By the time they reached the front gate, Hale was preparing to get out.
"Move aside, General Hale. I'll handle this."
"Ana, this is not a good time to fight among ourselves. We need to give those bastards an illusion of unity."
"They already know we have no unity. They're only here, demanding what is rightfully ours, because you failed to teach them their place. Time to step aside, general."
"Ana—"
She pointed a missile at her. "I'm not asking."
Hale sighed tensely, knowing full well Ana wouldn't hesitate to fire it. "At least let us listen in. If you're going to speak for us, we have a right to know what you're saying."
"Fair enough."
Daisy brought her an earpiece. "I can come with you."
"No. If I let them think I need to hide behind a bodyguard, they won't fear me."
"Be careful out there, okay?"
"I will."
Hale opened the gate, and Ana went out. The Confederacy ship was up there, hovering several hundred feet above them. She flew up to it. As she did, she allowed herself to be filled with all the anger and hatred she was going to need. She thought of all those bullies and harassers. Everyone who wanted the Starks dead, tormented, or humiliated. Those who had scoffed at their fears, their desperation to protect humanity. All those years they had wasted letting the lesser men keep them on a leash because they were too polite to do otherwise.
And of course, the aliens themselves…
Watching her dad go into the wormhole with a nuke on his back, begging him not to leave her. The PTSD that had followed. All those sleepless nights, nightmares, anxiety attacks. His relationship with Pepper ruined. Ultron. JARVIS. The Accords, tightening the leash. The Red Hulk. SHIELD. Howard Stark. Ghost Rider. Hell. TAHITI. All because of aliens…
The game she was about to play was exactly the kind of thing Howard Stark would approve. She didn't care. Once the aliens were dealt with, she could worry about him. She was going to go to Hell again, and drag him back to Earth this time. She was going to make him look his son in the eye and tell him what he had done. No, not just him. Rogers, too. He had to see the disappointment on Captain America's face. That would be his greatest punishment.
One problem at a time.
"Ana, you must be very careful," FRIDAY warned her. "You'll be trapped with these dangerous aliens on a spaceship."
"And they'll be trapped with me."
"What exactly do you have in mind?"
Before Ana could answer, she had reached the ship's level. The gates parted open, she entered. The one who greeted her was a Remorath, unless she was mistaken.
"Where's Hale?" was the first thing he asked.
"General Hale no longer represents Terra."
"Why not?"
"Our internal politics are none of your concern. My name is Ana Stark, and that's all you need to know for now. What should I call you, Remorath?"
Her entitled attitude created the desired effect of shock. The man laughed at her. In the meantime, FRIDAY was running various scans on his body and analyzing the Remorath physiology as fast as she could.
"You have so much to learn, human. My name is Qovas, and I expect the same level of respect your predecessor, fortunately, never failed to show from you as well."
"Are the other five members of the Confederacy here? I'd like a meeting with them at once."
"They have more important concerns than one insignificant planet. You should be honored by this generosity we have shown you!"
"Ana, be careful!" she heard Hale's voice in her ear. "You do not want to antagonize him."
Well, it was this cowardice that made humans always the victim. This was exactly what needed to change first.
Now that FRIDAY had completed the analysis, she retracted the helmet, so they could literally see eye to eye. "Call the other members, and we can discuss what exactly this 'generosity' entails."
"Seize her!"
Three guards came running, to apprehend Ana, but it was nothing two repulsor blasts couldn't handle. Five more followed them, but she killed them all with ease. Then she grabbed Qovas himself, the nanites formed long, sharp claws around her fingertips, and she thrusted her right hand into his chest cavity.
"You can feel my fingers right under your heart, can't you? I move them up half an inch, and you're dead."
