A/N: Chap 4 review responses are in my forums like normal. Thank you for reading.


Chapter Five: A Serpent in the Garden

You will see my face again.

Her skin and hair felt as if it were coated in acid. She tried to scream but fire filled her mouth and her lungs. It felt as if the whole world was roaring in rage at her, and all she could do was hold on to the sword. The sword was everything. Her life, her dreams and hopes-nothing was as important as….

A little girl with too-long legs and gangly arms sat in a vast lap in a wooden chair that creaked as it rocked methodically. She strained to see the face of the man; she heard a deep, powerful voice speaking gently, but she couldn't hear the words.

She could see her fingers burning to bone, until even that was lost.

Return to me, child.

~~Titanomachy~~

~~Titanomachy~~

Swan woke with a pained gasp. Her head throbbed in a way she'd not felt since she first awakened, blind and scared in the healing gel. Nor was the pain relegated just to her head; her whole body ached, though the worst of the body pain radiated out from the unhealing scar on her back and her head.

Muscles cramped painfully in her legs and her back, forcing her to stretch her body until the worst of the cramps faded. She lay in wet sand, within earshot of waves lapping at the beach, and dared not move.

Her thoughts felt raw and jumbled, as if someone had jabbed a stiletto dagger into the base of her skull and then wiggled it around to scramble her brains. For uncountable minutes, she laid in the sand and listened to the waves. Fear gripped her so hard she could barely breathe for it. She was terrified at the thought of being blind again.

But with the terror came the unrelenting realization that she could not stay where she was. And if she was blind, she needed to know eventually.

Swan opened her eyes.

Light flooded through her raw mind; the swirling dots that blinded her before faded quickly to reveal waves crashing on the black sand of a beach just meters away. Hand-sized, purple four-legged crabs were scouring along the edge of the water, pecking at food in the sand.

Closer-just centimeters from her face, in fact-she saw her implant. The disk was only three and a half centimeters in diameter, but trailing from it like an ocean creature were hundreds, even thousands of long, clear filaments that shimmered with sunlight reflecting off the drops of ocean water that clung to them.

Her hand shook as she reached out and lifted it out of the sand. As she did so, the filaments moved on their own and began trying to probe into her hand. They could not penetrate her skin, but their efforts felt like microscopic worms crawling over her.

Moving further set her back on fire, but she was tired of lying in the wet beach sand. Though they ached, her wings remained intact and she used them now to push herself up into a sitting position so she could study the device more clearly in the overhead sunlight.

"Vers called it a conditioning chip." Swan's own voice sounded hoarse and tired. She cleared her throat and focused on the filaments. Her focus sank down with microscopic precision, until she could see the surface of the filament membranes themselves.

At a level no other being could see with the naked eye, she saw tiny hints of hooks in the filaments. Neurotransmitters.

Despite her raw state of mind, she recalled with crystal clarity the conversation she had with Maw just days ago. "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."

And yet here she was, staring at the mechanism that supposedly gave her sight and thought. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the incredibly complex multi-dimensional equations necessary for Warp drive science, and the numbers came easily to her. She could recall with perfect clarity everything she'd ever read since she woke.

She rotated through a dozen of the languages she'd learned; she could hear Cull Obsidian's silly jokes and jests. She could remember as if she stood there again her first, brutal sparring lesson with Father.

Augullux the Brave's neck continued to pump blood for several seconds after the body fell.

All other thoughts and consideration came crashing to a halt as her powerful memory replayed that scene. The Swan in her memory sounded so cold and hateful. "If your foolish king had surrendered, half your people would live," she pointed out to the powerful but foolish champion. "My father does not kill for the sake of killing. What he does is for the well-being of the universe itself."

The Agulla warrior swayed with injury and determination. "You lie, demon. You attack us because we signed a treaty with the Nova Empire to fight the Kree. Your father does the Kree's bidding, not the Universe's."

"Now who's lying? But don't worry, little animal. You're people won't have to suffer long."

