Nick Fury covers her face as the ship's windows light up a mixture of blue, white, and yellow. The noise is overwhelming, and she can only imagine how much louder it would be should they not have installed shields on the ship.
"What the Hell is going on Talos?" Fury shouts.
"It would seem they're firing upon us." Talos responds sarcastically.
"I mean outside!" Fury remarks. "Did you see what happened?"
"It looked like they all just vanished in a puff of smoke." Talos responds. "I didn't see where they went."
"It was like how we got here." Soren adds.
"Is anyone still there?" Fury shouts over the noise.
"I'm only picking up three life signals..." Soren says.
Fury rushes toward the window to get a look. She can barely see anything, and is only absolutely certain Thanos is one of the three.
"Sir, with all due respect," Talos addresses Fury, "These Wakandan shields are not going to hold up against this onslaught."
"Hold!" Nick Fury responds.
"But sir..." Soren calls out.
"I said hold, God dammit!"
They all wait, against better judgment. The firing seems to calm down just a little as their attackers circle around the ship. Nick Fury is able to see through a small area and spot the other two. He recognizes Tony Stark and the silhouette of Steve Rogers. It is pretty obvious they are also completely confused by the turn of events.
"Can we reach them?" Fury asks, already knowing the answer. She looks at Talos, who is clearly sweating profusely, afraid to answer.
"Fury, I..." Talos starts trying to argue.
Fury is angry, but knows she has to calm herself down. She taps the communicator on her ear. "Tony, can you hear me?"
"Yeah... I..." Tony answers, clearly lost in thought.
"Tony, we're being bombarded here. We need to evac'!"
There is a long pause before Tony responds. "No, we can't go yet. We have to find the others... You go on ahead."
"Tony, are you sure about this?" Fury asks, feeling more concerned for him than she has ever felt before.
"Just go! The Captain and I can catch up if we need to."
Fury remembers they both have Tony's suits and realizes he is right. "Roger that, Stark. We're pulling out." Nick Fury points toward Soren and gestures for her to take off. "And Tony," Fury says in her intercom, "don't do anything stupid."
"I think it's a little too late for that." Captain America responds.
"Be safe you two." Fury adds. As the ship takes off it shakes a little from the outer assault.
"What the hell is going on?" Oyoke shouts as he comes rushing into the bridge.
"We have to make a tactical retreat." Fury shouts over the noise.
"Where is my King?" Oyoke shouts.
Fury is afraid to answer him, knowing full well that she's now trapped on a ship with a sizable Wakandan army, and they have just lost their leader.
*** Back on the asteroid ***
Thanos watches the ship move away, and once it gets a good distance, her own ships pull back. She instructed her troops to keep others from interfering, so there was no need to take out their entire army, yet..
When Tony and Captain America are a little more at ease, they turn back toward Thanos. She smiles.
"What did you do with everyone?" Tony asks, trying hard not to show the legit terror he was feeling at the moment.
"Oh, not to worry." Thanos responds in a sweet voice. "They'll be fine. I'm just having my children watch them," She stabs her double sword into the ground letting it stand there. "Only until I can deal with them personally." She grins happily. "Some of them may be worse for wear by then, I imagine."
"Tony, we can't let this phaze us." Captain America says, trying to hold on to her composure.
"Can't let this phase us?" Tony asks, almost in shock. He looks at Captain America and can see she is sweating too. "There is no way we can do this without them."
"Tony, I need you to calm down." Steve tells him with a painful wince. Thanos smiles at the familiar signs of anxiety she has seen nearly thousands of times before, across hundreds of planets, and dozens of galaxies.
"I am calm." Tony lies. "We have to find a way to get to the others."
"Tony..."
"We have to bring them all here." Tony continues to ramble. "Or bring the fight to them."
"Tony!" Steve Rogers shouts. She was starting to really see the signs of PTSD in Tony, and it hurt her that she couldn't help him now. She only knew one way to distract him, and it was a terrible idea.
