2
Sleeping Bear
Kratos walked down the familiar hallway to his apartment, the same fluorescent light flickering occasionally, as it always has. His distracted mind barely noticed that Tammy was having trouble with her key.
"Hey, bug guy, you wanna give me a hand with this fucking key, again please?" She gave out a guilty chuckle. Her key has always had trouble with the lock.
Kratos raised his head, finally noticing her.
"Tamara...of course."
"How many times, it's Tammy to my friends. You know you're one of those, right?"
"Apologies...Tammy."
Kratos, having figured out the trick to Tammy's door months ago, pulled on the door, pulled the key just a tad out from the lock, and turned. The door opened with a weak creak.
"Thanks, big guy."
"Of course."
Tammy moved into her apartment, then turned to face Kratos.
"Would...would you like a drink?"
"Uh..."
"Like a wine?"
Kratos, after the day he had, couldn't help but be enticed. He took a moment to think.
"What kind of wine?" He asked.
"Some red stuff from the bottom of the shelf." She replied with a chuckle, waving her hand nonchalantly.
"I have not changed clothes from work."
"Don't worry about it, work smell has nothing on prepubescent student B.O. Plus the suit looks good on you."
Kratos looked down at his work suit, skeptical of her compliment, but still interested in the promise of wine.
"Then perhaps I will indulge."
"Great! I'll wash a glass for you."
Kratos stood there as Tammy went to her kitchen. Kratos had spent hundreds of years avoiding friendship, avoiding anything that could hurt him again. He had lost so many over his life. What compelled him to even consider that perhaps there was a friend to be had in this woman? Why would he risk suffering another loss? She would fall to the passage of time or to the sword one day. He then considered how long he would have to keep up his isolation. He may live another two thousand years, maybe three. Why should he starve himself of friendship? Why should he let his loss control him? He sighed heavily, looked at his apartment door, then looked into Tammy's apartment. He could hear the cork pop out of the bottle.
"You coming in, or what, weirdo?" Tammy voiced from her kitchen.
Kratos, forcing himself to move, against every instinct, into Tammy's living room.
/
"And then she says to me, 'My sweeeeet boy couldn't POSSIBLY be the one drawing graffiti on the school walls, now YOOOUU stop investigating my son, or IIIIII'LL be speaking to your SUPEEERIOR'".
Kratos listened patiently as Tammy vented her work frustrations, the red wine making her much more enthusiastic than normal to do so. Kratos had not had a long conversation with anybody for a long time, and he was, for once, enjoying himself as Tammy waved her arms in a drunken imitation of one of her student's parents.
"Perhaps a duel would solve your conflict with this woman" Kratos jested.
"Oh, just watch me, I'll give her the old ONE TWO!" Tammy slurred, smiling wildly, feigning a left and right hook.
"You may need some training, you won't get far if THAT is your technique. Here, let me show you a proper hook."
"Since WHEN do you know how to fight? I've never seen you hurt a fly!"
"I have known since birth how to fight."
"So what, an ex-soldier or something? You never talk about yourself."
"I was a soldier...long ago. Now let me show you a technique I learned in Dengfeng."
"Dengfeng...China? THIS is why you need to talk about yourself more!"
"I have traveled to many places many times. Now raise your fist like so- do you hear that?" Kratos asked, his head turning to look behind him.
"I don't hear anything, what is it?" Tammy asked.
"I do not know," Kratos replied in a half-whisper.
"I don't think it's-"
"SHH."
Both stood still for a moment. Then Kratos' eyes widened.
"GET DOWN!"
Kratos tackled Tammy to the ground just in time for a purple-blue bolt of plasma to blast through the wall into the kitchen, obliterating a cupboard in a burst of wood and glass. Shrapnel and debris plastered Kratos, ripping his work suit and piercing his skin. He paused to let the debris finish falling before raising himself off of Tammy. She looked shaken and was coughing from the dust, but wasn't otherwise hurt.
"Are you well?" Kratos asked, scanning her up and down for bleeding. Tammy picked herself off the ground.
"What the fuck was that?!" She struggled to say between coughs.
"I do not know," Kratos replied.
Both looked at the hole where the plasma bolt entered the room, the sound of several flying craft could be heard overhead. Kratos covered Tammy again as another plasma bolt hit the building across the street, blasting apart the wall and sending bricks flying into the street below. Screams, plasma and gunfire sounds grew louder throughout the street. The wounds Kratos sustained from the blast began to heal over, to Tammy's shock.
"Wh-what the fuck is happening, K?! What the fuck is happening to you?!"
"You must find somewhere to hide. Now." Kratos urged, taking Tammy by the arms and leading her to her bedroom.
"Hey, WAIT!" Tammy yelled as he dragged her away from the blasted wall. "What are you? You were seriously hurt and now you're not so you tell me what the hell is going on and what that was!"
"Find a place to hide and I will tell you after." Kratos barked as he opened the door to her bedroom."Under the bed. Move."
