#mantis beamed into my brain...

[velvetwyrme]

everybody loves my Bug Swag

[ravennaortiz]

As always my stories are 18+! Subby Bottles with a mommy kink below the cut! Special shout out to @telfords-genderfluid-prospect for implanting this idea into my brain!

Mommy

Bottles  moans were muffled as he suckled at your pierced breasts. He loved how you played with his shaggy locks. Running your fingers through it and teasing his scalp with your nails. He could feel precum leaking into the fabric of his boxers as you ground down on his hard length. “Such a good boy” you whispered your breath hot on his ear before you nipped it. Bottles whined and squirmed underneath you. Trying hard to keep his release from coating the inside of his pants again.

“Shhh, baby” he heard you quite him as you pushed him back onto your swollen nipple as you moaned. Bottles dug his fingers into your hips as he felt you move faster on his lap. I have to be a good boy. Be good for mommyl. Good boy. Good boy, he thought to himself as you used him for your own pleasure. Mommy’s needs come first. He reminded himself as he carefully bit down on your nipple. You’re back arched as you moaned louder. Bottles was lost in the scent of you a mix of sweat, lavender and vanilla.

He had never felt love like this from anyone. He would do anything for you. He wanted you to be pleased with him. Hearing you sing his praises got him higher than any drug he had ever tried. He had been warned about you. The guys at the club knew you didn’t submit. Sex with you was a game of power and not many were able to play the way you wanted. His best friend had been clear in his warning, My sister is like a praying mantis…she will literally rip your head off. Bottles had nodded and told Guero he understood. His need for your love though was overpowering.

Lost in his thoughts Bottles hadn’t heard you say enough. The yank on his hair as you ripped his mouth from your breast had him yelping and belting out apologies for being bad. Bottles trembles as he holds eye contact with you. The feel of your other hand palming him makes him tense. Your nimble fingers quickly free him through the hole in his boxers and he feels you run your nails through the trail of precum. Smearing the tip of his sensitive cock with it making him go slack jawed as he bucks up.

“Spit” you command as you bring your hand to his lips. Bottles is quick to obey. “Good boy” you murmur as you move your hand back to his hard length. Giving it slow firm strokes from tip to base. “Please” moans Bottles over and over as you bring him to just the cusp of release before letting go.

“Please what baby? Does my sweet boy want to cum?” you coo as you move your hand from his hair, caressing his cheek and swiping your thumb over his lips. Bottles is quick to open his mouth and suckle your thumb as he nods. His big eyes glazed over in lust as he looks at you. Moving back over his lap you slide yourself down his thick length making you groan as you force another finger into his mouth.

“Hold” you order as you bounce on his cock as you shove another finger forcibly into his mouth as his hands find their way back to your waist. His touch feather light so not to disrupt you chasing your release. Least you deny him his. Bottles closes his eyes as you ride him. Your walls gripping and clenching his achy cock. He sucks and nips at your fingers harder as he does his best to be good and wait.

You feel that familiar coil and your free hand whips out grabbing Bottles by the throat. His eyes fly back open as he moans around your fingers as he feels your release drip down him. “Cum” you command as you squeeze his throat and ride out your orgasm. Within seconds Bottles is releasing himself in to, thick spurts inside you as his vision tunnels and he struggles for air. Your smile is the last thing he sees as his eyes close.

“Such a good boy” you murmur as you finish cleaning him up. He beams at you from the comfort of the bath you drew for him. “I’ll get you some more water and some soup” you state as you kiss his forehead before making your way out of the bathroom.

Want more Bottles? Click here

[redlaserpointers]

hi laser!

did you know mantis shrimp can see 16 different colors and see polarized light

also an octopus has nine brains, they have bundles of neurons in their arms

also when you cut grass they scream at a decible we can't hear

anyway, hello, hope you're doing well on your studies and yourself

great idea for treating asks like emails. i love how old-school it feels

anything been drifting on your mind lately, other than studies? if not, thats cool too, either im happy we're still able to keep in touch with you this way

i am transmitting my brainwaves and best wishes to you via satellite beams. if they dont transmit im throwing the earth like a baseball

Source about the mantis shrimp's colorful capabilities here! Source about the octopus' secondary eight brains for motor skills here! Unfortunately, I could not find a reliable source for your third claim. Perhaps I haven't been looking hard enough, could you care to lend me wherever you learned that claim for me? Hehe, hello Mystery! Thank you for reaching out, I hope you have been doing well and you and your friend's roleplay projects have been prosperous. Wish the mailmen save travels for their work, okay? Asides from studies, I haven't really been doing much creative wise. I've been trying to sink some time into making music or short stories, but no ideas currently click at the moment. I do have old projects to finish up however! Trying to focus on one for the day takes some energy, but I am hoping to get some things done. I don't want to send this letter empty-handed though, so here is a fanart of my OCs The Archived (Red and Green) smooching platonically:

[quartzwriting]

The War of The Infinity Stones

Pairing: Doctor Strange X Fem!Reader

Description: Thanos is coming and you have an Infinity Stone to protect.

Warnings: Dusty deaths

Word Count: 2.0k

A/N: Originally posted on Quotev / This one is old, written before Endgame. Links to parts 2 and 1.5 coming soon.

Part 2: Endgame story

Part 1.5: Hypothetical Endgame (original plot)

Masterlist | Fic Reading Recs | Ao3 | Quotev | Coffee

It felt like your head was about to explode.

Okay so: aliens from space trying to wipe out half the universe, spaceship shaped like a giant donut, a billionaire playboy genius in a rocket suit and a kid with spider powers who won’t stop making pop culture references.

You were still processing it all. And you thought being in world with sorcerers and multi dimensional realities was exhausting.

“How long have they been going at it for?” The teenage boy who introduced himself to you as Peter whispered to you.

“I’m not keeping track.” You whispered back, the both of your standing away at a safe distance. Stephen and Tony had been in a heated argument for god knows how long. Their clashing egos made everything worse. You and Peter tried to speak up but they both shut you out. The entire universe was at risk and these two just needed to argue right now?

“So...you’re a witch or something?” Peter said, you could tell he was trying to ease some awkwardness between you two. Anything was better than listening to your boyfriend have an argument with his ego doppelganger.

“Sorceress.” A smile grazed your face as you made a quick motion with your hands. Sparks danced between your fingers before a small butterfly materialized. It flew over to Peter and landed on his nose, making him smile.

“That’s awesome!” Peter exclaimed, you found him absolutely adorable. “How did you get your powers?”

“Well they’re not necessarily powers. Years of study and training, anyone could do it actually.”

“Well I was bit by a spider...but I don’t think it’s as cool as what you can do.”

Suddenly there was yelling and raised voices.

“Okay I’ve had enough of this.” You let out an exaggerated sighed, and Peter could tell something was coming.

With a fast motion from your hands, you created a shockwave and sent it in the direction of the two men arguing. The wave rattled the ship slightly and the two of them stopped and froze while looking at you.

“The entire universe is in trouble and you both are acting like children.”

Tony turned to Stephen. “You gonna let your girlfriend boss around an Avenger. Because that’s what I am and I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“She can if she wants to.” Stephen replied simply.

“Thank you Stephen.” You said with your nose in the air. “Now, are you two going to shut up so we can find Thanos and prevent him from destroying half the universe.”

“Seriously we should just get rid of this one.” Tony pointed to The Eye of Agamotto and the time stone.

“I’m sworn to protect this with my life.” Stephen jumped back in, his cloak was now flaring out to make him look bigger. “And I won’t hesitate to risk your life Stark to keep it safe.”

“Whoa slow down there, Cheekbones. Who saved your magical ass back there when that squid was trying to extract if from you?”

“Did you just call me Cheekbones?”

“Hey!” You shouted. “If you two keep arguing then we’re not going to get anywhere.”

The two men stopped and looked at you with raised eyebrows.

Then Tony spoke up, “Who put Hermione Granger in charge?”

“Okay you know what Stark-“

Suddenly the cloak slapped Stephen in the face. Then quickly did the same to Tony before flying off the sorcerer’s shoulders. It flew over and rested on your shoulders. It was almost like it was agreeing with you, that the two needed to shut up.

“Looks like it’s the only one that agrees with me.”

Peter put up his hand. “I agree with you, Miss (L/N).”

You pointed to him in approval. “At least someone has a brain on this ship.”

Stepping forwards and in between the two men, you looked out the large window. The planet that the ship was moving towards was getting dangerously close. Nerves were settling in and you had to suck it up.

You looked over at Stephen and spoke softly. “Stephen, we’ll protect the stone. We’re going to stop Thanos and everything will be alright.”

He scoffed and replied in the same soft tone as you had spoken in. “Why did you come, (Y/N)? You’re going to get hurt.”

“The cloak of yours brought me here, when you were beamed up.” Said cloak now went back to him and fastened itself around his shoulders. “And I’m here for a reason. I’m here to help.”

“This is so dangerous and I don’t want to lose you.”

Raising your hand to cup his cheek, you stroked it softly. “Stephen, I’ll be fine. I know how to protect myself.”

He paused for a second, staring at the determination in your eyes. Then he agreed, “I know how powerful you are. We can do this.”

“Uh guys… maybe save the mushy moments for later… we’re about to crash!”

~~~~~

Okay so more weirdness was going on. You, Stephen, Tony and Peter were attacked once you got on the planet. After a misunderstanding, you had made more allies; Peter Quill, Drax and Mantis (who had called themselves ‘Guardians of The Galaxy’) had joined your party. Pretty soon you had a little team that all hated Thanos.

Currently, you were all huddled together trying to come up with a plan since Thanos was sure to be coming for the time stone soon. After some insults thrown back and forth between Stark and Quill, an idea was starting to come together.

Your attention was diverted from the group to Stephen, who was nearby and doing his own thing. He insisted that he do something while the rest of you talked. It looked like he was meditating, he did it often so you didn’t think too much of it. But something was nagging at the back of your head that something was off.

“Hey (Y/N).”

You snapped out of your thoughts and turned your attention back to the others, who all looked at you. They must have mentioned you and you were not paying any attention.

“I’m sorry, I wasn't listening.” You admitted, embarrassed. “What?”

Quill rolled his eyes, “For someone with a pretty face I assumed you would at least have a bit of brains. Are Earth girls dumbed down more now?”

Your jaw dropped open in a scoff, “Excuse me? You want me to send you to another dimension because I can and I will.”

“Excuse me...but does your friend often do that?” Mantis cut the tension and pointed to Stephen. He was now using the time stone and was shaking violently. You knew something was wrong.

“Strange? You alright?” Tony asked.

“Stephen?” You asked in the same tone, quickly walking up to him. It was like once he heard your voice, he got pulled out of his meditative state. He stopped leavitating and his eyes shot up to yours. He was gasping for breath, chest heaving as he grabbed for your hands for support.

“Hey what was that?” Peter Parker asked, speaking for everyone else.

“I went forward in time to view alternate futures.” He was still panting as he spoke. “To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict.”

“How many did you see?” Peter Quill questioned.

“Fourteen million six hundred and five.”

Tony came up behind you, “How many do we win?”

Stephen looked into your eyes, his own full of worry and anxiety. “One.” And your heart dropped.

~~~~~

You watched in horror as Thanos ripped the fake Eye of Agamotto off of Stephen’s neck and threw him onto the ground. You didn’t hesitate to run to his side and fall to your knees over him.

“You alright?” You were practically shaking and you couldn’t keep your self steady.

“Help Tony.” He croaked out.

“No I’m not leaving you.”

“Help him!”

Your head whipped around and Tony was struggling to keep up with Thanos. His Iron Man suit was now falling apart and disappearing.

Standing tall, you conjured a portal underneath Tony and transported him to a safe distance away just before he could get stabbed by his own blade. Thanos looked up at you and you put on your confidence face.

With a few strong movements with your hands, you began to send sparks flying from your fingertips. Soon the sparks were shooting out of your body like lightning. You charged yourself up and released, sending the bolts towards the titan.

Thanos absorbed your attack with his gauntlet and shot back a blast from the power stone, purple shocks flying your way. Thinking quickly you summoned a shield from the mirror dimension and they bounced right off. You turned your shield into large crystal fragments and made them protrude out from under ground. He shattered them with shots from the stones.

He raised his gauntlet and it flashed orange .The soul stone’s power was shot towards you. You didn’t have time to react and found yourself on your knees and screaming in agony. It felt like your very existence was being torn apart. It was like your astral-body was wanting to leave your physical body permanently, and it was being ripped from you. Your soul being pried out of its casing.

“STOP!”

The horrible pain instantly stopped and you collapsed. You gasped in desperate need of air and a headache formed that was splitting your brain open.

“Spare her and I’ll give you the stone.”

You coughed up blood, “No…”

“How cute.” Thanos’ voice sounded like a shattered record to you since you hated him so much. “No tricks, wizard.”

“Leave her and you’ll have it.”

You groggily looked up and saw Stephen summon the stone and hand it over to Thanos. Satisfied and finished with you, he left as Quill tried to attack him once more.

Still so weak, you crawled over to Stephen. “Why did you do that?” Your voice was broken.

“There was no other way.” He tried to support you as best he could, but still being weak himself it was difficult. “And he was destroying you...your screaming...that’s never going to leave me…”

You collapsed onto him, leaning on his side. Tears swelled in your eyes as it all settled in your mind; “This is it...isn’t it?”

He looked back at you, “I’m afraid it might be…”

You broke right there, hating that you could have done something to stop it. But you couldn’t, and that tore you apart.

“You were so powerful. I’m so proud of you.” Stephen whispered to you, his own stuttering voice soothing you a little. You could even feel the cloak wrapping an edge around you to pull you closer to Stephen. “You’ve come so far since I started teaching you. Well done.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at him, and you both leaned into each other still catching your breaths.

Your entire team was in silence, accepting their defeat and wondering what was going to happen next.

“Something is happening.”

You watched as Mantis, Drax and Quill all turned to dust and float away in the wind. Fear spread to everyone else and Peter muttered that he wasn’t feeling well.

“(Y/N)?”

Your heart sank and you turned to Stephen. Without waiting a single second, he pulled you to him and kissed you. His hands cupping your face were shaking, more than they usually did. You clung to him, grabbing the fabric of his tunic. You have never shared a kiss so desperate, so full of trust and heartbreak, so full of fear. So full of love for each other that you didn’t need to say it. You both just knew.

The feeling of his lips on yours faded, and you opened your eyes to see him blow away as ashes.

All that was left was the cloak and you clutched onto it and sobbed. It smelled like him. It moved under your tears and flew over to rest upon your shoulders. The warm feeling of the cloak wrapped around you, it reminded you of Stephen. Oh, Stephen.

Your heart shattered for your love and for the universe as you knew...

You lost.

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch36: I Bid You Farewell And Good Luck, Morons. Part 1- It’s Like A Pirate Had A Baby With An Angel.

Intro: Thor wakes up on a strange ship, surrounded by even stranger people, a talking tree and a rabbit. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the fight to save Vision is won and the group make their way back to the compound to understand what exactly it is that they’re facing. 

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So I HAD to write Thor and Tony’s POV over the IW chapters too, because, frankly, they had some of THE best scenes in Infinity War, and I love that freaking Norse God Himbo and chaotic Stark chemistry so bad! I know this is Katie and Steve’s fic, but Steve had so little screen time in this film all things considered…we were so robbed!!! Once again, I can’t thank @angrybirdcr​ enough for her edits, they’re awesome!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 35

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Thor wasn’t dead. But he felt like it. Every inch of his body ached and when he was jerked back to consciousness for a moment, just one split moment, he thought he saw Little Stark. Only it wasn’t her. The woman had dark hair, yes, but as he focussed he realised she looked nothing like the woman he loved dearly as a sister. This wench had huge eyes and antenna dangling from her forehead. And, whilst he knew it had been a while since he had seen his friend, she wouldn’t have changed that much.

Finding his feet he looked around, chest heaving, at the band of people stood in front of him; a woman with green skin and red hair, a man with grey/blue skin covered in red designs, a tree creature- a Flora Colossus unless he was mistaken- which was off to the side draped over a chair, some kind of furry, animal thing- a rabbit maybe- and finally a man who appeared to be a normal, human being. That was until he opened his mouth and Thor realised he was probably the most stupid human being he had ever encountered.

His rescuers had offered him soup, and then when he had explained about Thanos, the green skinned lady called Gamora had told Thor what the Titan wanted the stones for.  Which she knew, because she his daughter.

Thanos had a daughter. Interesting.

“Families can be tough,” Thor spoke wisely, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister that he imprisoned in Hell. Then she returned home, stabbed me in the eye so, I had to kill her.” He shrugged. “That’s life though isn’t it I guess? Round and round, but I feel your pain.”

The human, Peter Quill, pushed his way between Gamora and Thor, and looked at her “I feel your pain, as well, because, I mean it’s not a competition, but I’ve been through a lot. My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out with both of my eyes.”

Thor wasn’t paying attention. The man was clearly a moron, and he’d just noticed he had bent the spoon in the bowl of soup and was having a flashback to the time he had tried to bend the Captain’s shield. Little Stark had laughed so much at how annoyed he had gotten when he failed that she had cried. And then, to make it worse, a few days later the Captain had managed to move Mjolnir. Just a fraction, but it moved. No one had seen it, bar Little Stark of course, but there was something there, Thor was sure. Steve Rogers was a man worthy of a lot of things, but his hammer was complicated. You have to prove your worth. That had been explained to him by his Father the day he had given it to him. Of course, he hadn’t realised then that Eitri had actually made it for Hela first.

Eitri… Oh, yes!

“I need a hammer, not a spoon.” Thor mumbled, as the idea took hold and he looked at the pod at the back of the ship. “How do I open this thing?” He began pressing random buttons on the screen next to the door. “Is there some sort of a four-digit code? Maybe a birth date or something?”

"What are you doing?” the rabbit animal, Rocket asked.

“Taking your pod.” Thor replied nonchalantly.

And then there was an argument in which the moron Quill tried to imitate Thor’s deeper voice telling him he could not take the pod, but Thor was going to take the pod anyway because he was the God of Thunder after all, and then the lady Gamora cut them off quite rightly directing the focus back to Thanos by stating they needed to find out where he was going next.

But Thor had already thought of that. “Knowhere,” he answered as he brushed past Quill and over to the refrigerator he had seen Gamora get his soup from.

“He must be going somewhere.” Mantis argued innocently.

“No,” Quill shook his head and Thor noted his stupid voice was back to normal. “Knowhere? It’s a place. We’ve been there. It sucks. Excuse me, that’s our food.” He jabbed,  suddenly noticing what Thor was doing.

“Not anymore.” Thor shrugged, stuffing it into a backpack he found.

“Thor!” Gamora cut across the pair of them again. “Why would he go to Knowhere?”

“Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man called the Collector.” Thor stated.

“If it’s with the Collector, then it’s not safe.” Quill snorted. “Only an idiot would give that man a stone.”

“Or a genius.” Thor shrugged.

“How do you know he’s not going for one of the other stones?” Gamora asked.

“There’s six stones out there.” Thor began to explain, “Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it, last week, when he decimated Xandar.”

He didn’t missed the shocked and horrified look the group shared with one another.

“He stole the Space Stone from me, when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones, are safe on Earth. They’re with the Avengers.”

“The Avengers?” Quill asked.

“They’re Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”

“Like Kevin Bacon?” Mantis called out.

“Errr he may be on the team now, I don’t know.” Thor shrugged, having no idea who the man named after a breakfast meat was. “I haven’t been there in a while. And as for the Soul Stone, well no one’s ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can’t get it. Therefore, he’s going to Knowhere. Hence, he’ll be getting the Reality Stone. You’re welcome.”

“Then we have to go to Knowhere, now.” Gamora stated, looking around.

“Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir.” Thor picked up the backpack.

“That’s a made up word.” Drax, the blue man countered.

“All words are made up.” Thor smiled, slinging the backpack onto his back.

“Nidavellir is real?” The animal called Rocket’s eyes grew wide and he jumped up onto the table and looked at Thor. “Seriously? I mean, that place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would very much like to go there, please.”

“The rabbit is correct.” Thor grinned at Rocket’s excitement. “And clearly the smartest among you. Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need.” He turned to the furry animal. “I assume you’re the captain, Sir?”

Rocket grinned and nodded, “You’re very perceptive.”

“You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?”

“Let me just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it’s me!”  Rocket grinned. “Yeah, I’ll go.”

“Wonderful.” Thor beamed.

“Uh except that I’m the captain,” Quill chipped in

“Quiet!” Thor was now beyond bored of the moron.

“And that’s my backpack.” Quill continued pointing to the bag that Thor was stealing.

“Quill, sit down.” Rocket tapped at the pad and keying in the digits to open the pod.

“Look, this is my ship. And I’m not going to - wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?” Quill looked round.

“The Thanos-killing kind.” Thor smiled.

Boy, was it going to be a big, fucking weapon like no one had ever seen before…

“Don’t you think that we should all have a weapon like that?” Quill frowned.

“You lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as you minds collapsed into the madness.” Thor shook his head.

“Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?” Rocket asked.

“Erm, a little bit weird. Yeah.” Thor looked down at him, frowning.

“If we don’t go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he’ll be too powerful to stop.” Gamora stepped forward.

"He already is.” Thor shrugged.

“Look, I got it figured out.” Rocket interrupted, looking at Gamora. “We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons.  Me and Groot will go with the Pirate Angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool.”

“So cool.” Thor grinned before he climbed into the pod.

“For the record,” Quill said leaning down to Rocket, “I know that you’re only going with them because it’s where Thanos isn’t.”

“You know, you really shouldn’t talk that way to your captain, Quill.” Rocket smirked, walking backwards and gesturing outwards with his arms. “Come on, Groot. Put that game down. You’ll rot your brain,”

As Rocket sat down Thor nodded out of the pod to the rest of the people on the ship. “I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye.”

