Final Countdown
The Avengers and Wakandans are struggling against the Outriders. Bucky goes down, and fights off Outrider fangs snapping at his head. Captain America and the Black Panther still fight side-by-side. War Machine hovers over the breach, pouring ammunition into the flood of bodies until a huge hammer - Cull Obsidian's - knocks him out of the sky and to the ground. The Hulkbuster is dogpiled and pinned.
"There’s too many of them! GYAH! AAAAHHHHH!" Bruce screams in terror.
Suddenly, a large beam of rainbow-hued light lands in the middle of the action, and an axe flies out of it, wreathed with lightning and tearing through the Outriders, freeing the heroes. It flies back to the light and into its master's hand just as the beam cuts out, revealing Thor, Groot and Rocket, who chambers a round in his large gun. Black Widow, Captain America and Black Panther pause in astonishment. Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian pause in apprehension.
Bruce, opening the Hulkbuster's helm and laughing with joy, "AH-hahaha! You guys are so screwed now!" He shouts at the sight. of his boyfriend okay ill go home
"BRING ME THANOS!!! Thor fiercely yells and charges toward the hordes of Outriders, followed by Groot and Rocket, lightning gathering around him until he finally launches himself into the air, lands in the densest concentration of Outriders and makes a crater where they had stood.
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Cut to Titan, where Thanos arrives, finding only fresh debris from Ebony Maw's ship.
Doctor Strange appears, sitting on what may have been plaza steps once and observes the purple life size eggplant emoji, "Oh, yeah, you're much more of a 'Thanos'."
Thanos ignores the remark and instead observes, "I take it the Maw is dead. This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplished his mission."
"You may regret that. He brought you face-to-face with the Master of the Mystic Arts." Strange says.
"And where do you think he brought you?" Thanos responds as if people actually care.
As they converse, Star-Lord crouches behind wreckage with his weapon ready, behind Thanos and to his left; Spider-Man and FireStorm peek from above and behind Doctor Strange.
Doctor Strange sighs and looks around, "Let me guess. Your home?" Sherlock i mean Strange deduces.
Thanos, smiling reminiscently, "It was. And it was beautiful." Thanos curls his gauntleted fist and activates the Reality Stone to show Strange Titan before it was destroyed - green lawns, intact buildings, water-filled ponds, strolling citizens, the jack-like structures hovering and connected to the ground-based buildings with beams of energy. "Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."
"Genocide."
"But at random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass." He relaxes his fist; the Stone stops glowing and the illusion fades back into the true state of wreckage that has become of Titan.
"Congratulations. You're a prophet." Strange sarcastically remarks.
"I'm a survivor." Thanos hisses.
"Who wants to murder trillions." Strange points out.
"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers, and they would all cease to exist. I call that...mercy."
Doctor Strange stands. "And then what?"
"I finally rest... and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills."
Doctor Strange summons his Mandalas, entering a fighting pose. "I think... you'll find... our will... equal to yours."
Thanos gives him a confused look,"Ours?" He looks up to a see a chunk of wreckage descending rapidly on him, too rapidly to react -- and powered by Iron Man. He is subsequently crushed by it.
"Piece of cake, Quill." Tony says as he flies in.
“Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off!” Peter Quill yells as he follows and triggers his mask.
The wreckage on top of Thanos erupts in purple, as he bellows in rage. He turns the hovering fragments into a flock of bats with the Reality Stone and swarms Iron Man with them, driving him back through the ruins.
Spider-Man webs his eyes, and swings in to kick him in the face at the same time that Drax leaps from cover, blades in both hands, to knee-slide behind Thanos and try for a tendon slide across the back of the Titan's knee. FireStorm sends a large fire blast his way, sending him sliding towards Strange’s portals.
Strange jumps through a portal and summons a sword of golden energy, duelling with Thanos while Drax attacks similarly on his other side. Thanos punches Drax through a ruined wall, then shatters the blade with one hand and tears the web from his eyes. He advances on Strange and kicks at him, but Strange's shield absorbs the damage - the Cloak lifts him free of the ground.
