Loki and Thor stood side by side in front of the window, and watched as the Mad Titan's ship, the one only Loki recognized, stopped itself in front of their own.
"Who is that?" Thor asked, turning to his brother.
Loki took several nervous steps backwards and said hesitantly, "We have to get out of here!"
"Loki?" Thor asked, "Where are you going?" He followed him out of the room and down the hallways of the ship from Sakaar, after him.
"Don't let them board!" Loki demanded as he ran down the ship straight to Heimdal in the crowd of Asgardians.
Heimdal stepped forward with the massive sword to the bifrost, and said, "He's a man from Titan."
"His name is Thanos," Loki explained frantically, "he wants to get rid of half of all life throughout the entire universe and he can do that with the infinity stones."
Coming up from behind him, Thor said, "Why would he bother us, we don't have any infinity stones." Loki opened his long coat and revealed the tesseract.
"Loki!" Thor shouted, "Get rid of that thing!"
"No," Heimdal commanded, "we can use it to transport everyone out of here. You wanted to go to Earth, we'll teleport there with this. You know how to use it, Loki."
He replied with a smirk, "Of course but where on Earth should we go?"
"Norway," Thor replied, putting his hand angrily on Loki's shoulder, "they love us there." Loki pulled away from him and stepped to the side.
They had to organize the Asgardians quickly, as there was no time to waste. As the clock ticked, and everyone began marching through the portal, it became clear that someone would have to stay behind and stall Thanos for more time. They only had minutes.
With the plan set into motion, Bruce stood off to the side from everyone else as the families evacuated and asked, "Who's staying behind?"
"You have to go to Earth," Heimdal answered.
Thor explained, "He's right, Banner. The Avengers will believe you when you tell them Thanos is coming, and that he'll leave no planet unsearched and destroyed until he gets what he wants. I'll be the one who stays behind."
"You can't stay alone," Heimdal added, "I'll fend him off with you."
"Thor," Loki said, "you should know he won't hesitate to kill anyone in his way."
"Then get out of here," he said, turning his back to him, "save yourself and the rest of Earth with the tesseract."
Dumbfounded, Loki stared at him in shock. Bruce asked, "You really want him to come to Earth with me? Him of all people?"
"If I leave you behind, dear brother, promise me you won't die," Loki said hastily.
"We'll meet again, Loki," Thor said as he walked away toward Thanos, "in this life or the next!" Heimdal was right behind him.
Holding himself together as best as he could, and utterly failing, Loki said as calmly as he could, "I know where to go."
"We should wait another minute for them," Bruce insisted.
"Any longer and we'll be sucked into the vacuum of space when Thanos crumbles the ship," Loki said as he took the tesseract and used it's power once again.
This time, they landed directly on the stairs of the sanctum sanitarium, where Wong and Doctor Stephen Strange were surprised by their sudden presence.
"What are you doing here?" Doctor Strange demanded as he pointed at Loki.
"Thanos is coming to destroy half of the population and get the infinity stones," he said hastily.
"Who's Thanos?" Wong asked.
Bruce stood up and pulled himself together as he said, "He's right. An alien is coming here to destroy everyone."
Tony Stark stared at Bruce in awe and gave him a hug right after he entered the building. "Aliens are attacking the planet," he said half sarcastically, "that's nice, and you made it!" He stared at Loki, "Why are you doing here?"
"I'm the one with this," he brought out the tesseract once again.
"How did you get your hands on that?" Tony demanded as Loki hid it once again.
"It was in my father's vault under the very palace I lived in," Loki replied, "I stole it when no one was looking. Thor's still in space, trying to hold Thanos off as long as he can." He frowned at the thought of knowing he was likely dead.
Bruce worked around their awkward silences and said, "We need to get Steve on the phone now. We're going to need everyone from everywhere! Why didn't you bring Steve here when I called?"
Tony confessed sadly, "The Avengers broke up."
"What?" he asked, dumbfounded, "You mean like a band? What happened to saving the world when things go to hell like they're about to do right now? We don't have time for this, Tony!"
"Things got torn up between us," he explained slowly, as if the words hurt to say, "he found his old pal, and he happened to kill my mom years ago. It's complicated."
Doctor Strange stepped up and said, "We're going to have to put petty squabbles aside if we need to stop an intergalactic alien war that's coming straight to us."
