(So, for those who actually read this, here's chapter three with it's beautifully crazy name)
Nebula
"Didn't think I'd ever see you again," a voice said behind me. I turned to and then looked down to find the fox standing behind me. I heard Gamora's voice in my head. "He's not a fox." "Neither did I expect to see you again." "And yet, we meet." "And yet we meet." He sighed, "Do you... do you know anything about the others? Tony said something about you kind of crashing in on them on Titan." "I did..." "So, you know about their statuses?" "You didn't ask Tony?" "Nah..." "Why not?" He shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe I'd rather have someone I know tell me that they're..." "Dead?" "Are they?" "Most of them are not beyond saving." "Good. Wait, most of them?" I looked down at my feet, "Yeah... most of them..." "Oh, oh god, you mean one of them is really dead? One of my friends is really dead? Who is it?" He was silent for a while, waiting for an answer most, or so I thought. It could be he was taking me in, the way I was standing, how I was looking down at my feet still. "Gamora," he then whispered. "It's Gamora, isn't it?" I nodded, "Yes," I whispered and, to my own surprise, my voice sounded choked up. "Oh man... Oh man," he said right before he picked something off the ground and threw it all the way to the other side of the plane. The woman flying ducked just in time, I suspect she heard it coming. It went through the window. The others all stared at Rocket. "What?" He asked them angrily as he noticed they were all staring at him. "Ya got a problem?" "You threw something through the window!" Stark told him angrily. "So?" "Well, we need to repair that! The air pressure could take the whole window out, and us with it!" "Yeah, that'd be great!" "Ugh, animals." "Tony, leave him." The blonde woman had stood up from her piloting position and was walking over to Stark. "He broke the window!" "I suppose that's an easy fix for a genius like you." The plane tilted down, obviously turned to autopilot with the command to land. "Of course it is." "Then quit whining and get to work!" "You defending the animal now?" "Yeah, so?" "But, he's... well, weird." "If your definition of weird is misunderstood, smart and caring without daring to show it because he's afraid to lose the people he cares about then I know someone else who fits that description," she snapped at him. He looked away, "Fine, I'll fix it." What the hell?
While on the ground I got another chance to talk to Rocket. "What was that about?" "What?" "That woman standing up for you..." "Well, we had a talk. Mind you, she wasn't really nice to me at first, but then we talked... and well, she reminded me of someone... and she said I reminded her of someone too. She said she's pretty good at reading characters... Not quite sure if she is, but, you know..." "It could be she is." "She sure is threatening. That's fun." "Yeah, threatening people are great to hang around with," I said sarcastically. "Well, it's not like you're used to any different." "Thanks." He's right though. Thanos, Corvus, Ebony, Cull, Proxima, Ronan... Gamora. I sighed. "Yeah, I know, that's not really a nice way to lead your life, but hey, it's not like I'm used to any different." "You want to call Quill, Groot ant that insect-woman, what's her name again?" "Mantis." "Yeah, she, you want to call them threatening?" "Well, not at first glance, but you've never seen Groot put his arm through someone's chest. And you've seen what Peter can do." "When he still had his Celestial powers." "He's still a pretty good fighter." "didn't know you were that fond of him." "I'm not!" "Sure fox." "I'm not a fox!" "If you say so." "And for Mantis, she managed to put Ego, a Celestial to sleep without his permission. Yeah, she's strong, and her power can be threatening, although it doesn't seem that useful at first!" Keep telling yourself you're not fond of 'em little fox. Nobody believes you. I rolled my eyes. "What?" "Nothing." "No, what's it?" "Nothing," I said again and I walked off before he could ask again. I knew he knew better than to follow me.
Natasha
We had landed close to Seattle, so I decided to take out the motorbike that was stored in the back of the jet and ride all the way to Seattle for one very important thing. Hair dye. I was no longer on the run, so why not go back to my signature look right? Also, I liked the red hair way better. It might be a reminder of Natalia, but, well, I could have had worse reminders of who I once was. They were waiting for me as I got back, all of them looking slightly impatient. "Where the hell did you go?" "Seattle." "Why?" "Because I needed something." I was not about to start another discussion with Tony. "And what is it that you needed?" Seemed like he was about to start another discussion with me though. "That," I said calmly, "is none of your business." I kicked the motorbike back to live to store it in the jet's storing space.
