Avengers: Infinity Quest

Steve watched as the planet came to the view. Despite everything he had experienced during the past decade and before, traveling to a foreign planet in outer space in ship piloted by a talking raccoon still felt absurd experience. But this was it. The planet Nebula had referred to as the garden. Thanos’ retirement spot. Carol was going down to scout defense systems while Steve, Natasha, Rhodey, Bruce, Rocket, Nebula and Thor remained in the ship for now. Steve felt a little bothered that Tony wasn’t with them. After everything he had gone through, fighting Thanos, it felt like he should. But Tony was in no condition to dance. The days spent in space had left Tony barely able to stand on his feet.

The days following the snap had been the most stressful time in any of their lives. Desperation in trying to understand the situation and stop the world from sinking in a complete chaos had been challenging enough, but the uncertainty over who all had truly died and who were just unlocated for a moment had been nearly impossible task. Natasha had immediately after the battle made her way to the Barton house. Clint’s ankle monitor, part of his parole, had alerted a violation. The time stamp had shown that the monitor had cut off after the snap had already happened. When Natasha had arrived at the farmhouse, there had been no one there. No sign of Clint or any of the Bartons. But there had been half finished picnic on the yard, like a moment frozen in time. The evidence had been clear. Someone had vanished there. Not Clint himself, but some of his family, maybe all of them. Clint was on the wind, Natasha still trying to track him.

They had made an effort to contact their other old allies. Steve and Rhodey had tried to reach out Scott Lang without success. There was no trace of Scott or his allies the Pyms anywhere. Not their homes or workplaces. One of Scott friends had survived, having witness the other two turn to dust at their security firm. After he tried to reach out to Lang for them, but after multiple failed attempts, it seemed reasonable to conclude that Ant Man had vanished too.

Then Carol had shown up. The mystery of Fury’s left-behind homing beacon had been solved, turns out Avengers weren’t the first superheroes Fury had couched. Luckily for them, Carol had the power to help. They knew that Tony, one the sorcerers named Strange and apparently even Spider-man had gone to space after Thanos. Bruce had been with them in the first line of defense at New York. There was good chance that at least some of them were still alive and Carol had flown towards their trail to look for them. She had come back with a spaceship that Rocket had recognized immediately. Inside had limb out half dead Tony, supported by a blue alien woman.

The reunion had been painful. It turned out that the two were only ones left out two separate hero groups that had faced Thanos. Spider-man and the sorcerer had vanished in the snap. Spider-man, whom Tony kept referring to as the kid, had apparently been much closer to Tony than Steve had initially realized. Like protégé, who had died on Tony’s arms leaving him traumatized. Rocket had gone completely catatonic for a moment after talking with the blue alien, Nebula. He had apparently lost everyone. Tony had acted out. He had yelled to Steve and blamed him, but Steve didn’t take it personally. They were all hurting. Bruce and Pepper had managed to get Tony to bed. At first it had seemed bad, but then Pepper had managed to get Tony to not give up on life. Steve didn’t know exactly what Pepper had said to Tony, but it had seemed like adrenaline spike to the heart. Tony wanted to keep on living again.

As all of that was happening, Rocket snapped out of his depression and gave them a piece of hope. The same energy signature that the snap had had showed up again. In a far corner of the cosmos, it seemed that Thanos had snapped his gauntlet again. Nebula recognized the place. Planet called the Garden. They hadn’t wasted a day. Packing all the remaining heroes at hand to Rocket’s spaceship, they had gone to write the wrong. And now they were here.

“It’s empty.” Came Carol’s voice from outside the ship. “There’s no defense systems of any kind nor any big artificial constructs.”

This made Steve nervous. Why was Thanos taking such a route. It’s true that he had the mightiest weapon of all, the gauntlet. But still, as they made their way down to the planet’s surface, Steve wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad sign. If there was one thing that their previous battle with Thanos had taught them, it was not underestimate him or trust the situation. Thanos had always found a way to turn things to his advantage. Steve was sure that the upcoming battle was not going to be easy.

But it was. They were able strike a completely successful surprise attack on the mad titan. Thanos was subdued before he could even throw a punch. But it turned out he wasn’t even trying to. He didn’t have to because it would’ve made no difference. For he had nothing to protect or fight for anymore. The stones were gone. Without any gloat or victorious satisfaction, Thanos told them in matter fact manner that the second snap they had followed to here, had been him destroying the stones. He had seen no reason, only risks, on keeping the stones around after his mission had been completed. At first, the heroes had been in disbelief. This couldn’t be how it ended. But Nebula knew her father. She knew that he wasn’t a lying on this. It was over. Thanos had truly won.

Thor had been the one recover from the shock first. With a quick motion he swung the Stormbreaker axe, chopping off Thanos’ head. Thor glanced their stunned expressions before turning and walking outside of the hut.

“This time I aimed for the head.”

As the defeated heroes left the Garden, they didn’t notice that there was someone else there. Hiding among the vegetation. They had descended after the Avengers and now had witnessed Thanos’ death. They stayed behind when the heroes left.

*********************************************************************' 6 months later.********************************************'

M’Baku stood by a large window at the capital palace of Wakanda. Deep in thoughts after walking out the courts meeting. The other tribe leaders od Wakanda were pressuring him more each day. They wanted him step away from his place on the council among the rest of them.

And sit on the throne.

