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"Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me."
Nebula's eyes were focused on nothing as she retailed the first details of her story with Thanos. (Y/N) wasn't an expert on emotions, but she could sense the intense guilt behind her black eyes and how resentful she sounded as she remembered her past memories.
"And when he worked, he talked about his Great Plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him," her voice grew raspy. "I'd ask, where would we go once his plan was complete? And his answer was always the same. 'To the Garden'."
Rhodey raised his eyebrows. "That's cure. Thanos has a retirement plan."
"So, where is he?"
Rocket, who was standing on the table, clicked on his device to project a hologram of planet 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 clicked again on the device, and it changed the image on the projector, showing the dimension of how far away was the planet. There, on the hologram, showed a large effect on the planet's surface that mimicked the one that happened on this Earth. The only difference between this Earth and the one being shown was the rings surrounding it and the name.
". ..on this planet."
"Thanos is there."
(Y/N) leaned forward on the table to see the image with better eyes. "He used the stones again."
"Hey, hey, hey," Bruce tried to calm their hopes down, trying to be the voice of reason. "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?"
"Yeah," Steve nodded to the question. "Just like that."
Natasha's eyes searched everyone's in the room, wanting to find someone who shared her mindset. "Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this, 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?"
Carol placed her hands on her hips. "Because before you didn't have (Y/N) and I together."
"Hey, new girl?" Rhodey called her attention, crossing his arms defensively. "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," Carol answered, trying to ignore the defensive tone. "And unfortunately, I didn't stay behind like someone else did."
(Y/N) could feel Carol's eyes trained on her as she said those words, along with her other friends' raised eyebrows. Rhodey turned to her with a questioning glance, to which she only responded with a shrug of her shoulders and a smile, silently enjoying these interactions.
Thor, who had been silent the entire time throughout the conversation, finally stood up from his chair. Carol turned around at the sound of his footsteps approaching and lifted her head to lock eyes with him, challenging him without words. Thor had the same look in his eyes as he extended his hand in the air, calling out for his new weapon.
Stormbreaker flew into Thor's hand, passing an inch near Carol, the strong gust of wind making her hair tussle around. When he saw that she didn't flinch or bat an eye, Thor's cold exterior disappeared from his features.
"I like this one," he spoke up.
"Let's go get this son of a bitch."
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The group, now that they had a clear and foolproof plan, got suited up and walked inside the ship called the Benatar ( at least that's Rocket called it ) for it to be their ride to Thanos's supposed location. Everyone was sat in their respective seats and with seatbelts on, and (Y/N) jokingly told Rhodey that if he didn't buckle up he could melt into a pile of goo because of the engine's speed after he had said it wasn't necessary for the travel. The look on his face was hilarious, and even with the serious task in hand, it was nice to share a laugh for once.
"Okay," Rocket turned around to face the others behind him. "Who here hasn't been to space?"
Natasha, Steve and Rhodey raised their hands in the air with hesitance. The latter turned to Thor beside him and whispered a quiet 'why' under his breath. Carol and (Y/N) shared a laugh between them, remembering how they applied the same thing on Fury a few years back.
"You better not throw up on my ship."
"Approaching jump in three — " Nebula announced. "Two — One!"
The spaceship thrusted forward with intense speed, passing through a tunnel-like passage full of purples and blues, surrounded by thousands of stars. (Y/N) could see how Steve tightly gripped on his seat and the way Natasha inhaled a sharp breath to prepare herself, and she gave them a thumbs up as reassurance. She saw the way their eyes flashed with appreciativeness before returning to the sight in front of them.
The ship stopped in the middle of space, far away from the planet's atmosphere. They didn't know what to expect or how many forces he could have down there, so they didn't want to take any chances. (Y/N) and Carol offered to take a look for themselves.
Rocket opened the ship's belly hatch for them to fly out into the open, where (Y/N) and Carol easily flew without having to wear a helmet for air.
"We'll head down for recon," Carol told the others on the ship.
They both dived down into the planet, disappearing until they were just streaks of light to the others. (Y/N) took the right and Carol the left, covering more ground to see what they could find. The ground was filled with green grass just like Earth, although the crops were much different. There wasn't any sign of a war fortress like they expected, but it was suspicious to say the least. Why would he think it was over and that no one would come for him? It was odd in (Y/N)'s mind, but she didn't complain.
