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The White Dove Pt 25 - Eldfalls & Emotions

The White Dove Masterlist

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“Everything has changed, and yet I am more me than I have ever been.” Bucky muttered to himself and then looked your way. A quote, a calming trick he used prior to when he knew he would be leaping out of an aircraft or something equally as ridiculous.

Still you could feel his eyes on you and the whip of wind through the open door hatch in front of your tiny self as you watched the clouds break and swirl to reform against the dull graying navy night sky. And to yourself you spoke softly, “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.” Across the back of your harness his hand fixed, and together timed to his first step out the hatch you leapt with his weight to keep you from whipping about helplessly.

Sharp and quick off your knee your head popped in the stop of the jeep that had pulled up to the front of the hangar you were seated outside of while the soldiers swapped out Blackhowls. Those were inside of the shelter keeping the aircraft being inspected while you ran a check on the temporary parts to see how they were lasting.

Sleep hadn’t been coming easily lately while what was seemed a fruitless search of the bottom of the oceans for Odin’s brother Vili’s ship lost in battle had come to fruition. Creatures you had created scoured the ocean to find it and over the past night had coated it entirely to gently remove the coral and habitats the animals living there had been grateful for the kind removal of the metal structure that once gone allowed them a prompt return into their shifted homes to adjust to the change.

For the past few days being hauled by twin humpback whales the warped wreckage and its parts the squids who cleared the wreckage on the bottom of the ocean had left inside the belly of the ship.

Out of the jeep two soldiers hopped out to cross the open stretch of asphalt to head for the building across the way while the second set of Blackhowls were still being maneuvered around only making you groan and plop back over the stretch of cement above the step you were seated upon. Uncertain winds that couldn’t make up their mind on which way to blow turned themselves around again tilting more than a few hats and hairdos in the lay of your arms over your face to block out the sun.

Every mile was shared by the whales to where they had agreed to haul it to before being welcomed to explore the oceans at their whims. They just had to get it close enough for you to be able to fetch it and tonight haul it to the same garage that held Eddie’s VW bus while it was being remodeled.

Elliot before the semester would kick off had promised to travel out here to document the discovery alongside an expert who would carbon date the ship and take a full set of scans to turn into models for a new exhibit to be finished soon for unveiling in Norway. And widely within the press thanks to whispers and notes of progress of your search word of Vili’s ship lost in an epic battle straight out of legends coming soon at least in spirit to be displayed.

Any and all tokens found of your culture were always boasted about endlessly, and now with clear sighting of Prince Thor and the Warriors Three and Lady Sif there also came hope of a trip one day the Asgardians would come to tour and see all that had been dug up. What you could see so far however did not give much hope on it being anything spectacular, though all they could hope that underneath the crusty outer layer there could be some sort of metallic shell to be solid enough to display.

“I see they’re taking their sweet time,” Rhodey teased making you shift your arms to see him standing at your feet.

“Just being careful of the winds. You good today?” You asked making him chuckle, “I know I called you really early.”

“Ya,” he said moving to sit down beside you on the steps as you sat up, “Time doesn’t matter, you said you found something I need to see?”

Out of your bag you had settled beside you was a stack of papers that you settled onto his lap showing a sonar scan on the top page, “I’ve been searching out a ship that was lost in an old Norse legendary battle.” You said gaining a nod from him before he looked over what seemed to be a map of sorts of what could be seen of a seafloor level bunker. “Found these so far in the recovery, just outside of Australia’s sovereignty borders,” his lips parted in the flip of the page to show a sonar scribble formed echo image of the structure.

“They have these symbols though that Misique found in an allegiance for Communist figures, think League of Extraordinary Gentlemen style,” you said making him look at your face. “Different menacing characters who go here, the growth on this entrance seems to not have been agitated in a good while but we have little research on the effects of the growth of these plant life breeds so deep in the ocean. Though I will say,” you said turning to the next page, “This symbol is self evident of what they’re up to.”

“They’re messing with radiation,” he muttered to himself and switched between the pages to see more in depth scans of the perimeter and notes on possible points of entrance that had been used recently due to change of plant life. “And Misique got these?’ he asked and you nodded to him, “She get a better location on this?”

You turned the top page over gaining a relieved breath out from him at the coordinates and information there, “On the back here. There is one thing though,” you said showing him a printout of that area of the ocean floor on a sonar scan zoomed out a bit more with x’s on three locations nearby. “There’s three Titan nests in that area due to the energy the place is letting off.”

“Proceed with caution, got it. Don’t want to go waking these babies up.”

“Or you could,” you said, making him smirk as you added, “Wake them up then Godzilla gets to meet them and blows the base up in the crossfire. Or not, but I thought you should know when I saw the scans. Could have sworn there was a series of regulations and orders on controlling said practices regarding everything nuclear.”

“Oh there are. You did the right thing. Take it Misique didn’t mind taking spare scans of the place?”

“No, her whales got curious, they’re towing the ship closer for her to swim out and fetch it for me,”

“So, whales took these?”

