Chapter 20
"What a cute, little bug you are," the Goblin mused, edging closer and closer to the two teenagers, "Funny how a tiny insect such as yourself can take out so many of my troops."
Peter and Shuri turned to one another, wondering how they should react.
"So you're the boss of the Green Goblins", Peter breathed.
"'Green Goblins?'", the creature snickered, "Wow, such creativity there! Not a bad name, though! Nice ring to it!"
"What are you?", Shuri asked, gauntlets raised at the villain.
The thing snickered, "Me? Fair question. I'm just a humble servant of something far greater than me. Someone willing to do whatever it takes to succeed and not at all afraid to get their hands dirty doing so!"
"Oh gosh, he's one of those cryptic villains," Peter sighed.
"And you're one of those jokester heroes," the thing laughed, "It's cute, frankly. The plucky sidekick of the great Tony Stark trying to achieve the same glory as his mentor. I can almost respect it, honestly."
"I'm no one's sidekick," Peter rebutted.
"But the rest is true though, right? That desire for recognition. Your need to jump into battle."
"If I wanted the fame, I wouldn't wear the mask," Peter pointed out.
"Oh, we all wear masks, little boy," the creature smirked, "The real question is… 'What's underneath yours?'"
"Why did you kill your own soldier?", Shuri asked.
"Well, you know the saying," it shrugged, "'Loose lips sink ships.'"
"So, what, are you from Earth or do you just like reciting World War II slogans?", Peter asked.
"So many questions," the Goblin chuckled, "Honestly, this is nice. Us finally having a little heart-to-heart. Unfortunately, you've got your job…"
The creature lit up another bomb, the orange glow covering its face, "I've got mine."
A burst of hideous laughter echoed throughout the caverns as all of the soldiers the two defeated slowly hovered up on their gliders and surrounded them on all ends, flaming bombs in each of their hands.
...
"An hour?! An hour?!", Sam yelled, exasperated, "If they're gonna give us time, maybe, I don't know, three hours or something!"
"Why even give us time in the first place?", T'Challa asked Carol.
"The Kree are total assholes, but they're honor-bound. They believe in giving their enemies a little time before the slaughter begins", the blonde explained.
"How courteous," a certain Asgardian descended from the air, followed by a mutant clad in red.
"We really only have an hour?", Wanda asked.
"More like fifty minutes but who's counting?," Bucky looked over to her.
"So, what's the deal? We give them their vibranium and they leave, right?", the mutant asked Sam.
"It's not that simple," Sam shook his head.
"If the Kree get the vibranium, they can cause untold levels of damage to the rest of the galaxy", Carol pointed out.
Bucky asked, "And we can't shoot them out of the sky because...?"
"It's set to explode if we take it down", Sam explained.
"Of course it is," the ex-assassin sighed, "So what exactly do we do?"
"What we should've done the second they arrived. Take 'em down fast and hard," Carol explained, her body posture showing she was itching for a fight.
"Slow your roll, Lite-Brite," Sam ordered.
"What? Just because they're going to keep their end of the deal doesn't mean we should let them go," Carol told the others, "They will destroy everybody else if that metal gets in their hands."
"We barely survived their last attack," Wanda pointed out, "Maybe if we do this, they'll leave this place alone."
"I'd rather not have the blood of the rest of the galaxy on my hands," Bucky muttered.
Sam raised his hands up, trying to calm his allies down, "Guys, hang on-"
"I say we attack head-on," Carol stated, "No point in talking about it. This is going to end in a fight no matter what we decide."
"We need to give them the vibranium", Valkyrie suddenly spoke up.
The others looked at her, amazed by her response. Here was the one who throughout this venture has adamantly stated her hatred for the Kree saying that she wanted to take up their deal.
"I'm sorry, what?", Carol did a double-take.
"If we don't give them the vibranium, they will kill everyone here," Valkyrie explained, her voice taking on a more serious tone.
"They will kill everyone period if they get that stuff!", Carol exclaimed, "Aren't you the one who wanted to coat your little blade with their blood?"
"Do I want them dead? Of course. More than anything. But do I want everyone here to die because of some rock? Believe me, sometimes we need to give into someone else's demand if we are to survive."
Brunnhilde's gaze turned to the grass, as though dark memories were seeping into her mind. While Carol slowly pieced together what the Asgardian was thinking about and could somewhat sympathize, she couldn't let the universe she spent the last few decades protecting fall under Kree rule.
"King Brunnhilde, I understand your concern, but Captain Danvers is correct," Nakia spoke, "I would rather lay my own life on the line rather than the lives of countless innocents."
"... What if the king is right?," T'Challa suddenly stated, as though it hurt saying those words.
"T'Challa?", Nakia looked to the king, astonished.
The king took a breath, contemplating what he just stated, "... I cannot allow my people to be put in more danger."
"So you'd rather condemn the rest of the universe to the Kree's wrath?", Carol laughed out of surprise.
Nakia viewed her fiance with disappointment, "T'Challa...After everything we have discussed, you believe this is the right decision?"
T'Challa could only stand there in silence as guilt and shame covering his face. He couldn't even look into his wife's eyes, "Nakia...I cannot let Wakanda be destroyed again."
"We have made it our mission to provide aid to the world," Nakia stared her husband in the face, "Yet this is how you wish to proceed?"
Sam was starting to grow fearful, "Okay, everyone. This isn't getting us anywhere."
"We didn't give up the Mind Stone when Thanos arrived," Bucky interjected.
"That was different. Thanos threatened the entire universe," Wanda pointed out.
"And so are these guys! Sam, we can't just give in. What's the plan?", Bucky turned to the Falcon, hoping that the ex-soldier had some idea of what to do.
Sam shook his head, "Guys, just let me think for a minute! Okay, so it's either let them take the vibranium and possibly destroy the rest of the galaxy or tell them to shove it and have them tear us a new one."
"Sam, we can't give them the vibranium", Bucky stated, "That's basically handing a nuke to the enemy."
"The enemy's already got their 'nukes'. We give them the metal, they don't launch them at us", Wanda disagreed.
Sam shook his head, his mind spinning out of panic, "Maybe if we hand it over to them now, we can catch up to them and attack when their guard's down!"
"That's too risky. They could end up lightyears away by the time we mobilize," Nakia argued.
"I don't see how this is a debate!", Valkyrie raised her arms up, "Bird-Man, your call?"
