"The Realms!" Loki shouted, looking to the portals above them. Everything was in line. It was the perfect time for the Aether to be used. But there was one thing. Where was Malekith? Or Clint? Which one of them had the Aether?
"Anyone got eyes on little fly bird?" Tony cried.
"No! Bucky had been with him," Phil mentioned. Loki cursed the Norns as he looked about. With his magic he could tell that Bucky wasn't connected to his spell anymore. So that meant, they must have gone through a portal. But which one? And where did it lead? Distractedly, Loki flung a knife into the neck of a Dark Elf that had been running toward him. All Loki could do was try and focus on finding Clint and Bucky. Out of all of them, he had the best chance without going through the realms and getting lost.
"Where is the elf?" Natasha questioned before there was a soft grunt. "We need to make sure he doesn't have them or the Aether."
"I see Malekith. I don't think we have to worry about him," Steve hummed moments before Hulk's roar of victory echoed through the area. Thor landed with a harsh thump, electricity flowing through the ground and up into the elves surrounding him.
"Aye. Malekith is no more. Though it still lends the question as to where are our friends," Thor reminded. With the knowledge that Malekith was dead, everyone understood the unsaid... Clint still had the Aether inside him and now he was missing.
"They must have gone through a portal," Loki announced even though that was obvious to everyone. If the duo weren't on the battlefield and not calling out on comms, then they had to have slipped through a portal.
"Which one?" Natasha and Phil demanded at the same time. Loki looked about. There were too many with far too many places to end up at.
"I know not."
"These things are messing with my sensors, I can't really locate anyone," Tony informed before someone could ask. Though, if the magic user couldn't figure it out, everyone pretty much doubted that Tony would have been able to do much. As much as Tony was insistent that science was better than magic, there were just some things that magic could do much better. One of which, locating people in a field of strange energy. "So, we wait for the battle to end and then look?"
"When the Realms are no longer aligned, the portals will vanish with them," Thor warned before Loki could even open his mouth. The following swears from everyone grew to a volume that Loki's spell did not like. Suddenly, the spell crashed and Loki stumbled as the magic hit him harshly. There was a distant cry of his name before the trickster was able to right himself and resend the spell to communicate with the others.
"What was that?" Tony, Steve and Phil shouted, nearly breaking the spell once again.
"My spell could not handle the amount of conversation in that moment and ended. We need to be careful, this is not like your Midgardian technology," Loki warned, gritting his teeth.
"How long do we have until the Convergence ends?" Natasha wondered. Loki glanced up, analyzing the magic around them.
"Moments," he answered, dread in his tone and flowing over him. They needed to find Bucky and Clint within the next minute or so or they'd be lost.
"I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!" Tony screamed, his voice cracking in desperation.
"ANYONE!" Steve added.
Loki mentally cut himself from his spell, the others distracting him. He needed to try and find Clint's magic. The archer had been around him enough that Loki could feel it's difference. But there was nothing. Not even in the areas Loki knew he had been. The Aether had changed the feel of Clint's magic. "Curse the Norns. Clint, Bucky, where are you?"
A thud beside him drew Loki's attention over to see Thor was beside him. "Brother, we are running out of time."
"I know! I know! I can't..." Loki cussed when there was suddenly a flash. Both of them turned to look. The Convergence had ended. Loki's mouth dropped slightly in surprise. He hadn't found them.
"So that's it. They're gone?" Bruce summarized hours after the battle. He looked everyone over carefully, confused. When he finally had woken from his typical Hulk after nap, Bruce had searched for everyone. Thor and Loki were in the wind, tracking whatever they could. Natasha had curled herself into one of the chairs, one of Clint's shirts bundled up in her hands. Steve had been sitting on the couch, head in his hands in defeat. And Tony had been frantically going through whatever they had on hand in an attempt to create a device that could find their missing friends. Phil stood out on the balcony.
"No. We'll get them back," Steve argued. "We won't leave them wherever they are."
"But, how do we find them?" Bruce wondered, looking to see if anyone had a plan. But it was clear. Of those here in the hotel room, none of them seriously had a way to find someone not on Earth anymore. Loki and Thor were their best shot. And given Loki's own assertions of the impossibility of finding the duo, none of them were too enthusiastic about finding them.
"We should head back to the tower. Use the equipment there to try and find them," Tony huffed as something in front of him gave an angry beep. He snarled at it. "I scrounged what I got here but J, Bruce and I can do more in my lab."
"Understood. Let's pack up and go. I'm sure Loki will know where we are," Phil determined, turning to look everyone over to make sure they understood. They weren't planning on coming back here again so they had to clear everything. The others nodded and slowly headed off to pack up.
"We'll get him back," Natasha whispered once the others were gone and it was just her and Phil left. He sighed and looked back out the window. "We always do."
