See, I told you it wouldn't be five months till this chapter came out! Ha ha, T'Challa!

T'Challa: We shall see.

Err...let's move on, shall we? And hey, I'm super excited about this chapter because we finally get to meet Merlin! Yay! I can't wait to get everyone's opinion of her, so enjoy!

Come The Conqueror.

It's been generally accepted that there have been some days where some powerful cosmic entity decides to have a sick, and often twisted, determination to make things absolutely difficult for whichever hapless soul they target. A good example would be when you've misplaced your keys, and the search for them makes you late for a very important date, and it cascades for the rest of the day, getting progressively worse: just how my situation today is unfolding out.

My day started out fantastic—waking up to a cuddly T'Challa is always a positive—but then it hit the proverbial fan when an intergalactic time travelling conqueror by the name of Kang arrived (teleported, really) into the Avengers Mansion in an attempt to murder Captain America for something he hadn't done yet, or will do in the near future. Ugh, I hate time travel! It messes up with verb tenses!

But instead of killing Cap, all Kang got was one major smack down courtesy of the entire Avengers team, with help of a demi-god level mutant. Kang fled before we could contain him, so it was highly plausible that he'd return, and with stronger forces—the typical way of really determined bad guys.

Until then, I would enjoy cuddling up against T'Challa and relax a little.

:You know, that counts as jinxing, more or less, right?: ….Ah, hell.

######

Kang's second phase of attack began with giant yellow armada ships appearing out of the atmosphere, each sending out smaller yellow spheres through the sky to fight off any fighter jet that shot at it. In addition, 50 foot tall scarab-like robots with vicious whip-like arms descended to the ground.

"Ugh, give me freaking gamma monsters over this!" I panted, lashing a sun whip at one of the machines and cutting it in half. Thanks to the energy being as hot as the sun itself, the whip went through like a hot knife through butter. Which, to be honest, didn't install all that much strength in someone who's getting tired.

"You are kidding, right?!" Hawkeye called out from a few meters away, battling his own lot of scarabs. "Please tell me you are!" I couldn't answer him right away, mostly due to a whole gang of scarabs moving towards me. Unfortunately for me, there was a limit to the amount of sun whips I could have at one time, and I was losing steam fast.

"Can I get some help over here?" I yelled to anyone in range. My call was answered when one of the robots was knocked over, thanks to Diego and Voltaire slamming into its legs and main body, while another was sliced in half as my boyfriend landed beside me. His feet barely touched the ground before he threw a pair of vibranium daggers at the scarabs behind me.

"Thanks." I remarked gratefully, creating a shield around us just before a scarab lashed out with its arms, only to be bisected through the middle courtesy of me. Diego decimated the rest by unleashing a sonic-like howl that went on for blocks, something that gave us a bit of breathing room for the moment.

"I take it that this is Kang's handiwork?" I dryly remarked to the others as we gathered around.

"Looks that way, Starky." Hawkeye confirmed, looking not even close to how I felt at the moment. I honestly thought I was in better shape than this, but I guess my stamina wasn't all that great—our earlier encounter with Kang must have drained me right out.

"How are ya holding up, Briar?" Diego called as he and Voltaire trotting over to the rest of us, "You look drained." I tried to give him a glare, but the energy just wasn't there for me to use. The point made itself even clearer when I suddenly leaned against T'Challa at a rather drunken angle, my arms trembling from the exertion.

"Rose?" Panther softly questioned, the level of worry in his voice obvious to the others, "You should go back to the Mansion; you cannot keep fighting like this." Maybe so, but I doubt that Kang would be so obliging as to let me get to safety. Doubtful, but in any case, we're too far from the Mansion, and Diego lacks the same teleportation powers Alenka has.

"I'll be ok." I began only to be interrupted by a flash of light in the sky. We all looked up in time to see a holographic head shot of Kang floating in the air, possibly to gloat or force us into surrender.

"Did you really think you had defeated me?" Kang's booming voice mocked us, the smug look back on his face. "I told you, Avengers, that I would save the world. Under my rule, Earth will be strong. It will survive the coming onslaught.

"I have been learning the strengths and weaknesses of your era's defenses, and now the true conquest begins." Kang's words left a feeling of unpleasantness inside of me, something T'Challa easily sensed and pulled me closer against his side. That's when it happened.

The scarabs we had already taken down began to glow, and all the damage that we had inflicted on them all began to repair itself, sending a wave of apprehensive fear shooting right through everyone.