Tony scoffed at him and said, "This wasn't petty. It was the difference between taking accountability for our actions and not, and Cap chose not to." He pulled out the flip phone Steve Rogers had mailed him two years before. "I don't know...I don't know if I can do it."
"If you can't make the call, Tony, I will," Bruce said, taking the phone from him.
Steve, Natasha, Wanda, Vision, and Sam walked into the avengers headquarters in upstate New York to meet with Tony, Bruce, James Rhodes, Doctor Strange, Wong, and Loki.
"Steve," Tony said from across the room.
"Tony," Steve said, standing in front of the group she came with.
"You two should kiss," Natasha joked. He stopped as he saw Bruce and they looked at each other awkwardly.
Steve said stoically, "I can put aside my differences if the fate of the world is at stake."
"This is greater than 'a world threat,'" Wong said, and explained everything about how the infinity stones were created and each of their powers in a visual above their heads.
Steve looked around the room and said, "We're going to need more help."
"More help than the Avengers?" Tony demanded, spreading his arms wide, "This is what we've got and you're supposed to get arrested for even being here."
"He's right," Rhodey said, "we got the order just before you arrived."
Steve shook his head, ignoring he heard that, and explained, "We need to come up with a plan for these stones."
"What if we were to destroy them before Thanos gets here?" Vision asked, "Without all six of them, he can't cause the destruction he wants."
"No," Loki said anxiously, "none of you have seen the destruction this man can cause. For years now he has gone from planet to planet, destroying life left and right. Even without the stones, he's too powerful to stop."
Steve said, "Destroying at least one of them will slow him down. What about the time stone?"
"Can't," Doctor Strange said, "it's protecting our reality and time itself."
"The tesseract," Loki said, revealing it for everyone to see, "we can try to use the other stones to destroy this one." Everyone turned to him and stared at him in a disapproval.
Sam asked, "And how did you get your hands on that?"
"It was in my father's vault," he replied, "how do you think I got it?"
"Nevermind that now," Steve said hastily.
"You're just going to overlook this?!" Tony asked hastily, then stopped and stared at Steve. He scoffed and added, "Of course you are." He through his arms up in the air.
Steve retorted, "That's not the issue here. Besides he already has it. We can't change that fact now."
"Cap is right," Bruce said angrily, making everyone stop and stare at him, "we need to focus on the threat that's coming and try to destroy one of these stones. The space stone is the our only option." She gestured to the tesseract still in Loki's hands.
Tony put the avengers headquarters in lockdown.
The metal shields went up.
The sunlight was blocked out.
Everyone except for Vision, Doctor Strange, and Wong hid behind shields and other makeshift objects in order to protect themselves from anything going on.
There were sparks.
Energy flew in every direction.
Everyone ducked in cover and waited for the stone to be destroyed.
In the end, nothing happened.
Steve looked around at everyone in shock and said, "We need a better plan."
"We need to prepare for an assault against Thanos," Loki said anxiously, "one that can't lose."
Meanwhile in Wakanda, Bucky sat in a group of children as they braided pieces of rope together. He had on arm, no prosthetic, and had his long brown hair loose at his shoulders.
"Listen," he said to the children as they giggled with him, "braiding is hard with one hand, okay?" She struggled to make the three pieces of rope become a single braid.
A man from the village ran up to them and said, "White Wolf, King T'Challa has arrived and wants to see you right away. He's making his way over here as we speak."
Bucky stood up and asked, "Does he have good news...or...?" he stopped himself, not wanting bad news.
"He insisted on coming over here and telling you in person exactly why he's here," he said, and then spoke Xhosa rapidly to the children and to make them scatter.
Bucky put on a brave face as he stood up and saw the Wakanda royal soldiers and body guards marching straight towards him, T'Challa leading the way.
"I trust you're doing well," he said.
"Of course," Bucky replied, "everyone here is so kind. What's going on?"
"Captain America called," T'Challa explained solemnly, "he said it's bad, but he wanted to explain it to you himself, in person. He's on his way and he's bringing company with him, the rest of the Avengers." He presented Bucky with a vibrainium prosthetic arm in a box.
Bucky knew it couldn't be good. He glanced at the arm sadly, knowing what he had to do. If Steve needed his help, he was going to be there.
Bucky prepared himself by wearing western clothing, something she hadn't done in months. Cargo pants with stretch to hide bullets and extra magazines. Straps to put knives. Holsters for guns of different sizes.
