The Helicarrier and the Stolen Scepter
The epilogue and the Quinjet heading back to New York held Barton, Coulson, me, and Darcy. Agent Coulson stared at me with a serious expression and asked, “Jin… you knew Thor’s true identity and you possess that kind of power. Who exactly are you?”
“Weren’t you the ones who brought me in knowing that? A wealthy college student who came to New York to study abroad, Tony Stark’s friend, and someone Director Fury personally requested for this operation…”
“We’re curious about abilities that far exceed what we knew about you.”
“That’s because your information was lacking. Like I told Fury before, if I were your enemy I wouldn’t be hanging around with you all laughing and chatting like this. Just think of me as a strong but curious Korean exchange student.”
“That’s a relief. Good to know you’re not an enemy.”
“Hey, Jin?”
“You’re not calling me ‘kid’ anymore, Barton?”
“Sorry if that offended you.”
“Hahahahaha, I’m just messing with you.”
I watched Barton, who had been secretly sighing in tension while piloting the Quinjet, and let out a soft laugh before turning to Darcy.
“What did you tell Jane before you left?”
“I said I was taking a week off! Oh, and Dr. Selvig joined the research on this side too.”
At Darcy’s words, I glanced at Coulson.
“Does SHIELD need Dr. Selvig for something?”
“Yes. We require his assistance. It would be best if you heard the details from the Director.”
The Tesseract, huh? There were still about two years until the start of The Avengers, so I figured I might as well travel around America and enjoy myself in the meantime.
“Then, Darcy, want to stick together during your vacation?”
“That’s exactly why I followed you.”
After landing at the SHIELD headquarters building and saying goodbye to Coulson and Barton, I headed straight to a hotel with Darcy. I had secretly booked a suite room on the way back in the Quinjet and kept it a surprise.
When we arrived at the hotel, gave my name, and reached the suite floor, Darcy’s eyes widened in shock as she ran around the luxurious room in excitement. I watched her with a warm smile.
We unpacked our bags and went out on a date. Time passed, and on the day Darcy’s vacation ended and she had to leave…
“Come visit often! I’ll come see you too!”
“I’ll be pretty busy for a while, so I won’t be able to visit that often. But if you come, you’ll hang out with me again, right?”
“Of course. Anytime.”
We hugged after saying that, and she waved goodbye before leaving. We weren’t officially dating or anything. We just kept a good relationship and decided to meet up and have fun whenever we could.
After that, I traveled around America—New York, LA, and more—occasionally meeting up with Darcy for dates and passing the time. Then, two years later…
> -Hey!
> -Is it finally starting??
> -Avengers time!!!
I had turned on the stream occasionally over the past two years like a vlog, wandering around and broadcasting. I had told the viewers that the next proper stream would be during The Avengers, so I spent those two years mostly off-air.
“Nice to see you all again, everyone! It might only feel like a day for you viewers, but it’s been almost two years for me, so I’m really glad to be back!”
“I traveled all over the place, went sightseeing, and even visited Korea.”
“It’s a bit different, but honestly not that much has changed.”
“Oh that sounds fun. I’ll do a viewer vote later, pick one winner, and go visit! Alright, since it’s almost time for Avengers 1 to kick off, I’m thinking of heading over to Stark Tower and hanging out there. If I’m around, I should naturally get pulled into the events, right?”
A few days passed like that, and then I got a call from Natasha.
“Jin, can you come to Director Fury right now?”
“What’s going on?”
“Barton’s betrayed us! You’ll hear the details when you get to Director Fury.”
“Got it. I’ll head to the SHIELD office.”
“No, I’ll come pick you up. The destination isn’t the main SHIELD headquarters.”
A short while later, I got into the car she brought and we headed somewhere. There was a Quinjet waiting.
“We’re here, Jin. You can get off now.”
As I boarded the Quinjet, I asked Natasha, “Are we heading over the ocean? Or up in the sky?”
I already knew we were going to the Helicarrier, so I asked to tease her. She looked at me with an expression that said she was completely fed up.
“How did you know that too? It’s still floating over the ocean right now.”
“Can I take commemorative photos when we get there?”
“As long as you promise not to leak them anywhere, do whatever you want.”
The Quinjet we were on took off. I kept flirting with Natasha the whole way, but she said I gave off the same playboy vibe as Tony.
“Still, I’m better than Tony though…”
Before long, the massive Helicarrier floating far out over the ocean came into view.
When we arrived at the Helicarrier, I took selfies with Natasha, wandered around taking pictures of everything, and explored the place.
“Stop taking so many photos and come over here. I have someone to introduce you to.”
I walked over to Natasha who was calling me and extended my hand.
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Banner. I’m Jin.”
“Yes… nice to meet you too.”
“It looks like I’ll be the one assigned to go retrieve the Tesseract once you find it. I’ll have to hear it from Fury to be sure.”
While I was shaking hands with Banner, another Quinjet landed and Coulson stepped out with Captain America—Steve Rogers.
Steve shook hands with Banner, then looked at me and offered his hand.
