Another day another Deviant
They had fought a lot of Deviants during their many millennia on earth. More than any of them still cared to count.
That had been their mission, their sole reason of existence on this planet, among it's people. Fight the Deviants, protect the humans, gently guide their growth and evolution but do not interfere with their wars, sicknesses, fights and problems in any other way.
For some of them it had been easier than for the others and yet they had stuck together for it for more than six thousand years.
Until there had been no Deviants to fight anymore. Nothing to protect the humans from. Suddenly, just like that, their mission had been fulfilled, their reason to exist here gone with the last Deviant that posed a threat to humanity. And as if a switch had been flipped they had broken apart and drifted away from each other.
Without a mission, without being allowed to engage with the humans to protect them and guide them in a way that would have meant to take away their natural growing through mistakes, no matter how horrible, they had become stranded on a planet no longer in need of them, unable to return to Olympia without Arishem's consent and their master had left them waiting.
Now they knew why, of course. Olympia had been a lie, their mission had been a lie, as had their whole existence.
They hadn't known about that back in Tenochtitlan of course but with the last Deviant gone there had been nothing left to hold them together.
And still, as soon as this planet, their planet to protect, had been threatened again, as soon as there had suddenly been Deviants again, they had found their way back to each other.
In Druig's eyes, it was quite ironic.
He had never expected to see a Deviant again after that fateful night in Tenochtitlan, nor to stand alongside his fellow Eternals again, and yet here they were. A whole apocalypse later.
After stopping the Emergence and the doom of this world in the very last minute, after betrayal, deaths and more than a little bit of a hard time to find back into a shadow of their old dynamics. That was, ore or less, of course. Some things still stood between them all, conflicts and grudges higher than the great wall of china. Nothing was better for team building than keeping secrets and trying to kill each other and everyone on this planet, was it?
It was far from perfect, but at least trying to trust both, Ajak and Ikaris, again was a start, he supposed.
Ironic indeed, that it had all lead back to them fighting Deviants again.
No one had been able to tell where they had come from.
Maybe they had been sealed in the depths of the arctic ice, like Ikaris suspected, or maybe Tiamuts near awakening had made them reappear.
They didn't really care. Not in a moment like this with those monsters attacking yet another town and not with another bunch of human lifes at risk. In a moment like this, the Eternals, no matter what had happened between them, worked as one.
Problem was that a modern times town, even a moderately small one like this, somewhere in South Dakota - and he had not bothered to remember the exact location and name that Phastos had told them beforehand, if he was honest - was full of people. And in difference to those in Tenochtitlan or Athens or Babylon or the countless other early advanced cultures they had protected, those modern time idiots did not saw them as a gods and wouldn't listen!
So, while Kingo and Ikaris chased a group of three Deviants around and tried to land a hit on a particularity agile one that made his way over the rooftops and balcony of a nearby apartment building and Thena and Gilgamesh had already slain two other, Druig busied himself with taking over the minds of those to stupid to flee in another direction than that where Sersi and Sprite herded the pass ants into a building.
Their very own transmutator worked on turning the stone into the way more durable titan so it would hopefully offer enough protection.
Taking over the humans minds was easy, avoiding a confrontation of said controlled humans with a rampaging Deviant, falling debris, Kingos cosmic blasts or Ikaris' lasers that went wayward was a little more challenging.
A golden blur passed by him, dropped of two kids in front of Sprite and was gone again in the blink of an eye and he smirked.
Beautiful Makkari.
She sped through the streets like a hurricane, first this way, then that way, picking up people, confusing the Deviants by speeding around them in a golden whirlwind of cosmic energy and making it a lot easier for Kingo to finally land a blast on said particular nasty beast.
It's head exploded in a splash of black slime and Kingo cheered and called out something to Ikaris about that it was a draw between the two of them now.
On the other side of the market place, Gilgamesh's fist collided with the skull of another monster. Under his punch, the massive body crashed backwards into the statue of some founding father where Thena sliced it to pieces with precise deathly swings of her swords.
All in all, the situation seemed to be under control.
And of course, that was when everything went south.
In the split second that he had looked after Makkari and the general ruckus that surrounded her wherever she went, he had failed to notice a Deviant that had broken free from the group around Kingo.
Druig was far from weak. While his powers weren't directly confrontational he was very well able to hold himself if needed so but he was not Makkari with her incredible speed nor Gilgamesh with his strength. And so, when Sprite screamed at him to look out, it took him just a moment to long to spin around.
The Deviant's claws dug into his shoulder, drilled through his armor despite its durability - that metal was meant to protect them from blows but such a direct attack tore it apart nonetheless - and pierced his skin like butter but at least he'd been quick enough to duck and the massive maw missed his head by just a hair's breadth.
The force with which the giant body crashed against him threw them both to the ground and he moaned at the pain as the impact forced the air out of his lungs.
