It was unbearably hot on this godforsaken planet. Loki's hair was stringy, and his whole body sleek with sweat. His head was pounding, struggling to stay awake. He was truly back in Hel. After the Chitauri had taken him from his cell, they dropped him off where he lived and re-lived his worst nightmares. They were going to tie him to those damned posts again.
Before they had the chance to secure both of his arms to the posts, he ripped his shirt off on his own accord. If Thanos didn't kill him first, long exposure to this heat would. He was going to dehydrate fast. Gulping, he begrudgingly accepted his fate. Whatever Thanos wanted, whatever Thanos tried to 'persuade' him into doing, Loki would stand his ground.
"Today just isn't your day," Corvus Glaive approached Loki smugly. "Thanos has just arrived, and is expecting his gifts."
Loki, still muzzled, shifted on his knee's, and closed his eyes in defeat. This was about to be the end. Looking back up, Loki saw the glint of Thanos' gold-plated armor in the distance. Loki found comfort in the fact that he would get to see his Mother again. Apologize for all that he's done.
Thanos arrived, followed by the rest of the Black Order, and a plethora of Chitauri. "Well Loki, I must say I'm surprised at how well my methods have worked. You're like a dog, you'll always come running back." Thanos approved of his own work. "I believe you have something for me."
Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight came forward and knelt before their father, presenting both the scepter and the tesseract.
"My humble personage bows before your grandeur," Ebony Maw began, "for no being has had the might, nor the nobility to possess not one, but two Infinity Stones."
Loki's heart stopped. Infinity Stones? As in plural?
Proxima Midnight continued, "The universe lies within your grasp."
Thanos smiled. "Two down, four to go. Bring them to my ship." He bent over, using one hand to palm the side of Loki's head. "Once I collect all of the stones, I can finally correct the course of the universe. Half of the population will die, while the other half will thrive. It is my destiny, and it will be fulfilled, no matter the cost."
Loki's eyes widened. All Thanos would have to do is snap his fingers and half of all living things would be wiped out.
"I would congratulate you, and leave you be," Thanos said to him, "but something is missing."
Loki must have looked confused because Thanos elaborated. "Oh don't worry, the Black Widow is on her way here. In fact she should be here within the next hour or so. You see, you have something I like to call a behavioral issue. You're much more likely to behave yourself and do as I say if I have leverage over you. Your 'friends' have decided to pull off a rescue mission, or so I've heard."
Loki began to panic. "And when they're killed or captured, just know that this is all on you."
Loki strained against his bindings, and tried to rise to his feet. Thanos shook his head. "Ah, ah, ah," he chided, "I believe you need to be reminded of your place." He gestured towards Loki to the Chitauri, "he's all yours, but I want him alive." As he and the Black Order retreated to their base, the Chitauri rushed at Loki. Focusing with all his might, he thought as loudly and as roughly as he could.
'Thanos knows! Don't come.'
Cull Obsidian turned his head once they were a great distance away. Loki was obscured from view, by a black cloud which turned out to be a sea of angry Chitauri. He smiled.
"Is that Titan?" Steve asked in wonder.
The Earthling's stared in awe. Titan was massive.
"That's it," Thor stated. Tony shook his head in disbelief. "How the hell are we going to find them?"
"We'll just have to be smart about it," Natasha chimed in. "We have to find them."
"Prepare for anything," Tony warned, "we're way outside of our territory, and I'd really like to not die today."
"Nobody is dying today," Steve stated firmly. "We go in, we get out once we have everything we came here for."
"Alright then," Natasha said, smiling. "Preparing to enter the atmosphere in three, two, one-" but before she thrust the throttle forward, she hunched forward, rapidly brought her hands to her head and screamed.
"Natasha!" Someone cried. She couldn't make out who it was. Her skull felt like it split open. Suddenly she recalled what Loki said to her on the balcony all those nights ago:
"Do you know what it feels like to split your skull? Thanos can get in my head whenever he wants. That's what it feels like."
She shuddered. Did Thanos get into her head too? How was that possible? Her head still pounding, she heard something that made her blood run cold.
'Thanos knows! Don't come.'
The presence left her head and she straightened up, massaging her temples. Meeting the concerned gazes of her teammates, she sighed. "Thanos knows."
"What?!" Stark exclaimed. "How do you know?"
'What was that? Are you alright Nat?" Steve asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," she let out a big breath, "Loki told me. At least, it sounded like Loki," she tried to explain.
"What?" Thor's heart soared knowing that his Brother was still alive. "How is that even possible?" He continued, dumbfounded.
Tony looked at Natasha in awe. "Your concussion."
"What?"
Urgently this time, Tony said again, "Your concussion! If Loki used his magic to fix your head, maybe some of it is still there. Or your brain is at least familiar with it."
"You might be right Stark." Thor supported Tony's thought process. "Magic is not my area of expertise, but it could work. We'll have to ask Loki about it when we get him."
"Alright, lets go." Steve said, "I want everyone watching each other's six."
