**
"Men, women and other gendered individuals, it's time to do what Americans (and I) do best. Fuck shit up on an epic scale. This time though, it's that bloated Grimace looking Mother fucker who made the just terrible decision to store his nuts on his chin that will be getting fucked. Preferably by a cactus. We're getting in the game and we play to win. Some of you may die, but man, what a…."
"Wade?"
Pausing his speech, Wade stopped pacing and turned to look over. "Yes, Yukio?"
"How do we find...Grimace?"
Beside her, Negasonic Warhead (aka Ellie but even Wade wasn't going to poke that adorable bear) crossed her arms and leveled an unimpressed look at Wade. "If we wanted to listen to speeches and talk things out, we would have stayed in Westchester. Jean was breaking out the emotional support puppets."
"Is he even still on Earth?" Domino asked reasonably. "I'm down for some revenge, but…."
"We will kill him like the diseased rat he is!"
"...Chill, Dopinder. Revenge is good, but even if he's stuck on Earth, it's kind of a big planet."
"Isn't it obvious?" Blind Al snarked from where she was cleaning her gun. "The Avengers will know or be able to find him and at this point might even accept help from you. The news keeps playing footage from the battle in Wakanda."
Wade put his hands on his hips. "That would be fine if the Avengers weren't in Wakanda still and most of my contacts that could get us there are being Hoovered out of carpets."
"You're an idiot," Al drawled. "Stark tower is in the city. Ask there."
"Couldn't hurt," Domino agreed with a shrug and Wade clapped his hands.
"Okay, new plan! Dopinder, get the van, we're heading to Stark Tower!"
"Well, sounds like Jessica's still kicking," Luke murmured as he, Claire and Colleen made their way down the hall toward the door of Alias Investigations. The door was closed but didn't contain the loud and creative cursing of the occupant or the sound of things breaking.
Claire had considered herself lucky not to have lost Luke when people around them in the coffee shop had begun turning to dust. He'd held her close and she'd said a prayer to a God she hadn't really spoken to in years, wondering when she would stop existing...but she didn't. When the dust settled, they were still whole and alive.
Colleen had swallowed back tears when she told them about Danny and they feared the worst when Jessica didn't pick up her phone.
"Jessica?" Luke called, pushing open the door and stepping in first in case she decided to hurl something their way for intruding. The room looked like a tornado had hit, papers strewn around, broken glass littering the floor by the far wall and chairs tipped over.
Jessica herself was seated on the floor, elbows on her knees and head in her hands. She didn't look up at him, but muttered, "This is bullshit."
"Trish?" He asked as Claire and Colleen entered, knowing there weren't too many people whose loss would get such a reaction from Jessica.
"And Malcolm,"she confirmed, finally lifting her head. "They didn't deserve that."
"No one did," Colleen agreed and Jessica peered at her, then looked around and clearly put the pieces together — or the lack of pieces — and offered Colleen her flask.
Claire righted a chair and settled into it, Luke leaning on the arm. Colleen joined Jessica on the floor and they passed the flask around. No words were spoken because there was nothing to say.
Some time later, heavy footsteps and a thud in the hall drew their attention and the door swung open without delay. The man who entered was broad and moved like he was dangerous...which he was. Luke recognized Frank Castle aka The Punisher from his highly publicized trial.
He didn't seem hostile though, merely stared at them for a moment until a smaller figure lurched past him. Reddish brown hair masked his face for a moment before he more or less righted himself and everyone present gaped at Matt Murdock.
"Sweet Christmas," Luke breathed as Claire gasped and Jessica dropped her flask from suddenly numb fingers. Last time they had seen the man, a building had fallen on him and his undead, murderous ex-girlfriend.
They had been certain there was no chance he had survived.
But….
"How the fuck are you alive?
Trust Jess to cut to the point.
Her strident tone made Murdoch flinch and he swayed on his feet, grabbing for the desk and missing. He would have tumbled to the ground, but Castle snagged the back of his shirt and kept him more or less vertical.
"Elektra...Sisters….," Murdoch began, then wet his lips. "I woke up at a convent. Hurt. Badly. One of them kept giving me sedatives. I woke up fully less than a day ago. She was gone, so were a bunch of the other nuns...at least from what I could tell...drugs mess with my senses…."
