AVENGERS INFINITY WAR AU IN THAT IT WILL DEFINITELY NOT BE LIKE THE SEQUEL, IF I GET ANYTHING RIGHT AT ALL, IT'D BE A MIRACLE. Obviously, as I'll say in the summary before people click the damn thing, but INFINITY WAR SPOILERS. PLEASE, IF YOU DON'T WANT IT SPOILING, STOP READING.
PLS.
PLS.
'What do I do now?' Tony asked himself as he looked around the wreckage that was once the proud world of Titan. It was over. Thanos had won. Peter…oh god, Peter.
'The kid looked up to me. Trusted me. I let him die. I should have made sure he went home, I should have fought harder to get that glove from Thanos, I should have…' Tony's thoughts left him as he fell to his knees and felt the contents of his stomach leave him as he bent over, retching.
Nebula looked at him, sadness and anger in her own black orbs as she contemplated what had happened as well. Thanos had finally gotten what he wanted. The Infinity Stones, and the destruction of half of the universe. His children had joined countless others in death, all except Nebula, even Gamora, the favourite, the only one Thanos truly loved, had perished. But the unloved one, the one he had tortured over and over, survived, not even worth Thanos' time to kill, she had been abandoned here, alongside so much of Thanos' past, to rot.
"Stark, is it?" Nebula asked, looking over at the human on his knees, vomit coming from his mouth as tears fell thick and fast from his eyes.
"Just a second." Tony said, wiping his mouth and his eyes before turning to her. His mind was already turning to other things. There would be time to mourn Peter, Strange, Star Lord and the others soon. First, he had to make sure everyone else was alright, by getting back to Earth, and he had to make sure he avenged those who had fallen.
"I know how you're feeling." Nebula told him quietly as he unsteadily rose to his feet. "I lost my sister and a few good people here today as well. Believe me, Thanos will pay, but first, we need a plan."
"I have a plan. Beginnings of one anyway." Tony told her, eyes hardening. "First, we need to get back to Earth. Is there a way off this planet?"
"The Guardians, they had a ship to come here. It shouldn't be too hard to find it from here." Nebula said. "We could use that, I know they wouldn't have minded."
"Lead the way, Miss ?" Tony asked.
"Nebula is fine." She told him.
"Lead the way then, Nebula. The sooner we find out who made it, the sooner we can plan on how to strike back."
As Nebula lead Tony towards the ship, he could only focus on everyone he had just lost, on the look on their faces as they knew the end had come for them, especially Peter and his begging. He was just a kid, and had his whole life in front of him still. For that alone, Tony vowed, Thanos would be defeated.
"Thanos will pay." Tony said quietly as rage shook his entire body.
"Believe me, there's a lot who will want him dead now, and there were plenty before today." Nebula told Tony. "If you want him dead, then I'll help you find him, just make me a promise." Nebula said.
"What is it?" Tony asked.
"I get to deliver the killing blow." Nebula told him in a tone that brooked no argument.
/
"Oh god…." Steve Rogers said as he held Vision's lifeless husk on his arms. Ash all around him was all that remained of many of his friends and allies, T'Challa, Wanda, Bucky, Sam, just to name a few, all gone, in the blink of an eye. The survivors were all around him, all confused, all mourning, what had happened? Where did they go from here? How could they fix this?
"Steve, what do we do?" Natasha asked him, blood and tears streaking her face.
"We need to regroup. We need…." Steve trailed off. He didn't know what they needed, nobody would know what they needed. Where did they even begin to try and fix this? Could they find Thanos? Even if they could, how could they hope to defeat him? Did they try and rebuild, reach out and try to help prevent the world descending into anarchy with half of the population gone? Did they just shut themselves off from the world and mourn? Steve had no answers to give, and that scared him more than the thought of dying. Death he could handle, but having no way to stop what was happening, no way of saving everyone, and no way of knowing what do next, that terrified the Captain.
"Come on, Cap." Rhodey said, walking over and lifting Steve to his feet. "We need to get back to the city, find out what happened back there, and decide what we do next from there."
Steve looked over to see Thor, his head bowed, his eyes downcast as he passed him heading back towards the city, Bruce climbed out of the Hulk-buster and was grateful for Natasha being there, his knees giving way beneath him and falling towards the ground, Nat catching him before he could. Okoye and M'Baku together, looking in disbelief towards where T'Challa had fallen. The strongest and noblest of all Wakandans, snuffed out like a candle on a windowsill. Rocket looked over at Thor then prodded him gently.
"Rabbit." Thor said sullenly.
"Come on Thor, we need to go with them." Rocket said, his voice breaking as he spoke. "We can't do anything for…the others…we need to get together and talk through what we do now."
"It's simple. We kill Thanos." Thor said, as if it were the easiest thing in the world, the smile that was breaking out onto his face a weak façade that Rocket saw right through. Thor's eyes swam with tears and he could see the beginnings of rage in them as well. Thor would get himself killed if he went all gung-ho against Thanos now by himself. They needed to regroup, to plan a counter-attack, find Thanos and destroy him once and for all.
"Thor, we need to make a plan." Rocket told him.
"We have one. Find him, bury Stormbreaker into his head this time, take the gauntlet and fix all of this." Thor promised him.
"Thor…" Rocket said softly, seeing the sadness in his eyes. "Believe me, I want nothing more than to kill that purple prick myself, but we need to make sure we find him and all work together. I can promise you, we aren't the only ones who want his head to feel your axe's blade."
"Let's go." Steve said as they headed out of the treeline together back to the city. "We need to see what's happened and see where we go from here."