“I’ve seen your abilities in the files. Impressive. Looking forward to working with you.”
“Nice to meet you, Captain. I’m a huge fan.”
“Hahaha, I heard a lot about that from Coulson on the way here. Anyway, thanks.”
“Gentlemen? Shall we head inside? It’s going to get hard to breathe out here soon.”
Steve and Banner walked toward the edge of the Helicarrier.
“You’re telling me to ride that hunk of metal into the ocean?”
At Banner’s words, Natasha laughed and shrugged.
The massive propellers beside the Helicarrier began to spin, and as the entire structure slowly rose into the sky, both Banner and Rogers let out stunned, disbelieving laughs.
We followed Natasha inside the Helicarrier, where Fury was waiting for us. Steve handed Fury ten dollars and began looking around the interior.
“Thank you for coming, Dr. Banner. And thank you for coming as well.”
After shaking hands with Fury, Banner asked, “I appreciate the polite invitation. How long do I need to stay?”
“You can leave anytime once we recover the Tesseract.”
“What’s the current search status?”
At Banner’s question, Fury pointed at Coulson, who answered, “We’ve tapped into every wireless camera on the planet.”
At Coulson’s words, Natasha looked at us and said, “We’re running out of time.”
After thinking for a moment, Banner explained to Fury that they needed to narrow the search parameters.
“Align all the spectrometers you have to gamma radiation. I’ll create a gamma tracking algorithm. Where will I be working?”
“Romanoff? Please escort him to the lab.”
“Follow me. You’ll like it. It’s full of toys.”
Banner followed Natasha to the lab. Fury then invited Steve and me to sit down and continued the briefing.
“Jin, do you have any information on the opponent we’re dealing with?”
“His name is Loki, the God of Mischief. You already know that much, right? I heard from a drunk Thor once that his half-brother isn’t that physically strong, but his magic—learned from their mother—is outstanding. He can basically shapeshift, so he could disguise himself as any one of us. And true to his title as the God of Mischief, he mainly uses illusion magic.”
“I see. Since you met Thor two years ago, you might have heard about it. Plus, he used a spear-like weapon to brainwash Barton, so we’ll have to keep that in mind when preparing for battle.”
Steve, who had been listening, looked at me and asked, “Then do we have any countermeasures?”
“We don’t have any specific countermeasures against magic yet. We’ll just have to beat him down with pure physical force.”
Steve nodded and said he would think of a plan until Banner located the Tesseract, then called Coulson over to show us around.
“Coulson, got any beer?”
“Alcohol is prohibited during operations.”
I laughed at Steve’s dead-serious tone and replied, “Moderate drinking helps relieve tension. You should loosen up a bit too, Steve. If you stay too tense, you might end up making mistakes instead.”
When we reached the lounge-slash-waiting area, I accepted a beer from Coulson and tossed one to Steve. He didn’t drink it and just set it on the table.
We chatted about various things until Fury called for us, and we returned to the previous meeting room.
“Loki has appeared in Germany. Steve, Jin, Natasha—go capture him and retrieve the Tesseract.”
Following Fury’s orders, we headed to Germany. There we saw a guy with antlers arrogantly standing while forcing people to kneel.
When Loki pointed his spear at an old man who was resisting and prepared to attack, Captain jumped down from the Quinjet and blocked the strike with his shield. The civilians evacuated while Captain and Loki began to fight. I stayed back and simply watched for now.
“Aren’t you going down, Jin?”
“Something feels off.”
“What do you mean?”
In response to Natasha’s question, I said it was strange that Loki had appeared so boldly in a crowded area.
“Loki has more than enough ability to move around while hiding himself, yet he showed up so openly. It feels like he’s trying to lure us in.”
“Maybe he’s just arrogant?”
“Then why did he come alone and leave Barton and the other brainwashed agents behind?”
Natasha pondered my words for a moment. Right then, loud music suddenly blared—someone had apparently hacked the Quinjet—and Tony appeared.
Ziiiing— BOOM!!
Iron Man flew straight at Loki and fired a repulsor blast. He aimed every weapon he had at Loki in a threatening manner, and Loki raised his hands in surrender.
Inside the Quinjet on the way back…
“Long time no see, Jin!”
“Have you been well, Tony?”
“I heard you’ve been busy traveling lately. You came all the way here?”
“Well, Fury asked for help. Plus I have a connection with Barton.”
After chatting for a bit, Loki looked at me and said, “So it’s you. The one who destroyed the Destroyer together with my brother.”
“Ah! Nice to meet you, Loki! That face-melting heat ray of yours is pretty strong, but it’s kinda slow.”
Loki let out a dry laugh and turned his head away. I pulled out my smartphone, made sure they were all in frame, and took a selfie. Tony throwing up a peace sign, Steve looking calm, and Loki making a dumbfounded face—all captured in the photo. Then I moved to the seat next to Natasha, snapped a picture of her piloting, and continued chatting with the viewers.
Just then lightning struck, and Loki flinched, shrinking his neck and looking around nervously.