"I know. It's always the interim that bothers me." Natasha nodded, uncurling herself before walking to stand at his side. "I keep wishing that Clint, Bucky and Loki hadn't come back in time. That they hadn't come and changed things. But, then I remember Clint's haunted face. And I think about everything we stopped. The lives we've saved thanks to the early information. When Fury and I talked about the Avengers Initiative, we both had expected to likely never use it. It had almost turned into something like a private joke between us."
"Then to find out it's real. And larger than either of you could picture," Natasha continued. Phil nodded. She placed a hand on his arm, drawing his attention to her through the window reflection. "Things will work out. As soon as we stop Thanos, everything should return to normal. Well, normal standards by before all this."
"Are we so sure about that?" Phil questioned, glancing to her. Natasha frowned. "It's like Pandora's Box. It's been opened. It's out there. There is no going back."
"Just once I would love to wake up somewhere that I actually fucking wanted to be at," Clint grumbled, not for the first time since they had arrived. Bucky snorted. Neither were entirely sure what happened to them after getting tossed through a portal. Bucky had had dried blood on the back of his head which had explained why he was out of it at the time. And Clint had been slowly recovering from the extreme expenditure of the Aether. That was close to around a month or something ago. Neither of them knew how long they had been unconscious or even how many days had passed in between the Convergence and their capture.
"It's sad to think that you've woken in more unknown places than known," Bucky commented. Clint huffed, pacing their little cell. This was one thing they had learned since waking. Apparently they had gotten locked up in some sort of jail but neither had any clue why. Wasn't like they broke laws or anything. That they knew of. And of course, no one wanted to answer why they were locked up. If asked, they just got beaten in order to shut them up.
"Yeah. Really not liking it. At all," Clint muttered as suddenly a cheer went on outside their cell. They had learned pretty quickly to just stay in their cell, even with the door open, when they didn't want to be bothered. Especially due to the other inmates enjoying torturing the new people. Not that that last long. One punch into someone from either of them had tossed the person across the way and people left them alone. Amazingly, after some practice, the archer had learned that as long as he wasn't hit, he could hold the Aether back from doing anything. So, if he saw the attack coming, he'd attack first.
Clint looked to the door, curious. Bucky sighed deeply, shifting so that he could get up faster.
"Don't. Please," Bucky murmured knowing what Clint was thinking. The archer waved a dismissive hand at him and headed out of the cell. Bucky sighed and got up, following after him. "God knows where the hell I am and I'm still following after a blonde idiot."
"Quill," Clint exhaled. The noise had Bucky look up. He knew that name. Stepping forward himself, he looked down to see Quill, Gamora, Rocket and Groot slowly looking about. They were so fresh into the place, they still had their bedrolls in their arms. People all around them were chucking things at Gamora. And in turn, the others.
"So, we can get out?" Bucky whispered knowing that the group had been wandering about space before they ran into Clint and the first/original Loki and later into Thor before Thanos. Clint smirked.
"They can mostly do it on their own, we just need to make sure we sneak out with them," Clint admitted even as a monstrous inmate stepped into Quill's path. He spoke about something, which Clint personally knew as the fact that the guy was basically going to try and rape Quill, when Groot stepped forward and shoved fingers into the dude's nose.
"Let's make something clear. This one here," Rocket announced to the prison as a whole as he pointed to Quill. "Is our booty!"
"Booty?" Bucky echoed as Rocket continued. Clint snickered.
"You wanna get to him, you go through us! Or, more accurately, we go through you," Rocket threatened just before there was a loud crack and the inmate was dropped, clutching his nose. Bucky looked to Clint.
"Booty? Seriously, Clint?" the Sergeant demanded. Clint nodded and slipped away to go figure out where the three were getting themselves. "Clint."
"Yondu called a bounty out for Quill at some point. Rocket is always looking for money so..." Clint explained having learned much about the guardian's history during his half a year travel with them in their first timeline. With the scene over, everyone began to separate but Clint could still hear everyone mocking Gamora. A thought occurred to him though. Quill had mentioned that Drax hadn't been brought in with them. That Drax had been locked up before them. Looking about, Clint finally spotted the Destroyer. Given that until now, Clint nor Bucky had known exactly where they were so they hadn't been looking for familiar faces and Drax was clearly a loner that had only come out to glare harshly at Gamora. Gamora, who at this point in time was known to work for Ronan, the man Drax wanted revenge against. "Ah, there you are."
"Drax?" Bucky asked, knowing that that was the missing guardian, before following the man's gaze up toward where Gamora had locked herself away in. Clint nodded before turning back to watch out for Rocket, Groot and Quill. It took a moment to find them and even then, it was Rocket and Groot choosing a cell.
"I thought I was with you!" Quill cried.
