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Back with the rest of the team Abomination had at last succeeded in closing the distance with the real Magma, while at the same time knocking Psylocke backwards and through a window of an Acme. He punched out at Magma's head only to scream as his flesh and blood hand met her tectonic energy form. Abomination's hand sizzled and burned, but Magma flew backward with a cry of agony. Despite her energy form, she was still technically human, and impacts like that still got through. She flew away through the air from the impetus of the blow, landing heavily several yards away. Seconds later without her mind awake to power it, her energy form began to fade.
Balder tried desperately to get between the green beast and the young maiden, but Abomination turned into his blow, lashing out with a knee into Baldur's crotch. As the Asgardian gasped, he found himself lifted into the air and used as a makeshift shield against several magical attacks from Storm and Guardian in one hand. Both of them reluctantly canceled their attacks rather than hit their ally, and Blonsky took advantage of that, reaching down to grab a piece of metal pipe then spearing downwards with it at Magma's still groggy form.
Right before it landed however, Magma disappeared, Guardian apparating her away. Abomination looked up in rage even as Balder kicked out, breaking his grip then rolling away. "Damn teleporter!"
Then Abomination ate a mouth full of lightning from Storm. Above them clouds gathered, and lightning began to stream out of the sky like a sheet, slamming into the Abomination and the area all around him.
Guardian looked down at Magma, feeling at her throat then breathing a sigh of relief finding a pulse while behind him Storm stalked forward, her magic lashing out in bursts of purple and blue blasts even as her mutant ability hammered him with hurricane winds and ice and lightning blasts. With a faint whisper of power, Guardian apparated Magma up to High Note, then turned back, his dark emerald eyes blazing. He gathered his power, then thrust out one hand with a shout "Gaudete vento urente!"
Thousands of hand-sized bits of colored light lanced out in every direction before homing in on Abomination even as he tried to dodge. The green-scaled monster screamed under this assault, losing scales all over his body, blasted and burnt off him. His self-control and confidence finally frayed by how the magical assaults got through his body's armor Blonsky jumped away, hoping to link up with the Hulk again.
But four of his five remaining attackers could fly, and kept with him even as he tried to jump towards where the Hulk was battling the others. Guardian also knew what he was doing, and called ahead. "Psylocke, stay here for now and liaise with the locals. Colossus, Thing, Blonksy's trying to hook up with Hulk again, we're coming at you from north, northwest. Toss the Hulk further away!"
Just then however, a new wrinkle was added to the battle. A deep booming voice spoke from out of the air above the battlefield. "You just can't get good help these days!" A beam of some sort of energy lanced out from what had previously been empty air, deep orange and blue in color.
The blast caught the Human Torch in the side and Johnny screamed in agony as he was tossed out of the air to slam into the ground. Upon impact he created a long furrow in the ground, in which bits and pieces of grass and roots burned from his fire aura. The Torch's own fire however guttered out as he lost consciousness, much like Magma.
OOOOOOO
Sitting upon her throne Hela was watching events on Midgard, having been alerted by her scrying spell that Potter was throwing around more magic then normal outside the bounds of the incredibly scary wards of his castle. She looked up in shocked fury as she felt someone appear nearby, but that quickly gave way to simple shock. "Who da… my Lady!"
Lady Death stood, her hooded face turned slightly away from Hela, gazing into the scrying pool. Then she looked around, as if taking in the scene. That gaze was not on anything Hela could see, or perhaps was not allowed to see. Yet if there were any ears to hear it, screams of fear would have been heard as something retreated from this portion of the Asgardian's realms.
"My Lady, you do me much honor coming here." Hela got up from her throne, bowing deeply to the manifestation of the end of all things. "But, But may I ask why you have come here? I, normally when you require me my Lady you summon me to your realm, I have, I've never…"
Death now looked at Hela, bowing her head slightly as a guest would to the master of a house then gestured slightly with one hand towards the scrying table. It enlarged instantly to be larger than either of their current physical forms.
Understanding now the reason for her Lady's presence if not the why Hela sent more power through the scrying pool, strengthening the signal so to speak, while at the same time gesturing at her throne, which enlarged to allow the two to sit comfortably. As Lady Death sat down beside her however Hela could not help but ask. "Yet even so my lady, may I ask why you came here rather than watching the events through your own abilities?"
Death was silent for a moment then pointed at the newcomer to the battle occurring. "He thinks himself my suitor, and he would feel it if I turned mine own attention on him." Her tone, dust dry as always yet acerbic, dismissive and layered with a smattering of contempt said everything else that was necessary, and Hela nodded, satisfied.
OOOOOOO
A cloaking device was shut off, and above the battlefield there hovered a throne of metal, holding someone Guardian had never seen in any news broadcast. He was huge, easily as tall as the Hulk, though not as wide across the shoulders. He seemed to have purple skin and a huge jutting jaw that had wrinkles going down it, and a mouth twisted in a superior sneer. His red glowing eyes were deep set. He wore a suit of blue and gold, with flanged shoulders, large gauntlets colored gold, and on his head he wore a headpiece of gold and blue. "I had hoped that my two chosen creature would have been able to bring out the Phoenix avatar, but needs must. If I have to slaughter this planet's denizens for a while before forcing it out, so be it."
Guardian growled at that, as well as the realization that all of this had been planned to bring out Jean for some reason. He clapped his hands together and shouting out "Terra Hasta!" but this was only a diversion. The spell shot a huge spire of Earth into the air after the alien, while Guardian apparated from the place he had been flying, reappearing directly behind the alien, his hands lashing out with a lightning spell "Fulgur plumbum!"
However the alien simply pushed himself off of his throne which disappeared, teleporting away as he turned in midair. Grabbing Guardian by the legs he hurled him downwards.
