And now we get to the Infinity War chapter, and I gotta tell you, this has been a long time coming. I had to wait until the movie came out (It was awesome, by the way), but it gave me everything I needed. Anyway, let's head on in.
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, the MCU, or any other franchise that appears in this chapter. Also, Infinity War spoilers ahead.
The light faded away, leaving nothing of Vision on the forest floor. Thanos lowered his Gauntlet hand, impressed at the young human's willingness to do what needed to be done. She was on her hands and knees, tears streaming down her face as the Titan approached.
"I understand, my child." Thanos walked forward. "Better than anyone."
"You could never." Wanda spat, eliciting a grimace from Thanos.
"Today I lost more than you could know." The Titan gently caressed Wanda's hair, pushing the sound of Gamora's screaming out of his mind. "But now is no time to mourn." He approached the site of Vision's destruction. "Now... is no time at all."
Clenching his fist, the Gauntlet activated the Time Stone, and Thanos began his work. Everything in the vicinity reversed as pieces of debris took their shape, Vision's destruction slowly being undone. The light flare reversed as Vision was now kneeling before him, body and more importantly, the Mind Stone intact.
"NO!"
Scarlet Witch leapt to her feet, but Thanos backhanded her away, before lifting up Vision by the neck. The android could only struggle in futility as Thanos reached for the Mind Stone, then ceased his struggles completely when the Titan tore it out, his body turning grey as he died.
Thanos tossed the lifeless husk aside, before putting the Mind Stone in its proper place on the Gauntlet. He yelled as the combined power of the Infinity Stones flowed through him, a power greater than he could ever imagine.
But suddenly, the Titan found himself launched away by a massive bolt of lightning, and struggled to his feet in spite of the pain. Thor cut off the lightning and immediately threw Stormbreaker, just as Thanos unleashed an energy blast from all six Stones.
The dwarf-made axe overpowered the energy of the Stones, before embedding itself in Thanos' chest. The Titan coughed, collapsing to one knee with Thor landing right next to him, hatred in his eyes.
"I told you." Thor growled, memories of what the Titan had done to his people floating in his eyes. "You'd die for that!" The God of Thunder pushed the axe in deeper, causing Thanos to cry out in agony. Thor just watched, grimly satisfied with the pain Thanos was in as the Titan struggled to speak.
Eventually though, he did speak again.
"You should have gone for the head." Thanos raised his Gauntleted hand, only to be interrupted by the end of a glowing blue spear emerging from his throat. Thor took a step back in shock, only to get a good view of the figure holding the spear.
It was huge, towering over the already massive form of the Mad Titan. Its skin was a sickly green-yellow, with four arms, a serpentine like tail in place of legs, and a head that resembled a sea scorpion. How it had managed to get so close without being spotted, Thor didn't know.
"Death is but a moment, a passing form." The creature pulled the spear out as spores poured from one of its other hands, while a third grabbed the Infinity Gauntlet and the fourth backhanded Thor away. The spores entered Thanos' open wounds and started changing him, his purple skin abruptly sprouting cancerous green-yellow growths all over.
"From that I have surpassed," The transformation was complete, as Thanos' soft voice became one with the rasping baritone of this other creature. "I am death reborn." The new arrival tore the Gauntlet and the Stones away, as the former body of Thanos stood back up.
The rest of the Avengers, Black Panther, Okoye, Rocket and Groot had also recovered, staring in shock at the two creatures in front of them. But it was Natasha, Steve and Sam who realized just what was happening.
"Oh god." That came from Black Widow as a look of dawning terror emerged on her face. "It's the Flood!"
Suddenly, two more figures appeared out of nowhere behind Thor, both clad in sealed armor. "GET BACK!" One shouted. Both raised their swords and unleashed energy blasts at the two Flood forms, only for an invisible barrier to halt the beams in their tracks.
Despite this, the barrier started to crack, only for the Mind Stone on the Gauntlet to flare. At that moment, the energy from the two attackers dissipated as the mental energy flowed into their minds, causing them both to scream.
A wave of energy was unleashed, sending Stormbreaker flying out of Thanos' chest and knocking Thor and the two armored figures away. The large alien vanished into a portal, holding the completed Infinity Gauntlet, while a large pack of bubbling infection forms took its place alongside a strange alien figure.
"You will be food. Nothing more."
The Flood form formerly known as Thanos charged forward, crashing through the Wakandan undergrowth as the three gods got back to their feet. Thor immediately unleashed a burst of lightning, but the Titan managed to dodge it cleanly before leaping high into the air.
