I am sorry for being away for so long. Between my mother's cancer, hospital bills, and working twelve hours almost every day, I have been too exhausted to write. I hope you enjoy the story!
Chapter 10: Annihilation
Gwen dove to the left as one of the alien soldiers lunged at her from behind. She threw her right fist forward, a blast of purple mana shooting forward and slamming the sickly gray alien in the face and throwing it back and away. Her karate training kicked in as she pushed herself off of the ground to deliver a roundhouse kick to another soldier before clasping her hands together, her eyes glowing purple as her mystic voice echoed across the field, "Adficio potentia!"
With a mighty cry, she separated her hands, a dozen tendrils of purple mana flinging out to smack and slam against dozens of alien soldiers. She ducked blue cannon fire from behind, barely able to catch her breath before spinning around to throw a ball of mana at the alien and take it down. Standing up with a huff, Gwen cried out as she was hit by a blast of blue energy from the side, dropping down to her left knee as she held her side. She looked up as one of the four armed creatures was sprinting towards her down on its hands and feet, snarling with great big teeth.
Right before it could have her for lunch, someone dropped down and delivered a devastating punch right on top of the alien's head, crushing its skull.
Gwen smiled in relief, warmth flooding her chest, "Steve!"
Steve Rogers turned around and gave Gwen a tired smile, eyes full of concern as he held a hand out to her, "Are you hurt?"
She winced before taking his hand and standing up, "It's just a scratch. I can still fight."
He kept looking at her with worry but before he could utter another word, he was tackled from behind by more Outrider soldiers. They swarmed onto him, biting at his shielded arms and trying to claw at his body.
Gwen's eyes turned purple as she held her arms up, "Leave him alone!" Something hit her from behind, throwing her a few feet through the air and into the ground hard. Despite the pain, her training and experience kicked in as she rolled to the side and onto her feet, barely dodging the end of a spear that stabbed into the spot she was lying down in not a moment later.
Proxima Midnight grabbed her spear and lunged at Gwen, using the shaft of her spear to bash against Gwen's arms and throw her onto her back, pushing down with all her strength to try and crush the half-Anodite's throat. Gwen desperately pushed back, covering her hands in mana and trying to blast out but the spear itself was strange, fighting against her mana.
Gwen looked to the sides for help, but everyone was preoccupied with their own struggles. King T'Challa and Doctor Banner were being swarmed by dozens of Outrider soldiers like Steve and Bucky was doing his best to try and stab one of the aliens to death. As she felt her strength about to give out, she felt a shift in the air.
A rainbow colored corridor of light shot down onto the ground, sending a wave of energy throughout the battlefield and throwing a few soldiers to the side. What looked like a giant ax flew through the air, familiar waves of electricity crackling out of it and killing dozens upon dozens of Outrider soldiers and freeing Steve, Doctor Banner, and King T'Challa of their enemies. It finally slammed against Proxima who cried out in pain and flew to the side.
Gwen got up onto her elbow, eyes wide as Thor, now with short hair that reminded her of how Steve used to look, stood in the middle of the field with what looked like a living tree and a standing raccoon with a big gun. The God of Thunder looked furious, lightning crackling off of him as he started running forward, shouting with a loud, powerful voice, "Bring me Thanos!"
She stood up and watched as he then quickly jumped high up in the air, his eyes glowing blue and lightning practically shooting out of every part of his body. That was new.
"Gwen!" She looked up to see Steve running towards her, "I think things will start turning in our direction. We need to go meet up with Thor!"
She nodded, turning and following Steve as they made their way over to the God of Thunder who was swinging his ax left and right.
"Thor!" Gwen shot a blast of mana towards a group of Outriders coming up behind Thor.
"Gwen! Nice to see you! Your hair got even longer! Didn't think it was possible. Ever think of getting it cut like Nat?"
"I used to have short hair when I was younger, I've thought about it once or twice, but I think Steve likes it long."
"Bah, don't pay attention to what he likes, do what's good for you! Hi Rogers."
"Thor. New hair cut?"
Thor grinned, pointing at his own chin, "I see you copied my beard."
Steve nodded, waving his hand as he threw a punch at another alien soldier that charged at him from the side.
