"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.
Beautiful people do not just happen." — Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
To Aphrodite's utter shock and extreme delight a familiar hammer flew across the field and into Steve's waiting hand before he grit his teeth in pure determination, "Assemble. . ."
Behind him Thor gave a loud battle cry as did the Black Panther and the Avengers' army began to charge. Moments later the two sides collided violently, and the fight if their lives began. Bullets, beams, punches, kicks, knives, spears, all flying and smashing against one another. The air was filled with yells, grunts and the clanging of metal against metal.
Thor and Steve found themselves fighting off a large group of outriders and in the momentary lull Steve ended up holding Stormbreaker. Aphrodite was there too as she blasted one of the Chitauri out of the air.
"No no, give me that…" Thor demanded as he held out his hand, tossing his brother Mjolnir. "You have the little one," he said catching his axe before taking off again.
For a split second Steve and his wife were alone amidst the chaos and he pulled her into a quick kiss.
"I know." She told him nodding her hands pressed against the side of his face and he could practically feel the power flowing from her into him.
"Later." He agreed nodding with her before he released her and she took off into the battle one way and he went the other.
Seconds later Aphrodite was side by side with her protégé, Wanda was holding her own and then some but Aphrodite couldn't resist sticking close to the young woman she'd come to see like a daughter. Wanda suddenly placed a hand on Aphrodite's stomach pushing her back, whilst with her other hand she lifted a piece of debris and took out a few of Thanos' soldier's at a time, then she paused spreading her fingers wider over Aphrodite's stomach.
"Druga mati," she mumbled, "You are pregnant."
"I know."
"Two." Wanda may have whispered it but the words reached Aphrodite's ears as if she would have screamed them at her.
"What?" Aphrodite questioned in shock but before either woman could comment on it more, Aphrodite was leaning across Wanda blocking a blot of blue energy from hitting either of them, they turned to see the Proxima Midnight was the one who emitted it and her husband Corvius Glaive was standing next to her, his own weapon held aloft to block the blast of energy that Wanda returned.
It continued like that for a long moment both pairs trading blasts of energy as well as blocking it, until Wanda made Corvius' body seize up by wrapping him tight in her red energy before tossing him aside, but not killing him. Proxima began to retaliate tenfold at seeing her husband dispatched of so quickly. She growled but after her next blast was deflected the weapon was torn from her hands and tossed aside where it shattered upon hitting a large boulder, "Nice one love!" Aphrodite praised before returning her attention to the blue alien who tried to charge forward with nothing but her fists and anger in her eyes but Aphrodite met her in the middle, placing a hand on her head between her horns, the blue alien froze, her body seizing up and eyes rolling back as she felt the raw power flow through her and she exploded from the inside out her body falling apart like piles of rock.
"Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?" Clint's slightly panicked, slightly annoyed voice suddenly came though the comms. In the midst of the field Clint, who was sprinting through the battle, the gauntlet clutched to his chest.
"Get those stones as far away as possible!" Steve instructed, punching another creature in the head.
"No!" Banner yelled back "We need to get them back where they came from."
"No way to get them back" Tony sighed "Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel"
"Hold on…" Lang spoke, and suddenly the hundred foot tall man shrunk out of the air"That wasn't our only time machine!"
The sound of Scott's van horn, rang out across the battle ground and Steve immediately ran up to higher ground, trying to spot the van, following the noise.
"Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?" Steve asked, looking up to the flyers they had on their side.
"Yes!" Brunnhilde answered having flowed high above the battle on Pegasus, then she shook her head before adding, "But you're not going to like where it's parked!"
Tony flew up into the air shooting another Chitauri warrior off its chariot before he glanced down at Lang. "Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?"
"Maybe ten minutes".
"Get it started." Steve instructed, "We'll get the stones to you."
"We're on it, Cap." A completely different voice answered but now wasn't the time for proper introductions.
"Wanda," Aphrodite said grabbing her little witch by the arm, "Find him," she instructed and Wanda didn't need the name to know exactly who her Druga Mati was talking about, "Give him hell." She said before pressing their foreheads together briefly, then Wanda nodded before taking off to assist the Black Panther who had just gotten the gauntlet and was trying to get it to the van.
