Avengers

by James A. Moore

  The first time the Skrulls were invading the planet.

  Currently it was held by one of Thanos’ generals, the Black Dwarf. He was a leashed dog, and he knew it. He’d been placed at the Peak solely because he would be out of the way. However, he saw it as a chance to redeem himself.

  “Is it ready?” He turned to Krysaor, captain of one wing of the forces on the station. He looked like a child next to his massive commander, and like Black Dwarf, he had been assigned here as little more than an afterthought.

  “It is, Black Dwarf. Created exactly to specifications.”

  “Good. We have received word from Thanos, who heard the screams from Titan. We are to expect visitors.” He looked around at the gathered soldiers, misfits all, then moved to choose a weapon, lifting and straining under the weight. The mace was massive. It would crush bugs with the best of them, and for Black Dwarf nearly everything qualified as a bug. He raised his new weapon high over his head.

  “Well, let them come! We will be ready, and we will repel them. Our master has commanded it.”

  “Yes,” Captain Krysaor agreed, “to prove to him that you are worthy again. That we all are.”

  “What did you say?” Black Dwarf spun hard on one heel and looked down. “What did you say to me?” He did not speak—he roared, lifting the mace.

  “Oh,” Krysaor said, realizing what he had done. “Oh— only that you would puh-probably want to erase your, ah… shortcomings from Thanos’ memory, sir. General.” He was braver than most. Trying to rectify his mistake, he stood his ground before Black Dwarf’s fury.

  “Forgive me, I meant no disrespect.”

  It was too late.

  The mace came down. It shattered Krysaor’s body and armor alike, and the floor of the deck beneath him.

  “Consider it erased… from my memory.” He shook the remains of Krysaor from his mace. “Prepare the station; alert all vessels. Make ready for war.”

  The remaining members of the wing moved quickly to carry out their commander’s orders.

  * * *

  TO CAROL Danvers, sometimes the universe seemed to have the damnedest sense of humor. She watched the video feed with everyone else and felt her stomach tighten into a knot of tension.

  “I feel like my mother’s calling,” Iron Man said, his holographic avatar hovering above the communications unit. “‘We were only gone for a few hours. Want to tell me what happened to the house, Anthony?’ ‘Hi, Mom. I know it looks bad, but I’m really glad you’re back.’”

  Cap smiled. “Me too, Tony. Where are you now?”

  “Wakanda. It’s possible Thanos—wait, you do know about

  Thanos, right?”

  “Yeah, I know about Thanos. We all do.”

  “Okay, so his crew might have gained access to some doomsday weapons. And maybe they’re here in Wakanda. Me and some others are working on stopping them.”

  Cap tensed. The use of the term “doomsday weapons” had erased the smile from his face. “We’ve got to deal with the blockade first, but I’ll beeline it to Birnin Zana once we punch through.”

  “Negative, Steve,” Stark responded. “I’ll be sending you coordinates to where Thanos will be. He’s the primary target. We’ll take care of this, and then I’ll see you there.”

  “Okay.” Cap looked uncomfortable. “Don’t screw it up.”

  “Did everyone make it?” Tony asked. Carol thought he seemed to want to change the subject.

  “I don’t think any of us are completely whole after what we’ve been through,” Cap replied, “but we haven’t lost anyone yet.”

  Iron Man nodded. “Well, time to go. Good luck.”

  “See you soon.” By the time he was done speaking, Iron Man’s image had faded.

  They had saved the universe. Now they just had to save their own planet. Looking around her, Captain Marvel thought they might have a chance. The Shi’ar, the Kree, the Skrulls, the Imperial Guard, Annihilus—oh, and the Avengers.

  “So there you have it,” Captain America said to the gathered generals. “Mad Thanos has invaded Earth, his armada surrounds the planet, and believe it or not, the whole thing seems to be motivated by an overdue, unyielding desire to commit infanticide.” The way he said it almost made it seem logical.

  Almost.

  “When we left the planet to oppose the Builders, he took that as his opportunity,” Cap continued. “It was a canny move.”

