NINE
And a one, and a two, and a—
.
A whirling, blue mass of space and matter hurled itself into being. Tivan spun to find it behind him. "What the…"
It stopped.
And out stepped a large boot - followed by an even larger man. A mountain made mobile, the gold armour and elaborate helmet on him made Tivan's eyes goggle.
He cleared his throat as the man approached him with thundering feet. "Uh… sir. Welcome to my gallery…"
"The stone," Thanos said, his voice like a rockslide down a cliff face. "Where is it?"
"Which stone?" Tivan managed. He backed up one hastily. "I have many. I can show you something from my private collection, perhaps? It's come all the way from somewhere called Blackpool. I have no idea where that is, but my sources tell me that it is somewhere in the Milky Way."
Thanos smiled down at him, something that put more fear into the Collector. "Tiny man," he said slowly. "You seek to distract me. Where is the Infinity Stone? The one that can remake Reality."
"An Infinity Stone!" Tivan gasped. "Here? On my word, sir, if it is here I have no idea wh—"
"As you can see," Thanos said, lifting his left hand and the shining gauntlet atop, "I already have two. And they are telling me that you have it here. Now get it."
"And as you can see," Tivan said, swallowing as he raised his two perfect hands, "I never do any work myself. I have servants for this. Now it's possible one of them picked something up, telling me one thing when it was another - that has happened before. I will check with—"
Thanos used a finger and thumb to grip him by the throat. He lifted him clear off the floor. Tivan squeaked in protest but Thanos simply lifted him higher. "There is nothing to be done," he said sadly. "There is no way out of this. There is no plan, no bargaining, no extensions. I just want the stone, 'Collector'. And if you don't get it right now, I shall level this entire collection of yours and make the stone come to me from the rubble. And if it has to go through you, then so be it."
He set him down.
Tivan gasped in a breath. He put two hands up to straighten his hair out, then gulped in more air before pulling his clothes back into proper order. "It really is the maid's day off," he rasped.
Thanos growled and took a step forward.
Tivan put his hands up quickly. "But… I'll see if anyone knows where it is."
Thanos cried out in anger. He swept his arm around and simply back-handed Tivan through the air. He crashed into a far case and slid to the floor. Groaning, trying to sit up, he nursed his throat. As he spotted Thanos lifting the gauntlet, he glared.
.
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Korg sat rather uncomfortably in the chair. "Why?" he heaved.
"Well… because it's rotting where it stands," the woman said. "It's awful. It's just been left there to go bad and to tell the truth - it smells."
"I'm not really sure this is our problem, though," he shrugged. "I mean if someone throws out food and leaves it to rot, it's now up for grabs, right?"
"You're saying you're not going to help us?" she asked, disgusted. "But we're rich!"
"Wait…" He got up, going to the window and looking down at the streets below. "Who's throwing all this food out?"
"Well I don't know!" she spluttered. "Whoever they are, make them stop!"
Korg looked over at the dark Asgardian, currently hovering on the other side of the room in the vain hope that the Kronan wouldn't notice him. "Hey you!" he called.
The man pointed at his own face.
"Yeah, you! What's your name?" Korg called.
He came over with the reluctance of a small furry animal approaching a larger, scaled one. "Yes?"
"What's your name?" Korg asked again.
"Uh… Balturm," he said.
"Ok, Dave. So this lady here says there's food out there going to waste."
"Uh… so? —And it's Balturm."
"Yesterday that guy came asking us if we had money to feed people." He waved a hand at the window. "Maybe we could sell the food that's going to waste, and then use that money to buy food."
"Or," Balturm said slowly, "maybe we could just take the thrown-out food and give it straight to people to eat?"
"Are you mad, Dave?" Korg asked. "It'll be gone off - rotten. You want to give people rotten food? We're not slave-gladiators now, man."
"No," Balturm said, shaking his head. "I meant find the source of the food and get it before it goes off. They can still dump it for free, yeah? But they dump it in special receptacles we put out for them - clean ones. Then we just redistribute it."
Korg stared at him. And stared.
"Or… not," Balturm managed.
"Clever," Korg marvelled. "Hey man, you want a job? I need someone in charge of food and stuff."
"Not really."
