10

The Battle of Sokovia

Alec was tending to his flowers outside his shop. He lived a happy life in the town of Katerini, under the quiet watch of Olympus. Humming to himself, he didn't notice the hulking, limping, Ghost of Sparta approaching his mechanic shop until the heavy breathing was just behind him. He turned to face the bloodied, armor-clad man with shock and confusion.

"Wh- who…" He began to ask.

"Can you fix this?" Kratos asked, his ancient Greek was odd to Alec, but similar enough to modern Greek that the old man understood most of what he said. Kratos took the wing chassis off his back and presented it to Alec. Alec looked at the wings, then back to Kratos, still shocked by the sight of him.

"Uh...you look hurt. Are you okay?" Alec asked. He didn't know whether to call the ambulance or the cops. The man before him was armed to the teeth, armored and covered in blood, but was hurt and limping.

"I will be fine. Can you fix this?" Kratos asked again.

"Uh...um…"

"How long will it take?" Kratos asked, "It is urgent."

Alec looked at the wings. "I'm really not sure, I've never seen anything like this. Just...come in and sit down, you look ready to fall over."

Alec took Kratos into his shop, the employees inside stopping their work to watch the massive pale man limp into the waiting area. Alec hauled the wings into the car bay and gathered his crew in.

"Boss, who is that guy?" One employee asked.

"I'm not sure, he just walked up and asked me to fix this thing."

"What even is it, a jet pack?"

"No idea. He hasn't hurt anybody yet, but who walks around carrying giant swords like that? The guy has a fucking head attached to his belt! Anybody want to weigh in on what to do here?"

"Cops." Another employee said sternly, looking over to Kratos.

"Ok, one vote for the cops. Anybody else?"

"Wait…" A voice said in the group, "I think that's…"

"What, Denis, you think you know the guy?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, I think that's a fucking Avenger!" Denis exclaimed, "He was on the news with Stark and the others. We have a goddamn Avenger on our doorstep!"

"Shit, well...uh...shit! Someone get the first aid kit and help him out."

"God damn vigilantes…" One voice mumbled under their breath. "Why help him?"

"He might save our ass one day, you ever think of that?"

"Or he might kill all of us. You see what's happened in Sokovia? In New York?"

"That's not their fault."

"Yes, it is. Thor is an alien, right? I bet if he didn't come to Earth, the aliens wouldn't have shown up at all."

"Or the aliens would've killed us all. We can't say. All I know is they saved our asses plenty enough for me to help one of them once. Now...anybody know how to fix a jet pack?"

"Looks like it just needs some dents popped, might not be that bad."

Kratos sat and let his wounds heal.

"I've never had an entire mountain fall on top of me before," Mimir commented.

"Nor I."

"You think you'll be ready for whatever is next?"

"I will be fine. It was just a mountain."

"Well, it looks like they're starting to work on your wings, anyway."

Kratos looked over at the mechanics as they stared at him. "Good."

/

Sokovia, once just a peaceful nation, trying to establish its own identity after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Now, it was a meteor, rising above the earth, Ultron's weapon against all of mankind. The Avengers gathered and waited in a little church where the machinery keeping the city from crashing into the earth sat, waiting for Ultron to turn it off.

"Romanov, you and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini," Tony said over the comms.

"Relax, shell-head," Natasha replied, "Not all of us can fly."

Tony looked on as Natasha plowed through a horde of Ultron's legionnaires in a snow truck, moving her way to the church. She pulled up and jumped out.

"What's the drill?" She asked.

"This," Tony replied, pointing to the spinning, metal object in the ground, "Is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

Hulk smashed a nearby legionnaire and entered the church with the rest of the team. In the distance, Ultron, alone, appeared before the Avengers.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Thor yelled across the ruined landscape of the city.

Ultron raised a single robotic eyebrow. He raised his hand, signaling hundreds, if not thousands of legionnaires to assemble behind him.

"You had to ask." Steve sighed, giving Thor a snarky look.

"This...is the best I can do," Ultron replied, "This is exactly what I wanted! All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"ALL OF US?!" A roar came from above. Ultron looked up and saw the shadow of a winged man, wielding two blades, plummeting towards his army. Kratos slammed his blades into the ground, shooting up waves of flame and heat, melting dozens of legionnaires and blasting away dozens more.

"NOW...it is all of us," Kratos said, standing up from the carnage. "What is the situation, Stark?"

"Big robot use city as meteor to destroy earth. Defend church." Tony explained.

"Understood."

