Thank you everyone for your patience. This school year has not been easy and writing just kept lowering itself on the priority list. Thank you to all who are continuing to read this labor of love. As always, I make no promises on when the next chapter will be.
Aquamae watched as her adoptive father's face turned from worry and caution to a menacing joy. She had been feeling out of sorts lately and, as the youngest of his children, she knew he worried for her. The entire family knew she wasn't like the rest. Thanos had rescued her from a planet called Earth; she was apparently human. Compared to her siblings, she was slightly more frail, hits took a larger toll, and illness was a known concern.
"Come, daughter," his voice rang in the cavernous room. Feeling refreshed from her time in the pool of water, she took a confident stroll to her father's outstretched hand. Each sibling she passed stood cautiously, though not for the reason some might think.
While she may be physically more frail, with the exception of Maw's telekinesis, she was the most talented in fights. Each sibling knew she could best them, even when she was feeling a bit "under the weather".
As she approached her father's throne, she knew the others would prefer her to simply accept his hand and kneel before him, however that wasn't their relationship. Instead, she took his hand as if it were a climbing ledge and lifted herself to land gracefully on his lap. He simply smirked and gently shook his head, knowing of the disagreement between the siblings on how they showed respect to him. He placed his hand to the side of her face, to which she leaned into with her shoulder and nuzzled her head against.
"You had us worried, daughter."
She looked back to him and smirked. "You, probably. My sisters, maybe. But definitely not those lug-heads," she gleamed as she gestured to her brothers. She heard a grunt from Cull and glanced back to see a smirk returned back at her. She just stuck her tongue out at him as a reply.
Her father cleared his throat and so she returned her gaze to him.
"All of us," he stated as he tilted his head forward, making her know that he meant it. "Do you truly feel better?"
"Yes, Father," she replied with a small and slightly embarrassed smile.
"Let us see, then." Thanos began to stand, keeping his arm around her and lifting her with him. With his other hand, he motioned to her siblings and they responded accordingly by moving to different edges of the cavern. Thanos set Aquamae on her feet, caressed her head one more time with a pleasant smile set on his face. She stood tall and nodded her head. He turned and began to walk from the room.
"You all know the rules: First person to fall receives maximum punishment, each child after receiving lesser than the last. The winner shall receive a reward. While I would prefer to keep all of you alive, if killing keeps you from falling, what shall you do?"
Echoing through the walls, the single reply rang: "Show them the mercy of death."
"Good." Thanos paused in the doorway, taking one more glance over his shoulder. Just before the doors closed behind him, a single word: "Begin."
Before Tony landed, he could see Peter sitting on the roof with his head between his legs, his chest moving in huge puffs. The summer heat probably wasn't helping, but this wasn't normal for the boy, even after things he had been through. As he grew closer, he noticed Peter wasn't looking up to see who his visitor was; either the boy already knew, or he was so deep in the panic that his extra senses weren't working.
"Friday?"
"His vitals are elevated and his brain activity is hovering high. I am unable to detect his awareness."
Tony's features hardened slightly, but then softened. He knew what Peter was feeling. The tight chest, the tunnel vision, sometimes not knowing what brought the panic on. With the kid's extra senses, he knew it wouldn't be smart to land too close and scare him back into reality, so instead Tony planted his feet approximately 15 feet away, giving him plenty of room to step out of the suit without being directly next to the boy.
Despite Tony's landing and movement, Peter still hadn't moved. He sat there with his hands over his ears, head between his legs, eyes staring at a single spot on the rooftop in front of him. Tony didn't see the boy's mask near him, so he glanced around making sure there weren't any prying eyes from neighboring buildings. Once he was sure, he looked back to the boy, taking slow steps and lowering himself to a crouch.
"Peter?" Tony asked softly.
The boy didn't flinch, didn't even blink. Tony slowly reached out his hand, trying to enter the edge of Peter's vision.
"Peter," this time, more forcefully as he moved his hand around wanting to get the boy's attention. Still, no response.
Tony moved closer, continuously trying to push down his own panic. He had practice at tuning out the ringing in his ears, letting his eyes relax out of the tunnel vision, keeping his lungs from taking in too much air. The boy in front of him clearly did not. Tony decided to try one more time, this time he reached out and gently placed a hand on Peter's shoulder.
"Peter."
Finally, Peter looked up, startled by the presence he now felt. Tony gripped his shoulder a little tighter and held eye contact, helping to ground the boy just a little further. As Peter's breathing began to even out, Tony sat on the ground next to the boy and pulled him to his chest.
"Mr. Stark… I… I don't know what's going on…"
"It's okay, kid. It's okay. Let's just sit for a bit."
Peter gave a small nod, his chest still rising and falling in large breaths, and leaned into the older man. While keeping his own panic underwraps, Tony made sure Peter was coming down from his, lightly rubbing the boy's back and opposite shoulder in comforting motions.
They sat like this for 30 more minutes. Tony's own tension had lessened within the first ten to fifteen minutes, but he knew the boy needed more time. Slowly but surely, Peter's breathing had evened out and his body had less tension and shakes. Finally, Tony spoke.
"Pete, can you tell me what happened?"
"I don't even know. I was singing past the buildings, just keeping an eye out for little bits of crime, when I felt something snap." The boy was looking at his hands confused.
"Something snapped? A web?"
"No, it was internal."
"Like a spider sense?"