"Found him staggering around like a drunk looking for Nelson and...and Karen," Castle said, the latter name clearly having more impact on him. "They didn't make it."
Shaking off her shock, Claire rose and walked over to Matt. "What were you given?" She asked, taking his arm and leading him toward the couch.
He sat gracelessly. "No clue. Don't like it. I feel like someone put a wet sack on my head and my ears are stuffed with cotton but everything is also too loud and I can't separate your smells…."
Then he bent over the arm of the couch and vomited into a trash can.
"He's been doing that a lot," Castle said with a sigh.
"Gross, but been there!"
A bright somewhat manic voice from the window made them all turn and Castle pointed a huge gun at the red and black clad figure.
"Whoa there, Shane, no need for that!"
"What's with everyone showing up at my place?" Jessica muttered. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Potty mouth!" The masked man gasped, clearly faking his affront. "Your address is listed, duh. I'm Deadpool, you somewhat unhinged neighborhood mercenary. Nice to meet you, Dollar Store Avengers and assorted companions. Come on!"
He motioned like they should follow him.
"Exactly what do you want us to do?" Luke asked, fairly sure this fella was not right in the head.
For someone wearing a mask, Deadpool was quite expressive. He seemed to gape at Luke, then turned to shout down at the street. "Have they not gotten the script? No? Oh, yeah, of course not…." Then he turned back to Luke. "Right, so, I don't know about you, but I have loved ones I'd rather not keep in a ashtray, so...Superhero teams team up! My guys, you guys, The Avengers, anyone else, all working together to squash that alien asshat like a grape. You in?"
"Yeah," Matt croaked, head still in the trash can.
Well, if there was a chance….
New York, like so many other cities around the world, was still in the throes of chaos. Police department depleted, they couldn't manage the panicking population. Many major cities attempted to institute lockdowns, like Boston had after the Marathon Bombing, but this was a vastly different situation. No edict was going to reign in the sheer, overwhelming shock and horror that was not helping a bad situation. Full on riots had not yet broken out, but it was a close thing.
Pepper had allowed the employees of Stark Industries to go to their families, to check on loved ones. Her own mother was fine in Malibu, but she'd yet to be able to get in touch with her little sister. A few employees, mostly young, single people, remained in the building, preferring the comparative security of familiar routines.
James's nieces and nephews had arrived mere hours after everything happened, delivered to her by a shaken looking young helicopter pilot. Pepper had met Jamie, Mikey and Sierra a few times over the years but didn't know them well. That didn't matter now as they clung to even a slightly familiar face in a sea of confusion.
A harried Clint Barton had shown up soon after, two of his own children in tow. He knew he should have kept them on the farm, but that was where their mother and brother had vanished. They couldn't stay there. Natasha, still in Wakanda, had directed him to the tower, as The Avengers compound was apparently not an option.
Nathaniel and Sierra were too young to really understand what was happening, but the others knew and were haunted by it. Pepper instructed FRIDAY not to announce any new developments aloud and to keep the screens in any room the children were in tuned to Disney movies.
Sara, the pilot, and Leonard, one of the chefs on staff, agreed to sit with the children ( and the Rhodes's Maine Coon Cat Buttercup and the Barton's dogs, Gonzo and Lucky) while they watched Moana, so Pepper and Clint could try to contact The Avengers and get updated. The few security officers remaining in the building were on the lower floors, keeping watch should anyone attempt to get in.
The Wakandan government had released footage of the battle and that was starting a whole new round of shock. The battle had been awful to watch and seemed to agitate the talking heads on many channels, who began to spit out rash suggestions about how things should be handled.
"Martial law?" Pepper exclaimed worriedly as she paced the study. Clint stood by the windows, looking out over the city. "That's going to cause even more panic."
"Agreed," Clint said with a sigh. "I don't think cooler heads are leading the way right now. Everyone is just…."
A dull thud startled her to silence and Pepper looked over toward the far window. A red and black clad man was plastered to the glass, then staggered back onto Tony's landing pad. He gave herself a full body shake before waving frantically at them.
"Oh hell, not this guy," Clint groaned, slapping a hand over his eyes.
