EVERYONE WAS SCATTERED AND HURT BADLY. Bruce found himself holding up a pile of rubble that could nearly crush them, water was pouring down, and luckily it wasn't a lot. The weight was straining Bruce, and he avoided using his bad arm. Rhodes was lying inside his suit that wouldn't move and had technical problems; Rhodes struggled inside, his body aching and feeling claustrophobic. However, Rocket was on Rhodes' other side underneath a pile of boulders, and his little body was snuggled tightly underneath.
"I can't breathe!" Rocket wheezes out for help, panicking. "I can't breathe!"
Rhodes grunts. "Canopy, canopy, canopy!" His suit detaches apart, snapping open until he grunts as he pulled his body out of the shell of his suit.
"Rhodey, Rocket, get out of here," Bruce enforces, pushing upward.
The hero crawls over to Rocket, who was pleading desperately. "Let me up! Let me up! Come on!" Rhodes snatches a metal pole and looks up to find a rock perfectly placed beside Rocket. He nudges the pole underneath the bolder, shuffling until he lays his weight on the pole. Once he puts all of his weight on the other side of the pole, Rhodes strains, eyes scrunching.
They exhale and fall back onto the ground with a splash, and Rocket was trying to catch his breath when Bruce shouts in a warning. "Rhodey!"
Looking up in alert, Rhodes' eyes widen once he sees rushing water making its way in their direction; Rocket hums, but they easily get engulfed in the water, disappearing beneath it. They all struggled to stay afloat. Rocket had to climb up Rhodes' body and tries to keep afloat.
"Mayday, mayday! Does anybody copy? We're on the lower level. It's flooding," Rhodes' calls in his comms. Not sure if anyone can even hear him, he continues with his S.O.S. message. "We are drowning! Does anybody copy? Mayday!"
💜
Clint groans in pain, stumbling onto his feet once he recovers from the long drop. Dust covered his body, and boulders missed him by mere inches. He rests his body up against the side of the wall, huffing and puffing from impact. Clint's chest heaves while trying to gather his thoughts and breath, Clint looks around to see where he is, but it was a little hard with all of the destruction going on.
There was shuffling on the side, pebbles falling off on the side, it caught Clint's attention; his brows furrowed curiously, still feeling slightly dazed, he tries to concentrate on the figure that's only a few feet in front of him. Clint jumps into action upon seeing who was with him, so he holds on to the wall in case he loses his balance. Hurrying to his friend's side, Clint stops by her side and shakes her shoulder, trying to wake the woman up.
"Hey, hey," Clint pats Darcy's cheek to ease her awake. The woman furrowed her brows when she heard a rough voice waking her up. "Hey, Darc, you with me, kiddo?"
Darcy's eyes slowly flicker open, and she furrows her eyebrows, whining at the searing pain exploding in her head. "What?"
Clint chuckles dryly, glad that she was waking up. "There we go. How're you feeling?" He helps Darcy sit up, slowly helping her up to her feet, but she wobbles when a striking pain ran up her leg.
Hissing in pain, Darcy grimaces at the bitter feeling in her leg; she wiggles it to loosen her tense muscles, trying to pretend like it wasn't bothering her. "Like I was just shot at and fell to my utter demise," Darcy groans, popping her shoulder back into place. Darcy purses her lips.
"Yeah, well, wish that wasn't true," Clint sighs.
Looking around her surroundings, Darcy limps when she twirls around, coughing when she inhaled dust. "Where the hell are we?"
"Beats me. Somewhere in the facility most likely," Clint says. He clicks his flashlight on and walks around, catching a glimpse of a hole on top of where they must've fallen into; Clint flashes the light up, blinking his eyes when dirt was falling onto his face. Darcy waves her hand. "Cap?" His voice echoes.
There was no response.
The hall was lit with dark red light from the ceiling, but it irritated Darcy's eyes at how dark it is. The woman dodges the wires and pipes hanging from the ceiling. She steps more into the red-lit hall, squinting her eyes to see the other end.
Behind her, Clint kneels when he noticed a familiar object on the ground; he pushes a few rocks off when there was a low growl from behind them. Darcy turned around when she heard it as well. She looks at Clint with a skeptical look, and he motions for her to stay silent; Clint pulls out an arrow and speedily attaches it against the string of his bow, aiming it towards the hall that also has a red light. Releasing the bow across the hall, Darcy's eyes widen once they realized an army of Outrider aliens hiding in the dark.
"Bloody hell," Darcy curses. They were so screwed.
Clint snaps his bow. "Go. Go!" He urges Darcy to run, so when he turns around, Clint quickly picks up the gauntlet, and the two began sprinting down the hall.
Creatures snarled from behind as they chased after the two heroes, jumping against the walls to gain momentum.
