𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐖𝐎 — a child?

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 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 alien swung.

 The axe in Cull Obsidian's hand came crashing down, and whilst both Emilia and Bruce wanted to look away — unwilling to watch Tony Stark get crushed beneath the assault — they kept their eyes trained.

 Bruce, who had come to know and love the suits his fellow Avenger donned and constantly upgraded, watched with bated breath as Tony rose an arm, and there, as though out of thin air, a brilliant red and gold shield formed. The axe landed upon it, and Stark didn't even flinch nor did he move a muscle as a resounding clang rang out.

 Tony scoffed from inside his suit, the sound never reaching anyone but himself and the towering alien before him. He shot his fist out, metal-covered knuckles hooking Cull in the cheek with a sickening crack.

 Tony hopped back a step, allowing room between himself and his enemy, it took no instructions on his part for his intuitive suit to take charge. He held his balled-up fists before him and from the back of his suit erupted four hovering pieces of metal that drifted ever so slightly to the sides of his body; framing him.

 He wasted no time in firing the nano-lasers that jostled behind him, watching with a grin beneath his cold metal mask as each stark white beam shot forth, gathering to one condensed force. Cull couldn't keep his footing, even despite his heavy stature, and the moment the condensed laser hit him square on the chest, he was launched backwards as a snarl tore from his lips.

 Ebony Maw had watched with disinterest; to him, the people standing between himself and the Time Stone were nothing but mortal scum. He flicked his wrist, using his abilities to push Cull away from him and instead, the towering beast hurtled towards a cluster of abandoned cars.

 Emilia blinked, paying far more attention to Maw than Tony; his suit was remarkable, that much was certain. The way it acted without vocal command, the way it created pieces of weaponry and defensive shields from nothing... Yet it was Maw that held her attentiveness. The creature could move things in such a similar manner to herself. A single flick of the wrist had sent his companion crashing away from him; he'd certainly be an opponent.

 "Woah!" Bruce practically gushed as he gestured wildly towards Tony. "Where'd that come from?

 Stark, ever the man to relish in the attention of a friend — rather than keep an eye on the fight that had not quite concluded — spun to face Bruce. The sunlight glossed over the metal that encased his body, shining on the surface, "It's nano-tech. You like it? A little something I —"

 Tony didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, for Maw, in a single and almost lazy movement had manipulated the ground he stood upon. Cement, soil and the metal pipes that had been buried beneath the city roads shot up in a multitude of spikes, sending Tony flying into the air.

 Ebony Maw, without a single beat passing from his assault on Tony, threw his bony hand in the direction of the remaining team; trees were pulled from the ground, obeying his powers without much choice; roots tangled with soil and parts of the road crumbled from the plantation as they hovered in the air for a split second, before shooting towards the Earth's defenders.

 Emilia watched on as Wong took the lead, stepping up to the batting plate as he thrust his own hands forth and summoned the Shields of Seraphim. The trees collided against the wall of orange symbols, sparks spitting out as they ricocheted and finally slumped to the ground in a mangled mess of bark, soil and leaves.

 Emilia turned her sights to Bruce, watching as the man momentarily seem transfixed on Wong's demonstration of the mystic arts; for people of science, seeing such things for the first time was something indeed. But he couldn't fight — Bruce Banner was not a fighter — and it seemed as though the Hulk was unwilling to offer his strength.

 "Bruce?" Emilia called, and the man immediately jogged to her side, eyes darting between Emilia and Stephen, "If The Hulk isn't coming out, you have to go."

 Bruce couldn't even open his mouth to offer some kind of retort or rebuttal, for Stephen had circled his hands, and with the power of the sling-ring nestled above his knuckles, a golden ring sprouted beneath Bruce's feet, transporting him... and half of a cab... to a safer place, away from their impending fight.

 Once the golden circle had folded in upon itself and disappeared from sight, both Emilia and Stephen moved to join Wong's side, and engage in battle. Emilia rose her hands, eyes landing on a dismantled car as she did. The car was swarmed with blue and a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead as she forced the vehicle to raise. Stephen, on the other hand, narrowed his gaze at Maw and curled his arms to form another glowing amber circle.

 However, just as Stephen readied his attack beside Wong, Tony breezed past. Emilia recoiled, jumping to the side as a blast of air pushed past her, the car in her hold slamming back into the ground; the car door that had been hanging by a mere thread creaked and groaned before toppling off.