Guardian cast an Aressto Momentum spell on himself, halting his flight downwards to glare up at the alien. He then threw up with a shield, halting another blast of power like the one that had taken out the Torch, returning fire with his own while Storm did the same, strafing the alien with several bolts of lightning and mid-level cutting spells which he simply ignored. Guardian's magic attacks also were ignored, and he almost gaped in shock. Whoever this was, his magical resistance was the highest Guardian had ever seen, even higher than Mephisto's!
Then Guardian grunted as the beings beam smashed through his shield, impacting his chest. His crisis suit was able to handle the blow, but he was still flung backwards. He righted himself in midair, and began to fire out other spells, illusions, golems, and spells designed to attack the senses while all the while teleporting here and there keeping the alien's attention firmly on him so as to allow his team and friends to fight the two green beasts without further interference. He gave orders to Storm, Balder and Psylocke, who had caught up to them by hijacking a motorcycle to that effect. "Stick to the plan, take out the Abomination and then gang up on the Hulk, I'll keep the newcomer busy!"
Storm scowled, but nodded, racing down with Balder to rejoin the battle against the two green monsters. While they had been engaged with the newcomer The Thing and Colossus had been tossed away for a moment, allowing the two green beasts to concentrate on Thor for a moment.
While stronger than either of his allies, Thor wasn't as durable as Colossus nor quite as quick as The Thing. He grunted under a hammer blow to the chest that lifted him off the ground as Abomination joined the battle then grunted again as another blow slammed into his chest with enough force to crack one of his mighty ribs from the Hulk.
"Forsooth you are a magnificent beast, but ever will such as you fall before the might of Thor!" The long haired Asgardian shouted, slamming Mjöllnir into the side of the Hulk's head. That below should have thrown the beast away, but it didn't, only throwing him back slightly and even so the Hulk was able to reach up grabbing Thor's arm before he could recover from his swing.
Thor's eyes widened, then widened further as he felt another blow slam into his chest from the Abomination. He felt another rib go, then gasped as the Hulk head-butted him with such force that Thor flew backwards, his nose and cheekbone broken. He slumped against the grand where he lay, dazed.
The Hulk stood over him, roaring in triumph and about to bring down his clenched fist in a blow to cave-in Thor's head. But then the Hulk was body-slammed by Colossus, who he'd sent flying away a moment before. He picked up the Hulk, barreling on with him in his arms to slam into a rocky outcropping nearby, then even as the Hulk turned in his grip, began to pummel the Hulk's ribs.
Having jumped after them the Thing landed nearby and began to kick and pummel the Hulk as well. "Something's wrong!" He grunted once again. "The Hulk's never usually this strong! I fought him for days on end, and he was never this strong!"
"You said that before!" Colossus grunted, as he tried once more to grab the Hulk in the grip to twist his body around. The Hulk however simply refused to be turned, instead flinging colossus aside. He landed rolling with it, are coming up and charging back as the Hulk began to trade blows with Thing. "Unless you have some way of breaking him out of whenever whatever fugue he's in, I don't see how it matters!"
Unfortunately, no one had ever made the connection between the Hulk's ability to get stronger as a fight goes on to how angry he was. If they had, this fight would have been much simpler given a few spells Harry had at his disposal that could affect emotions. But the team had to work with what was known, which alas wasn't much.
Behind the three battling behemoths the Abomination had turned to race after them, but Balder and Storm attacked, taking his attention away from the others.
Storm kept her distance, flying or teleporting as she could, while flinging out magical blasts as well as gusts of tornado wind force and ice along with her signature lightning blasts.
Balder closed with the scaled one, using all the skill and speed up in his possession. But Abomination's healing ability was up to most blows he could land his shield was riven, his helmet smashed from his head. He was slowly but surely being battered into submission.
Falling back from of another blow from Abomination he tripped, rolling frantically to avoid a follow on stomp by the skin of his teeth coming up with his sword swinging. He caught the green monstrosity behind the knee, slicing deeply into it and sending the Abomination to his knees for a moment. But his blade caught, and the Abomination reached out grabbing him and pulling him in. "Got you now pretty boy, whaWHAGGGGGG!"
With his concentration solely on Balder for a moment Storm had taken a chance, teleporting directly behind Abomination, her hands held out on either side of his head. Her eyes crackled with her mutant power as she yelled to the heavens in her native tongue. Between her two hands, there suddenly appeared… there really wasn't a word for it. It wasn't a hurricane or tornado, those were natural phenomenon, no matter how fast the wind in them went, this was something more, far more. This was the force of the wind taken so far beyond those terms it was as if it was something else entirely, turning it into a force out of nightmares beyond anything found in the normal world.
The Abomination had heretofore taken several hurricane force blasts from Storm, and had even walked away from one of her spiraling tornado assaults. But this dwarfed those in speed and power. It completely overwhelmed his durability factor, ripping, tearing and shredding at his head with such force that bits of a bone and blood flew everywhere as his head was reduced to nothing.
The Abomination's headless corpse fell to the side as Storm gasped, falling back. Her hands fell to her side as she nearly went to her knees, almost utterly exhausted from the force she had just called forth and had to control, which was always the toughest part.
"I thank thee my lady." Balder said pushing himself to his feet. Just to make certain however he stood above the creature's corpse, driving his blade down into Abomination's heart. "That beast was most deadly, indeed I was about to be overwhelmed."
Storm nodded, exhaustion filling her. She had never before had to use so much magic before, and using both her magical and mutant powers while at the same time taking part in the front of the battle had drained her far beyond anything she had felt in practice or even against the Sentry. Her situational awareness was shot to hell as well, which was why she didn't dodge when an errant tree trunk from the battle going on between Thing, Colossus and Hulk slammed into her back throwing her forward. Luckily her body armor was able to stop the blow from breaking her spine, but she was still flung forward with a cry of agony. "GAH!"