"They're regenerating, self-repairing." Giant Man observed, confirming our worst fears. "It was all an act! We never even made a dent!" Oh, fan-bloody-tastic!

"You have got to be kidding me!" I half cried in dismay. T'Challa pulled away to attack an appendage before it got to us, as Hawkeye and the others moving to begin their own fights. I summoned whatever strength I had left inside my body and hit out with my sun whips. The only problem was that the energy in my attacks was getting weaker, thus making my attacks less effective, and meaning that I needed to hit the scarabs again and again to even make a significant scratch on it.

My strength finally gave out at the worst possible time: one of the scarab's arms swung out and hit me hard enough that I flew through the air, landing on a car hard enough to crush the windscreen to bits. The vibranium armor took to worst of the impact and the shrapnel, but that didn't stop my head from smacking against the roof—the size of the goose egg nearly covered my entire head, but thankfully it didn't kill me. As it stood, the impact with the car left me winded, with one of Kang's scarabs looming dangerously close for comfort. The worst part was that there wasn't a friendly face close by to save me.

A feeling of dread washed over me as a large claw reached down towards me, most likely to land a finishing blow, when out of nowhere a blur slammed into the scarab, reducing it to scrap before landing elegantly nearby. The feeling of dread turned into relief when the blur turned out to be Alenka in her battle armor, with a reassuring grin on her face.

"I can't leave you alone for nearly three weeks, without there being some sort of danger, can I?" She asked as she stood beside me. The most I could do for answer was a cross between and wince and a grimace, to which she clucked softly. She looked up past where I could see and beckoned someone over.

"Could you heal her, please, and stay with her?" Alenka asked them, "I'll go ahead and keep the robots from coming this way." Whoever she was speaking to must have nodded, so Alenka gave them a grateful smile before looking down at me.

"You'll be fine, Briar." She promised me. The sincerity in her eyes almost matched the same look T'Challa got whenever he promised me the same thing. Hang on, did that even make sense? Ow, this goose egg really hurts! Alenka disappeared from my periphery, only to be replaced by a black shroud…or someone dressed in a black cloak, either one.

"I suppose asking how you feel at the moment is rather redundant." The person remarked in a gentle female tone, refined with a British accent. "So shall I just skip straight to the healing?"

"Please do." I rasped softly. The girl nodded in agreement, and something cold and sparkly blue filled my vision. It wasn't so much the act that had my sitting bolt upright, but rather the near freezing temperature of whatever it was, followed by a jolt of energy thought entire body, like I had just downed a dozen highly caffeinated energy drinks.

"Aiee! Oh, that is so cold!" I squealed, rubbing my hands over my now cold face. Over my whimpers, I could hear an almost suppressed giggle from the girl who just saved my tush. When the feeling returned to my cheeks again, my hands fell down into my lap and I gave the new girl a pouty look, which the new girl tried to suppress even more giggles at my face.

"Sorry, but that never gets old." She apologized, "although, my younger sister is notorious for putting up a bigger fuss during her treatments." Given how cold that stuff was, I could damn well understand that a younger girl would find that experience unpleasant.

A nearby explosion pulled me out of my thoughts, and neatly reminded me of the invading alien robot army.

"You know something? I just about forgot that this was happening." I commented dryly as the girl helped me get off the car.

"Mm. I know that feeling all too well." She agreed, "By the way, I'm Merlin." Th…Oh, so this is Merlin! Wow, she's…different from what I was expecting. I honestly thought she'd a bit more formal, or regal, whichever term it was, but no she was rather open and friendly. The sounds of the robots approaching our position pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Well, then, shall we get started?" Merlin asked in an almost cheery mood. I let out a reluctant grumble ended with a strangled sounding cat hiss, which slightly confused her for a second before she gave a small laugh.

"Tell you what, why doesn't Kilgharrah lend you some help?" She offered me, "Maybe a bit of higher ground will give you an advantage." That sounded like a good idea, but who the heck was Kilgharrah? Before I could ask her to identify this new person, a scarab appeared from behind us, prompting us to re-join the fight, and quick smart too.

Without the slightest bit of hesitance, the girl flew up and towards the scarab. With a loud, clear voice chanting a spell of some sort, Merlin unleashed a wave of deep purple energy that bisected the robot, and the others that appeared behind the first. The resulting effect was huge, to say the least—the bisected scarabs exploded in a rainbow of colors and disintegrated into pieces no bigger than a fleck of ash.

