Hang In There// P.P.

Chapter 37: The Plan.

Thanos arrived, finding only fresh debris from Ebony Maw's ship that we had crash landed.

Dr. Strange was sitting on what may have been plaza steps once.

"Oh, yeah, you're much more of a 'Thanos'. "

"I take it the Maw is dead. This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplished his mission." Thanos stated.

"You may regret that. He brought you face-to-face with the Master of the Mystic Arts."

"And where do you think he brought you?"

Star-Lord crouched behind wreckage with his weapon ready, behind Thanos and to his left; Spider-Man peeked from above and behind Doctor Strange as I took Thanos' right back.

"Let me guess. Your home?"

Thanos smiled reminiscently.

"It was. And it was beautiful."

Thanos curled his gauntleted fist and activated the Reality Stone to show Strange Titan before it was destroyed. Green lawns, intact buildings, water-filled ponds, strolling citizens, the jack-like structures hovering and connected to the ground-based buildings with beams of energy.

"Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."

"Genocide."

"But at random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass."

He relaxed his fist; the Stone stopped glowing and the illusion faded back into the true state of Titan.

"Congratulations. You're a prophet." Dr. Strange replied sarcastically.

"I'm a survivor."

"Who wants to murder trillions."

"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers, and they would all cease to exist. I call that... mercy."

Dr. Strange then stood.

"And then what?"

"I finally rest... and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills."

Strange summoned his Mandalas, entering a fighting pose.

"I think... you'll find... our will... equal to yours."

"Ours?"

Thanos looked up to a see a chunk of wreckage descending rapidly on him, too rapidly to react and powered by Iron Man. He was subsequently crushed by it.

Iron Man flew in.

"Piece of cake, Quill."

Quill triggered his mask and followed.

"Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off!"

The wreckage on top of Thanos erupted in purple, as he bellowed in rage. He turned the hovering fragments into a flock of bats with the Reality Stone and swarmed Iron Man with them, driving him back through the ruins. Spider-Man webbed his eyes, and swung in to kick him in the face at the same time that Drax leapt from cover, blades in both hands, to knee-slide behind Thanos and try for a tendon slide across the back of the Titan's knee. I moved from my spot behind the Titan and made a run for it, using my magic to paralyse the Mad Titan's legs temporarily. Doctor Strange jumped through a portal and summoned a sword of golden energy, dueling with Thanos while Drax attacked similarly on his other side. Thanos punched Drax through a ruined wall, then shattered the blade with one hand and tore the web from his eyes. He advanced on Doctor Strange and kicked at him, but Strange's shield absorbed the damage, the Cloak lifted him free of the ground.