Fenrir whined softly, pressing his massive head against her hip. Ciri scratched behind his ears absentmindedly, her mind still racing.
"We'll handle whatever comes," Liam said. "Together."
She looked up at him, searching his face for any trace of doubt. There was none. Finally she spoke.
"Together."
While Liam was soothing Ciri, he had other thoughts in his mind. Opening the multiverse that early wasn't a very good sign. It would throw off his whole story out of the window pretty soon. Scarlet Witch still hadn't awakened and if the other horror beings get close to her and understand how powerful she was, it would be quite problematic.
Though their Wanda wasn't as powerful as the 616 - Wanda but she was close to her level and that meant, he needed to take measures. He would have to visit Sokovia soon.
A few months later…
The days had passed in a strange kind of calmness after Mordo's warning. Liam had taken every precaution he could think of—laying down extra wards, making wards around the city and different cities of the world, even contacting Tony to enhance certain tech measures. Fenrir became even more of a watchdog, alert to every odd scent or movement. Ciri trained harder, pushing herself with a quiet intensity that only Liam and Fenrir seemed to notice.
It was during one such quiet evening that Liam's phone vibrated on the table.
The caller ID made him frown.
Nick Fury.
He swiped to answer."Talk."
"Liam," came Fury's voice, low and clipped. There was noise in the background—sirens, barking orders, gunfire in the distance. "We've got a situation."
"What kind of situation?" Liam asked as he already closed his eyes trying to search for him.
"The worst kind," Fury growled. "The Tesseract's gone."
"What is a Tesseract?" Liam asked knowing full well what that was. He had been waiting for this for sometime now. He had been madly searching for people or creatures that might have crossed the multiverse and since he couldn't find one.
Then it was better to make a ruckus and it would call to them to whatever had crawled into the universe. Tessearct being gone means Loki still followed that path. Maybe Kang wasn't as useless as he thought. Fury soon explained what Tesseract was and how Banner was working on it.
Thankfully he was still alive and with them.
"....it was under heavy lockdown at a secured SHIELD facility. Loki showed up. I would've been dead if it weren't for two of your friends," Fury said. "Eskel and Lambert."
Liam gave him a brief rundown and asked Liam to bring back everyone from their world. As it might need their help.
"I'll call them." Liam agreed. It was really time to bring people together. Their first open fight.
Liam turned to Ciri, who was already pulling on her gear. Fenrir was by her side. They knew that it must have been serious.
"What happened?" Ciri asked.
"Some fishes escaped. It is time we bait them in."
------
4 hours later, a private quinjet—courtesy of Tony Stark—blasted across the skyline, heading toward the rendezvous point.
Inside the aircraft, Ciri checked her blades methodically. Liam sat with his staff across his lap. He could have just teleported but that big piece of shit was already high in the air. Fenrir paced restlessly.
They touched down on the Helicarrier—a massive, floating behemoth suspended above the Atlantic.
The moment Liam stepped out, he could sense the tense atmosphere. The Hellicarrier wasn't very high in the air so they could still land here. Agents were running back and forth, securing systems, fortifying defenses. Soon he went inside.
He spotted Fury immediately, standing near a cluster of people. And he wasn't alone. Tony Stark and others were here too. Yes, Liam had gone to witcher world and brought everyone back. And after coming back, he gave everyone a quick run down and sent them away through portals to let them get ready for what was about to come.
Of course Liam was here wearing his mask, but he doubted that it was needed at this moment. Fury had assured that there was no Hydra at this carrier and this meant he could just move around. But then again, he didn't much trust the normal people here either.
"Now that everyone's here, listen up," Fury barked. "We're dealing with a god. Loki has the Tesseract—a device capable of generating limitless energy and, if used wrong, blowing half this planet to hell. He's already charmed half a dozen operatives to his side. We need to track him down, recover the Tesseract, and prevent a whatever he wanted to do last time."
Fury had given the newcomers a rundown too. Yes. Ciri wasn't the only newcomer here. Geralt, Vesemir, Triss, Keira and Yen were also here. When they were allowed to settle here, Fury had already made secret deals with them.
This established the fact that whenever there was a crisis, they would be called. And Loki being back was a godamn crisis. And thus it followed the original story. Loki found in Germany with the help of Banner.
And Ciri just mass teleported them to the place near to the last sighting of Loki. Yes, Ciri now had come a long and could mass teleport without using those portals and that too long distances. Though Geralt loved Fenrir in this regard, Ciri didn't exactly give them a choice.
----
The streets of Berlin were thrown into chaos.
Screams echoed between the towering buildings as civilians fled from a central plaza, where Loki, in his full Asgardian regalia, stood atop a grand staircase, flanked by a handful of SHIELD agents, under his command, under his thrall.
It was like a scene from a nightmare.
Loki was smiling — a slow, wicked smile — as he forced a crowd of terrified civilians to kneel before him. His voice rang out across the plaza, magically amplified.
"Kneel before me! Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state?"
----
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