Biting the Dust [An Avengers: Infinity War Story]

5 | Losing a Friend

CHAPTER FIVE | LOSING A FRIEND

Steve fights with Corvus Glaive, dodging blows, and knocking Corvus' spear out of his hands. Grabbing him by the neck, he throws Steve to the ground. He starts choking Steve until he's impaled by his spear by Vision.

"I thought I told you to go," Steve tells Vision.

"We don't trades lives, Captain," he replies.

Wanda and I flew down to Vision's aid. We found him mortally wounded on the ground, sitting against a tree trunk.

"Are you okay?" Wanda asks. We could both sense that something was wrong from the look on his face.

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"He's here," he answers.

"Everyone, on my position. We have incoming," Steve says over comms.

The trees begin to shake as something is about to approach us all. "What the hell?" Natasha asks.

A blue portal begins to form and out walks Thanos ready to take the Stone from Vision's head. Wanda and I formed balls of energy in our hands as we prepare to fight him.

"Cap, that's him," Bruce confirms.

"Eyes up. Stay sharp," Steve says.

Everyone runs toward Thanos, but he subdues them all with his hands or one of the Stones: the Space Stone on Bruce, trapping him in a stone wall, Steve being thrown by the Power Stone, T'Challa gets punched, crashing into the ground using the kinetic energy in his Black Panther suit, and Sam who fires at Thanos only to miss, falling on the ground.

"Girls," Vision calls out to us. We both turn around to face him worriedly. "It's time."

"No," Wanda refuses. I shake my head.

He grabs our hands, turning us around. "They can't stop him, girls, but we can. Look at me. You both have the power to destroy the Stone."

"Don't," I said, looking behind me.

"You must do it, girls, please. We are out of time."

"We can't," Wanda says.

"Yes, you can." He positions our hands in front of his head. "You can. If he gets the Stone, half of the universe dies. It's not fair. It shouldn't be you both, but it is. It's all right. You could hurt me. I just feel you."

We look at each other, knowing what to do even though we didn't want to. Setting our jaws, Wanda and I put our combined power into the Stone.

Behind us, Rhodey shoots Thanos but using the Space Stone, he crushes him in his War Machine suit. Bucky shoots him only to be thrown by the Power Stone.

Okoye throws her spear, but he also stops it, throwing her with the Stone. Natasha runs toward him but he buries her under dirt and rubble. Groot wraps his arms around Thanos but he breaks out of it with ease.

Seeing everyone get defeated easily, Wanda and I use both hands, channeling all of our energy into the Stone in tears. Steve repeatedly punches Thanos stopping the Gauntlet with all of his strength. Thanos punches Steve knocking him out.

He walks toward Wanda and me only for us to use one hand to hold him back and the other to destroy the Stone.

"It's all right," Vision tells us. We don't see Thanos creeping up on both of us as I'm sobbing knowing I'm about to lose my best friend. "It's all right. I love you both."

The Mind Stone shatters, killing Vision, and sending Wanda, me, and Thanos backward in a white flash of light. On the ground, we both hold hands sharing our loss, in tears. Thanos walks up to both of us.

"I understand, my children. Better than anyone," he tells us.

I looked up at him in anger. "You could never."

He comforts us, touching our heads. "Today, I lost more than you can know. But now is no time to mourn. Now is no time at all."

He uses the Time Stone to reverse what Wanda and I had done. My eyes go wide as he resurrects Vision.

"NO!" We yell in unison. We run toward him only for him to slap us away with his hand. Grabbing Vision by the throat, he rips the Mind Stone from Vision's head, killing him a second time. He throws Vision who's now a gray, stoneless corpse.

Thanos completes the Infinity Gauntlet, a stream of rainbow lights flowing through his arm. A flash of lightning knocks him down by Thor who throws Stormbreaker until it impales Thanos in the chest.

"I told you... you'd die for that," Thor tells him pressing Stormbreaker in deeper.

"You should have... you should... you should have gone for the head," Thanos says. Raising his hand, he snaps his fingers in a bright white light.

"No!" Thor yells.