An endless fight. That was what it looked like. He couldn't see the end of it. Or an end where he would survive, anyway. It seemed they had been battling for hours now. He was starting to feel an ache in his muscles… That was something to worry about. Well, to keep in a corner of his mind because he had other things to worry about. Like this insect-like creature who just landed in front of him. Those grey things were hideous and vicious in their fight. And they were thousands.
They were clearly outnumbered. Fortunately, they were better armed and cleverer. But still. The Hulkbuster almost gave it up some time ago. And it was huge.
He swore. One of them just caught his right arm and was clinging on to it. He tried to shrug it off, without success. With a grunt, he hit the creature's head with his metal fist and watched it fall. One less. Over how many ?
He threw a punch on one of them and swipped off its leg another who was approaching Natalia. She nodded in his direction before she jumped over one insect. He crouched just in time to avoid one of them who had climbed in a tree and launched itself from a branch. Then he turned, kicked it meters away and knocked another with his left elbow.
Suddenly he felt something violently pull his hair. He tripped, almost falling on the ground, but managed to land on the creature. That caused the thing to release his hair and allowed him to punch it several times.
The brunette stayed on the ground to catch his breath for a couple of seconds. Something was off. Unlike five minutes ago, no more creatures arrived. They were just fighting the ones who were there in the field. He said so in the coms, only to get Sam agree with him a second later.
He made eye contact with Natalia who was frowning. She, too, had just knocked out an insect.
"I agree with Barnes too. Something's off."
"Sam, do you see something in particular ?" Steve asked.
"Nothing weird. Those things have just stopped coming out of nowhere."
"Okay."
Well, maybe those things had stopped coming out of nowhere, but there were still dozens left. He threw some punches, fighting along with Steve then Natalia. Together, they eliminated an dozen of creatures. They were gaining back some space on the insects ! That was the first progress in about an hour !
A sudden "James, attention !" from T'Challa was he only warning he got before two of them jumped on him, making him stumble. Another saw it and attacked too.
All at once, he felt less confident. After throwing may punches, he finally got rid of two, but the remaining one was the strongest and heaviest.
Hell, what were those things ?! He couldn't breathe properly, it was crushing his chest ! Even with the superserum he had difficulties. He tried to kick it off with his knees, but the monster didn't move. On the contrary, it positioned itself even better and straddled him. He let out a frustrated growl. That was annoying, and starting to be painful as well.
Bucky balled his left hand into a fist and hit the insect's head. The grey thing closed its eyes for just enough time for him to take back the advantage and roll them over. He then pummelled it until the insect stopped moving.
He was still recovering when he heard a creature growl on his left. He jumped on his feet, but not quickly enough. The brunette was able to dodge the monster, but only after it hit him.
The beast had had fucking claws ! But like, giant claws ! It had cut him from the top of the cheek to the middle of his neck. The cut wasn't really deep thanks to his reflexes, but would take a few minutes to stop bleeding.
"Barnes, are you okay ?" Sam asked though the coms.
"Will be yeah."
"Buck ?" Steve threw a punch and turned in Bucky's direction. His eyes widened and he started sprinting towards him. "What happened ?" Steve asked. He then put his hand on the other side of the brunette's face and tilted it gently.
"I was taken by surprise and it cut me before I had a chance to avoid it. It's nothing. It will be healed in no time, don't worry." Bucky said, trying to be reassuring.
"You sure ?" Steve asked with a frown.
"Yes."
"Guys, it's not that I don't like listening to your cute moments, but… I think I know why they stopped coming. There's a freaking huge guy coming out of a portal. Purple. The guy, not the portal." Sam suddenly said.
"This must be Thanos." T'Challa confirmed.
They were gaining back some area, hadn't he said five minutes ago ? Well, apparently he jinxed it.
It was even worse. The purple giant had found them in no time and started attacking in even less. He brushed off Natalia who tried to attack, leaving her unconscious under a tree. T'Challa and Bucky had tried fighting it but with little result, both sent meters away. They only succeeded into bringing Thanos to his knees for three seconds, before he released himself. Sam was nowhere to be seen for the moment, probably gone to seek reinforcement. They would need it.
Steve now stood alone against the creature. What was he thinking ? Maybe he was strong, but not that strong ! Bucky tried to get up, but he still had trouble breathing.
"I'm on my way." Sam said.
"Hurry, Steve is trying to fight this thing alone !" Bucky replied.
"I'm doing everything I can."
Sam was on his way with reinforcement, but would it be enough ?
