Chapter 18
"W...Where am I?", Valkyrie gulped, realizing that she was no longer in Wakanda.
She looked down and realized that she was no longer in her more casual black clothing, but rather her white and gold armor. She touched her face and noticed her warpaint has now gone. Her hair was now let down instead of in a tight bun like usual.
"What in Helheim?", she scoped the area, wondering what was going on.
Instead of T'Challa's palace, she saw a dusty, horrid-looking terrain around her. A dark sky hung above the king and as the chill of the wind flowed over her skin.
"No...No, I-," she began to stammer, horrified by the scenery.
A blast knocked her off of her feet, sending her flying away. The smell of smoke stung her eyes as she struggled to crawl away, the sound of bombs crashing into the ground piercing her ears.
"Oh, gods. Oh gods," Brunnhilde whimpered as she lifted her eyes to the sky.
Enormous hordes of women clad in gleaming in armor soared through the air, riding on white horses with angelic wings. They carried sharpened swords and long spears as they charged into battle, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Valkyries. Other living valkyries.
Brunnhilde stammered, "H...How-?"
Other warriors flew beside the army of Asgard, alien men and women on flying vessels rushing into battle.
As she rose up from the ground, she saw that the army was flying towards a massive black cloud. As much as she squinted, Brunnhilde couldn't make out what they were charging towards.
However, once the valkyries drew closer to the colossal mass of smoke, something enormous began to emerge from it.
A Kree Accuser ship, just as large as the one that attacked her team in Kamar-Taj, slowly arrived, looming over the battlefield. Smaller ships appeared from it, firing at the godly warriors with rage.
"No...No, that's not-," the king began to panic as missiles from the spacecraft began firing towards her comrades.
The pegasi ducked underneath each bomb sent towards them and the warriors were able to jam their spears right into the enemy ships' engines, but there was still a wave of Kree coming for them.
Brunnhilde wanted to dash over to join the battle. To draw her sword and fight alongside her sisters. But she felt like she couldn't move. It was as though she were a statue, forced to stand still and watch.
None of this made sense to the Asgardian. She couldn't be here. This was impossible. Because this battle…
This battle ended centuries ago.
…
"A war? Against the Kree?", Carol asked the mutant, a concerned look on her face.
Wanda was holding the Asgardian in a trance, with Brunnhilde standing frozen as red mist swirled around her head.
"That's what I'm seeing," Wanda nodded, "Her people on some planet fighting one of those ships that tried to wipe us out."
"How the hell did I not know about this?", Carol asked. Two of the largest empires in the universe going head to head and no records of it? Nobody to tell the tale?
Wanda's eyes slowly began to grow brighter, "It's been so long since I've done this...Forgotten how it felt."
Carol eyed the scenario carefully and, while she was relieved to finally be getting some answers, something about this felt...wrong. The way Brunnhilde mumbled in a whimpering tone, how her body shivered in fear…
Something about it reminded her of how the Supreme Intelligence probed her mind. Did whatever it took to force the captain into servitude.
"You're sure this isn't hurting her?", Carol asked.
"I have it under control. Don't worry," Wanda nodded.
However, Brunn's words painted a different story, "Please...please, no…"
…
Wakanda's king and future queen stood to watch their soldiers practice, the sound of clanging spears and vibranium weapons powering up filling their ears. While Nakia's eyes were on her brothers and sisters in arms, T'Challa's pupils kept turning to his fiance.
Nakia noticed this and turned to her lover, "What?"
"What? Can I not enjoy the view?", T'Challa laughed.
"Oh, so I'm the view now?," she laughed, "Calm yourself, your majesty. It has only been a couple of days."
"It feels as though it has been far longer," T'Challa breathed.
"Yes, well, next time you return home, please try not to bring an alien invasion along with you, alright," Nakia joked. She laughed a little, but slowly noticed how his face turned to the ground, his smile fading.
"I cannot believe that our people must deal with this again," he sighed, "Invaders from other worlds who believe our fate is in their hands. Now, not only do I have our own people to worry about, but an entire planet."
Nakia placed a hand on her love's shoulder, "I know I convinced you to join this team and I still believe being an Avenger is the right choice of action. But if it truly is too much for you-"
T'Challa placed his own hand on hers, "It is...much to deal with, but I cannot quit now. Too much is at stake."
