I'd like to thank Miss__Audrey for the wonderful fan art above! I've never had someone made any for me before this so this is quite special. And I've honestly never considered Sophie Turner portraying Andi. When I think about it, she's actually PERFECT!

If y'all have created anything for me such as fan art, playlists, memes, video clips, anything really, PLEASE don't hesitate to send it to me through PM. I'll definitely be posting it in my stories and giving you acknowledgement and throwing a dedication and shout-out your way! :D

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I had a bad feeling about this. The hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms were still bristling, even after I watched Eon and the small portion of his army disappear back into the darkness from whence they'd came. Whatever these terms that he'd discussed with the Lady of Time, I knew for a fact that they weren't going to be good. You never negotiate with the enemy nor should you bargain with them in any way. Parley was shaky ground. I certainly would not have recommended doing it with this maniac. Of all enemies to even think about negotiating with, a power-hungry, deadly, and incredibly dangerous lunatic with near-undefeatable abilities to control time was not on the list. I'd rather go another few rounds with Ultron.

The Avengers and the Guardians stood scattered in Primavera's tent with the Lady of Time and Gilliam standing at the war table, resting closed fists on the edge. Astra stood nearby with two young men on either side of her. I recognised the blue-eyed, steely expression of Sirius – the Walker who brought the Guardians to the Chronos – on her left, but I didn't know who the other guy was with shoulder length blonde hair and dull green eyes. Andi leaned against one of the thin, wooden pillars in the corner watching curiously, arms crossed over her chest.

"So what's our next move?" Peter asked.

It was a no brainer. We all knew what had to be done: rescue the Lord of Time, defeat Eon, restore this universe back to how it was before. Seemed easy enough.

"We're not seriously going to meet his terms, right?" the blonde man scoffed. "You can't trust that snake!"

"Then what will you have me do, Patroclus?" Primavera said coolly yet slightly frustrated. "His threats have merit."

"And they are?" I pushed.

Primavera's old eyes looked up to me, sending the blood running through my veins to go cold. I thought I had a bad feeling about whatever terms Eon had set before. As those eyes bore through me, searing through my head, the bad feeling grew, spreading throughout my body.

"My husband will die if I do not meet the terms," she uttered, her voice shaking ever so slightly with pain. She turned to face behind her. Everyone's eyes followed her gaze. It rested on Andi. "I must hand over Andromeda or the Lord dies."

Silence grasped the room in a cast iron group. My heartbeat picked up the pace, thumping painfully against the walls of my chest, threatening to break free as a shiver slithered down my spine.

Andi's expression was unreadable – blank and stony. She could hide from everyone else, but she couldn't hide from me. Her eyes spoke more than her expression hid. She was conflicted. She was angry, frustrated that everything always came down to her. And what overwhelmed all those emotions was utter sadness; the way her brow slightly furrowed, the way those irises of jade green flicked to something new each millisecond.

"No way," Nat said, splitting the uncomfortable silence open. "We can't give Andi up. That's out of the question. There's gotta be another way."

"We have no intention of surrendering her," Astra replied sternly.

"Whatever we plan to do, we gotta decide now," Sam said, folding his arms. "You all heard the nutjob. We've got three days."

"Then we better be prepared in three days," I concluded. I turned to Primavera. "You better know what you're doing."

The Lady of Time glared at me challengingly and I stared right back. I'd had enough with this entire situation. I'd had enough of Time Walker affairs. I'd had enough of the issues I was having with Andi. I just wanted to go home, to just relax at base and just forget all this ever happened. But I couldn't. There were people in need here, people that were desperate for peace and freedom. I was doing this, all this, for them – not for the Lady or Lord of Time, not for Astra, not for the Avengers or the Guardians. Not even for Andi, not anymore, at least. I was doing this for the children and the innocent that deserved a future, no matter how long they were going to live for. But even with all that said, there was no way in hell I was going to hand Andi over to that lunatic. I didn't even have to think about that decision.

"The plan still stands," Gilliam stated. "One team shall travel to the Emerald City to rescue the Lord of Time while Andromeda and the Captain go to Temporal Tower to retrieve the Time Stone. The rest of use remain to fight the army. With the Guardians in our ranks, our army is strengthened. We have more of a chance to take down the enemy."

Stark raised his hand in a mocking, childish fashion. "Question."

Gilliam raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I get the whole get the Time Stone thing so our favourite fruit loop can't get his nutty mitts on it, but wouldn't it be more logical to, you know, hide it somewhere new, as much as we may desperately need it?"

As much as the guy was infuriating, he had a point. It seemed to me that it was more dangerous to have the Stone in our hands as much as it was in Eon's. It would be safer to hide the Stone somewhere else, in a place that he could not find it.

