A/N: This has been on the back burner for a number of reasons. One was I felt like I wrote myself into a corner, and two, I didn't have time to really think outside of it. I'm close to ending the story, though I'm not all that satisfied. However, I wanted to complete it, because I know one of the more frustrating things for a fanfic reader is to read something that stays incomplete.
Death was Arrested - Chapter 16
*Avengers Facility*
"Leviathan incoming!" Coulson shouted over his coms. Tony and Rhodes flew to where the massive entity flew. It was long, and had mechanical scales surrounding its body.
"Friday, any way we can destroy this thing without flying inside of it?" Tony asked his virtual assistant.
"It would take a lot more effort," Friday replied.
"Whoa whoa whoa, fly inside of that thing?" Rhodey asked.
"Don't worry about it guys," Ant-man commented over the coms. "Here I come." They heard a loud thumping, and turned to see that Ant-man was not the size of an ant, but now the size of a giant.
"Finally, he uses that when he's on our side," Rhodes quipped. Lang ran up to the large alien and connected with a powerful right hook, having it land with an powerful thud.
"Lang, that was great," Captain America said over the coms. "Just be careful you don't squash us as you're running full speed ahead."
"Sorry Captain America!" Lang apologized.
On the ground, Steve and Natasha continued to make their way to ground zero, which was where all of Red Skull's ships had landed. Adam repeatedly phased in and out using the power of the space stone to help clear a number of their attackers, while Tanya used the reality stone to hide Steve and Natasha from the sight of the outriders.
A number of the dog-like aliens surrounded Bruce Banner, who was wearing the hulkbuster armor to aid him in the fight. However, he was being overrun, with no less than eight outriders toppling him over. However, he was quickly freed from their grasp when Rocky came forward and used the power stone to send them all packing with one punch.
"Thanks," Bruce grunted as he picked himself up.
"Don't mention it," Rocky shrugged. "Keep your head high, and keep plugging away."
"Thanks, but, doesn't it seem like there's too many of them?"
"Maybe, but if we keep fighting, their forces will thin out eventually." Another outrider scurried towards them and tried to take them by surprise, but Rocky swung a nasty right hook at him, and he was propelled backwards, knocking a dozen others back as well. He ran and leapt into the air and pounded his fist into the ground next to them, which vanquished the beasts, and reverberated throughout the surface area around him, knocking several hundred others down as well.
Katherine used the power of the mind stone by blasting a number of the outriders, but in a moment of rest, she had an idea. "Guys, we could win this a lot easier if we used the space stone to help Steve and Natasha."
"What are you talking about?" Tony asked.
"The space stone allows us to use portals, right?" Kat reminded them.
"Why didn't I think about that?" Tony wondered aloud.
"You know, this means we could have done that with Wong too, right?" Rhodey quipped.
"Rhodes..." Tony started.
"Oh, I'm not mad at you buddy," Rhodes interjected, blasting a number of the airborne attackers out of the sky. "More just poking fun at our Captain's lack of a good plan."
"Thanks Rhodes," Captain America quipped sarcastically, as Tanya continued to use the reality stone to conceal them.
"I'm going to have to lift the protection of the stone so that Adam can find us," Tanya informed them. "You guys ready to fight?"
"We can do this all day," Rogers replied, to which Natasha rolled her eyes. Adam quickly appeared in front of them, and then created another portal which Steve and Natasha jumped through. They landed behind Red Skull, who only had a few henchmen protecting him. Steve flung his shield to take out the three on the left, while Natasha jumped and did a head-scissors take down on one, and used her wrist tasers to take out another.
Red Skull moved to attack, but Adam and Tanya appeared to surround the mastermind. "It's over Schmidt," Rogers commanded. "Call off the dogs." He was speechless. "Call them off!"
"Do you have what it takes to kill me, Captain?" Red Skull taunted. Before the heroes could make a move, a thick blade impaled him, suprising those surrounding him. They looked to find Thanos and Hela.
"That's the other one we saw," Adam gasped.
"Thor's sister?" Rogers asked.
"Seems like a real charmer," Romanoff quipped.
"I'm willing to do what you refuse to," Hela grinned. Thanos lumbered towards them, each step creating a noticeable thud. He stood side by side with Hela, gauntlet in one hand, and a double-bladed sword in the other.
