After the brief but intense Battle of New York, the exhausted Avengers finally got a short period of rest. All in all, they probably would not have much to do for a while. They could rest easy and wait for the aftermath to be dealt with.
Fighting aliens and protecting Earth might have been the Avengers' duty, but duty did not put food on the table! The Avengers had risked their lives and completed their mission beyond expectations, so of course they deserved rewards! Whether from S.H.I.E.L.D. or the World Security Council, there had to be some kind of recognition. That much could not be skipped! Both fame and profit!
This was a matter of principle! You could not chill your subordinates' hearts by making them bleed and cry! Otherwise, who would risk their lives for you in the future?
In fact, Iron Man Tony was already planning to apply for compensation to rebuild Stark Tower. Just look at him—he had fought desperately and defeated the aliens, only for his own home to be smashed flat by them in the end! They could not possibly leave him homeless, could they? They had to pay him something, even if only as a token gesture.
Of course, Bruce Banner, the Hulk, was an exception. The whole Battle of New York had ended before he showed up on a slow, beat-up motorcycle. Who knew whether he had done it on purpose? You could not underestimate him just because he looked so honest and harmless!
Naturally, S.H.I.E.L.D. handled the postwar cleanup. The military, which arrived afterward, also jumped in, claiming to protect civilians and eliminate the remaining alien forces. In truth, they were frantically collecting every kind of Chitauri weapon and piece of equipment they could find.
You had to understand, this was alien equipment! Even getting hold of a little of it could let military technology take a huge leap forward! The biggest alien ship fragments were difficult to touch, since both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the entire world were watching them. But they could still get their hands on scattered items, such as the Chitauri's individual weapons, antigravity flyers, metal alloy fragments, and so on... New York was full of such things now. They were all necessities for any nation hoping to obtain a ticket to the universe!
Meanwhile, all sorts of bitter arguments began appearing on major television channels. Some were meant to calm the public, while others condemned the military for doing nothing! Even more shockingly, quite a few stations dropped a bombshell: someone had ignored the S.H.I.E.L.D. director's objections and insisted on ordering a nuclear strike on New York! If the Avengers had not been capable enough to take down even the nuke, New York would already have been nuked flat! And this extraordinary revelation came with pictures, videos, and evidence!
Once the furious public learned of this, all sorts of protest letters and emails flooded the White House inbox at once! That was not all. Protesters began demonstrating, holding up banners and shouting slogans as they blocked the gates. They demanded an explanation and severe punishment for those responsible!
Of course, none of the worldwide turmoil sparked by the alien invasion of New York had anything to do with Annie. At that moment, she was secretly curled up in her little room. After shutting and locking the door, she lay under the blankets and counted her spoils: an unusually shaped Staff and a square, strange gem glowing with pale blue light!
Ha! Tibbers, look! We finally got rich! Take a look—these are two divine artifacts, you know! Two of them!
Annie lay on the bed with a sly gleam in her eyes. Her Little Bear, Tibbers, sat beside her, while in front of them lay the spoils Annie had collected after yesterday's Battle of New York: Loki's scepter, or Staff? And the Tesseract, or perhaps the Space Stone, one of the Infinity Stones?
Clearly, Annie did not care much about those names. Anyway, they belonged to her now, and no one was taking them away! She planned to give them new names to establish ownership. Hmm, perhaps she could keep it simple and call them: Annie's Staff and Annie's Gem?
The Space Stone, or the Tesseract, was a square, cube-shaped gem that emitted pale blue energy fluctuations. Annie discovered that it seemed to possess limitless energy in this world. What a strange little thing! It was very likely the product of certain laws. In any case, it was amazing.
Its limitless energy alone made it worthy of being called a divine artifact! If word got out, it would be enough to trigger a world war! But that was not what Annie valued most about it. She did not care about energy or anything like that. What Annie truly wanted was its ability to open spatial portals. That was what mattered most!
Annie could now basically confirm that the culprit responsible for inexplicably teleporting her from the Voodoo Lands to Earth had been this Space Stone! After studying it closely at such close range, Annie was one hundred percent certain. It was this bad thing that had brought her to Earth. If she wanted to go home, she would definitely need its help.
Lying horizontally beside the Space Stone was Loki's scepter. No, it was Annie's Staff now! It was an unusually shaped Staff that Annie's Little Bear—uh... Tibbers—had sent flying with one swipe of his paw during the battle! But Annie had found it again at the first opportunity.
Finding something that gave off such intense magical fluctuations was ridiculously easy for a mage like Annie! She had plenty of ways to get it without anyone noticing! While everyone else was still fumbling around the ruins looking for it, the Staff had long since been safely tucked away in little Annie's Spatial Pocket.
Annie already knew this scepter's power. The gem on it seemed to be the same kind of thing as the Space Stone. Aside from its nearly limitless energy, the Staff's special quality was its ability to control people's minds—or, more precisely, control souls?
It seemed capable of allowing its wielder to enter another person's mind and control them! However, it did not seem particularly effective against highly intelligent beings. Hawkeye's easy betrayal was proof enough. Annie felt that it might work better on creatures without much intelligence, or on the Undead? It was probably an evil thing, but Annie liked it!
Because it had been made into a Staff, this gem had gained another power besides limitless energy and mind control: it could deploy a magical shield! Empowered by infinite energy, this shield was practically impossible to break with magic! Annie had personally tested that yesterday.