Darcy glances over her shoulder to see where the creatures were, but Clint waved his hand. "Don't look back! Don't look back!" He quickly shouts from behind the woman, beckoning her to run faster.
"Where the hell am I even going?" Darcy asks loudly, sprinting as fast as she can with a slight limp.
"Anywhere, but here!"
💜
Past Thanos appears on the ground with the beaming light shining down. He was dressed in his armor with his double-sided blade in his hand, standing in all of the destruction he had caused. He looks around at his work, the destruction that he had created; Thanos was proud of his accomplishments that his future self managed to achieve, but with the Avengers already have collected the Stones, this made it easier for him.
Nebula walks forward to where her father stood, Thanos meets her gaze. "Daughter."
"Yes, Father."
Inspecting the surrounding, Thanos hums. "So, this is the future," he turns away from Nebula, choosing a spot near a large boulder. "Well done."
The blue robot removes the golden piece of metal from her person. She looks at it before tossing it aside. "Thank you, Father. They suspected nothing."
Thanos forces his sword into the dirt. He pulls his helmet off and hangs it over the blade of the sword. "The arrogant never do," the Mighty Titan takes a seat on the rock. He looks at Nebula with a look, ordering her exactly what he wants. "Go. Find the Stones, bring them to me."
"What will you do?" Nebula questions.
"Wait."
What he didn't know--or maybe he does, just not acknowledging him--Thor was standing further away from the Titan, both Tony and Steve walk up from behind, standing beside the god. They look across the campground where Thanos was sitting patiently, gazing down at his fingers like he wasn't going to try and destroy their world. The Titan was doing nothing, and it was annoying Thor that Thanos hasn't tried to do anything this whole time. Maybe it worried Tony just a little, and he didn't like the fact that Thanos is so nonchalant.
"What's he been doing?"
Thor exhales. "Absolutely nothing."
"Where are the Stones?" Steve asks.
"Somewhere under all this," Tony answers. "All I know is he doesn't have 'em."
"So, we keep it that way." Steve orders.
"You know it's a trap, right?"
"Yeah. I don't much care," Tony states. He looks back at Thor.
"Good. Just as long as we're all in agreement," thunder crackles as the dark clouds started to roll into the sky. Thor's eyes brighten to a blue glow, lightning lit all over his body, and he raises his hands to call for his axe and hammer.
A bolt of larger lightning strikes down from the sky, creating his suit onto his body and braiding his beard, then pulling his hair back. Mjölnir and Stormbreaker shoot into his hands, the lightning finally disappears.
"Let's kill him properly."
The trio walked down the hill they were on and kept cautious eyes on the Titan, slowly walking up closer to him. Thanos finally looks up.
"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me," the three heroes stopped in front of Thanos, watching the Titan as he still sat on the rock, giving his speech. "I thought by eliminating half of life . . . the other half would thrive. But you've shown me . . . that's impossible. And as long as some remember what was, there will always be those unable to accept what can be. They will resist."
There was blood seeping from Tony's cut on his brow, and it dropped down to his chin. "Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn."
"I'm thankful. Because now . . . I know what I must do," Thanos stands to his feet. He turns his back to his enemies, grabbing the helmet and pulling it off from the blade. The Titan puts it over his head. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then, with the Stones you've collected for me, create a new one . . . teeming with life . . ." Thanos pulls his blade from the ground. "That knows not what it has lost, but only what it has been given."
Thor ignites his axe and hammer.
"A grateful universe."
"Born out of blood."
"They'll never know it," the three heroes pause at Thanos' threat. "Because you won't be alive to tell them."
With a battle cry from Thor, they all rush forward in combat.
💜
Darcy and Clint were still running for their lives. The snarls were growing louder and louder as if they were getting closer, and the way their claws slammed into the walls, echoing in the small hall.
Clint starts positioning arrows into different spots, not daring to look back because he was focused on getting out of there. They'd beep at a steady rhythm after he'd activate them through his gear, forcing them somewhere along the sides. Darcy could hear the commotion, but she didn't know exactly what the man was planning on doing. It made her a little nervous not to know what's happening, but she doesn't bother looking back.
"Get ready to jump!" Clint warns when he hears the arrows beeping.
"Why?" Darcy yells back, furrowing her brows, but she doesn't turn around.
To answer her question, there was a fast beeping before Clint grabbed her shoulder, shouting 'jump!' right when the arrows started to explode. Darcy listens and jumps into a curl, she yelps at the pressure pushing them forward. The two landed with a roll, grunting tiredly. Darcy flicks her head up at the scene--the hall was on fire, and the creatures were growling at them. However, it didn't help because the Outriders were jumping through the flames.
"Uh, Clint!"
"Hold on to me," Darcy turns around and wraps her arms around his shoulders. Clint aims up to the ceiling through some entryway.
