I sat in my room and looked at the picture I received from Mr Day. The picture of my father as a twelve year old kid in his fairy form, and Mr Day as a teenager, holding my granny over her shoulders. I was sickened by that picture and wished I could throw it away, but for some reason I couldn't.
Someone knocked on my door. I hid the picture under my pillow and opened the door to see Hawkeye with a big smile on his face.
"What's going on?" I asked and leaned against the door frame.
"Come on beautiful, Steve and Tony are going to fight in a few minutes!" he said and grabbed my hand before pulling me with him to the gym. My heart was racing in my chest as I felt him hold me, but I tried to hide the fact that I was blushing.
"W- what do you mean fight?" I asked and tried to think of something else. Hawkeye turned his head to me as we ran and smiled at me.
"Steve said Tony can't fight, so this is gonna be great!" he stated before using his ID card to enter the gym, where Steve was doing a few flips and tricks with acrobatic rings attached to the ceiling. Hulk was sitting on a beam high up on the wall, having perfect view of the boxing ring. Hawkeye placed himself next to Hulk and released me to rub his hands together.
"This is gonna be good." he said and smirked.
"Yup." Hulk muttered back. I looked at the both of them and smiled as well.
"Bet ya ten bucks Steve's gonna hit him in the face." I said placed my hands on my knees dangling from the roof beam, removing my shades from my eyes.
"I'm in." Hawkeye said and gave me his hand. Hulk shook his head and smirked at me.
Steve was doing a few gymnastic tricks with two loops hanging from the roof, before he landed and a boxing ring rose from the floor. Tony stood a few feet away from him and put on boxing gloves and a helmet, before turning around and looking at his opponent.
"From what I've seen, your fighting style is to tackle people or blast them." Steve said, putting on gloves of his own. "If I had to guess, I'd say you've never been in an actual fight in your entire life."
"Well, I, I-" Tony stuttered. Steve narrowed his eyes.
"Punch me."
"What? I'm not going to-"
"Do it."
Tony shrugged and threw a punch at him. He then fell face down on the ground.
"Huh!" Hawkeye said and elbowed Hulk's arm. Hulk grinned and grunted, still looking at the fight. I smiled and leaned my head on the heels of my hands, my elbows against my knees. Hawkeye had been right, this was going to be good.
Steve helped Tony up again, and Tony planned a surprise attack, but his movement was so obvious Steve saw through it and punched him in the stomach, shoving him into the ropes at the edge of the boxing ring and then fall to the floor face first. The three of us sitting by the roof laughed, Hawkeye clapping his leg as Tony's pathetic attempts of fighting against Captain America. Tony glared at us and aimed several punches towards Steve, but was then hit in the face and plopped down on his butt. I laughed like crazy and held a hand on my stomach, trying to not fall down from the ledge. It was so hilarious that I couldn't help but laugh. Tony muttered something to Steve and took off his gloves, walking away. I stopped laughing and looked at Hawkeye.
"Someone's a sore loser! And you sir, owe me ten dollars!" I said and dried away a tear of laughter from my eye.
"Yeah, but it's worth it." Hawkeye said and looked at me with a wide smile. "Glad I brought you out of your room?"
"Totally." I said and stood up, brushing dust off my clothes. "Oops, sorry guys, gotta run."
"You going somewhere?" Hulk asked, his arms folded over his chest again.
"Yeah, I'm going to check up on granny and Ethan. Shouldn't take too long, unless someone plan me a surprise party." I joked and jumped down from the ledge, landing swiftly on my feet against the ground beneath me. "See ya!"
I hurried into the hospital where granny and Ethan would be, and quickly found the room where they were. When I opened the door I saw two nurses and Ethan stand close to granny, lying in the bed and chatting.
"Hiya, guys!" I said and Ethan turned around to me with a wide smile.
"Hey Lyra." he said, taking a step towards me.
"Darling!" granny yelled and held out her hands to me. "Come here, sweetie, I need to see you!"
