Standing for a few moments and watching the circular ship slowly make it descent towards the street, watching the wind pick up items and fling it away. This caused Lotor's hair to whip into his, but he didn't bother trying to stop it. The remaining humans ran past him and around the corner, escaping danger as quickly as they could.
Lotor still looking at the ship, desperately wanted it to be one of Thanos children piloting the ship. His children would most likely be far easier to deal with in combat and were more likely to be tricked unlike their father. They weren't as familiar with the Galra fighting style as Thanos was and most likely didn't train them to combat it when Zarkon forced him out of the Empire.
He let a smirk take over his face, knowing he could use this little assumption to his advantage.
He felt the rest of the group catch up to him, taking in the same sight. From behind him, he could hear the grumbling between Loki and the older human, but chose not to say anything to them. He would not become Loki's moral compass even if there more important things than proving talent during this time.
"I'm guessing this is what you wanted to tell us." Tony said, a little breathless to his companion Bruce.
Lotor looked behind him to see that the short human was hunched over a bit and taking in deep breathes. Truly was this one of the Avengers that Bruce and Thor had spoken about? How would they let him not be in proper shape for keeping their world safe?
"It's not Thanos himself, "Lotor said, moving to grip the handle of his sword. "But it will be his children that he sent to gather the stones. Be prepared for anything."
"Who made you in charge of this, Thranduil? You aren't even with the Asgardians!" Tony started to protest, walking up to Lotor. He saw the mild anger in the other's eyes, but he didn't react to the nickname the human gave him.
"I have more experience than you leading a team since I spent years leading my team of generals that I chose. And I know that Loki and Bruce have seen some of Thanos children fight when they attacked out ship. Their skill is varied since they come from different alien races." He said simply, looking Tony in the eye. He would not let himself intimidated, not for one second. "There is also the fact that they will not know my skills in combat like they would with the rest of you."
He looked towards Loki, knowing that the Asgardian would perk up at the mention of his name. Loki blinked several times as he ended his staring contest with the older human that Lotor had yet to learn the name of. "He is correct Stark. Lotor will be more useful to lead us than you would in this moment in time. I've met his general and they are most fearsome warriors."
"Tony don't argue with him. He's more likely than the rest of us to smash you into the ground. And yes I'm including the Hulk in this equation!" Bruce half yelled as Tomy opened his mouth in protest. He moved towards the shorter human, placing a hand on their shoulder.
He could hear a huff from Tony, but didn't say anything further to him. Lotor moved his attention back to the ship, noticing that there was two figures coming down despite the ship not landing. A small breeze picked up, making his hair move into his face again. Using something Valkyrie had given to him on the ship, he tied part of it up to the back of his head to keep out of his face.
As the figures landed on the street a few feet away, Lotor dropped his hands back to his sides. He wanted them close enough to his sword if he needed to quickly react.
"It appears that you've arrived before us. Quite a shame that we'll have to tear apart this planet if you don't cooperate with us." The one said, part of his face covered in black makeup. It wasn't a design Lotor had seen before.
The other figure didn't say anything. They simply stood where they landed and looked straight ahead.
"Why would we want to cooperate with aliens who have come to my planet and destroy it for a bunch of stones?" Tony asked with all the insincerity he could muster up. Lotor rolled his eyes, wondering how he ended up with such an individual.
"You will when we start to do this." The one with the makeup raised both of his hands and forced several members of their group to move backwards a few feet.
Immediately Loki and the other human used their magic to combat with the alien, working together rather than fighting each other like before. Lotor moved back to the group, motioning the two of them to go towards the front. They would need to see any attacks that were magical or otherwise to warn the rest of group.
As he moved past Tony to go help Bruce, he saw various parts of metal flying towards the human's body. Seeing how each part would connect to each other, forming a suit of metal around the human was fascinating to see. What was even more impressive was seeing the human using it to flew around the situation. Still it didn't deteriorate from the personality that was under the suit for Lotor.
He was not one to give into petty fights like he's seen from the barracks of the Galra soldiers. But this individual seemed to press the right buttons to get him to start throwing insults as well. It was something Lotor should be ashamed of doing, being a prince and needing to be polite in the face of everything. Still since it was Tony Stark and that he started this whole thing first, Lotor wouldn't feel guilty acting like this.
