Take Ass Kick Names!

it’s mantis. and it makes gamora sigh with relief. it’s another friend. another ally. someone who she can trust in this place. she hasn’t seen mantis since knowhere and that whole situation is something she wishes to push out of her head in it’s entirety. she’s about to put her hand on the woman’s shoulder, but she refrains. because then maybe she would truly know how gamora is feeling. and the overall feeling is fear.

“ i am fine, mantis. “ her voice is stern but convincing. there’s a small smile that moves onto her lips. she is really glad to see another guardian. “ no, you are not dreaming. it is me and i’m…. “ it’s strange to say that she’s alive again. she knows that she was killed. thrown off the cliff in vormir like she was nothing. even though thanos said she was everything. so she settles upon responding, “ i’m back. “

There are so many emotions in Mantis. The las she felt of Gamora was a distant and sad memory brought by her name when she took hold of Thanos’s mind. She remembered what it was like finally put those feelings to a memory of his and what it meant for Gamora. She doesn’t mean for the tears to come to her eyes, she doesn’t know how Gamora does with someone who cries, but Mantis is relieved and she can’t help it. “I am so glad, that you are here that you are you! This is fantastic!”

“Mantis!” Tony hadn’t seen Mantis in a while, and he was glad to see that she was fine – or as fine as any of them could be, in the circumstances. Admittedly, it was a lot more fine than he’d expected. 

“It’s nice, isn’t it” he said. “It’s almost like they did us a favour.” Though – as nice as he found the place, he couldn’t help but miss New York, and the Sanctum, his bots. 

“What’s wrong with swimming?” he asked, pushing his bad memories concerning water to the back of his mind. “Beaches are fun if you go with the right people. You should round up Quill and the others, we could hit up the beach. It doesn’t have to involve swimming.”

He glanced around, still thinking of New York. “You know, I never asked - did you have any family? Anyone that you’re close to? Did you get them back after the reverse snap?”

She smiled brightly at Tony, she found she enjoyed how either surprised or actually happy he was when he noticed her.  It was nice to see him slightly at ease as the last time he was very stressed. 

When asked about swimming Mantis had to look down, “Well when we were forced into the water on our way to Genosha, I fear I did not know how to swim so I was mostly panicking and flailing to keep above the water. I am unsure how to fee about attempting it again.” She explained. “I would certainly like to try other activities to enjoy while on the beach side of things.”

She is sure, as Tony suggested, Quill would be more than happy to show her what fun she could have there. 

When asked about family Mantis smile bright as she recounted meeting Gamora once ore. “I did not have a family outside of the Guardians, Tony. Not of my own kind anyway. But I have recently seen Gamora... she has come back to us. She is everything as close to a sister as I have ever gotten. It was a shock but I am so glad to have her back once again.”

Billy looked up at the other and recognised her to be one of the members of Star Lord’s team. They had interacted with each other during a mission with Teddy to stop a Skrull home-world attack. He sighed and muttered. “You probably don’t remember me. That’s the problem. Nobody know’s who I am but I’ve met you all before and I don’t know why nobody recognises me.” He felt like a kid who had lost his mom in a supermarket and was now talking to a stranger for help. “I need to find out what happened and why nobody recognises me and why I’m here out of all places.” He now had a hint of frustration in his tone. 

“I don’t know, are you able to assist me in any way?” 

Mantis can only tilt her head curiously at the young man's confession. She did not recognize him and she has an idea of where frustration and some feelings of defeat can manifest from this. But she is unsure if anything would have affected her memory or if there was anything to do so. But Mantis feels she might not know something like this. Still, all she can know is if she did know him she does not now, or perhaps there is another explanation to his dilemma. “Young one, I am sorry. I wish I did know who you were to offer you more deserving comfort I know you need right now. But my intentions to help you are true.” Mantis wanted to be of more help but there was only so much she could provide in the way of help. Mantis thinks for a moment bringing her fingers to curl under her chin as she thinks of someone she knows who could be more helpful than her.

“There are many here within my reach that I can speak to for assistance. Many of the Avengers and associates as we are all on the island at the moment. Young one, while that you know me as you have said, what name may I call you?”