They were lifted from the ground, and Darcy is holding onto Clint as best as she can. She looks down where the creatures started to climb up. Clint unsheathes his sword, slicing them away because Darcy couldn't shoot at them without the harsh echoing or risk the bullets ricocheting. Darcy and Clint jump to the side; the woman lets go and tumbles to the ground; when she landed, Darcy huffs. The man yells and goes to attack more, but they were dead.
Once they're safe, Clint rolls over onto his pack, breathing out heavily. Darcy sighs in relief and slugs back down on the ground. Nebula walks as quiet as can be, like a sneaky cat trying to catch a toy. She looks down at the man her future self would consider the man as a friend.
"Oh, hey," Clint greets tiredly, finally noticing Nebula standing before him. Darcy perks her head up in alert. She looks to see who it was but sighs in relief to see that it was only Nebula in their presence. "I know you."
Nebula gently takes the gauntlet from his hands, and Clint relaxes back on the ground, panting softly to himself; Darcy struggles to sit up, hissing in slight pain.
"Father," Nebula calls through his comm, surprising the two heroes. "I have the Stones."
Darcy tries to sit up when she freezes, and her head snaps into Nebula's direction, just as Clint does.
"What?"
Clint tried to sit up but was stopped by Nebula's shoe. Darcy rolls herself onto her front, speedily pulling out her gun and raising it at the imposter, and onto her knees when Nebula skillfully pulls out her gun and aims it at Clint; the man stops in his spot upon seeing the blaster pointing at his head, Darcy doesn't react, glaring harshly at the blue woman. When her eyes catch a glimpse of her face, the ex-assassin notices that she didn't have that signature golden plate over her eye. This wasn't their Nebula.
The Bad Nebula clicks her weapon alive, and she narrows her eyes at Darcy. "Move, and I pull the trigger," the blue robotic woman warns Darcy, tilting her head. Clint doesn't move or anything because he rather not get shot at. "Lower your weapon."
Darcy stands her ground. The woman glares at the other woman, fingers clenching tightly against the cool weapon. When her eyes flickered toward Clint, the man waves at her, signaling her to do as she was told--Clint didn't seem worried or even a little nervous being in front of the gun. For the sake of his safety, Darcy grumbles in defeat, showing that she's no longer in fight mode. Darcy slowly lowers her gun.
"Stop," a voice calls from across the room, also aiming her blaster directly at Bad Nebula. The blue woman steps off of Clint and walks behind him, and she also pointed her gun at Darcy in a warning.
"You're betraying us?" Bad Nebula asks bitterly, though she lacked any emotions.
Then, another Nebula walked into the room, her hands raised to show she was no threat. Bad Nebula aims her blaster at her. Darcy looked at Clint to make sure he was good, he nods his head in reassurance, so the woman looks between the three women before rolling out of the way. Clint follows after her, crawling back into a small space with Darcy, the two friends huddled in the corner as they watch the scene unfold.
"You don't have to do this," Good Nebula tries to persuade her bad self, stopping a few feet in front of herself.
"I am this," Bad Nebula says with emphasis, her words sounding like venom on her tongue.
"No, you're not," Gamora tries.
"You've seen what we become," Good Nebula takes a tiny step forward, tapping her head to indicate the memory files that they shared.
Bad Nebula looks at Gamora with a hesitant look on her face, and she notices. "Nebula, listen to her," she practically begs.
"You can change."
Bad Nebula struggles with her inner self, her face twisting in a grimace. "He won't let me," the woman couldn't bear with this inner battle she was competing in her head. Ultimately, Bad Nebula aims her blaster towards Gamora in a heartbeat.
"No!" Gamora cries out, but there was a sudden blast.
Good Nebula's blaster was smoking after she has just shot Bad Nebula before she can fire at Gamora; Bad Nebula stumbles back against the fence, dropping to the ground. Nebula lowers her weapon as she stares down at her dead younger self, conflicted with emotions.
Darcy walks forward cautiously, looking between the dead Nebula and to the two sisters aside. Clint came forward and picked up the gauntlet. Darcy furrows her brows as she felt baffled; the woman looks back at Clint, who is just as confused as she is.
"I'm not even gonna ask," Clint exhales, looking around the scene.
💜
Thanos was winning the fight between the three Avengers. The Titan managed to use Tony as a shield to block the Mjolnir, causing him to tumble into the dirt, falling into unconsciousness. Next, Steve went off to attack him while Thanos was distracted, but the Titan turned and easily deflected his attacks; Thanos waits until the man is on the ground but strikes his shield, sending him flying across the dirt. Steve falls unconscious.