"Great!" he grinned. He dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Everyone! Dave here is now in charge of food! No-one has to go hungry or beg us for it any more!"
People clapped and cheered. Balturm slapped a hand over his face and dragged it down with feeling.
Korg jiggled his shoulder in his hand. "Nice one, man. Of you go then - see to it."
"And you're sure this is the right thing to do?"
"Oh sure," Korg announced, half the room bending to hear. "I mean, this is what Loki told us to do, right?"
.
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Thanos twisted his hand, watched the two stones embedded in the glove shine and hum. He smiled. "Hmm." He moved to his left, then his right, watching the stones. Suddenly he nodded and began to walk between the glass cases, heading for one right at the back of the room. "I should have known," he mused, eyeing the only one with a black cloth draped over the exhibit on the inside.
He stopped in front of the case. He reached out to open it.
—And something cold, metal and shiny cleaved through the air. A female yell, an angry epithet, and Thanos found himself pushed back a few steps.
He realised with horror that he was looking at his right arm, now lying on the floor in front of the case. "What…?"
Angela landed square in her fur boots, her sword across her in a defensive position - and dripping blood. "Mad Titan," she hissed. "Scourge of the nine realms and beyond - you will not prevail this day."
Thanos stared, first at her, then at his arm on the floor. Shock began to fade from his face as, across the room, Tivan hastily rifled through the pockets inside his large coat.
"Who… are you?" Thanos managed.
"Angela, warrior of Asgard. You will pay for what you have done to my realm!" she cried. She hefted the blade again.
He lifted the gauntlet.
—But she sheathed the sword.
He frowned in confusion.
Tivan produced a small box and pressed the button in the centre.
Thanos paused as every glass case popped open. He frowned, hearing more and more doors open around them. He turned to see. Tiny black shapes began to mass and swarm out of them.
Angela turned and jumped on a table to the top of a case. From there she leapt; she made it to one of the structural beams running under the ceiling, swinging herself up to crouch on the metal.
Thanos swept in a circle. He surveyed the small dots now making straight for him. Something caught his eye. He looked over to see Tivan scrambling madly for a table.
He got on top and then threw himself up to safety as Angela had done. He waved cheerfully at Thanos. "Knowhere grubs," he announced. "They strip flesh, eat it in seconds. Goodbye, would-be stone thief."
Thanos lifted the glove. He twisted it at Tivan. He was pummelled by blue energy - but he clung onto the metal bar.
Thanos gasped and looked down. Tiny pinpricks were jabbing at his foot through many small and sudden openings in his boot. He bared his teeth and lifted his foot. It slammed down. Black beetle-shaped bugs were squished and splattered. And then his foot was encased in more - and more. They began to swarm up his calf, biting and chewing on the way. "Aaarrgh!"
He shook his feet as he turned and again made for the black cloth in the now open casket. He felt needle-sharp agony in his feet and legs, his knees beginning to buckle. But his gauntlet still reached out, still felt for the black cloth. He gripped it and yanked it free.
There, on a bed of red silk and encased in some kind of petrified tree sap that had been polished into a calming burgundy colour, was a stone. It shone and teased him from just a foot too far away.
He felt himself falling. He put his gauntleted hand down to catch himself. Blood was still pouring from the way Angela had expert sliced his right arm off just under the shoulder. It only excited the beetles more, as they chomped on skin, bone, anything they could get their infinitesimal teeth into. His feet nearly gone, his lower legs just bone, he howled in pain and frustration.
He pushed back to get to his knees while he still could. He swung the gauntlet. The purple stone flashed - and the bugs were blown from him. Cases rocked and fell with the impact.
He groaned, looking around to check they were indeed gone. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound. He again flashed the stone - and looked down to watch brand new muscle and sinew start to wind itself around his bare bones. It knitted and covered, patched and repaired; in nearly a minute he had enough to move his legs and get back up. His right arm had begun to regenerate itself, sliding bone from out of his shoulder, lengthening, strengthening, producing tissue and muscle.
He smiled as he looked up at Angela, still crouched on her beam. "All for nothing, Asgardian," he said. "I was wrong to leave any of you alive. But balance is balance; the others will yet live. You, however, will die scream—"
He gasped in shock as something hot ripped into his back. It poked out the front of his chest as what felt like a small planet barrelled into his back with a furious yell. Flattened to the ground, the hot pain pinned him down.
