//------------------------------// // Chapter 102 – The Decimation // Story: Infinity Era // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// 102 Earth Clint Barton’s Homestead 12:01 p.m. The arrow struck the target on the tree at high speed. A perfect bullseye. Clint smiled at that. It looked like all the training paid off. That, and his daughter actually took his advice to heart for once. Still, a damn good shot either way. With the glare of the midday sun bright and burning, Clint could only squint in his daughter’s direction, chuckling fondly and holding up his open palm to her. “Good job, Hawkeye!” Smirking at that, Clint’s daughter just shook her head, meeting her dad’s palm with a high five. “Come on, Dad,” Lila responded, staring up at him humorously. “You know no one else can take that title from you.” Clint wanted to scoff, and he nearly did, his face scrunching up as to indicate that. “You kidding me?” he asked, laying his palm on her shoulder and directing her eyes back to the target. Back to her arrow. He made sure she saw it, almost chuckling to see her struggling to hide the proud smile. “Did you see that shot? Hon-honey! Laura, did you see your daughter?!” “You’re all I can stare at other than this grub!” Laura Barton responded with a wide smile, removing the hot dogs from the barbecue grill and laying them on the wooden table. A plethora of plates, napkins, drinks, condiments, and, of course, hot dog buns lay upon the table, just waiting to be torn into. Cooper and Nathaniel Barton were nearby, playing catch with the youngest child miraculously managing to catch and throw the baseball, albeit with minor difficulty. That, and Cooper wasn’t really throwing it too hard. “Not too hard, Coop!” Laura warned, turning from the hot dogs and onto her two boys. Cooper rolled his eyes, sighing, “Sure thing, Mom!” He underhand tossed the baseball, Nathaniel awkwardly holding out his glove and barely managing to catch the ball. “Nice catch, Nathaniel!” Laura cheered softly from behind the lunch table. She retreated over to the grill and killed it, returning shortly to the table and calling out, “All right, practice and playtime’s over! How many of you want mustard on your dogs?! Do I have any takers for mayo?!” “Uh, two mustard for us, Laura!” Clint called quickly, waving to his wife while holding up two high fingers. He slapped Lila’s back, prompting her onwards towards the target. “All right, go get your arrow. We’ll work on your draw more later.” “Sure thing, Dad,” Lila responded, walking over to the tree, bow in hand. In that short moment of recollection, Clint Barton really took it all in. The sunshine, the calm, summer breeze, the picnics in the wide, open fields of his own farmlands. It was surreal. Just a couple years earlier, Clint could recall aiding a wanted criminal from the likes of one of his fellow Avengers. All of it ending in the worst possible way. That was the price when he was part of a family away from family. But soon after, Clint realized that being put on house arrest was probably one of the best things that happened to him in recent memory. He was spending more time with his kids, his wife, got to see Nathaniel grow up and even pass what he learned to his oldest child. Just the thought of knowing tomorrow would hold the same promise was something Clint looked forward to every day. It was moments like that where Clint really didn’t feel the ankle monitor tightened beneath him. “Clint!” Laura called, voice rising over Barton’s own thoughts. “You and Lila hurry up! Hot dogs are getting cold, and I am not turning that grill back on! You know it hates me!” Chuckling softly at that, Clint played with the arrow between his fingertips, facing the sun and where his wife and boys were standing. “All right… We’re comin’; we’re hungry!” he called back. Turning away, Clint spun the arrow once between his fingers, approaching the tree with his eyes low, slowly rising up, his voice hardening and calling, “Lila, let’s go.” When he approached the tree, Clint stopped dead in his tracks. His growing smile deteriorated into a confused line of nothingness, brow furrowing when he saw that nothing. Just nothing and no one near the target or the tree. Or anywhere near him for that matter. All he really saw was Lila’s bow lying in the grass. Clint took a step forward, eyes peering behind the tree. “Lila?” Nothing. “Honey?” Not a single response. The nearby barn door was shut and locked tight, and there was no way Lila could have run off to it or anywhere else without making some sort of noise, definitely not with the few seconds Clint was turned around for. His eyes were glued to Lila’s bow laying coldly in the