"Hear me and rejoice. You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan. You may think this is suffering. No. It is salvation. Universal scales tip towards balance because of your sacrifice. Smile. For even in death, you have become Children of Thanos." Ebony Maw announces as he walks through the bodies.
Dahlia scoffs, clutching her shoulder. The gash on her arm had reopened and was bleeding along with another stab wound in her shoulder.
"I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail, nonetheless." Thanos says. He bends down and lifts Thor off the ground before moving closer. "It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. But I ask you, to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. And now, it's here. Or should I say...I am."
"You talk too much." Thor tells him.
"The Tesseract. Or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference." He tells Loki, ignoring Thor.
"Oh, I do. Kill away." He lies. Thanos presses the Power Stone to Thor's temple. He screams in pain and Dahlia senses her surroundings. She spots the others not looking in her direction and begins using her magic to stop the bleeding of her arm. Loki interrupts him. "All right, stop!"
"We don't have the Tesseract. It was destroyed on Asgard." Thor says. Loki looks away from him as he summons the Tesseract. "You really are the worst brother."
"I assure you, brother, the sun will shine on us again." He tells him.
"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian." Thanos laughs.
"Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another...we have a Hulk." He replies. Hulk roars as he attacks Thanos. Loki dives for Thor, then quickly glances at Dahlia, not wanting to draw any attention to her.
Hulk quickly corners Thanos, but he grabs his wrists. Hulk grunts in confusion before Thanos attacks, knocking him back. He lifts him over his head before throwing him to the ground. Thor hits Thanos with a pipe and he kicks him backwards.
As soon as Thanos turns away from Hulk, Dahlia starts pulling herself towards him. She muffles a cry as she moves her shoulder, the bleeding stopped but the wound not healed. She reaches him and pats his face, trying to wake him.
"No!" She yells as she and Hulk lift into the air, knowing her father is sending them away. She clutches onto Hulk as they travel, and he shields her as they crash through the ceiling of a building. She feels as he returns to Bruce and clutches onto him, refusing to let him go as she sobs.
"Thanos is coming. He's coming." Bruce warns the two men standing above them.
"Who?" Doctor Strange asks.
***
"Tony Stark. I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me." He announces, stepping through the portal. "Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."
"I'm sorry, you giving out tickets to something?" Tony asks.
"We need your help." He replies. "Look, it's not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."
"And who's 'we'?" He asks.
"Hey, Tony." Bruce says as he and Dahlia step out of the portal. Her injured arm hangs limp at her side as her other clutches onto Bruce so tightly her knuckles are white. She stares straight ahead, seemingly unable to hear anything going on around her.
Tony stares at her, focusing on Bruce as he steps in front of him. He hugs Tony, and he glances at Pepper. The four of them return through the portal as Pepper heads back home. Tony and Bruce listen as Wong and Strange explain the Infinity Stones.
"Tell me his name again." Tony says.
"Thanos. He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York, that's him." Bruce replies.
"This is it." He whispers. "What's our timeline?"
"No telling. He has the Power and Space Stones. That already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six stones, Tony-" He says.
"He could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of." Strange interrupts as Tony stretches.
"Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreamt of'?" He scoffs.
"Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" He replies, his cape smacking Tony away from it.
"I'm going to allow that." Tony tells him. "If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down a garbage disposal?"
"No can do." He says.
"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives." Wong explains.
"And I swore off dairy, but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..." Tony replies.
"Stark Raving Hazelnuts." Strange says.
"Not bad." He says.
"A bit chalky." He replies.
"A Hunk of Hulk of Burning Fudge is our favorite." Wong adds.
"That's a thing?" Bruce asks.
"Whatever. Point is, things change." Tony says.
"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. And this stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos." Strange tells him.
"Yeah, so conversely, it may also be his best chance against us." He argues.
"Well, if we don't do our jobs-" He starts to say.
"What is your job exactly? Besides making balloon animals." Tony interrupts.
"Protecting your reality, douchebag." He scoffs.
"Okay, guys. Could we table this discussion right now? The fact is we have this stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now." Bruce says.
"Yeah, that's the thing." Tony replies.
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline." He explains.
"What? Tony, you lost another super-bot?" He scoffs.
"I didn't lose him. He's more than that. He's evolving." He tells him.
"Who could find Vision then?" Strange asks.
"Shit." He curses under his breath. "Probably Steve Rogers. Maybe."
"Call him." Bruce says.
"It's not that easy." He replies. "God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we? The Avengers broke up. We're toast."
"Broke up?" He asks. "Like a band? Like...Like the Beatles?"
"Cap and I fell out hard. We did too." Tony tells him, gesturing to Dahlia. "We're not on speaking terms."
"Tony, listen to me." He says. He glances at Dahlia and lowers his voice even though she isn't listening. They'd managed to get her to let go of Bruce and Tony had been able to spray her arm to speed up the healing process. "Thor, Loki, her father. They're all gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."
Tony sighs and steps away. He pulls out a flip phone and scoffs as he pulls up Steve's number. He looks up as he hears a distant rumbling.
"Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would ya?" He asks.
"Not at the moment, no." Strange answers.
Tony rushes to Dahlia as the others look to the front doors. He grabs her uninjured shoulder and shakes her until she seems to snap out of it.
"Stay here, Dahlia. Don't move until we come back for you." He tells her. She nods, staring at the ground. "Say it. Tell me you'll stay here."
"I'll stay here." She whispers.
YOU ARE READING
Lady Dahlia | Loki Odinson
FanfictionDahlia was adopted by Heimdall after being abandoned by her parents for being born blind. Growing up with Heimdall meant she grew up with the Odinson brothers. It was mostly fun, but also came with some challenges. Now that she's grown up, she must...
