Titanomachy Chapter 2: Twisted Sister, an Avengers + Worm Crossover fanfic

A/N: Thank you all for reading. You can find some review responses in my forums, linked in my profile. The Forum name is Infinite and Divine, since I will hopefully be able to use that forum for the entire saga. Many readers had questions, and I tried to address them as best I could without spoilers. But with this chapter, you will hopefully see how someone like Telos could serve a monster like Thanos.

Chapter Two: Twisted Sister

Her first memories were of waking in pain and darkness. Confusion and fear made her heart surge. She struggled, but found that she could not move. The efforts to do so made her realize she was in what felt like a thick oil of some kind. The oil felt viscous, but whenever she tried to move her arms it somehow became more resistant.

She tried blinking her eyes, but she couldn't even do that. All she saw was darkness, and all she heard was the sound of her own labored breathing and moans of fear and pain.

When the massive, powerful hand reached into the oil and gently lifted her head up, she cried out in alarm. The hand did not strike her, though. It simply held her head out of the oil. As the viscous material dripped from her ears, she heard a deep hum that seemed to come from everywhere all at once.

Then she heard a voice—deep and powerful. "Hush, little one. You're safe."

~~Titanomachy~~

Swan opened her eyes. She floated above the diagnostic table of her brother's lab, while Ebony Maw himself floated effortlessly in the air before one of his monitors.

"Was it damaged?" she asked.

Maw spun himself about on the force of his telekinesis and levitated down to her side. "I'm sure father told you not to use your head as a meat shield," he chided her. "That is what the Chitauri are for."

"The thought occurred, Maw." She sat up on the cushion of graviton particles that served as her bed. She reached back to the small implant at the base of her skull. "My vision dimmed, and I saw an illusory figure. That means that the chip which grants my vision was damaged, doesn't it?"

"Stressed, but not damaged," Maw said in a reassuring tone. He leaned close and with light, prim touches, felt at the base of her neck and her temples. The touch was simply a conduit for his power. "The chip remains intact and is functioning as designed. You can obviously see. But my dear, you must remember that your vision does depend on that chip. When our father found you, you had no eyes and your body was shattered almost beyond repair. It was by his will that you survived, and my genius that you see. Let's not waste that bounty. Keep your helm on."

"Yes, brother." When he began to float back to his many projects, she blurted, "Maw?"

"Yes, child?"

"The figure...the illusion I saw. I felt something. I can't describe it, but it felt familiar. The eyes were the same color as mine. Do you think I saw something from my past?"

Maw clucked his tongue. "Child, we've spoken of this. Your past nearly destroyed you-only your future matters."

"I know, Maw." Swan slid down to stand on the gold-laced chita stone of the lab. "But it nibbles at the edge of my thoughts. Why do I have wings if they aren't large enough to let me fly without thrusters and null grav?" She held up her bare arm and pointed at the densely packed line of symbols that ran the length of her limbs and the whole of her body. "You said these are natural skin pigment and not a tattoo, but what do they mean? Why does my back not heal? Who was I, before I became Black Swan?"

Maw did not move, but in the monitor-tiled dome of his lab, every monitor blinked on to reveal a singular image. Swan's breath caught her in her throat as she looked upon her past self. What she saw was a bloodied, bruised and burned mass of broken flesh, horribly bent and disfigured wings, and empty, hollowed eye sockets.

Her eyes blurred as tears welled. "Maw…"

"You were not quite dead when Proxima found you," Maw said. He spoke with the same clinical detachment he used when teaching her about the Agulla lifecycle and why they had been selected for culling, or integral polyphysics. "As you can see, your eyes were gone. Nearly seventy-two percent of your bones were broken, including your cranium. You had ruptured internal organs that would have killed any other being and burns over ninety percent of your body. And your brain was badly damaged. The truth is, my dear, your visual implant does more than power your regrown eyes-it is what keeps your mind functioning at all."

Her breath wouldn't come. She drifted closer and stared at the lines of alien script that ran over her whole body. "Maw, what could do that to me? I took an Agulla tank cannon blast to the head and it just mussed my hair. What could do something like that to me?"

"There are powerful beings in the Universe, little sister," Maw said, more gently now as he levitated to her side. "Beings that could destroy worlds with a thought. We don't see them any more-they have retreated to the dark places of the cosmos. It is possible that you came from such, and likely that it was such that came so very close to killing you. I speak truthfully to you, Swan. We know you are powerful, but we don't know where you came from. We don't know what species you are. What we do know is that when we found you, you were near death. And now, thanks to our father, you live. That must be enough for you."

"And my back? I healed everywhere else…"

Maw's hand hovered over the small of her back, and the hand-sized burn there that refused to heal. "A metaphysical injury. Is it not enough that you live? That you can think and speak and kill for the glory of Thanos?"