  “All of this to kill one kid?” Carol shook her head. “Does that make sense to anyone?”

  “Yesssss.” Annihilus actually answered the rhetorical question. She wasn’t surprised.

  “It’s Thanos,” Cap said, ignoring the insectoid. “Expecting some type of rationality to win out is pointless. And frankly, I don’t care what he wants, I just want to send him and his forces running as fast as they can from our planet.”

  Carol agreed. That was exactly how she felt about the situation.

  “And if they do not run, let it be because they find themselves unable to do anything but crawl,” Thor said, crossing his massive arms and looking particularly grim. It was impressive.

  “There is a plan forthcoming, I presume.” Ronan hefted his hammer and peered down at the holographic map of the planet.

  “We’re going to need to break the blockade,” Captain America replied. “We’re fairly certain they have complete control of the Peak, though.”

  “This orbital station may be formidable,” Kl’rt said, “but surely a single outpost cannot house that kind of firepower.” He seemed to be confident in his knowledge of the facility.

  Spider-Woman was the one who answered. “Well, the first iteration of the station didn’t,” she said. Her time with the Skrulls— as an unwilling captive—had not made her a fan of the species, but she spoke with calm. “But Earth seems to have a consistent problem with alien invasions. So it got rebuilt… better.”

  Kl’rt considered the words, and then nodded.

  “The good news is that we know the base,” Bruce Banner said. “We have schematics, and we have personal experience inside the station. I’ve spent considerable time there. This is a job that can be done, and we have a pretty good idea of how to do it. Which is where all of you come in.” He glanced around at the extraterrestrial portion of the contingent.

  Kl’rt stared back with unmasked fascination. For a member of a race of shape-changers, he seemed particularly intrigued by the Hulk’s other face.

  Gladiator stepped forward. “Whatever the need, my Imperial Guard will be ready.” Oracle stood at his right hand, Mentor at his left.

  Mentor looked at Captain America. “So the station—a micro- problem needing a surgical solution. Then the blockade. A macro problem, met by our fleet, I would expect.”

  “Which leaves only the problem of your world,” Oracle added.

  “Yeah. Existing,” Captain America replied. “We’ve got that one.” He pointed to the display on the table they surrounded. “So here’s what we’re going to do.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  A GREATER PURPOSE

  THE SHIPS came out of the jump near Mars and moved steadily toward Earth. Captain Marvel entered the observatory where Captain America was waiting and nodded to Thor as she walked past him. He nodded back and remained where he was—a silent sentinel who, for the moment, seemed content to stare at the stars.

  The view was spectacular. A Skrull battle cruiser drifted past on the left, and above them another Shi’ar ship glistened in the reflected light from the red planet. The place where so much of this had begun.

  Carol stepped up and gave Captain America a quick report. “Jump’s completed. We’re on our final approach now. A forerunner has confirmed what the Shi’ar long-range scans told us. We’re basically going to be crashing a blockade.”

  “As expected. Our numbers?”

  “The council spared what ships they could in the hope we would overwhelm the pirates, send them running when they saw what was coming, but their numbers are equal to
ours.”

  “They’re also fresher than we are,” Manifold said. “Rested. Not beaten. They’ll hunt us like animals after wounded prey.” His face showed clearly how defeated he felt.

  “You okay, Eden?” Captain America responded.

  “I’m tired,” he said, wiping his brow with his palm. “I can’t believe what I just lived through, and now I have to do it again. And this time with the lives of my family and people at stake. It seems futile and unending. How do you keep going, Captain? How do you make sense of it? Faith? Fate?”

  Captain Marvel answered. “Don’t over-mythologize it, kid. Believe whatever you want—just make sure you hit the other guy before he hits you, and that you knock his ass out.” She understood the grief and the stress better than most. She had been a soldier for years, and had been fighting against alien invaders for much of that time.

  Captain America stepped close to Eden. He was almost a head taller, and his expression was grim, but somehow his eyes were reassuring.

