Chapter 8

Avengers Headquarters

"What the Hell happened?" Bruce asked as Doctor Strange, Wong, Jack, Thor, and Loki jumped out of the portal.

"Thanos, he found us." Jack said. "Luckily, Strange here opened up a nifty portal there."

"But that means he could be on his way here." Barton said, readying an arrow as Wanda and Vision prepared to fight.

"Correct you are, archer." A voice said behind Vision, who then felt a fist punch through his body. Having no time to react, Vision was not able to change the density of his body, and was helpless as Thanos ripped out his core. As the android's eyes began to fade, Thanos tore his fist out of his body, and using his other hand, brutally ripped the mind stone from Vision's forehead, killing the Avenger to everyone's shock. Thanos triumphantly placed the mind stone on the thumb of the gauntlet, before turning to the group.

"Halfway there. Now, you will suffer the wrath of a titan!" Thanos said, as the mind stone glowed, and he had taken control of Wanda, Bruce, Loki, and Hawkeye.

"Kill them!" Thanos said, laughing and spectating the battle. As Bruce transformed into the Hulk, Thor tackled him before hitting the beast with his hammer. Doctor Strange engaged Wanda Maximoff in a duel of telekinesis, while Wong grabbed his artifact and began fighting Clint. Jack drew his sword as Loki swung his staff, parrying the god of mischief.

"This feels familiar…" Jack muttered, dodging a blast from Loki's staff. "Come on, Loki, fight it! You're the god of mischief, fer God's sake!" Loki didn't respond, his now dark blue eyes were filled with hate. For what seemed like ours the Avengers fought each other, however, Jack saw an opening, and he jabbed Loki in the stomach with his sword's hilt, before punching him in the face, breaking the mind control. Looking around, Jack noticed that Strange had subdued Wanda and used magic to free her, Thor hit Hulk hard enough for him to come to his senses, and Wong had also used magic to free Barton.

"Dammit, not again…" Hawkeye said as he was freed from the power of the mind stone.

"That was a good show." Thanos said, before waving his hand with the power stone glowing, and all the Avengers, save for Strange, were thrown to the ground by a purple force. Thanos then raised his hand in a gripping motion, and that same purple force surrounded Strange, forcing him in an invisible prison. Thanos walked over, and after ripping the Eye of Agamotto off Strange, threw it down and crushed it underfoot. He then proceeded to sift through the remains and found the time stone, placing it on the forefinger, next to the space stone.

"That's four." Thanos muttered. The Avengers then aimed all of their weapons and blasted at the mad titan. However, now wielding the time stone, Thanos raised his handing, freezing all the projectiles as well as their owners.

"Thank you for two of the stones." The titan said. "It's time for me to leave now." Thanos then used the space stone to create a portal and left. As Thanos' portal closed, time was unfrozen, and the projectiles hit a nearby wall of the headquarters. As Thor's hammer returned to him, he asked, "So what now?"

"We need to rendezvous at Avengers Tower. Thanos might be heading there." Jack said, then added, "And if he's not, then there isn't much we can do for Tony or Steve." He then looked over to Wanda, who was crying.

"What's with her?" Jack said aloud, only to be elbowed by Hawkeye.

"After Ultron attacked, she and Vision got into a relationship." Clint said, before they went over to check on the Maximoff kid.

"Hey, if you don't want to, you don't have to go with us to the tower." Hawkeye talked to her as if she was one of his own children. Wanda suddenly stopped crying, her face filled with defiance.

"No." She said. "It's my job as an Avenger to save the world. I'm going with you."

"Alright. Let's get to the tower before it's too late. Strange, would you be so kind?" Jack asked the Doctor. Strange nodded, before opening another portal. As he and the Avengers entered the portal, they walked straight into the top floor of the tower, being greeted by Sam Wilson, Bucky, Rhodey, and T'Challa.

"Where is Thanos?" Thor asked.

"What do you mean? He's not here." Sam said, confused. "What happened?"

"He now has two more stones." Jack explained. "He killed Vision for the mind stone, and ripped the fancy necklace right off of Strange."

"So what are you doing here?" Rhodey asked.

"We're here to provide more protection for the soul stone." Strange replied. "In case Thanos gets here, we'll need every able person to fight him."

"Unfortunately, all we can do is wait for the Guardians, Tony, and Steve to return." Barton said bitterly, as they all waited.