Later that night, Sharky sat on the couch with all his children gathered around him.
Maria sat close at his side, her arms wrapped tightly around him, as if letting go might make him disappear again.
"Dad... sothing big happened after you entered the simulation."
Sharky gently stroked her hair. "Tell everything."
Maria nodded and began. "It started from Ethan."
"From Ethan?" Sharky asked curiously.
"Yes, Dad. When you started the simulation, the Guardian teams began moving seriously. Ben Stark, John Smith, Steve Taylor, Sasha, Clint... all of them. They started tracking the remaining scattered H.A.V.O.K mbers across the world and capturing them."
"They captured many mbers by doing mission after mission. Everything was going fine at first."
Maria tightened her grip slightly.
"But one mission changed everything."
"They tracked a signal they thought belonged to a small H.A.V.O.K cell."
Flashback Scenario—
During one mission, when the Guardian cornered three H.A.V.O.K criminals, a massive gravitational shockwave BOOD across the battlefield.
It felt like the entire ground tilted sideways.
Ben Stark’s sword-arm slamd into the dirt. John Smith’s cha was forced on its knees. Sasha and Clint crashed into rubble.
The Guardians turned to see what had appeared. They noticed four figures standing there, which they had never seen.
Ben Stark tightened his grip on his sword. "What are you guys?"
The man in front stepped forward, gravity bending awkwardly around him.
"You ask the wrong question," he said proudly, while spreading his arms. "Better question is, who are we?"
"And I am Dr. Alastor Argos." The man flick his finger, "Your end."
The woman beside him pointed dramatically at the Guardians.
"Yes, yes. Revenge," she said with sharp nods. "Selene Argos does not forget and never forgive. Selene Argos especially does not stop until revenge is finished."
Another man cracked his knuckles, glowing faintly. He said looking at the Beast, "You look strong, but strength ans nothing to Aric Argos. Beast man? Pfft. Aric Argos punched mountains for warm-up."
Then the girl stepped forward, flipping her hair proudly. "Yes, Argos family never owe grudge or... what is word... Yes, let go. Especially Lyra Argos."
She lifted her hand casually.
"Also, please enjoy vibration."
She flicked her fingers.
The air began to shake violently, and John Smith’s cha shields shattered instantly.
Lyra smiled. "See? Very fragile."
The Argos family stood there, nodding to themselves, clearly impressed by their own introduction.
"What the fuck are you guys doing?" Ben shouted, staring at John’s shattered cha shields.
Instead of answering, Alastor raised one hand. Gravity crashed down.
Ben Stark was slamd into the ground, his body pinned hard as if the planet itself was sitting on him.
"Talking is finished," Alastor said calmly. "Now Alastor will speak."
Seeing this, Sasha moved instantly to help Ben, but before she could take a step, she stopped. Selene was suddenly standing right in front of her.
"So much anger," Selene said with interest. "Very inefficient emotion. Let Selene fix this."
Sasha’s body stiffened, her focus slipping for just a second.
At the sa ti, Steve roared and transford, his massive body shifting into a giant rhinoceros. He charged forward, and was stopped instantly.
Aric caught him by the horn.
"Ah," Aric said approvingly. "Big animal. Very strong. Still not strong enough for Aric."
He lifted Steve off the ground like he weighed nothing.
Nearby, Lyra placed her hand against John’s cha.
"Please stop fighting," she said sweetly. "You are hurting my ears."
The vibrations intensified. And John cha’s circuit were sparked. It shook violently before systems began shutting down one by one.
"Oops, Malfunction," Lyra added.
Pinned to the ground, Ben gritted his teeth and shouted, "Why are you attacking us?!"
Selene laughed sharply.
"Why?" she repeated. "Very funny question."
Alastor leaned forward slightly, gravity increasing just enough to make Ben struggle. "Why did you not ask the sa question to your wife?" Alastor said coldly. "Instead of asking her, why do you ask us?"
Ben froze hearing this, he didn’t understand why his wife was involved here.
Alastor’s voice turned sharp.
"If you want to save yourself," he shouted, "you will tell us one thing."
"WHERE IS ELENA STARK?"
Hearing the na Elena spoken there, Ben’s anger exploded. The sword that had fallen behind him trembled violently, then flew through the air and slamd back into his hand.
"What does Elena have to do with this?" Ben shouted. "If you don’t have a good reason, then no matter how strong you are, I will hunt you down."
Before he could move, Lyra narrowed her eyes. The vibrations focused sharply on Ben’s sword.
Cracks spread across the blade in seconds, and within monts, the sword shattered into fragnts that fell uselessly to the ground.
"You want to know why Elena matters to us?" Lyra said coldly, glaring at him.
Her voice rose. "Then hear the truth."
"ELENA STARK CAUSED MY BROTHER DAMON’S DEATH!"
