Confrontation
Maybe doing over a thousand jumps was not the best idea. At least not for the other as Peter himself felt fine as if they hadn’t travelled trillions of miles in seconds but everyone else was groaning and coughing loudly but they were here now. “Okay people let’s get in their and stop this asshole from killing all the gods. Once we do that then people will have to pay us even more.” Quill tried to instruct but every one of the others were in various states of discomfort and probably some form of space related condition but they had a job to do.
“Speak for yourself. It feels like my guts are being ripped apart! You flarking idiot.” Rocket shouted but as he went to claw at Quill the racoon ended tripping over his own tail. Even Venom was feeling the effects of the jumps as Peter was only able to feel a scrambled sensation though the shared bond they had. It looked like a large and grand temple of sorts but with no obvious way into it they just had to make their own.
As the captain prepped the weapons to create a new entrance they all heard what sounded like a category four storm coming from within but he knew that is could be easily bumped up to a five with what it came from. As the blasts of energy collided with the rocks and bricks of the temple collapsed, they were joined by flashes of yellows and blues. “Seems we’re late.” Mantis observes with an unsure expression “Let’s get down there and help them out.” Gamora instructed as they got closer and everyone stepped towards the runway.
Nebula cracks her knuckles before checking over the gear she had “Finally something to kill. That little town was beyond boring.” She said making sure that her pistol was primed “I thought it was a nice place.” Drax countered placing his hands on the belt of his trousers “We are literally walking to our deaths and you are talking about some crappy town? I’m surrounded by idiots.” Rocket shakes his head.
Peter scales down the ladder abruptly “Hate to prove you wrong, actually who am I kidding? I love doing that, but we are not going to die. While yes, we are all a big old bunch of idiots and morons and losers but we have something that this guy doesn’t: We have each other and this creep only has his shadow monsters which are easy enough to kill.” Quill says hoping that it fits the usual pre-suicide mission pep talk but it didn’t live up to the usual level.
“As far as your speeches go I think we’ve heard worse.” Gamora shrugs before they each step to the ramp that finally touched down. Peter swiftly let the others know what the plan was “So here’s how it’s gonna go down: Me, Gamora and Vee will assist Thor and Jane to attack Gorr. The rest of you should try and focus on keeping those kids safe.” Quill gave the former captives a quick look “Even if they appear to have god powers.” He added before the each stepped off “I’ve got to learn how he does that.” Rocket said with a cheeky grin
The captain quickly clicked a button and his visor materialised. “Alright people let’s do this!” He shouted before they all started to run towards the carnage. It wasn’t much of a war cry compared to the ones that Thor had told him about but he tried to live up to it.
The visor let him see that Jane and Thor were not holding their own too well. Between the flashes of colour he saw that Jane’s movements were getting sloppy. Every time the woman tried to attack she was easily parried and her hits deflected with the loud scraping of metal against metal. Meanwhile Thor tried to use the stolen weapon but his attention was distracted and torn between the battle and the safety of his friend.
The second that Peter was in range he grabbed the quad-blasters from their holster and opened fire on the pale figure and managed to successfully know him off guard and allow Gamora to close the distance for a series of wild slashes of her sword. He figured that it would only take the most dangerous woman in the galaxy for them to finally have the upper hand. While Gorr had a combat style that focused on strength and dominating his opponent, the assassin was too fast for him and was able to effortlessly avoid the attacks that he sent her way and she even had a smile on her face as she played with her adversary.
This gave peter the chance to make his way over to the other two as they ran towards where Stormbreaker was opening the way to eternity. At least it did until large inky tentacles emerged from before the axe and catching them all by surprise before the three were flung back towards where the sounds of swords clinking against each other could be heard. “I wasn’t expecting that.” Quill grunted before abruptly being launched back to his feet and turned to face Venom who told him what it wanted “We want to eat his brain.” It said in a menacing manner that only he could hear “And believe me you will. You guys! Make me an opening, I’m gonna shoot this guys head off!” Peter instructed as the others got up “On it!” Jane agreed “Good to see you in battle.” Thor greeted and that wasn’t what he expected to hear.
Regardless they all changed course to attack Gorr as a group. Jane threw Mjolnir as she continued to close the distance but a second before the impact he evaded into the shadows and instead the hammer collided with Gamora and sent her flying across the room “Oh no! I’m so sorry!” Jane apologised before recalling it to her hand. As this happened the same hum and whisper from the earlier encounter was back yet this time it was so much louder. The hammer was making this noise but Quill didn’t let it distract him as he used the jets attacked to his boots to get above the god-slayer and rain down blasts of energy.
Yet the result was minimal as only the man’s robes were affected and consequently burnt “So slow to catch on, little space man.” Gorr taunted before swinging the sword like an executioner’s axe towards Peter’s head as he crouched in a frozen state in fear. This trance like state was broken when Venom’s tendrils stabbed out of his chest and knocked the butcherer back allowing Thor to follow up with a stab from the thunder bolt to the knee which caused the villain to momentarily retreat.
