Get ready for a quite long chapter!

An Unspecified Amount Of Time Ago

"Shhh. We'll be safe. We'll be safe." said a mother, hushing her child. An explosion ensued and the little girl screamed, causing a Black Order knight to find them. Outside, it was a total madhouse. Leviathans, Chitauri chariots and ring-ships flew overhead; explosions and energy bolts from numerous sources criss-crossed the panicked population, felling them randomly; smoke arose from countless fires.

"Zen-Whoberis..." Ebony Maw muttered.

"Mother! Where's my mother?!" screamed the girl from earlier as a soldier dragged her through the crowd.

"Choose a side, or die." Maw told her.

"Mother!" yelled the girl, then punched the arm of the one dragging her who surprisingly dropped her arm and left.

"One side is a revelation. The other, an honor known only to a few." said Maw. The girl whirled around and found herself facing Thanos in his full Titan armor.

"What's wrong, little one?" asked the warlord.

The girl began crying. "My mother. Where's my mother?"

"What's your name?"

"Gamora." replied the girl.

Thanos said, "You're quite the fighter, Gamora. Come. Let me help you." He offered his hand, she wrapped her little fingers around one massive finger, and he led her to a pavilion, where he crouched to her eye level again and produced a small—for him—red-jeweled handle. He pressed the switch, razor-sharp blades popped out both ends. "Look. Pretty, isn't it? Perfectly balanced. As all things should be. Too much to one side, or the other…" He balanced it on one finger, overbalanced it purposefully and caught it, then gave Gamora a try. Meanwhile, Ebony Maw was outside, proceeding the execution. One half of the crowd got shot down. The survivors screamed in horror, and Gamora tried to turn but Thanos prevented her from seeing the massacre. "Concentrate. There! You've got it."

Now

A fully grown Gamora activated the spring-action blades on that same dagger. Star-Lord approached her, and said "Do you know if these grenades are the "blow off your junk" kind or the gas kind? 'Cause I was thinking I might hang a couple on my belt right here. But I don't want to—"

"I need to ask a favor."

"Yeah, sure." replied Star-Lord.

"One way or another, the path that we're on leads to Thanos." Gamora told him.

"Which is what the grenades are for." Star-Lord joked, then said "I'm sorry, what's the favor?"

"If things go wrong…If Thanos gets me…I want you to promise me…you'll kill me." said the alien woman.

Star-Lord was confused. "What?"

"I know something he doesn't. If he finds out…The entire Universe could be at risk."

"What do you know?" asked Star-Lord.

"If I tell you, you'd know, too." said Gamora.

"If it's so important, shouldn't I?" Star-Lord retaliated.

"Only if you wanna die." Gamora snapped.

"Why does somebody always have to die in this scenario?" Star-Lord yelled.

"Just…trust me. And possibly, kill me."

"I mean, I'd like to. I really would…" Gamora silenced him by covering his mouth with her hand.

"Swear to me. Swear to me on your mother...and Ronan. And Leyenar. Everything."

"Okay." Star-Lord agreed. They kissed, then they heard in a distance, "I am Groot!"

"What?" asked Star-Lord.

"He saw a woman peeking at us." said Rocket. "When he tried to get her, she flew away."

"Who cares?" Star-Lord said. "Now, let's continue on our way!"

Meanwhile, at Planet Hala, Supreme Accuser Ronan had just received a message from Carol Danvers. "WHAAAT?! he roared. "I'll get you, Gamora...if it's the last thing I do!"

Unfortunately, in his fit of rage, he didn't catch Carol's next message:

P.S:Thanos is hell-bent on collecting all six Infinity Stones so he can snuff out half of all life in the fictional omniverse, so I've gotta go get an army to stop him. See ya!

The Benatar finally arrived at Knowhere, and Star-Lord said "This place looks deserted."

"I'm reading movement from the third quadrant." said Drax.

"Yep. I'm picking that up, too. Let's put it down right here." Star-Lord replied. The four Guardians disembarked and sneaked into the Collector's collection room, which is in ruins. Thanos was threatening the Collector while the Guardians hid behind rubble.

"I don't have it." said the Collector.

"Everyone in the Galaxy knows you'd sell your own brother if you thought it would add the slightest trinket to your pathetic collection." the Titan growled. Star-Lord stopped, and held up a fist meaning 'halt' in the silent language of soldiers. Everybody walked quietly past him. "I know you have the Reality Stone, Tivan. Giving it to me will spare you a great deal of suffering." said Thanos, then pressed his heavy boot into the Collector's chest.

