It all happened so suddenly.
Spencer could barely comprehend what had happened, and by the time she did, there was only devastation surrounding her. One moment, she had been training with Val and Hulk, and the next? She was surrounded by death and destruction, forced to watch this disgusting asshole beat the living daylights out of Thor, but not before getting her own beating from one of those monstrosities that praised the main asshole named Thanos.
She was scared, so, so fucking scared.
This purple asshole slaughtered half of the remaining Asgardians. Spencer's heart radiated with pain, her knees buckled, and tears ran down her face; she watched innocent families slaughtered, and for what? She had watched as Sif was cut down in front of her, and Spencer remembered her own wail of anguish as she watched Sif being murdered.
And somehow, it was mercy? salvation ?
Thanos allowed the other half to leave; given them a ship to continue their journey afterwards, and Spencer had been on that other side. Standing beside Val, who had been shielding her from view, until Thanos set his sights onto her. His grotesque face saw Spencer as soon as Val turned her back to broad the ship, and his eyes met hers.
And he decided that she would stay.
It caused an uproar, but that was all that Thanos needed to see to steel his decision in keeping Spencer on the ship for whatever reason. She tried putting on a brave face, but her heart and emotions wouldn't let her. How could she with what she had just witnessed? Not even being tortured by HYRDA could compare to this.
She watched from the sidelines as Loki was brought up to where Thanos was standing over a struggling Thor. Thor-her poor, sweet friend-had been absolutely pummeled by Thanos. Spencer closed her eyes as more tears streamed down her dirtied, bloodied face and the creature that was guarding her sneered at her.
"I know what it's like to lose," Thanos rumbled as he looked out of the window overlooking his gigantic vessel, "To feel so desperately that you're right yet to fail, nonetheless," Thanos lifts Thor by the neck and Spencer feels her heart twist in her gut. She had to bite her lip harshly to not whimper like she wanted to as she watched Thor struggle feebly; he was badly hurt, so badly hurt.
Thanos walks up to Loki, "It's frightening," Thanos continues; his voice bringing a new sense of fear to slither down her trembling form, "Turns the legs to jelly," Thanos pierces Loki with a look before glancing towards her, and in a sick and twisted way, Spencer watched as Thanos examined her, "I ask you to what end?" He looks away and Spencer can almost feel the simmering rage coming from Loki and Thor without even looking at them, "Dread it, run from it…." Thanos keeps musing with Thor in his grasp, "Destiny arrives all the same, and now, it's here or should I say I am."
Thanos holds up his hand that was covered with a golden gauntlet; it was a gaudy thing, to be honest, but as Thanos turned his hand, he revealed an Infinity Stone-a violet one. The sight of it sent violent shivers to run down Spencer's spine, her heart was beating so loudly, she wondered if any of these monsters could hear it.
"You talk too much," Thor rasped through his pain.
Spencer felt herself flinch; this certainly wasn't the time to be a smart ass.
But Thor was ignored completely by Thanos, who was looking at Loki now, "The tesseract, or your brother's head," Thanos bargained slowly as if this monster had all the time in the world, and wasn't bothered by time, "I assume you have a preference?"
Thanos's guards shifted and tittered with sneers and smirks. Spencer felt like she was going to throw up any second now. "Oh, I do," Loki responds confidently and swiftly, "Kill away."
Spencer watches with rapt attention as Thanos looks mildly surprised for a brief moment before pressing the gauntlet to Thor's left temple. The Infinity Stone-Spencer wasn't sure which one it was because she was only familiar with two of them-glows brightly in response, and Thor screams hoarsely.
Spencer's spine straightens, though her expression is one of agony at the sight of Thor. She couldn't do anything, she was momentarily powerless to stop this madness, because she could get them all killed right now if she wasn't strong enough to stop Thanos. Perhaps, she was strong enough, but she doubted that.
Thor hadn't even stood a chance against Thanos with just one of the Infinity Stones, how would Spencer fare when she hadn't fully mastered her powers? Perhaps that made her a coward, but at least a smart one. But her mind whispered a dark question, "What if Thor dies?" and it felt as if her heart had dropped into her stomach.
If Thor died, Spencer wasn't sure what she would do.
Perhaps this would be that day when Spencer snapped, lost control of her powers, and let it consume everyone. As Thor's screams echoed through her mind, she could feel the thread of her control beginning to thin, but before Spencer could even make a decision on what to do, Loki's indifferent demeanor cracks almost immediately, "All right, stop!" Loki bellows in a panic.
Thanos moves his gauntlet away from Thor, and Thor's body sags in relief, "We don't have the Tesseract, it was destroyed on Asgard." Thor snarls, though his voice is full of pain.
There's a heartbeat of silence, but Spencer has her eyes on Loki, who is looking at Thor with a strange expression, but Spencer knows better. So, she wasn't surprised when Loki lifts his right hand into the air and the Tesseract shimmers into existence, a defeated look overcomes Thor.
"You really are the worst brother," Thor grumbles.
