Oh, my god, is that what I think it is? Yes! It is a new chapter after four weeks without one!
My apologies, ladies and gentlemen, things have been quite hectic, what with school ending and graduation. School ended, depriving me of my previous source of connection. But, fortunately, I now have a house with unlimited now, so now I will be capable of posting more often once again. Exciting isn't it?
I apologize if this chapter is a little lower in quality than usual, I've not had much time to work on this. Graduation and such, and college proceedings.
Other than that, I've nothing else to say but to enjoy and to look forward to more consistent posting for at least the next couple of months!
P.S. Dividers still don't work!
The temple grounds were completely deserted. Not that it was such a problem, of course, even if they weren't; a hand gesture was enough to kill with the Power Glove.
Thanos approached the steps with his newest disciples flanking him. Cinder Fall stood vigil. Emerald Sustrai and her keen thief's eyes watched around. Mercury Black, the arrogant boy who fancied himself an assassin, remained lax as always. The masked lieutenant carrying a primitive tree-cutting tool for a weapon.
But of all of them, the most fascinating of them was the being known as Adam Taurus.
He was a determined man, one with a focus on the destruction and enslavement of humans, and the rule of the Faunus. A man after his own heart. If not for his shortsightedness, Thanos might have extended him the opportunity to become his right-hand man—Death knows he needed one after Ronan the Accuser killed his last one.
"This is the temple, according to our agent's information," Cinder reported, speaking of the one named Neo, the infiltrator, "The one the Soul Stone was acquired from."
"Good," Thanos said, "Then its defense system is here, as well."
Cinder seemed surprised. An appropriate reaction, given her circumstance.
"Defense system?"
Thanos grinned maliciously. "The defense system is designed to retrieve the Stone should it be stolen...with efficient and destructive results. It is several millions of your years old, unfortunately, so it did not activate as it should have due to degraded sensors."
"How far into the temple do we need to go to get it?" The assassin Mercury asked. Thanos shook his head.
"You mortals always believe there is a distance to be traveled to acquire some small, trivial thing, a sword, a shield, perhaps," Thanos stated, casually lifting his gauntleted hand and inspecting it, "But sometimes you discover that there is no path, and thus you call the quest a failure. No. This defense system is not within the temple. It is not even a weapon. It is a creature, beneath it."
The Mad Titan reached his palm out and the Reality Stone glowed brightly, and before the very eyes of each of the mortals atop the path, the temple itself rose from its foundations...
And then exploded into its thousands of individual pieces, the bricks scattering like dust in the wind.
"Why did you..."
"The temple was the failsafe trigger of the defense system," Thanos explained, "Destroy it, and the defense system activates regardless of the presence or lack thereof of the Soul Stone."
He smiled maliciously and watched the giant, ancient behemoth rise from the depths of the temple, its body made from technology that existed far before the creation of Remnant...or any other planet, and far more advanced than any that existed today.
Thanos held out his hand to the mechanical beast, the Reality Stone glowing again. The metal monstrosity raised its many tentacle-like arms and pulled itself from the foundation of the temple it resided beneath, looming over Thanos and his group.
"Oct, the guardian of the Soul Stone," Thanos bellowed, holding up his gauntleted fist, "I am Thanos, and I wield the Reality Stone! Your Soul Stone has been stolen!"
The goliath, Oct, lowered its pod-shaped head and opened a huge, red eye.
"Zithros olokir frew Stohn Infinitu?" It spoke in a loud, heavily processed voice, and in a language that none alive today had ever heard. Except Thanos and the Asgardian All-Father, Odin.
"What?" Emerald asked, but Cinder hushed her with a glare.
"Your Stone is in hands that seek to destroy this world with it," Thanos claimed in a blatant lie the machine didn't pick up on, "I wield this Stone for the sake of saving the planet."
"Ariss quor frew Stohn Infinitu?"
"It currently resides in a nearby city," Thanos fibbed through his teeth, but Oct failed to notice, "I know not where. It may be at the center of the city."
"Torve erlos, Thanos," the creature known as Oct seemed to thank Thanos, but nobody could understand the language it spoke in, "Uas ferdas frew Stohn Infinitu."
