3rd Person POV with Ash
A Short While Earlier…
*What about your sui-BZZT?!* Ash dropped her communicator in surprise at the sparks that came off it as the call got cut off.
"Nononononono!" She picked it back up once it stopped sparking and shook it desperately before yelping as she had to duck another blast before running again.
"Dad, where are you…?" She whispered to herself once she found another hiding place and looked up to see the tall shelves stacked with products and figured she could get a better vantage point from up there.
Once she finished stealthily climbing to the top, she finally got a count of how many pursuers there were; 6 and they all were patrolling around looking for her with the one with the scanner taking the lead.
"Any sign?"
"Negative, but communications between the two were confirmed to be severed."
"Good, continue the search, local authorities are still 10 clicks away and we have until they get here to retrieve it."
She heard two of them conversing, voices crackly from going through voice modulators, before they all split up again with three of them coming her way down below.
"Two can play that game…" Ash muttered indignantly as she looked around to see if any innocent bystanders were still nearby, thankfully they'd all evacuated, before she took her Kimoyo beads off and clenched her hands into fists as she concentrated on heating her hands, but the gamma radiation that paired with the heat sent out waves similar to EMP blasts.
The corner of her mouth twitched upward at the sound of the pursuers yelling out in pain as their comms shorted out and left them unable to comm each other, evidenced by one of them calling out,
"Comm system rendered offline."
Ash stood up before putting a hand in her pocket and rummaged a bit silently hoping 'please say I didn't forget it' before she found her insignia pin amidst the candy wrappers in her pocket and silently cheered before pinning it on the front of her t-shirt just as the other three pursuers, the ones with the scanner, regrouped with the first group as they questioned,
"Why didn't you report in?"
"Something took out our comms."
And Ash proceeded to do the same to the last three's comms as the one with the scanner growled,
"Or someone…"
Before holding up the scanner and it started beeping rapidly in Ash's general direction before they lifted it up to see her there.
"There she is!"
"Open fire!"
They all lifted their blasters to aim at her but she was one step ahead of them as she clapped her hands together before pushing them forward to send a wave of flames at them before jumping off the shelves.
In the split second she was falling, she tapped the pin on her chest and her suit formed around her before she lifted a fist up to aim for a ceiling light and activated her grappling line to swing from it and propel back down to the ground.
Once she landed in a pose similar to Nat's, she looked back to see that her fire blast had melted the front portions of her pursuers' guns and the scanner had been rendered useless thanks to the EMP waves.
"Ash!" She looked over at the sound of her name being called and saw Bruce a little ways away looking for her.
"Dad!" She yelled back but a clicking sound back in front of her drew her attention back to her pursuers and was horrified to see that one still had a large device that was aimed at Bruce.
Instantaneously, the device blasted a ray of energy toward him but Ash pushed herself in front of him so she would be hit instead, but instead of slamming her back like she'd expected it enveloped her in a translucent aura that made her hover off the ground.
"What the-?! AAAHHH!" Ash screamed as she felt an agonizing stinging hit her body before her core lit up with a bright scarlet glow that looked to be getting absorbed by the device she was being hit with.
"The core extractor…" Bruce mumbled in disturbed awe before he was seized by two of the pursuers and was dragged away but he fought against them as he yelled,
"No! Get away from her! Ash!"
Ash's eyes had gone blank with the bright light that was filling them but they twitched when she heard her dad calling out for her and her face pinched up in pain as she pulled both hands up to her chest to try to block the flow of energy being absorbed until one pursuer next to the one with the extractor yelled,
"Hurry it up, local authorities are almost here!"
"I'm on it." The one with the extractor turned a dial on the side of the device and the pain Ash was feeling amplified and she let out another scream as nearly all the light from her core was fully drained into the device with Bruce still fighting to get through to her before a screeching sound cause his ears and when he looked up he saw a fiery comet coming toward them through one of the store's skylights.
"Incoming!"
"Get down!"
The two pursuers holding Bruce let go as they ran to get out of the way and he ran in the opposite direction just as the object crashed through the ceiling, sending broken glass and rubble flying everywhere and sending out a shockwave strong enough to knock back the one with the extractor and the device was interrupted its process to where Ash was dropped back onto the ground with some light still shining on her chest.