Loki's eyes flickered towards Spencer, as if to see her reaction.
Spencer, despite everything that had happened that day, manages the tiniest smiles; as if telling Loki that she wasn't surprised and didn't hold this against him. Loki returns his gaze to Thanos and advances up the steps towards him, "I assure you, brother, the sun will shine on us again."
Thanos blankly states, "Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian."
Loki pulls his hand away slightly, "Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian," If they were in any other situation, Spencer would have laughed, but it only let the dread in her belly twist painfully again.
Thanos tilts his head ever so slightly as if waiting for Loki to continue, "And for another," Loki adds with a knowing tone, "We have a hulk." Thanos doesn't have a chance to react as a very angry Hulk slams into him, Loki dives for Thor and safely pulls them out of the way, and Spencer jumps away watching the Tesseract skitter across the floor. Her heart's pounding as the creatures that guarded them moved away from her.
As the Hulk roars, Spencer rushes towards Thor and Loki.
"Thor," Spencer gasps with tears streaming down her face, "What do we do?!" Spencer cries as Loki holds up Thor, behind her, she could hear the Hulk doing what he does best, but she also heard one of those monsters speaking.
"Let him have his fun," and it sent panic through her because she knew what those words meant; Hulk had no chance against Thanos.
Thor coughs up blood and mutters, "Forgive me, Spencer," His expression is one of defeat and agony, and before Spencer could question him, he rushes up on his feet, grabs her arm, and drags her forward. It was then that Spencer saw Hulk bloodied and defeated a few feet away. Hulk hadn't even lasted a minute against Thanos. Thor shoved her, and Spencer cried out in alarm as she tumbles over onto the Hulk's limp form.
Spencer whips her head around to watch with horror as Thor slams a metal bar onto Thanos' back, but to no avail, because Thanos kicks Thor across the deck and is promptly bound in metal debris by the tall, scrawny monster to keep Thor from interfering further. Spencer is about to scramble onto her feet, when she hears Heimdall whispering from behind her, though in pain, she can make out his words.
Heimdall is praying.
Spencer whips her head around to see Heimdall summoning the Bifrost! Her eyes met his golden ones; a solemn look in them as the Bifrost washes over her and the hulk, "No!" Spencer screamed in agony, but it was too late.
Almost as if on instinct, Hulk wraps his arms around Spencer's body protectively as they were swept away from the Bifrost and into space, and before Spencer could even form a coherent thought in her head, she blacks out as the Hulk and her tumble down the rainbow corridor.
"Spencer?"
Spencer groans as someone gently shakes her.
Her eyes open, but her vision is groggy as hell and her ears are ringing, "Spencer, are you okay?" The voice is warbled, and Spencer shakes her head, unsure of who was talking to her.
"W-What?" Spencer mumbles in confusion as she blinks rapidly to refocus her vision.
"Are you hurt?"
Spencer's vision comes back into focus, and she finds Bruce hovering over her with-Spencer bolts upwards with a gasp as she remembers everything that had happened upon seeing Bruce. Doctor Strange is beside her, a hand on her back, and another on her shoulder, "Spencer," But Spencer is drinking in her surroundings, and it takes her a minute to recognize them.
She had been here before with Thor, but that felt like eons ago.
Her heart shudders and Spencer gasps as she's hit with the full force of what happened; Heimdall had swept them away back to Earth, away from the death that awaited them, away from that asshole Thanos. A cry of agony escapes her before she can stop herself, she couldn't stop it, couldn't stop anything, and bitterly couldn't stop the tears or sobs that wrecked through her body.
"Spencer," Bruce is there as Stephen takes a step back from Spencer and lets Bruce embrace her, "Hey, hey, it's okay," Bruce murmurs, trying his best to comfort her. Bruce has never seen Spencer this way, and it scares him shitless, even after everything that Bruce had witnessed, the sight of Spencer breaking down scared him the most.
"They're dead," Spencer's sobs brokenly, "They're all dead!"
Sif, Heimdall, Thor, and Loki-they were dead now. There was no way Thanos was letting any of them live, not after that stunt they pulled. "I'm so sorry," Bruce tells her, his voice wavering, "I'm so sorry you had to see any of that," Bruce's arm tightened around her, "Spencer, look at me," Spencer tilts her head to meet Bruce's-his expression makes her heart hurt because he looks so defeated, but resolved as if coming to terms with what happened, "Back on Sakaar, when I came back, you told me to pull it together, remember? I know you're hurting, Spence, I know how fiercely you loved Thor and didn't hate Loki," Spencer let out a broken sob, "But right now, we were spared for a reason, okay? Pull yourself together right now, Spencer, because otherwise their deaths would be for nothing."
Spencer leans her forward against Bruce's shoulder; tears still rolling down her face and her heart feels so broken that in that moment, Spencer wishes that she had been killed along with Sif.
"I know you were still struggling after watching Asgard get destroyed," Bruce whispers to her softly; as if speaking to a frightened animal, "Even though I was the Hulk, I still saw everything this time around. I know you had nightmares, I know how much Thor worried over your mental state, and I hate to ask this of you, because you deserve to have your time to mourn, but unfortunately, we don't have that luxury right now, Spencer."
