Hello! I know it's been kinda rough waiting on updates here lately, but in this bitter-sweet time of quarantines and viruses going around, I've finally had a little me time and have been able to sit down and get some writing done. This chapter in particular is a combination of about 4-5 days of work and I really hope that it turned out okay. I just really wanted to get some content out because I honestly can't remember the last time I uploaded anything for you guys and I'm sorry for that. :( If this being out of work thing lasts much longer, I actually may finish this story and go on to another one and this time I promise I'll try better to follow through with consistent updates. Hope you enjoy this near-conclusion and please leave a review or a message for me on what you think!
A long moment passed between us in silence in which I tried to dismiss Wong's bleeding body on the ground just a few yards away from me. Thanos seemed to be considering my possible reactions as well because he made no immediate movement to confront me. He chose to wait patiently, as he'd done in the kitchen before.
"…Was that really necessary?" I finally muttered through gritted teeth, my hands both clenched into fists, the one concealing the Sling Ring bulging slightly larger than the other by my side. Thanos' smirk tilted further in one direction in his grim amusement and when he opened his mouth to respond I grew suddenly even angrier. "That's literally the third person I've had impaled right in front of me today. Can't you think of any other way if you really feel like you have to kill someone? That's a pretty gory and dramatic choice of murder…"
"I try to make it a point to throw a bit of spontaneity into the unfortunate deaths of the people who choose to stand in my way. You must have caught me in the second cycle of my alternating methods." Thanos' sarcastic monotone replied. I glared up at him, shifting the Sling Ring in my palm into a better position for a quick use when I got the opportunity.
"Well I think that's ridiculous." I shot at him, keeping my gaze trained on the towering alien villain.
"I didn't ask for your opinion." Thanos scoffed lightly. He shifted his stance and I immediately stepped back, conjuring up my mandala shield with the hand not concealing Wong's Sling Ring.
"Don't move." I ordered him seriously. Thanos actually looked bored with my threat and he chuckled soundlessly to himself as he glanced down at the huge Gauntlet covering his left hand.
"You know, Alexander… if I willed it, I could simply just swat you aside and pull the Time Stone from your dying body without even batting an eye. I won't lose any sleep because of the events that occurred today. I didn't even have to think about what I was doing as I destroyed the team of heroes that followed me here from Wakanda. It's like this Gauntlet knows exactly what I want before I even know it myself. All on its own, this powerful weapon turned them on each other and I never had a lift a finger against them." Thanos explained slowly, not looking away from the glowing Stones embedded on each of his knuckles.
"Monster!" I exclaimed as I pieced together what he meant. The few remaining Avengers that had come to aid us at the Sanctum in fending off this awful threat had all met their end fighting against each other instead. Peter…Bruce…Rocket…Captain America…everyone.
Thanos glanced up at me with disinterest, raising his left arm to conjure up his own Gauntlet-powered shield over his forearm as I reflexively morphed the concentrated power of my mandala into a discus shape and shot it towards him. The golden energy whooshed into a sparkle of dust upon reaching the overwhelming power of Thanos' Gauntlet and he turned his fist on me, shooting a small retaliating explosion of blueish energy straight back before I could block it. I was thrown backwards several feet, crying out as I rolled over my ruined shoulder for what felt like the tenth time in the past few hours.
"But I didn't want to do that with you." Thanos continued slowly and methodically. His giant boots padded along the floor as he approached me where I struggled to roll back up to my knees and then my feet. But before I could rise from my knees, his giant right palm clapped forcefully down on my good shoulder to hold me vulnerable to whatever attack or threat he had for me.
"No?" I chanced testily, turning my head up in his direction hesitantly. I still held the Sling Ring tightly in my palm, hoping more than anything that I would have the chance to use it in an effective escape from this monstrous alien's literal hold. He lifted his mouth in his ironic and knowing smirk, causing my anger to resurface into a glare of defiance up at him.
"No." He repeated gruffly, his eyes shining with some hidden meaning. "Because I've been watching you ever since I arrived at this place. You don't like this, do you?"
Confused, I just continued to stare up at him angrily in silence. He patiently waited for me to respond, keeping his hand on my shoulder in his nonchalant yet threatening way. I blinked after a moment and squeezed the Sling Ring in my palm even tighter to jolt myself back into reality with the slight pain from its pointed edges.
