Test Chapters

A Pack of Wolves

"Don't do this, Kaine, please!" Peter begged. "Please, I'm your brother! I'm begging you!"

"I'm sorry, Peter," Kaine replied stoically, his face not moving a muscle, "but it's for the greater good."

A card landed on the table, to the laughs of three people, and the groan of one.

"Come on!" Peter snapped, before grudgingly reaching out and scooping four cards from the deck, and adding it to his hand. "I was on the last card, dude!"

"Exactly!" Ben laughed, expressing rare support for Kaine. Usually, his brothers were at each others' throats constantly, so it was nice to just relax and take a day to enjoy being with family.

"Thank you, Kaine," Teresa cut in serenely, before taking a drink of the terrible beer that Ben had brought and throwing down a card from her hand, reducing the cards in her possession to just one. "And, Uno!"

"There, you see what you did?!" Peter gestured frantically at his sister while staring at his brother, who had an infuriating smirk on his face.

"I like her better than you," was Kaine's simple response, to the howling laughter of Ben and Teresa, while Peter pouted at his scarred clone.

Just as Ben was about to take his turn, however, all four of them vanished from their seats in Peter's apartment, with the only traces of them ever being there being the partially drunk beer bottles, and a half smoked cigar where Kaine was sitting.

All four of them appeared out of thin air, immediately surrounding each other and standing at alert. Each of them were exceptionally trained and skilled, despite their problems. Peter, being the most experienced of them, stood straight in front, every muscle in his body tense, while Ben stood against his back, guarding his rear from any incoming threat. The two more deadly siblings stood on the sides, Teresa drawing one gun while chucking the other to Kaine, and stood pointing her gun sideways, Kaine mimicking her in the opposite direction.

When they regained awareness, they all jumped. Or rather, they floated out of place from where they were, given that they weren't actually standing on anything. Beneath them, and everywhere around them, was the black expanse of space. Stars and galaxies shone brightly in the dark background, glowing with energy and power. Peter had seen sights like this, given that he was a member of the Avengers who had, while not often, travelled outside Earth for some crisis or another, but for the other three, this was a startling sight.

Peter looked up, and widened his eyes. In front of him were four beings, beings he had seen, if not interacted with before. 

Right in front of him was the one he was most familiar with, of course. Uatu, the Watcher stood before him, staring at him with sympathetic milky eyes amidst his emotionless face. His large, bulbous head was held upright by a skinny neck, and he still wore his blue and white robes. While he was supposed to be a neutral being, Peter knew that the Watcher favored the heroes in the past, so he could be reasonably sure that the observer was on his side. Which was good, because the others were much more ambiguous.

To the left of the Watcher floated a being that scared the life out of him, given his past experiences with it. The Phoenix blazed brightly, almost blinding him with its brilliance. Its crimson flames contrasted sharply with the space around it. It was in its true form, that of a massive raptor-like bird made of fire, which was good, because he had enough experience with the hosts of the cosmic entity to not like them. Jean Grey, Rachel Summers, Scott Summers, and even Hope, his former student, were not exactly the most stable when in the presence of the firebird.

On the other side of Uatu stood a being that he was, once again familiar with. Alabaster skin enveloped a form that was, quite literally, sculpted by the gods. A purple robe covered the being's body, and her dark eyes glowed with limitless energy while staring at him impassively. He distinctly remembered being tested by this being, after all, being made to fight an unwinnable fight against Thanos alone for her amusement. She was also one of his friends's ex-girlfriend, and they hadn't exactly parted on good terms, so he wasn't exactly her biggest fan, but still. This was Death. The Death.