Oct rotated and returned to its hole in the ground, hidden completely from sight.
"What did it say?" Emerald asked the Mad Titan.
"It said it will find the Stone," Thanos translated, "Oct will hunt for it tonight, but when it does, you will go take the Stone from the warship while Oct is destroying the city and occupying the ones in control of it. When the Soul Stone is within my grasp, you will have your power, Cinder Fall."
"What do we do until then?" Mercury asked.
Thanos turned and walked back into the woods where his ship resided. "You wait."
(Pretend this is a divider please because I can't actually use one)
"Weiss!" Ruby yelled across the hangar yet again in the fifth hour of searching for her partner. It was midday at this point.
"Where are you, Weiss?" Yang shouted, climbing atop a shelf and nearly knocking something off of it in a bid to get a better view of the rest of the massive hangar, "Weiss!"
"Where did she go after you talked to her last?" Ruby asked her sister for the ninth time.
"She went searching for Blake earlier this morning, but, again, none of us have seen her since we got here."
"Not even Sun?" Ruby wondered.
"Even he hasn't seen her. Either of them. I know, I asked him."
Ruby pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips. "Hide-and-seek champions, those two."
"May I help you with something?"
The two girls turned to see the source of the accented voice and were shocked by the man they met. He was about average height and wore a green suit with a golden cape and he seemed as if he didn't actually walk there, but rather he simply appeared in that spot, but that was hardly the most defining part of him. That role was taken up by his red skin and the big, yellow gem embedded in his forehead, above which he was bald.
"Is that a..."
"An Infinity Stone," the red man informed the younger sister, "The Mind Stone, as a matter of fact. It is my power source."
"Are you one of Tony's robots?" Ruby asked the red man.
"I am an android, a machine designed to be a synthetic human, and I was created indirectly by Mr. Stark," the red man corrected, "My name was Jarvis, but I am now called Vision. May I assist you in any way, ma'am?"
"We could use some help locating a couple of our friends, for one," Yang piped in, dropping from the shelf and standing back up.
"I am, like my successor, Friday, connected to the mainframe of the Quincarrier. If you like, I can perform a sweep to find each of your friends."
"We would appreciate that, if it isn't too much trouble," Ruby said, feeling she shouldn't be bothering a man who lived off of an Infinity Stone. He was practically a god or something, right?
Vision put one arm around his waist and put his other hand on his chin, stroking it in thought, until suddenly he said, "I have found your white-dressed ally, but yet cannot find the black-haired one."
"Where is Weiss?" Yang asked impatiently, clearly not thinking about the fact that Vision didn't actually know who Weiss is.
"The one I assume is known as Weiss is currently inside the ship of Starlord, the leader of the Guardians. The ship is over toward the airlock."
"Why would she be in there?" Ruby wondered.
"Maybe she's looking for Blake," Yang answered, "I hope."
"Do you need help finding her, girls?"
"We'll be fine," Yang said, giving a less-than-friendly look at Vision, "C'mon, Ruby."
The android waved goodbye and the two girls headed off, and when Vision was out of earshot, Ruby said, "Why did you look at Vision like that? He helped us!"
"I don't trust any of the people on this ship, and he's no exception," Yang said with a rather intense expression, "They are going to take the Stone away, and we can't let that happen, okay? Or some crazy dude is gonna get it and destroy the world with it. That Stone is staying here."
Ruby nodded in agreement, but she was wary of Yang now. Something wasn't right with her. She was on edge, insecure. Angry. Something she never was outside of a fight.
"That Stone is getting to you."
"What?" Yang lifted an eyebrow, confused.
"The Stone. The Stone is changing you. Making you paranoid."
"No."
"Yes it is," Ruby said, frowning in concern, "You're so scared of losing the Stone that you're getting paranoid. These are good people. They have good hearts. They are perfectly trustworthy. But that Stone is messing with your head and making you think that they're dangerous to us."
"No, it's just—" Yang closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm just so scared of what the Stone can do to this planet, and I don't want that. I'm trying to be protective."
Ruby hugged her sister around the waist. "I know. I understand. But we need to go about it the right way, or we're no different than the bad guys."
