Disassembly
Arlington Cemetery
It was the biggest funeral in the history of the galaxy, for it was not being held just on Earth. So many worlds had lost people to stop the threat of The Mad Titan. So many more wished to honor those fallen heroes.
Not that it wasn’t the biggest funeral Earth itself had ever seen. Every single nation had declared at least one day of remembrance in one form or another. Murals and montages depicting the fallen had sprung up everywhere.
Choosing the particular day thereof had nearly started a riot on the UN floor until T’Challa had shamed the entirety of the United Nations in two short sentences. In the end he’d been elected to pick the day. In a move that shocked the world he’d chosen July 4th, stating that it represented a tradition of standing up to tyrants. The fact that every fallen Avenger had hailed from America remained an unspoken, yet powerful, point in its favor.
The surviving Avengers and Guardians had all been invited to speak. Even the leaders of the various military units that participated in the battle had been invited, those that survived. Secretary Ross spoke about his own arrogance, and about how one’s arrogance can blind them to the contributions of others. Peter Quill spoke about his love of his native planet, reaffirming his commitment to protect Earth and all worlds in the galaxy. Others came forward to say their piece: Sam, Wanda, T’Challa, even Vision and a still recovering Nicholas J. Fury. Bucky, Banner, Strange, and Peter Parker seemed content staying on the sidelines.
Nebula also declined that invitation. Gamora did not. She spoke of cooperation, the need to help each other. She spoke of her own life, how she’d thought she was alone, how it had been easier not to see the sacrifices another made for her. She spoke of how those sacrifices had saved her, made her stronger. As she spoke her eyes continually sought out Nebula in the crowd, making it clear -as if there was any doubt- who she was truly speaking of.
Others spoke: heads of state, diplomats, UN delegates. They said little, and took far too long to say it. They were the pomp and circumstance that always attached itself to such events, and they were given the attention they were worth: namely, none. Eventually the funeral ended. The caskets were moved and buried. Many weren’t ready to leave. Many more were preparing for the declared day of the celebration of life the next day.
>>
By nightfall the crowd had thinned considerably. Most of the Avengers and Guardians were still there, clustered in little groups. Many seemed to mill between the various groups that had formed. Thor and Loki were two of the millers, mostly because Thor insisted on keeping an eye on his brother, partially to stop any vengeance others might consider. As they worked their way through the crowd, they heard Gamora’s voice rise in response to something Nebula had said.
“Why not?” they heard Gamora ask plaintively. “Is it Quill?”
“No,” Nebula said. “It’s just that . . . I can’t . . . okay?”
“Is it me?” Gamora asked quietly.
“No,” Nebula said, perhaps only lying slightly.
“Then why not join us?” Gamora asked. “You could help others with me.”
“Because I can’t!” Nebula snapped, turning to stalk off. It was clear she wanted time to herself. It was also plain that she would not get it.
“Nebula,” Gamora asked, following her sister. Thor and Loki followed discreetly. Loki cloaked them both in invisibility.
By that point Gamora had caught up to the Luphoid and grabbed her wrist, turning her around. Nebula visibly suppressed the urge to attack.
Gamora paused for a moment, searching her sister’s face. Searching her soul. “Nebula, you are the strongest person I’ve ever known,” Gamora admitted quietly, earnestly. “We could use your help.”
Nebula tried to glare at her sister, but found that she just couldn’t do it properly; there was no heart in it. “Gamora,” Nebula said slowly, as if at a loss for words. She wasn’t used to opening up about herself at all, would rather not. But she knew Gamora wouldn’t let this rest in lieu of something.
“I used to be jealous of you, of how you turned your life around,” Nebula said at last. “And I . . .” she stumbled before continuing “I don’t want you to think I have a problem with what you do. It’s good. But I just can’t.”
“But why not?” Gamora asked, somewhere between a whine and a demand.
Nebula sighed in resigned frustration, before looking directly at Gamora. “Because my life has been spent in violence. I have destroyed so much, hurt so many. I just . . . I just want to live in peace. Maybe build something.”
“In that case we have the perfect job for you,” Thor said, stepping into the conversation. Loki decloaked them as they closed the last little bit of distance. “As it turns out we have an entire realm to rebuild.”
“It promises to be interesting work,” Loki replied “if a bit tedious.”
“I’m certain,” Thor started before Loki cut in with a murmured ‘we’, “we, think we could certainly find something for someone with your abilities to do.”
Nebula looked between the two brothers faces. Her instinct was to say no, to look for a trap in their offer. Actually, her first instinct was to snap their necks for eavesdropping on her conversation. Somehow, she held herself back.
