"Speech"
"Thought"
Sound effect!
Knowhere ship dock alleyway (Thug #1 POV)
"Portals are great for business." I say to my buddy.
"Ya who doesn't appreciate tourists." He says pulling out his gun.
In a place like Knowhere plenty of different people came from all over the universe. So robbing the ones dumb enough to come here alone was profitable. It's all the better if those targets were beautiful lady's. The dock is always full of suckers just off a transport or a teleport ripe for taking.
"What a shit hole." Said a beautiful woman who walked out of a blue portal all alone.
She was dressed in a Vest with lots of pockets, slightly baggy pants also with pockets, military boots, and some kind of bodysuit under all of that. You could almost think she was a professional mercenary if not for how clean all of it was. Most likely she was new to the job or just dressing up to seem tough.
The glowing thing in the middle of her chest was odd.
"Dark hair and stuck up, just how I like them." My friend says eyeing the woman.
I just chuckle gesturing for us to proceed with the shakedown.
"Hello miss welcome to Knowhere, are you aware of the entrance fee?" I ask with a smile.
"Ya but I'm sure we can work out a discount." My friend says raising his gun and giving her another once over.
"You have five second to leave my sight or you will die painfully." She says not even looking at us.
"Hay what do yo- Swish! Thud!" He says but is cut off very literally.
I was to stunned to move as the head of my friend rolls away, his body falling into a lifeless heap.
"Where did that sword even come from?" I think as she wipes my friends blood off her sword using his corpse.
"Do you fear... death? Do you fear that Dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare, all your sins punished?" She says eyes now burning a hole through me, looking at my very soul.
My bladder emptied as I crumple onto the ground and the last thing I see is her surrounded in green fire.
Knowhere same place same time (Toni POV)
"Ha still got it!" I say looking at my handy work.
"Sure Davy Jones you still have what ever the fuck that was." Nat says walking out of the portal.
"You wouldn't even get that reference if I hadn't made you watch all the pirate movies." I say waiting for everyone to come through.
"Us, you made all of Us watch those movies." Wanda says with a starry look in her eyes at all the cool space stuff.
"I found those films fairly informative." Vision says taking position next to Wanda.
"Elder Sister does have impressive taste in stories, she showed me a wondrous tale of a father who searches the high seas for his kidnapped son and conquers his fears during his journey." Thor says as he surveyed the area.
"That was a children's movie Thor and the characters were fish." Loki says palming his face.
"Would you insufferable idiot's stop talking!" Prox yells at the Guardians of the galaxy, or the gaggle of morons.
"Would you rather us imitate you and never talk?" Quill says hiding behind Gamora.
"Most of the time yes." Nebula says constantly watching Proxima.
"Our last visit here was great." Drax says.
"Last time we came here we almost died about ten times." Rocket says loading a gun I let him make in my guest work shop.
"I am groot." Groot says playing a new Stark mobile game console he was beta testing.
"Alright Quill your out guide, lead the way And try not to get us lost." I say pulling him from behind Gamora.
With a nod he starts showing us to the Collector, I'll judge if his collection is worth anything.
Knowhere was a skid mark on the underwear of the universe, ugly and smells of excrement. Passing a load of prostitutes, bars, guns shops, drug dealers just showed how lawless this place was, kinda like a mining town during the old west.
Luckily Nat had the great idea of forming groups with at least one responsible person to keep us on track. Already the responsible people had there hands full, it was like wrangling toddlers.
"Toni get back here." Nat says dragging me from the forth strip club we passed.
Turns out I was not one of the responsible ones.
"Nat that woman had double D's and a snake head, how could I resist!" I yell at the Extremis powered lady.
"Why is the snake head important? Wait don't tell me." She responded placing me next to Loki and Thor.
"Don't worry she was a fine maiden." Thor says patting me on the back.
"Uh guy's we're here..." Quill says pointing at a set of doors.
Truly never have I seen an entrance to a priceless collection that supposedly contains untold wonders be so... mundane. The entrance was a standard gray metal double door with no markings what so ever, Honestly the whole building looked more like a warehouse.
"Are you sure? This place looks a bit plain." I say looking closer to see if I'm missing anything.
"Uh ya this is the place." Quill answered.
"Toni not everyone keeps there most valuable possessions in a massive building with there last name plastered all over it." Nat says rolling her eyes.
"Then what's the point?" I say genuinely not understanding what she means.
Walking up to the doors I noticed a button with a speaker over it, must be an intercom.
