The Souls

The Avengers charged. Yells and shouts of fury and adrenaline covered the army as they sprinted forward.

Thanos merely lifted his spear, and his minions ran, screeching, into the fight.

Chaos rained as soon as the first blow was hit.

T'Challa wasted no time, leaping through the air and landing a swift kick to the first monster he encounted. Next to him, Okoye yelled as her spear sliced straight through three outriders that dared to stand in her way. M'Baku, with his brute strength tore effortlessly through those in front of him.

Shots rang out everywhere, sworda swinging and knives slicing and fists flying. Magic whirled through the air from both sides sending bodies falling to the ground.

Drax saw the biggest creature he could find and charged for it with a yell. He jumped onto the back of the cull obsidian and his knives stabbed frantically at his back. The creature fell to its knees and Drax roared as he sent his knife through its back and into its heart.

Mantis flew through the air above him, landing on a great hound. It fell to the ground at her touch, and above her, Gamora's sword sliced straight down through the beasts neck.

All the way above, GiAnt Man stormed through the field, his enormous fist flying through the air and punching down a Leviathan, sending it crashing to the ground.

Hope was almost invisible as she flew through the field, knocking out opponents all around, punching harder than she ever had, leaving them to fall to the ground, never knowing what hit them.

Pepper blasted through anything in her way, whizzing through the air and burning through outriders and chitauri as she went.

The battlefield was pure pandemonium, raining fire and bullets and sweat and blood as both sides fought with everything they had.

Loki's hands were outstretched as green light blasted from him. Everything within a few feet of him fell dead to the ground. He saw a hoarde of snarling creatures storm towards him, and with a yell, his fists clenched.

The animals cried out in pain for only a second before the fell.

He snarled, looking around for his next victims.

Loki was angry. No, he was enraged. The world must really hate him because of course, of course the battle he had been hearing about this past week was with Thanos.

For the love of the gods, why did it have to be Thanos?

His heart seered with hate with every move as he fought. Eliminating his minions as easily as if he were stepping on ants.

But he knew that these ants were just obstacles until he would eventually have to face Thanos.

Fucking Thanos.

Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw a flash of red iron, and behind it, anp outrider aiming straght for it.

Without a thought, Loki's hand was out toward the menace, and with a flash of green, it fell dead to the floor.

The cry behind him made Iron Man turn. He gasped when he realised what what had been so close to ending him. And he gasped again when he saw what had saved him.

"What the- Loki?"

In a flash, the god was in front of Tony.

"Stark." Loki was speaking through gritted teeth, "yes, yes, I'm fighting on the right side, shocking I know. Now please explain to me what the hell is going on. I was under the impression that Thanos was dead!"

Tony was still blinking rapidly, but shook off his surprise, "Uh, yeah. Yeah he... he is. This Thanos is from way back in the past and decided to say hello." he held out a hand and shot at some approaching chitauri, "This Thanos is a lot nastier than the last one too."

Loki growled as he sent a blast of magic to another outrider behind Stark, "Unfortunately, I am all too aware." he said, before turning with a snap and billowing away, back to the fight.

Tony watched him go, still in shock. Many shocking things had happened already that day, and he didn't think he could even be surprised anymore, but seeing Loki Odinson back from the dead and on the right side of a fight seemed to do it.

In retrospect he should have paid more attention to the fact that he was fighting an army of evil aliens.

He only had a split second warning before a huge hulking figure swung a fist the size of chair at him, knocking him ten feet away into into a pile of rubble. Tony tried to blink away the throbbing on his head as he heard Friday try to pull him to full consciousness.

Through half closed eyes, Tony saw the creature that attacked him lift a weapon in the air, ready to finish him off. He lifted his blasters, making to fire back, but then the thing was suddenly pulled back and slammed to the ground.

Tony sat up just in time to see the massive foot of GiAnt Man squash to monster to mush as he ran past them.

It was only when Scott passed that Tony saw him.

He shot a string of web and swung through the air landing near him and ruahing forward.

Tony had to remind himself to breathe.

"Mister Stark!" he exclaimed.

Tony could do nothing but stare as the boy grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Hey! Holy Cow, you will not believe what's been going on."

Tony felt his throat constrict as he looked at him. Looked at the boy's bruised face, still beaming up at him.

Oh god, Peter.