"Okay granny, calm down already, it's not like I'm gonna disappear again." I said and smiled awkwardly. I took a chair and placed myself on it, my legs over the back of it and leaning forward to her.
"Oh you never know, darling, and therefor I want to be with you for as long as time allows it." granny said and took my hand in hers. "But my dear child, what is that for manners? Sit straight! Don't tilt your chair! And put your legs the right way!"
Before I could argue against it and say I always sat like that, my legs seemed to move on their own free will and placed the chair back in a 'normal' position and I plopped down. My eyes were opened wide and my mouth was hanging open. The nurses stared at me for a second before finishing their job and then they walked out the door. I listened extra carefully of what they said when they passed by and wrinkled my eyebrows in anger.
"How can she allow that ridiculous outfit on her own granddaughter?" one of the nurses asked.
"She would have a heart attack!" the other one said. Lyra sighed and looked back at her granny lying in the bed, pale skin and machines wired to her body.
"Don't mind them, sweetie." granny said and put a hand to my cheek. "You are beautiful."
"Thanks, granny." I said and put my own hand over hers. She smiled and motioned for me to move closer to her. I put my hands on the edge of the bed and leaned on my arms to get closer to her.
"I know that I am not the only one to feel that way." she whispered and pointed her index finger at Ethan, who read a magazine on the other side of the room. I blushed and moved away from her with wide eyes.
"Granny!" I shouted. "You're embarrassing!"
"Don't you remember, sweetie?" granny asked and looked surprised. "You used to go out with him."
"What are you two talking about?" Ethan said and looked up from the magazine, seeing my pink cheeks and wide eyes.
"N-" I began, but granny put a hand over my mouth.
"Oh, she saw that I needed some rest and was just thinking of buying something to drink. Why don't you go with her, Ethan?" she said and smiled mischievously. Ethan raised an eyebrow but just shrugged and rose from the chair, putting the magazine back on the table. I glared at granny but was only met with an innocent look. I rose form the chair as well and walked out after Ethan, when I suddenly saw what the front image on the magazine he had read. It was a motor's magazine.
I caught up to Ethan after closing the door and heading towards the long hallway. We walked in silence form a long moment and looked in on the other rooms of the hospital, seeing mostly injured people.
"So, um..." Ethan said as we got closer to the cafeteria. "You want some coffee?"
"No thanks, but if there's tea I'd like some." I said and smiled at him, feeling a blush threaten to burst all over my face. He nodded and headed towards the counter where a seemingly grumpy woman waited for people to order something.
I sat down by a table and looked out the window, seeing the gray and blue mixture of the world outside. A few trees spotted the area outside with more interesting color and made it somewhat harmonious to look out.
"Here you go." Ethan said. I snapped my head at him and looked at the cup with steaming hot tea in his hand that he held out to me.
"I spaced out, right?" I asked and took the cup from him, putting my lips towards the edge of the paper and feeling the vanilla and strawberry scent whiff up my nose.
"I usually get a 'thanks', but yeah." Ethan said and sat down on the other side of the table. "Thinking?"
"No." I admitted. "Headache."
"Ouch." Ethan said and took a mouthful of his coffee. "You need some time off that hero thing."
"If I take a day off, Hulk would probably smash something... or someone." I said and giggled. "And who knows who Hawkeye would pick a fight with. And who would make sure Iron Man doesn't do more stupid things."
"You see?" Ethan said and smiled at me. "You need to get away from it all. Take a break. Do something that has nothing to do with the Avengers."
"I guess you're right. But what should I do?" I asked and took a mouthful of the vanilla and strawberry tea. "I'm not really the type that goes out shopping daily like Janet, I can't relax in a spa, and there's no way on Earth I could meditate like Panther does... so what should I do?"
"Well, what d-" Ethan began when my ID-card suddenly made a noise. I picked it up from my pocket and looked at the ID of the caller. It was Jarvis, which meant something was really wrong.
"I need to go." I said and put down the cup on the table. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise!"