 Stephen and Wong stumbled, their attack effectively breaking as Stark rushed by. The sound of his repulsors firing up filled their ears as he finally landed upon solid ground, his hands were pushed forth, repulsors firing at the car Maw had sent hurtling their way. Starks attack sent it back where it came, though Maw easily lifted a single finger and sliced the car in two, barely moving as the bumper breezed past him on one side, the rear flew by on the other.

 Emilia couldn't help but roll her eyes as she watched the billionaire take charge; had it not been him that had been blown from the battle in a single movement? Stephen and Wong would have easily reflected the car, giving Emilia the time to fling the one that had been in her hold, yet Stark just had to blow that plan away.

 "You gotta get that Stone outta here, now." Tony commanded, his head drawing back to face Stephen for a short moment, effectively ignoring the eye roll he received from the man.

 Stephen glanced back at Emilia; whilst he was sure of his decisions, over time he seemed to seek out more answers from both Emilia and Wong. But in this instance, Emilia wasn't sure what exactly was their best bet. They could either hide the Stone, have it out of their own view and rely on the powers at their disposal; or they could fight with it, keep it protected with a spell or two.

 Stephen looked down at the Eye, pondering for the shortest of seconds before solidifying his plan. A small mutter sounded out beneath his breath, a barely noticeable amber glow seeped from the item that housed the Stone; a protection spell. He looked back to Tony, "It stays with me."

 "Exactly, bye!" Tony offered as a response, his suit blasting into the air, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

 Maw snarled at the sight of the human blasting towards him and rose his hand to attack. Mangled limbs made from the crumbling building around them short forwards; cement and brick tangled with wires and metal darted from either side of the street, crawling forth in an attempt to stop Stark in his path.

 Emilia moved away from her companions, leaving Stephen and Wong to watch as her eyes narrowed and her feet became firmly planted on the ground. A short grunt left her lips, her jaw tightening as her fingers twitched before her. Blue encased the mangled pieces of brick and metal, and with small, precise movements of Emilia's hands and fingers, they were twisted away from Tony — slamming to the ground before she moved to the next.

 She could faintly hear Tony shout some form of praise or thanks, yet the words never quite made it to her ears as she kept her focus on her task... That is before Maw's beastly companion finally crawled back into the fight.

 The towering alien threw his axe forth, watching with sick satisfaction as the axe opened like a clam and clamped around the Avenger, effectively halting his attack. The force of the assault threw Tony backwards, bypassing Emilia, hurtling past Stephen and Wong, before he was thrown through a building and finally landed in the centre of Central Park.

 A heaving sigh fell from Stephen's lips as he twisted his gaze from the giant crater in the building Stark had been thrown through, to Emilia. Splitting up was never a part of any plan, the three of them worked best together; but now, with Stark mere seconds away from where Stephen had sent Bruce... Both of them would be targeted by the towering alien who had already stormed forth, crashing through buildings as he left nothing but stray bricks and a cloud of dust behind him.

 "Emilia..." Stephen called as he nodded his head in the direction of Tony. He and Wong would have no trouble in taking down Maw; the thing used telekinesis in a similar manner to the way Emilia flaunted her own abilities, and that was something both he and Wong had experience with. "Go after Stark."

 Emilia blinked, swiftly avoiding another assault from Maw as she brought a car into the air to act as a shield, "Are you sure?"

 "Go. We have this." Wong nodded, exchanging a look with Stephen as the two readied their golden shields.

 Emilia nodded absentmindedly as she swiftly threw the car forth, her lips curling as Maw stumbled to haul it into his own grasp, and with a single flourished movement of the hand that dutifully held her sling-ring, a swirling, golden portal erupted in the air.

 She cast a single look back, "Stay safe, both of you." She muttered, eyes fixated on Stephen and that one piece of hair that refused to stay in its place. With eyes still narrowed in concentration, Stephen nodded, his response nothing less and nothing more than a soft 'and you' before Emilia finally closed the portal behind her.

 The first thing that filled Emilia's sights upon transporting herself from one fight to another was a stumbling Bruce Banner, trying with all his dishevelled might to avoid a falling tree. The sight was comical as she watched for a split second as the man's legs somehow twisted around one another, sending him face-first into the dirt. The tumbling tree with broken branches would have crushed him if Emilia hadn't shrouded it in blue and heaved it to the side.

