Disclaimer: Marvel Characters are property of Marvel. Original Characters are mine. Just for fun, not for profit.
Dogfights and Detonations
Steve hefted the reassuring weight of his shield as he materialized on board the alien ship. It was something familiar amid all the bizarreness of his current situation. This was the last place he wanted to be less than twenty-four hours after his wedding. He spared an affectionate thought for Seraphina, waiting for him on the planet below. His wife. The word still felt strange in his mind. He hadn't even gotten a chance to say it out loud yet. He had a family – a wife and daughter – and just a few months he still wasn't certain that was something he would ever have. He would be damned if he would let a bunch of stinking, tentacled, extra-terrestrial monsters take that from him. Closing his eyes briefly, he recalled the map Nyssa had dumped into his head and determined his best course of action. Gripping the shield in one hand and the gun Tony had designed in the other, he ventured out of the alcove and headed towards the command center.
Scott appeared suddenly in an empty corridor and shrank to bug size as a group of Vruuxel appeared at one end. He darted closer to the wall to avoid being swept up as they scuttled past him. He waited until they had vanished down the other end, then returned to full size. He took a deep breath and shook his head incredulously, then headed down the hallway in the opposite direction. He soon found himself at a dead end with a choice of two doors. Neither one had an obvious handle or knob. Squaring his shoulders, he strode confidently towards one of them, expecting it to slide aside. He collided with the unyielding substance with a disappointing thud a moment later. Blinking, he shook his head.
"Guess it's not Star Trek, after all," he commented sheepishly to himself. He stood before the door and waved his hands. "Open sesame!" he intoned. Nothing happened. He sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot." Frowning, he ran his hand over the metallic material on the outside of the doorway, but found no obvious button, lever or switch. "If I needed to break into this place, how would I do it?" he muttered to himself.
"You do need to break into it, Scott," Hope's exasperated voice reminded him over the communicator.
"Right, I know that," Scott replied tersely. His fingers found a slight indentation that was virtually invisible to the eye, right above his head. It seemed to lead into a hole, but he could barely fit the smallest finger of his suit into it. "I think I found the door mechanism. Maybe." He pushed his finger in as far as it could go. He could almost feel something brush against his fingertip.
Abruptly, the door opened. For a half second, Scott stared wide-eyed at the tentacled alien about to walk through. Then he shrank to the size of an insect, scurrying out of the way as half a dozen Vruuxel trundled by. He let out a long breath as they didn't hesitate.
"It's okay, I don't think they saw me," he sighed to nobody in particular.
Hope rolled her eyes and flew up the wall, looking for a tiny nook she could hide in to observe. It didn't take her long to find a spot. She vanished inside just as the door at one end of the hall opened, and a line of aliens poured through, grunting and growling as they passed her by. She leaned forward and watched carefully as they approached the next door. One tentacle extended and slid into the hole three quarters of the way up, and the door opened. Hope waited until they had vanished through the door, then flew back towards the other door. Finding the hole in the same spot relative to the door, she crawled inside. A bar spanned the width of the hole, and she could see spaces on either side of it. She braced herself and pushed as hard as she could on it. It wiggled slightly, but otherwise wouldn't budge. Moving to the other side of it, she pushed again, this time in the opposite direction. This time, it moved easily, gliding back down towards the opening of the hole. She heard a click and a hiss as the door slid open. Darting through, she flew down the hallway on the other side.
"There's a trigger inside that you have to pull to make the doors open," she announced over the communicator. There was a pause, and she heard Scott grunting over her earpiece.
"Oh, there we go!" Scott called in satisfaction. "That's easier than I thought. I would have figured that out in a few more minutes." Hope shook her head and flew higher, hovering closer to the wall as more aliens poured down the hall beneath her.
Thor had begrudgingly accepted the space suit that Stark had crafted for him. He felt confident that he could withstand whatever foul poison the creatures could throw at him. It was still nice to not worry about his breathing. He hefted Mjolnir in his left hand, then glanced down at Stormbreaker in his right hand. He swung the hammer mightily at the door before him. The door caved inwards with a loud crash, but did not give way completely. Adding Stormbreaker's bite, he knocked the solid-appearing door aside and strode through. On the other side of the door, a group of Vruuxel turned and gaped at him. He plowed through the group with cavalier disregard for their hanging jaws and stunned expressions. Tentacles and blue-green entrails splattered on the walls and across the floor. Thor waded through the dismembered corpses strewn across the floor and smashed through the large door at the end of the corridor. It flew apart in pieces, and he stepped through to find himself in a massive chamber filled with dozens of Vruuxel. Activity in the room paused for a moment as they all focused on him. Stepping forward, he summoned lighting, and sent bolts tearing through them. The air was filled with horrific, inhuman screaming and the putrid stench of roasting alien flesh. With a grimace of revulsion, Thor kicked aside the carcasses in his way as he strode across the room.