Storm hit the ground, rolling with the blow before coming up, her entire body drooping wearily but unwilling to simply give in. With a growl Storm pushed herself into the air, gathering what powers she could call upon in her still exhausted state, and began to attack the purple man along with Guardian.
The alien had closed the distance with Guardian somehow, anticipating where Guardian was teleporting and getting there first. A blast of energy caught Guardian as he came out of his apparition, flinging him down towards the Hulk, who saw him coming.
"Magia Erebea 90%!" Guardian barely had a moment to mentally divert more of his magical power to his magical strengthening spell and conjure up a protective shield before the Hulk's fist caught him right in the face. The shield shattered, and Guardian was flung aside through several trees to land uninjured but dazed several hundred yards away. Damn, if not for my Magia Erebea that would have taken me out, hell it might've killed me! Guardian thought as he pushed himself to his feet. He reached up to his face, feeling that the mask was alright for now but that the runic arrays worked into it had disappeared instead, their power expended as they tried to block that punch.
Then he felt a huge hand grab him from behind, a deep gravelly voice behind him. "Interesting, you seem to be able to strengthen yourself to a certain degree to offset physical punishment. Let's find the upper limit of that, shall we?"
Psylocke however had other ideas, springing down from a tree to try and stab the alien in the back of his skull with her telekinetic blade. He dodged this, returning a blow that nearly caught the purple-haired woman, but she dodged it at the last second, while Guardian rolled away from him.
"20%!" Guardian gasped, as he righted himself then began to attack both the purple skinned alien and the Hulk with mid-level spells. The Hulk still didn't have any ability to tell illusion from reality, so that was what Guardian concentrated on with them, but the purple haired man seemed able to see straight through his illusions, and had a battle awareness that Guardian had seldom seen before.
As he summoned up a dozen golems to attack the alien, he looked around shaking his head grimly. Magma still hadn't returned from High Note, which meant she wasn't up to snuff. Storm was dead in the air, exhausted but still gamely fighting. Watching her Guardian felt a rush of respect and appreciation for his lady, there was no give in her at all.
As he watched however, the purple haired man blasted back at her, and Guardian quickly teleported her away. She hadn't even had the strength to conjure up her own shield, or dodge.
As this was going on the purple haired alien turned, glancing up at where his throne was stationed, once again hidden under it'sits cloaking field, communicating telepathically with the interface of his ship, Sanctuary. "Repeat that."
"Energy scan of the planet complete, no signature of Phoenix/inherent life seed found. Trace is there, but old, at least 2 to 3 local planetary cycles.
Thanos frowned, then moved aside when Guardian teleported in front of him, his hands filled with a cutting spells. "Kesmek!"
Cursing Thanos dodged the spell by a bare inch before it could take him in the eyes. He grabbed Guardian's outstretched arms throwing him away for a moment before turning heading deeper into the human city. "If the Phoenix avatar is no longer here, then it must be coerced to return, and I think slaughtering the populace of this city will make a good start!"
Harry cursed. "Storm, grab some Pepper-up Potions for yourself and get Thor up and moving, then finish off the Hulk and come after us!" With that, he blasted through the air after the alien. Behind him, Baldur wearily pushed himself into the air, unwilling to let his comrade face the unknown alien being alone.
OOOOOOO
The dream was different this time, it wasn't a happy home scene or happy anything scene, nor even an embarrassing one. No, this was the scene of a battle, a battle that stretched as far as Thor's eyes could see. On one side was an army of jötnar, trolls and even Múspellsmegir, with their Lord Surtr at its head. For some reason Loki stood with them as well.
All around Thor stood the ranks of the Asgardians. Both groups were there, the more peaceful Vanir and the warlike Æsir all decked out in their finest armor. This included two young boys around Thor himself, who strangely enough looked like him in some fashion. As Thor looked at them they both smiled, raising their blades in respect and nodding their heads at him.
The image changed, and the battle was joined, dead and dying on both sides piled up as Thor barreled his way forward, heading toward where he could see Surtr's banner, a bright flame on a gold background flying from a giant pole. Nearby Thor heard the howl of a wolf, then a snarling and a gasp going through the ranks.
Something was wrong, something had changed, though Thor couldn't figure out what. It was the sense of, it was almost as if before that moment the battle had only been in play, but now was real. He heard a shout, and turned, seeing one of the young boys, the oldest, going down, a fire jötnar bearing him to earth with a spear tipped with flame into the boy's guts.
Thor jumped forward and Mjöllnir caught the fire giant in the head, but it was too late. The boy died, staring up at Thor, his eyes glazing over in death. Though even in the dream Thor could not grasp his connection to the boy, his dream-self howled aloud in anguish, and began to lay about him, each blow of Mjöllnir shattering a chest or caving in a skull as he wreaked a bloody havoc on the enemy until the hammer's haft was blocked by a blade of Æsir design.
Thor looked across at his new enemy only to see the though formerly friendly face of Loki scowling angrily and shouting something, tears falling down his face. Thor couldn't make out the words, they came out as a jumble of words. "Nearly… falling…. Necessity…. My wife, my Sigyn! you… chance to… and when you strike, make it true!"
Thor jolted awake, startling Storm as she had only gotten a single drop of the Pepper-Up potion into his mouth. Then she watched in puzzlement as his long blond hair changed color to red, not the deep, fiery red that Jean had, but still noticeably red. Not even looking at her Thor grabbed up his hammer and charged forward, bellowing a warcry. "I live yet you son of a Skræling, have at thee!"
Hulk, who had just bent Colossus' arm back, twisting his metal arm into an unnatural angle, turned, roaring in turn before jumping forward. Thor met him in midair, dodging the first punch before deflecting the next, come in under the Hulk's outstretched arms, Mjöllnir coming up to smash into the green monster's ribs. Hulk howled in agony as he felt a rib give way before his healing ability kicked in.