And she did have to admit, it was the best offer she was likely to get. And, the lack of history with either of them promised to avoid . . . entanglements.
She nodded slowly, before turning back to Gamora. Gamora seemed to search her face for a moment, as if assuring herself that Nebula would truly be happier here. There was hope in that gaze, that they could work together, maybe even help each other cope with the multitudes of unresolved issues they both still had. But in the end, she nodded, hugging her sister. Gamora was a bit slower to react than the last time they’d embraced. She also didn’t immediately perceive it as a threat this time.
>>
The Avengers Facility
“These are your pardons,” Ross stated passing out documents to the allied teams sitting around the table in the main briefing room of The Avengers complex. “And these, are your galactic pardons,” he added, handing over small octagonal wafers that emitted a holographic ID card, one for each member. “I never thought I’d say that,” Ross continued wryly, earning a few smiles.
“In addition, The Avengers organization is being restructured,” he continued. “There will no long be a director. Instead, my role is being scaled back to coordinator. In other words, you tell me where you need to go, and I’ll work out the details with that country’s government. In the event there isn’t enough time for official channels I will attempt to smooth things over. I will still maintain an oversight position, but am limited to making recommendations to the UN.” Many of them sat up a little straighter at that.
“This does leave you with a couple of decisions, however,” Ross continued. “First, you will need to pick a new leader,” he said. There was a pause, as if for a moment of silence for their fallen leaders. “Secondly, and of even greater import,” he continued “the UN is unsure of how to proceed vis-a-vi the artifacts currently at hand. While the delegates agree that they must be separated, that is all they seem able to agree to. Complicating matters are the possibilities of property rights on other worlds. They have designated you the experts in these matters and will proceed however you advise.”
“That’s novel,” Sam replied dryly, unconsciously stroking the medal on his chest. As the only surviving members of the team to have ever been part of the American military, he and Barnes had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. It was the only time a man with a military warrant against him had been so honored. Others had been awarded it posthumously.
“Consider it an acknowledgement of your extraordinary work that they were willing to pass the reigns even this once,” Ross replied in kind. “You will need to pick a leader before you resume operations, but they would like a decision on the artifacts as soon as possible,” he added, snapping his briefcase shut. With that he picked up his briefcase and exited.
For a moment there was only silence, as if he’d taken the air out of the room with him. Thor was the first to break the silence. “Your United Nations is correct,” he said. “The stones and the gauntlet cannot be kept together.”
“So, which stone stays on Earth?” Natasha asked.
“The Tesseract belongs to Asgard,” Thor stated.
“Which is currently on Earth,” Strange pointed out.
“For the moment,” Thor replied, “but it will have to be relocated eventually.”
“Alright, but that still leaves The Mind Stone and The Time Stone,” Natasha replied.
“In point of fact, I’ve already recovered The Time Stone,” Strange replied, causing startled looks to be directed his way. “It is essential to the protection of our Universe,” was all he’d say.
“Wait, are you saying the UN is guarding a fake?” Bucky asked. Strange replied with a look that spoke volumes.
“So, you’re saying that Vision has to give up The Mind Stone?” Wanda asked, clearly preparing to leap to the construct’s defense.
“Keeping them together is too dangerous,” Brunnhilde reiterated.
“Sure, you say that after maintaining that you’ll keep The Tesseract,” Wanda snapped.
“There’s also the matter of The Aether which, if I’m not mistaken, belongs to Asgard,” Banner added.
“I’ll take the Aether,” Loki volunteered, one hand raised.
“I’m sure you would,” Brunnhilde replied warningly, not that any of the faces at that table seemed receptive to the idea of an Infinity Charged Loki running about.
Loki just shrugged her glare off. “Worth a try I suppose,” he said good naturedly.
“The Aether can be hidden on one of the eight realms,” Thor replied. “You have my word.”
“Just so long as we allow you to keep The Tesseract,” Sam replied pointedly.
“Do you suggest that we shouldn’t reclaim our property?” Brunnhilde asked darkly.
“No more than you seem to suggest Vision give up his. Only his is a part of him,” Wanda insisted. Brunnhilde jumped to her feet, chair crashing against the wall. Thor followed suit, though whether to restrain or help her no one could be sure.
Before the situation could get out of hand Vision spoke. “I believe the UN made the right choice when it passed us this task,” he said. None present were sure if it was intended as sarcasm or not, but the entire room shut up.
“The Vision is correct,” Thor said before retrieving Brunnhilde’s chair. He set it down in a manner unmistakable from an order. She seemed to want to argue for a moment, then sat, still angry.