"FRIDAY, activate the landing pad comms," Pepper said because clearly the man was talking, gesturing wildly.
"...threw me from the top of that building over there! It was pretty sweet! Can you tell your security goons to let the rest of the team in so we can get to unfucking everything?"
"What are you doing here, Wade?" Clint asked, then grimaced. "Your team? People work with you? Voluntarily/"
The red and black covered head tipped to one side. "I'm hurt, Barton! If you can leave the dumpsters behind there's hope for anyone. Yes, I have a team, plus we hooked up with another group who were looking for you all cuz clearly shit needs avenging, defending and deading! Whatever."
"Miss Potts, there is a very eclectic group outside," FRIDAY said, displaying a security feed on one window panel. Though the sidewalk and street were quite busy, everyone was giving the assembled group a wide berth. They were a fairly motley crew, but then Pepper saw something that made her eyes widen.
"She's an X-Man," Pepper said, pointing to one of the young women who was wearing a distinctive black and yellow uniform, the X symbol on her belt.
"He's not," Clint countered, motioning to the maniac outside the window. "What are you doing here, Wade?"
"I told you, we're here to help. So let us in, gather up whatever Avengers didn't turn into pixie dust and let's go find that giant purple hemorrhoid, cut off his head and steal his shiny glove so we can fix shit!" He said, tossing a thumb over his shoulder and down to indicate the chaos in the street. "Let me in!"
Exchanging a look with Clint, Pepper sighed. "FRIDAY, the them in."
Less than 5 minutes later, a large group was gathered in the living room. Sara and Len had taken the kids (as well as little Cassie Lange, who had arrived with Hope Van Dyne and Luis, friends of Ant-Man, aka Scott Lange) off to the kitchen, leaving them to talk. When the Avengers had been together, Pepper had gotten used to groups of heroes hanging around.
These folks...most of them didn't quite fit into the hero mold she was familiar with.
"Is he all right?" She asked as a young man collapsed onto a couch and proceeded to slump to one side.
"He's fine. Just detoxing from all the drugs the nuns were pumping into him while they had him chained to a bed in their convent," Wade said, then clapped his hands. "Introductions! I'm Wade, Deadpool professionally. That lovely leather clad lady over there is Domino. Beside her is Dopinder, then Blind Al, Negasonic Warhead and…"
"Hi Wade!"
"Hi Yukio! Isn't she adorable? So, then we met up with some of these guys out front, but they seem legit. Your security guys are pretty high strung. Maybe switch them to decaf?"
"Hope Van Dyne."
"Luis...Nuns?"
"Don't ask, it's a long story. I'm Luke Cage."
"Claire."
"Colleen."
"...Frank."
"Jessica, he's Matt. You got anything to drink?"
Years ago, when Mack had first joined S.H.I.E.L.D., he'd harbored no illusions about being a hero. Sure, working for a clandestine government agency was cool, but he didn't want to be a secret agent. He wanted to build and repair the cars and planes the secret agents used. If it went fast, it called to him.
He was damn good at his job too.
Then the whole Hydra mess happened and then the conflict between the two factions of the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and his world and job had expanded in a rather spectacular way.
Saving the world became a fairly regular occurance.
It wasn't really something he'd gotten used to.
Losing people never got any easier either.
"Drink," he said, pushing a cup of tea in't Fitz's hands and folding the smaller man's fingers around the warm ceramic. The engineer blinked, looking down into the cup and Mack counted that as a win. At least it was some kind of response. "C'mon, Turbo, Have some, then eat." There was a plate of grilled cheese on the table between them and Mack forced himself to pick up half of one and take a bite.
"Jemma's gone," Fitz murmured, voice rough after hours of silence. He did take a sip of tea, but declined the sandwiches.
Swallowing wasn't easy, but when he managed, Mack said, "I know, Man. Elena's gone too. It hurts but we gotta keep going."
Fitz's blue eyes were so damn tired when he looked up at him. "Why?"
"Because we're going to find Thanos and destroy him. He did this," May said as she strode over and grabbed a sandwich. "We'll be landing in a couple of minutes. I need you to snap out office, Fitz. We are going to do this for Phil and Jemma and Elena and everyone else who should be alive."
"Then what?" Fitz asked hollowly.
