155
Arthros
Sector 17A of the Negative Zone
Once Clint and Elektra rose from the frozen earth that surrounded them, they all came together. All three Avengers. Tempest gave them that acknowledgement, affirmed to them that they were indeed missing one member. They were missing one friend. That wasn’t all she or any of the others acknowledged in that fateful moment.
With the three of them standing together, they finally took a moment to really breathe in the silence. A silence that somehow called to them. With only their breaths as their signifying presence of life to one another, each Avenger turned slowly and faced the uncertainty of the dark. Their breaths were the light of the frozen air. Cautiously, dangerously, they breathed in. The fog that lingered in the outskirts of the desolate civilization remained there. Lingered. Watched them.
Perhaps it was an instinct. A dread to know that whatever had taken them was ready to pounce once more. Like a prowling lion constantly circling from the shadows, just waiting for any of them to fall, to open themselves, to show just an inch of vulnerability. And then it would strike.
Yet they remained. They stood fast and ready, together and much stronger that way. The fog could do nothing but linger in the shadows, until it eventually began to slowly dissipate from existence. Until not even a trail of its essence remained. Clint managed a breath of sweet relief, blinking softly alongside Elektra and Tempest. They all seemed to relish in that moment of clarity, as if they all understood their foe and what it had attempted to do to them. Like it had nearly succeeded in doing before.
Together, they were stronger. They never left one another, nor did they feel a single passing thought enter them to deceive them otherwise. Not even Elektra. Clint’s actions earlier proved that.
“There’s something seriously wrong with this planet,” Clint managed to breathe.
“Not just that, but the air,” Tempest followed.
“Everything,” Elektra whispered, earning the eyes of the unicorn and the Hawk. Her arms slowly rose to caress her shoulders, rubbing them gingerly as another chill raced across her skin. A frozen breath left her, Elektra turning away. “It’s not right.”
Which meant they needed to leave fast. As in right then and there. Clint raised his GPS, pressing hard on his comms link. “Natasha, where are you? Natasha… Nat… Nat, do you read?”
No response.
Not at first.
Tempest’s ear flicked in the direction of sound. An unnatural, foreboding, and haunting sound that made her skin beneath her coat shiver. A sound they all knew. The buzzing. They didn’t even have a second to hide into cover when the swarms filled the black skies above their heads. On instinct, the Avengers began to bend low and sneak into cover, yet they stopped soon enough when they noticed that the alien insects above them didn’t even find any interest to the three lone Avengers any longer. They had their path set, a conjoined swarm all flying off in one general direction.
Then, they got the distress signal. Each one of them in their GPSes.
Natasha felt herself being forcefully thrown to the ground when her consciousness returned to her. The frozen air that had constantly pushed against her skin and face had finally ceased, ultimately bringing the Black Widow out of the fog, out of the madness, and free from the piercing, frozen death. She felt as if she was flying for a moment, that fragments of her family's voices and memories still hazy. Still like a fog.
The next thing she realized—or attempted to—was the side of her face planted to the frozen earth and the numbness of sound finally receding. She mumbled nothingness in her weak attempt to awaken, eyes softly fluttering open to gaze to a distinct ground of black earth. Then, the pincers fell from the sky and struck the ground with such speed and ferocity that it jolted Natasha right from her daze, bringing her to rest on her backside and swiftly crawling away from…
From…
The demonic face slowly turned with its sinister grin and razor-sharp teeth, a dual set of pincers in the sides of its mouth flickering with sickening intent. The soft clicks escaping its alien maw joined the slick, black ooze that dripped from its fangs. The massive, glossy red eyes familiar only to that of an Earthen insect was distinctly characterized by the glow of each orb, the unending dread of madness that swirled and glowed deep within. No matter what was real and what was a falsity, Natasha could have sworn she saw the insect turn her way with a smile. It couldn’t have been real. It was a living nightmare.
Then, it crawled at her.
Slowly at first, and soon joined by another that dropped from the shadowed sky. It resembled the first, hissing and clicking and growling to the lone woman crawling from them. Then another. Even more broke from the earth and emerged from the shadows of the distant rocks and stones erected like jagged sabers. Some were even camouflaged as the rocks, all of them zeroing in and descending onto the Black Widow. Some walked while bipedal. Some had multiple arms. Some were the size of titans rising in the distance. Some flew. Some drove their tower-like legs into the earth and crawled like gargantuan spiders. But they all moved towards her. Towards one distinct location. As one wave.
They all stopped.
Natasha’s breathing was sporadic.
She watched with wide, horrified eyes as they all lifted and turned their heads beyond her. And beyond her, that was where Natasha turned. Behind the Widow, a massive throne sat upon a set of stone steps. The shadows of the world, the fog that Natasha knew, and the heart of dread and uncertainty that stained the planet she was on, all of it centered solely on that throne. It was like an inevitable force, an abyss that sucked in all hope of life, love, and security. Everything that was natural was consumed by the utter darkness of the throne. And upon it, the eyes burned to life within the dark.
Two slits of raw, hellish fire.
Natasha jolted to her feet next. She wanted to back away, to turn and run, but after noticing the wave of insects and the miles of miles of those demonic creatures swarming her, Romanoff knew there was no escape. Not a survivable one by any means. With little to no choice left, she shakily turned her gaze back to the throne, gazed into the dark, and met the light of the horrific, glowing red eyes.
The eyes belonged to a being. Most of it was concealed in the shadows, but from the light that black hole had yet to consume, Natasha could see a large rod in its right claw, hanging lazily on the side of the throne. Before her, the red eyes slowly rose as the being stood up upon its towering legs. To her continued shock, a pair of pitch-black bat wings slowly unfurled from the throne. They extended outwards as a sign of intimidation, as way to frighten and disorient the prey standing meekly before it. Natasha soon realized the wings were not black, but green. And they belonged to the being.
The being that glared only at her as it descended the steps.
It was as if reality was swirled and bastardized with every step it took, only growing closer and closer to the Black Widow. A false sense of security gripped the being like a fog, those same swirls of light consuming the being and trailing it down the steps. Yet it did not fall to the fog like she had. It was if the fog was the very air it breathed, the life energy of which it so gladly showcased. Like a robe of fog. Like a royal regalia for the being and the world it controlled. It saw nothing more than the lone human, the natural, positive, living life that had entered its realm. It was unknown what shimmered in its eyes. All it saw was her.
Natasha gulped, tightening her left fist around the Soul Stone. “Oh, boy,” her frozen breath whispered. The Stone glowed upon her tightened touch, and it freed her.
With her mind finally and fully cleared from the fog, she realized she was alone. Cautiously, she pushed both hands behind her back, her right shivering as it reached for the GPS attached to her left. Her touch activated her distress signal, a sound that caught every insect, every beast, and even the being as their resounding screams filled the air of the Negative Zone.
Then, it broke the distance between them and drove its claws around her throat, stopping her own screams from sounding off.