JUST A COPY

When the team received the message from Nebula to meet her on Titan, none of them knew what to expect. Messalina hadn't expected to find one of the Black Order's ships, the looming circle lodging a deep fear in her chest. She hoped Nebula's message wasn't about the location of Thanos - it seemed very likely now. 

Her hands shaking slightly, she followed the team onto the ship, her grip tightening on her knives so much her fingers turned white. A quick look at the others showed they all shared the same grim expression, and Messalina didn't blame them for it. Their first encounter with Thanos and they'd all been tricked, and Gamora was taken from them. It appeared everyone was overcome with worry for the girl, and they had every right to be worried. The adopted daughter of Thanos was in danger, and with her knowing the location of the soul stone she was the difference between saving the world and destroying it. 

She winced at every time her feet clanged against the metal surface. Her breaths sounded unnaturally loud to her ears. If someone was on this ship, they were either deaf or waiting to ambush them. 

Peter waved his arm in the air, gesturing for them to stop. This time, the remaining Guardians obeyed. He peeked around the corner, tapping his finger by the device behind his ear, activating his mask. Peter unsheathed his guns, and Messalina cocked her arm back slightly, prepared to fling a knife as soon as they entered the room. 

He rolled a grenade into the room, holding a hand as they waited in anticipation for the signalling blast. 

Bang!

Peter was the first to storm the room, his guns raised and already blasting. Drax and Mantis were hot on his tail, instantly prepared to fight. Drax let out a battle cry, a single word passing his lips. "Thanos!" 

Messalina froze. Could she face Thanos again? Could she really look him in the eyes and not see the blood he had shed, or the memories he had destroyed because of a number? It was like she was blind to what was going on in the other room, her mind reeling with the thoughts of what Thanos could do. 

A high pitched shriek pulled her out of her nightmares. She blinked rapidly, pushing the horrors from her mind to focus on the goal. She rushed into the room, halting her steps as she took in everything that was going on. 

A teenage boy in the iconic Iron Spider costume was crawling frantically away from Mantis, rapidly shooting web fluid at her until she was bound in place. Peter and a man in a suit of painted red and gold iron were beating each other to a pulp. Drax was being smothered by a cloak that seemed to have a life of its own. 

A cloak that looked very familiar. 

"Stephen Strange!" Messalina shouted, her head snapping in every direction to find the face of the goatee-d man who taught her everything that she knew. 

It was like someone had pressed pause on the fight. Everyone halted their actions, fists still raised and not yet delivering the damaging blows, guns raised yet still not having released the sudden blast. 

All attention had been focused on her. 

Her arms dropped to her sides, a small smile growing on her face. Eyes wide with awe, she took a step towards him. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"Don't take another step, V." A whirring sound hit her ears, and with a slight twist of her head she saw the machine's repulsors aimed at her. She merely sighed. 

Someone pressed the play button on the fight. Peter grappled to get a hold of the young boy, pressing his blaster to his forehead. Behind him, Mantis struggled to free herself from the webbing. "Everyone stay where you are. Chill the F out."

Peter powered off his helmet. "I'm going to ask you this one time - where's Gamora?"

"Yeah, I'll do you one better." A low clunk sounded, and the next second Iron Man's helmet was removed to reveal the infamous Tony Stark. Messalina bit her lip forcibly. Seeing his face after so long brought back long forgotten memories she'd rather not remember. He was one of the first in a long line of heroes to die. A friend. She was ashamed of herself for not recognising him sooner. "Who's Gamora?"

"Guys calm down, they're not a thre-" Messalina tried to convince Peter, moving towards him. All she got for her efforts was a snappy remark. 

"Am I speaking a foreign language? I said don't move." 

Messalina sighed, raising her hands in surrender. 

Drax spoke up from the ground, acting as a reminder to his presence. "I'll do you one better! Why is Gamora?" 

Messalina rolled her eyes. Her fingers started massaging the bridge of her nose - she was trying to save the world with a bunch of morons. 

"Tell me where the girl is, or I swear to you, I'm gonna French fry this little freak." Messalina saw the way the kid reacted. Instantly she was bickering with Peter, telling him to put a sock in it and that he was just a kid.

Tony didn't care, his voice raising. "Let's do it! You shoot my guy, I blast her. Let's go!" 

Messalina spun around, finding herself staring down a nanotech cannon. "I'm trying to help you ungrateful shits, and you're going to kill me?" 

"Only if he kills my guy." 

"Please don't kill me." The kid piped up, and Messalina couldn't help but agree with him. 

The anger in Peter's face only increased. "You don't wanna tell me where she is? That's fine. I'll kill all three of you and beat it out of Thanos myself." Peter addressed the child, and Messalina swore she could see his Adam's apple quickly bob up and down. "Starting with you." 

"Wait, what, Thanos?" Strange frowned. "All right. let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?"

"What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say? Jesus?" Peter's face twisted mockingly, and just like that all aggression was diminished. 

"You're from Earth?" Tony asked almost breathlessly. 

"I'm not from Earth. I'm from Missouri." The sure way Peter said this made it worse. Messalina wanted to smack her head against the wall. She didn't have much faith in the future of the universe. 