Spencer exhaled noisily and felt her heart shudder in pain; because he was right.
Every second they wasted was another second lost to prepare for Thanos; because Thanos was coming here. Spencer knew there was one Infinity Stone here on Earth, it was only a matter of time before Thanos showed up.
Spencer shut her eyes, trying to tell herself to push these emotions back into the darkest parts of her mind, until she had the time to mourn, to let them consume her for a time. It was hard, so damn hard, because all she could see behind her eyelids was the destruction of Asgard, and the slaughter that was handed to them by Thanos.
But as Spencer resolved herself, pushed her pain and agony back, there was the simmering rage that pushed forward as reward. Her back straightened and the hands at her sides began to clench up into a tight fist; so tight that her blunt nails dug painfully into her skin. The earth rumbled in response-a violent shake at first, before Spencer checked herself, and the earth gave another light rumble before silencing.
Spencer could feel the life-force of her home planet surging through her; trying to comfort her, and it did, but as she felt the whispers of Earth comforting her, she also felt another energy caressing her from the inside.
Asgard.
Even though Spencer had witnessed Asgard destroyed from existence and had felt the life-force of Asgard withering away; it was still there inside her, hidden away, almost as if it were scared to come forward. Sakaar's life-force was different, because Spencer could feel Sakaar's prickly energy within her, pacing almost restlessly.
It was strange, it had always struck her as strange that these life-forces still lingered inside her even when she was gone from that planet, but it was a strange, comforting feeling-especially feeling the golden, stubborn warmth of Asgard wrap around her soul in a strong embrace.
In that moment, she could almost hear the life-force reassuring her.
So, Spencer leaned away from Bruce.
Bruce leaned back slightly with a curious expression, before it melted away into relief. Spencer's eyes were red, the tip of her nose was red, but her expression wasn't full of heart-break and grief anymore, it was hardened with the promise of revenge.
And this was the Spencer that Bruce felt comfortable with; the feisty, stubborn, blood-lusting Spencer that could kill you twenty different ways with just a rusted spoon. Because this Spencer could bring the entire world to her knees with just one dangerous look.
Spencer hugged Bruce tightly, "Thank you," She expresses softly and pulls away to smile at him, a genuine one though it was sad.
Bruce just pats her head fondly, "We'll get through this, and we'll get our revenge," Bruce promises her softly.
Spencer's little smile fades, but there's a dark look on her face as she whispers confidently, "I was scared I wouldn't be able to last against Thanos, and a part of resents that I didn't at least try," Her expression gets stormy, "Next time, I see Thanos, I'm going to kick his ass or die trying."
"That's the blood lusting Spencer I've missed," Bruce jokes lightly.
Spencer sheepishly looks at Stephen and his monk friend, who had been listening and watching the entire time, "Sorry, it's been a rough few weeks," Spencer admits as Bruce helps her onto her feet.
"No need to be sorry," Stephen says kindly and offers a comforting, small smile, "Bruce caught me up on what happened after you, Thor, and Loki suddenly disappeared. Now that we know that Thanos is coming here for the Infinity Stones, it's best that we prepare as much as possible before they arrive," Stephen walks towards her and offers her backpack.
Spencer's throat tightens with emotion as she reaches out to take it from Stephen's hands softly, "Thank you," Spencer says lightly, "I almost forgot about it when Thanos first attacked, I had been training with Val, and she grabbed it for me before Thanos boarded our cruiser." Spencer explained in a distant voice.
"I suppose I should go change," Spencer tries to lighten the somber mood, "Got any spare clothes, Doc?" Spencer smiles up at Stephen Strange.
He looks amused, "I can conjure some up for you,"
Stephen whisks her away to a bathroom and in there, before she can close the door, was a pile of neatly folded clothes and a pair of boots were on the floor waiting for her. Spencer washed her face quickly, restraining herself from looking into the mirror-scared of what she might see.
She changed quickly and tried not to be embarrassed when she came across clean underwear; modesty was the last thing Spencer needed to worry about. As Spencer began peeling off the Asgardian clothing she had been wearing, a hamper appeared suddenly for her.
She smiled softly and dropped her dirty clothes into the hamper, and as soon as she dropped all of her dirty clothes into the hamper, it whooshed away, "You have good taste, Doc," Spencer mused softly as she tugged on the black combat boots and exited the bathroom.
"Thank you," Stephen responds, looking proud at that fact, "Everything fits okay?" He asks, eying her.
Spencer bobs her head, "Yeah, like a glove."
"Good, now, let's get some help," Stephen says, turning around and using his Sling Ring to open a gateway. Stephen steps through it easily and on the other side was what looked like a park, Spencer merely stares at it blankly. Bruce comes up to her side and gently squeezes her hand.
"Are you good?" Bruce questions in a hesitant manner.