"Rain fire!" Thanos groaned desperately, trying to breath against the Scarlet Witch's power encasing him.
"But sire, our troops." Corvius Glaive pointed out, having already lose his wife to this battle and knowing that the missiles would show no mercy to either side.
"Just do it!" Thanos demanded
Moments later the missiles began to hit the ground and there was no regard for where they landed, Thanos' only concern was that it had succeeded in getting the red witch to release him, everyone tried to dodge as best they could.
Aphrodite took on another of Thanos' children, releasing the Black Panther from the vice of rocks and debris that Ebony Maw had him trapped in, bringing the telekinetic's attention to her.
Strange and the rest of the sorcerers held up their arms conjuring shields to attempt to keep the troops on the ground as sheltered as possible and for a short while it worked.
Until a large explosion caught Pepper's attention and she glanced over to the bank of the river. One of the missiles from the ship had blasted part of it away and the water was now rushing up and over the edge and threatening to flood the canyon the battle was taking place in.
"Uh, is anyone else seeing this?" Pepper called nervously, and Strange immediately jumped to it and conjured up his power, capturing the water in a cyclone and holding it up and away from the battle, even as it continued to grow.
"I got this…" Peter's panicked voice came through the comms, "I got this," he repeated as if trying to reassure himself this time, then there was a small scuffle "Ok, I don't got this. Help! Somebody! Help!"
"Hey Queens," Steve said immediately perking up, "Heads up!" He took a couple steps forward flung Mjolnir through the air. Peter shot his web at it, and it catapulted him through the air until it was cut by a missile, luckily Pepper flew by and caught the kid before he could fall to the ground, as he held tight to the gauntlet.
"Hang on, I got you Kid!" she said, as they flew through the air before she tossed him to Brunnhilde as she flew past. But her horse was hit by the fire from Thanos' ship and Peter was blasted to the ground.
"Surrender," Ebony Maw said in his ever calm voice, as he had his hand wrapped around Aphrodite's throat, "And your family might still see mercy."
Aphrodite's eyes flashed dangerously and Maw immediately sensed that he had made a mistake as her power swirled around them both, and circled the battlefield spreading to cover the Avengers from the missiles still raining down. Maw's eyes widened slightly and he went to pull away but she grabbed his arm and he cried out when he felt the power flow through him, before taking off into the sky with him in her grasp, rather than dispose of him like she did Proxima. "Never threaten my family." Aphrodite warned lowly before the seeking mislead missiles from Thanos' targeted their figure high up in the air and Aphrodite turned so that Maw was hit by the missiles and was killed almost instantly.
Since the missiles were still targeting her signature, she flew in the direction of the leviathans that were firing down on their side, and flew past them slow enough for the missiles to detect her, but fast enough that she didn't get hit.
"Rogers?" Tony's perturbed voice called carefully as he paused in his fighting to watch her, "What are you doing?"
"Levelling the field." Aphrodite answered easily as the leviathan exploded from the rain of missiles the oddly enough the cannons on the ship lifted upward and they began to fire into the sky.
"What the hell is this?" Sam asked.
"FRIDAY, what are they firing at?" Tony asked, his voice somehow relieved that the missiles were no longer firing at the woman that was like his sister, yet worried about the new threat approaching.
"Something just entered the upper atmosphere," FRIDAY answered.
Then a huge, bright ball of pulsating energy came surging down straight through the ship, and then back up through it again.
"Danvers," Steve called out as he watched Thanos' Sanctuary fall into the river, a smile growing on his face, even though he knew this was far from over. But Thanos was looking worried now, he could see from the Titan's body language. "We could use an assist here."
"Follow me," Aphrodite instructed the Kree woman, and she did without hesitation, Aphrodite led them to the center of the battlefield where Spider-Man was crouched in a crater, the gauntlet tight within his arms.
"Hi. I-I'm Peter Parker," he said, looking up at them in awe, his nose blooded as his voice trembled.