By the time he made it to the Wakandan capital to meet Steve, he was ready to put the arm on and desperately didn't want to relive the memories that often flooded him when he did have a left arm, but he did it anyway. He snapped out of it when she saw a bright blue light and smoke in front of the capital building and stared at it in awe.
As everyone (Steve, etc.) walked through the portal, T'Challa greeted them with his guards.
"Welcome to Wakanda," he said.
As they spoke, Bucky walked up from behind him.
"It's so great to see you, Buck," Steve said as he hugged him.
"You too," he replied, "what's going on?"
"War of the worlds," Steve answered dramatically as everyone paused to watch both of them.
Bucky said, annoyed, "Don't tell me you were listening to late night radio again and came all this way just to tell me aliens are attacking the planet like you did when we were young. It was just a narrated story on the radio, Steve."
Natasha snorted, "You seriously fell for that?"
"No," Steve said hastily, "I wasn't listening to the radio-but aliens really are about to attack us." He explained everything and Bucky couldn't believe his ears.
"Where is Tony?" T'Challa asked, "I thought you said you had everyone."
"He said he needed to make a quick stop before arriving so Loki is going to come back with him," Steve replied.
In T'Challa's office, it was beyond crowded. Doctor Strange, Wong, Steve, Bucky, Rhodey, Wanda, Natasha, Vision, Sam, and Bruce tried to make space for each other.
Tony arrived with Loki and Peter Parker, and Pepper.
"Tony," Steve said hastily, "I don't like this."
"You said we need everyone," he defended, "and this little spider here is part of everyone. He's an avenger now, it's official. Pepper here has a suit of her own now too."
She said, "That's right."
"Hi everyone," Peter said excitedly, seeing who was there, "it's so awesome to meet all of you in person and for real, not just through the tv or the internet." He waved and mostly everyone gave him sympathetic looks.
Steve said, "I don't know about this."
"He's the same age as Wanda and you've been letting her fight alongside you as a vigilante for two years now," Tony pointed out.
"Wanda doesn't have anywhere else to go," Steve said hastily.
"I don't know," Bucky said, "I say let him fight, Steve." He shrugged.
Steve glared at him, "What did you just say?"
"He blocked my punch in midair like it was nothing, Steve," he explained, "I think it'll be fine. He can handle herself." Peter's eyes sparkled when he heard that.
"Yeah but," Steve said, "you were going easy on him, right?" When Bucky didn't flinch he scolded, "Buck!"
Bucky said, "I had just seen him take the Falcon down like he was an injured street pigeon. I couldn't just stand back and watch."
Sam, clearly offended, scoffed and crossed his arms as he said, "Now hold on just a second there, I was going easy on him because I didn't want anybody to die and no one did."
Steve turned to Bucky and said, "You're okay with him fighting off bad guys but when I did it when I was young, you were against it the whole time!"
Bucky huffed and said, "You couldn't even run 50 feet without wheezing, Steve, and like I said, he blocked my punch! You know, the one that knocks you back 20 feet? That punch!"
"He's just a kid!" Steve insisted, "We can't let him get hurt fighting aliens!" He pointed to Peter who awkwardly stood still.
Bucky asked, "How old are you?"
"17," he confessed.
Bucky stared at her and said, "Nevermind. He shouldn't fight."
"Finally," Steve said, "someone with some sensibilities."
"But I can fight!" Peter insisted, "I can lift a car, easily. I don't know how strong I am because I max out regular gym equipment but I think it's a lot. Please let me do this!"
Bucky asked, "Do your parents even know where you are and what you're doing right now?"
He confessed, "My Aunt May thinks I'm at Stark Internship."
Steve asked, "Tony what are you going to do if he gets really hurt while fighting or something worse happens to him while this is going on? How are you going to explain that to his aunt?"
"He's built like a tank even though he doesn't look it," Tony replied confidently, "he'll be fine. I've seen what he can handle."
T'Challa's kimoyo beads started going off. He saw the hologram and said, "Some sort of spaceship is headed straight for us."
"Already?" Loki asked nervously.
Vision said, "We haven't come up with a strategy yet. We need more time!"
Steve demanded, "Everyone get outside right now. We're going to have to improvise."
By the time everyone got outside through the front doors, the orange ship was already landing in a nearby field. The Wakandan warriors readied themselves for attack by getting into formation as quickly as they could. The Avengers pushed their way to the front.
Loki said calmly, "That's not his ship."