Spencer glances at him and offers a smile, "As to be expected," Spencer informs with a sigh, "At least, on the bright side of this shitty day, maybe I'll finally be able to see Pietro, or my dad." She gives a light shrug.
"I'm sorry, are you giving out tickets or something?"
Spencer's body froze in an instant, because she knew that annoying, smug voice anymore. It had felt like an entire life-time ago when Spencer had last heard Tony's voice, and it almost brought her to tears, to be able to finally hear his voice again. "We need your help, look, it's not overselling to say that the fate of the universe is at stake." Stephen grimly tells Tony.
As Spencer walks through the gateway, "And who's we?"
It only takes her a few steps to fall beside Stephen, and Spencer realized that Tony wasn't alone, Pepper was at his side. Both of their eyes fell on her, and it took them a second to actually realize who she was-did she look different?
Pepper's eyes grew watery, a hand going to cover the gasp that came out of her mouth, almost as if Pepper couldn't believe that Spencer was there, but it was Tony's reaction that brought a new wave of tears to push through Spencer's eyes. He looked frozen for a second, but another beat passed before Tony reached for her.
And as much as Spencer tried and begged herself not to cr, as Tony hugged her so tightly, it wasn't any use. Spencer cried into his shoulder, returning his fierce hug. She felt his shudder against her as he exhaled in disbelief, and it only made her want to cry even more, but these tears were out of relief and joy.
"Spencer," Tony spoke her name; the rare times he didn't call her Pikachu.
It made her smile as she pulled away to look at him, Pepper coming up and hugging her just as fiercely, "Oh, honey!" Pepper cried, Spencer's eyes closing again at Pepper's motherly embrace; Pepper's familiar perfume setting Spencer at ease, "I can't believe you're here! Look at you!" Pepper breathed, pulling away with a giant smile.
Spencer couldn't help it, but she smiled back at Pepper, "It's good to be back," and even though the events that led Spencer to Pepper and Tony had been horrible, at least she was back home, "I'm finally home," Spencer murmurs quietly with relief.
Wong, the monk with Stephen, was using magic to show them the history of the Infinity Stones. Spencer was sitting down with Tony; both of them holding hands. Tony held onto her as if he feared she would suddenly disappear, and Spencer held his hand to remind herself that this was all real, that he was real.
"From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence," Wong explained, and Spencer watched breathlessly in awe.
"Space," A blue Infinity stone lit up as Stephen named it, "Reality," A red stone lit up, "Power," a familiar purple stone lit up, and it made Spencer grip Tony's hand even tighter, "Soul," Tony glanced at her as the orange stone lit up, "Mind," A yellow stone lit up, "and Time," Stephen turns towards them, bringing his arms up and curling his fingers into a symbol; the locket hanging low on Stephen's stomach opened to reveal a glowing green stone.
"Tell me his name again," Tony asked attentively, in his usual bossy voice.
"Thanos," Bruce answered almost instantly with fear; the name made Spencer flinch, "He's a plague, Tony," Bruce advances on Tony, "He invades planets, he takes what he wants, he wipes out half the population," Bruce explained fervently as Tony squeezed her hand before letting go and standing up, "He sent Loki, the attack on New York? That was Thanos!"
Spencer watched realization dawn onto Tony's face-the other shoe was dropping, "This is it," Tony murmured, almost to himself before walking around Wong, "What's our timeline?"
"No telling," Bruce hurriedly explains, "He has the Power and Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe," Bruce follows behind Tony as he continues, "If he gets his hands on all six Stones, Tony-"
Stephen took over in a grave voice, "He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of."
Tony is leaning and stretching against a cauldron, almost as if trying to prepare himself for this new battle heading towards them, "Did you seriously just say hitherto undreamt of?" Tony mocks.
"Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" Stephen returns the sass with a deadpan voice.
"Is that what this is?" Tony asks carelessly.
Stephen's cloak smacks Tony's arm, startling and shocking the billionaire. Spencer couldn't help the smirk on her face; almost as if on instinct, Tony glares at her momentarily before turning to Stephen Strange with an offended glare, "I'm going to allow that," Both men exchange stares, "If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"
Spencer almost missed his poor sense of humor-almost.
"No can do," Stephen shakes his head.
Wong spoke up firmly, "We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives," and it only made Tony roll his eyes.
"And I swore off diary, but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so," Tony shrugged without much care, albeit looking proud of his ice cream flavor.
"Stark Raving Hazelnuts," Stephen named with barely concealed amusement.
Stark nodded, "It's not bad," Stark answered proudly.
"A bit chalky," Stephen smirked, taunting Tony's ice cream flavor.
"A Hunka-Hulk Burning Fudge is my favorite," Wong chimes in from beside Bruce.
Bruce's face lights up almost instantly, "That's a thing?!" Bruce gasps.
"Shockwave Pecan Caramel blast is my favorite," Stephen informs, making Spencer gasp too!
"Dude, we made it big time!" Spencer and Bruce high-five each other.
Tony rolls his eyes, "Whatever, point is: things change," Tony firmly states.