"Tony, they're not here," she tells him, "and I don't think they're coming back anytime soon."
"We can't do this without them!" Tony protests on the verge of losing his sanity.
"No we can't," Steve Rogers responds, 'but we have to try." Before Tony can respond, Steve activates her helmet and lunges toward Thanos. The pink outline of the face shield, that Tony spent hours perfecting, instigates overwhelming emotions from him. Despite it not being Pepper in the suit, Tony can't help but feel the terror you feel when someone you absolutely love, rushes toward certain death. He tries to scream "No!" but time seems to slow.
Thanos smiles and greets her challenger with open arms.
*** Back to Spider-Man and Thor ***
"Mr. Thor, are you alright? That looked like it really hurt."
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine." Thor responds casually. "It was hardly a scratch." He raises Storm Breaker half heartedly watching their opponent. "And drop the mister part, it just sounds weird." Thor tells Peter.
"I'm sorry M... Thor." Spider-Man responds. "I'm just trying to figure out what is going on. Are you sure you've got this?"
"What?" Thor asks, surprised by the unexpected concern. He looks at Peter, and can see the worry in her face. "Oh, don't worry about this, young Peter. I fight guys like this all the time."
The creature, Black Dwarf, gets annoyed at being ignored. It roars at Thor and rushes toward him, trying to feign an overhead strike, but shifts toward a side strike at the last instant. Thor, who has seen just about everything at this point, steps back and intentionally strikes his opponent's weapon, which is also another ax. Black Dwarf can tell he is being toyed with.
"Okay, sir." Peter says. "I'm gonna go try to find the others."
"You do that." Thor responds while smiling at his opponent. The creature seems hell bent on fighting only Thor, so it does not interfere with Peter as he tries to get away. "And don't call me sir!" Thor shouts at Peter who rushes off.
Peter Parker looks at the random cameras floating around her like drones and shoots some webbing at one. It is surprisingly sturdy. She is able to climb onto it and use the leverage to get a bit higher. When she spots another nearby she shoots for that one next.
"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?" One of the cameras says toward Peter. She is a little thrown off by it talking, but keeps moving anyway. A third camera comes rushing up toward her and projects a small image of a creepy green face. "Whoa! What is that?" She shouts.
"What are you doing?" The creature asks. "You need to stay in the arena."
"Yeah, not gonna do that." Peter chooses to ignore the hologram. She jumps on another camera, turns toward the next nearest asteroid, and wonders if she can make the distance somehow.
"Hey, come on kid. You're ruining the show!" The camera follows Peter.
"I'm sorry. I'm not interested in your game show." Peter responds, while looking for higher leverage. "And what are you?" She asks, unable to resist her curiosity.
"Wait! You don't know who I am?" The hologram asks. The face turns away for a moment as the creature addresses someone off camera. "How does this kid not know who I am? Where is he from?"
Peter uses the moment of distraction to shoot webbing toward another small asteroid not far away. It does not get very close before hitting the shield surrounding their area. There is a little shock sent back through the webbing, but nothing that concerns Peter. She is more bothered by not being able to get through.
"It won't work." Another unknown male voice suddenly tells Peter. "I've already tried getting through."
"Whoa! Who's that?!" Peter asks in a panic, turning back toward the hologram. The creature looks toward Peter equally confused.
"Down here." The voice says.
Peter looks down and sees Thor still fighting the alien creature.
"On your shoulder." The voice updates.
Peter looks on her shoulder and sees what she thinks is a bug. She panics and is about to swipe at it, when she notices it's human.
"Whoa! What the heck!" Peter shouts. The hologram from the drone camera moves in close also, trying to get a better look also.
"What is that thing?" The hologram asks. "It looks like we've got another fighter in here. Isn't that against the rules?" The creature continues conversing with someone off camera.
"Hi, I'm Hope." The small human says.
