Shine Again (An Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame Story)

Chapter 5: Some Space War

    Only a few hours passed after breakfast, and everyone had gathered back in the makeshift tent in the living room when the elevator dinged again. Anja immediately jumped from her seat in her little nest and ran to the elevator to greet Spencer, while Layla was less enthusiastic with her efforts to get to the elevator. When the elevator doors opened, a young brunette woman stepped out and was immediately pulled into a tight hug by Anja.

    "Nice to see you too, Anja," the woman greeted, hugging her friend back, dropping her bag to the floor.

    Anja pulled away, and allowed Layla to hug their friend. "Don't bother unpacking, Spencer, cuz we're going to space, bitch!" Anja announced, smiling more than she should've been given the circumstances.

    When Layla stopped hugging her, Spencer braced herself against the wall, trying to figure out what her friend was talking about. "The hell you mean we're going to space?" she questioned.

    By this point, Tony had sauntered into view, and had his arms crossed against his chest. "Well, Spencer, your dear friends here think it's a great idea to go on some grand adventure in space to try to stop some all powerful alien hellbent on killing us all," he explained, not hiding how against the idea he still was. "You know, a complete suicide mission."

    It was then Spencer noticed the sheets hanging from the ceiling. "What the hell did I just walk into?" she asked. "This was supposed to be just a trip home to see you three, and now there's some space war, and what appears to be a damn blanket fort in the living room. Someone needs to explain this to me like now before I lose it."

    Anja sighed, and took a few steps back towards the living room. There was really going to be no good way to explain this to Spencer. Things were not well on any front. "Well you have some people to meet first before any of this makes sense, so c'mon," she said.

    Spencer hesitantly followed her friend, and Layla gave Tony an exasperated look before she followed as well. Tony sighed before he too went back towards the living room and took his seat in the blanket fort once again. Anja took her seat in her nest area next to Loki, while Layla went back to hers next to Thor. Spencer hesitated and decided to sit next to Bruce, smiling at the familiar face.

    "So who the hell are all these people?" Spencer asked, looking around at the three Asgardians. "Like I said, this was only supposed to be us and Tony, although Bruce is a nice surprise. It's been a while since I've seen him."

    Tony shrugged. "Well, the big blond man next to Layla is Thor Odinson, God of Thunder. I think you briefly met him before during the whole Ultron thing." Spencer nodded, so Tony continued. "That slimy git next to Anja is Loki Laufeyson, God of Mischief and general asshole-ry, and the one who attacked New York. They're the current king and prince of Asgard, and are brothers. The woman on the couch is Brunnhilde; she's a valkyrie sworn to protect the Asgardian royal family." He looked to Spencer, raising an eyebrow. "Does that answer your question, princess?" When she nodded, Tony looked to the three Asgardians and said, "This is Spencer Grey. She's a close friend of ours."

    Spencer waved at her new acquaintances, and then looked to Tony. "So that answers one of my questions. Why are we going to space? And what is the deal with the blanket fort?"

    Layla sighed. "Well long story incredibly short, there's this alien named Thanos who is collecting these things called Infinity Stones. He's a terrible guy and wants to kill everyone in the universe so we're going to try to intercept the remaining stones and try to forge alliances with some other realms so we stand a better chance at stopping him."

    "Well, technically his plan is to destroy half the universe and instill his twisted views of reality on what remains," Loki mused, hardly hiding the snark in his voice, "but... details."