"Should I get involved… or not?"
Rowan Mercer left the New York Sanctum with that question circling his thoughts. The answer wasn't moral. It never was. It was practical.
If there was something to gain, he'd step in. If not, he'd watch from the sidelines.
Kull was Odin's brother. That alone meant power. But centuries of imprisonment dulled even gods, and Earth wasn't Asgard. Cut off from his home realm, Kull was dangerous, but not untouchable. Rowan wasn't afraid of him.
Lately, Rowan's time had been split between time magic and alchemy. He had plans. Big ones. Lifting the entire school into the sky would require more than clever spellwork. Floating arrays, propulsion systems, arcane engines. And if he could get his hands on enough uru metal, everything would become much easier.
So he'd wait and see.
If Odin handled it personally, Kull wouldn't amount to much. If not, Rowan might find an opening.
For now, there was something else to do.
"Thor Odinson."
The tracking spell pulled tight almost immediately.
Rowan followed it across the city, soon spotting Thor near the NYU faculty housing. Thor was wearing roller skates, laughing like an idiot, using Mjolnir as a towline while Jane clung to his arm. They looped around the walkway again and again, soaked in the unmistakable stench of happiness.
Rowan landed nearby.
Thor yelped. Jane jumped.
"Rowan?" Thor said. "What's wrong?"
Rowan didn't waste words. "Your uncle, Kull. He's broken free."
"My uncle?" Thor blinked. "I don't have an uncle."
That reaction told Rowan everything he needed to know. Same treatment as Hela. Erased from the record.
Rowan quickly explained what he knew.
Thor went quiet.
"…I need to go home," he said at last.
He said a few hurried words to Jane, then raised his voice to the sky.
"Heimdall!"
The Bifrost crashed down in a column of light.
"I'll inform my father," Thor said seriously. "Asgard won't ignore this."
Then he was gone.
With that done, Rowan returned to the school.
The conference room was more crowded than before. Raina was there, and beside her stood a bald man with no eyes. Gordon. The teleporter.
"You have the list?" Rowan asked.
Raina handed him a sheet of paper. Names. Dozens of them. Inhumans scattered across Hydra facilities worldwide.
"There's more," she said. "Our leader sent new intelligence. Kull has summoned seven more hammers. Anyone who claims one gains power equal to Sin's. But they also fall under Kull's control."
Rowan frowned. "Who has them?"
"Sin. Baron Zemo. Baron Strucker. Madame Hydra. Hive," Gordon said. "The other three aren't Hydra. One wears a black panther suit. One has blue skin and lives underwater. The last can produce fire from his body."
That narrowed things down uncomfortably.
Wakanda. Atlantis. And someone unknown.
Rowan exhaled slowly.
Eight empowered champions. All bound to a god of fear.
Annoying. But not alarming.
They were roughly on Thor's level at best. Individually, they weren't a threat to him. What mattered was Kull himself.
"They're talking about attacking the White House," Raina added.
Rowan shrugged. "That's their business."
He wasn't a savior. Disasters happened every day. Saving everyone was impossible. Worse, it was ungrateful work. Help the wrong people at the wrong time, and they'd blame you for the mess anyway.
If he intervened, it would be when the world was truly cornered. When desperation peaked. When leverage was highest.
"Let's move," Rowan said instead. "We start with the hostages."
He turned to Gordon. "We split tasks. I'll locate every name on this list. Once I'm done, I'll signal you. We extract simultaneously. No warning. No time for Hydra to react."
Gordon hesitated. "They're spread across the globe. Can you do it fast enough?"
Rowan smiled. "I won't rescue them yet. I'll only mark their locations. When we move, we move together."
Understanding dawned on Gordon's face. He nodded.
Wolverine flexed his claws. "Need backup?"
"Not yet," Rowan said. "But suspend classes. Get everyone ready. When Thor comes back, things may get ugly."
Rowan rose into the air above the campus, turned invisible, and let his body shift.
Scales tore through skin. Wings unfurled.
In a heartbeat, a massive dragon with golden wings hovered above the school, silent and waiting.
The storm was coming.