I was just getting back up when Tony took off with the jet. But, in his haste, he took off to fast and the motor quit for a few seconds and we dropped back to the ground. Luckily he managed to get it back on right before we actually hit the ground. "Smooth," I told him, still standing on the wobbly metal stairs." "You think you could have done better?" "Hmm, good question. I have a question for you, please, could you remind me who was flying this plane before we landed?" "That was you." "And did we almost drop to our deaths when I was flying?" "Oh shut up!" "Tony, Natasha, please." "Shut up Rogers," we replied in unison. He glared at the both of us, then he smiled and said, "Well, you guys might not really like each other, but you sure as hell share a connection, saying the same thing at the same time and all." I rolled my eyes and sighed." "I agree with Natasha," Tony said. "Don't, you're making it worse," I told him. "People might suspect that we actually care about each other somewhere deep inside ourselves." Which we did of course, but we sure as hell weren't going to tell anyone. "Oops, sorry." "Is this normal?" I heard Rocket ask. "It is," both Steve and Pepper told him. "Hey, Rogers, stop having a "saying the same thing at the same time" connection with my fiancée, okay?" "Your fiancée?" Steve asked. "Well it was about time!" I said before Tony could answer. "Shut up." "I've been waiting for this for eight years!" "Please shut up!" "No." "Oh god. I shouldn't have said that." Oh how I missed teasing that guy. "On the contrary, you should have mentioned it before." "Nat..." "Tony..." "Why?" "I suppose you weren't planning on inviting the Avengers?" "He wasn't, but I was. I knew he'd be happier with you guys around," Pepper replied. "You where what now?" "It would have made you happier to have your best friends around on a special day like that, Tony. You know it's true." "Yeah, but you could have at least told me." "Are you really that surprised?" "Well... no, I'm not."
I stretched my arms and legs, my muscles were still sore from the fight of the day before. God I wish there was a bed here, or maybe a couch, I don't really like sleeping sitting up in a chair. It's not like I had another option though. I sighed and closed my eyes. "So, what did you do when you went off on your own?" A slightly robotic sounding voice asked me. I opened one eye, "Hmm?" "You said you were doing something important," the blue alien woman in front of me, Nebula, said. "Well, important to me." "Meaning?" I shrugged and showed her the hair dye. "What's that?" "Hair dye." The confused look she gave me told me that she had never heard of hair dye before. "It changes the color of your hair." "Why would you want to change the color of your hair?" I yawned, "Because this is not my natural color." "And that is?" "Yeah. Not sure if it's exactly right, but the human eye would not be able to spot the difference between this and my real hair color once my hair gets longer." "So it's the same color." "Yes." I yawned again. "Tired?" "I might have slept an hour or two last night." "That'd be about as much as I need." "I actually need about at least four hours of sleep, but I can function on less. I can function at least three days without sleep, but I don't really like the consequences of that, so I'm not doing that again." "What are the consequences?" "I pass out." "I could have expected that." "Yeah, it's not that surprising." There was a silence for a while. A slightly awkward silence. "so you're a daughter of Thanos?" "I wish people would stop calling me that. I've always hated it when someone said it." "You're raised by Thanos though, right?" "Yes." "Together with two adoptive sisters and three adoptive brothers." "How do you-." "Rocket told me," I said before she could finish the question. "Of course he did, the annoying little fox." "He's not a fox." Her expression changed for a split second when I said that, it happened so fast I almost thought I'd imagined it. Almost.