Star-Lord has been making his way back on the ground, and shoots Thanos from behind. Thanos uses the Power Stone to shoot balls of energy at Star-Lord while Star-Lord leaps towards Thanos using magical platforms thrown in his path by Strange, the last one placed above Thanos's head so Star-Lord can flip over him and slap a mine on Thanos's back. Star-Lord sticks his landing, he disengages his helmet, flips Thanos a bird and falls backward into a portal.
“Boom!” Quill shouts as he falls back.
Tyler sends another fire blast, triggering the bomb and the explosion knocks Thanos to his knees and dazes him briefly.
“Do not let him close his fist.” Strange whispers to the Cloak of Levitation. The Cloak swoops off Strange's shoulders and wraps itself tightly around Thanos's armored hand, who starts tugging at this unexpected wrapping.
Strange starts throwing portals everywhere. Spider-Man leaps through one on Thanos's left.
“Magic!” Parker yells and he punches Thanos in the head and vanishes through a portal to the lower right before reappearing above Thanos. “More magic!” He yanks Thanos's head down hard, then leaps into a portal in front of him. He leaps through another portal high and behind Thanos. “Magic with a kick!” Delivers a flying kick and falls feet-first into an exit, then appears on his right. “Magic with a-“
Before he can finish Thanos turns, grabbing him from the air, and throwing him to the ground, with his hand around his neck.
Thanos hisses, “Insect!”
He then throws him at Strange, knocking them both down.
“WHOEVER THREW THAT SPIDEY, YOUR MOM’S A HOE!” Tyler yells and sends a stream of fire Thanos’ way.
Thanos finally tears the Cloak away and is then promptly surrounded by fiery explosions as Iron Man bombards him. He sucks all the flame into the gauntlet with the Power Stone and fires it in a stream at Iron Man, hitting him dead on and sending him far away, plowing through a massive fallen machine.
Spider-Man leaps from behind, more conventionally this time, while Thanos concentrates his fire on Iron Man, webs the gauntlet and drops down in front of him, pulling hard -- but Thanos yanks on the webline, pulling the much lighter teenager towards him, and punching him on his way past. He tears the webbing free of the gauntlet just in time for a small spaceship to attempt to crash-land on him.
The ship drags Thanos along for a distance, burying him under debris. He stands just as the pilot leaps in a great arc to punch him, landing in front of him with an energy-blade at the ready.
“Well, well.” Thanos smirks at his adoptive daughter.
“You should have killed me.” Nebula calmly hisses at him.
“Would've been a waste of parts!” Thanos snaps.
Nebula runs at Thanos, attacking him with her sword. “Where's Gamora?!” She yells.
Thanos punches her away. Strange uses the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to pinion the gauntlet, pulling Thanos's fingers open and trying to pry the gauntlet off his hand.
Thanos tries to pull free, as Drax slides in from his right, kicking his knee and knocking him off-balance, then wrapping himself around Thanos's kneeling leg.
Star-Lord shoots a electric trap onto the ground to Thanos's right, the tangle-field holding down his unarmored hand.
Spider-Man swings in, webs Thanos's chest then wraps it around behind him, digging his Iron Spider legs into the ground to anchor himself. Tyler rushes over to help him keep hold of the webbing.
Strange opens a portal straight above Thanos's out of which drops Mantis, landing on the Titan's shoulders, her hands on his temples. He bellows as she tries to put him under.
Iron Man, having returned, is pulling on the gauntlet. Strange reapplies the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to reinforce the trap's hold on Thanos's right hand, and the Cloak helps him pull. Thanos is finally subdued enough to incapacitation, not fully asleep.
Tony, while pulling, “Is he under? Don't let up.”
“Be quick. He is very strong.” Mantis says as she begins to cry, the amount she has to use exhausting her already.
“Parker, O’Brien, help! Get over here.” Tony calls to the teen. Spider-Man and FireStorm drop the webline, and hurry to help Tony with the gauntlet “She can't hold him much longer. Let's go.” The three begin pulling.
Peter flies over to join the others, stands in front of Thanos. “I thought you'd be harder to catch. For the record, this was my plan. Not so strong now, huh?” Quill unwisely taunts and steps closer, “Where is Gamora?”
“My... Gamora...?” Thanos slowly asks softly.