Almost of its own accord, her treacherous mind recalled what the Kree commander himself said. Of their short, disastrous war with the Agulla. If Ahl-Agulla had signed a treaty with the Nova Empire, it would represent a threat to the Kree. And if the Kree came to Thanos to help with their Vers problem they could not handle, why would they not do the same for the Agulla problem as well?

The Agulla dead flashed by in her mind with terrible clarity. She could remember every face; every individual. Looking back, what she thought was rage and hatred she now saw as fear and desperation. Those hatching ponds they crashed into and through during their campaigns were not abandoned. They were just overrun, and the larval youth were destroyed.

I murdered their children. I murdered their champion. I killed their king. Why?

"Why?" Her eyes burned as tears rolled down her cheeks. The terrible ache in her head had faded, but now was replaced by a more profound pain in her chest.

She stared at the control chip she held in her hands and saw through her memories how much different her words sounded; how different her actions appeared than before. The Black Swan in her memory was vicious-she laughed and took joy in slaughtering the hopeless Agulla who were so desperately trying to defend their spawn. She wept in joy at the death of Leviathans and Chitauri.

I called them animals, but I was the beast.

Her thoughts felt alien to her. The idea of even disagreeing with Thanos had never occurred to her before; she'd never even thought it was possible. He was Father; he was Master. His word was law and his will was her purpose in life. And yet here she sat in the sand with the terrible realization that Thanos consigned an entire world to death not because their numbers were a threat to themselves, but because his allies' bruised egos demanded retribution.

She looked down at the chip with its near microscopic filaments, and realized with a cold sense of numbness that Vers was right. This chip obviously wasn't designed to let her see, it was designed to control her mind.

A flash of light in the sky drew her eyes upward. Though faint in the bright purple-blue sky, she could see the massive expanse of Sanctuary II. Father must have come personally when her armor ceased delivering biometric data.

Did the chip feed data to him or Maw as well?

A chilling thought settled over her heart. They must have implanted the chip on her when she was still blind and recovering. What would Thanos do if he discovered he no longer had control over her? Would he force an even worse chip on her? Would he kill her? She was powerful enough to be a threat, even if she doubted she could kill him and the Black Order by herself. Maw's power alone rendered all her physical strength nearly moot.

She watched as a spot of light departed from the larger ship. She was running out of time to decide what to do. She knew there was no way to flee from him. Her biometric signature was unique enough that they had a lock on her the moment they arrived in orbit. Worse, she'd failed. She did not kill Vers, just hurt her.

If she returned without her chip, mercy would be in short supply.

On top of all that, a part of her still desperately yearned for Thanos approval. It brought her almost to tears to think of his disappointment. Was that the conditioning from the chip, or the memories of her first waking hours when he sat beside her, gently cradling her head, as Maw worked to heal her wounds?

The two motivations strove against each other. She wanted his approval with desperate longing, and yet the thought of slaughtering another whole race made her sick to the depths of her soul.

Her fingers were moving even before her conscious mind settled on a decision. She wrapped the filaments around her finger and with the other hand gripped the chip itself, and with an easy pull, she ripped the filaments from the chip. The bundle of microscopic filaments went still and opaque as she let them fly away in the breeze.

She stared at the neutered chip with a strange sense of fate, as if she couldn't quite believe what she'd done. There was no going back. This was an act of defiance that neither Maw nor Thanos could ignore if she were caught.

It was not fear she felt, though. Instead, though she could not understand precisely why, she felt a small kernel of hope.

Thanos approached. With her course set, Swan reached back under her hair until she felt a slight indentation where the chip used to sit. She pushed the neutered device back without the filaments, wincing as she felt its securing needles sink back into their old holes.

She closed her eyes, and then went through every thought, doubt and fear she'd just experienced. Nothing changed her mind or influenced her feelings, at least not from the chip.

