Thank you too!::
Alethea13 (Oh the things to come will spin even worse realities than those already presented!)
tanchik (the future is ever changing!)
amy. .9 (aging is never fun, as a reader pointed out. definitely upping the level of visceral emotions in this one!)
Ms. Hawkeye (OHHHHH my goodness. expect more sucker punches to come)
Fury-Natalia (hehehehehe. enjoy!)
I Can Hear the Drums
Chapter 16
The Milano wasn't nearly as large as the Gateway, or even the retrofitted Blackbirds, but she did have the benefit of compartmentalization, which was an overall lack in the Quinjets. There were two main decks. The upper deck included the forward facing cabin, and seats for four crew members. A bulkhead separated the cabin from the rest of the floor, which included the war room, one state room, and a few auxiliary gun mounts of Rocket's design. The lower deck held the general cargo and four more staterooms. The big selling point, in Clint's mind, for the upgrade to a bigger ship, was a door between him and Loki. It was getting easier to live with him, but having Loki in his face for a full twenty four hours a day, when the Frost Giant hardly ever had the need to sleep, was more than Clint could handle.
Being reunited with Rocket, Gamora, Drax, and Groot came with its own set of problems, mainly on Loki's end. Apparently, and unsurprisingly, Loki's presence left a particular bad taste in Gamora's mouth. Drax, for once, didn't mind him whatsoever. Rocket entertained the idea of poking the Frost Giant's ego, and Groot . . . well, Groot was Groot.
"So, we got this rule on board; you come up and try to get with us, you need to do something for us. It's a courtesy thing. Paying your way." Rocket said as he led them on board. He pointed out the staterooms on either side. "Girls, plants, and animal species on the left, narcissistic guys that bang chicks and take everything literally, go on the right. You pick which side you wanna be on, but lemme warn you, Quill's room is a frat pad. Don't click on a black light in there."
Loki analyzed the room from the safety of the narrow hall. The mere smell was enough to prevent his ever stepping within. "Is there nothing more reasonable?" he complained.
"No. This whole place is disgusting." Rocket replied. "About that rule, newbies clean the john. Word to the wise, I shed. It's a personal problem."
Loki's look of extreme disgust nearly made Clint agree to the terms. However, he was not about to be stuck as Rocket's private cleaning crew. "That's not happening, Rocket."
The mutated raccoon seemed crestfallen. "Aww, come on! It's a –hee hee—it's a rule."
Clint's face didn't change.
Rocket grumbled. "Fine, suck all the fun out of it."
He took the vertical staircase straight to the upper deck, where Gamora and Drax both sat around the tables of star charts and holo-monitors. Quill was playing with a small sphere, edging it back and forth in his hands while he considered all the plans. He hardly acknowledged them. Either Clint's earnestness finally hit home, or he had a few secrets left to share, which deserved some chewing on.
Gamora glared at Loki's arrival. "Look who the universal trash dropped off. A mortal fool."
Loki smirked, striding to her. "Gamora, Thanos' ward. I have missed that alluring menace in your voice when you uttered my name in secrecy."
"Alluring?" She exclaimed, cocking her head. "Is that how I sounded? Don't you forget, I'm the one that dug you out of that Frost Giant Hell you formed the minute Odin released you into the vacuum of space!" She stood, her hands braced against the counter, to face off against him.
Loki, never one to avoid a fight he might find some enjoyment in, leaned closer. "And what thanks and praise I received at your master's side. A life of servitude and disdain, torture and starvation. I have never enjoyed a better imprisonment."
"If you'd just told him what he wanted like I said you should do, you would have never even seen the dark depths!" She shouted.
"If you hadn't turned me in, as I said, I might never have been in his debt to begin with!" Loki seethed.
Rocket's eyes widened. Clint folded his arms. Peter looked over from where he brooded, and even Drax and Groot seemed to comprehend the depths of what Loki and Gamora shared. The only ones not noticing the apparent peculiarity of it, were the participants themselves. It wasn't hard to assume the two had history. A complicated one, at that.
Clint knew very well, the only reason Loki came to Earth with the Mind Stone, was to conquer it for himself, and abduct the Tesseract for Thanos. Originally, he had decided to keep away from Midgard, Asgard, and all the Nine Realms for at least a century or more until he could create his own defenses. He'd been picked up by Thanos, however, after his fall from grace on Asgard, and was stolen into the tyrant's service much the same way Gamora had been.
