Death Was Arrested - Chapter 14
The lab inside the Avengers compound was in ruins. Computers and parts strewn everywhere, small fires were ablaze from the explosions that resulted from the malfunction.
"Tony," Steve panted as he looked among the wreckage. He found Stark's body, and as he touched him, he arose with a gasp. "You're okay, we're still at the compound."
"The circuits overloaded," Tony replied, looking around at the facility. "How is that possible?"
"Miscalculations?" Steve asked.
"Since when do I make those?" Tony quipped.
"Steve!" Natasha cried out on the over side of the room. "You need to come and take a look at this." Steve helped Tony up, and then ran over to where Natasha stood, along with Clint and Scott. When they arrived, they found a very odd surprise. Three unconscious bodies. Coulson and Rhodey were breathing, and were perfectly normal. But the shock came in the form of who, or what was in the place, of Bruce Banner.
"Well... that's one way for him to turn green," Tony quipped.
"What the hell is that thing?" Clint asked, referring to the green-skinned, pointy-eared alien that replaced Bruce.
"Maybe the director of SHIELD knows," Steve wondered. He tapped on Coulson's shoulder, and he began to stir. He turned towards the being in question and opened his eyes. After a second of taking the form in, he jerked up and let out a small scream, getting about five feet away, pulling his gun, and began to breathe heavy.
"What is this thing?" Steve asked.
"Something that's no longer supposed to be on this planet," Coulson said between breaths. He calmed himself down, and then slowly got to his feet, keeping his gun aimed on the alien. "It's a skrull. A shape-shifter. They were a race of aliens that were at war with the kree."
"Did you say shape-shifter?" Scott asked. "Are you all these... skrull-thingys?"
"Calm down, Thumbelina," Tony quipped.
"Mr. Lang has a point," Coulson replied. "We don't know if he's the only one, and if he isn't, we need to make sure we find them, now."
"We know for sure that Tony, Coulson, and Rhodey are good, at least," Natasha replied. "They didn't shift into these things when they were unconscious."
"We can adminster tests to the rest of you to make sure you're good," Coulson replied. "Fury told me a few things about Skrulls. They only know the peripherial memories of the person they shape-shift into. We'll need to ask you some questions to verify your identities."
"Let's tie him up, put out the fires, and then get to the questioning," Tony replied. "Nobody leaves this room. Coulson, man the door."
"Where am I?" Kimberly asked. She had stirred awake, and the first thing she noticed was that the sky, if you could call it that, was a deep orange. She sat up and looked around her to find that she was unmorphed, but still had the nanotech suit that Tony had gifted her in the wristband that she wore. Next, she saw that Tommy was also with her, and he too was beginning to stir.
"Tommy?" She asked, moving towards him and placing her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he grunted. "Where are we?"
"I don't know," she replied. "I felt this burning sensation in my chest after we got hit with that blast, like I was on fire inside. Did you feel that too?"
"No," Tommy replied. "Whatever brought us here must have been caused by your stone, and yours alone. Maybe I'm just here because I was in contact with you?"
"What if that's not the case? What if the others are here also? What if the stones..."
"If they're here, we'll find them," Tommy said confidently, trying to patiently lead her.
"Wherever here is," Kim muttered.
"Your stone is the soul stone," Tommy commented. "Every other stone seemed to have a very distinct ability, but no one ever told us what the soul stone does. Maybe it brings us here?"
"But what is this place?" Kim asked, a slight hint of anger coming through in her voice.
"I don't know. Let's see what's ahead."
The two unmorphed rangers picked a direction and began walking for what seemed like hours. Nothing but the odd orange sky was in their sightline, which started to become very discouraging for the pair.
Kim stopped for a moment, which forced Tommy to stop and turn around. "Everything okay?" Tommy asked.
"No, everything is not okay," she sighed. "We've been walking for hours, with no other living soul in sight, and not as much as a hill or valley or something new other than flat ground with this stupid orange sky."
"What's really bugging you, Kim? You're not one to lose heart like this." She paused as she thought on Tommy's question.
"I thought this was it," she replied. "I thought for certain we were going to get access to the stone's power, Dr. Strange was going to show up, and we'd have our friends back." Her eyes started to glisten as tears formed in her eyes. "I thought we'd get Jason and them back. Maybe I was wrong."
"You're not wrong, Kim," Tommy reassured her. He placed his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder, and she sank into his embrace. "Look, I don't know where we are going, but we're going to find whatever it is that we need to, and we're going to save the world, and with it, our friends." Kim wanted to fight his confidence, but she chose instead to sink more deeply into his embrace. While she was deeply sad, she also felt a comfort that she hadn't felt in a long time.
"As much as I don't understand why we're here, I'm glad I'm here with you," Kim whispered.
"Me too," he replied. They stood there for a few more minutes, and then she left his side.
"As much as I'd like to just stand here in the comfort of your side-hug, I think we should probably keep going. I'd hate for the raccoon to drop in out of nowhere and give us a lecture." The quip brought a smile to Tommy's face. "I hope he's ok, along with the rest of our friends."
"They will be." After a few more moments passed, they decided to continue their journey. It wasn't before long that they finally found the first landmark. It looked like a temple which was surrounded by a small pond on all sides. There was a bridge that led up to a door, and they started to run towards it, despite their lack of energy from having no food or water. They got to the door and began to pound on it as hard as they could. In a flash, they were off-balance and fell to the ground.
"That was unexpected," Kim replied as she picked herself up off the floor. As she looked closer, she realized they were no longer in front of the door of the temple, but rather inside it. She extended a hand to Tommy, helping him up.