Her eyes would not leave the bloodied, broken horror that stared back at her with bloody, empty eye sockets. "You're right, as always," she said.

"Rest, and continue your studies," Maw said. "I have repaired your armor and returned it to your chambers, though at father's urging I am designing a new set for you as well. It will be several weeks before it is finished, but your old armor will suffice for now."

"Thank you, Maw."

He nodded dismissal and levitated himself higher into the dome.

Through the heavy multiple doors of the lab, Swan emerged onto the portico that overlooked the vast, breath-taking expense of Sanctuary. The white dwarf star of Chitauri space hung just over the horizon of the primary planetary remnant that housed most of the Chitauri species. Across the expanse of open space to her right hung the red-gold Chita Nebula that gave breath-taking testament to the disaster which shattered the Chitauri homeworld five hundred years before, and nearly spelled their extinction.

It was Thanos who saved them, seeing in them a useful tool for his own plans. And so the Chitauri did not just follow him, they worshipped him as their savior and God.

Her father's empty golden throne lay perched on the edge of the stone atrium on the very edge of the planetary remnants. He must have been overseeing the repairs of Sanctuary II since he wasn't with Maw. Though they took Ahl-Agulla in three days, they paid a price in the number of Chitauri and Outriders killed, and in materiel destroyed or damaged. Corvis' Q-ship was destroyed entirely, she found out after the battle.

Though Sanctuary held a ragged beauty, what she enjoyed the most was the fact that only the rocky planetary remnants retained artificial gravity. Between was only the atmospheric pocket. Which meant when she leapt from the portico of Maw's lab into the open space, she could fly with her wings alone.

She did keep a hand-held thruster with her on the belt of her loose black robes just as a security precaution, but within the atmospheric pocket of Sanctuary, she did not need it.

The majority of the planetary mass was spread out in an asteroid belt that orbited slowly around the slowly cooling star. That portion of their world that the Chitauri stubbornly clung onto was what formed the core of her father's Sanctuary. She flew around it now, not wishing to subject herself to its gravity just yet.

As she reached the far side of the remnant in her casual flight, she was able to glimpse into the caves that sheltered the heart of Chitauri civilization. Within, she knew the great fungal fields dominated every surface not filled with honeycomb chambers of the millions of female drones and servitors who built the hive ships, or raised the leviathans, or tended the fields. The planetary remnant extended down from the orbital plane by three hundred kilometers, almost all of it hollowed out and reinforced to hold this last shard of Chita's ancient ecosystem.

Her wings carried her over endless space. She could name all the stars visible; the distant galaxies and nebula that lit her way. With Maw's lessons she had learned the arcane art of faster than light travel-both the Universal Neural Teleportation Network that the lesser species used, and the slower but more secure warp drives that the Q-Ships and Sanctuary II used. She already spoke twenty languages and had learned so much in a short span of time.

So why don't I know what my symbols mean? What species I am?

Those thoughts ricocheted inside her head like bullets as she cleared the bulge of the main planetary remnant and came within sight, from the far side of where she was two hours before, of her father's palace.

The structure occupied the second largest planetary remnant. Like the first, it was shaped much like a fifty kilometer dagger stabbed through the orbital plane. Domes of ferrocrete and chita stone sprouted from the stony core like fungal growths. The outrider kennels alone occupied a dome that held ten kilometers of floor space that spiraled around the stony core.

It was to the palace proper that she flew, however. The golden spires rose from black, quartz-infused stones shaped into breath-taking arches and walkways. Given the absence of weather, most of the palace was open air, with only select chambers having the privacy of a roof. Her own chambers, as a daughter of Thanos, was included in that last category.

She slid into the gravity well of the remnant three meters out and glided down to the broad, open promenade that ran the length of the upper palace. It did not surprise her at all when her Other stood waiting for her. This one was newly hatched and spawned as her administrator shortly before the purging of Ahl-Agulla.

The male drone bowed from the waist as she flapped her wings to bring her feet forward and land.

"An enjoyable flight, I hope." The creature's native language was one of hisses, clicks and growls that depended as much upon its cyberpathic signals as vocalizations. She had no doubt the statement was accompanied by feelings of loyalty and servitude that she could not detect.

Although for all she knew the Other could be laughing at her for losing her helm in battle. "It was. I wish to bathe when I reach my chambers."

"A servitor prepares your bath," the Other said. It took its position behind and to her right as she walked toward her chambers. The benefit of his cyberpathic communication was that he could instantly communicate with every Chitauri under her command, from the two queens dedicated to breeding her war drones to the servitors who brought food and cleaned her chambers.

"So what were my losses?"

"Nine leviathans and seven hundred thousand sisters sang their death songs in glorious battle for Thanos and Black Swan." The Other managed to sound faintly jealous that he did not have an opportunity to join them.