Meanwhile everyone charged toward the ship with everything they had, not hearing him.
The guardians of the galaxy, missing Gamora, but having gained Thor, charged out of their ship, also ready to attack.
"Guys wait!" Thor shouted as Peter, Rocket, baby Groot, Drax, and Mantis ran out, also ready for an attack.
There was no waiting.
Rocket saw Bucky's left metal arm, and immediately headed straight for it. He crawled up his side and Bucky struggled to get him down. "I need this arm!" Rocket shouted gleefully.
Bucky gasped, hearing a raccoon talk, grabbed him by the neck with his right arm, and drop kicked him across the field away from the attacking hoards. Baby Groot saw the whole and charged him, anchoring Bucky's ankles and legs, knocking him down and quickly growing his limbs over Bucky's body.
Steve threw his shield and cut the branches off.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Thor shouted as he finally made her way between the waring groups. "We're on the same side!"
Quill asked, "Who are they?"
"The Avengers of Earth I was telling you about," Thor replied, "And Avengers, these are the guardians of the galaxy."
Tony asked, "These are aliens?"
Parker asked, "But that one's a raccoon, and you look like a regular person."
"I'm not a raccoon!" Rocket shouted.
"I'm from Missouri," Quill replied, "you're the good guys?" He took off his mask to reveal himself.
"No they're not!" Rocket shouted as he angrily ran back over to the group, "This one just launched me across this field!" He leveled a gun at Bucky, but he didn't flinch and stared him down.
Steve asked, "Are you sure we're going after the same person, Thor?"
"Yes," he answered, "we need to end Thanos." He walked up to Loki and hugged her.
"I was worried you were dead," Loki said, "but what happened to Heimdal?"
"He didn't make it," Thor confessed.
Back in T'Challa's office, getting more crowded by the minute, everyone stood around and waited to hear a plan of action.
Tony asked, "What are we supposed to do? Just sit here and wait until he shows up looking for the stones?"
"He already has the power and reality stones," Quill explained, "and he got Gamora to get the soul stone. We couldn't stop him." He hung his head.
Thor explained, "He has to be on his way here by now. You have the time, mind, and space stones."
Vision said, "We should use our stones against the ones he has."
Doctor Strange added, "He can bend reality but with the wizards and the time stone so can we."
Steve explained, "That means our plan of attack is getting the stones he has into our hands, but how do we do with them? Should we snap our own fingers before him?"
"We can divide the power," Quill said, "we did it on Xandar with the power stone. It should still work if six people hold each stone and do a snap, getting rid of Thanos for good."
Thor said, "That might not work with multiple stones and in the middle of a battle field we can't exactly decide right now who's going to do snap their fingers."
"Then we'll do it in the spot," Tony said, "we don't know what's going to happen when someone does the snap but whoever can get all six stones, just do it, for the universe." Everyone stood in silence.
Steve asked, "What are the stones abilities that we're aware of?"
"The space stone teleports people and can also create energy blasts if you harness it's power correctly," Loki answered.
Thor asked, "How could we do that?"
"It would take high powered equipment," Loki said.
T'Challa said, "That will take too much time to build, even with vibrainum, and we wouldn't even know if it would work."
"If only there was an organization that had the same idea decades ago," Bucky said sarcastically. When everyone turned to him, he said, "Schmidt did...with Hydra. They built weapons with the tesseract's power...remember?"
Bruce said, "Those weapons don't work."
"Not without the space cube," Bucky replied, "And we have that so they should work just fine for us." She gestured to Loki who revealed it to them.
"They're in my exhibit in the National History Museum in D.C.," Steve said.
Loki added, "We could teleport you there to get them."
"Loki we'll need you here," Thor said, "there's no telling when Thanos will arrive."
"Just leave us there," Bucky replied, "we can use the plane and fly back here. We'll go fast as we can. We'll take the plane and a tank that runs on the tesseract's energy. Easy. We'll need the cube though."
Steve said, "We have to be careful with that thing, Johan got sucked into it when he used it back in the day."
Meanwhile, in Wakanda, everyone prepared for the final attack coming from the sky. The barrier was prepped, the citizens of the city evacuated. They used the shield as a backdrop, leaving the Wakanda soldiers inside but the tanks, ships, and rhinos out on the outside with the rest of the Avengers.
When Thanos came, they were ready.
He brought everyone with him as well, ready for a battle to the very end, and countless alien outriders to do most of his bidding.