“No, bullshit. Where is she?” Quill snarls.
Mantis appears shocked as she reads the titan’s emotions, “He is in anguish.”
The thought causes Quill an odd amount of joy, “Good.”
“He… he… mourns.” Mantis sobs.
“What does this monster have to mourn?!” Drax shouts from where he is.
Nebula whispers, “Gamora.”
Peter pause and turns to her. “What?”
Nebula,realising with horror and sadness what has happened. “He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul Stone... but she didn't.”
Tony watches as Quill’s face shifts to disbelief and grasps the danger immediately and dehelmets. “Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now, you understand?”
Quill slowly turns to Thanos.
“Don't, don't, don't engage, we've almost got this off!” Tony shouts, pleading and desperate.
“Tell me she's lying.” Peter says, almost whispering before becoming completely enraged. “ASSHOLE! Tell me you didn't do it!”
“I... had... to.” Thanos slowly whispers.
Peter, while starting to tear up; quietly. “No, you didn't…! No, you didn't…!” He continues to rage and then proceeds to pistol-whipping Thanos in the face, Mantis cries out in pain when Quill manages to hit her. “NO, YOU DIDN'T!!!” He yells in despair.
“Quill!” Tony and Drax shout.
Iron Man leaps for Star-Lord's arm, rehelmeting and leaving Spider-Man and FireStorm to pull off the gauntlet.
Tony, to the struggling Quill, “Hey, stop! Hey, stop! Stop! Hey, stop! Stop!”
“It's coming! It's coming! It's coming!” Parker shouts.
The two teens nearly have the gauntlet completely off as Tyler shouts in triumph, “I got it! I got it...!”
But Thanos wakes completely, and now well and truly furious. He head-butts Mantis, grabbing the cuff of the gauntlet just as it is sliding off his hand, causing Spider-Man and FireStorm to stumble back, and then throwing Mantis away off his shoulders.
Parker notices that Mantis has a little too much air beneath her, “Oh, God.” He jumps and wraps his arms and legs around her, extending his spider legs to form a roll cage for a safe landing.
Thanos kicks Drax off his right leg and into Nebula and Star-Lord, knocking them down. He yanks on the Crimson Bands holding his right hand to throw Doctor Strange well away, and swats away Iron Man and his repulsor shots. The Guardians jump up and charge him again, but he fires a pulse of indigo energy at them that knocks the three of them completely unconscious. Tyler jumps into action, sending fire balls left and right, the power stone glows purple as Thanos manages to capture them and send them back her way. She goes flying and lands near the unconscious Guardians.
Iron Man zooms back in, his nanite arm cannon manifested, and is head-butted to the ground. Thanos looks at him for a beat, then raises the gauntlet towards Titan's moon. Iron Man stares, aghast. Thanos uses a combination of the Power and Space Stones to shatter the moon's surface, then bring the debris down on the field of battle at speed. Iron Man powers out of the way but is caught by a chunk of moon about the size of a baseball field, slamming him into the ground. The Guardians go sailing into the air from the rebound. (throw another moon at my son again and i will kill you, you oversized, useless grape. -A.M)
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Back in Wakanda, Shuri is working steadily to complete the Mind Stone's removal; Wanda and Hecate stands by tensely.
The Kingsguard, Borderers and Jabari have little success going against Cull Obsidian's chained hammer - he either sends them flying or punches them into the ground. The Black Panther gets free of his other sorties, leaps and uses all his collected kinetic energy behind a punch that lays Obsidian flat.
Rocket, having found a clear spot. "Come and get some, space dogs!" Another wave of Outriders heads right for the raccoon-oid. Bucky, having come up behind Rocket, grabs him with his mechanical arm, holds him at arms length and spins firing his own gun at the same time. "Come on, get some, get some! Come on, get some!" Bucky drops Rocket, who looks up at him with an impressed gleam. "How much for the gun?"
Bucky snaps off another burst. "Not for sale."
"Okay, how much for the arm?" Bucky just gives him a look and moves off. Rocket only smirks as he watches Bucky walks off. "Oh, I'll get that arm."
The tides of battle cause Thor, using Stormbreaker to great effect, and Captain America together. They take a breather.
