It is with a heavy heart that I post this next chapter...almost didn't, but...enjoy.
***Compound***
A Wakandan ship slowly descended before landing. Once it did, two people exited the vessel. Okoye and Little Azari.
Bruce and Rhodey came out to meet the two Wakandans.
"Gentlemen." The general said to them.
"Okoye." Bruce greeted, attempting to do the Wakandan salute. "How's that?"
He had crossed his wrists together, but not close to his chest. But he made a good effort.
"Good. Very good." She commended him, doing it back to him in respect.
"How's it going, kid?" Rhodey smiles at Little Azari.
"I'm good, sir!" The prince replied. "Are Jamie and Nikki here?"
"Yeah, they're inside playing." Bruce added.
The prince looked up to his guardian with an innocent face. "May I go?"
The general smiled and nodded and the boy swiftly ran into the Compound to find his friends.
Now that they were alone, the three grownups were able to speak on a more serious level.
"Thanks for coming." Bruce sympathetically thanked her, a light shrug at his shoulders. He knew this was hard for her. It was on all of them. But she was glad to.
"Of course. Anything for my king...and for my friends."
Bruce and Rhodey nodded, understanding what she meant and how she felt.
"Who's watching Wakanda?" Rhodey asked.
"The Princess. Now that T'Challa is...the land needs their leader. She was next in line, but...she wasn't so eager to do so. She said it didn't feel right to take the mantle."
The two Avengers exchanged looks of hurt and pain at the sound of those words. It hurt to see allies beaten up like this.
They hadn't known the Wakandans yet r T'Challa very long, or very well. But they did know something. He was a good king, a good man, and a good friend. So the fact that there was a chance they could bring him back gave Okoye all the more hope.
"Well, come on," Rhodey said, "Wheels up in thirty."
30 Minutes Later
***Courtyard***
Two people walked out of the Compound and onto the lawn, towards the Benatar. Sam and Peter. They are in their suits, helmets off for both of them.
As they made it to the steps of the Benatar, they stopped. A slight feeling of uncertainty came to them, but only Sam spoke upon it.
"You sure about this, Pete?" He asked.
"Not really. But what've we got to lose?" The spider-teen replied with a shrug.
Sam was going to say "Our lives," but he knew that those were pretty much taken with the people they all lost in the Snap. So he decided to leave it at that and nodded at Peter before walking up and into the ship.
Peter stood there for a minute, eyes closed, breathing deeply. This was gonna be his second time in space, but that's not what bugged him. It was the fear of failure. Failure...they couldn't fail this mission. Otherwise-.
"Peter!" A little voice called him. Turning around, he saw Jamie, Nikki, Azari, and Torunn holding Valkyrie's hand, running up to them.
"Hey Jamie!" Peter replied, taking a knee down so he could be at eye level with them.
They got right up to him before Val let go of Torunn's hand, gave her a hug and walked onto the ship.
"Where are you going?"
Peter thought for a moment as to how he should put it to them. "We're uh...we're going...to..."
"Is it about our parents?" Nikki asked, hope in her voice and eyes.
Thinking about the details and the potentially outcome, Peter found it a little easy to tell them. "Yeah, kinda. We're gonna go bring them back."
The smiles that lit up their faces hit Peter's heart when he saw them. It was nice to see them smile. And if they were successful, then the kids would have an even bigger reason to smile.
It wasn't a lie, he just wasn't telling all that was included in the situation. But it wasn't a lie. They were planning on bringing everyone back. By way of going to another planet to retrieve some powerful space stones and use them to bring back everyone that was killed in the Snap. Probably not what the kids thought though.
"Be good for me, ok?" Peter asked, looking at the rest of them. "Look after them?"
Jamie looked to his three fellow youngsters and took Peter's words as an order/responsibility. And he would carry it out and make him proud.
"Yes sir!" He said, confidently.
The two smiled and shared a hug. Peter held Jamie tight as Tony had with him back on Titan. Now, he was in his shoes, and he would do his best to do better as Tony would have wanted.
"Alright, see ya, bud." Peter said, breaking the hug, ruffling Jamie's hair before he stood and began to walk up the steps onto the ship.
The four kids stood there, with Pepper, Betty, Erik and Darcy, and watched as the Benatar's engines came on and the ship lifted up off the ground. They waved to it as it ascended higher and higher until it was out of sight, only a cloudy smoke trial left as it made it's into space.
The grownups encouraged the kids to go inside, but they wanted to stay out a bit longer. So they allowed it and let them stay.
—
***Space***
Just above the Earth, The Benatar floated smoothly. Inside, a serious question had to be asked.
"Okay," Rocket began, "Who here hasn't been to space?
Behind him and Nebula sat Peter, Sam, Rhodey, Korg, Miek, Bruce, Okoye, and Valkyrie.
"Why?" Rhodey wondered out loud.
Rocket didn't exactly reply. He just stated, "You better not throw up on my ship."
"Approaching jump!" Nebula stared as she began to count down, "In 3... 2... 1!"
Within the next second, the ship shot forward! Going as fast as...well, at what Peter determined to be warp speed. forward into a hexagonal shaped portal, and before going through another, having it arrive at their destination. The ship slowed down and began to ship hover in orbit of the planet.
—
Sam hovered outside of the ship, helmet on and engulfed in blue light from his powers.
"I'll head down for recon." He said before turning and flying down to the Planet below.
—
Back inside the Benatar, Peter sat in his chair thinking about Jamie and the kids back on Earth. And about what he'd have to tell them if...if...
