Land of Illusion in a world of Marvels (Eternal Shrine Maiden) - BeiYang_1 (2024)

Loki was feeling victorious. His vision was finally realized, Midgard, currently being invaded by his Chituari army would be his and his alone to rule. Not even Thor, the lumbering oaf, could manage to destroy the portal, he made sure to keep it under protection so that none may interfere with his grand plan.

Stepping out onto the balcony of the tower, he revelled in the sight of his army invading the city. The pitiful defenders were completely caught off guard, and when the main island was secure, he would then start expanding outwards. Untilallof Midgard was under his control.

“Hey! You!”

Hearing a voice call out next to him, he turned around. Floating half a dozen meters next to him appeared to be a girl in a very peculiar costume. A nagging thought in his mind made her clothing appearveryfamiliar, but he wasn’t quite able to place where he had seen it before. A wooden stick with what appeared to be white paper tassels was being pointed right at his face, her expression was anything but serene.

“Are you the God causing this incident right now?!”

Though she spoke in Japanese, most Asgardians had the ability of ‘Allspeak’, thus making anyone they spoke to understand them and vice versa. Grinning, he replied back, while holding his sceptre out towards her.

“I am. And what are you going to do about it, little girl?”

Evidently, she was not amused. Gripping her stick tighter, she gave Loki a threat, or rather, an ultimatum.

“Cease! Or I swear as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden you’re going to be exterminated!”

Loki scoffed, what was she going to do with that measly stick of hers? But, her title as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden finally clued him into who she was. Japan, a nation in Midgard, often had these shamans who were titled Shrine Maidens. Judging by the fact that she was floating in mid-air right now, however, Loki guessed that she actually had magic coursing through her, not unlike himself. No Midgardian shaman was going to easily defeat him, however, and this girl had the gall to demand himto stop? In the midst of his success?

“And why would I listen to a measly Midgardian Shaman like you? You look pathetic-”

Faster than he could react, the Shrine Maiden quickly threw what appeared to be ahailof Ofuda at him. Quickly using his strength to jump backwards, he barely escaped being caught up in that attack. She was fast, faster than most he had faced before, but he knew how to deal with those types.

Retreating back into the tower where he just threw the so-called ‘Iron-man’ out, the Shrine Maiden pursued him in, as expected. Loki was not called the God of Mischief and Trickery for nothing. All he had to do was to make illusions to trick her, thus giving him the upper hand.

Quickly making several clones in quick succession, he positioned them all around the room, while he made himself invisible. Speaking through all of them as one, he gloated as she looked around the large room they were in, scanning the area.

“What will you do now, Shrine Maiden? Call upon your own Gods to help-”

“Nice parlour trick, but I’ve seen better.”

A feeling of absolute dread took over his body for a split second, as he realized her voice came frombehindhim. Turning around as fast as he could move his body, he saw that she had already gotten into position behind him.

How did she?!He didn’t have the time to dwell on that for long, however, as he immediately noticed she had shifted her stance.

Her right hand was stretched back, as what appeared to be a Yin-Yang orb was formed on her hands. She was too close, and he found himself unable to react in time.

“Eat it!”

The Shrine Maiden before him used the orb to uppercut his jaw before the orb itself expanded. Launching him up and crashing into the roof, his head breaking through the plaster and into the building’s steel structural support in a sickening crunch.

Before he could even fall back down by himself, he felt a sensation on his legs as several Ofuda wrapped around them and slammed him onto the cold hard stone floor. The Shrine Maiden was standing before him once more, her Gohei, as he now remembered, pointed right at his face. Quickly putting his hands up, he pleaded for her to stop.

“Stop! You have made your point. I have a stone that can stop the portal…let me just GRAB IT-Huh?”

Taking advantage of her looser guard, he immediately went for the knife he had stashed inside his clothes. A tugging sensation was felt on his right arm, knife still held by it. Quickly snapping his head towards it, he found that a ‘chain’ of Ofuda had held his arm completely in place, immobilizing it. Looking back at the Shrine Maiden, her expression was not one of amusem*nt. Despite giving his best ‘please don’t kill me’ smile, she held out her hands, and two more Yin-Yang orbs appeared behind her.

Loki realized then and there that perhaps the entire venture was not going to work out in his favour…

“LOKI!”

As Thor flew into Stark Tower, where the portal was opened, he expected to confront his brother immediately about it. To his surprise, however, he wasn’t standing on any balcony admiring his new army but was rather inside the tower. And instead of standing, he was in the ground, quite literally, deep into the stone-tiled floors of Stark's abode.

His brother was awake, but his form was making a quiet ‘wheezing’ sound as bruises littered all over his face. The stone floor he was embedded into was ruined, but he was nonetheless still alive. But the weirdest part wasn’t his brother, but rather who was standing over him. Her red clothing was distinctive, and he identified her as a Shrine Maiden immediately after seeing the Gohei in her hands.

She was looking at him with some suspicion. After a tense stare between the two for a couple of seconds, she decided to speak first.

“You’re…another God…?”

Seeing as how she was probably responsible for beating his brother into the ground, it was safe to assume she was not an enemy. “My name is Thor Odinson, I am here to stop my brother Loki…but it seems that you have taken care of him already…”

Again, another wheeze was all that came from Loki. He appeared to be quite out of the action. The Shrine Maiden before him however just sighed, before looking behind him, the Chituari invasion under full swing threatened to engulf all of Midgard if it was not stopped soon.

“He said he had a stone that could stop the portal, but he was lying. Is there any other way to stop it?”

Just as he was about to speak, four Chituari riders started shooting at them, but before he could summon lightning and take them out, she shot out a hail of paper, the sheer volume of them made avoiding them impossible. As they impacted the riders, all of them exploded in mid-air, reducing them to burning wrecks.

“Any ideas, Odinson?”

“Uh, hey excuse me? You two in my tower, if you don’t mind, Loki has a machine with the Tesseract just above you. I don’t know who’s with you right now but see if you can shut it down! Manhattan is taking one hell of a beating!”

Stark’s voice came on suddenly, and though he didn’t know how he was speaking to them, he knew what to do.“Shrine Maiden, with me!”

Nodding, the two flew up to the top of Stark Tower, taking out any Chitauri riders along the way. Her skill in flight allowed her to easily dodge all of their incoming plasma bolts while having a devastating amount of firepower. Midgardians were indeed full of secrets and surprises, why didn’t Fury recruit her from the beginning?

As the two reached the top, Thor found Dr.Selvig unconscious and against a wall, while the Miko with him investigated the machine that was opening the portal. After inspecting it with her Gohei, a blue barrier suddenly formed around the Teserract, jerking her back.

“There’s a barrier…damn. It’s technological instead of magical, I can’t dismantle this at all!”

Thor looked over it as well, before realizing that technology was also not his strong suit.“We need to find someone who knows how this works…Wait! Stark! Come with me…?”

He looked at her as he trailed off, Thor realized that he didn’t actually know her name.

“Hakurei Reimu. You focus on finding someone who can dismantle the barrier. I’ll deal with those attacking the city, go!”

Before he could say another word, however, she vanished from his sight. A hail of what appeared to be more of her Ofuda filled the Manhattan sky, as a red streak zipped past the invading Chitauri forces like a vengeful spirit. Whoever she was, Thor was sure glad she was on his side…

Managing the Chitauri invasion on the Helicarrier, Fury was trying to coordinate everyone from SHIELD elements in Manhattan to the National Guard being deployed. Safe to say, the current situation was not going ‘well’ at all.

“Sir! There’s…a red streak taking out the…aliens in the skies of Manhattan! Can we designate it as friendly?!”

A junior SHIELD analyst called out from his station, alerting Director Fury to someone helping the Avengers team. Calling out to him, a live news feed was displayed on his monitors, showing a red streak above Manhattan, launching red-homing square projectiles toward the invading Chitauri. What the hell was he looking at? Stark’s suit didn’t produce lights like that when he flew, so it had to be someone new. Friend or foe, whoever it was appeared to be on the side of Earth, and right now, that was all he really cared about.

“Designate as ‘Friendly’, send out a general notice about another ‘ally’ on the field. Hill, what is it?”

“The council sir, they are demanding an emergency meeting right now.”

Grimacing, he prepared a secure line to them, if they did anything rash…

“GET DOWN!”

Ducking, Steve watched as Thor unleashed a torrent of lightning against half a dozen pursuing Chitauri, taking all of them out simultaneously. Meanwhile, Alien riders above were being felled left and right through a torrent of what Thor has called ‘Ofuda’. So far, their mysterious ally simply known as Hakurei Reimu was apparently responsible for beating down Loki, but that didn’t stop their troubles whatsoever. Whatever aliens did manage to get through Reimu’s barrage were quickly met by the Avengers team, making it much more manageable.

“I can close the portal! Should I close it?!”

Natasha’s voice came through the radio, having made her way up to the top of Stark Tower herself, but before Steve could shout back into his earpiece, Stark notified them of an incoming Nuke bound for Stark Tower.

“Guys? Little help? Can you get Reimu to stop shooting?! I can’t get through safely!”

The sky was so thick with her projectiles that many Chitauri craft didn’t even manage to get through her barrage, but now they needed the opposite, and she didn’t have an earpiece to talk to them. Steve quickly turned to Thor, the situation required him to get Reimu to stop urgently.

“Thor! You need to stop Reimu from shooting, Stark is carrying a missile bound for the city, he can’t get through with her-”

“Say no more!”

With another fling of his hammer, Thor shot up into the sky, doing his best to evade Reimu’s projectiles. As he caught up to the red streak in the sky, her barrage soon ceased, and Stark flew the missile up into the portal. However, when the portal was closing, Iron Man’s suit fell out of it at the last second, but he appeared to not be in control. Evidently, it was clear to the others as well, since a bed of those projectiles appeared as a net below Stark’s falling form, catching him mid air.

With Thor appearing next to her, Steve watched as he directed her to the front of Grand Central, where he currently was. Moving to where they assembled on the bridge, Steve had a much better view of Reimu, and to his surprise, she appeared young, very young, probably below her twenties if he had to guess. Gently setting Stark down, the Hulk leaped down from a building as well, startling Reimu but Thor managed to calm her down.

It was at this moment that Tony started moving again, his form creaking under all the battle damage, but he was moving. His suit’s speakers activated, and his voice came out of it.

“Fellas? Did we win?”

Steve cracked a smile, before patting his armour. “Yes Tony, we did.” However, amidst the relief, not everyone decided to take a breather.

Reimu started speaking, in a somewhat annoyed tone, but Steve didn’t understand her at all. Arguably speaking, he should have been a bit warier of the new arrival, but he certainly did not complain about her presence here, though the language barrier made things awkward, at least on his side. Thor apparently could understand Japanese however, and he turned to the rest of the gathered Avengers. “Lady Reimu is going to leave now, she says that the incident is over, and will be returning home...and that any damage done is not her responsibility.”

Before Tony or Steve could protest, Reimu blasted off into the sky again, before quickly going out of sight.

‘The Shrine Maiden of New York’, as she was dubbed after the battle, would become a source of worship for many Japanese-Americans. Just like how the old Norse Gods gained more popularity after Thor’s appearance, so too did many Shinto gods once the connection of her being a Miko was made.

SHIELD, despite all of their resources, could not find anything regarding one ‘Hakurei Reimu’. The closest thing they ever found, if Natasha was telling him the truth sometime later, was an abandoned Shrine next to a forest.

Fury threw another report onto his desk in unrestrained frustration. He was back in his office in SHIELD’s main headquarters, theTriskelion,since the Helicarrier needed drydocking for repairs. Nothing was found again. It has been one week since the Battle of New York, and they knew next to nothing regarding this supposed ‘Hakurei Reimu’. The SHIELD branch in Japan got to work finding everything they could about the ‘Miko Shrine Maiden’ the moment Fury ordered it during the battle. And one week later, all he had was a measly picture of an abandoned Shrine that may or may not have had a connection to the mystery girl. It said here that it was abandoned over two hundred years ago now, and the report itself stated that the name may have just been a coincidence.

He was nowhere closer to finding who this ‘Reimu’ was, but at least the council was pacified. Technically, he lied to them by saying that this ‘Reimu’ was an acquaintance of Thor. A true statement, but one he knew was very misleading. Particularly, Councilman Yen had shown great interest in Reimu, owing to the mystical nature of her abilities. Cameras during the battle had recorded in high definition the various feats that this Reimu did.

Aside from filling the air thick with Ofuda slips, as noted in the report, analysts also found that she used two ‘Yin-Yang’ orbs to great effect. East Asian media reporting on the incident focused on that aspect in particular, and the report indeed noted a ‘rapidly growing’ fanbase for Reimu not only in Japan but also in China. Less so in Korea but she was bound together with general Avengers popularity globally. Of course, that led to fierce debates both online and on television on whatReimu actually was.

Hell, SHIELD analysts themselves were split between what Reimu actually was. Some insisted she was a Miko, but others say she was closer to anOnmyōdō,whatever the hell that meant. All Fury really cared about was to find her, the display over Manhattan made her too valuable of an asset to just let her be. Earth needed its mightiest heroes if they were to stand against all others in the universe.

As he looked over more reports regarding the New York aftermath, his desk tablet notified him of a call from Hill. Tapping it, he answered her.

“Hill, what is it?”

“Sir, there’s…someone here to see you. It’s important.”

Another one? He had many important people trying to reach him over the past few days, from the President of the United States all the way to the United Nations Secretary-General, his schedule had been more filled than usual. Sighing, he guessed it was another bigshot senator trying to get him to push for an ‘Avengers’ law or whatever.

“Tell them they need to make an appointment Hill, I’m too busy for-”

“It’s regarding the Miko, sir.”

That got his attention quickly. Narrowing his eyes, he leaned forward, curiosity overtaking him.

“Who is it, Hill?”

Hill does not speak on her end for a couple of seconds, and Fury found it odd. She usually doesn’t slow down, the identity of the person should have been immediately known to her.

“Yoshiko Matsudaira,Chief Priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine. She’s…part of the Japanese Imperial Family sir, the Japanese Ambassador is also here.”

Now that really got his attention. He had no way of knowing why they were actually here, but if they were here about the mystery that was Hakurei Reimu, then he was not going to let this chance slip by.

“Send them up, Hill. I’ll handle this, make sure no one else disturbs us.”

“Yes sir, they’re being escorted up now.”

Five minutes passed, and Fury prepared for the meeting. As he thought about it, would he have to refer to her as ‘your majesty’? A member of the Japanese Imperial family had to be referred to that way if he remembered correctly. His thoughts were cut short, as the door to his office had two light knocks come from it.

“Come in.”

Standing up, he saw just two people walk into his office, a man in a suit, who he recognized as Ambassador Takeda, and a woman wearing a Kimono that he did not recognize. She must have been the Chief Priestess that Hill was talking about. Before Fury could speak, she turned to Ambassador Takeda who was with her.

Some seemingly secret conversation took place, as Ambassador Takeda looked surprised.

“Ōjo sama-”

She raised her hand at him, and he relented. He quickly made his exit out of the room, not before bowing once more towards her. Fury was now alone with her.

“Your Majesty.” He bowed his head at her, as tradition dictated. “May I ask why you have come here today?”

It may have been rude, but he didn’t want to play any games right now. Yoshiko sat down on a chair in front of his desk before even speaking. Fury took it as a sign that it was going to be a long talk.

“Director Fury, I have told your…agent that I am here regarding one of your Avengers.”

She spoke in English, which was a godsend for Fury. Learning foreign languages was never his strong suit after all, and his Japanese was very rusty from years of disuse. Still, her assumption about Reimu being part of the Avengers was misleading. He could thank Stark for not denying that she was part of the Avengers, despite her never actually agreeing to anything. The billionaire was also trying to find her actually, she was, after all, the one who caught him during his freefall out of the portal.

“That…is somewhat misleading. We just haven’t corrected Mister Stark’s statement yet. We plan to do so soon.”

The public knew that there were seven Avengers, despite there only ever having six when the original team was formed. Stark has, however, ‘graciously’ decided to copyright their images, and now there was official Avengers merchandise being sold online and in stores. The speed at which manufacturers got those made surprised even Fury, as he saw a plushie of the various team members being sold in makeshift toy stores coming into work today. Fifty dollars for a Reimu plushie was a huge stretch, however, but he could see why some want to buy them.

“Hm. Regardless, I am here about the actions that your Agents have been taking in Japan. Please tell them to stop sneaking around our Shrines, they are disturbing the Kami.”

Fury guessed that some were overzealous in their pursuit of any potential leads regarding their target. If anything, he was good at putting out fires, so better make good use of that skill now.

“I apologize for their actions. But you must understand that we…needed to know who this ‘Hakurei Reimu’ is. Unless you are here to enlighten us about her today?”

She placed both her arms on her lap, as she looked at Fury inquisitively. Both had secrets they wanted to keep, the question now was how much both sides were going to give to each other. Fury wouldn’t say anything without something in return, and she knew that too.

“Truth be told, the Emperor was very surprised not only at the events in New York, but also an apparent Miko. The Hakurei name is something that we thought was extinct over two-hundred years ago. Something I am sure you probably guessed.”

It explained the abandoned Shrine if anything else.

Fury narrowed his eyes, she definitely wasn’t saying the full story, but he could let it go, for now. “So, Hakurei Reimu is known to you?”

She shook her head lightly. “No. We do not know who Hakurei Reimu is, and our own investigations…have come up lacking. As far as we know, there is no one in Japan named Hakurei Reimu that fits with the girl we saw in New York. That is why I am here today, Director Fury.”

Taking out a letter from her Kimono, she handed it over to him. “This is a letter from the Emperor himself. It contains everything we have regarding the Hakurei family name.”

Fury looked at the sealed letter with narrowed eyes. What did he have to gain out of this? No one is that willing to part with information like that without something in return.

“And what’s the catch? You and I both know there has to be one, so get it over with.”

“Perceptive. Fine. We ask that your investigation into this ‘Hakurei Reimu’ be done with us, and any information you find regarding her is to be shared between our two organizations.”

The terms of her ‘support’ were suspect, but at this point, SHIELD had next to nothing regarding her. Not even Thor really knew anything, and he was gone with Loki now. His gut feeling told him that it was going to cause massive trouble in the future, he guaranteed it. Thinking about it for a while longer, he accepted cautiously.

“SHIELD will cooperate with you in this endeavour. But, before I accept, why do you want to find her so badly?”

Yoshiko smiled wryly, Fury didn’t like that expression at all. “We have our own secrets, Director Fury, for both our sakes, it is better if we didn’t know them. I can, however, guarantee it will not affect your organization at all, so you do not have to worry.”

Bullsh*t.He wanted to call out, but now was not the time to find out what the Imperial Family really wanted, so he just accepted the deal. With some more ‘pleasantries’ such as how the Emperor gave his condolences towards those killed in the battle, she left with Ambassador Takeda. Taking the letter with him, he began walking over to the analyst lab dedicated to finding out who Hakurei Reimu was. This new information was a welcome boost to their efforts, which have hit a brick wall ever since its formation. Still, as he felt the letter in his hands, he wondered what manner of things were kept secret to this day?

The Tesseract turned out to be from hundreds of years ago, and now they had a mystical Asian shaman running around in this modern age. Perhaps keeping an open mind was not a bad idea, miracles and other such fantasies thought to be lost were now in the open once more.

AN:

Yoshiko Matsudaira

Her first name, Yoshiko, (美子) refers to 'Good, Excellent Child'

Her last name, Matsudaira (松平氏), is more commonly known by their other family name, the Tokugawa. Historically, many Tokugawa family members married into the Imperial family.

Be civil in the comments below.

Stitching. Weaving. Knitting.

Skills that were once quintessentially known across to peoples from all cultures, but with time, came change. These skills were often no longer necessary, and though Gensokyo was cut off from the outside world, some of its technologies still managed to fall into it every so often. The Human Village for example, now has automatic ‘stitching machines’ that help in producing clothing, it was apparently reverse-engineered by the Kappa.

Sighing, Junko placed down a scarf she had been trying to knit, but over two millennia of just focusing on plotting her revenge meant that her skills had atrophied in that regard. Divine spirit as she was, two millennia was a very long time even for someone like her. Looking at it again, her progress so far was abysmal, and she knew the finished product would not be something she found satisfactory.

“Hey, Junko! Still working on that old thing?”

Turning her head, she saw Hecatia approach her casually, this time walking barefoot.

“Hecatia. I have realized that my skills are much looser than I thought. Perhaps you were right after all…”

Not that she was extremely prideful, but her time as a Queen on Earth gave her some of those tendencies. It was back when she had black hair anyways, and she had changed to such a degree that her own son would probably not recognize her anymore. Not that he ever will have…

“Hah! Told you we should have gotten that stitching machine! C’mon, Hell’s got nothing to do right now, and you could see what the actual sky is like.”

Hell, or new Hell for some of Gensokyo’s older residents, did not have a pleasant sky. It was quiet of course, but the crimson sky was a bit too extreme for Junko’s tastes. She did spend some time on Earth after all, even if that was millennia ago now. After her failed attempt at storming the Lunar Capital, she decided to temporarily let go of her hate, with emphasis on temporarily. Chang’e was still her target, and nothing would ever stop her. But she needed some time before her next attempt, and with nowhere else to go, she decided to follow Hecatia back to her home in Hell.

It wasn’t so bad acclimating to a new 'lifestyle', Hecatia's house was spacious, and constructed of stone. Apparently, the style was based on a building called the ‘Parthenon’, from her original homeland. Like many such divines with immortal lives, however, the hardest part was not living, but rather finding things to do while living. With her revenge temporarily halted, Junko knew firsthand what boredom was like, and she did not like it one bit. Relenting to Hecatia, she got up and dusted some silk yarn off of her clothes.

“Fine. We can go visit Clownpiece on the way to the Human Village, lead the way.”

“You won’t regret it!” Despite holding three planets on her palms, she still somehow managed to grab Junko’s hand.

“Not so fast! My Dress isn’t made for running-”

Hecatia pretended to not hear her whatsoever.

Reimu didn’t come down to the Human Village often, as the rows of markets that lined the streets often reminded her of how destitute she was. Whoever said Shrine Maidens were paid well should receive a well-placed smack to their head with a gohei. She resolved incident after incident and all she usually got in terms of thanks were verbal cheers. If she was lucky a merchant would offer some stock for her to take back home, though that was not a common occurrence. Heck, the last incident she solved wasn’t even in Gensokyo! It was in some city in the outside world, and the only reason she went was that Yukari for the first time actually looked slightly concerned.

After defeating that ‘God’ responsible for the entire thing, some of the other humans, at least she assumed they were, managed to close the portal. Reimu didn’t stay after rescuing that metal man from the sky however, as being away from Gensokyo for too long risked the Youkai misbehaving again. She did meet a sorceress there briefly though, and she helpfully pointed out where the origin of the incident was when Reimu stepped out of Yukari’s portal in an alley. Was she a Buddhist monk? She was completely clean-shaven, but she did not feel like one, not to mention, that magical artifact she had hanging on her neck…

“Oof! Hey watch where you’re going…”

As Reimu hit someone while walking down the street, her thoughts had distracted her from seeing the road clearly. Though she was quick to raise her voice, it soon trailed off upon seeingwhoshe bumped into.

“Junko?!”
“You’re…”

Before Reimu was the Divine Spirit responsible for that whole Lunar Capital incident, so what was she doing in the Human Village-

“Wait, wait, wait! We’re not here for a fight!”

Hecatia, another of Junko’s associates stepped in immediately between the two while waving her hands frantically.

“We’re just here for a stitching machine we swear!”

Reimu was about to unleash a torrent of Danmaku before Hecatia intervened in time. Seeing that neither Junko nor Hecatia had changed their stances, and from the latter's somewhat panicked expression, she decided to trust them, for now. Sighing, she stowed her Gohei as Junko also relaxed. There wasn’t a good resolution to the events of that incident, was there?

“So, you two live in Gensokyo now?” Reimu asked skeptically.

Hecatia shook her head, evidently not the case. “Nope. We both still live in New Hell, Junko wanted a stitching machine, but…”

Junko sighed, as she looked back at Kourindou, where the two presumably just left. “The owner, Rinnosuke did not have any in stock, and would not for some time. We came here for nothing…”

“REIMU!”

The three snapped their heads to their right, and Reimu saw Sumireko Usami sprint directly toward her. As the regular market-goers and merchants turned their heads towards her as well, she tripped on an uneven road and planted face-first onto the dirt in front of them. Not unexpected for Sumireko, but why was she so eager to find her?

Helping her get up, she immediately placed both hands on Reimu’s shoulders, her eyes near bloodshot. “I’ve been trying to find you for a while! But every damn time I show up at your shrine, you’re either somewhere else or fighting another Youkai! But I have you now!”

It was honestly kind of scary, the expression she was making. Reimu gently pushed her away, thankfully she wasn’t using her psychic powers to get close yet. “What is it, Sumireko? Are you stuck in Gensokyo again?”

She shook her head rapidly, if she wasn’t stuck again, then why was she so desperate to find her? “You were in the outside world! In New York City even! What the hell was that about? Are you a superhero now?!”

The words came out of her mouth like a rapid-fire spellcard, how did she know of the incident in the outside world? “Huh, how did you know-”

Wordlessly, she nearly shoved her ‘smartphone’ into Reimu’s face, before playing a ‘video’ on it. Gensokyo had recently come into contact with more of the outside world’s devices, so Reimu knew what they were just from seeing others use them. The video showed her fighting in that city, which was apparently called ‘New York City’. Several cuts of her weaving through the sky, launching Danmaku at riders and even taking out one of those large whales with her Yin-Yang orbs were shown. Junko and Hecatia looked over Reimu’s shoulders curiously.

“That’s the world now? It sure has changed, right Junko?” Hecatia nudged Junko, who was looking at the video intensely.

“Yes. It has changed very much…”

As it ended, Sumireko once again got right in front of Reimu, demanding answers. “You’re part of the Avengers now Reimu! Why didn’t you tell me about it, I could have been a superhero as well! Those aliens who attacked New York sucked, we would have wiped the floor with them!”

Despite her accusatory glare, Reimu wasn’t interested in her words at all. Instead, she yawned before speaking to her again. “It wasn’t anything much, what even is an ‘Avengaa’ anyways?”

From the way Sumireko said she was part of a group, it sounded like a foreign language. Maybe it was the mythical ‘English’ perhaps?

“Avenger! You’re a superhero, it’s all over the news in the outside world, and you’re famous like, everywhere! I slept through the entire invasion, so imagine my surprise when I saw a video of you fighting in America of all places!”

America? Must be where she fought in the outside world,she thought.

“Sure, whatever.”

Sumireko looked at Reimu with an exasperated expression. Calming down, she then went back to her ‘normal’ self. “Anyways, the news says that you’re part of the group, but they are also saying that they know next to nothing about you. Even that Tony Stark guy couldn’t say anything about you to the press, but he did thank you for saving him though.”

Tony Stark? Ah, the burly man known as Thor referred to him as someone who knew technology. He must have been the man in Metal armour.

“So, what are you going to do about it? A lot of people are trying to find you, but obviously, that isn’t going to work.” Sumireko said as she crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.

Truthfully, what could she do? She had to maintain the Great Hakurei Barrier and ensure Gensokyo’s peace and stability. Reimu had no ties to whatever wanted to find her in the outside world, and wanted to keep it that way. It sounded like a lot of trouble, which meant more work for her.

“Nothing. They don’t bother me, nor do I have a connection to the outside world. If they want to continue finding me then they are welcome to.”

Not that they could ever breach the barrier, let alone find it. Their efforts would be wasted, no matter who wanted to find her. For the first time though, it felt weird actually being sought out to this extent, no one in Gensokyo had ever tried to find her with the intensity that Sumireko was saying.

“Really?! That’s so lame though, Reimu… Don’t you want to punch villains in the face? Oh, wait, you already punch Youkai so I guess it’s not that different…”

Picking up her grocery bag again, Reimu turned to everyone else gathered there. “Well, if there’s nothing else, I’m going back to the Hakurei Shrine. Feel free to donate something if you do come by…”

Waving her hand casually at them, Reimu made her way back home to her Shrine. What Sumireko said about the outside world only made her furrow her brows in confusion. They wanted to find her? For what? To be something as vague as a hero? What did the ‘Super’ part of it have to do with it then? Any fool could have played the part, but unfortunately, she knew that she was one of these fools. Hoping that nothing would come of it, she checked her donation box again before entering her home.

“Nothing again…like most days.”

Maybe being a ‘superhero’ meant more donations?

Hah, like it ever would, I’ll probably just have to do even more work…

Sumireko looked at Reimu’s distant form with an indignant expression. She had the audacity to just blow her off?! After spending this much time searching all over Gensokyo for her? She didn’t have unlimited time there, it was only when she slept that Gensokyo was accessible to her anyways, and she blew her off just like that?! Deciding that it wasn’t worth trying to convince her, she turned around, preparing to go eat some Dango instead, hoping that will cheer her up.

“Sumireko, was it?”

She heard a melodious, yet serious voice come from behind her. It honestly sounded like her mother when she screwed up something. Like a test, for example, something like that happened just two weeks ago. Turning around cautiously, she found that the origin of the voice came from the woman that Reimu was talking to before she…

ANYWAYS! She had blonde hair, red eyes and was wearing Chinese clothes. The only other person who wore clothes of that style was Hong Meiling, and she usually guarded the Scarlet mansion, not strolling around in the human village. Besides, this woman didn’t even have red hair, so she had to be someone different. She looked just as good, if not better than the gatekeeper. Though, someone with a presence as strong as hers…she took care to not antagonize her in any way.

“Y-yeah? Who’s asking?”

The blonde woman introduced herself, placing one hand on her chest and smiling at Sumireko. That smile gave her shivers, it was good-looking, but her abilities made it feel like it was unnatural. “I am Junko, and this is my friend Hecatia." The punk-rock-looking girl waved at her casually. "You come from the Outside World, correct?”

“I do…why do you ask?” With her previous encounters with Youkai, she decided to err on the cautious side with their interactions for now.

“Do you know if the Outside World has these ‘Stitching Machines’ in abundance?”

Despite her smile, Sumireko didn’t know if she should answer her then and there…

AN:

Junko is one of my favourite Touhou characters. Sad she doesn't get more attention in Fanfics.

Be civil in the comments below.

Sumireko woke up, landing her straight back into the mundane ‘outside world’. The influence she’s had from the residents of Gensokyo made her refer to her own world as the outside world now, which was definitely not good for her mental state. Sighing, she got up, ready for another day of school, with her only being able to go to Gensokyo when sleeping, she had to maximize the time used on each trip. Though yesterday was a new experience, peoplefromGensokyo, or rather one of its many connected realms actually went outside.

Even Reimu didn’t do that, or rather, she did but just not to visit her. What a lazy miko, how does she even have her job? Shaking her head, she lazily got up and headed to the bathroom, ready for breakfast. Her father usually left for work around the same time she woke up, so she didn’t really see him in the mornings on weekdays. Thinking back to the events of yesterday though, she was prepared for a nightmare scenario.

Two divine beings and a mischievous fairy in the outside world could have very well meant disaster, but luckily that was completely avoided. There were some close calls, however, as Clownpiece, the little brat, wanted to mess with some instruments at a music store they visited. Hecatia actually bought a harp there, who knew a person like her actually played an instrument like that? Her outfit screamed electric guitar more than harp, so that was a surprise. Were all divine beings so contradictory?

Junko managed to finally get her stitching machine though, and it was only after haggling for a while. When Sumireko got unrestricted access for the first time, she expected the currency to be more similar to something from the Feudal era, but no, Gensokyo actually used modern Yen as a form of currency. How and why that was the case was anyone’s guess, but according to Reimu, it was a recent affair. That meant she didn’t have to convert any of her money though, so she didn’t question it too much.

As she sat down to eat breakfast, a regular toast and some pan-fried sausages, her mother looked at her and sighed. “Can’t you ever make yourself look better? At this rate, I’ll die without any grandchildren…”

Not that she didn’t care for her appearance, but she just had no interest in a relationship. She rejected attempts to go out left and right at school, but she never told her mother about that.

“Why do you bring this up every morning?! I’m fine in school, just leave me alone!”

This too was a routine occurrence. Another reason why she preferred going to Gensokyo. The mundane world was exactly that, mundane. Nothing ever happened, unless you were in New York that was. But to most people like her, they didn’t have to worry about aliens or terrorists showing up because that was just statistically improbable. One city out of the many thousands in this world was invaded; but in plain old Nagano? It was just a fantasy, and going to Gensokyo allowed her to actually experience those fantasies.

She just had to make sure to get a good enough grade so that her mother didn’t wring her neck every so often, but otherwise, the routine was just that. A mundane everyday existence. Maybe she could sleep in class again today? Last time it worked out, but that scolding from her math teacher…

That was their doorbell ringing. Who rang doorbells at seven in the morning? Even salespersons aren’t this early. “Sumireko! Go and get the door!”

“Fine, I’m going, I’m going!”

Getting off of her seat, she shuffled her way to the front door, if it was just another damn salesperson she was going to make him suffer with her abilities. He’d never know that, and it would teach them a lesson about bothering people this early in the morning.

Opening the door with an annoyed scowl, she saw that the two people standing behind it were nothing like the suit-wearing salespersons whatsoever. In fact, they looked quite familiar, no,veryfamiliar.

“Usami Sumirenko? We’re with SHIELD, can we talk inside?”

A barely noticeable accent. Scenes of the Battle of New York still dominated headlines even after this time, but it was starting to slow down. But, images of the Avengers were everywhere now, not to mention, the fanart of them. One could now reasonably list all ‘seven’ of its members just by seeing their iconic images, and even though some members had their faces covered or redacted for security reasons, their outfits were still widely known.

The foreign woman before her had red hair and a black bodysuit, while the man next to her had what appeared to be a modern recurve bow strapped to his back. Two Avengers fit that description perfectly, and that sent alarm bells throughout Sumireko’s head.

She looked at them for a solid minute, as her mind shut down and started again.I knew it! I never should have agreed to guide those three in Nagano!

A minute ago…

“You’re sure that’s the place?”

“Yep, double-checked and everything.”

Stepping out of their car, Natasha and Clint walked down the quiet neighbourhood in Nagano. After they called in the suspicious group of four yesterday, a quick scan by SHIELD analysts revealed some discrepancies that shouldn’t exist.

Sumireko Usami was theonlyone in the entire group that had any records. Even taking the security camera footage from the shops they visited in Nagano, their facial recognition software came up completely empty for the other three people. In this day and age? It was damn near impossible to exist without any records, so that was a huge red flag.

But the reason why they were here wasn’t because of that alone, any regular agent could have done that. The reason why was due to a SHIELD drone circling high above in the air recording a video of the fourflying. As their apparent ‘shopping trip’ ended and they got back onto the bus to the middle of nowhere, Clint recalled seeing three of them straight up float into the air and head deeper into the forest at a bus stop. Agents have been crawling through the entire forest ever since then, trying to find any trace of where they could have gone.

Sumireko however, flew in the other direction, back to her home in Nagano. A direct order from Fury later, and the two were now about to ring the Usami residence’s doorbell. Again, they had orders to be very friendly, and to take advantage of the Avenger’s newfound fame. To Clint at least, seeing art and plushies of him was a jarring sight. When he first signed up for SHIELD, he never expected to see children dress up like him for any reason. Remaining inconspicuous while in their work outfit was going to be much harder now…

“Good cop bad cop?” Clint asked.

“We’re not here to interrogate her, we have to play nice.”

Fair enough. But with Thor’s case as an example, he guessed that Sumireko had abilities that weren’t just limited to flying. If she was anything related to Reimu, then she was potentially very dangerous, but hey, that was what they did on a frequent basis anyway. Just that instead of dirty bombs and terrorists, they were dealing with something straight out of a fantasy tale, potentially that is.

“So what’s the plan if it goes wrong? I have no plans to be on the receiving end of whatever powers she has.”

“It won’t, we’re here to make friends, so unless she starts anything first it’ll be fine.” Natasha waved off his concerns as they reached the front door.

Clint watched with bated breath as the door swung open, and an annoyed-looking Sumireko greeted them. Natasha took the lead in their introductions.“Usami Sumirenko? We’re with SHIELD, can we talk inside?”

For a solid minute, the girl looked at them intently. Her annoyed expression slowly morphed into a wide-eyed stare. Eventually, her mother came into view behind her.“Sumireko? Who’s at the door-”

She dropped the plate she was holding upon seeing the two Avengers. Shattering it into little pieces on the floor. A great start already, he could see nothing was going to go wrong…

Sumireko stared at them across her dining table, trying her best to remain calm. After the awkward first introduction, they were shown into their home, where her mother was now watching them from the side. She was very confused obviously, but she still managed to look at them with skepticism when they told her that Sumireko was their person of interest.

In her mind, she went through a dozen different scenarios, from teleporting away to causing a distraction, all the while making a beeline for the Hakurei Shrine. The old method of entering Gensokyo was closed to her, but at this point, she had to tryanything.

“Miss Usami, SHIELD has noted some discrepancies regarding your presence in Nagano yesterday.” Black Widow, as she knew her as started off the conversation. A dozen excuses were already thought up in her mind.

“Three individuals you were with yesterday completely lacked any records whatsoever. No identification, licenses, anything. You realize why we are concerned regarding that matter, right?”

Right, Gensokyo residences didn’t have things such as identification papers like the outside world. It sounded like something out of a spy film, but considering what she knew about SHIELD, it was probably the exact same scenario. Three people with no identification showing up in a city were bound to raise red flags.And here I thought I was already being careful enough…

“I…just met them yesterday. They were new in town, so I thought I could show them around Nagano, that’s all…” It didn’t sound convincing whatsoever, even to Sumireko herself.

Black Widow raised an eyebrow, as Hawkeye took a sip of the tea that her mother provided. “Right. How much do you know of Hakurei Reimu?”

She flinched, an egregious mistake, as the two Avengers now looked at her inquisitively. Sumireko tried to salvage her current situation desperately. “Well, she’s one of the Avengers, right? Should you know more about her? I mean, she’s your teammate and all…”

“Perhaps. But…will you please take a look at this recording?” Black Widow took out a smartphone, before playing a video on it. Sumireko widened her eyes, as the footage was shot from high above the sky, but still recognizable as the forest she dropped off Junko, Hecatia and Clownpiece at yesterday. It showed the three fly off into the forest, before showing herself fly off in the direction back to Nagano.

She looked back up from her phone, the two Avengers looked at her intensely. Sumireko decided to use another strategy now, lying.

“Well...I recognize the three that flew off...but that last person I don’t recognize.”

Lying straight through her teeth was not her strong suit, but she liked to think she was decent at it. Unfortunately, Black Widow swiped right on her phone, and she despaired at the image shown to her. On her phone, an image of her in the hat and cloak she usually wore during yesterday’s shopping trip was shown. It was in very high definition and clearly showed that it was her. Even she found herself struggling to deny that.

“I think the person in this image bears a striking resemblance to the last person who flew away, don’t you think, Sumireko?”

Before she could deny it again, her own mother seemed to betray her. “Wait, isn’t that the hat and cloak you wear all the time?”

The three adults in the room were now staring at her intensely, the pressure she felt was exactly like facing down a group of angry Youkai. Well, time to do what she did best, improvise.

“What a pain…”

She held her arm out, preparing to create a distraction using her abilities and teleport away, not before another voice appeared from thin air, however.

“Hold, Sumireko, I will handle this.”

It startled the three adults, as the two Avengers immediately leapt out of their seats, ready to fight. Sumireko however recognized that voice immediately, and a punk-rocker girl appeared in a bright flash of light right in her living room.

“Hecatia?!” She called out first, and the four now stared at the newly appeared Goddess.

“How did you-”

“I felt some eyes on us yesterday, placing one of my nymphs to watch over you was the correct move.” Hecatia quickly silenced Sumireko’s question, before turning towards the two Avengers with an aggrieved expression. Clearly, she wasn’t playing around now. Her three planets floated around her, ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

Sumireko once heard that there were beings in Gensokyo that fit the description of ‘God’ better than most, and the sheer power Hecatia was letting out right now made her believe that statement with all her heart. She knew Junko and Hecatia were powerful, but to this extent… Well, she hoped her house, let alone Nagano was still standing by the end of it…

AN:

Hecatia places great value on personal freedoms and dislikes most forms of authority. Consider what SHIELD is. Then think back to the scene. There is a reason why she dislikes the Lunarians to such a degree. Incidentally, Hecatia, if we take her form as Hecate quite literally, is also known as a goddess for travellers. Travelling can be seen as the ultimate form of freedom, so that is probably where Hecatia got her taste for freedom in.

As always, be civil in the comments below.

Another late day at the office. It was nearing eight P.M now, and Fury was still dealing with work. What kind of work? All the bullsh*t that dealt with a relatively unknown spy organization now being at the forefront of the public consciousness. No thanks to the fame that the Avengers now had, SHIELD went from a relatively obscure group that was technically there, but often never reported on to one of the most widely known organizations in the world. Second only to the Avengers now obviously.

With fame, came people who were either concerned about SHIELD, or wanted to take advantage of it. Opening up his email, Hill had compiled a collection of important people that wanted to meet with him. So far they were standard requests, but the last one stood out to him the most. What did the Vatican want from him? They had next to no relations to each other, so that was the most unexpected meeting request so far.

Filing it for tomorrow’s work, he shut off his computer, finally done for the day. Leaning back on his chair, he thought about where he could get dinner tonight, some good old-fashioned soul food was sounding really nice right now… D.C. actually had some really good choices for those options, it reminded him of home back in Alabama.

As he was about to get up, he received a message, and checking it revealed that it was sent by Agent Barton.

‘Request to speak in person.’

That was the message. Odd, he usually waited until the mission was over before sending any messages. Maybe his mission in Japan got some results, and the mystery that was Hakurei Reimu will finally be solved.

Picking up his phone, he sat back down on his chair and got comfortable. A few seconds after pressing the dial button, Barton picked up.

“Agent Barton. Early morning for you in Japan, and I last remembered giving orders to talk to the person of interest…nine hours ago. Any new findings?”

‘Sumireko Usami’, based on the file quickly compiled for him, appeared to be a completely ordinary high school teenager. That impression shattered right after she started flying from the drone footage recorded of her. Not to mention, there were the other three individuals she was also with, but there were no updates from the agents crawling through the forest yet.

“Sir. There’s been a complication. Good news or the bad news first?”

Fury winced with his one remaining eye. Things never went well, did they? Didn’t he specifically order them to be friendly? How the hell was there bad news?

“Good news first.” He asked exasperatedly.

“Well, we confirmed that Nagano or the region around it is definitely related to Hakurei Reimu.”

It was nice to hear confirmation that Yoshiko’s information was actually accurate. But he prepared himself for the bad news.

“And for the bad news sir… If I remember middle school classics correctly, I think we just pissed off another God.”

For f*ck’s sake another one?!

“Agent Barton, is this going to be another New Mexico situation?” Fury’s voice sounded dead, deader than it had ever been.

“Actually, no sir. The person of interest and the…individual in the file known as Hecatia just…disappeared. Agent Romanoff is consoling Sumireko’s mother right now, but I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen.”

What the hell was up with these bullsh*t abilities? Where the hell were they when he spent decades finding individuals for the Avengers initiative? He sure could have used them before Chitauri showed up, notafter.

He sighed, before giving Barton new orders. “You and Agent Romanoff hold the area down, I’ll get the new department on-site ASAP. Don’t do anything rash. Talk to me again once they’ve arrived.”

“Yes sir, I’ll let Nat know.”

Throwing his phone onto his desk in frustration, he brought a hand over to his face. With the confirmed existence of objects such as the Tesseract, and now with Thor and Reimu from the mystical side of things, Fury authorized the creation of an entirely new division in SHIELD,The Thaumatology department; and it was exactly as ridiculous as it sounded. When he first read the proposal three years ago, he thought it was a joke, but recent events had forced him to revisit it.

Among the candidates for the team were people such as Erik Selvig, who was still being treated for what Loki did to him, and Jane Foster just to name some examples. Both of their works proved invaluable to understanding how the Tesseract and Asgard functioned, thus making them easy picks. The rest were agents that leaned on the more eccentric side, with more people being considered for that department every day.

As much as he didn’t want to send out a barely formed department out on its first mission so soon, the alternative was to fully cooperate with Yoshiko and her organization. He still didn’t know anything regarding her or any goals she had, but he would have to take a risk. Despite how much he hated working with such a large unknown.

