Space. Cont.
"Rowan.."
A soft knock snapped the girl out of her nail-biting, foot-tapping nervous breakdown. She regained her composure, sucking in a deep breath and flattening out her shirt. With a fake smile and a welcoming voice, she called. "In here."
Peter's bare face peaked through the doorway, a subtle smile tugging at the corner's of his soft lips as he caught sight of his beautiful girlfriend sitting peacefully on the floor in the back of the ship. He knew she was upset; despite her upturned lips, which faltered ever so slightly every now and then, and the chipper tone in her voice, he knew her mind was a complete mess. Doctor Strange had terrified her, added an extra set of weights to her four-hundred pound barbell of stress and anxiety. And Tony and Peter made sure he knew it.
"What?" She whispered, her face seeming to grow pale. "I-um- what?"
"What the hell are you going on about, wizard?" Tony coaxed.
"She possesses a power that I've never seen before. Not even out of the other witch. She's stronger, more diligent. She has the capability of wiping out an entire universe if she wanted to." Doctor Strange replies.
"Woah- wait. So you're saying this five-foot, one-hundred pound, eighteen year old kid is Thanos in girl form?" Tony asks, utter disbelief evident on his features.
"Correct."
"I'm gonna be sick." Rowan whispers, her hands clutching her aching stomach. She faltered a bit, catching herself on Peter before she started walking away without as much as a protest. Her powers were killing her.
"Rowan, wait.."
She waved off her boyfriend, one hand still nursing her turning tummy, "Pete, I'm fine, I just need some time, okay?"
And they hadn't seen her since.
"You okay?"
Peter took a seat beside her, letting his hand rub soothing circles on her back.
She lets out a breath, nodding slightly. "I am. It just caught me by surprise and my body couldn't handle it... either could my powers."
Her feet started to pick up once again, tapping swiftly against the cool, metal ground. Her jaw clenched, her nails digging into her palms. She was growing livid, a feeling of complete disarray enveloping her body; tingles and burning cascading across her arms, leaving tiny bumps in its path.
"Hey, hey, look at me-" Peter knew exactly what to do; what she needed... comfort. "Rowan, look at me baby."
Rowan's eyes, flashing purple, met her boyfriend's in a look of desperation. She was trapped, drowning inside her own mind and she couldn't escape; she couldn't breathe. Peter, placing her hand flat against her own chest, spoke softly. "You feel that? You're still alive, you're still breathing, your heart is still beating. These feelings are your body's way of telling you you need to take a breathe, close your eyes and ground yourself."
"I-I can't!"
"Yes you can." Peter placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, resting his own there. He closed his eyes, savoring her presence, before guiding her through her episode. "Close your eyes, Rowan, and focus on me. Focus on the ground, the coolness of the metal and the sounds around you. That's it.. deep breath in... and out."
It took no less than a minute for the purple to slowly disperse, the familiar dark color appearing once again. She let her palms fall to his cheek, leaning in for a grateful kiss.
"Thank you, Spidey."
"Oh-uh, yeah-yeah, of course. I just uh-"
A chuckle escaped her lips, shaking her head, "it amazes me that you still get flustered whenever I kiss you..."
A sudden jolt interrupted the duo's intimate moment, causing the couple to jump to their feet and flee to the front of the ship to make sure no new alien creatures had crashed the party.
"Hey, what's going on?" Asks Rowan.
"I think we're here." Strange states.
"I don't think this rig has a self-park function." Tony adds before urgently turning to Peter, "Get your hand into this steering gimbal. Close those around it. You understand?"
"Yup. Got it."
"This was meant for one big guy, so we gotta to move at the same time." Tony instructs.
"Okay. Okay. Ready."
the ringship is heading straight for the center of what looks like one of a colossal game of jacks; "We might wanna turn. Turn! Turn!"
Iron Man armors up as the ringship clips the "jack" obliquely, but still losing a good third of its hull in the collision. Spider-Man throws up his helmet at the same time. Rowan steps in, creating a giant forcefield in anticipation for a rough landing.
The ship, now reduced to about 45%, plows through the dirt and stops, leaning slightly to one side. The team had landed on Titan, a planet of which had been said to be the occupant of Thanos.
The raven haired girl helps her father, now de-helmeted, to his feet; they're both panting a little from the exertion of arrival.
"You alright?" Tony asks his offspring, "That was close. Good work, sweetheart."
Spider-Man and Strange descend from above, the man coughing up some moon-dirt while Peter speaks with a shudder, "Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I end up eating you, I'm sorry."
Tony, pointing to Peter, "I don't wanna hear another single pop culture out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?"
"Yes. Little Stark please keep him quiet before my head combusts." Strange murmurs, massaging his temples.
"I'm trying to say that something is coming." Peter replies.