Behind Thor, the walking tree shoved one of its arms literally through the chests of three Outriders, holding the struggling aliens up in the air. Noticing his friend, Thor motioned towards the living tree, introducing him to Gwen and Steve, "Oh by the way, this is a friend of mine. The tree."
The tree turned towards them and nodded, "I am Groot!" Gwen raised an eyebrow when a slightly high pitched voice came out from its mouth.
Steve barely blinked, nodding his head as he patted his own chest, "I am, Steve Rogers."
Gwen smiled and waved, "I'm Gwen Tennyson."
Niceties out of the way, the four shifted their attention back to the battlefield. Just as Black Panther delivered a devastating punch to the face of Cull Obsidian, everyone felt the ground shake. Looking towards the Wakanda energy shield, everyone watched in horror as five gigantic, bladed, and connected wheels burst from underground and started speeding across the battlefield, leaving behind a gruesome path of death and destruction.
T'Challa screamed at the top of his voice, waving his arms at his people, "Fall back! Fall back now!"
The wheel seemed almost unstoppable, making its way towards Black Widow and Okoye only to be stopped by Scarlet Witch who landed on the ground before the machine and lifted the entire thing up into the air with her powers. She ripped it apart before throwing the pieces behind her on either side, crushing a huge portion of the Outrider army.
Gwen's eyes widened when she spotted Scarlet Witch, turning to look at Steve while she blasted another group of Outriders with balls of mana, "If Wanda's here, Vision is unguarded!"
Steve ducked the swipe of one of the aliens before delivering a sharp uppercut. He looked towards the laboratory where Vision was being kept along with Shuri, his eyes widening as he spotted the android crashing through one of the windows while struggling with Corvus Glaive. Steve immediately brought his communicator up to his mouth, "Somebody get to Vision!"
Bruce Banner's voice responded back, "I've got him!"
Wanda's voice came in over the comms right after, "I'm on my way." She was cut off with a cry of pain, but Gwen and Steve trusted her to be able to handle whatever it was.
The two gradually made their way towards where Vision fell, hoping that Bruce in the HulkBuster Suit could protect Vision until they got there.
"I'll catch up, go!" Gwen gestured towards Steve who nodded before picking up speed and running far ahead of her, his physical abilities being way beyond hers.
As Gwen broke the tree line and entered the forest, she could hear fighting. One from the waterfalls and the other deeper in the forest. Judging by the sound of large creaking metal from the direction of the waterfall, she made the snap decision of going deeper into the forest towards where she hoped Steve was.
As she entered the clearing, she saw one of the members of the Black Order crushing Steve's neck and trying to break it.
"Get away from him!" She screamed before shooting two large tendrils of purple mana towards them. Her mana wrapped around the alien, yanking him off of Steve before tightening her hold and twisting like she was opening a bottle of soda. Glaive screamed as he was ripped apart, before the two pieces of his body were thrown far into the air.
Gwen ran over to Steve, kneeling down beside him, "Are you okay?" He nodded, sitting up with a slight groan.
Vision came limping over to them, dropping the spear Glaive had been using, and almost collapsing if not for Steve grabbing him and keeping him steady, "I thought I told you to go."
Vision looked at Steve, "We don't trade lives, Captain."
-/-
Big Chill flew through the air, phasing through the debris all around and making sure to avoid any flaming meteors crashing down onto the planet. He spotted Spiderman webbing up members of the Guardians, keeping them planted on the ground and not drift away into space.
He was about to go help when he spotted Doctor Strange landed down in front of Thanos, and figured that was a more pressing concern.
Quickly flying down and floating next to the sorcerer, Big Chill spoke in a quiet voice, "What now…?"
Strange pressed his hands together, forming orange magic circles before separating his hands, "Get the gauntlet at all costs!" He then slammed his hands down onto the ground, firing the Seven Suns of Sinnibis towards Thanos, the blast of orange energy richotting between rocks before striking at the Titan.
Thanos merely jumped up in the air, activating the Power Stone and firing a purple blast of destructive energy at them. Big Chill flew high while Strange pressed his hands together before pushing his palms towards the blast, the air in front of him becoming distorted, creating a mirror dimension to disperse the energy before sending towards Thanos.
The Titan once more activated the Power Stone, gathering a large amount of energy before slamming it against the mirror dimension and shattering it.