"Kind of? Yet completely different. The spider senses are like a tingle, like when your foot is just barely asleep." Tony just nodded at his explanation, having a pretty good feeling of what he was trying to describe. He felt it, too. "This was like if you were holding a rubber band in your mind, pulling and pulling when it finally broke in the middle. Then everything got tight and out of focus, which never happens given how active my senses tend to be."
Under his breath, Tony uttered a single "yup," which was apparently enough for the boy to hear.
Peter quickly looked up to Tony's eyes. "Wait, it happened to you, too?"
Tony took a large breath and nodded. "Yeah. Just before Friday relayed to me about your panic attack."
Peter looked back to the ground before slowly raising his face to the sky.
"Did you also immediately think of a name?"
Tony sighed and followed Peter's gaze.
"Yeah."
Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "She's still out there, isn't she?"
"She has to be."
Peter just silently nodded, bringing his head level. His mind was still racing when a single thought intruded. His eyebrows scrunched and he turned his head just slightly towards Tony.
"Mr. Stark, why would we have felt something like that and be given the thought that it was about her? How would that even happen?"
Tony shook his head. "I don't know, kid."
"And what would that mean? Did something happen to her? Is she okay? Does she need help? What if –"
"Peter, stop. No 'what ifs'. I'm still looking. Scanners are going 24/7 and I have Friday set up so that any mention of her comes directly to me no matter the time of day. It will never stop. I will never stop." Tony paused, taking a deep breath. "But we also have to keep going."
Peter's head hung low, a slight nod breaking through.
"We have to keep living. Keep doing what we need to do. It would be one thing if she were on world. We could easily find her and get her back. But, by now, we have confirmed that she's not. Friday has too many connections across the globe and on satellites for us to have not found her if she were here. So, we keep moving, always keeping an eye on the scanners."
Peter sat there silently, trying to take in Tony's words. He knew the older man was right. After a moment, the boy glanced back up.
"Thanks, Mr. Stark."
Tony tightened his grip around the back of Peter's shoulders.
"Of course, kid."
Debris flew everywhere. Shards of stone flying past her face, ashen since her illness took her from training. It had been quite some time since her last spar with Proxima and Nebula, which explained her breathing being heavier than normal. The sisters had already defeated their three brothers, teaming up to make the mission that much easier, but now they faced each other.
These three trained together the most, usually also including the second sister, Gamora, and so they were each other's greatest challenge to defeat. However, Aquamae easily kept them both at bay with her long-range abilities. The smart choice would have been for Proxima and Nebula to team up to defeat Aquamae, but it would never work. The first sister and third sister never had a close enough relationship to trust each other enough to team up, even for a training session such as this. Thus leading to Aquamae switching back and forth, helping each one take down the other.
She knew they both were tiring, their movements becoming less and slower. A little bit more and Aquamae could finish them both, trapping them in the same ice that held their brothers. They just needed to stay on the ground a little longer than the split seconds they currently clung to. Suddenly, she saw the opening she needed.
Nebula ran towards her, her twin blades gleaming in the reflection of the water droplets that hovered in the air. Aquamae let her get closer and closer, well within range for hand-to-hand combat, making it seem like all of her attention was focused on Proxima. Nebula reared up to slash at Aquamae when she was suddenly confronted by tendrils of water laced with ice. Nebula staggered back, grunting from the pain of those tendrils wrapping around her arms and legs and twisting them behind her. Aquamae flashed her a smirk, turning all of her focus on her eldest sister.
Proxima stood tall, her chest rising and falling with extended effort. If she wasn't careful, Aquamae would find any weakness easily and extort it. She knew something her youngest sister would never know: This wasn't a usual training session all members of the Black Order completed once every now and then. This was an initiation fight. This was the fight every child of Thanos completed upon joining the Black Order, testing the strength of the adopted child and allowing the siblings a chance to learn about the tactics of their newest addition. This was the first time the members of the Order witnessed the strength of their youngest sibling. And they were failing.
Aquamae took the opportunity to assess her sister. She would need to get close, but only close enough to not be within range of her sister's spear. She knew her sister hated her cocky attitude, said it wasn't "appropriate for someone who represented The Great Mad Titan". So, she stood in the center of the arena, hand on her hip, smirk on her face waiting for her sister to tire of the "attitude".
It didn't take long for Proxima's eyes to narrow and for her body to lean forward before she flew into a full sprint. Aquamae braced herself, getting into the defensive stance she was taught so often. Little did Proxima know that that defensive stance was only a ruse.
In a flash, Aquamae moved from the defensive back-leaning stance to a forward motion, using the moisture in the air to propel herself towards her eldest sister. Seeing the quick motion, Proxima hesitated a mere second and that was all Aquamae needed. The youngest sister appeared in front of the eldest, spinning herself mid-air, striking the eldest across the face and jaw. She then added an extra hit to the chest using a manifestation of ice, sending her sister flying into a wall and encasing her, holding her still.
Aquamae stood where she last made contact with Proxima, breathing heavily. Staggering, she needed to stay standing until her father approved the end of the session, so she used the water near her to do so. She glanced around, making sure each sibling was either unconscious or held tight enough with her ice to not escape and create a new enemy. Seeing each one breathless, she nodded, proud of herself after taking such a toll from her recent illness.
From the highest level of entrances, Thanos lurked in the shadows watching the match below. He was thrilled at the prospects the newest addition to the Order brought. He knew she would be a valuable investment and now he just needed to keep it that way. Focused back on the immediate present, his voice echoed.
"End. Well done, daughter."