grass, Clint taking a soft step backwards. “Hey, babe?!” Nothing. Clint shot his head up like an alert canine, eyes peering back to the picnic table. “Babe…” Barton called, dropping the arrow from his hand and leaving it behind. It didn’t matter anymore, his full focus centered only on his family. The family that wasn’t there anymore. “Laura!” Clint whistled, more panic in his steps as his eyes turned wildly across the farmlands. “Boys!” Then he ran, directly to the picnic table to see the abandoned gloves and baseball resting in the grass. Not a single soul anywhere near the table. The food lay with the mustard turned over, the hot dogs strewn over the wood and even a couple spilled onto the grass, the dirt. The ash. “Boys!” Clint spun around, heart beating sporadically. Eyes wide with newfound dread and horror. He called and cried out again and again “Laura!” But no one responded. No one could. Upstate New York New Avengers Facility 4:14 p.m. Some Time Later The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier hovered ominously overhead Avengers HQ. The gargantuan quad engines were alive and strong, keeping the Helicarrier afloat and unnaturally silent above the massive facility. Storm clouds gathered, the smell of rain high in the air and the minimal life signs within the ship noting the approaching rainstorm. Amongst those minimal life signs, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Alphonso Mackenzie stood in the heart of the bridge, gazing out the windshield while Piper, Davis, and a handful of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents worked overtime to keep the Helicarrier flying and alive. While their people worked downstairs. Downstairs encompassed the New Avengers Facility, the living room filled to the brim with reports laid out on coffee tables, chairs, and even the floor. A large hologram was displayed on the main desk, showing the growing casualties worldwide. Points of interest, cities, damages, a map of the entire Earth and Equus hovering dangerously in orbit together. The thousands killed minutes after the worlds came into close contact. The millions slaughtered during the Chitauri invasions… all leading up to… Three billion for Earth. And counting. Two billion for Equus. Shuttered to a halt given the minimal communication. Steve Rogers stared with eyes wide and expression cold. His hardened breaths were short, facial expressions minimal and leaving the beard unmoving. A white shirt covered his body, unable to hide the terror oozing from his being. His eyes reflected the light of the two worlds displayed on the hologram, turning towards the rising casualties. “This is a nightmare,” Steve mumbled. Natasha Romanoff gulped softly. Her cold, black jacket clung to her body while her skin shivered either way, the white bangs hanging from her head shivering slightly to her movements. She shook her head, saying, “I’ve had better nightmares.” Steve acknowledge that grim realization with a sigh from his nostrils. The two Avengers heard a soft cough behind them, prompting their attention to the living room’s entrance. Standing there silently, James Rhodes and Melinda May met the alert expressions from Steve and Natasha respectively, Steve asking, “Any word on that pager?” Rhodes and May just shrugged. It was James who said, “Still sending that message that May pointed out. The symbol… we’re still trying to decipher.” Grumbling to himself, Bruce Banner somehow managed to earn the attention of the entire room. He sat surrounded by reports from Washington, from New York, from everywhere that expressed the rising death toll. The chair he was in could barely contain all the pieces of paper he drowned himself in, let alone contain a split Doctor Banner. Ever since the Dragons’ Lair, since Hulk got the wake-up call of the century, he remained hidden and refused to come out. It was a complete turnaround to how the Hulk usually operated, demanding control whenever the opportunity was granted. Yet right then and there, possibly in the heart of the most stressful situation Banner could have imagined for himself, the Hulk was quiet. It wasn’t natural. It wasn’t Hulk. Banner rubbed a palm through his hair, scratching and rubbing the back of his neck. “Any idea why Fury used that pager in the first place?” Bruce asked, leaning forward and shifting his eyes to the left of the living room, where Rhodes and May continued to stand still. Melinda crossed her arms, her eyes falling and a certain darkness overcoming her expression. Her heart. Her very voice when she said, “He didn’t have time to tell me.” The room fell silent after that, even quieter than any of them would have wished for. Rhodes