They blasted into Titan's atmosphere. They could do this.
They landed in a secluded area, not a single soul in sight.
"What happened here?" Steve wondered out loud.
"Thanos is the last of his kind," Thor said, "the planet couldn't handle the population. This is the end result."
There were no people, no movement, no nothing. Just ruined buildings, dried up ponds and rivers. The planet was dead.
"So it can't be too hard to find the only living creatures right?" Natasha asked.
"Unfortunately, it is more likely than not, that the Black Order and Chitauri will be here as well. If Thanos knew we were coming, he'll be well prepared." Thor was solemn.
The four of them looked among each other.
"We're going in a little short-handed don't you think?" Stark half joked.
"It'll have to do."
They marched forward, heading towards the planet's sun which was high in the sky.
"Keep a look out," Steve warned, "we don't want to be caught by surprise."
They walked for what seemed like hours, the same scenery seemed to wrap around the whole planet. Eventually they stopped and took shelter in a ship that had crashed. The ship was in the shape of a donut.
Sitting down, Natasha placed the duffle bag down. Tony reached forward and grabbed the bag, and started emptying out the contents.
"I hate him," Stark said definitively. He pulled out cans of spam that Clint had packed them. Natasha laughed out loud.
"What did you want him to pack, cheeseburgers?"
"That would be nice." Tony nodded his head. Steve reached in the bag and pulled out water bottles, which he passed around.
They sat in silence for a few minutes after they had finished, Natasha opting to leave the bag there. She would get a new one when they got back to Earth. Breaking the silence, Tony looked to Steve with a smirk on his face.
"Hey Cap, you got any words of wisdom for us before we go and get our asses handed to us on a silver platter?"
Steve rolled his eyes, the only indication that he had heard him.
Tony was mock-baffled. "Oh wow, Cap ran out of optimistic catchphrases! We really are going to lose."
"Shut up Stark," Thor said quickly. Tony raised his hands in mock surrender. "Alright Point Break relax, I was only-"
"No seriously Tony, shut up." Natasha interrupted. "Do you hear that?"
Listening in silence, they heard a loud whirring sound, like an engine or ship flying near by. Tony's face plate slammed shut. "I'm going to go check it out. Don't move."
Creeping out of the donut ship, Tony looked for the source of the noise. Looking upwards, his jaw dropped. It was the exact same ship that he had nuked in New York all those years ago. The only difference was that this ship was much smaller. As it flew right past him, he darted back into the donut.
"We have a problem. I can say with almost a hundred percent certainty that Thanos' personal ship just blew past us, most likely looking for our ship."
Natasha sighed. This is just what they needed.
"Well if that was Thanos' ship, maybe Loki is somewhere here on the planet without Thanos," Steve reasoned. "This may be our only opportunity to avoid a major fight."
It was Thor's turn to give some bad news. "I'm afraid that its more likely than not that the Black Order and an army of Chitauri will be awaiting us. Thanos is egotistic, but not an idiot. If he knows we're coming, he'll be well prepared for it."
"Well we need to move pretty fast," Tony said. "Thor take Cap, and Nat? Hang on."
Grabbing their teammates, both Thor and Tony flew in the opposite direction of the ship that had passed them.
"JARVIS scan for any and all signs of life, make it quick but thorough. We don't have a lot of time."
"Right away Sir," the AI complied. "About two hundred miles west there is a great quantity of life forms, proceed with caution."
Tony relayed the message to the rest of his teammates. "Drop out of the sky and back on land about twenty miles before our target. We don't want them seeing us before we get to see what we're going against."
Eventually they flew lower and lower until the four of them were walking quietly, but alertly.
Conveniently for them, there was a wall of people-sized jagged black rocks, providing easy concealment. Thor and Tony crouched behind separate rocks, and Steve stood with his back pressed to one farther down. Natasha inched farther down, and ducked down behind a lone rock, on higher ground than the others. She steeled her nerves and peaked out from behind her cover, her breath catching in her throat.
"What is it Nat?" Steve called over the comms.
"Chitauri. They're everywhere. Not as many from New York, but enough to overpower us. They're in a swarm but I can't make out what they're-"
"Uh guys," Tony said worriedly. "Thanos' ship is landing on our right. Far away enough that I don't think anyone spotted us."
When the ship landed it was like a signal had been sent to the Chitauri's brains. They immediately stopped their animalistic behavior and hurriedly marched towards the opening of the ship. Natasha was trying to make out what had the Chitauri going ballistic. The dust settled.
She put a hand over her heart, the other one bracing herself up against the rock.
"Oh Jesus."
A/n: Saw Endgame for the third time in the theatre (3 days in a row!) and I am NOT okay ahaha. Anyways this chapter was supposed to be up yesterday but I accidentally deleted a huge portion of it. But I got everything back to how I had it for the most part. I will be going through at some point and updating all the chapters to eliminate and grammatical errors or discrepancies. Don't forget to R+R and #Don'tSpoilTheEndgame!