The battle of Wakanda had been lost. The Vision's body sans The Mind Stone lay colorless, expressionless and splayed out on the ground of the jungle like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The mighty God of Thunder himself stood where he had previously impaled Thanos the Mad Titan not a few seconds ago, breaths coming out shaky and unsteady. His mind was racing a million lightyears a minute.
What had just happened?
While The Statesman's Asgardian and Sakaaran refugees had been evacuated, Loki had quickly briefed their king on the nature of the threat that opposed them. His name was Thanos, the last remaining surviving resident of the planet Titan. He was a warlord, he had the most powerful army in the universe, and he was the reason the planet Xandar had never responded to The Grandmaster's desperate cries for aid against freedom fighters. Namely, they were still reeling from half of their own population being slaughtered.
Loki had only met the man a few times while entrusted with leading The Chitauri to conquer Earth six years ago, but made it very clear you did not want to be on Thanos' bad side. As the god of mischief was currently due to the intervention of Thor's "consistently annoying Midgardian playmates." He surmised Thanos wanted revenge for losing a battalion's worth of Chitauri soldiers and had desired Asgard for decades, but they were too well-connected up until Hela threw The Nine Realms into chaos.
So, he might as well settle for the next best thing and colonize its people instead.
The battle that had followed was nothing like Thor had ever experienced. Frost Giants, Dark Elves and Berserkers had all attacked and killed Asgardian citizens en masse before, but they were all eventually repelled. The Asgardian population had already endured so much. The loss of their King, their Queen not long before that, and so many other brave souls who had already perished during Hela's coup. Ragnarok being enacted was thought to be the worst of it.
Those battles at least had an air of fun, an inevitability that the day would be won and everyone could return home. Without a home, Asgardians seemed to realize for the very first time how ugly battle truly was. There was no other word to describe it. The Chitauri seemed to feel nothing, acting upon nothing but bloodlust for the sake of it. Their masters, The Black Order, were the exact opposite. Cackling madly as they decapitated widows, orphans and the wounded and mocking the Einhenjir's feeble attempts to avenge their loved ones.
Thor decided to hastily reassemble his makeshift team, The Revengers, to hold the front line. Valkyrie was swinging Dragonfang to and fro, taking massive swigs of liquor before belching fire and/or acid upon her enemies. Korg was using a pulse rifle, firing into the hordes randomly and screaming of his long-awaited revolution. Loki was casting spell after spell after spell to keep the invaders at bay, relying upon his trusty daggers and ice abilities when his opponents got too close. And Heimdall himself, robbed of everything from his post to his armor, was using anything he could get his hands on to punish those that had dared to lay a claim on his people.
Thor, of course, was leading them all, lightning flashing all about as he flew, fingers digging into the brains of foot soldiers like they were made of pudding and creating lightning storms powerful enough to make a Celestial stumble. He was exhausted and near the end of the battle he could barely stand, but he couldn't hesitate for one second. He just had to buy enough time for Banner (and to a lesser extent, Miek) to ensure as many citizens as possible could reach the escape pods, with a course charted for Earth.
But eventually, he and The Revengers' mass reserves of willpower were not enough and the Asgardians were routed.
"Word has arrived from up above. The master will be here in a minute or so. Loki Odinson." The pale, sneering Ebony Maw said, surveying his former ally. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."
"Ah, yes." Loki cleared his throat, surveying his captors bemusedly. "Clearly The Black Order isn't what it used to be. I heard all about what happened to the "old gang." I left, then not too long after Gamora did, The Other snuffed it, then that Kree terrorist did, and finally the grouchy cyborg…. How sad it must feel, to have boarded a boat whilst it was sinking?"
"You should talk." Ebony said, reaching out his hand and crushing the ribs of a particularly troublesome Einherjar without laying a single finger upon him. "How has failure treated you since we last spoke, exactly?"
"Well, let's see. What did I do for six years? Well, I escaped a prison and killed Algrim the Strong." Loki scratched his head. "Soon after, I defeated my father in battle, liberating it from his meandering mediocrity. Then I enjoyed the rule of Asgard for four glorious years, took a vacation, and then I liberated it again. This time from my evil sister. I just can't seem to lose for too long."
"His voice." The horned giantess Proxima Midnight snorted. "I remember it well."
"Like nails on a chalkboard." The hooded swordsman Corvus Glaive hissed. "My love, his tongue is my gift to you should the master have no use for it."
"If you're going to kill us, just do it." Valkyrie glared at the monstrous Cull Obsidian, who was eying her as though she were a rather annoying insect he longed to squish.
"That is not for me to decide." Ebony shook his head.
"I assume you don't live under a democratically elected government?" Korg asked. "We don't either, but I figured questions of general elections were better held after establishing our colony on a new home."