The only pity was that the shield did not protect against physical attacks. Its strengths were obvious, and its weaknesses were even more obvious! Even so, it fully deserved to be called a divine artifact. Infinite energy, magic immunity, and powerful control effects? It was undoubtedly a divine artifact. No one could deny that!
Seeing the two divine artifacts, Tibbers began to get ideas. Great Master Annie! Considering how hard I fought, and how diligently I've served you for all these years, how about giving me one? That Staff, maybe? What do you think? Just imagine it—if I held the Staff, I'd become immune to magical damage! And I'm already immune to physical damage, so I'd be Invincible from then on... Wouldn't that be wonderful?
No! They're both mine! Annie rushed forward and shielded both the gem and the Staff with her body. They were hers, and no one was taking them away—not even Tibbers!
Tibbers, you have to understand, you're my Little Bear! Even if I gave you the Staff, your things would still be my things. Even if I really gave it to you, it would still belong to me, because you yourself belong to me. So there was no need for us to split anything, right?
Besides! You saw it yesterday. When that Staff had its shield activated, it couldn't move. If you couldn't move, you couldn't fight. Were you expecting enemies to run up to you and let you bite them?
Tsk! That really was true. After thinking it over, Tibbers could only reluctantly abandon his dream of becoming a Staff-wielding bear!
"Mm! This stone needs more time to study before I can figure it out. Then it's decided! Tibbers, let's go take a bath. Aunt Melinda should have already prepared the bathwater." Annie waved her hand and swept both items into her Spatial Pocket.
Studying the Space Stone was not something that could be completed in a short time. On top of that, Annie was not particularly skilled in spatial magic herself, so that was all she could do for now! But Annie knew of a place, and a person who should be quite proficient in spatial magic. When she had time, she would go find her! Considering how obedient, clever, and adorable Annie was, she might... no! She would definitely teach her, right?
What? She would not teach her? Impossible! Annie was so adorable—how could anyone bear not to teach her? If such a person really existed, she had to be a bad person! Annie was especially good at dealing with bad people, and her Little Bear Tibbers was especially good at persuading people with his claws! If that person really refused to teach her, then she could let Little Bear have a good talk with her. There would not be any problem then!
No! No! I don't want a bath! I'm a Shadow Bear! I'm fire-aligned! I don't like soaking in water! This is animal abuse! I protest!
"Be good, Tibbers! You fought yesterday! If you don't bathe, you'll start smelling bad! And then I won't want to hold you while I sleep!" Annie grabbed Tibbers by the arm and skipped toward the large bathroom downstairs! As for Tibbers's protest? Did that matter?
At the World Security Council headquarters, a group of high-ranking Council members were holding a meeting in a secret conference room. The atmosphere was somewhat tense. It seemed today's topic would not be very popular!
"Go on, say what you think. What exactly should we do now?" One Council member with a dark expression was the first to open the discussion.
"Heh! What do you mean, what should we do? What does it have to do with me? I wasn't the one who proposed dropping a nuke yesterday!" another council member replied dismissively. As a qualified politician, he was extremely familiar with passing the buck and shirking responsibility!
If the aliens had been wiped out directly after the nuke was launched yesterday, he might have stepped forward to claim some credit and become one of Earth's unsung heroes! But now? Heh heh, the aliens had been dealt with by a few Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Those who had supported launching the nuke would not only receive no credit at all, but would also be covered in trouble! The public outside was waiting for a scapegoat. He would not stupidly speak up and make himself miserable.
"That's right! I said back then that you couldn't just throw around nuclear weapons, but you refused to listen! Now look at you. Regretting it, aren't you?" Another council member also turned his back on the past, completely denying the fact that he had not opposed it at all yesterday.
"Enough. Things have come to this. I think you should show some responsibility. Since you were the one who proposed it, you should take responsibility now! Perhaps you are no longer suitable for such an important position. Everyone, let's vote!" The person seated at the head of the table finally spoke, delivering a conclusion on the matter.
"Seconded!"
"Seconded!"
"Seconded!"
The resolution passed smoothly. They had found their scapegoat. The Council member who had proposed launching the nuclear missile yesterday was dismissed immediately! The news would be announced at once. The World Security Council's embarrassing situation would surely improve soon. Having accomplished their goal of passing the buck, the members filed out of the conference room without even looking at the pitiful man slumped in his chair.
"Those bastards!" After everyone ignored his objections and directly voted to remove him from office, Malik, the Council member who had spoken first, was so furious that his entire face twisted. He was Malik, a current member of the World Security Council and one of Hydra's leaders—a real-life 007!
He had been the first to propose launching the nuclear missile yesterday. Besides eliminating the aliens, he had also intended to wipe out the Avengers along with them. After all, the Avengers had been secretly created by that black-faced Nick Fury behind the Council's back, and they only listened to him. Malik believed they posed far too great a threat to Hydra, especially after watching the footage of their battle in New York!
But now, the people who had sworn so confidently to support his proposal yesterday had sold him out at the first opportunity! What a bunch of bastards! Malik had spent so many years scheming his way to this point, yet all those years of effort had been destroyed in a single day? His Council seat was just gone like that?
Perhaps it was time for Hydra to emerge from the shadows. Malik wore a dark expression, his mind filled with sinister thoughts. Since they would not give him what he wanted, could he not simply take it himself?
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