******

It wasn’t hard for the team to track Wanda, her red power flashing bright against the dark sky over Edinburgh City Centre, and as the jet followed her movements, the four friends saw her spiralling through the sky with Vision and crashing through the train station roof, just as Sam put the jet on the ground.

Within seconds the Ex-Avengers were sprinting off the jet.  

“Katie, Nat, take the side!” Steve yelled, as he vaulted over the railings at the edge of the road running down onto the bottom half of the concrete ramp which led to the station. “Sam, up high and remember, we protect Vision at all costs!”

“Got em.” Sam spoke over the coms. “Platform seven, near the café.” 

Steve vaulted over another set of barriers, the station now deserted thanks to the evacuation taking place by the local police. As he ran onto one of the walkways over the lines, he was just in time to see two of the aliens crash through the station roof. Weighing up his options, he realised it was going to be quicker for him to hop down onto the platform he was currently overheard, and jump across the lines to help. He swung his legs over the railings and landed easily, looking up. Across from him he could see Natasha and Katie emerging to the right, as Wanda stood and moved protectively in front of Vision, building power in her hands. An express train whizzed past him and he stood still, waiting and it wasn’t long before the taller, blue looking woman spotted him, and she launched her spear over the platform. Steve easily snapped his left shoulder back whilst leaning over his body with his right, catching the staff in his hand.

“Heads up.” Sam muttered, and as Wanda and Vision turned to see Steve step out from the shadows, fury lining his face, Sam swooped in and kicked one of the aliens across the platform and through a closed café’s security gate, causing tables and chairs to go flying, before he spun and started to fire on the other alien.

Steve launched the weapon he had caught across the tracks where Natasha caught it and stabbed the second assailant in the gut as Katie moved in to head off the other who was stalking back towards them. The weapon Natasha had been using flew back into the alien’s hands and Katie ducked as she swung, jabbing her in the back of the leg with an electric powered escrima stick. The alien let out a yell, stumbled slightly and Steve cleared the platform in an easy leap, rolling and scooping up the second assailant’s staff from the floor, holding it up to block the blow that the creature aimed at Katie. He grit his teeth, planting his legs to absorb the power of the hit, as Katie rolled to the side, jumped up and the two of them began to fight the alien, joined shortly by Natasha. Steve had to admit, the woman (if you could call her that) was a force to be reckoned with, but the three of them were just about getting the upper hand when they heard Sam yell.

“DUCK!”

The three of them did so and Sam flew in hard, kicking the woman backwards where she fell and scuttled over to her fallen friend. Sam landed next to Katie, drawing both his submachine pistols on the couple.

“Get up” The alien instructed to her fallen partner, her voice was deep.

“I can't.” His gravelly, robotic voice replied.

“We don’t wanna kill you.” Natasha spoke coolly “But we will”.

“You’ll never get the chance again.” The female levelled them, with a cold glare and with that a beam shot down from the hole in the station roof and the two were transported upwards. The weapon Steve was holding also shot out of his hand. He frowned in surprise for a moment, looking at his hand then upwards as the beam of light disappeared and the ship sped off.

“Can you stand?” Sam asked Vision as Katie replaced her sticks and walked towards Wanda and the android. When Vision shook his head, Sam moved forward to help him up.

Supported by Wanda and Sam, Vision looked over at Steve, Natasha and Katie, electricity shimmering over his surface. He’d been badly damaged in the fight, and as he spoke his voice distorted.

“Thank you, Captain.”

Steve took a deep breath and nodded. His face stern, but his eyes were much softer than his expression and Katie knew why. It had been a while since anyone other than Sam, Nat or Wanda had called him Captain.

Steve looked at the android, he might have been damaged but they had the stone, and that was the main thing. Nodding, he spoke. “Let’s get you on the jet.” His voice was soft and he moved to let Sam and Wanda support Vision on their way past him, Natasha following.

Katie hung back a little, trying to stop the light-headedness she was feeling from washing over her.

“You okay?” Steve turned to her as she blinked.

“Yeah, just took a whack that’s all. “I’m fine.” She assured him as they took up the rear of the group, her fingers lacing into his.

Once Vision was safely settled in a seat at the side, Sam dropped into the pilot’s seat. Katie hit the button to close the ramp as the Jet rose into the air.

“I thought we had a deal.” Natasha spun angrily to Wanda. ”Stay close, check in. Don’t take any chances.”

“I’m sorry. We just wanted time.” The younger woman said gently.

Katie glanced at Steve, he was stood up in the middle of the jet, hands on the buckle of his utility belt, staring seemingly at nothing but clearly contemplating something.

“Where to, Cap?” Sam asked.

Steve looked up, he glanced at Sam then locked eyes with Katie as he spoke one word, one simple word that they had all been waiting to hear for almost two years.

“Home”

*****

After a few hours, with the morning sky being the only thing in sight, Sam started to lower the jet through thick white clouds and Katie couldn’t help but inhale sharply when the compound began to take shape as she watched out of the front window. It looked the same. The buildings, the grounds…she wasn’t sure why she had expected anything to change, maybe because it felt like everything had changed for them, but either way, there it was. The exact same as the last time she had seen it.

Steve noticed her demeanour change slightly as they landed. She stood up straight, her shoulders squaring as if she was about to face an onslaught. And they were, in a way. On their way Steve had called Bruce to tell him that they had Vision and were heading back, but had had no idea what they were heading back to, nor did he care. Be it Ross, police, the army, whatever, Steve was done bowing to anyone’s will, he was over playing other people’s tunes. The two years they had spent hidden had shown them all that they could operate on their own if required, and he wasn’t afraid to fight anyone who got in his way.

They stepped off the ramp and strode over the lawn, Katie taking a deep breath as she looked around. So many emotions flooded her system, she couldn’t explain or identify half of them. Memories flashed in front of her eyes, visions of long summer nights spent outside in the garden and on the BBQ patio until sunrise. Laughs during team dinners. Sam and Wanda collaborating on pranks. Training sessions with the team and Vision reading Tolkien aloud to Wanda before asking questions about humanity’s love of fiction. Walks and picnics and other things in the ground, just her and Steve. Their wedding, God their wedding! Frequent visits from Tony, bringing in new ideas and improved gadgets. Getting back safe after being out on a long mission. Feeling relaxed and at ease.

Feeling at home.

Steve’s arm curled round his wife for a moment before he pressed a kiss to the side of her head as Vision opened the door.

“Still no word from Vision?”  

“Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh.”

“On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world’s most wanted criminals.” “You know they’re only criminals because you’ve chosen to call them that, right, sir? “

“My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own.”

The sound of the call between Ross and Rhodey echoed down the corridor reaching the group that were making their way through to the lab.

“If it weren’t for those Accords, Vision would’ve been right here.” Rhodey shot back and Katie glanced back at Vision as the sounds the voices grew louder as they neared their destination.

“I suspect it will be a Hollo Call.” Vision said gently, answering Katie’s unasked question.  His suspicions were proven correct as they rounded the corner and the lab came into view. Rhodey was stood across from where the holographic image of Secretary Ross was facing off against him.

"You have second thoughts?” Ross was challenging Rhodey, who smiled simply as his eyes shot sideways. Steve strode forward, his presence as intimidating as ever, and the first thing Rhodey noticed was just how dark he looked. Gone was the upstanding, All American Hero, and in its place was someone much harder, far rougher round the edges. Kiddo looked different too. Her hair was shorter and she looked slimmer.

“Not anymore.” He grinned.

The holographic Ross followed Rhodey’s gaze and his eyes fell on Steve who was stood next to Katie at the front of the group, Natasha, Wanda, Sam and Vision behind them. Steve raised his chin a little defiantly and moved to take his power stance, feet apart, hands on his belt, before he greeted Ross politely.

“Mr. Secretary" 

Katie couldn’t help the smirk on her face as she watched Ross attempting to cover up the shock he had clearly felt at the group of outlaws turning up again. She locked eyes with Rhodey who gave her the smallest of winks before he glanced back at Ross who was shaking his head slightly as he approached Steve, his holographic form almost trying to square up to him.  Steve simply raised his chin further and looked down from the steps he was stood on.

"You got some nerve.” Ross sniffed, staring up at him “I’ll give you that.”

“You could use some of that right now.” Katie shot back bluntly, Ross turned his head to face her for a second. She held his gaze and arched an eyebrow until he turned back to Steve.

“The world’s on fire.” Ross said incredulously. “And you think, you can just walk back in here and all is forgiven?”

Steve levelled the secretary with a firm gaze. “I’m not looking for forgiveness.” his voice took on a threatening tone as he spoke “And I’m way past asking for permission.”

At that point the smirk on Katie’s face grew even wider as she stole a glance up at her husband, pride swelling in her chest as he continued, stoic and unyielding. 

“Earth just lost her best defender, so we’re here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way,” he stepped down to be at level with the hologram, and stared it square in the eyes “We’ll fight you, too.”

Ross was practically foaming at the mouth as his eyes went to Rhodey and he spat out his order, “Arrest them.”

“All over it.” Rhodey promised nonchalantly before shutting off the hologram, shortly after a beeping noise sounded from the computers.

“That’s a court-martial.” He informed the group as he slapped the back of his right hand into his left palm, though his tone said told Katie that he blatantly couldn’t have cared less for Ross’ demands. There was a short pause as the group glanced down at their friend, Steve smiling softly, before Rhodey’s face split into a huge smile of his own.

“It’s great to see you, Cap.” He stepped forward.

“You too, Rhodey.” Steve answered, taking the last two steps down before he shook Rhodey’s hand. Katie threw herself at her brother’s best friend and he gave her a huge bear hug before he looked down at her.

“You do something to your hair?” He teased.  Katie smiled, stepping back from his embrace while he looked the rest of the group over.

“Well. You guys really look like crap. Must’ve been a rough couple of years.”

Steve looked round, an amused smile on his face as he glanced at his wife then to the rest of the team.

“Yeah, well, the hotels weren’t exactly five star.” Sam quipped back cheekily, the banter flowing between them like no time at all had passed.

“Uh, I think you look great.”

Steve turned at the new voice to see Bruce inching his way into the room nervously wringing his hands together.

Steve and Katie remained silent, exchanging a glance. In the rush around and the fray of the fight, we’d forgotten to explain exactly who it was that called.

“Yeah. I’m back.”

Katie glanced over at Nat, she had her gaze fixed solely on the scientist as she spoke “Hi, Bruce.”

“Nat.” Bruce answered inclining his head towards her slightly as he fidgeted.

“This is awkward.” Sam piped up. Steve and Katie looked at one another, before they both smiled and looked back up at Sam.

“Any news on Tony?” Katie asked gently, interrupting the silence that had fallen.

“Not yet no.” Rhodey said. “FRIDAY lost him when he left the atmosphere. We got NASA running scans and we’re trying to track his trail but…” He shook his head. 

“Typical Tony.” Katie rolled her eyes “Always has to go one bigger and one better doesn’t he?”

Her blasé tone wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Banner.” Steve said gently, looking across the room at the scientist. “Can you fill us in on what we’re up against here?”

“Yeah sure,” Bruce said nodding hesitantly.

Without so much as another word, the group all started to make their way out of the room. As Katie turned to follow Natasha, Steve’s hand gently fell on her shoulder. Without looking at him, she reached up and gently wrapped her fingers round his, giving them a squeeze before she left.

Steve took a deep breath as he glanced around the room once more, before he too followed on, that sick feeling in his gut was getting worse.

**** Chapter 36 Part 2

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

definitive VERY SERIOUS ranking of MCU characters, best to trash

Gamora and Nebula - tied for first place because prickly, traumatized assassin women? that’s my shit. prickly, traumatized assassin women working through their issues TOGETHER and growing closer as sisters? YEAH, babey! that’s the shit! I love them and they deserved arcs that loved them, too. biggest injustice in the MCU.

Thor - absolutely excellent. amazing work. distinguished slut vibes and a radiant beam on sunshine in this shithole world. again, never saw Endgame, but he deserved better.

Sam Wilson - going strong since 2014, babey. just an all-around great guy, good for him finally getting his own show. will I be watching it? absolutely not. not a force on god’s green earth could make me care enough to pirate a marvel television show in this the year of our lord and savior 2020, even if he is a very cool dude with wings. 

Bucky Barnes - all the fun of Steve but no moral quandaries because everything bad that he did happened when he was being controlled by nazis and he feels really bad about it uwu

Peter Parker - yes OBVIOUSLY the movies did Peter dirty, we’ve all seen a fucking essay about it, making him Iron Man Jr was wack and being poor doesn’t look like that, but he’s cute and fun and I like Tom Holland, who was the emotional anchor who forced me to keep giving a sliver of a shit during Infinity War. Far From Home was pretty not good but would I see another Spider-Man movie? fuck, maybe.

Steve Rogers - idk I just think he’s neat. really love how he’s shaped like a dorito and hates nazis.

James Rhodes - I don’t think Rhodey’s ever said or done anything that wasn’t iconic and for that he deserves to be exactly one spot above his idiot best friend.

Tony Stark - I hold possibly the most unpopular opinion on Tony Stark on this entire hellsite, which is that he’s just fine. he’s fun sometimes, he’s irritating sometimes, he made some points during Civil War. he should probably lose more points for being a former war profiteer but if I started digging into comic book logic too much I’d have to change my url because Batman cooperates with cops and endangers children, so idk.

T’Challa - I don’t remember a TON about T’Challa’s actual personality because it’s been like 4 years since Black Panther came out and he had like 2 lines in Infinity War, but he’s a powerful nerd/jock multiclasser who spends most of his time surrounded by women who are very smart and dangerous and much cooler than him and I really respect that.

Natasha Romanoff - Natasha is difficult to rank because for a long time her dominant defining characteristic was being The Girl One, which means she has a different personality in pretty much every movie, and it was never interesting. if Marvel had rubbed two brain cells together and given her a solo movie between 2012 and 2015 she might have fared better, but alas. press F in the chat for Nat’s potential.

Groot, Rocket, Drax, Mantis - I love these funky socially incompetent aliens. more of them, please.

Bruce Banner - only interesting in Ragnarok when he’s Thor’s anxious comedic foil and boyfriend; thank you for that small gift, Taika. I never saw Endgame because I love myself, so I don’t know anything about professor Hulk and I don’t want to.

Peter Quill - fun in theory but loses points for being such a painful walking embodiment of the extremely heterosexual “idiot manchild gets hot competent gf by virtue of being white cishet protagonist man.” shut the fuck up she’s way too good for him.

Wanda Maximoff - despite all of Joss Whedon’s best efforts I really liked her in Age of Ultron and then my love for her just decreased with each subsequent appearance. like Natasha she was increasingly a different character each time; by Infinity War she didn’t have her accent anymore as if Elizabeth Olsen realized nobody else on set would remember or care about Wanda’s previous portrayals. on god I liked her so much that I was even down to root for her and Vision but then the majority of it happened offscreen and lost me forever. 

Pietro Maximoff - mmm watcha saaaaaay

Hope Van Dyne - cooler than Ant-Man but not by much. should have been a lesbian and kissed Pepper Potts in the moonlight. 

Carol Danvers - fuck dude idk, I’ve never seen a movie she’s in lmao

Ant-Man - the recurring joke with this bitch seems to be “haha can you believe he exists? that’s dumb!” and it is. it is dumb. why did we need him? it could have all payed off with him crawling up Thanos’ asshole and exploding but we didn’t even get that. bullshit. 

Vision - man, fuck, I tried to put him higher on the list than Peter Quill and I couldn’t make myself do it. that’s how goddamn boring Vision was. and you know what? fuck it, we’re putting him lower than Pietro, too. and even Ant-Man! we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel here and he deserves it because I can’t think of one thing this dude did that I enjoyed other than being bad at cooking when he was trying to impress a girl.

Doctor Strange - I’m not going to make a Benedict Cumberbatch joke because that’s low hanging fruit but all I know is that this is the dude who’s mean to Tony in a horny way for five minutes of Infinity War. I never saw his movie, heard it was racist tho. and they didn’t even learn their lesson before they made Iron Fist! smh bombastic colonialism.

Clint Barton - last place because in the absence of a personality or interesting character arc I’m forced to judge him on the fact that Jeremy Renner radiates bad vibes and that in Endgame he gets a makeover that makes him look like he’d call me slurs for telling him to stop hitting on 16 year old girls at a gas station.

[buzzdixonwriter]

Spock Grok Shock Squawk

Lemme get my main thesis out in the open first thing:

The search for intelligent life in space is a quasi-religious endeavor.

The unstated hidden hope is that we will find up in the sky people who are better and wiser than us, and who will prove they’re better by sharing that wisdom, ushering in, if not exactly a golden age, then one of shiny brass.

The unstated assumption is that they will be like the Vulcans in Star Trek, more advanced than we are, but impressed by our courage and our curiosity and our just plain ol’ fashioned humanness so that even though they are technologically and culturally far superior to us, they’ll toss the keys of the galactic federation in our lap, letting us run things for everybody’s betterment.

Snowflake, please…

(I mean let’s acknowledge this is a white and / or Anglo / European colonial fantasy from the gitgo, okay?  No sane species will let us anywhere near the torpedo room, capice?)

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is a harmless enough exercise, and I’ll be honest, it would be cool if they actually found something, but at its core it’s no different from going into a place of worship and attempting to contact the divine.

(Mind you, I have absolutely no objection to that in principle, either, but I know how a lot of supposed spiritual searchers are actually searching for cudgels to batter their fellow humans into submission; and besides, as will be pointed out below, the search for the divine shares some similar issues with SETI, so read on, MacDuff…)

My next major thesis is this:

Nobody knows what they’re looking for, SETI or conventional religion.

They dress it up in fancy costumes but when you strip both groups’ sky beings naked, you find they’re looking for people just like us in every important way (i.e., we understand them, they understand us, and they don’t hold us accountable for our bullshit).

Here’s a few issues I have with the current state of SETI affairs:

We don’t know what alien life would look like.

We don’t know how alien life would think.

We don’t know what alien life can sense that we can’t sense.

We don’t know how alien life would process information.

We don’t know how alien life would adapt to its environment.

(There’s more -- much, much more -- but these will do for the moment.

Point 1: I’m not talking about green skinned Martians with six limbs, I mean we don’t even know if alien life would have a cell structure or pass along generational information via DNA.

Personally, I think there’s a remote possibility life on Earth did not evolve but is a product of panspermia, in which case any life we encounter on other planets in this solar system may indeed use cell structure, DNA, etc.

But that’s just “a chance greater than zero” not hard evidence.

We literally have no idea what other life would look like so we have no way of knowing where or what to look for.

Someone familiar only with North American forest insects might have a hard time identifying life found at the bottom of the Marianas Trench -- and that’s part of the planet we all share.

There’s a fringe science called shadow biology that wonders if there may be life on this planet that we can’t identify because it looks and behaves so differently from us.

That’s another one of those “greater than zero” speculations -- but the fact we can define right now what would constitute alien life means all we’re doing is looking for Vulcans.

Point 2: We don’t even know how we think; howda %#@& can we anticipate how alien intelligence would think.

I got into this discussion decades ago at a sci-fi con and the fan I was talking with blithely assumed we would recognize one another as intelligent based on whether we used mathematics and my question then and now is:  ”How would you know?!?!?”

Math is a symbolic language that (apparently) interprets basic underlying principles in a way that humans can grasp and apply.

The principles exist whether or not they are expressed, or how they are expressed.

We humans “see” 2 + 2 = 4 as “logical” because out symbolic language links the concept of two distinct objects added to another two distinct objects as being the equivalent of four distinct objects, but we have no way of knowing if an alien intelligence grasps the concept of distinct objects.

For them it may all be just part of a continuum.

There could be aliens desperately trying to contact us right now, using methods we can observe, and we just can’t grasp that there’s even a message to be grasped! 

Point 3: Holy cow (no, not a religious exclamation), this point is huge and we just keep glossing over it.

Humans possess better color vision than canines.

We see three primary colors, they see only two (blue and yellow).

There are other terrestrial species -- butterflies and mantis shrimp, to name two – who see colors far beyond human range, well into what Dr. Seuss would call the “on beyond zebra” range.

Even if we could talk to dogs, we couldn’t tell them what green looks like:  There is literally no place in their brain to process that color.

Or consider binocular vision, i.e., depth perception.

Most humans have depth perception but many -- for any number of reasons -- do not.

A lot of animals lack binocular vision (indeed, on Earth encountering a creature with binocular vision is fraught with danger because they’re almost always predators of some sort, using depth perception to attack prey).

Try explaining depth perception to someone who’s only had vision in one eye since birth.

“Well, it doesn’t have a color or a texture or anything like that, you really can’t ‘see’ it except…well…you actually can see it insofar as you can ‘see’ the actual space that exists between two objects instead of just guessing based on visual clues…”

Again, we may be bombarded with messages from space all the time that we simply lack the ability to sense.

Point 4: This is a lot like Point 2 but different enough to enjoy its own category. 

I mean a couple of things when I refer to processing information.

First off, there’s the actual processing time.

Remember the sloth DMV scene in Zootopia?

Imagine we contact a life form that takes a standard terrestrial year just to express “2 + 2 = 4”.

The entirety of human history would pass before it could get to basic trigonometry.

How do you communicate with that?

(And what would you talk about?) 

Conversely, we would be like ferrets on espresso, the worst form of cultural ADHD imaginable to them

And the script could be flipped!

We could be the ones taking forever to respond, their elaborate and erudite answers might flash by in less than a nanosecond.

We also don’t know what an alien species would value.  We have Maslow's familiar hierarchy of needs but there’s no guarantee these would motivate any other species.

Thigs that would be extremely vital to us might be wholly unimportant to aliens and vice versa.

The fact our sky is blue is just an interesting fact to us, to aliens it might be the single most important thing they’ve ever encountered.

We simply have no way of knowing!

Point 5: Europeans encountering North American native peoples dismissed them as “primitive savages” because they didn’t smelt ore, they didn’t use wheels, and most of their cultures lacked a written language.

