Chapter Thirty-Six: The Outbreak of Conflict

"Is he the guy my father kept mentioning? Maybe they should have kept him on ice," Tony quipped.

"About Loki, he's not wrong. He's ahead of us in this regard," Banner replied.

Natasha stepped outside Loki's cell, trying to draw him out, probing at his intentions. She guessed correctly: Loki wanted Banner to transform, hoping to create chaos. Yet Loki's true aim was to sow distrust among them, to fracture their team from within.

"What are you doing? You should be searching for the Cube!" Nick Fury demanded of Stark and Banner.

"We've already started searching. Once we get a result, we can narrow it to within 800 meters," Banner answered.

"What is Phase Two?" Tony, having cracked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s encrypted files, asked.

At that moment, Steve Rogers tossed a weapon onto the table—a relic manufactured by Hydra.

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. using the Cube to make weapons. Sorry, searching with computers is too slow for me," Steve Rogers said.

"Steve, we're searching for everything related to the Cube. That doesn't mean—" Fury began to defend himself.

"Sorry, Nick, do you really have anything left to say?" Tony cut him off, pulling up files on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s weaponization of the Tesseract.

"I was wrong, Director. This world hasn't changed," Steve Rogers looked at Fury.

"Did you know about this?" Banner asked Natasha, who had brought him here.

"Do you want to leave, Dr. Banner? Loki wants to control you," Natasha said.

"Don’t you all want to control me too?" Banner countered.

"I just want to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Cube to make weapons of mass destruction?" Banner demanded of Fury.

"Because of him," Fury indicated Thor.

"Me?" Thor, who had been spectating, was surprised to find himself implicated.

"Last year, an alien came to Earth and caused a deadly battle. We learned not only that life exists beyond our world, but that they're stronger than we imagined," Fury explained.

"My people only wish to coexist peacefully with Earth," Thor protested.

"But you're not the only alien life, nor the only threat," Fury replied.

"Using the Cube to make weapons is what brought Loki and his allies here. It's a signal to other races that Earth is preparing for advanced warfare!" Thor warned Fury sternly.

"It's a reluctant measure. We must be prepared," Fury said.

"It reminds me of nuclear deterrence," Stark remarked.

"Stark, don’t forget what your family business is," Fury retorted.

"I'm sure Stark Industries still manufactures weapons. He can’t escape responsibility," Steve Rogers added.

The argument escalated, none of them noticing the faint glow emanating from Loki's scepter.

Just then, a combat transport arrived above the Helicarrier. Inside were Barton, under Loki's control, and a dozen mercenaries. Barton stood at the hatch, opened it, and took aim at one of the Helicarrier's massive turbine engines.

The Avengers continued their heated dispute when suddenly the system sounded an alarm—Tesseract located. At that instant, a massive explosion erupted, fire sweeping into the lab and hurling them all across the room.

Chaos reigned aboard the Helicarrier. Alarms blared, agents rushed to the armory for gear. Fury scrambled up from the floor as Agent Hill reported, "We've been attacked! Engine Three is down! One more engine lost and we’ll crash. We need a repair team!"

"Stark, did you hear that?" Fury called.

"I'm on it!" Stark headed for the armory where his suit was kept.

"Coulson, initiate maximum defense. Send people to check the cockpit. Natasha, are you alright?" Fury asked.

"We’re... okay?" Natasha glanced at Banner, who had landed beside her in the ship’s hull.

"Banner, hold on. Don’t let Loki win. We’ll be fine, I promise," Natasha said to the agonized Bruce Banner.

"You promise?" Banner roared at her.

Suddenly, Banner’s body began to swell, tearing his clothes. His skin turned green, and he grew over four meters tall.

Seeing Banner's transformation, Natasha freed her leg trapped under an oxygen tank and ran. The Hulk chased her, roaring ferociously.

Loki, imprisoned behind glass, heard the Hulk’s roar and smiled. Success!