"I told you. I sold it. Why would I lie?" the Collector rasped.

"I imagine it's like breathing for you." said Thanos.

"Like suicide." replied the Collector.

"So you do understand. Not even you would surrender something so precious." Thanos insisted.

"I didn't know what it was." said the Collector.

"Then you're more of a fool than I took you for. Last chance, charlatan. Where's the Stone?" asked Thanos. Meanwhile, Drax was ready to strike, eager to avenge his family. However, Star-Lord stopped him, saying "He doesn't have the Stone yet. We get it, and then we can stop him. We have to get the Stone first. Yeah."

"No. No. For Ovette. For Camaria." Drax ranted, only to be put to sleep by Mantis. He fell with a big crash. Thanos looked towards the sound, then picked up the Collector and threw him into a collecting case before walking towards the disturbance. "Okay. Gamora, Mantis, you go right. I'm..." Star-Lord insisted, then Gamora moved towards Thanos. "The other right!" said Star-Lord hurriedly. Gamora leaped on Thanos from a stack of boxes, swinging her sword at him. He snapped the sword-blade in half, and Gamora stabbed him in the throat with the stub, his lower jaw sagging and himself letting out a hoarse groan, then he got stabbed in the chest with the red-jeweled dagger.

"Why?" asked Thanos. "Why you? Daughter..." He held his hand out to her, blood pooling out from his neck wound, before collapsing completely. Gamora broke down, sobbing.

Star-Lord was surprised. "That was quick."

"Magnificent! Magnificent! Magnificent!" cheered the Collector.

Suddenly, Thanos' disembodied voice filled the room. "Is it sadness I sense in you, daughter? In my heart, I knew you still cared. But one ever knows for sure. Reality is often disappointing." Suddenly, utter destruction unfolded in front of everybody, and the Collector vanished without a trace. "That is, it was. Now…reality can be whatever I want." The Mad Titan was quite alive and undamaged, and the red Reality Stone was already seated in the Infinity Gauntlet.

"You knew I'd come." Gamora snapped.

"I counted on it. There's something we need to discuss, little one." Thanos replied. Gamora hesitated for a beat, then reached for her broken sword. Thanos grabbed her by the back of the neck and swung her around in front of him.

Drax, who had came to, attempted to strike Thanos but the Titan used the Reality Stone to turn him into a pile of cubes, and Mantis got shredded into ribbons.

"Let her go, Grimace!" yelled Star-Lord, blasters in hand.

"Peter..."

"I told you to go right." said Star-Lord.

"Now? Really?" said Gamora.

"You let her go!" Star-Lord ordered.

"Ah, the boyfriend." Thanos sneered.

"I like to think of myself more as a Titan-killing long-term booty call. Let her go." Star-Lord insisted. "Or I'm gonna blow that nut sack of a chin right off your face!"

"Peter...Not him..." Gamora pleaded.

"Oh, daughter. You expect too much from him." Thanos stated. He then turned to Star-Lord and told him "She's asked, hasn't she? Do it."

"Y'know what?" said Star-Lord. "You guys have NO feel for dramatic tension!" He then closed his eyes and pulled the trigger, but instead of laser beams, bubbles came out. Thanos was playing him.

"I like you." Thanos told Star-Lord, and then teleported himself and Gamora away. The Reality Stone's effects disappeared once they left.

Back on Earth, the Quinjet arrived at the Avengers Mansion while Rhodey dealt with the red tape in the holographic person of Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. "Still no word from Vision?" asked Ross.

"Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh." Rhodey replied.

"On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals." Ross reminded him.

"You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir?" Rhodey retaliated.

"My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own." said Ross.

"If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here."

"I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel."

Rhodey sounded a little bitter. "That's right. And I'm pretty sure I've paid for that." he said, glancing down at his leg bracers.

"You have second thoughts?" asked the secretary.

"Not anymore." replied the colonel. Just then, the fugitive Avengers entered the room, Vision supported by Sam. Steve was the first one to get in and address Ross.

"You got some nerve. I'll give you that." Ross insisted.

"You could use some of that right now." said Nat.

"The world's on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?" Ross snapped.

"I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight." Steve replied. "And if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you, too."

"Arrest them." Ross ordered Rhodey.

"Nah." replied the colonel, ending the call. "That's a court-martial. It's great to see you, Cap."

"You too, Rhodey." replied Steve as they all gathered for a group hug.