Ignore the fact they had well traveled trade routes stretching from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, ignore the fact many of them governed and protected well organized territories the size of France or Germany, ignore the fact they lived in an environment not only abundant with easily available natural resources but also possessed the time to work those resources at a leisurely pace.

The European interlopers sure ignored those facts.

SETI looks for machine based physical communication from alien life (physical here including any form of energy used to convey information such as a telegraph or a laser beam).

Presuming alien life exists it may never have occurred to them to attempt to communicate in the manner humans do!

It would be like putting a mime on the radio.

The great unuttered chauvinism of the Drake equation and Fermi paradox is this: That there exists a basic template to intelligent life that’s so common the law of averages says we must find examples of it just like us wherever we look.

That’s an awfully big assumption, folks.

And we’re nowhere close to proving any of it.

  © Buzz Dixon 

[capricornus-rex]

Old Friend, New Family (5)

Requested by Anon | Prompt:

Hey I was wondering if you’d take a prompt where the reader is an ex-padawan who’s master died pretty early on in order 66, and was instead saved by a clone that removed his inhibitor chip. Then maybe they get separated, and years later when the reader is a crew member on the Mantis, they come across the clone again? How would the crew, especially Cal and Cere, react to meeting a friendly ex-soldier clone who’s close with the reader? Could you make it full of angst then fluff? Love your writing!

Tags: Defected! Clone Trooper, Jedi Survivor! Reader, Order 66 Survivor

Also posted in AO3

Chapters: 1 – 2 – 3 | Previous: Part 4 | Next: Part 6 | Masterlist

5 of ?

The leader casually greeted the man where that familiar voice belonged to.

When the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows to join you in the veranda, he’s clad in the same armaments and outfit as the others, even though he’s fully armored, you know that face anywhere.

The pack went into the bay and started collecting the supplies, meanwhile, you’re frozen on where you stood, staring at the man who never came back home to you.

“Strig…” you uttered.

The man turned to the call of his name, your stomach sank when he did. It is him.

His calm demeanor shifted in the blink of an eye—his casual smile melted, his eyebrows furrowed, and then his lips parted only to release soundless words. He removed his helmet, as if that was going to help him take a better look at you.

Nothing much has changed in him except for the growth of his faded haircut has grayed out, it appears he decided to keep the goatee and lost the stubble that followed his jaw, and his head tattoo is still visible but the ink’s opacity has thinned out. Nicks and scars etched his face over time, slightly pink flesh disturbed the tan skin—they were the words to an explanation that you yearned to hear directly from him.

Nevertheless, you can recognize that face anywhere.

The two of approached one another, unable to speak even though there so many things that you wanted to tell to him all this time. Strig examined you from head to toe. In his eyes, only your height has changed.

“Look how big you’ve gotten…” he cracked.

The sound of his voice made your heart skip a beat again. You cannot determine what emotion is churning in your heart right now.

Is it anger?

Is it joy?

Are you going to hug him?

Or punch him in the stomach?

Frankly, you have no idea what to do next.

“Well, go on…” Strig was nearing to a sob. “Say something.”

“You’re alive…” you barely moved your mouth.

Strig somewhat understood your words; he hung his head low, sighing as his shifted back and forth, avoiding your gaze. He wanted to explain everything to you, but now isn’t exactly the best time.

You didn’t say anything more. You simply threw yourself into his arms and the tears could no longer be contained the moment you felt Strig’s arms wrap around you.

The clone felt like a great burden has been taken out of his chest. Seeing you alive was perhaps the best thing that has ever happened to him since. His thumb ran across your cheeks, wiping away the tears rolling down from your eyes.

“Hey, don’t let them see the tough girl cry,” Strig cooed.

You sniffled and wiped the tears still stained your face, “I have so much to tell you…”

“Do you know each other?” Adrina politely cuts in when Strig was about to speak to you.

“Hey there, Adrina, I see you’ve met [y/n],”

“Yeah, she just got here. She’s helping out in retrieving the supplies, Saw’s orders,”

“Did you now?” Strig chuckled, an upward curl played along the corner of his mouth.

Adrina asked for help in collecting the containers filled with the medical supplies they badly need for the people back at the landing pad. The queue acted almost mechanical, passing one container to the next until it reaches the person waiting by the railings—Strig’s faction at the bay have improvised a pulley, knowing that another group will come to fetch the supplies.

When you were down to the last box, Strig tapped your shoulder before you prepared yourself to rappel down the supply containment bay.

“Hey, kid,”

“Yeah?”

“See you at the landing pad later?”

“Sure,” you beamed a smile. “You owe an explanation after all!”

You slipped down the rappel cord before Strig could respond to that.

Before following Adrina and the pack, you looked back once more and saw him leaning against the railing, you both waved goodbye for now to each other and went back to your duties.

“How did you come to know Strig?” Adrina began.

“He’s the one who saved my life,” you smiled privately. “When no one else could.”

Adrina narrates that she has known Strig only for a short time and knows only little. In turn, you tell your side of the story about him. However, you were cautious enough to not disclose the part that he is a clone, although, you’re already under the presumption that maybe Strig himself has told everyone in the faction.

Luckily, the young partisan didn’t go into much detail.

“You two seem very close, even after being so far apart for so long,”

“Yeah, you could say that,”

Eventually, the pack had trouble in crossing the path blocked by the wrecked AT-AT.

“Oh no, how do we get across with all this baggage?” one of the partisans exclaimed.

You set down the container you were holding and studied the walker closely. The legs would be too heavy for you to carry—even if you used the Force—and you surveyed your surroundings to see if there’s anything you can work with.

“I have an idea!” you chirped.

You scaled the body of the walker and sat on the flat surface there, high enough for you to see both sides of the path, and then you focused on the box that you put down on the ground; you extend your arm, focusing your concentration on the object until it started to rattle by itself—startling the partisans—until the box is now floating right in front of them, your action received murmurs and gasps as a reaction but it was typical. Motioning your hand to the side, the box vault over the AT-AT’s leg-and-shoulder joint.

“Everyone, vault over the AT-AT first and I’ll lift the boxes to you. Sound good?”

The group liked your idea, without a moment’s hesitation, they crawled over the gigantic metal quadruped, afterwards, you do the exact same thing that you demonstrated seconds ago. Eventually, everybody got the loot back in their hands and marched towards the landing pad, some of them came sprinting towards the area.

Your box was the last one to transfer over, when you gingerly put it down on the other side, you buckled your knees and slid down the iron giant. Adrina took a few paces ahead but still waited for you.

“That was great thinking back there, [y/n]!”

“Oh, it’s nothing, just became creative is all,”

“Being a Jedi sure must be cool!”

“Oh, uh,” you stammered. “I suppose so. It had its ups and downs.”

Oh sweetie, if only you knew what really went down for ALL of us back then. Your subconscious couldn’t help but ring that in your head, instead, you pretended that that was the exact thing you told Adrina.

Upon arriving to the landing pad, it seems that Cal surely has taken his time with Saw Gerrera and the other partisans. Continuing with your current task, you and Adrina stash the containers filled with medical supplies. Mirienna helped in receiving the supplies along with the other medics.

“Is this everything from the bay?” asked the woman.

“Yes, I just a radio call from the other squadron, they’re sweeping the other supply bay as we speak,” Adrina reported.

“Good, all the wounded should pull through for tonight,”

“What about the Wookiees? Will there be enough for them too?” you add.

“The second supply run should have enough to cover the Wookiees once they’ve been liberated by Saw,” Mirienna replied.

“I can stay here and help some more,” you offered.

“That’d be splendid, [y/n], thank you,” Mirienna replied with her warm tone.

Eventually, Strig—along with his faction—regrouped at the landing bay, dispersing as soon as each soldier went to different points of interest. You rejoined Strig by the lower platform of the hangar. He threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the wrecked AT-AT.

“Did you do that?”

“Frankly, I wish it was me,”

“Who then?”

Strig saw the way your eye shift to your right. It was your mannerism.

“I know that look, Spinner,” his eyebrow flicked upward. “Eyes to the right mean you’re not telling me something… for now.”

Even three years later, he still memorized every little habit—good or bad—that you had. After all, he still had the mind of a clone—with most of the learning programs intact in his brain. The mention of his personal nickname for you made your ears prick and caused a little smirk.

“You still remember the nickname?”

“How could I forget? You were always the one sending your starfighter spinning through aerial assaults it makes me dizzy just by looking at ya!”

“Master Karos always scolded me whenever I do—even if I survived!” you beamed back.

The two of you share a hearty laugh rooted by inside jokes and fond memories, albeit brief. Your joint attention turned to the bustle happening around the landing pad—medics sprint from one side to the other, able-bodied soldiers carry their comrades and lay them down on the makeshift cots.

“Work never ends here,”

“Just like the old times, huh?”

“Yeah, except that one part,”

“We don’t talk about that one part,”

“Right.” Strig purred, ending the banter.

[crumblingautumnleaves]

Broken (Part Two)

eyA/N: Chapter two is here! No matter what feedback I get, I’ll continue writing this because I have so much love for this story. Also, Tumblr deleted line breaks whilst I was on hiatus, so enjoy the free clipart I’m using instead.

Summary: Steve manages to bring his peculiar pickpocket back to the Tower, but more questions are raised when the rest of the team meets her.

Pairing(s): Steve x reader, a little bit of Bucky x reader

Warning(s): I think mentions of blood.

“What are you?”

The girl winced at the question, averting her gaze. Her shoulders heaved as her wings began to slowly fold in on themselves once more. She watched Steve cautiously as she pulled her coat over her shoulders, roughly shoving the feathers underneath her clothing, trying to hide the pained expression on her face.

“That can’t be good for them,” Steve commented bluntly. “Don’t they hurt?”

 She breathed out softly and rose to her feet. “All the time.”

“I can help with that,” he responded eagerly. “I mean- we have doctors that can help with the pain. You won’t have to hide them away.”

“No doctors,” she hissed. “No more doctors.” There was a blaze in her eyes and Steve huffed in defeat.

“Fine, no doctors.” He held a hand out for her and she hesitated. “I won’t hurt you,” Steve reasoned. Her hand slipped into his and he pulled her to her feet. 

“Where are you taking me?” Her voice trembled slightly.

 “Somewhere safe.”

Bruce didn’t flinch when the girl removed her shirt, letting her wings stretch out before settling into a more comfortable position. It had taken a some convincing to get her to follow Steve back to the Tower, and even more to get her to agree to an examination - although, surprisingly, she didn’t seem deterred by his complexion and stature. She had clearly been hurt before, both the marks on her body and the uneasy look in her eye as Bruce tenderly washed her feathers gave it away.

“What’s your name?” Bruce asked softly, careful not to be too rough as he wiped the dirt off of her skin.

“I think- I think it was Y/N,” the girl replied hesitantly. “But no one’s called me that in a long time.”

“Would you like us to call you Y/N?” Bruce questioned.

The girl nodded and smiled slightly, not making eye contact.

The two of them were silent for a long time after that. Bruce continued examining her, asking for permission with his eyes before touching her. The tension in the air had dissipated and Bruce could tell that she was feeling more comfortable with the situation. Pride seeped into his head and heart; knowing his presence was appreciated by someone who seemed so fragile. 

“How’s everything coming along?” Steve asked softly as he walked into the lab with Tony and Mantis. Y/N recoiled at the sound of him, allowing Bruce to swiftly wrap a hospital gown around her to cover her modesty.

“I’ve just taken some small samples, I’m about to run tests if Y/N’s happy to let you guys stick around.” Bruce looked at her expectantly and she gave him a tiny shrug. 

“Y/N? That’s your name?” Steve asked, but she only glared back at him in response. 

“You have pretty wings,” Mantis said innocently. “Like a bird.” She walked over to Y/N slowly with a dazzled expression. 

“Mantis,” Bruce warned, but Y/N just watched as she came closer, reaching a hand out to stroke the feathers.

“I heard them talking about you and I wanted to help. You don’t have to be scared anymore,” she continued, ignoring Bruce. Mantis’ hand gently brushed her fingers against the wings. 

She screamed. 

It was a harsh and anguished scream, that caused tears to spontaneously fall from her pain filled eyes. She ripped her hand away and collapsed to her knees sobbing. The others watched on in horror as she continued to cry, her fingernails digging into the flesh on her arms as she hugged herself. Y/N merely looked on with a sad and apologetic expression. “What are you?” Mantis wept.

“What are you?” Bruce muttered as he peered through the microscope. He’d been alone in the lab for the past four hours now, going over the results from his previous tests. Y/N had gone to bed, trusting him when he told her that she’d be safe for the night. 

“Still hard at work?” Tony teased, placing a coffee cup on the desk. 

“Thanks,” Bruce murmured, not tearing his gaze away from the samples. “I need to borrow your eyes for a second.” 

Tony stooped over and glanced into the microscope. “That’s Y/N’s DNA?” 

 “Yep,” Bruce confirmed. “What’s your take on it? Because I’ve been racking my brain all night and I really want someone to tell me it’s not what I think.” 

“Bruce, it looks like someone dumped a load of random DNA onto your lens.” The two men shared an uncomfortable silence. “What do you think it means?” Tony asked.

 “She’s not human. Not entirely anyway. I want to x-ray her, maybe examine her brain activity and watch reactions to different stimuli. The only problem is she hates doctors. It took almost an hour for her to allow me to use a stethoscope.” Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and sighed tiredly. “It’ll be a long time before she trusts me, or anyone for that matter. I just don’t want her to take off and get herself in any more trouble.” 

“Y’know, there is one person who may know how to get through to her,” Tony hinted. 

“I’ve tried, Tony, but I don’t know what else to say to her.”

“I actually had someone else in mind.”

 “What are you, crazy?” Bucky scoffed.

“No way she’d trust me.” 

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, Buck,” Steve encouraged. 

“Don’t you wish you had someone to relate to when you were alone?” Bruce added. “You have a chance to be the person you needed all those years ago.”

 Bucky groaned but agreed nonetheless. He made his way to the lab where Y/N was waiting and made sure to knock before entering so as not to startle her. 

“Hey, uh, I’m Bucky,” he started. “I thought you could use some company.”

“I know why you’re here,” Y/N said bluntly. “You’re here to gain my trust so I let my guard down.” 

“Not entirely.” Bucky sat down on the chair next to yours heavily, ignoring her when she jumped a little. “I get it, you’re scared. Too right, I’d be scared too. We’re not a pretty bunch, plus everyone is loud and obnoxious. But I’ll be damned if I said that I didn’t love everyone here like family.” 

Y/N remained quiet, her eyes glued to his as he opened up to her in a way he’d never done before.

“Look, doll, I don’t like people touching me; I hate doctors; Hell knows I’ve had enough people prodding and poking at me; but if I can grow to stomach it, then anyone can.” 

Y/N nodded slightly, shifting her gaze to the floor.

“Just give them a shot. And if you feel like you need a little nudge, I‘ll be there to support you.” 

“Bruce told me about you,” she said timidly.

Bucky stiffened. “What did he say?”

“You were a soldier, a good man, but you were captured by some bad people. They hurt you and made you do bad things. Is that true?” 

He clenched his jaw and nodded. “Is that what happened to you?” 

“I don’t know,” Y/N responded sadly. “I think I escaped just in time.”

There was a long silence, neither of them comfortable enough to be the first to break it. There was a soft crinkling sound coming from Y/N’s wings, which she had forced underneath a bathrobe. They rustled when she breathed, and Bucky couldn’t help but worry about how much damage she must be doing to them. He thought back to when he was new in the tower, how Steve stopped at nothing to make him feel welcome, how he’d ground him with stories when Bucky had a particularly bad night, and how he would coax him into eating and talking. He knew that that was what Y/N needed, whether they wanted to talk to each other or not.

“I met Steve in 1930, way back when he was a scrappy little kid getting beat up by every asshole in town. I remember seeing him, having his ass handed to him as usual, and having to finish the fight for him. We’ve been fighting each others battles ever since.” Bucky stared at a spot on the wall directly in front of him, not daring to look if Y/N was listening. “There was one time he practically ran in front of a car to avoid going on a date I’d set him up on. Then I had to break the news to this poor girl that her date for the evening would rather break a rib and three fingers, than go to the pictures with her.”

Bucky continued his stories until the first hint of daybreak shone through the drawn curtains. Never, in nearly eighty years, had he talked so much. But he needed someone to talk to, and Y/N needed someone to listen to. As Bucky eventually finished retailing his life story, he finally glanced over at the girl next to him. She was beaming and bright-eyed, dry tears shimmering on her cheeks. She reached out slowly and clasped both her hands around his prosthetic one, bringing it up to her face and brushing it gently against her lips.

“Thank you.”

“Are you ready, Y/N?” Tony asked.

“I’m ready,” she confirmed, stretching her wings out completely.

Bruce and Tony stood behind a glass panel on the other side of the room as the x-ray hummed and flashed. Y/N’s face flickered nervously, but she stayed perfectly still until the machines died down.

“That didn’t hurt at all,” she remarked, as the men stepped back around the glass.

“It’s not supposed to,” Bruce told her. “You know I’ll tell you if something will hurt.”

She nodded solemnly and relaxed as he placed a blood pressure cuff around her bicep.

“This will pinch just a little, just keep your arm still and tell me if it’s too much.” He smiled at her reassuringly as the cuff began to tighten. "Your heart rate is incredibly high." Bruce stared at the numbers on the monitor, not quite sure what to make of them.

"How high?" Tony called from the computer as he processed the x-rays.

“About 300 beats per minute,”

Tony stared at him in shock, and his impression didn’t change when he looked at the images printed in from of him. “You need to take a look at this too.”

“Y/N,” Bruce said slowly after studying the pictures for a while. “What are you?”

“I don’t understand,”

“Your bones,” Tony interjected. “They’re hollow. What’s up with that?”

She shrugged. “I guess it has something to do with the experiments they did on me.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Bruce pressed.

“The bad doctors from Hydra.”

“I thought Hydra weren’t a threat anymore,” Steve snapped, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and forefinger.

The gang had gathered in the briefing room after Tony decided that they needed to talk about their new revelation. Wanda had volunteered to take care of Y/N, her reason being that the others were just too scary to look at.

“We don’t know how far this goes, it could be old news,” Sam offered.

“Nothing mentioned anything like this when I hacked into their database,” Natasha quipped. “I think someone would have noticed a segment where they created human/bird hybrids.”

“Please don’t call her that, we’re trying to make her feel welcome,” Steve complained. “The best we can do is keep her safe, no doubt if Hydra exist, they’ll want her back.”

“Maybe we could just ask her what she knows?”

“It’s not much, she barely remembered her own name. Plus, I don’t know how willing she’d be to relive that whole experience,” Bruce told them.

“She hurts all the time,” Mantis said shakily. “It was hard to focus on anything when I touched her. It was just so much pain.”

“Y/N needs our help,” Steve stated. “We can figure out if Hydra are still operating by ourselves. If and when Y/N feels more adjusted, we can find out if she remembers anything that could help us.”

“Russia.” There was a voice at the door. Everyone turned to see Wanda and Y/N, the latter was standing strongly with her wings free from a t shirt she had cut holes into. “There was another base in Russia, completely off the books, run by a small team of scientists who trafficked homeless children and spliced their DNA with animals, aliens, and mutants. The test subjects that survived the procedures were then experimented on and forced to engage in combat to kill off any weaker specimens. They would then start again and improve their methods.”

“I accidentally brought back all of her memories when I was searching in her head,” Wanda explained quietly.

“It’s okay,” Y/N reassured her, “I’m tired of running.”

“Y/N, you don’t have to do this now-” Steve started, but she cut him off.

“I need to. I can’t let them carry on. I- I owe it to the kids that are still there.” A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, but she quickly wiped it away and looked up at Steve boldly. “What do you need to know?”

“Do you remember where this facility is?” Y/N shook her head. “Okay, then we need to retrace your steps from when you escaped.”

“All I remember is running out into the snow and not seeing anything else. I just walked in one direction until I reached civilisation. Then I hopped on a train, then another, then another. I eventually ended up on a cargo ship that brought me here, and I’ve been living on the streets ever since.”

Wanda placed a hand on Y/N’s shoulder and, much to everyone’s surprise, she leaned into it and accepted the hug.

The meeting adjourned after a few introductions and sympathy glances. Steve stayed behind to tidy up the mess that his teammates always seemed to leave behind, but was surprised to see that Y/N was still stood there watching him.

“Hey, Y/N, is there something I can help you with?” He asked, clearing the coffee mugs off the table.

“I just wanted to apologise for stealing your wallet the other day. I did some pretty crappy things to survive that I’m not proud of. I just hope you don’t judge me too much.”

“It’s okay, I ran the same scam back in the 40s. Also, you kinda robbed me twice.”

“Bucky told me,” she grinned. “And I robbed you twice? Damn, I must have been losing my touch. I’m glad I let you catch me, I would have left you penniless.”

“Excuse me? I caught you, fair and square.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, grandpa.”

He barked a laugh, acknowledging how she’d inched closer to him. “Okay, fine, it was a pretty even race. Especially since you have an unfair advantage of being able to fly if I got too close.

Y/N’s smile faltered and she took a step back, folding her arms across her chest defensively. “I can’t fly. Not anymore at least. They clipped my wings right before I escaped, I think so they could see if I was still useful. I’ve been too scared to try since, I don’t want to blow my cover.”

“You’re safe here,” Steve guaranteed. “On the bright side, you’re surrounded by people that can help you.”

“What are you thinking?” She asked skeptically.

“You’re going to fly again.”

Tag list:

@rootcrop​

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner Ch36: I Bid You Farewell And Good Luck, Morons!

Intro: Thor wakes up on a strange ship, surrounded by even stranger people, a talking tree and a rabbit. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the fight to save Vision is won and the group make their way back to the compound to understand what exactly it is that they’re facing. 

