Chapter 15 - Death Was Arrested

The remaining avengers and power rangers looked at the screen in the war room and saw that the whole of Red Skull's army had surrounded the compound. A number of the their massive pods began to crash into the earth's surface, creating a perimeter around them. Within minutes, waves of outriders exited the pods and descended upon the compound.

"Call it out, Captain," Stark said.

"Make sure the compound is reinforced, we're going to exit out the roof. This way we have the higher ground." He looked over at Bruce. "Go get the hulkbuster armor, you're joining us in this fight." He looked over to Wong. "I want you to provide cover for Clint. Barton, clear some space for us so that we can push the enemy back."

"You got it cap," Barton replied.

"Rangers," Rogers turned to them. "Follow Stark and Rhodes, take em' out in droves."

"Right," Adam replied.

"Natasha and I will try to make our way towards Red Skull. Hopefully, if we can stop him, we can stop all of this."

"What about me and my men, Cap?" Coulson asked.

"Help Barton from the roof, and help coordinate our attack. Let's get to work."

*Soul World*

Tommy, Kimberly, and Jason walked through Strange's portal, and found themselves in front of a large rock formation, surrounded by a faint orange glow. Strange had explained that while he didn't know exactly what they were facing, that it was imperative that Tommy was there with Kimberly. He also couldn't accompany them. The soul world suppressed his magic, so even a small portal consumed massive amounts of magical energy, so he stayed in the temple to preserve whatever magic he could.

"This is the core of the stone," Jason shared.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that everything is orange?" Kim smirked.

"Probably not," Jason replied, but no smile came. "We need to be careful."

"Why is that?" Tommy asked.

"Strange saw one path to victory over Thanos. It included something that went down here, but he's not sure what it was."

"He doesn't know the whole plan?" Kim asked, concern rising in her voice.

"He saw 14,000,605 scenarios," Jason replied. "He saw what we did to win, but all he knows about this is that Kim alone couldn't accomplish this task. Tommy is involved somehow."

"Well, let's go then," Tommy replied. His face was stoic as he looked ahead, determined to see this through. Tommy and Kim morphed, and left Jason behind them and approached the formation cautiously. As they got the orange hue that surrounded it, Kim reached out to touch it, and phased right through it. She began to walk through, while Tommy hesitated. He held his hand out, slowly moving his hand towards the threshold.

In an instant, Tommy was thrown back to the ground. Kim heard the thud of Tommy's body hitting the world's surface, and turned to see that he wasn't moving.

"Tommy!" Kim screamed. She used her repulsors to fly over towards him, landed by his side, and knelt to check on him, the nanotech helmet protecting her head bleeding back into her suit so she could see him more clearly. He was unresponsive, even to her touch. "Come on, Tommy, wake up." She looked over towards Jason, who looked concerned but made no motion towards them. "Jason, help us!"

"I can't," Jason replied. "I'm only a guide."

"Couldn't you have guided us better?!" She complained. "Why can I enter, but Tommy can't?"

"I don't know," Jason replied. "It could be that you have the powers of the soul stone, and Tommy doesn't? Regardless, as hard as this might be, you need to go and reverse the affects of Thanos' snap."

"Jason..."

"Kimberly, I know you care about him," Jason interjected. "But to save the rest of the world, you need to leave Tommy and go into the core."

"Fine," she muttered. "Will you at least watch him and make sure he's ok?"

"I will do the job that Strange assigned to me," Jason replied. "Now go."

Kim turned, frustration clearly read on her face before the helmet reappeared, and she flew back across the threshold that guarded the rock formation. She looked around, and looked back one last time at Tommy and Jason, before turning back to progress into the core.

Kimberly studied the rock formation, and noticed that to her right there was an entrance into the rock formation. She approached the entrance and snuck into it, surprised to find a very well lit passageway. She wandered down the corridor, which was an immaculate hallway. It was not rock inside, but cream-colored tile on the floor, with bright white walls, not even a scratch lined them. These walls were adorned with elegant torch posts that would light up as she moved past them, lighting her way forward.

She made it to a set of large double doors at the end of the hall. They were painted black, with two large handles in the middle of them. She hesitated for a moment. 'They're counting on me,' she thought to herself. She pushed opened the doors, and walked into a large room that did much more to resemble a cave than any other part of the interior. Its rocky walls were a deep brown, and its floor was nothing more than the dirt and dust that had covered the rest of soul world. Yet, at the opposite side of the double doors, a part of the wall was adorned with a shimmering silver plate. In the center of it was an orange stone that shined as brightly as the sun.

"That must be the core," Kim whispered to herself. As she got to the middle of the room, she heard the doors shut behind her. She frantically turned, finding no one there. "Weird."

"I didn't expect you to make it this far," a eerily familiar voice said. Kimberly turned to find a much younger Tommy Oliver standing in her way. "What? You weren't expecting me?" The shock on her face was telling.