Both of their gazes returned to the fighters before them, thinking of where their lives are going and whether or not they'll make it out alive.
…
"Okay," Shuri smiled, a look of excitement on her face, "Ready?"
Peter was shaking, nervousness and giddiness mixing in his heart, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do this. Wait, are you sure your brother's cool with this?"
"If I say 'yes', will you pull the trigger?", Shuri asked.
"Uhhh…"
"Come on, Parker! Surely you've done something without asking permission first!"
"Last time I did that, I almost blew up a boat."
"Well, now, you are blowing up a mannequin," Shuri pointed out, "Look, if you don't want to, I'll do it."
"Yeah, why am I testing this out? Wouldn't you want the pleasure?", Peter questioned.
"Of course not! I want you to try it out!," she denied.
"Why not?"
"Because then T'Challa will blame me!", she flashed a smile.
The boy gulped before giving a side-nod, "Smart move...Alrighty. Let's do this."
In Peter's hands was a massive rifle. While at first, it appeared like another one of the Kree's arsenal, once Peter's fingers started touching the gun's sides, it lit up in purple colors, the texture rippling like the vibranium holograms.
In front of him was a mannequin with green sloppily painted on its chest and limbs and blue painted on its head to resemble a Kree soldier.
"Was there a point in painting it?", Peter asked.
"Might as well be authentic," Shuri shrugged as she began setting up the gadget on her wrist to become a recording device.
"Wait, is-is that a camera? Um, why-why do we that?"
"...Research purposes."
Peter nodded, not suspecting anything, "Cool. Y'know, I know a thing or two about cameras too. Maybe when this is done, I could maybe get one of those?"
"Of course!," she agreed before quickly muttering to herself, "If you survive this."
"Wait, what?," the boy asked right as he pulled the trigger.
The blast not only sent a burning bright purple beam of light to fly straight at the figure, but it also flung Peter back into the wall. Even his sticking abilities were no match for the power of this weapon.
He crashed into the side of the wall as the force from the gun also pushed the princess off her feet.
The two slowly rose back up, both of them clearly shaken up from the event, as they saw a smoldering pile of metal that was once the mannequin.
They both looked down at the gun in shocked silence and then at each other. After a second of shocked silence, they burst out laughing in amazement.
"HOLY SHIT!," they both cried out as their bellies ached with joy.
"OH MY GOD!," Peter couldn't contain itself, "WE COULD HAVE DIED!"
"SWEET BAST, WE ARE SO BUILDING MORE OF THESE!", Shuri pointed at the weapon.
As their laughter started to subside, Peter wiped tears from his eyes, "Holy hell...That...That was honestly...the hardest I've laughed...In a long, long time."
Snickers still came from Shuri's mouth, "If we're being honest...that wasn't the biggest explosion I've had in this lab!"
"I've...I've really missed doing crazy stuff like this."
"Yes, well, 'crazy stuff like this' is what we do best here," Shuri slowly got back up before offering a hand to her new friend.
As they rose back to their feet, they heard someone clapping from behind them.
"Hoooly SHIT, man! OH MY GOD! THAT WAS CRAZY! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU PUT IN THAT GUN, MAN?! You straight up blew that thing to hell!"
"Ned?," Peter's grin widened as he recognized that voice, "NED?!"
The Spider-Man quickly ran over and pulled his friend into a tight hug, "Holy-! Dude, oh my God! You're here! Wait, are you here? Did that gun mess with my head? Is this heaven?"
"It's really me, dude!," Ned grinned.
"Holy cow, wh-What are you doing here, man?!", Peter asked, still a little confused.
"When Mr. Osborn calls, Ned Leeds is always there to answer!", Ned spread his arms out, "Check it out, man! New suit! Fresh haircut!"
"Is that the new Os-Pad?"
"Hell yeah, man, comes with the job!"
"Holy shit, that is awesome!"
The two started giving each other their secret handshake, the camaraderie between them sparking like wildfire.
"Wow, is this what people call second-hand embarrassment?", Shuri spoke up.
"Oh, Shuri, this is the guy I was talking about! Ned, meet Princess Shuri! She's been helping me out with this whole thing!," Peter brought his friend over to greet the Wakandan.
"It is an honor to meet Spider-Man's guy in the chair," Shuri gave a small bow to the boy.
"Ohmigosh, she called me the guy in the chair," Ned quickly stammered.
"She did, yeah," Peter grinned.
