Frostbite

He Went For The Head

Everyone but Tony quickly got ready and boarded Rocket's ship. He had been able to get it ready in almost no time. The seats were all separated unlike the quinjet and we each sat, buckling ourselves in.

"Okay, who here hasn't been to space?" Rocket asked, glancing back from his seat. Natasha, Rhodey, Steve, and I raised our hands sheepishly.

"Why?" Rhodey wondered.

"You better not throw up on my ship."

I wasn't making that promise. My stomach was already churning nervously. Steve reached out and grabbed my hand reassuringly. Our eyes met and I squeezed his hand.

Nebula began counting down and everyone tensed anxiously, "Approaching jump in three, two, one!"

The ship launched forward, and my free hand clenched the seat in response. Steve's hand gripped mine harder as we shot through space, colors whirring past. My heart thundered in my chest until we finally stopped, hovering around the planet we had set course for.

Carol exited through one of the hatches and paused saying, "I'll head down for recon."

The rest of us prepared for our impending confrontation. I stared out the window, wondering how this would go down. We couldn't lose anyone else. We just couldn't.

"This is gonna work, Steve," I heard Natasha murmur.

"I know it will," he told her confidently, a hand resting on my back, "Cause I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."

I had to agree with him there. Carol appeared in the large window again, her face in disbelief.

"No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him," she informed us as she continued to hover outside.

"And that's enough," Nebula said quietly.

We quickly laid out our plan and landed out of the way so that he wouldn't see us coming. We filed off the ship, Carol flying off ahead. Everyone's eyes turned to me, and I opened a portal a ways from the small cottage we had seen as we had entered the atmosphere. Once everyone had gone through, I let it close behind us. Bruce and Thor disappeared. They, along with Carol, would go in first.

We waited a moment, giving them time to move in and restrain him. Steve gave a single nod, and we marched up to the door. They had him held tight, his severed hand lying on the floor a few feet away.

Rocket kicked it over and gasped, "Oh, no."

The gauntlet was empty. Not a single stone remained.

"Where are they?" Steve demanded, meeting his eyes. He just stared back silently.

"Answer the question!" I hissed, getting in his face, my hands glowing.

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation."

Bruce came forward and angrily shoved him over, "You murdered trillions!"

"You should be grateful." At that Bruce punched him, but Thanos didn't fight back.

"Where are the Stones?" Natasha asked, her voice wavering.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" I snapped, praying he was lying.

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be," he spat back at me, sitting himself up straighter, "I am... inevitable."

Rhodey whirled around saying, "We have to tear this place apart, he-he has to be lying."

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them," Nebula spoke from my other side.

"Ah, thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly," Thanos told her, his voice turning softer as he addressed her.

Thor stormed forward, summoning Stormbreaker to his hand. He lifted the axe and brought it down on Thanos, slicing his head clean off. Blood splattered across Nebula and me as his head rolled across the floor.

"Oh god," I whispered. Nebula just reached up and wiped some of the blood from her face, staring at his decapitated head in silence.

"What... What did you do?" Rhodey stuttered in disbelief.

Thor looked around brokenly, realizing what he had done.

"I went for the head."

With that he slowly shuffled back outside, no purpose to his steps as he went. There would be no bringing anyone back. We had nothing.

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We arrived back at the compound, silent and hopeless. No one said a word as we all branched off through the building. There had been a fragile sliver of hope and it was gone. All the stones were.

I stood in our bathroom and stared into the mirror, more in shock than anything. Steve came in and turned on the shower before facing me.

"You're covered in blood," he murmured, grabbing a towel. He gently wiped some of it off my face, staring into my eyes.

"What do we do now? We failed. There's nothing else we can do. They're all just... gone," I whispered in horror.

"We do what we can for the people left. We try and- and move on."

"That's a lot easier said than done," I grimaced.

"I know."

A few moments went by as my mind wandered. One thing had been eating at me since first laying eyes on Thanos.

"I saw something years ago. When Thor took Loki back to Asgard."

His brows furrowed but he said, "I remember that. You looked so- shaken, but you said it was nothing."

"I thought so at the time but now I'm not so sure."

"What did you see?"

"Thanos. Thanos and the- the red skull," his eyes widened at that, "It was a warning. And I just blew it off."

"What? Why didn't you tell me what you saw? Red Skull is supposed to be dead..."

"I know- that's why I thought it was some mind trick, but it wasn't. Maybe we could have prevented all this if I-"

"Don't do that," he shook his head, "don't try and blame yourself. There's no way you could have known."

"Maybe, but it's just been bugging me the last few weeks, so I needed to say something."

"You can always tell me anything," he reminded me, "I don't care how bad you think it is."

"I know."

He paused, the exhaustion he felt finally showing. I took the towel and tossed it in the hamper.

"Let's get you cleaned up before the water gets cold."

I didn't want to think of the blood that stained my skin. The being it came from. Or how hard it would be moving forward. There would be plenty of time for that. The only thing I wanted to think of in that moment was the selfless man in front me.