“She put scanners on them, humanely, pop right off, not like cows and ear tags. So they can be traced and scan the way there and back for us. You’d be surprised at how much marine life dwells around sunken ships and structures lost in the ocean.”

“Wow, well this is pretty urgent, I’m gonna get this on a General’s desk today so we can start to plan. I hate to leave fast, but you knew this was urgent to wake me up, and I will check in on you and ship watch later on.” He said and you nodded in his urgent rise to his feet to flag down a passing jeep to get a ride after his had dropped him off.

This news was urgent and at least a tiny bit you hoped that since you had thrown them this bone the military wouldn’t demand custody of your ship. Asgardians were seen now as aliens to those outside those who practiced the Norse faith and a ship of theirs located could only be seen as a weapon and something to take apart and be used to build newer less breakable ships. All you could hope would be that they can’t touch your skills on aircraft and might let you work on it all the same while they draw a blank on how to fix or operate it. Either that or hope they wouldn’t care to bother with it if it came up a mangled wreck how it seemed on the scans.

The wait didn’t take too much longer and with the usual confirmation of deposit of hourly funds they paid their own engineers you were off home again to change and handle the rest of your business for the day.

Breather you had made in hand in a simple wetsuit from Queens to Brooklyn you walked, to shockingly leap for onlookers off a rail beside a walkway that fed under the Brooklyn Bridge. The last motion they saw was Misique tucking her hair up into a swim cap for what would be an unsettling three hours for the crowd that had gathered at the spot luring more and more attention by the minute.

Deep beneath the surface following the mental conference with your bees on how far more to go to meet up with the whales. Down in the darkness on just sound and feel of vibration at this depth when the sea level had dropped away you avoided fish and other marine life who each took turns to look your glittering eyed self passing them by. 35 miles out to sea, not just in sights of the whales a curious band of sharks watched your tiny self take hold of the chords that freed the duo to slip away to follow their whims. Around your torso the chords were woven into a harness and to stop the slump of the wreckage from sinking again back from where you came you kicked to continue the task of bringing the ship home.

Far easier than it would be, had you not had enhanced strength, the struggle against the currents and desire to sink again from the ship up to view of the shoreline and sea floor came back into a reachable distance that would grant you a small bit of rest. Once there at least when your feet planted grip of the chords were taken to hoist the ship up onto your bent arms to just walk the ship to shore.

Above the surface notice of a figure under the surface stirred excited gasps from the crowd let out when the ship broke into view. Step after step arms then a head and torso after came into view for the confused crowd who had waited in the growing start of rain that had the sea of umbrellas divide when you leapt up to rest a foot atop the fence.

There you leapt off of to get to the nearest bus stop in a sea of flashes to post online Misique had found a sunken ship for some purpose. Cross legged atop the bus and subway train you kept hold of the ship on both of your bent forearms locked over your head to keep it level and secure.

Around you the storm grew stronger to the point there was a sheet of rain that street lights and signs were just barely able to be seen by the cars passing by who each had to slow down to see what was being carried. Pops sounded and dims of buildings that began to flicker in fluctuations of power to adjust to the storm affecting the power lines and supply helped your slip inside the garage.

Thanks to the storm there was little need to craft a speedy getaway. So slipping out around the corner once the ship was secured in its weight bearing mounts you walked to wiggle out of the wetsuit and swim cap to add those to a hidden bag to swap the rubber soled diving shoes to your knee high socks and boots. Left underneath the wetsuit were your shorts and tank top joined by an open flannel that Eddie had given you he’d grown out of. Up to the elbow the sleeves were rolled up as you secured the breather and mask into the bag to head back to the garage and get started.

With a camera and bees timed to perfection a car was heard pulling up during your initial photographs, outside the frame of which rose the experts who came to inspect the ship. Wide eyed the burly men, now moved to fan out around the ship, stood in awe of the piece of history before them. Elliot around them came to your side with a grin stating, “Sorry we are late, some sort of commotion on the Brooklyn Bridge.”

“Oh that might have been Misique,” you said widening his grin, “Took a bit longer to fetch the ship with the currents and she just dropped it off.”

“This seems sturdy,” one of the men finally said to break the silence and you gave them a nod.

“Seems in good shape, one of the wings is broken off though, the other detached to help with transport,” you said guiding them to help you guide the strapped down wings that were inside the hull of the ship. “Looks like they attach on the sides here,” on the back end of the ship clear mounts with arms mechanisms that had broken or seemed to be burned off had them in agreement.

“I suppose we should get to the scan first,” another of the five said to begin a shift around the ship atop the wheeled mount the others helped to move out so every angle could be scanned. And for the five minutes the scan took inside the erected plastic sheet tent the lasers took measurements and images of all the details possible, including images of the detached wings on stands to the side they could add digitally to the model later.

30 feet long and 12 across with ten foot high wings that seemed to be locked on one while the other expanded to a good 8 feet wide the ship was nothing to scoff at and had them wonder all the more at how lucky you were to find it at all buried at the bottom of the ocean.

