Chapter Fourteen
Nebula pulled the coffee brown burlap further over her shoulders. A cold drizzle fell from the crying, gray sky and kissed her skin. She lightly walked through the small puddles on the cobblestone road. Few people lurked outside in the gloomy atmosphere. Their heads turned as the two passed.
Shuri's Black Panther suit had retracted into the inconspicuous, silver necklace around her neck, revealing casual, soft, pale clothes underneath. She held out her wrist in between them as a holographic image projected from her bracelet.
"I've picked up a ton of interdimensional activity from this location." Shuri explained, "This is our best bet of where the time stone is located."
She nodded. A soft breeze kicked up. After a long silence, Nebula spoke again.
"So, do you go by 'Princess,' or something."
Shuri smiled a little, "Oh God no. Just Shuri."
"Cool." Another silence, "Hey, uh," She caught Shuri glancing at her, "I'm, uh, I'm really sorry. About your brother. That's horrible."
She sighed, closing her eyes, "Yeah, it's alright." She bit her lip, "It's just, I miss him, you know? I mean, I've thought he was dead before, but this time he's gone. We were already close, but we had so much time left together. And the time I need him the most, he's not here, he's not anywhere. He's wherever you go when you die. You know what it's like when you look back, and you wish you had known that that was the last time you were going to see that person so you could've said everything you needed to say, and now you would do anything just to see them one last time?"
Nebula did. She knew exactly what that was like. Gamora.
"What would you say?"
"I don't know what to do. Please, T'Challa, come home." She shook her head, "It's dumb, I know."
"I don't think it's dumb at all."
Shuri gave a small smile. The few passbyers who remained outside drifted past, shielding themselves with brightly colored umbrellas.
"What about you?"
Nebula blinked in confusion at her question, "What about me?"
"Pain. Hurt. It's written all over your face."
She crossed her arms over her chest, pulling the burlap further, "You're sixteen, right?"
Shuri shrugged, "Sixteen years and nine months, nearly seventeen."
"You act a lot older than that."
She sighed, "Yeah, well, sometimes I have too. So," She continued, "Did you lose a family member too? Or a friend?"
"I've got a sister." Nebula hesitated, "Had a sister. We weren't close like you and your brother, but we were just starting to make up for lost time. But he killed her. Our father, he took us, enslaved us, then in his desperate attempt to finally undo reality to fit his image, he traded her soul for the soul stone." She smiled sadly, "Killed her band of dorks too. All gone, except for Rocket."
"Nebula…"
Nebula gave a frustrated sigh, "That's how this works. They say a soul for a soul, but what soul? He doesn't have one! It then turns into a battle for life and thank God to us that he still has that to lose. No one wants to die. Why should Gamora, or anyone else he murdered or annihilated be any different? She didn't want to die!" Her hands balled into fists, "So he's gonna have to."
"We have to try." Shuri agreed, "For everyone taken."
They stopped at a beige, wooden door. Nebula reached for the bronze knob, water droplets rolling off her metal arm.
Shuri studied her, "I can give you an upgrade, if you like."
Nebula shook her head, "I'm fine, thank you."
Shuri took her arm, and Nebula sighed as she lifted the burlap off her shoulder.
"Nebula…" She started concernedly, "Your prosthetic parts aren't installed correctly. None of them are." She rubbed her fingers together, "They're also made of cadmium, and they'll cause you a great deal of pain unless I treat them."
Nebula let out a humorless laugh, "I know. Thanos has made sure of that for as long as I can remember."
Shuri looked up at her, horrified, "Thanos did this to you?"
She smiled sadly, "You seem surprised."
"I know, it's just," She sighed, "I just thought, even the Mad Titan loves his kids."
"He's not my father. Gamora understood, and I finally realized she was all the family I needed. I'm going to kill him for her."
Shuri wrapped her arms around Nebula and gave her a light squeeze.
"Uhh… What are you doing? Are you attacking me?" Nebula asked inquisitively.
She smiled, "No, I'm hugging you. I thought you could use one."
Nebula patted her on the back. She knew that Shuri could use one too. When it comes down to the end, family is forever. It doesn't matter if you're related, because when you love someone as much as you love a brother or sister, losing them will leave the deepest kind of scar you can imagen. She knew exactly what that was like for her; she was living it too.
"Let's get your brother back." Nebula encouraged determinedly.
