Thor clenched his jaw tight as they came up to a widow's house. A little boy just shy of five years old hid behind her skirt.
"Five pieces of silver if you tell me where the gypsies are hiding..." Thanos held the coin in his hand, shuffling them around to try to entice the poor family.
"I don't know any gypsies, but if you could spare just something for my boy, may God bless-"
"Search the estate!"
The soldiers tore through their home, and all the while, Thor was trying to find reason to this madness.
"Arrest them..." Thanos said to Thor.
"On what charges?" He sharply turned his horse to get in Thanos' face.
"By my orders, Captain. They are obstructing justice, and therefore must pay the price."
"They are innocent!"
Thanos gave him a look, and Thor backed off, allowing the boy and his mother to be taken away.
"Thirty pieces of silver for the gypsies..." Thanos stood over the man kneeling and begging for mercy.
"Please, Minister, there are no gypsies here, but in the past we have never turned our backs against a weary traveler..."
"No need to fear..." Thanos said calmly. "I am placing you under house arrest until I get to the bottom of this. If what you say is true and you are innocent, then you have nothing to fear." He walked off, but felt a tug at his cloak.
"But we are innocent, I assure you, we know nothing of this Carol and...and, her friends-"
The door is shut in the man's face. Thanos takes a spear and blocks the door from ever opening. He leans over to Thor.
"Burn it."
"What?" Thor protests.
"Until it smolders." Thanos continued. "These people are traitors, and must be made examples of."
Thor took the flaming torch that Thanos offered him, jerking it ever so slightly from his grip. "With all due respect, sir, I wasn't trained to murder the innocent."
"But you were trained to follow orders..." Thanos countered.
Thor held his breath and stared daggers into his superior. He stepped back a couple feet and looked at the house. Seeing a barrel of water out of the corner of his eye, he shoved the torch inside, smoldering the fire.
"Insolent coward." Thanos wasted no time, taking another torch from another soldier and lit the windmill on fire.
Thor saw the house become engulfed in flames right before his eyes. He immediately crashed through the window and grabbed the children.
"Get out! This way!" He shoved the father and mother out, holding the screaming infant and toddler close to his chest.
As soon as it started, it was over, and then Thor saw stars when a soldier knocked him upside the head.
"The sentence for insubordination is death..." Thanos led his horse up to Thor, guards pinning him down with a sword to his head. "Such a pity. You threw away a promising career..."
Thor smiled and defied him once again. "Consider it my highest honor, sir."
Out of nowhere a stone shot towards Thanos' horse, terrifying the creature. He reared back, neighing in surprise, and knocked Thanos to the ground. Thor used the distraction to his advantage, knocking the guards off of him and jumped onto the horse as it bolted away.
"Get him!" Thanos called for the attack, and arrows started flying as Thor raced across a bridge.
He cried out in pain as one nailed him in the back and he plummeted into the river below.
"Don't waste your arrows." Thanos raised his hand. "Let the traitor rot in his watery grave. Find the gypsies! If we have to burn Paris to the ground, so be it..."
"Steve!" Carol panted, desperate for help. "Bucky!"
The two men woke up to her cries for help and ran to the door of their hideout.
"Carol!? What the hell are you-"
"Please, we have to help him...he risked his life to save an innocent family. Thanos is literally burning down the city looking for us."
"Oh God..." Steve was mortified. This has gone too far.
They helped bring the man in and laid him down in the tent for the wounded.
"I'll draw some water." Bucky offered.
"Here...drink this..." Steve gave Carol some drinking water, and she gratefully accepted. "Are you ok?"
"You always ask me that same question, expecting me to say what you want me to say..." She shook her head. "I'm not ok, Steve..." She fought back tears and got to work on saving the man before them. "This man, this captain of the guard, I hated him because I thought he was just like Thanos. But, he's not..." She untied his shirt to take a better look at the wound. It was deep, but fixable.
Thor grunted and found himself in a tent with-
He twitched in fear, his body still in survival mode.
"Thor...look at me...you're safe now...you're far away from Thanos..."
"But...what?"
"You saved their lives..." Carol smiled. "Guess I owe you an apology...I misjudged you..."
"Apology acceptedAH!"
"Oh, here, this will help." Steve handed Carol the wine and poured it over the wound.
"No, it doesn't!" Thor hissed in pain.
"What's going on?" Anthony barged into the tent, and stared at Thor. "What's going on?" He repeated a little more sternly.
"I told you, we're not enemies..." Thor cringed again. "But, Thanos has gained another enemy after I defied him..."
"He's burning the city, hurting innocent families, all because of us..." Steve explained.
"This is all my fault..." Anthony sat down in the corner. He rubbed his scar. "I should've been more careful."
"You've done nothing wrong, Anthony..." Steve said. "You saved us, you brought us back to our family..."
"But what are we going to do now, Steve?!" Anthony shouted. "He knows you've all escaped because of me! I've failed him...and I've failed you..." He took off out of the tent to hide away, praying for forgiveness for causing so much pain and misery.