A/N: Hey everyone! I would like to profusely apologise for such a long delay. A lot of things popped up and I was under a lot of stress due to some personal commitments. But here is the chapter.The first part of the chapter has been written by NotTheTypicalFanboy, please review keeping in mind that this was his first time and be kind to him. He did an amazing job according to me.Any errors OR OOCness if at all, however, is on me because I edited it and it's entirely my fault
That said, I can't believe I made it to the tenth chapter. I hope y'all enjoy this.Spoiler for the chapter 11: finally the Loki-Sif interaction I wanted to write all my life as a marvel fangirl.
The First Battle
It used to annoy her a lot at first, the beeps and the whirring, the buttons and the complexity, the signals and the lights, but in the due course of her time away from the Realm Eternal (quite ironical of a name she thought) , Sif had gotten used to it. Back where she came from the aerial vessels were more organic, more fluidic and well far simpler on the outside; quite unlike the goliath of the ship the Man Of Iron had designed. Transporting the three Guardians, the three Asgardians: leading an army of a hundred soldiers and Okoye leading the thousand Wakandans of the infamous Baast, could not have been possible without the full energy of the Bifrost, and so here they were, travelling through space in jumps and banking upon to Jane's calculations to make it there safe.
The only good thing, Sif thought as she looked outside the window, was perhaps the view of the ocean of stars. Shimmering in a thousand hues of light, little dots of fire against a wash of a blue and black infinity. Bright streaks and beautiful swirls. In all her days, at Asgard, she was travelling all around the nine realms, seeing sights ineffable, beauty unimaginable, but this, the space would usually be a blurry haze to her as she would fly through the Rainbow Bridge, following her comrades into the most glorious of battles. Perhaps the destination mattered so much more, than the journey back then. The comrades and friends were lost, the battles fought and destinations reached. Perhaps the same could be said for the cause. There was nothing more to be explained, no more questions to be answered no more Valhalla, no more campaigns and above all, no more identity, quite like the realms being destroyed and created every second, the suns exploding, the nebulas mating and the stars collapsing all nothing but little agitated pecks on a vast indifferent canvas, serving as tiny gimmicks to increase the aesthetic value of a gigantic picture. All that remains were the stories, the myths, the lore and the lessons. It had a beauty to it, a complete circle actually:
Born of imagination, immortalized in the same.
The castle of Asgard did not seem so pretentious and dubious now. And, she mused on, she had been denying it so far but there was one person who had actually experienced the true nature of reality and on top of it also succeeded in fully understanding the same and using it as he saw fit. Sif was surprised that she was no longer scared to admit it:
HE WAS LOKI.
She flinched at the thought that all the mischief and tricks and deception might have been a child's coping mechanism with a biased father and a loving but not the most understanding brother. Underneath all that, all the gold and the green, somewhere within the blue of his eyes, there was something, a survivor ; a survivor of involuntary choices with a heart so broken that he had forgotten he ever had one. The person who had tried so hard to make sense of it all, that he actually discovered the truth of it: that it made no sense at all.
That life was not fair.
'Is this sympathy, Lady Sif? 'she asked herself. No. It wasn't. It does not justify what he did in the slightest. It was empathy. She recalled the time when she had questioned the truth of her own existence (highly unlikely for a goddess to do so), and thought what she used to be before a warrior and what she would do when all the fighting would cease. And the absence of an answer had terrified her to her core. Or was it the scathing flood of the same that had failed to fill the infinite void within her soul. She knew then what she had to do. She had to grip the hilt of the sword tighter this time and stab her opponent deeper. Correct her form and block the attacks more efficiently. She had to fight. Because that is all she knew. And that is what she had to do: FIGHT, with rival armies or with her own self. Because we all had our coping mechanisms. Because at the end of all chains of commands, all the organizations and the propagandas, all directions of the moral compass, all the pieces neatly lined up on the chess board, we were just consequences, of choices we did not make and circumstances we could not control. The true heroes, worthy of the lore, were the ones who were under. The gods didn't choose to be gods and the mortals didn't choose to be mortals, but the one with power got intoxicated with it and set out to tip the scales under the garb of valour. Yet the ones supposed to kneel refused to do so. Not wise yet mighty beyond comprehension. They made their choice. But what choice did she have, Sif thought. She should be going over battle formations, getting acquainted with the various ranks of the alien armies, be there in the cortex of the ship learning more about her opponents, help in formulating the best plan of action and put all her training and experience of the past centuries to good use. Yet she chose to be here.
She chose to star gaze, instead.
Perhaps it was the effect of Midgard on her. Perhaps earth was starting to turn a goddess into a human.
