CHAPTER 165

[Draul St. Cross POV]

I watched as Gamora drove the small pod away from this galaxy but although I couldn't see her, I could still easily track her. There was no place in this universe that she could run away to from me.

Finding Vormir had been rather easy as I could assess any location of the universe with just a mental picture of a rough location. I didn't need to know the place or have been to it, as long as it existed in this universe, then I would be able to go there. I was space in human form after all. 

I didn't approach Thanos' ship yet just in case the stone would react to me so I settled with just keeping tabs on any ship that left the main carrier, and also noting down where they traveled to. 

'This should be fun.'

It looks like Thanos was in a hurry, not that I would blame him since this was the Infinity Stones we were talking about and also the fact that he thought I would be going for Vormir next. Just the fact that I had the Space Stone was already a discovery that would set him into motion because he knows that if I get my hands on the Soul Stone, I would be coming for him next. 

'Bingo.'

I could already feel the ship traveling to Vormir with a few people, Gamora and some of his followers. 

I warped back to my house, appearing in the middle of the living room and blocking Bucky from watching his game. 

"Quack, do you mind?" He waved the controller in a 'shooing' motion. 

"Great, everyone is here. Who wants to kill some aliens?" They all stopped trying to get me to move out of the way and looked at me realizing that I wasn't joking. 

"It's about damn time! Finally I get to shoot something." One guess as to who that was. 

"This is rather abrupt. Why are we going after some aliens?" And trust Nat to be the voice of reason. 

"Their leader already has one of the Infinity Stones and he is currently going for his second one as we speak." That little tidbit of information was enough to put a dampener on the mood. 

"I'm sensing a story behind that particular goal." Bucky said, his arm already gaining its black sheen. 

"Well you wouldn't be wrong in that. He plans to wipe out half of the universe's population in a bid to stop hunger and lack of resources."

"…"

"That's…"

"Fucked up. That's what it is."

"Can someone really do that? I mean, there are Gods right? Surely they are not about to let someone wipe out half of the universe's population… right?" Steve asked, a frown appearing on his face no doubt because of the inconceivability of it all. 

"You've seen them in battle, right? Gods are not omnipotent by any stretch of the world and besides, owning the Infinity Stones is more than enough to trump most, if not all of them. Elder Gods on the other hand are the real deal." I explained. 

They digested my explanation but Yelena asked a question that had flown right over everyone's heads. "How did you know about the alien warlord that was going for the stones?"

"Oh that? He sent a recon team to scout if an Infinity Stone was in this solar system. Must've sensed me using them a while back. Anyway, I destroyed the recon but left one of them to lead me back to him so who's up for alien hunting?" My red tie appeared around my neck while the others just suited up. 

"I can't believe we are finally going to space." Yelena squealed which would have been a heartwarming sight if not for the fact that she was a teenage assassin and was currently on a mission to kill some aliens. 

"So how are we doing this?" Nat and Bucky were the only ones who looked like they weren't affected by the atmosphere, both keeping a stoic look on their face and even though Steve managed to look the part, I could still see the shadow of a smile tugging at his lips at the prospect of traveling through space. 

His shield flew through the house before landing softly in his hands, and with that we were ready for take off. They had no issue breathing in space, or any spatial environment since I had used space energy in drawing the runes that would allow them to breathe in any environment. 

Thanos was already in Vormir, leaving his entire army, except for the little entourage he took, floating in space. 

The portal connected us directly to the main carrier which immediately sent horns blaring as soon as our signatures were registered as intruders. 

"Have fun guys." I waved at them before disappearing, waiting for the head honcho to show up. 

… 

[General POV] 

"That bastard did not just leave us in the middle of a hostile alien warship, did he?" Nat asked, the situation processing too fast for her to be comfortable with. 

"We can pick it up with him later. I can feel multitudes of hostiles making their way towards us, no one remarkable. This should be easy." Bucky said with a grin that honestly took everyone aback. 

Bucky rarely ever smiles. 

Before anyone could react, the Winter Soldier broke into a sprint and blew the doors obstructing his way off their hinges, opening a path to the incoming enemies. 

Being the one leading the charge, Bucky was the first one to be on the receiving end of the enemies offense. 

Covering his face with his arm to block the blasts that were coming to his face, not that they would have done any significant damage apart from irritating his skin, he slammed his other hand into the face of the first alien he's ever met. 

Grabbing a blaster from a nearby enemy, he smacked the head of another alien with it causing the poor alien's head to turn two 360° before he fell down lifeless. 

To these poor armies of Thanos, Bucky was an outright tyrant as he completely smashed his way through any opposition. 

Grabbing one of the poor suckers by the arms, he twisted the unfortunate soldier clockwise, using his body to batter any nearby hostile and when he was done, the unfortunate alien no longer had any intact bone in his body. 