sighed rather heavily, his exoskeleton suit crying out as he turned and made his exit. But not before he called back to say, “I’ll keep an eye on it.” He left with May leaning against the exit’s frame, arms crossed and downtrodden expression refusing to look up, look to the light. Look for hope. Even as the literal beacon stepped forward to her and paused, allowing May to take the necessary steps to rise up and meet his eyes. And she saw Steve Rogers, the First Avenger asking, “How’s Daisy holding up?” May shook her head. “She won’t even come out of the Helicarrier.” “Shuri?” “Still mourning,” she responded. “Says she wants to leave soon. Go and rebuild what’s left.” Steve looked away. “I don’t doubt her.” A troubling sense of understanding filled Steve’s wounded heart. Of course Shuri would wish to return back to Wakanda. She still had her people with the Jabari hiding in the mountains, the mass exodus of which her brother and mother ordered after hearing word of the invasion soon to befall Wakanda. Since recent events, after learning what happened to T’Challa, the whole weight of Wakanda rested on her shoulders. Steve prayed for her. But right then, his attention was caught elsewhere. Steve looked to Rainbow Dash and Rarity, the only two mares present in the entire facility just… sitting together near the couches and chairs and a lone coffee table. Not a word from them, no form of life other than the flicks of their ears, the sniffling of their noses, the blinks of their eyes as they both gazed to the same object lying on the heart of the coffee table. Steve looked away when he stared down to the same object, rather not wishing to face the past once again. “What about Stark?” Steve whispered. May closed her eyes. “We’ve been trying. Searching… for days and there’s nothing.” “Thor?” She shook her head. More bad news after another. It was as if the haunting reminder of what awaited him when he turned his head, stared back to the holograms, and saw the body count only continue to rise in the thousands every few minutes was not the worst to come. The Avengers were split, morally and physically. Half of their team gone for God knows how long and so many other friends taken during the Snap. They were left to pick up the pieces, so much of it that they were crumbling under the weight. Fallen into the hole and not even given a shovel. And for once in his life, Steve didn’t know if they would be able to crawl out of it. Rainbow Dash and Rarity stared sadly onto Applejack’s hat, the remains of the Elements of Harmony inside it. Neither mare could think of anything other than home when they saw that. Equus Mount Aris Hippogriffia 2:29 p.m. They came from around the world. In droves, matching in airships large and small, numerous and plentiful. Many more simply took to the skies, including the newly-crowned Dragon Lord and what remained of his people. He was an elder dragon, experienced in age and humble in accepting the responsibility that came with wielding the Bloodstone Scepter. There were others, the leaders of the Griffon Kingdom flying with a multitude of royal guards and soldiers accompanying their trail. But they weren’t all there was. Not by a long shot. Airships from Equestria dotted the skies, joining the massive flying fortresses from the likes of the land of the minotaurs. Steel behemoths resembling ships by sea, the smog from their multiple engines polluting the storm-filled skylines. A powerful horn cried out from the ships, one by one, alerting the Hippogriff Kingdom of the approaching minotaurs. Other airships joined the likes of Equestria’s own, the zebras from their own nation and their leaders gazing to the darkened mountain awaiting them. Flying by, the airships from Abyssinia joined the direction of the wind, the king and queen of the feline people standing upon the deck and watching as Hippogriffia and her people zeroed in. All of them were flying in the same direction, every ship in the sky and every boat in the rising sea swarming and moving slowly towards the same mountain peak. Joining shortly was Pharynx and his remaining changelings, the king of the Changeling Empire meeting the solid stone of Mount Aris and sighing. Regardless, he bowed his head to Sky Beak and met the Hippogriff soldier with a short hug. Sky Beak was the one to end the hug with the changeling king rather quickly, smiling appreciatively to Pharynx and his people for accepting their invitation nonetheless. He had many more creatures to greet, offering a silent thanks of gratitude to Pharynx before moving on to the king of the griffons, then his queen. With him stood his wife and child, Ocean Flow and Terramar respectively meeting with