– Late Civil War
Broko did not strike sky strider.
Not yet.
Violence was easy.
Understanding was what broke people.
.....
Sky strider noticed the stranger only because the cameras didn't.
No alerts.
No facial-recognition hits.
No system prompts.
Just a man standing on a ruined overpass at dusk, dark-skinned, scarred, tail wrapped loosely around his waist like an afterthought.
"Who are you?" Sky strider demanded, hovering slightly, a habit used for intimidating, not need.
Broko looked at him the way one looked at a faulty tool.
"I'm what happens when power has standards."
Sky strider laughed.
His system chimed reassuringly in his mind.
Threat level: negligible. No hostile intent detected.
Broko smiled faintly
"Your system lies to you because you trained it to."
That landed harder than expected .
Sky strider frowned. "what?!..... You don't know what you're talking about."
Broko tilted his head.
"You've never bled for growth.
You've never lost and learned.
You've never trained when no one was watching."
Each sentence was quiet.
Each one peeled something open.
Sky strider's system spiked defensively, boosting confidence, dampening doubt.
Broko felt it.
"See?" Broko continued calmly. "You outsource your will.
You don't decide to be strong.
You wait to be approved my a machine."
Sky strider snapped. "I helped save this world."
Broko's eyes hardened.
"No. You narrated it, trying to manipulate the best outcome ."
The SHIELD Moves In.....
Broko felt them before they arrived.
Quinjets.
Containment teams and Energy dampeners tuned for unknown enhanced threats.
Maria Hill watched from the command feed, jaw tight.
"This is him," she said. "The unknown hostile. He's destabilizing Sky strider mentally."
Fury's voice was gravel. "Or exposing him."
"That's not our call," Hill replied. "Detain both if necessary."
They came fast.
Broko didn't resist.
He let the dampeners hit him.
Let the soldiers surround him.
Let the Sky boy watch, confused, relieved, and vindicated.
"See?" Sky strider said, loudly now, for the troops. "This is what happens when you don't register and submit to government oversight ."
Broko turned his eyes to the SHIELD agents.
Every single one of them flinched.
from their innate primal fear.
From instinct.
"You want my power," Broko said simply.
"You don't even understand it.
And you will never control it."
The dampeners began to fail.
explosively.
And violenty...
.....
Elsewhere
...
Cooler's Flagship – Cold Dynasty Space.
The report was delivered by a kneeling officer
Cooler did not sit.
He stood before a panoramic void-window, arms folded, bio-armor gleaming with restrained violence.
"Repeat," Cooler said.
The officer swallowed. "The prisoner escaped during refueling. Sabotage. Minimal casualties. No trace."
Cooler closed his eyes.
Slowly.
He remembered watching the battle.
The saiyan adaptation.
The cruel evil red eyes.
"He didn't flee," Cooler said softly. "He repositioned."
.....
King Cold was amused.
Frieza was not.
Frieza's Reaction was typical,
Frieza's tail lashed, shattering a pillar.
"A Saiyan escaped Cooler's squad?" he hissed. "A child sent to die?"
Cooler turned slightly. "He is not a child."
Frieza smiled thinly. "Then he's a problem."
King Cold chuckled. "Or an asset."
Cooler's voice was ice. "No. He's a mirror."
Silence followed.
Because they all understood what that meant.
A Saiyan who grew outside their control was true threat.
....
Elsewhere
Back on Earth, Tony Stark watched footage on repeat.
Sky strider standing tall and proud.
Broko speaking without raising his voice.
SHIELD moving in too quickly.
"Something's wrong," Tony muttered.
Natasha crossed her arms. "You think?"
Steve Rogers stared at the screen.
"He's scared," Steve said quietly.
"Who?" Rhodey asked..
Steve pointed. "Sky strider ."
Tony scrubbed through private logs of data Sky strider had volunteered.
Future knowledge
.
Selective warnings.
.
"Oh," Tony breathed. "Oh no."
...
Elsewhere
Sky strider felt it now.
The doubt.
The way Broko hadn't attacked.
The way SHIELD focused on containment, not protection.
His system pushed another upgrade.
He accepted it automatically.
Broko felt the spike and finally moved.
One step forward.
Every dampeners left, shattered.
violently.
Sky strider system screamed warnings.
For the first time
It didn't know what to do.
Broko leaned close, voice low, almost kind
.
"Your power loves you because you feed it praise.
Mine respects me because I force it to obey."
Sky strider had enough and lashed out.
Broko didn't even flinch.
.....
Elsewhere
Tony Stark arrived as Broko stepped back, giving Sky strider space.
Not because he feared him.
Because he wanted him to choose.
Tony shouted, "strider stand down!"
Sky strider looked between them.
System prompts.
Cameras.
Authority.
He chose wrong.
"I won't be judged by a nobody," Sky strider snarled.
Broko nodded
.
"That," he said, "is why you die."
The heroes felt it then.
Intent..
Steve Rogers raised his shield too late.
Tony's suit screamed warnings.
Natasha whispered, "What is he?"
Broko answered without looking at them.
"I'm the consequence you keep outsourcing."
End of Chapter Six