Meanwhile, the other let loose a cloud of spores, which immediately began changing the environment. Any bodies it touched twisted and shifted, turning into horrific abominations. Even the plant life began shifting, as the cloud of spores began drifting forward.
"Fall back!" Captain America shouted. "Don't breath that stuff in."
Meanwhile, Thor had recovered and flew at Thanos, taking the former Titan's advice and lashing out with Stormbreaker, the hammer impacting deep into Thanos' brain. Unfortunately, this seemed to do nothing but piss him off, and the God of Thunder was backhanded away, before the diseased and headless body pulled the axe out of its head.
That was all the corrupted Thanos had time to do before his body was hit by a beam of light and disintegrated into ash. Thor turned in shock to see the arrival in darker armor hovering in the air, having recovered from the mental attack. Seconds later, his ally made his own recovery known.
There was burst of light, fire and heat and suddenly, the spore creating form was gone, along with a significant amount of the Wakandan landscape. The Avengers and their allies stared in shock as the two armored arrivals had destroyed Thanos and every subsequent Flood form, leaving a scar of glassed forest around them.
"... I am Groot."
"You said it: what the hell just happened?!" Rocket asked incredulously.
"What were those creatures?" Okoye demanded, turning to Natasha and the rest of the Avengers. "And why weren't we told about them?"
"I must ask the same." Thor said, turning to the new arrivals. "I've never seen those things before in my life."
"Ditto." Rocket said. "And if they took the Stones..."
"It's a long story." One of the arrivals said, then paused. "Actually hold that thought."
Suddenly, they were all in a large room, gathered together. The entire group of Avengers in Wakanda, plus T'Challa, Okoye, Shuri, Rocket and Groot. There was a quick flash of light and suddenly another group appeared.
"What the-" Tony Stark spun around in confusion, only to see the rest of the team here. "Steve? What's going on? Where's Thanos?"
"That... is complicated." Meanwhile, the Guardians glanced around in confusion while Strange's eyes were wide.
"This wasn't what I saw..." Strange trailed off as he noticed the two armored figures standing there. "Oh, this is bad."
"You know of these people?" Thor asked, gesturing to them with Stormbreaker.
"They're extremely powerful." Strange shook his head. "Arguably the most powerful beings in the multiverse. But if they're here that can only mean one thing..."
"Yes." The Separatist Ruler nodded grimly. "The Flood have taken the Infinity Stones."
"Ok, hold up. Can someone explain just what the hell is going on?" Tony asked. "Where's Thanos, what does a Flood have to do with anything, and who the hell are these guys?"
"Well, this is gonna take a moment."
...
Suddenly, everyone present was filled with the knowledge of what Strange and the previously fugitive Avengers had already known: they learned of the Republic and Separatists, and their conflict in the multiverse beyond. They learned of the Flood and its ravenous nature. They learned of just what happened recently to Thanos and the Stones and could only imagine what would happen next.
"Ok... That was... Ok..." Spider-Man shook his head and shuddered, still reeling from the images in his mind. It was something the rest could relate to.
"Wait, how did you know about this?" Bruce asked, looking towards the fugitive Avengers. "Who told you about this 'Flood'?"
"That would be me." A figure stepped out from behind the two gods, gaining shocked looks from Thor and Banner and confused looks from the others. "Well, this is awkward." Phil Coulson muttered.
"You're alive?" Thor gaped. "But how? Loki killed you."
"It's a long story that we currently don't have time for." Steve interjected. "What we need to do now is focus on what comes next."
"Stopping the Flood." Strange murmured, though his lack of confidence was worrying for the rest.
"How do you stop something like that?" Wanda trembled. "And if it has the Infinity Stones, how can we fight it?"
"Hold on, if it has the Stones, why haven't they been used?" Thor pointed out. "What is it waiting for?"
"That... we don't know." The Republic Supreme Commander said. "Though there is one thing I know for sure:" There was yet another flash of light as more figures appeared.
"You're going to need everyone in this fight."
Several of them were human, or at least looked the part, but there were a couple who stood out: in particular, the previously seen dead android was now looking quite alive, albeit slightly confused as the majority of the Avengers gathered around him.
"Vision." Wanda immediately embraced the repaired android. "I'm so, so sorry."
"It's not your fault, Wanda." Vision gently stroked her hair.
"He won't have the same power level." The Republic Supreme Commander crossed his arms. "I can't replicate an Infinity Stone so easily."
"You brought him back?" Steve asked.
"It was a fairly simple matter." Came the reply. "Synthetic life is much more difficult to kill than organic life, and much, much easier to resurrect."
