"Where'd he go?"
"Shit."
"What do we do now, Mister Stark?"
"Loki!"
They turned to the trickster.
Loki's face was twisted with rage, his fist raised and Peter Quill was three feet off the ground, red energy crackling around him as he twitched and groaned.
"Quill!" Drax yelled and turned to the god of mischief, growling, "You-" He froze mid charge toward Loki.
"Hot-headed imbecile!" The god growled, eyes and hands glowing red. He had absorbed the reality stone. "Your idiotic interruption kept us from taking the gauntlet!"
Seeing what the stone could do, everyone stood back, unsure how to approach the trickster without him suddenly turning on them.
"Sabs… Don't." Tony warned when Nadia took tentative steps forward.
A hand wrapped firmly around the young woman's arm. "Nadia…" Peter Parker's warm brown eyes shone with worry.
She smiled grimly at the teen, "It'll be fine, Pete."
His brows furrowed in concern, "But he-"
"I promise."
The teen's eyes went wide. She used the words. He sucked in a breath and slowly blew it out. His shoulders were still tense, but hesitantly, his grip loosened, fingers giving one final squeeze before he let go.
Nadia nodded to him gratefully and gave him a returning squeeze on his shoulder. Slowly, she approached Loki with her hands up.
Tony growled again repulsors flaring to life and being trained on the perceived threat. "Nadia-"
"She has this, Stark." Doctor Strange said softly but firmly. "Stand down."
Tony looked incredulously at the sorcerer, but when he saw the sureness in the doctor's eyes, the billionaire huffed. The glow from his own gauntlets slowly died down, but they remained aimed at the god of mischief. "One move I don't like..."
"Easy, Stark." Strange assured, lifting his own hand in a gesture that he could quickly cast a spell if need be.
When Nadia was a few feet away, she called to him gently, "Loki."
"Do you realize just what you've done?" He spat at the paralyzed Starlord. "Do you?!"
The trickster didn't seem to hear her. Quill seemed to tense up even more, energy crackling more wildly around him.
"The bastard k-killed Gamora!" The man managed to seethe out.
"And that name is supposed to mean something to me?" The god scoffed.
"Loki." Nadia repeated, flaring her magic slightly like a physical blanket on his shoulders.
His gaze flickered to the young woman behind him.
Seeing she had some of his attention, she continued, "Stop. You have to let him down." She coaxed.
"Why should I? So he can make another idiotic mistake? So he can take away my revenge?!" Quill choked this time as Loki's tone rose. "Thanos needs to suffer for slaughtering Anya and my oaf of a brother."
"I lost my mother too, Loki," The young woman said softly then pointed to the other human, "He also lost someone he loved." Nadia stepped closer and put a light hand on his raised arm. She could feel the burn of magic from the reality stone. "You're right that Thanos needs to pay. It's Thanos that needs to suffer. Quill was acting out of anger, and you know not everyone is as composed as you."
Loki lips curled in derision and he growled.
"He's as bullheaded as Thor." Nadia sighed, indicating the god of thunder, hoping the reference would help quell the trickster's wrath.
"Th-Thor?" Quill managed to wheeze out. "E-Eyepatch?"
Loki's attention snapped back to him, analyzing the look of recognition in the Starlord's eyes at the mention of the name. "You've seen him?" Immediately, his hold on the man fizzled out and he dropped to the ground, coughing.
Impatient, with a snap of Loki's fingers, the soreness of Quill's throat disappeared so he could talk.
The Starlord took a few experimental breaths before finally answering, "The stupid dude went with two from my team to get a weapon at some forge called noodle-something."
"Nidavellir," Loki whispered, thought his mind was plagued with one thought- his brother was still alive.
Quill brushed himself off and slowly stood and pat a hand on Nadia's shoulder gratefully, "Hey, thanks for holding off the crazy-" The man choked on what he was going to say when the woman punched him solidly in the gut.
"The monster you let get away killed my mother. I understand your anger, but what you did was still so very stupid and drew this out, " The young woman growled. Loki snickered and gave her an approving nod.
