-Several days ago-
The mad titan smiled to himself as he adjusted the Gauntlet on his fist, the feeling of Unimaginable power surging through his entire body. His blood boiled with the exploding force of trillions upon trillions of supernovas. He could feel every living being in the universe, every breath they took, every thought they made, every futile attempt they made to prolong their insignificant lives. He could see everything, from the very beginning of existence to the very moment the universe would tear itself apart. The past, the present, the future, all appeared to his eyes simultaneously.
He could feel the very fabric of reality shift and bend in the palm of his hand. He was one with the universe, in all its spender.
He felt like a God.
And the only ones who dared to stand before him, during his final moment of victory were these weak insects, trying to avenge a world they failed to protect. He took a Single step towards the only other beings left who dared to oppose him, The look of determination on their faces amused him, the audacity of these creatures to even try and stop him was laughable, now that he had all of the stones.
"I hope you understand," Thanos spoke, His voice thundering, as his mere presence seemed to set the sky over new york city ablaze with an unholy light that blinded anyone foolish enough to stare at it. "That everything that happens now will be because of you."
This would be the final battle that the Earth's mightiest heroes would fight.
The Asgardian would fall to dust, just like his brother and their dead kingdom.
The man in the iron suit would be torn apart and left to watch as the world he worked so hard to create was destroyed before his eyes.
The monster and the man who contained it will have their minds as well their bodies beaten down until it was nothing more than a dark smear on the ground he once walked upon.
As for the soldier...
"I never took much pleasure from senseless torture," He took another step, cracking the earth beneath him and sending tremors throughout the world with each step he took. Closer to the man whose very presence gave hope to the hopeless, and who seemed to spark whatever resolve was left in the bodies of his comrades.
"I never prolonged the suffering of those who stood against me. But you?" The titan stared long and hard at Captain Steve Rogers, finding that even when staring at the face of a being with the powers of the universe itself, the human did not falter, he did not flinch.
That would have to change.
"The things I will do to you will certainly put a smile on my face."
Present day
-Alice P.O.V-
Alice was holding both of her hands in front of her mouth, desperate to make as little noise as possible. Her breath came in short, rushed gasps as her tiny lungs hyperventilated from sheer fear. Like many times in the past few days, the flood of men began to fill the halls of the stone prison as night fell. Nine men, already half drunk and smelling like wets dogs leered at them with cruel black eyes, promising more of the same things they had done to them day after day.
One by one, the devils would drag the women out of their cages, often beating them with wooden sticks and whips as they did. They would...do others things to them, things Alice didn't like to think about. The way they would scream and cry and beg for them to stop was more horrifying than anything Alice could imagine. Alice had closed her eyes, averted her face and crawled as far away from the nightmare as she could. But even with her hands covering her ears, she could still hear so much.
She dreaded the moment when her turn would come.
"What about this one?" a man with a scar running down his left cheek said to a man in an eye patch. They were talking about her! Alice closed her eyes tighter, tears building up from the sound of their disgusting voices.
"Save her for Hicks when he gets back, he's gonna need to relieve some stress when he gets back," the eye patch man said, licking his lips in a way that made Alice want to throw up.
Time went by like a slow trickle of water. Horrible and slow, but still clear. Alice knew when her turn would come now. When the man named Hicks came for her, until then though she had to watch and hear what was happening to the others. The women in the cages were nice, withdrawn and sad but still nice. They didn't deserve whatever was happening to them, but Alice thought no person deserved what was happening to them. She hadn't looked at them. She didn't want to see who the monsters would hurt next. She didn't want a face to go along with the sounds she was hearing.
It had to be worse than actually dying. When people were dead, they didn't feel anything bad anymore. She didn't want to be hurt. She wanted to live, but she wanted to stay unhurt so much more. If dying meant not being hurt like the devils hurt you, dying couldn't be worse.
The first woman was dragged out of her cage.
Despite herself, Alice still begged her parents to save her, to save everyone here. But she hadn't seen her father since their village was attacked and her mother was kept locked away on the other side of the camp. Which hurt Alice so much more because of how close she was to her mother and how she still couldn't be with her.
The air stunk. Like a bad, clogged toilet and blood and puke and sweat. Breathing it made her feel light in her head, but she could still feel her heart pounding. More devils came in through the door. They all laughed as the woman struggled against their grips, throwing her to one another like it was some sort of sick game. She struggled, and screamed, like all the others they took, elbowing a man in the face and breaking his nose and grabbing a knife from the belt of another and stabbing the scatted man in the shoulder.
She fought like they all had. She lost, too. Just like they all had.
Her face was blooded when she was thrown on the table, each of her arms and legs held tight by a devil as the scarred man took his turn at the front of the line.
"I'm gonna make you regret that, bitch"
Then, the impossible happened.
For a brief moment, Alice felt that the whole world slowed down before her, allowing her to see everything that happened that next moment. Everything seemed to explode. The wooden door lept from its heavy frame and impacted on one of the devils, knocking him to the ground as several of his bones audibly cracked. A Blue figure, almost a blur appeared suddenly and seemed to lift a man off the ground and throw him against the hard metal bars of their cage, hard enough to dent the black iron. So many things happened at once that she found it hard to keep track of them.
