*******
if you like my fanfic, and want to support me and read advance chaps, checkout my fanfic on Patreon :- patreon.com/FantasyLi
There are regular updates too.
***
Ward stared at the smoking crater with his jaw open.
"That… is crazy powerful."
Nicole grinned and crossed her arms.
"I told you. My tech is the best."
May nodded with approval.
"These weapons might actually give us a chance."
Coulson stepped forward.
"Good work, Nicole. We're going to need everything you built. The demons are still moving in large numbers."
Simmons looked worried.
"If there are more like the big ones you fought… we can't stay here long."
Before anyone could say more, Alex snapped his fingers.
In an instant—the whole world around them blurred and shifted.
The next moment, they all stood back in the real world, outside of the Devil Book realm.
Ward blinked in confusion.
"What? We're back?"
Everyone looked around, shocked.
Alex shrugged casually.
"Most likely, your bodies reached the limit of what they could handle in there. The book ejected you automatically."
Simmons checked her hands, still holding the new weapons.
"At least we kept the legacy items…"
Alex nodded.
"Yeah. They might be useful later. Fitz—store them away in something secure. We don't want these new toys lying around."
Fitz held the weapons firmly and nodded quickly.
"Uh—yes, sure! We have some advanced storage units. And… if I'm allowed to study them, I might be able to recreate some of this tech."
He looked to Alex for permission.
Alex raised his hands a bit.
"Don't look at me. Coulson's the boss."
Coulson sighed but smiled slightly.
"Alright, Fitz. You can examine them. Just don't blow anything up."
Fitz laughed nervously.
"Of course not. I like being alive too much."
He hurried off with the weapons, excited to study them.
The others soon left the van as well, heading to check injuries and equipment.
Coulson stayed behind with Alex.
He crossed his arms and gave Alex a serious look.
"We need to talk," Coulson said.
Alex leaned against the van.
"About what?"
"That place you took us," Coulson said.
"That demon world inside the book. How old was it? Was that… Earth? Another dimension? What are we dealing with here?"
Alex paused… then told him a lie.
"It was over a million years ago," he said.
"Civilization there died. Then came back. Then died again. A few humans survived each time."
Coulson stared at him, trying to process it.
"That sounds… insane."
Alex shrugged.
"That world runs on different rules. Time doesn't work the same. Just be happy you all got out."
Coulson rubbed his forehead.
"So… demons wiped them out? More than once?"
Alex nodded.
"Yeah. Dante rewound time again and again until he finally stopped humanity from going extinct."
Coulson let out a breath.
"Hm. Maybe it's better we don't have that kind of history recorded."
Alex shrugged.
"Think about it. What if humans knew there was a guy who could punch the planet into dust? The panic would be worse than the danger."
"Good point," Coulson admitted.
Alex looked at him as he said " Anyway I am leaving, this little team you got is great, you dont need me" he said.
Coulson begun to say but Alex stopped him.
Alex pointed a finger at him.
"And if you need me, I'm just a call away. This time, try calling before you get turned into alien shish kebab."
Coulson nodded.
"Understood. I'll call you when things get scary."
"Be sure to," Alex said.
Then his shadow rose up from the floor and swallowed him. In a blink, Alex was gone from the Bus.
Coulson let out a slow breath and sat back in his chair.
"I hope those new toys he gave us will come in handy," he muttered.
Meanwhile…
Alex appeared back at his home. He stretched his shoulders and sighed.
"It's not even 10 in the morning," he said to himself. "Everyone's already busy."
Sue and Colleen were training inside the dojo.
Maria was at the clinic, helping injured people from the recent demon attacks.
And his demon girls… they were handling the Kingpin's old operations, making sure no one dared to mess with Alex's territory.
Alex walked into the living room and dropped onto the couch.
"I guess… I can take a short break," he mumbled, closing his eyes.
But just as he started to relax—
His phone buzzed.
Alex groaned as he grabbed his vibrating phone.
"Who is it now…"
He glanced at the screen.
One-Eyed Baldy Pirate
"Ah. Fury." He sighed and pressed accept. "Please tell me you didn't call for another world-ending mission?"
Fury replied flatly, "No. But we found something interesting. All the Avengers are here — you should come too."
Alex sat up a little straighter. "That serious?"
"Yes. Location is being sent to your phone. Get here. We need your brain and your… unique skill set." Fury added.
The call ended without even a goodbye — very Fury-like.
Alex rubbed his face. "Man can't even say 'good morning,' huh?"
His phone pinged with a map marker.
"Alright… guess nap time is over."
He stretched, changed clothes, and stepped outside. A white ripple tore open in the air, and he stepped through — arriving moments later at a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. hangar.
Inside stood Fury, arms crossed. Tony and Steve were already present, both looking unusually serious.
Tony waved. "Morning, Mr. Mysterious. Glad you could join us."
"Wasn't doing anything fun anyway," Alex shrugged. "So, what's the big discovery?"
Tony handed him a file. "We were searching for the Tesseract… and instead, we found something completely different."
Alex opened the file and frowned. "HYDRA? I thought they were done for. What about them?"
"They're not dead," Tony said, jaw tight. "They're alive — very alive. And we found out they've infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. from the inside."
Alex let out a low whistle. "Wow. What a discovery. You went hunting for a cosmic cube and came back with… a nest of snakes."
Tony smirked weakly. "Yeah… who would've thought?"
Before Alex could reply, Fury stepped forward with his arms crossed.
"And right now, only a few of us know the truth," Fury stated. "So we need to figure out who's S.H.I.E.L.D… and who's HYDRA." He paused, eye narrowing. "Which is going to be very difficult. They've been planting themselves for years."
Alex shut the file and sighed. "Let me guess — trust no one?"
"Exactly," Fury said. "Every agent, every department… any one of them could be compromised."