POV Madame Gao
I look at the devastated K'un-Lun and the many dead followers that we brought here, and I feel a small amount of regret.
"Don't look so disappointed; we've won, we got our long-awaited revenge," Alexandra says with a smug smile.
"Yes, but it cost us everything. Only we remain. It will take us decades to rebuild if we ever manage, given the Guardians," I say with disappointment.
"We have all the time in the world to wait. The Guardians aren't immortal like us. We just have to keep our heads down for a bit and then resurface when it is better for us. As long as we can be revived, we will always come back," Alexandra says confidently.
"Like Hydra?" I comment.
"Exactly," Alexandra confirms.
"The same Hydra that was wiped out not long ago?" I ask rhetorically.
Alexandra frowns but doesn't retort as she knows there is no point.
"Not to mention we're out of money. Or close to it. We can't survive on scraps, or rather, I won't. We also don't have enough followers to do our bidding," I add.
"Ehem, well, yes, there are a few minor issues, but I'm confident we can tighten our belts for a bit while the heat dies down," Alexandra says with a somewhat unsure tone.
I don't bother to respond, as it was clear she wasn't going to accept that while we may have won, it came at a price that we would be feeling for decades to come; A Pyrrhic Victory.
Pssh
I nearly jump out of my skin when I hear a hissing sound and turn to see a bright blue blade piercing Alexandra's chest from behind. She looks shocked and horrified, but before she can do a thing, the blade is torn out of her, nearly bisecting her completely. I look up and see who did it and pale in terror.
"N-No, H-How could you have found us?" I say with fear as I back away, only to back up into another member of the Guardians.
"The Hand ends here, Madame Gao," Batman says coldly.
"N-No! W-Wait! Wait! It doesn't have to end like this, let me go! I can give you everything I have! You'll never see me again!" I plead in fear.
"Not going to happen. The Hand has a lot of crimes to answer for, and we've already located your supply of Dragon Bones, so you have nothing to offer us," Batman replies firmly.
I channel my Chi and attack the enemy behind me, but I barely manage to turn around before I am lifted off the ground with no abilty to gain a foothold to resist. Martial Arts are useless without leverage. I didn't even get to resist long before the blue blade was swirling towards me at massive speeds. The last thing I felt was my arms and chest being rapidly melted through and cleaved.
POV Shift Rio
I release the dead body from my control, letting it drop on the ground. I also returned my lightsaber to my inventory and started looting K'un-Lun. Today had been a tiring affair. The High Table was annihilated today. All that remained was a single base that the Camorra had in NYC. The Hotels, on the other hand, had either closed their doors, shifted to civilian work, or joined with the Guardians of the Globe to become bases of sorts for our use. Of course, that would involve a lot of purging of the various assassins, but that wasn't as hard as you would think.
To start, many assassins were already dead as they had served in one conflict or another. Mostly, they were forcibly conscripted by the High Table for their defence. Those who didn't want to do that had to flee to the USA, where the High Table's influence was much weaker. That meant they ended up in the chaotic and messy NYC situation, or they fled South to South America, where skilled assassins were in high demand due to the war for supremacy taking place down there. A few fled elsewhere, but they were in such few numbers that it wouldn't be that hard to track them down. Dreykov and his Red Room also hired a good chunk.
The point was that most assassins were wiped out before we even sent the ultimatum to the various Continental Hotel branches. Said hotels then went through and purged those that met the criteria we put forward for who could and couldn't stay. We also gave them extra rules indicating that they would be brought to justice if they killed anyone innocent per the criteria set forth.
We hadn't messed with NYC much, as it was a lower priority. There were plenty of vigilantes in NYC, which reduced crime as it was. Thus, the Guardians focused on organized crime across the globe. Some countries refused to let the Guardians operate in their jurisdictions, but that was few and far between. It was primarily countries in the midst of War or those that knew their countries were fundamentally illegal, such as North Korea. Or they were China, which was infuriated that we helped Taiwan and called it a country. Batman's response was simple: Deal with it.
