Hero (Loki & Avengers)

Thirty-Six

We stand shoulder to shoulder in the yard, with the main facility at our backs and the endless green lawn of the backyard in front of us.

Facing us is the giant spaceship that Thanos descended from, which now has hundreds, maybe thousands, of creatures pouring out of it. I can see what they look like from here. Rows and rows of horrible crouched-over beasts that almost resemble wolves but with no fur. Their spines stick up sharply from their pinkish skin, and I can hear the lot of them snarling from here. They all stand in rectangular battle formations.

Thanos did not come to chat, I suspect.

Even with all of the Avengers next to me, all in our best suits of armor, I still feel the cold shiver of terror run through me.

I reach over beside me and grab Loki's hand. He looks down at me but I don't look up. I keep my eyes fixed on Thanos, who sits on a golden throne carried on the backs of a dozen of his creatures.

This is the real deal. The climax. The culmination of everything we've been talking about for so long that somehow still didn't seem real.

All of the other battles were child's play. They were, if I'm being honest, almost fun. The thrill of victory. As much as it has scared me, I've had the time of my life learning about my powers and fighting off bad guys. It felt important.

But compared to what is about to happen, what I can sense will happen...nothing has mattered like this. Thanos is here; he isn't just some name to be thrown around. He is here and he wants to kill us.

He wants to kill half of the entire universe. When the Guardians were here, Gamora told us all about his plan for balance. It seemed crazy to me, and so far fetched that it wasn't even scary. Now it doesn't seem so far fetched. Now it's real.

We're fighting for our lives now.

I look to my left and my right down the long line of people standing beside me. Heroes one and all. I feel grateful to be among them, and I love them all with everything I have. I will fight for them with that much too, even if it's the last thing I ever do.

"Guys..." Clint begins but quickly trails off, too stunned by the sight unfolding in front of us to say anything else.

"Well, at least we know what they want." Tony replies, his voice ringing through our connected headsets that are now all turned on.

"We can't let him take any. But we also can't hold him off." Nat adds, stating the obvious.

"We're stuck." Wanda says grimly, after a long pause of silence.

"What do we do?" Banner says in a small voice. He isn't turning into the Hulk just yet, but I suspect we will need him to soon.

Thanos' mutant soldiers continue to form battalions across from us, all while Thanos himself stares at us in the distance with an unmoving face. It feels like his gaze is directly on me. It sends my stomach into knots. I squeeze Loki's hand tighter.

"Tony? Cap?" Rhodey says, looking for wisdom from our unofficial leaders.

"I don't know. I guess we fight for as long as we can." Cap says, and it sends fear through my spine to hear him so unsure.

"I believe it's rather obvious what we do." Loki chimes in and I finally snap my eyes away from Thanos to look up at him curiously.

"Explain, now. No more vague statements." Tony snaps.

"We have five Infinity Stones. He has the gauntlet and the power stone." Loki recaps the situation.

"All that means to me is that everything Thanos needs to kill half of the universe is right here in this yard." Tony says in reply.