Frostbite

Twelve

My consciousness faded in and out. I didn't know where I was or what had become of the others. I couldn't even open my eyes. Muffled voices filled my ears, unless I was only imagining it.

Something jolted my body and I shot up, the world becoming clear again. I blinked several times, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Mel, get up," Tony sighed in relief, his face slightly bloody, "You're alright- Hey, Cap! I got her; she's over here!"

Steve jogged into view, mostly unscathed as well. He rushed forward, helping me up from my position in the rubble. The compound had been blown to hell. Every inch of it. It was a disaster.

"Oh, thank god," he murmured, his hand resting on my face for a brief moment.

"What's going on?" I asked, glancing around for anyone else.

"When you mess with time, it tends to mess back. You'll see," Tony replied, waving for us to follow him. We made our way through the rubble until we came across Thor.

He was standing on the ledge, staring at something below in a quiet rage. I peered over as we joined him and groaned internally. Thanos was sitting down there. Waiting. It had to be a past Thanos.

"What's he been doing?" Tony asked him, his eyes fixated on the Titan below.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Where are the stones?" Steve blurted, looking around for any hint of them.

"Somewhere under all this. All I know is he doesn't have them," Tony shrugged.

"So, we keep it that way."

"You know it's a trap, right?" I sighed, conjuring my trident, as I mentally prepared myself. We had fought him once before and lost, I wasn't sure we could win this time.

"Yeah. And I don't much care," Tony smirked at us.

"Good. Just as long we are all in agreement," Thor spoke, thunder cracking through the sky as he reached out his hands. Storm breaker and the Mjolnir from the past came flying, lightening surrounding him dramatically as his clothing changed into battle armor. He caught them, his hair and beard changing, braided and cleaned up. "Let's kill him properly this time."

The sling ring was still on my fingers, and I opened a portal to the ground beneath us. We all went through, walking toward the mad Titan slowly.

"You could not live with your own failure. And where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive," Thanos said as we spread out, surrounding him, "But you've shown me that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yep. We're all kinds of stubborn," Tony drawled. I clenched the trident in my hand, nervous but determined energy coursing through me.

"I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do," he stood up, slowly putting his helmet on, "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then- with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teeming with life but knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given. A grateful universe."

He yanked his double-sided sword from the Earth, his gaze flickering around us. Thor lit himself up threateningly, the blue crackling energy lighting up his eyes as well.

Steve's jaw clenched as he ground out, "Born out of blood."

"They'll never know it. Because you won't be alive to tell them."