As Tony flew with the metal suit to attack the magician alien, Lotor saw that the other alien started to move forward. Quickly as he could he dashed to Bruce, hoping he could be of some use for fighting the larger alien. As he slowed down to stand next to the human, he could see that Bruce was struggling.
"What's happening?" Lotor questioned. He could see Bruce shifting between himself and Hulk, the green skin catching Lotor's eye. But Bruce would managed to shift so far before he would revert back to himself.
"I don't know, he's struggling against me!" Bruce panically said to Lotor. He tried once more to shift and ended up with the same result.
With a sigh, Lotor looked towards the fight. He saw Tony fighting the larger alien with some difficulties while the three magical users went up against the other alien, giving each other time to get the next magical attack out. Still this wouldn't last long if they couldn't use their powerhouse of a teammate.
"I'll give you some more time to change into the Hulk," Lotor said, still keeping an eye on the fight. "But if he won't come out during the next few minutes I want you to run as far as you can from here. I'll make sure to keep the rest of them alive."
"Okay." Was all Bruce was able to say as Lotor took a leaping jump into the fight.
He grouped up with Tony, knowing he would be more useful with a physical fight than a magical one. The fight with Loki in the Grandmaster's Arena had proven this. Taking his sword, he used it against the larger alien, watching out for any of the blasts Tony was using.
The sword didn't make much of a dent as it hit skin, but it was enough to distract the large alien to look towards him. Taking the opportunity, Tony used several shots to make the larger alien teeter a bit. Taking another swing, the sword managed to make a hit, sinking a bit into the skin. Blood started to trickle out of the wound, the colour of it a weird shade of yellow.
Taking the sword with him, Lotor jumped backwards as the alien tried to him. Tony shot more of those shots which created a perfect moment for Lotor to move forward and swing at the same spot. The wound grew larger and the yellow blood started to flow faster. As it dripped onto the street, he felt himself being swiped away from the fight by something that he couldn't see.
Hitting a building with his body, Lotor felt the air rush out of his body. As his met the small bit of ground that was surrounded by fencing, the only thought in his head was getting back up to fight. He would not let anyone associated with Thanos get those stones. He managed to make himself get up and walk a few feet before fall back to the ground near the fence.
He could see the fight still going on between the bars of the fence. Tony managed to strike down the larger alien. Still the other alien had magic to use and it was unfamiliar to him as it was to the rest of them. As he struggled to gain back his ability to breath, Lotor saw someone new come into play. They wore a red and blue suit that had a small black design on their chest. They swung around the fight, spraying Thanos children with a substance that made the aliens unable to move for a few seconds.
He could hear the voice of the newcomer, sounding younger than any one of them as they talked to Tony. It raised concerns in his mind, but couldn't do anything to stop it since he was unable to breath nor move. Then he could feel someone gently touching his body as they landed behind him.
"Mr. Stark said to help you. Looks like you got the breath knocked out of you." The new human said, sounding a lot more cheerful than what he would expect from this situation. The human moved over him, getting into Lotor's range of vision.
Seeing the costume up closer made it easier to see what the black design was. It looked like another animal he saw on one of the planets that were uninhabited. They were far larger and extremely poisonous to those who got bite or were captured into their traps. While it was unlikely that this human knew about such creatures, the fact that Earth had similar animals sent a shiver down his spine.
As they kneeled in front of Lotor, he suddenly felt like he could breath. Taking in deep breaths and coughing when he took in air too quickly, he was grateful for Tony for sending whoever this was. They had carefully rubbed his back as he forced air back into his lungs, making sure he was going to live.
"What is your name? I need something to identify you by when fighting." He asked, his voice sounding hoarse. The human's hand stopped rubbing circles on his back when he asked that
"My name is Peter. But you can call me Spiderman if we want to keep my identity a secret." Peter said, moving his hand away. Lotor still felt suspicious of the age of this human. "What's your name Mr?"
"I am Prince Lotor of the Galra Empire. I am here to aid your team of Avengers from Thanos and his children. Tell me Peter, how old are you?"
