In the aftermath of Ultron's attempt to cleanse the earth of all life, the Avengers are under close scrutiny due to their role in Ultron's creation. Faced with mounting criticism and suspicion, the team finds itself working harder to keep the faith...
Lockjaw returned to the compound in the blink of an eye. He walked over to the group and sat down, his big friendly face gazing up at them. Biscuit dropped down from Dean's lap and began to walk up to him. Lockjaw suddenly froze in terror, his big eyes looking up at Crystal.
"It's alright, Lockjaw," Crystal spoke in a soothing voice. "This is Prince Dean's pet." She turned to Dean and whispered, as if to preserve Lockjaw's dignity, "he's afraid of cats."
Biscuit began to sniff the big dog warily, then started to rub his face against him before moving between his front paws and plopping down in front of him.
"It would appear he has passed Biscuit's inspection," Thor said as he stood up. "Now- are you ready, Dean?"
Dean stood as well and walked across the room with Thor as the others moved in. He stared into the sweet face of the dog that would take him to his home world. It was an odd thought to have, being that earth had always been what he called his home. It still was, he supposed. "I'm ready," he spoke in a calm voice.
Crystal smiled brightly. "Lockjaw can teleport all of us to Atillan."
The concept of an over-sized dog being capable of teleportation was added to Dean's list of peculiar things. He reached out and placed a hand on Lockjaw's shoulder. Thor placed his hand over Dean's.
Home, Dean thought to himself. He was finally going to see the place his great-great-grandmother had come from. The mystery was unraveling. Thor noticed the emotion in Dean's eyes and squeezed his hand.
"Alright, Lockjaw," Crystal said. "Take us home, boy."
Dean could feel the air around him being displaced but this was the only sensation he experienced during the blink of an eye it took to relocate from earth to Uranus. It was a somewhat anticlimactic experience, he thought. One moment they were all in the compound's conference room, and the next they were standing in what appeared to be some sort of tower overlooking the skyline of an alien city.
When Dean lowered his hand from Lockjaw, Thor held onto him and looked down into his Fair One's face. What he saw touched him. Dean was looking ahead in total wonder. When Dean had been told that they were travelling to Uranus, he had been expecting to arrive in a dark, cold, gaseous world. What lay before him was anything but that.
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Beneath a sky the color of muted green, blue, and grey a massive expanse of the greenest grass he had ever seen stretched for miles ahead like a plush carpet. It was dotted with a variety of magnificent trees, and their dense foliage was multicolored so that they looked like one great big quilt. Purple, red and gold unfolded before his eyes and he smiled as he recalled the quilts he and his siblings had inherited; quilts Emma had made. Those same colors adorned them and he realized that she must have been making reminders for herself of the world she'd left behind.
The sights assailed his senses and he could only stare in absolute awe, his eyes travelling from the expanse of forestry to the city itself. Atillan sat on a sloping hill, rising up from the multicolored forestry. From the tower, the buildings were a surprising sight. Again, they were not at all as he had expected. They were not the cold, futuristic buildings he had envisioned. Instead, they were a mass of beautifully-crafted architecture that brought to mind the distinctive buildings of the ancient Greeks- all columns and intricate details but with a modern and well-maintained appearance. There was a balance, a harmony, in the design that invited the eye to wander. Due to the very distant sun's dimness, Atillan was illuminated by several multicolored lights that gave the city an ethereal, lively glow. But, even among the mass of buildings, Dean spied various areas where nature had been allowed to flourish. A mountain range sprang up just beyond, it's misty peaks covered in snow. A large body of water bordered the side of the city, its surface glistening.