Eagerly however Elliot helped you up with a cup of his hands to climb inside, arguably the smallest of them to walk through the still damp hull they hoped to not fall out. All to share details of the floor or anything else that could be discovered inside.

“Um, not much to see here,” you said moving to the back to find the long handle that fed out the back wall of the ship, “This seems like a rudder.” Around the base of a leaf shaped crusty loop on the end of it your hand planted only to retract in the sting you felt leaving you staring at the trickle of blood out of the bit of skin between your thumb and index finger. “Gonna have to buff that out,” you said lowering your hand careless of the blood you wiped on the bottom of your shorts to nudge with the back of your curled fingers the handle.

“That is the rudder,” one of the men exclaimed urging him and another to duck down and film with a flashlight the motion of the fins on the back that moved to the motion of the handle. The motion resulting of the stubborn layer coating the ship was more than enough to hope something could be salvaged for eventual display. To your ears and Elliot’s after the blood had been nipped out of your hand a hum began to spread through the ship, as if it had been intended to do that after all.

Steps around the hull floor crunched in the brittle shift of the crust coating it proved that there was a secure base under the outer coating still holding strong. Out of your back pocket a screw driver was brought to tap the rounded handle along the walls until a seam suddenly appeared and you said, “Oh,” causing all their heads to pop out over the ship walls they had each been inspecting on the outer sides for any hint of the metal underneath.

“Oh?” three asked followed by Elliot’s masked aloof question of, “Find something?”

“Looks like a hatch,” you said urging cameras to be aimed inside the ship with spare flashlights to ignite the struggle to bring back the door you hoped to not break off in the faked wrestle with the water lodged hinge on the otherwise effortlessly opened door.

“It’s a pocket,” you said dipping lower on your knees to reach inside finding a chain wound up one of the men squeaked out excitedly to take hold of and film once it was on the ground outside as the others watched your arm dip into the hold again, with face scrunching up in a try to wiggle something loose. “Something’s stuck,” you said manhandling a shaft on something to the air stilling snap that was heard widening everyone’s eyes as it locked upright. A crack from the center of the hull however revealed a seam that had you creep back and again with screwdriver from your pocket to scrape loose the two by two foot hatches that flung back to reveal a set of gear like circles of an odd metal.

“It’s like a clock,” you muttered in Swedish then looked to Elliot in his throat clearing.

“Perhaps there’s another switch,” he suggested and watched you look from the open hatch to the pocket in the wall you eyed and went to the other wall across from it to tap out the twin door.

Cameras were adjusted to spare streams of light and from the second a sharp gasp was found in the discovery of a spare set of daggers you handed over with more chains until you could find the switch that once pulled upright had the gear like circles begin to rise from the center of the opening in the hull.

Water out of the openings of realigning metal rings spilled out over the hull and all of you in the rise of a mast as you scrambled back against the wall of the ship. Not entirely solid as the arm that came out of it to secure the tattered sail, topped by a banner displaying Vili’s sigil as son of former Allfather Bor, seemed to be almost bitten off while the sail once there was painfully slashed and left to burned strips.

“What’s that on the sail?” One of the men asked tilting their head luring your focus to the mast. Around it you walked to find a set of footholds you used to carefully climb up to get to the broken arm.

“Hold the sail out, best you can,” one of the men said and for the film the image on both sides were recorded as best as possible around the slashes followed by one where you held out the top flag then climbed down again.

“Wonder how the hull is,” you muttered. “I think I can wiggle down the side.”

“Here, waterproof case,” one of the men said offering you a camera and light to wiggle around the side of the mast to drop into the sizeable belly halfway full of water that came up to your chest.

“How does it look?” Elliot asked as you looked around.

Singes across the roof and walls had you call back, “Looks like there was a fire down here. Singes, can’t see the floor there’s water down here.”

Towards the back you got a view of the top portion of the just cube of an engine that had you turn around and go towards the front to pause in the shift of something under your foot. The echo of the sharp inhale you took had their questions of what you found muffle under the dingy frigid water you dropped into. Under the water you reached out to pat your hand against the rough floor and pulled a broken spear that over the water in the flicker of the light you tried to inspect it to the sound of water droplets falling off your head and hair. “Found a broken spear,” you called out and heard their excited chatter as you eyed the spot you had come from, readying to crouch then jump up to grab the ground around the mast to pull yourself and all the things up.

Mid wiggle to kneel back on the deck you tried not to focus on the drip of discolored water off your every inch. “Can’t make heads of the back end though, got to be a case around the rudder or wing controls. Just a giant cube, or at least the top of one, can’t see under the water.”

One of the men chuckled and stated, “This is far more than we anticipated. There is some exposed metal on the hatch doors we can test, same as these objects found inside,” and hopefully another of the men asked, “Were you wanting to keep these with the ship?”

“Oh, you can take them, I don’t think they are pieces to the ship.” You answered widening their grins to have items possibly belonging to Vili for the exhibit from the ship. “I have a bilge pump over there, then we can give it another go,” you said pointing out the pump system the guys helped you to ease the hose across the hull to start the pump to bring out the water to be ran over a sifter for any other bits to be found. While that worked two of the men got to scanning the metal on the doors after having scanned the chain, daggers and spear to add even more details to the notes of this discovery. A few more hatches were found and one more scan was taken to finish off the details possible.