"SHIT,SHIT,SHIT,!" A man with dark eyes and a thick beard screamed as he was manhandled and lifted off the ground like he was a child. His body becoming a living, screaming weapon used to hammer and beat several other men who tried to run away or hide. The sound flesh and bone bouncing off more flesh and bone were the only sounds audible after the bearded mans screaming died down before he was tossed to the side and landed with a thud on the stone floor, Covered in the blood of his comrades as well as his own.
The man with the scarred cheek and yellow teeth was kicked so hard in the stomach he flew into the wall, a red stain appearing where his head impacted the cold stone.
The four men holding the woman down where thrown to the floor one by one by an unknown force, their necks twisted and bent in ways Alice didn't think necks were supposed to bend. as Alice swore the sound of church bells filled the room. The last devil moved towards the figure, but his body was flung to the other side of the room a second later, hitting the wall with a wet sound.
And then the room was quiet.
None of the older women in the cage dared to even breath, fearing any movement or sound would somehow send their savior away, but Alice thought that was silly. A knight who could defeat a room filled with evildoers would never be scared off by those he saved.
But wait... was he a knight? Alice thought to herself. She had never seen a knight before, her father had wanted to take her to a tournament last summer, but Alices mother thought she was much too young to go. But she had read countless books about knights, about the great Dragon knights of the west, and of the legendary Wolf swordsman of the north, and about their many adventures. Alice may not have ever seen a knight before, but she imagined if she did, they must look like the man in front of her.
But she had to be sure. "Are you a knight?" she whispered.
The man simply nodded.
That was enough for her, and it seemed to be good enough for the other people in the cage as well. The fear and exhaustion of the caged women were forgotten momentarily as they shot up towards the knight.
If it wasn't for the iron bars that separated them, Alice would have given her knight the biggest hug she had ever given to anyone, and she figured many of the others wanted to do the exact same thing, but before her eyes, the knight grabbed the thick iron chain that kept them locked in and with a single pull snapped the thick iron like a trig.
Before the metal shards even hit the ground, Alice ran to hug the knight's massive leg, which could have been a tree trunk, next to her tiny frame. Clearly, the man had not expected such a greeting "Uh…hello," he said, his voice low and masculine, but his words soft as if he did not wish to scare her. The sudden action seemed to awaken the other women as they poured out of their cages. While some were much too skittish to get closer to their savior, dozens more encircled the man, with strange blue garb. Most were sobbing their thanks in broken voices, some needed to be carried out of their bondage, too malnourished to even move their bodies.
Chain after chain was ripped apart and left crumpled like discarded pieces parchment, iron gates that required keys to enter were ripped out of the stone wall with strength Alice didn't know a single man could have, but her knight didn't seem to be like most men. By the time the knight was done every tool of imprisonment littered the floor and the room was filled to the brim with the newly freed women.
"All right. The tree line is northwest, don't make a move until after the fighting stars. Stay low and don't stop moving, I have men in the woods waiting for you, they'll get you all to safety if things get dangerous" The knight spoke as he led the women to the room's exit.
"You're not coming with us?" A woman, whose perfect complexion was marred by bruises and little sleep said, her voice cracking with fear. She wasn't alone as more of the captives felt it would be a death sentence for them if they tried to escape alone.
"there are more captives that need rescuing I can't let them suffer more than they already have." The man said, his voice filled with such strength and confidence, Alice felt herself stand a little bit taller than she did normally.
"But what if more of those vile men attack us! there are hundreds of them still out there!" Another woman said while tending to the bloodied woman who was about be defiled before the knight's sudden appearance.
"Don't worry about them." The knight said before turning to leave them." They're not going to hurt anyone ever again."
Excerpt from "The shield of the people," by Professor Stephanie Levantyne, Chancellor of the Royal University of Ken.
It would be impossible to understate or downplay the importance of Sir Steven Rogers on the whole of Eostian Society, nor would it be inaccurate to say that he was the single most important figure during " The first Eostian Civil War", or what it is commonly known to the average citizen as "The Black Dog Rebellion." After so many years the man, who many call the "The knight of the White Star" and "The shield of Eostia", has been canonized in the hearts and minds of all who knew him and all who grew up hearing of his exploits. But it is important to understand the man behind the legend, and the kind heart and unbreakable spirit behind the greatest soldier and hero the realm had ever known.
This is a pretty short chapter and one that went through a lot of trial and error. I originally wrote about 4000 words detailing Captain America destroying The Kuroinu camp while having flashbacks of what caused him to appear from his world. But after re-reading, it came across as unbalanced, weirdly paced and quite frankly a little redundant. So I decided to go with a less is more strategy.
So for the sake of moving the story Foward and the fact that well, I think the most fun about the story will come from not seeing Steve destroy nameless mercenaries but from seeing a dude like Steve "the best guy ever" Rogers interact with characters who run on "Porn logic" and seeing him beat named characters like vault like they were red-headed stepchildren So I decided to cut this chapter short to speed up Steves meeting with the seven shield alliance.
Either way, I hope you guys like it.
Review, favorite, whatever else you guys do.