After Tony was put back together and placed in a bed, Bruce walked back out to the living room where everyone was and said, "He's sedated. It'll be hours before he wakes up again."

"And now what are we going to do?" Sam asked, "We still don't have a game plan."

Steve said, "Our plan is finding Thanos. Does anyone here now know where he is?"

"I do," Nebula answered.

Natasha asked hesitatantly, "Why?"

Loki explained, "She's his daughter, she would know what his plans were."

"I hope this doesn't offend you or anything," Sam said calmly, "but we need to know, how can we trust you? How do we know you're not on his side and leading us into a trap?" He looked at everyone who mostly agreed with him while Loki lowered his glance to the ground.

"Sam," Steve said causiously.

"He killed half of everyone on my planet when I was a baby," she explained, "and then he kidnapped me. I was tortured and enslaved my entire life and forced to fight and kill others. Say my name on any planet and they'll know who I used to work for. I am not on his side anymore. I do not want him to win."

Bucky muttered under his breath, "So aliens do that kind thing too."

Steve patted Bucky's shoulder and said, "I understand. That means we all want the same thing. We can fight Thanos together."

Loki demanded, "Where is he?"

"At 'the garden,'" she explained, "he always explained to me that after he did the snap we'd go there together and live on a peaceful farm juxtposed against a grateful universe. Asshole."

Sam said, "No! No, we can't let him live that peacefully or whatever after everything he did. There's no way!"

Loki's clothing changed to his dramatic black, green, and gold leather with his horns and the scepter for ruling Asgard in his hand. He was still covered in Thanos' blood but he was more determinded than ever. "I won't let him live," he said coldly.

Bucky, Sam, Natasha, Loki, Mantis, and Nebula went into the spaceship. Bruce elected to stay behind in order to look after Tony.

"Finally," Loki said as he sat in the driver's seat of the ship, "I get to fly." He took off from Earth and guided the ship to the nearest jump point.

Nebula looked over at Bucky and saw his metal arm. She said, "I've never been to Earth before. What's it like here?"

"I'm not the right person to ask," he answered.

"What happened to your arm?" she asked.

"It got ripped off when I fell out of a moving train," he explained, "then I was kidnapped and torchered and enslaved. I was forced to murder people against my will for the last 70 years so I understand where you're coming from."

She nodded and asked, "How long do the people on this planet live?"

"Around 80 years if we're lucky," he answered.

"I see your problem," she said and smiled weakly at him, "you look very young for being an old man."

"I'm technically only in my 30's," he said, "but thanks anyway."

As they appeared before Thanos' planet after going through the jump point, they stared in awe of the expanse of space around them.

Sam asked, "What are going to do, just knock on his front door and attack?"

"We should check for any defenses first and figure out a way around them if there are any," Loki said.

"And how are we going to do that?" Steve asked, "Can anyone here survive outer space?"

Loki sighed and replied, "I guess I have to do everything. I'll just astral project myself down there and see what he's up to first. Even if he sees me he won't be attacking a real person." He sat still and closed his eyes and started walking around on the surface of Thanos' planet. When he returned he explained, "There's nothing down there. It's only him. I don't even see the stones."

On the ground, they inspected Thanos's farm. "This only makes me hate him more," Sam said.

When they approached his house, Loki tore it apart with his powers from a distance and made it fly into pieces around everyone, including Thanos.

"I thought you'd come for me sooner or later," Thanos said as he clamly sat down on the only piece of furniture that was left untouched.

Natasha demanded, "Where are the stones?"

"I used the stones to destroy the stones," he explained, "it was the only way to ensure perfect balance in the universe."

Sam said, "I don't believe you."

Steve asked, "How do we know you're not lying?"

"He has to be," Sam said.

"No," Nebula explained, "my father is many things but a liar is not among his attributes."

Thanos looked over at her and said, "My dearest Nebula, maybe I was too hard on you for all these years." She began visibly shaking.

"You're wrong about ensuring balance in the universe," Loki said, "this is the only way." He leveled his staff but Thanos moved out of the way as he swung it across his neck. Instead, Loki showed up from behind him and cut of his head with one of his knives when he wasn't looking as his illusion disappeared. "Made you look," he whispered as a beheaded Thanos died.

Bucky stared at him and then looked at everyone else, stopping at Sam, and asked, "How'd he...?"

"You think I know what just happened?" Sam asked.

"It's one of his powers," Natasha said nonchalantly.

Sam asked, "Now what are we going to do? We can't bring everyone back if all of the stones are destroyed."

Mantis said nervously, "That can't be right. We have to be able to do something."

Nebula asked, "Does this mean everyone is gone forever?"

"We can't give up," Steve said, not believing a word of it, "we can't. We're the avengers."

"Steve," Natasha said, choking up, "it looks like we really did lose this one."

Back on Earth, everyone had trouble bracing themselves with the disappointment of loss. Loki landed the spaceship in front of the avengers headquarters with a death grip on the steering column. He stared into space with the most horrendous look of fear and horror, unmoving, and unblinking.

"Loki," Steve said concerned as everyone stood up to leave, "are you alright?"

"He looks catatonic," Natasha said nervously.

Mantis said, "He wants to be alone."

Steve said as he left, "You're welcome inside whenever you're ready, no matter what Tony says or does."

Everyone walked slowly toward the building, unable to look up from the ground. "Careful of the door," Natasha said as she gestured to the still broken window next to it.

The last one to come inside, Steve, didn't pay attention and when he shut the door it cracked even more. "Sorry," he said.