S/C
Don't need reason, don't need rhyme
Ain't nothing I would rather do
Going down, Party Time.
My friends are gonna be there too.
Quill mimiced the escalating drum solo (with quite spry gestures of drum beat) .Then sang along:
I'm on a Highway to Hell…
On the Highway to Hell.
'Why is this vessel malfunctioning. We set the coordinates to Knowhere. Why is it telling us that we are heading to Hel. And my grandfather Bor had forbidden passage of the entire living population of the nine realms, ten millennia ago. And yet this ship of Stark talks of travelling down a HIGHWAY. What is this? Does Heimdall know?' said the one eyed man of the one eyed father.
There was a minute's pause as everyone absorbed what had happened.
'And he has an actual frown in his manly brow which means that he is not being frickin' sarcastic! How did you get to be the King of Ass-Guard,huh, pirate angel?' said quill.
Val, standing next to Thor, said ' MUTE' and the music stopped playing; she continued,' Sadly no Mute button on you Mr. Lord. Any doubts I had about the Rabbit being the Captain of your Team , have committed suicide from this moment on.'
Before Peter could react, Okoye entered the cortex, battle equipped and war ready , accompanied with two Wakandan soldiers holding spears and shields, she did a formal Wakandan greeting: crossing her arms and tapping her fists on her clavicle twice,to acknowledge the presence of Thor and the Lady Commander in the room and before she could say anything Peter interrupted:
Oooh Girl! You just began an all out dance off. Sudden Death!
And saying that he copied the Wakandan greeting and started repeating it in a rhythm and started dancing to it. Basically, Peter was being Peter.
With a hint of a flaring nostrils, Okoye interjected,' You know for a man named Quill, neither your words nor your actions are original or moving.'
Peter, indifferent, began singing
Heeee heee heee heeeeee
He heee heee heee heeeeee
Here comes O-K-O-Y-E
Dun
Dun
Dun
A-weembo weh, A-weembo weh, A-weembo weh,
A-weembo weh, A-weembo weh, A-weembo weh,
A-weembo weh, A-weembo weh,
Gamora yelled ,'PETER ENOUGH!'
Okoye said, moving closer towards Quill with every word, and increasing the authority and enunciation in her voice with each step,
"Listen STAR LORD! The only 'star' that I ever found a practical use for and harbour a fancy for in the smallest and coldest parts of my psyche is a Starbucks and if, given all the hype and rumour about your heritage, of course judging by what I see I can only think of how 'accurately true' such a proposition could be if there ever were one..if you , with all your charm and charisma and dance moves and your EGO , cannot transform yourself into a steaming cup of cappuccino, then I insightfully suggest and officially ask you, BOY, to find a lease for your tongue and your pre-pubescent nimble footed body. Because if you do not, one shall be found for you. Shush now, the elders are talking."
That was a whole lot of words with a whole lot of meaning that went just over Quill's head. Rap was never his favourite genre.
'Watch your tone lady!' retorted Gamora.
'At ease soldier.' barked Okoye
'No one talks to my friends like that !' said Drax charging.
With a beginning of a smirk and narrowed eyes Okoye said, ' Bring it on, dong'ja!' and with that leaped into a offensive stance her spear on point.
The other two Wakandans followed suite and yelling something in a foreign language stood in a defensive position : shields in the front, crouched, knees bent and spears out.
'I don't see Loki's Scepter around Val. Do you?' said Thor with a kick in his voice.
'And here I thought I make a mess when I am drunk, ha!' Valkyrie commented loudly.
After a lot of cacophonous comebacks, counter arguments, yelling and downright insults, Sif, who no one
even noticed till now, couldn't take it anymore.
Sif yelled loudly, louder than she ever did a battle cry:
STOP! EVERYBODY! Just Stop!.
Suddenly, all the entropy of the room sublimed into the moment.
She had been in the room long enough and she had kept to herself. But THIS was the extent of her Sif was in the company of Her King and Her Lady Commander but after a long time, Sif felt a detached from the whole hierarchy and the chain of commands.
She continued,'If you expect me to deliver a pep talk about war,its importance and other aspects of it , you have my sincerest of apologies, because I WON'T." she barked, her chest heaving.
"I can, with effortless proficiency, yet I won't. Because everyone of you aboard this ship has been in war. I know you understand. So I will leave the theatrics to the bards and the rhapsodes who will be later telling of this day. The only thing I will tell you is to FIGHT. The brains fight with brains. The brawn collide with brawn. The power with power and the skill with skill. But most with yourself."