Her father's Q-Ship soared down over the ocean, traveling so fast it left a wake of tidal waves in its path. All momentum slowed to a halt, causing compressed air to blow Swan's hair back from her shoulders as the ship came to hover over the beach. The Q-shaped warship towered over the beach.

A column of light blasted down from the ship, carrying Thanos himself within it, until his heavy boots sank into the wet sand. Swan stood unsteadily to meet him, only for her head to spin. She covered it by falling forward and kneeling.

"I failed, father," she called.

She did not look up when he stepped directly in front of her. "Tell me how, daughter." His deep voice reverberated through her mind.

For this, she had no need to lie. "Vers was no stronger than I was, but she could cancel inertia with her fight. My first strikes weren't enough to kill her, and once we entered the atmosphere her flight power and ranged offense proved the difference."

He stepped around her, but she remained kneeling as she fought against the vertigo. "Where is your armor, daughter?"

"She damaged the null grav and my thruster pack in the high atmosphere. I hurt her in turn, but she was falling away from me and I couldn't catch her. I shed my armor and used my wings to glide after her. I cut her badly, father, and I shattered her ankle, but her flight and her photon blasts defeated me."

The ground vibrated as something heavy thudded into the sand beside her. "Dress yourself, child."

She looked up, and saw her armor still wet from the sea where he must have recovered it during his fast approach to her. The neutronium would have stood out to their sensors as brightly as she did, after all.

Fighting back nausea from the vertigo she felt, Swan stood and pulled her armor back on. When she was dressed, a powerful hand thrust her sword at her hilt first. She accepted it, and stored it on her back. His hand then gripped her chin, and finally she was forced to meet his gaze.

He was smiling down at her, and a storm of emotions welled up within her that she hated to feel. She despised the tears that burned her eyes and seared down her cheeks. Her voice caught in her throat as she whispered, "I wasn't what you needed, father."

The confession hurt as badly as any of her wounds, because the truth of it encompassed far more than her loss to Vers. She looked up and saw both the monster and the teacher. She could recall with perfect clarity their long talks about life, and the tragedy that came with its success. She understood that despite his crimes against life, Thanos truly was driven by compassion and loss, even if his actions and decisions were insane. Despite that, she stood before him and with those six words she confessed that she was going to betray him.

For hands so large and powerful, it was amazing how gentle he could be. He looked down at her, still with that wistful smile, and held her chin as if holding her up.

"The Kree captured most of your fight on their sensors," Thanos told her. "This Vers was even more powerful than we thought. And yet despite her power you swatted her out of orbit and did more harm to her than the Kree ever did. She fled the system, battered and broken, and took her Skrull vermin into the dark reaches of Nova space. She will remember you, and she will fear you. I have no doubt she will not return while you are a threat. You did not win this battle, daughter, but you neither did she. You did well enough. Now, it's time to come home and rest."

"Yes, father."

He let her chin go, turned, and walked back to the ship. Swan followed, though every step felt as if she were walking back to the fire that burned her and her head spun with vertigo.

I will not be a monster again, she whispered to herself with each step.

~~Titanomachy~~

~~Titanomachy~~

They returned to Sanctuary itself where the Chitauri and the outriders continued to rebuild their numbers.

The palace, she found, was all but empty. Thanos sent most of the other members of the Black Order out on their various missions to scout and destabilize future targets. Maw rarely went on such missions because his intelligence and scientific expertise were required to service the fleet. The Chitauri were very good at growing cybernetic organisms, but were less capable of repairing damaged items or developing new weapons.

As for Swan herself?

She lay on the table in her under armor as Maw's powerful sensors scanned her body. Maw himself stood at Thanos' side as the Titan looked down at Swan with a pensive expression.

"Any cybernetic replacement would only serve to weaken her, Father," Maw said. "Like yourself, her physical form is as near perfection as can be achieved with our understanding of the universe. The dark energy within her nervous system conducts signals faster than any augment we could fashion; the dimensional folding of her musculature enhances her strength beyond any possible artifice. The only thing lacking is power."