Ethan didn't have time to finish the sentence before I was gone. I hurried to the bathroom and quickly changed into my hero outfit, before I jumped out the window and made my way to the mansion.
I opened the gates and ran inside, when I heard a loud rumble from the mansion along with a smaller earthquake.
Great, I thought, Hulk's probably fighting someone in the basement.
I opened the door and was about to go to the main entrance to the lower levels of the mansion, when a strange force pulled me away from it. I was pulled into the kitchen and hid behind the kitchen counter, my heart beating hard in my chest. I heard the door open again behind me and heard the small flaps of wings and a cape moving, figuring it was Thor, Wasp and Ant-Man since they were supposed to 'hang out' today, as Janet had called it.
The door to the lower levels opened and closed, before the strange force keeping me in that one place released me. I coughed since the tension in the air made me hold my breathe for too long, and turned my head around quickly.
What I saw was beyond my wildest imagination. A beautiful woman with dark skin and black hair flowing over her back stood in front of her. She had what seemed to be a veil over her eyes and a tiara over her forehead and a white, black and blue princess like suit with a coat over her shoulders. Her cold but friendly blue eyes looked straight into mine through the shades, and she eyed me up and down.
"Hear me, Lyra of the Forgotten ones." the woman said with a soft but said voice. "I have come from the future to warn you."
"Okay, give me a moment..." I said and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands, trying to get over the shock. The team was in possible danger, a strange force and a mysterious light appeared, and this woman appeared. From the future! It was too hard to take in all at once.
"So, go, I can listen."
"As I said," the woman said a little awkwardly, "I have come from the future to warn you. I am princess Ravonna, from the 41th century. My beloved one, Kang the Conqueror, has returned to this time as well and is now making a great mistake that you must prevent." the woman continued and folded her hands together.
"A-and you expect me to do what?" I said, still full of disbelief. Something suddenly made the whole mansion rumble and a few things in the kitchen fell down on the floor. I clenched my fingers around the kitchen counter and tried not to lose my balance, and when the rumbling stopped I looked back at the woman again. She lowered her head and shook it slowly.
"Tell me what I can do." I said and looked at her. She lifted her head and looked into my eyes again.
"You do not believe me." she said with saddened eyes. I smirked at her and took off my shades.
"Listen princess. I don't get it and you're simply confusing me with all that you're saying, but if you need help I can't just leave you here hanging. So tell me what to do, and I'll do it."
The Princess looked at me with shock, but reached her hand to me. I held out my own and when they met, I could feel another strange feeling run up my arm. She faded away slowly, and a strange blue light ran up my arm and to my neck.
"Hey, wait, what's going on?!" I cried out and looked at the torso that was left of her.
"In order to stop him, I need to borrow your body. Please, relax and let me take over." the Princess said and disappeared.
"Hey wait!" I yelled, but she was gone and the blue light was crawling closer to my eyes. "Great, now I'll never know what she meant with 'the forgotten ones'."
a strange dizziness filled me and made me fall to my knees, but then I stood up and walked to the entrance of the lower floors. I felt strange, it was like walking on clouds and sinking in an ocean at the same time.
"What's happening to me?" I asked myself as I walked through the gate to the elevator heading down. "I feel funny..."
As the elevator stopped and the doors opened, my feet began moving on their own again and I saw a large hole in the wall. Inside I saw the whole team look at man in a strange chair. I couldn't see him since both Thor and Giant-Man stood in front of me, and because I am kind of short, I couldn't see a thing.
"Give it up, Kang!" Iron Man said. I flinched mentally, since I had no control over my body. That's Kang? The one that Princess told me about?
"Kang. Does not. Give up. Primitive." a voice said from the other side of the room. "If you insist on fighting for the Captain's life, then I will show you fools exactly what you are fighting for."
A mystic light spread throughout the room from the chair Kang sat in, and so we all ran towards it by instinct. My body still felt numb and broken at the same time, but when my eyes got used to the dark surroundings my entire body froze.