Nobody knew where he had gone so they all looked around “Eye’s peeled people. He could be anywhere.” Peter instructed holding the blasters up and looking around the hall and spotting the distant explosives and sounds of yelling and grunting. ‘Seems the others are having fun.’ He thought and Vee agreed “Yes, killing those monster’s was fun.” It said materialising to help look with a second set of eyes on the matter.
Thor tightened his grip on the bolt and scowled around the room “Show yourself, coward! Quit hiding and fight us!” The god yelled but instead of the desired result of Gorr returning to where he had been before, the butcherer instead materialised behind Jane and the others tried to react quick enough but they were both too slow. Thor summoned lighting and threw it while Peter fired a single shot but this was in vain as the Necrosword pierced through her torso and emerged from the front of her as he eyes went wide.
“NO!!!” Thor cried out as the other two were forced to watch as Jane collapsed onto the floor as Gorr disappeared with a cruel laugh. The thunder god quickly rushed to where Jane was coughing up blood “I told you not to come here.” He reminder her but she just looked away “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. You shouldn’t have come here to do any of this.” Thor began to tear up but Jane pointed a weak finger towards Peter before the ravager turned knowing what she was pointing at.
He tried to fire but the hilt of the Necrosword slammed against the temple of his head and sent him to the floor in a collapsed heap. Through blurred vision he saw a flash of yellow as the bolt was Thrown at Gorr as the man was sent momentarily reeling backwards.
Peter couldn’t see or feel much apart from the cool sensation on his head. Was he bleeding? “Yes we are.” Something said “Who said that?” Peter asked trying to push himself up “We did.” The voice said again as if it was an actual answer “That’s…not helpful.” He winced at the pain from whatever had happened to him “We can fix that.” The voice mentioned abruptly “Sure. I don’t know what ‘that’ is but go for it.” Peter shrugged before feeling a sense of numbness wash over him.
As this is happening Thor, in a state of rage, charges at Gorr as the Thunderbolt and the god spark with electricity and fury. The two collide in a clash of wills. Gorr is brutal and his strength a shocking comparison to his frail build but Thor seemingly just absorbs the impacts and hits back with double to impact. Eventually Gorr manages to somehow gain the upper hand by sliding the blade of the Necrosword against the inside of Thor’s knee and knocking him to the ground before trying to stab the Thunder god’s heart through the armour but Thor caught the blade between his palms with a stifled grunt.
Once the numbness washed away, Peter’s thoughts slowly came back to him and he was starting to get annoyed at the amount of time that Venom was having to help him recover from concussions and this was only the first one of this job. But before that train of thought could go anywhere he heard the sound of a struggle and saw the positions that his allies were in.
The other guardians were starting to be rapidly overrun, Jane was lying on the floor clutching at her stomach, Thor was trying to hold the sword away from his chest but his grip was starting to slip and Gamora was lying unconscious against the statue after Mjolnir had launched her into it.
Speaking of Mjolnir, Peter could sense its call louder than it had ever been. It was an almost ear piercing chanting sound now but seeing that his boyfriend and family were in deathly danger and well desperate times called for desperate measures. “Vee I need you to try and help Jane.” Peter commanded and got a silent confirmation when the symbiote slithered its way out through his clothes and rapidly moved towards the bleeding woman.
His eyes now settled on the hammer as the realisation of how vulnerable he currently was with a half healed concussion and no more rapid healing factor yet he continued to crawl towards the hammer but not to give himself protection but instead to save his friends. The crawl was excruciating as he felt any prior wounds start to sting and bleed as his head throbbed in pain but the song from the hammer cruel louder and louder until Mjolnir was only a few inches away and his hand was on the hilt of it.
The surge of magic was instant as he felt lighting burst through his body as he mustered any and all strength into picking the weapon up. The sparks flew off his leather jacket and trousers and the head of Mjolnir eventually left the floor and found itself held the right way up and the creaking of a gloved hand wrapped around the engraved hilt with renewed vigour and determination. Not to mention the feeling of power that flew through it but it seemed to give life to something else withing.
It wasn’t a sensation he had felt in years but it was still so familiar.
Peter lifted Mjolnir into the air causing a circle of lightning crashed around him as a new set of armour took shape. However unlike Thor or Jane it didn’t have much of a space Viking appearance. Instead the chest plate was instead a silver coloured tactical vest over a crimson tunic that had a space age theme to it with cuffed sleeves at the elbows. His trousers now had a navy blue shade to them and kneepads made of the same silver as the vest but some elements were unchanged.
His belt still had all the compartments from before and his fingerless gloves remained. As well as this the two twin holsters were still present and even had the quad-blasters within in them but something that was new was the loop at the back of his belt that was suspiciously the size of Mjolnir’s handle, a third holster of sorts maybe.
Through all this what caught the newly empowered Peter off guard was the distinct white colouration to his veins. It was something he only saw when Ego had tried teaching him to use the power his celestial blood had given him but why was it back? He lost it after the destruction of the living planet. It made no sense but for the moment Quill rolled with it as his eyes settled on the sight of the butcherer literally holding an oversized knife to Thor’s throat.
