So let's get into the action, but first, be forewarned, I am heading back to school in two weeks for the Fall, so updates on this story, as well as the others will slow down or I might be going on a three-month hiatus so I can focus on school, we will see what happens.
Infinity Chapter XVIII
Defying Gravity Part II
"Let me tell you something, creepy floating stranger!" Rath roared, as he squared off against Talbot, missing the suddenly panicked expression that had overtaken Pym's face, "If you are Subject-G, Rath can't let you leave!"
"I'm the greatest hero the world has ever seen." Talbot returned, his eyes narrowing, the air around him contorting even more, "Do you really think you can stop me from doing my job?"
Rath stared at him for a second, "Maybe."
And he charged.
Talbot shot his head forward, and Rath froze mid-leap and was sent flying like a bullet in the other direction.
He then whirled on Pym, who immediately shrank and slid beneath the loose floor paneling.
'Talbot's awake!" Pym yelled over the comms.
"Damn it," Tony barked, though he sounded like he was coming out of a daze slightly, "Alright Avengers he doesn't leave this building!"
"We're already on our way," Wasp stated over the comms.
"Do you need me?" Banner asked a hint of snarl at the end of his sentence.
"Talbot might still be weakened, but stay ready," Pym responded as the panel above his head was crunched and ripped away.
"Where are you little ant?" Talbot asked menacingly, "It has been quite sometime Doctor Pym, I had thought your inability to do the job right would have led you away from the Avengers."
"By 'do the job right', do you mean sacrificing my morals and brutalizing people in the name of the 'Greater Good'?" Pym asked, as he ricocheted off the nearby wall and landed a punch across Talbot's face, "That has never been, or will ever be my way of doing things."
"You'll learn," Talbot stated as he hunted for Pym once more, "The next time the Invaders come knocking, and you can't do what needs to be done, every death will be on you."
"Let me tell you something, tyrannical gravity guy!" Rath roared as he came pelting back down the hallway, "Your Greater Good is a bunch of bullshit!"
He feinted left and then landed a crushing punch to Talbot's right side, bouncing him against the wall then following it up with a kick to the face that sent him stumbling backward.
"The name is Graviton!" Talbot roared, a gravity pulse releasing from his body and sending Pym and Rath bashing against the walls as they cracked from the sudden change of pressure, water jetting in anew, "And I am growing tired of this confrontation."
He closed his eyes, and the Raft shifted, the water on the floor and coming in through the walls suddenly becoming weightless, spiraling around in small orbs and delicate patterns, even as Hank and Pym were being pushed further and further into the metal walls.
Wasp froze as the water suddenly started floating all around her, Daisy stuttering to a halt for a second before taking off at a mad sprint.
"What's the play?" Janet asked as she flitted up beside her.
"We need to hit him as fast and as hard as we can." Daisy stated, her hands vibrating as she ran, "The longer he's awake the stronger he becomes, and New York already has enough problems without Talbot coming back."
"Is talking him down not an option?" Janet asked, "Hank-"
"Tried that the first time and Talbot broke both of his legs." Daisy fired back, "Coulson trusted Talbot, and so did Fury, but he isn't the same person anymore. All that power, it went straight to his head."
"Are you going to try and talk me down again Doctor?" Talbot's voice asked, ringing out from somewhere up ahead, "Is the pacifist scientist-slash-wannabe psychologist going to try and have a come to God moment with an actual deity?"
"God?!" Rath yelled incredulously, "Let me tell you something Graviton...you've got a serious complex!"
Wasp rocketed forward, as she rounded the corner spotting Talbot bearing down on the struggling Hank, who appeared to be having trouble breathing. Yellow energy built around her hands and she went into a spiral, firing off a series of blasts aimed at Talbot's face and ears.
"Ow!" he cried, backing away from Pym and whirling on you, "You gnat!"
"It's Wasp actually." she snarked, darting upward, "And that was just a distraction."
"Hey, Glen," Daisy stated, coldly as she bolted down the hallway and released a quake backed punch. There was an aftershock that turned the floating water into a dusting of unfailing raindrops, as her punch collided with his gravitational aura. There was a boom like thunder, and Talbot was sent skidding backward slamming into the railing that overlooked his former cell.
"Agent Johnson." he snarled, pushing himself back to his feet, his eyes filled with abject hatred.
"So you remember me?" she snarked, even as the walls warped and bent from his projected rage.
"How could I forget the face of the woman that tried to murder me!" he roared, the force of the pulse that was released sending them all flying backward, and shattering the lights so that the only light was coming from his glowing body.
"I know what I'm doing." he suddenly snapped, as if talking to someone that wasn't there.
Wasp turned to the others as they picked themselves up, "I think Daisy unbalanced him."
Talbot continued to rant at himself for several seconds, turning his head rapidly from side to side.
"Unbalanced?" Rath asked, staring up at her confused.
