Dispersion
Stephen sat perched behind a large rock formation. To the outsider, he looked to be relaxing, but in reality, his mind was hard at work as he forced his way back through the soul realm and to the Avengers Compound. He watched as the remaining Avengers filed into the conference room and took their seats. In his astral form, he could see Frost sitting beside Loki, who was staring right at him. Stephen slowly shook his head as a way of asking his silence and Loki gave a minute nod before turning his attention to the others.
Stephen floated across the room to stand beside Tony, who looked like he’d just crawled his way out of Hell. Everyone’s expression was grim, and Stephen had a feeling he knew why, given what he’d seen of the future.
“So that’s it?” Steve asked. “It’s just… over?”
“No,” Tony said, shaking his head in denial. “It can’t just be over we- there has to be another way,” he said.
“Well, there’s not,” Thor said, speaking for the first time since returning from space. This is reality now, so get used to it,” he said, pushing himself away from the table. “Loki, come one, we must return to Asgard,” he said. Loki looked around nervously.
“Brother, we are still needed here,” Loki said.
“Then stay the,” he said. “Return when you will.” For the first time in a long time, Loki was speechless. Usually, it was Thro trying to convince him to do the right thing, not the other way around. They all watched in shock as Thor turned and left.
“Great, we lost Thor,” Rocket grumbled. “Now what are we gonna do?”
“We’ve gotta keep trying,” Steve said. “We’ve already got people around the world that are willing to help us. Not to mention Captain Marvel’s space connections. Someone somewhere must know something,” he said.
“Rogers has a point,” Carol agreed. “I’m gonna be in and out for a while, so I’m putting Rhodey in charge of my team as well as his own. We should try to maintain contact though, I’ve set up your holo-communication systems to work intergalactically,” she explained. “Natasha, can you handle being the council leader of sorts? She asked.
“Yeah, I can handle communications,” she agreed.
“Good. Loki, make sure the sorcerer's keep looking for a magical solution. I’ll meet up with Talos and see what he’s found. Maybe we’ll be able to find some answers.” The others nodded and the meeting was dispersed.
~
“What do you mean you can’t do it?” Quill shouted, staring at Jax. The women looked evenly back at him, and he took a small step back.
“I mean, I cannot find Silven Drascoue and therefore cannot bring him here,” she said. “I can keep looking, but the universe is a very large place. It is impossible to know where he is,” she explained.
“Are you sure you can’t find anything?” Wanda asked. Jax shook her head.
“All we can do is wait. I’ll keep looking,” she repeated. Stephen nodded. He had had a feeling that it would take time to locate Silven. He was, of course, just one person out of half of all life in the universe. Not to mention the fact that the soul realm had most likely made it impossible to track his magical signature.
“Wanda, Jax, with me,” he said. “We might not be able to find Silven, but we can still make our own plans. If we want to stay ahead of Thanos, then we’ll need to keep training.” Wanda nodded and Jax watched him with distrust.
“And why should I trust you? You are but a mortal. What could you possibly know of the darkness?” she questioned. Stephen realized that she was probably right, but he refused to let it show.
“You can go off on our own all you like on Enexion, but we aren’t going to be able to defeat Thanos unless we all work together. That means that we show you ours, and you do the same,” he said. Jax stared blankly at him before nodding.
“As you wish,” she said. Stephen nodded and directed Jax and Wanda to follow him.
~Five Years Later~
Natasha listened as Okoye gave her update, and Rhodey told them about what the Defenders were doing in New York. it was hard, given that half of their team was missing, but they were making due.
“Carol, you think you’ll be stopping in here anytime soon?” Rhodey asked. The captain sighed.
“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to stay out here for a while longer. Things aren’t getting any better, and there have been hundreds of power vacuums given how many monarchs were dusted.” Natasha nodded.
“How’s Talos and his people?” Okoye asked.
“There’re surviving,” Carol replied. “They’re grieving, but they’ll make it through. We all will. Good luck,” she said, turning to Rhodey. With that the screen flickered and she was gone. One by one the holograms disappeared, and Natasha was left sitting alone at the desk.
“Rhodes, how are the juniors?” She asked, making his shoulders slump.
“They aren’t taking it well. Kamala’s still barely said a word, and Harley still wakes up crying. Losing his mother and sister was hard,” he replied. “They miss the others. Everyone does.” Natasha nodded.
“Tony needs them back, she said quietly. “They were the ones that really kept him going. You, Stephen, and the juniors.”
“Now it’s just me,” Rhodey said. Natasha nodded. “You’re doing a good job though,” she said, cracking a small smile. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s helping him a lot more than you think,” she said. Rhodey nodded and headed out of the conference room. Natasha watched him go before bringing up the latest articles on Ronin. She ran a hand through her hair as she read and felt a sob build in her throat.
“I’d offer to make you dinner, but you already look miserable,” the voice of Steve said from the doorway. She took a deep breath and looked up at him.
“I just wish I knew what to do for him,” she said.
“There’s nothing you can do. Nothing any of us can. We just have to hope that he can come back to himself.”
“And if he can’t? Steve, we can’t just let him run around murdering gangsters. You know that. Had the situation been any different, we would already be involved,” she whispered.
“But the situation isn’t any different, it’s this.” Natasha scoffed.
“That shouldn’t matter,” she said.
“But it does. Clint’s family, Nat, you don't hurt your family. At that Natasha let out a bitter laugh.
“Steve, I’d think through my words before saying them if I were you. You know as well as I do that both of us crossed that line a long time ago,” she said. Steve looked down, realizing what he said and sighed.
“Things still aren’t fixed are they,” he said. Natasha smiled sadly at him.