But there’s no sign of Tony, and the more they heard, the more they start to wonder if this is a battle they stand any chance of winning. 

Warnings:Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist 

This is a bit of a longer update than normal, but I wanted to explore IW using all 3 of the perspectives that were shown, for no reason other than I had favourite bits in them all! And I LOVE writing for Thor and Tony!

As always tags are open and I’m taking suggestions for that lovely 5 year gap post snap/pre time Heist so if you have any ideas or wants, hit me up!

 “It’s like a pirate had a baby with an angel…”

Thor wasn’t dead. But he felt like it. Every inch of his body ached and when he was jerked back to consciousness for a moment, just one split moment, he thought he saw Little Stark. Only it wasn’t her. The woman had dark hair, yes, but as he focussed he realised she looked nothing like the woman he loved dearly as a sister. This woman had huge eyes and antenna dangling from her forehead. And, whilst he knew it had been a while since he had seen his friend, she wouldn't have changed that much.

Finding his feet he looked around, chest heaving, at the band of people stood in front of him; A woman with green skin and red hair, a man with grey/blue skin, bald head, and red lines all over his body, a tree creature- a Flora Colossus he thought- which was off to the side draped over a chair, some kind of furry, animal thing- a rabbit maybe- and finally a man who appeared to be a normal, human.

They had offered him soup, and then when he had explained about Thanos the green skinned lady had told Thor what the Titan wanted the stones for. Which she knew, because she his  daughter.

"Families can be tough," Thor said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister, that he imprisoned in Hell. Then she returned home, stabbed me in the eye so, I had to kill her." he said, shrugging "That's life though isn't it I guess? Round and round, but I feel your pain."

The human, Peter Quill pushed his way between Gamora and Thor, and looked at her "I feel your pain, as well, because, I mean it's not a competition, but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out with both of my eyes."

Thor wasn’t paying attention. The man was clearly a moron, and he’d just noticed he had bent the spoon in the bowl of soup and was having a flashback to the time he had tried to bend the Captain’s shield. Little Stark had laughed so much at how annoyed he had gotten when he failed that she had cried. And then, to make it worse, a few days later the Captain had managed to move Mjolnir. Just a fraction, but it moved. No one had seen it, bar Little Stark of course, but there was something there, Thor was sure. Steve Rogers was a man worthy of a lot of things, but his hammer was complicated. You have to prove it. That had been explained to him the day it had been given to him. Of course, he hadn’t realised then that Eitri had actually made it for Hela first.

Eitri…

"I need a hammer, not a spoon." Thor mumbled, as the idea took hold and he looked at the pod at the back of the ship. "How do I open this thing?" he began pressing random buttons on the screen next to the door. “Is there some sort of a four-digit code? Maybe a birth date or something?"

"What are you doing?" Rocket asked.

"Taking your pod." Thor replied nonchalantly.

And then there was a row in which the moron called Quill tried to imitate Thor’s deeper voice telling him he could not take the pod, but Thor was going to take the pod anyway because he was the God of Thunder after all, and then the lady Gamora cut them off quite rightly directing the focus back to Thanos by stating they needed to find out where he was going next. But Thor had already thought of that.

"Knowhere," he answered as he brushed past Quill and over to the refrigerator he had seen Gamora get his soup from.

"He must be going somewhere," Mantis argued innocently.

"No," Quill shook his head and Thor noted his stupid voice was back to normal, "Knowhere? It's a place. We've been there. It sucks. Excuse me, that's our food." he said, suddenly noticing what Thor was doing.

"Not anymore," Thor shrugged, stuffing it into a backpack he found.

"Thor," Gamora cut across the pair of them again "Why would he go to Knowhere?"

"Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man called the Collector." Thor said

"If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe.” Quill snorted. “Only an idiot would give that man a stone."

"Or a genius." Thor shrugged.

"How do you know he's not going for one of the other stones?" Gamora asked.

"There's six stones out there." Thor began to explain, "Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it, last week, when he decimated Xandar.”

He didn’t missed the shocked and horrified look the group shared with one another.

“He stole the Space Stone from me, when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones, are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers." Thor stated.

"The Avengers?" Quill asked.

"They're Earth's Mightiest Heroes."

"Like Kevin Bacon?" Mantis called out.

"Errr he may be on the team now, I don't know.” Thor shrugged, having no idea who the man named after a breakfast meat was. “I haven’t been there in a while. And as for the Soul Stone, well no one's ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can't get it. Therefore, he's going to Knowhere. Hence, he'll be getting the Reality Stone. You're welcome."

"Then we have to go to Knowhere, now." Gamora said

"Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir." Thor said picking up the backpack.

"That's a made up word," Drax, the blue man countered.

"All words are made up." Thor smiled, slinging the backpack onto his back.

"Nidavellir is real?" the animal called Rocket’s eyes grew wide and he jumped up onto the table and looked at Thor "Seriously? I mean, that place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would very much like to go there, please."

"The rabbit is correct." Thor grinned at Rocket's excitement, "And clearly the smartest among you. Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need. I assume you're the captain, Sir?"

Rocket grinned and nodded, "You're very perceptive."

"You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?"

"Let me just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it's me!”  Rocket grinned. “Yeah, I'll go."

"Wonderful." Thor beamed.

"Uh except that I'm the captain," Quill chipped in

"Quiet!" Thor said, now beyond bored of the moron.

"And that's my backpack," Quill continued pointing to the bag that Thor was stealing.

"Quill, sit down," Rocket said, tapping at the pad and keying in the digits to open the pod.

"Look, this is my ship. And I'm not going to - wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?" Quill looked round.

"The Thanos-killing kind." Thor smiled. Boy, was it going to be a big, fucking weapon...

"Don't you think that we should all have a weapon like that?" Quill frowned.

"You lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as you minds collapsed into the madness." Thor said.

"Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket asked.

"Erm, a little bit weird. Yeah." Thor looked down at him, frowning.

“If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he'll be too powerful to stop." Gamora said, stepping forward.

"He already is." Thor shrugged.

"Look, I got it figured out," Rocket interrupted, looking at Gamora. "We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons.  Me and Groot will go with the Pirate Angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool."

"So cool." Thor said with a smile before he climbed into the pod.

"For the record…” Quill said leaning down to Rocket “ I know that you're only going with them because it's where Thanos isn't."

"You know, you really shouldn't talk that way to your captain, Quill.” Rocket said, walking backwards and gesturing outwards with his arms. “Come on, Groot. Put that game down. You'll rot your brain,"

As Rocket sat down Thor nodded out of the pod “I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye."

******

It wasn’t hard for the team to track Wanda, her red power flashing bright against the dark sky over Edinburgh City Centre, and as the jet followed her movements, the four friends saw her spiralling through the sky with Vision and crashing through the train station, just as Sam put the jet on the ground.

Within seconds the Ex-Avengers were sprinting off the jet.  

“Katie, Nat, take the side!” Steve yelled, as he vaulted over the railings at the edge of the road running down onto the bottom half of the concrete which led to the station. “Sam, up high,and remember protect Vision at all costs!”

“Got em.” Sam spoke over the coms “Platform seven, near the café.” 

Steve vaulted over another set of barriers, the station now deserted thanks to the evacuation taking place by the local police. As he ran onto one of the walkways he was just in time to see two of the aliens crash through the station roof. Weighing up his options, he realised it was going to be quicker for him to run down the platform he was over and jump across the lines to help. He swung his legs over the railings and landed easily, looking up. Across from him he could see Natasha and Katie emerging to the right, as Wanda stood and moved protectively in front of Vision, building power in her hands. An express train whizzed past him and he stood still, waiting and it wasn’t long before the taller, blue looking woman spotted him, and she launched her spear over the platform. Steve easily snapped his left shoulder back whilst leaning over his body with his right, catching the staff in his hand.

“Heads up.” Sam muttered, and as Wanda and Vision turned to see Steve step out from the shadows, fury lining his face, Sam swooped in and kicked one of the aliens across the platform and through a closed café’s security gate, causing tables and chairs to go flying, before he spun and started to fire on the other alien.

Steve launched the weapon he had caught across the tracks where Natasha caught it and stabbed the second assailant in the gut as Katie moved into to head off the other who was stalking back towards them. The weapon Natasha had been using flew back into the alien’s hands and Katie ducked as she swung, jabbing her in the back of the leg with an electric powered escrima stick. The alien let out a yell, stumbled slightly and Steve cleared the platform in a leap, rolling and scooping up the second assailant’s staff from the floor, holding it up to block the blow that the creatured aimed at Katie. He grit his teeth, planting his legs to absorb the power of the hit, as Katie rolled to the side, jumped up and the two of them began to fight the alien, joined shortly by Natasha who had stabbed the other one in the gut, taking him out of the fight. Steve had to admit, the woman (if you could call her that) was a force to be reckoned with, but the three of them were just about getting the upper hand when they heard Sam yell.

“DUCK!”

The three of them did so and Sam flew in hard, kicking the woman backwards where she fell and scuttled over to her fallen friend. Sam landed next to Katie, drawing both his submachine pistols on the couple.

“Get up” she instructed to her fallen partner, her voice was deep.

“I can't” his gravelly, robotic voice replied.

“We don't wanna kill you.” Natasha spoke coolly “But we will”.

“You’ll never get the chance again.” The female levelled them, with a cold glare and with that a beam shot down from the hole in the station roof and the two were transported upwards. The weapon Steve was holding also shot out of his hand. He frowned in surprise for a moment, looking at his hand then upwards as the beam of light disappeared and the ship sped off.

“Can you stand?” Sam asked Vision as Katie replaced her sticks and walked towards Wanda and the android. When Vision shook his head, Sam moved forward to help him up.

Supported by Wanda and Sam, Vision looked over at Steve, Natasha and Katie, electricity shimmering over his surface. He’d been badly damaged in the fight, and as he spoke his voice distorted.

“Thank you, Captain.”

Steve took a deep breath and nodded. His face stern, but his eyes were much softer than his expression and Katie knew why. It had been a while since anyone other than Sam, Nat or Wanda had called him Captain.

Steve looked at the android, he might have been damaged but they had the stone, and that was the main thing. Nodding, he spoke “Let's get you on the jet.” his voice was soft and he moved to let Sam and Wanda support Vision, Natasha following as Katie dropped behind to stay with him as they took up the rear of the group, her fingers lacing into his.

Once Vision was safely settled in a seat at the side, Sam dropped into the pilot’s seat as Katie hit the button to close the ramp as the Jet rose into the air.

“I thought we had a deal.” Natasha spun angrily to Wanda. ”Stay close, check in. Don't take any chances.”

“I'm sorry. We just wanted time.” The younger woman said gently.

Katie glanced at Steve, he was stood up in the middle of the jet, hands on the buckle of his utility belt, staring seemingly at nothing, clearly contemplating something.

“Where to, Cap?” Sam asked.

Steve looked up, he glanced at Sam then locked eyes with Katie as he spoke one word, one simple word that they had all been waiting to hear for almost 2 years.

“Home” he said, looking round the jet.

*****

After a few hours, with the morning sky being the only thing in sight, Sam started to lower the jet through thick white clouds and Katie couldn’t help but inhale sharply when the compound began to take shape as she watched out of the front window. It looked the same. The buildings, the grounds…she wasn’t sure why she had expected anything to change, maybe because it felt like everything had changed for them, but either way, there it was. The same as the last time she had seen it.

Steve noticed her demeanour change slightly as they landed. She stood up straight, her shoulders squaring as if she was about to face an onslaught. And they were, in a way. On their way they’d let Bruce know that they had Vision and were heading back, but had had no idea what they were heading back to, nor did he care. Be it Ross, police, the army, whatever, he was done bowing to anyone’s will, over playing other people’s tunes. The two years they had spent hidden had shown them that they could operate on their own if required, and he wasn’t afraid to fight anyone who got in his way.

They stepped off the ramp and strode over the lawn, Katie taking a deep breath as she looked around. She felt a wave of that many emotions she couldn’t explain or identify half of them. Memories flooded in, the long summer nights they sat outside in the garden and on the BBQ patio until sunrise. Laughs during team dinners. Sam and Wanda collaborating on pranks. Training sessions with the team and Vision reading Tolkien aloud to Wanda before asking questions about humanity's love of fiction. Walks and picnics and other things in the ground, just her and Steve. Their wedding, God their wedding! Frequent visits from Tony, bringing in new ideas and improved gadgets. Getting back safe after being out on a long mission. Feeling relaxed and at ease.

Feeling at home.

Steve’s arm curled round his wife for a moment before he pressed a kiss to the side of her head as Vision opened the door.

“Still no word from Vision?”  The holographic figure of Ross looked up from where he sat at a table and glanced at Rhodey.

“Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh.” Rhodey replied. He knew they were on their way to the compound, but hadn’t told Ross deliberately. 

“On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals.” Rhodey felt his temper beginning to flare. “You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir? “

“My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own.” Ross said as he stood up. The sound of the call echoed down the corridor reaching the group that were making their way through to the lab.

“If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here” Rhodey shot back and Katie glanced back at Vision as the sounds of Rhodey and Ross’ voice grew louder as they neared their destination.

“I suspect it will be a Hollo Call.” Vision said gently, answering Katie’s unasked question.  His suspicions were proven correct as they rounded the corner and the lab came into view. Rhodey was stood across from where the holographic image of Secretary Ross was facing off against him.

"You have second thoughts?" Ross was challenging Rhodey, who smiled simply as his eyes shot sideways, as Steve strode forward, his presence as intimidating as ever, and the first thing Rhodey noticed was just how dark he looked. Gone was the upstanding, All American Hero, and in its place was someone much harder, far rougher round the edges. Kiddo looked different too. Her hair was shorter, she looked slimmer too, but her upper body looked stronger. 

"Not anymore." he grinned.

The holographic Ross followed Rhodey’s gaze and his eyes fell on Steve who was stood next to Katie at the front of the group, Natasha, Wanda, Sam and Vision behind them. Steve raised his chin a little defiantly and moved to take his power stance, feet apart, hands on his belt, before he greeted Ross politely.

"Mr. Secretary" 

Katie couldn’t help the smirk on her face as she watched Ross attempting to cover up the shock he had clearly felt at the group of outlaws turning up again. She locked eyes with Rhodey who gave her the smallest of winks before he glanced back at Ross who was shaking his head slightly as he approached Steve, his holographic form almost trying to square up to him.  Steve simply raised his chin further and looked down from the steps he was stood on,

"You got some nerve." Ross sniffed, staring up at him "I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now." Katie shot back bluntly, Ross turning his head to face her for a second. She held his gaze and arched an eyebrow until he turned back to Steve.

"The world's on fire." Ross said incredulously. "And you think, you can just walk back in here and all is forgiven?"

Steve levelled the secretary with a firm gaze. "I'm not looking for forgiveness.” his voice took on a threatening tone as he spoke “And I'm way past asking for permission.”

At that point the smirk on Katie’s face grew even wider as she stole a glance up at her husband, pride swelling in her chest as he continued, stoic and unyielding. 

“Earth just lost her best defender, so we're here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way," he stepped down to be at level with the hologram, and stared it square in the eyes "We'll fight you, too."

Ross was practically foaming at the mouth as his eyes went to Rhodey and he spat out his order, "Arrest them."

"All over it." Rhodey promised nonchalantly before shutting off the hologram, shortly after a beeping noise sounded from the computers.

"That's a court-martial." He informed the group as he slapped the back of his right hand into his left palm, though his tone said told Katie that he blatantly couldn’t have cared less for Ross’ demands. There was a short pause as the group glanced down at their friend, Steve smiling softly, before Rhodey’s face split into a huge smile of his own.

"It's great to see you, Cap." he said, stepping forward.

"You too, Rhodey." Steve answered, taking the last 2 steps down before he shook Rhodey's hand. Katie threw herself at her brother’s best friend and he gave her a huge bear hug before he stepped backwards.

“Hey Kiddo, you do something to your hair?” he teased.  She smiled, stepping back from his embrace while he looked the rest of the group over.

"Well. You guys really look like crap." He said lightly. "Must've been a rough couple of years."

Steve looked round, an amused smile on his face as he glanced at his wife then to the rest of the team.

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star." Sam quipped back cheekily, the banter flowing between them like no time at all had passed.

"Uh, I think you look great."

Steve turned at the new voice to see Bruce inching his way into the room nervously wringing his hands together.

Steve and Katie remained silent, exchanging a glance. In the rush around and the fray of the fight, we’d forgotten to explain exactly who it was that called. "Yeah. I'm back."

Katie glanced over at Nat, she had her gaze fixed solely on the scientist as she spoke "Hi, Bruce."

"Nat." Bruce answered inclining his head towards her slightly as he fidgeted.

"This is awkward." Sam piped up. Steve and Katie looked at one another, before they both smiled and looked back up at Sam.

“Any news on Tony?” Katie asked gently, interrupting the silence that had fallen.

“Not yet no.” Rhodey said. “FRIDAY lost him when he left the atmosphere. We got NASA running scans and we’re trying to track his trail but…” He shook his head. 

“Typical Tony.” Katie rolled her eyes “Always has to go one bigger and one better doesn’t he?”

Her blasé tone wasn’t fooling anyone.

"Banner.” Steve said gently, looking across the room at the scientist. “Can you fill us in on what we're up against here?"

"Yeah sure," Bruce said nodding hesitantly.

“We’ll use the living area.”  Rhodey said, “Slightly more comfortable”

They made their way to the lounge, the same lounge they had all sat in discussing the Accords. Not much had changed; the furniture was different, there was couple of new sofas and the TV was larger, but that was it. 

“So start from the beginning.” Steve looked at Bruce where he stood near the window, one hand on the back of a chair, the other on his hip. He nodded encouragingly, he could see the man was nervous “Who took Stark and what are we up against?”

“I’ll give you the short version and we can plug in the gaps later.” Bruce sighed, “His name is Thanos. He’s a War tyrant, from a planet called Titan. He goes from place to place, destroying worlds, taking what he wants, when he wants. Loki’s attack on New York?” Bruce looked around “Thanos was the one who sent him to attack Earth,"

"But what does he want?” Katie asked.

“All six Infinity Stones…” Bruce supplied.

“Infinity Stones?” Sam questioned.

“Yeah, so erm… the big bang, when it happened, it sent six of these crystals out across the universe. They each control an essential aspect of existence. Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. Time.” Bruce said, rubbing his temple.

“Thor told us about them, after Ultron.” Katie looked round and her eyes fell on Steve’s “He said there were three out there unaccounted for, and three that he could locate. One was with some collector or something, one was housed in the tesseract which was locked in a vault in Asgard and the other…”

"Viz." Wanda murmured, glancing at the Stone in Vision's forehead.

Bruce nodded again. “Thanos came to our ship for the tesseract, which means he already had the Power and Space Stones before he came to Earth looking for the rest. Just that alone makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe, if he gets his hands on all six he could destroy all life as we know it."

“Hang on, the Tesseract was on your ship?” Katie looked at Bruce, “I thought it was on Asgard?”

“It was, but right before Ragnarok…” “Ragnarok?” Katie frowned, her mind whirring “But that’s…that’s the fabled downfall and the destruction of Asgard, I mean....” “I know.” Bruce looked at her. “Asgard was destroyed as part of a battle between Thor and his sister. So was his hammer.” “What?” Steve let out a breath as Katie felt her mouth drop open.

“Thor has a sister?”

“Look, that’s a whole different story.” Bruce said, his tone slightly frustrated. “All you need to know is that Loki –yeah, surprise, not dead, -stole the tesseract from the Vault before we left. Thanos boarded the ship and took the stone. Just took it.” he said, his arms swinging out to his sides before returning with a slap.

The room fell silent.

“So Thor.” Katie took a deep breath and asked the question she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to “Where…”

Bruce dropped his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh no.” Steve muttered as he dropped his head, looking downwards. He glanced up and saw across the table that Katie had her right hand against her forehead the heel of which was pressed hard into the space between her eyes in utter dismay.

Thor. Gone.  

“He was no match for Thanos, not when he had those stones.” Bruce said gently. A single tear trickled down Katie’s cheek and fell to the floor and Steve watched as she took a deep breath, furiously wiping at her face.

“So the two we fought came for the mind stone.”  Sam spoke for the first time “I’m assuming the ones you fought were after another one that’s located somewhere in New York?”

"The Time Stone.” Bruce nodded “It was being protected by some mystical arts guy, or a Wizard as Tony called him, Dr Steven Strange.” Katie’s head whipped round to Steve and he took a breath and straightened up, before he glanced over at Sam and Natasha and the four of them shared an instant understanding, they’d heard that name before on top of a multi-storey parking garage in DC.

"A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future.”

“But he was taken along with Tony.” Bruce finished.

Katie didn’t even want to think about that right now. She had to trust in her brother’s quick mind and sharp resilience, because the alternative didn’t bear thinking about.

"Well, we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey said and Steve looked down again, his mind racing as he tried to make sense of everything Bruce had said.

"And they can clearly find us." Wanda added.

"We need all hands on deck," Bruce said pacing, "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal," Natasha explained, "It's too tough on their families. They're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?" Bruce frowned.

"Ant Man," Steve answered.

"There's an Ant Man and a Spider Man?" Bruce looked around in confusion, but it was Rhodey who nodded, simply, like it was just perfectly normal. Bruce shook his head, realising that it didn’t really matter at the moment before he continued. "Thanos has the biggest army in the Universe. And he is not gonna stop until he gets Vision's stone." He said the last part softly, almost reluctantly.

"Well then, we have to protect it," Natasha said stepping forward but Vision immediately corrected her.

"No, we have to destroy it," he said resolutely, his gaze focussed on something out of the window as everyone turned to him.  He turned to face them and gestured to the stone in his head. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps" he made his way over to Wanda and held onto her upper arm, "Its molecular integrity could fail."

"Yeah, and you with it," Wanda looked at him, shaking her head "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

Katie noticed Wanda’s eyes flash as she glared at Vision. "It's also too high a price."