Mack was actually thinking the same thing.
May sighed and looked out the window as they flew over the Alaskan mountains, many still capped with snow. "Then...Tahiti."
"I don't think I can do this anymore," Fitz admitted. "We do this and I'm done."
"What else are you going to do?" Mack asked, gazing out as they began descending into a small clearing. He could see a blonde woman watching them from beside a stacked pile of firewood, an ax slung over her shoulder.
There was no answer from Fitz and that was troubling, as Mack was pretty sure that meant his friend was planning on giving up.
Mack wasn't going to let him do that, but he'd cross that bridge after Thanos paid for what he'd done.
The subdued ceremony at Warrior Falls had been far shorter than usual, attended by only a few representatives to speak for each tribe. No one had challenged Shuri and she had been named Queen and Protector of Wakanda by Zoya, Zuri's niece.
Killmonger had believed he had burned all of the Purple Heart Flowers (as did many people), by apparently the priests and priestesses had several gardens within the depths of Mount Bashenga. The powers of the Black Panther surged through Shuri's veins as she sat in the council room, spurred on by what she had seen on the Astral Plane.
T'Challa had not been there.
That gave her hope that perhaps they would be able to undo what had been done.
"While all of the alien ships have left orbit, there have been multiple sightings of Thanos and some of his acolytes around the globe, a few with surveillance footage to confirm," she said, pulling up several grainy images. "Most of the sightings are in rural areas and the civilians have been far too afraid to confront him."
"I am not afraid," Okoye said, steel in her gaze.
From where she was seated, Nakia nodded. "We will find Thanos and take the stones from him. Then this tragedy will be undone."
"I do not think it is wise to dispatch any great number of our people on this hunt," M'Baku advised. "The outside world is even more chaotic than it was. We must keep the bulk of our remaining defenses in Wakanda."
"We will," Shuri assured him. "I am tasking Okoye and Nakia to work with Captain Rogers and his people. The rest of the council will be seeing to the health and safety of our own people. Wakandans at our global outreach centers have been in contact and I have instructed them to assess their locations and provide aid if it is safe to do so."
In less than 2 days Wakanda, while still grieving, had regained a bit of equilibrium. There was no rioting in the streets, no attempted coups and her people were working together to get through their hardships. Other places were not so fortunate.
As the meeting broke up, Shuri nodded to Okoye and Nakia, motioning for them to follow her. "I have some new equipment for you both," she informed them as the elevator slid deep into the mountain. "I think we underestimated Thanos before."
"That will not happen again," Okoye vowed and Shuri knew she meant it.
As they entered the labs, members of the R&D team nodded deferentially but kept to this tasks. She'd long ago earned their respect and her new mantle did not change that.
"I revised my gauntlet designs, made them sleeker and more powerful," she said, then called up a diagram of a spear, Okoye's preferred weapon. "We're still trying to find something this won't cut through. Kwame, has the prototype finished?"
A young man approached and offered the spear to Okoye.
"Perfect balance," she praised, hefting it easily. Shuri nodded with pride. She might not be the one to deal the blow that would avenge her brother, but she would have a hand in it, create the means to destroy Thanos.
They remained there, discussing the weapon as well as some ideas for stabilizing the current outreach programs, for several minutes before an alarm wailed.
"My Queen! Our satellites detect three ships entering Earth's orbit and descending into the atmosphere!" Mahree called from a terminal.
Not another invasion, Shuri hoped before jabbing at the communication button that would use their satellites to project her voice on all known frequencies to the ships. "Unknown vessels, identify yourselves!" She commanded, voice strong and steady.
There was no static as a woman replied, "I am Lady Sif of Asgard. We mean you no harm. Whom do I address?"
"Shuri, Queen of Wakanda," she said, then paused. "I have met someone of Asgard."
"We seek Thor and his Midgardian shield brothers and sisters," Sif replied without pause and Shuri heard no deception in her voice.
"Thor fought bravely alongside my brother against Thanos. He remains a guest of Wakanda. His allies are welcome," the young queen replied then tapped the console. "I have sent you appropriate approach vectors and landing coordinates."
"Thank you, Your Grace."
