Hero (Loki & Avengers)

Thirty-Seven

I stand on shaky legs, still feeling numb and heartbroken, but I channel all of that into my drive. I spot Peter staring blankly at the ground beside me.

I walk up to him and place a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me.

"This fight isn't finished yet, Peter." I tell him. My voice shakes, but it's convincing enough.

He nods, barely.

"Don't get lost in your head, okay? We need you here." I take a deep breath, "Tony needs you here." At the mention of Tony his head snaps to alertness.

I see the familiar glint of anger and determination flash in his eyes. He nods more enthusiastically this time. I'll be sure to really talk to him later, but for now I just leave him with, "It wasn't your fault."

I see the pain behind his anger, but we need the anger more right now. He knows that. I think everyone else does too, because the shock of his death has been replaced with red hot fury in every single one of us.

I turn my attention on the battlefield. Bodies are still littered around the crater my blast made. For the most part, all of the rubble and bodies and chunks of buildings have been pushed aside into two lines on either side of the vast yard. Barricades of sorts.

The lines are drawn, with no man's land in between us.

Thanos has gathered his remaining troops, and we have gathered ours, sheltering our dead and wounded well behind the barricade. Many Asgardians have fallen. Tony has fallen. Dozens more, including Sam and Nat, are badly wounded.

I'm about to scream that we need to regroup and get into formation when I catch a true and unobstructed glimpse of him for the first time. Thanos.

This time his throne sits at the front of his troops, so close I can see his face clearly in the distance. But I barely have time to notice his face or even his gigantic frame before my eyes focus on his hand, or more importantly what adorns it.

The infinity gauntlet. I don't pay any attention to the glittering purple jewel that sits on its knuckles, all I am drawn to is the glove itself. Its metal is silvery and lilac, and immediately I know what it's made out of.

The same thing I am.

I walk up and over the barricade, despite people screaming at me to get behind the barrier. I don't care. I can't even hear them, they sound muffled.

My body is drawn to the metal on Thanos' hand, almost as if I have no control over myself. I glide towards him until both sides of the battle are dead silent and watching me intently. Nothing else enters my mind but the desperate need my body has to reconnect with that metal. My substance. It pulls me in.

Thanos moves his hand into the air and I snap out of my trance. Suddenly I realize I'm halfway into the gap between my friends and my enemy. No man's land. I freeze.

"I've heard about you. You're the one who can touch the stones. The one who Loki has grown to care for. You cost me an excellent servant and informant." Thanos rumbles in a voice far more melodic and graceful than I expected for him.

An image of Tony lying dead flashes through my mind. Rage fills me.

"You cost me a father. We can't always win, I suppose." I spit through gritted teeth. It's true, Tony was a father to me, and now I've lost a father for the second time in my short life.

"No, we cannot. But today, I must. Let me tell you a small lesson I've learned, little human." He begins. My blood boils at the nickname he gives me. "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. These foolish bounty hunters only managed to bring me one Stone out of six, so I came to collect the rest myself."