A hand came to his shoulder. It was Valkyrie. She'd seen Peter deep in thought and decided to talk to him since the two had never really previously met. "You ok?" She asked him.
"I don't know," he simply replied with a shrug. Completely unsure of the future events of the next hour.
The Asgardian could see that the young hero was troubled, and rightly so. She knew exactly how he felt. They all did. But at least now, they had a chance.
"This is gonna work, Peter." She reassured him, patting his shoulder.
A long sigh was exhaled from Peter's nostrils as he thought about it. All he could do was hope. "I sure hope so...Cause I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."
Val nodded at that, knowing the situation would be the same for her should it go that way. But whatever the situation, they were going to go through it together. Whatever the situation.
Not too long after that, Sam came back into view as he approached the Benatar.
"I got nothing." He said, "No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."
Nebula spoke up as she heard those words. "That's enough."
This was it...this was the moment."
—
***The Garden***
The planet was beautiful. Peaceful. It had mountains, waterfalls, fields, trees. It was a lush tropical fauna. And a certain part of the area had a field. Within that field, a scarecrow-like figure stood stiffly. It was clad in the armour of The Mad Titan.
A purple skinned being walked past the scarecrow slowly, limping as it did. It was him, it was Thanos.
On his hand and forearm, a burnt, battered Infinity Gauntlet. He used it to picked a piece of his crop from its stalk and tossed it into a sack before picking it up and continuing on. He guided himself back to his sanctuary. As he did, he winced with every step. His whole left side, burnt, blistered. Not exactly the strong tyrant he was three days ago.
Finally reaching his homestead, which was a quaint little shack, he slowly raised himself onto each of the three steps it took to get onto the porch and finally skidded his way in.
Inside, there was a little area where he had a somewhat of a small kitchen. There was also a small fire with a pot of a soup-like substance boiling in it.
Suddenly, a big beam of blue energy crashed through the roof and hits Thanos. He holds up his Gauntlet clad arm to try and protect himself. But as soon as he does it, a figure of blue flies through the roof, knocking Thanos down. It was Sam! He swiftly jumped up, power punched the purple tyrant and took his neck into a headlock. A rumbling came as the Hulkbuster armor burst up from the ground, and grabs Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet arm. Valkyrie then flew in, Stormbreaker in hand and sliced off the Infinity Gauntlet. From above, Rhodey in his War Machine armor dropped in and grabbed the Titan's green arm while Rocket covered them, aiming straight at Thanos.
Spider-Man walked up the steps and entered before his helmet came down, revealing a determined look on the young hero's face. Okoye, Korg and Miek walked in right behind him, staring murderously at Thanos. Rocket kneels down at the sliced off Infinity Gauntlet, and turned it over. But when he did, he and everyone else got the second biggest shock of their lives. In the compartments where the Stones once laid, there was nothing!
The "raccoon" stood and with a disbelieving face, looked at the other. "Oh no."
"Where are they?" Peter asked, staring madly at the immobilized Mad Titan.
Sam tightened the grip of his arm around Thanos' neck to make him comply. "Answer the question!" He growled. "While you still can!"
Finally, he spoke. "The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose...beyond temptation."
"You murdered trillions!" Bruce blurted, the Hulkbuster pushing him angrily to the ground behind him.
Thanos began to slowly pick himself back up, taking his time as he only had made me hand now. "You should be grateful." He stated before being punched by the HulkBuster.
"Where are the Stones?!" Okoye asked venomously.
"Gone. Reduced to atoms."
"You used them two days ago!" Bruce retorted.
"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me...But the work is done, and it always will be." He sat himself up a little straighter. "I am... inevitable."
There was a silence. All of them were stunned at this. This couldn't be happening!
"But, but," Korg tried to speak as he and Miek exchanged looks of confusion and disbelief. "..but that would mean-"
"No! No, we...we have to tear this place apart, he-he-he has to be lying." Rhodey said, slightly beginning to hyperventilate.
Nebula, however, knew otherwise. "My father is many things. A liar is not one of them."
"Ah, thank you, daughter." Nebula stiffened at hearing that. It didn't have the good feeling she thought it would years ago. Now it just made her feel uncomfortable to hear. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
That's all he could say before a rage-filled Valkyrie raised Stormbreaker, and brought it down, decapitating the Mad Titan. His limp body fell to the floor. Nebula reaches up to her face and felt a few drops of blood that had landed on her cheek.
Everyone in the room had fell silent at the sight. They definitely didn't expect that. They were beyond shocked.
"What...what did you do?" Rocket asked, his breathe not fully there.
Valkyrie's angered face slowly began to unfurl, deep breaths taken as she calmed, fully aware of what she had just done.
"I went for the head." She said, recalling what Rhodey, Bruce and Rocket had said the late Thanos had told Thor on the day of the Snap.
She dropped the Axe and walked out of the shack, leaving everyone there speechless as to what had just happened...and what this meant.
Ok...got that part done. I hope y'all enjoyed that revised version of that scene. It was a little hard with the new characters and finding where to place them, but it all worked out in the end.
Um, for those of you who haven't heard or didn't see my announcement, we lost a good man. The Marvel fan base lost a King. Chadwick Boseman, our Black Panther.
The news shook me so hard that uh...I wasn't sure if I should continue writing this story...it hit me that hard...I honestly don't know if I can...I could try, but...I don't know. I leave it up to y'all if you want to see this story continued and completed...and whatever it is, I guess we'll see what happens...
Later, Marvel Fans.