"I have faced some unpleasant adversaries in my time," he declared to the room of corpses, "but you are definitely among the foes most foul." He reached the large console in the center of the room and reached his hand towards it. His eyes sparked with his divine energy, and a bolt of lightning cracked into the alien equipment. The lights around him flickered and went out. He listened closely, but the ship around him was silent as a grave. The space cruiser was disabled, drifting in space. He grinned to himself and hefted Mjolnir. "There's one down. Merely another eight thousand, seven hundred and ninety-one to go."
Peter Parker took a deep breath to steady his nerves before he left the relative safety of the closet he had popped into, and immediately regretted it. Beyond the door, he could hear soft thuds and strange rattles as the Vruuxel scuttled past his hiding spot. Even behind the mask of his suit, which Mr. Stark had tweaked to be able to withstand alien attacks as well as the vacuum of space, the smell was overwhelming. In his earpiece, he could hear Ant-Man and the Wasp discussing how to open the doors. Sliding his fingers around the doorframe, he quickly found the mechanism the Wasp had referred to. He couldn't quite reach the catch, but shot a tendril of web inside and pulled. The door slid open, revealing a gargantuan brown alien. It waved tentacles and stared at Peter in what he could only assume was shock. Before the surprise could wear off, he shot both hands at the being, wrapping them up tightly in webbing.
"Just dropping by, since you're in my neighborhood," Peter quipped, shooting webbing out into the hallway over the Vruuxel's shoulder and pulling himself out of the room with it. "Sorry to leave you all tied up. Wait, no, I'm not." Once clear, he dropped down onto the floor and sprinted away. He rounded a corner and nearly collided with another alien. This one reacted a little faster than the previous one had, and he had to jump and briefly cling to the ceiling to avoid the tentacle that shot out at him. Dodging again, he shot webbing at the attacking tentacles, knocking them back and pinning them to the wall behind them. His spider sense tingled, and he dropped to the floor just in time to avoid the blast from the alien weapon. The first Vruuxel screamed, then went limp, a portion of his head abruptly missing. Spiderman shot out his hand, wrapping the barrel of the weapon in webbing and pulling it towards him, jerking it out of his attacker's grasp. "Hey, watch where you're pointing that thing," Peter admonished. "Those things are dangerous. Someone could get killed!"
Clint hunkered down in the shadows in the hangar of the largest ship of the fleet. He counted three dozen single-occupancy fighters sprawled across the floor in the belly of the warship. Judging by the level of activity around them, there was preparation but no panic. No launch was yet imminent. For the moment, he waited, watching as the tentacled beings manipulated access panels and controls, trying to figure out how his hands could imitate their movements. He ducked behind some large machinery as a couple of them passed too close to him for comfort, then peeked out again, watching intently.
Bruce Banner looked around in wonderment at the banks of blinking lights and incomprehensible alien technology. He was in an empty control room in the engineering section of the ship. Staring wide-eyed like a child at a magic show, he inspected display screens showing unfamiliar symbols. Lights danced like a hive of bees, their patterns revealing a message he could not yet interpret. He heard a strange noise behind him, and turned to see an opening in the wall with a Vruuxel standing there. In the next moment, he felt a hot pressure in his chest, and looked down to see a gaping hole in his suit, his flesh beneath beginning to melt away. His vision began to darken as he fell back against the wall. The wound on his chest was turning green, and the green rapidly spread across the rest of his body.
Natasha heard a familiar roar over her comm unit and grinned. They had managed to piss off the Hulk, and they were going to find they didn't like him very much. She peered down from her vantage point in the rafters of the engineering section on her selected ship. Her usual feminine wiles would be useless with a species that was barely vaguely humanoid. She would have to rely on her other skillsets. Perched as high as she could get and still have a clear shot to the floor below, she aimed for the tentacle of one Vruuxel who was rummaging inside an open access panel. The tentacle dropped away as the creature squealed in pain. It was immediately surrounded by several more Vruuxel. Two of them tended to their injured comrade while another began poking around in the same panel. Natasha waited until it had three tentacles rummaging inside the ship's inner workings, then fired again. This time, her shot burned through two tentacles and a portion of the torso, and the second alien dropped to the floor with a keening shriek. Now every Vruuxel within earshot was gathering around their fallen companions. They were fussing over injuries, gesturing towards the open panel with frantic tentacles. Now they were keeping a wary distance. Pulling a grenade from her belt, she activated it and dropped it into the group of aliens below. Two of them noticed the small sphere land on the floor in their midst. One of them looked upwards, but she had already vanished.
