The reason was simple. Crowned by three standalone films, Marvel's poster boy Mr. Stark was never one to sit still.
He lived an untamed life, loved his freedom, and refused to be a blind follower. Perhaps it's just in the American bone to embarrass the government—when he caught a whiff of something fishy and got no satisfactory answers, his first instinct was always to tear the curtain back himself, expose the rot, and give the public a clean view of the truth.
If Zodis were around, Stark would never have dared.
But since Zodis had always appeared, to the outside world, to stay out of everything, Stark had reason to suspect that Nick Fury and the U.S. government might try to exploit S.W.O.R.D. for their own ends.
S.W.O.R.D. had been founded—and still existed—for one purpose: safeguarding world peace and eliminating monsters.
No one would be allowed to covet its power and resources for anything else!
Stark teamed up with Dr. Banner to hack into S.W.O.R.D.'s network. Unsurprisingly, the two uncovered a mountain of black history.
For example: the one-eyed man abusing his position for personal gain, funneling vast sums of taxpayer dollars into research on necrotic hair follicle regeneration technology.
Then there was this: S.W.O.R.D. had siphoned power from the Space Stone to develop weapons of mass destruction.
At the first item, Stark and Banner simply ran their hands through their thick hair and exchanged a knowing smirk. At the second, their faces fell.
They confronted the one-eyed man directly, only to be met with vague deflections. That did not sit well with the two geniuses. They felt they'd been played.
When the one-eyed man stopped deflecting and chose silence instead, the situation escalated to a breaking point.
Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, the Spy King, and a completely bewildered Ben Grimm—the Thing, dragged in under the pretense that he too had a right to know—quickly splintered into factions, their tangled web of relationships sparking arguments from every direction. Among them, the one-eyed man, thanks to the unfortunate glare of the lighting, was too conspicuous to miss and drew the heaviest fire.
"It is because you tampered with the Tesseract that Loki and his allies came here. To the rest of the universe, it was a signal—a declaration that you Midgardians are ready for a higher class of war."
Thor, whose head had always been packed with muscle, did not believe in soft words.
Nick Fury was deeply aggrieved. Everything he had done was, at its core, to give Earth the means to defend itself—and now every finger was pointing at him.
He turned to Stark and Dr. Banner, furious.
"You want to know why I kept the energy weapons secret from everyone? I'll tell you right now!"
"Mm. We're listening." Stark shrugged, completely unfazed.
Nick Fury shot a glare straight at Thor, who stood with his arms folded over his chest.
"Because of him!"
"Me?" Thor bristled. This was a blatant attempt to dump the blame.
"Because of you high-and-mighty Asgardians!"
Nick Fury's voice dropped, heavy as stone.
"The year you came to Earth, you dragged your family feud onto our soil. A personal grudge wiped an innocent town off the map. That sent us into a panic. Your arrival proved that Earth is not alone in the universe—and that you are stronger, more advanced, more developed than we are!"
"Asgard has long protected Earth. We bear no ill will."
Thor frowned. He was in the middle of trying to take over his father's estate and had no desire to spark a diplomatic incident.
"But you're not the only ones out there. Your allegiances won't stay fixed forever. Beyond you, the threats in the universe are far too many—and humanity still looks far too weak."
The one-eyed man shut him down with a single sentence.
"You slander us—"
"I simply prepared for the worst-case scenario, for Earth's sake."
Still, the truth remained: everyone in that room was a titan in their own domain. Each had convictions they would not yield, and none could be swayed by the others.
The Mind Stone, set into the scepter, emitted a faint glow no one noticed. Invisible waves of psychic energy rippled through the laboratory.
Every person caught in its reach felt their bile rise and dark thoughts spawn. Rage, jealousy, arrogance—these emotions festered, reddening their eyes.
Nearby, Zodis remained perfectly hidden. With Magic Superman, the Phoenix Force, Shenron's power, telepathy, and more at his disposal, maintaining invisibility came easily.
"The Mind Stone is right there. Should I take it?"
Zodis pondered the question.
Soon, debate and doubt boiled into argument. Raised voices turned to shoving. Physical contact edged dangerously close to outright brawling.
While the heroes tore into each other, a transport plane—one officially on the books—drifted slowly toward the Helicarrier.
"Transport 66-B, transmit proper clearance codes. We have your data on file, but no flight plan or landing authorization. What cargo are you carrying? Respond."
Receiving the transport's landing request, the Helicarrier's flight control immediately hailed the suspicious aircraft.
"Arms and ammunition. Over."
"Submit your transport mission number. Do not approach further until confirmed."
At the transport's reply, flight control registered some doubt but no real alarm. They were still trying to verify the intruder's identity.
"We will not approach further. Over."
"You may hold in the approach corridor pending confirmation."
It could only be said that American arrogance had seeped into the marrow. They still dreamed the big dream of being number one in the world, still clung to the mantle of global police, still believed their might was so absolute that no one would dare challenge it.
And so they woke with a jolt from that dream.
"BOOM————————"
The heroes, still arguing over their conflicting positions, were blasted off their feet by the sudden explosion.
Deafening alarms screamed through every corner. All combat personnel scrambled, locking down every critical sector—especially the solitary cell holding Loki, which was now buried under layers of layered defense.
Had this been the original S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, it would already be suffering catastrophic damage.
But this was the Helicarrier built by Zodis.
So after the blast, the transport discovered, to its astonishment, that the Helicarrier before it was utterly unscathed—and had just deployed five full rows of gun barrels.
Over a hundred cannons per row. Close-in defense weapons, given the enemy had already closed to this range.
Each was an 11-barrel 55mm rotary rapid-fire cannon, a close-in weapon system outfitted with 11 barrels and two ammunition bays. It could lock onto a hundred targets simultaneously.
Maximum fire rate: two hundred rounds per second. Forged entirely from secondary Kryptonian alloy, the barrels would never overheat and melt.
Sustained fire for a hundred hours straight would only just begin to tint the barrels red. That was the power of secondary Kryptonian alloy in application.
It dramatically increased combat efficiency and radically reduced the number of firearms and artillery required.
Inside the transport, Hawkeye's face drained of color.
"Shit!"
"BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!"
/-\
Enjoying the story? Want to read ahead?
Support the novel and unlock early access to unreleased chapters!
~ +20 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon! (+1 Chapter daily)
https://p-atreon.com/Its_Zack
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access Patreon normally)