It was decided then, he will notify both Yoshiko and the new SHIELD department and try and get them to cooperate. With an emphasis on the cooperate part. He may not like working with a completely unknown group, but at this point, that was his only option. Besides, might as well ‘honour’ their deal now.

Picking up his phone, he dialled Yoshiko’s number, and she picked up not long after.

“Director Fury, I suppose there has been a new finding?”

Mentally grumbling, he answered her question. “Princess Yoshiko, there has. How soon can your people be in Nagano?”

“They already are. Where do you want them to go?”

In another bright flash of light, Hecatia and Sumireko appeared in the same abandoned shrine that was used to exit Hell yesterday. Ever since buying ice cream at that cafe, Hecatia had this nagging feeling that someone was watching them. Her powers found no one actuallylookingat them, but the feeling remained there nonetheless. With Sumireko living in the outside world, precautions had to be made, even if it was a bit of paranoia on her part. However, it definitely paid off this morning, as two individuals had come for Sumireko, and it was regarding their outing yesterday.

“Argh! I had that under control! Why did you do that?!”

She thought otherwise. After her appearance in Sumireko’s house, she really was about to kill the two interlopers. Hecatia did not know much about the outside world, but as a goddess of Greece and Rome, she had awareness of what authority was, and whether or not they were…tyrannical. The two that visited Sumireko were instantly recognized as servants of authority, a strong authority, much to her displeasure.

“It didn’t look like that to me. You were about to cause a distraction and teleport away, right? That wouldn’t have solved anything, and people like them…need another way of persuading them to leave you alone.”

Not long after appearing in the living room, Sumireko instantly teleported herself next to her, begging to just leave. Though she didn’t like leaving at all, she gave them one final warning before teleporting away with her, thus bringing them to their current situation.

“That’s not-They’re the Avengers-ARGH!”

Sumireko rubbed her head in frustration, while Hecatia was confused, what was that about them being Avengers? What were they even Avenging?

“Okay, Hecatia. I know you may not know how the outside world works, but… I LIVE IN IT! Yes, I prefer Gensokyo over the mundane outside world, but that doesn’t mean I can just cut ties to it completely! I have family here, school and other very important things to humans that I still want to experience! Your appearance just made me and my family a target, so how is that solving anything?!”

Ah. When you put it like that…

Hecatia suddenly realized where she was coming from. She wasn’t a resident of Gensokyo or any of its other realms, she was a human first and foremost, and from the outside world. Where she still had a life, and it was one where if she remembered correctly, was trying to find Reimu desperately…

Oh, she fumbled the situation didn’t she?

“When you put it like that…” She looked a lot more sheepish now than before. Was she becoming like her other family now? What an uncomfortable feeling, never should she ever stoop that low, not if she could help it at least. Hecatia had not talked to any of her other family for many millennia now, but if the stuff she read about them was true, then she wanted to keep it that way.

“Okay fine, that was not the most thought-out idea I had, but you were in a situation you couldn’t solve, and I do not abandon those that help me that easily.”

Sumireko calmed down slightly, before looking at her surroundings. Deciding that maybe her methods of solving problems were more suited to Gensokyo and other divine beings, she instead asked Sumireko what she wanted to do. It was the least she could do after causing the situation to go awry. “So…what’s the plan now? Go back and just talk to them?”

She shook her head vigorously. “Those are SHIELD agents, not to mention, two Avengers. I’m probably on some watchlist or I’ve been declared a terrorist or something…WAIT! REIMU!”

The Hakurei Miko? What can she do to help her situation?

“She’s publicly known as an Avenger! If she came out and cleared my name in the outside world, then I’ll be fine! We need to go find her!”

With a flick of her wrist, Sumireko’s usual outfit suddenly replaced her sleepwear, and she pointed towards the abandoned shrine.” I just have to get back into Gensokyo and get her to solve this issue! If anything, the whole thing was her fault anyways, so it’s only right that she came out and solved it herself! Come on, that has gotta work!”

Hecatia really didn’t understand what had to work, but if Sumireko was confident about that plan, then she had no issue with helping her do it. “In that case, I can help you get to her. The shrine before you is an entrance into Hell, where Junko, Clownpiece and I exited that realm from. There is a way to get to Gensokyo through there.”

Sumireko looked at her with a confused expression. “Huh, usually I sleep and get to Gensokyo that way… But your way probably works too, besides, I haven’t been to Hell yet, so I’ll take you up on your offer.”

With the two of them agreeing on the plan, Hecatia opened up the portal into Hell again, and they stepped through it. The last thing she wanted to do was to follow what her other family did and cause problems for everyone without actually solving them. That Trojan mess all those years ago was something she read in horror, her cousins meddling in the fates of all those involved could only be described as tyranny. Did those in Omnipotence City laugh at the mortals whose lives were ruined by them? Hecatia shuddered, for she did not want to know the answer.

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

“Hurry up Reimu, I’m getting bored over here…”

“Shut up, it’s the first time I’m doing this for a large group!”

Usually, when Reimu sent someone back outside from Gensokyo, they came in singles. This time, however, she had to open enough of a tear to fit all five of them through, and it was proving to be much harder than she initially fought. She was skilled in her manipulation of the barrier, but it only went so far, Yukari was the one usually bringing new things, not her.

“While we wait, what’s our plan once we get outside? Blast those spies with our Danmaku?” Sanae asked.

Sumireko shook her head vehemently. “What? No! The plan for Reimu to use her influence or whatever to get those government spies off me! Ideally without blasting anyone with Danmaku, no matter how much they probably deserve it. It’s the outside world, spellcard rules aren’t a thing there.”

“Yeah, but that’s how we usually resolve these incidents though… Are you sure just getting Reimu will get them to back off? From what you said, this SHIELD seems to be very interested in her.” Sanae looked sceptical at that proposal. Clearly not putting enough faith in Reimu’s supposed influence.

Sumireko had mentioned people in the outside world were looking for her, so was that how she intended to solve the incident? By talking to whoever is in charge? It was a novel idea, but she didn’t get her hopes up. All of her incidents were solved by a healthy dose of Danmaku to the face, and so far it hasn’t failed her yet. Some outside-world magician or something was probably responsible, yeah…that’s right.

“In that case…” Reimu suddenly spoke out. “We’ll take two approaches. We go in quietly and find out about SHIELD before we do anything else. Then depending on what we know decide from there.”

This time they needed a lot more information before doing anything, unlike their previous incidents. There wasn’t a big mansion or group that they specifically knew and could just defeat. Much less straightforward, but in order to keep maintaining Gensokyo’s secrecy, they couldn’t just fly in and demand them to stop. Marisa and her spells were going to be a problem, so Reimu had to watch over her shoulders every so often.

“Alright! I think I’ve got it! We’re going to be appearing right on the outside world’s version of the Hakurei Shrine, in five…four…three…two…one!”

With a bright red flash of light, Reimu and the group of five disappeared from her Shrine’s courtyard. Aya woke up just in time to see the flash, missing the opportunity completely.

“Damnit! I was too late! There has to be another way to get outside-”

“Oh? And what are you doing here, Aya?”

She felt a hand placed on her shoulders, and turning around slowly, she saw Kasen’s smiling face directly behind her. It was the same one she used when she was about to lecture someone.“Perhaps I should teach you the concept of ‘ethical journalism’, it’s something I learned in a recent trip to the outside world. I think you could reallyuse it.”

Kasen’s iron grip prevented her from moving, and all she could do was whimper in response.

Opening her eyes, Reimu expected to be greeted by a dilapidated version of her shrine. When she was bored, she usually opened small ‘gaps’ just enough to see the version of her shrine in the outside world, in disrepair and covered in moss. It acted as a crossover point between the barrier itself and Gensokyo, allowing access for those who were spirited away into the fantastical land to head back to the outside world. However, what greeted her wasn’t just the dilapidated Shrine, but also a bunch of equipment that looked like what the Kappa often used.

Of course, there was also the fact that the abandoned Shrine was alsoswarmingwith people in things ranging from Western-style suits to what appeared to be a white bodysuit that covered each part of themselves. Needless to say, all of them immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at Reimu’s group. Wasn’t the shrine supposed to be unknown and abandoned in the outside world?! How were there so many people here right now?!

“Uh…Reimu?” Sanae asked quietly, the Reimu’s group and everyone else at the abandoned Hakurei Shrine stared at each other in silence. Some she saw were reaching behind their backs, a probable weapon.

“Tch. So much for remaining quiet, let’s get outta here!”

The group of five quickly blasted off and deeper into the forest itself, all the while shouts came from behind them. She couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Marisa flew next to her as the group of five went through the dense woodlands, dodging trees and other obstacles in their way. “So what’s the plan now?! I think those were the guys Sumireko warned us about!”

“They were! I recognized their SHIELD logo!” Sumireko called out from behind Reimu. So those spies found out about the Hakurei Shrine? They were more impressive than Reimu initially thought, perhaps she should take them a bit more seriously now.

“There are drones behind us!” Her musing was cut short by Sanae’s voice, being the furthest behind.

Looking behind her for a split second, there wassomethingfollowing them, and they were moving quickly. It wasn’t alive, but it was catching up to them quickly, Reimu didn’t hesitate and launched a spread of Danmaku at them. “Take them out first! Sumireko, you’re the group leader!”

“You got it! Focus on taking out those drones then I’ll lead us back to my home!”

Marisa suddenly stopped and turned around, facing the pursuing drones directly. Reimu instantly knew what she was planning, but she was too fast and couldn’t stop in time to get back to her. “I’ll take 'em all out! Just watch me!Luminous Strike!”

“No wait! It’s too flashy-” It was too late, by the time Reimu managed to reach Marisa, a bright yellow projectile had been launched from her broom. Sometime after, hikers found a brand new crater near one of the forest’s trails, noting that it appeared to be made from a huge explosion. It proved to be a popular tourist attraction soon after, ‘the luminous crater’ as it was dubbed, due to its tendency to somehow reflect sunlight during daytime.

“Are you screwing with me, Agent Barton?”

Clint winced, Fury definitely did not like his newest report so far. Reimu, Sumireko and Hecatia along with two other new people suddenly appeared smack in the center of the abandoned Hakurei Shrine. By all accounts and reviewing surveillance footage, they appeared from thin air in a split second. In one frame they weren’t there, but in the next they suddenly were. After a somewhat tense standoff between the two groups, Reimu’s one blasted off into the air first, despite the SHIELD agents calling out that they were friendly.

Some idiot then had the bright idea of letting loose a bunch of drones after the group, and they understandably took it as a hostile action. But the resulting crater that they caused in their attempt to take out the drones was heard by everyone there, and quite possibly in the surrounding towns as well. In other words, another New Mexico incident.

“I’m afraid not sir, Nat and I just found the crater that one of them caused. Sending you the picture now.”

Tapping on his phone, he waited for Fury to see the large crater before him. If he guessed correctly, the explosion that made the crater probably had the same yield as a bomb dropped from a jet, the ones almost as tall as him.

“Christ, and you’re saying one of Reimu’s group caused this? Because some drones chased them?”

“Yes sir.”

“And they are now somewhere in the region flying around doing God knows what?”

“As far as we know, sir.”

Clint heard a very loud and audible sigh from Fury’s end. The man was clearly not taking it well by any standards.“And what about the reinforcements I’ve sent you? Have they arrived yet?”

Fury had told them about a new SHIELD department coming in to reinforce their presence, last he heard they were all making their way to the Hakurei Shrine before Reimu herself appeared. “No sir, they’re en route. Including the one from Yoshiko’s group.”

The three people in total that were being sent to reinforce them were entirely unknown to him. Something about it being last minute and having to maintain secrecy or whatever.

“Rendezvous with them ASAP. Try and find out what that person from Yoshiko’s group knows about these people. I’m certain they know a lot more than they’re letting on. I’ll try on my end to get more info from Yoshiko herself, but you try on your end as well. Fury out.”

With the call ended, Natasha walked back up to him, her face wasn’t in the usual mood for jokes anymore. “You think we ever do things out of our pay grade? I for one, don’t wanna be on the receiving end of whateverthatwas. Think we can get Stark out here? He can take more hits than either of us.”

He most definitely will come, but SHIELD preferred handling things without civilian consultants first, especially if the ‘help’ they needed was from Tony Stark.

“He would. But you’re going to have to deal with him afterwards. Still want him here?”

Natasha looked back at the crater, before turning to him again. “If it meant I won’t get pulverized by that? Sure.”

With that, the two walked back to where the Hakurei Shrine was, the crater was not far from it at all, making it a relatively short journey. When they walked back into the courtyard where SHIELD had set up a mobile monitoring lab, an agent approached them quickly. “Sir, Ma’am, the new department is on site now, they want to talk to you.”

The two shared a look, Fury’s new department was finally here. Letting the agent take them to where they were, they saw two people right in front of the main abandoned Shrine itself, looking at the main worship site. The Honden, if Clint remembered correctly.

“...so what do you think?” He heard the man in the suit talk to the woman next to him, a SHIELD agent if he had to guess.

“...I’m an astrophysicist, this doesn’t make sense to me.” The woman in a plain sweater and jeans replied back, she was carrying a large metal briefcase with her.

“I thought you were supposed to know about this stuff?”

“Psssh, no. I dunno why I was even asked to be in this, Jane’s the one who knows about Asgard and stuff. But she told SHIELD to screw off so here I am.”

“...we’re screwed.”

“Yep.”

…These were his reinforcements? He shared another look with Nat, before biting the bullet and deciding to introduce themselves.

“You two our reinforcements?”

The man and woman turned around, their eyes widening in surprise. Stepping forward, the Asian man in the suit spoke first. “I suppose we are. I’m Agent Woo, and the one next to me is…”

“Darcy Lewis. You uh, probably know me for the Thor thing in New Mexico. Just so you know, Jane was SHIELD’s first pick, but with the whole New York battle she got kinda mad at SHIELD so here I am.” Clint remembered her, she was a person of interest in Thor’s initial appearance. After Loki appeared, she was moved to a safe house as a precautionary measure. Jane Foster wanted to go to New York and meet Thor after the battle, but she was too late.

“Woo? May told me about you, how’d you get assigned to the new department?” Natasha recognized Woo apparently, Melinda May knew him as well?

He scratched his head awkwardly, before taking a look around. “Funny story actually, May was supposed to be here but she got assigned to another thing entirely. So she recommended me as a replacement and here I am.”

So they had a whole whopping two people as reinforcements. Fury wasn’t lying when he said the department was really new after all, they were probably all they could muster right now.

“So, is it only the four of us or…” Woo asked, but not long after another voice called out from behind them.

“If you are going to set up in the courtyard, the least you could do is show respect to the Kami living here.”

Looking behind him, a young girl dressed in a traditional shrine maiden’s outfit approached them. She wasn’t Reimu, but someone else entirely, though they shared the same hair colour. An agent accompanying her apologized, but before he could introduce her, she cut him off.

“I am Yasuna, Yoshiko-sama has instructed me to aid you in your investigation. It appears that something happened before I arrived, no?”

Call Clint paranoid, or maybe Fury was rubbing off on him, but something about Yasuna didn’t seem right. Maybe her personality was off, or she was hiding something about her entirely. Hopefully, it was just paranoia, but with everything he dealt with so far, he didn't count on it.

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

Trust Sumireko, they said. Trust in her plan, since she knew the outside world she said.

What a load of garbage.

At Nagano’s city hall, Reimu stood in a standoffish position against a line of those supposed spies. Sumireko’s suggestion of showing up at Nagano’s city center bright and early in the morning, then just wait. The plan was met with a lot of skepticism, but since the ones responsible for the incident were hiding away and their headquarters were on the other side of the world, they couldn’t exactly go to them casually. Not without Yukari’s help but Reimu didn’t have her contact exactly on hand all the time. Not to mention how her help is as fickle as the Kappa on long-term projects, perhaps even worse.

As she stood alone, she maintained her stoic face when facing the line of vehicles known as ‘cars’. Rinnosuke had told her of these things, but his attempts to get one into Gensokyo had thus far failed each time. The rest of her group was watching from above, ready to strike if the meeting turned violent. Honestly, considering their track record so far, not one incident had resulted in a peaceful resolution where they just talked out their differences. Which was fine by Reimu, that was how Gensokyo solved its disputes, and so far the peace still held.

A short while later, another black car pulled up to the cordon that stood off against her, the spies all just took positions around her, and Reimu could see that they took great care to stand as still as possible. Sort of like her Shrine statues actually, the difference being that they were human.

From the cordon, a path was cleared as two people walked forwards, their steps even but still ready to jump away. Reimu vaguely recognized them, fuzzy scenes playing in her mind, where exactly did she see them before? The man walking towards her carried a bow, while the red-headed woman next to him walked forward with no weapon. Before she could muse on it anymore, they stopped half a dozen meters in front of her, and the red-headed woman opened her mouth.

“Hakurei Reimu? Thank you for meeting with us. Do you…remember who we are?”

Reimu was making that face again, wasn’t she? She had a tendency to squint her eyes at people she tried to recognize, Marisa pointed it out one day when they went to the Myouren temple. Though she tried her best to remove that habit, maybe it was not to be. Regardless, she shifted her stance, left leg forward and her right arm with her gohei raised upwards. They weren’t fighting right now, but she honestly expected a fight to begin any moment.

“Not exactly. You two do seem familiar though...jog my memory a bit.”

“You fought with us in New York. I was…on that building, remember? With the bow? You streaked past me a couple of times?”

As the man with the bow spoke Reimu furrowed her brows even more.That sounds really familiar-wait, the archer on top of the building? I thought he was a random spectator, he was on the Avengers team or whatever?!

“You were on the team?! Wait-but-you don’t-what?!”

With every stutter of her words, it seemed like another pang of pain went through his heart. Reimu must have said something indirectly offensive to him since he deadpanned blankly at her. The woman next to him struggled to contain her grin, covering her mouth before tagging in.

“Okay, before we hurt his feelings anymore, I think we should…discuss the incident yesterday. You know somewhere we can talk or…?”

In the outside world? There wasn’t anywhere she could go realistically, and ideally, it was in familiar territory, lest they try anything. Wait, there wasn’t anywhere she could go in theoutside world. Reimu grinned, they messed with her Shrine yesterday, and despite backing off, she still wanted some revenge. The Hakurei Shrine in the outside world was still technically hers, might as well show them what it wasreallylike.

“Don’t worry, I know just the place…”

Of all the ways Clint expected to find Hakurei Reimu, such as finding her in an abandoned temple, or watching her assault SHIELD headquarters, finding her through Twitter and the local news was not one of them. The moment Clint and Natasha got the message, they immediately scrambled out of their hotel room first thing in the morning. Reimu’s appearance was plastered all over the local news and on the internet by now, some enterprising civvies had taken a selfie with her before the first SHIELD units arrived. It was her first appearance since New York after all, and it was pretty hard to say it was fake when she was recordedfloatingto the city hall. And also the subsequent appearance of two Avengers, all recorded in high definition by local news crews.

“Fury’s going to wring our neck after this...” Natasha said from his side. Fury had explicit orders to keep their appearances and try to keep Reimu from appearing publicly, that part was completely shot now.

“I think we should focus on meeting her instead of worrying about Fury. I still think she pranked us.”

Reimu had given them specific instructions to ‘stand before the main Shrine and pray’ to get to the meeting area, before blasting off into the sky again. Once again, they were too late to stop her, but at least she gave a meeting place this time. So here they were again, in the abandoned Hakurei Shrine’s courtyard, looking like a bunch of idiots. Darcy was currently scanning the entire courtyard for anything she could read on her devices. After combing through the entire abandoned Shrine thoroughly for any trace of her, they decided that maybe there was a secret entrance or something.
So far, however, no luck. And they were there for an hour already, Yasuna had kept trying to convince them to do as Reimu told, and he was about ready to give in. “I believe that making her wait is going to be detrimental to you. Just go and pray, how hard is it?”

It was a matter of principle more than anything else, a part of him still wanted to believe that stuff like magic wasn’t real, never mind that Thor shattered that idea long ago. Terrorists made sense, Gods did not, and the existence of Hecatia was another such existence that he tried to forget.

“Screw it, Clint? Let’s just try it, the worst is that we look stupid while doing it.” Natasha said, before walking forwards toward the main Shrine.

Yasuna let out a sigh, before walking with them as well. Standing right next to the main Shrine, she called out to them with instructions. “I know what Reimu is trying to do, so please follow my instructions.”

A demonstration? Was this some sort of religious ritual?

“Before you clasp your hands, clap it twice in quick succession, then start praying. Close your eyes and shut off all outside influences.”

He and Nat shared a look, Reimu had specifically told them that they were the only ones allowed in, no one else. No backup was allowed, and they were supposedly going to enter a potentially hostile area. If things went wrong, it was their skill alone that could possibly get them out.

As the two Avengers clasped their hands together at the same time, Clint did as he was told, and closed his eyes. Meditation was something he actually did quite often, so shutting off all outside influences was quite an easy task. An archer’s skill for example, depended on-

“Finally! Took you two long enough!”

Clint snapped his eyes open, finding Reimu standing right before him. How the hell did she-

“The others have been waiting for a while now, let’s get this over with quickly, I still need to get my money…” Grumbling as she walked away, Clint and Natasha trained their eyes on her form, still in disbelief. Actually wait, all around then, the dilapidated Shrine was no more, instead replaced by one that actually appeared well kept. The trees were full of life, the stone ground tiles weren’t cracked, and from what he could hear, a lively conversation in the house next to the main prayer area.

Where the hell am I now?!

Before Jimmy’s eyes, two Avengers disappeared from thin air, soon after they prayed at the Shrine. Just like how Reimu and her group appeared, they were there suddenly, and all of a sudden, they weren’t. Running with a couple of agents to the middle of the courtyard, they verified that they really were gone. He turned to Yasuna quickly, his expression demanding answers.

“Where did-”

“Exactly as Reimu intended. They’re probably meeting with her right now.”

What the hell did that mean?! People don’t just disappear! Darcy has been whacking on her instruments for some time, before calling out to the larger group. “I got a reading! It’s some sort of interference, can’t really make out what it means though…”

Yasuna sighed, before turning away. “Those two will be fine, Reimu hasn’t shown any form of antagonism yet, they will come back out when they have finished their discussion. I suppose you should report this to your superior?”

Yes, he probably should. Fury was not going to like having two of his best agents be whisked away…

After his message was sent, he put his phone back into his pocket, only for his phone to ring immediately after. Quickly pulling it out, the caller id read:‘DIRECTOR FURY’.

Wincing, he prepared to brief him on what just happened. The moment he pressed the answer call button, however, Fury’s voice came through quickly, and without bullsh*t.“Agent Woo tell me what the hell just happened.”

What was he supposed to say? Might as well tell him what happened honestly, even if he could scarcely believe it. “Sir, exactly like the message I sent. Agent Barton and Romanoff clasped their hands in front of the Shrine, and just… disappeared. We can’t track them or hail them. The person Yoshiko sent is saying it’s fine but…”

A loud exasperated sigh came from Fury’s end. Wasn’t it super early morning at D.C? Does this man ever sleep?“I’ll talk with Yoshiko right now, you focus on getting answers out of the person that she sent-”

“I’m afraid that won’t be necessary, Director Fury.” Yasuna suddenly appeared right next to him, just a couple of centimetres from his ears where his phone was. How did she-

“What are you doing-Hrk!”

Jimmy suddenly felt his body become extremely weak, almost like exhaustion. He hadn’t felt this way since training at the SHIELD academy, but nevertheless, he collapsed onto his knees, barely struggling to stand up. All around him, everyone else was also collapsing or had collapsed, but Yasuna was still standing upright, completely fine. How…is…she…

“Apologies, Agent Woo, but you are needed for the next part. Do me a favour and point Reimu to Tokyo. I have big things planned for her…”

Despite his best efforts, Jimmy’s eyes closed as well, falling soundly asleep.

“Agent Woo! Come in Agent Woo!”

In Fury’s apartment, his conversation with Agent Woo was just cut short, and he swore he just heard Yoshiko’s voice on the other end. What just happened? Were they just attacked-

“Director Fury.”Never mind, that was Yoshiko’s voice on Agent Woo’s end. What the hell did she do to him?

“Yoshiko. Mind telling me what the hell you just did to my agents?” He guessed that Yoshiko would have betrayed him eventually, just not this early. Fury was nowhere close to knowing her goals just yet, but what he did know was that his agents were just attacked, and God help her if she wanted to get out of this alive.

“I wouldn’t worry about them right now, they’re having some well-deserved sleep. Instead, I would worry about what’s going to happen in Tokyo very soon. Goodbye Director Fury, we won’t meet again.”

The phone suddenly hung up, and Fury clenched it hard. Quickly scrolling down his contacts list, he pressed Maria Hill’s number, and she picked up quickly.

“...Sir?”

He couldn’t waste any time, he had to mobilize SHIELD for a potential attack. “Notify the Japanese Government of a potential attack in Tokyo, and get every remaining SHIELD asset we have in Japan to the city...prepare to notify Stark and Captain Rogers.”

He didn’t know what the hell was going on yet, but he sure as sh*t wasn’t going to sit idly by. No one threatens a major metropolitan centre and gets away with it,nobody.

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

Onmyodo.

The origin of this practice traced its roots back to Taoist practices in China. From there, it was changed into something that was uniquely Japanese despite what others may claim, though none can deny its roots. The concepts of Yin and Yang were core tenets of how a practitioner followed their craft, and one had to be in tune with the world to be a good practitioner. Everything from divination to controlling the elements was part of Onmyodo, and the best ones could use it to summon the Gods. For generations, the Imperial Family had courtiers who specialized in these rituals and practices, the most famous of which is still widely known in Japan today.

Abe no Seimei, a household name at this point, almost up there with the likes of Oda Nobunaga or Minamoto no Yosh*tsune, is what most people think of when they think of Onmyodo practitioners. The practice, however, was outlawed after the Meiji restoration as superstition, but that was just the official version of history anyway.

For Yoshiko, a ritual like this was easy, having done something similar hundreds of times by now, but this time her summons were going to be the largest yet. Standing on top of a large office building overlooking Tsukiji market, she prepared to start the ritual soon, giving herself a bit more time until the main event. Pausing her step, she suddenly called out to the sky above her, seemingly at nothing.

“I already know you’re here Yukari. Might as well come out now.”

Seconds later, a tear mid-air right in front of her appeared, and Yukari Yakumo, an infamous Youkai in her own right appeared before her, lazily swinging her fan in her face. “I don’t remember the outside world being this warm in May. But maybe times are indeed changing, and my memories are not as good as they used to be.”

“Tch. Always the same as ever. What do you want with me? This doesn’t concern you or Gensokyo.”

Ever since being cast out of Takamaghara, Yukari was one of the few Youkai that Yoshiko could say she truly knew. Saying that she was the same as ever was a lie, Yukari had changed over the thousand years she had been on Earth, and so had she. She was definitely a Youkai, but unlike most Youkai, she was not native to Japan whatsoever. An enigma if she ever met one, and to this day Yoshiko still found her origin a mystery.

“On the contrary, your plan does. Even if it didn’t involve the Hakurei Miko, then your plans weaken humanity’s disbelief, causing damage to Gensokyo.”

It was a side-effect and not her main goal. But she understood why Yukari was understandably concerned. “I know how your barrier functions. It will take damage I admit, but not to the extent that it should warrant your direct intervention. Still, you are here because of my plans for Reimu, correct?”

With the appearance of a Shrine Maiden using her abilities for all to see in the world, it garnered much attention and faith. For those who practice or serve the Gods, it is among the most important to have. Even regular humans can be enshrined and become Kami if they had enough prayer dedicated to them, and no, modern celebrity worship was not the same.

“Correct. If your plans have not changed, then why do you needReimu? I do still need her to keep the peace. You know, Gensokyo also has access to heaven, you could just scrap this entire plan and live there…”

This again? Ever since she established her barrier, Yukari had been recruiting for any existing Youkai left to move into Gensokyo. Yoshiko was no exception, but she found it unsuitable to her goals, and so always refused.

“You know my answer already. Besides, the path to heaven if I remember correctly is closed to most. Even if I get there, it’s not the one I seek.”

Just like how there were many ‘Hells’, there were also many realms of ‘Heavens’. The Celestial realm was not exactly where she used to reside, so she passed on her offer.

“But you would be close to him. Isn’t that good enough?”

She shot a glare toward Yukari, and she backed off from that line of discussion. “Alright fine, I won’t prod that anymore. But I believe you are misinformed about Reimu’s actual abilities. They are not what you think they are, she cannot open a path for you to Heaven whatsoever.”

She knew that, but her abilities weren’t the point. It was the gathering of faith, and if her plan went accordingly, she will gather enough of it to open a path to heaven, Inari’s objections be damned. “I see you are not going to listen to me anymore. Your little trick with the mind isn’t going to work on her like that psychic, she has the protection of her God to counter you.”

That she knew, but it was definitely worth a try anyway. She had spent a thousand years on Earth trying to get back to Takamagahara and would spend another thousand more if it meant she could see her son again. “Honestly, what are you complaining about? It’s not the first time the barrier weakened since it was formed, and the last time we met you said the exact same thing.”

The last time they met was in 1945, on the eve of Japan’s surrender. She came across Yukari after she slaughtered a platoon of rebels seeking to stop the broadcast. Yoshiko was on her way to evacuate the Emperor when the two came across each other again. If she recalled, it was the first time in which the barrier weakened since its formation, which prompted Yukari to actually do something. The most recent one was during the invasion of New York.

“I remember that well. With calamity comes a resurgence in faith, a tale as old as humanity itself.” Closing her fan, she gave her parting words. “Fine. I won’t interfere this time as a…favour to an old friend. Gensokyo will always welcome someone like you into it. Give it some thought after this…Kuzunoha.”

After that, the eye-shaped tear in the skies closed, any trace of it ever being there gone. Using her legendary name now? She was selling Gensokyo hard, but she was too far in to back out now. Turning back towards her ritual table, she continued setting up the ritual.

“May humanity fear the old spirits again, for we have never left.”

Shooting a talisman up into the sky, the once bright and clear blue skies above Tokyo suddenly formed into a cloudy thunderstorm. Soon after, off into the distance beyond the harbour, an enormous wall of lightning appeared shooting up into the sky.

For the citizens of Tokyo watching the sky suddenly turn for the worst, their musings were cut short by a huge creature appearing just outside of its harbour.

An eight-headed serpent rose from the depths of Tokyo harbour, the oldest monster in Japan had come to life once more, and the legends of the past suddenly weren’t simple legends anymore.

AN:

I had written this scene as part of the last chapter but ended up cutting it out cause it didn't fit. So I repurposed it into an Interlude.

Be civil in the comments below.

Reimu palmed her face, Sumireko looked away in shame, while Hecatia just laughed awkwardly. Everyone else had roughly the same reaction, but Natasha just leaned back a bit, sipping on her green tea. It actually tasted much better than the stuff outside, how was it much better?

Was it because they were in this place called Gensokyo? Did it magically make tea taste better? All important questions, but maybe she should just get back to her actual job. "So yeah, we may have come off a bit more aggressive than we thought, but Hecatia appearing out of nowhere made us on edge."

After being 'transported' away to a version of Reimu's Shrine that wasn't run down and abandoned, the two of them were brought to Reimu's house where everyone else from Reimu's group was waiting. If it really was another dimension as she said, then no wonder SHIELD couldn't find them whatsoever.

"I…uh…I have no excuse. So I'm not actually a branded terrorist?"

Again, she wasn't. She had to clarify this a few times by now, that girl sure had a wild imagination. Maybe Coulson should have been sent-right. Can't send him anymore…

"No, Sumireko, you're not. We were just going to ask you to contact Reimu for us. Despite your…abilities, but then Hecatia showed up and you know the rest."

There was that whole can of worms about Hecatia being…Hecate. This then lead to the train of thought that the Greek Gods were real, since the Norse Gods were. Thor was a walking contradiction of everything she knew before, so why can't Hecate or Zeus or anyone else be real too? Heck, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi were probably real based on Reimu and Sanae. Did that mean the big guy upstairs was also real?

Reimu let out a guttural groan, before turning to face Natasha. "Okay, so with the misunderstanding out of the way, what now? You wanted to contact me, so here I am. There's something about the outside world knowing about Gensokyo that irks me, but we can talk about that later."

Fury's original orders were to 'make friends', so making friends was what they were going to do. "We just needed a way to contact you for any future threats…and now probably what this 'Gensokyo' is."

What was Gensokyo? The landscape was completely different from the forest around the Shrine, yet it was supposed to be the same area. Where there should have been only dense forests, were fertile farmlands and what appeared to be a lively Japanese medieval village? That was only from the brief glimpse Clint and her got, so it wasn't much to go off on.

"Technically you two aren't even supposed to be here. I'm making an exception because you knew Thor. But…"

Reimu suddenly summoned her gohei, pointing it directly at Natasha and clint. "If you two start spreading word about Gensokyo to anyone you see, I'm going to beveryangry. You get that?"

Sanae nodded vigorously, was this supposed to be a well-kept secret? Fine by her, she was used to keeping secrets that the public definitely shouldn't know about.

"We get it, keep it to ourselves. We're going to have tell our one superior though, is that going to be fine?" Clint asked. He made a comment that the air in Gensokyo was among the cleanest he had ever breathed, like the place had never been polluted or had any sort of industry. It needed more investigation, but from what Reimu said, they weren't going to get the chance. At least not yet.

Reimu sighed. "As long as you keep it small, and a bunch of people don't start showing up at the abandoned Shrine, then you'll be fine."

Another cover-up then, fine by her. Reimu's home might be small, but it was actually pretty comfortable, homey is the feeling she was looking for. Not that she was envious of Reimu for having one, but a place where one could settle down and just relax with tea was a luxury for her. Sure, she worked for SHIELD, but the life of a spy made regular life a bit chaotic, just a bit.

"Well, I think we should get going. The agents outside are probably going insane right now. Nice meeting you Reimu, we'll be in touch again later."

Their job was done, Reimu could now be contacted, and anything else that came as a result of that was not their business, yet. But knowing Fury, they were probably going to be tasked with investigating this 'Gensokyo'. As Natasha got up, the tatami that she should be stepping on felt a lot less frictionless. Of course, since it was a Japanese house, everyone took off their shoes when entering.

Looking quickly, the floor had been replaced by a large 'tear' with eyes through it. Before she could even call out in alarm, she felt her body begin to fall into it. Reimu noticed as well, but she too was too late, as the entire room they were just in was engulfed by the tear.

"YUUUKAAAARIIII!"

Landing on her rear, Reimu let out a yelp as she touched down on what felt like a wet rock. Checking her surroundings immediately, she was definitely in the outside world again, with everyone else that was in her room that is. The sky was stormy and filled with thunderous booms of lightning, were they at some dock area? Stone-looking piers stretched out everywhere beyond them, the outside world sure did things on a massive scale…

"...!"

A familiar-looking man called out in Reimu's direction, he was wearing a red, white and blue outfit with a circular shield. His colour scheme reminded her greatly of Clownpiece, both outfits were equally as odd, but she couldn't deny that he wore it with style. She didn't understand what he was saying though, Black Widow on the hand did, and she called out to him in what she assumed was a familiar tone.

"..."

"Woah hey! Look at that thing!"

Marisa called out, already having stood up. Far off into the distance, Reimu saw the metal man she saved flying around a large serpent creature, dodging a small amount of Danmaku. She could easily tell that the creature was going easy on him, something of that size and power could output a lot more attacks than the few lines of Danmaku.

"Is that…the Yamata no Orochi? It's got eight heads, so it's gotta be it right?" Sanae saw it by now, and she also noticed something odd about it. Its power was genuine, for a beast that Susanoo supposedly struggled to kill at first, it didn't feel all that powerful. Was it severely weakened?

"...!" The man talked to Reimu again, but she still didn't understand him. Gensokyo was not known for its multilingual society, most people only spoke modern Japanese, at least that's the only language she and most people in the human village knew.

"Oh damnit-here, you should be able to understand him now." Marisa brought out a slip of paper with a pentagram, and after activating it, burned the paper entirely.

"Reimu! You need to support Stark, civilians are still evacuating-" His words suddenly made sense to Reimu, did Marisa use a translation charm?

"Oh hey, I can understand you now." Marisa shot her a thumbs up, before taking to the skies. "Yeah we get it, take out the serpent before it gets to the harbour, come on! The faster we get this resolved, the quicker we go home!"

Blasting off into the skies, Reimu saw that Marisa had already reached the serpent with her speed. It stopped focusing on the metal-Iron Man, instead all eight heads started looking at Marisa. Rearing back all eight of them at a time, a veritable wall of Danmaku started being shot out from it, some projectiles resembled swords. The Kusanagi no Tsurugi? Or something else?

"Tch. Of course it does that now. Sanae! Distract it! We'll go at it from all sides!"

Doing a roll to avoid a sword coming straight at her, Sanae levelled back with Reimu before responding. "You got it! Oh man, the report I'm going to write is going to be epic!"

Sanae increased in speed, a sonic boom blasting off right next to her as she joined Marisa. Sighing, Reimu also picked up in speed, if the monster really was looking to attack the city, it should have easily made its way close to the city by now, why was it just holding off in the harbour?

Just before Sumireko prepared to join the fight, Hecatia called out to her.

"Sumireko! Go join them, I've got something else to take care of!"

"What?! O-kay…sure. Don't take too long!"

With her out of the way, it was time she dealt with the actual person responsible for the incident. Teleporting away before the spies or the man who fights against tyranny could stop her, she appeared on top of a rooftop, right behind a nine-tailed fox disguised as a human.

"Hmm? It's you? Shouldn't you be joining those friends of yours?"

"With my strength? Please, they're more than capable. You however…"

The one behind the entire resurgence of the Orochi right now was right in front of her. The humans had their hands full dealing with whatever that thing was, so it was more prudent for her to deal with the one looking at it from the shadows. Besides, she had to give some payback for her mind tricks.

"How did a heavenly being like you get cast out of Takamagahara? No matter, by the time I'm done with you, not even your soul will be ferried across the river Styx. Gaze upon my might, and be annihilated."

Floating up into the air, Hecatia's three planets started to orb around her body, and Danmaku projectiles started to be formed behind her back.
"So confident, so arrogant. Let's take this somewhere else, I assume you don't want all of Tokyo to be destroyed, no?"

Taking out a talisman, the heavenly Kitsune before her activated it, burning the slip of paper and caused the world to 'collapse' in of itself. Hecatia scoffed. "A pocket dimension? That won't save you-"

Wait-it wasn't any ordinary pocket dimension. The 'world' began forming around her again, this time appearing more like Gensokyo's architecture than anything else. Red lacquered wood buildings rose before her, and not long after, an entire palace rose from the ground. A Heian palace? Was this where she lived before?

The kitsune flew up into the air, her black hair turned white and nine tails sprouted from her back. Her Miko outfit was gone, instead replaced by what an Imperial Onmyoji wore.

"Do you realize now, Goddess of Hell? I am not any simple run-of-the-mill Kitsune.I am Kuzunoha! Mother of Abe no Seimei! The one who taught him Onmyodo! In this palace, I reign supreme!"

A dozen Yin-Yang paper sheets appeared behind her, each brimming with the power of the ancients, each paper had a specific Kami inscribed upon it. "I borrow the power of eight million Gods in this land! Your divinity may be strong, but can it handle an entire nation's worth of prayers?!"

So that was her plan, a pocket dimension where her abilities were amplified. Not a bad one, but that just meant Hecatia had to be a bit moreseriousthis time.

"Heh, you may actually make me exercise a bit this time.Come! Let us fight until this dream palace is no more!"

In a palace lost to time, two divine beings clashed with their might, but none will ever know of it. Except for an Ancient One and a Gap Youkai who peered in of course.

This was bullsh*t. That King Ghidorah-looking thing was going easy on him for a while, all he had to do was dodge a few shots, not this veritable wall of bullsh*t coming at his way!

"Jarvis! Give me a goddamn route to evade that right now!"

A wall of swords and what could only be termed as 'fast moving orb projectiles' shot out towards him, how the hell were the other four girls dodging this stuff? Even he couldn't dodge it well! His armour had taken a couple of hits already.

"Route calculated. Follow the designated line."Just as it was about to land, Jarvis found a safe route for him to go through. Having four more friendlies to help fight, including Reimu was a much welcome change, but the sheer amount of projectiles thrown his way was enough to make him dip in and out of combat. The worst part was that his attacks seemed to have little to no effect, but theirs did.

Seeing some of their attacks though, he started feeling like he had inadequate firepower for the first time since donning his Iron Man suit. Especially that witch girl, her attacks if Jarvis was correct, had twice to thrice the power of his regular repulsor blasts. More upgrades were needed, and when the battle was over he was going to pester the hell out of them for tech. Lasers or plasma or whatever of that magnitude was something his suit could use very much, especially if the Chitauri came knocking again.

"Sir! New attack wave approaching!"

Christ-AGAIN?!

The sky was basically filled to the brim with the dragon's projectiles, there wasnt a space at all where he could stop, he had to keep moving or risk getting hit even more. It was like a projectile hell, or a bullet hell considering how fast those swords moved. At the very least, the city didn't seem to get the full brunt of those attacks, though some stray projectiles had slammed into the buildings near the harbour. Looking at the damage, it gave him even more motivation to not get hit by those.

Jarvis was luckily scanning the patterns of those attacks, and thank AI for that. If he didn't then he was sure the first attack from the dragon will have taken him out already. While he looked like he was clumsily trying his best to dodge through most of those things, the four basically teenage girls who joined the battle fought it with grace. Hell, Reimu looked bored if anything, while the others had fun expressions. This was not a situation where one should be laughing about!

"Reimu!"His microphone picked up the witch girl shouting at Reimu, as she held up a small octagon box in her hands."I'm going to use it!"

She paused for just a second, sparing a single glance at the witch girl."Tch. Fine! Make sure you're pointing it at the sea!"

"You got it!"

Tony watched as she flew higher on her broom, using his suit's optics, he saw her pointing that octagonal box toward the monster. He picked up the words coming out of her mouth soon after."Feel my love!Love Sign: MASTER SPARK!"

The hell was she doing-HOLY sh*t!

A torrent of rainbow light shot out from her small box, as it was released, all of the projectiles in the air dissapeared, and the entire serpent was engulfed in the multicoloured beam. Tony actually had to look away because it was so bright, even his suit's optics couldn't stop most of it from hurting his eyes.

For a couple of seconds, the beam kept going, until it finally died down. If what he saw was correct, steam was rising out of the sea where the beam had impacted, covering the dragon entirely and a large area around it. What the hell was that? Did the beam boil the sea? And more importantly, how could he get one and fit it into his suit?

"It's not over yet! It's still kicking!"

A voice from the green haired girl above them called out, and Tony could see shadows behind the steam beginning to move again. Huge winds picked up soon after, before forming into what appeared to be a tornado at where the dragon was.

"Jarvis, am I losing my mind or is the dragon holding a sword?"

"I'm afraid not sir, it is indeed holding a sword. It resembles the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan. Based on our knowledge so far, I would exercise caution when approaching it now."

Even Tony had to admit, there were some things that he couldn't explain, like how Thor flew despite not having any booster packs or anything like that. What he saw before him was another one such unexplained phenomenon. The steam around the dragon coalesced around the sword, and he watched it swing the thing at the the group of four, a giant arc of it flew towards them at high speeds, but all of them managed to dodge it in time. The arc impacted a seaside park behind them, essentially splitting it into two.

"Wow, uh okay. Don't get hit by that thing…"

Turning back to the serpent, he saw it rear all eight of its heads again, preparing to shoot another wave of projectiles at them. This wasn't a tenable position, so he flew towards Reimu and activated his automatic translation program.

"Reimu! Any idea on how to kill this thing? You and your friends seem to know a lot more about it!"

Reimu made a 'tch' sound before responding. "The legends state that it was killed when Susanoo slew all of its heads after getting it drunk. I don't think we have that luxury right now, so we're going to have to brute force it. I'll get the others to distract it, when we get in close to target the heads, go!"

That was a plan at least, and it was better than peppering it with his blasts. "Got it kid! Don't go away after the battle so quickly this time, we still gotta talk about your Avengers stuff!"