Hulk roared. The legionnaires charged the church, crashing into it like water on sand. Kratos fought his way through the metal tide into the church where the others were fending off Ultron's army. He slashed and diced, carving up legionnaires like soft butter. Hundreds fell before him, his blades spinning about him in a tornado of fire and metal. Compared to the Olympians, this was child's play.

The city eventually fell quiet. The sounds of clanking metal faded, replaced by the light winds of the thin atmosphere. All that remained was a battered Ultron, kneeling on the ground after being blasted by the Vision, Iron Man and Thor's attacks.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight-" Ultron said, trying to stand. Before he could complete his sentence, Hulk punched him into the sky. What remained of Ultron's forces began to retreat to the edges of the city, trying to save Ultron's data from destruction.

"They're trying to leave the city," Thor exclaimed.

"We can't let 'em, not even one," Tony stated. "Rhodey?"

"I'm on it." War Machine replied over the comms.

"We gotta move out," Steve said to the group in the church. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it. It's my job." Scarlet Witch replied.

Kratos looked to her. He would have to talk with her later. He ran towards the edge to take flight but heard a distant crying out for help. He ran over to the sounds.

"Helmet. Find them."

"I'm detecting two life signs under that rubble. One is an infant."

Kratos ran up to the rubble and ripped it off the ground with one arm, tossing the concrete far into the distance.

"Come!" He ushered the woman and her child out from the rubble, but she pointed to her leg. It was broken and stuck underneath a metal girder.

"нога ми је сломљена, не могу да се померам!" The woman tried to hand Kratos her child, "спаси га, остави ме!"

Flashes of Freya and Atreus ran through his mind. He removed the rocks and metal holding her leg down and picked up the terrified woman and her child.

"Hold on."

Kratos ran with the woman to the edge of the city and jumped, flying off towards the helicarrier. The woman couldn't help but look down and scream in terror. Kratos landed on the deck of the helicarrier, waving at some medics for assistance. As he turned to return to the city, he watched as the entire thing began to plummet to the earth, faster than Stark's wings could carry him. He sighed and listened to the radio chatter.

"Thor, on my mark...now!"

Kratos watched as the cloud layer lit up with a massive blue explosion. The earth didn't shatter, there was no mushroom cloud.

"Job's done, boys and girls, the earth is saved yet again." Tony's relieved voice came over the radio.

Mimir gave out an audible sigh of relief. "Long week…"

"Yes...long week, but not finished," Kratos replied. He shambled towards the lifeboats to help move the civilians to the safety of the helicarrier's lower decks.

/

Wanda Maximov watched as they took the body of her brother away. Ultron's death brought her some solace, but it didn't fill the emptiness she now felt inside. She sat, staring into the abyss, trying to remember how to move, how to do anything. Kratos approached her and sat across from her in the lifeboat.

"I wanted to thank you," Kratos said after a moment of silence. Wanda didn't look up from her daze. She couldn't. Kratos looked over at the gurney, at Pietro's body, then back to her.

"If it wasn't for your visions, I may not have been prepared for the Olympians who sought me. Because of you, I was. Because of you, I now live to fight on. You may have saved my life, witch."

Wanda looked up, tears breaking through the dust and ash on her face. Kratos took her hand in his. He couldn't remember the last time he thanked anybody, and he certainly has never tried to console somebody. He breathed in and thought for a moment.

"Your brother died with honor, protecting his home from those that would destroy it. That is the path any warrior would want for himself. Be proud of him, and live every day with that same bravery he showed today. Earn his sacrifice."

Kratos let go of her hand.

"I will let you grieve." Kratos stood up and limped off. Wanda sat and contemplated the Avengers. She would strive to live every day protecting those she almost let die, to stop any other evil from fooling her again. Ever.

/

The new Avengers Facility. The new base of operations for the team. Complete with an artifact warehouse, enormous training facilities, jet pad, aircraft hangar, recreation park, and research and weapons development labs. It was a welcome upgrade from the broken and battered Stark Tower.

"The rules have changed," Steve said to Tony as they walked through the halls of the new facility.

"We're dealing with something new." Tony agreed.

"Well, The Vision is artificial intelligence," Steve replied.

"A machine." Said Tony.

"So it doesn't count." Steve continued.

"No, it's not like a person lifting the hammer," Tony commented. Thor, walking between the two, listened and grinned as they hypothesized.

"Right," Said steve, "Different rules for us."

"Nice guy, but artificial," Tony added.

"Thank you," Steve replied.

"If he can wield the hammer," Thor Interrupted, "he can keep the Mind Stone. It's safe with The Vision and these days, safe is in short supply."

The group stopped. Steve looked down to think. "But if you put the hammer in an elevator…"

"It would still go up," Tony added.