Nebula
I sat down next to the blonde woman... Natasha I mean. "Yeah, I know." "Then why do you call him a fox?" That is a good question. "To annoy him I guess." "People don't like it when you annoy them." "Well, obviously, that's why it annoys them." She glanced at me, a small smile playing around her lips, "That's true. I might have phrased that wrong." "Possibly, yes." She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, I should have said something else. Like: People don't like being annoyed." "Which is why they get annoyed by something that annoys them." "Are you always like this?" "Like what? Annoying?" "Well... kinda." "People say so." "Oh." "People don't really like me. I was a very angry person in the past. I still am." "Hmmm, bad childhood I take it?" "Yeah." "I get that. I mean, not all of us turn into angry psychopaths, but some do." "All of us?" "Oh, you picked that up huh? Well, let's just say, my childhood wasn't easy either." "Probably still a lot easier than mine though." "Depends..." If only I could have raised an eyebrow, but alas, my people don't grow hair anywhere on their body. We're completely bald, so I couldn't. "Look at me, what do you see?" "An alien." I scoffed, "Besides that!" "Metal, wires, you're a cyborg." "I am." "Someone did this to you when you were a kid?" She looked mildly horrified. "Yes." "Wow. Having to kill children from your own age from the age of... twelve.. fourteen, something close to that, well, that doesn't even come close..." "What are you talking about?" "Did I say that out loud?" "You did." "Oh. Well, it's about my own training." "You were trained?" "I'm an assassin." "Well, welcome to the club." "Should we get matching jackets now or is that too much?"
Rocket
"So... sorry for calling you an animal," I heard a voice behind me say to me. I turned around to find that tony guy Nebula travelled to Terra with. "I'm used to it," I told him, "but thanks." "So... I heard you make weapons." "I do, when I feel like it, sometimes I make bombs too... but Peter... well... he told me I couldn't make any more bombs because he was afraid I'd blow up the ship one day." "You can make bombs?" "That blow up moons or the occasional Celestial being." He smiled, "You're not bragging, are you?" "No, of course not, I really blew up a Celestial once. Okay, I'll admit, Groot turned the bomb on, but I made it. Good thing he didn't press the instant death button." "Maybe you shouldn't put an instant death button on it... You know, just a suggestion." "Eh, maybe yeah." "You know, if it's not on there, nobody can press it. Simple logic." "It's fun though, and a last resort. Sometimes you gotta kill yourself so the bad guy can't get the thing he wants." "Yeah, that's true. But only if the thing he wants is with you of course. And if the bomb could destroy it." "Oh believe me, it could." "You sound pretty sure of yourself." "I was created to do this kind of stuff. Fly space-ships, build weapons, I'm pretty good at it." "Created?" "Yeah, I was a raccoon once, not anymore." "Hmmm... You know, I designed weapons once... I could make them too of course... But I don't do that anymore." "Why?" "Because I want to protect the world... not destroy it. My weapons got in the wrong hands you see..." "Yeah... I see. And... protecting is better than destroying... That's why I usually build guns. To protect the people I care about from the people who want to hurt them... Of course they didn't stand a chance against Thanos..." "You were a friend of those Guardians of the Galaxy, right?" "I'm one of them..." "And they are the people you want to protect?" "Well, I need to get them back first... all of them... Then we're gonna murder Thanos, maybe put him on a moon and blow him up, don't think Gamora would complain about that..." "She complained about blowing up moons before?" "Yeah, when she still sucked the joy out of everything..." "I take it she was very serious and closed off and all that?" "Yeah, she was." "Hmmm... And you're more the type of guy who runs into battle with e gun while shouting and laughing and who makes weapons and sometimes drinks a little too much and act's very though, but actually cares a lot but who's afraid to show it and all." "How did you guess?" "I know those kind of people..."
Steve
It was a little strange to see Tony talk to Rocket all of a sudden, but I think he understood what Natasha had meant. She had said that Rocket was quite like someone else she knew. Smart, distant, caring, maybe even underestimated... all of that. It might have reminded her of Tony. At least, that's what I think. Rocket certainly does remind me of Tony for a bit. I sighed. "You okay there Cap?" It was Clint. "Yeah, I'm fine. You?" "Could have been better, waaay better." "Yeah, I thought so... You're planning to talk to Nat, right?" "Yes." "You shouldn't." "Why not." "Give her some time, she'll come to you." "Ya think?" "I know. I've spend the last two years with her before the battle in Wakanda. I've known her since 2012, I'll admit, that's not as long as you've known her, but it's still six years..." "Yeah, well... I want to talk to her." "You know that she'll just avoid you until she wants to talk to you because she can be a stubborn ass, right?" He snorted, "That's true." I silently heard Nat mumble, "Thanks boys," but I paid no attention to it. She knew it to be true. "So, you think I should just wait for her to come to me?" I nodded, "Yeah, and in the meantime, you can grieve over your family." "Just as she'll be doing." "That's likely. And after that both of your heads will be much clearer, you'll be able to tell each other how you're feeling without the grief clouding it all..." "Then why are we going to set up a plan right after all that happened?" "Because we need the grief now, to drive us. It gives us anger and a thirst for revenge." "Okay, good reason... So, basically we're back to avenging I take it?" I smiled, "Well, we are the Avengers, are we not?" "Yeah, and we just assembled."