Wherever I turned, I only saw traces of destruction and a massacre. No life for as long as I could see, and that was pretty far away. I looked up at the sun and saw it being a lot closer to the Earth, a large ring of fire at the bottom of it. It had exploded and caused so much destruction to the Earth. A globe made out of steel wires and plates stood in front of us, but that one was broken as well.
"This is... horrible..." I whispered and removed my shades and put them on top of my head. Hawkeye and Panther turned around and looked at me, they hadn't noticed my presence. I looked around me and saw and went in another direction to look around. I got a strange feeling something being underneath a large boulder that was the remains of a building and tried to remove it,when I suddenly saw rotten bones lying there in a plastic bag, eyes looking straight at me. I let out a terrified yelp and backed off, dropping the boulder to the side and almost tripping on a rock lying there.
"It- they- all... dead!"
My voice drew everyone's attention to me and the plastic bag that laid there in a puddle of dried blood and intestines and someone coughed. Panther put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me a little closer. I looked at him and met his eyes through the mask almost feeling the concern and chock he was emitting. He probably wanted to comfort me, make me feel safer, but it was no use. I was terrified, shaken, and worst of all I had seen a molten corpse in a plastic bag. On top of that, we were in the future somehow. It was too much to handle for me, and I was going to break if I didn't wake up from this nightmare. Suddenly the chair in which Kang was located appeared in the middle of the steel wired globe, his back turned to us.
Can't you just let me see your face once, jerk! I thought and tried to stand straight without throwing up. I leaned partially on Panther's chest and partially on my shaking legs.
"This... is what Captain America's presence in your time has caused." Kang said coldly. He turned the chair a little and finally showed his face. "This is all his fault..."
I widened my eyes and looked at Cap. How could that be? Captain America of all people could never do such a thing, especially with the sun all blasted up.
"Impossible..." was all I could say and looked around. "That's impossible..."
"That is the truth." Kang said and looked at me. "Every man, woman and child alive are gone because of his presence in your time line."
I glared back at him and finally saw his face. He had blue skin with darker blue lines filling out his facial features, and was wearing a large purple helmet over his head. He had purple pants, shoes and what seemed to be gloves, and a green tunic like clothing. He raised an eyebrow at me and seemed a little shocked, but kept his cold face at me all the time. Thor picked up a small doll from the ground and looked at it. My heart started to ache as I saw it and looked with narrowed eyes at Kang.
"Where have you taken us, Kang?" Iron Man asked him angrily.
"Not where, Avenger. When." Kang answered. "You stand in your New York City, just ten years from you present day."
"You did this!" Hawkeye shouted in fury and aimed an arrow at him.
"You are not listening, Archer." Kang said and made a grimace at him. "I am not responsible for destroying your world, Captain America is."
"Lies..." I muttered and clenched my fists. Just the sound of his voice made me feel like breaking apart. "It's all lies! You're lying! Cap wouldn't... he couldn't possibly do something to cause this!"
"Everyone, just wait!" Iron Man said and held out his hand to us, and gave orders to Jarvis. "Jarvis, connect to the Stark Industries Network. Try, SHIELD, try everything!"
Suddenly he took a step back and looked up at the sky. If it hadn't been for his armor, I was almost sure I would have seen a pale shocked face.
"There's... nothing out there... there's no one left..." he said.
"Of course not. You see very soon in your time line, Earth will be consumed in a war. Earth's sun will be a causality in that war, along with all life on the planet." Kang said with an emotionless expression.
"What kind of war could do that?" Wasp asked with a shaking voice.
"A war between two alien empires." Kang answered monotonously. "The Kree and the Skrulls. But in the end, it was Captain America that was truly responsible."
I put my hands to my head and felt my world spin faster and faster. The blue light on my fingertips blinded me but I didn't mind. This was too much to take in at once.
"I... I can't believe it..." I muttered and felt tears form in my eyes. I remembered that I didn't have my shades on but that didn't matter. I forced the tears to stay in my eyes and swallowed all the fear, looking at Kang again.