She reappeared floating in space, staring around at the ships in orbit around the planet she called home. They bristled menacingly with weapons, gleaming dully in the light of the distant sun. A flash of light drew her attention up and to her left, and the vessel she had just left blew flames out the side. A few streaks of light shot away from the burning ship as escape pods fled certain destruction. A few ships over, part of the hull burst outward, and she saw a green figure posturing in the gap. A grip of aliens went wheeling through space, flailing their tentacles as they cartwheeled helplessly through space. With a satisfied grin, Natasha scanned through the fleet and picked her next target. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared once again.
Wanda chose to appear in one of the more populated parts of the ships. Bracing herself, she immediately put up a force field around herself for protection. It was not a moment too soon. Her force field was hit by the Vruuxel blasters, and she could sense the energetic disassembly it inspired in the particles of her shield. It took quite a bit more effort than usual to hold the field together. Once the brunt of their attack had ebbed, she bared her teeth at them in an expression that was not a smile. Gesturing with fingers half-curled into her palm, she began tearing them apart. The walls and floor outside her bubble were soon coated with slime and alien gore. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she ripped apart the next wave of Vruuxel charging towards her. The last two halted in their approach, eyes wide, and backed away, vanishing back around the corner where they had come from. Wanda's eyes narrowed.
"Where do you think you're going?" she muttered under her breath. Lowering her hands, she floated several inches above the carnage-slicked floor and sailed after them.
Vision returned to the second ship he had originally scouted. He glided through several rooms, listening to the conversations happening throughout the ship. The translation algorithm was proving invaluable. At first, they seemed gleeful at the prospect of laying waste to the planet below and repurposing it for themselves. It did not take long, however, before hushed rumors of a counterinvasion and ships being destroyed began to circulate. The glee evaporated, replaced by a frenzied panic of Vruuxel trying to search every corner of their ship for invaders while preparing for a battle they hadn't expected to be a challenge. Alert klaxons sounded, increasing the tension in the air. Over his communicator, he could hear the other Avengers' chatter.
"What the hell are these things?" War Machine said with disgust. "I damn near got a tentacle up my exhaust."
"There are worse places to get a tentacle," Falcon returned reasonably, his suggestive smirk audible over the radio.
"You know what I mean," War Machine replied. "These things are disgusting."
"Were you expecting alien beings from another dimension intent on wiping out our planet to be cute and cuddly?" Dr. Strange's dry tone sounded over the comm line.
"Well, that would be an interesting twist," Falcon rejoined.
"You should all just hope they haven't been scanning video content on our internet and discovered Hentai," Tony offered unhelpfully. Both Falcon and War Machine made shuddering sounds of disgust.
"You always have to take it there, don't you?" War Machine grumbled. Tony grinned. He glanced to the side where Nick Fury was standing with arms folded over his chest, scowling at the viewscreen. The screen in front of them was split into twelve sections, each one showing what was going on around each intrepid Avenger. He turned slightly and glanced at the table. Nyssa was sitting with one hand on the computer connected to the viewscreen. Beads of perspiration dotted along her hairline as she frowned in concentration, organizing all incoming sensory input from the team into coherent images.
"Wow, not even an eye roll," Tony cracked. "Tough crowd."
"I may be the most able to handle multiple conversations and data streams at the same time, Tony, but this is still challenging," she assured him. "I will react to your wit with the derision it deserves when this is over and the planet is safe." Nick Fury furtively hid a grin behind his hand. She stiffened in her seat, ignoring Tony's look of mock indignation. "No, no, no," she whispered. "Come back to me." Tony turned to see the second that showed Barnes' point of view suddenly crowded with flailing aliens, then engulfed in flames. A heartbeat later, a slightly singed Barnes materialized on the floor of the room, arms still shielding his head. He slowly lowered his arms and glanced around the room, his expression registering shock that he was back where he began. Nyssa favored him with a tight but relieved smile.
"Problems, Barnes?" Fury boomed. Bucky scrambled to his feet.
"I did achieve my objective," he offered, "but I had some… technical difficulties. The weapon didn't work on their engines the way I was hoping, and I still haven't figured out what caused the explosion."
"Leave that to me," Tony said, quickly scanning through the data from Bucky's suit. "How much damage did you take?"
"Pretty sure the atmosphere tank is leaking," he said grimly. "We'll have to get that fixed before I head back out there."
"Yup," Tony agreed, glancing through the diagnostic. "The nanites should be able to patch that up in a jiffy."
"I wonder if the explosion had anything to do with the leaky tank," Nyssa said distractedly. All three men glanced over at her in surprise. "Their periodic table of known elements doesn't even include oxygen." Tony's eyes widened as he processed that information.
"Vision!" he called out over the communication channel. "I need an atmospheric analysis aboard the ship." There was a pause, and Tony took a breath, preparing to repeat his request.