"Do you remember when we were in space?" Peter's wide eyes looked at Tony as he spoke, "And then I got all dusty?"

'Got all dusty'. Tony didn't know if he wanted to laugh or to cry. The worst moment of his life, and Peter summed it up in three words.

'Got all dusty'. Jesus Christ.

"Well I woke up and everyone else was there, and Doctor Strange was all, 'Hey we're in the soul stone'."

Tony shook his head, his hands gripping onto the boy's shoulders. Making sure he was real. Making sure he wasn't going anywhere this time.

"And we were in there for like a week, and then Black Widow showed up and she was like 'It's been five years, and you're getting rescued!"

Tony couldn't stop looking at his face. Listening to his voice as he babbled on and on, like he always did.

Oh god, Peter. His kid was back.

"And then next thing, we're in Wakanda!" he carried on, " And T'Challa and Okoye got all their warriors and then Doctor Strange did that yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time and..."

Peter stopped talking with a gasp when Tony stumbled forward, throwing his arms around the kid.

"Oh," Peter blinked with wide eyes. He set aside his surprise and squeezed his arms around Mister Stark, closing his eyes. "Oh, this is nice."

Tony was swallowing back the lump in his throat as he held Peter. The battle around them was forgotten and ignored as he just held him. The hug was five years too late, Tony knew that, so he lifted his eyes to the dark sky and thanked every deity out there that he had this chance.

The chance to just hug his damn kid.

:::

Peter Quill was killing it. Oh yeah, Star-Lord was on a roll. Sure he'd taken a few face shots, but that's what his helmet was for, right. And he was hitting back just as hard.

He was fighting harder than he ever had right now, because Quill knew that he had royally screwed up in the battle five days ago. Or five years ago, or whatever.

He was determined to now prove that he was better than that. That he could do better. Not just to Gamora and the rest of the Avengers, but to himself too.

And he was doing damn well. He leapt over a writhing body as he fired a shot as a beastly looking dog thing came flying at his face. He nailed an elbow to the face of an Outrider that was attacking from behind, flooring it with a vicious kick.

Shots fired and limbs flew as Quill fought his way through the enemy. But then the inevitable happened. His arm was caught from behind and he was spun around. Quill cried out as a kick landed him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground.

He gasped as the alien aimed a weapon at his head, ready to finish him off, but then a shot rang out from afar, hitting it in the back and causing it to fall, dead weight, right on top of Peter

He wrestled the dead body off him and sat up with a gasp, clicking the side if his head to rid his helmet. He smiled when he saw who had saved him.

"God, you're amazing." he grinned at Gamora as he stood up with a grunt. She didn't say anything. just stood there with a frown.

Peter sighed as he walked toward her, "I don't know how much you saw, but I was kicking ass back there, babe." he grinned, "Just before you came and saved mine. As always." He reached for her face, his smile wide as he stepped closer, and Gamora's hand went up his.

His smile was wiped right off when her hand gripped his tightly, twisting his wrist.

"Wha- Ow!"

"Do not. Touch me." she growled.

A knee jerked up between Quill's legs, landing him right in the jewels.

He let out a pained grunt as he fell to the floor, Hands covering his injury.

"What the hell?" he wheezed as Gamora stared down at him in disgust.

Its then that he heard the whirring of a gun behind him. Looks like someone was coming to his rescue. He looked up away from Gamora to see...

"Gamora?" he gasped in shock when he saw Gamora. Pointing a gun at... at Gamora.

"What the hell?" he wheezed.

"Get behind me Peter," Gamora said. The one who hadn't just kicked him in the nuts, "That's not the real me."

"I am the only me," retaliated the other Gamora.

From the floor, Quill's head snapped from one to the other, head spinning as the two Gamoras stared each other down.

"You're both the real you." the three turned their heads to see the approaching figure. Quill grinned as he saw his favourite blue alien, "But both of you from different times."

The woman behind Quill dropped her gun slowly, "Nebula." she all but whispered. Gamora remembered the last time she had seen her sister. Broken apart and screaming in pain as she was tortured by Thanos. And now here she was.

Nebula walked faster towards her. Leave it to her to immediately know which Gamora was which.

Nebula hurried towards Gamora, and in an act that surpised them all, she wound her arms around her.

Gamora's arms wrapped around Nebula immediately, closing her eyes against her shoulder.

"Sister," she said quietly.