"Only you have the power to pay it," Vision said quietly.

Steve shifted slightly. He knew that Vision was right, but the idea of losing someone else in their group didn’t sit well.

"Thanos threatens half the Universe.” Vision persisted “One life cannot in the way of defeating him."

"But it should," Steve argued, his eyes were diverted to the floor as he spoke gently, and it was right. Who were any of them to decide one life was worth less than anyone else? He took a deep breath and looked up and around the room before landing back on the android "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, seventy years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is this any different?"

Steve took a sigh and stepped towards Vision, unable to answer because he knew the android had him, but then Bruce did it for him.

"Because you might have a choice," Bruce answered, and Steve could see the Scientist had suddenly had an idea, "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixing together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked looking back and forth between the android and the scientist somewhat impatiently.

"Not me. Not here."

Steve suddenly began to think, maybe not Bruce, but could Suri? She had fixed Bucky after all, surely she could do this. T’Challa would be happy to help. And with his defences, maybe Wakanda was the safest place for Vision to be.

"Well you better find someone and somewhere fast," Rhodey pipped in.  "Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

Steve nodded to himself, his mind made up before he raised his head to look up around the group. "I know somewhere."

His eyes momentarily locked onto Katie’s and he watched as the realisation crossed her face, she knew instantly where he meant.

“Wakanda?” she asked.

He nodded, turning to Sam. “Can we get wheels up in 20?"

Sam nodded and Steve turned to Rhodey. "That enough time for you to load up your suit?"

"Yeah. Should be."

“Ok. “Steve looked round “Banner, I suggest you grab what you need. The rest of us, back to the jet.”

The team began to bustle about and then Katie remembered something.

“Rhodey?” she asked, hopping down off the table, “Where’s Steve’s shield?”

Rhodey paused in the doorway and turned to face her. “I don’t know, sorry Kiddo. Tony never mentioned it.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Steve said gently. As Katie opened her mouth to suggest they had a look for it, he cut her off “And we don’t have time either, we need to go.”

Truth be told he didn’t want the shield back. It wasn’t his, not anymore.

“Fine.” Katie said somewhat stiffly. “I’m going to raid the armoury anyway, pick up a few things…” “Katie!” he called after her as she hurried out of the room. He let out a frustrated groan.

“I’ll go.” Rhodey said, patting the Captain on the shoulder. “I need my suit anyway.” The directions ingrained in her memory forever she headed to the armoury on autopilot and once inside she stopped dead. It had all changed. To the left were the usual lockers, although they now held no names she would lay odds on all the original seven of them still having kit in there. The guns, arrows, widow bites, shock batons were all still there on the racks. Rhodey’s War Machine kit stood in the corner, but what wasn’t was an Iron Man suit, or a Nova suit, of any description. Instead, in place of the the usual glass cabinets that held them were rows of smaller capsules.

“What the…” Katie mumbled, heading closer to examining “FRIDAY?”

“Welcome home Mrs Rogers…” The AI spoke, a hint of amusement in her voice “I believe Pod Seventy-Six is one of yours”

“Tony’s been working on upgrades” Rhodey spoke from behind, making her jump. “Nano-tech, courtesy of some work with Helen Cho.” “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Katie frowned as Rhodey made his way to the War Machine suit.

“Sevety-Six you say?” Katie’s eyes scanned the wall. “OK, FRIDAY hit me up.” One of the capsules opened and a smaller capsule flew out, opening in mid- air and then out of nowhere a suit formed around her body.

“Woah…” Katie said, as the familiar heads-up display lit up.

“The suit is held in a simple bangle” FRIDAY explained. “I’ll show you once the calibrations are done.”

As FRIDAY rattled through the new features, including a shield, new weapons Katie stole a glance in the mirror. It was much sleeker and less bulky, almost like wearing a cat-suit in a way. It was dark blue and gold, as always, with her Supernova Star in the middle of the chest. She gently reached up to touch it and the suit melted away to a silver cuff with the star in the middle which she tentatively placed around her wrist.

“Impressive huh?” Rhodey asked as he stepped into the War Machine suit.

“One word for it.” She said softly, tracing the outline of her bracelet with her fingers. “I can’t… why did he make it?” she looked up at Rhodey who slid his face plate back up to look at her.

“You know what Tony’s like.” Rhodey said, “Just because you left doesn’t mean he stopped caring.”

Katie looked down at the bracelet on her right wrist.

"Was- Was he okay, you know...after?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"He was as okay as he could be…” Rhodey hesitated slightly “To be honest, nothing was great though. The team was split and…”

Katie looked down “I had to go, I couldn’t stay, not after what he said to me.” Rhodey looked at her. “And have you ever considered why he said what he did?” “Because he hates me?” “No, because he loves you.” Rhodey took a deep breath “He knew full well that whatever choice you made it was going to kill you, but he couldn’t see you sat in a jail, he just couldn’t Kiddo. So he did what he had to do make sure you stayed away.” Whatever she had been expecting Rhodey to say it wasn’t that. His words hit her like a tonne of bricks and she felt her face screw up as she blinked back the tears. 

“Shit…” she managed to mumble out. “I could, you know we could have called him, or he could have called us, tried to …” “You’re both as obstinate as one another” Rhodey said, shaking his head as he started to walk to the door of the armoury “Which is why I know he’s still alive. He’s too much of a stubborn asshole to die. “

*******

Tony was pissed, really pissed. Not only was he stuck on this fucking ship, the kid was still here too. Peter Parker was almost as much of a pain in his ass as Katie had been when she was his age. The thought of his sister brought a pang to his heart, especially when he knew she was more than likely at the compound now after Bruce will have called them. He hoped anyway, he’d thrown the phone down before the fight after all, he just hoped the scientist had found it.

He looked around and glared at Peter before his shoulders fell. Well the kid was here now, might as well use him.

“Come on.” Tony sighed “We got a situation” He lead Peter over to a viewpoint to see the torture going on below. Peter crouched to study the situation, with that damned cloak leaning over his shoulder. “See him down there? He's in trouble.” Tony continued “What's your plan? Go.”

“Um. Okay, okay... uh...” Peter and the cloak popped back up suddenly, a smile playing on Peter’s face. “Okay. Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?”

It was a dumbass plan, but dumbass enough to work. Tony blew a hole in the side of the ship which caused a huge depressurization and as such the alien was sucked out of the side. A quick struggle and Dr Strange was rescued from drifting off to space, Tony repaired the side of the hull with nanites and that was that.

“We've gotta turn this ship around” Strange looked at Tony who rolled his eyes. .

“Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan”. 

“No, I want to protect the stone.”

Tony walked towards the expansive front view-port and from the way things were moving out there, he assumed they were travelling at some kind of hyper speed. The wizard was irritating him though, if he’d just agreed to get the stone out of the way they wouldn’t even be in this mess. 

“And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I'm listening.” he turned to glare at him.

“For what?” Strange snorted, “Nearly blasting me into space? 

“Who just saved your magical ass? Me.” Tony looked at him. “

“I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet”. Strange shook his head as he eyed the billionaire up and down. 

“Admit it.” Tony said, for some reason he felt the need to make this guy admit he was wrong, just like he used to try and do with Rogers. No particular reason for it, other than being the one to come out on top “. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused.” 

“Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you”. 

“And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup.” Tony gestured around him.  

“I’m back up.” Peter said, raising his hand. 

“No, you’re a stowaway.” Tony said, waggling his finger between himself and Dr. Strange “The adults are talking”. 

“I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here. Wh-- what is he, your ward?” Strange frowned.

“No. I'm Peter, by the way.” Peter said, holding out his hand. 

“ Dr Strange.” Strange replied, looking at him.

“Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um. I'm Spider-Man, then”. 

Before Strange could respond, Tony piped up. “This ship is self-correcting its course. Thing's on autopilot.”

Strange walked closer to where Tony was stood. “Can we control it? Fly us home?”

Home…Thanos…home. 

They’d almost flattened New York once, and then there was Sokovia…no, home was most certainly a bad idea.

“Stark?” Strange’s voice cut across his thoughts. “Can you get us home? 

Yeah I heard you. I'm thinking. I'm not so sure we should.” he said, honestly.

“Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos.” Strange warned “I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here”.

“No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back!” Tony said, stalking towards Strange, jabbing a finger in the air as he pointed towards the ground. “And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?“

Strange had to admit, the guy had a point. Let Thanos destroy his own place, not theirs. “Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it”

“Nice. Good. Moral compass. We're straight” Tony nodded. Stepping over to Peter he tapped each of the kids shoulder with the edge of his hand, dubbing him as is done at a knighting. 

“Alright, kid. You're an Avenger now”

Tony couldn’t look at him as he spoke, because he knew what he was signing the kid up for. 

******

The jet was filled with chatter as Rhodey, Bruce and the rest of the team were catching up but Katie wasn’t listening. She wasn’t feeling great either, that damned sick feeling was back, most likely this time down to utter fear about what was to come. If Bruce was right, she wasn’t convinced this was a battle they were ever going to be able to win.

“You know,” she said, looking up at Steve and voicing her fear softly, “if he’s already killed Thor, and it’s going to take us, plus a royal army to attempt to fight this guy off what fucking chance does Tony stand?”

Steve didn’t answer, he couldn’t. Because what he was thinking wasn’t going to provide her any comfort. Instead he merely tightened his arm around her and pressed his lips to her forehead.

It was a couple of hours later before they hit Wakandan airspace.

"We're coming up." Sam spoke as Steve focussed his attention out of the front of the jet, one arm hanging lightly against the grab rails on the roof.

"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0." Steve instructed.

Sam glanced back over his shoulder before he spoke, "I hope you're right about this, Cap. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."

Katie gave a small smile as she drew up next to Steve, wrapping her arms around his waist. They both stood, waiting as Sam flew the jet right into the trees, and swore with a loud ‘holy shit’ as it passed right through the hologram barrier into Wakanda. Everyone on the jet moved to get a better look at the beautiful mountains, lakes, buildings as the jet circled and Steve directed Sam to the runway.

They disembarked and Katie strolled off shortly behind Steve, followed by Natasha. Vision and Wanda stayed put, Steve telling them he would get them some help soon.

Bruce, who was at the rear with Rhodey whispered as he shrugged his arms into his jacket, "Should we bow?"

"Yeah, he's a king." Rhodey answered casually without missing a beat.

Steve ignored their banter instead smiling warmly at T'Challa as he reached out to shake his hand. "Seems like I'm always thanking you for something."

T'Challa smiled back and he shook Steve's hand before embracing Katie in a warm hug. “Mrs Rogers, it is a pleasure to see you.” “And you.” She smiled softly, before she stepped back and T’Challa nodded to the rest of the group. The clearing of a throat caught Katie’s attention and she turned just in time to see Bruce bow forward towards T’Challa.

"What are you doing?" Rhodey asked, looking at him.

"Uh, we don't do that here." T'Challa said kindly waving a hand to stop Bruce’s bow. Everyone smiled in amusement expect for Bruce who turned and shot a disbelieving but amused look at Rhodey who grinned back at him, nudging him with his elbow.

Then they turned serious again as T'Challa asked, "So how big of an assault can we expect?"

His guards moved as he spoke, opening up a path that T'Challa took, leading them away. They followed quickly while Bruce piped up politely as he explained, "Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."

"How we looking?" Natasha added, addressing the king with a similarly concerned frown on her face.

"You will have my King's Guard," T'Challa listed, "the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and-" He gestured to the side just as a familiar, dark-clothed man stepped out of the building to greet them by the door.

"A semi-stable, one hundred-year-old man." Bucky grinned. Katie smiled back and then glanced at Steve as he walked forwards, that familiar boyish grin on his face as pulled the man into a hug clapping him on the back a few times.

"How have you been, Buck?" he pulled back to look at his friend. He looked as well as he’d seen him in years. Healthy and dare he say it, happy.

"Not bad," Bucky shrugged looking down at his new black vibranium arm, "For the end of the world.” Katie stepped forward to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You look good Buck.” she said, standing back to look him up and down before smiling, something that didn’t escape Steve’s notice. And yes, he knew there was nothing in it, and this was the most inappropriate time to get jealous but still…

“I feel it.” Bucky smiled as Steve slid his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “Goat farming suits me.” With that, Bucky turned to Sam. “Hey man.”  

“Frosty.” Sam responded with a jerk of his head.

They left Rhodey, Sam and Bucky with some of the guard to keep watch, and the rest of them followed T'Challa up to the labs where the person who was said to be able to safely remove Vision's stone was waiting. Steve could tell that the rest of the group weren’t expecting that person to be T'Challa's sixteen year old sister, Shuri. But T'Challa had full faith in her, as did Steve after she had managed to remove Bucky's programming.  

"Whoa." Shuri blinked as she stared at the hologram of Vision's brain and the stone in awe, "The structure is polymorphic...”

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce nodded and Shuri glanced at him with a raised brow.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" She asked looking at Banner. Vision also glanced at the doctor in question.

"Because... we didn't think of it." Bruce admitted sheepishly.

Shuri smiled and Katie had to fight the laugh that was brewing at the Princess’ playful nature "I'm sure you did your best."

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked stepping forward anxiously.

Shuri's smile dropped as she became more serious. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Her gaze moved to T’Challa “It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve asked, straightening up slightly.

Shuri shook her head. "As long as you can give me." She answered honestly and worryingly.

A loud warning siren suddenly started and instantly Katie looked around. General Okoye tapped at something on her bracelet and she looked over at T’Challa."Something's entered the atmosphere."

Seconds later, Sam's voice called over their coms, "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."

Katie moved over to the floor-length windows of the lab to look out, Steve stood close behind her as everyone followed to see what was going on. In the distance, they could see the plains all around as far as the border stretched to the city. A giant ship descended from the sky and as they watched it exploded high above the city as soon as it touched the shield, causing Katie to jump back slightly. Steve gently caught her, his hands going to her shoulders as his focus remained on the exploding ship which dissipated above the invisible barrier they had flown through.

"God, I love this place."  Bucky’s contented sigh rang over their coms.

"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome." Rhodey warned.

More ships came crashing down to Earth just outside the Wakandan barrier disturbing the dust and sand on the ground as they landed. The lab they were stood in shook slightly and Vision sat up.

"It's too late."  he whispered and both Steve and Katie turned to look at him as he sat up. "We need to destroy the stone now."

"Vision, get your ass back on the table." Nat replied snapping her head back to look at him as she made her way to the door.

"We will hold them off." T'Challa said motioning to his guard.

"Wanda," Steve spoke up, looking at the young woman, "As soon as the stone's out of his head, you blow it to hell."

Wanda nodded with promise, "I will."

Steve turned his attention back to the window, watching the space ships which at the moment were doing nothing. T'Challa meanwhile, turned to his General and her warriors and began barking orders, "Evacuate the city. Engage all defences."

Steve turned to look at him as the king pointed in his directing before adding firmly. "And get this man a shield!"

Steve gave a small nod before he glanced back out of the window. For 2 years his fighting days had been focussed on simple people. Small groups of nobodies. Now, they were being thrown back into the crazy world of Aliens, AIs…and he knew they were going to look to him for leadership.

He might not be Captain America anymore, but he was still Captain Rogers, still that dumb kid from Brooklyn. And he still wasn’t going to run from a fight. 

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[tea-cake-and-melancholy]

Skull and Shackles-part one

Hello everyone! Stuck here in quarantine after finishing college (graduation, woot!) and decided to practice my heavily rusting fictional writing skills. Skull and Shackles is an Adventure Path from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game® owned by Paizo. The only thing I own is the original characters. Any writing advice would be welcomed. Hope you enjoy.

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This adventure does not start with the busy chatter of a tavern, no heroic call to arms against some great evil, not even with being arrested by a government that didn’t appreciate this group for sticking their noses where they don’t belong. This adventure starts with a dark room. The sensation of swaying and an incredible headache that may have either been accompanied by the taste that numbs the tongue or a whack. Impressment wasn’t just restricted to the Cheliax Navy, it extended to pirates as well. It’s been known that Press Gangs are known to skulk about inns, taverns, the streets at night and even pluck unsuspecting men and women from their very beds after a short chat concerning their sailing ability. That was the situation for this group of adventurers. 

The first to awaken was a catfolk thief named Gumqu, a lanky feline looking humanoid creature with the head, paws, and tail of a cat. With grey peach fuzz and mismatched blue and gold eyes, she looked about to try and remember how she had gotten there. Ah, yes. She had just returned from her latest voyage on the “Old Renegade”, a ship that she had served for 5 years working on the rigging. Coming across a rather fat merchant ship, she decided rather foolishly to spend her earnings alone at the Formidably Maid a rather popular pirate tavern. Gumqu absent-mindedly rasped her tongue against her sleeve to take away the numbing and bitter taste off her tongue, feeling rather embarrassed to having fallen for such an old press-gang tactic. At least she can feel the outline of her thieves’ tools in her hidden pocket. Another from the pile stirred with a curse and a spit, human looking and irate to boot.

Anne Salis angrily looked about with dark eyes, cursing her luck and possibly fate for not being careful. Her husband always did warn her against drinking at the Formidably Maid with all those wayward pirates. Being the resident shaman for the Besmara, there was a priest though he took a 12-year fishing trip and had not returned yet, it wasn’t uncommon to getting free drinks from old salts who appreciated fair weather charms. She shook her headful of honey curls and clutched her unprotected scalp when the throbbing headache was aggravated by her swift movements. They took her hat but not her dagger in her belt, typical. She gnashed her sharp teeth and tried to stand but was prevented by the moving room and tangled bodied. Nevertheless, with that she inadvertently kicked a rather large half-orc in the ribs, shocking him to consciousness.

Ausk Oddfellow never failed to live up to his name. A shocking giant that can easily take up the length of the room. He slowly sat up while rubbing his now smarting side, looking like a picture out of those risqué nobles’ romance novels. Tall and muscular with a tiny waist, the symbol of Cayden Cailean (a flagon) hung around his neck and slightly messy black hair caused by the welt in the back of the head. He was tavern hopping, singing about various pirates and legends with his bestest best mate in all the world, Skender, who always works in his dark little alchemy shop. So, as any best friend would do, he dragged with away for a good time and maybe show him the meaning of fun. Well, on the way from Suffering Tiger Pub, The Boot and Helm, The Forest and Shield, Hovering Drake and The Clam and Whale Tavern, and the Formidably Maid, there was a scuffle in a dark alley between 2 blokes and a lady. Being the dashing bard that he is, of course he rushed to the rescue. Right before being knocked on the back of the head. Hard. He quickly looked around in panic! Where’s Skender?! As he is reaching over, his hulking green mass squished the figure next to him, causing an indignant shout.

Now Mordren Paella was typical for a pit-born tiefling; some had one or two minor imperfections that can be easily hidden or explained away, some are more…drastic. The only normal features she possessed was her height, black hair usually tied back and olive skin. Unfortunately, her abnormalities were drastic enough to detract from those features. From golden cat eyes, exposed fang-like teeth that frame her entire jaw, a left arm that resembled a blue dragon’s claw, bird’s legs to the barbed snake’s tail. Many had expressed that she was most likely the product of a god after a very heavy night of drinking. She was a witch that worked on various pirate ships as a cook. Never had a bad reference and no complaints with her small book of recipes that she can feel she still had on her person. She had left her hometown of Ilizmagorti, due to the heightened Red Mantis activity, to Port Peril. To celebrate, she went for a small meal and drink for the smooth trip. Seeing some sketchy characters at the corner of the tavern she and decided to leave, until the world started spinning and the floor was incoming fast. Nearby her was a rather angry “Must you be such a bumbling bugbear? Move over, you green lummox” a thwack barely missing her head and swatting the half-orc’s back.

The person in question was Skender Korzha; a half elf with mocha skin and high contrasting white tattoos on his arms that appeared arcane in origin. His black hair was halfway taken out of his ponytail and he feels a crick in his lower back after hours in an odd position. He knew that he should not have gone out with Ausk. Nothing ever goes well when he goes out with him. Granted, he is a flamboyant, needlessly boisterous, optimistic glass ¾’s full kind of bard but really he’s not a bad friend. However, based on the pounding headache and possible concussion, he’s gotten them into trouble again. He needed that brain, damn it. He checks himself to find what he had left, only to find a health kit. Wonderful. Trying to pull himself to sit up, he felt his sleeping leg being weighed down by someone who may just have beaten his friend in height.

The last in this room was a peculiar species of troll called the Va’al, hailing from the islands closer to Freeport. Though not nearly as muscular as Ausk, Hau'ri’s musculature was overshadowed by the sheer height. This was hidden by him being currently curled on the floor of this room. He slowly sits up and rubs his sore jaw, luckily his tusks were still intact for they were a pain to regrow, almost as bad as a leg or the inconvenience of a missing finger when you only have a max of 3 to start with. The only hair was the short light blue fur covering him from head to toe, bat like ears ringing from the beating he received just the other…time? Honestly, he doesn’t know what time it, not that it matters. His amber eyes scanning the room, satisfied that there’s more than him in this situation. He clenches his fist and quickly hides the brass knuckles that he always kept on him, chuckling at his luck.

 It was at that time; a series of heavy footsteps came from above to then slam the door open violently. Bright light pouring from the handheld lantern blinds everyone inside, causing some to curse and some to hiss in discomfort.

             ““Still abed with the sun over the yardarm? On your feet, ye filthy swabs! Get up on deck and report for duty before Cap’n Harrigan flays your flesh into sausage skins and has Fishguts fry ye up for breakfast!” roared the stranger. He stands tall in typical pirate garb, this human male had probably has seen salt water more often than clear water used for more than cooking or drinking. Skin cracked from long days in the sun and gold teeth gleaming in a cruel smile as he used his whip to motivate everyone onto their feet. This took a bit of time before the group proceeded to follow him up the stairs of the ship.