"Hi, uh... Little Person." Peter replies.
"Just call me Wasp." Hope responds.
"Ok." Peter responds. "Are you on our side?"
"What?" Wasp asks rather surprised. "Yes! How've you never heard of me?" He asks angrily. "You know what? Never mind. We have to find a way to get those shields down. The energy is too tightly compact. I tried going subatomic, but they're so thick it could take hours to get through."
"What?" Peter asks, even more confused.
"We need to find the source of those shields." Wasp says.
"Nope! Not happening." The alien hologram replies, now paying attention. "It'll take you hours, and even if you found it, you couldn't reach it."
"Karen, if you're there, can you find the source of this shield's energy?" Peter asks the suit, ignoring the alien.
"Scanning." Karen replies. "The shield seems to be projecting energy from several points. The nearest is outside the barrier to your left, behind the asteroid."
"Thanks Karen!" Peter responds. Peter uses another camera drone to pull the one she is already on. It gives her a better view of the shield generator.
"Oh, come on! Is there somebody else in there also?" The alien shouts referring to the suit.
Spider-Man and the Wasp spot the alien machine creating the shields, but it is far outside the barrier.
"That's clearly it," Peter responds, "but how're we going to get to it?"
"I don't know." Hope answers. "Even if I could get there, I don't think I could survive in space. If only we had some way to get at it through the shield, or take it down from the inside."
"Nope, not happening." The alien hologram interrupts them again. "The only way in or out is by activating them from the outside."
"Or teleport." Hope says, casually.
"Teleport?" Peter asks.
"Yeah, that's how we got in." Hope responds.
"Oh yea!" Peter says happily, suddenly remembering something. She reaches to her side and finds the sling ring is attached to the waist of her suit. "I have an idea."
Peter removes the sling ring from her outfit and starts spinning it. She does not have to worry about imagining her target, as she can clearly see it right in front of her.
"Wait, what are you doing?" The alien asks, just as a man sized portal opens up directly in front of the shield generator. "No no no no!" The creature starts to protest.
"You should probably wait here." Peter says turning toward Wasp.
"Yeah, good idea." He responds.
Peter shoots web through the portal and uses it to pull herself through quickly. The hologram follows only up to a certain point before turning toward Wasp who was now standing on one of the other cameras. "Shit!" The hologram says. "Thanos is gonna be pissed."
*** Checking in on Dr. Strange and Star-Lord ***
"This prattling worm is more annoying than a child!" Ebony Maw complains.
"Yeah, you have a certain twag to your voice that isn't so easy on the ears either." Star-lord says, firing her pistols at her opponent.
Ebony Maw tries retaliating with her surgical spikes, but Star-Lord is quick enough to fire them out of the air. Ebony begins to shift the rocks beneath her opponent when the Cloak of Levitation wraps around her head. She agrilly pulls at it using her telekinesis and hands.
Dr. Strange is kneeling on the ground and breathing heavily. There are cuts all over her body and she is doing her best to mend them. She feels a small disappointment in her pride that Star-Lord, a seemingly human, seems to be doing better against Ebony.
Ebony manages to pull the cloak away and is about to use her power against it, when she is hit from behind by Star-Lords guns. She turns to her angrily, but is interrupted once again by a sudden explosion not too far away. All three of them turn, wondering what just happened.
Sparks materialize a couple of meters behind Dr. Strange followed by a portal leading elsewhere. Dr. Strange feels the cold of space come through and hit her on the back, causing her to turn.
"Dr. Strange, I can't believe that just worked." Peter Parker shouts excitedly as she jumps through the portal. Her voice attracts Ebony Maw who turns to see the portal closing.
"Peter!" Dr. Strange calls. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
"Ok, I know this sounds strange, Dr. Strange, but I thought if I couldn't imagine the place, I could imagine the person, so I thought of you drinking tea, and it seemed to work, and..."