There was silence for a second before the small human spoke up, a flow of words and sentences coming out of his mouth. "I'm old enough to be- Actually I'm- Wait aren't you only a few years older than me?" Peter asked incredulously. "Wouldn't it be hypocritical to ask that of someone a few years younger than you?"
"I do not know how long humans live for, but gauging from what Thor told me you don't live as long as Asgardians or Galra. I'm probably hundreds of years older than you despite looking only a few years older than you." Lotor answered the rambling as he pushed himself up. "Besides I have experience during my long life that I'm assuming you've never had."
"Wouldn't exactly be wrong. Still I wanted to be treated as equals when fighting the enemy, even from aliens like you ." Peter said. He went from kneeling to stand in one fluid motion. It was something that told Lotor more than the young human could have told him. That he was capable of handling himself in the fight against Thanos children.
"If that's what you request than I'll try my best to do so. Now let's get back to the fight before Tony goes and claims he did it all by himself." Lotor said. He stood up along with Peter, towering over the young human by almost a foot.
Peter took this as a confirmation to leave Lotor and swing towards the fight. Watching the young human fight against Thanos children with ease that he had seen in his team of generals when they still trusted him brought forth those emotions. He knew why they had turned their backs on him, understood it too much even. But it still stung that they had turned on him after so many years traveling the Empire together.
He thought they would have a bit more faith in him that.
Pushing aside old and forgotten emotions, Lotor grabbed for his sword and join the fight once more. With more people helping in the fight it was easier to distract the two aliens and take more hard hitting hits against them. Blood spattered the pavement as him, Tony and Peter worked together, like a team that's been together for years instead of minutes.
When he could, Lotor also caught glimpses of the battle between the magic using alien and the two sorcerers. Loki used trickery to aid in the older human's physical magic. Sometimes they would switch it up, causing even further chaos for the alien. It seemed like a fitting team despite their supposed dislike of each other.
As Lotor took another swinging hit towards the larger alien, he finally noticed that the ground was starting to tremble once more. The vibrations ran up his legs, making it feel like his legs would run away from him. It was a sensation that he was unfamiliar with, even as an experienced soldier. His mind and body demanded that he make the vibrations stop, wanting back control.
As he drew his sword out from the alien's body, seeing the yellow blood gushing from the wound unto his sword and the street below, Lotor saw that the older human was nowhere to be seen. Loki was still battling the magical alien along with the help of Peter. But the fact that the sorcerer wasn't in sight made his gut clench up.
"Tony where did the sorcerer go?" He questioned as he forced his sword through thick skin once more.
"Don't know where he went. Last I heard from him I was arguing with him about the Infinity Stone he had in his possession." There was a pause in his shouting as Tony took a hit. His suit didn't crumble under the force as Lotor expected to by now. In return Tony used another of his missiles to make the alien sway back and forth where they stood. "He might have went back to the magical dimension house knowing how protective and possessive he is over it."
With a low growl, Lotor forced his sword further into Thanos child, making a squelching sound of organs being pierced by the blade. For the first time in the fight he could hear a soft sound of pain from the creature. It felt satisfying to hear that sound, knowing that it wouldn't take much longer for the alien to collapse on the ground.
Pulling the sword back out and seeing the yellow blood rush out of the body was a familiar sight to Lotor. When Zarkon felt like teaching him something, he would often use one of the Druids or lower ranking soldiers to show the damage it would cause when using such things. Zarkon knew that the sight of blood and those struggling from the pain that was caused by the wounds was something his son hated to see.
It was his own form of amusement to see Lotor struggle not to gage or faint at the sight every time. Though he grew bored when his son started to visibly not show shows of his struggles. Where was the fun if you couldn't see the person being horrified?
Walking away from the fight, he heard Tony yelling at him. Yet he didn't stop as he turned the corner. He needed to find the sorcerer, needed to know that the stone would be safe. He will not let it fall into the hands of Thanos, not will he was still alive.
As he continued down the street, he felt air rush past his head. It only took him a few seconds to see that it was Peter landing near him.
"Shouldn't you be helping the others? They need you since that sorcerer left without a word." Lotor said, continuing to make his way.
