Thor tore across the sky, propelled by sizzling webs of lighting. A zigzagging enemy ship obstructed his passage through the air and he was forced to propel himself toward the ground sooner than the crumbled ceiling of the archive building, through which the Black Order ship had descended with guns blazing.
Thor hit ground hard, but managed to land in a crouch – landing much improved since New York. He straightened, tossing his cape out of his way, and marched forward. The archive building was being torn aside from the inside. Thor could hear gunfire and shouts beyond the walls. He shoved his way through a collapsing space in the side, pushing into a long corridor, stunted on the other end by large doors. The floor was scattered with bodies and ablaze with movement.
It took Thor only a moment to grasp the situation: the hallway was clogged with Nova Corps security personnel, scrambling frantically against a hulking, reptilian figure bound in armor and brandishing twin, bladed knuckledusters in its beefy fists. The vaults evidently lay beyond the doors at the end of the corridor. Thor only had to get beyond this beast to get to the Power Stone.
"Another one!" shouted one of the Nova Corps personnel, hair spilling out of her cap as she turned her gun on Thor and let loose a barrage of bullets.
Thor shouted and leapt aside, gunfire pinging off his chestplate and scattered across the room. The Nova Corps guard ducked, yelling in panic.
"I am on your side!" Thor roared as the alien beast lunged at him from the side. Because of the loss of Thor's sight in his eye, he could not see the giant until it was already upon him. Thor turned, unbalanced, to meet the attack, but was flung off his feet by a vicious cut to his ribs by one of the beast's fists. Its bladed knuckles sliced effortlessly through Thor's armor but did not reach flesh.
Thor spun out across the floor, coming to rest against a chunk of wall. The Nova Corps personnel paid him no attention, too preoccupied were they by the rampaging creature in their midst – it appeared vaguely humanoid, but its eyes were lit with a dangerous, bestial fire as it swung left and right at attacking Nova Corps guards. Already a pile of bodies lay at its feet. Nova Corps was clearly losing this battle.
Thor was back on his feet in a moment and charged forward. What he would not give for Mjolnir at this moment – his new powers were so unwieldy.
Lightning skittered out of Thor's palm and smacked the beast across the face. The beast whipped his head back around to face Thor and roared in rage. The Nova Corps gunfire pattered futilely against the its thick scaly skin.
There was a deafening crash somewhere beyond the door at the end of the hallway. The floor rumbled; dust fell from the creaking roof as the building's structure was challenged. The beast spared the distraction not a moment's notice, but lumbered toward Thor.
Thor managed to keep his footing as several Nova Corps guards were tossed to the ground by the shockwaves of the explosion beyond. A second battle must have been raging in the vaults. Thor could only hope the Nova Corps guards within would be able to keep this beast's cohorts away from the Stone for as long as it took Thor to join them.
The beast was on Thor in a blink of an eye, barely time enough for Thor to draw his sword and thrust toward the creature. The giant raised its fists, blades shrieking steel as they deflected Thor's blow easily. Thor ducked out of the way of the beast's swinging fist, flinging out of the way toward the wall. Another Nova Corps guard was struck down. He toppled to the ground and was replaced by his comrade.
There were five of them less, plus Thor, versus one enemy. They were not doing this right. They needed to make formations, attack the beast systematically from all sides, but battle strategy had never been Thor's forte – it had always been Loki's knack – and Thor simply shoved himself off the wall and back toward the creature.
Thor was not quick enough to his raise his sword and his pounce was refuted by a backhand to his face. The beast's blade sliced through Thor's cheek and warm blood poured onto his neck. Pain erupted across his skin, and with it an urgency in his chest.
The creature was stronger and faster than Thor anticipated. This was going to take more work than he'd first thought. He ducked under the beast's swinging arm and brought his blade upward, aiming for a gap in its armor. The beast seemed to anticipate Thor's move, and grunted in irritation as its hands closed around Thor's sword, wrenching it from Thor's grasp.
A kick to Thor's gut sent him careening backward. His head cracked against the wall. His vision swam.
The creature cut down one of the guards by slicing its knuckles across the man's neck.
"Xyn, no!" shouted the Nova Corps guard who had greeted Thor upon entry with a rain of bullets. She shouted in anger and ran forward. The g struck her down with seeming ease.