Blasting off again, Tony was joined by three of her other companions in distracting the serpent. He felt the damn projectiles actually got moreintensenow that it had its sword. Obviously, each time it swung he had to dodge its attacks, lest he get caught up in the steam emanating from the sword.

Reimu showed up near them again, he noticed her speaking to the green haired girl directly."Sanae! You had the ability to split the sea right? I need you to immobilize the thing, I'm going to end the fight now!"

Sanae, as he now knew the green-haired girl as, gave Reimu a thumbs up, before flying down to the ocean level. She raised her stick up into the air before chanting.

"Sea Opening: The Day the Sea Split!"

The sky directly above her had its stormy clouds part, revealing a bright ray of sunshine onto her. She took out another piece of paper immediately afterwards, shooting it into the ocean.

"I call upon the miracle of a foreign Saint!Sea Opening: Moses's Miracle!"

Immediately after her chant, the sea directly below her split into two, directly down to the ocean floor. The parted line of of the ocean was directly in the path of the serpent, which then fell down onto the now oceanless seafloor.

"Alright! Get your spellcard ready Reimu!Double ESPer of the Century, Sumireko Usami!"

Hearing another call from above him, Tony saw a girl in a black cloakduplicateherself, and not long after, trash in the harbour that included everything from old scrap metal to what were rusted parts of a ship rose from the sea. All of it was held up slight in the air, and with a wave of her hand, hundreds of pieces of debris flew at high speeds toward the serpent, immobilizing and striking its body. It roared again, but despite its heads shooting even more projectiles, it didn't move an inch from its immobilized state.

Tony looked around quickly, trying to find Reimu. "Jarvis-"

"Above you sir."

Reimu was high above him and the rest of her group, her gohei was pointed directly at the immobilized eight-headed serpent. Her voice boomed across the sky, before two large circles appeared around her, made from her Ofuda. During the battle of New York, so many of those papers were used that they became highly sought-after souvenirs on the same lines as Chitauri weapons. But unlike those weapons, no matter what anyone did no one could replicate the effects of her projectiles. It instead became a collector's item, and large amounts of intact pieces were sold everywhere around the world.

Even though he had a few in his lab, analyzing every part of it, all of his scans came up empty. By all accounts, they were just simple pieces of paper with ink, but the video evidence did not lie. Reimu's projectiles were those pieces of paper that were apparently called Ofuda, he and Banner spent many sleepless nights trying to unlock its secrets, but to no avail.

A tsunami of her Ofuda and other projectiles appeared from her body, expanding outwards in a circular fashion. All around her, every inch of free space was eventually covered by a flying piece of Ofuda, and not long after, she dived down directly at the serpent. Her wave of Ofuda crashed into the serpent's body, causing it to roar out in pain as its own projectiles were batted away by Reimu's own. Once she was close enough, she shot upwards again, directly above all eight of the serpent's heads.

An even larger circle appeared over Reimu's head, this time completely made up of multicoloured Yin-Yang orbs. All of them formed into a halo behind Reimu before she shot all of them directly down toward the serpent. At the moment of impact, Tony's optical system failed for half a dozen seconds, but the rattle he felt from the explosion went through the shock absorbers in his armour, rattling his teeth.

"Hey metal man! You might wanna fly away now, can't guarantee ya won't be in the blast radius if you don't!"The witch girl appeared next to him right after Reimu's attack, holding out her octagonal box again.

BLAST RADIUS?!

Nodding mutely, he lost his usual snarkiness, deciding to not argue with the person with the giant death laser. Flying away, he joined Reimu and the other flyers above him, a safe distance away from whatever the witch girl was going to do.

"Alright! This better end ya completely!Magicannon! Final Master Spark!"

BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

This time, Tony didn't cover his eyes, and it was one of the most glorious things he ever saw. Whatever that box was, he had to have one.

"Is it…"

"It's gone, we did it!" Sanae confirmed from above, affirming Reimu's initial thoughts. They no longer felt the presence of the Orochi, meaning that their job was well and truly over. Another happy incident resolved? Iron Man flew over to her, and his voice came from his suit soon after, it sounded robotic, almost unnatural.

"Hey, kid! Did your friend's attack get it? Are we good?"

Sanae responded for her. "We got it! I don't sense it anymore!"

Now with that annoyance over, it was time for why she wasreallyhere. Iron Man pointed towards the ground where they appeared from, the man with the weird shield and the two spies were looking at them from above. "I'll meet you guys down there, I'm sure Cap is going to want to hear this."

Blasting off before Reimu had her chance, she gripped her gohei tighter. Unfortunately, the scene wasn't unnoticed by Marisa. "Reimu? Ya okay?"

Through gritted teeth, she responded quietly. "I'm…fine. Let's get down and meet them…"

As they flew down, Black Widow waved her down first, and the four of them landed in quick succession. "Good work out there, whatever that thing was, but you mind filling us into what that thing was?"

She was a bit jittery, but still coherent. Must have been the nerves of teleportation getting to her. "I have no idea. Must have been dormant or something. Anyways, there's also another issue that needs solving…"

As she looked at her with confusion, Reimu marched right up to Iron Man, and pointed her gohei directly in his face. Clearly not expecting the gesture, he stumbled back, the man with the shield stepping in closer as well.

"You."

He pointed at himself.

"Uh, me?"

"You owe me money."

Even though he was in his armour, he was clearly confused, as he looked back at Black Widow for answers."Little help, Romanoff? I don't want her to do whatever the hell she did just now to me."

Sumireko stepped in at this point, placing a hand in front of her gohei. "Mr. Stark, she means the royalties from the…merchandise you've been selling. I would suggest giving it to her quickly, her mood is known to be temperamental."

Reimu felt that was an insult, but she let it slide for now since the point was across now. Marisa and Sanae however, both stared at Reimu's back after Sumireko finished her sentence.

"Royalties? Wait, is this another of your money-making schemes Reimu?!" Marisa accused, pointing a finger at her.

Crap, I forgot those two were here…

"How'd you think I got her help? It had to be something to do with money." Said Sumireko.

Reimu looked away from Iron Man now that her entire scheme had been exposed. She was too late to back out now though, the last of her savings had dried up recently, and the lack of incidents in Gensokyo meant a lot less visitors to her Shrine. She wanted meat in her meals again!

"Regardless! You've been making a lot of money through toys in my image! Cough up my share right now or I swear-"

"Sure okay, how do you want it?"

Wow, that easy?

"I…uh didn't expect you to…anyways. I want all of it."

Black Widow looked at her strangely, what did she say? Iron Man's voice came through his suit again."All of it? You sure? If you give me your bank account then sure, but don't you want to hear about interest rates and all of that-"

"Nope. All of it right now in person." What even was a 'bank account' anyways?

"In person?! Kid, You definitely can't carry all of it back with you."

Carry it back with her? What was he talking about? Of course, she could carry it back with her…was it a large amount?!

"Wait, how much exactly is my share?"

"Jarvis?"

"Twenty-four million U.S dollars currently. With more going into the account each day. The money is held in a specially created bank account in your name, Miss Hakurei."

Everyone but Marisa seemed to react to that, was that a lot? Numbers weren't her strong suit, and she usually counted her cash in how much food she could get anyways. She turned to Sanae, she had a much better idea of the outside world than she did. "Is that a lot?"

Sanae's mouth was wide open, and could only slowly nod toward Reimu.

"And then? What happened next?"

Reimu sat lazily on her porch, Kasen had come by again to ask what she did in the outside world.

"The Orochi-like monster was gone. Sanae and I agreed that it probably wasn't the original one, at least not at full power. Most likely it was one of its severed heads splitting itself into eight parts as well. Whatever it is now is probably gone. Someone like us definitely couldn't have killed it so easily."

Honestly, the events that occurred afterwards were a haze, after verifying that the Orochi thing was indeed gone, its powers soon faded, and Tokyo's skies returned to normal. This time, however, Reimu didn't leave too quickly. Cornering 'Iron Man', she demanded to get her money from all the toys he had sold. A solid threat and promise of violence later, he got two sacks of Yen delivered to her quickly after the battle.

It ended up being a mind-boggling amount, all of Gensokyo probably didn't have enough Yen as she got from the 'royalties' that she was owed, never mind that she herself couldn't carry it all. Instead, he suggested that she come back to get it in incremental amounts. Screw having enough money for meals, she didn't need to work a day in her life anymore with the amount she was owed. However, those dreams were soon dashed when…

"I'm afraid I can't let you use this in Gensokyo, Reimu."

Carrying two large sacks of her 'initial' royalty payments, Yukari intercepted her when she first arrived back at her Shrine. Reimu held both bags like they were her children. Of course, after being told of the truly insane amount of money for Gensokyo's standards, she couldn't rightly carry all of it back with her in one swoop. Tony Stark, as she had learned was the Iron Man's name, said she needed to go to 'New York City' to get the rest of the money. Otherwise, they could only take a portion of it out at a time, something to consider for later she supposed.

"And why not?! It's my hard-earned money!"

Yukari remained unimpressed. "If I do let you use them, Gensokyo's economy will be ruined, thus making your money worthless, is that what you want?"

Reimu didn't believe her, how the hell was using her money going to ruin Gensokyo's economy? More money the better right?!

"It appears that I need to teach you something called 'inflation' then…" Yukari sighed before a whiteboard similar to what Keine used in the human village appeared through a gap she opened. Needless to say, by the end of it she willingly surrendered her two sacks, but she was allowed to keep a small amount for personal use. Reimu's despairing face as she did so was printed on a new edition of Aya's newspaper, much to her annoyance.

At least she didn't have to worry about meals anymore, but any funds to expand her shrine were lost completely, and that was the most important loss.

Kasen drank her tea as Reimu recalled the events that took away her newfound wealth. It was not a terrible outcome, and the apparent perpetrator had been dealt with by Hecatia who showed up after the battle, her clothes ripped and torn, but otherwise victorious. She kept tight-lipped about who was responsible though, but Reimu wasn't in the mood to fight her yet, so she took her words as is.

"What of the outside world? Is the threat to the barrier dealt with?"

That was a good question, and one that wasn't resolved, yet. "They let us go, but there's supposed to be someone coming here to meet me right about now. He hasn't shown up yet though, but it's supposedly some guy with an eyepatch."

Black Widow had told them of a 'Director Fury' who wanted to talk with her, he came from a long way apparently, and despite her reservations, Yukari herself said that Reimu should meet with him. He was going to show up at the Hakurei Shrine in the outside world at any minute now, and once he did, Reimu was going to spirit him into Gensokyo.

All this work for a small amount of money for personal use…

She sighed, sitting upright and sipping on her own cup of tea. "The barrier took some hit as expected, but Yukari said she had a plan to deal with it. Don't know what it is yet, but-oh?"

Reimu felt a presence in front of the main shrine, but it was from the outside world instead. Must be Director Fury she was supposed to meet. "I sense him in the outside world, guess he's finally here. Alright, gotta prepare now…"

Kasen stood up, placing her cup of tea down. "We'll continue this some other day then. You just make sure you do your job, Reimu."

She laughed awkwardly, Kasen's lectures often had the same repeating point. To do her job instead of getting blinded by money, now that she had some more money though, maybe she could focus on being a proper Shrine Maiden… Oh, who was she kidding? That amount was never going to get her Shrine more popular. As she flew away on her eagle, Reimu got up and prepared for the meeting.

"Wonder what he's like…"

Director Fury had been under a lot of stress these past few days. What had amounted to a simple search had resulted in a giant goddamn dragon of all things appearing in Tokyo Harbour. A large section of the harbourfront was laid to waste, but quick evacuations and a supposed intervention from someone with 'tear portal powers' resulted in no fatalities. That was something they had going for them when the Japanese government demanded answers. And honestly? Aside from Yoshiko, he had none.

Speaking of, all trace of her since the phone call was gone, despite promises from the Japanese side to find her, nothing came out of their side regarding her. He knew they were hiding something about her, but what could he do? Order the Emperor to divulge information about her? Political suicide, and not to mention, all the proof they had of her involvement was a phone call, all the agents that were knocked out had their memories altered or couldn't recall who attacked them.

Walking up to the abandoned Hakurei Shrine, Agent Romanoff briefed him on what to do. "To get in, you need to clasp your hands and clap twice-"

"I know Agent Romanoff."

"Of course, sir."

Under normal circ*mstances, he definitely would not have agreed to meet in potentially hostile and unknown territory. But with Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton's recommendation, he had decided to try it anyways. There was also that individual who appeared in his personal quarters at SHIELD's Japanese branch last night…

Opening the door into his quarters for the night, he felt more tired than he ever was. Not even a month after the Battle of New York, another major metropolitan center was attacked, this time by a seemingly mythical creature. He didn't buy that whatsoever, it had to be some bio-weapon gone wrong or another alien species attacking Earth. Seeing footage of the dragon-thing from SHIELD's air assets, he honestly considered using the pager, but the timely arrival of Reimu and her three other 'friends' stopped him from using it.

Tokyo was in disarray right now, and he needed to freshen up before-

"There you are, rough day I presume?"

Fury drew his pistol quickly, aiming it at the woman before him. She sat on a chair inside his room, lazily fanning herself. She wore a white-purple dress with an old-victorian-looking hat, but based on his instincts, she definitely wasn't human.

"Who the hell are you? And why are you in my room?" He answered in broken Japanese, again, his language skills were not amazing.

She smiled at him, and it made his spine tighten in response. "I come in peace, and as a friend. You may recognize in your reports that someone had been…opening large tear-like portals all around the harbour today."

Placing her right arm out, she opened a tear that looked exactly like the ones shown in the immediate after-action reports from his agents. The tear reportedly saved many civilians from being struck by stray projectiles or collapsing buildings, but that still didn't make her a 'friendly' whatsoever.

"Before that, however. English or Japanese? I believe you are more comfortable speaking in the former."

Reluctantly stowing his pistol, he answered back. "English, now answer my questions. Who are you?"

In an Irish accent, she responded. "Yukari Yakumo, I am…a close acquaintance of Reimu. I believe events have gone…out of bounds, and as such I am here to make amends, and to extend an olive branch."

An olive branch? "SHIELD has no quarrel with Reimu, we just wanted to-"

"You don't, but I cannot say the same for others in your organization. Regardless, that is not why I am here today." Her tone came out slightly threatening, but she soon softened her expression.

"Apologies, I haven't used English in a long time, I am 'rusty' if I remember the phrase correctly."

Fury looked at her face for any deceit, but couldn't tell by her expression alone. She was good, too good, and that only reinforced his beliefs of her not being human.

"You're not human."

What was she? Kree? Skrull? Another alien race previously unknown?
"No, I am not. But that is not important to why I am here today. This concerns the group that Reimu and I belong to, and what the world at large will do."

The world at large?

"It is in our best interests, for you and I that is, that our existence is kept secret, as we have done for many centuries. The…incident in New York forced my hand, that's all."

Kept secret? Another motherf*cking unknown? He was tired of them, the creature at Tokyo harbour earlier today was an unknown, and he was not going to let another group of them run around, at least not without him knowing about it.

"And why would I do that? If your group harbours any threat to humanity, SHIELD can help you contain or stop anything-"

"I will stop that line of thought. You are very good at dealing with threats of this era, but for others? Terrible. I have seen your organization in action during Thor's brief trip, and I am not terribly pleased with how you handled it." Another reminder of New Mexico. Was she implying something related to it? How the hell did she even know about it? SHIELD scrubbed any record of it off the public space, and all video footage or photos were confiscated, he was sure of that.

"We made a mistake, sure. But we were right in trying to contain it."

She scoffed. "And your 'containment' caused an entire town to be destroyed. No, Director Fury, I'm afraid your help will only cause more destruction. So in any case, let me tell you of what Reimu is actually safeguarding, what her presence protects the outside world of."

A tear opened above her, and a large leather-bound book fell out onto her hands.

"Let me tell you of a fantastical land, a place where there are no boundaries to illusions, let me tell you of Gensokyo, the land of infinite fantasies."

Reaching the main prayer area, he stopped. Before turning to Agent Romanoff who was escorting him. "Will I have radio contact in there?"

She shook her head. "No sir."

"...If I don't make it out you have my permission to bulldoze this area until I do."

She chuckled for a moment. "Of course, sir."

Standing in front of the main prayer, he did exactly as Yukari told him to during their meeting. Clap twice, then clasp both hands together, and close your eyes. Soon after doing so, a cool breeze jolted his one remaining eye open, and he instantly found himself in a version of the Shrine that wasn't run-down. Exactly as Agent Romanoff had said.

"There you are. Took you a long time, didn't you?"

Behind him, he heard the familiar voice of Hakurei Reimu, standing behind him patiently.

"I've got some tea waiting for us. Come on, I don't have all day."

Yukari did say most matters in Gensokyo were solved over a cup of tea, and after all the bullsh*t he had been through these past few days? It sounded better to drink than coffee.

"Thank you. Lead the way."

Yukari and Yoshiko looked down from a gap she had opened above the Hakurei Shrine. A large sigh came from the heavenly Kitsune, who proceeded to plop back down onto the tatami floor mat.

"So, incident over? Is that how they're solved in Gensokyo? Everyone coming to Reimu's Shrine for a cup of tea?"

Yukari, the ever-present eye in Gensokyo, simply laughed at Yoshiko's dismay. "The successfully solved incidents are. And what you caused is far from a successful resolution."

Yoshiko gave her a glare, before sitting upright again. "So, what did you mean by needing my help again? I know you didn't bring me into Gensokyo just on kindness alone."

Against a goddess like Hecatia, Yoshiko knew she wasn't going to win, but for a brief time, she could fight her as equals. After she was defeated, Yukari offered to take her back to Gensokyo, since she was now hunted in the outside world. The position of Onmyoji was indeed abolished, but that didn't mean the Emperor didn't have those he could call upon. So, with her connections burned, she had nowhere else to go. Yukari's promise of safety in Gensokyo was what motivated her first and foremost.

Yukari looked at her with a deadpan. "Of course not, your little stunt has caused the most amount of damage to the barrier since its inception. But…I cannot blame you alone. That Asgardian was to blame for setting things in motion, and that is where you come in."

Yoshiko looked at her with a confused stare, and Yukari took out a piece of paper, unfurling it on her table for her to see. "Your skills as an Onmyodo can help Gensokyo continue functioning well into this new age. Please take a look at this."

Getting up from the floor, she looked at it with even more confusion. They were plans for a large Shrine, a very large one. It was the same size as the Ise Grand Shrine, and that was already huge for something that got rebuilt every so often. Reading the title, the plans read 'New Hakurei Shrine'. What was she planning on doing?

"What is this?"

"A plan for the future. Your desire for faith has caused me to reconsider humanity's previous inclinations toward disbelief in us. What if the Hakurei Barrier could be powered by belief instead? Disbelief is not as powerful as belief after all, and if we can harness that instead…"

Yoshiko thought about what she said for a while before the implications set in quickly. She nearly jumped up after she realized her plan. "Are you insane? You're planning on staking the future of Gensokyo on belief in what, Reimu herself?"

"Not just Reimu. Gensokyo is now home to a number of different faiths. If it works for her, then I believe it can be replicated for all who live here, even you."

It was insane, but…just insane enough to work. The outside world's human population dwarfed Gensokyo's orders of magnitude over, and if the Youkai in here could survive based on that small number alone…then what of the outside world?

It was suddenly proving to be a lot more enticing than before. "I have conditions. The accumulated faith-"

"Your goals are fine, I don't particularly care if you take some or collect some for your uses. As long as you help me tweak the barrier for that purpose that is. Do we have a deal?"
Yukari looked at her smugly. She knew from the start Yoshiko wasn't going to resist, and she fell right in her palms. What a devious Youkai.

"Fine, when do we start?"

Looking back at Fury and Reimu talking through the gap, she smiled.

"Now."

Byakuren Hijiri used her motorcycle often. How it even worked in Gensokyo was a mystery, since according to Rinnosuke it needed this thing called 'petrol' to run. It still ran fine without it though, so she didn't mind too much. Going at high speeds towards a corner, she found someone collapsed on the road in front of her. Braking to a halt, she immediately jumped off of her bike and ran towards the body. It was covered by a large red cloak, with a wooden cross strapped on her back. The cross was honestly as big as she was, how was someone as small as her carrying it?

Running over to her, she rotated her body, so that her face was now upwards.

"Hey! Are you okay?! Talk to me!"

Byakuren had extensive medical training, not to the extent that dedicated doctors like Eiren had, but she was able to discern whether someone was breathing or not easily. And thankfully, the girl in her arms was.

"W-Water…"

She had long white hair, but her right eye was covered by a bandage. As she raised her arms at Byakuren's face, she noticed that both of her arms had bandages on them, with a bloodstain on the center of both her palms. Gently placing her head down, she ran back to her motorcycle and grabbed a water gourd. With her head on her lap, she unscrewed the cap and started to pour some water down her mouth. Only that what came out wasn't water, but wine, western wine.

"What…?"

She swore that the gourd only carried water, she just drank from it half an hour ago! The girl didn't care anyways, as she used both her hands to continue drinking from it like it was her lifeline.

"H-Hey you shouldn't drink too much so quickly…otherwise you're going to choke-"

"Hack!"

True to her predictions, the girl spat out the water-turned-wine, having choked on drinking too much of it so quickly.

"...like that."

AN:

As always, be civil in the comments below.

For those who follow reason and logical principles, the supernatural are their worst enemy.

Or so it was claimed.

The Enlightenment, above all else in mankind's short history was primarily responsible for the decline in the fantastical. No longer did humanity have to go solely to priests or monks for guidance in life, instead they could follow principles and ways of life rooted in their own reasoning. A god was no longer responsible for making the Sun go up and down but instead explained by the natural sciences. Was there a difference between knowing that the Sun came up because of Earth's rotation or through Amaterasu's blessings?

For most in the outside world today, that difference did not matter. For Gods, however, the difference was important. They lived and died from those beliefs, and being forgotten was the same as fading away completely, it was why Gensokyo was established in the first place. Sanae knew this well, but it was not enough for its future.

Though Gensokyo was a land of fantasy, it was still adjacent to the outside world, and thus many of its laws still functioned the same, such as the fundamental laws of physics. What goes up, must come down and all the other logic still remained true. Gensokyo's gravitational forces weren't smaller or greater just because a barrier separated it from the outside world for example. However, it had a great advantage over the outside world because of this, illusions or fantasies in the outside world can be made real in Gensokyo, including technologies.

"It's just barely above boiling, Sanae. I think it's time to call it quits." Nitori said after measuring the water temperature.

"Aw…Is there anything else we can try? This alloy proves that it's possible!"

The alloy in question was the Palladium Alloy she got from Reimu, who in turn got it from Kanayamabiko no Mikoto. Her request for a Palladium Alloy proved that Cold Fusion was definitely possible, but further tests have shown that for practicality's sake, it was much less than ideal. As it was now, it would never replace the Nuclear Fusion reactor that Utsuho managed. The only reason why she was even able to manage it in the first place was due to being the Yatagarasu's incarnation, essentially being an incarnation of the sun, thus giving her the ability to make Nuclear Fusion possible.

"Dunno what to say, sorry Sanae. Best to go find another source, we've tried every damn thing we know already. Pack it up! Let's go home for the day!" Nitori called out to the other Kappas who were managing the test site, and they too began picking up their equipment and leaving. Kappas were great builders and engineers indeed, but when it came to project retention…

"Oh come on! We've only been trying for three weeks! Please! Don't go yet!"

Despite Sanae's pleas, her words fell on deaf ears. Kanako walked up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Stop, Sanae. Even I can see it is starting to show its limits. I'm sure it is practical, but we need to do it in a way that actually works."

"I know…but it's frustrating. Ever since we got the alloy, the best we've managed to do was get it to boil water! I don't want its only use to be making hotpot!" With progress crawling to a snail's pace, it has been used for hotpot at the Moriya Shrine at times, if anything it saved on having to buy charcoal.

"Kanako is right, Sanae. Best to not lose your mind over this for now."Suwako's voice came from behind, surprising Sanae.

"Suwako-sama…"

"Ah…why don't we go to the human village tomorrow afternoon? Get some Dango? You haven't been there for a while, and it's going to help take yer mind off."

Sanae brightened up slightly but still felt dour at her failed efforts. She worked really hard on getting everything set up, you know? Wasn't Gensokyo supposed to be the land of fantasies? Where everything was possible?

"Okay…let's go home for now then." Sanae decided to sleep it off, maybe after that, she'd get new ideas on how to make it work. For the future of Gensokyo, and the Moriya Shrine, it had to.

"Kaguya, why can't you just have Reisen show you around? Why do you specifically ask for me every time?"

"Because, Mokou, seeing the human village with you is much more entertaining!"

Mokou, or as she was known in the Human Village as, Fujiwara no Mokou, looked at Kaguya skip along the marketplace looking at various wares and stands. This happened quite often, ever since Eientei's existence was revealed, she had been sneaking out to the Human Village under disguise, and sometimes when Mokou was around, she pestered her until she agreed to show her around. At some point, Mokou just stopped saying no, as she was extremely tenacious and just decided to show her around each time. That was the thing with immortal beings like her, they had all the time in the world to pester you.

"What are you trying to find this time?" Usually, when she demanded to go to the market, she had something specific in mind to buy. That was how she went in most of her visits, either something to find at the Human village, or an entirely new attraction that the newcomers to Gensokyo often put up. It seemed that every other day there was someone new coming in, for example, Aya's newspaper recently talked about someone selling cards that let you copy other people's abilities?

"I'm just browsing today. You know… there have been a lot more things from the outside world coming into Gensokyo recently, you think the excursion outside had anything to do with that?" Saying that as she picked up a new 'model figure' from the outside world, she waited for Mokou to respond.

"I dunno, barriers aren't my speciality. You'd have to ask Reimu for that, but if you're looking for information about the outside world, you're better off asking someone else." Such as Rinnosuke or Sumireko, those two both had extensive connections to the outside world. The latter of which was apparently the cause of the whole incident.

"Like who?" Kaguya looked at Mokou with sparkles in her eyes.

Should she really tell her? If she did, those two might be dragged into her 'entertainment' in the future, so she better not-

"Mokou? Is that you?"

Hearing a very familiar voice behind her, she turned around and found Sumireko herself with a plastic bag behind her. In normal circ*mstances, it was a joyous moment, as she was meeting a new friend again, however…

"Oh wait! I've read about you! You're the outside-world psychic who has access to Gensokyo!" Kaguya beat Mokou to the punch, and it also seemed like she knew about her already. Great…

"Hm? Oh! You're Kaguya, right? The owner of Eientei? Don't think we've met yet, I'm Sumireko Usami, the strongest Esper of Japan!" Her cape was flung outwards at the end of her introduction, adding dramatic flair to it. Where had that come from? The strongest Esper of Japan?

Mokou and Kaguya flat look at Sumireko conveyed their thoughts on that bit well enough since she immediately sighed afterwards. "Oh come on, at least say something…"

"Are you mentally unwell? I can take you to go see Eirin right now, she'll fix you up just right!" On Kaguya's end, Mokou knew she was actually showing some concern, but her words only stabbed into Sumireko's heart. It was not the correct thing to say.

"...anyways. What's with the title? Are you trying to pick more fights in Gensokyo?" Mokou remembered the first time she met her, and thinking about it, perhaps her new title had some merit to it. She was able to match Mokou evenly for a while a feat which only the strongest in Gensokyo were able to do; cementing her as a strong rival. Since then the two often got into spars whenever they met.

"What? It's the title I got from the media after I…exposedmyselfontheinternet but anyways! That doesn't matter. I'm called that in the outside world now, but it's been causing me some trouble so I came here to relax."
Mokou suddenly remembered that it was bright and early today, Sumireko usually didn't visit until afternoons or on some days during the week, how was she here today? Is she… "Are you falling asleep in class again?"

Despite education being limited in Mokou's time, she still knew that sleeping during lessons was a 'bad' thing. She learnt from Sumireko that schools in the outside world now were compulsory, meaning that everyone had to attend, no matter their place in society. It didn't matter if you were the child of a rich nobleman or a simple farmer, you were going to school. Definitely very different compared to her time, but life was supposedly much better now, so she thought it was a good thing.

"Nope. I'm on a vacation day today. There's also the nosy media crews everywhere…" Sumireko noticed Mokou's confused face, and elaborated on what she meant with something she'd definitely understand. "Think of Aya but much worse, it's been a while since the incident with the Orochi, but they're still hounding me! Not to mention all the government guys…"

Aya but much worse? Government guys? "Do you mean the imperial officials?" Mokou asked with something she knew, but with how much time has changed, it was probably something different now.

"Nowadays we just call them officials…oh! Speaking of, aside from the promise of money, how do you make Reimu do something?"

How did Mokou know that? She knew who Reimu was, but they weren't too close. "Shouldn't you ask her friends for that? I'm the last person who knows her personally, why don't you talk to…Sanae or Marisa for that?"

The two seemed like close friends of Reimu's if she wasn't mistaken. They were usually together in solving incidents anyways, so they should have been the first choice for Sumireko to ask. However, it seemed that she already did, judging by her groan.

"I already asked Marisa, she told me to 'give up' basically. Unless it threatens Gensokyo itself, she will not be doing anything, like the lazy Shrine Maiden she is…"

"What do you need Reimu to do? I thought that incident was resolved, is it still not over?" That was what she read in the newspaper, so it should have been over, right?

"Well, that particular mess was, but not everything that came after. Since I'm one of the few who have access to Gensokyo from the outside world, I've been the 'main person' to talk to if they want to find Reimu, Sanae and Marisa. It's been a rough few weeks…" Sumireko looked like she was dead tired when talking about that last bit. All they did was just resolve an incident, what did they even want with those four?

"Basically, long story short, the four of us used our powers in the outside world to defeat a phantom of the Yamata no Orochi. We four are now widely known in the outside world, but since three of them live in Gensokyo, and I'm the only one in the outside world, I've been 'handling' all of the requests to talk to them from around the world. So much for being a superhero huh…if I knew it was gonna be like this I would have never wanted to be one…"

"Why don't you just refuse them? It seems like a very easy fix." Kaguya quipped.

"Easy for you to say! Heck, the Crown Prince of Japan showed up at my door two weeks ago, how do I saynoto him?!"

Kaguya wasn't impressed by that fact, instead continuing to maintain her deadpan expression. "Just send him on a quest to find…the Buddha's begging bowl or something, I've got it in my possession so he'll never find it!"

Kaguya looked proud of herself as if she had just told Sumireko of a grand revelation. Evidently, however, she wasn't impressed at her 'suggestion', as Sumireko palmed her face as she gave her response.

"This isn't the Heian period anymore, Kaguya. I can't just tell someone to go on a grand quest and expect them to follow through. I need an actual solution! Man, I wish there was some relative or the Emperor or something in Gensokyo, maybe then I can get those guys off my back. I guess it pays to have connections…"

Mokou breathed in and breathed out slowly. She was contemplating on Sumireko's words heavily, weighing the pros and cons of what she was thinking of saying. She was her friend, a good friend in fact. But there was also the issue of-

"Mokou is related to Emperor Tenji, why not ask her?" Kaguya just blurted suddenly. Causing Mokou to cough heavily, before turning to the Lunarian princess in surprise and indignation.

"Kaguya! How did you-"

"Oh come on, I guessed who your father was based on your name. It was extremely easy to figure out who your grandfather was at the time. 'Fujiwara no Mokou' isn't exactly hiding your identity, is it now?"

Mokou wanted to say something, but quickly shut her mouth. That was a good point, Kaguya of all people could have definitely guessed who she was. Maybe the two were more alike than usual.

"Wait, you're part of the Imperial Family?!" Sumireko looked at her in disbelief, her eyes locked onto Mokou.

"Well…" She scratched her head awkwardly. It wastechnicallytrue, by virtue of her father being the son of Emperor Tenji, making Mokou her granddaughter. But that was never a sticking point for Mokou's existence, and there was also the other issue of time.

"...I'm the granddaughter of Emperor Tenji through my father… But It's been alongtime since then, Sumireko. Any familial relation isn't going to be strong, if it even exists by now." She took her identity as part of the Fujiwara family more seriously, but even that was just a lingering part of her past.

"I don't think I can help you, sorry Sumireko-" She suddenly dashed forward, both of her arms clasped tightly onto Mokou's shoulders.

"PLEASE! You're my last hope! I want a somewhat normal life again! Everywhere I go in Nagano there are at least a couple of people pointing their phones or cameras at me!"

Her eyes screamed desperation, and Mokou found it difficult to refuse her outright. If it was anyone else, it could have been easy to do so, but Sumireko was one of the few regular people she got along with. While the residents of Eientei were good company, she did also value their friendship. But how was she going to solve the issue for Sumireko anyways? They wanted to talk to Reimu, but if she wasn't going to budge then Mokou had very few ways to convince them aside from violence. She wasn't knowledgeable about the outside world, but she knew that wasn't going to be a viable option.

"I'm sorry, Sumireko. But I don't know how I can help you with this. If you get more people maybe we can go as a group or something?"

"It seems like you're doing something fun together, what's it about?"

The three of them turned around at the new voice joining them, Mokou instantly recognized who the new group were. Sanae, Kanako and Suwako approached them casually, they carried what appeared to be a large paper bag of dango with them.

Sanae got her dango, but even though she ate a few sticks, she still felt down over the failed experiments from yesterday. Whoever said desserts will always cheer you up was clearly lying. Despite that, however, she still enjoyed spending time with Kanako and Suwako, the latter two having been her other 'parents' when her grandmother was busy or too sick. They were a large reason why she ended up moving to Gensokyo after all, she truly didn't have much connection to the outside world anymore.

As the three turned a corner, they found a peculiar sight, and one not very common. Sumireko was holding onto Mokou's shoulders with a desperate expression, as Kaguya appeared next to them as well. She was clearly enjoying the scene, based on her expression alone.

"Hm? Aren't those two from the Eientei group? And that girl is the one from your report right?"Suwako pointed out directly ahead of them.

"They are… I didn't know Kaguya went to the Human village though…" Sanae mused, seeing her here was an extremely rare sight. She did leave Eientei every so often, but it was usually to parties or other things, not the Human village.

"Well, let's go say hi!"

Nodding, Sanae followed suit. As they neared them, however, she heard the tail end of Mokou's conversation with Sumireko.

"...maybe we can go as a group or something?" That was what she heard from Mokou. A group? What were they planning on doing? Deciding to make herself known, Sanae opened with her greeting.

"It seems like you're doing something fun together, what's it about?"

Mokou and Sumireko turned towards her, the latter of whom had a more surprised expression.

"Sanae! Haven't seen you in a while I think." Sumireko greeted her warmly, the desperation in her eyes was still there, but it was slightly lessened when seeing her. What happened to her since the Orochi incident?

"Yeah, since the battle in Tokyo if I remember correctly. You seem more frustrated than usual, anything going on?"

She gave her an exasperated look and took a deep breath. "Oh man, where do I begin-WAIT! You're from the outside world as well! You left me to fend for myself!"

What? What was she talking about?"Ehhhh?"

"I've had to fend off everyone from the Imperial family to SHIELD for you! While you can stay in Gensokyo, I live in the outside world so Ihaveto interact with them!"

After the battle in Tokyo Harbour, the five of them didn't stay long after Reimu got her two sacks of cash. In that brief period though, Sanae saw that media crews had been brave enough to go out and film them. Since they weren't supposed to expose Gensokyo though, Reimu made the choice to bring everyone back quickly, a resolution to the incident to be made at a later time. To be completely honest, the events of that incident slipped her mind quickly after that, and she didn't know what happened afterwards.

"...What's the Imperial family got to do with you? What's SHIELD?"

Sumireko looked like she was just punched in the face, as she recoiled back and staggered. "How don't you-right. Reimu didn't tell you anything… Okay, we might want to sit down for this."

Sit down for what? Was it going to be another long-winded explanation? Sanae really disliked those things, they ended up feeling like exposition scenes from her Manga all the time.

Some dango and tea later…

"So, yeah, the four of us basically became Japan's official heroes or something. Every country in the world is trying to do the same thing because of the Avengers."

Based on what she's heard so far from Sumireko, their actions in Tokyo basically made them household names in Japan. Which was even weirder because they didn't even have ateam nameyet, but that didn't stop people from making ones for them. She found some of them endearing, like the 'Magical Girl Hero Squad', but the rest of them were just whatever they called them. 'Japanese Avengers' seemed to be one of the most popular, but that wasn't even counting the other problem.

"SHIELD and the Government have been trying to make our 'team' official and stuff, more on the latter but since we've never actually agreed to anything they've been trying to get you guys to agree through me. And there comes the issue with Reimu…"

Reimu not lifting a finger to help was in character for her, since it technically didn't affect Gensokyo. If Sanae had to guess, it was more of a personal matter, and she helped Sumireko out already. 'Helping' her somehow led to a giant battle in Tokyo Harbour, and Hecatia was still tight-lipped about who the perpetrator was though. She guessed that Reimu didn't want another incident like that to happen in the outside world, so she refused to help her out this time. Sanae sipped her cup of tea, they decided to stop at a dango stand for the duration of the 'update'.

Everyone else was also there, but Mokou and Kaguya seemed much more interested in trying out the new dango flavours than listening in.

"Every so often some government guys come by my place asking to talk to Reimu or an update if I did talk to her. I've told them Reimu isn't interested every time but they're being very persistent. I amthisclose to just shooting Danmaku at them, but you and I both know that's considered rude in the outside world."

And most probably lethal, but Sanae could see where she came from. It was sort of surreal, being told that your face was plastered on TV screens as most people knew who you were. When she first met Sumireko, she told her that there was a media buzz regarding her disappearance, and now there was another reason for her to be back on Television.

'Super-powered Miko is same disappeared girl from 2009! Sanae Kochiya Found!'

Sanae wasn't sure how she felt about that headline, her other ties to the world beyond were basically all cut by now. In essence, she abandoned the outside world for a new life in Gensokyo without any regrets. That was something she was not keen on rekindling at all, she was happy here, much happier.

"And there's also that thing about Tony Stark really wanting to meet Marisa, but she's also not interested. Too much effort she says. I think he's just after her magical box thing, I keep telling him that it won't work for whatever he wants with it, but he ain't listening." Sumireko frustratingly took another bite of her dango after that.

Tony Stark? The last Sanae heard of him in 2009 was after his disappearance in Afghanistan or something, it made global headlines at first. In the years since coming to Gensokyo, he had evidently changed, a lot. Since when were robotic suits a thing now? What other things had she missed while in Gensokyo?

"Isn't he a billionaire? He made weapons right?"

Sumireko shook her head. "He was, but I think he transitioned to something like green energy. Arc reactors or something like that, that's how he powered his suit in Tokyo harbour. Not too impressive in firepower compared to us, but it still packs a punch."

Green energy? Heh, exactly like my cold fusion experiments…

Sanae looked up into the sky, thinking about the barrier that holds Gensokyo. It seems that even though she's left the outside world, it came coming back regardless, and she's a part of whatever they're trying to do now. There was another thing she had to ask Sumireko though…

"I've felt more prayers centred on me more than usual lately, do you know if people are praying to the Moriya in the outside world again?"

Channelling the Kami through their own bodies were one of the things that Miko was responsible for, the full-time ones anyways. Unlike Reimu however, Sanae was an Arahitogami, the direct descendant of a God, similar to how the Emperors of Japan were all descended from Amaterasu. She did ask Reimu about it recently, but nothing was said about her feeling anything else. So Sanae just chalked it up to her feeling more prayers than usual as a result of staying in Gensokyo longer now.

"Hm? You're being actively worshipped I think. That sea-splitting thing you pulled off caused a looooot of religious squabbling. Actually, all of our actions did, I've had some questions asked of me that I really couldn't answer. What was I supposed to say? Heaven is most definitely real?"

That was going to cause a lot of issues, and unlike the other religions or people with weird beliefs, Sumireko's words were backed up by knowing people that literally split the sea and shot giant laser beams. Not to mention her own abilities but she could see how her words had to be careful. Regardless, she was being actively worshipped?

"I'm being worshipped? Why-oh right, the splitting sea thing. I can see how that raises some questions…"

Maybe she should have used some of her less religiously sensitive spell cards, but bygones were bygones now, and she couldn't change the past.

"Yeeeep. So I've also got people from priests to theologians asking me some questions that I've refused to answer. One wrong word from me and I might cauuuse some religious strife. I don't want that sort of heat on me right now, so here I am, running away from my troubles."

She couldn't blame Sumireko, that was indeed a very big trouble. However… "So, with all that said and done, can you help me-"

"Sorry, but I'm too busy with my experiments." Sanae denied her instantly, causing Sumireko to shut her mouth with a loud clack.

"Wow, Sanae, I thought we knew each other…" The life from her eyes seemed to fade as she said that. Cruel perhaps, but was what Sanae supposed to do? She didn't have easy access to leave Gensokyo, and like Reimu, she had the Moriya Shrine to take care of. The ropeway up to the Shrine had steadily brought in more worshippers from the human village constantly, and she was busier than ever now.

"Again, I don't mind helping you, but it's in the outside world and-

"Yeah, I know. Reimu said the exact same thing to me last week. ARGH!" Sumireko plopped down on the bench they were sitting on, looking at the blue skies above mutely. She chuckled for a brief moment, and the two continued looking at the market in front of them for a while, neither saying a word.

"Can't…you just get the spy organization or something to cover for you? Like if someone wants to talk to you, they have to go through them first?"

"They already tried that. Since they're a public organization, and we're also public figures now, they can't exactly stop people from talking to us. That's exactly what one of the agents told me, apparently there were more but most people talking to me werealreadyvetted by them. Politics things basically, and we're the target. I could try and get that Tony Stark guy to help out, he's rich and all so maybe…"

Sumireko groaned again, palming her face with both her hands. "But he's going to want a favour again and stuff about magic which is a dead end… Maybe I can get the Kappa to trade a piece of technology or something. That'll probably satisfy him."

Again, Tony Stark was supposedly an extremely rich genius inventor, right? So maybe that was the correct thing to do, some weird Kappa technology may interest-

"Hey, you're doing something with cold fusion, right? Maybe you can bring it to him, he might be interested in it."

Sanae paused. She became very still. Sumireko looked at her for a second, slowly growing more concerned as she remained still. She leaned forward, slowly moving her hand to place it on her shoulder, but suddenly, she grabbed both of her shoulders, her grip as strong as steel.

"YOU'RE A GENIUS!"

That got the attention of the others with them, as they stopped talking to each other and looked back at her. "I CAN GET THE PALLADIUM ALLOY TO HIM! HE CAN HELP ME MAKE IT PRACTICAL!"

Sumireko was dazed, clearly very confused at what was going on. "I-I am? What's going on-"

"WE NEED TO GO NOW! TO AMERICA!"

Sanae felt her spirits ignite again like a rocket, never had she felt this much enthusiasm since getting the Palladium alloy. If Gensokyo couldn't make her Cold Fusion work practically, then she just had to look beyond to the outside world. Suwako and Kanako looked at her with more confused expressions, their Shrine could be left alone for a while, right?

At the Myouren Temple, there were few things that Shou Toramaru truly enjoyed doing there. Not that it was a bad place to live, far from it, but a Temple was not exactly known for its entertainment. Yes, she was supposed to be a Buddhist adherent, but following those tenets didn't mean that boredom was a part of it. Besides, she drank heavily with friends alone, and despite Byakuren's nagging, she still enjoyed doing that, even if it went against the Buddha's teachings.

Near the Temple gate, the saw a figure in a red cloak walk in, it was their guest that Byakuren picked up last week. She carried a huge Western-style cross with her everywhere she went, and despite their concerns, she refused to part with it. Clearly, it was very important to her, so they didn't bring it up anymore.

"Nazarenus, welcome back. Did you find what you were looking for?"

She shook her head, evidently today's search was another bust. "No. I will keep looking tomorrow."

The girl had a weak constitution, which was very evident once Byakuren brought her back to the temple for medical attention. She was fine once rested up, however, but her supposed 'quest' was another weird part about her.

"I see. Joining us for dinner tonight?"

"Mm."

Byakuren had given her an extra room in the temple for her temporary stay, her weak nature made them obviously concerned about her quest, but she refused any help, saying that she needed to do this alone. She was polite and kind, which reminded her of Byakuren in her early years actually, though much more reserved.

"Alright, freshen up before then, it'll be ready soon."