He stumbled back, and Thor pressed him, Mjöllnir once again coming around to slam into Hulk's head from the side. Any troll or giant would have fallen from that blow, even the mightiest of champions, but the hulk merely staggered, his eyes going cross-eyed for a moment. Undaunted Thor swung again, hammering once, twice, thrice. "FALL, by the breath of the wyrm, fall!"
Even Hulk's durability had an upper limit. Taking four blows to the cranium, each of them stronger than any blow he had ever taken before, went beyond that limit. Hulk first slumped to his knees, then upon another blow slammed into his head and Hulk finally collapsed to the ground unconscious. Almost immediately he began to shrink, changing back to Bruce Banner.
"Valhol!" Thor shouted, raising Mjöllnir above his head. Then, as his hair began to change color Thor slumped, inexplicably weary, the memories once more disappearing from his mind.
Before he could hit the ground however a rocky arm was under his shoulders. "Damn hammer-boy, remind me not to get on your bad side! Still ya did it." Thor looked to his side, seeing Thing standing beside him looking much the worse for wear. "Come on, the battle's not over yet, you can rest when yer dead!"
Thor nodded wearily straightening up and jumping up into the air as the Thing and Colossus both moved off in pursuit of the instigator of all this. Behind them, Storm glared at Bruce Banner's body then moved over to stand above it, calling out for Clare to bring her a bottle of the Draught of Living Death. I'm afraid after this day's events your right to keep trying to solve the Hulk issue on your own is one the world can no longer afford to allow you, Dr. Banner.
With that done she looked over at the Abomination's body, frowning heavily. "Clare, could you take that somewhere, we might need to bring it out later to show the authorities, but I don't want anyone to be able to study it or anything. Two monsters like the Hulk are more than enough."
OOOOOOO
Elsewhere the alien and Guardian were exchanging blasts of magic and energy, but Guardian was held back because there were few high end spells he could use in a populated area, and the alien had gotten beyond the area of the city Storm had evacuated previously. This also forced him to play defender as well, along with Sasquatch and Vindicator, who had rejoined the battle when the alien began to attack the city.
"Protego Maximo!" A large magical shield appeared as the alien turned one of his fists towards an apartment building wherein Guardian could see hundreds of people watching from where they cowered by their windows. His shield spell covered the front of the building, blocking the beam of power.
"You continue to try and protect them!" the alien laughied loudly. "Hah, that is almost insulting, to think you can face Thanos while hobbling yourself thus. I wonder how long you can last?" With that he turned and blasted at Guardian, who apparated away, letting the beam of energy slam into the road where he had been standing.
"Long enough!" Guardian said grimly, thinking hard while Sasquatch tried again to close the distance with Thanos before being smacked aside, his strength nothing to the alien, who apparently was called Thanos.
At the same time Psylocke came around the street, jumping up onto a parked car so that she was a mere twenty feet from Thanos. She immediately began to fire from the hip with the gauss rifle that was part of her team gear, each shot wizzing out with the "FZZARRK!" of the gauss shots as fast as she could fire it. She wasn't that good a shot, hence why she didn't use it in combat before this, but at point blank range Psylocke could hardly miss. And the high speed rounds were doing precisely nothing. The gauss rounds hit with enough force to each take out a tank, but they merely staggered Thanos, that was all.
She ducked aside as Thanos turned one of his fists on her, blasting another beam of plasma out at her. Even the shockwave from it was enough to throw her aside, she didn't have super strength or anything else, though thankfully her suit was able to withstand the impact with the rubble behind her. Behind Psylocke more soldiers and police came up, blasting away from the far end of the street at the purple-skinned alien, but he ignored them, their weapons not even enough to register.
Balder however did register as a threat. He leaped up from the crater where a previous blow had place him, his sword up and thrusting for the alien's thigh. Thanos dodged, though his armor on the side of his leg was torn. He then kicked out, catching the Asgardian in the side, throwing him backwards, before hammering him with an energy blast. Balder cried out in agony as the blast struck, hurling him into a thankfully abandoned dress shop. Inside he finally slumped, his body unable to carry on.
Before Thanos could finish Balder off Harry hit him with a "Gaudete vento urente!" followed by a "Sectumpsempra!" The energy bolts slammed into Thanos, but even that mid-to high level spell barely staggered him, and the cutting spell Severus Snape had delighted in using simply dissipated harmlessly. His magical resistance was insanely high, and Harry couldn't hit him with anything more powerful, and it was beginning to get to him.
The two of them exchanged blasts, with Harry both defending himself and the buildings around him in which the civilians of the city cowered, until more help arrived in the form of Thor, coming out of the air to slam into Thanos "Have at thee!" Mjöllnir caught him in the shoulder, shattering the flange of his armor there while Thing's fist clipped Thanos upside the ear.
If both of them had been fresh, the battle might well have begun to turn against Thanos there. But they weren't. Thanos reeled backwards for just a moment before his fist shot forward catching Thor in the face and throwing him away to slam into a hotel across the street, while the Thing was blasted away through the air by a blast of energy from the alien's other hand.
Storm had caught up with Thor, being much faster in the air, and when Thanos moved forward once more she joined Harry in hammering him. "Hulk?" Guardian asked, while another dozen 'Kesmek' cutting spells flew out, still doing no damage but getting Thanos' attention.
"Fell unconscious and transformed back to Banner. I put him under with a Draught and asked Clare to take him up to High Note." Storm replied grimly over the team com. "I also took a Pepper-Up potion, but it isn't doing much for me right now, there appear to be limits to what they can offset."
Guardian could tell the rest of the team wasn't any better off. The battle against Abomination and Hulk had drained them all beyond the point of endurance. He needed to get this purple skinned alien away, away to a place where he could fight him without needing to worry about civilians. The team was too damn battered to help, even Guardian was feeling it somewhat by this point, having to throw out protective spells to defend the city's populace like they were going out of style as well as attack. Suddenly a thought occurred to and he smiled grimly under his mask. I wonder if his body will react in the same manner as the Kree do with this trick. He tapped his breastplate muttering "Portus."
