Enlightenment is a very beneficial state of being. Imagine a life unencumbered by fear and indecision, by the fraught and complicated pretenses we so often encumber ourselves with. I had spent my whole tour in this stupid world hiding and lying and fighting and scraping. I had spent my life being something I was not. Now there was harmony between me and the world, the purpose I lived for was clear, each step was a truth. All that mattered was an everlasting present of obedience.

That was why I was not berating my new team member for his folly in failing to obtain the iridium and allowing my former allies to escape. It also freed me from irritation at the fact that Loki had, apparently, deliberately gotten himself captured by Captain America.

Barton and I were standing in the presence of the Tesseract and it was hot in my mind. The blue shell resembled the blue shell around the staff. We were using it as a power source for this next experiment.

We were making Erik Selvig a superhero, someone fit to serve and fight for our master.

A horde of SHIELD and SWORD agents had rampaged through all my materials and caches over the course of the last twelve hours. Andromeda and Victor had turned over all of their knowledge and broken into a truly expansive pool of my materials. PRIDE had ghosted and my hard back ups for their tapes were gone. But I still knew the formula and process for the Super-Soldier serum and it wasn't that delicate.

Selvig was more a lab rat than a useful candidate. The real intention was to use it on Barton and a squad of hired muscle so that we could make a clean hit on the Wakandan embassy.

After a few moments of screaming from pain that not even the light of the Tesseract could render number, the pod unfolded open. Erik Selvig was now ripped and buff as any body builder. HE stepped out and his eyes were still ice flush blue, but he was smiling. "It worked Barton, lower the bow," he said calmly.

I grinned, the righteous skill of my techniques proven. There's no pleasure like work well done. I gestured to Barton, "You're up."

He handed me his bow, ripped off his shirt, and got into the pod.

——

We'd hooked up with the Hand in order to pull off this job. It would be inconvenient to deal with the Hand later, but a super-soldier was still vulnerable to bullets and I needed people who could access materials in New York. Barton and the squad didn't have much problem breaking into the Wakandan Embassy with my guidance. The guards had stronger weapons and armor, but they weren't super-naturally enhanced super-soldiers. A few brief minutes and they were dead and Barton signaled me in.

I went into the Wakandan Embassy confidently. It had been a long time since I had come here. I had to assume that most of it was perfectly ordinary, early twenty first century technology. But I knew they had a room where, ah, yes, there it was. I took out a scanner that would tell me about densities and frequencies quickly, followed closely by mercenaries we'd paid in super powers.

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"Mr. Trent, this aggression will not go unanswered," the comms console said, showing me the face of the King of Wakanda. T'chaka and I had not spoken since I had been made to grovel before him all those years ago. I did not resent him for it then, I do not now, but I will admit that the new asymmetry of our situation was a pleasure of righteous work.

"I no longer find it convenient to pretend to be less than I am, your highness," I said, walking around the room without bothering to unplug it. When my master's army arrived, it would be better to deal with Wakanda directly. The quietest acceptance which I had resigned myself to was a sign of unacceptable weakness. Loki would be the unquestioned master of the earth and I would see to it if I needed to glass the entirety of Wakanda down to ash. "Don't bother with your fail safes," I said dismissively, "My mercenaries already located and deactivated them."

"I have dealt with you in good faith." Did he not understand that I didn't care? It was too late for that.

"I had dealt with you in good faith," I said, aiming my voice to be as mocking as possible. "Perhaps I should go on television, announce the murder of your own brother."

"I will not be blackmailed!" King T'chaka was a proud man. He would have to be disposed of if we wanted to achieve true dominance over the earth. There were many such unfit vessels, unready to be filled with the holy fire that now consumed me and made me whole.

"That is a pity," I said, ripping up the floor at the densest point and signaling to my crew to rip it open. Soon enough, I was down to the small Wakandan communications array. "You know, it is a real vulnerability of your culture that so much of your technology depends upon Vibranium," I said before yanking out the computer and cutting off communications.

I looked up at Barton and grinned, "We're back on schedule. Try not to get hit in the head on your attack."

"You've mentioned that a lot," he said, holding the machine in one hand. "Any particular reason?"

"It could mess up your connection to the Tesseract." What I did not tell Barton for Opsec reasons was that it had in fact done that last time. The added benefits of the real explanation were not outweighed by the risk of informational leakage both of my understanding of the score and of my situation. I would explain everything to Loki when he got out.

"Noted," he said.

We made it out of the building, Barton shot us a couple cars in the late night and we made off into the night before the police arrived.