For a second, he saw stars and he fully expected that the last thing he'd see would be grotesque collection of misshaped teeth.
Instead there was a crash that rang in his ears and his eyes snapped open again to see the Deviant slammed into a wall by non other than is fellow Eternal.
Druig didn't knew if he had ever before been so happy to see Ikaris. Most of the time he definitely was not. But this time his body was folded with relieve for a moment. Not something he would admit to later.
His shoulder throbbed violently. Nonetheless, he got to his feet, staying here was not an option, there was still work to do and he could not risk to stand in the way.
He could really use Ajak now, he thought, but before he got the chance to get away from the immediate danger a hard blow hit him in the back and threw him to the ground again.
He slammed onto the pavement once more, this time face down. Hot white pain shot through his injured shoulder, something wrapped around his legs and yaked his whole body back and with horror he recognized the tentacles of another Deviant.
Where had that come from now?!
Panic rose in his throat. His hands fumbled for the golden knife, hidden under his armor for emergencies, and he managed to land two stabs in the Deviants flesh. The creature roared and the tentacle loosened for a moment, only for another to take it's place just as fast.
Druig was not a fighter, his powers where not meant for a situation like this. He could protect the humans, still hold control over those who hadn't made it to safety yet even in this moment, but there was not a thought to control in Deviants. Their brains where to primitive, only programmed to kill, nothing he could work with and so there wasn't much he could do when the beast buried its tentacles in its neck and shoulders but scream.
It was excruciating pain.
He felt it like a shock wave rippling through his body, an ache that seemed to rush even through his bones and he screamed again and struggled with all his might.
To no avail.
The knife slipped from his grasp as the tentacles wrapped around his arms and the world around him began to slow down, the control over the humans' minds glided away from him like the blade had slipped through his fingers.
Something was tugging violently at his core.
He could feel how the cosmic energy was forcefully ripped out of his body, like blood by a vampire, and his world tilted.
As his senses began to desert him, everything turned gray and the noise and the terrified screams that filled the surrounding area dulled to his ears.
All that remained was the pain of the feeling that his power, his life, where getting sucked out of him.
And then, out of nowhere, there was a golden flash and he slipped from the creature's grasp and landed hard on the ground for the third time that day, unable to catch himself because his limbs would not obey. He felt empty, dizzy, way to heavy to move.
The Deviant roared. It's shrieks rang in his severely spinning head and Druig wanted desperately to cover his ears. He was tired. Everything hurt. Yet, he tried to concentrate and force his senses to come by again.
In front of him, the voice of a woman called out orders. It was a familiar voice. Thena's voice.
It cut through the air like her blades hacked through the Deviants' bodies and he could vaguely make out something that must have meant: "Get him out of here!"
And then she was there and he felt like he could breath again.
His beautiful beautiful Makkari.
He'd recognize her anywhere so when she grabbed him around the waist to speed away with him he made no attempt to resist or struggle.
Not that he would have stood much of a chance if he tried. The time it would have taken him to react was enough for the speedster to get him away from the other Eternals' fight against the remaining Deviants.
She came to a halt in a quiet place that felt a lot better, though it was probably not too far away from the others. She was too smart to move so far away that she couldn't have immediately jumped to the side of their family again in the case of an emergency.
She touched his cheek with gentle fingers, her free hand signing a word in the air. And again. And once more. It took Druig longer than he would have liked to admit realize that she was trying to get his attention.
Druig.
Druig.
The word she was repeating was his name.
Her eyes flicked over him nervously, most likely taking in every scrap but that wasn't good right now. As much as he appreciated it to have her for himself, she should care about the Deviants right now, not him, and he wanted to tell her not to worry but couldn't. His body still resisted his will.
Fortunately, she noticed his distress.
It will be okay. Thena took care of it. You'll be okay.
Her hands flew around frantically, despite her obvious attempt to stay calm for him, almost to fast for the mind-controller to understand. Or was it because of how slow his senses had become?
He couldn't tell and that bugged him.
He wanted nothing more than to calm her, to reassure her that he was okay, but his arms where still so heavy. Everything was. It was a disgusting feeling and it effectively kept him from signing while his mouth just wouldn't get out more than a groan if he tried to talk.
Druig.
Makkari gently but firmly clapped his cheek a few times and his eyes snapped open.
Druig. Don't fall asleep on me, do you hear?
" 'M not." he mumbled out with difficulty. The world narrowed down around him, leaving only Makkari's beautiful face to concentrate on. Even that was starting to fade at the edges.
She clearly didn't believe him. She clapped his cheek again, stronger this time and his eyes flew open once more. When had he closed them? Makkari frowned.
We need to get you to Ajak.
And who was he to contradict her? The only problem was that Ajak had decided to stay with the cars together with Phastos. It was meant to be an easy mission, nobody expected something like this to happen. He had no energy left to temper with that problem.
" 'o get 'er then..."
It was the last thing he got out before his consciousness drifted away from him.