60 Gaea's Avatar Thor Part IV

Lightning rained down upon them.

Darkened clouds cast them in shadows.

Hail the size of basketballs rocketed down to the ground.

Powerful gusts of wind that took form into destructive tornados.

The very ground beneath their feet, rumbling to a point standing was impossible.

Rising up and acting almost like quicksand, threatening to swallow them.

Sand cutting into their skin like razor blades.

Huge rock behemoths swinging their fists down upon them.

They could not find refuge in the air nor could they find refuge on the ground. Their opponent, standing tall and strong watched upon them as he bent the world around him to his will. Getting close was impossible and even if they could, the huge behemoth that stood protectively behind him would intervene.

Power like this was not an impossible thought to them, not to Doctor Strange or the West Coast Avengers. They had seen and fought against the likes of many powerful beings, Gods and Demons, aliens and humans.

There was no end to the list of powerful foes that kept coming out to try their luck at world conquest, genocide or whatever their goal was. Each and every time though, they faced these great odds and emerged victorious, standing proud and strong, battered and bruised, but alive and their foes vanquished.

Power like their opponent wielded was not something strange to them. It was not impossible odds like they had faced before, in fact, this fight was tame compared to their previous encounters. That difference was so minuscule to most observers, but to them, it was a huge difference. Their opponent did not attack them, he simply defended, only ever using offensive attacks like the hail and the lightning to intercept attacks of their own or to act as warning shots.

His attacks were not meant to harm or damage them in any way, simply to halt their movements and carefully incapacitate them. Never the aggressor and always the defender and he did that role well, very well. Nothing they tried seemed to break through the wind surrounding him far too powerful that even Doctor Strange's spells were knocked off course or in some cases, shredded by razor-sharp blades of winds.

He was skilled at defending himself to a point that the need to attack was necessary.

It was so different to their usual type of foe.

Those who used intelligence to manipulate events to put themselves in the strength of power while weakening them, sometimes turning them against one another. Others used overwhelming strength, constantly attacking and never once stopping to defend. Then there were those that were truly skilled, balancing both brute force and intelligence together making them infinitely more dangerous.

But they had yet to face a foe who never once attacked and simply defended against their attacks. A switch in tempo that proved to be crippling for them, none of their attacks sneaking through and often be sent right back at them.

They were exhausting themselves while he simply watched on.

"Do you wish to continue down this path?" Thor questioned, voice carrying over the wind. "Can you not see that I will not allow you to continue down the path you have chosen?" More arrows, missiles, bullets and other attacks came Thor's way, but the wind intercepted them all.

"You exhaust yourselves for what?"

Strange pulled back once more, studying the actions of the West Coast Avengers and their opponent. He had yet to unleash his full power just yet, but he would prefer not to have to do that. In such a place as time, it meant that so long as he could gain what he needed, Morgana Blessing would live.

Time was relative and he could simply return to a time in which she needed his aid the most. Spending as much as he needed to retrieve the lost fraction of her soul and then return to the moment things became too late.

The West Coast Avengers simply wanted to return to their own time, their current means of time travel only allowing them the ability to travel back in time, not forwards. Rama-Tut held the goals that both of them desired but had been unwilling to help them or perhaps, they had been unwilling to ask.

Clasping his hands together, Doctor Strange gathered his magic. "Enough." With that single word, Doctor Strange released all the magic he had gathered, dispelling the strange weather and actions of the earth in a single instance.

Though he could sense his opponent quickly gather it back once more.

"You are right." Doctor Strange though would not allow this opportunity to pass. "We would have simply left this era without care for the consequences of our actions, and that is wrong. You have every right to stand in our path so I propose a compromise if you would not mind listening to what I have to say."

Thor narrowed his eyes. "Very well." Though he agreed to listen, Thor did not once take his gaze off the others, just in case, this was part of a plan to catch him off-guard. Killpower seemed to have suspected the same thing, moving around, large broadsword resting the tip against the ground, as he pulled the large slab of metal that could, by a stretch of the meaning, be called a shield, holding it in one hand. "Speak."

"I am trying to save a friend, a portion of his soul has been taken and it is here, in this time period, in the possession of Kang, Rama-Tut." Strange corrected himself on the name of the Pharoah. "I wish to return and save her for she is dying without it. I give my word, you help me and I will not interfere with this time any further."

Here Strange looked to Hawkeye, leader of the West Coast Avengers. "We simply wish to return to our own time." No words were shared between the two, but Hawkeye knew the plan. "But I too promise not to interfere, if only you help us gain the means to return to our own time."

"What is the proof that you will keep your word?" Thor questioned. "I do not know you and you have all but admitted already that you would have caused untold destruction to get what you want, uncaring of the consequences that would result from them. I am supposed to believe you now when there is no proof that you will keep them?"

"Have you not proven that you could defeat us easily?" Though Strange had yet to unleash his full power, he was nonetheless uncertain of victory. He was certain that he would not be defeated, it seemed that this figure did not believe in attacking his enemies, though he certainly possessed the means to do so. But gaining victory, Strange could not say whether he would be able to do such a thing. "If we are not truthful, we would be at your mercy, no?"

Thor remained silent.

"...You simply wish to return home?" Thor asked of the West Coast Avengers, they all nodding their heads. "And you wish to save a friend?" Strange nodded and Thor paused. "Very well, however, you shall all leave when you have what you want."

-X- Line Break -X-

Watching as the ragtag group of people made their way across the desert, the large army still submerged up to their heads in the sand, En Sabah Nur could not help but smile. He had heard stories from his father, Baal of the power that Rama-Tut's former advisor possessed. Had heard of how he seemed almost like a God and was often worshipped as such.

Even Baal had been convinced that Thawr was a God born into this world to guide man down a new path. En Sabah Nur though was not convinced, Rama-Tut was worshipped as a God by the people, but he did not believe the man was anything of the sorts.

Nor did he believe that Thawr was either.

However, En Sabah Nur wanted those like Thawr by his side, though gentle and weak-willed, he possessed great power. This world only allowed the strong to survive and when facing those strange beings, Thawr had not seemed to struggle in the slightest against them.

Rama-Tut's time was done, Ozymandias was on the verge of rebellion, the army here simply part of the larger whole. Everything was coming ahead, and all that remained now was collecting his prize.

A prize that Thawr would lead him directly to.