Who: Gamora, Dr. Strange What: Gamora arrives in a new universe. When: today! Notes/Warnings: none
As the Chitauri warrior she had been about to impale on her sword began to disintegrate into a fine mist of black powder, Gamora swung around, searching for another opponent. The powder continued to rain down on the battlefield from the leviathans that had been swimming through the air above, combining with the smoke from explosions and collapsed buildings to darken the sky to an odd surreal twilight. There was not another of her father’s soldier’s in sight.
Gamora slowed, catching her breath as she swiped a sweaty tendril of crimson hair off her face. Gone… Her father’s army was gone. She scanned the distance, where she could see the figures of her new allies…. No, her sister’s new allies…. Getting to their feet, sheathing their weapons. No sign of her brothers or her father. He is gone. She wiped her hand across her cheek, annoyed that her eyes were watering from all the smoke.
She had been dreaming of being free from Thanos. Being her own woman. But now, she only felt empty. “I need to get off this planet,” she muttered to herself, wanting to avoid all the messy emotions that she imagined would follow this battle. She did not belong with these Terrans celebrating their victory. Mourning their fallen heroes. She did not want the questioning looks, or thanks, or offers to join them in celebration or in future combat. She couldn’t see the expectant smirk on the face of the scruffy human Nebula insisted she had pair bonded with. She couldn’t even face this new Nebula, who was nothing like the predictable, petty sister she knew.
She collapsed her sword and moved swiftly through the rubble, putting as much distance between herself and the Terran heroes as she could, Gamora felt like the ground was tilting under her feet. No, that wasn’t quite right, it felt like she was the one doing the tilting.. Dizziness was an unfamiliar sensation to Gamora, and she closed her eyes, taking a steadying breath and swiping at the tears that she would deny to her final day in this galaxy. Balance, she told herself silently, stilling her body and mind. I am a leaf on the wind.
As she thought this mantra, she suddenly felt wind: a soft cool breeze. The sound of traffic. Two women debating what to get for lunch as the walked by. Birds chirping. The low rumble of an earth conveyance. She opened her eyes to the glint of sunlight on tall glass buildings. No ruins of the shattered building of the Terran heroes. The sun was just slightly in the wrong place in this sky, as if she had been displaced in place and time.
Gamora pulled her switchblade, checking her surroundings for an ambush.
There it was again, like a spider sensing the vibration moving through a thread of its web. This web was made of spells, and let him know when there were new arrivals in this universe. It was time to move, quickly, because it also gave him a sense of who it was that just arrived.
Quickly, he nodded to the red cape hovering nearby, which flew toward him, resting comfortably over his shoulders.
He focused on the location and opened the portal quickly, walking through it. It wasn't hard to find Gamora, unwillingly adopted daughter of Thanos. Her green skin and magenta hair stood out among the passersby.
Luckily, this was New York. They were no stranger to getting on with their lives no matter what weirdness they were confronted with. From the Chitauri attack to screaming at taxi drivers, New Yorkers didn't seem to be phased. A few weird looks, a few passing comments like 'Didn't know there was a comic con today' and they pretty much moved on.
He'd met her before, but everything was different when they left and returned.
"Hello, Gamora," he said as he approached, keeping a respectful distance. Behind him, the portal was open, and one corner of the cape flapped a pidgeon away before it could fly in. He ignored it. "I'm Doctor Stephen Strange, master of the mystic arts. I was at the final battle against your father. Unfortunately, you're now in a very...different...situation. I'm here to help."
Gamora eased the tension in her shoulder muscles, realizing she had seen this man with the Terran heroes mere minutes ago, but did not sheath her switchblade. She had met alien races who could change their appearance to mimic anyone. She could not understand why a foe would bother to approach her as someone she had not even been introduced to, so she decided he was likely who he appeared to be. “What exactly is this situation, you speak of?” she asked cautiously.
She glanced over his shoulder, aware that they were not alone on this walkway. “My only goal is to return to…” She paused, suddenly realizing that she had nowhere specific to go. “Contraxia possibly. I should be able to obtain mercenary work there at least. Do you know of any transport off-planet? Preferably one that doesn’t include rodents or side-burned, sex-crazed Ravagers.”
It was good that she relaxed. Finding one's self in an entirely different place and time wasn't a stress free experience. Although he did hazard a guess about what she knew or had recently experienced. She looked like she had just walked off a battlefield, carrying herself like it had been a long hard fight, but she was still alert and capable of taking down any foes.