Short, Tony snapped. "Yeah, that's on Earth, dip-shit. What are you hassling us for?" 

The teenager sounded deflated as he was still trapped in Peter's grip. Now, it wasn't as tight as it used to be. "So you're not with Thanos?" 

"With Thanos?" Peter's face soured as he said the words, as if it made him sick to even pretend to be allies with the mad man. Messalina couldn't help agree with it - she felt sick just thinking about the titan. "No, I'm here to kill Thanos. He took my girl. Wait, who are you?" 

"We're the Avengers, man." 

Messalina's jaw dropped. She knew that Tony was on the Avengers, but the teenager had to be kidding. There had to be no way that a high school kid was a part of the Avengers, a highly dangerous team. She couldn't help the words tumbling from her mouth, her eyebrow cocking upwards. "Even you?"

The teenager jerked his head at the remark, him puffing his chest out slightly, but enough to notice. "Yes, is there a problem?"

"Thanos won't hesitate killing a kid." She saw him go slightly paler. He simply nodded absentmindedly. 

"You're the ones Thor told us about." Mantis' dreamy voice broke into the conversation. Messalina gave the alien a tiny smile, averting her gaze from the antennae. 

Tony's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "You know Thor?"

"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good looking, needed saving." Messalina scoffed at the immaturity of Peter. Her humour was quickly dampened as Strange started talking. 

"Where is he now?" 

Messalina reached up to her ear, flicking the old device on. "I can find out." 

A high pitched sound pierced her ear and she hissed, battering at her ear as the sound eased into something tolerable. Turning to Tony, she let the edge of her mouth quirk upwards. "Can I move now?" 

He made a waving gesture with his hand, and Messalina wasted no time moving into the corner of the room, making the most of what little privacy it provided. She pressed her finger into the ear piece, trying to hear more than the inaudible muffles on the other end. "Octavian?" 

Huffing could be heard on the other side, along with many shouting voices. Messalina felt her heart rate elevate, and her hands began to quake. "Octavian?" She asked, more frantically this time.

"I'm here," he huffed, audibly struggling. "Not going to lie sis, but this isn't a great time." 

"Of course it's not a great time it's the end of times jack ass." She bickered, catching sight of everyone keeping their eyes on her. She knew they'd be straining their ears for any snippets of conversation they could pick up. "Did you get there?" 

She didn't get a response. Messalina shook her head exasperatedly, pursing her lips. She repeated the question impatiently, tone noticeably sharper. 

"Yes." Octavian responded. Crashes and bangs could be heard in the background, and Messalina's brows were drawn further together. 

"Are you guys okay?" 

"Um, we'll be fine. I think." Octavian paused. "I've gotta go."

And just like that, he switched off his comm. Messalina let out a frustrated growl, unsheathing one of her knives and stabbing it into the wall. She turned her burning gaze to those waiting for her reply, them only getting a single sentence. "They're alive."

Everyone visibly relaxed. Messalina didn't take note of this, her teeth on edge. She couldn't believe that he'd done that to her, after he said that he thought that they'd be fine. As much as she wanted to be furious with him, it quickly fizzled out. It was just replaced with never ending worry. 

"Messalina, is it?" Strange's voice perked up, bringing her attention to him. She simply nodded. "Can we talk?" 

All Messalina wanted to do was collapse to the ground. In the past twenty four hours, she'd seen Thanos face to face, watched Gamora be taken from their grasp helplessly and now her dead mentor wanted to talk to her. "Aren't we talking now?" 

"In private."

"We're in space. There is no privacy."

"Right." He sighed, casting a look at the rest. They were all preoccupied in their own arguments, and it must have been because of that that he deemed it something safe to talk about so openly. "Before, when Tony threatened you, you said something. Have we met before?" 

Messalina shook her head. For some reason, it felt a lot harder to explain without her brother by her side. "You'll figure it out. Just be grateful I didn't hug you."

Messalina walked away from him, integrating herself with the new team. There was no point getting to know Stephen Strange, for she already knew every detail about him. She considered him almost a father, and the Strange from her reality was enough for her. She didn't care to know anything about a copy. 

-

hey guys! so as of this chapter being posted, all of veni, vidi, vici has been written besides one chapter. there's nearly another 20 chapters to go so it's not over so soon, but updates will be a definite as they're all sorted now. 

to celebrate having finished it, i'm collecting ideas on what to do for deleted scenes. it could be a mission they were sent on when they were in their home reality, or them having a moment with a character you love, or them just interacting with each other. it could even be about how certain members came to join libertas, it's entirely up to you. i already have a few ideas. i might not be able to use all ideas but if i do use yours, i'll make sure to credit you in the chapter and tag you. 

i was also thinking of maybe doing a lil q and a. i do this every time i finish a book, i guess it's my way of coping not writing about them anymore. if you have any questions about the book, characters, their world, or me just let me know here and i'll add them in. 

depending on what avengers 4 is like (still not calling it it's title for people who don't want spoilers) depends if there's another book. with the way it ends there is potential, so i guess we'll see what april has in store for us. 

thank you guys so much for reading, you're all amazing! 

see you soon, 

-thirdwheelchurchill