Clint knew those shared memories once. Time, disuse, and a want to forget that connection he shared with the Frost Giant, made all the current revelations dredge up the past recollections.
"I told you to lie in that cell until I could orchestrate something, and you refused to believe me!" Gamora fired.
"A fancy surprise to that, given the long history I had with successful trust in friends."
The tennis match continued. One accusation after another sailed across the star chart battlefield, while their hot personalities blasted throughout the cabin. Had they been on the Gateway, Steve or Tony, even Bruce might have interrupted them by this point and gotten on with the heart of what Clint had come there to do.
However, they were far from the rest of the Avengers. This was the Milano, a new ship, a new team, and a new set of rules. The Guardians of the Galaxy were worse gossips than a school of mean, teenage girls. With all the information dropping all around them like care packages to a future black mail, not a single person was willing to break the argument up. Realistically, though, it was getting them nowhere, and time ticked inevitably against them. Someone had to step in, and since Peter was not going to be that person, the role fell on Clint's shoulders.
Barton grabbed Gamora first, and sat her back in the chair. She chopped him in the soft spot along his side, where an old injury left him one rib down. He cringed and took it. To Loki, he made a few signs and pointed out a chair. If Thor's fallen brother didn't want to be jettisoned into open space, he was going to play nice. Eventually, he retreated. Everyone else groaned at the interruption of their entertainment.
"Oh, don't get your panties all into a bunch." Clint told them.
Drax's face screwed together. "Why should anyone wish that? That sounds horrible."
Clint rolled his eyes skyward. "As entertaining as it is to think that our girl Friday and Slim Shady have history, it's not getting us anywhere. Pete, is there an Infinity Stone in that sphere you aren't telling us about, or do you just like to hold it out of sentiment?"
Peter stopped rolling the ball. His eyes widned as, like a cornered animal he threw a rapid fire of glances at the other crew members. "Now, how the hell did you figure that one out?!"
Clint's jaw slackened. He'd meant it as a joke, given the conversation he'd just had with Tony and Steve the night before. Was it really possible that the one thing he realized he needed, was already on the ship?
Rocket jumped up in his suit and turned on the man. "You've had a Stone in that thing? The entire time?! Where did that come from?"
"I do not understand how we did not know." Drax said.
Gamora glared, and growled.
"Seriously, none of you knew that?" Clint looked at all of them in shock. He'd seen them play dumb before. This was not like those times. He dropped his hands against his sides. "Oh my God. This is it. We're doomed."
"How long have you had that thing, Quill?!" Rocket exclaimed.
The man shrugged. "I don't know, like a week? Or a month? Probably a couple months."
"Well, is this not a wonderful start to the worst organization available?" Loki pushed off of his corner and glanced at the sphere. He willed himself to see beyond that outer shell to the hidden jewel within. The Infinity Stones hadn't been separated from the Gauntlet in ten years. How Peter ended up with an individual Stone, Loki couldn't hope to guess.
Clint wasn't in the mood for guessing. "Where'd it come from?" he demanded.
Peter took a deep breath, a usual sign that he planned to spin another untrue tale, but Clint cut him off at the knees before he got the opportunity. "Don't tell me you came across it, that your third cousin in Nidavir traded you baseball cards for it, or that you just bedded a Xandarian for it. Give it to me straight the first time, Quill. Where did the Stone come from?"
The scavenger looked around the cabin as if he might find support to dig him out from beneath Clint's totalitarian authority, but only grim expressions darted toward him. Apparently, no one planned to help deflect the attention. Trapped, he sighed, lifted the orb, and deposited it into Clint's open palm. "I've had it for three years."
Standing in the middle of a Walmart during a Black Friday blowout held a similar amount of hysteria to what Clint now felt party to. Drax stood up and tore his steel chair in half. Rocket picked up a lead pipe and whacked Peter in the left shin. Gamora grabbed him by the throat and, not to be left out, Groot burst into a ball of sharp thorns and panicked. There were only certain fights Clint felt he had the expertise of saving individuals from, and this one in particular did not fit into that category. So he slipped beneath Gamora's arm, spun around Drax, and disappeared into the forward cabin. Loki followed in behind him, and together, they sealed the door. The screams from the Guardians of the Galaxy were lessened, but not completely blotted out.
