Chances

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen: Thanos

"May your choices reflect your hope, not your fears." -Nelson Mandela

-

 "You understand the plan, right?" Tony asks me for the seventh time as he, Thor, and I stand ready to jump off of the helicarrier.

 "I grab Agent Romanoff the fly back up here. I am to not shoot any Titanians," I state unenthusiastically for Tony is much too concerned over a rather simple plan.

 "Good."

 "Are we ready?" Thor asks as he starts to spin Mjolnir. 

 Tony and I both nod. I am shielded from the breeze in my suit as I stand teetering on the edge of the helicarrier. I cautiously gaze down at the thick coverage of clouds before looking back to my team. Thor nods once before taking a leap off over the edge. Mjolnir propels him through the air as Tony and I fly down with him. I like having complete control as I boost myself downward. Tony gave me better wire so I could fix my faulty wiring in my suit earlier. I should be able to take a hit without malfunctioning.

 We push through thick grey clouds on our way down to Earth. The weather is still dreary; as we come closer to land, we see there is a thick fog covering the earth. 

 "Where are the Titans hiding out?" I ask Tony for he is the only one who can hear me.

 "We traced them to a small cave inside New Botanical Garden, a large park in Hamburg."

 "There's caves in Hamburg?"

 "To the public, no. The only one is in the park, deep in the woods, and it was used during war as a shelter. It's barely a slit in the ground just enough for a body to slide into," Tony explains, "Wait, why would you know there aren't any caves in Hamburg?"

 "I took a German class all throughout high school and in college," I reply, "Never knew I would actually need to know about caves in Hamburg."

 "You're in college? I thought you said you're seventeen?"

 "I graduated at fifteen and now I take classes online."

 Tony makes a hmph noise as we descend into the park.  I see the cave appear on my visual as we fly through the forest. We fly another few miles before I see grey rock jutting out of the ground.

 "There's no sign of Agent Barton, Romanoff, or Rogers," I say.   

 "Dammit, they must have gone in already," Tony grunts unhappily.

 "We must go in then," Thor states matter-of-factly.

 Thor is the first one to slide into the cave as I am the last. The opening is at the top of the cave, Thor tumbles gracefully and unharmed to the floor, whereas Tony and I hover down. The small entrance is just a masquerade for the large cavern inside. It is very dark, with little grey sunlight streaming through the sliver of an opening. I know Tony and I can see just fine in the dark, but I don't know about Thor's ability to see in darkness.

 "Thor, how well can you see?" Tony shares the same concern as me.

 "Not the best, but you should not worry about me; we must finish the mission," Thor's voice booms.

 The three of us walk deeper into the cave. Lucis hasn't found any heat signatures other than Thor's and Tony's along with the occasional bird. It's another good three minutes of walking before another reading comes onto my screen. But it's not just three heat signatures; it's well over two hundred.

 "Tony, are you seeing this?"

 "Yeah, they're just ahead."

 Suddenly, a loud piercing scream echoes throughout the cavern. We don't hesitate to start running. Thor stumbles a bit as the uneven ground bears an occasional stone or indent. The rock walls narrow, making it harder to walk, before they open into a wide room. There are little cracks that break through back to the surface in the tall ceiling that allow slithers of silver light to illuminate the room slightly; just enough light to see the Titan army holding Agent Romanoff and Captain Rogers and a Titan staff impaling Agent Barton's leg. A bulky creature in vibrant armor stands over Clint.