Age Of Miracles | Pietro Maximoff

Chapter Twenty-Nine: To Challenge Them Is To Court Death

Music is "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor - Extended)" by John Murphy from the Sunshine OST.

Picture is of Mistress Death.

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"Humans: They are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them is to court Death."

- The Other to Thanos

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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

When we got back to Stark Tower, Bruce was very eager to tell us where he had been for the past decade. Evidently, he had been on a planet called Sakaar in the Tayo system in the Fornax galaxy. After the events of Age of Ultron, when Bruce stole a Quinjet and took off to Odin knows where, he had been pulled into a strange spacial phenomenon. He referred to it as something similar to a wormhole when he was hovering in the lower atmosphere.

That portal had taken him to Sakaar, where his Quinjet crashed and he was left stranded billions of light years away from the Milky Way. Luckily for him, the local people had taken a liking to Bruce, especially in his Hulk form. They saw the Hulk as a god. With his pull on Sakaar, he had helped them build a craft capable of light speed, since they had technology far above Earth's. Within the decade, his new ship was built, and he was just waiting for another wormhole to open.

"I waited for almost two years after the ship was finished," Bruce says, looking outside the window of Stark Tower. "I just wanted to disappear on Earth; I never wanted to get that far away."

"We thought you might've been dead, buddy," Tony says, patting Bruce's shoulder. "You worried us."

Bruce smiles at his old friend, then turns to the rest of us. "Have I missed anything of importance around here?"

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The afternoon is filled with much news; some of which is from Bruce to us, but most of which is from us to Bruce. We tell him about the events of my arrival, our battle with Killbane, the Civil War, Magnetos Asteroid M and Ultron's return, and now our current predicament with Thanos.

After we finished getting him up to date on everything, we have a visit from Loki and Thor, who have returned with the second Infinity Gauntlet. "We smuggled it out of the Realm Eternal," Loki says with pride as he hands it over to Stephen Strange, our resident expert on magical items. "My wife was kind enough to cover for us, and since she is Queen, there is quite literally nothing the Elders can do about it." He chuckles.

"We also have news from other parts of the galaxy," Thor adds in a much more serious tone and expression. "Thanos' arrival is closer than we feared. He will be at Earth's doorstep within the next lunar cycle. We must do what we can to prepare. Have you gathered suitable stones to replace the Infinity Stones?"

I nod. "We have. We have a set of Gems that will work, and now that we have the Gauntlet," I turn to Stephen. "can you put all the pieces together? You're the strongest of any of us in this department, by far."

Stephen nods. "I'll start immediately. I will need some help. Wanda?"

The Scarlet Witch smiles. "Da, I will help."

"There is something else of concern," Thor adds. Getting our attention, he continues, "While searching for the Gauntlet, Loki and I visited the Norns. They are our soothsayers."

"They can tell the past, present, and future," Loki adds.

"Yes, and they have been in the world as long as the world has existed. They are eternal and have seen many things. They told of the day in which Asgard would fall prey to a Titan."