Try and do this as far away from campus as you can, in case something goes wrong. That was what Natasha had told Stephen, but he still wanted it close enough to ensure that whatever monsters were near the campus were going to be drawn away. Relieving the pressure felt by everybody in Derleth was important, but he wished he could do more. As much as he wanted to help this version of Earth, they only had a limited amount of time before The Powers That Be took them away to their next location. The rapid pace at which the monsters spread out was terrifying, so anything they did to reduce the population would just be a temporary fix. Unless they got every last one, the monsters would eventually return to the area.
At least it was something, he told himself.
The heavy sound of Stephen’s Cloak of Levitation flapping in the wind was the only thing to be heard as he soared high above the ground, leaving the campus behind. Not loud enough to attract the monsters’ attention. That would come soon enough. Stephen strategically picked where to begin their mission, in an open area where he had a clear view, about a quarter of a mile away from campus. He’d witnessed how high the monsters were able to leap, so he made sure he was high enough to be out of their reach.
Surveying the lay of the land one last time, he then looked over at Carol. “Ready?”
***
Carol had been doing her best over the past couple of days to find a way to do something productive. She’d tried gathering supplies where she could, but she was still learning the lay of the campus and it wasn’t easy with those things running around. Too many people had died. She regretted it. She might have even blamed herself for a few of those deaths. I could have done more.
Regret wasn’t going to do them any good now, though. She had been assured that they’d come back. It was cold comfort at the horrors they’d witnessed, though.
This? It could work. She might not be able to outright destroy them, but sending them away was a good plan. And as much as they seemed almost impossible to destroy without opening up, she was just as invulnerable from what she knew. As long as she didn’t get surrounded and kept a distance, she’d be good.
“Always”, Carol floated near Steve, glowing with power and her fists lit up at the question. She gave him a half-smirk and a nod. And then, she flew up and started to blast.
She’d fired several blasts into the ground, leaving craters, rocking the Earth. Maybe it was overkill, but she wasn’t taking chances and maybe she’d even get a lucky and blow one o those things up (unlikely, but still). I would definitely be enough to start drawing them there….not to mention it made Carol feel a little better.
***
No matter how many times Stephen witnessed Carol’s power, he couldn’t help but feel a mixture between awe and dread. A reverence that came from knowing her energy’s source was one of the Infinity Stones. As one who once wielded the Time Stone, he knew how significant it was, and no, he wasn’t going to make a Lord of the Rings comparison - he wasn’t that kind of nerd.
Blasting craters was a little too heavy handed, Stephen thought, but after the last couple of days he didn’t blame her if she wanted to release some of her frustrations. “Nice shot,” he quipped, and was going to add another wisecrack, but a wild shriek interrupted. Turning his head in that direction, he became serious. “Here they come.”
And they did. One burst through the underbrush toward the crater Carol made, while another arrived soon after from a different direction. Terrifying creatures whose only purpose in life seemed to be seeking and snuffing out all sound. Stephen extended his arms to cast a portal, which burst in a whirl of golden sparks. Its fizzling was enough to attract the monsters’ attention to it; they honed in on the sound and leapt through. Stephen then quickly closed the portal.
“Huh. That was almost too easy.”
***
Carol gave him a look when he remarked on the shot, knowing she wasn’t aiming at anything in particular. But it wasn’t as if there was much that mattered and could be destroyed within the blast range.
She paused briefly as the creatures came forward, flying back to observe. They were terrifying to look at- pure killing machines. She wondered what the hell would cause something to evolve like that- or who could have made them. There was an unsettling thought.
When the creatures jumped through without much thought, she actually seemed surprised. It seemed too easy, which gave her some pause.
She was watching for other creatures, noticing a few coming toward them and nodding to strange. “On your left?” She was going to corral them closer, away from Strange and toward her but within range for him to open another portal.
***
Since his nice shot joke fell flat, Stephen decided he ought to forget about lightening the mood and focusing on the task. He looked over his left shoulder and spotted the approaching monsters, then gave Carol a sharp nod to indicate that he’d appreciate her help bringing them closer.
Another portal was cast to envelope and remove the monsters. The whole point of this was to get the monsters’ attention, so Stephen didn’t mind using a normal tone of voice to say, “Keep it up. None of these have been coming from the direction of the campus. Those are the ones we need to get rid of the most.”
*** Carol nodded and followed his lead, flying over the creatures making what noise she could to direct them closer to Stephen. It was easy once she got the hang of it, and once they started moving a little closer to campus.
Of course, the more they zapped, the more of them seemed to show up. And she had to wonder how long these creatures had been on this planet? How much damage had they already done.