Thor shook the popping lights out of his eyes and staggered forward, aiming a kick at the creature's stomach. The beast grabbed Thor's ankle and smashed him to the ground. Thor heard cement crumble under his slammed weight. He saw and heard things as if they were coming at him from a great distance, unable to draw breath through the weight pressed onto his chest.
"I am Cull Obsidian, son of Thanos," the creature declared, looming over Thor, foot on Thor's breast, drawing back its fist to burry its blade through Thor's face, "You are a fool to confront me!"
Thor put out his hands and a blast of lightning crackled from his fingers, heaving Cull Obsidian's bulky form off his feet and plowing him into the wall. Thor struggled back to his feet.
"I am Thor, son of Odin, and it is you who are a fool!" he shouted, tearing forward with another blast. His lightning left blackened scars across the floor. His fingers burned with its power, electricity stinging up his arms and thrumming through his chest as though it was a second heartbeat.
The lightning glanced across Cull Obsidian's scales and he snarled in pain. He swung wildly for Thor's charging figure. Thor was forced to call off his attack to dodge the hit.
There were still crashes and thuds in the room beyond. Thor wondered if the Guardians had perhaps managed to thread their way through the fight above the city and had joined the fray with the Black Order vessel.
Another explosion ripped through the air, shuddering through the corridor. Cracks splintered across the roof and chunks of rocks and metal shattered from the ceiling. Thor ducked out of the way; Cull Obsidian did not flinch as a rock caught him on the shoulder, but pushed off the wall behind him, lunging incessantly toward Thor. Thor scrambled out of the way, conscious that he was running now instead of fighting.
A blow to Thor's shoulder splayed him across the ground. He shouted as the creature plowed the toe of his boot into Thor's ribs. Pain cracked through his chest. He fought the urge to curl inward, out of the way of further hurts, but forced himself to grab hold of Cull Obsidian's incoming foot, toppling the giant to the ground.
Cull Obsidian. Son of Thanos. Had he been there, Thor wondered? Had this ugly, evil brute been witness to Loki's torture?
Perhaps it was merely the thought of Loki that made Thor suddenly aware of voices in the vaults beyond the corridor. And was it? Not. It could not be. It could not possibly be Loki's voice Thor heard shouting on the other side of the doorway. It was unfeasible, ridiculous – but Thor could not smother the jump of fervor at the thought of his brother, and desperation only served to make his powers unexpectedly flare with fresh strength.
He hauled himself to his feet, skin dancing with white-blue light of electricity. Thor, God of Thunder, felt his power awaken fresh in his chest as it had done first in the Grandmaster's arena, and second in the final throws of desperation while battling his sister.
His eyes flickered white, vision hyper focused on the hulking figure of Cull Obsidian. Monster. Thor would not suffer Thanos or any of his kin to lay a hand on Loki again.
Thor let go a battle cry as he turned ferociously on the beast. He shoved his arms forward, crackling with lightning. The corridor was too small to contain his power and electricity swept through the air, cobwebs of blue-white light that sizzled across the walls and chunks of ceiling on the floor.
Cull Obsidian tottered backward, taken aback. The beast rammed into the wall behind it. Thor's fists closed around the creature's wrists, arms straining to keep its blades away.
Thor yelled, voice tearing up his throat as his lightning surged, building with murderous intent inside his arms, buckling across bone and sinew, spilling out of his clenched fingers.
The creature jolted in Thor's hands, skin transparent as electricity shot through its body, revealing a glowing skeleton beneath. Its eyes found Thor's face – and glinted with unexpected pain and horror. The horror of the certainty of coming death.
Thor's lightning convulsed the creature until it was lifeless in Thor's grasp, and Thor released it with a final thunderous shout, power severed from his arms as though it had been physically ripped from him, leaving an aching emptiness in his strained muscles.
Cull Obsidian slid down the wall and into a lump on the floor, eyes blank and staring as its head lolled to the side. The hallway was black from Thor's lightning. Thor's arms continued to twitch as the electricity slowly dissipated.
He panted for breath, blinked the white film from his eyes, and his stomach lurched in guilt and shock when he looked at the charred husk of the creature he had just killed with his bare hands.
There was one Nova Corps guard still alive. He stared at Thor with circled-eyes, speechless and…afraid.