With the barrier as a backdrop, any outrider that managed to get passed the group fighting on the ground was tore apart by the barrier at first. It was only a matter of time until they broke through.
The Avengers held their ground outside of the barrier for as long as they could. Even in their careful preparations, Thanos eventually got Vision and the mind stone he carried.
Coming from the west, Bucky flew the airplane Johan used in the '40s and flew passed the barrier of Wakanda straight into the massive battlefield.
"Ready?" Bucky asked Steve.
"Ready," he said as he jumped up out of his seat.
Instead of landing and letting him off the plane, Bucky made a sharp turn and used the tesseract's power against the flying monster with impenetrable shells. He weaved in and out of it at a high speed, soaring straight up, knocking everything down inside of the plane, and then turned around and used the power of the tesseract's blasts to slice the giant beast in half as he flew straight down toward the ground.
As Steve struggled to gain his bearings, he asked, "Is that payback for the train?"
"I'd never do such a thing!" Bucky shouted at him as she looped through the air once, throwing Steve to the back and around the tank. "This is way better than the cyclone!"
"Just land this thing already, would you?" Steve yelled as he braced himself against the wall desperately.
Bucky found a straight flat spot and landed the plane as gracefully as he could, bouncing in every direction to a stop on the battlefield. Steve jumped into the tank and charged into the chaos.
Parker swung over and asked, "Can I try? Why do all of the words look weird?"
"It's in German," Steve replied as he fired away at outriders left and right.
In the sky, Bucky continued to flip through the air and took out a dozen of outriders, one right after the other with the blasts of the space stone. It appeared the Avengers were getting the upper hand, and fast.
Before they could start celebrating however, a blast rocked the plane and blew out the right engine. "Shit," Bucky whispered, he turned on his communicator and said, "I can't last up here much longer."
No sooner did he say that, did another blast come from the right and knock him completely out of the plane, leaving him hurdling straight toward Earth with no parachutes hundreds of feet in the air.
"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" Bucky screamed.
"Bucky!" Steve shouted from the ground, "Someone get to him!"
"On it!" Sam said through his com. He dove in like a bird, wings tucked close and grabbed Bucky in mid-air, terrified by his panicked expression.
The weight of both of them was too much, they were still headed straight for the ground. "Overdrive!" Sam said, switching into overdrive on his suit and flew straight ahead, finally gaining altitude once again, only feet over the few tree tops in the area.
Bucky grabbed both of Sam's arms to balance himself, and said, "Don't panic." He wrapped his legs around Sam's head.
"What in the-what are you doing?" Sam demanded.
Bucky pulled himself up over Sam's shoulders and laid down on her back over his jetpack of wings. He grabbed one of Sam's extra guns and started firing over Sam's shoulder to the outriders below, taking a few out.
Sam said, "I'm taking you to the ground, I'm not your personal pack animal."
"Then take me down there already," Bucky said.
Just as they landed, Sam said, "You're beyond heavy."
Bucky jumped off of his back and replied nonchalantly, "It's the arm, and this is the lighter one."
Relieved to see Bucky alive, Steve stepped off of the tank and walked in front of it in the middle of the battlefield, smiling at both of them.
Bucky waved at him happily, only to watch a blast from Thano's ship come down and cut Steve down before his eyes. He screamed and automatically went into an army crawl. Sam was right behind him.
They made it over to Steve to see him bleeding out from his torso. His eyes were glazed over, and his body completely unmoving. Bucky put his hand on his wound to stop the bleeding, but it was covered in blood within seconds.
"It ripped him in half," Sam said desperately checking his neck, "No pulse, he's not breathing."
Bucky shook his head, tears overwhelming his eyes. "Sam, I've watched enough people die to know exactly what it looks like."
"What happened to Cap?!" Tony demanded as he flew over them from above.
"He's gone," Bucky said, horrified, "it's over for him."
"Don't you dare blame yourself for this, man," Sam said hastily, "Don't. Steve wouldn't want that."
His voice felt distant. Instead, Bucky took Steve's shield, stood up, and looked for Thanos in the chaos of the battlefield, and watched him going head to head with Doctor Strange. He took the time stone and tossed Doctor Strange aside, now having the power, reality, soul, mind, and time stones. The only one left was space, and Loki was desperately looking for it in the wreckage of the plane.
