Beyond

Heroes

The doors of the castle opened and Allura spun to face the guests. She beamed.

"Avengers, it is so wonderful to see you all again."

"And under much better circumstances than last time." Shiro added with a smile.

Sam glanced towards Lance who was leaning over Hunk's shoulder as they studied a floating screen which played the video of the Avengers vanishing. "Yeah, definitely."

"So the Avengers have gone missing?" Pidge asked as she settled into her seat.

"They vanished about a week ago," Bucky nodded slowly, as he relaxed his metal arm, "we have no idea how or why."

"We might have a reason why they vanished so suddenly." Hunk offered as Lance nodded next to him. "Haggar's cruiser vanished a while back, we lost all trace of it."

"Okay." Vision tilted his head. "How does that help us?"

"Lotor found it." Hunk pressed a button and the screen flashed over to the main screen. "It re-emerged, since then Haggar has vanished after every fight we've had in the same way."

"Where does she go?" Wanda asked.

"The rift." Lance explained crossing his arms. "Weak points between universes. It's likely that Haggar has been running around between universes, using it as an escape from us."

"And if she's created weak points between our universe and yours. Then perhaps the Avengers got pulled in." Hunk continued.

"Like pockets into the rift." Shiro nodded. "We've seen it once before."

"If that's the case we then we have a problem." Keith reminded with a glare.

"I'll call Lotor." Allura decided turning to the controls.

"And you think the Avengers are in this rift?" Sam queried.

"Maybe." Lance nodded. "Best explanation we can come up with currently."

"The way the Avengers teleported looks similar to how Haggar vanishes." Coran added. "And if she found a way to your world once she would no doubt do it again."

"Then we start there." Bucky glared at the screen. "And when I meet this Haggar woman I'm going to kill her."

Lance chuckled. "If she doesn't teleport away first."

~~~

Lance watched the two teams interact as he let Blue stretch out across his lap. She purred contentedly.

Their battle had gone surprisingly well.

Haggar had escaped using her teleporting abilities and withdrew from the fight like she always did.

And the others let her, and by let her he meant that they kicked her to the curb.

She would show her face once she had regained her energy or felt ready to attack. When that time came they would be there to stop her.

Everytime Lance caught a glimpse of her he saw her hatred, her frustration. And now it made sense.

He wasn't supposed to survive.

He smiled to himself, he liked being alive.

Shiro glanced towards him. "How can we help?"

"Knowing Tony and Bruce they'll be trying to work out how to get back." Lance reminded as he scooped Blue up, he settled her on his chair, before moving to stand by Pidge. "We need to try and communicate with them or at least pinpoint them."

"That could be impossible." Wanda commented.

"Like searching for a needle in a Balmeran mine." Lance mumbled.

Hunk chuckled. "They won't understand that one."

"That's why I say them." Lance smirked gently knocking his shoulder. "Makes conversations more fun."

"What's the plan?" Keith asked looking around at their eclectic group.

"Tony adapted my armour, he helped build Sam's new wings and Bruce and Tony had input into Vision and his design." Lance hoped this would work. "It's their work, surely if you can get a read you'll recognise it."

"We'd have to find a way to scan for the signature." Hunk offered tapping his chin. "How about we use the castle maps? Then we can scan the known universe in one go."

"The signal might be quite weak." Pidge reminded.

"Tony would find a way to amplify it." Gwen chipped in. "He would want the message to get out."

"What's it like?" Sam asked as he stepped next to Lance.

"What's what like?"

"The rift between universes?"

"I don't really know, I don't remember much of moving between universes." Lance chuckled nervously. "But it's bound to be an interesting place."

"Define interesting?" Sam requested.

"It could be like a vast blank space of nothing." Lance whispered staring up at the maps as Hunk began to work along with Coran. "Or it might be a war zone, or it might be something even we can't imagine."

Sam smiled a little. "So expect the unexpected."

"Isn't that what we always do?"

"Good point."

"Going into the rift could be extremely dangerous." Allura reminded the group. "If we get an opening we should take the lions in."

"We're coming to." Gwen stated firmly.

"Of course, we will split up, one Avengers with one paladin." Coran offered tugging at his mustache. "Myself and Allura will stay with the castle and make sure you all return to a safe area of space."

"You sure?" Hunk asked.

Allura smiled as she crossed her arms. "We can handle it."

"Then we need to get you guys armoured up." Pidge jumped to her feet. "Who's going with who?"

Lance smirked.