"Mr. Stark was worried that you left us all of a sudden. I'm a bit worried too since it looked like you were in a daze when taking that last swing into the alien." Peter said, running abit to catch up to him. "Why did you suddenly leave?"
"I have to make sure that the Infinity Stone that the sorcerer has is going to stay safe. I don't need Thanos getting his hands on it. It would be devastating to say the least."
"What stone would that be Mr. Lotor?" Peter asked. His eyes were brown and filled with curiosity making it difficult not to answer him.
"If my guess is correct, then the sorcerer has the Time Stone. Very powerful and not something the enemy needs to have in his grasp. Unfortunately Thanos will get it one way or the other, most likely using the other stones or otherwise to gain it." Lotor said, reaching the steps of the house. "I will not let the Titan get that stone, even if I have to die to achieve that goal."
"Why do it by yourself? Isn't better to get help from others?"
"Peter the others that I trust to help me keep the stone safe are doing that right now. They're fighting Thanos children, making sure they're distracted. Which you should be there doing that alongside them." Lotor stepped through the door, being greeted by the sight of the hole in the staircase and the foreign objects that were in the room.
"Then I guess I should go join them." Peter said. Lotor could hear the hurt in the young human's voice, but didn't say anything to comfort him. As much as he liked Peter, it wasn't the right time to form a bond with him.
Taking a few steps he was greeted by the sight of the sorcerer. Light caused by the hole in the roof gave Lotor enough to make the outline of the human's face. It was an older face, reminding him of the galra generals and soldiers that managed to survive the army. They had an older look to their face and body, holding wisdom and experience many hoped to gain.
It was the same way with this human. Except Lotor knew that no matter how much he lived, he would never be as old as his himself or Zarkon.
"What are you doing with the stone?" Was all he asked. He had no time to use methods that Hagger had taught him. He needed to get to the point.
"I am taking it somewhere else that the enemy cannot get to it." The sorcerer answered. Still he didn't look Lotor's way.
"Then you know that Earth has a few other Infinity Stones that could use protection as well. Why don't you stay long enough to get those as well?" Lotor took a step towards the human. He wanted to be able to grab onto the clothing that the sorcerer wore if he tried to get away.
"As Sorcerer Supreme I have to keep the Time Stone safe. The other stones don't needed to be guarded by me or anyone associated with me. You and the rest of your team can handle keeping them safe without me."
With a sigh, Lotor took another step towards the human. "Even if I agree with you about your plan, simply leaving the rest of us to deal with Thanos and possibly losing the other Infinity Stones will not be helpful to either of us. He will get them all and use them to gain the Time stone. I don't see that going down for you by yourself."
"Then keep the rest of the Infinity stones from Thanos if you're that worried." Came the snotty reply. Lotor unhappy with the exchange forced his body forward and gripped the front of the sorcerer's clothing.
"I will not be told by a magician who has no knowledge of the enemy like I'm less than him or a small child. You will either help us keep the other stones safe or die a bloody mess of a death." He said, enunciating every word he spoke. He wouldn't deal with another terrible attitude, not after seeing what Thanos would do to those who struck out on their own.
Just as the sorcerer was about to answer back, the magic using alien came through the roof. The ground shook slightly from the landing. It was enough of a shock for the alien to gain control over Lotor and the sorcerer.
Lotor was forced from the human's side, crashing into a wall in the room. It wasn't as hard as being thrown at a building earlier nor did he lose his breath again. But this time he cracked the back of his head against the wall. The scene in front of him blurred and twisted, making it difficult to see what was going on.
He could hear the sounds of a fight breaking out as he struggled to get back up. As he staggered to get up, another force made him fall to the ground. Lotor's chin cracked against the floor and he narrowly avoided his teeth making a gash in his cheeks or tongue. Still the hit echoed throughout the rest of skin making sight and sound hard to use.
By the time his vision and hearing cleared up, the fight had ended with the alien taking the sorcerer with him to his ship.
Lotor made his body stand up. He could feel his head throbbing in pain and was starting to become lightheaded. Still he pushed through it, knowing he needed to find Bruce. He would have to go with the human to warn the team protecting the planet from Thanos.
