Hang In There// P.P.

Chapter 38: Time Stone.

The remaining Guardians and Avengers were dealing with the gravitic aftermath of dumping a large chunk of moon onto an unstable planet's surface. The unconscious Guardians were flying upwards uncontrollably, moon-chunks were still making fiery ballistic in-bounds, and random debris and massive rocks were floating in any possible direction. Spider-Man was well-equipped to handle this physically, even if he was freaking out emotionally.

Peter webbed Mantis.

"I got you! I got you!"

Snagged Drax, securing both of them to something not moving.

"I'm sorry I can't remember anybody's names!"

Reeled in Star-Lord before making his way back over to me.

The Cloak of Levitation set Doctor Strange down on a relatively stable outcrop as Thanos extricated himself from rubble. The Sorcerer Supreme made a few passes with his hands, producing the familiar golden magic filigree circles, and slammed his hands down on the rock before him, invoking the Seven Suns of Cinnibus as a lightning-like effect of immense heat jumped from rock to rock until it reached Thanos, sending him flying, but he made use of the erratic gravity to keep control and fired back a blast from the Power Stone. Doctor Strange blocked the purple plume with a wall of Mirror Dimension, which he then pushed back at Thanos. It shattered around the Titan, who suctions the magic into a miniature black hole with the Space Stone, volleying it back at Doctor Strange. Just in time, Doctor Strange raised a shield and changed the dark energy into a swarm of aqua butterflies which return to their master. Before Thanos can counterattack again, Doctor Strange levitated and invoked the Images of Ikonn, giving him arms like a Hindu deity before dozens of Strange replications rushed away, forming a circular wall around a snarling Thanos. They call cast magical cords, wrapping around Thanos' torso, arms and hands; he struggled to close his gauntleted fist, and used the Soul and Power Stones to discover the real Doctor Strange among the many copies, blowing the duplicates away and sending the singular Doctor Strange reeling. Reality and Space pulled Doctor Strange forward, Thanos grasping him by the throat once in range. Doctor Strange grabbed futilely at Thanos' hand.
Thanos reached for the Eye of Agamotto. He snapped the Eye off its chain, crushing it in his bare hand. A fake. He threw Doctor Strange hard enough that his head hits stone and he passed out. Almost simultaneously, a red and gold device slapped into the palm of the Infinity Gauntlet, bracing the fingers open; and a red and gold Avenger makes a fast and hard entrance.

"You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna to lose it."

"Stark."

"You know me?"

"I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge."

"My only curse is you."

Small rockets popped out of Iron Man's back and launched at Thanos.

"Come on!"

The rockets all exploded on target, momentarily shrouding Thanos in smoke. Before it cleared, Iron Man pile drove into Thanos horizontally, using his single super-jet boot configuration. As he bounced off, he flipped and stuck his landing, immediately re-configuring his boots into ground clampped for stability and his gloves into rocket-driven battering rams, punching Thanos into a ruined wall behind him. Thanos shook it off quickly, reached forward and tore Iron Man's helmet off, revealing Tony's surprised expression before the suit recovered automatically and re-forms his head protection. The Titan made use of the fractional delay and punched back hard, sending Iron Man sliding meters away, giving Thanos time to rip the brace device off the gauntlet. He immediately used the Power Stone to stream furiously lambent energy at his opponent, who formed a shield to kneel behind just as instantly, getting pushed back even further by the incredible force. Iron Man slid out from behind the shield, letting the angled energy push him away for a faster start, and whipped back to Thanos full thrusters; he kicked at the Titan with his left foot, turning the boot into a ground clamp at the same time to pin the gauntlet, and kept twisting while his left glove became a ram again, slamming into Thanos' face, cutting his cheek.

"All that for a drop of blood."

He smiled briefly before punching Iron Man, sending him pinwheeling, then started beating him with his fists. Iron Man attempted to block the blows with his forearms, but Thanos was relentless, picking him up by the helmet and blasting his midsection with the Power Stone. The gaps in nanite coverage were now gaping, as the armor lost the ability to recover from the intensity and extent of the damage. Iron Man landed hard from the Power blast, struggled to one knee and fired his right hand repulsor at the inexorable Thanos; the beam was easily deflected by the gauntlet. He got to both feet as the suit tried to complete repairs, adding the beam from his left hand as well. Thanos walked right up to him, and backhanded the incomplete helmet completely off Tony's head. He crossed his arms to block a blow from Thanos' gauntlet, and had his left hand caught over his head. In desperation, he formed what's left of his right glove into a short-sword, which was also easily caught by Thanos, snapping it off clean and driving it through Tony's left side. The fight was over, there was nothing we could do. Thanos walked Tony back until he sat, and placed the gauntlet almost comfortingly on Tony's head.

"You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive."

He let go, straightened and stepped back.

"I hope they remember you."

Tony was just a little distracted with the pain, blood drooling out of his mouth and compromised breathing. Thanos raised the gauntlet, closing his fist, all four Stones glowing.

"Stop!"

Strange demanded, sitting up and sounding entirely damaged.

"Spare his life... and I will give you the stone."

"No tricks."

Doctor Strange shook his head as Thanos pointed all four Stones at him instead.

"Don't... !"

Tony tried to argue but Doctor Strange reached up and plucked the Time Stone out of its hiding place in the stars. He opened his hand, the scars on his fingers and their inherent trembling particularly obvious now, and the Stone floated to Thanos' bare hand. Doctor Strange watched him intently, as he took the Stone and dropped it into the thumb setting, the energy pulse making the Titan wince.

"One to go."

An energy blast hit the gauntlet right in the empty Mind Stone setting, and Thanos grimaced in surprise.Screaming in incoherent rage, helmet up, firing with both hands and flying straight for Thanos came Quill. Thanos didn't even bother responding to the assault, he just left. Star-Lord flew through where Thanos had been and crashed, rolling several times. He stood up, de-helmeting.

"Where is he?!"

I ran over to Tony's side, instantly casting a spell to help him heal as he stitched up his stab wound as well as he could with his suit functions; he had no breath for answers. Quill was now fearful instead of furious.

"Did we just lose?"

I left Peter with Tony as I made my way over to the Sorcerer Supreme, tending to any injuries he had.

"Why would you do that?"

He looked around at all of us before replying.

"We're in the Endgame now."