Thor shoved the uneasiness away and stepped away from the slaughtered beast, staggering toward the door at the end of the corridor. He had taken too long. He could not possibly still be in time to stop the theft of the Power Stone.
He reached the door just as a quaking blast echoed to life from the inside of the vault. It ripped the door off its hinges and slammed headlong into Thor's chest. He was flung through the air and slammed faraway into the floor. The back of his head hit stone, and his vision flooded with black.
OOO
Nebula clenched her half-metal jaw as her ship cleaved through the roof of the archive building, shrieking metal against metal and leaving a trail of splintered wreckage as they crashed into the floor and skidded to a fragile halt. The ship tottered on its belly. They had lost a wing and it pitched to rest on its side.
Loki and Sif slid across the floor and landed in a pile against the wall. Sif disentangled herself from Loki with a disgruntled growl and pushed herself to her knees, breathing hard.
"Get off me!" Loki said through teeth gritted in pain as Sif helped him up, aggravating his previous injuries.
"Come on," Nebula urged them. She clambered with difficulty out of the tipped pilot's seat and stumbled over to help Sif with Loki.
"Let go –" he snarled but Sif and Nebula said in unison, "Shut up."
Nebula had to force open the exit hatch with her shoulder. She and Sif both pulled Loki out of the wreck. His legs stumbled uselessly beneath him. His face was strained and Nebula could tell he was drawing on his magic, trying to work up enough strength to walk on his own so he didn't have to face the humiliation of being dragged.
They emerged into a large space, filled with light from the hole through the ceiling the ship had punted through. The walls were lined with sealed shelves, and the floor was a gridwork of storage aisles. Several shelving units lay scattered across the floor, contents spilled by the crash.
Nebula noted the floor was also strewn with bodies, all wearing the Nova Corps insignia upon their uniforms. Sif noticed this almost immediately after Nebula, and stopped dead in her tracks.
Sif's mouth dangled open, "What –"
"Who are you?" said an emotionless, robotic voice and a red humanoid floated out from the labyrinth of shelves, hovering inches off the ground, for the moment unthreatening.
"Who the hell are you?" Nebula demanded. She released Loki's arm; he tottered against Sif. Nebula drew forth her electroshock batons in case the being proved to be hostile. Something, after all, must have killed the Nova Corps guards.
"I am called Vision," said the figure. Nebula's eyes were drawn to the being's hand, which clutched a round metal encasement: the Orb. A mixture of fear and relief flooded her body at the sight of the Infinity Gem's containment vessel.
But what was this being? A guardian of the Stone, or a thief?
"We've come for the Orb," said Nebula, taking a step forward.
The being crooked its head as though Nebula, Sif, and Loki were vaguely interesting. "I am sorry," Vision said finally. "But I cannot let that happen. I must secure the Stone for my master."
Dread slunk into the bottom of Nebula's stomach. Whatever it was, it worked for Thanos.
"Not if we have anything to say about it," said Sif.
Nebula grinned. "So be it then." She brandished her rods and launched forward – Sif would be at her side, she knew, as soon as Loki was secured.
Vision floated backward. It was not quite alarm that flashed through its eyes, but gentle shock at the idea of being confronted. Vision's forehead was lit with a strange yellow glow. It must have been the synthetic being's power source. Nebula aimed for that as she struck out. Her baton met empty air as it slipped through Vision's face and she stumbled blindly forward.
Vision rematerialized behind her. The yellow light flared dangerously and a beam of energy burst forth from it forehead. Nebula dived aside. The stream seared close to her skin, blasting apart the shelves in a shower of glass and metal.
"Don't! It has the Mind Gem!" Loki shouted, voice breathless with startling panic. How he knew, Nebula could not tell – perhaps because of his own previous experience with the Gem. His fear made a shiver run down Nebula's spine. For a moment he was begging her to stop hurting him, so weak he could no longer either writhe from pain, and Nebula could not stop – even if she had wanted to – because it would mean facing the same pain, herself.
With a flurry of blaster fire the back wall of the room imploded inward, falling away to reveal the sleek black shape of Maw's Black Order vessel. Flames and rubble leapt into the air. A wave of heat swept across Nebula's skin. She could no longer discern from where the explosions were coming from: Vision's Mind Gem or Maw's ship. She cowered pathetically behind a partially collapsed shelving unit.
"Stay down!" Sif yelled to Loki somewhere among the chaos.