"The situation is that you're in a parallel universe now," he explained, without hesitation. The way he said it didn't broker any argument. It was a flatly spoken fact. "Temporal manipulations can create branches in time. Basically, messing with the timeline too many times has a tendency to cause branches, and we're in one of them. Your sister is here, and so is Drax. That side-burned sex-crazed ravager you might be hinting at? He has the only ship that can get you off Earth. But..."
He pulled a face, like he didn't like saying something, "He's also someone that went missing recently. I wouldn't expect that ride to show up any time soon. Returning to this place is...unpredictable."
Gamora had been raised by the Mad Titan. She had visited, if by visited you meant decimated, dozens of planets in multiple solar systems. She had met her sister from the future and then been pulled into the future herself. Of course she would end up being pulled onto a version of earth where she was stuck with the choice to follow that Nebula. So much for gaining my freedom of choice.
She refrained from reminding Dr. Strange that she didn’t know this Drax, it seemed to be expected that she would be excited to see the allies of that scruffy captain who appeared to believe he earned the right to manhandle her. “I would like to talk to Nebula. As long as she…. Is she the Nebula of your time, or mine?”
Gamora privately thought that these Terrans were very planet-centric, and decided that he had to be wrong that there was no way back to her corner of the galaxy. Nebula would know.
Then another troubling thought popped into her head. “If we are in a different version of reality, is my…” he is not your father. “Is Thanos alive here?”
That was a serious of tough questions. Stephen decided that answering with the good answer first, might soften the blow of the bad answer. It was usually how he did things after a surgery, The good news is they made it through the surgery. However...
There was always a 'but' that ruined things, wasn't there?
"You and I are not alone in being diverged to this Earth," he said. "But we all come from different points. Nebula is from our time. She'll remember you. As to the rest...."
This was an uncomfortable topic, but he approached it the same as he would when giving a terminal diagnosis.
"As far as we know," he began, slowly and carefully, "he's alive in this universe. We faced him already. We have the stones, and the gauntlet. He doesn't have a hand anymore. Or an invading force. Or the Black Order. We haven't been able to track him down. We don't know if he was turned to dust after Stark wished him and his armies out of existence. We do know that the threat he posed is greatly lessened."
He hoped that answered those questions. Although there was a curious kid that kept reaching one hand in and pulling it back out through the portal, over and over again. That was an attention divider.
"I can take you somewhere safe while this all sinks in. Stark's tower. It might be a little bit quieter...hey, you. Don't touch the edges."
The little boy stared at them with round eyes, finger going slowly, so slowly, toward the sparkling embers. When a small spark hit his fingertip, his eyes welled up and he went running for his mom, fist clenched tight over a barely burned finger.
"...this is why I had a vasectomy," the doctor grumbled under his breath, turning his attention back on Gamora. He coughed to clear his throat and said, "Or we can go to the Sanctum, or anywhere else. Mongolian plains? I don't think anyone would hear us there."
Gamora sighed. Did they think the world breaker required a hand to break worlds? He had used her, and countless others to do so, with or without Infinity Stones. She wondered how long being Thanos’s right hand would be a source of shame. From what her sister had told her, the future version of her had been happy. She had also been killed, Gamora reminded herself, avoiding the realization that she couldn’t identify what happiness might feel like.
“Terran children require more comprehensive training, it appears,” she said flatly, watching the child run away before turning back to Dr. Strange. “It sounds as if there is tactical advantage to remaining with this team. At least until I can secure transport…” She caught herself before saying home.
These Terrans clearly had need of her expertise. Her experience was that a planet without connections did not survive long alone in this galaxy. Or at least in the galaxy she knew. “Your tower then.”
"There is an advantage," he said, eyeing the retreating child like it was a foreign creature. That he absolutely would not ever make balloon animals for. "It's a building with security features, and Stark had the Guardians help with putting a satellite array in deep space, to warn of impending trouble. If there's ever a warning sign if Thanos ever does try anything again, it will be there."
He turned to wave a hand, closing the portal. It was a display of trust as well, as though he knew about Gamora before this moment. With a circular sweep of a hand and using the sling ring, another portal opened in its place, and a well lit residential corridor was on the other side.
"Not only that. But a lot of people who've been placed in a similar position as us, lives in the tower." He stepped through and then waited for her on the other side. The important thing was that she was comfortable enough to do this. If not, if she wanted to be left to her own devices, he could try...but he couldn't force anyone to accept help, either. "It's safe. If not, I'll give you a way to contact me and we can arrange other accommodations."