From above, Big Chill sucked in a lot of air before blowing the biggest blizzard of frost breath he had ever made onto Thanos. The Titan grunted as he held his hand up above him, ice forming slowly all over his body and starting to encase him.
Glaring up into the frost, Thanos made a fist with his Infinity Gauntlet, activating the Space Stone and creating a mini black hole. It sucked in all the frost and debris around him before he sent it barreling up towards Big Chill.
Ben watched with wide eyes as the black hole came towards him, his frost breath useless as everything was sucked inside. Doctor Strange flew through the air, stopping in front of Big Chill before gathering orange magic into the palms of his hands, preparing a spell before thrusting his hands forward, a large transmutation magic circle of the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth appeared. As soon as the black hole made contact, it burst into a swarm of green butterflies.
Strange wasted no time as he flew towards Thanos, with what seemed like multiple arms suddenly appearing along the sides of his body. He then used the Images of Ikonn to split into dozens of copies of himself, surrounding Thanos before every single copy used Eldritch Whips to wrap around both of Thanos' arms.
Big Chill followed Strange's lead, flying down towards Thanos and hitting the Omnitrix button on his chest, changing mid-flight into Swampfire. He landed on the ground hard before grabbing seeds from his arms and throwing them at Thanos' feet. They pierced into the ground before quickly growing giant vines which wrapped around the Titan's legs, stomach and shoulders.
Seeing Swampfire running towards him, Thanos quickly activated the Soul and Power Stone at the same time, combining their power into a wave of energy. The wave dispersed outward in the shape of a sphere, annihilating all of Strange's clones along with the vines and blasting Swampfire back and away.
Thanos then quickly activated the Space and Reality Stones and used the power to grab Strange from the air along with a giant pile of debris and yanked the sorcerer to him.
He grabbed Strange by the throat with his left hand, "You're full of tricks, Wizard." The Titan then ripped the Eye of Agamotto off of his neck, "But you never once used your greatest weapon…" He crushed it in his hand, crumpling the ancient necklace easily but frowned when nothing was found within.
"A fake…" Dissatisfied, Thanos threw Doctor Strange to the side. He held his left hand up to activate one of his stones but paused as the ground shook.
The Titan found himself looking up as a towering white and red alien stood above him, big eyes looking down in anger, "Way Big!"
Way Big held his right arm up, crossing his left arm across it to make a T shape. A giant blast of azure energy shot out from the palm of his right hand, enveloping Thanos in a brilliant shade of blue light. Ben did not let up, planning to fire until he was out of energy. His eyes widened however, as a blast of purple cut through his beam and slammed against his arms, sending his skyscraper sized body flying back. Ben was glad the planet was a wasteland or he would have been worried about collateral damage.
Picking himself up as quickly as he could, Way Big slammed his hand against the Omnitirx symbol on his chest. Four metal spikes protruded from the four corners of the symbol, a green wave of energy spreading across his body as he grew even bigger, his colors changing from a majority white accented by red, to a majority blue accented by red and white, "Ultimate Way Big!"
Way Big clasped both his hands together, making a giant fist before slamming both his arms down with all his might towards Thanos. The Titan sensed a bit of danger this time and activated his Soul, Reality, and Power Stone at the same time. A giant wave of energy slammed up against Way Big, sending an astounding ripple of punishment against the enormous creature.
Ben cried in pain, falling back and away. The Omnitrix let out an unhappy beep, turning yellow and in a flash of green light, Ben was transformed back into his original body. He fell through the air unconscious and was saved thanks to Iron Man catching him and placing him on the ground in one fell swoop before landing in front of Thanos, "You throw another moon at me, and I'm going to lose it."
The Titan looked a little winded but astoundingly, did not yet have a scratch on him. What threw Tony off however, was the slight recognition in Thanos' eyes, "Stark."
Tony raised an eyebrow from under his suit, "You know me?"
"I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge."
Tony let out a slight huff, the lower right side of his display screen showing Friday preparing the compact missiles from behind his back, "My only curse is you."
They launched out and fired at Thanos, who bent his knees and braced himself for the attack, holding his left gauntleted hand up in defense, "Come on!"
-/-
With all of the Black Order dead and their leadership shattered, the Outriders all started to flee for their lives. The Wakanden soldiers all cheered a battle song while Thor chased the aliens right to their drop ships, slamming through one like it was made of cardboard before flying towards another one.