  “Listen to Carol, Eden,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “I’m not a believer in heroic quests undertaken by men and women of fate. There is no hero’s journey.” Captain Marvel watched Steve Rogers speak and again felt that odd sense of inspiration.

  She was a seasoned veteran, and she was a power to be reckoned with, but this man was something more. He had a balance to him that defied the very words he was speaking. Captain America was a man of fate—or he seemed that way to her, at least. She could give orders, and they would be followed. But when Captain America gave orders, it was different. He inspired passion. She couldn’t explain it better than that.

  “There’s just life and how we choose to live it.” Cap put his hand on his teammate’s shoulder. Eden straightened, squared his shoulders, and nodded. “So you know what you’re supposed to do, Eden?”

  “Yes,” Manifold replied. “Wait until we’re engaged, and then jump a team behind their lines. Open the door when no one’s looking.”

  “That’s right. Do your job, because we’re all depending on you. That’s all anyone can ask of you. Your best.”

  He turned. “Carol, we need to go check on the crash shuttle.”

  “It’s in hangar seven.”

  “Out of what? Seven hundred? Want to show me where, Captain?” He smiled as he said it. Then he looked back at Eden one more time. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Hang in there. We’re almost home.”

  * * *

  EDEN MANAGED a weak smile. He was still tired, but he felt steadier than he’d been before. Captain America and Captain Marvel walked away together. He watched them go, then turned to peer out the viewport of the Lilandra.

  He studied the ships moving around them, swarming above the curve of the planetscape below. The closest was a Skrull vessel. They were miracles of technology, and he was both thrilled to admire them and horrified by what they had done. The ships—all of them, it seemed—showed signs of the battles they’d fought and survived.

  Manifold wondered whether he looked as scarred.

  Suddenly Thor’s reflection appeared next to his in the glass, and Eden jumped a little. It spoke volumes about how much his life had changed in the last month that he had forgotten a god was in the room.

  “Steve Rogers and Carol Danvers are great warriors.” Thor spoke softly, but with conviction. “I am honored to call them my friends,” he said, his voice deep and resonant. “But they could not be more wrong.” He pointed with his chin to the stars and the spaces between them. “Out there are gods and men and all creatures in between. They were all born, and they will die—but each one with a purpose.” The Skrull vessel began to move, accelerating at a frightening pace. The Shi’ar war cruiser above them followed suit. More and more ships appeared, until they were a swarm moving through the vacuum.

  “Surely I tell you the universe has conspired to put the world

  in our very hands,” Thor continued. “It is a test for titans.” He turned his head to the left so he was focused on his companion. “Only we can save the world, Eden Fesi. That is your destiny. Your entire life has led to this day. You were born for this.” Thor lifted his hammer as if it were his child. “As was I.”

  Around them the stars seemed to blur slightly as the floor beneath them vibrated with the now familiar feeling of the massive engines reaching full power. Thor smiled and pointed toward the distant shape of Earth, growing larger as they moved.

  “Will you join me in teaching the oldest lesson of them all, Eden?”

  How could he refuse a god?

  * * *

  “FLEET VECTOR linear,” Ronan the Accuser announced. “We hide ourselves behind your moon.”

  “Why hide?” Warlord Kl’rt responded, sounding impatient. “They know we’re coming.”

  “No one wants to get there faster than we do, Kl’rt,” Captain America said.

  “This has to be timed just right,” Captain Marvel explained. “Otherwise it’ll be a bloodbath.”

  “In what way, Captain?” Gladiator asked.

  “While it might look peaceful, the Peak has enough firepower to take out this ship—and a lot more,” Captain America replied grimly. “If we destroy the station from a distance, however, a lot of innocent personnel will die—and that’s something I won’t allow.” As he watched, the Lilandra’s pilots ran their hands over glowing holographic displays. “Prepare the advance team,” he said to Carol, then he turned to Gladiator. “Activate the fleet—get us into position just outside of the kill zone. The timing has to be perfect, or they’ll know what we’re doing.”

