A/N: Hello faithful readers. Second chapter today. And just a big warning, it's not the last chapter. Three more I believe.
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Disney, FOX, ABC, or the Avengers.
The next morning, we ate in silence. No one wanted to speak, and break the tension we were all feeling. This was it, do or die.
Callie, Gamora and myself placed the stones in a large opening in the forest. Callie wanted to spend some time relocating the indigenous creatures further away from the battle, but we didn't know how long it would be until Thanos reached us. Rocket had the Milano hovering in orbit, using her long-range sensors to detect anything coming towards us.
We set up a camera or two, mainly because some people on earth still didn't quite believe that Thanos was real, let alone hell bent on destroying half the life in the universe. But mainly they were going to be used to see when we needed to move. Callie had been practicing stretching her portals wider, so we weren't going through single file. She could only do it once, so when we had an opening, we needed to move fast.
I stared hard at the monitor. Steve would come up every few minutes to see if there was any change. Rocket was listening intently over the headset, while everyone else made his or her peace. I on the other hand, had made mine months ago.
Callie brought Lord Thanos through a portal, making everyone straighten up in fear. Bucky was the first to stand down, approaching him and saying, "Thank you for coming."
"I gave my word. And shall I fall in battle; I'm prepared to do so for your universe. None of my people will raise a hand to you, if I do. Life is fragile and we must protect it. All of it, across each dimension. Even if it means facing the worst parts of us, the other side of the coin," He said wisely.
"We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future," I quoted JFK, still gazing at the monitors blankly. It was met with silence behind me.
"We've got movement," Rocket said by my side.
"Look alive," I said as I turned around to yell at our group.
We watched a shadow fall over our camp, making us look up. A ship, at least the size of the island of Manhattan, loomed in front of the sun. What looked like a beam of light shot down, and on the monitors we watched Thanos appear. He moved slowly, looking at the stones set up in front of him.
"It would seem someone set a trap," One of his companions said behind him.
"Or believed if they gave them up, I would spare them. But my destiny leaves no one unaffected," He said, putting on the Gauntlet and placing the Power stone on it. I heard a high-pitched screech in my ear and shook my head. Next, he began crushing the Tesseract in his ungloved hand. I heard its whisper calling me from where we were, and heard the stones get louder, sounding concerned as the Space stone was placed on the Gauntlet.
He grinned as he flexed the fingers of his Gauntlet, before looking around.
"You're up. Good luck," I said to Black Bolt. He nodded and signed, "For Earth, for our people, I will face death."
He gave Crystal a small smile and squeezed her hand once. She looked worried as Eli took her other hand to pull her back to his side in comfort. Callie opened a portal as Black Bolt strode forward, and we watched with bated breath as he appeared on the monitor. He was only ten feet in front of Thanos, who looked startled at his sudden appearance.
"And I'm guessing you are hear to stop me. Pathetic," He sneered at Black Bolt, who was just opening his mouth. He spoke only one word, but that "Yes," sent Thanos flying backwards suddenly, shaking the ground around us. Daisy stopped it, so we were steady, as I looked back to the monitor. Thanos was getting up.
"Send them," He said with a smile, before disappearing through a blue portal. He reappeared behind Black Bolt, who tried to open his mouth again, but Thanos had backhanded him.
"Pathfinder, Black Bolt is down," I said and as I turned, my daughter was dropping through a portal at her feet. On the monitor she dropped beside Black Bolt and then dropped through another with him as well. Black spikes fell from the sky, piercing the ground around Thanos, and splitting open. It reminded me of an anthill, with thousands of creatures spilling from the ships.
As she reappeared, I looked up to Lord Thanos.
"We're right behind you," I said and he nodded as Callie stretched her arms out, as we all got ready to run. As the portal opened, I started running first, wings spreading as I took the high ground, slashing into the first of the outriders with my swords, blasting more with fire. It was an odd sound to hear the Outriders shrieks and growls met with the battle cry of my family. Gunfire, blasters and lightning were my symphony as I attacked the opposing side.