Back in the forest, Wanda landed down in front of the injured Vision, quickly running over to him and crouching down next to her lover, "Are you okay?"
Before Vision could respond, he winced in pain, the Mind Stone glowing with a high pitched sound.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
Vision glanced around, fear filling his eyes for the first time, "He's here."
Gwen and Steve stood side by side, looking up at the sky. The wind blew ominously around them and they glanced at one another in worry.
Steve brought his hand up to his communicator, "Everyone, on my position. We have incoming."
As their main team started to arrive, Gwen could tell they all sensed the strange energy in the air. Black Widow frowned as she looked around, speaking under her breath, "What the hell?"
Doctor Banner was the first to notice the blue portal forming, looking like black and blue mist in the air before a giant, hulking purple alien stepped through.
Everyone stared in silence, nobody daring to move until Bruce spoke up, "Cap, that's him."
In response, Captain America activated the vibranium shield on his left arm before starting to run towards Thanos, "Gwen, protect Vision with Wanda. Everyone else, eyes up. Stay sharp."
The Titan looked beat up with scraps here and there, but he stepped forward with not a worry in his expression. Banner tried to step up first, swinging the remaining arm of the HulkBuster at him
Thanos merely held the Infinity Gauntlet up, using the Space Stone to make Banner phase through Thanos' body and trip over himself. As the HulkBuster rolled across the ground towards a stone wall, Thanos once again activated the Space Stone, making the armor phase through the rock before solidifying him again, fusing the suit to the wall.
When Steve tried to charge him, Thanos simply waved his hand and knocked Cap to the side with the Power Stone.
Black Panther lunged at him but was grabbed by the throat before being hit in the head with a devastating right hook that not even his suit's absorption could handle.
Falcon fired his SMGs but his wings were hit with the Power Stone's energy and his flight taken, causing him to painfully crash down.
Seeing Steve go down, Gwen charged at Thanos, mana surrounding her hands. She shot tendrils of purple energy towards the Titan, who held his left hand up and activated the Soul and Power Stone, sending a wave of energy out and destroying her mana completely, sending her flying back into a tree.
Behind them, Wanda started blasting her crimson energy into Vision's Mind Stone, attempting to shatter the last thing Thanos needed for victory.
To slow Thanos down, War Machine blocked his path, firing everything in his arsenal possible but was painfully stopped as the Titan used the Space Stone to crush War Machine's suit like a soda can.
Bucky charged with a mighty cry, firing his machine gun but was knocked aside with a wave of purple energy from the Power Stone. Okoye and Window were right behind him, the Wakanden General throwing her vibranium spear with all her might only to have it stopped by the Power Stone, before she too was thrown aside.
Widow barely dodged as, at the same time, Thanos caused spikes of earth to shoot up from the ground and restrain her against the dirt.
Gwen stood next to Groot, both as a last ditch effort, attempting to restrain Thanos. Groot by plunging his arms into the ground and traveling like thick tree roots towards the Titan and wrapping around him while Gwen shot two thick blasts of purple mana at him and tried to restrain his arms.
Thanos shrugged both off like nothing, merely flexing his arms while not stopping his march forward. Steve slid on his knees past the Titan, turning his body and standing before delivering a few punches and then an uppercut with his fists.
Getting tired of the situation, Thanos attempted to grab Steve, only to have the Captain grab the Infinity Gauntlet with both hands. When the Titan attempted to pull back, he was surprised by the strength Steve showed. When the Captain did not budge and actually started to slightly pull the Infinity Gauntlet off, Thanos reared his right fist back and knocked him out with a punch.
Gwen stood between Scarlet Witch and Thanos, her eyes glowing purple. Her skin started to peel off, before tendrils of purple mana shot out of the back of her head, replacing her hair as she leviated out of her human skin. The strange transformation took Thanos by surprise for a moment but he held his Infinity Gauntlet up just in time to block the blast of pure energy that the new being hit him with.
Sensing Scarlet Witch was actually a few moments from destroying the Mind Stone, Thanos activated all five stones in his possession, combining their energies and firing them against Anodite-Gwen's own power.
Even her energy could not win against the power of five stones and she was pushed back and blasted away, landing on the ground hard. Her body transformed back into a human as a result.