  The heavens lit up as the thrust engines moved their vessels away from the dark side of the moon.

  * * *

  EDEN FESI stood by with the Black Widow and Shang-Chi, and he waited. Whatever fear he had, whatever exhaustion pulled at him, it no longer mattered.

  “Go,” Carol Danvers said over the comm.

  “Okay,” he replied. A thrill ran through him. “Hold on tight.” His abilities flared—

  —and a moment later they were aboard the Peak. “Contact,” the Widow said. “Manifold jump successful.”

  * * *

  ON THE Peak, Black Dwarf waited as patiently as he could. He was rewarded with a series of warning signals and his new captain calling out in alarm.

  “General! The proximity alarms! We have multiple signals… coming at us from behind the moon! We are under attack!” The new captain’s ability to state the obvious was as egregious as his predecessor’s, but so far there had been no insults, so he got to live and keep his command.

  “Good,” Black Dwarf responded, raising his mace in front of him. “We have waited long enough.” He moved closer to one of the defense stations. “Are weapons batteries ready, Gunner?”

  “They are fully charged, General.”

  “Then you have my leave. Open fire as soon as they are in range, and burn them from the heavens.”

  The Peak looked like a dagger poised inside a large ring. The ring itself had a dozen different batteries that could be used against incoming vessels. As the approaching fleet drew closer, they blossomed open in preparation. All around the station, the pirate ships of Thanos moved into position, as well, prepared to destroy whatever might come their way—even a ship as large as the Lilandra.

  “Send them early to the hell we all crave.”

  The barrage of firepower that erupted was enough to shame the sun.

  * * *

  ABOARD THE Lilandra, klaxons sounded, and the ship rocked from the sheer number of explosions in close proximity. From her position at the communications array, Oracle called out.

  “Majestor! We’ve lost the Pinnacle and Kyrin’s Pride.”

  “The station’s kill zone stretches farther than we thought,” Gladiator growled. “Emergency actions! Deploy the Imperial Guard.”

  Captain America added his own instructions.

  “Avengers assemble!”

  External feeds revealed the force
s released from the Lilandra’s bay door. They wielded a terrifying level of firepower. Spearing through space, they destroyed a number of pirate vessels. Then they approached the Peak and a collection of weapons capable of destroying full-size battleships.

  Before they could reach their target, one of the Imperial Guard was killed by a blast that cut him in half.

  “We’ve lost Superguardian Titan,” his teammate Manta announced over the comm. “The fire’s too heavy to break through without significant losses. We await your orders.”

  “Heavier losses than expected, Majestor,” Mentor said.

  “Should we pull them back?” Oracle asked.

  “No, Oracle, tell them to press forward,” Gladiator said. “Move the Lilandra betw—”

  “Hold on, Gladiator,” Captain America said. “Anything, Carol?”

  “They’re in!”

  “Acknowledged,” he replied. Then to Gladiator, “Tell the guard to pull back just outside the kill zone. We’ll have that station down soon, one way or the other.”

  * * *

  WITH BLACK Widow in the lead they moved rapidly and quietly, the Widow leading, Shang-Chi a moment behind her. Manifold followed and kept his eyes alert. He had family on the Earth, and Australia had already surrendered to Thanos. He would see all of the aliens dead before he would allow his family to be hurt.

  Ultimately it came down to a simple decision.

  His family mattered more.

  He kept telling himself that as they proceeded.

  “We should be able to use any of the access panels on the command level,” Natasha said. “So, kiddo, what level is this?”

  “I’m pretty sure Eden put us right where we need to be, Widow,” Shang-Chi answered. “But I—look out!”

  A concussive explosion sent the Widow slamming into a wall.

  * * *

  “THEY’LL GET the job done—Natasha knows what’s at stake,” Captain America said. “All the pieces are on the board except us; we need to get out there.” He squared his shoulders and started toward the door. “Tell Hyperion to spin up the engines, Carol. We’re on our way down.” He paused and then said, “I’ll be right behind you.”