"Energy?"

Over Swan's head, the air shimmered as Maw used his sensors to create a map of her nervous system. "Her wings were never independently functional. She could not do anything more than glide except in the most extreme of air densities or gravities. What environment could produce wings that cannot provide adequate lift, but which can harden at her thought and be used as weapons?"

"You believe she was engineered?'

They speak of me as if I'm not even here.

"Perhaps, in a manner of speaking. She was crafted as a weapon, of this I have no doubt. But from the density and nature of her nervous system, I cannot help but feel that she has been separated from her primary power source. If you will indulge the metaphor, we have the plasma pistol, but not the particle cartridges. It would not surprise me that, if reunited with her original power source, she could have easily defeated this Vers creature."

Swan watched them talk about her; Thanos' eyes never left hers.

"When you first woke, daughter, your first steps were awkward. You told me everything felt wrong. Heavy. Do you remember?"

"I do," she told him. Those first steps were taken blind, before Maw restored her vision. She remembered being confused at how hard and unyielding the floor was to her feet. How heavy and odd her wings felt on her back. Even now, they felt odd and unwieldy.

Thanos nodded and glanced up at the sensor map. "Can you identify the power source?"

"Great Thanos, I beg your mercy for my failings. I cannot."

"There is no need for mercy, nor apologies, Maw," Thanos said as he stepped to Swan's side. Mauve eyes studied her intently. "You are an extraordinary creature, my little swan. It pains me that we can't give you what you need to truly blossom. But if we can't augment you, we can certainly augment your equipment."

"Indeed, Father," Maw said with a bow. "Per your previous directions, I already designed a new set of armor. I have used her experience to ensure her flight systems are not compromised so easily. Her new vambraces will have more powerful ranged weapons to supplement her melee weapon. I have begun designing an inertial dampening system that will greatly level the playing field when this Vers once again emerges from her hiding place. I will garb my sister in the finest weapons and armor to ever exist. All for your glory."

Thanos placed a hand against Swan's head. His palm was as large as her whole face; his skin was at once smooth and yet iron-strong. "How does that sound, my daughter?"

"Good, Father," she lied with a smile. "All for your glory. I shan't fail you again."

"I know, my little swan." He turned back to Maw. "How long?"

"Ten cycles at least," Maw said. "The technology stretches the envelope of our capacity."

"See to it, Maw. I want to see our Swan fly again."

With that, Thanos left the room. Only then did Swan lift herself into a sitting position. Maw hovered lightly to her side. "I see that your eyes have fully recovered. Given the damage to your vision enhancer, this is a good thing."

He knew. Swan fought to breathe-Maw was the most intelligent and dangerous of all the Order. And his devotion to Thanos was beyond question. Desperate to allay any suspicion, she once again opted to tell the truth.

"When I got Vers on the ground, I almost drowned her. She was hurt, and I was keeping her underwater. But somehow she shot me with a concentrated photon blast. My vision began to fade, Maw. In the middle of the fight! She might have beaten me regardless-she was incredibly powerful. But in the end, I was blind."

"But then?"

"When I woke after she left, right before Father found me, I could see again. But I was very dizzy, and my head hurt."

"Does it hurt now?"

"No, brother."

Before her eyes, a map appeared of her actual brain. Like the nervous system map earlier, it looked as if multiple copies of the organ were overlaid on each other, over and over again. "The dimensional folding and energy of your cerebrum is intense enough that any further manipulation, even to correct damage, is inadvisable. It is likely that my attempt to restore your vision would have faded in time regardless. It is important, though, for you to tell me of any strange feelings you may have. Any doubts about yourself or your place here. Those could be a symptom of damage."

He stared intently at her as he spoke, expecting a response.

"I did doubt myself, brother." She could not lie to Maw; this she knew from harsh experience. While he was not telepathic, he was brilliant enough to cold read beings with terrible accuracy. "She was so powerful. After Ahl-Agulla, I thought I was unbeatable. She proved otherwise, and so I did doubt myself and my worthiness to serve Father."

