9From the Abyss of the Heart
Okay here's another Lila-in-name-only centric story. I'll try to work on Hollowed be Thy Name as well. But since seeing Endgame my muse has been on overdrive. Just heads up she isn't a pure abyssal. She's an abyssal with a heart. So Abyssal Lila Rise!
A/N: Listening to the Kancolle Album Somnium along with the other abyssal songs made writing the darker parts a bit easier.
Disclaimer: If I owned the MCU or Kancolle do you honestly think I'd be here?
Chapter 1: Eldritch Resurrection
PAIN! Her world was unending, unceasing pain. She could remember a farm. A man with kind eyes and a kind smile. A woman laughing, and two boys playing. She remembered her name, Lila, Lila Barton. She remembered dying, her body falling apart, turning to dust and ash. It had happened so quickly that she hadn't had a chance to scream. Then an orange glow and pain became her world.
She couldn't move, hell she could barely think, the pain was so bad. Then there were the moments where she had the awful feeling that she was fading away only to snap back into existence. Despite all of that, Lila was occasionally able to focus long enough to get some details on her surroundings. She was suspended in a void of some kind, with the orange glow coming from everywhere. She noticed that there were others here as well, who were also suffering and occasionally some of them would simply fade out of existence. Lila steeled her resolve with each one that disappeared, she refused to simply fade away. Unfortunately, she also noticed that there was some sort of black cloud moving from person to person almost all of whom had started to fade. It didn't pause for more than a few seconds at each person, before moving on to the next. It repeated this over and over, until it got to her, and stopped. She felt and inhuman gaze pass over her prone form and for the first time in ages she slowly moved her arm trying to touch it.
There was a dark chuckle that came from the cloud and she quickly retracted her arm."My, my, aren't you a strong one. Tell me child, do you wish to live?" A voice asked from the dark mass.
"Yes" she said in a pained voice.
"At any cost? At any price?"
"Yes" She said practically screaming.
"Even at the cost of being human ever again? Even if it means becoming one with a spirit who was strangled in the womb. A spirit of war, of might, and pride. A spirit of a warship with an insatiable lust for revenge? The price for this would normally be your soul. But seeing how that is all that is left of you, I will ask for something else."
Gritting her teeth she asked it. "What is it that you want?"
"My price is simple. Accept the Abyss into you! Become one with bottomless deep! And show the world what truly lies within you! Be it for good or evil!
"And If I don't?" She asked curious as to what this being would say.
"Then you will fade into nothingness, reduced to just a memory. I doubt anyone in this place will last one more of your earth years. Yourself included. So will you accept my offer?"
That clinched it for her. "Then yes! If it means escaping from this hell then I'll accept anything. Just make the pain stop! I don't want to fade! I want to live! I ACCEPT THE DEEP! I ACCEPT THE ABYSS!"
The voice boomed in laughter. "Then so be it." The voice said in way that if she still had a heart, it would be racing by now. The voice continued on "Lila Barton, Daughter of Clint and Laura Barton, welcome to the Abyss. May Davy Jones have mercy on your soul."
Suddenly the dark mass became less like a cloud and more like a wave before washing over her. She screamed as the watery mass dragged her down into it's depths and drowned her.
Location unknown 2023
She awoke with a gasp, and to her surprise she sucked in salt water, but she wasn't drowning. All around her was darkness so it was either night where she was or she was very deep. But for the first time in a long time, she could feel something solid under her. It was a metal object of some sort but without any light she couldn't tell what. As if to answer her thoughts two small lights came from her shoulders and illuminated the darkness, revealing two massive gun barrels above her head. Her jaw dropped. 'Whaa? A battleship?!'
Now granted she wasn't gifted with advanced knowledge of warships but she had two brothers who naturally like all boys liked things that had a lot of guns. So she at least wasn't totally confused by what the sight in front of her was. No, what really had her confused was why she was standing on one at the bottom of the ocean.
Family
A very different pain from the one she escaped gripped her heart, causing her to collapse to her knees. 'Mom, Cooper, Peitro. I'll kill whoever did this to us.'
