Insane in my Russian Brain - P. Parker

Chapter Twenty Six

"What the hell happened to this planet?" The group of four walked onto the planet, following behind what they now knew were the Guardians of The Galaxy.

Quill held up a glowing stick, watching as the liquids turned in his hand. "It's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place."

Peter and Kat watched from afar as Mantis, the girl dressed in green with the antlers, jumped up and down in place.

"Yeah, well got one advantage. He's coming to us." Tony spoke quickly, casting a glare toward the jumping alien. "We'll use it. All right, I have a plan. Or at least the beginnings of one."

Kat sighed, moving her arm from Peter's shoulder. "This better be good, Stark."

"It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, and get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet." Tony paused, turning to Drax. "Are you yawning? In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?"

"I stopped listening after you said, "We need a plan."

Kat groaned. "Okay, Mr. Clean is on his own page."

"Not winging it isn't really what they do."

"Uh, what exactly is it that they do?" Peter looked at Tony. "Do they do anything, like at all?"

"Kick names, take ass." Kat sent a confused glance toward Peter, who joined back at her side.

"All right, just get over here, please. Mr. Lord, can you get your folks to circle up? 'Cause if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude-"

"Dude, don't call us plucky. We don't know what it means. We're optimistic, yes. I like your plan. Except... It sucks, so let me do the plan, and that way it might be really good."

"Tell him about the dance-off to save the universe."

"Wait, what dance-off?"

"It's nothing."

Before Kat could stop Peter, he spoke. "Like in Footloose, the movie?"

"Exactly like Footloose. Is it still the greatest movie in history?"

Kat sighed. "It never was. I know that and I've spent my whole life on the run from the FBI. That kind of says something, doesn't it?"

"Don't encourage him. We're getting no help from Flash Gordon."

"Flash Gordon? By the way, that's a compliment. Don't forget, I'm half-human. So that 50% of me that's stupid... That's 100% of you."

Kat zoned out their conversation, wildly tapping Tony on the shoulder. "Does he normally do that?"

She watched as Doctor Strange's head snapped back and forth, and an ooze of green magic swirled around him. He seemed to be in some sort of trance, and even as they called for him he wouldn't snap out of it.

"Strange, we all right?" Kat went up to him, crouching down so she was at his level. She touched his knee gently, startled when she suddenly saw a series of images in front of her eyes. Doctor Strange fell to the ground, gasping at suddenly being taken out of his trance.

"Kat! Kat!" Peter ran over to her side, holding her up as she blinked rapidly, trying to clear the pictures running in her vision. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Peter, I-"

"What did you see?" Doctor Strange was back on his feet, Tony right beside him. "Whatever it was, I need to know. It could change everything."

"My mom, Natasha, she... there was a cliff and Clint was there and I was there, and she jumped off." Kat looked up, meeting his eyes. "We were all trying to jump off, and she beat us to it. How does this have anything to do with anything? Why did I see her?"

Doctor Strange looked down at the ground. "I looked into the future and saw 14,000,605 different realities."

"How many did we win?"

"One. That was bound to be one of the realities where it went wrong. There's no need to worry." Doctor Strange thought he hid it well. He knew her mother was going to die, and he couldn't tell Kat. It would break her.

But she knew something was wrong. It would only be some time until she found out.

⧗ ⧗ ⧗

Steve stood next to Natasha, leaning into her side. "How have you been holding up?"

She looked over at him, slightly surprised he had spoken. "Good, yeah. How have you been?"

Steve shrugged. "I didn't know you had a daughter, for one. I also didn't know she had a boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? What, Kat has a boyfriend?"

Steve nodded, smiling. "Not technically. She and that Parker kid are always around each other, it's like they're a magnet. It won't be long before she confesses her love."

"That would be if they survive..."

"Nat, don't." Steve took her by the hand, leading her out of the room so they could take more privately. "There's no need for that. We're gonna destroy that stone and everything will be normal again. Trust me."

Natasha couldn't help but disagree. Nothing would be the same, and she knew it. Normal wasn't really their thing. "And if I lose her again?"

"You won't. She's as much of my daughter as she is yours." He received a skeptical glance from Natasha, who closed the door slightly more behind them. "Of course, we aren't biologically related, but I take it you know she's been staying with me. I'm raising her as my own, and even if we're on bad terms right now, she is still what I've always imagined bad terms to be like."

Natasha reached up, hugging Steve. "Thank you. But when this is all over, you know I'm gonna want her back."

Steve smiled, shrugging. "I don't think you ever lost her."