The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 71

With my arms wrapped around Thor, it wasn't too difficult to do the same thing as I had done to Evan and I. The energy flows out of me and into Thor's chest to slow his heartbeat and his breathing so it would be as if he was in hibernation. Some of the other energy is directed towards my own so I could help him. I can't tell how long we've been here, it could have been hours, days, minutes, anything really. I send prayers up to all fathers, to God, to anyone who would listen to me that the two of us get out of this alive.

Thor's body crashes into a solid object and I lose my grip on time. Thor jolts in my arms and his brain goes into a frenzy but I don't reach into it, I can't invade him like that. I promised myself I wouldn't do that after what I did to Michelle, Ned, and Peter. Hands grab onto me and try to pry myself off of Thor but I clench my hands to show that I am alive. Arms wrap around my figure and pull me.

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I disconnect from Thor and fall to the ground with a thud. The warmth from my arms are the only things proving to me that I am not, in fact, dead... yet. My ears ring as blood rushes back into them from the heat in the ship. The ground shakes around me and my fingertips move at my command.

"This... this is a man," a voice says somewhere in the room. "A huge and muscular man."

A shoe taps at my armor making a clink sound throughout the ship. My mind reaches out and finds six other beings in the ship besides me and Thor. More mumbles sound between the six aliens and my eyes slowly open. Somehow I managed to recover faster than Thor and I slowly raise my upper half, stopping all the conversations in the room. All their gazes travel to me and I lift my arm weakly.

"Hey."

After awakening Thor and calming him down; the Guardians of the Galaxy, as we learned to call them, gave the two of us soup and blankets to warm us up. My hand shakes as it lifts the spoon to my mouth, my gaze lingers between the strange looking creatures. A green woman, Gamora, looks out into space as a tree looking creature plays on a small device while another creature, who seems to hate wearing shirts, stares at us from across the table while a woman with antennas studies the two of us with her head tilted. The last two look like they are from Earth. The raccoon, who snarled at me while giving me soup, can speak while the man stares at Thor like he is a piece of meat he wants off his ship. I take another bite and reach out to their minds, I need to know whether or not they are on our side.

The spoon freezes in midair when I reach Gamora, her past is not too far from mine. Her home is gone after Thanos had taken her as a child and she was trained to be his weapon. Thor bumps his shoulder into me, knocking me out of my faze and I look up at Gamora who is speaking. I stop my knee from shaking and show her that she has my full attention.

"He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre," She finishes, my thoughts linger back and away from the conversation. What if Thanos was the one who had attacked my planet all those years ago? It, of course, does make sense. Thanos had begun his conquest long before I knew of him. As I had learned the past, time worked differently in space so I can't truly comprehend how long ago it was or how old I truly am in human years. The thought has crossed my mind but since there is no way to find out now there's no point. But Thanos has done it to many people including Thor and myself now, so, therefore, either way, Thanos has done something to me.

Now that I also think about it, he has done so much to not just me but the Avengers. He killed half of what is left of Thor's people, he bestowed fear unto Tony, he tortured my brother, he destroyed Loki. I can only imagine what else he had done to the rest of the Universe. Thanos is a monster that deserves to be killed, but I'm not the one who should do it. He didn't do much to...