"New haircut?" Steve asks, gesturing towards Thor's new hair do and panting.
"Notice you've copied my beard." Thor smiles.
Cap nods, wearily gesturing at his own face with a shield-covered hand. Groot skewers three Outriders with his right arm with an epic war cry.
Thor smiles at the tree, "By the way, this is a friend of mine, Tree."
"I am GROOT!"
"I...I am Steve Rogers." Steve very formally pants.
In Shuri's lab, a deep rumbling can be heard even at their height. Wanda looks down on the battlefield, and sees movement through the blazing forest between the troopships and the dome. When the disturbance reaches the edge of the trees, it turns into vast moving mounds of earth that easily bypass the force field and emerge -- Threshers, sets of massive, motorized spiked wheels, intended for nothing more than shredding everything in their paths.
Hecate and Shuri exchange slightly panicked looks and Hecate puts a hand on her shoulder, "I need to get down there."
Shuri looks at her with wide eyes and nods, "Go."
Hecate nods and kisses her before darting out of the room.
"Fall back! Fall back now!" T'Challa orders.
Wanda watches as at least one set of Threshers separates into individual wheels and starts veering all over the battlefield, and then looks anxiously back at Vision.
Rhodey flies over Sam, "Focus that fire on the left flank, Sam."
"I'm doing it." The two fliers use their firepower to crack a Thresher but cannot find a weak spot.
Black Widow with her escrima sticks and Okoye with her augmented spear have drifted together when they're suddenly in the path of a Thresher. Both women cringe at their seemingly inevitable shredding when Hecate lands in front of both of them, eyes glowing green, lifting the whole Thresher well clear of the ground. Looking behind her, the friendly forces have scattered and replaced by a charging mob of Outriders -- the perfect place to throw a Thresher. Black Widow straightens with a pleased smile, Okoye with an amazed look.
Wanda lands next to the girls, eyes glowing red, saving Natasha from another Outrider.
"She's on the field. Take it." Proxima Midnight says into an earpiece.
Corvus Glaive kills one of the guards just outside the lab, alerting Shuri to the problem. She starts hastily disconnecting her equipment from Vision's systems; he gasps at the sensations. The Dora Milaje engages Glaive but is sent skidding across the floor. Shuri finishes her shutdown, grabs one of her sonic panther-paws and fires at Glaive. The Dora attacks again, and Glaive sends both her and Shuri through the balcony railing and onto the main lab floor.
Vision is not where Corvus Glaive expects to find him. Vision is, in fact, charging at him and knocking him out the window to fall many meters down the face of Mount Bashenga.
"Guys, we got a Vision situation here. " Sam says before he's tackled by a leaping Outrider and grounded.
"Somebody get to Vision!" Steve shouts.
"I got him!" Bruce has figured out the Hulkbusters repulsor thrusters and makes a beeline for the android.
"On my way." Wanda is then clobbered by Proxima Midnight's pommel and rolls down into the large ditch from the Thresher before she can move.
Proxima Midnight, jumping down next to Wanda, "He'll die alone. As will you."
"She's not alone."
Proxima Midnight turns to see Okoye, Hecate, and Natasha surrounding her.
Okoye silently brandishes her spear on the other side of Proxima and nods at Black Widow at the other female Avengers.
Proxima Midnight attacks first, "Euuyaaah!" She leaps for Black Widow, who has joined her sticks into a full staff. She blocks Proxima's blow with an electrical crackle while Okoye runs around the slope to also attack from the front.
Corvus Glaive kicks Vision, knocking him down; as he attempts to rise again, Cull Obsidian shows up and swings his hammer in a full arc, throwing Vision even further. He painfully starts to climb to his feet again when a whooshing overhead interrupts the fight as Bruce Banner lands the Hulkbuster between the aliens and the android. He takes a defensive stance, pointing one hand's repulsor at each.
"Ohh no, oh no you don't. This isn't going to be like New York, pal. This suit's already kicked the crap out of the Hulk." Bruce yells out. Cull Obsidian jumps forward, grabs Bruce's right arm and Bruce in reflex grabs Obsidian's hammer; a jet fires, taking the two of them in a random direction, to the base of a waterfall.
