Creation began on 05-02-18
Creation ended on 05-23-18
The Avengers
Embrace the Finite
A/N: I saw Avengers: Infinity War yesterday, and was just saddened by the outcome. They should've just made it into two parts instead of just a single film. I dedicate this to those that hated the outcome and wished it wasn't so.
He saw what Thanos had done…and was repulsed by his actions…and the success of his twisted goal. Genocide, even in the name of saving the universe, was never the right answer.
"Friends," he uttered as he sat upon his wooden throne in front of the orange sphere that showed him every event that transpired in the universe that was now suffering as a result of the Mad Titan's accomplishment. "Families, loved ones, enemies, allies, neighbors, faces, either removed from the mortal plane of existence or left to wonder why those around them are no longer there. The Infinity Stones are powerful in their own right, and make one a god incarnate if able to be wielded simultaneously…but those relics were never meant to be brought together if the will that sought them out was going to commit such unforgivable acts to the universe. Thanos, you will pay for your misdeeds…starting with your arm."
He got up off his throne and reached out for the sphere, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye, leaving his throne and the vast, beautiful, meadow-like scenery of his domain empty.
The sole relative of all souls, past, present and future, had left to fix another mistake made by others.
-x-
Screams. Thanos heard screams from across multiple galaxies. They were incomprehensible; they sounded like multiple accounts of gibberish, with people crying out for others as they suddenly left their side. It made virtually no sense at all.
"Deep down, they know it was you," he heard someone say to him, and he looked over to a rock across from the shack he was recuperating in, seeing a young human sitting on it, wearing a purple vest and gold trousers. "I'll skip the introduction and get to the point. I'm here for you, Thanos. I'm here…for retribution and redemption."
"Brother Correction," Thanos said, knowing about this man. "You're powerless to stop me. There is nothing to stop, anymore. The universe is balanced."
"Wrong. The universe is in tatters. You don't know how the universe functions, so you chose to massacre as much of existence as possible and call it salvation. You murder trillions of lives across the stars and say you're saving the cosmos from overpopulation. But in the end, no matter what you do, no matter what you think, you're just going to be remembered as the one that destroyed everything. You're just another bad guy, a villain of the week, a merciless tyrant…and you must be put in your place."
"Not if I put you in yours first."
Thanos raised his left arm up, but nothing happened. He looked down at it…and realized that the Infinity Gauntlet was crumbling off.
"I guess incorporating all six stones was simply too much for your glove to withstand," Brother Correction suggested, raising his left hand up…and revealed a similar gauntlet of his own, housing the stones in six rings rotating around the wrist, not on the knuckles or back. "You liked it all, didn't you? Didn't you, Thanos?"
The ring housing the Power Stone glowed and Thanos was bathed in purple light that began to singe at his flesh, causing him to grunt mildly.
"Boy! You give me those stones!" He demanded of him as he got up.
"You liked the way the power tasted, didn't you?" Brother Correction asked him again, unfazed by his attempt to approach him on the rock. "All that power. Unlimited power. Absolute power! You knew that you could've used that power to achieve a more benevolent outcome! You could've turned barren wastelands into cultivated farmlands! Extend the lifespans of countless suns in dozens of star systems! Create new worlds to settle upon, new land masses, more resources! All of that with the mere snap of your fingers! But you didn't think about any of that. You never stopped to think about what was possible with these stones instead of what you felt you needed to do with them. You don't believe in benevolence. You're not a benevolent god, only a malevolent one. Only a malevolent god would resort to the acts you committed."
"Give…back…the STONES!" Thanos yelled, now marked by intense, fourth-degree burns over most of his body as he struggled to get closer to him.
Brother Correction sighed; he might as well have been talking to a sheet of metal than a member of the Titan race. He then made the ring holding the Space Stone activate and open a portal beneath himself, sinking into it as it closed.
Thanos, free of the brutal force of the Power Stone, was now stranded upon the world he came to in order to recuperate. Without the Space Stone, he had no means to get off-world.
"You will pay for this, boy," he uttered, marking Brother Correction as his objective to eliminate.
-x-
Planet Titan was quite the miserable ball that it was with only Tony Stark and Nebula as its sole occupants. No food or water in sight, it was only a matter of time before they died of dehydration and/or starvation.
A portal opened in front of the two, and they saw a man step out, wielding a gauntlet with rotating rings on the wrist.