"Well. Y'all are a mess. Must've been a rough couple of years." Rhodey told the fugitives.

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five-star." said Sam.

"Uh, I think you look great." said Bruce as he joined in. "Uh... heh... Yeah. I'm back."

"Hi, Bruce." said Nat.

"Nat." said Bruce.

"This is awkward." whispered Sam. Suddenly, a brunette woman came into the room.

"Who is she?" asked Rhodey.

"Oh, she's Agent Daisy Johnson of SHIELD. We picked her up on the way home." replied Steve.

Some time later, they all moved to another room to discuss.

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" asked Rhodey.

"And they can clearly find us." replied Wanda.

"My girlfriend's currently out on space, trying to recruit an army." Daisy joined in.

"Who's your girlfriend?" Steve asked.

"Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel. She'd been the director's assistant since 2017, and the director requested her to bring a powerful army that can match Thanos's Black Order." replied Daisy.

"We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?" asked Bruce.

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott struck a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest." Nat revealed.

"Who's Scott?" asked Bruce.

"Ant-Man." replied Steve.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man? Okay, look, Thanos has the biggest, most powerful army in the Four-Dimensional World. And he is not gonna stop until he...he gets...Vision's Stone." Bruce murmured.

"Well, then, we have to protect it. " Nat insisted.

"No, we have to destroy it." Vision said softly. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps… its molecular integrity could fail."

"And you, with it. We're not having this conversation." said Wanda.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." Vision replied.

"That's too high a price." Wanda retaliated.

The synthezoid took his lover's face gently in both hands. "Only you have the power to pay it." Wanda got distressed, and walked away. The robot continued to talk. "Thanos threatens half the fictional omniverse. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should." said Steve. He then turned to Vision and said "We don't trade lives, my friend. If the director knew about this, what would she say?"

Vision seemed to shake a bit at the mention of Leyenar, but then swallowed the lump in his throat and retaliated "Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?" Steve took a breath, but before he had a chance to answer, Bruce spoke up.

"Because you might have a choice. Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" asked Wanda.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts." Bruce insisted.

"Can we do that?" asked Nat.

"Not me. Not here." Bruce told her.

"You better find someone, and somewhere fast. Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back." said Rhodey.

"I know somewhere." said Steve. And so they all went to Wakanda because they knew a certain somebody there who was capable of doing so.

"You'll have the Kingsguard, and the Dora Milaje have been alerted." General Okoye told King T'Challa.

"And the Border Tribe?" he asked her.

"Those that are left." she replied.

"Send word to the Jabari as well. M'Baku likes a good fight." ordered T'Challa.

"And what of this one?" asked Okoye.

"This one may be tired of war." T'Challa replied, referring to James Buchanan Barnes AKA the former Winter Soldier, who the director called Winnie. "But the White Wolf has rested long enough." And so, the Soldier was offered a new arm made of vibranium.

"Where's the fight?" he asked.

"On its way." replied T'Challa.

Meanwhile, Ebony Maw was interrogating Dr. Strange. He was floating horizontally, face down, surrounded by dozens of glassy needles, each about two feet long. "In all the time I've served Thanos, I've never failed him. If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be... judgement." said Maw, as the needles moved, dangerously close to Strange's face. "Give me the Stone."

Meanwhile, Tony, Peter and Leyenar watched from afar with the Cloak Of Levitation. "Wow, you're a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" Tony told the Cloak.

"Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty..." Peter murmured. Tony, Leyenar and the Cloak turned to face him, dropping down from above.

"Oh, my gosh!" cried Leyenar. "So, Spidey, are you joining us too?" she asked excitedly.

"You should not be here." Tony told Peter.

"I was gonna go home—" Peter began to speak.

"I don't wanna hear it." said Tony.

"Oh, Irah, let him tell what happened!" Leyenar begged. "Pleeeeeease? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top and whipped cream and those little chocolate sprinkles? WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Okay, fine." Tony grumbled.

"But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way...and I kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way. So if anything, it's kinda your fault that I'm here." Peter confessed.

"What did you just say?" said Tony in a serious tone.

"I take that back. And now I'm here in space." replied Peter.

"Yeah." Tony crossed to stand right in front of Peter. "Right where I don't want you to be. This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through."

"But I did." Peter exclaimed.

"You could not have possibly thought this through." Tony retaliated.

"It's just...you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man when there's no neighborhood." After saying that, Peter waited for Tony's reaction. "Okay. That didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say."