 Her legs pumped her forwards before she knelt by his side, stifling the poorly-timed laugh that bubbled on her tongue as Bruce lifted his head; leaves in his hair, mud caking his face whilst a single blade of lime-green grass stuck to his bottom lip. He huffed and spat away the pieces of dirt that clung to his lips, "Emilia?"

 "You okay?"

 "Uh." Bruce stammered for a moment, his mind bringing forth his swift and short argument with the Hulk that had simply refused to lift so much as a finger to help, as well as having watched Tony slam into a tree, before being pursued by an alien with an axe that was only slightly smaller than the man's ego... "Can I get back to you on that?"

 Emilia scoured his form, catching the copious dirt that stained his clothes that Wong had scrambled to gather from the Sanctum, the grass stains on his knees, the slight cuts on his face. Finally, she sighed and shifted her attention to the clanging of metal against metal that reverberated behind her.

 Stark was adamant about beating the beast that had invaded their planet; his ironclad fists beat against the towering beast's face, dodging and weaving away from the aliens' assaults with the help of his boosters. The whirring of powering up repulsors filled her ears, as did the repeated swear words that spewed from Stark's mouth; and then, Stark was knocked to the ground with such force that plied his air from his lungs.

 The man wheezed, and just as Emilia rose her hands to defend Tony from the alien with a readied axe that had been shot forth, a blur of red darted in front of the weapon; hands grasped at the axe with utter ease, stopping it in its track without a single hint of a struggle.

 From where Emilia was standing, all that could be seen was the back of a mask covered head; a mask that was a rather garish shade of red with a web-like pattern crawling over the material. The person, somewhat short in stature, sounded incredibly young, and very enthused as he greeted the alien, "Hey man. What's up, Mr Stark?"

 "A child?" Emilia muttered to herself as she absentmindedly scratched the back of her neck, watching as the kid in red held the axe without a care in the world.

 The newcomer turned his head, looking to Tony as the Avenger spoke, "Kid, where'd you come from?"

 "A field trip to MoMA —" The teenager didn't quite get to finish his full sentence for Cull had grabbed him in a single hand and threw him with as much force as he could muster. Peter cried out as he hurtled through the air and eventually landed against the side of the following, central fountain.

 Emilia watched with mild awe as the child brushed off his landing, easily rising to his feet and shooting, what Emilia assumed and hoped to be webs from his wrists; it was beginning to be a lot to keep up with.

 "Uh... What's this guy's problem, Mr Stark?" The kid called out as he slung a multitude of webs towards Cull, grinning beneath his mask as the alien fought against them; with the distraction he provided, Tony fired up his repulsors and launched shots from his blasters at Cull's back.

 Tony narrowed his gaze, shooting with precision as he swarmed the towering alien with his blasts, "Uh, he's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard."

 That was certainly an oversimplified answer if Emilia had ever heard one... Though, to be fair, it was true. Sorcerer, wizards, there wasn't too much difference, even if Stephen liked to argue about said fact.

 The kid threw himself towards the alien once more, only for his attack to reign futile as his body was clamped in the beats hand. His head cocked for the slightest of seconds as he caught sight of Emilia standing beside Bruce who had yet to pull himself from the ground, and then, he was hurtling towards them with eyes fastened shut.

 Emilia launched her hands forth, willing the bundle of leaves and twigs that had tried their hardest to trap Bruce to shoot forwards. They gathered in a bundle — an oversized nest that the kid was flung into. It softened his landing, and for that he was thankful.

 "Hey!" He called out as though he hadn't been attacked by a being from outer space, "I know you!"

 Emilia blinked, staring at the barely taller figure who bounced on his feet like a giddy child, "Whilst I'd love to find out how, I think we should be focusing on that —'' Cull let out a roar that almost shook the earth they were standing on, he swatted his arms out, trying with all his might to smack Tony like a fly; he got a few good hits in whilst defending from the man's repulsors with his axe, "Actually... I need you to distract him."

 "Oh! Yeah, sure! I can totally do that!" The kid jumped at the chance, his head darting to and fro as he surveyed their surroundings, "Uh... How?"

 Emilia skirted around Bruce, eyeing the man shortly as he argued with himself, willing the Hulk to finally make his appearance; he had no luck. With a short breath, Emilia patted the half of the cab that had fallen through the portal alongside Bruce, "Throw as much as you can at it, this and anything else you find, but try to stay here, in this area so that he's focused — so that it doesn't look behind it."