It was too late, however, as Scarlet Witch used all her power to finally shatter the Mind Stone, killing Vision in the process. She dropped to her hands, pure grief on her face as she cried.
Despite his supposed loss, Thanos was calm, walking towards Wanda without a shred of worry, "I understand, my child. Better than anyone."
Scarlet Witch glared up at the Titan, "You could never."
Thanos let out a quiet, tired sigh, bending down slightly to pat Wanda's head like a father would to a child, "Today I lost more than you could ever know." He stood back up, resolve on his face, "But now is no the time to mourn. Now, is no time at all."
Making his way up to Vision's corpse, Thanos activated the Time Stone he had acquired from the Wizard, turning back time and reforming the shattered Mind Stone.
Scarlet Witch's eyes widened, quickly scrambling up with a loud cry, "No!"
Thanos backhanded her with his right hand, sending her flying away before focusing on Vision. He grabbed the man by his throat, lifting up into the air. Without mercy, he reached up with his right hand to grab the Mind Stone planted in his forehead, ripping it out before tossing Vision's now dead body to the side.
The Titan admired the Mind Stone for a moment before finally implanting it onto his Infinity Gauntlet, right at the center. The Stones now unified, the energies surged through his body painfully, causing him to cry out in pain before the Gauntlet did its work of adjusting and containing it.
Victory almost at hand, Thanos did not even have a second to savor it before he was blasted with an enormous amount of lightning, sending him slamming through the ground and across the forest floor. Standing straight back up, the Titan thrust his left fist forward, sending a blast of multi-colored Infinity Stone energy at his enemy.
Thor threw Stormbreaker at Thanos, the weapon cutting through the energy easily before finally embedding itself into the Titan's chest. Purple blood sprayed out and Thanos groaned in pain, staring at the ax protruding from his chest in surprise, grabbing at the top blade.
The God of Thunder landed in front of Thanos, a slight smirk on his face as he stepped forward, grabbing the Titan by the back of his head and staring into his eyes, "I told you…" Thor placed his other hand on the end of his ax, "You'd die for that." He pushed the ax further into Thanos, who screamed in agonizing pain before hanging in head, eyes closed as he groaned.
Despite the domination Thor had, Thanos slowly looked back up into his eyes, no fear or defeat in his own, his voice coming out in a gasp, "You should have…" Thanos reached up with his right hand, grasping Thor's shoulder, "You should…"
Strength returned to Thanos' voice as he stared directly into Thor's eyes, "You should have gone for the head." Thor watched as Thanos lifted his left hand up, the stones on the Infinity Gauntlet glowing as the Titan got ready to snap his fingers.
Thor screamed, "No!"
It was too late, as a blinding flash of light indicated the full power usage of all six Infinity Stones combined.
Thor stepped back, shock on his face as he saw the Infinity Gauntlet was in tatters, along with Thanos' left arm being burnt and shriveled up from the immense power that was used, "What did you do?"
He glanced at the gauntlet before looking back at Thanos, screaming with a louder voice, "What'd you do!?"
Thanos did not even bother to answer, glancing around one more time before using the Space Stone to open a portal, tipping backwards and entering it. Stormbreaker pulled free from the Titan, dropping to the ground with a thump. Thor stood there in shock, staring at the ground without a word.
Steve, bloodied and bruised, walked towards Thor while holding his injured side, "Where'd he go?" He looked around before speaking up again, "Thor?"
Thor just stood there, letting out a shaky breath as he looked at Steve.
Steve asked again, almost desperately, "Where'd he go?"
"Steve?" Bucky's sudden call had the Captain turn and look at his best friend, who was staring at his crumbling body with awe.
All Steve could do was stare as Bucky's whole body started to turn to dust. His best friend dropped his gun and fell face first into the dirt before he crumbled away into nothing.
Steve quickly stepped forward, kneeling down where Bucky had disappeared before staring at Thor, who looked back at him in stunned silence.
All around Wakanda, half the soldiers in the land were disappearing into dust without warning.
T'Challa moved towards Okoye, holding his hand out towards her, "Up, general! Up! This is no place to die."
As soon as Okoye grabbed her king's arm, he disappeared into dust, making her fall back down in shock. She quickly scrambled up to her feet, her face horrified, "Kun Kan?"
