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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟕
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒' 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋

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Alex stood in front of the screen with her arms crossed over her chest. She was trying to hide the annoyance she was feeling toward Tony for taking them to Thanos' planet and toward Peter for forcing her to come with him on this adventure. She was desperately failing at hiding her emotions, even Stephen could see how she was truly feeling. Alex hadn't spoken to any of them since the Stark man made his decision and made everyone go along with it. And on top of that, the Easton girl would glare at Peter every now and then, earning a sheepish smile from him in return. Everyone could tell that the speedster wanted to be anywhere else, but they were too far gone to grant her wish.

It wasn't long before a strange-looking planet appeared on the screen, causing a wave of uncertainty to wash over Alex. She got a bad feeling just looking at the planet, but she knew no one would listen to her if she told them to turn around. What felt like an eternity passed when they finally broke through Titan's atmosphere, causing the entire ship to shake. As soon as her world came to a standstill, Alex slowly looked up to find a very barren landscape on the screen. Chills ran up and down her spine as she saw all of the destruction on the desolate planet. All it took was one look to tell her that there wasn't much if any life left here. That thought alone was enough to make the speedster's blood run cold.

"Hey, what's going on?" Peter asked after seeing a strange image appear on the screen in front of them.

"I think we're here," Stephen responded without taking his eyes off the picture of their destination.

"You think?" Alex retaliated, earning an annoyed look from the sorcerer that she didn't see due to her eyes being glued to the large screen.

"I don't think this rig has a self-park function," Tony announced, earning an annoyed look from Alex that he chose to ignore. It wasn't long after that when he turned his attention to Peter before gesturing to the strange steering wheel in front of them. "Get your hand inside the steering gimbal. Close those around it. You understand? This was meant for one big guy, so we gotta move at the same time."

"Okay, okay. Ready," the Parker boy responded while the speedster and the sorcerer continued to watch the screen as they got closer and closer to Titan. It wasn't long before they were yards away from one of the strange-looking objects on the surface of the planet, causing Alex to turn around to find Peter staring at the screen with fear in his eyes. "We might wanna turn. Turn! Turn! Turn!"

"We're all gonna die," the Easton girl muttered under her breath as she looked back at the screen to watch them fastly approaching Titan.

The next thing the Easton girl knew, the ship crashed into one of the tall objects in front of them. Their spacecraft began shaking once again as it split in half due to the force of the collision. Alex did her best to keep her footing, only to fail as her feet slipped against the smooth metal surface. Just as she was about to fall over, something wrapped around her wrist and kept her on her feet. Confusion flowed through her veins as she stared at part of Doctor Strange's cloak holding onto her forearm. Before she even had a chance to process what was happening, Stephen conjured a protection spell, encasing them all in a sphere of bright orange.

Alex kept her eyes glued to the screen in front of her as they continued to fall toward Titan. It wasn't long after that when the half of the ship they were on crashed into the planet's surface. The Easton girl stumbled a bit as they slid across Titan before finally coming to a stop. When the world around them finally stopped shaking, the Easton girl looked up to find the ship in total ruins and everyone in a state of shock.

"You alright?" Stephen asked the young girl next to him as the Cloak of Levitation unwrapped itself from her wrist.

"I think so. That was really close," Alex responded before turning around to face Tony, "nice flying, Iron Man."

The Stark man simply rolled his eyes at the speedster as he spun around to face the Sorcerer Supreme. "I owe you one."

Before their conversation could continue, Peter slowly slid down upside-down from the ceiling on one of his webs. Alex instantly jumped when his face appeared right next to hers, causing the Parker boy to chuckle. After receiving a glare from the speedster, Peter turned his attention toward Tony and Stephen. "Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something and I eat one of you, I'm sorry."

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Alex questioned without even attempting to hide the irritation in her voice.

"I do not want another single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?" Tony responded with an expression similar to the speedster's on his face.

"I'm trying to say that something is coming," the Parker boy announced while pointing back at the darkness behind him.

Before any of them could respond to Peter, something rolled into the middle of their circle and exploded, sending the four of them backward. Alex landed on the metal floor with a loud thud before letting out a groan. When she looked up, she saw three people standing at one of the doors that led to the control room. The Easton girl stared at them with confusion in her eyes as they scanned the room before their attention landed on their group.

"Thanos!" one of them shouted before hurling his daggers at Doctor Strange. It didn't take long for the Sorcerer Supreme to conjure a shield to block the attack, causing his daggers to get stuck in Stephen's protection spell. Not even a second after that passed when the unknown man shouted at the top of his lungs before sprinting toward them. However, he didn't make it very far when the Cloak of Levitation flew forward and wrapped around his head. Alex did her best to hide her smile as she watched their attacker fall onto the floor while trying to free himself of the cloak.

