Aftermath
How could this have happened? How could the Avengers have fallen like this? And Supergirl?
From Wakanda, the heroes had learned with dismay that half of the universe had disappeared. All over the world, the phenomenon had spread. All were crushed by the horror.
Flash couldn't stop Thanos. None could. Wanda was demoralized, grief-stricken…utterly inconsolable. Alex Danvers was of the same mind.
They had met in Wakanda, and neither of them knew what to do.
Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson and T'Challa were doing everything they could to find Thanos and use the power of the Infinity Stones to reverse what he had done. Teams Arrow and Flash were doing nothing but helping them, with whatever means they had. They hadn't heard from Oliver Queen. All prayed that he had survived this scourge.
J'onn J'onzz was doing everything to help them in their search, using his telepathy, but he was worried about Alex. She hadn't slept since Wakanda, didn't eat, and didn't even speak. The Martian had the impression of seeing a zombie.
Alex hadn't even sought to return to Earth – 38. She knew her Earth had probably suffered from Thanos' snapping of her fingers, and wasn't ready for the chaos.
For days, she watched missing persons displayed on a holographic screen. The young Peter Parker alias Spider-Man slowly joined her.
"This is a nightmare," he declared. "I can't believe it happened!"
"So have I," Alex said, finally speaking from the decimation.
"Black Panther and his sister made the count," added Peter. "Thanos has… wiped out fifty percent of all the living creatures on Earth."
"We still don't know where he is,"asked Alex without looking at the young man.
"No, the other Avengers are looking for him, along with Flash and the others."
Alex began to look at the missing people, thinking of her sister who had disappeared.
Peter continued in a calm tone:
"Last year, Mr. Stark asked me to join the Avengers. I had refused and now, he's gone. Everyone's gone. I tell myself that if I had accepted his offer, things would be different. I can't stop thinking about that. I know that everything went into a spin, and that we lost people. But we must keep hope. And hope is the key if we are to succeed in changing all that."
Alex turned away from the holographic images and finally turned to Peter, with emotion.
"Kid, you're such an optimist. How are you doing that?"
Peter shrugged, replying:
"Practice, I guess. I have lost many loved ones. My parents. My Uncle Ben. And now Mr. Stark. I've lost a lot. But my aunt says, that if we don't keep smiling when they can't, then we might as well just be gone, too. And... they'd want us to keep going."
Moved, Alex smiled at the young man's hopeful words. She felt like she was seeing a new version of Supergirl.
"You're right, Peter. We must not give up," she finally said.
It was then that Wakanda began to shake. Dubious, Peter and Alex looked at each other.
"An earthquake?" asked Spider-Man.
"No. Something's coming," Alex replied, looking up at the ceiling. "Probably a ship."
Bucky joined them.
"It's a spaceship," he declared in a sinister voice.
"Are we under attack again?" Peter exclaimed in amazement.
All of the Snap' survivors stepped outside to see a long spaceship landing just on one of the plains of Wakanda.
Groot sapling grew excited at the sight of the ship. For the first time since the battle, the tree came out of its grief and began to cry, "I am Groot."
The others concluded that it was an allied vessel.
Later, the Guardians of the Galaxy arrived in Wakanda, followed by Doctor Strange. All looked sad.
"I can't believe I went back to Terra," Star-Lord wondered.
"We have to find the others," Strange told them.
They were greeted by Flash and his team, Team Arrow, Alex, J'onn and the rest of the Avengers. The Earth – 1's speedster recognized the Master of the Mystic Arts.
"You are Doctor Strange who was kidnapped when all this started," he said in amazement. "You're back."
"I came back," said Stephen Strange with a sad look. "But I would have preferred to come back with good news."
Groot joined the Guardians with relief.
"Hi Groot," Drax said kindly.
"Groot, where's Rocket?" Quill said to the sapling.
In response, the sapling put on a sad face, realizing to the Guardians that their mate was no more.
"We couldn't do anything," Strange said.
"What about Oliver?" Felicity asked anxiously. "We know he was with you. Where is he?"
The Master of Mystic Arts looked at the young woman in dismay. His face said it all. Oliver Queen had disappeared like half the universe.
"I'm sorry," Strange whispered.
Immediately, Felicity burst into tears in the arms of Flash who then realized the loss of Oliver.
"We lost," he said sadly. "Thanos destroyed everything!"
"He annihilated all half of the universe," replied Sam Wilson, distraught.
"And not only our loved ones and people," added T'Challa saddened. "Also animals and plants. Half of all living creatures."
"World governments are in pieces," J'onn explained in a hoarse, sad voice. "The only thing left for us to do is find Thanos. And find a way to reverse it all."