Shuri grinned, "And your sister!"
Nebula smiled sadly, deciding not to state the unlikeliness of being able to redeem her sister to avoid crushing the young girl's optimism.
She turned the knob, but the door didn't budge.
"Here, I got it."
Shuri inserted a small, black, circular device in the keyhole. She twisted the knob and eased the door open. Nebula gripped her batons by her sides and Shuri's suit grew over her body as they stalked down the dim hallway.
The hallway led them to a wide, gloomy courtyard. It was eerie silent, and a chill wind carried droplets of water so soft that they rose slightly off the ground once they hit it before settling into puddles on the pavement.
"How much you wanna bet that the time stone is on some sort of pedestal thing, completely unprotected?" Shuri asked in a hushed, humorous tone.
Nebula shrugged, "I mean, that's exactly how it was when Quill got the power stone the first time. But there's gotta be some sort of magic or something protecting it."
"Well, magic is just science we don't understand yet." Shuri grinned confidently.
A gate screeched on the opposite end of the courtyard. Nebula and Shuri exchanged a glance and approached it cautiously. A library unfolded on the other side of the gate, the hundreds of books on the cage-like selves stared at them as they walked past. Dust was suspended in the air, adding to the eerie gloom. The room was dim except for green glow of the time stone in its center.
And sure enough, it was on a pedestal. Unprotected.
A good-humored smirk spread across Shuri's face, "Told you so."
Nebula rolled her eyes at Shuri's childish remark. Shuri scanned the pedestal with the time stone with a holographic projection. The device on her wrist beeped.
"That's weird…" She muttered and a portal then suddenly opened beneath her feet and she vanished.
"Shuri!" Nebula called in a hushed whisper.
She whipped around at the sound of faint footsteps behind her. She held her batons in front her in an 'X' position, ready to attack.
"What brings you to Kamar-Taj, daughter of Thanos?" A soft, but powerful voice carried through the library.
"I am not his daughter." Nebula snarled, angrily.
"Ah, yes. Of course not, biologically."
"Alright, Lady, listen up." Nebula declared, turning on her spot, "I don't know who you are and why you know so much about my personal life, but if you would kindly return my emotional support princess, we'll take what we came here for and be on our way."
"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that."
"Yeah, well…" Nebula replied gruffly, "I wasn't exactly asking for permission."
She leapt out of the way before she could fall through the portal that opened beneath her feet. She slid across the floor and looked up to find a figure in all yellow, hood pulled over her face, approached her with glowing orange fans generated by magic by her sides. Nebula charged at her; batons drawn by her side.
She was an incredibly skilled fighter. She blocked Nebula's attacks with her fans. Nebula slipped underneath her and tripped her, slicing at her legs with her batons.
"Wouldn't change your mind if I said the fate of the universe depends on it?" Nebula whirled around and swung at her with her baton.
She shook her head and ran up along the wall, flying over Nebula and striking from behind.
Nebula groaned and pushed herself off the ground, "Magic is so annoying."
She rolled across the ground as the figure sliced at her on the ground with a glowing orange whip.
"Hey, you got a name?" Nebula held her batons in an 'X' in front of her face to block the whip.
A thin smile grew across her face, her eyes still covered by the flowing, yellow cloak, "I'm the Ancient One."
She shrugged, "That's cool. I'm Nebula."
Nebula looked beyond the Ancient One's shoulder. A small, green vortex sparked to life. The Ancient One followed her gaze and frowned. All the sudden, the vortex erupted and began to pull the surrounding atmosphere into it. The Ancient One projected a glowing orange shield, placed a firm arm over her, and prevented them for being pulled inside.
Shuri emerged from it as the vortex collapsed in on itself. She stood, staring down the Ancient One determinedly. Her mask grew over her face and the outlines of her suit glowed a bright, daring, neon green.
The Ancient One tilted her head, "You are no sorcerer."
She shrugged, "Maybe not. But what you like to call magic, I like to call quantum physics."
She hit the ground and as she did, a green blast erupted from her suit causing them to fly backwards. Nebula took the opportunity to catch the Ancient One off guard as she grabbed her and held a baton up to her throat. However, she grabbed Nebula's wrist and hurled her over her shoulder.
Shuri leaped through the air and impacted the Ancient One's shield with her claws. Orange sparks flew through the air.
"Curious," The Ancient One muttered, "You escaped the Eternal Dimension."