“This is a quite convenient mode of transportation,” Gamora said as she stepped through the portal into the building, looking around with curiosity. No wonder Strange seemed unconcerned with the lack of space travel. “I have never been in a Terran abode before. My quarters in Sanctuary were significantly more utilitarian.”
She still wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of staying in this place and time with people she didn’t know, but who, if this practitioner of magic was to be believed, at least knew quite a bit of her. She thought of the future sister she had chosen to follow out of shared purpose and a hope that they could both have lives, and possibly a relationship, that were different. I hope future Nebula has better taste in allies than future me seemed to.
She suddenly realised that she was still gripping her knife. She retracted the blades and slid it in her pack in a smooth motion. “What do I need to know about this place?”
"Although distance isn't an issue, there's a few limitations," he admitted, and that's all he admitted. There were certain things better left to one's self, and he wasn't the type to admit a weakness casually, to anyone. Not even to Christine. "Stark has more money than is healthy. Luckily, he doesn't mind sharing it if it keeps the world safe. This Tower is where the Avengers and the science labs are.
"This universe is a copy of what we were familiar with. There are a few differences. The battle with Thanos, for instance. But every place you know of is the same. Including some of the people. If you're lucky, or unlucky, your sex-crazed ravager might return. Good luck with that."
He drew a package out of thin air and handed it to her, stopping before a door. On it was a small metal square with a number 12 etched onto it.
"This one is yours, Gamora. You'll find a keycard for the door in this package. Along with access to an expense account, a laptop, a phone, and log in credentials for the Network. My contact information is on a card and there's a brochure. Oh, and there's Friday."
From overhead, an Irish lilting voice chimed in, "I'm Friday, Mister Stark's operating system throughout the tower and on your cell phones. If you have any questions or requests, you can ask me. I can arrange deliveries, or give you directions."
Gamora looked down at the package of tech in her hands still dusty from a battle in another time… another, reality really. It all felt a bit like checking in at the highest end pleasure palace on Contraxia, and she very much hoped that this room was not equipped with some Terran version of a Love Bot. She shuddered, then looked back at Dr. Strange, who appeared as if this sort of introduction to a confused being was quite routine.
“Thank you,” she said, not sure whether she was speaking to the man in front of her, or the voice coming from a hidden speaker. “I think I should bathe before touching anything, or I’ll have disintegrated Chitauri in everything.”
She slid the keycard out of the package, then paused. “Is there anything else I should know? Who are our current enemies? What exactly do I do to earn the credits your Stark is giving? Is there someone I need to report to for mission briefings?”
Not a Love Bot was in sight. Luckily. Although Stephen would have joked that they might exist in Japan. Never say never.
It was routine, but he made a point to treat each person - returned more than once or not - as a new individual, and base the response on them. Naturally, there were some new arrivals he had to be more wary of than others, depending on what point they diverged from. Mostly, though, they were troubled but firmly on the side of good.
"Before I get into specifics," he said, "I know this is a lot to deal with. I advise it's better to be kind to yourself first for a day or two." He nodded as he eyed the dust covering her. That was a long, hardwon battle. And it was fresh in her mind, still. "When you're ready, dive into the rest of the package."
Sleep? What is sleep? Astral travel was better than sleeping, and he woke up just as refreshed when an alarm went off or the phone rang. In the meantime, he made an effort to answer her questions quickly, so she could get comfortable.
"There are enemies here, that are making monsters or selling weapons. Dealing with powers they can't hope to contain whenever they find them. There's likely threats in space, too. If you want, you can help the Avengers try to keep this world, and this universe, safe. That's all. If anything dangerous happens, either Steve Rogers or Tony Stark are the ones who are going to give a briefing. I handle mystical matters. If you find anything of interest, you can post it on the network."
He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was daunting and he knew it.
Gamora wasn’t sure what being kind to herself looked like exactly; being a weapon of mass destruction wielded by a giant purple maniac hell bent on destroying every race he met didn’t include any lessons on kindness. But she would try it and see, it seemed like a good step in her original plan, which was to get away from the Mad Titan and live her own life. I should have known that my own life wouldn’t be simple. Maybe it would atone for all the innocents she helped kill to work with these Terran heroes.
She didn’t share this with Dr. Strange. He seemed to know her history and accepted her presence at face value, so she would practice doing the same. “Thank you again, Doctor,” she said simply, pushing open the door to her new quarters and her new alternate life.