The torches shone like miniature stars in the ruins.
A tall teenager nearing his twenties went down the carpeted pathway, footsteps as careful as any spy's - calculative and wary.
Of course, he'd been briefed about the plan before he'd landed on the ground. Get in, take the stones, and get out. No briefing was given, however, that pertained any information of the stones he was charged with, so he just had to assume they were magical fruity pebbles that tasted nice and hence held a large price.
Six of them in total, he was told. This had better give him a promotion or some gifts.
He quickly dashes from one wall to another, making as little sound as possible all while keeping in mind his contract's conditions.
An hour at most till the nano-displacer brought him back. Plenty of time.
He treads carefully, making a point to avoid the scary red lasers that would, without a doubt, ultimately take his life if he were so as careless as to trigger them. He was familiar with the technology of the Kree Security Force, and had many a close shave on past escapades.
And there they were, six beautiful and precious gems, each shining brightly in their own darkness. Only problem was the vast amount of traps and the neuro-particle field that encased all of them. But there wasn't ever a problem that duct tape couldn't fix, as one of his comrades had once said himself. Never.
Soon, the sources of the beams had been covered in black duct tape that managed to hold under the sizzling heat of the lasers and this gave him a lot more space to work in disabling the field. Had he stuck his hand in, trillions of particles would've rushed onto his skin, burning his flesh and sending overloading amounts of pain to his pain receptors. Definitely not a nice way to die.
But thank God for medieval weapons as well, because the mechanism itself couldn't hold against a good old and trusty blade. He turned the weapon back into a pen as the machine collapsed on itself, arcs of electricity frying the steel flooring.
He got closer to the stones, reaching out to grab them, but his body was filled with raw, immense power that made his body tremble and he could feel every single atom in his body tearing apart. Six colours rushed through his bloodstream and he felt omnipotent for that small period of time.
His body, filled with overbearing agony and heat, dropped to the ground as the building around him collapsed. The stones fired out beams of light - colourcoded, luckily - that vaporised the coloumns that held up the ancient memorial of the renowned Kree warriors.
Instead of being crushed, however, he was saved. By who? He had no damn idea who this new figure was that had just come into play by saving his life and securing his task, but he'd been through so much else to really feel like asking anymore. Just like his reaction to finding out the Corinthians had relocated to Sakaar and participated in that bigshot's Contest of Champions, he didn't question his saviour's motives and intentions. But here was a new threat and danger to the plan.
He couldn't afford to screw up the mission. Chaos would reward him handsomely for this with lavish mansions, vintage wine, the finest girls and the msot loyal of wives in all Creation. However, the one prize that attracted him most was his permission to go to and fro from Earth and Centarius whenever he felt like it. He missed his homeworld, and moreso his friends who were not as lucky as he was and hence had to live their boring lives on the planet, never to see the dark beauty of space.
So, as the rubble above him was pushed to the side, he whipped out his ranged weapon of choice - a trusty pistol that, although had a low rate of fire and even lower ammunition, did enough damage to really save his life in the most dire of circumstances. He fired at his floating target, whose body merely absorbed the blow. The figure didn't even stagger, which came as a shock to him. He fiddled blindly behind his equipment belt, finding the nano-displacer and activating it. 5 minutes for him to survive, and he'd be transported back to the ship via warp-rays.
The man above him smirks darkly, his face coming into view as the thief gasps in surprise and horror. "Well met, Perseus Jackson, but I'm regretful to inform you that those stones belong to me."
"Order." Percy greets, though it is more of a snarl rather than a respectful acknowledgement. "These are mine. You want them, you're going to have to go through Chaos."
Order chuckles, his armor meeting the glares of the rising sun as the black metal glints threateningly and his double handed sword comes into view, sheathed on his left. "That's where you're arong, Perseus. She messes with the timelines, and she tempted my hand. Now, I'll start with the destruction of your universe, and I'll make a new one from scratch. Just imagine it! Palaces, statues, pavilions, ceremonies all dedicated to me and not that slimy bitch. All thanks to her and her so-called great plan." He sneers before a terrifying smile appears on his face and he draws his sword.
