I'm Still Standing

II

Lush tropical fauna surrounded a shed on a farm. A scarecrow made of Thanos' armor was present and the burnt Infinity Gauntlet was on Thanos' arm. He was walking among his crops, harvesting fruit, and putting them in a sack. He walked over to the shed, with a dragging quality to his legs, like it pained him to walk, his living quarters, and tried to sit down. His whole left side was burnt black with blisters; He looked ridiculously.

Suddenly, Carol Danvers flew through the roof, knocking Thanos down, and grabbed his neck. Bruce in the Hulkbuster armor burst from the ground, and grabbed Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet arm. Thor flew in and sliced off the Infinity Gauntlet. Rhodey flew down with Rocket and aimed guns on Thanos' head.

Captain America walked in his new uniform, with Natasha and Adalyn right behind him, staring murderously at Thanos. Rocket went over to the sliced off Infinity Gauntlet, and kicked it over, as everyone realized that there were no Stones in it.

"Oh no," Rocket said.

"Where are they?" Steve and Adalyn demanded.

"Answer the question!" Carol yelled.

"The universe required correction," Thanos told them. "After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation."

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce cried, pushing him to the ground wearing Hulkbuster armor.

"You should be grateful." He was punched by Hulkbuster.

"Where are the Stones?" Natasha and Adalyn asked.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" Bruce shot back.

"I used the Stones to destroy the Stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be." He sat himself a little straighter. "I am... inevitable."

"We have to tear this place apart, he-he-he has to be lying," Rhodey said.

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them," Nebula told them.

"Ah, thank you, daughter." Nebula looked down, a little uncomfortable. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

Thor's face filled with rage as he raised to summon Stormbreaker, and before anyone could stop him, sliced Thanos' head off. Thanos' limp body fell to the floor. Nebula wiped off some of the blood spatter.

"What... What did you do?" Rocket asked.

Thor looked broken, realizing what he'd done. "I went for the head." He slowly walked out of the shed, no real purpose in his steps.

FIVE YEARS LATER

New York City was seemingly abandoned. There were a lot of boats gathered around a dock, all abandoned. A baseball stadium had no life present at all. The aftermath of the decimation was evident, and Earth had not coped well.

ABANDONED CAFE

There was a poster on the wall labeled "WHERE DO WE GO, NOW THAT THEY'RE GONE?". A therapy session was taking place with Steve Rogers and seven other people.

"So I, uh... Went on a date the other day," Joe Russo said. "It's the first time in five years, you know? I'm sitting there at dinner... I didn't even know what to talk about."

"What did you talk about?" Steve asked.

"Same old crap, you know? How things have changed, and... my job, his job... How much we miss the Mets. And then things get quiet... He cried as they were serving the salads."

"What about you?" Jim Starlin questioned.

"I cried... just before dessert. But I'm seeing him again tomorrow, so..."