"Graviton," Pym began as he pulled several disks from his belt, "Is a conglomerate of several minds, all stored within the body of Glen Talbot. Ian Quinn, a sociopathic tech mogul, Franklin Hall, a misguided scientist, an unidentified extraterrestrial and…
"And a psychopathic teenage girl raised by a terrorist organization." Daisy finished, her whole body vibrating as she built up energy.
Rath stared at her, his expression stating that he was even more confused than before, "Right."
"Just hit him as hard as you can," Daisy stated as she surged forward.
Talbot seemed to snap back to focus as she charged, shooting his hand forward, and wrenching Daisy free of the ground and tossing her over his head into his former cell like he was tossing a fastball.
Wasp and Pym followed after her, the latter tossing several disks that Janet fired at as they flew, the struck around Talbot, forming an electrified net which immediately grabbed him in its clutches, but he managed to surge through it.
Wasp followed that up with a barrage of stings, which annoyed him, but he suddenly shot his hand forward, and pulled, ripping Wasp and Pym towards him. He then pushed both hands away from each other, pinning the pair to opposing walls.
"Still with your non-lethal tricks, Pym?" Talbot snarked, pressing Hank hard and hard against the wall once more, "I am almost offended at your inability to actually put up a fight."
"You talk too much." Rath roared, as he slid across the ground and then kicked upwards with both of his legs, snapping Talbot's teeth together hard enough to chip a few, "Incursean Uppercut!"
Talbot hung in the air, holding his mouth with a look of utter rage on his face as he glared down at Rath.
"You-" he was cut off as Daisy slammed into his back with a flying shoulder-check, a Quake erupting between them and sending Talbot racing down the hallway as Tony emerged from around the corner, all his ordnance humming with energy.
"I can't believe you all started the show without me!" he cried indignantly, as Talbot managed to arrest his flight directly before him, "And Glen, buddy, Pym doesn't hold back because he's weak."
All of his weapons locked on Talbot, "It's because he's a kinder person than the both of us."
Graviton disappeared in a rain of rockets, repulsor blasts, and the brilliant neon blue light of the Unibeam, and reappeared a smoking mess that fell to the floor in a heap.
Janet and Hank fell to the ground, the latter clutching his chest as the former raced to his side.
"Are you okay?" Janet asked, staring at him worriedly.
"That's the second time in around ten minutes he closed my airways." Hank stated, with a slightly joking smile, "So pardon my if I'm a little light-headed."
Rath snarled as he stalked past them, bearing down on the unmoving, but breathing Talbot.
"Stay. Down." Rath stated, raising a clenched fist, the claw on the back of his wrist extending menacingly, "You're done."
"Ben, don't." Daisy stated, as she helped Wasp get Hank to his feet.
"Done?" Talbot choked out, "No, I don't think I am."
His eyes glowed blue for a moment, and Wasp's vision went white suddenly as she found herself and the others suddenly thrust into vibrant day-light.
The Raft was floating above the New York Harbor over fifty feet in the air, water streaming from it as Talbot suddenly thrust them through the roof, his powers shattering it into a vortex of shattered, floating metal.
Tony kept on going, soaring into the air, while Janet felt Hank shrink in her grasp and she followed suit, darting through the debris.
She saw Daisy get tossed across the roof, and nearly went off the side, only for "Rath" to punch one of his claws clean through the metal and catch her with the other hand, tossing her back onto the building as he clambered back on after her.
The assembled SHIELD Agents immediately opened fire, but their bullets froze in mid-air as they neared Talbot, who glared down at them like they were nothing and then with a wave of his hand send them tumbling over the side of the Raft, Tony darting after them in a flurry of motion.
Banner had nearly been knocked off the floating building by the initial emergence and was now standing at the far end, looking up at Talbot with several, green veins pulsing on his forehead and neck.
"I'm guessing you need me," Bruce stated, as she placed Hank down beside him and grew to her regular height.
"You think?" she fired back, her hands glowing with energy as Talbot sat floating in the air and staring at all of them imperiously.
"You keep fighting me," he stated, talking to them as if he was a teacher scolding a misbehaving student, "But we are on the same side! I can keep this world safe in a manner that none of you can even come close to comparing to!"
"And I already see you have failed spectacularly in my absence." he stated, as he looked out across the bay, his eyes taking in the Dome with a mix of horror and intrigue, "I would not have allowed that to happen. You just need to work with me!"
"Talbot, you're sick." Pym yelled, "We can help you, and maybe in time yes, we could work together, but you aren't going to make this situation better, the Battle of New York was pro-."
"The Battle of New York went sideways because none of you were willing to do what needed to be done!" Talbot cried, a pulse of gravitational energy sending bullets and shrapnel piercing into the roof near their feet, "We could have crushed then Chitauri, and killed Loki in one fail-swoop, but you wouldn't help me!"
"Killing him wouldn't have stopped the Invasion." Pym retorted, "We needed to focus on keeping people safe!"
"Like Coulson?!" Talbot cried, Ben shooting the other confused looks, "Or my men? What about Lincoln Campbell, did you keep them safe by holding back?!"