"Elevator's not worthy." Said Steve.

"I am going to miss these little talks of ours," Thor said, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder and shaking him jovially.

"Not if you don't leave," Tony stated.

Thor's face turned stern.

"I have no choice," He said, "The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That's not a coincidence-"

"It is not." Kratos said, walking up to the group, "Thor. I must speak with you urgently."

Thor gave Kratos a look of concern, then nodded. Tony and Steve waited as the two gods spoke privately.

"You should not go searching alone for the stones," Kratos warned.

"What do you know?" Thor asked.

"I know that there is one who also searches for the stones, and if you go alone, he will destroy you."

"I have not met many who could best me, Spartan."

"I bested you. He bested me. You will lose. Until we have the men to fight him, do not waste your efforts."

Thor looked into Kratos eyes and saw the gravity of his words. He gave a nod of understanding.

"Then I will go to Muspelheim. There is business there that needs tending to."

"Thor, I must go to Asgard," Kratos said.

"Why would you want to go there, the guards will try to kill you. You are still the Godslayer in their eyes." Thor said, a look of confusion on his face.

"Loki is alive. He is disguised as your father and reigns over Asgard as we speak."

Thor's face turned from confusion to relief, to frustration, to rage.

"That sniveling, wretched-" Thor looked up, "How are you aware of this?"

"Heimdall told him," Mimir said.

"Heimdall? Then where is my father?"

"Heimdall was in search of him when we met," Kratos said.

Thor paused and clenched his teeth, trying to contain his anger and confusion.

"I must see him, Thor. He is my son."

"Brother, I cannot take you to Asgard. The moment you took a step onto the rainbow bridge, they would try to kill you on sight, and you would no doubt defend yourself. Bringing you to Asgard would mean the death of untold numbers of my people. I cannot allow that."

"I do not care," Kratos replied coldly.

"I do. If my father is missing, then I must search for him. Loki can wait."

"I have waited two thousand years, Asgardian." Kratos said through his clenched teeth, "Do not deny me my son."

"Brother, I cannot take you to Asgard, but I can take Loki to you. When I have dealt with the business in Muspelheim, I will find him. I will...deal with his treachery...and I will bring him to Midgard under lock and chain. You can speak with him here. Know this...you will likely meet as enemies."

"Of this, I am fully aware," Kratos grumbled.

"Very well. I will return."

Thor raised Mjolnir to the sky. A beam of white light fell from space, engulfing him. When the light dissipated, all that remained in his place was a nordic pattern burnt into the grass.

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance." Tony sighed, "I'm gonna miss him though…"

Steve and Tony walked off towards the road, where Tony's car was waiting to pick him up. Kratos grumbled and sat on a nearby bench. Would Thor fulfill his promise, or fail him as so many other gods had? He took the risk to trust him, something he may live to regret. Atreus may be a trickster and a villain, but Faye would have wanted Kratos to try and change that. He watched as Tony's car drove down the road for the exit. Steve was approaching Kratos as he sat.

"Ghost, c'mon, let's meet the recruits," Steve said, waiting for Kratos to raise himself off the bench. Kratos got up, nodded to Steve, then followed behind to the jet hangar. They entered the building, running into Natasha as they entered. She was deep in thought, no doubt over the disappearance of Banner.

"You want to keep staring at the wall, or do you want to go to work?" Steve said jokingly. Natasha turned to see the two watching her.

"I mean, it's a pretty interesting wall." Steve continued.

"I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes," Natasha said, walking up to Steve and reaching for the datapad in his hands. "How do we look?"

"Well, we're not the '27 Yankees…" Steve commented as he handed her the tablet. The screen displayed the list of recruits, their known powers, their ages, species, and other personal data.

"We've got some hitters." Natasha noticed.

"They're good, they're not a team."

"Let's beat them into shape. Ghost, you ready to show them a trick or two?"

"They will learn quickly or they will die; the Spartan way," Kratos announced. Steve looked back at Kratos with a look of worry on his face.

"I am...kidding," Kratos said.

"Oh my god, his first joke. Did you hear that?" Natasha said, smirking.

"I thought I'd never see the day," Steve said back, smirking.

The group reached the door at the end of the hall. Steve pushed the doors open and the three entered the hangar. The Vision, Hawk, War Machine and The Scarlet Witch were waiting on the hangar floor.

"Avengers! Steve announced. "Assemble!"

The recruits stood still for a moment, looked at each other awkwardly, then approached slightly closer to where Steve, Natasha, and Kratos were standing.

"Cheesy," Natasha whispered.

"Sounded cooler in my head," Steve whispered back.