"Is now the time to care about this?"
Zenkichi's voice suddenly cut through the heavy atmosphere, silencing everyone. His sharp gaze settled on Nick Fury as he added firmly, "We can deal with this discussion later. What matters now is handling the immediate problem in front of us."
"What happened?" Nick Fury frowned, still dazed. He and the others had only just regained consciousness, and their minds remained clouded. None of them fully understood the situation, let alone what they were expected to do next.
"Look there."
Zenkichi's eyes shifted, pointing toward the opposite side of the ruined battlefield. Everyone followed his gaze, and their pupils contracted in shock.
There—standing as if they had been abandoned—were several familiar figures.
Loki and his followers.
"Why are they here?" Nick Fury exclaimed, disbelief lacing his voice. "This doesn't make sense. They should've escaped by now…!" His eyes quickly darted toward Zenkichi, suspicion forming in his mind.
"Don't tell me… did you kill that man?" Fury asked, his voice low, almost hesitant.
Arakawa Zenkichi shook his head slowly. He already understood who Fury meant. "That one is strong," he admitted. "But not stronger than me. He isn't my opponent, yet if his only goal was to flee, I had no reason to chase him. I didn't kill him."
"You mean…" Nick Fury's eyes widened in disbelief. "That guy escaped—and simply abandoned them here?"
"Yes," Zenkichi replied plainly, his tone steady, unbothered by the weight of the revelation.
The air grew tense. Fury clenched his fists, his mind racing.
"What should we do next?" Fury finally muttered. "What about them?"
Zenkichi let out a sharp breath through his nose, rolling his eyes with a hint of annoyance. "Didn't I already ask you that earlier?"
Fury froze, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. The realization struck him—Zenkichi had indeed brought this matter up before. He had simply been too shaken to register it.
"Fine then…" Fury exhaled, regaining composure. "We capture them. Take them into SHIELD custody."
The words left his mouth with certainty, but the silence that followed was deafening.
Every Avenger present glanced at one another. His decision wasn't wrong—it was logical, even necessary—but there was one glaring issue.
SHIELD no longer existed.
The facility had been obliterated, its foundation shattered. The thought of imprisoning Loki and his forces inside an organization that no longer had walls, let alone authority, was absurd.
Realization hit Fury a heartbeat later, his face darkening as the weight of the truth sank in. His jaw clenched, and frustration seeped through his every movement.
But then—
"In truth," a deep voice broke through the silence, "even if SHIELD still stood, Loki should never have been imprisoned there."
All eyes turned at once.
Thor stepped forward, his Asgardian armor battered but gleaming in the broken light. His expression was grim, his usually warm eyes shadowed with resolve as he fixed them firmly on Fury.
"Even if Loki is guilty of crimes, his bloodline cannot be denied," Thor declared, his tone resonating with divine authority. "He is of Asgard. He is of the Gods. His punishment must be dealt with by Asgard, not by mortals."
The air thickened at his words. His voice carried no trace of hesitation, only the weight of absolute conviction.
"Mankind cannot judge him," Thor continued, his deep voice echoing. "That right belongs to the realm of the divine."
The Avengers fell silent, the weight of the statement pressing against them like a storm. Fury's lips tightened, but he could not deny the truth in Thor's words. Even Zenkichi's sharp eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the God of Thunder, considering his stance.
The battlefield's silence was not born of despair—but of judgment.
_____
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