"Nay. You lie, Conqueror." Thor protested. "No one man could be responsible for such destruction. Least of all Captain America."
"Not knowingly." Kang said coldly. "But the Captain should not exist in your time. He should not have lived. I am here to correct this."
"Let me get this straight." Hawkeye said and cocked an eyebrow. "Handing over Cap to you is gonna save the world?"
"Stupid future man!" Hulk yelled and jumped up in the air, fists aimed to smash Kang to pieces, but a shield suddenly surrounded the chair and created a large cloud of dirt around them. When the cloud disappeared Hulk stood and threw several punches at Kang, but he didn't even budge. Hulk sent another great punch, but a bolt of energy sent him hurling back towards Hawkeye.
"It may." Kang said nonchalantly. "I came to eliminate Captain America, but just to be sure I'm going to advance the planet's technology in your time. I will ready your military and prepare for the coming war. Earth will be able to repulse the alien forces."
"Why do I get the feeling there's a huge catch to this?" I muttered and put my shades in my pocket on the belt, taking up my knuckledusters in the same move.
"And how do you plan on accomplishing this?" Ant-Man asked, he had ignored my comment.
"By conquering you world." Kang said and smirked evilly. "I tell you as a courtesy; this is going to happen. Hand over Captain America. Stay out of my way. Or face my wrath."
"There's no way in hell that we would just hand him over to a mad smurf like y-" I started yelling and walked up next to Cap, but he placed a hand on my shoulder and made me fall silent.
"If I really am responsible for all of this, I have to stand down. There's too much at stake." he said and looked back at the others as well. He lowered his head and looked down on the ground for a moment. "But the rest of the world... it's your decision, Tony. You're the futurist, after all."
I turned around and looked at Iron Man. He was looking back at Cap, but Wasp tried to talk him out of it.
"Tony, you can't possibly-" she started, but Tony cut her off.
"We know the Kree are coming. We've already met them. Kang's got tech more advanced than I've ever dreamed of." he said and looked up at Kang. My vision was getting blurry and my brain felt like popping out of my head of pure anger.
"You can't be serious!" I yelled. "You really can't be serious, Tony! It's... it's crazy!"
"He could be the world's only hope." Tony said silently and looked at me. I could almost imagine the saddened eyes inside that helmet. Suddenly his attitude changed and he looked back at Kang. "But he's been a complete jerk about it. Avengers, take him!"
"Finally!" I shouted and leaped into the air with my fists in front of me, aiming for his ugly blue face. The shield blocked my attack and sent me hurtling back towards the others. Hawkeye caught me and helped me up on my legs again, while Iron Man sent a beam towards Kang. The shield blocked again, as well as the combined attacks of Hawkeye, Captain America, Thor and Wasp. An arrow, a stinger, a hammer and a shield was sent towards him in crazy speed and strength, and another cloud of smoke surrounded him, but when it disappeared the shield was up again and protected him.
"You stubborn little smurf!" I muttered to myself. "Why can't you be good and let us hit you once?"
"You know you're kinda creepy talking like that, right?" Hawkeye muttered over his shoulder.
"Yeah, but that's why you all love me." I said and put my tongue out teasingly. I saw him smirk before he aimed another arrow for Kang.
"I hope you enjoy the rest of your days on this dead Earth, for this, is where I am leaving." Kang said and pressed a button on the chair, but before he could disappear anywhere a moving mass of insects crawled up and covered the entire him.
"Okay," Wasp said and looked at Ant-Man, "I'm impressed."
"I sensed them the second we got here." Ant-Man said proudly. "Cockroaches can survive anything."
"Good going, professor." I said and landed next to him. He smirked and seemed to blush a little, and Jan put her hands on her hips while glaring at me.