"Tony Stark, Nebula," he greeted them with a small bow, "are you two doing okay…for the most part?"
"What do you mean, for the most part?" Nebula asked him, feeling insulted. "Thanos won!"
"Yes, he did, which is why I'm here. Look at my peace offering."
They looked at the rings on his gauntlet and saw the Infinity Stones rotating. And then saw the Time Stone glow as it activated.
"Come back into existence, all who were taken," Brother Correction uttered, and Tony and Nebula saw Stephen Strange, Peter Parker, Drax, Mantis and Peter Quill materializing as time was acting in reverse. "Come back, everyone. Friends, allies, families, questionable enemies. Come back."
He could see across the cosmos on multiple worlds, watching as those that were taken by Thanos being returned to existence, made aware of their fates and knowing the names of the people that fought valiantly for their lives. On Earth, he saw those lives of Sam Wilson, T'Challa, Wanda Maximoff, Groot and Bucky among those lost restored. On Vormir, he saw Gamora brought back to life, shedding tears over her revival.
"Balance is being returned to the universe," he told them as the Time Stone's power ceased, indicating that everyone that was killed because of Thanos had been restored. "Still, there is much to be done."
-x-
"My King!" One of the soldiers cried as they came to T'Challa's aid. "Are you alright?"
T'Challa, the current king of Wakanda and Black Panther, looked around the Wakandan battle grounds, confused by the events following Thanos' departure from the planet after he got what he came for, and wondered what had happened.
"What happened?" Steve Rogers, the man known as Captain America, questioned.
A portal opened onto the Wakandan grounds…and out came several people, led by a young man with a gauntlet on his left arm.
"Is that Thanos?" He asked them.
"No, he's a friend and ally," Peter Parker explained. "He saw what that guy did and took the stones from him. He undid everything that was done."
"Not everything," uttered Wanda, holding Vision's lifeless body.
Brother Correction saw the lifeless android and sighed at how soulless he was without the Mind Stone.
"When brought together, the Infinity Stones can bestow any being with unimaginable powers limited only by their imagination," he expressed, and the ring holding the Mind Stone broke off and said stone floated over to the damaged android, reattaching to its head. "Except not everyone wants, needs or should even have all six."
In less than a minute, Vision was brought back to life.
"Aaah!" He gasped, recalling that the stone was ripped from his head by Thanos, and then nothing.
"And what do you plan to do with the remaining Infinity Stones?" Thor asked Brother Correction, who then removed the ring holding the Space Stone, which then transmuted into another cube-shaped container for the ancient power source.
"Separate the stones so that no one can ever have all six ever again," he explained. "The Space Stone, or rather, the Tesseract, belongs with the Asgardians. The Mind Stone needs to stay with Vision, and the Time Stone with the Sorcerer Supreme. I shall retain the Soul, Reality and Power Stones."
"Is that truly wise?" Doctor Strange asked him as the Time Stone was broken off its ring and fashioned into a replica of the Eye of Agamotto. "Oh."
"Thanos is worlds away on an empty planet he escaped to in order to recuperate," Brother Correction explained. "He has no means of contacting anyone, for aid or resources to escape or begin another hunt for the stones. And he wouldn't stop until he had all six to do this all over again. But these three stones are best kept with those that know better than to use them for personal or maniacal gain. The Tesseract was once the crown of Odin's vault of treasures. The Eye of Agamotto aided the Sorcerer Supreme to explore the future and defy fate, time and again, and if the Vision was worthy enough to lift Mjolnir to prove he was on the side of the Avengers in their battle with Ultron, then he's trustworthy enough to keep the Mind Stone. It's the Soul, Reality and Power Stones that bring the most danger if all six were ever brought back together. And speaking of worthy."
Then, as if by magic, he raised up his right hand…and the previous hammer of Thor appeared in his grip, whole and glowing with electrical energy.
"The hardest part was just gathering all the pieces," he expressed, and threw the hammer to the God of Thunder, who caught it by the handle.
-x-
Thanos felt like he was being punished by this boy as he was made to see his efforts to rebalance the universe coming undone through the Infinity Stones! All across the star ways were lives being brought back by the power of the stones, along with things the Mad Titan never considered doing at all; new planets, new islands, resurrected star systems, revitalized worlds, replenished resources, even the rejuvenation of his home world of Titan and its people.