Nebula said nothing, but her arms tightened again around Gamora before she quickly let go and took a quick step away.

"I missed you too, Nebula," Quill smiled as he stood up with a wince, going to wrap his arms around her. Nebula stiffened immediately, but lifted an arm to pat the man twice on the back.

Gamora, the meaner one, shook her head in disgust, "Nebula told me that the years made me soft. I didn't really believe it untill now."

Gamora smirked, stepping towards her double, "I'm not soft," she said, "Just better. And you know you've always wanted to be better."

The other Gamora nodded slowly as she too approached the other, "Well I guess I can't fault my own progress," she said, "but really? This one?" she jerked her head towards Quill, and Gamora shrugged with a smirk.

"The options were either him, or a tree."

The other Gamora looked at... herself... through narrowed eyes before letting a small smirk touch her own lips.

The two regarded each other in silence. And then Peter.

"You know, I had this exact dream once," Quill said, breaking the moment, "but both Gamoras were a lot nicer to me in that dream." he nodded wistfully, "a whole lot nicer."

The three women turned their heads slowly toward him.

Nebula shook her head slowly, "Sometimes I wish you'd picked the tree."

:::

Bucky was confused. He was so damn confused. When he heard that he would be fighting a battle, this is not what he had been expecting. Thanos again? With an army of evil creatures again? What the hell was going on?

The only thoughts running through his head was a string of "Shit shit shit shit shit oh god this is fucking shit. Shit!"

It was on a loop in his head as he fired shot after shot at alien after alien.

And god, there were so many aliens!

Everywhere he turned, there were more coming at him, and as he loaded and reloaded gun after gun, all he could think was "Shit shit shit goddamn it shit!"

So many aliens! But the thing was, it seemed like some of them were on their side. It became increasingly difficult to shoot fire, just in case he shot the wrong ones.

But that guy just shared a high five with Drax, so anyone who looked like him was probably good, right? And the one that looked like a huge insect with knife hands sliced at someone that was about to slam into Thor, so he was good too.

And that Blue Rock guy was fighting back back with the Hulk, so he must be on their side too.

And that lady had Loki standing on the back of her flying horse so she was also on their side.

God there were so many!

Bucky's gun clicked, and he swore loudly as he threw it on the ground, grabbing another from the holster around his thigh.

He started shooting again immediately. God, so many aliens!

With one hand, Bucky fired his gun, while his fist struck out everywhere it could land, flooring anything it came in contact with.

Bucky turned quicky as he heard a growl behind him, sending a metal fist flying at a dog looking creature that had been about to sink its teeth into his neck.

His gun fired and his fist punched. His arms grew tired, but he couldn't afford to slow down.

Because there were so many goddamned aliens!

"Watch it!" came a shriek. Bucky lowered the. gun that was suddenly pointed at Shuri.

She was filthy, covered in dirt and sweat, arms shaking from exhaustion.

"Are you okay?" Bucky yelled over the noise as he shot at anything coming behind her.

"I am not!" Shuri panted, her hands fell to her knees as she tried to hold herself up, "There are so many aliens!"

"I know!" Bucky punched an outrider that had come too close. It fell to the floor, and then stopped struggling as Shuri fired at its head.

"Bucky I need a favour." she told him.

"A favour? Right now?"

"See that ship?" Shuri pointed up to a ship not too far off the ground. Chitauri were steadily jumping out of it, joining the fight, "I need to get in there."

"Like hell." Bucky said immediately.

Shuri reached into one of her many pockets and took out a handful of small flat disks.

"You had time to go to your lab?" he asked, exasperated.

"I knew we'd need some supplies," she retaliated, "Like these bomb disks."

"Shuri-"

"That ship keeps churning those things out, Bucky. There are too many, and I can get rid of them if I get up there."

Bucky shook his head as he reloaded the gun in his hands, "I'm not helping you get into a ship filled with aliens that want to kill you!"

"I am armed! I can take care of myself, grampa. And now is not the time for you treat me like a fragile little princess, alright! You're the only one strong enough to throw me that high, please!"

Bucky knew she was right, but he also knew that he did not want to throw the girl who'd grown to become a little sister to him into a space ship full of killer chituari.

But he couldn't think about which was the right thing to do. There wasn't enough time to think. And the chituari were still pouring out.

Bucky groaned loudly at himself.