But Stephen is there to challenge Tony, "Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change," He explains to Tony, "This Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."
Tony pushes back instantly, "And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us."
Spencer inwardly sighed, not surprised that Tony was still being Tony, but it made her smile a little. "Well, if we don't do our jobs," Stephen throws back at Tony.
"What is your job exactly?" Tony scathingly demands, "Besides making balloon animals?" Tony adds in a condescending tone.
Spencer exhaled quietly; these two are going to get along just fine, weren't they? Spencer mused to herself. Tony looks riled up, but Stephen calmly responds, "Protecting your reality, douchebag."
Spencer, unable to help herself, laughs.
Tony glares at her, "Seriously?"
Spencer wheezes, "I missed you so much!" Spencer laughs.
Tony's expression softened at her words, but it was Bruce who spoke next, "Could we table this discussion right now? The fact is that we have this Stone. We know where it is," Bruce gestures with his arm, "Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now." Bruce asserts firmly.
Tony has his arms crossed over his chest, "Yeah," Tony drags out the word awkwardly, "That's the thing," He doesn't elaborate further.
"What is it, Tony?" Spencer grumbles.
Tony sighs with frustration, "Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder, he's offline." Tony informs them with a light shrug.
"What?" Bruce demands in bewilderment.
"Yeah," Tony sighs, walking by Bruce.
"Tony, you lost another super bot?" Bruce accuses with exasperation in his voice.
"I didn't lose him!" Tony defends himself, "He's more than that, he's evolving!" Tony threw his hands up in frustration.
"Who could find Vision then?" Stephen asks Tony carefully, as if already fearing the answer.
Tony walks a few feet away from the group, his back towards them as he mutters to himself, "Shit," Tony doesn't turn towards them, "Probably Steve Rogers."
Spencer's heart drops at the mention of Steve. Bruce's eyes glance at her, taking in her expression. "Oh, great," Stephen says in exasperation as Wong sighs.
"Maybe," Tony sighs.
Bruce and Spencer exchange knowing looks, and Tony catches this, "You told him?" Tony asks Spencer in a surprisingly calm voice.
Spencer bobs her head, "Yeah, but obviously, I don't know much about what happened after-" Spencer winced and Tony's expression darkens with the memory of what happened in Germany, "I got my information from Thor, so," Spencer shrugs lightly.
"Cap and I fell out hard," Tony tells Bruce truthfully, "We're not on speaking terms."
There's a small heartbeat of silence before Bruce walks up to Tony, "Tony, listen to me," Bruce's voice is tired, but pleading, "Thor's gone," Spencer closes her eyes as the hurt and agony wash over her, "Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."
When Spencer opens her eyes, Tony is looking at her intently.
Tony pulls something out of his pocket; an old flip phone. Spencer's face scrunches with confusion at the sight of it. Tony flips it open and stares at the dimly lit screen intently for a few seconds before his thumb hovers over where Spencer knew was the call button.
Spencer felt the ground rumble in an unusual way.
So did Tony, because he pauses his actions. Spencer can hear the subtle rattling of the surrounding objects, slowly everyone notices the rumbling. Tony does a turn before settling his gaze onto Stephen, "Say, Doc," Tony frowns, "You wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?"
Stephen is staring at his forelock fluttering ever so slightly, "Not at the moment, no." He responds in his monotone voice.
Tony looks at the Hulk-made opening through the ceiling, and Spencer follows his gaze to see debris flying by outside. Tony closes the flip phone as an ominous shroud falls over the group, Spencer looks towards the front door, and through the glass of the door, she sees people running by screaming. Dread spreads through her belly as the realization dawns on her; Thanos was already here.
Tony and Spencer exchange looks, before Tony goes to the front door, pulling it open, and letting the chaos from outside come inside. Spencer is right behind him, scanning the chaotic surroundings; people are running and screaming in alarm, traffic becoming impossibly tangled, and there's debris being littered everywhere by the wind. There are horns being honked, as Spencer looks up at the sky to see it clouded and dark.
Tony, without looking at her, quietly tells her, "Stay close."
Spencer follows Tony as he walks towards the opposite direction of where all the civilians are running from; a woman falls as Tony walks by her; Spencer is instantly helping the older woman to her feet as Tony asks the woman, "Are you okay?"
But the frightened woman ignores them and scrambles away.
A car crashes into a pole behind Tony, but it doesn't startle him. It startles the hell outta Spencer, though, "Help him!" Tony orders Wong and Bruce, "Wong, Bruce!" But Bruce and Wong are already racing to the car to help the person inside. Spencer watches the surrounding chaos quietly, as Tony puts on his sunglasses, "FRIDAY, what am I looking at?"
Tony is walking away, Spencer and Stephen are right behind him, but Tony turns towards them, "Hey, you might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!" Tony tells him warningly.
Stephen's forearms are banded with spells as he readies for a fight, "Might wanna use it!" Stephen counters as they continue to follow Tony through the chaos. A mechanical hum grows louder as the trio approaches the intersection. As they turn the corner, they see a huge circular ship floating over Bleecker Street.