“Gamora!” Mantis yelled joyously as she caught sight of her friend.

Mantis had not seen Gamora since she had seen her in the scattered thoughts and emotions of Thanos’s mind. Torn with hurt for what he had done to her, though she decidedly pushed those thoughts from her head as she did not want them present when she reached Gamora. She had to stop herself as well as she was going to hug the woman but decided that she should not as Gamora hadn’t always been open to her touching her. Actually, they hadn’t really gotten to that point yet so she should simply not either way lest she’d be strangled or more likely roughly reminded about touching her. She was a lot nicer about it these days. 

“Oh Gamora, I had thought- I am so glad to see you! Are you alright?” She asked circling her friend and gently hovering her hand around her. “There are no injuries and we had... when we found out...” Once she had made a loop back around to stand before Gamora face she looked into her eyes. Though she was close to letting her tears fall she gave Gamora a bright smile. “I would hate to be dreaming but it is you, yes? You are here? Alive with us once more?”

Billy had managed to calm himself from a panic to being highly concerned and confused. He had figured out that he was currently on an Island called Genosha and that he was indeed on Earth. However, things were weird. He had seen people who he knew had known him yet they seemed to not recognise him at all, and so many of them seemed younger. He was now sitting under a tree in a park, trying to figure out his next plan of action. He needed to find Teddy, if Teddy had even ended up here with him. He also needed to find or contact someone who would recognise him. It was as if he had been wiped from everyone’s memories or as if he hadn’t even been born. Had he changed reality in his attempt to save his and Teddy’s life? Had he accidentally made it so that they were never born. 

His head was in his hands as he tried to think but approaching footsteps distracted him. “Unless you can help me figure things out, I’m not in the mood to talk.” 

Mantis doesn’t believe her powers extend outside of touch, but her observation of others and how they act and move are in a way an extension of her empathy. She’s somehow aware of movements and facial expressions that can sometimes link to emotions and she can almost accurately tell what a person is thinking or feeling at one time. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious though and Mantis does not have to use such advanced observations to know that this young man she has walked upon is in trouble or distress. She approaches slowly and cautiously, perhaps he doesn’t want to be bothered, and by his explanation, she knows this but she does know people who there are many who can help him and she wants to help him as well. He seems so lost, she understands this feeling.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance? I do not know what it is you need help with but I know many with unique abilities and other talents. Maybe one of them might be able to assist you and I can take you to them?” Once at a respectable distance Mantis slowly goes to her knees in front of the young man, hands in her lap. “I am Mantis, may I ask what you need assistance with?”

He senses it before it even happens, the sound of the plane was loud, he could hear the cries of the child as Clint cradled his body, Pietro didn’t have time to think as he threw himself in front of the two with a large piece of metal to block them and he falls with a large thud. Only they weren’t safe. Ultron kept on shooting, and Wanda had come in time for him to see her get shot down too just as his eyes closed.

Weak, useless.

His eyes are closed and when he opens them he’s back in Sokovia, and when he looks down he’s a younger version of himself. He knows this time, and it suddenly happens, only he’s the only one who survives. He sees Wanda’s lifeless body, blood dripping from her head where it hit the wall. Their parents had also been blasted and he didn’t dare look at his father’s severed arm.

His eyes close again, and when he opens them he’s at the compound, and he runs out to see if it was finally real, if he was back at home, but when he swings the door to his bedroom open what he sees before him is different. He was outdoors, but he wasn’t. It was a complex place, one he’s never seen nor imagined. And then he sees her, Mantis, he knows, he’s seen her once before.

Pietro walks over, hoping this wasn’t still some dream, looking around then grabbing her arm, “Are you real?”

Mantis can still hear their voice commanding her to answer why she wasn’t strong enough, why she didn’t do more, it is grating to her brain. Mantis doesn’t know how to make them stop.

How to make the nightmare less real and how she to crush down the undertone feelings, the cruelty that used to have seeped into the earth's core from Ego’s influence. 

Mantis was startled when he felt a grip on her arm and almost attacked. green energy coming at her command but she stops when she sees Pietro. She relaxes but she’s still on the edge so the power lingers at her fingertips. She is mostly relieved but not as she feels his emotions as well. They are both in a swell of their own fears, and she can mostly make out what he has felt and maybe what he has seen on top of her own. “Pietro, h-how are you here?” She questions first.

