Contest of Champions

42

The portal whisks the quadrant out of space and into blue sky, staring down at a battle scarred city, the skyscrapers pointing up at me threateningly. I seize the controls, pulling up to try and avoid a complete crash on the road below.

I am mostly successful, and although the quadrant slams into a wide road running in between two lines of skyscrapers, I've pulled the nose up enough so that it's the bottom hull of the ship that scrapes against the asphalt.

The sound grates against my ears as I'm thrown from the pilot's chair by the impact. I taste blood as I hit the floor, my teeth clacking down on my tongue, rolling into the console as the shock of the landing shudders through the quadrant.

The quadrant eventually stops and I don't move for a long moment, taking the time to steady my breathing and allow my heart rate to slow. Then I push myself up onto my feet, turning and staggering towards the exit. I need to get out of here. My boots drift through dust and I glance down to see Peter's spider gone, the dust scattered over the floor.

I don't know how long I stand, staring down at the dust, before I manage to move forward again. I palm the panel and the ramp descends. Stumbling down it, my head spins, and when I reach the bottom my foot catches on the end and I pitch forward. Last minute I tuck my arms in and roll on hitting the ground, scrambling to my feet once I'm away from the ramp.

Swaying slightly, I glance around dizzily as no contender rushes the ramp with the intent of killing me. Tiredly, I blink and look up at my surroundings.

I'm in the middle of a ruined city, rubble littering the streets. There are no signs of life, no one anywhere near me, but I doubt that illusion is true. The Children of Thanos wouldn't have directed me here if they didn't have something planned.

Unless they simply want to strand me here.

If my brain was working, I would add up the number of contenders I've killed in the three days since being here and try to figure out where that places me in terms of odds and sponsors. But Peter's death still weighs heavy on me and it takes me longer than normal to remember the five people who are dead. Maybe the Children of Thanos think I've killed enough and plan to watch me die here. I did anger Corvus Glaive when I hurled a spear through him back before the Contest began.

I shake my head. I'm not dying here. I refuse.

As if on cue, I hear the roar.

The red beast peers down at me from atop a skyscraper lining the road I stand on. It's not human, I can see that clearly. Only one contender is red. Carnage.

The Children of Thanos sent me to face Carnage.

I say the only word that drifts into my mind, the only word suitable for a situation like this. It's like my voice belongs to someone else, it sounds so distant and mildly disappointed when I speak.

"Damn."

The symbiote leaps off of the building and lands thirty feet away from me. My brain feels like fear is trying to start a fire to force me to do something but all the tinder is soaking wet and the sparks fizzle out and I just stand there. I just want to go to sleep, in that deep, uninterruptible sleep Mantis promised me with whatever power she had that first night.

Okoye's spear expands in my hand and I manage to assume a defensive position as Carnage charges toward me, bellowing. It's right after he jumps into the air to cover the last ten feet between us, that the sparks catch and the fear blazes up in my mind.

My body jolts into action, dropping to the ground and rolling under Carnage as he lands right where I was standing merely a second before. The illusion I left behind is quickly shredded by his chaotic claws and he whirls around, searching for me.