"Look, we still have, like, fifty-five minutes to come up with a decision," Sam addressed the group, "Let's just think this through calmly before we agree on what to do!"
Carol groaned before she began to charge closer to the massive ship, her fists lighting up, "Screw this. We've only got one shot here and I can't miss it!"
"Hey!", Valkyrie shouted, grabbing the woman's wrist.
"I'm not one of your Asgardians, 'your majesty'," Carol growled, pulling her arm away, "We can't stand here and let the rest of the universe be destroyed!"
"Of course. Rushing off recklessly, even when our lives are on the line," Brunnhilde scoffed.
"I'm not going to be judged by a hypocrite who talks about fighting her enemies when she would rather cower and hide," Carol growled.
"Danvers, slow your roll right now," Sam ordered, stepped forwards.
"You think you can just put us all in danger?", Valkyrie glared.
"Lady, our lives are always in danger. The only difference is that I'm not running," Carol scowled.
"Danvers, that's enough!", Sam shouted, marching forwards.
"Then why don't you hurry up and make a decision?", Carol replied, "You wanna call the shots? Fine. But are you gonna take a side or just lean in the middle?"
Sam could only stand there, unable to think of anything to say. He couldn't allow Wakanda or anyone here to be hurt, but if they let the Kree off with the vibranium, everyone else was doomed.
The ex-soldier's silence caused Carol to sigh, her face showing a sense of disappointment and frustration, "I'm sorry...But I can't let anyone I care about die."
She quickly charged up her fist, preparing to throw a mighty blast of energy straight at the ship.
"NO!", Brunnhilde yelled as she launched herself onto the captain, bringing Carol down to the floor.
However, that didn't stop the cosmic beam from being shot right from Carol's hand.
The blast sped through the air, its course changed by the Asgardian's sudden intervention. It flew through the sky and scorched one of the wings of the vessel. It didn't cause considerable damage but just enough to spread a deathly silence over the human army.
Carol and Brunnhilde slowly rose off of the ground, both looking up in complete silence. T'Challa stepped right in front of Nakia, placing a protective arm in front of Nakia. Wanda and Bucky scoped the sky, wondering how this enemy would react.
Sam stood there, slowly reaching for his pistol, "Guys…"
Out of nowhere, the sound of an entrance opening up was heard. They all paled as they saw a horde of smaller Kree ships exiting the ginormous Accuser ship, all of them soaring downwards towards them.
A beam of light shone from the back of the ship, further away from the Wakandan army and deep within the city. Everyone stood still, waiting to see what was coming for them. The sound of marching was heard as everyone's guard was up.
Out of the city charged an enormous army of Kree soldiers, all of whom were armed to the teeth and looked as though they were prepared to murder the heroes. The army may not have been as large as Thanos's troops, but it was still pretty damn large.
The worst part, however, was the enormous cannons aiming right at the city, preparing to wipe out everything and everyone.
"Oh no", Sam spoke with fear.
A missile was shot right out of the spacecraft, barreling towards the skyscrapers of Wakanda.
Carol blasted off into the air and began aiming for the side of the missile, crashing right into it and putting all of her energy into pushing it off course.
"Wanda", Sam turned to his old friend, a silent order being passed between the two.
The Scarlet Witch nodded as she lifted herself off of the ground, red light glowing from her hands. She began using her powers and wrapping the smaller ships with crimson mist, crushing them telekinetically and flinging red blasts at them.
"T'Challa," Sam gulped, "Make the call."
The king's uniform covered his face as he unsheathed his claws. Nakia lit up her ring blades, getting into a stance to prepare to charge forwards. Their troops readied their weapons, the jets preparing to take off into the sky.
"Do not let the fight enter the city. We strike. Now," T'Challa glared at the oncoming Kree troops, "WAKANDA FOREVER!"
Upon that yell, all of the heroes rushed into battle. Sam took to the skies, his pistols in his hands. Valkyrie unsheathed two blades and darted forwards. Bucky readied his machine gun and charged into battle. The soldiers darted across the field, spears and shields in their hands and the burning desire to protect their homeland in their hearts.
The two armies collided with one another, spears clashing with alien armor, lasers crashing into vibranium shields. T'Challa leaped into the air, claws out. He landed the soldier at the front and began slicing away, his hands swiping at any enemy in his way.
Brunnhilde slashed at the soldiers with her blades, aiming at whatever vital organ was available for her. She yelled with rage as she attacked her enemies, even jabbing both of her weapons straight into the chest of an alien she leaped upon.
Sam fired his pistols at the soldiers flying down in their airships, hoping his weaponry could pierce the windshields of the craft. He lifted his body up so he was gliding on his back, his feet crashing right into one of their jet engines and causing them to fly off course, crashing into one of their allies.
He dove under Wanda's red energy, hoping not to be one of the Scarlet Witch's next targets, "STRANGE?! PARKER?! YOU READ ME?! RHODES?! ANYONE?! I'LL EVEN TAKE LANG!"
…
"HOLD ON!", Peter yelled as he grabbed Shuri and leaped to the left, falling off of the railway.
He shot a strand at the side of the railway and while holding the princess, swung under the structure. Flaming explosives flew right down at them, laughter flooding their ears. The two were flung up in the air as Peter released his grip. Peter fired his webs down at the head Goblin and Shuri fired her gauntlets at any of the other freaks coming for them.
However, the Goblins swiftly flew out of the way with each attempt from the teens.
They landed back on the ground and continued firing their projectiles at the enemies but they continuously dodged them. One by one, the creatures dived down after them, claws stretched out and ready to slaughter. Peter was able to block some of the attacks, but they were clearly overpowered.
"Aim for the engines!", Shuri yelled as she tried to hit the gliders.
However, the Goblins were agile. It was almost as though they could sense what the two were planning.
Desperate to escape the chaos, Peter flicked his two wrists and pulled himself off of the ground, his body being pulled forward and his feet sticking to the side of the pillar.
"Shuri!", Peter shouted as he began firing webs down at Goblins surrounding her.
He was able to hit the ones surrounding the princess as her gauntlets destroyed their gliders while they were stuck to the ground.
The boy leaped forwards, shooting a strand at Shuri's back and another at one of the pillars. As Peter swung away from the attackers, Shuri's body faced them, firing down at any of the Goblins following them.
"Shootshootshootshoot!", Peter couldn't stop panicking.