"You'll need a running start." Shuri nodded once, backing away as Bucky ran to position himself under the ship.

Shoving the gun into a holster, he threaded his fingers together and looked to Shuri, nodding.

The princess started sprinting towards him.

"You better get out of there fast, kid!" he shouted, as she finally reached him, leaping into the air and onto his outstretched hands. Bucky grunted in effort as he threw her upwards with all his might.

Bucky looked up, and swallowed hard as he saw her disappear into the ship.

But he couldn't stare forever. There was still a fight going on down here. He kept firing his gun, and kept reloading, and fireing some more.

Minutes later, he heard a series of explosions ringing from deep inside the ship, getting louder and louder. For a moment, Bucky's heart stopped, but a second later, he saw the small princess leap from a large hole in the ship. Only seconds later, the ship exploded with a final boom, sending Shuri flying further into the air.

Bucky watched in horror as she hurtled through the sky, but then from a distance, he saw thick branches shoot up and catch her, twisting around her body and lowering her gently to the ground.

Bucky let out a loud sigh of relief. It only lasted a second though, because he then realised that he had let himself get distracted for too long. And he was more surrounded than ever.

This time it didn't matter how fast he fired his guns or how hard he punched, with every monser he took down, two more took his place.

"Shit!" Bucky yelled as his gun clicked again. He had no time to reload it, so he threw it at the face nearest monster. All he had now were his fists

Sweat dripped from his face and his hair flew around him as he fought his way through the surrounding hoard.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit!

Bucky was quickly getting overwhelmed. Outriders and Chitauri charged harder and harder at him, and they just kept coming, no matter how he fought.

He was losing. Badly. Fists and legs hit harder than ever, but Bucky was still getting buried.

He was losing. He was losing. He was-

Suddenly, Bucky felt a hand grip the cloth at the back of neck, as the next thing he knew, he was being yanked into the air.

Bucky's eyes were wide, and his breathes were heavy as by some miracle, he saw the horde of monsters that had been on top of him screaming from the ground as he flew away.

Still breathing hard and fast, Bucky looked up and saw Sam, stilll gripping onto his top as he flew through the air, Bucky in tow.

"You still alive there gramps?"

Bucky felt his limbs go limp as he felt relief wash over him, "Never thought I'd be so happy to see you Wilson!" he yelled up at him.

Sam laughed loudly as he sliced through the air, "So how about now? Forgive me yet?"

"Oh fuck yeah." Bucky held a hand to his fast beating heart, "We're good! All good!"

Bucky's relief was short lived though, as a rogue bullet flew towards Sam, causing him to jerk to the side, and causing Bucky to slip through his fingers.

Bucky screamed as he plummeted head first towards the ground, but only seconds later, a hand wrapped around his ankle, yanking him back up through the air.

"I got you!" Sam yelled down, "Holy shit you're heavy!"

Bucky could only groan his relief, even as he jerked roughly through the air.

"Hey Sam?" he called up, "I ever tell you that I hate heights?"

"Well there ain't no where I can drop you! So suck it up and start shooting!"

Being upside down so high in the air was hell, but Bucky just swallowed back the bile in his throat, and sucked it up.

He reached behind him, grabbing at the rifle he had strapped to his back.

Perhaps being so high up wasn't such a bad thing. He was a sniper after all.

So the Winter Soldier lifted his rifle as the Falcon flew him threw the air, and he started shooting.

:::

Oh, how Thor had missed this.

Sure this was not an ideal situation that they were in. No one enjoyed having the fate of the Universe on their shoulders. Of course they didn't.

But above all else, Thor was a warrior. And a warrior was never more in his element than when he was fighting.

And oh, how Thor had missed a good fight.

With Mjolnir in one hand and Stormbreaker in the other, Thor roared as he tore through the enemy.

Lighting crackled through him, striking down dozens of monsters at a time. Mjolnir was thrown through the air, and returned covered in the blood stains of his opponents.

He swung Stormbreaker through the air, slicing clean through anything in it's path.

Thor left destruction in his wake, and it wasn't long before all around him lay defeated enemies, and nothing and no one stood before him

No one except Thanos.

Thor breathed heavily as he stared the Titan in front of him down.

Next to him, Thor felt someone land heavily on metal feet. On his other side another, lighter pair of feet walked from behind him.

"Good to have ya back, Thor," said Steve.

"Good to be back, Captain."