"What do you mean 'I don't like this'? I mean, if I'm honest, no. I don't like that you've brutally murdered the Earth's only defense team and I don't like that you're threatening me right now. I really don't like your presence at all, that's for sure…" I said, word vomiting everywhere out of my sheer anger and delirium. Thanos shook his head unblinkingly and shifted the fingers of his other hand agitatedly which resorted in a grating sound emitting from the huge Gauntlet there.
"You don't like being the one left with the responsibility of protecting the final Infinity Stone." He elaborated lowly, his smirk never wavering. Having been focused on discreetly moving the Sling Ring to my fingers without drawing Thanos' attention to my movement, I paused as I considered his observation.
"Well, yeah actually." I admitted softly, finally achieving my goal of slipping the Ring over my middle two fingers. I forced myself to keep my gaze trained on the alien villain's face to show that I was listening to him as I prepared to conjure up an illusion despite my already weakened abilities.
"I know that the job of protecting the Time Stone was supposed to fall on the Doctor whom I encountered on Titan." Thanos said simply. I raised my eyebrows at his scarily accurate knowledge.
"You're right. That's what he wanted you to think." I said nonchalantly. His smirk didn't waver at my disinterest but he finally removed his hand from my shoulder when he found that I was appearing to listen to him.
"There was a connection between the two of you, wasn't there? He was able to communicate with you once he placed the Stone in your care." Thanos speculated again, standing back up to his full height, a considering look in his proud face.
"There was." I replied simply, trying my best attempt at a poker face. He stared down at me patiently, his dark, beady eyes never leaving my face. "But it was crappy connection really. He had no intention of helping me figure out what I needed to do. That's why you so easily found me and the Stone when I'm sure Doctor Strange thought you wouldn't be able to."
"I always find what I seek." Thanos said in what I assume he thought was a mysterious way. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"So, it sounds to me like you're used to having everything your way. Must be pretty easy living with that kinda lifestyle going for you." I said through gritted teeth, trying unwisely to get a rise from the huge man. Thanos raised his chin in a nod of agreement and as an indication that he knew that I was being stubborn with him.
"I'm going to offer you a choice, Alexander." Thanos said, ignoring my snide comments. I crossed my arms across my chest as if I were considering his words, careful to conceal the Sling Ring on my hand. "You can give up the Stone willingly and either join me or stand aside. If you choose the latter, I will kill you."
I continued my deep and serious staring contest with the Mad Titan, his threat weighing heavily in the silence of the room. He towered over me patiently and I noticed that every muscle in his overlarge purple alien body seemed completely at ease. I focused on keeping my breathing even, trying to slow my quickening heart rate as I tried to center myself for what I knew would happen over the next several moments. I blinked heavily, tearing my gaze away from Thanos' taunting expression and I stared at the debris covered floor at my feet.
"What exactly do you plan to do, Thanos? Once you get all of these powerful Stones? Because from what I hear, it sounds like you're going to destroy the whole planet." I said slowly. When I chanced a glance back up at him, Thanos' face was almost brighter with the opportunity to explain his elaborately thought out plan.
"The universe needs correction." He said lowly, looking down at his hands methodically as he rubbed them together. "The balance of everything is outweighed to one side and if it's not seen to…"
"Then you assume everything is going to end." I finished for him, getting the gist of his obviously heavily rehearsed villain speech. Thanos stopped his speaking and nodded with his knowing smirk.
"It will."
I shook my head up at him in angered disagreement, throwing my gaze to the huge Gauntlet and the Stones shining on the back of his fist in the dim lighting of the room.
"Sure…The world is no doubt all kinds of messed up…but it's not your place to try and 'correct' it. This world, or any other world out there for that matter is ever going to be perfect. We're all living here trying to make sense of everything when everything doesn't make sense. Leave while you're ahead, Thanos. This place isn't going to fall by your hand." I said as fiercely as I dared. I forced myself to remain calm in my stance, almost mocking Thanos' portrayal of ease in front of me. After a moment, Thanos' smirk faltered for a brief moment before he chuckled to himself.
