Chapter Twenty-Four - To Save Yourself

                                    

                                          
2017
                          
The Avengers Compound was a place that Maria thought she would never see again. For some reason it felt warmer, wholesome ... Maria missed it. Having spent years living in the Compound, Maria knew her way around and was aware that she had came out on the first floor a stone's throw away from her bedroom. Moving forward towards her door, Maria kept her Timesuit on, she distinctively remembered meeting herself with the suit on. With a quick thought KAREN had amplified the noises inside the room and picked up on what was being said whilst using infrared scanning to show what was happening.
                          
"Thanos will be pleased at your death." The words were spoken by the taller slimmer figure of the two that were in the room. Words Maria recognised. Maria remembered those words clearly. It was the first time she ever heard of the warlord. It was the start of the end. 
                          
Sighing, Maria turned herself intangibility and moved through the door already knowing what she was to see inside. Maria walked into her own room only to find her past self frozen in place with Supergiant in front of her. Supergiant, the overly tall, bald, thin blue skinned alien that had black tiger prints across her skin and while white eyes. It was the first alien Maria had ever since in person, the first extraterrestrial who had spoken to her. Up till this point in Past-Maria's life aliens were but stories, tales from New York. This made everything much more real. The alien had her arm outstretched towards her past self whilst she smirked an evil smile.
                          
"You are not going anywhere. I am Supergiant, and I have your mind. What's wrong? Can't move" Supergiant's voice grated through Maria as she solidified herself once more. Her voice even sounded like death. But Maria knew how this ended. She watched as Supergiant's deadly smirked widened whilst she lifted her hand and ran her thin black gloved finger down Past-Maria's face. "I do have to admit your mind will be wonderful to devour ... its so bright."
                          
Okay show's over. Supergiant had done her bit now Maria had to do hers. With a nudge of her head, Maria's eyes began glowing brightly whilst she latched onto Supergiant's soul. In taking control of Supergiant, the alien's power became null and void. Past-Maria stumbled forward at the sudden drop in pressure.
                          
"Control of your soul is stronger than your mind" Maria said as she dramatically dropped her helmet back, revealing her face and allowing her hair to fall. Her voice caught everyone's attention. Immediately, Maria began to pull forth more of her power and encase her body with the power. She tilted her head as she looked into the soulless eyes of Supergiant. Maria remembered a time when her white eyes brought fear to her heart. But she had seen death ... and Supergiant was not death anymore. "Your soul is mine." With a deadly elegance she had crafted over time, Maria's hand shot up whilst her eyes glowed a bright orange, an orange that was reflected in an aura around Supergiant. Maria crunched her fiat closed, pulling the soul she felt tethered to her hand. The sudden action caused Supergiant to gasp and her body flash brightly before she collapsed to the floor. "No soul, no life." 
                          
Maria loved by those rules now.
                          
She locked eyes with the dead child of Thanos. It seemed so simple now. It shouldn't be so simple. Past-Maria's sudden actions beside her caught her attention. Her past self slowly reached up and pressed her earpiece.
                          
"Err ... yeah, yeah I'm ... I'm fine" Past-Maria said into the microphone. "Give me a moment." She quickly silenced the earpiece whilst never taking her eyes off of Maria. With the fight over Maria dropped her power and allowed her true eyes to show. Maria locked eyes with her past self only to see her eyes widened in shock as she managed to see Maria's true face. As she recognised the race before her. Discretely Maria caught her past self pinching herself in disbelief. After all it wasn't everyday you came face to face with yourself.