"Hello we are here to see the Collector." I say pressing the button.
"Do you have an appointment?" A woman voice says back.
"No, however this is regarding an object Asgard has left in his care." I say elbowing Thor to speak.
"Yes this is Prince Thor of Asgard come to discuss that matter." He says in a rushed manner.
"...please wait a moment." The lady says.
"Ok it's probably a good idea for only three of us to go in, Thor and Loki your with me. Nat go find Wanda she has wondered off." I say causing Nat to spin around.
Yup Wanda at some point had either got lost of decided to explore on her own, good news was Vision was also gone so they were together.
"Oh Come on!" Nat yells running off.
"Prox watch the door, if anything happens do what think is best." I say to my horned subordinate.
She just nods with a smile pulling out her spear and taking a guard position.
"We will just look around and let you do your thing. Please don't leave us here, our ship is still on Tera." Quill says quickly moving his group out.
"Peter my sister and I will be here." Gamora says with Nebula nodding along as they stand near Proxima.
"Probably still don't trust her." I think seeing the glances they send to there oldest sister.
"Master Tivan will see you now." The female voice says as the doors pop open.
Walking into the building with Thor and Loki flanking me we make out way down the lighted path. Viewing the collection around us the various items, it is an amazing assortment of the history of the universe. More than one of the items I recognized form before my banishment, especially some of the creatures on display I'm sure I killed.
"See that dragon, I'm sure I've seen it before." I say stopping to get a better look.
"That is much larger than any dragon I have ever seen." Thor says in awe.
That was true while Skyrim did have accurate representation of dragons with look and size they aren't the only ones out there. The type of dragon before us was about ten times that size and far bulkier that that. Of course there is a distinct possibility that they are extinct because of me.
"These were intelligent creatures who could speak as well. Unfortunately Odin saw them as a threat so he sent me to genocide them." I say looking at the neck area.
"Really?" Thor asks with disappointment in his tone.
"Odin gave that order a lot." I answer.
"That is not that surprising." Loki says with a sigh.
Thor was very regularly getting a true history lesson on his father form someone who knew him before he was born. Every time I dropped a truth bomb on him he got this disappointed look and sulked for an hour.
"Yup sure enough I killed this dragon, see the slash marks on the neck? That was me." I say showing two massive cuts in the bones around the neck.
"Then I have you to thank for this addition to my collection." Says a voice to our left.
The Collector was definitely one of those eccentric types, not that I had any room to talk. A white haired man in a fancy outfit leaning on a display case was what greeted us. Following behind him was a woman with dark blue skin in a white business suit and a pencil skirt holding a data pad.
"To what honor do I have to receive both princes of Asgard in my home, And who are you to travel with them?" He asks looking at me for an answer.
"Toni Stark of earth or if you prefer Hela Odinsdottir last executioner of Asgard, Older sister of these two." I say crossing my arms.
"Ah truly an honor to have a goddess of death that other gods still fear to this day and the person who beat the Mad Titan Thanos." He say giving a bow.
"I feel as if we have seen each other before." Thor says scratching his chin.
"Not me Lord of Thunder but perhaps you are familiar with my brother the Grandmaster of Sakaar." He say with a smile.
"Ah yes how is he doing?" Thor says now finding a book on display very interesting.
"Still quiet angry for the rebellion and loss of his champions. There is a bounty on your head right now, That also includes you Silver tongue." He say now looking at Loki.
"I would suggest not trying to earn that money." I say with a glare.
"My brothers failing is his own business, now lets get to ours. You have come for the Reality stone that Asgard asked me to keep. It is a most valuable piece of my collection so what will you offer in return." He says getting to the point.
"Other than Thanos not coming to take it from your cold body, what would you want?" I ask.
"Something personal from you." He says looking me.
"From me?" I ask for clarification.
"You are quickly becoming famous in the universe so anything of yours will be very valuable in the future. That would be a boon for my collection so the more personal the better." The Collector says with a small clap.
The woman behind him produced a small display box that seemed to expand and shrink when necessary. Thinking what would be a good trade was difficult, what could I give and not regret later.
"Give me a moment." I say using the Space stone to open a portal to the vault in my Malibu home.
Walking into what I called my keepsake vault always brought back good memories because anything that was deemed special was stored here. Moving to the third row down and still sitting in a crate was the Mrk 1 suit from my captivity in the cave. While It will alway hold a special place in my memories, it was also the thing I won't mind parting with. Picking up the crate and walking back to the portal I set it down right infront of the Collector.