Bruce asked optimistically from the top of the stairs, "How did things go?" He saw everyone's faces and added, "That bad, huh. Where's Loki?"

Steve explained, "He's outside, still in shock. Is Tony still out cold?" Bruce nodded.

Sam pitifully walked up the stairs alongside Steve while Mantis, Bucky, Natasha, and Nebula stayed downstairs.

Mantis whispered, "Without even touching any of you I can tell you're all in agony."

"What do you mean?" Bucky asked.

Nebula explained nonchalantly, "She's some sort of cosmic empathetic insect that was raised by a homicidal planet her entire life." Mantis nodded happily at Natasha's and Bucky's confused faces.

Natasha said, "Please tell me you just strung a bunch of random words together to mess with us. Please."

"No," Mantis said, "she speaks the truth. When I touch people I can feel their emotions and I can help them feel better temporarily." She gestured to some chairs in the sitting area behind herself and said, "Should we sit?"

"Why not?" Nebula said as she sat down in a chair and stretched her legs out straight.

Natasha and Bucky awkwardly sat in seats in a circle around her as Mantis walked around the room.

Bucky asked, "Why are we doing this?"

"I don't want to be alone right now," Natasha said shakily, obviously on the verge of tears, "Clint saved my life several years ago, literally, and now him and everyone else is gone and I don't know what to do." She rubbed her temples. "I've never felt this strong of emotion before," she confessed.

When Mantis touched her, she said, "You're feeling grief and shame for losing against Thanos."

"We're all there right now, Natasha," Bucky said, "have you ever lost someone before?"

"Before the avengers I had nothing," she replied, "no one was ever close to me. I was trained to keep everyone at a distance. The avengers became my family and now it feels like they're gone."

Nebula said, "We survived. You're not alone."

"Thank you," she whispered, still desperately trying to hold herself together.

Mantis tried to touch Nebula but she pulled away. "I'm completely fine," she said, then her body shook and she couldn't look Bucky or Natasha in the eyes.

"As a professional liar," Natasha said, "I know you're not telling the truth."

Mantis shrugged at Nebula. She finally conceded to being touched by holding her right arm up. "Hatred."

"Yes," Nebula said, "I hate my father."

"No," she said calmly, "you hate yourself for not being able to hate him."

Nebula pulled herself away agressively and stared her down. Mantis moved away from her nervously and hid behind Bucky. He said calmly, "You don't have to hate him."

"I should," Nebula explained, "look at the destruction he caused to everyone and everything. Everyone in the universe is suffering because him. Look at what he did to me!" He pointed at her metal parts. "I wasn't always like this."

Natasha asked, "Do you wish you could go back to the way you were before you were part metal?" She glanced at Bucky who gave her a half smile.

"I don't remember a time that I was," she confessed, "what about you?" She nodded to Bucky.

"I remember," he said, "but I'm not that person anymore." He sat up straighter and Mantis took his right hand.

She explained, "You're lost and are trying to find a new version of yourself. You also don't like it when people touch your hands." Bucky wiped his hand on his thigh agressively after she let go of him.

Nebula asked, "What are you feeling, Mantis?"

"Sad," she confessed as she looked down, "everyone who was ever nice to me is now dead."

"Everyone here will be nice to you," Natasha said, "I promise. If they're not, they have to deal with me."

Bucky asked Nebula, "How did Thanos get you metal body parts?"

"He'd make me fight my siblings," she explained, "and whenever one of us would lose we'd get 'enhanced' to help us win the next time-at least that's what he always told me. I almost never won, especially against Gamora, my favorite sister."

"Do you want to learn how to win a fight?" Bucky asked.

Excited, Nebula raised her head, then glanced at Natasha who smiled at her. "You should take him up on that," she said, "I know you don't know who I am but you should believe me when I say he had my running for my life. Remember?" She smiled at him.

"If you didn't shoot me in the face you wouldn't have had to worry about me," Bucky replied.

Natasha said, "That was payback for shooting me in the stomach." She lifted her shirt to show his scar.

He shook his head and explained, "No I shot you in the collar bone, right here. I remember." He pointed to his left side between his shoulder and neck.

She replied, "Yeah that was later. You shot me in the stomach in 2007. Remember?"

His eyes went wide. "What?" he said, "No...I did?" He started to remember the year and shoot out a truck's tires, then seeing a woman hanging off of cliff. It all came back to him. "Oh," he said awkwardly, "sorry about that. You know if you didn't shoot my in the face you wouldn't have had to worry about me. You weren't my target that day."

"Awe," Natasha said sincerely, "you left your target to try and kill me? That so sweet. I'm flattered."

Bucky shook his head and said, "That's not flattering. If I was a few more inches to the right and up I would have shot your head and you'd be dead right now."

"I couldn't let you murder Steve," she said, "Aren't you glad I didn't let you do that?" She smiled wider, showing her teeth.

Nebula asked, "If you two fought, who would win?"

"I would," Bucky said.

"Yeah," Natasha said, shaking her head, "he would. He did."

Bucky added, "Twice." She glared at him and he shrugged and smiled innocently.

"I accept your offer," Nebula said.

Later, Natasha watched from a window inside as Bucky and Nebula practiced fighting in the backyard of the avengers headquarters.

Steve walked up behind her and said, "Is it wrong for me to ship them now?"

"I'm actually seeing more of an older brother/little sister relationship forming," Natasha replied.

"Yeah," he said, "I can see that. You don't want to join in?"

"Watching them is enough to keep my mind off of things," she said, "besides, I'm learning his moves. He's really good."

Steve said, "I guess that's what happens when you're brainwashed to kill people for 70 years."