CHAPTER XLII
the gauntlet
NEW YORK, USA — 2023
"CATCH!"
Whilst fighting, Noah heard a sudden yet familiar voice from behind. He paused, continuing to shoot electricity at the enemies before him without even looking
He whipped his head around, only to see Clint standing there. He could see that Clint was tossing what looked like to be an upgraded version of the gauntlet towards him.
He watched the gauntlet fall and fall, until he finally reached out and tightly grasped onto it. He looked over at Clint, with a slight smile.
"Gotcha." He whispered.
"Take care of that, will you?"
And with those words, Clint rushed off within a hurry, beginning to attack some of his enemies along the way.
Noah held the gauntlet underneath his arm, battling against the aliens and monsters, either electrocuting them to death or manipulating their energies to toss them miles away.
He was surprisingly doing well. He hadn't felt nauseous, dizzy or sick yet. He felt completely fine.
Then, all of a sudden, a crash was heard behind, some dirt blowing into Noah's eyes, making him wince.
Just in time, he got rid of all the monsters he was fighting. He slowly turned around, his sea green eyes widening at the sight of a familiar alien.
This familiar being was Ebony Maw, the alien who kidnapped Stephen to get the Time Stone.
Noah was intimidated. But, he also wasn't. He firmly gripped onto the gauntlet, sure not to let go. He slowly titled his head to the side, his sea green eyes narrowing.
Ebony Maw stood multiple metres away from the teenager. He wore a somewhat furious expression on his face, prepared to use his powers any moment now.
"I suggest you give me the stones, boy."
"I'm not giving you the stones." Noah hesitated.
Slowly but surely, Ebony Maw raised his two hands into the air, attempting to threaten Noah. He frowned, his teeth gritting together as he spoke.
"Who do you think you are?" He muttered.
"Noah Kitzler."
"You younglings never know when to quit, do you?"
"At least I'm no quitter."
And with those words, Noah began to gather up even more electricity and energy within himself, enough to hurt the alien.
His fingers twitching with almost blinding electricity, he cocked an eyebrow upwards at the alien, beginning to direct his powers at Ebony Maw.
Ebony Maw blocked the blue electricity with some objects that he had lifted up with his powers. He didn't seem to be struggling whatsoever, effortlessly using his abilities.
Noah, on the other hand, was struggling as he continued to shoot electricity at Ebony Maw. He just wanted this alien to get out of his way in order to keep the stones and the gauntlet safe.
Then, uncontrollably and all of a sudden, Noah's arm jolted up, unbelievable amounts of sparking electricity shooting out of his fingertips.
He stumbled backwards, quickly catching his balance. He then slammed his green eyes shut after seeing the sudden blast before him, the electricity almost blinding him.
The electricity was unable to be blocked or dodged at this point. It had sparked everywhere, also electrocuting enemies close by.
Then, surely enough, it electrocuted Ebony maw. He screamed as unbelievable pain shot through his body, no longer being able to attack Noah as he collapsed to the ground.
Noah attempted to stop generating even more electricity once he saw Ebony Maw collapse. He felt surprisingly bad, somehow.
His mouth slightly agape and his face etched with concern, he slowly approached the fallen alien. Once he was close enough, he halted within his tracks and looked down at the defeated being, the gauntlet still in hand.
Ebony Maw looked up at the younger boy, his pale skin scarred and bleeding out due to the electricity that had just harmed him. He angrily bared her teeth as he spoke one last time.
"You're going to die for that."
And with those words, he was completely gone. He wasn't blinking or moving anymore, his expression twitching to blankness, his eyes now staring off and into space.
Apart from seeing his parents die, this was Noah's first time seeing a corpse. He didn't bother to stand there and feel bad.
Instead, he just stood up from where he was sat. He looked down, blood slowly dripping from the cuts that were engraved into his face, his dark brown curls and unruly mess.
"Noah,"
After hearing such a familiar voice, Noah briskly turned around on his heels, only to see Fiona standing right behind him.
She looked over at him, her lips tugging into a somewhat proud smile. She then put her hand out, moving her fingers as she spoke, her voice calm.
"Give that to me."
Noah knew what she was referring to. The gauntlet. He firmly nodded his head, not really able to function probably after killing Ebony Maw. Then, he tossed the gauntlet over to her.