"This is the greatest day of my life right now."
"Yes, and who do you have to thank for that?"
The three looked over to see the owner of that voice, Norman Osborn, who watched the teens with a smile. Standing beside him was a small group of men in body armor, their chests proudly displaying the Oscorp logo.
"You guys needed an army, I got y'all an army. Think of it as an early Christmas present," Osborn grinned.
"So, these guys are gonna help us?", Peter asked.
"Oh, Peter, these guys are total badasses! A bunch of ex-cops, soldiers, even ex-S.H.I.E.L.D! Name a big super fight and they were in it! Midland Circle, Triskelion, Battle of New York!", Ned began to brag.
Osborn slowly walked over and picked up the rifle from Peter's hands, "Cool gizmo you guys cooked up. You mind if I see a few of the design plans for this, 'cuz, man, I could totally see this making bank."
"In your dreams, colonizer," Shuri slowly took the weapon from his hands.
"I'm sorry, what'd you call me?," Osborn did a double-take.
"Wakanda made a promise to help the world."
"Yeah, this is helping it," Osborn quickly stated.
"Yeah, this is helping it," Ned repeated the phrase, folding his arms.
"Neddy."
"Yes, sir," the teen took a step back, obeying his boss.
"Yes, because the world needs more weapons," Shuri rolled her eyes, "Look, we are only giving you this for the battle ahead of us. Afterwards, we will make sure all of this is returned and destroyed."
"Destroyed?", Osborn's eyes widened with disbelief.
"What need does Wakanda have for guns?," Shuri shrugged.
"Come now, why waste all this time on something you're only going to use once," Osborn pointed out, "I mean, now that Wakanda's out in the open, I'm sure it's better to keep a hold on this masterpiece in case-"
"I am sorry, who is the one running this lab? Who allows your men to walk around here?", Shuri pointed out.
"Come on, Ms. Shuri, Mr. Osborn's right! This stuff could save a lot of people in the right hands," Ned tried to convince the princess.
"Really? You wouldn't mind explaining now, could you?", Shuri raised an eyebrow.
"Well, uh...I mean, guns usually…," the boy began to stutter, "Um, I mean, well...You ever play Halo, because this is a very 'Halo' situation."
Osborn facepalmed, a movement that caused Ned to shift uneasily. The boy turned to his friend and hoped for some back-up.
Peter looked between the two sides of this debate, wondering who he should help. Both sides had a fair point and a simple yes/no answer wouldn't suffice.
"Here's an idea," Peter butted in between Ned and Shuri, "How about, once all of this is over, we get King T'Challa and a few other people together, find a nice quiet place, and have a chat about it! Easier to think when there's less at stake, am I right?"
Shuri eyed her new friend and slowly nodded, "Alright. After the battle."
As she walked off, Osborn turned to Parker with a curious, almost approving glance, "Nice tactic, Peter. Genius scientist, superhero, and a negotiator? List like that, you've got a nice life ahead of you."
Peter chuckled a little, somewhat embarrassed, as Osborn and his men walked off.
Ned bowed his head, "Well, there goes Mr. Osborn's respect for me."
"Come on, man, you did great over there. Besides, if one slip-up leads to total failure, then what does that make me?", Peter chuckled as the two began to walk back to the other side of the lab, "Oh, forgot to ask, how's the eye?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, this," Ned put a hand to his still bruised eye, "Yeah, still feels like I got hit by a train."
...
The ex-soldier and the ex-assassin walked across the training room, watching the warriors prepare for battle.
"You know, I gotta ask," Bucky pondered, "Why aliens? Never demons or gods or...killer unicorns, always aliens."
"Unicorns?", Sam chuckled.
"Weird world we're living in," Barnes shrugged, "Who knows? Next thing we know, Atlantis will turn out to be a real thing."
"That will be the day," Sam smiled, "Been a while since I've seen you."
"Life on the farm's been nice. Been traveling the world when I can. Seeing places.
"Hard to do when everyone and their mother's got a hit on you," Sam pointed out, "How's the old think-tank been?"
"If you're asking if I've gone nuts lately, don't worry," Barnes assured his ally, "The princess really did fix me."
The way Bucky phrased that didn't sound so sure of himself as he averted his eyes from Wilson.
"But enough about my sob story. How's the shield been?", Bucky asked.
