, Shakespeare? I'd love to have the Tesseract with me. I could invent a whole new level of technology with that blue box. Why should we give you the Tesseract along with your deranged brother?" Tony argued.

"You don't see the big picture, armored man. You had a single stone, and Thanos sent his army. If you have two of them, he will postpone any prior engagements and come here personally to acquire them. As we are now, we can't even face his henchmen, let alone Thanos. Think wisely. Besides, the Tesseract will be safe in Asgard. As long as my father is there, Thanos will never dare set foot on Asgard," Thor said with a heavy voice. He stressed the threat of keeping two Infinity Stones on Earth.

"He's right, Tony. Let Thor handle the Tesseract. Besides, we have this," said Harry, bringing out the scepter. "While I'd love to keep this to myself, we'll only use it in emergencies. If Thanos comes here in the future, I'm confident I can handle him with this."

"I can't argue with that, now can I?" Tony said, his eyes gleaming at the sight of the scepter, plans already brewing in his mind.

"Right," Harry said, unsure about his own decision.

Natasha, who had been silently listening, spoke up, "That's good and all, but what about Thanos? How can we handle him? From what Loki and Thor said, he has a massive army. Can we even fight a galactic war?"

The topic everyone had been dreading finally came up. This time, Harry answered, "We can't fight a galactic war, so we have to keep the battle on this planet. But we need an army and more personal power. I never thought we had enough manpower to deal with such a large army. I suggest we recruit more super-powered individuals for our cause."

Steve, who shared the same sentiment, added, "Well said, Harry. We need specialized training to deal with the Chitauri more effectively next time. I believe we're not the only ones capable of handling these threats. We'll look for powerful individuals and recruit them if they prove capable."

Hawkeye chimed in, "I think SHIELD agents will also need to up their training regime. So far, they're the only ones capable of standing against this alien threat."

Fury nodded, "Barton is right. I'm going to recruit more people into SHIELD. We're going to be very busy from now on."

Tony stood up, "With all this discussion done, I believe we should address the most important topic." He paused, looking around the room. "We need a base for our team. I suggest we turn this Stark Tower into Avenger Tower." He smirked proudly.

Domino remained silent throughout the discussion, here only to support Harry. While Harry had some reservations, everyone else agreed with Tony's idea.

Reed Richards broke the topic, "Good luck to you all with your Avenger activities. Trust me, being a hero is no fun. We'll remain the Fantastic Four as we were before this. Not to say we won't work with you. If our teams ever need each other, we'll either support or rely on you for help."

Ben Grimm nodded, "It was fun fighting alongside you all, especially Hulk. Even though Hulk isn't much of a team player, haha."

Reed's team stood up, and Reed said, "If you ever need us, hit me up. We'll be here."

With that, the Fantastic Four left the meeting room.

As the door closed behind them, Fury took a deep breath and looked at the remaining team members. "Alright, let's get to work. We have a lot to prepare for."

"Alright," Harry said later. "Admittedly, this was more fun than I expected, but I'm leaving now, so...goodbye everyone."

"Goodbye, Harry," everyone in the room bid Domino and him farewell.

"Let's go, Harry," Domino said, following after him and clinging to his arm.

"Sure," Harry nodded and apparated alongside Domino to his place.

Domino smiled at him and took his arm, and a second later, the two entered their room.

"Well," Domino said, "the Avengers. Do you think it can work?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Harry admitted. "I see a lot of things that can go wrong with it, especially Stark." He paused before continuing. "For now, the Avengers rely on Stark for money. This could cause the team's downfall later. Many different people are together. Each has different experiences and the potential to do a lot of harm. But...I can also see a lot of good that can come if it goes right. It's a gamble."

"Hmm." Domino hummed, her eyes locking onto his.

"Domino?" Harry asked, suddenly realizing she hadn't let go of his arm.

"Harry," she said softly. "Do you think 'we' can work?"

"Honestly...I don't know," Harry replied, his voice equally soft. "But I think we can find out, together."

She moved her hands to his shoulders, pulled him closer, closed her eyes, and kissed him.