Speaking of North Korea, I had already dealt with them. It really wasn't that hard. North Korea loves holding massive parades, with just about every big party member required to attend. All I had to do was create a large magical barrier and then let Ghost Rider do the rest. I had to admit I had to really control myself to stop myself from laughing as Kim Jong-un tried to run, but was so fat that he got very easily winded, so he ordered his minions to help carry him away, but again, he was so fat, and they were so malnourished that they couldn't lift him. And mind you, this was basically at the very start of his regime, as Kim Jong-il had just recently died, likely due to a combination of stress and heavy smoking.
Needless to say, everyone who deserved to be purged was purged, or I suppose they were judged by Ghost Rider and given their rightful penance. North Korea was then swiftly placed under new management, and talks were started with South Korea about reunification. The talks were going slowly, but that was because I wanted to make sure that the process would be smooth and as few people as possible would suffer harm. The last thing I wanted was to cause an Indian partitioning situation. North Korean's already had it tough enough, and I was working to slowly fix the immense issues that their culture caused them. And there were a lot of issues to fix. Their entire society was built on mistrust and betrayal, which, while it did make revolutions and rebellions basically impossible to form it also made them an absolute mess when trying to integrate them into civilized society. But that would be done eventually. For now, I would take things slowly, and at the very least, they aren't starving or anything.
In completely unrelated news, I had found the dimension where the Reality Stone was hiding. Finding it was a bit tricky, but in the end it wasn't that hard. Once I did, it was really easy to get inside and take the Aether, which made me realize the issue. I had no means to turn the Aether into the Reality Stone. Technically, it's not that big of a problem, as I can't even use the stone even if I wanted to, but it was still a bit annoying. The other issue was that the Aether was very... finicky. The damn liquid tried to latch onto anyone it could, making it a pain to research as I tried to find ways to turn it into its true form. But for now, I was in no hurry to convert it.
In slightly better news, I had confirmed where the Time Stone is and how easy it could be to obtain it. From what I had managed to find so far, there were only two sorcerers on the planet. Wong and Kaecilius. Though Kaecilius was not on Earth anymore, he had chosen to go to Limbo to attempt to seize control over the Dimension. All things considered, he has a pretty good chance at pulling it off. Assuming I don't interfere and stop him at the last minute, or more likely, get Wong to do so on my behalf.
Other than that, I had been keeping tabs on Thanos and his movements. From what I had gathered, he was doing as I had hoped and attempting to destroy the Xenomorphs in the Milky Way galaxy. While nobody knows why Thanos and the Chitauri were doing so, it was still good news for me, as I was almost certain I knew exactly why they were doing so. He wanted the Mind Stone back, but nobody knew I had it. I was incredibly pleased with myself for this plan, as it had gone swimmingly.
Well... Okay, there was one little hiccup. Thanos was gone. Nobody had seen him in months. I knew he was still alive as my compass clearly pointed somewhere, but I wasn't going to go find him for myself. Not only because I was no match for him, but also because it was better to let him brood and be lazy in silence. It wasn't that outlandish to think that Thanos would be sitting on his throne while waiting for his servants to retrieve the Infinity Stones. Or maybe I was being a bit too judgmental, and Thanos was actually doing something productive with his time.
POV Shift Thanos
I looked over the massive cliff on Vorimir and was certain that I was too late yet again. Someone had beaten me to the Infinity Stone here. Though I wasn't sure how they had done so without leaving any trace behind. I was only certain that this world once housed a stone because I could feel the energy this area once had, and that energy was clearly the sort of energy that the Mind Stone gave off when I had it, not the exact same, but the same type.
'That means all but one stone is known. The Space and Time Stones are on Earth, or at least they should be. The Mind Stone is with whoever stole it. The Power Stone is the same. And then you have whatever this world has. Probably the Soul Stone if I had to guess, as I know the Reality Stone should have been in the possession of Asgard if those old records are to be believed.'
It just solidified my decision to let my search for the Stones go for now. With any luck, the Mind Stone will be recovered soon enough, and the Space Stone will resurface.
'Seems like I will have to attack Earth eventually. The issue becomes: how do I prevent Odin from getting involved?'
Odin was a tricky person to deal with, but perhaps my current research might get me what I need. Maybe.