"I do not recognize some of the elements," Vision replied calmly, "but the most common molecule appears to be hydrogen. It is bound to a strange atom that serves to stabilize it."
"What would happen if you added oxygen to the mix?" Tony asked tersely, his face a dark study of contemplation. "I have a hypothesis I need to test."
"There is one sure way to find out," Vision said thoughtfully. Both Tony and Bucky turned towards the viewscreen. Nyssa nudged Vision's section to the center and enlarged it, moving the other perspectives to the edges of the screen. A faint hiss was heard over the monitor. In the background, several Vruuxel appeared. They advanced on Vision, then were consumed in a conflagration. The ship around Vision vanished, and suddenly the screen was filled with stars calmly shining in a black velvet background. "Your hypothesis is correct," Vision intoned. "The introduction of oxygen to their environment makes it exceedingly volatile and combustible." Tony's eyebrows rose, nearly disappearing into his hairline. After a moment, a slightly manic giggle escaped him. Bucky looked over at him questioningly, and Fury regarded him with an expression that indicated he was beginning to wonder if his top engineer had lost his mind under the pressure.
"I'm gonna build… an oxygen bomb," he announced smugly. Bucky raised an eyebrow at him.
"After you get my suit patched up, right?" he reminded him. Tony waved a hand at him as he paced back to his portable workstation.
"Right, right. First things first."
Steve edged his way down the corridor, peeking cautiously around the corner.
"How much further?" he murmured softly.
"Around the corner, then take the second right and go down about a hundred meters. Door will be on your left," Nyssa's voice answered. "There should be an access panel to one side of the door." Steve turned the corner and crept down to the second cross corridor. Furtively, he looked around the wall's edge and spotted the door, then quickly pulled back as he noticed a pair of Vruuxel at the opposite end of the hallway heading in his direction.
"And if I can get the comm unit into their computers, you can override and get me into the command center?" he clarified.
"I never said I could override," Nyssa admitted. "We're talking about alien technology, after all. It's not exactly compatible. But I'm pretty sure I can cause enough chaos that you should be able to get inside. Think you can take it from there?" He could hear them drawing closer, and pressed back against the wall, willing them not to notice him and not turn the corner where he was hiding. His luck held, and they passed by him. Jumping out from his hiding place, he hurled his shield with all his considerable strength. The vibranium disc sliced through the alien bodies right where their necks should have been. They dropped to the floor, alien eyes wide in astonishment, bluish-green blood spilling out across the metal decking. Steve danced backwards to keep the flood of gore from washing over his feet. He turned to face the direction he was going, and found that he was nearly at the door.
"I guess we're about to find out," he muttered, half to himself and half to Nyssa over the comm. Finding the panel Nyssa had referred to, he spent precious moment trying to figure out how to access it. Deciding it was taking too long, he shoved the edge of his shield into the edge and pried it open. The inside was a bewildering array of flashing lights and gold lines traced across a black background. Steve frowned at it. "Where exactly do I need to put you?" he whispered, glancing anxiously down the hall to make sure he wasn't about to be attacked.
"Set the wireless module inside with the antenna touching one of those gold lines," she instructed. "I'll try to re-establish communication through the main system if I can, but I make no guarantees."
"Copy that," Steve replied. Unclipping his comm unit from his helmet, he set it inside the panel, careful to set it in the way she instructed, then gently closed the panel. For a moment, nothing happened. He turned and pressed his back against the wall, warily watching for any approaching attackers. The lights flickered off, then on again. The door suddenly hissed open. Steve pivoted to go through but quickly ducked out of the way as several Vruuxel charged out, making a high-pitched keening that triggered an itchy ache in his spine. The lights went out again, and he ducked through the doorway with a silent prayer that nobody else was about to run into him. The lights flickered back on, but dimly. In the gloom, Steve could see the shadowy figures and gesticulating tentacles. He prayed he was just as obscured by the dark and confusion. Without hesitating, he flung his shield at the largest alien shape, then pivoted to punch the figure looming up beside him. His fist sunk in deeper than he anticipated, making a stomach-turning squelch. A tentacle twined around his wrist and pulled strongly. He had to fight to keep his feet, but took a step backwards and dragged the Vruuxel forward. His shield came sailing back to his free hand, and he sent it spinning through the tentacle holding his arm. He danced back as he suddenly found himself freed. Greenish-blue blood spattered on the deck below as the Vruuxel shrieked in anguish. Steve brought the shield in front of his face just in time to deflect the blast from the Vruuxel weapon. The metal grew almost too hot to hold. He hurled it at his opponent, and it sliced through alien flesh. His attacker dropped to the deck in two oozing pieces. In his peripheral vision, he could see more Vruuxel advancing on him. His blood rushed in his ears, his pulse like thunder. Time seemed to slow, and thought ceased. He moved purely on instinct, his shield gutting and decapitating, deflecting and defending, scarcely aware of the rising tide of gore around him. He split the skull of yet another alien and stepped back as it dropped to the floor. Panting, he looked around, muscles tensed as he prepared for the next attack. He was surprised when it did not come. The lights flickered again, then flooded the command center with light. Steve blinked in the sudden illumination and stared around at the bloody trenches around him.