Tony drew in a shaky breath. "Come on. We got a situation." He led Peter over to a viewpoint on the torture below. Peter crouched to study the situation, the Cloak leaning over his shoulder. "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan? Go."

"Um. Okay, okay... uh..." said Peter as he and the Cloak popped back upright. "Okay. Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?"

"Nah." replied Leyenar.

Meanwhile, Maw continued to torture Strange. "Painful, aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them..." Suddenly, he paused at a sudden thump behind him, and turned to see Iron Man, repulsors fully charged and ready to fire. "...Could end your friend's life in an instant." Maw finished.

"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more a professional courtesy." replied Tony.

Maw called upon some weapons, and said "You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine."

"Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies." Tony quipped. He fired a rocket from his shoulder which pierced the side of the ship to Maw's right and began to suck everything out with depressurization, especially Maw and his weapons. Dr. Strange got pulled loose of his pinnings, lost the needles, but also heads for the hole, helpless to resist. The Cloak wrapped around his arm and an anchor point, but Dr. Strange's arm slipped loose and he kept going. Spider-Man shot a web strand at Dr. Strange with one hand and held onto a piece of the ship with the other. It broke, sending them both towards space when his Iron Spider suit's metal arms braced him to keep him from being sucked out. Fortunately, Dr. Strange was still surrounded by the ship's atmosphere, making haste to leave. Immediately, Leyenar began roleplaying with herself.

"Shock and awe, baby!"

"High score, alien trash!"

"You messed on the wrong team!"

"From Land's End to John O'Grotz!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYIN'?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"Yes!" cheered Peter. "Wait, what are those?!" Spider-Man crouched with his new spider-legs, and made a mighty leap to pull them both back inside. Iron Man quickly sprayed nanites onto the hole to plug it up. Dr. Strange safely, if emphatically, hit the floor. Ebony Maw was left floating in space, quite dead, ice from the escaped atmosphere frosting over his grimace. Spider-Man landed on his new legs, retracts them, and found the Cloak Of Levitation "standing" next to him.

"Hey, we haven't officially met." Peter offered the Cloak his hand to shake. It ignored his offer and continued to Dr. Strange. "Cool." said Peter.

Iron Man walked past Dr. Strange, shaking his head and with his armor retreating into its containment as Dr. Strange got to his feet and donned the Cloak again. "We've gotta turn this ship around." the doctor insisted.

"Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan." Tony sneered.

"No, I want to protect the stone." Strange retaliated.

Tony walked towards the expansive front view-port, showing a hyper speed/warp effect. "And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I'm listening." he said, irritably.

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" asked Strange.

"Who just saved your magical ass? Me." said Tony.

"Um, Irah?" said Leyenar. "Technically, the whole thing was Spidey's idea..."

"Director, you stay out!" Tony snapped.

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet." Strange told him.

"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused." Tony fired his own retort.

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you." replied Strange.

"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup." said Tony.

Leyenar couldn't handle it anymore. "Stop it! Both of you!" she yelled.

Tony waggled a finger at her. "The adults are talking." he insisted.

"Have you forgotten who's in charge here?" Leyenar retaliated. "I'm the goddamn director! And the only girl on this ship. Yeah, whutever, can't you fellas just listen to me for a sec?!"

"Oops, sorry." said both Tony and Strange as they turned to the director, scratching the back of their heads. Leyenar smirked, and began a frenzied introduction of everybody to everybody.

"We can't let Thanos take the Time Stone, right?" said Leyenar once everybody was familiar with everybody, and held out her Infinity Gauntlet. "Now seems like a good time, Doc."

Seconds later, the Time Stone was seated in Leyenar's Infinity Gauntlet, safe and sound. The director began giggling maniacally, and declared "I'm not sure how this thingy works, but once I figure it out, I can think of about a million and nine evil things to do with it!"

"What?" asked Peter.

"Never mind." said Leyenar. She smiled as she told Peter "Welcome to the Avengers, Spidey."

At Thanos's ship, the Mad Titan himself had Gamora captive. "I thought you might be hungry." he said as he gave her a cup of food.

Gamora took it, then hurled it across the room where it banged against Thanos' throne with a loud clack. "I always hated that chair." she declared.

"So I've been told. Even so. I'd hoped you'd sit on it one day." Thanos replied.

"I hated this room. This ship. I hated my life." Gamora lamented.

"You told me that too." said Thanos as he sat on the steps to his throne. "Every day. For almost twenty years."