"Storm," he said looking over at her. "Cover me."
His beautiful, courageous lady nodded, her eyes almost drooping with weariness despite the Pepper-Up potion. But still she stood there, unbowed and unbroken glaring defiance at the alien who had caused so much carnage. She raised her hands over her head, her eyes once again lighting up with her power as she shot lightning bolt after lightning bolt at Thanos, mixing them up with hurricane force winds.
Those Thanos at least seemed to feel and he turned his attention from trying to tear Thor's arms out of his sockets to start towards her, one hand raising to form an energy shield around him, as his eyes began to glow. "Foolish child, your powers are nothing to my might!"
At the same time Guardian rushed forward, teleporting from cover to cover. Psylocke joined in, her gauss rifle banging out shots as she tried to aim for the eyes and mouth, but she wasn't a good enough shot even so.
"All of this is only delaying the inevitable! I will kill all of you, then I will sacrifice this whole world to my lady! When the avatar of the Phoenix returns she will find me on a mountain of skulls, and then when I sacrifice her in turn, my lady will finally give me her favor! You cannot win here!"
"Then I think it's time we change the battlefield." Guardian said, shooting out from the last bit of cover crossing the distance between them in an instant while a small gold and white stag raced over to Storm. Grabbing onto Thanos' arm, he shouted "Activate!" There was a moment where both their bodies seemed to distort, then with a huge inrush of air both Guardian and Thanos were gone.
There was a moment of silence, then Psylocke leaned against a wall, shaking her head. "Where'd Guardian take him do you think?"
Storm frowned, staring off into the distance as the Patronus disappeared next to her. "Somewhere where he can go all out, but right now that's out of our hands. For now, let's see what we can do for Colossus and the Thing, then the Asgardians, after that…" She paused, then shook her head. "After that I think we should probably stay and help the civilian efforts for now."
"You're not worried?" Psylocke asked in disbelief.
"I am incredibly worried." Storm growled, almost glaring at the younger woman. But then she shook her head. "But Guardian was right, we were in no condition to continue that fight. You and I are the only ones still on our feet."
"Not exactly lady!" said the Thing, jumping down from the top of a skyscraper where he had landed moments ago after jumping through the city. One arm was held at his side in what looked like a very makeshift sling, and his face despite its craggy features covered in jagged cracks and purple bruises, but he was glaring around fiercely. "Where is that purple skinned asshole?"
"I have no idea." Storm replied wearily. "Cory?"
The popping specialist appeared nearby, hiding from the onlookers in a small pile of rubble. "Mistress?"
"Can you feel where Guardian is?"
The house elf grabbed his ears, shaking his head. "He's be well beyond my range mistress. I think…" the little creature paused for a moment then nodded. "I think he bes on another planet. Like he was when Clare was serving you, miss flame hair and the other miss dinner."
Storm's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in contemplation nodding slowly as she realized what Guardian was up to, while Balder and Thor, both battered came up leaning on one another, wide smiles on their face despite their injuries and weariness. This kind of a battle was one the skalds would make into song. "In that case, I think it's time for me to see if my powers extend to space. Get me a few more Pepper Up potion's, I'll help the locals get anyone trapped under the rubble out, but after that…"
OOOOOOO
Thanos had never felt something like this before. He had teleported himself and been teleported before by others, both mechanical and directed by another being, but never so far, nor was the teleportation of the magic user the same as anything he had felt before. His stomach rebelled at suddenly finding itself light minutes away from its previous position with understandable results. Thanos threw up, going down to his knees not even noticing where he was for a moment.
Unfortunately Guardian wasn't in any shape to take advantage at that point. He too was dealing with being sick to his stomach, though he wasn't nearly as bad off as Thanos. Even a wizard's body wasn't meant to travel that far in one go, and the effect was far worse than he had feared. He collapsed to the side, rolling away and holding his stomach even while trying to get out of the immediate range of Thanos's hands and feet.
However Guardian's mind also was still able to think and he was going through his spells rapidly, coming up with the ones that he thought would work on Thanos, and the ones he hoped he wouldn't have to use. No illusions, he sees right through them, blinding spells only worked for a short time before his eyes adjusted, sonic attacks don't work, full-bore magical attacks don't work up to the high level, we'll try high-level spells, transfiguration and conjuration then. And if I have to, well I didn't have any plans that included coming back to Mars at any point anyway.
That was what Guardian had done, he had used a portkey to transport both himself and Thanos to Olympus Mons on Mars, where he and Jean had their date, a place Harry had remembered vividly enough to create the portkey even over light-minutes of distance. With Thanos' stated desire of killing everyone on the planet in order to sacrifice them to some kind of lady or other plus he his magical resistance Guardian didn't want to face him anywhere where there was any chance of him finding other people around. If push came to shove, Guardian was more than willing to sacrifice a planet to stop this bastard, he was simply too dangerous too damn too powerful and apparently intelligent given his ability to manipulate the Abomination and Hulk to let him walk away.
Still on his hands and knees, Guardian sent a spell through the ground, conjuring up a giant golem which began to hammer at Thanos. Thanos merely grunted, taking the blows, his stomach still rebelling so much he couldn't respond. Guardian stood up, weaving crazily on his feet for a moment then began to cast spells on himself reinforcing his crisis suit. The mask had a breather in it, which could magically convert the air around him to something he could breathe, but it never hurt to make certain.
Then, while his giant golem was still pounding the unresponsive Thanos he picked up a rock, transfiguring into a metal rod. Holding one hand in front of the one holding the rod he shouted "Railgun!" Shooting it out and as it passed his other hand cast an engorgement charm on it enlarging the rock to the rod to the size of a ballista bolt as it continued on its way breaking the speed of sound before it slammed into Thanos.
