It was Death that warned them to fear life.
The message was first sent to Percy Jackson, a 19 year old living in California, enjoying his peaceful college life with his girlfriend, wait, fiancée. It came in the form of a dream, a format with which the son of Poseidon was all too familiar.
Thanatos appeared to him that night, shrouded in darkness, beautiful face grinning and wings spread behind him. One of the more straightforward messages Percy had gotten- no mysterious voices, he knew exactly who was speaking to him.
The god spoke, "Beware, Perseus Jackson. I met you once, and in that time you and yours showed me kindness, and so I warn of great tribulation in the future. My admirer has decided to begin a campaign of non-peaceful death upon your land. Odd, for one whose name means simply, Immortal. He comes from beyond the sky, and the Earth will need more than its demigods to defeat him. Go to the place where the magic connects- where ley lines gather in the nation of America."
While Thanatos left, a word escaped Percy's lips as his slumbered, "Thanos."
Thanatos came to another that night, once more showing that Death is often kinder than life. Of the men he could have come to, he chose Tony Stark, the man who called himself Iron Man. He felt that this man would spread his message the best to the defenders of Earth, the Avengers.
As Tony slept, Thanatos whispered in his ear, "Gather your comrades, it is at the time that space will come down upon the Earth. Bring the Avengers to the place where magic connects- where ley lines gather in the nation of America. Aid will wait for you there."
Tony sat up straight in bed. He must assemble the Avengers. A great battle would ensue once more. He felt that another infinity stone and its seeker were coming to Earth. Only the Avengers could stop such a force.
Pepper stirred beside him and he lay back down, contemplating ley lines and whispers in the ear.
Gamora knew what was coming, she needed no warning from a benevolent god to know the coming attack on the Earth. Thanos had been planning this for a long time.
He had told her, after the defeat of Loki, that, "Humans, they were not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly, and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them is to court Death."
He did not mean to leave them alone because they could not be ruled. Thanos intended to kill the Terrans. Courting death was always his goal, for he did fancy himself in love with Death, and only killing, he believed, could bring Death's attention to him. In three years' time, he would launch an attack once more, targeting the heart of the men of Terra- their desire to expand and improve themselves, their sense of Manifest Destiny and ever changing technology.
But now Gamora had heard, through the backchannels of the galaxy, that Thanos's plan had been defeated, he was not able to draw death out and remove the Terrans. It had been two years since the defeat had supposedly taken place, and she knew another attack would soon take place, and that this time, the Terran fighters would not rise up victorious.
She rose up from her bunk and walked across the Milano to talk to Peter- they must speed on their way to Earth. Bounty hunting could wait for another day.
Thank you for reading! I intend this to be a multi-chapter fic, but the updates might be a little slow until school gets out.