 As they were walking, Anne spat on the ground to her right, finally deciphering the taste in her mouth as taggit oil. A favorite of press gangs if they think they can get away with it. Put it in spicy food or particularly strong grog and you have between 1 to 3 hours with a dead to the world body. Cheap, easy to obtain and hard to overcome when ingested. Both Hau’ri and Ausk must bend down to clear their heads from hitting the beams above.

Once they’ve reached the top they were once again blinded, this time by the tropical sun hanging high in the sky. Looking about, they find themselves surrounded, 10 pirates not including the one that guided them there and ocean as far as the eye can see. Some were up in the rigging while others were scattered about on deck, all stopped to gawk at the new arrivals. Skender looks at the ship and can tell that it’s a three-masted sailing ship, 100 feet long from stem to stern, and 30 feet wide amidships. Decent but just one person short of manning it effectively without hardship. At the ship’s mainmast, on a high platform than the confused party in question, there stood two individuals. One was a broad, muscular human man with Garundi descent; a shaven head, long beard bound with braids and gold rings, and an eye patch. Based on his standing and finery, this was the captain in charge. The other to his right was a younger, balding man with a long black ponytail, wearing a long coat and carrying a well-used cat-o’-nine-tails.

The group was corralled towards the middle with 4 other recruits, a red headed human woman with a lovely tricornered hat, a muscular halfling brunette that could possibly bench-press Ausk, a human male with a blue varisian scarf wrapped around his head to protect his scalp and a rather fabulous male gnome bedecked in dandy purple attire. While the group was placed in a row, the captain smirked and finally addressed them.

           “Glad you could join us at last!” his rasping voice bellowed over the crashing waves “Welcome to the Wormwood! My thanks for ‘volunteering’ to join my crew. I’m Barnabas Harrigan. That’s Captain Barnabas Harrigan to you, not that you’ll ever need to address me. I have only one rule—don’t speak to me. I like talk, but I don’t like your talk. Follow that rule and we’ll all get along fine.” He made his way to walk away, paused and spoke over his shoulder, “Oh, and one more thing. Even with you new recruits, we’re still short-handed, and I aim to keep what crew I have. There’ll be a keelhaulin’ for anyone caught killin’ anyone. Mr. Plugg!” addressing the man with the ponytail “If you’d be so kind as to make pirates out of these landlubbers, it’ll save me having to put them in the sweatbox for a year and a day before I make pies out of ’em.” Before walking away from sight. The new overseer, Mr. Plugg, descends to the Amidships where they stood.

           “Now” he unhooked the cat-o’-nine-tails from his belt as he surveys the crew-to-be. “Time to see where you lot belong.”

Next

[bevioletskies]

Starmora Prompt: EWTRTW-ish the whole team goes on a mission in which peter is the honey pot and the mission goes wrong. A jealous and badass gamora please.

This fic takes place between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Avengers: Infinity War.word count: 5.5k | ao3

“We have a message from the Nova Corps. They’ve got a job for us,” Gamora announced one morning at the crack of dawn, striding into the Benatar’s kitchen on a mission for a cup that wasn’t suspiciously foggy.

“Mornin’ to you too,” Peter said affectionately, reaching over to squeeze her waist. “What kind of job?”

“Diplomacy.” Gamora started poking around in the sink. “We really need to remind Groot to wash his own dishes.”

“Aw, those are the most boring kind,” Peter grumbled, leaning against the counter. He yawned, unable to help himself. “But I guess we can’t say no, can we?”

“Do you want to say no to twenty-five thousand units?” Gamora replied, smirking. Peter’s eyes widened in surprise.

“And suddenly, I’m awake,” he said, grinning mischievously in return. “So what do we gotta do?”

“Convince a brother-sister pair of self-absorbed monarchs with too many weapons on their hands to sell them to us instead of the Baluurian militia. At least, we better, or we may have an intergalactic war to deal with instead,” she replied, stepping directly in front of Peter. She stood on her toes, reaching around his head to open the cabinet behind him in search of a clean mug, smiling as he wrapped his arms around her middle to keep her steady.

“That don’t sound so bad. There’s gotta be a catch,” Peter reasoned.

Gamora winced in anticipation, closing the cabinet door and lowering herself back down so she and Peter were at eye level. “To put it nicely…these monarchs have a bit of a taste for unique individuals.”

“And by ‘unique’, you mean - ”

“You.”

“And by ‘taste’, you mean - ”

“…sexual interest.” Gamora smiled apologetically. “What can I say? A man of your reputation is somehow more desirable than he should be, Star-Lord.”

“Hey,” he chuckled, then frowned when he realized the implications. “Wait, so I gotta bat some eyelashes in the direction of these people so they don’t start a war? All just ‘cos, what, I’m a half-Celestial who don’t even got his powers anymore?”

“Basically,” Gamora admitted. “But you have to be careful. The whole situation is more delicate than I’m making it sound. Besides, if our relationship was known to the public - ”

“Oh god, your sister would come back just so she could staple my face to my - ”

“Exactly.” Gamora patted him on the chest in reassurance. “I’ll keep an eye out for you, Peter, but don’t worry about offending my sensitivities. I trust you, both as my leader and my boyfriend. Do what you have to do, and I won’t hold anything against you. So…what should we tell the Nova Corps?”

Peter gritted his teeth, sighing. “Tell ‘em we’re on our way.”______

Of all the Guardians, Rocket especially seemed to take delight in the nature of the mission once it was explained to him, snickering gleefully in the co-pilot’s seat the whole way there. “Who knew you were such a commodity, Quill?”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I was super popular with the - sorry, Gamora,” Peter said sheepishly, sinking into his seat. He didn’t need to look her way to know she was glaring daggers at him. “You’re the most incredible woman in the galaxy and I - ”

“Save it, Peter,” she interrupted with a sigh, waving him off. “Mantis, can you read the brief again?”

“Lord Araki and Lady Aelsa rule over the richest region of Protaris,” Mantis recited diligently, scrolling down the screen. “The Protar are known for indulging in state-of-the-art technology, luxury goods, and weaponry, but do not engage in war themselves. Lady Aelsa recently met and befriended a Baluurian senator who is known to favor war over negotiation, and she wants to sell weapons to their militia in exchange for drilling rights to their mines, which produce rare gemstones that are most often sought after for jewelry.”

“So this idiot wants to start a war so she can have a pretty necklace?” Rocket snorted. “And I thought Quill made a stupid trade when he sold one of our spare engine batteries for playing cards.”

“They were Terran baseball cards, and I hadn’t seen any of ‘em in twenty-eight years!” Peter said defensively.

“Those men were hardly worth admiring, Quill,” Drax protested. “Why would you want to fight with wooden bats? They’re flimsy and would break instantly upon impact!”

“Baseball isn’t about fighting - oh, forget it,” Peter muttered. “Go on, Mantis.”

“Nova Prime claimed that both Lord Araki and Lady Aelsa are big fans of us, especially Peter,” Mantis continued with an impish grin. “So she recommended that Peter should charm them into selling the weapons to us instead by claiming we can give them access to the Nova records in return.”

“Because if there’s anything Lord Araki loves more than luxury goods, it’s intel on his rivals,” Gamora added, eyes narrowing a little at the smug-looking portrait on the screen in front of her. “We won’t really be giving them anything valuable, just false hope, and the Corps officers will take care of the conflict in Baluur long before Lady Aelsa talks to the senator again.”

“As long as we aren’t liable for anything that happens after that,” Peter said, shuddering. “We don’t need a repeat of what happened when we accidentally crossed Queen Veranke.”

“That was mostly your fault!” Rocket exclaimed.

“I am Groot,” Groot mumbled in agreement, barely looking up from his tablet.

“Lean back, Groot, you’re too close to the screen,” Gamora scolded. He scoffed in return.

“I’d like to point out that it was Drax that knocked the statue over, I just happened to be standin’ next to it - ”

“We are arriving!” Mantis interrupted quickly. Gamora huffed out a sigh of relief, rubbing at her temples.

Lord Araki and Lady Aelsa’s estate wasn’t the most extravagant place the Guardians had ever visited - the Sovereign planet still came to mind - but it was certainly ostentatious, decked out in rich mahogany wood and ivory columns, silky tile floors and beautiful damask walls. They were greeted by a butler and led into an old-fashioned parlor room, and were politely asked to sit on a plush fainting couch while they waited.

“Imagine needing a ceiling this tall!” Rocket exclaimed in awe, his voice resonating off the walls. “They wanna grow trees in here or somethin’?” Groot glanced around the room before shrugging and turning back to his device.

“I guess I should do most of the talking, right?” Peter mumbled to Gamora, squeezing her hand briefly, more to reassure himself than anything else.

“I have a feeling you’re the only one they want to talk to. Inviting the rest of us was a formality,” Gamora whispered back, eyeing the fanciful portraits hanging over the fireplace with derision. “From what I’ve read, they’re more clever than they look. If you’re too obvious, if you talk about the Baluurian deal right away, we’ll be in far more trouble than necessary.”

“C’mon, knowing you? You’ve already got five different exit strategies planned out in that badass brain of yours,” Peter said, tapping her affectionately on the forehead. Gamora couldn’t help but grin in return, leaning into the touch. At the sound of heels clacking against the floor, however, she quickly withdrew her hand from his and lifted her head before they could see.

“Guardians!” They all winced at the sheer volume; it wasn’t surprising that they were hearing their hosts before seeing them. Two individuals came gliding into the room, grinning bright, toothy grins. Their skin was a pale lavender color, their hair rendered in deep plum, and their eyes were blindingly violet; even their clothes were purple, heavy ornate robes with gold trim. They were both quite tall, as tall as Peter, with strikingly angular faces and long limbs. The woman, presumably Lady Aesla, extended her hand first. “It’s an honor to receive you in our humble abode.”

They all got to their feet, taking turns to shake hands with them both. “It’s an honor to be here, Lady Aelsa, Lord Araki,” Peter said, smiling easily. “We’ve heard so much about the great work you’ve been doing here on Protaris. The, uh, the education initiative that you funded last month, with that big charity ball? Inspired.”

Lady Aelsa trilled in delight. “Well, aren’t you a charmer?” she said, beaming. “It’s a shame, if I knew you knew of us, I would have invited you. It really was quite fabulous - we had performers come all the way from Klyntar, and a drink fountain that went all the way to the ceiling filled with rare Majesdanian wine. No expenses were spared!”

“How about the education initiative?” Gamora asked. “How much money went into that?”

Lady Aelsa blinked. “What’s that, hon?” Gamora had to bite her lip to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

“You’ll be joining us for dinner tonight, won’t you?” Lord Araki said lightly. “I hope you don’t mind, we’ve invited plenty of our friends - or perhaps I should be more modest, they’re just acquaintances, really - who are also huge fans of your work.”

“That sounds great. I love meeting new people,” Peter said cheerfully, and at least that wasn’t too much of a falsehood. Gamora had a feeling that otherwise, they would all have to lie through their teeth to get through the rest of the evening. “Who should we be expecting?”

“We can’t spoil all the fun now, can we, Mister Quill?” Lord Araki teased. “But we’ll give you a tour of the estate in the meantime, and then we’ll take you to the guest quarters so you can freshen up before dinner.” Gamora and Rocket silently exchanged dubious looks behind Peter’s back.

The tour was surprisingly much more pleasant than anticipated, and Gamora felt slightly guilty for having judged the siblings so harshly. They were a little vapid, sure, but they seemed to have good intentions, though going by their dealings with the Baluurian senator, they weren’t the best with realizing long-term consequences. It turned out that Lady Aelsa wanted to use the gemstones to open manufacturing plants in the poorer areas of Protaris and stimulate the job economy (“With a living wage, of course!” Lord Araki had interjected. “We can’t have our citizens going cold and hungry. Our economists are studying the areas now to understand what sort of resources they’re currently lacking.”). That, Gamora could definitely admire.

Near the end of the tour, Lady Aelsa pulled Gamora a little ways away from the rest of the group as Lord Araki continued on leading them through the gardens. “You’ve been such an inspiration to me, Gamora,” Lady Aelsa murmured almost shyly. “I read about you…your dark past…oh, I couldn’t ever survive such an ordeal. But you’re strong, aren’t you? And brave, so brave.”

“I don’t know about that,” Gamora replied modestly. “But thank you, Lady Aelsa.”

“Beautiful, too,” Lady Aelsa continued, threading her fingers through Gamora’s dark hair. “It’s a wonder Mister Quill hasn’t tried to snatch you up for himself. I know I would if I had the chance.”

“That sounds violent…’snatching’,” Gamora said slowly. “Besides, I think being in a relationship in our line of work can be messy.”

“I can imagine,” Lady Aelsa said sympathetically. “Gosh, I’d be worried just trying to protect the universe with my brother by my side. He’s a sensitive soul, you know? And if I had to work alongside a lover…well, I wouldn’t be able to take my eye off them without constantly wondering if they were okay.”

Gamora swallowed. Yes, she and Peter had plenty of moments like that, and it wasn’t pleasant to dwell on them. “I worry about Peter regardless of our relationship to each other. I worry about all of them.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it, honey,” Lady Aelsa said worriedly. “I’m sure you do. And I suppose you think I’m a bit of a coward, hiding behind money and nice things, throwing it at other people to make them solve the world’s problems.”

Gamora softened, patting her arm. “We do what we can with what we have. I’m glad you use your resources for good, Lady Aelsa. There are plenty out there who don’t.”

“This house was our father’s,” Lady Aelsa sighed, gesturing around them. “He was your typical wealthy man - all he wanted was to have it all to himself. In fact, we grew up with far more servants and luxuries than you see here. I would sell it, move into something that doesn’t require so much maintenance, but as much as I despised my father’s values, there’s too much sentiment here, you know? And Araki, he’s a nostalgic man.”

“So is Peter,” Gamora said, glancing up ahead. She could see the two of them conversing by the fountain, with Araki smiling as Peter was probably recounting some dramatic story of one of their past missions. Gamora turned away before her fondness for him became obvious, now that she was witnessing Lady Aelsa’s startlingly strong perception firsthand. “Should we head back now?”______

“You and Lady Aelsa seemed pretty cozy,” Peter teased once the Guardians were alone in their respective rooms. “Should you be the one to swing her instead?”

“If necessary,” Gamora shrugged, sinking onto her bed. Though they weren’t staying overnight, the siblings had been kind enough to set them up in the guest quarters for some privacy, dividing them into pairs. Neither seemed too fazed by Peter and Gamora wanting to share a room. “She mentioned it was a shame you haven’t, quote, ‘snatched me up for yourself’.”

“Did she now?” Peter smirked, walking over to stand between Gamora’s legs. He leaned down so they were eye-to-eye, his nose barely brushing against hers. “I have to agree. What was I thinking?”

“I don’t ever know what you’re thinking, so you tell me,” Gamora murmured, winding her arms around Peter’s neck.

“I’m thinkin’…that you’re one of the best things that ever happened to me.” Peter kissed her deeply, bending slightly so he could wrap his arms around her middle. Before he could lower her onto her back, though, maybe take things a little further, Gamora reluctantly broke the kiss.

“And you for me. But unfortunately, we’re going to have to pretend otherwise for the next few hours, aren’t we?” The corners of her mouth quirked upwards in mirth as she slowly unwound her legs from where she had hooked them around his waist. “So don’t get any ideas, Peter.”

He groaned, taking a step back. “Fine, fine. I’ll keep my hands to myself. But I feel like we should be worried about the other people showing up. How do we know they aren’t gonna try to persuade her in some other direction?”

“We don’t,” Gamora said simply, leaning back onto her hands. “So you’ll have to do what you do best - improvise.”

Another hour passed before the Guardians made their way into the formal dining room, wearing their best clothes (in Drax’s case, this meant pants without cargo pockets) and tightest smiles. Hand-shaking and stilted greetings commenced soon after, with Gamora noting that most of the siblings’ guests were politicians and social elite, the kind that didn’t get invited to Nova Corps events very often because of one scandal or another. In other words, outcasts that were desperate to become part of the in-crowd, just like Aelsa and Araki.

“Alright, now that we’re actually seeing ‘em - you worried about any of these people?” Peter muttered under his breath once the Guardians took their seats.

“More concerned about our own safety if Aelsa and Araki see through us,” Gamora whispered back, her eyes scanning down the line. “Don’t charm them too much.” Instead of cracking another joke, Peter instead patted her reassuringly on the leg.

“Do you two have a secret you’d like to share with the rest of us?” Lord Araki called from the head of the table.

Peter withdrew his hand before anyone could see. “Just discussing our plans for the weekend,” he replied lightly. “Nova Prime’s expecting us on Xandar for some meetings. Regulations, jurisdiction, boring stuff.”

“Oh, I imagine you all must live very exciting lives,” one of the bright-eyed socialites gushed. “I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I do love following the stories of all your adventures whenever I can.”

“It’s not glamorous work, you know,” Gamora warned. “The news articles like to cover our ‘cleanest’ jobs, the kind that don’t hurt anyone or anything. It’s when there are casualties that the cracks start to show, but never in the public eye.”

The others started to look vaguely uncomfortable, exchanging nervous glances as they spooned soup into their mouths without another word. Lady Aelsa, however, smiled encouragingly. “It’s a blessing to have you around, Guardians. Believe me, I’m a supporter of the Nova Corps and the other forces out there, but there’s something so…grounded about you. Something real. You know what I mean?”

“Oh sure, if you mean that I literally eat dirt when my rocket boots malfunction sometimes,” Peter said jokingly, and the entire table laughed. “But seriously, glad we can be of service. We all were going through some difficult stuff before we met, and even though we’re still strugglin’ now, we got each other. Couldn’t ask for a better team.” There was a brief pause as the Guardians smiled at each other - even Rocket looked genuinely moved - before another dinner guest cut in.

“Doesn’t it get tedious, though, having to check in with the Corps? I’ve had a little run-in or two with them before, and they seem so strict,” he drawled.

“They mean well,” Peter shrugged. “And we have a good relationship with ‘em, not about to mess up a good thing.” His eyes briefly flickered over to Araki. “Y’know, they trust us enough to give us access to some pretty interesting stuff.”

“Like what?” Lord Araki asked immediately.

“Records, secrets. Can’t share it unless you’re part of their circle, unfortunately,” Peter said, winking. Araki’s breath hitched a little in response. Aelsa audibly sighed in admiration.

“We must know how to get into that circle, then,” yet another socialite declared. “Won’t you tell us, Mister Quill?”

“They’re picky folk, the Nova Corps,” Peter hedged, twirling his spoon around the empty bowl. “You’d have to do something pretty massive to get their attention. The right kind of massive, of course.”

“You tease us, Mister Quill,” Lord Araki said, chuckling.

Peter tilted his head consideringly, his eyes flickering back and forth between the siblings. “Oh, I can do a lot more than that.” Gamora squirmed in her seat as both Aelsa and Araki’s eyes darkened with desire.

The rest of dinner passed by with relative ease, the conversation moving more towards the Guardians’ many missions and mishaps, mostly stories of Peter’s greatest accomplishments, some of which they had to re-word as to not allude to his and Gamora’s relationship. After all, many of his successes were in tandem with hers, many of his motivations stemmed from his desire to keep her safe. Many of their most dangerous jobs were immediately followed with them crawling into bed together for days, curling around each other as if to reassure themselves that the other was still alive, still healthy, still happy.

After dessert was served, Lord Araki called the entire group into the lounge for drinks, insisting everyone get comfortably tipsy before leaving the estate for the night. Wordlessly, Gamora motioned for Peter to position himself in the large, cushy armchair by the fireplace, best suited for intimate conversation away from the rest of the group. Not two minutes after Peter settled in, she was proven right, as Lord Araki sank down into the chair opposite him.

“You look lonely over here, Mister Quill,” he said. “But you seem like the type to enjoy conversation.”

“Nothing’s better than booze and good company, and it looks like I’m getting both,” Peter replied, holding up his glass. Lord Araki smiled, pleased.

“Forgive me if I’m pressing too far, but I’m so fascinated by what you said, about the Nova Corps,” Lord Araki simpered. “You see, Aelsa and I aren’t taken very seriously by the higher-ups. They think us fanciful and shallow, our reputation built on money and parties. But we have ambition, you see, and having these kinds of connections, they really will benefit our people.”

“I hear you,” Peter said, feeling genuinely sympathetic for them. He knew what it was like to have a reputation that entered the room before he did. “You know, there’s a couple things I bet you could do to get in their good books.”

“Tell me,” Lord Araki said, enchanted. He leaned forward, draping himself over the armrest like a child listening to a bedtime story.

“Don’t do things for publicity,” Peter replied simply. “They can smell a good ol’ PR campaign right away. You think they’d give a crap about the Guardians if all we did was go around saving people’s pets to get our picture in the paper? It’s about real sacrifice, real consequences. Not saying you gotta risk your lives like we do, but little fluff pieces don’t get you nowhere.”

“I see,” Lord Araki hummed thoughtfully, glancing across the room at his sister.

“And make a real stance. Somethin’ to fight for,” Peter continued. “You wanna be about the environment? Cut back on land development. You wanna be about education? Improve the school systems. You wanna be about peace? Don’t be a part of war.”

“Peace,” Lord Araki said slowly like he’d never heard the word before. “What are you suggesting, Mister Quill?”

Peter smiled. Bingo. “Look, I wasn’t gonna say anything, but I know Protaris’s got a whole lotta weapons they ain’t using right now. They end up in the wrong hands, and the whole universe could be at risk - again. Do the right thing with ‘em, Lord Araki. Give them to something or someone who’ll use them responsibly.”

“Like you?” Lord Araki leaned in even closer, the violets of his eyes growing more and more intense with every move.

“Exactly like me,” Peter murmured, grinning. “You’ve read the stories, you know we’re decent people. Let us free you of the burden of ownership, and I bet the Nova Corps will reward you just the way you like.”

“You’ve gone and twisted my arm, Mister Quill,” Lord Araki said, breathless. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a bit of a charmer?”

