𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙿𝙰𝙸𝙽𝚂

Twenty Four

Escape seemed like a hopeless plan. Helena knew what Thanos had in store- he was going to wipe out half of the entire universe. How could she- a mere twelve year old girl, stand a chance at stopping him? She didn't even have access to her powers.

If she did, then maybe she would've been able to draw enough energy out of Thanos and the aliens to run away. But where would she go? She still had an infinity stone inside of her, and they would be sure to follow her to the ends of the universe.

Sitting alone, huddled in the corner of the ship, Helena tried not to cry again. The image of Gamora's body laying lifeless on the ground haunted her. Once again, someone was dead, and Helena could do nothing to stop it. The ship stopped moving. Helena's head lifted up and she looked at Thanos.

"Why do you need me anyway?" She asked him, "Why don't you just take the stone from me and go?"

"You are the backup plan." Thanos replied.

"Backup plan?" Helena echoed.

"If my original plan fails, you will be the one to harness the power of the infinity stones, and complete my work." Thanos said.

"What?! How? And why would I ever help you?"

"You are stronger than you think, Hela, Goddess of Death." Thanos said.

"My name is Helena." She replied stubbornly.

"Your time of Midgard may have changed you in many ways, but in the end, you will always be the person you were born."

Helena looked away. Thanos stood up and instructed his guards to make Helena follow him. She did as the guards forced her and they made their way out of the ship onto a seemingly barren planet.

"Where are we?" Helena asked.

"Titan."

"What do you want from here?"

"Now!" Someone shouted and the next moments were chaos.

Helena was knocked back to the ground and she saw Tony in his Iron Man suit flying towards her.

"Helena?!" He asked, "What the hell happened to you? We thought you were on Asgard with Thor-"

"Uh, Mr. Stark? A little help?" A boy's voice asked and Helena looked to see a teenager in a red spider suit.

"Right. Stay back, Helena." Tony said before flying to help Peter Parker, along with some other people who were attacking Thanos.

A woman with large eyes and antenna jumped onto Thanos' back. Helena, who didn't listen to Tony was standing close by as the group began trying to pull the golden gauntlet off of Thanos' hand. She noticed one of the people fighting was Nebula and a wave of guilt flooded over her.

"Excuse me, sir?" Helena asked a man who held two guns.

He whipped around to see her, looking utterly confused at why she was there.

"What's a child doing here?" He asked loudly.

"The child can hear you." Helena replied, unamused.

"Right, well we're kinda in the middle of something-" Peter Quill began to tell her.

"I can help!" Helena raised up her arms, "I just need you to remove these wrist cuffs."

"What?" Peter Quill asked.

"They restrict my magic." Helena tried to explain, "But I can help the lady over there if you take them off."

"Uh, okay, sure." He said and did as she asked.

At first, due to all the nervousness and grief she was still feeling, the moment the cuffs were off, everyone around her faltered a bit.

"Helena!" Tony yelled.

"Sorry!" She yelped back and took a breath to calm herself and regulate her powers.

It worked and they continued fighting Thanos. Helena moved in front of him and focused her powers on draining his life force slowly. He fell to one knee.

"Where is Gamora?" Peter Quill demanded.

Helena looked over at the name, incredibly guilty. For a second, the people around her began to falter again.

"He feels grief." Mantis said as she held onto Thanos' head, "He mourns."

"What does this monster have to mourn?" Peter Quill asked.

"Helena!" Tony yelled, voice strained as her magic continued sapping their energy.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She cried back.

"No." Nebula said, but the tears falling down Helena's face were all the confirmation she needed.

"What?" Peter Quil asked, in denial.

"I- I tired- I couldn't save her." Helena said.

Peter Quill looked at Thanos.

"You didn't."

"I- had- to." Thanos grunted.

Helena saw Peter Quill snap and he punched Thanos in the face.

"No, no, no!" Tony shouted, "We almost got this guy!"

But his voice was lost in the roar of rage rushing over Peter Quill as he hit Thanos repetitively. Thanos managed to shake off Mantis, whose body flew into Helena and broke her concentration.

Thanos fought back against the team, this time winning. He knocked out Nebula, Peter Quill, and Drax with the power stone before using it to pull down fragments of a nearby moon to attack them. Peter Parker rescued the Guardians of the Galaxy from being crushed as Helena as she'd her powers to try and shielf herself and Mantis. She was hit by a large meteor, and when she used her magic to push Mantis to safety, she became trapped herself.

"Help!" Helena panicked, "What's going on?!"

There were loud noises and she heard guns firing. Thanos said something about a drop of blood being spilt. Helena managed to stop her head from spinning with the impact of being hit by the rock enough to push it off of her with her magic. She jumped to her feet and saw that Tony had been stabbed by a sword.

"No!" She gasped, rushing towards him.

"It's alright, kiddo." Tony managed to say through the pain.

Thanos moved to take Tony's life, so Helena prepared to sap more of his energy, but before she could, Dr. Strange intervened.

"Stop!" He commanded Thanos, "Spare his life, and I'll give you the stone."

"No." Tony said.

"Wait-" Helena began.

"Deal." Thanos said. He stepped back from Tony and Dr. Strange revealed the green time stone.

Thanos grabbed it and placed it in his gauntlet. Helena knelt by Tony's side as he took a knee.

"It's going to be okay." He told her, but that only made her cry harder because she had heard that said so many times, and so many times it hadn't been true, "Hey. Kid, look at me."

Helena looked up through teary eyes.

"I've got you."

"Correction." Thanos spoke up, "I've got her- and the stone inside her."

He moved quickly, grabbing Helena's arm and dragging her away from Tony.

"Tony!" She screamed.

"Wait, no-!" He yelled after her, but she was pulled through a portal and Titan disappeared.