"You think we can do that?" Mantis asked doubtfully.
"That's the only thing we have to do." added Spider-Man.
"Come, follow us," invited T'Challa in his palace.
Everyone had gathered in Shuri's lab. Everyone had their eyes on the missing who were displayed as a hologram.
"So Earth's greatest heroes, the Avengers, have all fallen," Star-Lord pointed out, looking at the missing hologram. "We are lost."
"Thanos had the advantage over us," J'onn explained, sighing sadly.
"He had several Infinity Stones on his gauntlet," Bucky explained. "We'd no chance."
"You are the Sorcerer Supreme," remarked Felicity looking at Strange. "And you couldn't beat that monster either. How could he take your Stone without killing you?"
Strange didn't dare say in front of all the heroes that he willingly gave the Time Stone to Thanos. The only one to have seen it done was Green Arrow. None of the Guardians had witnessed this. The Stone had revealed to him a potential future of fourteen million. A single future where the heroes succeeded. And so far, things had gone as he had seen. If he told them about the alternate future, then victory would elude them.
None of them were to know.
"With Mr. Queen, we fought Thanos. But despite my skills and those of Green Arrow, Thanos was able to overpower us with the Infinity Stones. He… he took the Time Stone from me and then… he left Titan…"
"And where is he now?" asked Peter.
Star-Lord sighed in sadness before answering:
"Before we went to join Thanos on Titan, his daughter… Nebula had told us about a place where he would go once he had finished what he did. She was talking about a planet called the Garden."
"The Garden? Seriously?" wondered Spider-Man.
"Nice retirement plan," growled Rene Ramirez.
"Where can we find him?" Alex asked, determined to hunt down the Space Titan.
Shuri studied a hologram that represented Earth.
"When Thanos made half the universe disappear," she observed, "The planet suffered a power surge cosmic proportions. No one had ever seen anything like it. It is unprecedented! And not long ago..."
A beam of energy then shoots out from the hologram. The Earth was then replaced by a view from space: the hologram showed several planets before settling on another world, which experiences the same discharge of energy. More modest than that observed on Earth, but almost identical.
"The same power surge appeared on this planet," Shuri added, pointing to the hologram.
"So that's where our enemy is," Strange confirmed.
Flash and Felicity peered at the hologram as Alex and the other Avengers paced behind them.
"He used the Stones again," affirmed the speedster of Earth – 1.
"Why?" Cisco wondered. "He used Stones to destroy half of the universe, why use it again?"
"It doesn't matter." replied Alex in an icy, firm voice. "We now know where this monster is. All we have to do is get him!"
"Stand down, Danvers," Bucky intervened. "I remind you that we'd be going in short-handed."
"And besides, he still has the Stones," Sam Wilson reminded them.
"We get them from him and use them to bring everyone back," said Alex categorically. "We find him. We can't let him get away with it!"
"We could try another attempt," suggested Strange.
"Or we'll fail again like last time," said Star-Lord.
"Last time, we were divided," explained Spider-Man. "If we want to bring everyone back, we have to take this chance. Alex's right. We have to."
Alex looked at the young Avenger with pride.
"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this," T'Challa interfered, "I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try."
"If Oliver was here, he would want us to do it," Felicity declared with determination. "Let's go find that monster!"
"I agree, approved Flash. "It's the only way to undo what he's done."
Worried, J'onn walked over to Alex.
"Are you sure you want to do this? You haven't slept or even eaten in days. Alex, I know you miss your sister, but you shouldn't go into this without at least resting."
Alex remained neutral and determined.
"I'll go get some rest when we get rid of this monster and bring everyone back. We have to, J'onn. Because I don't know what I'll do if we don't bring Kara back."
Finally, Wanda Maximoff who had not been seen since their defeat, revealed herself in front of everyone.
"Do you know where Thanos is?" she asked them in a voice filled with anger.
She was still grieving over Vision's passing and wanted revenge more than anything.
"We now know where he is," answered Alex sharing her look of revenge.
"So I'm coming with you. I have a score to settle with him."
"We all have with this monster," declared Rene.
"I'm going to prepare a ship for space travel," T'Challa said as he left his sister's laboratory.
"I will prepare our ship to cast off," said Star-Lord.
It was then that a guard from Wakanda arrived in the room.
"Excuse me, but this woman came to Wakanda, and insisted on coming to see you."
"Who is she?" asked the King of Wakanda.
The guard unveiled a young blonde woman in a tight undercover outfit. Bucky Barnes stood in shock.
"She's a Black Widow."
"What? Like Natasha?" Sam wondered, stunned.
"My name's Yelena Belova," said the young woman. "I am Natasha's sister. And speaking of her, tell me where is my sister? What happened?"