"Not bad for a scrawny kid from Brooklyn." Nyssa's voice over the overhead speakers was teasing. Steve shot a sardonic look at the ceiling. "Now, let me see if I can figure out how to make this bird fly." The viewscreen on the far wall flickered on, displaying the peacefully floating blue and green planet below. Dozens of hostile ships obscured what otherwise would be a serene vision. "Weapons control is over here," Nyssa mentioned, and Steve moved to where he spotted lights flashing. He frowned down at the odd configuration, unlike anything he had seen before.
"How do I use it?" he asked, a frustrated edge to his voice.
"Move the little sphere to change which ship you're targeting," Nyssa instructed. "Target the red ones, I've turned the ships we've boarded gold. The trigger on the left launches an energy attack. The one on the right launches something closer to your conventional missiles."
"All right." Steve gripped the controls and contemplated the display. "Here goes nothing."
Spiderman dashed down the corridor, shooting webs at corners to help him turn more quickly. Behind him, the halls were strewn with wiggling, protesting Vruuxel pinned to walls, ceiling and floors with sticky, unbreakable webbing. He webbed doors he passed by them, hoping to at least stall anyone trying to come after him.
"How much farther?" he hissed into his comm unit.
"Three more doors, on your left," Nyssa's voice answered him. Ducking his head in a nod he knew she couldn't see, he shot a web at the ceiling and closed the distance between himself and the door to the command center. With a now-practiced hand, he shot a tendril into the door mechanism and deftly pulled the trigger to open it. The door slid aside, and he bounded through. Whirling in a circle, he quickly webbed up any moving shapes he could see. His spider sense tingled, and he launched himself up to the ceiling in time to avoid the energy blast from the Vruuxel disruptors. Hanging from the ceiling, he snagged their weapons, pulling them from grasping tentacles.
"I'm confiscating these," he informed them. "You can sit there and think about what you've done. I don't appreciate you trying to obliterate my planet and my home." He stuck the disruptors to the ceiling in a sticky ball, then dropped to the floor. "Now, to figure out these controls." He examined the strange-looking display. On the viewscreen, a flash of light flared, and one of the Vruuxel ships shook, then exploded in a ball of flame. Enraged and dismayed keening arose in the command center from the ensnared aliens. Spiderman took a step back, hands raised and open.
"Whoa, did I do that?" he asked. "I didn't think I even touched anything."
"No, that was Captain America," Nyssa's voice assured him. "On the targeting display, the ships that Avengers have boarded are gold. Aim for the red ones."
"Got it."
On the viewscreen, Steve, Spiderman and Thor had managed to take over the command centers of their selected ships, and had begun firing on the rest of the invasion fleet. Ant Man was causing general havoc in the engineering section of his ship, keeping up a running commentary as he figured out some of the elements worked. Natasha bounced from ship to ship, causing general havoc and destruction in her wake. Wanda and Hulk waded through the crews, tearing aliens apart; Wanda with her mind and Hulk with his bare hands. Vision took a more strategic approach, cutting open hulls with the diadem he wore. Clint was still lurking around the hangar, watching the fighter planes and waiting for his opportunity. War Machine was living up to his name, clearing out each area he came to with the arsenal of firepower he had available in his suit. Dr. Strange was… well, Bucky wasn't certain what he was doing, but the wizard was certainly living up to his name. In any case, it seemed effective. Falcon seemed to have adapted to being grounded, blasting his way through the halls.
"How's everyone doing?" Falcon called over the comm. "I think that was alien number seventy-five for me. What's your count, Winter Soldier?"
"Ah, one," Bucky replied. "One mid-size cruiser, I mean."
"Slacking again, I see," Falcon gloated. "Whoops, there's seventy-seven now." Bucky shifted and glanced over at Tony.
"How much longer?" he asked, trying not to fidget. It was excruciating to watch everyone else fighting and not be able to join them. Nyssa was sitting stiffly at the table, eyes open but unfocused. Aside from the relieved smile when he had first arrived safely back in their headquarters, she hadn't interacted with her husband much. Given everything she was monitoring and controlling, he could understand why, but after his brush with death he wished he could sweep her up in his arms. Instead, he watched her from the repair bench as the nanites completed their restoration cycle. Tony frowned over at him from his workbench, then came to investigate.