“Cooperative competition is the seed that grew the fruits of our victory,” Vision continued. “It is the best of each of us working in concert that has left us with this choice. I believe we should trust it. If the Time Stone must remain on Earth, The Mind Stone must leave. It is as simple as that.”
“You can’t,” Wanda pleaded. “It would break you apart again.”
“I’m not entirely sure it’s necessary or wise either,” Natasha stated. All eyes turned towards her. “If we make it clear that we didn’t want two stones on one planet, and we publicly move Dr. Strange’s replica to another world, it would look like Earth only had The Mind Stone. No one would even think of looking for The Time Stone here.” She glanced around the table for the rest of the group’s reaction to her somewhat underhanded plan.
“It could work,” T’Challa stated. “But knowledge of the true Time Stone’s location can never leave this room.” Around the table heads nodded in agreement.
“Great, that just leaves The Power Stone and The Soul Stone,” Quill said.
“The Power Stone should go back to Xandar,” Gamora stated.
“Yeah because they did such a good job protecting it before,” Rocket muttered.
“They did until Thanos attacked them,” Gamora replied. “More to the point, they won’t try to use it as a tool of conquest.”
“For now,” Rocket replied.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Quill replied placatingly. Rocket harrumphed, but otherwise remained silent.
“Alright, that just leaves The Soul Stone,” Bucky stated.
“Why not give it back to Nebula?” Gamora asked, gaining startled looks from the rest of the table.
“I do not want it,” Nebula stated before anyone else could voice the disagreement on their faces. It was true that they no longer saw her as a psychopath, but there is a large chasm between accepting someone isn’t insanely violent and trusting them with galactic WMD.
No one responded immediately. The wind had been taken out of their arguments when Nebula beat them to it. Finally, T’Challa spoke.
“Then you are the perfect person to retain it,” he stated laconically.
Nebula stared down the table at him. “No,” she said forcefully.
“Why not just hide it?” Rocket asked. “You did that once before.”
Nebula considered that for a moment, then nodded.
“Wait, you’re giving her an Infinity Stone, and not me?” Loki asked, trying to sound hurt and failing. He was ignored.
“We still have to decide who gets the Gauntlet,” Sam added.
“No world that has a stone,” Gamora said forcefully. “The temptation to complete the set would only be greater if we give someone a head start.”
“This is gonna sound a little crazy,” Quill started off, making everyone cringe “but I think we should give it to the Kree.”
“What? Those space zealots?” Rocket demanded.
“Weren’t they one of the empires that came to our defense?” Sam asked.
“According to Stark’s logs they’re the only reason any of those ships got here in time,” Bucky answered.
“Yeah, because they’re crazy imperialists,” Rocket countered. “How do you think they assembled their empire?”
“I suppose you have a better idea?” Quill asked.
“Yeah, give it to the Shi’ar Empire,” Rocket said. They showed up too.
“I am Groot,” the finally recovered Groot stated.
“Groot’s right,” Quill replied. “The Shi’ar are in the middle of a civil war. Personally, I’m shocked any of them showed up, let alone that ships from both sides did.”
“Whose side are you on Groot?” Rocket demanded.
“Please,” Gamora cut in, “you just want to use that as a way to get at the royal family’s crown jewels.”
Rocket affected a hurt tone. “What makes you say that?” he asked.
“Because you said you wanted to,” Gamora replied bluntly.
“Did I?” Rocket asked, thinking back.
“You even said you had a plan,” Quill affirmed.
“And you’re the one that said we should do something good and bad,” Rocket said pointedly. “Seems to me that giving them a priceless relic while we steal their jewels is a fair price.”
“No!” Quill and Gamora shouted in unison.
“Okay,” Rocket continued unrepentantly “what about selling the gauntlet?”
“I would point out that the goal is to keep these things safe from anyone that might try to collect them all,” Vision pointed out. “Selling one of the pieces for a no doubt exorbitant price, while certainly profitable, does not fulfil that one requirement.”
“Fine,” Rocket grumbled, crossing his arms.
“Does anyone else have any other alternatives?” Quill asked.
“We could give it to The Frost Giants,” Thor replied hesitantly. This gained him aghast looks from both Brunnhilde and Loki. “Without their help we would surely have failed.”
“Well, I am a Frost Giant,” Loki pointed out, raising one hand again.
“With respect,” Brunnhilde replied “I don’t trust them, him in particular.”
“Besides,” Rocket piled on “they haven’t been a serious force to be reckoned with since Asgard wrecked their faces and took their casket. If we’re worrying about keeping it safe,” he added snidely.
