The Soulmate Initiative: Book 2

18. Bringing down the Titan

LOCATION: TITAN

Thanos steps through a portal onto Titan, his home planet. He sees the destroyed ship all around him, adding to the destruction Titan had suffered even before they'd arrived. Dr Strange, who's sitting on a set of steps, who is the only one in sight, breaks the silence "Oh yeah. You're much more of a Thanos." "I take it the Maw is dead." Strange nods "This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplishes his mission." Thanos starts to approach, seeing the necklace around Strange's neck "You may regret that. He brought you face to face with the Master of the mystic arts." "And where do you think he brought you?" "Let me guess. Your home?" "It was." Thanos activates the Reality stone and everything shimmers red. All the destruction, ie reversed, to show what the planet looked like before "And it was beautiful. Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution." "Genocide." "But random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass." He drops the illusion "Congratulations, you're a prophet." "I'm a survivor." "Who wants to murder trillions." "With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that mercy." Strange stands and slowly descends the stairs "And then what?" "I'd finally rest and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills." "I think you'll find our wills equal to yours." Strange uses his magic to summon a pair of shields. Thanos then realises "Our?"

Thanos looks up as a huge hunk of metal is coming straight down at him, Ashley is on the other side, pushing it. When it crushes Thanos Ashley smirks "Piece of cake, Quill." Quill replies as he starts running over from his hiding spot "Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off." Thanos uses the Power stone to break apart the metal, freeing him. Then he uses the Reality stone to turn all the pieces of metal into small flying creatures, which attack Ashley as she tries to fly away. Peter fires some webbing at his face, it gets him in the eyes, he then kicks him in the face as he swings by. Drax jumps down, swords at the ready and starts attacking the Titan. Strange steps through a portal and joins in on the attack. Thanos manages to knock Drax away and get the webbing off his face. Strange has to put up a shield to protect himself, but Quill flies over and starts shooting at Thanos. Strange sends out small magical platforms for Quill to run across in the air, Quill then puts a device on Thanos' back. Strange opens up a portal behind Quill, who gives Thanos the middle finger "Boom!" He falls backwards through the portal and the device goes off, electrocuting Thanos. Strange whispers to his cloak "Don't let him close his fist." It flies over to Thanos and wraps around the gauntlet. Strange opens a portal for Peter to jump through to punch him, as he jumps from that portal to the next, he says "Magic." Then he does it again "More magic." And again "Magic with a kick." But when he attempts it another time "Magic with a-" Thanos grabs him by the neck mid jump and slams onto the ground at his feet "Insect!" He pulls Peter up and tosses him at Strange, the pair tumble away. He tears the cape off his gauntlet.

There's an explosion behind Thanos, as Ashley flies at him, firing missiles, all around him, hitting him. But inside the explosion, Thanos is using the gauntlet. He sucks the explosion into the gauntlet and points at Ashley, it all being sent straight at her, blasting her far away and into the ruin of a building, the suit takes a lot of damage. Peter jumps back into action, he shoots webbing at the gauntlet and pulls. But Thanos pulls back, Peter slams into Thanos' fist and hits the ground. He once again rips off the webbing. Behind him, a small ship arrives on Titan, it hits him and drags him along the ground, until finally coming to a stop. Thanos throws the debri off himself and Nebula jumps out of the ship, to attack, an electric rod in one hand "Well, well." "You should've killed me." "It would've been a waste of parts!" Nebula attacks, getting in some good hits "Where's Gamora!?" But Thanos punches her hard, sending her flying into rubble. Strange sends magical ropes at the gauntlet and pulls tightly, while Drax slides over from behind, knocking Thanos' legs out from under him. Quill shoots an electrified device at his feet, which keeps his other arm as far from the gauntlet as possible. Peter swings around him several times, wrapping him in webbing, which he has to hold in place, his metal legs having to help. Ashley grabs the gauntlet and pulls. Strange opens up a portal above Thanos and Mantis drops through it, onto his shoulders, she places her hands on either side of his head. Thanos screams as he tries fighting everyone off, but he's not strong enough. Mantis uses her powers on him, he then stops screaming and doesn't struggle as much. Ashley asks "Is he under? Don't let up." "Be quick. He is very strong." Ashley pulls on the gauntlet "Parker, help! Get over here. She can't hold him much longer. Let's go." The pair ease the gauntlet further and further down, slowly, bit by bit "We gotta open his finger to get it off."

Quill lands in front of Thanos, a cocky grin on his face "I thought you'd be hard to catch. For the record, this was my plan. You're not so strong now, huh?" Thanos growls at him "Where's Gamora?" Thanos groans "My Gamora." "No, bullshit! Where is she?" Mantis speaks "He is in anguish." "Good." Thanos groans "He... he mourns." Drax asks "What does this monster have to mourn?" Nebula comes to a quick conclusion "Gamora." Quill looks at her, his face broken "What?" "He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul stone. But she didn't." Ashley tries to calm him down, while still working on getting the gauntlet off "Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now. You understand?" Quill slowly turns his head to glare at Thanos and Ashley knows what he's thinking, he had told them Gamora is his soulmate "Don't, don't. Do not engage. We've almost got this off!" "Tell me she's lying. Asshole, tell me you didn't do it!" "I had to." Tears form in Quill's eyes "No, you didn't." Thanos groans and Quill shakes his head "No, you didn't." He yells and punches Thanos in the face "No, you didn't!" He does it again and almost knocks Mantis off his shoulders, but her hands do fly off his head. Ashley shouts "Quill!" Mantis puts her hands back on Thanos' head and Ashley quickly grabs Quill "Hey, stop! Hey, stop! Stop!" Peter has the gauntlet loose and pulls it off "It's coming, it's coming. I got it, I got it!" The gauntlet is almost off the ends of his fingers, when Thanos breaks out of the trance, he grabs the gauntlet before it's out of his reach, headbutts Mantis and whacks Peter backwards. He grabs Mantis and throws her far away, she screams and Peter scrambles to his feet "Oh, God." He jumps up and grab her, he wraps the metal legs around both their bodies and crash lands, holding her in his arms. Thanos kicks Drax away and pulls Strange over his head. Ashley comes at him, but he knocks her away. Quill, Drax and Nebula, run at him, but he blasts Power energy at them, dropping them to the ground unconscious. Ashley flies at him again and the pair fight, Thanos then uses the gauntlet to pull the nearest moon to them, Ashley's eyes go wide. As bits of rock start hurdling their way, Thanos gets out of the way and Ashley flies around trying to dodge each piece.