"Yes." Ebony nodded. "And no. The planets we embrace are allowed to go as they please, as long as they acknowledge what we have for so long. That the only person in the universe who can make the big choices too big for us mere mortals… is him."
And with that, the long-whispered about Thanos arrived via his ship's teleporter. His skin was purple-hued, his armor bright gold, both hands behind his back as he observed the crowd before him. He held up his right hand for silence at the excited chatter of his followers and the fearful whispers of his captives. Thor had expected Thanos to speak given his stance, but he remained silent, simply listening to Ebony recap the slight they had committed against his master.
When Loki had been found by Thanos' forces floating around the cosmos all those years ago, he had been tasked with obtaining a powerful object called The Tesseract in order to send The Chitauri to invade Earth. As a token of Thanos' gratitude, Loki was gifted a Sceptre capable of mass telepathy truly worthy of an Asgardian prince. However, The Battle of New York had ended with a crushing defeat of Loki's army, and The Sceptre was clutched by Earthling hands.
This defeat by a group of colorful, disparate warriors known as The Avengers had intrigued Thanos to no end, being told by his followers that challenging them was to court death only made him even more interested in the affairs of this tiny little blue pebble. He began his research into finding a more effective method of enacting his grand plan of maintaining order. The Celestials had utilized The Infinity Stones long ago to enact massive change. He began to wonder… being designed in the image of The Celestials as a citizen of Titan, would he be able to wield similar power to enact change as he saw fit? There was only one way to find out.
Thanos spent the following years obsessing over collecting the stones and calculating the most efficient way to collect them all, sending out his followers to retrieve any information they had on them. It was then Thanos came to a shocking revelation - all of this time, he had actually been in possession of an Infinity Stone for decades already, and never even knew about it. The Mind Stone had been in the very sceptre he had gifted Loki, and The Tesseract was a vessel that contained The Space Stone. He could have completed one third of the gauntlet by retrieving Loki after he had obtained The Tesseract, and hadn't even known about it.
And that was why, in Thanos' view, Asgard deserved the same fate that he had judged Xandar deserving. Their failing to hold their rulers accountable, their opulence, their sense of invincibility over all the realms the presided over, it reminded him all too much of what happened to Titan.
The Mad Titan then pointed out two members of The Revengers group and then the other three. The Chitauri split the Asgardian prisoners into two groups on the other side of the room. Thor didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to Valkyrie and Korg as he was roughly shoved to the right side of the room with Heimdall. He surveyed the crowd desperately, but Loki was nowhere to be found.
Thanos held up his right hand again, this time clenching it in an enclosed fist, knuckle face-up. He held it aloft for six seconds, and then smiled a sickeningly satisfied smile as he dropped it in a thumbs-down sign. His soldiers immediately opened fire upon the right side of the room.
"NO!" Thor had screamed as dozens of his people fell to the ground and the other half was dragged away to Thanos' ship. He and Heimdall charged at The Chitauri, only to all be wounded all the worse for their efforts. Loki had been found attempting to escape once more, and was dragged back to the center of the room, forced to watch the massacre of his people among his former colleagues.
Corvus stated Loki had attempted to camouflage himself among the left side of the room and escape, but he was the only surviving Einhinjar with pristine armor among the survivors, so he stuck out like a sore thumb. It was when Thor, the mortally wounded Heimdall and a speechless Loki were the only ones left that Thanos spoke.
Even Loki's illusion he had sent to Bruce Banner to inform him his unique talents were needed did little good. Thanos hadn't even bothered to use The Power Stone to insure his victory, a mere display of physical strength was enough.
The rest was a slow-moving, yet simultaneously rushed blur. His dear green-skinned friend was beaten to pulp and slammed onto the ground like he was garbage. Heimdall sending The Hulk away via the last of his control over the bifrost before being stabbed in the chest. Loki giving up The Power Stone to save Thor's life after so many years of conflict between them, only to have his neck snapped for his act of heroism. The blue Space Stone gleaming alongside the purple Power Stone. The ship being rented asunder.
The moment he had clutched his newly created Nidavellirian weapon, an uru axe entitled Stormbreaker, he had asked it where he should go next and it told him he would go where he would be most needed, he simply had to ask it. And so, he soared through the bifrost with his colleagues, battle-ready and eager to see what the super-weapon they had helped him create could actually do.
This battle felt far better, more familiar than his last. His two new friends, a rabbit named Rocket and a flora colossus named Groot had proved themselves very worthy companions. He'd be as honored to die alongside them as anyone who had been aboard The Statesman. And he saw his best friends, The Avengers, were there too! He had even saved a few of their lives with his arrival! He had done something purely good, just by being there. His heart swelled with a pride he hadn't felt for quite a bit. They could win.
