Flames bloomed around Harry as he shrunk back into human form. Leftover lightning fizzled on his skin, singing holes in his armour. The city was far below him now. Citizens appeared as ants, buildings as destroyed sandcastles.

He swallowed.

The anger inside him was raging, burning, a black hatred. Harry strode forward, eyes sharp, wand clutched in his hand. The bodies of aliens similar to the Chitauri lay on the floor, destroyed by the blast that tore the side of the ship open. He stepped over them, eyes fixed on the wide opening at the end of the cavernous room. His boots echoed around, creating a drumbeat. The sound of war, vengeance, anger, hate.

Metallic walls rose around him, debris occasionally falling from the ceiling. Harry couldn't help the feeling of grim satisfaction. Sure, it was his most powerful move as a Thunderbird. These monsters now knew what he could do. They knew that he was coming and wasn't going to stop until he won.

A wheezing groan came from the floor in front of him. An alien, covered in blood, a large piece of shrapnel protruding from its chest, rolled over. Tongue lolling, it hauled itself up and clumsily charged at Harry, eyes wide. Harry merely stepped to the side and sent a blasting hex at the floor. It fell through towards the city, flailing in the air.

"Well, isn't that interesting." A metallic voice, husky in tone, came from the doorway. Harry sharply looked up. A blue woman, with no hair and metal adorning her face and head, stood in the space. "My father will be fascinated with you." She took a few steps forward. "But that doesn't mean I can't play with you first."

Harry frowned. From her stance, she was extremely well trained in combat, lithe muscles running up and down her arms. Weapons upon weapons were strapped to her clothes. They gleamed menacingly. He watched as she reached up to her ear and pressed what seemed to be a comm...shit.

He ran forward, wand out. "Petrificus Totalus!" She stepped to the side of it, and all the other spells he launched at her, all while giving him a vicious grin.

"He's in Bay 72, father. In possession of a Stone."

A rumbling reply came. "Well done, daughter. Keep him at bay, I shall be there soon." Harry would recognise that voice anywhere, the voice that haunted his every waking and sleeping hour.

"Yes, Father. With pleasure." She took her finger down from her ear, glaring at Harry with the force of a thousand suns. If looks could kill he would be dead as a doorknob. "You've caused us a lot of trouble, you know."

Harry lunged forward, launching a quick series of jabs at her. The moves were learned off Natasha. "Well, what's life without a little fun?" She held him off, kicking him in the torso with inhuman strength. He flew backwards, landing hard against a wall.

"Everything. Fun is for those who are weak!" She sprinted towards Harry, unsheathing a glinting blade. Harry quickly grabbed half of his own staff, fending her off. He sent another blasting charm to the ground around her feet. It was ripped apart. She jumped before it hit, twisting over his head.

"You're going to have to do better than that," she spat. Before he could twist around, a sharp pain erupted in his gut. A glance down revealed the point of her blade coming out of his torso. Blood spurted out of him. She yanked the blade back, Harry groaning in pain. "I think that will put you down until my father gets here."

Harry slumped to the ground. It appeared to all those around him that he was fading in and out of consciousness. The invisibility cloak covered the wound from prying eyes. Blue Lady (Harry needed a name, and that was as good as any) didn't know that he could heal. Using this to his advantage would be smart, very smart.

"Curse...you," Harry spat out. His breaths wheezed in and out of him. That part, at least, wasn't fake. The healing may stitch him up impossibly fast, but the pain was still as potent as ever. So all the groaning, all the blood gushing onto the floor, wasn't a performance.

Blue Lady made a disgruntled noise. "Keep quiet." Her booted foot came down hard on his face. "Don't make me hurt you more."

"You can try."

Harry took this opportunity. His arms flew up, wrapping around her legs. He twisted around. Blue Lady yelled in outrage as she fell to the floor, Harry suddenly appearing on top of her. The sharp point of the Elder Wand dug into her throat. Harry kicked her weapons away. They skittered to a halt on one of the corpses.

"You won't hold me long," she spat, struggling under his grip. The sheer hatred in her black, black eyes almost surprised him. Anger, frustration,

"Try again." Harry couldn't help the satisfaction that he felt. "Petrificus totalus." Blue Lady's arms snapped to her sides, her legs doing the same. Only her eyes remained mobile, frantically darting side to side. "I would say I'm sorry, but you stabbed me, so we're even."

Speaking of.

Harry glanced down at the wound in his torso. A quick patdown revealed it was nearly healed. In around a minute, there would be nothing to ever indicate he'd been stabbed except a shiny scar. Even that only lasted for a few days at the most.

He stood, eyes scanning the room. Every move he took echoed. There was no one around to see what he was doing, so he started forward, towards the exit. The Elder Wand was still clutched in his hand.

As he moved to take another step forward, he was suddenly frozen. Green hieroglyphic looking lights sprang up around him, ensnaring his limbs and mind.

He blinked.

The next thing he knew, Harry was on his knees, arms suspended above him. He slowly looked around, taking in the room. No windows, dark, claustrophobic. Metallic walls showed a shadowy reflection of him. His eyes widened in shock. This was impossible. It was almost as if someone froze him in time…no, that wasn't possible, was it? It couldn't be. If so, his mission just became a whole lot harder.

Harry winced at that thought. This wasn't how he wanted this mission to go. This wasn't how he saw it going. Maybe rushing in headfirst, leaving behind his team, wasn't the best thing to do. But it was too late to think over those decisions. The regret burning just behind his heart would have to wait, have to be ignored. This wasn't the time, nor place.