Before long the group were off to get back to the hotel to begin compiling the information to ready for their flight home the following day after another check on the ship tomorrow in case of any new tidbits could be discovered. Elliot however lingered behind with a creeping grin. “I do apologize on not allowing you to discover that second hatch on your own, but if I hadn’t then they tend to burst into flames.”

“Ah, not good then,” you said making him chuckle.

“Not good at all. Does seem to be missing a panel or two.” He said patting a hand on the weakened stretch of hull that had been coated off by the crust of sea life.

“What is with the cube in the belly?”

“That is a protective shield over the powering mechanisms, they will open up when you are alone. The bite you felt was the internal systems linking to your genetic makeup. These models can be quite finicky. Once lost at sea do rush to bond with another pilot and mechanic. For its benefit gladly you are both in one body.”

“So, it won’t let others touch it?”

“In any significant manor no, all repairs and orders within battle will be from you and none can steal it away even on the wheeled stand.” You nodded and he rested a hand on your arm, “You did well, letting them keep what you have, will be more than enough to keep them sated in learning about those. And they all seem innocent enough, run of the mill weapons unlike Eir-Gram so very little risk of any trouble arising from their inspection.” His eyes swept over your face as you looked over the ship. “You will do just fine in repairing this craft, however you will be required to name it.”

“My mother had an old dingy we named Eldfalls,” you said making him smirk at the Swedish name for Firefalls, “I think I’ll continue the name for her.” To the words the ship began to hum again and up the mast a ripple of colors spread to form a second triangular sail that in Old Norse bore your name in runes. “Oh I don’t think the guys will find that funny, they come back tomorrow and see that new flag.”

Elliot chuckled and stated, “The flag will hide itself from the mortals. Only those who are of our kind shall be able to read the runes to share who is master of the craft. Smaller skiffs, I should share lack the masts, as I have shared I was a stone mason on Asgard, but each child must complete training courses and I have piloted my fair hours. I made a compilation of all I can recall on the makeup of the smaller skiffs.”

“How much smaller are they?”

“Not much, few yards at least, and there are no masts, piloted entirely by the rudder control with the inner handle able to control speed, just like a motorcycle rotate to adjust that and the angle controls both the nose of the ship and angle of each side. These models from what I have learned of them have other controls in hidden levers within the raised section of flooring within the pilot’s seat you can discover later.”

“These models are just older than what you were allowed to use?” You asked accepting the notebook he had offered you to look through together.

“Only Nobles trained on these models, far more temperamental than those the masses are able to pilot. The sails add to their difficulty and aid in control during storms or with foe who use electrical weapons. Repairing that may prove to be the most difficult part aside from the hull damage. Though most craft are able to keep aloft quite well even with significant damage. What I heard it was the mast that brought this down.”

“Suppose I should get started on the barnacles and crust first. Screw driver shouldn’t go through the metal should it?”

“Oh no,” he said rolling up his sleeves to help you begin removing the crust, “No there are no metals on this planet able to pierce the hull. Now if you were to modify a blowtorch then that could shape panels to adhere to the hull for the gaps, you cannot wound this any worse than it already is. Spare chisel?” he asked making you grin at his acceptance of the spare you offered him along with the stool beside your own. A bucket of solution you mixed up to help break down the crust and glue barnacles made to stay on was uncovered to be spread gradually tiny spot by spot to make little if at all progress by hours end when Eddie had arrived fresh off of work after having heard of Misique��s claim of a sunken ship.

‘Who am I? Where am I?’ Both were followed up by the utterance of ‘Not Again’ as you found yourself in darkness and silence once again. Just a moment confusion and lack of answers came in the moment of consciousness with a try to recall how you had found yourself here. Keys in hand, you were on the way up the stairs of your apartment building sensing something was wrong same as when you had set Project Insight off. The world had gone silent all at once.

Someone you scared had come back and now kneeling within what seemed to be a block of metal, arms pinned in a square behind your back, out of the side of the block your head was locked in the same position due to a metal collar around your neck.

Painfully an IV was pumping something in your vein trying to blur your clear headedness to the vivid chill that spread over every inch of your skin being trapped in the dark silence again. Over your eyes a visor was locked on bands that linked to sound muffs surrounding your ears only launching you back to that deprivation bag the Red Room had trapped you inside. The memory began to blur just as soon as you’d grasped the recollection of a similar event but not how you had escaped it. You knew you broke out of it.

This was too different to be the same, “Something, something about stairs,” you muttered to yourself trying to remember what you just had seen to another painful surge of the liquid into your neck.

“Don’t touch me,” you squeaked weakly in the sudden creep of what felt to be a fingertip out of your now glowing hair that ran down the side of your face and neck into the block down to your hand that began to glimmer with the beginnings of yellow mist. Instantly the slam of what felt to be a spike through your skull had you cry out in pain jolting up that memory again.

This pain, you knew this pain.

