Feeling Charles's arm pause, Thena realized she might have caused some trouble this time. Apologetically, she asked, "Is it serious?"
Charles released her and, after a moment's thought, replied, "Two city blocks."
Hearing "two city blocks," Thena initially sighed in relief, thinking it wasn't too large an area. But then, she remembered they were in densely populated New York—not an uninhabited zone.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to," Thena said with regret.
Charles sighed as well. Thena's apology wouldn't bring back those who had died; the unfortunate souls caught in the attack truly had terrible luck.
Besides the people, the destroyed property and cars meant that even those who managed to escape would likely face financial ruin.
Still, Charles wasn't exactly one to pursue justice for others.
"Leave the aftermath to me. There's something else I'll need your help with later."
Thena nodded, and Charles immediately released the Tsukuyomi space. Although they had conversed and sealed her memories within, only an instant had passed in the real world.
To the others, it appeared as though Charles had simply neutralized the Tailed Beast Bomb and instantly appeared in front of Thena.
Grabbing Thena's arm, Charles used the Body Flicker Technique to bring her in front of Tony and the others.
"I've dealt with her Mahd Wy'ry. She's safe now," he announced.
Hearing this, everyone understood that the danger had passed. At this point, Mei Terumi noticed Charles's actions and immediately released her summon of Isobu, the Three-Tails, before flashing over to join them.
Seeing Tony about to say something, Charles cut him off, "Let's go back to my place. We can talk there."
With that, Charles waved his hand, opening a portal that led directly to his base.
Watching this, Tony muttered, "The Tesseract sure is handy with you," before following Charles through the portal.
…
Meanwhile-
Nick Fury stared at the satellite feed in silence, even the explosion of the Tailed Beast Bomb in the Atlantic had been captured on their surveillance.
As he watched the group vanish, Fury couldn't help but think back to when he'd commissioned the Mist Village for a mission.
If they had summoned that giant beast back then, they could have obliterated the Sound Village's crystal barrier in one blow, possibly even taking out those Sound Village ninjas.
The Mist Village clearly hadn't shown their full strength.
"Director, they've all left," an agent reported.
At that moment, the door opened, and Maria Hill entered the room.
"Director, the Security Council is asking for you," she informed him.
Acknowledging her words, Fury nodded and instructed, "Tell Natasha to recall her team."
Fury couldn't help but feel he had made the right call; if he had sent the team directly into the battle, they might not have survived more than an instant. The power displayed by both sides had been far beyond expectation.
In particular, the pair who weren't ninjas remained completely unknown to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Fury ascended to the top floor, where he saw Alexander Pierce in discussion with the Security Council through the glass window.
Pushing open the door, Fury entered, and the council members' holographic images turned toward him.
Fury first approached Alexander Pierce and whispered a quick "Thanks" before turning to the council.
One council member, a Caucasian man, asked sternly, "Nick Fury, we've seen another outbreak of superhuman violence in New York."
"How many times now? Can S.H.I.E.L.D. even control these volatile elements?"
Fury glanced around the council members and replied, "Ladies and gentlemen, this matter has been preliminarily resolved. The battle has already subsided."
Hearing that the battle had stopped, the council members were somewhat surprised; they hadn't expected Nick Fury to have such capability.
However, Pierce suspected that it wasn't entirely S.H.I.E.L.D.'s power that had resolved the conflict. He kept his thoughts to himself and, instead, cooperated by saying:
"Everyone, I believe that once Project Insight is fully implemented, we'll have a much better chance of preventing incidents like this."
Fury nodded as his superior mentioned the project, "With Project Insight in place, I can't promise total elimination of such events, but I'm confident it'll help prevent many disasters."
"Plus, we'll be able to identify, in real-time, individuals who aren't in our records…"
The council members nodded at Fury's remark, understanding that he wasn't referring to ordinary undocumented individuals, but to figures like ninjas and aliens from realms like Asgard.
One of the council members spoke up, "Accelerate the project; we want to avoid these incidents from happening again."
Fury nodded in response, "We're already expediting the Helicarrier upgrades and the training of the superhuman task force. It shouldn't be too long before the project can be launched."
The council members agreed, and the meeting concluded.
Once all the virtual displays had shut off, Pierce approached Fury and asked, "Who handled those enemies?"
"Charles Doyle showed up and took everyone with him," Fury replied.
Pierce raised his brows, "Took them? He didn't eliminate the threats?"
Fury shook his head.
Pierce's eyes narrowed slightly, and he added, "Someone will have to answer for this."
"With such significant losses—both economic and in terms of casualties—you're going to need someone to negotiate with Charles. The Pentagon won't turn a blind eye; this was no small incident."
Fury let out a sigh, "Ah. Talking to Charles Doyle won't be easy."
Although Fury didn't know why Charles had chosen to take the them, he knew reclaiming them from him would be no easy task; even with the Pentagon involved, it was unlikely to succeed.
After all, these enemies were Charles's "spoils of war."
"It seems we'll have to send someone to open negotiations. But even then, extracting those individuals from Charles may come at a steep price," Fury admitted.
"And sometimes," he added, "even paying that price doesn't guarantee results."
Pierce nodded, "Do your best; at the very least, we need to know who those two are."
"I'll make sure we get to the bottom of it," Fury replied.