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“You need to get back to Earth,” Tony looked to the blue woman standing on the pile of rubble. She was robotic, yes, but she felt the same pain as Stark was feeling now. Robots could feel, she was the proof of that.
“Why?” He asked stubbornly. He wanted to stay on Titan, where he could escape the harsh reality of who would be waiting on Earth for him. Or, more accurately, who wouldn’t be waiting on Earth for him.
“Earth needs it’s best defender,” she replied, hopping off the rubble to Stark, extending a robotic hand. “Make amends,” Tony watched her closely, then clasped his hand with hers and she pulled him off the ground. As if he was in a daze, Tony followed her to the Guardian’s abandoned ship.
“You know how to pilot this thing?” Tony asked.
“Would you like to do it?” The blue woman responded flatly. Tony snapped his mouth shut.
“You don’t know my name, do you?” She added, not as dryly as her first remark.
“I just assumed you were part of the Blue Man Group,” Tony said, smirking.
Damnit Stark, this was not time to be joking.
“You’re Stark, father of the spider kid,” the blue woman said, flicking a switch. The ship hummed to life.
“He’s not my son... he’s just...” Tony didn't know what else to say.
“You acted like his father,” she said. The ship lifted off the ground, Tony sat down in one of the chairs to steady himself.
“I didn’t know Smurfs could pilot space ships,” Tony said, trying to change the subject.
“It’s Nebula, not Smurfs,” she corrected. The ship lurched back before lurching forward again. Tony reached for the harness sewn to the chair and fumbled with it for a few seconds, failing to fasten it around his waist. Tony ended up holding the buckle together with his hands.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Carol Danvers took a deep breath and stood up from the Ship’s controls, moving to the back of the ship to make yet another cup of tea. Where could Stark be? Where did that Alien ship whisk him off to? Carol shook her head and moved to the holo-computer displayed in the back of the ship.
The chair was fun to spin in, which is what Carol found herself doing at that moment. If she was Thanos, where would she have told her henchmen to go? To the mother ship, obviously.
She stopped spinning and turned to the computer, opening a browser and typing in “Thanos”. Thank god the Universe has their own Internet. Thank god she had access to it.
Billions of results popped up, and Carol clicked on the first one. She knew what she needed to find. Carol skimmed over the article before stopping at one sentence.
“Titan of course!” She squealed, spinning away from the computer. She got up and set a course for Titan, the ship roared to life and sped out of the cosmic drift Carol had put it in.
Carol usually didn’t see many ships while she was traveling, so it surprised her when she saw a ship going towards her. She smirked and started to connect to the craft.
“This is Captain Marvel of Earth, where are you heading?” She asked into the radio. The radio crackled for a bit before silence filled the ship.
“This is Captain Marvel of Earth, where are you heading?” She repeated. The craft still did not answer.
“Do you need assistance?” She said trough the radio. “Can you please respond,” the radio crackled again and she was met with silence once more.
“Not my mission,” she said to herself. Carol shut the radio off. Suddenly, the ship slowed to a stop in front of her, the radio crackled to life, startling Carol.
“Prepare to be taken.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Wait, what are you doing?” Tony asked. Nebula wordlessly got up from the pilot’s chair and moved to the back of the ship. Tony watched her dig around before pulling out two swords and tucking them under her arm. She then pulled out a complicated gun and tossed it to Tony, who caught it.
“We’re taking their ship,” Nebula finally said, sliding a pair of fingerless gloves over her hand.
“But they’re from Earth,” Tony responded. Nebula turned to him and gave him a look.
“Your point?”
Tony sighed and rubbed his temple. Was this really what life was like off Earth? Not very smart.
“Just because that Captain Marvel is from Earth, doesn’t mean they’re good. Do you even know who that is? They could be working with Thanos for all we know,” Nebula said.
Scratch that, aliens are way smarter than the human race. Maybe we should ask for their help when it comes to sorting out Earthen politics.
“But-“
“You can stay on the ship or come with me, take your pick,” Nebula growled. Tony rolled his eyes and moved towards Nebula.
“Are we going to have you forgotten your way again, Dory?” Tony said. Nebula narrowed her eyes at him and pressed a button on the wall. The hangar of the ship opened.