"FRIDAY, evacuate anyone south of 43rd Street, and notify first responders!" Tony tells his A.I.
Doctor Stephen steps forward, but Spencer places her hand on his bicep, halting his actions, "May I, Doc?" Spencer asks with a smile.
Stephen blinks owlishly at her, "Be my guest, I've been curious to see your new powers." Stephen moves to the side, and she was aware of Tony staring at her with a frown.
Spencer turns towards the ship, steadies her stance, and uses both of her hands to command the air to stop and redirects the remaining air current upwards. The dust clears almost instantly, Tony is gaping at her with confusion. Spencer smirks and winks at him.
The ship looming in front of them emits a blue beam down the street from them, two familiar ugly aliens appear. As the group walks towards the two intruders, the scrawny one speaks, "Hear me, and rejoice!" Spencer rolls her shoulder and flexes her fingers, as tendrils of rage wash over her, "You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos!"
The other alien, the big, tall, and scary one, grunts excitedly.
"Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to the balance of-" but Tony cuts the alien in his usual Stark snotty fashion.
"I'm sorry, Earth is closed today! You better pack it up and get outta here!" Tony calls out sarcastically.
But the alien merely looks towards Stephen, "Stonekeeper, does this chattering animal speak for you?" It gestures towards Tony.
Stephen steps forward, magical shields are readied on his fists, "Certainly not, I speak for myself," Wong emulates him as backup, "But you're trespassing in this city, and on this planet." Stephen informs in a grim tone.
"It means get lost, Squidward!" Tony adds with a sneer.
Spencer snorted in light laughter as the scrawny alien turns towards his beefy companion, "He exhausts me,"
The other alien says something in a horrid language.
"Bring me the stone," The scrawny one orders.
His ugly friend brandishes his huge, alien hammer and drags it along as he begins to walk towards them. Tony looks pumped up, but turns to Bruce, "Bruce, you want a piece?" Tony offers.
Bruce sighs, "No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?" Bruce responds like a sullen child.
Tony looks pleased, "That's right,"
"Slave driver," Spencer murmurs, and Tony shoots her a playful glare.
Bruce attempts to release the Hulk. Instead of Hulk coming out easily, the most that turns green is Bruce's neck. Spencer watches with concern, "Are you okay, Bruce?" Spencer whispers.
"Been a while," Tony admits with a sigh and not realizing that Bruce was struggling to summon the Hulk, "But good to have you, buddy."
"I just," Bruce exhaled noisily, "I need to concentrate here for a second," He tries again, but only his neck turns green, "Come on, come on, man!" Everyone was glancing at Bruce with mixed expressions; Stephen and Wong looked at Bruce with confusion, Spencer was concerned as hell, and Tony finally turned to look at Bruce with a frown.
"Where's your guy?" Tony asked.
Bruce stops trying to turn into the hulk-the green fading away on his neck-and huffs, "I don't know! We've sorta been having a thing," Bruce shrugs breathlessly.
"There's no time for a thing," Tony scolds Bruce.
"I know!" Bruce complains.
Tony points towards the approaching alien, "That's the thing right there, let's go!"
Bruce gives out a loud grunt, but fails to release the Hulk. Doctor Strange stares at Tony and Bruce in disbelief. Tony glances at Stephen and comes closer to Bruce, "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards!" Tony hissed down at Bruce.
Bruce is trying one last time, but it seems like the Hulk refuses to come back and smash, "Tony, I'm sorry!" Bruce stammers with confusion, "Either I can't or he won't-" Bruce looks ready to panic.
Spencer steps forward and calmly puts her hands on Bruce's shoulder, "Hey, calm down, stand down," Spencer glares towards Tony, who puts his hands up as if to say 'I didn't do anything!'. "Can you keep an eye on him, please?" Spencer asks Wong politely.
Wong nods, "I have him," Wong reassures Spencer as Wong steps in front of Bruce to protect him with his magical shields.
"Want me to step up?" Spencer muses beside Tony; a blood-thirsty smirk on the young woman's face.
Tony glances at her, "Nah, I got it,"
Spencer pouts as Tony steps forward, pulling the strings of his jogging suit down activating something, and taps on the arc reactor on his chest as Tony takes a few steps forward. Spencer forgets to breathe as she watches, stunned, as Tony's suit begins to manifest out of nowhere and dons over Tony.
As the big, ugly alien comes at Tony and swings his hammer down, Tony grows a shield on one arm and uses it to protect himself from the massive hit. Spencer's mouth drops down-what the hell! Before the offending alien can hit Tony, Tony punches the alien back, and grows a set of blasters from his back; two on each on both sides and launch the dwarf alien back down the street towards his other scrawny friend.
"Whoa, what the hell is that?!" Spencer demands hotly.
"Yeah, what is that?!" Bruce gapes.
Tony turns towards them with a smug look, "It's nanotech, you like it? A little something-" Tony is thrown upwards by a spike that came from the Earth and away from the group. Spencer steps forward as the scrawny alien lazily moves his hand to uproot trees and other debris before sending them right towards the group.