"What?" Ben muttered. The others were equally shocked.
"What are you saying?" John asked, staring at them. "How is Elena Stark responsible for your son’s death?"
Aric stepped forward.
"If you want to know," he said calmly, "then listen."
His gaze darkened as mories surfaced. While he started telling them.
A few years ago, the Argos family had co to New York to celebrate their son Damon’s birthday.
On that particular day, they had booked a hotel and were celebrating his birthday there. It was supposed to be a beautiful day for their family.
But even before the cake was cut, New York darkened. They didn’t understand what was happening, and before they could react, the Zerg attacked New York.
People ran for their lives. Chaos spread everywhere. The Argos family was also preparing to leave, but then it happened.
A massive shadow fell over them. A huge head appeared out of nowhere and snapped Damon’s body in an instant.
By the ti they understood what had happened, it was already too late. Damon was dead.
---
Hearing all of this, everyone understood why the Argos family was so angry.
Ben spoke again, his voice firm. "I understand your pain. I understand that your son died. But tell this, why are you blaming Elena?"
Alastor looked at him coldly. "I, Alastor, was also prepared to direct my anger at the Zerg. But before that, we learned the truth."
"What truth?" Ben asked.
"The truth is this," Alastor continued. "Elena Stark was the reason behind the Zerg’s appearance."
The Guardians stiffened.
"She helped Loki. Together, they created a wormhole. That wormhole opened the path, and the Zerg species entered Earth."
Silence fell over the Guardians, because they also knew that was the truth.
"And now," Alastor went on, his gaze turning terrifying, locking onto Ben, "if you do not give us Elena’s location, I, Alastor, will crush your brain into paste."
He raised his hand slightly.
Before he could attack, Sasha reacted instantly.
She threw a small black spherical object to the ground. A thick cloud of smoke exploded outward, swallowing the entire area.
"What happened?" Aric asked sharply.
"They escaped," Selene said calmly.
When the smoke finally cleared, the battlefield was empty. The Guardians were gone.
Alastor stared at the empty space for a mont, then turned to his family.
He said coldly, "Let them run, gravity always pulls everything back to . No matter how far they go, in the end all paths collapse into ."
"Yes, Dad," Aric and Lyra said together, nodding.
---
Inside the Guardian Headquarters, everyone was in a eting.
"Ben, did you tell Elena to stay hidden?" Clint asked.
Ben nodded. "Yes. I told her that until we understand the danger, there’s no need for her to co out."
"You did the right thing," Steve said thoughtfully. "Poor Elena... she doesn’t even know that while she was under Loki’s control, so many terrible things happened because of her."
"Yeah," Sasha added. "But who’s going to explain this to the Argos family and make them understand that Elena wasn’t responsible for their son’s death?"
"But my question is," John said, leaning forward, "Where did these Argos people co from, and what powers do they have?"
"From their tone, it seems they’re Russian," Ben replied. As he spoke, he replayed the footage of their battle with the Argos family on the screen. "And judging by their abilities—"
"Alastor Argos can use a gravitational field," John comnted. "And that girl Lyra can generate vibrations."
Steve crossed his arms. "But that Aric guy... he was tough. I don’t know exactly what his powers are, but he fought head-on, even in my Rhino form."
"That wasn’t a fight," Sasha said bluntly. "That was a thrashing. And that woman, Selene, I couldn’t even figure out what her power was."
"So," John concluded after a mont, "we know the abilities of Alastor Argos and Lyra Argos. But Aric and Selene’s powers are still a mystery."
There was a brief silence.
"Where is Ethan?" Steve suddenly asked.
Clint nodded. "Yeah, he’s right. Where was he? If Ethan had been there, maybe we wouldn’t have lost, and we definitely wouldn’t be stuck in this boring eting." From his attitude, it clearly shows he doesn’t like the eting.
Ben looked toward Sasha. "You’ll have to ask her. She’s the only one who knows where Ethan went."
It was an open truth that from the ti Ethan joined the Guardians, Sasha and Ethan had grown close. The Guardians often teased them about it.
Instead of giving them a mont of enjoynt by blushing, Sasha replied directly, "Ethan went to his family. He told that a new sister is coming to his ho."
---
anwhile, the Argos family was searching everywhere for Elena Stark.
Whenever they got stuck in their search, so unknown person would always provide them with a few clues.
By gathering those clues one by one, they finally discovered the location of the Forsaken Headquarters.
"So, Elena Stark is hiding here," Alastor said, staring at the Forsaken Headquarters.
"But she does not know this—no matter where they run, they are bound to gravity. And gravity is bound to ."
"Yes, Dad," Lyra said with a cold smile. "Today, I’m going to shake them to their core. Even their souls will vibrate."
Aric clenched his fists, excitent rising. "So what are we waiting for?" he shouted. "Let’s destroy them."
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