With a grunt of pain, the brunette finally stood up. He helped T'Challa do the same before turning just in time to see Thanos make a fist and . He was going to crush him ! He opened his mouth on a silent scream. But what he feared didn't happen. Steve was resisting !
He looked at T'Challa, who pointed the back of one of the giant's knees. Good idea. They had to hurry, though, because Steve couldn't hold it forever. And there were still some insects. Weirdly, they seemed to be waiting, but who knew when they would attack again ?
Sam told them he was just above, and counted to three before they attacked together.
Bucky and T'Challa launched themselves on the left knee, and Sam on the right.
Bucky punched the center of it repeatedly, while the King tried to cut the flesh with his claws. The brunette heard gunshots being fired extremely rapidly, and Sam swearing. Apparently it wasn't working. Hell. They kept on going like this for some seconds before the purple monster had enough. He let Steve go and turned to see who dared attack him. The blond took advantage of the distraction to kick Thanos were Sam had just fired. The giant swore, and it seemed to wake up the grey creatures. Fantastic. Now they were four against a dozen.
Sam shot two of them in the head while Bucky knocked two others. The things were harder to fight. As if seeing their master had given them strength. He felt a punch land right on his spine, with so much force it cut his breath. T'challa killed it a fraction of second later. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Natalia starting to move, slowly. This was good !
Bucky saw his Brooklyn brother take down an insect before he heard a shot coming from Natalia's position. She had shot one of them. They had more chances on their side now. But still, that thing.
Sam shot another salve of bullets, and Steve threw some more punches… The creature wasn't flinching. It hardly appeared annoyed and unbalanced. Bucky took a swing on the left knee while Sam flew onto Thanos' neck, only stopping centimetres away. There was finally blood !
Steve only had the chance to hit another insect before the giant caught him by the leg, like a doll. The blonde screamed when the monster squeezed, probably breaking bones.
"A shame you decided to fight me. You would have been a great asset."
"Never." Steve panted.
The giant then shrugged, and threw the blonde meters away. Panic flooded Bucky's mind when he didn't stood up immediately. He wanted to go check on him, but he saw T'Challa fight against Thanos and decided to keep going at least a little. That didn't meant he couldn't try to talk to him.
"Steve ? Steve can your hear me ?"
"I can't see him properly, Barnes."
"I can, Nat. He's not in a good shape." Sam replied.
"Dammit Steve, don't die on me !" Bucky yelled.
Just as he said that, Thanos tripped and kicked him in the chest. He was projected three meters away, fell onto his knees and coughed blood. This wasn't good.
One of the two remaining grey creatures passed by him, headed towards Steve. The other attacked Bucky from behind and managed to catch his flesh arm in its paws and hit his knee. Bucky tried to shrug it off, but the creature held tight and pulled his arm towards itself. The two opponents were of same strength, and Bucky's arm finally dislocated itself. With his leg, he kicked his assailant and then crushed his head. He was exhausted.
The brunette heard a commotion not far away. Hopefully it was the help they asked for ! He looked up only to find the other one trying to bite Steve, who was weakly defending himself. He yelled stop, without result of course, coughed more blood, and ran to his blond as fast as he could.
He then hit the insect on the head, but the thing was tough and it turned and fought back.
Sam had seen him and so he shot the creature, killing the last one. But in between, Bucky and the insect had fought, and he was left badly injured. His right arm was dislocated, his left knee was throbbing, he had a cut on his face and neck, and a couple broken ribs for sure.
The brunette let himself fall on his knees beside Steve, who had reached a tree and was leaning against it. He was indeed in a very bad shape. His lips were swollen, several traces of contusion were starting to show, half of his uniform was torn...
Bucky placed his left hand on Steve's cheek. "Stevie ?" He whispered. He couldn't breathe properly.
"Mmm." The blond turned his head towards Bucky.
"Lemme see … your baby blues."
Steve opened his eyes and took the brunette's other hand. "That's … that's it Buck. The … end of the line."
"Yeah. But we are... together this time."
"In every way." Steve smiled sadly, a single tear rolling down his cheek.
Around them, people were fighting and shouting but neither of them could hear it. They didn't hear the victory cries when Thanos escaped through a portal. They didn't hear the concerned voices of their friends in their comms. They didn't hear anything apart the voice of the other, saying I love you in a whisper.
And they certainly didn't hear the cries of their friends when they were finally found. In each other's arms, broken but finally in peace.
Together until the end of the line.