“For the second time, my name is Nebula,” Nebula said. “Put this on,” she added, handing Tony a compact space-mask meant for Star-Lord. Nebula moved to the open hangar and put a mask on herself. She was gone in an instant, out to the vacuum of space.
“Put this on,” Tony mocked, fumbling with the device before being able to actually get it to work. Tony wrinkled his nose before tossing it aside, instead, he got the remains of the nanotech suit to create a mask around his face.
Tony approached the open hangar and looked down at the craft. His eyes widened at the site of it’s familiarity and he promptly dropped onto it’s back.
“FRIDAY, can you confirm this is a Quinjet?” Tony asked.
“From what I can tell, this is one of your designs,” FRIDAY responded.
There’s no way this Earthen was with Thanos.
Tony grinned and moved towards the back, ready to open the doors from the outside control panel. “However, this one seems to have been modified for deep space travel,” FRIDAY added. Tony stopped dead in his tracks.
For once, just this one time, the Smurf is probably right. But it won’t happen again.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Nebula scowled at Carol, pulling her swords back to her side.
“Let me get this straight, you’re going back to Earth?” Carol said, out of breath from their fighting. Nebula nodded wordlessly. Carol rubbed her eyes and thought for a moment.
“Care to tell me why?”
“I don’t trust all Humans.”
“What the hell does that even mean?!”
“It means I don’t trust you.”
Now Carol was scowling, stuck staring at a blue robotic-alien. She took a deep breath.
“Is it just you on that ship?” Carol asked, pointing upward. Nebula didn’t respond.
“I’m taking that as a... no?”
“I’m alone,” Nebula said finally. Carol scoffed.
“I don’t believe you.”
“You shouldn’t trust Dory over here, she forgets things,” Nebula and Carol turned to see Tony Stark, who was holding the gun Nebula gave him at his side. Nebula sighed and facepalmed, and Carol turned to her with a grin. Carol turned back to Stark with the same childish grin on her face.
“Dory! I see what you did there!” Carol said, moving towards Tony. In defense, Tony held out the gun and put Carol within firing range. She stopped dead in her tracks, smile fading.
“I don’t know who you are but I’m willing to bet you aren’t on our side,” Tony said seriously. Carol put her hands up in defense. Tony inches closer to the gun was at her chest.
“Hey- I was ac-“ Tony pushed the gun closer. “I was looking for you,” Carol said.
“Yeah and so was the Mandarin, WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Tony yelled.
“This is getting out of hand,” Nebula mumbled.
“Earth has had some problems lately,” Carol said quietly.
“What type of problems?” Tony countered.
“People have been... turning to dust? Is that a good way to put it?” Carol said. Tony dropped his gun back to his side.
“Hey Smurf lady, do you mind if I go with the Marvelous Human over here?” Tony asked, looking over at Nebula.
“For the last time, my name is...”
“Yes, come with me,” Carol interrupted. Nebula sighed and made a motion with her hand.
“Fine, whatever. Just get him back to Earth,” Nebula finally agreed. “I have other things to go after.” Tony smiled at Carol. Nebula turned to leave the modified Quinjet. She stopped before she was able to jump out.
“He’s the key,” Nebula said. “Guard him with your life.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Steve Rogers stood at the doorway of his best friend’s abandoned hut. Goats had come to swarm around him, looking for food and comfort. Who didn’t need that right now?
Steve had been standing at the door way for fifteen minutes now, debating on going inside. What harm could it do to him? A lot, actually. That action could even make him break down and cry right there.
He stepped inside, moving the curtain out of the way as he lowered his shoulder to fit in the small hole. Once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he had to hold back tears. There was a pile of straw in one corner of the circular hut, and a mud-brick “desk” that had a Wakandan computer on it. That explained the solar panels.
On the desk, Steve saw a few framed photos of Bucky. There was a photo of Bucky with T’Challa and Shuri, a picture of him with Nat, one with him and Sam, and finally, and old 1940’s photo of him and Steve in a hug. Bucky’s dog tag hung on the frame like a token.
One of the goats had found it’s way into the hut, and it bleated, surprising Steve. He turned to see a goat standing a few feet away from him. He chuckled a little and bent down to the goat’s level.
“Hey soldier, didn’t see you there,” Steve whispered. The goat bleated again and let him scratch it’s chin. Steve smiled a little bit, chasing away the gloom for a second.