Standing in a field outside of the city, Thor looked up at the 3 crafts descending from the sky. The Avengers and their Wakandan allies stood by his side. He recognized Sif's long range scout ship with a sharp pang of relief, feeling almost weak with joy that one of his dear friends had survived.
Her ship, the smallest and most maneuverable, set down first. In moments, she was descending the ramp, striding across the field to grip Thor's arm and clasp his shoulder.
"It is good to see you, My Friend," he said, then nodded to the other ships, the bigger having just landed. "Who have you brought with you?"
"Our people...what's left of them," she replied, motioning to the ship, whose engines were powering down. "And your friend Stark is in the other."
"Tony?" The other Avengers chorused, looking up at the final ship, which was landing with a series of creaks, clangs and groans. Thor was surprised it had survived the trip to earth.
James and Bruce set off toward the damaged vessel at a run. Steve and Natasha each took a step, but stopped. Thor appreciated their desire to remain by his side, but clapped Steve on the shoulder. "Go collect Stark. I must greet my people."
Taking him at his word, Natasha nodded and began dragging Steve along with her. Rocket remained though, not having any connection to Tony.
As the ramp lowered from the larger ship, Thor strode forward, Shuri and her mother on his left. "Your people left your world after Thanos?" She questioned softly, sounding confused.
"No, Your Grace. After my father's death, my sister, the Goddess of Death, attacked. Our planet had to be destroyed to keep her from getting a foothold and destroying all life in the known worlds. So few of my people survived and that was before Thanos...Brother!"
Valkyrie was the first to appear at the top of the ramp, but a moment later Loki stepped into view. The shock made Thor's stride falter, but soon he was hurrying up to meet them.
"How?" He asked, gripping Loki's shoulders and pulling him into a rough embrace. "I saw Thanos snap your neck!"
"He did, so perhaps don't squeeze so hard," Loki wheezed and Thor adjusted his grip and stepped back. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but i am rather hard to kill."
"That you are," Thor said, shaking his head at his brother's ability to survive seemingly anything. Then he turned and offered Valkyrie a warrior's handshake. "It is good to see you."
"Likewise," she drawled, then let her gaze drift to the people beginning to emerge from the ship. "We pulled as many from space as we could, but then….."
There were still no words for the senseless slaughter that had cleaved half of all life from the galaxy.
Thor looked at the drawn and tired faces peering back at him and he tried to give them a reassuring smile. He bent to scoop up a small girl wrapped in a blanket as he said, "You are safe, my friends."
Nearby, Shuri reached out to squeeze the hands of a man and woman. "We have all lost much these past few days. Come. Wakanda welcomes you."
Giving her a grateful nod, Thor led his people from the ship and onto the green grass.
Every part of Tony ached, emotionally and physically. He hesitated again and again, not activating his comm, not wanting FRIDAY to tell him what might have happened to Pepper and Rhodes and Happy.
If they were gone….
He felt numb as Nebula helped him stagger off of the ship, the familiar pull of Earth's gravity welcome. It was strange how much easier it was to focus on little details, like the difference between natural and artificial gravity, than it was to think about who….
"Tony!"
His head snapped up and he saw Rhodey barreling toward him, Bruce not far behind. The relief was so strong that he staggered, but his friend caught him in a solid hug, so tight they Tony's injuries screamed in protest. He didn't struggle though and clutched at Rhodey.
"Pepper's okay," Rhodey assured him without even being asked. "She's in New York, trying to keep a handle on things. She's got my sister's kids with her."
"Oh thank God," Tony choked and he felt Bruce patting his back, the other scientist scanning him for injuries.
"God, Tony, what happened?" He asked, glancing at Nebula and beyond. "Are you….Strange and the kid….?"
"Gone," Tony murmured. "Just gone."
"Shit," Bruce spat, then motioned Tony to sit on the edge of the ramp. "You're hurt. What…."
"Who's left?" Tony asked, eyes going wide as Steve and Natasha approached. "We're in Wakanda, so T'Challa…."
James shook his head. "T'Challa didn't make it. Wanda, Vision, Sam, Barnes, Thor's Tree Friend…."
"Groot," Steve piped up and Tony had never seen the man look and sound so worn down. "His name was Groot."