Carol smirked, almost flirtatiously. "Hey Peter Parker. Got something for me?"
Peter pushed himself up and handed her the gauntlet, before he looked at the Army that were crawling towards them. "I don't know how you're gonna get it through all that" he said quietly.
Wanda then landed next to Aphrodite and glanced around, her red power surrounding her. "Don't worry." the Sokovian woman said as Valkyrie landed on her Pegasus, Gamora and Nebula then made themselves known along with the bug woman Mantis.
"She's got help" Okoye said stepping up with a twirl of her spear and Shuri by her side, another woman appeared as if from thin air, similar to the way that Scott did when he unshrunk from ant size. After than realization Aphrodite was able to place her as Hope, his girlfriend. Pepper landed in her Iron Woman suit rounding them out.
Carol looked at Aphrodite and they shared a nod. Aphrodite moved to the front, "Get the gauntlet to the brown van." She tossed over her shoulder.
Aphrodite led the charge of lady heroes head on into what remained of Thanos' forces. She used her powers to send out a wave of energy that shocked the troop for a moment, long enough for Carol to fly past the first wave. Wanda followed Aphrodite's lead and froze the two leviathans baring down on them, and Brunnhilde flew high taking her dragon fang to one then the other. Okoye took her spear to Corvius Glaive's midsection before easily discarding home over her shoulder. Gamora and Nebula worked together to take down the Black Dwarf and with that the last of Thanos' loyal children were killed.
The Titan himself clutching his broken sword in his hand dashed towards Carol with the intention to stop her, but found himself thrown back with the force of the beams of energy being fired from Pepper, Aphrodite, Hope and Shuri.
But the Titan took the abuse and underneath the beams he still turned and launched his broken sword into the brown van. The following explosion levelling the nearest parts of the battlefield and those in the vicinity.
Steve felt the explosion and looked up at the huge flash of light, seeing Danvers being catapulted back through the air, her grip on the gauntlet lost and it fell to the ground.
Steve felt the explosion rock him and looked up at the same time Thanos paused, looking at the unguarded Gauntlet, at the same time as Tony sat up and did the same. As Steve sprinted towards the pair of them Tony tackled Thanos from behind only to be tossed aside. Thor landed then swinging his axe at the Titan once, twice effect l each time aiming for his head, even as Thanos dodged, before reaching for the discarded gauntlet only for the Titan to pull him back. Thor's hammer flew into his hand and he used both weapons to hold Thanos at bay.
Steve threw himself on Thanos' back grabbing at the axe, pulling with all his might in an attempt to slice it straight through Thanos' neck. But the titan was too strong, and angry. He growled with a strong thrust of his head he smashed his into Thor's stunning him enough for him to release his grip on the axe and throwing him away and then he reached up and pulled Steve off him, flinging him through the air like a rag doll. Even as he landed hard on the ground Thanos followed him and drove his fist down into his head knocking him out cold.
When she saw her husband and brother go down, Aphrodite fired balls of energy at Thanos forcing him back and away from the gauntlet. But by now the Titan was incensed, her fingers barely grazed the gauntlet before a harsh kick to her side sent her flipping back and through the air. Her powers instinctively blocked the kick but not the momentum behind the hit as she landed near her husband.
Steve who was just coming too, immediately abandoned thoughts of Thanos and crawled over to his wife. He registered Carol fighting Thanos as he gently cupped her face and his other hand rested on her stomach. Her eyes slowly blinked open and landed on him.
Unbeknownst to them behind them Tony was having a silent conversation with Strange before turning his attention back to Thanos.
"I am," Thanos repeated as his hand, which house the gauntlet rose up from his side, "Inevitable," he finished then snapped his fingers, those that knew what it meant immediately froze waiting for the blinding beam of light to follow, then for them all to disappear. Steve tightened his grip on his wife and could only pray that they would be with their daughter wherever they ended up next.
Yet the flash never came, instead was the dull clink of metal. Thanos glanced down at his gauntlet as he realized what had just happened, the stones were missing from his gauntlet.