M’Baku had listened their arguments and reasoning. They couldn’t understand why he was hesitant to take the place of the king. After all, he had once even fought for it. But how could they when they didn’t even have consider it themselves. M’Baku didn’t feel the decision to step up as a new king in this situation was that simple or even the right move to make. Like the rest of the world Wakanda was trying to recover from catastrophic event. Choosing a new king seemed like a superficial priority at the moment. M’Bake had told this to council as well and they had responded by at least wanting confirmation that M’Baku would step up when the time called. But it still felt…distorted somehow. M’Baku had stood there on the battlefield, when wind of coincidence had blown away half of his people. As well as his king, T’Challa. The king dying and him surviving had felt nothing more but a fling of fate. He had not accomplished anything, instead it had been a tragedy. M’Baku was unsure of the honorableness of taking the throne like this.

“Chief M’Baku.”

M’Baku turned to the voice and saw the Queen Mother Ramonda approach him. Even in the time of crisis the Queen Mother held composer in an admirable way. She had suffered a great lost, like the rest of them too, having lost both her children as princess Shuri had vanished as well. It had taken a toll, Ramonda looked as she had aged years in months. Yet she held herself high with grace. She was someone who had experienced and survived enough tragedies in her life not to sink into desperation. The Queen Mother walked up to M’Baku.

“I have heard of the troubles you face with the royal council.” Ramonda spoke. “May I offer my advice in the matter?”

“Yes.” M’Baku took in the feel on certainty in queen’s words. “Your highness might understand what council can’t see.”

“I understand your inner struggle, M’Baku. But I believe you are not seeing one important point.”

“Which is?”

“It’s not about you.” The queen answered. “It’s about Wakanda.”

M’Baku took a deep sight. “How can I just take throne. Something so important and meaningful should not be just handed to me, because I once tried, and failed, to take it by combat.”

“Your old claim is not strong, I admit. But it also the only claim anyone has right now.” The queen took a moment before continuing with a heavy voice.

“The line of my kin has been broken. My children died without heirs and their only close relative was their cousin who dies on T’Challa’s arms. Unless the other tribes’ leaders seek to challenge your claim, it must be you. They respect you. During these latest times, you have proven yourself as an honorable man, whom they feel willing to follow.”

“And how will the history see me?” M’Baku responded. “A man, who after failing once to take the throne, saw his chance in dire times to seize power? How will by my descendants ever be seen as legit rulers if history judges me as usurper?”

“M’Baku the great gorilla, you worry thing all rulers do, even when they shouldn’t.” The queen answered. “History does not even nearly always equal the truth. And those who write it don’t usually agree with each other’s point of views.”

M’Baku turned from the window to look straight to the Queen Mother.

“As a king, you must look what for what your country and your people need from you in this moment and not to worry what someone might say after your time. There are always those who disagree.”

********************************************************************New York City***************************************************

In the house known as Sanctum Sanctorum, two men stood in a study with ancient looking books piled on the table in front of them.

“Master Wong.” The other man spoke. “This is all of the ancient one’s private collection, but I’m not sure what you are hoping to find.”

“Stephen Strange read these books, master Drumm.” The other man answered. “And they taught him how to use one of the infinity stones. Even thou the stones are now gone, according to the Avengers, if there is still anything to learn about them, this is a good place to start.”

Master Drumm nodded before turning around leaving Wong to study on the books on his own.

Meanwhile in upstate, Steve Rogers arrived back to the Avengers compound. Having spent another day helping at the crisis center at the city. Passing months had forced even the Avengers to somewhat except the reality of the situation. People reacted differently. Steve and Natasha had face devastations to their lives, they pushed on. Carol, Nebula and Rocket had gone back to space. What was happening on earth was also happening on everywhere else in cosmos. Chaos control was needed. Thor had taken their failure hard. He blamed himself and seemed to be sinking more and more into depression. He was staying with the remaining Asgardians and they were setting a colony on the coast of Norway. Rhodey had gone back to work for military. His responsibilities had grown.

And there was Tony. He was doing surprisingly well. Most of that had probably do with the fact that Pepper was pregnant. Tony had found a new meaning. He had something good in the future to look forward to. He had even left most of his labs Bruce, who was now permanently in his Hulk body.

As Steve walked into the compound Natasha met him in the kitchen. They exchanged looks before started talking. Making small talk had become unpleasant. You didn’t really want to hear about other peoples’ days or tell about your own. It was just more depressing things to hear and share.

“So, anything new?” Natasha asked.

“No. Few more reports about who all vanished.”

“Steve,” Natasha turned to look at the blond man. “Are we ever gonna recover from this.”

Steve took long time to answer.

“I know it seems hopeless now. But world has recovered from incredibly hopeless situations before. Maybe not as bad as this. But I honestly think that…”

His speech came to a half when beeping sound from the console on the room started.

“Is that the gate?”

Steve and Natasha exchanged suspicious looks. Avengers compound didn’t usually have unexpected guests. Natasha pressed a button to open a video link to the main gate.

“Hi. This is Scott Lang. We met once in Germany. You remember? The airport. I was the Ant Man. I know you remember that. Listen, can you buzz me in. I think there’s a lot we need to talk about.”

Natasha and Steve stared at the monitor in a complete shock. A lot coming from someone with their experience, but this seemed impossible.

“Is this an old message?”

“It’s a live feed.”