She and Carom returned to where the ship stood, hovering over the window for them to see them.
"No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind," Carol listed off, and there were looks of confusion from the others as well.
"It's just him," (Y/N) added, her tone serious.
"And that's enough," Nebula declared.
So they took this as a signal to land. Carol and (Y/N) guided them to where they had found Thanos's hut, one that was built up from branches and leaves for the roof. If someone told (Y/N) that this was a titan's preferred fantasy after killing half of the universe, she would've laughed in their face. Now, seeing how tranquil he was after ruining their lives, she could feel her blood boil in her veins. They were going to interrupt his peace and quiet, whatever the price.
(Y/N) and Carol took the lead in the attack this time, both firing blasts from above and burning a hole in his hut in the process. Thanos raised his gloved arm to cover himself, but he was pushed off his seating position when they both dived through the hole they created. The faint light around their bodies didn't disappear as they landed in the ground of the hut and reached out for him before he could have a change to defend himself.
Carol grabbed a hold of his neck and wrapped a tight arm around him, holding him in place. (Y/N) tugged on the not gloved arm and restrained it with her strength. Bruce emerged from underground in the same Hulkbuster suit and tugged on the other arm. Thor flew in, and without wasting time, he sliced the gloved hand from his arm, causing Thanos to scream in pain.
Steve, Natasha, Rhodey and Rocket entered the hut through the main entrance, surrounding the restrained titan in his home. Rocket made his way to the gauntlet and rolled it to the side in hopes of finding the stones, just to find it empty.
"Oh, no," he muttered.
Steve stared at the empty gauntlet on the floor. "Where are they?"
(Y/N) tugged further on the arm and kicked him in the shin when he didn't answer, causing him to groan. "He asked you a question."
"The universe required correction," Thanos said in that hauntingly calm voice. "After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."
"You murdered trillions!" Bruce yelled out before pushing him back a few feet.
Thanos rolled back on the ground before easing his head to speak again. "You should be thankful."
Bruce leaned down to deliver a punch in his halfway burnt face. The way Thanos groaned satisfied (Y/N) in a way she never felt before; she wanted to see the titan suffer the same he made her suffer a few days back.
"Where are the stones?" Natasha asked this time, her eyes threatening to spill tears.
"Gone," answered Thanos. "Reduced to atoms."
"You used them two days ago!"
"I used the stones to destroy the stones," the titan replied calmly. "It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable."
"We have to tear this place apart," Rhodey spoke up, looking amongst his teammates for a backup in his idea. "He has to be lying!"
"My father is many things," Nebula interrupted. "A liar is not one of them."
Thanos's eyes trailed onto Nebula, pleased to see her defending him. "Thank you, daughter, he said with a nod of his head in appreciation.
"Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
He barely got to finish his words before Thor raised his axe impulsively, slashing through Thanos's head with a clean cut. The purple blood splattered on half of the hut's floor, especially on Nebula's face. The beheaded body fell backward into the ground with a thud, and everyone held their breaths at the scene they just witnessed.
"What did you do?" Rocket dared to question.
"I went for the head."
Silence filled the entire hut since no one else dared to say anything else after that. (Y/N) removed her eyes from the beheaded body on the ground, thinking that she might throw up if she kept staring at it. She had no clue what they would do without the stones and Thanos, and she was terrified to say the least.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Nebula kneeling over Thanos's dismembered head, placing a hand over his eyes to close them. With a heavy heart, (Y/N) knelt down beside her, placing a hand on Nebula's shoulder that made her flinch when she was touched.
"It's okay," (Y/N) soothed Nebula, who lowered her hand from Thanos's eyes. "He doesn't deserve your forgiveness."
(Y/N) knew nothing of what awaited her in the ( hopefully short ) meantime while they waited for a new solution for the Snap. What she was sure of, especially now, is that she couldn't let this affect her as much as it was doing right now.
Even if that was easier said than done.
y/n and tony collecting people to adopt like infinity stones lol. speaking of children. . .brace yourselves !! it's coming !
don't know how much i'll include, but i sure as hell want to include a lot of scenes from morgan growing up. i feel like they're necessary.
-see you soon, bex :)