Yang agreed with the tipping of her head and the two set off again to find Weiss and Blake.
(Pretend this is a divider please because I can't actually use one)
The air felt electric, like it typically did when the Bifrost was incoming.
Thor stood with a semi-excited Nora beside him in the dark of the thin night air, bouncing up and down with an energy that Thor himself wished he had his youth back for. She was skipping and humming as always, bubbly to the end. The air grew more and more charged by the second.
"So, DAD, where are we going?" Nora asked, looking up at her father.
"You are going to meet your grandfather, the All-Father Odin. He is the leader of Asgard, the land of our people. He is my father."
"Cool! I never met my grandad and grandmama on Mom's side, they died before I was born, but I guess they were super cool too because they were both Hunters and one of them liked to blow things up and that was why I made a grenade launcher with Magnhild and—"
Thor closed his arm around her waist and held her close after looking up and spotting the pillar of light descending toward the top deck of the warship. It glowed with intensity as it lit the evening sky with beautiful colors.
The beam hit, and Thor felt the familiar sensation of the Bifrost pulling him from this world to Asgard, but it took longer than usual. Almost a full minute. Normally, it took half a minute, if even that. This world of Remnant must be quite separated from the the closer branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, such as with Earth and the other, closer nine worlds.
Then the end of the Bifrost came into view, and with it, the horned helm of the one that could see all.
Thor braced himself for the landing and lifted Nora a bit higher so she wouldn't get hurt by the fall in some way or another, and his feet touched the floor of the portal structure.
The telltale SCCCCHHHHHINNG of the blade being retrieved from the activation pedestal signaled the closing of the bridge, but not before something came through it behind Thor and Nora.
"I was not aware that you would be having an extra guest, Odin-Son," Heimdall said in his deep voice.
Thor whirled and spotted who Heimdall spoke of as he set Nora on the floor.
A boy with black hair and a pink streak in his bangs stood just a few feet from Thor, clad in white pants, black shoes and a green, two-tailed tunic with black floral designs woven on the chest of the shirt. A pair of primitive, green, ranged weapons hung from his hips.
"Who are you?" Thor squinted at the boy, who had pink irises.
"That's Ren!" Nora exclaimed, "He's, like, my best friend in the whole entire world and we've been together since we were kids, but not together together because that would be weird and I'm not saying I wouldn't want to be and that he's not handsome and cool I just don't think we should because he says we're basically brother and sister—"
"Nora," Thor gave her a look, and she went quiet. He returned his attention to the boy. "I did not see you on the ship."
"I did not see where you had the right to take Nora away without checking with anybody else first."
"She is my daughter."
"She is my friend."
Thor could see the look in the boy's eyes, the instinct that boiled up when somebody threatened the person closest to him. Thor knew it well—Jane Foster was that person to him, and he would likely do the same in Ren's place. This was a quiet boy, just being protective.
"Very well," Thor said, "I will allow you to stay with us, but you will not act out of line in this place or I will have you banished from Asgard myself."
"Understood."
"I will not help with that," Heimdall commented from the background he had all but faded into.
Thor looked back to Heimdall. "What news of the events in Asgard?"
"Your Ragnarok has yet to be anything even remotely threatening, but your father still thinks it could pose as one, given time. Speaking of whom, he will be unveiling the memorials of your brother and your mother tonight. I should think he seeks your presence in such a time as this grieving."
Thor exhaled, the image of Frigga's body and the dying Loki flashing in his mind briefly and inciting his grief, but he pushed it from his thoughts.
"Strange that it was so short a time ago, yet it feels as if it happened only days before now," Thor sighed, crossing his arms. He looked to Nora, who was staring at one of the walls of the chamber. Ren had drawn closer.
"You would best be going," Heimdall stated, "Your father will be waiting, as will Sif and the others."
Thor agreed with a curt nod and bent his head in the direction of the bridge. Nora and Ren followed behind him as he passed Heimdall and stepped on the bridge.
"Whoooooaaaaaa..." Nora said in amazement, essentially silenced by the grandeur of the great golden city of Asgard.
"What is this place?" Ren asked quietly from his place beside Nora.
"This...is Asgard."
"It's magnificent."
"Yes," Thor said, smiling proudly, "That, it is."