He swallowed thickly. It honestly felt good, after all that fear and stress caused by aliens, to have one at her mercy. It was almost like a drug. She felt like she could get addicted to this. The Remorath were a race of scavengers, known for their savagery, and yet, eight of them were lying dead at her feet, their superior ready to beg for mercy. If this wasn't a confidence boost, Ana didn't know what was. And she really needed a confidence boost today. Maybe, she could be Death in this world, too, after all. Like the Doctor had said, fascism required fear and hatred, and Ana had a plethora of both. And aliens deserved to have a taste of their own poison.
"Call the other members. I know they all have the means of teleportation. The meeting will start in five minutes."
"I will."
She removed her hand from his body slowly. He went off to call the others. The nanites on her gauntlet self-cleaned the blood.
Five minutes later, she was standing before all the Confederacy members.
"It is good to meet you all," she started. "I trust Qovas told you who I am?"
"What do you want?" the Rajaks asked.
"A seat on this council, for starters."
"This is outrageous!" someone else hissed. "For centuries the Confederacy has had but six members! To add another would desecrate the order. Especially a… Terran."
"I should warn you, I'm nothing like the Terrans you've met before. One way or the other, I'll have my rightful place in your order. I'd rather do it peacefully."
"We've heard enough," another one said. "I submit we strip her to rags and put her to auction."
"Congratulations, you just got yourself sold into slavery," Daisy mocked angrily. "Get the hell out of there, now!"
"You might want to think twice before you enslave the daughter of the man who destroyed Thanos' armies," she said calmly, and started seeing the first traces of self-doubt on their faces. Without the HUD, she couldn't see it herself, but she knew FRIDAY was analyzing their physiologies while Ana spoke. She would know how to kill them, or harm them without killing them, like she had done to Qovas, if things came to that.
"What?" the Kree scoffed.
"You all know Thanos sent the Chitauri to our planet six years ago. They were led by the Asgardian prince Loki. He was defeated. My father was the one who destroyed the Chitauri mothership."
They didn't argue. They knew Thanos had been defeated, by humans, and it was a fact they didn't like much. But it was a fact nonetheless.
"Prove it," the Astran demanded.
"Of course." A projection of the pictures she had taken on Thanos' ship popped up on her left wrist. "As we speak, my father is on his way to confront Thanos. When two of his children attacked the Earth today, we defeated them, and my father took their ship and left to face Thanos himself. These are the pictures he sent me from that ship. Everything 's going according to his plan."
They all leaned forward to look closer, blinking, squinting, frowning, as if they were struggling to believe it.
"This is indeed a Q-Ship," Qovas said. "This woman, my friends, is no charlatan."
"And these are the coordinates of Titan," another one said. "Thanos' home planet. Her father is going to fight him there!"
Titan, then. Good to know.
"Qovas is right. I'm no liar. But you all are. General Hale told me you promised protection against Thanos, in exchange for our gravitonium. Perhaps I should punish you for this pitiful attempt of deception, but instead, I'm generously, and mercifully, offering you an alliance. We can protect you from Thanos."
"So, your genius plan is basically to bullshit them?" Daisy commented.
"We're not liars!"
"No?" She turned to Qovas first. "The Remorath, for example, are a race of marauders. You don't even have a planet you can call home, or a regular army. You steal from the weak, you live like leeches just to get by. How exactly are you planning to contribute to the stand against Thanos?"
Qovas gritted his teeth angrily, but the wound in his chest was an effective reminder of why he shouldn't piss Ana off. She turned to the Kree this time. "And you? You fought a lengthy war with Xandar, one that ended with a peace treaty you had no choice but to sign. Your once-fearsome Accusers were scattered, your traditions abandoned. You're so afraid of the backlash that you lie about the experiments you performed on various species to create soldiers, about the Inhumans you created in my world. You bowed to Xandar, and Xandar was destroyed by Thanos."
Their faces were priceless.
"Well, I hope the impression General Hale left on you is disabused by now. As I said, I'm nothing like the Terrans you met in the past." Seriously, if they rescued Sigyn from Thanos, Ana was going to give her a big hug, to thank for all the lessons.