She paused for a moment, let out a sigh and continued,
" Fight with yourself as the only thing standing between you and victory is yourself, your doubtful, insecure, afraid self. I know all this has not exactly been a great bonding session. It has been due unforeseen events and and someone else's choices that today we stand here, ready to defend and fight. But do you think" she gestured around,
"they expect us to put on matching uniforms, whet our swords sharp and march into a battle of such high stakes like a well oiled machine? That is not how a regime, platoon or battalion works. It takes months if not years to get to the rudimentary semblance of the dynamic that our superiors want us to develop out of thin air. That's not how this works. So go out there and fight. When the battle is over then and only then can you entitile yourself of opinions, grudges and conclusions. Because how much do you really know about a person unless you have been in real fight with him?"
Everyone in the room seemed to have acquired a taste for quietness. And the silence prevailed until Sif continued.
"Okay, so let us revisit our plan of ?"
"I go to Ebony Maw and the rest of the Black Order and pretend to strike a deal with them, basically buy Thor and Quill time to break into Tivan's vault and retrieve the Aether" she said, a little too wryly for her usual self.
"Since Knowhere happens to be a severed head of a Celestial and Tivan's Collection Museum happens to be right next to the spinal cavity and the cerebro spinal fuild extraction facility (Drax flinched momentarily) in all probability there is where the majority of the rival army will be and given the fact that the inside of a skull is not flat enough, the chances of the Outriders mounting a considerable offense is slim giving us a tactical advantage on ground and in air . Val?" continued Sif.
"I will go with Drax with a battalion of Asgardians to the inner forehead region of Nowhere and retrieve the mining pods and await further instruction." Said the Lady Commander.
"And Okoye and I with the entire Wakandan army and the remainder of the Asgardian army will take our positions in the nether regions of the skull awaiting Gamora's signal." said Sif.
"As soon as Thor and Quill confirm the Aether's safe retrival I send out the signal. The Airborne Asgardians converges brutal fire of laser beams in a circular fashion on the the Black Order from the north and the Wakando-Asgardian Cavalry takes on the ground level and the Outriders. We fight till the Aether is aboard the mothership and then fall back." Concluded Gamora.
"But the last part does not make any sense. The one after our exit from the battlefield". Interjected Drax.
"Let me run through it once more. There are several pods aboard this ship that can accommodate everyone in a group of 50. Anthony Stark had worked under the supervision of the All Seeing Heimdall and crafted those pods to harness the Bifrost , well what was left of it, remotely. As soon as we retrieve the Aether, we make board the ship and get into the pods. As soon as all the pods are full, each separate pod will be teleported to an unkown part of the galaxy decided at random, hence even those on board the pod would not know what is their destination going to be hence avoiding the risk of being will be connected through intra-pod telecom , which will be activated once the pods have made a safe landing so the frequencies cannot be hijacked or tapped. The empty mothership will already be on a charted course to a third unknown location and will serve as a decoy if the Black Order and the Outriders plan to follow the threat will have passed and the location of the aether secure, then we regroup accordingly. The pod has supplies to sustain life for an year. I am sure it would not come to that" he paused for a moment and then continued,
"This mission is all in or nothing .And I don't mean just the numbers" Thor said, a little weary of his own words.
Drax nodded. So did everyone everyone's mind was just as unsettled as that of his. It was not confusion. It was something else. The stakes, Sif reassured herself, were high and so the price must be too. This was bigger than her, bigger than all of them combined , this was the fate of half of the Universe.
"We will be making port in an hour." Val said looking at the navigation screen.
"I suggest that we make the final preparations and also go over the profiles of Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive , Proxima Midnight and Supergiant.."
'..If I may' interrupted Star Lord.
This was followed by mutual eye rolling of Okoye,Valkyrie and Sif.
Quill continued,
"So, everything goes according to plan . Not as much of a cog is encountered. We out best Voldemort, Skinny Grim Reaper, Ms Minotaur and Bigfoot.
But what is the guarantee that at the end of it Papa Smurf won't arrive looking all cute."
Okoye looked at Quill with disgust. This man had been on back on earth for less than a month in the middle of crisis and was already more profficient on all pop culture references than she was. She admitted begrudgingly to herself, how proud Shuri will be of this Star Boy.
Meanwhile, Gamora flinched on Quill's words, not even understanding a word he said. He flinched so quickly that it was almost hard to notice.
"He won't" she said at last.
"Can you be sure?" Peter asked.
The prevailing silence inside the cortex made up for more than an answer.
S/C
The last time she remembered being like this was when she was greeting the Alfather, with the traditional warrior courtesy, coming down on one knee and guiding her fisted forearm to her chest as a sign of reverence.
And now this? What could have gone wrong? They had been training from months waiting for this day. It was as if Huginn and Munnin themselves had been teasing it some time now in the previous chapters of their story.
