String Theory

Chapter 2

"Galahad," Peter echoes. "Isn't that one of Arthur's knights?"

"Yes, it is. I can't find any files on Kingsman, but an Arthurian motif would be logical, based on their name."

"Yeah," he says. "Yeah, makes sense." He stands quickly, and grabs a steno-pad and a pen, then returns to his seat. He scribbles down a few key words: KINGSMAN, GALAHAD, ORTHUS, 1028139001008. He speaks while he writes. "Karen, I need you to look up all the information on me you can find, okay? I wanna know exactly who Tony Stark is."

"I'm on it, Tony."

Peter's focus returns to the computer screen, and he exhales slowly, fingers settling on the keys.

>>> TS: Okay, Galahad. _
>> AG: Like I asked before, how much do you remember? _
>>> TS: Nothing _
>> AG: But you know who you are. _
>>> TS: I was told who I am... I don't think it's the same _
>> AG: It's good enough. What about Orthus? You see them on the news? _
>>> TS: yeah _
>> AG: Are you alone? _
>>> TS: yes _

Eggsy frowns. The tone of fear in Stark's messages is fairly obvious; dropping the punctuation, losing capitals. They must have had a rough time waking up. He winces, remembering his own first few moments. It had hurt like hell, and that was with Ginger right there to help him through it. He can't imagine what it would have been like if he'd been alone.

>> AG: Okay. Don't trust anyone. Especially don't trust Orthus, and don't go to their "memory clinics" or whatever _
>> AG: One of their satellites took down ours, and our systems are full of bugged up coding now. _
>> AG: We think they have a rat. _
>>> TS: Okay _

>> DOWNLOADING CLIENT DATA...
>> INCOMING FILE.

Peter's brows furrow, and he flicks the holographic file to one of the lab's other displays. Images and news articles begin to open in various tabs; some play muted video clips, but the headline that catches Peter's eye is in bold lettering on the New York Times: ORTHUS PREVENTS WORLDWIDE PANIC, REUNITES GLOBAL GVMTS IN FACE OF SOLAR CRISIS.

>>> TS: What is this? _
>> AG: Leads _
>> AG: Orthus is everywhere, and everything. If you look through all the files, you'll know what I mean by "leads" _
>> AG: With what happened, I don't understand how they could be functioning so well, unless they were prepared for it beforehand, I suppose. _
>> AG: That's not really what matters. They're lying about some things. _
>>> TS: What things? _
>> AG: Dates. What day did they say it was today? _
>>> TS: May 8, I think _
>> AG: Right. Well, my watch is analog, and it says May 1. They're lying about the dates _
>> AG: Which makes me wonder what else they're lying about, and why? Especially with the transmissions we've intercepted _
>>> TS: Transmissions? Dude, be less cryptic. I'm getting the creeps _

Eggsy breathes a little laugh. At least Stark has a sense of humor.

>> AG: Sorry. Yeah, transmissions. The words were all scrambled, but they were talking about " the separation of our reality" or some shit like that _

But now, reality is whatever I want it to be.

The voice is sudden, and loud in his mind, and Peter goes stiff as a board, eyes shutting tight. That turns out to be a mistake, because now he cansee who said it. The Titan is towering against a sunset-dappled scene of destruction, eyes cold, empty of feeling. There's blood trickling from the gauntlet on his left hand, and beneath his foot is a crumpled, half-armored body. The man's not moving, and the blood from the gauntlet is dripping to the back of the man's head, streaming down his neck and over his closed eyes. Thanos fixes Peter with an almost hungry stare, and his voice is thunderous enough to rattle his chest.