"And I'll start this whole motion of events by killing you first." He laughs as he closes in for the kill. However, he forgot to take into account the duct tape that was holding the lasers back. Percy pressed a button that made the tapes evaporate into thin air, compacting them to an atomic level as the beams of light struck out at Order, who unfortunately caught one directly in his eye. He stumbles back, dazed and trying to catch his bearings with his other eye as the other is left with a painful burn mark. The traps go off, and a bucket of scalding oil is poured over the entire room as Percy scrambles under a hunk of debris that fortunately could fit his whole body inside. Order screams in agony as his body convulses, and as magic gathers in his hands he sends out a shockwave that makes Percy roll backwards and makes all the oil disappear, decimating the structure even more as more rubble dalls into the small arena.
Percy coughs, trying to find something to grip on as Order pounces on him with two swords drawn this time, an animalistic grin on his face that suited his current state. His hair was dishevelled, his body smoking and right eye injured-permanently, Percy hoped-as his eyes twinkled with something akin to murderous intent. He slashes at Percy, who rolls away just in time but still gets his arm cut by the blade. Just as Order raises his sword and lightning is called down and he readies for the final blow, he's pushed back by a blast of magic from the heavens. He groans as his eyes meet his new attacker.
"Chaos." He growls as he jumps back up and brandishes both weapons threateningly at the woman who's descended from the skies like a guardian angel.
She was dressed like a king-or queen, in this case- who was marching to battle. She donned a set of armor that made the most courageous of men in the universe tremble and wilt before her, and on her head and her silky hair rested a golden tiara. In her arms were an axe and a sword, both a shining gold and, as Percy remembered, the sharpest and deadliest weapons in all creation. She smirks back at Order, who gets himself into a battle stance as his full battle regalia forms around him from the darkness that now surrounds them. He glares at Chaos as his helmet, a spiky and polished piece of headwear that was coloured black and red, materializes around his head as a pair of dragon wings sprouts from his back. Chaos revealed hers as well, a feathery pair that resembled an angel's.
She looks behind herself and at Percy, and she shouts, competing with the collapsing structure, "Get out!" Percy scrambles outside of the battle as Order launches himself at Chaos, who blocks his attack with her sword as her axe moves for Order's neck, only to be parried as Order kicks Chaos.
"Come on, come on." He begs as he detaches the nano-displacer from the belt and shakes his desperately. "Please work, please."
The two primordials eventually become so seperated from each other that they begin attacking each other with blasts of energy, Order summoning black spears and lightning from the darkness as Chaos fires pure beams of light from her palms and swords rain from the sky. Though Chaos could stand her own ground against Order, she still seemed to be on the losing end against her older brother.
"What's wrong, sister?" He taunts her. "Can't keep up with your older brother, you whore?" He tries to make her mad and lower her defence, but she remains as calm as ever and retorts icily, "Mayhap I would be doing my worst against the likes of your vileness, would I not?" She grins as he loses his footing and is pushed back by one of her blasts, leaving his armor smoking and his mood angrier. Order sends a wall of darkness against her, solidifying into sharp spikes aimed directly for her.
Click. Percy grins and he taps two times on the mechanism. It whirrs softly and the small pebbles around him slowly rise into the air, and Percy is surrounded by a small glow as he grips onto the bag containing the stones tightly. He uses his peripherals to look at Chaos's current stand against Order, and he is pleased to find that the spikes have been redirected to Order, who is now focused on Percy and the stones. As Order leaps at Percy, the latter finds himself phasing through the sword that should have impaled him right through his heart, but merely cuts through thin air. Order looks at Percy with hate in his eyes, and Percy could see why.
"A master distraction" he admits, growling out the words with distaste. "But you don't know what you're meddling with, what you've gotten yourself into. Your master has set into motion a chain of events that convolute the timelines." He pauses to think for a moment. "You're caught in the crossfire of this. All these events, cataclysms, conflicts, they're all going to revolve around you. You're going to regret this. Give me the stones so I can prevent this. Please."
For a second, Percy ponders, and Order thinks that he's sucessfully won and convinced the young man into giving him the stones. But Percy shakes his head, and he says right before he gets teleported out of the hellish planet, "I take orders only from the highest bidder."