All sorts of people came to Myouren temple nowadays huh? Shou chuckled at their little 'family', and everyone that they've gathered so far. Maybe it was what Myouren temple was all about, aside from being a place to train Youkai in Buddhism, it was also a hostel for those temporarily lost. Chuckling to herself, she started heading to the kitchen, Nazarenus really liked the fried vegetarian buns for dinner, so she decided to make those again for dinner tonight. Hopefully, that would cheer her up.

Now late at night, Mokou and Sanae continued staying at Sumireko's house, her mother had graciously allowed (told) them to stay until whatever they had to do was completed. Food of this era contained a lot more fresh dishes compared to her time, apparently, it was due to better storage techniques, allowing for it to remain fresh across long distances. Meat was also much more abundant, truly, the outside world lived in a much richer age. The food they ate for dinner was fit for an emperor in her time, but now it was apparently commonplace.

Sumireko had remained despondent at the 'failed' meeting earlier today, remaining incoherent throughout the rest of the day. With her basically out of action, they interacted with her mother instead. Sumireko's father was the stern sort, but she saw that he had a soft side after she mentioned that Sumireko was her friend. The man looked pleased and instead thanked Mokou for looking after her.

Walking up the stairs, Sumireko's mother had brought her up to a guest room where she could stay for the night. Despite her insistence of staying in the living room, she had a way with words, and she found herself following her not long after.

"The bed is an old one, but I think it will be fine. Sanae is staying with Sumireko and you're much older than either of them right?"

Around thirteen hundred years more, but she just nodded.

"Then this is appropriate for you then. The bed's already made, I do hope it's fine for your standards,princess."

Ahhhhh, she overheard the meeting…

Mokou scratched her head awkwardly at her, in truth, the guest room itself was already much better than her simple wooden cabin in the bamboo forest. "It's great, please, much better than my cabin where I live. Also, I'm not really a princess, it wasn't ever official anyways."

She was an unwanted child, her destiny was to be wed to some lesser family for future influence, but her fate had changed ever since her father attempted to court Kaguya. Sumireko's mother didn't agree, however.

"Hogwash! If my home can shelter someone with Imperial Blood like yours, then it is my honour. But…" She looked behind Mokou again, checking if anyone was there.

"A part of me is concerned for my daughter. Fighting the Yamata no Orochi…and probably other things in the future, if she is anything like the Avengers, it has me concerned for her safety. I suppose it's just a mother's concern, but I cannot help myself, you know?"

That was…understandable. For her, she probably saw her daughter fight these powerful monsters, and for any good parent, they were understandably concerned for the safety of their child. But, Mokou also knew that her concerns were probably not that serious, among the inhabitants of Gensokyo she was strong, enough to rival herself.

"To assuage your fears, Sumireko is strong. Strong even among her peers. Her powers are still relatively young, and she'll only get stronger as she grows, I guarantee it."

Mokou flashed her a grin as she finished speaking, causing Sumireko's mother to chuckle.

"Hah! I knew she wasn't telling me all of her abilities. It is good to know that very few things can harm her then, you must be tired from your 'act' today, I won't bother you anymore. Have a good sleep, Fujiwara-san."

Sumireko's mother left the guest room right after that, closing the door as she went out.

"Hmm. Not what I expected from that woman, she's a lot more shrewd than she lets on."

Mokou instinctively did a one-eighty, a fire in her hand ready to attack. In the middle of the room an eye-shaped tear opened, revealing someone that Mokou herself rarely interacted with.

"You're…Yukari Yakumo. The Gap Youkai."

Her hand was still on fire, her guard hadn't let up despite recognizing who the new presence was. The tear expanded even more, and Yukari's entire form stepped through the portal and into the guest room. What was she here for? Mokou had little to no interaction with her, and she only heard rumours about her. Being everything from a protector of Gensokyo, to someone who orchestrates incidents herself, Mokou had to be cautious around her.

"Indeed. It is a pleasure to finally meet, Fujiwara no Mokou. I suppose you're wondering why I am here today, and in the outside world no less."

Obviously, but in dealing with Youkai like her, Mokou had to be careful to not reveal anything sensitive, lest it be used against her in the future.

"Get to the point, you don't like pleasantries anymore than I do."

She opened her fan, covering her face as she responded in faux indignance."My, my. So aggressive, I thought you were trained in courtly etiquette? But fine, I come here with a proposal that will benefit the both of us."

Wasn't there a saying from the Westerners about being skeptical of the devil who came bearing gifts? This was like that scenario right now, but the least she could do was hear her out. Seeing Mokou's silence and continued staring, Yukari continued.

"Tomorrow morning, an Imperial envoy will deliver an invitation to meet the Emperor tomorrow. I want you to accept it, or rather, have Sanae accept it. I think it will make for a much better message, no?"

"Wha-"

"With my edits to your…entourage of course. The Imperial Court knows you as a princess from your letter and the hairbrush you sent as proof. However, the Emperor is no longer the supreme authority in this land, but rather the ministers are. They are the ones that you need to impress on."

The Emperor is not ruling anymore? She knew that the Samurai had taken over the government long before she entered Gensokyo, but even she knew they had also lost control, so who exactly was in power?

"Truth be told, the Imperial Family also needs this meeting. In this era, their divinity has waned to such an extent some of their former branch families have more divinity than the current Emperor or their children. With you, however, a descendant of such early purity, their position is secure from the priests that resent their mortality."

So that was it? More court politics even in this era…perhaps not that much had changed after all this time. But then, what was her plan? What was she getting out of this?

"I'm not doing anything until I know what you get out of this. What is your plan? How doyougain from me meeting with the Emperor?"

Yukari sighed, sitting down on the guest bed while crossing her legs."My reputation as a protector of Gensokyo isn't for nothing you know? I do take it quite seriously, and this case is no different. I am acting in Gensokyo's best interests."

Mokou raised an eyebrow, wasn't the barrier or something dependent on humanity's disbelief? More things from the outside world had begun appearing in Gensokyo lately, so she had to wonder how her plan was going to reinforce it instead of making it deteriorate any further. "And how exactly will meeting with the Emperor reinforce the barrier?"

"The Hakurei Barrier has always run on disbelief, after talking with all the sages however, we agree that events not in our control have resulted in a reversal of these beliefs in the outside world. In other words, if we do nothing it will eventually break down, we are being proactive to prevent this."

Mokou wasn't convinced, Yukari's proposal still seemed like she was adding to the barrier's deterioration instead of the opposite.

"As we speak, the barrier is being tweaked to now accept belief as a source for it to function. Lord Tenma of the Youkai Mountain has agreed to my plan, and all that remains now is your participation, Princess."

Yukari bowed to Mokou deeply, in what was most definitely a mocking action. What did Lord Tenma have to do with this? That Tengu lord never did anything aside from protecting the Tengu territory, so what was she planning? Before Mokou could speak, however, Yukari's next words hit her like a charging horse.

"If the barrier fails, not only will Gensokyo be no more, but Kaguya will also be found by the Lunarians. That if I am not mistaken, is something you want to prevent, no?"

How the hell did she-

"You-!"

"Ah, you wouldn't want to destroy the guest room now, wouldn't you?"

Mokou's flames subsided, they threatened to engulf the entire room just a second ago but like a bucket of cold water, Yukari's words completely smothered it. She was dangerous, and she knew a lot more about her than most people did. The worst part, however, was that she wasn'twrong.

"The life of an immortal…truly is different, isn't it? Now then, will you go along with my plan, Phoenix of Hourai?"

Yukari held her hand out, waiting for her to shake it. Mokou definitely didn't like whatever she had planned, but…could she risk the barrier failing? In her heart, she knew that the answer was set three-hundred years ago, the moment she discovered that Kaguya was still on earth. Sucking in a deep breath, she shook Yukari's hand firmly, her eyes locked onto hers.

"Do not make me regret this, Youkai of the Gap."

"Do not worry, play your part well and I will do mine. I will inform Lord Tenma."

With her final words said, Yukari opened another tear back to her home within the boundary, closing as she walked through it, she could finally get back to 'interviewing' their unwanted guest. A man in a suit was tied to a chair, though his badge stated that he was a SHIELD agent, Yukari knew otherwise. The agreement she had with Fury was that no SHIELD agents or anyone from his organization were to disturb Gensokyo or attempt to pierce through its boundaries. For the past few weeks, this man had been suspiciously searching around the dilapidated Hakurei Shrine. She couldn't have a risk like him when her plan was so close now, hence why he was currently strapped to a garden chair.

"mmmmmm!"

"Ran, take off his mouth gag."

"Yes, Lady Yukari."

As soon as his mouth gag was taken off, the man immediately started spewing lies.

"I'm a SHIELD agent under orders from director Fury, if you don't release me right this f*cking instance I swear SHIELD is going to annihilate-"

Such strong words from someone who was so powerless. If Yukari didn't monitor him for a while before finally deciding to deal with him she have shown more surprise, but she knew better.

"And I suppose you don't actually report to one…Gideon Malick?" Yukari switched to English to emphasize her point.

The man quickly shut up after that, staring intently at Yukari who just looked at him with a victorious expression. Oh yes, she had monitored him for the past three weeks, including listening in on all his conversations with his supposed superior.

"Not that I particularly care what organization you work for, but the fact that you seek some harm to Gensokyo is why you are here. Now then, either tell me what your organization's goals are for Gensokyo, or I give you to someone who can force it out of you-"

"Cut off one head-"Yukari was interrupted by the man, who used his tongue to nick one of his front teeth off, before biting down hard on it. "...two more shall take its place! Hail Hydra!"

Foam immediately started streaming from the man's mouth. Ran immediately went to his side, but she couldn't do anything. Soon after, his body went still, and his eyes stared into the empty space above Yukari's house, unmoving. "Lady Yukari-"

"Cyanide. His teeth had a hidden capsule. Don't worry, it's not your fault."

Ran still looked down regardless, who actually used cyanide capsules in this day and age? Sighing, all they had now was a useless body, and his soul was probably going to one of the Hells for processing by now. They couldn't intercept it at this time.

"Search his body, thoroughly, then dispose of it. I need to prepare with Lord Tenma."

Ran bowed once more, before turning back to the fresh corpse on her garden chair. It was a perfectly good chair, but now it was filled with the stench of death. What an absolute waste, they would have to get rid of it now.

Sumireko woke up. The initial groggy state of 'waking up' made her look around her room with barely awake eyes. Turning her attention to the futon laid out on the floor next to her bed, she found it empty, and the realization of yesterday's events came crashing back in full force.

"...where's Sanae?"

The Moriya Shrine Miko had been staying in her room due to the limited number of beds in her home, Mokou got the guest room all to herself for some reason. Deciding that she probably woke up earlier than she did, Sumireko went through her usual morning schedule again. She did her best to not think of the absolute nightmare that was yesterday's meeting. She said before that future Sumireko was going to deal with that mess, but unfortunately, she was now the future Sumireko, meaning that she had to deal with this mess now.

Groaning the entire way down, she almost didn't want to leave her room and be like those Hikikomori, but she had grown over the past few months, and running from her issues was no longer an option. Because her issues weren't something that ignored her, the issues often came directly for her, and the more she ignored them, the worse they became. Yawning as she entered her living room, she couldn't see who exactly sat at the dining table, so she just greeted them casually.

"Good morning-"

"Oh hey Sumireko! Can you do an interview for my paper after this whole thing? I have a feeling it'll sell a lot for my next issue!"

Snapping her eyes wide open, Sumireko stared incredulously at Aya, the crow Tengu that interviewed her for a Gensokyo newspaper once. She was very familiar with her, but what was different was what she was wearing, it wasn't anything like her original outfit.

"What."

"You can interview her later, we need to get my daughter ready in her Kimono! She looked beautiful in that yesterday, this time I'll make sure to get plenty of photos!" Sumireko's mother chimed in from the kitchen, serving up an astronomical amount of snacks and foods.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to take plenty! This I promise as a reporter!"

Aya went back to eating her plate of assorted snacks such as sausages and toast, clearly making herself at home. Snapping herself out of the trance, Sumireko demanded what she was doing in her home.

"You're in my house! And with that getup no less, where's Sanae and Mokou?!"

Sumireko pointed at Aya, who just continued eating her plate of food casually. She looked at her with a raised eye after swallowing an octopus sausage. "Didn't you know? We're your honour guard apparently, look outside."

Look outside? What was she talking about-

Sumireko's mind almost shut down when she looked at where Aya pointed, toward her house's backyard. Outside of the open sliding glass door, were a dozen Tengu in outfits that Aya wore all milling about, most were munching on the food that her mother made. On closer inspection, they weren't just Crow Tengu, but a collection of Wolf Tengu as well. Not only did they have their weapons, but they also carried large banners with them, a clan monprinted on them prominently.

"Aya, we're nearly done with preparations, we're just waiting on the signal now."

A white Wolf Tengu called out from her backyard into the living room, and Aya responded while holding up a plate of food.

"Oh! That's good, thanks Momiji. You should try a plate of these sausages, I guarantee you've never tried anything like it before!"

Enough of this, she had to find out what was going on! Slamming her right hand on the table, she got Aya's attention easily. "Damnit Aya! What's going on, why are the Tengu out here-"

"It's because of you, Sumireko."Mokou's voice came from behind her, in the same regal tone she used in yesterday's meeting as opposed to her usual casual tone. Turning around, Sumireko saw her in formal wear again, Sanae flanked her right while another Tengu she didn't recognize flanked her left. The latter was dressed in blue, a golden shoulder pauldron decorated with blue gems on her left shoulder. She vaguely looked familiar but Sumireko didn't know who she was.

"Iizunamaru-sama, our preparations are ready, all we await now is the signal." Aya clearly recognized her, however, seeing that she was bowing deeply toward her.

"Hm, good. You on the other hand…" Iizunamaru scrutinized Sumireko intensely, and she suddenly felt a lot more conscious about being in pyjamas. Why didn't anyone wake her up when Tengu first showed up?!

"We'll get her prepared. The Imperial envoy will arrive soon, gather your Tengu and remember the plan. We don't want an incident where we end up fighting, but we also want them to believe us." Mokou said.

Iizunamaru nodded, she was clearly following her. "Of course, Lord Tenma has impressed upon us the importance of this to Gensokyo, we will do our part. Get her ready, the envoy will arrive any moment now."

As the Tengu dressed in blue walked away, Sumireko quickly went to Mokou, eager to figure out what the f*ck was going on. "There better be an explanation for this…"

Mokou sighed, she took a look at all the commotion in her backyard before responding. "Sanae was briefed this morning as well, but since you didn't wake up yet, we decided to let you sleep in for now. I…called in a favour from the Tengu about our little issue. Since we can't take back our letter or redo the meeting, our only choice is to double down on the ruse now."

Double down-that was what the honour guard bit was for?! They were making it so that she was what, a mystical Youkai princess?! This was going way beyond Sumireko's original plan, all she wanted was some peace and quiet, in the form of not having to deal with someone from the government knocking on her door every so often. How the hell did it come to this!

"Wha-I don't-HOW?!"

Sanae spoke up after seeing Sumireko's look of disbelief. "Well, the Tengu actually do benefit from this, they get more exposure and it reinforces belief in them, similar to our agreement with them in my Shrine's ropeway actually. Since we aren't doing this in Gensokyo, it also doesn't violate Reimu's rules, so we're fine!"

Despite the bright smile she gave her, the psychic among them still looked at them with a glare. Mokou put her hand casually over Sumireko's shoulder, before leaning into her with a serious expression.

"Okay, I know this looks nothing like what you wanted at first, but I guarantee that by the end of today, you won't be bothered by those officials anymore. Then Sanae and I will be continuing on to this 'America', just bear with us for today,please."

The last part almost seemed as if she was begging her, but she waved those thoughts aside. Must be her still being groggy from the early morning. Mokou was a confident person, and Sumireko thought she didn't make claims like that unless she was completely confident. Seeing that she went this far for her sake, she thought that perhaps she could trust in her. It was an insane plan, but if she had confidence that it would succeed, then she could support her friend all the way through.

"Heh. Alright then,Princess Mokou,I'll follow your lead."

Calling Mokou 'Princess' made her cringe, but she very quickly recovered. Sumireko was at least going to get some fun out of this, she wasn't going to get away from this so easily. Besides, what are friends for? "Thank you, Sumireko. Now let's get you changed, shall we?"

Mokou held her hand out to the side, and flames appeared from her hand, forming into the same conjured-up Kimono she wore yesterday. Man, her mother was gonna bug her about it for a while huh?

The Imperial Household Agency or the IHA was an agency charged with matters concerning the Royal Family of Japan. In this regard, they were not part of the agency system that reported to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, but were instead semi-independent. Not even the Emperor himself had full control over it, and criticism had been levelled towards them for their insistence on millennia-old customs and traditions, sometimes to the detriment of the Imperial family itself. It could be said that their loyalties were not to the current Emperor, but rather to the institution of an Imperial monarchy itself. At least, that was what Officer Hazama thought about them.

After notifying her superiors of the situation, she was immediately flown to Tokyo by helicopter to brief them on the situation thoroughly. Speak of what you will about her government's bureaucracy, when something had to be done urgently, they got through all the red tape pretty quickly. So here she was again, back in Nagano, heading to Sumireko's house. This time, however, she had an entire team of envoys from the IHA with her. She still didn't know what the letter's contents were, but since the IHA actually came out and did something, she guessed it was pretty serious.

Her orders were to smooth over any potential incidents before they could escalate, but that proved to be…much more difficult than usual now. Considering that there appeared to beguardsthat stopped their convoy at the entrance to Sumireko's neighbourhood.

They didn't appear to be regular guards at all however, they had animal ears and black feathered wings on their bodies. Whispers of them being Tengu cackled on her radio, and she honestly found herself agreeing. Some of the envoys from the IHA gulped upon seeing them approach, everything from swords toshakujowas carried by them. She had a very good guess as to who they worked for…

Turning towards the very concerned-looking envoys, she spoke. "Alright, it seems like we're going to have to go on foot. Get out of the car."

One of the envoys looked at her like she was insane, as he incredulously pointed out at the approaching group of guards. "Are you insane?! Those are Youkai! They don't appear to be friendly, what makes you think that-"

Hazama wasn't having any of it, her favourite pair of shoes were already left at Sumireko's house, and she was just about done with dealing with this case. "Do you want to deliver the invitation from his majesty or not? Because I don't think they will like a 'lowly agent' delivering such an important thing for them. You choose."

They chose wisely, quickly following Hazama out of the car after she did. With her walking at the front, the other envoys looked at the Youkai wearily, walking together in a tight formation for psychological reinforcement. As she was half a dozen metres from the nearest Crow Tengu, she was stopped with a shout.

"Halt! What business do you have with her majesty?"

Now or never…be brave, Hazama!

She took a deep breath, her next words may end in them all dying, but she had to try regardless. "I come with envoys from His Imperial Majesty! We have an invitation for her, Kochiya Sanae and Usami Sumireko to meet at his palace in Tokyo!"

After her words were said, there was no reaction from the guards or her party. Silence reigned in the streets for a minute, until a familiar figure with green hair approached them from behind the guard line. The envoys with her perked up when she came into view, but Hazama knew better. Sanae walked past the guards and stood right in front of Hazama.

"I am here to accept your invitation."Professional, and to the point. Nothing at all like what was speculated about her in the public and from intelligence. It seemed to her that Sanae acted differently depending on what she was doing, so did that mean Mokou outranked her as superior?

Seeing that the envoys were basically paralyzed, she gently nudged one of them carrying the invitation to get on with it. With light steps, the man carrying the letter handed it with both hands to Sanae, his legs were shaking heavily but his arms were completely fine. A result of training for years perhaps. Sanae took it graciously, but before she turned around, she had one thing to say to them.

"Do not leave yet, the Princess likes to give her responses quickly. Please wait here for now."

With a bow, she left and headed back into the line of guards, who quickly closed ranks after she went in. Curious civilians had been taking pictures and videos from their houses or on the street, but still not daring to get close just yet. The envoys looked at each other, clearly confused as to the turn of events. By this time, the escorting Security Bureau personnel had gotten off their vehicles as well, and they were in a standoff between the Youkai guards.

For a few tense minutes, not a single word was said. The tension in the air was thick with occasional ragged breaths. If those guards were anything as strong as Sumireko or Sanae, then based on the number of guards they saw alone Hazama knew her group was going to get slaughtered if a fight broke out. They seemed to know their weapons well, and she was willing to bet her failing relationship with her boyfriend that they could use 'Danmaku' proficiently as well. She very much didn't want to become riddled with holes today thank you very much.

Sanae came out of the line again after what felt like an eternity, this time bringing Sumireko with her, also dressed in the same expensive Kimono she saw her in yesterday."Her Majesty has decided to accept your invitation."

Hazama let out an audible sigh of relief, and so did some of the envoys behind her. Though the relief was short-lived, as the next words from Sanae's mouth triggered their flight or fight response instantly.

"She will be leaving immediately for Tokyo."

Stunned, no one from Hazama's side was able to respond as Sumireko and Sanae bowed, before retreating back into the line of Youkai guards. As they did, they fell into line, forming into position around them. From the front of the street where the neighbourhood they were guarding lay, Hazama saw a few dozen figures start flying into the sky. Narrowing her eyes, they were dressed exactly like the Youkai guards, all with the same wings and wolf ears that characterized them as 'non-human'.

It was like a procession taking off in front of her, and not before long there was a large and ornate red palanquin being carried in the middle of it. She guessed that Princess Mokou was situated inside it, which was then followed closely by Sanae and Sumireko flying behind. Some of the Youkai guards started raising banners, from her position however she couldn't make out what was on them at all. The rest of the Youkai guards also took off into the air behind them, forming an aerial procession as they flew high up into the air towards a certain direction to their southwest.

South-west…wait, that's Tokyo! They really are heading there!

Being the first to snap back to her senses, she shouted to the rest of her colleagues. "Goddamnit! They're heading to Tokyo, you idiots! Radio back to that something is heading their way!"

One agent, a rookie if she remembered correctly, stammered a question toward her. "W-Who should we tell?!"

Did she really have to shout it out loud?"EVERYONE!"

A platoon of individuals potentially as powerful as Sanae and Sumireko flying straight toward Tokyo? A major metropolitan centre?! It was going to give everyone in headquarters a heart attack, and she now had to race there as well, if anything happened, it was her neck on the line.

Komachi Onozuka had just finished dealing with the last of today's souls to be ferried across. Stopping back at the banks of the Sanzu River closer to where Gensokyo was, she decided now was a great time to relax a bit. She earned this, having done very hard work lately, heck, the last time she got scolded for laziness was a while ago! Taking a brief break wasn't laziness, right?

As she stepped off her boat, however, she felt astrongpresence approach her, it was honestly similar to Hecatia's presence, but it felt completely different. Its nature, in essence, was nothing like what Hecatia represented. Looking up, she saw a small figure approach her, she was wrapped in a red cloak and carried a large wooden cross of sorts. Komachi waited until she was close enough to hear her.

"Hey, there stranger! What brings you to the shores of the Sanzu River?"

Now that she was closer, not only did she notice that one of her eyes was completely bandaged, but also that her state was…confusing. She was not dead, and yet she was a spirit? A seeming contradiction, but she remembered that Youmu Konpaku was the union between man and phantom, so perhaps she was similar in that regard? The girl in the red cloak took a good look at Komachi's boat, staring at it intensely for a dozen seconds.

She tilted her head in confusion, what was she expecting? Hell having a bigger and better boat to ferry souls across? Ha! If only their financial situation allowed it, Komachi could afford to hire a crew to make her trips easier! If only…

"Are you taking passengers?"Her voice was soft and melodious, not lively, but it was soothing. Some spirits Komachi ferried across talked about how their mothers or elder sisters' voices used to soothe them, and that they were looking forward to meeting them again. Perhaps this was what the feeling was like?

Komachi shook her head at the girl, she took passengers alright, but usually notlivingones. "I do, but not for you. Sorry kid, I only take deceased passengers, and you're far from it, despite your…spiritualness."

Was it the wrong word? Perhaps, but the girl didn't agree, since she shook her head at Komachi. "I am not deceased or alive. I can pay for the trip…"

She took out a small bag from her white frilly dress, and opening it, she reached in and grabbed some coins. Handing it over to Komachi, who inspected it carefully. It was a coin alright, probably gold as well, but she didn't recognize the design at all.

"What is this? I don't recognize it at all?"

"Denarius Aureus. They are gold coins, I assure you."

Komachi didn't doubt that, but it was the design that caught her attention. Most souls that paid her had simple gold nuggets or coins minted with characters on them, not whatever these weird symbols were. Was that someone's face printed on them? Anyhow, despite her claims of being neither dead nor alive, to Komachi, she was clearly 'alive'. But before she could refuse her, the girl looked at Komachi with her one uncovered eye intensely, and she found herself feeling bad if she refused her.

Was this the infamous guilt-tripping eyes? The 'puppy dog' eyes that Kasen talked about from the outside world? Truly, a formidable force. Sighing, she handed back all of the coins except for one. "Alright kid, I'll take one gold coin as payment. Where are you going?"

"Hell. Um, new Hell I think it is called?"

New Hell? That was easy enough to get to.

Gesturing for her to get on, she unslung the giant cross from her back and carefully placed it in the middle of the boat so that it didn't capsize. She sat on the other end, at the bow of her boat. The two remained quiet for a while until Komachi decided to strike up a conversation as she did with most spirits she ferried. Her dress and the currency she carried weren't something she saw every day, so she figured that her passenger must have an interesting story to tell.

"So, what's your name kid?"

She stopped looking at the waters of the Sanzu River to turn back at her. Komachi never got the infatuation that some of her passengers had with it, yes it was filled with all manner of creatures, but so what? She chalked it up to seeing things for the first time, maybe if they saw it day in and day out for hundreds of years they'd eventually have seen it as something common.

"Iesua."

Iesua? Now that was an interesting name, she'd never heard of it before, was it from a foreign land?

"Iesua…it's got a nice ring to it. Are you from somewhere far? Don't seem like a Gensokyo native to me."

It was a guess, but one she had some confidence in being correct. And indeed, she was, as Iesua nodded in confirmation.

"The land I come from…is far. I have crossed many oceans to come here."

Many oceans? Huh, must be from even beyond China then, what were other lands like? "Huh, never met anyone from that far, what was your home like? Similar to Gensokyo?"

She shook her head this time, evidently not."Nay. My home is…much drier. It is home to many arid deserts, but also blossoming farmlands. Still, the people living there enjoy its bounties to the fullest."

Arid deserts, but blossoming farmlands? Sounds like a contradiction to her, but the world was big, and perhaps some lands were stranger than what Komachi was used to. "Oh yeah? That's cool. Now how about the other place you're from? You feel like a spirit to me, so you gotta come from another realm."

A bit more personal, but if Iesua didn't want to answer, she wasn't going to force it out of her. She looked like she was pondering the answer for a bit, it took her a while before she said anything."...do you know of a realm called Barbelo?"

"Never heard of it. Is it some heavenly realm or something?" At least, it was what it sounded like. The different heavens all had their own weird names, but Hells were no different so it was a moot point.

"In a sense. It is a heavenly realm."So she was a celestial then? Wasn't there one running around Gensokyo? Komachi distinctly remembered running into a blue-haired celestial during her visits to Kasen. At least she wasn't flaunting her status like her, to this day she still held a small grudge against her.

All those celestials and their weird immortal lives I swear…

"Huh, never had a celestial as a passenger before. What are you trying to find in New Hell? Normally they all stay as far away as possible from anything to do with death, and you're heading directly to the place where it's the most prevalent."

Hell was synonymous with death and dead spirits, after all, it was hard to ignore it. So that made a celestial coming down from heaven to enter Hell a pretty weird thing. Iesua looked at her wooden cross as Komachi finished asking her question. Did it have something to do with what she wanted to find?

"I am seeking an old friend, that's all. We haven't met for a long, long time…"

An old friend? As far as reasons go, that was actually plausible. She may have been trying to find her friend who died and she herself went to the heavenly realm. It was just a guess, but a probable one.

"I see. Well, New Hell is a big place, you may be searching for alongtime. Just so you know that."

New Hell was actually having trouble administering the damn place, so many sections of it were known as 'wild territory', meaning land that was entirely unclaimed and could be used by anyone for any reason. "Mm. I see, thank you for the advice."

Komachi flashed her a smile. "You're welcome, now, lemme introduce you to some of the things you may see in New Hell…"

The two spent the rest of the journey talking, with Komachi introducing her to various attractions New Hell had, such as the food and game stalls to the other landmarks that she may be interested in. Hecatia had actually made good progress in transforming large sections of Hell to not look like a complete wasteland, so there were now places that looked quite pleasant. She hoped that Iesua found them pleasant to look at as well, Hell didn't have to be a place completely dreary you know!

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

"...we're lost, aren't we?"

Sanae deadpanned at Iizunamaru, the Great Tengu who was in charge of the contingent of Tengu guards vigorously shook her head as she opened up a paper map she brought. Even to Sanae, the yellowish paper was most definitely at least a century out of date, if not even more. Why did they trust her to navigate them in the first place?

"No, no. We're just going in a direction that gives us a dramatic entrance! Uh…Lord Tenma gave us orders to make an impression so that's what we're doing, making an impression!"

Just as she finished replying to Sanae, Sumireko flew back up to where they were, having returned from checking the highway signs.

"We're going the wrong way! Heck, Yokohama is closer to where we are now than Tokyo!"

The two of them levelled a glare at Megumu, and she chucked the map away in frustration. "Alright then, why don't you lead us to where the damn palace is! It's not my fault all the cities look the same in this era, why can't they have a giant flag or something that says 'Tokyo'?!"

There were famous landmarks…but Sanae refrained from pointing them out. "Alright sure, I can do a hell of a better job than you can! We've been up here for like three hours, going up and down cities that aren't Tokyo. You're gonna take us to Okinawa or something if I let you guide us any longer!"

Sumireko angrily flew towards the front of the procession, leaving behind everyone else. She had a point though, they have been circling around cities and towns that were most definitelynotTokyo once they actually got close. Heck, Sanae was pretty sure they went to Mount Fuji an hour ago, but since it was relatively close to Tokyo, she didn't say anything about it. Their original plan was to head straight for the Imperial Palace, but it was not going to plan, at all. Who knew aerial navigation without proper instruments was so difficult?

Mokou, who peeked out of the palanquin to see what was going on just sighed. "It's probably not wise to keep the Emperor waiting, we did say that we were leaving immediately. Let's just trust in Sumireko for now, if worst comes to worst, we can just fly along the roads until we get there."

Well, it was a better plan than nothing at least. It was probably noon by now compared to when they set off early this morning, and soon enough, their procession changed course once more. Presumably in the true direction of where Tokyo was.

Officer Hazama listened to a JASDF report regarding the procession. Using their radar stations and scrambled F-15s to recon them, the report she heard from them gave her another headache.

"So, you're basically saying that instead of going straight to Tokyo as we thought, they're instead taking a f*ckingtouraround the Kantō
Region?" A cabinet minister asked, he was the Minister of Defense if she remembered correctly.

The JASDF officer in front of her nodded, and she never regretted her life choices more than now. Join the National Police Agency, be like your father! Her parents said, but if past her could see the state she's in right now, she'd have instead gone to do that accounting degree instead. Much quieter, and better for her mental state.

"They're trending on social media, my daughter sent me a message about them being near Yokohama an hour ago. I thought they were supposed to head for Tokyo, why are they flying around everywhere?!" Her boss called out to no one in particular, everyone else in the emergency response room couldn't give him an answer. In response to the threat that the procession may cause, everyone from JSDF Generals to Cabinet ministers convened about the situation. Since Hazama was the most 'familiar' with the situation, she also had a prestigious seat in this response meeting.

However, she felt more like hanged seaweed than an actual contributing member as the various members bickered over a proper response. Everything from sending fighters to intercept them to hailing them down was proposed, but all were shot down for practical concerns. Plus, if they saw it as an act of aggression, the scenes of Tokyo Harbour were fresh in their minds. No one wanted Tokyo to be reduced to molten slag, or worse, split into two. Though neither seemed particularly worse than the other if you asked Hazama only.

"Officer Hazama, what is your take on this situation?"

Choking on nothing, the sudden question directed towards her snapped her out of any thoughts she originally had. She didn't even know who directed the question, but everyone at the table was now staring at her, their eyes eagerly waiting for a response.

sh*t, I wasn't really paying attention! Gotta make something up and hope they buy it…

She cleared her throat, buying herself the precious extra few seconds that she could get. "Right. Um. Personally-this is just my opinion. I…believe that they are doing this…deliberately…"

Murmurs broke out among the others at the table, oh boy, why did she say that?!

"Please elaborate on it more, Officer Hazama." Her boss said curtly.

sh*t. Of course that asshole would ask that… Well, might as well speak the truth! My truth anyways, damned if I knew what Sumireko or Sanae was thinking…

"Because…we have pressured Sumireko for months…I think that they are doing this as a form of…or a show of strength. Mokou-ahem,Princess Mokouwas not supportive of our efforts whatsoever. This is outlined in my report. Hence why I believe that they are doing this to send a message…?"

Her answer sounded progressively less confident, and by the time it reached the end, she basically asked herself a question. She prayed to all the Kami, and even Sanae or Reimu if they were listening that those at the table bought her bullsh*t.

"I see. It does make sense…"
"What choice did we have?! The Chinese and Koreans were pressuring us diplomatically, if we said the truth, we'd be a laughing stock worldwide!"
"Damn them! They must have planned this for weeks, if not longer!"

As they fell into their own small arguments against each other, the focus was taken off of Hazama, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The bickering lasted until another knock came on the door of their room, and someone from the IHA walked in, his face serious and appearing to be carrying a message.

"May I have your attention please!"

All of the arguments in the room ended immediately, as everyone turned to look at the messenger. Once he verified that the room was silent, he quickly read out the words printed on his small slip of paper.

"His Imperial Majesty has asked us to allow the procession to reach his palace. No one is to block their path, and a clear route should be given to them if the need may arise."

Silence reigned in the room for a full minute, before it bursted into a cacophony of shouting all at once. Hazama herself was stunned at the turn of events, His Majesty himself wanted the procession to go ahead? Did he not realize the potential danger?! Many in the room voiced out their concerns, but the messenger was steadfast, only citing that it was His Majesty's wishes. Only time will tell if it was going to be the right move…

Looking down upon the city they were above now, Sanae felt that they were at the correct location now. Sure, they had to dip below the clouds every so often so that they could see the road signs, but that allowed them to finally get to Tokyo! Though what was supposed to be a short and easy trip took thrice the original time to get there because of Megumu's insistence on her maps…

Anyways, they were at the home stretch, after Mokou's plan was completed, she was able to finally head towards America. Her plans of Cold Fusion may finally have a chance of succeeding, but for the future of Gensokyo and the Moriya Shrine, she had to.

"...Are those cameras?" Aya called out in front of her, still flying in formation.

Indeed, as they neared what Sanae recognized as the Imperial Palace from a trip to Tokyo during her childhood, there were several dozen news vans parked along the palace's moat. Accompanying them were a large crowd, all had phones or large cameras taking pictures of them. How did they know of their meeting? She was sure that it wasn't announced, so how?

"Reporting! Sumireko has said that she will be taking us to the palace's main bridge entrance!" A Tengu suddenly flew next to Sanae and Megumu, giving a report to them.

"Good, keep following her. Remember to keep formation at all times! We're in the thick of it now, the crowd and all of Japan are now looking at us! Do not disappoint Lord Tenma, for the good of all Tengu and Youkai!"

Megumu gave out orders upon hearing the report. For Tengu specifically, their stake in this was the same as the ropeway that the Moriya had, the more well-known and feared they were, the more strength they could call upon, thus securing their position in the Youkai mountain even more. It was this reason why they were so eager to make a 'good impression', the humans of Gensokyo was limited, but a chance to impress upon the outside world? It was too good of an opportunity to ignore, so they had to go ahead with it. A part of Sanae thought that the barrier was going to take a hit however, a surge of belief was not going to stabilize it whatsoever, but Megumu had assured her fears. Lord Tenma supposedly had a plan that Yukari agreed with, and that was enough to placate Sanae's concerns.

As they came up on a western-style bridge on the edge of where the palace was, she recognized it as the main entrance to the palace. Under normal circ*mstances, it was completely closed off from the public, and a police box stopped any curious people from moving beyond the barrier. However, Sanae saw what amounted to a line of mounted police and guards dressed in fancy uniforms. They were being expected, odd. Mokou and her both expected to see more resistance, which was part of the plan, it wasn't supposed to go this smoothly.

The procession formed up into a straight line as it started descending. Landing in a neat line right in front of the bridge, a police blockade had stopped the public crowd behind them from going any closer. Now that they were just above the large crowd, she heard their shouts much clearer now.

"I see her! That is Sanae!"
"Sumireko is there too, it really is them!"
"I told you they were our heroes! They're meeting with the Emperor right now, see!"
"Are those wings?! Youkai are real!"
"Of course they're real idiot, did you forget about the Yamata no Orochi already?"
"I don't see Reimu or Marisa anywhere…"
"Who's in the palanquin then? Probably Reimu or Marisa right?"

Shouts and exclamations similar to those were what she kept hearing, but that only confused her even more. Now was not the time to ponder on that though, as the procession touched down on the gravel just in front of the bridge. Megumu nudged her elbow discreetly, signalling her to head to the front. Nodding, she joined Sumireko at the front of the procession, where a line of Imperial Palace Guards stood between them and the procession. Sanae forced back a gulp, and the seriousness of the situation finally hit her in full force. For a dozen seconds, neither side spoke or made a move, but she could see the nervous faces of some of the Palace guards.

Eventually, however, their lines parted first, revealing a well-dressed man, similar to what European butlers wore actually. He walked right in front of the Sanae and Sumireko, before bowing deeply toward the two of them.

"His Imperial Majesty extends his warmest invitation towards your party. However, I must ask that only Usami Sumireko, Kochiya Sanae, and Princess Mokou come through this gate. The rest of your honour guard will have to wait outside."

Sumireko looked at Sanae, secretly telling her to go check with Mokou first. She quickly flew back away from the front, and directly to the palanquin. When she turned around, the crowd behind the police barricade roared again, as she was now fully visible to them. Lifting up the cloth covering the palanquin Mokou was in, she seemed surprised at seeing Sanae.

"They uh, only want three of us to go in. The Tengu will need to stay outside here."

Mokou sighed, giving her a shrug before responding. "Well, we thought they would reject us anyways, the fact that they're even allowing us in is a good thing. We'll proceed on foot inside,let's go."

Sanae stepped back out, and Mokou gingerly stepped out of the palanquin, surprising Megumu. "Princess-"

"Hold outside here for now, His Majesty will be meeting the three of us only."

She dropped her usual tone, instead adopting the one she used when meeting Hazama. They had to keep appearances up now, no more slip-ups, as all of Japan were watching their every move.

Megumu looked apprehensive but relented after seeing Mokou's expressionless face. "Of course, Princess. The Tengu shall await your return or until further orders."

The great Tengu turned towards the rest of her underlings, shouting out a new order."Face sideways! Make way for Her Majesty!"

In unison, or like a well-oiled to Sanae, the Tengu guards turned from facing forwards, all to the side at once, before taking a single step forward. Making a corridor for Sanae and Mokou to walk forwards. The sounds of cameras clicking and loud murmurs from the crowd reached her back, but she tried her best to ignore it for now. As Mokou walked forwards, Sanae walked behind her, acting like her noble attendant of sorts, exactly what they wanted the outside world to believe.

Sumireko's Kimono was 'augmented' with her usual cloak and hat, but it somehow didn't clash too hard, since it gave her a Western 'fusion' feel to it. Nonetheless, she still acted her part and bowed toward Mokou as she approached the line. Once in front, the palace attendant that asked for only three of them to come through welcomed them in. The palace guards parted, and the three found themselves being led over the bridge, and through the large doors that led into the palace proper.

It was now or never, Sanae hoped that Mokou knew what she was doing…

After the end of the Second World War, any remaining monarchies in the world, such as the British monarchy had to make changes. In just fifty short years, monarchies went from being the norm in most countries around the world to being the minority. Japan was one such country, having managed to at least preserve their Emperor as a condition for their surrender. It was very nearly not the case, but the alternative was best left to those alternate history fiction writers.

These changes included everything from a more public presence to more accountability. Palace tours to the public, something that may have been unthinkable even in the 1930s, now became an integral part of how royal families existing today justified their existence to the increasingly republican population. The Imperial Palace was no exception to this, as tours (booked in advance) often had daily sessions that could take a group through the castle grounds. No buildings were to be entered, but it at least gave the public a glimpse of the grounds beyond those palace walls; where in decades past entering it could have gotten them executed.

The group of three walked through the quiet grounds, His Majesty's steward, as they have learned, guided them through the maze-like paths. Mokou walked in front, with her left and right being flanked by Sanae and Sumireko respectively behind her. After some time, they eventually came upon a large traditional building, by Sanae's own estimates they were probably in the far side of the castle grounds.

Stopping before entering, the steward turned towards them. "His Imperial Majesty has requested to meet you here over tea. Please, enter."

The building was situated next to a clearing of sorts, she guessed that the other side of the building overlooked a large part of the palace grounds. A place fit for any Emperor to talk and relax, and they were now about to enter it.

Being led further in through the winding traditional corridors, the steward led them through a dozen different rooms, before eventually opening a large screen door. It was a balcony, and what struck Sanae immediately about it was the view of the frost-touched trees unmoving beyond it. For some, Winter was a season where nature looked dreary, but in modern times that conception was instead replaced by the 'winter wonderland'. It was a better idea to stomach for most people, now that humanity had access to fresh food even during the coldest of months.

Sitting alone on the balcony was an old man. His hair was greyed, and he wore a simple black suit. She instantly guessed that the man was the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, I have brought them here." In a low and soft voice, the steward announced their presence to him.

"Good. Now leave us, I wish to talk to them alone."

The steward barely held back a gasp, and he protested the decision quickly. "But-!"

"You have served me well for decades now, please, trust in me."

The man was clearly apprehensive at the request, but perhaps either because of duty or loyalty, he acquiesced to His Majesty's request.

"Understood. I will make sure none will disturb you."

Bowing again, he quickly left their presence, closing the sliding door leading onto their balcony as he did so. There were only four people on the balcony now, and the Emperor gestured over to three other chairs prepared for them presumably.

"Come, sit. I know the journey from Gensokyo has been long and arduous for some of you. I am not one who likes formality all the time, so do not worry about speaking your mind."

Sanae's eyes widened. He knew about Gensokyo?! Mokou didn't seem affected by this whatsoever, and proceeded to take the middle seat, while Sanae took the leftmost one, and Sumireko the rightmost seat. The latter also had a surprised expression, but didn't voice out any of her surprise.

"Since we're leaving formality out of this…I guess I don't have to keep up appearances any longer." Mokou reverted back to her usual tone and personality, a signal for Sanae to also relax.

"Y-You know about Gensokyo?!" Sumireko however, could not hold back her question. Maybe it was rude to do, but in a closed space, standard rules of formality didn't matter as much.

The Emperor let out a small chuckle, amused by her question."As a young boy, long before I had become Emperor, I had a caretaker who was a Youkai. She was the one who orchestrated the Yamata no Orochi's appearance. How she found the real Kusanagi no Tsurugi from the depths of the sea I do not know, but regardless I am glad that it is once again in the Imperial Family's possession."

A Youkai who was the Emperor's caretaker?Andthe one who orchestrated the Tokyo Harbour incident? It was probably the mysterious Kitsune that Reimu said was responsible for the incident, but never found. She complained that Yukari was tight-lipped about the entire thing, but since it didn't really affect her that much, she didn't think much of the whole thing. If the Emperor had a caretaker who was a Youkai however…

"Indeed, she regaled me with tales about a land where Youkai lived next to humans, where the fantastical was as real as the sky. It was much more exciting for a young boy than learning how to be Emperor one day."

So, he did know about Gensokyo…but what that left another question, why did he so readily agree to meet with us?

"If I may, if you knew about Gensokyo all along, then why did those government agents insist on meeting Reimu through Sumireko? Couldn't they have entered Gensokyo themselves?"

"Only my immediate family knows about Gensokyo, and even still, not everyone knows. The Crown Prince is aware of some aspects of it, but I have not told him of what it really is yet."