 "Okay, okay, I got it...." Peter's head bobbed. His voice lowered as he mumbled to himself for a moment, "Throw stuff, keep him focused... Got it!" He tilted his head as he watched the Doctor move aside for him, she just... Stood there with her fingers twitching against her robe-clad thighs, "What uh — what about you?"

 "Don't worry about me, just stick to the plan."

 "Okay, sure." Peter grinned from beneath his mask, he bobbed on the heels of his feet for a moment before releasing a breath. His hands were slung onwards, his middle and ring fingers curling inwards as sticky webs launched from the devices on his wrists. The webs clung to the dismantled taxi, and with a grunt, Peter sent it blasting towards Cull.

 Tony darted out of the way, landing on the ground with a single fist slammed into the grass, watching as Cull was taken off guard by the attack. The garish yellow vehicle slammed into its face, a gush of wine-red blood dribbled from the deep cut on his forehead.

 A ground shaking bellow of a roar erupted from its lips.

 Peter continued his onslaught, hopping from tree to tree as he tore branches and threw them to their enemy; they did little to harm or even stun him, but it was enough to anger the beast and draw its attention to the young boy.

 Emilia was almost certain she could hear the kid narrating his onslaught of attacks, small yelps of victory searing through his mask upon a perfectly timed throw. She shook her head, concentration grasping her features; her lips thinned into a line, eyes narrowed into slits as she focused her gaze on the fountain behind their enemy.

 A gust of silent, glitching blue mist encircled it. The water jostled, the bricks shook and Emilia swallowed a deep breath before her teeth clamped together. Her outstretched fingers were rigid, moving only ever so slightly as she willed her abilities to grasp the fountain in their hold.

 Tony, alerted by F.R.I.D.A.Y., caught sight of the spewing water, watching for a short second as a now-familiar blue encased it in its cage. He readied his repulsors, the usual whirring sound filled his senses before they fired down. His eyes narrowed as something in the distance shot by.

 "Shit..." Tony cursed beneath his breath as an unconscious Stephen Strange passed them by. Maw followed after him, bricks and rubble twirled beneath his feet, carrying him after his prize.

 Emilia saw it too and her focus almost slipped, the weight of the fountain in her abilities grasp made her stumble. "Tony!" She called out, her voice tight and strained as Stephen disappeared from her peripheral. Worry blossomed in her gut, begging her to follow and just as she was about to give in to the feeling and flee for the Sorcerer that held her heart within his shaking hands, Tony called out to the boy clad in red.

 "Kid, that's the wizard. Get on it!" His voice echoed from within his suit, and the kid who hopped about the trees whipping branches, rocks and webs towards their attacker immediately ceased.

 A string of webs shot into the sky, "Got it!" The kid called back to Tony and within moments, he was out of their view entirely.

 "Don't worry," Tony yelled out, his words meant for Emilia. The following sentence, or at least the first few words, were spoken far more softly than she'd heard Tony speak before. His words were a cluster of... Pride? Fondness? Either way, they were as solid as stone and managed to help quell the bubbling worry in Emilia's gut; if only a little. "I trust him, he'll save your wizard."

 Emilia, though soothed by Tony's heartfelt trust in the teenager, was still hesitant. She scoffed, and suddenly the fear, the worry, and anything else that made her want to run vanished. If she and Tony finished off their enemy here, they could both proceed towards Stephen and finish off their foes companion; done and dusted.

 She rolled her shoulders, a loud click reeling out into the open air, joining the mixture of whirring from Tony's firing repulsors, the mumblings of Bruce who was still in a heap on the ground, and the bellowing growls of Cull.

 The fountain shuddered. Water spilt over the edges, soaking into the pale brick. The moss that had slowly been spreading, darkened as it sucked up as much moisture as possible. Cracks began to form, they crawled over the brickwork, following the lines that had already been engraved over the years.

 Tony kept up his onslaught of repulsor beams, taking hits to his armour as he did so. The man looked to the side, a slight twitch dragging his lips upwards as he caught sight of that wondrous blue encasing the fountain. The sound of splashing water and building waves delighted him as they spilled over the edge of the pool they had been trapped in, finally making their escape as the fixture shook beneath Emilia's hold.

