Natasha's eyes widened in disbelief. Then, like a cat leaping onto its perch, she sprang forward and wrapped herself around Lock.
Her legs clamped around his waist, her arms locked behind his neck, and she refused to let go.
Daisy, standing just behind him in her Asgardian armor, froze for a moment. Then she quietly stepped aside, expression dimming.
She had always carried confidence in her looks and strength, but in the presence of the Black Widow, she felt herself outshone. Except for her curves, she was utterly eclipsed.
No wonder Lock had never shown any interest in her.
As Lock's reputation grew and his aura as King of Apocalypse deepened, Daisy no longer dared to approach him with the same bold enthusiasm she once had. If he gave her no answer, she could only stand silently and watch.
Natasha clung to Lock, refusing to descend. First, she nearly suffocated him with a kiss, then buried her face into his neck, inhaling the scent she had long missed.
"Ahem…" Fury coughed deliberately.
If no one else dared to interrupt, then as Director, he was forced to play the villain. If he didn't, the entire room would choke on the awkwardness.
Lock finally set Natasha down, his expression calm as he greeted the room.
"Long time no see."
Maria Hill glanced at Daisy, then back at Lock. "Don, is this… an Asgardian warrior?"
"She's from Earth," Lock replied. "Jane Foster's intern."
Everyone blinked, baffled. That explanation did little to bridge the image before them — an unknown mortal girl suddenly armored like a warrior of the Realm Eternal.
Even S.H.I.E.L.D., with files on nearly everything, had nothing on Daisy Johnson.
Lock briefly outlined Daisy's path. The Queen of Asgard herself had recognized her talent in divine power and had trained her.
Daisy stepped forward, speaking openly: "I've heard of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s deeds for years. Now that I've returned, I'd like to join your ranks. I hope you'll accept me."
Natasha's hand tightened around Lock's fingers.
A woman's intuition was rarely wrong. She saw Daisy's feelings plainly — the way her eyes lingered on him, the subtle warmth in her tone.
If she could choose, Natasha would never allow Daisy into S.H.I.E.L.D.
But Fury only smiled thinly. "Of course. We welcome you."
For him, one more powerful ally was always a blessing. Natasha's jealousy wasn't his problem.
General Ross, unusually quiet, stood stiffly in the corner. Fury seized the chance to jab at him.
"Ross. The King of Apocalypse has returned. Don't you have something urgent to say to him?"
Ross rose, saluting stiffly. "Welcome back, King Apocalypse. Since you are here again, matters are… less urgent."
Everyone else echoed that unspoken relief.
The so-called Evil God might be violent and destructive, but compared to Lock? He was nothing.
After greetings, Fury began his report — the Hydra surge, Pierce's coup attempts, the birth of the so-called Evil God.
When Fury described the smuggler-turned-superhuman calling himself "the only one who cannot die under King Apocalypse," Lock's brow furrowed.
"You still haven't killed him?"
Fury's voice turned dry. "Later, I got busy. Forgot."
Ross's face turned crimson. "Forgot?!" he barked. "Shameful! Lock gave you a way to finish this monster, and you—!"
"Ross," Fury cut in coolly, "don't be so quick to shout. Weren't you also keeping watch? You failed too."
"Hmph!" Ross snorted, unable to argue. He had fought Pierce's Hydra, but Wanda Maximoff had been too powerful. He had failed. As a soldier, excuses didn't matter.
Lock leaned back, folding his arms. "He dares call himself an Evil God? Claims only he can survive me?"
Ross nodded stiffly. "That is what our intel confirms. Forgive me, King Apocalypse, but… was he too powerful to eliminate immediately?"
His guess aligned with Hydra's own delusions: that Lock had imprisoned a being too dangerous to kill.
Lock shook his head. "That's not true."
For a moment, he almost pitied Ross. How would the general react if he knew the truth — that this so-called Evil God had once been a mere smuggler, caught up in an absurd accident?
Better not to say it. The truth would only humiliate the man further.
"Now that he has power, the mistake is irrelevant," Lock said evenly. "It won't be hard to kill him. But before I do, I want to test something."
Everyone leaned forward at once. "What?"
"Luck."
The word dropped into the room like thunder.
"I studied ancient records on Xandar," Lock continued. "They deepened my understanding of the world. Especially the nature of luck. If I'm right… harnessing it could vastly increase my power."
A collective hiss.
Fury. Ross. Natasha. Rogers. Hill. Falcon. Daisy. Every one of them knew Lock's power already dwarfed anything on Earth. To hear that he could still ascend — not by a fraction, but by a great leap — chilled them to the bone.
Lock nodded. "It is not a method for ordinary men. It requires resonance with fortune itself. Good luck… bad luck… both sides of the same coin."
He explained further. Good luck, raised heroes — Spider-Man bitten by chance, Captain America empowered by Erskine's serum. Bad luck twisted villains — cursed gifts, dark turns, power that consumed its wielder.
Both forces feed into each other, shaping the world.
Even those around him were changed. Black Widow had grown beyond her original potential, and Daisy awakened powers that never belonged to her in another future.
"Fortune follows fortune," Lock said. "One rises, the others are lifted. Even the smallest men… can be swept into fate."
He thought of the smuggler. A petty criminal whose greatest fate should have been dying forgotten in a cell. But by crossing Lock's path, he had been dragged into the storm — cursed with bad luck, twisted into a villain.
"That is the true nature of luck," Lock finished quietly.
Everyone stared at him in silence, the weight of his words settling like stone.
And in their hearts, a single thought bloomed — if Lock truly mastered this… who could stand against him?
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