Thanos groaned, flung aside by the blast yet not actually very injured. His stomach was finally coming under control, and now he could think again, rage and hate further empowering his self-control. One hand flickered for a moment, then an energy blast shot out catching the golem and smashing it to so many pebbles. His eyes glowed with crimson energy and he glared at Guardian. "You! It is you! I can feel it!"
Guardian did reply, not wishing to bandy words with the madman. Instead he shot forward, one hand holding the sword of Gryffindor now in the other. Creating a spire of rock from the ground rock he heaved it up at Thanos as fast as he could imagine it going, slamming into the mad Titan with even more force than the railgun round.
Even so it simply blew Thanos backwards, it didn't even penetrate his armor, only denting it slightly. "It is you! You have taken my lady's attention from me! I can feel her power on you, just as much as that of the Life giver! I will kill you, and then my lady will finally acknowledge me!"
"I don't know who your lady is, and I don't care." Guardian said coldly shooting out several high-level attack spells mixed in with pure magical attacks. "Aeris Hasta! Caesus Foro! Fulgur Plumbum Maximo!" The massive beam of light and lightning magic clipped Thanos even as he dodged the others. Finally his attack spells were getting through, and Harry watched as Thanos' ear was ripped from his head along with gouging a chunk of flesh out of his cheek.
"DIE!" The mad Titan yelled, returning fire with an energy blast that nearly caught Guardian despite his dodging around. Then he closed the distance, reaching out to grab Guardian's shoulder before he could right himself. Guardian teleported away, but even here on Mars somehow Thanos was able to figure out where he was teleporting to, and turned rapidly, bringing both of his hands and blasting out with his energy bolts catching Guardian in the center of his chest.
Guardian hit the dirt several yards behind his previous position but rolled with the impact, coming up and blasting at Thanos again with several more high-level spells but Thanos had closed the distance once more grabbing at Guardian. He caught Guardian's arm, pulling him in and slamming a punch into Guardian's mask covered face. Guardian could feel most of the protective spells on his head shatter under the force of that blow, leaving only his crysis suit.
Desperately he diverted all his magical core's power to his magical strengthening spell. "Magia Erebea 100%!" The next blow landed, wrenching his face around but he returned a punch that caught Thanos on the chin smashing his teeth together. Then he kicked out, catching Thanos in the chest and flinging him backwards enough to break his grip on Guardian. "20%." After that he began to fire again, keeping his distance for now.
This forced Thanos to use his own energy abilities to shield himself from Guardian's spells, hoping to let the humanoid exhaust himself before closing again. He grunted in agony as one spell got through, catching him on the knee and ripping his armor apart there before cutting edge deep into its side. Still the knee was strong enough to hold his weight, and he ignored the pain not talking any longer simply grimly taking everything Guardian could throw at him.
However Guardian could do this all day, something Thanos realized when he lost a finger to another blast that got through his shield. Thankfully for Thanos his hover-throne had caught up to them by that point, and with that his own teleportation ability. "Throne, teleport me directly at my opponent, and keep doing it if he tries to teleport himself away."
"Acknowledged." The throne's computer replied, remaining where it was, cloaked in the upper atmosphere.
Guardian gasped as suddenly Thanos teleported from his previous position directly in front of Guardian. A hammer blow came down, crashing into Guardian's head and throwing him to the ground with enough force to shatter all of his remaining defensive spells covering his mask. He rolled desperately dodging a stomp, shooting back with over 1000 Drills of Light, while at the same time transfiguring the ground around Thanos so that it came up to grasp his lower legs.
As the drills of light, magic and lightning impacted his chest Thanos growled as it tore away chunks of his armor yet doing no further damage. While Guardian quickly redid did the defensive spells on his head and the rest of his body Thanos kicked his way out of the transfigured metal that had now grabbed his lower legs.
"Such interesting abilities you have wizard, transfiguration and attack spells well above anything I've seen before. In any other circumstances it would be a pity to kill you. In this, it makes it all the sweeter. To kill someone so unique, so singular, is a fantastic honor, above and beyond your taking my Lady's attention from me!" With that he charged forward against the still seemingly dazed wizard.
Guardian summoned the sword of Gryffindor which he had lost moments ago back to his hand, holding it close to his body. Then Thanos was on him, and he reacted quickly, thrusting it up as quickly as he could. "Magia Erebea 100%!" The blade intersected Thanos' forearm, and with the power of the mad Titan thrusting downwards on to it pierced his arm straight through.
Stumbling back for a moment Thanos sent to kick at Guardian, which caught him in the side and sent him backwards again as he pulled the blade out of his arm, feeling a momentary disorientation, but that was all the basilisk venom in the sword did to the mad titan. "An interesting toy! I seldom take trophies, but in this case…"
That was as far as he got before he had to dodge another spell that would've he impacted his head, the sword disappearing from his hand at the same time. He raised his free hand blasting at Guardian with an energy blast but Guardian conjured up a shield which took the blow causing an explosion of light to occur. When it cleared, Guardian was gone. Thanos looked around angrily, knowing that the human hadn't retreated entirely. A moment later he spotted him several meters away, his hands up and conjuring something. Then he brought them together.
Thanos grunted as the ground underneath and all around him suddenly formed into two giant steel jaws, coming at him from either side. He reached out grabbing them and holding them. "Again!" He bellowed, forgetting for just a moment to communicate via his telepathic connection with the hover throne, causing Guardian to wonder who he was talking to.
Unfortunately Guardian didn't have time to wonder because suddenly Thanos was no longer there but in Guardian's face. Guardian cursed, teleporting away only to find Thanos had teleported with him, his fist coming around to punch Guardian directly in the gut. Once more Guardian felt the armor he had taken from Balthakk shatter under a physical blow, but his crysis suit and Magia Erebea held.