Natasha, Steve and Bruce were his closest friends, of course. Founding a superhero team tends to bring people together. He remembered Sam, Wanda, and Rhodey fondly from inducting them to the team after The Battle of Sokovia. But the long-haired bearded man with the metal arm? The man in ebony garb with kitten ears? He recognized them not. But given how they fought, he made a mental note to get their proper names over drinks in the nearest tavern after their mutual enemies were routed.
Although he missed Barton and Stark (it didn't feel quite right, fighting without the other two of the original six missing), he enjoyed paying back Thanos for all he had exacted from him quite much. This was how battle was meant to be fought; fighting arm-in-arm with close friends, talking and joking throughout to seal the bonds even further.
"Thor! There is another ship on the horizon!" The cat-man called out to him. "Could you bottleneck it for us?"
"Of course. Oh - by your garb, it appears you are the Black Panther, chosen by the panther-god Bast, yes?" Thor impatiently held out his hand to call Stormbreaker back to him.
"How do you know about Bast?" Black Panther asked amazedly, sonic-kicking an opponent.
"I met her on my own quest for the Infinity Stones not too long ago." Thor smiled, retrieving Stormbreaker, which still had a head attached to it. He threw it up again towards the upcoming ship Black Panther had pointed out to him. "I just thought you should know she speaks quite highly of you and your reign. And seeing you lead your people today, I see why."
"I have heard much about you as well through the tales told to me by The Avengers." Black Panther nodded, offering a fist bump that Thor eagerly accepted. "From one king to another, you have my utmost of respect. We should break bread on a later date, and discuss what our peoples can learn from one another."
"When our schedules align, I'll cleave your bread with this!" Thor shouted down as he flew up to intercept another fleet of ships in the sky.
"So dramatic, this guy. I love being a superhero." Black Panther said.
It was as he had taken down the last ship Thor surveyed the battlefield, feeling his first bit of hesitance as he wondered where he should go next.
What now?
His body went into miniature spasms midair, not unlike the visions he had received that had sent him on the path to retrieve the Infinity Stones three years ago. Thanos was standing over the bodies of his friends, attaching his long-deprived prize of The Mind Stone to his ultimate weapon, all six stones now bejeweling The Infinity Gauntlet-
His arm jerked almost as if it had a will of its own and blasted a massive surge of power cosmic to kill Thanos. When the villain responded with a blast of his own using all six of the stones, Thor didn't even hesitate to pour on the power all the more as he tossed his axe, draining all of his reserves. And then, it was over. Thanos' chest now had Stormbreaker stuck inside of it.
"I told you." Thor snarled, holding The Mad Titan's head in place so he could look into his eyes as the lights went out. "You die for that."
The despot was slurring his words, muttering incomprehensibly as his last seconds ticked away. Thor hung onto every syllable, knowing he would comfort himself when he couldn't sleep in the nights to follow he would remember these last words forever.
"You should have gone for the head."
Thanos smiled almost mischievously as he snapped his fingers.
"NO!"
All went white within the vision of everyone in the cosmos for a moment. Then, the universe seemed to know to pull itself back together. The Infinity Gauntlet was smoking, crushed under the weight of Thanos' wish.
"What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Thor demanded.
Thanos raised the gauntlet once more to disappear, but this time Thor left nothing to chance and seized his foe, ensuring wherever he was going, the god of thunder would follow.
Thor found himself on a strange planet, having been tossed aside with a right hand Thanos crushing Stormbreaker in his left, gloved fist seemingly effortlessly.
"You'll never be a god, indeed." He said.
Thor furiously raised his hands to cast bolt upon bolt of lightning upon the mad titan, but his powers now seemed to fail him as they had after Mjolnir had been destroyed. But it was worse than that, somehow. He felt an aching tiredness overtake him, a funny feeling that the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up.
He cradled a shard of Stormbreaker's metal that had ricocheted to his feet as Thanos healed himself with the reality stone, looking down upon the being that had caused this injury with bemusement.
"What do I do now?" Thor asked.
Throw me.
Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.
Thor obliged.
Thanos raised the gauntlet to repel it once more, but it went past the shield entirely and off to parts unknown.
"Little lightning bug." Thanos kneeled to the ground, patting Thor on the back as though a teacher lecturing a troubled pupil. "Your entire bloodline has given me such trouble for so long… and now that ends with you blood lining my floorboards. Any last attempt at dignity?"
"By Odin's beard, I and all those you have wronged shall be avenged." Thor said. He felt as if he was nodding off now, so he closed his eyes.
He would have been dusted along with the other fifty percent of the universe, if the soul stone hadn't flashed orange and Thor's heart stopped beating. His body keeled over gently, a vast contrast to his large frame. A lone tear exited his remaining organic eye.
"How the mighty have fallen."