"How dare you mock me, boy!" He yelled, swearing vengeance upon Brother Correction.
But the worst that Thanos saw on that pitiful planet called Earth was how he gave back to the humans the Mind and Time Stones after he gave the Asgardians back the Space Stone. And stated that he would be keeping the remaining three stones to ensure no one would ever have possession of all six. But Thanos had no means to get off-planet to stop the boy from doing what he was doing…and all his minions were either worlds away or dead, leaving him virtually alone. Isolated from everyone, deprived of resources, an army, a ship, not even a simple weapon to hunt for food.
-x-
Asgard, restored to its previous state after Ragnarok, deprived of both Hela and Surtur, once more the center of the Nine Realms. It was a beautiful sight for Thor to see as he brought his people back; it turned out that events like Ragnarok only occurred once and wouldn't happen again, leaving the colossal asteroid island safe from destruction for generations to come.
"I'm surprised that he brought you back, Loki," Thor addressed his adopted brother as they and the rest of the Asgardians had stepped foot onto the restored grounds.
"Believe it or not, he almost didn't," the God of Mischief revealed, "but he let me off with a simple warning: "You so much as think about doing something that causes trouble for others, and you will wish for something as merciful as release from pain". He meant it. He wouldn't hesitate to do so, so I have no choice but to obey his warning."
-x-
Returning the Eye of Agamotto to Kamar-Taj, Stephen Strange sighed at how for the time being, the place for the Time Stone was here, beyond the reach of others that would desire its power. But he intended to wear it again once all was settled.
"Do you believe this Brother Correction is a trustworthy person?" Wong asked him.
"He is," Stephen answered. "No one will ever have all six stones again."
-x-
"…So…what now?" Steve Rogers questioned Tony Stark on the grounds of Wakanda.
Tony knew he was referring to their situation as Avengers on opposite sides of good. While the well-known Iron Man had followed the rules of the Sokovia Accords, the man known as Captain America had more faith in individuals than a set of guidelines. This put them on shaky ground.
"Let's work it out on another day," Tony suggested. "Despite the outcome caused by that guy that took the stones from Thanos and left him stranded on another world, this hasn't been a good day."
"Yeah," the First Avenger agreed with him.
"Still, just who was he, anyway? A friend that only shows up after a situation goes wrong…or a god that does stitch work on a cosmic scale?"
"He does…whatever it is you've heard about him doing. A tormentor to some…and a savior to others."
-x-
"Where to, Gamora?" Peter Quill asked the green-skinned woman as the Guardians prepared to take off into space.
"Anywhere but wherever Thanos got stranded," she stated; even though her murder was undone by Brother Correction, it still hurt her to know that Thanos would stop at nothing to achieve his twisted destiny, even if it meant committing the ultimate crimes.
"You don't have to worry about Thanos, anymore," Brother Correction had informed her. "That planet will serve as his prison, his refuge and his grave. Nobody will go there to get him. Nobody will even go there just to see him. It's damnation by way of paradise. His haven will be his living Hell."
"I am Groot," said Groot to them.
"Yeah, we should try there," expressed Rocket.
"Where?" Drax asked them.
"Planet Paradias," Rocket answered. "It's supposed to have good beaches and grand waterfalls as big as cities. Great sunrises and greater sunsets."
"Paradias it is," Gamora agreed.
"To Paradias, then," Peter announced.
-x-
He observed the aftermath of each hero, heroine, civilian and alien after he returned to his domain and put the three Infinity Stones he kept into his collection of dangerous items. There were varying emotions of happiness and relief as Brother Correction sat in his throne and looked at how the young Spider-Man hugged his aunt after he got home, how Tony held Pepper in his arms, how Steve and Bucky enjoyed a drink in Wakanda while T'Challa confirmed to his people and allies that the invasion had been repelled and the threat eliminated.
"Now, this is true balance to the universe," he uttered, "and if someone tries to threaten it again… I'll help them again."
Before the orb he watched the universe through faded away, the last image it showed him was of Thanos, yelling out his name and threatening to make him suffer for his actions. Then it disappeared, leaving Brother Correction chuckling at how pathetic the Mad Titan was right now.
"Yes," he told himself, "this is real balance."
Fin
A/N: Now that I've finished this, I feel a little better about the outcome of the film. I hope you readers out there feel better after reading this, too. Peace.