"Relax, Fullmetal. You're already at 93%," Tony observed, then shrugged. "Besides, it's only been 23 minutes since we first engaged."
"Every minute counts," Bucky reminded him. "They're going to realize what's going on any time now." Tony patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, you'll be able to get back to our real-life Doom soon enough," he said, though his tone was more dry than reassuring. "And when you get back there, you can give these babies a whirl." Darting back to his workstation, Tony scooped up half a dozen gleaming black spheres and proffered them to Bucky, who took them hesitantly. "The trigger is the gold button on the side. Slide it to the left to release the safety, then push it down. It'll start hissing; it's supposed to do that. Means it's working. It releases oxygen into the atmosphere. You'll have a count of ten seconds, then it will explode. You should probably not be in the general vicinity when that happens."
"Roger that," Bucky responded, stashing the oxygen grenades in the hidden pockets of his fighting suit. The armor on his chest beeped, and he frowned down at it. Tony looked, too, and his expression brightened.
"And you're done cooking," he pronounced. "Off the bench, get back in there, Slugger." Bucky raised an eyebrow at him.
"Thanks, Tony. But don't call me Slugger." Bucky paced over and quickly pressed his lips against Nyssa's. She didn't move or respond, but he heard her voice coming from the viewscreen in three different conversations. Taking a deep breath, he straightened up. He noticed Fury watching him from the corner. He tossed a salute to him, then activated his ring again. The walls of the control room vanished, replaced by the dim lighting and strange equipment of another alien engine room. He was not immediately noticed as he fished a grenade out of his pocket and activated it. He tossed it in the general direction of the engine, then shot three of the five Vruuxel that converged on him as he counted backwards in his head. The engine room disappeared, and he hovered outside the ship, floating weightless in space as he watched to gauge the effectiveness of Tony's latest creation. With satisfaction, he watched the ship he had been on three seconds earlier explode in a conflagration. Focusing his attention upwards, he picked another target. Pulling another grenade out of his pocket in preparation, he dematerialized.
Tony stood watching the viewscreen for a long moment after Bucky vanished. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Nyssa shift and blink. One hand came up to touch her lips thoughtfully. She sighed and returned to her trance-like state. Tony regarded the images of victory after victory on the screen, but still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He edged closer to Fury, who was staring at the images as well, his expression unreadable.
"How do you think we're doing so far?" he asked bluntly. Fury turned his head and focused his good eye on him.
"I see lots of little victories," Fury observed. "We're doing pretty well."
"It's still early, though," Tony pointed out. "And I keep running the numbers in my head, and I'm not sure we're going to win this one. I mean, we can destroy hundreds of their ships, and there will still be thousands left."
"We still have a few tricks up our sleeves," Fury replied enigmatically.
"We need something big, right?" Tony offered, rubbing his left shoulder. "Something flashy, something that can wipe out big chunks of their fleet, something to make them turn tail and run. Based on the data we have, an atom bomb wouldn't even touch those ships, but they have weaknesses that ours don't. We need… something unconventional." He paced back and forth in front of the viewscreen while Fury regarded him with interest. Tony shook his head and stopped. "I'll come up with something. First, though, I'm going to get these to where they can be useful." His Iron Man armor unfolded over his entire body as he moved back to his workbench. Sweeping the pile of his creations from his workbench into a bag, he turned back to face Fury. "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes…. Ask her where I am." He gestured to Nyssa, grinning as his faceplate slid into place. Then he was gone.
Hawkeye crept furtively forward, trying to get a closer look at the fighters without blowing his cover. The activity in the hangar was increasing, and he was beginning to wonder if it was time to make his move.
"What do you think this is, Barton? Coffee break? A siesta?" The voice from behind startled him, and he turned with a fierce frown, rubbing his head where he had bumped it on the bulkhead.
"It's called reconnaissance, Tony," he growled. "What the hell are you doing here, besides blowing my cover?"
"Settle down," Iron Man rebuked, holding up an armored hand. "I come bearing gifts." He reached into his bag and withdrew a pair of black spheres. "Oxygen grenades," he announced proudly. Hawkeye frowned down at them.
"Got anything bigger?" he asked. The expressionless helmet tilted to the side.
"My balls aren't big enough for you?" Tony's voice was mock-scandalized. "These are brand new, state of the art, top of the line, limited edition, specifically made for this occasion."
"So that's a no?" Hawkeye raised his eyebrows at Tony, who made an exasperated noise.
"Fine." Reaching back into his bag, Tony pulled out a disc the size of a salad plate, only four inches thicker. "Is this big enough for you? Should pack ten times the punch of the grenades. This one, you can set the time delay. Default is five minutes, but I can show you how to adjust…"
"That won't be necessary," Hawkeye said quickly, taking the disc from Tony. "Got any more of these?"