The Titan swings his double-sided in Thor's direction, but the god ducks down, sliding across the dirt, and quickly runs for Thanos; Thor leaps into the air, Stormbreaker lights up with the blue lightning, Thanos grabs his blade and uses it to block the god's hit. Grabbing the upper ground, Thor yanks the sword out of the purple creature's hands, but then Thanos punches the blond man's arm down, punching him; Thanos grips Thor by the neck before tossing him into a random tree. With each punch, Thor became more disoriented and dazed as he felt numb and like a rag down in Thanos' grip; then, the Titan throws him into a collection of rocks. Thor laid there and trying to command Stormbreaker to his person.
Thanos kicked Thor in the chest and turns around to see Stormbreaker hurdling their way. He grabs it midair and forces it down against Thor's chest.
A beaten Thor glances up at Thanos with a glint in his eyes, he tries his best to push it off, but he can feel the blade of his axe touching his chest plate. Thanos grins in victory, about to finish Thor off, who was struggling immensely and his face contorting in pain. Behind them, Mjolnir sneakily raises from the ground, it shoots forward and knocks Thanos' right off of Thor; the god gasps in relief, pulling Stormbreaker off his chest, his eyes widen when Mjolnir doesn't come to him, but to someone who has always been worthy.
Mjolnir shoots across the sky, Thanos stands back up and watches where the hammer lands to--Steve caught it; Steve held Mjolnir like it was an instinct, something he was used to and handled it with great power. Captain America bares his teeth, sneering at the giant as he slides his feet on the gravel. Thor laughs in disbelief.
"I knew it," Thor smiles excitedly but was interrupted when Thanos kicks him away.
When Thanos turns around to face the other hero, Steve spins Mjolnir by the wrist band on the end, and once the Titan steps one closer, the blond man knocks the hammer onto his chin. Thanos stands back up just as Steve throws his shield with a forceful hit, and the Titan instantly throws it off; the super-soldier yanks the hammer up into the air, smacking up against the shield, causing Thanos to crumble to his knees. Using this as his advantage, Steve rushes forward and leaps into the air, punching Thanos in the face, who grunts from the impact, his chin turning aside.
Not slowing down, Steve throws his shield to smack it against the Titan's face. He hits the shield with the hammer to send it back into the creature's face. Then, Steve conjures the lightning through the ground, hitting Thanos that sent him tumbling to the ground; the hero points Mjolnir up to the sky where he conjures even more lightning upon his hammer, Steve calls the lightning down upon Thanos when he points Mjolnir downward.
Steve jumps up and tries to strike Thanos' in the face. The Titan jumps out of the way just as Mjolnir touches the ground; Thanos grips Steve with his large hand and slams him to the ground. Steve grunts once his body is crushed into the ground, rocks and poles hit underneath, the heroes roll away from Thanos.
Thanos breaks his helmet into pieces as it slips off his head, he yells out and forces his blade forward to strike Steve, but the hero quickly dodged them. The blade cracks and Steve's eyes widen in shock, but then Thanos' blade smacks into the side of his shield that had him stumbling back; Thanos easily caught him off guard as he forces his blade out, managing to slice Steve in his leg.
Mjolnir was knocked away from Steve's grasp, and he shields himself when Thanos strikes him after he had lifted his blade with his foot. The blues of his eyes shift up from the blade that is lodged in between the Vibranium shield; Steve looks a little worried. With each hit, Steve raises his shield to protect himself from Thanos' blade, but with each hit, his shield was quickly falling apart.
Steve drops to the ground in a heap of a mess. He looks up when Thanos swings his blade like a golf club, sending the hero a couple of feet back, hitting the tree stump before rolling onto the ground. The hero strains tiredly, rolling onto his front, trying to push himself up.
"In all my years of conquest . . ." Thanos looks out at the tiny human who was struggling to stand. "Violence . . . slaughter . . . it was never personal. But I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet . . ." Thanos gestured to the rubble that he created. "I'm gonna enjoy it . . . very, very much."
Right on cue, Thanos' army was now standing back as they waited for their command, ringing around the lip of the crater: the Black Order was leading a platoon of Chitauri, Sakaarans, and Outriders. The army was a lot larger and planned out than Steve had last remembered. No one was going to be able to stop this many of them. There wasn't enough of them. They were releasing more of their creature army, and more ships started to land.
But Steve didn't stand down because that isn't who he is. It's not what he stands for; the hero struggles back to his feet, grunting and panting as he wobbled a bit. He ignores all of the pain coursing through his body; Steve bares his teeth as he hisses for air. The hero glances down at his arm, where there was a rather large gash on his arm. The man straps the shield tighter to keep the shield on and hold his arm together, and Steve begins to walk forward with no backup.
But then a voice cracks into the comms, it sounded cut and hard to hear, but Steve didn't know if he heard properly.
"Cap, can you hear me?" Steve stops once he hears that familiar voice that he hasn't heard in five years. "Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me?" Steve's jaw slacks until he's staring agape at an army. His heart stops for a second when he felt a rush of feelings rush over him. Steve presses his finger against his comm. "On your left."