2012
New York City (Physical)
Astral plane (Mental)
(Brock POV)
"Hope you are ready, Child." A familiar deep booming voice remarks from behind me and I turn around to see Cyttorak's giant figure seated on his throne in the white void.
I open my lips to question what was going on when that same strange feeling struck out in my mind.
I snap my head back just as the homeless man's figure begins to form on the other side of the ethereal white void. He was smirking cockily at me but I paid him no mind as all my attention was captured by the giant horned beast with raven black fur that materialized behind him!
"The fuck...?" I mutter questioningly under my breath.
The beast stood as tall as Cyttorak on two hoofed feet, its dark inky black fur stood on end and giant claws hung from its long muscular arms that were disproportionate to its body.
Two large curved horns lined The beast's head and its huge maw was pulled back, showcasing the long razor-sharp fangs that filled its mouth.
Foamy dribble begin to drip from its maw and it unleashed a deep rumbling snarl, as its bright yellow eyes locked onto the seated Cyttorak behind me with nothing but pure, unadulterated hatred leaking from its gaze.
"I see you're still clinging to that throne. Old fool, haven't you realized your time has passed." The Beast remarked towards Cyttorak, its voice sounding croaky and guttural.
But its mocking words didn't receive a reply.
Glancing back, I noticed that Cyttorak just stared back at the giant snarling beast in front of us, unfazed, and with what I presume was a bored look on his helmeted face.
But unlike him, the ferocious sensation that the huge beast gave off put me on edge and I began to take a battle-ready stance when I felt something was off.
Looking down, I saw that I was no longer in my armor. In fact, I didn't even have a solid form as my body now appeared translucent.
"Oh, is it time already? Thought it would be at least another thousand years before this whole thing started." A flat, hoarse voice suddenly rings throughout the empty void and I look up just as a fragile old man with gray balding hair and an.. admittedly impressive gray mustache faded into existence between the homeless man and myself.
The old man was sipping something from a coffee mug and wore dark black sunglasses but, looking closer, his familiar face still stuck out to me.
Stan?
"Alright, alright. Let's get this thing started." The old man states before an enormous golden magic circle encompassed the entire empty space.
"I, as the One Above All, officially call the first match of the wager of the Octessence into motion!" He declared before the space around us begin to tremble as the magic circle began to glow brighter.
"Oh...shit," I cursed quietly as I got the gist of what was happening right now.
"Cyttorak, Farallah. Do both parties agree to uphold the terms that were set forth ages ago?"
At his words, both of the giant beings nodded their heads, neither taking their eyes off the other.
"Very well, then let your champions present themselves." The old man declares.
Immediately the homeless guy stepped forward first, dripping with a swagger reserved for someone cleaner.
"Andreas Zorba, exemplar to the ruler of the domain of the hunt, Farallah." He introduced
The old man didn't even acknowledge 'Andreas', he just continued to sip from his mug and waited for me to go next.
Taking a step forward, I followed suit with the dirty man facing me.
"Brock Rumlow. Exemplar to Cyttorak the Destroyer." I state simply.
At my words, the old man sent me a scrutinizing glance that made my skin crawl. It felt like he was peering into my very soul.
Then, all of a sudden, the feeling stopped as he turned his eyes away from me and continued the weird ceremony.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way, let the first match for the battle of the Octessence begin. Excelsior!"
As the old man spoke the final word, the magic circle began to spin rapidly as strange golden symbols began to float through the space around us.
Abruptly, the white void begin to fade from my vision as I was thrown back into the real world.
**************
New York City
(Omniscient POV)
Returning back to the world outside of the Astral Plane, we can see the thousands of civilians that occupied the city still reeling from the attack of the Chitauri army.
Police, Firemen, and what was left of the U.S army can be seen scampering through the damaged streets of the city, trying to help anyone they found in the wreckage. Suddenly, the ground begins to shudder as the pavement below them starts to crack and split apart.
Dark clouds began to fill the sky above as five tall golden stone pillars erupt up from the cracking pavement like giant mushrooms.
The pillars were spread out over a five-mile radius around a certain spot in the city and they began glowing with strange symbols as golden power extended out from them, beginning to form a dome of energy around the single area.
The civilians who were watching this phenomenon begin to panic and scatter franticly as they tried to get away from the massive pillars, thinking this was another alien attack.
As the pillars start to form a dome around the area, we move over to another part of the city, where Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and the survivors of the S.T.R.I.K.E team are moving through the devastated city toward the last reported location of Thor and Brock's fight.
But they each stop in their tracks, well everyone except The Hulk, as they see the golden pillars rising from the ground and peeking over the few standing skyscrapers.
"What is that?" Iron Man questions as golden energy spread out from the pillars, creating a wall in front of them.
"Hulk wait!" Cap tries to warn the green monster as he leaps straight into the dome of energy.
"Raaarrgh!!" Hulk roars as he collides with the dome and is immediately blown backward a few miles, smashing through buildings before plummeting to the ground far away.
The group watched as The Hulk is pushed back, their eyes moving back to the dome as none of them desired to touch the unknown golden energy.
"Jarvis, can you run a diagnostic to figure out what this thing is and how we can bring it down?" Iron Man questions his A.I.
"Sir...*Static*... appear....*static*...malfunctioning." The disembodied voice inside Iron Man's suit, which was still damaged from his voyage into the portal, replied.
"Great.." Tony remarks as he takes off his helmet and begins tinkering with it.
Captain America glances at Tony before walking over to the glowing dome, standing only a few inches away but being cautious not to touch the golden energy.
He squints his eyes to try and peer through the dome, but couldn't glimpse anything from the other side.
"Is this Loki and the Chitarui? or something else altogether." He mutters quietly to himself as their group stands uselessly outside the dome.
Pushing away from them, we move through the golden energy dome to spot a few unlucky civilians who stood trapped on the other side. The civilians stayed a few feet away from the wall of energy, wary of touching it, as the burnt corpses of those who were brave lay at its base.
Moving further away, we catch a glimpse of Loki's beaten and broken body still laying unconscious haphazardly in the street where Brock dropped him.
Ignoring the passed-out menace, we finally make it to the center of the dome where two men were being thrown back into their physical bodies and preparing to have an all-out death match amongst themselves.
**************
A/n: Hey everyone, releases may start slowing down as I just started a new job and don't know how it'll affect my writing schedule yet. But I'll keep trying to write till I finish the story for you guys.
As always hope you're enjoying the story and thanks for reading!