Meanwhile, Barton reached the deck, found a vent, and led his mercenaries inside.

"You, keep the engines from starting. The rest, follow me," Barton ordered as they advanced toward the control room.

"Take the Helicarrier out over the sea," Fury instructed the control crew.

At that moment, a grenade was tossed into the control room, detonating violently. Hill was thrown to the floor, four mercenaries rushed in with guns, but Fury, hidden nearby, dealt with them.

Natasha was caught by the Hulk, who swatted her against the wall and prepared to attack further.

Suddenly, someone flew in, grabbing the Hulk and smashing into a nearby warehouse—it was Thor.

The Hulk punched at Thor, who dodged, and then struck the Hulk’s jaw with a counterpunch.

The Hulk swung down, Thor raised both arms to block, the two locked in a contest of strength. The Hulk’s other fist sent Thor flying over ten meters, crashing to the ground.

Thor wiped blood from his nose, raised his right hand, and watched the Hulk charge. At the last moment, Thor’s hammer flew into his grasp, and he struck the Hulk’s jaw, sending him flying. The blow stunned the Hulk.

Infuriated, the Hulk attacked Thor, the fight growing fiercer, leaving the entire third level in ruins. Thor was gradually overmatched.

"Sir, if this continues, the Hulk will tear the Helicarrier apart. We need a plan," Hill said.

"Deploy fighters, firepower to distract the Hulk!" Fury ordered.

An F-35 fighter appeared outside the third level, aiming its machine gun at the Hulk.

Ratatatat... Countless bullets struck the Hulk, enraging him further. He leapt onto the fighter, tearing at it furiously.

The pilot, realizing the danger, ejected immediately. The Hulk and the fighter plunged toward the ground.

Those aboard the Helicarrier breathed a sigh of relief—the crisis was averted.

Just then, an arrow shot into the control room, exploding. A second arrow landed on the computer terminal, its head unfolding into two plugs, perfectly fitting the mainframe’s ports. Instantly, all screens went black, and engine one stopped spinning.

Barton had met his goal and left the cabin.

With two engines dead, the Helicarrier could no longer stay aloft. The remaining engines couldn’t support it, and it began to descend.

Iron Man, Tony Stark, flew into the third engine’s turbine, determined to restart it.

Pushing his thrusters, Tony managed to spin up engine three. Steve Rogers dispatched the remaining enemies, pulled the idle switch, and rescued Tony from the rapidly spinning turbine.

Thor arrived at Loki’s cell to find the door open. Loki was about to leave. Thor lunged at him, only to pass through an illusion—the real Loki had trapped him in the glass prison.

Loki laughed, ready to activate the switch to drop Thor and the cell from ten thousand meters above the earth.

"Don’t move!" Coulson pointed a massive weapon at Loki, forcing him to surrender.

Coulson was about to fire the new weapon, but Loki, standing behind him, stabbed him with the scepter. The Loki who surrendered was another illusion.

"No!" Thor shouted, furious at Coulson's collapse.

Loki moved to the control panel and pressed the button, sending Thor’s glass cell plummeting to the ground.

"You’ve lost," Coulson said from the floor.

"Your superheroes are divided, your Helicarrier is about to crash. What do I have to worry about?" Loki boasted.

Coulson pulled the trigger, a burst of red energy shot toward Loki, knocking him back. The weapon was modeled after the Destroyer; Coulson’s final attack.

Still, Loki survived, crawled up, turned invisible, reached the deck, and boarded the transport prepared by Barton to escape the Helicarrier.

Barton encountered Natasha in the cabin; they fought fiercely, and Natasha succeeded in subduing him.

The crisis passed. Bruce Banner and Thor had crashed to the ground, while Stark and Steve received word of Coulson’s "sacrifice."

Steve looked at the Captain America cards Coulson had collected, filled with remorse.

The remaining Avengers realized the importance of unity—they had suffered a devastating defeat, and now they must act swiftly!