"Guys! Vision needs backup now!" Bruce yells, Obsidian pulls the Hulkbuster up and kicks it in the small of the back. Trying to change into the Hulk while fighting Cull Obsidian in the Hulkbuster armor, "Hulk. Hulk, I know you like making your entrance at the last second, well, this is it, man. This is the last, last second." Bruce extends his left hand protectively; Obsidian grabs the armor's hand, chops the shoulder joint with a relatively small axe then does a roll over Bruce's back to leverage snapping off the Hulkbuster's whole arm. "Ahhhhh! Hulk! Hulk! HULK!"
Banner's face briefly becomes the Hulk, "NOOOO!!!" Hulk suddenly cries out.
Bruce rolls his eyes, "Oh, screw you, you big green asshole! I'll do it myself!" He returns his attention to Obsidian. "Come on!"
(also im still waiting for the plot twist edits with this quote. like hulk to bruce??? please? ~A.M.)
He charges the alien, jumps into the air and delivers an effective punch with his remaining hand - swat, punch, hammer - except that blow is caught by Obsidian, who punches back, knocking Bruce flat. Obsidian changes his left hand armor into a pointed weapon, and lunges forward to deliver a likely fatal blow, when Bruce grabs the detached Hulkbuster arm out of the water, holding it so Obsidian impales that instead, and slaps the controls.
Bruce Banner laughs a bit, "See ya!" The repulsors fire, taking Cull Obsidian high into the air - high enough, in fact, to intersect the defense dome. The Hulkbuster arm drags Obsidian against the field to grotesque destructive effect, ending in a very final explosion. "Hulk, we got a lot to figure out, pal." He sighs, laying back for a minute.
Proxima Midnight alternates heavy blows between her three opponents, but all four of them duck as a single-wheel Thresher tears overhead, the ditch sparing them most of the danger from the wheel-blades. Proxima uses the distraction to kick Black Widow in the face, sending her to the ground. She then grabs Okoye by the shoulder and weapon and throws her meters away. She lunges with her weapon towards Hecate, which sends the witch stumbling a bit.
"Well, now you pissed me off." Hecate groans, brandishing her own staff.
Simultaneously, Corvus Glaive and Vision struggle in the forest at the foot of Mount Bashenga. Glaive grasps Vision's shoulder and uses the leverage to plunge his blade once more into the android's chest.
"I thought you were formidable, machine. But you're dying, like any man." Corvus Glaive yanks his blade out, and Vision collapses. As he bends over his fallen opponent to retrieve the Stone, he's tackled by Captain America at full speed.
"Get outta here!" Steve yells at Vision as he exchanges blows with Glaive, using his arm-shields as offence as well as defence, then turns to Vision again. "GO!"
Black Widow splits her staff back into a pair of sticks to block Proxima Midnight's swordblows, and finally knocks it from her hand. The alien takes to her bare fists instead, knocks down and pins the Black Widow. Proxima triggers an arm-blade from her left-arm armor, and stabs at Widow, who manages to get saved by Hecate with her staff. As the edge starts to dig into Black Widow's neck anyway, scarlet energy grabs the alien and tosses her into the air right into the path of another passing Thresher. Dark blue blood spatters the women below. Wanda sits up, sighing with relief, her hands still shimmering.
"That was really gross." A blue splattered Natasha remarks.
Captain America keeps blocking Corvus Glaive's staff weapon using his shields, finally knocking it from the alien's hands just before he's thrown over a fallen tree and pinned, Glaive's hand at his throat. Even with his physical abilities, Cap's struggling -- until a glaive-blade pierces Glaive's chest, and is pushed all the way through. Vision raises his enemy in a perfect mirror of the first attack on him, and holds him for a moment, before dropping Glaive's corpse to one side and collapsing exhaustedly.
Steve helps him back up. "I thought I told you to go."
Vision shakes his head, "We don't trade lives, Captain."
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yeet back to titan
The Guardians and Avengers are dealing with the gravitic aftermath of dumping a large chunk of moon onto an unstable planet's surface. The unconscious Guardians are flying upwards uncontrollably, moon-chunks are still making fiery ballistic inbounds, and random debris and massive rocks are floating in any possible direction. Spider-Man and FireStorm is well-equipped to handle this physically, even if they are both freaking out emotionally.