"Keep swinging! I have this!", Shuri shouted at him, but the tone of her voice hinted that she was starting to freak out as well.
Suddenly, Spidey's Peter-Tingle went off. Before he could even react, the head Goblin appeared out of nowhere, a swift swipe at Peter's head putting the boy in a choke hold. The sudden stop caused Shuri to swing forwards.
"Good effort! I can see why everyone likes you!", the villain gleamed.
Peter tried reaching for the being's mask, hoping that maybe getting a look under the thing could be a little helpful.
Instead, a blast from Shuri knocked the two off of the glider and back onto the railway. The Goblin rose back onto his clawed feet to see the two scientists on both of his sides. Both of them had their arms stretched out, ready to take down the enemy.
"Stand down," Peter glared.
"Final warning," Shuri snarled.
The Goblin straightened his back, raising his fists up, "I can do this all day...but I won't though! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The thing cackled as his glider suddenly appeared, pulling him off of his feet and rising higher and higher into the air.
The crowd of green soldiers slowly drew closer and closer to the heroes, sinister smiles on each and every one.
"Why can't it ever be one on one?", Peter moaned to himself.
"Where's the fun in that?", Shuri joked, putting herself in a fighting stance.
"Can't say this was how I thought I'd die."
"Neither can I. Life is full of surprises, I suppose."
As the creatures slowly advanced forwards, something propelled through the air and crashed into the ground between the villains and the heroes. With a swift jab, a vibranium spear pierced straight through the Goblin nearest to the children. The weapon was pulled out of the Goblin's chest so quickly that the monster was thrown off of the platform.
Okoye straightened her back, her stern glare focused on the attacking fleet as she stood protectively over the teens.
"Some more welcome than others", Shuri smirked to Peter, who even under the mask was visibly relieved.
The emerald fleet turned around at the sound of marching feet to see the Dora Milaje charge towards them alongside Osborn's security team, the Iron Patriot floating from above.
"Not too late to join the party?", Osborn asked.
"Well, this is usually the part where we all assemble, so...", Peter looked around awkwardly before shit went cray-cray.
...
"Come on! Come on! Come on!", Carol groaned, trying to prevent this nation from ending up in flames.
The weapon crashed into the side of the building but Carol was able to pull it away far enough so the impact didn't lead to the bomb detonating right away. With all her strength, she pulled it upwards into the sky and gave it one last push before blasting away.
As the bomb detonated in the air, Carol evaded the blast radius. Once she was far enough, she gave a massive clap to blow away the flames so they didn't reach the city.
She sighed out of relief before the sound of another cannon firing was heard. The captain turned her head to see another missile come her way, this one directed right at her.
She propelled herself through the sky, firing her cosmic energy right at the explosive. As the weapon blew up, Carol flew straight through its flames, moving fast enough so that her speed would blow the fire created away from the city.
Two more bombshells fired towards her as the captain began growing tired for the first time in a while. She grabbed one of the projectiles and tossed it straight at the other, soaring straight through the ball of fire.
Her eyes raised up and she saw several more bombs being launched in her direction. She fired her photon blasts at a few of them and redirected one towards another, but this amount was too much for Carol. Sure, she could handle them one at a time of course, but this many in the span of only a few seconds right above a massive city?
"Okay. Showtime," Carol muttered under her breath.
…
The Wakandan citizens were rushing to their evacuation routes, reaching caverns that would take them below the city and away to safety. Soldiers stood at the edges of the pathways, guiding the people inside.
Queen-Mother Ramonda stood next to one of the soldiers, calling out to her people, "Hurry, everyone! To the escape routes!"
Rhodes, Scott, and Hope hovered above them all, trying to make sure everyone was evacuating.
"Okay, everything's going as planned," Rhodes noted, "Sam, the citizens are almost out. Status update?"
Over the voice receiver in Rhodey's helmet, he heard Sam's voice, "Rhodes, get your tin-canned ass over here! Your blonde friend in red and blue kind of broke the camel's back!"
"On our way, Cap!", Scott responded.
Sam's voice got mad, "Don't call me-!"
The voice suddenly glitched out at the end, causing Rhodes to worry.
"Shit. Let's move out", Rhodes nodded to the other two.
Before they could move, a small tremor shook the ground as the citizens turned their eyes upwards.
Rhodes scoped the area as something ended up on his radar, "Okay, what the hell now?"
He looked to his right and realized that something was incoming.
These things were tall and robotic, their purple and silver bodies soaring through the air towards the heroes. Flames from the bottom of their feet propelled them forwards as it looked like they locked Rhodey down as a target.
"You know, why do the bad guys always have an army?", Hope yelled out, "Don't we get an army?"
"I need you to get their attention," Rhodey told the two.
"Uh, I'm sorry, make us the targets?", Scott asked.
"Would you rather have them shooting at the innocent citizens or you?", War Machine bluntly asked.
Scott sighed, "Well, if they want a large target…"
He hopped off of the metal man's back and grabbed the back of one of his flying ant buddies. Once Scott got to a reasonable location, he grabbed the center of his belt and twisted it, the red on it changing to blue.
"Here comes Giant-Man," the ex-con chuckled before letting himself fall off of the ant and pushing the small button on his gloved-hand.
Instantly, Lang enlarged to the size of a building, his massive figure crashing down and his posture straightening to face off against the incoming robots.
"I'm not getting used to that," Rhodes muttered.
"Y'know, is it true he kicked your ass in Germany?", Hope asked.
"That really what you're thinking about now?", Rhodey groaned as he began flying towards the oncoming fleet.
"Not a 'no'," Hope snickered as she unfurled her wings and shrunk down, taking flight towards the drones.
The Wasp put herself into a diving position and snuck herself inside one of the robots, using her stingers to cause the thing to explode. She did the same to a few of the other automatons.
Scott whooped as he began grabbing at the robots and began crushing them in his hands, "Okay, guys! Avengers Assem-!"
"Don't even try," Rhodes groaned as he rained fire on the robots, "Get them as far away from here as possible!"
The three fought off the drones and began baiting them to follow their direction. Scott's giant body pushed through the city as Rhodes and Hope got the robots on their trail.
…
The battle slowly began to grow in favor of the Kree as more warriors began falling to the ground. T'Challa panicked as he leaped from soldier to soldier, trying to get a view of his fiance.
"Nakia?! Come in!", he yelled.