Clint exchanged a look with Loki. "That went well."
"Might I suggest we slip away and leave them to their own idiotic uselessness?" Loki suggested. He reached for the sphere, but Clint pulled it away. Loki pouted in disappointment of his withdraw. "Where do you imagine I plan to go with it?"
Clint though, did not concede. "I don't know what stone's in this thing, and the last thing I want is a mishap. If it's the Power Stone, the minute your eyes lock on it, then we might as well say goodbye to the rest of our natural lives."
Loki scoffed. "You do not believe I could gaze upon it without reverting to the primitive hunger that once consumed the usurper Ronin? You think very little of me indeed."
Clint still pulled away. "No, I just have a keen memory of what you managed to do with the Mind Stone and the Tesseract."
"Eons of our past matter not, when compared to my current new leaf."
"It was twelve years ago. For you, it might as well have been yesterday," Clint replied. The firmness in his voice ended the matter. "I need to send the specs on this thing to Tony so we can start figuring an actual path out for ourselves. Do me a favor, go into that little war room next door and drag Rocket in here. He can – " Clint paused. "Never mind, advanced race. I forgot. You look around in this heap, and figure out how I can transmit this rock's signal to the Gateway. And turn your back for a second so I can look at what's inside."
Loki folded his arms. They'd had numerous discussions on Clint's continued need to give him orders. So far, they all resulted in the Frost Giant's resistance. This was no different. An ample staring contest later, Loki conceded at last, and turned toward the consoles. The fight next door had escalated a hundred fold. Something, most likely thrown from Groot, pierced accidentally into the forward blast doors, and nearly impaled Barton. He took a few healthy steps back.
Clint kept himself back-to-back with Loki while the little sphere in his hands slowly deconstructed. A deep purplish blue hue, pitted in black spheres, swirled around like a miniature planet in his hand. At least this was a physical stone, unlike the Aether and the Tesseract. Getting a good look at it, Clint resealed the sphere for safekeeping, and turned his attention back to Loki.
"All right, which stone is it that looks purple, blue and necrotic?" he asked.
Loki jumped, pressing his back against the wall of controllers, and forcibly shoved Clint away from him with the toe of his boot. His arms extended, commanding Clint to keep his distance or regret it. "Not that! You keep that cursed thing locked and sealed. And should you attempt to get it near me, I may just fancy slicing your throat for real this time!"
Today was a day of unending surprises. Clint held up the sphere like one might display a basketball. "Oh, this?"
Loki shot back another few inches until, nearly completely braced on a line of controllers with his back against a support strut, he was trapped from going any farther. "I warn you, Barton, do not test me!"
"Tell me what stone it is. Tony's going to need to know anyway."
"Only if you swear that thing does not exist within any radius of my person." Loki demanded.
Clint had to chuckle at his reaction. He sank into Drax's traditional seat, and hiked his feet onto the console. He conceded to Loki's request, and waited for the explanation. It took a little bit of time for the Frost Giant to extract himself from the cubby hole, like a cat climbing down from a refrigerator. When he settled, smoothed his hair and his shirt, he clarified his dramatic reaction.
The Infinity Gem was the Time Stone. Clint had never seen it outside of the Gauntlet itself. In capable hands, it had the ability to grant an ageless existence, to alter the very timeline of the universe, and to transport a man anywhere in the present, past, or future. It was, however, one of the most unstable of all the stones. Loki feared it the most. Whereas he might survive taking hold of the Power Stone that once tore the Kree dictator, Ronin, to pieces, there was nothing Loki could do to control his own aging. One improper word or action toward that stone might propel the Frost Giant thousands of years toward his own death, until there remained nothing but ice and bones. Clint marveled at the little sphere.
Star-Lord had been hiding this all along, but to what end?
"You better get Tony on the line and tell him what we found. I don't want to give this thing up to anyone on that War Council. If it can do what you say, then playing with this too much might destroy that careful timeline we've tried to establish."
Loki gingerly sidestepped him to finish his work. Barton sat, contemplating the weight of the stone in his hands. He thought about time, and how it ticked inevitably against them. Maybe with this stone, there was a way to get it working for them.
*drop the mic*
Next time: Loki's nightmares, and an attack!
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