“Steve, things are never going to be ‘fixed’ in the sense your thinking of. Have the Avengers been fixed? Yes. they were, at least. Was Tony’s self-esteem fixed? it was getting there. The ‘family’ that you remember though? No. It’s never going to be like you want it to be. You should accept that.” Steve felt his eyes burn, but pushed it back.
“Steve… for what it’s worth, I don’t think that the juniors hate you anymore,” Natasha said. Steve laughed before leaving the room again. Natasha closed out of her tabs on Ronin and let her head hit the back of her chair and her eyes slip shut. She was about to drift off to sleep when a voice made her jolt awake.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” a vaguely familiar voice called.
“What?” she murmured, standing up.
“Hey! It’s me! Scott Lang!” the voice called. Quickly, Natasha brought up the security feed from the outside of the compound to see the Ant-man waving and jumping at the camera.
“Remember me! From the airport fight! I helped you fight Ironman and got really big- I know that you remember that!” he yelled. “Can you please let me in!” Natasha rushed down to the front door and felt her eyes widened as she saw that Scott Lang was indeed standing in front of her.
“Woah, hair extensions?” he asked.
~
The longer they were trapped in the soul realm, the more and more Stephen was to get out. He began putting more and more energy into breaking through the soul realm in his astral form to keep tabs on Otny and the others. He watched as the engineer worked tirelessly to try and find a solution even though he knew that it was hopeless. Stephen was thankful for Nebula and Rhodey. The two had managed to keep Tony on his feet along with Pepper and the remaining Junior Avengers. Peter would often ask for updates on them and May, and Riri would listen intently whenever Stephen mentioned the other juniors.
Working with Wanda and Jax had proven difficult. The energy of the soul stone would disrupt their powers, and the Scarlet Witch would often lose her temper when normally easy tasks proved far more difficult than usual. Jax’s powers were terrifying, to say the least. It wasn’t she was abnormally powerful; when she was in control of the darkness she was at about the same level as Wanda. The scary part was how hard it was for her to maintain that control. She rarely spoke when using her powers in order to keep them from consuming her and he knew that should the darkness overcome her, they would all be doomed. The soul realm kept the darkness at bay while they were inside, but once they were on the battlefield with Thanos and his army, it would be up to Jax alone.
“Dr. Strange,” Peter said right as he was about to try and get through the soul realm in the astral form once more.
“What is it Peter?” he asked tiredly.
“Jax thinks that she might have found a trace of Silven’s signature. She's going to check it out now, so she said that no one else can use any magic or it will mess her up,” he reported. Stephen nodded.
“How strong was the signature?” he asked.
“She did not say,” Wanda said, joining the group. “Only that it was the strongest she’d found and that she needs us to keep out of the soul realm’s energy,” she explained.
“Well that’s good, right?” Peter asked. Stephen nodded.
“It’s very good, kid. I’m just not sure if it will work,” Stephen said. It was hard enough to get an astral projection through the soul realm. He couldn’t imagine how much energy it would take to drag another person through.
“Well we have to let Jax try,” Wanda said. Stephen nodded and sighed. The three made their way over to Riri and Shuri as they waited for results.
~
Carol soured through space, her eyes heavy from lack of sleep. Splitting her time between Earth and the rest of the universe was tiring, to say the least, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a full nights sleep. Talos and his people were grateful for her help, and she knew that no matter how large her workload got, she wouldn’t abandon them or Earth. Still, it was a tiring existence, and she didn’t have any company to pass the time.
She made a last lap around the latest planet she was visiting before flinging herself off into space. She soared through the empty darkness for what felt like hours until a crackling on her com system grabbed her attention. A distress signal. She stopped her flight and scanned the surrounding area. There were no planets anywhere nearby so Carol couldn’t imagine where the signal was coming from.
“This is Captain Marvel, do you copy?” she asked into the com. There was nothing but static for a few seconds before a broken reply could be heard.
“I co-p-y, Cap-tn,” a voice said.
“Can you send me your coordinates? Over,” she said quickly. The person on the other end managed to get the coordinates of their ship across to Carol, and in a flash of gold, she was there. The ship wasn’t one that she recognized, and she approached with caution. She couldn’t imagine who would possibly be trying to cause problems now, but she exercised caution all the same.
“I am preparing to board, do you copy?” Carol asked.
“We are preparing the door,” came the reply. Because of the closer range, she was able to make out the voice on the other side far more clearly. It had a slight accent that she didn’t recognize from any of the planets she’d visited and her eyes narrowed in confusion. Whoever was inside the ship must have come a very long way.
Carol watched as a light field of purple surrounded the door as a way of keeping the void of space from sucking everything out of the ship while allowing her to enter. She reached out and gently pushed her way through the forcefield until she stood inside the ship, the golden glow that encompassed her being the only light in the darkened hall.
“Hello?” she called carefully, allowing her power to simmer down so that only her hands were encased in golden light. “My name s Captain Marvel, I received your distress signal. I’m here to help you,” she said. A shadow moves at the end of the hall, and suddenly there's a light crimson light radiating from ahead of her.
“Captain Marvel,” a voice repeated back to her. She took a few more steps until she could make out a figure in front of her. He was wearing a black robe tied with a sash which matched the ruby headdress that he covered his hair. A similarly colored red cloth covered the lower half of his face and draped elegantly over his shoulders. Carol took careful note of the long sword strapped to his side but had a feeling that he was not going to attack her. While she could not see most of his face, his orange eyes showed nothing but relief.
“I’m here to help you,” Carol said again. “Mr…?” she trailed off, hoping to get a name from the man.
“Garmage,” he said quickly. “Mestin Garmage of Enexion.”