"Ash!" Bruce hurried around the thing that crashed through the roof, saw it was a pod of some kind but didn't care at the moment, and made it to Ash as he tried to lift her up with his good arm until he heard a hatch pop open on the pod.
He looked back with some terror on his face as he saw a large hand reach through the opening to grasp the side of the opening before-
"I am Groot!" (Let's never do that again!) Groot's head popped out from the hatch as he climbed out and nearly stumbled to the ground before Gora followed and promptly slid to her stomach as soon as her paws hit the floor and gave out from under her.
"Guys!" Bruce exclaimed happily as he recognized the, now bigger and slightly bulkier, tree person and feline-like guardian creature he'd heard Zaruk call a Granaphora.
"Heya Bruce…" JJ pulled herself out of the hatch opening and jumped to the ground followed by Rocket as he yelled,
"Stupid frickin' landing props was broken!"
Before kicking the pod in annoyed anger as he brushed some rubble off his jumpsuit before noticing Bruce there and greeted him nonchalantly,
"How's it goin' Shrinkie."
And Bruce was at a loss for words at that before JJ told him,
"Sorry 'bout the rough landing but this thing was barely keepin' itself together as it was." She hooked a thumb behind her to motion to the pod before thumping her boot down twice to call all her orbs back to her and surprised Bruce further with the dozens of orbs that were called back to their holding spaces in her boots before she looked down to notice her sister passed out in his arms.
"Ash!" She exclaimed and her expression changed to one of surprised horror as she dropped down next to them before demanding, "What the frick happened?!"
"They happened…" Bruce narrowed his eyes before jutting his chin out to motion to the six pursuers as they stood in front of them with the one with the extractor at the front.
"Subject J75-4, step away from the target." They tried to order her but she just stood her ground in front of them with her fists raised to her sides and sparks were crackling as Rocket and Groot went to stand next to her to protect her sister.
"As if." JJ scoffed as she deepened her glare at the group in front of them.
A few tense moments passed as the two groups stared each other down, daring the other to make a move, before the ground started rumbling under their feet.
"What the-?!" JJ backed away from a crack that opened in between them before hearing a whooshing sound and they all looked up to see a crimson ship in the sky before a beam shone down on the pursuers and they dissipated in a flurry of particles before the larger ship jumped out of the planet's atmosphere.
There was a few more seconds of tense silence before it was broken with a weak,
"Well that *cough* was unexpected…"
And they all looked down to see Ash more or less awake with her face scrunched up in pain.
"Oh kid…" Bruce hugged her in relief and JJ smiled down at her before joking,
"What can I say? I can be real repel-lent."
Making Ash chuckle a bit before she stood up, still shaky, and hugged her sister as she told her,
"Thanks for coming…"
"'Course…" JJ hugged her back before pulling away and holding Ash at arm's length with her hands still on her shoulders as she spoke dauntingly, "'Sides I think somethin' big is coming… and it's gonna need us both…"
"Maybe we should talk more back at the house." Bruce suggested as they heard sirens outside the store.
"I am Groot?" (What do we do with this thing?) Groot asked, pointing back to the pod.
"Jus' leave it, it's useless now." JJ shrugged and they all hesitantly agreed before heading out through the back of the store to avoid the local authorities.
"So we got a plan or we hitchhikin' back?" Rocket asked from where he sat perched on JJ's shoulder.
"Oh right the uh the jet's this way." Bruce stuttered a bit as he pointed to a hill in the distance and led the way.
"Psst!" Rocket harshly hissed to Ash and she looked back at him as he not so subtly whispered,
"You sure the small humie can handle this?"
"Uh the 'small humie' can hear you, you know?" Bruce called back to them, looking at Rocket with an indignant look.
"Dammit why can I never get that right?"
"What being subtle? Cause you suck at it." JJ smirked at her dad and he swatted the side of her head and she retorted with a static shock poke that made his fur fluff up.
"And to answer your question; yeah my dad can handle this, he's more than just his physical strength."
"Uh huh sure." Rocket muttered dubiously as they arrived at an empty space in the field and, after pushing a button on a remote, the Quinjet Ash and Bruce had used to get to the mainland was decloaked in front of them.