The flight to Wakanda didn't take too long from that point. We were there in about one hour from where we landed to get the window repaired. Shuri was waiting to welcome the new guests. "Good uh... morning," she said stifling a yawn. "And welcome to Wakanda." She turned to Tony, "It is my pleasure to welcome you and your fiancée here, Mr. Stark. I've seen your work, and I'm very impressed by what I've seen, and very interested in what else you might be able to do." Tony smiled, "Thank you, Queen Shuri, and please, call me Tony." Natasha leaned over to him and whispered, "She's a tech-nerd," into his ear. "I heard that Nat." "Oops." Shuri turned to Clint, "Mr. Barton, welcome to Wakanda, your help will be most appreciated. I have heard that you never miss. Is that correct?" "Let's just say you don't wanna play golf with me, Queen Shuri." "I'll keep it in mind." She turned to Nebula. "And you... Well I've heard quite some things about you."
Shuri
I have to admit that her being a cyborg was really awesome but as the Queen of Wakanda I had to restrain myself. "What is it that you heard about me?" "That you have some insight regarding our enemy, that you seek revenge on him because he tried to turn you into a living weapon... And he succeeded I see." "I do indeed seek revenge for what he did. I want him dead for all of this," she pointed at herself. "For what he did to me and my sister." She has a metal arm! And I'm sure there is some kind of communication system inside her head... I mean... look at it. Could she project her memories? Focus Shuri, focus! "In that case, feel welcome, you should be treated like all of our other honored guests." "Honored guests?" "We don't allow that many people to enter Wakanda, even though we opened our borders to the rest of the world, it's mostly for trade, and we certainly don't allow that many beings from other planets on our grounds. You should feel honored." She nodded, "Thank you, Queen Shuri." Would she allow me to examine her? Probably not... I could still ask her though, tell her it's just for research purposes, or to make her stronger. The Avengers walked past me. Natasha leaned over and whispered, "I wouldn't," as if she knew what I was thinking of.
As the Avengers walked by, something strange happened. There was a guy who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Okoye reacted with lightning speed, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" I uh... I'm Scott, Scott Lang. I'm uh... Ant-Man. I uh... was hiding, in Stark's house, I would have been hiding in Clint's house if I knew where to find it but... well, I didn't, so..." "You want to help us?" I asked him. "Yes, I lost some people I cared about thanks to that Thanos guy. I heard the story... And I want to help. You can trust me, ask Steve." I nodded, "I will," I turned, "Steve?" "Yes," he was still there, "I know Scott, he helped me once." "So we can trust him." "Yeah, we can." "Good," I turned back to Scott, "Now how did you do that?" "Do what?" "Appear out of nowhere." "Oh, that, it's simple, I was tiny, very very tiny." "You can shrink?" "Yeah, it's Pym's technology." "Hank Pym... I've heard of him." "Good..." he sighed, "I'm sorry I came alone by the way, Ant-Man should be accompanied by the Wasp... but she..." "She's gone, isn't she? Like my brother..." "I suppose so yes." "And that is why you came here? To get her back?" He nodded, "Yes."