"Okay, does this damn thing have an instruction manual?", Sam lifted the weapon up, "I've been throwing this thing like five-hundred times a day and it never bounces back."
"I mean, it doesn't have to be a shield," Bucky stated.
"Yeah, I don't think a star-spangled pistol would help my image," Sam joked, "What little there is."
"Noticed you're finally wearing the suit," Bucky smiled, "It suits you."
"Yeah, well, I think you're the only one who feels that way," Sam sighed, "I gotta ask, when Steve got his powers, how'd he get people to follow him?"
"Honestly...I still don't know," Bucky admitted, "With Steve, there was just something about him. That eagerness. That determination to do right. How he stuck by his men...Even when it looked like they were too far gone."
The Falcon eyed his ally warily, remembering the fights they had back when Barnes was still HYDRA's puppet. The days of the Winter Soldier might be long gone, but those days...they still loomed over Bucky.
Sam sighed, "The offer to leave the fight still stands."
"Yeah, well, it better sit down because James Buchanan Barnes doesn't run when the going gets tough."
"Okay. Wolf's got fangs," Sam's brows raised, humored, "Well, let's get to it, White Wolf."
"Right behind you, Captain America."
…
Brunnhilde looked around the planet's surface, trying to find a way out of this hell, but it appeared as though there was no end in sight to this torture.
As she stood there, her comrades dropped to the ground like flies. White stallions and battleships crashed next to her, their riders plopping to the ground and lying deathly still.
"Odin help us," Valkyrie whispered, re-witnessing this event making her want to stab her eyes out.
Suddenly, a massive tremor caused the ground beneath her to quake. She looked back up to see the troops of Asgard begin to overpower the gigantic craft. To most people, it would seem as though this was a victory for the valkyries.
But to Brunnhilde, "No...No, stop! STOP! GO! GET OUT OF HERE! GO!"
…
"GO! PLEASE! Please...Just go!," the Asgardian whimpered, tears slowly beginning to roll down her cheek.
As Carol watched Brunnhilde panic, she slowly realized she made a horrible mistake.
"Alright, that's enough," she said to Wanda.
However, the mutant looked like she was in her own little world, unable to hear her ally's request.
"Wanda, I said let her out!," Carol repeated, a little louder this time.
Once again, Maximoff heard nothing.
"Wanda!," Carol yelled as she dashed to pull Maximoff away from Brunnhilde.
The intergalactic soldier grabbed the mutant's arms with her own golden glowing hands and tried to pull her away.
All of a sudden, the second she put her own fingers on Wanda's, it felt as though the room started to spin and shift, her mind leaving her body. Carol tried to hold on to reality, but it felt like everything was coming undone.
…
"What the hell?", Carol asked as she found herself next to Valkyrie on some desolate planet.
Brunnhilde turned to face Danvers, her look of fear turning to one of shock and confusion, "You."
"Oh shit," Carol breathed as she realized where she was, "Valkyrie, you have to stay calm. This is all in your mind. You just have to-"
Before she could finish, Brunnhilde lunged at her, her sword pointed at Carol's face.
Carol's eyes widened as she did everything she could to dodge the valkyrie's slashes. Normally, a sword wouldn't do much against her, but she's seen the power of Dragonfang. That thing could've cut her into ribbons.
"Brunnhilde, wait! You need to focus!," Carol shouted as she floated into the air, powering up.
"YOU!," Brunnhilde yelled once more.
Carol hoped for her teammate to see her as an ally, not an enemy.
However, in Brunn's eyes, Carol was another Kree soldier with blood on their hands. And that wasn't a metaphor.
From Brunnhilde's perspective, floating above her was a muscular Kree soldier, shouting extremist chants at her.
"FOR THE KREE EMPIRE! FOR THE INTELLIGENCE!," the vision yelled at Brunnhilde.
"YOU TOOK THEM FROM ME!," Valkyrie screamed.
"VALKYRIE!," Carol shouted right before reality began to change once more.
The world shifted between a dark, dusty planet of war to a blank land of nothingness. A world that Carol recognized.
"No. No no no, not this," Carol began to panic herself.
She turned to Valkyrie but instead of a snarky Asgardian king, there was a white-haired being in green armor.
"No," the ex-pilot's eyes widened.
The universe glitched like a faulty television screen, almost as though reality was being torn to shreds.
"Come back to us, Vers," the being beckoned, its back still turned to Carol, "Come back and serve your homeworld."
