"We’ve been fighting the Joker organization for years, Natasha. Have you ever seen them run from a fight?"

Fury’s words carried a heavy sense of reflection and grief.

Behind that statement lay a bitter subtext: We’ve been fighting them for years, but have we ever actually had the upper hand? The only ones who have ever been forced to turn tail and run are us.

Natasha froze for a moment, a wry, bitter smile touching her lips. "True. I wonder how it’ll go this time."

When the opponent was the Joker organization, no one dared to claim a hundred percent certainty.

"And what about me? What should I do?"

Everyone had been assigned a task except for Thor, who stood to the side with nothing to do.

"Thor, take some rest for now. There’s bound to be a massive battle coming up soon," Fury reassured him quickly. This man was the Avengers’ primary heavy hitter; they couldn’t afford to offend him.

"Oh, alright." Thor, lacking any hidden agenda, turned to head back to his quarters.

"Wait," Fury called out, a thought striking him. "Thor, you and Loki are brothers. You know him. If Loki’s plan succeeds, where do you think he would choose to open the portal?"

"Hmm..." Thor furrowed his brow, thinking deeply. "Loki suffers from a certain inferiority complex, so he craves success. He loves to show off and thrives on the gaze of others—whether it’s worship or fear. I believe he’d choose a place with a lot of people, somewhere famous. And it has to be high; he likes looking down on everyone."

Fury nodded. "I see. Thank you. Go get some rest."

After Thor left, Fury walked to the edge of the bridge, looking down at the landscape far below. Crowded, famous, high up, looking down. There weren’t many places in New York that fit all those criteria perfectly.

Could it be...

A sudden realization hit Fury. "Agent Romanoff," He said, just as Natasha spun her chair around.

"Sir," She said. "I’ve got a place in mind."

"Say it at the same time," Fury suggested.

"Stark Tower!"

"Stark Tower!"

*

Tony donned his latest generation of fully automated armor and streaked toward the distant ranch. Focused on the mission, he had no idea his own skyscraper had already been marked by Loki.

Half an hour later, the ranch appeared on his HUD. Tony didn’t get too close; he maintained an altitude of about three thousand meters and launched several micro-probes for close-range recon.

"No, not here... not there either... just a bunch of cows... Aha! Found it. Tucked away right there!"

The probes hovered a few hundred meters above the ranch, eventually locking onto an unremarkable wooden house. On the surface, it was a two-story residence with clear signs of being lived in. But beneath that timber frame lay a massive reinforced concrete complex. It covered nearly the entire ranch and reached a depth of 100 meters.

At this point, if someone tried to claim this wasn’t the Joker headquarters, no one would believe them.

"Hmph. Found you, you son of a bitch," Tony muttered, remotely commanding the probes to record every scrap of data.

*

Back on the Helicarrier, Tony presented his findings.

"Banner was right. This is the nest. God knows how Jason managed to build a subterranean city of this scale while avoiding satellite surveillance."

Banner, remembering his days in captivity, sighed. "Jason has world-class engineers and wealth that rivals most nations. This shouldn’t come as a surprise."

Wealth that rivals nations? Tony felt a sting of resentment. If that bastard hadn’t stolen his armor and Arc Reactor tech, he wouldn’t be half as rich even ten years from now.

Fury asked, "Stark, any other findings?"

Tony shook his head. "I didn’t want to tip them off, so I kept the recon at a distance."

Thor added, "Then we still can’t be certain if Jason is actually incapacitated."

True. Finding a base was one thing, but proving Jason was inside—or in trouble—was another.

"Not necessarily," Natasha interrupted. She stood on her toes and pushed her chair half a meter to the right, revealing her monitor. "Air traffic control data. Starting last night, there’s been a massive surge in suspicious flight records across the country."

The group crowded around. Thor, unable to make sense of the spreadsheets, asked, "What’s suspicious about it?"

"The records are disguised well—vacations, medical trips, corporate team building," Natasha explained. "But one thing can’t be faked: the destination."

She pointed to a line of text. "All these flights have the same destination—an airstrip fifty kilometers from that ranch. I checked local vehicle usage; over three hundred buses were ’temporarily requisitioned’ by the local government last night. They’re still missing."

Thor was puzzled. "The government? Why would the government help the Joker organization?"

Tony stepped in to explain. "The Joker organization plays rough. They’ve infiltrated and bought off countless local governments and corporate boards. They’ve become accomplices to the crime. ’Cops and robbers’ in bed together isn’t an Earth-exclusive trait, is it? You’ve been to so many planets, surely you’ve seen it." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Thor shook his head blankly. "When I go to other planets, it’s for war. Whether they’re ’good’ or ’bad’ doesn’t matter much when they’re on the receiving end of a hammer."

Fury interjected, "Don’t worry. After today, none of these accomplices will escape."

Tony’s lip curled into a skeptical smirk. There were far too many people and entities helping the Joker organization; S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t possibly arrest them all. Besides, to be useful to Jason, these people had to have value—mostly financial. Tony, being a capitalist himself, knew the power of money in this country. If he hadn’t been Tony Stark, but rather some rootless scientist who invented the Iron Man suit, he probably wouldn’t even have his personal freedom, let alone the armor.

Even if the Joker organization fell today, the government would just grab a few low-level scapegoats to appease public anger. The billionaire behind the scenes wouldn’t even feel the pinch; they’d just lay low for a few years and come back as respectable citizens.

Banner browsed the flight records. "Moving this many people in one night... something is definitely wrong within the organization."

Natasha shook her head. "But that doesn’t prove it’s Jason who’s in trouble." She turned to Tony, arching an eyebrow. "Hey, Genius. What’s your take?"

Tony accepted the title with a nod. "Actually, I think it is Jason. Think about it. If I were in that position, I’d pull every resource I had to protect myself. It’s the most honest human reaction to a crisis."

Natasha teased him. "So that’s why you’ve spent these years obsessively building more suits? Because you’re afraid of this exact day?"

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You can read advance Chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.

pat reon.com/GreenBlue17

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