He grabbed Thanos' arm with one of his own then flicked his finger up in front of the mad Titan's face. "Sol occidit interfectos diripiet!" This spell, a very high level penetrating spell almost hit, but Thanos had teleported away again before coming back grabbing Guardian from behind in a bear hug as he crushed the life out of them.
Guardian grunted, then began to try and break out of his opponent's bearhug, once again diverting all his magic to his body strengthening technique. "Magia Erebea 100%!" But even with all of his magical power augmenting his strength he didn't have enough leverage to break Thanos' grip. However when Thanos lifted him off the ground his knees came level with Guardian's legs, and Guardian kicked backwards hard catching Thanos on his already wounded knee.
His grip loosened just enough for Guardian to turn around, bringing up his hands between their bodies to grab Thanos' head then rearing back his own and slamming a headbutt into the mad Titan's face, which shattered Thanos' nose.
Thanos reared back, letting go, yet even as he did his fist caught Guardian on the shoulder tossing him away. Decreasing his Magia Erebea once more Guardian began again to hurl out spells at Thanos, while the mad titan shook his head groggily. Thanos grimaced in agony as he felt two of his ribs give way under some kind of massive below, and the skin over the shoulder whose armor Thor had shattered was badly burned.
Wiping away the blood that had been blocking his view however he again brought his own fists up and began to fire energy blasts at Guardian, shouting commands to his command throne. "Teleport me whenever you detect magical energy coming my way from my opponent!"
With that command Thanos began to press Guardian hard, forcing Guardian to devote time to his own defense rather than look around for the person or thing Thanos was shouting at. For the next hour and a half or two hours, Guardian wasn't certain, the two of them exchanged blasts after blast, neither of them in any hurry to once again close the distance for now, their assault rearranging the landscape around them. The top of the mountain became gouged by tremendous, huge furrows here and there, and its face was cracked, blown apart, burned or shattered.
Eventually a blast from Thanos caught Guardian in the chest, finishing the work his earlier punch had done on Balthakk's chest plate shattering it utterly. He gasped, but teleported away even so, responding with a spell he hadn't yet used in this fight, one he had learned from a grimoire Steven had given him, only magnified to a level even most sorcerers could have matched. "Diosca Gearradh Trom!"
This sent out a spinning, swirling blaze of cutting magic. Thanos dodged it by a whisker tip, and it sliced into the mountain top below him, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter. Even as Thanos teleported away again down to the plains below the top of Olympus Mons crumbled, half of it sloughing off to tumble down to the surface of Mars far, far below.
Guardian went after him, pressing his advantage and tossing out two more discs, though a smaller width. One spell impacted the ground right next to Thanos, cutting deep into the crust of Mars, while Thanos swiftly gathered his own energy around one hand creating multiple layers of shields around it before he thrust it forward smashing into the next assault spell shattering the cutting disc. Still spinning he mentally commanded, "Teleport me above him now!"
Guardian was still looking down at his previous position when Thanos appeared in the air above him, his hands bunched together. Guardian turned, but only so he could catch the blow on the chest. The defensive arrays on his crysis suit failed and Guardian felt at least four of his ribs crack under that blow, the impetus of which hurled him down towards the ground. He groaned in agony, but still had enough presence of mind to slap himself with an Arresto Momentum to halt himself before he impacted the ground.
Concentrating for a brief moment, he cast a disillusion spell over himself, not with any great hope that it would stop Thanos from finding him, just to give him a bit of a breather. With his magic already working to heal himself, Guardian gauged his magic powers. He was down to barely a third of his strength he estimated, and Thanos was still going strong. I need to find whatever the hell Thanos is using to teleport around, he talked to something, which means it isn't on his body, and besides, he doesn't have any pouches or anything.
With that thought Guardian cast an echolocation spell. It was so slight and so dispersed he hoped it would go unnoticed. A moment later he got a hit from something about a mile directly above him in the air. Good now I just….
That was as far as Guardian could think before Thanos landed on the ground next to him and kicked out hard, trying to catch Guardian in the side having seen through his disillusion spell. But Guardian dodged aside, coming up with another cutting spell that nearly took Thanos' arm off at the elbow. If still cut deeply into his forearm, doing even more injury than his sword had done earlier which had hit Thanos in that same arm. Thanos' arm fell useless to his side.
But Thanos ignored the pain, lashing out with another kick that this time caught Guardian in the side, causing him to grunt in agony as his slowly healing ribs were further abused, one shard of them cutting deep into something inside him, a lung probably as Guardian could hear his breath becoming labored. That moment of pain cost him as Thanos' fist caught him on the side of the head nearly breaking his crysis suit's mask. In fact the eyepiece on that side of his face did shatter, though the skin of the masked didn't.
Guardian responded. "Fragor unda fortitudine!" the massive beam of barely shaped magical energy slammed into Thanos picking him up and flinging him backwards, shattering the last remnants of his armor and searing away the undergarment he had worn underneath, while also breaking a few of his ribs.
Even with his ribs cracked under that blow Thanos stood proudly, his purple chest barred, showing a network of old scars and the marks of war. "Still you fight, making reclaiming Mistress Death's attention all the sweeter." He laughed hollowly, knowing he was winning this war of attrition. "Now!"
Guardian had only a moment to divert most of his magical energy back into his Magia Erebea before Thanos teleported again. Even as Guardian tried to teleport away himself Thanos moved with him, the computer of his throne able to pick out the faint dispersion of air that occurred as Guardian teleported around. Guardian found his neck being grabbed in a grip of iron as he was lifted off the ground.
"You are good, but not good enough. You may take heart before you die however knowing that you hurt me more than any other opponent has since I slew my father and wiped out my own race." Thanos spoke solemnly, then laughed staring into Guardian's mask. "What, no last-minute quip? Pity."