Across the field, Tony Stark rose up onto his knees and lifted his hands, revealing the infinity stones crawling up his arm to surround his hand in their designated places. Once they were in place the power surge from them flowed through his forearm and bicep before slowing slinking through his suit, within seconds he could feel it sinking into his veins as well. He groaned at the initial pain but quickly grit his teeth forcing himself to focus on the task at hand and what he needed to do. He forced himself to pull his head back up and locked eyes with the Titan that haunted his nightmare for far too long, he was going to enjoy this moment while he could as he made sure that Thanos knew exactly who it was that had bested him.
"And I…" He raised his fingers, "Am…" concentrating on what he wanted to happen, "Iron Man." Then he snapped his fingers.
The power surge made Tony collapse forward, his skin was burning and his throat felt like it was being closed off.
Within seconds the soldiers and aliens that made up Thanos' army began to fade away, disappearing in clouds of dust exactly like Thanos himself had done to trillions five years ago. Whoever was responsible for the snap made sure that the titan was one of the last to disappear, which he did, after watching his armies fade into nothing, the titan sat heavily on a large piece of debris and bowed his head accepting his defeat before letting the dust take him away.
Tony pushed himself to his feet, hand clutched to the arc reactor in his chest as he tried to speak into his Comms, but the words wouldn't come, he could barely focus enough to put one foot in front of the other, he couldn't turn around to see what he had done, but he knew it was finished. He'd done his part and protected his entire family, now, he just needed to rest for a while, staggering a few feet, he stumbled to a large upturned piece of concrete laced with rebar before he collapsed against it, hard.
Steve pulled himself to his feet, all too aware of the bright light and the vibrating of the ground underneath him and new instantly that someone had snapped. He hoped desperately that it wasn't Thanos, and then as he saw one of the animals bearing down on him he braced himself, lifting his broken shield to protect from the blow, but it never came. Instead the alien disappeared in a cloud of familiar grey dust. He turned helping his wife to her feet.
"You okay?" he asked while placing his hand on her stomach.
"I'm fine," she nodded resting her hand on his arm, "We're fine." She repeated and he sighed, before turning his attention back to the dwindling numbers of Thanos' army. He looked around for the source of the person responsible for the snap, knowing that it had to be someone on their side for the result to be this. He fully expected to see Thor, or Bruce, perhaps even Carol dropping the gauntlet from their arm.
"Steve," his wife said tugging his arm, he turned to her and she further directed his attention to where Rhodes' suit was barely visible kneeling next to a slab of concrete. His heart sank, that could only mean one thing. One person was responsible for the snap.
Aphrodite pulled him behind her, his feet felt heavy. They arrived where Tony was leaning heavily against the concrete. Rhodes was sharing a deep look with his best friend before he nodded then stood turning around as he was wracked with sobs but refused to let that be the last view his best friend saw of him, or vice versa. Slowly the others on the field approached the scene and realization began to sink in.
"Mr. Stark?" Peter Parker landed behind Rhodey as the pilot backed away. "Hey Mr Stark, can you hear me…it's Peter…" Tony's face turned to the young man, a flash of recognition on his face as he tried to smile. "We won…Mr Stark" Peter said, his breathing deep. "We won, you did it Sir, we did it…I'm sorry…don't…."
He began to cry as Tony's head lolled to the side and then Aphrodite stepped forward gently pulling Peter up and away as Pepper crouched next to her husband touching his shoulder, placing her other hand over the arc reactor on his chest. Aphrodite pulled Peter in close so he wouldn't have so see the last moments of his mentor, the kid in turn wrapped his arms tight around her as he cried into her neck, she could only run her fingers soothingly over the back of his head as Pepper spoke to her husband.
"Hey…" she said softly.
"Pep…" he managed to whisper as his hand fell on top of hers.
"Friday?" Pepper spoke with a thick swallow.
"Life functions are critical…" the AI confirmed softly.