Peter webs Mantis. "I got you! I got you!"
Tyler snags Drax, securing both of them to something Not Moving. "I'm sorry I can't remember anybody's names!"
Peter reels in Quill and they land next to each other, panting.
"We really should've learned their names." Parker sighs.
Tyler nods, "Yeah, probably."
The Cloak of Levitation sets Doctor Strange down on a relatively stable outcrop as Thanos extricates himself from rubble. The Sorceror Supreme makes a few passes with his hands, producing the familiar golden magic filigree circles, and slams his hands down on the rock before him, invoking the Seven Suns of Cinnibus as a lightning-like effect of immense heat jumping from rock to rock until it reaches Thanos, sending him flying - but he makes use of the erratic gravity to keep control and fire back a blast from the Power Stone.
Strange blocks the purple plume with a wall of Mirror Dimension, which he then pushes back at Thanos. It shatters around the Titan, who suctions the magic into a miniature black hole with the Space Stone, volleying it back at Strange. Just in time, Strange raises a shield and changes the dark energy into a swarm of aqua butterflies which return to their master.
Before Thanos can counterattack again, Strange levitates and invokes the Images of Ikonn, giving him arms like a Hindu diety before dozens of Strange replications rush away, forming a circular wall around a snarling Thanos. They call cast magical cords, wrapping around Thanos's torso, arms and hands; he struggles to close his gauntleted fist, and uses the Soul and Power Stones to discover the real Strange among the many copies, blowing the duplicates away and sending the singular Strange reeling. Reality and Space pull Strange forward, Thanos grasping him by the throat once in range. Strange grabs futilely at Thanos's hand.
Thanos smirks, "You're full of tricks, wizard."
Strange gapes as Thanos reaches for the Eye of Agamotto and shouts, "No!"
Thanos snaps the Eye off its chain. "Yet you never once used your greatest weapon." He crushes it in his bare hand. "A fake." He growls before he throws Strange hard enough that Strange's head hits stone and he passes out
Almost simultaneously, a red and gold device slaps into the palm of the Infinity Gauntlet, bracing the fingers open; and a red and gold Avenger makes a fast and hard entrance.
Tony, sounding just about done with the Titan, "You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna to lose it."
"Stark." Thanos groans.
Tony furrows his eyebrows in question, "You know me?"
Thanos nods, "I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge."
"My only curse is you." Small rockets pop out of Iron Man's back and launch at Thanos.
"Come on!" Thanos yells.
The rockets all explode on target, momentarily shrouding Thanos in smoke. Before it clears, Iron Man pile drives into Thanos horizontally, using his single super-jet boot configuration. As he bounces off, he flips and sticks his landing, immediately reconfiguring his boots into ground clamps for stability and his gloves into rocket-driven battering rams, punching Thanos into a ruined wall behind him.
Thanos shakes it off quickly, reaches forward and tears Iron Man's helmet off, revealing Tony's surprised expression before the suit recovers automatically and re-forms his head protection. The Titan makes use of the fractional delay and punches back hard, sending Iron Man sliding meters away, giving Thanos time to rip the brace device off the gauntlet. He immediately uses the Power Stone to stream furiously lambent energy at his opponent, who forms a shield to kneel behind just as instantly, getting pushed back even further by the incredible force.
Iron Man slides out from behind the shield, letting the angled energy push him away for a faster start, and whips back to Thanos full thrusters; he kicks at the Titan with his left foot, turning the boot into a ground clamp at the same time to pin the gauntlet, and keeps twisting while his left glove becomes a ram again, slamming into Thanos's face, cutting his cheek.
Thanos, panting and smirking, wipes the small bit of blood off of his cheek, "All that for a drop of blood."