Swan winced. The hive ship assigned to her leadership housed twenty leviathans and two million Chitauri for her command. Almost half her leviathans were gone, while her war drones experienced thirty five percent losses. "What of my siblings?"

The Other gloated. "Honored Cull Obsidian lost sixty-nine percent of his forces. Honored Proxima Midnight lost only ten percent of her Chitauri, but another thirty percent of her outriders."

"As long as my losses are better than Cull's," she said. "How long until the queens can replace them?"

"New Leviathans have already been grown and are being fitted with their cranial harnesses. We draw from the new awakened to replace the war drones; the new eggs to replace the reserves have been laid and will mature within two stellar cycles."

Swan knew she should not have worried. The war drones lived solely for battle; their only waking hours were spent in training. When not training, they waited in hibernation to save space and food for the newly hatched. They felt no ambition, joy or hope other than to die a glorious death in battle.

It was a simple existence, one made beautiful in its purity of purpose.

"What of my schedule this diurnal cycle?"

"The Other of Cull communicates his master's desire to spar."

"Set the time at plus two hours," she said, smiling despite her odd mood. "It will be good to make sure my injuries are healed. Does father wish to dine with us after?"

"Yes, Mistress. No other pressing matters exist."

"Then you are dismissed for now."

~~Titanomachy~~

"What is it you study now, sister?"

Swan looked up from her infopad and saw Proxima standing at the door of her domed chamber. The much taller woman wore a loose, flowing gown within the safety of the palace. Without her battle paint, her bone-colored skin shone unblemished under the floating lights of the Swan's chamber.

"An archeological study of the ancient Shi'ar Empire," Swan said with a smile. "Did Cull send you? I already agreed to spar with him."

Proxima laughed. "There is little worse than a whiney Cull. Come, sister. It's time."

She crossed the quartz and gold-veined chita stone tiles until she reached the null-grav stand that held Swan's armor. The armor itself took the form of a dress-the chest plate was square and mannish, hinged at the sides and open in the upper back for her wings. The abdominal portion of the armor broke into wide, thinner plates to maximize mobility. From the lower hips, mail weave hung to her ankles.

The material was made of hyperdense neutronium alloy and weighed four metric tons. Her great sword weighed two.

Proxima shook her head as she flicked it. "The finest armor I have seen."

"I have wondered why it was gifted to me, and not you or Cull?"

Proxima laughed. "It would crush me. I can barely lift it-if the null grav failed, like it did you on Ahl-Agulla, I'd be made immobile. I can't even lift that damnable blade. But this way, there is no danger to your back."

Swan hesitated as approached the armor. Just thinking about it made her conscious of the discomfort in her lower back that never went away. "It showed no sign of healing when Maw checked me earlier."

"What does Maw say?"

"He told me it is a metaphysical wound."

"Which means he does not know," Proxima said. "Our brother cannot abide having no answer."

Swan snorted, even allowing herself a smile. Of all of them, only Proxima felt free enough to poke gentle fun at Ebony Maw. Proxima lifted Swan's helmet, though her arms strained from the effort. "Come. I can hear Cull whining from here."

~~Titanomachy~~

When Swan and Proxima arrived at the sparring chamber, Cull Obsidian stood waiting for them.

"At last! Proxi, did you stop for a meal on your way? Did you go to Xandar to buy flowers for Corvus?"

Cull Obsidian did not have the properly shaped jaw to speak Aluish, their father's native tongue and the primary language spoken among his realms. Instead, his language was one of barks, whines and growls with a subvocal visceral wavelength that took Swan almost three days to learn.

Proxima and the others just used translators, but the implants could not work with Swan's existing implant. But once she learned the language, she had no problem answering. "We should have bought perfume, brother. You stink!"

Cull barked laughter. He stomped onto the sparring floor in the chamber. Behind him, movement drew Swan's eyes to the observation galley above. Father sat watching, the Eldest Other at his side to continue his business if necessary.

She slid her blade from its scabbard and joined her much larger brother on the spar floor.

"What have you named the weapon?" Cull hefted his chain-axe proudly. "Mine is named Aelsa."

For a moment, Swan stood frozen. "Aelsa? Wasn't that a Krylorian actress?"

Cull nodded enthusiastically. "She's very pretty. Like my axe. Very pretty."

And with that statement, he flung his massive chain axe right at her head with force and speed enough to punch through titanium. She spun and batted the retractable axe-head away with one wing. He pulled it back faster than she could cut the chain that bound it with her sword. For a creature who stood over four meters tall, he moved incredibly fast.

He bull-rushed forward; it was Cull's preferred method of attack, and there were few beings in the universe that could stand against such an attack. Though Swan was stronger than he was, he outmassed her by a ton and a half when her null grav was on. However, after months of sparring she'd learned a few tricks herself.

