---
Location: Zurich, Switzerland – Underground Market District
"Next time you decide to sneak into one of the most surveilled cities in Europe," Naledi muttered under her breath, "maybe don't wear a glowing staff across your back?"
Hann smirked, adjusting the black coat that now shielded the shimmering weapon. "Noted. But I think the staff likes showing off."
Azari glanced at him from her hood, her eyes narrowed. "So what's the play? Banks? Underground investors? What kind of 'funding' are we after here?"
Hann pulled a folded tablet from his coat, projecting a 3D layout of a facility.
"A man named Arman Kazmierczak runs a private auction house for advanced tech and unstable assets—off the books. He's ex-Hydra, but kept his empire after the fall. He's got black-market Stark drones, leftover AIM exo-suits, and even Vibranium dust."
"Let me guess," Naledi said. "You're gonna rob him."
"No," Hann replied. "I'm going to buy in."
---
The Auction
Arman's facility looked like a museum of war's future. Holograms danced over tables displaying alien artifacts, ruined Ultron heads, scrap Celestial tissue, and even pieces of Chitauri hovercraft.
Attendees wore masks—oligarchs, warlords, rogue scientists.
Hann, wearing a sleek white mask and dark gloves, moved with Azari and Naledi at his flanks.
He kept his voice low.
"Tonight we get noticed. I want Kazmierczak to think we're powerful… and desperate."
Azari tilted her head. "Why desperate?"
"Because desperate people get loans—and invitations."
---
Private Room – Midnight
Kazmierczak was a small man with one cybernetic eye and a perpetual tremor in his fingers. He tapped the table between them nervously.
"You're not part of any syndicate. You walk like a fighter but dress like a monk. You're young, unlisted, and anonymous… yet you dropped thirty million dollars on a drone system nobody else wanted."
Hann leaned in.
"That's because I know how to use it."
"What do you want?"
"A private loan. Discreet. Fifty million. I'll triple it in under a year."
Kazmierczak laughed.
"You're out of your mind."
Hann tapped the table.
The top holographically projected schematics—his tech.
A fusion of Stark scraps, AIM plating, and something new: Heavenbreaker Tech.
Kazmierczak's eyes widened.
"What is this?"
"Early versions. You want in on the next arms race? I'll build a prototype—sell you the next evolution in adaptive war gear. Think of it as… seed investment."
The silence was long. Then, Kazmierczak nodded slowly.
"You get one shot. Screw me, I send every bounty hunter from Berlin to Cairo after you."
Hann nodded. "Fair."
---
Later That Night – Rooftop
The team regrouped above Zurich's skyline, wind cutting across the snow-dusted rooftops.
"We got it?" Azari asked.
"Funds secured," Hann replied. "Fifty mil wired through proxies. We're building a lab… and a base."
Naledi folded her arms. "Where?"
"South Africa."
Azari raised a brow. "Wakanda's backyard?"
"I have a plan."
---
Flashback – Hann in His Room, a Week Earlier
He held the Rift Token under moonlight. When he focused, the stars inside it shifted, revealing coordinates. One hovered in a remote mountain region, near the Drakensberg range. A hollowed-out basalt cave… with properties not unlike Kamar-Taj.
It resonated with his staff. It called to him.
---
Current – Hann's Voice
"If we set up there, we'll be hidden, but close enough to draw in more talent."
Azari asked, "What kind of talent?"
Hann turned.
"People like us. The ones who weren't born to be Avengers… but were shaped by the world anyway."
---
Interlude – Far Side of the World
The Philippines – A Hidden Temple
A young woman stood barefoot on a broken temple floor. Her eyes burned gold. Around her, machines failed. Lights died.
She looked up at a floating ember in the shape of a lotus.
"The Soul calls," she whispered.
---
Back to Zurich
Hann closed his eyes as the Rift Token warmed in his pocket.
"They're waking up."
"Who?" Naledi asked.
"Others like us. The Shard and Token… they're like beacons. I don't know how many, but they'll start feeling it. Dreams. Instincts. And when they come…"
Azari smiled faintly. "We build the future."
---
Meanwhile – The Ten Rings' Global Echoes
In Istanbul, a former Ten Rings general received an encrypted message. A symbol—Wenwu's mark, stylized with a new twist: a sun behind a black mountain.
"The lost son has returned," the message read.
The general's lips curled into a smirk. "About damn time."
---
Final Scene – A New Layer of Threat
In a hidden timeline, a man stood watching streams of infinite possibilities.
Kang.
He saw Hann in one vision, rallying a group of powered individuals who could rival even the Time-Keepers. A variable. An anomaly.
His eyes narrowed.
"I will prune him myself."
---
End of Chapter 7