On the other side of the field, his wife was throwing her blades at the enemies, the weapons returning to her hands after each throw, "I'm fine! How do we plan on stopping this?"
"One body after another's the only idea coming to mind", Bucky commented as he fired his machine gun.
"Danvers, is there a way we can negotiate peace with these guys?", Sam tried to call out on his earpiece.
"Does it look like these people want to negotiate?!", Valkyrie yelled as she flipped around, Dragonfang skewering anything crossing its path.
"We need to get into that ship!", T'Challa cried out, "Speak with the men in charge!"
"Kind of a bit hard to do with them trying to shoot us down!", Bucky replied, his vibranium arm smashing right into an enemy's face.
Sam's breathing grew as he pulled out the shield and tried throwing it as hard as he could at one of the incoming ships.
Instead, the shield awkwardly hit the vessel and fell to the earth, the ex-soldier looking down with frustration.
"Motherfu-"
His curse was cut short by a laser blast nearly taking off his head.
…
Captain Marvel shot her body through the sky and fired at every projectile coming her way. There were too many heading towards the city and too many for her to stay focused.
Once it seemed like the barrage was pausing, Carol landed on the side of a building, her hands on her knees and her forehead, for the first time in years, starting to sweat.
"Alright. Now you're trying to tick me off," she exhaled.
Suddenly, something small hit the side of her neck. She screamed as she felt sharp volts being set into her body, causing her to drop to her knees, her palms on the floor. Carol remembered the feeling of the confounded disc on her neck and knew exactly who put it on her.
"Nice to know these things can still do the trick."
Carol turned her eyes to see Minn-Erva walking forwards, a smoking sniper gun in her arms.
"Gotta say, this is entertaining," the sniper smugly grinned, her scarred face enjoying what was before her, "You burn me. I burn you."
Even though she was in pain, Carol couldn't help but smirk, "New face, same cruddy personality, huh, Minn?"
"I don't know why Yon wants you alive so badly. Even the Intelligence thinks you're a lost cause."
"I like to think it's my charming personality."
"I think it's because he misses his little blonde girlfriend. He always talks about bringing you back to the side of good."
"Yes, because the side of good totally involves killing off innocent cultures", Carol sarcastically replied, despite the agony.
"Okay, that's enough Vers for today," Minn-Erva raised her gun and pointed right at the woman's temple.
"Oh thank god. Suck at chit-chat anyways," Carol joked.
"Fitting final words," Minn exhaled, clearly ready to murder this nuisance.
"Hold your fire!"
Minn-Erva groaned as her commander walked from behind her, "C'mon, Yon. You can't be-"
"That's an order," Yon sternly commanded before turning to Carol, "I must say, this all feels familiar. Standing above you as you lay powerless."
"Says the puppet", Carol groaned.
"Ah, that wit. I must say, I have missed these moments, Vers."
"Stop calling me that," Carol scowled at the commander, "I am Carol Danvers."
"Still clinging onto your precious 'humanity'?", Yon-Rogg chuckled, "I admire that conviction. But you must know you're deluding yourself. Look at what you have done. You have thrown bombs that could demolish continents with your bare hands. Survived the frozen hell of outer space. What in the name of the Supreme Intelligence makes you believe that you are human?"
"So, what?", Carol snickered, "That makes me one of you? Part of some psychopathic race who thinks that everything and everyone belongs to them? Who's willing to kill an entire country, hell, an entire world just to show that they're tough shit?"
For a moment, it looked like Carol's words actually reached Yon-Rogg. The man's expression darkened, as though he was ready to let Minn-Erva finish what she was about to start.
However, that glare was soon replaced by a devilish smirk as he kneeled down to be nearer to her, "Well...It is my blood going through your veins, is it not?"
Carol's expression tightened, that comment bringing back reminders she wished to forget.
"Yes. Now you remember," Yon grinned, "You see, Vers, you can fly as far away from Hala as you can. You can demolish our empire piece by piece. But you can't run from what's inside of you."
Out of nowhere, in just a second, the disc popped off of Danvers's neck and the ex-pilot blasted forwards in a massive surge of energy. She grabbed Yon by the neck as the two were propelled forwards, Minn-Erva being thrown right into the building by the speed Carol was going at.
Carol screamed loudly as she began landing blows onto Yon's face, "YOU THINK! YOU CAN THREATEN! MY HOME?!"
With one punch, she sent the man into the sky, watching his flailing body rise up into the air before plummeting down. Rather than him crashing downwards, Carol caught Yon-Rogg by the armor on his chest. In the blink of an eye, the blonde quickly descended and crashed feet-first on a railway.
Yon-Rogg coughed up blood, his face bruised from the beating, "Even...after all of these years...you're still nothing without your light show."
"And you're still nothing period", Carol glowered, "Call off the attack."
"It's your fault this is even happening!", Yon-Rogg laughed a little, "You reckless creature. I still have so much to teach you."
"Call. Off. The. Attack", Carol emphasized each word.
"I did the honorable thing. I gave you time to make up your mind."
"Does this look honorable to you? Striking planets you know aren't as advanced? Holding nations hostage using the same methods you mocked Ronan for? You talk a big game about honor but you fall deeper and deeper-"
Out of nowhere, Yon's expression flashed with pure rage, as though all of his pent up anger came out in one snap, "DO YOU THINK I WANT THIS?! DO YOU THINK WE WANT ANY OF-!"
The confused look on Carol's face signaled the commander to silence himself.
"What? What the hell are you talking about?", Carol asked.
Yon-Rogg tried to shrug it off, "Not important-"
"BULL! None of this has been making any sense so far! Why the hell is 'Mr. Follow-the-Kree-way' not fighting alongside his men?! Who the hell are those green freaks working for you?!", Carol's eyes flared up.
"They don't work for-!", Yon stopped himself once more, "You cannot stop us. Not this time, Vers."
Carol's rage rose too high for her to contain. For years, she's been told to keep her emotions in check. Now, she was about to let them all out on this egotistical son of a bitch.
Before she could wallop him once more, something loud rang through the air. She turned her gaze around to see a massive missile about to crash right into the city.
"No," Carol whispered.
In a hurry, she knocked the Kree out and launched herself towards the bomb, her focus now on the giant weapon hurdling towards Wakanda.
…
A Kree ship crashed down to the ground in flames, Maximoff floating downwards in front of it. She stared down, holding her hand to her head.