the royalty alongside Sky Beak. Around Ocean Flow’s neck, a necklace of black pearls hung under her sad smile, beet red eyes joining the likes of Gallus when the young griffon met her claw for a short handshake. Even when he knew they were still in mourning, his eyes were wide and hopeful, looking around for a friend within the family. Terramar just met Gallus’ wandering expression with a look of grief, the tears in his eyes growing. Terramar looked aside, closing those eyes and unable to open them again. Gallus took that for what it offered, his heart falling again. Just like back in the Dragons’ Lair. It didn’t last forever, thankfully. In the corner of his vision, Gallus shifted his tear-filled eyes and spotted something within the crowds of rushing bodies and silent greetings. He saw King Pharynx meeting with the Dragon Lord, a trail of changeling guards, civilians, and families huddled together behind and beside him. But directly behind him, curled tight as to not draw attention, the young changeling sat with two younger of her own species sitting beside her. Two younger siblings to join Ocellus. Until her head swiveled slightly back, eyes widening and head perking upwards when she saw him. Gallus mirrored her almost instantly, breaking through the crowds as fast as his wings could beat. Ocellus mirrored him almost instantly. Then they met, Gallus and Ocellus locking one another in a tight, tearful hug. Either one of them could have expelled every pent-up emotion and experience they had been through since they last saw each other, but right then they just wanted to hold each other. Best friends finally reunited. “Gallus? Ocellus?” They turned in unison, Gallus and Ocellus losing their breath collectively when they saw Sandbar. Joined by his mother, the two ponies stared to the heart-wrenching sight before them. Sandbar’s mother was dressed in black, the mare already bound to shed more tears as she let her son go and meet his friends. The ones that made it out alive. Sandbar practically galloped into their awaiting embrace, the Earth pony practically dominating the hug and clutching Gallus within his left foreleg and Ocellus in his right. Gallus forced a chuckle and held him back, Ocellus whimpering and burying her face into Sandbar’s shoulder as she shivered into her best friend’s embrace. The three held onto each other even as so many more races and different species moved on by, congregating towards the heart of the mountain and the center of Hippogriffia. Eventually, they broke, Sandbar counting his friends and stopping shortly. “Yona?” The yaks walked by, the three of them searching the crowds for several seconds in silence. Gallus and Ocellus shook their heads. “Smolder?” Sandbar continued. Gallus stared at him silently. That was answer enough. Sandbar closed his eyes, opening only after a deep breath and the unrelenting courage that followed. “… Silverstream?” Ocellus looked away, a hoof rising to conceal her face and the tears that followed. It wasn’t able to conceal the cries, joining the hundreds of others within Hippogriffia. Soon enough, they got up from the dirt and collected those that held meaning to them, joining the congregation towards the heart of the mountain city. Ocellus gathered her two younger siblings and led them alongside Sandbar and his mother. Gallus followed behind them, Sandbar’s mother noticing the lack of family the young griffon walked with, stood with when they finally arrived and joined the hundreds of others. Her face broke, a hoof rising to caress the griffon’s head. Gallus froze at the touch, shivered under it, but accepted it nonetheless. Accepted that silent invitation to a family. They stood amongst the hundreds of others. Houses built within the very branches of the trees growing out of the mountain held Hippogriffs of all ages, families split in half and missing key members. Adorned on every house, every wall and every tree branch visible, lanterns lighted the darkened shadows of Hippogriffia. Even under the afternoon sun, the storm clouds blocked nearly all forms of natural sunlight, forcing them to take matters into their own claws. Those lanterns were numerous, passed around by several Hippogriffs to whomever held nothing. It took several minutes, but soon enough every dragon, every yak, every griffon, every changeling, every zebra, every minotaur, everygriff and everypony were either holding a lantern or a candle. They brought light to the hovering darkness, faces illuminated within the oranges and yellows. Griffons, dragons, changelings, and Hippogriffs hovered in the air, holding their candles close to heart and every single one of them gazing in the same direction. Hippogriffia