“He called that one Steve.” Steve’s head snapped up to see General Okoye staring at the door of the hut. Steve stood and nodded his head in respect.
“General,” He said. Okoye smiled a sad smile and moved towards Steve and the goat, bending down to pet it.
“I prefer Okoye,” she said, scratching the goat’s back. It was one of those rare times when Okoye didn’t have her spear on her. She felt bare, naked in a sense, ever since she put the spear down, she found her hands holding onto something else or doing something on their own.
“This one is Steve-?” Steve asked. Okoye smiled and nodded, watching the little goat.
“Yes, but I don’t know why Barnes names the smallest one of the litter after you,” she said. Steve smiled and chuckled.
“He also had a Sam, and a Wanda, and a Clint. He was also fond of one named Natasha. There was even a Tony and a T’Challa. I think there was a Shuri and an Okoye around here too,” She said. “He named the goats after his friends. At least that’s how he explained it,” Steve once again felt the tears well up in his eyes. He wiped his eyes quickly and sniffled. Maybe going into Bucky’s old hut was a bad idea.
“Do you know which one was his favorite?” Steve managed to say.
“This one,” Okoye said, motioning to the goat she was still petting. Steve smiled a sickening smile.
“I think Natasha needs me,” Steve said suddenly. Okoye watched him leave the hut in a haste, goat bleating in confusion.
Once Steve was outside, he steadied himself on a tree before crying, head in his hands.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tony was quiet on the Quinjet, which got Carol’s attention. From what she was told, Tony Stark usually could never shut up. She sighed and put the Quinjet on autopilot, then made her way to the back of the jet.
“You’re not this quiet in real life, are you?” She asked. Tony looked up at her from one of the leather seats in the modified Quinjet.
“No, it’s just that now isn’t a time to be joking,” Tony replied. Carol scoffed.
“Not a time to be joking? You’re joking right?” Carol said. Tony stared at Carol, not saying a word.
“For once, I’m not,” Tony finally replied. Carol sat down next to Tony.
“Do you want to talk-“ Tony cut Carol off.
“No! I don’t want to talk about it,” Tony snapped. He hastily got up and made his way to the controls, sitting down and turning off auto-pilot.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Carol asked. Tony ignored her.
“FRIDAY, set a course for Wakanda,” Tony said sternly.
“That’s like... at least a few thousand light-years away from us right now,” Carol said.
“Right away boss.”
“I didn’t even know this thing did that,” Carol mumbled.
“Use overdrive, FRIDAY, I’m not getting any younger here,” Tony added. Carol sighed as the ship sped up, making her plot down into the pilot’s chair.
“I didn’t even know this ship could do that stuff,” Carol said.
“Well news to you sweetheart, you haven’t even seen what this ship can do,” Tony replied, revving up the engine.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Thor Odinson watched Natasha and Bruce argue over the next best course of action.
“Captain Marvel told us to stay here while she was looking for Tony,” Bruce said.
“Yes, but it wouldn’t hurt to track down Thanos while she is gone,” Natasha reasoned.
“But it might be nice to stay in one place,” Bruce replied.
“Bruce, do you realize that we’re wasting precious time to get the Universe back together,” Natasha said, folding her arms across her chest.
“Who said this was on a time crunch!” Bruce yelled. Thor moved his gaze to Rocket Raccoon, who was sitting on the opposite side of the room looking out a window. Thor sighed, getting up and shuffling over to Rocket.
“It’s hard. I understand,” Thor said solemnly, placing his hand on Rocket’s head. Rocket’s ears twitched and a furry hand flew up to Thor’s hand, pushing it off.
“Thanos that son of a bitch,” Rocket said. Rocket looked away from the window to Natasha and Bruce, who had stopped fighting to watch what Thor was doing.
“I agree with miss blondie over here,” Rocket added, hopping down from the window ledge. “We should go after Thanos.” Natasha turned to Bruce and smirked.
“See, someone agrees with me,” she said, folding her arms.
“Let’s slow down for a moment,” Thor said, holding his arms out to stop everything before people started to bicker again. “Captain Marvel could be coming back right now and we don’t even know it.”