At least the comforting thrum of the Resurrection Stone, though he was starting to suspect it was something more than that, was on his chest, holding the cloak together. All of his other armour was removed, placed somewhere away from his sight. Probably in another room, or disposed of entirely. It wouldn't surprise him. The fact that the stone was still there made him feel a little bit reassured. Strangely enough, the comm that was malfunctioning still sat snug in his ear.

The wall in front of him hissed open, an extremely tall doorway revealing itself. Two figures stepped through. The familiar sight of Blue Lady, and a huge purple...man? No, he couldn't be a man. He was too big, his presence too crushing. The slight smile on his face sent shivers down Harry's spine. It was knowing, as if he was already winning. The last time Harry saw a smile like that, to that degree, was on the faces of one of the Death Eaters.

He instantly knew that this man, this creature, this monster, was the one responsible for the attack on New York. It was the way he held himself. A leader, someone who knew what they wanted and would stop at nothing to get it. This was the voice who sometimes spoke to him, gave him that teasing warning as if they could ever prepare enough for it.

Harry grit his teeth. Fear may be weighing him down but he wouldn't let it overtake him. That would prove detrimental. No, he must stay calm, keep his limbs from shaking and look his enemies dead in the eyes like he always did. They wouldn't see his fear, wouldn't feel his terror. All they would receive was the anger, the years of training and his eyes when they grew cold, an icy fire raging inside of them.

He had to be strong. Strong for those he selfishly left behind, strong for those who couldn't defend themselves. Strong for his teammates, his family, his friends. He needed to be strong for himself, to get himself through. He would push through, he always did. There was a way out of this, and he was going to find it. Soon. Waiting around like this wasn't an option when the cause of the attacks stood directly in front of him, patient and dangerous.

"What do you want," he spat.

"Something you have," the rumbling voice replied. "I think you know what it is, don't you?" Harry mind immediately fell to the Resurrection Stone on his chest. He kept his eyes ahead, not giving them so much as a flicker to indicate what he was thinking about. So he was right about the Resurrection Stone being more, being part of a set.

"Absolutely no idea."

Blue Lady's fist struck hard and fast against his cheek. His head whipped to the side with the force of it, blood bursting out of his mouth. The horrible sensation of warm, metallic liquid filled his mouth.

"Try again," she hissed, tense, ready to land another blow.

"Now, daughter, we needn't be hasty. I think an introduction is in order. He is powerful enough to wield an Infinity Stone. Don't you think he is worth giving a little respect?" The purple man was calm, collected. It ground Harry's gears.

"Go on, then, why don't you? It's not like I have a choice."

"Respect goes both ways, Harry Potter." He took a step forward, ignoring the way his daughter shifted uncomfortably. "I am Thanos, and this is my daughter Nebula. You have something I want, and it is right there."

His finger pointed towards the glowing orange stone on Harry's chest. It sparked suddenly. Thanos pulled his finger back, seemingly as calm as ever. He stood back up.

"Unfortunately, we can't seem to reach it, no matter what we do. So, I am going to try something that may cause you a bit of discomfort. By the end of it, you'll hand the stone over, I guarantee it. No matter how much you heal, you can't beat us, do you understand? And if that doesn't work, I'm sure the other...motivation we have will prove sufficient."

Harry's eyes widened. When people spoke like that, there were usually other people to use as persuasion. He closed his eyes, branching out with his mind, a handy trick that Hermione taught him. His magic spread out in tendrils. The voice of Thanos faded into white noise. There were thousands of presences on the ship that he could feel, but there were only a few he was looking for.

He found them, far away, on the other end of the ship. Tony, Clint and Bruce. All woozy, in agony, all with one thing in common. One word playing on their minds. Asgard. Asgard. Asgard. Asgard. Asgard. That must mean…

Harry's eyes burst open. With one frantic burst of magic, he activated the comm in his ear. It crackled to life and he screamed, "Call for Heimdall! Asgard! He's going to Asgard! His name is Thanos! You've got to get there, fast! Call for Hei―" Unbearable pain engulfed his left arm. He cried out in agony, the comm in his ear crackling and then cracking.

This was ten times worse than the cruciatus curse. Thousands, millions, of white-hot knives stabbed at his arm, while rabid creatures tore it apart from the inside. He was on fire, he was coming apart. Before his very eyes, his arm was crumbling into ash, coming up closer and closer towards his shoulder. The pain intensified, a purple light glowing at the edge of his vision.

Then, as quickly as it came, it stopped.

The cuff that was previously holding his wrist dangled pathetically in the air. Harry panted hard, greedily gulping in air, his body spasming from the aftereffects of the torture.

"That is what we're trying right now. See, until you give me the Soul Stone, I am going to keep turning you to ash." The green gem in his gauntlet glowed, the strange green light appearing around his ruined arm. He watched in horrified awe as time rewound itself, his arm reforming back to normal. "I'll do this again and again until you can't take it anymore, do you understand. You're in for a world of pain."

"Bring it on, you won't break me."

Thanos only smiled. "We'll see about that."

And then the pain began anew.

And on Asgard, the armies began preparing themselves. Steve, Natasha, Ron, Hermione, Thor, Frigga, Odin, Hogun, Fandral, Volstagg, Sif, and every single defence they had was erected. When Thanos came they would be ready.

There was no other option but to be ready as Thanos steadily drew closer with each passing minute.

Hi! How'sit going? After this, there are two more chapters, then this story comes to a close. I'll be extremely sad to see it go. It's been a major part of my life for a year now. The last chapter will be released on the 24th of February, exactly a year after the first chapter was published.

The next one comes out in two days, so be ready for the rollercoaster.

Sincerely,
Mariadoria :)