His statement made Nebula surge forward, demanding, "Groot was here? Is Rocket…?"
Natasha pointed back in the direction they had come. "He's over there with Thor, big, blonde guy."
The blue cyborg set off across the field without another word.
"That's Nebula. Not a hugger," Tony said, wincing as Bruce prodded his side.
"What's this?" The doctor demanded, clearly meaning the cluster of nanites holding his wounds together.
"Mmmm, I may have gotten stabbed a little," Tony admitted, feeling dizzy. "It's not…."
Whatever reserves had kept his functioning thus far finally seemed to be depleted and Tony was only somewhat aware that he was slumping over. Voices cried out, but they seemed so far away that he was sure he'd hit the ground….
He didn't. Strong hands caught him and his head rested on a broad shoulder, beard bristles tickling his ears as he finally surrendered to exhaustion.
"Are you going to bring Mommy, Daddy and Jim back?"
Hope looked down at Cassie and gave the little girl a reassuring smile. "We're going to try," she said, not wanting to lie.
Her answer made Luis sigh. "Hey, kid, Hope here's gonna meet up with the Avengers! If anyone can straighten out this mess, it's them, right? Me and you are gonna hang here till they do, okay?" He said and Cassie gave a brave nod.
When the...wave of death had hit, Hope had been having a discussion with her father, Scott and Luis, making plans in case the battle came back to New York. They'd watched as Hank and Scott disappeared into a fall of dust. Neither of them had been able to speak when Scott's phone, sitting on the table, began to ring.
Cassie's mom and stepdad were gone too, so they had picked her up before heading to Stark tower. In spite of Hope's misgivings, she knew that was their best bet for answers. There they had encountered some...other people with similar intentions.
Pepper Potts, who Hope respected and, after meeting her, liked, welcomed Cassie and Luis to stay at the tower while Hope headed to Wakanda with the others. A questionably stable pair called Blind Al and Dopinder were also staying behind, along with a handful of children and Pepper assured her the kids would be looked after by staff, not the armed blind woman or the twitchy cabbie.
Giving Cassie's shoulder a squeeze and Luis a nod, Hope headed to the roof where a quinjet was waiting to take off. As she strode up the ramp, she heard Clint Barton say, "Don't touch that! Stop...Seriously, Wade, I will duct tape you to the outside of the plane and fly to Wakanda like that!"
Hope raised a brow at Claire, who was carefully adjusting her harness. "What's that about?"
The other woman rolled her eyes. "Apparently Wade and Clint have a fraught history. A long standing argument over who fell onto who in who's dumpster," she sighed, then looked over at one of her friends. "Do you know either of them? You hang out in the same places."
The guy in the red glasses frowned, then puked into the trash can in his lap.
"Who do we have to thank for the self sealing trash bags?" Luke asked. "The inventor is a true genius. They completely trap the smell."
Glasses nodded miserably, then cocked his head toward the woman in jeans and leather. "Please knock me out. I don't think my senses would like air travel on a good day."
"No, you absolute moron!" Claire bellowed. "No head injuries till the meds have cleared your system. I'd like to say no more head injuries in general but I know that would be pointless."
"Still hitting enemies with your face, Red?" Castle snickered and Glasses eloquently flipped him off.
Sighing heavily through her nose, Hope was about to take the empty seat by Domino when Deadpool flung himself dramatically into it. "Hawkass kicked me out of the cockpit! But he let Negasonic stay! Where do I file a grievance?" He moaned as Domino opened a book, ignoring him.
"I can fly the X-Jet, dumbass, so I'm co-pilot," Negasonic Warhead shouted back at him.
"Your lady love is a meanie, Yukio."
"She's not mean to me."
"Well, you're adorable, Yukio. Who could be mean to you?"
Sinking into the seat beside Colleen, who was sharpening her sword, Hope knew that this was going to be a long, long flight.
Sitting alone in an abandoned hut that overlooked a valley, Thanos watched the chaos unfolding in the city below. Foolish animals, running about, not understanding the gift he had bestowed upon them. No wonder they needed a visionary like him to save them.
The hand still encased in the damaged gauntlet flexed and the saw that the stones, still rather depleted, were progressing to slowly repair it. Soon, he would be back to full power and ascend to his rightful place as emperor of this new galaxy he had created.