Once they all boarded and Bruce programmed the autopilot to take them all back to the island lab, he went to sit with the others in the back as they were tending to Gora's injuries and Ash was laying down still looking.. drained…
"I am Groot!" (You're still hurt) Groot urged as he held up another roll of bandages and Gora was already nearly mummified with sloppily done wraps but she held up a spine to decline another roll as she meowed,
"Mroow…" (I'll be fine…)
And Groot sniffed a little before she put a spine on his face to pat it comfortingly.
"Don't worry bud we got some of the plant juice that helps with healing back at the lab." Bruce gently patted Groot's shoulder and he perked up a little at that as he sat back in his seat and began spacing out looking out the window.
"What happened with you guys?" Ash asked as she remained laying but turned her head to look at her sister.
"I was buyin' my stuff while callin' ya and when the 'xplosion went off on yer end and after we got disconnected then 'nother one of those guys with mirror visors ran off, I caught'im, found out it was Skodor, one of the scientists that experimented on me, then he blew himself up 'fter tellin' me 'an old friend can't wait to see you again' and we hurried here on a barely functional pod and you know the rest." JJ explained mimicking his voice before crossing her arms to sit back.
The mention of Skodor made Ash sit up rapidly, wincing in pain as she did, before she asked,
"Skodor?"
"Yeah the jerk that tried ta kidnap ya way back then." Rocket answered Ash's unspoken question before continuing in a mocking tone, "For Kryjer's 'dual arsenal of destruction.'"
"He's been trying to get both of us for years but it still doesn't explain why he's coming after us now." Ash started to think as she put a hand under her chin making JJ raise a brow and asked,
"Whaddya mean?"
"Think about it; he had a five year opening to take us while we were in our comas with only one person guarding us. So why go after us now instead of then?"
"Ya can't 'xactly use a weapon while it's powered down." Rocket noted but Ash argued,
"No but he could've had us, our powers, our cores, just like he'd gotten everyone's cores in almost all the havens around the planet. He still has them so why does he need ours specifically?"
"Seemed like those dopes were more goin' for yours than mine." JJ shrugged and Ash remembered what they had told her and theorized,
"Maybe their original plan was to use me to get to you."
"And they tried to cut off from each other and grounded our ship to make it happen but they weren't countin' on us comin' here in a half-assed pod so that's why they told me to back off."
"All this is a start but we still don't know their grand plan once they've got you two." Bruce pointed out making Rocket note,
"Well what else do ya use a weapon for?"
"Destroy those who've wronged us…'" JJ muttered to herself before thinking aloud, "The whole I was bein' tested on, I was told I was bein' made into a weapon to use against 'those who wronged'em' and if the Oajins're tryin' to wipe out all of us on Earth-"
"Somehow they view all Chrysintheans as enemies and are trying to wipe us all out but they aren't trying to involve others in it."
The questioning look on JJ's face made Ash add,
"When they were trying to track me down they were pretty adamant on getting me before the local authorities arrived. Ross thought whoever had been hunting us would be willing to go through anyone to get to us but I guess that's not the case… thankfully for humans…"
"Not so much for us…" JJ groaned slightly as she crossed her arms.
Their conversation halted for a second when the Quinjet was landing on the island and they all disembarked to start walking to the house as Bruce told them,
"Well regardless, we'll send a message to Zaruk and the others to let'em know what's happening and see if they've got any- plans…"
They all stopped at the entrance to the house that looked like a small hurricane had passed through with the furniture overturned, several things were broken, and there were a few scorch marks around when they noticed Zaruk standing there with one of their staffs in their hand and Xay was beside them looking uncharacteristically serious.
"Heeeey we were just talking about you." Bruce commented and Zaruk greeted with a nod before telling them all,
"Dr. Banner. We apologize for the unexpected intrusion but we had sensed Ash was in trouble so we came here as fast as we could and found an Oajin trying to steal this."
Pulling and holding out Ash's staff from under their cloak and she took it in her hands, grateful that they hadn't succeeded in taking it before realizing and asking,
"I thought you both were still in Wakanda?"