"You're not the same Tommy outside," Kim replied, almost devoid of emotion. "You're... you're young." Tommy smiled.

"And you're still hopelessly holding out that I'll take you back," he sneered. "A child's dream."

"You're not Tommy!" She fired back. "What are you, some sort of enemy projection to protect the core?"

"You've gotten smarter with age, I'll give you that," Tommy quipped. "The soul world guards its core with two trials. To undo what Thanos has done, you must defeat both of them. The first is to face your worst fear."

"And you think you're my worst fear?" Kim asked. "News flash Tommy, future you all ready told me he cared about me, so if you think you can play on my insecurities..."

"Oh, your fears are far worse than that, my dear," he cackled. "What you've done to me over the past several years changed me, dear Kimberly." The statement rocked Kim to the core.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your letter destroyed me," he reminded. "I thought I could escape the pain with your pink replacement, but all it did was force me to go inward. I was depressed, I didn't care about anything or anyone."

"Hayley helped you," Kim argued. "That's what you said..."

"It's a lie," Tommy replied. "The version of me that's with you now, he's too scared to tell you the truth."

"What truth?" She asked.

"You set me on a path to destroy everything." The gaze in his eyes shifted, from focused to psychotic. He smirked, and then smiled, and then gave an evil laugh. "You set me on a path to return to what I was always supposed to be."

He held out his hand, and a twisted looking blade appeared.

"The sword of darkness," Kim gasped.

"That's right, pink ranger," Tommy challenged. "Or should I say, orange ranger. Are you ready to be destroyed once and for all, by the evil green ranger?" Suddenly, the sword encased the youner Oliver into a green light, and in a moment the sight before her felt all too familiar. The evil green ranger approaching her, brandishing his weapon, and cackling in a manner that left her to quiver with fear.

She gave herself a mental shake, and pressed the chest piece in her armor so that it would encase her fully, and quickly leapt in the air and went to throw a punch, but Tommy dodged it. He sliced her across her back, which sent her flying across the room, and her suit spraying sparks.

"Face it Kimberly, you can't defeat me," Tommy cackled. She quickly got up and fired from her hand repulsors, but he deflected them with his sword. He then charged at her, but she flipped over him and tried to hit him with a back kick, but he blocked it and took a swipe at her once more with his blade. She ducked under it and plunged her fist into his midsection, then hitting him with her elbow in the head.

He staggered, and Kimberly propelled herself and kicked him in the face. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain, his armor no longer protecting him. He dropped his sword, which Kimberly quickly picked up and held to his throat, her foot on his chest. She tightened her grip on the blade, her arm began to shake. Her helmet retracted, and now she looked him in his eyes.

"Do it," he goaded her. "Kill me." Sweat dripped off her forehead, she blinked a couple of times, and then relaxed her arm, bringing the sword to her side.

"I'm not going to kill you," Kim replied. "I've seen the man you've become, Tommy. While I made mistakes with you, I didn't set you on a path towards destruction. I don't have that power."

"You caused my mental breakdown," He challenged.

"No," Kim shot back. "You made choices that led you there. And you've owned them as your own mistakes. I don't need to feel guilty for them."

He groaned, and then slowly faded away into nothingness. The sword that she held in her grasp also disappeared, and she looked forward to see the stone inside the silver core. "He said there were two trials," she said aloud. "Where's the second?" She looked around, wondering what might be coming next, but nothing appeared. "Time to get everyone back." She grabbed the stone, and then ran back through the hallway. It felt like an eternity, as anxiety crept in, wondering where the second trial would be. But she exited out of the rock formation with no sign of anything resembling a trial.

She saw the orange hue that signaled where the protective force-field was, and beyond it saw that Tommy was slowly stirring. Jason was helping him up, and she sighed a breath of relief, knowing that he was ok. She was closing in on escaping when she saw it. A flash of green on her left. She planted her foot on the ground and abruptly stopped running, and turned to see a young, green-skinned, girl. She slowly walked towards her, and as she got closer she crouched down to see her face. She saw that she had been crying, and Kim's heart filled with compassion. She touched her chest piece to retract her armor, and she knelt down fully to be on her level.

"What's your name, little one?" Kim asked.

"Gamora," the girl replied.

"Why are you sad?" Kim asked her.

"Because of what I must do," Gamora replied. Before Kim could react, Gamora pulled out a double bladed knife and thrust it into Kimberly's heart. "I'm sorry... but for me to live, no one else can."

Jason and Tommy looked on in horror, and Tommy got up and ran towards Kimberly, screaming. However, he could never get close enough, because of the orange-hued force field that guarded him from her. Kimberly clutched her wound, blood gushing from her chest and dripping from her mouth. She gasped for air, but none came. She crumpled to the ground, her eyes locked with Tommy's as long as they could before she succumbed to death.

To Be Continued...

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- Googz333