Jemma was gone.
Was she?
Maybe he was still trapped in the framework and she had escaped. That made more sense than a world without her.
He didn't want to live in a world without Jemma in it.
"Shove over."
Daisy's voice startled him from his rather morose thoughts and he blinked up at her, becoming aware of his surroundings. He was laying on one of the Zephyr's bunks, staring at the ceiling. Mack was beside him, unwilling to leave him to his own devices.
The bed wasn't built for two, let alone three, but none of them protested the contact. Mack's back wound up pressed to the wall with Fitz in front of him and Daisy in front of Fitz.
"May toss you out of the cockpit?" Mack asked, voice even lower than usual with a mix of sleep and weariness.
Daisy hummed and Fitz felt the reverberations against his chest. "She and Captain Marvel seem to be having a rather heated conversation with no words. Just glares, narrowed eyes and raised brows. We're about 4 hours out of Wakanda. Hopefully they'll get things worked out before we land."
"Probably best to leave them to it then," Mack agreed, one long arm draping over Daisy and Fitz, anchoring them. The solid weight of it pinning him down while he was squished between Daisy and Mack should have seemed constricting but, for the first time since Jemma had crumbled to dust, Fitz breathed easily and drifted off into much needed sleep.
"Sightings of Thanos, the alien behind the extermination wave that swept through the galaxy not three days ago, have been pouring in from all corners of the globe. Given his strength and the danger he poses, it is advised not to engage him. Report all potential sightings to the authorities, please."
"Thanos is described as being 9 feet tall, purple and bald. Please do not confuse him with mutants or people with significant amounts of facial tattooing. With all the chaos bubbling up, the police do not need to be responding to false reports just because you don't like the way the person down the hall looks…."
When the Dusting had hit, Ellie had been training with some of the the students at the X-Mansion. Initially, they had thought someone had manifested a secondary mutation in the worst possible way, but then Jean's psionic voice had echoed in all their minds.
It's happening all over the world!
Even The Professor's powers couldn't reach a global scale, not without Cerebro, so that meant whatever this was, it probably wasn't some kid having an accidental power spike.
She'd hustled the panicking, terrified kids inside, following Jean's call to gather in the dining hall. Her stomach lurched when she realized how many faces were missing - The Professor, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and so many more - and she felt a little ashamed at the relief she felt when she saw Yukio consoling some of the little ones with Bobby Drake.
Jean and Scott swung into damage control mode fast, which was understandable, but as the news broke and revealed what had happened, Ellie began to feel antsy. She needed to do something, not just sit around and talk about her feelings...but it was clear the X-Men weren't going to be taking direct action.
Which was how she and Yukio wound up calling Deadpool (she just knew that asshole would survive, he was like a cockroach) and hooking up with him and his crew of misfits. Then they'd wound up with the Defenders and somehow gotten into Stark Tower, which led them to jumping on a Quinjet and flying off to Wakanda to meet up with whatever Avengers were still intact.
This was not how she had pictured her life going when she had first come to Xavier's school. She'd wanted to control her powers and have a normal life. She couldn't even remember when her life path had take such a sharp left that this did not seem too outlandish.
Flying the quinjet was pretty cool though. It was smaller and faster than the Blackbird, but worked on a lot of the same principals. Clint knew a lot about the plane and rambled, clearly trying to distract himself.
Losing a wife and kid, fuck, that was rough.
She felt a little bad about leaving Yukio to fend for herself with Wade and the rest of the crazy people in the back, but her girlfriend was much more of a people person than she was. Occasionally, Ellie could hear her chatting with the other passengers. At the moment, she seemed to be discussing crab cakes with Luke Cage, who struck Ellie as relatively sane.
"There's the opening in the Wakandan defense shield," she said, noting the space, outlined in shimmering purple. "Damn, that's impressive."
Clint gave a grunt of agreement and put the quinjet through the small gap as smooth as could be. The man was a hell of a pilot.
Their landing in a large, grassy field was just as smooth. A small group stood there to greet them and, when they tumbled off of the plane, the blonde - Black Widow!- took one look at Wade and shocked him into unconsciousness.
Off to a great start, this team unity thing…..
TBC…...