"Too much...Too much," she muttered to herself, her pupils darting everywhere.
Everything around her was destruction and disorder. Alien ships flying overhead. Large missiles crashing downwards. This was too much like last time. She was tensing up and hyperventilating, praying to be anywhere else.
I can't do this, Wanda thought to herself, I can't.
"Yes, you can, Wanda."
The mutant turned her eyes upwards to see a familiar face, one that she could use in a time like this.
"Hey, Maximoff. Look like you've seen better days."
Wanda gave a short chuckle, "Of course you decide to show up now."
"Alright, kid. Take a breath. Got a world to protect."
Wanda followed her ally's instruction. She closed her eyes and began to breathe in. The sound of more vessels coming towards her filled her ears. She slowly floated upwards, her eyes glowing red under her eyelids.
The second she opened her eyes again, a massive explosion of glowing red energy shooting from her palms and destroying every Kree ship in her way. It was as though a scarlet fire tore through the air, wiping out any ships coming for her.
"On your right. Three o'clock."
Wanda turned mid-air and sent red tendrils to grab another few vessels and force them down to the ground, the resulting explosions ringing in her eardrums.
"Eyes on the back of your head, kid."
The mutant swiveled around, stopping a horde of beams from hitting her from behind by forming a field of energy around herself. She flashed a devilish smile at the attacking ship before stretching her fingers out and allowing the ship to be crushed telekinetically.
What made the scene chilling was how slowly she destroyed the craft. How she seemed to take glee in pushing its wings into its body, hearing the sound of metal rip apart.
With one wave, she let the ship plummet to the ground and crash down.
With a sigh of relief, the Scarlet Witch's toes touched the ground, a smile crossing her face.
"Well, that could have gone worse," the friend shrugged.
"Even now, you can't give a simple compliment?", Wanda joked.
"Reflexes could've been a little faster."
"Yeah, I'd like to see you do something like that."
"You sure I can't?"
Wanda laughed, her face slowly turning downwards. The smile grew more somber and nostalgic as she exhaled.
"I've missed these moments," Wanda reminisced.
"Figured," the friend nodded, "Why else bring me here? Certainly not for my friendly demeanor."
The Scarlet Witch nodded, placing a hand on her old mentor's shoulder, "...I miss you-"
"Nat?", said a trembling voice.
Wanda froze, recognizing the owner of said voice. She turned to see Rhodey standing behind her, bruised up and confused.
Rhodes slowly stepped forward, his helmet coming off of his face to reveal his terrified face, "Nat, how...how are you-?"
With a swipe of her hand, Wanda turned the apparition of the Black Widow back into red smoke, fearing how her friend would react, "Rhodes, it's not what you think."
The colonel stammered, "Wh-How did-How did you do that? How did you bring her back? Why did-?"
"Rhodey, I can explain this all", she said as she rose her hands up defensively.
Rhodes felt like the world was spinning around her, as though nothing made sense around him, "What the hell did you-Why the hell did you bring her-?!"
"Guys! We're coming your way!", Hope yelled over the comms.
The two heroes turned to see Scott's large body struggling to move any faster, his body clearly tiring out. He shrunk down in front of the two, Hope growing back to normal size right next to him.
"Oh god. I really wish I didn't get so tired from this," Scott panted, weary.
"Uh, where are the robots?", Rhodes asked.
Right on cue, they appeared, their weapons aiming down and preparing to strike.
"Had to ask," Hope groaned.
"Take cover!", Wanda yelled as she began to form another shield around the group.
…
Within the mines, however, the heroes' luck was faring better. Osborn's men fired upon the monsters, Shuri's weaponry proving to be very useful. The Dora Milaje impaled their combatants and threw them off of their gliders.
Shuri and Okoye fought back-to-back, the princess firing her gauntlets and the general spinning her spear around.
In the skies, Peter swung around and kicked several Goblins down to the ground, Osborn flying next to him and firing his repulsor gauntlets.
"Okay, second mission. Time to see if it was just beginner's luck in Nepal!", Norman laughed.
Another orange bomb whirred past him, this one thrown by the head Goblin.
"Hiya, Tin-Can," the creature grinned, "Remember me?"
"Not particularly, no," Osborn admitted before looking to Peter, now perched on his shoulder, "Let me guess: he's the boss?"
"He's the boss," Peter confirmed.
"Alrighty. You go high. I go...also high."
The two made their move on the creature, who cackled as he moved towards them as well.
Norman blasted forward and stretched his right arm out, hoping to clothesline the being. The Goblin ducked right as Osborn passed by him, but Spider-Man was able to fire a strand at the freak's chest and pull himself onto its body.
"Hi!", Peter waved as he tried dropkicking the Goblin off of the glider.
Its clawed hands grabbed Peter's feet and swung the boy around, tossing him at Osborn. The billionaire was able to quickly duck and allow Peter to shoot a web at the man's shoulder.
Peter flew forward before being slingshot back at the Goblin. He shot a few more webs at the glider and allowed himself to swing under and over the contraption, allowing his feet to stick to the creature's face.
"Alley-oop!", Peter exclaimed as he weighed down the Goblin so it fell off of the glider.
The two swung from the strands still stuck the hovercraft as Peter kicked the creature off of his feet. The being rolled across the railway before skidding to a halt on its clawed feet.
"My turn!", the beast flashed its teeth before leaping for the teen.
The two dueled as Peter swung around the rails and over the pillars to avoid its projectiles. The head Goblin flung its orange bombs at Peter but he was able to not only dodge them but also web them up and sling them right back.
When the creature fired beams of heat from its fingertips, Peter was able to grab a spear dropped by the Dora and reflect the beam to scorch the Goblin's chest.
Osborn watched from above, clearly impressed by the child's ability to act on his feet, "Atta boy. Go Spider-Man!"
Peter was feeling the rush of the fight. He was actually getting the upper hand on the leader of the monsters trying to kill him and his friends. Piece by piece, Peter was able to remove the armor of the Goblin and it almost looked like he was going to win.
"Wow, you pack a punch!", the monster smiled, its sharp fangs now cracked.
"And you can't exactly take one!", Peter joked.
For once in a long time, a straight-forward win for Peter Parker!
Of course, something had to step in.
Right before the kid could take off the fiend's mask, a red cloak wrapped around his body and he was pulled right into a golden portal.
"Wait! WAIT!", Peter yelled out before he was forcibly dragged in.