"Yeah, well, the only reason that dimension was 'eternal' was the plethora of quantum energy congested inside its atmosphere." She grinned, "I rewired my quantum placement device to absorb its energy and travel through the dimensional rift back to this timestream."
Nebula struck the Ancient One from behind. She defended herself as Shuri and Nebula attacked from both sides. She kicked Shuri in the chest, however, she leapt back with twice the force, a lime green blast erupting from her suit.
Shuri kicked the Ancient One in the side and as she fell towards Nebula, Nebula swiped across her face with her baton.
With a burst of radiant magical energy, the Ancient One created a bright orange force field that emitted a force that trust them backwards. The room around them tilted sideways and they slide across the floor.
Nebula grabbed hold of the edge of a bookcase and Shuri's arm with her other hand. Nebula gritted her teeth as the Ancient One opened a portal beneath them, threating to consume them. She looked down at Shuri, who nodded. In one swift motion, Nebula flung Shuri up to the top of the bookcase and pulled herself up after her. They jumped across from bookcase to bookcase and finally lunged at the Ancient One with claws and batons.
However, she opened another portal in front of them that emptied out on the ceiling. She caught them in an orange haze as gravity had begun to take effect. Even though she could only see the bottom half of her face, Nebula could tell the Ancient One was contemplating something.
"Let me ask you this." She began both calmly and sternly, "What master do you serve?"
Nebula heard Shuri snicker next to her, "What 'master' do I serve? What am I supposed to say, Jesus?"
Nebula rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
"God," She heard the Ancient One mutter under her breath, "Teenagers."
"I mean, one time I cured a friend of my brother's, and he sure looked a lot like Jesus."
The Ancient One sighed, "Why do you yearn the time stone? Do you intend to bring it to the feet of Thanos?"
"No!" Nebula exclaimed, maybe a little too harshly, "We're here to take it before he ever finds it. To make sure he never wipes out half the universe!"
A small gasp escaped the Ancient One as the room returned to normal and she released her suspension of Shuri and Nebula.
"From whatever realm you've come from," She began worriedly, "Has he done it? Has he wiped half of life from existence?"
Shuri nodded grimly.
"Stephen Strange." Nebula realized, "Where is he?"
The Ancient One shook her head, "I'm afraid you're five years too early."
"How could he help us know?" Shuri asked curiously, "He's dead, remember?"
"He had the time stone when he fought Thanos on Titan and traded it to save Tony's life." Nebula recalled, her hands instinctively balling into fists.
"He did what?!" The Ancient One exclaimed, ripping back her hood. She pressed a hand to her forehead, "No… that can't be right."
Her soft blue eyes narrowed and she ran a hand over her smooth head.
"He took an oath, well, he will take an oath. Why would he give it up?"
Shuri's mask faded, "I wish we knew."
"One out of 14,000,605." Nebula muttered.
The Ancient One turned to her, "What did you say?"
"That's what he said, or at least, that's what Tony had explained. Strange saw 14,000,605 different outcomes of our war with the Infinity Stones and we only succeeded in one."
"Those aren't… great odds." Shuri agreed.
The Ancient One shook her head, "They're not. It's also a code."
She extended her arm and the glowing green Infinity Stone materialized in her outstretched hand. She grasped it lightly between the tips of her fingers.
"Strange better be right." She muttered, "This means your universe, along with the others you've collected the other Infinity Stones from, are in grave danger. However," She hesitated, "If you fail, Thanos's reality will spread across the multiverse. I need also remind you that we're going to need the time stone back."
Shuri nodded, "After we combine all the Infinity Stones, we'll use them to send them all back."
Nebula saw trust in the Ancient One's eyes. She took Shuri's hand and placed the stone into her armband. Shuri flinched a little then nodded reassuringly to the Ancient One who was studying her.
"Good luck." She gave a soft smile before vanishing into the bright orange portal behind her.
Shuri glanced sideways at Nebula and waved, "Gotta catch them all."
Nebula rolled her eyes, "That's enough pop culture references out of you."
"Oh, cmon." Shuri nudged her in the ribs, "I seriously haven't made that many this trip."
"That's so sad, Alexa play Despacito." Nebula replied without glancing at her.
Shuri stared at her in a state of awe, "But… but… how?"
Nebula wore a satisfied smirk before activating her armband to return home.