"Never thought I'd hear the day that bringing someone back from the dead is supposed to be easy." Coulson muttered.
While the Avengers welcomed their comrade back to the land of the living, the Guardians of the Galaxy approached the green-skinned alien woman, with everyone but Rocket and Groot being amazed.
"Gamora?" Peter was on the brink of tears. Gamora was crying herself as she and Quill embraced, laughing in relief as she did.
"I thought Thanos killed you." Nebula whispered, tears also welling in her eyes.
"Wait, what?!"
"I am Groot?!"
"He did." Gamora's expression was one of relief and confusion as she and Peter reluctantly pulled apart. She turned to the Supreme Commander. "What exactly did you do?"
"Wasted his energy, that's what." The Separatist Ruler was given a sharp glare from his counterpart, which was shared by the rest of the Guardians and most of the Avengers.
"Um excuse me, but what exactly is going on here?" Everyone turned to the Wasp, as she, Ant-Man and Hawkeye looked around the meeting room with confused expressions.
"Um, extradimensional alien parasite, wants to devour everything, now has the six most powerful objects in the universe in its possession." Tony stopped at three fingers counting, then looked around. "Did I miss anything?"
"That's more or less spot on." Strange snarked.
"So, it seems things have gone to hell pretty quickly." Daisy whispered to Coulson as she, Lincoln and Yo-yo met up with their boss. "Let me guess; the Flood is back?"
"How'd you guess?"
Before anyone could say anything else, a flaming portal emerged, similar to Strange's Sling Ring portals. But it wasn't Wong or any of the Kamar-Taj mystics emerging, but a young man clad in a black leather jacket with a white symbol, and a length of chain wrapped around him like a sash.
"Ok, I got your message, what's happening this time?" Robbie Reyes was barely holding his exasperation, and ignoring the confused looks from most of the gathering. His eyes scanned the room, coming to a stop at the SHIELD agents. "Good to see you guys again." His gaze then turned to Strange and his eyes narrowed.
"Doctor."
"Mr. Reyes." Strange said, his tone polite, but sharp.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Daisy asked.
"It's complicated." Strange replied. "We had a brief... encounter six months ago."
"Oh by the way," Robbie's eyes briefly turned a fiery orange. "he's still mad about that."
"Alright, now that everyone's here, we can get started." The Separatist Leader interjected, clapped his hands together and a hologram of the stars lit up the room.
"Hold on a second." Rhodey called out. "Are we all seriously just going to listen to a pair of random strangers that we've never heard of until today?"
"Actually we have," Steve gestured to Natasha and Coulson, then to himself, Sam and Wanda. "We've known about them for a few months now. Believe me, I had the same concerns you have now, but I don't think this is the time to argue."
"I am inclined to agree." T'Challa nodded. "If what they have shown is true, we could be facing a threat even greater than Thanos."
"There's no 'could' about it." Strange shook his head. "None of us can fight these things alone. And even together, we're more than outmatched."
"He's right, unfortunately." The Supreme Commander sighed. "The last time the Flood really cut loose, they consumed roughly 70% of known life in the multiverse."
"If they're that dangerous, why are you still here?" Shuri asked, her tone merely curious. It was Strange who answered in their stead.
"Oh, they left half an hour ago." Strange said simply. "They just left behind copies of themselves to continue this conversation."
"Smart man." The Separatist Ruler crossed his arms.
"It wasn't hard to guess." The Doctor replied.
"And yet, why didn't you see this coming?" Stark demanded, turning to Strange. "You said you viewed over 14 million potential futures, was this in any of them?"
"No it wasn't." Strange shook his head, frustration etched on his features. "I'm still not sure what went wrong." He admitted.
"Most likely due to the Relic of Knowledge." Everyone turned to the Supreme Commander, who shrugged. "It likely used that to obfuscate the Time Stone's powers. And combine that with the fact that most clairvoyant capabilities tend to be less reliable when the multiverse is involved, and, well, this happened."
"As interesting as this all is." The Ruler's tone indicated it was anything but. "Might I suggest we all return to the topic at hand?"
...
After coming to terms with everything that happened, the discussion ultimately changed to what needed to be done when the Flood came back. The Republic and Separatist leaders admitted that they may not be able to help as much as they would like to, which left the heroes to decide what they needed to do.
Ultimately, there were a number of side objectives: Thor desired to find his remaining people and get them to safety, while the Guardians wanted to ensure the other planets in their universe were safe, while Strange desired to protect the Sanctums on Earth. And everyone else wanted to make sure their families and loved ones were safe.