Swatting away a blast with his Vibranium arm, he punched the ground causing the resulting electromagnetic wave to wash over the enemies before him, killing some and incapacitating the others. 

Bucky was out of their league in every capacity. He was like a shark put inside a pond, the moment he entered his new environment, he became the top of the food chain until another monster was introduced into the same pond. 

Every punch, kick and throw from him was enough to kill anyone it connected with and also being able to tank whatever it was that was thrown at him made him more than a soldier, more than a man, more than anything someone could even think of fighting. 

He was like a very watered down version of Draul in the fact that all the blasts he's received since the fight started only served to strengthen him one step at a time. 

The Winter Soldier that Bucky used to be was a man dedicated to ending all his opponents, the Serum that Draul gave him just increased everything he already was by folds and some more. 

He moved his head to the side to avoid Steve's flying shield that sailed past him, hitting a few of the enemies before going back to its wielder. 

"You sure took your sweet time." Bucky said sarcastically as his best friend made his way towards him with a leisurely pace. 

"Where's Nat and the pipsqueak?" Bucky asked as he noticed the absence of the assassin sisters. 

"They decided that they wanted to explore the place." Steve said offhandedly which made Bucky frown. 

"You know that there are likely thousands of enemies on this ship right?" Though he tried being stoic, Steve understood what he meant by his question. 

"Don't worry, Draul should be somewhere on this ship and he wouldn't allow them to be captured, talk less of being killed. And we aren't even talking about whatever magic stuff he's plastered on our suit. They'll be fine." Steve said, waving his hands as if he was waving Bucky's worries away. 

"I guess you're right, so how do you suppose we do this?" Bucky asked gesturing to the new wave of incoming enemies. 

"Go through?"

"Go through it is." Both of them nodded at each other and then turned to face the incoming batch of enemies who staggered back at the sight of the two men leisurely making their way forwards. 

The two soldiers disembarked on them, ignoring their pitiful resistance and the crunching sounds that resounded as they made their way towards anywhere they could go. 

"So, Natasha?" Steve asked as he batted a soldier into his comrades. 

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Bucky denied, the consequence being his hands going through the chest of an alien who looked at him with shock and disbelief. 

Pulling the alien away from his arm, he totally ignored Steve's raised brow, and threw him towards his comrades who wanted to catch him on reflex only for them to be bombarded by a kinetic shock. 

"Come on now, Bucks. I've known you my entire life and I think I also know what you look like when you are interested in someone… So?" Steve pressed on. 

Bucky neither denied nor confirmed anything and replied with a simple, "So?" 

Steve sighed as he stepped on the skull of an opp, crushing the head under his boots without paying it any attention, his body seemingly working on auto pilot. 

"So, how far have you guys gone?" The atmosphere between the two soldiers and their opponents were very different. While the air between Steve and Bucky was just like the summer sky and a day at the beach, the air surrounding the other audience was akin to an apocalypse. Their cries, wails, begging and puny retaliation amounting to nothing in the face of the soldiers. 

Bucky, knowing he couldn't get out of this particular discussion, sighed and gave in to Steve's curiosity. "Not that far. We're still taking our time, see if this is something we can dedicate ourselves to. We still haven't gone on a date yet if you are wondering. It's just…", he grabbed Steve's shield and used it to whack the head of an hostile and using an unhealthy amount of strength, cleaved through two others by using the edge of the shield as some sort of butcher's knife, "… that with everything going on, Draul going after the stones and the universe seemingly going after Draul's ass. It just seems like a bad time to be committed to something else y'know."

The alien blood washed off Steve's shield as if it was oil against water, compliment of a nifty spell by Draul. 

Steve stopped and looked at Bucky with a flabbergasted expression on his face before it turned into a knowing smile. "That's not Nat, that's you."

Seeing his best friend's incomprehension, Steve clarified. "I know Nat, Bucks. She's not someone to hesitate, she'll gladly throw herself into the flames if it's something she's passionate about. She's not the one doubting, Bucks, you are. I'm 100% percent sure that if Draul knew this was your reason then he'd smack you across the face. Just because we finally find ourselves against aliens and Gods doesn't mean that we can't also enjoy our lives, Draul is."

Bucky sighed at what Steve said, the older soldier finally fed up with their disturbing audience. 

BOOOM!

"That's better… Look Steve, I don't know, it's different somehow."

"It's different because you know this isn't like your other flings back in the '30s. Nat isn't like other girls out there, it's going to take some serious commitment to keep a girl like that." Steve said as he called back his shield. 

"When did you become a love guru?"

"I've been taking lessons from Draul." Steve chuckled. 

"Rather than taking love lessons, try taking the 'get over my ex' one."

"… Okay, now that's just mean."

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