"This is the first set of armor I made while being held captive by people who wanted to kill me, it's also what saved my life and the life of another man." I say ripping the lid of to show the contents.
"Oh truly a special piece indeed, alright we have a deal." He says extending his hand.
Shaking his hand we follow down the corridors to a pedestal surrounded by a force field, in the center was small box glowing red. He gives a gesture to his assistant who hands over a remote. After putting in a code the pedestal and display fall into the floor reveling a second display. That rises out showing the real Reality stone in a small gray rectangle box.
"Here you are." He says picking up the box and handing it over.
Opening up the box a red glow illuminate my face confirming what it was. Slashing the air I open an extradimensional storage space and place it in, while it can't stay in there forever that was better than hanging it from my keys.
Boom! Shake!
Before either of us could say anything a large explosion rings from outside along with alarms blaring. His assistant rushes to his side frantically showing multiple streams of data on the pad.
"It seems Thanos was just a bit later than you." He says putting a video stream on a wall.
The camera shows the same beasts that attack Asgard fighting locals who were putting up a good defense. Another feed shows Nat using her enhanced strength swinging a metal pole smashing the creatures into a fine smear. Behind her Wanda was using her powers in the left hand to group the creachers together and right hand was shooting fire like a flamethrower. Vision was blasting anything that moved close to the two with incredible accuracy.
Another feed showed Proxima and The Guardians using all manner of ways to kill the these things in droves. Gamora and Nebula were practically dancing with how fluid they moved around each other while fighting. Rocket was using his new gun to freeze his target who then exploded into a hail of ice shrapnel. Groot, Drax, and Mantis were fighting close with a combo of there respective styles. Quill was flying around taking shots where he could occasionally tossing out an explosive.
"Truly Thanos has no end of his cannon fodder to throw at my mining station." The Collector says swiping through the pad.
"Tell you what, as a free bonus to our deal I'm going to help you with this problem." I say tapping my Arc reactor causing a helmet to form on my head.
Funny thing was other than some workout shorts and a sports bra everything I'm wearing is just my nanotech armor. Nanotechnology was great especially when you can mold it to suit anything you want to wear like boots, Vest, combat pants, and the bodysuit for this little trip.
"It would be greatly appreciated however I never accept help for free, I will owe you one favor." He say bowing.
"Agreed. Now boys let's go have some fun." I say running to the entrance.
"Do I get a say in this?" Loki says raising an eyebrow.
"Come brother we go to battle!" Thor yells grabbing Loki and chasing after me.
Knowhere in another location ten minutes earlier (Natasha POV)
"Wanda why did you wonder off the second nobody was looking." I say tapping my foot waiting for an answer.
After running all over this gross space station for a good bit I finally found Wanda and Vision. Wanda was arguing with some guy selling what looked like junk at a stand, Vision was holding her back from jumping over the counter. After getting her attention the stand owner seemed to think he won as a smirk formed, but before Wanda turned to look at me she lifted him up in a shroud of red and tossed him at least a mile away.
"Nat you don't understand this was calling to me." She says holding up an ominous looking book.
"What did Toni says about creepy looking books when you were learning magic." I say giving her a look of disapproval.
"Not to open them until Strange or her looked at it first..." She says slumping in defeat.
"And why is that?" I say crossing my arms.
"Creepy books are the quickest was to be cursed, sent to a hell dimension, or end up pregnant with the baby of a Lovecraft horror being." She says quoting Toni's exact words.
"Good now what are you going to do?" I say with a go-on gesture.
"Put the book in my satchel and not open it until it's looked at." Wanda says stuffing the book into her bag.
Beep Beep Beep Beep!
"Attention the station is under attack, please form defensive positions. Please note bonuses will be paid in triple for those who fight." Said a male computerized voice with an alarm blaring.
Our surroundings quickly changed from a degenerate slum into a fortress almost instant. People rushed around arming themselves with anything they could get.
"Nat that doesn't sound good..." Wanda says hands now glowing.
"As Ms. Stark would say... No shit." Vision says taking a defensive position.
BOOM!
An explosion rocks the area as the hoard starts to attack anything it sees. Gun fire rings all around as the people begin to attack killing many.
Thwack!
Ripping out an alien lamp post, I hit the one closest sending it flying like a baseball.
"Toni better hurry up!" I yell squishing more creatures.