It felt like hours as we fought, the waves of Outriders never ceasing. More always poured out of another ship. I saw the final ship open up and heard the Hulk's roar from across the field.
"Proxima, right?" I said, to the woman approaching me from behind and I turned and blocked her attack with my swords, "I heard you're a bitch to have as a sister."
"Half-breed," She said, pushing her spear harder down on my swords.
"You could say that," I said, retracting my wings, and quickly maneuvering out from underneath her weapon. As it dropped, she snarled, recovering and facing me once more.
"You guard the stones from my Father. You will die first," She said, before I saw a cyborg arm thrust out of her chest, holding her black heart. Nebula pulled back, dropping the heart, and saying, "I always hated her."
"Thanks."
"Hey, quit chit chatting!" Rocket said, "We've got Space dogs to kill!"
"I am GROOOT!" Was heard following it along with gunfire and Rocket's maniacal laughter. Logan's growls reached my ears as well and I wanted to laugh at the thought of those three on a killing spree. All of the sudden I heard Wade screaming, "Chimicangas!" and rolled my eyes as I fought of an attack, killing the creature.
As I turned, more were swarming, and I could see Thanos fighting Lord Thanos. It was impossible to tell who was winning through the haze of smoke, but I flew up firing more balls of fire from my hands. I watched Vision get surrounded, and Strange rendered immobile as his cloak was pulled away from him, and another of Thanos's Black Order. The Time stone was ripped from around Strange's neck and he was cast aside. I tried to slow him down as he moved to bring the stone to Thanos, but he sent a shard of magical energy at me, injuring my wing.
I groaned in pain as fell. I felt the wind knocked out of me as I hit the ground.
Thor landed beside me, pulling me to my feet and pulling the shard out. I hissed as I retracted my wings, unsure if I would be useful as air support now.
"Thor," I said, pointing towards Thanos. He leapt into the air, Hulk meeting him in front of the Mad Titan. Lord Thanos was wounded, but still fighting. They gave him aid, diverting the blows and challenging him themselves. I looked back at Vision, who was screaming in pain as they ripped the Mind Stone from his head.
Elijah was standing there in shock as Vision's once scarlet body greyed. Steve and Bucky were in the thick of it, my father, Rhodey and Sam delivering fire power from above and I could see several of the Outriders go down without anyone around, knowing it was Scott and Hope.
I felt when the stones were placed in the Gauntlet, screaming at me to do something, to go after them. Thor and Hulk were outnumbered by Outriders, and had to fight them off, as Thanos turned back to Lord Thanos. He held his side, looking resolved in his fate.
"No!" I yelled out, charging Thanos. I don't know why I did it. I couldn't save Lord Thanos from the killing blow that was coming down on his head. Before I reached them, Thanos backhanded me, sending me flying.
I felt the blow to my gut first, before a club smacked me upside the head. I was on the ground, looking up at this alien ready to deliver the killing blow, when an ice shard drove through its head. Loki pulled me to my feet and dashed off. My head felt muddled as I looked around, watching my family fight. And I heard a loud strangled cry, but my head felt like it was in a bubble. Was this what Jon Snow felt like during the Battle of the Bastards? Or Neville during the Battle of Hogwarts?
As I looked around at the surrounding armies, Asgardian, Avengers, X-Men, InHuman and Wakandan, thinking how weird it felt to be seeing the world in slow motion. The gore of the battle was indescribable. I had only seen Vision fall, but Strange was back in the thick of it, giving aid to Peter who popped in an out of portals, but some were injured and kept fighting. And all at once, I saw him again; giant, purple and angry. This wasn't our champion, this was our enemy. His good counterpart lay behind him, unmoving.
It was then I felt my blood turn to ice in my veins as Callie came up beside me.
"Mmm," I heard, blood still pounding in my ears. Shaking my head, I watched her shoot another of the Outriders that was heading for us.
"Mom!" She repeated as my hearing returned. Peter swung and landed beside her, looking at me.
"Peter, now," I said, my eyes filling with tears.
"Now?" He asked seriously, ducking as Callie shot another behind him.