“And what if she’s not, huh?” Natasha said, turning to Thor with a hand on her hip. “What if she’s still out there? It just might be nice to track Thanos down while she’s gone. We have transportation,” she added.
“What transportation?” Bruce asked.
“Thor, you still got your rainbow bridge?”
“That was destroyed on Asgard.”
“The Wakandans have space ships.”
“They do, so let’s go.”
“Who ever said they’d let us use them?”
“Alright everyone stop!” Thor yelled. Everyone paused their bickering to look at Thor. “Let’s just go and see where it takes us. Let’s ask the Wakandans nicely for a ship and get out of here.”
“Then gather everyone who’s left,” Natasha said. “We’ll need them in this fight.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Soldat?” Bucky’s eyes widened as his surroundings materialized around him. The chair, the man... the book. His mouth spoke words that he didn’t want, every muscle was controlled be the same demon. The same demon that HYDRA put inside of him.
This is wrong, he shouldn’t be there.
Back in the chair, back where he killed. Back where life was torture and his name was wanted.
The Winter Soldier.
This was no nightmare, this was torture. Something that he could never wake up from.
But what about Steve? What about the stones, Wakanda, those kids from the village who played with him and his goats? The memories of the last fight slowly trickled into his mind. He wanted to scream, but his body was paralyzed by the demon they put inside him.
He was not in the chair, he couldn’t be anymore. How could he have gone from disintegration to torture with a snap of some alien’s fingers?
He wasn’t on Earth anymore, he wasn’t even in reality anymore. He was in the last place his soul wanted to be. The Soul World.
“Dude! Wake up!” Bucky jolted up, breathing heavily as he took in the new surroundings he was in. No chair, no man... no book. Sam Wilson sat next to Bucky with his hand on Bucky’s shoulder. He shook it off.
“What the hell,” Bucky whispered. They were surrounded by bodies. Bodies laying face-up with their eyes closed. The bodies stretched as far as the eye could see, and the only building within eye sight was the ruins of a temple.
“It’s freaky, I know,” Sam said, out-stretching his hand to help Bucky up.
“Freaky doesn’t even describe it.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“We’re all good?” Steve asked the pilot. She gave him a thumbs up. Steve turned away from the cockpit and to the large team. The Wakandans has graciously agreed to let the Avengers borrow one of their ships, even a pilot. They just told the team to have the ship ack in one piece, with an unharmed pilot.
“Princess Shuri,” Steve watched Princess Shuri walk up the open hangar door with a backpack strapped to her back. “What are you doing here?” Steve asked. Shuri gave him a look.
“I’m coming with you genius,” she replied. “You’ll need my tech.” Steve held out his hands to stop her from getting any further into the ship.
“You sure you want to do this?” Steve asked sternly.
“My brother is dead. Half our people died deaths that had no honor. How else are we supposed to get revenge, huh?” Shuri said, placing her hand on her hip. Steve started at her for a second before moving aside. “That’s what I thought,” Shuri said, sitting down on one of the seats.
“Hey Princess,” Natasha said, walking by. Shuri smiled at Steve and opened her backpack, grabbing a pair of wireless headphones.
“Let me know when we got out of the atmosphere,” Shuri said. Steve smiled half-heartedly and turned away from Shuri, moving to the hangar door.
“Lift off in five!” He called out. Rhodey and Okoye rushed into the ship and the hangar door shut behind them. Steve made his way to the co-pilot’s seat and watched the Wakandan pilot maneuver the ship off the pad.
“You ready?” She asked, turning to Steve. Steve smiled and buckled into the seat.
“Let’s go get that purple bastard.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Entering the atmosphere,” Carol said, adjusting a few switches. Tony leaned on the back of her seat to watch Earth come into view, getting bigger and bigger.
“We’re still on course for Wakanda?” Tony asked, as flames started to appear outside the ship.
“We’ll be there in ten,” Carol replied. She turned away from the controls for a moment. “Listen, Wakanda... It’s kind of scary when you first try to get there, so don’t freak out, ok?” Tony stared at her with a blank look.
“Ok,” He said weakly.
“You’ll know what I mean in a bit,” Carol said, turning back to the controls. The continent of Africa started to get larger and larger. Carol finally got the ship to slow down enough that she was able to cruse along the Wakandan landscape. She corrected the course to the barrier, which looked like a mountain.