Bucky fired multiple guns at the same time at Thanos but the bullets did nothing to his skin but brought attention to him. Once he ran out, he took his knives and charged Thanos with a blinding rage.
Even his vibrainum arm did nothing, instead Thanos grabbed each of his arms and spread them wide, unamused by his antics.
Still determined, Bucky hit the heel of his shoes against the ground, revealing sharp vibranium blades at the sole of his boots. He lifted them with all of the strength he had and shoved them deep into Thanos' chest.
Thanos recoiled in pain and head butted him into the ground so hard he swore he could feel his brain moving inside of his skull. He laid in agony on the ground, as Thanos examined the tiny marks on his chest.
"You have a strong will," Thanos said, half impressed, "lets see what your mind is filled with." He took the mind stone out of his glove. Bucky was still unable to move from the agony. Thanos placed the mind stone gently on Bucky's forehead, much to his dismay.
A large golden wave came out of the stone, and washed over the entire battlefield. Everyone stopped and gasped in horror as every single one of Bucky's memories flooded their minds. The outriders remained unaffected.
Even Thanos recoiled in shock and agony.
Bucky gritted through his teeth as he desperately tried to pull himself together, "You souless fuck. Those are my memories! You had no right!" He caught his breath and struggled to try and sit up and failed.
"You have suffered through so much, my child," he said sympathetically, "let me end that for you."
"No!" he said as Thanos placed the stone on his head again. His eyes turned golden and glazed over. He instantly went catatonic.
Meanwhile, across the battlefield, Tony turned and watched Bucky and immediately empathized after experiencing everything he went through. Parker was so beside himself from seeing what he did, he collapsed on the ground. Others could barely move.
Thanos stood up and said, "Now you're merely in my way." He took Bucky by his legs, and launched him all the way across the battlefield into the adjacent trees. Everyone watched as he soared through the air like a ragdoll and landed directly on his right hip, rolling down a hill to a stop, still unblinking and trapped in the world the mind stone sent him in.
Furious, Sam swooped in from behind Thanos, completely catching him off guard. He ripped the five stones off of his glove, turned around in midair and launched them toward the Avengers with every last ounce of energy he had. With his sword, Thanos chopped one of Sam's wings in half, grounding him permanetly.
"Somebody catch!" Sam shouted as he fell to the ground.
Tony watched as the stone flew toward him. "I got them!" he shouted as he scrambled to grab each stone.
"Tony!" Loki said as he came up from behind him, "The space stone!"
Tony quickly collected all of the stones and Natasha used the tank Steve had and blasted Thanos away from Sam.
"Tony!" Quill said, coming up from behind him and watched him struggle to hold back the stones' power, "Take my hand!" He outstretched his hand and Tony grabbed it. The power of the infinity stones surged through both of them.
Rhodey flew down and landed next to Quill, Parker next to him, Sam, Natasha, and everyone else quickly got into a line to diffuse the power of the stones.
Thanos ran toward them as Tony did the snap. The energy echoed throughout everyone, causing a massive wave of power to rip through the entire battlefield.
As the Avengers fell to the ground, exhausted, Thanos' army quickly disappeared and turned to dust at the exact same time. They turned to see Tony, struggling to catch his breath. "Oh no," Sam whispered, "not him too." He glanced back at Steve still laying in the field.
"Anthony," Pepper said as she leaned over him and examined his extensive wounds, "it's okay. You can rest now."
Tony took a deep breath and said, "Tell Bucky I forgive him."
"Okay," Pepper said, nodding, "I will." Tony collapsed into the ground, the light in his eyes disappeared and he faded away.
Natasha stood up and helped Sam to his feet. "Where's Bucky?" she asked. They both turned to face the direction he last was and took off to find him, with Wanda right behind them.
Deep within the trees, the three of them saw Bucky laying on the ground, turned slightly toward his left side. Eyes wide open. Sam assumed the worse. "No," he said desperately, "no, dammit, Bucky." He quickly felt his neck for a pulse. "He has a pulse, he's still breathing."
"He's alive," Natasha said kneeling beside them, "but he's catatonic. What can we do?" She moved her hand in front of Bucky's face, but there was no reaction, she even snapped her fingers and clapped her hands but it didn't do anything.
"The mind stone is still controlling his mind," Wanda said, "If I can interrupt it, maybe..." She trailed off as she activated her powers and used them over Bucky's mind.
Bucky gasped and closed his eyes. He quickly opened them again, nearly ready to fight Sam. "Oh my god!" he shouted as he rolled onto his back.