Scott
"Well, welcome to Wakanda I suppose," Steve said as I caught up to him. "Thanks..." "So, the Wasp?" "She uh... she was my partner... she trained me and..." "You love her?" "Well, yes." "And she's gone?" I sighed, "Yes." "So you want revenge." "I do." "You're in the right place then." "Good... can I ask you something?" "Sure." "That girl, the Queen, why is she so interested in all this tech stuff?" Steve shrugged, "She just likes it, she's a bit of a tech-nerd, like Nat already said. She made the suit her brother was wearing in Germany." "She's the sister of T'Challa right? The Black Panther?" "Yes, she is." "He died?" "Disintegrated, like my friends, Bucky, and Sam." "The guy with the metal arm and the guy who kept calling me Tic-Tac." "That's them yes," Steve said with a small grin playing around his lips. "I'm sorry to hear they're gone." He sighed, "Thanks, I'm sorry the woman you love is gone." "Thanks." "And I'm glad to have you here Scott. I've seen what you can do..." "Well, not all of it... I'm an engineer you know... Or, at least I could be... If I could get a job..." "Being a superhero isn't really a job huh?" "No, not really." "Your daughter?" "She's with her mother, they're both fine." "Well, at least somebody's family is alright." "Clint's is gone?" "Yeah, completely... And... the Avengers are my family... and they're not complete. Not without Wanda or Sam... And Bucky... my family will never be complete without my best friend."
Wakanda, as it was back then, was depressing. Half of its citizens gone, half of the inhabiting animals gone... which was even more creepy, cause this was Africa and Africa has a lot of wildlife... or had. All of the people were depressed, tired or wounded, or a mix of those things, I was no exception, I was mostly depressed and tired though. I was given a room with a door that led to what they called, the Avengers common room, it would have been funny if I weren't feeling so damn tired and depressed.
"What are all those ants doing here?" I heard a male voice ask outside of my room. "I think they belong to Scott," Natasha answered. "The Ant-Man guy?" "Yes Bruce, the Ant-Man guy." Bruce? Is that Bruce Banner? The Hulk? I stood up and walked over to the door which I pushed open ever so slightly to watch what was going on. There were indeed a lot of ants crawling around, and Bruce Banner was surrounded by them. I pushed the door completely open, "Sorry about that, it's hard to control them when I get a little emotional, I didn't even know they followed me." "Oh..." "I'm Scott by the way, Scott Lang." "Bruce Banner," Bruce said. "Yeah, I know," I reached my hand out and he took it to shake it, meanwhile, the ants retreated and climbed out of a the window in a neat line because I told them to. "Fascinating," Steve, who was also in the room, said as he stared after the ants. "You control them?" "Yeah, I do. With the help of Pym's tech of course." "Could you... maybe, make them big?" "I... could, but only a few. Why?" "Cause ants are nearly indestructible, and if you can tell them what to do... would be fun to see those alien fuckers trying to fight giant ants." "Steve!" Natasha's voice sounded through the room. "What?" "How dare you use that word?" "Nat... really?" She smiled and winked. Then she walked off into her own room. "You guys will never get over that joke, will you?" "Probably not no," Tony said as he walked into the room. Steve sighed, "I'm screwed then." Bruce gasped, "Now you're doing it again!" "Quit the bad language Steve!" I smiled, I could see what Steve had meant back out there when he'd said the Avengers are his family. They looked like a family, they even behaved like one. Maybe I can fit in.
Bruce
Steve had been right when he'd said that Scott controlling those ants was fascinating. So, of course, as scientists, Tony and I questioned Scott about the connection between him and the ants. Unfortunately, he didn't want to tell us much, or maybe he really didn't know that much about it. It could have been either one of those. He did hand us over one of the devices that could enlarge the ants though, and an ant helmet. He told us that he'd need more ants, and more of those devices if we wanted to use the ants in battle. So we left them in the lab to examine them later. About that lab, when Tony entered that lab he looked like a kid in a candy shop. His eyes went big and wide and he smiled brighter than I'd seen him smile in the past few hours. "You like it?" Queen Shuri asked him. "This place is great," he replied. "Thanks, I build it... with some help of course, but most of it is me." "You build this yourself?" "Yes. Why?" "You're smart, aren't you?" "People say so." "Can I adopt you?" "Don't think so, I'm eighteen by now," she was smiling though. I think she liked to be praised by another genius. "What's that you got there?" She asked us. "Little ant-helmets." "What? Why?" "For Scott, so he can control the ants." "And the other thing?" "It makes the ants grow." "And you want to make more of them?" "Yes." "So the ants can fight?" "Yes, ants are nearly indestructible, would be fun to see them fight, right?" Shuri smiled, "Yeah, it would. And with the tree of us I bet we'll be able to make a lot of them." Tony and I smiled, mostly because of her enthusiasm, "Yeah, we are," I replied. "Shall we get to work then?" "Yeah... but we need to remember to make them in different sizes for the different kinds of ants. I do think you have some native species of ants here?" "We don't, but we do have a lot of poisonous and venomous ants here." "Good, we could use some of those venomous ones. I bet you got a suit that'll allow us to catch them." "Of course I do."