"Tony," Pepper called gently, "Look at me," she added when Tony's head rolled, he did meet his wife's eyes and smiled softly. Pepper gently smiled back, and she tried her hardest to keep it together as she gently ran her hand up his arm "We're gonna be ok," she said, keeping her voice soft.
His head lolled back once more and Pepper spoke gently, this time her voice cracked. "You can rest now."
Her hand brushed his hair back from his temple as he lay so still, his eyes slowly rolled over the crowd that gathered, his team, his friends and family. They landed on where Peter was wrapped up in Aphrodite's arms sobbing into her neck, she was muttering something into his ear while rubbing the back of his head. Steve was right next to them, looking torn between comforting his wife and Peter but he was frozen, tears clouding his eyes. Steve locked eyes with Tony who gave him the faintest of smiles. Steve nodded to him, his chest heaving with sorrow before his unfocused eyes turned back to Pepper and his smile twitched slightly before fading away as his head lolled to the side. His hand slipped from the top of Pepper's, then the arc reactor glowed brightly for a second before dimming then going out completely.
He was gone.
Pepper let out a soft sob before leaning up to kiss his face as a silence fell around them, not one single sound coming from the battle field. Pepper dropped her head to Tony's shoulder and then she too finally began to cry.
Aphrodite looked up at the sound of Pepper crying and wanted to comfort her friend, but the way Peter was holding onto her told her she wasn't moving away from him any time soon. Seconds later she noticed Clint in the near distance dropping to a knee covering his face with his hand. Carol took notice of this as well and took a knee next, Scott was beside her and followed suit. Then it was T'Challa, Shuri, Bucky, Okoye, and Wanda. Then Hope and Valkyrie, the Guardians of the Galaxy and then Dr. Strange. Thor braced himself on his axe before taking a knee as well, beside her Steve took a shaky breath before nearly falling to his knees. Aphrodite slowly followed them down keeping a hold of Peter.
Similar to that day in Wakanda the sky was darkening with those that died as a result of the snap. But unlike in Wakanda Aphrodite decided that such gloom was not going to be tolerate after Tony's monumental sacrifice, and slowly rolled her eyes upwards and used her powers to clear the skies of the grey, Thor followed her lead and dispersed of the thunder that was following.
The battlefield brightened up as the rest of the soldiers and warriors fell to their knees out of respect for their fallen.
The battle was once, Thanos was gone, this time at the cost on Tony Stark's live. This time there were no do overs.
Ivana Bocanegra: Lol, thank you so much babes. That was so fun to write, I feel like even though Clint and Aphrodite were pretty close in the beginning seeing as he was one of the first people she met, I never write them interacting much so I wanted to make up for a lot of it with that moment. Hope you enjoyed the battle luv.
10868letsgo: Assemble!
BlueBloodsSVUOrder: Ikr!
Love. Fiction. 2019: Sadly all good things must.
kor. op: I still get emotional writing these scenes too.
Daninuyasha: Welcome to our weird little family love. You have no idea how happy this review made me feel. I'm so happy that you feel like Aphrodite actually belongs in the MCU instead of just being there (thanks for the compliments on the love scenes too). I got quite a number of complaints on how I wrote Aphrodite into the Winter Soldier storyline so I'm soooo happy you understand why I did what I did. This review legit made my day.
GelMarie: Sorry for the long wait, and I am staying safe. Hope you all are too!
I was heavily inspired in this battle scene by the final battle in X-Men Dark Phoenix, but it was difficult to write considering how similar Jean Grey killing the aliens were to the after effects of the snaps, (AKA the dusting), but I hope you guys liked it. Just so you know, even though I didn't explicitly right out every mini battle that Aphrodite got into, the way she killed Proxima is basically how she killed all her opponents during the battle.
Legit have no real excuse for why this chapter was so late, sorry folks. But it's coming down to the real end now, there's probably only like 3 chapters left of this book. And I'm both super excited and super sad at the same time.
As always let me know what you think and what you'd like to see in the future. Leave me a review too, as you can see I'll be answering/responding to the ones can. So feel free to say or ask me anything.
Continue staying safe everyone.