Maw's ship stopped firing, leaving smoking, melted wreckage behind. Nebula peered through the haze to see the Black Order ship had settled on the ruins. The ramp lowered; once Maw joined the fray they would be done for.
They were going to die. Nebula had led them all to their death.
Nebula screamed in rage and clambered out of her hiding place, swinging her batons furiously, aiming for the Orb in Vision's hand. If she could knock it lose – if she could only get her hands on the Stone –
Vision easily side-stepped her, letting her batons swipe through phased matter. It directed another blast toward her from the Mind Gem and she was too slow to spin out of its way. It caught the end of one of her batons, melting it away to the hilt.
"Release the Stone!" It was Maw. He stood across the room and he was bearing down on Sif, who had her back to Loki, propped on the ground, with her sword raised over her shoulder. "You cannot win this fight!"
"You will have to ply it from my dead body!" said Sif. She pounced toward Maw, who met her blade with his dual sabers, one in each hand.
Vision turned his face to the roof and sliced through the arched ceiling with a beam of energy. Chunks of the roof gave way, plummeting downward toward Nebula.
"Watch out!" shouted Loki and he managed to catch the raining debris with his seidr, face twisted in pain and concentration as he tossed it aside. Maw furiously shoved aside Sif, launching toward Loki. Loki lost concentration, rolling on the ground away from Maw's blow.
A stone smashed into Nebula's shoulder, knocking her off her feet.
"Kill her, pawn!" Maw yelled at Vision. "Use the Power Stone if you must!" Sif was back on her feet. She struck Maw from behind, who howled in pain but stayed standing, slashing toward her again.
Nebula blinked past the pain in her shoulder and saw that her mechanical arm was pinned to the ground by the chunk of scaffolding that had fallen from the sky.
Vision examined the Orb in its palm. Without a word, it untwisted the top from the bottom, revealing the glowing purple nucleus within. With its bare hand, Vision plucked the Stone out of the Orb. Its face was chillingly blank as it observed the Gem, as though it was completely indifferent to the unspeakable power it held in its palm.
"Don't!" Nebula shouted, but she didn't truly believe her voice would have any effect. Nebula could not stand. She tried to lift the stone on her arm, but she was not strong enough. Fear pounded in her skull and she acted without thinking – Nebula took her upper arm in her opposite hand and twisted, screaming at circuits tore lose from nerves, detaching her metal arm from her socket.
Vision's eyes were drawn to Nebula by her scream. It pointed the Power Stone in his hand toward her. The Gem thrummed with ugly purple light –
"Over here, villain," said Loki. He was somehow on his feet, unsteady, and Nebula knew he would not be able to stay so for long. Vision turned its attention to Loki.
Multiple Loki images sprouted across the floor, all exact replicas, grinning in triumph. It was impossible to tell which was the real God of Lies – but not, apparently, impossible for Vision, for the being simply drifted forward, unperturbed. Loki's smile flickered in dawning doubt, and the rest of his mirrors did, as well.
"You cannot fool me," said Vision calmly. "My ocular implants allow me to see your heat signature."
He lifted the purple Stone once again, deadly light building within –
"I told you – stay – down!" Sif plowed through the rows of Lokis with her shoulder. She must have hit the real one, for the images scattered into midair as Loki stumbled.
Purple light sprouted from Vision's hand and Sif rushed forward to absorb the impact. The light hit Sif squarely in the chest – striking her backward with a screaming explosion of red from the Reality Stone that was housed within her body.
The blast from the Power Stone met the flames from its sister and the air in the room shifted as purple and scarlet light whipped in a vortex through the air. The explosion picked apart the roof and walls.
Nebula was hurled off her feet. Something hit her hard in the back and she was crushed to the floor by a hunk of wall. Pain erupted throughout her body. She could not breathe as the chunk of wall crushed her.
Smoke clogged the air. Nebula's head spun. Her mechanical jaw readjusted itself, grinding in protest. She could not see. She could barely hear behind the high-pitched squeal in her ears.
A sound growled somewhere in the back of her head with harrowing recognition. The smoke cleared. The sound solidified into a rumbling –
Laughter. It was laughter.
Nebula picked her head off the ground. Sick terror bubbled in her stomach.
The smoke cleared. "Well done. Well done," the large, armored figure of Thanos picked his way across the wreckage.