"The Stone will turn the tide in our favour," Primavera replied simply. "We need it. It will be safer in our hands than any other's. Eon is more powerful than you mortals realise. If that Stone was to fall into his possession, we're all doomed."

"And we're all doomed if it falls into mine." We all turned to Andi who'd spoken for the first time since the parley. She pushed off the pillar and strode towards the war table. "I'm not fit to wield that Stone, and you know it." A dark shadow flashed across her face. "Face it, Primavera. I'm more like Eon than you care to admit."

The Lady squinted. "What are you babbling about?"

Andi raised her chin, and I knew then that she was going to admit truths she was going to regret. "Eon has approached me, before all of this. He has...told me things. Things that forces me to question what is happening here."

Primavera's cool expression fragmented, turning into one of outrage. "What?!"

Andi stalked forth, eyes deadly and menacing. "You and the Lord have been keeping things from me. Important things. Things I should've been told the day I became a Walker." She raised her chin challengingly. "Did you know Eon pulled a version of me out of a dead timeline? Did you know she was working for him? Tearing down everything we've strived to build for the last millennium?"

She didn't reply, but her expression told me all I needed to know. The Lady knew of what Eon had done. And she had said nothing. She'd known the truth and she'd sat on it. She and the Lord combined had done more damage than they realised. And they were going to regret it. I could tell just by looking at Andi's dangerous expression of pure, hot anger.

She knew it as well as I did that the Lady knew it as well. Andi slammed a closed fist on the table, her eyes blazing as fiery as her hair. "How could you do this to me?! Do you know what irrefutable damage that monster could do, what he's already done, with that version of me?! And you let it happen! You have the power to mend this and you didn't! You let the pair of them destroy periods, kill and convert Walkers, slaughter the innocent!" She scoffed. "He claims me to be an architect of destruction when you are the one he should be naming so."

"Enough!" A white aura of pure power surrounded the Lady, her eyes glowing the same white and her long, dark hair floating around her shoulders. She stomped forward to stand directly in front of Andi mere inches away from her face, standing over the younger Walker menacingly. Andi stood unflinchingly. "Do not dare question me! Do not dare question my decisions or my authority! You have no right to challenge me!"

"I have every right! You've been controlling my life from the very beginning"

"I do what I must to protect my people!"

"Even at the cost of my life?" She stood straighter. "Even at the cost of Eilian's?"

"Sacrifices must be made!"

"You do not have the right to end another's life! Especially a loyal one! I alone should be the one to dictate my life!" Her golden aura sparked to life, her own eyes taking on the same colour and her own fiery hair floating with power. "You waste time trying to build the perfect beast for an agenda that is nothing but the Lord's and your own! You believe me to be powerful and yet you allowed a version of me to be pulled from a timeline that should've been destroyed a long time ago. This war is your doing."

And then Primavera struck her. Her fist engulfed in white smashed across Andi's face, causing the younger Walker to crumple to the floor.

"Hey!" Barton protested.

"Never again, Andromeda," the Lady warned darkly, powering down. "Cross me the next time and I will regret it more than you."

Astra and Gilliam stepped in, standing in between the two, Astra raising her hands in surrender and sending the Lady a look of caution not to overstep her bounds – not that she'd done that already, that is.

"Calm, Prima," Gilliam cooed. "This has gone far enough."

I stepped next to Andi and slipped my hands under her arms, helping her to her feet. She wiped the smear of blood bleeding from the newly formed cut at the corner of her lip. She sent the Lady a deadly glance, inviting the her to try what she'd done again. "I'll get the Stone, Primavera. But I do not guarantee I will do as you ask when I have it." Her brow furrowed in calm rage, her eyes oozing with it. "Be forewarned. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Revenge is not in my cards. But I'm done with you and the Resistance when this is over. I'm done with the Chronos. I'm done with the Walkers. Whatever happens next, whatever move I make and life I take, it's all on you."

And with that, she marched out of the tent into the night of the camp.

Everyone was quiet. The tension in the air began to subside with the departure of one of its dictators. Primavera's rage melted to that of icy morose, latching her arms behind her back.

I'd never seen Andi that angry since our exchange about Eilian. In fact, I'd never seen her that angry. That kind of rage was...unnerving. Frightening, even. I didn't want to see it again, especially if it was aimed in my vicinity.

"Well, shit," Stark uttered. "Remind me to never get on that woman's bad side."

I turned to the Lady of Time wearing an equally cold expression. "I'll keep her safe. We'll get you that Stone."

I left the tent, not talking to anyone, knowing just as much as Andi did that I no longer wanted anything to do with the Walkers either.

❈Author's Note: Hey, there! If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a quick vote! Thanks for reading!