He took a deep breath before continuing further on."The entire issue detailed in your letter to me stemmed from the invasion of New York all those months ago. I do not know why Hakurei Reimu acted on that day, but everything since then has been the consequence of her actions. The civilian Cabinet believed in a mundane world until Aliens attacked, but we all know that we never lived in just a mundane world."

Sanae had to revise her preconceptions about what the Emperor knew. She guessed that he had some knowledge of things such as the Gods, which was obvious, but it seems like he was much more informed than the media presented him as. The apolitical figure in Japanese society knew much more than he let on.

"My former caretaker also left me a letter detailing her act of summoning the Yamata no Orochi a week after the incident. In truth, I am glad that she is doing fine in Gensokyo, but that does not help you in resolving any problems you have right now, yes?"

Well, yes. The problem of the government still harrying Sumireko wasn't solved the Emperor knowing of Gensokyo if nothing was done about it. Mokou spoke up this time, a fist placed on her cheek as she asked him a question.

"You seem like you have a solution for us, well, let's hear it."

He smiled, Mokou was right on the mark it seemed."Because of the nature of Gensokyo, making the Hakurei Miko come out in public for events and photo shoots is never going to happen. No matter how much the government wishes for it to be, their problem is one of legitimacy. Making you do something similar to what the Avengers in America are doing, will never work, but the cabinet doesn't know this. My offer is to divert attention from you not as a group specifically, but instead onto the Imperial Court."

In other words, the government wanted the four of them who battled in Tokyo Harbour to do PR events? It seemed trivial, but at the same time, they all had things to do in Gensokyo, and balancing it with the outside world was never going to happen. This was where the conflict lay, it was ultimately between what the outside world wanted, and what they wanted to do in Gensokyo.

Mokou wasn't convinced of the idea, however. "And how exactly is it going to work? This may not be the era I am familiar with, but the last I remember, the Imperial Family was nothing more than a figurehead."

She was thinking of the wrong era, but the last part wasn't exactly wrong. The Imperial Family of this era were just figureheads, having no real stakes in politics whatsoever.

"Simple, through you. You've already laid the groundwork for this in your journey here, all that we need to do is finally make you an official member of the Imperial Family. Your hair brush is proof enough of this."

Reaching into his pocket, he took out something bound in an ornate red cloth, and after opening it, revealed a simple wooden hairbrush. He placed it on the tea table in front of them, and Sanae could see two very prominent clan symbols engraved on it. The Paulownia Seal, and the Sagarifuji. The former represented the Imperial Family before they used the Chrysanthemum seal, and the latter represented the Fujiwara family.

"Not even counting the sorcery that was used to preserve this into the modern day, it was a simple matter to verify the design with our own records and examples of early Fujiwara-family combs. Besides, we have our own methods to verify those with strong ties to Amaterasu, something that you share. Of course, the public will not believe this, but it should silence the civilian ministers once they know that you have my backing, at least for a long time."

Mokou gingerly picked up her comb again, before clutching it close to her chest."You know,"The Emperor interrupted her musing, continuing when Mokou looked up at him. "There were arguments to whether or not you were the Kaguya-Hime of legend, because of the same period that you were in. Just to sate my curiosity, did you know of her?"

Sanae heard Mokou choke, as she made an indescribable face. It was if multiple expressions were present on her face at the same time, but she guessed why that was the case. Gritting her teeth, she responded to His Majesty slowly.

"K-Kaguya is…in Gensokyo. She never went back to the moon with the Lunarians…"

He raised an eyebrow at her, probably at the revelation that Kaguya was on earth instead of Mokou's expression."Oh? That is truly surprising. But I suppose she is in Gensokyo for her own safety, but that gives me another idea."

It was Mokou's turn to raise an eyebrow at him now, what was his new idea?

"Do you think she will be upset if you impersonated her in the outside world? It will endear you to the public a lot more if you did so…"

Mokou went still, Sumireko and Sanae looked at her with concern that she could bellow out in rage. But, she did the opposite, as a low laugh came from her mouth instead. "Oh, I don't think she'll mind. I have a lot of ideas on how it can go…"

Eientei wasn't going to like whatever Mokou had planned, were they?

As Sariel finished foraging for the day, she felt pleased at the abundant amount of flowers in her basket. Ever since relocating to New Hell from Makai, she found that she had a lot more freedom to do things. No longer did she have to beat down Demons on her way to do, well, anything, the environment around her was becoming nicer day by day. No longer was the sky above her a dreary blood-red colour, but it was a regular blue sky. It only applied to some patches of New Hell however, depending on where you lived it was still a dreary and uncomfortable place to be. Still, it could have been worse, that was the price of independence, she supposed.

Her new house, a simple stone cottage in the middle of a field was built by her bare hands. It was a downgrade from her previous living quarters in Makai, but it was infinitely better because it was truly hers.

Placing down the basket of flowers she picked from a nearby field, she began sorting through it. Some of them reminded her of the ones that bloomed in Egypt and Judea, but enough of that now, she had much better things to do than reminisce about-

KNOCK KNOCK

She paused, those two knocks came from her wooden door. Now that her senses were heightened again, she felt a presence behind it, which was concerning since no one had ever come to visit her, not even her friends from Makai. Though that was because of the barrier rather than anything else, she hoped. Slowly walking over to the door, she opened it without checking through the peephole. The girl before her…was someone she did not expect whatsoever.

"...Sariel, it is-"

SLAM

Slamming the door upon hearing her speak, she quickly started breathing raggedly and quickly. How was she here?! This was New Hell! The last place someone like her should be in! Thinking of a dozen scenarios through her mind, she felt someone looking at her, and indeed, when she looked up, Iesua's confused expression was seen right through her living room window.

She started knocking on the window lightly, her voice somehow carried through the closed window.

"...Let me in…"

Her eyes were as wide as a full moon, and looking at her expression, she could only shake her head vigorously at her. Upon seeing that however, Iesua pouted, an expression she often saw back in Heaven.

"...I'm coming in regardless."

Wait, what-

CRACK

"UWAAAA-!" Sariel screamed indignantly.

Her stone cottage wall that Iesua was behind suddenly cracked, and a large, perfectly circular hole was made in it. A singular piece of the cottage wall was gently removed by Iesua, who then set it aside on the ground. Nothing stopped her from entering the cottage now, and she walked in casually.

"...I need your help…"

Help? Help with what?!

"...Help me find…Lilith."

Well, at least she's as forward as ever…

AN:

Combs in early Japanese history were seen to have shamanistic properties. As a result, they were often given to people of high status, often as proof of their familial ties, this was not limited to combs. Other objects of importance that were printed with specific seals such as the Tokugawa seal for instance, could result in your execution if you were found to possess it illegally.

Be civil in the comments below.

Among all of the properties and residences that the Vatican held, there were few more dear to the Holy Father thanCastel Gandolfo.Historically a summer retreat and vacation residence, it was used extensively for its isolation by various leaders of the Catholic faith. In this era, it was no different, and it served often as a place of residence for the current Pope.

Walking through the majestic gardens immaculately kept, a lone Cardinal quickly made his way to the main residence. He was theSecretaria Status, or the Secretary of State, who handled most of the Holy See's foreign affairs. Having flown out to the Pope's summer residence on urgent notice, he was fulfilling his duty to inform him of any new developments in their various diplomatic efforts.

Led into the small study where the Pope resided by a sister, he introduced himself, as he had done many times before.

"Holy Father."

The elderly man paused from reading his book and placed it down on the small coffee table next to him. During winter, the Castel was often said to be too cold, but his insistence on staying there silenced those who objected. Looking up, he greeted the Cardinal with a warm smile.

"Cardinal Valois. You would not come unless something urgent had occurred. I trust that it is good news?"

It wasn't urgent, but it was good news. Cardinal Valois took a moment to clear his throat before speaking. "It is, Director Fury of SHIELD has finally agreed to meet with us."

He had given him clear instructions to come and see him when they finally agreed to a meeting. The message came from Washington D.C just this morning in fact, and it was the first thing Cardinal Valois did. He had stalled for months but despite it all, he caved in eventually and agreed to set up a meeting. But now came another issue, what exactly was the issue they were going to talk about? The Holy Father had been very secretive about it, only vague answers were given when asked what the issue was about.

"I see. It took that stubborn man a long time. I suppose that girl who split the harbour made him reconsider it greatly?"

He was, of course, referring to Kochiya Sanae. Her actions were most definitely not lost on the senior leadership of the Vatican, let alone its faithful. Invoking the name of Moses and splitting the sea in half drew a lot of interest in her. But, it also proved to create some theological hurdles, why was a Japanese Shinto Priestess invoking the miracles of Abrahamic figures? There were some uncomfortable questions being asked, usually in hushed whispers, but they were there, and the Holy Father was keenly aware of it.

But it wasn't Sanae that was the reason for their original meeting, though it most definitely became another reason. He guessed that it had to do with Hakurei Reimu and Thor's appearance, but again, that was just a guess. Hopefully, he will let him knowwhatthe issue to be discussed is now that SHIELD had agreed to it.

"I…do not know Holy Father. But who shall we send? The Nuncio to the United States-"

"No, this matter is sensitive. I must ask you to personally talk with him."

Valois was no stranger to meeting important figures, but the fact that he was asking him to go personally meant that it wasreallysensitive. A dozen scenarios ran through his head over what could possibly be the reason why but still came up lacking. The Holy Father seemed to have noticed it, as he began to chuckle at his expressions.

"I will dispel any misconceptions now. It is to do with this 'Hakurei Reimu', all I ask is that you help set up a meeting between us. Or rather, I would like to talk to her personally."

The Cardinal was floored, he wanted to speak to her personally?! For what reason? And not to mention the danger-

"Please do not talk to me about the potential danger, I have enough of it from my other Cardinals. I do not need to meet her urgently, but I do insist on it regardless."

It wasn't that they haven't tried to contact Reimu or her group. Like many others, they too sent a representative to talk with Usami Sumireko, the Papal Nuncio of Japan was sent for this task. In a story similar to many other officials and people that have gone to talk with her, however, she rejected or stalled any and all attempts to contact Reimu for them. That left them with a dead end, so they had to rely on the potential connection Reimu had with SHIELD.

"I…understand, Holy Father. I will do my best to bring this up when I meet with him soon. Is there…anything else you wish to talk about?"

He looked outside the window of his study for a moment, Valois heard the faint whistling of wind through them. The Holy Father had a small smile on his face before turning back to him.

"Ah yes. Do you know if the Sistine Chapel has finished its restoration work? I believe it will be a great meeting place when I talk with her. In particular, is The Last Judgement safe to display once more?"

Matters of the Vatican's artwork and internal property were not his duty, but even he had heard of the renovation work that had recently gone into the chapel. But, he had to answer truthfully anyways.

"I do not know, I have not gone there in quite some time, apologies."

He waved Valois off, gesturing that it wasn't a problem at all."It's fine. It was time I went back to Rome soon anyways, perhaps I will ask the artists personally to see if they are finished. Thank you, Cardinal Valois, I will leave you to your duties now."

As Valois prepared to leave, he noticed that on the coffee table next to him, there were two cups present. One was situated further away from the other, nearer to the window, and they both had different levels of espresso inside them. Odd, the Holy Father was most definitely alone inside his study. With his duties now set, however, he focused his mind back on the coming meeting, and how exactly Fury was to be convinced. If even the President of the United States couldn't get her to arrive for an awards ceremony, then how was he going to accomplish the same?

Regardless, his task was set, and he excused himself quickly. As he made his way back to the helicopter that took him there, he had a sinking feeling that the Church was going to change in the next few months. The Holy Father had many who opposed him, and he foresaw an ever-growing divide. Who knows? Maybe Bergoglio may finally decide to resign in person, but such a thing was still yet unthinkable.

Mokou stood outside of the 'laboratory' where Sanae conducted her 'experiment' in. Night had befallen the foreign land they were now on, and the night's sky was especially clear tonight. Seeing the stars shine as bright as they did was a surprise to Mokou, as the winter clouds usually blocked most attempts at seeing the clear night sky during that season. Aya had also followed her out, but she had finally petered out on her energy, as she was sleeping on a bench behind her. The place they were in had a large octagonal courtyard in the centre of it, with it being this late at night, there were none to disturb the tranquillity of the area. None to disturb the imperishable night, as only the stars spoke above her. Perhaps that was what Kaguya saw outside her window back in the Lunar Capital-

"Man, Tony might as well give it up already. We've run every test under the sun, he's not going to prove otherwise."

A tired voice came from behind her, and the man who was introduced to her as Doctor Banner walked out stretching his arms up into the air. She realized that they had been running tests for many hours now, perhaps they still needed more time? Regardless, the man was surprised upon seeing Mokou stare at him, and he immediately put his hands back down, sputtering out an answer.

"O-Oh, I uh, didn't see you there your majesty. I was just going back-"

"It's fine, this courtyard is not mine alone. You may stay."

Mokou still had to keep up her 'Kaguya' persona, but even she was finding it somewhat tiring. To think that she had to act like this during her time in the Lunar Capital…a maddening experience to be sure.

"O-Okay…if you insist."

Banner approached the two of them slowly, his eyes sometimes darted between the courtyard and the sleeping Tengu on the bench. It was clear where his interest lay, his actions weren't subtle whatsoever.

"Aya is fast asleep, she won't wake up so easily."

"Really? I thought she'd be much more alert, being your guard and uh, everything…"

Officially, yes, but unofficially, she was just a tag-along, someone that Mokou needed to eventually spread newspapers about her feats in the outside world. Kaguya had retreated from the outside world, and that meant open season on doing things to mess with her legacy. Hey, if she didn't want Mokou to do that, then why did she hide out in Eientei for all those years?

"She is…like that. I would not worry, I can defend myself just as easily."

"Uhuh…"

The two fell into an awkward silence, Mokou kept looking up at the stars, while Banner awkwardly scratched his head, probably thinking about things to say in this situation.

"So, one thousand years, huh? That's…a really long time, for humans that is." He quickly added another sentence at the end, eager to not offend Mokou. "Oh-uh, I meant no disrespect, it's just that as a scientist things like that are really remarkable-"

"It is." Mokou sighed, so he chose that topic to be brought up. Not her favourite one, as she was reminded of how she ingested the Hourai Elixir in the first place.

"If…you don't mind me asking. Did you actually have a potion of immortality, and give it to the Emperor?"

Banner was asking directly of the legend that Kaguya indirectly spawned, theTale Of The Bamboo Cutter,a mostly accurate legend, with those depicted swapped out for fictional princes instead. Her father was one of those replaced by a fictional prince, and during the Heian period when the story was proliferated, she was surprised to see that its details were basically accurate. Back to Banner, however, she couldn't exactly say that the elixir was actually ingested by her and that she wasn't the real Kaguya. An alternative answer had to be given instead.

"The…legend of Mount Fuji activating because of the elixir…is not entirely false. But evidently, my existence here on earth should be a reason to know that the legend is not exactly correct either."

Banner nodded, almost sagely if Mokou had to describe it, he placed a hand on his chin before responding. "Huh…almost like Thor actually. We had a similar conversation before he left, do you know him? He seemed to imply that he knew who Reimu was, but left before we had a chance to ask him anything else."

Mokou shook her head after thinking about it, she did not know anyone remotely named Thor in all of her life. She vaguely remembered someone who sounded like him, a supposed Thunder God who Sumireko said fought with Reimu. If the two were the same, then Banner had friends in high places. ARaijinwas not a God of small stature by any means.

"I do not know him personally, but you seem to know him well. Are you two friends?"

He shook his head before a faint smile appeared on his face. "Nah, we're just work colleagues…I think. I don't actually know for sure, he said we're 'battle brothers' at one point, dunno what that meant though…"

"You have the favour of a God, that alone is a feat no mortals can claim is a small feat." At least, that was how it worked in Gensokyo. Individuals like Reimu who had the backing of a God, even nameless, were often a force to be reckoned with. Sanae even, having the backing of two Gods was a powerful Miko, despite her relative inexperience.

"I'm not sure that's how it works today, but at this point, I'm willing to reconsider my ideas about the mythological. Like her for example…"

Banner shifted his gaze towards Aya's sleeping form, she slept without a care in the world. Sanae had told Mokou that she was likely suffering from something called 'jet lag'.

"Is…she human? A variant of humans? Human descended? Modified human?"

"None of them. She is a Crow Tengu, she was never human in the first place."

Likening Youkai to humans was often offensive to the former, and suggesting that they were related was even more of an insult. Youkai were proud of who they were, and their origins were somewhat related, but ultimately they were their own beings. Banner raised an eyebrow at Mokou's explanation, did he find something wrong with that statement?

"I find that hard to believe, honestly speaking. Aside from her…crow appendages, she looks exactly like a regular human. Are you sure she isn't some…genetic ancestor that just went down a different path? Somehow developing wings?"

He spoke words that Mokou was unfamiliar with, but they sounded like something Eirin talked about sometimes. Or was it the translation spell messing with word translations? Who knows, but she knew what ancestor meant, and Aya was most definitely not an ancestor of humans.

"I believe you are mistaken, Aya and her kind are not the ancestors of humans. Youkai…are made the way they are because of humanity, but also not quite. The relationship between the two is a two-sided affair. Both affect each other's continued existence in some way, but in this era, humans have managed to dominate Youkai instead."

At least in the outside world, but again, no revealing Gensokyo to anyone.

"Humans…dominate Youkai? I don't really get it, but do you think she'll let me have a sample of her blood? Just to see if we're really different? There has to be some common link between us, she looks too much like a human to be any different."

Mokou chuckled, not at the common link, but asking her for blood. Aya was not weak by any means, and she wanted the good doctor to remain on the ground, instead of being wooshed up a mountain by magical winds.

"I will recommend against that, Aya is proficient in the manipulation of winds, you may end up at the top of a mountain if you antagonize her."

Banner was taken aback by Mokou's words and stood back a step from Aya's sleeping form. He raised his hands up in faux surrender, before sighing.

"Guess my curiosity often gets me in trouble, huh? But I gotta ask, did 'Youkai' like her come first, or did humanity come first? Cause it seems like you know a lot more about them, and I want develop my hypothesis"

That was a question Mokou didn't know the answer to. Did humanity or Youkai come first? She was not the person to ask this question, someone like Akyuu or even Eirin may know the answer better. The latter had implied she wasn't even born when the heavens were separated from the earth, but even that was alongtime ago. The better question to be asked was did the Gods come before humanity? But Mokou knew the answer to that question already.

"You are asking the wrong questions. Youkai-"

"Alright Banner! I give up, even the Arc reactor managed to power the rod, and we got the same result. I'm willing to admit it's real Cold Fusion, oh my god, it's real…"

Tony Stark approached them with a loud exasperated voice, his shirt was gone, and he was just wearing his undershirt only. Sanae followed closely behind him, but in contrast to him, she was in a very cheery mood. Despite the dark bags under her eyes.

"I told you! Now, we can-yeaaaaaa" Sanae developed a yawn mid-sentence, she was also at her limit now. Banner looked at the two of them with concern.

"I think they need sleep, Tony, she's basically a teenager. Why don't we wrap this up for now and come back tomorrow?"

"No…I can…" Seeing Sanae's state, Mokou stepped in as the responsible one. Arahitogami or not, she was not able to withstand being awake for this long apparently.

"Enough, Sanae. We'll continue this tomorrow, you are barely able to be awake right now, even Aya is asleep now."

"Thousand-year-old Princess is right, you gotta go sleep kid, we'll pick up tomorrow morning."

"Okay…oh! We need to find a hotel! Where even are we right now? Are there any hotels nearby-" Sanae had a minor look of panic on her face, but Stark quickly waved his hand at her, stopping her from speaking anymore.

"Don't waste your breath kid, it's way too late right now. My house is half an hour from here tops, I'll let you stay there for the time being, alright?"

Sanae looked somewhat skeptical of him, but to Mokou it was clear she was struggling to even have her eyes open now. "...I don't want to…impose…"

"Pssssh. You haven't seen my place yet, c'mon, it'll blow your mind. Everyone pack up and let's get outta here! Busy day ahead of us tomorrow!"

Stark's shout and clap woke Aya up somehow, who shot straight up and frantically looked around her. "Uwaaa my newspaper sales!"

Everyone looked at her with a deadpan stare, and she rescinded herself very quickly, suddenly very aware of being the center of attention. "Ehehehe…did I miss anything?"

Just a bit.But Mokou didn't say anything, best if she kept the conversation she had with Banner to themselves.

Sanae was a snorer, something that usually annoyed Suwako and Kanako but for some reason, they didn't bother her about that yet, so she decided to keep on sleeping in. The sun's rays illuminated her face, she knew because she tried her best to keep her eyes closed from it, squirming around to get a better angle. After several more minutes, she decided enough was enough, and decided to go close the curtains in her room instead. Opening her eyes groggily, she was immediately struck by the realization of not being in her futon, but an actual bed.

She shot up, no longer were the familiar tatami floors next to her, but a dark stone floor instead. Also, she was pretty sure her original room didn't have a large television or a seaside view of all things.

"Oh wait, I'm stupid…"

Sanae remembered that she was not in Gensokyo anymore, but in California, more specifically, Mr.Stark's mansion. The last thing she remembered was stumbling into a guest room, and the rest was vague at best. Gingerly getting up, she took a good look around the spacious guest room she was in before a voice coming from nowhere greeted her.

"Good morning, Miss Kochiya."

"Who's there?!"

Her gohei flew to her hands instantly, and she whipped around, searching for the disembodied spirit that called out her name.

"I am Jarvis, Mr.Stark's Artificial Intelligence. He has asked me to inform you that breakfast is currently being served, and your two companions are already there."

Artificial Intelligence? AI? The outside world sure was advanced now…

"Oh. Sorry for that, I'll be right down there."

"Of course, I shall inform him now."

After freshening herself up in the bathroom, she went down the custom-designed wood stairs of Mr.Stark's mansion, indeed, it was only now that she had a good look at his home. It was similar to the TV shows that had a large mansion as a set piece, but only much more impressive in person. Perhaps it was how the rich lived, but she never knew how they lived their lives. Compared to the Moriya Shrine, however, she definitely preferred her home in Gensokyo.

As she arrived on the floor below, he found that Mokou, Aya and Doctor Banner were already sitting with him, several plates of American-style breakfasts present. The usual assortment of pancakes, bacon and hashbrowns were there, along with a large assortment of drinks. Did he make it himself?

"There you are, I was about to come up and knock on your room. Come on, breakfast is not going to get any warmer." Mokou quipped in between sips of her apple juice, a stack of pancakes on her own plate.

Taking up an empty seat next to her, Tony wasted no time in getting to business, now that she was in a much better state. Being about to collapse from a lack of sleep was no place to continue any discussion after all.

"Alright kid, so you proved cold fusion is real. And while I have like a hundred different questions about how you got that material, I think my biggest one right now is what you want to do with it."

What did Sanae want to do with it? She could finally get to the main reason why she left Gensokyo, to replace their Nuclear Fusion reactor with something much more long-term, and more advanced than anything the outside world currently had. Seeing Sanae engrossed in thought, Mokou started piling items onto her plate, with her seemingly unaware of what she was doing.

"I want it to be madepractical.Something that I can use for my home."

Again, her only practical use for it so far was a substitute heat source for hot pot, far from the grand uses for Nuclear Fusion envisioned by scientists. Tony raised an eyebrow, and Banner shot him a look who then took over speaking from him.

"Well, Sanae, that part is actually the easy bit. We know what the alloy is made out of and we can synthesize it, it'll take some time to design an actual plant but the technology is there. But then we come to the other problem, does Nagano really need a Cold Fusion reactor? Because by our estimates, you can completely change to a wind or solar farm, and your city is still going to have enough power to spare."

Nagano? The realization suddenly struck her, they still thought that she and everyone else lived in Nagano of near it, but Gensokyo was still unknown to them. As she was about to correct them, she felt a slight nudge on her foot, it came from Mokou. She looked at Sanae with a questioning gaze, asking her if she could really reveal Gensokyo to them.

Well…Reimu did say only reveal Gensokyo to SHIELD or people who know them…and Tony fought with me in Tokyo, so he's with SHIELD! Doctor Banner on the other hand…

"Is Doctor Banner with…SHIELD?"

Tony made an 'eh' face, while Doctor Banner made a 'so-so' gesture with his hand. Those two answers didn't mean Sanae whatsoever, so Tony elaborated on it.

"Well, yes and no. He's part of the Avengers, who actually fought with Reimu, so probably. But at the same time, not with SHIELD directly, but close enough honestly. That good enough for you?"

"Hmm. If Reimu fought with the two of you then I suppose that's good enough." She could bend the 'only tell Gensokyo to people with SHIELD rule' a bit right? Doctor Banner seemed like a good man, so Sanae decided to put her trust in him. But now came the other issue. How to tell them about Gensokyo?

There wasn't one descriptor that anyone could just say and people immediately understood. Tokyo and New York City were both metropolitan cities, very large ones at that. Most people understood them by that definition, but the same could not be said about Gensokyo, which had fundamentally different laws of existence. Sanae tried to find out how where Gensokyo's borders against the outside world were, but after a certain point, she ended up going through the same area over and over again. Trying to understand how that worked ended up giving her a headache, so she just accepted it as some magical barrier that prevented people from going too far.

She noticed Aya looking at her curiously, also eager to see how she was to explain their home. For its residents, they could explain what was inside Gensokyo well, but explaining it in its entirety? That was a significant challenge to her, especially to two scientists who held rationality and logic supreme above all else.

There was one thing she could start with, whether or not they believed it was anyone's guess, but it was to be a start anyways.

"Do you…believe in the fantastical?"

If Gensokyo did have a core essence, it was the belief in the fantastical, and its manifestations into reality. All humans and Youkai who lived there shared that core idea, of belief, even if they were on the opposing sides of it.

Intelligence and spy work were often exciting, but in between dodging bullets and stalking heavily armed terrorists, most of the lull was considered 'boring'. At least for Natasha, the latter often was more common than the former. However, in her latest assignment, she had run into a small problem, Stark was paranoid about SHIELD listening in on him, so most of his facilities had a sweep of any listening devices every so often. Not an unfounded idea and it also helped to keep any other organization from spying on him and his company.

For Natasha's job, however, it made finding anything about the VIPs from Gensokyo much, much harder. After verifying that they were staying the night at Stark's mansion, she too decided to call it a night. She couldn't exactly give Fury nothing in her next mission update, so she had to bite the bullet, or in this case, 'Danmaku' and just talk to them. They were technically work colleagues now, in the form of the Avengers so no harm was done, right?

After ringing the doorbell to Stark's mansion, she waited for someone to open the door, or for Jarvis to do it. But what greeted her was Pepper instead, who was surprised to see her here.

"Oh, didn't expect to see you here. I guess you're here about Tony's new magical friends?"

Yep.Natasha nodded, and Pepper nodded in understanding as well. She stepped aside to welcome her in, before closing the door again.

"If you're here to talk to Tony and Bruce, I'm afraid they're…pretty out of it right now."

Pretty…out of it? What was she talking about-

"Okay no, you're just messing with me now. I do not believe a Crow Youkai or whatever is responsible for you having a fully functional Nuclear Fusion reactor. I can believe that Palladium alloy, but you're taking that a bit too far-"

Ah, Tony just found out about Gensokyo. About time, Clint and I were tired of being the only ones who could talk about it.

"They've been like this for the past two hours. I guess you know what they're actually talking about?" Pepper asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

"I may." Natasha answered in her usual non-confirming tone but with a bit more slyness.

"Right, can't tell me or whatever. Alright, try and get them to be quieter, I've got a lot of work to take care of."

Pepper walked away, leaving Natasha alone to see Bruce kneading his temple, and Tony intently looking at Sanae, while the latter had a hand on the back of her head.

"Well, it's true, her name is Utsuho by the way."

"That doesn't make it any better!"

Tony downed the rest of his juice, before noticing Natasha walking towards them, a smug expression on her face.

"Let me guess, you know about Gensokyo already?" He accused.

"You boys are late to the party, hey there Sanae." Natasha waved at Sanae who waved back cheerfully. The last time she saw her was right after the battle in Tokyo, so it had been some time since they met.

"Romanoff-san, it's good to see you again. And yes, she does know about it, in fact, she has already been to Gensokyo, albeit briefly."

"Not quite, I've been back there since the battle. Reimu wants to know where you've been leaving her royalties every month, by the way."

Stark-Fujikawa had been leaving a duffle bag at her abandoned Shrine with a small number of her total royalties every month since Reimu threatened Tony. SHIELD, of course, has allowed these transactions to go through. On her last visit a month ago, however, Reimu had stated to not receive any of these payments, despite SHIELD agents physically watching and recording the bags disappear from thin air.

"At her Shrine? Where she told me to leave it?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow, but Aya stifled a laugh before speaking to the group.

"Oh right, you weren't there… Reimu isn't allowed to use the money over Gensokyo's economy completely crashing due to inflation if she did. So someone is probably intercepting those bags I guess."

There were reports of a tear-shaped opening above the bag for a split second when it disappeared, SHIELD thought it was Reimu herself grabbing it, but apparently not. Her file was going to need updating again after this.

"Okay never mind that, going back to what you said before, Gensokyo is basically Asgard, but on Earth? And there are all sorts of people-Youkai as strong as you, if not even more?" Banner got over his minor headache and rejoined the conversation again. Gensokyo being compared to Asgard wasn't exactly meritless, both sounded like mystical places from mythology, but she was willing to guess that there were big fundamental differences between the two.

"I'm not exactly sure about Asgard, it may be a realm in Heaven, but if it is where Thor is from, then I suppose a comparison isn't out of the question. Also, a large number of Gods also live there, so it's not just Youkai. Recently I think we imported a large number of Hobgoblins as well though…"

Aaaaand another thing to add to the report now, great.So far, the person Fury had been interested in, the white-haired girl, had remained quiet. But Natasha saw that she kept her gaze on her the entire time, ready to make a move. For a supposed Princess, she was sure eager to throw down, not very stereotypically like one for sure.

"Anyways, what are you here for Romanoff? Fury need something from me again? I said I needed to know more about his little project before I agreed to anything." Stark referred to Project Insight of course, but Fury was keeping people on a need-to-know basis for now.

"Not about that this time, it's about your guests. SHIELD wants to know why they're on U.S soil, and also their…appearance."

Tony straightened up, evidently, it was something serious. SHIELD analysts were scratching their heads over why they sought him out directly, everything from a magical beam cannon to Stark trying to figure out their 'magic' was suggested. Natasha waited for him to respond, but all he did was arc his head over to the window.

"You wanted to know why she's here, answer's right outside, sitting out in the California sun. I'm gonna get more juice, we're gonna still be here for a while." Tony got up and proceeded to the kitchen. Natasha decided to humour him and walked to the window next to the couches where they were. Right outside on a balcony below her, was what appeared to be a large metal rod, sitting upright on a bubbling jacuzzi bath.

"You're…giving a metal cylinder a jacuzzi bath?"

Banner groaned. "It's Cold Fusion, they brought this Palladium Alloy thing, we've been testing it since yesterday. Is it still bubbling?"

Natasha took another look outside, yes, it was still bubbling. "Yeah…"

"Then it is Cold Fusion. Mystery solved, we achieved Cold Fusion before Nuclear Fusion somehow…"

Sanae groaned this time. "I told you, we already have a Nuclear Fusion reactor! It's powered by-"

Banner cut Sanae off, irritation evident in his eyes."A Yatagarasu or whatever powering the Nuclear Fusion reactor is not proper Nuclear Physics!"

It seemed like the two were going back and forth about it, but the only thing that came to her mind was that Fury was going to blow another gasket. Gensokyo tampering with Nuclear Physics? She was almost considering to not mention that, almost.

"I don't have a way for you to get into Makai. Why did you think I have one?"

Sariel gave a deadpan look at Rinnosuke, who returned one just the same. She had taken Iesua to Kourindou in hopes that he had a method to get into Makai. However, he dashed her dreams almost instantly, and quite inconsiderately if you asked her. Iesua kept looking at all of the stuff he was selling, most of it didn't make sense to her, but it kept her occupied. She had once consulted his services on changes to the outside world after that Hakurei Shrine Maiden first defeated her in Makai. It was sort of like a wake-up call, that she could no longer just shut herself off from the happenings of the mortal realms. So, when the walls of Makai were being reconstructed, she took the chance to visit Gensokyo, and by chance, met the shopkeeper of Kourindou as he was out gathering items that slipped through the barrier. The fact that Reimu didn't know she was out there and about was a testament to how careful she was, not that she would have ever shown herself at the Hakurei Shrine after that incident. That sunflower field next to the shrine also gave her some unsettling feeling, she still didn't understand why that was.

"That quickly, Rinnosuke? I thought we were friends." Sariel had since understood Rinnosuke pretty well, hence why she pressed harder. If anything, he always had a way to do things, even if he didn't initially reveal it.

"Friends or not, just asking me about a way to pierce the barrier that surrounds Makai isn't something I can do in short order. I could probably make something that could get you two across, but it will take a while."

Time which Sariel wasn't sure Iesua could wait. She was quite anxious about finding Lilith after all. Sariel sighed, she might as well see if he had anyotherways.

"Okay fine, you can't make us something that can get to Makai. How about knowingsomeone?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, but before he could speak, the door to his shop slammed open, and the bell that was tied to it nearly fell off from the amount of force used.

"Hey, hey! Rinnosuke, I'm here to see ya!"

A blonde-haired girl in a witch's costume walked in lazily, before stopping at the sight of Sariel. "Huh, never seen you before. But you look familiar… did we meet somewhere?"

Rinnosuke cleared his throat, getting the attention of everyone there. "Well, I think I've just found the solution to your problem, Sariel."

"What do you mean?"

He gestured at the newcomer, and Sariel turned to look at her. "Marisa here just so happens to have a method to get into Makai, anytime she wants. Your best bet to get there is going to be through her now."

Her? How is she going to-

"Hey. Take me there."

"Woah! How did you-"

Iesua suddenly appeared right next to Marisa, clasping both hands on her right arm, and swinging it lightly back and forth like a child who wanted something from their parents. She looked at her with the same intense stare she used when she really wanted to get something back in Heaven. Many Angels, now fallen or not, had fallen for that look, she wasn't confident in Marisa's ability to refuse.

"Take you to Makai? Hah, not so easy, kid! You gotta give me something in exchange, I don't take anyone along that easily!" Marisa thumbed toward herself in a haughty manner, completely unaffected by Iesua's look.

Sariel was surprised, she had a much stronger will than most, truly impressive. Iesua was taken aback, surprised that her eyes didn't work on her at all. She quickly turned her head towards Sariel, pleading with her one remaining eye to do something. In part due to the aforementioned remaining look Iesua gave, and also because they did need a way into Makai, she relented. Wishing that her Father wouldn't mind too much, she turned to Marisa with an offer ready in hand.

"In that case, I believe the sacred treasure room of Pandaemonium is of great interest to you…"

She had her own tricks up her sleeves, Shinki had collected dozens of items throughout her long life, and a few measly things like apples from the Garden of Eden weren't going to be too important, right?

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

Sometime after the revelation of where Reimu and Sanae lived fried the brains of two of the smartest Avengers, they decided to clear out for now. Each person had something else to do, like Aya and the princess going with Tony to meet Rhodey, who had rebranded himself as 'Iron Patriot' after New York. Bruce instead decided to start on the prep work to announce that Cold Fusion was achieved, and he did it the only way he knew how, through an academic paper.

Bruce stared at his laptop, he was having a smooth time typing up an academic paper on their Cold Fusion experiments when he suddenly ran into a problem. Sanae was just next to him, answering any questions or gaps he may have had, but so far she was just lazing around next to him. All she answered were his questions regarding Gensokyo, he deliberately avoided talking about the supposed Fusion reactor there for obvious reasons. Nat was also there, having stayed behind to get more information regarding their 'little experiment' that won't definitely change the face of how humanity produced energy.

"So, you got the Palladium alloy from Reimu…who got it from a…God of metals?"

"Kanayamabiko no Mikoto. The God of metals and mines, yes." Sanae answered in a helpful tone, but it was anything but helpful for the purposes of writing an academic paper.

"And, Reimu herself prayed to this God, who just gave this metal, capable of flawlessly conducting Cold Fusion to her in just a day?"

"Yes!"

Bruce felt another migraine coming up to bite him, and he placed a hand on his temple. Natasha's snickering did not help the situation whatsoever.

"Okay, Sanae? I can't put…thatinto my paper. So is there another explanation to how Reimu produced this material?"

Sanae looked at him, confused, she was clearly unable to understand why he couldn't just put that explanation into his paper.

"But…that is how Reimu got it. She prayed to Kanayamabiko no Mikoto, who then blessed her with the cylinder! Also, be sure to give credit to his name, or he may otherwise smite you for disrespecting him."

"Pffffft."Natasha's snickering got a bit louder there.

Bruce was going to have to explain to her step by step, why he could not cite a Shinto God as the one responsible for creating the Palladium Alloy in his methodology. He also couldn't completely leave out where he got the material from, because one, that was unethical to Sanae, Reimu and apparently that Shinto God. And second, the Palladium Alloy was the most important part of the entire Cold Fusion experiment, leaving out how they got it was never going to be a 'good idea'. Unless he wanted to be massacred during peer review, he was going to needsomethingto put in,

"Sanae? This paper is going to be read by every Nuclear Physicist out there, and they aren't necessarily the bunch who will just accept that a material as important as the Palladium Alloy just came from a millennia-old Shinto God. Who only made it because Reimu prayed to him about it."

Sanae had a flat look on her face, prompting Bruce to continue.

"What I need in my methodology is a description ofhowit was made, prayers do not count as proper synthesis of material, even if you think it is, the rest of the scientific community probably won't. So please, just give me something, anything to put into my methodology."

Bruce damn near started begging at the end, he knew that putting how they got it word for word from Sanae was going to get his paper massacred once published, no matter how much work was put into the actual analysis. Hell, he might even lose his degree from Culver University again! Which was reinstated after he became an Avenger, the place was known as the 'birthplace of an Avenger' now. But many places capitalized on whatever history they had with any Avenger to a large extent, even Steve's old art college in Brooklyn used the Captain America fame to a great extent.

"But saying otherwise is not going to be ethical, and Reimu praying to him is quite literally how it was made. What do you actually want from me?!"

Sanae was also starting to lose it, clearly agitated from questions that went nowhere. She was saying the truth probably, but she didn't understand the tight spot that Bruce was in if the truth was the one written in his paper. The truth was often stranger than fiction, and having Cold Fusion be proven correct by a 'God' of all things was most definitely going to rattle some people.

If they believed it that is.

"Okay, Banner? Before you blow another gasket, why don't you just say it in the most roundabout way possible? Just say some entity with that exact name gave Reimu the rod and don't mention the prayer bit at all? That way, his name is also in there, and you won't get ridiculed by the scientific community."

"That's not going to-wait…" He thought hard on it for a brief moment, if he added in enough jargon to confuse them, maybe he could get away with it… "Yeah…that just might work, thanks, Nat."

"Hey!" Sanae shouted indignantly.

"At least his name is in that paper, so that counts for something right?" Natasha tried to appease Sanae, but she only huffed in response.

"When Kanayamabiko no Mikoto smites you from the heavens, don't say I didn't warn you…" She warned cryptically, but that didn't phase Bruce much. He was still being respectful of him, just in a different manner than usual. Besides, he wasn't actually going to get smitten, he was completely sure of it.

"Anyways…changing the topic now. So, Kaguya. She's from the moon, correct?" Natasha changed the topic with a casual tone, Bruce could tell that she was fishing for intelligence now. He considered calling her out on it, but he too was very curious about Kaguya's origins, it wasn't every day you were acquainted with a person over one millennium old. Thor was supposedly fifteen hundred, so he could believe the claim despite his skepticism.

"Yes, she had a different name, but to you, Princess Kaguya is how you would best know of her."

The SHIELD agent nodded slowly, slowly building up to the question and intel she actually wanted to know. She played this game with him back when they met in the slums of Kolkata, so he was keenly aware of her tactics.

"So, her existence kinda implies people living on the moon, right? The story states that a procession came back down to earth to take her back, does that mean there are people living there?"

That was what she probably wanted to know. Bruce was also very interested in Sanae's answer now, he leaned in to hear her better.

"Oh yes, the Lunarians live in the Lunar Capital. I've been to their city just recently actually."

…Huh. He should actually be more surprised, but the existence of Asgard actually softened the blow to him quite a bit. Who knew? Wait, if Asgard and people living on the moon were real, then did that mean Atlantis was also real?!

"...Lunarians?" Natasha asked carefully.

"Yes, Lunarians. They are…pretty hostile towards us, who live on Earth. They see us as impure, and thus isolate their Capital against humans and Youkai."

"So…that means…mythological figures like Chang'e are…"

"She's a prisoner on the moon, and was the source of a recent Lunar invasion. I actually helped solve that one-wait, you met the perpetrators of the incident!"

"I did?"

"Yeah! Sumireko said you knew who she was with during that initial stakeout at Nagano. The three she took along with her were the perpetrators."

Bruce didn't have any idea what she was talking about, but Natasha evidently did as her face shifted to one of understanding. "Huh…so they're from the moon…"

"Yep, those three are actually very strong, even Reimu and I had trouble defeating them. Especially that fairy! Who knew she was actually such a troublemaker…"

Natasha had a mixture of increasing concern and slight horror dawn on her face. Bruce focused on the 'Reimu and I had trouble defeating them' part especially hard since Reimu was considered one of the harder-hitting Avengers already, if not the hardest. He certainly wasn't planning on getting hit by her Yin-Yang orbs anytime soon, but if someone gave her trouble…

Well, you know what they say? Fish in the pond and all that, but it certainly didn't give him a lot of reassurance about his own capabilities.

"Okay…should we expect any hostile actions from them anytime soon?" Natasha asked, it was a valid worry to have considering that she said they were hostile to 'Earthlings'.

"Well, they don't really do anything other than really hate us… Wait a minute, no they are at war!"

"At war with who?" Nat asked quickly, if there was a war going on, maybe the Avengers had to be aware of-

"With you! America! They're at war with America! You don't know? Your moon landings were a declaration of war against them."

Bruce choked, and Natasha looked at her like she grew another head. The restrained horror from earlier had morphed into full horror on her face, she gingerly took out her phone and motioned for Sanae to continue, but not before asking another equally horrifying question.

"And…would you say these Lunarians are stronger than…say Reimu?"

"Oh, probably. We haven't really fought each other seriously though, but 'many' would be on the same level." Sanae made quotation mark symbols on her hands when she said 'many'.

Despite her easygoing answer, however, Bruce did not feel reassured one bit, not at all…

Back in SHIELD headquarters in D.C, Nick Fury was about to head back to his home after another gruelling day. The meeting with Cardinal Valois was interesting, but at least the request wasn't something insane. All he had to do was to forward a meeting request to Reimu through a messenger, whether or not she accepted wasn't his problem. That he could hand off to someone else to keep stalling when she inevitably refused. Unless the Pope himself came in to ask, that was to be the only meeting he granted to the Vatican.

As he got up, his phone suddenly rang, the caller I.D. read out that it was an encrypted line from Agent Romanoff's phone. She probably found out what Stark and his new friends from Gensokyo were up to.

Answering it, he was immediately greeted by her voice, slightly higher than usual."Director Fury, I have an urgent mission update."

That never bode well, but despite it, he answered back in his usual tone of voice. "Agent Romanoff, report."

"Right, good news or bad news first, sir?"

This again? He was tired of hearing the same damn thing whenever SHIELD dealt with Gensokyo, why was there always a good and bad part to the report? Why couldn't it have been good news only for once?

"Bad news first." Might as well switch it up this time, maybe the bad news wasn't so bad?

"I…have learned that the United States of America…is currently at war with the moon, sir."

He sat back down again, and listened to her 'explain' the context behind her words just now. Within five minutes of her explanation concluding, he got back up, grabbed his work bag along with his pistol and walked straight toward a Quinjet waiting for him on the roof of the Triskelion.

To the pilot, he ordered her to go at full speed toward the State of Florida, where the Kennedy Space Center was. If NASA Director Henrikson was going to make excuses or stall him, that was what the pistol was for.

"I look ridiculous."

"Nonsense, you look great! It's what all the kids these days wear, right? Besides, you don't look a day over your teens despite being a millennia-old, so you still gotta blend in."

Mokou regretted taking Tony on his offer for 'clothes'. Up until yesterday, she had only been wearing the formal Kimono she wore during the reveal. Seeing their 'sad' state of clothing, he offered to go and get some clothes with them, something that 'modern' people wore now apparently.