There were only two words I can use that would do any justice to the spectacle I just witnessed: "Mind. Blown."

From beside me came an amused chuckle as a big something brushed against my elbow. "Your kind has a most peculiar way of showing appreciation, something that will never cease to amaze me." A cool, smooth voice teased with humor. I turned to the speaker, only to stumble backwards a few steps in shock.

There was no question that the sight of a pretty darn big draft horse, from out of nowhere, was enough to fry my poor little brain, but when said horse speaks to you in a human language, it's definitely more than enough to make my brain poop itself before shutting down completely. I would have gladly let myself pass out, but the masses of scarab-bots still causing chaos managed to convince me not to do so.

"I'm guessing you're the one called Kilgharrah, then?" I asked rather dumbly.

"Indeed, I am." The horse nodded before chuckling again, "Do not fret: the novelty of a talking horse will wear off in a while." Guess he's been through this sort of thing before with other people. In an effort to regain my senses, I ran my hand over my face and exhaled loudly.

:A talking horse. Why not?: My inner voice asked, :You already know a talking dog, plus you're friends with a Norse god.: You know, that was a very good point.

When I lowered my hand again, Kilgharrah still stood in front of me, an understanding look about his face (even though his shaggy mane did cover his eyes), and lowered himself onto his forelegs. I swung myself onto his saddle, clutching at the base of his mane as he rose to his full height, and took off at a light clip towards the battle.

:Well, once more into the madness, eh?:

######

Kilgharrah was right: the novelty of a talking horse does wear off after a while, only so it can be replaced with the shock of finding out that he can also fly. True, he didn't have wings, but from what he's told me, the saddle was crafted with an enchantment so that he could "fly"—more like walk/gallop on the air, like it was more ground.

Mind you, the whole flying thing just made fighting the scarabs a whole lot more easily, plus I also received a crash course in advanced battle magic, thanks to Merlin. Turns out, I didn't need to always hold onto my magi-staff to use it: the magic inside of it was psionically linked to my mind, almost like it could act on its own. Like having telekinesis but only with magic, if that makes sense. The easiest way to explain it was while the magi-staff fought, I could hold onto Kilgharrah's mane with both hands.

What? This was my first time on a horse, let alone one that can fly: I'd love to see someone else do any better!

Elsewhere, I could see Merlin holding her own quite well against her portion of the scarab-bots, using a variety of spells against them. I think if he was still alive today, Merlin Ambrosius would be quite proud of his descendant. It was obvious that Kilgharrah was: he would openly comment on the difficulty of whatever spell she used, and how she performed it effortlessly, or even how easily she used it in tandem with another spell.

I was only paying half attention to his commentary: since Merlin and Kilgharrah showed up, I haven't seen the other Avengers or Voltaire. Merlin was easy to spot, and occasionally I could see Alenka and Diego, but not a whole lot of the others, and I was starting to get worried. Especially about T'Challa and my brother.

"Having fun there, Briar?" Alenka called as she flew up beside me, several incredibly long pale silver tentacles snaking from her back, lashing out at any armada airship that came too close.

"As I can manage," I replied, "What about the other? Have you seen them?"

"A while ago, yes." She answered, "Thor, Wasp, Hawkeye and the Hulk are out fighting the scarabs, while the others went back to Avengers Mansion for some reason." Our conversation was cut short when one of the armada ships nearby suddenly disappeared. It had surprised everyone for a second or so until Kilgharrah let out a powerful neigh and nearly shot out from underneath me. I was just able to hold on when I felt something small smack into my chest.

"Ow!" I yelped, just as two small voices did the same. Looking down, I was surprised to see Wasp and Ant Man clinging to my shirt, each of them rubbing their foreheads. "Well, well: fancy bumping into you two."

"Briar!" Wasp gasped, immediately flying up to see me better, "We were wondering where you'd gotten to!" She then noticed the flying horse, and starting gushing about that, prompting Kilgharrah to respond. Ant Man, however, focused on me.

"Are you alright, Briar?" He questioned, "We lost sight of you a while back: Panther was scared something bad had happened to you." Despite the gravity of our situation, I could feel a blush creeping onto my already red cheeks, and my insides turn to mush. When I asked where T'Challa was, Ant Man gave a small grimace.

