Ch.3

When Odin, Frigga and Loki came to visit, they hardly recognized their far more humble son and brother. He'd been beaten into a different mold even if his stubborn pride remained in part. He and Song-Wu, the newest generations ring bearer as the armies called him, battled it out in the field and came toe to toe in a tie. I stopped the fight because they'd have killed one another otherwise and congratulated Thor, telling him his pride was no longer in his own way, even if it remained inside him.

I sighed and told them if we had more time he would likely learn to set it aside when necessary. I gestured to my master at arms as they brought forth their armor and weapons from training as well as a box. "Inside you'll find a gift from us, armbands of leaders and warriors alike. One for each of you, marking you as official members of the Ten Rings. With them you may call on aid to any battle in any dimension or world. You may be of Asgard, but from now until the end of time, you are warriors worthy of our loyalty."

They saluted me with a fist over their hearts and I nodded before telling them. "Though you prefer your Asgardin armor, it is tradition that warriors of the Ten Rings pass on their armors to their children and teach them our ways. You may do so or do as you please with them. They were made for you and as such they are yours to do as you wish with."

I turned to Odin. "I've kept my word King Odin. You may question them on my methods and that of their training at your leisure. Now, I do believe it is time we go."

He nodded slowly and had Heimdall open the Bifrost. I nodded to my men and Song-Wu took over leading them. I spent years learning magics from Frigga and Odin, dining in their halls and even helping in battles across the nine realms. One evening Sif and I got drunk, ending up in bed together.

That was a mistake I wouldn't be repeating because she was still pining over Thor. Still, she was quite satisfied and happy the next day. I told her that I couldn't stay and she couldn't stay on earth so we agreed to let go when it was time for me to leave. Several more years passed before I'd learned all they knew of magic and even understood how the bifrost was made and worked.

Sif sent me off with a smile as much as she could anyways and I returned to earth just before the seventeen hundreds. The Ten Rings were as solid as ever and while I wasn't recognized at first, the grandchildren of my last army soon came to realize who I was. Everything fell into place and life goes on as they say. The Ten Rings became myth and legend and the warriors became assassins and spies.

Be it open combat or other more secretive missions, the Ten Rings excelled and we brought war to the Hand and Hydra, infiltrating their ranks and killing a great many. They were always under constant threat and unfortunately they were great at hiding. So there I was in a speakeasy in New York in the nineteen twenties just after the First World War ended, watching Hydra agents and getting intel like many of my warriors.

We changed with the times and added more technology to our armor and weapons. My men spied on Wakanda and advanced our technology fast. Hydra got smart and it became harder and harder to tell them apart as they blended in with normal society. So in the end we had to wait and watch, playing the long game.

When World War Two began, Hydra had gotten arrogant and it cost them. My people however had been busy studying Erskine's formula and the vita ray machine. They were able to reproduce both so all of the ten rings army had a super soldier boost, even me. It had been painful and exhausting, but I was the first to try out the perfected serum after seeing it's effects on Steve Rogers.

I went from six foot four to six foot eight and my muscles were far more compact and durable. Add to that the super human reflexes, strength, speed and instincts of the heart shaped herb and I was damned near Asgardian levels of strong. The Ten Rings descended on Hydra when it reared it's head with the advanced weapons using the tesseract as a power source. Most of Hydra's bases fell within a month and the allied forces eventually caught up to us when Captain America helped free his troops from a Hydra base.

My men and I were there, killing every Hydra agent there was down to the last man. Only Arnim Zola managed to survive because he hid inside a forcefield created by his inventions and powered by the tesseract. I took their base locations and we left before the self destruct finished. Steve and his men invited us back to their camp and I waved my men off, leaving with Steve while they went to hunt down the rest of Hydra.

I met with Colonel Philips, Agent Carter and even Howard Stark. There, I told them my very long story, saying I was a man out of time instead of from an alternate reality. I told them how I found the rings, gained immortality and survived two and a half million years. I told them how I learned of the time stone that acts like the tesseract only with time and how I helped make a shield around the planet to defend earth.

I told them of Hydra's origins, of the Hand's origins and that my men and I have been hunting them for thousands of years. They were baffled, but when I showed them my glowing hand of chi, created a portal and used my rings to create a barrier, they genuinely believed me. I told them that the Ten Rings had always been and would always be the protectors of earth so long as I lived. I stood up and told them that they could consider us allies so long as they hunted Hydra or the Hand.

I left through a portal I opened and wished them luck in their war against Hitler and the Red Skull. Many Hydra bases fell quickly and through inquiry we were able to ferret out several of the hidden Hydra supporters who had influence before the final base was attacked by the allied forces. We arrived too late and Steve went under the ice so we disappeared into the shadows, hunting Hydra and the Hand in secret while fighting dark witches, dark sorcerers and all the other shit that followed.

The new super soldier upgrades made it damned easy to fight and win against them they hid deep and it took longer to find them. I built a global company called TR Industries, starting from New York and spanning e very country on earth. Ten thousand trained warriors became a hundred thousand while maintaining covers and watching for threats.

The masters of the mystic arts order was just a small group so they couldn't cover as much territory as we could. Shield became a thing and up until the late seventies, it wasn't even of interest to us. That's when they'd begun testing on the tesseract they'd found and alerted the Kree and Skrulls, bringing another war to earth. When the big issues became apparent in the nineties with a fleet of Kree ships, my armies portaled into the ships and killed most of the Kree before taking two of the ships.

They left when Captain Marvel destroyed the main ship and we now had two Kree ships at our disposal. They were traded for weapons on Xandar after the technology was studied by my scientists. Being that we were Stark Industries biggest non military competitor after that, I'd met with Howard again and he recognized me from back in the day. We became friends over the next two decades and his own son had visited Ta Lo as a boy when I brought Howard there.

I gifted little Tony with a pair of Vibranium and dragon scale gloves that would automatically adjust to his size. He asked for my name and I was stumped as I'd gone by The Ancient or Master for so long I'd almost forgotten I had a name. I smiled wryly and told him he could call me Oz, since it was all I remembered of my name. He called me the wizard of Oz and I chuckled with Howard before telling him of the dragon scales and that they were a gift from the dragon who sleeps below the water and protects Ta Lo when times are bad.

I told him some day he may have to help protect the world so when he does he'll need his own protections as well. I explained that the gloves can give him that. I waved to two warriors fighting in combat with the same gloves and one using a sword. He watched in fascination as the sword was stopped by the gloves each time.

The sword traded hand faster than most people could react and I smiled. "Sometimes armor is all one needs to stave off the darkness. We are the world's armor and our only mission is to protect the whole world, not just one country over another. Those that join the Ten Rings swear off loyalty and ties to anyone and thing and swear to go forth with a single minded goal, to protect the world."

He called us superheroes and some of the men and women chuckled before I shook my head. "We aren't heroes kid. What we do we do in secret. Our names will never be written in the annuls of history and our deeds will never come to light unless the world is in great peril. Heroes are different. They inspire people to do better and be better. They give hope in the darkness of despair. We thrive in darkness and seek to end all those who would expand it. We aren't heroes kid, we're guardians of earth. We are the Ten Rings!"

There was a shouting salute of a thousand warriors in agreement.