"Actually, I think you look quite nice, at least no one is going to expect someone like you to rock the punk style. I think it fits." Pepper, who also followed along commented on the side. She actually helped pick out a lot of the clothes after Tony's first attempt.

"At least you're not in Hot Topic like he originally wanted you to go into…"

"Rhodey! I'm not that mean, I just think she could try a completely different style."

"Sure, Tony. Anyways, when can we talk about the Mandarin-"

Tony and his friend, Rhodey fell into their own conversations, leaving Mokou and Pepper alone. Aya was somewhere around here taking pictures of the entire 'shopping area', but at least she promised to not stray far. Mokou sighed, before taking a good look at herself in the mirror. The colour scheme of her clothes was red and white, something she was already used to. Really, the entire outfit she had right now seemed to just be a modern version of her usual clothes, it had none of the elegance that her original one had, but she couldn't deny it felt more comfortable.

"You feeling alright?" Pepper asked from Mokou's side.

"I'm fine. Strange, how time passes, and things change. But the more stay the same or even reverses…"

"Well, I don't know what it was like to live a thousand years ago, but I'm going to tell you that even the clothes you're wearing right now will go out of fashion in just a scant few years."

"Truly?" Mokou was genuinely surprised at that fact, fashion even during the height of the Heian era lasted for quite some time. Major changes in fashion only happened every few decades or so, and it was quite gradual.

"Yep, you could say it's the industry and everything, but it's really just people. We always want something new to come out, so our mundane lives have something to always look forward to. That doesn't mean I agree with it, but that's just what it is."

"You two done yet? Can we go get something to eat now?" Tony called out from the front of the store, causing Pepper to sigh.

"Yes, Tony,youcan. I'm going back to Stark Industries. I've got too much work to be taking a day off today. Remember to get back to me with whatever contracts you're signing with Sanae, I don't want her to split Stark Industries in half."

Pepper walked out of the store, leaving Mokou alone with Tony and his friend. "Great, so there's this place that sells great bar food, it's just next to this…"

Mokou didn't know what he was really saying, but she had him at 'great bar food'. She learned many things about Tony so far, but knowing that he could be panicked by a small child asking him a question was by far the most surprising. This fact she learned after they had arrived at the restaurant. What happened to him, for a reaction like that to occur?

"You want me to take you three to…Makai? To find someone named Lilith?"

"Yep. That's right, can we go now?"

Now at the Myouren temple, Marisa got 'convinced' of Iesua's journey and plight to find Lilith. Namely in the form that she could take one item from the Sacred Vault of whatever the castle was called. Lately, she couldn't just check Patchouli's library for whatever books she fancied anymore. Not that there were more defences or anything, but rather even she started to get tired of that. When Sariel presented her with a golden opportunity to explore a brand new part of Makai, however…she just had to take the chance.

"I did say you could use the Palanquin ship anytime…" Byakuren muttered quietly.

"And it's the first time I'm using that favour. Come on, if you won't do it just for me, what about for Iesua? Look at her, she really wants to go!"

Marisa pointed at the one-eyed girl in an exaggerated manner, who quickly nodded in rapid succession. Sariel stopped her soon after by clomping her hand on top of her head.

"Keep doing that and your neck will fall off." Sariel chastised.

Byakuren sighed, before taking a good look at Iesua, now looking at her with the same intense gaze that she tried to use on Marisa.

"Fine, I do want to see your journey finished, Iesua. I'll take you there-"

"Yes!" Marisa exclaimed.

"Tomorrow. We need to prepare for the journey after all."

"eeeh."Iesua was disappointed at that, but at least they had a way into Makai now. Marisa stretched her arms, before turning to the two.

"I'm gonna go back home and prepare, you two rest up for the journey tomorrow! I'll meet back here in the morning-da ze!"

As Marisa blasted away from Myouren temple, she inwardly started thinking to herself.

Iesua…where did I hear that name before? Was it in one of Patchouli's books? I swear that name came up at some point…oh well. It's not like she's here to harm anyone. Reimu definitely doesn't need to know about this.

Reimu was a good friend, but sometimes she liked doing things on her own. It wasn't every day that she went to find her, she had other things to do as well!

"So…do Tony and Pepper actually get along with each other? Their relationship…" Sanae asked with care to her tone, she didn't have much right to be infringing on other people's personal matters but she clearly heard an argument from them last night.

"Well, they do…they just have some disagreements every once in a while, like last night. I wouldn't worry about it, they get along quite easily regardless." Even though Natasha was clearly shaken by the revelation of the Lunarians yesterday, she was fine now.

Behind them, Aya was heard still struggling to work on the new digital camera that Tony gifted to her on a whim. Something about 'old as hell' technology made him cringe when seeing it.

"Work damn you!"

Bruce and Mokou tried to reign her in, lest her disguise be torn apart and her wings bare for the world to see. The five of them were currently out in Hollywood, with Tony busy working with Pepper, Natasha had volunteered to take them around as tourists. There were significant periods in which Aya became bored waiting for the experiment to conclude, and as such, took to the outside world's television for entertainment and inspiration for her newspaper. Yes, she did look at various U.S Newspapers to see how they functioned, but in particular, she found that the various other forms of media common in the outside world were a novelty that Gensokyo lacked.

Heck, there wasn't even a single radio station, owing to the lack of radios in Gensokyo but still, compared to the outside world, its media options were limited to newspapers only for now. "Argh! I'm never going to be like Mister Jameson if you still won't work!"

Among all of the various television personalities she had seen so far, a 'Mister Jameson' had caught her attention the most, something about his presentation style resonated deeply within her. As such, over the past few days, she began consuming a lot of media about his life and news company, with Natasha helping to translate English into Japanese of course. Their translation spells didn't work for reading, but speaking and hearing were completely fine. She knew Tony probably didn't speak fluent Japanese, but that was what she heard him speak in.

"Your Tengu friend really took a liking to the guy from the Bugle, huh?"

"She's…always like this. Her newspaper in Gensokyo doesn't sell very well, so she probably wants to learn new tactics to boost its popularity." Sanae told the truth to Natasha, but that only made her nod in concern.

"Right…I think I saw a copy last time I was there. I'm not sure if that guy should be who Aya learns from though-"

A nearby explosion cut Natasha off, and she immediately snapped her head to the source of it. Even Aya stopped fidgeting with her camera now, all five of them looked at the fireball that came from just two blocks down the road.

"Explosion two blocks from us, I'm going in." Natasha wasted no time and immediately started to move forward.

"Y-Yeah, let's go-"

"Not you Banner, can't risk the other guy coming out, sorry." Doctor Banner had told Sanae of his condition, apparently, it sent him into a berserk state and turned him into a green monster? That was no different from some of the Youkai that had transformations under specific conditions, so she didn't think much of it. But she could see where Natasha came from, in a city like Hollywood they couldn't risk him transforming and endangering the local population.

"I'll protect him! It's what I usually do anyways, no harm will come towards him, this I swear on Lord Tenma's name." Though Banner looked disappointed, there was a look of understanding on his face. Perhaps she could take her to see Eirin once the experiments were concluded? She could perhaps help his condition, or even cure it if he wanted to. A consideration for a later time, however, right now they had to get to the scene of the explosion.

"Grab on!" Sanae already began floating, her casual clothes replaced in a flash by her regular outfit as a Shrine Maiden.

After a second's hesitation, Natasha grabbed onto Sanae's hands regardless, and she flew with Mokou to where the explosion came from. On the way there, she saw people fleeing from the scene of the explosion, as she got closer, more were covered in soot or had burn injuries. As soon as they got to the epicentre of the blast, Sanae set Natasha down, the smoke from the air obscured their vision.

"I don't see anyone! Can you?!" Sanae called out. The blast area appeared to be right in front of a theatre, a Chinese one if she had to guess based on the decorations. The walls were blackened, and large long-running cracks had formed on them. Meanwhile, the stone-brick floor was completely scorched, with the remnants of booths in pieces littering the area completely.

"Wait, I see someone-Happy?!"

Natasha immediately ran forward, evidently seeing someone she recognized. Crouching down, Sanae saw a heavily injured man lying on the floor, his face bruised and clothes singed. His left hand was pointed at something on the ground, but there were more immediate concerns right now.

"Damn, internal bleeding, third-degree burns…! Sanae! Can you do something for him?!" Cutting herself off, Natasha snapped her head at Sanae as she asked her to help Happy, the person she now recognized as Tony's head of security.

Crouching down in front of him, Sanae began thinking of a miracle she could call upon. Her preference, or rather, affinity for them was not something to be underestimated. Good or bad, those didn't matter, as long as something could be defined as a 'miracle', then she was able to do it. Across humanity's long history, there were stories of those who could perform actions known as 'healing miracles'. The foreign saint from Nazareth famously performed these miracles, and in doing so garnered many followers.

Sanae was easily able to perform the same, but she had to call upon a specific God to help her. She could ask for Suwako and Kananko's help without issue, but she wasn't like Reimu in the same way of having an affinity with asking all of the Gods for help. It was how the Palladium Alloy came to be, but now she had to try asking the God of healing and medicine for help, even when she had never interacted with him before.

Clasping her hands together in prayer, she began channelling the divinity in her to call into the heavens and receive a miracle.

The skies above Sanae parted its clouds in a circle above her, and a single flash of light shone from the hole made in it. Noticing that the flash was falling down directly on her, Natasha grabbed Sanae's shoulder and pinned her to the ground.

"Get down!"

"No, it's Sukunabikona, he's helping us!" Sanae tried to pry herself off as the flashing light fell closer and closer, before stopping just right on top of Happy's unconscious body.

With Natasha's grip loosened, Sanae slowly got up and leaned forward. Using both her hands, she reached into the bright white light and felt something right at the center of the ball of light. Effortlessly taking something out, upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be an ornateTokkuri, commonly used for serving Sake. A paper wrap tied with a string sealed off the top of it.

"What the hell…" Natasha mumbled next to her, enraptured by the glowing ceramic flask.

Wasting no time, Sanae quickly loosened the string and paper, revealing a silvery viscous liquid inside of it. The smell emanating from it reminded her of Eirin's own medicines, how she often made hers from various herbs and the like.

Pouring out a tiny amount of it, the consistency reminded her of ointments that were often used in the Human Village to treat various ailments, including burn wounds.
"I…think it's an ointment…I'm going to try it on him!"

Natasha made no attempt to stop her, as Sanae applied it to the bruises and burns on Happy's face. Within seconds, the wounds visibly started fading, albeit slowly.

"It-it worked! I'm going to go find other injured people! Mokou, did you find anyone? Mokou?" Hearing no response from her, the two of them turned around, only to see her staring at dark shadows on the wall, in the shape of people, all frozen in various movements.

"These…are not natural flames…" Mokou's voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried through to regardless.

The Television was shut off by Natasha, leaving the hospital room silent again. Using a private hospital room as a makeshift meeting area, Sanae sat down on one of the seats there, exhausted. The others who witnessed the explosion sat there as well, but for the Shrine Maiden at least, she finally had the chance to wind down after a hectic night of helping to treat the wounded with the medicine. Not all of them woke up yet, mostly the severely injured were still in a coma, such as Happy himself. But most of his major injuries were taken care of, so Doctors had high hopes for him waking up soon.

"That came out last night. The terrorist group known as the Mandarin has taken responsibility for the attack. We have no leads other than them right now."

What was she even doing here anymore? Fighting terrorists? That wasn't something she did, she was a Shrine Maiden, not a secret agent! This was not her business whatsoever.

"Romanoff-san…I feel like your words are wasted on us…"

Gods and other supernatural affairs? Sure, she's dealt with them easily before. International terrorists conducting bombings? She felt so far out of her comfort zone that she couldn't even feel the usual excitement she had for encountering new experiences anymore. Gensokyo dealt with the fantastical, and terrorists were anything but. It retroactively put into place how much of the outside world she had forgotten the moment that man, the 'Mandarin' came on. A wake-up call perhaps, but not one she enjoyed at all.

"Right…Gensokyo doesn't deal with this stuff. Sorry, I should have remembered…" Natasha apologized.

"I keep forgetting you're not actually part of the Avengers, this stuff seems common to us, it's probably a shock to you. Sorry Sanae, we never meant for you to get involved with this." Doctor Banner added after her, and Sanae felt a bit better, but not by much anyways.

Looking up from her drowsy state, Sanae saw that Mokou's gaze had remained on the television, she had not shifted since it was shut off.

"Mok-Kaguya?" She called out.

The rest of the room's attention was now centred on the white-haired immortal, she still hadn't looked away from the television.

"Can you turn the…thing on again? I want to see the very last symbol at the end."

Mokou referred to the logo that the 'Mandarin' had used as his symbol at the start and end of the broadcast.

"O…kay." Grabbing the remote again, Natasha turned the television on, before skipping ahead right towards the very end of the recording that SHIELD had provided. Stopping at the last second, she paused the recording and let Mokou see it with her own eyes. Sanae didn't see what the significance of it was, maybe it had something to do with-

"Aya? Do you remember when the Samurai all gathered in Kyushu? To repel a foreign invasion?"

The Tengu girl was caught off guard by the sudden question, as she jumped a little at her words. If Sanae remembered her history correctly, Mokou was referring to the Mongol invasions of Japan during the Kamakura period.

"Eh? That was nearly eight-hundred years ago now, what has that got to do with-"

"Look at the symbol and the ten rings. Does that remind you of rumours spread throughout Japan after the conflict? Of fierce warriors with the standard of ten rings that bested many Samurai?"

Fierce warriors? Ten rings? What was she talking about?

"Oh! I remember now! Yeah, I've seen that symbol before, we have one of their flags on display as a souvenir!"

Natasha and Bruce looked at them incredulously, before the latter decided to ask a question.

"Am I hearing this right? The 'Mandarin' is hundreds of years old?!"

"Thousands."

The two of them froze, as everyone, including Sanae, turned to look at Aya, who had an uncharacteristic serious expression.

"There is someone named Hong Meiling in Gensokyo, and though she may be weak in Spellcard duels, she is actually very long-lived. Anyways, I was trying to get a story published about her past some years back, I decided to ask her about the ten rings flag we had our possession on a whim, and to my surprise, she did know about it."

Walking up to her, Natasha had a serious expression on her face. "If you know anything about the Mandarin, SHIELD needs to know about-"

"I'm getting there, relax! Anyways, Meiling said that she actually met its leader all the way back during theThree Kingdoms Period, and back then he was apparently long-established already."

"And his name?" Natasha pressed on, but Aya just shrugged before replying.

"She never said it, but she did warn me if I ever did face him in battle, he is someone not to be taken lightly at all. But, I can tell you for certain that man on the television just now is most definitely not the leader of the ten rings."

"And why…?"

"Because he isn't Chinese. Duh?" Aya said that last part as if it was obvious, which in hindsight, was probably so.

"You're saying he's just a frontman for the ten rings? That he's not actually the one calling the shots?"

Again, another shrug from Aya. "I don't know, never really talked with Meiling in depth about it. I think there are different subgroups though, because the warriors carrying the flag of the ten rings were not Chinese, but barbarians from beyond China itself."
There were some very interesting implications in that, but Sanae didn't have much time to think about it before the door into their meeting room suddenly opened. "Oh yeah? Thousand-year-old or not, where the hell do I find that guy?"

The voice revealed itself to be Tony, having just came from visiting Happy's unconscious body. Natasha immediately addressed him, slightly annoyed in her tone.

"Stark, was wondering when you'd burst open the door."

"Not right now, Romanoff. I want everything you have on that guy-"

"I do not think it is a wise move, Mister Stark." Aya cut him off, her gaze unimpressed with his outburst.

"Oh yeah? Why's that? Just because he might be averyold guy, that doesn't mean-"

"First, I don't know where to find him, and even if I did, you will only be going to your death. The advice I got from Meiling was to run if I ever encountered him, she may be slacking at times, but I trust her judgement of character. You, on the other hand, will not face him and live."
Aya said it as if it was a matter of fact, leaving no room for ambiguity in her voice, gone was her usual personality that Sanae was so used to now. It was the first time she saw her speak in a completely serious manner, not even when the procession happened was she like this. Tony, on the other hand, didn't seem to heed her warning whatsoever.

"Yeah, uhuh. I'll see for myself, now you're saying that the 'Mandarin' isn't actually the head honcho? He's just some subordinate?"

"Presumably, it has been centuries since I last heard any news about them, and a lot could have happened since then. That is all we really know about the 'Mandarin'. Only Meiling herself knows more about them-"

"Okay fine, can you go and ask her in…Gensokyo then? Like, just magic up a portal there like Thor or something?"

Sanae sighed at his question, where did the portal thing come from? None of them had ever had those abilities! "We can't do that. We'll need to physically go back to Japan in order to-"

"Alright I get it! I'll work on finding them myself, thanks for the dog tags, Romanoff." Tony angrily blew them off, and he made his way down the hallway. Natasha and Bruce tried calling out to him, but he ignored all of their attempts.

"Damnit, Fury was afraid something like this could happen. Banner, could you and Aya-"

"I'll go." Mokou stood up quickly, cutting Natasha off. She looked at her with a surprised expression.

"Uh, are you sure, your majesty? Shouldn't someone else go-"

"Aya and Banner can stay here to take care of Sanae, there are a few more patients for her to treat. I can take care of myself, and him if need be." Mokou had a determined look in her eyes, causing Natasha to relent.

"Alright, fine. I'll coordinate things with SHIELD on my end, and get some backup sent here ASAP. Just…watch over him, make sure he doesn't do anything crazy or stupid. Give me some time and I'll join you at his house, at least that's where I think he's going."

Sanae looked out the window behind her, peeking out of the closed binds, the small army of reporters and journalists camped outside were watching the front entrance like a hawk. Probably for Tony or her actually, she was shown on the news along with coverage of the event, seen applying the medicine on the injured.

"I think you should start moving…Tony just threw a guy's phone against the wall…and he's in his car now."

Mokou only sighed in response, they sure did get into a lot of trouble in the outside world, huh? Hopefully, Reimu doesn't find out…

Mokou really should have asked for a map before leaving the hospital. Having to rely on her memory of the roads and landscape to make her way back to Tony's house, she spent a while searching for the correct roads back home, often ending up in completely different places as a result. It didn't occur to her that she had no way of contacting Sanae or anyone else until well into her journey. Giving up, she instead followed the coastline up and down until she found the familiar white-looking mansion in the distance. It wasn't as impressive as the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but it was unique enough for the outside world she thought.

She was still some ways off, and these weird flying machines had been circling around the house during her approach. They resembled a flying metal wagon with a disc spinning on top of it rapidly. Buzzing around the house in circles, Mokou wondered what they were there for-

Seeing a trail of smoke at the last possible moment impact his house, a large explosion impacted the living room overlooking the sea. Stopping to a halt, she quickly scanned the horizon for where it came from-

"Is that-!"

Four flying machines that looked very similar to the ones already above the mansion quickly started approaching it at high speed, all the while more projectiles were launched from them, impacting the support structures of the living room. "They're attacking him-"

Quickly snapping her head to where the sound came from, Mokou was impacted by a hail of projectiles, slamming into her body.

"GAH!"

Instinctively dodging away, the projectiles had dug deeply into her flesh, piercing internal organs through the bone itself. One of the flying machines had split off from the larger group, targeting her instead.

Dodging another smoke trail projectile at the last second, she saw that it was a tube-like object, it exploded behind her seconds later, sending a shockwave that rattled her spine. Feathered wings of fire sprouted behind her back, as she levied all of her fury towards the flying machine attacking her.

"Damnit! Alright, you asked for this!Fire Madness Sign: 'Burning Human Bullet!'"

Temporarily shifting her form to resemble Reisen, multiple clones of the lunar rabbit appeared in a line before the attacking machine. A hail of red speeding bullets then shot forward from each of the clones making finger guns, unable to dodge at that close range, all of the rounds impacted the helicopter, causing it to explode in mid-air. With the wreckage falling lifelessly into the ocean, she realized that they were fighting with the intent to kill. Meaning she didn't have to hold back either.

Flying forwards with her phoenix form, another flying machine momentarily stopped engaging the mansion to shoot another projectile at her. Her eyes widened as the saw another smoke trailhead directly at her.

It's homing in towards me, I need to dodge!

With it flying at great speeds toward her, she flew high up into the sky to throw the projectile off of her, but it proved to be incredibly stubborn.

"Get off me already!" Deciding to fly up into the clouds, she launched a hail of Danmaku at it to throw it off, and indeed, the homing tube seemingly locked onto one of her fire projectiles instead, exploding once it impacted.

With the immediate danger clear, Mokou quickly shifted her gaze back down and saw that a large section of the mansion had begun falling into the ocean below. There was only one more of the flying machines remaining, and it began turning away as soon as the structure began falling.

"Like hell I'd let you get away!"

Extending her wings fully, she shot forward directly at the one remaining flying machine, before crash-landing right inside of its open sides.

"HOLY SHI-"

There's someone piloting it?!

A bald man with sunglasses sitting in the front seat shouted out in surprise, before taking out a blocky device on his hand and pointing it at her.

Three points of sharp pain appeared on Mokou's chest, but they were gone almost a second later, healed by her immortal state. Seeing that it was a weapon, Mokou immediately tried to choke out the man from behind his seat. Bringing her forearm down clamping on his neck, he immediately tried to pry her off, but the strength of an immortal was not something to be trifled with whatsoever. They may not have had the strength of an Oni, but against most mortals, they might as well have been Gods.

"HRRK-how are you-let's see you take a little heat you bitch!"

Mokou immediately noticed that his neck and body started glowing brightly red, before feeling his neck rapidly becoming hotter and hotter.

What the hell is he trying to do?!

This small level of heat didn't faze her whatsoever, and she increased the strength of her grip on his neck, his attempts to pry her off increasingly fruitless. The man next to him however, did not have the same luxury of heat resistance.

"AAAAARGH!"

He suddenly jerked forward, sending Mokou flinging out of the entire flying machine. Recovering in mid-air a split second later, she watched as the flying vehicle increasingly spun out of control, before crashing violently into the ocean. With no one else attacking them, yet, Mokou flew back to where the mansion, its burning and soot-covered wreck that is.

"TONY!"

Immediately noticing Pepper calling out from a still intact edge of the floor, Mokou flew down and appeared right in front of her, surprising her when she came into view. Wasting no time, however, Mokou asked her where Tony was.

"Where is-!"

"He fell down with the chunk that fell into the ocean, hurry!"

She pointed at the edge of the ocean directly below her, and Mokou wasted no time in flying down straight into it, directly crashing through deep into the waves below. Once underwater, she began looking frantically for any sign of him, until she noticed a metal hand sticking out from underneath some rubble that is.

"...!"

As she rapidly approached the hand, it suddenly came off by itself, revealing a human hand that it was covering. Reversing back, it suddenly grabbed into the bare hand and began pullingsomeoneout. Arriving above it, Mokou lifted a large piece of rubble, revealing that her hunch was correct, the man pinned below it was Tony. He had shown off one of his 'Iron Man' suits to the group from Gensokyo a couple of days ago, so that was how she knew that was him.

Wait, what are you doing-?!

As soon as his glove came back onto his body, his body suddenly straightened and started blasting off above the waves. Mokou followed right after him, but even as he went up high into the sky, he didn't stop or slow down whatsoever.

"Slow down! You're safe, they're all taken care of!" At this speed and height, he probably couldn't hear her at all. Cursing her lack of modern technology, all she saw was him continuing to speed up in front of her, now high above the clouds and into the sky.

What she thought was going to be a short chase, turned into a nearly two-hour flight by the time it was over.

"...Sir…?"

"...Sir?!..."

"...Alright, kill the alarm, I got it…" Tony drowsily told Jarvis to kill the alarm as usual…but his AI's tone quickly told him that it was anything but usual.

"That's the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below five percent."

Tony's eyes immediately widened to epic proportions, as he suddenly realized that he was about to impact a rural road in the middle of nowhere athigh speed.

"Owaaaaaaaaugh!"

"I got you!"

Something

"Holy Shiiiiit-!"

Crashing through several large trees, and bouncing a few times, he heard whatever smashed into him cry out before they finally slowed down and onto the ground. Tony had landed face-first onto the snow-covered dirt. Turning around his entire body, he immediately removed his face plate and asked Jarvis a question.

"It's snowing, right? Where are we, upstate?"

"Five miles outside of Rose Hill, Tennesse, but sir, there's someone you should be tending to-"

"ARGH!"Again, the cry he heard before came back, and he immediately found the source of it when he looked to his side.

"Oh sh*t-Jarvis, open the suit!"

Doing as it was told, Tony's suit triggered the emergency release near instantly, and he quickly got up and ran towards the bleeding girl lying on the ground. Kaguya had a large pool of blood on the ground she was collapsed on, various cuts and bruises weren't even the most obvious injuries he saw on her, but it was the goddamn giantsplinterssticking out of…well…everywhere!

"Oh no, no, no, no… Jarvis! Dial 911-"

"...Hey…you alright?" She attempted to talk, but it was evident to him that she was straining herself.

"Don't even try to talk right now, I'm going to get help alright?! Don't die on me just yet-"

"...This won't be anywhere near enough to kill me…just give me a second…"

Flames immediately burst from her body, causing him to stumble backwards. He watched as the splinters sticking out of her chest were reduced to cinders, but that wasn't even the most insane part, it was how her wounds startedclosingon themselves like it was never there. Within a few seconds, she had sat upwards and was looking at him with a confused expression. It was as if her wounds had never existed in the first place, not even the huge splinter that should have punctured her heart of all things…

"See? Told you I was fine. Now, you seem to be uninjured…but where are we anyways? And why didn't you slow down at all?"

Tony realized much later that he probably had his mouth open at her for at least a solid minute, if someone like Natasha found out, he'd never hear the end of it…

On the deck of the Palanquin ship, Marisa looked at the near-endless dark horizons that Makai was famous for. Similar to New Hell, its landscape was often characterized by completely red forests, which are then occasionally changed to frozen fields and forests made entirely of white crystals. Many have stated that Makai was 'creepier' than New Hell, but to Marisa, a magician, this place enabled her to get stronger than usual.

"Man…I should get some more of those mushrooms, could use them for experiments at least…"

"Mushrooms?"

Turning around, Marisa saw that Iesua had come out from the lower decks, and was now standing right behind her. Her voice had a curious tone to it, exactly like fairies when they saw something that interested them.

"Yep! Mushrooms. To magicians like me, they're a very useful thing to have. They increase our power and allow me to practice magic much more easily. Wanna try a piece?"

Digging out a dried Makai Mushroom from her pocket, Marisa held it out to give to her, but she declined by shaking her head lightly.

"Alright, your loss." Shrugging, Marisa threw the piece into her mouth and chewed on it. Yes, Makai was a dangerous realm and many things could kill someone easily, but to those who can take advantage of its nature, it can easily be a boon to you instead.

"You are not afraid of the demons?"

"Pfffft. Why would I be?"

"...Magicians often contract with demons, I should not be surprised."

Marisa instantly thought of Patchouli's contracted demon, Koakuma. Magicians did sometimes contract with demons, but more often than not they instead had familiars that were contracted instead. Demon contracts were very fickle things, but if you managed to create a good contract with one, then they were extremely loyal to the contractor and were great servants. Both parties as it turned out, wanted to keep the contract going for as long as possible, and long contracts were a sign of prestige and respect among demon-kind. Koakuma was a special case however, usually devils weren't contracted until they grew into fully-fledged demons. It was sort of like a 'training period' difference, trainees were usually called devils, while fully trained demons could get contracts much more easily.

"Oh yeah? I guess Patchy's the one you're talking about. So anyways, why do you need to find this 'Lilith' person anyways? She some important person?"

Iesua didn't answer. Instead, she walked up next to Marisa while they overlooked a small town below them. It was interesting, that in the realm of Makai, there was an entire civilization of demons just adjacent to Gensokyo, but other than the time someone named 'Shinki' caused an incident, Gensokyo had very little dealings with the realm in general. Other than the whole thing with Byakuren that one incident, which was how Marisa knew she could travel to Makai anytime.

"Okay fine, you don't want to answer. Anything you can tell me then?"

"...You are motivated by rewards, yes?"

…Hearing it from someone other than Reimu or Eiki actually stung a bit for Marisa. Well, she didn't exactly try to hide it, but damned if she was just going to accept that! It wasn't her only character trait!

"Well, not entirely, but I do like having something at the end for my troubles."

"But you don't deny it…"

Iesua's tone had shifted, from the aloof nature of when they first met in Kourindou, she had a slightly stronger tone. Akin to when a mother wanted to scold her children for wrongdoing. Just slightly, however, it still had the same melodious softness to it that she was used to from the quiet girl.

"Yep! And so what? Is it selfish? Probably. But we're human, we have selfish desires, that's what makes us who we are."

"Selfish desires also cause sin. They make families turn on each other, those who were once thy good neighbour now have a reason to commit great acts of violence."

Marisa didn't deny that at all, but there was something that she seemed to be lacking about her definition of selfishness.

"That they do…but they also cause great happiness as well. Meeting with your friends, ensuring your home is prosperous, and wishing for a good life… are selfish desires. And yet, can you still say those are bad things?"

Iesua looked at Marisa with wider eyes now, and not before long, a single tear appeared on her one uncovered eye. She quickly rubbed it away with her index finger before speaking again.

"I see. That is how you see selfish desires…then I suppose my own desires in this journey is also a selfish one. Indeed, as you say, we are human and thus subject to that 'sin'..."

"Heh. Now you see where I am getting at-"

"I will stay pray for forgiveness for you however, the things you have acquired are not entirely gotten by legitimate means, correct?"

Marisa awkwardly rubbed the back of her head while looking away, there was one thing that she definitely couldn't refute… She was just borrowing it sometimes without consent, she meant to return everything back to their owners eventually, promise!

"Well, they-uh, yeah…"

"In that case, I shall teach you the error of your ways… I was a teacher a long time ago, I can still get some lessons into the head of yours just fine."

Crap, another Keine?! I didn't expect that, lemme just get outta here real quick-

"Sit."

As if some force had compelled her to do so, Marisa followed the exact instructions to 'sit down' on her knees right in front of Iesua. Looking up, there was a faint smile on her face as she looked at the witch around the same height as her now.

"I once lectured many disciples like this in the past, you will be no different. Since you are accompanying me on this journey, you will be my disciple."

"B-But-" Marisa tried to refuse, but she cut herself off upon seeing the smile on Iesua's face. Seeing it, she couldn't deny her whatsoever, least not in any meaningful way.

"Alright fine…don't expect me to buy into your teachings so easily!"

Her smile brightened even more, as she began 'lecturing' Marisa. By the end of it, she wasn't sure who she'd prefer getting lectured by, Eiki or Iesua were equally harsh, but correct critics. Just a manner of preference, she supposed.

Unbeknownst to the two, Sariel was watching the entire scene unfold with Byakuren on an upper deck.

"You know, it's the first time I've seen her smile this much since she came to our temple. She must have really missed those disciples of hers, huh?" The Buddhist monk beside her commented in a relaxed manner.

Sariel nodded. "She's been waiting for millennia. But…it's good to see her start making friends again, even if it may be one-sided right now…that girl still has much to learn. I think she'll be fine though…trust in her like many have before."

"Well, I don't know much about you or Iesua herself, but we're halfway to Pandaemonium, I'll let you know when we're nearly there." Byakuren stepped away, leaving Sariel alone.

"I wonder…what will you do when you finally meet him again?" It was a question only Iesua would know when the time came of course. If she knew any better though, that time would be coming very quickly.

"I think my boss is working for the Mandarin. So if you still want to talk about it, I suggest we get somewhere safe."

"And there's a SHIELD safehouse just an hour from here right now, I even have the map pulled up, I guarantee it's going to be the absolute safest place right now." Natasha said from the backseat of Pepper's car. By the time she had arrived to Stark's Malibu mansion, the attack had concluded already, and all she found was a burning wreck of a home. Along with Pepper and this scientist that had shown up right before the attack.

"Okay, Natasha? We just got attacked by four heavily armed helicopters in California, hell, you just told me that SHIELD has next to nothing on this 'Mandarin' or whatever, so forgive me for trusting myself to go somewhere else right now. You said it yourself, it's an hour away in a city, I want to go away from cities right now."

She was being difficult, they had an abundance of ways to protect people quickly and securely. Such as for example, getting them to SHIELD's LA field office right now, probably the most heavily protected building in the West Coast.

"Okay, you can pull over, I call in a Quinjet that will pick the three of us up, and we all board it to an extremely secure safehouse in Nova Scotia. Is that good enough?"

Pepper sighed. Natasha had a lot more sarcasm than usual, but she was feeling very irritated that Pepper decided striking out on her own with some scientist was going to work out better than going to SHIELD.

"Natasha…"

"S-should I be here for this? This seems like Avengers stuff now…" Right, she forgot that there was the scientist, Maya, with them. Might as well interrogate her right now.

"Alright, you think your boss works for the Mandarin, can you at least give me a name so SHIELD can start running searches on who whoever it is?"

"Yeah, Aldrich Killian." That got a reaction from Pepper, as she looked at Maya incredulously. It sounded familiar to Natasha, but she couldn't quite ring a bell on who he was. Regardless, she had a name, and could start sending it to the analysts. She wondered how the meeting at NASA went, but she had other things to worry about, namely getting Pepper and Maya to safety.

"Alright fine, do you have a location to head to at least? Somewhere you trust is safe that SHIELD can monitor?"

Pepper didn't answer for a few seconds, probably considering her options. "There's this hotel Tony and I used to head to further out of L.A…there's a helipad there as well. That 'good enough' for you?"

Well, it was better than nothing. "Sure, you need me to call Cap as well?" She let a bit more of her irritation and sarcasm out, why did these special assignments never go as planned?

"Actually, that would be great-"

"I was joking."Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. What even was Steve doing since New York? Taking out her phone, she sent a quick message to make sure that Bruce knew where to take Sanae and Aya, who were probably freaking out right now…

"Alright, so, extremely advanced biotechnical-"

"No."

"Cell regeneration-"

"No."

"Biomatter manipulation-"

"No."

"Look, I'm not buying that you got it from a magical immortal potion or whatever, there has got to be something-"

"Oh look, there's a shop over there. Isn't that what you wanted?" Changing the subject quickly, Mokou pointed at a shop-like structure that still had its lights on. She had volunteered to drag Tony's suit of armour with them as they began walking towards a nearby town. Right now, they were in the middle of nowhere, with no help or anything useful. Tony was also stuck as a regular human now that his armour was broken apparently.

"Right. Thanks for dragging my suit by the way."

"No problem, you're injured, I'm not." Mokou replied succinctly. He had spent their entire journey so far asking her ridiculous questions about her abilities. She told him the truth the first time, but he didn't believe anything about the Hourai Elixir. If Gensokyo's barriers still ran on disbelief alone, he could power it for the rest of his life if he kept it up. If anything, this journey so far felt like escorting another person through the bamboo forest, only this time neither of them knew where their destination was.

"Alright, I'm going to go use the payphone, you check the store out for anything useful. Still got that money I gave you?"

"No."

"What?! Where did it go?"

"I lost it when a portion of my clothes were ripped apart trying to catch you."

He instantly looked away in frustration. "I would have survived that fall, you know."

"Uhuh."

"...Thanks for catching me anyways."

Mokou was satisfied at his answer. Despite his crass beliefs, he still gave proper respect, even if she was not used to the way he gave them. Were all Americans like him? Surely not.

After he made a call using the glass box, the store turned out to be closed, and they had to proceed further into the town. 'Rose Hill' as it was called, didn't seem all too impressive to Mokou. Regardless, however, they needed shelter from the cold.

Coming up to a locked door, Tony began looking for something to break into the door with. Deadpanning at him, Mokou simply walked up to the door and whacked the lock open with one strike.

"Right, forgot you had super strength. Alright, let's go in. If anyone comes in here I'll just pay them back or something."

Hefting up the suit again, Mokou brought it into the building. Something that she noticed about homes in this foreign land were how they are constructed often not of wood, but this material called 'concrete'. Actually, even Sumireko's home seemed to be constructed in a similar way, she wondered how she was doing right now. Hopefully the Emperor kept up his deal, allowing the Psychic to finally get some peace.

"Just set him right down there, gently now…"

Rolling her eyes at him, she set the suit down on the sofa. She watched Tony waste no time, as he immediately sat down on a bench, taking out a pair of pliers.

"What are you doing?"

He looked at her like it was an obvious thing. "Getting shrapnel out of my hands…?"

Just like that? He'd sooner get an infection than actually treating himself. Mokou walked up directly next to him and held out her hand over his arm.

"What are you-"

"I'm patching you up."

A five starred seal appeared on her hands, switching the points around until the Kanji for metal, 金, rotated to the top of the star, she then hovered it above his arm and activated it.

"Yeow!" Tony yelped.

All of the shrapnel immediately sucked out of his arm and into her hands. With all of it seemingly out, she dropped it down onto the workbench, before switching the star again, this time with water, 水，at the top. Activating it once more, water began pouring over his wound, cleaning it.

"I've given the water more medicinal properties, it will heal you wound much quicker. Is there anywhere else you're injured in?"

Tony looked dumbfounded, the entire time he stared at the star-shaped circle Mokou produced like a child discovering something for the first time. "Okay, first off, teach me-"

"Freeze!"

Mokou and Tony looked up from the bench, a boy, of no more than eleven years of age probably held out a strange tube at them. He held it as if it was a weapon.

"Don't move."

Tony held his hands up, before giving Mokou a signal with his eyes to do the same. Sighing, she decided to play along as well.

"Nice potato gun, barrel's a little long, between that and the wide gauge, it's gonna diminish your FPS."

The boy aimed his tube at a glass cup sitting on a wooden ledge right above them, shooting a projectile and smashing clean through it. If a regular human were to be hit by that, it was sure to at least bruise them a bit. Tony dropped his hands after that, and Mokou did too.

"And now you're out of ammo."

"What's that thing on your chest?"

"It's an electromagnet, you should know, you got a box of them right here." Tony shook the box full of metal parts to emphasize his point.

"What does it power?"

Deciding that showing was better than telling, he flipped a lamp around to show the suit behind me, and the boy instantly changed his expression one of awe.

"Oh my God…wait. You're that Japanese Princess!"

The boy was now looking at Mokou, and she suddenly remembered that in this land she was still known as Kaguya. Even children knew of her supposed status now, even in a land farther away than anything she had ever travelled to before.

"Kagu…Kaguha?"

"Kaguya." Names were difficult things to remember apparently. She heard some truly bizarre pronunciations of the name in her short time here, 'Kaguha' wasn't in the top ten worst ones she heard so far.

"Iron Man and a princess in my garage, didn't expect this was how today was going to go."He didn't take his eyes off of Tony's suit when he said that.

"Technically,Iam Iron Man, not the suit."

"Oh yeah? Technically, you're dead."

The boy placed a newspaper onto his chest as he went to go inspect the suit. Tony then read out the headline out loud for Mokou to hear.

"Wow, they get these out quickly. Hey Mokou, according to this, we're now missing together. 'Mandarin Attack: Stark and Princess Kaguya presumed missing.' I wonder how much they're saying we're in a relationship now? I bet the tabloids are going crazy."

Mokou shuddered in response, she was told what tabloids were by Natasha a few days ago, the fact that precious paper was used to print out those things still made her upset.

"Urgh…"

"Yeah I know, but you're stuck with me right now, gotta tough it out until the end. Besides, with you here I like my odds a lot more."

Great, she wandered herself into another incident, perhaps this was how Reimu felt when she was minding her own business and suddenly get dragged into resolving an incident?

"Hey lady? Can you do that fire phoenix thing? It was so cool to see on T.V."

"No."

"Yeah, Kaguya, do that fire phoenix thing, let the entire town know two famous people are here in the middle of nowhere Tennessee." Tony quipped on the side.

After Harley, the boy who 'owned' the garage gave Tony and Mokou new clothes, they disguised themselves and headed into Rose Hill proper. The attack on the theatre yesterday had a link in this small rural town for some reason, which was why Tony's suit apparently malfunctioned and flew here. Leading the two into a destroyed building, this was where a similar attack to the one at the theatre occurred apparently. Flowers and other pieces of remembrance were scattered all around, an offering for the dead perhaps.

"So, what's the official story here? What happened?"

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live roundabouts. He won a bunch of medals in the army. And one day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb."

Mokou and Tony inspected the blast area. In particular, she focused on the shadowy scorch marks shaped like people on the wall.

"Then he blew himself up, right here."

Again, the scorch marks were similar to the ones she saw at the theatres, the same eerie shadows in human form. Only that Mokou knew they weren't just drawings, but the real shadows of real people. Scorched forever into the walls for eternity.

"Hm. Five shadows, but six people died. Don't you find that odd?"

Aside from the crater in the centre of the ruined building of course, where the point of origin for the 'bomb' presumably came from.

"People say the shadows are like marks that the five people went to heaven, while he didn't. Because, y'know, he went to…"

Hell. Mokou wasn't so sure about that however.

"Scorch marks are not a mark of going to heaven or hell. One thing I can tell you is that the flames that caused these…shadows are not natural."

"Well, you seem a lot more knowledgeable about fire, so enlighten us, if you will." Tony made an exaggerated bowing move, causing Mokou to sigh. How could she explain it? To someone unfamiliar with fire, it is often constant. As long as it has a fuel source, it will always remain at a constant temperature and size, if what it was fueling on didn't change that is. Those shadows could only be produced by flames that were already roaring, or at least went from a relatively low intensity, to an extremely high one in a short time.

"Look at the shadows, flames are often gradual, when you burn something, it often does not get incinerated immediately, correct?"

"With some exceptions to certain materials, yes but I get your point."

"These shadows were not gradual, they were the result of an intense amount of fire in an extremely short amount of time. Natural fires, produced in a myriad of ways, still follow that gradual rule instead of producing burn shadows like that instantly. If it was a conventional bomb as you say, it wouldn't be enough time for shadows like that to be produced. Nor would nothing but shadows be left, fire always leaves something behind, whether they be ashes or small cinders, never nothing but shadows."

Tony brought a hand under his chin. "So, basically what I found as well. Yeah, this wasn't a conventional bomb at all…"

"You know what this reminds me of though?"

"No idea, stop, I don't care." Tony quickly said, but Harley kept going instead.

"The giant wormhole in New York, does it remind you of it?"What was this about New York again?

"That's manipulative, I don't want to talk about it." Tony tried changing the subject but to no avail. Mokou watched the whole exchange keep going, remaining silent as Harley kept egging him on.

"Are the aliens coming back?"

"Maybe. Can you stop?" Harley was taken slightly aback by his response.

"Remember when I told you I had an anxiety issue?"

"Does this subject make you edgy?"

"Yeah a little bit, can I just catch my breath for a second?" Tony became more and more agitated as time went on, and Mokou considered intervening.

"Are there bad guys in Rose Hill? Do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have PTSD?"

"I don't think so."

"A-Are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop-"

"Harley, that's enough!" Mokou saw fit to intervene, as Tony was breathing raggedly now. Suddenly standing up, he left the crater as he looked the most anxious Mokou had ever seen him.

"Man, you did it didn't you?!"

"Hey wait up! What did I say?!"Harley called after him as he went back out onto the street, hugging the walls of a nearby building, he collapsed next to a street sign and onto the snowy floor. Mokou caught up to him with Harley soon after, his breathing remaining ragged and intense.

"Tony? What the hell was that-"

Tony threw some snow at Harley after pressing it against his face. Visibly calming down, he pointed at the boy in an accusatory manner. "Your fault, you spazzed me out."

Mokou kneeled next to Tony, he was still getting his bearings together. "Tony, Harley was right, that isn't normal-"

"Not right now princess, we have to get back to business." Blowing off Mokou's concerns, he attempted to get their investigation back on track, instead asking about where the man who supposedly built the bomb's parents were right now.

"Where she always is, the bar probably."

Tony got up, before looking at where Harley pointed at, a colourful and lively bar just down the street. Wearing his hat again, he turned to Mokou. "Alright, I'm gonna need you to do me a favour, watch the kid until I get back out. I should be in and out quickly. If he acts up, use your cool fire tricks or something to distract him."

"Hey!"

Mokou sighed, they were going to have words later, she guaranteed it.