"I was a child when you took me." Gamora reminded him.

"I saved you." Thanos said.

"No. No. We were happy on my home planet."

"Going to bed hungry, scrounging for scraps. Your planet was on the brink of collapse. I'm the one who stopped that. Do you know what's happened since then? The children born have known nothing but full bellies and clear skies. It's a paradise."

"Because you murdered half the planet."

"A small price to pay for salvation."

"You're insane."

"Little one, it's a simple calculus. This universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction."

"You don't know that!" yelled Gamora.

Thanos scowled, his egotistical narcissism preventing him from fully listening to her. "I'm the only one who knows that. At least, I'm the only one with the will to act on it. For a time... you had that same will... as you fought by my side. Daughter."

"I'm not your daughter. Everything I hate about myself you taught me." Gamora told him.

"And in doing so, made you the fiercest woman in the galaxy. That's why I trusted you to find the Soul Stone." Thanos declared.

"I'm sorry I disappointed you." said Gamora.

"I am disappointed. But not because you didn't find it. But because you did. And you lied." replied the Titan, and he took her to an isolated chamber where Nebula was face-on, suspended horizontally in the air in the middle of the room, her breath shuddering in pain. Gamora was shocked and hurt to see her sister in such a vulnerable state. She hurried to Nebula's left side, only to see that she has been partially disassembled, her components stretched apart—a cybernetic version of the medieval torture rack. Truly, it was Hannibal Lecter level of brutality, as it was ranked in the Four-Dimensional World.

"Don't do this." Gamora pleaded.

"Some time ago, your sister snuck aboard this ship to kill me." Thanos declared.

"Please don't do this."

"And very nearly succeeded. So I brought her here. To talk."

Thanos curled his gauntleted fist, activating both the Power and Space Stones, scowling—causing Nebula's already extended pieces to stretch further outward. She began to scream.

"Stop. Stop it." cried Gamora as she put her hands on Thanos's gauntlet, pulling it down. "I swear to you on my life. I never found the Soul Stone."

Thanos signaled a nearby servant who tapped on a control pad. Nebula's voice said, "Accessing memory files" and a sort of hologram of Gamora's face shuddered to life. "You know what he's about to do. He's finally ready, and he's going for the stones. All of them." said Memory Nebula.

"He can never get them all." replied Memory Gamora.

"He will!" cried Memory Nebula.

"He can't, Nebula. Because I found the map to the Soul Stone and I burnt it to ash. I burnt it." Memory Gamora told her, and the memory ended with that.

"You're strong. Me. You're generous. Me. But I never taught you to lie. That's why you're so bad at it." declared Thanos. "Where is the Soul Stone?" When Gamora refused to answer, he raised his gauntlet next to Gamora's face. Nebula shook her head, expression terrified, to encourage her sister's silence but when Gamora didn't answer, Thanos clenched the gauntlet again, brow furrowed at his adopted daughter as the Power and Space Stones got reactivated. Gamora grimaced in shared pain at her sister's screams, growing louder as Thanos increased the pressure.

"Vormir!" Gamora cried, and Thanos deactivated the Gauntlet, and Nebula gasped in air as she was pieced back together.

"The Stone is on Vormir."

"Show me." said a satisfied Thanos.

Thor, Rocket and Groot were headed to Nidavellir. Groot said, "I am Groot."

"Tinkle in the cup. We're not looking. What's there to see? What's a twig? Everybody's seen a twig." Rocket said.

"I am Groot." said Groot.

"Tree, pour what's in the cup out in space, and go in the cup again." said Thor, looking out the rear portholes.

"You speak Groot?" asked Rocket.

"Yes, they taught it on Asgard. It was an elective." replied Thor.

"I am Groot." Groot said shortly.

"You'll know when we're there. Nidavellir's forge harnesses the power of a blazing neutron star." declared Thor, nostalgia in his voice. "It's the birth place of my hammer. It's truly awesome."

"Okay, time to be the captain." Rocket murmured. "So, dead brother, huh? Yeah, that can be annoying."

"Well, he's been dead before, but this time I think it really might be true." said Thor.

"And you said your sister and your dad?" asked Rocket.

"Both dead." Thor replied.

"Still got a mom, though?"

"Killed by a dark elf."

"A best friend?"

"Stabbed through the heart."

And it was time for Rocket to say the final question:"Are you sure you're up to this particular murder mission?"