A grenade rolls into view, and Peter, Strange, Rowan and Tony get thrown well back when it fires its energy pulse. Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis appear in the doorway.
Drax, who makes a dramatic appearance with a yell and a leap, cries, "Thanos!"
he flings a blade at Doctor Strange, who neatly deflects it with a mystical shield, and in return sends the Cloak of Levitation at Drax's face, half-smothering him and throwing him to the floor.
Star-Lord and Iron Man have a brief dogfight until a magnetic disc pins Iron Man face-first to a structure.
Peter, crawling backwards from Mantis, shouts, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Please don't put your eggs in me!"
"Hey, don't touch him!" Rowan, narrowing her eyes and conjuring a quick energy ball in her palm, flings the short-haired creature away from her precious territory.
Star-Lord flies at the both of them feet-first, kicking them away. Peter Quill can't quite counter spider reflexes at first; he fires at Spider-Man, who extends his spider legs and leaps away with his girlfriend in his arms, but an electric-like cord wraps around Spidey and his six new legs when he tries to attack, sending him rolling across the deck; Rowan tweaking something in her rib cage.
Meanwhile, Drax continues to struggle with the magical cloak, punching at it and trying his best to free himself of the suffocating material. "Die, blanket of death!"
Tony then pulls free of the magnet; the Cloak pulls free of Drax as soon as Iron Man has a bead on its opponent and a foot on his torso.
The masked man has Peter in a head lock, pointing a laser gun to the smaller boy's head as Rowan wheezes helplessly in the dirt, her injured rib constricting her mobility.
Doctor Strange has a mystical shield of golden energy up, and stands ready at the third point of the triangle. Mantis has struggled to her feet behind Star-Lord, still recovering from the misty blast.
"Everybody stay where you are. Chill the F out." Peter Quill powers off his helmet, shouting, "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where's Gamora?"
"Yeah, I'll do you one better. Who the fuck is Gamora, you maniac?!" Rowan shouts, rising to her feet with the help of her father.
"I'll do you one better! Why is Gamora?" Drax adds, making the girl roll her eyes.
"Tell me where the girl is, or I swear to you, I'm gonna French fry this little freak." Yells the Star-Lord, tightening his grip on Peter.
"You kill him and your whole team dies!" Threatens the girl, conjuring up a large ball of purple before aiming it at the beefy blue guy's head.
"Do it, Quill! I can take it." Shouts Drax.
"No he can't take it!" Mantis interferes.
"She's right, you can't." Strange adds.
"Oh yeah? You don't wanna tell me where she is? That's fine. I'll kill all four of you and beat it out of Thanos myself." Peter cocks the gun, placing it on the boy's temple, "starting with you."
"Wait, what, Thanos?" Interrupts Strange, "All right, let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?"
"What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say? "Jesus"?" Quill cries.
"You're from Earth?" Tony questions.
"I'm not from Earth. I'm from Missouri." Quill replies.
"Yeah, that's on Earth, dip-shit. What are you hassling us for?" Rowan growls.
"You know, I don't like your attitude. But uh- I'm Peter, Peter Quill. They call me Star-Lord but you can call me anytime." The bearded man flirts, winking at the grimacing girl.
"Hey, buddy, back off!" Peter shouts, his sounds slightly muffled.
"Shut it, Spider!"
"Wait, so you're not with Thanos?" Tony queries, his brow cocked.
Peter Quill, indigently, replies, "With Thanos? No, I'm here to kill Thanos. He took my girl. Wait, who are you?"
"We're the Avengers, man." Peter Parker chokes out.
"Oh."
"You're the ones Thor told us about." The black- eyed creature adds.
"You know Thor?" Questions the older Stark.
"Haven't heard that name in a while." Murmurs the raven haired girl.
"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving." Answers Quill.
"Where is he now?" Wonders Stephen.
Nivadellir. A planet filled with nothing; just the lost memories of a large colony that used to form an army before Thanos destroyed them all. Thor, Rocket and Groot are walking side-by-side with Eitri, a giant who had been apart of the colony before its demise, before the man shows them a model for the Stormbreaker; a mechanism used for a weapon that could possibly put an end to Thanos.
"This is the plan? We're gonna hit him with a brick?" The raccoon questions incredulously.
"It's a mold. A king's weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost." Eitri replies.
"Did it have a name?" The muscular son of Oden asks, observing the mold carefully.
"Stormbreaker."
"That's a bit much." Rocket murmurs.
"So how do we make it?" Thor queries, ignoring Rocket's comment.
"You'll have to restart the forge. Awaken the heart of a dying star." Eitri informs.
"Rabbit, fire up the pod." Thor commands Rocket, causing the animal to roll his eyes at the annoying nickname.
Cut back to Titan where where the Avengers and the Guardians are starting to work together. Quill is measuring the planet's tilt.