“Which brings us back to the Kree,” Quill said.
“There are other empires out there, Peter,” Gamora stated.
“Yes, but they didn’t help stop Thanos,” Quill stated. “Besides, this could be an important olive branch.”
“Why do you care?” Rocket asked.
“Because if we give Nova an Infinity Stone and nothing to the Kree it will increase tensions between them,” Quill stated.
“Again, so what?” Rocket demanded.
“Because another war between them would make space more dangerous for everyone, including us,” Gamora snapped. “Quill’s right,” she added, turning to the table at large, “we should give it to The Kree.”
“And if we give something to the Kree and Nova, and don’t to the Shi’ar, how will that look?” Rocket said pointedly.
“Give them the fake Time Stone,” Natasha offered.
Gamora considered it before shaking her head. “Won’t work,” she said. “Their sorcerers would undoubtedly discover it to be a fraud.”
“Okay, then switch it,” Lang replied. “Give these Shi’ar people the gauntlet and give the Kree the fake stone, but make them swear never to try and use it.”
The guardians considered that for a moment. “Could work,” Gamora said.
“The Shi’ar are definitely too busy to try and assemble the gauntlet,” Quill added. There were no complaints.
“Well that takes care of that,” Sam replied. “Now we just have to figure out who the new face of The Avengers will be.”
“I would suggest that that debate will take far longer,” Vision replied. “Perhaps it would be better to table it and write up our proposal to the UN first.”
“Fine, but could we break for food first?” Lang asked.
“Fine,” Bucky said, sounding slightly annoyed, as people slowly started getting up from the table.
“You know those thieves,” Sam replied as he followed suit. “Always looking for that free lunch.”
“Hey, I’m a burglar, thank you,” Lang replied as he exited.
“Yeah well you better not burgle my cheeseburger,” Sam replied following.
“What is with you guys?” Rocket demanded as he followed Gamora and Quill out. “It’s like you want me to be poor or something.”
“That talking rat seems fun,” Loki stated, watching them leave.
“Loki . . .” Thor said warningly.
“What, I can’t make a new friend?” Loki asked unrepentantly as they followed the others out.
>>
Norway
Future Site of New Asgard
Quill watched Gamora say goodbye to Nebula one last time from the ramp of the modified Quinjet that would take them back up to the Statesman. The sun was just setting on the open Norwegian meadows that would eventually turn into the temporary Asgard.
Already there was construction in the distance. Those Asgardians were certainly industrious when they wanted to be. It helped when the weakest of your adults could lift a metric ton.
The scene was quite idyllic, with the red and purple clouds counterpointed by the darker mountains in the background. There was still just enough sunlight to glitter off of the ocean below them. Quill was still gazing at the scene as Gamora walked up the ramp.
“So, she’s really staying?” Quill asked, sounding less than surprised.
“Yes, it’s what she needs right now,” Gamora replied softly. Quill turned to look at Gamora. She tried to hide it but he could see the pain in her eyes, the guilt.
“You saved each other, you know,” he said, earning a confused look from Gamora. “She protected you when you were with Thanos,” Quill elaborated. “She made it so you could break away, try to save a world. And then, when she began to slip, when she started helping Ronin, you were there to turn her back.”
“It’s not the same,” Gamora said quietly.
“Maybe not,” Quill said “but it is something.” Gamora considered that, nodding hesitantly in the end.
“You know, I never thought I’d say this,” Rocket piped up “but I’m a little sad she decided not to come with us. I might even miss her a little,” he added.
“Me too,” Gamora said quietly “but if we need her, she’ll be there. She always was,” she said as the ramp began to rise and the ship took off.
P.C.S.
The Avengers Facility
Nebula and Vision walked silently down the spotless white corridor towards the large doors at the end. The hallway was a recent edition underneath the Avengers Facility. It had been built to Vision’s specifications, with the use of robots.
No one even knew about it, except perhaps Parker. Vision was all but certain the kid had managed to get past their security at least once since their return; it was like him anyway.
Nebula carried a memory core in her right hand. As they reached the end of the corridor lasers scanned them, verifying their right to be there. The doors opened revealing a large chamber. Lights came on showing white furniture, much like the demonstration furniture Tony had used in his BARF reveal.
“The console over there,” Jarvis said, pointing to a computer console set against the wall. Nebula walked over to it, found the port for the module she carried. Figuring out the proper orientation wouldn’t have been difficult for a normal person. For someone aided with her cybernetic enhancements it was child’s play. She snapped the module into place.
A moment later the room was filled with holographic images overlaying every piece of furniture.
“Well, this is odd . . .” a familiar voice stated.