[A/N]: Next goal is 1000 Power Stones for TWO bonus chapters.Not again, you monsters. I can't write anymore. Stop feeding the counter. Don't comment. Don't share. Don't breathe. Let me rest. (…You're gonna do it anyway, aren't you?)
Hill spoke up, her voice carrying dry amusement. "Not to mention the cults."
Jay's head snapped up. "What? Cult? What are you talking about?"
Natasha smiled, and the expression was teasing. "Cults, plural. You've spawned multiple religious movements in less than two weeks. They call you Lightbringer or The Honoured One. It's actually impressive from a sociological standpoint. They claim you to be the Harbinger of the Age of Marvel's, God of Life and heroes, while they call your girlfriend the Goddess of Luck. The most popular sermon was about how you made death her bitch."
Jay's entire body went rigid.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. A chill ran down his spine, visceral, like ice water in his veins.
Lady Death's warning echoed in his mind.
His hands trembled slightly before he clenched them into fists.
"Not to mention official religions trying to claim you," Hill continued, consulting her tablet. "The Hindu community is declaring you the Kalki Avatar, the tenth and final incarnation of Vishnu. Multiple Catholic bishops are claiming you might be the second coming of Christ. Some Buddhist monasteries are debating whether you're a Bodhisattva. There's a growing movement in Egypt claiming you're a reborn pharaoh blessed by Anubis."
Jay pressed both hands to his face, trying to breathe through the embarrassment. "This isn't funny," he said, his voice muffled by his palms. "This is what you don't understand. I can't be worshipped. I can't have people building shrines and calling me a god."
"The cults are real," Hill said flatly, her amusement fading as she registered Jay's distress. "Your resurrection count hit twelve hundred confirmed cases. That's biblical levels of miracle. People are building shrines in seven countries. The largest following is in Mumbai, approximately three thousand members as of yesterday."
Jay groaned, embarrassed. "I need to shut this down."
"How?" Steve asked, smiling. "You can't control how people choose to worship. It's protected by religious freedom laws in most countries."
Jay went silent, processing this, causing the mood in the conference room to dip.
Seeing this and trying to change the topic, Steve cleared his throat and gave Jay a moment to collect himself before speaking. "While we are eternally grateful for your help against Loki, that doesn't mean you have the right to detain him yourself. Especially since he committed crimes against humanity. Now every major power wants a piece of him. They want to make him an example, parade him in front of cameras, use him for their own purposes."
Jay reached into his pocket and pulled out Loki's card.
The god's face was frozen mid-scream, his features twisted in terror. His mouth formed soundless words, perhaps pleas, perhaps curses. The image was disturbing, a once-powerful being who'd nearly conquered Earth reduced to two dimensions and trapped in Jay's pocket.
"I just had a word with Odin himself," Jay said calmly, extending the card toward Fury. "And an accord has been reached. Loki will spend his sentence for crimes against humans on Earth. However long that takes. After which, he'll be taken back to Asgard where they'll decide his sentence amongst themselves. Though I must warn you not to test Odin's patience on this matter."
Fury stood slowly from his chair, moving toward Jay with careful steps. He reached out, and Jay placed the card in his palm.
The director stared down at the trapped god. His hand trembled—just slightly, but noticeably. The weight of what he was holding seemed to press down on him physically.
A prince of Asgard. A being who could have destroyed Earth. Reduced to a playing card.
"Jesus," Fury whispered.
Then, louder: "How long can you keep him like this?"
"Indefinitely," Jay said teasingly, remembering the courtroom's reaction to his threat. "Oh, don't tell Thor, but just tear the card, and he'll be back to normal."
Fury carefully tucked the card into an inner pocket of his coat, treating it like the bomb it essentially was. "Thank you for being understanding. But what about the Tesseract and the Mind Stone you took during the..."
Fury stopped mid-sentence.
The temperature in the room dropped. Not physically, but perceptually.
Everyone felt it.
All the smile and casualness left Jay's eyes. The transformation was instantaneous. His expression became utterly flat, his eyes hard. The genial young man who'd been embarrassed about cults vanished, replaced by something much more dangerous.
The Power Broker stared at Fury with an intensity that made the director's instincts scream.
