emmylou | natasha romanoff

forty-five.

2018
Manhattan, New York

Kennedy looked around the Sanctum Sanctorum curiously before taking a seat on the couch. Steve sat down beside her.

"You okay?"

"I'm a little weirded out, but other than that I'm fine," Kennedy says with a small smile, "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"I told you that I'd be there," Steve says with a small smile, "I meant that."

She looks away from Steve and over at Tony who had been pacing the room.

"Tea?" Strange asks as he enters the room, an unfamiliar face trailing behind him.

"Oh, thank you," Kennedy says as she takes the mug from Strange. He smiles at her.

"This is Wong," Strange says as he points to the man that was trailing behind him, "He's an associate of mine."

"We're co-workers," Wong states, "Equals."

"Whatever," Strange says.

Kennedy glances off on the far side of the room where Thor and Bruce were talking amongst themselves. She looks at Strange, "The Infinity Stones. He's after them isn't he?"

"I was hoping we could get to know each other before diving straight in, but perhaps this is for the best," Strange states. He glances over at Wong and nods his head.

"At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing," Wong says. He waves his hand and Kennedy's eyes go wide as there's an explosion, "Then the Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe."

She stared at the stones, "These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

The blue stone glows, "Space."

Then the red one, "Reality." 

Purple, "Power."

Orange, "Soul."

Yellow, "Mind."

Strange undoes his necklace and a green stone glows brightly, "And Time."

"Tell me his name again," Tony orders.

"Thanos," Bruce answers, "He's a plague, Tony."

"He was terrified of my father," Thor speaks, and Kennedy looks over at him. Thor had been silent through all of this, and Kennedy was certain that was due to the fact that he was processing everything.

"Your father?" Steve asks.

"Odin," Thor states, "My father's power invoked fear. The nine realms were under his protection. No one would dare attack. In a way he kept order, but he died last year. His death sent waves not only through Asgard but the universe. Then Asgard was destroyed. There was chaos making it the perfect time for Thanos to strike."

"Do we know why he wants the stones?" Kennedy asks.

"He wants to court death," Thor answers.

"I'm sorry, court death?" Tony asks, "As in he wants to take the grim reaper on a date?"

"You make jokes, but he murdered half of my people. He murdered my brother," Thor states, "The thing about Thanos is that he doesn't care who lives or who dies. He simply wants to kill half of the population because it pleases him. Because it makes his lover, death, happy."

"However, he's grown weary of handling things his own way and wants something quick and efficient," Thor states, "He wants to use the stones to bring about mass death to the world."