Fiona immediately caught it within her hands, admiring it for a few moments. She then glanced back up, her amber brown eyes focused upon the young boy before her.
"I'm so proud of you." She told.
Noah inhaled in a slight breath, his lips tugging into a crooked smile, dimples forming within his cheeks. He lowered his head, slowly running his fingers throughout his dark brown curls.
"Thanks, Ma'am." He nervously replied.
"No need to call me ma'am, Noah." She simply stated. "You can call me Fiona."
"Right, Fiona." He whispered.
"Now, go."
And with those sudden and firm words, Fiona suddenly formed a portal from below Noah. She peeked down it as he fell through, waving her hand as she immediately closed it.
Noah seemed to be on the other side of the battlefield, falling from the dull sky. He didn't bother on screaming as he knew that this suit he was wearing could protect him from high falls like this.
Then, finally enough, he slammed down onto the ground. He grunted underneath his breath in slight pain, landing almost perfectly, swiftly forcing himself off the ground.
"Fuck." He whispered. "I really didn't need that."
He steadily stretched his back in order to ease the surprising pain, glancing around the entire battlefield as he did so.
But, something caught his attention. Or someone, rather.
It was Peter. He was shooting some monsters with his sticky webbing, holding the upgraded infinity gauntlet tightly within his hands.
Noah widened his sea green eyes, feeling as though he hadn't seen Peter in decades. He really had seen Peter in decades, but he still hadn't even spoken to him after everybody had reappeared from being snapped.
Then, all of a sudden, a sudden blast hit Peter. He collapsed to the ground, separated from the vicious enemies now.
Noah came back to his senses. He rushed towards Peter, dodging each blaster bullet that he ran past, also killing some enemies along the way. He halted right before Peter once he was close enough.
Peter was laid inside of a ditch in the ground, his knees pulled up to his chest as he continued to tightly hold the gauntlet within his hands, his face etched with fear.
Just as Noah stopped right by Peter's side, a beaming bright light landed nearby. It was a woman, golden energy sparkling from her body. She glanced between the two teenagers, who were completely stunned by her appearance.
"Uh, hi, I'm Peter Parker."
"Noah Kitzler."
The shining woman cocked an eyebrow upwards, still looking at the two teenagers. She could feel her lips tugging into an intimidating smirk.
"Hey, Peter Parker and Noah Kitzler." She greeted. "You two got something for me?"
And with those words, Peter slowly sat up from where he had fallen. He was beginning to trust this woman really quickly, slowly handing her the gauntlet.
Just as the woman took the gauntlet, Peter and Noah whipped their heads around at an army of enemies charging towards them and this woman.
"I don't know how you're gonna it get through all of that." Peter commented.
And with those words, some of the women on the battlefield landed right beside the three heroes, two of them being Fiona and Wanda.
"Don't worry." Wanda assured.
"She's got help."
After assuring the two teenagers, the group of powerful heroines began to charge towards the intimidating army, each of them using up all of the power they could use in order to defeat the troops.
Once the badass group of heroines had left to fight against the small army, Noah and Peter were left alone once again.
Without any hesitation, Noah took a firm step towards. He swiftly wrapped his arms around Peter, embracing him into an extremely tight yet comforting hug, seeing this as the last time they could hug since any of them could die on the battlefield.
Peter accepted the embrace, shivers running down his spine at the unexpected touch. He slowly wrapped his arms around Noah, too. He then allowed one of his arms to drape to his side, gently grabbing onto Noah's hand.
Noah slightly breathed against Peter's neck, not expecting his hand to be held onto, but he took it. He gripped onto Peter's hand as well, intertwining his fingers with his.
"Noah." Peter murmured.
Those words made the two separate from the tight hug, still clasping onto each other's hands. They both stared into each other's eyes, taking a few moments to admire each other's unique features.
Peter parted his lips, slightly shaking his head from side-to-side as he began to search for the words he was looking for. He blinked rapidly, as if he was unable to do anything but just stare at Noah.
"I- I kind of wanted to tell you something." He stuttered.
Noah's lips tugged into a slight smile. He nodded his head for a few moments in response, his grip still extremely tight on Peter's hand.
"Please, tell me."
Peter nodded his head. He inhaled in a deep breath, his nostrils flaring as blood trickled down his face from his injuries. He clenched his jaw, beginning to speak.