"NO!," Carol screamed.
She charged at the thing speaking to her, golden flames in her fists as she grabbed the thing by the throat.
The ground beneath them shifted back and forth, the sky going from blank nothingness to being filled with the corpses of fallen soldiers.
As the glitching became to strong and the world began making less and less sense by the minute, a massive ball of fire erupted in the sky.
The two women turned to see the Accuser ship begin to detonate, the entire construct ripping apart in flames.
"No...please," Valkyrie whimpered once more, as the fires began to reach them, right before…
…
Valkyrie and Carol fell to the ground, the floors of T'Challa's palace underneath them.
"Bloody hell," Brunn mumbled as she slowly tried to get back up.
"God," Carol muttered, her senses starting to come back to her.
They slowly looked up to see Strange staring down at him. His hands were covered in a glowing mist, one of them holding onto Wanda.
The Scarlet Witch looked extraordinarily tired, her pupils shifting from a bright red to a more human color. She went from a dull trance to a look of horror at what she did.
"What the hell is going on?", Stephen growled.
…
As Scott and Hope tinkered with their device, the thing began to light up, a beeping noise emitting from it.
"Hey, you got it working?", Rhodes looked over.
"We still haven't completed the programming to shut the gliders down," Hope noted, confused.
"Let me take a look," Scott looked the thing over, "And you guys said this was a bad...idea."
He faltered on the last word as both he and Hope shared a concerned look.
"What's up?", Rhodes asked.
"We have to go," Hope gulped, beginning to adjust her wrist-blasters, "Get the weapons ready. Call up Strange and everybody else. We need portals here ASAP."
Scott began throwing shrinking discs at a few of the artillery, putting the weapons in his pocket, "Oh man, oh man, oh man."
"What's going on?", War Machine asked, growing more and more concerned.
"Get everyone together," Hope looked Rhodey dead in the eyes, "The Kree are on their way."
…
"I should gut you like a trout!", Valkyrie shouted, the only thing stopping her from launching at Carol and Wanda being a glowing whip wrapping around her arm.
On the other side of the whip was Strange, "Calm down!"
"Oh, shut it, wizard!," Brunnhilde snarled at Stephen before looking at Wanda, "You little witch. Did you enjoy taking a peek?"
Wanda stared at the Asgardian, her eyes widened with fear and shame, "I...I'm so sorry, I thought...I thought I was helping-!"
"WHAT THE HELL MADE YOU THINK THAT WOULD HELP ME?!," Valkyrie tugged against the rope on her wrist.
"Look, you want someone to blame, blame me!", Carol stepped in front of Maximoff, "It was my decision."
"What made you think that any of this was a good idea?", Strange squinted his eyes at her.
Carol sighed, "I thought that she was hiding something about the Kree. Something that could've helped us against them. I thought-"
"Did you get anything useful?", Strange asked.
Danvers faltered before slowly shaking her head.
Strange walked closer to the ex-pilot, staring her down, "We will talk about this later."
He grabbed Wanda's shoulder and began to slowly pull her away, walking her into a different room. Now, only Carol and Brunnhilde were in the halls, facing each other.
Brunnhilde glared at the blonde, "You had...no right to take me back to that day."
"What happened?", Carol asked.
"What? Did your red friend not provide you with the answers you so desperately wanted?"
"Can you blame me? You know about shit the Kree kept hidden from the rest of the universe! You hold some grudge against me like I did something to you! I knew nothing about any of this!"
Brunn started to reign back her rage, but she looked ready to blow, "I watched my sisters fall to those blue-blooded bastards. Innocents wiped off the face of the map, their legacies erased from the minds of others. Yet you still wear that symbol with pride. The emblem of imperialists and murderers."
Carol scoffed, pointing at her suit, "This symbol, I wear it as a reminder. To remember what those monsters made me do. I wear these colors so I can never forget that, for all this power, I'm still human. I wear this because if there is a way I can make this a symbol for good, make all of this right, atone for what I did, then I will damn well do whatever it takes."
The two stood facing one another, the tension growing more and more.
Brunnhilde silently but swiftly whipped out Dragonfang, staring Carol dead in the eyes.
Carol sighed, straightening her back and lighting up her fists.
However, before either could do anything, something crashed into the window behind them.
And the last thing the two heard before the entire hall erupted in flames was a high-pitched laugh.