“Don’t touch me,” you tried to choke out again and again in staggered tries for air to the surge of force behind that scream building that split it between frequencies the louder it grew in the increase of pain.

Bees. Buzzing and wild coating your every inch of skin electromagnetic glowing yellow bees inside the trembling stone buried cell flooded every spare inch of that cell. To coat and wriggle as close as possible over that cube you were trapped inside of. Sharing body heat to increase and increase temperatures until a crack was formed and out of your skin and down to it bees shot to tear the cube apart taking the bindings on your legs and arms with it.

Upright and still screaming latched in your worst nightmare instantly your hands latched onto the collar that again tried to pump more amnesia inducing medication into your neck while bees all over your head planted to snap the headgear off. Carefully from the outside bees dove to disable the medication system controls and wriggled to spread in deeper to aid in the split of the collar, too wide for you to grip in full, so that you could grasp the inner most ring to tear it off of your skin to fall a mangled mess to the ground.

Up into a group of bees your fingers rose to freeze against the backs of a small swarm who split up to allow your fingers through. None of them taking the confusion personally as it was linked to the medication and moment of panic. Your strength and the heat had the visor split in three parts to hit the ground for a moment of clarity, confusion absolutely, but wide eyed was of sight and sound with freedom of motion inside a swirling sea of bees.

Off their backs splinters of light to the echo of their voices flooding inside of your head easing gently back the events of the day to follow focus on voices of those who were at the top to alert you to the located seams there. And a step was taken to line up between the seams to the lull of panting breaths your bees were swarming in patterned spirals to aid in timing breaths to that would help to anchor your anxiety with their supportive numbers. Tight in a spiral staircase they joined to help you reach the lit seam as your fingers dropped to one of your hidden pockets to bring out your heated coil of wire that one of your bees upon finding a hinge guided through the opening and down again to slice through the hinge.

Free of armor in just a rust stained pair of jeans with opening slices to your shorts lined with sheaths and a simple tank top pinned by a sheath lined vest under an open yellow and black flannel with boots and tall socks stained with water and minerals freed from scraping more off your ship whatever was on the other side of this door would have to be ready for you. Because after how you had woken up to the dry of the trickle of blood from the IV location on your neck a fierce look cemented on your face as you readied for anything, readied to kill whoever to get free and ensure they never tried this again.

Hard and fast with a plant of a palm on the hatch it was thrown back and up into an open dull brown stone hall you were lifted to take a first step onto the ground. All around the hatch three bodies slowly seeping blood out of the available openings on their heads laid dead clearly to scans of your bees having been liquefied internally due to your screams sure to have the insides of their metal suits a bloody mess if removed for their burial.

Heavy footfalls came to a stop in the now silent hall to the still of your bees who lined the walls to try and get a hint of the makeup of this place by vibrations like sonar. And in the dull of your glowing hair and eyes you took in the two apparently male figures who froze in place before taking joint steps slowly as if approaching a wild beast they wished to contain.

On the left a tall muscular purple skinned and eyed one in golden and black armor to the neck, bald with sharply tipped ears who spoke as you eyed his companion. That one pale grayish white skin who seemed the upright offspring of Gollum and ET with out a nose and a spindly arch to his torso not making a squawk from the creature unlikely in his bird like thin legs to match his arms with talon like fingers curling around what looked to be guns. His pointed ears shifted to the sound of a few of your bees buzzing and the steady voice of his companion.

“You are the source of those screams. The one who has slain my crew.” A smirk ghosting across his lips as he continued, “I am Thane, son of Thanos, state by state, country by country I will claim this world as a gift for my father when he returns here. And you will be a prime choice of Herald for his wrath to reign over the children of this realm who will be shaped in his image. Join me, a creature as powerful as you should only bend its knee to one truly worthy. A God.” A bit wider his smirk bled into a confident smile at your lack of motion and he asked, “What is your name, so I might know you better formidable stranger?”

“My name is Pluto Lagertha Sigyndottir,” you said and ever so slightly the lips on the yet to be named Ebony Maw parted in recognition of the moniker making him uncertain if having two plasma blasters in his palms were a benefit or hindrance to his survival of this introduction. “And when this Thanos arrives on this planet he will find his son’s bones scattered on the wind.”

Sudden out of your boot Eir-Gram shot into your palm exploding with energy to engulf you three inside the Edge realm while you leapt forward to slam it straight through the dead center of Ebony Maw’s chest where either his heart or spine should be. Farther back than Thane, who in Maw’s collapse when the blade was drawn back could barely turn his head fast enough to see you pivot on foot. The hilt in your palm was adjusted around to align the blade to slice it up between his legs to his collarbone where it lodged in the casing of a crystal imbedded on the chest of his suit causing you to draw back the blade. To the right you swung it to lop his head off, halting it straight out on your right to again shift hold to turn your body and blade to face the still bleeding downed and armed threat.