"We've nearly completed construction on our new Chrysinthean village in Oregon but we were in Arizona meeting with a United Nations senator who had helped the Asgardians with building their city-state and who agreed to help us with ours." Zaruk answered as they dug around in their pocket, pulled out a seed, and grew a Zua fruit in the palm of their hand to give to Gora so her healing could be boosted after they noticed her swaying on her paws a bit.
"How is it going?" Bruce questioned curiously.
"Luckily we've managed to establish a boundary protection field thanks to T'Challa and Shuri's contributions so our people here are safe for whatever is coming for us."
"My dad's there overseeing everyone while Zaruk's gone so we could come to help you all." Xay finally spoke up and gave Ash a small smile as he added, "And I came 'cause I really missed you."
Ash smiled lightly as if to say 'me too' and Groot playfully nudged JJ's side while raising his eyebrow ridges up and down at the looks Ash and Xay were giving each other before she elbowed back harsher with an eye roll before Zaruk brought them all back to the issue at hand,
"Ash, was there any indication as to why the Oajin's were going after you or what it is they're planning?"
"We were talking about that on the way and we figured out they were trying to cut me and JJ off from each other so they could steal my core to lure her to them but other than that we have no idea why or where they're going." Ash answered and Bruce asked,
"Who would know?"
*I think I can help with that.* They all suddenly heard a voice in their heads and were instantly on guard when a sparking circular portal opened up in the kitchen before they saw Doctor Strange stepping through and they all relaxed a bit.
"Always nice to get a warm welcome." He mildly quipped before gesturing to the portal that was still open behind him and offered to them all,
"I believe I can shed some light on the situation at hand and give some insight into where to go next."
"Ain't this the magician who gave Thanos the Time Stone? Why should we trust him?" JJ questioned accusingly.
"Because, trust me Astra, things could've ended a whole lot worse if I hadn't."
"Besides this is a conversation I've been needing to have with him for a while now." Ash assured her sister as she put a hand on her shoulder before telling Strange,
"Dad told me about what happened with the Ancient One when he was retrieving the Time Stone so you've got some explaining to do."
"Glad we're all on the same page then." Strange spoke evenly before stepping through the portal and the others followed him as they all winded up at the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York.
"Ugh I'm gonna get so space lagged at this point." JJ whined as she shook her arms and rapidly twisted her head to crack her neck twice.
"Unfortunately there's still a long way to go but before that," Strange told her cryptically before adding politely, "Would anyone like a drink?"
There were a few refusals before Zaruk noticed Gora starting to slip back down toward the ground and told her,
"You should rest for a bit, Gora, the substance within you is still in effect."
"I can help with that." Strange whirled his hands around, creating a rune of light that hovered in front of Gora before hitting her and disappearing in a flurry of sparks just so she could hack and spit up a large glob of greenish slime that was steaming slightly.
"Oh!"
"Gross!"
"Ewww!"
"I am Grooooot!"
"Bleggh!"
A chorus of disgusted cries and comments rose up from everyone except Strange as he simply made another rune to lift it up and dispose of it by making it vanish into thin air.
"Now that that's been taken care of, onto business." Strange swept an arm around the room so all the blinds and curtains would close, leaving the room completely pitch black before a hologram of the galaxy made of light was conjured in the middle of the room as Strange told them,
"I think it's time for a little backstory on Chrysinthean history…"
AN- Whoo! Final exams were a little rough but I made it ^^
I'm gonna be heading home on Monday morning and should be arriving Tuesday morning so I'm gonna try to work on the next chapter during the bus, train, and bus ride home.
Also, backstory time! I was originally going to have Kryjer do the whole "villain monologue" thing later and there still will be one but I realized with all the stuff that needs to be mentioned it would be too much even for a villain monologue and I don't wanna become that "info dump" type of person, so I'm gonna be spacing out what gets explained when so it's not too much at once.
Aside from that, I'm working on the new cover for this story and almost finished with my submission for Elijah aka Not-So-Average-Fangirl's "Naughty" Christmas music video art contest over on Instagram but I'll also be posting both pieces on Deviant Art along with some of the art pieces I got back from my art class sometime soon so keep an eye out for that if you're interested.
Welp until the next chapter, Bye!