"I'm trying not to put all my eggs in one basket," Tony protested.
"I'm not going to have much use for grenades in a fighter plane," Hawkeye pointed out.
"But you think the bombs might come in handy?" Tony asked skeptically. Hawkeye shrugged.
"I might have some ideas for those," he hedged. Tony fished a second disc out of his bag and handed it over. "Thank you very much," Hawkeye said with a tongue in cheek salute. Iron Man returned the gesture, then vanished.
"Couldn't resist coming out to play again, eh, Tony?" Black Widow quipped without looking behind her.
"I'm more of a courier this time, Romanov," he replied. Now she did look at him, intrigued. He hovered close to the ceiling where she was waiting, concealed among tubes, wires and alien equipment. Below them, oblivious Vruuxel moved among consoles and monitors, tentacles waving nonchalantly.
"What did you bring me?" she asked, extending a hand towards him, palm up.
"Here. Happy birthday," he quipped, proffering seven spheres to her.
"Oh, you shouldn't have. You're only three months late this year," she volleyed back, taking the balls and stashing them in the storage pockets of her suit.
"See, I'm getting better," he replied. "You'll have ten seconds after activation to do your disappearing act."
"Good to know," she said, looking down at the rather innocent-looking orb with a raised eyebrow. She glanced back over at Iron Man, but he was gone. She turned her attention back to the explosive gift. "Let's see what you can do," she murmured quietly. Activating the detonator, she was slightly startled when it started hissing at her. Hastily, she dropped it to the floor far below her. At first, the Vruuxel didn't seem to notice, but then one of them caught sight of the grenade and began flailing madly. Black Widow didn't stay to watch their last moments of panic, but relocated to the space outside the ship in time to watch the ship explode in a blue and gold fireball. "Not bad, Tony," she murmured to herself.
War Machine paced down the corridor, the feet of his suit clanking against the metallic floor tiles. Alarms were sounding, lights flashing in warning. Ahead of him, a handful of Vruuxel fled. He chased them, firing after them a barrage of destruction from the arsenal that his suit was equipped with. Some of his weapons did little more than singe or sting them, but he also had plenty of deadly options at his disposal. He rounded the corner and stopped short. The Vruuxel he had been chasing were now hiding behind a phalanx of heavily armored aliens, bristling with weaponry to rival his own. He ducked back behind the bulkhead just as their return fire began melting the metal decking. He flinched to the side as a large chunk of wall right next to his head disappeared with a deadly hiss.
"Here, try this." He looked to the side in surprise to see Tony in his Iron Man armor, holding a small sphere out towards him. Activating it, he rolled the little ball down the hallway towards the still-firing aliens. "Now we gotta go," Iron Man announced, grasping War Machine's arm. An instant later, they were floating in space, the ships of the invading alien fleet hovering around them.
"Tony, what – " Rhodes' question was halted mid-sentence as one of the ships burst into a conflagration. "Ah. That's impressive." He turned to look at his friend. "I'm guessing our surprise advantage just wore off. It's going to get harder from here on in." Iron Man nodded solemnly.
"It's dangerous to go alone," he intoned. "Here, take these." He shoved a double handful of the spheres into Rhodes' hands. "I gotta go. More deliveries to make."
"You're like a lethal Santa Claus," Rhodes joked. Tony snorted.
"Take care, Rhodey," he said, then vanished.
Spiderman peered closer to the display, moving the controls to target the angry red outlines of hostile alien ships, then blasting them with his weapons controls.
"This is like old school," he commented aloud. "I feel like I'm in an arcade."
"Are you winning?" Nyssa asked dryly over his headset. He let out a startled chuckle, remembering that the stakes were considerably higher for this game. He glanced around at the trapped and bound Vruuxel, then looked back at the display. Pressing the trigger button, he watched more of the red enemy ships disappear.
"So far, I think so," he confirmed. "But in most of the games I play, I feel like this is when they would throw a boss battle at you."
"Well, heads up," Nyssa replied. "You've got incoming." With a frown, Spiderman turned to look around the room again. The aliens still seemed dismayed, but remained immobile. The door began to glow, and the metal slowly melted away, along with the webbing that secured it. Vruuxel began spilling through, firing wildly. Spiderman leapt away, keeping machinery, equipment and metal between himself and their deadly weapons.
"Guess that's my cue to exit stage right," he quipped. In a flash, he was outside the ship. Looking around, he shot a web strand at the next nearest one and pulled himself over to it. The hull was rough, bristling with metal spikes and pipes running along the surface. It was easy for him to pull himself along while he tried to plan his next attack. He paused outside a window, peering inside. His spider sense tingled, and he looked over his shoulder to see the ship he had temporarily commandeered was sailing closer. The hull around him began taking damage, and he was shocked to realize they were shooting at him despite the risk to their own ship. In a flash, he was inside, looking out the tiny portal at the looming enemy ship blocking out the stars.