"Where are you going?"
"To find out what's going on."
"No no no, don't go out there, it's a terrorist attack or something, you could die, I don't care how much training you've had!"
"I will be fine, stay here until I return."
Tammy paused and looked into his eyes.
"Please don't go."
"I must."
More explosions in the background. Tammy lost her balance as the ground shook around them. She looked into his eyes and saw something she'd never seen in his eyes before. Fire and Blood. A thousand-yard stare of a very old soul. There was no stopping that man from going out there.
"...Don't get hurt out there."
Kratos gave a stern nod. He made sure Tammy was under the bed before charging down the hall to his apartment. He skidded across the floor to his bedroom closet. He ripped the doors open and tore away at his pile of clothing to reveal an old shield. The Shield of Evalach, gifted to him after he defeated an extremely powerful knight in one-on-one combat in medieval England. The Red Cross, painted on the shield in the blood of an old keeper of the Grail, granted the owner 'heavenly protection'. While the shield was magical, Kratos never enjoyed the implications of the shield possibly having 'heavenly' influence. If the gods of one religion could not be trusted, how could any other god be any better? Sitting beside the shield was a pair of Seven-League Boots, a relic stolen from an American witch. These boots gave the wearer powerful jumping and running abilities. He grabbed the shield, put on the boots and ran out of his apartment and down the hall towards the roof access.
Kratos kicked the door to the roof open, the door breaking off its hinges. The sky was darkened with alien creatures, bloated monsters of enormous size and humanoids raining plasma fire down from their flyers. Kratos's eyes followed the flow of aliens towards the source of the invasion. He saw a beam of blue light leading from Stark Tower to the fissure in the sky, with hundreds of alien creatures pouring out of it. From the roof, he had a view of the whole city. Smoke was rising everywhere he looked, tracer rounds flying into the hoards of flying creatures, plasma flying down in return. There was little time. He had to determine these invaders' combat abilities and protect his home. Protect the people inside. Kratos took aim at one of the approaching flyers and jumped.
The two aliens, looking genuinely surprised to see Kratos slam himself into their flyer hundreds of meters in mid-air, couldn't regain their balance fast enough as the flyer rolled from the impact. Kratos pulled himself over the side, rammed his shield into the face of the alien gunner, sending it flying off into the streets below. The flyer's pilot turned to face him, pulling a plasma sidearm from his side. Kratos, reacting quickly, shifted his footing to block the plasma fire. The shield absorbed most of the impact, but some of the momentum pushed Kratos back to the edge of the flyer. The pilot turned to swerve out of the path of a building, then turned back to take aim again, but in the 0.8 seconds it took the alien to re-acquire its target, it was too late. Kratos was already on him. He took the alien by the jaw and smashed its head into the control panel of the flyer. The alien's head split open, spitting purple blood over Kratos' face.
The flyer, without its pilot, began to dive towards the street. Kratos scoured the skies for another flyer before he crashed into the ground. Finding one above him, he jumped and grabbed a hold of the bottom of the flyer's platform. With a few punches to the bottom of the flyer, the machine's propulsion system began to fail and it began to plummet to the ground.
Kratos continued to destroy flyers, each one defeated with moderate ease. He dropped from his 15th kill and rolled onto the roof of a building below. There was no way for him to destroy enough of them to make a difference, not without a heavier arsenal. A machine gun or a tank or a certain two swords he would rather not think about. He looked over to his apartment. It was still standing, but he could see smoke rising out of the windows. A roar came from behind him. He turned to face a flying finned creature, at least 3 blocks long, armored and brimming with rows of teeth. Ita flight overhead blew up dust, blinding Kratos for a moment, but he quickly recovered. The creature slammed its body against a nearby building, destroying the foundation and leaving it crumbling to the ground. Kratos' eyes widened as the creature began to head for his apartment building.
"Tamara."
Kratos, hoping his aim wasn't too rusty after all these years, stepped back from the edge of the roof. He couldn't waste any time, every second spent thinking was another second the creature charged for his home. Those lives inside. His neighbors. The power of his sprint tore away at the roof, leaving chunks of concrete and dusk in his wake as he charged for the ledge. The Seven-League Boot's power sent him flying through the air towards the beast. The creature was not a hundred meters from the apartment when Kratos landed and drove his shield into the armor of the monster.
Kratos quickly regained his footing and ran for its head. Taking no time, he dove off to the left, plunged the shield into the beast's face and jammed his fist into its left eye. The monster roared violently and served to the left. The creature was diverted just in time to avoid ramming the building head-on, but not enough to stop its tail from sideswiping the walls, sending bricks flying in all directions and causing a quarter of the apartment to collapse to the ground. With the monster diverted and roaring in pain, Kratos jumped from its face to the street and ran as fast as he could towards home. The side of the building that was hit had been decimated. Kratos jumped up to the top floor to Tamara's apartment.