“I’ve been told,” Peter teased. Before Araki could make his last move, the click-clack of heels against wood startled them out of their intense gaze. They both turned and looked up.

“Won’t you give me a minute with Mister Quill, Araki? I have so much to ask him about,” Lady Aelsa said, reaching over to fuss at Lord Araki’s collar. He scowled, swatting her hand away and disappearing back into the crowd without another word. Triumphant, she sat in her brother’s place. “I hope he wasn’t too much of a nuisance. I love him dearly, but he’s emotional, that one.”

“I could say the same about myself,” Peter admitted with a laugh. “What did you want to ask me, Lady Aelsa?”

Instead of replying right away, though, she leaned in closer. Unlike her brother, there was something far more skeptical in her gaze, far more considering. Finally, she leaned back and said cooly, “How long have you and Gamora been romantically involved, and were you ever planning on telling us?”

Peter froze. “I…didn’t catch that, sorry, could you - ”

“Don’t bat your eyelashes at me, Mister Quill, it’s written all over both of your faces,” Lady Aelsa hissed. “I saw you pull your hand away from hers when we first came into the room, touch her leg at the beginning of dinner. I see the way you look at each other, how dewy-eyed you both get. Not to mention the fact that you’re sharing a room, and she’s been staring at you ever since my brother sat down, and hasn’t looked away since.” Peter whipped around to see Gamora stood at the opposite end of the room, watching them with a steely-eyed coldness that he only ever saw when she was truly upset. “So tell me again, Mister Quill, how long have you been together, and were you going to tell us?”

He turned back, sighing. Being optimistic about a mission never seemed to get him anywhere. “Two years, and…no,” he admitted. “Our relationship isn’t public for a lot of reasons, okay, it wasn’t like we were only out to trick you guys. We’ve both got people after us, and if they knew the kind of leverage they could get out of one of us by hurting the other? Just…oh, man.”

“You’ve hurt my brother by making him believe there was a chance.” Lady Aelsa drew to her full height, glaring at him. “And for that, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. All of you.”

“Lady Aelsa, please, just - ” Peter felt someone’s fingers grasp tightly onto his shoulder. He let out a startled cry, turning around to stare into the face of what he presumed was one of their guards, a broad, intimidating man in uniform whose muscles put Drax to shame. “Hey, uh, this has been a huge misunderstanding - whoa - ”

He was promptly flung across the room, crashing into a side table and scattering its contents, his head slamming into the floor. Gamora immediately jumped into action, reaching for her switchblade and running to his side. “Peter!” she cried. Two more guards advanced on her, blocking her way, but she made quick work of them by knocking them out. She turned to see more coming her way, with Lady Aelsa and Lord Araki stood by the fireplace together, arms folded across their chests. “What is this?!”

“You’ve embarrassed and disrespected us in our own house,” Lady Aelsa growled. “You came here with intentions to seduce us for your own purposes, haven’t you?”

“Be reasonable, lady, you’re the one tryin’ to sell guns to a frickin’ militia!” Rocket exclaimed, the remaining Guardians moving to stand with Gamora, crowding near an unconscious Peter.

“Get them out of here,” Lord Araki ordered. The guards didn’t have to be told twice, sprinting across the room to attack, while the guests screamed in terror as they fled the building. Drax and Rocket immediately sprung into action by Gamora’s side, while Mantis tried her best to grapple their heads and calm them down - her combat training with Gamora still needed some work - and Groot half-heartedly wrapped a few of them up in branches, flinging them around like ragdolls.

“Listen to us, Lady Aelsa, Lord Araki!” Gamora shouted over the sounds of battle, rendering another handful of guards unconscious in quick succession. She had no desire to hurt them any worse unless she absolutely had to. “Let us explain ourselves, and maybe we can leave here in good faith.”

“Good faith? You’ve come to manipulate us,” Lady Aelsa said accusingly, pointing a long purple fingernail in Gamora’s direction. “We’re done listening to you, Guardians.”

“Hold them off, I need to move Peter somewhere safe,” Gamora told Drax, who nodded sharply, roaring loudly as he tore through the crowd of oncoming guards. She slid underneath a guard’s legs and practically crawled the rest of her way across the floor to Peter, lifting his head into her lap to briefly check him for bleeding or bumps. When she was certain he was just unconscious, she hefted him into her arms and ran to the furthest corner of the room, setting him down carefully. “Peter?” she said softly, pushing his hair out his eyes. “We need that silver tongue of yours, so if you could just wake up…” He mumbled incoherently under his breath, his head lolling to one side.

Sighing, Gamora got to her feet and turned back towards the battle. It seemed that the Protar siblings were running out of guards, though their fury was still written all over their faces. She jogged back in their direction, neatly weaving through the fight, bursting through the crowd right in front of their faces. Both leapt back with a surprised gasp. “What do you think you’re doing?” Lady Aelsa exclaimed.

Gamora drew her sword, holding its tip right beneath their chins. “I implore you to listen to me before anyone else gets hurt,” she snarled. “You’ve scared your guests, you’ve put unnecessary stress on my team, and you’ve injured my boyfriend. This pointless fight, this childishness, it ends now.” She tilted the sword, grazing the underside of Lord Araki’s jawline. “Call them off. Call them off, or I make you bleed.”

He swallowed. “Guards, fall back,” he called hoarsely. Gamora could vaguely hear the sounds of heavy footfalls and the clattering of weapons falling to the floor behind her, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off the siblings. “We’re listening.”

“Good.” Gamora swiftly sheathed her sword again, straightening up. “After all, we came here to prevent war, not start one.”

“What do you mean?” Lady Aelsa said nervously.

“We know of your friendship with the Baluurian senator, Lady Aelsa, and we came here to stop you from selling weapons to them,” Gamora said. “Their militia intends to invade unstable planets and seek out personnel for their drug trafficking rings, people so desperate for money that they’ll do anything to make it. You both said you wanted your people to make an honest living, to do honest work and live honest lives. If those weapons end up with the Baluurians, there will be more people out there who won’t get that choice.”

Aelsa and Araki exchanged considering glances, their shoulders slumping a little, hands unfurling from their sides. “Why didn’t you tell us in the first place?” Lord Araki asked. “We just wanted the mines, but if we had known about their cruelty, I would have never gotten into bed with the Baluurians in the first place.”

Gamora sighed. “In all honesty, the Nova Corps suggested we convince you through…other means. I suppose as the Guardians of the Galaxy, we’re known for our personal touch. I agree, we should have just been direct with you. It would have saved us from doing all of…this.” She gestured fruitlessly around her.

“Especially since you ended up tricking out your boyfriend!” Lady Aelsa exclaimed, scandalized. “We would never - I mean, if we knew about your - ”

“There are plenty of reasons we keep our relationship private,” Gamora said firmly. “What’s mine is mine. And I protect what’s mine. So I hope we’ve reached an understanding, Lady Aelsa, Lord Araki. But if you ever lay a hand on Peter again, I’ll raise my sword first, ask questions later.” Her brow quirked. “Do you get my meaning?”

Lady Aelsa gulped. “Yes, of course. So what do you recommend we do with the weapons?”______

Peter stirred to find his vision was obscured by a familiar head of dark hair. Grinning sleepily, he reached over to affectionately pat her head. “G’morning, Gamora, how - wait. I don’t remember going to bed.”

“That’s because you didn’t.” Gamora rolled over to look at him, smiling fondly. “One of Lady Aelsa’s guards knocked you out because she discovered the truth.”

“Oh, crap,” Peter groaned, throwing his forearm across his eyes. “What happened after that?”

“The usual. Everything delved into absolute chaos, and I had to fix it,” Gamora remarked dryly, running her fingers through his hair. “You feel alright? No concussion or dizziness?”

“Little sore, but I’m alright.” He rubbed his eyes and sank into his pillow. “Everyone else okay? And did we get the job done? Or are we out twenty-five thousand units?”

“Are you doubting me, Peter Quill?” Gamora teased, lowering herself on top of Peter, pressing him into the mattress. “The others are fine. And I convinced Lady Aelsa and Lord Araki to give us the weapons. In exchange, I don’t report their missing finances to the Nova Corps.”

Peter blinked. “Wait, when did we learn about that?”

“We didn’t, I did,” Gamora insisted. “While you were flirting with Araki, I asked around. It turns out, the dinner guests were such big fans of the Guardians, I barely had to say a word to get them to talk. Helps that you spent ten minutes making eyes at him.”

“Aw, it’s okay, Gamora. You know I only got eyes for you,” Peter grinned cheekily. Gamora groaned.

“I was barely paying attention, don’t stroke your own ego more than you have to,” she scolded.

“That’s not what I heard,” Peter sing-songed. “I saw your face near the end there, you were totally jealous.”

“Of what? Of you paying attention to someone else for a brief moment in time?” Her voice lowered, growing huskier in a way that made Peter’s entire body stir with arousal. “I’m the one who gets to share your bed, who gets to touch you, who gets to call you mine.” She tugged at the collar of his T-shirt, revealing a bruise she’d left on him just last night. She ducked her head to kiss the mark, her teeth just barely scraping against his skin. He shivered. “What do I have to be jealous of?”

“You’re right,” Peter said, his eyes darkening with pure want. His arms went around her waist, pulling her body flush against his. “You don’t got nothing to be jealous of, ‘cos you were so badass today, I’ve got a reward for you that I think you’ll like.”

[thetravellingvagrant]

Day 10- Lviv: In Which I Befriend A Scrotum

Today was my last day in Ukraine. By some miracle during my time here, I had managed to not get mowed down by Russian machine gun fire, though, it hadn't escaped my notice, I had also managed to not do a great many other things that I had actually wanted to, either. Today, I planned to remedy that. I roused myself from bed uncharacteristically early and- for once- being that I felt ruinously befuckled in neither my mind or guts, saw myself leaving my rubbish little apartment on the less pleasant side of noon. My first stop of the day was Lviv's natural history museum- there having been a conspicuous and gaping absence of nightmare fuel on this trip, thus far.

After a not insubstantial amount of difficulty finding the place, I was eventually waved inside by a stern man, paid my entrance fee of 20 hryvnia  (not a lot of money...) to an equally stern woman and was finally ready to bust the natural history seal of this trip wide open. I was genuinely excited; an emotion I thought I would never feel again after Belarus.

...I shouldn't have been, though. I think this was, by really quite some distance, the worst natural history museum I have ever been to in my life. It was comprised of just three living-room sized halls, sparsely decorated with not-very-many-at-all stuffed animals, jars of pickled fish and just the worst, most poorly written, poorly spelled, frankly vapid signage imaginable.

Fucking try.

still though, the big mantis was cool

Pictured: large boi

and there were some incredibly pleasing examples of bad taxidermy on show

Hwellp. I guess God’s dead, or whatever.

and so, despite paying one full hryvnia for each minute I had spent there, (again, not a lot of money), I still left the museum having enjoyed it thoroughly for what it was- i.e. total garbage. Oh well, on to my next destination: an internet cafe, to print my bus ticket for tomorrow.

The cafe, situated not far from the museum was an odd place; looking like and indeed actually being situated in someone's apartment, as it was. I stood outside for some minutes, wondering whether or not I should actually go in, as the last thing I wanted to do was accidentally just walk into some guys house and demand he print things for me, though eventually the little switch in my brain that makes me go “fuck it” flipped and I stepped inside to, thankfully, the right place.

Once in, the printing process was fast, painless and cheap. I was charged a single hryvnia (approximately 2.5p) and left triumphant, ticket in hand, five minutes later.  The entire experience being so streamlined, coupled with the...diminutive nature of the museum had meant that I had, at this point, chewed through two of my four plans for the day in under an hour and for under one pound.

I decided that, given the unexpected glut of free time I had found myself with, it may be prudent to spend some of it scoping out my bus stop for tomorrow. My ticket, rather unhelpfully, read simply “near pizzeria napoletana” and given that this was the single most expensive item I had bought during my time, here and that my bus was due to depart at seven in the morning, with no opportunity to catch another one until mid-afternoon the same day, I was- I feel- understandably anxious enough to make sure that I would be at least standing in vaguely the right place when it arrived.

The stance was some distance away from any of my intended stops for the day, though the walk to it would take me through another lovely (lvivly?) park, or two, at the very least, so I pushed on, regardless. It was in one of these Lvivly parks, that I was stopped by two young men; Max and...Dimitri, I think? They were students, or very pleasant scam artists selling greetings cards to generate money for some student initiative to raise the quality of living for young people in the city or something. Or just drugs. Either way, we became embroiled in conversation. We talked about the usual sort of things you'd imagine- where I was from, what I was doing in Lviv, why, god, why did you come here now? Doodoodoodoodoo and all that. It wasn't until they found out that I was from the UK, though that things got awkward.

“Ah, then you must be excited for Brexit” Max said, beaming.

I exhaled loudly through my nose and shot him a look as if to say “don't go there, girlfriend”, except whiter and less sassy than that.

“Oh?” he said, a quizzical look playing across his face “you don't like Brexit?”

I told him that I thought it was an undemocratic omnishambles of the highest order.

“Huh...” he mused. “I thought all British people were really into the idea.”

and there it was. The single most embarrassing moment of the trip, so far. Worse than forgetting to sign my passport or nearly shitting myself while skidding around ice; this was the moment at which my face was reddest (fortunately, it being so fucking cold, it was already a bit red and you couldn't tell). I politely informed Max that not everyone in the UK endorsed Brexit and in fact in Scotland, the vast majority of people opposed it and then, out of shame more than anything else, bought one of his stupid fucking greetings cards and bid him a good day. Enjoy the drugs. Bastard.

My search for the bus stop went poorly. I arrived at the compound and found...several pizzerias. None of which were named Napoletana. I walked around for a while, hoping to stumble upon a clue as to where buses might actually stop in this god-forsaken place, but found nothing. Being without phone internet due to the ludicrous price of data on Vodafone, when travelling outside of standard touristy countries, there was little I could do except leave and hope that the Google gods would answer my concerns, later.

My last stop of the day (the penultimate one, The Scientists' House- a big fancy house where all scientists used to live- being such a non event that it wasn't even really worth mentioning. I couldn't find it and gave up, basically.) was Lviv's only and indeed my very first visit to a cat-cafe. I took my seat in a small booth in the corner and before my face could even unfreeze enough to order food, I was set upon by a very lovely and seemingly also very, very old sphinx cat, whom I immediately named Ballbag Snugginz, owing to his affectionate nature and also because he looked like a scrotum. Ballbag hopped onto my table (perhaps slightly unsanitary, though I'll forgive it...), took one look at the scarf I had laid across my lap and said to himself “I'm 'avin' that, I am”. He made a bee-line for my groin and after some very awkward kneading, wound himself into a little fleshy coil

and fell soundly asleep. Looks like I was here for the long haul.

Gross.

I ordered some food (Salmon and spinach strudel; amazing) and a pot of tea (ginger and mint; fine) and merrily munched through it, Ballbag still softly purring in my lap, which is now the best sentence in this blog and pretty much always will be. Ordering salmon in a cat cafe was a good call, I think. While I was strictly forbidden from feeding any of feline residents, the stench of the fish nonetheless bought them to me, albeit in each case incredibly briefly once they realised I wasn't for sharing, in droves.

By the time I had scraped the last of my strudel from the plate and gulped down the final drops of tea, Lord Snugginz had, if anything, only entrenched himself further into my groin in an even tighter coil and was now lightly snore-purring. I ordered a chocolate lava cake so as to not need to get up and go, right away.

The cake, as with pretty much everything else about this cafe was excellent but all too soon, it was gone and so too, did I need to be. I lifted Ballbag away from me and plopped him down on the seat adjacent to myself. I'll be honest, it didn't feel very nice, neither emotionally, nor physically. If you've ever seen the music video for Aphex Twin's song “Rubber Johnny”- moving Ballbag Snugginz was the tactile version of that. Absolutely manky.

Not in the slightest happy with that arrangement at all, Ballbag very angrily clambered back on top of me and with a look, as if to say “oh no you betta don't” except whiter and less sassy than that and went back to sleep. For fucks sake, Ballbag.

I decided to awkwardly put my coat, scarf and gloves on around him, much to the amusement of the staff, before moving him off for the final time and quickly darting away, as he sat, bleary eyed and grumpy, wondering what the fuck had just happened. I ended up leaving the cafe something like a 75% tip, as first, it was very nice, second, I hoped it would all go to B. Snugginz and third, I just had so much Ukrainian cash left that I didn't even really know what to do with it.

Despite it being crazy cold and also very late- my experience in the cat cafe, all told, lasting...several hours more than I intended- I decided to hop back to that god-awful supermarket for what I hoped would be the last time, to chew through some of my cash. I reasoned that I could save myself some Zloty by buying ingredients for tomorrow's dinner here, in advance.

Let me tell you, I went mental; I bought enough food for three dinners; the most expensive sausage I could find, a huge block of cheese, crisps, wafers, the whole nine yards and was still somehow left with the equivalent of £9 in local currency, which I was just, at this point, unable to spend. I returned home to bibble, clean and get some sleep, atop my hoard of remaining hyryvnia, like some kind of tiny, very shit dragon. Tomorrow: Poland. Again.

[omniishambles]

PETER QUILL

MEDIA: Guardians of the Galaxy Franchise, MCU. FACECLAIM: Chris Pratt. AGE: Late 30’s to Mid 40′s. GENDER: Male. OCCUPATION: Space cowboy. SPECIES: Human/Celestial. SEXUALITY: Pansexual. NATIONALITY: American. EYE COLOUR: Green. HAIR: Short, reddish brown. HEIGHT: 6”2. SCARS: Numerous. LANGUAGES: English, Groot, multiple others. ZODIAC: Libra, October 22nd.

  NOTABLE RELATIONSHIPS

Gamora Zen-Whoberi, former girlfriend.

Mantis, half sister.

Yondu Udonta, father figure.

The Guardians of the Galaxy, adopted family.

Ego, asshole dad, deceased.

BIOGRAPHY

Born to Meredith Quill in Missouri, Peter grew up without a Father and lived a relatively happy life until his Mother developed brain cancer. She deteriorated very quickly and eight year old Peter was left devastated when she passed away in front of him, her last words being to beg him for his hand- which he was too scared to give. Peter ran as fast as he could, out of the ward, out of the hospital itself before collapsing in grief on the grassy slope outside.

Suddenly he was blinded by searchlights and looked up to see a spaceship (which he later knew to be the Eclector) hovering above him threateningly before beaming him aboard. Peter was abducted, taken away from Earth and everything he knew with only his clothes and his backpack. Unbeknownst to Peter until he was much older, he was meant to be given up to his biological Father, but Yondu Udonta kept him and raised him as a Ravager (essentially a space pirate) instead.

Peter went on to become quite an adept Ravager himself, going by the name Star-Lord. It was when he double-crossed Yondu to pick up a mysterious orb on the planet Morag that he fell in with the folk who he would soon call family, and before that the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Peter is half human, half Celestial, an ancient and powerful race with the force to alter molecules themselves. Before eventually killing his birth Father, Ego told Peter that if he was destroyed, then the Celestial part of Peter would die too, and he would no longer be immortal or have any special powers.

My own personal head canon is that this was an angry half-truth from Ego. I like to believe that Peter would still retain some elements from his Celestial parentage, even though ‘the light’ is gone. I believe he is mortal, but perhaps not as vulnerable to harm as a normal human. I think he’d at least be left with a little extra resilience, even if he can’t manipulate matter. Probably not enough to allow him to hold an Infinity Stone again, but a bit more protection when it comes to fights and scrapes.

During his time with the Ravagers, Peter learned how to fight, to pilot a ship and to use weapons, all of which he is adept at with years of practice. He prefers not to kill an enemy unless he has to, and can handle himself in hand-to-hand combat (for example when he fought with Gamora, a highly skilled fighter, on Xandar).

His preferred weapon of choice is a quad blaster, which can be fired alternately between stun (electrical charge) and kill (heat blast).

Peter is a quick thinker and comes up with some very creative solutions to problems he encounters. He’s also an extremely confident dancer, has a sweet tooth for candy and loves music from the seventies and eighties.

VERSES

Ravager Peter is still a member of the Ravager faction run by Yondu. This verse is set pre-Guardians as he hasn’t met them yet.

Guardian Set anytime during the events of GotG Vol 1 and 2, Peter is leader of the Guardians and they travel around the galaxy doing a little bit of bad and a little bit of good.

Ravager in Training In this verse Peter is 11 years old and has been with the Ravagers for three years. He’s becoming accomplished at stealing and sneaking around and can already handle a quad blaster. But he still has plenty to learn.

Vol 3 Leaving the guardians with Rocket in charge, Peter returns to Earth to reconnect with his family (and catch up on a few things).

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #170: “... Though Hell Should Bar The Way!”

April, 1978

Oh, hey, Jocasta is back! Good ol’ unfortunately named Jocasta!

And this is a very good DC Silver Age-esque comic cover. Heroes acting inexplicably only to be sort of explained kinda on the inside. I can’t wait to see how this scenario does not even come about.

Remember the cover where Mantis was protecting Libra from the rest of the Avengers but inside she tried to beat him up for pulling a Vader on her?

Also, “The Return of the Bride of Ultron” is a very Hammer Horror-esque title. Drop the definite article and its basically one.

But enough admiring the cover. Lets get into it.

Last time: Back in issues 161-162, Ultron gave Hank Pym amnesia as part of a weird plan to trick him into turning the Wasp into a robot for Ultron to marry. It was foiled when the robot wife summoned the Avengers with ants and Iron Man threatened to destroy her, forcing Ultron to back off.

But also recently, there’s some unrest in the house of avenge. A series of overpowered foes have been battering the Avengers esteem and as a result one stalwart chums are at each other’s throats. Cap blamed Iron Man for his absentee leadership but then Scarlet Witch went OFF on Cap’s own performance recently.