Standing some ways back from the bar, they were next to a 'laundromat' waiting for Tony to finish meeting with the bomb maker's mother in the bar. Personally, she was fine with that, they were in a rural town in the middle of nowhere, why were the 'Mandarin' going to attack them?

"So, the moon is actually home to an ancient civilization of moon people from China?"

"And other nations as well, not just China."

"Cool…so what did they do during the Apollo landings?"

Harley was a very curious boy, as Mokou had learned from her limited time with him. It seemed that he just asked questions one after the other, even if he made Tony uncomfortable at times. Something about 'New York' kept bothering him, she saw the same thing occur when she went out with him to eat lunch at that bar restaurant. Eirin had once described this condition in detail, that it was an ailment of the mind rather than the body.

"Well, I suppose they fought-"

Cutting herself off, as two loud bangs came from inside the bar, Mokou quickly focused her attention down the street, panicking and scared people running out of it. Tony ran out of the bar, his hands bound behind his back for some reason, he looked at Mokou directly in the eye before he noticed a bald man getting out of a 'car' a dozen metres in front of her. Raising his hand, Mokou instantly recognized that it was the same 'weapon' that was used by the man from the helicopter earlier.

"Harley, stay back!"

A wisp of flame danced around her hands for a split second, before it impacted the man's back directly, puncturing a hole right in his chest. Stumbling forward a few steps, Mokou watched as the wound seemingly glowed brightly for a second, before somehow mending itself. The man snapped his head to look behind him, his eyes widened in recognition, but so did Mokou. It was the same man with sunglasses from the flying machine, the one who tried toburnher of all people.

"sh*t-Brandt! Take care of Stark! This one's mine!"

The man called out to a woman in front of her, her body also glowing bright red. She gave him a deranged grin as he turned back around to face Mokou. Meanwhile, Tony had crashed through a building's windows, the woman glowing red apparently chasing him, Mokou had to finish this quickly.

Harley had long since run off, leaving the street itself empty, save for the few still running away. "I thought you crashed into the ocean, why did you have to swim back up?" Mokou taunted gleefully, as fires started dancing and swirling all around her.

"Woah, woah, woah, we don't have any fight with you,your majesty, just let us get on our way…and we'll leave you alone to whatever you want to do…"

Mokou didn't stop walking forward as she responded. "And the bombings? You did kill a lot of innocent people. It will be remiss on my part to just let you go. And besides, Sanae needs Tony for her plans. You arein the way."

"Alright, don't blame me when Japan loses a princess tonight…"

The man raised his weapon at her, but this time Mokou was prepared.

All three projectiles were intercepted by her phoenix wings, melting into slag metal as it tried to pass through them. See? A gradual process, not a near-instantaneous effect. With his weapon ineffective, he decided to rush her instead, Mokou needed to intercept that woman immediately, so she just let him rush toward him.

As soon as he got within striking distance to her, his right hand glowed a bright red, rearing back his elbow for a chop right at her neck.

Slow.

Mokou simply intercepted his strike mid-attempt, an unimpressed expression on her face contrasting heavily with his own, dumbfounded one. She blocked his hand for a few seconds, as even though it continued glowing an ever brighter red, it had no effect on her whatsoever.

"Your flame is weak, let me show you whatreal flame is."

Mokou's flames engulfed a small area around them, and visible panic was now on the man's face. The ground below them began melting, and the vehicles next to them warped in place. He tried shooting her again with his weapon, managing to fire three shots in, she let him do so.

If you wanted to show an enemy how utterly hopeless their situation was, you let them try everything they had to defeat you, and show them that their efforts were completely futile. The three projectiles dug right into her flesh, piercing into her stomach. Though she felt all of the pain, the difference was that the Hourai Elixir was never going to make her suffer long for it.

The three rounds plopped out of her belly into the now viscous road from the intense heat she gave off, and the man looked at it with two emotions, primal fear and a strange expression of acceptance. "You have got to be-"

Mokou chucked him into a nearby building, through the concrete wall. She had to finish him off and find Stark, no more playing with him. His body was completely wrecked, but she noticed that certain parts of it began glowing. Upon narrowing her eyes at it, she noticed that it was similar to her and Kaguya's own regeneration from the Hourai Elixir. In that case, she just had to burn him to nothing-
"Hrrrk!" An arm suddenly grabbed her neck from behind, too fast for her to even react, it flung her a fair distance back away, in mid-air, she regained control and hovered in place. Scanning for the attacker however, the street lay completely empty, as if no one had suddenly attacked her-

A thumping sound was heard for a split second, before the left side of her body felt an impact, then a large explosion. Crashing down onto the roof of a nearby building, she quickly regained her bearings. There was a new attacker nearby-

Instinctively dodging a hail of projectiles sent her way, she looked up from her roll and found her newest attacker. A man, a mask with goggles obscuring his face entirely, and with shoulder-length hair. The most striking feature, however, was his shiny, metal left arm. A red star emblazoned proudly for her to see. Mokou had found her newest foe, so there were three agents of the Mandarin in this small town…

Gah, sorry Tony, I'll try and deal with him quickly…

She flew up into the air, intent on making him pay for every piece of now-ruined clothing she had.

"I usually like helping people…but you are beyond any redemption.Know the folly of crossing a phoenix, if you live to tell the tale."

To the man's credit, all he did was shoulder his weapon. A fool perhaps, but a brave one nonetheless.

Sariel couldn't believe what she was seeing. In order to get into Pandaemonium, where she used to live, there was agiant queue?!

"Alright, move along, move along, the representatives at the gate will take your requests…"

Deciding that spending most of her time trying to get in was not a great use of her time, she turned to Marisa and Iesua behind her. "Alright, you two stay here, I'll go to the front to see what's going on. Marisa, do not let Iesua out of your sight."

As the witch girl casually waved her off, Sariel flew to the front of thelongqueue to see what exactly was going on. Pandaemonium itself didn't seem to have changed a lot, nor did the city itself change either, there was just a massive queue that stretched alongside most of the fortress's walls instead. Flying to the front, she noticed a few familiar faces at the gate. A small was booth set up there that only allowed two people in at any given moment. Landing right in front of the closed gate, she got the attention of Valafor, someone that Sariel knew very well beforehand.

"Well, I'll be. Hey guys! Sariel's back!"

"Valafor, it's good to see you again." The blue-haired demon girl was one of Shinki's subordinates who was tasked with guarding the actual Pandaemonium fortress walls. She took the job seriously, but her laid-back attitude often betrayed other's perception of her.

"Hah! You bet, so, finally want to come back home after striking it out in the big city?"

Big city? Where did she think I went?!

"...You know I went to New Hell, right?"

"Ah, psssh. Same thing. Anyways, what can I do for ya?" She twirled her revolver before flashing Sariel a grin. Ever since she came back from a contract in a place called 'Texas', she had taken to its local culture quite enthusiastically; bringing it back to Makai as a new part of who she was. Sariel didn't mind, she made some great food as well, she didn't know that barbecue could be made to taste like that until Valafor got a 'smoker' built.

"My group and I need to get in and find Shinki, there's someone that wants to find-"

"Woah there, hold your horses. There's a new rule in place that if you want to talk to her for any reason, you need to submit this here request form."

Valafor held out a piece of paper for Sariel to see, it was filled with nonsensical things like: 'Reason for request' to 'Importance of request'. She didn't want to play any games with her right now.

"You know I've lived here for decades right? Look, just let me in, Shinki really needs to know-"

"No can do, sorry partner. I'm a respectable woman of the law, and the law uh, now states that you need to fill out a request form in order to speak with her. That's the uh, law, yeah. Something like that."

Sariel knew Valafor long enough that she could tell when she hid something important. But anyone could see that her stutters and beads of sweat coming from her forehead were signs of lying in general. As Sariel argued with her for a while, she was eventually interrupted by two light taps coming from her shoulder.

"Hey, what's the hold-up?"

Turning around, Sariel saw that Marisa had for some reason, come up to the front of the gate. "I'm handling it, they just have these new weird rules-"

She suddenly paused, as a look of sudden realization and horror dawned on her face.

"Marisa, if you're here. Where is Iesua?"

Answering casually, Marisa stretched as she gave out her answer. "Oh, I told her to wait back there while I came here-"

Sariel instantly came upon Marisa, shaking her shoulder hysterically. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT SHE WILL-"

A large explosion and shockwave were suddenly felt by Sariel, as she saw that a section of the wall, near where she had told Marisa and Iesua to wait, was reduced into small stone pieces. Valafor's frantic shouting was heard next, as she attempted to rally the gate guards nearby.

"Oh hell! The walls have been breached! Everyone, get your rear into high gear! We are repelling invaders today! Just like the Alaaamoooo!"

As the blue-haired demon shot off a few rounds and flew to the breach, Sariel turned her glare back to Marisa.

"Ehehe…oops? S-shouldn't we join her…?"

"No, I don't think we need to…" Sariel's response was proven correct just a scant few seconds later, as even more explosions rocked the grounds they stood on. Well, at least it was good to know Iesua's abilities weren't atrophied by any means…

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

Putting away her phone, Natasha had just notified Fury of her current situation. Aside from being in the middle of nowhere, and alone, she was still considering if she should just call in a quinjet to head towards Nova Scotia. At least she knew Stark was still alive and with Mokou, yes, she knew who she actually was. Sanae had pulled her aside before she left at the hospital about her true identity, apparently, she was counted as someone from Gensokyo now, in the same way Sumireko was after her first arrival there.

Walking out of the bathroom she used to freshen herself up, Pepper checked into a large room at the hotel far out of L.A she went to with Tony quite often. It was quiet and far away from the big city, but that was a double-edged sword, if they wanted support it was going to have to take a while to get to them.

"Alright, we have a SHIELD security team arriving in fifteen minutes." Natasha addressed the two VIPs, Rumlow was heading the team this time, and she trusted him to do things quickly.

"Thanks, Nat. We were just talking about AIM." Pepper said. Natasha easily overheard their entire conversation, interesting how Maya could guess that her research was being used by the Mandarin, but she didn't have any other reason to suspect her right now. SHIELD analysts haven't gotten back to her yet regardless, so she had next to nothing to work off of right now regarding her suspicions. She had to 'play along' for now.

"Oh? It's probably the room service, I'll get it."

"Wait, I'll do it-" Natasha tried stopping her, but due to being close to the door already Pepper had reached the door first.

"Relax, Nat, it's just the room service. Hey, come on in." Letting the room service in, she watched the door like a hawk for any potential-

A man wearing a suit suddenly jumped out from behind the hotel staff, snapping his neck faster than she could pull out her gun. Pepper immediately stepped back, before shouting at Maya.

"Maya, run!"

Firing off a quick three rounds at the attacker, the man stumbled back a step, clutching at his chest where the rounds impacted. She narrowed her eyes as his body began glowing a bright red, and she heard the three bullets that should have lodged itself into his body cling to the ground. It was going to be another one of these assignments, huh?

Before Natasha could get in another shot, he kicked the food cart directly towards her, impacting her directly.

"Gah!" She cried out in pain, as the cart launched her directly at the window, shattering it on impact as she was launched out of the room entirely.

"Romanoff!"She heard Pepper call her out for a split second, but she had bigger priorities right now, namely, sticking the landing!

"Ack!" Rolling to a stop on the first floor, she felt that aside from the intense amounts of pain she was feeling right now, her ankle was most definitely feeling 'not fine' at all. Gritting through it however, she took out her gun and began making her way back upstairs.

By the time she had reached the second floor and back to where Pepper and Maya were, all that remained was an empty hotel room.

The sound of tires screeching on asphalt could be heard, as Natasha looked out of the window she was just flung out of. A pair of black minivans started speeding away onto the highway, at that angle she couldn't even make out the licence plate before they left.

"Agent Romanoff!"

Rumlow and his squad then entered the room quickly, weapons drawn. All they found however was her clutching where her ribs were broken in. Natasha had an annoyed expression as she turned around to greet them.

"Rumlow, couldn't you have gotten here five minutes earlier?"

"L.A. Traffic. You know how it is-"

Cut off by her hand held up, Natasha really wasn't in the mood to hear him right now. Where the hell was Banner-

"Uh, Nat?"

Speak of the devil, right outside his window were Banner, Aya and Sanae, everyone somehow managing to get here right after when she could use them. Was this some kind of divine intervention or whatever?

"Should I call Steve? You look-"

"Just get Sanae up here, Banner, oh Go-gosh. I really need that medicine of hers right now…" Just in case God was also plausibly real, she tried her best to not take his name in vain. Considerations for another time, right now they had to track down where Pepper was being taken.

"Come on, don't make this harder for yourself…I promise my flames won't incinerate you completely…"

The metal-armed warrior was proving to be much more elusive than initially thought. Using the town's buildings as cover, Mokou couldn't indiscriminately bombard an entire area as she could with battles in the bamboo forest. She had to physically find him, and use precise strikes instead. So far, however, neither one had really stayed in one spot to fight, with Mokou flying slightly high above the town, but not too high. Suddenly, Mokou had a realization that struck her.

Oh right, he's not fighting me directly because I'm flying…

Feeling stupid, the moment she set back down on top of a building, her hunch was confirmed.

This time, she dodged his explosive projectile easily. Doing a one-eighty, she was face to face with his charging form, despite firing his weapon while rushing at her, Mokou's flames intercepted all of his bullets easily.

"Oh no you don't!"

Sidestepping away from his lunge at the last second, Mokou managed to kick him in the belly, launching him right at a brick chimney.

Recovering quickly from the impact, the man then pulled out a knife. She chuckled at the sight, a knife? Like the man she just nearly annihilated on the street, perhaps a demonstration in futility was in order.

"Guh!"

Mokou didn't stop the man from planting a blade into her abdomen when he got close enough. He didn't stop there however, he tried again, and again, until he took out the knife for one final slash at Mokou's throat.

Enough, I need to find Tony and make sure he's safe.

As the man stepped back after seeing that his attacks were futile, Mokou suddenly shot forward and grabbed the man's throat, holding him into the air with her enhanced strength. As he struggled fruitlessly against Mokou's fiery grip, she decided to taunt him one last time before ending him.

"You are a thousand years too early to defeat me, let alone even scratch my soul. Die, and may your ashes coat the snow of this land."

When Mokou began increasing the intensity of her flames however, the man suddenly pulled out a strange tube device with a pin on top of it. Using his remaining free hand, he then pulled the pin in front of Mokou, holding it up right in front of her. Unimpressed, Mokou addressed him with the same indifferent tone she had used just now.

"I thought you had learned your lesson by now, your attacks are futil-"

"YEARGH!"

A bright flash and loud bang suddenly disoriented her, and she involuntarily stepped back while clutching her eyes shut. On instinct, she commanded her flames to engulf the entire roof, if that warrior thought he could use a smoke bomb or something to get away, he was sorely mistaken, or at least she thought so.

"Alright! I'm really going to make sure you're burned…to..a…damn."

As her vision slowly returned, Mokou found that aside from a charred and singed rooftop, there was no sign of the man anymore. Looking around to make sure, not even ashes or a badly burned body remained, he must have escaped after Mokou removed her grip on him.

"I should have seen that coming…" She really should have, considering that she had fought Shinobi before who had a similar tool. Mokou was more rusty than she thought she was, the next fight was to be done much more carefully…

Hopping down onto the street, she was about to head into the store where Tony crashed into when he and Harley suddenly emerged from the alleyway in front of her. Calling out to them, they looked at her with an exasperated expression, what did she do?

"Wow, there you are! Where the hell were you when I fought those two myself, huh?"

Mokou narrowed her eyes in annoyance at him. "There was another one, I couldn't take him out because he hid among the town. If it makes you feel better I didn't annihilate this town because of you and the townspeople."

"Well gee, thanks. Alright, I've got what we came for, and I nicked that guy's car keys, let's get outta here."

Walking over to a car, Tony got into it, and they began saying their goodbyes, for Harley couldn't follow them to wherever they needed to go.

"So now you're just going to leave me here, like my dad?"

Tony thought about it for a second, before giving him a nonchalant 'Yeah'. Mokou sighed, and flicked Tony's forehead once through the driver seat's window.

"Yeow! What was that for-"

"Be nice." Mokou then turned her attention away from Tony, who was massaging the spot where he got flicked, serving him right. Kneeling in front of Harley, she grabbed his hand before speaking to him.

"Harley, where Tony and I are going it will be too dangerous for you, so we can't take you. That's what Tony was trying to say but was just too crass about it."

"Hey-!" Tony interjected, but Mokou continued on.

"Besides, you have your family here, no? After this is over…if you ever go to Japan, how about I promise to take you along to somewhere else…somewhere fantastical, hm?"

"Okay…"

"Good, but you have to take Tony's calls, I have a feeling he will need your help in the near future. Can you do that, for us?"

Harley nodded again, and Mokou rubbed his hair, much to his annoyance. Getting into the car, Mokou took the seat next to Tony, and the two began to drive off, away from Rose Hill.

After Tony made another call to his friend called Rhodey, Mokou found herself helping him 'hijack' a 'news van'. Though in his own words, it was more or less borrowing because he needed to 'access files on a secure server' or whatever. She had half a mind to remind him that she didn't know anything about what he said, but instead chose to keep it to herself. Now sitting inside the news van after another man who had Tony's hairstyle came in and had a near-freakout, he had directed her to look at the screen.

"Alright flame princess, I noticed you got fire powers, and those guys who attacked us there had fire powers as well, this is going to tell us where their powers came from…and there we go. Firewall's down, let's see what you're hiding…"

Tony started flicking through several videos of what seemed to be interviews. "Check it out, two years ago, and it's our mystery bomber Chad Davis. He was linked to AIM, and this one, that's the woman who attacked us in Rose Hill."

Though her hairstyle was different, her face remained the same. Only this time the video showed her with a missing right arm, the woman who attacked them in Rose Hill had her full arm.

"...How did she regain her arm…?"

"I dunno…let's check the final video…" Tony opened the final video, and he read the words out aloud.

"Project Extremis…Injection Tests?"

The final video showed the same people being interviewed, now strapped to a table of some sort and being given an injection. Eirin's clinic often had these sorts of treatments for her patients, so she was familiar with the procedure. Mokou leaned in, curious as to what it actually was, she knew that their attackers had regenerative capabilities similar to her, but whether or not it was similar…

Her breath seized in her chest, as she watched the same woman with a stump for her right arm begin regrowing it in a manner she was very familiar with, though far more rough and crude. Mokou's immortality produced flames that were elegant, and mesmerizing to look at according to those she knew, like Sumireko. Those 'flames' however…they were forced, inelegant, and a mockery of her own immortality, no matter how much she herself may have mixed feelings regarding it.

The video continued on, showing each 'candidate' with various states of red glowing bodies and limbs regrowing. One man however, seemed to be rejecting the process entirely, his body glowing an ever brighter red. Some sort of commotion was seen, and the entire room eventually cleared out, save for him alone.

"I know what's going to happen next."

Right after she said that, the entire room exploded, with the man as the epicenter of the explosion, or in other words, he was the 'bomb'.

The table Mokou gripped for support finally bent over the pressure she exerted on it. Tony rolled back away from her as soon as he heard it, looking at her with a mix of emotion, fear and awe if she had to guess.

He began talking slowly, his tone being much more diplomatic now than he was before. "...So, that story about your Hourai potion, it's not just a story, is it?"

Mokou instantly knew what he was insinuating, and she put a stop to it quickly before he got any other ideas. "If you are saying that the Hourai Elixir is anything like that crude mockery, then cease."

Tony leaned back in, his expression clearly not accepting her words. "Okay, but right now there's a lot of correlation between what I've seen from you, and what the video and those two assholes back in Rosehill did. Either they found a sample of the Elixir or whatever, or it was just a giant coincidence. At this point, I don't really have the mood to believe in coincidences, you get me?"

Mokou really didn't. "I don't care, all you should know is that 'Extremis' is not the Hourai Elixir, nowhere close to it whatsoever. I'm getting some fresh air."

Walking past Tony's calls for her to stay, she stepped back out into the cold, winter air. As she shuffled along the snowy ground, she kept thinking about what that man, Killian if she recalled, said about the project. The 'next stage in human evolution' he said…

Humanity gaining access to the Hourai Elixir, even a crude mockery of it, was too much of a joke for her to handle. Immortality was something that was coveted throughout the ages, and it appeared that this so-called 'modern age' was no different. Man will continue fighting, and dying, for the false promise of immortal life, it seemed.

"Hey!"

She turned back around to see Tony with the ridiculous-looking hat again, he gestured over to the direction of where their car was. "Let's go, we need to find where the Mandarin is, and I think Jarvis might have a lead on him now."

Nodding, she followed Tony back to their car, and they continued on their journey once more. If Sanzang had these cars, perhaps those long years that he and his companions took to reach the Buddha's lands could have instead been spent doing something else. Just a thought, however, there were better things to do now than be distracted by wayward thoughts.

"Jarvis, how are we?"

Now on the road once more, Tony hadn't brought up the Hourai Elixir just yet, and though she was thankful for that, she knew it was just a matter of time before it came up once more.

"Very good sir, I seem to do quite well for a stretch then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry."

The two of them shared a look, it wasn't just her that heard it then.

"Sir, you were right, I have managed to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal with your input from AIM's hotdogs."

"Alright, what are we talking? Far East? Europe? North Africa, Pakistan, Iran, where is it?"

"Actually sir, it's in Miami."

Mokou didn't know where 'Miami' was, but she hoped it wasn't anywhere far.

"Okay Harley, I need you to walk you through rebooting Jarvis's speech drive, but now right now. Tell me where is it really, just look on the screen to tell me where it is."

"Uh, it does say Miami, Florida."

Tony nodded, before talking to Harley again. "Okay, first things first, I need my armour, where are we at with it?"

"It's not charging."

Mokou lurched forward as the car she was in suddenly slowed down and Tony steered it off to the sides. "Why did you-"

Jarvis cut her off before she could finish her sentence however."Actually sir, it is charging but the power source is questionable, it may not succeed in revitalizing the Mark forty-two-"

"What's questionable about electricity huh?! It's my suit, and I can't…I don't…I'm not gonna…"
Tony started breathy raggedly again, and just like in Rose Hill, he became more and more agitated over time.

"Oh God, not again…"

Before she could get his attention, he opened the door and got out of the car, leaning on its side for support as Mokou went around the other side. Kneeling next to him, he had another panic attack, exactly like the one he had before he went into the bar.

"Tony, breathe, look at me, follow my breathing." Mokou started going through breathing exercises with him, as Harley still tried to get their attention.

"Uh, I'm guessing you have another panic attack. I didn't even mention New York-"

Mokou cut him off quickly, he was most definitely not helping the situation. "Harley! You're not helping him right now."

"Okay, well, Tony, you're a mechanic right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Why don't you just build something?"

As if he received a revelation, his ragged breathing suddenly stopped, and he got up again, albeit slowly. Turning to the car again, he addressed Harley and ended the call. "Okay. Thanks, kid."

Mokou gave him an accusatory stare, and though he tried his best to not look back at her, he eventually sighed and turned to her. "So, I guess you want to know what's wrong with me now?"

Mokou nodded slowly.

"Alright, how about this, you tell me one thing about your past, and I'll tell you mine. Deal?"

A trade of questions? Mokou was fine with that.

"You keep mentioning this 'New York', is that the cause of your…distress?"

He nodded quickly, before giving her a confused stare. "Wait, didn't Reimu tell you all about it? Giant wormhole with a lot of Aliens in a major city?"

New York? Reimu? Aliens? Was he talking about the incident in the outside world that was the source of Sumireko's troubles? There was a news story from Aya about it a couple of months back, but she didn't give it much thought until now that was.

"I only heard bits and pieces. As I said, Gensokyo is not well connected with the outside world's happenings."

"Not even an Alien invasion apparently…but yeah. Long story short, I nearly died, and whenever I think back on it, I get these…flashbacks."

Which were the cause of his panic attacks. That confirmed it at least, it was the same ailment that Eirin spoke of, one of the mind after a harrowing event. For those in Gensokyo, so used to centuries of fighting, could probably weather them much better than a regular human. Mokou leaned on the car next to him.

"I just see myself falling again…but it's not all bad. Heck, sometimes it ends after I see Reimu's paper slips thingies catching me mid-air. It kinda…calms me down actually, it felt like I was crashing down onto a giant pillow."

Tony's expression morphed into a small smirk as he turned to Mokou. "Huh, I actually feel a bit better talking about it. Is this how therapists work? Maybe I should see Banner about it…"

The good Doctor Banner? Eirin also handled those ailments at her clinic, so it was a sound decision. However, Tony's smirk morphed into a grin as she realized what he was going to ask next.

"Your turn now, tell me, whatactuallyhappened with you and the so-called immortality potion. Come on, we've known each other for a couple days now, that's more than enough time to share our deepest secrets!"

Mokou knew that was coming. She was prepared to say it in her mind at some point, given that some already knew of her true identity in the outside world, such as Romanoff. Making sure they really were alone in the middle of nowhere, Mokou decided to tell him who she reallywas.

"I am not the actual Princess Kaguya."

Tony was taken aback by her words, his eyes furrowed at Mokou as he gave her a once-over.

"...Didn't the Emperor himself name you as-"

Oh right, that happened. To the world, she and Kaguya were the same, but only she had the title of being an Imperial Princess. That latter part was actually a legitimate title she owned because of her connection to Emperor Tenji. Being Kaguya meanwhile was something else entirely.

"No, I do have a legitimate claim as an Imperial Princess. That part is correct, but my true name, if could even call it that, would be Fujiwara no Mokou. The fifth daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito, the son of Emperor Tenji. So calling me Princess is still an accurate title for someone of my status."

Tony's mouth remained open, and Mokou took that time to continue clarifying some things. "Princess Kaguya, or Kaguya Hourisan is…someone I share a past with. She's actually in Gensokyo right now, so that part of her not returning to the moon is real. The reasons why I impersonated her are twofold, one, it was to mess with her, and two, my claim of being a Princess would be made even more endearing to the peasant-common populace, if I were a supposed legendary figure. I daresay that last part has worked out well, don't you think?"

"Wha-I don't-huh?!"

"Regardless, I do have personal concerns about my past. All you need to know about the Hourai Elixir is that I acquired my hands on it thirteen-hundred years ago. And that I drank it fully. Extremis may be similar cosmetically, but its nature is fundamentally different, or you could say that it was no fundamental nature at all. It seems to be made entirely without the sage knowledge that-"

"Okay stop, stop, my brain is about to be fried… Oh man, I think I just lost that bet with a doctor in China that I know… I said you were probably Chang'e, and he said otherwise-"

"Oh, she's a prisoner on the moon-"

"What?"

"Nothing. That is all I will say for now, did you have anything else you wanted to talk about?" Best to not say too much about the Lunarians right now, knowing too much about the fantastical in one night was not good for the mind, she thought. Sumireko had a similar reaction when she first found out about Kaguya's existence when they first met. Tony looked hesitant for a moment, and he remained silent for a good half a minute before he finally decided to open his mouth.

"...I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but here we go. C-Can you…"

Mokou waited for him to go on, what was so shocking for him to-

"T-Teach me about ma…ma…magic?"

"Eh? What do you mean-"

"That thing you did in Harley's garage, I want to learn it-"

He wanted to learn the ways of sorcery? A foolish proposition, not anyone could just take up the art and expect to be good with it. Most practitioners had a mix of family lineage and talent, she knew Tony was smart, but talented in the arts? Not so much perhaps, but…

"I wouldn't waste time learning it. To get to my level of proficiency it took me centuries of practice alone. You, however, do not have the luxury of being immortal."

"Wow, gee, thanks. Wait, how did Marisa get that Master Spark thing then, is she also a thousand-"

"No, she's a regular human, at least I think she still is. Anyways, you refer to her Mini-Hakkero, she got it from Rinnosuke, he's a collector and builder of magical items in the Human Village-"

Tony posed with both his arms outstretched, standing in a triumphant manner in front of her. "Hey, hey! Look at me, I'm Iron Man, my speciality is building things. You said that this 'Rinnosuke' guy or whatever made the Hakkero thingy, so why can'tIreplicate what he makes?"

Mokou was about to refute his claims, but a sudden realization struck her. Tony evidently noticed the same thing, as he flashed a huge grin toward Mokou. Reluctantly, she began speaking, slowly.

"W-Well…not that you cannot… There is some theoretical work for you to learn, but you can technically replicate a similar effect with even basic knowledge-"

"And you're a sorceress right? That meansyoucan teach me…you get where I'm going at?"

Mokou unfortunately did. Sighing, she nodded in affirmation at him, causing Tony to bang his fist into the air in excitement.

"Hell yeah! Oh man, I have so many ideas, first things first, I've been working on this thing called the 'Iron Spark', it's based on that glorious beam in Tokyo…"

As he droned on, Mokou wondered if she had just unleashed something that wasn't meant for this world, or at least the outside world just yet. Eh, what's the worst that could happen? He can't be worse than Marisa herself in recklessness, right?

At the gates of one of the many Heavens in the Celestial realms, there stood a lone gatekeeper. Diligently working on the newest additions to the Silver City, he noticed that the entrances into heaven have been heavily restrictive as of late. He wondered if it was due to Heaven being crowded as per the official statement, but during his rest days, he knew that to not be the case at all. The Heavens were endless, and so was the amount of land that could be used to house the souls of those worthy to ascend. Though he did not have the same ailments of flesh, he sometimes felt phantom pains from writing too much, perhaps a reminder of his original existence as a regular human.

Looking up from his book, he heard that the gates behind him had opened again. Who was it this time? Gabriel off to deliver another message perhaps? Or was it Raphael off to influence the development of new medicines once more? The Archangels do not go down to Earth as often as they did millennia ago-

"Cephas, I trust that you are well?"

Now that was interesting. Putting down his quill, Cephas turned around to see a blonde-haired Archangel, her blue dress waved up and down from the soft gentle winds of Heaven. He knew why she was going down to Earth again.

"Michaela, going down to search for her again I presume?"

She nodded, but before she could fly down, Cephas stopped her. Her look of confusion quickly turned into one of shame when he produced a branch from his desk. "I would appreciate it if you didn't leave holy artefacts behind when you were supposed to bring them with you. I was sorely tempted to show this to Gabriel when she came by recently, do not lose it again."

Her face was red as she swiped it from his hand, she said her farewells with haste and extended her wings out to head down onto the mortal world once more. Cephas sighed, the job description didn't come with picking up after careless archangels when he first accepted. Still, he had a promise to fulfil to his teacher, and though he vehemently disagreed with her reasoning to head down in the first place, he nonetheless acquiesced to her request. He could only pray that when she eventually found the betrayer, she would get the answers that she so sorely sought after all this time.

Looking down onto the Earth again, he spoke his thoughts out loud. "Perhaps I should find the others for some wine when I have my day of rest…"

He wished for much simpler days when it was only the twelve of them against what seemed like the world. One day, perhaps.

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

Teaching was never Mokou's strong suit. Yes, she knew Keine, and she was an amazing teacher, but just because she knew her, it didn't mean her skills were easily transferable. Despite trying to whack the basics down into Tony for the better part of two hours, he still found it hard to do even the most basic of seals and spells. She started off with the five elements, Gogyo,orWu Xingas it was originally known in Chinese. Currently, Tony 'understood' the concept, but getting him to do anything with it was…

"Nope! I'm not feeling anything! There's no 'mojo' coming out of my hands or that piece of paper!"

After leaving a place called 'Home Depot', Mokou asked Tony for a store that sold traditional ceremonial supplies, everything from incense to paper used for rituals was able to be found. Though the shop owner was most definitely suspicious of her and Tony, they were able to get everything Mokou needed to teach him the basics without issue. Currently in an inn for the night, the exercise she gave him was to bring forth 'fire' using a drawing of the five elements.

"I've said it before, it is not just a matter of understanding the concept, but also your will. If you don't truly believe that-"

"Yeah, but what does thatactuallymean? If fire is supposed to come out of this thing, which by the way, there's no catalyst or even a reaction for, then it sure as hell isn't working-"

Tony understood the concept of it well and could explain to Mokou the relation between each element clearly and concisely. However, just because you understood how something functioned, it didn't mean you could do it whatsoever. Take, for example, a bird. A bird flew using its wings, but just because humans knew that it flew using wings, it didn't mean that they too were able to suddenly fly.

"You are applying too much logic into it, or rather, you still do not believe that the 'thing' you're holding is not able to produce a flame. That is also why your Iron Spark has never reached the same level of output as Marisa's Master Spark."

Theoretical knowledge-wise, he had it mostly covered for the basics. Practically applying it, however? That was an entirely different issue that was not related to theory, but rather, to his beliefs. Strange, the fantastical was, just like how Youkai feed on the mystery of their being from humanity, magic, or sorcery, depending on the user fully believing that they can do so.

Tony, was not believing in it at all, hence why he was stuck.

"I thought you said Magic was a science?!" Frustratingly chucking the paper against the wall, he near-collapsed back down on his chair as he shot an accusatory look at Mokou.

"I said it waslikea science, and besides, I wasn't the one who said that."

Technically, Patchouli was the one who said that during a party held at the Hakurei Shrine. The two had never really interacted before, so when the topic of sorcery came up, Patchouli drunkenly rambled on about the nature of magic for a solid thirty minutes. Even remembering anything from that conversation was impressive.

"Alright fine, do I really have to know this stuff? You said I would be fine with basic knowledge, right?"

She did say that, so Mokou nodded at him.

"So in theory, I could just…build a device using that knowledge…?"

"And you run the risk of it not functioning at all." He still didn't believe in anything Mokou taught him, so how was he going to make his inventions function at all?

"I'm used to that already. So, why don't you help me with building a device? Come on, with your help it'll take me no time, I've already got the soldering equipment all set up!"

…Might as well get it over with. If he still wanted to infiltrate this mansion, they needed some time to prepare for it.

Mokou sighed and walked over to him, causing him to eagerly show her a somewhat crude drawing on a piece of paper.

"Alright, based on what you told me about the Mini-Hakkero thingy, I decided to base the general design on that. I introduce you to theIron Spark: Home Depot edition!"

Although its shape was similar to Marisa's device, the Yin-Yang symbol was gone entirely and was instead replaced by a triangle. However what was important instead was the inclusion of what she knew as…

"So, the basic design looks the same. But since we're in some motel in the middle of nowhere, I had to make do with a smartphone phone I ripped the internals out of. Now, based on what you said about the five elements, I've decided to include a star-shaped conductor ring using copper for now. Then you see the internal circuits there that I jury rig to act as a control…"

Mokou didn't understand what he said past the second sentence, but at least he seemed to be enthusiastic about it. There were some concerns during the building phase, namely using a small metal box as his container, but as the final assembly was complete, Mokou could actually feel…somethingcoming from it.

"Okay, the moment of truth. Let me just rotate it to the correct dial and…there we go. It's set to fire. How…do you usually make something like this work? Wish on it really hard?"

Usually for advanced sorcerers, their familiarity with whatever they did allowed them to quickly activate their spell or device. For novice users, however, the Gensokyo method of using spell cards were beginner-friendly enough that Mokou decided to recommend it to him.

"Well, you could try making it a spell card. All you really have to do is give it a name, something personal that applies to you. The more meaning it has, the better-"

"Iron Flame!"

A large gout of flame suddenly appeared bursting out of the front end of his newly created device. It was only there for a second or two, but Mokou could tell that it was one created using magic, a natural flame if you will. Fortunately, he pointed the thing away from the beds, or otherwise, the entire inn may have burned down.

"Ho-Holy-it worked! I'm gonna go again-"

"Ow!" Tony's look of amazement was cut short by Mokou whacking him on the head.

"You can test it outside the inn, I do not think you want to burn it down, yes?"

The naming could definitely use some work, as did its refinement to produce something that lasted longer than a measly one or two seconds. If one had to compare it to other spellcards, it was an extremely weak one. Not bad for a complete novice, however, Mokou expected him to improve greatly in the future.

"Magic is AWESOME!"

Outside the window, she could see small dots of flame coming from deeper within the forest that their inn was next to, followed by Tony's shouting. Maybe she should go and watch him, just in case he decided to go overboard. Her first time learning how to produce flames was somewhat similar, so that gave her a lot of cause for concern.

Sighing, she got up and went to make sure he didn't burn down the forest or anything…

After Tony had his moment of fun, he spent his other time preparing to infiltrate the mansion where the Mandarin supposedly was. There was just one issue with his plan, namely that he wanted to go in 'quietly'.

"And why are we going in quietly?"

"Well…" Wearing his 'glove' that could apparently stun people, Tony responded to Mokou's question with another question. "Do you want the Mandarin getting tipped off that we're attacking and escape?"

Mokou backed down, he had a fair point. The mansion itself was large, and from what she could see already, there were multiple guards along its perimeter. She told him all she knew about the Mandarin on the journey there, he was definitely sceptical of him being a millennia-old Chinese warlord, and Mokou was too. But just in case the man on the television was the real one, and he was hiding his real appearance with magic, it was agreed that he would immediately run away while Mokou dealt with him.

With the two ready, they set off, subduing multiple guards along the perimeter before moving into the main house. Creeping up to a lone guard, Mokou quickly picked him up and launched him into another guard next to him. Behind her, Tony fired off two of his sleeping darts at a guard she missed. Giving him a nod, the two continued discreetly making their way into the house's interior, taking out guards as a duo left and right.

Now inside the house itself, Tony crept up on a lone guard, sitting down in front of a scantily clad woman before taking him out with his glove.

So that's how it worked…

Grabbing the man's weapon, they proceeded up the stairs, where the Mandarin's quarters were. Readying herself for a fight, she gave Tony a determined look before opening the large doors, only to see no one present. As she found herself in a large, but empty room, there were all of these 'props' and costume racks that were familiar to some of the backstages in the theatres of Heian-Kyo. Eventually coming upon a familiar sight, it was the same backdrop or stage that was used to film the Mandarin's appearances on television. That confirmed it, this place was indeed where he recorded his 'messages'.

Looking back at Tony, he gestured over to a bed that was very clearly occupied bysomeone,only that the blanket completely covered them. Silently gesturing the signal to flip it over together, they did on three…two…one…

…What the-

More scantily clad women were instead revealed to be under the bed. If they were there, then where was the Mandarin-

Hearing something from the room behind her, Tony quickly gestured for her to get behind the bed frame. The next moment, a bearded man, dressed in plain looking, if not unassuming clothes walked out, cheerful and with nary a care in the world.

"I wouldn't go in there for twenty minutes!" That voice was familiar, and now that she spied on his appearance for a bit longer, his appearance was very familiar…

"Now, which one of you is Vanessa?"

As he threw a cookie to one of the women on the bed, she and Tony looked at leach other in extreme confusion. There was no way that man was the infamous Mandarin, he must have been a double for the real man.

"Did you know that fortune cookies aren't even Chinese?"

"There's some guy...and girl…behind here…"One of the women on the bed pointed out their location to him, but he seemed to completely ignore them, evidenced by him droning on instead.

"They're made by Americans, based on a Japanese recipe." She had enough of this, and Tony did too. Walking out of their cover, Tony raised his gun at him, while Mokou readied a ball of fire in her hand.

"Hey!"

The bearded man immediately raised his arm in surrender, looking completely surprised at both of their appearances.

"Bloody hell. Bloody hell. Do you want something? Go and take it, but the guns are all fake, because the wankers wouldn't trust me with the real ones-"

"Don't. Move." Mokou threatened him by increasing the size of her fireball, and he immediately shut up.

"Okay okay, not moving. But do you fancy either of the birds instead? They're really good in be-"

The two shared another look of confusion before Tony decided it was enough.

"I've heard enough. You're not him. The Mandarin, where is he? WHERE?! Where's the Mandarin?!"

Mokou watched as the cowering man quickly moved to a nearby chair instead, his hands still raised in surrender as he quickly explained who he was.

"He's here, but he's not here. He's here, but again, he's also not here. It's complicated-hey! It's complicated."

He was being difficult, Tony turned around to the two scantily clad women and told them to get out before his attention was back on the so-called 'Mandarin'. Deciding to inspect him for any magical disguises, there were Youkai and other beings that could easily shift their appearances to anything they desired. In this regard, he could be using a pact of some sort to fool them. Mokou decided to inspect him,carefully.

A large gout of flame burst from her hands as she held it right next to his face, just a pinky finger away from his nose. Despite his agitated screams, his disguise still didn't fade or go away whatsoever. Usually disguises reacted to it if there was one, and seeing his face remain the same told Mokou that this man was indeed just a regular man.

"I don't sense any disguises or magic. He's just a regular human."

"Ay, ay! What was that for?! Were you trying to burn my beautiful face? I still have some shows to put on-"

"Shut it, tell me who you really are." Tony pointed his gun at him again after he closed the door behind them. The man responded near instantly, there wasn't any hesitation at all.

"My name's Trevor, Trevor Slattery."

That was certainly not a Chinese name whatsoever. Tony pressed on with his questions.

"Uhuh. And what are you? You're a double right? For the real Mandarin? Where is he?"

"What? Like an understudy? No, absolutely not-" Mokou increased the size of her fireball again, and he immediately got to the point.

"Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor!"

…An actor. Mokou was confused, nor did she like that answer.

"Explain. If I don't like your answer, I'm incinerating not only your body but your soul as well."

"It's just a role! The Mandarin, it's not real."

Trevor then proceeded to explain his circ*mstances, from his from career to how he got to…wherever Mokou currently was, Miami? Regardless, the important thing was that he was recruited to be the 'persona' of the Mandarin, to take credit for similar attacks like the one at the theatre. Though, there was his superior that recruited him in the first place to consider.

"He? Killian?" Tony said in an exasperated tone, Mokou could hazard a guess that it also wasn't a Chinese name.

"Is he a Chinese warlord? Thousands of years old?"

"What? No, he's American, and like mid-forties at best, definitely not thousands of years old or anything like what you're insinuating."

She suspected that the Ten Rings were not actually involved, but now she had actual confirmation. Tony pulled her aside for a brief moment.

"Okay, so not a thousand-year-old magical warlord, his boss is Killian of all people. I don't think whoever you and Aya were talking about is involved here."

"And you don't think I realized that myself? I'm going to go look for any clues, check if there really isn't a connection, you keep interrogating him."

Moving away to check out anything of value, a set of screens with the Ten Rings symbol shown on it caught her attention. On the screens were two different versions of it, one was in an unknown language, while the other one was in Chinese. Inspecting it, she realized that among the haphazard documents scattered around, whoever was employing Trevor to be the fake Mandarin, they were also researching them through historical documents. She recognized some of the drawings on their documents, mainly the depictions of the battles that the Samurai commissioned of their glory against the barbarians.

As she went through the screens, however, an image of herself prominently displayed on one of them caused her to look at it intensely. From the other scattered documents there, it seemed like they were trying to find information on her, with everything from her reveal to the world by the Emperor, to an image of their fight in Rose Hill-

"Hng-"

Snapped out of being engrossed in the documents by some noise, she stepped back to where Tony was interrogating Trevor, only to find that he had been knocked out by the same man she fought, and nearly killed in Rose Hill. Unfortunately, he also saw her round the corner. Before she could close the distance, he held Tony in one of his arms, his remaining free hand glowing red hot. Hovering it just before Tony's neck, he shot Mokou a grin.

"Woah, Princess, now I know you can probably kill me and everyone else in this mansion. But can you do it before I separate your friend's neck from his body?"

…Damn, it was going to be one of those scenarios, wasn't it?

This was familiar, instead of being stuck in a cave in Afghanistan, he was currently tied to a metal bed frame with zippers bound to his hands. At least they had the decency to do it upright.

When he came to, he was just ambushed by the same guy he thought was killed in Rose Hill, but turned out to have actually survived. Even worse, Mokou was nowhere to be seen, hopefully she was kicking ass somewhere instead and was coming to get him. Tugging on the zip ties, it was no use, they were bound tightly to his arms.

"Well Tony, just like old times, huh?"

Speaking of, Maya of all people turned out to be in league with Killian, small world huh? He seemed to be bound in the mansion's basem*nt, in front of Maya was a small botany laboratory, with high-end equipment and experiments neatly organised in front of her. Turning around in her chair, she looked at Tony with a melancholic expression.

"Yeah, zip ties really takes me back you know? So what, you took Killian's card-"

"I took his money."

Same thing. "And here you are now, thirteen years later and in a dungeon of all things."