Daisy's face contorted into distraught pain, "You act like you're some great hero that was willing to make the big sacrifice, but you aren't and you didn't!"
"Daisy," Janet said, reaching out for her, but she shrugged her off.
"You mock us for failing, but look where we're standing!" Daisy cried, tears leaking from her eyes, "You didn't have to watch the people you care about die! How dare you bring him up as if you knew him! Tony flew a nuke through a portal, while you were planning on bringing their ship crashing down onto New York, that wasn't a sacrifice you were making, that was a sacrifice you were causing!"
Talbot's eyes narrowed slightly as she finished, tears streaming down her face and a look of utter rage on her face.
Janet reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, while Pym moved forward to try and defuse the increasingly tense situation.
Banner was barely keeping it together, more and more of his veins becoming green the longer they stood there, while Stark was soared back into view, oddly quiet at this moment.
Ben was confused, that much was evidently clear as he looked from Daisy's distraught face to the furious Talbot, his fists clenching and unclenching in a clear sign that he was just waiting for Talbot to throw the first punch.
"Talbot, thi-" Hank was silenced as a sudden surge of crushing gravity sent all of them to their knees, except for Tony who surged forward only to freeze as Graviton raised his other hand in his direction.
"You're right Agent Johnson." Graviton stated, giving her a pointed look, "But this time, it will be different."
"Oh fuck off, Talbot," Tony stated coldly, as he managed to point a rocket directly at the other man's head and fired. Talbot managed to shield himself with several pieces of metal paneling, but he was shaken enough that the hold he had on Wasp and the others lessened.
"Stark," Talbot stated, as he looked up at him, "I want you to know this is personal."
Tony suddenly surged upwards, even as he fought to rocket back downwards he was being pushed higher and higher into the atmosphere.
"As is this," he stated coldly, as Daisy was suddenly lifted off her feet and was sent careening off the side of the raft, rocketing downwards far too fast that what should have been normal. She hit the water and sank through it with a disproportionate splash.
"He's sending me into the upper atmosphere." Tony stated over the comms, "I'll be fine for a bit but someone needs to get to Daisy quickly, with that much pressure forcing her down she's in danger of drowning, and a whole lot worse."
"I'm on it!" Rath roared, surging forward, Talbot aiming a blast at him as he ran.
"No!" Hank yelled, suddenly growing, as he leaped taking the blast to the chest, now as standing as tall as the Raft was wide. The power of the blast sent him careening across the roof, accidentally taking Banner with him over the side even as Ben managed to slip down the opposing side of the Raft and out of sight.
Janet was left alone facing Talbot, who glared down at her as if she was nothing.
She smirked, and fell into a fighting stance, her fists glowing with yellow energy.
"Really?" Talbot snarked, "You think you can beat me?"
"Maybe not beat." Janet admitted, "But I can make you hurt at least."
"I doubt it," he stated menacingly, as he sent a rain of bullets and shrapnel tearing towards her.
She shrunk, dodging, leaping, and racing along the soaring metal, flitting into the air and firing blast after blast of energy at him.
He grimaced with each strike, becoming more and more annoyed as she dodged his attacks until he released another pulse knocking her from the air and almost sending her teetering over the edge.
He then slammed his hand down, pressing her flat against the roof which dented in from the force.
"I told you all." Talbot stated, "All those years ago, I will be this world's savior, and no one will get in my way. I control one of the fundamental natures of the universe, I am a God to the rest of you!"
He was slipping once more, she could tell, the other voices bleeding into his mind just as they had before. She struggled to rise, hoping that the others would be alright, and hoping beyond hope this wouldn't be like the Aftermath of the Battle of New York.
"I'm sorry, Van Dyne." Talbot stated as he pushed down slowly, "But you never were cut out for this life."
There was a loud roar, and Talbot was suddenly knocked out of the air as a satellite dish viscous cracked against his torso.
The pressure dissipated and Wasp whirled around as the Hulk pulled himself fully back onto the top of the Raft.
"Did you forget about me?" Hulk asked, a dark grin on his face as Talbot bounced across the roof. The Jade Giant looked down at Wasp, and offered her a hand, "Get up, we're not done."
"Where's Hank?" she asked, as he pulled her to his feet with surprising care. Hulk shrugged and pointed over his shoulder. He then ignored her as Talbot surged to his feet, his face contorted in rage.
"You." Talbot snarled
"Me." Hulk snarled back, cracking his knuckles and surging across the Raft towards him, both hands raised above his head with a roar.
Janet blinked, as for a moment she was drawn back into a memory of a very similar event three years ago.
She couldn't let either of them reach the City.
And scene, sorry that this one is a bit shorter than normal but I've been very busy lately.
Next time, whenever that may end up being, Ben and Daisy several leagues beneath the sea, Tony fights to return to earth, we find out where Hank went, and the Hulk and Graviton go head to head.
As always any comments, questions, and critiques are appreciated.
This has been VerBeeker, signing off!