Shuri and Osborn traded a glance at one another, confused before another bright portal opened up right in front of them.
A familiar cloaked figure levitated forwards through the amber portal, "Everyone! Your king is in desperate need of aid!"
Shuri chuckled, looking at Okoye, "This man and his portals."
"Dora! To me!", the general yelled out as she charged towards the glowing vortex, Shuri following right behind her. As the Goblins tried to prevent the Wakandans and Oscorp employees from evacuating, Osborn fired down upon them, stalling them long enough for everyone to go through the portal.
Osborn flipped around to aim at the head Goblin, but the thing was nowhere in sight, as though it vanished into thin air, "Villains and their disappearing acts."
The billionaire propelled himself next to Strange, giving a brief nod, "Nice save, Houdini. Your boy Parker almost stopped the bad guy before your unannounced arrival."
"You let the kid fight on his own?", Strange glared at the man.
"Pointless judgment can be saved for later," Osborn waved away the comment, "Time to save the world, Doc."
…
Peter rose back onto his feet, the sound of gunfire and fighting surrounding him. His eyes adjusted to the environment as he recognized the center of the city. Wakandan warriors and Kree soldiers were duking it out, thirsting for blood.
"HOLY CRAP!," the kid's reflexes immediately kicked in as he jumped as high as he could and began firing webs everywhere he could. He backflipped off of the back of one of the Kree soldiers and fired two strands at its shoulder blades, pulling it into the air and slamming it right into the soil.
"Uh, guys?!", Peter shouted as he jumped over alien after alien.
"Parker!", T'Challa yelled as he landed right in front of Spider-Man, the king's appearance causing a bright burst of purple energy to blast his opponents away, "Where is my sister?"
"Oh, Mr. T'Challa! Hey! What's up?", Peter quickly waved before roundhouse kicking an oncoming soldier, "Uh, Shuri? She's fine! That cool general woman's got her back! She's back at the caverns!"
"CHARGE!", cried out the voice of someone who was clearly not back at the caverns.
T'Challa and Peter turned to see the Dora Milaje and Osborn's security team arriving on the battlefield through a giant portal, Shuri and Okoye leading the charge.
"Welcome to Wakanda, bitches!", Shuri cried out as she blasted away at any Kree coming near her.
"Eish", T'Challa muttered in Xhosa.
"Okay, so...Not in the caverns", Peter awkwardly mumbled before he heard the distinct crackling noise of another portal opening up.
Osborn and Strange appeared right behind him, both appearing ready for battle.
"Well, quite the spectacle we're in now, huh?", Osborn spoke.
Through the comms, Rhodes groaned, the sound of battle in the background, "Oh great. Showboat's back, everybody!"
"Strange! Osborn! Get your asses in gear and start lending a hand!", Sam yelled out, his voice showing his clear fear.
"On it, boss!", Osborn chuckled, "Hop on, kid!"
Peter quickly grabbed onto the armored hero as they took off, Strange flashing a worried look.
"Peter, wait-!", Stephen tried to reach out to the boy.
"Strange?! I could use assistance!", T'Challa cried out as he slashed across a soldier's face.
Strange sighed as he began spinning around a red whip, the object twirling so fast that it almost looked like a scarlet tornado. He gave it a quick crack, the impact creating a massive explosion that took out a good many Kree. He summoned a series of golden shields and began slamming them across the faces of the villains.
On the field, Valkyrie and Okoye were fighting back to back, stabbing and jabbing at anything in green and blue armor.
"Must say, you certainly have some skills with a spear!", Valkyrie commented while skewering a soldier.
"Is now the moment for compliments?!", Okoye yelled in response.
However, it still looked like it wasn't enough. Another horde of Goblins arrived on the scene, their horrid laughter dive-bombing at the warriors.
Sam fired at as many of the green menaces as he could but the bombs were nearing closer and closer to destroying his wings, "Everyone?! Can anyone hear me?!"
"We're taking heavy fire downtown!", Wanda called out, her voice sounding panicked.
"We're running low on Pym Particles!", Hope yelled, her tone wavering.
"Sam! There's too many of them!", Bucky shouted, the noise of his gun firing ringing through the Falcon's ears.
The leader felt like everything was spinning out of control. The team was divided and outnumbered, the army was going to overrun the nation, and they were all probably about five minutes away from certain death.
Peter tried webbing up every Goblin he could find but they kept coming after him, their claws shredding at his suit. He tried shooting a web at one of the buildings nearby but the villains kept dragging him away.
Back within the city, Carol screamed as she tried chucking away as many missiles as she could but her body was starting to give out. Each explosion erupted nearer and nearer to the skyscrapers, only increasing her. She tried blasting towards the Accuser ship out of desperation, but she couldn't let the missiles hit the city.
Rhodes fired everything he had at the Sentries, but there were too many. Wanda was too much in a frenzy to demolish the robots like she did the ships and Scott and Hope's methods weren't causing enough damage.
Strange fought as many as he could, but for some reason, he wasn't busting out the major spells. He wasn't bringing down the house like he did against Thanos and it was hurting the team.
"Oh god! Oh god!", Peter screamed as loud as he could, his yells for help being drowned out by the Goblin's laughter.
Suddenly, Osborn's flying body slammed into the crowd of monsters surrounding Peter, grabbing the boy in his hands as he shot at any enemy in his way.
"Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh", the web-head hyperventilated, all of this reminding him way too much of Mysterio's drones and Thanos's Outriders.
"Hang on, kid, you gotta keep fighting a little longer," the businessman told the boy.
Peter began stammering once more, "Sir, I...Sir, there's too many of them! Every time we beat them up, they keep coming back with more! Everybody's split up-!"
"Kid."
"-And I can't do anything and no one's coming up with a plan-!"
"Kid!"
"-And if we don't come up with anything, we're all gonna d-!"
"I have a son."
Peter stopped stammering, slowly raising his head to face Norman's, surprised by the sudden seriousness in the man's tone.
Throughout the rest of the city, all the other heroes that were still patched into the feed heard the same sentence and for a quick moment paused.
Norman sighed, his helmet collapsing to reveal a somber look on his face, "That's why I do this. That's why I need everyone here to get their act together. We can't just focus on making it out of this alive. I don't care if I die, but I know that I can't because if I do, everything I care about, everyone...it will all be destroyed and all my work, everything I've sacrificed, it will all have been for nothing...So if you've got something you want to live for, someone you want to go home to, think about that. Let it drill in your head. Be the power behind every punch. Every shot you fire. We're Earth's Mightiest, everyone. Time to show that to these blue-skinned sons of bitches."