Sam grabbed his wrists and said as calmly as he could, "It's okay! You're okay!"
"Where's Thanos?" he demanded, still catching his breath.
"Dead," Natasha said, "he's long gone now, along with the angry alien hordes."
"What?" he asked, confused, "When did that happen?"
"We all held hands and snapped him out of existence with the stones," Sam explained, "but Tony didn't live to tell about it since, he took the brunt of the energy from all six stones."
Bucky took a deep breath and closed his eyes to relax. "Damn," he said, "I was completely useless out there."
"Useless?" Wanda asked in complete and utter shock, "What makes you think that?"
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, "You single handedly distracted Thanos long enough for us to come together and take him down."
"But I wasn't there in the end," he said sadly.
Sam said, "Come on, our fight is over. We have to celebrate!" He extended his hand.
As soon as Bucky reached it and started bending upward, he yelped in pain and grabbed his right hip in shooting pain.
Natasha asked, "What's wrong?"
Sam pulled at Bucky's pants and shirt and revealed his pale skin rapidly forming a massive bruise on his right hip. "He's injured," Sam said, "we need help."
At the Wakandan hospital, it was confirmed that Bucky shattered his hip and broke his pelvis. Within hours he was fast on the road to recovery thanks to his accelerated healing and the surgery he received from the Wakandans. Meanwhile the rest of the time, while there were no extreme physical injuries, were completely beside themselves.
Pepper held Parker close in an uncomfortable waiting room area chair. Natasha sat next to them with her head in her hands. Wanda had her eyes closed and head leaned toward the ceiling. Quill paced the room. Rhodey leaned back in a chair with his eyes closed. Sam leaned to his right side, his hand at his temple. Thor and Loki sat beside each other, wide eyed. Rocket fidgeted in his seat next to Groot. Mantis gripped the chair's flimsy armrests. Drax stared at the ceiling. The wizards had already returned home.
"What the hell was that?" Quill demanded, "What did we see inside our heads?"
"It was Bucky," Sam answered, "down to the very last drop. We saw everything he's ever seen, felt every emotion he's ever had, know every preference he has, why he has them, his fears, it's like we were there living his life ourselves."
Wanda asked, "Is there any way for us to forget?"
Rhodey answered, "Doctor Strange said there isn't a way because now his memories are our own. Getting rid of them would be like getting rid of our own history. We'd be left with nothing."
Mantis asked, "How are we supposed to live like this? How does he live like this?"
"I thought I'd been through some crazy things," Rocket said, "but I don't even know what to say. He can keep his arm by the way. I think he's earned it."
Thor asked, "How do we tell him what we know?"
Loki replied, "Maybe he shouldn't know."
"Loki's right," Natasha explained, "how would you feel if everyone here knew everything you've ever been through and every emotion you felt while you were feeling it?"
"Should we really keep this from him?" Rhodey asked.
Parker confessed, "I don't know if I can do that."
"I am Groot."
"You have a point," Rocket said, "he said maybe we just shouldn't tell him now since his best friend from when he was a kid and lost known connection to his past just died. Maybe he should be told some other time."
Drax said, "He might already know and we could be arguing over nothing."
A Wakandan nurse walked up to them and said, "Your friend is responsive now and ready for visitors. We'll have a small group at a time."
Pepper stood up and said, "I need to talk to him."
"I'll go in too," Sam said as he stood up.
Bucky laid in a hospital bed when the door opened. Pepper and Sam walked in calmly.
"I didn't expect anyone to visit," Bucky confessed.
"In his last breaths," Pepper explained, "Tony forgave you, and he wanted you to know. I promised him I would tell you."
Bucky glanced at her, knowing she was serious. He nodded ever so slightly and whispered, "Thank you."
Pepper bowed out and left Sam alone with Bucky. Sam asked, "What do you know about what Thanos did to you?"
"He saw my memories," he explained sadly, "he experienced everything I've ever been through and did it against my will. I'm glad he's dead after violating me so badly and I never have to face him again.
Sam nodded, understanding that Bucky didn't know the truth-that everyone on the battlefield saw the exact same thing he described. He asked, "Can I know what Thanos showed you with the mind stone to make your eyes turn golden before he launched you to Timbuktu?" He crossed his arms across his chest.
"He gave me a fantasy," he answered sadly, "of what my life would have looked like if I never went to war."