"The heck happened to this planet? It's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place."
Mantis and Rowan are jumping joyfully in a low gravity spot just behind the group, laughing and doing tricks just for the entertainment.
Peter Parker glances over at his girlfriend quickly, a smile forming on his face at the sight of the girl having a good time.
"Yeah, we got one advantage. He's coming to us. We'll use it. All right, I have a plan. Or at least the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet." Tony says.
Drax yawns, obviously bored with the man's words.
"Are you yawning? In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?" Tony strains, narrowing his eyes at the blue creature.
"I stopped listening after you said, "We need a plan."" Replies Drax.
Tony, turning to Quill with a sigh, says, "Okay, Mr. Clean is on his own page."
"See, "not winging it" isn't really what they do." Quill replies.
"Uh, what exactly is it that they do?" Peter questions nervously.
Mantis, accompanied by Rowan, speaks up in a softly-fierce tone, "Kick names, take ass."
"Yeah, that's right." Drax agrees, settling into a stance facing the Avengers.
Iron Man pauses with an expression of deep hopelessness, "Alright, just get over here, please. Mr. Lord, can you get your folks to circle up?"
"Mr. Lord." Star-Lord is fine. Daddy to you." He winks once again at the raven haired girl who scoffs before using her magic to send him spiraling into his circle, steadying himself on Drax and Mantis.
"We gotta coalesce. 'Cause if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude.... Rowan." Tony snaps at his daughter.
"Excuse me? Do you not see this fifty-year old man trying to flirt with me even when he has a girlfriend?!" She cries.
"Dude, don't call us plucky. We don't know what it means. And excuse me brat, I am not fifty! Solid twenty-six. Alright, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan. Except it sucks, so let me do the plan, and that way it might be really good." Quill speaks.
"Tell him about the dance-off to save the universe." Drax cries.
"What dance-off?"
"It's not a... it's not... it's nothing."
"Like in Footloose, the movie?" Peter adds enthusiastically.
Quill, excitedly, replies, "Exactly like Footloose. Is it still the greatest movie in history?"
"It never was."
"Don't encourage this, alright?" Tony shakes his head at the boy.
"Okay."
"We're getting no help from Flash Gordon here." Murmurs Stark.
"Flash Gordon? By the way, that's a compliment. Don't forget, I'm half human." Star-Lord points at the men, "So that 50% of me that's stupid? That's 100% you."
"Your math is blowing my mind." Rowan speaks up sarcastically, rolling her dark eyes.
"Excuse me, but... does your friend often do that?" Mantis caught the attention of the group, causing them to turn around and catch a glimpse of Doctor Strange sitting cross-legged, floating slightly above the ground, his hands poised in a mystic gesture with the Time Stone glowing brightly in the Eye of Agamotto setting. Green vapor-like energy flows from the stone, and more intricate magical energy patterns circle Strange's forearms. The Cape of Levitation flows behind him as if the Stone is creating a strong breeze. His eyes are closed, and his head is jerking rapidly from side to side, the motion blurring, but resembling looking for something.
The raven haired girl took a step closer before suddenly becoming paralyzed, a deep gasp emitting from her parted lips as the same purple hue coated her orbs like caramel sticking to an apple. She was getting visions, the images blurring by too fast to get a good glimpse at what they could be. Her mind began to spin, a headache forming deep inside her skull as the pictures began to flash by at a mile a minute. She could hear distant voices calling her name, ghosts of touches leaving trails of hot sparks across her delicate skin. What was happening?
Then, as if nothing had happened, they stopped; and her vision was replaced with one single image: she was covered in ash, paper-like fragments clinging to her body like a second skin. She looked terrified, like she had just seen a ghost. Something wasn't right. Why was this happening? And now?
And then the image flashed away, her eyes meeting a blank canvas filled with nothing but darkness. She began to panic, her breathing becoming erratic; hard and fast breaths leaving and filling her lungs. A splitting headache consumed her entire head, jackhammering away at her temples as if they were made of solid concrete.
She was screaming, desperately trying to rid of this pain. Why was she in pain?
Then suddenly light. The headache was gone and she no longer blind. Rowan was collapsed on the ground in a fetal positing, her hands grasping her head tightly. She sat up quickly, her eyes wide and her lips parted. Her father and boyfriend had knelt down beside her, concern evident on their features.
"You're alright. You're back. What happened?" Tony questioned his daughter who fled into the arms of Peter, accepting the comfort his touch brought.
"Hey, what was that?"
Doctor Strange, panting, answered for the stunned girl, "I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict. I guess it affected the girl as well."
"How many did you see?" Asks Quill.
"14,000,605."
"How many did we win?" Tony questions timidly.
Strange stares intently at the man for a second then glances over at the girl who shook slightly, her gaze locked in on his as if knowing what the answer would be.
"One."