Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 42 - The Shrivled Purple Grape Arrives

After landing nearby Wakanda's borders, Loki and I began a small training lesson in the cargo hold of the quinjet. For a brief moment I got to enjoy an expression of impressment on his face, but he quickly covered it up when he realized that he was actually showing a positive emotion for once.

Suddenly the ground began to shake around us, causing Loki to grab his daggers and head to the cockpit. I followed him, assuming that the battle was about to ensue. There were giant triangle shaped objects following from the sky about a mile away, disappearing into the trees and no doubt embedding deep within the ground, as though they were parasites latching onto their host.

"Are you ready, (Y/N)?" Loki asked me, an excited glint in his eye.

"Don't we have to wait for Thanos to arrive? I'm not doubting your vision, but I can't imagine Thanos arriving in one of those."

Loki shook his head, "no, he won't be arriving for a while, but the battle is about to begin and if you would like we can get prime seats up in those trees."

"You want to watch the battle like a spectator sport? Loki, innocent Wakandans are going to be sacrificed to save the universe, how dare you disrespect them with this talk of amusement!" I cried out, suddenly lashing out at his insolence.

"I'm impressed, (Y/N), I wasn't expecting you to be so caring, not that I can say I'm particularly surprised. However you seem to be forgetting that war is chaos and chaos is where I thrive. But if you would rather we pass the time cooped up in this musty quinjet, we may do that as well."

After a while of just chilling in the quinjet, I finally gave into Loki and hacked into the Wakandan security system. They had quite a few security cameras, but the trouble was finding one that showed the battle. I figured it would entertain Loki, which in turn would keep him from doing anything foolish, as well as gives us a better idea as to when Thanos arrived.

I propped my legs up on the dashboard as he watched the video feed, falling back into a tense silence. I couldn't read whether or not Loki was nervous for this attack, as his emotions were constantly shielded with a façade. However, I knew that I was rather nervous and all of this sitting around was only making it worse. I had met quite a few villains in my time, but none were as powerful as Thanos and I was beginning to understand why Tony didn't want me involved.

"You know, after this is over, you will probably need to run back to Asgard as quickly as you can because my father will murder you," I informed Loki with a faint smile on my face. "Not even mentioning the attack on New York, he will be enraged that you let me go up against Thanos."

"I can't go back to Asgard, it was destroyed," Loki responded, his voice hinting at the sadness lingering in that statement.

"What do you mean?" I inquired, shifting my body so that I was facing him.

"In order to stop Hela, Odin's first born that he conveniently forgot to tell us about until it was too late, we had to let Surtur, an angry fire monster, destroy the planet. We tried to save as many Asgardians as we could, however there were only so many that could fit on the second ship we had. Those remaining on the main ship were slaughtered by Thanos and his minions."

"Can't you rebuild the city?" I questioned, wondering why he was making it seem that all had been lost.

"When I said destroyed, I meant to destroyed. Surtur buried his sword deep within the foundation, causing the planet to explode."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that."

He shrugged, although I could tell that he did care much more deeply about the loss of his people, "I did what I could to save as many as possible, and that's the most I could have done. And I shall be avenging those whose lives were sacrificed."

We fell back into silence for a while after that as I was afraid to bring up another topic and have him reveal some tragic memories. Thankfully, well thankfully for the diffusion of tension at least, it was not long before Thanos stepped out of a blue and black cloud onto the battlefield, with Bruce immediately lunging at him.

Not waiting to see the outcome of the attack, I quickly switched off the computer and glanced at Loki. He gave me a nod and took my arm as we teleported to join him on the battlefield. In person Thanos was much more terrifying than on screen. His tall and muscular build was enough to be menacing, but the armor and gauntlet only added to that effect. Not to mention the confidence radiating from his body.

Each of the Avengers were trying their hardest to fend off his attack, but to no avail. Steve was thrown backwards with the use of power stone, Thanos caught King T'Challa by the neck and threw him down, Sam fell from the sky, Bucky was thrown back and after him one of the Dora Milaje and Natasha. Noticing Wanda off to the side, I conjured an illusion and ran up to her.

"You must come with me, we have to get Vision somewhere safer," I spoke to her in a hushed tone, glancing back to where Thanos was approaching us. He cocked his head at the sight of me, his look sending chills up my spine.

"(Y/N), what are you doing out here?! Where have you been?! What is going on?!" She questioned, staring at me in utmost confusion.

"There is no time for that now, I will explain everything later," I replied, grabbing her hand as well as Vision's and teleporting them into the Wakandan castle.

Once depositing them with a group of remaining Dora Milaje, I assured them that it would be over soon. Upon teleporting back onto the battle field, I saw Steve desperately trying to keep Thanos's gauntlet from closing. Thanos struck him harshly, sending him flying to the side as he began to activate the space stone, but I sent him hurling back with a wave of energy.

Concealing himself with an illusion, Loki ran towards Thanos, his footsteps muffled by the sound-absorbing boots Shuri and I had designed. Using the momentum built up by running, he leapt up into the air at the same time, bringing his blade down upon Thanos's head. I had just caught up with the Titan and used my blade to cut off his arm from the elbow down.

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(A/N): do you think they'll succeed in their plan? I hope you enjoyed this chapter!