Rage
Lila's eyes began to glow an unearthly blue as two great shields formed around her hands. Each shield had two duel 16" turrets, one on the top and the other at the bottom, with a single 16" gun mounted in between them. The feeling her 16" guns being loaded and her armor under her skin made her feel complete. Training her guns for the first time, her heart filled with determination, she vowed. 'I swear, I'll kill them all!'
Surface.
She blinked. There was that voice again, but so far so good right? A strange sensation filled her body as a heat built up inside her. Her boilers had begun to build up steam, as great turbines began to move.
Surface now!
"Yesss.' Lettss surface." She said with in a distorted voice. Her screws bit into the cold sea water and began her ascent. The Abyssal shot from the depths a cold glow in her eyes. Oh, there would be hell to pay. Thunder and fire would sound out from her guns, and nothing aside from Davy Jones or her father would stop her.
Wait. Father. She closed her eyes for a moment and then changed course, her heart guiding her to the only one she had left. Where ever he was that was where she needed to be. Home. With that she was gone and once again Kongo found herself alone on the ocean floor.
Tokyo Bay, Japan 2023
Captain Akira Nagisei of the JS Maya sat on the bridge of her ship. Her ship along with the Destroyers Kongo and Krishimia, had spent the last two months doing patrols in the South China Sea, and she was glad to finally see port. Even if some didn't have anyone left to welcome them home anymore.
Akira was like many sailors these days, a devastated shell of the person she once was. After the loss of her entire family and most of her friends and neighbors during the Decimation and it's aftermath, she had become a hard and cold person. The last five years had aged her twenty, as she was going gray and wrinkled at twenty five. Perhaps that was why when the radar officer reported an unidentified contact entering the harbor she had remained un-phased.
"Captain an unidentified contact is approaching the harbor entrance. They haven't answered our hails." The man said slightly concerned.
She raised her eyebrow, "Another ghost ship perhaps?"
Another thing they had to thank Thanos for. Hundreds of small ships and even some larger ships lost their entire crews. Without anyone at the helm many of these vessels drifted aimlessly across the worlds oceans. Occasionally one of these vessels would find their way to shore.
Though judging by the shaking of the man's head this wasn't the case. "No Ma'am. She is definitely underway. She has actually increased speed since we detected her."
"Hail her again." She ordered.
"Unidentified Vessel, you are entering a restricted zone. Identify yourself and your intentions immediately or we will open fire." The communications officer ordered over the radio before looking at his captain and shaking his head. "No response Captain."
The Radar office's eyes bulged out and he looked at Akira with a pale face. "They responded all right. They've changed their heading and are on an intercept course, and ma'am it's radar signature puts it over 45,000 tons. I think. I think it's a warship."
Akira felt a tremor go through her. Who would attack here, with the American navy in Yokosuka so close by?. She grabbed the bridge phone before sending out a ship wide broadcast. "This is the Captain General Quarters this is not a drill." Turning to her XO she said to him. "Get on the horn, inform the Americans that we have a unknown and potentially hostile vessel approaching us." The man nodded and proceeded to relay the information to the Fifth Fleet.
The evening just got very interesting indeed.
Lila POV.
For the first time in years, I could see the sights of civilization in front of me. But I was a little annoyed, there was this static sound blaring from my telegraph system and every time I tried to reply I got ignored. Of course I didn't have a semi modern radio system installed! Just a stupid telegraph!
I had finally located the source of my headache as well. Three warships that were entering a harbor off my bow. All of them flying the flag of the Rising Sun. That must mean that shoreline is Japan! A part of me started freaking out. Shit not good! A girl's voice came from the back of my mind.
'Uh, who are you and why are you in my head?' I asked the voice politely, with a sudden urge to slap myself in the forehead. Your not crazy until you start getting responses from the voices in your head.
'USS Montana BB-51 at your service! But you can just call me Mona! But not Monty, that guy was an Ass.' The voice, no, Mona replied. Shit I really am insane!
'No your not! I'm as real as that rocket that ship just launched at us.'
Rocket? Oh! She must be talking about the...Did they seriously launch a missile at me. "WHOOSH! BOOM!" 'HOLY FRAK! THEY'RE SHOOTING AT ME!'