"Such a bold claim requires a stronger proof," the Kree said. "In our order, all voices are equal. If you want a seat, you have to prove that you are our equal."
She approached him. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't know you. But if I had to guess, I'd say you're from one of the ancient and noble houses of Hala." The ridiculous make-up he wore had led her to that conclusion. These guys should go easy with the eyeliner.
His blue face broke into a proud, pleased grin. "And you'd be right. I'm firstborn Taryan, Master of House Kasius."
"I see. On our planet, we, too, have such families. In fact, I come from one of them."
"What is the name of your house?"
"Stark."
She expected a Game of Thrones joke from Daisy, but it didn't come. In fact, the comm line had been cut off. Not by Ana, certainly. She wondered what the hell was going on down there. She should wrap things up here fast and get back to the bunker. Of course, the aliens couldn't know she was in a hurry.
"A name we all should remember well, then," Taryan Kasius said.
"Indeed. So, Master Kasius, let's discuss the obvious truth: The Confederacy says all voices are equal in this order, but people like you and I know some voices are always more equal than others, no matter where you go in the universe. My question is, who's really in charge here? You?"
He laughed with fake humility. "Oh, no. While I'm proud of my noble heritage, Crixon here is often considered the most wise among us."
The Astran stepped forward, looking equally surprised and flattered. Idiot. He wasn't even realizing his Kree friend was using him as bait. "I say—" he started, but Ana silenced him.
"That's very wise of you, indeed… Master Kasius. To put forth a decoy to see what I'm going to do to your leader. The problem is, such tricks don't work on me. You should've known. Those who are born into power can always tell where it resides."
Crixon whipped his head towards Taryan, humiliation and betrayal flickering over his face.
"You think you can turn us against each other with such cheap tricks?" Taryan spat.
"I don't have to."
"Leave. Leave while you still can!"
Ana took another step towards him. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to get down on my knees and beg for a second chance? You still expect me to be like General Hale, Kree. You expect a supplicant, ready to do your bidding, just for the mere promise of an opportunity… I don't do that. My father taught me opportunities aren't offered. They're taken."
With these words, she formed a sword with the nanites, and chopped off his head. A bit of overkill, yes, but these aliens needed a spectacle. After this, a bunch of Kree guards charged at her running. She killed them, too, the last one by ripping out his spine for good measure. They needed an unforgettable spectacle.
"There," she said, throwing the spinal cord she was holding up at their feet. "This was what you wanted, right?"
The other leaders, and the guards who were smart enough to surrender, were looking around, indecisive. They needed a new direction.
"Kneel before me," Ana demanded.
They were even less hesitant to obey than Ana had expected. These pompous assholes must have never been challenged before. This was new to them.
"F—forgive me, my lady, but… w—what should we call you?" Qovas asked. Funny, he must have paid no attention to her name when she had first said it. Now, she wanted to know the proper way to address her because he wanted to keep his head.
At that moment, Ana knew she could be anything she wanted. A lady, a queen, an empress, or even a goddess… Whatever the hell she wanted to be. But she didn't want any of these.
"You shall me Death."
She understood now. From bullies at high school to evil alien warlords in space, death was the one thing everyone feared. After living in fear for far too long, being the ultimate source of fear was what Ana truly wanted from the universe. For the first time in forever, she felt completely, unashamedly free.
"As you wish."
"I'm taking over the Confederacy in the name of my father, Tony Stark," she announced, just in case it wasn't obvious enough. She didn't want to bring her dad into this, but she had to make sure they obeyed him in case something happened to her. Besides, what could be a better wedding gift than a personal intergalactic army that would always be at their disposal?
"The Confederacy is yours to command. Do you want us to prepare the troops?"
"Yes. And send them to Titan at once." The team was going to be pissed when they found out she had sent the Confederacy forces to her dad instead of using them to protect the Earth, but she had used the knowledge she had carefully studied over the years, put her own life at risk, played a dangerous game to get this power. She had earned the right to use the Confederacy as she saw fit. This was her army now. She could do whatever the hell she wanted with it. And her father's life meant to her more than the entire planet. She wasn't going to apologize for that after all the shit the world had given her.