"What happened?" He asked.
"I think we're inside of it?" Kim asked.
"As long as I've known you, Tommy, you are always showing up late," a voice said from the shadows. They looked over to where it came from, and out from the darkened wing approached a very pleasant surprise.
"Jason?!" Kim squealed. She ran over towards him and greeted him with an excited an embrace. Tommy followed and gave him a huge hug. After their warm embraces, they parted and then gave confused looks to the former red ranger.
"Don't take this the wrong way, because I'm glad to see you, but how are you here?" Tommy asked.
"I'm one of your guides," Jason replied.
"Guides?" Kim asked.
"He could only summon enough energy for one of us to come and help you on your journey to release us all."
"What are you talking about Jason?" Tommy asked. Before Jason could answer, a portal began to open in front of them, and a man wearing a dark green cloak with a red cape, and gray streaks in his black hair and mustache walked through it.
"Doctor Strange," Kimberly gasped.
"It's good to see you again Kimberly," Strange replied. "You and Dr. Oliver are a sight for sore eyes. Welcome to soul world."
"Soul world?" Tommy asked.
"When Thanos snapped his fingers, his desire was to wipe out half of all life in the universe," Strange explaned. "He never specified how. There's a certain wisdom to this stone compared to the others. It acts almost like their brain, or their consciousness."
"So when Thanos snapped half of the universe out of existence, the soul stone re-interpreted his demand," Kim realized.
"And it brought every soul here?" Tommy completed her thought with the question.
"Yes, inside the soul stone."
"How do we get everyone out?" Kim asked.
"We must journey to the core of the stone, and use the suit you possess to unlock the stone from inside," Strange replied.
"Why both of us then?" Tommy asked. "It seems clear that she's needed, but why do you need me?"
"You hold the key to making sure we can accomplish the task," Strange replied. "You'll see when the time comes."
After Coulson confirmed the identities of the remaining avengers, he, Tony, Steve, and Clint brought the skrull down to the holding cell where they had been holding Zemo. They opened the cell, and were shocked by who they saw.
"About time you found me," Bruce Banner replied.
"Are you really Bruce Banner?" Coulson asked. "Or are you another one of these things?" He pointed to the skrull they brought down with them.
"Ask me anything, I'll prove that I'm Banner."
"What was the first thing I ever said to you?" Tony asked.
"Your work is unparalleled, and I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Bruce sighed. "Which I can't exactly do right now."
"He's good," Tony replied, walking into the room and unlocking his restraints. "What happened?"
"I'm assuming that thing," he pointed to the alien that was now being placed in his cell, "became me. He got the jump on me, threw me in here."
"Zemo was never really Zemo," Steve added. "Let's wake him up." Clint walked in with a bucket of water and poured its contents over the alien's head, and he jolted awake, coughing uncontrollably for a moment before he could breathe properly again.
"All this time I thought you were Zemo," Cap started. "Now it makes sense why you weren't incensed when I mentioned your family earlier. You didn't know they existed, did you?
"You destroyed some state of the art technology, and nearly blasted the avengers to bits upstairs," Tony added. "You think we're going to take that lightly?" The shape-shifter cackled.
"Oh, I'm quivering with fear," he taunted.
"How many more of you are there?" Coulson asked.
"The rest of my race betrayed our cause," he explained. "I'm the only one left."
"And we're supposed to believe that?" Coulson asked. "Talos..."
"When Talos asked for help from the kree and your human race, he turned his back on our cause," The alien interrupted. "Everyone followed him, thought he would lead us to salvation. I never wanted refuge."
"What did you want?" Coulson asked.
"Revenge."
"What beef do you have with us?" Clint asked.
"What's a beef?"
"What he's asking is why are you upset with humans," Coulson explained. "We helped your people escape."
"I didn't want to escape, I wanted to reign over this pathetic waste of a planet," he replied. "I am Dorrek, the true king of the skrulls. And I will not be denied."
"So, let me get this straight, you shape-shifted into Helmut Zemo, infiltrated our base, planted an explosive in hopes of wiping us, who never even knew about skrulls until about an hour ago, just to get revenge?" Tony asked. "Not a great plan."
"Who said that was my plan?" Dorrek grinned. "Red Skull's army will wipe you out, and I will serve with him to reign this world. And as I fade into the background, I will kill him and assume his identity, and become the leader of this world, with the greatest army imaginable." Suddenly, an alarm began to ring throughout the facility, and he began to grin. "They're here." The group rushed out of the room, locking Dorrek in the cell behind them. They ran back up to the war room, where they convened with the rest of the team.
"We've got a big problem," Natasha replied.
"Red Skull?" Steve asked.
"How did you..."
"The little green man told us downstairs," Tony replied. Before they could say anything else, a blue portal appeared, and out came Kat, Rocky, Adam, and Tanya.
"Good work Adam," Tanya told him.
"What the hell are you guys doing back?" Tony asked. "Where's everyone else?"
"We don't know," Rocky replied.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Tony challenged.
"Somehow, Thor deflected the stones energy into the zeo crystal shards," Kat explained. "We have the powers of the stones, but in the process Kim and Tommy just disappeared, and then a beam of energy sent Thor, Loki, and Rocket somewhere across space."
"Wait, really?" Adam asked.
"That's what I heard Thanos say," she replied.
"While that's not the greatest news in the world, we need you now," Steve affirmed. "Red Skull is back, and we need your help."
To be continued...
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- Googz333