Knowhere current time (Toni POV)
"Where does Thanos even get all these pests!" I yell shooting out another wave of swords into the hoard and cutting a group into chunks with precision lasers.
"He grows them in mass at a planet factory." Prox says skewering another bunch with her spear.
"These foes are quiet boring." Thor says frying them with lightning.
"Shut up Thor, boring is good." Loki said shimmering into sight and stabbing some targets.
Seeing a large group swarming right at me, I summon a wall of green fire and pushed it there way. The smell could be compared to rotten chicken as it wafted from the many bodies.
"Move up! Prox where would Thanos be?" I yell finally catching a moment.
"He will attack once sufficient damage have been done. His current position is most likely on the main ship." Prox says cleaning her spear.
Moving through the many streets of Knowhere we cleaned up any hoard we found. Along the way we reconnected with Quill and his team moving closer to the source of the creatures. Reaching the edge of the station we see six large ships with Thanos's forces pouring out like water. Amidst them two of Thanos's children that were on Asgard but they are a bit different.
The big one 'Cull Obsidian' was now wearing full armor and carried a massive axe, doing a good job of looking far more intimidating. Squidward or 'Ebony Maw' seemed to grow some new hands but they looked discolored and wrong for his body.
"Kill them!" Squid yells not bothering with the speech Prox says he normally says.
The hoard starts at the Guardians and us like mosquitoes on a fat guy in a swamp. We are surrounded immediately but that did little good with the shear overwhelming fire power we have, how closed off the space definitely helped.
After five minutes of pure devastating attacks and a mountain of bodies it was just the big bads left. While they look ready to fight neither of them moved, but the smile squid face was sporting was concerning.
"So are you go-" I start but something interrupts me.
A second to late I see a shimmer right in front of, which turns out to be Thanos using a cloaking device.
With a very shiny gold gauntlet glowing purple already pulled back...
BOOM!
I went flying propelled by a power stone charged fist right to the face, if my helmet was up or that would have hurt worse. Blasting my thrusters I try and stop but that just slowed me down slightly.
CRASH!
"Yup that was someone's house." I think crashing through a building.
CRASH!
"Oh what a nice store, need to visit once I'm done."
Fifteen more buildings got new person sized holes before I eventually stopped.
CRASH!
Taking a moment to collect myself in this strange room that looked like a private lounge seemed smart.
"So how goes the fight?" The voice of the Collector says off to the side.
"Oh just fine..." I say shaking my head.
Flying through the path my body just made very quickly gaining more speed than I have ever used in my life. Once I see the fight going on with Thanos killing Loki by strangulation. Luckily Thanos was turned with his side facing me so it was a great opening. Aiming my foot for Thanos's ribcage with Mach 5 speed and a Vibranium boot, it works spectacularly.
BOOM!
Thanos's body almost folds in half tossing him right through one of the ships his army was pouring out of. Loki gets released and raggdolls into my arms looking scared but relieved. The ship detaches from its place and falls back into space tumbling uncontrollably.
A large flash of purple bathes the area as Thanos rockets right back from open space landing about 20 yards from my position.
Summoning two short swords covered with electricity I charge. For such a big opponent Thanos was fast swiping his fist trying to knock my head off. I weaved around the strikes getting cuts in on his legs and arms but just missing his vital spots.
I need to strike harder.
Tossing the short swords I summon a great sword covered in green flames. Thanos decided to follow suit charging with his gauntlet raised ready to fight.
CLANG!
His open palm meets my blade as a war of attrition starts with green and purple waves of power surround us.
"You have caused enough delays to my plan, no more." Thanos says with a grunt of exertion pushing in more power.
"I don't give a shit about you idiotic plan, the universe will thank me for your death." I say green fire now an inferno behind me.
"It is my destiny to save this universe!" He yells as his skin starts to crack with purple light from sheer power he was using.
"Destiny is bullshit!" I yell my eyes now glowing green.
Trying to end this I start to pull energy from the Space stone adding to my magic power. The Fire around me takes a blue tint around the green and starts to bend space around us. Thanos senses the change and backs up right as my blade starts to cut the golden gauntlet covering his hand.
Before I can follow up with another attack he slams his fist into the metal surface we are on making it explode and warp. Flying to his last location I make it just in time to see him active a small device he was now holding. The air around Thanos distorted but he just disappeared like he was never there.
"AHHHHHHH Fine run you bastard! I'll kill you one day!" I scream at where the Titan was standing.