"We've already prepared evacuation procedures for a number of worlds." The Republic Supreme Commander said, before turning to Thor. "And we may have located the surviving Asgardians."
"Thank you." The God of Thunder's relief was palpable.
"Our main priority is protecting lives." Steve pointed out. "If this Flood will be as omnipresent as you say, how do you intend to evacuate so many people."
"We have our means. Rest assured, reducing civilian casualties is our priority. Any other question?"
There was a brief moment of silence, then Groot raised his hand.
"I am Groot." The rest of the Guardians had exasperated looks at that, with Quill groaning, Gamora sighing and Rocket shaking his head.
"You seriously weren't paying attention?" Rocket barely resisted the urge to facepalm.
"Oh shit." That drew more attention back to the superpower leaders. Both the Republic Supreme Commander and Separatist Ruler looked at each other, concern etched on both of their faces. "We've gotta go, right now!"
And with that, the two copies vanished, leaving the rest of the heroes alone in the barren room... which didn't seem to have any doors. It was Scott Lang who raised the obvious question.
"Wait, how are we supposed to get out of here?" A blue-white portal appeared and a robotic figure emerged from it. His body was a shade of yellow-gold and he had a strange ornate mask on his face. A robot looking beetle was on his shoulder, chattering curiously at the latest events.
"Apologies for cutting this short, but it seems they may have located where the Stones and the other artifacts have been taken." The latest arrival said. "This will take you back to your world."
"And... who are you exactly?" Quill asked.
"I am Mata Nui."
...
As the two of them followed the source, it was just dawning on them regarding how much the Gravemind had played them for fools. Every one of its attacks in the last few years were put into a new light.
Attacking Atmos, invading the Bending Earth, manipulating the Red Lotus, making the IDA fall into chaos: it was all just a distraction for what the Gravemind actually sought, and what it now had.
Now though, they had finally detected the energy from all the powerful artifacts it had acquired. To that end, both rulers had focused all their energy and recalled the copies they left behind as they approached the epicenter.
They arrived on the Mortis Monolith, where the Throne of Balance had been hidden. The entire Force planet was in turmoil, with Flood biomass spreading everywhere. Strangely, despite the tentacles and tendrils everywhere, nothing moved to even hinder their progress.
The two leaders found an archway, creating a portal deeper into Mortis. Stepping through, they found themselves in a massive room filled with stars. Only a narrow outlined path marked their feet, ripples emanating from their footsteps. Several paths branched out, but one large one led straight to a platform, one that contained what they were looking for.
"You have come." The voice of the Gravemind echoed everywhere. "Far too late to stop it."
It was speaking through its Primordial body, which was just sitting there on the Throne of Balance, the Infinity Gauntlet in one hand and the Spear of Destiny in the other. The lower two hands had split into a pair of tentacles each, holding all four of the God Brother relics.
But something was wrong: all the artifacts were having their power drained, they could see it. But where that energy was going, even the Republic and the Separatist leaders couldn't say.
At least, not at first.
Then they saw it: the familiar shape, one far too large to exist in such a form. Mortis' barriers were collapsing, it's power being drained like all the rest. And now they knew exactly why the Gravemind had taken these artifacts.
To rebuild its old body.
The two armored beings looked each other and nodded. If they could disrupt the flow of power, they could prevent the Gravemind from completing its work. That was their thought, at least until the Gravemind's most powerful mental blast to date, driving them both to their knees.
Mocking words and horrific images were implanted in their minds once again, as the two of them struggled against it. Slowly but surely however, they refused to give in, and struggled against the intrusion with all their might.
The Separatist Ruler powered through the mental attack, and unleashed a blast of energy at the Primordial form. A moment later, the Republic Supreme Commander managed to do the same, and eventually their combined energies disintegrated it, causing the artifacts it was holding to clatter to the ground.
But they were too late; their power had been completely drained, with each one muted of color now. And the billion lightyear in diameter Flood form was back, looming over them as its laughter echoed through the stars.
Its power had been reborn.
Yeah, this just happened, and boy was it a long time coming. Truth be told, I didn't really want to kill Thanos in this. He was such an awesome villain in Infinity War, and I really didn't want to take away his big moment. But of course, the Gravemind isn't going to want half of its potential food turned to dust, so obviously it wouldn't let that happen.
Anyway, the next chapter will follow just what the Gravemind does next, and suffice to say, it's not going to be pleasant for the multiverse at large. Hopefully that'll be out sooner rather than later, but I can't guarantee it.
Still, with all that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.