"I'm sorry you don't see it my way, Alex. I really had grown tired of seeing so many wasteful losses today…" Thanos' voice rasped hollowly. My confidence wavered and I felt myself stand a little bit straighter at Thanos' change in tone. When the Gauntlet hummed to life with the five Infinity Stones glowing in preparation, I looked around hurriedly in sudden fear.
"I'm sorry too." I said quickly, still preventing myself from freaking out and running like I internally wanted to. Thanos smiled down at me, taking his gaze once more away from the Gauntlet where he had lifted it towards me. He seemed humored as he tilted his head to the side when I continued. "I'm sorry that you won't be getting the Time Stone from me today."
Thanos immediately lost his teasing smirk and his beady eyes widened in angry confusion as the illusion of me flickered out of existence. He turned to find me behind him, just as I jabbed a glowing mandala powered blade into his side. He let out a howl of outrage as the Gauntlet swung around and slammed for my midsection, but I reflexively blocked him with a hastily conjured shield. Before he could come around with his other fist, I had disappeared through a portal that transported me in a sneak attack behind him once more.
I hurled myself upward by magic alone and aimed a double-footed kick at the back of the Titan's shoulders. He reached back and grabbed me by my left leg, yanking me over his head and into the floor at his feet. I looked up hurriedly, trying to shake off the disorientation in my head and had about half a beat to conjure up my illusion before Thanos used the purple Infinity Stone to shoot out a blast of energy at the floor where my magical double had lain. When the illusion vanished and the floor beneath it caved in with the intensity of the Stone's power, the real me ducked through yet another portal only to reemerge on the other side of the room instead of my intended destination of the front room of the Sanctum. Thanos looked over in the direction where I had reappeared, punching his fist out in front of him and shooting another blast of purple energy towards me. Thankfully, I thought to raise my forearm to instinctually manifest a mandala shield before I could be disintegrated. When the fire ceased, I fell through another conjured portal, this once intending to drop me into the underground tunnels where I had first encountered Proxima Midnight what felt like forever ago.
Instead, my portal opened up in the floor just in front of Thanos' feet. There was a moment of confusion between the both of us and I was the first to react as I threw myself forward and slammed all of my body weight into the huge villain's torso. I immediately stepped back again and as I expected he dove forward to retaliate, knocking the both of us through the portal in the floor. He let out a roar of anger and I quickly conjured up another portal to pull me out of the path of his falling hulking body. I appeared by a ruined set of bookshelves in the center of the room just as I heard Thanos collide dully with the opposite wall where he had emerged on the other side of my conjured portal. Before he could make a move forward to me, I thrust out both of my hands in his direction, using a small bit of telepathic energy to send a huge chunk of shelving straight into Thanos' face. I ducked behind what remained the shelf I had appeared by, trying to breathe as what little adrenaline I still somehow possessed spread pain through my whole body.
That was when I felt her.
There was a whisper through the dimness of the ruined room, and I mentally blocked out Thanos' angry outbursts as he scouted the ruined library for me upon regaining his footing.
"Alexander."
I squeezed my eyes shut to center myself, letting out a ragged breath before opening them again. Cheering inwardly, I found that my senses were heightened and my energy was greatly replenished for the moment as my Third Eye was opened to the room around me. Faintly, I witnessed the room slowly seem to rebuild to the magnificence that it had been before in a ghostlike image through my temporary sight. The bookshelves were full instead of having been reduced to rubble, and the taxidermy animals were whole and unmoving in their assigned places on the shelves in the wall to my right. Though I knew everything had certainly been destroyed in reality, it was slightly more calming to see the room as it had been before this mayhem.
"Enough of these games…" Thanos' voice rumbled, slightly muted through my searching pause. There was an emphasizing explosion as he blew apart some already ruined bookshelf or piece of debris but in this half-world of seeing, it appeared to be one of the massive glass display cases holding an ancient sword. It crashed to the ground only a few yards away from me and I followed the weapon's descent to the wood floor, watching it turn into dust upon clattering once against the shining surface.
"Alexander." A lighter voice spoke up from directly in front of me. I flicked my gaze back and forth, trying to maintain my hiding place and pressed my back firmly against the bookshelf. The Enchantress flickered into existence just in front of me, clearly within Thanos' ability to see her.