"Well, I- I-"
Before Peter could even confess, Thanos had interrupted the sweet moment as he had got a hand of the gauntlet, not hesitating to put it back on.
Both Peter and Noah paused. They were unsure if they should go over there and battle against Thanos or to just stay here and watch as all hell broke loose.
Finally enough, Thanos had placed the newly crafted gauntlet over his hand. He was absorbing the power of all of the stones, just like he had done when he had gotten a hold of the Time Stone.
But, just as he was about to snap, the glowing heroine from earlier flew in. She landed, pulling Thanos' hand down along the way. She was attempting to pull the gauntlet off.
Sooner than later, Thanos plucked the Power Stone from the infinity gauntlet. He held it within his fist, absorbing it's power as he punched the heroine with it, making her launch miles away.
He didn't waste any time on putting the Power Stone back into the upgraded gauntlet, beginning to take in the energy once again. He screamed in pain as he absorbed absolutely everything.
Then, all of a sudden, Tony flew on in. He attempted to pull the infinity gauntlet from Thanos' hand, basically playing tug of war with the mad Titan.
Thanos rapidly and aggressively punched Tony, forcing him to the ground a few metres away. He then looked at the fine piece of armour, admiring it.
"I am inevitable."
Thanos grinned proudly, prepared to see all existence in the universe die as he attempted to snap his fingers together. But, nothing even happened.
Simply confused, he glanced down at the gauntlet, turning his covered wrist around as he stared at the glove, only to see that the stones had vanished.
Thanos' gaze had fallen upon Tony, only able to see nano-particles sliding and shifting to form a new gauntlet on his wrist, complete with the six Infinity Stones. Kneeling down, he weakly lifted up his hand, still taking in all of the energy from the coloured gems.
"And I am Iron-Man."
Without any hesitation whatsoever, Tony snapped his fingers. Just like that. Some of the energy that had released from the snap had forcefully pushed some people backwards.
Everybody glanced around themselves, only to see Thanos' troopers being disintegrated into piles of ashes and dust. All of the villains were being wiped out one by one, just like the heroes were when the previous snap had happened.
Last but not least, Thanos was beginning to fade away. He was sat on top of a piece of rubble, watching as himself and his troopers slowly fade away, nothing but hopelessness written upon his face.
After snapping his fingertips together, Tony collapsed, his back being rested against the roots of a large tree. His breath was extremely weak and shaky, half of his body black and withered, his armour completely destroyed.
Rhodey was the first one to rush towards Tony. He landed right by Tony's side, his helmet being tucked away. He looked down at his best friend, knowing that it was way too late to even save him.
He approached Tony, attempting to comfort him with a smile as he gently caressed his cheek and shoulder.
It didn't take too long for the two teenagers to realise what was even happening.
"Mr. Stark?" Peter breathed.
As Rhodey took a step backwards, Peter rushed forwards, collapsing by Tony's side. His breath shaky, tears began to stream down his cheeks like an endless river, painful sobs escaping from his lips.
"Hey, Mr. Stark?" He whimpered. "Can you hear me? It's Peter."
Noah wanted to see Tony for one last time, also wanting to comfort Peter and Rhodey altogether. He swiftly stumbled towards them, halting within his tracks once he was close enough.
He clenched his jaw, his bottom lip trembling as tears strolled down his cheeks. But, he truly held himself back from bawling his eyes out and sobbing loudly.
He looked down at Peter, feeling even more saddened by the sight. He just couldn't bare seeing Peter in such a distraught state. He couldn't.
"Hey. We won, Mr. Stark. We won, Mr. Stark" Peter choked out. "We won. You did it, sir. You did it."
Pepper, who was Tony's wife, approached Peter from behind. She gently placed a hand onto his shoulder in order to comfort him, carefully guiding him and Noah away.
"I'm sorry, Tony." Peter cried.
And with those words, Peter stood up. He covered his mouth in disbelief, still crying from the sight. He watched for a few moments, but Rhodey had decided to guide him and Noah elsewhere, allowing Pepper to have some time with Tony before he died.
But, before Noah left, he looked back at Tony. His vision blurred up, he attempted to just smile, but he truly couldn't. He shook his head from side-to-side, his lip still trembling.
"It was an honour working with you, Tony."
AUTHORS NOTE — another sad chapter ahaha 😩