"ROAR!" I hear behind me as a shadow appeared.
I turn around just to see Thanos's largest child swing his axe down at head...
SWISH! Splat!
Or that's what would be happening if not for the spear now striking out of said big boy...
"It seems Thanos has run again..." Prox says pulling her spear out of the large body.
Looking over at the group they are cleaning up the last of Thanos's monsters. Nebula was holding Ebony Maw's head only to toss it up and kick it out into space.
"How did Thanos disappear?" I ask through gritted teeth.
"Self propulsion device with access to the Universal Neural Teleportation Network. Extremely dangerous without a ship but very useful for quick escapes." She says looking at the spot Thanos stood.
"Great so he can run away any time he wants." I say feeling very annoyed.
"He can only do it once, that was a prototype. It was stolen during the destination of Xander, that was the only one and it is a single time use." She says.
"Good one less thing to worry about, now lets regroup with Nat at the Collector's place." I say getting a nod from Prox.
Knowhere Collector's place 10 minutes later (Toni POV)
"Thank you for your assistance in defending my business." The Collector say with a bow and his assistant bowing next to him.
"Not sure when I'll need that favor but I will keep it in mind." I say bowing back.
"Sir your next appointment is in hour." His assistant says.
"Fine, I wish you luck against Thanos in the future." He says turning around walking back into his building.
"Toni can you look at this book for me..." Wanda says holding out an ominous book.
"Good you remember one of the first lessons about magic." I say taking the book.
Flipping through the book it was very obvious that it was pure evil. Slamming it shut I place it into a separate storage dimension.
"Nope this book is pure evil so no reading." I say crossing my arms.
Wanda's shoulders sag but she nods none the less.
"Can we go home already, I have had enough of space for a while." Nat say.
Using the space stone I open a portal back to earth already planning for our next move against Thanos.
Xandar desolated capital same time (Thanos POV)
"How does this keep happening..." I say to the empty city.
Opening my Gauntlet I see the thin line that was cut right into the metal palm, something that should be impossible. Who was this person who could best me not once but twice. Closing my palm in anger I remember what she said the first time we met.
"Toni Stark of earth... Goddess of death... Fine Earth will be our battle ground and it will reap what you sow." I promise to my self.
"But first I need to get some help..."
New York Sanctum 3 days later (Strange POV)
When Toni said she and Wanda needed help with something the last thing I wanted to see was them holding one of the most dangerous items in our reality. Wong had the same look as soon as they showed that cursed book.
"Where did you find this monstrosity?" I ask Toni and Wanda.
"A junk stand in space." Wanda says rubbing the back of her neck.
"Luckily Nat was there to remind her what the rules of magic are concerning books." Toni adds patting her on the back.
"You have managed to find a copy of the Darkhold the Book of the Damned, a book that corrupts everything it is near." I say informing the other two magic users.
"It is a tome of the darkest magic known to the universe" Wong say taking a couple of steps back.
"Ok now lets burn it and be done with it." Toni says lighting a green flame in her palm.
Wanda seems to hesitate but relents all the same.
While I should agree was it the right move to destroy something so powerful with an intergalactic threat so close to our planet... Thanos was nothing in the face of such magic. The power I cou-
"No." Toni says grabbing Darkhold and tossing it into the corner of the room then blasting it with a jet of fire.
SCREAM!
The book lets out a shriek of a thousand voices as the pages burned and it's energy cracks the floor. The book shakes like it is trying to escape but Toni just ups the intensity of the fire. The only thing left was a scorch mark and a bad feeling that I didn't notice until the book was destroyed.
"I saw that look, trying to justify keeping that thing." Toni says.
"I wa-" I try but get cut off.
"You can lie to yourself all you want but don't bullshit me." She says glaring at me.
"How did you know?" I ask not bothering to lie.
"Seen that look one to many times, smart people trying to justify stupid decision. Now Wanda are you good?" Toni asks Wanda.
"Ya actually... It's like a voice in my mind kept saying to read the book... When it burned it also screamed." Wanda says in a worried tone.
"Like you already had a connection with the Darkhold, most troubling." Wong adds.
"Well that's over and done with. Strange! Get that look off your face, it was basically the Necronomicon. Wanda lets get shit faced and forget this happened." Toni says spinning around exiting the Sanctum with Wanda trailing behind her.
"She's not wrong... The book was far to dangerous." Wong say once Toni was gone.
"She was... Let's just hope we won't need it." I say walking to the lounge.