"K-Karnilla…" I hissed, staring at her in disbelief. She held her dark eyed gaze on me steadily, not even flinching when Thanos destroyed a shelf even closer to us than the display case had been. The dozens of books that exploded outward from the toppling shelf didn't even make a sound as they disappeared before they could hit the wooden floor. The shelf made a hollow boom as it finally fell too and just like before, it sparkled out of existence right as it touched the ground.
"You won't win this fight, Alex." She said quietly, her serene gaze unblinking and pitying as she stared at me. I frowned with my chest heaving in exhaustion as she told me what I already figured was true. For some reason I felt led to hurriedly lower myself to the ground in a crouch, and Karnilla followed suit, her expression unchanging as the shelf behind me was blown in half by Thanos' purple energy blast. The top half sailed into one of the nearby taxidermy shelves and the horse head fell easily once the debris disintegrated with a whoosh of air rushing in to replace the immediate absence.
"I have to try." I insisted, turning in my crouch as I saw with relief that Thanos had moved in another direction with his rampage. "There's nothing else to do."
"That's where you're wrong." The Enchantress said softly, leaning in closer towards me. I deepened my frown and looked at her eager expression.
"If you're not planning on helping me…" I said warningly, raising my palm where it started to swim with golden light. She paused in her advance and her eyes looked suddenly pleading.
"Give me the Stone…I'll protect it with my magic, I swear to you. You can use Wong's Sling Ring to escape." She said quietly, her shining, serious eyes glancing up over my head where yet another flash of purple signified an explosion of another of the room's treasures. I shook my head, knowing that the Sling Ring was usless and stiffened against the half-bookshelf behind me.
"You sound just like him…you're working with him, aren't you?" I demanded, anger firing through me. My Third Eye's vision slipped momentarily and I witnessed purple flames dancing throughout the destruction of the hidden library. There was a sudden blast behind me and I realized that the bottom half of the shelf had finally been struck by Thanos' Gauntlet. I was thrown through the air in what felt like slow motion and when my Third Eye's vision randomly returned, I could see Karnilla's outstretched arms from below me upraised in my direction. The remnants of the bookshelf hung suspended around me and as I watched, they dissipated into nothingness, leaving me hovering in midair by the Enchantress' power.
"I assure you that I am not." She said lowly, her eyes wide with persistence. I regarded her worriedly from where I was held in the air above her and I had my answer as soon as I glanced up in the direction of Thanos' giant alien figure.
He was glaring knowingly in our direction, able to see me now that he had blasted me out of my hiding place. His massive Gauntlet was clenched into a fist in front of his chest and I could see each of the glowing Infinity Stones clearly as they were charged up for his final use against me. Panicking, I tried to move to duck his coming attack but found that I couldn't move my suspended limbs at all. I swung my fearful gaze down to Karnilla who still had her thin arms outstretched in my direction a few feet below me. She was the one preventing me from moving away and out of Thanos' path.
"You are!" I contradicted, my voice giving up my desperation. Her expression remained calm as she simply shook her head her bright eyes still unblinking as she focused her ancient power on holding me in the air.
"Look again, Alexander." She said chidingly. Her red lips were pursed with her tension and she patiently returned my stare until I finally tore my gaze distrustfully from her face and looked up at Thanos once more.
He hadn't moved from the position I had seen him in from my first glance.
"W-what did you do?" I squeaked in confusion. Thanos' jaw was clenched with his clear agitation and his body language revealed how intent he was on absolutely destroying me. Karnilla didn't respond until I looked back down at her again.
"I used what you've been too afraid to use against your adversary." She said simply, flipping one of her outstretched hands over to reveal a winding chain curled neatly in her palm. A bright green glow shone from the center where the familiar Eye-shaped pendant rested. Panicking, I tried to feel for my pocket where I had thought I'd kept it concealed but I was still held under the Enchantress' power and unable to move. I gaped helplessly down at her and when she lowered her remaining raised hand, I slowly drifted back to the ground, landing gently on my feet with the ability to use my limbs again.