"Not that close," Rocket snapped back. Clint smirked, walking closer.
"We can take ya," the archer offered. Quill looked over, curious but wary. Behind the archer, Bucky crossed his arms over his chest. "Star-Lord."
"Wait... What?" Quill questioned even as Rocket and Groot came to look at who was speaking. Clint nodded his head toward where Bucky and him had come from.
"We got a space. Keep you out of general pop," Clint repeated. Quill waved a hand at that in dismissal.
"Yeah, got that. Don't care. But, you know my name?" Quill wondered. Clint shrugged. He had mostly used the name drop in order to try and get Quill to trust him. But, he also hadn't fully thought of the implications of Clint knowing it. Star-Lord wasn't well known and the name certainly wouldn't have been spread to anyone in jail as of yet. So, of course Quill would question it.
"We'll make a trade," Rocket cut in before Clint could start to come up with a lie. Clint, Bucky and Quill looked down to the raccoon. "Him, for the arm."
Bucky glowered, dropping his arms from his chest to show that the arm went from his shoulder down. He had seriously thought that Rocket had always been joking about that the first time they met in Wakanda. No way to know that the raccoon seriously wanted his arm. At the better sight of the arm, Rocket seemed to brighten a bit. Clint snorted and pointedly looked anywhere but at Bucky.
"Why the arm?" Quill asked, curious and naively.
"Cause it's frick'n cool!" Rocket defended as if that was the best reason for any trade. Bucky sighed, tightening his hand into a fist to show that it was fully working. Rocket's eyes widened even further with glee and Bucky realized that if he tried to threaten Rocket with his arm, the raccoon was just gonna want it more. He sighed again and turned his dark gaze toward Clint, who was struggling not to laugh.
"смеяться его," Bucky growled to Clint, silently impressed that the archer had held it in as long as he had but knowing that they both had to give in to the inevitable. And so with permission, Clint dissolved into laughter.
"I am Groot," Groot called to them. Clint waved a hand at the tree, basically telling him to stop. Everyone glanced between the two, unsure what Groot had said. Even Rocket wasn't fully sure.
"Sorry, sorry," Clint finally excused. "God, I needed that."
"I am Groot?"
"Yeah, things have sucked," Clint answered, looking to Groot with a soft smile. Bucky rolled his eyes. Understatement of the century.
"Wait, you understand him?" Rocket questioned. Clint nodded.
"He's actually talking?" Quill added. Bucky felt his lip twitch lightly. He was in a similar situation to Quill. Neither man understood the tree. But, Bucky also knew that Quill would sooner or later learn.
"I am Groot."
"It'll get better," Clint swore before looking about. They had begun to draw a bit of attention. He waved to Quill. "Come on. Better get back before some idiot tries to take our spot."
"People do that?" Quill muttered.
"No one cares. This place is ruled by who is toughest," Rocket warned as the group headed back. "Shows of power keeps you alive. You... Ain't got a chance without us."
"I'm regretting this entire thing," Bucky bemoaned, pushing ahead of Clint to make sure he got the better area in the cell. Clint chuckled but didn't fight. Instead he looked over his shoulder to speak to the others.
"Don't worry about it. We got your back too," he announced, his voice a bit louder than before. There was a soft grumble from the rest of the prison as people began to wonder what made Quill so important. "So, ya know what you're in for?"
"Doing my job," Quill replied. Clint arched an eyebrow before realizing Quill must have been talking about thievery. He mouth 'ah' before looking to Rocket.
"Being who I am and Groot here is here because a me," Rocket said. Clint nodded, not really believing that being an experiment was the main reason why Rocket was locked up. Groot's story on the other hand made sense.
"And you?" Quill wondered. Clint shrugged, smiling brightly.
"We got no fucking clue."
Been having some good days and bad days but, I did write a bit more this week. Just gotta keep it all up.
With the threat of the Shadowman still hanging over his head, Darius has been doing an excellent job on picking up his toys. They still aren't going in their proper places but they are at least off the ground/in the center of the room. Now we just need to worry about picking up trash... *sigh* Is it wrong of me to not want to clean in the morning after I've gone to bed the night before and the mess/trash left behind was from hubby and Darius? Am I just being too lazy? I mean, I know I am lazy in the fact that I don't pick it up, but am I allowed to be upset that it wasn't dealt with the night before?
Anyways, Darius is good. Finished up with school at the ELC and will be starting Kindergarten in September (I think it's then). He's not really looking forward to a change of schools, teachers and other classmates, but then again, this is pretty much one of the first times he's had to deal with that much change. And he still doesn't even know it will be full day schooling, five days a week rather than the half days four days a week he has been doing, lol. Well, hopefully the summer goes fine for us both. Got a lot we both need to work on to be able to last all day together without hubby.