Genosha. 

Tony had been to many places - visited every continent on the planet and even gone to space, but he’d never set foot in a city of metal before.

And he had to say - he really quite liked it. Erik’s city was cleaner than New York, and the towering skyscrapers lent a distinctly high tech feel to it, even if it sometimes almost felt like something out of an evil dictator’s scrapbook. But so far, Erik had been kind to them. Really, the only person he’d actually threatened to yeet off the island was him.

Tony really didn’t understand why Erik disliked him. It probably had something to do with being Iron Man and not having a lot of iron on him.

Either way, he found himself enjoying a relaxing stroll by the water, killing time while waiting for Stephen to finish whatever complex ritual he was working on. Bored, he opted to strike up conversation with the nearest passerby. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” he said, gesturing at the sunset. “Quiet, peaceful. Easy to forget that we’re trapped in a reality bubble that could collapse at any time. But then again, you could get hit by a car crossing the road, so I suppose we live dangerously all the time.” He smiled. “How’re you finding Genosha?”

“I agree it is most definitely peaceful.”

Mantis answers. She hadn’t noticed Tony before, but they haven’t had much time together since their time in the Soul Stone but she was well aware that he was spending time with Stephen. And that was enough for her to know he was okay and eventually they would meet again when their paths crossed. 

And here they are now.

Mantis says with a smile hearing the whole possibility of their ‘reality bubble collapsing’ and being ‘hit by a car’. She, however, chooses not to comment on either of those as she understands that they do not need to be. Even though she can attest to not like cars as citizens in the city were not very kind to her when crossing streets in them so she is certainly happy to be away from them. “The people here are much more ...open as well.” She says this as she has not gotten any odd looks, some are surprised at first but then will openly communicate with her with smiles and a sort of acknowledgment she had not gotten back in New York from anyone other than the few she communed with. 

“Though the experience of coming here has put me off swimming, I was hoping my first time on one of Earth’s beaches would be far more ‘fun’.” She says but immediately shakes that off and goes back to the conversation at hand. “Perhaps I will revisit that experience,” She says looking a little warily at the water and remembering how hard it was to stay afloat without panicking. “At a later date though.” She says turning to Tony with a nervous smile on her face.

ego…

mom….

yondu….

shit.

all of the memories flooded to him like an avalanche of emotions. quill couldn’t keep his eyes shut long enough to drive them out. the same song that had haunted him before, continued to follow him and the more he tried to aggressively get rid of it, the more it just came back at him. screaming in frustration, peter clawed at his ears, his eyes stained with tears, as he begged for it all to stop.

but when he opened his eyes, to his horror, he was back on his father, the planet… person… thing. inhaling with a shuddered breath, peter started to run - simultaneously trying to get his boots to work and cursing when they failed. it wasn’t until he saw someone in the distance and then heard their voice that he recognized them. “mantis?” he whispered, before calling out her name again -this time louder - and began to run towards her.

when he was close enough, he looked her over to make sure she hadn’t been too hurt. reaching out, he went to grab her shoulders before stopping and screaming when the song just got louder. “can you hear it? fucking brandy, it won’t stop-!” he yelled again, turning to give mantis a look of desperation. “how did we get back here? what happened? are you okay?”

You could have saved us, the voice accused but all Mantis could do was shamefully deny this claim. She was not as strong as she is now. She could not even save herself back then and now the fear and guilt of it all finally manifested and wouldn’t go away. 

The voices still continued to echo around her ever outside the chasm, one after another or sometimes over top each other. Mantis could feel the earth the same as she did when she was on the planet, the life of a cruel man with heartless intentions made the air heavy. Or maybe it was just the ever growing fear forcing her imagination to create these things. But they were so real, everything was as bad as she could picture like a nightma-

Her thoughts are cut off because she knows the voice that calls to her, and the desperation of needing someone else there was enough to make her forget her thoughts and turn to Peter. 

