REQUIEM | Avengers

VI.

- VI -

She wondered for a moment if they had blinded her. She had never been consumed by such darkness before- such paralyzing, churning, terrifying darkness. Her body was being pulled and stretched. All at once she was both weightless and breaking, her bones seeming to writhe against whatever unnatural force was pulling and yanking her up, up up.

Then her knees crunched on hard, unyielding metal.

She blinked, and as her eyes adjusted to the low, blue light, there was nothing she could do to stop herself from leaning over and puking onto the floor.

The nausea did not wane, but she steeled herself against it and forced herself to blink again. She looked around her, taking in the endless space, tinged by that unnatural blue light. The walls of the space were all made of metal, stretching like a dome a hundred feet above her head.

There was no trace of the beasts that had brought her here- the children of Thanos. No, she was alone in the echoing chamber. On wobbling legs, she took a step towards the wall. On the far edge of the space, there was a metal door. She forced a deep breath into her lungs, squeezing her jaw against the bile rising in her throat, and took another step.

Finally, she reached the door, some of her strength having returned to her, and pushed. With a hiss, it swung open, revealing an equally large chamber, but this one had a huge window.

Vertigo took over her body as she looked out through the thick pane of glass. No, she said to herself. The word must have slipped past her lips because she heard the echo of it against the metal.

No, this couldn't be happening. No, no, no.

She took one more step and held her breath as she looked out at the blue orb amongst the stars, a piercing light peaking out from behind it like some cruel halo.

She stared down at earth, one hand against the cold glass of the window, and began to laugh.

A week ago, she had been sat in her living room. She had been wandering a grocery store in her sweatpants. She had been listening to jazz music for the first time. Now, damn it all, she was in space, looking down at the world she had been taught to hate and learned to love.

She laughed again, but this time, the small noise was met by an echoing footstep.

She whirled around, but there was nothing she could have done to prepare herself for what she saw.

The figure, half blanketed in shadows, was ginormous. His skin rippled with muscle and his hands alone were easily the size of her torso. She fought the urge to take a step back, instead bracing her feet on the metal.

"Hello, little shadow girl," the figure said, his voice rumbling through her chest. So...un-human, that voice. She looked up as the figure finally stepped out of the shadow and, without another breath, knew exactly who it was that stood before her.

"Thanos," she breathed. She was not fool enough to try and run. No, not from a god, not from him.

"You know of me," he smiled. The expression might have been kind on anyone else's face, but now that she could see him clearly- his deep purple skin, his broad, hideous face, his depthless eyes- she knew it was not.

"Why have you brought me here?" she said, one hand bracing her against the cold glass of the window. If she listened, she could hear the rumbling of the wind on the other side of it. She took a step forward.

"I have come to save you all," he said, still smiling and still staring down at her. "And I plan on starting with you."

"What do you mean?" she said, the words coming out no louder than a whisper. Wicked, that's what he was.