"Oh my God…" I breathed in horrified disbelief, watching as Karnilla looked longingly at the necklace in her palm. Her heavy eyelashes brushed her smiling cheeks and when I slowly stepped forward, her eyes flicked up in my direction with lightning speed, halting me in my tracks. The terror and realization that I had somehow allowed the possibly evil Enchantress to retrieve the Stone from me caused my heightened vision from my Third Eye to melt away, leaving us standing in the middle of the ruined hidden library. As I stared back at Karnilla's critiquing expression, her red lips cracked into a smirk.
"Oh come on Alex, you know I don't have it." She said blandly, waggling the fingers of her open palm and causing the illusion of the necklace to disappear with a flash of shadows. Still wary, I carefully reached for my pocket where I hoped against hope that the real necklace still was hidden. Karnilla offered me a tired smile as I let out my breath upon finding the warm pendant still in the pocket of my robes.
"Then how…" I started, looking fearfully back up to where Thanos was still frozen in his anger across the room.
"Magic…duh. Not everyone needs enchanted objects like those heavily sought after jewels." Karnilla said nonchalantly. I caught her sideways glance however, and I turned all the way to face her, keeping my hand buried in the folds of my robes over the burning pendant.
"Then why are you afraid of him?" I demanded questioningly. She frowned at me, her crimson lips a dark upside down semicircle on her pale face. My eyes shot back up towards Thanos as I heard a distinctive clicking sound from his Gauntlet. The Enchantress too looked up hurriedly, taking a hesitant step back and raising her left hand in his direction. A swimming invisible force shot toward the Mad Titan where he had started to move and again he was forced into immobility once more. Karnilla flipped her head in my direction and waved her other hand to get me into motion.
"Use the Stone…I can't hold him for much longer!" She said hurriedly. As soon as she uttered the words, Thanos let out a roar of outrage, suddenly jerking to life and twisting his left hand, activating the blue Infinity Stone. Simultaneously, a swirling blue and black portal opened up behind him and he backed into it and out of the path of Karnilla's stasis spell. Thinking one step ahead, I hastily conjured my own portal and dove through it sensing that Thanos would be coming straight for me. When I reappeared just a few feet away instead of my designated destination of the upstairs hallway, I let out a muttered curse.
"Come on…" I growled in anguished irritation. Thanos apparently really did have a control over the room I was stuck in with him, preventing me from escaping his sight. When his blue and black portal exploded from where I had stood just a fraction of a second ago, I leapt back and through yet another portal that transported to the gaping hole in the wall behind Wong's still-bleeding body. When I reemerged on the other side of the portal, I moved to run directly through the hole Thanos' had torn through the room but instead I ran face-first into what felt like a solid brick wall.
"You think I'd let you run away that easily? We still haven't finished our talk." Thanos said, reappearing through his black hole-like portal when I whirled around to face him. My hand grasped at my face where blood trailed from my very probably broken nose and I hastily ran the sleeve of my robes across my upper lip.
"I'd say we're done." I said nonchalantly, blanching at the amount of blood that stained my sleeve when I pulled it away. Thanos shot out his left arm and before I could portal myself away or shield against him, his Gauntlet locked around my neck in a death grip.
"I don't delight in killing children." Thanos said icily. I struggled against his large fist and he pushed me roughly into the invisible border that I had just run into.
"Tell that to my friend, Dan." I said through the resurfaced grief-stricken tears that welled up in my eyes. I placed both of my hands on either side of the Gauntlet, feeling the intense and burning power that radiated off of the weapon. Unsurprisingly, I found the heat even more overwhelming than my few experiences with the Time Stone. With five other Infinity Stones powering the villain's Gauntlet, I felt imminently powerless to stop him.
"As I said…there were many unfortunate losses today." Thanos said lowly with a glimmer of remorse in his steely eyes. Anger filled me to the brim and I pulled my left hand away from the Gauntlet's surface to form a small golden sphere around my fist.
"Pointless losses!" I shouted up into his face with defiance. He frowned at me deeply and his grip around my neck tightened threateningly. I raised my glowing fist, aiming straight for the side of the huge Gauntlet with the intent at hopefully either smashing into the weapon or melting it beyond use. My anger was so concentrated that I just might have achieved my goal had it not been for the Infinity Stones' powers unknown fully to me.