Where had he come from? Had he been waiting there all this time? Watching them as they struggled, ready to intervene if favor shifted away from Maw and Vision – ready to crush Nebula, Sif, and Loki at a moment's notice. Nebula would not be surprised. He had always observed from afar as his children tore each other to pieces in their sparring exercises.
"Give me the stone, my worthy servant," said Thanos, and held out his hand, encased in the empty Gauntlet. Vision came forward, lifting the Power Stone in his palm. Nebula numbly wondered why Vision had been sent at all, if Thanos had been there the entire time. Perhaps Thanos could not touch the Stone with his own bare hands and needed the strange mechanical being to do his dirty work.
Nebula's jaw gaped. She wanted to scream, but nothing her mind was empty. She could not comprehend – She could see no sign of either Sif or Loki. Perhaps they were dead. No matter. If they were not yet dead, they all soon would be.
Vision fitted neatly the first Gem into the Gauntlet's knuckles. Thanos nodded in approval, observing the glowing purple light.
"Pick up our little prodigal, Ebony," Thanos said to Maw, who emerged from the rubble and picked out Loki's still body among the wreckage. He hauled the God of Mischief off the floor.
Loki's eyes opened groggily, stirred by the movement. He lifted his face and his eyes widened in horror as soon as he saw Thanos. Nebula saw his lips fall open silently in disbelief.
"No!" Loki was suddenly thrashing in Maw's ungiving arms like a man possessed. "No! Stop – no!"
"Does he beg?" said Thanos, smiling.
Loki's eyes darted wildly around the room as Maw began to tow him toward the Dark Order's ship waiting behind him. Loki searched for one last avenue of escape, trapped in the iron grip of Maw, being dragged once again to his doom. His eyes fell on Nebula, half-buried under the wreckage.
"Kill me!" Loki screamed but Nebula could not even raise her one remaining hand to answer his plea, although she would have. She would have, and she hoped Loki read it in her face that she would have.
Something shifted behind Nebula – a stack of fallen concrete lifted off the ground. "Let – him – go," Sif panted, emerging from her prison of debris. She held one arm to her chest. With her other she grasped her sword.
Thanos laughed again.
"Leave her to me," he said to Vision as it drifted toward Sif, yellow Gem blaring in its forehead. The Gem mellowed immediately and Vision came to a stop. "Go with Ebony. Leave the little god mostly undamaged. We have yet to tempt his brother with him."
"No!" Sif shrieked and dashed forward. Thanos opened his palm and a rush of purple light left his fingers. It bolted toward Sif, but she raised her sword to meet it and it was deflected with a flash of blinding red light as the Reality Gem seized her weapon as a shield. The shock waves of the clash thudded through the room, tossing Sif once again off her feet. She was too weak, Nebula knew – too weak to withstand the Stone's unforgiving power.
Her sword skittered out of her reach on the floor. In three large, unconcerned strides Thanos was standing over her.
The engines of Maw's ship flared to life as the ramp closed. He, Loki, and Vision had disappeared within. It kicked off the ground, flinging rock and rubble into the air as it took off through the open roof.
Nebula could not move. Her legs were pinned beneath the rubble. She could not move. Even if she was to cut off her legs she would be useless, for then she would bleed to death before she managed to reach a weapon and attack Thanos. She shouted in frustration, upper body pointlessly writhing on the floor, single hand grappling for something to hurl at the back of Thanos' head.
Thanos ignored Nebula entire; she was as much use to him as any other inanimate piece of rubble now. He bent at the waist. His fist, sheathed in the bronze Gauntlet, closed around Sif's neck. He pulled her up by her throat. Her feet dangled in the air off the ground as her face flushed, gagging for want of oxygen. She weakly wrestled against Thanos' fingers around her neck, but her hands slid pointlessly off the Gauntlet.
"No! You bastard, do not touch her!" Nebula yelled, voice scraping so harshly up her throat she thought she would draw blood, and were these tears? Were they tears that pooled in her eyes and spilled across her metal cheeks? She had not realized she was still capable of crying.
A spidery net of red spilled from Sif's body, unspooling from her eyes, nose, and mouth, engulfing Thanos' fist in flame. Thanos sucked her dry. The last tendril of the Aether tugged away from Sif's body and she spasmed as if a blade had been withdrawn from her chest. The red energy pooled and solidified into a hard oval, fitting neatly in an empty socket on the knuckle of the Gauntlet, side-by-side with the Power Stone.
