From Ashes | An MCU Story

Chapter One: The Vigilante in the Alley

Annabelle Kairo could feel every hair on her body stand on end as she approached Hammer Industries. She hadn't been back in New York City for a long time, and her attempt to revisit her previous guardian, Claire, had gone astray when she sensed the massacre in Queens. The feeling was heavy, and hung off her shoulder, almost weighing her down as she ran from her hotel room to the site of the attack.

"One more time?" The voice whispered in her ear.

Anna sighed. "Alright. Just like we practiced..." The young woman closed her eyes, and gave in to the dark entity inside of her. The smoke billowed out around her, encapsulating her. She felt her feet lift off the ground, as the shadowy avatar of Anubis formed around her person. The being looked out onto another plane of existence layered on top of their own at the mass of floating spirits from the bodies littered around the floor. Anubis strode through the building, stepping over shattered glass and bodies, watching as the floating forms were drawn to him, vanishing into a separate dimension as they came into contact with it's smokey, translucent black skin. With every soul that connected with it, the avatar's form seemingly became more solid.

Both it and Anna had learned to tune out the spirits echoing voices. Any attempts to communicate with them had only made things more complicated in the past. Anna found herself in a semi conscious state as she moved inside the avatar, letting the being take control as it moved about the building. That was, until she heard a voice. A living, human voice.

"What was that?" She asked, her voice now inside the head if Anubis.

The beings jackal head spun around, his pearly golden eyes scanning the destroyed remnants of the building, Anna's own vision being provided through them. They landed on a figure, slumped against a wall in an alleyway beside the building. Anna and Anubis approached the young man. They could see him clearly through the darkness, sprawled across the concrete behind a dumpster.

"Is he-"

"No..." It was more of a growl than a real word coming from the creatures canine snout. They slowly approached the young man. His breathing was laboured, and he twitched occasionally. He was covered in blood, which flooded from his face and chest. They could see his spirit, the glowing golden duplicate of himself, beginning to very slowly drift away from his person. A phone lying on the ground beside him glowed a harsh blue in the darkness, and a distressed womans voice, could be heard yelling faintly on the other end.

"Neil?" The voice yelled. "Neil? Hold on, I-I-" Anubis kicked it aside, and it skittered across the pavement, knocking against the wall.

The being looked down at the man for a moment. "His death is slow. And painful." Anubis said aloud.

"Do we just wait?" Anna asked.

Anubis considered the option. "We could..." The jackal headed creature sighed. "Attempt to stabilise him."

Anna crouched, and reached out, the avatar around her copying her movements. It placed a spindly hand onto the mans chest, where he was bleeding profusely from a knife wound. Sirens began to appear in the distance. It wouldn't be long before the authorities arrived.  Anna concentrated, and a dull golden glow began to spread from Anubis's fingers around the mans chest. The flow of blood slowed, and his soul was yanked back into his mortal form before it could fully separate. He inhaled sharply, and his eyes fluttered open for a moment, before resting on the creature before him, and closing.

A spark of crackling orange light appeared to Anubis' left, and the being turned, watching it widen into a sparking ring, bathing the alleyway with orange light. A young asian woman with dark hair stepped through the portal, robes billowing around her in the darkness. "Step away from the mortal." Her voice had a fading cantonese accent. "You are unwelcome in this city, and on this plane of existance."

"I am busy." Anubis growled.

The woman who had stepped through the portal seemed taken aback. She raised her arms, and geometric shield like disks appeared around her fists. "Step. Away. From him." Anubis reluctantly did so. "Do you know how long I've been tracking your energy signal around New York? Years. You always manage to disappear before I can get to you, but not this-"

Before the asian woman could finish, footsteps began pounding on the pavement down the street. Both young women turned to see someone else, clad in armour and a cracked motorcycle helmet, round the corner into the alley. The helmeted figure raised a baseball bat, which sparked to life as electricity coursed across its surface. "Neil I-" She stared at the two people in the alley. The woman in the portal, and the seven foot tall dog creature. "What. The. Fuck." She said, her grip slipping on the bat slightly. Her gaze shifted from them to the unconscious man on the ground. "Neil!" She sprinted down the alley, taking a halfhearted swung at Anubis as she passed. He grabbed the bat from her hand, the electricity dissipating as he threw it to the ground. The woman ripped her helmet off and dropped to the ground beside the man.

"Neil?" She asked, "Baby come on talk to me." She shook him slightly. The young woman rounded on Anubis, her blonde hair whipping around her head. "What did you do to him?" She yelled.

"Nothing." Anubis snarled. The avatar began to dissipate, the smoke vanishing as it left Anna standing, very human, in the alley with the two other women.

"You clearly did something." The asian woman snapped. "Now, I have told you, leave this dimension. Don't make me force you."

"What are you on about?" Anna snot her a glance, before returning to the blonde woman. "I saved his life, thank you very much. He was stabbed."

"No shit." The woman muttered, applying pressure to the knife wound.

"He's dying." Anna added.

"Oh, you don't say?" There were tears making their way down the woman's face. "Come on Neil, come on, it's me. It's Alice. You can pull through this." She muttered. She rounded on the others. The portal flickered out of existence, and the asian woman seemed incredibly confused. "Well don't just stand there! Help!"

The woman dispersed her shields. "We-We need to get him to hospital." She eyed Anna suspiciously.

"No, not dressed like this." The blonde woman muttered. "They'll arrest us."

"Arrest you? What the hell did you-"

"I know someone." Anna cut in. The blonde woman, Alice, looked at her. "But... But she's in Hells Kitchen. We wouldn't be able to get him there in time. I'm sorry."

There was a long moment of silence between the three women, broken only by Neil's infrequent, laboured breathing. "I can get us there." The asian woman said. "Just... Tell me where."

Anna gave her Claire's address. She really hoped the ex-nurse wouldn't mind the rude awakening. The woman turned around, and began to circle her fingers in the air as another portal opened up. Looking through, Anna saw Claire's apartment building on the other side. "This changes nothing." The woman said over her shoulder.

"Of course it doesn't." Anna muttered. She slipped an arm under Neil's shoulder, and pulled him up. Alice scrambled around, grabbing the baseball bat, Neil's phone, and a set of metal gauntlets from the ground, stuffing them under her arms before helping to support her partner. The first police car of many skidded to a halt at the scene, siren blaring and lights flashing as officers began to flood the foyer of Hammer Industries, taking in the bloodbath. One spotted the group in the alley.

"Hey! Freeze!"

"Go, go!" The asian woman yelled, diving into the portal. Anna and Alice, Neil hanging between them, threw themselves in after her as the portal spun closed. The officer sprinted out into the alley, stumbling over broken glass and dead bodies, only to find nothing out there but pools of blood and his own steaming breath in the cold night air...