Shaky breaths from the collapsed Maw had your body ready with blade raised in one hand that came to rest in front of your face on top of your curved finger and against the fingertip that ensured it would not swing into your face for how suddenly it had to come to a stop. Wide eyed on the ground just seconds he had while mentally he reeled trying to be able to move something, anything on his body. Mentally however his prowess while paralyzed physically still thrived so right to his Master’s side, father of the son you had just clove in three, he teleported to a bloody heap to be stared at by Thanos to share what became of his bastard son.

Sharply you let out a breath in the wane of the Edge realm to the shrink of the sword you lowered to your side to look around the hall. Another hatch inside of this flying shielded blimp a bit further down the hall another living being was found on scans to be locked up as you had been. Off the walls every bee as you sheathed Eir-Gram back into the side of your boot released their hold to fly around you, a group of bees who made their own outer shells which across your face linked to form a mask so you could light up again. Off the hinge you tore the hatch door in the ground to free shouts from Elijah Bradley, who you hurried down to have your bees free his head so you could help to remove the IV and help to remind him who he is and to know that he would be helped home safely.

He was stunned to say the least and outside the second hatch found he watched Misique to free Danielle Cage who was shouting as she currently tried to wriggle herself free as you had who took less effort with her inherited healing abilities to wear the compound out of her system.

More hatches however revealed James Rhodes’ daughter and Clint’s three children and wife to have apparently kept in a means to restrict actions of those stolen from by means of ransom. Down to the lowest hatch you led them to a launch ramp for flying craft to exit as you heard the loop of the broadcast Thane had been sending out through New York miles below the blimp.

*.*.*

Bumble Balls. Straight out of the sky straight out of the 90’s metal replicas of the throwback toy just rained across the state of New York to both launch darts into necks of adults as arms snatched up children. Confused to an alarm that had his heart thumping Eddie woke up at the bottom of a staircase finding himself being drug by Venom’s slug like self after the dart had zapped the two apart. To a toolbox Venom drug him. And in a goopy curve of a hand a screwdriver was brandished for a second all the more startling introduction to the Symbiote who dug the dart out of Eddie’s neck then snaked himself inside of his chosen host to heal the injuries and remind him of who was missing and the task at hand. Contact after contact through the silent state Vigilante’s amongst your allies were rallied up with darts removed to feel complete fury surge through their veins when two of your closest like Venom were missing children in their families.

‘Resistance is futile’, the words repeated over every screen for the confused adults who had no inkling on who they were or who was stolen. Obey or the children would never be returned. Serve Thane son of Thanos or perish. Children were told to have been taken and due to the amnesia seemed a terrible plan as no one felt a bond to said supposed stolen children. Inhumans in metal armored suits somewhat like Iron man clones on patrol however were the sparking decision for those who found themselves physically capable to pick up arms and rally in numbers. Avengers, civilians, soldiers, first responders, criminals and Vigilante alike in chosen divisions flooded the streets to fight and win back whoever was taken and show they would not give in.

All under watch of Black Bolt who stood in wait with one of his T-Bombs to awaken even more Inhumans who he hoped to help take control of the humans and allow them to stop living in shadows.

*.*.*

“You’ve been zip-lining before?” you asked as the group looked from the slide you had made of bees off the open hatch on the blimp. Nods were your answer while they all tried not to fidget in the path of bees across their chests like harnesses to keep them from blowing off the slide that fed to the lot of a strip mall. “Well it’s kind of like zip-lining.”

In pairs with the younger kids the older ones and Clint’s wife kept hold of them to slide down while standing to the parking lot. And once there she muttered, “I have to find my husband,” hearing the commotion of the revolting forces blocks away.

Over the lot your eyes scanned and you saw each of the vehicles abandoned around the area and pointed at a suv in the bunch, “That one by the planter, wait in it. Not sure he would know who you are. But it’s bullet proof and I’ll send him your way when I find him. Keep her close,” you said and Rhodey’s daughter took hold of your arm looking up at you from her place barely up to your ribs.

“I want my Daddy and Mommy.”

“I’m gonna find your dad,” and for a moment you hunched forward saying, “And if he doesn’t know you at first it just takes a while for the medicine to get out of their system if I can’t make him remember first. Alright?” She nodded and you eased her closer to the other kids who made room for her in a turn to go and seal themselves in the suv after you passed Clint’s wife a button sized mechanism, “That’ll open and seal the doors. One of SHIELD’s tank on wheels, should have food under the back seat in a ‘secret hatch’ nobody is supposed to know about.” That gave a slight brighter mood to the hideaway as there were snacks waiting for them.

Elijah kept close to your side as Danielle asked, “What’s the plan?”

“Sports shop in the strip, we can grab some bats, or, golf clubs if they haven’t raided it all.”

Elijah said in a glance at your face, “Your mask is splitting up.”

“Ya, bees get tired after a while, took a chunk of energy to free me and build their shells.”

“Masks too then,” he said and watched you pull out a lock picking kit from under the back of your waistband. “Odd, no one broke into these shops.”