Mantis was surprised by Peter’s screaming, but she knew not of this ‘Brandy’ that he was screaming about. But as he took hold of her shoulder Mantis gently placed her hands on his as well, hoping to soothe him but Peter was filled with as much fear as she was. The pain coming off him, they were both in a state of high emotions that was almost overwhelming. But Mantis took the emotions and their waves of pressure like and champ and spoke clearly, “I cannot hear what you hear Peter,” She said expecting to have to be as loud as he was to her for him to hear for the moment. “And I assume that you cannot hear the voices of the dead as I can. Oh, Peter, I feel so...” She doesn’t know how to say how ashamed of her past decision to be weak is, she’s never talked about it with anyone in their family before.

The roots sprout up, they’ve been lazily reaching her but she feels it somehow and sees them as their heightened and aware. “I am fine, I do not know I was- I was at the sanctum I am sure of this. But we are not safe if we remain here. We must find a way to leave perhaps the further we are the sooner we rid ourselves of the plagues upon us.”

The rational side of her mind knows this is wrong, this was not where she was before and something about being here doesn’t feel real. Its the caves of Ego’s world where he hid the bodies of the children that failed him, where he carelessly piled them and strung his cords around them to keep them buried and out of sight. Out of side from the next child, he would inevitably bring to the world and join the pile.

Mantis just stares at the many bones from the different children, some she had seen the demise of personally. 

Why didn't you help us? Why didn’t you warn us?

Mantis felt a chill run up her spine. The disembodied voices of the lost children were not what she wanted to hear, and she covered her ears trying to silence their voice. But they were angry and kept asking her why, why didn’t she save them? why did she take so long to find her courage?

“I’m sorry....” She said with a shaky voice laced with guilt.

Mantis had no answer for them and none for herself, she rand as far as her feet would carry her from the voices though it felt like she was making no headway from escaping the caverns. There were so many regrets and fear on this planet. The one where she was merely the flee on the back of a god she wasn’t sure she could face again. A blue glowing root emerged from the ground and trapped her foot, tripped her then let go of her and laid in the ground like a root once more as if it was meant to be there.

She could feel the voice before it dared speak and screamed, “No! You are dead and this world is fake and I will not be trapped here again!” Mantis was still fearful but she rose from the ground and began to run again to find her way out of the underground chasm. She still feared and the voices of the dead still called out to her, the roots leaped out every once in a while to trip her but she continued to move. Something was wrong, she could feel it. None of this was right. 

“This is not right this place is not real and I will find my way out!” She yelled back to a root that had tried to knock her down. She eventually climbed out of the chasm and the world...still look like Ego’s planet. So he called out hoping that someone would hear, hoping that someone else was here. Someone like her companions the Guardians, or at least someone she knew.

Peggy was nervous for Steve, nervous for the rest of the kind people she’d met since her arrival in the future, and angry about the teams of people apparently hunting enhanced individuals. The tac gear they’d been wearing was uncomfortably familiar, and Peggy was simply waiting for confirmation that they were involved with SHIELD. 

She felt a dim sort of frustration at the notion, but the organization had warped so much in the years since her apparent passing that she couldn’t even recognize it anymore. All that time ago, Dottie Underwood had been right. Her and Howard’s idealistic notions of preserving Steve’s legacy, doing the work he was meant to do, had promptly turned into something else entirely. 

Though Peggy’s immediate instinct to the physical contact was to judo-flip the person who’d touched her, this was more due to the adrenaline currently clenching her chest than the actual person.

The antenna, admittedly, did take a moment to adjust to. 

Peggy blinked for a second, then became startlingly aware that it was rude to stare, and quickly smothered her surprised expression with a smile. She gently supported the frame of the person who’d stumbled, though found the amount of weight relied to her slightly alarming. How could one person be so little?

“I’m alright, thank you,” she said, even as she felt anything but. The longer they remained in contact, the more strangely mollified Peggy felt. “Can I get you anything? You look a bit tired. I don’t think we’ve been introduced, by the way, I’m Peggy.”