Spencer made a slashing motion with her hands, using a powerful gust of wind to slice the attack in half and stop it in its track; the trees and debris fell limply at her sides. Spencer and the scrawny alien stared at each other; almost challenging one another because of their similar abilities.
Tony flies by her and the scrawny alien attempts to slow down Tony, by hitting him with huge rolls of concrete from the ground, but Spencer was quick to shove them back down into the ground and out of Tony's way.
The scrawny creature snarls at her, but before Tony could reach that alien, his companion whacked Tony with his hammer, sending Tony flying right into Spencer, before Spencer could even duck out of the way! Tony moves them so that Spencer is tucked into his chest, and his back taking most of the damage as they plow clean through an apartment building, bounce off the ground, and into a tree in a park.
Spencer huffs, her head spinning wildly, as Bruce appears panting, "Spencer, Tony, are you both okay?!" Bruce helps Spencer up off of Tony, "How are we doing? Good? Bad?" Bruce hurriedly asks.
Spencer shakes her head, trying to clear the dizziness from her mind, "Really, really good," Tony responds in a snarky tone, "Really good, do you plan on helping out?"
"I'm trying, but he won't come out!" Bruce informs with a frustrated tone.
"Incoming!" Spencer warns, as the beefy alien guy comes crashing through an apartment building, winding up his hammer, and throwing it at them. Spencer hears Tony push Bruce out of the way, and she side-steps the hammer, watching it fly by her; she grabs the chain and, with her hand, destroys the metals, and the chain breaks. "Hammer down!" Spencer shouts out to Tony, using her abilities to make the hammer a few feet away from her crumble into dust.
Tony uses an energy beam, but the alien guy pulls up a shield to deflect Tony's attack; the beams bounce off the shield and slice a couple of trees surrounding the area-one tree is falling down on Bruce when Spencer slows down the descent of the tree and lays it hurriedly on the ground beside Bruce.
Tony tries to blast the shield off the alien, but is knocked away! Spencer flexes her fingers and manipulates the ground underneath the alien to sink him down and hold him in place; the alien roars in anger, and tries to swing another hammer, that was on its back, down on Tony. Spencer's eyes widen, and she uses the roots of the trees to snap out out of thr ground to restrain the alien, and just as the blow is about to hit Tony.
It's caught by the Spider-Boy!
"Hey, man," Spider-boy waves at the alien before turning to Tony, "What's up, Mr. Stark?"
"Kid, where'd you come from?" Tony's voice sounds exasperated now,
"Field trip-" He throws to the side, like a rag-doll by the alien.
Spencer softens the air around the kid and sets him on his feet a few feet away from her, "Who are you? Wait a second!" Spider-boy gapes at her, "You're Shockwave! Hey, you're alive! It's so good to see you!" Spencer cocks an eyebrow, trying not to smile as he reminds her of an overly-excited puppy.
"Kid, focus!" Tony calls with a sigh, fighting off the big guy.
"Oh, sorry, what's this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?"
"He's from space, and he's here to steal a necklace from a wizard!" Tony remarks sarcastically as the two fight together. Spencer runs forward as Tony and Spider-boy beat down on the alien guy, his focus isn't on her. Spencer summons a small amount of the ground to pop up beneath her to propel herself into the air, she reaches for the sky with one hand summoning a storm.
In an instant, a gigantic bolt of lighting strikes down into her hand, and Spencer lands right on top of the alien; feet on either side of his head, "Arms!" Spencer snarls out; the Spider-boy using his webbing to tether the alien's arm to his sides effectively for just a split second. Spencer can feel the lightning bolt in her hand vibrating intensely as Spencer shoves the tip of the lightning bolt into the alien's head.
The alien lets out a roar of agony as Spencer grits her teeth and pushes the lightning bolt down with so much force that the lightning bolts slices clean through the alien and slams into the ground beneath them; the sound of thunder hitting the ground makes her ears pop.
The stench of burnt flesh filled her nostrils as Spencer felt the body beneath her feet go instantly limp. She jumps off the body swiftly and watches as both halves of the alien plop onto the burnt floor.
She breathes noisily through her nostrils as the energy from that lightning bolt was humming inside her body, but it felt great-empowering. Tony and Spider-boy were staring at her; Tony had removed part of his helmet to reveal his stunned face. "What the hell was that?" Tony demanded.
"Whoa, that was so cool! I didn't know you could do that, Shockwave!" Spider-boy came up to her, looking excited.
Spencer felt her heart twist, hearing her old hero name, "A lot changed while I was in Asgard," Spencer spoke quietly, looking at Tony with a smirk, "I have new abilities now, I don't just control electricity now," She looked up at the dark sky; the clouds were now all dark gray and rumbling with thunder, "I can manipulate the weather and the elements," She held out the palm of her hand, and in her palm she conjured up a mini tornado. It tickled her palm, and Tony watched with his mouth partly opened in awe.