The great city of Asgard loomed over them the way a magnificent steed might a beaten mule. Not a city existed that could make Asgard pale in comparison. Light gleamed on golden spires, leaving the city with an illustrious glow.
"Come, this way," Thor said, gesturing to the two teenagers to follow him along the bridge. The three of them began to travel toward the city, keeping to a leisurely pace on the multi-colored path.
(Pretend this is a divider please because I can't actually use one)
"Ozpin, we have not seen several students in two days. I worry for their safety."
The old professor sipped from his mug and continued to watch out the window as lights swept across the night sky of the kingdom of Vale. The moon kept its watchful, shattered eye pointed in the direction of the planet.
Glynda Goodwitch wore her eternal scowl as always, but her words were true and her tone reflected her worry for the children. Ozpin didn't blame her; Team RWBY could handle themselves for a time, but a total disappearance was unheard of for the group of girls. Teams JNPR and SSSN were both missing currently, as well, having disappeared at the same time as RWBY. Strange and quite likely caused by some dangerous event.
"We should send out Team CFVY to search for them."
"No," Ozpin said, "If something dangerous has claimed the three teams, we must be prepared. I know not what caused the absences, but one thing is certain now—"
Ozpin jerked his head to the side suddenly, his Semblance allowing him to sense a disturbance of great magnitude. It was how he was so wise and capable of foreseeing danger—his Semblance warned him of it.
"Something is coming. Alert the General and Qrow."
(Pretend this is a divider please because I can't actually use one)
Not long after she left Peter Quill's ship had Weiss felt a presence nearby, and then she heard her teammates' voices yelling her name.
"Weiss! Weiss!"
"I'm here!" Weiss answered the call, moving toward the shelves and searching for the other girls. She rounded a corner and met one of them directly.
Bouncing off and falling on her rump, she looked up and Yang stood in front of her, looking slightly panicked. The blonde hastily offered a hand and helped her up.
"I'm sorry, Weiss," Yang smiled sheepishly, much more shy than usual, "I didn't mean to knock you down. Sorry. I'm...sorry."
"Hey," Weiss said, giving a reassuring smile, "It's okay. Falling on my butt won't hurt me."
"Are you alright, Yang?" Ruby asked as she suddenly appeared from behind Yang, "You seem particularly worried about Weiss lately."
Yang refused to make eye contact. With anybody. "It's nothing. Nothing. Just caring for a friend."
Weiss noticed she was still holding Yang's hand, which she dropped both reluctantly and with haste.
"Did you ever find Blake?" Yang asked, trying desperately to switch the topic.
"No," Weiss answered, "I'm beginning to think she doesn't want us to find her."
"Why would you say that?" Ruby wondered.
"I was told that Blake appealed to the other group to try and get them to take the Stone off-world."
Yang's abnormal behavior was swiftly replaced by her temper. "What? After all we've gone through, she wants to get rid of it?!"
Weiss took a subtle step back with Ruby to give the blonde some space while she vented.
"That isn't right," Ruby said, "Blake would want the Stone here, where it's the safest. Something must be wrong or she saw a vision, o-or something. I don't get it."
"We have to find her soon. If we don't find her, she'll have been gone for two days. It's dusk now."
Weiss was about to reply to Yang's comment when a loud noise similar to an alarm began to blare.
"What is that?" Weiss yelled over the sheer volume.
"I don't know!"
Weiss looked around for somebody to explain the reasoning behind the sound and found a tall, dark-skinned man with a goatee and red-lensed sunglasses several yards away. She rushed to him as he bent down and picked up a backpack of some sort and slipped it on.
"What's going on?" Weiss asked the man, the Avenger, who turned to her, strapping a pair of machine pistols to his hips.
"That's an alert," the man replied, pointing in the direction of the bridge, "Sounds like we've got a mess to go clean up."
Weiss glanced at her leader and her friend and gestured for them to follow. To heck with Blake right now; an emergency required utmost attention. The team would berate her later. The trio followed after the man with the backpack as they rushed to the bridge.
"Name's Sam," the man introduced himself on the way, "Some call me Falcon. I figure we're probably gonna be working together, so let's get used to it."