Mantis, finally taking in the woman saw she was dressed for the fight. She did not seem injured and this eased her. There were so many in need, and Mantis was losing the power to help lest she’d breath a moment to gain her strength again. Or at least the composure so that she could pretend to have some left. She’d gladly pass out helping them stop because she was too weak and whether or not that was her building some random sense a pride or being naive she wasn’t sure either was a good thing if she was stubbornly going to continue to help.

Like most, the woman took time to adjust to Mantis’s appearance. Mantis was not offended and only smiled softly at the woman as she collected herself and spoke to her.

She was kind to help Mantis in standing, the emotions of appreciation at their contact were sure to be going through the woman given their contact, Mantis could feel her changing emotions as they stood together. Her antenna beginning to glow.

“I am Mantis.” She said introducing herself. “I must apologize, I had thought I would be more prepared to help the injured but I was wrong. I am still ready to help, but I grow tired as we continue on.” Expelling her power through magic was a task, even if the power came naturally it was very difficult to work with when the stress and emotions around her also happened to pass through her as well.

Mantis had done what she could for the men that were set before her for healing purposes. She had much to learn but the most she could do for victims was make them more likely to survive transfers from what others were referring to as the ‘bomb site’ to the hospitals where they would be treated and hopefully saved.

Mantis was currently hovering a hand over one man with a chest wound, she was trying to easily remove some of the rubble that had embedded itself there and stop the major bleeding. The other was placed on his head to keep him from feeling the pain but also as a way for Mantis to keep track of his conscious mind. She would not know another way if he was still alive if she did not have any physical contact him. She could feel the pain in his body she was suppressing and was trying to make it as less so as possible for when the other medical workers would come for him and stabilize him further but there was just nothing more she could do from this point. There were too many things harming this man and while her job was nearly down she was still unsure if this would be enough to save him.

Mantis watched as the medical professionals took away the man she had been stabilizing several minutes ago and watched as more men and woman were brought into the emergency medical tent. She quickly went to work assessing the worst of the patients and tending to them as best as she could. There were others doing their job as well and the medical tent was one of the most bustling of the places around the compound. 

The emotions and devastation felt by the people working with her to save lives were all she could feel as they were clustered together, it was suffocating in a sense and it cast a shadow over them all. “How is this one?” She did not mean to be so... impersonal with someone or to sound that way it was a habit of her speech that she had not truly lost yet. The medical people did not seem to be too bothered with her use of words and simply took what help she could offer and offered their own in return. 

Everything was wrong, things had just… turned out worse than he had ever hoped them to be. The only good thing that had come to light out of this entire situation was Peggy’s arrival. And even then he had to question how long that would last. Sucking in a breath, the soldier shook his head and moved forward, pushing himself to the front of the protesting crowd to see what was actually going on.

It wasn’t until he’d gotten to the front that he’d spotted the issue at hand and it made his blood run cold.

“Ross,“ he gritted his teeth, curling his hands into a fist before turning to leave the crowd, his own inner rage reaching its boiling point. This wasn’t good, not for mutants, not for enhanced, not even for the civilians that were inevitably going to be caught in the crossfire. Spotting someone familiar, Steve began to break through the crowd to them, waving his hand to gain their attention. “Hey-Hey!“ he called out, getting closer to them.

Able to be within feet of the person, he reached out and placed a hand on their shoulder, “it’s not safe, we need to get you out of here.” Steve warned, locking eyes with them and hoping they’d understand the gravity of the situation. “Let me take you to the school or the compound, I can make sure you’ll be alright.”

Mantis was very worried, she had done her best to disguise herself to come and walk around to see the destruction caused after the bombs went off. But she had been swept away by the crowd of protesters and thankfully not yet discovered by them as she heard their yells and what their proceedings were about. Not wanting to draw attention to herself Mantis had been doing her best to keep her eyes from meeting others but not looks as if she was trying to escape. She was sure she could only last so long here before she was discovered. When she thought she had an opportunity to not look too suspicious she moved to break free of the crowd and head back to the sanctum before she was discovered. 

But she was found, and thankfully by a friendly sort. When Steve touched her she felt his worry and his strength in the emotions and how he felt would nearly floor her had she not known how to process them quickly enough. There was a wave of anger as well, and she could only imagine how upsetting this whole thing had been for Steve. or well she didn’t have to as long as they had contact anyway.