The mini tornado faded, only to be replaced with a decent sized flame, and then she made that vanish from her palm, and pulled the moisture from the air to form a bouncing ball of water in that same palm.
"How is that possible?" Tony asked quietly.
Spencer let the water drop from her hand and onto the ground before hovering her hand, palm-side down, towards the ground. She pulled at the ground-the earth rumbled under their feet-and manipulated it to make a Tony-Sized clay replica.
Tony reached out and Spencer made the clay Tony mimic her friend, "When the Space Stone was pulled from my body, my abilities changed to better protect my body and mind," Spencer explained fondly, "At least that's how Thor explained it to me."
"Did we win!?" Bruce suddenly appeared beside Tony, startling the older man, "Whose that?" Bruce pointed to Spider-boy.
"H-Hi, Sir! I'm Spider-Man," Oh, so not Spider-boy? "It's so nice to finally meet Bruce Banner!" Yup, the kid was fangirling super hard now.
Suddenly, a blur moves through the group-Stephen Strange seemed passed out and his magical cloak was trying to protect him from the Squidward who was right on the Cloak's tail, "Kid, that's the wizard, get on it."
"On it!" In a flash, the young hero is gone.
"Um, shouldn't we help him?" Spencer cocks an eyebrow.
"He should be fine on his own," Tony waves his hand dismissively, "I have a lot of faith in him."
"He sounds like he's only fourteen, Tony," Spencer points out with some concern.
"Yeah, he sounds really young," Bruce adds.
"He's seventeen, actually, almost an adult!" Tony defends his Protégé.
Suddenly, Spider-Man is yelling through the comms in Tony's ear, "Uhh, Mr. Stark?! I'm being beamed up!"
Spencer and Bruce just stare at the billionaire, who sighs, "Hang on, kid!" He tells the young hero, before turning to Bruce, Spencer, and now joining them Wong, "Stay here, yeah?" Tony instructs before zipping off.
Spencer looka to Bruce, "I've been replaced, Bruce," Spencer jokes to lighten the tense mood, watching the beam that carried Stephen and Spider-man away with Tony on his way to help, "Let's hope they don't end up in Space, I don't think my abilities work up there." Spencer adds with a soft sigh.
So, there the trio stood watching and waiting-until the ship began to recede up towards the sky, "Um, should I go stop that?" Spencer wrung her hands nervously, eyes searching for Tony, Stephen, or even Spider-Man.
"Tony told us to stay here," Bruce looked equally worried.
"Yeah, but the ship's getting away!" Spence raised her voice, before growling, "Fuck it!" Spencer used to wind to propel her forward towards the ascending alien ship at a high speed.
"Spencer, no, Tony told us to stay!" Bruce shouted after her, but she was already gone from earshot and towards the alien ship.
"Since when do I actually listen to Tony?" Spencer snorted, wrapping herself in a protective bubble as the air started getting heavier to breath, but right as Spencer was even halfway towards the alien ship; the ship made a strange warbling sound before disappearing from within her view, into deep space.
Spencer just watched; momentarily, not realizing the grim situation that she had just witnessed. She floated in the air, high past the cloud coverage, unsure what to do or say. In less than an hour, just as she was reunited with Tony-he was taken away from her and along with Stephen Strange and the young teenager.
"Fuck!" Spencer screamed, frustrated and upset.
The clouds below her rumbled with in response, and Spencer's chest heave with a sob, but she sucked it up because she didn't want to have a breakdown out here in the open-where it was safe, where no one would know or could see her.
Spencer just stared blankly at the sky above her that led into space for a few seconds before letting out a scream.
From down below, Bruce watched with Tony's flip phone in hand, as the clouds above darkened to nearly black and crackled with lightning-the thunder that rumbled after shook even the ground beneath him, "What's going on with the weather?" Wong grumbled from Bruce's side.
But Bruce knew what was going on with the weather.
"She's mourning," Bruce says softly.
Wong glances at Bruce with confusion, "Who?"
As a particularly violent rumble of thunder shook the very air, the ground rumbled underneath Bruce's and Wong's feet, and then enlightenment came to Wong's face, "Oh," Wong says quietly, and both men watched the darkened, chaotic sky as a young woman released her sorrows and grief high into the sky where no one could see her.
I uploaded earlier then I orginally intended because I am so frickin excited to write Infinity War! I also realized, like a dummy, that I got Infinity War mixed up with Endgame, haha, so sorry about that XD I was super embarrased when I realized x.x BUT HERE WE HERE, GUYS, AFTER 46 CHAPTERR AND IDK HOW MANY YEARS! God, I am so happy to be at this point right now! Admittedly, that also means, that we're nearing the end of Spencer's journey. I wish I could estimate how many chapters, but I honestly don't know. Ragnorak took more chapters than I had antipicated, so, idk.
So, I do need some help, and I am asking for Spencer's new hero name? I can't come up with anything unique that I like. I was hoping you guys would be able to give me some inspiration or something, haha. So, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I'm actually quite happy with it. I do apologize for any errors and I will see you in the next chapter!