In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

Performance Issues

The monstrous alien growled, his lips spreading into a slight grin. He clapped his hand against the axe in his other hand and began to approach us.

"Banner, want a piece?" asked Tony.

"No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?" said Banner honestly, shaking out his arms. He clenched his fists to generate the Big Guy.

"It's been a while," said Tony nervously, looking between Bruce not turning into the Hulk and the closely approaching Alien. "Good to have you back, buddy."

"Okay, shhh, I'm trying to concentrate," said Bruce, his voice deep— a mixing between his two personas.

I turned to look, anxious about the timing. Bruce was bending backwards, clutching into the palms of his hands, teeth bared. His veins were turning green and creeping up his neck, but every time he inhaled, he lost it.

The Alien nudged a car with his axe. The car went flying.

Strange and I looked at one another, wondering what our plan was going to be if we couldn't rely on Hulk to take him out.

"Where's your guy?" asked Tony, confused.

"I don't know, we've sort of been having a thing," admitted Bruce.

Tony nudged Bruce hurriedly, pointing at the incoming Alien. "There's no time for a thing, that's a thing right there, let's go!"

Bruce continued to try to release the Hulk, each attempt getting more embarrassing than the last, until Wong, Strange, and I were all looking at Tony with equal levels of annoyance.

"Dude," said Tony, through the side of his lips, "You're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."

Bruce then began a bumbling mess of apologies which tempted Tony to tell him to stand down and nudge him behind Wong, with a slight, "Keep an eye on him, please?"

Tony donned himself to fight the incoming alien. When he began to run, Tony tapped the reactor on his chest, igniting the suit to spread out across his body.

A shield materialized from his arm and he blocked the first hit with the weapon, took a few hits of his own to knock back the alien, then stood tall, igniting four levitating barriers to exert from his suit and fire a beam so powerful it knocked the alien back to where he first stood. He was on the course to hit the smaller alien, but was knocked to the side with a subtle curl of the fingers by the smaller alien.

"Ebony Maw," whispered a voice in my head. "Cull Obsidian."

"You know them?" I whispered.

"I'm learning," whispered Agamotto back. He sounded pained. "Focus."

Bruce's face was twisted. He asked Tony, "Where did that come from?"

"It's nanontech, you like it? It comes--" but Tony was cut off when Ebony Maw moved his hand and shot him high into the sky.

"Telekinesis?" I sighed, readying my stance to fight. "Why does everyone have to have telekinesis?"

Ebony Maw focused the fight on the remaining heroes. He uprooted a nearby tree and tossed it, to which Wong threw himself in front and opened a portal big enough to contain it.

"Doctor Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joiing us, " said Strange, opening a portal and shoving Banner through.

Wong closed his portal after swallowing the tree. Together, we stood, the two of them with their Mandalas for protection; myself unsure of exactly how to use my powers anymore.