Order's unimaginable rage was soon let out by a scream that devestates the surrounding deserts and effectively disintergrates every lifeform on the planet. The planet slowly starts to break apart, before it implodes and sends large chunks of rock flying through space. And the resulting explosion, a bright and painful purple flame that burst out in the shape of a pair of demon's wings, was seen throughout the universe.
"What was that?" Peecy demanded Chaos as they shifted into the command room of the Imperator-Class vessel. "You said no incidents, no interference, would jeopardize my operation on that rock, and here we are, running away from a fucking maniac who's hellbent on taking... what, some fruit loops, from our dead bodies? Are you fucking insane or what? I didn't sign up to die to a homicidal dickhead!" He finishes, panting from the long rqnt he just made.
Chaos, despite being an obvious know-all, was at a loss for words. She eventually settled on, "I knew he was powerful, but I never would've suspected he'd do something so overt." For her angelic appearance, her worry was quite unbefitting.
"It's a long story, Percy. Care to sit down?" She fashions him a chair from the plain air, and Percy accepts because his legs were starting to hurt.
"Long ago, I had a... vision, of sorts." She starts. "About these... new complications in the galactic scales. A bringer of death on a pilgrimage to attain power and with that power, to destroy worlds and reduce the universal population. He is coming, and he'd stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Not even his own daughter."
"Who is he?" But Percy already knew the answer as soon as he asked.
"Thanos."
Thanos. The one thing Percy feared in this universe. The mad Titan warlord, born a deformed and hence outcasted son of Alars, who sought to raze planets and murder half of their populations. The mad prophet who sought such truth in his dastardly actions. The saviour and the Devil.
"So what do you want me to do?" Percy asks again.
"You're my key player, my master stroke. Everything I've built to set us up for this moment, it all relies on you. Which is why I couldn't allow you to be revealed to Order, for even Thanos bows to his superior intellect, skill and prowess. In fact, Thanos... Thanos works under Order."
"Impossible." Percy wanted to know that this was just a lie, a poor joke that Chaos was making. But no, it was very true.
"Order has threatened Thanos. Thanos believes in merciful purging, whereas Order believes in torture and bloodshed and violence. That's where their paths differ. He's put the life of his daughter - Gamora - at risk, and if Thanos fails to comply in retrieving all the stones, carrying out the Decimation he intends, and returning the stones back to Order so he can remake the universe itself, Gamora will... be put to the torch and die a million deaths of suffering and pain."
Percy could feel the bile rising up in his stomach. Surely... no one could be that cruel that even their madness exceeded that of the Mad Titan's? But this was the universe they were talking about, and the universe branched out into many shady areas unknown to most honest folk indeed.
Chaos reaches out to touch Percy's arm. "You, Percy, are a knight of Chaos, no matter what you do, nor who you are. A bounty hunter you may be, but within your heart is still purety and light. That's why I know you will succeed. That's why I chose you."
Percy tries to ask something else, but he can only think of one. "Is Nyx coming with me to my mission?"
Chaos smiles. Percy, no matter how distraught and worried, could always find out one's true intentions behind their words. "Yes, your sister's coming. The ship leaves at dawn. In the meantime, I do suggest you check in with your holo-transmitter for your mission details. Good luck."
And she disappears just like that.
Well, at least Percy has his loving step-sister with him, doesn't he? But that could be counter-productive due to the tension between them, which was mostly him by all means.
He sighs, pulling himself up from the chair. This was going to be a long trip.
A/N: This is my first chapter of what I hope will be a three book long series. I got this concept from a 'what-if' I had long ago about Percy and his universe colliding with that of the MCU's timelines, and the effects it would cause in a universe that was plagued with Thanos and Chao's arch-nemesis, Order (this whole 'Order' thing isn't really Greek Mythology, if you didn't know. Just a fanfiction concept taking and put into use one too many times :). )
Either ways, I hope you liked this! I may take a long time to upload, so bear with me if I take as long as a month to upload because well, 1) I have school. 2) I have a bunch of stuff to do other than homework, which involves house chores and running errands. 3) I'm just plain lazy lol (which teenager isn't these days, really?)
If you want, do leave some constructive reviews for me! I would love to improve my writing and learn from mistakes that I probably unknowingly commit!