Captain America frowned down at his display, concentrating on trying to use the alien controls. He had successfully eliminated a handful of the larger ships, though it took some persistence. Knitting his eyebrows together, he focused his attack on the largest ship in range.
"Watch out, Cap," Nyssa's voice warned over the overhead speakers. "Hostiles on their way to you." He picked up the shield he had set at the side of the display just in time. The door exploded open, and he ducked behind his shield, feeling the metal grow hot under the onslaught of their weapons. Just as it was growing too hot to continue to hold, he was floating in space. The heat of his shield dissipated almost immediately. Looking around, he spotted his next target, and zapped himself aboard.
Thor opened the next door to see the next group of aliens was well-armored. Their expressions were difficult to read, but they definitely looked expectant and angry, rather than scared and confused. Thor waded in without hesitation, swinging both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker. The armored aliens seemed unfazed by his hammer, and the blade of Stormbreaker glanced off the alien metal. Not yet discouraged, Thor channeled his lightning through the group. A faint smell of scorched alien flesh hung in the air, but otherwise they were not deterred.
"That is some impressive armor," Thor commented, taking a step back.
The noise in the hangar increased exponentially. Alarms were sounding, Vruuxel made their way hastily towards the small fighter craft. Seeing his cue, Hawkeye crept furtively towards the vessel he had been staking out. He paused as he surveyed the strange controls. The flight controls were recessed far underneath the instrument cluster, and he hesitated.
"Not sure I want to stick my hand down that hole," he muttered to himself.
"Is there another appendage you would prefer to insert?" Nyssa's voice was faintly amused. Hawkeye snorted.
"Nah, that wouldn't reach anyway." He took a deep breath and slid his hand into the cavity containing the controls. The half-expected jolt of pain did not come, but he hastily withdrew his hand as the entrance to the fighter was suddenly filled with the imposing figure of the Vruuxel that was supposed to be flying it. Grasping a pipe overhead, Hawkeye swung both feet at the extra-terrestrial and kicked him back out of the cockpit. The Vruuxel quickly regained its feet and charged at him as he frantically tried to find the control that closed the door.
"I've got the door, you just get us out of here," Nyssa's disembodied voice offered. The boarding ramp began to slide in as the doors slid shut.
"Just one last thing," Hawkeye insisted. Grabbing one of the bombs Tony had given him, he activated it and slid it down the ramp. It came to a stop at the very end of the slowly retracting metal plank, and the ramp's progress halted. He hastily sat back down in the chair. "All right, now we gotta go." Reaching back into the recessed flight controls, he aimed the fighter at the open space at the end of the flight deck. Despite their strangeness, the flight controls were surprisingly intuitive.
"Dropping the armed explosive now," Nyssa intoned, and he heard a clunk as the ramp slid into its fully retracted position. "Detonation in 5… 4… 3… 2…" He guided the fighter out of the exit into empty space just as the flight deck exploded, setting the rest of the spaceship on fire. Hawkeye turned in his seat to watch as the large carrier ship began to catch fire, drifting off course and slamming into the ship next to it. Taking a breath, he allowed himself a brief grin of satisfaction before he returned his attention to making a strategic assessment of his surroundings. Below him, the planet floated, peaceful blue and green. Around him, fighters like his flew in formation. Above him, he could see several of the largest cruisers. A few were birthing streams of fighters similar to his. He veered off to get a better look at what was going on. His heart nearly stopped as the two flagships slowly moved out of the way, and a gargantuan disc-shaped craft drew closer to the planet.
"What the hell is that thing?" he murmured to himself.
"That's their planet killer," Nyssa replied flatly.
"Holy shit," was the only thing he could think to reply. "It looks like they're getting ready to use it."
"Dr. Taylor, incoming communication from the alien fleet," Fury warned. Nyssa blinked several times, then nodded.
"I'm ready," she confirmed. The images of the Avengers fighting their various battles was temporarily replaced with the quivering, furious visage of the Vruuxel commander.
"You lied to us," he snarled. "You have been attacking us." Nyssa spread her hands.
"We are not as helpless as you believe," she assured the alien.
"That remains to be seen," The Vruuxel commander growled in response. "Our deal is canceled. Your planet is forfeit." The screen went dark.
Thanks to Qweb, karina001, DarylDixon'sLover, LadyAmazon and SomebodyWhoCares for your lovely feedback and continued readership! It means a lot. Also thanks to all my silent readers. I know this is a cliffhanger and I apologize for taking so long to post it! I'm really hoping to have the next chapter done before the end of the year. Comments add motivation!