59 Gaea's Avatar Thor Part III

Thor had always known that Rama-Tut was a man with great ambition, one that seemingly could never be satisfied. He had invaded and conquered many surrounding kingdoms and empires, absorbing them into his own great empire. No matter what anyone said to try and change Rama-Tut's mind, he could not be dissuaded from his expansionist ideals.

It often created many enemies both in and out of his court, Thor himself had often been the target of many of these enemies. Whether it be to kill him or convince him to turn against Rama-Tut.

However, Thor never had.

Not even when Rama-Tut revoked his position, banished him from his kingdom, did Thor ever use his great powers in aid of his Rama-Tut's enemies. Why you might ask? Well, that was simple, as ambitious and as tyrannical as Tama-Tut was, the lives of his subjects were decisively much better under his rule than under others.

Despite what was often believed, Thor was not loyal to Rama-Tut, but instead to the people who existed under his rule. It was them that Thor was loyal to and so long as Rama-Tut kept improving the standard of living as he had, Thor would not do anything to jeopardise that.

It was why despite having been banished from Rama-Tut's kingdom, despite the man's own ambitions creating powerful enemies, Thor came out of exile. Despite all that, Thor stood there, calm and poised, staring out across at the group of people before him calmly, Killpower at his side.

They were a strangely dressed bunch group, but it was clear they were part of a team. Yet it was not the group that caught Thor's attention, no it was one of the men who floated in the air possessed a deep red cloak and a powerful artefact dangling around his neck.

"Killpower, remember, we do not attack, only defend," Thor said, never taking his gaze away from the group as the armies of rebels and outsiders invaded into the lands Rama-Tut whose armies matched them.

It was chaos.

Death and destruction would come to all and Thor could not allow that.

Closing his eyes, he allowed the power within him to come forth. The power he had been born with and the power he had been blessed with by Gaea. Above, the skies darkened rapidly, the rumbling of thunder beginning to sound as winds howled across the desert. The ground beneath their feet began to rumble rapidly, sand shifting and vibrating across the ground creating a sort of quicksand that swallowed people up to their chests.

However, Killpower quickly burst forwards when a purple dressed man possessing a bow drew back the string and released the trio of arrows locked into place. The accuracy was frightening, but Killpower was an enhanced human thanks to his former masters. He intervened, large broadsword swinging around in a powerful arc that smacked the arrows to one side.

In response to this, the rest of the group burst into action, the animal-like woman bounding across the ground on all fours. A young woman possessing two batons following behind at slower speeds, more arrows coming towards Thor and Killpower.

The iron-clad figure unleashed a plethora of missiles and bullets upon them.

The woman clad in flames releasing numerous blasts towards them.

The floating man who had surrounded his arms in purple energy unleashed said energy in powerful concentrated blasts.

All the while the man possessing the red cloak and powerful magical artefact did nothing but continue to float in the air. Silent and watching as the group came rushing towards Thor and Killpower.

The latter rose his large broadsword in preparation, however at that moment, Thor opened his eyes. A strong wind rushed up over the dune, carrying with it a large amount of sand that rushed across the surface towards them. So strong was the wind that the flames were knocked off course, the arrows, missiles and bullets changing directions, carried along by the wind and the energy dissipated.

Each of the groups was then forced to move out of the way, explosions erupting as the missiles struck the ground. Hands covering their eyes to protect them from the sand that nipped at their skin.

Yet, Thor and Killpower did not act and just remained standing where they were. Thor had already disrupted the battle below, every soldier still submerged in sand, their heads the only thing above ground. Now the strange group's initial action had come to a halt.

It was something Doctor Steven Strange recognised instantly as he slowly floated lower to the ground, closer to Thor. "They have no intention of attacking us, only defending." He told the West Coast Avengers that had ended up in the same timeline as himself. When coming to the ancient time of Egypt, it had been purely to find the soul shard of one of his oldest friends, Morgana Blessing.

Coming across the West Coast Avengers who had been stuck in the past for many months now. Their current time machine is only able to bring them further and further back into the past. They knew from the Fantastic Four's previous encounters with the time-travelling emperor, Kang the Conqueror that the man had some influence upon ancient Egypt.

If anyone could help them return to their own time period, it was Rama-Tut. But it seemed they had been caught up in the war between Rama-Tut and the Gods of Egypt without even realising the truth.

"Who are you?" Strange asked, uncertain of the origins of the man before him.

He was powerful, the control he possessed over the earth and the very elements was immense, not something that should just go unnoticed, even in the present day. So how exactly was a man such as this unknown, had he been mistaken for a God by the common people? Or perhaps, had he been wiped from history? There had to be something that would explain why this man, as powerful as he was, had become an unknown entity within the world.

"I could ask you the same thing?" Thor retorted. "You are a strangely dressed group, possessing strange powers. Where did you come from and why have you involved yourself within this war? What has Rama-Tut done to deserve your anger?"

"Do you defend him?" Strange asked, not pleased with the idea that in the world's previous encounters with Kang the Conqueror that he had such a powerful servant he had kept secret from them all. If he did, that also opened the question as to how many more he had hidden away and if he did, would that mean that this was a prelude to an even greater war to come?

Hardly things that were pleasant thoughts to have.

"I defend the innocents that would be involved in this conflict," Thor answered plainly. "Leave, take this army of yours and never return."

"They are not our army."

"Then take yourselves and leave this land, never return."

"I cannot, there are things here that I need to save someone I care for. They simply wish to return home." Strange pointed towards the West Coast Avengers who had been waiting warily to see how this would unfold. Hawkeye, the leader looking to his wife, Mockingbird to see what they should do, both deciding to wait and see for the time being. "Kang possesses the means for them to do so."

Thor narrowed his eyes. "Kang?"

"The Pharoah, Rama-Tut. He is a time-traveller, a warlord and a conqueror known as Kang. He has often been a longtime enemy of ours. That has not changed this time around, he imprisoned them without reason, despite only requesting his aid to return home. He attempted to do the same to me." Strange explained, hoping to gain some measure of sympathy from Thor.

"And so you go to war with him? Attempt to destabilise the realm and bring chaos to the people that live here. What happens when you return to your homes? Gain what you seek? Do you just abandon this realm and all the people within it? Do you not care to help the people whose lives have been ruined by your interference."

"They would do better when not existing under the rule of a tyrant." It was Firebird that spoke, a new member of the West Coast Avengers, though only temporary. Originally having been brought on to see if she could and would want to be the sixth member of the WCA, it had quickly spiralled into a mess.

A mess that had left her incredibly short of patience.

Thor's narrowed gaze deepened, the clouds overhead darkening even further. "A tyrant though he may be, but he is a tyrant that has brought civilisation to a land that was once rife with death and destruction. Poverty, disease, starvation, they are but distant memories in the minds of those that live under his rule."

It was clear to Thor that these people had no interest in helping the people whose lives would be destroyed by their actions. Those people didn't even register in their minds, not fully because at the end of the day, to them, their goals were more important.

Thor would not stand for that.

The ground rumbled once more, large cracks forming, spitting sand into the air, clouding Doctor Strange's and the members of the West Coast Avengers gaze. But a quick spell and the sand dissipated, only to reveal a large canyon had formed, one almost as large as the Grand Canyon in size.

They on one side, Thor and Killpower on the other.

"You will not pass."