Everybody slowly took the words in, amazed at how sincere Osborn actually sounded. It was as though he genuinely was asking for their help. Like he had something to lose.
And Peter, this whole time he's been struggling to trust the man, thinking he was going to be next Mysterio. But now…
"The portal," Peter muttered, "Mr. Strange's portal! Like in Kamar-Taj!"
"Alright, use that big brain of yours," Osborn nodded, "We get another portal opened up, knock out those engines-"
"No, we won't be able to sneak inside with those missiles firing at the city," Peter noted.
"Then we don't open a portal underneath," Osborn realized, "Strange, you hear us?"
Strange smashed his glowing shields against the soldiers' faces, "Kind of can't hear anything else right now!"
"I need you to open a wide-as-hell vortex right in front of the ship. Send it to wherever the hell you want. The friggin' sun if you have to! Just get it off the planet," Osborn ordered.
"Something that large is going to need a lot of energy," Strange explained.
"Y'know, for a man who calls himself the 'sorcerer supreme', I'm not getting the 'supreme' part here!"
Strange sighed, "Alright. But I need someone to cover me. Something that big needs time and I'd rather not be blown out of the sky."
"What about Mr. Rhodes?", Peter suggested.
"Yep! That's where G.I. Joe and the Micronauts come in!", Osborn explained, "Maximoff, guard the three as they exit the city. I need you to go full force, no limits! Colonel, I need you to cover the doc!"
"I'm not leaving Maximoff!", Rhodes disagreed.
"Yes, because the Scarlet Witch really needs a bodyguard", Osborn sarcastically commented, "Lang, Van Dyne, bring the gadget. Time to see if we didn't muck this one up. Don't disappoint me!"
"Okay, we're coming your way," Hope agreed to the plan.
"On it, Norms!", Lang gave a thumbs up.
"Already disappointing me," Osborn rolled his eyes.
"Oh, well, I figured you were giving everybody funny nicknames, so might as well-"
"Simple 'on it' could've worked," Hope groaned, "Rhodes?"
Rhodey turned to Wanda, concerned for his friend.
Wanda gulped before giving a quick nod, "Go. I've got your back."
The colonel grimaced before lighting up the thrusters on his feet, "Coming right to you, guys."
As the three flew towards the battlefield, Wanda began blasting away at the robots, crushing them with all of her might.
"Danvers, once that portal opens up, I need you and Maximoff to force the ship through it!"
"Ship's got cannons at the back," Carol explained.
"Ms. Maximoff can cover you, Captain!", Peter explained, "We just need you to push it through!"
Carol sighed, brushing the sweat off her face, "Alright. Strange, get it ready!"
"What about us, sir?", the boy looked to the armored man, curious.
"Now, my good lad," Norman smiled, his helmet recovering his face, "Time we get to work. If that's alright with Captain Wilson, of course."
Sam landed on the ground, staring up at the floating CEO. Throughout that whole speech, he couldn't help but be amazed by how confident the man sounded. Yet here he was, standing there slackjawed.
Wilson sighed, "We're going with Osborn's plan."
"Off to work we go!", Osborn grinned as he blasted downwards, Peter hopping off the man's back and firing a web to latch onto him.
As Osborn flew forwards, shooting down at the soldiers with deadly accuracy, Peter was pulled through the air, kicking at any alien in his path.
As Sam and Bucky fought side by side, Sam with his pistols and Bucky with his robotic arm, Rhodey appeared on the scene, dropping charges down at the attackers.
Scott and Hope landed in the thick of the fight, the device in Scott's hands. With a few pushes of the tablet, Scott nodded to his partner, "Good to go?"
"If it's not, then it was nice knowing you," Hope placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
"Weird last words for your boyfriend, but 'kay," Lang pointed out before pushing a final button.
As Rhodey darted through the skies, the Goblin soldiers suddenly began to stop laughing and start shrieking. They grabbed their heads as though they were in massive amounts of pain before they started to fall to the ground, crashing down onto their Kree allies.
"Great Scott, it's working!", Scott laughed like a madman.
"Holy shit, it actually worked!", Hope yelled out.
As the fiends plummeted to the ground, the Wakandan soldiers picked them off one by one, Valkyrie making sure that none of them decided to step back up.
"Now might be a good time for the medic to get to work," Brunnhilde looked to Sam.
"Strange!", Sam shouted out.
The sorcerer rose into the skies, his arms beginning to glow with power. He began to spin his arms around into a circle, creating a small vortex in the air. Rhodes backed up his magical ally, firing at any ships coming towards them.
The portal started to enlarge, growing and growing until it became large enough to capture the missiles it began firing out in a panic.
"Danvers! Your cue!", Sam cried out.
As Carol sent the last missile into the air, she blasted towards the army, going as fast as she could. Within a few seconds, her glowing form sliced through some of the Kree warriors on the ground before rising up to face the back of the Accuser ship.
As the cannons began shooting at the glowing captain, Wanda arrived on the scene, doing her best to push the projectiles through the portal as well.
"Yes," Osborn smiled, "YES!"
Carol blasted towards the spacecraft's end and began pushing with all of her might, Wanda aiding with red ropes of energy.
"Come on! Come on!", Danvers yelled out as the vessel was nearly all the way in, "Okay! Okay, we need to close this thing right now!"
"Now, Doctor!", T'Challa shouted to Strange.
"AAARGH!", Stephen screamed as he began turning his arms around once more.
The portal slowly began shrinking, its embers wrapping around the stern of the vessel. However, as Carol pushed against the might of the ship's engines, she heard something click.
One of the cannons still had a little juice in it.
Another bomb fired right out of the ship, this one flying so fast that it blew Wanda away and down to the ground.
"NO!", Carol yelled as she tried to go after it. Unfortunately, once she tried to move towards it, the vessel began attempting to escape once more, forcing her to stay in her spot.
The weapon was flying forwards, ready to crash into the city.
T'Challa's eyes widened as his fear returned, "No. NO!"
Thankfully, someone appeared to save the day.
Osborn pushed against the weapon with everything that he had in his body. The thrusters on his feet were at full-strength, bright orange light erupting from his soles. His fingers looked like they were clutching the missile as tightly as possible, smaller thrusters appearing from his arm to better push against the bomb.