“Oh, racists fucks,” Danielle said at the head shake worthy sight of a wall of hate symbols and flags paired with models donning outfits in what seemed to be a throwback to how Abercrombie and Fitch when President Roosevelt used to shop there. Sporting goods for upper class clients with common sports crammed all the way on the other end of the shop that were all sold out making you sigh and head for the backroom of the shop where you had to tear open a crate of bats you and Dani took a couple as Elijah shouldered a duffel bag of baseballs.

“Might not have super strength but I got a fast ball that can make a grown man flinch.” He said making you smirk. On the way out however he tapped your arm pointing at a wall of masks for a supposed marketed game themed after The Most Dangerous Game, the mock human hunting paintball tournament with masks to be assigned as sold to players. “They got masks.”

Aside from the low visibility ones higher up with antlers Dani was the one to pick the three for you, “Bunnies. I want the brown one, looks just like my Jellybean,” she said taking up the graying brown one she tied into place on her face.

“I want the white, help you see where I am,” Elijah said and you collected the black one that covered from hairline to your nose enabling your bees to crawl into your hair to lock onto the ribbons to secure it in place as they rested. “Let’s go find our families,” he said confidently and now with matching masks and similar boot, jean and flannel outfits out you went closing up behind you to sneak your way through the streets to where you could be the most effective.

Shotgun blasts from Frank Castle were a great magnet for focus to see how much damage if any could be done to the metal suits that out of everyone only the Caps’ shields and the Ironman suits could do any damage at all.

A whistle however turned the head of one of the Inhumans who was aiming his blaster ended arm at Cage soon followed by a baseball that crashed into his face cover almost knocking him over as the Inhuman beside the target flinched away lowering his weapon as well. A newspaper box torn off the ground was next to fly into those two that had Cage and Castle both chuckle in amusement until they followed the path of where the box came from to see two bunny masked figures leap out of nowhere with bats to slam into hovering Inhumans knocking them hard into craters in the street.

Right away dart and drug free Cage gasped and wide eyed stated, “That’s, my girl. That’s my baby girl!” the second sentence he growled to Venom’s shrill screech in glee that you were now visible and within swinging reach. Dents and splinters of the glass face shields spread to every attack you and Dani set off between baseballs that adults tossed back his way seeing how he darted from hiding place to hiding place luring his grandfather straight to his side to help him with cover.

“You will fall, you will all fall!” was heard to the soft groan from yourself. Having been blasted with an electrical ball of energy into the side of a bus now caved in that had you drop from the second wall you hit to your forearms and knees on a hovering layer of bees in a sea of shredded debris that would have hurt you more. “We shall rise and claim this world as our own! A world belonging to Inhumans, a just world!”

A foot at a time planted in the start of your twitch filled rise up again to a ripple of lingering spark streams around your body that in a grimace you forced your mind to focus on anything but the pain. Much like the odd shift of the sky, like tops of towers of crystals or a kaleidoscope that shifted narrowing your eyes, “The mirror realm,” the Ancient One said on your left causing you to groan and drop to a knee in a surge of pain and electricity you had been ignoring and now noticed again. “Apologies,” she said in a move to tap her grouped fingertips to various spots on your torso and arms to drain the energy that let you free a puff of air from your lungs in relief.

“Thank you,” you sighed in a rise up again.

“We managed to confine the armored ones in this realm so the world will be safe once they are neutralized, all the children have been located and are being monitored.”

“Roughly, could say there’s been a surge of your attention needed since I moved to town,” you said making her chuckle to herself as you jumped out of the side of the bus luring a scowl across the face of Black Bolt.

“Not in the least,” she said then summoned a portal to help another while you sped off to help Dani by tearing a water pump out to help send a jolt of water to rebound off the metal slope she was using to re-funnel electrical blasts elsewhere.

A three note whistle from the crowd lured your eyes to Cooper who was pinned down by a trio of Inhumans who were set on blasting at him and his niece May behind a marble statue growing smaller by the moment.

The tune turning Black Widow’s head at some sort of familiarity only to watch a pistol be flung your way to his shout, “Five shots.” And to his relief once it planted in your bat free hand five shots both direct and rebounded helped to grant them cover to race for a new hiding spot. Over his shoulder in a speeding race you leapt dropping the gun in his reach to bash the Inhumans that dared to attack him. Right off their bodies the suits were torn enough to allow flesh to be targeted by others as the hair on your body stood up in a telling prickle of the shift of atoms.

Something about that Bolt’s voice had you on edge and now he was inhaling deeply urging your hand to drop into an opening in your jeans to bring out and hurl a dagger that sliced the side of his adam’s apple. Not enough to damage his armor there but enough to have him turn to face you as you raced his way. Blast after blast he tried to launch attacks at your petite self racing towards him. He expected the bat, but when you hurled it at the face shield of one aimed at Cage and his wife Jessica now covering their daughter’s back in her continued efforts on the blast funnel to kill that foe they didn’t notice all Black Bolt could do was gasp in fear as to what you would do to him.

Brilliantly glowing in an explosive aura all your own a barrier formed behind you as on echoes of those screams of yours Godzilla out of the water had risen and glowing himself let out a beam of energy. Between pillars surrounding people on your side barriers washed the energy to melt away the armor on the Inhumans. Who to the ground collapsed under rain of dust off of Mothra’s wings of incurable toxins that for a terrifying few minutes until your barriers dropped had them die in a gruesome slump while their powers no matter what they were failed to harm others or heal themselves.

