POV Rio
After obtaining the Holy Grail, Lara gave it to me to hold onto for the time being. Despite its abilities, it wasn't all that impressive. Sure, it could keep you alive, but as seen with the knight, you don't retain your youth, and you slowly devolve into a pseudo form of life where you are technically alive but so weak that you can't do much of anything. For a so-called mythical artifact, it was pretty disappointing. Now it can heal most wounds rapidly, so that is an upside, and from my testing, it seems that it is faster than the healing necklace. But that came at the cost of it not being as widespread in its healing. It can heal most wounds as long as there is enough water in the Grail. But it will only pause diseases in their tracks, not cure them.
Still, it was a neat addition to my collection for a backup if I ever needed one, and I could study it to see if I could reverse engineer the Grail. In the meantime, I took a quick trip to the Nether to check on my autosmeltery. I had been working to melt the entire Nemesis Decepticon Warship after I took anything of value, and it was taking a really freaking long time. I had used up so much lava that I had to start grabbing lava from outside my cave or risk depleting all my lava in my cave. But I was finally just about done melting everything into blocks. Now the next step was to use the blocks to build another space station.
In preparations for that, I had already built a basic frame with blocks with a cloaking device in the center. This station would be vastly different from the Watchtower; this station would be filled with weapons and defensive countermeasures. If someone invades our star system, I want them to pay a heavy price. Eventually, I planned on building a capital ship made of Vibranium to really sell the point that Earth wasn't to be messed with.
'I suppose I could use Depleted Promethium as well.'
The Watchtower II, as I decided to call it, was built out of a few different materials, but in this case, it was a mix of a metal from the Nemesis that the Minecraft System labels as Nemetite and Depleted Promethium. With the combined knowledge of Eirtama Ballory, Batman, Steve Dayton, Han Solo, Gregor, and John Constantine, I was building this new Watchtower into a weapon of true mass destruction. I almost felt bad for those who tried to invade Earth.
That brought me to some plans I had been making. I was not certain if I should just go and steal the Tesseract now or if I should wait for Loki to invade Earth. I was certain that if Loki invaded, I wouldn't let him call the Chitauri to Earth, as Earth didn't need a wake-up call; they already got that in the form of Xenomorphs. The reason I was so uncertain of my choice was that I could steal the Space Stone easily, then I could go grab the Power Stone on Morag, then it wouldn't be impossible to find the Mind Stone, as it is likely in Thanos' possession. Now, whether I could actually steal it successfully is a bit up for debate. But I could also maybe find a way to get the Soul Stone from Vorimir if I use some mind control. I'm sure I could find a Bonnie and Clyde-like group somewhere on Earth and use them.
That would only leave the Time Stone and Reality Stone. The Reality Stone is inaccessible, more than likely for the foreseeable future, but the Time Stone might not be so hard to get my hands on, as I imagine the Ancient One was struggling to live much longer without the Dark Dimension fueling them, and Doctor Strange can't become the next Sorcerer Supreme, as he has no energy or magic to call upon. Not to mention the fact that Stimpaks have already revolutionized the medical industry. With the estimated damage Strange would suffer, I was pretty sure that Stimpaks could ensure he was healed.
But back to my dilemma. There are some issues that complicate matters. The fact was, I couldn't guarantee I could both find and steal the Scepter that the Mind Stone is contained in. The Falcon had a map of the universe, and it included the names of all the various places in the universe. One such place was Sanctuary, also known as Chitauri Space. The one caveat to going there, besides being detected, was the risk that Thanos didn't have the Scepter yet.
'Ugh. Let's just ignore this for now and start making a space station.'
Since I didn't feel like thinking too hard on the matter, I let it go and focused on making a base in outer space, hopefully without any Creepers.
POV Shift General Ross
"What?! This can't be!" I say with barely suppressed anger.
"Sorry, Ross, but the Pentagon doesn't see the value in your hunt for Banner. You've spent years hunting him down and have lost billions of dollars doing so. They can't accept such losses anymore, especially with the economy as it is," General Henry Kennedy says reluctantly.
"But I'm so close to capturing him! Just a little bit longer, and I'm certain I can capture him! Please, you've got to help me, Henry," I request.