***
***
Stephen was mentally ticking down the time they had left until the reset. 34 hours, and counting, and they just kept coming. Sometimes individually, others in packs. So many that Stephen wondered, not all of them could’ve been on that initial meteor that crashed on this Earth. They must’ve bred and multiplied to spread so far and wide. That was Stephen’s reasoning to Carol. There had to be a nest, or a den, or whatever you wanted to call it. A base from which these monsters could repopulate.
“The article I read reported one of the largest meteor strikes was in Mexico, outside Guadalajara. I say we go there and see if there’s a… let’s call it a colony? No. An epicenter?” He shook his head. “Who knows? Maybe we can make a real difference, after all?”
The plan was ambitious, but so was Stephen.
***
Carol had her doubts about this plan, but desperate times. She’d voiced some concerns about going that far away from campus for that long. If these things had infiltrated the whole fucking planet, that meant that there were likely more than one nest anyway. But arguing with Stephen Strange wasn’t really someone did with any success. She was learning that the hard way.
And maybe he was right. She figured at most it would be a day? Little did Carol realize what they were walking into (well, what Strange was floating into).
The den was large. Teeming. And Carol quickly realized this was a situation that two people alone weren’t going to be able to handle in a few hours. If she could just blow them up, maybe? Trap them in a cavern? But what’s to say they wouldn’t dig their way out?
And all the while, she kept thinking there had to be more of these dens. This was just the first. This would take more than a week. But maybe it would be worth it if they could buy this world a little more time.
“I hope you have a better plan than just me blasting them out of there.”
***
Any other living creatures in the radius of 300 miles of ground zero were exterminated, and the only movement was that of the monsters freely wandering everywhere. They could be seen from their vantage point, high above, and the closer they got to the actual impact site, the more dense their population. The meteor created an enormous crater from which the monsters went in and out of holes they’d burrowed, like a swarm of wasps around their hive.
The sight both confirmed Stephen’s suspicions, and caused any aspirations he had for saving this Earth to disappear. Worry lines creased his forehead while taking in this horrific scene. “It looks like we don’t need to do much to get their attention.”
Because the monsters held control over the area for so long, even the slightest bit of sound was detected, so their ordinary conversation was causing a stir. The agitated monsters began clustering beneath where Stephen and Carol hovered. From experience, Stephen knew they couldn’t leap high enough to reach them, and that assumption would prove to be his downfall.
Without asking Carol whether she wanted to stay or not, Stephen opened a portal and began sweeping across the area, scooping up monsters and sending them away, enmasse. This only agitated the monsters even more. It was a fool’s effort, but lack of sleep and hunger impared his better judgment - he was nowhere as invincible as he imagined.
Fully concentrated on what he was doing directly below him, he didn’t notice how, from the burrows, emerged monsters that were noticeably larger than the rest. With one goal, to protect their hive, they hurdled over the smaller ones to get to what they perceived as danger.
Stephen noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye, but before either he or Carol could react, it was too late.
***
Carol usually didn’t believe in impossible situations. She held the kind of power in her universe that could ward off even a Titan like Thanos. She’d saved planets and the universe countless times, but this? Given more time and maybe a better plan, she could do something. She was sure of it. But Strange was determined to have things his way and before she could even counter him, he hurried forward and Carol cursed under her breath.
He was getting too close. A few dozen of them were ushered in, but then. “Stephen!”
It happened fast. Faster than even Carol could react. One leapt up and grabbed a limb, pulling him down before he could respond- and they all jumped in. Carol’s mind raised and she rushed over. A large blast would at least pull them off of Strange, but it could also kill him, in the process. And they were moving too quick to target.
She used her fists- punching, blasting in short burses, and throwing htem off until she could pull him from the frey, but it was too late. Blood. It was bloody. Carol was covered in it, but it was not her own. Even she’d suffered bruises and scratches, but nothing like what he was.
Limbs. Flesh. It was torn and...missing. She had to get him out of there. Yes, there were resets but...fuck. Fuck. It had gone wrong. They’d tried to save the planet, and here’s where it got them.
She didn’t look. She could feel him breathing against her neck. That was good. Just keep breathing.
Danvers had lost people before- good people. But this? She blamed herself. She’d been arrogant following him here. She knew seeing that hoard this was a terrible idea and she didn’t stop him.
When they got back onto the campus, she had gone straight to the clinic to seek help and do what they could to bandage the wounds. She was covered in blood, her uniform stained in it, her face, her neck, her hands, her hair. The smell permeated the air.
Strange looked...it was bad. She had laid him on the table and felt her stomach turn. This was her fault.