Rocket Raccoon stared at Groot who sat slumped against a log, his body slowly turning to dust. Groot stared at Rocket sadly, "I am Groot…"
"Oh… No, no no!" Rocket held his arms out towards Groot, ignoring Okoye's cry for her king in the back, shaking his head and almost in tears. He tried to touch Groot's face but only passed through him as he disappeared, "Groot! No!"
Wanda was shedding tears as she held onto Vision's lifeless body, the expression on her face almost turning into relief as she felt herself turn to dust.
Falcon started to pick himself up from his crash, a grunt leaving his lips as he looked up, his body turning to dust and disappearing. In the forest, Rhodey looked around with his helmet off, "Sam!" He kept walking, calling out louder, "Sam, where you at!?"
On Titan, the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Doctor Strange, and Ben Tennyson gathered up, each sporting a series of injuries.
Peter Parker carefully helped Tony up as Mantis supported Peter Quill on her shoulder.
Due to her empathic powers, Mantis could sense the ripples across the universe, her eyes full of fear as she looked around, "Something's happening…"
Everyone looked around in fear, before finally, Mantis turned to dust, Peter Quill looking at her in shock, his arm around her shoulder trying to grab at her fading form. Tony's mouth hung open slightly as he stared at where Mantis was only a moment ago.
Drax stared at his right hand, watching it start to crumble. Star Lord looked at his muscular friend, who for the first time had an uncertain and almost afraid expression on his face, "Quill?"
With that final word, Drax crumbled, his expression taking on an almost pain filled one. Tony looked at Star Lord with wide eyes, "Steady, Quill."
Peter Quill looked at Tony, shaking his head slightly, "Oh man…" He then turned to dust, crumbling away.
Ben looked around in shock, his mouth hanging open, "What the hell is going on? Mister Stark? Doctor Strange?"
"Tony."
Stark turned, looking at Doctor Strange who had an almost apologetic look on his face, "There was no other way…" The sorcerer glanced down, tired, before he too crumbled into dust.
"Mister Stark?"
Tony felt fear shoot up his spine when he heard Peter's terrified voice. He turned, looking at the kid who was staring down at his arms that were starting to show signs of crumbling, "I don't feel so good."
"You're alright." Tony knew how ridiculous those words sounded, but he felt he had to say them, as if he were trying to convince himself instead of the kid.
"I don't… I don't know what's happening." Peter's voice was shaking, tears forming in his eyes as he stumbled forward, falling into Tony's arms, "I don't know what's…"
Something inside of Peter was warning him, screaming at him. He sensed the end coming, he sensed something terrifying. Tears fell from Peter's eyes as he grasped at Tony's arms, "I don't want to go. I don't want to go, sir. Please…" Peter's voice broke, the desperation and terror in the quiet kid's voice making Tony speechless, "Please, I don't want to go. I don't want to go…"
Peter's legs gave out, and Tony laid down on the ground with him, Peter falling onto his back and Tony holding the kid firmly, staring at his crumbling body in shock, "I'm sorry…" Peter glanced at Tony before looking up at the sky, his body turning to dust.
Tony desperately grabbed at where Peter's body used to be. He stared at the dust on his hands, holding them up and not quite believing what just occurred.
Nebula's calm voice from behind said three words, "He did it."
Tony just stared before hanging his head and covering his mouth with his bloody and dust covered hand.
-/-
"Gwen!" Steve called out desperately, "Gwen where are you?"
"Steve?" Gwen stood near a tree, bracing against it because of her injuries, "Steve something is…"
"Gwen?" He ran towards her, catching her just as she collapsed backwards. He lowered her down, sitting with her in his lap as she stared up at him.
"Something is…" Her body started to crumble and Steve looked down at her in fear.
"No, no, no… Gwen stay with me!"
"Steve I… I was so happy to have found you…" Gwen smiled softly, closing her eyes as her body turned brown before falling apart into dust.
Steve tried to hold onto her but she fell apart in his arms, making him desperately try to gather her up. He stared down at the ground in stunned silence, unable to process what had just happened.
Welp, Thanos won. Had to happen as you all know.
All jokes aside, this was a really, really long April Fool's joke that took a really long time. I will post real chapters next time I have time!