Still | B. BARNES

Chapter 6

📍The Garden / Earth | June 2018

Everyone aside from Tony aboard the Benatar.

"Okay, who here hasn't been to space?" Rocket asked while he pilots the aircraft.

Sapphire, Natasha, Steve, and Rhodey raised their hands.

"Why?" Rhodey asked.

"You better not throw up on my ship," he replied before Nebula informed them, "Approaching jump in 3... 2... 1!"

The ship jumped forward into a wormhole, and Steve held onto his seat for dear life.

Sapphire would have enjoyed the exhilaration of this new experience had she been with Bucky.

The ship slowed down and hovered in orbit of the planet seen in the hologram previously. Carol also hovered in front of the Benatar, "I'll head down for recon."

"This is gonna work, Steve," Natasha assured him.

"I know it will," Steve replied, holding a compass with an image of Peggy Carter. "Cause I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."

Carol arrived saying, "No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."

"And that's enough," Nebula spoke as everyone began to disembark the ship.

Carol flew through the roof, knocking Thanos down and grabbing his neck. Bruce in the Hulkbuster armor burst from the ground and grabbed Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet arm. Thor flew in and sliced off the Infinity Gauntlet. Rhodey flew down with Rocket and aimed guns on Thanos' head.

Steve walked in with Natasha and Sapphire right behind him, staring murderously at Thanos. Rocket went over to the sliced-off Infinity Gauntlet and kicked it over, as everyone realized that there are no stones in it.

"Oh no," Rocket let out.

"Where are they?" Steve asked Thanos.

"Answer the question!" Carol demanded, tightening her grip around his neck.

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation," Thanos replied before Bruce pushed him down and punched him, wearing his Hulk Buster, "You murdered trillions!"

"You should be grateful," Thanos breathed out, causing Sapphire to get furious.

She stepped forward, sending a high intensity of pain illusion in his mind, "Grateful? Grateful?! You took my husband!"

"Where are the Stones?" Natasha asked as Thanos writhed in pain.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms," he replied, wincing in torment.

"You used them two days ago!" Bruce exclaimed.

"I used the stones to destroy the stones," he answered, knocking off Sapphire's breath and pulling away from her mind tricks in disbelief that Bucky won't be coming back without the stones.

"It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be," he sat himself a little straighter, "I am... inevitable."

"We have to tear this place apart, he-he-he has to be lying," Rhodey said not believing Thanos.

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

"Ah, thank you, daughter," Thanos said to Nebula, who looked down. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

Sapphire yelled a battle cry before sending a magnetic force field through his veins to the atoms of his body.

Thanos screamed in pain and torment. Sapphire was breaking down every atom in his body with how high the frequency of the force is.