The selected truth seemed to mollify her eldest and wisest brother. "There has not been anything like of this Vers in a thousand years," Maw said. "She was empowered by something beyond mortal understanding. And yet, sister, you came closer to defeating her than I think any others could come. And when your armor is done, you will truly be a match for her. This, you can be sure of. For now, you are free for the day. I wish you to study and rest for the next ten cycles."

"Yes, Maw." She slipped off the examination table and pulled on her long, black robes for her stay in Sanctuary.

~~Titanomachy~~

~~Titanomachy~~

The gifted Kree database within Sanctuary had a reference to a language called English. According to the Kree, it was one of several hundred spoken languages on a primitive world they named C-53. The database did not contain the language itself. The Kree did not abase themselves to learn other languages; like most of the universe's more advanced species, they simply employed powerful translation implants. It was just Swan's misfortune that Maw could not get an implant in her brain.

The natives of C-53 evolved along a fairly common bipedal body structure. She knew of four hundred instances of parallel evolution that brought beings into a similar bipedal structure. These creatures-these humans in particular-looked remarkably like Xandari. They had a predictable spread of ethnicities due to various environmental conditions of their isolated world, and the plethora of languages spoke of an early, pre-space level civilization.

None of them had wings, and in terms of inherent strength and durability, Terrans were actually no stronger than a Krylorian. Even Xandarians were physically stronger. And if Swan was an engineered being as Maw thought, the Terrans were centuries or even millennia away from having the technology to create a being like her.

Which meant Swan probably wasn't a native of C-53, but had occasion to learn a language from that world.

With that line of inquiry exhausted for now, Swan switched back to her studies of planetary governing systems. She was not far along when her Other shuffled into the room. "Mistress," the creature hissed with a bow. "Eldest has words from Mighty Thanos. An object appears outside of Sanctuary. Mighty Thanos would have you examine it."

At any other time, she would have leapt at the opportunity to do his will. To serve Thanos, and to please him, was her only true joy. Now it was all she could do not to sigh. Any outward sign of hesitation, she knew, would be reported. "Thank you. Share that I go now to do His will."

The other bowed and shuffled away; the message was undoubtedly already sent.

She donned her old armor, cleaned and repaired as best Maw could. The nullgrav and thruster systems were no longer combat ready, but would do for a short trip through the void. She grabbed a hand-thruster as a backup and hooked it to her side as a precaution.

She did not bother to use the thruster pack as she left the palace. In the zero-gravity environment between the planetary remnants, she felt no need., and instead flapped her wings to where her HUD directed her.

As Swan flew, she found herself studying the planetary remnants and the defenses that protected them. Nearly every remnant had an automated weapons emplacement on it. If a hostile ship appeared, more than a thousand particle and laser weapons, microwave beams and missiles would meet them within five seconds of being identified as hostile.

Those same weapons could keep anyone from leaving as well. Even if she were to steal a Chitauri vessel, she knew there were no local jump points. Which meant the vessel would be destroyed before she ever left Chitauri space.

She came to the edge of the atmospheric envelope. In the distance, she could see one of the stationary shield satellites that maintained the atmospheric envelope. Beyond, she saw what caught her father's attention.

Space had ruptured in a tightly controlled tear roughly half a kilometer in diameter. Beyond it, she could see hints of foreign stars. Though the disruption was hundreds of kilometers away, she focused her eyes to telescope forward until she could see the event horizon. Debris was falling through, large enough to reflect the rainbow light of the dimensional energies the wormhole had unleashed.

Then, within the cloud of debris, she saw a man. The figure appeared to be humanoid and clad in dark green armor and a cape that swirled in the absence of atmosphere from his momentum.

Swan took a deep breath and activated her thrusters. The thrust shot her out into the void. Her skin tickled from the cold and vacuum, and she had to blink away ice that formed from the humidity she brought with her.