"Nice to meet you, Sam!" Ruby said rather cheerfully for being in the midst of a possible crisis, a trait Weiss noticed was rather common in those with Xiao Long blood, "I'm Ruby, this is Yang, and that's Weiss!"
"I know about you, Yang," Sam said, entering the large door into the bridge, "I heard you beat up the big one."
"That's what I'm known for, huh?" Yang chuckled, "I suppose that's more suiting than being the pun master."
Weiss shook her head, but found a smile cross her face despite herself.
In the bridge, the entire crew had gathered: a dozen or so human beings, another two with green skin, one of them with red markings on his, a rodent-like figure, and a tree with eyes. Quite the assortment.
Entering right behind them was Team SSSN, along with Jaune and Pyrrha. The latter wore a bandage around her head.
"Everybody present, except Thor and those other two?"
The man known as Steve asked the question, to which all nodded.
"I am Groot," the tree said.
"Yes, thank you, Groot," Steve said, "We've got a situation in the city."
"What? What's happening?" Ruby dashed forward to stand next to the man, who towered over her, "What's wrong?"
"That's the problem," Steve said, "We don't actually know, but Friday intercepted some news chatter about some sort of creature attacking downtown. More people are in danger this time than usual since it's night. More difficulty evacuating. We need to get our fastest and strongest guys out there. Sam, Vision, Stark, and Rhodey, get on your way. Pietro, Clint, Natasha, and Doctor Banner will come with me to the Quinjet to the city to try and take down the beast. Starlord, you take your team on the Milano and join us."
"Got it," Peter Quill replied with a nod of his now-masked head.
"What about us?" Yang snapped indignantly, "That's our home! Let us help you defend it!"
"No. You're kids. You'll just be in danger."
"If I remember correctly, I kicked your buddy's ass and served it back to him on a silver platter."
"She's right," the unarmored Iron Man stepped in, setting his hand on the table, "She's packing enough force in her punches to level a building. She's a mini Hulk. Let her and her sister come."
"Fine. Red, you go with Starlord. Blondie, you come with me. Everybody, move out, on the double."
The designated individuals rushed out the door, headed for their respective destinations. Everybody piled into the Quinjet, but before Yang got it, Weiss grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"What? I've gotta go!" Yang said in a hurry.
"You come back safe, you hear?" Weiss said, looking up into her friend's lilac eyes. "I would hate for today to be the day I lose a good friend."
Yang smiled and nodded. "You got it."
The blonde then rushed onto the airship and the loading ramp raised up, sealing shut and allowing the ship to take off.
Weiss watched as it turned around in the hangar and flew out of the airlock with the ship of Peter Quill following close behind, and for the first time she found herself worried greatly for Yang's safety.
(Pretend this is a divider please because I can't actually use one)
Cinder watched as the two airships flew off into the night.
"It's time," she smiled, her dress engulfing itself in flames and disintegrating before reforming into her mask and catsuit.
She turned and sauntered to her own airship, where Mercury, Emerald, Adam and Roman waited. Each of them looked up at her, and Roman nodded from his position at the pilot seat. The airship's engines whirred and it began its ascent to the warship above.
"Do you have any rules for us to follow, oh-malevolent-leader?" Roman asked, turning his head briefly to see Cinder before turning his eyes back to the sky before him. Mask, the lieutenant, kept his attention to the ascension of the airship.
"If needed, kill on sight," Cinder said, then added, "Or if you feel you should. Or if you want to. Thanos may yet reward us all should we come to him with the heads of our enemies."
"You treat this as a game," Adam huffed angrily, "This is the future of Remnant. The future of the White Fang. Treat this as history in the making, not your own personal amusement."
"With how easily we will dispatch them, should we not have the right to ensure they know just who beat them?"
"I do not agree. You treat this without even a hint of focus."
"And you act as if it is all about your cause, Adam Taurus, but might I remind you that the White Fang's success hinges on my whim."
Adam growled, hand on the hilt of his sword, but he turned away. "Fine. Treat it as though it is a joke. But if we fail, your gravestone is the one you will be hung from."
The radical ronin sat back down and allowed Cinder to mentally prepare herself for the coming fight.