The Avengers consist mostly of hurt feelings and bruised egos at this point, basically.

So we start with Cap taking his frustration to the gym.

Beast also tries to cheer him up, in his own inimitable way.

Problem: I don’t think Cap has ever been a fan of Beast’s sense of humor. There’s been several instances since Beast has joined the team where Cap has told him to stop clowning.

And he once again does so here.

So Beast tries a different strategy. He offers to tell him about some sexual escapades.

Because in the past, Cap seemed into it. It’s the closest they’ve come to bonding as teammates.

But Cap is in a Mood so he fakes a fall to freak out Beast before catching himself on the uneven bars.

Not cool, Cap.

He then angrily pumps some iron.

Because as someone pointed out to him, he’s been useless lately. And he doesn’t have superpowers unlike some people he could mention so he’s got to keep his few skills sharp.

Beast: “You know, Cap, you’re a lot like Witchy in a way -- you both take everything way too seriously! Now, me, I never take --”

Cap: “Get lost, Beast!”

Rude.

And then Iron Man shows up which just gets Cap more tightly wound.

Iron Man just wants to have a word with Cap in private.

So Beast, in his own display of pettiness, effortlessly picks up the 500 pound weight that Cap was working out with to put it away.

Savage.

Anyway, as soon as Beast is gone, Iron Man tries to start the word in private with Cap but Cap claims to be busy and passive-aggressively starts working out with the mobile stunblaster while Iron Man is trying to talk.

The mobile stunblaster is, of course, a work out machine that follows you around and tries to shoot you with punch beams while you have to block it with special gloves.

I expect that all gyms have one. Its basic workout equipment.

Cap isn’t really receptive but Iron Man manages to get out what he wanted to say.

Iron Man: “Look, Cap, what I came to say --”

Cap: “Let me guess, Tin Man -- you want to tell me I was way off base criticizing your leadership -- since I haven’t been earning my keep lately!”

Iron Man: “No. I came to apologize for myself and for Wanda! None of us have been setting the world on fire lately! She had no right to judge you!”

Cap: “It doesn’t matter! I’ve judged myself... and in my own eyes, I’ve fallen short! Maybe I’ve been lax lately --! It won’t happen again, Tin Man! Never again!”

Iron Man: “Fine! I want you to know Cap... I feel the same way about the job I’ve done as chairman! I’ve made some bad decisions... let other matters occupy time I owed the Avengers... and when I was around, I tried to do it all myself! I guess I felt guilty... and I kept trying to prove my worth! Just wanted you to know -- I’m aware of my failings! I -- I’ll try harder, Cap... or, if you think I should, I’ll step down! You can take over!”

Cap: “Wait! Iron Man, I guess my problem is that I’ve seen too many friends die in battle -- and when it seemed as if your job with Stark outweighed your Avengers’ duties -- as if you were taking your responsibilities lightly --!”

Iron Man: “I wasn’t! But... about Stark. Cap -- I should have told you long ago that --”

Cap: “No... keep your secrets, Iron Man! You lead... I’ll follow -- that’s enough!”

MmmMMMM. That is some good open and honest communication.

I love it. The me who first read this a couple years back was a fool to come off this run with the impression that it was just the Avengers getting their asses kicked and yelling at each other.

Its the Avengers getting their asses kicked, yelling at each other, and then having productive, emotionally honest conversations. It is my JAM.

Canonically, the first Civil War wouldn’t even have happened if Cap and Iron Man had set their feelings out like this.

I like that Cap passive-aggressively working out during this conversation keeps it from being talking heads because we get a bunch of unnecessary ACTION POSES as Cap works out.

But while Cap and Iron Man SOCIAL LINK GO or perhaps SUPPORT CONVERSATION depending on where your interests lie, out in the living room some other Avengers have less dramatic bonding.

Vision and Wonder Man play a game of chess together, Jarvis and Scarlet Witch admiring what good friends they’ve become off-screen. Much improved from existential angst causing Vision to try to punch him a lot and then they have to fight a gravity jerk.

They do, after all, have a lot in common. Like a brain.

But they get a phone call from Hawkeye who reveals that Two-Gun Kid has vanished. Disappeared even!

He tells Scarlet Witch not to bother coming. There’s nothing to find at the scene of the crime. So he’ll come to them.

Meanwhile, in Attilan, the Inhuman city in the Himalayas, Quicksilver is moody. But that’s nothing new, he was like that before.

He’s sitting on a balcony gazing beyond the city.

His wife Crystal asks if Attilan confines his spirit, having to stay in a secret city after all the glory and daring of being an Avenger. The battles, the thrills, the running full speed into a wall and breaking every bit of your skeleton bone.

But just as Quicksilver is saying he would never leave her, he vanishes mid-reassurance.

No, he didn’t run away in the most supremely dickish way ever. Like Two-Gun, he’s been disappeared.

What is going on here?

A story for later.

But for meanwhile we’re back to the Avengers Mansion where the Wasp shows off her new costume.

I don’t know what to say about it. Its not the worst she’s had. You don’t see as many superhero costumes that are orange and yellow. And Jan knows that branding is important because she put W for Wasp all over herself. Her gloves are cut to suggest Ws as are her boots. She’s got cleavage W and an abdomen W too.

Yellowjacket actually warns Wonder Man that if Wasp notices him in civvies, she’ll get him in a new costume so fast!

Wonder Man defers. He’s decided he’s not the costume type.

The thing about the Wasp is even if she makes a costume for someone else, she often makes it to appeal to her own tastes. Like when she made a costume for Angelica Jones, Firestar, with a pluuuuuuuuunging neckline. To Firestar’s lament.

So what I’m saying is that if Wonder Man let Wasp dress him, he’d definitely end up in thigh boots and with W’s all over his clothes.

Although, Wonder Man does become an actor later on who plays oiled up big muscles tiny shorts roles. So he’d probably rock it.

And then some colorful comic relief blue collar characters show up.

Wasp put her foot down and told Hank that she would not live with a Real Doll version of herself in the house so Hank hired Meyer and Mack to move her into his lab in the mansion.

Meyer is a real ‘seen it all’ type. Nothing impresses him. Avengers? Pssh. He moved Neil Sendaka’s ‘pianer’ once. Yellowjacket starts monologuing “[Jocasta] was conceived in evil, and yet while Ultron was transfering Jan’s life into her metal body, she unselfishly gave up her own existence by summoning us in time to stop the process and save Jan!” and Meyer all but taps his watch and reminds Yellowjacket that he’s on a flat rate.

Now Mack on the other hand? Mack is sure impressed.

And possibly discovering he has a new fetish.

Elsewhere in Saugerties, New York, the Guardians of the Galaxy secretly watch over a young Vance Astrovik. They’re sure that any day now evil cyborg from the future Korvac is going to try to knock off Vance to prevent the Guardians of the Galaxy from ever forming.

That is, if young Vance doesn’t manage to get himself killed first.

Since he’s playing baseball in the middle of a dark street and if Charlie-27 hadn’t been there, a truck would have run him over.

How he survived in the original timeline without future people being his guardian angels is a bit of a mystery.

Charlie-27: “It’s a wonder anyone reaches maturity in this idiotic backward era!”

An era where people toss spheroids in the middle of the road and where strange pieces of paper can be exchanged for food items. What strange customs.

The takeaway here is that, yes, the Guardians are busy guardianing Vance Astrovik and even though Korvac actually has bigger fish to fry and their vigil over Vance is misguided, its not pointless.

But meanwhile, back at the plot, Meyer and Mack finish carting the Jocasta crate into Hank Pym’s lab.

And just as Mack is marveling at how ‘real’ Jocasta looks (presumably for someone made entirely of metal with silly metal hair tentacles and also robot eyelashes) the robot girl awakens and OH YEAHS through the crate.

Jocasta: “He has awakened me! He calls! I must go to him! Let nothing stop me!”

Meyer and Mack flee the lab and run into an unhappy Yellowjacket who heard the crash of the OH YEAH and assumes that they fucked something up.

Which is probably not the case.

After escorting the movers out, the Avengers (Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Yellowjacket, and Wasp) run towards the lab.

But listening to the voice in her head, Jocasta finds the button that locks down the lab and then obviously locks down the lab.

Yellowjacket and Wasp managed to slip through the door before it closed. Doors never really bothered Vision anyway. But that leaves Wonder Man and Scarlet Witch locked out.

And the door is really tough! Its made of a special alloy almost as impenetrable as adamantium. Although the fact that it doesn’t get a name here sort of implies its going to be back to the drawing board.

But either way, the whole lab has been reinforced with it. For security reasons.

Scarlet Witch is sure that if she concentrates her probability altering powers, she can get the door to crumble but in the meantime, Wonder Man is going to keep punching like it personally insulted him.

Inside the lab, the three Avengers discover Jocasta up and about and creepy. She talks with Jan’s voice except cold and metallic. (Its never discussed whether Vision sounds like Wonder Man but since his body was the Human Torch’s I think probably not).

Vision isn’t creeped out. Somehow Ultron activated the Jocasta robot from afar and makes her speak like Jan hoping the Avengers will hesitate. But Vision won’t.

Drama is passed down in the family and as Ultron loves breaking Hank Pym’s things, so too will Vision break Ultron’s.

Except apparently Ultron planned for this. When he does the thing he always does and tries to intangible inside the robot to disrupt her circuits, he discovers an anti-matter booby trap.

It fills him with deadly energies and also copious amounts of pain.

Meanwhile, Beast has arrived at the door. He’s been looking for Thor but Thorry no Thor to be found.

That’s not one of his jokes. I just couldn’t resist.

Scarlet Witch is finally ready to do the thing she do and make probability weep but apparently the door has personally insulted Wonder Man by now. He proclaims a grudge match and finally punches it down.

Maybe its because it didn’t initially fall when he reminded everyone that his punches are approximately on the level of Thor’s hammer.

He says that a lot. That and the fact that he was created to fight the whole original Avengers roster.

I think its to remind the audience what Wonder Man’s deal is. But it also fits in with him being insecure, especially since nearly every time he talks about his fists being on the level of Mjolnir, the fight goes bad for him.

Inside the lab, Wonder Man, Beast, and Scarlet Witch find the Vision who tells them not to touch him because of the deadly energies. But that they need to pursue Jocasta.

Who has left the lab and is in the courtyard.

...

So all that effort to punch down the really expensive door was for naught? Did they really have no one guarding the other exit from that room?

Geez.

In the courtyard, Wasp and Yellowjacket fail to do anything to prevent Jocasta from strolling away, punching random plants.

Wasp: “Hank, I’m afraid Ultron’s strategy is working. I can’t bring myself to hurt her! It’d be like hurting myself!”

Yellowjacket: “I -- I know what you mean!”

Lets ignore, for once, the obvious and terrible irony involving future events. Lets go right in and focus on Jan not being able to hurt anything bearing an image of her.

Her one weakness. She just loves what she sees in the mirror too much to ever raise a hand to it.

The two heroes try to use their respective ranged attacks at low power to drive Jocasta back into the mansion but then Yellowjacket makes the mistake these two heroes always make and flies in too close.

She nabs him out of thin air and starts squeeeezing

Then Beast do what Beast do. DYNAMIC ENTRANCE, BOOT TO THE HEAD!

Then because Yellowjacket distracts Beast asking him not to smash Jocasta if he can help it, Jocasta shoots him in the face with eye lasers.

Because, of course, Ultron built her with eye lasers.

The family that slays together, right?

Wonder Man goes to punch her to scrap but she has a force field. Of course she does.

And even though he could punch through it eventually, in the here and now she shoots him in the face with eye lasers.

Scarlet Witch uses her power over nature (I guess she does just have both skillsets interchangably. Neat) to wrap Jocasta up in a tree in much the way a tree does not and cannot do.

Jocasta just flexes her way free. Because she has robot super strength.

Ultron, your wife is too powerful. You’re shaming the rest of us with your unstoppable killing machine wife.

The Avengers regroup and think about this. Maybe if they use teamwork and work as a team, assemble if you will, maybe if they strike as one they can overcome this robot lady.

Before they can, Iron Man comes in blasting.

Not at her, at them.

Iron Man: “Leave her alone! The first Avenger who harms her answers to me!”

And then Thor appears out of nowhere, calling it a long-delayed return (weird time stuff is still going on with him). Instantly deduces a battle is happening and decides that it would be a really cool way to enter the battle if he smashes this mysterious robot woman with his hammer.

I’m not saying that Thor always goes for the move that will fit best on an album cover but I’m sure that it runs through his mind sometimes.

Captain America is confused that Thor doesn’t recognize Jocasta since he was there when they stopped Ultron from putting Jan’s soul in her. And he’s not sure where he’s flying in from since he was just in the mansion minutes ago.

BUT HE HAS TO SAVE ROBOT GIRL!

And he throws his mighty shield and even Mjolnir must yield.

Also, after their little talk, Iron Man and Cap are back in the whole friendly pal/chum kind of thing. Like. Almost exaggeratedly so. Like Cap is making a real effort.

-Iron Man catches Cap after he jumps off the roof to throw his mighty shield-

Cap: “Thanks, Iron Man!”

Iron Man: “Good work, Cap! Took a heck of a chance, though!”

Cap: “Not really. I figured someone would catch me! After all, teamwork’s the name of the game!”

It practically screams I’M GOING TO BE POSITIVE!!

The other Avengers criticize Iron Man and Cap for letting Jocasta go. Which she does by literally walking through the wall. Geez. Ultron your wife is so strong.

Anyway. Iron Man explains the obvious thing. His armor sensors have locked on to Jocasta’s electrical patterns. Obviously they’re going to follow her and she’s going to lead them to Ultron!

Hot damn! Avengers being proactive! Kinda! I mean, Jocasta waking up was on Ultron but instead of just letting the killer robot lurk around somewhere and make a new plan to be murdery and oedipal, Iron Man is going to do something about it!

Unless this is a trap!

But that’s just the hazards of the job.

Also, I guess the cover was more or less accurate. The exact scene didn’t exactly happen but the spirit of it basically. Although Iron Man never blasted Wonder Man. In fact, he apologized that he had to blast near him to stop him.

So this is my second read through this run on Avengers. So like the brown bear I know ALL. But the first time around, I’m pretty sure I didn’t see Jocasta coming back.

I mean, it was only eight issues back. But that’s over half a year. Generally a loose end like Jocasta either comes back in the next issue or is teased throughout to remind the readers that its totally going to be a plot device.

If not, usually the loose end doesn’t come back so soon. And just gets brought back by the first writer who remembers it was a thing.

Apparently Jocasta has just been propped up in Hank Pym’s living room the whole time with Jan growing more and more disgruntled with it.

There’s not much to say about Jocasta herself. She’s kind of like the Wonder Man zuvembie. More plot device than character right now. But an intriguing one.

So next time: more of this. The Revenge of the Return of the Bride of Ultron. But it won’t be called that, alas.

[missyslittlepet]

* Requested - Reader risks their life to save Rocket and gets seriously hurt in the process (set during the battle on Ego's planet). Enjoy guys!🚀💙* "They blew up the generator!" Rocket shouted running from his chair. He leaped onto his bag and rummaged through it. "I think I packed a small detonator!" You pulled yourself upright once the ship was stabilised and scooped up baby Groot. "That detonator is useless without explosives!" Nebula hissed trying to steady herself against the wall. "Well," Rocket grabbed two of the Anulax batteries he had stolen and held them up. "We've got these!" He quickly got to work fixing them onto his detonator. "Is that think strong enough to kill Ego?!" Peter shouted over the creaking of the ship. You had never seen him this worried before. "If it is, it will cause a chain reaction throughout his entire nervous system!" Rocket adjusted some of the wires in his hand. "Meaning what?!" Peter asked. "Boom!" You said loudly looking at Rocket for confirmation. He nodded and smirked. "The entire planet will explode! We'll have to get out of here fast!" Rocket quickly fastened the device to his belt and secured his gun to his back. "I've rigged the timer!" With a brief nod, Peter activated his mask and jumpped from the ship. Nebula headed towards the pilot's seat next to Yondu stumbling as the ship took damage from the Sovereign fleet. You activate your Aero-Rig and make sure your blaster has enough charge to really cause some mayhem. Groot grabbed tight a hold of your jumpsuit collar as you stepped towards Rocket. "Hey, you stay alert out there!" Rocket command. "Same goes for you mister! I don't want to see you getting reckless! Now come here! " You leant down and open your arms to him. Rocket smiled exposing his sharp canines. He hugged you tight before pressing a quick kiss to your lips. "I love you lady! Now let's go blow shit up!" "Stay safe Rocky. I'll see you on the other side!" With that you jumped out of the whole in the ship and free fell until your Rig sprung to life. Fire. There was so much fire. Your clothing clung to your skin due to the sweat coming from your body. As you flew around trying your hardest to take down as many Sovereign ships as possible you noticed the very walls of the planet starting to come to life. Ego was coming. You had lost track of Rocket after he had taken Groot from you. What was taking them so long?! There was far too much going on. Far too many ships to destroy and way too many lazer beams for your liking. Suddenly, the ship you had been using to drill down to Ego's core burst into red beams and destroyed all of the Sovereign fleet. You twisted and turned trying to avoid the lazers. The ship erupted shortly into flames and exploded sending pieces of charred metal in ever direction. Quickly, you flew to the others on the ground. You were met by the sight of all of the Guardians and an unconscious Mantis. At the sight of Rocket you felt yourself relax a little. You could see him visibly release a breath before smiling when he saw you alive and well. "How long until the bomb goes off?!" Peter asked Rocket. Rocket looked around nervously. "In the unlikely event that Groot doesn't kill us all... About six minutes!" Yondu ordered Kraglin to get the ship ready for your escape and Peter ordered Drax to take Mantis to the surface to meet Kraglin. The centre of the planet began to glow and the ground split before crumbling in on itself. You watched as Gamora and Nebula fell down the cracks. Blue tentacle looking beams of light encased in fragments of rock crawled from the cracks and spread across the ground. You lifted off in order to avoid them. Quickly everyone sprung into action using their weapons to kill off as many tentacle as possible. Without thinking you took off after Rocket and used what was left of the charge on your blaster to fight the beams off. Despite putting up a good fight he quickly became out numbered. Rocket was too focused on the ones in front and didn't notice the large boulders of rock heading straight for him. You couldn't stand by and watch him get crushed. Your gun had ran out of charge so you did the only thing you could think of. At full speed you flew into Rocket pushing him clear of the rocks. With a thud, two of then hit you and sent you flying into the jagged spikes of the wall. "(F/n)!" Rocket screamed as he watched your limp body crash against the wall. Why had you done that? Why would you even think that was a good idea? Rocket began to panic. He needed to get to you and there was no way in hell Ego was going to stop him. You felt your skin slice open with every edge that dug into you. The jumpsuit was damp from the stickiness your blood. Why did you feel so cold all of a sudden? When you finally hit the ground your felt the air leave your lungs before everything went blurry. In the confusion of shapes you could make out Rocket struggling to make his way to you. He was screaming your name but you couldn't find the strength to even whisper back to him. His hand had just grabbed your's as the rocks curled around the pair of you and tightened. You lwt out a shaky breath before your blurred vision finally went black... Rocket hadn't left your side in two weeks. Two whole weeks and you were yet to wake up. The Guardians had left Rocket alone with you not wanting to get in the way. Rocket had been sleeping in the chair next to your bed and refused to leave unless it was absolutely necessary. The doctors on Xander had warned him on arrival that there was no way they could promise him you would wake up. The damage done in the initial impact had broken half of your ribs and had completed shattered one of your arms. Thankfully, the doctors were able to piece it back together but it would never be the same again. The real worry was your brain. You had bashed your head once you had hit the ground. They had no way of knowing if something was wrong until you woke up. Memory loss... brain damage... the chance of you not waking up at all... Those words rushed through Rocket's head like a whirlwind. "She's like this because of me!" Rocket sobbed to the doctors. Carefully holding the hand of your okay arm. "You gotta fix her, she can't die! I can't be the reason she dies!" "I am sorry sir, but we have done all we can. We need to wait and see if she wakes up. We will take things from there." The doctor left Rocket alone with you. He gazed at the bruising and cuts scattered across your face. Why hadn't you just let him get hit? Rocket thought to himself angrily. He should have been the one in a hospital bed, not you. If he had of just been paying attention to his surroundings... "Im so sorry (f/n), I couldn't protect you. I - I... I love you so much toots, you gotta wake up. I'm begging you." He whispered, tears cascading down his fur. He buried his face into your side as his shoulders shook from the sobbing. "...I love you too Rocket." You croaked. Rocket's ears perked up and his head jolted to look at you. Your eyes were still closed but your faces was contorted in pain. "(F/n)?" He couldn't believe it. "Darling, you're awake." He smiled, tears still falling down his face. "Apparently so. God everything hurts. How long have I been out?" You asked. "Just over two weeks... I've been so worried; we all have." "Im awake now. It will take more than a few stones to kill me Rocky, I'll be okay." "No (f/n), you nearly died! They said you might not have ever woken up or you could have had brain damage and that would have been my fault! Don't you ever do something as stupid as that ever again! Do you understand me?!" "Yes boss." You smirked despite the pain you were in and cracked open one of your eyes to look at him. He looked rough, like he had barely slept or eaten. "I'm sorry Rocket. I just couldn't bare to let something happen to you." "I don't care about what happens to me, you need to keep yourself alive. Without you I don't know what I would do... Thank You though, you saved my life and I am grateful, pissed, but greatful." You tried to laugh but it came out as a wheeze. Rocket stretched up and placed a kiss to your lips. "Don't go exhausting yourself, you need to rest up. I'll be here, I'm never going to leave your side ever again. Hope you like clingy fellas." He laughed quietly while stroking your cheeky gently. "I do if they're you." You whispered before slowly falling back to sleep. Rocket's ears drooped slightly but the smile didn't fade. You were alive! Battered but alive and he was willing to die before this ever happened to you again.