Guardian feebly held up a hand, almost as if about to protest but then Thanos felt something moving through the air behind him he looked behind him and then swiftly dodged out of the way letting go of Guardian in the process while the sword of Gryffindor came rocketing through the space he had previously been inhabiting. A moment later there was a booming sound through the air signifying that the sword had been going nearly Mach 2.
But Thanos, having proven he was immune to the blade's venom, hadn't actually been Guardian's targets. His throne had been. "Warning warCRASSSH!" The sword hit and pierced straight through the throne, heading further out into space.
"Damn you!" Thanos bellowed, his one working arm coming up and an energy blast shooting out. Guardian barely dodged to one side only being clipped by the blast before he teleported away.
Cradling his now broken arm Guardian realized with a sinking heart that he had taken too much damage, too much of his magic was now caught up in healing his various wounds, to try and use hit and run tactics against Thanos, who apparently was still a going concern. So be it, I knew coming up here this was a possibility. Gathering his magical power he raised his hand. "Ignite."
It was a simple yet power intensive spell, just a transfiguration really, transforming a bit of the air around him into another element. A few molecules that was all, which burned hotter than anything magical or found in nature outside the interior of a sun, and from there it would spread, those first molecules changing their fellows. It would spread and spread and it would interact with the rest of the elements of the atmosphere with a very simple result: Fire. A blaze so intense, so hot, it would burn and sear the entire planet's surface clean of all life. It was one of Harry's Bloody Insane spells, and by far the easiest to cast, which in his opinion made it scarier.
From Guardian's outstretched hand fire rocket out, not heading only towards Thanos but everywhere, shooting in every direction faster than Thanos could blink.
Then Guardian concentrated again "Fiendfyre!" he shouted, conjuring up the deadly magical flame. This spell impacted the 'more normal' fire all around Harry, and quickly changed its property somewhat, adding a magical element to the heat of the flame, which was beyond that of even Fiendfyre. That magical element, powered by the heat of the hotter than anything fire would let the flames break through Thanos' magical and physical durability.
Thanos stared in shock at the massive storm of fire that was shooting his way. He brought up his energy shields, not realizing what his opponent had done, then shouted in rage and pain when his shield shattered under a shield breaking spell from Harry. "Oh no you don't!"
Thanos stared down at his hand which had been caught by the strangely alive flames and been burned to the bone in that brief instant before he could raise another shield. Then Thanos looked around wildly realizing now what was going on. He tried to leap into the air, only to find his boots and legs encased not in steel, but in diamond. Harry had caught him with that when Thanos had been in shock from the loss of his hand.
Quickly he wrenched his other arm, which was only barely healed from the damage it had taken up over his head, engulfing his body in a shield. But he could already see it flickering, and he forced more of his body's energy into it, while also trying to kick his way out of the diamond engulfing his lower body and keeping him from escaping. But the diamond was too tight for him to get up enough leverage to do so. "Damn you human, face me!"
Ignoring this Guardian flung himself up into the air, desperately zooming out of the atmosphere of the planet as fast as his flight array could carry him, while behind him the Bloody Insane spell continued its horrible work. Looking back he could see the sphere of flame spreading across the entire planet so fast it was astonishing. It utterly engulfed his former position, and Thanos along with it. "DAMN YOU!"
Guardian broke out of Mars atmosphere out into space, hastily conjuring a bubblehead charm up over his head at the last minute before he turned. His whole body dropped wearily, his arm flopping uselessly in the weightlessness of space, his one eye covered with blood, his other hand over his shattered ribs, which were only very slowly healing, especially the damage to his lung, and one of his legs was twanging with pain from something or other. He wearily stared back down into the planet's atmosphere, hoping that was enough, but yet ready to continue if it wasn't.
Hours later the spell had finished its deadly work. Every scrap of atmosphere was boiled away leaving Mars a dead hulk, its surface glassed, every piece of dust and sand converted into ugly glass from the heat. Warily floating down, Guardian frowned heavily, landing on the truly barren surface of the planet, searching for any evidence of Thanos. Of course after that spell there shouldn't be anything, but I... He looked up quickly as he heard a shout somehow hearing a sound in what was now simply space. "Guardian!"
From the direction of Earth came Storm, flying through space, using her power to manipulate the thermal and electromagnetic energy patterns all through space. She wouldn't be able to do anything but fly through it however, and it was only because of her use of a Bubblehead charm that let her survive in space. Behind her came Thor and Balder, both of them still looking much the worse for wear yet game.
Storm looked as if she had imbibed on several more Pepper-up potions, but even as Harry watched, her hands shook, and despite her self-control her shoulders were drooping from exhaustion of flying through space on top of her exertions during the battle. Even so, her eyes were locked on him worriedly. "Guardian, are you…"
"Battered and bruised but alive, everything else is secondary." Harry said, taking Ororo in his arms, extending his own bubblehead charm over them both, though even that simple expansion spell took a noticeable amount of his remaining magical strength.
"Didst thou finish the mad alien off Guardian?" said Thor looking at him respectfully. "Wouldst be an amazing deed if so, he was most powerful even when matched against Balder and I, Æsir both."
"I hope so," Harry murmured. "I damn well hope so." After a moment he shook off his fear on that score, smiling at Ororo touching her cheek tenderly even as his insides twanged, telling him he was nowhere near healed yet. "Come on, let's get back to Earth. You can fill me in on what I missed on the way. I'm afraid, I'm way too magically exhausted to try and teleport us."
As the quartet of heroes flew through space back to the blue-white marble they called home on the outskirts of the solar system a ship began to move. Its name was Sanctuary, the personal ship of Thanos, created by the Titans and then enhanced further by Thanos himself. At present all of its inner workings were devoted to keeping its master alive. Third degree burns on his arms and legs, one arm almost entirely a write-off because of that, third degree burns along his back, along with the numerous injuries he had taking fighting Guardian before that last ditch assault. But despite this Thanos was alive, and he would remember the one who had brought him to such an ignoble state.