BOMBSHELL. ❪ Steve Rogers ❫ ✓

twenty-five

⁀➷

Steve struggled to stand up from his injuries with battling Thanos.

"In all my years of conquest - violence - slaughter - It was never personal. But I'll tell you now - what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet - I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much," seethed Thanos.

With a single gesture, his entire army was summoned to the ground. Upon seeing the army descending on Earth, Steve slowly hobbled back to his feet. With a fierce determination, he tightened his broken shield to his arm and stood against Thanos' giant army alone. Suddenly, a crackling came in on his communicator.

"Hey, Cap, you read me?"

Steve frozen and looked around. He couldn't believe his ears.

"Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me?"

Steve raised his fingers to the com in his ear as a  yellow portal began to form behind him.

"On your left," said Sam.

Steve looked behind to see the portal on his left side. Three figures stepped through; Okoye, Shuri, and Black Panther, fully restored and ready to fight. Sam zoomed in from above in his Falcon armor. Dozens more portals opened up all around the battlefield with the previously dusted heroes stepping through.

Ant-Man as a giant emerged from the rubble of the Avengers facility with Bruce, Rhodey, Rocket, and Ophelia. Everyone took up battle positions. Thanos looked around in slight hesitance and shock.

" AVENGERS!" shouted Steve as he summoned Mjolnir. "Assemble."

They charged toward Thanos' army with the intent to kill. The gauntlet was being passed around in order to keep it as far away from Thanos as possible.

Carol arrived into the scene and destroyed the enemy ships in the air. However, their attempt to destroy the gauntlet by throwing it into the Quantum portal proved useless.

Carol, Tony, Thor, and Steve couldn't beat Thanos. The gauntlet was on his hand.

"I am...inevitable."

Thanos snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. He turned his hand over to see that the Infinity Stones were missing. Instead, Tony had the stones on his own gauntlet, the gamma radiation coursing through him.

Ophelia stood next to Tony, grabbed his hand, and nodded. The radiation flowed from Tony and into her veins. She shuddered and gripped his hand.

Brunnhilde jumped off her Pegasus, landing next to Ophelia and holding her other hand. "Your majesty."

Wanda flew down to Tony's side and held his other hand, red wisps flowing between them. "Together."

Peter Quill landed next to Brunnhilde and grabbed her shoulder. "Second time's the charm."

Tony looked at each of them before looking at Thanos. "We - are the Avengers." He snapped his fingers.

The gamma radiation and the Infinity Stones' powers coursed through the group's bodies. They shared the effects of it as debris and wisps surrounded them like a storm.

The Black Order began crumbling to ash. Thanos looked around at his army in horror before sitting down in defeat, slowly being erased from existence himself.

Tony's knees buckled, and Ophelia and Wanda supported him before a wave of pain hit the group. They sighed heavily.

"Never doing that again," Peter muttered weakly.

"I think I lost a decade of my life," Ophelia dryly added.

"Are you all right, Tony?" questioned Wanda.

He nodded weakly. "Yeah, just - I need to sit."

The power of the gauntlet raw energy left Tony's right side injured. He stumbled for a bit before his body collapsed beside a pile of debris.

"You could have died," rasped Tony to Ophelia.

She sat down next to him on his left side and gently bumped her shoulder against his. "You definitely would have died if I hadn't stepped in."

Pepper ran up to Tony and caressed his face, checking his vitals and injuries. Tony swatted her hands away.

"Woman, I'm alive," he said.

Ophelia snorted. "Wise choice of words to your wife."

"Ophelia!" Steve shouted, rushing over to her.

He pressed his hands to her cheeks, then kissed her forehead. She smiled and grabbed his wrist weakly.

"I'm all right, Steven."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, bruises and cuts and a horrible energy surge flowing in my body right now. It feels like what you humans describe as heartburn," she explained. "But I'll definitely live, as will the rest of us."