"Sigh. Don't give me that, Ross. I came here to tell you in person at my own expense because of our history, but I can't stop this; it's come from the very top," Henry says reluctantly.
"Please, Henry, for old times' sake, I don't need a full reversal, just a bit more time... Three months, that's all I ask," I ask and almost plead.
"Sigh. Damn it, Ross, fine! I can get you two months, but if you fail after that, you'd better be prepared to resign or be retired, and this is the last thing I can do for you," Henry says as he stands and gets ready to leave.
"Thank you, Henry, you won't regret this," I say firmly.
As soon as he leaves, I stew in my thoughts as I realize I was screwed. What I just told him wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth. The truth was, I didn't have a way to capture Banner without the monster coming out to play. I had leads on where Banner was and even evidence that he was heading to the US to contact someone in New York, but who exactly he was meeting was unknown.
'Desperate times call for desperate measures.'
I pick up the phone and start calling some people. What I was about to do broke enough laws that even being a General might not save me, but if I succeeded, I would be a hero.
"Mr Osborne, I want your prototypes, including the serums," I demand.
POV Shift Ancient One
"Cough Cough. I should have known you were behind this," Mogan Le Fay says with a smile as blood leaked from her mouth.
"We meet for the last time, Morgan Le Fay," I answer.
"Hahaha, Cough Cough Cough! Yeah, I guess you're right, it seems I may have won the battle, but I lost the war, but I wonder why you tricked them?" Morgan says as she recovers from a coughing fit.
"I did nothing of the sort. Professor Blood and his temporary allies died to protect Earth," I answer calmly.
"Yes, but did they have a choice to fight me? Or did you force them?" Morgan asks with a cruel smile.
"In the end, it doesn't matter. Your plans are foiled, and I got what I wanted," I say as I finish what I was doing.
"Oh, and what is that?" Morgan asks.
"The soul of a powerful magic user, and as a bonus, the scales of a Dragon, the heart of a Prince of Hell, the ash of an Elder Vampire, the blood of Beowulf, and the brain of a mindflayer," I answer with a smile.
"What? Why would you need all of that... Unless, of course... You're going to die soon, aren't you? I should have seen it; if I had, I would have attacked Kamar Taj myself," Morgan says with a self-deprecating smile.
"Unfortunately for you, you didn't, and now your soul belongs to me. In fact, I'm only talking to your soul right now to distract you while I erase your Ego," I respond.
"Hehe, well, I guess I'll see you in Hell, oh, I guess that's not a thing anymore, so I'll have to catch you in another life," Morgan mocks.
"I know that when I die, I will face judgment; I've long made peace with that. I have no regrets. I will leave what legacy I can for future generations so people like you can't harm Earth. If that is wrong, then I shall gladly burn in eternal damnation," I respond firmly.
"Hehe, well, I'll be waiting," Morgan says as her Ego finally dissipates.
I store the soul in an armband that I had taken out of storage for this express purpose. But despite victory, I was not fully satisfied. There were still a few that slipped through the net.
'I'll have to keep an eye out for Agatha, but I feel she will not appear for some time.'
"I must protest your actions, Sorcerer Supreme. Monstropolis is not a battleground to be used at will," Lavorre complains as she reveals herself from the nearby rubble.
"I do apologize, but if you had kept Morgan out of Monstropolis, I wouldn't have had to bring such violence upon this place," I reply as I get ready to leave.
"We both know I couldn't stop her. And I'm sure we both know that the constant attacks against Monstropolis in recent times didn't come out of nowhere," Lavorre accuses.
"Perhaps I was involved, perhaps I wasn't; in either case, you have no proof. Now, unless you have something important to say, I have places to be," I say as I create a portal.
"I do, stay out of Monstropolis, or else there will be war. I may not be strong enough to kill you, but I have enough power to cause a lot of problems for those who follow you," Lavorre threatens.
"Noted," I say as I enter the portal and close it behind me.
Her threats meant little to me, but I knew she wasn't bluffing, so I made sure to send word to the few sorcerers remaining to stay out of Monstropolis for the foreseeable future. Though a part of me considered wiping out Monstropolis once and for all, as they were as weak as they had ever been, and the majority of those that live there are evil-aligned creatures.
'I should pay a visit to Lady Everfree. She may yet be willing to assist in this matter.'