“Are you scared of lightning?”
“I’m scared of what comes after the lightning.”
Loki answered calmly to Captain’s sarcastic remark. Then—THUD!
There was a heavy impact on the roof of the Quinjet. Moments later the door opened and Thor entered, immediately smacking Tony with his hammer before grabbing Loki and flying outside.
The pissed-off Iron Man chased after Thor. Captain shook his head and started preparing to jump with a parachute.
“He’s basically a being from myth, a god,” Natasha said.
“The only god I know wears different clothes,” Captain replied, then jumped out for a high-altitude drop.
I grinned at Natasha.
“I’ll be right back!”
“Jin!!!”
I strapped on a parachute and leaped out.
“Don’t you just pull this thing?”
After thinking about what to do, I pulled out the Air Force drone from my inventory that came with the hammer and attached myself to it. I activated the thrusters and safely descended while hanging from the flying drone. When I landed, I saw Iron Man, Thor, and Captain—who had thrown his shield to block them—facing off.
Thor, riled up by Captain’s words, slammed his hammer down on the shield. BOOM!!!
The shockwave from Mjolnir striking the vibranium shield spread in all directions, knocking all three of them backward.
As Thor got up to attack again, I approached him.
“It’s been a while, Thor.”
“You are…? Jin! It has been a long time.”
“Let’s stop here for now and come with us. We can talk later.”
Since it was a familiar face, he nodded and returned to the Helicarrier with Loki.
Fury was locking Loki in the detention cell. I mentioned that it seemed too easy, and when Banner called him a crazy bastard, Thor got angry and defended his brother—only to lower his head again when Loki’s past actions were brought up and he admitted they were only half-brothers.
I watched with a small smirk, then followed the late-arriving Tony and Banner to the lab.
There, I watched Tony and Banner modifying the algorithm to locate the Tesseract while they talked. My eyes kept drifting to Loki’s scepter, and I licked my lips.
“Do we really need Vision? I’m more into Scarlet Witch noona.”
After thinking about it briefly, I decided to properly destroy the MCU’s original storyline. I secretly stored Loki’s scepter in my inventory.
I pretended nothing happened and rejoined Tony and Banner’s conversation to create an alibi. A little later Steve stormed in, argued with Tony, and stormed out. Shortly after that, Fury, Natasha, and Thor arrived and the fighting really began.
“Fury, what’s Phase 2?”
THUD!
Steve entered carrying weapons, set them down on the table, and glared at Fury.
“SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons.”
BOOM!!!
The argument continued to escalate until a massive explosion rocked the room.
In that instant I grabbed Natasha and pulled her down to shield her from harm. Nearby, Banner was already transforming into the Hulk in a fit of rage.
“I’ll handle Banner. Natasha, go stop Barton. The attackers definitely include him.”
After sending Natasha off, I cracked my neck left and right to loosen up and stared at the Hulk.
“Between Hulk and Thor, Hulk has a slight edge in pure physical strength, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll fight moderately and then run away.”
GRRRAAAAAHHH!!!
With a beast-like roar, the Hulk charged at me. Renewal Taekwondo [Front Kick]—THWACK!!
I lightly jumped and kicked the tip of my foot under his chin. The impact snapped the Hulk’s head backward. I stepped back slightly, then jumped at him again.
Renewal [Scissors]—CRACK! I twisted my body mid-air and slammed into his face. Then Renewal [Axe]—BOOM!!! I spun downward and smashed the back of his head with the top of my foot.
“Ptoo! Grrrrr…”
The Hulk spat out blood—apparently I had cut the inside of his mouth—and growled. He looked surprisingly fine.
I judged that continuing the fight here could endanger the Helicarrier itself, so I lured the Hulk toward an area with an open view of the outside. Once he followed me out, I hid. Just like in the original story, he grabbed onto a fighter jet that was attacking him from outside and fell toward the ground.
While I was cleaning up the remaining attackers, I spotted a flustered Loki.
“Huh? What are you doing here?”
“Argh! Where is my scepter?!”
I felt a twinge of guilt inside but pretended not to know and provoked him.
“Didn’t your mom teach you to hold onto your things tightly when you go outside so you don’t lose them??”
Enraged by my taunt, Loki charged at me. But thanks to my Observation Haki, I could tell it was an illusion. I ignored him and kicked the empty space beside me.
THWACK! “Ugh!!”
“How did you—?!”
“Idiot! Improve your magic skills. I can see right through it.”
Furious at my provocation, Loki decided the situation was bad and concluded he needed the Chitauri army. He fled.
“Maybe that can go in the inventory too? If not, I’ll secretly close only the portal and hide it again.”
I quickly approached the dying Agent Coulson and fed him a healing potion. Fortunately it wasn’t too late and he recovered.
When Fury arrived afterward, he asked me to pretend I didn’t know anything so the Avengers could unite. I nodded and acted oblivious while Fury lied to the Avengers that Coulson had died.
And so, the Avengers headed for Stark Tower.