Drax went over to his companion and helped him stand. However, as he put Quill's arm around his shoulders to support him, he turned to Nadia with a nod, "I also understand your anger human female. I would deliver a blow to Quill's face if you did not give a good one already-"
"Dude! Who's side are you on?!" Quill remarked indignantly.
"Once he gets that weapon," Doctor Strange spoke up, "He'll go straight after Thanos. We should go too."
Still eyeing his daughter who seemed way too close to the trickster for his liking, Tony huffed, "Well, that's a great idea Strange, but how do we know where Thanos went? Probably after the other stone, but we don't know where it is!" The man ran a hand through his hair, trying to think. He wasn't able to call Rogers to track down Vision before he took his unplanned space trip. To his knowledge, the android was still MIA.
"Maica…" Nadia breathed, "My grandmother. She's sure to be guarding it." She elaborated on the Romanian endearment when she received questioning looks.
"So are we talking about Earth here?" Quill asked, ready to make amends and to have another go at the bastard who killed Gamora. "We can make it there in a couple of jumps."
Tony was scratching his chin, "No, we need the element of surprise. They'll see us coming from a mile away burning through the atmosphere. Strange, how big can you make your sparkly portals?"
The doctor nodded, "Big enough for their ship if need be."
"The plan then, mortals? I wouldn't dare go against Thanos without one." Loki folded his arms against his chest.
-WAKANDA-
::She's on the field.::
At that signal from Proxima Midnight, Corvus made his way to the stone, slaughtering several Dora Milaje who tried to keep him from his goal.
Just as he came through the end of the hall to see the dark-skinned human girl working on the mind stone vessel give him a panicked look, he smirked-
Then he went sliding back down the hall.
"Keep going, Shuri. I have him." Renny appeared after a shimmering invisibility spell fell away. The princess let out a sigh of relief. Apparently the magic-user had returned from the field when she saw Wanda there. The woman knew that someone needed to be guarding the stone.
She'd always had some doubts about the woman with how her mother, father, even her brother talked about the mysterious Seer of Bast, as the woman was dubbed even before the princess was born, appearing and disappearing every once in a while in Wakanda. Her mother even said that the Seer had actually saved the queen mother's life when she was a child.
The Seer was quite the story among the children of Wakanda, actually. Though they say the last time she had appeared before she stayed for over a year had been over a decade ago.
Shuri was shaken from her momentary distraction when another crash echoed down the hall. "Right." She reprimanded herself and sped up her work.
A second blast to his chest had him sliding a few more feet back down the hall.
"What?"
Looking in the direction the attack came from, Corvus spotted another human. This one looked like the one they had encountered among the Asgardians. Smaller though. She looked shocked that her spell didn't work as intended.
Baring his teeth, the alien charged again. The woman sucked in a breath and shot a barrage of attacks at him. Some making him fall back a few steps, but many he simply redirected, shattering the glass around him.
Renny ground her teeth when her attacks only made the thing stagger. He was deflecting her attacks too well with his glaive.
"Shit…" She'd have to get in close so he couldn't use his weapon. Letting loose a particularly strong burst to buy her time, she closed her eyes and muttered a spell.
Though it took all of only three seconds, it was a moment too long because the alien swiped at her side with his blade. Her magically reinforced robes blunted the blow enough that instead of the glaive slicing through her liver, she was swat aside into the wall. She glared at the threat from her hands and knees as she sucked in air.
Corvus approached Shuri who had shot her own blasts at the alien. The princess was hit roughly aside the same way Renny was, except the other woman caught her with a spell and placed her back on her feet.
Shuri didn't have time to thank her as the magic-user ran right past her as Vision tackled the alien out the window. Renny saw the two tumbling through the air and made a portal to catch the android and simply transport him back to the lab. Corvus Glaive continued his plummet to the ground.
The magic-user winced when Vision landed a bit roughly on the floor of the lab. Portals made with her sling ring were her only magic that didn't react so strongly in the presence of infinity stones. She didn't want to test reactions right now. Especially when that stone was embedded in someone's skull.
"Are you alright?" The Wakandan princess immediately went to the android, who groaned as he slowly sat up.
"He fell… Civilians…" Vision said worriedly, trying to stand up.