Sif kicked for a moment longer before she went limp in Thanos' grasp. He released her and she spilled onto the floor at his feet. Thanos clenched the Gauntlet into a fist. He grinned at the new ruby Stone that glowed along with the purple. When he spoke, he spoke so quietly Nebula could not tell whether or not he was speaking to her or just to the air, gloating in triumph to none but himself: "Fun isn't really something one considers when balancing the universe. But this does put a smile on my face."
An unexpected crack split the air and Thanos looked up in surprise.
The smell of ozone preceded a crackling flash of lightning. Fragments of scaffolding, plaster, and twisted metal were hurled out of the way of the door at the other end of the room. The lightning cleared; a caped figure emerged from the wafting smoke, blond hair glinting gold in the shaft of sunset-light spilling through the open roof.
Thanos roared in anger and pointed the Gauntlet at the disturbance and a blast of purple, bled through with veins of scarlet, leapt from his open palm. The resulting explosion shuddered through the building and what was left of the roof caved inward.
A falling chunk of metal clipped Nebula on the side of the head, and then all she could see was darkness.
OOO
Thor feebly stood, pushing a heavy beam off his chest. He clung to the wall, head spinning and legs wobbling beneath him. The second blast had tossed him like a ragdoll back into the hallway as the building collapsed around him. The cut on his cheek had stopped bleeding, crusting the side of his face with dried blood.
The air was still now, and full of dust and ash. Thor did not know for how long he had been knocked senseless. He stumbled through the wreckage. It was useless now to seek the Power Stone, he knew. He had seen the figure who wielded it, had seen the terrible power it contained. It was too late. He had failed.
He stepped through the doorway, shoving aside rubble that impeded him. The figure who had held the Stone – Thor could only conclude it had been Thanos; he had seen the glint of bronze Gauntlet – appeared to have fled. Thor doubted there would be any survivors. He could see more bodies of guards here, covered in debris and dust.
"What the hell happened?"
Thor turned to see Rocket scampering toward him, followed closely by a loping Groot. They must have landed their ship somewhere outside. The battle above the city no longer seemed to be raging. The sky was colored dusky gold as night approached.
Undoubtedly, they would soon be joined by the rest of the Guardians and, sure enough, Thor heard the whir of the Milano's engines as it approached from the other side of the ruins.
"Thanos has secured the Power Stone," said Thor.
"Yeah, no kidding," said Rocket. "Me and Groot saw the explosion from our ship."
The Milano landed unevenly on the wreckage across the room. The ramp lowered and Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis disembarked.
Thor stepped down from the pile of wreckage, scanning only half-heartedly for any sign of movement that would indicate life within the graveyard.
"Nebula!" Gamora's voice was strangled and she darted suddenly over to a pile of rubble. Star-Lord jogged after her. There was a body barely visible beneath the fallen ceiling. Thor saw a metallic blue head and part of an arm. Star-Lord and Gamora struggled to dislodge the crumbled ruins from off the figure's crushed body. Drax lumbered forward to help, and the three of them managed to remove the wreckage well enough for Gamora to slip beneath it and pull out the body, cradling the figure to her chest.
"Nebula!" Gamora said urgently, shaking the figure's lifeless shoulders. Thor could see she was missing an arm, socket in her shoulder a disconcerting mix of severed wires and clotted blood. "Don't you dare, dammit! Don't you dare do this to me, sister!"
Sister. The realization caused a pang to ripple through Thor's stomach and he looked away. His eyes fell on the dark hair of a body, sprawled across the floor in the center of the room. There was less wreckage here, and the body was untouched by rubble.
For a moment Thor stared uncomprehendingly at the body, because surely it was not – it did not make sense that – she could not possibly – no.
Thor's heartbeat thudded heavily in his ears. He stumbled forward and was on his knees in a second, clutching at the body's shoulders, eyes glued to the face of – it could not be – but it was – it was – and a cry rose to choke Thor in his throat.
"Sif," he breathed. "Sif. Oh Sif, what misfortune could possibly have led you here today?"
He pulled her body onto his knees, stroking her hair, one hand clasped to the side of her head.