Wandering out of the house, he could see the destruction that landing of the ship caused. Most of the leaves from the trees were blown right off and many of the metal carriages laid in the middle street, abandoned by their owners. He made his way these things, head towards a nearby park. At this point he was following his gut, knowing it was the only thing he trust right now.
Seeing that the damage didn't spread as far as he thought it would, Lotor took in the sight of the park. The greenery was pleasant to look at after failing to protect one of the stones. Going down one of the park's paths, Lotor soon found Vruce, sitting at the base of a tree.
"I'm guessing that not everything ended well." Bruce said firmly. Lotor gently shook his head, unable to say anything to the human.
"There's still hope yet. They only took Strange and not me." Came Loki's voice. Looking behind him, he saw that the Asgardian was standing a foot or so away from him with a smirk on his face. He didn't look any worse than when he landed like he didn't even fight at all.
"Praise the gods that Loki has survived. Whatever will we do without him if he didn't'? Lotor said harshly. The throbbing was getting to his head and it didn't help that Loki was still not a welcoming sight at the moment. The smirked dropped off the Asgardian's face, looking like he might stab Lotor.
"Well I think you'll be happy to know that Stark and the strange costumed human have gone after Strange. There was no way I was going to join them when I have this with me." Loki brought from behind his back a blue cube. It glowed with a light blue light, pulsing with energy that he had felt earlier from the sorcerer.
"How did you manage to hide that from Thanos children?" Lotor asked incredulously. Even if he knew he shouldn't ask, he couldn't help himself.
"I'm with Lotor here. How did you do that without either of them coming after you?" Bruce also asked. His eyes widen at the sight of the cube like he had seen it before.
"Nothing either you need to know at the moment. All you need to know is that we need to keep it safe. Which means calling up your Avenger friends Banner." Loki said, placing the cube back wherever he hide it. Lotor could hear Bruce sigh like this was the last thing he wanted to deal with. He could sympathize.
"Kinda difficult to do when I haven't been on Earth for two years. You should already know this." Bruce said. He was rubbing his eyes with hands like that would make the events of what happened today disappear.
As Loki was about say something in reply, the low sound of a ship came to Lotor's ears. Looking up at the sky, he could see a ship that was similar to those he use to pilot with his team of generals coming towards the park. It didn't take long for it to reach them. It caused the leaves on the trees to rustle and then he saw a blond human jump down from the ship.
Bruce had a look of happiness on his face as he stood up. Excitingly jobbing over to the blond human, Lotor could see it was a happy reunion. Both him and Loki waited for the two humans to make their way over to them, unsure if they should ruin this moment by bring impending news to the conversation.
"I forgot that I would see others besides Stark." Loki grumbled.
"What, didn't make a good first impression with them? I wouldn't be surprised knowing you." Lotor snipped. He wasn't dealing with anything until he got his head to stop throbbing.
"I know we're on better terms, but could you stop with the snarking answers? It hasn't been pleasant to experience at all after everything." Loki said. His green eyes blazed with annoyance like he was also done with everything. "What did Thanos bring up that was so bad to make you this salty?"
With a huff of dry laughter Lotor answered "Memories of my father trying to be a father. Showing me gruesome ways to kill an opponent and taking glee in my discomfort as I watched the lower ranking soldiers die by the wounds he caused. Forgive me if I seem a bit on edge after remembering those moments in my life."
The silence between them was awkward. Still Lotor didn't speak up. He needed some time to himself if he wanted to help the team that Bruce would introduce them too.
It didn't take that much longer for the three of them to get on the ship and start flying towards their destination.
If you didn't read the tags already, this will have spoilers for Infinity War. Which means you either risk the spoilers or wait until you see the movie in some way. But if you've seen the movie already, then you already know what I've changed. (I couldn't let that death happen in this fic. He deserves ore than that!)
But anyway, hopefully you've enjoyed the chapter. It was a lot of fun to see Lotor interacting with Tony for this chapter. I can't wait to write him meeting the other Avengers and T'challa in the upcoming chapters. (Also have a surprise concerning Lotor in later chapters as well!) Also it was interesting to have Lotor standing up against Thanos for the Galra Empire and himself. He's not about to let anyone have control over him just yet!
Next update will come up in a few weeks. Hopefully with having one region to take this year, I'll have a lot less to stress over. :D