All went according to plan. The training schedules were followed, the protocols adhered to, the criticism well analysed, the appraisals, known as well as anonymous, well received, the deadlines of the strategies met, the stress well managed, and the calls, no matter how difficult, made.
But this was not suppose to happen.
Its as if the Norn got tired of writing this chapter of their lives and hired a newbie to write their destinies.
But why was she thinking about all this on the inside while on the outside through every grimace and every drop of blood that dripped down her body, all she groaned were the last words fit for a warrior, brave , moving , and praising the Alfather and his Fathers and their gifts and mercies.
At the least she should be scared of what was going to happen next.
Knowhere was burning. It was burning to ashes. As if a meteor the size on a star had hit it's surface. Or maybe that was what Sif was experiencing.
Who on earth expected this revolting excuse for a warrior called Proxima Midnight to pkay by the rules. And why?
Sif barely managed to move her ruptured diaphragm through a wounded and probably fractured ribcage and get out another breath of her body, well a semblance of one, as the one Proxima had left her with was scarred, bruised, burnt, bloody, grimy: with multiple orifices all over oozing blood and life. She barely managed to balance herself by plopping her palms and severed head over the hilt of the Moon Cleaver and was still shaking as her broken knees were giving way. Her visual perception as she struggled to keep her wounded eyes open.
Perhaps it was a good thing, as she could only HEAR Proxima, gathering her wits with a loud grunt, and unsheath a sword and charge with a bellow.
S/C
Maria Hill leaned over the surveillance computers bringing visuals and audios from the cameras fitted in the ship as beads of sweat broke on her forehead.
"Nick the situation has gone out of control. We need to send back up or we'll lose both the soldiers and the infinity stone. "
Fury was panicking as his eyes were transfixed at the computer screens.
"I know I should've accompanied them," said Banner taking his glasses out and frowning.
"Stop blaming yourself Banner. If anyone, it's my fault" said Tony embracing his incessant urge of blaming himself for all tragedies.
"It's no one's fault." Cap surprised everyone by coming to Tony's defence, if only placid and indirectly.
"What does this mean Mr. Stark? " asked Peter.
"This means, boy that we're in great trouble and we don't have much time before that Blueberry giant invades our planet with his minions and others"
"This is just like an inter-galactic version of Budapest, " Clint said trying to meet Natasha's gaze and suddenly realising she wasn't there. He so hoped that she'd come up with a secret plan which will save the whole situation at hand. But how could she? The situation at hand was on another planet.
Shuri and T'Challa looked at each other with a hint of terror in their eyes as they saw Okoye and other Wakandan warriors being crumpled by the alien forces.
Thor was fighting the majority of his army single handedly and was just about to step in his warrior's rage which was a stage of strength of the God of Thunder where he became destructive of everything in his way. Friends and Foes alike. That is why it was a force to be avoided not cherished.
Brunnhilde barely managed to hold off Warlock and Glaive and Quill and Drax were trying their best to hold off Annihilus and Super Giant.
Gamora fought off both Ebony Maw and Nebula with as much strength as she could muster. At first she was surprised to see her sister fighting for Thanos after she'd saved her life , but then, she'd never really trusted her. She didn't want to admit but that emotion had weakened her and she wasn't able to fight to her full potential.
They all gasped as they half saw Sif came into one of the camera's view for a brief moment. They saw her struggle with The Black female warrior as she hit Sif with blows again and again. It looked as if Sif was blind. Blood was seeping out through various parts of Sif's body. Then they lost her as she was tossed far away and the female alien follwed her who seemed to be enjoying hurting her.
Hill shuddered when she saw this brutality. For all the years she had served at SHIELD, she had expected herself to be immune to visuals of bloodbath. But she knew that this was something else entirely.
In a nutshell, as Hill remarked, "Everything's on fire!".
She felt her heart rate increase as she recieved some peculiar signals.
She turned around and looked at Fury confusedly.
"Nick? " she called out.
"We're recieving signals of two more ships approaching the planet. And... "
"And what?" asked Tony, "Are they friendly?"
"It's... one of them is something like an alien war craft and... on of them is the Quinnjet." Hill frowned at her screen searching for some error or virus that might have invaded the high tech SHIELD's computer systems.
"What does this mean Sir? " she asked Fury who let out a long breath he didn't know he was holding. He almost smiled before saying,
"Winter is coming"
A/N: There you go! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'd like to thank you all for all the support! I'm forever in debt for all the kindness all of you have shown me. I can never say this enough.The next chapter will be up before May 28. After so many intense chapters, it's going to be mild fluff. So stay tuned. I love all my readers.