We worked in the lab for several hours, first examining the devices, then putting them back together to learn how to make new ones. Shuri had enough materials to make some, but she ordered more nevertheless, "Just so we can continue tomorrow," she said. At the end of the day we had made fifteen helmets each, those things are small okay, makes it hard to make them, and ten of the enlargement devises. And if there's one thing I can tell you about making nano-tech, it's more tiring than it looks, or sounds, way more tiring. At the end of the day, the three of us were exhausted, but we could at least make a small army of giant ants. "You'll be back tomorrow, right?" "Yeah, sure," both Tony and I replied before we left.
"That kid is amazing," Tony said. "Yeah, she's good." "She's smarter than me!" "Well, she grew up in Wakanda, with a lot of resources." "That she certainly did. Doesn't make her less smart though." "No, it doesn't, but it gives an explanation as to why she's so smart." "I don't care why she's so smart, I just care that she is. And I'm glad there's a lab here." "So you can hang around there and work on your suits when you can't sleep?" "For example, or maybe just to repair my stuff. How's the Hulk-Buster doing?" "Well... it's uh..." "Broken, yeah, I heard." "You want to repair it?" "Well, it is my suit, so yeah." "Can I still borrow it?" "If you need to." "Thanks." "Hey, you're my friend Bruce, and those are rare. So, of course I'm more than willing to help them." I smiled, Tony is a much better person than most people give him credit for, unfortunately, he's one of "most people" himself.
"What the?" Tony said as he stood in the doorframe to the Avengers common room. "You're surprised?" "Well... uh." "What? What am I missing?" "You're missing nothing Bruce, just the fact that I dyed my hair," it was Natasha's voice. "What color?" asked. "What do you think?" Tony walked into the room so I could see for myself. Nat was sitting on the couch, her hair framing her face like flames. God, she's gorgeous. What? It's a fact... I don't have feelings for her. Not anymore... "You look good," I told her. She smiled, a little awkwardly, but it was there, "Thanks." It looks like things are reverting back to normal. "Is this why you went off on the motorcycle?" Tony asked her, "To buy hair dye?" "Yes," she said with a little self-satisfied smile, "You got a problem with that?" He started, for a while he just stared, then he smiled back, "Nah, you look better with red," then he winked and walked into his room. "Ever such a ladies man." "Hey, he is engaged," I defended him. "Yeah, was about damn time." I smiled, "Yeah, it was." "You're happy for him huh?" "He's one of my best friends, of course I'm happy for him. How could I not be?" "Yeah, how could you not be." "You're happy for him too." "How are you so sure." "I can see it on your face. You can try to hide it, but in all those years I've known you-." "Which is technically just three years. From 2012 to 2015." "Nat, I've known you from 2012 to 2018 by now..." "No... you left. I choose to believe you didn't know me anymore, not in those two years that you were the Hulk. You forgot about us, about your friends, you can admit it." I sighed, "I almost did." "Almost?" "You think the lullaby would have brought me back if I had completely forgotten you?" She seemed to search my face for a while, for what I don't know, then she shook her head, "No, it wouldn't." "No it wouldn't."
(I have no life, not at all, Mirthe, if you stalk me here too, please make yourself known. Enjoy this chapter humans, enjoy your life, enjoy the sun, enjoy the little things, I still got a lot of other fafics to work on... one of them is a Twilight fanfic... ~Busy Moonwolf who's somehow craving MacDonalds)