"Do not. Do not leave me here –" Thor's eyes burned. He was angry at his grief, angry that he should find her, angry that he should be too late. "Sif." He shut his eyes.
She was dead. She had to be dead. Thor dared not hold out hope when her body had not been counted among those perished in Asgard, but now – now, she must be dead, for this room was full of death. No hope could survive among these ruins.
"Do not…tell me you are crying for me…you oaf."
Thor's eyes snapped back open, meeting Sif's bleary gaze on his lap. She smiled weakly. Her teeth were stained pink with bloody saliva.
"Sif," he said, heart aching with too many emotions to discern one from the other. "Do not speak," he said hastily. "Rest, Sif. Rest. I will take care of you. Dear Sif."
"I will not stand… for your mawkishness," Sif murmured, eyes drifting closed, but she forced them back open. For a moment she peered up at Thor in confusion, as if she could not believe he was there. "Thor?"
"I am here," said Thor, brushing her cheek with his thumb. "I am here."
It was too like Svartalfheim, when Loki had perished in Thor's arms, and Thor felt sick at the comparison.
"Thor…Loki was – Loki –"
"What do you know of my brother?" said Thor, dismay rending his heart. He did not know if he could stand any more surprises today. Fandral. Hogun. Volstagg. Sif. It was too much.
"He was…taken. Thor, I am sorry."
"Do not be sorry. Dear Sif, you have done so well. So well."
Sif did not seem to hear him any longer. Her eyes grew distant. "They took him and – and I could not stop them."
She coughed, body jerking in Thor's arms, face twisting in pain. Blood dribbled from her lips. Thor hushed her, wiping her face clean with the back of his hand.
"I am sorry. Thanos has…retrieved the Reality Gem."
"It is not your fault, Sif," said Thor fiercely. His throat was raw. He could barely speak. He did not understand and he needed help.
Thor looked up. The rest of the Guardians had gathered. Gamora was supporting the tattered figure of Nebula at her side. Nebula's eyes were unfocused as she stared down at Sif on the ground.
Help – but Thor did not know what to ask for.
"He goes…" Sif's eyes once again focused on Thor's face, grasping hold of it as though she was afraid he would leave her. "Thor," she said urgently. "He goes to Midgard…the Reality Gem…it showed me –"
"Rest now, Sif," said Thor. He eased her to the ground. One hand still clung to her head, the other entwined with the fingers of her hand. She did not have strength enough to squeeze his hand even as he pumped hers reassuringly. "We will take care of you."
Mantis joined him at the ground, face troubled. She lay her palm flat against the top of Sif's head. Thor almost wished she would not. He wanted a private moment just with he and Sif, but he knew Mantis was just trying to help, trying to soothe Sif into sleep, perhaps, so he didn't say anything.
"I go to Valhalla, Thor…to join our people. I only hope –" Sif struggled for a moment to find the words, brow furrowed. "I only hope I may be…counted worthy enough…"
"Dear Sif of Asgard," Thor whispered, bowing close so she could still hear him even as she faded. "It is Valhalla that is unworthy of you."
Sif's lips upturned weakly in a smile. "My…King," she breathed. Her eyelids fluttered closed and head rolled away from Thor's palm. How peaceful she looked, even with smudges of dirt and blood on her face. How like Sif, beautiful and fierce Sif. Thor dipped his head over her still body.
"You knew her?" It was Drax. His voice was unexpectedly soft.
"Yes," said Thor. He gently crossed Sif's arms over her chest in the resting position of a warrior. She should have her sword. It was not right for her to be without it, even in death. Especially in death.
"She loved you," said Mantis, voice choked with tears.
Thor smoothed Sif's disarrayed hair across her brow and pressed a kiss to her forehead, still warm from the heat of worthy battle. "She was an old friend. An old and dearly loved friend."
Yeah, so just imagine Loki screaming "Kill me!" in the same voice he used to scream "Tell me!" at Odin in the first Thor film and…. My baby, why do I torment you so?
Also, Vision was super interesting to write in this. I wanted to show him in action as Thanos' pawn, and originally I was going to let him be a silent threat, but then I thought: how much creepier would it be if he's the same, polite Vision we all know and love, just trying to kill the good guys?
And y'all thought the action was done? Think again. Tony and Co. (as I call them in my notes) are still headed your way.