HE'S BACK. He's finally back. It was truly a miracle Carol Danvers found Tony. If not, he's be dead.
Well, from the state he was currently in, he looks nearly dead.
"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey started as pictures of all the people on the Avengers who dusted were shown.
"World governments are in pieces," Natasha continued, "The parts that are still working... are trying to take a census and it looks like he did..."
Olivia sighed as she looked at Tony who's heart broke when he saw a picture of the kid he lost.
"He did exactly what he said he was gonna do," Natasha resumed, "Thanos wiped out... 50% of all living creatures."
"Where is he now?" Tony questioned, "Where?"
"We don't know," Steve answered as he leaned on a table, his arms folded.
"He just opened a portal and walked through," Olivia said as she placed her head in her hand, "Just like he did when he killed..."
Olivia raised her head up, clearing her throat as she ignored the looks of sympathy she got.
"We don't know where he is."
Tony sighed as he slightly moved his wheel chair. He then turned his head, catching sight of Thor who stared at the floor.
Tony pointed, "What's wrong with him?"
"Oh, he's pissed," Rocket answered, "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did... but there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"
"Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."
"Maybe I am."
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now," Steve moved back on topic, "Deep space scans... and satellites, and we got nothing.
Steve sighed.
"Tony, you fought him."
"Who told you that?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows, "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable."
"Okay, okay," Steve said as Tony spoke, "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"
"Uh," he spluttered, taking his hand and gesturing that he knew nothing.
Natasha rolled her eyes.
"I saw this a few years back," Tony said, "I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming.
"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," Steve tried.
"And I needed you," Tony scoffed, "As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry," the billionaire then got frustrated, knocking everything over, "You know what I need? I need a shave."
He stood up and started to rip the IV out his arm.
"A-and I believe I remember telling all youse..."
"Tony, Tony!" Rhodey came over to him.
"...alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world," Tony looked back at them, "Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not? That's what we needed."
"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve replied.
"I said we'd lose. You said, 'We'll do that together, too.' And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact?" he started to lose his balance, causing Rhodey to try to get him to stop, "We're the 'Avengers.' We're the 'Avengers,' not the 'Pre-vengers."
"Okay," Rhodey nodded as he looked up at Tony.
"Right?"
"You made your point. Just sit down, okay?"
"Okay. No, no, here's my point. You know what?" he got eye of Captain Marvel, "She's great by the way."
Carol tilted her head.
"Tony you're sick," Rhodey kept trying, "Sit down."
"We need you," Tony continued talking to Carol, "You're new blood."
He got out of Rhodey's grip.
"Bunch of tired old mules," he walked up to Steve, "I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar."
Steve looked at him in the eyes, clear remorse in his eyes.
Tony ripped out his reactor, took out Steve's hand and placed it on there.
"Here, take this. You find him, you put that on... you hide," his breath shook tremendously as he fell to his knees.
"Tony!" Steve called out, reaching out to him as everyone else did as well.
"I'm fine. Let me..." he took a deep breath before he collapsed on the ground.
Carol immediately took action, carrying him to his temporary hospital room that was next door.
Steve, Nat, Rhodey, Carol, Olivia and Pepper followed.
"He's gonna be fine," Rhodey came back in after a few minutes, "Here's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."
"You guys take care of him and I'll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back," Carol said before she started to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Olivia asked as she watched her.
"To kill Thanos," she said before she started to walk down.
Rhodey, Natasha, Olivia and Steve shared a glance with each other before following.
"You know, we usually work as a team here..." Natasha walked up to her, "...and, uh, between you and I, morale's a little fragile."
"We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight, too," Steve continued.
"Look, we want to help," Olivia added, "We need to help."
"You even know where he is?" Rhodey asked.
"I know people who might," Carol shrugged.
"Don't bother," a blue robot-person grabbed their attention, "I can tell you where Thanos is."
Everyone took a breath before walking into the room they were previously in, going to listen.
"Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me," the robot, Nebula continued, "And when he worked, he talked about his Great Plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask... where would we go once his plan was complete? And his answer was always the same. 'To the Garden.'"
"That's cute," Rhodey sarcastically said, "Thanos has a retirement plan."
"So, where is he?" Steve asked?