Without even looking away from my face, Thanos grabbed the purple Stone from the back of the hand that held me. Stopping my fist in mid-strike, he closed his fist and the purple Infinity Stone around the golden shield, obliterating the glow that had protected me from the blow I had planned to deliver to the Gauntlet. My brain switched into near blackout mode as a pain that no one to my knowledge had ever experienced before burned straight through the Sling Ring and my hand. My mouth was open in a wide exclamation of shock and agony as it felt like my entire hand was engulfed in lava-like flames. I couldn't even tear my horrified gaze from Thanos' overlarge hand closing over mine, but I did look up in time to see his torturous grin as he crushed my burning hand in his fist, reducing every bone in my hand to broken pieces in his strong grasp. Choking out a gasp of incomprehensible anguish, my vision blurred to blackness for a brief moment as the Mad Titan jerked my arm backward and tore my already injured shoulder out of its socket. I shouted out a desperate cry of pain and Thanos finally released me, letting me fall to the ground in a heap of sobs on the edge of passing out.
"Now…I'm going to ask you one more time…" Thanos said effortlessly, walking away a few steps and then turning back to face me. "Are you going to hand it over like a good boy, or do I really need to spill more innocent blood?"
I stared past the giant purple alien man, eyes wide and unbelieving as I took in the sight of my first dead body lying on the ground behind him. It was the first time I'd actually made myself look at Wong where he lay face down on the floor. From what I could see of him, the sorcerer seemed to have died with his familiar serene look on his face but that did little to comfort me. My breath hitched in my chest as I felt the scalding burn from the necklace resurface in my pocket. I couldn't take my eyes off of Wong's blood pooling on the ground just a few yards away from me.
"Well?" Thanos growled, a taunting look on his towering face. I flicked my gaze once more from the body to his gleaming eyes and felt myself lean away slowly, nearly losing consciousness from the throbbing pain emanating from my entire left arm. I prepared to shove my remaining functional hand into my pocket to retrieve what the Mad Titan wanted.
"A-Alright…" I managed to whisper, holding my good hand out in front of me to ward off the large Infinity Gauntlet five glowing Stones aimed right at me before I reached for my pocket. Thanos didn't lower his glowing fist, but a triumphant look twisted his mouth upward.
"I always assumed this Stone would prove to be the most challenging to get. Funny how you're finally choosing to make it easy for me." He murmured, watching my shaking hand as I moved it toward my pocket slowly. I hesitated as I heard his comment, trying not to let the angered confusion show too obviously on my face. I shook myself inwardly and felt my hand close over an empty space in my pocket, the burning sensation from the Time Stone now gone.
"I…"
Thanos raised his chin in a smug smirk, once more clenching the Gauntlet in a grating sound of metal against metal.
"Time's up…"
"No, Thanos…your time is up." Karnilla's voice echoed over the villain's shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, Thanos slowly tore his gaze away from me where I lay in a crumpled heap to find the Enchantress where she stood on top of one of the overturned bookshelves. A familiar green light sparkled from her breast where the real Time Stone rested around her neck. Her hands were crossed in front of her where she prepared to use the Stone in all of its entirety.
"And who might you be?" Thanos asked her, cocking his head to the side as he regarded his new threat. Karnilla offered me a final sympathetic glance as she slowly swept her arms in front of her.
"The last defense." She murmured simply. Thanos caught her look and immediately whirled around, focusing his attention back on me where his Gauntlet still pointed. I didn't even offer the Mad Titan a glance as he returned the purple Stone to its rightful place on his knuckles, powering up his Gauntlet.
"Enough of your trickery, Alex…" Thanos said through gritted teeth. I shook my head slowly, my whole body feeling numb with the overwhelming pain I had experienced and the exhaustion that I had up until this point pushed myself through. Karnilla's face was regretful as she completed the spell to open the Time Stone that she now possessed. I smiled in relief as I felt my heartrate slow with acceptance of what would undoubtedly happen next.
"It's not a trick…" I whispered, staring blankly at the Enchantress behind Thanos. The villain scoffed down at me in irritation and fired a blast of colorful energy straight in my direction. Though I physically felt nothing, my eyes widened in surprise and unfocused involuntarily. The last thing I saw in my vision was a bright flash of green that emanated from the Mad Titan himself.