"You destroyed half of all life, what else do you want?" Steve asked.
"I want my work to be left undisturbed," Thanos replied.
"That's not going to happen," Tanya challenged.
"You may have the power to harness the reality stone, but you are ill-equipped to use it," Thanos growled, and then shot a blast of energy at her and Adam. He grabbed Tanya and teleported with the power of the space stone, evading the blast. Captain America threw his shield at the mad titan, but he batted it away. As the shield returned to him, Hela threw her massive blades at both he and Natasha, but he grabbed Natasha and placed the shield between them.
Suddenly, both of the foes were under heavy fire, as small missles exploded around them. Iron Man landed hard in front of them, his arms raised, ready to fire his weaponry. Beside him appeared the four remaining rangers, using the portals created by the space stone.
"Is this the part where we call out our spirit animals and go into fighting poses?" Stark quipped.
"Probably not the best time, bud," Adam clapped back.
"Finally," Thanos smirked. "I've been waiting for you, Stark. I thought you would visit me, but all I ended up getting was your zeo-crystal infused clones."
"Why were you waiting for me?" Stark asked.
"You think the wizard is the only one smart enough to look forward in time? One in fourteen million, six-hundred and five. Does that ring a bell?"
"What's he talking about?" Katherine asked.
"You used the time stone," Stark realized.
"Somehow, you always seem to be the one that has the greatest chance to ruin my plans," He smirked. "When the Chitauri invaded, I was sure that a second infinity stone would be in my grasp. Instead, I lost the one I had. Because of you. As I gazed into the future, you were always the one providing the most resistance. Suits powered by the zeo crystal. Using time travel. It didn't matter the alternate reality, somehow it was always you leading the way, never giving up."
"Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn," Stark shot back.
"That will cost you." Thanos raised his gloved hand and fired a devastating blast of energy, but the heroes evaded the blast. The five of them then went into battle against Hela and Thanos, blasting their way in hopes of stopping them.
*Soul World*
Tommy's knees buckled as he saw Kimberly take her last breath. Jason placed his hand on his shoulder, but Tommy forcefully brushed it off. He had just gotten her back, hope was beginning to kindle once more, how could this be how it ended.
"Tommy, think!" Jason shouted, but Tommy fired back.
"Don't tell me how to think!" Tommy choked out. "You have no idea..."
"Why did Strange want both of you?" Jason interjected. Though tears continued to trickle down Tommy's face, he slowly looked up towards Jason, sadness and anger giving way to hope. He steadied himself as he stood up, and looked down at his chest piece.
"The time stone," he muttered to himself. He held out his hand towards Kimberly, and activated the time stone, shifting time back to when she was running out of the cave.
Kimberly was closing in on escaping when she saw it. A flash of green on her left. She planted her foot on the ground and abruptly stopped running, and turned to see a young, green-skinned, girl. She slowly walked towards her, and as she got closer she crouched down to see her face. She saw that she had been crying, and Kim's heart filled with compassion. She touched her chest piece to retract her armor, and she knelt down fully to be on her level.
"What's your name, little one?" Kim asked.
"Gamora," the girl replied.
"Kimberly, run!" She heard the voice, but it was muffled. She couldn't fully make out what was said, only that it sounded like Tommy. She turned for a moment to see that he was standing, which was a relief. She stood up and walked towards the force-field, but then heard a sudden movement behind her. She turned to see the little green girl lunge at her with a knife. She defended herself by using her momentum against her, and quickly getting her armor back on.
"You can't leave here!" Gamora pleaded, wielding the knife threateningly. "If you leave, I'll never get back home!"
"I'm sorry," Kim replied, allowing the nano tech helmet to withdraw into her suit. She saw the fear and sadness in Gamora's eyes, and her heart ached. "I'm sorry that you're trapped here. But I was tasked with saving the whole universe. I can't let them all down."
"You're going to abandon me?" Gamora whimpered, casting her glance downward. "I'm only a child." The words nearly destroyed Kimberly. Her whole rangering career was devoted to helping the helpless. To making sure life survived. And though she knew her leaving would save billions, she was now being asked to save the life in front of her.
"What do you need to be freed?" Kim asked.
"A soul for a soul," she replied. The admission crushed Kimberly. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't like it.