“Carol, that’s a mountain,” Tony said, pointing to the barrier. Carol ignored him and sped up.
“Don’t scream, it makes it harder to drive,” Carol said as they neared the barrier.
“Carol...” Tony warned.
“Shut up and sit down,” Carol said casually. Tony abruptly sat down in the co-pilot’s seat.
“We’re still getting a little close...”
“In the back!”
Tony scrambled out of the co-pilot’s seat and made his was to the back of the ship. Carol narrowed her eyes as the barrier opened around them, letting their ship through.
“This is Captain Marvel, we have him,” Carol said into the radio. “Permission to land,” The radio crackled before spitting out a response.
“Permission granted. Welcome back Captain Marvel!” Carol smiled and looked back at Tony for a second.
“You can come up here now,” she said. Tony slowly walked up to the co-pilot’s seat and sat down in a daze. “What do you think of Wakanda?” She asked.
“Bigger than I thought,” Tony mumbled.
“You’ll get used to it,” Carol said, waving her hand. She neared the launch pad and expertly landed her ship. She opened the hangar door and was out of the chair in seconds. Tony was right behind her. The Queen of Wakanda waited at the open hangar door.
“Your Majesty,” Carol said, bowing her head in respect. Tony watched her and did the same. “Where is everybody?”
Queen Ramonda took a deep breath and smiled sadly.
“They left.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Call from Wakanda,” the pilot said, turning to the crew. She turned back and flipped a switch, turning on a holographic screen. Captain Marvel sat in the Wakandan Palace in front of a similar screen.
“What the hell guys?” She said. The crew crowded around the screen.
“Tracking down Thanos is going to take two teams,” Rhodey said, speaking first. Carol rubbed her temple and sighed.
“I understand that, but why bring the Princess? Why not just split up your crew and leave some people on Earth?”
“Um, I wanted to be here,” Shuri piped up.
“And we need all the help we can get to track down Thanos,” Natasha added. Carol smiled nd turned away from the screen for a moment, mumbling something to a person standing next to her. She turned back to face the crew.
“Then I guess you’ll need this guy,” Carol said, pulling Tony into view of the screen. Gasps echoed around the ship.
“Can’t believe you left without me,” Tony said. He looked at Steve and looked away from the screen.
“Hey Tony.”
“Hey Cap.”
“Make amends already!” Someone shouted, Steve turned to the crew as they all snickered.
“I know that was you Natasha,” Tony said. Natasha smirked.
“Nope, it was Thor.”
“Lady Natasha, that’s a lie and you know it.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Nebula stood outside of the small gate on the beautiful planet. She stuck out from the green landscape, too blue, too robotic... too angry. She did not belong on that planet, maybe in a different lifetime she would have been fine, but now... with the things Thanos had done to her... she more belonged in a scrap yard. At least that’s what she told herself- And it wasn’t exactly untrue either.
“Thanos will die,” she mumbled, hopping over the gate. She walked along the path until a ramshackle hut came into view.
“Daughter,” Nebula’s head snapped to her side too see Thanos sitting on a rock ledge, looking out at the view. He still wore his gauntlet like a proud hen, showing it off as it glinted in the sunlight.
“You will die for the death of my sister, her friends, and everyone else who suffered because of you,” Nebula growled. Thanos smiled at the threat and turned back to the sunset.
“Come, sit. I’ve been thinking,” Nebula didn’t move. “Sit or I will make you sit,” Thanos said, slightly demanding. Nebula screeched and bounded off the grass, swords ready and aimed for his head. Thanos held up his gauntlet and her swords turned to bubbles in her hand. Faster than she could realize, a blue portal appeared in front of her and she disappeared, materializing again over the cliff.
Nebula screamed in horror as the ground got closer. When she hit, she did not splatter. Instead, she bounced off the ground and went flying back up again. Finally, Nebula came to rest on the bouncy ground. She sat there for a second before the ground dissolved around her, making her fall from the sky to the cliff Thanos sat on. She landed on the rocks next to him unharmed, in a sitting position.
“I told you I’d get you to sit,” Thanos spoke, and she could almost catch the unheard smugness of his comment. Nebula was so close to him she could have reached out and snapped his neck. But she couldn’t, finding herself stuck on the rock with her hands to her side.