"ZIGACKLY!" Thor bellowed. " Rage, vengeance, anger, loss, regret... they're all tremendous motivators. They really clear the mind. So I'm good to go."

"Yeah, but this Thanos we're talking about... he's the toughest there is." Rocket quipped.

"Well, he's never fought me." declared Thor.

"Yeah, he has!" said Rocket.

"He's never fought me twice. And I'm getting a new hammer, don't forget." Thor clarified.

"Better be some hammer." Rocket grumbled.

"You know, I'm 1500 years old. I've killed twice as many enemies as that, and every one would have rather killed me, but none succeeded. I'm only alive because fate wants me alive. Thanos is the latest in a long line of bastards and he will be the latest to feel my vengeance. Fate wills it so." Thor explained.

"And what if you're wrong?" asked Rocket.

"If I'm wrong then... what more could I lose?" Thor replied. He sniffed and hastily wiped below his eye before standing up and sitting at the front of the pod, beside Groot.

"I could lose a lot. Me personally. I could lose a lot." said Rocket and revealed an artificial eye. "Okay. If fate does want you to kill that crapsack, you're gonna need more than one stupid eyeball." He then gave the artificial eye to Thor, who asked where did it come from.

"Some jerk lost a bet with me on on Contraxia." Rocket told him.

"He gave you his eye?" asked Thor.

"He gave me 100 credits. I snuck in later that night and stole his eye." replied Rocket.

"Thank you, sweet rabbit." said Thor, and placed the artificial eye in his empty eye socket.

"Hmm. Huh? Oh. I would've washed that. The only way I could sneak it off Contraxia was up my..." Rocket was cut short by a beeping sound. "Hey, we're here!" he cried.

"I don't think this thing works. Everything seems dark." said Thor, smacking his palm against the side of his head to get the eye calibrated.

"It ain't the eye." said Rocket, pointing to a dark planet outside. Much to Thor's surprise, it turned out to be Nidavellir.

"Something's wrong. The star's gone out. And the rings are frozen." said a surprised Thor, but the trio entered the forge anyway. No matter the circumstances, it was the right thing to do.

"I hope these dwarves are better at forging than they are cleaning. Maybe they realized they live in a junk pile in the middle of space." said Rocket.

"This forge hasn't gone dark in centuries..." murmured Thor.

"You said Thanos had a gauntlet, right?" said Rocket, looking at a pedestal.

"Yes. Why?" asked Thor.

"Look anything like that?" True to Rocket's word, the thingy looked exactly like the Infinity Gauntlet.

"I am Groot." said Groot, who was feeling uneasy.

"Go back to the pod." Thor said uneasily, then all of a sudden, a gigantic figure appeared out of nowhere and flung Thor away with one swing of his arm, then kicked Rocket and Groot against a wall of equipment.

"Eitri, wait! Stop!" Thor cried at the giant.

"Thor?" asked the giant, now identified as "Eitri".

"What happened here?" asked Thor.

"You were supposed to protect us. Asgard was supposed to protect us!" cried Eitri as he assaulted Thor.

"Asgard is destroyed." said Thor, stopping Eitri mid-strike. "Eitri, the glove. What did you do?" the Thunder God asked.

"300 dwarves lived on this ring. I thought if I did what he asked, they'd be safe. I made what he wanted. A device capable of harnessing the power of the stones. Then he killed everyone anyway. All except me. "Your life is yours," he said. "But your hands are mine alone."..." Eitri said as he held up his his immobile metal fists, encased in hardened molten metal.

"Eitri, this isn't about your hands. Every weapon you've ever designed... every ax, hammer, sword... it's all inside your head. Now I know it feels like all hope is lost. Trust me, I know. But together, you and I, we can kill Thanos." declared Thor.

Back on Thanos's ship, a technician was putting Nebula's broken body back together again. Nebula purposefully detached her eye piece, and when the man came close enough to put it back in, she snapped his neck. She walked to a console, straightening her left arm, dragging her still-dislocated right foot behind her, and input a code.

"Mantis, listen very carefully. I need you to meet me on Titan." said Nebula.

Meanwhile, on the ringship, Leyenar, Tony, Strange and Peter were nearing Titan. "Hey, what's going on?" asked Peter.

"I think we're here." said Strange.

"I don't think this rig has a self-park function." said Tony. "Get your hand into this steering gimbal. Close those around it. You understand?"

"I do." replied Leyenar.

"Got it." said Peter.

"This was meant for one big guy, so we gotta move at the same time." said Tony, and though their landing was a little bit bumpy, they made it to Titan.

"Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I eat one of you, I'm sorry." said Peter.

"I don't wanna hear another single pop culture out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?" Tony told him.

"Aww, maaaan!" cried Leyenar. "Gosh, Irah, what's wrong with you? I mean, I love you, but you can't just order him around like that! Let him speak."

"Thanks, Director!" Peter said, and immediately added "I'm trying to say that...something is coming."

A grenade rolled into view, and the quartet got thrown well back when it fired its energy pulse. Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis appeared in the doorway.

"THANOS!" yelled Drax as he flung a blade at Strange, who neatly deflected it with a mystical shield, and in return sent the Cloak of Levitation at Drax's face, half-smothering him and throwing him to the floor. Star-Lord and Tony had a brief dogfight until a magnetic disc pinned Tony face-first to a structure.

"AH! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! PLEASE DON'T PUT YOUR EGGS IN ME!" cried Peter, then shot web at Mantis in a panic, pinning arms to her body just before Star-Lord flew at him feet-first, kicking him away.

"Stay down, clown!" said Star-Lord, and Leyenar heard his voice. The Guardians had arrived! Immediately, she began singing.

Golden slumbers fill your eyes,

Smiles awake you when you rise,

Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry,

And I will sing a lullaby.

Once there was a way, to get back homeward,

Once there was a way, to get back home,

Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry,

And I will sing a lullaby.

"...Director?" said Star-Lord.

Leyenar smiled. "Yeah, it's me. What the hell are you fellas doing here?"

"You know them?" asked Tony, and Leyenar had to explain everything to him, Strange, and Peter. It had indeed been one helluva explanation, with Leyenar unable to keep her hands off Star-Lord all the time.

"So, you're not with Thanos?" asked Star-Lord.

"Us? With Thanos? Hell no!" Leyenar exclaimed. "I do appreciate him for his efforts, but c'mon! Gimme a break!"

And so, thanks to Leyenar, the Avengers and the Guardians decided to work together.

"The heck happened to this planet? It's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place." Star-Lord exclaimed.

"Yeah, we got one advantage. He's coming to us. We'll use it. All right, I have a plan. Or at least the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet." said Tony, causing Drax to yawn. "Are you yawning? In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?" asked Tony.

"I stopped listening after you said, "We need a plan."." said Drax.

"Okay, Mr. Clean is on his own page." Tony told Star-Lord.

Meanwhile, Leyenar was experimenting with the Time Stone. Suddenly, she opened her eyes with a jolt. "Oh, no." she murmured. "No, no, no, no, no..."

"What?" asked Peter.

"I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming fight." Leyenar huffed out.

"How many did you see?" asked Star-Lord.

"14000605." the director exclaimed. "Believe me, it was the wildest thing I ever saw."

"How many did we win?" asked Tony.

Leyenar paused for a second to catch her breath, and said "One."

Back at Nidavellir, Eitri was showing Thor, Rocket, and Groot the mold for Stormbreaker. "This is the plan? We're gonna hit him with a brick?" asked Rocket.

"It's a mold. A king's weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost." Eitri replied.

"Did it have a name?" asked Thor.

"Stormbreaker." said Eitri.

"That's a bit much."

"So how do we make it?" asked Rocket.

"You'll have to restart the forge. Awaken the heart of a dying star." Eitri explained.

"Rabbit, fire up the pod." Thor told Rocket.

Meanwhile, Thanos and Gamora were on Vormir. "The stone had better be up there...for your sister's sake." said Thanos. The walk up the mountain seemed to be long, but not difficult. Paths worn by centuries or more of feet led up to the summit, where Thanos and Gamora encountered a floating hooded figure.

"Welcome, Thanos, son of A'lars. Gamora, daughter of Thanos." said the hooded figure.

"You know us?" asked the Titan.

"It is my curse to know all who journey here." replied the figure.

"Where's the Soul Stone?" Thanos demanded.

"You should know...it extracts a terrible price." said the figure.

"I am prepared." Thanos declared.

"We all think that at first." said the figure, revealed to be the Red Skull. He guided the other two to a temple-like structure at the summit.

"How is it you know this place so well?" asked Thanos.

"A lifetime ago, I, too, sought the stones. I even held one in my hand. But it cast me out, banished me here. Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess." replied the Red Skull, and they stopped on a semicircular engraving overlooking a sheer drop. It descended in three shallow steps to a final half-circle cutout, the whole bisected by a deep cut that ran between the two spires behind them. Far, far below was a full circle with similar engraved decoration. "What you seek lies before you. As does what you fear." said the Red Skull.