 A tumultuous crack rang out, finally catching Cull's attention, though the distraction merely gave Tony the upper hand as he delivered a forceful punch to the alien's jaw, almost chuckling as the beast staggered over his own two feet.

 The ground was shaking, almost groaning as the fountain was plied from its grasp. Emilia's forehead was covered in a sheen of sweat, a layer of moisture gathering atop her brows and in her hairline as she felt the muscles in her arms beg her to drop her hold; yet she didn't.

 A tremulous breath was blown from her lips as she forced herself straighter, like one would beneath a heavy weight. Her hands were thrust higher, the fountain finally following, obeying her orders. The fountain hovered in the air, water sloshing about, the spray of the fountain decorating the ground as it widely shot out.

 It took every ounce of strength that Emilia could muster, every muscle trembled, each bone shook as she allowed a yell to tear through her throat and past her lips whilst throwing her hands aside.

 The fountain that had been torn from the ground followed with obedience; crystal clear water spewed over the edges, dimes and quarters that giddy children and lovesick adults had tossed into the fountain jingled against one another, a handful or two jumping from their confines and dancing along the cracked pavement as the fountain was finally launched at an unsuspecting target.

 Tony, chortling beneath his breath from inside his intuitive suit, fired a blast of his repulsors. It merely hit Cull's axe, doing nothing to damage their enemy... And Cull grunted in what seemed to be amusement, that is... Until Tony dived to the side.

 Emilia panted on the spot, her knees weak from carrying the weight of the fountain; even after her training, larger objects, or those with more mass, took far more out of her than a simple rock. It was worth it, for by the time Tony had gracefully landed beside her — head devoid of his mask — the fountain had collided with its target.

 The bottom of the fountain had been jagged, unwilling to have been parted from its position, and those jagged edges had collided with Cull's skull. The beast had been forced to topple over, fountain following as it landed upon the aliens head. A sickening crack had resounded, the flow of wine-red liquid met that of the water that had been spilled, turning a dirty pink.

 "Well," Tony breathed as he ran a metal-coated hand through his hair. He had to admit, it was impressive to watch as the woman quite literally tore an entire fountain from the very ground it had been built upon, the ground it had been connected to. Nothing but a shallow crater, a few rusted coins, and puddles of water were left in its wake. "That was something."

 Emilia stayed silent, eyes focused on Cull as she watched the blood crawl further and further away from the body it came from. There shouldn't have been any sort of way for the beast to have survived, but she had to be certain.

 A seconded ticked into three, then to ten, and finally, Emilia cocked her head towards Stark, "I think it's dead."

 Tony blinked, a brow crawling up his forehead, "You caved ET's head in, and you think he's dead?"

 He had a point. If the sound that had shaken their bodies upon the fountain's impact had been anything to go by... Well, Cull's skull should have been nothing more than fractures of a whole. Nothing but crumbled, dismantled bone and blood.

 Emilia sighed, bringing the back of her hand to swat away her flyaway hairs, and the sweat that had conglomerated on her brow, "You can never be too careful."

 "Uh... Mr Stark?" The voice of the kid filtered through Tony's suit, immediately grasping the billionaire's attention into a vice-like clasp.

 "Kid?"

 "The wizards in the spaceship... And I've been beamed up."

 Emilia's heart palpitated, it twisted like vines around an arbour, seizing her breath. Her eyes clamped shut for a moment, relishing in the darkness that allowed her a moment to think, to try and solve this, to figure it out. A weight landed on her shoulders, and for a short beat, she assumed it was Stark's attempt at offering a form of comfort... But the familiar, tangled smell of tea, bergamot and sage that Stephen carried around with him — even despite the copious amount of cologne he'd try and douse himself with — surrounded her.

 Eyes flickered open to reveal the cloak that would ever so loyally cling to Stephen, sitting upon Emilia's slumped shoulders. A burst of hope, no matter how misplaced it may have been, sparked a match in her chest. The piece of sentient material was far too in tune with their thoughts, for it lifted her off the ground immediately. 

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24-01-2022

i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and peters introduction; also what do you think of emilia being the one to kill cull obsidian?

don't forget to let me know what you think; and remember that i now require a particular number of comments and feedback before i consider releasing the next part (this is just to ensure people remain engaged and supportive, as well as allowing me to see what you all enjoyed most!)