"He went back to Wakanda; Kang's forces were attacking there too. All over the world, really." He informed me almost apologetically, though I don't know why. If it wasn't a global invasion going on, then yeah I'd be annoyed at the sudden departure without a word. Since there was a global invasion, I'm a bit more forgiving.

"So, any ideas on the next move?" I asked him, keeping him close to my body in case he needed a shield, which I really hoped he didn't actually need: it's hard enough holding onto a horse's mane with one hand while holding an ant-sized person in my other.

"There is: if you can get inside one of the armada ships and knock out its temporal stasis device, the ship with be sent back to its own time, as well as the smaller air ships and ground forces." He explained at length. But before he could got into deeper detail (or geek out), someone started talking to him over his comm link. Huh, mine must be damaged.

Ant Man informed that whatever plan he and Wasp just carried out was a success, meaning the others were free to do the same thing, and then informed him that I was ok and in one piece, to the relief of the others.

"Why do I get the feeling Panther gave you all reasons to be worried?" I couldn't help but ask teasingly, even though I knew that T'Challa can and would put the fear of a terrified boyfriend if something bad were to have happened to me. The look on Ant Man's face said that T'Challa had indeed done just that, and it also meant that I owed the poor guy a really big hug once he came back from Wakanda.

Since the other Avengers had gotten the ok from Ant Man and Captain America, they began taking out the other armada ships, causing it and anything they sent out to snap back to their original timeline. In the span of an hour, the last of the pesky armada ships had been dealt with, freeing the city of New York from Kang's forces. The rest of the world, however, still had their share of troubles, meaning that Kang had to be stopped once and for all if the invasion was to stop.

When I pointed this out to Ant Man, he told me that my brother was working on trying to find Kang. I was beginning to wonder if Tony needed any extra help when—speaking of the devil—he commed the rest of the team and declared he had found where Kang was hiding. The catch was that the mother ship was just outside of Earth's orbit.

Tony then suggested that the Avengers to the fight to Kang directly, but I was to stay behind on the planet. Hey, no complaints from me! Of course, that prompted Alenka to suggest that while they took on Kang, she, her brother, Merlin and her steed, Voltaire and I take out the remainder of Kang's fleet still on Earth. My whine was only outmatched by Tony's vehement cry of protest, but—as always—the logic of the plan won out.

Well, at least I wasn't going to be fighting Kang in the cold vacuum of space.

When Tony finally (and grudgingly) agreed to the plan, he made me promise to stay safe. Once I did, and extracted the same promised out of him and the others, the two teams split up: the Avengers to the Mansion to get ready for their first space flight, and rest to fight off the ground forces.

"You know what sounds like a good idea right now?" I casually asked the others as we stood on a roof top, "A hot shower and sleeping for a week." Alenka and Diego chuckled while Merlin gave a moan of longing.

"Oh, blessed heavens, that does sound wonderful." She sighed.

"It will have to wait, you two." Kilgharrah teased us, "At least until after we've defeated our current enemy." Ugh, he just had to point that out, didn't he?

Once we were healed by Alenka and Merlin, we split into teams of three: Alenka would take Kilgharrah and me south while Diego would take Merlin and Voltaire north, then we'd sweep our way east. Kilgharrah was very reluctant to leave Merlin's side, as Voltaire felt about leaving me again so soon, but he was assured that she'd be safe, and that we'd see each other soon enough.

At least, that's what I hoped: all I really want to do was go back to this morning, when I was still in bed and curled up against T'Challa. Was that really too much to ask for?

Instead, I knelt down on one knee and firmly hugged Voltaire around his neck, whispering into his ear that I'd see him later and give him his favorite treat and a big cuddle. He gave a soft whine and licked my face before resting his head on my shoulder again.

"It's time, everyone." Alenka announced. I reluctantly pulled away from Voltaire with one last hug and mounted Kilgharrah's saddle, the two teams splitting up. In my heart, I knew that everything will be ok and that everyone will come home in one piece, but that didn't stop me from silently wishing that the plan went as it was explained.

:Please, just come home safe.:

And that's the end of this chapter. I know it seems a little...blah, for a lack of a better word, but this was pretty much all my brain could come out with, and since it's birthday season over here, I'm surprised anything came out.

But hey, at least we got to meet some new characters! So please, give kind comments as to what you guys think about Merlin and Kilgharrah (any nasty ones will result in the sender meeting Kwame. Who is he, you ask? Trust me, you don't really want to know).

So, until next time, guys, Den is outta here!