"TAMARA!" he screamed, searching left and right for any sign of life. Not much remained of the living room or the kitchen, a giant gap of broken plumbing and shredded wood left in its place. Kratos burst through the bedroom door, but the bed and the walls were ablaze with fire. The heat forced Kratos back. Turning his head, he saw a hand poking out from under a layer of wood and plaster. He quickly removed the debris to reveal Tammy, bloodied and contorted, a plasma burn piercing all the way through her abdomen. He checked her pulse. It was faint but it was there. He placed his shield on his back, picked her up and jumped down to the street from the hole where the wall used to be. Where could he take her? Most likely any hospitals in the area are overrun with aliens, too full with casualties or damage. She would certainly die if they chose to try and find a working hospital.
Then he remembered. The Stranger. The card. He turned his eyes towards the beam above Stark Tower. He could see a small armored man flying into the fissure. The beam, the source of energy for the gateway, suddenly broke, and the armored man came falling back through just before the gateway closed. The flyers overhead and the beasts that followed them suddenly began to plummet to the ground. The city slowly grew quiet as the sky cleared of the alien invaders.
All of this started at Stark Tower. Perhaps this Tony Stark, this 'Iron Man' he saw so often on the gym's TVs would have technologies able to heal these wounds. Perhaps Stark could contact the one-eyed stranger. No doubt, if this Fury knew of Kratos, he would know of Iron Man. Perhaps Fury knows of a healer or witch, anyone that could help Tammy. Stark Tower was her best bet. With the decision made, he began to sprint, Tammy in his arms, for Stark Tower.
/
Kratos ran up to Stark Tower, kicked through the glass on the main doors and ran in. No sooner had he entered the lobby, he was met with several automated turrets that popped up from the floor, the walls and the ceiling.
"YOU ARE BREAKING AND ENTERING A SECURE FACILITY. DO NOT MOVE." a robotic voice sounded from the intercom.
"Please help her. Help this woman, she has been injured in battle!" Kratos explained to the nearby security camera.
"DO NOT MOVE, YOU ARE BREAKING AND ENTERING. COMPLY OR LETHAL FORCE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED." The voice continued.
"I wish to speak to the one-eyed man! The one in search of powerful beings!" Kratos pleaded to the camera again.
"DO NOT MOVE, YOU ARE BR-"
The voice stopped abruptly as the lobby filled with echoes and silence. There was a pause, then the turrets returned to their slots inside the walls. Kratos stood in silence, eyes scanning the lobby, waiting for whatever was to come next. The doors at the top of the stairs opened, and a red-haired woman in black appeared before him.
"Ok beardy, what do you want with Fury?" The stranger asked, a pistol steady in her iron grip.
"I come seeking aid. She is dying." Kratos looked down at the pale woman in his arms. The red-haired woman looked at Tammy, then back to Kratos.
"Tell Fury that I will join the Avengers if you help her.
"How do you know about the Avengers? That's not public knowledge yet." The woman asked, her aim lowering.
"J.A.R.V.I.S. Can you do anything for this lady?" She asked, her sight not leaving the grey stranger.
"Good Day Natasha. Let me see what I can do. Scanning…" A calm voice spoke over the intercom. A blue pattern of light swept over Tamara's body.
"There is severe 3rd-degree burns and tissue damage, her internal organs are failing. We will need to bring her to the lab immediately if she is to survive." The voice explained. The woman holstered her pistol and began to wave Kratos over to the door.
"Come on, let's get her upstairs!" She urged. Kratos didn't hesitate and ran to the elevator.
/
Kratos hadn't moved in hours. His head rested in his hands as he sat outside the lab. He could see the machinery through the window as they worked on her, the lasers and needles orbiting her pale body. He was tired from the battle but couldn't sleep, not until it was certain that Tamara would survive.
"Sir?" the voice spoke over the intercom.
"Speak machine. Is she well?"
"...I'm sorry, sir. There was nothing any of us could have done."
"Do NOT…" Kratos shook his head, still resting in his hands.
"The burns through her abdomen were too severe. Even I can't work miracles." J.A.R.V.I.S. Explained. Kratos sat silent for a time. A forgotten fury growing within.
"She was innocent." Kratos lamented. "She should have never been involved in any of what happened."
"Agreed, Sir. My condolences for your lo-"
"DO NOT SPEAK, machine. Let me see her."
Kratos entered the lab. Tammy's broken and blackened body rested upon the operating table, covered with a white sheet. He approached slowly, pulled up a chair to the table, and sat. He sat for a long time and wondered what Tammy might have done to deserve this. What had any who had died done to deserve this? Perhaps he was cursed. Everyone he becomes even slightly close to has died or has been removed from his life. His daughter, his wives...his son. His saddened heart then turned to cold darkness, then the darkness turned to rage. Then the rage turned toward the one responsible for this. For all this. Who was behind this invasion? Who killed these innocents? Who killed Tamara? He would find out who it was.
He would find them.
And kill them.
The Whispers.
"Monster."