“I do agree it is very unsafe,” Mantis does not like how small her voice sounds to her but since her own kidnapping leaving the Sanctum has been a daunting idea. And it seemed as if it would be her only safe option for the foreseeable future. Mantis reached her hand you to Steve’s that was placed on her shoulder. “Thank you, Steve, I would feel much safer if we move together.” Mantis sent her gratitude through their mutual connection of touch and possibly a little of her own anxiety by mistake as they were still out in the open for anyone to see.

“I have rather lost my way, the city streets are still so hard to follow.” And to be honest she just felt safer with someone stronger than her around.

Mantis had made herself a spot in a room with large windows in which she could line up her pots together and fill evenly with soil. Growing small plants had become a calming pass time for Mantis and she found herself able to feel more centered when she did create life. Or at least a form of it.

Magic, she had learned from required a lot of hand gestures that she had been picking up and using to create an outward presentation of her magic and then allow it to take the purpose she sought after for it.  It was an interesting practice and Stephen had been very helpful in his teachings. Mantis began to perform the hand gestures and allowed the magic to takes its form before she laid her hand over the potted plant seed and watched as the green slowly started to grow from the soil.

It was then that she heard steps coming from the hall, she could not memorize who those steps belonged to as many people had been both staying and visiting the Sanctum. And it was sadly not one of her skills that she wished to accumulate at the moment. She, however, was more than able to tell when they were coming closer to her location and then heard them as they entered the room she had called her own for the moment.

A flower now stood in the place in her pot, bloomed and she was ready to begin bringing to life the next seed as she heard the steps enter the room. “Is there something that I may assist you with? The Sanctum is a curious place, it has a mind of its own in many aspects I believe. Perhaps I can be of assistance if you are seeking to travel to a certain room. Or a person?”

Mantis is sure that the Sanctum has a way of disposing of people that do not belong from its presence so she has no true fear for anyone who roams the halls at the moment.

“hey, mantis!” peter exclaimed as he knocked on the door frame of her room, a small grin on his face. it may not have been long since they’d gotten back, but peter often found himself unable to stay in one place for long. he’d already been out on patrol once earlier, then he’d stopped by the avengers compound, and now he was back at the sanctum - home, he supposed he should call it now.

“you remember my dog, sandwich, right?” he asks, gesturing to the dog who poked his head in the doorway at the mention of his name. “i’ve been feeling like going on a walk since i got back, and i should probably take sandwich on one - ‘cause if he goes to the bathroom in the sanctum i’m sure stephen will kill me - and i was wondering if you’d wanna come with me? i know it’s kinda soon after… everything…” he trailed off, his eyes falling to the ground for a second. 

“i could show you around new york now if you’d like? part two… without getting kidnapped this time. i’ll have my webshooters just in case. i’ll keep us safe.” he offers her a wide smile. “and sandwich can be a really good guard dog if he needs to be. what do you say?”

@empathictouch

Mantis is meditating, something Stephen has introduced her too as she does not sleep all night and magic requires a clear mind he suggested she take up the practice and showed her some literature on the subject. Mantis finds it a relaxing time of her days and nights where she spends a great deal of time alone, and focusing on the energy and magic she has learned and is still learning control seems to give her a new understanding of the two. 

However, she leaves her door open a small crack for any whom need her and she smiles when she hears Peter voice from the door. It is good to hear his voice knowing he is safe and that they both are no longer in the cage they shared. She shakes her head to throw the memories back. She does not want to think of that place now and hops off her bed to open her door fully for both Peter and Sandwich. “Oh Sandwich hello! It has been some time since we last met!” She says leaning down to pet the dog and her antenna glow from feeling his excitement. “You are such, I believe the term is, sweetheart.” She compliments before looking up at Peter.

“I would very much love a walk, I believe you had said you would show me a park before we were taken.” She says as she stands and grabs her jacket that was hung on the other side of her door. She slides it one and brushes her hair back. “I am very much excited to see it...if not also a little nervous.” Mantis hasn’t expressed her uneasiness about leaving the Sanctum quiet yet. But she does not want that to stop her as much as it has been. “But I will certainly feel much safer with both you and sandwich with me.”