Venom with a web sling tapped off the water pump to let Dani drop the metal in her hands before you were wrapped up in a tight hug by your excited brother during the moments of quiet before eruptions of cheers. “Hey, what’s your name?” a man close to you asked having tapped you on the arm, as amongst the others with darts in their necks none recognized who you were as you were a child, either of your identities seemed to fall under this side effect.

Though behind you elatedly Elijah said, “Come on man, that’s Misique! Just didn’t have time to grab her bee mask.”

And the man turned to his group of friends he had woken up with who were all wearing the same shirts from a team reunion, “Three cheers for Misique!” Miles voices and glee carried on as you caught glimpses of pleased Sorcerers while you crossed under Venom’s arm to your friends who were beyond pleased you got there as fast as you had in the setting of the sun.

“Still got a baseball?” you asked Elijah and accepted his smirking toss of a ball your way to hop up onto Venom’s shoulder to throw it into Hawkeye’s back turning him around to see you wave him over. Curiously he split from the Avengers who apparently uncertain of who they were had chosen average tactical suits instead of their usual battle suits causing them to turn and watch him ease through the crowd and stop a few feet away when you hopped down. “There’s an suv with your family and Rhodey’s little girl in it over on Easterly and Helm in the lot by the strip mall.”

“My family,” he muttered and turned to shout to Rhodey, “Rhodey! Bunny girl found our families!” and even without knowing who they were something inside of him caused him to turn and sprint off in the direction you stated drawing the team and other SHIELD members to sprint after him. More bodies at the name of where hidden children might be joined the group to be channeled through portals into hospitals and event centers. There medical teams were in wait to help remove the darts and help to direct them to where their children had been held and kept busy in their absence in the day long oddity safe from harm and shockingly boredom.

“Daddy!” was shouted and even confused Rhodey couldn’t get himself to put the girl in his arms down he walked to follow the guiding words of Cooper who said they should get the kids checked out to be safe sending them off to the nearest hospital.

“Where’d you wake up?” Venom asked in the casual stroll your group took through a portal the Ancient One opened for you to the same open park that was safe from the battle you had left behind.

“Some sort of shielded blimp. Bees put it down in Jersey and broke the shielding tech. Oh, apparently some prick named Thanos is coming to Earth, hacked his son Thane into three pieces.”

“Good,” Luke said now holding his hungry and tired daughter on his back and gave your back a pat, “Thank you, for finding my girl.”

“I think we were the spare incentive, it was us three and Clint and Rhodey’s kids and Clint’s wife, guessing she’s pregnant or wouldn’t let them go why they had her.”

Isaiah said, “Well you certainly showed up in time,” and he glanced back at Mothra who circled over the clearly safe city the mirror realm could not bar them from entering to follow your screams for help. “So did they, seem happier. Managed to get into a computer bit ago, apparently dozens of them started to act up, guessing when you got taken.”

“Well SHIELD will have their hands full with these Inhumans if those weren’t all of them.” You said and dished out hugs and handshakes in the split of your group to each head back home while Venom named the way home to have a clear spot to shift back.

“Woke up and Buddy was dragging me from the stairs to the toolbox,” Eddie said entering your building, having taken a few moments longer at fetching your keys from under his helpfully disguising baggy hoodie he leaned you to cover your once yellow now stained flannel. “Stabbed me in the neck to get the IV out. Tell me you didn’t have one of those.”

“My oranges,” you said, bending to pick up your net bag of oranges beside the paper bag of fruit you lifted off the landing between flights of stairs to continue up to your apartment as he grabbed the takeout bags he had been carrying that you’d warm up once inside your place. “Had a collar actually for mine, locked me in some soft of metal cube that didn’t let me move with a visor and ear muffs.”

“Oh no,” he sighed outside your door answered only by your tearful nod. “You must’ve gave them hell.”

“Must’ve.” You said and locked the door behind you to head for your fridge to start on a recipe you meant to start on that morning. That upon settling the dish on the table with others he had whipped and heated up far simpler to go with the reheated takeout you said, “Something about the sauce, they’re supposed to be beef patties, but now they’re like those crumbly beef burgers.”

“No complaints here. Extra tots coming your way,” he said. Making you smile at pouring more on your plate. To be topped with chili and cheese as you served him some of the beef on toasted grilled cheeses for a late night craving sort of snack you had been wanting to try for weeks now and had gotten to now that there was a decent selections of peppers in the store for the meat patties.

Pt 26

@jesevans, @lilith15000, @devilishminx328, @theincaprincess, @jiminapickle

#Escaped Child Assassin #James Rhodes #Sunken Ship #Elliot Randolph #Inhumans #Black Bolt #Thane #Ebony Maw #Eddie Brock #Venom #Luke Cage #Dani Cage #Isaiah Bradley #Elijah Bradley #The Ancient One #Marvel

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