He smiles briefly punches Iron Man, sending him pinwheeling, then starts beating him with his fists. Tony attempts to block the blows with his forearms, but Thanos is relentless, picking him up by the helmet and blasting his midsection with the Power Stone. The gaps in nanite coverage are now gaping, as the armor loses the ability to recover from the intensity and extent of the damage. Iron Man lands hard from the Power blast, struggles to one knee and fires his right hand repulsor at the inexorable Thanos; the beam is easily deflected by the gauntlet. He gets to both feet as the suit tries to complete repairs, adding the beam from his left hand as well. Thanos walks right up to him, and backhands the incomplete helmet completely off Tony's head. He crosses his arms to block a blow from Thanos's gauntlet, and has his left hand caught over his head. In desperation, he forms what's left of his right glove into a shortsword, which is also easily caught by Thanos, snapping it off clean and driving it through Iron Man's left side. The fight is over.
Thanos walks Iron Man back until he sits, and places the gauntlet almost comfortingly on Tony's head. "You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive." He lets go, straightens and steps back. "I hope they remember you."
Iron Man's just a little distracted with the pain, and blood drooling out of his mouth, and compromised breathing. Thanos raises the gauntlet, closing his fist, all four Stones glowing.
"Stop!" Strange calls out, sitting up and sounding entirely damaged. "Spare his life... and I will give you the stone."
"No tricks." Strange shakes his head as Thanos points all four Stones at him instead.
"Don't..!" Tony chokes out.
Strange reaches up and plucks the Time Stone out of its hiding place in the stars. He opens his hand, the scars on his fingers and their inherent trembling particularly obvious now, and the Stone floats to Thanos's bare hand. Strange watches him intently, as he takes the Stone and drops it into the thumb setting, the energy pulse making the Titan wince.
Thanos smirks, "One to go." His triumph is short lived when an energy blast hits the gauntlet right in the empty Mind Stone setting, and Thanos grimaces in surprise.
Everyone turns to see Peter Quill flies in, screaming in rage and firing at an uncaring Thanos.
Thanos doesn't even bother responding to the assault - he just leaves. Star-Lord flies through where Thanos had been and crashes, rolling several times.
"Where is he?!" Quill snaps as he approaches, dehelemeting.
Iron Man stitches up his stab wound as well as he can with his suit functions; he has no breath for answers.
Peter Quill eyes are now fearful instead of furious as he observes the Strange and Tony's defeated stances. "Did we just lose?"
Tony turns to Strange, sadly, who has given the Time Stone to Thanos and softly asks, "Why would you do that?"
"We're in the endgame now."
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M'Baka bashes another Outrider - the ground game has improved considerably with the addition of the God of Thunder. His tribesmen are equally successful around him.
"MAYEFA!" M'Baku shouts.
"YA HU!" The Jabari chant.
Thor is in the air, using Stormbringer on the Outrider drop ships which are now retreating. He is having considerably more success than the Wakandan Dragon fliers firing on the fleeing ships.
Wanda lands as she finally locates Vision. "Are you okay?" Vision flinches in pain before he can answer. "What? What is it?"
"He's here." Vision states with a grimace.
The wind picks up. It feels... strange. Eerie.
Steve pauses from where he is and tenses, "Everyone, on my position. We have incoming." He is joined by the Black Widow, Falcon, Okoye and the Black Panther in short order.
"What the hell?" Natasha asks, stiffly.
Bruce sees the blue-black clouds of a Space Stone relocation just before Thanos steps forward, and confirms this isn't just another member of the Black Order. "Cap. That's him."
"Eyes up. Stay sharp." Steve lowly says.
Bruce reaches Thanos first, lunging forward fist-first - but Thanos uses the Space Stone on him, renders him immaterial until the Hulkbuster is half-buried in the stone of the cliff behind him, and freezes Bruce in place.
Captain America is sent flying by purple energy before he even gets to strike a single blow.
The Black Panther, armor fully charged kinetically, leaps high and with claws extended, but is easily grabbed by the throat and punched to the ground, his armor discharging violently.
Falcon stoops, strafing with both pistols, but is felled when his wings become rubbery and unable to sustain flight.
"Wanda. It's time." Vision states.
Wanda shakes her head, "No."
Vision shakes his head, "They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can. Look at me. You have the power to destroy the stone."
"Don't." Wanda says. stubbornly.
Vision grimaces, "You must do it. Wanda, please. We. Are. Out of time."
Wanda shakes her head, "I can't."
"Yes, you can. You can. If he gets the stone, half the universe dies." Vision reasons.