Valkyrie stood tall on his back. "Sorry, what was that?" she demanded. "You'll die screaming? Oh let me make that happen."
"You're making this - this very difficult!" he raged, struggling.
She dropped to her knee and grasped at the gauntlet. She yanked and yanked to try to work it loose.
Angela measured distances. And as Thanos heaved and tried to get free, she launched herself from the beam. Her boots landed square in his back. He coughed and she heard ribs crack under her landing. She leant over and pushed at the glove as Valkyrie pulled.
"Aaarrgh!" Thanos bellowed. He moved to clench his fist. "You pathetic little—!"
He was cut short as a bright blue beam shot across the room. It hit the glove. Both women snatched their hands clear. It smoothed over, froze the gems and the gauntlet in place. As Thanos writhed and struggled, the two women brought smaller blades to bear. They levered at the gauntlet between them.
Thanos roared and bucked. He smashed the gauntlet down to the ground. Ice fell in great shards. He looked up ahead and left to see Tivan standing watching him, the winter casket between his hands. "No," Thanos panted. "You can't stop me. You won't stop me!" He flicked his wrist out.
The winter casket went flying through the air. Tivan was swept off his feet and up into the ceiling. He plummeted back down. He landed awkwardly and a loud crack told tales of many broken bones. His head tilted to one side; the enjoyment in his eyes faded until there was nothing left.
"We nearly have it!" Angela cried. She strained to control Thanos' arm, to rip the gauntlet loose.
He felt strength flow into his new right arm. He pushed at the floor and simply shook the women free, sending them across the room. They rolled and were on their feet in a second, weapons drawn. "Huh," he sneered. "Your pathetic ambush is already failing. The two of you cannot stop me."
"Three, you crazy son of a bilgesnipe!"
He turned. Amora was behind him; she lifted both hands. She shouted something that sounded either magical or particularly rude. The air crackled and fizzed even as he raised his hands to shield himself. A massive bolt of energy hit him square in the chest. He was thrown back and into the last casket standing. It smashed on impact, leaving him in a pile of lethal shards.
Amora whirled both hands, coming closer but stopping just out of reach. "Now, Titan… what are your dreams? What do you fear?" She paused her hands, then thrust her palms out at him. His eyes closed and he drew in a deep breath.
He howled in pain. Valkyrie and Angela had to cover their ears as best they could with one hand each.
Amora's right hand flicked as if calling for the drinks menu. Then it went back to causing some kind of mental anguish in Thanos. Valkyrie gasped and knocked Angela's elbow. She pointed to the newly summoned pools of beetles massing and making for Thanos' prone form.
"Get back!" Valkyrie cried. Angela retreated as the bugs met Thanos' feet and began to chomp. Valkyrie leapt onto his chest. "Come and get me!" she cried.
The bugs began to climb, began to eat their way up his right arm and sides. Valkyrie looked up. She steeled herself, then leapt for quite literally her life. Her left hand missed the beam in the ceiling - but her right latched onto it. She grinned then swung herself up. She looked down to see Angela scrambling over the metal frame of a broken exhibition case, trying to get higher so she too could jump to safety.
Thanos gurgled in pain. He thrust his left fist out. The gauntlet shimmered and sent barbs of blue and purple out in every direction.
Amora was smacked with an invisible force. She flew through the air and landed in the rubble. Beetles parted around her out of respect as they headed for the Thanos buffet.
He pushed and shoved to get to his hands and knees. Flesh was missing from both palms, from his legs, from his torso, but he climbed to his feet and bellowed in triumph. "You will all d-huurgh!"
A blue blast of cold power slapped him from his feet to the floor. He put his hands out to stop himself from falling. He succeeded - but when he looked up the ice beam was still going.
He just made out the sight of Tivan holding it. "You," he accused. "I killed you!"
"You thought you did," Tivan said with unexpected suave. His face, his clothes - it all shivered and rippled. And then, as if nothing of major import was happening, there stood Loki, the winter casket still belching out unspeakable cold between his hands. "Twice, in fact. Now hold still," he said, his skin turning blue and his eyes beginning to burn. "This is going to hurt. A lot."
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