Maya sighed, getting up, she began walking closer to Tony with a resigned look on her face. "I'm getting close Tony, Extremis is practically stabilised-"

"Sure as hell doesn't look like it, my friend in the hospital-"

"Then help me fix it." Showing him a weathered nametag, it was the same one from the new year's party in Bern thirteen years ago. Flipping it around, there was a formula written on it that he vaguely remembered writing for her.

"Did I do that?" An innocent question, but one that made Maya seem disappointed in him.

"You don't remember?" She asked in an incredulous tone, in his defence, it was thirteen years ago so-

"I remember the night, not the morning." Oh boy, Maya looked like she was about to cry, better switch the topic, great going, Tony.

"Maya, you used to have a moral psychology, what happened? You used to have ideals, you used to want to help people. Now look at you. I get to wake up with someone who still has their soul every morning, it's not too late, get me outta here."

Maya looked conflicted, but despite that, Tony knew she took her own research with pride so getting him out wasn't going to be easy. Speaking of, he might as well ask where Mokou was.

"Also, where did my friend go? White hair, red eyes, has a very mean looking gaze probably-"

"The Princess. Okay, just so you know, it was most definitely not my idea. Killian is sorta…obsessed with her."

"Obsessed?" Why would he be obsessed with Mokou of all people? Unless…

"Are you kidding? She shrugged off like three bullets into her abdomen and blocked Savin's hand like nothing. Not to mention the control she had over her…fire powers. Honestly, it was like she had a perfected version of Extremis…which is why Killian is probably interrogating her right now."

At first, Tony didn't believe anything about a magical immortal potion granting her those powers. Now though, with hisIron Sparkactually being a thing, and that he could also use magic, even if only through his device, he started to think that maybe, just maybe, there really was a Hourai Elixir. And Killian was trying to…obtain it, albeit indirectly. Extremis was one thing, since their users could actually be killed, but an entire army of Mokou's? That was going to end the world, he didn't know how the Elixir was synthesised or anything, but even still, he couldn't let Killian get his hands on it, or rather, through Maya.

"Maya, listen to me. What you're messing with through her is way above anything you or I can understand right now-"

"Understand what, Tony?" Damn, he really had to choose now to come in?

"You know, the Princess really lends herself to the stoic and silent type of character. She's certainly no damsel in distress, don't get me wrong, but she has something that I really do want from her." Killian walked in alone, causing Maya to move back to her desk.

"Still pissed at me for Switzerland, huh?"

"Pissed? No, Tony, in fact, I should actually thank you. Without that…rejection, it wouldn't have made me into the man I am today. When I looked out of Bern from the rooftop, waiting for you to never show up, I considered taking the fast lane to the lobby. You gave me the one thing that I never could have given myself, desperation."

Killian then turned towards the stairs that he came down from. "Alright, bring her in!"

A few of his goons surrounded a handcuffed Mokou, her face expressionless and actually bored-looking. At least she was safe, but she should have been able to blow past all of them like tissue paper, so how-

"Real quiet one she is. From what Savin told me, she was about to murder absolutely everyone in this mansion, but luckily, he got to you first."

"I still do." Mokou suddenly spoke, causing Killian to widen his eyes in surprise.

"And her majesty speaks! I thought you didn't speak English or anything, don't take it the wrong way or whatever. Now that I have you next to Tony however…"

Killian took out a gun, and pointed it right at Tony's head.

"I'm going to shoot him in the head if you don't tell me how you got your powers."

"Pffft-" Mokou's stony expression cracked, as her mouth curled upwards in mirth.

"I'm sorry, is there something funny that I'm missing out on?"

"Even if I told you where I got my abilities, even in a million lifetimes you will never attain it for yourself. However…"

Mokou's eyes blazed with fire as she glared at him intensely, the mirthful expression she had gone completely.

The goons around Mokou unconsciously took a few steps back as a fiery wave of pressure filled the entire basem*nt. Killian faltered for a moment, and Tony even heard what appeared to be a gulp coming from the man.

"J-Jesus, you're really full of it huh? Fine, if you won't give it up yourself, I'll just have Maya take it out of you." As Maya's eyes widened, she looked at Mokou, who turned her fiery gaze towards her instead. Which caused her to unconsciously lean back and shrink in her chair.

"Anyways Tony." Attention was focused back onto him now. "Ever since that dude with the hammer fell outta the sky in New Mexico, subtle ways of doing things have been out of fashion. Heck, you just fought an alien invasion six months ago, so, in order to repay you…"

Taking out three spherical balls, he rolled it in front of Tony, and to his horror, it showed a holographic projection of Pepper tied to a table, with her undergoing the Extremis 'treatment'.

"I give you the same gift I had before, desperation. I'm sure you understand by now, but with the Mandarin in my hands, I can be whatever boogeyman that the world needs. Extremis, will be the world's next Captain America serum-"

"Let him go." Maya held an injector to her neck as she suddenly called out. What was she doing?!

"1200 CCs, a dose half this size and I'm dead, what happens when I'm gone? What's gonna happen to your product, Killian?"

"Maya, give me the injector. Don't be stupid right now-"

"What's going to happen when you go too hot? Who's gonna be here to stabilize Extremis?"

Killian sighed, before giving a look of absolute apathy to Tony. "You know, in times like these my patience is really being tested." Before he could even respond, he raised his gun-

…and shot Maya. Tony watched as she slowly, sat down on the steps, leaning on the walls for support. Sighing, Killian turned his attention back to him.

"See what you made me do Tony? But now, there's a high level position available, you can still join us if you'd like."

Barely restraining his anger, Tony shot back an insult. "You're a maniac."

"No, I'm a visionary. But I do happen to own a maniac, and he's going to take center stage tonight." As he left, Killian gave his goons instructions.

"If she makes a move, shoot him." Mokou kept his eye on him as he left, but before exited the basem*nt, he turned around one last time.

"Don't worry Princess, I'll be back for you after this whole ordeal. Just wait here for now with Tony, and be nice to them!"

He hoped his suit was making its way from Harley's garage right now, because the voice in his head to commit great acts of violence was not being any quieter.

"Trust me, you're either going to be a puddle of blood, or she's going to incinerate you down to the molecule. So put down your weapons, and you may live."

Mokou watched as Tony tried to 'convince' their captors to put down their weapons. Before they embarked on their ultimately failed infiltration, the plan was for Tony's suit to fly itself to him after some time. She could guess that was what he was banking on, and due to the amount of guns that were trained on him, she couldn't haphazardly break free of her restraints and take out the guards without compromising his safety.

"How the hell did we get this shift?" One of the guards asked tiredly.

Hell…speaking of hell, she could use it to distract them.

"Hell…you know all of you are going there, right?"

Good, that got their attention. "The hell are you on about?"

"Exactly. I realize that there is a tendency to think that the afterlife among humanity in this era to think that it doesn't exist, or that it will not apply to you. When you will be tortured for millennia when your short life inevitably does end, do not say I didn't tell you otherwise."

"Hey what's she talking about?"
"Wait, she's a thousand years old or something, doesn't that mean…"
"Goddamn, did she say Hell was real?! Doesn't that mean the big guy is also…"

Their fear was distracting them, and Tony decided to add into their fears.

"Oh yeah, it's true. You know Reimu? Yeah, fellow Avenger who took out a good chunk of those aliens in New York six months ago? She often judges who goes there, and lemme tell you, her punishments I wouldn't even wish on your boss."

Mokou nodded sagely, their attention was now on her, and visible fear and concern were starting to be on their faces. "One's actions in life often dictates where they will end up when they die. So, unless you want to spend a near eternity in Hell, I suggest you do as he says, and put down your weapons."

Some of the guards began faltering, the weapons they held slowly being let down until their leader shouted in frustration. "Goddamn it, they're trying to get in our heads you idiots! Who cares if Hell or Heaven is a thing-"

"I dunno man, I mean, Thor is a thing, then there's all that thing about her knowing the green haired chick who can split the sea…"

"Okay, do you want this job or not-"

Just as planned, a piece of Tony's suit crashed into the basem*nt through a window, before planting itself onto his arm. He smirked before aiming at the nearest guard.

"Told you."

That was the signal, Mokou snapped the flimsy handcuffs restraining her and kicked the two guards holding her down. Quickly summoning her flames, she sent them to incinerate a nearby group coming for them. Finding its mark a second later, the hallway they were coming in from exploded in a fiery blaze.

Meanwhile, Tony had dealt with the guards on his end, and walked up to Mokou. "You uh, really weren't kidding when you said you'd incinerate them, huh?"

She didn't answer, and their screams of being burned alive ceased not long after. Scanning the room for any remaining enemies, she noticed Maya sitting upright on the wall where she had been shot. Her chest was still moving up and down, she was still alive. Tony had noticed Maya alive as well, and the two rushed over to her.

"Maya, listen to me, you're-" Tony began speaking, but was quickly cut off by her.

"T-Tony. I'm d-done for. I've lost too much blood, t-the plan, you n-need to stop Killian…" Maya tried to speak but it was clear to Mokou that the wound she had was fatal. Even lasting this long without any treatment was a miracle. With no other option, he turned to Mokou, a desperate look on his face.

"Mokou? Anything you can…?"

There was one thing she could do. Her skills weren't anything like Eirin's, nor did she know anything beyond basic care. But what she had instead was the Hourai Elixir, in her liver. With that said, she had no reason to help Maya, yes, her attempt at saving them before Killian shot her was brave, even if it was ultimately useless, but that was nowhere near enough to aid her. She was just about to tell Tony that there was nothing she could do when she noticed Tony's desperate gaze once more.

Wait, one drink of the Elixir made the user incapable of growing or ageing, what would one bite of a liver function as?

Only giving a user immortality in the form of never ageing was acceptable to Mokou, as she could still technically be killed through conventional means. She didn't know if it will heal her, but she may as well try. Suddenly standing up, she looked behind her at where Maya's desk was. On a metal tray, there was a small collection of medical tools, including a scalpel. She…knew what to do. Tony better owe her a giant favour by the end of this entire incident.

Walking over to it, she grabbed it without any hesitation, but before she could use it, Tony looked at her in confusion, which quickly turned into one of horror the next moment. "Mokou? What are you -OH GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

She didn't bother to respond as she plunged it into her abdomen. Honestly, what was he so squeamish about? That wound was next to nothing in terms of the first injury he saw her recover from…

A wild goose chase, that was what Director Fury felt like he was embarking on right now. Doing his best to not think of the fiasco that was Stark and the Mandarin, he mentally prepared himself for his video call with President Ellis, who was currently on Air Force One. Despite his request that this was an urgent meeting, the Mandarin's broadcasts had taken up nearly all of his attention. Now that he finally had the meeting, he was concerned that it wasn't in person, but the contents he needed to discuss were extremely important.

It concernedanotherpotential hostile power in space after all.

His screen flicked to life, as a secure connection to Air Force One finally connected, and President Ellis was seen on the screen, in a conference room on the plane.

"Mr.President."

"Director Fury, I hope you have information to share regarding the Mandarin."Ellis was someone Fury found easy to work with, having interacted with him on several occasions before.

"We do, sir. But I have another urgent matter I need to discuss with you."

Without looking away from the documents on his desk, he told him to continue.

"It's about the moon, sir. Specifically, the encounters that the Apollo missions had while on its surface."

The President paused, as he slowly looked at Fury with a serious expression, his aide quickly whispered something into his ear. Taking off his glasses, Ellis ordered everyone but his aide to leave the conference room. As the door closed, a sigh was heard on the other end before he began speaking again.

"Let me guess, you've already interrogated the Director of NASA?"

Indeed he did, and despite Fury metaphorically threatening to stick his boot up his rear, Director Henrikson still adamantly refused to divulge anything regarding it. The real kicker was that he claimed that information was under lock, and no one without express permission from the President was able to access it whatsoever.

"I have, sir."

"Before I tell you what 'it' is, Director Fury, I am only continuing a policy started by my predecessors, Nixon first signed it, and then Carter reaffirmed it. I didn't know any of this until my second week in office."

So, a very exclusive club. Fury knew the small gist of it, but the specifics such as the relationship between the United States and the 'Lunar Capital' right now.

"Need I remind you that if this information gets out, the United States will face enmity from many nations across the world that these…figures have a relation towards."

Fury knew that, but it seemed that aside from the U.S., no one else knew about the Lunar Capital, even for the peoples and countries who may hold it sacred. He could see the 'political sh*tstorm' that could happen if it was revealed that the U.S. held this information for decades without telling anyone else. At his nod, President Ellis continued on.

"Director Fury, the truth of the Apollo missions is that-"

Jerking in reaction to what sounded like gunshots outside the conference room, President Ellis was cut off before he could elaborate on the Apollo missions. Seconds later, the door to the conference room burst open, with secret service agents trying to get the President to safety. Fury watched with wide eyes as what appeared to be Colonel Rhodes in his Iron Patriot army walk in and shoot the agents.

"Mr.President! Mr.President, do not-"

A stray round hit the television screen and the connection cut out. Taking a singular deep breath, he let himself calm for a scant few seconds before picking up his phone again. The fact that he had Natasha's communication line on speedial now was something he sorely wished didn't happen. But unfortunately, it seemed the universe really hated him right now, so he did his duty and pressed the dial button.

A few seconds later, it picked up.

"Director-"

"Agent Romanoff, I need you to vector towards Air Force One immediately. Or where it's going to land. The President has just been attacked."

Silence was heard on her end for a few seconds before her tired, and apathetic voice was heard again."...Can I cash in my vacation days after this?"

Fury scoffed. "Save President Ellis, then we can talk about it. You have two individuals with you that can fly, right?"

As it turned out, the False Mandarin did indeed have a very nice boat. Speeding along next to the shoreline, Mokou looked at the sky above them, and their supposed target. After Maya and Tony had…recovered from the act of Mokou healing the former, they were informed that the plan was to kidnap a very important person apparently. Someone named 'President Ellis', but considering Tony's reaction to it, Mokou assumed he was an important government official.

"And you're sure President Ellis is the target?"

"Yeah, Killian often doesn't stop rambling, where it actually is though I have no clue."

Maya took another sip of this thing called 'soda water', in order to wash out the taste of Mokou's liver. In her time, if someone offered their own liver for the sake of someone else, that was considered to be something worthy of respect. It seemed that many things had changed in the time she spent away from courtly life.

"So, why are her clothes all bloody-" Rhodes asked, Mokou's clothes were indeed covered in her own blood due to having to cut her abdomen open. It was honestly a coincidence that he was also somehow at the mansion, but that was apparently part of the plan as well.

In response, Tony quickly waved a hand over his face and Maya slapped her own, with the former giving him a cryptic answer.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to, Rhodey. Alright, Mokou the suit's at ninety-two percent charge let's get up there!"

Taking up to the air, Mokou followed him closely. She definitely could keep up with him for now, but his top speed was apparently faster than most in Gensokyo could keep up with. For now, she was managing.

Off into the distance, a white and blue dot slowly became larger as Tony pointed to it with his armoured finger. It was the large 'aeroplane' that housed the President, with their target confirmed, she and Tony dived down towards it.

"Get in first! I'll check it out from the windows!"

Making her way in first through an open door, Mokou landed inside the plane. With the wind blowing against her face, she saw that the interior was a mess of scattered papers and dead bodies, along with signs of battle damage. Moving along quickly, there were little to no signs of life, only the remnants of a long-over skirmish.

CRASH

BOOM

As she heard what appeared to be a loud impact crashing against the wall, followed quickly by a large explosion, Mokou ran out back into the plane's hallway, only to find Tony's suit being pinned down by…him.

Bodyslamming Tony's suit out of the way, Mokou pinned the man who had evaded her at every turn so far, in the helicopter, at Harley's home town and most recently, at the mansion. He had a primal look of fear in his eyes as he instantly recognized who pinnedhimto the wall now.

"Can't run anymore, huh?"

He tried to pry himself free from Mokou, but if it didn't work the last time, it wouldn't work again this time either. His body glowed red hot, and Mokou decided enough was enough. Rearing back her right hand, it covered itself in drill-like flames before she struck into his chest with all her might.

It went clean through.

"Hrk-"

"May the Yama judge you fairly, even if you were a crude mockery of what those on the moon achieved."

Unlike their previous encounter, this time his eyes immediately lost its life. Mokou knew he was dead for good this time, as over the millennia in which she walked the earth, the loss of focus in a person's eyes was the first sign of death, something she learned through experience.

"Mokou!"Tony shouted from next to her."He blew the doors open, there are people falling out of the plane, let's go!"

Nodding quickly, she left the lifeless behind and followed Tony out of the plane and back into the open sky. Building up speed, Mokou raced with him to catch the people falling, but with how many of them, she was not confident in her ability to-

"Heya!"
"There you are Mokou! What's going on?!"

Suddenly appearing on her sides, Aya and Sanae flew to a level next to her. Pushing aside the surprise in her mind, she had to focus on rescuing those people first.

"Talk later! We need to rescue those people-"

"Oh, that's easy! Let me handle it!Gust: Wind God Girl!"

Instead of the usual Danmaku being shot out, a gust of strong wind seemingly came from all directions onto the group of people that were falling to their deaths. Gradually slowing down, Mokou saw that their descent got slower and slower until they were practically hovering their way downwards. With the people now in good winds, Tony hovered next to them, surprised at the sudden addition of the two of them.

"Aya? Sanae? When the hell did you get her-no, never mind. Set them down on the nearby beach, we have a President and my girlfriend to save!"

Mokou wanted to go home now, at this point, she'd seen enough of 'America' for a lifetime. What a nightmarish place to live in if this was a common occurrence!

Flying through the battered halls of Pandemonium, the meticulously carved stone hallways and corridors lay often destroyed, with its guards all haphazardly strewn around, defeated. Sariel looked at the carnage with a near-apathetic expression, she had expected something like this when Iesua went on ahead without them, so it wasn't too surprising. She only hoped that when they reached the throne room, her battle with Lilith didn't threaten the stability of Makai once more.

"Uwaaah! She's not here! I'm telling you, just let us go already!"

Sariel recognized that voice, it was Baal, the chief administrator for Makai, Lilith's second in command. Once she and Marisa breached the throne room, all they found were some of Makai's mightiest demons scattered about, lying in different positions. The only common thing they had in them was that they were most definitely defeated, and some were even stuck in the wall with only their lower half protruding outwards.

In the centre, was Baal, on the floor and on her rear, looking frightfully at a confused-looking Iesua. Baal towered over her if Sariel remembered correctly, her height would be around twice Iesua's own. So the sight was near-comical now that she was actually there.

"Not…here? But…"

As Iesua took another step forward, Baal took another four steps back, or rather, crawled back. Her long red hair shook violently from Sariel's view as she vehemently denied that Lilith was currently there. Indeed, if she was denying it, and that the throne was empty…

"She's in Gensokyo! I think visiting her daughter or something?! That's all we know, she left us in charge, please let us go!"

She was…visiting her daughter? That didn't make sense, who could be up in Gensokyo that fit the description?

Marisa placed a hand to her chin, humming for a while. Iesua however, didn't take that news very well. Running up to Sariel, she pointed at the empty throne.

"You promised she was here. What now?"

Though she tried to hide her expression, Sariel knew her long enough that she was actively pouting. Her slightly puffy cheeks being a dead giveaway, she was not mad, nor was she ever angry, but when things didn't go her way she had a tendency to puff them up by holding her breath. It reminded her of that incident in Judah where she hiked a mountain for honey, only to find that they were wasp nests instead. It was said that a large clearing suddenly appeared right after her climb, and though it was said to be a divine miracle that a large clearing suitable for habitation suddenly appeared, Iesua always became embarrassed when it was brought up.

"...Lilith wouldn't be also known as Shinki, right?" Marisa suddenly spoke out, gaining the attention of everyone who was still conscious. Though to their credit, some of the demons still groaned out affirmatives.

"Yes…she's known by that name in Gensokyo." Baal confirmed it for her, and she let out a large sigh.

"Okay, I know who her daughter is. If my hunch is correct, she's probably in my friend's house right now…"

Seeing a streak of silver suddenly zoom past her vision, Sariel saw that Iesua had reappeared next to Marisa, clutching to her arm again like a child wishing for their parent to go home.

"Let's go…"

"Sure, right after I get some treasures from the Sacred Vault Room, let's see what I can get-"

"The Sacred Vault Room? We got rid of that thing years ago!" Baal said in a slightly confused tone, causing Marisa to stare at her in disbelief.

"Whaaaaa…"

"We sold most of the stuff in there to finance an extension of the city walls, it looks pretty good, right?"

Now that she mentioned it, the walls of Pandaemonium did seem to be much more refined than she remembered…

"But…but…"

As Marisa was stunned into repeating 'but', Iesua started dragging her away from the throne, and back out into the hallway they came from.

"Come, my disciple, material gains are not the way into my father's kingdom…"

"I did all that and got nothing…?"

Flying up next to Baal, Sariel had an apologetic look on her face. The red-haired demon, however, wasn't very happy about what happened to their home, and rightfully so. "Well, Sariel, we see you for the first time in decades and you bring trouble to Pandaemonium itself. What do you have to say for yourself-"

"She's from a prophecy, you know I couldn't just leave her alone."

Baal shook her head in disappointment. "What is it with you and prophecies? You know most of those aren't even correct, so why are you bothering?"

Because she's family.

Sighing, Sariel couldn't really bring herself to say that. "I...just needed to. Look, why don't you come up to Gensokyo at the end of this and we can smooth things over? Only you and someone else this time, we don't want a repeat of what happened the last time."

That Hakurei Shrine Maiden may come back to Makai and finish what she started if demons started arriving en mass into Gensokyo once more, they had to be careful. Baal crossed her arms as she replied. "I'll think about it. Now go, you need to catch up with them, lest that girl starts messing around in the city itself."

Flying up, Sariel caught back up with Marisa and Iesua in no time. Quickly steering them away from the city, they headed towards the Palanquin ship docked in Pandaemonium's outskirts. The ride back to Gensokyo was silent, save for Iesua giving a dejected Marisa the folly of seeking material gains.

AN:

Be civil in the comments below.

"Pssst. Why are we sneaking in?!"

Sanae whispered quite loudly toward every else around her. What a whirlwind of events she's had so far, aside from Tony's mansion being destroyed, they failed to save Pepper from being kidnapped. Now, they were told that she was injected with a drug that granted people heat-based abilities. Mokou herself even described it as a crude version of the Hourai Elixir, with none of its actual useful properties other than a weak level of regeneration.

Oh, and also the President was kidnapped. The President of the United States. She didn't know who it was currently, but she knew that it was abigdeal, and now they were going to rescue him.

"As much as you want to clear the area with your Danmaku, they have two hostages, remember?"

Natasha spoke quietly in front of her while moving from container to container. The area they were in was a shipping area with several dozen containers stacked high above, and based on Aya's aerial reconnaissance earlier, there were dozens of bad guys in their way.

"So, why is Banner not coming again? It seems like we could really use a Hulk right now." Tony took the time to also ask Natasha, who rolled her eyes in response.

"One, he didn't want to, and two, the collateral for him to be here is too high. I don't want to explain to Fury that we lost the President because the Hulk accidentally smashed him." Tony clicked his mouth shut upon hearing her response.

"Aaaaand they see us. Great." Mokou suddenly pointed out, a bunch of mean-looking people were indeed coming towards them right now.

"Now would be a great time for whatever plan you had to come, Stark." Natasha co*cked her pistols as she got into position. Far off into the distance behind them, what was just one bright dot in the sky began to increase in number, and soon, a dozen and counting dots surrounded the entire dock. Tony, smug expression and all, swung his hands out and replied back to her.

"Don't worry, I always invite my friends to a house party. Alright Jarvis, preset parameters and…let's show them our hospitality."

"Yes sir!"Jarvis's voice rang out from the suits all simultaneously, and the battle began in earnest.

Sighing, Sanae just wanted to bring back a replacement for the fusion reactor, how did it ever come to this?! As Mokou launched a hail or fire feathers at a group of enemies, she flashed her a grin. It definitely didn't help her feelings on it whatsoever…

"Mister President!" Grabbing onto the railing, Rhodey had to dodge everything from Tony's goddamn suits to magical projectiles by the dozen to even get up there. Don't get him wrong, with their numbers and aerial support from SHIELD, they were absolutely wiping the floor with them. That definitely didn't mean the President was any safer though, and every near miss from his body made him sweat even more.

"Hang tight, I'll come and get you-"

"I got it!"

Aya flew up from out of nowhere, swinging her fan at the two chains holding the President, the broke and a mini-tornado of all things gently carried him to the platform he was on. Aya gave him a mini-salute before going off to blast another pair of attackers coming at them.

Sure, what the hell am I even doing here then?

Turning to the President, he was looking at her with awe on his face, causing Rhodey to sigh loudly. It was a repeat of his late arrival to New York, and Tony was never going to let go of it now…

"Sir? You look badass in that suit, but I'm going to need it back."

By the time Tony and Mokou arrived at the hanging platform where Pepper was being held in, the entire place was already a mess of small fires and wrecked structures. As it turned out, saturating an entire area with Iron Man suits mixed with magical Danmaku didn't lend itself to an intact battlespace. Forcing their way in, Tony found Pepper stuck underneath a small amount of rubble.

"Mokou, help me-"

"Underneath you!"

A red-hot hand suddenly grabbed Tony's armoured leg from underneath the floor, immobilizing him completely.

"Jarvis eject!"

Before it could melt through the armour completely, Tony's leg that was being held ejected itself, getting him out of harm's way. Seconds later, Killian himself emerged from underneath, body glowing red and showcasing his tacky dragon tattoos.

"Really Tony? You had to get a bunch of girls to fight for you? What happened to the great Iron-"

Mokou placed a roundhouse kick to his temple, sending him flying out of the room entirely. "Go and deal with him, I'll help Pepper."

Didn't need to tell him twice, nodding, he flew out of platform and down to where Killian fell down to. Careful to balance himself as he lost one leg from his suit, he landed in the centre of the cargo yard.

"You!" Killian near screeched out, his injuries from the kick and the fall had healed itself completely by now. "I'm going to enjoy tearing you limb from limb-"

"Uhuh. The thing is Killian, while you became stuck on that night in Switzerland, I moved on, not only in technology, but… Here,let me show you."

A compartment on the sides of his suit opened, and he took out his latest invention, one that combined the now very real wonders of the past, now combined with the wonders of the present and future. Making sure that he was indeed facing towards the sea, Tony repeated in his mind the thing that he had to say. Was it reminding him of his childhood? Most definitely, but even he couldn't deny that hiswillof all things enabled it to occur. Sanae had helped him modify the spell card for his signature before the battle began, and now he was about to conduct a live test of it for the first time. Remembering what he was told about spell cards, they worked better when the user was enthusiastic about it, so he was going to do just that. Placing it right in front of his Arc reactor, he took a deep breath, and shouted.

"..."

Nothing happened. Not even a spark. Killian was unimpressed, the edges of his mouth formed into a smirk.

"Really, Tony? All that bravado and your piece of crap didn't even work-"

A blue triangular beam the size of a grown man suddenly shot out from the small tin box, completely engulfing Killian as he struggled to control it.

"Come ooooooon!" The box was clearly straining itself as it rattled violently, the power that his suit held rapidly depleting as he kept the beam up and running. After nearly a dozen seconds, it began to die down, slowly revealing a trail of near-molten slag of cargo containers and other concrete pavements that were in the path of the beam. By the time the beam itself died down, Killian himself was nowhere to be seen.

The box that he held in his hands crumbled and collapsed, its pieces falling down onto the ground in clinks. "Tony!" Looking up, he saw Mokou bringing down Pepper in her arms, and the two went to embrace each other, only for her to pause as her body glowed red.

"Wait, wait, don't get close-"

Tony didn't care, he still hugged the same way regardless. After a while, he turned back to Mokou, who was watching the whole scene from the side quietly.

"Uh, give me a moment?"

She sighed. "I know of a good doctor who may be able to help Pepper, still want me to 'give you a moment?' then?

Okay, well that changed things…

"Ieusa! Slow down!"

Once back in Gensokyo, the moment the Palanquin ship passed through Makai's border and breached its skies once more, Iesua quickly tried taking off from its deck while attempting to drag Marisa with her. Unfortunately, Marisa had a lot more strength in her than Iesua at this point. More than enough to easily resist her attempts at dragging her. There were dark bags beginning to from under her one uncovered eye, and she started panting in exhaustion. It seemed that she had a limit to the amount of strength she was able to call upon.

"I knew this would happen, you've been awake for the last three days, right?" Sariel gently pried her off of Marisa's arms, while holding her in place.

"Mm."

"Then why don't you let Marisa and I take you for the last stretch? You've travelled a long way, let us take you."

Marisa agreed though she wanted to say that she should go tomorrow instead after a good night's rest, Iesua had a determined look on her face that wanted to see it through. Sighing, she agreed to take them straight to Alice's house, which was just down the road from her own. Magicians often lived together in the Forest of Magic due to its innate properties that were beneficial to them. The fact that she missed someone as powerful as Shinki near her did sting her pride a bit, but she could let it go.

Flying for some time, Iesua was being carried on Sariel's back, though she tried to stay awake for most of the journey, she dipped in and out of sweet slumber. Finally, Alice's house was able to be seen, with the addition of someone banging on its doors while wailing… in distress.

"Aliiiice! It's your mother! I'm not some demon out to get you! Please let me iiiiiin!"

"..." Marisa deadpanned at what she assumed was Shinki, dressed in a white sundress while holding a bouquet of sunflowers in her hand. Sariel on the other hand, took it much worse than she did, as her face was frozen in a stony expression, and her mouth curled downwards in what could only be described as extreme disappointment.

"I…don't even…I worked withherfor centuries…?"

"Marisa!" Alice's head suddenly poked out of the house in front of them on the second floor. "Get her outta here! My dolls aren't strong enough-eep!" The windows closed just before Shinki could catch her.

Iesua got off of Sariel's back, and walked towards Shinki with her hands curled up into fists. Marisa prepared for a fight, and Sariel followed her along closely, making sure that she wouldn't do anything 'bold'.

"Lilith."Iesua's voice rang out, the entire area silenced itself as it did, despite her voice still being the soft and melodious tone she was used to. Turning around slowly while flying back down, Shinki looked at her with an uninterested gaze.

"I was wondering when you may show up, daughter ofYahweh. I just didn't expect it to be now. For what reason hast thou decided to appear now?"

"You know. Judah, my lost disciple-"Disciple? Like Iesua said Marisa was right now?

"I believe you are mistaken. I do not have the betrayer's soul." As she said 'the betrayer', Iesua suddenly tensed up and began reaching for the cross on her back. Sariel put a stop to it by planting her hand on her head, seemingly calming her down.

"Forgive me, Lady Lilith, but Iesua just wants to-"

"I know, Sariel. She has waited for nearly two millennia to back down now, it would be remiss of me to dismiss her goals with casual indifference."

"Then..."Iesua's voice started straining itself as if a long journey's culmination was finally about to be achieved."...Where?"

The ruler of Makai shrugged and then turned back to Alice's house. Alice herself had been listening in from the window on the second floor with a curious look, but quickly dipped back down upon seeing her attention turned back to her. "In short time, I must get Alice to open up to me-"

"I offer my disciple to help you right now, in exchange."

No hesitation?!

Marisa was dumbfounded at the speed in which Iesua decided to throw her under the wagon, there was next to no hesitation in her answer. Shinki smiled, as she looked at the Youkai Mountain off into the distance. "At the base of the Youkai Mountain, there lay a small, humble shrine along its many winding roads. Yet the…entity that lay in it is anything but, the answers you seek lay there. I am only a messenger for her, I have never held your disciple's soul."

"Who…?"

"Who else do you think? The one that was cast down from the heavens, and has been described as the source of mankind's sins in recent memory."

Sariel had a sudden look of realization on her face, as she whispered out a name.

"Samael."

Iesua, Yeshua, Iesous, Isa, and most recently, Jesus. These were all names that she was given by man, the names that were said may have changed, and her depictions as varied as there were believers in her father, but she was ultimately an existence that cannot be characterized as being singularly correct. Early in her history, everything from her true appearance to her deeds have been subject to the alterations of man, either for their gain or out of a genuine misconception. Nonetheless, her followers now called themselves 'Christians', and they numbered to be the largest in this world if what Gabriel said was correct. Truthfully, she did not keep up much with what had happened in the mortal realms after her first ascension, all of the histories and whatnot blended together after a few centuries, so much so that even she had trouble knowing what was still in vogue and what was not. Everything after the fall of Rome some centuries after her crucifixion was fuzzy at best.

As Sariel and she travelled to where Lilith had pointed towards, Iesua felt calmer, calmer than she ever had before. Perhaps it was a sense of 'calm before the storm' as some in Heaven had told her about, but at this point, after searching across many lands on Earth and even across realms, she was tired. All she wanted was to find her disciple once more.

"There it is, should we…"

"Mm. I want to go alone."

"But…"

"Please."

Though Sariel had apprehensions about her request, she nonetheless acquiesced and let her go, holding her place high in the sky. When she and other of her brothers and sisters left Heaven, though she wanted to say otherwise, it definitely made it quieter, more…hollow. Seeing her again lifted her spirits again, and she thanked her for watching over her shoulder all this time.

Landing right in front of the small shrine, it was built in the same manner of all the other buildings that were characteristic of this region. From just a glance, it looked like any other shrine of that faith with many gods. Iesua read the sign erected right before its entrance, the fresh coat of paint it had indicated that it was recent.

"...Is this what Sama-chan does for a living now…?"

Samael was among the first to leave Heaven after a disagreement with her father. Over what exactly was never really told to her, only that there was a big argument, causing her to pack her things and leave the Silver City. That act had caused others to begin thinking the same, and many others had also left the halls of Heaven. Unlike what was written in the millennia since that event by her followers, there was no 'war' or 'rebellion' that made her father banish them.

They left quietly one by one, and often, without even saying goodbye. Since then, those days in Heaven were the quietest it had ever been.

Reminiscing on the past was foolish now, she had to walk in. And as she walked into the serene, yet empty feeling shrine, a familiar presence began pooling itself right in front of its donation box. Red flame shot upwards in front of her, and soon enough, it died down to reveal a red-haired girl with bat-like wings; her back turned towards her.

As she turned around, her huge smirk had frozen in place, and her eyes slowly widened upon seeing Iesua standing right before her, unmoving.

"...Sama-ch-"

"Please don't call me that again!"

Suddenly shaking out of her stupor, she relaxed her pose and an apprehensive expression appeared on her face. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and worry as she looked at Iesua with her arms crossed.

"Alright, squirt, did Father tell you to come get me? I've blown off all of Gabriel's attempts for millennia, what makes you think-"

"I am here for Judah."

Her mouth instantly shut itself with a click. Nodding in surprising understanding, she sighed loudly before mumbling to herself.

"...So it finally came, huh?"

"Are you not going to give him?" Iesua prepared for a fight, if it was to reclaim her disciple's soul, then she was willing to fight even Sama-chan herself to claim it.

"No, no. Come with me, he's out back in the garden."

Turning away from her, she walked back up into the house attached to the shrine itself before bidding her to come forward. Now that she had entered the house itself, she found it to be…cozy. Unlike the opulence that she was used to walking by nearly every day, it was similar to what Sariel's house was. Small and nowhere near luxurious or grand. However, like the former's house, it was personal, something that was truly tailored and probably built to one person's individual desires.

"Yeah, it's nowhere near up there…but I feel like it's not too shabby. Come on, you'll have plenty of time to check this place out later."

Indeed, but before she met with him…she had to know something.

"How did you…"

"Come into possession of his soul? Well, it was partly on impulse, and an honest desire to stick it to Father…but that's not why I kept him, or rather, why he stuck around."

After her…death at the hands of the Roman authorities, by the time she awoke, he was found to have already hanged himself. Despite searching high and low in the afterlife for his soul, however, no one, not even the judges for the dead nor the Angels managing the Heavens had recorded a single trace of him.

"Look, he's out there in the garden, I'll let him explain himself." Sliding open a screen door, she gestured to a lush garden outside. In contrast to the Japanese style building, it was built entirely in a style she was most familiar with, olive trees, grape vines and herbs, of the variety from the promised lands. In its center, was a lone soul, looking over a basket of various fruits and vegetables collected in them.

"I'll put on some tea, that should give you two more than enough time."

Samael left Iesua alone. Despite a moment's hesitation at first, she eventually stepped out of and into the warmly lit gardens. Since her awakening, she had wondered what she may say, or what he may say of this moment. For two millennia, the legacy of her life on Earth, and of the works that her disciples had left behind shaped the course of humanity countless times over. There were no gospels, no prophets to predict this, nor any revelations that could tell her of what may happen. For the first time in a long while, she was completely unsure of what may happen.

As she took her first tentative steps forward, the wisp-like appearance of Judah's soul noticed her walking toward him, and quickly disappeared behind a nearby bush. Iesua paused, her lips quivering, she called out to him in the only way she knew how.

"...Judy…come out."

No response, but she could still see parts of the bush he hid behind rustle.

"I…am not angry. I just want to talk…"

Slowly, Judah's soul peeked over the bushes, its bright blue wisp appearance shuddering as it did so. Iesua walked closer to it, and his soul slowly floated closer to her as well.

"..."

"Yes, I won't hurt you…I just wanted to understand…"

"..."

Iesua was not angry at his betrayal. In order to fulfil her Father's plan, her resurrection was going to have made her into an instrument for salvation. That never came to pass. In her near-final moments, she had forsaken God, and thus when she finally passed on that cross, she died not as a divine being, but as a human.

"You know that was not possible, I had to, for the good of all of humanity-"

"...!"

Iesua was taken aback by the intensity of his response. Did he truly have these thoughts about her? Why didn't he bring it up before? Walking closer to him, this time he did not flee, and Iesua embraced him warmly, hugging his soul close to her own heart.

"Silly Judy…so that's why you were tempted down that path…"

"..."

To live one's life, as your own person. A fate that was denied to her, for she was to be the messiah that led humanity to salvation. Sin, was to act against God, and in Judah's desire to see Iesua live her own life, his sin was not betraying her in the first place, for she knew it was bound to happen. Instead, three days after her passing, he had stolen her body, and on the third day, a miracle was sprung forth. Iesua was not revived through the grace of her Father, but instead through the prayer of those believing she had come back.

Despite that, his guilt was so great that he had hung himself out of shame, if he had stayed just a bit longer, all would have been fine.

"I know…it has been a long time. But…if you will allow me…"

"..."

Iesua smiled warmly at him, he knew what she was going to say after all.

Of everything she had ever taught to her disciples, even above everything about loving thy neighbour or living in a manner to care for the poor and sick, forgiveness was what she ultimately wanted her disciples to learn. The two remained in the embrace for quite some time, with only the serene quietness of the garden reverberating throughout the entire space. This…was good, and if you had to ask her in the future, this moment was better than anything Heaven could have provided.

"So she finally did it…"

"Yes, sister, she did."

From around the corner of the house, Sariel and Samael were peeking at their interaction discreetly. Sighing, Samael got back up first from her crouched position and started pulling her sister away from peeking. As the two walked back inside her house, Sariel suddenly asked her a question.

"So, how did you two even…"

"Honestly? I wanted to get rid of him after the first few decades, but then we kinda just stuck together. He and I have had very…interesting adventures. Hell, before moving here I ran a private detective company in this city called 'Los Angeles' with him as my partner. We didn't get a lot of customers though…"

It wasn't that she had never come to Japan before, every few decades or so she moved around just to throw off Michaela's scent. The few times that she did manage to track her down resulted in intense arguments, and sometimes full on fighting. A bit of sisterly disagreements, but that wasn't really important.

Sariel shook her head at her. What was she doing that for?

"You know Michaela is probably going insane right now looking for her, right?"

Oh right, she was that sort of person. "Pfft, she still follows Father's every command like a puppy. That's what she deserves I'm telling you."

"Samael…"

"What? We have dozens of brothers and sisters, they're all honestly a chore to deal with. I just want to relax and do my own thing."

She poured two cups of tea for them, giving one cup to Sariel across her table.

"And," She took a sip before asking another question. "What about her coming here to find Iesua? Aren't you concerned about that?"

She scoffed in dismissal, what kind of question was that? "There's a reason I chose Gensokyo to live, unless there's some giant massive revelation that occurs here of all places, she's never gonna guess that Iesua and I are actually here."

Gensokyo was a strange land indeed, there were gods and deities literally an hour's distance away for many of its denizens. But she was in Japan of all places, so that was the absolute last place Michaela will ever think to look. She was probably in Italy combing through every single Church right now. Suddenly, she thought of another thing to say to her as well, seeing that Sariel had a sceptical look.

"In fact, unless the…what was it? What was that book made by someone who shared a name with one of her disciples? Revolt? Revelry…?"

"Revelation."

"Right, that thing, unless its seals somehow got unbound in Gensokyo of all places, and that everything that was 'prophesized' to be in it occur here, we're going to be safe from her forever. So chin up, we're in good hands here…" Samael flashed her one of her signature grins, she wasn't known as the most charismatic person from Heaven for nothing after all!

"Well, if you insist…it's not like Gensokyo has a bunch of coincidences that line up with the so-called prophecy, right?"

"Yup, so we're fine-"

In their living room, everything started shaking violently exactly like an earthquake. Despite holding her tea steady, it still splashed onto her face violently, and she heard multiple things fall down or break around her house. By the time it was over seconds later, Sariel had a deadpan look on her face.

"It could be something else-"

"Uwaaaaa! There's a swarm of locusts outside the house!"

Iesua suddenly burst in with Judah soul's still clutched to her chest, and looking behind her, there was indeed, an absolutely enormous swarm of insects. And it was coming in fast.

"Okay never mind, I'm keeping my mouth shut from now on…"

She was most definitely not going to keep her mouth shut, but Sariel was such a scrutinizing sister at times, so she had to throw her a bone you know?

Sanae finally made it, a few more steps up these damn stairs and she'd finally make it back into Gensokyo…

After a few more days spent in America after the battle, it was decided that not only Pepper, but Tony also needed medical attention. With Mokou personally suggesting to introduce Eirin, and by extension, Gensokyo to them, it was decided that all of them were to head back together as one.

"Sumireko said that Reimu made some changes to the barrier or something, so we should all be able to get in ourselves by praying. No need for her to send ourselves across." Natasha said from the front. She herself was tagging along because of a 'well-deserved vacation', and not because her work phone wasn't going to work while in there.

Aside from them, Maya and Bruce were also with them, the former was going to be introduced to Eirin as well for any side-effects and the latter was helping Tony with surveying Gensokyo for a suitable Cold Fusion reactor location. Yes, even after those terrorist attacks, she still remembered her original goal very well.

Arriving at the same dilapidated shrine that she initially got out of Gensokyo nearly two weeks ago now, she was finally ready to head back home to the Moriya Shrine for a well-deserved sleep. Hopefully Suwako and Kanako were going to like the souvenirs she bought. Walking into the main courtyard, they prepared to head back into Gensokyo once more.

"So what, we just clasp our hands and pray or something?"

Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Tony. You built that device and still find praying sceptical?"

Speaking of, Tony had built a much-improved version of his device before coming here, it no longer looked like it was cobbled together with parts from a dumpster.

"Get off my case, Romanoff. Alright, c'mon Pepper, let's do it."

As the eight of them all clasped their hands according to Sanae's instructions, some were definitely more sceptical than the others, but eventually, shefeltthe transition.

Opening her eyes, she expected to be greeted by Gensokyo's familiar skyline, blue skies, gentle breeze, and Reimu lazing around in her shrine or something. What greeted her, however, was the complete opposite of that.

"What the-"

"Hell?!"Sanae shouted out what she thought she was seeing.

It was as good a description as any, Gensokyo's skies looked like the ones in New Hell, the dark red dreary kind. Thunder rang throughout the skies of Gensokyo as violent gales threatened to blow Sanae onto the ground. The Hakurei shrine itself had signs of earthquake damage, similar to when Tenshi first came down from the celestial realms. Reimu was frantically shouting at Yukari in front of her, while aftershocks rocked their legs.

Reimu, noticing the new group out of the corner of her eye immediately called out to her.

"You! This incident has its epicentre at the top of the Youkai Mountain! I bet you have something to do with this! Prepare to be dealt with!" Sanae knew that Reimu was being completely serious, her right hand held her Gohei up high, preparing to cast a spellcard. That was most certainly not the welcome back she expected, and as she also prepared her Gohei, one thought shouted throughout her mind.

WHY?! I JUST CAME BACK!