BANG//Marvel

VII.II.: The Tired Have Tried

"Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day." Rhodey sighs as they watch Tony's sleeping form.

"You guys take care of him. And I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back." Carol said and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Natasha frowned.

"To kill Thanos." She answers, short and to the point.

"Hey, you know, we usually work as a team here, and between you and I, morale's a little fragile." Natasha mitters to the other female.

"We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too." Steve joins.

"You even know where he is?"

"I know people who might."

"Don't bother." Nebula appears behind Carol. "I can tell you where Thanos is. Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask "Where would we go once his plan was complete?". His answer was always the same: "To the Garden.""

"That's cute, Thanos has a retirement plan." Rhoey comments unenthusiastically.

"So where is he?"

"When Thanos snapped his fingers," Liam steps forward and lifts his palm, a hologram appearing above it. "Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it... I know I haven't. Until two days ago." He swipes his other hand to the left, the hologram shifting with the movement. "On this planet."

"Thanos is there." Natasha looks determined. "He used the stones again."

"Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in short-handed, you know." Bruce tells everyone.

"Look, he's still got the stones, so..."

"So let's get him... Use them to bring everyone back." Carol looks at them all.

"Just like that?"

"Yeah, just like that." Steve backs Carol up and the two share a knowing look.

"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." Natasha looks at Liam and he smiles at her, hope beaming from the couple.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?"

"Because before, you didn't have me." Carol states.

"Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" Rhodey turns to her, offended.

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys." Thor suddenly stands up, walking towards the blond woman and sizing her up. They have a stare-off and everyone feels the tension between the two rising. The god then summons his battle-ax, making it fly just bare inches from Carol's head. She doesn't even flinch.

"I like this one."

"Let's go get this son of a bitch."

***

"Okay, who here hasn't been to space?" Rocket turns to them and Natasha, Liam, Rhodey and Steve hesitantly raise their hands.

"Why?" Rhodey asks, leaning forward in his seat.

"You better not throw up on my ship."

"Approaching jump in 3... 2... 1!" Liam pressed his eyes closed and tensed up. The jump made his body press into the back of his chair with force and only after it subdued he dared to open his eyes. They widened and his mouth opened slightly at the sight of the space.

"I'll head down for recon." Carol said through the comms as she hovered in front of their spaceship and then headed towards the planet in front of them.

"This is gonna work, Steve." Natasha said and Liam turned to them, seeing Steve clutching the old compass with the image of Peggy Carter.

"I know it will. Cause I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."

"No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him." Carol says as she returns.

"And that's enough." Nebula hums ominously. They do it fast, Carol smashing through the roof and quickly restraining Thanos, Bruce grabs the titan's arm in the hulkbuster armor and Thor cuts his hand clear off. Thanos screams and the rest of the Avengers pile in, staring Thanos down with murderous looks.

"Oh no." They heard Rocket sigh and they looked towards him and the gauntlet. The empty gauntlet.

"Where are they?" Steve snaps.

"Answer the question!"

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation." Thanos hummed with content.

"You murdered trillions!"

"You should be grateful."

"Where are the Stones?" Natasha asks, stepping forward.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" Shouts Liam, horrified look present on his face.

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am... inevitable." The heroes felt their world shatter.

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

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula looks at the titan, face carefully void of emotions.

"Ah, thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Thor suddenly swings his ax, taking Thanos' head off in one clean swing.

"What... What did you do?"

"I went for the head."