"The second trial," she whispered. She looked at the young girl, who at this point had dropped the knife to her side. "I'm sorry." Her helmut reappeared, and she turned and walked away.
"No... no!" Gamora screamed, sobbing. What she didn't know was that Kimberly walked away from her with tears in her eyes as well, knowing that she could have laid down her life for Gamora. She passed through the barrier to find Jason and Tommy standing there waiting for her, and the moment Tommy saw her pass through, he hobbled his way over towards her. Their helmets off, he embraced her and kissed her briefly, before allowing her to move her head to be on his shoulder.
She clutched him tightly, her body shaking as she sobbed into his chest. A tear slid from Tommy's eye, as Jason watched the pair together.
A few moments passed, and then Kimberly sighed, her tear-stained eyes looked into Tommy's.
"What happened in there?" Tommy asked weakly. Kim pursed her lips together, the reminder causing her to re-imagine her anguish.
"My worst fears," she replied. Another tear slid down her cheek ever so slowly, and she looked away. She broke their embrace and turned back to the force field that once contained her.
"Did you get it?" Jason asked. Kim didn't answer. "Kim?" His forceful tone interrupted the thoughtful moment.
"What?" She asked.
"Did you get it?" She held up the stone that she had retrieved. Jason sighed, and his lips grew into a small grin. "All right, let's get you back to the wizard, hopefully there isn't much left to restore everything back to normal."
"Normal?" Kim asked harshly. "Normal? You think just because you guys get to come back to life, everything's going to go back to normal?!"
"Kim..." Tommy tried to calm her, but she brushed his hand away. She gave a searing gaze into her former teammate.
"You think that it was easy to watch you and the others waste away, leaving me alone? You think it was easy to see, and be tempted, by the lie that I destroyed Tommy's life? To refuse to help a child, and leave her to die so that others might live!? You think everything's going to go back to normal after this?!"
"Kim..."
"Don't 'Kim' me, Jason Lee Scott!" She shouted. "You think it's easy to watch your loved ones die?"
"No," Jason affirmed. "It's not. Is it, Tommy?" Kim looked over towards him to see his head fall.
"I don't understand..."
"We saw you die," Tommy replied. "We couldn't see everything all that clearly, but the child that you turned your back on..." Tommy couldn't finish, the memory still so fresh and so painful.
"She killed you," Jason finished. "Tommy used the time stone to bring you back, alter history."
"That's why you yelled for me," Kim realized.
"Look, I know this isn't going to be a perfect reset," Jason added. "I don't even know if this is going to work. Even if we get everyone back..."
"What?!" Tommy interjected. "What do you mean 'if we get everyone back?'"
"Strange explained it right?" Jason asked. They nodded their heads. "one in fourteen million, six-hundred and five. There's still a chance that everything that has to line up doesn't line up. We could get back, and Thanos snaps us back into oblivion. Or maybe his outriders wipe out the whole planet. We just don't know."
"Then why so hopeful?" Kim asked.
"I guess... I was just grateful that something went right," Jason confessed. She continued staring at the former red ranger, bitterness threatening her being, when she felt Tommy's hand rest on her shoulder. Even with the armor encasing their bodies, the thought of him embracing her eased her soul.
She looked up at him to find his tear-stained face. "I thought I lost you back there," Tommy confessed. "I didn't realize how lost I've felt without you. Even in the midst of all we've been through over the past several weeks, you somehow have helped me make sense of the chaos."
"It has been chaotic," Kim mused.
"Not just since Thanos," Tommy replied. "I'm talking about my life. I never knew how much my life felt incomplete without you."
"Tommy..." He leaned to kiss her, but they suddenly appeared back into Doctor Strange's quarters.
"You succeeded," Dr. Strange addressed them. They quickly broke apart and stared at the master of they mystic arts.
"You didn't say what the cost would be," Kim scoffed. "To write the death sentence of a child."
Strange's countenance fell. "No... I didn't. There's a lot I haven't told you. Or to any of you, for that matter."
"Would you like to give us any more information?" Tommy fought for her.
"It's not a matter of desire, Dr. Oliver," Strange replied. "I've seen this scene play out millions of times. Trust me, if I tell you, we'll fail."
"What do we do to get back?" Jason asked.
"This is going to take a minute," he replied.
To Be Continued...
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- Googz333