Hulk walked up to us again and smashed the earth under him, making the cockroaches fly in all directions and Kang fall out of his chair. He landed swiftly on his feet after doing a flip in the air, and was then surrounded by us. Hawkeye fired two arrows at him but they stopped just in front of him, the same with a small missile Iron Man fired. The missile then flew towards Captain and hit his shield, and then Kang shot a strange green laser at him.
"Iron Man, get to the chair! That's our ticket home!" Cap shouted, and before Iron Man had a chance to protest Cap cut him off. "You're the only one who can!"
Hulk sprinted in the air and aimed his fists for Kang, but a net made out of the same kind of green light appeared around him and made Hulk bounce off. Thor landed a hit on the net with his hammer and sent a massive shock through it, but even he and the lightning bounced off. I protected my face with my arms from the shock and looked at Kang.
Suddenly my hand started to tingle. I put it out towards Kang, the palm of my hand aimed straight at him. Suddenly an orb of white and purple dust grew into the size of a basket ball in my hand. I threw it on the net surrounding Kang and made it rumble, but not enough to break it.
"Okay, I didn't know I could do that." I said before I fell to my knees and felt my head get clouded. Panther ran up to me and helped me sit up. "Didn't know that would happen either..." I said and fell unconscious.
I heard voices. Familiar voices, unfamiliar voices... but they sounded so distant. The are around me was dark, and only the slow movement of my body made any difference.
The voices repeated the same words over and over again. As the words became clear to me, the are around me changed.
"Return what you stole... return what you stole..."
Something was really wrong, and I knew it just by looking around me. A world filled with only darkness and deep, heavy fog and black dead trees stretching its branches for me. Glowing eyes stared at me from somewhere I couldn't see even using my abilities; it felt like they were staring through my entire being. An owl called in the distance, and a wolf sang to the moon hidden somewhere behind the dark clouds in the sky.
"Where am I?" I thought and heard my own thoughts echo through the dark landscape. What is this place?
I looked around me and saw the same mysterious light from when I encountered the princess, and felt my body move closer to it. I took a careful step and felt something grab my leg, keeping my foot nailed against the ground where I stood. More hands burst through the clouds as I moved, each clawing at my feet to keep me put. I managed to get a few feet forward, when a strange force tried to keep me away. I fought against it to get to the light, to hopefully find out what was going on. My feet hurt as I struggled, and suddenly the voices changed their message.
"The forgotten ones... the forgotten ones..." the voices said.
"What?" I thought and heard the thought echo through the area and turned around, but when I did, I was sucked into the light.
Everything went white, and the coldness disappeared.
I screamed as I bolted up from where I was. I felt a shiver through my body and nerves waking to life, all my senses on high alert for whatever had called me.
"Whoa, good morning to you too." Hawkeye said and moved away a little. My vision got clearer and I could make out a few faces, but not the entire scene I was in.
"W-what happened?" I asked with a dry mouth. "Where's..."
"Calm down, soldier." Cap said and walked up to me. My vision got clear and my eyes widened.
"You're okay!" I practically yelled and put my arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug. Cap stiffened for a moment, and I let go with a small blush on my cheeks.
"I- I mean... you're okay." I muttered and looked down, hearing the others chuckle at me. "Where's that smurf?"
"We kind of kicked him out." Jan said and took a step closer to me. I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me and almost fell down, but felt two pairs of hands help me back to the couch.
"By the way, that weapon you created... how did you do that?" Tony asked and walked up in front of me. "My armor couldn't analyze it, and no one else knew what it was."
"It's..." I started, but hesitated as I recalled the image. The weapon I had created... was it made of Fairy Dust? Why had I never been able to do this before? "I- I have no idea..."
"Come on, sleepyhead." Jan said and put my arm over her shoulders. "You need some rest. You're white as a sheet."
"Whatever..." I whispered and allowed myself to put some of my weight on her, so I could walk easier.
When I laid in my bed, I tried to concentrate on the pink and white dust I had created before. I couldn't make it appear again, and closed my eyes to sleep.
I'll figure it out in the morning. I thought and fell asleep.