'They're Japs what you expect? Tea and Crumpets? Your a battleship shoot back!' Mona yelled at me.
'But...' My argument died in my throat as a five inch round bounced off my boobs. "PING! SPLOOSH!" 'Okay, fine have it your way!'
Training my barrels so all three ships were targeted simultaneously, I fired my sixteen inch rifles at once. The shock wave they made was incredible, and the impact on the three warships even more so. Out of my eight shells I had four hits. Two of the ships were severely crippled and sinking. While the lead ship simply ceased to exist altogether. I reloaded before steaming past the burning wrecks.
A large white aircraft approached me, and strafed me with machine gun fire. Despite my poor Anti-Air equipment I still managed to score a hit with my flak battery damaging the aircraft and forcing it to retreat. 'You do realize that what you just did should have been impossible. Right? That kind of accuracy isn't possible.' Mona sounded stunned that my aim was that good.
I smirked. 'Like father, like daughter.' Following the feeling in my heart, I entered the harbor. As I did so, I spotted several large ships including an Aircraft Carrier trying to intercept me. Yeah battleship or not, sinking a Nuclear Carrier was not on my agenda. So I raced past them at full speed literally running across the harbor. Yeah going ashore was going to get interesting in a hurry.
'You know you could always just burn the place right? Level it to the ground and leave nothing behind." Mona said sadistically.
I recoiled in horror. 'No! I refuse to do anything of the sort. Especially since dad is somewhere in there and there is nothing you can do to make me!'
'Aside from being your sperm donor, just what has he ever done for you? Hmmm? Not enough apparently or you wouldn't be dead! Face it your a part of the Abyss now. Wholesale destruction is in you nature.'
Tears fell from my eyes as I moved on auto pilot and stepped onto dry land for the first time since I was resurrected, 'Your wrong about him. Wrong about me as well.'
'So you think. You can try to hold on to your humanity, but YOU ARE NO LONGER HUMAN!' Mona declared loudly.
I sobbed, because deep down I knew she was right. The desire to turn the city and the communities around it into a series of smoking craters was there. But I suppressed it. I would not be like Loki, Ultron, any of the other Villains that my dad had fought over the years. Who if my heart was right, I had almost reached. 'I refuse to become that monster! I won't give in to that desire! I may have chosen to become an Abyssal but I will never turn my guns on the innocent or my family.' I declared
'Even if they turn their weapons on you? Because I hear weapons being drawn.' She said in a matter of fact tone.
I heard the sounds as well. The sound of a pair of pistols being drawn, along with the sound of a sword being drawn. I turned towards the sound and my boilers went cold. 'What?'
Mona laughed with a snort, 'I told you so. What will you do now, now that HE is threatening you?'
There standing in an alleyway, was Aunt Nat with two pistols aimed at me and beside her stood my dad with a sword in hand. I was horrified. "Dad? Auntie Nat?"
Tokyo Alleyway, Natasha Rominoff
Natasha Rominoff was a busy woman these days. Granted that tends to happen when your bosses are wiped out along with half of all life in the universe. But for the first time in five years there was finally a chance to fix things, and bring back those they lost. Unfortunately, an old colleague of hers was leaving a trail of dead bodies across the globe, which brought her to a run down alleyway in Tokyo.
The sounds of screams, breaking glass and gunfire, followed by a man being thrown out a window told her that she was in the right place. The sight of her quarry dropping down in front of the first man confirmed it. The two men fought briefly and it ended with Man One having his throat slit by Man Two. As she approached her old friend he suddenly pointed his sword at her throat. "Why are you here?" he asked.
"Clint, there's been a development. We finally found a way to get them back." she said. The sword vanished and she was suddenly forced against the building behind her.
"Don't, Nat." He said pointing at her. "Don't try and give me hope." He continued, anguish marring his face.
The former spy was surprised and heart broken at the sight. The man before her was vastly different from the one she knew before Thanos showed up. The Clint Barton that was before the Snap, wielded a bow an arrow and always seemed to smile around her. This Clint hadn't touched a bow since that day, after losing his entire family in an instant. His eyes were cold and hard, and his face a perpetual grimace. He was a shell of his former self. But then so was everyone else.