Castle stood tall and within the shadows, illuminated under the glow of the hundreds of lights surrounding it. Upon the balcony, adorned in black pearls and a dress to match, Queen Novo slowly approached the edge. By her sides, Hippogriff Royal Guard stood at attention by her sides. Novo held nothing but a candle in her claw, heavy eyes gazing to the dancing flame. She had seen too many fires. Recent memory had become horrible memories that plagued her to that very moment. Canterlot was gone, nothing but smoldering remains after they finally arrived to Equestria what felt like a lifetime ago. So many nations and capital cities fell with it. The Dragon Lands burned in the back of her mind, the sun setting on that wretched day as the lands were pockmarked with bodies and dust. Nothing else other than that. The same dust Novo came home to when she found nothing but it on Skystar’s throne. “Your Majesty.” Queen Novo blinked and came back, staring to the wilting flame and turning back to the voice that called to her. Behind the guards, standing at attention was none other than the pony Stygian. Stygian arrived shortly after Princess Twilight decreed it to be so. The last Pillar of Equestria would find his place where it should have been all along, standing beside her through every course of action and whatever should come next. Knowing Princess Twilight would be absent while on Earth, she felt it to be only fair that Stygian helped where it mattered. He held the sky lantern in his hoof, offering it up to the queen. Upon it was written the name of the princess. The queen’s daughter. Novo smiled sadly, finding some mild form of peace to see Skystar properly off. She plucked the lantern from Stygian’s hoof and sat down, a candle in one claw and the lantern in the other. Novo stared silently to them both, offering a weak nod that none would have seen where they stood below the castle. Only her guards saw it, both Hippogriffs planting their spears into the marble floor twice. And what followed earned the sighs of pain from the crowds below. Two banners unfurled from the base of the castle, flowing downwards to reveal the unmistakable sun on the right banner and the unforgettable moon on the left. The revered cutie marks belonging only to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Several ponies lowered their heads and closed their eyes upon witnessing the marks of their late rulers, holding up the candles high above with shaking hooves. Other species reacted differently. The Dragon Lord held out his Bloodstone Scepter, pointing it to the castle. To the banners in silence, in honor, in mourning for what he and the rest of his race arrived in Hippogriffia to do. Beneath him, his fellow dragons each held a lantern and had written the names of the ones they lost upon them. They ignited the lanterns with a soft flame within them, breathing softly and spitting the fire so as to bring light to the lanterns. They held up their claws to the sky. The yaks pounded their hooves into the mountain floor, perfectly synchronized and ending in ten consecutive stomps. They held their lanterns high, each one decorated in their own native tongue of those taken away. The griffons followed suit, the king and queen unsheathing their sabers and pointing them to the banners of the Two Sisters. Many other griffon soldiers and guards followed. The civilians, the families, they joined the multitude and held their lanterns above them. The king and queen of Abyssinia bowed their heads in silence, their feline people awaiting their word while holding the lanterns softly. The changelings did the same, King Pharynx holding his lantern and igniting it. He stared somberly to the name of his brother, Thorax, upon its face. Then he released his to the sky. Every changeling did. The Hippogriffs followed shortly, then, too, did the zebras. The minotaurs. The dragons, yaks, griffons, and finally the ponies. They lit the sky lanterns and let them fly off into the darkened, stormy skies. Their eyes were brimmed with tears, watching as the hundreds of candle lights flew softly into the darkness. The two banners blew delicately in the wind, the ponies of Equestria mourning their princesses with silence and light. Mount Aris was bright amongst the black seas that surrounded it. The swarm of lanterns flew off into that black, an unknown journey awaiting each and every last one of them. A final resting place soon to be secured for the vanished. For every name. And after Queen Novo released her lantern, opened her tear-filled eyes once more, she was greeted to every face, every heart, and every voice crying out to her. “Hail Queen Novo! Ruler of Equestria!”