"It's not fair." A tearful Wanda responds.
Vision shakes his head, "It shouldn't be you, but it is. It's all right. You could never hurt me. I just... feel you."
Wanda extends a trembling hand and starts beaming her energy at the Mind Stone.
The following action is mostly muted. War Machine joins the fight, firing his guns at Thanos until he uses the gauntlet to crush his armor around him and toss him aside.
Bucky runs in firing, and is punched away by the Power Stone.
Okoye activates the vibranium-powered elements on her spear and flings it; Power stops it inches from Thanos, and throws her and it aside while wrapping the Black Widow in unescapable bands of earth.
Groot stabs his hands into the ground to wrap Thanos in cables of roots, which he breaks easily.
Wanda watches all this over one shoulder, and turns back to Vision to add her left hand to her tearful effort.
Captain America slides under one blow and comes up swinging his deployed arm-shields, punching Thanos in the gut and chin. He grabs the gauntlet, keeping Thanos's fingers unclenched. Thanos looks very briefly impressed at Cap's efforts as he screams before slamming a fist into his head and rendering him insensible.
Wanda looks over her shoulder again and sees Thanos approaching unopposed. She looks back at Vision anxiously, not quite knowing what to do. She is luckily saved by Hecate swooping in, green magic forcing Thanos' back into a tree. Wanda looks at her gratefully.
"Keep going!" Hecate shouts.
"It's all right. It's all right. I love you." Vision mutters softly.
At those words, Wanda begins sobbing harder. The Mind stone finally lifts up from Vision's head. Wanda tries to break it but, of course, Hecate was right, Her magic wasn't made for this. Hecate looks over at the two, seeing Wanda struggle.
Thanos notices this too and smirks, "She can't do it!"
Hecate rolls her eyes, "Shut up, you grape." She says, sending him flying into a cliff not far from them, temporarily rendering him unconscious. She then turns to Wanda and sends her magic that way, the yellow Mind Stone finally starts to crack. Vision's face is overcome by an expression of joyful peace, and as the crystal fragments completely, a pulse of pure yellow energy explodes from him, shuddering the trees for many meters around his epicenter. Wanda's, Hecate's and Thanos's energy subsides.
"I understand, my child. Better than anyone." Thanos says, approaching Wanda.
"You could never." A sobbing Wanda snarls.
Thanos reaches down to presume to stroke her hair, as if in comfort. "Today, I lost more than you can know. But now is no time to mourn. Now... is no time at all." He reaches forward, clenching the gauntlet, emerald mist surrounding his wrist, making a gesture very similar to that Doctor Strange made when activating the Eye of Agamotto. In response, a bead of yellow light starts gathering in on itself as time is reversed and growing in size, solidifying into an intact and conscious Vision.
Wanda's eyes go wide in fear. "No!" She screams as she lunges for Vision and is swatted away.
Thanos picks up Vision by the throat, lifting him to eye-level, and digs the fingers of his right hand into Vision's forehead, digging out the Mind Stone. He pulls it loose, and Vision goes limp and colorless; he tosses the lifeless android aside like trash. Bringing his gauntleted hand up, he slowly moves the Mind Stone over the last empty setting, and drops it in. The energy surge is much more than any previous - his torso is wreathed with iridescent static and he bellows from the sensations.
As Thanos studies the completed gauntlet, a massive bolt of lighting strikes him, digging him into the ground and grinding him back for meters. Thor has arrived, eyes glowing with power, stooping down from the sky like a bird of prey. The God of Thunder pauses his attack, reverses his position, raises Stormbreaker above his head and hurls it -- Thanos fires the whole might of the gauntlet against it, but it only creates a rainbow-like bowshock, not slowing the axe as it slams right into Thanos' chest.
Thor lands in front of Thanos, who is down on one knee; hatefully. "I told you. You'd die for that!"
He takes hold of the back of Thanos's head and forces Stormbreaker deeper into his chest, staring angrily into his eyes while Thanos cries out in pain.
Thanos begins weakly, "You should have... You...." He suddenly becomes stronger. "You should have gone for the head!" He raises his gauntlet and snaps his fingers.
Thor and Hecate's eyes go wide and scream, "NO!"