She sighed, "I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner."
Before she could say anything more there was a loud boom followed by an explosion. It was quickly followed by another boom and another explosion. "That sounds like artillery fire." Clint said calmly as he released the woman from his grasp.
Listening to the pattern of boom, explosion, boom, explosion, Natasha realized he was right. The only thing odd about it though was that it was coming from the bay. Air raid sirens began to blare and the night suddenly filled with chaos.
She clicked on her radio "All teams, this is Romanoff, I need a sit-rep. Who's shooting?"
The answer she got was not what either of them expected. "This is Squad two, multiple JMDSF vessels have been sunk in the harbor, and the quinjet has taken minor damaged, but is still airworthy. We have visual on the attacker. But it doesn't make any sense."
Natasha frowned, "What is it? What doesn't make any sense?" she asked
"It's a teenage girl with two giant shields with cannons on them and she is literally walking on water!" The officer replied.
A gleam of curiousity entered Clint's eyes and Natasha saw a little bit of the old Clint emerge. "Walking on water huh? I'm kind of curious now."
He started walking back towards the exit to the alleyway. Not wanting to waste a chance to possibly pull him out of his five years of mourning, Natasha followed, pressing the button on her mic as she caught up to him. "Which way is she going?"
The answer couldn't come fast enough. "She's on land now and headed your way, Director! I repeat! The hostile is headed in a direct path towards your location."
As they approached the alleyway entrance, Clint suddenly stopped and held Natasha back with his arm. "She's already here." He said, looking at the dark haired teenage girl with two giant shields with cannons in them, who was walking down the middle of the street in front of them.
The former spy studied the girl for a moment, taking in the girl's appearance, and a chill went down her spine. The girl looked a lot like her late niece, same height and build, but due to the girl looking down Natasha couldn't make out the girl's face. She wore dark colored clothes. A dark grey shirt was visible under the opening in the girl's jumpsuit, and on her shoulders two small pauldrons with cannons on them were visible. And then there were the two massive shields the girl was holding. As the girl drew near, Clint drew his Katana, while Nat pulled out her pistols.
Hearing the sound that their weapons being drawn, the girl turned to face the pair. Natasha couldn't help but notice the blue flames that seemed to come from the girl's eyes. As Natasha took in the girl's features, she felt her heart sink. She knew that face, and so did Clint. Her pistols fell to her side and the sound of metal hitting asphalt rang out as Clint's Katana hit the ground. "Lila?"
The girl looked equally surprised to see them as well if that stunned look on her face was anything to go by. "Dad? Auntie Nat?" An unearthly voice asked. It was Lila's voice, but it sounded as though the girl was underwater.
With tears in his eyes Clint dropped to his knees in shock. "My little Hawkeye? Is that really you?"
The two massive shields vanished along with the girl's armor, as Lila's glowing blue eyes widened at the sight of the man collapsing. With a cry of "DAD!" The girl covered the distance in an instant, tackling the man in a hug, and Clint returned it.
Having finally recovered from her initial shock, Nat pointed her guns at the back of the girl's head. This could not possibly be Lila, as the girl had been confirmed as one of Thanos's victims. "Get up with your hands where I can see them." Nat ordered the girl.
The girl squeaked in shock at the older woman's actions. "Auntie Nat?" The teen asked in a confused voice.
"You heard me. On your feet with your hands up! I won't repeat myself again."Natasha demanded as she released the safeties on her pistols.
The girl began to tremble slightly and tried to stand up, only to be stopped by Clint increasing his grip on the girl. He shot Natasha a glare and without releasing his hug on the 'false' Lila, grabbed his Katana and pointed it at Natasha. "What the hell Natasha?" He asked in an angry tone.
Natasha's eyes softened and the woman steeled herself for what she had to say next. "Clint. You and I both know there's no way that can be Lila. She turned to dust and ash along with everyone else that died that day."
