//------------------------------// // Chapter 156 – Negative // Story: Infinity Era // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// 156 Arthros Sector 17A of the Negative Zone Natasha felt the piercing cold of the being’s needle-like claws wrap around her throat, constricting her windpipe and slowly cutting off her flow of oxygen. She then felt herself being raised from the earth, her right palm clutching the being’s arm while her left remained behind her back, fist closed tight around the Soul Stone. All the while she tried not to stare onto the being’s face now that it had stepped free from the shadows and was standing before her under the glow of the black hole. With her vision beginning to blur from the lack of air, all Natasha managed to catch were the red orbs of raw energy glowing violently against the beast’s face. It managed to illuminate what the minimal light above could not, showcasing a metal-plated face lacking basic, human-like facial features. No nose. No ears. No teeth. Just metal fangs. Just metal everything. No sense of morality or mercy. Nothing that was natural. She tried to fight back, but her efforts didn’t matter. Her punches didn’t even move the being, let alone harm it. It gazed to her efforts with waning interest, studying the softness of her skin and analyzing each side of the woman’s face. How long had it been since it had witnessed a human being? How long had a positive creature entered its realm and lived long enough to stand before it? Such interesting thoughts… that the being could save for later. Once its eyes fell down to her opposite hand—her left palm hidden behind her back—the being found itself intrigued. For if the positive wretch would waste her efforts in hiding something, it must have been of great value or interest. Reaching down with its free right claw, the being grabbed Natasha’s wrist and lifted it much to Romanoff’s distress. Her grunts and cries sounded off as the being forcefully pulled her left arm free from behind her back. Natasha struggled where she hovered above the ground, feet flailing and mind fading from consciousness due to the lack of oxygen. The black began to overcome her vision, but she stayed conscious just long enough to see the being pry her left arm forward, twisting it just enough for her closed fist to face it head-on. Her arm shivered and struggled against its overwhelming strength. Its red eyes turned away from her to focus only on her fist. Its claws began to crawl upwards on her forearm, reaching her palm. Its red orbs of hellish fire narrowed. It squeezed its grip, both the left and the right hands. Never could it have reacted to the beam of magic when it turned away. By the time it finally did, it was too late. A bolt of magic so raw and so powerful screamed across the skies, shot over the wave of insects’ heads, and impacted their leader with resounding force. It was deadly accurate as well, striking the being dead in the chest and launching it straight through its throne. Stone and ice and other earthly material shattered from the impact of the body. Having focused its attention to the magical beam just moments before being struck by it, the beast had lost its grip around Natasha and flung the Avenger as its own body careened back into its throne. Natasha hit the ground with a painful yelp leaving her, the Widow groaning softly as she tried to roll to her chest. The moment she rolled to her side; however, she was a witness to a screaming wave of alien insects charging her. Unstoppable. Unfathomable. They were as vast as an ocean, as numbered as the sands upon the shoreline. They crawled, flew, and stampeded towards Romanoff with wretched force and ferocity. The Black Widow could do nothing but stare onto her final moments with shivering trepidation. She made certain to keep her left fist closed tight, but eyes centered and solid onto her enemy, to let them know and understand she would stay resilient even to the end. Their fangs, pincers, and teeth all zeroed in and collapsed onto the Widow. Or, onto the shield of magic that surrounded her. They impacted the protective dome of magical energy again and again, assaulting the outside with ravenous strikes and slashes. It held strong, the light blue aura instantly reminding Natasha of a familiar horn’s glow. A flash of light behind her later, and Natasha spun to meet the likes of Elektra Natchios, Clint Barton, and Tempest Shadow all standing together under the light of the shield. Natasha blinked. No demons. No monsters. Just her friends. Clint bent down to one knee, clutching Natasha’s shoulders with his palms and shaking her back into the realm of reality and the living. His voice cried out but the numbness in her ears gave no signature of sound. Not like it mattered. She stared fully into his eyes, his face, and saw only him. His hands rose up and caressed her cheeks, the sides of her face, and assured her that it was him. Her family. Soon enough, his voice came back to her. “… tasha? Natasha? It’s me… It’s me; it’s Clint. Okay? You there, Natasha? Please… Nat…” Cautiously, they both watched as her right palm shivered its way up to his forearm. Clint stared onto her quivering fingers wrap slowly against his wrist, his eyes trailing back into her own. There was no sense of uncertainty any longer. No fog to cloud who they were or what they wanted to see. In that moment, under the light of magic, they saw one another. Natasha saw him and whispered, “Clint?” He nodded with a broken smile, placing his forehead softly against hers. She fell into it, breathing steadily alongside her family. There was no further distance to break as she pushed forward and fell into his arms for a powerful hug. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and held him there, Clint’s own cradling the back of her head. Just feeling her heartbeat and knowing she was alive, amongst all the uncertainty, amongst all the chaos surrounding them and wishing to destroy them, somehow that made it all worth it. Knowing she was alive made it all worth it. And as for Natasha, knowing Clint lived made her life worth it. “Don’t ever leave me,” she whispered in his ear, voice breaking. Clint closed his tear-filled eyes. “Only if you never leave me.” She said nothing, unable to, and just closed her eyes. Maintaining the shield and fending off the swarms upon swarms of insects, Tempest found a moment of clarity and turned to the two Avengers. All she could do was simply stare at them, see their bond be fully exposed and the words both Clint and Natasha shared with one another. How they held each other, how they spoke, how they cried, all of exemplifying love in its purest form. Tempest’s expression cracked at that, but nonetheless held. Just as well as her horn’s magic holding the dome over their heads. Finally breaking the embrace, Clint held Natasha’s shoulders and asked, “Do you have it?” Raising her opposite hand, Natasha opened her left palm, revealing the orange glow. Clint, Elektra, and Tempest slowly fell into the light of the Soul Stone, the shimmering gem glowing softly upon Natasha’s open palm. Clint’s expression hardened, his lips pursing in acknowledgment. A nod from him. A nod from her. They both turned to their remaining two Avengers. A nod from all. Natasha closed her hand over the Stone and twisted her wrist over, showcasing the Time Travel GPS. They all raised their right hands and hooves respectively, the magical shield around them cracking and beginning to shatter with Tempest’s efforts focused elsewhere. With just one vial of Pym Particles left each, none of them said a word but prayed their next jump would lead them home. And they did. They jumped. Each of their bodies were consumed by the Quantum Suits and they shrunk down to microscopic size into the vast expanse of the Quantum Realm. Just as the being rose from its shattered throne, it pointed its massive, weaponized rod right for Tempest’s shield and completely decimated it. Not only the shield, but everything in front, behind, and beyond it. The earth was torn to shreds as the cosmic energy escaped from the rod and vaporized the magical shield Tempest once held. A clear line was crafted from the explosion of energy, decimating the grounds beyond and any insect that was unfortunate enough to be caught in the beam’s ray. It destroyed various landscapes, the ending eruption creating a vast array of lights that shimmered and sparkled in the blackness of the night sky. The orb of light faded from the earth’s crust, leaving just the aftermath. Within that aftermath, the being stepped free from its destroyed throne and witnessed the carnage left behind. Only there was nothing there. No hints, no traces, no scent of the woman or her allies. They had escaped. Through the vastness of the multiverse, they had escaped. The being lowered the Cosmic Control Rod and screamed. Annihilus screamed out to the Negative Zone. His kingdom and his prison. The vastness of the Quantum Realm was unparalleled to any other. The team of four Avengers could hardly keep their eyes open as they soared, dodged, and let their GPSes guide them to one last location. One last destination. The end of their journey. It was all mostly a blur, Clint and Natasha and Elektra and Tempest unable to keep their eyes open. It flashed so bright and so suddenly that they felt as if a seizure was soon upon them. Their stomachs felt queasy, their heads were spinning, and the various time vortexes they passed by seemed liked entire galaxies. Entire dimensions that swirled and consumed all they could. Yet through it all, Natasha never released her grip around the Soul Stone. Soon enough, out of the corner of their eyes, they witnessed a familiar band of Quantum Suit-bearing Avengers joining them. Then another team. Another squad. Then Bruce Banner. Their paths collided and the conglomeration of Avengers tasked with finding a specific Infinity Stone had reunited at last. They flew together, even if they didn’t fully see each other, and broke through the waves of the Quantum Realm as one stream of continuous light. The energy they created with what they held broke various time vortexes they passed, various other barriers and dimensions outside of their control. A particular Quantum City sat within the expanse, overlooking the stream of light the Avengers created. And the city was caught in that light, that unbreakable barrier surrounding the city nearly shattering once the path of the Avengers had crossed it. The barrier teetered and broke, capturing not only the inhabitants of it… but one particular individual. He was caught within his study, overlooking various calculations and formulas written over a lifetime ago. As its prisoner, he could do nothing more but learn, study, try to figure out a way to break through the barrier and find a way back home. His glasses sat snugly on the ridge of his nose, a brown and graying beard gracing his cheeks, lips, and chin. That grayness slipped onto the sides of his hair, a palm raised over his mouth as he tried to find meaning within the meaningless. Seek the known within the unknown. For years, he had been trying to find an answer to their escape. For years, he and his family had been trying to get home. But when that flash of light caught his interest, he finally turned away from his work. And saw what he simply couldn’t believe. Rising slowly from his chair, the man approached the window and gazed out beyond the massive Quantum City and the building he occupied within it. He pushed the window out, palms gripping the edges of the building as he witnessed the barrier beyond his reach finally break. A tear was formed from the stream of light, a pathway crafted to a distant time vortex. The light of the path shimmered across his eyes, his jaw falling but no breath able to escape. He shivered when the realization became reality. He had an escape. He had a path. He had it all… except his voice. “Reed?” The familiar voice was a soft and harmonious tune to his ears, and he turned to face quite possibly the only saving grace to his imprisonment in the Quantum Realm. She stood just inside his office, the familiar white, gray, and blue suit clutching her body just as it clutched his. Her long, golden-blonde hair fell down her shoulders and swayed to her movements closer to him. With that distance broken, he stared into her eyes as she came to his side. He turned away. Susan did so, as well. And they saw, without a word, the tear to the barrier and the pathway that led home. Susan Storm let loose a soft gasp, eyes widening in shock and awe. Reed Richards smiled for the first time in many, many years.