She spun around, using one wing to deflect his axe, another to strike the back of his right knee, and the flat of her sword to hit him square in the back.

Cull made a loud, breathless grunt as the incredibly dense and heavy blade sent even his great bulk flying. His armor kept his spine intact, but even so it took him a moment to regain his feet. "Maybe call the blade Aclul. It is very heavy, like my mother."

Huge legs launched him into a roll that looked more like a rolling tank than a bipedal movement. His axe swung out and scored a hit on her plate that spun her about even as she managed to bat him into the far wall. Each went flying in opposite directions.

"That's a nice move, brother," she noted as she picked herself up.

Cull picked himself up with a laugh. "Only you and father are stronger. Must learn new moves. Perhaps you should name the blade Beak! You are a bird, and you peck at things with it!"

Swan laughed as she launched herself forward in a flurry of strikes. Cull was strong and fast enough to block, but each of her blows bowed his arms and bent his legs, until he'd had to lean forward and overcompensate. The moment his balance turned, she dropped her blade, swung under his axe blow, and struck with double fists against this chest plate. He flew with an explosive release of breath across the floor.

He rolled quickly to his feet. "Ha! That was good. Your beak has a sting!"

"So does your breath," she called back with a laugh. "Seriously, brother, you need to cut back on the borkchacht!"

He stumbled, clutching his vast chest dramatically. "No! What is the point in saving the universe if I cannot have my borkchacht!"

Though he was the largest and most brutish-looking of all the Black Order, Cull had the most playful sense of humor. It was why she enjoyed sparring with him so much. Proxima pushed her technique and was always teaching despite the skills Swan already possessed, and Corvus was the same. Maw's telepathy rendered physical sparring pointless, and Gamora and Nebula would both likely have been hurt just trying to spar with her. They were assassins and agents of chaos more than warriors.

But when she sparred with Cull, it was fun.

The spar continued, and despite her strength it was far from one-sided. Often they would stop and compare notes on different moves before continuing. Like Corvus, Cull was older and far more experienced than her. He'd been fighting in their father's crusade to save the universe from itself for longer than she had been alive, if Maw's estimates of her age were correct.

After a few hours, they broke to prepare for their meal. When Swan reached the dining chamber, she saw her father had not joined them yet. "Come sit with us, sister!" Proxima called.

She indicated a seat beside her, opposite Corvus. Cull took up the end seat opposite father's seat, while Maw and the brats sat on the other side of the table. Swan came and sat, letting her wings hang over the arms of the chair.

"So, what are you naming the weapon?" Gamora asked.

"She's naming it Beak!" Cull chimed.

Swan rolled her eyes but smiled fondly at her brother. "Probably not Beak. I was thinking Mercy, or...Hope."

"Odd names for a weapon," Nebula noted with the same intense stare she used with everyone.

"Odd for most, but not for your sister." Father stepped into the chamber and they stood in greeting. "I find both apt, but of the two...Mercy suits our purpose best."

"Then Mercy is the name, Father," Swan said.

Father sat, they followed, and soon enough Chitauri servitors brought out the food. They spoke as they ate. Cull bragged about his campaign against the Ockuracht, while the brats spoke of their own missions. Father used them primarily for infiltration, since they looked the least threatening of the Order.

Maw, who was the daintiest eater there, carefully cut his food into perfectly symmetrical squares, three centimeters each, before he began to eat. "I received the new shipment of neutronium from the Ravager clan. I believe Swan's new armor should be ready within three weeks."

"Will she be able to keep the helmet on?" Nebula asked in a dead serious tone.

Beside her, Gamora barely covered her snicker. Both women jumped in surprise when pieces of their jerked holafa rose up and slapped them in the face. "When either of you actually reach the point in your studies where you can build a warp driver from scratch, then you may make light of your sister. Until then, you would do well to be silent."

"You have her studying the Shi'ar, Maw?" Proxima asked.

Maw raised a thin brow and stared at Swan. "No, I have not."

Swan ducked her head. "I finished the text you sent, Maw. The Shi'ar were the architects of the Universal Neural Teleportation Network. I was hoping to find clues on how they constructed it in the archeological records."

In truth, Swan hoped to find some evidence that perhaps she was Shi'ar. She wasn't, she now knew, but the 10,000 year history of the galaxy-spanning empire was fascinating in and of itself.

"If only that were the case," Maw said, and she could hear genuine regret in his words. "So much was lost with the Great Empire. I shall test your knowledge then, on the morrow. There are only a handful of species that can grasp the complexities of integral polyphysics. I will be pleased to have another among our Order able to do so."

"Of course."

The meal continued. Swan did her best to ignore Nebula's glare.

Yup. Not only did I pull a Captain Marvel...Captain Marvel herself will be showing up fairly soon.