The Path of Time ★ [3] ✔ (EDITING)

King Stark's Knights of the Hexagon Table

⏳ --

The questions started straight after Steve and I met with Astra. As I walked side by side with her towards the other side of the camp, the Avengers wanted to know everything Primavera had talked to us about, Tony leading the charge:

"So what's goin' on?"

"Where are we goin'?"

"Are we gonna knock some heads?

"D'you think they have a drive-through around here?"

"If they do, can we get drive-through?"

Astra looked to be on the brink of thumping him, and I wasn't one to stop her when she lost her patience.

"Seriously, though," Nat said, "what are we doing?"

"We're rescuing someone important," Steve replied.

"And that would be?"

"General Gilliam," Astra replied. "We need him if we are going to win this war."

The closer we got to the edge of the camp, the groups of people milling around dropped away. The dark wasteland spread out before us, barren and desolate and dead. We couldn't trek through it on foot. There were hunters everywhere. We'd be picked off easily.

"I got a question," Tony said.

"What now?" Astra growled through clenched teeth. "Have you not asked enough questions?"

"Why can't you guys just open a portal to wherever we're going, save this guy, and come back? Sounds easy to me."

Just after he finished his sentence, a roar echoed in the distance, faint and eerie. More joined the single roar, a symphony of danger. I knew what they were. And I didn't want to travel on foot with them stalking the plains. We wouldn't get very far.

"What was that?" Clint asked, gripping his bow.

"Auradiam," Astra answered.

"Aura suckers," I added. "We use our powers to portal, they'll find us and suck our powers. We can't use our powers once we leave this camp." I glanced at Wanda. "You can't either."