Rhodey pulled out a map of Earth, "When Thanos snapped his fingers... Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago..." he pulled out a map of another planet, "...on this planet."
"Thanos is there," Nebula said.
Natasha studied the cosmic waves that was demonstrated on the planet, "He used the stones again."
"Hey, hey, hey," Banner chuckled nervously, "We'd be going in shorthanded, you know?"
"Look, he's still got the stones, so-"
"So, let's get 'em," Carol cut Rhodey off, "Use them to bring everyone back."
"Just like that?" Banner asked.
"Yeah. Just like that," Steve nodded.
"Even if there's a small chance we can undo this..." Olivia stood up straight, "I mean, we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try."
"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Banner asked everyone.
"Because before you didn't have me," Carol responded.
"Hey, new girl?" Rhodey started, "Everybody in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?"
"There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."
Thor stood up from the table he was eating at, going over to Carol before he put his hand up.
Stormbreaker them summoned to his hand and Carol didn't even flinch though it was caught right beside her.
Thor nodded, "I like this one."
Olivia's eyes turned blue as yellow static enveloped her body once she summoned two swords.
"Let's go get this son of a bitch."
✁✁✁✁
"Okay," Rocket started as he sat in the front, "Who hasn't been to space?"
A few people raised their hands, causing Rhodey to ask why rocket was asking.
Carol chuckled.
"You better not throw up on my ship," Rocket commented.
"Approaching jump in three... two, one," Nebula announced before Rocket space jumped the ship.
They were all there in a few seconds, right outside the planet.
Captain Marvel stood up and exited the ship, flying outside, "I'll head down for recon."
She then continued to fly down into the planet.
Everyone else stood up, getting ready for when Captain Marvel came back up.
Nat and Liv then noticed Steve's glum face as he looked down at a girl in his compass.
Nat turned to him, "This is gonna work, Steve."
"Everything's gonna be okay," Olivia added.
"I know it will," Steve nodded, "'Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."
Carol then came flying back up, "No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."
"And that's enough," Nebula commented before Rocket started the ship once again.
Olivia stood up out of her seat, "Okay," she lifted Nat's chin up and pecked her lips before exiting the ship, flying next to Carol, "Let's go."
Olivia and Carol glanced at each other before flying down together to the planet, right beside a house that was in the middle of a beautiful field.
Everyone else landed a mile away.
As the looked down, they saw Thanos look up alert, causing Carol to blast him with her powers.
Olivia and her then came crashing through the roof, Carol putting him in choke hold and Olivia holding his arm and leg down.
Thanos then tried lifted his gauntlet hand up, but Bruce came up in the big Iron Man suit, holding the arm down.
Rhodey then came to help Olivia, even though she didn't need it.
Thor came after him, using Stormbreaker to cut off Thanos's gauntlet off... along with his forearm.
Thanos screamed out in pain, groaning loudly as he saw Steve and Natasha walk into the house.
Rocket went up to the gauntlet, rolling it over.
It revealed no stones.
Rocket's eyes filled with terror, "Oh, no."
Steve raised an eyebrow, "Where are they?"
Thanos didn't say anything.
Carol tightened her grip, "Answer the question."
"The universe requires correction," Thanos explained, "After that, the stones served no purpose... beyond temptation."
"You murdered trillions!" Bruce pushed Thanos, causing him to briefly fly up as Carol moved out of the way.
"You should be grateful!" Thanos retorted before groaning as he was punched by Bruce.
Natasha exhaled, tears rushing up to her eyes, "Where are the stones?"
"Gone. Reduced to atoms."
"You used them two days ago!" Olivia raised her swords in frustration.
Natasha held her arm back.
"I used the stones to destroy the stones," Thanos answered, "It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be."
"No," Olivia shook her head as tears rushed up to he eyes as well, "No, you're lying."
He sat up, "I am inevitable."
"We have to tear this place apart," Rhodey refused, "He has to be lying!"
"My father is many thing," Nebula looked down at Thanos, "A liar is not one of them."
"Ah," The Titan looked up at Nebula, "Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
Thor didn't give him another word in as he used Stormbreaker to behead him.
"What?" Bruce exclaimed.
"What did you do?" Rocket questioned as he looked up at the God.
Olivia looked down at Thanos's body, tears clouding her eyesight.
"He went for the head."