Man Out of Time - A Captain America / Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 76

"Herr Kleiser," Bernice said.

"That's … he's … it's … me?" Natasha's mouth opened, not certain what was going on.

Bernice fought the overwhelming urge to rush forward and kill the bastard. Only a lifetime of being a quiet, somewhat timid young woman held her back. When she had stabbed the Chitauri Queen in the nerve center, she had meant it, but she had lacked the required conviction to kill another living creature, no matter how abominable it may be or dire the need. Ordering the Guardians to tear it apart had hurt her almost as much as it must have hurt the Queen to be dismembered, its screams and pain shrieking throughout the entire ship. But now?

"Hello, Bernice," Herr Kleiser said through the mangled features of Natasha's face. Half of Natasha's face. The other half was just a shapeless black glob. "We meet in person at last."

The face was female, but the voice was most definitely male, the voice she had heard within her own mind. He shuddered, something swimming beneath the surface of the dismembered pieces of his flesh as he fought for every breath. He was dying.

"You almost killed my husband," Bernice said flatly. "Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now."

"Because the fate of your world depends upon helping me." Herr Kleiser gave her a crooked smile, the expression foreign on the countenance he had assumed of Natasha. He gasped for breath, his skin bubbling as though it was a membrane covering a pot which was coming to a boil, and gave a whimper of pain. "Besides, in case you have not noticed, I am already dead."

"You sure look alive to me," Natasha hissed, the situation beginning to dawn on her as she searched flashes of memory and pieced things together. "An error which can be quickly rectified."

Two small, curved knives erupted from her utility belt, weapons the Chitauri had given back to her after they had turned her into a Guardian. She crouched, a spider sensing a vibration caught within her web, scanning which direction to move across the slender threads and sting her supper. She circled the room, studying each disparate chunk of the Friend that twitched in the dim light, deciding which dismembered pieces were a threat. The subtle click of her boots upon the deck sounded like armored legs.

"Please, Mrs. Rogers," the second Chitauri who had led them in here said in his most obsequious voice. "My brother is dying. Killing him before he helps you save your world would serve no purpose." The form 'Fred' had taken was of the frail old man trapped down in the living neural network of the mothership, but Bernice was not fooled. There was nothing frail about a shapeshifter!

"Steve killed you," Bernice hissed.

"Actually, it was her mate who did me in," Herr Kleiser laughed as he pointed at the real Natasha, and then writhed as something tried to erupt from within. He panted several times before regaining his composure. "But as you may have noticed, it is not my injuries which will cause me to cease to exist, but the honor my Queen bestowed upon me to nurture my own failed experiments."

"Why should I believe you?"

"If I were in your place," Herr Kleiser said, "I would not." He writhed in pain. "But I am not you, am I?"

"No, you are not!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Natasha nod. The Black Widow was ready to bite. Bernice sent an image into her mind through the uplink to wait. Much as she would wanted to watch Natasha dismember the bastard who had gutted Steve like a fish, the network had signaled her that 19 other Chitauri motherships were circling for a landing. Herr Kleiser had summonsed them, but instead of remaining behind the wall where she had been unaware he was trapped and awaiting rescue, he had asked his brother to bring her here. Why?