Aftershock

Infinite

Perseus

Everything was on fire. Our ship was destroyed from the inside out, and the only functional part left was the outside that kept them apart from space. The people were corroded in the lower part, slaughtered past the brink of death. Loki, Thor, Heimdallr, the Valkyrie, and I were surrounded by Thanos, his telekinetic child, and his daughter.

I knew if I moved, another would be dead. I also understood that any relationship seen as sacrificial for the other was not acceptable to be shown to the enemy. This being, with a flick of Loki's finger, our marriage rings vanished into imagery. I flexed my wrist and the infinity stones on my left forearm were sent to various parts of the galaxy under my command where Thanos could never find them without me.

Not that he was able to use them without my permission as Guardian of the Gems, my power over them extended to their sharing of power with others. Reason to why Dr. Strange can continue to use the time stone, which I just sent to him. I sent them all away except for one, although I could command them to be gone, granted if they were taken I'd be dead, I had to keep one of the stones with me to stay functional.

Thanos noticed the subtle glow that erupted from my arm no matter how I tried to hide it. I backed up against Loki as the alien stomped towards us. After our battle with Hel, we were all too weak to counter anything. Thor just found a patch for his eye, and my leg and shoulder were roughly wrapped up with the little material on the ship.

The glow faded just as Thanos stood in front of us. I stood stiffly, lightly leaning against Loki who had froze to not show sentiment, and glared coldly at the monster that imprisoned us all. Our weapons were discarded in the corner, Thor and Heimdallr beaten to the ground. The Valkyrie was gravely injured, her eyes flickering open and closed. She wasn't going to make it. Loki was hit in the side and only his hand was staunching the blood flow to his death.

"What did you do with the stones, Little One?" Thanos' deep voice rumbled.

I scowled at him,"I don't know what you mean, Big One."

Thanos' frowned upsettingly,"Do not lie to me. Just tell me what you know and your life will be spared."

My eyebrows furrowed at the statement, and even Loki's hand on my shoulder couldn't stop me. I stalked as menacingly as I could up to Thanos, looking uncomprehendingly into his eyes, tilting my head just trying to understand. There was a light in Thanos' eyes that showed he truly believed what he did was right. Then I spit on his shoes in response.

"My life, nor anyone else's is not yours to deem, you are not fit." I hissed.

Without a second to lose, Thanos' semi-calm mask vanished. I barely had enough time to duck from his incoming fist. In the background I heard the telekinetic son to let their father have their fun. Then I had to drown out their noise and focus on fighting the leader. I haven't had a fight without the safety net of the Infinity Stones or my powers since I was twelve, and I wasn't looking forward to seeing how long I could last without them while being injured too.

Without a thought, I dropped into a crouch and slid through Thano's legs. As he turned around, I swung a right hook at Thanos. The monster dodged, sending his own uppercut to which I backflipped away from. When I landed, I quickly looked around me to see what I could use as a weapon against the rapidly approaching alien.

Wrenching a half destroyed pole out of the ship to my left, I used it as a baseball bat and swung it at Thanos' knees. The enemy barely evaded, but I used my momentum to stick the pole into the ground and vault myself into the air.

With my hands on the pole and my feet in the air, I kicked Thanos Square in the jaw. He roared in anger, and before I could fall back towards the ship, he grabbed my legs. I was cut from my descent and the abrupt pulling lost my grip on my newly found weapon. It clattered to the ground and I was faced with purple.