"You know, at some point, you're going to have to explain this to your dad," FRIDAY reminded casually as they returned to the base.
"I have a feeling what I did with the Confederacy will be the least of his problems by then." She didn't want to think about how he would feel once he found out about his dad.
But when she returned to the base, they seemed to have even more important problems.
There was another Ana in the base, and two Daisy Johnsons.
There was no need for an explanation. Ana knew these uninvited guests were from the future. And not from a distant one, by the look of it. They had the same looks, same hair, same clothes. Except for a few cuts and bruises, and their gear had been damaged. This was the day Ana Stark used time-travel.
Looking at yourself wasn't anything like looking into a mirror. The thought had occurred to Ana before, of course, when she had first invented time-traveling on a theoretical level. She had been mentally preparing herself for the possibility ever since, and yet, the moment she laid eyes on her other self, all that preparation had been rendered useless.
But it wasn't even the uncanniness of the situation that was giving her the queasy feeling in her stomach. If she had resorted to time-traveling, something was to go very, very wrong today.
"What happened?" she asked simply.
It was the future Daisy who spoke. "You all need to go to Wakanda, now! The fight will happen there."
"What will you guys do?" the present Daisy asked.
"We'll turn me into the Destroyer of Worlds. Please, you have to trust us. You wouldn't even want to know what led us to do this."
So, Daisy was going into the Infusion Chamber, after all… She and May exchanged looks, then the latter nodded. "Wheels up in five."
Like everyone else in the room, Ana was leaving to prepare for the flight, but her future self stopped her.
"Take this," she said, shoving a small vial of gravitonium into her hand. "20 grams."
"Why 20?" According to her calculations, 10 grams should be enough to stabilize a portal. Had she made a mistake?
"All warfare is based on deception… Now, go."
…
"FRIDAY, what's this?"
"I don't know! The gravity storm appeared out of nowhere! It's spreading!"
"To where?"
"Everywhere!"
It was like five minutes after the take-off. One moment, they were discussing strategies, and next, everyone was being hurled around in Zephyr One. Something had hit them, and it had hit hard. May had lost control of the jet. With her suit, Ana had been able to latch herself onto the floor. May's belt kept her in her seat, but she was struggling to regain control.
"I'm flying blind!" she shouted. Indeed, the navigation systems had gone haywire. The windshield was obscured by dark whirlwinds of dust and rock.
"FRIDAY, get us out of here!"
"There's only one way out, Ana. You have to get away from the gravitational field of Earth!"
"What about everyone else?"
"They can't survive in outer space, but you can. And unless you leave in the next 2 minutes, I'll set the suit on autopilot. I'm sorry, these are Mr. Stark's protocols. I'm programmed to protect you above everyone else!"
"Actually, we can survive in space," May corrected her. "Fitz did some upgrades… Everyone, hold onto something!"
Most did, but Coulson passed out before he could. The injury Loki had given him in 2012 must have been taking a toll, with the Kree medicine gone.
"Coulson!" Daisy cried, and quaked him to Ana's way with one free hand. Since her boots were still attached to the floor, Ana could use her arms to carry Coulson.
FRIDAY checked his vitals. "He's still alive," she announced. Even in the midst of the pandemonium, everyone was relieved to hear that.
It was a bumpy ride, but May managed to take them to space. Ana carefully placed the still unconscious Coulson into the seat beside May's.
"FRIDAY, what the hell was that?" Ana whispered.
No reply came.
"FRIDAY?"
FRIDAY was offline. It didn't make sense; FRIDAY was connected to several satellites in the Earth's orbit. They couldn't be out of their range yet. Ana went to look out the nearest window to see what was going on. So did everyone else.
It was gone. Earth was gone. It had cracked open, just like that.