"Okay. Here we go. Here we go," Norman whispered to himself as he blasted forward, aiming for the portal before it closed up, "Might wanna move out of the way, Danvers!"
"Mr. Osborn, wait!", Peter yelped as he realized what the man was about to do.
"It's alright, kid. It's alright," the man whispered, sounding more like he was trying to reassure himself instead of reassuring Peter, "Nice working with you guys."
Once it looked like he was at the perfect position, he released the bomb, allowing it to fly forward towards the stern of the ship. Carol moved out of the way at the last second as the missile made impact.
Once it crashed into the vessel, a massive eruption shot out from it, the fire and smoke flying right at Osborn's body. Screaming was heard over the comms as the portal finally shut.
The entire battlefield was silenced by the event as they all stared up to see something flying from the flames.
Osborn's smoking body, plummeting faster and faster down.
"No," Peter breathed, his body entirely still from the shock.
Another man was killed by Peter's inaction. Another person he cared about has sacrificed himself for some greater good.
Before the billionaire's body could hit the earth, Carol swooped down and quickly caught him in her arms, setting him down gently.
"Mr. Osborn?", Peter gulped, "Sir?!"
The boy ran across the field for his fallen friend, leaping over some of the Kree soldiers.
Before the aliens could raise their weaponry and start up the battle once more, the powerful mutant crashed down, her eyes lighting crimson red with fury.
T'Challa strutted forward, his claws flashing in the sunlight, "This is the part where you surrender."
The aliens, clearly frightened and seeing that their ship was now gone, dropped their rifles and held up their arms, clearly giving up the fight.
Peter rushed to Norman's side, ripping his mask off to get a better look. Tears were flowing from his brown eyes as he grabbed at the man's smoking hand.
The Iron Patriot uniform was covered in soot, part of the chest piece broken off and small flames covering his arms.
The teen wiped off the flames with his mask and grasped at the billionaire's faceplate, ripping it right off. Under the helmet, Osborn's face was covered in sweat and dirt, small scratches covering him. His eyes were shut and his body was deathly still.
"Oh no. No no no no. Mr. Osborn, sir, please," Peter hyperventilated, shaking the man in the slight hopes that he could wake up, "Come on, sir, get up! Get up, sir! We did it!"
"Peter", Carol tried to reach to the boy with sympathy in her voice.
"No. No! Sir! Sir, please! Come on, Mr. Osborn, I can't let you...No", Peter begged.
He couldn't do this. Not again. Not again.
Suddenly, as though divine intervention kicked in, the billionaire started to cough, gasping for air.
Peter's face broke into a smile, clearly relieved, "Mr. Osborn!"
"Holy-!", Osborn inhaled a large amount of oxygen, his eyes wild and wide, "Ooooh my god! I'm not dead! Holy shit, I'm not dead!"
Carol sighed as well before chuckling, "I know. Disappointment to everyone, huh?"
"You know...would've thought it would've felt more epic. Whole...sacrificing yourself for the greater good thing," Osborn groaned as he tried to get up, "Really not as easy as you'd hope. One out of ten. Don't recommend it."
"Oh my gosh, I thought you were...I thought you were gone, sir!", Peter admitted, his hand covering his forehead.
"Believe me, death's not taking me away anytime soon," Osborn joked, "Wait a tic. We're not in heaven, right?"
"Uh, no?"
"Oh god, I knew it. We're in hell."
"We're not-"
"Oh, I never should've looked at those magazines as a kid! My mom warned me-"
"Sir, we're alive!", Peter chuckled, "We won, sir. We won."
The billionaire gave a breath of relief, pressing the side of his helmet so it collapsed down into his suit, "Sweet. Would've made an awful story in the news report."
Carol smiled, walking away to give the boy and the businessman some time. However, that happy look on her face fell as she walked over to join the rest of the crew.
Sam watched from afar as Peter and Osborn laughed with one another, shame and doubt beginning to once again grow. Sure, Wakanda was saved but was it thanks to him or even his team, if it could even be called his team?
He turned down and saw the thing he was looking for throughout the fight, the vibranium shield glistening in his eyes. He slowly bent down to pick it up but it was with hesitation and uncertainty. Instead of strapping it to his arm, Sam placed it on his back, the disc sticking to the magnetic straps on his shoulder blades.
Both Wilson and Danvers traded a glance before turning to one of the surrendering soldiers.
Sam got right into the soldier's face, clearly angry and looking for answers, "Let's check this off. Your ship's gone. Your fancy missiles, your battleships. All gone."
"What the hell is Yon-Rogg planning?", Carol growled, her fists lighting up, "Why attack Earth now? What are you going to do with the vibranium?!"
What startled the two heroes was how tears started to flow from the soldier's eyes, a hollow look in his pupils.
"For the good of all Kree," it muttered, staring down at the ground.
Carol and Sam shared a confused look before Danvers asked, "What?"
The alien raised his head up, shaking it slightly as the look of pure sadness on his face sent a shiver down the heroes' spines, "...For the good...of all Kree."
Suddenly, he screamed, his veins becoming visible on his neck and arms. His body shook violently, as though he was being electrocuted at a high voltage, before dropping to the ground, lifeless.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only soldier to drop to the ground dead. All of the other Kree on the battlefield began shrieking in pain and terror, all of them being horrifically electrocuted before falling onto the grass. Within a few seconds, the entire field was littered with the corpses of the Kree.
All of the heroes surveyed the scene, horrified of what they witnessed.
"Jesus Christ", Sam whispered, trying not to vomit.
"By Odin," Brunnhilde stared, terrified for one of the few times in her life.
Shocked by what she just witnessed, Carol slowly dropped to her knees and wordlessly inspected the body of one of the fallen, seeing something right on its neck.
A small disc. The same one she was hit with.
…
Far away in the city, Yon-Rogg and Minn-Erva looked down at the scene, both silent and with unreadable faces.
Minn-Erva gave a small look to her commander before clearing her throat, "Come on. Ship's waiting for us."
She placed a wavering hand on the man's shoulder before walking off, "For the good of all Kree, sir."
As she made her exit, the commander gave a small sigh, "For the good of all Kree."
Wow. Dark ending, huh?
Woof! This was a long one. Thanks for reading, y'all! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! More to come on the way soon! Comment what you think and let me know what you guys think!