It took a long time to travel the distance with just her thruster pack, but she found the absolute silence and emptiness refreshing. She unconsciously adjusted her course to account for his momentum and relative position, and soon grew close enough to the falling figure to make out details-pale skin, a long face and straight black hair.

He was alive; she could see when his eyes spotted her through his uncontrolled tumble. Somehow he withstood the vacuum just as she could. As she approached, he reached for her in the vast silence. When he spun around in a way that allowed it, she gripped his arm and used her thruster pack to stop their spin.

There, floating unaided in the void, he stared at her with a raw expression. She saw emotion in his eyes-a wild, uncontrollable pain. She did not know who this being was, but she knew just from his face and circumstance that he was in need.

Black Swan would have viewed such need with contempt. Swan felt swayed by it, but wasn't sure what to do other than take him before Thanos.

She directed her thruster pack to begin the return to Sanctuary while she held his arm. His grip never faltered around her forearm as they made the hour-long journey back from the cold vacuum.

When they cleared the atmosphere, she heard him desperately suck in air as she switched to her wings to carry them back to the nearest remnant-an empty piece of rock she sometimes used as a waypoint when she flew. She dropped him down and he collapsed to his knees as he continued drawing deep, heavy breaths. Finally, having regained his breath, he slowly stood and looked around him before focusing back on her.

"I will be honest. When I fell, I did not expect to be rescued by such a beautiful angel. I was rather expecting a devil."

His language was not one she'd heard or studied, but it echoed within her mind on a wavelength that carried understanding. Not entirely telepathy, but something remarkably close. It then dawned on her that this handsome creature had just called her beautiful.

She did not entirely understand why her cheeks felt warm. "Who are you?" she asked.

He nodded his head to her in a fluid motion, like a dancer. "I am Loki, of Asgard. And what may I call my beautiful savior?"

"Swan," she said.

Though she could still see that wild storm of emotion in his eyes, his smile looked suave and confident. In a way, he reminded her of Yon-Rogg.

"You could not bear a more appropriate name. I owe you my life, Swan, and it is a debt I take seriously." He stepped closer, so close she could feel the heat he generated. She stuttered as he actually took both her hands, lifted them up, and then kissed her fingers gently. "How may I repay you?"

"I'm not...I…" For the first time in her waking life, Swan just had no idea what to say. This utter stranger from a realm that her father openly despised was holding her hands! He'd kissed her fingers! What was she supposed to do with that? Maw didn't cover anything like this in any of his lessons.

Maw. "I need to take you before father," she declared.

"Oh?" His grin turned openly lecherous. "To make our vows?"

The joke actually helped break her confusion. It was so nonsensical that she couldn't help but laugh at him. "You've fallen into the realm of Thanos, Loki of Asgard. If we make him come for us, he will not be in a welcoming mood."

All sign of humor evaporated in an instant. "Thanos? This is…?"

"This is the realm of Thanos. And I am one of his children. Come, I'll take you."

She grabbed his arm just like before, and then pulled him easily off the stone island where she began flapping her wings through the maze of Chita stone islands. "You know Thanos?"

"He's known to a few on Asgard," Loki said. "Does he have many daughters like you?"

"Each of his children are unique," she told him.

Focusing through the field of planetary debris, she could see her father's floating throne in the distance. He was holding court with both Ebony Maw and the Eldest Other-the high representative of the Chitauri queens who served Thanos personally. They were undoubtedly speaking of their uninvited guest.

"Loki of Asgard, may I give a word of advice?"

"I appear to be all yours," he called back with a strained smile.

"Father is a destroyer of worlds, and I am an instrument of his will. Please, be cautious."

"Oh, do you care, my dear?"

"You're very pretty. I would be sad if he made me cut your head off."

The strained smile turned crooked. "Then I will endeavor to avoid such a fate. Thank you for your words of wisdom."