"What's this?" asked Thanos.

"The price. Soul hold a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say it has a certain wisdom." replied the Red Skull.

"Tell me what it needs." Thanos demanded.

"To ensure that whoever possesses it... understands its power... the stone demands a sacrifice." the Red Skull explained. "In order to take the stone you must lose that which you love. A soul... for a soul."

Gamora began to laugh at the irony of the situation. "All my life, I dreamed of a day... a moment when you would get what you deserved. And I was always so disappointed. But now... you kill and torture... and you call it mercy. The universe has judged you. You asked it for a prize, and it told you no. You failed. And do you wanna know why? Because you love nothing. No one." she giggled, and Thanos turned to face her, all teary-eyed. "Really? Tears?" said Gamora, laughing harder.

"They're not for him." said the Red Skull.

Gamora looked at him, and her haughty smile turned into a panicked gasp as she realized what was coming. "No. This isn't love." she tried to protest.

"I ignored my destiny once. I cannot do that again. Even for you." said Thanos. Gamora stared down unseeing for a moment, then up at the resolution on his face. She grabbed the red-jeweled dagger from his belt with lightning reflexes, triggered the blades and stabs herself in the stomach...except it was only bubbles.

"I'm sorry, little one."

"No!" cried Gamora as she was being dragged to the altar. She tried in vain to break from his grasp, much like she tried to pull free from the Blcack order knight so many years ago, but, pain showing clearly on his face, he threw her over the edge, and watched sorrowfully as she falls to her death. Light pulsed overhead as the sacrifice is correctly accomplished.

Thanos found himself lying in one of the shallow pools back at the base of the mountain. He opened his hand and saw that he now has the orange Soul Stone.

Sam had drove Daisy, Rhodey, Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Wanda, and Vision to Wakanda via quinjet. King T'Challa and the Dora Milaje approached to greet the arrivals. "In all honesty, when you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world... this is not what I imagined." said General Okoye.

"And what did you imagine?" asked the king.

"The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks." Okoye replied as everybody got off the quinjet.

"Should we bow?" Bruce asked Rhodey.

"Yeah, he's a king." Rhodey replied.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." said Steve as he shook hands with the Black Panther, while Bruce bowed awkwardly.

"What are you doing?" asked Steve.

"Uh, we don't do that here." T'Challa explained, and Bruce shot Rhodey a big grin. "So how big of an assault can we expect?" asked T'Challa as the group began to walk back into the administrative building.

"Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault." said Bruce.

"How we looking?" asked Natasha.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa began.

"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man." finished the Soldier, cutting in.

"How you been, Buck?" asked Steve.

"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world." replied the Soldier.

In Shuri's lab, Shuri scanned the Stone with her kimoyo beads while Vision lay on the examination table. She flipped her hand over and studied the hologram projected over her palm. "Whoa. The structure is polymorphic." exclaimed the young princess.

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." said Bruce.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" asked Shuri, which Vision agreed with.

"Because, we didn't think of it." Bruce said uncertainly.

"I'm sure you did your best." Shuri said, offering him a warm smile.

"Can you do it?" asked Wanda.

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Shuri explained. She then turned to T'Challa and said "It will take time, brother."

"How long?" asked Steve.

"As long as you can give me." replied Shuri.

Okoye's kimoyo beads chimed out an alarm, she flicked one bead into her palm, where it projected the globe with a pulsing location marker. "Something's entered the atmosphere." she exclaimed.

Outside, Sam was looking at the sky with the Soldier. "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here!" he said over the Avengers' comm. The defense shield over the Golden City destroyed one of the alien vessels as it slammed into the field at full attack acceleration.

"God, I love this place." said the Soldier.

"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome." Rhodey declared, having taken down three more ships in full War Machine armor. The shockwaves and debris from the ship landings destroyed acres of forest and boiled up against the dome. The lab had an excellent view of the landing sites. Captain America and Black Panther looked at each other in concern over the scope of what they'll be facing.

"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now." said Vision, struggling to get off the table.

"No, it isn't. We can hold them off." Daisy said.

"She's right." T'Challa agreed. He, Okoye and the guards headed for the door.

"Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell." Steve ordered.

"Aye, aye, captain." replied Wanda.

T'Challa began snapping out orders. "Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures." He then pointed at Steve and said "And get this man a shield."