The small ray of hope that had reappeared in the man's eyes died, as his heart shattered. He lowered his blade, knowing that Natasha was right. His now frozen gaze fell upon the girl he held. A girl that was now sobbing hard with tears falling from her eyes. "I know I died." The girl started with a sob. "After I turned to dust. I found myself in place where everything was orange. Everything was pain. I was saw others there with me, but not Peitro, Cooper, or mom." Natasha's heart plummeted for the second time that night, Not many knew the youngest Barton's middle name, and even fewer were still alive. Glancing at Clint, she saw the glimmer of hope return to the man's eyes. The girl continued. " Maybe they're still there, maybe they've faded from existence. I know I almost did." Natasha's hands started to tremble at the thought, and yet the girl, no Lila continued her story. "I drifted for what felt like forever before something offered me an out. At a cost." She bit her lip "I have urges dad, urges to hunt, urges to kill " Tears dripped on to the ground " After I sank those ships and shot at that plane, I almost attacked the city. I almost attacked you. I think." She took a breath trying to steady her voice. "I think I sold my soul to escape dad."
Natasha dropped to her knees in shock at the ramifications of what Lila just said. 'It's her. My god it is her. She found a way back!' She thumbed her radio. "All squads stand down. Subject is no longer hostile. And someone get a hold of Stark, tell him." She paused to take a deep breath. "Tell him a miracle just happened. But at a price."
Holstering her pistols, she moved herself next to the father and daughter and looked to Clint. "So no more false hope, huh?"
Clint looked at his old partner as he sheathed his Katana, and for the first time in five years he smiled. "No Nat, this isn't false hope, this is real. My god it's real. I got one of my family back. I got my Hawkeye back."
Natasha offered him her hand. "So ready to save the rest of our family?"
He just smiled, "Yeah. I'm ready"
"Can I come along too?" Lila asked wiping the tears from her eyes but clearly still upset. "I promise to stay out of the way. But I'm not exactly helpless either."
Clint looked at Natasha and she nodded. There were questions that needed to be answered. The biggest of which was just how the girl came back from the dead.
Clint kissed his daughter on her forehead. "Yeah, Little Hawkeye you can come along as well." His heart had begun to heal.
But there was still one question the Natasha had left. "Hey Lila, do mind explaining why you decide to shoot your way into town?"
The girl grinned. "They shot first. I shot back with bigger guns."
Natasha facepalmed and Clint groaned, someone screwed up big time. The only question was why? Eh, that's where having friends like Bruce and Tony came in handy. They'll figure it out.
AN: Okay for those who haven't figured it out, Lila is a Ru-class Abyssal battleship, in part due to her physical similarity to a Ru-Class. She also has insane accuracy due to her exceptional aim as a human. To those who play World of Warships, she's basically a citadel hit queen. She shoots you your done. If I seemed to portray the Navy or the JMSDF as incompetent I wasn't trying to. I was actually trying to portray the confusion that a WW1 human shaped battleship would cause. Besides Canon wise, it isn't too far off from the kind of havoc a single Abyssal was capable of against the modern navy. Only difference being Lila has a shoot only if shot at policy. So the forces in Yokosuka were spared only because she didn't give them a chance to attack her.
As for the whole following her heart thing. Think of it as a compass combined with a radar unit. It's spiritual in nature and only works if Lila actually personally knows who she is searching for. It's an ability that might come into play later with other characters.
Oh, and the entity that resurrected her is still quite busy making more Abyssals. Just don't expect any Abyssal Princesses. Those are just too OP for this setting, and I'm not willing to go full Kancolle. The highest level Abyssal that might appear are the Abyssal Demons.
Also don't expect the time heist to occur right away, in part because of Lila's resurrection, and in part to Assemble the Avengers. I may or may not decide to make Laura Barton an Abyssal Demon but that's a decision for chapter three at the latest. To be honest I wanted to build up a small abyssal fleet for the final battle with Thanos. Some feedback on this would be nice so vote. How many people should come back as Abyssals? And should Laura come back as the Battleship Demon? Just remember some Abyssals will be hostile others will be friendly.
Remember Read and Review! And in this instance vote!