"So we got a plan with this guy?" asked Tony.

Thor just flexed his arms, and his weapons crackled with lighting, and his eyes burned white.

"Let's kill him properly this time." he said.

And with a yell, the he charged, the others not far behind him.

And Thanos was ready. His spear sliced through the air, chasing Steve as he landed blow after blow at the Titan's face. Tony flew through the air, blasters aimed at Thanos. But he deflected, avoiding the blasts and letting them bounce off his spear.

He dodged Thor as he sent blow after blow his way, Stormbreaker cutting thriugh empty air as Thanos ducked every time.

The three fought hard, not letting up even once, but the mad Titan was just too strong. One heavy punch at Steve's head sent him hurtling through the air and landing hard on the ground, unmoving.

"Okay Thor, hit me!" Tony shouted out.

Summoning his strength, Thor cried out as he slammed his weapons together, sending white lightning directly towards the Iron Man.

Absorbing the power, Tony aimed every blaster he had at Thanos, sending fire right at him.

Thanos shielded himself with his giant spear, letting the blasts fire off around him. Groaning in effort, he pushed forward, fighting through the flames until he was close enough to grab at Tony, lifting him in the air and effectively ending his attack.

Thor threw Mjonir in the air and struck it with Stormbreaker sending the hammer flying towards Thanos.

But Thanos was ready, and he shielded himself using Tony. Mjolnir crashed into Stark, sending him flying through the air and hard onto the ground.

With an angry shout, Thor charged at Thanos, swinging his axe at his head . Thanos ducked out of the way and a giant fist struck Thor in the face.

The two traded gruelling strikes, weapons clanging against each other as they swung and blocked and swung again.

The tables turned completely when Thanos finally managed to hit Stormbreaker straight out of Thor's hand. He slammed Thor to the group and landed a fist to his face.

Again and again and again.

With a bloodied face and a light head, Thor held out a hand, and Stormbreaker came flying towards him, but Thanos snatched the axe out of the air before it could reach Thor's outstretched hand.

A heavy foot struck down on Thor, digging him into the ground, and then Thanos swung Stormbreaker down. Thor's hand went up just in time to keep the axe from slicing into his chest. He pushed up, but Thanos kept pressing down.

Thor's axe sunk slowly through his armour. His teeth were barred as he pushed against the force, but this Thanos was strong. Stronger than Thor remembered him being.

If he kept pushing, Stormbreaker would sink into Thor's heart, and Thanos would win. The great purple beast seemed to know this too, because the snarling smile on Thanos's face was trimphant.

Thor spat out blood as he strained, pushing with all his might. But still the axe sunk deeper. Thanos was near grinning.

He would win.

But then Thor heard something that almost made him sieze his struggle.

He heard Mjolnir sing.

To anyone else, it could have been nothing, but Thor knew his hammer, and that was the sound she made when she was being lifted.

Someone... someone was lifting Mjolnir, and that someone was not Thor.

Suddenly, the air split in sound, and this time, Thanos heard it too, and he turned, just as the hammer slammed into him, sending him flying off Thor.

Thor breathed heavily as he was released. His eyes were wide, and he stared as his hammer whizzed past him, flying back into the hand that had thrown her.

Through his wheezing breaths, a smile came to Thor's face when he saw.

Captain America stood, his broken shield in one hand, and in the other, he held Mjolnir.

Thor shook his head as he grinned, "I knew it."

Thanos strugged to his feet as Steve charged, Mjolnir swinging at his side as he had seen Thor do time after time. The hammer lifted him into the air as it summoned the lighting from the sky.

Steve swung Mjolnir up, sending Thanos's head reeling. He took blow after blow from the Super Soldier, stumbling and failing to block the grueling blows.

Steve attacked, again and again, swinging Mjolnir as if he had been doing so forever. He fought and fought, and eventually the Titan fell to the ground.

Steve struck the hammer down, and lightning tore through the ground, sending the Titan screaming as he writhed on the floor. Steve thrust the hammer into the air, sending more bolts of electricity into his chest.

He stood above the Titan, chest heaving, and hammer at his side.

Behind him Thor struggled to his feet, calling Stormbreaker to his hand. He stood, looking at the Captain with his lips stretched wide in a smile.

A part of him couldn't believe it.

But another part absolutely did. Because he knew it. He guessed he had always known it.

Steve Rogers was worthy.