‘Time to risk throwing this thing.’ Peter thought as the hammer began to spin like a turbine in his hand before Quill performed a spin and let go of it and watched as Mjolnir flew through the air and hit the mad man square in the face. The pale figure stumbled forward and gave Thor a chance to breath which he used to say “I knew it.” With a smug smirk as Peter recalled the hammer.
“I’ve already killed one of you pesky fake gods. So show me if you’ll be any different, Space-Thor.” Gorr taunted with a beckoning of his hand. This cocky attitude was supposed to be their thing and seeing someone so sick, twisted and evil using it pissed Quill off. He spun Mjolnir once again.
“Firstly, the name is Thunder-Lord and if you can’t say that then I’ll take Peter Quill!” He started to run towards Gorr now “Secondly, Time to die you bastard!” He exclaimed before throwing the hammer once again only to follow it up with a series of blasts from his pistols before summoning Mjolnir back and launching a charge of lighting at the killer. It seemed to have little effect on the man as he charged at Peter and attempt to swipe the sword up from the ground only for the captain to catch it withing the shards of the hammer just like he had seen done with Thunderbolt.
“Sorry but I think you need a timeout.” Quill quipped before dropped Mjolnir and watching the sword descended with it “You however need something more…hands on.” Peter remarked before tapping into the celestial power to encase Gorr in a pile of the debris that originated from the head of a fallen statue. “Do it now, Thor!” He called out as Thor ran towards him with the bolt in hand and charged forward before stabbing the now empty pile of rocks.
They both spoke out at the same time “Damnit.” They each said before spotting a small figure shambling their way into the now bright white hole in the wall. “We can’t let him get in there.” Peter shouts quickly picking up the handle and reassembling the shards together but Thor was slowly drifting towards Jane. “Thor, I told Venom to help her but we can’t do anything if get that wish.” Quill remined as the god reluctantly joined him in venturing towards the bright light.
They all stepped into what felt like a dream.
Peter swore it sounded like he was stepping through a puddle as water. “What the hell is this place?” He asked as the mist dissipated and he saw a stunned Thor who himself was looking at Gorr. The pale man was crouched in front of a large figure who had a space like appearance. Seems like they weren’t winning after all. Even after everything they had tried to do to stop Gorr.
As Quill was starting to wallow in self-pity Thor turned and began to walk towards him with a saddened look and honestly he didn’t blame the Asgardian. “Don’t walk away from me!” Gorr spat from where he was crouched and Thor graced him with a response “If your desire is to kill all gods then why would I spend my last moments with you? I’d rather spend them with him.” Thor gives him a look of concern and morbid acceptance “I choose love and you still can as well. You can bring your daughter back.” Thor explained before Taking Peter’s hand into his own as a little glow of electricity flickered between them.
Gorr appeared to contemplate the idea before proposing a different view point “She’d be all alone.” He reasoned feeling the sword’s poison finally take its grasp. “She wouldn’t be alone.” Quill argued with a desperate look but Gorr understood what they were implying as he turned back to look at the all-powerful eternity.
If this was their last moment together then Peter wanted Thor to know everything he felt even if he had heard it before. “I know I don’t say this enough, big guy, but I love you. I really do even if we don’t always see eye to eye I just think you should now.” Quill says as he leans a little closer “Oh Peter.” Thor softly says “If our time comes to an end here then I am glad that you are here with me. I have never been happier than the time we spent together.” Thor says before following his partner’s lead as to two kiss in a chaste manner.
It's a soft, happy moment yet contrasted by both their feeling of melancholy. It’s over all too soon as there is another flash of bright white and Peter sees that Thor is still in front of him so he takes to chance to embrace him tightly but Thor realises that there is another person with them.
“Please care for her.” Gorr begged now laying in the water as a young girl is knelt beside him with a similar colour of skin and markings but with distinct purple eyes. “We will.” Thor promises as Gorr finally succumbs to the effects of the Necrosword and his daughter closes his eyes before giving her goodbyes and walking over to the other two as all three walk back to the entrance in silence.
Once back in the temple of eternity Thor remembered what had happened to Jane as the other guardians helped Gamora. He ran over but Jane was barely breathing as he positioned her against his knees. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He said shaking his head but Jane didn’t seem worried “Hey Thor…I think I found…my catchphrase.” She said as Peter took Gorr’s daughter aside and distracted her from what was going on by introducing her to the others.
Thor listened closely as Jane revealed what she wanted to be her catch phrase “It’s great. It’s perfect.” He says with a forced smile as Venom slipped from Jane into Thor’s arms. The symbiote conveyed that it couldn’t do anything to an injury of this severity when caused by the dark magic of the Necrosword and within second of the symbiote leaving herm Jane’s body still before starting to glow as it fades away in a familiar golden hue just his father before.
The weight of her body soon disappeared and left Thor with nothing but his memories of Jane and the time they spend together. With a deep and mournful sigh, Thor stands and joins where the other’s were stood.
“What now?” He asked
-End of chapter 8-