"Insolent little!" Ebony Maw shouts as she attempts to attack Peter. Her spider-senses take over and she is able to jump away, looking at the surgical spikes in the ground.
"Whoa!" Peter shouts. She turns to Ebony Maw in shock. "Is that the guy from New York?"
"Yeah..." Dr. Strange responds. "He's a girl now. I'm sure you can tell."
"Hey! What gives?" Star-Lord asks as she flies in closer. "Who's this?"
"Mr. Star-Lord!" Peter Parker responds, not noticing that Peter Quill doesn't recognize her. "It's good to see you again, I'm trying to find everybody."
"There you are!" The announcer shouts.
Ebony Maw, Dr. Strange, and the two Peters all jump and look toward the announcer.
"What the Hell?" Peter Parker shouts. "Is that Jabba the Hutt?" she asks, seeing Mojo in person for the very first time..
"I like to think I'm a lot more pretty than that slime!" Mojo answers with a grin. It doesn't register to them that Mojo knows about Star Wars.
"You're the guy I was talking to, on the camera." Spider-Man says, half asking.
"Yea listen," Mojo interrupts him. "You can't just go around blowing stuff up and half heartedly jumping between arenas." Peter looks at Star-Lord confused and wonders if she's really being reprimanded right now. "It's bad for the show!" Mojo says, trying to reason with Peter Parker.
"Who is that guy?" Spider-Man asks, looking at Star-Lord.
"He's kind of like an interdimensional game show host." Star-Lord responds. Peter Parker just nods, hoping she understands.
"Enough prattle!" Ebony Maw shouts. The ground seems to leap up around all of them as Maw uses her powers to try to encase them. Peter Quill jumps out of the way, while Peter Parker grabs Dr. Strange and does the same.
"Excuse me, uhm Ebony?" The alien, Mojo, calls. "We were having a conversation. Let me just get this guy out of your way, and we can..."
"Silence!" Ebony shouts, throwing down her arms. A piece of metal comes off Mojo's mechanical legs and wraps around his mouth. "I shall deal with all of them myself!" Mojo somewhat squeals in delight as he continues to watch in awe.
Peter Parler is kneeling next to Dr. Strange and giving her a look over. "Oh, it's so nice not having to deal with the cramps right now." Peter says, happy that Dr. Strange's spell seems to be working again.
"It must be nice." Dr. Strange says sarcastically, tending to her wounds.
"Dr. Strange, I think we can use our sling rings to get to the others." Peter starts trying to explain.
"That would be ideal." Dr. Strange responds. "But my sling ring is broken, and first we have to deal with this one." She references Ebony Maw, who is once again being distracted by Star-Lord and the Cloak of Levitation.
"Too bad we can't just launch her out into space again." Peter says, turning to look at their opponent.
"Maybe..." Dr. Strange says. "Let me see that." She holds her hand out for Peter's sling ring.
Peter hands it over, and Dr. Strange wastes no time opening a portal near Ebony and trying to force her through it. Unfortunately Ebony Maw sees it and moves away. She looks at Peter and Dr. Strange angrily.
"You insolent little..." Ebony Maw starts scolding, but is once again distracted by Star-Lord.
"It was worth a shot." Dr. Strange says. "This ought to at least put the battle in our favor."
They are once again suddenly interrupted by a loud electric booming sound which causes them all to turn. Another asteroid nearby is projecting an energy bubble and making the noise as something seems to be colliding with it's shield.
"What is that?!" Peter shouts to no one in particular.
"Bruce Banner is engaged in battle with a large creature." Peter's suit responds. It activates the cameras on Peter's eyepieces and zooms into the fight.
"Whoa!" Peter exclaims. It takes her a while to determine what she is seeing. The shield energy dissipates enough for Peter to make out Cull Obsidian pinning the Hulk Buster against the asteroid's shield and dragging it along. Pieces of the suit are coming off rapidly.
"Uh, Doctor..." Peter says. "I think some of the others are going to need our help."