Excerpt 010: Hero's Return

[rekindledtitan]

TYPE: Personal log

LOCATION: Earth, The Last City

PARTIES: Five[5]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Titan-Class rekindledtitan , One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Rogers, Steve juststeverogers , One [1] Asgardian, designate Odinson, Thor pirateangelbaby, One [1] Guardian-type, designate Ming, Jie, Titan-Class


ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Infinity War; Blaze-37; Asgard; Rogers, Steve; Odinson, Thor; Stormbreaker; Mjolnir;


She said they were coming straight there, but you can't teleport straight into the City. There's protection in place against ships warping in overhead, protection that they've found out extends to PINpoints. That, and the quarantine protocols in place concerning the Nexus. All it means is that they have to PIN into Blaze's tiny ship before they drop out of orbit. Ghost's at the controls as soon as they materialize. There's just enough space in the cabin to lay Steve out on a fold-out workbench and fit his friends too. Blaze mutters something to herself about needing a bigger ship as she slides into the pilot's chair.

There's not much to see, at first. It's just Earth, and they're dropping toward the night side. In fact, there's nothing to see. No glittering constellations of light from below; no cities and spiderwebbed roads blazing through the small hours. This is a hushed world, an Earth far removed from the one they've just left. And yet, Blaze keys the comms and informs Tower control they're coming in with a guest and someone replies with landing protocols, so clearly there is life here. Somewhere beneath the clouds ahead, as they drop into atmosphere with a jolt and a rumble of building resistance against the hull. Nothing to worry about. The little jumpship is rough and sparse, but it's sturdy, and the inertial sinks keep the turbulence to a mere tremble of deckplates under their feet.

Even while the clouds ahead get denser and more ominous. Thor will feel the approaching storms in a way even the Striker in the pilot's chair cannot. Feel, perhaps, something beyond them, quiet but vast. For Blaze, though, the buffeting of their ship and the lightning flash that illuminates the cabin are as good as a welcome home. There are glimpses of the snowy peaks below, a steep wall of ice and snow to match the swirling barrier above. She keeps a hand on the controls and urges them through the tempest. Into the sudden silence and the clear air of their destination. Ahead of them-

It looks like a moon, miles across, its smooth silver-white surface glowing softly. Its pale light can almost be felt, subtly, the influence of a power great and gentle- and dormant, for now. It hangs suspended within the eye of the storm system, poised between the mountains. In the valley beneath lies a city, glittering with life, towers rising up as if to touch the silent orb above. They'll have time for a glimpse, but they're dipping down, heading over urban sprawl and farmlands, to the massive city wall.

"We're almost there," Blaze says over her shoulder. "Welcome to the Last Safe City on Earth." This is what Steve will be fighting for. The whole of humanity gathered into one last sanctuary. She looks up at the Traveler as they bank around to land, and though she's not a mystical sort she prays, in this moment. Please be listening. Choose him. Give him your blessing. There's no-one better, I swear to you.

Don't let this be for nothing.

Comments

[pirateangelbaby]

It's usually preferable to connect the Bifrost between spots in the open air, but Thor has learned that the rules are different when one has a PINpoint enfolded into the very fabric of one's weapon. Stormbreaker deposits them onto the tiny ship with the usual flash of brilliant rainbow light, but without tearing through the roof, as Hofund would have done even in Heimdall's far more skilled hands.

It's a good deal more cramped in here than he'd been anticipating, but fortunately Blaze is of a height with himself so he doesn't have to duck to stand up. Still, there's something subtly disquieting about the small space, though he can't quite put his finger on what's bothering him. With space at such a premium, he finds a place to stow his axe for the time being, and comes to stand behind the pilot's chair as the small ship makes its descent.

Some might fear that the storm may cause the ship to crash, that the lightning may do a greater damage to them than they are prepared for. Thor is not sure he could ever fear a storm, whether he was the one to call it forth or not. The wind sings in every breath he takes, the thrum of thunder in his blood, and if anyone was sparing the effort to look closely, they might see an echo of the lightning deep in the blue of his eyes. Even through the metal skin of the ship's hull, he can feel the storm's call to him, held at bay by whatever shields their city.

And beneath that...

Thor can't help but lean forward a little, as if he doubts his eye, his metal hand grasping the back of Blaze's pilot seat to keep himself steady. He has seen many moons of all sorts, planets in orbit so close to one another that their surfaces all but kiss, tricks of gravity to keep them from tearing each other apart. What he sees now is something else, something he doesn't recognize, something very much not of Earth. Not the Earth he knows, at least.

He nearly asks the city's name as they come in for a landing, but with a title like that, he supposes it doesn't matter. He likely wouldn't recognize it anyway, even if they knew. Instead he tilts his head slightly, watching the ground get closer and closer, a hidden jewel beneath the strange alien moon nestled in the mountains. "That's quite a title," he says instead.