MAGIC TRICKS [PETER PARKER]

THIRTY-NINE

NADIA FOUND HERSELF BATTLING NEXT TO ROCKET, RIPPING APART THE ALIENS EVERY TIME THEY GOT TOO CLOSE TO THE RACCOON.

"Take that!" shouted Rocket, blasting another space dog with his machine gun, "And that! And—"

A space dog lunged for him and narrowly missed, erupting into blue goo when Nadia jerked its head off. Rocket gaped at her, his little beady eyes wide. "You hug your mother with those hands?"

Nadia looked at him blankly, the white mist dissolving into her palms. "My mother is dead," she deadpanned.

A loud roar pierced the air and a giant alien reached after them with his equally big sword, heading straight for Nadia's head. She helped, ducking when another raspy shout hit her ears, this one followed by loud gunfire. The giant grunted, his sword falling to the ground on top of his limp body. Nadia turned over her shoulder, spotting the man who had saved them. "Hey, Jesus!"

Bucky Barnes managed a gentle upturn of his lips, lowering the tip of his gun. "Hey, kid." A grin surfaced on her lips, but it quickly faded when a voice dug into her ears.

"Hey Cap, what do you want me to do with this thing?!" Clint asked. Nadia peered across the battle field, seeing the man running through the fight holding the gauntlet, still filled with the infinity stones. "Get those stones as far away as possible!" Cap called through the comms.

"No!" Nadia interjected, tossing away another alien as they came at her, "No, we need to get them back to where they came from!"

"There's no way to get them back," Tony responded. Nadia saw him flying across the sky in his suit. "Thanos destroyed the Quantum Tunnel."

Her breath got heavier and she felt her strength wavering; she and Bruce made a promise to the Ancient One— but how were they supposed to follow though with no quantum tunnel?

"Hold on!" Scott Lang cried from somewhere on the field, "That wasn't our only time machine."

"Anyone see an ugly brown van out there?"

Nadia grunted, pushing herself into the air with her powers, eyes scanning the field for the van that Hank Pym has turned into another tunnel. "Yes!" Valkyrie said, flying low over the field on her pegasus, "But you're not gonna like where it's parked."

She saw it then, the tattered old van, buried in a few feet of dirt a hundred yards away from her— right in the midst of Thanos' army. "Scott, how long do you need to get it started?" asked Nadia, holding a hand to her ear in order to hear his response clearly.

"About ten minutes?"

Nadia noticed she hovered over Steve Rogers, and she landed beside him, sharing a knowing look with the Captain. "Get it started. We'll get the stones to you," he told Scott. He nodded at her silently, his eyes holding a message. Good luck.