Steve moved quickly, recognizing the shift. The air felt charged, like the moment before lightning strikes. He stepped forward with his hands raised in a placating gesture, positioning himself slightly between Jay and Fury.
"What he means is, as long as you can guarantee that they'll never be exploited against humanity, it'll be easier to get the World Security Council to understand. We're not demanding. We're just asking. For reassurance."
The tension held for three seconds that felt like minutes.
Behind Steve, Clint's hand had moved unconsciously toward his weapon. Natasha had shifted her stance, weight on the balls of her feet. Hill's grip on her tablet had tightened. Even Coulson had straightened, ready to move.
The room held its collective breath.
Then Jay's expression shifted again. The smile returned like someone had flipped a switch. Casual and friendly, like the previous moment had never happened.
But everyone in the room had seen it. Had felt it. The reminder that Jay wasn't just powerful, he was dangerous when pushed on certain topics.
"The stones are safe," Jay said simply. "Safer than SHIELD could keep them. Safer than any government vault. That's all the reassurance you're getting."
Fury nodded slowly. He knew when to push and when to retreat.
This was definitely a retreat situation.
The conversation shifted to lighter topics. Rebuilding efforts. Coordination between SHIELD and various hero teams. The logistics of managing thousands of newly awakened enhanced individuals.
Reed and Sue excused themselves after twenty minutes, Franklin needing to be fed. Sue gave Jay a warm smile on her way out, a silent message of support.
Domino stood, stretching. She moved to Jay, leaned down, and spoke quietly in his ear. "Don't do anything stupid without me. And if Fury pushes about the stones again, remember: you don't owe them shit for explanations."
Jay caught her hand, squeezed once. "I know."
She smiled, pressed a quick kiss to his temple, and followed Reed and Sue out. The gesture was casual but intimate, a reminder that he wasn't alone even when she left the room.
Jay watched her go, something in his expression softening.
Then he turned back to the remaining group, and the Power Broker mask slid back into place.
That left Jay, Fury, Steve, Natasha, Clint, Hill, and Coulson in the conference room.
Steve moved to sit across from Jay, his posture open and non-threatening. "Now that we are alone, there's something else we need to discuss. Something that requires discretion."
"Hydra," Jay said quietly. His voice dropped, losing all traces of levity. "Have they attempted something?"
Coulson's expression darkened. There was something different about him now—a hardness that hadn't been there before death. Like coming back had burned away some essential softness.
"No, actually. They're scared. Terrified, even. Same as the rest of the world. The possibility of drawing your attention has them quiet. Very quiet. Too fucking quiet, which makes me nervous, but quiet nonetheless."
Jay nodded. "How long would it take to form a proper attack?"
Fury leaned forward, organizing his thoughts. "Xavier was nearly done identifying every Hydra affiliate before the invasion. But this clusterfuck, combined with their plans to hit Sinister simultaneously, caused delays. However, by the end of this month, we'll have everything we need. Every name, every safe house and every financial connection."
Steve's expression hardened. His hands clasped together on the table, knuckles white. "We're going to deal with Hydra completely, root and stem. No more playing whack-a-mole with cells. We're burning the whole thing down at once, so thoroughly they can never rebuild."
Jay nodded slowly. The implications were massive. A coordinated strike against Hydra's entire infrastructure would shake the intelligence community to its core.
But it was necessary.
"You'll have my support," Jay said. "Whatever you need."
"I was hoping you'd say that."
They talked for a few more minutes, discussing logistics and timing.
Then Jay felt it. A whisper of danger sense, faint but insistent. His head turned toward the floor-to-ceiling windows before he consciously registered why.
Through the glass, across the Manhattan skyline, something caught his eye. Movement that didn't belong. His enhanced vision focused automatically.
A man with mechanical wings flew across the skyline. The wings were clearly homemade, cobbled together from salvaged Chitauri technology and human engineering. They worked, but barely, sparking and stuttering with each beat.
Chasing him, swinging through the air on white webbing, was a figure in red and blue. The suit was clearly homemade too; the colors slightly off, the webbing pattern inconsistent.
But the movement was fluid, natural, enhanced beyond human capability.
Jay's eyes widened. A grin spread across his face, genuine surprise and delight mixing with something like recognition.
"Spidey?!"
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