“What did you do to me?” Nebula growled. Thanos smiled and cocked his head.
“Wrong answer, try again,” he said, clenching his fist.
“I-I forgive you Father,” Nebula sputtered at his will.
“For what child?”
“I’ll never forgi- For killing my... my sister.”
“That’s better.” Thanos relaxed his fist and Nebula started to pant.
“I hate you,” Nebula mumbled darkly. She kicked her foot, hitting Thanos in the back, causing him to screech out of shock, falling forward off the cliff. Nebula gladly found that she could now move her arms again, and stood up to gaze over the cliff.
“It’s ironic Daddy, isn’t it?” Nebula said, dragging out the word “Daddy” and smirking.
“Yes, it is ironic that you’ll die the same way your sister did,” Nebula’s smile faded as the corpse on the bottom of the cliff moved it’s way upward to the ledge, like someone rewound the footage of Thanos falling to his death. Nebula stepped away from the ledge, getting ready to fight before forgetting that she didn't have her swords.
She should have known her adoptive father wouldn’t have died so easily. Or would’ve let her even come close to ending him. Thanos smiled, standing up from the ledge.
“I’ll snap your neck,” Nebula snarled.
“Or, you can join me in a life of peace,” Thanos offered, extending out his hand. Nebula was shocked that he would even consider bringing her into his life again, after all he had done to her.
“Why would I want to join-“
“Sister.”
Nebula whirled around in shock at the familiarity of the voice.
Gamora stood at the stoop of the hut. She had a smile on her face as she extended her arms for an embrace. Nebula forgot where she was and ran to her sister.
“You never were the hugging type,” Gamora wheezed. Nebula pulled away for a moment, realizing that she had been squeezing her sister too hard.
“Sister,” Nebula trailed her hand down Gamora’s cheek. “I thought I had lost you.”
Thanos smiled wickedly, while the reality and mind stones gleamed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“So we’re the only one’s awake?” Peter Parker said to Bucky and Sam, who were trying to wake up civilians.
“As far as we’re concerned, yes,” Bucky huffed. He shook the shoulder of a little girl, trying not to hurt her with his metal arm.
“Dude, you can at least try a little harder,” Sam said to Bucky. Bucky sighed and took a step back and sat down next to Peter. They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching Sam shake the people around him.
“Again, Mr. White Wolf, I’m really sorry about-“
“It’s fine Peter.”
“Are you sure?”
“Take it as a compliment Barnes, it’s not every day you’re referred to as Jesus.”
“Shut up Wilson, no one asked you.”
“Did someone say Jesus?”
The trio turned to see a man with curly brown hair sitting up watching them. His leather jacket was worn from use and a Walkman was attached to his belt.
“Holy shit it is Jesus,” he breathed. Bucky facepalmed while Peter and Sam rushed over to him.
“You’re awake!” Sam marveled.
“Yeah, it’s not hard, all you have to do is open your eyes,” he said. “Now can someone explain where we are?” Sam and Peter looked at each other and then back at the man.
“We were hoping you could tell us.” Peter said.
“Well with Jesus over there, I’m assuming it’s heaven, but I don’t think we’d see all these people.”
“Oh come on! For the last time, I’m not Jesus! If anything I’m the exact opposite,” Bucky yelled.
“Mr. Starlord, sir, I don’t think Mr. White Wolf likes being called Jesus.”
“Thank you Peter.”
“You know this whacko?” Sam asked, amazed.
“Yeah, he’s one of those Guardians of the Galaxy, or whatever” Peter said.
“Guardians of the Galaxy?”
“The Universe’s best protection, better than your crappy Avengers.”
“The Avengers aren't crappy.” Bucky interrupted.“Then why’d they break up?” Bucky gave Starlord a look. He held his hands up in defense.
“Just asking the real questions here,” he added. Bucky flipped him off and went back to sulking. Peter’s attention turned to another one of the bodies.
“Hey guys, the wizard is waking up.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Strange.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Nebula watched her sister sleep on the cot in the hut Thanos had settled in. She waited for the right time of night, the time when Gamora glimmered and faded out. She wasn’t a fool, Gamora was dead, and the one sleeping next to her was only a mirage.
