I Need A Hero Vol 3 {Peter Quill}

thirty five

Phantom set her army loose. The Avengers and Guardians were fighting them off. Thor still had a paralyzed Gwen in his arms, doing what he could to keep her safe. Helena and Bruce approached him. Meredith was being carried on Bruce's back.

"Thor, you need to take Gwen and Meredith to safety. Take Bruce with you. He agreed to watch over them" Helena said.

"Considering I can't Hulk out right now, this is the best I can do" Bruce said.

"Alright. Come then, Banner" Thor said. They were about to walk off when Helena stopped them.

"Bruce, take this" Helena said. She offered him one of her staffs. "You can't use it powered up as it requires Kosmonian energy powers to do so, but you should still be able to defend yourself with it"

"Thanks" Bruce said as he took the staff. A shadow being approached Helena from behind. Luckily, she quickly sensed its presence. She powered up her staff and hit the being in its side. It fell to its knees which gave her the opportunity to hit it in the head. The shadow being faded in defeat. "Wow, you're good"

"Thanks. Go now. Before Phantom finds them" Helena said before joining the fight.

~

Thor and Bruce found a hiding place behind a container that was on the other side of the room. Thor gently laid Gwen down.

"Keep a close eye on her Banner. If Phantom, or any of the others try to get to her, scream for help and try your best to fight them off" Thor said.

"I'll try" Bruce said. Thor was about to get up and leave when Meredith stopped him.

"I want to go fight too, Uncle Thor!" she said.

"I'm sorry, little one but it's safer for you to stay with Bruce and your mother. She needs you here"

"But I can fight! Let me show you!" A noise escapes Gwen's mouth. It was a groan of protest. Bruce seemed to understand her.

"Meredith, your mommy agrees with Thor. Stay here with us" Bruce said

"But Uncle Bruce—" She saw the looks that Thor and Bruce were giving her so she decided to stop arguing with them. "Okay. I'll stay with you and mommy, but if someone tries to hurt us, can I use my energy powers?"

"That would be acceptable, as long as you stay here" Thor said. He gave her Meredith a pat on the head before going back to battle. She watched as her new family fought of the shadow army. She was so anxious to help them, she could feel the power surging through her body. It began to hurt her and she groaned in pain.

"Meredith, are you okay?" Bruce asked.

"It hurts!" Meredith said, clutching her head.

"What hurts? Your head?"

"Everywhere!"

~

Phantom stayed back with Zane and Brenna as her shadow army fought for her. Her army was losing. That did not sit right with her.

"Lady Phantom, we're losing" Zane said.

"I can see that! I'm not stupid, you imbecile!" Phantom said.

"When do we fight? Dovah is getting anxious" Brenna said. She looked over to her dragon who was watching the fight anxiously.

"You'll know when you should fight" Phantom's eyes searched the room. She was looking for signs of Gwen and the child. She smirked when she could see Meredith peeking her head out from behind a container. "I see the child. You two know what to do" Zane and Brenna looked at each other with a smirk on their face. Zane powered up a pair of gloves he had on while protective scales protruded from Brenna's skin. The two of them joined in on the fight while Phantom began making her way towards Gwen and Meredith.

~

Natasha took down a shadow being when she saw Phantom heading towards the safe spot. Natasha spoke into her communicator.

"Heads up, guys. Phantom found Gwen and Meredith. We need to stop her before she gets to them" she said.

"Got it" Steve said.

"Watch out, Natasha. Dragon lady is making her way towards you" Tony said. By this point, Brenna had grown a tail. She used her tail to trip Natasha, knocking her to the ground.

"You really wanna do this lizard girl?" Natasha asked as she rose to her feet. She had a strong grip on her batons.

"I'm not a lizard! I am going to kick your ass though" Brenna said. Suddenly, she was knocked to the ground when Nebula swooped in and struck her with her weapon. Okoye and Gamora also joined in. The four women circled around Brenna with their weapons drawn.

"It's four against one. Your chances don't look too good" Okoye said.

"Yes, but I am going to have some fun"

~

Rocket and Lylla might have been small but they were taking out shadow beings like there was no tomorrow. That is, until Zane had to come and ruin the fun. He used his gloves to send an electric shock towards Lylla. She yelped in pain.

"Lylla!" Rocket said. He looked towards Zane, growling and bearing his teeth. Zane shocked Rocket this time.

"Hey!" Zane turned around to see Shuri. She had her vibranium gauntlets on. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

"Oh, you have your own toys to, do you? Unfortunately for you they are inferior to mine so why don't you—" Zane was cut off when Shuri fired two blasts of sonic energy, sending him flying across the room.

"You talk too much"

~

Thor and Tony were pre-occupied with the dragon. Tony took to fighting it in the air as Thor fought it on ground. They kept hitting at it with everything they had but nothing was working.

"It's not getting any weaker!" Thor said.

"Remember what the Damien version of Kamomile said? Brenna is the weak spot" Tony said.

"Where is Brenna?"

"We're working on it" Natasha said.

"Alright. While the ladies are working on Brenna, we just need to keep this big guy distracted" Tony said.

"I don't mind! I'm having a lot of fun!" Thor said, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

~

Meanwhile, Steve and Helena teamed up to stop Phantom before she could get to Gwen and Meredith.

"Any sign of her yet?" Steve asked.

"No. Wait, I see her" Helena said. She powered up her staffs while Steve's shields protruded from his arms. "Our best chance is to just ambush her. On the count of three. One, two, three" Helena and Steve ran for Phantom. They both tried to take a hit at her at the same time but she disappeared in a cloud. "Damn it!"

"She can't be too far. As long as she hasn't got to Gwen and Meredith yet" Steve said.

"Uh, Steve?" Bruce said.

"Yeah?"

~

"We got a problem here. You need to get here fast" Bruce said. Phantom was approaching them with the most crazed look in her eyes. Bruce reached for the staff Helena gave him. Phantom noticed and created shadow chains. They wrapped around Bruce, restraining him.

"It's time, your Majesty" Phantom said. She conjured up a dark cloud under Gwen, and made her float towards her.

"No, mommy!" Meredith protested. Phantom conjured up another chain to restrain her. Phantom reached for her knife. She wrapped both of her hands around the handle and raised it in the air.

"So long, you pathetic excuse for a Queen" Phantom said. She brought the knife down and plunged it deep into Gwen's stomach. It was enough to make Gwen scream in pain.

"Mommy!!!" Meredith cried. That was enough for her. She was ready to unleash her powers. Phantom laughed in victory but not for long when she saw Meredith break through the chains and begin to transform. She was no longer a four year old girl. She had the appearance of a young woman. It was no longer Meredith. It was now her alternate form, known as Celeste.

"You're going to pay for that, you bitch!" Celeste said.