But the Easton girl's smile soon faded when another one of the newcomers began firing his blasters at them. Alex's instincts took over before she could even think as she grabbed Doctor Strange and sped them out of the way. It wasn't long after that when their attacker flew into the air with Tony hot on his heels. The speedster's attention was soon drawn to the other side of the ship after hearing Peter's panicked shout. Alex's blood instantly ran cold at the sight of the last attacker slowly approaching him with her antennae brightly glowing. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Please don't put your eggs in me!"

After shaking off her previous thoughts, Alex sprinted toward the Parker boy's attacker before slamming into her side. The force sent the woman stumbling backward, giving Peter enough time to get to his feet. He then shot his webs at her, wrapping her up and rendering her useless. However, because they were so focused on the woman, they failed to notice the flying man coming at them until he kicked their backs and knocked them onto the floor.

"Stay down!" the man exclaimed after watching the two of them roll across the floor.

Before Alex had a chance to think, something wrapped around her before a surge of electricity went throughout her body. Despite trying her best to stay calm, the pain was too much for her to bear, causing her to let out a painful shout right before the electricity vanished. It took Alex a moment to regain her bearings before she looked up to find their attacker's arm wrapped around Peter's neck. A wave of fear and anger washed over the speedster as she stared at the blaster pointed at the Parker boy's head. However, to her dismay, Alex couldn't move due to the glowing rope wrapped around her arms and legs despite how much she tried to break free.

"Everybody stay where you are. Chill out," the masked man told them before reaching up to press a button on the side of his head, making his mask disappear and reveal an angry-looking redheaded man, "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where is Gamora?"

"Yeah. I'll do you one better. Who's Gamora?" Tony responded after reaching up to take off his mask while keeping his repulsor aimed at the attacker he restrained.

"I'll do you one better. Why is Gamora?" the man on the floor retaliated, earning confused looks from everyone around him.

"Tell me where the girl is or I swear to you I'm gonna French fly this little freak," the redheaded man threatened while pressing his blaster harder into the side of Peter's head.

"Let's do it. You shoot my guy and I'll blast him. Let's go!" Tony responded before his repulsor transformed into a very large blaster, completely unaware of Alex watching the situation take place with a terrified look on her face.

"Do it, Quill! I can take it!" the man shouted while glaring up at the Stark man's blaster.

"No, he can't take it!" the woman shouted as she hopped toward them, still struggling to break free of Peter's webbing.

"She's right. You can't," Stephen responded while keeping his magical shield ready for another attack.

"Oh, yeah? You don't wanna tell me where she is? That's fine. I'll kill all four of you and I'll beat it out of Thanos myself," the redheaded man said before he looked down at the Parker boy, "starting with you."

"Wait, what, Thanos?" Doctor Strange muttered under his breath before letting out a long sigh, "alright, let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?"

"What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say, 'Jesus'?" the Quill man responded without even attempting to hide the anger and annoyance in his voice.

An irritated look instantly formed on Tony's face as she stared at the redheaded man in front of him. "You're from Earth."

"I'm not from Earth, I'm from Missouri."

"That's on Earth, idiot," Alex announced after managing to get herself out of the rope before moving to stand between Tony and Stephen. She just stared at the redheaded man with annoyance in her eyes for another moment before speaking once again. "Why are you attacking us?"

"So you're not with Thanos?" Peter questioned just loud enough for them to hear, earning a bewildered look from the man restraining him.

"With Thanos? No, I'm here to kill Thanos. He took my girl," the Quill man explained before he looked around at those he didn't know in confusion, "wait, who are you?"

The Parker boy instantly pulled his mask off while keeping his eyes glued to Alex, as if assessing her for any injuries. It wasn't long after that when Peter broke the silence settling around them. "We're the Avengers, man."

"You're the ones Thor told us about!" the woman exclaimed while the redheaded man let go of the brunette boy.

A perplexed look appeared on the Stark man's face as he looked over at the woman in green. "You know Thor?"

"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving," the redheaded man responded, earning an offended look from Peter and a confused look from Alex, who was trying to figure out why that was important to their conversation.

Stephen and Tony instantly exchanged a look, unsure of what to make of the information they just learned. It wasn't long after that when the Sorcerer Supreme lowered his shield while Iron Man got off the man he had pinned to the floor. They let the silence surround them for a moment longer before Doctor Strange decided it was finally time to break it. "Where is he now?"

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