"Yes. Callie," I said, taking her face in my hands, "I love you."
"Mom?" She asked, in a small voice, face confused at my sudden confession. Before her eyes widened as Peter wrapped an arm around her middle and yanked her backwards as his web found purchase on my Dad's suit, giving him a better arc to swing towards the trees.
"No, NO!" She screamed as Peter took her away; who was swinging through the trees, hopefully until they made it back to our camp. Eli was across the field, staring at me in horror as I raised a hand to my comm unit.
"Eli, I love you. Go now," I ordered him. He set his jaw, and nodded as his own Aero-Rig was turned on, retracting him back to Rocket's set destination of our camp.
"Sera, where are they going?" Steve said as he and Bucky made their way over to me.
"I love you both," I said, kissing Steve first, and then Bucky.
"We are going to make it out of this," Bucky said.
"You are," I smiled sadly.
"Angel wha-" Steve couldn't finish his sentence, because I had placed two of Rocket's Aero-Rig's on their backs and started them.
"SERA!" Bucky yelled, as they struggled to remove them, already flying away from me.
"Even in death," I whispered, before locking eyes with Thanos whose own gleamed back at me, smirking sinisterly. I breathed deeply, feeling the warmth in my chest, thawing out the earlier ice. Spreading my wings, I locked eyes with him, hearing every shout of protest from our team and from the Dora Milaje as they were kidnapped by the Aero-Rigs. Rocket saluted me once before taking off himself, with Groot hanging by his foot, reaching for me sadly.
"I am Grooot," He yelled, as I saw Rocket say something to him. Probably that I asked to stay behind. I felt bad for my son, for Rocket, Okoye and Peter, who would have to explain why I blew myself up.
"Come and get me you big purple gorilla," I snarled lowly as Thanos approached me, locking eyes with him as I turned.
"You think you are enough? You've used everything, turned another version of myself on me, and still, you think you can win. The end is near."
"You threaten my world, you threaten my universe, you threaten my family's future, and you killed Vision. I'm avenging them today. I am Seraphina, Avenger and InHuman of Earth, and your end is near," I said, taking a deep breath. As my lungs filled with air, I felt all the energy rushing into me from the Infinity Stones, my wings curling around the forming energy. The radiation Dr. Selvig spoke about fueled me, made me stronger. My blood boiled beneath my skin and I was shaking from trying to hold it all in.
"Impossible," Thanos snarled, as the stones began to dim on the gauntlet. I opened my palm to show him I was holding the Reality stone, fashioned to a ring and I was drawing from it too. Even with missing the Soul Stone, I knew this planet would burn.
"My mother always said I was destined for something more," I said, holding the energy close, and letting it build as his skin burned by being in the vicinity of such raw power.
"Se-ra," My father's voice said over my busted comm.
"I love you Dad," I said, tears falling from my eyes, "Take care of them, and tell them I'm sorry. This is my choice."
"I love-" The feed cut out as I released the energy, with a savage scream tearing from my throat. And just like Lagos, my skin screamed in agony as the radiation burned me from the outside in. But instead of directing it up or out like I had experimented, it radiated from me like the shockwave of a Hydrogen bomb, incinerating everything in my path.
And when I could release no more, my eyes opened wearily as I swayed. My ears rang, and there was a strange orange glow to everything. But that happens when you set fire to everything.
Thanos had been roasted, only a partial skeleton and dead army were the remnants of my destructive wave. I only felt pain, as I chocked trying to breathe in. I went for my throat, trying to figure out why I couldn't breathe, when I noticed the flesh ripped from my hands, dangling by ligaments and showcasing bone. What little flesh I still had was severally burned from radiation.
I looked back at Thanos's half burned corpse, gauntlet at his feet and pulsing with energy. The battlefield around me smoked with the putrid scent of burnt flesh, making it harder to breath. I collapsed backwards, lying against a small boulder in exhaustion. I didn't care that it was poking me at odd angles, only that my weak legs were relieved. And as I took my last breath, I thought, "I'm coming Mom."