Nebula turned her head to the moon to check its position before shuffling back to face her sister. Gamora started to shine, before she blinked out of existence. Nebula scowled and watched as Gamora started to flint back onto her cot, always in a sitting position, facing her sister. Nebula closed her eyes just as the illusion came into effect again.
If this was death, then death was cruel.
Nebula waited a few moments for the illusion to lay back down and go to sleep before she hopped out of her cot.
Even if she was dead, she could still avenge her sister.
Sneaking toward’s her adoptive father’s cot, she watched him sleep while the reality and mind stones shone brightly in the darkness.
“Your mistake, father,” she spat. “Was giving me hope.”
“We’re on course?” Tony asked.
Carol was focused on piloting them though a wormhole. The ship lurched forward as the wormhole ended, a planet came into view.
“No, we’re already here,” Carol said, smirking. She got up and moved to the back of the ship to make herself a cup of coffee. “Do me a favor and land?” Carol said to Tony. Tony sat down in the pilot’s chair and inched the ship towards the green planet.
“If Thanos wanted to settle down, he picked a great place,” Tony said.
“I don’t blame him, look at those colors!” Carol pointed at the trees and their many colorful leaves as the ship got closer to the place Cap said he’d meet them. A Wakandan ship was waiting on the cliff when Tony landed the ship. Carol rushed to the back of the ship and opened the hangar door.
“C’mon Stark!” She called. Tony sat at the helm while he watched Carol run out of the jet and to the small crowd of people waiting. Tony sighed and closed his eyes.
“Tony?” Tony turned in the seat to see Steve in the Quinjet, close enough to rest his hand on the pilot’s seat. Tony was numb with sadness, he slipped out of the chair and collapsed on the floor, Steve’s arms around him as the both cried.
“I’m sorry,” Tony finally uttered. Steve pulled away for a moment, surprised that Tony blamed himself.
“It’s not your fault,” Steve said. Tony continued to cry in Steve’s arms. “It’s mine.” Tony sniffles and pulled away.
“I’m not going to play the game of who’s fault is who’s, let’s just fix this,” Tony snapped. Tears continued to stream down his face. Steve nodded and pulled Tony back into a hug.
“We’ll fix this together- one last time.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Scott has been waiting for over an hour now before he heard a voice come from the communication device in his ear.
“Scott? You still there?” Scott smiled in relief.
“Ava! Thank god! I was starting to think something bad had happened.”
“Well...” the quantum realm started to shrink around him and the portal came into view. Soon, Scott was standing on the roof of the building he never left. Scott took his helmet off and immediately turned to Ava. His smile faded when he saw that she had brought company, and his expression turned to a frown when he realized Hope, Hank, and Janet were gone.
Hawkeye stood with Ava behind the control panels Hank and Janet had set up.
“What are you doing here man?”
“The Avengers need our help again.”
“What do you mean need our help? What happened while I was in the quantum realm? How long was I even there? Is it like, 2045 now and the apocalypse happened? Why the hell- “
“Shut up Scott. We’re nearing Wakanda,” Ava interrupted.
“Captain America sent us a distress signal a few hours ago, said to meet him in Wakanda,” Clint explained.
“Along with very explicit instructions on how to get there,” Ava added.
“What does that have to do with this dust situation?” Scott asked.
“The Avengers need us to help reverse the damage,” Clint said.
“Right, can’t they do that alone? Last time I was with the Avenges, I got arrested,” Scott said.
“Can’t get arrested in space!” Ava exclaimed. She got up from the pilot’s seat and went to the back of the ship to put her ghost suit on. “We’re here, get ready,” She said, before she disappeared to change.
“Your Highness,” Clint bowed his head to Nakia, who had been left in charge.
“Please, we don’t do that. No need to call me that either,” She said.
“Where’s Cap?” Scott asked. Nakia smiled and looked down at her feet.
“Two in one day, confusion seems a common trait among you,” She mumbled. “They already left, you’ll have to get there yourself.”
Clint’s shoulder’s dropped and Scott face-palmed. Ava walked out of the ship just then, with her helmet held to her side. Scott explained the situation and Ava let out a nervous laugh that turned to a scowl.
“Those motherfu- “
“Language, Clint.”
“Shut up Scott, I can say what I want.”