Blue || Bucky Barnes

96. Malevolent

The group track through the sandy plains towards the mountains of Vormir ahead. The luminescence of the sky casts purple on the water ahead of them. They come to a halt by the waters edge. It's dark and they aren't able to see the bottom.
"Look for a bank, we'll go around." Quill instructs.
Tony flies up into the air looking as far as he can see.
"Nothing boss." Friday says as his suit scans the terrain.
He lands back down shaking his head. "It's maybe a foot and a half deep the whole way, we can just go through."
Nobody says anything following his instructions trekking through the oddly lukewarm water. The group's paces send soft ripples through the water and Tony leads the group towards their destination, his suit scanning the water ahead of them. Suddenly he feels a tug and stumbles over his feet, falling to a knee. Drax bursts out laughing at his clumsiness, before he too feels a tug and is swept off his feet, face planting into the shallow water. Quill and Mantis laugh in unison, and Nebula tries to stifle a chuckle as well. The giggling pair are knocked off their feet as well sending a splash across the surface.
Steve stands still looking around their feet for what could be causing the disruption. "Everyone stay put. Aura what-" Steve tries to ask the goddess but he's knocked forwards too, crashing into the water.
Thor's shoulders start to bounce, his laughter bubbling in his stomach. Aura's eyes widen as she sees his cheeks about to burst and she clamps her palm over his mouth to stop him from muttering a sound.
Those who were knocked off their feet slowly come to a stand regaining themselves. Everyone stays completely silent, communicating through hand signals. Aura catches Tony's attention and gesturing for him to fly into the air. He fires his repulsers and only makes it a few feet into the air before a surge of water yanks him back down with a splash. Drax bellows, jumping at the towering water with his blades outstretched, and he gets sucked into the whirling water. Moments later he's spat back out disheveled as he lands on his feet.
The group glances at each other before taking off towards the mountains. Their feet crash through the water creating deafening sounds in the otherwise silent landscape.
"What the hell is that?!" Bucky yells. He suddenly drops from the running formation and Steve looks to his right.

It's utter chaos as the group stumbles through the water being pulled down left, right and centre. Aura runs over to Tony.
"We have to fight this, we can't run!" Aura is pulled down into the water and she stumbles back up, dripping wet.
"Agreed." Tony mouths so he isn't pulled down as well.
"I think I can make something but I need your help!" Aura looks around at their fellow Avengers who are fighting the water monsters. All except Loki, who stands still with a look of disdain upon his face watching everyone being dragged about the water.
Tony nods and Aura jumps on his back before he puts everything into the repulsors to fly into the air. They just miss the grasp of the water as it tries to attack.

"Okay what do you need" Tony asks now out of harms way.
"I need a weapon to build from."
"Quill!!" Tony yells getting his attention. "Throw us one of your blasters!"
Quill throws one of his weapons up into the air and it completely falls short plummeting back down into the water with a thunderous crash. The blaster is engulfed in the grasp of the water monsters, being crushed and dismantled in a second. Aura and Tony just stare at him scornfully.
"Try and put those muscles to use dick head. Throw the other one!" Tony yells.
Quill narrows his eyes throwing the second blaster with such force it clips Tony's chin forcing his head back. It keeps travelling up and Aura reaches out, snatching it just in time.
"Got it." She announces setting to work immediately. She attacks the inner workings of the blaster modifying the circuit. She taps one of the minute buttons on the side of her cuff and little tools are ejected. She uses the tiny screwdrivers and blades to cut at the wires and change their connection points.
"I need more materials!" Aura looks around as if she expects to see something.
"Well what do you want me to do about that!?!" Tony says sarcastically.
Aura holds her hand out trying to focus but the deafening sounds of waves crashing below them makes it increasingly hard to concentrate. Her palms tingle and a small cog appears in her hand and she rolls her eyes at her efforts. Groaning, she throws in away to the sea below.
"AURA!" She hears Loki yell and looks down to him. He'd noticed her struggling to use her powers. He gets swept off his feet before stumbling back up. Aura stifles a chuckle as he regains himself. "You can do this!! Just concentrate!!!!!"
"I can't!" She yells back.
"Yes you can! Just think of a happy memory!!" He yells before he's engulfed by the water and dragged away.
Aura sighs and breathes deeply trying to focus her mind. She closes her eyes and finds herself back in her library on Olympus. She's surfing the shelves for her favourite novel, running her fingers along the spines until she spies what she's looking for. With a smile she lays with her legs vertical against the wall, flipping through the pages.
"Won't you read to me." A voice enters her space and she looks beside her seeing Loki smiling down. Aura smiles to him, coming back into reality. She looks down at her hand and sees a small glowing battery pack in her palm. She smiles to herself clicking the final piece into place.
"Got it!" She aims it down towards transparent monsters firing, but the blast fizzles out before it can reach its target. "Dammit! Tony I need you to get me closer!!"
"Couldn't you have made it with better range!" He says mockingly.
"If you would like to give it a try then be my guest!" She fires back just as a creature jumps towards them.
"Okay, okay." He dodges and flies down closer to their friends. She aims and fires new weapon, hitting the monsters attacking Bucky. The blob like creatures explode with a splash and shrill squeal. As the water splashes down it bubbles and steam rises, indicating their demise.
"Good work, Goldie Lock." Tony jokes before there's a tug on his feet and they both crash down into the water.
"Aah!!" Tony groans as the monsters start tearing at his nanotech. Aura sits in the water blasting the ones by Tony until one rips at her right arm. She yells in pain still blasting them away from the iron man until they're all gone. As she turns to attack the ones on her own arm, one steals the opportunity to hit the blaster out of her grasp and up into the air. The monsters tear at the cuff on her arm pulling her down into the water further. They're trying to nuzzle their way into its inner workings to disable the technology. Aura's screams are silenced by the water that rushes over her entire body.
Thor catches the blaster and fires it around killing the hundreds of ever changing and growing water monsters. He fires the last few surrounding Aura sending them fizzling into the water.
The silence that follows is deafening as steam rises from the waters surface, the bubbles slowly diminishing. Everyone looks around, some standing, some sitting in the water, eyes wide just waiting for another to attack but it doesn't come. The quiet is interrupted by the soft sobs of Aura as she sits, defeated, in the water. Loki is the first notice and he stumbles through the water to her side. Thor joins him a second later and they both grip her arms, helping her to a stand. Her bottom lip quivers slightly as Thor lets go of her arm while Loki still holds her gently. She pulls out of his grasp turning to Thor hugging his torso tight, sobbing into his chest deathly afraid of the monsters returning. He holds her just as tight letting her emotions run their course, while everyone just stands scanning the water just in case. Once she controls herself they cease their embrace, holding her arm as she steps back.
"Alright everyone, let's keep going!" She announces to the slightly frazzled group. They all agree, not daring to talk in case the monsters decide to make another appearance. The group walk on while Aura slowly falls to the back of the pack.