"Don't worry. The streets are empty. The city was evacuated." Shuri assured.
The android nodded and Renny also sighed in relief, thinking she'd have to jump down and hunt the alien.
"Shall we continue then?" Vision asked while Renny put an arm to help him to the table. "I don't believe we have much time left."
The battle was raging on the fields and Bucky had to take a moment to stare when he saw two figures tumble down from the tower where the lab was located.
One, Vision, as he recalled Steve called him, fell right through a ring of sparks. Renny's doing.
"Crap," Bucky gulped and yelled when one of the alien monsters managed to tackle him to the ground while he was distracted, he easily shot the thing in the head and kicked it away. He had to scramble to his feet before more came to try and dogpile him. "Renny! You're in the same room as an infinity stone."
::I'm aware. I'll be careful.:: Renny responded through the comms. ::I got a handle on it since the last time you saw me fight.::
Steve heard her and had to trust that she knew what she was doing.
Thank God Thor had arrived. They were being overwhelmed right before he showed up.
Nat said they had taken care of the female alien. Bruce watched the big one burn. The third one, who they had assumed had died from his injuries back in Edinburgh, had actually survived but had fallen out of the labs.
Without some form of command, it should be easier to deal with these things. Right?
Maybe they had to blow their ships like they had in New York. There were too many, even if they were slaughtering these things by the dozen, it would still cause too much collateral damage if they let this drag on. They needed to end this as soon as-
A strange breeze brushed over the field and for several moments, even in the utter chaos, it felt eerily quiet.
Even in the lab, Renny felt it.
It was like a strange chill settled in the air.
"He's here." Vision managed to whisper, though his voice was weak and his eyes seemed duller.
"I need more time!" Shuri panicked, her movements speeding up though her hands shook.
Renny admired how the princess took just one breath to steady herself and push through, working even faster. This alternative had such a slim chance of succeeding before Thanos showed up. It had a slim chance of succeeding at all. But they would never have outright sentenced Vision to death. Renny shook her head and shakily put a hand on her ear on her comm, "Wanda…" She started, her tone regretful.
::No.::
Of course, the Scarlet Witch would immediately answer with a negative, especially when she barely knew Renny personally.
They hadn't connected even when she was part of Steve's team in Wakanda. The fact that their magic couldn't be done safely in close quarters to each other also fueled that.
It had made Renny seem stuck up when she refused to show Wanda her magic when the younger woman had eagerly asked when they met.
Though Steve had explained later on, the rift between them was never properly bridged.
Of course, the other woman wouldn't just sacrifice the one she loved. It was even crueller to ask her to be the one to do it. Renny nodded solemnly. The magic-user knew that she would never be able to willingly do that to Bucky if she were in a similar position. Especially now that she might actually be able to fight and have a say in it.
Just when a smoky blue portal began to form at one end of the lab, Renny did the only safe magic she could.
She portalled them right out of there.
"Renny! Shuri! Oh my, God… Vision." Bruce had the Hulkbuster armor kneel to get a closer look at the trio that landed unceremoniously in the clearing of the forested area he was in. The android seemed unresponsive though the yellow stone was still embedded in his head. "What happened?"
The Wakandan princess was looking at her hands, shaking slightly, "That last connection… I- I might have…"
"Viz!"
Wanda landed in the clearing as well, running toward Vision who was still lying on the ground. She knelt by him and cupped his cheek. She gasped at his dull eyes. "What happened?!"
Renny shook her head, apologetic, "I'm sorry. I had to get us out of there ASAP."
The Capelli's words brought the Witch's harsh glare upon her. "You…" It was your fault.
Bruce realized then what must have happened. Shaking his head, he said solemnly into the comms, "Guys, we've lost Vision."
Steve's voice was next on the comms, his voice clear, ::We've got eyes on Thanos.::
A/N: I'm still alive! Sorry this took so long. Life decided to be extra chaotic this month and I had to write and rewrite a few chapters ahead to make sure that the path this story is on would end properly. What do you guys think of the plot so far? I'd love to know.
Thanks again to everyone who's stuck with this story, added it to their faves and alerts, and to those who took the time to review as well.
'Til next time.